412 Comments

    • Banjos

      Mornin’

      • SDF-7

        Not just any morning — we’re having a Flashback Tuesday apparently — when one Monday wasn’t enough! 😉

      • Pope Jimbo

        Yeah, I hate to nitpick, but speaking for the Barely Know What Day it Is community, getting the day wrong is totes mind fucking.

      • Banjos

        Ah shit. I’m barely awake when I write these. I’m going to act like it was intentional.

  1. Pat

    More than 800 big box retail stores are set to close across the nation this year

    If the COVID19 hysteria taught us anything, it’s that you can’t possibly go wrong relying on global JIT supply chains. Retail outlets are as obsolete as internal combustion engines.

    • Nephilium

      /remembers the sourcing issues for headphones when everyone shifted from in office to WFH

      • UnCivilServant

        Wait, you didn’t already have them?

      • Nephilium

        Quite a few places had to shift from desk phones to softphones. The headsets that worked for the desk phones weren’t designed to be plugged into either a regular audio jack or a USB port. So when large groups had to be converted, most of them didn’t have headphones that would work with their computers.

      • UnCivilServant

        Yeah, my joke wasn’t as funny as intended.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      We’ll always have all of those parking spaces at least.

  2. Count Potato

    “McCarthy “has given Fox News’ Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 riot, McCarthy sources tell me,”

    All of that should have been released to the public a long time ago.

    • AlexinCT

      And how where they then going to run that J6 fake reality TeeVee show to “fortify” the 2022 election in their favor, huh?

      • juris imprudent

        Really? Who do you think was influenced by the Committee kabuki?

      • AlexinCT

        The people that wanted to believe J6 was worse than 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, cause TEAM BLUE!

        Most of those idiots were burned out and would not have put in the effort of finishing their ballots, even with the harvester harassing them to do so, but got mad because of this theatre.

      • juris imprudent

        In other words the believers got their beliefs reinforced, and everyone else just shook their damn heads.

      • Drake

        Most of news now seems tailored to confirm the biases and assumptions of their target audiences.

      • Pine_Tree

        Here? Nobody, no. But amongst the normies? A lot – even those who would normally look sideways at that sort of thing. “Repeat a lie often enough…” is a thing for a reason – it works.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        My kid told me that his, at the time, GF had a watch party of the shit show with several of her blue haired friends. He did not attend.

        Thankfully they’re broken up now. I can’t really think of a single reason why 15yo would want to watch that shit outside of pure indoctrination.

    • Not Adahn

      If that information wasn’t carefully curated, you might have reached incorrect conclusions! That’s why The Media(tm) is so crucial to Our Democracy(tm). Only a correctly informed populace can vote correctly.

      • Count Potato

        CNN was particularly bad, when they just kept playing the same short loop over and over and over and over again.

      • juris imprudent

        Repetition of the lie is the essential thing.

      • Count Potato

        It seems more like hypnosis.

    • R C Dean

      Aside from the political optics of burying footage of what was supposed to be a terrorist/insurrection its attack of the highest magnitude, I have been astonished that the defendants in the criminal cases haven’t had free access to the footage. One of the data points showing that the judiciary is just another corrupted institution.

      I wonder how many appeals will be taken once those already convicted have access to the footage. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to reverse a guilty plea, though.

      • Count Potato

        Also, Big Tech banned “unofficial” video of the event. Given how pretty much everyone has a phone that can record video, there is way more out there than the surveillance video.

  3. AlexinCT

    Household debt skyrockets to highest level since 2008 financial crisis

    There is a plan of action that is making this happen.

    Remember, marxism failed in the US because of the US middleclass and economic mobility. Destroy that middle class & economic mobility (all that woke marxist shit is doing just that) and the incompetent credentialed elite class can institute a perpetual hereditary oligarchy on the serfs.

    • juris imprudent

      So very marxist!

      • AlexinCT

        Marxism is about power. Who has it and wields it. All that other shit is just window dressing to fool the morons.

      • juris imprudent

        Power and who wields it long predates Marx, and will continue to exist long after Marx is completely forgotten.

  4. Rebel Scum

    U.S. household debt jumped to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis last year as mortgages surged amid high inflation and rising interest rates, according to a new analysis published by WalletHub.

    Listen, Jack. The economy is finally working for the American people. We are destroying the middle class right on schedule.

    • juris imprudent

      I wonder if someday the Democrats will ever accomplish this – they’ve only been trying since FDR.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        At the moment it doesn’t appear that Jerome Powell is on board with the agenda.

      • WTF

        It seems like they are making progress toward that goal.

      • juris imprudent

        They do have California as a template.

  5. Rat on a train

    Monday?

    • AlexinCT

      That was yesterday.

    • UnCivilServant

      It’s monday for those of us who had a holiday yesterday. Friday has been cancelled this week.

      • Sean

        Friday has been cancelled this week.

        Noooo…

        That’s when I get paid!

      • AlexinCT

        Your direct deposit will be issued on Thursday at precisely 23.59.59. If you get a check, well, you are gonna have to wait. And if you get paid in goats & boats, well, that’s gonna require magic.

    • SDF-7

      As long as Hot Fudge Sundae doesn’t come on this Tuesdae, it would be a win.

    • Nephilium

      Maybe it was to show support with those who removed the word “fat” from the works of Dahl, to avoid referencing Fat Tuesday?

      • Rat on a train

        Happy Shrove Tuesday. Have some pancakes.

      • Nephilium

        I’m trying to be strong today and resist the siren call of paczki and beer.

      • R.J.

        I can feel my fat growing just looking at that photo.

  6. AlexinCT

    Activists Upset as Black Family Sells ‘Reparations’ Land Back to Government

    So the freaks are pissed that these people made bank on their “reparations”? Who is the real fucking idiot here?

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      However, the New York Times reports, the family then decided to sell the land back to the county, given the difficulty of developing the beachfront property, and the fact that the asset could be turned quickly into cash.

      If they’re really smart, they’ll take that money and move to Texas or somewhere else that doesn’t completely suck.

      • R.J.

        Yep. The state made it impossible to develop. Fuck it. Sell it to the state and peace out.

      • rhywun

        Activists who had helped the Bruces secure the land, and other observers, were disappointed that the family decided not to hold onto it and try to reclaim the vision of their ancestors.

        🙄🙄

        Maybe the “activists” can buy it from the government and run their own beach resort if it’s that important to them.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Guaranteed the activists don’t have a problem with the regulations that prevent them from developing it.

      • juris imprudent

        buy it from the government

        Bwahahahahaha

      • R.J.

        Yeah. And handle the six million pages of paperwork and environmental studies. Imagine the cost of that. The news article should talk about why the Bruce family decided to sell it, not focus on the disappointment of stupid activists.

      • Pine_Tree

        Well, just based on the story, the “vision of their ancestors” was to make some profit off of it. And three cheers for them. But I bet all those “activists” wouldn’t really like that very much, would they?

        So, just like in all things, they go an assign their own made-up “vision” to these long-departed folks and imagine that everybody else should participate in their delusion.

      • R C Dean

        Of course, since the land can’t be developed, it is (borderline) worthless. So why did the state pay $20MM for it?

      • Not Adahn

        You’re right. That’s far too low to adequately compensate them for the 400 years of slavery they experienced.

  7. Pat

    James O’Keefe confirms departure from Project Veritas in emotional video statement from headquarters

    I’m surprised he had the organization structured such that he could be forced out like that. I also wonder if it’s just petty internecine fighting, or if it’s been skinsuited like so many others.

    • Not Adahn

      I’d say obviously skinsuited, but they did kick Van halen out of Van Halen, so *shrug emoji*

      • AlexinCT

        Which Van Halen was kicked out? I remember David Lee Roth getting the boot, but not either of the Van Halen bros.

      • Not Adahn

        You’re right. I thought Eddie had been for some reason.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Van Hagar sucks!!!

      • Chipwooder

        Diamond Dave wasn’t fired, he quit.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        And Van Halen ceased to exist after that point.

        Van Hagar is a cruel lie perpetrated on the people.

      • Chipwooder

        I wholeheartedly agree.

        The irony is that everything I’ve ever read about Sammy Hagar tells me he’s a prince of a guy and makes me really like him…but I still can’t stand his music.

      • Michael Malaise

        McAfee? or did he leave voluntarily?

        Steve Jobs was forced out to make way for a CEO that wanted to run Apple like Pepsi.

      • Chipwooder

        McAfee left on his own.

    • UnCivilServant

      Trust the wrong person, make a mistake in drawing up a charter, get a cheap lawyer, all ways you can find yourself in a position to be drive out of the organization you founded. Make the mistake of selling stock doesn’t apply in this circumstance.

    • AlexinCT

      I doubt he realized that was done to Veritas. And I am also very certain the move to oust him is because he became to dangerous to the cabal which knew if they acted directly would turn him into a martyr.

      My hope is Veritas’ existing donors ask for their money back, and then give that to O’Keefe to start up something else. Assume that Veritas has gone the way of the Drudge Report and is now controlled by the enemies of the people.

      • Michael Malaise

        It was really the shitty logo that did him in. I mean, c’mon.

      • AlexinCT

        So not the Retracto Alpaca?

    • Drake

      I look forward to Project Veritas getting O’Keefed in his next expose.

  8. Rebel Scum

    House Speaker reportedly releases thousands of hours of Jan. 6 surveillance video to Tucker Carlson

    This far-right fascist is clearly going to selectively edit and release video to support his insurrectionist MAGAt pals.

  9. AlexinCT

    Inside Peloton’s rapid rise and bitter fall — and its attempt at a comeback

    They need to have more hot scantily clad ladies & gents doing the workout incentivization and sometimes have these people show the goods. A lot of people will buy the product and misuse it, but they will make bank.

    • Pat

      Who’d have thunk that selling $500 stationary bikes marked up to $3,000 for the privilege of having access to video classes you could get for free on YouTube wouldn’t turn out to be a rocketship of a business model.

      • AlexinCT

        They must have thought that since a fool is born every second, that they would make bank doing this stupid shit.

      • Nephilium

        Don’t forgot the competition against the already entrenched “smart” trainer manufacturers who were already getting the high end market.

      • Not Adahn

        And yet the twitter class seemed (seems?) to love the idea.

      • juris imprudent

        The twitter class has about as much meaning to mean as the class of tweens.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Are those workout mirrors making anyone money.

        Overpaying for a Pelaton bike seems like the very heart of fiscal responsibility compared to buying one of those mirrors.

      • Michael Malaise

        I suppose the upside is getting a semi-personal trainer without having to leave home or be near the plebes.

        Reminds me of a headline of a Ledger story I never wrote: “Impersonal trainer doesn’t give a damn about your progress.”

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Home gym equipment with a gym membership fee.

    • rhywun

      I would not have known about their decline, what with the zillions of commercials they apparently still have the money to throw at.

      • Not Adahn

        I only see commercials on freevee, so apparently the world is 75% slender ethnically ambiguous, artistically groomed gay men on PreP and/or HIV meds.

        Wo have some sort of psoriasis and are at increased risk of Covid complications.

      • Rat on a train

        “Undetectable means you can continue to pick up strangers.”

      • Not Adahn

        I think I’ve seen a car commerical too. But other than that, it’s all prescription drugs all the time.

      • rhywun

        Right? It’s basically a hook-up pill.

        “Keep being who you are!” = promiscuous slut, is the message I get from those.

      • Not Adahn

        …which is interesting, because there’s always one fat black woman in the commercial.

      • Chipwooder

        I think they passed a law a few years ago requiring every commercial to have at least one fat black woman.

      • rhywun

        Step up! Prep up!

      • Chipwooder

        Undoubtedly due to my wife’s browsing habits, we also get a lot of feminine product ads that now exclusively feature obese women.

      • Count Potato

        “Does my browser history make me look fat?”

      • Brawndo

        Yeah I’d get that same batch of ads watching King of the Hill on Hulu. Who do they think watches this show?

    • Pope Jimbo

      Maybe they should take a page from the sports memorabilia market?

      Just like the $$$ they make selling game worn jerseys, these attractive Pelaton trainers could sell the seats from their online group ride? It might pull some money away from Only Fans, but I bet there are plenty of pervs who would want to be able to smell/lick the seat that Honey Divine sat on while coaching a few thousand virtual bikers through the first stage of the Tour de France.

      • pistoffnick

        That is oddly specific, Jimbo?!?!?!

      • UnCivilServant

        At least he’s not after the pedals.

  10. Rebel Scum

    James O’Keefe confirms departure from Project Veritas in emotional video statement from headquarters

    There is no Project Veritas without O’keefe.

    • SDF-7

      Yup. I would wonder just what the skinsuiters thought they’d be left with — but if the “Lincoln Project” can still somehow find a way to fundraise, I’m sure these idiots will find a way to leverage whatever they can fake for reputation as well.

      Meanwhile, it sure sounds like O’keefe is planning on taking the competent with him, changing names and picking right back up. More power to him.

      • R C Dean

        “I would wonder just what the skinsuiters thought they’d be left with”

        The important thing is to destroy an enemy of the people. If there is any value left in the rubble, that’s a bonus.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I wouldn’t be surprised if the rump PV starts targeting conservative orgs next.

    • AlexinCT

      The people dropping Veritas on Twitter, Rumble, and other entities is massive. I think everyone but the idiots in the cabal that thought you would miss what they were doing, sees this for what it is.

      • R.J.

        Even if the reason is legitimate (doubtful, but possible) his ejection means the death of Project Veritas. This was handled poorly if it was for cause.

  11. Pat

    Activists are upset that the Bruce family, which received oceanfront property last year that was unjustly taken from its forebears by the government, has now sold it back to Los Angeles County for $20 million.

    You may only plant soy on your 40 acres, and the name of the mule shall be decided by committee.

    • SDF-7

      I can’t imaging soy would grow too well on LA beachfront property… not that it would matter to the Central Commissars, granted.

    • WTF

      … property…that was unjustly taken…

      Now do Kelo.

    • dbleagle

      “The committee decided your mule will be named Goldfish.”

    • Pat

      I think she may have just inadvertently confessed to the rape of Willie Brown.

    • R C Dean

      Excellent visual for “Do as I say, not as I do.”

      • Ownbestenemy

        Also “You are a peasant and we are Gods”

    • Trigger Hippie

      Never? Regardless the context of the situation? Seems foolish.

      • The Other Kevin

        Just don’t lead anyone in a direction other than what the government and Democratic party tells you, otherwise you’re a white supremacist.

    • R C Dean

      “Never ask for permission to lead.”

      Seems an odd message from somebody elected to a leadership position, no?

  12. Raven Nation

    The front page image is probably the best squirrel yet.

    • WTF

      Hey, whatever it takes to keep the grift going.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        The grift will continue for as long as it takes.

      • Chipwooder

        Hey man, if you had carefully constructed the greatest money laundering machine of all time, you’d go to the mattresses to protect it, too.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Looks like Z-Bot is finally giving up on Bakhmut after getting countless thousands of troops killed in that meatgrinder.

    • Pat

      Just so long as they don’t get a bunch of semi-trailer trucks together and honk their horns in downtown Kiev, of course. That would be terrorism.

    • Drake

      Seems a lot more passionate about the borders of the Ukraine than the U.S. Good thing there are any Americans who need help with disasters right now. Otherwise it would seem crazy to funnel more of our national wealth to a proxy war in eastern Europe.

    • rhywun

      He is unbelievably shameless.

    • rhywun

      The air raid siren as the besties were walking around outside together was a nice touch.

      • R C Dean

        Odds that wasn’t prearranged?

      • UnCivilServant

        Zero.

        Russia was informed of the visit and would not bomb Kiev during the visit.

      • Rebel Scum

        The propaganda is pretty blatant.

  13. Gender Traitor

    I thought Tuesday Morning sold other stores’ closeout merchandise. I guess Big/Odd Lots will sell theirs, and if Big/Odd Lots goes under, that’s when we’ll know it’s all over.

    • SDF-7

      Nah — if I start seeing mass Dollar Generals closing, then we know we’re in trouble.

      (Ok… a bit less facetious — I actually think they may soon. Seems like they’ve got the Starbucks “One ever 2 miles” business plan, which seems like oversaturing the market space, so wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve over extended in actuality..)

      • Michael Malaise

        Krispy Kreme, thy name is overextension!

  14. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    In case anybody thought Taiwan would be the next glorious frontier of warmongering, we’ve got a stepping stone on the way.

    https://news.antiwar.com/2023/02/20/us-ambassador-says-israel-can-do-whatever-they-need-against-iran/

    Tom Nides, the US ambassador to Israel, said Sunday that Israel could do “whatever they need” against Iran and said the US has no plans to pursue a revival of the Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA.

    “As President Biden has said, we will not stand by and watch Iran get a nuclear weapon, number one. Number two, he said, all options are on the table. Number three, Israel can and should do whatever they need to deal with, and we’ve got their back,” Nides said, according to The Times of Israel.

    • Brawndo

      Does “doing whatever Israel needs to do” include strafing US boats and not facing any repercussions for it?

  15. Rebel Scum

    I want some of what you’re smoking.

    Oleksiy Danilov, Kyiv’s National Security and Defence Council boss, called Vladimir Putin ‘Hitler’s twin’ as he reiterated Ukraine’s ambition to expel all Russian troops from its soil, including from Crimea which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.

    The security boss previously warned the bloodiest battles are ‘yet to come’ within the next few months, in what will be a ‘defining’ moment of the war, amid warnings that the Russian president will soon launch a new offensive in the east of Ukraine to take control of – at the very least – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

    In his latest comments, Danilov vowed that Ukraine would get justice for the thousands of civilians who have been killed since Putin ordered his forces across the border on February 24 last year. He also warned other countries that the Russian despot would not stop at Ukraine if his forces achieve a total victory.

    ‘Our tanks will be on Red Square and that will be justice,’ Danilov The Sun. ‘They invaded our territory, killed our women, our children, the elderly and civilians.

    Interestingly you were doing that yourself prior to the invasion.

    • WTF

      He also warned other countries that the Russian despot would not stop at Ukraine if his forces achieve a total victory.

      Yeah, right, he actually thinks a direct war with NATO would work out well for him, given his success in Ukraine.

    • AlexinCT

      The Ukrainians still have a bone to pick with the people that gave them the Holodomor….

      • Drake

        The international communists?

      • AlexinCT

        Stalin’s KGB and their ideological descendants….

      • Drake

        The FBI and CIA?

        Looked up the dates. Trotsky (from the Ukraine) was exiled in 1929. The Holodomor started in 1932 by the Georgian Stalin. The neo-cons are the political and in several notable cases the actual descendants of other exiled Trotskyites who still hold a grudge. (About Trotsky being exiled and assassinated. Not dead Ukrainians, they obviously don’t care about that in the least.k

    • juris imprudent

      Someone should tell him that Crimea was only given to Ukraine by the Soviet bosses in Moscow.

    • rhywun

      Our tanks will be on Red Square

      Wait wut

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Not before the nukes fly.

      • Not Adahn

        “Their” tanks?

      • Brawndo

        Good catch, lol

      • Ownbestenemy

        I was scoffed at saying they would turn their new toys offensively a few weeks ago. Might not be an effective fighting force given size of their army, but they want an offensive push, not just defense of their homeland.

      • WTF

        Flanking maneuver into Russia!

      • Rat on a train

        War trophies?

      • Drake

        Park the Leopard next to the Tiger and Panther.

      • Michael Malaise

        Insert Pete Davidson Chad “Okay” GIF here.

  16. Sensei

    They Found a Radical Cure for Loneliness: the Phone Call

    Ms. Wiltshire, of Deep River, Ontario, made it a goal a few months ago to have one phone call, one video call and one in-person meetup with friends each week. She decided to treat calls like the “key performance indicators” she uses in her online-tutoring business. She tracks them in a journal, along with her water consumption and frequency of taking walks.

    Words fail me.

    • PieInTheSky

      being Canada if it is not MAID it is good

    • Michael Malaise

      35? I thought this was about 75 year olds or something. That would be a nice article. This bullshit about a busy mom is well, bullshit.

  17. SDF-7

    Nice to see one of our favorite presidents get some loving.

    • Tres Cool

      “Coolidge cut taxes because he wanted the people to “have more,” but as importantly, he radically reduced government spending. He took a knife to government agencies, believing that “The collection of taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny. Under this Republic the rewards of industry belong to those who earn them.”

      +man-crush

    • Michael Malaise

      “Coolidge believed government should be restrained from such intrusions because the Constitution limits it.”

      Hahahaha.

      The Constitution gave the feds too much power from the jump.

  18. Pat

    Raging With The Machine

    […] By the early 1980s, the malaise of the Carter years had given way to the get-tough strutting of the Reagan era. Though the times might have changed, the subversive spirit of rock and roll had not, and, just as The Man was starting to get comfortable with acts like Nugent, a new breed of musicians was kicking in the door and coming for the kids: The raw, back-to-basics onslaught pioneered by the Ramones in late-’70s New York had ignited a rebel snottiness in America’s teens not seen since the 1950s.

    By the time it landed in California in the early ’80s, bands such as Fear and The Circle Jerks were primed to once again make sure your parents lost sleep over what you were up to. And so, year upon glorious year, it continued, the sublime, unstoppable middle finger to everything you were supposed to do.

    Best of all, every successive incarnation of rock and roll seemed intent on upping the ante. Whereas the establishment might have thrown a tantrum when Elvis fused hillbilly music with rhythm and blues, they were all but convulsing once heavy metal began inbreeding with punk. The sound and culture conceived from this unholy consummation was unabashedly menacing, and so, by 1985, federal legislators were condemning this dangerous filth, insisting that it had to be stopped. From Motley Crue to 2 Live Crew, music was apparently more of a threat to our fragile youth than AIDS or Soviet ICBMs.

    […]

    To paraphrase a classic punk tune, the 1970s and ’80s feel like another time, another planet.

    In an August 2021 Interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Gene Simmons, leader of ’70s shock rockers Kiss, came out and said he would like to see compulsory Covid vaccination, backed up by the force of law. He also called for mandatory masking of the face, again, enforced at the point of a gun. This is, of course, precisely the position of the U.S. government — a government that, in 2023, is not only still astoundingly incompetent, but also unprecedentedly authoritarian on a frightening scale. 

    For those of us who grew up pumping our fists to Deuce’s power chords, the fact that Gene Simmons wants to give the government the right to throw you in jail if you don’t follow Orwellian directives is nothing short of treasonous. With his ghastly appearance and degenerate song titles (e.g., “Let’s Put the X in Sex” and “Christine Sixteen”), Simmons was the one rocker who epitomized why our music was threatening to The Man. So why is he now standing shoulder to shoulder with him, threatening us?

    […]

    Amazingly, in spite of all this, Simmons isn’t the only rocker who wants to toss his non-vaccinated fans onto the gulag-bound crazy train: Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters’ frontman and self-appointed health expert, is also segregating the mindlessly obedient from those concert-goers who dare question The Man and isn’t above alienating them in order to demonstrate his allegiance to the establishment.

    This past August, Grohl canceled an already ticketed show in Minnesota because the venue wouldn’t turn away those who refused to show their government-issued vaccination papers, and, in June of 2021, his band excluded those not carrying the requisite state credentials from attending a concert in New York — prior to contracting Covid themselves despite being vaccinated and right before their drummer’s death from a drug overdose. (The Foo Fighters’ taking a hardline on Covid at the expense of young fans also marks a dramatic overcorrection from the band’s previous history of idiotic AIDS denialism.) Other rock acts fronting for The Man’s vaccination agenda include Maroon 5, The Killers, and Phish.

    […]

    Even people not that interested in music sense that there is something wrong here. There is a clear shift, one that has little direct relationship with the Covid debacle, or even the marginal credibility afforded singers who chain smoke and try to pass their ex-wives off as siblings.  Rather, the most important, nay, frightening change is that so many prominent, influential rock musicians have become mouthpieces for the government.

    Far from calling for censorship of contentious or controversial viewpoints, musicians of yesteryear put their careers on the line in order to give a voice to those without one. From Pete Seeger to Country Joe, from Three Dog Night to the MC5, they denounced the idiocy of pointless foreign wars, the moral bankruptcy of racial segregation, and the unconstitutionality of unwarranted government intrusion into our lives.

    Youth relied on their musicians to be both their inspiration and their voice in fighting the regime that sanctioned all of those things. It was apparent to them that those in power not only didn’t have their interests in mind, but were generally out of touch, inept, and corrupt. That is clearly the case in America today — more than ever, judging by any metric not originating from the state itself.

    Which is to say, measures that have largely evaporated: Virtually all of the media, corporate America, and all major internet gatekeepers are in lockstep with those in power. As such, anything not in keeping with the rulers’ narrative is labeled “misinformation,” “false,” a “lie,” or is simply censored outright. Indeed, the most chilling aspect of what’s happening in our country is not that we have an increasingly authoritarian government with a strong inclination to shut down dissent — it’s that they have never had more ability to do so. If ever there were a time for rock musicians to be composing, publishing, and performing music that calls all of this into question, it’s now.

    I’m certain we’ve all noticed and mentioned this before.

    • SDF-7

      I’m still a bit bummed I couldn’t convince my son that polka was how he could really rebel against me. Ah well.

    • Count Potato

      “With his ghastly appearance and degenerate song titles (e.g., “Let’s Put the X in Sex” and “Christine Sixteen”), Simmons was the one rocker who epitomized why our music was threatening to The Man.”

      I don’t see how that is threatening to The Man. Kiss wasn’t political.

      • Not Adahn

        They were hardly shock rockers.

        My kindergarten class literally put on KISS makeup and sang for the parents. PBS has one of their shows backstage at a KISS concert.

      • WTF

        A garage band with a gimmick.

    • Chipwooder

      I was an Offspring fan for 25+ years, until they fired Pete Parada for refusing the covid shot, on the recommendation of his doctor because he has Guillain-Barre syndrome. Fuck them.

      • The Other Kevin

        Yep, me too. I heard one of their songs the other day, and just shook my head. “The more cynical you become, the better off you’ll be.” Apparently not.

    • The Other Kevin

      This bothers me to no end. We got a refund for a Maroon 5 show because Mrs. TOK is not vaccinated.

      I recently started listening to 80’s punk and skate music. We really need to get that spirit back.

      • Chipwooder

        I own a copy of The Decline of Western Civilization, and watch it frequently. Most of it could never, ever happen today.

      • Nephilium

        I’ve got some bad news for you on a big percentage of the people who had that spirit…

      • KSuellington

        If you haven’t watched Lords of Dogtown and the documentary Dogtown and the Z Boys you should definitely give both of them a watch.

      • Bones

        This is my dilemma as well. I was all about the DIY skate-punk culture in the 80’s, and to see these spineless twits side with daddy government just shows that they weren’t all that bright to begin with. There are a few state haters left, but not nearly as many as there should be.

        Look at Biafra supporting socialists and Rollins continues to baffle me with his righteous stupidity. Punk was about not needing anyone to get what you wanted, it was a middle finger to the world and especially positions of power. I guess now its about giving the state a rusty trombone. Poseurs, the lot of them!

  19. SDF-7

    ‘Orning ‘ordles… still in the Meh-diterranean sea.

    Daily Duotrigordle #356
    Guesses: 36/37
    Time: 04:02.63
    https://duotrigordle.com/

    Daily Quordle 393
    8️⃣7️⃣
    4️⃣3️⃣
    quordle.com

    • Pat

      Daily Quordle 393
      5️⃣6️⃣
      4️⃣3️⃣

    • rhywun

      Daily Quordle 393
      6️⃣7️⃣
      3️⃣5️⃣

    • kinnath

      Daily Quordle 393
      6️⃣7️⃣
      5️⃣4️⃣
      quordle.com

      boring

    • Sean

      Daily Quordle 393
      5️⃣8️⃣
      3️⃣7️⃣
      quordle.com

    • Grosspatzer

      Daily Quordle 393
      5️⃣3️⃣
      4️⃣6️⃣
      quordle.com

  20. PieInTheSky

    SARS-CoV-2 spike mRNA vaccine sequences circulate in blood up to 28 days after COVID-19 vaccination

    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apm.13294

    but the science said the mrna does not stay long in the blood. strange.

    • Not Adahn

      Of course not. It can’t work if it’s in the blood, it’s got to migrate into cells in order to get the body to produce spike proteins.

    • Lackadaisical

      Up to 28 days because they only tested that long or because it actually went away by day 29?

      • Count Potato

        Turned into zombies.

  21. Count Potato

    “Google-owned YouTube placed age restrictions on a documentary from the Catholic League that was critical of Disney earlier this month but has yet to explain the rationale behind their decision, or what specific aspects of the video triggered the move.

    Several interview subjects in the documentary, “Walt’s Disenchanted Kingdom,” claim Disney’s leadership has sacrificed the company’s family-friendly image to woke rebranding in a misguided effort to secure future viewers and crack the Chinese market…

    “The video in question was correctly age-restricted,” YouTube’s communications department said in a statement. “Sometimes videos don’t violate our policies, but may be inappropriate for viewers under the age of 18. In these cases, we may place an age-restriction on the video. Our policies apply equally to all content uploaded to YouTube.”

    When pressed for specifics about what constitutes “inappropriate,” YouTube did not reply.”

    https://justthenews.com/nation/free-speech/thurs-youtube-stands-decision-after-documentary-video-slamming-disney-hit-age

    Totally not a publisher.

    • juris imprudent

      Have you ever noticed that online platforms are just about as transparent as a hacking ring? You wouldn’t even know humans worked there.

    • invisible finger

      I’ve seen YT videos suddenly get age restricted because a safe-for-work Playboy cover was shown for a couple seconds. Seems like lazy “intelligence” algorithms control YT.

  22. Count Potato

    “In the wake of the Buffalo shooting, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul asked [Attorney General Letitia] James’ office to investigate online platforms for “civil or criminal liability.” They released a joint report in October calling for platforms to be “held accountable for allowing hateful and dangerous content to spread,” as happened with convicted shooter Payton Gendron’s rampage on Twitch, Reddit and 4chan.

    The resulting law requires networks to offer “a clear and easily accessible mechanism” for reporting conduct that vilifies, humiliates or incites violence related to several categories, including race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.

    It must include a “direct response” to complainants on “how the matter is being handled,” and networks must post a “clear and concise policy” on how they’ll respond to reports. The attorney general can investigate violations and seek civil penalties for “knowingly” not complying.

    While those non-speech liability provisions mean the law isn’t preempted by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the judge said the plaintiffs were likely to win on other grounds.”

    https://justthenews.com/nation/free-speech/governments-can-regulate-school-board-comments-not-social-media-courts-rule

    More lawfare to push woke nonsense.

  23. Pat

    The trans-activist tantrum at the New York Times

    Last week, hundreds of New York Times contributors and staffers signed an open letter to Philip Corbett, the paper’s associate managing editor for standards, denouncing the ‘editorial bias in the newspaper’s reporting on transgender, nonbinary and gender non-conforming people’.

    The NYT’s crime? It has published, in the words of the open letter, ‘over 15,000 words of frontpage Times coverage debating the propriety of medical care for trans children’.

    Allow me to translate for any readers not fluent in the language of woke tyrants: the New York Times has dared to publish a range of views on the policy of giving children puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones, and allowing doctors to cut off their healthy body parts. Journalists reporting both sides of a highly controversial and experimental medical treatment for adolescents? How very dare they!

    ‘Both sides’ is now an absolute no-no for vast numbers of people who somehow still consider themselves to be journalists. I genuinely don’t understand why these people want to be journalists at all. It would be better for everyone if they just admitted that they were activists, commentators or political operatives.

    • AlexinCT

      Please leave me out of the tantrum you are throwing cause people refuse to accept your demand they live in your mental disorder world. I refuse as well.

      • R.J.

        If we stop paying attention to this it goes away. Trans activists couldn’t fill a ballroom in Poughkeepsie.

    • Michael Malaise

      The success of Hogwarts: Legacy is a fucking white pill.

      • Michael Malaise

        I recall them printing a defense of JK Rowling as well and getting the activist class all riled up.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    “Activists upset”

    Did they think those people were going to buy a mule and raise cotton?

  25. Sensei

    I haven’t seen this mentioned yesterday.

    Roald Dahl’s Children’s Books Changed to Make Them More Inclusive

    Among the changes to the latest editions of Mr. Dahl’s books, the gluttonous boy Augustus Gloop in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is no longer described as “enormously fat,” and is now just “enormous.” The Cloud Men in “James and the Giant Peach” are now Cloud People. The giants in The BFG no longer eat “men, women and children,” but “people.”

    The heroine of the book “Matilda” no longer reads Rudyard Kipling, but Jane Austen. A reference in the “Witches” to putting people in a meat grinder is removed.

    • Not Adahn

      We had it, along with Philli Pullman’s statement that merely bowdlerizing was insufficient — Dahl’s books should go out of print and be replaced by “better writers.”

    • Pat

      As ever, Spiked had a good take on it.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      It’s questionable whether a majority of the low turnout for the anti-war protest were government astro-turf and bad actors.

  26. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    Technical read, but I’ll try to summarize:

    The Pfizer vaccine is encoding a lot of junk in addition to the spike protein, but the primary defect appears to be code for a plasmid (self-replicating bacterial DNA that can infect other bacterial cells) that is present in pseudomonas and double antibiotic resistant (neomycin and kanamycin).

    So outside of the spike protein and the damage it causes, the Pfizer vaccine is also causing the body to create antibiotic resistant plasmids that can infect E. Coli bacteria in the gut. We’re actively developing entirely new antibiotic resistant bacterial strains in vivo with each injection.

    Who knows what other junk is being encoded as the standard for the vaccines was dropped to 50% because Pfizer et al couldn’t meet the already obscenely low quality and integrity standard.

    • juris imprudent

      Maybe you and Alex should get a room.

      • Pat

        Presuming that’s not a parody account, you can’t really accuse anyone of putting words in their mouths or misrepresenting that they’re Marxists.

  27. Rebel Scum

    How many Polacks does it take to start WWIII?

    In an interview on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Mateusz Morawiecki told France 24 that Moscow “is preparing for the next attack.”

    As well as fighting for their independence, he said Ukraine was also fighting for “our freedom and our security” and that Russia “has summoned the worst demons of 20th century imperialism, colonialism and nationalism.” …

    He described how “provocations,” such as Russian jets buzzing the borders of NATO members, signaled Putin’s future intentions.

    “It’s up to the Ukrainians to define what victory means,” he said, “but I would not wish that Russian is half winning this war because they are preparing the next round.

    They are preparing for the next attack, the next offensive, potentially on the Baltic states, or Finland, or Poland, or Romania or Moldova, any other country bordering,” he said, including countries in Central Asia.

    Are you in his head, or is he in yours?

    Also, he is insane and willing to attack a NATO country because reasons…

    • invisible finger

      TDS, PDS… as long as this type of derangement gins up votes the hysteria will never end.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Now do our rationale for countries aiding and abetting military operations against our own troops.

    • Sean

      I mean…I kinda want m-lok charms on my stuff now….

    • EvilSheldon

      Not the ugliest gun I’ve ever seen, but it’s up there.

      • Not Adahn

        Latest issue of USPSA magazine has an interview with some junior girl SCSA shooter. She calls her Czechmate Parrot “beautiful.”

        Something something different folks.

      • EvilSheldon

        At least all of the ugly parts on that one are bolt-ons…

    • UnCivilServant

      I say we slash UK ‘Scientists’ to reduce stupidity.

    • Drake

      Wouldn’t closing their borders to more immigrants do the same thing less painfully?

      • PieInTheSky

        but pain is virtuous to cleanse the sins of the past

    • juris imprudent

      Kisin cut this to shreds. UK emits less than 2% of GHG – so completely eliminating all CO2, including human respiration, from that source would have no effect on global climate.

      • UnCivilServant

        You know full well this has nothing to do with climate.

      • rhywun

        But it would impoverish the masses which is the real point anyway.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      That’s true and correct, the question is is it desirable? The Brits shouldn’t have even bothered leaving the EU really, they’re more stupidly woke them the continentals ever thought of being.

  28. PieInTheSky

    In local news, Romania is closing down the Russian Culture Center in Bucharest

  29. Count Potato

    “Dancers launch $25M lawsuit against NYC’s Sapphire Gentleman’s Club after it ‘fostered a toxic work environment’ where they were asked ‘to give sex acts for cash while club turned a blind eye’

    The lawsuit also alleges that the flashing lights and the loud music hid a work environment that was hostile and toxic.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11774529/Ex-strippers-launch-25M-lawsuit-against-New-York-Citys-Sapphire-Gentlemans-Club.html

    LOL

    • Lackadaisical

      I am shocked that gambling is going on here….

      • UnCivilServant

        “Your Winnings, Sir.”

    • Pope Jimbo

      Somebody got to fat to work the pole and decided to make a last money grab?

      • AlexinCT

        Amen, your holiness…

    • Pat

      I, for one, find topless dancers having epileptic seizures extremely erotic.

      • Not Adahn

        “The lap dance is so much better when the stripper is crying seizing.”

      • Chipwooder

        Ah, a fellow Bloodhound Gang devotee! *gives a nod*

      • Timeloose

        I can still hear the Casio tones in that song.

      • Chipwooder

        “Name was….Russell”

    • PieInTheSky

      asked or forced?

      • Not Adahn

        According to the allegations, the manager had to approve dancers taking customers to private rooms, and wouldn’t approve dancers who refused extras.

      • PieInTheSky

        go work a different club?

      • Not Adahn

        $2k/night for wiggling your ass out of arm’s reach of guys is a human right!

  30. Lackadaisical

    *checks calendar*

    Thought I was having a senior moment there for a second.

  31. Lackadaisical

    “Stinky Wizzleteats on February 20, 2023 at 6:20 pm
    As lame as it seems coordinating with the Russians is a good thing. If they unwittingly dropped a missed on his head or shot down Airforce One it’d be WWIII.”

    Dredging this back up from yesterday, because I can.

    I cannot think of a worse way to go than being annihilated in nuclear fire due to sleepy Joe Biden… Now there’s a horror story.

  32. Pope Jimbo

    In today’s game of Square That Circle, proggies will explain why banning conversion therapy for kids is Good but banning sex change operations for kids is Very Bad.

    The Minnesota House of Representatives passed a bill Monday with bipartisan support that bans what’s called conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth and “vulnerable adults.”

    After hours of at times emotional debate, the DFL-led chamber voted 81-47 to prohibit mental health professionals from providing therapy aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

    Those who engage in the practice with vulnerable adults or those under the age of 18 would be subject to discipline from a professional licensing board under the proposal. The practice is widely discredited by physicians.

    I don’t think that conversion therapy is a good thing at all, but at least it doesn’t cause any irreversible physical changes.

    • Drake

      Does the bill actually define “conversion therapy” in detail? Or are they just going to pull the license of any counselor who says “you might not be gay”?

    • R C Dean

      I saw the language from one of the bills to, I think, ban transing of minors. From what I can tell, it is nearly impossible to ban one without the other unless you are willing to get very, very specific. The usual kind of legislative language is easily applied to both transing and conversion therapy.

    • rhywun

      prohibit mental health professionals from providing therapy aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity

      See what they just did there?

      The practice is widely discredited by physicians

      Therapy aimed at minors with gender dysphoria is absolutely NOT discredited but this bill claims otherwise and will apparently ban it if this wording is accurate.

      • AlexinCT

        Accuracy in your claims, especially in the now corrupt scientific world, seems to be the norm. After the last 3 or so years, that is an inescapable conclusion…

  33. robc

    Wasnt Peloton’s rise and fall obvious from their business model?

    It was clear they were going to get a big one time infusion of cash, but the model couldn’t sustain itself long term.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Yup, riding the venture capital train.

      One wonders how much money the founders sucked out of it before it went clips up.

      • Pat

        clips up

        Nicely done.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Yes, but this is the crowd that would make due with poured concrete in coffee cans or body resistance. Peloton was for the laptop class that loves fads. The mid to upper execs at my company and others would mention their pelotons as part of their daily routines. I rolled my eyes at the initial price and the ongoing subscription fee. There was clearly an upper bound to the size of the market. The last straw was when Hilton announced they were adding bikes. I’m sure someone thought this was an expansion and way to get non owners in, but to me it stunk of pure desperation with again a very limited market (1-2 bikes x how many properties?).

      Similar story locally with Arcimoto. Clearly would fail but kept being pushed by the media and local pols.

    • AlexinCT

      If you think this is a failure of the public school system, the joke is on you. The elites want a failing system to keep the competition for their idiot inbred offspring low and to keep the serfs easy to manipulate. The public school system is there to indoctrinate and keep kids stupid. Especially the urban center ones.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        The public school system is there to suck money out of the taxpayers and enrich the DNC’s most valuable demographic, useless twats that belong to the NEA.

        There are ideologues in the schools of education and among the staff, but the money is the important thing.

    • robc

      Charter schools.

      It isn’t the best possible solution, but it is a step in the right direction.

      Apparently Illinois has charter schools, so the question is, how do they change policy to get many more of them.

      • Gustave Lytton

        End public sector bargaining entirely.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        👆👆👆

      • Gustave Lytton

        And prohibit public employees from holding elective office.

      • robc

        George Meany agrees.

      • Count Potato

        So did FDR.

      • robc

        Yes, I was going to add him in there too, but I couldnt remember for sure.

        Because didn’t part of Meany’s problem with it come from dealing with FDR?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        You need the rich white people on board.

      • Lackadaisical

        Well, if you had the masses getting a good education, hope could they be sure their kids would get all the prime opportunities?

      • Lackadaisical

        What we really need is some more equity in public schooling. No one likes those gifted programs right? Let’s get rid of that and any public school with actual standards.

      • robc

        Lots of them using charter schools in Colorado, from what I can tell.

        Well, maybe not rich, but 60th to 95th percentile white people do.

      • Michael Malaise

        Fund students, not systems.

        Good luck with that in Illinois.

      • robc

        As I said above, Illinois has charter schools, but it seems very small.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Revealed preference.

      • R C Dean

        Revealed preference, or marginalized by the state/teacher unions?

        Backpack funding is the way to go (if we simply must spend tax dollars educating other people’s children). Charter schools aren’t that.

      • kinnath

        Doing our part

        On January 24, 2023, Governor Reynolds signed the Students First Act into law, just two weeks after introducing it in her annual Condition of the State address. The bill makes state education funding available for K-12 students who choose to attend private schools.

        The liberal tears were wonderful.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Unions do not control Uhauls. Parents that don’t care about their children education, don’t care about their education.

      • Not Adahn

        Unions do not control Uhauls.

        *Teamster’s legislation committee drafts bill to remedy this*

      • Not Adahn

        In NY, there is a quota on how many charter schools there can be, where they can be, and some other conditions that prevents even those limits from being met.

    • rhywun

      Yeah, it’s way more than that.

      But I feel pretty confident in predicting that no lessons will be learned and armies of teachers and administrators will get fat raises.

    • R C Dean

      How many times do I have to say it?

      Those are government schools, not public schools. Call them by their right name.

      And see how people’s reactions change. Learn from the left – if you win the battle over language, you are well on your way to winning the war.

    • UnCivilServant

      I don’t think that’s kosher for lent.

      • Not Adahn

        “Something ain’t kosher in Denmark.”

    • AlexinCT

      They should make Valentine ones… Shaped like…

      Never mind.

    • AlexinCT

      It’s just a clump of cells lady!

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      The real question is whether her lip filler is more intelligent than its host.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Why some women want to walk around with what appears to be a set of engorged labia on their face is beyond me.

      • Michael Malaise

        The puffy lips belong to the dead woman.

    • PieInTheSky

      She can’t be the only pregnant woman in jail. – if she is they need more trans women in that jail

    • Pope Jimbo

      If this succeeds, I look forward to the first biological man/criminal to use this to get his release because he “identifies as a pregnant female”.

      If you can be sent to a women’s prison if you identify as a woman, why not let them out if they identify as pregnant?

      • Gustave Lytton

        “I identify as innocent”

  34. PieInTheSky

    Also in Local news Romania again has the highest traffic accident death rate in Europe at 86 per million people (likely higher as Romania has fewer people than the government claims)

    Lowest is Sweden with 21.

    • Lackadaisical

      Those are rookie numbers.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Gotta pump those numbers up.

      • PieInTheSky

        The US seems to be at like 120

      • Lackadaisical

        Exactly, those are pro numbers.

    • Rat on a train

      Sweden finally got the moose problem under control?

  35. Lackadaisical

    “However, the New York Times reports, the family then decided to sell the land back to the county, given the difficulty of developing the beachfront property, and the fact that the asset could be turned quickly into cash.”

    People pursue rational self interest, news at 11.

  36. PieInTheSky

    Touch wood: luck, protection, power or pleasure? A wooden phallus from Vindolanda Roman fort

    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/touch-wood-luck-protection-power-or-pleasure-a-wooden-phallus-from-vindolanda-roman-fort/53F4B0838D23DB65F6A244695624102E

    The anaerobic conditions at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, close to Hadrian’s Wall in northern Britain, have famously preserved a variety of finds made of organic materials, including wooden writing tablets and a pair of leather boxing gloves. Here, the authors re-examine a wooden object originally recovered in 1992, re-interpreting the find as a large, disembodied phallus. Stone and metal phalli are known from across the Roman world, but the Vindolanda example is the first wooden phallus to be recognised. Combining evidence for potential use-wear with a review of other archaeological and contextual information, the authors consider various possible interpretations of the function and significance of the Vindolanda phallus during the second century AD.

    • Not Adahn

      The object could have been used by a slave owner on an enslaved person, whether male or female, for torture or to assert dominance, reinforcing power imbalances, according to the study.

      “So, the other thing we have to be conscious of is that it would be easy to cast such an object as silly and frivolous and just about sexual gratification, but it could be a tool for perpetuating power imbalance and subjugation,” Collins said.

      Also, that’s obviously a pestle.

    • Lackadaisical

      That would be one hell of a splinter.

      • EvilSheldon

        ‘Perpetuating power imbalance and subjugation,’ is my kink.

    • UnCivilServant

      Where’s the gun store?

      • Rat on a train

        It really needs representation from each of the ATF’s targets.

    • Michael Malaise

      Julia Child was a mythical libertarian woman. And a real estate developer to boot!

    • R C Dean

      What’s his beef with manicures and pizza, anyway?

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, the nails are only pink and white, excluding all the oppressed peoples, and that Pizza place is advertizing selling Sicilian ‘Pizza’ as though it were food.

  37. Sensei

    Abused woman who lost retail job over busted teeth gets a new smile

    Sad that this had to go viral for the woman to get her teeth fixed. And what a crappy policy from Sheetz. I’m glad they changed it, but it really does highlight the disconnect at HQ with actually empowering field managers.

    Chain / franchise retail is awful. I’d much rather work private retail.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    Sunday night (Monday pre-dawn), during my sleep mode malfunction, I ended up watching “Gentlemen’s Agreement”.

    What a steaming pile of odious classist bullshit. Gregory “Look, everybody, I’m a Jew for a day!” Peck is a pompous sanctimonious douchebag. He can see the world clear as crystal from up there on his cross. Pretty much everybody in that movie is a cartoon caricature.

    I am undoubtedly influenced by the world around me, but the only thing missing is a platoon of ADL attorneys trailing behind him filing lawsuits to validate his performative butthurt.

    Disney should remake it with transgender activists instead of Jews. It would take a minimum of tweaking.

    • Michael Malaise

      “He can see the world clear as crystal from up there on his cross”

      He might be a Jew in the movie, but he’s not THAT sanctimonious douchebag!

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Why wasn’t Joe dolled up in fatigues, a helmet, and a flak jacket for his Ukrainian photo op?

    Missed opportunity, sez I.

    • Rat on a train

      +1 landing under sniper fire

    • Pope Jimbo

      Mike Dukakis still has all the prop army man costume stuff in his closet.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      If he was camouflaged the Secret Service wouldn’t be able to find him when he wandered off.

  40. Sensei

    If only Comrade Stalin knew!

    “If airlines knew there would be severe punishment, that would change behavior,” William McGee, Senior Fellow for Aviation & Travel at the American Economic Liberties Project told The Post. “If you’re the CEO of a big airline, you’re not afraid of the DOT at this point.”

    How Pete Buttigieg and Washington lobbyists are fueling the US airline crisis

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      The NY Post is reliably fascist in the traditional sense.

    • PieInTheSky

      the DOT needs more power is all

  41. PieInTheSky

    panpsychism is impressive in the sense of needing to break from a very sick and sometimes very doctrinaire consensus, but is disappointing in a sort of abused pet way of still loving scientific materialism and refusing to call it a “wrong turn”

    obligatory meme drop

    https://twitter.com/chaosprime/status/1627581594163716098

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Did anybody else notice the co-ordinated wave of stories about how “The plague causes deep, long lasting and irreversible cardiac damage so get yer shots pronto, like good little boys and girls. Otherwise, you’ll DIE!”?

    • Sensei

      Yup.

      OTH, the shots have no issues.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Only way to keep up the scare factor now.

  43. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    I enjoyed the Peloton story. I would be shocked if they aren’t toast, but who knows. The woke in that article was entertaining, too. But this:

    “Fitness has been pretty literal in the world, and there’s tons of people that have been systemically left out of fitness, and we intend to make those individuals feel included in whatever that means for them,” Cotter said. “I bet my whole career on the fact that this rise is happening, so, it’s happening.”

    What the fuck does that even mean?

    Great song. In my top fifty for sure.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Means when we shut you in you should have access to a home gym and only white people have that.

      • Michael Malaise

        Just need a screen, Winston.

      • Lackadaisical

        I thought it was talking about fat people.

        Maybe it means whatever you want it to mean, in which case, well done.

    • rhywun

      Great song. In my top fifty for sure.

      This.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    The US seems to be at like 120

    Puny underpowered cars in countries so small you can’t get up enough of a head of steam to hurt yourself.

    USA! USA! USA!

  45. The Other Kevin

    I wouldn’t say I have my finger on the pulse of regular people, so I wonder if the response to the chemical spill and the continuing throwing of money at Ukraine is changing anyone’s mind. To me that looks really, really bad.

    • Tundra

      Too much volume for normies to keep up. The coming war should focus their minds a little.

    • PieInTheSky

      I wouldn’t say I have my finger on the pulse of regular people – I sometimes do

      • UnCivilServant

        Have to find the best blood vessel?

    • Chipwooder

      I honestly don’t know the answer to this question: are there truly a whole lot of horrifying industrial accidents lately, or are they just being publicized more? Because it seems as if every other day some factory is exploding and burning to the ground, or some such thing.

      I’ve read some people saying that covid lunacy and the shitty economy has caused a lot of preventative maintenance to be put off, raising the risk of such accidents. Seems plausible to me.

      • The Other Kevin

        I’m with you here. I guess that says something for us. In the face of propaganda from both the left and right, we’re unconvinced and our position is “I don’t know”.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        The base-rate fallacy comes into play here.

      • Chipwooder

        That’s just it – I have no idea what the base rate is in this case, nor does anyone seem to provide it anywhere. Hence my confusion.

        And, as Kevin says, I’m not sure I’d trust it even if it were provided.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    What we really need is some more equity in public schooling. No one likes those gifted programs right? Let’s get rid of that and any public school with actual standards.

    Also, we need to everything possible to keep the dumbest and most mentally unbalanced and disruptive students in the “mainstream” classroom, so they won’t suffer from low self-esteem.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    I wouldn’t say I have my finger on the pulse of regular people, so I wonder if the response to the chemical spill and the continuing throwing of money at Ukraine is changing anyone’s mind. To me that looks really, really bad.

    I guess people have become utterly (but not comfortably) numb. How else can we be bombarded on a daily basis with stories about hundreds and hundreds of millions of magic-hat dollars being firehosed in every direction with nary a peep of objection?

  48. The Late P Brooks

    Learn from the left – if you win the battle over language, you are well on your way to winning the war.

    See, also: “gender affirming medical care”

    • Ownbestenemy

      See, also: “misinformation” and “disinformation”; i.e, lying and propaganda.

  49. Ownbestenemy

    Lets see who has successfully brought a case against South Park creators after they roast them….*checks notes* none. Doesn’t mean Comedy Central or whoever their financial backers are now won’t piss their collective pants cause Markel is an uptight bitch.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Everyone talking about the royals episode, but Cupid Ye was a lot funnier.

    • Chipwooder

      This ain’t Airstrip One, where virtually anything is actionable as libel. Any legal action she and her bitch boy try will be laughed out of court in minutes.

      • Sensei

        … about the Prince and Princess of Canada.

    • Gender Traitor

      If Scientology didn’t take them down, can anything?

    • AlexinCT

      Mohammed fans sure as hell did…

      • Ownbestenemy

        Why I mentioned the network(s), not themselves.

    • Nephilium

      It’s not like Matt and Trey haven’t been looking for a way out for a while now. I’ll find it entertaining if the royalty celebrity in exile is the ones to do it.

      • Ownbestenemy

        This much is true…I mean the past few seasons are a big “let us out of our contract”

  50. Count Potato

    “Climate justice = Trans rights!
    Climate justice = Trans rights!
    Climate justice = Trans rights!
    Climate justice = Trans rights!
    Climate justice = Trans rights!
    Climate justice = Trans rights!

    Today and everyday we stand with our trans siblings 🏳‍⚧🏳‍⚧🏳‍⚧🏳‍⚧”

    https://twitter.com/FFFMAPA/status/1626254118594527232

    • Certified Public Asshat

      What we need is solar powered gender affirming care.

    • PieInTheSky

      only said it 6 times. 7 is needed for it to become truth

      • Chipwooder

        100 times will get you admitted to Stanford.

        Also, this is complete gibberish.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        It’s obviously that Catholic education.

  51. The Late P Brooks

    So smart. So dreamy.

    Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says he’s taking steps to impose stronger regulations on freight trains hauling toxic chemicals, such as the one that derailed and exploded into flames near East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes and raising environmental and health concerns.

    He’s also calling on Congress to “untie” the agency’s hands in regards to legislation that weakened the Department of Transportation’s ability to enforce certain safety and accountability rules.

    Buttigieg accused the rail industry of employing “vigorous resistance” to increased safety measures, which he says has thwarted efforts to strengthen tank cars and mandate a better braking system on trains that carry volatile fuels, chemicals and other toxic substances.

    “Profit and expediency must never outweigh the safety of the American people,” Buttigieg said on Monday. “We at USDOT are doing everything in our power to improve rail safety, and we insist that the rail industry do the same — while inviting Congress to work with us to raise the bar.”

    Yes, Mayor Petey. Wave your magic regulatory wand and banish capitalism. The earth must be saved.

  52. Certified Public Asshat

    Biden wanted to add a 'ski' to the end of his name because he grew up surrounded by Polish immigrants https://t.co/ySrKBpNtxV— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) February 21, 2023

    And now he wants to kill all of you.

    • Chipwooder

      Gosh, what would his fellow black congregational members think about that?

      Of all the grimly hilarious aspects of contemporary society, none is funnier than the same people outraged by Trump’s pathological lying hitching their wagons to this fuckin’ guy.

      • The Other Kevin

        Not only the lying, but the borderline (and often overt) racism. There are probably 25 things he’s said that would be career killers for a Republican.

      • Chipwooder

        George Allen (who sucked anyway, but that’s beside the point) went down for “macaca” while Biden’s “You can’t own a 7-11 or Dunkin Donuts unless you have an Indian accent”, among many others, was promptly forgotten.

    • Rat on a train

      Come on man, Biden walked with Lech Walesa at the Solidarnosc protests.

    • Michael Malaise

      Right there, in his Puerto Rican neighborhood?

      • Lackadaisical

        Just next to the local synagogue.

      • Lackadaisical

        He was the first goy to read the Talmud there.

  53. Chipwooder

    Girl achieves status the old-fashioned way: by using shitloads of bronzer and donning a hijab.

      • Tundra

        Juuuuuust a bit outside!

      • Chipwooder

        I go to the box now, and feel shame

      • Gender Traitor

        …and by giving up sugar.

      • Lackadaisical

        ‘her father was Calabrese Italian’

        So, she’s only 50% white?

      • Chipwooder

        No, that’s Sicilians. Calabrese are like 60-65% white.

      • Lackadaisical

        Don’t forget that her mom is part swarthy Hun. /Benjamin Franklin

      • WTF

        I don’t get it. Arabs are white, many Latinas are white, and Muslim is not a race.

      • The Other Kevin

        When you reward social signaling, people will social signal more, even if it means lying. Nobody could have seen that coming.

    • R C Dean

      When white girls are pretending to be POCs, you know white privilege is a myth.

  54. Rebel Scum

    I mean, could you imagine if someone was to chop the footage up to portray a preferred narrative?

    “It’s hard to overstate the potential security risks if this material were to be used irresponsibly,” Thompson said, blasting McCarthy for handing Jan. 6 footage to Tucker Carlson.

    You scared, bro?

    Kevin McCarthy turned over Jan 6 videos to right-wing propagandist Tucker Carlson.

    A man who spews Kremlin talking points. Suggests Jan 6 was a false flag. And spreads the Big Lie.

    Make no mistake: This isn’t about transparency, it’s about fueling dangerous conspiracy theories.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Schiff complaining about someone spreading dangerous conspiracy theories is rich.

      My only gripe about McCarthy giving Carlson access to the video is why only the one guy gets access? Surely the govt could upload all those files to an AWS s3 bucket and let everyone go nuts.

      Case in point: Making the Paul Pelosi video public actually ended a bunch of conspiracy videos.

      • Lackadaisical

        ‘Making the Paul Pelosi video public actually ended a bunch of conspiracy videos.’

        Are you saying he wasn’t a gay lover of Pelosi?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Cause this is what we are now for sure. MJG wasn’t wrong about a national divorce. Politicians have their propaganda machines in place and they will feed the information only to them not to have a public debate about what or what did not happen. It is all just to whip the bases.

      • Rebel Scum

        Making the Paul Pelosi video public actually ended a bunch of conspiracy videos.

        Yeah that assertion about fueling conspiracy theories is ass backwards from reality. Shifty Schiff knows there are things to hide because the raw video will destroy the J6 narrative.

  55. KSuellington

    | Activists who had helped the Bruces secure the land, and other observers, were disappointed that the family decided not to hold onto it and try to reclaim the vision of their ancestors.

    These are some particularly dumbass activists if they imagined that the family would be doing anything other than selling it straight back to the state. Even if they had a strong background in real estate development and millions of dollars at their disposal it would have been at the very least a decade long process that in the end might not develop anything at all. The California Coastal Commission is notorious for being one of the most bureaucratic and anti development agencies in the country.

    • Tundra

      My family has some land in Contra Costa that has been tied up for years fucking around with one agency or another. I think it should be sold by the end of the year, but it’s been more than five years.

      • KSuellington

        That is not surprising in the least, and that is not having to deal with the Coastal Commission. Even being a massively rich rock star that is willing to fight for more than a decade won’t help. Hopefully they get something out of it T.

        https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/the-edge-u2-malibu/

      • Tundra

        Fuck that. Poor Edge. I’d just buy 150 acres down in Nayarit and have the compound done in a year.

        Does CA realize what happens when you chase away your tax cattle?

  56. The Late P Brooks

    Trend analysis for dummies

    As many residents will be proud to tell you, the thousand-odd islands that make up the Florida Keys are one of a kind: there is no other place in the world that boasts the same combination of geological, ecological, and sociological characteristics. The islands have a special, addictive quality about it, an air of freedom that leads people to turn their backs on mainland life.

    The Keys are also the first flock of canaries in the coal mine of climate change. Over the past few years, the residents of these islands have been forced to confront a phenomenon that will affect millions of Americans before the end of the century. Their present calamity offers a glimpse of our national future.

    ——-

    In the five years since Irma, the bill has come due. The hurricane made undeniable what previous floods had only suggested: that climate change will someday make life in the archipelago impossible to sustain. The storm was the first episode in a long and turbulent process of collapse, one that will expand over time to include market contraction, government disinvestment, and eventually a wholesale retreat toward the mainland. Irma may not have destroyed the Keys in one stroke, but the storm ran down the clock on life on the islands, pushing conches (the Keys’ unique name for residents) into a future that once seemed remote. The impulse to stay, which once bespoke a conch’s devotion to his or her adopted home, now looks a little more like denial. The decision to leave, on the other hand, which once signified surrender, now looks more like acceptance of the inevitable.

    According to my model, two points (carefully selected) designate a straight line right to global environmental Armageddon.

    • Lackadaisical

      I mean, they were never very hospitable to life.

      The idea that a pile of sand in the ocean should stay in the same spot is a bit silly, regardless.

    • Michael Malaise

      I was just in Key West not long ago. Seemed rather prosperous to me, but I’m just a dumbass tourist.

    • R C Dean

      “Today’s hurricanes tend to be stronger, wetter, and less predictable than those of the last century. They hold more moisture, speed up more quickly, and stay together longer.”

      Then why do I keep reading that we’re in a bit of a lull for major hurricanes that make landfall?

      And maybe, just maybe, building up tiny islands that will get run over by hurricanes wasn’t such a great idea in the first place. Take away the taxpayer funded rebuilding guarantee, and just what would be on those islands?

      • Lackadaisical

        Was there any such thing as hurricane track predictions from 100 years ago where we could compare and see if hurricanes are any more unpredictable?

        Seem to remember hearing about ton of really deadly storms from back then, and there weren’t even that many people living down this way back then.

      • UnCivilServant

        Hurricane detection and tracking was a development of the post WWII 20th century. Before then you found out if someone stumbled onto the storm in a boat, or it made landfall.

  57. The Late P Brooks

    These are some particularly dumbass activists if they imagined that the family would be doing anything other than selling it straight back to the state.

    I didn’t bother to RTFA, but I would be astounded if there wasn’t at least some sort of handshake wink-wink-nudge-nudge involved in the settlement.

  58. The Late P Brooks

    Take away the taxpayer funded rebuilding guarantee, and just what would be on those islands?

    Turtles. Cute cuddly turtles.

    • Lackadaisical

      No, but I do want to see Jen Psaki’s.

    • Not Adahn

      Is it called “Circling back?”

    • Sean

      Meh.

    • The Other Kevin

      That’s just proof we need to be more hard-nosed and Biden needs to make another podium-pounding speech.

      Is there anyone, anywhere, trying to de-escalate this?

      • Ownbestenemy

        From past reports that have been vehemently denied, they (those who have tried to deescalate) were all told to sit down and shut up.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        The asshats in DC bet the ranch on Ukraine.

        They’re not going to cede easily simply because it will be the end of their careers. Their megalomania won’t allow it.

        Congress will have put to the kibosh on it. Try not to laugh.

      • Chipwooder

        Abandoning Ukraine will also turn off the fire hose of money. They can’t have that happening.

  59. The Late P Brooks

    When Irma came 12 years later, though, the choice was much easier. During the evacuation, it took the Faasts a week to find a decaying hotel in Orlando where they could wait out the storm. As the hurricane passed over the center of the state, it knocked out their power, leaving them and their pets to spend the night in 100-degree heat without air conditioning. “That was it for us,” she said. They had to get out — not just out of the Keys, but out of Florida altogether.

    I’m sure there are a lot of Turks who can empathize with that sort of existential hardship.

    • Not Adahn

      Look, Faats….

    • Ownbestenemy

      100-degrees is survivable as long as they had water. Sounds like they were just bitching.

      • Chipwooder

        I mean, people did live in Florida before air-conditioning. I wouldn’t want to do it, but some people did.

      • Lackadaisical

        Yeah, I wouldn’t live here without it. But leaving the whole state because of just one night? That’s crazy.

  60. Sensei

    In too local news. Let’s play name that Party!

    Morristown mayor’s wife stripped of real estate license for her role in bribery scandal

    Prosecutors accused Dougherty of accepting a coffee cup stuffed with a $10,000 cash contribution to her Morris County freeholder campaign in September 2018 from Matthew O’Donnell, then a lawyer at a Morristown-based firm. She discovered the cup contained money after O’Donnell left and told him via voicemail that she could not accept the cash but could accept checks, the order stated.

    Dougherty later admitted she returned the donation in exchange for four $2,500 checks written by O’Donnell under different names and entities, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Each check fell under the $2,600 state limit for reporting individual donations to a candidate.

    • Not Adahn

      She was immediately convicted of structuring, right?

      • Rat on a train

        + Obama small donors

    • Lackadaisical

      Should have kept the cash. What a maroon.

  61. The Late P Brooks

    Apparently there are so many people fleeing the Florida Keys property prices are skyrocketing.

    Sure, that makes sense.

    • Chipwooder

      From the Yogi Berra “that place is so crowded, nobody goes there anymore” department

  62. The Late P Brooks

    Should have kept the cash. What a maroon.

    “Money? What money? All I got was this lousy coffee cup.”