Thursday Morning Links

by | Jan 23, 2025 | Daily Links | 273 comments

Sabalenka is into the Final. The other match is still going in the third set as I write this. UPDATE: going to a tiebreaker in the third set. FINAL UPDATE: Keys fights back in the super-tiebreaker to win and advance! And across the pond, the penultimate round of UCL games are in the books and the race for the last handful of spots in the knockout round is gonna be insane next Wednesday. Not much other than that. I need to start paying attention to the NHL now. OK, moving on.

Ain’t no free-riders allowed. Sorry for your troubles. Start pulling your weight.

This is gross. One would almost think this lady is too emotionally invested in these cases to have handled them impartially. Which means some scrutiny is in order.

Fuck this mealy-mouthed turd. Honestly, that was the kindest assessment I could come up with.

I sure hope this is real. Too many lives wasted in that meat grinder already.

Still better than the Dodge Hornet. But one would almost think all these EVs got rushed to market because of all the free money involved.

Oh no! Anyway… I wonder how Acosta will manage to blame this on everybody but his employer.

Wasn’t this considered cruel just a week ago? My mistake. That only applies to one global border.

Does this publication even know who their audience is anymore? I mean…seriously.

Damn, dude. The hot dogs are supposed to stay in the front of the store. What a weirdo.

I hope I didn’t play this recently. I honestly can’t remember. Which would probably also apply to this one. Well, enjoy them either way.

And enjoy this lovely Thursday, dear friends.

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

273 Comments

  1. Pat

    Ain’t no free-riders allowed. Sorry for your troubles. Start pulling your weight.

    Dissolving NATO since it was a hedge against the expansion of a communist empire that hasn’t existed for 35 fucking years would be an even better move, but baby steps.

    • SDF-7

      Your mouth to Trump’s ears, Pat. I’m surprised we aren’t locked into an alliance against the Barbary Pirates at this point. (Actually — given the north coast of Africa and the Suez issues… that would be more pertinent to today…)

    • sloopyinca

      You won’t get an argument out of me. If not a complete dissolution, at least pare it way back.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Or, if Spain cannot pull its weight for various other reasons, they could just pull out of NATO

      • sloopyinca

        The heroin or fentynal addict rarely kicks his own habit without being dragged back to sobriety. The same philosophy applies to countries that are addicted to somebody else providing for their defense.

        Time for some tough love for Spain.

      • Jarflax

        Franco II Electric Flamenco!

    • PieInTheSky

      except for protecting Romania obviously

      • WTF

        We figure the vampires can take care of that.

  2. Not Adahn

    What a weirdo.

    What? She was offering “free samples,” he took her up on it.

  3. ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

    If judges are voicing their discontent at issued pardons, they need to be pulled from the bench. This is the constitution, this is how it works. If you cannot get behind that, then you cannot be trusted in your basic job functions.

    • Rat on a train

      Trump didn’t respect their authority …

      • SDF-7

        I could very much see a future South Park episode where Cartman is a judge.

        Kenny would of course be the bailiff.

      • Suthenboy

        At this point, me either.

      • Nephilium

        SDF-7:

        Butters is the bailiff. Kenny is the sketch artist or the person transcribing.

  4. Jarflax

    In my nightclub there would often be customers who objected when we threw a disruptive, or combative person out. We should handle the ICE watchers the same way I handled those customers, boot them also.

  5. SDF-7

    One would almost think this lady is too emotionally invested in these cases to have handled them impartially. Which means some scrutiny is in order.

    Honestly everything we’ve heard them allow, the screeds they’ve gone on, the “more vindictive than the prosecution” sentencing… I really think the entire DC set of courts should just be disbanded and the judges in question barred from further Federal service. Let the cases be taken up in West Virginia — it is close and less likely to be captured by the FedGov it is supposed to be ruling on.

    Then do New York state.

    • sloopyinca

      Perhaps it’s time to expand the DC court system and flood it, as well as the appeals district, with so many new judges that their ability to make these politically-motivated decisions is practically demolished.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      If you’re a righty being tried in DC or NY federal court you may as well either take a plea or blow your brains out. The judges and most of the juries they manage to cobble together are just rubber stamps for whatever BS narrative the trash prosecutors put forth.

      • Sean

        I guess “Law abiding citizen” isn’t an option for most.

  6. Not Adahn

    Had the political affiliations been reversed, the IRS would have already yanked that Episcopalian church’s tax-exempt status.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      To be honest, there should be no entity that is tax exempt, unless, of course, all of them are.

      • UnCivilServant

        So… who gets to tax the state and federal govs?

      • Not Adahn

        Nah, any fundamental right should be untaxable. Which means yes, all taxes on guns and ammo are unconstitutional, just like the time they tried to tax newsprint and ink.

      • R.J.

        I’ll put forward an idea. Anything that the state or government wants to do has to be begged for, not voted in. You want to implement a new mandate for the greenies? Start a gofundme. If you raise enough money (local only) you can do it.

      • Pat

        I’m fine with that. Treat every form of corporation as pass-through and tax the income or dividends when they hit the equity holders. Which we already do anyway. The legal structure is an abstraction by which the owners act collectively. Taxing the abstraction serves no function other than to deter capital accumulation.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      One look at that broad and they should have known what was coming. When the scorpion stings the frog or turtle or whatever the hell it is in that parable it’s not really its own fault.

      • WTF

        A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting it, but the scorpion promises not to, pointing out that it would drown if it killed the frog in the middle of the river. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: “I am sorry, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s my nature.”

      • Rat on a train

        Episcopal was enough notice that it would be political.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Not only that, but they have crossed paths with this bitch before:

        https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/historic-church-near-white-house-damaged-amid-unrest-leaders-pray-for-healing/2318673/

        Bishop Mariann Budde later on Monday criticized President Donald Trump for allowing police to use tear gas to clear protesters away from the church so he could pose for a photo op and address the country there.

        “The President just used a Bible and one of the churches of my diocese as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our church stands for,” Budde said in a statement. “To do so, he sanctioned the use of tear gas by police officers in riot gear to clear the church yard.”

      • R C Dean

        I vaguely recall the “protestors” were threatening to burn the church down.

        The whole notion of a “National Cathedral” seems like a violation of the Establishment Clause to me, even under my narrow reading of it.

        I do find it funny that if you were to call central casting and ask for a lefty lesbian Episcopal priestess, she’s exactly who they would send.

  7. Not Adahn

    Re: Teen Vogue,

    They seem to be strongly in favor of Mexicans and buttsex. What’s their position on weed, and can they therefore merge editorial boards with another niche publication?

    • SDF-7

      Beat me to it, NA. That’s precisely where my mind went as well.

  8. SDF-7

    Fuck this mealy-mouthed turd.

    I think there are some assholes even STEVE SMITH won’t touch (and he’s one of them).

    More seriously: 1) Weasel words won’t save you, jerk… you know full well what you were saying and how it would influence the election.

    2) Besides that point — security clearances should be like elevated permissions in an OS — given only when needed, revoked as soon as the operation is done. There’s no reason for ex-IC folks to keep them — they shouldn’t be cleared for new intel and they should be under “applies after the heat death of the universe” (as I understand it, that’s exactly how these are written) NDAs. Under pain of prison and all. So waah waah waah all you want… no sympathy from me here.

    • Pat

      Even better: make them pay to retain their clearances like Musk did with the blue checkmarks on Xitter, since it’s nearly the same sort of bullshit non-credential.

    • rhywun

      Honestly, that was the kindest assessment I could come up with.

      Kinder than anything that comes to my mind.

      Those 51 gentlemen and I assume -women are treasonous cuntes who are lucky to not be hauled in front of an honest judge.

    • Cunctator

      –“you know full well what you were saying and how it would influence the election.”–

      Precisely. The signatories said absolutely nothing when the letter was released. They knew exactly how the media would portray it. Not one of them said “Hey, you are misinterpreting what we said.” Fuck you, Brennan.

  9. R C Dean

    “This is gross.”

    Also highly unprofessional. In a functioning government with an actual justice system, she would be disciplined if not dismissed.

  10. Pat

    Aleks Dughman Manzur, co-executive director of the Vancouver-based Rainbow Refugee Society, says Canadian groups dedicated to helping LGBTQ refugees have received more than 900 inquiries since Trump was re-elected. The group doesn’t yet know how many of them may claim refugee status in Canada, fearing that Trump’s policies will fuel transphobia and put their safety at risk.

    Being a privileged cishet male shitlord, I personally participated in at least eleventy billion trans lynchings during Trump’s first term and got away scot-free, so their concern is well founded 🙄️

    • R C Dean

      That reminds me:

      I need to clear my calendar so I can hook up with my MAGA bros to go trans hunting. Also need to get some hemp rope for the lynchings, because I’m old-school that way.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Stick with nylon, it doesn’t leave those nasty neck burns…

      • Jarflax

        I wield a wicked pronoun

    • WTF

      That is such a bizarre response to Trump’s election. Trump is the only president to have been supportive of gay marriage when he took office. Obama was still saying marriage was between a man and a woman when he was elected, and Hillary was singing the same tune in 2016. Yet somehow the guy who supported gay marriage well before Obama and Hillary ever claimed to is the one who’s a threat to the LGBTQWERTY crowd.

      • R C Dean

        “The issue is not the issue. The issue is always the revolution.”

        Activist might as well be a synonym for communist. The modifier (black, gay, whatever) is purely camouflage.

      • rhywun

        This is exactly why T tied its fortunes to the L and G crowd.

        So they could claim that not wanting males to beat up females on the volleyball court or rape them in jails is “anti-gay”.

      • Jarflax

        He’s not a threat to the LGB at all. But the TQQIP2SAA part is about to lose their power, and I am happy to see that happen.

      • Wood Chipped Wednesday

        it’s the, “He’s a _______________ fuck face who needs to be shot” since he’s a republican that makes people belive that bullshit. Are there a shit load of Republicans who are anti-alphabet soup? Yeah. But the president is not one

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        I saw a YT video where he referred to the Quiltbag++ “community” as “The wi-fi password people.” I laughed harder than I probably should have.

    • juris imprudent

      “With Trump, crystal balls are hard to keep clear,” said Gabriela Ramo, past chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s immigration section.

      We aren’t doing phrasing there Gabriela, are we?

      • R.J.

        They keep turning to brass.

      • The Other Kevin

        I once knew a guy with a glass eye and a crystal ball.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        They are feeling blue.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Certainly fake, even squirrels are intelligent enough to know that Jose Cuervo sucks. He looks like more of a Hornitos guy anyway.

    • R.J.

      That needs to be a GIF and get a Glib Flick logo.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Huh, an actual crotch shot.

      • Pope Jimbo

        The lack of nuts is what makes this crotch shot so surprising.

    • DrOtto

      A customer of mine uses some high-proof shit apple flavored vodka in their rat traps at the liquor store she manages. She said it works well.

      • Sean

        Huh. The things I learn around here.

  11. Sensei

    The signatories said in the letter they did not know if the emails “are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement — just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.”

    My experience suggests that you were illegally trying to influence and election. See how that works?

    • sloopyinca

      If that’s true, then the media reported on it in a way that left out some pertinent facts in order to influence an election, as did every single platform that deliberately silenced any dissent from the narrative.

      And yes, they have a 1A right to do so. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be exposed for their actions and be publicly vilified for engaging in deliberate acts meant to undermine the electoral process.

      No, don’t prosecute them. But a series of hearings in the matter might be in order to find out what happened.

      • Not Adahn

        Oh it’s absolutely true. The actual wording was sufficiently weaseled to claim “but… I told the truth!” Just like Cassidy Hutchinson didn’t actually claim that OMB tried to physically seize control of The Beast. She testified that someone told her that OMB tried to hijack his limo.

        Now the statements were given in a way that they knew or should have known would be misrepeated, in the case of the 51 sources this was particularly egregious because of their preexisting relationship with the journalismists.

      • R C Dean

        The letter was very carefully worded to allow exactly the kind of disclaimer they are now putting out, while allowing the DemOp Media to use it in their election campaign. My eye was immediately caught by the weasel-wording when it came out.

        And, of course, the complete lack of specifics about what indicators of Russian involvement their expert eyes spotted.

      • juris imprudent

        they have a 1A right to do so

        Oddly enough, your 1A rights are certainly curtailed if you hold a clearance.

      • Suthenboy

        What happened? They colluded to produce a false narrative designed to keep Trump from getting elected.

      • juris imprudent

        She testified that someone told her that OMB tried to hijack his limo.

        That’s the Danielle Hegseth (ex-SIL) sworn statement – not that she witnessed it, but she heard from other people that may have witnessed it (or not).

      • DrOtto

        Trump and piss hookers – release it because even though more likely false, it could be true.
        Hunter Biden’s laptop – don’t release it, there’s a small chance it isn’t true.

      • Jarflax

        not that she witnessed it, but she heard from other people that may have witnessed it (or not).

        This is why courts have rules of evidence.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      It’s weird that they didn’t sign a letter that just said we don’t know one way or the other.

  12. SDF-7

    I sure hope this is real.

    Agreed on the “too many lives”… but I’m torn as to how likely this is.

    Yeah, Trump being in place gives a cleaner slate without the argle-bargle-evil-Rooskies crap of the PPP administration (though the EU is still spewing). And he’s much more likely to impose meaningful economic pain since he’ll happily ramp up US LNG, supply Europe to undercut Russian gas exports (and bleed money from our “allies” that are “Net Zero”-ing themselves into poverty), so there’s that.

    On the other hand — I would expect Trump is also much more likely to stop shoveling money into the graft trough that has helped keep Ukraine feeding its young men into the grinder for the sake of the contractors and other profiteers… so if he holds out a few more moths, will he get all of Ukraine as a puppet state?

    I don’t know — and I don’t play at his level… I’m just saying if I can see it, I’m sure it is being discussed over in Red Square (or whatever they renamed it to if they have… never thought much about it).

    • Drake

      Don’t believe a word the Guardian says about the Ukraine.

      If Putin is under pressure domestically, most of it is from hardliners who are in no mood to give away what they’ve won over the last 3 years.

      Trump might get a peace deal there, but it won’t be with tough talk. And it won’t include NATO in the Ukraine ever.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The Guardian is a wholly owned subsidiary of British intelligence , especially with regards to foreign policy and war. If Putin was to kick it or get bounced they’d probably get Medvedev and that would be no bueno. Putin’s been a moderating force in the Ukraine conflict even to the point of his own political detriment.

      • juris imprudent

        Let Ukraine join NATO, as we leave it.

    • Drake

      Trump’s talking about our sphere of influence in North America. I think he’ll be content to let the Russians and Chinese be in there spheres.

  13. Pat

    Does this publication even know who their audience is anymore?

    When I was a teen I was up to my ass in politics, but was very much the exception, and it did my already meager social standing no favors. Of course, I was reading David Friedman essays, Road to Serfdom, The Gulag Archipelago, and all the rest of the fundamentalist right wing extremist literature, so I still wouldn’t have been the target audience for that tripe.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      The target audience is every fag hag you went to high school with.

      • Pat

        Tbh, it does seem like Millennials as a group kind of got stuck in an arrested adolescence. I’ll include myself in that category for my general immaturity and reluctance to grow up even in my late 30s now. But I have peers who are mid career professionals and still regularly read YA lit, spend most of their free time on TikTok, and can’t hold a conversation for more than 5 minutes on any topic outside of sports or Netflix.

      • Jarflax

        Tbh, it does seem like Millennials as a group kind of got stuck in an arrested adolescence. I’ll include myself in that category for my general immaturity and reluctance to grow up even in my late 30s now.

        I think that phenomenon is much broader than my generation (X) and the Boomers would like to pretend. Maturity isn’t so much about which amusements you prefer, it’s more about accepting that your life is now about responsibility rather than your own desires, and we have become prosperous enough, and technological enough, that that sort of self abnegation doesn’t really hit in the same way it hit pre WWII generations. It may have accelerated with the Millennials but I think the really big change was earlier.

      • R.J.

        I tell my daughter this:
        Growing up is overrated. Grow responsible instead.

      • trshmnstr

        it does seem like Millennials as a group kind of got stuck in an arrested adolescence.

        Yes. I don’t think it started with Millennials, but I think we, as a cohort, stalled out much earlier than Xers and Boomers. Early enough that it’s plainly apparent. “Adulting is hard”

        I’ll snip my list of all of the reasons I expect contributed to this, but I’ll say that I remember my mom having conversations with my friends’ moms about the impact of mass use of daycare, and this sort of thing was mentioned.

      • trshmnstr

        I should’ve read Jarflax first… Oops

      • Mojeaux

        Growing up is overrated. Grow responsible instead.

        RJ’s got the right of it here. But.

        Writing is an escape for me. It always has been. But so are most other forms of entertainment. For me, I stopped writing and having fun about the time XY moved out and I stopped needing to escape my life. Well, turns out, that’s not healthy either. Now that I’m neck deep in REAL adulting (the fun doesn’t start until your kids move out and your parents move in), I don’t have the stomach for escape. I can’t lose myself in it and there’s some sort of weird nausea that goes along with not being able to escape fully.

      • Pat

        I don’t have the stomach for escape. I can’t lose myself in it and there’s some sort of weird nausea that goes along with not being able to escape fully.

        I had a somewhat similar experience after my dad died. Music and video games were my diversions. Lost interest in both for a while, and never really got back into it in the same way.

        I wouldn’t say I’ve ever necessarily been irresponsible, but perhaps unaccountable? In any case, middle age crept up fast.

  14. rhywun

    FINAL UPDATE: Keys fights back in the super-tiebreaker to win and advance!

    😲 That is quite the upset. Good for her.

    • sloopyinca

      Now she gets the chance to walk into a buzzsaw.

      But at least she has a chance.

      • rhywun

        lol Yeah Sabalenka has been on fire. I like her ferocity – nice to see it finally working for her.

      • Ted S.

        I was hoping we’d get a final for the #1 ranking, and one without commentary being handled by a rooting section.

  15. Sensei

    Update from the Sensei house. My son’s truck refused to start during our 8F cold snap last night.

    1. WTF Honda? They couldn’t bury the battery any deeper. You need to remove the whole air intake to change it and the positive battery post is barely accessible. Finding a solid ground anywhere near it was a BFD.

    2. I was able to use my lithium jump pack for the first time. It rocked! I’m sold. It was the NOCO Boost X GBX45.

    3. Be very careful using cheap Chinese boost packs. They lack lots of safeties and many don’t have an “override” mode if you are jumping a battery that is completely flat.

    • PieInTheSky

      A good solid European car like the opel astra would not have this sort of problems. But noooo you need a truck

      • Sensei

        GM engineering? Please…

        Although at this point I wonder how much GM is left.

      • DrOtto

        The last Buick Regals were more Opel than GM. The door tags even said made by Opel for GM. GM’s 2.0T and 2.4 ecotec motors – those were Opel engineered.

    • Pope Jimbo

      The jump packs are wonderful.

      When my wife’s old van was on its last legs it would have a hard time starting in cold weather. Her go to move in those situations was to park it in such a way that it was impossible to jump from another car (park nose in up against a wall). There was a lot of grumbling in those situations because you’d have to push the car out first. That is what made me take a chance on the jump pack and it worked great.

      The kids all have on in their cars.

  16. PieInTheSky

    Efforts to promote women’s sport are being undermined by a lack of birthday cards featuring female footballers, a group of MPs has claimed.

    They are urging manufacturers and retailers to sell more cards celebrating female football players to inspire young women to take up sport.

    Liberal Democrat MP Helen Maguire tabled a motion in the House of Commons to raise her concerns and call for action.

    She told the BBC the industry was “not moving with the times” and should do more to promote gender equality in sport.

    A greetings card manufacturer said more cards featuring female football stars would be appearing in stores soon, due to consumer demand.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4zjnp30y8o

    Finally UK is starting to focus in the important stuff, without being distracted by the whole 11 year olds being anally gang raped like who cares

    • rhywun

      All they need is more men to join the women’s league and show them how it’s done.

    • Rat on a train

      What woman doesn’t want a Valentine’s card with a female athlete on it?

    • Ted S.

      Start your own goddamn greeting card company.

    • Nephilium

      Well yeah, any girls playing football would be playing flag football, which no one really cares about.

      • DrOtto

        It’s the BBC – I think they’re already talking about not real football.

      • Nephilium

        DrOtto:

        Not in Trump’s ‘Merica!

      • Nephilium

        juris imprudent:

        What’s basketball got to do with anything?

      • juris imprudent

        Neph, that’s why I don’t give a shit about the NBA anymore. Even March Madness is barely tolerable.

      • Jarflax

        Man, make up your mind, you bitch when the President dribbles; you bitch when basketballers don’t!

      • juris imprudent

        Rules of the game ‘flax. Same with anyone sneezing on Mahomes.

    • Suthenboy

      What Ted says. What you are looking at here is a country that has gone full authoritarian a la USSR/NK/CCCP style. It isn’t just their law, it is their culture and mentality.
      What kind of sick fuck thinks being a legislator means legislating the minutia of the culture, top-down?
      England is dead.

  17. Suthenboy

    We should be out of NATO. Staying in is in no way that I am aware of to the advantage of the US. They are dead weight. A monster of our own making really. They are a spoiled child that needs to be pushed out of the nest.

    Someone once said here that Hitler and Co. were able to keep the reichstag fire lie alive for 12 years. I hope the dems equivalent has a shorter life.
    Do we know yet why some of the ‘insurrectionists’ who were pardoned are still in jail? I heard something about NDA’s being conditional for their release. If that is true the people responsible must be held accountable.

    Brennan needs to be fitted for an orange jumpsuit. He lied to congress. How long did Trump associates spend behind bars on that charge?

    Trump cures cancer, brings peace in the ME and stops the war in Ukraine. Monster.

    Square wheels go out of style. Who could have seen that coming?

    Traditional MSM is sputtering out and disappearing. No one believes a word they say and for good reason. They are crying out of one side of their mouth and out of the other shrieking about Elon Must giving a Nazi salute. Wow.

    I wrote off Canada some time ago.

    Teen Bogus is perhaps the starkest example of commie skin suiting ever. Where does their money come from? Do they even have a readership anymore?
    Shocker…owned by Conde Naste, run by Anna Wintour. The Devil Wears Prada is fictional/notfictional portrayal of working for Wintour. She is a major Democrat donor and attendee of the WEF. So….globalist commie shitbird.

    Costco dude is nuts. Real nuts, as in needs professional mental health care. It is so common that this is kind a a non-story.

    • PieInTheSky

      We should be out of NATO. – now now lets not get crazy

      • Drake

        You guys could have elections again…

      • WTF

        The EU has more than enough population, wealth, and technology to be able to defend themselves without US assistance.

      • PieInTheSky

        You guys could have elections again – what good would that do? Instead of annexing Canada annex US we could become a state

    • juris imprudent

      A monster of our own making really.

      Per the first NATO chief – keep the Germans down, the Americans in and the Soviets out. Sure it was a quip, but it nailed it.

    • slumbrew

      Very sweet.

      Driving while totally deaf must be kinda hairy.

  18. PieInTheSky

    United Nations
    @UN
    1 out of every 30 people in the world is a migrant.

    People move for a variety of reasons: to seek a better life, to find safety, to reunite with family.

    No matter where they are from, no matter where they are going, the rights of migrants must be protected.

    https://x.com/UN/status/1882233538054934763

    • sloopyinca

      Fuck pulling out of NATO. We need to get out of the UN and tell them to pack their shit and vacate New York.

      • SDF-7

        If there was ever a time to embrace the power of AND…

      • Pat

        I’m willing to allow the UN to stay in New York on the condition it becomes an international territory and secedes from the US.

      • rhywun

        Imagine the U.N. without its number one purpose of lecturing the United States. I guess there’s always Israel unless they do the rightful and pull out too.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I think it was Jeanne Kirkpatrick that said “We pay for the UN, we don’t have to listen to it too”

      • Suthenboy

        This. Make them pay their goddamned parking tickets before tossing them. Give ’em 24 hours.

      • Jarflax

        Buy Greenland, relocate the UN. They seem fixated on green things.

      • UnCivilServant

        No, Jar, Greenland doesn’t deserve that.

        Put the UN on a barge in international waters.

      • WTF

        Put the UN on a barge in international waters.

        Step 2: Sink the barge.

    • B.P.

      And 1 out of every 12 in the U.S. I guess we’re more than pulling our weight, so go ahead and lecture some other country.

  19. PieInTheSky

    María Ballesteros 💚
    @m_ballesteross
    I’m a US citizen because I was born while my dad was a student.

    My citizenship allowed me to work at UChicago, which then got me into a Harvard PhD, a degree I hope to use to teach fellow Americans.

    The US has given me so many opportunities Hurts to think I’m not wanted here.
    Quote
    Antoine L

    Oilfield Rando
    @Oilfield_Rando
    Maria is getting her PhD in Government from Harvard. She’s highly respected in analyzing foreign nation building.

    If we don’t deport her now, she’ll go on to launder trillions of taxpayer dollars into third world shitholes through USAID, the State Department, and the CIA.

    https://x.com/Oilfield_Rando/status/1882063970737242343

    lol

    • PieInTheSky

      Taran
      @GryphonTaran
      “I’m a US citizen”

      Not an American flag, but a Mexican one, and posts are all in Spanish. Nobody cares what you achieved; if you don’t want to be an American then stop acting like you do.

      https://x.com/GryphonTaran/status/1882115559816675812

      latinas are the worst amiright

      • Wood Chipped Wednesday

        HEY! As a Latino man I want you to use Latinx, you need to be including to everyone, don’t be so insensitive lol

    • Rat on a train

      It’s depressing to think of all the countries that I’m not a citizen of because I don’t meet their citizenship requirements.

      • Jarflax

        I take great comfort in not being a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    • juris imprudent

      Funny, I just put up a piece about this on my ‘stack.

  20. PieInTheSky

    Bryan Johnson /dd
    @bryan_johnson
    Nighttime erection data from my 19-year-old son, @talmagejohnson_
    , and me. His duration is two minutes longer than mine.

    Raise children to stand tall, be firm, and be upright.

    https://x.com/bryan_johnson/status/1882190186723082318

    today in what the fuck

  21. sloopyinca

    If we’re gonna stay in nato, perhaps we should ask our allies to help us secure our southern and northern borders. A few thousand troops per member state ought to help us do so and maintain the mission.
    Trump should make request and see how it’s received, if only for the lulz.

    • Suthenboy

      There are already plenty of rape gangs in the border shitshow, we dont need another one.

  22. PieInTheSky

    vol
    @volcrushed
    “Pussy chases extremes. The middle is death. A job that doesn’t eat your life, art as a hobby: death. Pussy wants a mansion or pussy wants to sleep on the sidewalk. I have an apartment.” – @Delicious_Tacos

    https://x.com/volcrushed/status/1882266383851131019

    • Suthenboy

      If you want to entice people to try and sort out nonsense you have to put something in it to arouse interest, a hook.
      I read over that and thought ‘what the fuck are they talking about?’ followed by ‘I dont care’.

  23. rhywun

    after four years in which essentially all of those [fossil fuel] restrictions have been undone, and in which the EPA has been swept clean of climate activists, the ability of the government ever again to try to force an unwanted energy transition will be gone for good

    An interesting look at how Trump v2 might actually succeed at overturning Obama’s and Biden’s attempts to destroy the American economy and standard of living, centering around the CO2 is a pollutant flapdoodle. I am not so optimistic as all that but it will be fun to watch anyway.

    • Suthenboy

      I was a bit pessimistic as well but seeing what he is up to now I’m tempted to be optimistic…..? Maybe?

  24. Evan from Evansville

    Here’s some overdone prose about the Jan 6 cases from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan: The dismissal of the case, she said, “cannot whitewash the blood, feces, and terror that the mob left in its wake. And it cannot repair the jagged breach in America’s sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power.”

    The Left’s gnashing in the first days is something to behold. The terror in your own head, cupcake. Trump signing EOs and chatting with reporters on the fly really was special. People were so used to a stumbling corpse in the White House they didn’t expect to see anything resembling competence, and they get blown away by the impressive energy of the 47th Prez. I am legitimately impressed as fuck.

    • rhywun

      I thought the whitewashing occurred when the Insurrection Show producers destroyed all the exonerating evidence.

      • juris imprudent

        And misused a bit of corporate law for criminal prosecution?

    • Suthenboy

      Hey Chutkan, now do Karen Bass.

  25. Toxteth O'Grady

    Pie, it’s only 8° C here!

    • UnCivilServant

      You’re above freezing?

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s 15°F here with a windchill of 0°

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I wasn’t sarcastically addressing you, dear; I reserve that for Pie.

      • UnCivilServant

        I was just surprised you were so warm and wondered what region you were in.

      • Pope Jimbo

        46F here in Kobe. Feels like 45F though.

        Back home in Minnesoda it is -3F and feels like -18F.

      • Sensei

        Pope Jimbo – I always enjoy my friend who lives near you in Amagasaki and her reaction when I tell her the temperature here in relatively temperate metro NYC.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Sensei:

        I will go for walks with just a long sleeved shirt on and get stared at by the locals. Everyone here is bundled up like sherpas making the final ascent on Everest.

        To me this is October weather.

      • Sensei

        Jimbo – they make up for it by keeping the trains’ AC at 80F all summer.

        Cool Japan!

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        50 and 50 here in SoCal.

  26. Sensei

    Surprised the US didn’t think of it first.

    The government laid out a three-tiered system for taxing popcorn depending on if it is packaged or sold loose, carries a brand name or is generic, and is salted or sweet. Caramel popcorn, the government said in December, would be taxed at 18%—nearly akin to a luxury product.

    The people weren’t pleased. An explanation from India’s finance minister, chair of the tax council, didn’t help.

    “I want to explain the whole background of the popcorn taxes to you: Salted popcorn, caramelized popcorn, plain popcorn,” said Nirmala Sitharaman at a news conference in late December. “When it comes to popcorn’s tax treatment, as long as it is salty, whether it is with salt, spiced, tangy, chilli powder, that’s all 5%. But when it has added caramelized sugar, it is no longer salty.”

    But the 5% will apply only if the popcorn is sold loose. Put it in a sealed plastic packet and slap a label on it and the rate jumps to 12%. An accompanying press note explained further that caramel popcorn had transformed into a confectionery, and merited a correspondingly higher tax rate.

    https://www.wsj.com/world/india/popcorn-tax-india-government-three-rates-6b6499eb?st=VhP8hm&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • PieInTheSky

      popcorn was a bad dude

    • Pope Jimbo

      There isn’t a kernel of truth to the idea that popcorn needs to be taxed.

      • Sensei

        Not even a nugget?

      • Rat on a train

        The maize of regulations is too much.

      • juris imprudent

        As usual, it’s just a shell game.

    • Rat on a train

      Popcorn ceilings should be heavily taxed.

    • Nephilium

      Wasn’t in New York that charged a tax to cut a bagel? I know here in Ohio if you get your fast food to go, you don’t pay sales tax (with an exception for sweetened beverages), but you do if it’s ordered for here.

      • Sensei

        Yes as that was “prepared” food and not an ingredient.

      • rhywun

        What if I say it’s to go but I sit down anyway?

        That’s just a bizarre rule.

      • Nephilium

        rhywun:

        Most fast food places, no one will care. It just needs to be entered into the POS system. To add to the fun, some items (such as coffee, unsweetened iced tea, and water) aren’t taxed to go either, since they’re unsweetened beverages. I have seen some out of stater berating some poor kid at a rest stop once for asking if it was for here or to go.

    • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

      Nirmala Sitharaman is an old maid.

      • R C Dean

        So you’re saying nobody ever popped her kernel?

      • juris imprudent

        No one ever buttered her up?

  27. Pope Jimbo

    Was that wrong? Was I not supposed to do that?

    An organization that represents police across Minnesota is suing the state for releasing private information about undercover officers.
     
    In August, the Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training sent independent journalist Tony Webster police licensing information in response to his data request, but the POST Board failed to remove the names of officers who work undercover.
     
    In a lawsuit filed this week, the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association alleges that the POST Board made public the names of 257 officers whose identities are considered private under the state’s Data Practices Act. MPPOA argues that the data release puts the officers at significant risk and could jeopardize investigations.
     
    “I cannot understate the harm that would come if these undercover police officers’ identities are publicly disclosed — or even the fact of this disclosure becomes publicly known,” writes David Titus, MPPOA deputy director, in an affidavit filed along with the lawsuit.

    257 undercover cops? That seems high doesn’t it?

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      How many are in the same “terror cell(s)”

    • R.J.

      One for each libertarian in the state.

  28. PieInTheSky

    NEW: Cruise line staff dresses up for a Christmas costume party, cruise line insists they were dressed up as “upside-down snow cones.”

    Travelers on a P&O Cruises Australia ship were horrified to see staff walking around with white hoods on.

    Communications director Lynne Scrivens now claims the staff was simply dressing up and didn’t have a lot of materials for “fancy dress.”

    “They’ve got to make do with what they’ve got. And they were wearing their cleaning uniforms, and they’ve put something on their head that looks like a snow cone – an upside-down snow cone.”

    Lmao.

    https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1882164813331357942

  29. Sensei

    An employee at the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office, which disburses funds to clean-energy projects, estimated that about half of the office’s staff work remotely. Many of those people will likely quit or be forced out, the employee said.

    Oh no!!!! What will we do when we can no longer force uneconomic energy production on the US taxpayers?

    An Anxious Federal Workforce Bids Goodbye to Job Stability and Remote Work

    https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/federal-workers-trump-executive-orders-c9a47de5?st=T3p4UU&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    Plenty more rays of sunshine in this article.

    • R C Dean

      The notion that there will be this flood of sympathy from private sector workers because the feds are losing some of their cushy privileges and might actually have to worry about shit that the plebes have to deal with every day . . .

      Well, let’s just say that notion is probably not well-founded.

      • Sensei

        It does attest to the bubble they live within. DC is a “company town”.

      • Jarflax

        Lo, the poor bureaucrat.

      • Jarflax

        Lo, the poor bureaucrat! whose untutor’d mind
        Sees Hitler in a wave, or hears him in the wind;

    • Pat

      I’m sure professionals of that caliber are in high demand, so surely they’ll be able to transition to a role in the private sector with a 6 figure salary and guaranteed pension while working remotely.

  30. The Other Kevin

    “Too many lives wasted in that meat grinder already.”

    In the end very little will change, maybe some territory will go to Russia and Ukraine will stay out of NATO. Things that could have been hashed out in an hour, instead of years and millions of lives. I guess you could say that about any war.

    • PutridMeat

      Things that could have been hashed out in an hour

      Thing is, as I understand it, they were hashed out. Until the western powers sank the deal.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      (Just meant as: thought you’d like it. Damned cold down here too. Here comes the scolding SDGE bill: Your usage was much more than last month. K, thanks, computer.)

    • Pat

      Weirdly, I got linked to that song by somebody else about 14 hours ago. I need to go update my firewall, pi-hole, and browser settings. The algo is on to me.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        That song or that version?

      • Pat

        Just the song – it was the official music video I saw earlier.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I probably posted it.

    • rhywun

      This version is better.

      I like some of their stuff if not a huge fan.

    • DrOtto

      Shatner did it better…

  31. PieInTheSky

    For years, I’ve seen journalists cover the “manosphere” as a random group of friends who show up on each other’s podcasts. Today, I and other reporters published a story firmly showing how these YouTubers boost each other and politicians while steering male culture to the right

    https://x.com/ashleyrcarman/status/1882094824809283790

    I don’t think that this is what the manosphere usually means.

    • Ted S.

      Q: Why do men hate us?
      A: Because we don’t demonize them enough!

    • Certified Public Asshat

      how these YouTubers boost each other

      Women will never understand.

  32. Pope Jimbo

    Won’t anyone think about the poor, poor immigrants?

    Just a day after Trump issued a slate of executive orders aimed at restricting immigration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it was rescinding protections for “sensitive zones” where undocumented immigrants were protected from deportation. Some immigrant rights advocates are particularly worried that this could deter women experiencing domestic abuse from going to women’s shelters, which will no longer be protected from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
     
    The sensitive zones policy, which was created in 2011, initially applied to places like churches, schools and hospitals. In 2021, the list of places was expanded by the Biden administration to include locations offering disaster or emergency relief and social services. The policy was put in place to allow undocumented immigrants access to essential services like health care without the threat of being deported. ICE could enter these places only if there was a threat of terrorism or imminent risk of death, among other exceptions.

    What kind of monster doesn’t create Free Zones for criminals?

    • Pope Jimbo

      The administration could further hamper services for those experiencing domestic violence by expanding the definition of a “public charge,” which Trump did in his first term, though it was struck down by a federal court a year later. The public charge rule, which had previously been defined by a 1999 field guidance, means people can be turned down for visas or green cards if they are determined to be dependent on the government financially.

      I wonder if the welfare office is a “sensitive” zone? Wouldn’t want the poor immigrant to have to choose between getting free money and being deported!

      What galls me about this is the fact that when we were applying to get the newly minted Mrs. Holiness her green card, we had to have my parents sign some document that said that if we tried to get welfare, my parents were on the hook for it. I can’t remember the exact mechanics, but they were basically guaranteeing that they would pay for us before the state did.

      I always hated asking my parents for anything. (We got along fine, I just never wanted to be beholden to them) Asking them to sign that really grated me.

      • rhywun

        That’s what you get for following the rules, chump.

  33. juris imprudent

    Interesting article, I thought I read elsewhere that the reservoir was emptied in ’22 and the repairs had languished since then. Anyway, love the whole bit about the competing bureaucracies (“officials”, “regulations”) and that this was empty for really, no good reason.

    • R C Dean

      Holy crap. This is why the emptied the reservoir:

      “The saga traces back to January 2024, when a DWP property manager spotted a tear in the reservoir’s floating cover after a series of rainstorms, according to internal emails reviewed by The Times.

      For decades the reservoir sat uncovered, until the city in 2012 installed a large floating membrane to comply with federal regulations. The cover is meant to prevent animals and debris from contaminating the water and to limit algae and bacteria.”

      The cover had a tear. The cover. Mandated so water explicitly stored for firefighting would be nice and clean.

      Also, note that “after a series of rainstorms”, the reservoir was only half full anyway.

      • Jarflax

        Paperwork>Process>All

      • juris imprudent

        Yep, and every LA Times reader will reflexively accept that the federal regulation was necessary and unquestionable.

  34. The Other Kevin

    “ICE Watch Programs Can Protect Immigrants in Your Neighborhood — Here’s What to Know”

    Our friend who works in Border Patrol was over last night. He hasn’t been to work this week, but he’s pretty happy about all the Executive Orders. He also hopes they go after the safe houses where they’re doing human trafficking and distributing drugs.

    Regarding all these ICE raids, they are already prohibited from going into schools, hospitals, and government buildings including courts. All these articles are of course scare mongering bullshit.

      • Pope Jimbo

        When confronted by ICE, the Haitian national defiantly told cameras, “I ain’t going back to Haiti” and delivered a politically charged outburst: “F**k Trump, Biden forever!”

        Uffda. Trump keeps winning doesn’t he?

      • rhywun

        “8 arrests”

        Not terribly impressive given the numbers that are likely out there.

      • Drake

        8 “high-profile” arrests.

        “The operation led to the arrest of over 300 individuals.”

        Don’t know the difference. I think they are targeting criminal illegals, but any other illegals swept up in that effort or going back too.

      • Sean

        If you’re gang member adjacent, you ain’t a good person to be here anyway.

    • R C Dean

      I thought the orders were to revoke those prohibitions.

      Plus, we had ICE in and out of my hospital all the time. Of course, they were there for people who they brought in.

      • The Other Kevin

        I see up a little higher they are removing those restrictions. In keeping with this week’s theme, there’s just too much to keep track of. ‘

        It does seem like they’re going after criminals first, and I’d guess that will keep them busy for a long while before they get to the dishwashers and tomato pickers.

  35. juris imprudent

    That’s a first – a conservative making an approving reference to the Slaughterhouse Cases. This is really stupid and will lose, and this could’ve been solved much easier by simply addressing the family-unification policy (not even law or Constitutional clause – just fucking POLICY).

    • R C Dean

      While I think anchor babies (which is what “family unification” means – if the baby stays because citizen, so do the parents even though illegal) are the real salt in the wound, I do think the notion of birthright citizenship needs a revisit. We’re the third most populous nation, I don’t think we really need to be encouraging immigration or passing out citizenship to fill up those vast empty spaces and otherwise vacant factories.

      • juris imprudent

        Immigration helps keep SocSec solvent.

  36. Mojeaux

    Having Mo Bettahs (URL for Pie in case he doesn’t know how to Google America food) for bfast here in sunny hot 12°FreedomTemp Kansas City (heat index 0°FreedomTemp). Had a shitty night. Body sore, heartburn, can’t sleep, headache. Dafuq. A handful of Tylenol PM used to do me a solid here and it’s falling down on the job.

    Pray for me while I wade in to the quagmire that is hospice, Medicare, home health, and DME pickups and deliveries. I’m about ready to overlap the services and just pay the damned Medicare bill when it comes, but I have to at least try not to let hospice and home health overlap.

    I feel like I’m juggling scalpels and molotov cocktails here.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      I’m thinking about you, hun. FWIW.

      • Mojeaux

        Send lawyers, guns, and money!

        Thanks, ToG. That means a lot. 🙂

      • trshmnstr

        Send lawyers, guns, and money!

        You called?

        *radios Ozy and turns on A-team music*

      • trshmnstr

        We could get the out of state lawyers involved, too.

        ‘And Mr. RC as BA Baracus’

      • Ozymandias

        One of the best tv series themes, I might add.
        *thwacks on rubber gloves*

      • Mojeaux

        Any in-state real estate lawyers welcome to chime in!

  37. PieInTheSky

    Alex Kaschuta
    @kaschuta
    In the liberal feminist mind, there is a points system. Men are bad, but all men are equally potentially bad (-10). Dysfunction is a result of trauma, so dysfunctional men get +5, and being from the third world means you’re inherently noble and unsullied by the western heteropatriarchy, so +10.

    Therefore gaggles of illiterate Afghan shepherds are a positive addition to society!

    https://x.com/kaschuta/status/1881762660850528673

  38. juris imprudent

    Like a worn-out record.

    Forgetting nothing, learning nothing, like zombies, leftists keep screaming banalities. But like addicts and their feel-good fixes, their hysterics only further turn off the public as they destroy themselves.

  39. Toxteth O'Grady

    45° and 50% humidity here. A balmy 64 indoors. Anyone who would like to camp indoors with me, feel free. I know there aren’t many SoCal or even Vegas Glibs.

    Pie, you stay home.

  40. Winded

    This is a good morning to temporarily lift the NBA embargo following Houston’s 4th quarter collapse before a wild comeback victory over the league’s best record. Commit a flagrant foul on an 88% ft shooter up 2 with 2 seconds left? No problem!

  41. Tundra

    Good morning Sloop and thanks for the XTC. One of those bands that gets better with age.

    Still better than the Dodge Hornet. But one would almost think all these EVs got rushed to market because of all the free money involved.

    They’ve known about it for almost a year. Catastrophic battery failure is a fun one. These aren’t EVs though. Hybrid at best.

      • Rat on a train

        It’s better to persecute the innocent than let one guilty go free.

      • Wood Chipped Wednesday

        Rat: I’m on the other side of that.

      • Pat

        Jan. 6 Rioters Beating Cops

        The only fatalities that day were an unarmed woman shot in the face by a reckless cop with a history of accidentally leaving his gun in the shitter in a blind shoot with 4 SWAT officers standing 10 feet behind the unarmed woman he killed, and an unarmed woman beaten to death in a tunnel. The only injured cops I heard about got a snout full of pepper spray. And, of course, Brian Sicknick, PBUH, who stroked out 2 days after the fact, ostensibly from the trauma of tangling with an assault fire extinguisher. Or maybe he was just a fat fuck. In any case, I’d say “minor incidents” is appropriate, particularly in light of the Saint Floyd riots that resulted in 2 billion dollars worth of property damage, about a dozen deaths, several hundred each of battery and sexual assault, and about a dozen charges filed.

    • UnCivilServant

      No, not jail for the judges and prosecutors – they need to be strung up in the street as a warning to others. They can have all of the due process they allowed the defendants too.

    • The Other Kevin

      This is exactly why he pardoned them all. I read recently they were trying to parse out which ones were violent, but they ran into this type of mess for every case and decided on a blanket pardon. There’s also going to be people pleading to things they didn’t do in order to avoid worse charges, things like that.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    The adaptive cruise control may fail to engage the brakes as expected, due to incorrect brake module software, increasing the risk of a crash, the U.S. auto safety regulator said.

    Safety is their business.

    • Wood Chipped Wednesday

      the NSA mission is

      The National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) leads the U.S. Government in cryptology that encompasses both signals intelligence (SIGINT) insights and cybersecurity products and services and enables computer network operations to gain a decisive advantage for the nation and our allies.

      But we all know what they do…

  43. UnCivilServant

    I got fed up trying to find a retail establishment which would provde 1.5 inch photographs for the permit process. Everyone is set up for 2 inch passport photos and has no leeway for the employees to change any of that.

    So I bought a photo printer. My test print produced a photograph indistinguishable from the passport photos I got from CVS. It should work.

    • UnCivilServant

      *Indistinguishable in paper or image quality, the color temperature is slightly different, but you have to put them side by side to see it.

    • Wood Chipped Wednesday

      What is this permit for? Can you not just go to whatever agency runs it and take the photo there?

      • UnCivilServant

        The agency in question – my local PD – wants to discourage people from going through the process and makes it as unfriendly as they can get away with.

    • Sensei

      Why am I unsurprised NYS has some bizarre size requirement that is non-standard.

      Thank goodness it doesn’t infringe on your rights. NJ is worse than NYS, but I find it amazing that every single weapon has to be itemized on your permit and if your inventory changes you get a new permit.

      I learned a lot from a coworker here in NYC about the NYS state process.

      • UnCivilServant

        Each new purchase is a $3 amendment to the permit, but from a practical perspective, that is not an approval/denail type amendment, just a fee and some paperwork.

      • Dr Mossy Lawn

        Nj had the same thing.. 1.5″.. not 2″ passport photos. A NJ range had a local notary do the photos and the other notarization that was required 2 years ago.. The new process allows you to upload a digital picture, and I think the passport renewal also does that as well.

        As for NJ’s listed weapons.. they request that information, but there is no part of the law that limits you to only the listed weapons, the listed on the permit was part of the original court issued carry licenses. The new license doesn’t list them, but *asks*/demands you list them when renewing with the website, and allows you to send in a form to “update” your list, but the law never had any limitation, Those old court issued permits did have that limitation since the court put it on, but those are gone now.

      • Sensei

        Doc – in NYS even simple possession with no carry requires this permit listing.

        I don’t know if UCS decided to try for the carry.

      • Not Adahn

        After Bruen, there are no non-carry permits in NY.

      • WTF

        Akshually….Believe it or not NJ is not that bad now. Once you have a firearm purchaser’s ID, you can get your carry permit online, you just upload your qualification certificate from the range, upload a photo you can take yourself, and provide email addresses for 4 references and pay the fee. The local law enforcement agency then reviews the application and emails you the carry permit.

      • Sensei

        That was my understanding too… But let me know how that works for you here in NYC.

      • Sensei

        WTF – no court appearance anymore?

      • Not Adahn

        NY permits are not valid in The City.

      • WTF

        Sensei – The courts are completely out of the process, since per Bruen NJ is now a “shall issue” state.

      • Dr Mossy Lawn

        NJ courts are out of the picture as of the Dec 2022 A4769/S3214 update to the law which removed them, and has the Chief of police or the State police superintendent issue them directly. I received my renewal 1 day after the 4 references were complete.

        Due to the wonderful state database statistics on permits by county and township, I received the first one in my town.

  44. Wood Chipped Wednesday

    To preface, I don’t really know what the immigration app thing was, so I could be wrong but my opinion still stands

    I’m not sure I’m a fan of Trump’s EO getting rid of the immigration app or whatever it was. I say I’m not sure because I don’t know who was being let in through that app. But I do belive that legal immigration and citizenship need to be easier to achieve, and if that app or whatever it was made it easier, it needed to stay in place.

    • Nephilium

      I for one would be shocked to learn that the immigration app didn’t report back GPS coordinates.

    • The Other Kevin

      This is how I understand it. The main problem is the Biden admin made it insanely easy to claim asylum. The app was originally for trucking, but they modified it. The applicant only needed to get the app, fill out some information, then it would automatically generate a hearing date sometime in the distant future. At that point the applicant was “seeking asylum” and they could enter the country “legally”.

    • trshmnstr

      But I do belive that legal immigration and citizenship need to be easier to achieve

      I’ve turned a 180 on this. Immigration needs to be an asset to the existing culture and society. Importing so many people that we’re now approaching 20% foreign born population, the vast bulk of whom are being imported from parts of the world culturally incompatible with us is farcical.

      The goals of immigration should be to bring in net cultural and societal assets at a rate that can be easily and wholly assimilated to our values and culture within a generation. This, of course, means that we have to agree on what our values and culture are, which we do not as a nation. Until that fundamental issue is resolved, this insane amount of immigration (both legal and illegal) is just adding kindling to a fire that we refuse to put out.

      • juris imprudent

        There is an interesting contrast between American and Australian immigration rules, and consequently the results.

    • grrizzly

      The CBP 1 app has nothing to do with legal immigration, let alone getting citizenship. It was a way to start processing asylum claims from the people arriving at the US border without visas.

  45. The Late P Brooks

    It’s better to persecute the innocent than let one guilty go free.

    No one is innocent.

    • Rat on a train

      Three felonies a day …

  46. The Late P Brooks

    If Trump (and the oil and gas mob) likes it, it must be bad

    As promised, President Donald Trump began reversing the country’s energy policies his first day in office with a spate of orders largely favoring oil, gas and coal. But there is one renewable energy that did find favor: geothermal.

    Energy experts say that makes sense — geothermal energy makes electricity 24/7. Many people working in the field came from the oil and gas industry and they use much of the same technology for drilling wells. Trump strongly supports and gets support from the oil and gas industry. And there’s bipartisan support in Congress for geothermal.

    “The embrace of advanced geothermal under this new administration, I’d say is not a giant surprise,” said Alex Kania, a managing director at Marathon Capital. “It’s reliable, it’s efficient, and frankly their ties to the more conventional forms of energy production, I think, is probably not lost on some people.”

    Geothermal creates electricity cleanly by making steam from the Earth’s natural heat and using that steam to spin a turbine. It’s a climate solution because it reduces the need for traditional power plants that burn fossil fuels and cause climate change.

    But it doesn’t require inventing new technologies and methods. How will the right people wet their beaks?

    • Suthenboy

      Prosperity gives people options. Freedom of movement and association gives people options.
      Anything that empowers individuals will be met with the usual suspects gnashing their teeth and pissing their pants to stop it.

      What to do in order to create prosperity and happiness is obvious. That is why the long winded, pretzel logic and subtle tut-tuts about why we cant do that.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    In its first actions this week, the new administration also indicated support for nuclear power and removing obstacles to mining uranium, which can be refined into nuclear fuel. Like geothermal, nuclear power does not cause climate change. The executive order also backs hydropower.

    Maybe they’ll leave off dynamiting existing dams. That would be a good place to start.

    • Sensei

      But it endangers fish!

      • juris imprudent

        Solve this the traditional way – rumble between FWS and Corps of Engineers.

  48. The Late P Brooks

    The goals of immigration should be to bring in net cultural and societal assets at a rate that can be easily and wholly assimilated to our values and culture within a generation.

    This is the sort of transactional thinking we must reject. Only policies which impoverish us all will show our true do-gooder spirit.

  49. The Other Kevin

    Trump is talking in front of the WEF right now. A guy from Bank of America asked him a question, and Trump called him out for not serving conservative customers. Right in front of everyone.

    • Tundra

      I really don’t understand the animosity that the “press” has for Trump. It has to be more fun to do the job when you aren’t trying to prop up a vegetable.

      • The Other Kevin

        I agree, it had to be exhausting “covering” Biden, meaning, coming up with ridiculous lies to cover for him. Yes, some were true believers who thought they were the good guys, but I imagine a lot were feeling demoralized and just dirty at the end of the day.

        On Monday night in the Oval Office, they asked good questions, and the mood was light and cordial. It was good.

        The upcoming changes to who is allowed into press conferences will move things in the right direction. Someone who spends all their time on “gotcha” questions might be replaced with someone serious like Jonathan Turley or Matt Taibbi.

      • Suthenboy

        Greenwald.

      • Suthenboy

        I would also like to see an hour long informal talk with Dave Burge.

  50. The Late P Brooks

    Did you know:

    Threatening to enforce the law has a “chilling effect” on people who ignore it?

  51. Suthenboy

    Since presidents and other pols often buy stock in companies they plan to create demand for I am guessing Trump went long on Rexulti! and box wine.
    I am imagining the helpless feeling of demoralization washing over the pinkos right now as they see their cultural and political sabotages being thwarted. And they worked so hard for so long.

  52. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of cognitive dissonance

    Now, those kinds of climate change studies are more personal for Hamlington as his family navigates the future.

    “The climate scientist side of me thinks maybe it’s not a good idea to rebuild,” Hamlington says. “Obviously this could happen again.”

    At the same, Hamlington says it’s tough to think about leaving a community his family loves, one where his neighbors have lived for decades.

    “If enough of us move developers will come in, put in apartment buildings and this will never be the same,” he says.

    That internal conflict is playing out in communities across the country, as climate-fueled disasters like hurricanes, storms and floods get more intense. Scientific studies show the risks are getting drastically higher in some places. But how should those communities react?

    “How do you deliver a message that is so hard to hear about where someone has lived their whole life or the community they grew up in, that it has now become unsafe because of our changing climate?” Hamlington questions.

    A heart rending tale of a “climate scientist” whose house tragically burned down in California. It were global warming wot dunnit.

    Now he must fight the noble fight against filthy greedhead developers to save his community by creating and enforcing top down rules for climate-aware development which will reproduce the feel of a community which developed organically over the course of a hundred years or more.