263 Comments

    • Nephilium

      Sure… LA burns down every couple of years, no one calls it any bad names. A river catches fire a couple of times (the last time before I was born), and the burning river lives on…

      • Rat on a train

        The four seasons of California: fire, flood, quake, riot.

      • Not Adahn

        And three of those involve something burning!

      • Ownbestenemy

        Luckily for me in my yoots, flood season never materialized.

      • juris imprudent

        Oh there is nothing like a good flood the year after big fires, with all of the watershed burned to ash. Yeah baby.

      • rhywun

        Southern California has always been unfit for human habitation IMHO so there is that I guess.

      • The Other Kevin

        I think my wife has a game set up vs. Burning River Roller Derby this coming season.

      • Nephilium

        The Other Kevin:

        You guys traveling here for that match, or are the Burning River Girls heading your way?

      • The Other Kevin

        I’m not sure, she’s in charge of putting together schedule and she’s in the middle of negotiating with the other teams. I’ll let you know if it’s an away game, I’m almost certain to travel with her.

  1. SDF-7

    Trump’s border and taxes mega-bill sets up game of chicken with GOP moderates

    And it will probably work — but remembering OMB v1.0… I’m not holding my breath for spending cuts to match the tax giveaways (which are likely good, mind you… better for growing the economy and all), much less trim back the “COVID is the new baseline! Borrow 2 trillion!” state we’re in.

    Morning all. Take care any Glibs in or near LA — don’t hesitate to get the hell out if there’s any risk, “fast moving” doesn’t look to begin to describe this set of fires.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Santa Ana winds are no joke, always have been nightmare fuel. On that note, youngest was on a road trip to California to see his dad and sisters and broke down in and around Hollywood. Last he heard he got his car towed and is somewhere safe (we think a girl he really wanted to see)

      • SDF-7

        Hope he stays safe and successful, OBE.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Thanks SDF. He is so damn awkward around potentials its painful to watch.

    • juris imprudent

      At this point I really don’t care about tax cuts, I’d prefer to just leave them alone for a while – not that either side is game for that of course.

      • Jarflax

        If they do not cut spending, any ‘tax cuts’ at best just shift the burden of taxation around to different groups. The money for Federal spending comes from three sources, they can print it which is the ‘hidden’ tax of inflation, they can borrow it (as long as the bond issues find buyers) which diverts capital needed for growth into Federal spending and increases the debt we’ll be paying in the future, or they can raise it through open taxes. The whole house of cards depends on sufficient growth to keep ahead of the debt service, but the debt itself reduces growth by diverting capital to a non-productive use.

      • R C Dean

        I want tax reform, not more targeted pandering via the tax code (which is what Trump seems to be after).

        And it’s not reform unless it starts with “The Internal Revenue Code and all associated regulations are hereby repealed in its entirety”.

      • R C Dean

        Borrowing is the same as “printing”.

      • Jarflax

        Borrowing is printing with a delay mechanism, and in fact is likely worse than just straight printing because in addition to the inflationary aspect it also diverts existing capital.

      • Suthenboy

        “…diverting capital to a non-productive use.”

        When the biggest business in the country produces nothing you are on a road to disaster. That is the only possible outcome.

      • Jarflax

        Now to the extent that foreign parties buy the debt, or hoard US dollars, some of the bad effects are delayed, or exported, which has helped us but the bigger our debt gets the less appealing our bonds/dollars are to those foreign parties.

      • juris imprudent

        the less appealing

        Hey, don’t worry, this works great – right up until it stops working at all.

  2. SDF-7

    One of Louisiana’s youngest mayors arrested in connection with drug-trafficking investigation

    A mayor’s love isn’t like the love of a square….

    • Not Adahn

      Since Fox isn’t reporting the Mayor’s party affiliation, does that mean he’s an (R)?

      More seriously, what’s the point of being mayor if you can’t use the office to obtain MDMA and prostitutes? Or give the Gift of the Gun to your friends?

      • Ownbestenemy

        I generally appreciate the straight news, but no, he ran as a democrat. Also, he is just using Government for what it really is…organized crime syndicate.

  3. SDF-7

    North Carolina Supreme Court Blocks Elections Board From Certifying Democrat As Winner For High Court Seat

    Alternate headline: NC Supreme Court grants more time to look at razor thin election, tells Election Board to not just rubber stamp results.

    Could use some of that in those Arizona cases where the boards were told “certify or you’ll go to jail” (I think it was Arizona… apologies if I’m misremembering). Don’t drag things out forever — but don’t let an arbitrary deadline stop actual checking of results either. It could be abused either way — but this seems reasonable in this instance.

  4. SDF-7

    Meta to replace its fact-checking program with system like X’s community notes

    “Wolf dons sheeps clothing — says this time, he really has changed… please take him back.”

    • Ownbestenemy

      I was pleasantly happy with my morning drive AM radio guy who is fairly libertarian.

      His comment was something like “What is it with conservatives and republicans forgiving their captors and torturers?”

      • rhywun

        Seriously. I want scorched-earth payback.

      • juris imprudent

        Blame Lincoln? He wanted reconciliation with the South while the Radicals wanted to reduce them to ruin.

      • The Last American Hero

        Most are practicing Christians?

        Also, they favor order and stability, so getting “things back to whatever passed for normal” is good enough for them.

    • Rat on a train

      But I can change, I can change
      I can learn to keep my promises, I swear it
      I’ll open up my heart and I will share it
      Any minute now I will be born again

      • SDF-7

        Rat on a train — bigger, longer and uncut!

      • Ted S.

        Look at SDF trying to revive the circumcision debate.

    • R C Dean

      I’m not seeing anything about massive layoffs of the staff tasked with, err, information control.

  5. SDF-7

    Southern US Shivers as New Winter Storm Threatens Snow for Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas

    I appreciate that some folks might need notice to prepare and all — but this cycle does happen every 14 to 18 years or so if memory serves. (Big periodic ice storms in NorthEast Georgia stick in your mind — there was one where I was growing up where we were without power for a week, another when I was in Athens either as an undergrad or grad [I forget when] where I went to visit friends and had trees fall ahead and then behind the car… ah, memories….) I think we were about due… when the Jet Stream dips, it can happen.

    I suspect it is related to the pattern out here on the West Coast where we didn’t get much rain at all in December and it hasn’t dipped below 34 or so at night (when typically we would have had a few nights in the 20s by now). Higher pressure in the Pacific I suspect, shifting the weather over the continent (and stronger winds in LA). But I’m no meteorologist.

    • WTF

      It’s obviously due to Global Warming.

      • SDF-7

        Gaia really wanted Kamala and is punishing the icky Republican voters for their sins!

      • WTF

        Climate: The Movie

        Great film if you haven’t seen it yet.

      • The Last American Hero

        Literally what they are claiming. That warming in Norway is moving the arctic weather down into the US.

  6. SDF-7

    Farmers Not Required: John Deere Unveils Lineup of Autonomous Tractors and Other Work Vehicles

    Pretty sure the modern farmers (on the bigger farms at least) spend more time dealing with soil conditions, planning crops, etc — running the tractor to do tasks was already close to automation levels (I’ve heard rampant GPS, almost Roomba style route mapping of the field, etc. before now — so this is just taking it to the next level).

    Of course, being Deere — I’m sure none of these are serviceable outside of a licensed dealer which is the important part.

    • PieInTheSky

      I wonder if the land configuration matters, I guess in the US you have huge straight plots but someplace in Europe the plots can be weird shaped. Then again modern tech should handle that. At least better than Jeremy Clarkson.

      • Sensei

        Yes. These are the middle of the country “fly over” and “factory” farms. Even now farmers use GPS to figure out where they are and the process is essentially automated.

        The tech is pretty amazing what it can do for yield and efficiency.

      • The Last American Hero

        On Clarkson’s show, the theft of the GPS devices is a running theme.

  7. Toxteth O'Grady

    Yusef is running off with a close relative of mine, platonically.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Or so I’m told.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Kinky

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Not joking, OBE.

    • slumbrew

      Worlds colliding – how did they meet? I assume the Glibs overlap is conincidence?

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Never mind. I’ll start a forum topic. I just don’t know what to title it.

      • DEG

        Oh, that’s right. We have a forum. I haven’t been over there in a while.

  8. rhywun

    President-elect Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson have confirmed their plans to bundle border security, taxes, and energy proposals into a single mega-bill

    Motherfuckers. They are really not serious about any of their promises, are they?

    • juris imprudent

      Look, if you keep legislating on small topics everyone can see what is going on – it’s so much harder to hide the grift.

      • Suthenboy

        In Suthenboy’s ideal world a constitutional requirement would be single law legislation, required vote in person and a record of who voted how.

      • Jarflax

        C’mon guys, be reasonable. We have to pass the bill so we can see what’s in it! It’ll be huge!

    • Chafed

      No. No, they are not.

  9. cavalier973

    I want a gardening robot.

    Something that will till the ground, plant the seeds, keep the critters away, and harvest the vegetables.

    • slumbrew

      Just have your orphans do it. Yeesh, what sort of libertarian are you?

    • Ted S.

      Just bring your cat inside while the gardening robot is running.

      • cavalier973

        I want my gardening robot to have a laser pointer, to entertain the cat while it works.

    • Fourscore

      My wife has one of those…

    • R C Dean

      Careful what you wish for, cav. Sounds like a Husbandbot 2000. Wouldn’t want to automate yourself into irrelevance.

      • SDF-7

        That sounds like entertaining a different cat….

      • R C Dean

        That would be PoolBoyBot 2000.

      • Not Adahn

        And then it cleaned the pool?

      • pan fried wylie

        dat Wet Ass Pool, yes.

  10. juris imprudent

    …seemingly hoping to pressure Republican moderates to back the less palatable proposals by tying them to key Republican agenda items.

    What? It’s the budget hardliners that are going to lose in this scenario. WtAF?

  11. Suthenboy

    Autonomous tractors were just a matter of time. Electric ones, not so much.

    Re Dems flipping for the Riley law: We slipped into progressive crazyland because of cowardice. People were simply too cowardly to stand up to the crazy. Events like Laken Riley’s rape and murder, people like Riley Gaines protesting lunacy have started pushing back and suddenly everyone seems to be finding a little bit of a spine.
    It is pathetic.

    • The Last American Hero

      The only one that stuck his neck out was Fetterman. That gave permission for a few others to produce just enough votes to pass the law.

    • slumbrew

      Possible repeat but still fantastic.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Well, just in case, here is another Daily Ray of Sunshine that I swear is fresh.

      • Fourscore

        Hope I can skate like that when I get old.

      • slumbrew

        That’s great! He’s doing that in his hockey skates, too.

      • rhywun

        fresh

        Reminds me of a couple around that age that used to dance at one of the industrial/”alternative” clubs in Buffalo in the early nineties. Imagine those two dancing to She’s in Parties or Skinny Puppy.

      • Nephilium

        rhywun:

        During the last swing dance revival, me and my friends would routinely go to the goth clubs after swing dancing in our bright colorful suits. You CAN jitterbug to anything… it doesn’t mean you should. 🙂

      • Tundra

        That’s awesome!

    • Chafed

      That’s very sweet.

  12. Pope Jimbo

    Q turns in Glib card and demands mandatory Rona jabs

    A 19-year-old woman’s breasts stunningly grew from a B cup to a triple G in the six months following her Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination in what researchers are calling a first-of-its-kind case.
     
    The unidentified “healthy young woman” reportedly started experiencing the rapid growth one week after getting vaccinated in September 2022 — and it worsened after her second dose.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Possible repeat but still fantastic.

      • slumbrew

        *golf clap*

      • Pope Jimbo

        Seconded. Nicely done OBE.

    • PutridMeat

      Hmmm, I wonder what else involves uncontrolled cellular growth?

    • Chipping Pioneer

      TIL: “gigantomastia”

      I will endeavour to work it into conversation today.

    • DrOtto

      “…and it worsened…” – uh, I think they meant “…and got even awsomer…”

    • Suthenboy

      In case there are some out there that haven’t noticed yet the people who are supposedly in charge to look after our best interests dont give a fuck about our best interests.

      • juris imprudent

        You only say that because you don’t know your own interests as well as they do. Stop thinking for yourself and believe as you are told!

  13. Drake

    We are supposed to get 4+ inches of snow in upstate SC on Friday. Should be interesting to see.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Ya I just got done digging out the second car and now looking at another 4 inches. Really this thing has lingered and I am loving it. Got a decent dusting again last night.

    • UnCivilServant

      How far north does that extend? I have to drive into North Carolina friday and want to know if it’ll be snowing when I get there

      • Drake

        More of an west to east pattern I think. Charlotte is getting it.

      • UnCivilServant

        Thanks. I’ll be north of Raleigh, so Hopefully it’ll miss me

      • ron73440

        Thanks. I’ll be north of Raleigh, so Hopefully it’ll miss me

        I know you’re in kind of a hurry, but if you need a place to stop around Suffolk VA or will be stopping close to there for lunch let me know.

      • Drake

        Looks like Raleigh will get some of it but less.

      • UnCivilServant

        @Ron – It’s a bit far east of my planned route. Most of my run will be on 81, so I’ll be passing west of Richmond on my way down. If I were going by my dad’s house on the Delmarva pennensula I’d pass by there, but he’s going to be leaving a day before me.

        I chose 81 because I didn’t want to take a route that was NYC-Newark-Philly-Baltimore-Washington… which is what the eastern option looks like.

      • pan fried wylie

        81 through MD brings you past my neck of the woods.

      • ron73440

        @Ron – It’s a bit far east of my planned route. Most of my run will be on 81, so I’ll be passing west of Richmond on my way down. If I were going by my dad’s house on the Delmarva pennensula I’d pass by there, but he’s going to be leaving a day before me.

        I chose 81 because I didn’t want to take a route that was NYC-Newark-Philly-Baltimore-Washington… which is what the eastern option looks like.

        That’s a good route, when I go up to PA, I usually take the 68 up to 81.

        Anything you can do to avoid DC and 95 is worth it.

      • UnCivilServant

        81 through MD brings you past my neck of the woods.

        On the way down on Friday I’ll be in a bit of a hurry, but on the return leg Sunday and Monday, I can stop. I don’t know where I’m overnighting on the way back, but I don’t wan a second 11-14 hour drive so soon after Friday’s.

      • UnCivilServant

        It looks like my overnight sunday-monday is Harrisburg, PA. It’s as close to halfway as I can ask for.

      • pan fried wylie

        wylie 240 at the evilone

      • juris imprudent

        Harrisburg, PA

        If it was York we could meet for dinner.

      • UnCivilServant

        Now that I’m looking at the map, I can avoid a long drive friday if I pay ~$100-150 for another harrisburg overnight Thursday-Friday. I can leave after work and get to Harrisburg 8-9pm, then leave early Friday and only need to go 6.5 hours, giving me more time with the people I’m trying to see.

      • UnCivilServant

        @JI – A half hour detour (each way) on Sunday after checking in can fit in my itenery if that works.

        @wylie – I assume the evil one is a reference to a certain search company’s mail offering?

      • Gender Traitor

        I can avoid a long drive friday if I pay ~$100-150 for another harrisburg overnight Thursday-Friday.

        Worth it.

    • slumbrew

      Feels sort of strange to just have some seasonally-appropriate cold here in New England when the rest of the country is getting blanketed.

      • slumbrew

        Although I have Warren, VT in my weather app (family there):

        “6°, feels like -8°”

        Fuck that.

      • Fourscore

        I’m with you, Slum. We’re sort of regular cold but not bitter and the snow has been insignificant. Pretty much a repeat of last winter and I’m not complaining

      • rhywun

        Winter #2 in upstate NY is much colder and snowier than last year but still normal. And well outside the snow belt and whatever the hell is going on to the south lately.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        We are getting sun and 50* days here in Orygun.

    • rhywun

      It’s a gigantic hoax played on the west – and we fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

      Obama and the like are losing reputation, sure, but watch their foot-soldiers go absolutely apeshit when you to try explaining reality to them. The religion is so deeply embedded in the left that it’s going to take years or decades for them to recover.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        And they keep propagating it to the susceptible.

  14. PieInTheSky

    Southern US Shivers as New Winter Storm Threatens Snow for Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas

    14 C and sunny. Things can change until March, but it is like there is no winter anymore in Romania. You people are hogging all the winter.

    • Nephilium

      Sunday and Monday we’re supposed to peek above 30F for a bit, but other than that, we’ve had highs in the 20’s, with lows in the 10’s. The lake is currently being reported at 35 degrees, so there’s a chance it’ll start freezing over in the next week or so.

  15. PieInTheSky

    Los Angeles is Burning – I mean the Lakers do stink, but the Chargers will take the Superbowl.

    • Nephilium

      I’m leaning towards the Lions taking it, although I still wish for the Lions/Browns Superbowl.

    • Bobarian LMD

      The Chargers won’t get past the Ravens. Unless TJ Watt cripples Lamar Jackson this week-end.

  16. PieInTheSky

    If Texas was Madison Grant’s nightmare, then Louisiana is HP Lovecraft’s. Endless, empty swamps only occasionally interrupted by hydrocarbon refineries, abandoned cars, and empty houses. Locals speak dialects of English that range from odd to incomprehensible.

    https://x.com/Peter_Nimitz/status/1876797056871698918

    • slumbrew

      *steps out of Suthen’s line of fire*

      • Suthenboy

        Dont worry. It’s all good. He’s right. This place is a fucking nightmare. People should stay away. If you are driving from A to B and Louisiana is on that path you would be well advised to drive around the state rather than through it. Whatever you do, dont come to Louisiana.

    • DrOtto

      Excuse me stewardess, I speak coonass

      • Not Adahn

        I’m really surprised that nobody (AFAIK) has been cancelled for using that term.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        It is kinda like Jewess. No one uses it, so one on knows to cancel over it.

        I don’t know how common coonass is outside of Louisiana.

      • EvilSheldon

        Just John Lee Walker…

      • pan fried wylie

        I don’t know how common coonass is outside of Louisiana.

        They got asses no matter where you find em. What a stupid question.

      • Sensei

        I expect more from “Harvard”….

      • slumbrew

        Having lived in close proximity to Harvard for many years, you really shouldn’t.

      • Sensei

        My wife’s Irish immigrant grandfather was employed there – as a janitor.

      • ron73440

        I got this far before I tapped out:

        During the pandemic, it was worthwhile to implement policies that saved lives at a reasonable economic cost. Closing bars in 2020 might have passed this test, while closing schools or outdoor construction sites likely failed it, even if some lives were saved.

        Assumes lives were saved and the cost was reasonable.

        Tell that to my neighbor that spent the last year of his life with parkinson’s/dementia in a hospital by himself while his wife wasn’t allowed to see him.

        I get enraged every time I remember her crying to my wife.

        Wood chippers or lampposts for all of them.

      • Sensei

        Ron – my wife went through similar with my FIL, She had real difficulty visiting him and felt like she lost a year with him.

      • DrOtto

        @ron73440 – yep, had a neighbor die of cancer during the plandemic at his house with his wife. A Ford Transit showed up one morning and guys dressed like Breaking Bad showed up and grabbed his body and unceremoniously tossed him in the back of the van. Fuck them all.

  17. Not Adahn

    Personal nostalgia indulgence:

    This is the band I managed back in Austin

    I know there is a phenomenon where the more familiar music is, the more you like it. Plus this was a time in my life filled with all sorts of hedonism and love. Aaaaand I like prog mental anyways. But even saying all of that, I still think it’s pretty good if not trailblazing. The singer can’t enunciate, and the drummer is in love with his China. But the guitarist and bassist are both legitimately excellent.

    • Not Adahn

      “Sinkhole” was their single. “Aperture” was their favorite. “Craven” was the one they could never get right. “Dawn,” “Rome,” and “Here I’ll stay” were audience favorites. I rarely heard the instrumental “Tension,” since it was never played at the gigs I’d set up. But I do like it. I find it interesting how much structure there is to these songs contrasted with modern pop.

    • rhywun

      Nice.

      I was buddies circa 2000 with a kid who did lead vocals and guitar for a couple “indie” bands in the vein of Sunny Day Real Estate or Jawbreaker. Really talented songwriting and musicianship but alas no success.

      The main takeaway I got was everyone you work with is a fuckup and the industry will crush you in disappointment.

      • Not Adahn

        Austin was so desperately trying to convince itself that it was an important music scene. Not only was Austin not NYC, LA or Detroit, it wasn’t even Seatle or (God help us all) Athens.

        Still a really great place to live. Pity about the enblueining.

  18. PieInTheSky

    Yet another Universal Basic Income study was released just before the holidays.

    While being given ~$500 per month in free money, participants only ended up $100 richer and smoked more cigarettes.

    The full results are eye opening. (1/10)

    https://x.com/Athan_K/status/1876295956406427769

    • slumbrew

      “The full results are eye opening”

      I suspect not.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Give a man fish, he eats all the fish. This is mind blowing stuff here!

      • slumbrew

        Build a man a fire, he’s warm for the rest of the day.
        Set a man on fire, he’s warm for the rest of his life.

    • WTF

      There’s a reason poor people tend to stay poor no matter what they are given.

      • Ed Wuncler

        My sister who is a social worker and I had this discussion the other day. I serve on a board at church, and I’ve tried to mentor some of the young men to live a much better and fulfilling life. One of the startling things I’ve witness was that many of the young black men I’ve encountered in the area (my church is located in the hood in Cleveland) was that they would rather beg than work because they are above the menial level jobs despite not having many marketable skills. I’ve even mentioned that there’s a huge demand for trade jobs in the area that can be a little rough but if you stick it out can eventually pay well, and when they realized the amount of time and work you have to put in, they decline.

      • DrOtto

        @Ed – my nephew in a nutshell. “Work is hard, people are just willing to give it to me.”

      • Nephilium

        Ed:

        The girlfriend’s had several potential employees go through the application and interview process, accept the jobs, and then just not show up for the first day and ghost her. I can’t wrap my head around that.

      • ron73440

        I’ve even mentioned that there’s a huge demand for trade jobs in the area that can be a little rough but if you stick it out can eventually pay well, and when they realized the amount of time and work you have to put in, they decline.

        Dirty Jobs would talk about this all the time.

        When he asked the bosses what was the biggest problem, it was usually getting workers that were starting out to come back after the first couple days.

      • Jarflax

        That’s what welfare programs do best. They mitigate the pain of doing nothing to the point where taking the first steps toward success seems worse than doing nothing. And just like that you trap entire communities in poverty.

      • ron73440

        Thomas Sowell has some thoughts:

        What the welfare system and other kinds of governmental programs are doing is paying people to fail. In so far as they fail, they receive the money; in so far as they succeed, even to a
        moderate extent, the money is taken away.

      • R C Dean

        Jarflax nails it. Welfare essentially cuts off the bottom rungs of the ladder out of poverty.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Yeah. Back during the recession of ’08-’10, I was unemployed for a couple years, having been laid off. So, of course I went on unemployment, and due to the fact it was a deeply shitty economy I couldn’t find a job for years. I did pass up what could have been fulfilling work, but I thought it was beneath a former account manager. And after awhile, I decided to go back to school, see if I could pick up some additional skills to help me get work. As soon as I marked on my UI paperwork that I enrolled, they stopped all assistance, and I had to make an appointment to explain to them that going back wouldn’t disturb my two applications a week that I had to complete. No mention of increasing my skill set, how it was night school, etc.

        Complete BS designed to trap you.

    • ron73440

      I’m sure the government will really look into this and adapt their policies as a result.

      Or they will keep shoveling money into the bonfire.

      It could go either way.

      • Ownbestenemy

        It would only have to be a slight tweak, nearly 50% of our population is already basically living under a UBI

      • SDF-7

        And now I’m hearing a variation of this in my head… given how politicians treat us… it wouldn’t be all that far off from “I gave you a UBI”, I suppose…

      • SarumanTheGreat

        “Or they will keep shoveling money into the bonfire.”

        They’re fine with that as long as it’s someone else’s money and some of it sticks to their pockets.

  19. Drake

    I recall driving down the Santa Monica freeway in the evening while the Hollywood Hills were on fire and Pet Shop Boys played on the radio. 1994. Very scenic.

    • SDF-7

      You were never being bored, Drake.

      • rhywun

        That must be the place he waited years to leave.

      • Drake

        It was a great place to live for a few years in my 20s. No desire to put down roots or raise a family there.

      • Drake

        The song was “West End Girls” as I was driving through West LA towards the Marina.

    • Ed Wuncler

      When you send members of your party to campaign for your opponent, you tend to not forget that. It was a stupid and arrogant thing to do and now he’s going to pay for it, if the child rape cover up don’t take him down first.

      • Drake

        The child rape thing is outrageous – and the easiest way to get rid of Starmer.

      • R C Dean

        Musk foregrounding the child rape epidemic under Starmer as the Crown Prosecutor is how Trump is taking him out, IMO.

        Turns out both Trump and Musk have a mother or grandmother who were poor, working class women in the UK. I suspect this scandal has a personal dimension for both of them.

      • juris imprudent

        Problem is, you need someone to replace Starmer (and his party). It won’t be the Conservatives.

      • R C Dean

        True enough, JI. But throwing a dirtbag like Starmer under the bus is its own reward. Plus, maybe you can get a “pour encourager les autres” effect.

      • juris imprudent

        Consider how Starmer “won” the last election – losing less votes than the Conservatives did. There is no positive party in the UK, and we’re headed the same way – which party do you hate less.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        No, it won’t be the Tories. But Reform is sitting right there, just waiting to pick up the pieces.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    There’s a reason poor people tend to stay poor no matter what they are given.

    Victim-blamer!

    • Tundra

      It’s similar to Warty’s fitness advice: “Don’t want to be a fat fuck, stop eating fat fuck foods”

      Don’t want to be a poor fuck, stop making poor fuck decisions.

      I’ve tried to explain this to my younger brother but it never seems to sink in.

    • EvilSheldon

      Considering how often the victim is the one at fault…yes?

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Demographic cliff

    When a college closes, “all the things that are mementos of the best four years of a lot of people’s lives are sold to the highest bidders,” says Doug Moore, founding partner of a firm that has helped handle the logistics of shutting down four colleges in the last few years, including Iowa Wesleyan.

    The outlook, Moore and other experts say, is that there will likely be many more such scenes in the years ahead. That’s because the current class of high school seniors scheduled to graduate this spring will be the last before an expected long decline begins in the number of 18-year-olds — the traditional age of students when they enter college.

    This “demographic cliff” has been predicted ever since Americans started having fewer babies at the advent of the Great Recession around the end of 2007 — a falling birth rate that has not recovered since, except for a slight blip after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Sure, that’s it. Whatever you do, don’t look ion the mirror. You have over promised and under delivered on the so called benefits of higher education for decades, and it’s getting harder to hide every year.

    They have managed to boost their numbers, but maybe there is a genuine limit to the number of people who truly benefit from going to college.

    • R C Dean

      We hit that limit years, if not decades, ago. The University-Industrial Complex survives solely on federal subsidies at this point, either grants or laundered through the student loan program.

      • Nephilium

        Off the top of my head, there’s been one college that closed, another that announced a merger, and several that announced financial issues over the past year or so just in the Cleveland area.

      • Ed Wuncler

        If Trump had any sense, he would immediately try to end the federal subsidies that universities receive, stop backing student loans (Sallie Mae), and allow student debt to be discharged through bankruptcy. It would be painful, but it would force the university system to change their economic models.

      • R C Dean

        Part of the problem is the firehose of money has completely destroyed fiscal prudence at universities. Last year, we learned UA had a nine-figure fiscal problem. They couldn’t even give us a firm number on how bad it was.

        The actions taken included:

        The CFO transferred to a “consulting” role making the same money.
        The Board Chair swapped seats with another board member. No trustees were removed. Oh, and I believe one of the trustees took over as acting CFO.
        The President “resigned” but will hang around cashing his President checks until the end of his contract in a couple years, plus I think some extra money for spending time as some kind of professor.

        What a farce. To no one’s surprise, the bloated central administration costs more now than it did before the shortfall was discovered.

      • creech

        “allow student debt to be discharged through bankruptcy. It would be painful, but it would force the university system to change their economic models.”
        Wouldn’t that just become a marketing tool for the university: “Hey, kid, it doesn’t matter how much you have to borrow for our outrageous tuition because now you can declare bankruptcy as soon as you graduate!”

      • PutridMeat

        declare bankruptcy as soon as you graduate!

        You’d need to get rid of federal backing/underwriting of the student loan market before allowing it to discharge in bankruptcy. ‘Private’ lenders would be a be more cautious with unsupportable loans if they could be discharged. So probably wouldn’t work because federal backing probably isn’t going away; or would be covered by special legislation as soon as the NYT ran a sob story.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    But the downturn isn’t just a problem for universities and colleges. It’s a looming crisis for the economy, with fewer graduates eventually coming through the pipeline to fill jobs that require college educations, even as international rivals increase the proportions of their populations with degrees.

    “The impact of this is economic decline,” Jeff Strohl, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, says bluntly.

    Oh, no. We’re running out of credentialed paper shufflers.

    • R C Dean

      “Jobs that require college educations” are actually pretty few and far between. Now, hiring requirements that include college credentials, that’s a different thing.

    • rhywun

      Because our international rivals aren’t falling off the same demographic cliff? OK, then.

  23. juris imprudent

    I hate this kind of grandstanding. If you aren’t getting rid of the laws that ATF enforces all you are doing is transferring the responsibility to do that to places it will be hidden. You aren’t doing anything useful.

    • R C Dean

      Yeah, “I know, let’s transfer enforcement of the federal firearms laws to the straight shooters (heh) at DOJ! That’ll be a win for Second Amendment rights!”

      Not really jiggling my handle, there, Repubs.

    • Grummun

      Like “closing” the Department of Education. All the programs and staff will be absorbed into other departments, so what has improved?

      • Rat on a train

        Departments fighting until there is only one?

      • Ownbestenemy

        And the one left standing is promptly tossed in a wood chipper?

      • The Last American Hero

        Knocking it down from a Cabinet level post to a minor subdepartment is a start.

      • juris imprudent

        I care less about the status than the money, but of course money sustains status.

      • DEG

        Departments fighting until there is only one?

        But then didn’t the Highlander get all sorts of special powers? Which a Federal agency shouldn’t have.

      • Rat on a train

        He could read minds but was now mortal.

      • DEG

        He could read minds but was now mortal.

        Ahh. My memory failed me. It’s been a long time since I saw the movie.

      • juris imprudent

        but was now mortal

        Strange prize for being the last immortal.

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, the game was over, so there was no need to keep the game pieces around.

    • Not Adahn

      If they do not increase the budgets of the other agencies to offset, you necessarily have fewer resources. Yes, some of the feebs could be taken from their jobs surveilling Catholics and honeypotting aspies, but even that requires overcoming the inertia of people not wanting to be retasked from their “core competencies.” At best, if you can then set the priority of the agency you can put “finding novel ways to infringe on the 2A” at the bottom of the list.

    • Mojeaux

      He didn’t mention the plethora of imported eucalyptus, which will combust if it looks at smoke wrong.

    • rhywun

      The residents will be happy to take billions of tax dollars from the rest of us to rebuild and then vote for the same policies that will burn their houses down the next time.

      • R C Dean

        Why not? They get a new house every time, after all.

    • The Last American Hero

      As someone on X pointed out – if you gave every Greenlander $1 million, they could then vote for separation from Denmark and apply for membership as a State or Territory. We would have spent about half of what we’ve given Ukraine.

      • juris imprudent

        That isn’t the same as greasing the correct palms.

    • Tundra

      Meanwhile we have 8 trillion in debt that needs to be refinanced. With no buyers.

      But hey, 4D chess baby!

  24. Ownbestenemy

    Wait…buy Greenland, transfer all our debt to their books, declare them independant and magic! We solved the debt crisis!

    • PieInTheSky

      If anyone asks tell them you were lied to it is not that green.

    • Not Adahn

      For NY? I mean, she doesn’t want to central plan literally everything… today.

    • Jarflax

      All Ds are moderate, this is known. All Rs are extremists, literally Hitler, unless they are currently voting to impeach Trump in which case they are a person of deep principles.

    • ron73440

      If she’s not a far-right extremist, then she’s a moderate.

      Those are the rules.

    • rhywun

      Compared to what’s out there and easily electable yup she is absolutely a “moderate”.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    I was unaware that Hochul is considered “moderate”.

    Subsidies for chip factories- she’s practically as radical right wing as Mitt Romney.

    • creech

      Well, I haven’t heard of her strapping dogs to the roof of the family station wagon.

  26. PieInTheSky

    Starch grains from acorns, legumes, water lily rhizomes and other plants have been identified on basalt stone tools at the site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel. These have been dated to 780,000 years ago!

    https://x.com/Paracelsus1092/status/1876923726303826063

    I mean obviously humans are omnivorous and eat anything they can get easily enough that tastes good enough

    • PieInTheSky

      AI generated video is getting crazy good

    • Sean

      “Is that hair gel?”

    • The Other Kevin

      Being a Buc-ee’s connoisseur, I can confirm.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Cake face.

      • Tundra

        Face?

      • R C Dean

        A combo, I believe, of heavy makeup and heavy filtering. I’ve noticed, BTW, more and more commercials with uncanny-valley levels of processing of the actors.

        I do appreciate the camera framing to capture her boobs.

  27. Mojeaux

    I’m so glad my brothers are here to help deal with this.

    • Gender Traitor

      Can you be more specific about “this”? Your mom, I assume? 😟

    • Fourscore

      Hope the road going forward is a little less bumpy, Moj

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Watching a youtube video of Toyota testing for the Monte Carlo Rally last night:

    snow and ice on the road

    WRC has abandoned the hybrid system they used last year

    • ron73440

      Nosferatu was pretty good, really creepy.

      My wife came with me, I was surprised she agreed, but after the movie she told me that when I said “vampire movie” she was thinking “Blade”.

    • Jarflax

      Mean tweets are the true evil here! Much more dangerous to Democracy™, than some cultural diversity of opinion regarding sexual etiquette.

    • The Other Kevin

      Just like every other failed progressive policy, the problem isn’t the problem, the problem is people calling attention to the problem.

      • rhywun

        Ding ding ding

      • juris imprudent

        Why do you people insist on looking at results?!? We have good intentions!!! /progs

  29. The Late P Brooks

    AI generated video is getting crazy good

    I don’t know about that. A couple of things I have been clickbaited into (who doesn’t want to know more about the story of the Lancia Stratos?) recently have featured truly grating voiceovers. I don’t know if they are AI generated from scratch or some species of AI text-to-speech, but crikey the pronunciation, inflection and pacing are just about impossible to listen to.

    • PieInTheSky

      This is what happens when you do not sacrifice to the weather gods enough.

    • Fourscore

      Where some see destruction I see Broken Window Opportunities

      • Sean

        Think of all the permit fees!

        -Code enforcement

  30. The Late P Brooks

    I can’t wait for the sob stories from the fire victims. “Muh eleventy bazillion dollar house is just a pile of ashes! Woe is me!”

    I don’t know where the sliding scale is these days, but it used to be “muh five million dollar house” which was, in reality a $250k structure on a $4.8 million dollar lot.

    • Sensei

      Related – Why do I pay so much for homeowners’ insurance?

    • Tundra

      The state of CA forbade the insurance companies from raising the rates, so they split. Lots of people are fucked.

    • PieInTheSky

      Arvin Hadad: I will give you 3 seconds to spot the flaw. It burned down!

      I do hope in-sure-ants coveres it

  31. Sensei

    Me: Can we add some physical controls back to automobiles?

    BMW: Sure – we can put them all on the steering wheel and make them have multiple functions.

    New BMW Panoramic iDrive revolutionises vehicle operation. Visionary technology package for the Neue Klasse celebrates world premiere at CES 2025.

    https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0447111EN/new-bmw-panoramic-idrive-revolutionises-vehicle-operation-visionary-technology-package-for-the-neue-klasse-celebrates-world-premiere-at-ces-2025

    • Sean

      I am clearly not the target audience here.

      Blech.

      • Fourscore

        Old people can’t figure that shit out.

    • Ed Wuncler

      The fuck is this? I own a 2017 BMW and thought about getting a new one in a year or so, but I drove a 2024 loaner and the dashboard is too computerized for my tastes.

      • R C Dean

        When we bought our 2022 Highlander a few years ago, it made the cut for two, well, three reasons.

        (1) V6 engine
        (2) Moderately sized screen positioned to not interfere with visibility.
        (3) Toyota, which we have had excellent luck with.

        The Volvo almost made the cut (those seats, seriously), but it had a 4-cylinder turbo. I think the screen was fine in it. Our mechanic was also a little lukewarm on Volvos.

    • mindyourbusiness

      No. Just…no.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    BMW: Sure – we can put them all on the steering wheel and make them have multiple functions.

    This is why we need self driving cars.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    “I crashed my car while I was trying to answer the phone.”

  34. The Late P Brooks

    Outrageous insensitivity

    Mark Zuckerberg wore a rare Swiss watch worth nearly $900,000 as he announced a sweeping policy overhaul across Facebook and Instagram and offered to help Donald Trump take on governments deemed too censorious, according to a report.

    In a video message posted to Facebook on Tuesday, Zuckerberg vowed to prioritise free speech after the return of Trump to the White House, and said that Meta Platforms – the world’s largest social media business – would ditch its third-party fact-checkers and recommend more political content across its social networks.

    ——-

    Meta would also “get rid of a bunch of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender” that were “out of touch with mainstream discourse”, the 40-year-old billionaire said, while wearing a Greubel Forsey “Hand Made 1” on his left wrist, Bloomberg reported. The watch retails for $895,500 before taxes, according to the outlet.

    The world is crashing down around our ears, and he wears million dollar watches as he promotes hate speech.

    The media have their knives out and sharpened.

    • mindyourbusiness

      What do you expect? It’s the Guardian.

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