Monday Morning Links

by | Jan 27, 2025 | Daily Links | 243 comments

Well, this is a Super Bowl almost nobody in the world wanted to see. The Eagles demolished the Redskins while the Chiefs relied on some crucial cameral angles and inconclusive evidence to pull out a win over the Bills. May their two fanbases enjoy it. Meanwhile, across the pond, Spuds are in freewill, and the Ange Era is on a precipice. ManUre got a goal to win a listless game at Fulham. But three points are three points. And that’s pretty much it for sports.

This seems to have been a short-lived crisis. Starbucks and flower shops will breathe a sigh of relief.

This will be interesting. I hope they manage to pull it off this time around.

What a coincidence. I’m sure I’ve seen this one before. And will see it again. And again, And again.

Yes, I’d like to see what happened in Florida and NC. And I’d like to see the entire chain of command involved fired, at a minimum.

What’s wrong with people? That little guy is just trying to serve people and do his job.

This is quality trolling. Just savage.

Good. Keep it up.

Good (part 2). This is a local issue.

What kind of bullshit is this? Are people not allowed to take their boat to the islands anymore?

Weeeeeird. I got nothing else to add here.

This is for Banjos. And for our happy 13th anniversary today. Ditto for this one. Enjoy them both.

And enjoy this lovely Monday, dear friends.

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

243 Comments

  1. UnCivilServant

    Are people not allowed to take their boat to the islands anymore?

    Wait until the locals return to the traditional pracices with regards to visitors. 💀☠👻

    • SDF-7

      Wait until the visitors return to the days of privateers and the actual meaning of the Second… Y’arrr!

  2. SDF-7

    This seems to have been a short-lived crisis.

    Ah… now I get the front page image. I suppose I should have right off – but it didn’t click at first.

    Well played and good morning, Sloopy. Morning, all.

    • SDF-7

      Actually getting to the topic — I’m more than a bit surprised at this point that they don’t realize he’s serious and willing to use US economic power (as a first step… we haven’t gotten past step 1 that I know of yet). I appreciate that they don’t want to look weak for internal politics, but you’d think there would be a little communication through embassies along the lines of “Look — let us saber rattle a little, then bring the flights in at night where we can hide them like Biden did to your people for a while so we look like we’re standing up to you, si?”

      Going back to the problem mentioned the other day — perhaps in this age of “Every moron 20-something staffer thinks it is xir job to leak foreign communications” they don’t think they actually have back channels anymore.. but again, that really needs to be fixed so this sort of face-saving discussion and “consider options / take negotiation positions that aren’t really going to happen” stuff can occur. Stupid social media age, dangnabbit!

      • UnCivilServant

        A back channel deal wouldn’t have worked because the current US administration doesn’t want to appear as though anyone can defy them with impunity, so the winning must be public.

      • AlexinCT

        Back channel deals can be abused. I love the “Don’t fuck with us cause we will bring you low” way these things are being handled. We know ho has the upper hand, and the days of being cucked are over.

      • R C Dean

        “you’d think there would be a little communication through embassies along the lines of “Look — let us saber rattle a little, then bring the flights in at night where we can hide them like Biden did”

        That becomes a much more viable option after a show of strength/resolve.

      • DEG

        “A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that a human being deserves,” Petro said. “That is why I returned the U.S. military planes that were carrying Colombian migrants… In civilian planes, without being treated like criminals, we will receive our fellow citizens.”

        I watched the Homan interview with Tucker Carlson. He says there is a process that you have to go through to deport someone which includes working with the home country before you deport anyone.

        If the Colombian president actually returned planes carrying deportees without taking the deportees, that says there was already a deal worked out between the US and Colombia that the Colombian president reneged on.

      • UnCivilServant

        A migrant is a criminal the moment they illegally enter a country.

      • juris imprudent

        The way the Colombian president waxed about the beauty and joy of Colombia, anyone wanting to leave must’ve been mental. That would explain not wanting them back.

    • Ted S.

      Juan Valdez grew coca.

      • AlexinCT

        Diversification is important to a farmer…

      • Drake

        That’s the compromise! Decriminalize coca in in exchange for all their illegals back.

  3. cavalier973

    Trump pardons are just more news worthy than Dark Brandon pardons.

    • juris imprudent

      Dark Brandon pardons were pardons of love.

  4. cavalier973

    Merry Anniversary!

    • SDF-7

      Ditto — y’all really bring a lot to the site and we thank you for it. Many more happy and healthy years to you both, and hopefully the girls aren’t running you too ragged!

    • Tonio

      Thanks!

      We had forgotten all about that. I guess that’s a good thing, since it indicates that we are so established that we don’t have to celebrate hanging on for another year.

      And remember, we couldn’t do it with out your comments, content submissions, and financial support.

      On a personal note, Cav, I haven’t forgotten about you and will email you later today. Thanks for writing for us.

      • cavalier973

        You’re welcome!

        Did you ever figure out where I am from?

        *the other night on zoom, they were trying to guess my secret origins based on my accent. They said that Heroic Mulatto could have figured it out, because he is a real life Professor Higgins, complete with musical numbers, but HM wasn’t there.

      • cavalier973

        *a quick search of my comment history will reveal where I was reared.

      • cavalier973

        *also, my wife asked to whom I was talking, and I explained that it was a group of people I had been interacting with for over a decade, from the days of the Reason.com comment section.

        Has it truly been that long?

        I’m old.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Had it really been eight years since The Glibening? Damn, I’m getting old…but still not as old as most of you. 😉

      • Trigger Hippie

        …Or what cav said.

      • sloopyinca

        It’s somewhere close to the website anniversary. Today is my and Banjos 13th wedding anniversary.

      • Tonio

        No, I didn’t pursue that. It seems kinda stalkery, and I don’t use AI.

        Your dialogue with your missus reminds me of a joke:

        Teacher: Mr. Smith, I’m worried because when I asked the class what their parents did he said ‘my dad plays piano in a whorehouse.’
        Mr. Smith: Actually, I’m a lawyer, but how do you explain that to a 6-yo?

      • Trigger Hippie

        This is what I get for skimming the links then shit posting post haste. Happy anniversary, you two.

      • PutridMeat

        where I was reared.

        Hmmmm, a good 25 minutes and nothing?

        Judiciary Committee meeting room?

    • Tonio

      Oh, fuck, it was right there in your AM links. I’m a total idiot. Sorry for stealing your thunder.

  5. juris imprudent

    “I’m assuming they hang out with other guys with big yachts. We’re hoping that the message goes out that Molokai is very touchy about bringing tourists to Molokai,” Ritte said.

    I’m thinking this needs a redux of Rowdy Roddy Piper and coconuts.

    • cavalier973

      Snuka was indicted and arrested in September 2015 on third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges in relation to the May 1983 death of his girlfriend and mistress, Nancy Argentino, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He pleaded not guilty,[9][10] but was found unfit to stand trial in June 2016 due to dementia.[11] Terminally ill with abdominal issues,[12] his charges were dismissed on January 3, 2017, twelve days before his death.[13]

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Snuka

    • Tonio

      “We’re hoping that the message goes out that Molokai is very touchy about bringing tourists to Molokai.”

      Your gold-standard NIMBY, folks. Also, a luddite.

      “In July 2019, Ritte was arrested while protesting the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea.”

      Basically, he wants that whole island to be the equivalent of a “sunset town.” Imagine the reaction if, for example, some Mayberry type hamlet had the sheriff stop a tour bus of black people and ask how long they were planning to stay.

      • juris imprudent

        He should only be allowed to live there half the time, since he isn’t pure blood.

  6. Trigger Hippie

    ‘Long close partners in anti-narcotics efforts…’

    lol, wut? I think the writer of this article has that bass ackwards.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Long, close partners in Pro-Narcotics work, maybe, but the only anti- would be given Colombian neckties.

      • UnCivilServant

        Look, you can’t have anti-narcotics efforts without the people making narcotics. Otherwise there’d be nothing to intercept a small fraction of for PR purposes.

  7. SDF-7

    What’s wrong with people

    Obviously the thief has pho morals.

    • cavalier973

      Some one was trying to steal the job-stealer.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      It is a consequence of America First policies. Blame Trump.

      • AlexinCT

        Well played…

      • Rat on a train

        Server leaving before an ICE raid?

  8. AlexinCT

    Juan Valdez left Colombia long ago to have a better life because Colombia had been flirting with marxism even when.

    • juris imprudent

      Bolivarian pretensions predate Marx. You were born to be a fire-and-brimstone Baptist Alex – you missed your calling.

      • Trigger Hippie

        “Cotton Mather ain’t got shit on me!”

        *checks on Mather’s denomination*

        Oh, nevermind.

      • AlexinCT

        Sigh…

        You realize that my mention of Juan Valdez and marxism was because the marxist in Columbia were at their peak during that time (FARC)? But you do you man. I am now certain you are an agent of the globalist agenda with a bone dude.

      • juris imprudent

        I am now certain you are an agent of the globalist agenda with a bone dude.

        LMFAO, if I was truly evil, Ohhh, how I would fuck with you. Shit, I still might.

      • Jarflax

        Wait, Glibertarians rates a full time undercover agent? Awesome! Although, I am a bit confused since I agree with that agent more often than not, and I am quite nationalist.

      • AlexinCT

        LMFAO, if I was truly evil, Ohhh, how I would fuck with you. Shit, I still might.

        Methinks you overestimate your abilities, since I am fucking with you.

    • Nephilium

      /looks at the countries that have tourism as a prime industry

      /looks at the countries complaining about tourists

      /crosses off every country that is on both lists from vacation plans

      • Jarflax

        People bitching about customers is a pretty universal thing. I think living in Hawaii has to be a lot like living in a city hosting the Olympics or other big event, only it goes on forever.

    • R.J.

      Hawaii’s economy is very robust and can easily survive without tourist dollars.

      • Sean

        Captive audience?

        Pineapple exports?

      • R.J.

        Hawaiians could lobby for a Spam factory, since they love it so much.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Surf Rider Tax.

      • Tonio

        Pineapples, coffee, and macadamia nuts.

        The Port of Pearl Harbor is huge.

        The military bases and government-funded research facilities (volcanos, rainforest, oceanography, astronomy). This latter category would be ripe for some DOGE action.

      • Rat on a train

        Don’t the natives want too close the observatory because it is on sacred land?

      • PutridMeat

        Don’t the natives want too close the observatory because it is on sacred land?

        The most recent kerfuffle (last decade+) has been about the construction of new telescopes, specifically one of the new generation of very large (30m +) telescopes, TMT. There’s some sort of agreement for a fixed number of telescopes (I’m not aware of demands to close fully, but I’m sure there’s some out there), because apparently the gods are OK with a little bit of violation of their sacredness, but not too much. If you want to build a new one, you have to tear down an old one….

        Most amusing (?) was the scramble of many oh so rational astronomers to trip over themselves respecting the sacred religious beliefs of the natives, given their absolute disdain and dismissiveness of any sort of traditional western belief systems as oh so backwards and undeserving of any consideration. Even those who supported construction had to navigate severe cognitive dissonance as they tried to square their perception of themselves as oh so virtuous protectors of the oppressed with their desire for a shiny new toy.

      • juris imprudent

        PM you nail my objections perfectly about holy/sacred land(s). Those who hold Jerusalem and thereabouts sacred but don’t think any other people (e.g. Native Americans) have such claims, or those who are vice versa – that all indigenous claims are sacrosanct but not those of the Abrahamic faiths.

        If you own it, you can think whatever you want about it. If it ain’t yours (under title) STFU.

      • R C Dean

        I’m willing to go along with claims of sacred sites that have a good historical basis. Temple Mount? OK. Every square inch of hundreds or thousands of square miles? Any random piece of North Dakota, for example? Not so much, especially as those kinds of claims are usually the bootstrap for some sort of extortion or grift.

      • juris imprudent

        Sacred now is just sanctification of an older grift/theft.

    • Suthenboy

      A lot of problems would disappear if the Jones act was repealed.

  9. Trigger Hippie

    “People are very nervous about ships leading tours to Molokai. That’s why we all gathered at the wharf,”

    …Okay…

    Get a lot of tours via $250 million yachts around those parts, do ya?

    • UnCivilServant

      They can’t tell the difference between a yacht and a cruise ship.

      • R.J.

        It only takes a few generations for entitled marxists to turn a seafaring society into one that can’t tell the difference between a yacht and a cruise ship.

      • Nephilium

        R.J.:

        What about a schooner?

      • Raven Nation

        TBF: some of those private yachts are rather large.

      • DrOtto

        A schooner is a sailboat, stupid.

      • invisible finger

        A schooner is a big beer glass.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        A schooner belongs on a prairie.

  10. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Excellent music selections. My favorite is “You Take Me Up”

  11. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Burning the midnight oil and hitting the ground running is name of the game. There’s gotta be a way more efficient way to do this, but it’s government, so…

  12. rhywun

    #winning

  13. R.J.

    I had to switch weather apps (massive subscription raise). The new app has commercials for TEMU. Is TEMU some kind of bizarre Chinese sociology experiment on Americans?

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      Which one were you using before?

      • R.J.

        I was using “Storm” for IOS, which was great for years. It was .99 cents a month for weather. I liked the layout and paid the subscription for storm tracks. Storm tracks are fairly essential in Spring here.
        Wunderground weather is my second choice (soon to be primary choice), it provides storm tracks and data with ads. It’s not as user friendly.

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        I’ve heard Wunderground can be a little on the spyware-y side. I use MyRadar. I recently installed RadarOmega but haven’t used it yet

    • R C Dean

      I think Temus is basically “We have been flooding America with cheap crappy knockoffs through Amazon. Why let them take a cut?”

    • UnCivilServant

      Temu is another argument for blockading all exports from China until they starve.

      • DrOtto

        Not just yet. They sell O2 extenders, that everyone else has stopped selling due to EPA pressure. It’s a cheap and effective way to cheat a hoopty through emissions tests when the catalytic converter isn’t quite up to snuff. Of course, I would never advocate installing them, that may not be exactly legal used in that application. But a $1,500 new converter on a car worth $1,500 isn’t exactly a smart play. Some people just need to get to work.

    • Ted S.

      I use the weather apps for the local TV stations.

      • PutridMeat

        I look outside…

      • Raven Nation

        Yep. Although I also have Accuweather as travel prep.

    • slumbrew

      I’d believe it’s some sort of AI experiment – “how can we make our ads just porny enough to get guys to click, but no so much we get banned”

      • Ownbestenemy

        ^^^ And probably barely 18 AI generated ladies wearing revealing clothing.

      • juris imprudent

        That’s an interesting thought – who will be held accountable for AI child porn creation?

      • Jarflax

        Computer images age faster than humans. They are older than they look.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        who will be held accountable for AI child porn creation?

        Well, Musk is the current 2-minute hate object, but Zuck’s in the running after firing his factcheckers.

    • DrOtto

      If you like junk e-mails, by something from TEMU.

      • DrOtto

        Buy, not by

      • rhywun

        Fortunately, that is never going to happen in this reality.

    • LCDR_Fish

      Just using websites on my phone – I normally use weatherbug.com in the US – but here in Italy, I’ve found meteoblue.com to work really well for live satellite imagery/precipitation/etc locally.

  14. Suthenboy

    I have zero sympathy for countries that actively tried to purge segments of their populations by exporting them to us and now dont want them back. Tough shit, we weren’t asking.

    I see the MSM hasn’t changed their spots one whit. They are still running PR for evil. What the fuck guys? How did we let the likes of them be in charge of the message? By arguing on their terms, that’s how. I think that may be Trump’s superpower, not arguing on their terms.

    FEMA isn’t the only house that needs a cleanin’. DEA, FBI, IRS, and others come to mind. How about this as a metric? Any agency that has ceased to have direct contact with the public outside of midnight raids should be burned to the ground? That is more or less the definition of ‘enemy’ isn’t it?

    I am guessing the guy trying to steal the robot is….a lunatic. Someone start a go fund me to buy a sex-bot for him.

    I am not sure why people are confused about freedom of speech and publicly funded speech.

    I am not qualified to weigh in on the Hawaii thing. The situation seems very complicated and I know next to nothing about it.

    Porcine organ transplants seems like a decent idea if they can get it to work but there is the little detail of pig life expectancy. They might want to work on that as well. I suspect that before this method is perfected a different method will prove better.

    • UnCivilServant

      Having known recipients for different organ transplants, your average human transplant only lasts for so long as well, shorter than the original would have if not for X thing that caused need for transplant. With the limited supply of human donor organs, simply being able to put something in a lot of these patients would be an improvement over what they’re getting now, which is waiting.

      • AlexinCT

        My mother had 2 kidney transplants. I was on my way to give her my kidney when some kid on a motorcycle had a terrible accident and ended up comatose. They did one of the first non-familial transplants for her, and I got to keep my 2 kidneys. That kidney lasted 21 years. Some idiot doctor desperate to sell flu shots gave her one, and triggered a rejection (it overcame the anti-rejection drug’s protection). She though she was done at 53, but they gave her another transplant two years later (man, she hated dialysis), and she kept that for almost 20 years. It would have been longer if all the other complications had not taken her life. All in all, however those transplants gave her more than 43 extra years.

      • DrOtto

        I was anti-flu shot well before the current vaccine bullshit, because the flu shot was always just a recurring trying to hit a moving target scam. The current vaccine bullshit got me to rethink all vaccines as probably up to no good.

      • AlexinCT

        Polio and Tetanus…

        Other than that, why?

  15. creech

    Now the Eagles need to demolish the Chiefs to make Taylor cry and keep Chiefs from becoming as hated as the Brady era Pats.

    • Nephilium

      But that means cheering for the Iggles.

      • slumbrew

        Think of all the entertainment to be had by watching the fans eat horse poop if they win.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Horse poop guy really has me wavering on whether I am truly against the Chiefs in this one.

      • creech

        If it means beating the Chiefs and ending the insufferable commercial ads featuring Reid, Kelce, Mahomes, then so be it!

      • slumbrew

        I was vaguely amused by the Doritos “pre ad” with Chiefs players reviewing potential Super Bowl ads.

        “What did you like about it?”

        “I liked that Patrick wasn’t in it”

    • slumbrew

      Too late on that last part.

    • sloopyinca

      The officials might disagree with you and take it out of the Eagles hands.

    • juris imprudent

      as hated as the Brady era Pats

      Too late.

    • Wood Chipped Wednesday

      I still think even as a life long dolphins fan, I would rather have Brady era pats than mahomes chiefs

    • R C Dean

      The first placement seems OK to me, based on his knee going down.

      I watched the replays of the second one during the game (the “brotherly shove” play, which was illegal a few years ago and I absolutely hate). I think it was one of those too close to call plays – could have gone either way, I’m not seeing enough to overturn it regardless of the initial call.

      • juris imprudent

        The two refs had it marked quite differently, and somehow the nearside one was never questioned. For the record I think they both had it wrong – Allen was stopped right on the line.

      • trshmnstr

        The two refs had it marked quite differently, and somehow the nearside one was never questioned.

        The one on the far side didn’t appear to actually mark the ball. He just ran in.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Lol, maybe the refs got it right then because I think the first placement is wrong but the second one Allen is short of getting it.

      • juris imprudent

        I went and double checked. The Down Judge and Line Judge are both responsible for marking the ball on a running play.

    • juris imprudent

      More than the refs, it was the two desperation heaves – one from Mahomes, the other from Allen – and the results. Mahomes throw should’ve been intercepted, and somehow wasn’t. Allen’s throw should’ve been caught, and somehow wasn’t.

      • R C Dean

        If you’re referring to Allen’s last throw, it was an amazing pass that the receiver just dropped. There wasn’t a questionable call on that one.

        I was in and out a little, but I thought I saw that there was one Mahomes throw that both teams had their hands on and the ball touched the ground. I thought that one should have just been called incomplete (rather than kerfuffling around about “control” of the ball), but I think they called it a Chiefs catch.

        What I didn’t see was any flopping or “you gotta be kidding me” roughing the Mahomes calls. Which before yesterday’s game was what everybody was bitching about.

      • juris imprudent

        I don’t so much question the call on the Mahomes throw – tie goes to the receiver, and it is very debatable that the ground helped the catch… ball didn’t appear loose.

        It was more a matter of God seems to favor the Chiefs. I can’t recall a break that has gone against them.

      • Wood Chipped Wednesday

        Ji: it’s like the family guy episode about gods being against the pats lol

    • The Gunslinger

      Here’s a thought. When you need 1/2 yard for a first down, run a play that clearly gains 2 yards. Don’t smash the ball into a mass of bodies where nobody can see shit and hope the referees give you an accurate spot of the football.

  16. Suthenboy

    I am guessing when large numbers of tourists show up to smallish Hawaiian islands supplies suddenly run short…supplies already artificially too expensive.
    Is that a problem? I dont know, just guessing.

    • R C Dean

      That’s why you overcharge the tourists.

  17. Common Tater

    “This is for Banjos. And for our happy 13th anniversary today.”

    Happy Anniversary!

    The 13th is white lace. So you can buy her sexy lingerie, “But it’s traditional, baby!”

  18. Common Tater

    “Good (part 2). This is a local issue.”

    LOL, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is on that shelf.

    • PieInTheSky

      You can no longer burn books to to CO2 emission standards.

  19. Q Continuum

    “revelling (sic) in the wanton destruction of Palestinian communities”

    Leaving troll reviews on Google is totes equivalent to livestreaming raping women and cooking live babies.

    • R C Dean

      And, of course, because journalisming, they are wrong because some of the “reviews” were of Lebanese, not Palestinian, terrorist facilities being deconstructed. Of course, we don’t know for sure if some of the buildings were used by terrorists (although in Gaza, its a safe bet), but to the extent destroying terrorist facilities is the same as destroying Palestinian communities, well, I don’t think the biggest issue here is buildings getting wrecked.

      • Suthenboy

        I dont care. I stopped making find distinctions on Oct. 7, 2023.
        In my view that was when the time for talking ended.

      • Ed Wuncler

        Suthen: I always ask that in light of what happened on Oct 7th, what were the Israelis supposed to have done? Were they supposed to sit on their hands and say, “Hey Palestinians, we know you’re an oppressed minority, so we won’t bomb you back to the stone age but could you pretty please with a cherry on top, give us back the hostages?”

        I feel like the Israelis have had a lot of retraint because if that was me, I would tell the Palestinians in Gaza that they have X amount of time to give us back the hostages and for the Hamas leadership to surrender themselves or else we will invade Gaza, turn it into a parking lot, and whoever is left, they can either chose to bend the knee and accept Israeli jurisdiction over them, or move onto another Arab country.

      • Ed Wuncler

        And I’m not even a warmonger and felt bad for writing that but shit man, how long does this keep on going? Hamas or the PLO kill or kidnap a bunch of Israelis, the Israelis retaliate, the world cries foul, then a ceasefire is enforced, the Palestinians break the ceasefire agreement, and we are back at square one.

      • Suthenboy

        Yes Ed. Too many playing games at the cost of uncounted innocent lives. End this.
        Give the hostages back now, surrender the murderers and disarm or we exterminate you. By that I mean no more Palestinian cause because there are no more Palestinians.

        I dont feel bad about writing that. As I said, all of my empathy/sympathy evaporated explosively on oct. 7, 2023

      • juris imprudent

        Palestinians break the ceasefire agreement

        Speaking of that, has any American hostage been freed yet?

      • juris imprudent

        we exterminate you

        Muslims (like Christians) should welcome this – martyrdom for God, the holiest of all deaths. And if you harbor some doubts about that, your fellow believers will be happy to kill you for your inadequate faith.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        It will keep going until Europe forgives the Jews for the holocaust.

      • R C Dean

        I was a little disappointed in Trump going along with the current hostages-for-terrorists swap deal. I was hoping for more “You have 72 hours to turn over every American citizen, or else we ask the Israelis to evacuate Gaza while we bomb the whole place flat. Let’s face it, Raytheon is pretty pissed at me, and so throwing them a bone makes this a win-win for me.”

      • rhywun

        how long does this keep on going?

        Ask the U.N.

    • Suthenboy

      This. As I mentioned in my links review, the MSM is still running PR for evil. There is no equivalent between the Israelis and the Palestinians. It is a pretty clear black and white situation yet they keep pulling shit like this and wonder why they have no credibility.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ljI-isM0bg

      • AlexinCT

        The fact people still feel compelled to defend an evil cult that tells you they know they will win the war in time, because they are willing to murder all their own children to to exterminate the other side, should leave no doubt about who is who in this conflict.

  20. Common Tater

    “Trump signed an executive order enforcing “the Hyde Amendment and similar laws that prevent Federal funding of elective abortion, reflecting a longstanding consensus that American taxpayers should not be forced to pay for that practice.””

    https://dailycaller.com/2025/01/25/donald-trump-executive-orders-hyde-amendment-mexico-city-policy-abortion/

    So an executive order to follow the law?

    “Trump signed another executive order revoking Biden’s Presidential Memorandum of 2021 that supported funding abortions abroad, and reinstating the Mexico City Policy — a Reagan-era rule that forbids foreign non-governmental organizations from funding abortions as a condition to receiving U.S. global health aid. Trump had reinstated it in his first term but Biden rescinded Trump’s reinstatement of it.”

    So back and forth, back and forth?

    • Raven Nation

      Probably need some kind of nuclear option. Rescind all/most existing EOs and make Congress pass laws. And, if possible, make them pass discrete laws.

      Yeah, I know I’m hallucinating.

    • PieInTheSky

      funding abortions abroad – I mean if you want fewer migrants…

    • Suthenboy

      Stop funding NGO’s. Period.
      If Govt is forbidden to do it directly they cant hire it out with taxpayer money. That is bullshit.
      Also, Lee Iococa…*spit*…no more subsidies or bailouts. If you have to subsidize it it is a bad idea. If you have to bail it out it is a failure. Stop paying for bad ideas and failures.

      • The Last American Hero

        SLD, but a lot of nonprofits are doing work the government used to do – expensively and poorly. The NFP’s are able to do it a lot more efficiently. A big example is HUD – who were shit slumlords. The current model is to pay banks and NGO’s to build and operate affordable housing. They do it a lot better than HUD ever did.

        Not the fedgovs job to build affordable housing, but if we have to have it, I’d rather they outsource it to NFP’s.

        I also don’t get the NGO thing – this isn’t Europe, it’s ‘Merica, and we have NFP’s (technically we have exempt organizations) not NGO’s.

      • juris imprudent

        pay banks and NGO’s to build and operate affordable housing

        Bullshit. The entire premise. Housing is nothing that needs to be subsidized by anyone, because every subsidy builds a dependency. You are tacitly conceding a “market failure”, which really means a result I don’t like.

        No NFP is still an NGO when it gets money from the govt.

      • rhywun

        every subsidy builds a dependency

        This.

        You see it everywhere. We have generation after generation living in “public housing” because they are encouraged to do so.

        And it kills the middle class where they are being forced to pay for it the most.

      • Jarflax

        Subsidies necessarily increase prices. If the goal is lower prices for housing, subsidies are a step in the wrong direction regardless of the efficiency of the delivery mechanism for the subsidy. What a subsidy does, by definition, is add dollars to the demand side of the equation. If you subsidize rents/down-payments you increase the prices of rent and houses directly. If you go the other way and subsidize construction you increase the demand for, and thus the price of construction materials and labor. In the short term this might seem to increase the supply of housing and thus drive down housing prices, but as a result it drives those not receiving subsidies out of business and creates a new equilibrium dependent on subsidies. Leave markets the hell alone. The whole problem was caused by do gooders deciding that the cheapest housing wasn’t nice enough and regulating away the lowest cost portions of the supply.

      • Fourscore

        Now do corn/ethanol.

      • Fourscore

        I really feel left out.

        Oh well, maybe I can make it up in volume.

      • juris imprudent

        The program was eliminated in 1993, and re-instated in 2002.

        Sweet, sweet federal money.

      • Jarflax

        Syrupy sweet.

    • rhywun

      So back and forth, back and forth?

      Do you even executive order, bruh?

    • DrOtto

      His criticism is not necessarily wrong, although not everyone wants a sports car, but his using a 1985 Lincoln is curious as the 1979 is so much larger that the downsized 1980 and up town car.

      • R.J.

        Yes. His complaints should have gone to the incredibly poor “1 wheel drive” cars had at the time which kept you from getting up steep hills, also the way parts broke routinely every 5,000 miles, and how cheap chromed plastic de-laminated within a few years. Hubcaps were awful too, we were just about to enter the mag wheel only era, driven by the fact that hubcaps were so wretched and thin.

    • R.J.

      You won’t hear me arguing against that.

    • slumbrew

      Clarkson mocking someone’s hair with that perm is just something else.

    • Not Adahn

      He’s not wrong about the 1970s love of rectangles.

  21. Not Adahn

    Good morning!

    Observations from yesterday’s steel shoot:

    The GI sights on a parkerized 1911 are completely freaking invisible against a steel target.

    The BPS is a very nice shotgun. This particular model was set up for home defense, so the effect at 20 yards was laughable compared to my more often used 28″ semiauto. Apparently it’s not made anymore though?

    • UnCivilServant

      I’m sorry about not being able to make it. I’m finally on the mend from this head cold.

    • PieInTheSky

      what was the old saying a poor shooter blames the sights?

      • UnCivilServant

        No, a poor shooter owns a Hi-Point.

      • UnCivilServant

        (For the record, I was joking about the price tag of a Hi-Point and not the skill of those who own them)

      • PieInTheSky

        must be better than a Lo-Point anyways

      • UnCivilServant

        You’re thinking of Lorcin – They went out of business.

        (Fun fact, the only time I ever heard that company’s name come up, it was related to some criminal act or another by their customers.)

      • Not Adahn

        Oh, I hit every time. It just took forever to determine where the gun was pointing.

  22. PieInTheSky

    young female student looking for an affordable place to rent?

    no problem. just be prepared to live with a Send Bobs and Vagene (or 7) and sleep in his bed. and maybe even cook for him/them.

    https://x.com/Slatzism/status/1752807424572965048

    Am i racist fro laughing at Send Bobs and Vagene or is the add poster racist for explicitly requesting a young white female?

    • PieInTheSky

      apparently England is full of i9ndian and pakistani men reting rooms to young women only

      https://x.com/AnaboliclyJelqd/status/1752813603302900093

      Also I do not know what a Brampton, Ontario. is but a mattress on the floor in a shared room there seems to cost 400$, though I assume those are not true dollars

      • R.J.

        “Send a photo of a sandwich you have made.”

      • Ownbestenemy

        First one sounds like some weird Snow White fetish

      • slumbrew

        400 CAN so, no, not true dollars.

      • slumbrew

        If that first one is even real, I have to wonder if they got any bites.

        Any woman thinking that setup is a good idea is a candidate for conservatorship

    • Suthenboy

      Did the ad get any takers? That is what I want to know.

      • R.J.

        I can see the nice lady now:

        “IT’S MA’AM!”

      • juris imprudent

        Hopefully a purple-haired triggly-puff (of dubious gender).

  23. The Other Kevin

    King for a Day is such a great song. I completely forgot it existed for probably 20 years. Then I heard it somewhere (probably here), and I recognized it and still knew all the words. I love it when that happens.

  24. The Other Kevin

    I mentioned this Friday, but our buddy from Border Patrol was in town last week, and he’s with his son out east this week. He works in that New Mexico section, and he said there were big sections they don’t patrol because there just aren’t enough resources. Part of his job is to be the liaison to the military. He’s going back to a completely different job. It will be fun talking to him next week.

    • R.J.

      Boy he really did look like Shrek!

    • rhywun

      She looks like she wants to be anywhere else.

    • EvilSheldon

      It’s tough to see, but it looks like Dorian’s throwing a Kimura armlock on…

  25. PieInTheSky

    Abraham Van Helsing may be the most famous of the early occult detectives, but there were many others who appeared in Victorian and Edwardian literature.

    Today I look back at some of the early supernatural sleuths who helped to define a genre that is still going strong today…

    https://x.com/PulpLibrarian/status/1883530753847578971

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Penske Porsche win Daytona. Sebastien Ogier wins Monte Carlo.

  27. Common Tater

    “A Florida father is accused of running over and killing his eight-month-old child, whom he placed in the middle of a busy intersection.

    Justin Golden, 20, was driving in the intersection of Lenox and McDuff avenues in Jacksonville at around 11am on Saturday, when he allegedly got into an argument with the passenger – who is believed to be the child’s mother, News 4 Jax reports.

    ‘The driver stopped the vehicle at the intersection, opened the door and placed the child on the ground,’ the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office claimed.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14328167/Justin-Golden-father-run-kill-infant-intersection.html

    WTF?

    • R C Dean

      Yet another reason why I don’t oppose the death penalty.

      • Jarflax

        Yet another reason why I don’t oppose the death penalty.

        Hell, this story makes me reconsider my opposition to burning at the stake.

      • juris imprudent

        opposition to burning at the stake

        Too quick a death for this one. This one deserves real creativity and plenty of time.

  28. Suthenboy

    Completely random thought that some might find interesting: I grew up on a small farm. On the south east border there was a huge hedge of honeysuckle that was nearly impenetrable. I always had a keen interest in nature. Sometimes I would burrow into that hedge and just sit and watch. I would see all kinds of interesting critters. Once in the late ’70s I saw one of these but I am not certain which I saw. It was very silent and furtive but lit very close to me. I got a very good look at it for 20-30 seconds from less than ten feet.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_parakeet

    I say I am not certain because there is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_parakeet

    It could have been either but my memory is not clear enough to be certain. In any case at the time I thought it was likely a pet that had escaped. I half expect one day for some to be found and behold…they are not extinct after all. They just altered their behavior so as not to be shot at anymore.

    • Suthenboy

      This popped in my head because yesterday I transplanted some honeysuckle to a trellis in the back yard. Everytime I think of honeysuckle that bird sighting pops in my head

      • Not Adahn

        OU had honeysuckle hedges around the dorms. They were in full bloom at the beginning of the school year — when new freshmen come in and sorority rush is ongoing.

        The scent of honeysuckle is a powerful aphrodisiac for me.

    • Mojeaux

      POS House The House That Broke Me had a long hedgerow od honeysuckle in back (we backed up on a city park). It was pretty for about a week and there was absolutely ZERO smell coming off those flowers. Total waste. There is no reason to have it if it doesn’t smell.

      • Not Adahn

        The honeysuckle variant that grows here is scentless also.

    • The Other Kevin

      That brings back memories for me too. I remember we had honeysuckle somewhere in my yard when I was a kid. I remember how good it smelled. I also remember the next door neighbor was an elderly lady, and her grandsons would come from Michigan and stay a few weeks in the summer. We had so much fun building forts in the hedges.

    • PieInTheSky

      I assume this interests no one but honeysuckle in Romania is usually called Mâna Maicii Domnului which translates as “The Hand of the Mother of Christ”

      • PieInTheSky

        Although it is sometimes called Caprifoi

      • R.J.

        Caprifoi sounds like a weight loss drug.

      • slumbrew

        Ask your doctor if Caprifoi is right for you.

  29. PieInTheSky

    Brian Allen
    @allenanalysis
    BREAKING: Colombia just flipped the script—offering up their own presidential plane to bring deportees back from the U.S. Petro’s making it clear: they’ll take their people, but not on America’s terms.

    It’s a power move wrapped in diplomacy, and a reminder that dignity isn’t negotiable.

    https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/1883601963650089220

    • Mojeaux

      The cope is strongni in that one.

    • Not Adahn

      I’ve been watching Narcos. That has colored my attitude about teh Colombian presidency.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        That has colored my attitude about teh Colombian presidency.

        And the DEA and US. Narcos gave a pretty convincing argument that Columbia is essentially a vassal state of the US. Unrestricted arrest and extradition powers for DEA on foreign soil for crimes committed on foreign soil? That’s a conquered nation.

  30. creech

    So what is with this?? My wife’s church did the “Terms of Call” thing for its pastors yesterday. Each, as part of their “effective salary”, gets a “Housing Allowance.” Head pastor gets about 30% and one of the associate pastors gets 66%. I understand this is a perk in U.S. tax code that allows pastors to not pay personal income taxes on the fair market rental value of their private home. Nice deal! Not that I’m opposed to beating the tax man, but is this perk available to non-pastors? Can I ask the boss to credit 30% of my pay as “housing allowance?” Has a special perk for religious preachers been ruled Constitutional? Inquiring minds want to know.

    • Drake

      I think it goes back to lots of old churches having a Manse or Parsons House where the minister lived. Some still do.

      But yes – it is a perk for pastors, most of whom don’t make a whole lot of money. They do have to prepare their own taxes and justify that allowance.

    • Pine_Tree

      I don’t know the answers to any of your questions, but can comment that from what I understand, it was built into tax law to try (well?, badly?, etc.?) to deal with the (mostly) historical fact that some churches had parsonages and some didn’t – aiming for some kind of equivalency to avoid undesirable incentives.

      • creech

        Probably. But many factories once had “factory housing” for their workers. Today, few do. But if you are a regular worker, and not one of God’s holy preachers, your cost of living in a private home is not deductible for Federal income tax purposes. Justice and equity demands we all get an adjustment for housing costs!!

      • Nephilium

        creech:

        I can say that places with a high number of seasonal workers (locally, that would be the amusement parks, the islands, and the businesses supporting those) they will generally have employee dorms available.

      • Fourscore

        I had free Room and Board for a number of years when I was in the army.

    • R C Dean

      Good question. I’ve always wondered how tax-exempt status for religious organizations passes muster under the Establishment Clause, myself. They don’t have to qualify as charitable organizations, as I recall. They get exempted solely because they are religious. Caveat: could be wrong about this.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Yes, it’s available to non-ministers as long as certain conditions are met. But not as tax free pay.

  31. Common Tater

    “Donald Trump’s decision to pardon one of the dark web’s most notorious kingpins on day two of his presidency stemmed from a secret meeting at Mar-a-Lago with Libertarian leader Angela McArdle.

    And DailyMail.com has gone behind the scenes to reveal that Trump’s decision was a year-long campaign to win the party’s support to secure his presidential victory.

    The mastermind behind the online drug den known as the Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, was pardoned from his life sentence by President Trump on Tuesday.

    This came after Trump met with Libertarian Party leader McArdle 13 months ago. The two worked out a deal where he would speak at the Libertarian Party’s national convention in Washington on May 25, 2024.

    It was always going to be difficult to win over the Libertarians and Trump was met with boos when he took the stage. But when he mentioned his vow to free Ulbricht, the crowd erupted in applause.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14319213/donald-trump-pardon-silk-road-ross-william-ulbricht-victory.html

    • Certified Public Asshat

      I wouldn’t say this is Libertarians first win ever, but how many are there?

    • Suthenboy

      Ulbricht was not a drug kingpin. He simply made it possible for people to do business privately. That was his sin. No govt oversight and more importantly no govt getting its beak wet with every single fucking private transaction that takes place.
      See: Whiskey Rebellion.

  32. The Late P Brooks
    • Suthenboy

      Remarkable display of talent and skill.

    • Not Adahn

      Eyebrows were important to the ancient Romanians apparently.

    • rhywun

      KILL IT!

      • AlexinCT

        Tentacle pr0n!

    • Suthenboy

      That is pretty amazing. Sex jokes aside it will be the accumulation of developments like this that will make you wake up one day and realize you live in a very different, better world.

      • slumbrew

        I’m impressed by it catching a thrown tennis ball

      • Suthenboy

        No shit. I had to watch that a few times.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    The end of science!

    “This will halt science and devastate research budgets in universities,” Jane Liebschutz, a medical doctor and professor at the University of Pittsburgh, posted on Bluesky, in reference to the grant-review shutdown. The UCLA professor Lindsay Wiley echoed the sentiment, adding on Bluesky that the pause, which affects the distribution of a multibillion-dollar pool of public-research money, “will have long-term effects on medicine & short-term effects on state, higher education & hospital budgets. This affects all of us, not just researchers.”

    Paywalled Atlantic. One can only imagine the shrieking panic further described within.

    Science only exists if the government funds it.

    • Suthenboy

      “…posted on BuieSky…” Of course she did.

      Getting govt money out of research is the best thing that could happen.

      • R.J.

        You ain’t kidding. Science has become copying somebody else’s homework for years because of government funding. Very few real advances come from government funded science.

    • Nephilium

      Paywall Reader to get past most paywalls.

      Story without a paywall.

    • R C Dean

      Tearing down the current research-industrial complex is a prerequisite to building a (more?) functional one.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      The NIH funds a major portion of the research that gets done on campus, and money from its grants also helps pay for universities’ general operations. The fact that this support has been switched off so haphazardly, for reasons that remain unclear, and despite the scope of troubles it creates, suggests that higher ed will be profoundly vulnerable during the second Trump era.

      No, this move was telegraphed long ago, and universities full throated backing of one political party when they should remain neutral did nothing to help you.

      • Suthenboy

        “…for reasons that remain unclear…”
        I think I see the problem.

      • Ed Wuncler

        “Well what did you expect us to do? The GOP are full of anti-science morons.”

        They did to themselves when they lied and beclowned themselves during COVID.

  34. Sean

    I played https://squaredle.com/xp 01/27:
    *19/19 words
    ⏱️ In the top 2% by speed

    I played https://squaredle.com 01/27:
    *22/22 words (+12 bonus words)
    📖 In the top 3% by bonus words
    🔥 Solve streak: 799

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Government workers of the world…

    Whether we know it or not, we depend on them to do their jobs. Butchers selling chicken and parents filling their babies’ bottles with cow’s milk depend on food inspectors and epidemiologists. Electricians and carpenters on federally funded projects depend on the full faith and credit of the US government – and the pencil-pushers in Washington – to pay them, so that they can pay their rent. Immigrants’ children depend on teachers and principals to ensure that when they get out of class, their parents won’t have been snatched from the schoolyard.

    If government workers capitulate to Maga, the government folds, and we all go down with it.

    ——-

    If the implementation of any of Trump’s plans violates the AFGE’s collective bargaining agreements, the union promises to “take appropriate action to uphold our rights”. But lawsuits are not the same as organizing. And only organizing, in a larger context of militant social justice activism, will give workers a fighting chance against the Maga onslaught.

    In Europe, left labor organizations are uniting against anti-immigrant and anti-queer violence, condoned and encouraged by the rising number of elected fascist governments. UNI Europa, a confederation 242 trade unions in 50 countries, for instance, has signed the Manifesto of the International Federation of Antifascist Trade Unions, launched on the one-year anniversary of a fascist-led anti-vaxxer mob attack on the Rome headquarters of the Italian General Confederation of Labor (CGIL) in 2021. The manifesto, says UNI, goes beyond labor issues to “promoting social justice, defending human rights, and strengthening democracy through collective action”. In the US, members of university faculty associations are on the frontlines of resistance to Florida Governor Ron Desantis’s “anti-woke” agenda.

    Trade unions have historically aligned with socialists and communists. That’s why fascist regimes outlaw them and imprison or assassinate their leaders. But there are signs that even conservative unions may recognize that the oligarch-heavy Trump administration is not on the side of the working stiff. The Fraternal Order of Police, which supported Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024, issued a joint statement with International Association of Chiefs of Police condemning the president’s blanket pardon of the January 6 rioters, including those who assaulted police officers.

    It’s like a MAD Magazine street corner anarchist come to life, big spherical “BOMB” and all.

    • Suthenboy

      MAD was also fond of the street corner sandwich sign guy. “THE END IS NEAR!”….so panic and do what I tell you to do.
      Yeah, I know, the end is always near. I have lived through the end of the world so many times now I have lost count. It is getting more than a little bit tiresome.

    • juris imprudent

      Police never seem to have quite bought in to the idea of it being worse to punish one innocent then to let 100 guilty escape punishment.

    • R.J.

      “ Butchers selling chicken and parents filling their babies’ bottles with cow’s milk depend on food inspectors and epidemiologists.”

      No they don’t.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Story without a paywall.

    Didn’t work for me, but thanks anyway. I don’t really need to read any more of the Atlantic’s hysterical screeching.

  37. JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

    We spent a Christmas on Molokai when I was a kid. The locals were friendly enough and we didn’t catch leprosy. But then we arrived on a small plane rather than a luxury yacht. The copilot didn’t show up for the flight so my brother, who was about 17 at the time, had to fill the role.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    All these headlines about ICE deportation raids make it sound as if they are just randomly snatching people off the street. I am accordingly outraged.

    • Sean

      Pay no attention to the corresponding drugs and guns, or the trendy arugula affiliations.

    • slumbrew

      There was one sob-story from Boston about a guy getting picked-up but he didndonuffin’ – you had to dig in quite a bit that:

      1) He got picked up because he was hanging out with another violent felon who ICE was there for and
      2) He had already been deported once and had snuck back in

      Not quite as sympathetic as the headlines would have you believe.