357 Comments

  1. Pat

    White House OPM orders all DEI offices to begin closing by end of day Wednesday

    I’ve often heard it said by policy wonks that these kinds of moves would be great and all, but there’s official procedures to be followed, years-long processes in place, etc, etc, that would make it completely infeasible. Not being a federal procedure expert, I wonder if they were right, and a lot of this is just for show. Or if they were slimy sacks of shit the whole time blowing smoke up our ass to preserve the status quo and their “cherished institutions.”

    • R.J.

      You can do it by shutting down the workspace. The people will still collect salaries, but security and computer access will be cut off. Also they can be immediately repositioned into new roles, such as janitor or border patrol guard. That will cause a lot of them to quit.

      • SDF-7

        Yeah — the articles I read this morning state that the ex-DEI folks are going on “paid leave” for now, so I assume it is “Don’t let the door hit you on the ass, keep drawing a salary while we work through the process to actually can you.”

      • juris imprudent

        Abandon all hope ye who enter civil service. And woe unto those who fail to grasp the rules.

      • juris imprudent

        actually canreassign you

        FTFY

      • R.J.

        My typos are contagious!

      • SDF-7

        Or the Stupid Party could do the right thing and revise and clarify federal law such that FedGov employees can be removed for cause, and said cause can be impeding their supposed boss in the worst case (there’s doubtless better phrasing).

        And in the words of a wise philosopher of my generation — “Pshaw, right! And monkeys could fly out of my butt!”

        At this point though — I’d take 4 years of paying them to sit around and do nothing with no authority while the process is followed (assuming it can be done in 4 years, of course) over active malicious “compliance” in their work environments.

      • Tonio

        It’s important to keep in mind the difference between firing an employee for incompetence and eliminating a position which is not needed. I’m sure all those DEI officers were doing bang-up jobs enforcing wokeness.

        And as annoying as it will be to have to pay them to do nothing until this works its way through the courts, they will not be able to cause harm as they did during the reign of terror.

      • Tonio

        Also they can be immediately repositioned into new roles, such as janitor or border patrol guard. That will cause a lot of them to quit.

        What you did there, R.J., I sees it, I does.

      • Nephilium

        Tonio:

        I’m sure they’re all trying to be the first to get their tell their stories of the oppression and hatred of the Trump administration to the papers as we type.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Yes, they might be able to collect a paycheck while the process to fire them works its way through the system, but hopefully they will have to show up at an office from 8 to 5 every day. No sitting at home.

        I’d have them sit in a cubical with nothing in it (and I’d make sure no wifi or cell service worked) and wait until 5. And their cubical would be randomly assigned every morning. Yeah, and it would be an open office floor plan.

      • Grummun

        I’d have them sit in a cubical with nothing in it (and I’d make sure no wifi or cell service worked) and wait until 5. And their cubical would be randomly assigned every morning. Yeah, and it would be an open office floor plan.

        And check them for chips, salsa and tequila on the way in, or you’ll have an 8-hour party every day.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        You don’t just let them sit there every day, you give them make work. Lists of numbers to call (with QC checking back to make sure it was done), files to rework, and so on. You don’t just let them sit there, you make it so they have metrics, quotas, things that they can fail at.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Grummun:

        Good points.

        How about we put them all on stationary bikes all day? We could harvest electricity and call it a green energy project.

        Makes about as much sense as any other green energy project.

      • juris imprudent

        You don’t just let them sit there

        Who is You? Oh you mean the CS-15 that runs that office? Sure, and who is telling them to do this, and how are they holding them accountable? Oh, that’s right – NO ONE.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        I know you are a defeatist JI, but they need to be held accountable. If the management doesn’t do this, then they go immediately into that same system. And you keep doing this until there is no problem anymore.

        And, If all the people involved do this, then you close THE WHOLE FUCKING DEPARTMENT. They just showed you have useful they were, so you treat them accordingly.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      These types of things can be done but the administrative law courts will certainly get involved. Where these changes ultimately end up will likely be more wishy washy than we’d like to see but better than they were the day before yesterday, two steps forward and one back and all that.

    • Strange Brew

      Yes, it will be interesting to see how or if this is actually implemented. No doubt there will be defiance by some and lawsuits by others, with mainstream media providing cover. I believe the only answer can be we give zero fucks and we are grabbing the biggest hammer available to smash you.

    • Tonio

      I love how the executive order requires the disclosure of the DEI officers and structures that were in place on Nov 5, 2024. I also like the mandate for reporting attempts to rebrand and obscure the DEI programs.

      • juris imprudent

        You mean like how State decided to shuffle it’s GEC team? I hope Rubio sicced an attack dog on that.

      • Tonio

        Congrats on your piece, yesterday. Sorry I missed it.

        Oh, I’ve already started to hear wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and rending of garments from my (now mostly retired, or increasingly likely to do so very soon) federal employee college classmates. My school was located near DC and the job fairs were a parade of TLAs.

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        That seemed smart, same with reaching out to the rank and file to report any shenanigans. There are going to be a few Trumpers in most offices, even if they keep it on the dl.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      I wouldn’t mind if they were reassigned to a rubber room somewhere in the New Mexico desert and anyone other civil service workers you can’t fire but want to get rid of.

      • rhywun

        reassigned to a rubber room

        Like NYC teacher-rapists?

        They are also un-fireable.

  2. R.J.

    Amazing news day.

  3. Not Adahn

    What’s going to happen with KK?

    • juris imprudent

      It will depend. If her boss wants her and there is no absolute requirement in the contract for on-site, she’s fine.

    • R C Dean

      From what I can tell, the order applies to employees, not contractors. Of course, I can see some malicious compliance of extending it to contractors, too.

    • SDF-7

      She said she’s a contractor (with State from what I gather) and hopes that means she won’t be directly impacted. For her sake, I hope so as well. Certainly (given industry trends if nothing else), I don’t see them in-housing and on-site for all of FedGov’s IT operations (and I’m not sure how that would even work given how much crap is doubtless on MS365 / Azure type things… so a lot of it will be cloud servers they can’t on-site to anyway), so hopefully being a Web Mistress (again, from what I gather) she’ll continue to live her life as she sees fit as long as the work gets done.

      Which is my long winded way of saying “I don’t think she knows yet”, sorry.

    • Ted S.

      She’s going to become a vanlife influencer.

      • SDF-7

        She better pick her boyfriends more carefully than some vanlife influencers in the past then.

      • Pat

        vanlife

        I prefer Parklife.

    • Tonio

      Governor of the US Territory of Greenland.

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        We can only hope.

      • Not Adahn

        I hear the Governor’s igloo is pretty swank, with top-grade walrus hides.

      • Grummun

        Oooh now I want a walrus-hide jacket.

        ::Looks up walrus hide::

        nevermind that’s fugly.

  4. Pat

    President Trump Mandates Federal Workers ‘Return to In-Person Work’

    I have mixed opinions on this. There’s certain functions where in-person staffing is crucial. There’s others where it just isn’t. Perhaps those positions should just be eliminated entirely, but I doubt they will. So all this effectively does is increase operating costs piling bodies into a building so that the same lazy sack of shit midwit middle manager who let them watch porn at home while pretending to attend Zoom meetings can let them watch porn at the office while pretending to attend in-person meetings. The whole “You can’t be productive unless you’re in a cubicle farm” ethos is silly.

    • Rat on a train

      DC will be happy to have their captive customers again.

    • SDF-7

      I agree with you — but with Elon “People who don’t want to work 80 hour workweeks are lazy!” Musk having his ear right now — I can’t say I’m at all surprised.

    • Ted S.

      The point is to treat GovSec workers like the second-class people they are. We are their bosses, not the other way around.

      • Ted S.

        And after covid, the idea that these shits should be made whole after any government shutdown really cheeses me.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      In the short term it should trim the federal workforce by cutting those who refuse the order. As for the longer term, after the point has been made I’d imagine some sort of position analysis will be performed and some work from home will be allowed again if it suits the job.

      • juris imprudent

        Very few are going to give up those paychecks, they’ll return and grumble and do as little as they ever did.

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        The whole Biden vaccine mandate was this in reverse- get rid of any conservatives left in public service.

        It’s a rif without having to rif.

      • Swiss Servator

        JI,

        Over the past 3 years or so, I imagine that a number of FedGov employees that work(ed) remote have spread out over the land a little. We had the same thing happen…and when our Masters looked at making everyone come back, it wasn’t very feasible. However, if the goal is to trim these people out, some GS-10 who moved 3 hours away from where the office is…they are likely to bail out and go market their valuable skills (ha ha!) somewhere else, rather than sell the house and uproot to go back to NoVa/Beltwayland.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Swiss, I hear Burger King is hiring.

      • Swiss Servator

        BK, ewww! McDonalds or bust!

      • juris imprudent

        spread out over the land a little

        Could be Swiss, but I haven’t heard about any dramatic decline in DC-adjacent property values.

      • Jarflax

        Swiss Servator on January 22, 2025 at 9:06 am
        BK, ewww! McDonalds or bust!

        Really? I’d have thought this would have won your business.

      • Jarflax

        Sigh I am inept at typing link code. BK has/had a raclette burger.

      • Gustave Lytton

        They have a Swiss melt in the US.

    • R.J.

      The whole point is not to stack them in buildings, it’s to frustrate thrm

      • R.J.

        Darn it. Frustrate them and make them quit.

      • juris imprudent

        Frustrate them and make them quit.

        BWAHAhAHAhahahahahahaha

        Woo-eee, that’s a good one R.J.… frustrate someone who’s job is to frustrate everyone around them.

      • SDF-7

        That brings a smile to my face, JI — I imagined their new role to be nothing but giving lectures on the benefits of merit-based employment and advancement. 😉 See how long they like doing that….

      • Pat

        Who frustrates the frustrators?

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        It is a funhouse mirror of frustration.

        But, as we all know, the whole point of this is that you keep jerking them around, home to laid off to remote work to home to Kansas to Alaska and so on.

        The Process Is The Punishment.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, I’d quit if my office did this.

        I can be wanted elsewhere.

    • R C Dean

      I’ve seen what probably amount to little more than rumors that some of them are putting in very little time on their fedgov job and are working a “second” job while on WFH. This will put a stop to however much of that is going on.

      • Tonio

        The growth markets in “mouse jigglers,” everything from truly undetectable mechanical contraptions, to USB dongles which pretend to be a mouse that jiggles randomly, should tell you something.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Or just dealing with micromanaging managers who monitor Teams status.

        OEing fedgov job is a dumb move. Unlike regular work, doing so is criminal.

    • Drake

      I can only imagine what DC traffic is going to be like.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Then we should take a page out of NYC’s book, and remove all parking garages and charge a heavy toll to get into DC.

        Can’t have air pollution!

      • Not Adahn

        Perfect excuse to extend the incarceration of the J6ers! And if they should slip and fall in the shower….

      • Certified Public Asshat

        We visited in December (before Christmas) and traffic was great. Very few working in an office building. The Dept of Agriculture building in particular looked like a haunted house.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      If your company says you can work from home you are too valuable to lose. If your company says you have to return to the office, you are non-essential and easy to replace. General rule of course.

      Most Fed workers are in bucket two.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        If you can work from home, you are non-essential and nothing more than a contractor.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Your best salesman wants to work from home. You’re going to tell him no?

      • rhywun

        As always, it can be a case-by-case decision. As blanket policy it’s nonsense.

        And if you’re boss isn’t on to your mouse-jiggling, he’s the one who should lose his job.

      • Grummun

        Your best salesman wants to work from home. You’re going to tell him no?

        The work from home thing really needs to tied to objective, measurable metrics. If your best salesman is hitting his numbers, great.

        My guess is that a lot of Federal jobs either don’t have objective metrics, or the work load those metrics represent doesn’t add up to a 40 hour week, or the workers aren’t held accountable for failing to meet those metrics. How else can someone watch porn all day and not get slaughtered at their annual review?

        My point is, a manager should be able to tell when someone is doing their job, regardless of where that person is working.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        My best salesman should be out making sales, demoing product, talking to management about the pipeline, finding out what is in development, etc.

        Not dicking around at home.

      • juris imprudent

        doing their job

        And what is the job of 99% of bureaucrats?

      • rhywun

        And what is the job of 99% of bureaucrats?

        lol Good point.

        I’m pro-WFH if it makes sense but yeah, if you’re not doing anything productive kill it.

      • Swiss Servator

        “If you can work from home, you are non-essential and nothing more than a contractor.”

        God help you, if you ever worked for my Swiss masters… we have lots of people that have absolutely no use for an office. And being very observant of every pfennig, my masters are very careful to measure productivity/results vs the cost of Chicago, New York, LA, Toronto, Zurich, etc., real estate. Certain groups need to be on-site, all the time or most of the time. Many do not.

      • Not Adahn

        Most managers are too lazy to keep track of their peasants that closely.

        Aso, the fact that someone’s salary is sufficiently offset by such monitoring means something.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        My best salesman should be out making sales, demoing product, talking to management about the pipeline, finding out what is in development, etc.

        Not dicking around at home.

        That is what I meant by best salesman. He doesn’t want to also go in the office and talk about fantasy football with Greg. He can do the paperwork at home.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Your/my best salesman SHOULD be talking to Bob about fantasy football! You want people who want to engage at every point, learn what they can about people, make contacts with both inside and outside customers, and be able to use this for sales/personal gain (commission) at every chance.

        Sitting at home you are meeting no new people, engaging with no potential sales, and just wasting time. Every interaction is an opportunity.

        And, yes, I did high end sales for a while.

    • B.P.

      I’d think FedGov could shrink its real estate portfolio if work from home remained in some form. Also, working remote might put some of them in touch with real communities.

  5. Rat on a train

    Who knew what placing a Confederate flag on a Japanese castle during WWII would lead to?

  6. Stinky Wizzleteats

    The pic of Ulbricht is a good one, a person who been spared a horrible fate for something he shouldn’t have gotten in trouble for in the first place. Now do Snowden although he does seem to be doing pretty well in Russia.

    • Pat

      I should scroll more slowly…

  7. Not Adahn

    Re last night’s article and houses/repurposed buildings:

    1. There is a very large church just outside the main part of downtown here that’s been cut into apartments, it’s beautiful from the outside.

    2. Re: 1), when I lived in Austin, my tango instructor bought one of those cheap churches that are kind of like a single-building strip mall. She lived in the offices and the sanctuary was her studio.

    3. A closed prison was sold for just slightly more than I paid for my house. I would have bought it for that price, since it had tons of guestrooms, a professional kitchen, laundry and indoor gun range. Plus a really good security system. Alas, it was sold to a crony not because of what they were willing to pay, but becasue of all the good things that their plans would do for the community. AFAICT nothing’s been done with it.

    4. When I was a wee child the kiddie magazine National Geographic World had an article about a “new” way to build houses. Big fans and parachutes/sheets of plastic to inflate them into domes. Put a dome everywhere you wat a room. Spray the inflated domes with polyurethane foam, let harden, cut out windows and facility conduits, live in above-ground caves. They looked really cool in the pictures. I can only surmise from the complete lack of artificial cave homes today. that this was a terrible idea and the pop-science media was lying even back then.

    • R.J.

      Regarding #4: just one Texas hailstorm…

    • Nephilium

      There’s a church in one of the inner ring suburbs locally that’s been under renovations into apartments for a while now. There’s also the trend of putting breweries into old churches that was popular a while back, leading to quite a few (most infamous is likely Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh).

      • ron73440

        (most infamous is likely Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh).

        That place is great, I would recommend it to anyone in the area.

        We went once out of curiosity and it got added to the routine for every time we go to Pittsburgh.

    • Pat

      I can only surmise from the complete lack of artificial cave homes today. that this was a terrible idea and the pop-science media was lying even back then.

      So you’re saying the 3D-printed houses I was told were going to cure homelessness 15 years ago are not actually coming?

      • UnCivilServant

        Current home printers run slower than prefab methods, and don’t look as good. So it’s still a ways off, if ever.

      • DrOtto

        There’s a neighborhood in central TX that is 3D printed. They look atrocious and all have Teslas in the driveway. I think they’re still more expensive than the homeless can afford.

    • Tonio

      #4: The latest thing in custom, on-site manufactured, building is 3D printing with concrete. I don’t know if this will become a thing. Also, the work being done on inflatable space habitats could yield products for use on Earth. Those fabrics are supposed to be impervious to micrometeorites (grain of dust to small pebble), so should survive hail.

    • DrOtto

      So, you read National Geographic for the articles?

    • Pope Jimbo

      Speaking of crony real estate deals… Excel Energy sells off land for $7.7M, months later it is resold for $73M.

      Last April, Xcel Energy sold 348 acres of land in Becker, Minn., for $7.7 million to a mysterious company promising an enormous and lucrative data center.
       
      Xcel did not hold a competitive bidding process, but said the price was fair and profit from the deal would be returned to customers in the form of a bill credit.
       
      Seven months later, that developer sold the land to Amazon for $73.5 million, or nearly 10 times the price that Xcel obtained.

      Also, the buyer turned out to be a shell company fronting for a current contractor. Nothing shady there.

      Sadly, Minnesoda has become so inured to people ripping off the govt, that no one seems particularly outraged by this. After $250M for Feeding our Future and another couple hundred million for “Autism Centers”, what is a measely $70M?

      • juris imprudent

        Dude, the ratepayers didn’t get ripped off, Amazon did. Over $200K per acre?

    • slumbrew

      The old Charles Street Jail in Boston is now a swank hotel:

      https://libertyhotel.com/

      • rhywun

        Wow, nice.

        A few gems like this almost make up for the many, many lost opportunities.

        My town tore down a classy city hall for a hideous parking garage.

      • R C Dean

        Looks nice. I like that the bar has a dress code. Fetterman’s outfit for the inauguration wouldn’t be allowed.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        I like the dress code, with the exception of hats for ladies. What if they are wearing a swank modern lid such as Melania wore to the inauguration? Or a modern cloche?

    • Not Adahn

      #5:

      Anonye that comes to visit MUST go shop at Lyrical Ballad Bookstore. It’s in an old bank. They keep the rare books in the vault, and the structre of the offices gives the impression of a bookstore that keeps going on just as you thought you were at the end.

      It’s exactly tlike the kind of bookstore from an ’80s movie where some grimoire might be obtained.

      • UnCivilServant

        Sadly, you have to park off in a garage that feels far away when it’s this kind of weather…

  8. cavalier973

    Trump will need to make challenging him as painful as possible.

    Also, adding tasks to a particular job is a great way to reduce its desirability.

    • juris imprudent

      You do realize that the Civil Service includes management – the management that is supposedly making life miserable for the workers underneath them.

      • dbleagle

        From experience I know how difficult it can be to remove a non-performing Fed employee. That doesn’t mean that OMB should not try. To be successful he needs a small team to do nothing but check that this is occurring- most likely over all four years of his term.

      • rhywun

        Two Bobs ought to be enough.

      • juris imprudent

        difficult it can be to remove a non-performing Fed employee

        In fact, the easiest way to be rid of one is to help them transfer to another job/office. Let them be someone else’s problem.

  9. Pat

    Trump Announces $500B AI Infrastructure Plan That Could Help Cure Cancer

    Fuck you, cut spending. If there was sufficient return on a 500 billion investment private capital would already have been raised for it. And contrary to the wackjob conspiracy theorizing, Big Pharma would make a lot more money curing cancer than selling chemotherapy drugs. Particularly on the backend, since old folks surviving cancer will become consumers of a whole suite of other drugs that ameliorate the symptoms of old age.

    • cavalier973

      Totally this.

      Also, artificial intelligence is fake.

      • juris imprudent

        Softbank? The outfit that funded WeWork? Bwahahahahahahha

      • R C Dean

        Seems like all I ever see about SoftBank is some massive loss they have just taken. Where do they make their money, anyway?

      • R C Dean

        And there it is.

      • Not Adahn

        The Yakuza has to launder their money somewhere.

      • Jarflax

        Start up investing, whether traditional investment banking or more modern versions involves backing losing propositions as often or more often than winning ones. It’s kind of the ultimate example of high risk high return and a single good bet can pay for a great many bad ones.

      • Sensei

        Not Adahn – You think the Yakuza are going to trust an ethnic Korean?

      • juris imprudent

        SoftBank still owns 90% of the company after listing it on Nasdaq last year. That has led to wild swings when a lot of investors suddenly want to buy. The stock on average traded more than half of its public float every day in the past week or so.

        So, may or may not really be that valuable – tough call on such limited data.

      • juris imprudent

        Yakuza are going to trust an ethnic Korean

        Jews were the bankers for Sicilians, no?

    • SDF-7

      Agreed on the spending — there are parts of the EO I agree with (streamline regulatory aspects so they can build data centers / power facilities for said data centers). Let the companies fund it, just make it easier for business to do business.

      AI itself I’m unimpressed with in many cases — but I do think running scenarios for protein folding / medical treatment scenarios seems like the sort of thing LLM style recursive data walks would be made for — so I can see that for cancer research. I would expect it to already be going on… but I’m not in that field, so who knows.

      At the root, though — I expect this is a knee jerk “Muh AI gap!” national security style reaction…. China supposedly invested heavily in “AI” the last few years — and they don’t want to be behind if things pan out. If nothing else… use it for the nuke modeling they used to be supercomputers for at Los Alamos?

      • R.J.

        He can announce it to freak out the Chinese.

      • trshmnstr

        use it for the nuke modeling they used to be supercomputers for at Los Alamos?

        They do already. Im sure some capacity would help the research.

        I would expect it to already be going on

        Practically any healthcare outcome you can think of is being studied with AI.

      • rhywun

        Here, I as just a simple IT person, figure the answer would be “the person using the electricity”.

        lol The naivety is charming.

    • rhywun

      Yeah, I’m OK if this one doesn’t pan out.

      It’s not like he promised to throw half a tril down the drain/at grifters.

    • cavalier973

      Imprisoning the J6rs violated law and order.

      • Drake

        Hiding and destroying evidence was a crime and tainted everything about these cases.

      • juris imprudent

        Misapplying a bit of corporate law for criminal prosecution – no problem there eh WSJ?

      • DrOtto

        Boot lickers gonna lick.

      • rhywun

        Hiding and destroying evidence was a crime and tainted everything about these cases.

        This.

        Also, tell me the entire operation wasn’t egged on by the FBI. THAT is the reason for the evidence tampering, the disgusting show trails, and the outrageous sentences.

    • R.J.

      I can assume that the 6 who had sentences commuted actually did do bad things, and the others were subject to over-prosecution. I leave it to screeching left wingers to prove otherwise with all the 100s of hours of tapes they reviewed and carefully documented.

    • R C Dean

      I wonder if they discussed the massive ethical and due process violations involved in most of the prosecutions, which in and of themselves could justify pardons?

      • Sensei

        Look who are we going to believe? Insurrectionists or LEOs who never lie.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Even the real baddies were on the receiving end of a corrupt process fueled by a ginned up performative outrage. A blanket pardon was warranted.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      The left/borg is freaking out about the J6ers. Have seen it in a few places already.

      • rhywun

        It upends their entire Weltanschauung. Without J6, they’ve got nothing anymore.

  10. UnCivilServant

    I want to see FBI agents perp-walked out of their offices and into prison for their crimes.

  11. PieInTheSky

    Winter Storm That Dropped Record-Breaking Snow in New Orleans Spreads Into Florida and Carolinas

    LSU Painted Posse
    @paintuplsu
    Hot take if it snows in your building you don’t belong in the SEC

    Goldy-RiSA ☃️🌨️
    @GoldyRiSA
    Well well well @OldTakesExposed

    https://x.com/GoldyRiSA/status/1881788706551746881

    I assume that stadium is where LSU plays… Are the gators freezing in Louisiana?

    • SDF-7

      Taking you seriously for a moment — gators (and turtles and probably most aquatic reptiles) as I recall burrow in riverside mud for lairs and semi-hibernate when they get too cool. I expect that’s exactly what they’re doing and they’ll perk right back up when the weather changes. They didn’t survive millions of years for no reason, after all. Tough species.

      • R.J.

        There will be some which will be hard frozen right now, and good eatin’!

      • R C Dean

        + many handbags

      • Jarflax

        They survived the ice ages. This is not, despite all the hysteria, the first time it has snowed in those latitudes.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      It was just a few years ago when lizards were freezing and falling out of trees in Florida.

      • Nephilium

        Surprisingly, Cincinnati has a lizard problem as well. Surprised me first time I saw them running around.

      • Jarflax

        Lazarus lizards, they aren’t really a problem, they’re just European wall lizards that a family named Lazarus brought back from Italy for a rock garden, and they apparently find Cincinnati a great place to live. You mostly see them around fieldstone retaining walls.

  12. Pat

    Ross Ulbricht has been freed

    Saw a headline on that before and honest to god thought he had died. Don’t know who I was thinking of. Amusingly, Reason wrote about 10 articles on inauguration day whinging that Trump wasn’t going to come through on his promise of clemency. Which I guess is technically true, since he actually issued a full pardon.

    Too bad nobody who gives a shit about Snowden has Trump’s ear. Despite having previously called for his execution, Trump would probably pardon him for the trolling value alone if one of his buddies suggested it.

    • juris imprudent

      That may be the problem. With the tech-bro backing him, none of them are fond of Snowden because he divulged that most of what NSA was doing was emulating what the tech companies do.

      • Pat

        Tbh, he’d probably be smart to stay where he’s at anyway, even if he did get a pardon. Regardless of the administration, the spooks do whatever the fuck they please, and I don’t think he’d survive long back on US soil, or any of our allies.

      • R.J.

        Agreed.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Trump’s message after freeing Ross could easily apply to Snowden too. There’s a chance. Hopefully something for Assange too.

  13. R C Dean

    I’ve been astounded that the DC jail was just flat-out defying the pardons. Has anybody heard whether the J6ers have been released from there yet?

    And I’m hoping for just an avalanche of lawsuits and criminal prosecutions (literal wrongful imprisonment/kidnapping charges are easily in order) for that stunt.

  14. Drake

    Those crazy bastards at Kel-Tec are back at it.

    A clip-fed concealable 5.7 pistol.

    • Sean

      I’ve seen it. I am intrigued.

      • Not Adahn

        Seems like an obvious choice to get around the detachable magazine language.

        People are bitching about how it’s not a good carry choice because of the long reload times — but if you start with TWENTY rounds, and you need to reload, the gun isn’t the problem here.

      • bacon-magic

        I am tempted to subscribe to the Kel-Tec newsletter.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Also, if you are in a jurisdiction that has mag limits, then clip feed is better than nothing.

    • PieInTheSky

      no one needs to conceal a pistol

      • Drake

        4.64 in barrel is a bit shorter than most 5.7 pistols so might be a little less velocity than others.

      • Evan from Evansville

        “Concealed Carry Giveaway
        Would You Like to
        WIN A FREE GUN?”

        Yes. Yes, I would. I like this company! Makes the J6=Insurrection idiots weep their useless tears. No salt. Just the weight of failed dreams and the stench of regret.

  15. SarumanTheGreat

    I wonder how long it will take until various federal judges in Hawaii, Cali, NY, etc. start issuing national injunctions against any and all of these EO’s ’cause OMB. I can foresee a case heading to the Supremes. Thomas some years back warned against this sort of behavior; maybe Roberts will acquire the spine to restrict these lawjunctions into their proper sphere (if any).

    • SDF-7

      I expect they’re just waiting on the lawsuits to be filed and assigned to their courts. I know there were some filed within minutes of him being sworn in… so “End of the week” to give the clerks time to shuffle papers?

      • juris imprudent

        I am shocked, shocked I say, that the rubber stamps were not pre-inked!

  16. Suthenboy

    Links:

    Looks like Trump is going to cause a terrible shortage…..of fucking around. Words cant describe the satisfaction I get from the immediate axing of DEI. Just clean out your offices and go home. Your keycard no longer works. Goodbye.

    “What? I have to actually show up for work? This is intolerable! I quit!”
    Goodbye.

    I saw lots of footage from the Rio Grande last night. Not one person in the water.

    FBI: So it looks like he might actually drain the swamp this time.

    Terrorist students, furriners that protest agains America – fuck ’em. Get them out.

    …demand the speedy release? WTF. Open the goddamned door right now. Not tomorrow, not in an hour, not in ten seconds. Right. Fucking. Now. Anyone delaying that by any amount of time at all should be arrested and charged with kidnapping.

    TikTok: No one owes China the right to put up a platform and means of spying. This is not a free speech issue. I understand the political pressure but tough shit.

    The medical community has a very high hill to climb to regain credibility. They are still pushing the cootiebug vaccines. I am not sure how they would do that. A cancer cure? Sure it is buddy. What are the side effects?

    Good on Ross. Long overdue. Where is that judge these days?

    I have plenty of firewood and no plans to go anywhere.

    • Nephilium

      TikTok: No one owes China the right to put up a platform and means of spying. This is not a free speech issue. I understand the political pressure but tough shit.

      You realize the users of TikTok sign up for it, and voluntarily use it, right? Even knowing that it’s hoovering up all their data.

      Are there some other apps that they should be protected from as well?

      • Jarflax

        I don’t know, are there other apps collecting the data for the use of a hostile foreign power? That distinction you ignore seems kind of relevant.

      • Nephilium

        Jarflax:

        Yes, yes there are. Rednote would be a pretty easy example, and I would not find it hard to believe that there’s data sharing agreements between apps from other countries as well. There has been credible reports of hacks coming from North Korea as well.

        And does it really matter if it’s China gathering the data or Meta/Alphabet?

      • Pat

        I feel like it’s a slippery slope allowing the feds to force divestment of a “hostile foreign power” without some kind of process. If we were in a declared shooting war with China, then by all means, we’d probably want to limit datamining by a CCP-controlled corporation. But in point of fact, we kiss China’s ass on trade as a general rule, and despite impotent saber-rattling, have no military conflict. Trump has designated Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations. Should the feds therefore be allowed to control FDI from Mexico or, say, force Grupo Bimbo to divest its US bakery business? There’s arguable and legitimate reasons why we might want to limit the ability of certain countries to conduct business within US borders, but I think this ruling makes it too easy for the feds to put their thumb on the scale and chalk it up to “national security.”

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Having spoken to a couple of The Youth lately, they just assume ALL data has been hoovered, that they have zero online privacy, and thus can’t think of a big deal about this.

        Sad, but there you go.

      • Suthenboy

        Neph: I understand all of that. are there other apps? Maybe. How about this? When China allows freedom of speech in China and has the same TikTok program they use here they can stay. Reciprocity and all.

        We expel spies when we find them. Expel TikTok.

      • Jarflax

        Then we should ban Rednote as well. And yes, for this purpose it definitely matters if the data is being collected by a hostile foreign power or a sleazy US company, because the point is not to protect the user from their own foolishness. It is to prevent a hostile foreign power from spying. I know it is de rigueur here to sneer at any claim of national defense, and in fairness it is an easily abused concept, but social media apps are spyware at their heart, and spyware reporting back to a foreign power seems to me to be right in the core of the idea of national defense.

      • Pat

        That’s been my experience with the zoomers as well. They know they live in a panopticon, but having been inured to it from their earliest memories, they just don’t give a shit. It’s a bit troubling tbh. Same type of generational split you seen in the Soviet bloc between those born pre and post revolution.

      • juris imprudent

        a hostile foreign power

        What makes a hostile domestic power so different?

      • UnCivilServant

        Hostile domestic powers are theoretically covered by the constitution.

      • juris imprudent

        they just don’t give a shit. It’s a bit troubling tbh

        Or is it just a sign of accepting the reality of the world today?

      • Nephilium

        Jarflax:

        So it’s acceptable if Meta/Alphabet is gathering the information and selling it to China, but it’s not acceptable for China to collect the (again, freely given) data itself?

      • Jarflax

        a hostile foreign power

        What makes a hostile domestic power so different?

        To my thinking the difference is that national defense is a core responsibility of, and the primary reason for, government. Protecting people from voluntary foolishness is not. But then I am a minarchist not an an cap.

      • rhywun

        Having spoken to a couple of The Youth lately, they just assume ALL data has been hoovered, that they have zero online privacy, and thus can’t think of a big deal about this.

        For once, I agree with the whippersnappers.

        They’re right.

        Also, the TikTok thing is textbook fascism. And I know China is a real threat. But prove actual harm or STFU.

      • Pat

        Or is it just a sign of accepting the reality of the world today?

        It is, but that’s precisely why I find it troubling. Accepting things that should be unacceptable in a value system that respects individual rights, among which privacy is fundamental, is a bad portent.

      • Jarflax

        Jarflax:

        So it’s acceptable if Meta/Alphabet is gathering the information and selling it to China, but it’s not acceptable for China to collect the (again, freely given) data itself?

        No, if Meta/Alphabet are selling sensitive data to China, or any other hostile power, they should be prosecuted. But their domestic collection of, and commercial use of, that data is not a national defense issue.

      • rhywun

        Accepting things that should be unacceptable in a value system that respects individual rights, among which privacy is fundamental, is a bad portent.

        You’re right, of course but ugh – who has the energy.

      • juris imprudent

        national defense is a core responsibility

        Fair, but that has minimal resemblance to what we currently call national security.

      • juris imprudent

        among which privacy is fundamental

        Yet we have to impute a right to privacy in our constitutional order, since there is nothing explicit in that regard.

    • R C Dean

      The cognitive dissonance of “I have to show up for work? That’s an outrage!” and “ I can’t show up for work? That’s an outrage!” will be delicious.

    • R C Dean

      Forcing a company controlled by a foreign government to divest, regardless of its hostility to the US, just doesn’t ring alarm bells for me. The key being “controlled by a foreign government”.

      Now, if it refuses to divest so the app goes down, well, who is that on, exactly? Not solely the order to divest, it seems. It might be one thing for the US to order that an app be banned, but this isn’t that. This is an order to divest, the failure to do so leading to the app being banned. So it’s not quite so simple.

      Sure, it has implications for the 1A rights of US citizens, but the notion that the 1A rights of US citizens aren’t subject to limitations related to national security is simply not valid – there are plenty of those that are uncontroversial. Is TikTok a national security issue seems like the nub of the competing claims, to me.

      And yes, RedNote is covered by the same order.

      • juris imprudent

        Now run that with Google/FB/Apple through the EU lens.

      • R C Dean

        Is Google/FB/Apple a national security issue for the EU?

      • Jarflax

        Is Google/FB/Apple a national security issue for the EU?

        Yes! Who knows what shenanigans Pie would get up to if he could read the links!

  17. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    I just did the most amazing thing at work (not Toobin)

      • Pat

        Lol, nice

      • Jarflax

        You killed the link to Order 14035?

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        Trump killed 14035, I got the honor of taking down that web page.

      • Jarflax

        I’ll bet that was satisfying!

      • UnCivilServant

        Still loads for me – must have a lot of cache.

      • The Other Kevin

        It’s fun to have someone “on the front lines” as it were. So much has happened this week, it felt like yesterday should have been Friday.

      • rhywun

        I’m lovin’ it.

      • trshmnstr

        I think the best part is that the “visit our homepage” link takes you to glibertarians.com

    • PieInTheSky

      all those years of government work finally worth it

      • rhywun

        Dictatorship incoming!!

        OFFS, The Hill.

  18. Pat

    Apropos of nothing, I went and got my hair cut for the first time since childhood. 4 guard on top with a high fade. The guy did a good job as far as it goes, but I don’t like the way it looks on me. I’m not sure if it legitimately looks as shitty as I think it does, or I’m just so used to seeing the same thing for nearly 30 years. I’ve got 48 hours before I have to be seen in public to decide if I take a 1 guard to the whole thing and start from scratch.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      1 guard? Look at the long haired hippy!

    • PieInTheSky

      I did not know the word guard was used in americaneze.

      • Pat

        Technically they’re “combs,” but if you go into a barber shop and tell the guy you want a 4 comb on top he’d be completely justified in asking you to leave.

      • PieInTheSky

        we just say I want a number 4

      • Pat

        That would work here as well.

    • Suthenboy

      Mrs. Suthenboy cuts my hair. I rarely even look at it. I just say thank you and go on about my business. I dont care. I am retired and not in the dating market so it doesnt really matter.

  19. Pat

    Why won’t the ‘Nazi’ slur die?

    Elon Musk, the X owner and enthusiastic Trump-backer, has been accused of performing a ‘Nazi-style’ salute at a rally yesterday, following The Donald’s second inauguration.
    _
    Needless to say, Musk is not a Nazi, a fascist or a white supremacist, although he may well prove to be a liability to the Trump administration. It is clear Musk let his exuberance get ahead of him during yesterday’s rally. He entered the stage twirling like a giddy schoolchild and left it with both arms raised high in the air. Still, what many of the shorter clips didn’t show is that, just as he made that now infamous gesture, he can be heard saying: ‘My heart goes out to you!’ In context, it is abundantly clear what he meant when he took his hand from his chest and thrust it into the air.
    _
    Besides, the content of Musk’s speech was fairly anodyne. He was mainly excited about the prospect of ‘safe cities’, ‘secure borders’ and ‘sensible spending’ under the new administration – not to mention Trump’s ambition, shared by Musk, to send Americans to Mars. No reasonable critic could think Musk’s speech would be likely to quicken the heart of a brownshirt.

    • Jarflax

      Why won’t the ‘Nazi’ slur die?

      Because the left is currently made up of kids who spent their first 25 years being praised for parroting the same cliches and punished for deviating?

      • trshmnstr

        ^^^^ this.

    • PieInTheSky

      those are the sort of questions that nazis ask. Also when you have one single hammer you need to use it.

      • juris imprudent

        And when done, you put it back with the sickle.

    • Pope Jimbo

      He entered the stage twirling like a giddy schoolchild and left it with both arms raised high in the air.

      Why can’t Musk butch up like King Walz?

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Anyone who thinks raising both arms is a Nazi salute is an idiot.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Everyone knows that a real Nazi salute requires nein arms.

      • Not Adahn

        Football is fascist. It is known.

      • R C Dean

        I like the member of the Village People doing two Nazi salutes at once.

    • Suthenboy

      That should be “Why wont the nazi slur work?”

      I respond with such accusations of racismnazismXXXphobemysogynist with “Yeah? And?”

    • rhywun

      Same reasons the “racist” slur won’t die.

      Because such slurs work on the left and they’ve got nothing else.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Musk plans to send Americans to Mars, or just Jews to Mars? You know who else wanted to send the Jews far away?

    • Evan from Evansville

      “At publishing time, the church’s leadership committee had begun discussing the possibility of adding additional female pastors to the staff, though there was reportedly some concern being expressed that the cycle of fire and brimstone sermons would eventually synchronize.”

      Ha!

    • Suthenboy

      This is some funny shit.

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      This is why there shouldn’t be female clergy. /Ducks

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Random thought:

    In the same way a President who has actually been to war might be less susceptible to sending in troops at the drop of a hat, a President who has, himself, borne the weight of a government vendetta might have a better practical understanding of the legal system than somebody who has been the beneficiary of “professional courtesy” his entire life.

    • PieInTheSky

      President who has actually been to war might be less susceptible to sending in troops at the drop of a hat – is this the case? some may just fancy themselves great war leaders

    • Pat

      One of the things about Trump’s first term that always boggled my mind was how absolutely bugfuck nuts his detracts and supports alike were, in light of just how little he actually did. He came in fairly clueless, and the party faithful with whom he surrounded himself were as enthusiastic about stymieing his agenda as the other team. Here’s hoping that the benefit of that experience sobers him up a bit in this second stint.

      • rhywun

        Here’s hoping that the benefit of that experience sobers him up a bit in this second stint.

        It sure seems like he’s learned a lot of lessons from last time.

      • juris imprudent

        seems like he’s learned

        Agreed and I honestly didn’t expect that from The Donald.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        His four years in the wilderness might have done him some good.

  21. PieInTheSky

    Tougher checks on knife sales fast-tracked after Southport attack

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg85lkpz0zo

    People trying to buy knives online will face tougher measures to prove their age under new restrictions being brought forward in the wake of the Southport knife attack.

    Axel Rudakubana, who has admitted murdering three young girls last July, bought a knife from Amazon when he was just 17, despite existing laws which prohibit the sale of most knives to under-18s.

    That’s the root of the problem!!! good thing it was found! I know y’all don’t much care but I am fascinated on how deeper and deeper into stupid England goes…

    • Pat

      There are children being born in the UK even as we speak who will never see a legal cigarette sold, and probably will have never cut their food with anything sharper than a plastic spork.

      • juris imprudent

        Bread and grool don’t require the use of a knife. You weren’t contemplating the horror of eating some kind of meat were you?

    • Suthenboy

      A lot of people see it that way. If one hasn’t been paying attention for the last 1000 years it appears England has become an open air prison overnight. Take a closer look at their history and you can see the roots of it were there all along.
      There is a reason we shot as many of them as we could when we had the chance.

      *disclaimer: Their culture is highly stratified and rigidly so. Most of them seem to me like Americans with a funny accent and poor grasp of English.
      Go above a certain class level and you quickly start running into “You are going to eat it and like it” types. Those are insufferable pricks.

      • PieInTheSky

        thing is it is not difficult to make knives in prison. So making it a prison will not get rid of stabbing.

      • juris imprudent

        Shhhhh, you’ll spoil the surprise.

    • rhywun

      I know y’all don’t much care but I am fascinated on how deeper and deeper into stupid England goes…

      Oh, I care very much because it seems like they’re always only two more steps down the road to serfdom than my country is. I don’t like them giving the Democrats any more ideas.

  22. PieInTheSky

    Glorious leftiness. Berlin’s got really fab rent controls, unlimited, secure leases. Super, great policies! So why in buggery have rents risen 21% in a year? It’s them, those others! Can’t be the really great, super, fab, policies now, can it?

    https://x.com/worstall/status/1881984257142464977

    • rhywun

      Oh no, signs of the market are peeking through. STAMP IT OUT!

      Never change, The Guardian.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Same thing has been happening in Canada. Rent and price controls on the rental market, with building constrictions on the other side of the equation.

        And, thus, you have 3 and 2’s going for two million.

    • Ted S.

      Part of the problem is the cultural idea that all landlords are Scrooge McDucks, no tenants are bad, and we need government to take that big pile of money.

    • Jarflax

      If you want to live in a “Great City” you pay a premium. If you want lower rent you move to Bielefeld, if it is real.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    apps collecting the data for the use of a hostile foreign power?

    What data are they collecting, and for what purpose? Preferred brand of shoe? Interpretive dance techniques?

    Are the guys at Lawrence Livermore trading equations on Tiktok?

    • UnCivilServant

      Anything and everything on any device the application is installed on – plus the algorithm itself is weaponized for propaganda purposes, serving content chosen to further the ends of undermining China’s enemies (hint, that includes us)

    • Nephilium

      For most of the social media apps, anything done on the device, anything said in range of the device’s microphone, where the device has gone, any biometric information available about the user of the device, anything in range of the camera of the device, and any acceleration information from the device, any temperature information from the device, information about any other devices on the same network as the device, etc.

    • Jarflax

      Those permissions apps ask for, access to contacts, camera, mic, location data? They mean a phone is a mobile high definition camera and audio recorder, with built in geolocation functions. We have voluntarily turned ourselves into unpaid spies for every company that persuades us to install their apps, or just persuades Verizon et al. to auto install them.

      • juris imprudent

        for every company

        And thus the respective intel agencies over said company.

      • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

        Verizon et al. to auto install them

        I hate that I have to check for newly installed apps after every Verizon “security” update.

        WHERE IS MY OPEN SOURCE PHONE?

      • Jarflax

        I hate that I have to check for newly installed apps after every Verizon “security” update.

        Yeah, stupid game apps that re-install every time it updates. Games that want access to everything. I miss my old Nokia candybar.

      • Ted S.

        I try to use web sites instead of apps. I assume cookies can’t do all those things yet?

      • rhywun

        This is what I mean by “ugh, who has the energy”.

        To really fight back against this stuff would mean upending our lives for most of us.

      • Nephilium

        Ted S.:

        Depends on what permissions you’ve given the browser, and what browser you’re using. One of Facebook’s earliest scandals was creating shadow accounts for people by using tracking cookies and metadata to build up profiles of non-users. That was probably 20 years ago…

  24. The Late P Brooks

    I just did the most amazing thing at work (not Toobin)

    404 AGENCY NOT FOUND?

  25. Common Tater

    “Elon Musk’s ex Grimes issues stern response to First Buddy’s evocative salute at Trump’s inauguration”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14311361/Elon-Musk-Grimes-salute-inauguration-trump.html

    First Buddy?

    “The world’s richest man was also defended by antisemitism watchdog Anti-Defamation League, which described the controversy as ‘an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute.'”

    Did not see that coming.

    • Pat

      When you’ve lost the ADL…

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        I never thought I’d see the day.

      • juris imprudent

        I’ve already seen the ADL being cast out from amongst the faithful.

      • Jarflax

        They chose Hamas over the ADL. This seems an odd choice given their obsession with the alphabet groups and theoretical support of women’s rights, but their reasoning is all purely theoretical and not subject to real world contradiction so it goes where it goes.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    For most of the social media apps, anything done on the device, anything said in range of the device’s microphone, where the device has gone, any biometric information available about the user of the device, anything in range of the camera of the device, and any acceleration information from the device, any temperature information from the device, information about any other devices on the same network as the device, etc.

    And how do they extract the pony from that gargantuan mound of shit?

    • Nephilium

      That’s one of the actual uses of LLM’s, summarizing large data sets into potentially useful information. At this point, collecting the data to have seems more of the point. The private companies use it for targeted ads, a bad actor can use it for mapping facilities, finding illegal activities for blackmail, look for contacts with known agents to find connections and more.

      More and more I want to go back to the 90’s and apologize to the cypherpunks I thought were wrong.

      • Jarflax

        a bad actor can use it for mapping facilities, finding illegal activities for blackmail, look for contacts with known agents to find connections and more.

        Wait… this is my point, which side are you arguing? 🙂

      • Pat

        Anybody remember 20 years ago when the feds built a data silo out in the middle of nowhere in Utah for storing data collected by the NSA, despite there being no earthly technology that could possibly sift through it all?

        Yeah, it turns out, technology advances fairly briskly. Here’s hoping quantum computing remains in the realm of cold fusion during my lifetime.

      • UnCivilServant

        “I’m a time traveller from the future”

        “Which dystopia did we get?”

        “All of them.”

      • Nephilium

        Jarflax:

        I agree that it can be used for all sorts of bad actions, I don’t think a federal law is the right avenue to deal with it. I agree 100% it should be banned from being on any government issued device, any device entering into a secure facility, and anyone with security clearances should probably be banned from using the app or having an account. Same as I support private companies banning applications on devices that they issue to their employees.

      • juris imprudent

        potentially useful information

        Which of course depends on the biases baked into the LLM (or other tool) – such as Black Nazi soldiers of WWII.

      • Nephilium

        Pat:

        I remember when Australia, England, and the US decided that while they couldn’t spy on their own citizens, they could spy on the other two countries’ citizens and share the information with the leadership of said countries.

        UCS:

        Then where are my burbclaves?!

      • Jarflax

        Five Eyes are better than 2

      • rhywun

        Yeah if you’re a programmer and look at what’s hot these days or just want to brush up your skills, you’ll see that all the buzz is around AI, “big data”, LLMs, and shit like that now.

    • Grummun

      One thing AI actually is good at is teasing patterns out of loads of seemingly unrelated data.

      • juris imprudent

        “My correlation is causation because my P is wee.” — William Briggs

  27. PieInTheSky

    From what I can see the US is building up Argentina into a proxy state to terrorize Latin America. Don’t be surprised if Argentina is used for regime change purposes in Venezuela under Trump. Reality of multipolarity means wound down Monroe Doctrine sphere of influence.

      • R.J.

        Hilarious. Argentina will not need us to be an effective conduit for change in South America. The difference between Argentina and Venezuela will be embarrassingly obvious and the change will follow.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.

  29. Common Tater

    “Ohio mother, Janna Michelle Baker, recently reported receiving a bag of marijuana with a meal she ordered for her eleven-year-old daughter at the Burger King drive-thru on Main Street in Hamilton, Ohio….

    Baker documented her experience on TikTok, telling her followers ‘I went to Burger King tonight, got my kid some chicken fries…with a side of Mary Jane.’

    The horrified mother, who showed the alleged drug on a plate near the Burger King Food, said she ‘didn’t ask for a side of this.’

    The viral video has now been viewed more than 1.6 million times and has prompted swift action from the burger giant.

    ‘We contacted the franchisee of this restaurant immediately upon learning of this incident and can confirm that the employee in question has been terminated,’ Burger King said in a statement to WTAE news.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-14310285/burger-king-apologizes-mother-served-weed-daughters-meal.html

    Someone who works at Burger King giving away free weed?

    • PieInTheSky

      did someone properly read all Trumps executive orders? maybe there was a free weed one in there

    • UnCivilServant

      Someone who works at Burger King giving away free weed?

      I’d wager they were stoned at the time and put the wrong thing in the bag.

    • Pat

      Yeah, my guess is this ends up being like the annual weed gummies in Halloween candy hobgoblin, and momma’s a clout chaser looking to break into a career as an “influencer.”

      • R.J.

        I think you are right

    • juris imprudent

      documented her experience on TikTok

      See!!! This is the grave danger posed by TikTok!!!

    • Ownbestenemy

      Meh…we had a local Jack In The Box in Covina, CA back in the 90s that ran a Silk Road venture where a certain combination of combo orders got you different drugs.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    I guess some of us are okay with Comrade Biden torpedoing the US Steel deal on “National Security” grounds.

    • juris imprudent

      Well, some of us are chomping at the bit for Trump to expand tariffs, based on national security.

      • Jarflax

        I am hoping that the tariff talk is a negotiating ploy. Otherwise I oppose it, well unless it is accompanied by repeal of the XVIth and reduction of the Federal Government to pre XVIth size.

    • R C Dean

      Just because the government can/should order divestment of a company controlled by a foreign government (as far as I know, Japanese steel companies aren’t controlled by the Japanese government) doesn’t mean every exercise of that power is beyond criticism.

      Much as I would like to see TikTok go away for a variety of reasons, I’m still not sold on the approach being taken here.

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      Not particularly.

    • rhywun

      Not me.

      It’s bullshit signaling that might end up killing the American steel industry for good.

      I don’t see anybody else willing to pour tons of investment money into steel mills lately.

      • juris imprudent

        The American steel industry is doing fine. Certain American steel companies are not. Lying about that is a political norm.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    More and more I want to go back to the 90’s and apologize to the cypherpunks I thought were wrong.

    Tin cans and string are never coming back.

    Do I use any of that stuff? Fuck no. Do I wish people would STFU about where they go and what they do and what they think? Yes. For multiple reasons. But I’m not anybody’s supervisor.

    • Nephilium

      Not what the cypherpunks were preaching. Instead, they were pushing for the use of high end encryption for all communications, and securing open communications in order to safeguard privacy.

  32. Suthenboy

    Social media spying: Anyone mention washing machines, blenders, exercise equipment, cars, electric toothbrushes etc? I am guessing even electronic anal thermometers are spying on us now.

  33. Mojeaux

    So I told my mom about Ross Ulbricht. She doesn’t understand why this makes me a bit squee-ey.

    Anyway, she’s getting stronger. I’m switching her from hospice to home health because she wants PT/OT now and she’s clearly NOT dying. The goal is to get her out of bed, on a walker, to her recliner and the bathroom (cuuuuz she’s eating now). THEN the goal is assisted living, which she has wanted for YEARS.

    My brothers and I may have made every mistake in the book with regard to her healthcare decisions and yet, everything seemed to work out. She needed time, space, peace, in a safe place with safe people to heal up and figure out what she wants to do now that she’s out of her sister’s clutches. She also needed fentanyl patches (shit, I forgot to change that last night), which she couldn’t have gotten any other way. I know, I’ve been fighting with pain control people and her hospital team and her PCP about this for weeks.

    Our motion for partition hasn’t been put on casenet yet, but it’s only day 2 and we filed on paper late Friday. The congregation leaders tell me movement has been made toward selling the property, but we still don’t trust Susie to not cheat Mom, so the motion stays in place. I guess that was one good decision we made.

    Mom just wants nothing to do with her sisters. HOWEVER, before I found out about the abuse Susie’s heaped upon my mom’s head, I told them they could come visit at any time. A church member is bringing them over at 1p, but I told her I would leave the front door open and stay in my office with my doors closed. I don’t want to scandalize the poor church lady with the things I would say. Is there anything stronger than “avaricious cunt”?

    • R C Dean

      “The congregation leaders tell me movement has been made toward selling the property”

      Why would they know something you don’t?

      “ My brothers and I may have made every mistake in the book with regard to her healthcare decisions”

      As far as I can tell, you said “Do what she wants, goddamit”. Which is not a mistake at all – it’s the right thing to do.

      • Mojeaux

        They have inserted themselves, especially financebro, partly because it’s in the congregation’s financial and otherwise interests to get that property sold.

        See, we have lay clergy and everything, and service is the cornerstone of our community. A good chunk of the congregation’s resources have been going to maintain a $500k property that the three old ladies who live there can’t do and Susie won’t pay for (or nominally). It leaves other more needy people out in the cold. The “Three Sisters” are a regular topic of conversation in the leadership councils because the congregation can’t sustain this much longer.

        Also, I have stopped speaking to Susie and Milly (well, to be fair, Susie and I rarely speak to each other, which I never noticed until I noticed that Milly is the go-between).

        I stopped talking to their congregation’s leadership when they were trying to negotiate a truce and I said we weren’t interested in negotiation. We were interested in Mom’s portion of the property. They don’t have to sell. They just have to buy Mom out.

      • Mojeaux

        Also, I don’t live in the boundaries of that congregation (akin to a Catholic parish), so I’m not really in their ecclesiastical purview. I am merely a problem they are “obligated” to help Susie solve.

        I do believe they have attempted to get my bishop involved, which I don’t know how that’s going or if it did.

      • R C Dean

        I get that the congregation has an interest and some involvement.

        I just don’t get that they know things about the property being sold that you (and presumably your mother) don’t. Do they have an actual (legal) interest in the property?

        Not sure, either, how you are a problem for them to solve because Avaricious Cunte is a member of their congregation, unless your mother isn’t a member of their congregation. Not sure I like the framing of you being the problem, when it seems Avaricious Cunte is the problem, really.

        I know, I’m doing a flyby of a community/culture I know little-to-nothing about.

    • Pat

      I missed the backstory with your mom, but it’s fantastic to hear that she’s thriving (relatively speaking) when things looked grim. Make the most of the remaining time. It goes quickly.

    • ron73440

      Is there anything stronger than “avaricious cunt”?

      Avaricious cunte?

      I have been busy lately so I haven’t commented much, but I am glad things are working out for your mom.

      It must be rough to learn about the true character of your aunt this way.

      • Mojeaux

        Well, I started not liking her years ago (and I don’t think she ever liked me), but I never knew why until I realized she was railroading my mom into decisions she didn’t want to make, so I kept it to myself. I mean, you don’t just start disliking someone because they’re dour, joyless people. And I didn’t think her railroading was all that.

        She seemed to always be getting her way. Any conflict, Susie got her way and it was starting to rub me and my husband and my brothers the wrong way. But you know, my mom’s a big girl and she’s smart and she doesn’t need to be micromanaged by her kids. We are NOT interested in micromanaging anything. It’s too much work and we have the attention span of a gnat. She dealt with my (difficult) dad with sometimes brutal honesty or digging her heels in, so we never imagined she wouldn’t do the same with her pushy sister if she got out of hand.

    • Jarflax

      You had an attorney file the partition motion right? A real estate attorney? There may be things that need to be in the motion that would not be obvious to a lay person with regard to division of proceeds, such as differences in money contributed to the purchase and maintenance of the property, and reimbursement of costs associated with the action and the sale.

      • Mojeaux

        No attorney (yet). We tried, but we couldn’t find one fast enough. Our appointment with an elder law attorney is on the 30th. It was the best we could do, but we really did try, so we gave it our best shot, figuring an attorney could clean up any mess we made.

        In any case, the property is in the court’s hands and by doing so, we may have forced the sale. We didn’t need the property to be SOLD. We needed our mom’s portion.

        Assisted living is going to cost a pretty penny, so eventually, she will need it, but this way, we’ve bought ourselves time.

      • Jarflax

        I would ask that attorney specifically about the issues I raised above, at least if there is reason to suspect that your Mom may have contributed more than the other sister.

      • Mojeaux

        Yes, we have that on the agenda. At the very least, they can point us to a real estate lawyer. We also are going to ask about undue influence. There is NO reason for siblings to enter into a joint tenancy agreement if a) they contribute equally and b) they have kids and c) they’re old and looking at their contributions as an investment/asset.

        What they do is, they have a household account out of which all property expenses are paid. When their mother died, they each put in an equal amount of their bequeathment into the household account. Mom and Susie contribute an equal amount each month. Milly contributes toward the utilities, but I don’t know if she contributes to repairs or if she pays rent. IF she pays rent, she would obviously not be contributing to the repairs.

    • R.J.

      You should search for Shakespearean insults that would be church appropriate.

  34. Common Tater

    “Chinese-owned video-sharing app RedNote is reportedly considering quarantining American users over concerns they are a poor influence on China’s own young people.

    Ahead of TikTok being banned and “going dark” on Sunday — which only lasted 14 hours after newly inaugurated President Trump intervened — millions of Americans downloaded the alternative Chinese-owned video-sharing platform, sending it to the No. 1 spot on the US App Store.

    Three million Americans joined RedNote in just a single day last week, some calling themselves “TikTok refugees” — and instantly caused a culture clash….

    Such cross-cultural interactions don’t happen on TikTok, because the company which owns it, ByteDance — which is strongly linked to the Chinese Communist Party — runs an entirely separate app, Douyin, for Chinese users.

    Douyin adheres to the Chinese government’s strict rules and censorship banning political criticism, sexualized content and many other things it deems bad for its citizens.”

    https://nypost.com/2025/01/22/us-news/china-panicked-us-users-are-corrupting-their-youth-via-rednote/

    Ban all Chinese apps?

    • R C Dean

      Americans – a bad influence on subjects of tyrannies for 250 years.

      • R.J.

        I hope it opens the eyes of liberals who get banned

    • Nephilium

      The opposite and entertaining take.

      • Jarflax

        Add in the unprecedented male/female population imbalance they created with the one child policy and this is even more funny.

      • Not Adahn

        Don’t get high on the scent of your own farts.

      • rhywun

        The phenomenon is a big giant SMDH to me.

        It baffles me that people spend their time that way, when they could be wasting their day glibbing instead.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    He’ll rue the day

    Even though President Donald Trump had vowed to deliver pardons to those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the Capitol, his sweeping clemency for roughly 1,500 people was stunning.

    The recipients of Trump’s incredible generosity included Enrique Tarrio, a onetime leader of the Proud Boys who was convicted of sedition and serving a 22-year sentence; Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, who was serving an 18-year sentence for his involvement; and about 600 people who had been charged with assaulting or resisting law enforcement officers, including more than 170 who were charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or seriously injuring an officer. Plenty of people were convicted of nonviolent offenses, but the notion that Jan. 6 was peaceful or a “day of love,” as Trump called it, is an abject lie.

    If history is any guide, this is not likely to be the last time that you hear about these people.

    The worst of the worst, and Trump set them free to prey on the most helpless and vulnerable members of society.

    • Mojeaux

      “‘Rue the day’? Who talks like that?”

      • Jarflax

        Villains in melodramas?

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Dorks in old comedies?

      • Mojeaux

        Zwak wins the prize.

    • juris imprudent

      The most ridiculous charges/sentences (Rhodes and Tarrio) are the most deserving of the pardon. Fuck anyone who argues in favor of Wilsonian sedition prosecution.

      • Drake

        Guys who weren’t even in DC that day.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Oath Keepers was a shot across the bow for any law enforcement that would oppose federal mandates.

    • juris imprudent

      a deadly or dangerous weapon

      The biggest batch of bullshit – a deadly weapon is quite well defined in the law and was strikingly absent on that day.

      • Jarflax

        ^This. and I mean this for both JI’s comments.

    • rhywun

      charged with assaulting or resisting law enforcement officers

      I saw one report after another of people who got tossed in the clink for accidentally brushing their fingers on a hero and such.

      • Jarflax

        Resisting arrest and Obstruction are two of the most overused charges in the codes. They are probably necessary laws but they need to be made a lot less elastic. The criminal who hits a cop and runs is resisting. The person who burns subpoenaed files is obstructing. The guy who asks why he is being arrested, or lies when not under oath should not be charged with a crime.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    In the wake of the election, many Republicans have tried to claim that the results were somehow an all-purpose vindication of Trump and a repudiation of the Justice Department’s long-delayed efforts to hold Trump accountable for his alleged misconduct in connection with the 2020 election. The much better explanation is that a critical mass of voters — rather than signing on to Trump’s claims on this point — decided to vote for him because they did not like the direction of the country under the Biden-Harris administration. These positions may seem to be in tension or perhaps even irrational, but they are not.

    Why? Because you say so?

    More blah blah blah nobody-I-know/surveys-tell-us bullshit.

    • Jarflax

      repudiation of the Justice Department’s long-delayed efforts to hold Trump accountable for his alleged misconduct in connection with the 2020 election political persecution of an opposition politician.

      • R C Dean

        I suspect the delay was in trying to come up with charges that wouldn’t get laughed out of even a DC court.

      • Jarflax

        This is evidence that the NY courts are worse than the DC courts. I am still confused about the underlying felony, the concept of check register entries as individual official documents, and fraud which does not defraud anyone.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    The biggest batch of bullshit – a deadly weapon is quite well defined in the law and was strikingly absent on that day.

    I have seen multiple claims of “documented firearms possession” recently. If any of those protestors/rioters had been caught with a firearm he would have been paraded through the courts press like the Lindberg kidnapper.

    The only armed people in that crowd were cops.

    • juris imprudent

      Yeah, one MAGA gun toter was there – he was a federal officer, I just can’t remember which agency.

  38. Ownbestenemy

    Any talk of stopping RealID or has that train left the station. Its obviously not needed at all given how many times it’s been delayed

    • Gustave Lytton

      At this point, I think almost every state has rolled over for it.

      • Ownbestenemy

        The real test is when US citizens are denied travel while ‘undocumented’ still get a special line where a piece of paper they found just outside the airport allows them to fly.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    The best they have to offer

    Budde also told Trump that people in our country are scared of his presidency.

    When Trump returned to the White House after the prayer service, he told reporters it “wasn’t too exciting.”

    “They can do much better,” he added.

    Others have joined Trump in criticizing the Bishop’s remarks, including Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), who said on the social platform X that “the person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list.”

    Tyrannosaurus Donald is coming to lay waste to the countryside, and the peasants are terrified.

    • juris imprudent

      Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.)

      What is with Georgia and the retards elected to office there – Collins, Hank Johnson, MTG?

      • juris imprudent

        Now that I think of that – how did Stacey Abrams lose?

      • Ed Wuncler

        Stacy Abrams wasn’t the right sort of retard.

      • Jarflax

        Prison colony?

    • Ed Wuncler

      “Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one.”

      I assume that the “minister” is an Episcopalian which from what I understand are the woke WASPY denomination. I as most of us has, lived through his first administration, and almost nothing they predicted came true, but yet they still want to vie for the position of the Chief Scaremonger.

  40. Common Tater

    Tundra posted a tweet from TRHL earlier.

    “They Transitioned A Mentally Handicapped Person. I Can’t Believe This.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFvgpa0onUk

    TW: It’s very disturbing.