Monday Morning Links

by | Jul 8, 2024 | Daily Links | 214 comments

The storms are here and internet is not exactly working, so this is gonna be quick. Wimbledon is a game of attrition this year. Lewis Hamilton won an emotional British GP after Zac Brown managed to screw both his drivers on different pit stops. And that’s it for sports.

France is going to shit. But that’s not exactly breaking news, is it? The commies and socialists will now have to share power, which should create a lot of rioting from the leftists, even though they inexplicably won the election.

This will be interesting. I wonder if he can act well enough to not come across as an asshole the whole time. If so, he deserves an Oscar.

These people are crazy. All public sector unions need to be abolished and the act of trying to organize a new one should become a criminal offense.

I’d be curious to see how far this goes back. More importantly, I would like to know if he has answered a single unplanted question his entire time in the WH.

This is hilarious. I hope there’s a bunch more of this story, because I love it.

More French nonsense. They must have a powerful Podium Chicks Union over there.

I’m shocked! Shocked that it made the news, not that it happened.

Never assume the police are smart. And I mean never.

Here’s a lovely little song. He seems like such a nice guy. And this one is just fantastic. Enjoy them both.

And enjoy this rainy, windy Monday, dear friends.

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

214 Comments

  1. SDF-7

    even though they inexplicably won the election.

    Fortifier la Bastille.

    Morning, Sloopy — wish you hadn’t given the spoiler on F1… power went out about 2/3rds of the way through the race and the stupid app wouldn’t fast forward (because Heaven knows such a basic function shouldn’t ever be considered when writing such a video streaming service) so I was going to try again today. Ah well.

    Morning, all.

    • sloopyinca

      Shit, I’m sorry. Apparently you caught enough to see Piastri get hung out to dry. You should still watch it to see Zac worrying more about talking to the commentators than managing the late pit stops.

      • sloopyinca

        Side note: it might be time for Checo to go. He’s lost his ability to drive that car somehow. And I hate to say it because I really like the guy.

      • SDF-7

        Yeah — I can imagine that. Either the team bosses require enough delegation and competent assistants they can do PR fluff or they should be telling Sky Sports to F off and let them do their actual jobs most races. It has always bugged me that they interrupt these guys during critical moments of the race.

        At least we should be glad they don’t demand radio interviews with the drivers in the middle of passing.

      • SDF-7

        It is getting to the point of “What’s the common factor here?” for me. Perez, Albon — and frankly, I suspect Danny Ric… none of them are bad drivers… until they’re at Red Bull and Golden Boy Max Verstappen is placed front and center (Ricciardo was fine until Max got shoved more and more to the front by the team). There’s something to the setup they’re doing that obviously favors Max and either they aren’t adjusting the other car for their other driver or there’s some team dynamic hurting them.

        It makes no sense since you’d want maximum team points — but how many drivers are they going to go through that are obviously good drivers yet somehow vanish into the back of the field when getting to Red Bull?

      • sloopyinca

        I doubt they have to ask Zac more than once. That dude loves to self-promote more than he loves managing race strategy.

      • sloopyinca

        I’ve seen a ton of reports that say the RB car has the most potential of any on the track (at least until recently) but that it takes someone with supreme confidence in the equipment to drive it. And if you’re driving at a 7 or even an 8 out of 10, you won’t get much out of it. But if you trust it and hang it all the way out, it’s the best car on the track by some margin.

        I’m not sure if that’s true, but that’s the narrative. And since Max is always pushing his equipment to the limit, he’s benefited from it to the point of two years of absolute domination until something clicked at McLaren.

      • The Last American Hero

        Maybe what clicked was somebody saying “Hey boss, why don’t you go do some interviews and let us do our jobs?”

    • Winded

      Also in sports yesterday, track & field is gearing up for its upcoming 10 days of relevance once every 4 years.

      On the 25th anniversary of Hicham El Guerrouj’s still-standing record in the real mile run, Faith Kipyegon improved her own women’s record in the “metric mile” (1500 meters.)

      And Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh broke the almost 37-year old record in the women’s high jump by clearing 6′ 10 1/2″. Zelensky has of course already used her individual accomplishment as a measure of the entire country’s resolve.

  2. SDF-7

    I’d be curious to see how far this goes back.

    Given the Campaign From The Basement, my guess is at least 2020. He made a good figurehead until it was just too obvious to everyone instead of just us malcontents.

    • AlexinCT

      Isn’t it obvious he was picked precisely because they knew that he was both compromised and blackmailable? Isn’t it obvious that nobody has repeatedly asked who has been running the country in the legacy propaganda media since the debate showed everyone Biden sure as hell was not? That’s because they would then have to admit this was Obama 3.0, on steroids, and that the “Fundamentally change America” thing was about destroying it.

      • The Other Kevin

        Compromised and blackmailable, yes, but they could also paint him as a “moderate” so really was perfect from a certain point of view.

    • Fourscore

      The decline starts slowly, the grasping for words, the unsteadiness. At first the participant doesn’t realize it and the observers shrug it off. After a couple years people around the participant understand that Grandpa has been getting more forgetful, slower to get out of the chair and they offer to drive rather than ride. Forgets important things, like turning off the stove, etc.

      At some point the observers realize that Grandpa shouldn’t be driving and the arguments begin. Biden has arrived at that point.

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        It’s the “better two years too soon, verses two seconds too late” conversation. We had to have this with my father, and it sucked horribly. But, he had power tools, guns, a truck. Any of which could have killed someone.

        If you have the code to a world destroying military system, I think you need to be on top of your game. Because that can kill a whole lot more people.

  3. Not Adahn

    I wonder if he can act well enough to not come across as an asshole the whole time. If so, he deserves an Oscar.

    I’m fascinated that he still has the narrator gig with the Metropolitan Opera. You’d think the list of people who can fake a “cultured, erudite” voice would be so near-infinite that they wouldn’t need to pay that schmuck.

  4. SDF-7

    More French nonsense.

    The governing body said the fine was for “unseemly or inappropriate behaviour during the race and damage to the image of the sport”.

    Everyone knows, you’re supposed to be hot for your mistress and ignore your wife if you’re a true Frenchman. Or fight until she tries to shoot you or something.

    • sloopyinca

      Had he kissed a slew of topless Femen protesters, he’d have probably been given a Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur medal.

      • AlexinCT

        They are just gaying France up?

  5. Not Adahn

    Her claims include 911 emergency calls being ignored and the theft of hot dogs from a local gas station, when only free soda drinks were permitted while on duty.

    Hayes-Hensley also accused Webb of ‘theft in office’ by fabricating timesheets, ‘cashing his paycheck knowing he was required to show proof of his being at work.’

    Both the mayor and the chief need to lay off the free sodas and hot dogs.

    • SDF-7

      I assume that’s your frank opinion, NA?

      • Ownbestenemy

        I don’t get it, where’s the beef? These are just skinless accusations that will fizzle out over time.

      • WTF

        Let’s not act like spoiled brats here.

      • sloopyinca

        I’m happy she was able to put the links of his malfeasance together.

      • Fourscore

        Cal, Lorie’s opinion doesn’t add up

      • WTF

        These puns are the wurst.

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        Let’s be honest, this is just how the sausage is made.

    • Not Adahn

      The town’s mayor, with a population of 2,200

      Fascinating. My graduating class had 902 (after dropouts, expulsions, pregnancies, and moving directly into jobs midyear.) And yet, that high school had neither a chief of police, nor a mayor, not a city council. At that size, concerned citizens can work just fine.

      • Rat on a train

        You had an unelected executive, a legislature without any power, and no independent judiciary. It prepared you for the future utopia.

      • Not Adahn

        The citizens were also hormonal, rebellious, stupid teenagers. And yet, I wonder what the rate of violent crime in that town is compared to our rate of zero murders, rapes, armed robberies, grand larceny, etc.

      • Fourscore

        Schools have a school board, a principal, a couple assistant principals, a toothless Student Council, athletics to keep students engaged. The hierarchy is there.

      • Not Adahn

        How small does a population center have to be before people are willing to say “nah, we can take care of ourselves, thanks.”

      • Fourscore

        Podunkville has a full time population for the whole township of about 8oo. The whole police department (1 part time cop) was fired for stealing drinks from the only convenience store in town. Now the lawless village has to depend on the Sheriff’s Dept from 30 miles away, in the event of a stolen candy bar.

        The crime wave will continue.

      • Gustave Lytton

        How small does a population center have to be before people are willing to say “nah, we can take care of ourselves, thanks.”

        Frame it the opposite way, how large can it be before people demand kings to rule over themselves? The answer is one “Hey buddy,…”

  6. PieInTheSky

    France is going to shit. But that’s not exactly breaking news, is it? The commies and socialists will now have to share power, which should create a lot of rioting from the leftists, even though they inexplicably won the election.

    the french know how to fight for their right (to riiiiot) unlike you Americans

    • AlexinCT

      I think the worshippers of death in France came together with the marxists to move along the destruction of France and to prevent the rising popular opinion most of them should be sent back to the hell holes they came from. Yeah, it is going to get even uglier for them frogs. C’est la vie.

      • PieInTheSky

        I hope they keep the wine otherwise who cares

      • sloopyinca

        The funny thing is that the LePen people won a higher percentage of the vote in France than the Labour Party won in the UK elections. The former are largely shut out and the latter have absolute control of their government.

      • Drake

        Democracy!

      • Fourscore

        Five years in France and all I have is bucolic memories. Was that time spent for naught?

        The memories are always there, even if both France and I have changed.

  7. PieInTheSky

    These people are crazy. – is it crazy to care about the future of the nation?

  8. Evan from Evansville

    “Staff provides Biden with instructions ‘on how to enter and exit a room’ with large print and pics ahead of events: report”

    Shit the sentient already knew, observed and assumed. It will really be fun. Many True Blue folk ’round me are UPSET DAMMIT, that they ‘have’ to choose between a convicted felon set on destruction of the World, and a cadaverous corpse. I KNOW they’ll pull The Right Lever, but damn. Even their loyalty can’t get ’em to put Truth together.
    (One my end, flittin’ off to phlebotomy training in a bit. Should be a 4-hour lecture, with I’m sure more paperwork etc. I hope that I’m about the only dude there (I don’t that will be true) and I’ll be surrounded by a harem of attractive women with whom I’ll be practicing all my prickin’ and needlework on, and them to me. No euphemism necessary, I hope I am in an in-person place with any chance to chat with folk roughly my age. As I’ve proven repeatedly, DAMN I squeeze my tentacles into just about every social situation, always finding an In. This is an exemplary step in my development and towards future prosperity in America. Great foot in the door with nearly endless upside for growth, with at least job availability, security in the meantime. All good things.
    *(I have really good veins. I hope attractive damsels take careful care caressing my lovely circulatory system. To quote Nigel, I wouldn’t be upset if they decided to ‘Lick My Love Pump.’ (That and “Springtime for Hitler!” are tried ways for me to break my own ice and loosen up w humor.)
    *Big Step today in my forever quest Onward, Upward, and Always. To each of y’all the same, though I’m sure with different motivations.

    • hayeksplosives

      In my experience, the best phlebotomists have all been Russian chicks.

      Good luck!👍

    • The Other Kevin

      Just had a blood draw today. She was 30-ish, bubbly personality, and most importantly, I hardly felt a thing. That can be a traumatic experience for a lot of people, so make sure that you work on those skills and turn on that Evan charm.

  9. PieInTheSky

    . And this one is just fantastic. – meh

    • rhywun

      Shut yo mouth.

      It is fantastic.

  10. hayeksplosives

    Macron made a deal with the devil in persuading the “center left” to drop out so that the socialists and communists could prevent the “far right” LePen from winning.

    Strictly a self serving cling to power.

    And LePen’s “far right” is what would have been considered center right not all that long ago.

    Good night, France. Good night Europe. The US is the last bastion of Western Civilization, and even we finally managed to drop below replacement reproduction birth rates in the last few years.

    The lights are going out in Europe again, and not in the way they meant in 1914.

    • WTF

      Western civilization is hell-bent on committing suicide.

    • AlexinCT

      A win in the short term but another nail (or numerous nails) in the coffin for France. Our globalist elite class is evil. They will destroy anything and everything to keep pushing their agenda. But we are to believe their agenda is a noble and good one after example after example of their evil.

    • PieInTheSky

      Good night Europe – hey waitaminute some of us live there!

      • Not Adahn

        Only because you’re unwilling to buy a plane ticket to Mexico and some walking shoes.

      • Sean

        Fly to Mexico, do a little walking, and BAM! You’re all set.

      • Sean

        LOL. Great minds and all…

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        Do they still do coffin flights?

      • Not Adahn

        You forget he can’t cross the Rio Grande ’cause running water.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I would’ve thought the primary impediment to Romanian illegal immigration would be the fact that they must be invited in.

    • rhywun

      Macron made a deal with the devil in persuading the “center left” to drop out so that the socialists and communists could prevent the “far right” LePen from winning.

      This. He told hundreds of candidates from his own party to drop out.

      Curious that AP had nothing to say about this.

      • PieInTheSky

        all is fair in love and stopping people outside the system

    • Raven Nation

      Related comment from yesterday’s post:

      “So, a left-wing alliance looks like it will win in France. There was horror, HORROR, that the right-wing might win because of their policies. Now the left-wing group is an alliance so some of the policies of individual groups may not happen. And a lot of the policies were standard ruling-class crap anyway (eco-socialism). BUT, the France Unbowed group (which is part of the alliance) also wants to pull out of free trade agreements and NATO. Which, you know, sounds suspiciously right-populist. Apparently this doesn’t concern the chattering classes.

      One more reason to not like these people? Donald Tusk loves that they won.”

    • Homple

      Macron did that in the previous election also. This was expected.

  11. Ownbestenemy

    Storm surge is as high as a truck’s doors in parts of Surfside Beach, Texas

    Even CNN will use any other form of measurement other than metric.

    • Not Adahn

      I should redo that article.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    I have a hard time believing F1 is any less scripted than professional wrestling.

    • sloopyinca

      Nah. If it was scripted Russell and Lando would have done a 1-2-3 British finish with Hamilton. Instead George ended his race early and Zac Brown fucked Lando out of a win.

  13. Not Adahn

    All public sector unions need to be abolished and the act of trying to organize a new one should become a criminal offense.

    Her name is Becky Pringle.

    Becky. Pringle.

    • Ownbestenemy

      NEA President Becky Pringle banged on the podium, flailed her hands in the air and screamed about…

      Is this a news article or the beginning of a romance novel?

      • Drake

        Hard to say – but I’d love some uniformly curved potato chips in a tube right now.

      • rudimentary teats formerly known as pistoffnick (370HSSV)

        You guys should stop being hyperbolic paraboloid.

    • AlexinCT

      Obvious DEI hire government employee…

      Nuff said.

    • R C Dean

      This is what making government employees unfireable gets you. I don’t know why anyone is the least bit surprised.

      • Gustave Lytton

        And yet all of the Piss Christ and other sort of things still didn’t get NEA defunded thirty years ago. I have no hopes for fixing the above.

  14. AlexinCT

    So I hope y’all had a great 4th weekend. Mine was not bad at all. I did want to share a conversation – out of the many – I had that stood out to me. The most obvious takeaway I had was that team blue people could care less who was running the country using Biden as a foil, doing a horrible job at it, and wrecking things, because, well, because power! They could give a shit they were played for fools at all.

    I had one person however admit that they could care less who was running the country, no matter how damaging and destructive, even if said loss was personal, as long as the people that liked America were not the ones calling the shot. That was their words, not mine. The reaction from other team blue people – the shock that what they all believed was said publicly because it was supposed to be secret – was to immediately try to put lipstick on that pig. Man were they pissed when I pointed out my belief that the biggest problem with the left was a hate of America and American success had just been validated in spades.

    Needless to say, they immediately changed the topic of conversation.

    • Drake

      Nobody is in charge. Not in the White House and not in Congress. Most of our politics is just theater.

      America has been a corporate state for a long time and corporate systems are designed to operate leaderless.

      A Hive Without A Queen

      • Suthenboy

        You are correct. Theater. Laws and regs are written by lobbyists who parrot corporate interests. Lobbyists who pay to own politicians. This is why they lost their shit over Trump.

      • Suthenboy

        I especially like the part about ‘finding a new CEO is about finding someone who wont make big changes’, i.e. anyone but Trump.

    • Rat on a train

      Not so great. Air conditioner capacitor failed. It got quite hot inside before it was fixed.

      • AlexinCT

        My weekend weather was not nice. It rained. a lot. But it was more humid than hot since I don’t think we went over 75. Today it is supposed to go over 90 and I am sure it will suck. at least you repaired that AC so you are not suffering now.

      • Rat on a train

        It got to 99 the day the AC died. We’re getting a hot summer as punishment for a mild winter.

    • Suthenboy

      Supposed to be secret? In that case they should not have written it across their forehead with xtra large magic markers.
      Really, if these people hate the ideas the country is founded on and the country itself why are they still here?

      • WTF

        Really, if these people hate the ideas the country is founded on and the country itself why are they still here?

        Why bother moving when they can vote for the cabal that will “fundamentally transform” it to their liking?

      • Suthenboy

        The trouble is it wont be to their liking but they wont realize that until it is too late.

      • dbleagle

        It is because when they think about the ditch they ALWAYS believe they’ll be holding the clipboard and not standing there looking in.

  15. The Other Kevin

    Good morning all! Hope some of you had an extended weekend like I did. My sister, her two kids, and grandson were in town from Florida so I got to spend time with them over the weekend. My sister in law saw my middle kid (the MIA one) in town and talked to her for a bit, she’s still in her apartment and working somewhere, so that’s good.

    The youngest TOK had some news. Her husband got her a visitor pass so she got a small tour of the aircraft carrier. I am jealous. Yesterday he started a month of being underway. But it sounds like he’ll be part of the decommissioning next year and they’ll move to Virginia, only 12 hours away by car. Sounds like he’ll be on the last deployment of he Nimitz, which is pretty awesome.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Huzzah! Always enjoying the adventures of your naval offspring.

      • AlexinCT

        I will be surprised if they can decommission the Big E soon with both the new Ford class second carrier, actually the second one to be named Enterprise, of all things, and the Doris Miller Miller both running delayed because of issues found on the Ford they decided to fix before setting them afloat. But having 2 ships, and bot carriers, called Enterprise, things will be seriously confusing

      • Gustave Lytton

        We’ll just have Enterprise-A and Enterprise-B operational at the same time. No problem!

  16. Fourscore

    Inflation has no party affiliation. The debt is the death knell.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Who goes to jail?

    Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to criminal fraud tied to the fatal 737 Max crashes, a decision that brands the U.S. aerospace giant a felon but allows it to avoid a trial while it tries to turn the page from safety and manufacturing crises.

    Under the deal, Boeing would face a fine of up to $487.2 million, though the Justice Department recommended that the court credit Boeing $243.6 million it paid under a previous agreement. So the new fine would be $243.6 million.

    If the deal is accepted, it could complicate Boeing’s ability to sell products to the U.S. government as a felon, though the company could seek waivers. About 32% of Boeing’s nearly $78 billion in revenue last year came from its defense, space and security unit.

    That should be interesting. I’m sure they’ll be fine as long as they pay the ransom.

    • Not Adahn

      Boeing should hire some guy whose job it is to serve the corporations criminal sentences.

      Perfect for someone that needs lots of structure in their workday.

      • R C Dean

        They could even post it as a work-from-home position.

      • Rat on a train

        How many years to qualify for a pension?

    • R C Dean

      So what you’re saying is that committing fraud that leads to fatal airline crashes is legal, for a price?

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Paul Cassell, a lawyer for victims’ family members, said he plans to ask the federal judge on the case to reject the deal and “simply set the matter for a public trial, so that all the facts surrounding the case will be aired in a fair and open forum before a jury.”

    Muh jackpot!

  19. PieInTheSky

    A New Atlantis
    An outlandish proposal to solve the housing crisis

    https://model-thinking.com/p/a-new-atlantis

    Housing in Britain is unaffordable. The average British home costs 9.1 times median earnings to purchase – the highest since the unification of Germany – and rents are 27% of pre-tax monthly income in England as a whole, and 35% in London. For all this, Britons get homes that are smaller than in New York and demolished so infrequently that equilibrium entails an average house age over 1350 years old.

    Dogger Bank has a perimeter of 720 km and area of 17,600 km2, compared to Wales’ 20,600km2. It’s almost entirely within Britain’s territorial waters (sorry Germany). And it’s only 15-40 m below sea level to boot – so at depths humanity has constructed large engineering projects before.

    Headline results: we estimate raising Dogger Bank would cost £97.5bn, but would bring present value benefits of £622bn. Under the government’s standard method of cost-benefit analysis, this project would get a go-ahead, with a cost-benefit ratio of 6.2.

    yes Britain would totally be capable of this.

    • AlexinCT

      The cost overruns because of government will make this triple the price they quoted.

      • Suthenboy

        Triple? Ha.
        It will be a bottomless pit with the finished project always only ten years away.

    • rhywun

      average house age over 1350 years old

      wut

      • PieInTheSky

        hyperbole
        /hʌɪˈpəːbəli/
        noun
        noun: hyperbole; plural noun: hyperboles

        exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

    • WTF

      Or, you know, you could just build more housing on the British land that already exists.
      Crazy, I know.

      • creech

        That’s crazy (far-right) talk!

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Even crazier, they could stop importing the third world.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        No wait they have to import infinity migrants so they can save the NHS from the load created by infinity migrants. Silly me.

    • Gustave Lytton

      average house age over 1350 years old

      I’m calling bullshit. Population of the UK was under 10M until the early 1800s and is now around 60M. No way is the average house age over 1000 years old. Or even 200.

  20. PieInTheSky

    questions of the X:

    Who would develop a small third world country better, a strict libertarian (no interference in the free market, sex, or drugs, etc.) or Lee Kuan Yew?

    • SDF-7

      Hu Da Fuq?

      • AlexinCT

        Shit like this. I bet a lot of Laotians are going to be loving Chinese guys long time.

  21. rhywun

    Never assume the police are smart. And I mean never.

    Torn on this one. I mean, who wants their neighborhood taken over by those punks? OTOH they don’t seem to be harming anyone.

    • AlexinCT

      That’s got to be some mega case of Karma…

  22. Nephilium

    In (entertaining to me) local news: Giant Eagle decided (back in the before times) to get ahead of the plastic bag ban after they were banned in Cuyahoga county (rolled back, and overridden due to a state law). Around last year they took out all the blue plastic bags and demanded people use reusable bags, or you could buy paper bags at the checkout for $0.15/each. They eventually relented on this and gave out the paper bags for free, while offering more in store rewards to those using reusable bags.

    Now they have free reusable bags that they’re giving out at the checkout (with a little line printed on them saying they can be reused “up to 125 times”. I’m sure those are just as inexpensive as the blue plastic bags that are still ubiquitous at other stores.

    • rhywun

      I don’t even know what the “law” is here. Been using the same permanent bags for a couple years.

      I know the supermarket sells sturdy bags for something like a dollar. Paper bags seem to be available but I don’t know if they charge for them. Plastic is of course doubleplus evil and verboten.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      I’d be surprised if any grocery store bag has been reused for more than 2 years.

      • UnCivilServant

        Paper, plastic, or canvas?

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Reading the tea leaves

    Trump’s search for a running mate has focused on three names: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance. Trump’s campaign had previously said that “the top criteria in selecting a vice president is a strong leader who will make a great president for eight years after his next four-year term concludes.” Such guidelines appeared to give an edge to Rubio, 53, and Vance, 39, over the 67-year-old Burgum.

    As the youngest and closest to the far-right forces in the former president’s orbit, Vance appears best positioned to campaign as an heir to Trump’s MAGA movement, if that is the former president’s preference. Rubio’s proximity to donors and the governing class is viewed as stabilizing to Republicans in Washington, while Trump’s continued fixation on Burgum suggests he may be more interested in casting for the role of running mate than in picking a successor.

    Who will be the inheritor of Trump’s far right right dynasty? i thought he was going to declare himself emperor for life.

    • R C Dean

      “Rubio’s proximity to donors and the governing class” should be disqualifying.

      Burgum is a WEFfer nullity.

      Vance, I don’t really know anything about.

      • Drake

        Rubio is an idiot who says whatever he’s told to say.

      • WTF

        Out of those 3 I think Vance is probably least objectionable.

      • creech

        Which one is Himmler, Goering, Goebbels?

      • Gustave Lytton

        I was wondering why Burgum is a continuing presence.

    • rhywun

      Someone needs to keep the camps running after Trump is not with us anymore.

    • The Other Kevin

      “the top criteria in selecting a vice president is a strong leader who will make a great president for eight years after his next four-year term concludes.”

      Wait, I have it on good authority that Trump is planning on being a dictator for life, and this will be our last election. As usual, don’t pay attention to what Trump says, pay attention to what Democrats imagine that he means.

    • Grumbletarian

      Trump would have to change his state of residency back to NY or NJ, because the Pres and VP can’t be from the same state, right?

    • B.P.

      “Far-right” sure is in print a lot recently.

    • AlexinCT

      Is he related to Napoleon Dynamite? Let’s see his dance moves!

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      I clicked on the link hoping for a Page 3 girl. What a buzzkill.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Burgum is a WEFfer nullity.

    I was not aware of this. Of course, I don’t care enough to do the research.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Harris’ potential ascent amid Biden’s physical decline has crystalized the need for the 78-year-old Trump to pick someone voters believe can step into the job, the Republican fundraiser argued.

    Still, few people have a clear insight into Trump’s preference at the moment. One person who has aided past vice presidential contenders and is advising another this time told CNN that of all the vetting processes he has observed from the inside, “This is the one with the littlest information possible” getting back to the prospective running mates from the campaign.

    “It’s clear it’s going to be Trump’s decision and Trump’s decision alone,” the person said.

    He can’t delegate, or listen to advice. He’s not qualified.

  26. AlexinCT

    Anyone think that negative economic news like this (paywalled, unfortunately) would have come out if the legacy propagandists were still playing defense for the Biden (Obama 3.0) WH?

    From the article:

    While unemployment is still historically low, its rate of increase could be a sign of deteriorating economic conditions. That’s where the so-called Sahm Rule comes in.

    It says that when the three-month moving average of the jobless rate rises by at least a half-percentage point from its low during the previous 12 months, then a recession has started. This rule would have signaled every recession since 1970.

    Based on the latest unemployment figures from the Labor Department’s monthly report on Friday, the gap between the two has expanded to 0.43 in June from 0.37 in May.

    They KNOW we are heading to a recession because of the disastrous economic policies of the last 4 years, and no longer just want to push it out past the election so voters don’t get influenced.

  27. UnCivilServant

    😡🤬

    Again the city is trying to cite me for the neighbor’s lawn being in disarray.

    • PieInTheSky

      would it kill you to help your neighbor tidy their lawn?

      • UnCivilServant

        Tesspass? They might shoot me!

    • AlexinCT

      How the fook is there a law that allows them to pull this stunt? Or are they just counting on the fact you won’t spend money taking them to court to just bulldoze your ass to get you mad at your neighbor?

      • UnCivilServant

        The lawn in question is adjacent to both buildings, but is on their lot. Because I have no lawn, you can look at the space and assign it to the wrong structure.

      • Sean

        Smart Code Enforcement would ticket both properties. Extra revenue!

      • PieInTheSky

        UCS the lawnless

      • PieInTheSky

        UCS lacklawn

      • UnCivilServant

        Usually I just have to make a few phone calls.

      • Not Adahn

        If it’s that close to you, arson probably isn’t optimal. Nocturnal herbicide application perhaps?

    • Suthenboy

      You really need to move.

      • PieInTheSky

        To Europe? Where the lawns are civilized?

      • UnCivilServant

        If I’m moving, it’s out of New York to someplace freer, not a different facist shithole.

      • PieInTheSky

        did you not read? fascism lost in France and England.

      • UnCivilServant

        Nope, they’re still under far left governments, so it’s still there.

      • Suthenboy

        I am not seeing a lot of civilized anywhere in the world today. For that matter yesterday either and the forecast doesnt look promising.

  28. PieInTheSky

    this is a total misunderstanding. “induced demand” any such reasoning in other markets would be risible

    actually the reason road expansions dont work is that cars on roads are like water in pipes. fewer, narrower lanes move equal water, more quickly

    this is basic fluid dynamics

    https://x.com/eigenrobot/status/1810154434040672378

    • AlexinCT

      That guy is an idiot.

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      ‘fewer, narrower lanes move equal water, more quickly

      this is basic fluid dynamics’
      Uh… You might want to check your calcs there genius.

      Anyway, the whole induced trips thing used to get me, then I realized that people are getting a service they want and need, and the left simply doesn’t like that. The demand is there you’re just moving supply to meet it. Most their studies are also on growing metros, so obviously more cars keep hitting the roads… Just so much evil and falsity in these city planner types.

      • AlexinCT

        I actually remember attending some future road expansion project where the usual lefty asshats were angry with the plan because it would alleviate traffic during congestion high traffic hours for car owners, instead of making their lives so difficult they would opt for shitty public transportation.

      • Rat on a train

        If you remove all the lanes there’s no demand!

      • PieInTheSky

        I can take a bear. Get it on its back and it is over.

      • AlexinCT

        Is that a male trying to court a female? Cause it sure looked like some prison shower scene otherwise.

      • Suthenboy

        Different kind of bear Pie.

      • AlexinCT

        Different kind of bear Pie.

        Oh, Shizz! he went there!

    • WTF

      A lot faster that you would think as well.

    • Not Adahn

      That’s a fight and not an ursine makeout session?

      • Suthenboy

        I am fairly certain that video is faked or partially faked.

      • AlexinCT

        AI Bear pr0n?

    • Fourscore

      Foreplay takes on different strokes across the animal kingdom

  29. creech

    Biden (or his handlers) conspired with a black church in Philly on Sunday to defraud the IRS. Many would find this more troubling than mischaracterizing a journal entry. However, maybe the campaigns of Trump, RFK, Oliver, etc. could just ask the church to “cure” their fraud by inviting them to speak at regular Sunday services? No sign yet that God spoke to Biden and asked him out of the race. Maybe God just slept late? Anyway, does anyone else think it is about 50/50 that Biden is still the candidate by July 15th?

    • WTF

      I don’t see how they get rid of Biden if he refuses to drop out. He has the primary wins to be the nominee, so they can’t just remove him. And if they 25th amendment Biden they’re stuck with Kamala.

      • AlexinCT

        Over and under that Biden has an aneurism and they 25th him. Or he just dies in his sleep…

      • The Other Kevin

        The simplest way forward would be to keep Biden on the ballot with the understanding that he’ll resign right after the election and Kamala will be president. No need to transfer money, no need to change ballots or anything like that.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Well until 2020, voters were electing electors, not the President/VP directly, and the electoral college could just select the current Democrat nominee even if the ballot said Joe Biden. A few states with faithless elector laws might be able to prosecute those.

        Wait, who am I kidding? It would all be whitewashed ok. Just like challenging elections is ok when Republicans are elected.

    • Raven Nation

      There’s an interesting divide among the left at the moment. Power brokers inside the party seem to be pushing for him to step aside. The rank-and-file seem to be fully on board with the “Biden was completely overwhelmed by all of Trump’s lies” narrative.

      Biden’s statement about not resigning reminds me of this:

      Washington, D.C., May 13, 1974: “’Don’t worry,’” President Nixon told one of his Cabinet officers today, assuring him that “’there isn’t any chance whatever’” that he would resign.

    • KSuellington

      It will be an interesting next month or so if they manage to get Joe to drop out. If they do it’s gonna be all in on Kamala. If they don’t we may get her anyway as Joe won’t last 6 months if he does manage to get elected. As I predicted the day after they got their mug shot of T Dog, it is gonna be his election. He is well along in the Arc of the Hero at this point, utterly thanks to his ejit enemies who let their utter loathing of him cloud their judgement about how to deal with him.

  30. PieInTheSky

    El Salvador’s Bukele warns businessmen not to raise prices or there will be consequences against them.

    He compares his warning to businesses to the one he made years ago against gangs before arresting them.

    He’s not a conservative. He’s a statist.

    https://x.com/DanielDiMartino/status/1809643126673600746

    price controls have to work sooner or later, keep trying

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Htpotheticals

    After all, if we elect presidents unprincipled enough to direct their attorneys general to persecute their predecessors on trumped-up charges of abusing their official powers, there’s nothing to stop them from fabricating purely private – and, under the court’s new rule, non-immune – crimes by those predecessors.

    Beyond those glaring flaws in the majority’s reasoning, Roberts snidely accused the three dissenting justices of “fear mongering on the basis of extreme hypotheticals” that neither the majority opinion nor either of the two concurring opinions troubled to refute.

    Who are we talking about, again?

    • PieInTheSky

      who are we not talking about? shorter list

    • Drake

      Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

      – John Adams

      Here we are.

      • Suthenboy

        Bingo Drake. I remember the late ’60s and ’70s when conservatives were warning about this very thing. At the time I thought “That’s rich coming from you lot.”

      • trshmnstr

        At the time I thought “That’s rich coming from you lot.”

        Hypocrites are often factually correct, despite their actions betraying their true motives.

    • Suthenboy

      A lot of formerly extreme hypotheticals are actuals now.

  32. B.P.

    “I’d be curious to see how far this goes back. More importantly, I would like to know if he has answered a single unplanted question his entire time in the WH.”

    Anyone remember this episode? This was three years ago, and the spineless reporters just went along with it.

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

    • AlexinCT

      What do they call a yeast infection?

  33. The Late P Brooks

    I’ll let others sort through the tangled puzzles the court has left in its wake absent meaningful guidelines for distinguishing between the various categories of presidential conduct it enumerates. My main takeaways from this shameful decision are three: first, there is a compelling need for supreme court reform, including a plan to impose an enforceable ethics code and term limits and possibly create several added seats to offset the way Trump as president stacked the court to favor his Maga agenda; second, we should start planning for a constitutional amendment of the sort I have advocated in the New York Times to create a federal prosecutorial arm structurally independent of the presidency; and third, we need a constitutional amendment adding to Article I, Section 9’s ban on titles of nobility and foreign emoluments a provision expressly stating that nothing in the constitution may be construed to confer any immunity from criminal prosecution by reason of a defendant’s having held any office under the United States – and a provision forbidding use of the pardon power to encourage the person pardoned to commit a crime that the president is unable to commit personally.

    And there it is. We must rewrite the Constitution (or discard it entirely) to Trump-proof America. That’s how evil and dangerous he is. We must have the ability to criminalize policy disputes. But don’t worry; this could never be used against us.

    • The Other Kevin

      These people don’t realize that the immunity ruling would keep the next president from charging Biden with being an accessory to murder for allowing the criminals into the country who’ve murdered those young women.

      • AlexinCT

        You give them far too much credit with thinking past what they need in the immediate over the long term.

      • The Other Kevin

        No, I agree with you. The people pushing this type of thing always assume their party will stay in power forever, and what they propose would never be used against them. See also: filibuster.

      • Suthenboy

        There is another factor TOK. They have become accustomed to the R’s being such spineless squishes and snakes in the grass that they think they can change the rules by the minute to suit their purposes. They aren’t completely wrong about that.
        We wouldn’t be where we are if the R’s were earnest about their expressed preferences.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Steve Bannon is serving a sentence for contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about 1/6 when he was a private citizen while numerous cabinet secretaries and lesser public employees have been in contempt with impunity.

  34. Not Adahn

    My interview with DHS/RCMP is Aug 5. It’s going to be torture controlling the snark, sarcasm, and scorn. But it’ll be for a good cause.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Don’t worry. They accused my wife of weapons trafficking during the interview and still approved her.

      • Gustave Lytton

        And CBSA doesn’t fall under RCMP. They’re a separate set of assholes.

      • Not Adahn

        I will admit not understanding much aboot Canadian law enforcement.

  35. KSuellington

    That was indeed a good race at Silverstone yesterday. I didn’t want to see Hamilton win, but it is nice that this season has now become competitive. Even though he is one of the all time great drivers, I really don’t like Lewis, especially after the bullshit with Nelson Piquet. Hamilton’s lack of understanding of Portuguese and thin skin have effectively gotten Nelson defenestrated from F1. I was hoping for a Mcalaren 1, 2 but that was some terrible strategy calls there. I was yelling at the screen to go to mediums when Lando had that shitty pit stop. I also like Perez but don’t think he should have been given an extension. Since then he has gotten even worse. Wonder where Sainz is gonna end up after this year?

  36. AlexinCT

    Da Fuq?

    Did this really happen? Old man yelling at clouds…

    • Suthenboy

      They made their own bed and took a giant shit in it. It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling to watch them squirm in int.

      Looking over the history of political parties here that have disappeared I can sum it up in one short sentence: The hired help forgot their place.

      • Suthenboy

        I dont remember who now but some CA congress critter got caught on video telling voters to go fuck themselves. He said, in the most arrogant. tone you can imagine, “We are congress. We can do whatever we want.”

      • AlexinCT

        I have contemplated running for any office just so my victory speech could be “To all of you assholes that didn’t vote for me: Fuck you! And to all of those that voted for me: Fuck you too! Let the plundering begin! I need a bigger boat..”

      • creech

        To all of you assholes that didn’t vote for me: Fuck you!””

        “You can all go to hell; I’m going to Texas.” David Crockett

    • Grosspatzer, Superstar

      Fake news, this must have been pre-recorded (props to the operative who inserted a stutter on “golf cart”). Timestamp is 6:36 AM, not within the proper 10AM – 4PM timeframe.

  37. Gustave Lytton

    All public sector unions need to be abolished and the act of trying to organize a new one should become a criminal offense.

    No and no. Simply stop collectively bargaining public sector employees or having contracts for the same. They’re free to establish associations or unionize all they want.

    • creech

      +1 FDR

  38. The Late P Brooks

    Space cadets

    The crew of a NASA mission to Mars emerged from their craft after a yearlong voyage that never left Earth.

    The four volunteer crew members spent more than 12 months inside NASA’s first simulated Mars environment at Johnson Space Center in Houston, coming out of the artificial alien enviroment Saturday around 5 p.m.

    ——-

    Brockwell, the crew’s flight engineer, said the mission showed him the importance of living sustainably for the benefit of everyone on Earth.

    “I’m very grateful to have had this incredible opportunity to live for a year within the spirit of planetary adventure towards an exciting future, and I’m grateful for the chance to live the idea that we must utilise resources no faster than they can be replenished and produce waste no faster than they can be processed back into resources,” Brockwell said.

    Of course, two of them are pictured wearing black cloth masks, no doubt to protect themselves from the vast array of lethal toxins in Earth’s unfiltered atmosphere.

    • Suthenboy

      Apparently, being isolated for so long, he didn’t get the memo from 100 years ago and mountains of studies: MASKS DONT WORK.

      Also, I want a detailed rundown on their sex lives for the last year. Video if they have it.

      • Suthenboy

        Wait. When I said that I was assuming they are all straight. Maybe I should be more careful what I wish for.

      • Not Adahn

        It’s not gay if there are no women present within the space capsule.

  39. Derpetologist

    Another job interview today. They must really need a teacher because the same school previously rejected me. It’s closer to me than all the other ones I’ve interviewed with too.

    • Not Adahn

      We’ve had HR send us resumes of people we’ve already rejected, so there’s that.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Foreign interference

    Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary effectively endorsed Donald Trump for president in an interview and, on the eve of this week’s NATO summit, blasted the United States for having a “war policy” in Ukraine rather than a strategy for achieving peace.

    ——-

    Orbán’s comments came in an interview Sunday with Axel Springer media outlets. POLITICO is owned by Axel Springer.

    In the interview, Orbán commented extensively on Trump and U.S. politics, predicting there was a “very, very high chance” that President Joe Biden would not be reelected and describing that as a positive outcome.

    “I’m sure that a change would be good for the world,” Orbán said, cautioning that he did not want to intrude too much into the American election — despite doing just that.

    So insolence.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Axel Foley owns Politico? That explains a lot.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    Orbán, who is widely distrusted by fellow European leaders for his pro-Russian views and autocratic tendencies, praised Trump in generous terms as a “self-made man” who has a “different approach to everything.”

    Those extreme right wing fascist autocrats really stick together.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    It’s largely Washington’s fault that such talks haven’t happened, said Orbán, who recently assumed the European Union presidency, a six-month post that will allow Orbán to bring attention to Budapest’s foreign policy priorities..

    “China has a peace plan. America runs a war policy,” he said. “And Europe, instead of having our autonomous strategic approach and position, we are simply copying the American position.”

    OH

    MY

    GOD!

    • AlexinCT

      China’s “peace plan” is to make everyone their bitches through debt. See the link above about the fate of Laos, the country that bought that peace plan the hardest and is now totally owned by China. Might be a better plan than the war one, but the end goal seems to be the same.