About The Author

Banjos

Banjos

Wife of sloopy, mother to three bright, curious, and highly active young girls. Perpetually exhausted.

256 Comments

  1. AlexinCT

    Never Forget

    Honor the fallen. Honor those that fought for us. But also never forget how the evil men running our country turned this into a forever war for profit while making sure our troops couldn’t win.

    • Suthenboy

      Hear! Hear!
      Now they are dragging us into another war. The profits never end.

  2. AlexinCT

    Incredible moment White House staff abruptly end Biden’s rambling Vietnam press conference mid-sentence and cut his mic

    Geriatric assholes, beholden to or completely owned by the cabal of unelected assholes that are destroying our lives in order to bring us globalization and the death of a large part of humanity, all so they can establish a new world order with a hereditary feudal system where they stay on top and the serfs eat bugs and live in pods, keep being fronted as “leaders”.

    Biden is lost in space.

  3. Rat on a train

    What a difference Youngkin is compared to McAwful.

    • Robonerfherder

      Ultimately, Youngkin is a GOPe stooge who knows how to play to the suburban soccer mom set. He has no real inclination towards upsetting the status quo.

      I’ll take it over the Clinton Bag-Man, but I wanted Sears in the job. She’s got real cajones.

      • Tonio

        That’s a good description. He’s announced he’s not running for president so it seems to me that his end goal is to run as a moderate for the Senate where he can serve multiple terms.

        Hopefully we’ll get to vote Sears into the Governor’s mansion when Youngkin’s term is up.

      • Fourscore

        Old politicians never die, they only get replaced with another one that is worse than the incumbent. There is no hope.

      • Rat on a train

        Warner is up in 2026. Sears 2025, Youngkin 2026?

      • Robonerfherder

        I’d take just about anyone over Warner and Kaine. They’re straight up evil.

      • Lackadaisical

        Sure, still better than the gender bender police.

      • DEG

        I think the GOPe is getting the memo about schools.

        All of the GOPe gubernatorial candidates in NH have jumped on the school choice train.

    • creech

      His new ads portray a vigorous man saving middle class jobs and protecting folks from those inflation loving Republicans who also want to end your health care. Why I’m getting tingles just thinking about him!

  4. AlexinCT

    Feds received waves of warnings about Hunter Biden but delivered no consequences

    That’s because their focus was and remains getting rid of Donald Trump and the threat his constituency poses to this cabal of evil globalist fucks and their plans to screw us over.

  5. UnCivilServant

    Government Shutdown Looms

    Shut. It. Down!

    Lithium deposit found in US may be among world’s largest

    Cue new National Monument in 3… 2… 1…

    • AlexinCT

      China and Russia already are helping the green lobby tell the US congress to not allow the stuff to be mined…

      • rhywun

        My immediate thought is the left will not allow the strip mining.

        The whole point of the “green” charade is that all the dirty stuff happens elsewhere.

      • Tonio

        The greenies don’t want the dirty stuff it to happen anywhere, but they’ll settle for NIMBY. Remember that the greens hate the middle class and want to eliminate them.

      • Fourscore

        I liked it better when electricity came out of the wall. No need for windmills, solar panels or batteries.

    • Tonio

      Endangered species!

      SaCrEd TriBaL LaNd!!111

      Etc.

      • Lackadaisical

        This, x100,000

        The tribal land ones are my favorite. Little midden heaps get treated like serious cultural artifacts.

      • Fourscore

        Works in Land O’ Lakes country. One project shut down because of water running through the sacred lands, another ‘well ’cause NIMBY. We could not mine iron ore today under the restrictions. Opening a gravel pit is almost as bad and there ain’t no shortage of gravel but there will be.

      • The Other Kevin

        Yes. Let the poor brown people on the other side of the world use their kids as mine workers and destroy their health and environment.

    • SDF-7

      Yup… that was my first thought as well. If the PPP admin hasn’t already locked it out, they damned well will soon. And mysteriously, the courts will find that there’s no way to reverse that.

      Not that I’m really convinced that lithium-ion batteries are good in the long run… but anything useful, they’re going to try to lock up. Can’t destroy the economy otherwise.

      • The Other Kevin

        We’re sitting on massive amounts of oil that will be left in the ground. Why should lithium be any different?

      • UnCivilServant

        I do take some solace that it will still be there when this madness ends, for whoever’s occupying the land then to extract and use.

        I just hope it’s us.

  6. AlexinCT

    5th Circuit: Biden admin “likely” violated 1st Amendment

    Likely? Seriously?

    At this point the law should be amended to allow for the death penalty in cases like this.

    • Tonio

      Yes, likely. This was merely an injunctive ruling. The District Court has not yet ruled on the case as a whole. But it is a hopeful sign.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        The 5th also left enough open in the ruling to allow the plantif to go forward with further lawsuits, I believe.

        So, on immediat reading it looks iffy, but it tee’s up a SCOTOS shot.

    • Rat on a train

      I never killed anybody. I only told others to kill people for me.

  7. AlexinCT

    Gov Youngkin pardons father of a girl raped in unisex bathroom

    Why are the people that made this man’s life a horror show for political expedience not the once facing legal repercussions?

  8. AlexinCT

    Even Some Anti-Gun Activists Say New Mexico Gov. Went Too Far

    Governor “L’estate c’est moi” so fuck the constitution needs to be held accountable. And it should be ugly as fuck. Pour encourager les autres….

    • EvilSheldon

      Still a little to early for the “politicians are de facto dictators, even in a ‘democracy’” meme to go mainstream.

  9. Sean

    Incredible moment White House staff abruptly end Biden’s rambling Vietnam press conference mid-sentence and cut his mic

    I can’t believe they still have him doing live appearances.

    Why don’t they give him the AI treatment? “Max Headroom” Biden should be the new leader of the free world.

    • AlexinCT

      It’s hard to Max headroom us in a foreign country…

      • R.J.

        Is it?

      • Lackadaisical

        I thought Max head was the whole point of visiting south east Asia.

    • SDF-7

      At this point I think the Edison Carter/Max Headroom AI would do a damned sight better job. At least he had some instincts for uncovering the truth and getting it out there.

    • Rat on a train

      Bring back TOTUS!

    • The Other Kevin

      He sounds weaker these days. Like at this stage he should be sitting with a blanket on his lap listening to Old Time Radio.

      • EvilSheldon

        Those of us who like Old Time Radio might take umbrage to that remark…

  10. Grosspatzer

    our powers that be took advantage of the attack to grab a massive amount of power over our lives.

    Words cannot adequately express my contempt for the assholes who continue to spout the rhetoric of freedom while eliminating it at every opportunity, standing on the corpses of my friends and co-workers while doing so. The terrorists won.

    • Drake

      Yep. I used to laugh at the 911 conspiracy theorists. Now… doesn’t matter who was involved. Both parties and the state apparatus in DC used it as an excuse for a massive power grab and have never let go. Our government is no longer the least bit responsive to elections and there is no longer the slightest concern about the lives of American citizens.

      Society changed for the worst too. You can see it in little things like that movie we watched on Thursday. Normal suburban herto kids having fun – that movie wouldn’t be made today by a major studio without a who lot of diversity and preaching mixed in.

      I want my country back.

      • db

        +1

      • Robonerfherder

        It’s telling that DC viewed the 90’s, a period of relative peace and the best race relations in the nation’s history, as something to be destroyed.

      • db

        You can’t get anything done from a political perspective in time of peace; you need crises to exploit.

      • db

        And so, comvemiently, we get crises.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        That blowback from those wars we shouldn’t have been in sure got us in a bunch of wars we shouldn’t have been in, no doubt, and the fallout is continuing.

    • Tonio

      ^This.

  11. db

    Lithium deposit found in US may be among world’s largest

    Funny how, when people go looking for scarce natural resources and have better means of extracting them over time, they tend to find more and more deposits that are economically exploitable.

  12. Shpip

    Lawmakers must advance 12 individual appropriations bills in each chamber before sending their final product to the president’s desk for approval, setting the stage for an arduous process as House Republicans and Senate Democrats disagree on spending numbers. In recent years, Congress has been able to circumvent dragged-out voting sessions by combining the bill into just one piece of legislation, known as an omnibus, allowing Congress to advance its entire budget with just one vote.

    However, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), facing pressure from his right flank due to Republicans’ narrow House majority, has committed to getting the chamber back to regular order — meaning both chambers must hold 12 separate votes.

    You mean hold Congress to the agreement that they passed (checks notes) all the way back in June? C’mon, that’s no way to conduct The Peoples’ Business!

    • Rat on a train

      An multi-thousand page omnibus released a few hours before voting is the way.

      • UnCivilServant

        An multi-thousand page omnibus released a few hours before after voting is the way.

        /We have to pass it to find out what’s in it.

    • Fourscore

      That’s old news, now it’s time to start thinking about the next election.

      “We don’t have time for that, we need to do the people’s business and get re-elected”

    • db

      They say “circumvent dragged-out voting sessions” like it’s a good thing

      • Lackadaisical

        The real people destroying our democracy…

  13. Shpip

    Hurricane Lee continues to grow stronger as it churns over the Atlantic and remains a threat to the coast of the northeast U.S. with dangerous rip currents.

    Down here in Florida, the surfing on the east coast is supposed to be much better than average for the next few days.

    I think that’s just swell.

    • UnCivilServant

      (-.-)

      /initial reaction

      So you’re saying that this is breaking news?

      • The Gunslinger

        That pun should tidal of us over until Swissy gets here.

      • Lackadaisical

        I’m just letting these puns swash over me.

      • Pope Jimbo

        As you sow, so shall you neap.

      • Grosspatzer

        Swissy will wipe us out when he arrives.

      • The Other Kevin

        He’s going to hang ten of us.

      • Pope Jimbo

        He’s too busy surfing the internet to bother with us.

    • Fourscore

      I’ll just wave as the Lee goes by.

      • rhywun

        It was never meanin’ no harm.

      • db

        Beats all you ever saw.

  14. db

    Sitting at the airport, the poor counter lady at the grill across the hall from me keeps yelling out an order number:

    Two-five two, two-five-two!

    For the last five minutes. I’m tempted to go claim the order just to save her voice and her sanity.

  15. Rebel Scum

    when terrorists flew planes into skyscrapers

    But did they? //jk

    • UnCivilServant

      Yes.

      The planes and terrorists were real, and the collapse was a direct result thereof.

      I get rather annoyed when I hear people spouting ignorance of material properties and structural engineering as evidence of fraud. Worst are those posting pictures of beams that had been cut during the removal of debris and claiming it as proof of sabotage. The memetic jet fuel line is delivered unironically almost as often as it is used ironically, and I can’t always tell with people which are ignoring or ignorant of the fact that heat reduces the strength of the steel even long before it approaches melting. Plus, the static and shock load capacity of the lower floors was never designed to handle the sudden impact of the upper floors slamming several stories down upon it.

      Who knew what when is up for debate, but the proximate actors are known.

      • Timeloose

        I tell any dipshit that spouts the steel cant be melted / jet fuel line to watch forged in fire and get back to me. See how weak red hot steel can be.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Don’t get too upset with insane people who also happen to be stupid, it won’t do any good.

      • SDF-7

        Hell, just Lach’s noodle video from this weekend should do.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m interested in what the cleanup procedure for an incident like that looks like.

        Are there factors which would complicate things beyond shutting down the line and waiting for the steel to cool enough to be dragged out of the way/cut up and carted off? Can some thing not be shut down? How do you get back in service and not repeat the problem?

      • SDF-7

        Yeah — I found myself wondering how many electrical lines or motors were damaged when it started whipping around in what looked like automation. And if the whole line would have to be rebuilt and all.

      • Lackadaisical

        “Lach’s noodle video”

        TMI!

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        So they got to you too, eh?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Who knew what when is up for debate, but the proximate actors are known.

        Larry Silverstein not being in the building that morning is the most amazing coincidence.

      • rhywun

        lol

        That guy owns a bunch of buildings down there, including the one I was working in at the time.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I thought his story was yes, he usually has breakfast in the Windows on the World but that morning his wife had scheduled him a doctor’s appointment.

        No, not unusual for an old man to go to the doctor.

      • rhywun

        Oh… I hadn’t heard anything about that.

        Well, my “usual” was to be inside the office instead of outside finishing up a cigarette at 9am and looking up at the WTC on fire. I saved myself hours of being trapped in the office and not knowing WTF was going on.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        To be clear, I don’t think he knew anything in particular beforehand. He was likely just protected because the government knew they could count on him to keep his mouth shut (and for good reason, they kept him out of the building). Yes, I am suggesting the government knew enough beforehand to prevent the attack but allowed it to happen for…reasons.

        Also, I am a butt wearing a tophat avatar on Glibertarians.com

      • slumbrew

        Seth MacFarlane would have been on one of those flights but overslept because he drank too much the night before.

        Let’s hear it for booze!

      • rhywun

        Jesus… you mean we could have been spared 19 seasons of Family Guy?!

      • slumbrew

        AFAIK, he’s barely involved in the production of it at this point, so probably, “no”.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Remember when Popular Mechanics came out with an issue looking into all the conspiracy theories and debunking them?

      I’ve noticed that none of the Cathedral have done something similar with Covid or voting.

      Everytime they write a story, they add the phrase “Joe Public has pushed conspiracy theories that have been debunked” but they never say who or how a theory was debunked or link to it.

      • SDF-7

        The Phillip Bump method — it is debunked because I wrote an article saying it was debunked before, dammit. “Read what I wrote!”

  16. Lackadaisical

    “We need all the people who know what actually happened to come before [the House] because the American people deserve nothing less than the truth, and they can decide for themselves what should happen. ”

    Nancy, I thought that is why we elected Representatives. Sadly we can’t vote to impeach directly.

  17. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    I was out running and listening to one of the local morning shows when the planes hit. It’s still surreal. My son was a toddler and my wife was pregnant with our daughter.

    I can’t believe how quickly the world changed – and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

    • The Other Kevin

      That was before we had any kids. I was starting a business so I was going in late to my real job, and Mrs. TOK was at work. She called and told me to turn on the TV. I thought it was going to be something funny she heard on the radio, but she just quietly said, “turn on the TV”. I remember watching and thinking over and over, “What’s next? What’s next?” I took the day off, drove to my church, and spend the day there alone, going back to my car to listen to the radio from time to time. And the skies were empty.

    • Banjos

      Freshman year of college. Woke up and everyone in the dorm had their doors open and their TVs on.

    • UnCivilServant

      I was in a morning Comp Sci sclass taught by High Ping Bastard Herr Professor Hans Peter Iforgothowtospellyourlastname and the first thing he announced when he came in to class was about the first place hitting. I was in a line in some hall in the student union for I forget what (probably food) when the TVs showed the second impact.

    • UnCivilServant

      It’s an act of piracy.

      Totally different.

    • Lackadaisical

      The power of make believe?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      It’s more of an act of international bullying: They have a right to do the national equivalent of punching us in the face for what we did but they won’t do it because the consequences would be dire and they’re rational actors thank God.

    • Drake

      They aren’t even citing any kind of UN resolution. Just “we’re blockading your country because we don’t like you”. And a blockade is an act of war.

      If China was really hurting for oil, they’d be escorting these freighters with their navy.

      • Robonerfherder

        It’s puts the lie to “economic sanctions are not an act of war”

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      China goes to war with us, and they lose the one biggest thing, our markets.

      • Drake

        Fairly similar circumstances to how we got into WWII with Japan.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Reversed. We were selling Japan things, China is selling us things.

        But, you are right in that it might not make any difference in an international power play.

      • Drake

        We did everything possible to cut off Japan from their supply of oil.

    • Rebel Scum

      I though the US was sending oil to China.

  18. Lackadaisical

    “Buta Biberaj”

    Send like we’re letting too many foreign people have power over our country. We already have enough anti Americans born right here everyday.

  19. Brawndo

    Is it just me but does it look like the dad of the girl that was raped in the Youngkin article has a tramp stamp in that photo?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Definitely a tattoo of some sort there but it’s more on the side than the above the ass area.

      • Brawndo

        I don’t want to keep looking at dude ass to see if you’re right or not.

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      Eh, an old friend of mine has one, he got it before the whole Tramp Stamp thing. He just thought it looked cool when he was on stage, seeing as he played bass in bondage pants and no shirt.

      • rhywun

        he played bass in bondage pants and no shirt

        Oh my.

  20. Q Continuum

    The elevator music playing as Biden is whisked away to his sensory deprivation chamber gave me an ALOL. Best. Timeline. Ever.

    https://archive.ph/BwwhA

    Tits ahoy on Mammary Monday!

    • rhywun

      elevator music playing as Biden is whisked away

      *clicks*

      Good grief what a shambling mess. It is astonishing they’re still leading him around to events like this.

      • Tundra

        Shit, I thought that music was added to the clip I saw. Reality is even worse.

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      Best time line would be if Biden tried to run away from his handlers to Yakity Sax.

  21. Rebel Scum

    Government Shutdown Looms

    Shut it down.

  22. Common Tater

    “Ashton Kutcher under fire for problematic comment he made about Hilary Duff when she was 15 in resurfaced clip – amid backlash over support of convicted rapist Danny Masterson”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12503393/Ashton-Kutcher-fire-comment-Hilary-Duff.html

    “Mila Kunis reveals Danny Masterson bet Ashton Kutcher to ‘French kiss’ her when she was a ’14-year-old little girl’ in resurfaced 2002 interview… amid backlash over couple’s support of convicted rapist”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12502809/Mila-Kunis-Danny-Masterson-bet-Ashton-Kutcher.html

    This shit is stupid.

    • Lackadaisical

      Bread and circuses.

      • Sean

        Correct.

      • Fourscore

        So Sat/Sun/Mon/Thurs football?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      They are kind of tasteless jokes he was making but, yes, it’s damn stupid. Back in the shock jock days everyone from Stern to Cumia was making raunchy jokes about the Olsen twins and similar turning 18.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        And now no one wants to look at the Olsen twins.

    • SDF-7

      Was this also the time frame where she was lying about her age to be on the show in the first place? Because that seems like a pertinent bit of data.

      And honestly, I don’t care all that much. I’m all for drawing a line in the sand legally (because you pretty much have to) — but teenagers (or early 20s) being attracted to teenagers has kind of been a thing throughout human history and all. The classic “Married at 14, running the family farm” and all. So if it is in the grey area, I’d say let it slide.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Was this also the time frame where she was lying about her age to be on the show in the first place?

        Yes.

  23. Rebel Scum

    A sleepy President Joe Biden saw his rambling Vietnam press conference brought to a sudden end on Sunday night with his mic cut and jazz music playing him off the stage, like he went too long in an awards speech.

    But he is totally the president.

    • creech

      “Alexander Haig to the courtesy phone. Alexander Haig to the courtesy phone, please.”

    • Fourscore

      I’ll expect the same treatment at HH but I won’t get it from the Glibs

      /Cause I’ll be too busy working.

  24. Rebel Scum

    Feds received waves of warnings about Hunter Biden but delivered no consequences

    “No one is above the law.”

  25. Rebel Scum

    5th Circuit: Biden admin “likely” violated 1st Amendment

    Meaning they did. And they are in other ways as well.

  26. Rebel Scum

    Even Some Anti-Gun Activists Say New Mexico Gov. Went Too Far

    “You’re giving away the endgame, bitch.”

    • R.J.

      OK. I’ll just start carrying my Cold Steel cutlass, or the boar-hunting spear.

  27. Rebel Scum

    Lithium deposit found in US may be among world’s largest

    Better to make this federal lands and not mine it. We wouldn’t want those children in Africa to lose their jobs.

  28. The Other Kevin

    That was a great summary of 9/11. As I’ve grown older I realized how much more profound and wide reaching that tragedy was. And just like Covid, you get the sense there were people in our government scheming behind the scenes for years, just waiting for the right moment to take advantage of.

    Love that music link. I hope they took first prize.

    • WTF

      The Patriot Act was basically a long-standing wish list of things the agencies wanted, and 9/11 finally gave them the opportunity to get them all in one fell swoop.

      • The Other Kevin

        Yes. It all happened so fast, there’s no way they could have thought it all up on the fly.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Thanks, Joe!

  29. Sean

    Daily Quordle 595
    4️⃣8️⃣
    6️⃣5️⃣
    m-w.com/games/quordle/

    Meh.

    #waffle598 4/5

    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    🟩⭐🟩⭐🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    🟩⭐🟩⭐🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    🔥 streak: 196
    🏆 #wafflemaster
    wafflegame.net

    • WTF

      Most likely, and based on his $6 million in assets.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      A good story for the dum-dums that think it’s not really a big deal when an older woman has sex with a teenage boy.

      • Fourscore

        It’s a really big deal when an older man has sex with anyone

  30. Common Tater

    “An orangutan at an Australian zoo horrified visitors when it brutally evicted a possum by ”launching” it from the top of its enclosure after the wily pest had invaded its space.

    A viral video shows the critter hurtling through the air and vanishing from view after being pitched from a tall metal tower at Perth Zoo, on Australia’s west coast.

    Several people can be heard screaming in the background, with one exclaiming, “Oh, my God!”

    The primate then emerges from the enclosure, as if to check where the airborne possum had landed.”

    https://nypost.com/2023/09/11/orangutan-launches-possum-out-of-enclosure-at-perth-zoo/

    LOL

    • Robonerfherder

      GTFO

      • AlexinCT

        ^^^THIS^^^

    • UnCivilServant

      Orangutans have very human personalities, and I fully understand the sentiment.

      I have pictures of one in Indianapolis whose favorite hobby is people watching. Apparently, the Zoo guests amuse him.

      Wait, why is there a possum there at all? *searches* oh, a different genus with the same common name.

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      People shocked, shocked that animales act like, well, animales.

  31. Robonerfherder

    Z-Man is now threatening Europe with civil unrest.

    https://web.archive.org/web/20230911094733/https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/09/10/donald-trump-will-never-support-putin-says-volodymyr-zelensky

    Tapping loudly on the table, Mr Zelensky rejects outright the idea of compromise with Vladimir Putin. War will continue for “as long as Russia remains on Ukrainian territory”, he says. A negotiated deal would not be permanent. The Russian president has a habit of creating “frozen conflicts” on Russia’s borders (in Georgia, for example), not as ends in themselves but because his goal is to “restore the Soviet Union”. Those who choose to talk to the man in the Kremlin are “tricking themselves”, much like the Western leaders who signed an agreement with Adolf Hitler at Munich in 1938 only to watch him invade Czechoslovakia. “The mistake is not diplomacy. The mistake is diplomacy with Putin. He negotiates only with himself.”

    Curtailing aid to Ukraine will only prolong the war, Mr Zelensky argues. And it would create risks for the West in its own backyard. There is no way of predicting how the millions of Ukrainian refugees in European countries would react to their country being abandoned. Ukrainians have generally “behaved well” and are “very grateful” to those who sheltered them. They will not forget that generosity. But it would not be a “good story” for Europe if it were to “drive these people into a corner”.

    • WTF

      Fine, supply your own armaments then.

      • Robonerfherder

        One assumes that the Nazi contingents are more than capable of creating havoc. Hell, they’ve been involved in multiple incidents here in the US.

    • slumbrew

      That’s not even a veiled threat.

      • Robonerfherder

        When all of this insanity unwinds, it’s going to be ugly.

      • Tundra

        Uglier. It’s already pretty nasty.

        Just in time for NATO war games.

    • MikeS

      “That’s a nice society you got there. It would be too bad if some Ukrainian refugees burned it down.”

    • Rebel Scum

      War will continue for “as long as Russia remains on Ukrainian territory”

      You have to operate in the paradigm where Russia considers the conquered territory (which is full of ethnic Russians…) to be Russian territory.

      his goal is to “restore the Soviet Union”

      Unlikely given that this would mean war with NATO, which ain’t happening (unless NATO starts it…).

    • robc

      Also, didnt notice until now, but the chart is hilarious. 6 of the 7 entries are obviously estimates, the last I am sure is exact.

  32. Robonerfherder

    Forget about accounting, DOD is not even telling Congress everywhere we have bases anymore.

    https://theintercept.com/2023/09/08/africa-air-base-us-military/

    Gen. Michael Langley, the AFRICOM chief, told Congress about just two “enduring” U.S. forward operating sites in Africa: Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti and a longtime logistics hub on Ascension Island in the south Atlantic Ocean. “The Command also operates out of 12 other posture locations throughout Africa,” he said in his prepared testimony. “These locations have minimal permanent U.S. presence and have low-cost facilities and limited supplies for these dedicated Americans to perform critical missions and quickly respond to emergencies.”

    Experts say that Langley misled Congress, downplaying the size and scope of the U.S. footprint in Africa. AFRICOM’s “posture” on the continent actually consists of no fewer than 18 outposts, in addition to Camp Lemonnier and Ascension Island, according to information from AFRICOM’s secret 2022 theater posture plan, which was seen by The Intercept. A U.S. official with knowledge of AFRICOM’s current footprint on the continent confirmed that the same 20 bases are still in operation. Another two locations in Somalia and Ghana were also, according to the 2022 document, “under evaluation.”

    It’s not just the CIA and FBI that are completely out of control.

    • WTF

      Civilian control of the military was revealed as a dead letter when Trump’s orders to close down some operations were ignored.

      • robc

        The executive has to be willing to fire people. Possibly lots and lots of people.

        You would think Trump, what with the catch phrase and all, would have been willing, but nope.

      • WTF

        Trump was way too deferential to the supposed “experts” that were running the various agencies and the Pentagon. I think he foolishly assumed they were all on the same side.

      • Pine_Tree

        Except that he had a debilitating case of Tom Clancy Syndrome. It’s how he completely hamstrung himself in dealing with the TLAs and the DOD. And, being unable to admit any mistakes, I’d bet that he STILL does.

      • Drake

        Has to be ready to take command of an MP company, maybe even an infantry battalion – and march through the Pentagon arresting anyone who disobeys his orders. Eisenhower would have broken the back of that kind of resistance real fast.

    • UnCivilServant

      They never left. As an offsite storage medium for backups, they’re still in use.

      • UnCivilServant

        Though I do like the Ragnarok-proof elements of their tech, if it’s real.

    • The Last American Hero

      Much memory will you have.

      /yodabyte

    • SDF-7

      Be nice if there was actually something reasonable in the midrange. Looking at tape drives to back up a home NAS is just insane… all SAS/Fiberchannel (so uncommon adapters in a home NAS scenario) or $5k+… and the tapes don’t hold all that much relative to HDDs but cost the same.

      • slumbrew

        I just back mine up to The Cloud – encrypted restic backups to BackBlaze.

        It’s a lot dealing with tapes, getting them off-site, having backup hardware (since you’ll lose your tape drive when your house burns down), etc.

        Even at work we mostly just keep the data spinning these days (the magical 3-sites) – not sure we have much in the way of tapes anymore.

      • SDF-7

        I can’t even imagine how much Comcast and a cloud vendor would ream me for 60+TiB uploaded… or how long it would take.

      • slumbrew

        That is a lot of porn data.

        Raw video?

      • SDF-7

        Backups of various computers, mirroring of iTunes library on the Mac Mini that streams to the LAN, etc.

        If I really, really needed to I could probably trim things out (like mirror stuff that’s still available through Apple for the library versus what is personal or no longer available — but that increases the risk of Apple changing things behind my back, archiving less backups, etc.) But honestly I don’t want to revise how I use the NAS since I built it to use it like I do and all.

        Checked S3 Deep Archive (or whatever they call it) — that’d be $60 a month, and forget the network cost… and that assumes I almost never touch it and certainly don’t touch it for at least 3 months after initial store.

        I think I’m better off getting a 4 drive enclosure at some point, slapping some 20TiB+ drives in it in a btrfs raid1+0 and then backing up to that and mailing it to my other house (or just carting it over next time I can go).

        I have the last iteration of NAS there already anyway, so while it isn’t a perfectly mirrored setup, that’s similar enough. May just get another copy of the USB3 10-bay one I’m currently using for the data drives (tried building in-case and I think I got too much heat… started getting corruption errors after a few months), partially populate it with drives depending on what I feel I can afford and just btrfs mirror it about a few weeks before whatever my next trip is… it’d take it a while to replicate, but that should do it.

  33. Tundra

    Rick Rescorla, legend.

    Spike makes a very good point:

    When government tells you to do one thing in an emergency, it is often a good idea to do the exact opposite.
    Especially when their actions helped cause the emergency in the first place.

    • Ed Wuncler

      Teared up when I read that. Something I’ve learned a long time ago and constantly tell my wife who religiously follow orders is that when your gut tells you to do something even if it’s going against the rules, fucking do it.

    • Sensei

      The issue with any of these buildings is that the emergency stairwells can’t accommodate a simultaneous evacuation.

      During a normal fire on an upper floor you don’t want to have all floors belows the fire clogging up the stairwell and preventing people from descending. The right answer is yes, get the hell out. But if everyone does that you have a higher chance of making it much harder for everyone to make it out.

      Also if you’ve never done it – descending 25 floors or more in the tight circle of an emergency stairwell at any kind of speed is can get your head spinning.

    • Fourscore

      I read his fascinating biography about 15 years ago. The guy really had an interesting background

    • ron73440

      But first, he called his wife Susan.

      “Stop crying. I have to get these people out safely. If something should happen to me, I want you to know I’ve never been happier. You made my life.”

      Rick rushed back to the South Tower.

      That was the last time anyone saw him alive.

      He went out well.

      I hope I have the balls to do the same, if the situation required it.

      • Sensei

        There is a big difference between the Wall St firms of that time compared to now.

        I agree I hope I have the level of composure. Somehow I doubt I would be quite a composed, but I like to think I’d act as opposed to just freeze.

  34. KSuellington

    Alex in CT said:

    “Honor the fallen. Honor those that fought for us. But also never forget how the evil men running our country turned this into a forever war for profit while making sure our troops couldn’t win.“

    Absolutely true. And not surprisingly, the so called anti-war crowd has been consistently silent over the past couple years of war in Ukraine. As far as I can tell there has been zero serious attempts to somehow bring that hell to a cease.

    • Robonerfherder

      Surfs up

    • UnCivilServant

      At least it wasn’t molasses.

    • PieInTheSky

      the local distillery’ – were they distilling red wine? strange

      • UnCivilServant

        You can make Brandy from any color of wine.

      • PieInTheSky

        yes but it is unusual and I suspect the tweet used the word distillery incorrectly

    • MikeS

      kullar.eth
      @kullar

      Local wildlife experts were surprised to see gatherings of foxes, rabbits, moles and other creatures in that field, stumbling around together saying “i love you bro, you know that right, i’m sorry for chasing you, i just want you to know, my bad”

    • PieInTheSky

      autumn aint even arrived yet.

    • AlexinCT

      Love me long time!

  35. Rebel Scum

    Why?

    Proud to sign legislation declaring Lunar New Year an official school holiday in New York!

    This is an important step in recognizing the importance of New York’s AAPI community and the rich diversity that makes our state so great.

    • UnCivilServant

      Because it saves the kids from another day of torment at the hands of NYSUT

    • PieInTheSky

      There should be a holiday where young women are required to dance naked around a fire or something

      • Not Adahn

        Lupercalia?

    • rhywun

      I wonder if she is aware of what “PI” even means and that its cultures are not related to what Americans commonly understand “AA” to mean.

      • UnCivilServant

        Alcoholics Anonymous Private Investigators?

      • Common Tater

        It’s African American Pimp Informers, such as Rooster or Huggy Bear.

      • Rebel Scum

        All I know is that the various Asians in Asia all hate each other.

      • Rat on a train

        Different races. Different cultures. Thrown together because other doesn’t sound as good.

      • Sensei

        Related – I was doing language exchange last night with my friend in Japan.

        We were discussing synonyms for the word “extravagant”.

        She was having trouble with the “ra” and “va” sound being next to each other as neither are a native sound for her. Much good natured hilarity was had as I tried to help her properly pronounce the word.

    • Shpip

      Proud to sign legislation declaring Lunar New Year an official school holiday in New York!

      Since they’re pretty close together on the calendar, can we combine the traditions of Mardi Gras with those of Lunar New Year?

      You know… Tit for Tết.

      • Rat on a train

        paging Q

  36. PieInTheSky

    What is happening in ‘bankrupt’ Birmingham?

    In April 2010 – 5,000 mostly female council staff won their case for equal pay at an employment tribunal

    It heard workers in roles such as teaching assistants and catering staff, had missed out on bonuses given to staff in jobs traditionally done by men, like refuse collectors and street cleaners.

    Since then, the council has paid out almost £1.1bn in equal pay claims and right now has a £760m bill, which is increasing by up to £14m every month.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-66730165

    ehm teaching assistant and garbage man are not the same job at all

    • Robonerfherder

      ehm teaching assistant and garbage man are not the same job at all

      True, one performs a valuable service

    • Not Adahn

      Garbage men service everyone on their route. Hot teaching assistants tend to only service one or two of their students.

    • rhywun

      And then they get six months off for a baby.

      *We actually had a dude take paternity leave recently. I was gobsmacked – never seen that before.

      • UnCivilServant

        I am required to assume that while he was gone they realized they didn’t need him and eliminated the job as a cost saving measure.

      • Ed Wuncler

        Six months?! That’s pretty long to take paternity leave. Granted tho, I took 2 weeks when I had my first kid.

      • rhywun

        Nah our dude only took about a month.

        I was referring to Europe where women typically get six months or more.

      • Grosspatzer

        And then they get six months off for a baby

        And then a year later… Another six months off! I wonder when the next one will be arriving.

        By the time my spawn ever get around to providing grandchildren, i should be able to take grandpaternity leave. Can’t wait.

      • Rat on a train

        I want free time off for pet emotional support animal adoption.

  37. DEG

    ‘We righted a wrong,’ Youngkin said on Sunday. ‘He should’ve never been prosecuted here. This was a dad standing up for his daughter.’

    Youngkin is right.

    The FreedomFest folks are starting to put recordings of FreedomFest speeches on their youtube channel.

  38. PieInTheSky

    Why I’m an anarchist | Sophie Scott-Brown full interview | Anarchy and democracy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6X_uSFAD_A

    authentic gibberish of some sort or other… I have no idea what she is trying to say…

  39. Rebel Scum

    Arrest this indignant tyrant.

    Hey Ted, conceal and open carry are state laws that I have jurisdiction over. If you’re really interested in helping curb gun violence, I’d welcome you to join our next police academy class.

    • MikeS

      OMG, she’s doubling down? Wow. CWAIC

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        She’s a fucking moron uberKaren, of course she’s doubling down.

    • Grosspatzer

      This comes to mind

      Mary Sue Beal Michelle Grisham, the mayor of an unnamed large city, requires the police department to accept all recruit applications.

      Well, maybe not *all* applications.

  40. Tres Cool

    I was going in late to work since I had to get my (expired by 11 days) driver’s license renewed. Stern was still on terrestrial radio, and I heard it all there. The TV was on at the BMV and I saw some of it there. That afternoon I had to visit a client, and driving past WPAFB, I saw AWACS taking off, and what looked like the presidential “doomsday” plane. And no air traffic.
    It was weird.

    • The Gunslinger

      I was listening to Stern at the time as well. I believe that show has been scrubbed from YouTube. Too much “towel head” talk.

    • Common Tater

      “Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor who has made informing athletes about sexual misconduct her life’s work, is accusing Michigan State football head coach Mel Tucker of sexual misconduct in April 2022.

      A USA Today investigation published early Sunday morning found Tracy filed a complaint with the university’s Title IX office, claiming Tucker made sexual comments towards her and masturbated while on the phone with her, reopening her wounds as a sexual assault survivor. Tucker acknowledged the phone call and said he did masturbate, but claimed it was consensual phone sex.”

      CWAC

      • UnCivilServant

        I dislike the misuse of the term “Survivor” for rape. A survivor implies going through a situation with a high fatality rate.

        Most rapes don’t end in the death of the vicitm. “Victim” is the more appropriate term.

      • Common Tater

        Regardless, sounds like she is a liar, and he is an idiot.

      • Grosspatzer

        She was powerless to hang up the phone when shit started to get weird?

    • Common Tater

      “On its surface, Tracy’s trip to MSU was nothing out of the ordinary. It was the type of talk that she had turned into a profession since publicly coming forward about her assault in 2014, 16 years after it happened in 1998. Tracy was gang raped by four football players, according to her report, but prosecutors ultimately decided not to try the case.”

    • Robonerfherder

      I’ve run across this theory before, that the 9/11 hijackers were allowed into the US because the CIA was running an op trying to recruit AQ members. The targets obviously got out of control and the CIA then went into damage control.

      To me, it’s the most plausible of all the theories simply because it appeals to the lowest common denominators of government; incompetence, arrogance, and a complete and total revulsion to accountability.

      • Grosspatzer

        the CIA was running an op trying to recruit AQ members

        I wonder if Foggy Bottom was the real target of Flight 93.

  41. Rebel Scum

    More of this please.

    Albuquerque Open Carry Rally IN PROTEST OF New Mexico governor issues order suspending the right to carry firearms in public across THE STATE

  42. PieInTheSky

    In 1140, King Conrad III was laying siege to Weinberg, a city located in southwest Germany. Back then, Weinsberg was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Before ordering the final assault, Conrad decided to spare the lives of all the women in the city. He allowed them to leave with whatever they could carry on their shoulders.

    The women left behind all their possessions and came out carrying their husbands. When Conrad saw this, all he could do was laugh and accept their clever subterfuge. Conrad remarked that a king should always keep his word.

    Today, the women who saved their husbands’ lives and the city are known as the “Treue Weiber von Weinsberg” (Loyal Wives of Weinberg). The castle ruins still exist and are known as Weibertreu (“wifely loyalty”).

    https://twitter.com/historyinmemes/status/1700949888895500640

    get you a girl who squats

  43. The Late P Brooks

    Democracy on the edge

    Trump is a highly skilled demagogue whose facility for injecting falsehoods and conspiracies into the country’s political bloodstream creates a swirl of chaos and acrimony in which he alone seems to prosper. And his words shape public opinion. In a recent CNN poll, for example, only 28% of Republicans thought Biden legitimately won sufficient votes to win the 2020 election. This comes after years of Trump incessantly denying he lost, and despite courts throwing out his multiple challenges to the result.

    ——-

    Trump’s bluntness and carefully maintained image as an outsider, despite the fact that he used to live in the White House, allow him to endlessly tap a seam of resentment against Washington and political, economic and media “elites” that is deeply felt by many who back the “Make America Great Again” movement. This perhaps explains why his indictments seem to have made him more popular in the GOP primary.

    Resentment against “the elites”? Where could that have come from? How could three years of Bidenomics possibly have alienated anyone?

    Three years of insults and vilification and divisiveness should be enough to convince the MAGA insurrectionists of the error of their ways, but they persist in their heresies.

    • PieInTheSky

      they should ban politicians from speaking so that there is no demagogy

    • Rebel Scum

      highly skilled demagogue whose facility for injecting falsehoods and conspiracies

      But enough about Brandon, Clinton, etc.

  44. PieInTheSky

    Bobby & Cheryl | The Tim Dillon Show

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y361zBEDzJE

    Tim sits down with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and actress Cheryl Hines about his presidential candidacy, the genesis of the Ukraine Russia war, national parks and how his wife is handling all this.

  45. The Late P Brooks

    Trump has sown and propagated many of these narratives for months, putting political pressure on GOP leaders on Capitol Hill to consider the possibility of an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. Supporters of the move have not yet shown which high crimes or misdemeanors, or instances of treason or bribery – the constitutional standard for impeachment – apply to Biden. The president has denied being involved in any of his son’s business dealings, and Republicans haven’t produced any evidence of wrongdoing on his part in relation to those deals. Still, a majority of Americans in a recent CNN survey – 61% – say they think that Joe Biden had at least some involvement in Hunter Biden’s business dealings, with 42% saying they think he acted illegally, and 18% saying that his actions were unethical but not illegal. A 55% majority also say the president has acted inappropriately regarding the investigation into his son over potential crimes, while 44% say that he has acted appropriately.

    These national splits that Trump expertly widens speak to a deep sense of alienation in American politics that will only be exacerbated by a bitter election. Such a divide was on graphic display at a football clash on Saturday in the first-in-the-nation GOP caucus state where Trump, one of several GOP candidates to attend the game, was greeted by a mix of cheers and boos. Several football fans gave him a one-fingered salute in gestures captured on social media. The host Iowa State Cyclones lost to the University of Iowa Hawkeyes at the game in Ames, a college town in Story County – a liberal bastion in an increasingly conservative state that Trump twice carried in general elections.

    Obviously, the solution is to push harder than ever for winner-take-all policies based on razor thin electoral victories. We must expand government power and meddling into every aspect of day to day life. The absolute last thing in the world we could possibly want is an atmosphere of peaceful (or even mostly indifferent) co-existence.

    • Rebel Scum

      have not yet shown which high crimes or misdemeanors, or instances of treason or bribery

      Except for the evidence there is no evidence.

      deep sense of alienation in American politics that will only be exacerbated by a bitter election

      Clearly we should just cancel the election. To save democracy.

  46. B.P.

    “Incredible moment White House staff abruptly end Biden’s rambling Vietnam press conference mid-sentence and cut his mic”

    This has happened before…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tknWsvZ3Gp4

    And the reporters just rolled with it.

  47. MikeS

    The WSJ recently ran an Op-Ed criticizing the American Federation of Teachers. This is most of clueless Randi’s rebuttal:

    Education is in our DNA. That’s why, while the extreme right bans books, we have given away nine million books so far to students and families. When extremists erase people and censor history, we try to teach honest history that illuminates the American story with all its successes and shortcomings. While the attacks on public schools continue nonstop, we have joined with parents to address learning loss, loneliness and literacy through transformative strategies that can be sustained and scaled to help children recover and thrive.

    Ms. Messenger ignores contracts that our locals have fought for from coast to coast to help members and their families. In Kansas City, Mo., we achieved higher pay and paid parental leave for underpaid teachers. In New York City, educators and school personnel received higher pay, an annual bonus and a reduced paperwork load. In Bend, Ore., the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals were instrumental in getting a new safe-staffing law that represents the most dramatic legislative improvement in patient care in more than a generation.

    She speaks only in vague generalities about how they’re helping kids, but has plenty of specific examples of how they got more money for teachers.

    Our problem-solving approach has helped increase our membership to a record high of 1.72 million. Parent support for public schools has also increased.

    Schools have never been better! The proof is our membership numbers!

    CWAC

    • R.J.

      Wow. That is clueless. And not cute movie Clueless either.

    • Common Tater

      “while the extreme right bans books”

      Bullshit.

      • R.J.

        That phrase sells! Leftists buy into it all the time.
        I had this thought about it: If those particular books were not at school libraries, perhaps they would be effectively banned, as NOBODY WOULD EVER BUY ONE ON PURPOSE. Might be a good phrase to try out next time the whole book banning thing flies around.

      • rhywun

        There are more than a few parents who are happy to teach their toddlers about assless chaps and genital mutilation.

    • Sean

      When extremists erase people and censor history, we try to teach honest history

      From the people tearing down statues and renaming everything.

      • slumbrew

        That’s different!!!11!!

        Those were wrong-thinkers. Double-plus ungood!

  48. Ownbestenemy

    I’m kind of laughing at ‘states rights’ people clamoring that NM Gov is violating the federal constitution. Don’t get me wrong she is, but her bigger violation is to their own constitution.

    The immediate appeal to a federal government that gives no shits about you to protect you is…odd.

    • ron73440

      Apparently, the only thing she did wrong was to do it unilaterally.

      Chicago and other major cities have the same kind of restrictions, shouldn’t there be outrage about those?

      Or just because the legislature wrote the bills, that makes violating human rights OK?

    • UnCivilServant

      The states, on signing on to being part of the United States, are also bound by the federal constitution, including the parts stating that the Right of the People… Shall not be infringed.

      • Robonerfherder

        Until the 14th Amendment, the Bill of Rights was not a restriction on the States.

        And even afterwards, SCOTUS has been inconsistent in its approach to the incorporation doctrine.

  49. Fourscore

    Just back from Podunkville, gas jumped .50 a gallon over the weekend. $4.10 a gallon now. $75 to top off the F150.

    • MikeS

      Bidenomics!

    • Grosspatzer

      You should get one of these.

      Wave of the future!

    • rhywun

      Do I have to go stock up on toilet paper again?

    • MikeS

      Twenty-two years ago, I was one of the sheep who bought the official story. And in the years after, I basically put my head in the sand not wanting to learn anything different.

      Over the last few years, that has changed. While I haven’t bought any tinfoil yet, I do have questions.