197 Comments

  1. Rufus the Monocled

    First!

    • Not Adahn

      Why aren’t you at work?

      • Ted S.

        He’s Canadian. They don’t believe in productive labor.

      • SDF-7

        He felt like posting here first.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Man, this is the muppet that works his fingers off to the strings.

  2. Shpip

    Labor unions like SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America have sought guarantees from studios that their jobs will be protected from the encroachment of AI.

    If your job *can* be done better by a computer, why shouldn’t the computer do the job? (See: robots in manufacturing)

    • SDF-7

      There’s a big part of me wondering what the mass of humanity (because we aren’t all creative geniuses after all) will do if automation takes over to the extent that’s being pushed. But if it isn’t a law of economics that automation which is cheaper and equally or more reliable than humans will inevitably be used by those running the business, it should be… so I suppose we’ll see.

      • slumbrew

        That’s an argument driving a bunch of UBI proponents.

      • Suthenboy

        The universe operates on a homeostatic basis…every system does. If robots produce everything there would be no point if there is no market for the somethings produced. People will have to has some means, money or otherwise, of obtaining the stuff produced by all of the robot labor. What that is going to look like I cant say.

    • AlexinCT

      Aren’t many of these the same people that used to tell people losing jobs in manufacturing to go learn to code?

      • Suthenboy

        Soom AIs will be doing all of the coding.

    • The Last American Hero

      Quote of the year (and possibly the decade) by a delightful lecturer at a conference I recently attended: “You won’t lose your job to AI. You will lose your job to someone who knows how to use AI better than you).

  3. Shpip

    “In [dropping the charge], Judge Wiley created what looks like reversible error so that if the jury convicts on the lesser charge next week, it would be overturned on appeal.

    Bragg & Co don’t care if the verdict is overturned on appeal. By then the mob will have moved on to a new shiny object.

    They need a pelt on the wall now.

    • AlexinCT

      These people are scum. I no longer have any faith in a legal system where some angry fugly lesbian can ruin your life and finances out of spite, and then walk away after without consequences.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Also, process is the punishment.

  4. SDF-7

    Trump signals shift from unnecessary military intervention with reaction to Assad ouster in Syria

    Good. Here’s hoping to winding down some of the forever wars and not getting into any new ones for at least 4 years. One of the (many) reasons to break up the IC — they’re always pushing interventionism, it seems to me as an outsider looking in over the last few decades. A recycled broom should sweep clean.

  5. SDF-7

    Trump says he won’t try to remove Fed chief Jerome Powell

    If only that was because “I’m just going to get rid of the Fed entirely.” — but not a chance. He really doesn’t rock the boat when it comes to the money-men. Queue ’90s Democrat obligatory comment.

  6. SDF-7

    Jay Z claims he is the victim after being accused of raping a 13-year-old girl with Diddy

    :shrug: If the accusation is false, he certainly is. If not, he’s almost certainly the type of person to lie and try to weasel out of consequences.

    In other news, dog plays fetch and cat ignores reporter entirely.

    • DrOtto

      Tony Buzzbee is the “victim’s” attorney, so I have my doubts on the credibility of the claim.

  7. juris imprudent

    Since Banjos spared us of infuriating links this morning, I’ll give you one if you need to get your blood pumping and your head thumping.

    Activity in the J6 investigation accelerated the month before the election. At least 16 individuals were arrested; home security camera footage obtained by RCI shows the heavily-armed pre-dawn FBI raid of a subject in California on October 17.

    For all the shit Mitch McConnell deserves, give him credit for keeping that dirt-bag Garland off the Supreme Court.

    • Rufus the Monocled

      They want to put 75 year-old people who had nothing to do with the protest in jail for using the bathroom.

      Mental.

    • Ed Wuncler

      It also says a lot about Obama for wanting to put that dirtbag authoritarian on the Supreme Court.

    • rhywun

      My rage at this monstrous farce is all tapped out, after so many years. Joe and his disgusting administration cannot exit fast enough. The sooner I can forget the last four years ever happened the better.

    • rhywun

      “Make no mistake, some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses,” Biden said Sunday.

      But let’s stick our dick in that hornet’s nest anyway.

      • Drake

        And let’s start sending them lots of money.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Their leader, at least the leader of the faction who took Damascus,is an ex AQ/ ISIS guy, a scum of the earth salafist uberradical. I expect massive bloodshed from factional infighting and headchopping to commence in spades in the coming weeks. We’ll see I reckon.

  8. Rufus the Monocled

    So. When is Trump going to invade Retardnada? What’s taking so long?

    We’re here for the taking. 21 000 full time soldiers. NYPD has more active police officers.

    Please put this colony out of its misery.

    Poilievre is good and it’s nice the conservatives are expected to sweep in while complete destruction of the Liberal party awaits. Alas, the damage is done by Trudeau. He won. Since his minority victory in 2021 he has gone full-tard despotic apeshit on this colony’s ass.

    I don’t think Canadians fully grasp what just happened it happened so fast. Bills C-11, 18,26, 63, and 75 alone are enough to shift this country into a decisively illiberal direction. Just like that. The conservatives would have to reform and repeal those – good luck with that. They’re not that conservative.

    And then there’s MAIDS. A eugenics program by other means. And of course, Quebec – in all its inglorious obtuse and ghoulish obsession with ‘secularism’ – is making the push to make murder legal. And the Federal government is listening.

    Let’s not talk about the traitors within Parliament and the concerning CCP influence in our elections to which Justin refuses to release the names reversing the onus onto Poilievre. He’s busy calling everyone and anything a Russian asset flailing around like the despicable coward he is while he dances around like a little girl at a Taylor Swift concert.

    All thanks to ONE buffoon Jagmeet Singh. The Maserati Marxist. ONE fucker is holding the country hostage. If he had a modicum of decency he would have voted non-confidence long ago to spare us of Justin’s lunatic and pernicious policies.

    It’s a complete fucking mad house here.

    Justin is in full Commodus mode.

    Drink!

    • PieInTheSky

      Trump should take over and ban Tim Horton’s just for the fuck of it.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        Replace them with Dunkin’. It’s due to comeback into the Canadian market.

      • rhywun

        Replace them with Dunkin’.

        Tim Hortons can’t be that bad. Dunkins is disgusting.

      • slumbrew

        Dunkin’s cold brew is surprisingly good. My go-to when stopping for something on the highway.

      • slumbrew

        I say this as someone who drinks it black; I have to assume people who like Dunkin’s regular coffee take it “light and sweet”. *gags*

      • Not Adahn

        Replace them with Panera?

      • The Last American Hero

        How can you do cold brew when you’re on the road? Unless the rest area is 10 miles down the road from the Dunkin’.

      • slumbrew

        I’m deep in Poe’s Law territory with your comment, TLAH

    • Ed Wuncler

      I’ve been following Maxime Bernier (sp?) and his PPC party seems legit, but I also know that he isn’t in anyway going to break the Conservative-Liberal Party dominance in Canada. The Conservatives stayed pretty quiet on the draconian lockdowns and the bank account freezes until it became politically palatable to say anything which is tragic because if they would taken a strong lead and told Trudeau and Singh to go fuck themselves and fought for the truckers, they would probably win a fuck load of seats in Parliament.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        All correct.

        Bernier and the PPC repositioned themselves as the true conservative party. Think Farage. They poll decently but getting a seat is very hard.

  9. PieInTheSky

    Jay Z claims he is the victim after being accused of raping a 13-year-old girl with Diddy

    My question is what was a 13 year old doing at a MTV Video Music Awards after-party?

    • R C Dean

      Apparently, being passed around like a bottle of Cristal champagne.

    • SDF-7

      The cynical side of me says “Being shopped around to get backing to be the next child star.” MTV Meat Market Awards.

  10. Drake

    I predict that the removal of Assad will be as beneficial for the Syrian people as removing Quaddafi was for Libyans.

    • SDF-7

      I doubt that you’re wrong — and it is unfortunate. I wish several nations would figure out reasonable systems of governance that don’t involve propping up strongmen or having bloody anarchy and gang rule until one gang slaughters enough of the others. But since I don’t see any beggars riding, wishes are not horses.

      • Ted S.

        Ditto for all those anti-western coups in Africa over the past few years. The new governments are no better.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Given the proximity to Israel, and their interests – it’s possible that they may have a little effect in preventing things from getting out of control.

      • Drake

        Israel and Turkey are both going to bite off big chunks of Syria. I sincerely hope and pray the Alawites and Christians in Syria don’t get exterminated.

        Might end up with a for-real refugee crisis expect I doubt Europe will accept many Christians. Maybe they end up in Russia.

      • juris imprudent

        The real danger will be the Kurds getting a partition of Syria and the natural agitation for chunks of Turkey, Iraq and Iran.

      • Gustave Lytton

        And Lebanon continues to be a Christian plurality.

        Anyone who isn’t the dominant Islamist sect should pack their bags.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Indeed, the results will be Hilary-ous.

    • Suthenboy

      This x 1000. Iraq, Libya and now Syria. Democrats have raised making a bad situation into a nightmare a high art. It’s what they do to everything.
      I see lots of breathless joy on the TV about Assad. These people are morons. It is going to be a bloodbath worse than anything the Assad family ever did.

    • Ed Wuncler

      “The young woman’s possible sentence of 10 years in prison is far greater than that faced by migrants who gang-raped a German girl in a city park in 2020. Nine migrants were convicted in the case, and only one saw prison time, even though none expressed regret at sentencing. The German police instead investigated more than 100 people for criticizing the culprits in that case.”

      This is the kind of shit that could make the elections 1933 elections look like child’s play and won’t end well for those in power and the Muslims in Germany. It’s also kind of telling that the Euro governments are constantly smearing shit on their voter’s faces but are surprised when those voters are slowly rejecting them.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m surprised at how slow that rejection is.

    • EvilSheldon

      From the article:

      “The stabbing was preceded by the 64-year-old sexually harassing the 20-year-old by grabbing her buttocks, [which led to] an exchange of words, and the 20-year-old opening a folding knife she was carrying and making stabbing movements in the direction of the 64-year-old, whereupon he backed away and the 20-year-old followed him,” he said.

      “The 64-year-old then grabbed the 20-year-old’s arm, which she was using to wield the knife. The 20-year-old freed herself from this grip and stabbed once in the same movement,” he continued.

      So. The guy grabs the girls ass, the girl flashes a knife, the guy backs off, the girl presses the attack, the guy grabs her arm, the girls stabs him to death. Nothing about this describes a lawful use of deadly force in self-defense; in fact, it’s nearly a textbook example otherwise. Once the initial aggressor retreats, you cannot continue to press the attack.

      • juris imprudent

        Hey now, she might be a black American girl and that kind of knife play is just a part of growing up.

      • bacon-magic

        That’s…racist.

      • juris imprudent

        No, the racism angle will be if she is a white American – stabbing an African.

      • EvilSheldon

        Come on, JI, you know better than this. Black girls use razors, brown girls use knives.

      • slumbrew

        IFF it’s its as described, yeah, pursuing him after he backed off is when she became the criminal.

      • Not Adahn

        Assuming what is reported is true, “lawful” is time/place specific. Which is why I went with “norms.”

      • Gustave Lytton

        Nothing about this describes a lawful use of deadly force in self-defense

        You’re not wrong but this is exactly why this shit continues to happen in modern society. I wouldn’t convict.

      • rhywun

        Black girls use razors

        +1 gigantic afro

      • EvilSheldon

        JI – Obvious cultural appropriation.

        NA – I’m assuming that the ‘Use of Deadly Force’ laws in the GDR are similar to those in the USA, which is probably not a great assumption. I strongly doubt, however, that either local law or prevailing morality is going to approve of someone running down and stabbing an assailant who has already quit the fight…

      • LCDR_Fish

        Being that it’s Europe – I do recall the early media reporting on the girl in Italy (name escapes me ATM) who had a lot of hassle getting back to the US. Unless it’s specifically her testimony or they have it on video, I have difficulty believing it took place according to that description – particularly with a fold-out blade.

        I could definitely be wrong, but under the circumstances, particularly after everything we’ve seen in Germany, etc the past few years, that seems abnormal.

    • Suthenboy

      Fuck Germany with a rusty chainsaw. The truth is that their culture is a shit culture prone to communism and authoritarianism. Imagine that.

  11. Not Adahn

    My manager has gone over to the dark side. He’s overwhelmingly concerned with appearance, box-checking and auditability.

    He’s rejected presenting my revival of a tool at five digits of savings because I put tape on a valve in the facilities ara to bkeep oit from vibrating open. He said “I can’t show this picture!”

    Instead, he’s presenting a slide about (and I’m not making this up) someone who organized a drawer.

    • R.J.

      I understand. Similar situation here.

    • R C Dean

      Have you considered ambushing him on a busy street with a suppressed pistol?

      • Not Adahn

        Honestly, I stand a decent chance of being the survivor of a gunfight with the local constabulary.

      • Ed Wuncler

        Damn it R.C., I should not have laughed as hard as I did at this comment.

    • UnCivilServant

      Have you tried covering the tape with a branded logo sticker?

  12. rhywun

    Daniel Penny defense may have been handed ‘partial victory’ with dropped charge, legal expert suggests

    In case anyone thought this circus wasn’t racially motivated, I heard the prosecutor kept referring to Penny as “the white man”.

    • AlexinCT

      She is a true evil scumbag woman.

  13. Not Adahn

    Not the sheriff’s department though.

  14. Not Adahn

    Who called for the airstrikes in Syria, and was it for any other purpose than to distract OMB when he takes over?

    • rhywun

      It’s hard to come to any other conclusion than Team Joe wants to fuck up the world as hard as possible on his way out the door.

      • cyto

        “The resistance” has not capitalized, that much is certain.

        I can’t imagine that they don’t fight back harder than ever leading into the innaguration. Ignoring the deep past, just look at recent months. Do you think they want Trump’s team pulling apart the assassination attempts and investigations? What about the communications on the various lawfare cases?

        I’m sure they have been careful about putting things in writing, but there will still be a lot to dig up.

      • AlexinCT

        It’s hard to come to any other conclusion than Team Joe wants to fuck up the world as hard as possible on his way out the door.

        Yep, I am suspecting the machine – funny you call it Team Joe since Joe has not been part of anything – believes if it creates enough chaos, the forever wars will be mandatory.

      • rhywun

        “The resistance” has not capitalized, that much is certain.

        Orange winning again was sure not part of the plan. They are scrambling to hide shit, for sure.

    • juris imprudent

      Get a few Americans killed there (that shouldn’t be there in the first place) and most OMB supporters will scream for blood.

      • cyto

        Like Bush 1 with his “no nee taxes” pledge. They refused to pass any bill without a tax increase attached until he capitulated and signed one.

        Create facts on the ground that demand a military presence sp he damages his coalition. Seems entirely likely.

      • juris imprudent

        Like all civil wars, this one won’t end well either.

  15. cyto

    I am amazed at how pliable and uncurious people are.

    Out of the blue, we started hearing rumors about the CIA in Syria a couple of weeks back. Then there were stories everywhere about the CIA working to overthrow Assad.

    And now? Suddenly there is a home-grown coup and a debate about “whether we should get involved”. What?

    Also, take note of the propaganda machine. Today i have seen several “influencers” talking about Assad and how terrible he is. Like some 22 year old pick-me girl has any clue about Syrian politics.

    Suddenly there were stories about gassing his citizens. They even asked Trump about it.

    All out of the blue.

    Why are so many people either pretending or actually believing that this is anything other than the CIA taking advantage of a distracted Russia to create facts on the ground before Trump takes office?

    It is just weird.

    • juris imprudent

      WE’RE AMERICA DUDE, OF COURSE WE HAVE OUR MILITARY EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD.

      Fuck yeah.

      • cyto

        As long as Raytheon gets their cut….

      • juris imprudent

        “What’s good for the country is good for General Motors and vice versa” – Ike’s SecDef at his confirmation hearing

    • Gustave Lytton

      Just like his dad’s atrocities were well documented but support Gulf War and they’re suddenly good people.

    • creech

      “Suddenly there were stories about gassing his citizens. They even asked Trump about it. All out of the blue.”
      Hey, the media has been covering Syria for a long time. Didn’t they ask a major presidential candidate, back in 2016, “what about Aleppo?”

  16. rhywun

    Sheridan and Quaid both testified before the Texas Senate Finance Committee in October to push for additional incentives.

    lol Grifting ain’t got no end.

    • cyto

      When we are pushing towards 10 trillion bucks a year, the grift is well worth the effort. Who is paying attention to even 10s of billions, let alone the millions?

      • juris imprudent

        If DOGE is 100% successful and clips $2T off of federal spending – we’ll still be above FY2019 spending.

      • Jarflax

        In nominal dollars right? But 2025 dollars are not 2019 dollars. I get skepticism about DOGE; I share it, but we desperately need the expansion of Federal spending stopped, and maybe Musk can actually accomplish something.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Nothing is going to happen unless you start something happening. This is something.

        The electorate is in the mood to cut, hell, even my liberal wife is freaked out about the national debt. And for all the bitching about how Trump is just one man, and that the president shouldn’t have so much power, blah… blah… blah… this is how it CAN start. Shooting it down now by a bunch of “black pilled” jackasses is how the Big Gov’t types win.

        Trump is an avatar, and lets help make sure part of that symbolism is cutting gov’t to size, and creating the real need of the populous believing that it will always be a fight.

      • juris imprudent

        ZWAK, my Congress-critter is 100% establishment Republican with a few lip-service asides to Trump. Radically cut the defense budget, even to reduce our overseas footprint? Ain’t happenin’.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        To start this, you have to START this, and right now the ball is rolling. Keep it rolling, politically, and your congressman will either get on board, or get passed by.

        Unless you want to keep making excuses, be black pilled so to speak, and let this whole thing die.

      • juris imprudent

        ZWAK, I wish it would happen. But there’s saying about wishing in one hand…

  17. cyto

    Odd that thos “legal experts” think the penny case is a victory, when every “legal expert” i have seen has concluded that this is the prosecution and the judge working together to try to pressure the jury into a compromise verdict of guilty on the lesser included.

    • cyto

      At least they are letting Penny raise funds for his defense. Others were blocked at every turn, and in Canada the government will block it. Running a case like this through appeals and a second trial would bankrupt most people, even those with relative plenty.

    • R C Dean

      While Trump can’t pardon him, the DOJ could start a civil rights investigation into the prosecution itself. Flip over that rock, and who knows what creepy crawlies might be found.

      • juris imprudent

        Need to write some new lyrics to John Mayer’s tune Gravity — “Immunity…”

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        What is the over/under of Bragg getting in on some of that sweet, sweet pardon action?

    • cyto

      “Falls outside the ambit of protection”.

      ….

      ….

      I have a pretty good vocabulary. Never used that term. Means “scope, extent or bounds”.

      I have been criticized for using words that seem obscure to average folk – like “obscure”. But i usually feel they have a particular connotation that best conveys my ideas.

      Ambit? How is that better than scope or bounds in this scenario?

      Also….

      Idiotic argument. They say the AR-15 isn’t protected by the second amendment because – in a nutshell – it is a military grade armament.

      Now “shall not be infringed” is crystal clear to me.

      But also… isn’t their argument that it only applies to “the militia”?

      Can we just stop with the nonsense? Says “not infringed”, we should enforexe “not infringed” and an amendment would be quickly on the way

      • Raven Nation

        The other idea I push at folks on the rare occasions I discuss kind of things has to do with expansion of rights. Do you think the First Amendment, when it was written, covered everything it covers today? Almost certainly not. Yet, we’re happy it’s expanded to cover more things. True of most of the BoR. So why is this the one amendment you’re seeking ways to constrain?

      • slumbrew

        I’ve heard ‘ambit’ many times, almost always in a legal context.

        And if anyone things ‘obscure’ is obscure, they should hand in their G.E.D.

      • Grumbletarian

        Do you think the First Amendment, when it was written, covered everything it covers today? Almost certainly not.

        Why not? Speech is speech, and at the time the press was the only way to record one’s speech and allows it to spread to places where you weren’t. That should cover radio, television, etc.

      • R C Dean

        The militia is still legally defined as every male between the age of (I think) 18 and 45. I do wonder if the people who push the militia argument would really sit down and shut up if we were to say “OK, then, only males between the ages of 18 and 45 can keep and bear arms, and they can do so without restriction”.

      • Cunctator

        –“and at the time the press was the only way to record one’s speech and allows it to spread to places where you weren’t.”–

        Precisely. And the word “Press” in the Constitution refers to the machine. Other than the publishers themselves, there was no organized journalism to protect. It was customary in those times to smash the presses of publishers that you disagreed with, to prevent them from communicating. The First Amendment secures the right of anybody (not just “recogized” journalists) to publish and express themselves, and as technology has advanced, the new means of expression are covered as well.

      • Ted S.

        Agree with Slumbrew. I didn’t have any issue with “ambit” either.

      • Cunctator

        Or, what Kinnath said.

      • cyto

        The question on Ambit was more to ask what connotation does it have that distinguishes it from bounds or scope.

        Not being schooled in the art, it carries no connotation at all for me.

      • slumbrew

        I believe ambit specifically refers to statutory authority, especially when used in legal writing.

    • R C Dean

      The discussion in the comments on the WSJ site is surprisingly pro-gun.

    • Dr Mossy Lawn

      I’ve had a black rifle in NJ. It just has to conform to the 1 bad thing rule.. (Pistol grip). I care more about the 10+ magazine limit, which they waffeled on, Basically the same Judge who wrote the interest balancing back 3-4 years ago, won’t reverse himself even though Bruen clearly ask for “history” and there is none. That NJ judge’s opinion was terrible, trying to use misunderstanding and standing to only strike it down for “Colt AR15’s” which haven’t been made in 20+ years. (Mine is a Colt match target rifle)..

      This case is just all of the courts trying to continue interest balancing, where Heller and Bruen have said, no! Strict Scrutiny, with historical analysis. So now, well they can’t be an Arms… because then we can’t ban it. Scotus does need to send back another “and we mean it”.
      Heller was a “we don’t care if criminals misuse them, ordinary people use it properly all of the time”

      • cyto

        Irreconcilable differences is used for marriage splits… but i have an Irreconcilable difference with the interpretation of the second.

        At least after the federal level the law is clearly at a “no means no” level. It says “keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”.

        That means I can have armaments and the feds can’t even make it difficult.

        The 14th complicates that , given time and place restrictions seem reasonable for states and municipalities. Like”dont bring your hand grenades to the Christmas parade”. That seems like an ordinance that Toledo should be able to pass.

        Or “no storing your black powder for your cannons in your 13th floor flat in Manhattan”.

      • Dr Mossy Lawn

        The argument against time and place restrictions are that the 2nd says “keep and bear” bearing arms would preclude most time and place restrictions that aren’t in the historical record, as per Bruen.

        After Bruen NJ took a very permissive carry permit, and neutered it with a carry nowhere and at no times, rules. They attempt to extend the dicta in Heller of “polling places, court rooms, legislative bodies and schools”. to include all government buildings, and anywhere that a child or vulnerable person could ever possibly be. Schools, parks, sporting events, hospitals, medical offices.

        It could be valid to restrict bearing area affect weapons (grenades, explosives, ) From public carry, but not private possession and transportation, but the2nd doesn’t say that, Arms are all of the weapons that humans have created, and given the US history, bearing them (when the powers that be didn’t want them borne) is part of that historic tradition.

    • Not Adahn

      I may have mentioned this, but I recently took a training that claimed “science proves” vape companies were targeting minors. The evidence presented? That a higher percentage of non-smokers under 25 had tried vaping than non-smokers over 25.

    • Nephilium

      I’m so sick of everything “appealing to underage consumers”. Fuck it. Bring back Joe Camel.

      • Fourscore

        When I was a kid there were no ‘underage’ consumers.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    The other idea I push at folks on the rare occasions I discuss kind of things has to do with expansion of rights. Do you think the First Amendment, when it was written, covered everything it covers today? Almost certainly not. Yet, we’re happy it’s expanded to cover more things. True of most of the BoR. So why is this the one amendment you’re seeking ways to constrain?

    Because without the Second Amendment, those other rights, which were created and bestowed upon us by the government, may be rescinded at any time.

    • R C Dean

      These days, there is a surprisingly large constituency for censorship, so your argument about the 1A may not be as effective as it should be.

    • kinnath

      The first amendment covered the right to gather in public, the right to speak, and the right to publish.

      In general terms, that does cover all modern means of gathering, speaking, and publishing. The constitution is not restricted to technology that existing in the 1700s.

    • juris imprudent

      Rights only have any salience in the context of government.

  19. The Other Kevin

    “There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse. ”

    This is how I want the President of the USA to talk. And it bothers the hell out of me that no world leaders, including the Pope, are saying this.

  20. AlexinCT

    U.S. credit card debt rises to average of more than $10,000 per household, report shows

    Anyone mentioning that this is basically happening to the households that can least afford this, and then, by design?

    • The Other Kevin

      I have a bunch of debt because I recently started a business, and then the price of everything went up 30% and interest rates also went up. But I still have a job where I’m making good money. Almost daily I tell my wife I have no idea how people making less than us are making ends meet. The middle/lower income people are getting hammered. And not in a good way.

      This is another example of a statistic they tried to keep quiet, but people living life can see reality with their own eyes.

      • Nephilium

        I need to keep reminding myself of how much inflation has hit things. FFS, I’m seeing entry level helldesk jobs offering over $25/hour now. That used to be ~$15/hour, but that was also when fast food places were minimum wage (or around there) instead of $15+/hour.

      • The Other Kevin

        My oldest kid, who doesn’t have a lot of skills and a questionable work ethic, is making at least $15 an hour at McDonald’s.

        One of the problems is people like me who have a career are still getting our annual 3-6% annual raise.

      • The Last American Hero

        Yep. Not sure when the effects of compression will hit or how they will manifest, but there is a clear misallocation of resources. Maybe everyone just goes and works for a competitor to get the adjustment they need.

        Or the robot masters take over and we are all unemployed.

      • Nephilium

        TOK:

        One of the reasons I jumped to the new place was the previous place passed on raises for the workers for multiple years in a row. All Hands meetings were “Look how good we’re doing!”, while the team meetings were “Well, we didn’t get the numbers we wanted, so we’re not doing raises this year”. April will be two years at the new place, I have not received a raise yet (my hire date apparently lands in the worst possible timing for the employee when it comes to their review cycle), but I did get a bonus last year at least.

    • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

      U.S. credit card debt rises to average of more than $10,000 per household

      *mind boggles

      I get squeamish when I have ANY rollover to the next month on my cards.

      • AlexinCT

        I never have a roll over. If I spend it, it is to get points on the card, which gets paid off before they have the chance to even levy interest. Fuck giving these douchebags my money.

    • The Other Kevin

      Good comment: “It’s even worse. He said don’t help any group who doesn’t vote Democrat. Their vision of democracy is just endless tribal warfare, dressed up with fancy adjectives to impress the Swifties.”

      • AlexinCT

        They claim to be the good guys. The once that care and are better…..

        Then they tell you if you are not in the cult you deserve death.

        Yeah, good guys, fo sho.

    • juris imprudent

      The Hashemite kingdom you mean?

  21. Sensei

    A Gallup survey released Friday affirms the sentiment, finding that only 44% of Americans rate U.S. healthcare good or excellent, down from 62% when Democrats passed ObamaCare in 2010. A mere 28% rate the country’s insurance coverage highly, an 11-point decline. ObamaCare may rank as the biggest political bait-and-switch in history.

    Remember Barack Obama’s promise that if you like your health plan and doctor, you could keep them? Sorry. How about his claim that people with pre-existing conditions would be protected? Also not true. The biggest howler, however, was that healthcare would become more affordable.

    Obviously more government regulation and possibly single payor is the only thing that can solve this government created problem. Right?

    https://www.wsj.com/opinion/unitedhealthcare-and-the-obamacare-con-insurance-ea8dd896?st=Kggmc6&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • Tundra

      I’m reading a lot of chatter about the evils of “for profit” healthcare providers and insurance companies. It’s clearly prepping the battlespace for a commie-style single payer nightmare.

      I hope I’ll have enough money to buy private.

      • juris imprudent

        Yep, loads of hand waving about for-profit hospitals, while 75% are non-profit.

      • R.J.

        Hard to be for profit when Obamacare limited profits at insurance companies.

      • Tundra

        Oh man, that’s spectacularly retarded. Wait until he gets the news from his insurance company.

      • slumbrew

        I can just picture the dude filming that with a mug of coffee in his hand, shaking his head. “I _told_ that dumbass the ice was too thin to drive on…”.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        It’s 4wd, he can back out…

    • slumbrew

      ISTR that’s a somewhat misleading figure; if you ask, generally, “is US healthcare good?” you get the figure above.

      But if you ask “Is _your_ healthcare good?” you end up with much more favorable results.

      I.e., everyone thinks that other guy’s healthcare sucks, but theirs is pretty good.

      • The Other Kevin

        I think it’s important to separate insurance vs. health care. I really like my doctors and my physical therapist, but I don’t like my insurance. I’ll bet 90% of people agree.

      • slumbrew

        That’s a good point. Plus, in US health “insurance” isn’t insurance in any meaningful way anymore.

        Adios, major medical insurance, hello “free” wellness exams.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    Pallets of cash incoming

    President Joe Biden addressed the nation Sunday after meeting with his national security team, calling the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s “abhorrent” regime a “historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria.”

    “At long last, the Assad regime has fallen,” Biden said. “This regime brutalized, tortured and killed literally hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians.”

    At the same time, it’s “also a moment of risk and uncertainty,” Biden added, saying that the U.S. would “support Syria’s neighbors, including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Israel, should any threat arise.”

    ——-

    Speaking at a defense conference Saturday, before rebels advanced into Damascus, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the speed and scale of the rebels’ rapid advance came, in part, because Assad’s chief backers — Iran, Russia and Hezbollah — had all been “weakened and distracted,” in recent months.

    That has left Assad “basically naked,” Sullivan said. “His forces are hollowed out.”

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Sunday evening that the fall of Assad’s regime means “the Syrian people finally have reason for hope.”

    Our policy of destabilization is working.

    • Jarflax

      They can hope the next dictator is nicer. I suppose that is indeed a reason for hope, but not a great chance of it.

  23. Not Adahn

    So I watched “Murder Mindfully.” It’s kind of cute, if not terribly original. Kind of in the vein of “Kleo.” I caught a couple of odd translations, but I don’t speak German.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Bring back Joe Camel.

    For the children

  25. Common Tater

    “A Philadelphia man who was exonerated and given a $4.1 million settlement after serving 24 years in prison for a murder conviction that was dropped is headed back to prison — for a separate killing.

    Shaurn Thomas — who was freed from a life sentence in 2017 after his 1992 murder conviction was overturned — pleaded guilty last Thursday to a 2023 slaying, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

    Thomas, 50, was convicted of gunning down his girlfriend’s friend, Akeem Edwards, last year after the 38-year-old father allegedly failed to pay out $1,200 for the cocaine Thomas gave him to sell, according to the local paper.”

    https://nypost.com/2024/12/08/us-news/shaurn-thomas-awarded-4-1m-over-wrongful-murder-conviction-confesses-to-separate-killing/

    WTF??

    • creech

      Asshole could have doubled or tripled his $4 million money just betting on Phila. sport teams to lose critical big games. No, he has to go out and start selling dope.

    • rhywun

      Yeah, he should have pled innocent and hoped another police fuck-up would work in his favor.

    • R C Dean

      Dude’s got $4MM in the bank, and he’s doing small-time coke deals?

      Criminals gonna criminal, I guess.

  26. PieInTheSky

    Government needs to think like a start-up, says minister

    A cabinet minister has urged “disrupters” to join the civil service in a bid to make government “think a little bit more like a start-up”.

    Pat McFadden, who oversees the Cabinet Office, said officials needed a greater “appetite for risk” to deliver public services more effectively.

    In a speech, he said he wanted Whitehall to follow the “test and learn culture” at leading tech companies.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xjqvngekjo

    whatever can go wrong

    • rhywun

      Sir Keir

      Seriously?

      How do Brits put up with that shit.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Yeah, he got his knighthood from his time as a lawyer prior to being PM.

    • juris imprudent

      urged “disrupters” to join the civil service

      Proving that trans-gender is not the only daftness of the day.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    It’s complicated

    “I find it fascinating that big tech is interested in these technologies,” says Sharon Squassoni, a research professor at the George Washington University who’s studied the nuclear industry for years. But she wonders if the companies understand how much time and money it will take to harness the power of the atom.

    “I’m really perplexed,” she says.

    Big tech firms have long promised to grow sustainably, and in recent years they’ve pledged to slash or even eliminate their greenhouse gas emissions.

    Initially, they tried to do so with solar, wind and hydroelectric power. “If you went back a decade, they were all focused on being 100% renewable-energy powered,” says Ted Nordhaus, executive director of the Breakthrough Institute, a Berkley, Calif.,-based environmental think tank that has studied nuclear power and the tech sector.

    Large tech companies purchased power from renewable sources, but Nordhaus says they drew criticism, because the purchase agreements often left parts of their demand uncovered. For example, purchasing power from a solar plant does little to reduce emissions during night time operations.

    Over the years, some companies have moved towards 24/7 matching of their demand with clean energy supply. Nordhaus says that change, together with the anticipated and enormous power requirements of AI, have left nuclear power as one of the few solutions.

    There are no drawbacks to “renewables”. It’s all free and easy and limitless.

    • The Other Kevin

      AI requires a lot of power. Why don’t they just build more solar farms?

      • Common Tater

        Only people who have to think at night will have jobs.

    • Not Adahn

      NPR had a story about “green steel” that’s made by using hydrogen. I can see how hydrogen as a reducing agent could createiron from ore, but not how it could possibly produce steel.

      Searching online, the only thing I can find is that the reduced iron gets mixed with recycled steel to produce diluted-but-technically-still “steel.”

    • rhywun

      they were all focused on being 100% renewable-energy powered

      Out of the goodness of their hearts.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    X-energy says its first reactor could come online as soon as 2030, but its design still needs approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    That process takes time, and AI needs power now. Some longtime nuclear skeptics wonder whether Silicon Valley executives really understand what they’re getting into.

    “These are champions of innovation who believe they can disrupt any technology,” says Lyman. But “nuclear power is a tough nut to crack.”

    Squassoni worries that nuclear power simply isn’t the right fit for fighting climate change.

    “You need the biggest bang for the buck in the shortest amount of time, and nuclear is not that,” she warns. “If that’s where you’re putting your money, you’re consigning us to severe climate change.”

    Nothing will be built because the default position is “work backwards from no.”

    • The Other Kevin

      “Nuclear is a no-go because it will take too long to get past all the hurdles we put in its way.”

      • R C Dean

        Hardly anybody seems to think the proper response to “This will take a long time” is “Well, we best get cracking on it, then.”

      • slumbrew

        Precisely – it’s not slow due to any sort technical issues. It’s 100% regulatory drag.

    • rhywun

      you’re consigning us to severe climate change

      Which is, what, six years off now? I forget.

      • rhywun

        Amazing how water is constrained by county borders.

    • The Other Kevin

      Excellent. Sounds like that judge was trying to game the system to get him convicted.

    • R C Dean

      I am mystified by how a jury can hang on the more serious charge, and acquit on the lesser included charge.

      But, I’ll take the “W”.

      Let’s see if the Riot-American community mobilizes during winter/the holiday season.

      • Not Adahn

        Ther people who want to fry the guy got bored and wanted to go home?

      • Drake

        I doubt their will be riots. The weather sucks and the dead bum might make an even worse maryt than George Floyd.

      • slumbrew

        I’m with Drake.

        Professional agitators and their paid (*winks at R C Dean*) shills aside, I just can’t imagine the average New Yorker is going to hit the streets demanding justice the crazy person threatening people on the subway.

      • rhywun

        I am mystified by how a jury can hang on the more serious charge, and acquit on the lesser included charge.

        #metoo

        I have a feeling there are grotesque details of the trial that haven’t been made public yet, touching on the corruption and unlawful procedures among other things.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Squassoni says she thinks the slow nuclear industry just won’t be able to catch up with speedy Silicon Valley, and if it can’t, there’s going to have to be a different solution. “I don’t know,” she muses. “Maybe the answer is just to use less AI.”

    Rationing and price controls will work.

    • juris imprudent

      A political scientist by training…

      bzzzt

  30. grrizzly

    BREAKING

    Daniel Penny Is Acquitted in Death of Homeless Man on New York Subway

      • ron73440

        You don’t hate the corporate media enough, the only mention of Neely was this:

        Penny placed Neely, 30, in a chokehold on the train car floor, holding him there until police arrived. The subway performer known for his Michael Jackson impersonations was declared dead in the hospital and Penny was then charged.

        No mention of all his arrests.

        No mention of him threatening people that day.

        No mention of the hispanic man and black man that assisted Penny to hold Neely down.

        no mention of the fact all the people in the car with Neely told the cops Penny did the right thing.

      • cavalier973

        Maybe Don Trump will Daniel Penny the corporate media.

        Metaphorically speaking.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    All hands on deck

    Well-known Stellantis executive Tim Kuniskis is returning to the automaker effective immediately, CNBC has learned.

    Kuniskis, who retired from the automaker in May, will once again lead the company’s Ram Trucks brand, according to two people familiar with the decision. The people, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the move, said the company’s leadership team alerted employees about the decision earlier Monday.

    His return comes roughly a week after Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares unexpectedly resigned from the automaker following problems with its North American market.

    Women and children first.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Kuniskis is arguably best known for leading Dodge for most of the last decade or so. He is considered the “father” of Dodge’s high-performance Hellcat models and “the unofficial spokesman” for American muscle cars.

    During his tenure, Dodge reestablished itself as a quintessential American muscle car brand. The brand did so with vehicles such as the more-than-700-horsepower Challenger and Charger Hellcat models and controversial Challenger Demon drag race cars. He also introduced the Hellcat-powered Ram TRX pickup truck.

    That’s not very green.

    • slumbrew

      Maybe this is a pivot back to ICE.

      CAFE standards will need to get shanked, first.