Good morning one and all to another glorious day!
Trump says U.S. will ‘take over’ Gaza to develop it, and Palestinians should leave
Trump to withdraw US from UN Human Rights Council, end funding for Gaza aid agency
Treasury Department says DOGE will have ‘read only’ access to payment systems in letter to Congress
CIA offers buyouts to entire staff
FBI Gives Up Details Of Over 5,000 Employees Involved in Jan. 6 Cases To DOJ
Trump warns about what would happen if Iran assassinates him or his team: ‘I’ve left instructions’
Army recruiting shatters records after President Trump election win
El Salvador offers to take all criminal deportees from US, as well as American citizens behind bars
US Manufacturing Returns to Growth as Business Optimism Soars to 34-month High
Trump Education Dept launches probe into ‘explosion of antisemitism’ at 5 universities
That’s all I got for today. I’ll leave you with a song and move along with my day.
I mean, even the Gazans wouldn’t argue that point.
What’s left of it, anyway.
Not because of the destroyed buildings.
They’ve burrowed in like ticks, why would they leave of not to murder people elsewhere?
Heh… for some reason that makes me think: “Close that overblown Iraq
satrapyembassy and just move them all there to fight it out with other Iranian proxies….” Probably still too close to Israel — they’d make the day trip just to blow up in Israel anyway.No…. hell no. Nothing that sinks us permanently into the tribal hellscape that is the Middle East. I appreciate the idea in his real estate developer’s brain of turning it into the French Riviera East or whatnot — but let some other suckers do it. Like oh, Israel that is always blamed for annexing land and is right there anyway. Work to resettle the Palestinians? Sure (good luck with that… but sure… whatever). Get them all out of Gaza and have to do something with it? Okay if it happens. US direct ownership — no…. all the noes.
Ayup.
Fuck empire. If China wants to play ME hegemon… let them. This does not preclude US/Israel treaties.
I do not understand this. Trump seemed like a non-interventionist. Why spend blood on treasure on an obvious trap?
Imagine Gaza as Atlantic City.
Even New Jersey progressives aren’t as toxic as Palestinians.
Yeah, it is Israel’s anyway. Let them play with it.
It would be better if they could integrate the Gazans but after decades of anti-Jew propaganda that won’t work.
Unfortunately, nobody around them wants the Gazans either. Everybody knows they are trouble.
I knew someone who had contacts with a senior security official of a Gulf state. Guy was telling me that in conversation with said security official, the discussion of Palestinian (and other) refugees came up. GUy asked the security official if that country (Muslim) was going to be taking in any refugees. Security guy, a Muslim, responded disgusted, incredulous, and then firm: “Those people?!? No. We won’t be taking any of them.”
Sisi refused to take them just last week citing security concerns. Jordan’s king NFW as well.
Qatar is happy hosting HAMAS’s senior leadership, dump the Gazans on them, then the US should stay the hell out of it. Gaza was a part of Egypt, let them use it as a landfill.
Now if we really wanted to fuck with the ME, we’d propose a joint Kurd-Palestinian homeland.
I think this is just the opening salvo in the Trump negotiating strategy.
Canada and Mexico are still blinking.
The Palestinian “government” has no leg to stand on what with Trump busy kicking all their props out from under them.
Yeah, he always opens with something outrageous and then “settles” for what he really wanted all along.
There is nothing we want down that road.
This is what I think too, and I hope we’re right. If not, I look forward to the Trump Gaza Strip Club.
This could be Trump’s undoing.
He was bound to do something stupid, he’d been on a run of good things.
The confidentiality of those systems is crucial to enable selective and strategic leaking of information.
That said, there is a thorny privacy issue when you have outside contractors working with sensitive data. Private industry seems to manage it for the most part. In lieu of DOGE, perhaps the government could agree to an audit by a credentialed public accounting firm with professional ethical and fiduciary obligations.
After repeated leaks over the years, I’m worried about government employees having access.
Credentialed public accounting firms are part of the managerial class which supports Big Bureaucracy. I wouldn’t trust any of them to audit the Treasury Dept. payments.
It doesn’t really matter since the government will never allow itself to be audited in the exact same manner that it mandates for publicly traded companies. For reasons.
Gaza just needs casinos. Isn’t that the magic ticket?
At least he didn’t recommend nothing but pork processing plants as far as the eye can see, I suppose.
Could be the next Macau, or the next Atlantic City. Even the worst case scenario would be an improvement.
The next Atlantic City.
So, slums except for the actual casinos and boardwalk.
Well, given the Middle East — you know damned well it won’t be pacific.
“Could be the next Macau, or the next Atlantic City.”
You just have to get rid of Palis first.
What’s Cabrini Green in Arabic?
Gaza.
Please, for the love of god, I can only get so erect.
Nevermind, I lied.
It’s Happening!!! ***Insert Ron Paul GIF***
Yep.
I am not saying this is wrong. It does look he is going to go postal on fed drones. I don’t think the drones believe that.
@robodruid, to be fair, nobody else believed it, either.
Of course, the CIA lies about everything, so . . . .
Even better version, Donald. (If that markup attempt worked).
He can only work so fast.
Give him a week or two.
WRT Federal downsizing.
There is a lot of fear, but no wave of early resignations. The documentation so far conflicts with what people understand the law to be.
Now what will happen next week? I have no idea.
fed drone perspective.
I doubt downsizing the hard way will be postponed if downsizing the easy way didn’t get much traction.
As of yesterday about 20K takers, roughly 1%.
Today and tomorrow could be significant.
Dept of Army Civilian. I don’t know anyone who has said yes yet, but I expect to see some people not be here next week.
Work in a joint HQ. I am watching the Fed civilians and lots of discussion but no takers that I know of. It HAS cemented retirement decisions for at least two people. The question will be about backfilling those positions.
It’s true, people typically wait until the last minute to take these kinds of offers, so we’ll see.
Backfilling the positions kind of goes against downsizing the bureaucracies. But I’m sure every employee is essential to the survival of the nation . . . .
So ~13% of the entire fucking FBI was working on prosecuting ~1,500 cases of “illegal parading.
Their top priority was saving the nation from insurrection!!!
Those gulags weren’t going to fill themselves, Pat!
The rest were busy trying to pin something on Trump.
New York city and state attorneys general wave hello!
Yes, that stood out to me too. With all the crazy shit going on, that’s what the big focus was.
They thought they had their 1,000 year reich within their grasp. All they needed was one big push to end the opposition for good.
Hundreds of billions of dollars of COVID fraud, and this is what they spent their time on.
Fire them all. Tear down their building. Salt the earth.
To be fair, they were also focused on people attending Latin Mass and people speaking at school board meetings.
They had set up a network of citizen insurrection hunters. They wanted to prosecute any (Republican) who was in DC on Jan. 6. The whole thing is sick.
Exactly. Remember those billboards everywhere encouraging people to snitch on anyone who might have been involved in the protests.
And once they had their snitch network, well, what else can it be used for?
who was in DC
Tarrio wasn’t, for all the good that did him.
One would have hoped and assumed so — but given the fetid bile spewing from Senate Dems over the last few days, I can understand why they feel they need to clarify.
Of course — obviously FedGov is unfamiliar with the concept of an actual audit… so they’re probably very confused on the basic concepts, the wee lambs.
Pssst… Donald? You know what would help with that? Legislation! If you get Congress back in the habit of doing meaningful work, who knows — maybe y’all could put together a non-CR budget for a change too! (To be fair — I wouldn’t be putting together a budget until DOGE gave an overview of what the real spending should be… then I’d hardline push for that as the formal budget and make it very clear what opposing it means [aka “Graft as usual”], that may well be the plan…)
Congress moves slowly. The overwall strategy appears to be keep the pressure on with whatever executive action can be taken while the legislative gears grind. It will be months before any bills reach the president’s desk.
He needs to learn how to use his veto pen this term as well. Even if congress has the votes to override, make them go on the record and explain to the public why they needed to vote for an insane budget with no cuts instead of rolling over and rubberstamping it with the excuse that resistance is futile like he did in his first term.
Congress back in the habit of meaningful work? Please tell me when they were in the habit.
“Y’all can go to hell, I am going to Texas.”
It has been a shitshow from day one.
“Y’all can go to hell, I am going to Texas.”
Said by someone who had never been to Texas.
Not that I oppose your point, but the Republican party will split, and it won’t be the Trumpistas in the greater part.
Hope it goes well for them — if my son had any inclination for that (and was older, obviously) I would be counseling him to wait and see if the burrowed ticks of the prior political officers were truly expunged. I wouldn’t trust the organization yet, personally. (Especially not without an Operation Aegean Stables cleaning out the Pentagon).
I know several kids of coworkers who were looking at the military but holding off. Now that (hopefully) the wokeism and DEI is gone, and Biden is done trying to start WWIII with Russia, they are going ahead with 4 year commitments.
I’m betting Hegseth really helps with this too. Having someone who appears to be a lot less of a stuffed shirt and more of a soldier is really important here.
I know we have some current and formerly enlisted around here, and I hate to impugn their career choices, but I’d sooner encourage any young man I knew or cared about to go suck off crackheads behind the local 7-11 for 5 bucks a pop before joining any branch of the US military. The MIC operates completely outside the purview of any executive administration. If they want a war they’ll get one. Let the Ukrainians die for Ukraine. Let the Israelis die for Israel. Let the Mexicans shoot it out with the cartels to stop the flow of products that shouldn’t be illegal in the first place. There’s literally no upside.
I’d probably recommend a trade/vocational school or apprenticeship before trying to find a 7-11 with crackheads around here.
I used to work at a 7/11 in the ‘hood, and I think you have a better chance in the military.
Amen, Pat. President Whitmer won’t hesitate to throw your kids into a meat grinder if it appeases Europe or boosts her approval ratings.
The numbers for “shattering the Record” come out of my office and while true, are pretty hyperbolic.
There are a whole lot of caveats that should be considered in this.
Yeah big percentage gains on small numbers comes to mind.
Trump says U.S. will ‘take over’ Gaza to develop it, and Palestinians should leave
Assuming the Palestinians leave and the place is developed… how are the beaches in Gaza? Any good seafood in the sea?
Somebody didn’t get the solidarity memo.
https://nypost.com/2025/02/04/world-news/secret-hamas-documents-reveal-torture-execution-of-gay-terrorists/
I’ve seen how this works in other Muslim nations – such “accusations” are the go-to means for eliminating your opposition.
Arabs: Boys are for fun, women are for babies.
Also Arabs: Throw the homos off of buildings!
It’s only gay if there is consent. Two men in a consensual relationship are homosexuals. A man raping a boy is not, although the boy might be. It’s so absolutely backwards from any sane understanding of morality that what I am writing here sounds like a joke, but it is not.
The universal rule is it’s only gay if the balls touch, the sole and only exception being the Sock Rule
I’be heard “it’s only gay if the tips touch”. Now I’m confused. I’m going back to consult my priest.
CIA offers buyouts to entire staff
Hollywood needs a few more movies how super secret CIA agents with no accountability to no one save the world
That reminds me, I wanted to watch “Conspiracy Theory” again and see how it compares to what’s unfolded since.
I thoroughly enjoyed the new season of The Recruit, but the ending was rushed almost as badly as Game of Thrones.
Trump Education Dept launches probe into ‘explosion of antisemitism’ at 5 universities
Come on it is obviously just anti-Zionism
But, Zion is such a pretty park
Zion is a fat fuck and needs to lay off the gumbo, if we are completely honest.
I’m sorry, Pie, but you’re not making any sense.
BlamBlamBlamBlam! (in October).
I might even be doing a stint as a RM then, if I can get my shit together.
– “I’m sorry, Pie, but you’re not making any sense.”
Possibly a reference to an NBA player? From Duke? Who struggles to lay off the Twinkies? And plays for the Pelicans?
Isn’t ringing a bell, Gunslinger.
I wonder why just those five. Unless the department has already downsized and they don’t have the manpower to investigate thousands of schools at once.
“Pour encourager les autres”
How Emilia Pérez offended just about everyone
Lol.
Lmao even.
To be clear, the only reason a man is not going to win best actress, is that the man at one time was sane?
Critical Drinker seemed particularly disappointed in that movie.
You mean, a trans actress is a mentally unstable narcissist? Well, I never!
I mean yes, almost certainly, but the tweets don’t show that.
Based on what little this snippet reveals, I’d say he was spewing the correct wrongthink, then decided, “HEY I’MMA TROLL EVERYBODY!” and put on a dress and lipstick.
It’s just an amazing development.
The internet is forever, people.
Yet Emilia Pérez features jailed cartel members and family members of disappeared people singing in unison about redemption and justice. As some have pointed out on social media, this is akin to making a musical about 9/11 in which al-Qaeda terrorists and those who died in the Twin Towers sing a song together about love and forgiveness.
Well that does sound nice.
Titular character? Really?
Well, I’m pretty sure they’re not real.
Pie – turns out it was Americans (and the EU), not Russians who interfered in Romanian elections. Sorry.
https://x.com/daily_romania/status/1887120571504222539
Yeah, like the Russians would have tried to stop the election of someone who wasn’t anti-Putin.
Do the TPTB do not understand that when clownish people like Boris Johnson, Trump, Zelensky, Georgescu, and Milei are not only standing for public office but being elected that it’s an indictment of them and their policies? That it is real rage against the machine by the populace who see their lives being run into the ground in pursuit of extracting sunbeams from cucumbers?
Johnson was a disappointment, Zelensky a yuuge bloody one. Milei has been great and Trump II a very pleasant surprise. Georgescu of course has yet to run anything, but with the crippling of USAID he might stand a chance the second time around.
Don’t forget the Hungarian guy, he has been a success mostly.
They (the internationalists) are pushing this shit out in the open because the people are no longer buying what they are selling. I used to be that they moved the chess pieces around in the background as the general mood was one of opening up the world, greater cooperation between nations, etc. And everyone liked it, at least everyone that had a voice. Now they are panicking in that the things they had counted on to work, don’t. People aren’t listening any more, and so they are starting to shout, thinking that will work.
It never does.
Fake news from a fake gay man!!1!
And it keeps getting better – one of the Judges who threw out the election on the payroll of a NGO.
https://x.com/iosefinaoficial/status/1886853638552731796
I know we have a few *nix geeks around here. New Qt-based DE Orbitiny. Looks interesting, if it gets any legs. Very KDE3-ish at this point, with a little Windows 7, but some interesting modern features like desktop gestures. There’s a portable version, and it can be run on top of another WM or DE.
🙁
I don’t use a full DE, so all of those components are separate for me anyway. Greetd/tuigreet for session management and login, acpid and a front end for power management, cbatticon for a desktop power widget, xsecurelock/xss-lock/xset for screensaver/screen locking/suspend, and xrandr for screen config.
I’m just lazy and would prefer a full distro I can drop in and adjust as needed.
Ugh. Wife has ‘FBI’ propaganda on the TV now. Fearless heroes saving the world on a daily basis.
I think we are getting a good look at what we all know. Like the Trump prosecutions showed us the Obama/Biden admins were banana republic monkeys turning govt into a self-perpetuating abortion whose only purpose is to consolidate power and persecute enemies.
One of the things I liked so much about The X-Files is that it portrayed the FBI as an utterly corrupt organization, with a small minority of good guys getting frustrated at every turn. Somewhat surprising, given how big a Clinton simp Chris Carter was.
Just saw this article about the real life X-Files.
https://futurism.com/fbi-quietly-reveals-ufo-office
Loved the first few seasons of that show. Probably couldn’t be made today.
“given how big a Clinton simp Chris Carter was”
I think there was a lot of background stuff (pictures, etc.) that made it fairly clear Clinton was being deceived by the conspiracy. So, kind of like “my guy [Clinton] is another victim.”
Somewhat surprising
Same with The Wire and its creator.
I hear very little about this but Pelosi, Feinstein, Brown, Brown, Milk…two generations of SF and California pols were in bed with and worshipped at the feet of Jim Jones. The guy was an avowed hard core communist who openly told us that his Jesus routine was pure theater. He funded and campaigned for the California politicians that run the state today…or they are the second generation of the Jones crowd. Kamala Harris specifically is one of their progeny. What the hell?
Memory holing that and who those people are seems incredible to me.
The “Tales of the City” guy wrote an entire book around these events, thinly veiled. Can’t see that happening today.
In the 80’s and to a certain extent into the 90’s, TV shows were always about the private detective, the outsider, who saved the day. The government was too corrupt, overpowered, bound by law, or inept to solve the problem. So you went to the ATeam, Magnum PI, the Equalizer, the Dukes of Hazard, Simon and Simon, Murder She Wrote, etc etc.
Starting with Law and Order, then JAG/NCIS, and CSI the last 25 years have been noble law enforcement professionals carrying out their sacred duties.
Yeah, even the later spooky shit shows had a tendency to make the good guys a classified government group (Fringe, Warehouse 13, etc.).
This roughly coincided with the “Boomers” switching from Hippies to the establishment. I’m sure that is just a coincidence…
I think it’s CBS that has an entire evening of fart-sniffing FBI circle jerking.
But yeah, what a coincidence that network television is more or less unwatchable now.
24 was a great show and though the hero was CIA, he was going against the establishment.
I lost a lot of sleep when we rented those DVD’s.
“Just one more episode and then we’ll sleep”
I saw somewhere:
“If the President listened to Jack Bauer, 24 would be called 12”
Starting in the Seventies, really.
There was a paradigm shift during the Clinton admin, when the Boomers really took over the country, moving to a liberal, post-Vietnam foothold. They were the bosses now, and they couldn’t look bad on TV. Make the old guys (hint, Republicans) look bad.
Fearless heroes saving the world on a daily basis. – and they should be free to torture info out of the evil guys
Did you kids know that today at Noon there is a nationwide protest against the Trump administration and Project 2025? I hear protests are great places to pick up chicks!
Then there’s this delicious nugget:
SPLITTERS!
Greetings, fellow protester!
The irony of this is so rich I might catch gout.
We are not in normal times and our country is experiencing an actual coup.”
A democratically-elected president and his administration implementing what people voted for are a “coup”.
Jesus H. Christ these people are insane.
I hope Trump trolls on the supreme court soon. I think it was Michael Malice’s idea to propose officially capping the supreme court at 9. When that gets pushback, time to pack it*.
*add a new justice every week until they agree to 9
WE AREN’T GETTING OUR WAY!! THAT’S WRONG AND EVIL AND WE’RE GOING TO HOLD OUR BREATH!!!
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently called the unfolding situation a “five-alarm fire,” warning that Trump’s executive orders have already halted key federal programs, including infrastructure funding and scientific research grants. Advocates worry that these cuts could disproportionately harm marginalized communities.
Lol, the poor marginalized scientists.
Love the lie that most of the funding goes toward infrastructure.
Democrats redefined infrastructure years ago when they needed to ram through their agenda.
Totes. Pinky swear!
Same kind of grass they’re gonna play the Super Bowl on.
I’m tempted to throw on some khaki’s, hat, and shades and start going to lefty protests.
Ah, looks like Soros-funded astroturfing.
I love how they “demand transparency [and] accountability,” yet are protesting an administration that has done more for government transparency in fourteen days than anyone since FOIA became law.
Also that they are “protesting FOR […] gun violence.” Hilarious typo.
Oh, it gets better. “Free Speech” is one of their demands, yet later on they demand a crackdown on “hate speech, including […] Nazi propaganda or salutes.”
LOLOL…
@Stinky Wizzleteats from dedthred: Fie upon thee, sir! Karen Carpenter’s voice is superior to anyone else named in that thread.
You should hear me sing!
The death of DEI has made its way to Iowa. I want to celebrate, but I think I’ll just keep on keeping my head down.
I would not celebrate just yet I do not believe it is anywhere near dead.
In a coma for the next four years at least.
If they strangle the government funding, it’s dead.
If they enforce the civil rights/anti-discrimination laws, it’s dead.
Oops, clicked too soon.
But those are both downstream of the preference cascade we are currently witnessing. And it’s probably dead just from that.
According to certain sources, the EO — Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity — rescinds Johnson’s 1965 EO requiring affirmative action at FedGov.
I never thought I would live to see this happen.
Meh. The next Dem will just reinstate racism and sexism even harder. Pour encourager les autres.
That’s where the preference cascade comes in. It’s one thing to continue an unpopular policy, it’s a very different thing to (re)instate it.
The point, rhy, is to make it painful for them to keep it up.
Rescinding affirmative action at FedGov is a big fucking deal. 60 years we’ve had this shit. 60 years of dems trying to go harder and 60 years of complaints of reverse discrimination. All wiped out with a pen.
It will be very hard to rewrite that in 2029. Doesn’t mean the next Dem won’t write some bullshit EO to enforce DEI crap.
But affirmative action will be dead for four years. If the bodies don’t pile up in the streets, there won’t be much public pressure to put it back in place.
Sorry, Glibs, for missing my article last night. It’s been a flurry of activity since we got a favorable ruling from a judge in our Coast Guard case a week and change ago and I was up to my ass with some work. Not a complete win, but a win nonetheless and hopefully with Bondi getting in as AG we can get some movement to talk settlement.
As much as I’ve been enjoying watching the slash and burn of FedGov by Trump, and the wailing and gnashing of DoJ lawyer teeth, it’s led to a bit of a vacuum in middle management over at DoJ and hence, some paralysis. No one wants to do anything until the new team gets in and we’ve got no decision-makers left over there. We’re sort of “inter-regnum” at the moment, until the new team gets settled and grans the reins.
Thank you for the series.
Cheers, kinnath. I think there’s only one or two left.
it’s led to a bit of a vacuum in middle management over at DoJ and hence, some paralysis
It’s funny to see the different perspectives. The DoJ moved quickly on the anti-trust side after the transition. I was surprised how quickly. Granted, there were deadlines that needed to be met.
The quality of the complaint wasn’t great, though: https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1387541/dl
Thanks, and congratulations.
Definitely appreciate the series, Ozy. And keep fighting the good fight.
Speaking of military recruitment, does anybody have a sense of how many people who got booted for vaccine refusal are coming back?
and was the boot bespoke made of the finest leather?
Army actually only booted people for refusing to put in an exception to policy request to not take the shot.
And we were letting those folks back in already. The back-pay thing could be messy to figure out / execute.
I think Marines were the only ones that actually denied exceptions and then put them out.
WHO/Europe
@WHO_Europe
State-owned alcohol monopolies can reduce alcohol consumption and related harm. In contrast, privatization increases accessibility, consumption, and advertising—boosting alcohol-related risks.
Learn more in the new WHO/Europe report:
https://x.com/WHO_Europe/status/1886406825035141368
Counterpoint: Fuck the WHO. De-fund and dismantle the WHO.
Who cares? We left it.
HEY some of us live in Europe!!!
Again, who cares? We left it.
this lack of empathy is why you people are no taken seriously in the good think circles.
“Government monopolies can’t accurately forecast demand in the absence of competition and price signals, and that’s a good thing!”
Hush serf, we know what is best for you.
Dear @esrtweet
, in reference to your earlier defense of Scott Alexander, I’d like to offer this…. thing… up for your perusal.
It’s always the same with these characters, the ones who group themselves together with self-aggrandizing names like “rationalists”, or “objectivists”, or “superbrainsmartguys”, based on the premise that they are smarter than everyone else and think deeper thoughts, as measured in volume of ink.
Their basic assumption is the universe can be solved, or at least society improved, by the application of pure thought, and they are the ones to do it.
So they construct elaborate towering castles of deductive reasoning, stretching up into the clouds.
And on the pinnacle of the highest tower, they fly the flag of some sweeping alteration in some human social more than has existed for thousands of years and in every society that didn’t end up eating each other.
But climb down, all the way down, from that tower, descend every spiral staircase, and disused ladder, to where the basement meets the bedrock, and you will find…. spherical chicken math.
You know, the kind of simplifying assumption that completely distorts a real-world situation in order to easily fit it into a formal system such as predicate logic or math.
Up at the top of the tower, the implications of every chicken are calculated to nine significant figures. Down at the base, each chicken is assumed to be frictionless sphere in a zero-gravity vacuum.
To make the math easier.
Here, the rationalist spends quite some time parsing hypotheticals derived from the false premise that USAID is anything but a democrat slush fund for the purpose of patronage and outright robbery.
This is an example of why I am not a rationalist.
I am not even a post-rationalist, unless you could use the word “post” to describe the stake I wish to drive through the heart of the whole movement, so that it ceases rising from its grave to eat the brains of the living.
No, I am an anti-rationalist. I am utterly against rationalism in all its forms, and I reject the notion that thought, pure logic, deduction in formal systems, can be a significant source of relevant truth.
The source of all truth is empiricism, and the sole use of “rational” thought is to derive, from known truth, a set of hypotheses for immediate empirical testing.
https://x.com/Devon_Eriksen_/status/1886974059600056576
The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition
@theSPSFC
We apologize for the extended delay and radio silence. Devon Eriksen has been removed from the SPSFC effective immediately for violation of our code of conduct.
https://x.com/theSPSFC/status/1886838076225241328
I knew this guy was an evil wrongthinker.
Did anyone here actually read Theft of Fire?
Attraction cannot be negotiated. You cannot reason with it.
Women are attracted to men with visible capacity for violence.
This is not negotiable. For thousands upon thousands of generations, men without the capacity for violence were not a good bet, personally or genetically.
Evolution.
Women cannot sustain attraction to placid, docile, safe men, any more than you can get it up for fat dumpy women.
So, if we, collectively, create a society, create a civilization with a social ethos, where our definition of a good man does not include the capacity for violence, then women will mate with thugs and abusers.
It’s not their fault. Their ovaries demand hunters and warriors.
A good guy is nice to have, but violence is necessary. So a woman can only be attracted to good guys in a society where a guy can be both good and violent.
For thousands of years, we had this. We had a notion that we were a group, a tribe, a team… that we were something which could be called “we”.
And that our tribe had members, and friends, and enemies.
And that willingness to commit violence to our enemies was a virtue.
So a man could easily be both good and violent.
Then our enemies infected an entire generation of our youth with a mind virus.
It was designed by the KGB, an organization whose real main function was not espionage but propaganda, and it was intended to pave the way for communism.
https://x.com/Devon_Eriksen_/status/1886790819195113982
This is toxic masculinity on steroids. good thing he got banned.
It sounds awful stated so baldly, but it’s not wrong. It’s what the whole romance genre is built on.
HOWEVER.
That visible capacity for violence is also frightening. It could sideways really fast and you never really know if he’s going to turn it on you. To quote myself:
… “like he wanted to … do what Rearden did to Dagny.”
“You better be careful with that, Giz. Not many men could throw a woman at a bed, fuck her until she can’t walk, make her do exactly what he wants her to do and then not carry that outside the bedroom. Bigger than me, huh? I can pick you up and toss you over my shoulder.”
Then again, they’re not called “bodice rippers” for nothing. The bet is whether or not he’ll turn his violence on YOU.
Not that the romance genre hasn’t tried to get that one going. I’m fat and dumpy, and I don’t like it.
In any case, this, in the context of eugenics, was studied in some feminist depth in The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper. Like it or not, her preaching within a good story gave me “permission” to preach in a hopefully good story.
Oh, I was previously unaware of him. Thanks.
Ditto — picked up “Theft of Fire” to check it out, just so you know Pie. Probably be a month til I get a round to it, granted.
We were talking about Theft of Fire a few months ago, and it was floating around rightish circles for at least a year.
I have a copy, and have read a couple chapters, seems OK, just wasn’t holding my interest.
Gaza could be a giant experiment in green fifteen minute walkable cities.
Only if the beach is nice.
I gather it has (potentially) outstanding beaches.
Sure sure…all that offshore oil notwithstanding.
If there was a resource like that, wouldn’t the Jews have already pushed them out and been drilling?
Hell, if there was black gold there, Egypt would have never let it go.
They were still in the “push them out” phase.
https://unctad.org/news/unrealized-potential-palestinian-oil-and-gas-reserves
Current Affairs
@curaffairs
the problem w/ calling musk “unintelligent,” as aoc has done, is that it feeds right into his whole eugenic playbook and the idea that some people are inherently less talented, smart, or worthy of resources.
https://x.com/curaffairs/status/1886799048272716145
But some people ARE less talented and smart. That whole “worthy of resources” seems to be a Trojan horse for smuggling wealth redistribution into the convo.
I do not think Current Affairs would be dishonest in any way.
You don’t? You must not be familiar with the editor-in-chief.
The world’s richest sperg must be reeling from such a serious accusation coming from a community activist who used her economics degree to work as a waitress before getting elected to a job where competence and results are divorced from remuneration.
The lefty guy on my hockey team has for a while parroted the line about Musk being “not really smart”. Apparently he was just lucky, or someone gave him a bunch of money, or something. Anyone could create all those businesses I guess.
To be fair, it doesn’t take any particularly shining intellect to launch successful businesses, and hyper-intelligent people tend to hyper-specialize, making them relatively less suited to the task, whereas a lot of very successful generalists are midwits, comparatively, but better suited to the task. Risk tolerance is far and away the best predictor of entrepreneurial success, and attributes like resilience, continual improvement, adaptability, persuasion and charisma are necessary in varying degrees. That said, I don’t think you have to be a rocket engineer (heh) to see that if you gave an IQ test to Musk and Ocasio-Cortez, respectively, the difference would likely be well outside a standard deviation.
They say the same about Trump.
“His father gave him a loan!”
I’m sure that Trump was the only such recipient of such a loan, because obviously if there were more, we’d have more billionaires.
his whole eugenic playbook
Says the side butchering down syndrome babies in the womb.
The recognition of differences isn’t the core of eugenics. Killing people because they’re inconvenient is the core of eugenics.
Recognition of differences is actual diversity. It’s schizophrenic to prate about loving diversity while desperately denying differences.
Gay Furry Ex-Mormon puts together best writeup of the ATC hiring scandal:
https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/the-full-story-of-the-faas-hiring
I’m more irritated in myself for knowing the domain reference.
Today, in the lamentations of the bureaucrats
“They’ve done their homework,” Ann Lewis, former director of Technology Transformation Services (TTS) under the General Services Administration, told POLITICO. “Going where the majority of the volume of government transaction data is seems very strategic.”
On the surface, Musk’s goals track with generations of previous good-government reformers, who have long imagined revamping the cumbersome federal hiring and procurement processes that have built up over years and decades.
It is also, notionally, within DOGE’s mission: In his order establishing the department, officially with a mere renaming of the existing U.S. Digital Service, Trump directed it to “implement the President’s DOGE Agenda, by modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” Trump also issued a separate executive order calling on DOGE, OPM and the Office of Management and Budget to “integrate modern technology,” with DOGE providing advice on “specific best practices for the human resources function in each agency.”
In practice, however, many governance experts have watched the launch of DOGE with alarm bordering on horror.
You’re only supposed to TALK about efficiency, not turn the rock over and expose the seething mass of self-aggrandizing empire building mandarins.
“In his order establishing the department, officially with a mere renaming of the existing U.S. Digital Service”
I did not know that.
I continue to be astounded at the sophistication of Trump’s assault on the agencies.
Every EO and every actions seems to have been very well thought out in advance. They reek of inside help.
I have to wonder when all these EOs started getting drafted. It had to be before the election.
Indeed. Talk about hitting the ground running.
If the feds simply must have a law enforcement agency, I would encourage it to be focused pretty heavily on public corruption (broadly defined). Its main targets should be public officials at all levels. I mean, talk about a target-rich environment. And it would be popular with the citizenry, too. Who doesn’t like seeing some puffed-up petty authoritarian brought law?
BuSab? Or the Office of the Censor?
Still haven’t found the article of the constitution that authorizes a federal police force.
this is the sad result of American education you people don’t even learn to read between the lines.
[slow claps for Pie]
There are limited areas in which Federal law enforcement makes sense under the Constitution, Treasury agents investigating counterfeiting and smuggling, MPs enforcing law on military bases, some sort of game wardens on Federal reserve lands. Border control as well. But as far as general police? They don’t have the general police power so why do they need officers to enforce it?
“If the feds simply must have a law enforcement agency. . . .”
Thread fail I meant to reply to WTF
The Feds absolutely should have a law enforcement branch. But it should be focused on working with state government in order to solve crimes, as they take place in states.
As DOGE has advertised on Musk’s platform X, the office is using its access to federal data to mark for death diversity, equity and inclusion-related programs specifically, amounting to an ideological program far from the goals of productivity and efficiency.
*guffaws, slaps knee*
The Band “Up On Cripple Creek” on The Ed Sullivan Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKu0OTDvQ-w
why YouTube recommends this stuff to me I’ll never know
Because it’s awesome! 😃🎶
Because you keep complaining about people knowing obscure bands.
Cripple Creek is in CO, not LA. Fucking hippies.
There is also a Cripple Creek up on the Blue Ridge plateau – more in keeping with the tenor of the song (if not the geography).
“Hundreds of women were raped and then burnt alive after Rwandan-backed rebels sparked chaos by storming into the Congolese city of Goma, it has emerged.
The atrocity took place during a mass jail break from the Munzenze jail last week, as M23 fighters clashed with the Congolese army during deadly gun battles.
According to the UN, female inmates were butchered in their wing in the notoriously overcrowded prison after men forced their way in and went on a rampage.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14363011/hundreds-women-burned-alive-raped-rebels-jail.html
Yikes!
One of the horrible parts of my deep dark brain goes ok I kinda get the rape part, but no point in making it to painful or killing them. Drag em in the bushes get your dick wet and move along. This whole horrible terror as a war tactic things is something that I cannot comprehend
It’s not about getting off. It’s about the total submission of the enemy. Doing the most humiliating things to their most vulnerable people to seal the deal on the victory.
In the old days, the women would be enslaved into harems to be used and abused for the rest of their short, brutal lives. Play things to dump excess testosterone and rage into as the victorious men basked in the afterglow of battle.
IOW, civilization is a thin veneer. People are cruel and brutal when the checks on their power disappear.
Harems also had a significant element of oppression within the harem – women enforcing status within that.
Women also enforce status outside the harem.
I saw an interesting thought on X. It pointed to Netanyahu’s visible discomfort while Trump was announcing his Gaza plan.
What if this isn’t a gambit to get Hamas to change direction, but a gambit to get Israel to change direction? What if he’s putting pressure on Netanyahu to wrap things up quickly or else deal with being relegated to second fiddle in the ME as it relates to the US? I mean, Trump just threatened to create a US territory in the heart of the ME. The same way that Guam undercuts the influence of the Phillipines and Indonesia, US Gaza would cut Israel out of its power position in the ME.
It’s still insane, but for very different reasons than I first thought.
That’s a good take. I think it might also be to get the other ME countries involved. Do they really want a big US base right next to Israel? I bet within a week you see Israel and/or Arab countries come out against that plan, and offer some plan of their own.
I would prefer we not stick our dick in the Middle East shit mixer.
Me too. IMO, it’s naive to think that a geo-political reshuffling would have any impact on the existential belief the bulk of Muslims hold that the Jews should be pushed into the sea. It’s hard to come to a compromise between “we should be allowed to live here” and “you shouldn’t be allowed to live”.
https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1887133914168221987
Or a gambit to get the entire region to figure it the fuck out.
The coup continues
For the second week in a row, Republicans on Capitol Hill are facing questions about whether recent moves by the Trump administration are eroding Congress’ constitutional power of the purse. And for the second week in a row, most GOP lawmakers have responded to those questions by largely shrugging them off.
The issue has been front and center this week after Elon Musk, President Trump’s pick to lead a newly established entity called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), announced he was in the process of “shutting down” the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). His comments came after the Trump administration had already announced a 90-day pause on foreign aid.
Last week, the concerns were fueled by a memo from the Office of Management and Budget instructing federal agencies to pause all federal grants and other payments. The memo was later rescinded after a court challenge that resulted in a temporary restraining order — but the White House has said its broader effort to rein in spending will continue.
Unimpeded spending is Congress’ primary function. You can’t put the brakes on that.
whether recent moves by the Trump administration are eroding Congress’ constitutional power of the purse
Fast forward 2 years, and SCOTUS will be ruling on impoundment again.
Perhaps it will ponder the difference between an authorization to spend $X and a mandate to spend $X.
“Women are rushing to NYC’s ‘Cleavage Clinic’ for non-surgical, all-natural boob jobs — that cost half the price of implants
“I used the plasma in my body to make my boobs bigger,” the lifestyle influencer, based in the Financial District, told The Post of her “vampire” breast lift.”
https://nypost.com/2025/02/04/lifestyle/women-rushing-to-nycs-cleavage-clinic-for-non-surgical-natural-boob-jobs/
I figured both Pie and Q needed to know this.
Only lasts three years?
Boobs as a service?
Boob subscription.
After that it goes bust.
The reaction to Musk and the DOGE initiative has underscored the already sharp divide on Capitol Hill in the opening weeks of the new administration. While Democrats have sought to frame Musk’s work as an undemocratic power grab by an un-elected billionaire, Republicans have described it as a long overdue review of foreign aid.
“There’s a lot of the spending that goes on through USAID that does not appear to be consistent with U.S. policy, and so I’m all for a review to make sure that taxpayer dollars are going to programs and people that are consistent with our government’s policies,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters.
“It’s our turn at bat. Now go sit down.”
Also – all you people clamoring for it to be shut down – ya’ll shut up. We’re feedin’ the hogs now.
“The Women’s March announced it would be holding a “moment of silence” each week to mourn the Trump administration and the “suffering” it has allegedly caused to the world. The silence will be held every Wednesday at 12:53 pm, a time that was specifically selected because “that’s the moment January 6 rioters first crossed the barricades,” according to a news release.”
https://thepostmillennial.com/womens-march-to-hold-moment-of-silence-every-wednesday-on-moment-january-6th-rioters-first-crossed-the-barricades
The Women’s March breached the barricades and sat on the capitol steps protesting Trump’s inauguration in 2017.
Wait, Trump has made lefty women shut up for a minute? My God, the man can do anything!
Imagine making the obvious joke.
Getting women to shut up? This guy is unstoppable.
the “suffering” it has allegedly caused to the world
Some specific examples would be helpful.
Threating to stop the grift is a form of “suffering”, I guess.
Just look at social media. There are a lot of really upset people out there, they are suffering all because Trump exists.
Won’t somebody think of the grifters?
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., did acknowledge that an executive branch move to turn off a federal agency “runs afoul of the Constitution in the strictest sense.” But he argued that former President Joe Biden took similar steps.
“It’s not uncommon for presidents to flex a little bit on where they can spend and where they can stop spending,” Tillis said. “Nobody should bellyache about that.”
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., pointed specifically to the Biden administration’s efforts to forgive student loan debt as an example of an administration stepping on Congress’ spending authority. That push, Hawley said, “remains the high watermark for presidential lawlessness vis-à-vis Congress in my lifetime.”
“What Trump is doing in terms of his top to bottom review of government is not unusual,” Hawley said.
Yeah but it’s different when Trump does it.
what if all this fighting over the “spending power” leads to abandoning the last second omnibus “keep the government running” spending model and a return to clean(er) spending bills?
That would be something nobody expected.
Only some lunatics in Congress want that.
Next you’ll say they will publish the bills with enough time to exam before voting.
The bad thing about being in a nicey nice church where people are genuinely nice and at least attempting to be Christlike is that they can’t see people who are bad actors and they don’t know when to clear the moneychangers from the temple.
“Why are you facilitating the exploitation of a vulnerable elderly woman?”
YOU ARE A FREAKING GENIUS!!!!
Or an experienced attorney.
Since I come from a background of attorney friends and family I got wise to that schtick at an early age.
ME TO LEADERSHIP LADY FROM CHURCH: A couple of days before the movers come to get Mom’s stuff, I would like to personally pack her knickknacks and art and puzzles and a roasting pan and a jelly roll pan. Is that something you can arrange for me to be able to do? I’d like to not have S&M breathing down my neck, and I’m not interested in the rest of the dishes or silverware. I pretty much know what art is hers because I framed most of it myself.
I don’t want to be running around the movers on moving day.
LLFC: Will you make a list of books that are Phyllis’s?
ME: Not without seeing them, I can’t.
I know she has knickknacks and art scattered around the house that I can identify by sight, but not books that may be outside her bedroom.
Look, I know they think I’m going to rob them blind, but I have zero interest in their stuff. It should be enough I’m leaving them a fortune in real Pyrex.
LLFC: They are not concerned about you getting Phyllis’s things, but I talked to them this morning and Susie says you can not come over. Just the thought of you coming here is making her heart race.
Maybe I can put you on Google meet and I can go around the house and you can tell me things. Then I can put the fragile things in my car and bring them to you.
I have an appointment today from 10:00 to 1:30 so I won’t be able to respond.
ME: Before I go all scorched Earth, would it be possible for them to be gone while I am there?
Because here’s the scorched Earth version: That is not acceptable. That is my mother’s house too and I’m her DPOA. I have a right of entry and if I have to get a deputy out there with me, I will.
LLFC: Please…. You have banned them from your home. Their are a lot of hard feelings right now
ME: They have no right to my home. I have a right to MY MOTHER’S home. I’m fine if they are not there and I have someone they trust supervising me.
LLFC: I will see. I have to go to my class.
ME: Okay, thank you.
Back up, Mo.
There’s original all-caps PYREX, err, available?
Tell me more.
Having a third party witness is very, very advisable. Also, take pictures of what you are taking with you, and have the witness confirm that the pics cover everything. Don’t leave S&M any handles to complain later that you took a lot of valuable stuff and somehow owe them for it.
Not sure quite how much, and some of it’s chipped and worn down, but yes, all-caps Pyrex from the 60s and 70s.
Shit, now I’m thinking about all the other stuff she’s got she probably doesn’t care about but I do. Like…the stand mixer.
genuinely nice and at least attempting to be Christlike
I’m coming to the position that being “nice” in the face of abusive and manipulative behavior isn’t Biblical kindness, but instead cowardice.
“Meek” isn’t misunderstood, I don’t think (Sermon on the Mount), but it certainly has been weaponized by bad actors. So I’d like to give the benefit of the doubt to people who think meek is code for not standing up for yourself.
Unfortunately, Christ was abundantly clear that those who claim his name are not just obligated to endure abuse and manipulation, but to take no retaliatory action, nor defend themselves, and to forgive in perpetuity, allowing the same people to continue in the same bad behavior. Having spent half my life in the company of abusive and manipulative people, it’s not a pleasant pill to swallow, and one of the primary reasons I’ll probably not receive salvation if this whole judgment of souls thing turns out to be real.
“Meek” isn’t misunderstood, I don’t think (Sermon on the Mount)
Are the beatitudes focused on positive personality traits that should be emulated or on classes of people usually dumped on by the rest of society who are blessed by God for their suffering on earth?
I think it splits the middle. Mourning isn’t a positive character trait. Being poor in spirit isn’t a positive character trait. Purity of heart and hunger for righteousness are positive character traits to be emulated. I’m not sure if meekness falls in the former category or the latter.
Trashy, I’ve never really thought of it like that. I was taught, both Mormon and Southern Baptist, that meek is exactly what it is and that’s the end of the discussion. I’ve pretty much been taught like Pat has (or if I’ve heard a dissenting opinion, it didn’t register).
But I am who I am and meek is not it when I’m sufficiently motivated. In other words, I have a long fuse and a short temper. I just figured I’d take my judgment on Judgment Day and call it good.
Because suffering is glorified and being assertive for yourself isn’t humble.
They argument would be they are holding out for a better deal, but that’s usually not the Japanese way of doing things like this publicly.
https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/nissan-to-reject-hondas-merger-terms-putting-deal-in-peril-d29e808f?st=PUhsAY&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Nissan to Reject Honda Deal to Create World’s No. 3 Automaker
“We didn’t stitch up Ghosn just to be Honda bitches”
The OMB action last week involved trillions in federal spending for both international and domestic programs that Congress debated and authorized.
They claimed, without evidence.
“Authorized”. There’s that word again. It doesn’t mean “required”, you know.
GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany—For 20 years, Stefan Diete, a lab chemist at an oil refinery in this western Germany town, was a member of a far-left party with Communist roots. In this month’s election, he said he would vote for the far-right AfD.
“There are places here, it’s not Germany any more. It’s not even Europe. It’s the Middle East or Africa,” said the athletic, heavily tattooed 58-year old. “I haven’t read the AfD’s economic program and I don’t care. I’ll still vote for them, because of immigration.”
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/meet-the-blue-collar-voters-making-germanys-afd-mainstream-79350785?st=27ZnsC&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Far-left to far-right, in Germany. Huh. The more things change…
“Far-right” for current EU values is, well, mostly just not far-left.
FTFY
Trump 2.0: A Survival Guide for Democrats
https://www.thefp.com/p/trump-20-a-survival-guide-for-democrats
Great article.
The Ivanpah Solar Power Monstrosity Bites the Taxpayers. Again.
https://www.aei.org/domestic-policy/energy-policy/the-ivanpah-solar-power-monstrosity-bites-the-taxpayers-again/
Excellent. Thank you.
Money out of politics
Greenland’s parliament passed a bill Tuesday that bans political parties from receiving contributions “from foreign or anonymous contributors” after President Donald Trump expressed his wish that the United States take over the vast and mineral-rich Arctic island that belongs to Denmark.
The bill is aimed at protecting “Greenland’s political integrity” and will take effect immediately, according to a translation of a parliamentary document in Danish outlining the measure.
The bill “must be seen in light of the geopolitical interests in Greenland and the current situation where representatives of an allied great power have expressed interest in taking over and controlling Greenland,” the document said.
This outlandish explicit xenophobia will be tut-tutted vigorously in Brussels, right?
RIGHT?
You mean, that wasn’t already the law?