Thursday Afternoon Links

by | Jan 23, 2025 | Daily Links | 177 comments

You kids can follow the headlines on your own. Here is a wrap-up of things you may have missed this week.

YOUR DAILY NUTPUNCH (OR OVARY TAP): DC Jail, Federal Bureau of Prisons slow to release J6 prisoners who were pardoned. The DC Jail holds federal prisoners under contract to the USMS. Whether this is incompetence or resistance, ppl need to be fired. Now, one for the other ‘nad: DC jail guards panicking over their abuse of J6 political prisoners. And finally, a bonus poke in the eye with a sharp stick: Federal Public Defender Heather Shearer defended 43 of the J6 defendants. Her messaging seems to have radically changed from January 3 to Jan 22, though both accounts are filtered through the media.

TOO-LOCAL NEWS: Unarmed “urban park ranger” shot while rousting the crazy homeless. Fortunately the ranger was wearing a ballistic vest, and survived — his personally-owned vest, because the city deployed these people before equipping them with even vests. These rangers are unarmed parks and rec employees who (IIRC) have the ability to “counsel,” and in extreme circumstances issue civil citations to the taggers and kids riding motorized scooters in the park. This was a hugely foreseeable consequence of poorly thought-out action and incompetence on the part of the City of Richmond and of local woke politics.

Former Congressman, and suspected mole person, Henry Waxman.

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER ‘SUNKEN WORLDS,’ POSSIBLE HOME OF MOLE PEOPLE: Potential patches of Earth’s ancient crust, sometimes called “sunken worlds,” may have just been discovered deep within the [Earth’s] mantle, thanks to a new way of mapping the inside of our planet. However, these mysterious blobs appear in places they should not, leaving researchers scratching their heads.

DESPITE PARDON, FAUCI STILL IN JEOPARDY: While this article (h/t Stinky) holds out the hope of convictions for lying to, or contempt of, congress, I’d be happy for the truth. And perhaps some prosecutions of underlings. Senate GOP leadership also needs Rand Paul on board, and this could well be his price for that.

MEANWHILE, ON THE WEST COAST: Armed LA residents patrol and protect their neighborhoods, ignoring evacuation orders. I’m sorry the people of Southern California are going through this. I suspect that the long-term effect of this will be an exodus, and that advice like this will fall upon deaf ears of the remaining residents, and that predictions like this will not pan out.

SCIENTISTS AMAZED AT HOW FAST YOUR MOM THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING: A new measurement confirms what previous—and highly debated—results had shown: The universe is expanding faster than predicted by theoretical models, and faster than can be explained by our current understanding of physics. Well, then they need a new theoretical model. The more we learn, the more we know how much we don’t know. This is being described as a crisis, but should be viewed as an opportunity for more grant money since this won’t affect jack in the daily lives of anyone outside of the physics community.

THE FUTURE AND ITS ENEMIES — LUNAR MINING GRIFT EDITION: Last week I gave you some links about how many of the souvenir Moon rocks provided by NASA had gone missing, and how there is (predictably) a black market for them. Then I found this turd from the UN: This Moon Rock or Lunar Sample is on loan from USA’s NASA to the United Nations. No one person is legally permitted ownership of a moon rock, nor any piece of the moon, as the moon is considered to be shared by all mankind. Got that? Your kid will never be able to buy a speck of moondust encased in lucite at a museum gift shop, even if it is recovered from cleaning out the cargo hold of a returned spacecraft, possibly commingled with earth dust, and unsuited for use in scientific research. Even though we all collectively own the Moon, nobody is actually allowed to own any part of the Moon. This is, of course, utter commie claptrap. Already I’m seeing people laying the intellectual framework to impede non-state Lunar exploration and exploitation. First through treaties such as the Artemis Accords which the US originated and got other nations to sign. Notably, China and Russia are not signatories to the accords. Second, through whiny editorials like this which call for grift in the form of more funding for “education” (failed government schools) and “grants for underserved communities.” Thirdly, in the form of the tried-and-true sacred spaces / pristine natural environment grift such as that being attempted by something called the World Monuments Fund.

INDIA’S FIRST SPACE-DOCKING MISSION A SUCCESS: No, not that type of space docking, but this type with satellites in orbit. ISRO is working very hard to build a manned space program. I wish them well.

The comments are all yours. I know there are lots of pardons and EOs going down.

About The Author

Tonio

Tonio

Tonio is a Glibs shitposter, linkstar (Thursday PM, yo), author, and editor. He is also a GlibZoom personality and prankster. Tonio is a big fan of pic-a-nic baskets. His hobbies include salmon fishing, territorial displays, dumpster diving, and posing for wildlife photographers.

177 Comments

  1. SDF-7

    DC jail guards panicking over their abuse of J6 political prisoners.

    No….. it was a political prosecution and treatment akin to a gulag! We’d never have that here in America! The DC judges were also impartial and pure as the driven snow! And the DC juries being a bunch of federal employees that we terrified with 20 minute riot videos… that’s normal!

    I’m too cynical to expect it to happen — but if we don’t want this to happen again, there needs to be a serious, serious price. Despicable.

    • SDF-7

      And yeah — nothing like a “public defender” that made it her job to convince her clients they were guilty and should plead to whatever the government wanted. After all — she knew some of the cops (and probably has kids in the same private schools as Congress staffers or some bullshit).

      “Company town” (and probably in the 1970s version of “The Company” no less) indeed as someone said this morning. The judge, the prosecutor, the “defender”, the jury — all of them working for the government, all of them despising Orange Man Bad (because he might threaten their technocratic rule) and his supporters… but it was all fair and just.

      I’m going to need to go play New Vegas and blow up Deathclaws at range with .50 explosive (GRA) now, Tonio. Thanks for that…

    • R C Dean

      “there needs to be a serious, serious price”

      Weren’t we just talking about how shooting people who need killing in the back of the head on the street is a Bad Thing?

      “blow up Deathclaws at range with .50 explosive (GRA)”

      This is the way.

  2. Rat on a train

    Have the two stranded astronauts docked?

    • Tonio

      I would suspect so. They have lots of spare time compared to other astronauts since they were only supposed to be there for a few days. What happens in space stays in space.

      • Bobarian LMD

        What happens in space stays in space.

        And then it just floats around in the cabin, until it burns up upon re-entry.

      • juris imprudent

        queues up Space Baby scene from 2001

      • Tonio

        The two “stranded” astronauts are both in their sixties, so highly unlikely.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Tonio:

        Agree. No way some 69-ing astronauts will lead to a baby.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Tonio:

        Agree. No way some 69-ing astronauts will lead to a baby.

  3. The Hyperbole

    “this is just one example of the unconfirmed rumors of beatings and abuse against pardoned January 6th political hostages that are flooding the internet.”

    Fuck sake.

    • SDF-7

      Obligatory. All that keeps leaping to mind on that subject for me. (The clip doesn’t do the episode justice, frankly…)

      • Nephilium

        /goes and eats a corned beef sandwich for breakfast

  4. SDF-7

    DESPITE PARDON, FAUCI STILL IN JEOPARDY

    I still like the idea someone floated here recently — let Putin prosecute him as part of a Ukraine peace deal. See how the foul gnome likes Siberia. Bonus points if he has to defend himself against wolves — not the death by beagle he merits, but close enough.

    • R C Dean

      I find it difficult to believe that all the shenanigans around the plague didn’t violate some state laws.

  5. Suthenboy

    When I was taught in grade school about the world we live in I had the instinct at the time that most of it was wrong. I was correct. We have evolved a different understanding of most of that stuff. I suspect in another fifty years what we are teaching now will look the same: Most of what we think we know is wrong.

    There was no Big Bang.
    The universe is not expanding in the way we understand the word ‘expand’.
    There is no center/edge/end of the universe.
    Life exists in relative abundance throughout existence. We will probably run into some of it eventually, maybe regret it. Intelligence life is out there probably in more than insignificant amounts but our chances of running into it slim.
    Magical thinking is bullshit (despite the physics community constantly trying to prove magic is real) however, when we discover how it really works it might seem like magic.

    • SDF-7

      Don’t make me pull out the big guns.

      And yeah — I’ve always thought that the infinitesimal slice of space/time we’re able to absorb and extrapolate from means that we could easily be completely wrong about a lot of things (most things). But I’m optimistic enough to think that the physicists are keeping that in mind and not getting emotionally attached to particular theories and worldviews (yeah… as if… humans get emotionally attached… people can get defensive about coding style, much less what they did their thesis on! I know, I know…).

      One of my favorite sub-sections of relatively hard SF is the “Humans get beyond the solar wind / our section of the Arm and find out that we’re in an odd part of the universe and things look completely different to the rest of the Universe” after all.

      • juris imprudent

        Whoever it was that recommended Vinge – thanks, I’ve really enjoyed reading him.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Um, Dark matter, the latest filler in physics, gotta plug that theoretical hole!

  6. Pine_Tree

    If the jail is still holding folks who’ve been pardoned, then there’s a Marine Barracks right there in DC that can be called on to get the job done.

  7. SDF-7

    since this won’t affect jack in the daily lives of anyone outside of the physics community.

    Of course it won’t — cosmological physics is all relative, after all.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Thats pretty dark,
      Will it matter?

  8. Fourscore

    I really didn’t need to know about Space Docking, Tonio

    Old dogs don’t need to learn new tricks

    • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

      Space Docking

      Ewwwww!

  9. The Other Kevin

    Another fun EO: Trump declassifies JFK, RFK, and MLK assassination files. Not that there would be much in there, I doubt there will be a memo assigning Agent Joe Smith to the grassy knoll.

    https://x.com/amuse/status/1882536654277320999

    • The Other Kevin

      He told the guy to give the pen to RFK Jr.

    • juris imprudent

      I hope there was a date in there for public release.

      • The Other Kevin

        15 days for JFK, 45 days for the others.

      • SDF-7

        “The President did not specify, so per our internal auditor regulation 667, subsection F, clause Y, sentence T, word W we continue to use the Venus system when it comes to document release and will promptly release the documents once the prescribed Venusian days elapse….”

      • Wood Chipped Wednesday

        ‘public’ 3/4 gonna be redacted

        I could also be misguided in what declassifying means

    • SDF-7

      For some reason I’m expecting the IC to drag their feet on this regardless of what EOs are issued. There’s something there they don’t want folks to know.

      I still want the law through Congress just dismantling the entire existing intelligence service and firing every last one of them. Fuck their eternal “Means and methods!”… “It will hurt America!” You assholes have proven to be a bigger threat to America than anything shy of The Day After movie I can think of.

      • Suthenboy

        Wife was coming around to it on her own earlier but I just told her explicitly the Menken quote about hobgoblins, Paris as the city of light, etc and how always and everywhere rulers fear their own people more than any foreign power and are the people’s biggest enemies, i.e. this federal government.

      • juris imprudent

        Super happy thought – any delay is used an excuse to fire everyone up and down that chain.

    • Pine_Tree

      I think it’s Scott Adams on X who asked something along the lines of “why would the gov’t keep files incriminating themselves if they really did it?” Well, yeah, but I think the main answer is bureaucratic inertia. Leftover stuff get filed in that same big warehouse holding the Ark of the Covenant, and some of it was some guy’s CYA file accidentally boxed up with his other stuff.

      • The Other Kevin

        There are reasons they haven’t released everything, and that alone will be interesting.

      • Rat on a train

        Also need to keep records of successful operations to help plan future ones.

      • Mojeaux

        Archaeologists and anthropologists of the future drool in anticipation.

      • juris imprudent

        Look at the shit the Nazis documented, and the Soviets. There doesn’t seem to be the same sense of shame we non-govt people might have.

      • R C Dean

        Because the government is made up of factions and ambitions, and keeping incriminating info (that you at least think you control) on others is always potentially useful, that’s why “the government” wouldn’t shred every piece of info that makes it look like a criminal cabal.

        I mean, if they did that, every file cabinet in DC would be empty.

    • grrizzly

      The most innocent explanation of why the JFK assassination files still have not been released is that his CIA handler, a woman in her late 90s, is still alive.

      • grrizzly

        his CIA handler = Lee Harvey Oswald’s CIA handler

    • Tonio

      But it’s still a worthwhile exercise in openness and transparency. I’m also hoping that this will be the first of many, many document drops to come, and the American public will learn exactly how incompetent and ass-covering the deep state has been.

      • The Other Kevin

        Agreed. I’ve heard everything in DC is “classified” by default. That came up during the Trump classified documents case.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Pretty sure that’s the point. It’s to show that .gov has been up to no good for a very long time. It’s to bolster his current case that the FedGov is shit.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Hope he doesn’t forget Epstein’s list of customers.

      Release that too.

    • Spudalicious

      All that’s left is gas receipts.

  10. juris imprudent

    we know what size it had at the Big Bang

    snicker, snort, giggle…….. BWAHAHAHAHahahahahahaha

    • SDF-7

      More TMI than a 1970s nuclear facility.

    • Suthenboy

      I have a long list of things I like not knowing. Information about some other dude’s pecker is at the top of that list.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Oh, so Suthen knows everything there is to know about raising chickens. No way he could learn from anyone else.

        A poultry version of Fauci I guess. He doesn’t need to look at any data about effective ways to raise chickens.

        Suthen: I AM THE PECKER!

  11. SDF-7

    LUNAR MINING GRIFT EDITION

    All that crap will last (like all international law) right up until someone has interests against it and is beyond their enforcement. Then all bets are off.

  12. J. Frank Parnell

    The universe is expanding faster than predicted by theoretical models, and faster than can be explained by our current understanding of physics.

    I expect it to continue speeding up and expanding faster and faster thanks to climate change.

    • Tonio

      [golf clap]

    • juris imprudent

      The universe is repelled by human existence.

      • Beau Knott

        How very Sartrean.

  13. Grummun

    space docking

    That is less scatological than I expected.

  14. Mojeaux

    ovary tap

    I don’t even have ovaries and that made me flinch.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I didn’t think the sequel to Spinal Tap was as good as the original.

      • Ayn Random Variation

        Nobody is “getting off”. They’ve already been in jail for 3 or 4 years.
        Not directed at you but this phrasing by the lefties annoys me.
        Whenever someone complains about the pardons I point this out and how long they should stay in jail, but I never get an answer.

      • Ayn Random Variation

        Not sure how this post was doubled and ended up up here too. But I’m not that bright.

  15. Suthenboy

    I think we have most of the technology for space mining…doing it is just a matter of cost. What we dont have is a feasible way of getting the stuff down here in significant amounts.

    I land on a million ton asteroid of pure valuable stuff. So what? I cant just drop it on the earth.

    There are rumors that we have cracked the anti-gravity problem but it’s eckstra sooper seekret so…..

    • Tonio

      There is very little on the moon which is worth transporting to earth, except scientific samples and souvenirs. They always give academics a pass on shit, and they want to kill a harmless souvenir trade.

      The killer app for lunar mining is onsite resource utilization of water and hydroxl ices.

      • Suthenboy

        Yes.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I have also seen some ideas to use the regolith for construction. As I understand it the material is far from ideal but has the advantage of already being there.

    • R C Dean

      “I cant just drop it on the earth.”

      I can think of one place you could drop it.

  16. creech

    Trump may have overstepped on his pardons of all J6 rioters. I now know at least two Trump voters who are outraged about those who assaulted cops getting off. Not that they will turn and vote for Dems, but have lost trust in Trump doing the right thing when it comes to any policy he advances in the future. One told me she was very upset that the rioter who “brain damaged a Capitol Hill cop” is now being set free. Is there such a cop out there or is this just a figment of the left establishment?

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      Is there such a cop out there or is this just a figment of the left establishment?

      100% figment for your bootlicking friend’s imagination

      • Pine_Tree

        not that that’s gonna matter or anything

      • juris imprudent

        I don’t know, that cop that ran off to the Blue Ridge mountains may just be brain damaged – even if J6 wasn’t to blame.

    • grrizzly

      You consistently hang out with the most pro-establishment kind of Republicans.

      • creech

        Should I divorce?

      • Sean

        Yes.

      • creech

        I’m too old to go out looking for one of those mythological libertarian women.

      • kinnath

        This horseshit story just will not die.

    • EvilSheldon

      “Bye!! Try not so suck off any more cops on your way out the door…”

      • slumbrew

        “Hey, you! Get back here!”

      • EvilSheldon

        Ten points to Slumbrew for catching the reference!

      • slumbrew

        That movie is seared into my Gen X brain.

    • Nephilium

      “brain damaged a Capitol Hill cop”

      What was the cops name? And how could they tell his brain was damaged?

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        And how could they tell his brain was damaged?

        Chris Pratt gif here

      • creech

        Apparently (as reported in Newsweek) the chief of the capitol hill cops testified to that star chamber Congressional committee that 140 officers were injured, included some with brain injuries because they didn’t have helmets, cracked ribs, crushed spinal discs, and one lost an eye. Either this was a lie (subject to perjury?), or misreported . In any case, this kind of info still floats around (“deadly insurrection on J6”) and the truth needs to come out. Will the spineless Republicans in Congress do anything? The Congressional perps may have been pardoned but they can still be investigated and revealed as the fascist lying criminals they are.

    • The Other Kevin

      What is the usual sentence for someone who assaults a cop?

      • EvilSheldon

        Usually something along the lines of, “Getting shot dead.”

      • Bobarian LMD

        Usually something in the past-tense.

    • Suthenboy

      There is no such cop. The only injuries and deaths that occurred were committed by the cops.
      Some rioters engaged in violence but I had the impression Trump did not pardon the violent ones.

      I think your friend is a bit irrational and really needs an excuse to come out as a Trump hater.

    • The Other Kevin

      The blanket pardons are less a statement about these individuals, and more about a system that can’t be trusted because it overcharged, coerced confessions, and mistreated every one of those people. We can’t even tell for sure who was violent at this point, because according to prosecutors and the committee, everyone was.

    • rhywun

      those who assaulted cops getting off

      I would hold the outrage until this assumption is actually proven.

      • R C Dean

        Don’t forget “and were given fair trials”.

    • trshmnstr

      Trump may have overstepped on his pardons of all J6 rioters. I now know at least two Trump voters who are outraged about those who assaulted cops getting off.

      Im sure he’s gonna lose sleep about pissing off the Mitt Romney wing of the party. He has so much to lose by not courting them.

    • R C Dean

      The thing is, by doing it now, the people who like the idea have been paid. The outrage will be a very distant memory by even the midterms.

    • Ayn Random Variation

      Nobody is “getting off”. They’ve already been in jail for 3 or 4 years.
      Not directed at you but this phrasing by the lefties annoys me.
      Whenever someone complains about the pardons I point this out and how long they should stay in jail, but I never get an answer.

  17. Sensei

    NPR. “Assessing Trump’s claim that U.S. pays ‘unfair’ share of dues to WHO”

    Is assessing going to be the new word for “fact check”?

    • Suthenboy

      NRP.

      I wonder what they will find? I am on the edge of my seat.

  18. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    We’ve pretty much purged our website of DEI and QUILTBAG content! I’m exhausted. Hope y’all are ready to party tomorrow night.

    • Sensei

      Guaranteed you find more in the upcoming weeks!

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      Speaking of hiring freeze, our vacancy announcements pages on our website is down to one page of listings, and the last of those closes in mid-Feb. For the first time probably ever, we won’t have any active vacancies by Feb 16! I’ll take a screen shot when that happens.

    • creech

      “I mean what conservative or libertarian leaning young attorney from a top law school doesn’t dream of working at the DOJ?”
      This is why we will never have our own “march through the institutions.”

    • R C Dean

      Ima hafta change my shirt. This one is just soaked with tears of pity and outrage for those poor baby lawyers itching to get their very first pair of jackboots.

      • trshmnstr

        “but I came to law school to make a difference!!!!11!!!”

  19. R.J.

    I’ve got your moon rocks right here!

    • The Other Kevin

      You’re supposed to put them in the front!

  20. Grumbletarian

    The universe is expanding faster than predicted by theoretical models, and faster than can be explained by our current understanding of physics.

    Some parts of the universe may have been expanding for up to billions of years longer than other parts.

    https://www.sciencealert.com/dark-energy-may-not-exist-something-stranger-might-explain-the-universe

    The passage of time isn’t as constant as our experience with it suggests. Areas of higher gravity experience a slower pace of time compared with areas where gravity is weaker, a fact that could have some pretty major implications on how we compare rates of cosmic expansion according to a recently developed model called timescape cosmology.

    Discrepancies in how fast time passes in different regions of the Universe could add up to billions of years, giving some places more time to expand than others. When we look at distant objects through these time-warping bubbles, it could create the illusion that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating.

    • SDF-7

      If the scientists start touting time as a big ball of wibbly wobbly stuff… I’m out.

      • PutridMeat

        Hey, I didn’t know you were a string theorist!

    • creech

      “Areas of higher gravity experience a slower pace of time”
      Must be coincidental that every place I ever worked had a high gravity conference room where meetings seemed to last forever.

    • Suthenboy

      We have gone from ‘may exist’ to ‘may not exist’. Nice stolen base there physicists.
      String theory is bullshit.

    • juris imprudent

      Not all rational and consistent as our intellects demand! Unpossible, God wouldn’t fuck with us like that!!!

  21. EvilSheldon

    Hey, anyone want to roommate with me for GlibCruise 2.0? I just confirmed my booking for 8/2026…

    Iceland! Solar eclipse at sea! Drunken shenanigans! Take EvilSheldon’s money at the poker table!

    • slumbrew

      Oh, a Glibcruise Party ain’t nuthin’ but just a lotta dancin’, and laughin’, and fightin’, and drinkin’, and fuckin’…

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Will there be space docking?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Sounds great. Should I wear anything special?

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        No need. It’s just the two of you.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Jamie:

        I set that up for Slumbrew!

        You were the kid who blew out other people’s birthday candles weren’t you?

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        I wasn’t sure he’d get it. I have trust issues.

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      Evil Sheldon is a very interesting person and an excellent conversationalist – this is a can’t-miss opportunity!!

      YAY!

      • EvilSheldon

        Awww, thanks KK!

        Full disclosure – I do snore.

      • Ted S.

        Then why don’t you share a cabin with him?

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        I already have a cabin and a rommate

  22. Sensei

    AP says it will use ‘Mount McKinley’ — but not ‘Gulf of America’

    I’m hoping GM renames its SUV model to match.

    • grrizzly

      It’s a trim not a model.

    • trshmnstr

      I hope Trump uses every tool that the left used to put pressure on “dead namers” to lean on AP.

  23. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Who would be your choice to break down and analyze the RFK/JFK/MLK files? I’m trying to think of someone on Twitter or the YouTubes that I would trust.

    • R.J.

      Has there been an indication of page totals yet? 1,000? 10,000?

    • EvilSheldon

      Joe Rogan. I’m not even fucking kidding. I would probably take up smoking, just to join in.

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        He’s definitely on the short list

        I’m thinking maybe Emily D. Baker if she decides to go there

      • Ayn Random Variation

        Simulation Commander and Bill Rice from Substack. They both dissected (and still are dissecting) the covid madness to such a degree there’s no excuse for not having public expectations of those fuckers.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Taibbi, Aaron Mate, Joe Rogan, Carlson (I’m sure there are others)…there are still some good ones left out there.

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        Taibbi is a good one!

      • Evan from Evansville

        He is indeed, KK.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Dave Burge.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        The greatest gift Iowa gave to the world since we graced the world with Fred from I Love Lucy!

    • R.J.

      How about feeding the whole thing into Grok AI and asking it to find sections that seem similar to any conspiracy theories? That would be interesting.

  24. Suthenboy

    I may have gone over this before.

    When you encounter something you have never seen before or something you have not experienced, how do you figure out what it is?
    You compare it to other things you already know. They are alike in this way, different in this other way. By comparing to different things you narrow that thing down to categories, sub-categories and eventually its own category by itself. (worth noting that this is how math logic works…set theory.)

    Trace that method backwards…what was the first thing you knew that you compared the first things you learned to? Yourself. This is why ‘self’ is the foundation of your entire body of knowledge and understanding. This is why we anthropomorphize everything, even when we aren’t aware of it.

    When we explain things our explanations mirror ourselves. Why does everything have to have a beginning/birth, a story/plot/life and an end/death? They dont. We impose those through our explanations of things. It is the way our mind works. This method has worked well for us regarding our need to survive in the environment we live in. Trying to use that method to explain things beyond our immediate intuitive understanding doesnt work nearly as well. It is like trying to fly a submarine. We create entities where there are none, plots where there are none, We imagine some kind of supernatural hierarchy that mirrors our own social structure.
    The method of understanding nature has given us leads us astray when we try to understand the much bigger picture. The scientific method is the most powerful tool we have – that is coming up with explanations and putting to the test…do they work or not. I wish people would start using it.

  25. Evan from Evansville

    “These rangers are unarmed parks and rec employees who (IIRC) have the ability to “counsel,”… Ha! I was employed by Carmel Clay Parks & Rec last year, and my formal title was “counselor,” working in the enclosure for after school children of affluent parents. Such pointless daycare.

    Hats off to the surviving urban park ranger for being both tough and for having excellent foresight.

  26. Stinky Wizzleteats

    “Met Mass Resistance From DC Jail and Federal Bureau of Prisons”

    Arrest them for false imprisonment/kidnapping. I know that it won’t happen but I can dream, can’t I?

    • Suthenboy

      Wut?
      Making up shit about a fantasy world? Same thinking as “If you did this or that you would not be qualified for this job, would you?”
      I did not do that. Audrey Hepburn is not alive.

    • rhywun

      Harsh and draconian!

      I’m sure he can furnish evidence of mom’s lesbian and illegal alien activisming. 🙄

      • Ted S.

        Well, The Children’s Hour has lesbian themes, although it’s Shirley MacLaine who plays the lesbian.

  27. Pope Jimbo

    I’m just now seeing that the usual GOP-quislings have announced that they won’t vote for Hegseth

    The nomination of Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary, advanced in a procedural vote Thursday afternoon, 51-49. Both Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted “no” in a procedural vote on Hegseth’s confirmation Thursday.
     
    Murkowski of Alaska said Thursday she is “unable to support” Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense, becoming the first Republican to state her opposition to President Trump’s nominee ahead of his Senate confirmation vote.
     
    Collins of Maine soon followed in saying she won’t vote for Hegseth, citing his views on women in combat.

    What grinds me about the women in combat thing is that it is more about the women officers than the enlisted gals. I’m sure there are some enlisted gals who really, really want to be in some combat role, but I don’t think there are really that many of them. The real issue is that many female officers want to be assigned to some combat role so they can advance their career. They need some field experience to prove that they can be promoted so general and infest the Pentagon.

    Anyone know what Hegseth’s thoughts are?

    • Fourscore

      Seems to work, Jimbo. Some are too ugly to be trading sex. OTOH, the EWs may not be so bossy

    • RAHeinlein

      I watched the confirmation hearings – his responses to questions on the “women in combat” issue was all about physical standards.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Call me whatever you like, but space origin legends are even less interesting than the personal lives of musicians and actors.

    • trshmnstr

      Call me whatever you like

      Okay, belchbreath

  29. Wood Chipped Wednesday

    The whole ‘Gulf of America’ thing is kinda stupid. HOWEVER, I don’t believe that it’s as big of a deal that the left and alphabet soup are making it. It’s the same thing as us having the gulf of California but everyone else calls it the Sea of Cortez, I don’t understand why people care so much.

    • rhywun

      It’s because Trump and therefore a big deal indeed.

      It will be amusing watching that crowd try to fit “Gulf of Mexico” into every conversation.

    • Rat on a train

      Wait until people find out about other bodies of water like the English Channel, Strait of Dover, Sea of Japan, …

      • Wood Chipped Wednesday

        re rat:

        Those are the same people that try and fit that they’re part of the alphabet soup into everything.

    • J. Frank Parnell

      Sea of Cortez seems much more problematic, being named after a white supremacist racist imperialist. It should be like Sea of Tlatetzauhcahuatzallichichihualayotl or something.

    • KSuellington

      Vacation down at the Gulf of America.

      🇺🇸
      Yup it works.

      It will always be the Sea of Cortez tho. One of my fav places and I love the ring of the name.

    • Ayn Random Variation

      It’s a beautiful troll. A great troll. Everyone is saying it. Nobody’s ever seen such a troll.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    What goes around comes around

    Just two days before Air Force One touches down in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom doesn’t know if he’s welcome to join President Donald Trump’s wildfire tour.

    The Democratic governor is willing and able to meet with the Republican president in Southern California on Friday, according to Newsom’s office. But the White House has not issued any guidance to the Democratic governor about his plans. In fact, Newsom’s team says it’s only aware of the president’s visit “from sources.”

    The uncertainty just hours before Trump’s arrival underscores the complicated relationship between two of the nation’s most formidable political rivals. Newsom, in particular, is navigating a crisis that could undercut his state’s recovery and his presidential ambitions.

    Newsom described Trump as a uniquely dangerous threat to American democracy for much of last year’s presidential campaign. And Trump regularly calls the governor “scum” — or, to be exact, “Newscum.”

    Go on, Gavin. Puff yourself up like a toad and tell the cartoon villain what you really think of him. Tell him you don’t take charity from Nazi scum.

    • rhywun

      Yeah, why the fuck would he want to hang out with Trump? His voter base won’t have it.

      • Fourscore

        The money is the same color.

        I have an idea taxpayers are going to take it in the shorts tomorrow.

    • Ayn Random Variation

      “Bend the knee bitch”

  31. Shpip

    DC Jail, Federal Bureau of Prisons slow to release J6 prisoners who were pardoned. The DC Jail holds federal prisoners under contract to the USMS. Whether this is incompetence or resistance, ppl need to be fired.

    Fired? Fuck that noise. Once DJT gets control of the FBI, go full Section 1983 on them, complete with 4AM raids and perp walks for the survivors.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    “This is a very difficult balance for him,” said Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College in California. “As a governor of California, he needs to work with the president to get federal aid for the state. As a national political figure, he feels pressure to attack Trump. It’s hard to do both of those at the same time, particularly with a very thin-skinned president.”

    Newsom, however, is gracious, charming and humble.

    • R.J.

      Newsom misses Biden, who never got mad at anyone, ever. Biden was a happy, smiley grandpa.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        You left out handsy…keep the grandkids away, especially the girls who use that shampoo that smells like cherry Kool Aid.

    • KSuellington

      I’d already predicted that Newsom would never, ever, ever be El Presidente. But the fire debacle just cements that. I don’t think he will successfully be recalled, but once 2026 comes around he won’t be in any more elected offices.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        The only reason he wasn’t recalled was that the entire left circled the hookers wagons to protect him. They lost that game once before, and they sure didn’t want to lose it again.

      • KSuellington

        Oh yeah. Once it looked like Larry Fucking Elder might actually have a chance of beating the Greased One the money started flowing. There was non stop tv, radio, print, internet and billboard ads promoting the party line. The news media was given full marching orders to make Elder look like a loon.

  33. Wood Chipped Wednesday

    Sitting at work shit posting on here is my favorite pastime, thanks for making me chuckle at work everyone.

  34. Gustave Lytton

    DC jail is ran by the district department of corrections, not FBP. It’s exactly what you’d expect from DC city government. And yet another reason that shithole should not only never be a state, but should have its home rule status revoked and return to direct supervision by Congress.

    • Gustave Lytton

      And the DC delegate expelled from the pseudo participation in Congress.

  35. Gustave Lytton

    Sensei- the best news is this kills any chance of a SMAP reunion.

    • Sensei

      LOL.