Tuesday Mornng Links

by | Jan 7, 2025 | I Am Lame | 274 comments

With the exception of noting that the Bears are asking to talk to Mike McCarthy for their head coaching job throwing Swissy into a potential rage, there’s not much else to mention in the sports world on this side of the pond. On the other, the league cup semifinals (first legs) start today and tomorrow. Now moving on.

Biden has banned private companies from reporting unpaid bills to other private companies. But the authoritarian is the guy that’s getting ready to take office again.

This is becoming just like cable. Which I guess was inevitable.

Keep him on ice. Why not just take him back to Georgia and put him in the ground? That’s probably what he’d have wanted anyway. Seriously.

Christ, what an asshole. I’m curious why the author thinks this executive action will take an act of congress to unwind. I guess the courts will have to decide.

Goodbye/Adieu. I do not believe he will be remembered well by history/Je ne pense pas que l’histoire se souviendra bien de lui.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! I can’t wait for this guy’s piece on the 20th.

Why should they be democracies? That’s not how it works or should work, same as any large corporation or nonprofit or anything else that requires operation.

“We’re only mutilating a few thousand kids. Relax!” I hope history is not kind to these Mengele-ites.

This song is decent. I’m hot and cold on this guy. But I do quite like this one. Some of his other catalog that people get hyped up about I can do without. Enjoy them.

And enjoy this bitter cold Tuesday, dear friends.

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

274 Comments

  1. Nephilium

    Just wait until the commemorative Carter Peanut Butter comes out, made with peanuts grown on the grave of Jimmy!

    • SDF-7

      With a genuine Billy Beer center surprise!

    • rhywun

      Tastes like malaise and rabbits.

  2. SDF-7

    Biden has banned private companies from reporting unpaid bills to other private companies.

    “Biden”… given that it is a CFPB regulation (thanks Lizzie for that unconstitutional crap-pile) and Kamala doing all the “announcing”.

    PPP is deep in a pudding cup binge, mad that FRAU DOKTOR JILL seems to think he’s not useful anymore.

    • AlexinCT

      Whose unpaid bills?

  3. SDF-7

    That’s probably what he’d have wanted anyway.

    He was a nuke sub guy — can we throw him to the sharks bury him at sea?

    • Not Adahn

      I thought they loaded the bodies into torpedo tubes and launched them into the sun. Or whatever the undersea equivalent is.

      • AlexinCT

        They should plant him near or under a monument dedicated to the failures of those that claim good intentions…

      • juris imprudent

        Wouldn’t that be the gates to hell?

      • AlexinCT

        Give that man a CI-GAR!!

    • SarumanTheGreat

      Inter him at TMI. The radiation will preserve his body, just like it did the first time he visited it.

      • Not Adahn

        TMI dude.

  4. juris imprudent

    The Milan derby for the Italian Super Cup yesterday was one helluva match featuring an outstanding performance from Christian Pulisic.

    • rhywun

      Good for him.

      I remember when such contests might have been on my cable instead of a pay stream. Good times.

      • juris imprudent

        Caught it on DirectTV – CBS Sports.

      • rhywun

        IIRC I could get that channel but it is part of an expensive sports tier that comes with a zillion other channels I don’t want. When I moved recently I dropped a couple tiers I didn’t want to pay for anymore.

      • juris imprudent

        Funny cause I dumped a bunch of stuff but that one stuck.

      • rhywun

        I still get Fox Sports 1 (but not 2) and several MSG channels. And Yes and some other crap I don’t care about. At the end of the day, none of them are good for soccer.

        I really miss the Tennis channel and I was gonna pay for the stream but turns out it is not supported on Sony/Android TVs. Whee!

      • UnCivilServant

        I initially misread that as “The Tetris Channel”.

  5. Not Adahn

    NPR ran Trudy’s quote… he didn’t resign. He said he intended to resign at some unspecified point in the future. Maybe a truck driver will honk is horn and such a national emergency would force Truds to retake power for the good of the country.

    • R.J.

      I saw that. All the celebration is premature. Besides, some other leftist dildo will take his place. Yay.

  6. SDF-7

    I’m curious why the author thinks this executive action will take an act of congress to unwind.

    Because he paid attention to the Hawaiian judges in the last OMB go-around? Jackass EOs and regulations — must have 7+ years of legislative process and formal laws to change. Stupid Party ones… can be rolled back on day one.

    This justice system brought to you by the spirit of Two Tier Kier… not just for Limeys anymore!

    • AlexinCT

      Rules for thee, but not for me..

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      Exactly. One way ratchet in action. Of course, this just further demonstrates why none of this power should even be with the president anyway. It is clearly legislative in nature.

      • SDF-7

        I’d request to subscribe to your newsletter due to total agreement — but I’m already here and all.

  7. The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

    “Biden has banned private companies from reporting unpaid bills to other private companies. But the authoritarian is the guy that’s getting ready to take office again.”

    At the very first blush, this seems reasonable, then you think for a micro second.

    This is wild. You could end up loaning someone money who has no business taking on more debt. 22k new mortgages is the number they pulled from their behind. How many of these will be defaulted on?

    • SDF-7

      The US Government has a fantastic track record of encouraging mortgages to folks who can’t actually afford the loans, after all.

      • juris imprudent

        Home ownership – bi partisan policy!

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        Exactly. Between this and the oil things, it’s clear they’re just trying to sabotage the economy over the next 4 years.

        Truly despicable people.

    • Strange Brew

      Don’t worry about the defaults comrade, we have bailout programs for that. Housing is a human right, everyone deserves a house, the system must be equitable. You’ll get your Socialism good and hard.

      • AlexinCT

        So, grooming gangs?

    • Not Adahn

      Eh, I can understand the idea of a debt being valuable enough to trade for something. But at the same time, why should an entity I’ve never heard of much less have entered into any sort of agreement with have the power to demand money from me?

      • UnCivilServant

        I agree. Any modifications to the contractual parties (debt is a contract) should require the active concent of all three parties – debtor, creditor, and would-be creditor, unless the creditor was acquired by the new would-be creditor as that would be the same party from a legal perspective.

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        You probably agree to it somewhere in the terms and conditions for most loans.

        In cases like debt to a service provider, I suppose they sell their right to collect on the debt to someone else, you can’t choose what they do with their property (the debt).

        Anyway, this isn’t really about turning debt over to collectors so much as companies being able to accurately report your liabilities.

      • R C Dean

        Most mortgages and a lot of other formal debt is assignable by its terms – the creditor can sell it because the contract says he can. Now, the debtor can’t assign his obligation to pay (for pretty obvious reasons). So the debtor has typically already consented.

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s unconscionable to hide something like that in the terms.

        Especially dealing with an unsophisticated party.

      • PutridMeat

        NA: why should an entity I’ve never heard of much less have entered into any sort of agreement with have the power to demand money from me?

        RC: So the debtor has typically already consented.

        I know most people don’t read their mortgage agreements – and the all the realtors and agents got real frustrated with me when I sat there and read it during closing – but certainly for that loan contract it said right there – “hey, you know we’re going to sell this before the ink is dry on your signature, right? And you’ll be obligated to pay whatever entity we sell it too, right?” I don’t think I would have gotten anywhere claiming I didn’t have to pay my mortgage because I never entered into an agreement with New York Bank. I’d guess generally you agree to the transfer of debt up front when you enter into the agreement to take someones money as a loan.

      • R C Dean

        At some point, arrived at very quickly, the terms of a contract are going to be more than “an unsophisticated party” can recite from memory. Practically the entirety of most contracts are “hidden in the terms” and there is no remedy for that other than just making it illegal to have contracts beyond a certain, very short, length.

        So what are the acceptable terms for a mortgage, say? Don’t exceed a handful of bullet points.

      • UnCivilServant

        @ Putrid “you know we’re going to sell this before the ink is dry on your signature, right?”

        I got the “We’ve sold your mortage – Would you like to refinance?” letters before I even made my first regularly scheduled payment on the loan. Fortunately, the payment processing still went through the credit union and they passed it along to whoever bought the debt.

      • Not Adahn

        If this is specific to mortgages, that’s one thing because those are known Big Deal Contracts.

        My sole experience with collections agencies has been of this pattern:

        1. I get a bill from Albany Med for something that Insurance is supposed to pay for.
        2. I let Albany Med and Insurance Co. fight about it.
        3. I get a bill from a collections agency for some amount that I am assuming is related to the bill in point 1, though they’re never the same amount.
        4. I ignore it.
        5. Nothing ever happens beyond this other than perhaps a repeat of #3 and #4.

      • Fourscore

        “Goes back to read the fine print on the marriage contract”

        Well, damn, I didn’t know she could sell the contract out to her mother.

      • DrOtto

        At Not Adahn – re med billing – I have a similar response to med bills as you but did have one that we received almost 8 years after treatment was received. I responded that I retain records for 3 years and that since I have no way to substantiate the bill that I was unable to pay it. That was the first and last time I ever heard on that one.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Every house I have bought there was someone (a notary) there at the title company going line-by-line with us, each clause needing to be signed off on. They tell you that they are going to sell the loan and that this is part of the loan parameters up front. That said, I have been going through Guild Mortgage for the last two, and they do not sell the loan but keep it in-house.

      • DEG

        Every house I have bought there was someone (a notary) there at the title company going line-by-line with us, each clause needing to be signed off on.

        Some of those practices vary by state.

        In NH, no lawyer is required to be involved in closing, and at closing when the agent handed me the document, the agent gave me a summary. I didn’t have to sign off every clause, but I did read the documents in full which slowed things down.

        I’ve heard in Vermont lawyers must go over the closing documents.

      • Jarflax

        If you sign a negotiable instrument, (generally a note or a check) it is negotiable. That means it is an ongoing promise by you to pay the amount specified, at the terms specified to the holder of the instrument. Why on Earth would you not have to pay the money to someone who bought the right to collect on those terms from the original lender?

  8. ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

    Bury Carter with a peanut in his mouth for the journey.

    • AlexinCT

      Not on his closed eyelids?

      Fo the boatman…

      • Not Adahn

        Chiron has a wicked allergy.

      • UnCivilServant

        Look, you’re supposed to save a penny for the ferryman, not literally pay him peanuts.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Isn’t putting a penny on the eyes an Irish custom, while the ancient Greeks put them in the mouth?

      • Ted S.

        You’re not supposed to pay the ferryman until he gets you to the other side.

      • UnCivilServant

        If you don’t pay the ferryman up front, he dumps you in the Styx.

      • Not Adahn

        Charon, not Chiron, sorry.

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s spelled Χάρων

      • Not Adahn

        Chiron would make for a shitty ferryman. He’d constantly be stomping holes in the hull.

      • rhywun

        There it is.

      • Ted S.

        At least somebody got the reference.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        PO Nick, blast from the past. I enjoyed it when it came out.

      • Not Adahn

        I got it I was trying to make some sort of joke along the lines of “Don’t fear the Reaper, but the Ferryman is a cheating asshole.”

      • WTF

        Not enough cowbell.

      • Aloysious

        I always mix those two songs up, then I mix the bands up. Grrrr.

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      Poorly thought out or purposefully crafted?

      Either way, it would be interesting to hear arguments for the constitutionality of things like this. Usually the legislative can’t tie the hands of the executive, but it isn’t really the executive’s power to use in the first place…

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      The answer is to just go and do it. Start with the assumption that the ’53 law is unconstitutional, and go from there. And if a judge, say in Hawaii, says no you are already using force majeure.

      • UnCivilServant

        So the starting point of your gambit is the assertion that “Congress cannot delegate legislative authority to the executive or any other non-legislative entity.”

        I’ll buy that. It’ll burn a lot of the regulatory state in the same stroke.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Edit to add; if it takes an act of congress to unwind it, it should take an act of congress to start it. That should be the reasoning behind why it is and was unconstitutional. And why he should just plow ahead.

      • WTF

        ^This. The constitution does not give supremacy to the judiciary. Things like this need a little Jacksonian “He’s made his decision, now let him enforce it” magic.

      • juris imprudent

        It’ll burn a lot of the regulatory state in the same stroke.

        And????

      • UnCivilServant

        And what?

        Or are you such an ingrained contrarian that you thought I was presenting that as a negative?

      • juris imprudent

        All that gnashing of teeth will be a boon for dentists.

      • DEG

        So the starting point of your gambit is the assertion that “Congress cannot delegate legislative authority to the executive or any other non-legislative entity.”

        The Supreme Court has done away with Chevron deference.

  9. juris imprudent

    This is becoming just like cable.

    What? You think you should get to choose what you watch (and pay for)? WHAT’S IN THAT FOR US??? /love, the networks

    • rhywun

      I was considering Fubo for awhile but the price is more than I already pay for cable + internet. No, thanks.

      Yeah, the promise of a la carte never actually materialized with “streaming”, did it.

      • juris imprudent

        I think the real problem is the content producers – they know they have limited good product and a bunch of shit, and they want top dollar for it all.

      • Nephilium

        juris imprudent:

        You sure on that? The producers don’t seem to be the ones in charge right now (look at the complaints about movies/shows being “dumped to streaming”). I’d say it was more that Netflix started making money by being the first to do it, and licensing a bunch of old stuff from everyone’s library. Then those companies decided (as happened in the game industry in regards to Steam) “Why are we letting Netflix make money off of our back catalog, we can stream it ourselves!”. They then rolled out streaming services that cost more, had less content, and were less usable (hell, some of them still don’t keep track of what’s been watched).

        We’re back in the consolidation part, when all of the people who’ve lost money on streaming (pretty sure that’s everyone except for Netflix) start purging content (looks over at WB/MAX/HBO Max/HBO Go) and looking to get out of running their own streaming service.

        Personally, I’m more annoyed at the reluctance to release items in a physical format as a way to force subscriber lock in.

      • juris imprudent

        I could be wrong, but I thought this was usually the result of negotiation between the cable/sat company and the content producers and the bundling was producer driven. The theory was streaming should bust that, but instead it has followed it. Either way it ends up fucking the consumer.

      • Nephilium

        juris:

        Netflix has no negotiations with satellite/cable. Off the top of my head, nearly every streaming service is tied to one major studio (Amazon/MGM; Hulu/Disney; MAX/WB; etc.), and (Hollywood accounting outstanding), I’m pretty sure they’ve all lost a large amount of money over the past several years with all of the movies that have crashed and burned upon release (or got shelved to never be released).

        If it was the content producers making the money, you’d see more of them doing their own releases or doing funding through crowdfunding. I know of several bands and podcasts that get by on that, but I don’t think there’s that many shows/movies getting through those.

      • rhywun

        Either way it ends up fucking the consumer.

        Yeah, should have been obvious to everyone from day one. The consumer is the last consideration.

  10. SDF-7

    I can’t wait for this guy’s piece on the 20th.

    I’m sure it will only be part of the 4 year incessant bleating on how They ™ know better, we shouldn’t believe our lying eyes and should just submit, etc. All the “how could they not believe us after we lied to them repeatedly!” in the article leans that way to me.

    • The Other Kevin

      Everything these people did in the past will be memory-holed. They are in attack mode now. Every time Trump does anything, there will be teams of people figuring out how to spin it as an existential crisis.

  11. SDF-7

    Why should they be democracies?

    You’ve got me — if anything should be a meritocracy (best at research should get the say in research and the overall tone of the campus, etc…. students shouldn’t get a say in Jack over Shit barring their internal groups, certainly not the overall running of the faculty/campus), universities should.

    • rhywun

      I had to tap out of that whiny shitpile.

      Are faculty too liberal? The question misses the point. Today, faculty scarcely play a role in shaping higher education.

      And yet every class is subject to a layer of Marxist claptrap. Imagine that.

  12. The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

    “Why not just take him back to Georgia and put him in the ground? That’s probably what he’d have wanted anyway. Seriously”

    I assume he has a last will and testament to cover what he wants done with his body. So, either they’re listening to that or not. No reason to assume they aren’t.

    • Sean

      No reason to assume they aren’t.

      We have every reason to doubt them.

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        From my POV Carter probably would have wanted the attention and pomp associated with the official stuff going on. But that’s just my inkling.

      • R C Dean

        Well, let’s see. On the one hand (hypothetically), we have a last will and testament requesting a quiet private ceremony. On the other, we have a corpse we can use for cheap political points over a few news cycles.

        Which way do you think Our Masters will go?

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Considering what they have been doing with Bidens corpse the last few weeks, I guessing they are going to do some Weekend at Jimmah’s film.

    • The Other Kevin

      He signed an updated will on the day he voted for Kamala.

      • dbleagle

        So did Rosylyn.

  13. juris imprudent

    Oh hi, never mind us, we’re not doing anything over here.

    The Electronic Communication, dated May 16, 2017, claimed to have an “articulable factual basis” to suspect that Trump “wittingly or unwittingly” was illegally acting on behalf of Russia, and accordingly posing “threats to the national security of the United States.” The FBI’s “goal,” it added, was “to determine if President Trump is or was directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with, the Russian Federation.” It additionally sought to uncover whether Trump and unnamed “others” obstructed “any associated FBI investigation” – a reference to Crossfire Hurricane, the initial FBI inquiry into the Trump campaign’s suspected cooperation with an alleged Russian interference plot in the 2016 election.

    Only WE are trustworthy and true patriots – everyone else, including the President, are suspect. There is no saving an institution that has that sentiment.

    • AlexinCT

      Nuke it from orbit.

    • rhywun

      One wonders if the incoming administration will have the balls to finally investigate. They could start by removing that award from around Mrs. Clinton’s chicken-neck.

  14. The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

    “Less than 1 in 1,000 adolescents with commercial insurance”

    This is a caveat big enough to drive a gelding through.

    So how many kids on Medicaid got it? How many as soon as they turned 18? How many self paid or somehow obscured the services being offered.

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      Also, why do I not trust these researchers?

      “The researchers noted that gender-affirming care is linked to “improved psychological functioning” for youth who identify as transgender and gender diverse in the U.S.”

      Oh, right.

      • rhywun

        The researchers are lying.

        There is actual research showing no such link but in this country it’s ignored.

      • juris imprudent

        Psst – it isn’t research if we can spike the publication of it.

    • R C Dean

      The internet tells me there are 42 million adolescents in the US. One in a thousand would be nearly half a million.

      This may not be quite the knock-out punch they think it is.

      • Ownbestenemy

        It is when you consider how bad with numbers people are. I mean, Elon could give us all a million dollars and still have money left over!

      • Ted S.

        42k is a lot, but not nearly half a million.

      • R C Dean

        I was told that an order of magnitude error does not invalidate the conclusions of the study.

    • rhywun

      Less than 1 in 1,000 adolescents received gender-affirming medications: Study

      My jaw literally dropped when I read the headline. Once again, you do not hate the media enough.

      • Ted S.

        Less than 0.1% received psychiatric drugs; the other 99.9% had genitals chopped off.

    • SDF-7

      Any way the wind blows… doesn’t really matter to me…. to me!

      • juris imprudent

        It’s almost like they only want to curry favor with power, regardless of who has that power. What unspeakable evil.

    • slumbrew

      My assumption was more driven by “this will be much cheaper”. Even Meta can’t keep setting money on fire forever (how’s that Metaverse coming, Zuck? How many billions in are you?).

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Meh, that is how all business works. This is why there are donations to both sides of the aisle by the same company half the time. You are looking to see what you can get, and what you cannot get. What you have to do, and what you don’t.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yep, Bezos and Zuck are just trying to play catchup since Elon bulldozed his way in.

  15. juris imprudent

    Reckoning? Not if they can possibly avoid it.

    The conspiracy of silence around Biden’s age-related decline does not rise to the level of the cognoscenti’s embrace of the Iraq War — it did not lead to the deaths of thousands of American troops and many more Iraqi civilians—but it does, in its enforcement of a remarkably foolhardy groupthink, demand its own kind of reckoning. And it’s not at all apparent such a reckoning will ever come.

    • R C Dean

      That is a strong contender for stupidest analogy of the year, and we’re still in the first week.

  16. rhywun

    I’m hot and cold on this guy.

    #metoo

    There’s something annoyingly twee going on that irritates me to no end.

    • Tundra

      Not me. I’ve been a fan for a long time. And he still put on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.

      Oliver’s Army is a great choice, regardless.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      His first couple albums are some of the best of all time. Post ’70s, not so much.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I especially appreciate the fingerprinting of the kids photo. “Its a classroom exercise! Quick, send these to the FBI, we got these for free!”

    • WTF

      Odd how we never heard any stories about the cops dealing with the BLM and Antifa riots being driven to suicide.

      • Ownbestenemy

        *checks over notes* Those were jack-booted thugs in that instance.

    • Not Adahn

      I reject the “driven to suicide” framing. What I see is you’ve got a population (the cops in this case) who’s response to having a problem is “put a bullet in it.”

    • R C Dean

      “They’d long believed Howie’s service on the Capitol Police was harming his health, and they’d repeatedly urged him to quit.”

      So, you say, his job was causing him problems long before the events of J6?

      • R C Dean

        Oh, and I wonder if Howie was one of the cops who beat Rosanne Boyland to death.

      • WTF

        Oh, and I wonder if Howie was one of the cops who beat Rosanne Boyland to death.

        I suppose guilt over that could lead to his suicide.

    • Suthenboy

      In a way you could say the suicide thug died in a fire…a reichstag fire since that drove him to it. I know, I am reaching here.

      • Sensei

        Or turning Japanese?

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        👏

    • Ownbestenemy

      I appreciate the small amount of pixelation lol.

    • UnCivilServant

      There is such a thing as too big. Generally you’ve passed that line when each is rivalling the head for volume.

  17. Sensei

    When was the last time you actually read a physical newspaper? Look at the picture here.

    U.S. in Talks to Swap Detained Americans in Afghanistan for Guantanamo Prisoner
    Biden administration negotiates for the release of three Americans in exchange for an alleged Osama bin Laden associate—and seeks to avoid political blowback

    And of course they are…

    https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-in-talks-to-swap-detained-americans-in-afghanistan-for-guantanamo-prisoner-c2fe0df9?st=paKeSu&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • R C Dean

      “When was the last time you actually read a physical newspaper?”

      Sunday.

      • rhywun

        A couple months ago, if you count the free local commie weekly.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Aleksandra Glezmann, George Glezmann’s wife, said her husband now thinks trips to Washington “are just a waste of life because his government doesn’t care anyway, and that he will likely rot in jail and never come home alive.”

      Oh your government cares, if they can use your life as a political pawn in some shape or fashion. Also, maybe don’t go touring a country we have bombed the shit out of for the previous 19 years.

      Glezmann, a Delta Air Lines mechanic, was touring Afghanistan when the Taliban seized him in December 2022

      • R C Dean

        Of course, going to Washington can also result in rotting jail.

      • Suthenboy

        Zero sympathy.

    • slumbrew

      “Glezmann, a Delta Air Lines mechanic, was touring Afghanistan when the Taliban seized him in December 2022”

      Play stupid games…

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Conditions are grim. According to one recent survey, 38 percent of instructional staff report some form of basic-needs insecurity. Stories of adjunct faculty sleeping in cars, shopping at food pantries, and even turning to sex work spread through the industry press.

    They do it for love.

    • Jarflax

      Interesting, is it possible that mental illness corelates with both academia and homelessness.

      • Nephilium

        You’ll know when some bum starts berating you for assuming their pronouns.

  19. The Other Kevin

    Good morning Glibs, hope you all had a good Jan. 6, and Buffalo Shaman brought you something nice. I got a slightly used lectern, and a rare, signed transcript of AOC telling about the third time she was murdered that day.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    I used to joke with colleagues that higher education is besieged on two fronts: by fascists on one side and neoliberals on the other. As we look ahead to a second Trump administration, however, these two threads appear ready to converge.

    They’ll put you to work in a rice paddy, with a dunce cap on your head?

    • rhywun

      💯% chance the author voted for the actual fascist running the United States for the last four years.

    • Suthenboy

      Fascist, Communist, Conservative, Liberal, Freedom, Democracy, Socialist, Racist, Far Left/Right…..all words used but never defined. A narrow gaze and extreme skepticism should be used with anyone spouting them.

    • juris imprudent

      This is what Trump wants, isn’t it? Why blame the Speaker as a spineless squish if that bigger spineless squish is in the White House?

      • R C Dean

        Of all the things I think Trump might do that could be beneficial, cutting spending and controlling debt is not one of them.

        Unfortunately, it’s the main thing we need. Or at least one of the two main things we need (snapping the spine of the agencies is the other). Big picture/long run, everything else is eyewash.

      • Suthenboy

        If Trump doesnt do it reality will. An unsustainable system is unsustainable.

      • juris imprudent

        I agree RC, just trying to keep straight what we think versus what Republicans do (and which Republicans are to blame for that).

  21. Mojeaux

    Mom not doing well at all. Kidneys shutting down. I’ve called my brothers in, contacted an estate attorney (she and her sister co-own their house and I suspect my aunt’s going to try to stab me in the back because my cousins REALLY want that house).

    • slumbrew

      So sorry to hear, Mojeaux. Especially the extra, unneeded family drama.

    • Ownbestenemy

      So sorry to hear.

    • Sean

      Oh no! Sorry to hear that, Mojeaux.

      • Fourscore

        Moj, my heart felt sympathies. My mother suffered the same problem, she went to sleep for four days and didn’t wake up. She’d been in a nursing home for 10 months.

        The suffering was over, she left enough to cover her funeral expenses. My two brothers and I went to the bank, one emptied her safe box, paid the funeral home. Worked out perfectly and total family agreement.

      • rhywun

        Some aunts or whatnot I was barely aware of crawled out of the woodwork to fight over my mom’s estate 16 years ago in a development that surprised absolutely no one.

      • Tundra

        Solid estate planning is one of the best gifts you can give your family.

    • Suthenboy

      You have all of my sympathy. Really, I am sorry to hear that.

    • Jarflax

      Co-own how? As tenants in common or as joint tenants? The way they took title (language used on the deed) matters in this situation.

      • Jarflax

        Also, sorry about your Mom, your post engaged real estate lawyer brain and it short circuited my much smaller social interaction brain.

      • Mojeaux

        Not sure, precisely. I have a notarized statement of what is to be done with it if one of them dies, but I have never seen the mortgage or title documents.

      • Mojeaux

        No, it’s great. I need all the help I can get from people I trust, so whatever you have to say I will listen to.

      • Jarflax

        The deed trumps other documents. If they are joint tenants the property goes to the survivor regardless of other instructions. The mortgage would not matter here, just the deed. I’m not licensed in Missouri, but if you email me at my handle here @gmail.com with the address/county I can see if I can find the deed online.

      • Mojeaux

        THANK YOU!!! I will do that as soon as I can get to my email again. Oh, I appreciate this so much!

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Sorry Mojeaux, that all sucks.

    • The Bearded Hobbit

      So sorry to hear.

    • ron73440

      Sorry, Mo.

      Hope the family drama doesn’t add too much stress.

  22. Sensei

    Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer spent a large chunk of a press conference Monday that was supposed to focus on the country’s overstretched health system instead rebutting Musk’s posts about the prime minister’s record in jailing child rapists during a previous stint as the U.K.’s chief prosecutor over a decade ago. Starmer said he was “not going to individualize this to Elon Musk or anyone else” but also spent several minutes defending his record and denouncing those “that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible.”

    Look – a squirrel!

    https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/elon-musk-is-roiling-european-politics-0199c66d?st=55taa3&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • Suthenboy

      What is his record? About like Kamala’s?
      The English have been down the tubes so many time now they clearly have raised it to an art.

    • R C Dean

      Unfortunately for him, as the Crown Prosecutor at the time, his fingerprints are all over one of the biggest scandals in the history of England – mass child rape by foreigners covered up by, if not aided and abetted by, the government*. And its broken cover (again), being driven by an outlet that he cannot control or intimidate.

      *I read one story that the police went to a house after hearing reports of screams. They found something like 10 Pakistani men and one naked and drunk young girl (11 or 12, I think). They arrested the girl for drunkenness. No indication any of the Pakis were arrested.

      • Drake

        Lots of stories like that because of Starmer.

        In that case, I wonder if arresting her was the excuse to get her out of there without losing their jobs.

      • R C Dean

        Could be, Drake. Don’t know if charges were actually pressed, but the “without losing their jobs” part goes straight up the chain in the UK’s government.

    • rhywun

      He is dumber than I even expected.

      • rhywun

        PS. I really, really hope this blows up in his face.

        The British public have been so beaten down they can’t even talk about it.

      • juris imprudent

        Sometimes you really understand why Orwell believed a boot grinding on a face was their true destiny.

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      That’s pretty wild. I had no idea two tier Kier was behind that. How is he still alive?

  23. UnCivilServant

    In my digital archival of my physical media, I found that for one series I only owned half the run.

    In looking for the rest of the run, I could get just the part I was missing for $22 on DVD, or the whole series for $15 on BluRay.

    Used to be both blurays and more content were each more expensive.

  24. Suthenboy

    Biden may be demented but he sure remembers how to say ‘fuck you’ with gusto.

    It is clear the left hates the free market and personal liberty because they have a one dimensional understanding of ‘signals’. The free market provides signals. The voting booth provides signals. The signals from the voting booth have gone right over their heads. They seem to be lefting even harder. I dont know what to say about that.

    The author of the University article is missing that the Universities are defending AND practicing democracy. That is what democracy looks like and why our founders took so much trouble to avoid it.

    Children mutilators belong against a wall.

  25. KSuellington

    Of all the Newspeak that drives me crazy, “gender affirming care” has now firmly supplanted “person of color” as the absolute worst. The fact that it got mainstreamed so quickly is disgusting, and is part of the reason we now are looking at a Trump Show Seasons 5-8. I think (and hope) the backlash against all the woke bullshit is just beginning, and is not just a US phenomenon.

    • juris imprudent

      That Central Europeans, who really suffered under the assault on language and thought, are leading on the backlash I think says a lot. We never had it as bad as they did.

      • KSuellington

        They were indeed on the cutting edge of this. Unsurprisingly, it looks like the message is still not getting through. It took a while to get into this, it is going to take a while to get out.

      • rhywun

        the message is still not getting through

        It sure isn’t.

        I am still unsure if we’ve reached a local bottom or if it gets more stupid first.

      • R C Dean

        My current blood-boiler euphemism is “grooming gangs”.

        No, they aren’t grooming gangs. They are child rape gangs. Racist ones, at that.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      “What’s happening in Canadian politics is not happening in a vacuum. It is a symptom of a much broader phenomenon. Call it the great crack-up of the old consensus.

      The old consensus held that immigration was an absolute good, with multiculturalism the end goal. Arguments contrary to progressive social attitudes was “disinformation” that must be combated by robust online censorship. People would quickly adjust to massive changes in social attitudes around sex and gender because objections would be seen as bigoted. And anyone who said anything that questioned the consensus would become a pariah.

      This consensus is being rejected across the West. Donald Trump won the presidency by building a multiracial, working-class coalition that had little affection for the progressive activists who supposedly spoke for them. In Italy, Giorgia Meloni—who launched her political career on the far-right—now leads perhaps the most stable country in Western Europe. In Britain, Labour’s Keir Starmer was able to wrest control of Downing Street after 14 years of Conservative rule, largely because Conservatives had not delivered on immigration restrictions. Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party is now ascendant there, in large part because of his muscular stance against Islamism and immigration.

      Austria just elected its most right-wing government since the end of World War II. And Germany, once the heart of the old consensus under Chancellor Angela Merkel, is still dealing with the fallout with her 2015 decision to accept roughly a million asylum-seekers from the Middle East. The hard-right AfD is now poised to become the second largest party in Germany’s parliament in next month’s election.

      There are certain things that simply can’t be wished away. Things like Islamic fundamentalism, the societal downsides of mass immigration, rising crime, and stagnant economics. Trudeau—who, in a fit of desperation late last year, tried to reverse his immigration policies—learned these lessons too late. He is the latest casualty of the great crack-up. But he will not be the last.”

      https://x.com/bariweiss/status/1876455268319433034

      • KSuellington

        Bari can be and has been, not all that aware about some things, but I think she is pretty spot on here. I just look at the monumental hit job that was put on Trump from the government, media, and elite power brokers to his own massive missteps and mistakes and the fact that he won again just shows the depth of distrust to the official narrative makers. This is what I had hoped might eventually happen in the depths of the Vid hysteria.

      • rhywun

        Yes, she’s right. “Multiculturalism” is proving to be a complete failure, and the inevitable accusations of “racism” are starting to fall on deaf ears.

    • R C Dean

      I’m convinced (maybe just hoping) that this is chaff to chew up news cycles. Much like the “let’s annex Canada” kerfuffle.

      • Evan from Evansville

        Agreed.

    • KSuellington

      I’ve always wanted to go there. If I come into some big money I’m gonna take a sled dog hunting trip for caribou there. I think the Trump thing is mostly bluster, and we aren’t going to “buy” Greenland, but it would be huge if they gained full independence from Denmark and aligned with the US. Massive untapped mineral deposits there, big tourism possibilities and much more there.

      • Suthenboy

        “…massive untapped mineral deposits…”
        There is also a bit of. ice.

      • UnCivilServant

        Economically, Greenland is not set up for independence.

        Half of its employed workforce is government sector. It’s budget comes in the form of subsidy from Denmark. It will collapse if it tries to stand on its own in the state it is in now.

      • KSuellington

        I wonder what the feasibility of using either nuclear or geothermal to melt that ice in the particular places might be? Also wonder what they have in terms of petroleum under that ice? If it’s anything like Alaska that would be huge. They have oil rigs all up in the Arctic so it is possible.

      • Jarflax

        It has a population of 56k. It is basically a big national park, not a nation or even a province.

      • KSuellington

        That is exactly what I have read about it Jarflax. It’s some of the least developed areas on the planet. Any yes, of course the massive amount of ice and snow are a main reason for that. But I have to believe that if it was a territory of the US and not Denmark it would look very different there.

    • PutridMeat

      When does a fiddle become just an electric guitar that someone is holding up next to their chin?

      • R.J.

        At this exact moment in time.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Lockdown

    President Biden is creating two new national monuments in California on Tuesday, preserving the lands from development and setting a record for the most land and waters conserved by any president, the White House said.

    ——-

    In total, the White House said Biden protected 674 million acres of land and waters through monuments and other designations during his four years in office.

    Bigger than Teddy Roosevelt.

    • R C Dean

      That would be more than a million square miles. No idea how much of that is water, but for reference, the land mass of the US is 3MM square miles (including territorial waters, 3.8MM square miles). So the Biden administration has, in four years, made around a third of the US off limits for development.

      That seems beyond belief. Check my math, but I think thats right.

      • rhywun

        Bit under a third. That IS beyond belief.

      • slumbrew

        Your math appears correct (674MM acres out of 2429MM total). That’s unbelievable.

      • Suthenboy

        You are correct.
        How long before a new crop of voters forgets what happened here and elects another commie who will simply annex all US real estate?

      • Not Adahn

        NPR visualized it by saying it was “Six Californias.”

  27. Ed Wuncler

    My friend who lives in DC and has a sister who works for the Biden Administration asked me how I felt about the election of Donald Trump. I told him that I don’t think he is that big of a danger as the Left has made him out to be and that his election was the repudiation of the Left’s nonsense from the last couple of years. He blew his gasket at that statement and went on this rant about how he’s this authoritarian strongman who will never let go of power and will jail his political opponents.

    I calmy told him about the Biden Administration colluding with social media companies to suppress views that differs from the Admiration’s official policy which is a violation of our First Amendment rights and banana republic shit like the NY Legislature retroactively changing a law just to prosecute the former President and the Administration’s dismissal of inflation and even mocking those for worrying about the rising price of goods.

    His response was that all of this was necessary to protect the norms of our democracy and save our country from a dictator. At that point I saw that arguing with him was useless and tried to move on to something else, but he wouldn’t let up. He then accused me of being naive about how much we are in danger and that people like me are the reason why we will be in a Nazi like dictatorship. I tried to not blow up at him and told him I had something to do and got off the phone.

    • Ed Wuncler

      He also works at an NGO in DC so take that as you will.

      • Tundra

        Ah, a parasite about to lose its host.

        All becomes clear.

      • juris imprudent

        Honestly, I hope the asshole suffers greatly in the displacement. That kind of stupid should hurt.

      • Ed Wuncler

        When the COVID shot mania was going on, he lectured me about getting my kids one. At the time my daughters where 2 years old and 4 months old. I got the shot because my job threatened to let us go if we didn’t, but I drew the line at my children. I finally told him that he’s my bro but don’t ever lecture me about the decisions that I make with regards to my children again or else, we’re going to have a problem.

    • WTF

      It’s a religion, there is no reasoning someone out of their religious beliefs.

    • Sensei

      “We had to destroy the village in order to save it”.

    • Grumbletarian

      I have a friend who is M-F trans and lamented that they didn’t know how long before their existence became illegal now that Trumpenfuhrer was coming back. I responded that, from what I’ve read, Trump has a long list of atrocities on his plate: Re-enslaving all black people, deporting all brown people, repealing women’s suffrage and instating Handmaid’s Tale, and handing over America’s nuclear arsenal to Putin, so maybe making it legal to hunt LGBTQETC. people for sport would be low on the list.

      • Suthenboy

        Excellent.

      • EvilSheldon

        “Have you gotten an assault rifle yet? No? Do you want one of my spares? It probably won’t save your life, but you’ll probably be able to take a few of the enforcers with you, and that’ll make it that much easier for the next guy…or whatever, you get the idea…”

      • R C Dean

        “their existence became illegal”

        So there are people who actually believe Trump will have them executed for being trans? Wow.

      • Ed Wuncler

        It’s so stupid. Dude was President for four years and not one trans or gay person got sent to the gulags or executed.

    • rhywun

      Ugh. There is a reason I don’t talk to any of my old friends from the Before Times.

    • Jarflax

      You cannot argue with dogma, it is too deeply connected to the believer’s sense of self, and any argument no matter how rational and calm is perceived as a personal attack.

      • Fourscore

        Three years ago, at HH an old friend told me, “Trump is going to jail” just matter-of-factly. I said, “I don’t think so” and the matter was dropped.

        Then he said I needed to get the vaccine. I said “you’ll need boosters every three months” His response was, “So?”

        He’s a retired math prof. I haven’t mentioned those conversations the past two HHs. I think he’d rather forget the conversation and we are too good of friends for me to bring it up. Besides, he’s having his own health problems, ’cause he’s old.

    • EvilSheldon

      Boy, that really says a lot about our democracy, that we have to abandon things like rule of law and due process to save it. It almost sounds like democracy is just a fig leaf over authoritarian oligarchy…

      Dude’s not thinking, he’s just repeating what his thought leaders are telling him to.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Praise Biden!

    Gavin Newsom today issued the following statement after President Biden took action to protect the Pacific and Atlantic coasts from offshore oil and gas drilling.

    Hundreds of miles of California’s iconic coastline is now fully protected from expanded offshore drilling, thanks to today’s action by President Biden. For decades, we have led the fight to protect the Pacific Coast and the millions of Californians who call these coastal communities home.

    We thank the Biden-Harris Administration for taking this bold action that will pay dividends for generations to come. New offshore drilling has no place in California, and the President’s action strengthens our work to protect the coast.

    We don’t need reliable affordable petroleum based energy. We can put solar panels and windmills out in the desert…

    • Grumbletarian

      No no, put solar panels on stilts and set them where the oil derricks would have gone.

      And just send me my Nobel Prize now, thanks.

      • rhywun

        Which is exactly what NY is trying to do except it’s windmills on stilts.

        And nobody’s biting because it’s a money pit.

  29. LCDR_Fish

    Last second decision to celebrate a “national day of mourning” – aka federal holiday – on Thursday – way to mess with everyone’s normal schedule Biden.

    UCS – I know what the Squats are in Necromunda (and the old models in Rogue Trader, etc). Lore-wise, the Squats separated from the main leagues upwards of 10000 years ago when they settled on Necromunda – so I don’t think they really count per se. I do like a lot of the model designs though – may pick some up for proxies sometime – but haven’t messed with resin yet (I know the rules).

    • Ownbestenemy

      Yep. All my scheduled outages I planned back in November, screwed up cause of it. I guess I will spend the day clearing the sidewalk and deck of snow instead.

    • Nephilium

      Not exactly a last minute decision. I know that there was communications last week that the markets would be closed on the 9th already.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Announced a day of mourning on the 30th. Just found out today that everything will be shut down and rescheduled for Thursday.

        Italy is gonna be weird….Italian holidays like 26 Dec or 6 Jan….and then US holidays…and then the combined ones…once I get the admin done and I’m on shift work – I don’t give a crap.

      • Fourscore

        I have a funeral to attend on the 10th. We’re not changing that. Business as usual these days. Last chance to party with this classmate.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Fish, I’ve been racking my brains trying to find the title or ISBN of a small* funny Italian phrasebook my parents had in the 90s. Come dire “Who in hell is Saint Philomena?” and “Si non rallenti, vomito.”

        *deck of cards size, about 1/4 as fat

      • LCDR_Fish

        Sounds pretty nifty if you can dig it up.

    • UnCivilServant

      I don’t like working in resin, A: you have to wash off the release agent or the glue and your paint will release from the resin. B: it’s heavy and only superglue works, so you will want to pin the joints. C: you do NOT want to breathe in resin dust from drilling pin holes or cleaning mold lines (of which there will be many), so respirators are required. D: the models are removed from the molds soft, so some deformation occurs and you’ll have to correct it with gentle heat (especially at thin points in the structure) E: it’s brittle and easy to snap off details.

      • LCDR_Fish

        I have a couple legacy resin models – Eisenhorn and the Jokaero – may pick up more…will need some trial and error I guess.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Don’t think most mini-figs need pinning vice just superglue – not talking about a giant tank or anything.

      • UnCivilServant

        You wouldn’t think it, but they do.

        My Eisenhorn model kept losing its arms until I pinned them. I ended up with a kitbash which I painted up to be one of my Rogue Trader characters.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    His response was that all of this was necessary to protect the norms of our democracy and save our country from a dictator.

    “Look, freedom and rights are all well and good, in theory, but some people just can’t be trusted with them.”

  31. Raven Nation

    I skimmed the higher ed article. In my (anecdote-based) opinion, like a lot of academics, he’s pretty closely identified the problem but missed the mark on cause.

    (I’m trying to get around to doing a couple of pieces on higher ed from the inside).

    • Tundra

      Haha! That’s awesome!

  32. The Late P Brooks

    I skimmed the higher ed article. In my (anecdote-based) opinion, like a lot of academics, he’s pretty closely identified the problem but missed the mark on cause.

    Why did the bridge collapse?

    a) systemic racism

    or

    b) gravity

    • Jarflax

      False dichotomy, the correct answer was transphobia.

      • Jarflax

        or possibly spansphobia.

  33. LCDR_Fish

    As far as the Greenland or Annexing Canada/Mexico situation…conceptually…it actually works out really well – assuming all our constitutional rights are automatically extended by default (as one would expect) – although I would split a bunch more states along logical lines – ie separate Alberta from BC, etc. If we could unlock the real economic potential, we’d be unstoppable – and a much smaller, more defensible southern border.

    This is a nifty concept – https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1876186529162481926 – although I’d stick with the current naming convention.

    • R C Dean

      Except the US is already too big (in various dimensions/meanings) to be sustainably viable. Making it bigger won’t help. Adding Mexico in particular would be a complete disaster. Adding Canada would be a smaller disaster Greenland might be Puerto Rico, only with ice – not a disaster (for us), but why, really?

      • LCDR_Fish

        A real return to federalism would work. There’s no constitutional limit to the size of the House of Reps – and with tech these days, it should be easy to handle a lot more government work remotely/online. More states, let them operate more independently. Granted there’d be some issues with Mexico…but not insurmountable in the long term. ;p

      • R C Dean

        “A real return to federalism would work.”

        I guess while we’re fantasizing . . . .

        Even then, extending the BoR to our new citizens, north and south, is going to cause massive social and political disruptions. Which will be just the tip of the iceberg of the cultural mis-fit of many of our new citizens. I guess for me, the problem isn’t that we don’t have enough foreigners in our country, so I don’t see adding more as a solution to much of anything.

        Besides, federalism already failed once. Why wouldn’t it fail again, only on a bigger scale?

      • UnCivilServant

        We don’t want mexico.

        And who said citizens? They should be permanat legal residents until naturalized. After all, they were born in a foreign country.

    • Ed Wuncler

      The first thing we do when we’re annexing Canada is liberate their dairy industry and also get rid of milk in bags. I find the practice strange.

      • Tundra

        Mandate raw milk in old fashioned glass bottles.

        Make Dairy Great Again!

  34. The Late P Brooks

    Lurching rightward

    Dana White, the Ultimate Fighting Championship president and supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, is joining the board of Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta.

    White’s election as a Meta director two weeks before Trump takes office comes as Silicon Valley is courting the incoming administration, following what has been a frosty relationship with Trump and his allies, who have long accused tech platforms including Meta of anti-conservative bias.

    Meta, Amazon and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have each donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. Zuckerberg is among the tech titans who have dined with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago since the election. Last week Meta named Joel Kaplan, a veteran company executive and Republican who once worked in George W. Bush’s White House, its head of global policy.

    White is a longtime friend of Trump who spoke at the Republican National Convention this summer and appeared in Trump’s first TikTok video. On election night, White joined Trump on stage at his victory party, thanking many of the podcasters and online influencers who, along with UFC, have been credited with boosting the president-elect’s appeal among young men.

    We’re all Renaissance courtiers, now.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Next stop, “whites only” dining rooms

    The diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) rollback across corporate America now includes the country’s best-known fast food chain, McDonald’s (MCD).

    The burger giant said in a Monday announcement that it would retire its practice of setting aspirational representation goals, known as quotas, and do away with a company pledge to hire a diverse group of suppliers in favor of “a more integrated discussion with suppliers about inclusion as it relates to business performance.”

    McDonald’s added that it would also pause external surveys and change the way it refers to its diversity team to the “Global Inclusion Team.”

    Make Hamburgers Great Again.

    • EvilSheldon

      Wake me up when McDs returns to a $1.00 dollar menu, and puts the lard back in the deep fryers…

      • UnCivilServant

        It was beef tallow, not lard.

    • rhywun

      aspirational representation goals, known as quotas

      lol

      It’s almost like businesses don’t like tossing money out the window.

    • R C Dean

      “change the way it refers to its diversity team to the “Global Inclusion Team”

      So they’re not really changing anything, and hope everybody is too stupid to notice.

      “do away with a company pledge to hire a diverse group of suppliers in favor of “a more integrated discussion with suppliers about inclusion as it relates to business performance.”

      I know bureaucratic bafflegab when I see it.

      • Ted S.

        They’re a bunch of GITs.

Submit a Comment