Monday Morning Links

by | Jan 23, 2023 | Daily Links | 352 comments

As good as it gets.

I don’t think Dak can ever get the Cowboys further than they got this year. They’ve reached their cieling with him at QB. That 49ers-Eagles game will be a fun one. On the AFC side, the Bengals thumped Buffalo and that game against the Chiefs will be a high-scoring affair. Joker is still rolling down under. The women’s draw is a mess. And across the pond, Arsenal put a stranglehold on the title race with a late winner against ManUre. And that’s it for sports.

“Attacks”? How is this an attack? They literally are trying to make the department redundant by implementing a different system. That’s not an attack.  Side note: I wish they would attack the IRS. It needs to go anyway.

“Girls will be boys and boys will be girls.”

Daughter? That doesn’t sound right. First off, that’s a man. Second off, I think there needs to be a RICO case against everybody involved in planning and carrying out these attacks. Peaceful means without violence. And whether its a “night of rage” or a scheduled violent demonstration in another city, the only way this ends is if they start prosecuting the people who plan and fund the violence.

I wonder how long this will stay in the news. It doesn’t really hit the “white supremacist” buttons, so it’ll be quietly shuffled to the back of the page on everybody’s papers. Also, read how the pistol was described. These fucking idiots are laughable.

No good deed goes unpunished. How long before this gets blamed on Abbott for sending people to the self-described sanctuary city.

Oh, come on people. There’s enough to mock him for. This isn’t one of them.

Be better parents. The only way people pull this off is because parents don’t know what their kids are doing.

A hotel room for Jawas?

That doesn’t even look fun. Let alone $5000 worth of fun.

I wonder what this is all about. A new factory or a shipping hub?

Here’s a classic. And a good way to get the blood flowing on a Monday morning. And in case that didn’t do it…this surely will. Enjoy them both.

And enjoy this chilly Monday morning, dear friends.

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

352 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    “Peaceful means without violence.”

    That’s just crazy talk.

    • WTF

      Sometimes peaceful protests “intensify”, you know.

      • Not Adahn

        They can get downright fiery in their peacefulness.

  2. UnCivilServant

    We need to start shipping these migrants off to South America. Anything to get them away from the shithole of New York.

    • Lackadaisical

      It’s the only way to ensure their safety.

    • The Last American Hero

      Brazil is creating a communist utopia, send them there.

  3. SDF-7

    I think there needs to be a RICO case against everybody involved in planning and carrying out these attacks.

    Not going to get any argument from me. If you read yesterday morning’s links you saw my thoughts towards the antifa troops on the ground, not really inclined to go much easier on those lining up the useful idiots to serve their purposes.

    • sloopyinca

      This has become an organized crime ring. Somebody is funding them and whoever it is has funded a criminal enterprise. If that’s not RICO, I don’t know what is.

      • SDF-7

        I lean towards insurrection and treason since they’re literally trying to tear down governments and society to put in place their commie wet dreams… but I’ll take criminal.

      • Brawndo

        Ehh, to me, treason implies you owe loyalty to something and actively work against that. Should only be for gov officials and military.

      • Brawndo

        Just realized you were probably referring to the people in gov positions providing cover, not prosecuting, etc, and not the brown shirts themselves.

      • Count Potato

        I’ve been saying that for years.

      • Social Justice is Neither

        So ACT BLUE protection money?

  4. Count Potato

    Who Can Tran is my 80’s dance band.

    • sloopyinca

      I wonder which way the whole “assault pistol” conversation will go. Are they gonna start using it more even though they have said all along “we’re not coming for your handguns” or will they be roundly mocked for calling literally everything an assault something or other?

      My guess is both will happen.

      • sloopyinca

        The “magazine-fed” descriptor is extra hilarious. But at least it’ll help us identify the imbeciles who don’t understand how firearms work and overreact to scary buzzwords.

      • UnCivilServant

        We need a belt-fed bolt-action pistol. I’m sure someone has made one somewhere.

      • Count Potato

        There are bolt-action handguns, but not belt fed.

      • SDF-7

        Now I’m picturing a 6-shooter sized minigun.

      • Rat on a train

        It is designed to take a 30-round magazine!

      • Not Adahn

        Cobray M11 9mm

        Is that a thing? I thought Cobrays were in ‘merican calibers.

      • Rat on a train

        Obscure Object of Desire: Cobray M11/9 Pistol

        Spoiler alert, this isn’t a good gun. It’s not a useful gun. Hell, it’s not even really that historic. The Cobray M11/9 could best be described as one of the most useless handguns in existence.

      • UnCivilServant

        Wasn’t the whole Cobray line infamous for being kinda garbage?

      • Not Adahn

        I remember the Forgotten Weapons episode on them. One of the points Ian made was .45 and .380 were subsonic.

    • SDF-7

      “You can Tran if you want to… you can leave this world behind…”

      Oops… too soon, I suppose.

      • Sean

        🙂

    • AlexinCT

      Those artists are all known to have tempers…

  5. SDF-7

    Yeah, those scary semi-automatic assault pistols aren’t covered by the 2nd Amendment according to the gun grabbers, so they’ve got to spin everything scary to work people up.

    My fantasy is a world where “shall not be infringed” is read as it is written… legal insanity.

    • WTF

      If they are “arms”, then they’re protected.

  6. AlexinCT

    Hey Glibronis. Day 7 off fighting a bad case of the flu and the annoying cough i have from also having that kung variant at the same time. Hope all is well with the world.

    • Sean

      😷🦠

    • SDF-7

      Well, not much worse than it was before you got sick is about the best I can say for it. Glad you’re still fighting it. Rest and heal, man.

      • AlexinCT

        The worst part is the inability to rest (sleep). My only Kung flu symptom is a cough. An annoying, persistent, non-stop cough, that has left me without a voice and on the verge of madness. So I am taking even longer to shrug off the regular flu symptoms which keep coming & going as the cough fatigues me. I need to just start drinking already.

      • UnCivilServant

        The cough lingered more than anything else for my one bout of it. My only other real symptom was three days of fever. I was fortunate to not have another bug at the same time.

        My only advice is anti-inflammatories, and a combination of high-menthol cough drops and soothing beverages to mitigate the symptoms enough for rest to sneak up on you.

      • AlexinCT

        I am tired of hot tea… I am at the point I think switching over to gin might be the thing to do.

      • UnCivilServant

        Believe me, I understand.

        I have not tested to see what alcohol does to a cough-sore throat lining though. If you try it, let us know what the reaction is.

      • juris imprudent

        That tea needs a spot of brandy and some honey.

      • hayeksplosives

        This right here.

        The honey teas really helped, and the brandy added to the evening versions was awesome.

        I never got a fever (tested Covid positive over Christmas) but the cough, sneezes, congestion, and body aches were no bueno.

        Only had to hit the nebulizer twice.

        Also, ZINC!!

    • Count Potato

      Get well soon.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I was just getting done with my bout with a cold I caught from my wife when I popped positive for the Rona.

      The Rona was two days of shittiness. The regular cold was way worse.

      Still would be nice to get healthy again.

      • AlexinCT

        Get well your holiness… I am trying to wait till the end of the day to use JI’s brandy & honey solution, but it is feeling like I am not gonna make it.

  7. SDF-7

    No good deed goes unpunished. How long before this gets blamed on Abbott for sending people to the self-described sanctuary city.

    … Because only El Paso should have to deal with this, right NYC?

    Alternate version:

    Because only Joe Biden and Mayorkas can ship people around (and it is always to those icky Red counties where they want to change the voting demographics… *cough* improve diversity… so they deserve it!)

      • sloopyinca

        No sitting governor should be joking about sports.

      • WTF

        It’s hilarious how so many of the Dem trolls don’t get it.

      • Ted S.

        Just because he’s not a standing governor….

      • Nephilium

        Just roll with it Ted.

      • sloopyinca

        This thread’s got legs.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Wheely? Are you sure?

  8. AlexinCT

    I don’t think Dank can ever get the Cowboys further than they got this year.

    You had the wrong name.

    • Michael Malaise

      I almost blame McCarthy more.

  9. rhywun

    It doesn’t really hit the “white supremacist” buttons, so it’ll be quietly shuffled to the back of the page on everybody’s papers.

    Nah, there’s still the gUn ViOlEnCe angle and they’re pushing it hard already.

    • SDF-7

      Because if there’s anything California is known for — it is lax gun laws.

      • Nephilium

        /remembers the California politician who was running guns while pushing for more gun control

      • sloopyinca

        Leland Yee. And he got a whopping five years, IIRC.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      But is it a hate crime…

      Devastated by the news out of Monterey Park. My heart breaks for the victims, their families & friends, and all those impacted by this gun violence during Lunar New Year celebrationsThese mass shootings can't continue, and Arizona stands united w/ the AAPI community against hate— Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) January 22, 2023

      • rhywun

        Oopsie.

        And bitter clingers are there to white knight for her. Of course.

      • R C Dean

        Sure. The Asian guy with the gun is a white supremacist. The Asian people he shot are oppressed POCs. See? Hate crime, easy peasy.

      • Count Potato

        We need more acronyms, like JIGGAR.

  10. SDF-7

    Be better parents. The only way people pull this off is because parents don’t know what their kids are doing.

    That’s one of the constant fights in our house (aggravated granted by home schooling… so his socializing is pretty much all online). Son doesn’t at all appreciate that there are good reasons we limit his social media presence (this kind of crap, leaving a trail to be dug up later if he draws the attention of the cancel crowd, etc.).

    • Tundra

      In hindsight I wish we would have been much more strict.

      Keep it up!

      • hayeksplosives

        It was very difficult for me as a stepmom since their mother bought them smartphones. Prior to the smartphones, they had iPods, and I had their WiFi turn off at 10pm and had parental controls in place.

        But “cool mom” bought the smart phones and they were able to retreat unmonitored into their rooms at age 14 & 16.

        The 14 yo got into drugs and dropped out of high school. The 16 yo made it, but dropped out of college (which he was acing) after his 1st semester because he had crippling anxiety.

        They are both much better now, but sheesh. I know the online bullshit fucked them up.

      • Tundra

        Crippling anxiety seems to be the default state for most of these kids. It’s heartbreaking.

      • Mojeaux

        We had all the net nannies with bells and whistles, and still couldn’t keep them off social media. Using other kids’ phones at school is always an option.

  11. SDF-7

    That doesn’t even look fun. Let alone $5000 worth of fun.

    At this point, the phrase “Disney Star Wars” has become a synonym for “suckitude” for me, so no surprise there…

    • Not Adahn

      Fire everyone involved with Disney Star Wars, except the team that made Andor. Give that team all the money.

      • SDF-7

        I do hear good things about that — and Rogue One was the only high point of the Disney era for me, so assuming some of the people worked on both I can believe it.

        But no way I’m paying for Disney+ to find out. Assholes should release it for purchase on other platforms after a couple of years (and Season 3 of Orville while they’re at it).

      • Not Adahn

        Yeah, I was lucky enough to have a friend visit and activate her Disney+ account. She wanted me to watch Hamilton with her. Or rather, she wanted to watch the show and sing along CONSTANTLY while poking me and asking “isn’t that great?”

      • SDF-7

        Unless she’s sleeping with him, no woman should inflict Hamilton on a man. And if she is, she owes him special recompense.

      • Not Adahn

        She’s great in bed, but not acceptable as a life partner.

      • R.J.

        Rogue One was great. So good that I felt it may have been written before Disney bought it.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        For certain definitions of “friend”

      • Nephilium

        The girlfriend and I grabbed the Hulu/Disney/ESPN bundle a while back. We both like the MCU stuff, and already had Hulu. She’s watched the newer Star Wars stuff, while I’ve avoided it all after the Last Jedi.

        The lack of physical releases has started to become a big deal again, especially after HBO pulled several original shows from their own platform.

      • Not Adahn

        Andor is so good, it’s spoiled my enjoyment of other series.

      • Unreconstructed

        Beat me to that – I really enjoyed Rogue One.

    • Michael Malaise

      I liked Solo.

      * Initiate flaming *

    • AlexinCT

      I read that first line as talking about scary gunts at first and couldn’t make the connection with the ask from the people that don’t like that stuff.

      • Tres Cool

        “Her GUNT, her gunt, her gunt….its on my head…”

  12. Count Potato

    “Dowell is non-binary. ”

    I have no idea where they are getting daugter.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      It’s all about selecting the right prison, if it were to ever come to that.

    • sloopyinca

      It’s a shrewd move. One that could see the boy end up in a female jail instead of a male one. That’s my guess why they are saying daughter.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        It’s a real sign of transphobia that there are no non-binary jails.

      • Not Adahn

        Men’s prison, women’s prison and oubliette?

    • SDF-7

      The tweet from the idiot mother, most likely.

  13. Tres Cool

    whaddup doh’
    whats goody

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Have some nonsensical yammering

    The Food and Drug Administration is considering a major shift in the nation’s COVID-19 vaccine strategy, NPR has learned.

    The goal is to simplify vaccination against COVID and perhaps adopt an approach similar that used for the flu vaccine, with annual updates to match whatever strain of the virus is circulating. This is according to a federal official who spoke under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

    ——-

    Critics of the FDA’s proposed new strategy argue it would be better to invest in developing better vaccines that might be more appealing to people, and in campaigns to get more people vaccinated. Better vaccines could include those that could keep people from catching the virus in the first place not just from getting seriously ill — such as a nasal spray vaccine. Or perhaps vaccines that provide longer protection or are administered in pill form, to make them more acceptable to the needle-averse.

    If we just had a snappy jingle, or a fruit flavored gummy version…

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Perhaps now that the emergency is over, long term trials could be conducted.

      Ah forget it, that’s crazy talk.

    • SDF-7

      “Critics of the FDA’s proposed new strategy” have chosen to forget how respiratory viruses work (they always evolve towards more virulent but less deadly/debilitating because that spreads them more) and might want to consider how we have no mandatory vaccinations against the Spanish Flu of 1918 in particular or other past deadly wave variants.

      Shorter: Morons.

      • invisible finger

        One of my friends used to get the flu shot every year. Then he got married – his wife would get the flu two days after his shot three years straight. Then he stopped getting the shot and neither has had the flu since (30 years running).

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        The flu vaccine is the tiger-repelling rock of the medical world.

      • juris imprudent

        Returning patent medicine to its roots!

      • R C Dean

        More infectious, less virulent, I think you meant.

      • SDF-7

        Yup, mea maxima culpa — I had virulent and infectious as synonyms in my head for some stupid reason. Thanks for the correction.

    • rhywun

      Better vaccines could include those that could keep people from catching the virus in the first place

      Just click your heels and make it happen.

      • Michael Malaise

        “Better vaccines could include those that could keep people from catching the virus in the first place”

        Like, a … uh … vaccine?

    • invisible finger

      The FDA’s job isn’t to have a treatment strategy – it’s to approve effectiveness and safety. But there’s money in that there scope creep.

  15. SDF-7

    ‘Orning ‘ordles — I continue to blow chunks this week. Yay.

    Daily Duotrigordle #327
    Guesses: X/37
    Time: 05:45.73
    https://duotrigordle.com/

    Daily Quordle 364
    7️⃣8️⃣
    4️⃣3️⃣
    quordle.com

    Didn’t realize Mirriam-Webster had officially bought Quordle. Yay… I’m sure they’ll screw it up soon somehow.

    • Sean

      Daily Quordle 364
      6️⃣3️⃣
      7️⃣8️⃣
      quordle.com

    • Cowboy

      Daily Quordle 364
      8️⃣3️⃣
      6️⃣5️⃣
      quordle.com

    • Tundra

      Daily Quordle 364
      6️⃣4️⃣
      8️⃣7️⃣

    • Penguin

      Daily Quordle 364
      9️⃣4️⃣
      7️⃣6️⃣
      quordle.com

      Just missed chumping.

  16. PieInTheSky

    Utreon: A Refuge for GunTubers Sick of YouTube’s Harassment

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxuqtuDJQ6Q

    I have thought of this but I find it difficult to give up youtube I got all my subscriptions there

    • UnCivilServant

      subscriptions

      Thar’s yer problem.

      I just bookmark content I expect to come back to. Don’t even have to log in to these sites, and don’t have to rely in their system informing me.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Another concern some researchers have is that the FDA continues to rely on antibody levels to test vaccine efficacy.

    “I think we need to raise the bar and require more evidence of clinical efficacy,” says Dr. Eric Rubin, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard who is also a member of the advisory committee. For instance, Rubin says the FDA should require proof the updated vaccines are actually reducing the risk of getting infected, getting sick, hospitalized and dying.

    Oh, please. Who do you think you’re dealing with?

  18. Not Adahn

    Brothers Jordy Torres-Cabezas, 33, and Dilan Pachecho-Cabezas, 16, were tossing bottles with another man, Alejandro Pollo, 19, at the Stewart Hotel at West 31st Street and Seventh Avenue around 12:55 a.m. Saturday, police said.

    Of course Alejandro had to stab them. He couldn’t let people get the impression he was chicken.

    • juris imprudent

      These are the women-and-children refugees we’re taking in huh?

    • Not Adahn

      I am so disappointed in all of you.

      • SDF-7

        Look, some of us have to get ready for work at some point. 😉 Can’t comment on your loco joke about Pollo.

      • UnCivilServant

        It was a fowl pun. We would be in our right to ignore it.

      • Gender Traitor

        Now he’s just egging us on.

      • juris imprudent

        More like he’s henpecking us.

      • sloopyinca

        You made a good joke. Congratulations. No need to strut around like the cock of the walk.

  19. Q Continuum

    “Top Republicans repeating the misleading claim that the money will be used to hire 87,000 auditors”

    How is that “misleading”? It’s the fucking truth. Propagandist motherfuckers.

    • Rat on a train

      Misleading because 10% will go to the Big Guy?

    • AlexinCT

      It’s misleading because they don’t want you to know that is what they are doing.

  20. juris imprudent

    because parents don’t know what their kids are doing

    What is 80% of modern American parents?

  21. Q Continuum

    Research shows that looking at tits is 100% less likely than the Vaxx to cause Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.

    https://archive.ph/Zgqjt

    Mammary Monday.

    • Lackadaisical

      This is good marketing.

  22. PieInTheSky

    Joseph Stiglitz: tax high earners at 70% to tackle widening inequality

    Nobel prize-winning economist calls for new top rate of income tax and 2-3% wealth tax on fortunes
    Superyachts moored at Hercules Port in Monaco.

    https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/jan/22/joseph-stiglitz-economist-income-tax-high-earners-70-per-cent-inequality

    “People at the top might work a little bit less if you tax them more. But on the other hand, our society gains in having a more egalitarian, cohesive society,” the former World Bank chief economist, 79, told Oxfam’s Equals podcast. – not do immigrant who do not integrate and cohesiveness

    He described proposals by the US senator Elizabeth Warren for a 2% tax on people with assets of more than $50m and 3% on those with more than $1bn as “very reasonable” and said they “would really go a long way to raising revenues that could alleviate some of our country’s problems”. – yes the problem with modern governments is they dont spend enough moeny

    • rhywun

      Fuck off, commies.

      • AlexinCT

        This guy is just pissed other people he deems less than him have more money than him….

        People like this are just fucking evil.

    • Q Continuum

      “our society gains in having a more egalitarian, cohesive society”

      Based on what evidence? On the contrary, centuries of historic experience confirms that wealth redistribution just makes everyone poorer, including the supposed benefactors of your bullshit.

      Unless of course that’s your goal…

    • WTF

      It really irritates me that nobody ever addresses the fact that the federal government has no constitutional authority to tax wealth. The 16th amendment only allows taxation of income.

      • AlexinCT

        You rob banks, because that’s where the money is…

      • Rat on a train

        Don’t get hung up on technicalities. It’s the ends that matter.

    • juris imprudent

      I have a simple question – we’ve done this before, did it work then? If it didn’t, then what is the basis for trying again?

      • UnCivilServant

        The wrong people were getting the money that was being stolen that time. This time the money will go to the right people!

      • juris imprudent

        I’d actually laugh and give them a tiny bit of respect for being honest.

    • Brawndo

      If by “more egalitarian society” he means “more money to spend bombing the poors in the Middle East” then yeah, he’s right.

      • AlexinCT

        These days a lot of the “bombing”, well indirectly, is in Eastern Europe in some country where powerful interests had been laundering piles of cash since the Obama admin helped put a government friendly to his crime syndicate’s money laundering efforts in place…

  23. Rat on a train

    Ugh, corporate sent out a Monterey Park email. At what point will corporate start mandating coping sessions after events?

    • AlexinCT

      Was there any mention of discounted dance classes being offered to you all?

    • Certified Public Asshat

      How many DIE trainings do you get in a year? Double it.

    • Michael Malaise

      I cannot believe they did that for white-on-white violence.

  24. Unreconstructed

    Tesla buys up Houston-area property for unknown mystery project

    Brookshire is “Houston area”? I guess, but damn, that’s stretching it!

    • The Last American Hero

      It’s for transport and distribution – to Mars.

      • hayeksplosives

        Oooooooh! That would be cool.

        Elon has a few different companies (Tesla, SpaceX, Boring, Neuralink , and some other one I think) but Tesla is the widest umbrella, including the cars, AI, robots, energy (batteries) and such. Even Nevada has a “gigafactory”; the batteries are made here.

        The Houston plant could be simply a distribution center or it could become a center of manufacturing for any one of those subsystems. Those giant battery packs would be my guess for what Houston will be up to. Lots of oil companies are investing heavily into non-fossil fuel alternatives, partly for “greenwashing” and partly to hedge in case fossil fuels do get displaced by some revolutionary tech like a fusion breakthrough.

      • hayeksplosives

        Tesla’s shareholders meeting Jan 25 will be fun…

        The stock price is already creeping up from the Twitter backlash that brought it crashing down and turned the lefties against Elon as a person.

        And yes, I did indeed scoop some more shares at $115.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Behold the future


    A nationwide power outage in Pakistan left nearly 220 million people without electricity on Monday, threatening to cause havoc in the South Asian nation already grappling with fuel shortages in the winter months.

    The country’s Ministry of Energy said in a statement the country’s National Grid went down at 7.34 a.m local time, “causing a widespread breakdown in the power system,” according to initial reports.

    “System maintenance work is progressing rapidly,” the statement added.

    A “limited number of grids” in the capital Islamabad and the city of Peshawar have had power restored, the ministry said.

    It is unclear how long the outage will last and efforts are underway to restore power to various parts of the country.

    In the city of Quetta, in Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province, the outage has affected all aspects of daily life, including hospitals, markets and households.

    We’ll get there.

    • AlexinCT

      That’s what Greta wants..

    • AlexinCT

      That guy there seems to be team blue’s target demographic.

      • juris imprudent

        Here kid, have some black clothes and a mask.

  26. Certified Public Asshat

    The anti-vaxxers won. I lost. Episode 1995 EXCERPT – AntiVaxxers Win https://t.co/5LDNeZ4sbv via @YouTube— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) January 21, 2023

    I don’t really understand what Scott Adams is trying to accomplish here. I suppose he is genuinely trying to take the L but it is still hard for him to admit it.

    • Drake

      Beat me to it!

      Adams said a lot of dumb things and took a lot of criticism in the topic.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        He’s been really combative after saying he was wrong, so I am inclined to say he is doing the right thing. Obviously we all hate it when we are wrong, especially about something this big.

      • AlexinCT

        I think the issue I hear from Adams is that he never was a proponent of the shot, like many of the insane people that think anyone that didn’t immediately recoil out of irrational reasons at the idea of a shot like they did claim. He took the first 2 shots, after waiting as long as he could, for a specific reason: to be able to travel internationally with his then young wife. But the gang that thinks their decision to not take any shots was all logic wants his hide for not being one of them.

        The truth is that nobody had enough information to make informed decisions about those shots. Today, yes, we have enough real concerns that we would say, yeah pass. But back then, anyone that claim they had enough information for an informed decision is deluding themselves. It didn’t exist. I took the 2 first shots for the same reason as Scott (travel and my kid had to take it to keep his job so I took it too).

        I get that a lot of people were horribly impacted by the downright criminality of the people that peddled the shots and punished anyone that didn’t go along with that mandate, but these people are doing themselves a disservice turning their ire on people that simply tried to make sense of the jumble of bad information that was available at the time. Especially if these people now are actually on the same side they are.

        If you demand a purity test for your allies you will soon have none.

      • R C Dean

        “The truth is that nobody had enough information to make informed decisions about those shots.”

        I think the highly experimental and untested nature of the shots when released to, err, on the public counts as sufficient information to count your refusal as informed. The relevant information is “highly experimental and untested”.

      • PutridMeat

        That’s a big one – very new mechanism of operation, one that had produced very bad impacts in past testing. Absolutely no way that safety could be claimed after a 6 month trial that was un-blinded. Minimal effectiveness in absolute terms.

        Further, the spike protein is cytotoxic. Known from the beginning (See scripps study on that). A treatment that hijacks your cells to produce a cytotoxic protein and train your immune system on a very narrow aspect of the pathogen. Known that the whole point of the lipid nanoparticle delivery mechanism had the potential to pass the blood brain barrier and impact essentially all cells and hence deliver the mRNA to places it never should be expressed – that’s why we got all the assurances that the payload would stay in the arm muscle. Even though some digging on previous testing of the mechanisms would show that’s not the case.

        More briefly – I strongly disagree that ‘nobody had enough information to make an informed decision(s)’. There was plenty of information and evidence; suppressed and ridiculed at every turn, but the information was there. People made decisions based on their circumstances and I understand that – maybe if the full information/data wasn’t intentionally suppressed, people would have made different choices. But let’s not ret-con and claim ‘nobody had enough information’

      • PutridMeat

        Cognitive dissonance is a thing.

        I agree.

        You might also want to stop ‘riding around on a white horse’ claiming that your decision was fact based and logical, given the information you had. I will not pretend to know your mental and emotional state, so please stop trying to impute mine.

        Given my opositional-defiant disorder, or whatever you want to call it, my decision became *more* emotional as time went on – “FUCK YOU AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON!!”. But the basis of arriving at a refusal was a mixture and there was plenty of available information and data to support a refusal. You’ve been given that information and, at least for me, the *logical* reasons for refusing. I was scared shit-less about the consequences of refusal – I was going to lose my job and was at the point of preparing all the materials for transfer of responsibilities for the systems and projects I was responsible for. I know everyone else faced those decisions too and arrived at a different place. To each his own, but don’t ret-con it as your decision was the logically correct one at the time and was not at all emotionally based whereas those who came to the ‘right’ decision (from my perspective – I’m still open to the possibility that I was wrong; less and less so as time goes on, but still) somehow got there emotionally and had no rational basis to make their decision.

      • AlexinCT

        You might also want to stop ‘riding around on a white horse’ claiming that your decision was fact based and logical, given the information you had. I will not pretend to know your mental and emotional state, so please stop trying to impute mine.

        Your problem is that you think I am telling you I was better informed in my decision making than you were when what I am telling you is that neither of us was. And I didn’t impute your mental state, what I pointed out to you is that we humans are awesome at fooling ourselves into thinking we are logical.

        I am not on any white horse either. I am only interested in making sure we hold accountable the people that made decisions backed by the full force of government and censorship, based on lies, once it was obvious they were doing this shit for some other reason. That shit ruined lives.

        I could care less who was right or wrong otherwise.

      • PutridMeat

        telling you is that neither of us was

        I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. My point is the information was there. We both had information to inform the decision. Not full information. Not definitive information. Room to arrive at completely different risk-benefit analysis especially when compounded with threats against our lively hood that we had very little recourse against. Perhaps I’m fooling myself into thinking I was logical, perhaps not. In an honest evaluation, I would say there was plenty of information to indicate that all was not as it seemed and there were significant risks to the treatment especially when weighed against the real world risks. Would that have been sufficient for me to arrive at me decision absent my ’emotional’ bias towards defiance? I don’t know. My main point is that your are making a blanket assertion that people who refused did so emotionally. That is simply not true. Partially emotionally, definitely as that’s one of the ways we make decisions, it has evolutionary advantage in the face of incomplete information. But is was also informed rationally.

      • AlexinCT

        Like I said: you had zero information to go on. What if the experimental tech had actually turned out to be effective?

        I for one knew vaccines for viruses was things of dreams. I however had very little solid information on mNRA effectiveness, and had to go by what people that understood it told me. And when this was just coming out they were saying they had tested it (which we now know was a lie) and it worked. You may not remember that, but I do. It was part of my decision to take the risk .

        So many people in this group that avoided the shot have convinced themselves their decision was not purely based on their own emotional state, but was totes logical. They have backed the logic and information that now exists into something seeming logic and believe that somehow they were amongst the few that, without information to the contrary, still saw things clearly. That’s people deluding themselves.

        I get demanding the people that forced compliance being held accountable for the evil they did. Especially since evidence quickly started mounting there were issues, but these people then just doubled down. We will have a far better chance to get this accountability if we stop acting as if the problem was that it was evident from the start that this thing was not going to work, and focus on the fact that they told us it worked, then hid the truth when that turned out to be a lie. The accountability needs to come for those that despite evidence mounting that their policies were wrong doubled down. Not people that made a different choice than you did.

      • PutridMeat

        “That’s people deluding themselves.” – that’s where we disagree. There was plenty of information to raise warning flags; definitive proof? No. Indications, especially given historical behavior of the same bodies with respect to both previous vaccines, metabolic and nutritional information? Yes. My decision was NOT based my own emotional state. Granted my default ’emotional’ state is not to trust ‘them’ – that’s based on historical patterns of behavior. So if you want to categorize my initial response of ‘hmmm, something fishy here…’ as emotional, have at it. But that prompted seeking out what information I could and finding plenty that indicated it was a bad idea. Too many games were being played and too much contrary information was being actively and viciously suppressed.

        I have no desire to enforce accountability on people that made a different choice than me, especially if that choice was made under duress. On the other hand people that made a different choice and proceeded to threaten and ridicule me for my decision, yes accountability. More-so to the people and institutions that pushed it, but also individuals who fell into line and went along with the coercion and ridicule.

        And I’ll apologize in advance if not the case, but you seem to be implying that your decision was based on risk-benefit and was logical. I suspect your decision was based on emotion just as much as you imply that those of us who refused based our decision on emotion. The cost of refusing was too high for you – no problem, we all have to make tradeoffs. But don’t imply that all the evidence was in favor of your ‘logical evaluation of risk benefit’ was not emotional, but ours was.

      • R C Dean

        “Like I said: you had zero information to go on.”

        Like I said – the fact that it was highly experimental and untested is information in and of itself.

        And was sufficient to mean that declining the shot was not done in an information vacuum, but could rationally be done based solely on that information.

        “ I for one knew vaccines for viruses was things of dreams.”

        Also, information that can rationally support a decision not to take a purported vaccine for a virus.

        “And when this was just coming out they were saying they had tested it (which we now know was a lie)”

        That was known at the time they released it.

        “and it worked”

        This claim contradicts both the fact that it was almost completely untested, and what you already knew – that vaccines for viruses were a pipe dream.

        I agree that many people declined the vax for emotional reasons, but that doesn’t mean everyone who declined it did so for emotional reasons. I would have declined it based on experimental/untested/highly unlikely to be very effective because virus (all of which I knew at the time), but instead took it because the alternative was losing my job.

      • AlexinCT

        Like I said – the fact that it was highly experimental and untested is information in and of itself.

        Salk’s Polio vaccine was highly experimental and unknown entity until it wasn’t…

        Cognitive dissonance is a thing.

        If you really want to prevent things like this from ever happening again you might want to be more concerned with holding the people that lied accountable rather than ridding around on a white horse saying you were smarter than other people because you saw through this all immediately. Fanaticism is bad from either spectrum.

      • Lackadaisical

        ‘The accountability needs to come for those that despite evidence mounting that their policies were wrong doubled down. Not people that made a different choice than you did.’

        I don’t think anyone here is saying it’s your fault that all the bullshit went down as it did. You guys are the ones who got most fucked over (maybe? Still not clear how bad they are for you), so you have my sympathy. It isn’t easy to change your whole life plan without clear info.

        I definitely think it was clear at the time the jabs weren’t well tested and safety and efficacy was questionable from the start, but only questionable, not unequivocally bad.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        So many people in this group that avoided the shot have convinced themselves their decision was not purely based on their own emotional state, but was totes logical. They have backed the logic and information that now exists into something seeming logic and believe that somehow they were amongst the few that, without information to the contrary, still saw things clearly. That’s people deluding themselves.

        I have no clue what you’re talking about. Several of us have presented real-time analysis of data as it was released. I provided a pretty thorough breakdown of the Pfizer Phase 3 trial results in July 2021. There was no evidence at any point that the vaccine would be effective in the mainstream public. There was evidence at several time points that the Covid vaccine had risks of varying severity.

        We saw things very clearly then, with zero emotion involved. My stance has removed unchanged from Day 1 and entirely based on the released data.

      • R C Dean

        Have I ever said those responsible shouldn’t be held accountable? Have I ever said those who eagerly took it should be blamed for falling victim to a highly organized and resourced propaganda campaign? Have I ever said that nobody who refused it was acting rationally? I am merely saying that the decision not to want it or take it early on could be a rational one.

      • PutridMeat

        mis-threading and verbosity aside, this is what I’m saying! And in addition “decision not to want it or take it early on could be a rational one”, the decision to take it might very well have been irrational and emotionally based as well.

      • invisible finger

        One would think an experienced software engineer would understand the concept of “beta testing”. But Big Tech has been the biggest partner in this whole mess.

      • juris imprudent

        a purity test

        But, but we have to make sure you’re of the body!

      • Lackadaisical

        Pure blood, even. /s

      • juris imprudent

        I was thinking that too, but for once chose to not fan a certain flame.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        He was pro-vaccine passports, wasn’t he?

      • AlexinCT

        No. That’s what the usual derp crowd claims has them angry at him, but that is not what he did.

        Adams was someone I started listening to precisely because he kept telling people he chose what was best for him and people should do the same based on their criteria. What angered the derp crowd was that he also often debunked all sorts of silly stuff passed of as legit studies or confirmed/verified information that was not legit nor credible, including theirs, which instead of helping them to be more discriminatory and not just accepting any evidence that made their case without scrutiny, pissed them off.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        A vaccine passport allows us to reopen the economy faster and at lower risk. I don't trust anyone, much less a government, and even I see no evidence to suspect nefarious reasons in this case. https://t.co/c2V6Hrgn6H— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) March 29, 2021

      • AlexinCT

        You read that as him saying he is pro a passport? Cause to me it was the exact opposite. The government tells us we should do the passport, he says he doesn’t trust them. That sounds like he is saying no we don’t.

      • SDF-7

        I definitely read that as him saying a passport is a good thing.

        Effectively ” It allows us to reopen the economy, and even I — who am very distrustful of government, can’t see how they’d be nefarious in this case!”

        So he dramatically underestimates either their nefariousness or his perception of the evidence, but I can’t read it any other way than “passport == reopen economy == good”, sorry.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Dude: I see no evidence to suspect nefarious reasons in this case

      • PutridMeat

        I read it as – “I’m very distrustful of the government and yet even I see no nefarious reasons for passports, so you can trust me if even anti-government me sees this as a good, sensible ideal. Get the passport!”

        Shrug. Could be either way, but given the first clause, I’m comfortable reading as him advocating for vaccine passports.

      • AlexinCT

        I definitely read that as him saying a passport is a good thing.

        As a regular listener that quite often has a beef w/ the guy, I can tell you he NEVER was pro a Kung Flu passport. That first line in that quote was what our government was telling us. Not him. He immediately said such a “passport” would be abused.

        I repeatedly saw people accuse him of things he didn’t say simply because he kept goring their golden calves by pointing out that a study or claim that was taken on by either side as proof of their side being the one in the right was erroneous or faulty. Instead of learning to be more discerning and to not trust claims out of hand just because it validated your beliefs, a lot of people – on both sides – decided to accuse and attack the guy personally.

        People being a mob.

      • PutridMeat

        he NEVER was pro a Kung Flu passport.

        Having never listened to the guy – he raises my emotional hackles 🙂 – I’ll defer to you. But that tweet 100 percent reads as support (here’s positive value pitched by supporters; I don’t normally trust them; but “even I” don’t see a reason not to here). Maybe that points to the difficulty of conveying information a few hundred characters at a time.

      • AlexinCT

        Twitter sucks.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Twitter sucks, however this is not an example. Adams is very clear in his tweet, I really don’t understand how you see it any other way.

        In his defense (meh), this is March 2021, so he was thinking the vaccines were great and stopped transmission.

      • AlexinCT

        He always was against any sort of vaccine tracking system. People keep hanging on this one misinterpreted tweet for a reason. If he was pro passport other evidence would exist (all his podcasts of that period are available on rumble), but nobody has produced anything.

        I give the guy grief for defending that cunte Bill Gates, but this crusade against him is contrived and based on a stance he never had. That’s not cool. There are plenty of real reasons to call the guy out. This is not one of them.

      • PutridMeat

        Hear

        Now he doesn’t come out and say “we must have vaccine passports” (or a quick perusal doesn’t make it obvious), but for someone who was opposed, he sure seems to have spend considerable energy ‘debunking’ critics of them. Maybe he’s objecting to the arguments people were using against them as perhaps weakening the case by association with ‘lunacy’ and making them more likely to be implemented and he’s against that. But it sure doesn’t seem that way.

      • PutridMeat

        From 27:00 – ~47:00 – people are more likely to be wrong about passports because they are afraid of them than those in favor of them because they are not afraid of them and fear disrupts your rationality. “So if we have a different opinion, and I’m not afraid, I’m more likely to be right.” Implied in that statement is support for vaccine passports. Never mind the fact that the drive for vaccine passports could very easily be ascribed to irrational fear of Covid-19 – therefore, your reasoning is just as suspect by your own criteria. His basic argument seems to be it’s impractical – basically government incompetence means it won’t be a problem and that transparency in the implementation would prevent if from going to far. I can’t find any place where he comes out and says what his position is. He just says all the objections are fear based and it wouldn’t really be a problem. And if “we have a difference of opinion, and your position is fear based”, shouldn’t you evaluate that of whether I’m right. He seems to me to be unwilling to come out and say, yes a vaccine passport is a good idea, but he implies that all over the place and he wouldn’t object to it if it was rolled out.

    • Pine_Tree

      You nail why it’s hard for me to click on a Scott Adams talkie link.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    “Top Republicans repeating the misleading claim that the money will be used to hire 87,000 auditors”

    Those aren’t auditors, they’re obligation assessment facilitators. Totally different.

    • Drake

      Like Stallone when he played was an obligation assessment facilitator in the first Rocky.

    • UnCivilServant

      “Our Brand is obnoxiously loud gas engines with wheels. How can we throw that down the shitter?”

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Wut?

      The only thing that could rationally explain that decision is that they’re already broke and they need funding. And the only funding they could get had ESG requirements.

      Even so, the idiots that are buying ESG funds are going to lose their asses over the long term if those are the decisions they encourage.

      • Tres Cool

        Sell short.

    • Sensei

      And last year they spun out their electric division.

      Typical big company behavior.

      • UnCivilServant

        Introducing the brand new 2024 Harley Davidson Mobility Scooter!

      • DrOtto

        The been gold course I caddied at as a kid used the 3 wheeled gassers.

      • DrOtto

        Golf, not gold

    • Michael Malaise

      Hopefully they’ll at least make them leak battery fluid.

      • juris imprudent

        Wasn’t that more a BSA thing?

      • Michael Malaise

        Harleys were notorious for leaking oil.

    • Michael Malaise

      “At some point in time, Harley Davidson will be all-electric. But that’s a long-term transition that needs to happen. It’s not something you do overnight.”

      I think this is code for “not on my watch.”

      • Dr Mossy Lawn

        The recently re-introduced water cooled twins (after they killed the Porsche V-Rod revolution engine. )

        HD’s are rolling works of art and lifestyle pieces, and their boomer generation appeal has peaked.

        They are not good motorcycles.

        One problem all motorcycle manufacturers have is that they are highly durable vehicles, with little reason for upgrade. My 98 Honda works just fine 25 years later. I might get the valves shimmed this spring. The Harley is now 20+ and had a single cracked bearing surface fixed last year. Many of the people I ride with have the same bikes from 20-25 years ago. They may have added a new type (dual sport etc) but still have their main ride. We were keeping a 1975 Honda going, but couldn’t get carb parts anymore.

  28. Tres Cool

    Sean?
    What model Star was that you linked yesterday?

    • Sean

      M43 Firestar

      • Tres Cool

        It seems Jugsy just put a substantial down payment on a german shepherd puppy.
        I wanted to see what Im not buying with that money.

      • Sean

        Heh.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Corporate suicide watch: Harley-Davidson plans to go all-electric

    They’ll have to get rid of the “Loud Pipes Save Lives” merch.

    • Sensei

      Just add a speaker!

      The Charger Daytona concept, however, is an industry first as the American-based firm has prioritized the emulation of the beloved muscle car feel for which they are known. Debuting as an industry first is Dodge’s Fratzonic chambered exhaust system, which gives the Daytona concept its unbelievable sounding rated at 126 dB. The Fratzonic system is essentially an amplifier and tuning chamber in the rear of the car that gives it the visceral sound and feel of a true muscle car.

      https://www.carmag.co.za/news/industry-news/dodge-daytona-concept-electric-vehicle-sound/

      • R.J.

        Prepare to lose money in 3… 2… 1…

    • pistoffnick

      Nah, they’ll put speakers where the tailpipe would go.

      • juris imprudent

        Playing cards and clothespins.

      • Michael Malaise

        Not my 1966 Bobby Murcer rookie card!

    • Lackadaisical

      Just make sure your balls don’t touch her balls, easy.

  30. Certified Public Asshat

    We'll get more data in the weeks ahead, but at this point the burden of proof lies on anyone claiming that we had more than a, well, transitory inflation spike that's mostly behind us 6/— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) January 21, 2023

    Lol come on man, at least pretend to be a serious economist.

    • R C Dean

      It’s the same playbook as government spending. A reduction in the rate of increase is a cut. Because inflation is “only” 7% a year now, and was 8% a few months ago, prices are actually coming down! All hail Maximum Leader!

    • Grumbletarian

      And an ice age is a transitory dip in global temperatures.

    • juris imprudent

      How many years did QE go on?

      • Michael Malaise

        Forty-five years.

        Oh, you’re not talking about Queen Elizabeth.

    • Tundra

      Wow.

      That was really nice. Thanks, Holiness!

  31. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    Manic Monday: How True Believers Process Reality

    Donald has a history of being shady and disagreeable with customers and co-workers. Donald is fired. He packs and leaves with his personal tools. The shop notices a very significant amount of their tools are gone as well. They contact Donald, who says he doesn’t have them. The shop presses him and he then claims he has only a few of the missing shop tools. When the shop insists he must have more, Donald wants to negotiate on the return of any more tools he may have, and even claims some of the tools with the shop logo are his. Exasperated, the shop manager contacts law enforcement. The police obtain a warrant and search Donald’s property, discovering many more shop tools.

    Joe retires. Joe discovers a few smaller shop tools mixed in with his tools that he brought home. He returns them immediately. As the weeks go on and he tinkers with projects at home, he periodically discovers a few more and returns those as well. He assures the shop he will return any more he discovers. The shop manager doesn’t contact law enforcement.

    Donald wonders why they were treated differently when both had taken shop tools home.

    • WTF

      The human capacity for self-delusion is boundless.

    • juris imprudent

      Trick question – they don’t process reality at all!

    • DrOtto

      Also, Joe needs to see if he got back the docs he lent to his son and CCP neighbors.

    • rhywun

      He returns them immediately

      “Immediately”, “six years later and only under pressure from his minders” – same diff.

    • Tres Cool

      PHL always got me over fog.

    • Drake

      Nope – I would sometimes drive an extra hour to fly out of PHL instead of the NY airports.

    • robc

      All airports are the same place, there is no such thing as air travel, its just a scam so we don’t notice the temporal anomaly.

      • robc

        And I am 99.8% sure temporal is the wrong word there.

      • UnCivilServant

        It would be a spacial anomaly.

      • Lackadaisical

        In some way time and space is the same thing, so maybe he’s still right.

      • robc

        Thank you…the word wouldnt come to me this morning.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Midway in Chicago has the worst bar service ever.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Something tells me traction control would be pretty much mandatory on an electric motorcycle.

  33. robc

    A consumption tax is better than an income tax.

    The Single Land Tax is better than both.

    If you are going to tax anything, minimizing dead weight loss seems like it should be a very high priority.

    Deadweight loss is proportional to the square of the tax rate.

    D=kr^2, where the constant k varies with the type of tax. In the SLT, k=0.

    That is what worries me about the consumption tax, as the rates discussed can get very high, which means the square gets high. Of course, for upper income earners, the income tax rate is very high.

    • robc

      And as I said the first time the FAIR tax was discussed back in the 90s, without an amendment overturning the income tax amendment, we could end up with both. GOP trying to prove themselves the stupid party again.

    • juris imprudent

      There is no ‘best’ tax – they are all trade-offs. SLT sounds best because it has the most limited tax revenue potential.

      • robc

        Also, IMO, its moral premise is better than the others.

        1. No deadweight loss
        2. Limited tax revenue
        3. Moral superiority

      • UnCivilServant

        It is a deadweight loss, all tax is, and has about as much moral superiority as communism.

      • robc

        I dont think you know what the term “deadweight loss” means.

      • UnCivilServant

        I know what it means, and the attempt to claim none pulls some semantic shenanigans between the vernacular supply and the economic term meaning that available on the market. The supply curve is never the absolute quantity in existance, only the quantity available for purchase on the market.

      • juris imprudent

        The moral superiority is based on a simple bias against rent as an income. By that standard all income from intellectual property is suspect as well.

      • juris imprudent

        In England and Europe – the bias against rent is at least tenable as a bias against the aristocracy.

      • robc

        I would argue that it is based on a valid natural law argument in favor of land ownership. At least with IP, there is a creation argument (just as there is with other forms of property). However, once you sell your property, you don’t own it anymore. If you sell me a book, I now own it. If you sell my a doohickie, if I can reverse engineer it, I own the means of creation.

      • robc

        insert “lack of a” in front of “valid”.

      • robc

        As someone who opposes IP (except Trademark, as fraud prevention)…I agree.

      • juris imprudent

        So if you don’t get to own land, or your thoughts/inventions, why do you get to own your labor?

      • UnCivilServant

        Because it’s an “eat the rich” philosophy from the ages of yore, meant to appeal to the poor with a strong slant againt anyone seen as successful.

  34. Lackadaisical

    ‘Bengals thumped Buffalo and that game against the Chiefs will be a high-scoring affair.’

    Not sure about that. Bengals D is looking pretty good, and I’m not sure if Mahommes will be 100%, though I do expect him to be much better than their last game.

  35. Tundra

    Good morning, Sloop!

    Isn’t it odd how many of the Antifa fucks are rich kids? And by odd I mean completely predictable.

    Here’s a classic. And a good way to get the blood flowing on a Monday morning

    Mick Jones said that was hie favorite. Easy to see why.

    Have a great Monday, people. Remember, it’s stupid out there!

    • juris imprudent

      And by odd I mean completely predictable.

      Absence of consequences for actions? How could that ever possibly lead to bad outcomes?

  36. The Late P Brooks

    As I understand it (not well), the so-called fair tax is just a VAT with lipstick on it.

    Every man a tax collector.

  37. Brawndo

    My new favorite conspiracy theory is that Damar Hamlin, the Bills player that collapsed on the field a few weeks ago is actually dead, or in a vegetative state.

    • R.J.

      You just can’t tell parody from reality sometimes.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      LIES

      Hitler targeted the trannies most of all because they were going to out him as a crossdresser and save Europe.

  38. Lackadaisical

    ‘I wonder how long this will stay in the news. It doesn’t really hit the “white supremacist” buttons, so it’ll be quietly shuffled to the back of the page on everybody’s papers.’

    We’ve finally reached racial equality. Fine are the days you could assume a mass shooter was white; black, Asian, white, we’ve finally come together in our hatred of each other. *Wipes tear from eye*

  39. The Late P Brooks

    My new favorite conspiracy theory is that Damar Hamlin, the Bills player that collapsed on the field a few weeks ago is actually dead, or in a vegetative state.

    Just as long as I don’t have to hear about him anymore, now that the Bills are out.

    • WTF

      Oh please, you really think they won’t have some kind of Damar Hamlin tribute at the Super Bowl?

      • Tundra

        People collapsing during the halftime show?

      • juris imprudent

        Rihanna’s career is being resuscitated?

      • WTF

        She’ll work a crash cart into her act for extra drama.

      • Nephilium

        AMERICA’S HERO!

      • Lackadaisical

        Y’all don’t need to make being a m bills fan any harder. Q.Q

        Leave damar alone!

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Puppetry

    The director of America’s top spy agency described Russia’s war in Ukraine as a “grinding conflict” that will require the West to continue to provide security assistance packages in order for Kyiv to prevail.

    U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum that both Ukrainian and Russian militaries are facing significant challenges but the war had not reached a stalemate.

    “It’s not a stalemate but really, a grinding conflict where quite literally, we’re talking about hundreds of meters being fought over in the context of the frontlines,” Haines said in Davos, Switzerland.

    “It will be extremely important for Ukraine to receive essential military assistance and economic assistance moving forward in order for them to be able to continue to manage what they have been heroically doing,” she added.

    The show must go on.

    • juris imprudent

      about hundreds of meters being fought over

      Make war Great again!

      • R C Dean

        I fail to see how what he describes isn’t a stalemate.

      • WTF

        Which theoretically should bring both sides to the negotiating table. Unfortunately the Grifters of the West are Hell-bent on keeping this conflict going.

      • creech

        President Wilson is on the phone.

      • juris imprudent

        Make Attrition Great Again!!!

      • Michael Malaise

        Ha. Oh goody, Can one side just use mustard gas and get it over with?

  41. The Late P Brooks

    The upcoming military assistance, the 30th such tranche, brings U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s fight to more than $26 billion since the beginning of the Biden administration.

    Where are the “Don’t you realize what better things we could do with that money?” Democrats?

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Collecting their kickbacks

    • R C Dean

      Snorting blow off the asses of hookers while rolling in piles of hundred dollar bills?

      Or, what Scruffyyy said.

  42. Sensei

    Paywalled NYT, but I recommend trying to get around it.

    Their Children Are Their Retirement Plans

    A few months ago, I texted my mother to let her know that I had paid her electric bill (as I do every month), and that it was $461 — significantly higher than usual. She texted back to explain that Southern California, where she and my father live, was going through a heat wave but she would be mindful, knowing that I was covering the cost.

    My parents do not have a single dollar saved for retirement. They have carried into their 60s a sizable mortgage, credit card balances and a variety of expenses that come with owning a home in suburban California: car payments, insurance, utilities. In their golden years, they’ll have some Social Security benefits, but they’ll rely mostly on financial support from my two siblings and me to live out the rest of their lives.

    Westerners may view my parents as poor financial planners and my position as unfair, but my family’s situation is common among East Asian immigrants and their second-generation children who have been raised under the customs of filial piety — in which children offer deference to their parents and provide care and financial support to them in their old age.

    • R.J.

      Move them out of California immediately and start saving money.

      • Sensei

        Or buy a home with a MIL Suite and have them live with you.

    • kinnath

      Sell the house in California. Move to Iowa and buy a nice house. Live off the remaining cash.

      • Michael Malaise

        It sucks that southern California has been ruined. That weather is so nice and the geography (ocean, mountains, desert) can be incredible.

    • R C Dean

      I wonder if the expectation that children support their parents includes a “no matter how unnecessarily expensive that is”.

      • juris imprudent

        The manner to which we have become accustomed.

    • Mojeaux

      So, how is this unlike any other east Asian family with a tradition of filial piety? It’s been this way for centuries.

      • Lackadaisical

        … And South Asians.

        I used to send $$$ to India every month until they started spending it on stupid stuff. And the wife and I asked them to knock it off, which they didn’t like, so…

  43. The Late P Brooks

    “Weapons are the way to peace,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said alongside Haines.

    Where have I heard that before?

    • R.J.

      They are certainly the way to a more polite society.

    • Michael Malaise

      Ronald Reagan call your office!

    • juris imprudent

      Leftists turned neo-cons

      You mean neo-cons who returned to their roots.

    • R.J.

      It was as secure as Biden’s classified documents.

      • juris imprudent

        So Joe had an ignition breathalyzer on the ‘vette so Hunter couldn’t joyride?

      • AlexinCT

        I thought Hunter only used the vet to sniff parmesan cheese of the back of hookers…

    • Lackadaisical

      So, it was about as secure as I keep my son’s birthday gifts?

  44. The Other Kevin

    I can’t believe those Republicans are attacking the IRS, one of our most respected and beloved institutions.

    I thought it would be a matter of time before Disney’s “Keep raising prices, plenty of idiots will still pay up” strategy would finally go to far. Is this it?

    Once upon a time someone secretly bought up a bunch of land in Florida. Maybe Elon is building MuskLand to go after Disney?

    • Not Adahn

      Frankly, that idea stinks.

      • SDF-7

        You say that — but his muscadine winery and space complex will likely take off.

  45. Not Adahn

    Question for the Army types:

    I keep hearing media reports about pressuring Germany to send Leopard tanks to the Ukes.

    1. Can you just transfer tank crews between different models? I get the impression that the US spends a lot of time to train Abrams crews. Maybe that’s not the case, or maybe it’s just featherbedding on the US part, but I’d think there would be some sort of learning curve that it’s best not to experience when Russkie anti-armor munitions are heading your way.

    2. Wouldn’t there be some risk of the Putinistas getting their hands on some tech that we really don’t want him to have? Or at least, the ability to practice new tactics against undertrained crews that could come back to bite NATO in the butt?

    • UnCivilServant

      I’m not an army type, but my impression is that you have to spend some time training on new hardware, even when it’s substantially similar to previous hardware, and more so if the crew was initially trained on a design from a different military entirely.

      Sending tanks to the Ukraine is a stupid move since you’re just killing the crews and providing the Russians with live fire test data on the most effective methods of disabling or destroying them.

    • Drake

      I was in a National Guard armor battalion. The Leopard seems fairly similar except the engine. Lots of training to get a crew ready, then training to fight as a unit – with a ton of maintenance and fuel to keep them running. A few tanks and APCs getting added to a battle piecemeal will not make a difference.

      The most ‘secret’ stuff on the new models is the Chobham armor. Are the Germans going to strip it off?

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      No training necessary. You just jump in and start driving. Just like in the movies.

  46. Mojeaux

    Bengals have beaten the Chiefs 3 straight. They are our kryptonite and Mahomes has a high ankle sprain, so he’s not operating at full capacity. Chad Henne maybe could get the job done (see: 98-yard touchdown drive on the one possession he had), but he’s not flashy. Henne has always done a good, steady job. Not a game “manager” like Alex Smith, but somewhere between Smith and Mahomes.

    • Raven Nation

      “98-yard touchdown drive on the one possession he had”

      Yeah, that, I think, won the game. Calmed everybody down, gave Mahomes time to get better prepped for the second half.

      • Mojeaux

        Yeah, that, I think, won the game.

        TOTALLY AGREE. I think he’s being criminally overlooked.

  47. Mojeaux

    Client doesn’t want to pay the huge second half of the quote she accepted, which would be bad enough, but she’s trying to blame me for her fucking up the files I sent her so she can’t upload her book. “Why didn’t you explain…” I did. You weren’t listening because you were in such a rush to get your book on the market and you think you know more than you do.

    Bye bye, $$$$. If I’d had an inkling she didn’t have ANY money at all, I wouldn’t have given up my whole New Year’s weekend to do it.

    • Sensei

      That stinks.

      Client didn’t save the original files you sent? I always backup files somebody sends me before I modify them.

      OTH, it gives you some leverage to getting the rest of your money.

    • AlexinCT

      Sorry to hear that Mojeaux. Bad people suck.

    • creech

      You want Rocky and Vinnie to pay a call?

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Hopefully there is a new manager/interim manager bump for the Arsenal game.

    • juris imprudent

      Stunning in that it took as long as it did?

    • sloopyinca

      I hope they finish the season on 15 points.

  48. The Other Kevin

    There is a discussion about Scott Adams upthread. Listening to him this morning, I think he’s playing people on some level. He does this thing where, in order to disprove someone, he completely agrees with them and goes overboard with it. In his YouTube today, he’s quoting scientists who were against the vax, describing their extremely detailed and technical arguments, and saying things like “They were correct, I shouldn’t have ignored the fact that the vaccine used the whole spike instead of the partial spike. It was my fault for not taking that into account. I was wrong.”

    I don’t even know what to think of the guy anymore.

    • Tundra

      I solved it by not following him anymore. I’ve culled a lot and it’s been nice.

    • AlexinCT

      The guy has made a career of banking on when he was wrong and admitting that. He is doing exactly that right now by coming out and saying that he should have been far more dismissive of the claims all was well with this thing. This is throwing a lot of people w/ purity tests off.

    • R C Dean

      “They were correct, I shouldn’t have ignored the fact that the vaccine used the whole spike instead of the partial spike. It was my fault for not taking that into account. I was wrong.”

      After a career in law and corporations, I know CYA when I see it.

  49. The Late P Brooks

    An inspiration to us all

    Jennifer Lees-Marshment, an associate professor of politics and international relations at the University of Auckland, told NPR she was surprised by Ardern’s sudden resignation.

    “I did not expect it to happen, because it is rare that politicians are that strategic and selfless,” she said.

    It’s particularly hard to imagine a politician resigning in the U.S. as Ardern did: likely to win re-election and still being respected globally, according to Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.

    There’s something other global leaders should take from this moment of gracefully bowing out while keeping reputations largely intact, experts told NPR.

    ——-

    Politicians are constantly pushed to fundraise or to think about the next election. That isn’t always conducive to good leadership, she said.

    “The actual point of being a politician is to lead and to govern, and to do good for others. That reminder, I think was was necessary,” Vigil said.

    A savior complex is a prerequisite for the job. Also narcissism. They suffer the torments of the damned if their subjects refuse to love and honor them as they require.

    • Not Adahn

      That is a SASS match.

  50. The Late P Brooks

    “The pressures on prime ministers are always great, but in this era of social media, clickbait, and 24/7 media cycles, Jacinda has faced a level of hatred and vitriol which in my experience is unprecedented in our country,” Helen Clark, the former prime minister of New Zealand, said.

    Yes, yes, of course. She was done in by completely inexplicable and sourceless vitriol. People just woke up one day and began attacking her “leadership” for no reason at all. The internet made them do it.

    • Tundra

      Robbie the Fire was speculating that there is some bad shit coming down the pike and horse face is just getting out in front of it.

    • Raven Nation

      One of the things buried in the Brownstone/substack piece was that her decision on lockdowns was an overruling of her own science advisors. Apparently that news is now trickling out in NZ. With the upcoming election polling pretty even, that might have been a killer.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I have been lectured by several lefty relatives about how great New Zealand did. One even bragged about how her vet retired and moved to NZ at the beginning of the pandemic (before the lockdowns) because they were so much better.

      They would not listen to me when I told them that the lockdowns there were far stupider than here and people there were pissed off. I should go tweak them with this news.

      • Michael Malaise

        It’s a not-too-populous island nation. It’s not hard to close borders.

  51. Gender Traitor

    At the rim & wheel joint getting the replacement for my pothole-damaged wheel. This is definitely a “no frills” shop – the “end table” for my travel mug of coffee is a cardboard box with another box and a wheel on top of it. I’m surrounded by stacks of boxes, wheels, and tires. Suits me fine – proves I’m not paying much for their overhead. 🙂

    • Lackadaisical

      I agree, sounds like you found the right place.

  52. DEG

    Snow moving through southern NH. Power situation kinda dicey. I’ve lost it twice this morning.

    Within the first week of the new Congress, a dozen GOP lawmakers introduced a bill that would abolish the IRS altogether and replace the entire federal tax code with a national sales tax.

    So close, and yet so far.

    The Galactic Starcruiser, which opened on March 1, 2022, only has 100 rooms, but has consistently struggled to sell out. Disney billed the pricey hotel as an immersive journey where guests became part of the Star Wars story, interacting with costumed actors and being sent on missions. The cheapest two-night stays were initially priced at about $5,000 per couple and closer to $6,000 for a family of four; guests are required to book exactly two nights, as the storyline of the Starcruiser spans two days.

    Sounds like a bad idea.

    Have a joke.

  53. Pope Jimbo

    Holy Shi-ite!

    Just found out that a coworker who was supposed to be heading back to Pakistan for his sister’s wedding this weekend was robbed on his way to the airport.

    He was driving a rental car to the airport and stopped to get a drink. While he was inside some asshole stole the car with the guy’s luggage, work computer, passport and well, everything. Corporate is going nuts about trying to figure out if their remote lockdown software will actually work or not.

    My poor coworker is crushed. He was super homesick and was really looking forward to going to his sister’s wedding and now this. Fucking thieves suck.

    • Tundra

      Terrible.

      Do you know where? And what kind of vehicle?

      • Pope Jimbo

        It was in Canada. Probably J-Truea and that Sam Britton guy were cruising around and when they saw a car with a sweet bag of authentic Paki clothes they couldn’t resist.

        No idea what kind of car it was.

      • Tundra

        Ah, gotcha.

        I thought maybe it made the CrimeWatch wall of doom.

        Still, how fucked up.

    • Tundra

      WTF?

      I had to look the chick up.

      • kinnath

        Wikipedia says she is a highly-sought-after actor. I’ve never heard of her.

      • Rat on a train

        Rita from Idiocracy

      • kinnath

        Saw the movie a long time ago. Google images. I have no memory of her standing out in any way.

      • Rat on a train

        Maybe “not standing out in any way” is what they are looking for.

      • sloopyinca

        You’ve seen Idiocracy, right? That’s her.

      • rhywun

        I remember her from SNL.

      • rhywun

        WTF?

        Probably missing a tranny M&M

  54. Rat on a train

    Northern Va. lawmaker suggests tax credits to incentivize local journalism

    In the first year, the tax credit would be 10% of the wages paid to a local journalism, or $5,000, whichever is less. In future years, the credit would be five percent of the wages, or $2,500.

    In addition, the bill would create a tax credit for eligible small businesses with fewer than 50 employees that advertise in a local newspaper, or in a local radio or television station.

    In the first year, the credit would be 80% of the actual amount paid, or $4,000. In future years, the credit would be 50% of the actual amount paid, or $2,000.

    How about they all pay their own way.

  55. Rat on a train

    Russia House will not reopen in DC

    Russia House was targeted by vandals on at least two occasions shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The restaurant, and its owners, have no ties to Russia, they have said.

    “When the city started opening back up we were then faced with another pandemic of sorts, the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” McGovern said. “We experienced numerous accounts of vandalism and threats against our beloved Russia House. These unfortunate circumstances led to our decision not to reopen Russia House.”

    DC tolerance knows no limits.

    • R.J.

      Lefty ignorance and prejudice knows no bounds.

  56. Rat on a train

    I can guess how Justice Penaltax would rule.

    This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case about whether the government can duck scrutiny of excessive fines by calling them “civil penalties.” Monica Toth, a Boston-area grandmother, challenged a $2.17 million civil penalty under the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause.

    • Grumbletarian

      Abe Lincoln wasn’t assassinated, he was given an involuntary early retirement package.

    • dontreadonme

      Wow, what an outrageous decision by the lower and appeals courts. I don’t understand how the supremes would not take up the case which now opens the door to more excessive fines to be used as a weapon against the citizenry.

    • Rat on a train

      U.S. Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) regulations promulgated to implement the Act require an individual to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (“FBAR”) with the IRS for each calendar year that individual has more than $10,000 in a foreign bank account. 31 C.F.R. §§ 1010.350(a), 1010.306(c). If an individual fails to file an FBAR, the Act authorizes the IRS to impose a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation. 31 U.S.C. § 5321(a)(5)(B). If an individual “willfully” fails to file an FBAR, the permissible maximum penalty that the statute authorizes increases to the greater of either $100,000 or 50 percent of the value in the account at the time of the violation. Id. § 5321(a)(5)(C)-(D).

      No accusation of tax evasion just of not filing a form. This is like the structuring garbage.