379 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    “US Rep. Cori Bush proposes $14 trillion in federal reparations”

    CWAC

    • Zwak , who will swing for the crime, in double time!

      No, seriously. It should be 14 googazillions PER PERSON PER COLOR!

      • SDF-7

        I suppose on the plus side the ensuing inflation would trivialize the national debt. Sucks for the rest of us, of course (Make Wiemar Wheelbarrows Great Again!)

      • Zwak , who will swing for the crime, in double time!

        Zimbabwe smiles, buys dollars with trillion pound note.

    • SDF-7

      I think that about sums it up, yeah.

    • invisible finger

      That will buy a lot of lottery tickets.

  2. Rat on a train

    American Household Debt Surpasses $17 Trillion for the First Time
    I’ve been told the solution is increasing the debt limit.

    • SDF-7

      Unlimited credit is only for our “betters”. We lower classes are expected to pay our (and their) bills.

    • Nephilium

      THAT’S DIFFERENT!

  3. SDF-7

    FBI Whistleblowers Reveal ‘Serious Abuses,’ House Report Finds

    Half of the nation replies: “No shit, Sherlock.” Unfortunately the other half says “Huh? MSNBC isn’t telling me anything — don’t know what you’re talking about. Nothingburger.”

    Black pill sun… won’t you come…

    • Rat on a train

      You forgot the “the ends justify the means” crowd.

      • SDF-7

        They’re lumped in with “No shit, Sherlock…” just tack on “… because we need to to stop the icky people!”

      • Zwak , who will swing for the crime, in double time!

        You forgot By Any Means Possible!

        Derp.

    • blighted_non_millenial

      It’s worse than that. MSNBC are reporting that they are insubordinate employees and deserve whatever fedgov has in store for them.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        MSNBC is worse than Pravda at this point. At least the Soviet outlet worked with the threat of a gulag or a .32 bullet behind the ear if they didn’t toe the line. The MSNBC people are all in.

      • SDF-7

        Like links apparently.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Beat me to it.

        Undercover agents have no right to concealment when they are actively involved in cases where the defendants face the threat of punishment. The careers and livelihoods of the undercover officers are of no importance compared to the innocence/guilt of the accused.

        And in this case, the accused are about half the country.

      • juris imprudent

        I remember when that was a mainstream media story and not a ZH ‘conspiracy theory’.

  4. Fatty Bolger

    8-Year-Old Migrant Girl Dies in Biden Admin Custody — 2nd Child Death this Month

    Are they giving these kids COVID shots? Just wondering.

    • SDF-7

      I’m wondering about dehydration or heat exhaustion after the crossing and too overloaded / overworked to get kids processed.

      Thanks, fucking Brandon administration — you assholes. (Insert standard rant for the gates should be broad but tall and all… I don’t want amnesty on principle (back of the line, cutting assholes!), but fix the gorram legal process if you want people in and make sure you properly vet/process them, keeping everyone else out. And shut down the stupid H1B indentured servitude program while you’re at it… stop making it take 10 years for talented people to come here in the first place).

      grumble bitch moan complain

      • juris imprudent

        The problem is we’ve dumbed down refugee to be someone fleeing mean words.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Even the fucking RepubE and Fox News calls them immigrants.

      • Gustave Lytton

        From the other day, how the fuck does a local school district have 1000 H1B’s on staff?

  5. SDF-7

    Nice song, Banjos… if no one has tossed it up around here before, I have to say I’m surprised… if we were to have a site anthem, that might be it (though my headache can’t take too much of the guitar this morning). When I saw the title, almost expected a cover of this, but obviously not….

    • Nephilium

      I’d lean towards Fuck Authority (also by Pennywise), What’s Your Plan (by the Interrupters), or the Plan (by NOFX).

  6. rhywun

    The “NYC Hospital Karen” Was Probably in the Right

    I won’t hold my breath waiting for the NY Post to apologize for printing breathless exposes of Racist Karen on the front page every single day since this happened.

    • WTF

      Somehow black people can’t be racist because only white people have “power”, yet a pregnant white woman who basically had her paid-for bike stolen by a group of black people is automatically assumed to be in the wrong and is punished for it. So who are the real racists here?

      • Sean

        She should have just let him have it, he needed it to feed his family. She’s clearly the racist here and at no point did she even offer to wash his feet. #fail

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        It’s one of the most pathetic and slanderous stories I’ve ever seen capture the public’s imagination. Considering the unambiguous language many outlets used to describe her actions and how she was in the wrong she might actually end up being a rich woman because the truth appears to be precisely the opposite.

      • WTF

        Except the lawsuits would be heard by a Manhattan jury…

      • Zwak , who will swing for the crime, in double time!

        So, someone will Bragg that it was Trumps fault?

      • The Last American Hero

        Just cause the lady has a clump of cells in her hooha doesn’t give her special rights, nor negate her White Privilege. Give up the bike as part of your 200 billion in reparations.

  7. Not Adahn

    Disney announces its huge Star Wars hotel will close just a year after opening

    Nobody is going to pay for a Twi’lek until they can get the head tentacles correct.

    • The Last American Hero

      The article says some claim Disney is closing it to upset Desantis.

      Sure.

      You charge $1,200 per person per day at a hotel and business is booming but you want to throw a fit.

      Or – your business plan sucked because most families can’t afford $5k a night for lodging.

      • Urthona

        Disney was investing $18 billion more in Florida and the spin yesterday was Desantis cost his state a billion of that (he didn’t actually. It’s unlikely he had anything to do with it)

  8. Count Potato

    “He says Comrie has since been put on leave by NYC Health + Hospitals after the encounter was caught on tape – but added the interaction was ‘incomplete and lacking facts.'”

    Rush to judgement. Doesn’t anyone ever learn?

    • SDF-7

      Hell, some moronic Congresscritter was still trotting out the CBP “whipping of migrants” the other week… so “No, no they don’t”.

      (black pill sun… )

      • Rat on a train

        They learned they can get away with lying.

      • juris imprudent

        There are a lot of people that like being lied to – it’s what they want to hear. That’s the real problem. And it is by no means confined to one side of the political aisle.

    • Not Adahn

      Lacking what facts? Black v. White is the only relevant fact.

      • Rat on a train

        #BelieveAllPeopleWithHigherIntersectionalityPoints

      • Certified Public Asshat

        She does seem really annoying, even if she is right and paid for the bike.

      • Not Adahn

        I mean, she IS a New Yorker after all.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Conservatives are going hard defending her…

        six-months-pregnant physician assistant

        Pregnant with what?

        “Get off me! Get off me, you’re hurting my fetus,” the woman then shouted as she pushed the man away.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        It’s the logical result of identity politics. She’s going to lean on the thing that gives her special status because she knows it’s not about right and wrong, it’s about the relative positions on the progressive totem pole.

    • Rat on a train

      “She will have a chance to prove her innocence.”

    • rhywun

      Sure. They learned that facts don’t matter and the media will tarnish their reputation unless they “make the problem go away”.

    • The Last American Hero

      Maybe she sues the employer too and they settle by offering a free gender affirmation once the clump of cells hits age 10.

  9. juris imprudent

    Typical bad journalism, Brinton was hired into the Senior Executive Service, which is a non-appointee level. That is supposed to be non-political, so not an Administration type, but permanent like Civil Service. Except of course he wasn’t actually qualified to be an SES – which is itself then prima facie evidence that it was a political appointment and a violation of SES rules to do so. He’s a gift from the QUILTBAG that keeps on giving.

    • Fourscore

      “If the dress don’t fit you gotta acquit”

      • Not Adahn

        I think Sammy has adequate seamstressing skills.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        “This? Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl…”

    • R C Dean

      “Date”. Uh-huh.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Rolex Daytona Rainbow

      Definitely

  10. SDF-7

    ‘Orning ‘ordles — almost chumped both rounds. Worse than Meh… we’re in Bleah town today. (LR really sucked in that not just the seeds, but little else I did gave much there… frankly thought it would chump me).

    Daily Duotrigordle #443
    Guesses: 37/37
    Time: 03:26.01
    https://duotrigordle.com/

    Daily Quordle 480
    7️⃣6️⃣
    5️⃣9️⃣
    m-w.com/games/quordle

    • Sean

      Daily Quordle 480
      6️⃣9️⃣
      4️⃣8️⃣
      m-w.com/games/quordle

      Blossom Puzzle, May 19
      Letters: A E N L O R S
      My score: 299 points
      My longest word: 11 letters
      🌹 🌻 🌷 🌺 🌼 💐 💮 🏵 🌸 🌹 🌻

      Play Blossom:
      https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-games/blossom-word-game

    • rhywun

      thought it would chump me

      Same.

      Daily Quordle 480
      4️⃣7️⃣
      5️⃣9️⃣

    • Tundra

      Daily Quordle 480
      7️⃣5️⃣
      3️⃣8️⃣

      yikes

    • Sean

      Yeah, but “and nothing else happened.”

      • SDF-7

        Oh, there could well be some folks shooting themselves in the back of the head twice and managing to throw the gun 300 yards before they die or something.

    • Nephilium

      No reasonable prosecutor…

    • The Other Kevin

      My prediction: Their reasoning is that they didn’t want to affect an election. So they just double down on that, say they shouldn’t have investigated Trump either, but the people in charge of that are no longer in charge, we’ve revised our procedures, and case closed.

      • R C Dean

        Because why should the potential criminal activity of a candidate affect their electability, amirite?

  11. Penguin

    This is mainly for Fourscore, but everyone is welcome to read it : International Bee Day, celebrating bees and other pollinators. Not sure if it’s today or tomorrow, (I’ve seen different days listed) but whatever.

    This video is kind or rambling, but so am I: A short history of beekeeping.

    • Rat on a train

      World Bee Day is tomorrow.

      • R C Dean

        Splitters!

      • SDF-7

        So today is World “Aaaay!” Day?

    • Fourscore

      Thanks. I celebrate the local Bee Day every morning with a spoonful of honey on my oatmeal.

  12. Not Adahn

    I hate to ask serious questions, but…

    NPR has now run multiple stories about the “Nakba” and taking its existence and wrongness as a given. At what point is this antisemitic dogwhistling?

    • WTF

      You know, if the Palestinians would just stop trying to annihilate the Jews and become peaceful citizens, everything would be fine.

  13. Count Potato

    “‘Empire Strips Back’ review: ‘Star Wars’ burlesque is a strange nerd fantasy

    “I love finding out who the Jar Jar fans are,” he said. “Because then I know who’s on drugs!”

    A newly feminized C-3PO sheds her bronze armor piece by piece; Darth Vader gets sexy with Stormtrooper background dancers in their signature white armor; Two Twi’leks (Jabba the Hutt’s green slave girls) have a serene duet; Boba Fett is a bounty stunner; Greedo even shows up for a bit….

    For a production that is in no way endorsed by Lucasfilm or Disney, the costumes, masks and set pieces are impressively detailed and will leave even the pickiest of fans satisfied….

    A ripped Han Solo dramatically breaks free from his carbonite prison and goes full Chippendales with Chewbacca as they groove to a medley of songs including Run-DMC’s “It’s Tricky” and the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way.”

    He proceeds to get practically nude, stripping down to a blue bodysuit with vulgar appendages. Not yet finished, he straddles a Death Star-shaped disco ball and is hoisted into the air to Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.””

    https://nypost.com/2023/05/18/empire-strips-back-review-star-wars-meets-burlesque/

    Surprised they haven’t been sued.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Princess Leia gets steamy with R2-D2 in “The Empire Strips Back.”

      NO ROBOSEXUALS

      • Count Potato

        What about Summer Glau in the Sarah Connor Chronicles?

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Cyborgs don’t count

        Number 6 FTW

      • Not Adahn

        I’m not a Patrick McGoohan type of guy, but you do you.

      • Zwak , who will swing for the crime, in double time!

        Well, somebody needs to go number two!

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM

        I was waiting for Billy EveryTeen to make an appearance.

        Well done, sir, well done!

    • rhywun

      Take the kids!

    • Zwak , who will swing for the crime, in double time!

      Is it just me, or should Greedo be the club owner?

    • The Other Kevin

      See this kind of thing would have saved that Disney resort.

  14. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Star Wars hotel: It takes a special kind of incompetence to make Star Wars a radioactive intellectual property. Congrats Disney, you’ve done the next to impossible.

    • Rat on a train

      Even if they hadn’t tainted Star Wars, how many people can afford ~$5,000 for two nights?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        True that…13 grand for a week’s stay does seem a bit excessive. For that kind of coin there’d better be a Leia chained to Jabba lookalike waiting for me every time I walk into the room.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Manatee sized slugs are an odd kink, but you do you.

      • SDF-7

        His kind of scum…unfortunately for Stinky Wizzleteats, Jabba seems focused on keeping things Solo.

      • Rat on a train

        You would get Luke pretending to be Leia.

      • Nephilium

        They could just sell off one of their inbox original figures.

      • blighted_non_millenial

        This.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Yeah, the theming wasn’t really the problem with the hotel. It was overpriced, and there simply aren’t enough people willing to pay big money for that kind of experience.

      • The Other Kevin

        I’ve been complaining about this for years. The park experience is getting worse, and the price tag keeps going up. You really feel like they’re trying to see how much money they can squeeze from guests. Looks like they found their upper limit.

        A year and a half ago a bunch of us went to Disney World for my 50th birthday. I figured it would be great because it was also Disney World’s 50th anniversary. I’ve been going since the 70’s, and this was the worst experience there I ever had. It cost us $5k for four of us for a week. Mrs. TOK wants to go back, I’m done unless they make major changes.

      • Rat on a train

        I grew up near Disneyland. It was a regular family outing from the days of ride tickets. There were plenty of off days for locals to enjoy the park. An annual pass in the 90’s cost me $99 + $25 for parking.
        I took the family about 10 years ago. The single day price was over $100 per person. The place was so crowded by mid afternoon that we left. Every time my wife brings up a Disney World trip I remind her it would be like our trip to Disneyland but with worse weather.

      • Nephilium

        As a side note, Cedar Point announced that they were lowering admission prices this year.

      • Rat on a train

        A bit far for me. The family has passes to the local Cedar Fair park.

      • Fatty Bolger

        That was Bob Chapek’s strategy, squeeze guests for every penny, while spending less to maintain and update the parks and letting them get run down. Michael Eisner did the same thing, before Roy Disney finally stepped up and got him pushed out. We went during peak Eisner (and vowed not to return unless things changed), and then again a couple of years after Eisner was pushed out. The difference was night and day.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Dude went full-on Russian oligarch.

      Except the Russkies usually have better taste in women.

      • Count Potato

        Racist.

    • Tres Cool

      Is she a dirty Sanchez ?

    • Not Adahn

      Why would you not?

    • SDF-7

      Meh… if you have the money, why not? Shouldn’t take much to alter it to be more generic if they break up.

      Wish those crazy kids all the best… but have to say, those pictures really make her seem like she has a strong case of RBF to me…

      • Not Adahn

        Alter it? Put it on display in your “Hall o’ I fucked that”

      • Not Adahn

        And of course, all of these statues would be entombed with you in your pyramid to serve you in the afterlife.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Meh… if you have the money, why not?

        Because it is a little gross.

      • Sean

        Mildly tacky.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Less tacky than his penis rocket.

      • Not Adahn

        “I am so rich I no longer have to care about good taste.”

      • juris imprudent

        The whole point of having fuck-you money is to demonstrate that your bad taste can be elevated whether people with real taste agree or not.

    • DrOtto

      Whipped

    • Zwak , who will swing for the crime, in double time!

      Wait, was it Bezos with the rainbow Rolex? Did she pull a runner?

    • The Other Kevin

      * Adds “Mega yacht figurehead sculptor” to list of next careers

      • dbleagle

        BUZZ! Figurehead fail since it isn’t bare breasted.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    That household debt number just proves how strong the economy is.

    • Rat on a train

      bread lines = good bread

      • Not Adahn

        That’s the way it works for cronuts.

  16. Tres Cool

    whaddup doh’
    yo whats goody

    • SDF-7

      Headache powders? Morning, Tres.

  17. robc

    sloopy not doing the links means he didnt fail to cover the big soccer story from yesterday.

    Wednesday overcame a 4-0 loss in the first game of their League One Promotion playoff semis to advance to the finals. They won 4-0 in regulation, gave up an own goal in extra time, evened again, and then won on penalties.

    Biggest comeback in promotion playoff history.

    • rhywun

      Go Notlob, er, Bolton!

      • robc

        I have no particular love or hate for Bolton or Barnsley, but still prefer Wednesday to beat either.

      • Not Adahn

        Flayed-Man Bolton or Warstache Bolton?

      • rhywun

        I just have a soft spot for them because Monty Python and because they were in the Premiere League when I first started paying attention.

      • robc

        I used to play One-Nil (early 90s DOS soccer management game with the graphics quality of nethack) as Sheffield Wednesday. I had better success in that game than playing as Everton for some reason.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      sloopy not doing the links means he didnt fail to cover the big soccer story from yesterday.

      He didn’t want to cover Newcastle winning to basically close the door on Liverpool in Champions league.

      • robc

        They can still catch ManU for the 4th spot.

        Its an easy call for me, but which is worse is a tough call for a neutral.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Well they can still technically catch both, but Newcastle was more likely with the Brighton game. I don’t see MU slipping.

        The Brighton loss also helps Spurs possibly still catch that last Europa spot *blows small party horn*

      • robc

        The Europa Conference is working out well for West Ham.

        They will even get a spot in the Europa League next year, if they can win the final.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I am a Spurs fan robc, they would get to the conference league final and then lose in a new hilarious way.

      • robc

        Sounds about right.

      • SDF-7

        All these leagues are yours — except Europa. Attempt no matches there.

      • juris imprudent

        Sevilla owns that fucking thing.

      • rhywun

        LOL

      • Certified Public Asshat

        And speaking of Sevilla…they sent Spurs Gil for Lamela and cash. Then loaned Gil back. And are in Europa final.

      • juris imprudent

        I’ll put money on Spurs losing on the last day to Leeds.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        If it truly is Harry Kane’s last game, it will either be glorious or embarrassing.

      • juris imprudent

        Hold on – isn’t that the Spurs standard?

  18. SDF-7

    Wait.. anyone expected Katie Hobbs to give a flying crap about election integrity? The only person who ran a campaign more in the basement than PPP and still magically won? :eyeroll:

    • Count Potato

      PPP?

      • SDF-7

        President Poopy Pants.

      • Tres Cool

        You know who else had poopy pants ?

      • Not Adahn

        Crinklers?

      • SDF-7

        The world ending demon / pillar of Reality’s Destruction formerly known as K’Z’K for one.

      • Zwak , who will swing for the crime, in double time!

        Winston’s mom, with a surcharge, of course.

      • DrOtto

        Eva Braun?

    • Grumbletarian

      Sounds like a lot of protectionist claptrap that libertarians tend to oppose.

      One of the primary benefits of requiring voting machines to be made in America is that it enhances election security. By mandating that all components are sourced and manufactured in the U.S., the legislation would have ensured that voting machines are built to the highest security standards, making them less susceptible to hacking, interference, and tampering. And if history is any guide and issues arise with machines on Election Day, it is much easier to find out what happened if the voting machine manufacturing plant is located in Buckeye and not Beijing. It also would have guaranteed transparency in the manufacturing process and ensured that any potential vulnerabilities could be addressed before the machines were used for elections.

      And what do you do if there are no voting machines that comply with the law and have ‘all components sourced and manufactured in the U.S.’? Stop having elections

      • SDF-7

        Use paper scantron ballots like the old days that worked just fine?

        This is probably where it is clear I’m not a true libertarian… just conservative with libertarian leanings… I have zero problem keeping enough domestic for national independence (defense, some manufacturing, power grid, food, fucking medicine [anyone else remember finding out that China had us by the balls in 2021 when it came to most medicines and medical equipment? stupid!] etc.) I think it is really really stupid to depend on other countries who have their own self interest for necessities. Globalism is fine to a point… but it shouldn’t be a suicide pact to steal the proggies’ phrase.

      • Lackadaisical

        ‘Use paper scantron ballots like the old days that worked just fine?’

        ^this

        “national independence (defense, some manufacturing, power grid, food, fucking medicine [anyone else remember finding out that China had us by the balls in 2021 when it came to most medicines and medical equipment? stupid!] etc.) ”

        I am torn on this- I think it is a good concept, but you see things like the shipping laws- there is no real shipbuilding industry just because you’re meant to use US ships between US ports.

      • robc

        That is the problem…the difference in real national security vs laws masquerading as national security.

        You know what I want from elections? Six-sigma certified techniques plus by-hand auditing.

        Every precinct should have X percent of random races counted by hand. If numbers don’t match exactly, EVERY race in that precinct should be counted by hand.

        My thought on voting machines:
        Touch screen selection that prints out actual candidate names. No scantron problems like Minnesota with Lizard People or butterfly ballot issues or whatever. You can verify that it printed the correct results. It also prints a barcode that the counting machine scans to count votes. The hand count audit is done by the printed names.

        If the audit matches the machine, results are reported. Otherwise, the machine is ignored and a handcount takes place.

      • Lackadaisical

        Almost anything would be better than hoping a computer is working correctly and not getting hacked, etc. Seems like most states just hope the election works without putting in the actual work needed to ensure results are accurate.

      • R C Dean

        Election results should be correct, not necessarily accurate, Lack.

      • robc

        They should be both accurate and precise.

        Precision requires multiple measurements…hence my hand audit suggestion.

      • Count Potato

        If there are going to be computerized voting machines then the software needs to be open source, and not have network connections.

      • robc

        This. and This.

      • juris imprudent

        Stop having elections

        You’re going to give progressives a boner that lasts longer than 4 hours with that kind of talk.

      • Zwak , who will swing for the crime, in double time!

        Four more years?

      • Gustave Lytton

        it is much easier to find out what happened if the voting machine manufacturing plant is located in Buckeye and not Beijing

        Right…

      • juris imprudent

        You want a simple auditable system, not one with all kinds of “features”.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        👆👆👆

        Simplicity helps prevent fraud. Even if computerized voting systems are currently legit, they do not inspire confidence or trust.

        It’s telling how much money the government and other parties are willing to spend to try to convince you of their desirability.

      • juris imprudent

        “And right here I guarantee the results but you can’t look at our methods because they is pro-pri-etary”

      • R C Dean

        And courts have treated those non-disclosure agreements and claims of trade secrets as if they create a privilege against discovery.

        Which isn’t the way it works for everyone else.

      • rhywun

        He’s right.

      • dbleagle

        The Alt text in the image is good as well.

      • R C Dean

        Rather than going with voting machines at all, given their potential for shenanigans, why not do the scannable paper ballots and call it a day? It doesn’t solve every problem, or even the major problems (probably) with our elections, but it would solve one of them.

        But there will be no election reform in AZ. Zip, zero, nada. The leftists, in time-honored fashion, have gotten to their stop on the election train, and are getting off.

      • Lackadaisical

        Didn’t the Repubs have a shot at fixing everything, but mysteriously didn’t? I think Razorfist made a video on it.

      • R C Dean

        Yup. They controlled the legislature and the governor for two years after the 2020 election. And did absolutely nothing. Now they are locked out of statewide races. Because they were stupid and weak.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Next we’ll have mandatory fetish declarations.

      • Tres Cool

        Im happy to let anyone who’ll listen know Im into fat broads with small t0ts. Try finding that unicorn.

      • The Last American Hero

        Twin Peaks at 8 and Haggerty in Michigan. At least, that was the case 14 months ago.

      • juris imprudent

        No the mandatory part is the fetish you are assigned by the fetish committee.

    • rhywun

      No.

      • rhywun

        Or,

        You can call me “you” to my face, and I don’t give a shit what you call me behind my back.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Just musing: if someone wants to be a “they”, then shouldn’t the first–person pronoun be “we”, in Queen Victoria style?

    • Lackadaisical

      ‘The question at hand was whether states could sue the federal government to force it to retain the policy in place. However, as the Biden White House ended the COVID National Emergency on May 11, the Supreme Court’s order returned the case to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit with directions to dismiss it as moot.’

      I was wondering why they dismissed the COVID ’emergency’, this explains it.

    • R C Dean

      I pretty much agree with him that COVID restrictions are not how you manage immigration.

      But it is interesting that the Court allowed COVID restrictions across the board that were directed at US citizens, but somehow can’t stomach the COVID restriction that was directed at illegals.

  19. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    OK Sam Brinton’s middle name is Otis. Otis.

    • Not Adahn

      Please, like everyone didn’t already know he was an SOB.

      • Lackadaisical

        Burn.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Born of idiot parents, if that’s his birth name.

    • UnCivilServant

      He does a disservice to all his names.

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        That was my immediate thought!

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      I had a dog named Otis who I named after the drunk on the Andy Griffith Show. He never made it past mid level management though.

      • Tres Cool

        Who? The dog? Or the drunk ?

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Did he let himself in and out of his kennel?

    • R C Dean

      So apparently that arrest was for a third luggage theft, this time at Reagan. He skated on the first two (I think, I know he skated on one). Ya gotta wonder how much longer he can cut deals without jail time now that he’s a known habitual offender.

      Unfortunately, I don’t think this arrest will trigger his 180 day suspended sentence, since he didn’t steal this one after he was sentenced.

      Too bad nobody searched his home after teh first one was discovered. I suspect they might have found evidence of lots more. By now, most of the security footage that might nail him has probably been overwritten – I don’t know how long airports keep that footage.

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        Pretty sure he’s never bought a piece of women’s clothing his entire life.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      According to a report from Reuters, the Pentagon overestimated the value of military equipment it sent to Ukraine by $3 billion, meaning the US could ship even more weapons to the country.

      Two unnamed Pentagon officials said the error was assigning a higher value to weapons the US has shipped to Ukraine from US military stockpiles. “We’ve discovered inconsistencies in how we value the equipment that we’ve given,” one official told Reuters.

      This is a straight-up end run around congressional limitations on further funding to Ukraine. Everyone involved should be imprisoned.

      • Nephilium

        Soon we’ll be talking about real money here.

        I’m reminded of a local school district that ran into an issue when an independent accountant found a $2 million discrepancy. After they got that sorted out, they realized they were short money, and tried to ask for a levy. They’re up to four failures at the ballot for that levy. People (especially in blue collar areas) don’t take it well when you fuck up your budget, and ask them to pay for it.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Fire district here fucked up the tax rate certification and certified at a lower rate to the assessors office. Upon discovering the mistake, months after the property tax was due and paid, did the board fire the employee who fucked up biggly, fire the fire chief, resigned themselves for failing to oversee the district? Of course not, they just had the assessors office send out a supplemental billing for the correct rate due in 60 or 90 days from the mailing.

      • Lackadaisical

        That probably isn’t legal- usually those rate notices are binding.

        At least it wouldn’t be legal here in FL, YMMV.

    • Gustave Lytton

      “It’s my money and I want it now!”

      -J.G. Zelen$kyy

  20. The Late P Brooks

    “Accounting error”

    The Biden administration made an accounting error in assessing the value of the military support that the US has given to Ukraine to date, freeing up approximately $3 billion more in aid, an amount likely to mitigate the need for Congress to pass an additional assistance package before the end of the fiscal year in September, multiple congressional and administration officials told CNN.

    The error – which lawmakers and congressional staffers were briefed on Thursday – triggered frustration from Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees. They believe the mistake reduced the amount of US support that went to Ukraine leading up to the counteroffensive.

    “The revelation of a three-billion-dollar accounting error discovered two months ago and only today shared with Congress is extremely problematic, to say the least. These funds could have been used for extra supplies and weapons for the upcoming counteroffensive, instead of rationing funds to last for the remainder of the fiscal year,” wrote House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul and House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers in a statement Thursday.

    It’s like finding a three billion dollar bill in the pocket of a pair of pants you hardly ever wear.

    • rhywun

      And then setting it on fire and burying the ashes.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      At least the replies are taking her to the woodshed.

      • R C Dean

        And that’s when she only allows her followers to reply.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      And so fucking what? They’re birds.

      • Lackadaisical

        It is relevant, but only at the edges of any debate.

      • Nephilium

        I was trying to identify some mushrooms that were sprouting in some containers I had plants in. Get to the wiki for them, and in the first couple of sentences the page lets me know that this species of fungus has over 140 different sexes.

      • Lackadaisical

        ‘their true selves’

        Sorry, but if you need surgery or drugs… that isn’t your true self.

      • Bob Boberson

        ^So much this. Hatred of nature (or reality, if you prefer) seems to be baked into this cake.

      • SDF-7

        My bet is on reality (as stated yesterday). Get enough people used to denying it, and you can do whatever you want through redefinition.

    • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

      Male seahorses give birth, therefore people = seahorses.

      SCIENCE!

      • Not Adahn

        Male seahorses give birth the same way incubators do.

    • PieInTheSky

      Scientific American went full retard years ago.

    • The Other Kevin

      Scientists are entitle to invent their own truth just like everyone else.

  21. SDF-7

    An otter ray of sunshine…

    • Sean

      Awww

  22. Lackadaisical

    “Marjorie Taylor Greene Files Impeachment Articles Against Joe Biden and Admin Officials”

    I can’t tell you how strongly I agree with this. Between the corruption and the weaponization of three letter agencies against the people and political rivals, there hasn’t been a president that has deserved it more in my lifetime.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      He should be impeached but without control of the senate there’s no point and it’s just a political stunt. Do the administration officials have to be convicted by the senate too? If not those might have some merit.

      • rhywun

        Yeah but it needs to be done.

        Tie up FedGov for months if you have to.

    • juris imprudent

      Running Biden out won’t change any of the problems that are more deeply embedded in the federal rathole. Plus you get Harris stepping up.

      • Lackadaisical

        You don’t think it would send a message that this kind of shenanigans aren’t allowed?

        It might take multiple rounds of impeachments, but eventually it would be useful to do so.

      • R C Dean

        Eh, impeachment was cheapened by the Dems going after Trump, it’s not that big a deal any more. You might almost think they planned it that way to protect Dem Presidents, but I don’t think they’re that smart.

      • Lackadaisical

        ‘Running Biden out’

        You need a successful conviction and removal at this point, not just impeachment.

      • The Other Kevin

        Agreed. Unfortunately now it just looks like tit for tat, so even the process of investigating isn’t going to move any needles.

      • The Other Kevin

        The other problem is that the Democrats are so much in lock step you’ll never peel off a single one of them no matter how strong the evidence. Unlike Republicans going after Trump.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Took Reagan’s advice.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    The briefing to the Hill comes after the White House told CNN that it is not currently planning to ask Congress for new Ukraine funding before the end of the fiscal year at the end of September, which pit administration officials against some lawmakers and congressional staffers who are concerned that the funds could run out by mid-summer.

    But now that there is more funding available, congressional sources said they are less concerned about the immediate need for a new funding package for Ukraine. They believe it is likely that the newfound funding will carry the US support to Ukraine through the end of the summer.

    The accounting error occurred because when the US transferred weaponry to Ukraine, they counted the value of replacing the weapon instead of the value of actual weapon, defense officials explained. That drove up the cost of each package – because new weaponry costs more than old weaponry – and resulted in the false assumption that more of the funding had been used.

    Asset value manipulation/ Heads will roll.

  24. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    Wow, how about those Panthers? I tapped out after the first OT, but that was some fun hockey.

    It’s nice to have the distraction, though. Because things are looking a little grim in the Land O’ The Free.

  25. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    Things are looking up for your unlucky-in-love KK…

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Ooh, do tell. Does he like dags?

      • PieInTheSky

        did you just assume gender?

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Yes, given her stated history.

      • PieInTheSky

        reality is fluid never presume

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Yeah, someday she might even fancy you.

      • Mojeaux

        It wasn’t an assumption.

      • PieInTheSky

        ok boomer

      • Mojeaux

        *haughty sniff* I am firmly GenX, tyvm.

    • SDF-7

      Glad to hear it, KK — may you receive all the frequent caulking or other manly deliveries you desire.

    • Gender Traitor

      Oh, now don’t leave us in suspense! ::pulls up a chair::

    • Nephilium

      So when are you going to introduce him to us?

      • rhywun

        Next Wednesday at noon.

      • WTF

        If she wants him to run away screaming….

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

    • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

      I don’t want to jinx nuttin. Perhaps if I get extra drunk on Zoom tonight…

    • Lackadaisical

      Just divert all of Niagara Falls through our power plants. Most the tourists go to Canada anyway.

    • rhywun

      “It’s for your own good.”

      Really, this lunacy can only go so far. It is literally impossible to do what they want so the only question is how long will the voters put up with it.

      • cyto

        How long did the voters of Michigan put up with the delay tactics and shenanigans over the municipal water supply?

        Until it was too late, right?

        Yeah… Imma go with that.

    • SDF-7

      Me… I’m just not fond of little yapping dogs, barring toy weiner dogs. Those are still lovable scamps. But I’m in the “dogs should at least remind you of their wolf ancestry” side of the fence… so mid to large dogs by preference.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        They seem to be mostly cheerful, although I have never known* one well. Can be barky or howly in an echo-y vet waiting room.

        *I know of one who lives next to a park and walks himself.

      • Not Adahn

        There are lots* of them at the park. Few are friendly.

        *There must be a corgi club that has meetings there.

      • Tres Cool

        “Any dog less than 50 lbs is essentially a cat. And cats are useless.”

        -Ron Swanson

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Plus you get Harris stepping up.

    What difference, at this point, does it make?

  27. cyto

    On the FBI whistle blower story… The retaliation is unbelievably brazen. The one guy who got transferred across the country and then put on unpaid leave the day he and his family and all their stuff arrived? And then revoking their clearances and keeping them in limbo so they cannot work?

    It just seems crazy.

    Then I learn that they may not have any protection against this retaliation because the law that provides whistleblower protection exempts the FBI from much of its reach.

    It really feels like we have turned a corner… Like people are not even pretending that they are being honorable and honest any more.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Without consequences, actual tangible consequences for violating the rules, there’s no reason for the FBI to not do this.

      The reality is the entirety of the FBI leadership should have been put on the gallows years (really decades) ago.

    • Lackadaisical

      That is nasty. I haven’t been following it that closely- amazing how the FBI got exempted, possibly the most important agency besides CIA to require proper whistleblower protections.

    • Bob Boberson

      It really feels like we have turned a corner… Like people are not even pretending that they are being honorable and honest any more.

      I’m not really sure if even the pretense of honor really factored into the equation in the case of the FBI, even at the start. J Edgar Hoover was corrupt from top to bottom. It’s an institution that NEVER should have existed.

      • cyto

        And yet they pretended to be men of law and order, truth, justice and the American way.

        These guys are just waving their bits about daring anyone to say anything about it.

      • rhywun

        I watch a lot of Pluto and many of the commercials are for one cop-sucking CBS drama after another – there are so many of them I couldn’t count them – including one for the FBI. Really?

      • cyto

        Boy, that worm has turned.

        The FBI used to be the universal good guy. Cops too. Even as the anti-hero schlubs, Barney Miller showed the cops to be the good guys. Even if the story involved “bad cops”, they were always corrupted by the mob. It wasn’t the institution itself.

        Now it is really crazy, because the Dems are demanding define the police while demanding more power to the feds and pretending that objecting to FBI abuses is “defund the police on steroids”. (Yes, that was a quote from yesterday’s hearing)

    • The Other Kevin

      Also unbelievably brazen is the Dems attacking these witnesses. There are stories out there about how these witnesses were “paid by the GOP”. Digging deeper, seems some Republican somewhere gave one of them money while they weren’t getting a paycheck.

      • WTF

        The Dems need to protect their Gestapo.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Thanks for the warning

    • Not Adahn

      Seriously though, I didn’t think it was legal to block the aisle.

    • Fourscore

      Wider aisles would mean narrower seats.

      Much like the 4 lane/bike path discussion yesterday.

      Panama Canal could be widened so..bigger ships…

      • creech

        Not if the airlines put only one extra wide seat on each side of the aisle. Then the obese will bitch about the greedy airlines when the fares double for everyone. The free market has a solution: TubbyAir for those who like to fly with huge seats; ScaryAir for those who want to board a plane with no security checks; GourmetAir for those who demand a Michelin 3 star meal on flights over 2 hours; GlibAir where Q worthy attendants care, ahem, for your every need.

    • Tres Cool

      I need to see her face.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Let me know when it tips over

    New York City is sinking in part due to the extraordinary weight of its vertiginous buildings, worsening the flooding threat posed to the metropolis from the rising seas, new research has found.

    The Big Apple may be the city that never sleeps but it is a city that certainly sinks, subsiding by approximately 1-2mm each year on average, with some areas of New York City plunging at double this rate, according to researchers.

    This sinking is exacerbating the impact of sea level rise which is accelerating at around twice the global average as the world’s glaciers melt away and seawater expands due to global heating. The water that flanks New York City has risen by about 9in, or 22cm, since 1950 and major flooding events from storms could be up to four times more frequent than now by the end of the century due to the combination of sea level rise and hurricanes strengthened by climate change.

    “A deeply concentrated population of 8.4 million people faces varying degrees of hazard from inundation in New York City,” researchers wrote in the new study, published in the Earth’s Future journal.

    Needs more radioactive sea monsters,

    • robc

      Despite the sinking and the rising water, Manhattan keeps getting bigger and bigger. Interesting, I wonder what the factor is that overcomes the other two?

    • R C Dean

      “The water that flanks New York City has risen by about 9in”

      Is that true?

      Wouldn’t any change in sea level be global?

      • robc

        I blame the Dutch. By definition, blocking off the sea raises it everywhere else. Maybe they are trying to reconquer New Amsterdam?

      • creech

        Displaced by Kramer and all the others swimming in the East River?

    • juris imprudent

      Hank Johnson is writing for the Guardian now?

  29. PieInTheSky

    So Nuggets kept home court advantage. If they steal one of the next two they should be good.

    Also my nba bleacherreport app sneaked in a figure skating news item. Is 4 OT unusual in stick and puck figure skating? Who are we rooting for in that contest?

    • Urthona

      no it’s highly unusual for hockey to go that long but unlike they play until someone wins.

      However I am a fine of a surviving Western Conference team and would like to see it go 7 games. Unless we lose this round. Then I don’t care.

      • Urthona

        jesus my phone sucks

    • B.P.

      I thoroughly enjoyed watching LeBron try to orchestrate a fancy, showboat dunk on an all-alone breakaway, and then fumble the ball out of bounds.

  30. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    I’m surprised he bothered.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/zelensky-addresses-saudi-hosted-arab-league-summit-why-they-should-stand-against-putin

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is traveling to the G7 summit in Japan this weekend, where he’s expected to address world leaders in person, including of course pressing them for more weapons and other aid. He’ll travel there after his visit to Saudi Arabia.

    On Friday he arrived in Jeddah – where oddly enough he’s attending the annual Arab League summit being hosted by the Saudis. As it turns out, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad is attending the same meeting, a first in 12 years. Typically Zelensky courts European and Western governments, but Time explains the rationale for the stopover as follows:

    Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Saudi Arabia ahead of an Arab summit on Friday, where he was set to address leaders who have remained largely neutral on Russia’s invasion of his country, including many who maintain warm ties with Moscow.

    Among those in attendance is Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has been welcomed back into the Arab fold 12 years after Syria was suspended at the start of its civil war. Russian air strikes on civilian areas brought devastation to both countries, but in Syria they helped Assad cling to power.

    Zelensky is smoking the good stuff if he thinks the Arab League is going to back him over Russia at this point, particularly Assad.

    • Count Potato

      “Zelensky is smoking the good stuff”

      Obama runtz?

  31. Lackadaisical

    ‘While news of the axing of the Star Wars hotel comes on the same day that Iger pulled the plug on the company’s new $1 billion housing complex for staff in Orlando, in a move that many see as a possible slight against Gov. Ron DeSantis.’

    Disney fucking up and not making money = DeSantis is in trouble.

    Okay, pull the other one.

  32. Mojeaux

    XY currently getting his nose fixed from an unfortunate incident in which he put his nose between a young male punchER and an older female punchEE.

    • PieInTheSky

      chivalry gets you nowhere. But a broken nose builds toughness and character. Is he suing? Get a little money out of the deal?

      • Mojeaux

        lolno

      • Tres Cool

        I concur. Mine has been broken 3X. Two of those times were done for me. The third was a combination of too much vodka, a slippery floor, and gravity.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Ouch. Did you reschedule the interview?

      • Mojeaux

        Yes, I was able to do that.

    • Not Adahn

      Did you consult the bus stop for a qualified Personal Injury attorney?

      • Mojeaux

        Can’t get blood out of a thug turnip.

    • Pine_Tree

      Well good for him.

      And though it sounds like he won’t get any money out of it, he’ll get a story. And he might not know it yet, but that’s a pretty good thing to have.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    This trend is being magnified by the sheer bulk of New York City’s built infrastructure. The researchers calculated that the city’s structures, which include the famous Empire State Building and Chrysler Building, weigh a total of 1.68tn lbs, which is roughly equivalent to the weight of 140 million elephants.

    How much is that in baboons?

    • Gender Traitor

      African or Asian elephants?

      • cyto

        Jinx.

        It was kind of obligatory.

        But now you owe me a soda!

      • cyto

        What? I don’t know that……..

    • Nephilium

      How many football fields has the island sank so far?

    • WTF

      The tall buildings are all built on Manhattan Schist, and the weight of the buildings is like a flea on an elephant’s ass regarding the bedrock beneath the city. The buildings are not pushing the bedrock down, causing Manhattan to “sink”.

      • UnCivilServant

        So, we should saw off the top of the island and turn it around then?

    • R C Dean

      This is the Way.

      Shame nobody stepped up to help him.

    • cyto

      I don’t understand why police around the west are tolerating this sort of protest.

      The one that immediately springs to mind is the interstate highway where the guy is going to be late to work and it will result in a parole violation. Not only do the protesters not move and the police not make them move, the arrest the commuter for attempting to disrupt the illegal protest.

      This isn’t an accident. They want these violent confrontations. They want people trying to drive through so they can get footage and charge people, casting ordinary folks as some sort of violent faction.

      With the smokescreen provided by the propaganda machine, it is hard to see if the average American sees what is happening. I sure hope they do.

      • UnCivilServant

        The key is to kill them all in the first strike so that the video does them no good.

      • Urthona

        Because people around the west are immensely fat, rich, and happy.

      • creech

        Cop in Philly fired and prosecuted for pepper spraying a couple Floyd demonstrators who were sitting in the middle of a busy downtown expressway and refused to move.

      • Urthona

        That seems completely reasonable.

  34. Gustave Lytton

    Biden is in Japan. It’s not a completely zero possibility that his handlers leave him in the suicide forest.

  35. DEG

    “He also testified that individuals who had previously purchased a firearm with a BoA product were elevated to the top of the list provided by BoA.”

    Nice.

    • dontreadonme

      I cancelled all my BOA accounts over that BS.

  36. DEG

    Never forget

    Think about the crazy covid stuff people did simply because the government told them to:

    • rhywun

      We must learn from this.

      Narrator: We won’t. Otherwise there would be politicians and “scientists” swinging from lampposts already.

    • Sensei

      “Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

      Voltaire

  37. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    I’ve had my hummingbird feeder out for a bit over a week, and the first customer decided to check it out just as I was standing right next to it, so he flew away 🙁

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      They’ll probably become less shy with time.

      I had good attendance for years until they just stopped coming, even though I kept the feeders clean.. OK, one less task, boiling nectar.

    • R C Dean

      It’s weird. Tucson has a bunch of hummingbirds, especially when they are migrating. I’ve tried probably 4 or 5 different feeders in different locations, and never had more than one or two occasionally use them. We do have a number of flowering plants they like, and I do see a few on those sometimes. We just don’t seem to have that many around where I live.

      Tucson also has a lot of bats, which will drain a hummingbird feeder every night if you leave them out. I’ve about given up on trying to feed hummingbirds.

    • Urthona

      Is that dangerous or just embarrassing?

    • R C Dean

      They won’t even release it to criminal defendants. On that basis alone every conviction should be thrown out and charges dropped unless and until they make it available.

      The fact that the courts signed off on this based solely on the FBI’s say-so that there wasn’t anything exculpatory tells you everything you need to know about the death of due process.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      He’s an interesting dude, but he’s got a huge blindspot on Ukraine and gets quite belligerent about any criticism of that Western project.

      I think he’s finding out that the system doesn’t give a shit if he toes the line on that.

      • cyto

        Where is he from?

      • juris imprudent

        Born in Russia (or maybe Belorus) and raised in the UK.

    • cyto

      Operation Choke Point is all grown up.

      Banks.. then credit cards… Then PayPal.. then go fund me… Whatever means you use to access the financial system…..

      Now tell me again that the psh to digital currency is free of any corrupt motives at all.

  38. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    Wanna read a scary story?

    http://www.deepthroatipo.com/how-to-wreck-a-big-old-gsib-bank/

    So, using this simple math, we can calculate that the Chinese MUST have accomplished constructive control of approximately $58.58 Trillion of Western Financial Assets, stealthily hiding in Western Financial Markets, likely in plain sight. This, figure of course could be much higher if they were more aggressive, particularly because, ever since the GFC they’ve learned and now fully understand how Western markets function and can actually impact direction and movement. i.e.) They’ve become so big, they can move the markets, or at least predict movement with reasonable accuracy once things get rolling…and perhaps selectively apply some leverage when the opportunity arises (Their American Bankers are happy to lend them money). After all, when you know, with relative certainty, which way things are going to go, you might do a little better than the average-Joe investor. The only “adjustment” I made to the S&P Index figures above, is that since the CCP was well aware of the financial distress that COVID (since it originated in Wuhan) would cause in Western financial markets, they likely went “risk off” for most of 2022. Therefore the table reflects a modest 2% gain rather than a 19% loss, as the rest of us uninformed investors might have experienced had we remained fully invested in 2022.

    So the simple answer to the complex question: “Has the Chinese Communist Party accumulated enough firepower to sink America’s big banks and thus, the Western Financial System?”…is….

    I’d suggest that, thanks to our friendly, helpful bankers and lawyers, who’ve set up all of these anonymous accounts and relationships, as well as the significant infrastructure build out provided by our Western IT folks, DTCC and the like, who’ve made it easy as pie to transfer trillions of dollars around the globe in the blink of an eye……. I’d have to say, that unless there is a Top Secret “covert ops” war room in the FED/FDIC/SEC/CIA/DOD etc. ready willing and able to spring a diabolically clever trap, that $58.58 Trillion, focused directly on select targets, because everything is woefully, frighteningly interconnected now, is more than enough to sink our previously thought unsinkable fleet of battleship banks.

    • Urthona

      That’s dumb. China destroying $60 trillion of its own wealth to hurt us? Yeah no.

      The Weat and China are best buds joined at the hip because of stuff like this although the upside is there’s not gonna be a war.

      • Urthona

        Goddamit it. I need an edit button.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        How intelligent do you think the neocons and congresscritters are? How blinded by naked ideology and/or ambition are they?

      • juris imprudent

        I think for the most part they are shit for brains. They don’t get elected because they’re smart. They get elected because they fool people.

    • juris imprudent

      I’m surprised he doesn’t have string connecting all of that.

      • Urthona

        Yeah. People need to realize China and the United States are secret friends with deep financial interests in one another.

        From time to time, some Americans will pretend to care about.. I dunno.. totalitarianism or concentration camps or whatever. They don’t.

        Then China will respond with points about how the U.S. is a racist and gun loving country. They don’t really care.

        It’s just a game to seem tough politically.

        If China took Taiwan, the U.S. would wag their finger and then do nothing.

        The U.S. is not a country or a people that stand for anything at all.

      • juris imprudent

        It ain’t our job to protect Taiwan. Period.

      • Urthona

        Sure I understand the libertarian position on this.

      • juris imprudent

        I don’t even think of it as libertarian. There is simply NO obligation. And it conforms to our founding stance.

    • R C Dean

      I’ve seen multiple analyses trying to estimate how much China’s official GDP numbers are inflated. “Up to 60%” seems to be where they land. They start with a rock solid premise – that the CCP is lying, and go from there to try to use data that is hard to fake. In any event, China is hugely overleveraged. For them to vaporize that many of their foreign assets would blow back on them bigly through all that leverage. I’m sure even the CCP doesn’t know what their GDP is, and consequently what their debt ratio is, but I’m sure they know the former is lower, and the latter is very high. If China tries some kind of “first launch” financial nuclear strike against the West, it will most definitely take them down as hard or harder.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        I agree that this is a MAD financial weapon.

        It’s the first I’ve run across this particular argument, but it seems worth noting that they probably have more than enough cash parked in foreign banks to trigger runs thanks to our own greed and stupidity.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Pretty telling. Obviously they aren’t worried about agents and informants who were just in the crowd, doing nothing.

      • slumbrew

        Didn’t they claim there were no agents in the crowd?

      • Fatty Bolger

        Not sure about that, but they did claim there was no “involvement.”

      • juris imprudent

        I seem to remember that was justification (protecting CIs and/or undercovers) early on for not releasing all of the video.

      • Fatty Bolger

        This was their justification:

        “Disclosure of all CCV footage could not only reveal the U.S. Capitol’s internal surveillance system to third parties but could also jeopardize the privacy and security of certain persons depicted on such CCV footage.”

    • juris imprudent

      From Taibbi (subscriber only)

      As far back as 1965, CIA chief W.F. Raborn penned a long letter to Lyndon Johnson aide Clark Gifford, warning the Soviets had an elaborate desinformatsia campaign operation, designed to “sow distrust” and “denigrate American leadership.” Raborn’s letter perfectly predicted with miserably perfect accuracy the current dubious definition of disinformation, worrying not so much about actual fake news — “the KGB is able to fabricate whatever material is needed,” he wrote — but about material “documented from Western books,” material “often taken out of context.” Then as now, our secret services were searching for ways to stifle inconvenient, domestically produced, true information that foreign villains could use to undermine faith in “democratic institutions” and “NATO governments.”

      I bring this up to once again refute the love for Gramsci on the right.

    • The Other Kevin

      That claim came out in the hearings yesterday. One of the people interviewed mentioned a request for the footage, and the official response was no, there *may* be assets or informants on camera. Which means there are, because otherwise why put up a fight?

      • R C Dean

        “So, if I understand you, you are refusing to release the footage because there may or may not be assets on camera? Apparently, you don’t know. And if you don’t know, then I really don’t see how we can suppress this footage based on your ignorance. I see no limiting principle here, as I would imagine your ignorance is boundless if you don’t even know whether the FBI had infiltrated this major event.”

      • slumbrew

        “We already know what Ray Epps looks like.”

      • Fatty Bolger

        I think it means more than that. Why would they be worried about “assets and informants” who are just happen to be part of the crowd? No, they’re almost certainly worried because some were involved directly in the riots and capitol building breach.

  39. Count Potato

    Thread here:

    “1. New internal internal #TwitterFiles help explain why privileged reporter hate @elonmusk and Twitter 2.0.

    Musk denied access to Twitter’s formerly “trusted reporters” and allowed inside entree to more independent journalists.”

    https://twitter.com/thackerpd/status/1658812586073153539

    • Sensei

      No surprise. It names names, but I doubt it will matter.

  40. Tundra
    • Toxteth O'Grady

      How about parasols?

      ¡Mask violation! 👉

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Just more money down the equity shithole.

    • Tres Cool

      The broad in blue is a solid WOOD.

      Hubba x2.

  41. Nephilium

    In the continuing attempts to update the Ohio Constitution, the official ballot language has been written and approved. The Democrats (and their NGO groups) are saying that the language is confusing and will mislead voters. The change is from requiring 50%+1 votes to 60% of votes for amendments to pass. The confusing language:

    The proposed amendment would:

    «Require that any proposed amendment to the Constitution of the State of Ohio receive the approval of at least 60 percent of eligible voters voting on the proposed amendment.

    «Require that any initiative petition filed on or after January 1, 2024 with the Secretary of State proposing to amend the Constitution of the State of Ohio be signed by at least five percent of the eligible voters of each county in the state.

    «Specify that additional signatures may not be added to an initiative petition filed with the: Secretary of State on or after January 1, 2024 proposing to amend the Constitution of the State of Oho.

    If passed, the amendment shall be effective immediately.

    The part that they’re saying is confusing is that it doesn’t list the current requirements, nor does it specify what exactly is changing.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    “My [Republican] colleagues have brought in these former agents, men who lost their security clearances because they were a threat to our national security,” said Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.), the ranking member of the House weaponization subcommittee. “Who out of malice or ignorance or both have put partisan agenda above the oath they swore to serve this country.”

    That is fucking hilarious, coming from a member of Congress.

    • juris imprudent

      She isn’t even a real member of Congress. CWAC

  43. rhywun

    No more meetings today w00t

    • Nephilium

      Lucky bastard.

      I believe this is my last day of training. So I’ve got two more meetings of listening to a tier 1 support engineer go through their troubleshooting process, and hoping they picked something different than one of the other six or seven other tier 1 engineers have gone through. All going until 1830 Eastern.

      • rhywun

        Too bad I have some license upgrades to do between 1900 and 2200. I wonder if I can leave work three hours early.

      • UnCivilServant

        Eh, you’ve got over 175 years to finish that.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    The part that they’re saying is confusing is that it doesn’t list the current requirements, nor does it specify what exactly is changing.

    “This Amendment, if passed, will effectively end democracy and result in the enslavement of women and people of color.’

    • R C Dean

      *votes “yes” as hard as I can*