Thursday Morning Links

by | Sep 12, 2024 | Daily Links | 172 comments

The Astros are bound and determined to make this interesting for the next two weeks. The White Sox have to go 9-6 down the stretch to tie for the worst record in the modern era. They’ll be lucky to win two games. That record is falling. And I think the NL wild card chase is gonna be crazy. Nothing but baseball in sports today, I suppose. OK, one more. Just for the lulz. Now on to…the links!

They’re bound and determined to destroy the country. No, it’s not here. But this will embolden a lot of idiots in the US political scene.

“We’re doing a great job and everybody who disagrees is dangerous.” I’d be curious to see what he considers “threats” and how else he attacks free speech.

“Our norms are a promise that we will not allow this nation to become a country where law enforcement is treated as an apparatus of politics,” Garland is expected to say,

You are an apparatus of politics, champ.

Who says the political world isn’t hilarious? They never saw someone with dementia in high office before.

This will shock you! Just kidding. Hell, it probably won’t even mildly surprise you.

Get a load of quick-draw over here. what a dumbass. Yes, the kids were trespassing, but this guy is still an idiot.

Guess this guy has never heard of the supremacy clause. Or he’s just a power-hungry dick that doesn’t want his myriad errors and questionable decisions looked at by someone else.

I’m not really surprised at all by this. Saddened, maybe. But not really surprised.

“How did that get here?” That’s not mine!

Holy crap! That thing is huge.

Let’s get up and get moving today. These guys will certainly help you do that. I bet they were fun to hang out with. Enjoy them.

And enjoy this lovely Thursday, dear friends.

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

172 Comments

  1. Pat

    I’d be curious to see what he considers “threats” and how else he attacks free speech.

    It’s almost worth all of McConnell’s cuntiness for half a fucking century that he kept that abject goddamn clown from being seated on the supreme court.

    • Nephilium

      So far… just wait until Harris appoints Garland and Obama to the bench in her 12 year reign.

      • Grummun

        I don’t think Obama has any interest in a SC seat, or any official office, again. He’s got as much power as he could hope for already, and no unpleasant public scrutiny to bother him.

    • SDF-7

      I just find that extra ironic since he doesn’t worry about actual threats to Supreme Court justices…. if they’re on the wrong Team.

      But he’s not a partisan hack thug! Oh, noooooo! Perish the thought!

      • WTF

        He’s also incredibly incurious about the circumstances of the attempted assassination of Trump.

      • DrOtto

        The kid is dead and left very little social media. We may never know what his motives were. Best we have is it sounds like he played eeny-meeny-minny-mo to choose between going after Trump or Dr. Jill. We’re lucky to still have them both.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I see an opportunity to update and refresh my woodchipper

      • rhywun

        No comment.

  2. Pat

    A video of Biden at the station showed the president taking the Trump 2024 campaign hat from a Trump supporter and putting it on top of his own hat, in what the White House said was a friendly gesture of unity.

    It could have been a party hat for all he knew.

    • Urthona

      Now that Biden is out of it, he has morphed into a kindly old man and his popularity has surged by like 20%.

      • Sean

        his popularity has surged by like 20%.

        Uh…really?

      • Urthona

        The number may be exaggerated, but his popularity has indeed surged. Which is hilarious.

  3. Grosspatzer, Superstar

    That thing is huge!

    Madeline Kahn agrees.

    • bacon-magic

      The jig is up!

      • sloopyinca

        This reply really buoyed my spirits.

  4. Pat

    According to cops, the boys had driven to the property and parked at the gate before jumping the fence to speak with the homeowner.
    _
    When nobody appeared, they walked the property try and find someone to talk to about their request.
    _
    While going back to their vehicle to write a note for the homeowner, they said that Metz appeared on the scene and fired rounds from his truck.

    Yeeeeeeah, you don’t jump a fence to speak to a homeowner. The only thing that makes this a bad shoot is that he wasn’t on the scene when the initial trespassing took place, and showed up trigger happy after the fact. Dumbass kid’s lucky he lived.

    • sloopyinca

      I don’t disagree, but still…dude was an idiot for just shooting.

    • Rat on a train

      “Yes I broke into the restaurant, but the door was locked and nobody answered. I was just trying to place an order.”

      • Nephilium

        You guys just don’t understand Ohio nice.

      • DrOtto

        My brother fell asleep on the stall in the bathroom of a bar. They closed and locked him in. When he awoke and tried to leave, he set the alarm off and when the cops showed up he got charged with breaking and entering.

      • Rat on a train

        Train conductors got in trouble for not doing a proper sweep of the train at the terminal station. A passenger was sleeping in the gallery and woke at the rail yard.

    • trshmnstr

      I’m guessing there’s more to the story. Nobody’s actions make sense here.

    • R C Dean

      Oh, it was a bad shoot. The kids weren’t threatening anyone. Yeah, they trespassed, but trespassing doesn’t mean “shoot on sight”.

      • Tundra

        It does in the mountains. I was talking to a lady who has a place up there and some of her neighbors were threatening to shoot the guys from Xcel who were doing fire mitigation. Lots of shitheads everywhere.

      • EvilSheldon

        This. If you think that you can shoot anyone trespassing on your property, or even breaking into your home, you are heading for prison.

        The kids might not have even trespassed. I don’t know CO law, but many states have a statue saying that for trespassing charges to apply, the trespasser must have been ordered to leave, and subsequently refused.

      • B.P.

        From the reporting on the incident, it’s pretty clear the shooter went into tough-guy mode to try to scare some teenagers, had his finger on the trigger, and accidentally fired the weapon.

      • kinnath

        accidentally negligently fired the weapon.

  5. Ownbestenemy

    SpaceX hit some big milestones early this morning. Watched the replay and while not the most exciting spacewalk, proved their hardware is capable.

    • Ownbestenemy

      She reads a book from space to St. Jude patients. Also…fuck childhood cancer.

  6. SDF-7

    They’re bound and determined to destroy the country.

    If you lead in with one of those every time — it will be a feature like OMWC’s birthday links. “Try to guess which of the several possibilities it is this time!” (I was thinking UK before I checked the actual link).

    That said — elected or not, the “lead or silver” policies of the cartels makes me think it probably doesn’t matter all that much until their power is destroyed. Of course, soon they’ll have to worry about fighting the New Colorado/Venezuela hybrid gangs for territory or something the way we’re going.

    Morning, all.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Hybrid gangs? Are you saying they want a prius of the action?

  7. SDF-7

    Hell, it probably won’t even mildly surprise you.

    At this point those purported Satanic / cannibal parties postulated wouldn’t actually surprise me. This stuff? Not even up to Versailles level decadence… blip on the radar.

    • rhywun

      I love how they’re always “retired” from one city job and double-dipping in the city’s pig-slop with another city job.

  8. Pat

    46% Of Americans Didn’t Read A Book In 2023

    Given the state of the publishing industry, I’m not really alarmed tbh. As if some retard who read The Light We Carry was possessed of any greater intellect than the guy who spent the equivalent amount of time playing video games or building bird houses.

    • Pat

      Although probably greater intellect than the guy who didn’t close his HTML tag…

    • Nephilium

      Are they still handing out free pizzas to kids to read books?

    • Certified Public Asshat

      First single cat ladies, and now Pat is going after the book club women!

  9. SDF-7

    Saddened, maybe. But not really surprised.

    Short Attention Span Theater social programming will do that.

    • sloopyinca

      Idiocracy is coming at breakneck speed.

    • Brochettaward

      Honestly, I think 46% is way too low. Any self-reporting on this issue is going to inflate the number.

      • rhywun

        I think 46% is way too low

        #metoo

        I bet it’s closer to 80%.

      • Ownbestenemy

        And was book defined. Flipping through a magazine on the john might have been on some persons minds when they responded to the question in the affirmative.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Hmm, actually I bet that number is somewhat accurate because it didn’t ask just reading, it also included listening to.

        46 percent said they had not listened to or read a book in the past year

      • Rat on a train

        When I start hearing my books talking to me …

      • Nephilium

        Rat on a Train:

        You haven’t read House of Leaves yet?

      • Rat on a train

        House of Leaves appears to be the written equivalent of found footage films. They generally suck.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        The next 26% was in the 1-5 range, so it’s probably accurate enough.

      • Mojeaux

        Had a convo about House of Leaves on Twitter the other day. I still haven’t read it because I’m not sure I’m smart enough.

    • ron73440

      Surprised it’s not higher, I doubt 54% are avid readers, but they probably count Green Eggs and Ham as reading a book.

    • Mojeaux

      *raises hand* Count me in the short-attention-span number. Now, I’ve always had a short attention span. I thought it was bad before social media, but once I started communicating in 40 characters or fewer (Old Twitter), my days reading books and writing blog posts went to hell.

      I’ve read books this year, but they are light and fluffy. Not Green Eggs and Ham light and fluffy, but anything that requires me to think about the plot instead of being put on a rollercoaster ride with almost no mental effort on my part, no. I can’t do. I do read r/AmITheAsshole a lot. That counts as fiction, right?

      • ron73440

        I know, I’m a weirdo, but I usually read for an hour every night before I sleep.

        Just finished rereading all 4 books in the Saga of the Forgotten Warrior because the new one comes out next month.

        Anyone that likes sword and magic books should love this one, it is one of my favorites.

  10. Brochettaward

    How are you celebrating Brochettaward’s birthday quarter?

    • Ted S.

      We’re not.

    • R.J.

      I will raise a toast, and eat the cobbler you are not here to eat.
      I will also strive to first on a few articles this month.

    • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

      Wait Bro is H.L. Mencken?!?!

      • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

        Happy Birthday to both of you.

      • R.J.

        Whippersnappers, both of them!

  11. Rat on a train

    More baseball:
    The FredNats won the first game of their division playoff series. The Richmond Flying Squirrels didn’t do so well this season.

  12. The Gunslinger

    – “Holy crap, that thing is huge!”

    THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID

  13. rhywun

    Or he’s just a power-hungry dick that doesn’t want his myriad errors and questionable decisions looked at by someone else.

    The fact that he can’t get OMB into an orange jumpsuit before the election tells you everything you need to know about this fraudulent case.

    • creech

      I wonder what happens to the case when Trump loses in November? Do they walk away in triumph or go full out and send him to jail? Maybe Spain will offer asylum?

      • The Last American Hero

        Jail. As a message to any others. Don’t need people gettin any ideas.

      • B.P.

        If they sentence him to prison, it might spark a riot by a few deplorables, which can be used as another Reichstag fire, fodder for 10 million chin-pulling articles about the growing threat of extremism, etc.

  14. ron73440

    “How did that get here?” That’s not mine!

    Reminded me of watching Cops and right before being searched a guy says, “These aren’t my pants, so I don’t know what’s in the pockets”.

    Cop replied, “These pants, the ones you’re wearing, aren’t yours?”

    • WTF

      Petty criminals aren’t exactly the brightest people in the world.

      • ron73440

        Another lady claimed the purse she was holding wasn’t hers and the cop pulls her ID out of it and has to fight laughing.

      • WTF

        My cousin has an MMA school out in Arizona, and one his guys that he trains was prison guard at the Arizona state prison. My cousin used to tell me about the stories this guy had about the antics in that prison. Definitely no geniuses in there.

      • kinnath

        Crime pays. It’s the down time that kills you.

      • Pope Jimbo

        My dad was a probation officer. He’s got all sorts of stories about the antics of his clients.

        There really aren’t any Lex Luthor super genius criminals out there.

      • Nephilium

        Pope Jimbo:

        Are you sure? I mean Soros is out there…

    • Ted S.

      And those people signed releases to be shown on TV.

      • Nephilium

        Gotta get that 15 minutes one way or another.

      • SDF-7

        See the recent idiotic Chase account TikTok challenge or whatever it was… “Yes, I’ll video myself commiting bank fraud and post it on the Internet! What could possibly go wrong?”

      • ron73440

        My all time favorite is a lady flagged down a cop because she paid $20 for crack and was given a piece of drywall.

        When he questioned the alleged seller, she got offended that the first lady would be talking about drugs in front of her child. Then the seller said, “I don’t deal drugs, I’m a prostitute”.

        The cop was flabbergasted by this whole scenario.

        The cop ended up going back to the first lady and asking her to think about a better way to live and she could have used the $20 for something better than crack.

        Her response? “What else was I going to use it for? I already had a shower.”

    • Rat on a train

      I’m just wearing them for a friend.

      • SDF-7

        “I had to! The other guy is a real slacker!”

  15. The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

    “championships that “are like festivals that are geared to the breakers. It’s about the vibe, it’s about the community.”

    If it’s about ‘vibes’ it ain’t a sport.

    • Nephilium

      If the score is determined by a panel of judges, it isn’t a sport.

      • The Last American Hero

        I used to argue that, but I still think boxing is a sport. However, boxing has a path to undisputed victory, unlike most judged sports.

        I now go with – if there isn’t a defense, it isn’t a sport.

      • PutridMeat

        if there isn’t a defense, it isn’t a sport.

        Wouldn’t that criterion exclude swimming, track, etc?

        Sport as porn – I know it when I see it.

      • Cunctator

        —“if there isn’t a defense, it isn’t a sport.”—

        My definition is generally that if you can do it by yourself, it’s not a sport, but an activity.

        I am a big fan of golf, but I don’t consider it a sport. They players are, in my opinion, athletes, but that is a different definition. Football, baseball, volleyball etc. are sports. Track is a sport, running is not. Competitive swimming is a sport, swimming laps at the pool is not. (In my opinion)

  16. Grummun

    The DA added that Trump’s claims of “irreparable harm” in absence of a stay rings hollow now that “[t]here is now no chance that defendant will be sentenced, let alone incarcerated, ‘in the final weeks of the Presidential election, while early voting is ongoing,” and now that there’s no chance Merchan will decide whether to set aside the 34 felony convictions until — at the earliest — Nov. 12.

    How about the irreparable harm of allowing the Dems to campaign on Trump being a “felon convicted on 34 counts”?

    • Pope Jimbo

      If the GOP were to get control of the House/Senate and White House, it would be amusing to have them specifically cut Fed $$ to New York by the amount of Trump’s fine for … well nothing.

    • The Other Kevin

      Kamala got her talking point in the debate so mission accomplished.

    • creech

      Trump needs to come up with “the perfect squelch” for these kinds of barbs thrown at him. Maybe something along the lines of “You know damn well I was railroaded in court, just like tens of thousands of Blacks have been. Our justice system has been twisted, by prosecutors like you to ruin lives. How many more innocent Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites are you going to lock up in order to show how ‘tough’ you are?”

      • The Other Kevin

        Two of those prosecutors ran on “getting Trump”. All those felonies were for allegedly improperly filed paperwork. There’s plenty he could work with.

        Same for all those hoaxes. He needs one single, rehearsed response. If there’s another debate, I’d like him to point out that the “fine people” hoax was a lie, there’s tons of proof of that, and by the way what else is she lying about?

      • Urthona

        I would have so many if he would just listen to me, but it really appears Trump listens to no one.

        Maybe it’s working though. It appears my thoughts on the debate weren’t shared by independents.

      • B.P.

        Trump debunked that and other hoaxes during the debate, but it wasn’t a rehearsed response (does he have such a thing?) so the debunkings probably blended in with all of the other blather.

  17. Drake

    On this day in 1683, the Ottoman army was defeated at the Battle of Vienna – keeping the Muslim hordes out of western Europe forever.
    https://youtu.be/CxlRJsQ7p2k

    • Rat on a train

      forever?

      • Suthenboy

        Yeah. This time they are invited.

      • Drake

        Well, that was the idea.

    • The Other Kevin

      They chaised them right out of Europe.

      • ron73440

        Oh man, that’s not going to sit well with Swiss.

        You and him are sofa apart.

    • Urthona

      If only the west hadn’t won.

      We wouldn’t have to deal with these darn women voters.

  18. Suthenboy

    Garfish: I have not caught one that big but son and I caught one about 6ft once. No matter what kind of fish you have caught before it isn’t like catching one of those things. They are incredibly strong and have amazing endurance. It is very impressive that little girl could have landed that thing.
    The big one son and I caught dragged our boat up and down the bayou for a mile before it surfaced enough for me to shoot it. I dont mean ‘ a long way’, I mean an actual mile.

    • R C Dean

      Are they good eating?

    • SarumanTheGreat

      One of my dad’s favorite stories was when he was at the University of Florida my mother while out fishing with you managed to lasso a garfish. Not hooked it, lassoed it. I think they had to cut the line to get it off her pole. He always laughed when he recounted this tale.

      As to their edibility:

      https://panfishnation.com/can-you-eat-gar-fish/

    • Tundra

      That was fantastic. I was the embarrassing dad, too. Still am, come to think of it!

      • Fourscore

        “Dad, can you just go around the corner a little ways”

  19. DrOtto

    I hate catalytic converter thieves and think they should all be hung, but what I can tell you is most of the converters in that picture still have the flanges attached, which means they likely are not stolen. Thieves do not take the time to remove bolts. They cut and run. There are a few in there that could be stolen, but exhaust shops also usually cut to weld in a new one. When you see multiple converters on a single pipe and cut at both ends, those are your stolen converters. And there are only a few in that pic of those. This is the equivalent of the old “drugs on the table” photo op. They’re blaming the recycler instead of the criminals.

    • Sensei

      Says the guy outside the rustbelt…

      That said this is CA so your point stands.

    • WTF

      After the covidiocy, I expect people will roll over for this as well.

      • ron73440

        We have to keep the children safe!

        Tyrannical excuse from time immemorial.

    • Ownbestenemy

      watch what happens in the US. the people who will rise to champion this mandate and demand universal digital ID to access the internet are going to be the same ones who say that “requiring voter ID is racist.”

      Need to keep that one in the back pocket.

  20. Sensei

    Zero chance for shenanigans and political favors I’m sure.

    Biden’s 15% Minimum Tax on Big Companies Gets 603-Page Rulebook
    https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/bidens-15-minimum-tax-on-big-companies-gets-603-page-rulebook-d96df980?st=fUVHC3&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    The proposed rules explain the definitions and calculations for a parallel corporate tax system based on companies’ financial reports, one that runs alongside the regular corporate tax system and makes affected companies pay whichever is greater. The rules mark an attempt to determine, in granular and sometimes impenetrable terms, what counts as a tax toward the 15% total and what counts as income.

    • Rat on a train

      By the Treasury Department’s latest estimates, the corporate minimum tax is expected to generate roughly $250 billion in revenue over the next decade, including about $20 billion next year.

      Small in comparison to new spending over that time.

      • creech

        And how much revenue for the big CPA firms? I guess life will be a lot simpler under President Harris when the tax laws are amended to “How much money did you bring in last year? Send it all to the government.”

    • Suthenboy

      Someone posted this yesterday or day before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6Xe3SGUH6A

      Pols get away with the shit they get away with because we are drowning in an ocean of idiocy.
      *Over and over throughout history we have had people who realized that people are idiots. Every idiot can see that but this lots has decided they are more qualified to decide how everyone should live, how society should be organized etc. while not realizing that they themselves are idiots as well.

      Round and round we go, Hurrr durrr durrr, heredity derpity doo, blip blop bloop.

  21. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Man, Garland’s a sack of shit huh? Best thing the Turtle ever did, one of the only good things frankly, was refusing to hold a SC confirmation hearing for that cocksucker.

    • ron73440

      He is a lightweight.

      I couldn’t believe how unimpressive he was during his confirmation to AG .

      I remember thinking, “This is who Obama wanted on the Supreme Court?”.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Lightweight above his station=Easily controlled

      • rhywun

        Lightweight above his station=Easily controlled

        See: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, etc. etc. etc.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      When he was nominated for the Supreme Court I thought Garland was about as good as we could expect from Obama. Sadly, that’s probably still true.

  22. Sensei

    Don’t (?) I’ll get it
    Yes? Hello, can we have your liver?
    What? Your Liver?
    There’s a large, uh glandular organ in your abdomen
    You know it’s uh, it’s reddish brown, it’s sort oh uh
    Yeah, yeah yeah, I know what it is but, I’m using it
    C’mon sir, don’t muck us about
    Hello?
    What’s this then?
    A liver donor’s card
    Need we say more?
    No, listen, I can’t give it to you now, it says “In the event of death”
    Nobody who’s ever had their liver taken out by us has survived
    Just lie there sir, it will take a minute

    Medical Group Accused of Seeking to Collect Organs From Patient Who Was Still Alive
    https://www.wsj.com/us-news/organ-supply-group-accused-of-seeking-to-collect-organs-from-patient-who-was-still-alive-bc4f9bb9?st=Eh38ZC&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Just sign here, you don’t need both of your livers.

    • ron73440

      I don’t remember that, but it has to be Monty Python.

      • Sensei

        John Cleese as the man doing the collection.

      • SDF-7

        But of course — it was a bit in Meaning of Life. And with a great song, no less!

      • ron73440

        Haven’t seen the Meaning of Life in forever.

        I do have all the Flying Circus DVD’s and the special edition Holy Grail.

    • WTF

      The allegation, which came during a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday on the U.S. organ-transplant system, was among several made by witnesses who said procurement groups in various states have pushed workers and surgeons to secure organs from patients who were still alive.

      This shit right here is why I’m not an organ donor.

      • Rat on a train

        It’s not a myth?

    • WTF

      A couple of decades ago I went with some friends to see the Cleveland Orchestra perform Beethoven’s 7th. They did a 12-Tone system piece as their opening number. I really hated it.
      Their performance of the 7th was great, though.

      • Sensei

        It influenced and generated a lot of music that I like, but I don’t like most purely atonal stuff.

        I wonder if sitting through that made the 7th stand out even more.

    • The Last American Hero

      As a prog rock fan, I look at it like I look at a lot of prog rock. It’s an experimental art form. Most of the experiments fail. Miserably. Some yield a tool/technique/sound that can be used in the right space but fail if you try to make a whole song of it. Now and then the right pieces come together and you get something really special.

      This tonal crap is probably in the “there is a possible use for this somewhere to add flavor or an unexpected twist but not support an entire composition” category.

      • Sensei

        I feel the same.

    • Urthona

      I *hate* 12 post modern shit.

      3 chord rock n’ roll all the way.

    • Sensei

      Nothing like doing a mag dump with minimal accuracy. Also let’s completely ignore magazine size and changes.

      • Rat on a train

        You isn’t able to do a clean mag swap every few seconds?

    • Urthona

      I like the mainstream opinion that if you merely increase your firing rate you kill more people.

    • Ted S.

      I think we learned from the Cops sub-thread above that those aren’t his pants.

    • Suthenboy

      Gun grabbers tell another lie. I am shocked.

  23. Suthenboy

    RC Dean: Gar fish. Yes. The bigger they are the better to eat. Hell to clean relative to other fish but very good. I cut them into ‘roasts’ – about 12″ sections, season then wrap up in foil with onion and cook over a grill or in the oven. The small ones are eaten but much more trouble to clean as people cook and debone them the make into hushpuppy like shapes referred to as ‘gar balls’. If you ever get a chance try them. You wont be sorry.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Bravest of the brave

    Garland will use a speech to U.S. attorneys gathered in Washington and other Justice Department members to vigorously defend the department’s integrity and impartiality and to condemn what he describes as “outrageous” attacks that put law enforcement in harm’s way.

    “These attacks have come in the form of conspiracy theories, dangerous falsehoods, efforts to bully and intimidate career public servants by repeatedly and publicly singling them out, and threats of actual violence,” Garland will say in his speech inside the Great Hall at Justice Department headquarters, according to prepared remarks provided to reporters.

    They should all wear hoods to protect their identities.

    • Ted S.

      Considering how much these so-called “servants” bully the general public, they can go fuck themselves.

    • Suthenboy

      *Sigh*

      The canaries are starting to fall over and this fuckknuckle commie says it means they need to keep digging.

    • PutridMeat

      If you don’t want to be treated like an occupying army, stop acting like one.

      If you don’t want to be treated like a corrupt, politicized agency of a corrupt federal regime, stop being one.

  25. Sensei

    Our continued green fever dream…

    EPES, Ala.—When Enviva EVA 0.91%increase; green up pointing triangle began construction here on the world’s largest wood-pellet plant, it had contracts worth more than $20 billion to supply overseas power plants with an alternative to coal. The company’s shares were near an all-time high.

    That was two years ago. The Epes facility is still under construction, but Enviva is in bankruptcy court.

    Demand hasn’t been an issue. Renewable-energy subsidies in Europe and Asia encourage electricity generators to burn wood instead of fossil fuels. U.S. pellet exports are on pace to exceed last year’s record.

    Enviva’s problem is that it promised buyers more pellets than it could make, and for cheaper than it ended up costing to produce them. Then it made a disastrous trade to try to cover the shortfall.

    https://www.wsj.com/finance/green-energy-bankruptcy-enviva-wood-pellets-8a3b71fb?st=63oqiZ&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • Ted S.

      They made it up in volume?

    • Suthenboy

      We had one of those wood pellet factory scams around here about ten years ago. Something suckers something something minute.

      • Fourscore

        We had one here but it disappeared, I forgot about that. Same as the chop stick factory in the then Governor (Perpich) hometown of Hibbing. Eat more Asian!

        Can’t understand why it would fail, maybe a shortage of bamboo?

      • Suthenboy

        Special laboratories or microscopes/telescopes for universities, hospitals, factory manufacturing the next big thing for municipalities or counties, the list is endless.

        If it sounds like a perpetual motion machine or just too good to be true (we never dreamt we could have that!) then it is a scam as sure as the sun will rise.

    • Suthenboy

      Also, It is a spin-off scam from the ultimate scam and perfect Trojan horse for globalism that is the greenie movement.

    • rhywun

      Shorter: they’re running out of other people’s money.

      • Suthenboy

        Common scam: Approach a small jurisdiction of some sort, promise loads of jobs and tax revenue in the future making or selling something that is a sure loser (clue #1), ask for tax breaks, pitch for eminent domain (clue #2), rope in tax payer money to subsidize set-up costs (clue #3). Principles disappear with the investment money (the reveal).

        Usually public officials, fearing losing their jobs and possible prosecution pretend it collapsed because reasons. Better luck next time!

    • Suthenboy

      Now matter how exaggerated, over the top the fictional stories warning us about totalitarianism are, they always turn out to be just a bit shy of reality.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    They’re running out of time

    Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday that “the time has come to ease restrictions on Ukrainians use of U.S.-provided weapons.”

    Cardin’s support for lifting restrictions follows a letter sent Monday from six House Republicans — led by the chairs of the Foreign Affairs, Armed Services and Intelligence committees — calling for Biden to lift restrictions.

    Biden said Tuesday that his administration was “working that out now” when asked if the U.S. would empower Ukraine to the use of American-provided long-range missiles. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Kyiv, where discussions about Ukraine’s use of American weapons are expected to be held.

    We’ve got to get things spooled up before the election.

    • WTF

      “Paging Dr. Strangelove. Dr. Strangelove to the courtesy phone please.”

    • The Other Kevin

      The only reason Ukraine is losing is because we won’t let them nuke Moscow.

      • kinnath

        Ukraine won’t win if it nukes Moscow either.

        The whole planet will lose if that happens.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Despite the limitations, Ukraine’s armed forces have demonstrated the ability to strike Russian targets in Moscow, the republic of Tatarstan and an air base in Murmansk — distances that range up to 1,000 miles away from the Ukrainian border.

    Cardin, in his statement supporting the lifting of restrictions, said Russia’s increased targeting of Ukrainian civilian and energy infrastructure, civilian casualties and the hitting of a children’s cancer hospital last month is “nothing short of horrifying.”

    “Given these escalating attacks, the time has come to ease restrictions on Ukrainian’s use of U.S.-provided weapons. Greater flexibility to target Russian military assets will degrade Moscow’s ability to harm the Ukrainian people. The United States must act swiftly to grant these permissions.”

    Victory is ours!

    • rhywun

      55 is probably too old to draft, right?

      • Suthenboy

        *Looks back at WWII Germany and Russia*

        55? Not even close. That is prime age. 10-70 is the range.

      • rhywun

        LOL they’re not getting me at my prime.

      • Gustave Lytton

        When they need meat for the grinder, they aren’t stopping at Prime or Choice.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Not if you lived in Berlin in April of 1945.

        I’d like to think that we are some ways off from that, probably. I hope.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        “Can you walk? Here’s your panzerfaust.”

    • Rat on a train

      Defend Nyu York!

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Cheetopocalypse

    Rangers at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southern New Mexico describe it as a “world-changing” event for the tiny microbes and insects that call this specialized subterranean environment home. The bag could have been there a day or two or maybe just hours, but those salty morsels of processed corn made soft by thick humidity triggered the growth of mold on the cavern floor and on nearby cave formations.

    “To the ecosystem of the cave it had a huge impact,” the park noted in a social media post, explaining that cave crickets, mites, spiders and flies soon organized to eat and disperse the foreign mess, essentially spreading the contamination.

    Unimagineable devastation. The bats will seek retribution.

    • Suthenboy

      Hmmm. As long as people have been going in there this has bound to have happened before. People are walking Petri dishes.
      Are they jonesing to keep people out? The fed employees for fed lands usually have the attitude that the land is theirs, not yours.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      They are victim to the conceit that humans somehow exist outside of nature.

      • Suthenboy

        That too. Both widespread functions of human nature.