Here at Oberlin East, I am facing a new ginned up outrage trap. Pronoun bullshit is sooooo passe. We have now come up with something new: conjugations. So instead of he/him or she/her, or (god save the Queen) “they/them” as a singular, we have “he/them” or “she/him” and all other combinations. We have been ordered to respect these choices. So not only do we have to remember that some chick needs to be called “they” for a subject, we have to remember that for direct objects to switch genders again to whatever struck the student’s fancy at the time thex did paperwork. And god help you if your memory isn’t photographic and that you aren’t constantly obsessing on grammatical structure. Self-indulgence has now gone up another notch.
Birthdays have gone up another notch as well, including ones for a guy who wrote stuff we can safely ignore; a guy responsible for “five will get you ten”; a guy who was no Paul Newman; a guy who spent the last week being dumbed down; the Bernie Sanders of his day; “the most hated woman in America,” especially by a few of her employees; a guy who missed by THAT much; the most entertaining comic artist ever; a guy who gave at least some intellectual gravitas to liberalism (and was damned entertaining); a pretty fine wood-pusher; and Dennis the Menace.
On to the least confusing things here, the Links.
Looking at the photo, I think I get the source of his hatred for the world.
Truly the perfect redneck name.
If we have a problem caused by shitty policy, double down. That’s the New York way.
Because the New York Times is insufficiently leftist.
Old Guy Music. The names in the lineup say it all.
Don was awesome, Mel helped a lot
Morning Yusef. You up early on the West Coast today or haven’t gone to bed yet?
Just move.
https://nypost.com/2024/04/13/us-news/san-francisco-restaurant-owner-eiad-eltawil-on-hunger-strike-protesting-bike-lanes/
The “racist and Islamophobic” is a nice touch. 🙄
no soup for me. come back one month.
“Hello, I’m…” tired of all this shit.
Morning all. Off to actually read things instead of just responding to the images OMWC put on the main page to suck us in… 😉
I don’t know… Clenard is pretty good, but I’m truly conservative — nothing will beat Cletus.
I look forward to the 21st century Southern rock band Clynyrd Parkyr.
“Cause I’m as free as a zer now
And this zem you cannot change…”
Chauncey. That is my favorite.
I say we just stop using pronouns altogether. Just always use the noun that the pronoun would have replaced, and that includes first- and second-person pronouns, plus pronouns for inanimate objects. No more its!
GT means…GT says people just stop using pronouns!
You realize there’s probably a non-trivial percentage of us that are going to hear Bob Dole reading that in our heads. Bob Dole says — Bob Dole would have been a great President!
That’s sort of how I handle it at work. There’s at least one trans-gender within the organization (and of course leads the ESG [employee something something group… political activism group in any event], so you know they’ll take offense if you get it wrong), and I think one more lower-key one. Not in my immediate team, so it doesn’t come up often — but I just use their names whenever it wouldn’t be utterly ridiculous instead of any pronoun.
I don’t have to deny reality and lie, they don’t get offended. Good enough for modern times. (Tech company, so no — culture wise my fighting it would do nothing but get me fired quickly).
Same here. When we had an IT director decide to inflect non-standard pronouns on us, I was in several conversations where people just gave up on pronouns and referred to her by name when you would ordinarily use a pronoun.
This is how I have handled it in the past, but, now that I am retired… I will not lie. Period.
If I see a dude in a dress, I will be polite (as someone’s sartorial decisions are not my business) but they are going to be treated as such.
Which is why they want the social credit score system so they can still make you care. Even retired — if they shut off your access to banking, you’ll have to toe the line.
Well… I guess at least they’re honest about looting the Treasury (okay, the over-extended credit cards of the Treasury) and not caring about the strictures on the Federal Government…. Masks are off, they no longer have to pretend to care even a little. Yay?
I’m sticking with Pope Cerebus if forced to provide pronouns. Most Holy, Most Holy, Most Holy’s. When in doubt, Most Holy is suitable.
Old Guy Music is good.
A man who had been denied renewal of a commercial driver’s license crashed a stolen 18-wheeler Friday into a Department of Public Safety office in Brenham, killing one person and wounding 13 others, including three who were taken to hospitals by helicopter, according to authorities and local officials.
Is this the boog?
This week’s Powerline fun.
No CDL so I guess he can be held responsible for the accident.
—“Gov. Kathy Hochul and top state lawmakers struck a housing deal Friday”—
It seems there is no problem that Government can’t make worse. Just the usual wishful thinking and excellent opportunities for graft.
Weird how the places with the most government interference in housing have the worst housing situations. Just a coincidence, I guess.
I feel like a chump, my grandkids got their college loans paid off quickly, with a little help.
Now I (and you) have to pay for those that don’t feel like paying their contractual obligations. I’d be reluctant to hire one of them or sell them anything on an extended contract. They would not hesitate to walk.
Powerline,
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/04/the-week-in-pictures-eclipsolypse-edition.php
…the police are only hef an ‘our awigh.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/textbased/news/text-13303971/Knifeman-goes-rampage-Sydney-Four-feared-dead-shopping-centre-stabbing-spree-attacker-shot-killed-police.html
Well, at least no one had a gun!
“The knifeman who killed five women and one man during a rampage in Sydney today was ‘known to police’.”
Have the Aussies followed the Brit route and imposed common-sense knife control yet?
“That’s not a knife”
As opposed to some poor guy in a convenience store in a shitty part of town risking armed robbery with every shift. Nope, it’s our tireless public servants sitting behind 3 inches of lexan that are most at risk. God bless them.
I’d much rather work the roughest DMV than the night shift at a Circle K.
Of course — you never hear of strange things being afoot at the DMV, dude.
It depends on how you define strange.
The last time I had to renew my driver’s license in person, I go into the local NH DMV office. There was a stunningly beautiful twenty-something woman working there. I thought to myself, “It’s strange a woman like that would be working here”.
There’s a hottie at our local DMV but she’s more trailerpark hot than stunning hot so she fits in pretty well.
Gotta admit – trailer park hot jiggles my handle.
*Jamie Pressley waves hi*
Or an Uber driver.
https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/central-ohio-news/ohio-uber-driver-sent-by-scammer-killed-in-shooting/
If this guy is mentally competent he’s going to die in jail.
Oh man, that is terrible. I wish she had told him to call the cops instead of trying to leave. If somebody pulls a weapon on you, you have to assume they’re willing to use it.
I used to work the grave at a 7/11 ride between the hood and the barrio in Reno, NV.
It wasn’t bad at all, the only people you had to worry about were the cousins of the regulars. See, the guys and girls who came in everyday didn’t want to fuck things up, need a place to get diapers and smokes. But their homie from LA? He don’t give a fuck.
I saw at least one headline lamenting that poor FBI agents are having issues affording housing in some areas, so we should give them more moneys.
I played https://squaredle.com/xp 04/13:
*20/20 words
🎯 Perfect accuracy
I played https://squaredle.com 04/13:
*54/54 words (+4 bonus words)
🎯 In the top 4% by accuracy
🔥 Solve streak: 325
I played https://squaredle.com/xp 04/13:
*20/20 words (+3 bonus words)
⏱️ In the top 10% by speed
I played https://squaredle.com 04/13:
*54/54 words (+16 bonus words)
📖 In the top 15% by bonus words
🔥 Solve streak: 248
“World’s oldest conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell dead at 62: Sister and her transgender brother whose skulls were fused together pass away in Pennsylvania – after defying doctors who said they wouldn’t live past 30”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13302659/worlds-oldest-conjoined-twins-dead-62-pennsylvania-Lori-George-Schappell.html
I need more coffee.
Not unique enough being Siamese twins, just had to throw the transgender in there? Some people, I swear…
Apropos of nothing… I… hate… sauerkraut. Just felt like sharing.
Should have been either homeless or “undocumented.
Fucking unreal what NYC has become.
https://abc7ny.com/mother-fined-50-after-4-year-old-son-has-bathroom-emergency-near-playground-in-battery-park/14653049/
Welcome to anarchotyranny, the shittiest government model of them all.
Because the government provided bathrooms were out of order too.
It’s like the cherry on top!
You are right though, if it was a homeless guy they wouldn’t have done a thing. Rigid rules for the law abiding and endless forgiveness for the assholes.
What, you expect a cop to put a stinky man in the back of his car?
Get outa here!
Naturally, not one penny for bathrooms, but plenty of money for the five or six pubsecs to enforce the requirement that you use the bathroom.
NYC has always fined people for petty things.
Hey, wanna buy a cigarette?
“Wynonna Judd’s daughter thinks her mom blocked her number after getting slapped with prostitution charges: ‘She thinks I’m out here doing crazy s–t’ ”
https://nypost.com/2024/04/13/us-news/wynonna-judds-daughter-grace-kelley-says-she-thinks-her-mom-blocked-her-number-in-jailhouse-interview/
The face tattoo probably doesn’t help.
The eyes certainly scream “Crazy shit” too…. I suspect Mrs. Judd is correct.
The cross is a nice touch, though.
Gotta have the Jesus sign!
Face tatts are never a good idea, they’re a red flag even for carnies.
That’s some quality input checking right there! Good job. I’m wondering if he did this to juice his stats. If you make riskier, but still eligible transplant candidates artificially ineligible you will have higher success rates.
Paywall original.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/11/us/organ-transplants-houston.html
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2024/04/12/memorial-hermann-transplant-program-suspended-bynon-investigation/73301344007/
Somebody posted yesterday that the wokists have decided that, since “Latinx” (pronounced La-tinks) isn’t getting used, we should all say “Latine” (pronounced La-tine with a long i) instead. How this overcomes the objections to Latinx (its a made-up word, its contrary to Spanish grammar, and its cultural imperialism by white people dictating how POCs should speak) is an exercise for the reader.
If they don’t realize that’s perilously close to “Latrine” they’re bigger idiots than I thought.
No one is going to use that.
Like going around to black again, swarthy will make a comeback.
I read that it’s supposed to be pronounced latin-eh or latin-ay. There wasn’t anything about the “i”.
My favorite part was some idiot from GLAAD (or one of those gay orgs now pushing trans stuff) saying that it makes writing Spanish less gendered.
It’s a made-up word, like Latinks. I’ll pronounce it the way I want, and given its spelling, I think LatIne is a perfectly cromulent pronunciation.
I’m not going to pronounce it all.
“Jersey Shore teacher Jessica Sawicki charged with having sex with her student in a car parked in a wildlife refuge
Sawicki and her student were caught in “states of undress” by officers from New Jersey Fish and Wildlife on Sunday, officials said.
Sawicki allegedly admitted to authorities that she and the teen rendezvoused to have “unprotected” sex at least five times since December in the 6,393-acre state-owned wildlife management area, according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by The Post.”
https://nypost.com/2024/04/13/us-news/shore-teacher-charged-with-having-sex-with-her-student/
This situation keeps happening.
Equality! Women teachers can be assumed to be perverts now that they’ve driven all the male teachers out with that assumption….
So they were getting back to nature at the nature park.
Assunpink Wildlife Management Area? Ass and Pink? Seriously?
Look you got all them Spanish places we’ve got the Indian ones.
One of my favorites is:
https://nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/parks/cheesequakestatepark.html
You *never* go ass to pink without washing off first.
That jump out at me as well.
Tell me again we’re not in a simulation…
Not a teacher but similar vibe.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2024/04/08/alyssa-ann-zinger-tampa-florida/
I will say that these cases make little sense to me; a moderately attractive woman can get basically get sex on demand from any age-appropriate man, why go for kids?
Though the picture of the diminutive blonde chick standing in front of a room of orange jumpsuit, hardened criminals is pretty damn funny.
Banging younger hotties is as old as the sun. Forbidden fruit, adoration, mental illness, midlife crisis, opportunity,… take your pick.
Poor teacher didn’t have any money left over after purchasing school supplies to buy condoms. But the fringe benefits make up for the low pay.
Some other NPR journalists also criticized the essay publicly, including Eric Deggans, its TV critic, who faulted Mr. Berliner for not giving NPR an opportunity to comment on the piece.
Smug so thick you could cut it with a knife.
They’ve done a lot of commenting on it since it was posted.
Good thing I stopped paying attention to NPR decades ago.
What do we want? Silicone! When do we want it? Saturday!
https://archive.is/6ohaK
Mr. Berliner’s essay also sent critical Slack messages whizzing through some of the same employee affinity groups focused on racial and sexual identity that he cited in his essay. In one group, several staff members disputed Mr. Berliner’s points about a lack of ideological diversity and said that efforts to recruit more people of color would make NPR’s journalism better.
Whoosh.
I’m tempted to spread this around at work but the reward probably isn’t worth the potential backlash.
https://econjwatch.org/articles/mckinsey-s-diversity-matters-delivers-wins-results-revisited
Speaking of nomenclature- “tribal” seems to be accepted terminology around here.
Wizards of the Coast (makers of Magic the Gathering) recently stopped using “tribal” to refer to creature type groupings. So instead of “wizard tribal deck” or “dinosaur tribal deck”, it’s going to be “typal”. Maybe it’s more accurate, but everyone knew what the old word refers to. Why change it? (Rhetorical question. We all know why)
So…Laurence Type?
“She also said that despite the large amount of income she’s just received she’s not going to go wild splashing the cash. “This job is not a long-term job[…]I’m fully aware the money I’m making I need to be investing it. So that when I do stop I can be continuing to make a good salary.””
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/i-bonked-22-blokes-one-32563307
That’s remarkably sensible.
No tats, no giant bolt-ons, sensible long-term financial planning, a sense of humor[1] – she’s a total keeper!
Aside from the whole banging an entire fraternity thing (how did they determine the order? Did someone get stuck going 22nd or want to be 22nd?).
[1] ‘She joked: “So I’m just doing God’s work at this point. I’m helping get kids into education.”‘
What’s with the Perez Hilton white-out?
Your governor wants you dead
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a law that prevents cities or counties from creating protections for workers who labor in the state’s often extreme and dangerous heat.
Two million people in Florida, from construction to agriculture, work outside in often humid, blazing heat.
——-
“It’s outrageous that the state legislature will override the elected officials of Miami Dade or other counties that really recognize the importance of protecting that community of workers,” says David Michaels, an epidemiologist at George Washington University and a former administrator at the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA).
The loss of the local rule was a major blow to Miami-Dade activists and workers who had hoped the county heat protection rules would be in place before summer.
Serious journalism, for serious people.
Nothing makes a state stronger and safer than a hodgepodge of local labor rules.
/looks at cities suing the state of Ohio over bans on bans
But extreme heat will only get worse. “Last year was the hottest summer in Florida’s history. And this year will likely be the hottest summer in Florida’s history,” says Esteban Wood, director of the advocacy group We-Count, one of the organizations working on heat protections in Miami-Dade. The new law, he says, represents “a profound loss for not only the campaign but for all the families that have for many years been fighting for the minimum—which was just water, shade and rest, and the right to return home after work alive.”
Global warming is killing vulnerable marginalized people!
Sorry it’s not just marginalized people. You try carrying the white liberal’s burden in this kind of heat.
Woah, woah, woah, you’re saying Summer is hot in Florida?!?!
Heat risks have grown dramatically in recent years. Globally, since the 1980s, climate change has made heat waves last longer. They come more frequently and affect bigger areas. The worst heat waves are several degrees hotter now than they would have been without human-caused climate change.
Beat that tin drum, little wind-up monkey.
What would Mike Pence say?!
https://www.thesun.co.uk/dear-deidre/27248358/husband-sleepovers-female-best-friend/
Not jump to conclusions? Wtf?
History lesson
Some heard echoes of Bunkerville and Malheur when rioters clashed with police on Jan. 6, 2021, outside and inside the halls of Congress and temporarily blocked certification of the 2020 presidential election.
“Bunkerville was an early warning sign of the MAGA/Trump movement,” said Ian Bartrum, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas, law professor who has studied and written about the standoff and federal land policy. He cited “a growing militia movement looking for someone to fight.”
“I think we can safely say, 10 years later, the Bundys won that fight, and federal regulators don’t seem at all eager to try again,” Bartrum said. “We have bigger problems than cattle on public land at this point.”
In court, federal prosecutors cast the Bunkerville confrontation as an insurrection against the U.S. government. Nineteen people from 11 states, including Bundy and four sons, were arrested in 2016 on charges including conspiracy, assault on a federal officer and firearms counts. Most remained jailed for nearly two years.
Five defendants pleaded guilty before trial, several were acquitted of all counts and some were convicted of lesser charges. One remains in federal prison. No Bundy family member was convicted of a crime.
Today, family members estimate that more than 700 Bundy cattle graze widely in the scrubby green Virgin River valley surrounding the 160-acre (64.7-hectare) Bundy ranch and in Gold Butte, a scenic and archaeologically rich Mojave Desert expanse half the size of the state of Delaware that then-President Barack Obama designated a national monument in December 2016.
Conservation groups including the Center for Biological Diversity and Western Watersheds Project are suing to prod the government to remove cattle and protect the desert tortoise, a species deemed in 1990 to be threatened by habitat loss that advocates blame on grazing.
Who will rid us of these insurrectionists and science haters?
“The desert tortoise is at the heart of it,” said Erik Molvar, Western Watersheds executive director. “Cattle continue to graze illegally … causing irreversible damage to ecological values.”
“I think you can look at the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6 and draw a straight line to Malheur and Bunkerville,” Molvar added, “as emblematic of insurrectionist movements in the United States and the failure of federal prosecutors to fully enforce the laws.”
If only Lon Horiuchi had been there that day. Think of all the turtles he might have saved.
Horiuchi never became FBI Director. The killer of Lavoy Finicum was rewarded with the top state police job.
https://www.oregon.gov/osp/about/pages/superintendent.aspx
The guy has killed multiple people besides Finicum and a history of poor judgment (along with his agency).
You mean like the laws around national security documents and the like?
More inflation reduction
The Interior Department’s rule raises royalty rates for oil drilling by more than one-third, to 16.67%, in accordance with the sweeping 2022 climate law approved by Congress. The previous rate of 12.5% paid by oil and gas companies for federal drilling rights had remained unchanged for a century. The federal rate was significantly lower than what many states and private landowners charge for drilling leases on state or private lands.
——-
The plan codifies some provisions — including royalty hikes for at least 15 competitive lease sales — that have been enforced on an interim basis since passage of the climate law, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, in August 2022. The rule also incorporates provisions in the 2021 infrastructure law and recommendations from an Interior Department report on oil and gas leasing issued in 2021. That report recommended an overhaul of the oil and gas program to limit areas available for energy development and raise costs for oil and gas companies to drill on public lands and waters.
——-
The new royalty rate codified by the climate law is expected to remain in place until August 2032, after which it can be increased. The higher rate would increase costs for oil and gas companies by an estimated $1.8 billion in that period, according to the Interior Department.
Fortunately, there is no way those increased costs will be passed on to the consumer.
It’s just going to come out of Exxon’s profits. We all know that. And oil has no impact on the price of everyt fucking thing else.
The previous rate of 12.5% paid by oil and gas companies for federal drilling rights had remained unchanged for a century
And yet actual amounts increased despite being “unchanged”.
As I was floating off into inebriated sleep last night, the old PBS ballroom dancing competitions popped into my head. I think this was one of Juliette Prowse’s last times hosting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5bm8_-dbZ4
This needs to be resurrected on YouTube, I think. They could get a couple hosts, etc. and do a livestream. Like the Bocuse d’Or – when they no longer showed it on Food Network, they developed their own show for YouTube.
The Center for Biological Diversity, another environmental group, faulted the administration for failing to address the climate crisis directly by phasing out drilling on public lands.
“Updating oil and gas rules for federal lands without setting a timeline for phaseout (of drilling) is climate denial, pure and simple,’’ said Gladys Delgadillo, a climate campaigner for the Arizona-based group. “Public lands should be places for people to enjoy nature and wildlife to roam free, not hotspots for toxic pollution.”
Turn the clock back now!
“When Big Oil uses our public lands, it stands to reason they should be giving American taxpayers a fair return for the privilege,” he said. “That’s why Democrats worked so hard to pass reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act to return some balance to a leasing system that has favored polluters for far too long.’’
Big Oil just steals those resources. The public derives no ongoing benefit from plentiful reliable energy.
The movie Civil War has an Antifa-massacre event referenced in it. Not going to lie, it made me a little hard thinking about it.
The fact he has California and Texas as “The Western Alliance” makes me think the Brit filmmaker has a vague grasp of both US geography and politics.
Although making journalists the heroes of the story is probably the least credible aspect of the story.
“New York Police Confiscate Unlicensed Gun From E. Jean Carroll for ‘Safekeeping’ After Revelation in Trump Defamation Lawsuit — No Criminal Charges Filed
The New York Police Department waited a month before taking action to confiscate a firearm belonging to writer E. Jean Carroll
This move came after Carroll, during her testimony in a defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, revealed she possessed an unlicensed gun at her residence. The police action, according to a report by NBC News, did not lead to any charges being filed against Carroll.
The chief of Warwick, N.Y. police personally visited Carroll’s home on February 15 to address certain “open issues.” Among these was Carroll’s own admission, made while testifying on January 17, that she kept a “high standard revolver, nine chambers” by her bed without a valid license.
Officer John Rader indicated in the report that he “offered to secure the weapon at the police station’s property for safekeeping.” Carroll, accompanied by a member of her security detail, complied with the officer’s request the following day. The gun is to remain in police custody until Carroll can obtain a New York pistol license.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/04/new-york-police-confiscate-unlicensed-gun-e-jean/
I don’t know of any nine round revolvers, but wouldn’t that also be illegal in NY?
More importantly, with what additional crime will Trump be charged as a result?
A cursory search finds multiple models of 9-round .22 revolver.
True, “high standard revolver” made me think centerfire.
I’m surprised she didn’t testify that it was a “full auto revolver.” 😄
“Illegal Alien Tries to Rob Bank in Ohio Using a Translator App Because He Couldn’t Figure Out How to Say “Put the Money in the Bag”
Upon his arrest, a Spanish-speaking officer communicated with Brito-Gonzalez, who revealed that he had recently lost his job and was in desperate need of money. Despite his dire financial situation, Brito-Gonzalez denied any intention of robbing the bank, claiming instead that he had merely asked the bank to give him money.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/04/illegal-alien-tries-rob-bank-ohio-using-translator/
Fantasy
The protagonists aren’t combatants, but observers: a group of war correspondents, including a world-weary Reuters photographer named Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst), who pack into an old SUV labeled “PRESS” and travel from New York to Washington, hoping to get an interview with the president before his regime falls. Traveling to Washington is a suicide mission, they’re told, because journalists crossing city limits are “shot on sight.”
A man can dream…
The consensus from the chattering class seems to be that the actual movie is meh to poor, But they are super upset that it doesn’t club you over the head with an OMB narrative hard enough.