344 Comments

  1. UnCivilServant

    Study Finds That GOP Senators Are More Conservative Than Predecessors

    Are they, or did the perspective of the people running the study shift further left?

    • AlexinCT

      The reality is that the old guard republicans are uniparty, but you are correct that anyone that is not to the left of Mao is a MAGA Nazi now.

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

      Now that is a damn good question.

      • juris imprudent

        There used to be more like Romney – standard issue, country club Republicans. Remember how out there Goldwater was?

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

        Oh, I get that, but is anyone looking at the reviewers on these articles? Moving target and all, bay maybe of some interest.

        Who watches the watchmen, and all of that.

      • juris imprudent

        Bwahahahahaha, I don’t think they’ve drifted too far to the left here. That’s the source of the study.

      • UnCivilServant

        A left of center source.

      • juris imprudent

        CPAC? Let’s ask Animal for a ruling on that.

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t need his opinion, they don’t deserve the conservative label.

    • SDF-7

      My question would be “Are they — or are they just presenting?” It wouldn’t surprise me that they are supposedly more conservative — because the GOPe wing has become more despised after the TDS / Lincoln Project crap (look at the reception for Mittens and Cheney after all), so they have to be less “conciliatory” and more “getting crap done for the base” in election rhetoric.

      Based on the actions of the Senate, though — I don’t think they’re all that much more or we’d actually have some fiscal discipline outside the fringes. And we wouldn’t have crap like the “border security Ukraine funding bill” and whatnot.

      • juris imprudent

        There’s a growing modern version of the Taft wing – which means Republicans that aren’t committed to Wilsonian adventurism abroad. I suppose that is more conservative.

    • EvilSheldon

      More socially conservative, yeah, probably. For all the reasons mentioned.

      More fiscally conservative? Don’t make me laugh, it makes my head hurt. For one thing, the populist wing that the GOP is catering to lately is not remotely fiscally conservative. They want pork and handouts in large quantities. For another, fiscal conservatism gives the GOP leaders fewer opportunities to line their own pockets.

  2. UnCivilServant

    California Pizza Chains Plan Layoffs in Advance of New $20 Minimum Wage

    I’m shocked. – I predicted they’d just shut their doors instead.

    • AlexinCT

      That comes next.

      And then the crooks that created this disaster will blame capitalism for the failure.

      • Lackadaisical

        It’s not a failure.

        If your business cannot pay a living wage you don’t deserve to have a business. And if you can’t afford to tip as a customer, you can’t afford to eat out.

        All according to plan and the results are desired.

      • Nephilium

        When all the restaurants close, why then it just shows that we need government to provide food to people, since “capitalism” can’t!

      • Rat on a train

        Need to ban layoffs. That is a capitalist loophole. You can only fire someone for cause with years of documented attempts at corrective actions.

      • Not Adahn

        I didn’t know you were a French citizen.

      • Tres Cool

        Or a union steward.

      • EvilSheldon

        Or a fed.

    • Lackadaisical

      +1 robot

      • Not Adahn

        Yanno, I’d bet that with robots, you can try interesting new pizza techniques like super-hot ovens or toppings sliced so thinly they dissolve into the cheese or sauce.

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

        That would result in a Saltine with soup on it. Why do you hate pizza?

    • SDF-7

      Automation seems more likely. There will still be markets — if someone can figure out the right price point to balance the fixed costs it would still be worth it – especially if their competitors close up.

      • Nephilium

        Not so sure about that. Automation usually works better if your business plan is built around it, rather than adding it on later.

        I’ve noticed an uptick in restaurant closures over the past several years. Including some that were “temporarily closing for remodels” that still haven’t opened back up years later.

      • Not Adahn

        “Bender’s Pizza Inc., now partnering with Johnny Cab!”

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Reduced opening hours at the very least.

  3. UnCivilServant

    New census data analysis suggests Pennsylvania advantage for Trump and GOP in 2024

    Have they fixed the shenanigans pulled last time and replaced the people who counted the vote? If not, the demographics don’t matter.

    • AlexinCT

      You can bet they will go overboard with the cheating in the sates where they cheated to steal the 2020 and 2022 elections.

    • juris imprudent

      I don’t believe in PA there was any question of improper counting; it was the ballots in drop boxes – which the state SC ruled was all good. Never mind that it undid a legislative compromise that had a non-severability poison-pill – the court just cut out what it didn’t like.

    • Drake

      Those were features not bugs.

    • juris imprudent

      The article seems to be speaking to Philly – which isn’t where Trump lost. He actually did better in ’20 there than he did in ’16.

  4. AlexinCT

    Four Years Later, Indiana Attorney General Corrects Governor’s Inflated Covid Data

    The left’s tactic when you catch them doing evil is to deny, deny, deny – for years – then when it is no longer credible to deny but everyone has gotten tired, say they were evil but it is too late. That way there is no consequences because as Hillary said, “At this point, what difference does it make?” This has allowed them to keep doing more and more evil.

    If there is no reconning for the evil done using the Kung Flu to drag us closer to the globalist’s dream of marxian world dominance, expect them to double down and pull more of this shit again, and again.

    • juris imprudent

      You know it wouldn’t sound much different if you went from marxian to Jewish.

      • SDF-7

        He’s not wrong on the point that given there have been zero actual consequences (at any level, best I can see) for the COVID overreaches (or the intelligence community spying or the “disinformation” stuff even if the SCOTUS rules against it, which doesn’t look assured stunningly), etc…. we’re going to get more of it. Why wouldn’t they? There’s no downside and lots of upsides… it will be worth the gamble.

      • juris imprudent

        When is there non-zero consequences to anything by any govt agent? That is the big fucking problem – no accountability. Damn straight you’ll get an unending parade of horribles when no one is ever held accountable for fucking up. And we have institutionalized non-accountability throughout the govt.

      • The Other Kevin

        I agree with you here, it’s not just a big problem, it’s THE problem.

      • AlexinCT

        The blame the Jew shit is for idiots and conspiracists.

        But the marxist you seem hell bent on defending for some reason, tell us they are marxists, without even flinching, these days.

        In fact, they wear marxism as a badge of honor, and accuse anyone not like them to be a fascist/insurrectionist.

        Your desperation to stop me from pointing this aspect of the evil fuckers out tells me more about you than it does about me.

      • juris imprudent

        I’m not defending dude – it’s dead. That’s my point. There are no Marxists in power anywhere, just good old fashioned tyrants – something really well established in history long before Marx ever inspired any boners with his rhetoric. The only Marxists are in moms’ basements and college faculty lounges.

      • AlexinCT

        Dead? me thinks you might need to seek a second diagnosis. And, if I were to grant you this is dead (which I do not at all), what do you call the people that hold those marxist beliefs holy and use the marxist tactics consistently these days? Because there is no denying these people hold marxist beliefs and have no compunction using the evil and ruthless tactics of marxism.

      • EvilSheldon

        They’re not Marxists themselves, but they absolutely use Marxist political and social techniques to gain control.

      • juris imprudent

        The strategies and tactics are not exclusive to Marxists. What was exclusive was the idiot dialectical materialism and the classes derived therefrom. And that’s why it isn’t Marxist anymore – because no one is selling that shit.

        Christ, the Marxists didn’t even invent The Terror – they got that from the Jacobins.

      • AlexinCT

        So your argument is more of the “No true Scotsman” cherry picking?

        Me, I tend to take people at their word. When they tell me they are marxist, then act like marxists (even if the acting is not the old paradigm but a new identity based one with the same results and end goal) , and the results are clearly the same shit you get under marxism, I tend to just accept them as marxist.

        You know. The whole walk like a duck, quack like a duck shit.

      • EvilSheldon

        No one said exclusive. But they absolutely were developed by Marxists, for purposes of softening up western society to make it more vulnerable to a Marxist takeover.

        The Marxists are mostly dead, but their machine is still around.

      • juris imprudent

        Are you asserting that Gramsci was the true high priest of Marxism and not unorthodox (and only of interest to the intellectual midgets of the Frankfurt School)? He was the one for softening up, the slow revolution by co-opting the institutions. Not even a Trotskyite let alone a Stalinist or Maoist.

      • EvilSheldon

        Are you asserting that Gramsci was not a Marxist? Or Fanon, or Friere?

      • juris imprudent

        Yeah, they weren’t anymore than someone who says he can be a Christian without believing in the Trinity. It’s part of the deal.

      • UnCivilServant

        There are ample nontrinitarian christian denominations.

        Though I do defend your right to assert that these are heretical.

      • Not Adahn

        TIL Christians did not actually exist until AD325.

      • AlexinCT

        EvilSheldon, I think they are indeed marxists. The most important rule of marxism is that the people in charge have a “Get out of the evils of marxism, FREE!” card. Marxism was/is just another feudal system that would allow evil people to appeal to the envy/jealousy of some group of serfs with beef, and then use them to become the new aristocracy, thus continuing inflicting more poverty and burden on the serfs that thought they were getting better. They are the feudal lord’s replacement, and they deserve the good stuff!

      • juris imprudent

        See – that’s not unique to Marxism at all. You’re just flat out wrong on that. Every fucking human alive will dodge the consequences of their own fuckups if they can.

        What you describe – the new aristocracy – now you’re talking. Because that’s what this is about – ruling. Stupid humans require ruling, and the mass of humanity is stupid. The mass of humanity isn’t represented on this blog at all.

      • AlexinCT

        Why does it have to be unique to marxism for me to call it out as marxism? Again, the problem isn’t my assertion that people that tell you they are marxist, act like marxists, and produce marxist outcomes, are marxists, as much as your fixation on denying marxism because it could also apply to something else.

      • juris imprudent

        Produce marxist outcomes? Where do you see the dictatorship of the proletariat? Your bourgeois ass is pretty safe and secure.

      • AlexinCT

        Failure, chaos, and destruction of prosperity are marxist end products.

      • R C Dean

        Probably a good description. Still, Marxists have been playing “No true Marxist” since, well, Marx. The evolution of ideology over time also plays into it, as well – you can draw a straight line from Marx to communism and its cousin cousin fascism, which is still very much around here and especially in Europe, and with really not a lot of presto-change-o to critical race theory and the other ills afflicting modern political philosophy. And as I have noted, Marxian tropes are now deeply embedded everywhere, including libertarianism, which has the same blinkered economics uber alles view of society as Marxism, and a need for New Libertarian Man, just as communists needed a New Soviet Man.

        Throwing Marxism onto the ash heap with Divine Right of Kings is an error, IMO.

      • juris imprudent

        The only reason I do is because I’m looking for why we do the stupid shit we do as humans. And for me, that isn’t something that just recently evolved in us – it runs deep.

        Marxism and Divine Right of Kings are justifying the same basic behavior – tyranny over others. Both of course they both argue how beneficial they are – which is a lie. There’s another thing we humans do – lie, to others and ourselves.

      • Not Adahn

        Thinking “we as humans” is a useful category in explaining any given action is a mistake, and trying to theorize using that leads to nonsense.

      • juris imprudent

        Fair, there is a lot of variation, but there also seem to be some core elements.

        Or is there some other reason that Communism and Anarchism have failed to deliver on their promises? Even self-government as we define it in this country isn’t doing so well, and in theory it didn’t require a new kind of human.

      • Not Adahn

        One of the core elements is that there are fundamental differences, belief/terminal value-wise.

        This country’s failure is inevitable, since it’s gotten to the same thing that breaks all utopian schemes — people cannot agree what a better world/lifestyle entails. As long as a country can’t enforce one particular lifestyle/core values/religion then it can be sustained either by not actually interacting with dissidents or the dissidents removing themselves via frontier-seeking. Also, philosophically homogenous groups can be sustained as long as the dissident faction is not too large. But I would postulate that 330M peeps has too many dissidents to prevent schisming if the dominant faction succeeds in getting actual control.

        Kibbutzim work. A one-world government can’t. The US is much closer to the OWG side of the spectrum.

      • juris imprudent

        So why do humans believe in utopian schemes when they always fail? There is something in us that falls for that. That’s the question I find interesting. And yes, I agree scale matters – what may work small falls apart as it grows, *cough* Burning Man *cough*. So why do we insist on growing (and we almost always do)?

      • juris imprudent

        Nisbet’s book that I recently read talked about the West’s attempts to recreate the Roman Empire. It fails but we attempt it over and over.

      • AlexinCT

        So why do humans believe in utopian schemes when they always fail? There is something in us that falls for that.

        I think this should be looked out from a different frame. Religion tell us the afterlife is where we get rewarded or punished. The people that don’t like religion thus took it upon themselves to create heaven on earth, but seem to always, and only, deliver hell. If one was prone to believe in the devil, one would make the case he was/is the biggest proponent of the cadre trying to thumb their noses at a higher power by creating heaven on earth. Ayers didn’t thank the devil in his book and call him the original rebel by mistake/accident.

      • Not Adahn

        Something that strikes me is that the Roman Empire was never stable/self-sustaining. It had to keep expanding/extracting resources from outside to survive. Why this would be anything to attempt to recreate always seemed bizarrely dumb to me.

      • AlexinCT

        It is usually easier to plunder than it is to do the work to make your own…

        Especially when your priorities discourage making your own…

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

        The US fails as a recreation of the Roman Empire as it misses the one key part: an Emperor. And that is the salient feature of our political system, both de facto and de regur. De Facto in that we have a constitutional system that requires checks and balances and, as written at least, allows no one group have to
        absolute power. De Regur in that this creates a need for some sort of two party system, which will always devolve to progressives vs. reactionaries, which we currently call Democrats vs. Republicans, but that has been reversed at times (see Roosevelt, T)

        And don’t worry, we have attempted many times to create facsimile of an Emperor, most recently Obama, but before that Regan, JFK and FDR, to name a few.

        But, and I think this is the salient part; every society tries to recreate some sort of strong man, which is why utopias fail. We want someone to point to who will make the BAD go away, but they ultimately can’t. And thus devolve into tyranny.

      • juris imprudent

        Hell, I think anarchism sounds great – no coercion! Yay! So there is appeal, and it’s even understandable. And for me and maybe you, it might work. The problem is with everyone else.

        I will take a bit of Nietzsche’s perspective here – the afterlife is a story. Deferring to it is slave morality, as you are accepting your oppression here and now for a reward after you die. Nietzsche was an admirer of the Roman culture and morals. My problem with that is, it is predicated on domination/conquest. That is ultimately a dead end unless you assume that you can never conquer the world, that you are bound to lose to some (in which case you are no longer dominating and the justification for your values is eroded).

      • juris imprudent

        Zwak – Emperor isn’t necessary. Rome grew enormously during the Republic and destroyed the greatest threat, Carthage, in that time.

      • AlexinCT

        Zwak – Emperor isn’t necessary. Rome grew enormously during the Republic and destroyed the greatest threat, Carthage, in that time.

        ^^^THIS^^^

        Rome’s fall cam when its elite – it’s aristocracy – became corrupt, inbred, lazy, and weak due to the excesses of success. They then started fighting each other for power and looking down upon the common man that really did all the heavy lifting to create their success and prosperity. As their attempts to control the serfs turned the serfs weak and soft, they imported new stronger & tougher serfs, in order to keep theirs.

        Nobody can object to the fact that America has become soft and we currently have the most inept group of credentialed elites claiming the mantle of expertise. Worse yet, this credentialed class now looks down upon it’s serfs, and is hard at work replacing them with some more accepting and malleable ones.

        It won’t end well.

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

        Which only begs the question – why did it evolve from a republic to an empire?

        My point stands.

      • juris imprudent

        why did it evolve from a republic to an empire

        Because it was politically unstable the whole time it was a Republic – or do we just ignore the civil wars preceding Caesar?

      • Ted S.

        It’s Alex. He only seems to know buzzwords.

      • AlexinCT

        Coming from a mendacious asshat like you, that is again a compliment.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Fine. Call them totalitarians or authoritarians.

  5. SDF-7

    Dem Operative Bankrolled By Soros, Planned Parenthood Runs Web Of Local ‘News’ Sites Across US Misleading Voters

    I keep wondering which one of the various money laundering schemes over the last decade route back through Soros — because even a billionaire should have run out of discretionary funding for all the shit (DAs, news rooms, Antifa, etc.) they’ve been doing. There’s some other funding sources here and Soros is just the convenient “Oh it is Soros again”.

    • juris imprudent

      He may have gotten stuff up and running, but I don’t think he’s ever been the only source of funding. No doubt those NGOs are getting our tax dollars as well.

      • juris imprudent

        and other Dem-donating billionaires like Reid Hoffman

      • Not Adahn

        Just because they fund the same organizations doesn’t mean they’re conspiring!

      • juris imprudent

        I mean seriously, that’s the same exact shit as the idiots screaming Koch!!!!

      • Not Adahn

        It’s just bizarre that someone who purportedly understands emergent phenomena and spontaneous order demands that there be notarized paperwork in triplicate before admitting that people are working together. Ditto your hangup about people embracing Conflict Theory Class-Identity anti-individual totalitarian philosophies NOT being called “Marxists” unless they are on the rolls of the official Karl Marx fanclub (Vienna chapter) prior to 1917.

      • juris imprudent

        Emergent phenomenon is exactly that – not formed out of conspiracies.

        Social domination is as old as walking upright. Chasing phantoms is a curse of a demon-haunted mind.

      • Not Adahn

        See, if you applied your “this has to fit this one really specific definition” generally, you’re not actually speaking English right now. The fact that you haven’t gone full Xeno means that for whatever reason, this is a bete noir for you. Dunno why, but it’s remarkably similar to Winston’s complaining about Libertarians.

      • EvilSheldon

        They may not be actively conspiring, but they don’t really need to, because they have identical (or very similar) belief structures and social class associations.

        This is one of those rare cases where the NRx kiddies have something useful to say. They call this a “prospiracy” – different cause, same outcome.

      • juris imprudent

        The salient element of a conspiracy is the demonization of the conspirators, and thus, the saintliness of those who oppose them. Right out of C.S. Lewis and Eric Hoffer.

      • UnCivilServant

        The salient element of a conspiracy is people acting in concert towards a common goal, typically secretly.

      • Not Adahn

        No offense, but that definition is so aberrant it must have really hurt as you pulled it out of your ass.

        This is why I try to avoid serious discussions here — people who pretend they are interested in one really aren’t.

      • juris imprudent

        Not the conspiracy itself NA, but the need to believe in conspiracies. Not that I made that clear.

      • trshmnstr

        people who pretend they are interested in one really aren’t.

        The best way to do that here is via articles. The SLD series sticks out as a great example.

        The comments are not structured in a way amenable to a serious conversation.

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

        “The comments are not structured in a way amenable to a serious conversation.”

        I would say the opposite is true; that the comments, or conversation if you will, are the most relevant part, and the most serious aspect of any site. This is why you see many sites ban them, as they know that they cannot control them, and people will come to conclusions that might not suit the OP of any given article. Or, as in the case of SlateStarCodex (or whatever it is called now) that the comments are a gold mine when lightly but constantly monitored, and help us truly understand the engaged part of the political body.

      • Not Adahn

        Unfortunately, it looks like Scott is undergoing the same transformation that hits most people when they age out of being young and/or become a parent.

        It was good while it lasted.

      • Tonio

        The article mentions that Planned Parenthood was also funding them. PP receives government grants, but they totally swear that those taxpayer dollars are only used to buy condoms and oral contraceptives.

  6. Lackadaisical

    “It’s a corporate management bloodbath for the troubled aviation giant.”

    Several years late, but at least something is happening. What a shame.

  7. Drake

    Just saw the video of the bridge collapse. Damn.

    Luckily I95 isn’t a busy road.

    • juris imprudent

      That bridge carries the haz-mat traffic that can’t go through either of the tunnels (95 and 895), now it has to route around the western part of the 695 beltway.

      • AlexinCT

        Anyone know the flag the ship that hit the bridge was flying? Cause this feels like a real hard to make mistake.

      • WTF

        Singapore I believe?

      • AlexinCT

        Singapore? SINGAPORE???

        Oh oh…

        Was this a CPP operation through the usual Singapore avenue they hide their nefarious actions? Kind of like the whole Tik-Tok thing! Where they claim it is in Singapore s it was not the CCP…

        No more HAZMAT for you!

        /tin foil hat on

    • WTF

      Fortunately it happened around 1:00AM and not rush hour.

      • AlexinCT

        Reports say 10 cars dropped hundreds of feet into the water. That’s at least 10 dead.

      • EvilSheldon

        It was a cargo ship, not a ferry.

      • UnCivilServant

        The cars came from the bridge, not the boat.

      • EvilSheldon

        That was supposed to be sarcasm, but upon re-reading it didn’t really hit. Just ignore me.

      • Urthona

        haha

    • EvilSheldon

      That’s oddly endearing…

    • juris imprudent

      Vermont cackles with delight.

  8. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    2019: Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself!
    2024: P Diddy did not kill himself!

    • Ownbestenemy

      Will be interesting to watch the news go hard and fast at P Diddy while showing no interest in Epstein

      • Urthona

        I think the media went hard at Epstein the last time around. Just had little interest in his clientele not named
        Trump.

      • juris imprudent

        Wouldn’t really have mattered how much interest they had, the govt wasn’t letting those names out.

      • NoDakMat

        Sounds like you have knowledge of a conspiracy.

      • juris imprudent

        Is self-protection really a conspiracy?

    • Tres Cool

      You forgot Mcafee.

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        McAfee wasn’t a ped0 AFAWK

      • Ownbestenemy

        Did anyone ask the whale’s age?

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

        That hole thing blows.

    • WTF

      Didn’t ISIS claim the crime as theirs?

      • Urthona

        Not just that, as they claim credit for a lot of things. The attackers are all
        from the Muslim region, they shouted religious slogans during the attack, etc.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        They also claimed credit for the Las Vegas mass shooting so they have a history of bullshitting. Then again, the Russian government would certainly gain an advantage if it was the above stated bunch. Then again again, I don’t trust the above stated bunch. More evidence and time is warranted.

    • juris imprudent

      Uh huh, and he’s more credible than the top of our LE/IC “community”?

      • Drake

        The guys who just can’t figure out who blew up the Nord Steam pipeline but knew it was ISIS-K while shots were still being fired?

        I have no idea how credible that guy is, maybe not a proven liar like our people. They seem to be rolling up the whole operation right now.

        What’s bad is if they really believe it (true or not).

    • Not Adahn

      Muslims have been attacking music venues for a long time. The first time I heard about this I immediately thought of Bataclan and Dubrovka.

      • Nephilium

        Well, there was that crazed MAGA guy in Vegas who shot at the country music festival, right?

      • Not Adahn

        They said he was a MAGA guy, but they also said they were unable to figure out where in a hotel ten minutes of sustained gunfire were coming from.

        *Makes copper wire snood to wear under tinfoil hat*

      • UnCivilServant

        Need a better antenna to pick up the signals?

      • Not Adahn

        Trying to generate a shielding current by inducing bimetallic galvanism.

    • R C Dean

      I still find it much more likely that it was ISIS than it was our Keystone Kop intelligence agencies. And I’m certainly not going to take anything the Russian’s say about it without a Cracky-sized grain of salt.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      I have a low opinion of our intelligence services and think they are a bunch of scumbags, but I still have a hard time believing they would be this stupid and evil.

    • Swiss Servator

      Hey, a Russian said it – must be true. No Muslim has any beef with good old Russia…never have in fact!

  9. PieInTheSky

    “Developing Mass Casualty Event” – Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore Collapses After Cargo Ship Crash – I was just in negotiations to buy that, good thing I did not close the deal. Hopefully no serious casualties.

    • Urthona

      Oh I was unaware there were many casualties.

      • Not Adahn

        There weren’t many, but they were all really fat.

      • Urthona

        Oh. Well then. Massive casualties.

      • Tres Cool

        I can’t help it. Im sorry. I really am.

      • Nephilium

        I’m not sure how the links would have helped them.

      • slumbrew

        Embrace the healing power of the links!

        (Or enjoy my intended llnk. Damn “smart” quotes.)

  10. Tres Cool

    “The crew of the ship and the two pilots aboard — port authority professional navigators who help bring large ships in and out safely — are unharmed.”

    Someone gots some ‘splainin to do.

    • Urthona

      That bridge came out of fucking nowhere.

      • UnCivilServant

        After we dodged that Kamikaze lighthouse, it just ambushed us!

    • Drake

      I was wondering if they had a harbor pilot.

      Also, no barrier in front of the main support for the bridge? Maybe a pile of rocks or some concert?

      • UnCivilServant

        “We could have put up barriers around the bridge piers – or we could have lined more pockets.”

    • WTF

      Yeah every port has local professional pilots who take control of the ships coming in and going out just to prevent shit like this from happening. I guess there could have been a mechanical malfunction, lost power, lost steering, etc. I guess we may find out after the investigation is complete.

      • Urthona

        All the lights went out on the boat beforehand indicating power failure.

      • juris imprudent

        Well where’s the fun in that. Sensationalizing is what is important!

      • Not Adahn

        Well, and if you can get the public to believe that the pilot was at fault, you have an additional entity to sue.

      • R C Dean

        If it was a Port Authority pilot, you’re going to have sovereign immunity issues.

      • juris imprudent

        It’s good to be the sovereign!

      • Not Adahn

        Question: How do people successfully sue police departments for wrongful death? Is that or are they not covered by sovereign immunity?

      • EvilSheldon

        NA – Usually it takes a court finding that the department (as represented by the police officer who did whatever heinous shit) was acting outside the scope of its chartered duties.

        In a practical sense, the department usually just settles out of court to make the case go away. Not like it’s their money.

      • Not Adahn

        I thought that the various flavors of immunity prevented them from being taken to court in the first place.

      • Sensei

        Very good initial fact reporting.

    • Grummun

      port authority professional navigators

      Unionized pilots working the shitty graveyard shift?

      • Grummun

        Just like the instant analysis of the ship hitting the bridge and all the permutations of reasons for that – which all turn out to be wrong.

        Very well, I am duly chastised for jumping to an uninformed determination* of cause based largely on my pre-existing biases.

        * But I would argue is still a non-zero-likelihood determination**.

        ** This argument is also based largely on my pre-existing biases.

  11. Suthenboy

    Not sure what to make of the bridge collapse. Yet. Someone seems to be whispering DEI in my ear.

    Of course they are going to take out Kennedy. I imagine the Bernie bros are steaming hot watching this happen all over again.

    I would have set Trumps bond at $1. That is if I could not vacate the verdict altogether.

    Dunno what Truth Social is. I guess we will find out.

    More conservative? What does that mean? As pointed out here conservatives have not managed to conserve anything so what difference does it make?

    Biden lie? Ya dont say. The truth has never passed the man’s lips in his life. Not once.

    This Soros feller….why is he still breathing?

    Trump is going to be president. Bobble head on news show a few nights ago: “If they seize all of Trump’s assets there is no way he won’t be president.”

    Who believed the Covid numbers anyway?

    Absurd minimum wage mandates kill jobs? Who could have seen that coming. Are they vilifying business owners yet?

    I must live in a bubble. Outside doc’s offices and airports, who listens to the corporate news or anything Media Matters has to say?

    Boeing: Foreseeable consequences are not unintended. Boing is just the tip of a very big iceberg. Just wait.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Nothing like introducing the true minimum wage to people the hard way.

    • AlexinCT

      Boeing: Foreseeable consequences are not unintended. Boing is just the tip of a very big iceberg. Just wait.

      See Suthen, my fear is that we might be snowed by these assholes and they are just going to replace the current “Didn’t earn it” douchebags with a new and more sneaky cadre of these assholes. These people will not be dissuaded from the evil they want even when the bodies start piling up. We had an entire century where they racked between 120 and 150 million corpses and some 3 billion people living in abject misery, and they still tell us that was not the real deal, and they will be the ones to – this time – get it right.

      Reality is that collectivism can only deliver its false promise by dragging everyone down to the lowest possible level, which leaves no other out than killing anyone challenging the power of the aristocracy leading that shitshow, on the road to failure.

    • trshmnstr

      Someone seems to be whispering DEI in my ear.

      From what I read, it sounded like multiple systems failures on the ship at the worst possible moment. IOW, bad luck.

      • UnCivilServant

        I want to know what caused multiple systems to fail at once. Bad design? Poor maintenance?

      • slumbrew

        Loss of engine would be loss of propulsion, which would be enough.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Sometimes….shit happens. Electrical/mechanical gremlins are the worst.

      • R C Dean

        I doubt there’s a lot of DEI in Singapore, which is where the ship is from (I think, maybe just flagged there).

      • UnCivilServant

        The flag on the ship has more to do with taxes and maritime treaties than the actual operators of the vessel.

    • Drake

      I watched Tucker’s interview with Tulsi Gabbard last night. She and RFK seem to be the last Democrats who haven’t gone completely woke and sold their souls to whatever runs DC establishment (Satan / Hillary). Interesting to hear how she went from a rising star to a pariah as soon as she opposed Obama and Clinton’s neo-con wars.

    • trshmnstr

      I have 24 peeping chicks behind me right now. Life is good.

      • AlexinCT

        I hear we are about to hit another egg scarcity event that drives prices up bigtime…

  12. Derpetologist

    New Stossel video on squatters:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IleN1NpiQLo

    Turns out the best approach is to fight fire with fire. Surprisingly, that’s legal. The commie dingbat at the 5:48 mark is amusing, in a Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey sort of way.

    • AlexinCT

      The appeal of communism, nay any form of government sponsored collectivism, is not one or more of the most egregious deadly sins by accident.

      Being good to your brother/fellow man should not be something you abdicate to government so you can then feel good. Government is just people, and usually the real bad people, doing things that benefit themselves.

      • juris imprudent

        People abdicate that to govt because they don’t really like those people, and besides, when govt does it, it means someone else is paying for it. That’s a double hit of good-feel for the idiot brigade.

      • AlexinCT

        On this we agree..

        Do you think the people doing/going along with this are just ignorant of the reality, or know it and just don’t care. I find it difficult to believe they are just ignorant of things, but these days I see so much ignorance that it baffles me we don’t have massive amounts of people dying because they did stupid shit.

      • juris imprudent

        Our prosperity (and I’m talking at least 100 years worth) has created pretty generous buffers for stupidity. Shit that should be fatal just isn’t.

      • AlexinCT

        For now…

        That $34 trillion of fake cash and the fact they keep printing more of it while attacking and destroying productivity and prosperity so government can pick the winners & losers, sooner than later will eat away that 100 year buffer. And my guess is that it is much, much sooner than anyone is willing to realize. There is a buffer, until there isn’t. And in the world we have today, when that end to the buffer happens, there will be a lot more consequences than just the good times being over.

    • Rat on a train

      What is needed are some people willing to squat in the homes of elected officials.

    • R C Dean

      “Turns out the best approach is to fight fire with fire.”

      I’ve been predicting somebody would decide to take the insurance payout rather than try to get their (wrecked) house back after months of legal bills.

    • B.P.

      Another load of asphalt on the road to vigilantism. And the architects of the road will wonder in wide-eyed amazement how things got to be the way they are.

  13. The Other Kevin

    “Team Biden Reportedly Building Mass Operation To Take Down 3rd Party Candidate”

    Here’s an idea. How about building a mass operation to DO YOUR FUCKING JOB?

    • AlexinCT

      They are saving democracy by making sure people can only pick the people they feel will protect their power fiefdom, erm democracy…

  14. The Other Kevin

    Is is just me, or does if feel like we’re in the last chapters of Atlas Shrugged? I’m not looking forward to that long ass speech though.

    • Urthona

      To be honest, not really.

      • R.J.

        Agreed. We are still early days. You are reading ahead.

      • Urthona

        I’ll be honest.

        This kind of thing is all over social media today and seems like the right wing version of climate change hysteria to me.

        Statistically things have never been safer and infrastructure has never been better.

        Although I do think Boeing should be scrutinized, air travel has never been safer of course and whom do we have to thank for the record low in major airplane disasters?

        Let’s not pretend we are in the end times when we clearly are not yet.

      • trshmnstr

        We’re still in the soft men part of the cycle. All the angst and doom goes away when you turn your screens off. Get while the gett’n’s good, because it’s not gonna be good forever.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Agreed and look at the advancements in technology and engineering that when things do go wrong, its minor injuries. Hell even when they slammed the 777 at SFO there were comparably minimal loss of life and injury versus the scope of the crash.

        Agreed its no dark and gloomy out there but that doesn’t mean I won’t keep my guard up.

      • Sean

        Stop being reasonable and level headed.

    • slumbrew

      I confess I punched out of the speech after a half-dozen pages, one I saw how much more there was.

      “I got it, lady, I got it”.

      • The Other Kevin

        Me too. I tried, I really did, but ended up skipping past it.

      • Grummun

        Same. I went into it knowing there was a giant speech, and I was determined I was going to read it all. Turns out my will was not that strong.

      • UnCivilServant

        Brevity is the soul of wit, after all.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        And of lingerie.

    • juris imprudent

      That’s the human fascination with doom talkin’ there. Just like the instant analysis of the ship hitting the bridge and all the permutations of reasons for that – which all turn out to be wrong.

      And honestly, I’m getting tired of that shit here. It may be time for me to take a break if that is going to be our dominant mode.

      • Urthona

        It’s everywhere. There’s a left wing version too although the blame is different. In that version it’s our fault for not listening to the experts enough

      • Fatty Bolger

        Or climate change. It’s amazing how many things can be blamed on climate change.

      • Ownbestenemy

        But our doom is the best doom!

      • slumbrew

        Classy doom, just fantastic.

      • The Other Kevin

        The best. Everyone says so.

      • juris imprudent

        Now this shit on the other hand is what keeps me around.

      • trshmnstr

        Other hand shitting is a very specific kink.

      • Nephilium

        I’m gonna sing the doom song now.

      • Beau Knott

        I had hoped it would be that. Your taste sir, I applaud it.

      • EvilSheldon

        Ehh. Failure analysis is interesting. And if you’re good at it, profitable.

      • Not Adahn

        *points to business card*

    • Red Pill Matt

      I got a server error trying to post the entire speech here.

      • juris imprudent

        The squirrels are on to you!

      • slumbrew

        413 Request Entity Too Large

      • Ownbestenemy

        If achievable, I believe cat-butt worthy too

      • R C Dean

        Sounds like there’s a STEVE SMITH joke in there somewhere.

        AND BY IN THERE SOMEWHERE, MEAN . . . .

      • Rat on a train

        with benefits?

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      We don’t count.

  15. juris imprudent

    Now, this is even more depressing.

    Harvard University and West Point led the way to the new promised land.

    At Harvard, your personal “truth” validating racism and plagiarism will get you the Presidency. At West Point, there is no need for a mission centered on “duty, honor, country.”

    Our President is a compulsive grifter; his Republican rival is a compulsive huckster. For them, it has always been about the money: cash in hand, swanky digs, juicy book or real estate deals.

    But they are not alone. Grift is the new American Way. Other words for this culture are “entitlement” and “rent-extraction.” Just give me the money and don’t ask questions.

    • slumbrew

      The transition to a low-trust society continues.

    • Ownbestenemy

      We Americans have spent a lot of money to buy systemic academic failure for those who most need a good education in writing, reading and arithmetic.

      What a beautifully horrific and truthful statement.

      • R C Dean

        Just like Americans get far less government than they pay for, and far more than they need, we get far less “education” than we pay for. . . .?

      • AlexinCT

        Is it education when the end goal is to make you even dumber than a fuck?

      • juris imprudent

        You could argue that point from when we imported the Prussian model.

  16. Urthona

    With P Diddy gone, I’m worried America will experience a looming dark age in music. Who will resample double platinum hits and add rap lyrics?

    • Certified Public Asshat

      We’ll be missing him

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Come with me, Pass the Courvoisier, and I will tell you how can’t nobody hold him down.

      • AlexinCT

        I miss Blowlfy more.

      • R.J.

        Amen!

    • slumbrew

      Very sweet.

      She passed just a couple months after that & he suck around for 2 more years, to 101. They had a good run.

      • slumbrew

        Uh, “stuck”. NTTIATWWT.

  17. Certified Public Asshat

    Bridge collapse random thought: when does a body of water become a river?

    The bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River, which is a bitch ass nub of a river. How is it a river and not just an arm of the Chesapeake?

    • UnCivilServant

      If the current flows in a single direction, it’s a river. If it’s tidal, you’re an estuary or bay.

    • AlexinCT

      What gets me is everyone realized the loss of the bridge will cause traffic disruptions and more importantly, force a long alternate route for HAZMAT stuff, but that bridge now is also blocking river traffic, and nobody has pointed out what that will impact as far as I can tell…

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s faster to clear the river channel than replace the bridge.

        Also, how much hazmat traffic is there across that bridge on a regular basis?

    • Gender Traitor

      Patapsco bought the naming rights?

      • Gender Traitor

        For that matter, when does a stream become a creek, and when does a creek become a river? And where does a brook fit into the hierarchy?

      • UnCivilServant

        More importantly are you pronouncing it crick or creak?

      • Nephilium

        What if those are two different things?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Of course not, because creak is a noise, not a body of water.

      • UnCivilServant

        A crick is a pain in the neck, not a waterway.

      • Nephilium

        They are. A crick you can step over, a creek you can step through.

      • UnCivilServant

        No, the first is a Rill.

      • Gender Traitor

        ::pulls back shoulders, lifts chin:: I was reared to pronounce it “creak,” thank you very much!

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I’m really struggling now that I have gone down this rabbit hole. The Patapsco apparently begins near where I grew up. Except I swear on everything no one called it the Patapsco river. To me, this “river” begins and ends in Baltimore County/city.

        Despite UCS’ attempt to gaslight me, it doesn’t feel like a river and is therefore, not one. In my asshat opinion at least.

      • UnCivilServant

        I gave a very factual, simple to apply definition which does not rely on feels.

        Just because your river is truncated doesn’t mean it isn’t one.

      • juris imprudent

        You left out branch and run.

    • Urthona

      Am I the only one worried about all the hookers in those cargo containers?

      Where’s McNulty?

      • slumbrew

        “Did he have hands? Did he have a face? Yes? Then it wasn’t us.”

        I really gotta try to get my wife to watch that. Or I will re-watch without her.

        I’ve got the DVD set but Amazon Prime has it streaming in HD.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Well according to the EPA, the puddle in your backyard is a river.

      • Tres Cool

        See that paper boat float in it? Its navigable. Now you have to get permits from the Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard.

      • Fourscore

        If the puddle will float a canoe, call the Corps of Engineers, they’ll want to map it as navigable waters

      • Grummun

        I thought a recent (last year or so?) SC ruling dialed that shit back a little?

      • juris imprudent

        You mean the one that ended the world because the federal govt lost all power to make common sense regulations?

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        That’s why we’re all dead now.

      • Tres Cool

        That and net neutrality.

      • R C Dean

        It was the tax cut what got me.

  18. Sean

    I played https://squaredle.com/xp 03/26:
    *20/20 words (+9 bonus words)
    📖 In the top 1% by bonus words

    I played https://squaredle.com 03/26:
    *32/32 words (+12 bonus words)
    📖 In the top 2% by bonus words
    🔥 Solve streak: 184

  19. PieInTheSky

    Hmmm does insurance pay for bridges? Do pilots have liability insurance? I assume ships do.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Here’s an idea. How about building a mass operation to DO YOUR FUCKING JOB?

    You slay me.

    • The Other Kevin

      I aim to please.

  21. Common Tater

    “Police arrested a Chicago area man for allegedly planning to sexually assault an unborn child carried by a surrogate and for possessing child pornography, according to a criminal complaint cited Monday by WGN9.

    Authorities charged Adam Stafford King, who traveled the U.S. working as a veterinarian and dog show judge, after allegedly distributing child pornography from the online handle “@pervchidude,” according to WGN9. He allegedly planned on sexually assaulting a child he was expecting with his husband via surrogate in California, according to the documents cited by WGN9.”

    https://dailycaller.com/2024/03/26/police-arrest-chicago-man-assault-unborn-child-surrogate-fbi-dog-show-judge-veterinarian/

    • Bob Boberson

      File under “Some people just need killin”

    • R C Dean

      “a child he was expecting with his husband via surrogate”

      So he (and I’m betting they) were planning to adopt their very own sex toy?

      • UnCivilServant

        Happens more often that you’d like to think.

    • R C Dean

      If you were a movie producer and called up Central Casting and asked for a pedo perv looking guy, you’d get somebody who looks just like him.

      • Tres Cool

        “Also on Nov. 9, 2023, King allegedly described giving his young relatives double the adult dose of Benadryl before sexually assaulting them.”

        Well, thats going to make Christmas awkward.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      A veterinary ophthalmologist, at that.

      • Tres Cool

        “I dont know. That horse dont look so good.”
        “I told you he was blind.”

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        +1 tutsy-fruitsy ice cream

    • Not Adahn

      I know this is a quibble that mises the point, but he wasn’t planning on sexually assaulting an unborn child. That would involve surgery.

      • R C Dean

        I wasn’t expecting an Austrian economics angle on this story, but there it is.

  22. Derpetologist

    Steamed Hams, the Megilat version

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6HCu9edk54

    I don’t know much Hebrew, but it seems legit.

    The translation, for those who wish to read:

    ***
    1 And it was after these things, and there was a man from the city of the Field of Spring and his name was Shalmer, the great supervisor over all its learnings. 2 And it was one day, and Shalmer rose and went by Simor Haskiner, administrator of the school house, and he came to the entrance of his house. 3 And Shalmer said to him, saying: “Lo, Simor, behold I have come before thee, for I have transgressed thine instructions.” 4 And Simor answered and said, “Ah, my lord supervisor! 5 Peace be upon thee, and I hope that thou mayest be prepared for a feast not to be forgot!” And Shalmer groaned and came after him. 6 And Simor came alone towards the kitchen, and saw, and behold, the oven was all asmoke, and he cried a great cry. 7 And he said, “Ah, my God, for ruined, ruined is the fire-roasted meat I have made!” 8 And he said, “But were I to purchase myself food of haste and cover them as my own food…”, and he laughed, and he said in his heart, “How beautiful and how sweet is this thing, to serve as an adversary, Simor!” 9 And he opened the window and lifted his leg to leave it, and behold, Shalmer standing in the entrance to the kitchen!

    10 Thus say the bards: “Haskiner, in his explanations of insanity. 11 Is there no balm for the chief of supervisors? And when he hears all of his bloated mutterings, there will be strife in the city this night!” 12 And Shalmer cried and called: “Simor, Simor!” And he said, “Ah, my lord supervisor! 13 Behold I stretch myself in my calves upon the posts of this window, so as to strengthen the body in equal measure. And if thou wouldst join me, join me!” 14 And Shalmer said to Simor saying: “Why doth thine oven smoke, Simor?” And he said, “Please, my Lord, 15 it is not smoke that rises from mine oven, but steam, steam, for the steamed sea fruits that we shall eat! And behold, what is well flavored as steamed sea fruits?” 16 And Shalmer left the kitchen, and Simor saw and left towards Qerustiberg and took a plate of kuftaoth of meat.

    17 And he again came towards the kitchen and he said to Shalmer, saying: “I hope, hope that thou mayest be prepared for a feast well-flavoured of kuftaoth of meat!” 18 And the supervisor was confounded, and asked Simor, saying: “Yea, was it not heard in mine ears that behold, we are to eat steamed sea fruits?” 19 And Simor answered and said: “Not steamed sea-fruits, but steamed portions of Cham, for I call kuftaoth by that name.” 20 And Shalmer asked and said: “Thou callest kuftaoth by the name ‘steamed portions of Cham’?” 21 And Simor answered and said: “I call them by that name, for it is in the way of the speech of my land.” 22 And Shalmer asked and said: “What is thy land, whose way is to speak such as this?” 23 And Simor answered and said: “The far-reaches of the north, the region of Neve Jorech.” 24 And he said, “Speakest thou thruth? For from the ancient [Hebrew: ʿAtiqah] city am I, and I have never heard this matter of ‘steamed portions of Cham’ from all the mouths of my comrades.” And behold, the ancient city was within the far-reaches of the north, the region of Neve Jorech. 25 And Simor answered and said, “No, not in the ancient city, for they speak such as this in the city of Baal-Beni.” 26 And Shalmer said, “I have seen,” and bit the kuftaoth and said, “Behold, these kuftaoth seem as the kuftaoth of Qerustiberger!” 27 And Simor denied and said, “No, ah, no, for listed kuftaoth of Haskiner are these, as an old teaching of my clan.” 28 And he yet again asked and said, “An old teaching upon the matter of ‘steamed portions of Cham’?” And he answered and said “Upon them it is.” 29 And he answered and said, “And thus thou callest them by the name ‘steamed portions of Cham’, but with all this it is clear in my eyes that these are roasted.” 30 And he delayed, and Simor requested Shalmer saying: “Permit me for just one moment,” and Shalmer said, “I have permitted thee.” 31 And Simor left from by the table and opened the door of the kitchen, and saw, and behold, the kitchen was aflame in fire. 32 And he returned towards the table and made as a man concluding, and said, “How glorious it was, and a time of goodness for all people. And behold, I am tired.”

    33 And the great supervisor rose to leave and saw the light of the fire in the kitchen, and he shouted and cried, “Oh, Lord of goodness! What is it that occurs thence?” 34 And Simor said, “The radiance of the firmament it is.” 35 And Shalmer cried in a loud voice and called: 36 “The radiance of the firmament it is? In this season of the year, and also at this time of the day, and also in this province of the land, and also it is dwelling from head to end within thy kitchen?” 37 And he said, “Thus and so.” 38 And he requested, saying: “May I see it it?” And he answered and said, “No.”

    39 And Simor led Shalmer out of his house, and his mother cried and called: “Simor, aflame is the house!” 40 And Simor answered her and said, “Not so is this matter, O my mother, for the great luminaries are they.” 41 And Shalmer said to Simor, saying: “Lo, Simor, a differentiated man art thou, yet for all this I shall say that behold, you have known to steam a portion of Cham.”

    42 And this scroll, the Scroll of Cham-Steam, was written and sealed by the hand of Isaac Harel son of Jael and Abraham Meir the priest, in the thirty-second year of the family of the sons of Simp. 43 May the LORD be unto us a help, a help!
    ***

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Too soon? I hope they do not rebuild the bridge.

  23. Tres Cool

    A big piece of a really big bridge fell across the ships bow and its still afloat.
    I find that rather impressive, but I know little of ocean-going things

    /Army vet, not Navy

    • R C Dean

      That got me wondering:

      Is a submarine a ship when it’s on the surface? Does it stop being on when it submerges?

      • UnCivilServant

        A submarine is always a ship, even submerged.

      • AlexinCT

        It’s a phallic symbol full of seamen. And everyone know 122 men go out and 61 couples come back…

        That’s the old joke back in my day.

      • Pine_Tree

        Submarines are boats, not ships.

      • dontreadonme

        Correct answer. But don’t ever call a ship a boat.

      • juris imprudent

        TV news was calling the container ship a boat.

      • slumbrew

        If you can’t trust the TV news to get it right, who can you trust?

      • juris imprudent

        At least they didn’t call it an assault rifle.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Alex, I’ll take people least likely to know proper nautical terminology for $300.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    The Biden administration will rush in and build a temporary river crossing using pallets of $100 bills.

  25. The Other Kevin

    It’s that time of year for me to dust off my old bit about the names for the other days of Holy Week: Mundane Monday, Normal Tuesday, and Uneventful Wednesday. These days didn’t make the Bible because Jesus was just doing things like picking up his sandals from the cobbler, having his tunic dry cleaned, paying the deposit for the caterer, and renewing his donkey license at the Department of Nonmotor Vehicles.

    • Grummun

      Good Thursday
      Better Friday

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Buy American, Build Nothing

    Money is the metric. Spending is the goal. Tangible product is irrelevant.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    The law formally created a Made in America Office to review agency compliance and approve waivers.

    Good productive union jobs, FTW!

    • juris imprudent

      Those shovels won’t stand up by themselves.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Government contracted building need government workers leaning against them to maintain wall integrity sir!

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Diversity has no place here

    As boneheaded corporate decisions go, the one by NBC News to bring on Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor is right up there.

    Whatever twisted purpose hiring the former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairperson was meant to accomplish has been lost. That may have been gaining access to Republican bigwigs, sending a cynical message of ideological diversity or boosting ratings.

    Instead, the network has badly damaged its reputation and credibility. The hire makes a statement that, for this major US news organization, there are no consequences – rather, a juicy reward – for public figures who continually lie to the press and citizens. Her contract is reportedly worth $300,000.

    Hiring McDaniel – a powerful election denialist who joined then president Donald Trump in pressuring voting officials not to certify the 2020 election – was like putting a standing chyron on the NBC Nightly News: “Lying is rewarded here.”

    She is not of the Body.

    • Ownbestenemy

      When lying is really difference of opinion. Congrats America!

    • AlexinCT

      Uniparty people fail?

    • Not Adahn

      powerful election denialist

      Primal clarinet phlebotomist!

    • Pope Jimbo

      She worked undercover for the Dems for how many years? All that she did to hinder the GOP from election success and spending their money on stupid things and now that she is finally out, they are going to kick her to the curb?

      Ingratitude.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Not even a peep about any of the 51 signers of the “all the hallmarks of Russian disinfo” showing up on TV, but this hapless idiot works them into a froth?

    • WTF

      Now do George Stephanopolis.

    • R C Dean

      “a standing chyron on the NBC Nightly News: “Lying is rewarded here.”

      You mean they didn’t already have one?

  29. juris imprudent

    Redundant at birth and refuses to die no matter how obsolete it is — I give you NATO!

    Those of us who have grown skeptical of NATO and its intentions can only imagine what this press release verbiage might mean, as an organization established to counter the Soviet threat during the Cold War seems to take its existence and continued interventions for granted.

    From where your humble observer stands, the NATO bureaucracy lost the reason for its existence in the early 1990s but carried on anyway, as bureaucracies are prone to do. Today, it seems clear what NATO’s real post-Cold War missions actually are: ensuring its continued existence and expansion and defending certain “democratic values”—that is, imposing what we now know as a “woke” agenda on everyone else. It plays its part in this effort, along with the European Union, the United States government Leviathan, specific international organizations, and globalist activists at the World Economic Forum, or what I like to call “the Davos Politburo.”

  30. The Late P Brooks

    The brass at NBC News needs to take stronger action in a statement – and a brief televised appearance by a top network executive or news leader – that affirms the commitment to covering politics truthfully and rigorously. It could appear once at the top of the nightly news and once on, let’s say, Morning Joe and Meet the Press.

    Then, go further. Prove that commitment in the network’s presidential campaign coverage. How? By using extreme care in giving a platform and a megaphone to proven liars, including the former president, and by providing sustained coverage about the stakes of the election, not just the horserace.

    Mea culpa. Self-flagellation. Most extreme contrition.

    And then, intensify the Inquisition and ruthless pursuit of heresy.

    • B.P.

      You can’t lie here. This is NBC News!

      • Common Tater

        There is no fighting in the war room!

    • WTF

      affirms the commitment to covering politics truthfully and rigorously

      AHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  31. AlexinCT

    If you are running a big government racket and need big money, you need to rob the big banks. Not that I am a fan of Apple all things considered because it too is an evil company like Alpha (Google/Youtube).

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Q: What’s the fastest car?
    A: A rental car!

    A Mustang, on wet pavement. The throttle stuck. I’d sue Ford.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    As Chuck Todd of NBC put it: “Many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting, have been met with character assassination.”

    And then he spontaneously burst into flames, right there on the set, right?

    RIGHT?

    • Pope Jimbo

      That wouldn’t be carbon neutral, so it is not allowed.

  34. Pope Jimbo

    Daily Ray of Gloom?

    Why is it that only the truly despicable seem to know to keep their yaps shut when talking to the police?

    Investigators in Winona have made a break in the “Baby Angel” cold case from 2011, according to court records.

    According to a search warrant, the Winona County Sheriff’s Office has identified a possible DNA match for the mother of the baby, whose identity remains a mystery.

    On Sept. 5, 2011, law enforcement responded to a report of a deceased baby found floating in the Mississippi River, just south of Homer in Winona County. The medical examiner determined the baby was likely born within two days of being found.

    A break in the case came in March 2023 when Firebird Forensics Group provided a possible lead to the Winona County Sheriff’s Office. The warrant notes the woman currently lived in Winona.

    When investigators approached her and asked for consent for a DNA swab, she stated she wanted to research Firebird Forensics Group first, according to the search warrant. A week later, investigators followed up but she stated she had not researched the company yet and would call back.

    The warrant then states that investigators instead received a letter from a law firm, directing all future communication to them rather than the woman.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Anti-Free-Trader-in-Chief

    China filed a World Trade Organization complaint against the U.S. on Tuesday over what it says are discriminatory requirements for electric vehicle subsidies.

    The Chinese Commerce Ministry didn’t say what prompted the move. But under a new U.S. rule that took effect Jan. 1, electric car buyers are not eligible for tax credits of $3,750 to $7,500 if critical minerals or other battery components were made by Chinese, Russian, North Korean or Iranian companies. The credits are part of U.S. President Joe Biden’s signature climate legislation, named the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

    A ministry statement didn’t mention the specific restriction. It said, though, that under the act and its implementing rules, the U.S. had formulated discriminatory subsidy policies for new energy vehicles in the name of responding to climate change. It said the U.S. move excluded Chinese products, distorted fair competition and disrupted the global supply chain for new energy vehicles.

    I remember when Trump was the Worst President Ever for his anti-globalist protectionism.

  36. Common Tater

    “BREAKING NEWS NFL owners pass RADICAL rule change ahead of next season

    The rule will be in play for one season on a trial basis and then be subject to renewal in 2025.

    For a standard kickoff, the ball would be kicked from the 35-yard line with the 10 kick coverage players lined up at the opposing 40, with five on each side of the field.

    The return team would have at least nine blockers lined up in the ‘set up zone’ between the 30- and 35-yard line, with at least seven of those players touching the 35. There would be up to two returners allowed inside the 20.

    Only the kicker and two returners would be allowed to move until the ball hits the ground or was touched by a returner inside the 20.

    Any kick that reaches the end zone in the air can be returned, or the receiving team can opt for a touchback and possession at the 30. Any kick that reaches the end zone in the air and goes out of bounds or out of the end zone also would result in a touchback at the 30…..”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nfl/article-13240431/NFL-kickoff-rule-change-season.html

    • Not Adahn

      Just make the field 80 yards long. Duh.

    • Mojeaux

      No Fun League.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        This seems better than what it is now, but still worse than 10 years ago.

    • Tres Cool

      That reminded me that XFL starts this weekend.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    CNN headline:

    Trump’s Truth Social is now a public company. Experts warn its multibillion-dollar valuation defies logic

    Yup. Stay away. Don’t buy it. Buy Tesla instead. Buy some AI vaporware shop. Anything. Just don’t put money in the cartoon villain’s pocket.

    • R C Dean

      “Experts warn its multibillion-dollar valuation defies logic”

      And they’re probably right. But it’s no more illogical than any number of other multi-billion dollar tech IPOs.

  38. Common Tater

    “The neo-Nazi who inspired Edward Norton’s skinhead character in “American History X” has revealed he is now an observant Jew after turning his life around — and discovering his heritage through DNA testing.

    Frank Meeink, 48, became a leader of a violent ultra-right group in the early 1990s, torturing enemies who stood in the way of his attempt to foment a race war.

    Intensely anti-semitic and flaunting a flaming swastika tattooed on his neck, he railed against what he called the “Zionist occupation government” and believed the Jews were “the root of all evil….

    The test showed his ancestry composition is 2.4% Ashkenazi Jewish. The small proportion belied its importance: his mother’s maternal great, great grandmother Elizabeth Zellman Rementer was Jewish — meaning that, according to the tradition of matrilineal descent, he is too.

    Although not all Jewish scholars would accept that definition, many do — and Meeink has enthusiastically embraced Judaism.”

    https://nypost.com/2024/03/26/lifestyle/dna-shows-neo-nazi-behind-edward-nortons-skinhead-is-jewish/

    • UnCivilServant

      How often do they highlight those who don’t uncover some mystery ancestry and stick to their beliefs?

      • Urthona

        The reverse heroes journey doesn’t sell papers.

      • Common Tater

        That wouldn’t be much of a story.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Ban kickoffs.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Wall Street is assigning Trump Media an eye-popping valuation of around $13 billion — a price tag that experts warn is untethered to reality.

    We’re all value investors now.

    • Urthona

      i just don’t understand how it has any value at all.

    • B.P.

      If only Wall Street had experts.

    • juris imprudent

      Judge Engoron bursts a penile blood vessel.

    • Fatty Bolger

      untethered to reality

      That’s why you should put your money into bitcoin instead.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    “This is a very unusual situation. The stock is pretty much divorced from fundamentals,” said Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business, who has been studying initial public offerings (IPOs) for over 40 years.

    Stop it. You’re killing me.

    • Sensei

      But “click rates” were a fine metric in the early day of the web.