238 Comments

  1. AlexinCT

    Second Failed Assassination Attempt

    And it won’t be the last…

    They need this meddlesome priest gone, and they will keep demanding he stop fighting them because that is why people are shooting at him..

    • slumbrew

      *turbulent

      (I twitch each time I see the misquote).

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        You got to stop cavitating about this.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        They need this meddlesome priest turbulent.

    • Urthona

      I’m not sure his staying alive and in the race doesn’t represent their best chance of winning.

      • R C Dean

        At this point, if he were assassinated, I’m not sure how a new nominee could be put forward and get on the ballots, which have already been printed and mailed in some states. I think killing him now pretty much guarantees a Harris victory.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Wouldn’t it just become Vance v. Harris at that point?

      • R C Dean

        I don’t think so. Vance isn’t a candidate for the office of President. But I don’t know for sure. Or how this would wash through the “technicality” of the EC representatives being the ones who are actually appointed to vote for the President.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Not sure why I thought this, but you are voting for the “ticket” of two people, and as the VP is there to immediately swoop in if something happens to the Pres* that this would happen in the voting also.

        *funny, not so funny.

      • Urthona

        Those are interesting points.

  2. cavalier973

    When the FedGov spend $500 on a $50 hammer, then the GDP number is skewed.

  3. AlexinCT

    Obligatory Daily Mail article on the shooter

    This fella sure sounds like he is a MAGA hater…..

    It’s all a coverup!!!!

  4. Sean

    He said his father hates Trump as ‘every reasonable person does’, adding ‘I don’t like Trump either.’

    Fuck you, O-ring.

    • Tonio

      Yep, that’s an RCH away from explicitly saying the action was justified.

    • WTF

      I sure am glad the Dems have toned down the inflammatory rhetoric.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        They can’t. It would be like toning down your curses against the Devil.

  5. AlexinCT

    Military Members Fact-Checked Kamala Harris In Brutal Takedown

    And if you doubted that debate was rigged and it was three against one, doubt no more.

    The best thing about that debate is that their effort to claim Harris won not only fizzled out, but that it has gone so horribly wrong for them and their PsyOps.

    • invisible finger

      2,500 1

      /NYTFactChecking

      • invisible finger

        &^$$% HTML

        2500 != 1

  6. AlexinCT

    Is GDP an Accurate Measure of Reality?

    In any election year, and especially when the WH is infested by a dnc rat that has wrecked the economy pursuing the “government picks winners & losers” agenda, expect all of the government numbers to be bullshit.

    Period.

    • R C Dean

      Meh. Anonymous sourcing is anonymous, even when dressed up as an “affidavit”.

      To my lawyer’s mind, affidavits are filed as part of some legal action. What is the legal action here? This is, if taken at face value, just a statement sworn in front of a notary (which, if false, doesn’t even count as perjury unless used as part of a legal action).

      I have no doubt that ABC colluded with Harris. But this kind of thing carries very little weight with me.

      • creech

        Why do people keep thinking a notary validates the truth of the affidavit? All a notary does is verify that the person signing the affidavit is who they say they are.

      • Suthenboy

        This, plus what Alex said.
        A headline as surprising as “Shocked Scientists discover rain causes wet streets!”

  7. AlexinCT

    Taylor Swift Endorsing Kamala Harris Backfires as Poll Shows More Voters ‘Much More Likely’ to Vote Trump Over Harris

    I wonder how many people connected the fact that this endorsement advice to vote from Harris comes from a woman that has made her career making songs about all her bad decisions when it comes to men and life in general…

    • Urthona

      Seems doubtful that it ultimately matters.

      Harris’s lead is unchanged from last week.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        And in other news HRC is still 5 points up!

      • R C Dean

        Harris is underperforming Biden at this point in the campaign by something like 3 – 6 points. Hardly impressive. Before the nom and DemOp tonguebath, she polled as one of the worst candidates against Trump. I think the polls are battlespace prep to make the cheating look plausible.

        Absent some further developments, I think Trump will get more legally cast votes for an EC majority. The only real question is whether the cheating will give Harris enough ballots for an EC majority.

  8. AlexinCT

    Trump’s Legal Battles Have Slowed To A Crawl As Election Becomes ‘Largest Jury Verdict In History’

    Of all the things I assume are driving the power mad and evil marxists crazy, the fact that their abuse of power using the legal system – to try to influence and even take out a political opponent that they see as an existential threat to their evil agenda – has backfired, has to be the most daunting and galling. They sure as fuck thought they could at a minimum handicap Trump and the movement that has created him, and more likely than not, take him out by using the legal system as a weapon to take him out. And the result was that more and more people see them as the real threat and the bad guys…

    You think they have asked themselves this question yet???

    • Suthenboy

      Leftists in general and , maybe because they are right in front of my nose right now, are myopic. Notice shooters son’s comment “…he hates trump as any reasonable person does…”, i.e. there is only one way to see things and my feelings tell me what that is.

      No, they have not asked themselves that and never will. They cant admit to themselves how wildly wrong they are.

  9. AlexinCT

    So how many people have caught on to this observation? It is quite telling to me that the greatest benefit has gone to Chinese shipping and to the Russians in a more limited fashion, both allies of Iran whom is supporting the these terrorists, but why is this the first time someone has said this out loud?

    • rhywun

      Game recognizes game?

      The US is a world laughingstock.

  10. rhywun

    The problem is that so much of the story has been debunked when you look into the details.

    Or the problem is that HotAir doesn’t understand how politics works.

    • rhywun

      There is simply no reason that Donald Trump shouldn’t be running away with this race already, and yet he’s not.

      Um… except he is viciously hated by that half of the country who listens to MSM propaganda.

      a bit more focus on the issues where he is the strongest and a bit less hyperbole

      Because taking the high road works so well for Republicans.

      • Drake

        He’s not? The polls are all over the place and most seem like bs meant to make it look close so the rigging looks believable.

      • AlexinCT

        They HAVE to keep the illusion that the polls are saying the election is close if they intend to fortify it. If it is really close, I expect we have either the “counting” to take days, as they find more an more truckloads of ballots that break close to 100% for team blue, and team blue wins, or the left accusing the right of stealing the election if Trump wins by a landslide followed by the usual chaos and destruction by the marxist foot soldiers.

    • R C Dean

      “While these remarks seemed to excite some of the Trump supporters in the area, the legacy media was having a field day shooting down the claims. And for once, they probably had a fair basis for doing so.”

      Oh, yeah, some of the evidence for cats and ducks and whatnot being eaten in Springfield actually came from a few miles away. Good debunking there, DemOp Media. And, of course, there are multiple accounts that have not been debunked at all, because the debunkers are Constantly Online People and much of the info on this does not (and I know this is hard to comprehend) show up on social media sites.

      But, yeah, HotAir misses how the “Haitians Eating Cats” story is much less about Haitians eating cats than it is about all these illegals that nobody voted to allow into the country who are shitting all over a lot of towns.

      • Drake

        You don’t expect them the actually go to Ohio and investigate, do you? Most of them couldn’t find it on a map.

      • AlexinCT

        Journalism for lefties 101: You have less problem telling the lie convincingly if you have not ought out and found confirmation that you are lying.

    • R.J.

      Three quatloos on the latter.

    • rhywun

      It doesn’t matter either way because darker pigmented humans are higher on the oppression scale.

    • Drake

      Yet watching the video, I didn’t see the officer do anything wrong. Might have had no patience for Hill’s shit, but it was Hill who escalated it every step.

      • AlexinCT

        Hill deserved an ass kicking, but when you stop someone in a super expensive sports car, you should assume you are dealing with someone with public visibility and act accordingly in a world where cameras are everywhere….

      • Drake

        It was all on body-cam. Rolling up the heavily tinted window and ignoring the cops takes things to the next level. They can’t see you or if you are about to do something really stupid.

      • The Last American Hero

        Just imagine the car the guy’s lawyer drives.

  11. topnotchtoledo

    Since when did you this place became a worse version of Redstate?

    • R C Dean

      Since the country became even more of a banana republic parody?

      • AlexinCT

        That fucking left a mark..

    • Sean

      Lol. You want to buy a VIP membership?

      😉

      • Rat on a train

        Does that come with preview or edit buttons?

      • Nephilium

        STEVE SMITH GET CHAMPAIGN ROOM READY!

      • Rat on a train

        Every VIP member is invited to a private event with STEVE SMITH.

      • Ted S.

        IS THERE AN URBANA ROOM TOO?

    • DrOtto

      Two things – fuck off tulpa and what’s a Redstate? *adjusts hat and monocle*

    • trshmnstr

      We tried to be DU, but STEVE SMITH filed an HR complaint. People were enjoying his, erm, visitations a bit too much.

  12. rhywun

    How did a bunch of men who can’t tastefully dress or groom themselves make such a perfect song?!

    • kinnath

      It was the 70s. That was par for the course.

      • rhywun

        It’s a shame I didn’t save my childhood reversible leisure suit jacket.

    • Tundra

      I love ELO more the older I get. What a band.

  13. Stinky Wizzleteats

    A blue haired face painter with a Gary Busey grin…I’m ready to go back to the normal looking assassins like Oswald and Ruby. Even Hinkley appeared to be on an even keel compared to these whack jobs.

    • AlexinCT

      Progressivism is a mental disorder…

  14. Evan from Evansville

    9-9 shift begins now. Great to be back in the saddle. Should start pokin’ this week..

    Tremble before the needle.. apprentice.. Go kick ass likewise, gals n gents.

    • Tonio

      Best wishes. Congrats.

  15. Sean

    I played https://squaredle.com/xp 09/16:
    *24/24 words (+12 bonus words)
    📖 In the top 2% by bonus words

    I played https://squaredle.com 09/16:
    *26/26 words (+7 bonus words)
    📖 In the top 13% by bonus words
    🔥 Solve streak: 618

  16. Grummun

    I’ll leave you with a song

    The dude on the cello is crackin’ me up.

  17. Drake

    This would be assassin had what seems like a decent plan. Hide on the course ahead of Trump, shoot him when he’s close. I doubt the Secret Service will explain how the ‘spotted’ him – eyeballs, thermal, dogs, drones, etc.

    This guy has fed patsy written all over him.
    https://x.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/1835470349858676831

    • Urthona

      An interesting question will be was he just camping out for a long ass time or did he have some tip off of Trump’s schedule?

    • rhywun

      Totally not an easily suggestible crackpot.

    • kinnath

      from the little that I read yesterday . . the secret service was checking things out a few holes in front of Trump.

      The would be shooter stuck the barrel of the rifle through the chain link fence, and the secret service saw the barrel. They then fired on the position.

      Premature ejaculation.

    • rhywun

      New York has already said they will count ballots that arrive nine days late.

      I’m wondering if the obvious cheating is quietly withdrawn after OMB exits stage left some day, or if this is the new normal.

      • Sean

        this is the new normal.

      • R C Dean

        As long as they are postmarked by Election Day.

        Of course, any PO supervisor can change the postmark date, and according to sworn statements from 2020, some did.

      • PieInTheSky

        I have every expectation for my vote to be counted. every vote matters.

      • The Other Kevin

        Pie, they know it takes a while for a passenger bat to cross the Atlantic, so as long as you vote for Harris you’ll be counted.

      • The Last American Hero

        Good thing the Post Office has remained neutral and not declared support for a political candidate or party…Oh, shit.

    • invisible finger

      It really doesn’t matter where you put your vote because someone else will come along and move it.

  18. AlexinCT

    Did anyone here happen to see the “Am I racist” movie? I had to cancel my plans due to work, but I want to go watch this simply because it pisses off all the right kind of people.

    • ron73440

      Took the wife Friday night.

      It was hilarious.

      Also disturbing how vapid, evil people can make so much money from even more vapid, but slightly less evil ones.

    • PieInTheSky

      no one here really works.

      • AlexinCT

        Tell that to my 3 Onlyfans ladies, brah…

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Saw it. Enjoyed it. I laughed. I cried. It became a part of me. And holy crap is that Saira Rao woman evil.

  19. The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

    “Second Failed Assassination Attempt”

    Just more proof that these Trump tards will do anything for him. -my sister in law, probably

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      It’s Trump’s fault for not toning down the rhetoric.
      See also: Our violence is speech but their speech is violence.

  20. The Other Kevin

    Good morning Glibs! Today really is a stupendous day. My youngest kid flew in from Seattle this weekend and surprised us by just showing up at the gym Saturday, just in time to watch Mrs. TOK lose at roller derby. We had no idea she was coming. She’ll be here all week. To make things better, she visited my middle kid (the one that doesn’t talk to us), and they are having breakfast with their grandma today. Middle kid still doesn’t want to talk to me or Mrs. TOK, but she’s now seeing family and I’m taking that as a big win. 🙂

    • ron73440

      Take what you can get, maybe a little exposure to family can help guide her.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      That is all super awesome, TOK!

    • Tundra

      Awesome, Kevin!

    • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

      Good deal!

  21. The Late P Brooks

    How long ’til the Secret Service forces Trump to ride around in a popemobile and quit playing golf?

    • Drake

      Interesting that’s he getting a re-appraisal now. I have long thought he was about the most overrated guy in the 20th Century (FDR a close 2nd).

      • PieInTheSky

        he is not really getting much of a reappraisal…

    • Certified Public Asshat

      I listened to the Tucker interview with Martyr Made. I thought the controversy was wildly overblown, especially when MM said he was being hyperbolic to say Churchill was the chief villain. I missed any Glib commentary on the subject, if there was any.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The woke right joined with the woke left to corner the market on fainting couches. Calling the reaction overblown is an understatement.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Seeing the Babylon Bee guys shit their pants over it was disappointing.

      • Tundra

        It was covered somewhat. It was clear that not a single person hammering Darryl had actually listened to the interview.

        He’s had some interesting thoughts recently about the myths that must not ever be questioned: Civil War, WWII and the civil rights movement chief among them. I personally love telling people that Lincoln was a villain among villains and watch them melt down.

      • Tundra

        Seeing the Babylon Bee guys shit their pants over it was disappointing.

        Just because they are funny as hell doesn’t make them any less conservatards.

      • trshmnstr

        I think his point came through even in the face of the hyperbole. Churchill was the inverse of an anti-hero. He was a person who was given the opportunity to be the good guy, and he took every publicly facing step to receive the accolades from that role. Behind the scenes, he was doing everything he could to escalate the conflict into an all-out war and never bothered to try to de-escalate.

      • rhywun

        doing everything he could to escalate the conflict into an all-out war and never bothered to try to de-escalate

        Gee, that sounds familiar.

      • PieInTheSky

        In what way could Churchill deescalate?

      • trshmnstr

        In what way could Churchill deescalate?

        Stop agitating for “cash and carry” and lend-lease in the late 30s and early 1940. Work toward diplomatic solutions rather than being a belligerent force as a member of the Anti-Nazi Council.

        I’m not saying I know what the alternative reality with a more diplomatic Churchill would look like, but he was a primary driver in the direction of everybody arming up, which made the scale of the war inevitable.

      • Drake

        Whoever posted it on X did so with a clickbait headline. All the outrage was about the clickbait, not anything in the 2 hour interview.

      • PieInTheSky

        Work toward diplomatic solutions – what diplomatic solution do you think there were? Especially in 1940? Besides just let Hitler get whatever he wants?

      • R C Dean

        “I’m not saying I know what the alternative reality with a more diplomatic Churchill would look like,”

        Neville Chamberlain?

        “he was a primary driver in the direction of everybody arming up, which made the scale of the war inevitable.”

        I don’t think he had anything to do with Germany arming up, and he was well out of power (although likely somewhat, maybe very, influential) until the war started.

        I think the scale of the conflict was baked in by the immediate aftermath of WWI. The opportunity to avoid WWII was missed at Versailles. There was going to be a rematch, and once the Communists lost their run at Germany, there was going to be a war between Germany and the Soviet Union. It is astonishing how much WWII was a remake of WWI, from the underlying motivations to the overall strategy.

        I think if you take Churchill out of the picture, WWII still happens, only the Germans are much more likely to knock England out of the war. The knock-on effects of that on the Eastern Front, who knows? Without England in the war, there’s no more Western Front, so who knows how it all plays out in Europe.

      • PieInTheSky

        Is there any real evidence of this besides this guy saying so?

      • Drake

        He cites the sources. I was a History Major but I’m not hunting down the original transcripts and cables for fun. Feel free.

        I assume there would people all over him if he made up his sources.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    One of the Harris ads during last night’s game featured a narrator. Her only line was “I approve this message” at the end.

    Smart move.

  23. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Email from bureaucrat at 8am: “URGENT update needed!!!!!!”

    I wonder if anyone can guess what the “URGENT UPDATE!!!1!11!” was?

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      (the bureaucrat in question works in the DIE department)

    • Drake

      A pronoun emergency?

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        Very close…

      • rhywun

        Very close…

        A website has not yet been completely scrubbed of “ladies and gentlemen”?

      • AlexinCT

        And rhywun hits a grand slam!

      • Rat on a train

        A Harris emoji isn’t available in Teams?

    • Raven Nation

      You haven’t completed your mandatory training?

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        Actually, I haven’t. That’s on today’s agenda. But not related to the URGENT request

      • AlexinCT

        Veal, chicken, or vegan meal request?

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      “It’s MAAM!!!”

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      There was a web page with text that said LatinX and it should have been Latinx.

      That was the URGENT 8am email

      • rhywun

        OMFG. 🙄

      • Nephilium

        Reply with this study.

      • rhywun

        It’s almost like it was meant for whites to virtue signal, not Latinxes.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Check your facts at the door

    The era of post-truth politics is evident in Harris repeating false claims about Trump’s support for “Project 2025” and debunked claims regarding his comments about an extreme-right Charlottesville rally in 2017. Leading Democrats continue to make these false claims, in some cases despite knowing that they are false.

    ——-

    If you do not say anything, there are no facts to check. The election then becomes a vote over whether you are for or against “joy.”

    What is clear from the ABC debate is that citizens are on their own in the election to find actual facts and substance in the super-sized Slurpee of the 2024 election.

    We might as well be listening to two drunks arguing on a street corner.

    • ron73440

      The woman running against “Extreme MAGA Republican Jen Kiggans” has ads decrying Kiggans’ wanting a “100% ban on abortions.

      The only thing she says about herself is that since she’s a Navy vet, she’ll “Take the helm and steer us back on course”.

      It reminds me of Family Guy when Lois ran for some office and won because she said the dumbest shit.

      • Rat on a train

        It does appear to be their top priority based on the ads they are running.

      • rhywun

        decrying Kiggans’ wanting a “100% ban on abortions.

        I’ve seen ads against several Republicans claiming the exact same thing.

        I am 100% certain they are lying.

  25. PieInTheSky

    Girls persist more but divest less from ineffective teaching than boys

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39235895/

    Across three experiments, we investigated 7- to 10-year-old children’s ability to recognize ineffective teaching; we tested the hypothesis that girls may be less likely than boys to divest by exploring new solutions, given documented gender differences in socialization toward conformity and obedience. Overall, we demonstrate that children independently tested taught solutions and, upon learning that the solutions were ineffective, rationally traded off between instruction and exploration. Simultaneously, gender differences in divestment emerged. On average, girls demonstrated greater persistence in applying the taught solution, while boys tended to explore their own ideas, leading to differences in solving and learning. Importantly, these differences were observable across both masculine- and feminine-stereotyped tasks.

    • trshmnstr

      gender differences in socialization toward conformity and obedience

      Yep, 100% socialization. Definitely no innate characteristics at play here, nosiree.

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        I didn’t even catch that.

        Total BS to attribute it to socialization alone, and possibly even at all.

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        I’m not sure you can ‘teach’ somewhat innate character traits like this.

      • PieInTheSky

        Off course boys are constantly encouraged to burn everything they see while girls are told to sit still and focus on their needlework. At least in Romania.

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      Scientific evidence for why there are so few female libertarians- and all the more reason to appreciate them.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Most psych and gender difference studies are trash even when they agree with my preconceived notions.

  26. PieInTheSky

    Communism vs fascism: which would Britons choose? This question was posed by the British Institute of Public Opinion in January 1939, and we have asked it again in 2024

    Communism: 39%
    Fascism: 10%
    Don’t know: 51%

    https://x.com/YouGov/status/1835618172080107722

    the question loses all the fun if don’t know is an option.

  27. The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

    “Is GDP an Accurate Measure of Reality?”

    Depends on what you’re trying to measure.

    You can spend a sixth of your money on healthcare, not get much for it, and that’s still ‘economic growth’.

    Smash all the windows and borrow money to get them fixed: even more growth!

    It just shows how much money is sloshing around.

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      I’d also add that keynesian (and more so MMT) economics is a way of gaming the metric rather than getting good results from the economy.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        The Map is Not the Country.

    • R C Dean

      It’s really a measure of gross domestic spending.

      How you rectify the apples of materials and the oranges of services for a single measure of gross domestic production, I would have no clue.

    • The Last American Hero

      It was just supposed to be an approximator for the relative size of national economies, not some statistic that tells the entire economic picture with all of its nuance.

      Then the pols got a hold of it.

    • The Other Kevin

      I’m hoping to have my own Daily Ray of Sunshine eventually. This weekend Mr. TOK had a game, and we had a table for our gym. We met a woman who is putting together a powerlifting team for Paralympics and Special Olympics and was looking for a gym. Hopefully that goes somewhere because we told her we’re 100% in.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Congrats! I hope that works out for you. I also liked the family news.

      • Tundra

        I’ll second that. How exciting!

      • Pope Jimbo

        TOK, I found this old story when I was looking for the recent winners at the paralympics.

        I think I remember you talking about this movie before?

      • The Other Kevin

        I probably have. I was fairly new to the Blackhawks, but 5 of those players were on our team that season. I was in Michigan for a B Team tournament, and we got a bar to find that game and put it on TV. Absolutely insane finish.

        As it says in the article: “there’s too much focus on disabilities — and not enough on their athleticism”. I think sled hockey is the most watch para sport, probably because it’s just like stand up hockey and extremely physical.

    • Tundra

      Dusty in here.

      Good one, Holiness.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Papieren, bitte

    The border controls are testing European unity because the border checks are seen by some as a step away from the spirit of the EU’s free travel and trade arrangement known as Schengen. The freedom Europeans have to travel freely across borders for work and pleasure is one of the most beloved benefits of the EU.

    Germany, the EU’s largest country, is located in the heart of Europe and borders more countries than any other EU member. Some trade unions have expressed concerns that the controls could hurt trade.

    But a return to a past system with closed borders and mandatory border checks for every person crossing the border is not in the cards.

    Those daffy krauts, thinking they can undermine Brussels.

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      You know who else wanted to control Brussels?

      • AlexinCT

        The sprouts? I mean Krauts…

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The Moors Charlemagne beat at Tours?

      • PieInTheSky

        Charlemagne the rapper fought the moops?

    • ron73440

      border checks are seen by some as a step away from the spirit of the EU’s free travel and trade arrangement

      Love the “seen by some” wording.

      Did the same for the lockdowns.

      They were “seen by some” as government tyranny and overreach.

      • PieInTheSky

        The wrong some versus the right some. Know the difference.

    • rhywun

      The freedom Europeans have to travel freely across borders for work and pleasure is one of the most beloved benefits of the EU.

      Key word being “Europeans”. Schengen arose long before Merkel and friends opened the border to “irregular migration”.

  29. PieInTheSky

    Jacobin
    @jacobin
    The spread of neoliberalism promised economic efficiency and freedom for the powerful while wreaking havoc for millions. In recent years, claims of a post-neoliberal era have emerged, but a new book argues that these claims may be greatly exaggerated.

    https://x.com/jacobin/status/1835608312512979413

    we needed a book about neoliberalism bad, tbh

    • AlexinCT

      WTF is neoliberalism? It sounds like some bullshit marxist word play.

      • PieInTheSky

        neoliberalism is when bad and the more bad the more neoliberalism.

  30. AlexinCT

    LIEZ!!!

  31. PieInTheSky

    Interesting tidbit on Rory Stewart’s experience as minister in DEFRA. Plan to plant 500 million trees, at minimal cost to the public, opposed by environmental groups on the basis that they wanted to micromanage “the right trees in the right places”. Sounds familiar!

    FWIW I’ve no idea whether the mechanism was a good one, but interesting 1) they had seemingly no concern about the tradeoff between delivery and micromanagement, and 2) it’s just assumed that ministers need to compromise with NGOs making unreasonable demands

    https://x.com/AnyaM8_/status/1835344716096741466

  32. Pope Jimbo

    That’s some nice journalism Lou.

    The leader of the board that oversees HCMC stepped down Friday, after tensions over comments she made singling out Somali immigrants as a cause of the medical center’s budget challenges became public.
     
    Babette Apland, who led the Hennepin Healthcare Board of Directors, previously acknowledged the comments she made during the closed portion of an August budget meeting were wrong and harmful. She said she apologized and wanted to learn from her mistake.
     
    County Board Chair Irene Fernando and Commissioners Angela Conley and Debbie Goettel had previously admonished Apland, calling her comments hurtful, racist and xenophobic. Fernando and Conley said her apology and hospital leaders’ reaction was insufficient.
     
    “I don’t feel like she is in a position to continue to be chair, until some major work is done,” Conley said Tuesday. “You can’t apologize for racism. You got to get that out of your system. Until I see that work being done, it doesn’t hold any weight.”

    In the entire story, they never, ever answered whether this racist told the truth or not. Be nice to know if the Somalis are freeloading off the HCMC (our safety net hospital) or not. If the facts are that the budget shortfalls are caused by too many Somalis without insurance showing up for free care, then it isn’t racist to say it.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Her real sin? Fucking up their attempt to continue looting the tax cattle.

      County and hospital leaders are also preparing to again ask the Legislature to convert the 0.15% sales tax that helped fund Target Field to focus future proceeds on hospital expenses. Hennepin County’s sales tax raises about $54 million a year and under the plan, $40 million would be dedicated to hospitals, $10 million to stadium upkeep and $4 million to youth sports and libraries.
       
      County leaders said this summer that mixed signals about the future of HCMC’s governance doomed the effort to convert the tax. If lawmakers don’t act, the tax will sunset next year when the stadium construction debt is repaid.

      So the tax we never got to vote on in the first place will continue on without us ever getting to vote on it.

      • Tundra

        Of course it’s true. No number of bullshit struggle sessions will change it.

    • ron73440

      Until I see that work being done, it doesn’t hold any weight

      In Am I Racist? that is one of the DEI “experts” favorite thing to say, “Do the work”.

      Matt names his anti-racist class the Do the Work Workshop.

    • rhywun

      it isn’t racist to say it

      Just the thing a racist would say.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    Soft landing

    American consumers and home buyers, business people and political leaders have been waiting for months for what the Federal Reserve is poised to announce this week: That it’s cutting its key interest rate from a two-decade peak.

    It’s likely to be just the first in a series of rate cuts that should make borrowing more affordable now that the Fed has deemed high inflation to be all but defeated.

    Bring back the debt bubble!

    • creech

      Rate cuts just in time to coincide with early voting and the regular Fall drop in gasoline prices.

      • R C Dean

        We’ll see. The employment numbers suck, but so do the inflation numbers, which ticked up in recent data.

        I suspect a single, small/token rate cut. Powell has shown the ability to resist pressure and to get the Board to go along with him.

      • Sean

        Too little, too late. I don’t think that will negate the rest of 2024.

      • invisible finger

        Powell can cut 25 basis points and simultaneously up the QT (and not announce that part). Only the Fed nerds will notice that it essentially makes no change.

  34. Pope Jimbo

    This example of failing upward is almost Kamala-esque

    Kim Potter, the former Brooklyn Center police officer who served 16 months in prison for manslaughter in the 2021 death of Daunte Wright, initially was set to help train enforcement officers for the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board next week.
     
    The training would have been led by Potter and Imran Ali, the former Washington County prosecutor who stepped down from prosecuting Potter’s case, Ali said Saturday.
     
    But the board canceled its “Remorse to Redemption: Lessons Learned” training after the Seattle Times called to ask about it, the newspaper reported Saturday. The board reportedly took its action out of respect for the Wright family.

    I hope they didn’t plan on giving her a laser pointer for her presentation!

    “Laser! Laser! Laser!” as she shot holes in the presentation screen.

    • Tundra

      She lived near some of our friends up in Champlin. It was wild – the cops had put up fencing around the house and posted guards during the aftermath of the shooting.

  35. PieInTheSky

    Against autumn

    Throw away your Pumpkin Spice Lattes

    https://thecritic.co.uk/against-autumn/

    Here they come. The autumn enjoyers. Swaddled in their comfy sweaters. Sipping their Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Burbling on about how nice it is that it’s cold and dark and wet outside.

    See I like autumn because there are no sweater involved, slightly cool sunny, great season.

    • EvilSheldon

      Autumn is easily my favorite season. Winter is good too, although I don’t much care for snow.

  36. PieInTheSky

    EARTHQUAKE!!!!!

    5.5. apparently

    • AlexinCT

      It’s climate change!

  37. Gdragon

    I’d been trying to figure out who this assassin reminds me of and it had been driving me nuts but I finally got it when I saw the picture of him in the car. That’s Bill Weld! LOL

  38. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. It is amazing how predictable all this has been.

    Step 1. Pass new law letting anyone regardless of legal status get a driver’s license.
    Step 2. Badmouth and denigrate anyone who asks how that will work when combined with the existing automatic registration to vote. Only racists would ask questions like that. There are safeguards in the process!
    Step 3. Begrudgingly admit that the only safeguard is the newly licensed driver’s honesty. But still badmouth and denigrate everyone.
    Step 4. Claim that there are no credible examples of non-citizens being registered to vote. RACISTS!
    Step 5. After lots of actual examples of non-residents being registered to vote show up, announce that you are making a few minor tweaks, but insist that no non-citizen has been known to have voted so the system is working (ignore that even early voting doesn’t start until 9/20).

    We are at step 5 now.

    Elections officials are making changes to Minnesota’s automatic voter registration system after finding some potentially problematic entries, but they say they are not aware of anyone ineligible who has been registered to vote via the system.
     
    The Secretary of State’s Office said this week that more than 90,000 people have been registered or pre-registered since April, when Minnesota’s new system went live. Residents who apply for and receive state-issued IDs such as driver’s licenses are now automatically registered to vote without having to opt in if they meet legal criteria. And 16- and 17-year-olds can pre-register to vote once they turn 18.
     
    Around 1 percent of those automatic registrations have been flagged for potential problems, said Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson, whose department issues driver’s licenses and other official identification cards, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

    • rhywun

      It is amazing how predictable all this has been.

      Why let a winning strategy go to waste? The left has been using false cries of “racism” to get everything they want for decades.

      • Pope Jimbo

        It isn’t so much the racism bit. What I love is how many times these stories start out with scoffing at how anyone would ever think such a thing, that the progresses through the arc of “sure there are a few limited instances”, to “ok, the might be a small shred of truth” to them finally just never talking about it again.

        Gas stoves “it is silly to think that we are going to take your gas stove”. Now the Springfield story is “it isn’t true, the pets were getting eaten in a completely different town”, which will soon turn out to be true but we’ll never talk about it.

    • R C Dean

      “no non-citizen has been known to have voted”

      Just ignore the examples of exactly that happening, and the utter systemic inability to verify that a registered voter is actually eligible to vote.

      Our system is built for cheating. The stakes are so high that there can be no question the motivation for cheating is there. The truly astonishing thing would be if there was, in fact, no cheating.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Goldberg suggested that there would be downsides to implementing a half-point rate cut this week. It might signal to the markets that the Fed’s policymakers are more worried about the economy than they actually are.

    “Markets could assume that something is wrong and the Fed sees something quite terrible on the horizon,” Goldberg said.

    Trump is coming.

  40. PieInTheSky

    Would-be Trump shooter Ryan Routh has published a 291 page book, “Unwinnable War,” about his time in Ukraine’s Int’l Legion

    Routh says he’d like to see Putin assassinated, seems to hope for Trump’s assassination as well, and calls for the US to “instigate” a nuclear war with Russia

    Stating he’s neither a Democrat or Republican, Routh’s clearly articulated mindset toward Russia mirrors that of Beltway hardliners. He offers gushing admiration for Juan Guaido, the Free Syrian Army, Myanmar rebels, and other CIA backed forces, while hinting at a friendship with MSNBC natsec hack and fellow International Brigade member Malcolm Nance.

    Routh urges the West to “instigate” a nuclear conflict with Russia and “strike first.” He wants a “quick and decisive and powerful blow to end it once and for all,” as the US did at the end of WWII.

    In a rambling passage, Routh appears to fantasize about the assassination of Trump as punishment his unraveling of the Iran deal

    https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1835552460481478829

    • creech

      Ghost written by Dick and Liz Cheney??

    • rhywun

      clearly articulated mindset

      LOL

      The only thing that seems clear about that fruitcake is his wish for the destruction of the United States.

    • R C Dean

      “Stating he’s neither a Democrat or Republican”

      Just ignore the multiple contributions to the Dems and the giant Harris/Walz sticker on his pickup.

    • B.P.

      So this guy wrote a book about serving in a foreign government’s war, and wants to nuke Russia? A little bit of Ernest Hemingway, a little bit of Curtis LeMay. Also, from the Daily Mail article:

      “Routh was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, per online North Carolina Department of Adult Correction records but could not provide details about the case.”

      The rifle pictured in the Daily Mail article doesn’t look like an AK. Mini 14?

    • invisible finger

      Sounds like he plagiarized the NATO Intelligence handbook for new employees.

  41. PieInTheSky

    Nothing in American life has improved more over the past 40 years than placekicking. Just gaze upon this glorious bastard. He looks like a Hanna-Barbera character who got cut from the Laff-A-Lympics roster yet he was the best kicking specimen the whole goddamn AFC had to offer.

    https://x.com/Super70sSports/status/1835476894109577471

    I know nothing about this but kicking cannot be that difficult anyone should be able to do a fair job at it

    • creech

      Sure, just like all us hackers can make 10′ putts just like Scottie, Rory, and Tiger do.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Step 4. Claim that there are no credible examples of non-citizens being registered to vote. RACISTS!

    You seldom find what you are not looking for.

    All this “trust voters” preening is like advocating for the honor system on the graveyard shift at Seven Eleven. Fire all the cashiers. The customers will drop what they owe in the coffee can on the counter.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Yeah and the pivot is it’s only 300, only 2 voted. That they admit or know about. Big nothing burger.

        Interesting how this came to light in two different states on the same weekend. Surely there’s no collusion.

  43. creech

    JFC, the church’s Fellowship Group just announced this topic for Feb. 25, 2025 to cap off “Black History Month”:
    “Many Courageous Stepping Stones to the Presidency for Kamala Harris.” Boy, am I going to be persona non grata after responding to this talk!

    • Sean

      Sounds like fun.

      NOT.

      • creech

        I considering demanding equal time to tongue bathe Clarence Thomas and Ben Carson.

    • rhywun

      Which stepping stones would that be, the courageous upbringing in Canada’s wealthiest neighborhood or the courageous servicing of Willie Brown?

      • creech

        Probably the courage she showed on getting on the schoolbus that was surrounded by Klansmen carrying tiki torches and Rebel battle flags. I expect her to one day, like Frederick Douglass, display the back scars left by the evil and sadistic overseers on the plantation where she was once enslaved.

      • Nephilium

        creech:

        Don’t you mean “where her ancestors owned slaves”? Or has that been debunked?

    • trshmnstr

      Meanwhile, in Conservastan, my minister parses his words carefully to avoid giving any intimation of political support to the right.

    • R C Dean

      I think it’s appropriate for a Christian organization to support someone who started her career by kneeling.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Render unto Caesar your worship.

    • Tundra

      Boing!

      What a fabulous build. 10/10 Would drive.

      It will be fun to watch it. It will probably move out of my budget within a couple days.

    • EvilSheldon

      OMG stop!! I seriously might blow a blood vessel.

      My first car was a manual 1984 Volvo 240 wagon, in Turd Brown. I still miss it.

      • Tundra

        I’ve had many 240s. In my mind one of the best vehicles ever made.

    • R C Dean

      Nice restomod. I’m going to assume they got the clearances right on those front wheels – they look really tight in the picture.

      • Tundra

        Dude spent 100K. I’ guessing he didn’t skimp on that!

  44. The Late P Brooks

    This fucking (Win 10) computer. It is admittedly faster than the other one, but the incessant nagging to set up my My Microsoft account and synch my phone (and, presumably, my toaster, washing machine and snow blower) to it is creeping me out. And, of course, I’d be a fool not to update to all the wonder and convenience of 11. Come, citizen. Merge with the Body.

    • R.J.

      11 does the same thing. F off with the other Microsoft services. I don’t need drive or anything.

  45. The Late P Brooks

    Holy shit that Volvo wagon is fantastic. That’ll get the kids to lacrosse practice on time.

  46. AlexinCT

    If you wonder why the machine is so obsessed with preventing the American people from electing Trump, it is revelations like this one going mainstream despite their efforts to hide the fact the Obama administration was the one with the largest amounts of hidden scandals in our lifetime.

    • rhywun

      I’ll believe it’s going “mainstream” when Obama loses his halo.

  47. PieInTheSky

    The human capital problem on the right is bad and getting worse. Eating pets and imaginary whistleblowers today. What’s next? Diagnosing it is easy. Finding solutions is hard.

    I do have one though: conservatives should help abolish the electoral college.

    My theory of our politics would suggest it’s hopeless. There are lots of stupid people out there, and they used to be kept out by gatekeepers and distributed across the parties. Now they’re increasingly in one party, and have the internet. A simple story of supply and demand.

    But the electoral college makes it much worse.

    For most of US history, the electoral college hasn’t mattered. But two things have changed since 2000 that have made the electoral college go from an afterthought to vitally important to presidential politics.

    This means that the most disenfranchised group in politics is not liberals, but arguably conservatives in blue states.

    Consider that the state that gave Trump the most votes in 2020 was California, about 6 million. He got more votes in New York than 8 red states combined.

    https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1835652724832321627

    • rhywun

      TL;DR but I think there is a reason that the left is universally of the same opinion as this writer. And it has nothing to do with conservatism.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      My solution falls right in line with that which would be politically advantageous for myself and those like me.

      Eat a dick, douchebag.

    • R C Dean

      If being disenfranchised means “your guy loses” (and I can’t think of any other definition that fits his use of it), wouldn’t a nationwide vote “disenfranchise” the tens of millions whose candidate loses the election?

    • trshmnstr

      “Hey, maybe if I’m insufferably condescending, they’ll see my brilliance and listen to me!”

  48. The Late P Brooks

    In the long run, more important than Wednesday’s Fed action is the pace of rate cuts through next year and the ultimate end point. If Fed officials conclude that inflation is essentially defeated and they no longer need to slow the economy, that would suggest that their key rate should be at a more “neutral” setting, which could be as low as 3%. That would require a series of further rate cuts.

    Many economists think the economy needs much lower rates. Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG, notes that hiring has averaged just 116,000 a month for the past three months, a level equivalent to the sluggish job growth coming out of the 2008-2009 Great Recession. The unemployment rate has risen by nearly a full percentage point to 4.2%.

    “There is a fragility out there when you are not hiring at a very strong pace,” Swonk said. “This is still a much weaker labor market then we thought we had.”

    Bring back free money. Crank up the venture capital vaporware economy. Make the Joy Economy hum.

    • R C Dean

      “In the long run, more important than Wednesday’s Fed action is the pace of rate cuts through next year and the ultimate end point.”

      Note how rate cuts are assumed, even though current rates are not even close to historical highs.

      I suspect that what really matters in the long run is the pricing of debt at Treasury auctions, which have not been strong for awhile now.

    • trshmnstr

      *sits on hands waiting for the optimal time to refi the house*

      Pre- or post-election? That’s my question. If Trump wins, I’ll file the application the next day. If Harris wins, I’ll let the Fed keep trying to prop up the economy for a few months.

  49. PieInTheSky

    New paper from David Reich lab:

    West Eurasian / European populations have had strong recent genetic selection for a number of traits.

    Among these, positive selection for intelligence and education. Negative selection for body fat percentage, darker skin color, and schizophrenia

    https://x.com/jonatanpallesen/status/1835340279307469170

    • rhywun

      3rd Reich lab…?

      • AlexinCT

        Nah, cause they also select for “loving you long time” or something…

    • R C Dean

      How do you genetically select for education, anyway?

  50. The Other Kevin

    Mrs. TOK and I had a good laugh last night. One of her cousins is a teacher and of course a die hard Dem. Most of what she posts on Facebook is political. Last night it was an illustration of a lotus flower, with something like “It’s private in the voting booth and nobody will know who you voted for. Harris/Walz”. It took every bit of Mrs. TOK’s strength to not ask why she’d be ashamed of the candidate she’s voting for. We knew it would end in a family fight so she didn’t. But is that where the Dems are right now?

    • rhywun

      But is that where the Dems are right now?

      I would not be surprised. Harris/Walz have to be an embarrassment even to die-hard TDS sufferers.

  51. The Late P Brooks

    I suspect that what really matters in the long run is the pricing of debt at Treasury auctions, which have not been strong for awhile now.

    The cost of servicing the national debt is what really matters.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Better elect Harris then. She’s a pro at servicing.

  52. AlexinCT

    So here is a problem I have been working on. The guy that tried to kill Trump this weekend happened to show up at a golf course he was on and almost took a shot at him. I am going to bet this golf outing was an OTR (off the record) one. That means this guy is psychic, both lucky enough to pick the site out of the air (but unlucky in taking the shot), or was given the intel by someone in the inner circle. This retard doesn’t look psychic to me. And while the odds for him just knowing enough about Trump’s golf movement to pick the time and site correctly (someone would have seen him on the advanced surveillance of the site if he had been camping there) is possible, I am going to say that didn’t happen. So that leaves the third and scariest option; there is a mole in the trump SS detail. I am hoping it was that, because if not, it means they coordinated this with this lunatic.

    Over and under this guy “Epsteins” himself?

    • trshmnstr

      I’m still holding out some skepticism on the “insider” stuff. It’s quite possible that this guy was local, saw the motorcade, and inferred that a round of golf was going to be played. There’s quite a bit of luck involved, but not an absurd amount.

      • Tundra

        I thought I read that the shooter lived in North Carolina. This is another smelly one, regardless.