Monday Morning Links

by | Dec 2, 2024 | Daily Links | 269 comments

The Steelers won. Liverpool embarrassed Man City. Max won. And all I know is disappointment. 3 out of 4 ain’t bad…it’s miserable. And that’s putting it lightly. On to…the links!

Good luck enforcing this. First off, nature is nature and it’s always changing. The earth is constantly reshaping landmasses. And you’d have a hell of a time proving, in a sane world, that the industrialized nations are to blame for the potential sinking of your specks of dirt in the middle of oceans that have never been more than a few feet above sea level. But we don’t really live in a sane world anymore, do we?

Oh no. Not shockwaves! I remember the days when Team Blue distrusted the police. Now they’re desperate to cling to power. Tough shit. Elections have consequences.

Strange how the definition of “responsible” changed so quickly. I guess it always meant “towing the party lion no matter what.” They just didn’t want to admit it.

This is about to get interesting. I eagerly await the shitstorm of hypocrisy.

Don’t trust this guy. Don’t trust any socialist for that matter. They’ll infect you like cancer and try to skin suit your group for their own gain.

Wait, are the left arguing FOR price gouging? I’m so confused.

Good. They need to fail. But they’re not alone. And that’s a good thing. Funny how the next one will be deemed “powerless” simply because he’s from the opposite end of the political spectrum. It’s especially funny since the people who drove the car into the ditch across that continent have all been rabid leftists.

They bought their tickets. They knew what they were getting into. I say “let em crash.”

That’s a hefty price tag. Oh well, using tax money to fix a problem tax money was used to create in the first place is the cost of living in a society, I guess.

If you don’t have any money, then what’s the problem? Of course we all know Cyclops McCain is full of shit. Which is why he’s railing.

Spud’s song. It’s a catchy one. And this is what we should all be doing. I love that song. Enjoy it.

And enjoy this lovely Monday, dear friends.

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

269 Comments

  1. Rat on a train

    Any decision by the court would be non-binding advice and couldn’t directly force wealthy nations into action to help struggling countries.
    The moral weight would compel them!

    • sloopyinca

      What a giant waste of time. And I assume the representatives from those island nations will fly in a jet halfway around the world to make their case, which makes this all the more farcical.

      • Rat on a train

        What’s another taxpayer-paid junket?

      • sloopyinca

        I hope their opening statement involves use of the Haka. That will give this case the air of seriousness it so richly deserves.

    • rhywun

      Hm, the caption on the big pic at the top reads “what countries worldwide are legally required to do to combat climate change”.

      OK, then.

    • juris imprudent

      How many international jurists does it take to balance the weight of a pin?

  2. sloopyinca

    Links were on time. Hell, they were even a few minutes early. I just forgot to tag them as links. Sorry they were down the front page for a bit.

    • UnCivilServant

      I saw them. I just didn’t have anything worth saying yet.

      • SDF-7

        I try not to let that stop me, obviously.

      • UnCivilServant

        To be fair, my threshold of “worth saying” in a comments section is pretty darn low.

    • R.J.

      Hank you for letting us know the secret of appearing at the top!

      • R.J.

        Thank. I am so done with on screen phone keyboards.

  3. LCDR_Fish

    That grocery story was like one long non-sequitur. I have no idea what they were trying to say.

    • sloopyinca

      It’s The Atlantic. Nobody is ever supposed to understand their gibberish.

      • robodruid

        I got “it is all Regan’s fault”

      • Ted S.

        I personally blame Goneril.

    • rhywun

      I made it as far as:

      Why didn’t large chains fill the void when local stores closed? They didn’t need to.

      Oh, for fuck’s sake. That’s a back-assward way to admit that they won’t make money there. And of course they completely ignore the reasons for that.

      • Nephilium

        There’s a couple of local areas that have poor access to grocery stores. They all have the same thing in common, they’re the high crime, high poverty areas. Most of them had grocery stores in them, until they were closed due to high amounts of theft and vandalism.

      • PieInTheSky

        given supermarket chains keep opening stores where they think it is profitable, need to has nothing to do with it.

      • rhywun

        I grew up poor-ish but even in that time and place all the city poors like us had a car to drive to the suburbs where the good shopping was.

        It’s beyond ridiculous to claim that city (or rural) poors deserve food at the same prices as the big guys when it is more expensive to make that happen.

    • Grumbletarian

      The USDA expects a grocery store to be less than a mile from anyone’s place of residence in a city or else they’re in a food desert?? Absurd.

      • DrOtto

        They should be downtown and at same size and prices as stores in the suburbs. In other words, when I go to my local store and ask what’s the price of something, the answer should be “same as downtown”.

      • UnCivilServant

        “Like I ever go downtown.”

      • Pope Jimbo

        A similar story played out across rural America, following the same timeline. Up until the 1980s, almost every small town in North Dakota had a grocery store. Many, in fact, had two or more competing supermarkets. Now nearly half of North Dakota’s rural residents live in a food desert. (The USDA defines a food desert as a low-income census tract where the nearest grocery store is more than 10 miles away in a rural area or more than one mile away in a city.)

        Every town in NoDak could have a giant grocery town and I’d bet that nearly half of them would still technically qualify as living in a food desert. Most farmers live more than 10 miles from town.

  4. SDF-7

    Hmmm… I was hoping for at least a comment on the wonderful, wonderful job of “Let’s leave a sizable chunk of debris out on the track for 5 laps instead of throwing a safety car to clear it, let one car run over it and two cars get punctures from the resulting debris… *then* throw a safety car… and max out penalties for every infraction afterwards — to the point of seriously changing the probable constructors’ championship! Yay being a racing steward! (Ok… to be completely fair, Norris didn’t lift as far as anyone can tell and did deserve a penalty… but damn… way to lurch all the way over to ‘draconian’ out of nowhere there, guys!)

    Morning, all! On to link-reading…

    • Ownbestenemy

      B-52s for me is that band that I don’t go out of my way to listen to but groove out when they are played.

      • SDF-7

        I find I agree with you — though what that had to do with the Qatar Grand Prix I’m still a bit befuddled by. 😉

      • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

        Any B-52’s song comes on the radio, the radio gets shut down with extreme prejudice.

      • rhywun

        don’t go out of my way to listen to

        Same, with one exception. I love this song.

      • kinnath

        Thanks Tundra. Roam is awesome.

        I also like Love Shack which shows I have totally pedestrian tastes in music.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Yep. They’re fun, musically interesting, and have a high nostalgia value.

      • rhywun

        “Roam” is great too but my god I’ve heard it soooo many times.

      • CatchTheCarp

        l never liked the B-52’s when they were popular but they have definitely grown on me over time. Some of the harmonies by Kate Pierson and Cindy Williams are absolutely gorgeous. Cosmic Thing is one my guilty pleasure albums.

    • sloopyinca

      The Lando penalty was quite severe. One would almost think the stewards were calculating the WCC numbers as they decided what penalty to give.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Wait, was there a Lando Collision? Did Ferraris Empire Strike Back?

    • LCDR_Fish

      There was some Qatar F-1 race on at the bar when I was getting lunch yesterday. Guess it was just the last few laps and the podium – didn’t see anything special but the CC wasn’t turned on either.

  5. Shpip

    No, that’s absolutely wrong. You can’t do that. Forgive me for saying this. You can’t go to Mar-a-Lago. You can’t do it. That’s going to get me in trouble. You can’t do that. You have to hold Donald Trump accountable for being wrong. You have to hold all of his allies accountable for being wrong

    And just how, pray tell, are you going to hold 80 million Americans “accountable” for voting for lower inflation, a secure border, fewer men in skirts flouncing around in high office, and less woke madness?

    • sloopyinca

      They think shaming and legal intimidation still work, lol.

      These dumb fucks are in for a rough few years.

    • Rat on a train

      Call them bigots?

      • SDF-7

        AND get the blue haired shrieking harridans to withhold physical intimacy! That’ll show ’em!

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Make their cities food deserts? I mean, lord knows no one can drive more than a mile in town, nor ten in the country!

      • Ownbestenemy

        While in Vegas I surely was not in a food desert but it was more than a mile to the local grocer (supermarket, CVS was a block away and offered food) and I would have to truck two little kids either by walking or by bus to get the week to two weeks worth of groceries. Along with hundreds of others that worked it out.

        This was just an article to slam Reagan policies and to pin racism somewhere.

      • LCDR_Fish

        When I had an apartment as a student in Chapel Hill (2+ years before I actually bought a car), I always had to ride the bus to a different grocery store several miles away – between classes and work, etc (often on Saturdays when the routes were a lot more limited, no buses on Sundays back then). Normally I’d try and time it to hit a movie at the same shopping center.

      • UnCivilServant

        I mean, I live two miles from my grocery store.

        I could, if I really had to, but food from any number of establishments, both resaurants and convenience stores that are within a mile, but why would I? I mean, I go out of my way to go to the good butcher shop a few miles further along than settle for the meat selection at the grocery store where I get my vegetables.

      • The Last American Hero

        Reagan’s policies were so bad that 8 years of Clinton, 8 years of Obama, and 4 years of Biden couldn’t undo them.

      • Cunctator

        “Reagan’s policies were so bad that 8 years of Clinton, 8 years of Obama, and 4 years of Biden couldn’t undo them.”

        Reagan hasn’t been governor of California for almost 50 years, but everything wrong in California is still Reagan’s fault.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I just checked and my house in Minnesoda is 2 miles away from the nearest grocery store (a Whole Foods). I live in a food desert!!!!

        That’s what happens when the posh folx like Tundra move out I guess. The entire suburb gets de-gentrified.

        Is there some Fed money I can get?

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        OBE: This is a weird thing to pin on racism. Pretty sure vastly more rural white people have to routinely go MUCH further than, well, literally any other group to find grocery stores.

      • Nephilium

        Pope Jimbo:

        I just checked, and it’s only the Dollar General at the corner that saves me from being in a food desert. I mean, there’s eight grocery stores among four brands that are within a 1.5-4 mile radius, countless butcher shops, pierogi stores, bakeries, and the like, but it’s too hard to get food.

      • UnCivilServant

        Dollar General

        They sell food? I don’t often have cause to visit one, but the last one I was in didn’t.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        @UCS

        There’s a new sort of DG that has food sections. I wouldn’t call them grocery stores, but they have real food. There’s one pretty close (maybe 5 miles or so) from my parents’ house.

      • Gender Traitor

        Family Dollar also has groceries. There’s one just around the corner from our house, and I find it a handy place to pick up milk on the way home from work without having to walk aaaaalllll the way to the back of the megagrocery. We also have Dollar Generals a mile or two in either direction on the state highway < 1 block from the house.

      • kinnath

        The Dollar Genera in our small town has packaged foods. It has also has an extended freezer section with a better selection that the “full-service” grocery store that is about a furlong away. The full-service grocery has fresh fruits and veggies as well as a meat counter.

        I use both on a regular basis.

  6. rhywun

    Christopher Wray’s 10-year term is not due to end until 2027. For Patel to become FBI director, Wray would have to resign or be fired by Trump and Patel would need to be confirmed by the Senate

    Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Christopher.

    • R.J.

      Fairly certain he will be fired in the first week. Unless he wises uo and resigns.

      • UnCivilServant

        Why would he. I mean it’s not like the new boss is famous for firing people…

    • sloopyinca

      He can hold the office for 210 days without confirmation.
      And yes, Wray is gone on day 1. Thank God.

  7. Shpip

    To quote the Government’s advisory Climate Change Committee: “In our Balanced Net Zero Pathway, the U.K. economy becomes much more energy efficient, with total energy demand falling by around 33% in end-use sectors between now and 2050.”

    Just make it too expensive for the proles to heat their houses in winter. That’ll drive down demand.

    And what will said proles do about it if they don’t like it — vote their way out of the situation?

    • UnCivilServant

      Ideally, burn the politicians and activists for fuel.

      They’re greasy bastards and should burn a good long time.

    • sloopyinca

      The British are screwed. Starmer and Company will be lucky if there aren’t mass defections from the party in the next two years. If it’s a cold winter, they’ll come even sooner.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        It is already snowing in the north.

      • PieInTheSky

        British are screwed – and yet they will vote the same and the parties will learn nothing.

      • rhywun

        Winter is coming.

    • rhywun

      You would think they could look across the waters at rapidly declining Germany – pursuing the exact same fantasy – and say to themselves, “No, thanks.”

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        All of (western) Europe is all but completely lost. The UK and Germany are sunk. France is fucked. Italy, fucked. Spain, fucked. Portugal, fucked. All of them are fucked, yet still see Nazis hiding behind every policy that might unfuck them, even just a smidge.

        I saw an interview last night on Triggernometry where the subject (forget his name) stated that the west has been on such high alert for the next Hitler and the potentiality of fascism (Never again!), that we’ve been completely blinded to the plentiful and massive problems of communism/socialism.

        That anything even hinting “right-wing” excess is squashed immediately with prejudice, while at the same time we allow communist excess to proliferate while force its celebration, and despite the far more disastrous results reaped by communism during the last century.

        Even in winning WW2 and the Cold War, the west has lost, or, is, at the very least, losing.

      • rhywun

        still see Nazis hiding behind every policy that might unfuck them

        Donald Trump waves hi.

  8. SDF-7

    They’ll infect you like cancer and try to skin suit your group for their own gain.

    What… like weaseling in to impose code of conduct crap in programming groups… that oddly only seem to go one way and favor the committees’ politics?

    I do declare suh… y’all will give me the vapors with such imaginings!

    • Rat on a train

      time to fork …

      • UnCivilServant

        I haven’t got the time to maintain a whole distro.

    • rhywun

      Skimmed that and didn’t see anything political at least, just some hot-headed disagreement.

      Or am I missing something?

  9. rhywun

    Don’t trust this guy.

    Yeah, I would challenge him to name any other part of the government where he wants to cut waste and fraud. I won’t hold my breath.

  10. Shpip

    Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat representing California in the House of Representatives, previously told CNN there are other liberals who would work with DOGE to cut ‘waste, fraud and abuse’ from the Defense budget.

    ‘Let me provide an area where there could be bipartisan collaboration – I mean the Defense budget, which is nearly a trillion dollars,’ Khanna, a member of the House armed Services Committee, said on Monday.

    Guess what, Bernie and Ro — DOGE’s efforts won’t be confined to Defense. You’ll be singing a different tune then.

    • Nephilium

      Fraud and waste. That’s what they’ll be OK with cutting.

    • sloopyinca

      That’s good. I hope they find a bunch of stuff to cut from the DoD as well, because it’s ridiculously bloated.

      • LCDR_Fish

        We’ve had some good discussions on X the last week or so about some stupid Economist article about VA benefits. I don’t think we linked this one here last week, but maybe I’m getting things mixed up.

        Need reform as I posted before…but plenty to cut there.

      • Rat on a train

        Not officially DOD, but abolish the Selective Service System agency.

      • sloopyinca

        Musk and Vivek should invite every Dem who is interested to work on cutting fraud and waste from the departments they hate the most. Get them to lead the way, even.
        “Oh yeah, well you should get rid of these boondoggles at Defense.”
        “Ok, thanks for the tip. It’s gone. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna gut this grant program that pisses away $2B a year for Troon Awareness. Thanks for your participation.”

  11. Drake

    Did Hunter Biden just lose his ability to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights to avoid Congressional testimony and cooperation with Kash Patel’s investigation? Be a shame if this backfires for the Biden’s.

    • Ownbestenemy

      *puts on industrial tin-foil cap*

      Establishment pols conspired with the Dem regime to orchestrate this pardon, with broad strokes and all, and have a patsy waiting in the wings to take the fall that only ‘touches’ along the lines of the Biden cabal to throw to the MAGA lions so they have their red meat.

    • Grummun

      Jim Biden hasn’t been pardoned.

      • Drake

        Yet

    • Fourscore

      So, the devil went down to Georgia….

    • Ted S.

      Apparently, nobody can think for themselves and come to a conclusion that opposes Genius Putin. And Russia never ever does anything to try to foment its own version of color revolutions.

      • Ed Wuncler

        It’s one of those situations where everyone is an asshole and there aren’t any good guys in this scenario.

      • rhywun

        Yeah I’m not qualified to guess WTF is really going on in that place but my first thought upon reading about this was “those demonstrations are not spontaneous”.

      • LCDR_Fish

        See also the ongoing shit in Syria.

      • juris imprudent

        Get back to me when Putin is installing friendly politicians in Mexico. I’d say Canada but there’s already a completely useless idiot in charge there.

      • Seguin

        That’s silly Ted. Only the USA has agency, corruption, and imperialism. Russia has never fomented separatism in Abkhazia, or invaded Georgia.

        Silliness.

        (note, not defending FedGov. They’re venal and evil. But so is the Russian government – the only difference is capability)

      • Homple

        The CIA, USAID and various US-funded NGOs support and fund those people who think for themselves as long as think like us. If they don’t think like us, we subvert ’em

  12. juris imprudent

    This explains a good bit of the billionaire support for Trump.

    “Basically, it’s a privatized sanctions regime that lets bureaucrats do to American citizens the same thing that we do to Iran, just kick you out of the financial system,” he said. “So this has been happening to all the crypto entrepreneurs in the last four years.”

    • Ownbestenemy

      Isn’t that what happened to Gab?

    • Ed Wuncler

      This is the kind of shit that makes me incredibly upset to say the least. The ability to have someone not being able to have a bank account or access to their credit cards due to their political opinions is probably one of the evilest things a government can do to their citizens, especially in a world where everything is digitalized. And what makes me angrier is that my fellow citizens, if they knew the full extent of this, would cheerlead this behavior if it screwed over their political opponents.

      • rhywun

        It is exactly (one of the things) that the CCP does to its political enemies.

      • Ed Wuncler

        In a just society the people who perpetrated this shit should be in jail for violating their Constitutional oaths.

      • juris imprudent

        a government can do

        Lampposts and decorations are the ONLY answer. Nothing less will do.

      • R C Dean

        In a healthy society the people who perpetrated this shit would never sleep in the same place twice for fear of winding up decorating a lamppost.

      • Jarflax

        In a healthy society they’d sleep in the same place for all eternity having already decorated a lamppost.

      • Ed Wuncler

        On a side note, I rarely talk politics in front of my in laws because they are raging Progressives but at one family event I had a little too much to drink and said that if it was up to me, I would have a bi-partisan assortment of politicians and bureaucrats hanging from the lamp posts in DC.

    • Nephilium

      ‘member Backpage? I’m pretty sure Kamala Harris remembers Backpage.

      • LCDR_Fish

        I’m not sure Kamala remembers what she had for breakfast. Or how she would feel if she hadn’t eaten breakfast.

      • R C Dean

        Pretty sure Kams is drinking her breakfasts these days.

    • Shpip

      So the bureaucrats got away with pushing the banks and credit card companies to make life difficult or impossible for gun companies and dissident websites like vdare.com.

      Then they started feeling their oats and went after the tech guys and crypto bros, with vastly different results. Gee, you hate to see it.

    • Drake

      Did Harris every officially walk back her palm for a tax on unrealized capital gains? That must have spooked some wealthy donors.

      • slumbrew

        ShE DiDn’T CaMpAiGn On ThAt!

        (She didn’t repudiate it, either)

      • DrOtto

        Mark Cuban insisted she wasn’t serious on that. Apparently, that wasn’t good enough for them.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        A serious candidate with unserious policy proposals.

    • db

      If you guys haven’t watched the full Rogan/Andreesen interview, it’s worth watching almost every minute. It’s amazing that there are people out there that still hadn’t heard of debanking, or half the shit he talks about. Andreesen’s description of regulatory capture should be mandatory viewing for all high school civics students.

      • Tundra

        Second this. It was kind of scary how many mundane ways the blob employs to fuck people over.

  13. LCDR_Fish

    This sucks so hard. All my good cold weather gear is sitting waiting for me at my new duty station. Household goods and unaccompanied baggage arrived almost a month ago.

    Think we may finally have figured out what the paperwork issue is now so I may be able to fly by next week. Of course…now it’s cold and it’s going to be tough to try and walk to the gym with these temps…if it doesn’t get above 40 after lunch, I may have to wait till tomorrow. (the wind on the waterfront here is nuts). I bought some outer gear – and I’ll be mailing at least one box to myself from the hotel before I leave – but there’s a limit to what I want to buy knowing that I have all my normal stuff waiting for me….

    • R.J.

      Sorry to hear it. I hope everything works out.

    • Drake

      You could run to the gym…

      • LCDR_Fish

        There’s only a sidewalk for part of it, depending on time of day, a lot of traffic to the parking lot by the pier.

        I *could* use the other gym…which feels like a sauna…but I guess it’s an option ;p Better than nothing.

      • UnCivilServant

        Aww, you responded before I could crack the jok that you were doing anaerobic exercises.

    • ron73440

      How long ago did we have lunch and you thought you would be flying the next week?

      Hope they finally have it figured out for you.

      • juris imprudent

        Proceeding at standard bureaucratic pace.

  14. rhywun

    It’s especially funny since the people who drove the car into the ditch across that continent have all been rabid leftists.

    And it was entirely self-inflicted. “Industrial decline and wars just happened.” Yeah, OK.

  15. Shpip

    Crenshaw continued his rant by slamming House members’ salaries: “How about, how about we’ll just keep whipping ourselves? How about we don’t make any money either? How about like, just cut our paychecks? I haven’t gotten a pay raise since 2008. Even a [cost-of-living-adjustment] increase. So. Yeah. No, actually, no. Yeah, this is a great idea. Let’s make Congress a place where only the millionaires can actually afford to do the job. This is a wonderful idea.”

    You’re not going to get a lot of sympathy from the average schlub by complaining about your $174,000 per year salary (with generous time off for “recess”).

    But I can see his second point. At one time, a district’s net taxpayers would convene and send one of their leading lights to Congress for a while. Success in business isn’t a one-to-one proxy for wisdom in government, but it’s not the worst measurement either. When I see some of the shuck-and-jive artists that are currently on Capitol Hill, a part of me wants to raise the bar for who can serve in the House.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Fuck off Crenshaw. Fuck off on a sit and spin.

    • juris imprudent

      Have some sympathy, you host one good cocktail party and how much have you got left to live on?

    • R C Dean

      Let’s not overlook that the Congressional salary is vastly augmented by allowances and “free” services of various kinds.

      Eyepatch McCain has really turned out to be a major disappointment.

    • ron73440

      I don’t care at all about the gun charges or the tax charges.

      The blanket pardon for the time he was working for Burisma is concerning.

      Not to mention all the laptop evidence.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Don’t think it covers state charges, just federal stuff – so maybe some other jurisdictions want to weigh in on stuff not outside the statute of limitations.

      • slumbrew

        A blanket pardon for anything Hunter did in the last 10 years.

        Totally normal, just routine.

      • Jarflax

        Hey the Big Guy has to do something to earn his 10%, and it works out to a measly 1% per year of pardon.

      • B.P.

        The best part is that one of the clips contains the chryon: “Conservatives Push False Narrative About Biden’s Age, Mental Fitness.”

    • DrOtto

      Not trying to deride anyone here, but what did you honestly expect to happen. Joe had been having 10% kicked upstairs for how long and he’s just supposed to leave himself exposed to probable criminal charges after his term is up? This was inevitable. And there are likely more pardons coming for other people involved in the racket. It will confirm what everyone knew, but there won’t be a thing anyone can do about it. Best we can hope for is J6, Ross, and Assange pardons and then deflect when the left loses their shit and say but look what your guy did. That Biden is being self serving is no surprise at all.

      • ron73440

        Didn’t say it surprised me.

        Especially since Joe explicitly said he wouldn’t do it, I immediately thought it would happen.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        So, Clinton II, pardon boogaloo?

        (if you don’t remember, he pardoned everyone and the couch they slept on as he was out the door.)

      • juris imprudent

        You take that back ZWAK! Clinton did not pardon everyone… just those who made great contributions to the Clinton Foundation.

  16. PieInTheSky

    One of the candidates for president here was a formal general who got rather fat in the last few years and was nicknamed “the dessert fox”

  17. PieInTheSky

    New data shows that a vast area of northern China with a population as large as the United States has a fertility rate of just 0.7 births per woman, similar to the South Korea. This will have a devastating impact on the global economy.

    https://x.com/MoreBirths/status/1863413059533910406

  18. Common Tater

    “Fans fume at ejected NFL star Azeez Al-Shaair after controversial political message on his cleats is revealed

    The linebacker was already in the bad books of many for a brutal hit on quarterback Trevor Lawrence, that led to him being ejected from the game.

    And now more fans are piling in, after noticing a bold ‘Free Palestine’ message on his cleats….

    Yet more fans brought up Nick Bosa’s recent fine for wearing a Donald Trump MAGA hat and speculated over the punishment Al-Shaair will face for his own political message.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nfl/article-14147039/Azeez-Al-Shaair-ejected-Palestine-Houston-Texans.html

    I’m not expecting anything.

    • sloopyinca

      He’s gonna get a fine comparable to every other player who wears political messages. The NFL has always been pretty consistent in this respect.

      • R C Dean

        Have they? I seem to recall seeing a number of political messages of the Approved Kind(tm) that I don’t remember hearing any fines being levied for.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Wasn’t this weekend the special slate of games where players wear virtue signal cleats?

      • Nephilium

        CPA:

        Yes, this was the “My Causes, My Cleats” weekend. But political messages are generally not allowed, even there (if someone had MAGA cleats, they’d be fined).

      • rhywun

        All the wokery from the past few years is political messaging IMHO.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        He believed in his cause enough to behead Trevor Lawrence.

      • Nephilium

        rhywun:

        I don’t disagree, but I think those are tied to actual charities (such as BLM).

    • Grumbletarian

      That’s an approved political message, like “Black Lives Matter.”

  19. db

    “Private Idaho” is a great tune to start the day!

  20. Common Tater

    “Game ovary These women, including an OnlyFans model, are getting sterilized — and blaming Trump for their decision: ‘Election tied my hands’

    Eden Ixora, 25, of Florida, who creates content for the adult-oriented site, told the outlet, “for me, the idea of getting pregnant is worse than death.” She said she was making plans to have a bilateral salpingectomy — a procedure in which her fallopian tubes will be removed.

    “For me it was a call to action. A need to get this locked in so I don’t have to live in fear that at any moment some random guy can completely destroy my life,” Ixora said.”

    https://nypost.com/2024/12/01/us-news/women-blame-trumps-election-for-decision-to-get-sterilized/

    Um, maybe don’t have unprotected sex with random guys?

    • Grumbletarian

      Maybe that’s what her clientele pays to see.

    • Ed Wuncler

      Made a career choice to raw dog it for your Only Fans career and now blaming Trump for making the decision to remove your tubes. It seems like my generation wants to make whatever decision pops into their head without thinking about the consequences and being protected from those consequences.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Now do every dude who gets a call saying they are on the pay line for 18 years after a hookup.

      (and I am sure she will do every dude…)

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Tres bait? Or still too thin for him?

    • rhywun

      The possibility of getting pregnant is literally worse than refraining from unprotected sex with randos.

    • The Last American Hero

      What do you expect them to do? Arrest gangs that have taken over apartment complexes?

      How the hell do you get home safely from that? Far better to spend yet more resources on a 30 year old cold case.

      • Jarflax

        Maybe Tren de Aragua killed Jon Benet, did you even consider that?

    • Tundra

      My wife and I watched the Netflix doc on the case. I realized I knew absolutely nothing about it (other than the media bullshit). The malfeasance of the cops, coroner’s office, the DA and the media was unbelievable.

      The whole thing is just next level creepy.

  21. Sensei

    Our green future continues unabated by reality.

    A Journal analysis of 54 publicly traded EV and battery startups shows an increasingly dire financial situation. Seven companies have already filed for bankruptcy. Of 36 operational companies with sufficient data for analysis, three-quarters are losing money and 13 are projected to run out of cash by next summer.

    For EV Startups, Things Are Going From Bad to Worse

    https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/ev-startup-failures-trump-ffeea1fb?st=HXqvHH&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • UnCivilServant

      When you have a product nobody wants and the taxpayer handouts start drying up…

    • Shpip

      The shifting political landscape is putting at risk planned investment in the U.S., some of which has been aided by state and federal subsidies.

      “It’s just a disaster out there with consumer demand going down,” said Ted Brandt, chief executive of clean-energy focused investment bank Marathon Capital.

      Turns out that there’s a finite supply of wealthy virtue signalers out there, and without using tax dollars to prop up demand, it’s a really tough row to hoe. Whoda thunk it?

  22. Suthenboy

    I won’t even bother. How many decades have those islands been 5 years away from disappearing under the waves? How much do they want now?

    Shockwaves? Good. I would say not that elections have consequences but that the election results are the consequences…consequences of DC being incompetent and corrupt as hell. The chickens come home to roost and no one really wants to hear their whining.

    They are right, of course. They are sure of it because, after all, they are so much smarter than we are and much better people made of finer clay.

    I would like to see the conspirators in Pelosi’s little Reichstag fire change places with those prisoners. They are the ones responsible for that shit show and for outright murder.

    Dont trust a socialist? I would say dont bother listening to them. Just plow ahead and do the right thing.

    Price gouging is never the problem. The problem is about who is making bank from it.

    Europeans socialism problem is rooted in too. many people in too small of a place. I heard some brits talking yesterday about how they have a hard time imagining the sheer size of America, a country where you can go somewhere and not see any people. They were marveling over counties in the US larger than their island of 60 million people. they are piled on top of each other constantly knocking elbows so their mentality is one of the commune.

    Net zero is complete horseshit and the industrial decline is the purpose of it. The Malthusian notions about population and economics are wildly flawed but those pushing limited growth dont give a shit. It’s about money and power. Another bunch not worth listening to.

    I am not even reading that. I have heard it before. They get into congress worth about 4 digits and two years later they are worth 8 digits. they are there to get their snouts in the trough. If you want to hear pols scream just threaten to take the trough away.

    • Tundra

      I love that! We drove through right after one of those and the plows just hit the roads like they always do but it was like going through a canyon of ice!

    • Rat on a train

      Are the options properly ranked? How is a student to know which to select to get the best deal?

      • Jarflax

        “Are the options properly ranked? How is a student to know which to select to get the best deal?” This is why we need more intersectionality studies majors! To provide their wisdom to the poor students trying to determine the best selection of ethnicity, gender and sexual practices for peak student aid.

      • juris imprudent

        No, we need to be teaching high schoolers about their ethnicity and grade schoolers about their sexuality! Then they can be properly prepared to fill out the form.

    • rhywun

      Fix this, Donald.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        As someone navigating this fucking minefield currently, I concur.

    • Homple

      Multiply 41 race designations by 20 or so genders and you have a lot of combinations to rank order eligibility.

  23. Common Tater

    “Katherine Clark’s daughter, Riley Dowell, arrested at chaotic anti-abortion Boston march
    Dowell was previously arrested for allegedly hitting a Boston cop”

    https://www.bostonherald.com/2024/11/18/katherine-clarks-daughter-riley-dowell-arrested-at-chaotic-anti-abortion-boston-march/

    “Dem Rep’s trans child arrested after Boston riot where militant activists attacked pro-lifers, police

    Dowell had previously been arrested for assault and battery on a police officer in addition to vandalizing property, tagging property, vandalizing a historical marker/monument, and resisting arrest.”

    https://thepostmillennial.com/dem-reps-trans-child-arrested-after-boston-riot-where-militant-activists-attacked-pro-lifers-police

    Nice transition, asshole. This self-ID nonsense needs to stop.

    • R C Dean

      At a minimum, “daughter” should be in scare quotes.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Yes. I’m at a point where anytime the wrong pronoun is purposefully used, I immediately tap out.

        I’m done with fantasyland. Not playing that fucking game anymore. Men are men. Women are women. Hes are hes, and shes are shes. Don’t care if you’ve mutilated yourself. That’s a you problem, and has no bearing on the rest of the world.

    • Jarflax

      Hey abortion is a women’s issue! Of course she is upset that people want to take away her control over her make believe uterus!

    • Ted S.

      I look forward to Hyperbole calling for just as long a sentence for this scoff law as for the J6 political prisoners.

  24. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. Illegal aliens and their enablers are pleading with King Walz to protect them from OMB

    One federal program called Temporary Protection Status (TPS) was created by Congress in 1990 to give nationals of certain countries that are confronting war, environmental disasters or other extraordinary conditions refuge in the United States for a limited time, with the opportunity to renew their applications until the president thinks this protection from deportation is not needed.
     
    Somalis, Nicaraguans, Haitians, Venezuelans, Afghans, Salvadorans, Sudanese, Ukrainians and other nationals are eligible for this status. But Trump has the authority to decline to renew these programs.
     
    The programs are administered nation-by-nation and have different deadlines for renewal. Those with the most immediate deadlines are the TPS programs for Salvadorans that will end March 10 and one for Ukrainians that will end April 20.

    • Pope Jimbo

      What kind of monster would deny Salvadorans their TPS? Their need is super urgent!

      El Salvador was designated for TPS under President George W. Bush. El Salvador was struck by a catastrophic 7.6 magnitude earthquake on Jan. 13, 2001, and further devastated by two powerful aftershock earthquakes on Feb. 13, (5.1 magnitude) and Feb. 17, 2001 (5.6 magnitude). The series of earthquakes resulted in 1,100 deaths and left more than 2,500 people missing. Nearly 8,000 suffered injuries. Seventeen percent of El Salvador’s population (1.3 million people) were displaced by the earthquakes and resulting landslides. The earthquakes caused more than $2.8 billion in damages, including the destruction or damage of 220,000 homes, 1,696 schools and 856 other public buildings.[6]
       
      Since 2001, the country has remained unstable for the safe return of Salvadoran TPS holders. In the most recent extension (Sept. 10, 2016 to March 9, 2018), the U.S. government cited the dire conditions brought about by numerous subsequent natural disasters, including hurricanes, tropical storms, flooding, volcanic seismic activity, prolonged drought that caused widespread food and water insecurity, the spread of mosquito-borne illnesses, lack of housing and electricity and gang-related insecurity.[7]

      Yeah. They’ve been here since 2001 because of an earthquake. Time to go home.

      • R C Dean

        I was reading a claim (unconfirmed/uncorroborated as far as I know) that some large percentage of these refugees regularly go back to their home countries for vacations/visits before returning here.

      • Jarflax

        “Gang related insecurity” as a reason to allow immigration hasn’t been a great thing for us. Oddly it seems the gangs come along with the migrants.

      • Common Tater

        “natural disasters, prolonged drought that caused widespread food and water insecurity, lack of housing and electricity and gang-related insecurity”

        So they move to California?

      • Nephilium

        What kind of monster would deny Salvadorans their TPS?

        Did they remember to include the updated cover sheet?

      • UnCivilServant

        Temporary Protected status should require a national referendum with more than 75% voting yes to pass, and have a two year automatic expiration with no option for renewal.

      • juris imprudent

        “Gang related insecurity”

        It would be very insecure for a gangbanger to go back to El Salvador these days.

    • rhywun

      give nationals of certain countries that are confronting war, environmental disasters or other extraordinary conditions refuge in the United States for a limited time

      Absurd. Anyone who voted for this nonsense under the delusion that it would be “temporary” should have had their heads examined.

  25. Tundra

    And you’d have a hell of a time proving, in a sane world, that the industrialized nations are to blame for the potential sinking of your specks of dirt in the middle of oceans that have never been more than a few feet above sea level.

    The always excellent Alex Epstein (https://alexepstein.substack.com/archive) likes to cite the Maldives in this regard. The doomsters have long predicted that the Maldives will be swallowed by the sea. And yet:

    https://maldives.net.mv/35056/maldives-to-open-four-new-airports-in-2020/

    It’s a nice grift, though.

    • Ed Wuncler

      It’s a huge grift and power grab. I always say that that those who asks others to give up their quality of life and go without some of the essentials, would never ever give up their own shit or lessen the quality of their lives. The Obamas are the best example of this behavior. They state that some people have too much shit but yet have three homes (that we know of) and a net worth of nearly 70 million but yet with a straight face will say that some have too much and need to cut down in order to save the planet.

    • juris imprudent

      Those airports are needed so they can expedite the evacuation of the islands just before they sink beneath the waves!

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Pandemic

    After public consultation, Oxford University Press announced its choice—defined as the “supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging” as well as “something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration”—on Monday. “Brain rot” beat out five other finalists, including “dynamic pricing,” “lore,” “romantasy,” “slop,” and Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year “demure.”

    “‘Brain rot’ speaks to one of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and how we are using our free time,” Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, said in the announcement. “It feels like a rightful next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology. It’s not surprising that so many voters embraced the term, endorsing it as our choice this year.”

    The first recorded use of “brain rot,” according to Oxford University Press, was in Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, published in 1854. “While England endeavours to cure the potato-rot, will not any endeavour to cure the brain-rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally?” wrote Thoreau in his treatise on transcendentalism.

    There is no cure.

    • Jarflax

      In an ironic twist Walden and the silly romanticized view of the world it promotes are a cause of much brain rot.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    and, in the world’s biggest-ever election year, The Economist chose “kakistocracy,” defined as the “rule of the worst.”

    But the voters repudiated the kakistocrats, and elected Trump.

    • sloopyinca

      It’s “Democracy Dies In Darkness” on steroids.

      Retarded steroids, no less.

  28. The Other Kevin

    We had an interesting team meeting last night. It seems that this is the last year the Blackhawks will allow us to use the name. They are pulling their sponsorship, something to do with “rebranding” and it sounds like they are going to change their own logo and things in the future. So we’ll have to come up with our own team name and branding. St. Louis and Nashville have pulled funding from their sled teams too. Not a good trend.

    • R.J.

      This rebranding will not end well. The “White Privilege Hawks” doesn’t have the same ring.

      • juris imprudent

        Maybe Redtail Hawks? Of course that would have to be masochistic white tails getting reddened via paddling.

    • UnCivilServant

      I have no idea of the ethnic makeup of the team, but I suggest the “Caucasians”, and it’d be funnier if the appellation is inaccurate.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Fighting Whites would be good, but you’d have a bunch of Indians suing your ass if you tried.

    • Grumbletarian

      Chicago White Knights?

    • Pope Jimbo

      TOK, you can use the logo of our b-ball team as the start of a new one for your team. Remove the basketball and put a sled under the guy and you are nearly there.

      *VBA used to stand for the Van Cleve Basketball league. That was the park we played at. About 8 years ago one of the guys in our league said his daughter guessed it stood for “Very Bad Athletes”. Since we don’t play at Van Cleve anymore, we voted to adopt the new name.

    • EvilSheldon

      Might I suggest: the Chicago Malört?

    • The Other Kevin

      They are asking for suggestions. My idea is Windy City Sled Hockey, with a skull and sled hockey sticks for bones. Similar to the Windy City Rollers, the most well known Chicago roller derby team. https://www.windycityrollers.com/

    • The Other Kevin

      You guys all have such great ideas.

    • rhywun

      Hawk Lives Matter

      • The Other Kevin

        One suggestion was the Hawk Tuahs.

      • UnCivilServant

        No, that one’s terrible for a sports team.

      • juris imprudent

        UCS – what do you mean? They never choke.

      • rhywun

        the Hawk Tuahs

        LOL

    • Pope Jimbo

      If you need to put Chicago in your name, at least go with the classics. The Chicago Orphans. (which eventually became the Cubs).

    • Ted S.

      Know any bail bondsmen who can sponsor you?

    • Tundra

      That sucks – sorry to hear it.

      I wondered how long it would be before the logo change. It’s still the best in any sport.

      What reasons did they give? It couldn’t cost that much in the scheme of things.

      • The Other Kevin

        I was late to the meeting because of traffic so I missed the explanation, but it was something about how they’re planning on a rebrand, and they did offer help from their office for our rebrand.

        It will suck if they get rid of the logo. I agree, it’s one of the best in all of sports.

      • slumbrew

        “Best logo in any sport.”

        Agree to disagree

        (I confess I didn’t “see” the negative-space ‘H’ until embarrassingly recently).

      • creech

        Agree; love the logo and it is the best of any professional sports team.

      • The Other Kevin

        I think they said we can keep the colors, just no Indians or birds.

        We will keep our team, we are still sponsored by the Chicago Park District and the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab (one of the biggest rehab hospitals in the country).

      • ron73440

        We will keep our team, we are still sponsored by the Chicago Park District and the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab (one of the biggest rehab hospitals in the country).

        That’s good to know.

        Every time you post your schedule, I hoped it would line up with one of my work trips, but no luck.

        Maybe this year.

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      They did this in baseball too. Don’t remember the exact reasons why.

      Don’t fret it. Use an original name.

  29. PieInTheSky

    “Stanford expert on ‘lying and technology’ accused of lying about technology.”
    Jeff Hancock, a well-known and oft-cited researcher who leads the Bay Area school’s Social Media Lab, filed an expert declaration in a Minnesota court case over the state’s new ban on political deepfakes…. He was featured on Bill Gates’ new Netflix documentary series about AI. Hancock defended the law in his declaration, explaining how artificial intelligence makes it easier to fabricate videos and discussed deepfakes’ psychological impacts…
    But he seems to have made an ironic mistake. Hancock cited 15 references in his declaration, mostly research papers related to political deepfakes and their impacts… Two of the 15 sources do not appear to exist… “The citation bears the hallmarks of being an artificial intelligence (AI) ‘hallucination,’ suggesting that at least the citation was generated by a large language model like ChatGPT.”

    https://sfgate.com/tech/article/stanford-professor-lying-and-technology-19937258.php

    • UnCivilServant

      “Whycome you lie?!”

      “It is my speciality.”

    • slumbrew

      “I, uh, totally did that on purpose to, uh, illustrate…”

  30. The Late P Brooks

    No place for violence in the NFL

    “It’s a play that really has no business being in our league,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said following his team’s 23-20 loss Sunday.

    Back in the starting lineup after missing two games with a sprained left shoulder, Lawrence scrambled left on a second-and-7 play in the second quarter. He initiated a slide before Al-Shaair raised his forearm and unleashed on the defenseless quarterback.

    Lawrence clenched both fists after the hit — movements consistent with what’s referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury. He was on the ground for several minutes as teammates came to his defense and mobbed Al-Shaair, whose latest perceived cheap shot could result in a suspension.

    As Jack Lambert said, “Put a dress on ’em.”

    The first time I saw a shot of Lawrence I thought, “What the- are they suiting up the towel boy?”

    • Certified Public Asshat

      I’m not 100 years old but I don’t think that hit has ever been legal in the NFL.

      • juris imprudent

        That’s the kind of hit that used to get a high-low retaliation – taking out the bastard’s knee.

    • Tundra

      Fuck that. I’d toss the dumb fuck from the league.

    • Shpip

      Back in the starting lineup after missing two games with a sprained left shoulder, Lawrence scrambled left on a second-and-7 play in the second quarter. He initiated a slide before Al-Shaair raised his forearm and unleashed on the defenseless quarterback. braced himself against a collision with a 6-foot 6-inch man bearing down on him.

      I didn’t think it was a dirty hit, just a bang-bang play. If Lawrence doesn’t want to play the part of the bug vs. a windshield, maybe he should’ve slid down two yards earlier. Try to run up on an NFL linebacker like you’re Ty Cobb breaking up a 4-6-3 double play and then claim “protection” by sliding at the last nanosecond, well… don’t be surprised if it doesn’t always work out in your favor.

      • juris imprudent

        Lawrence’s ass was already on the ground when the cheap shot was delivered. Get some new glasses.

    • R C Dean

      “The first time I saw a shot of Lawrence I thought, “What the- are they suiting up the towel boy?”

      If your towel boy is 6’6”, 220 lbs, why not?

    • Drake

      Sounds like a mask slip.

      • PieInTheSky

        i suppose it depends which way you look at it.

    • UnCivilServant

      There’s nothing nice about pig’s feet.

      • Jarflax

        Kermit likes them.

      • UnCivilServant

        Look, cross-species relations of that nature are just… wrong on every level.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Kermit likes them behind his ears.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Texans coach DeMeco Ryans called it “unfortunate.”

    “That’s not what we’re coaching,” Ryans said. “Want to be smart in everything we do and not hurt the team, get a penalty there. Just have to be smarter when a quarterback is going down.

    Maybe you should teach your guys not to get dumb penalties called on them.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Rolling Stone headline:

    “100 best albums of 2024”

    *outright prolonged laughter*

    • PieInTheSky

      Just because you did not make it is no reason to be bitter

    • Jarflax

      It makes me very sad that the Top Gear/Grand Tour guys have retired. I would dearly love to watch Jeremy Clarkson responding to this.

      • Tundra

        He’d end up in prison for hate speech.

      • R C Dean

        He’s already been arrested for hate speech, I believe.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        @RC

        Yes, he has. The problem right now is that the only things on YT I can find about are all AI created bullshit. There’s a definite fog of war thing happening, and it’s hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t.

    • Sensei

      I especially “like” the stuck on flat rectangles on the front and rear.

      You’ll note they’ve gone for the no rear window look that Volvo introduced in one of their new electrics already.

      Remove the JaGUar badge and we’d all go, “who cares”.

  33. PieInTheSky

    agree SO HARD unnecessary abbreviations annoy me about 20 times a day (excellent name)

    the last one I saw repeatedly abbreviated “preferred walking speed” as “PWS” bro we have words for a reason it’s fine to use them

    https://x.com/literalbanana/status/1863469286188298588

    The NAEFRO Rule: No abbreviations, except for rare occasions

  34. The Late P Brooks

    Say hello to the beginning of Jaguars’s all-new “copy nothing” era!

    I was expecting some thing more like this

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of the “QB slide” how do you call it when the QB headfakes a slide and then keeps running when the defender lets up? Mahomes does it. It’s a smart play, if it works, but eventually you find out the defenders stop letting up.

    • WTF

      I’d say faking a slide should be a penalty on the faker.

  36. kinnath

    Anyone watch Penguin on HBO/Max?

    I found it amazing.

    • Nephilium

      The girlfriend and I did. I was pleasantly surprised by it. I’m now really looking forward to The Batman’s sequel movie and curious as to which direction they go with it.

    • Tundra

      A lot of the shit we use in/on food is illegal elsewhere.

      • Sensei

        +1 absinthe

        Some of it is based on “science” and other is just on screaming special interests. It works in both directions in Europe and the US, unfortunately.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Dead end

    Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares is stepping down after nearly four years in the top spot of the automaker, which owns car brands like Jeep and Ram, amid an ongoing struggle with slumping sales.

    The world’s fourth-largest carmaker announced that its board accepted Tavares’ resignation on Sunday. He will leave his role as chief executive immediately.

    Stellantis noted Sunday that the process to appoint a new, permanent CEO is “well under way.” In the meantime, the company says a new interim executive committee, led by chairman John Elkann, will be established.

    As head of PSA Peugeot, Tavares took control of the Netherlands-based company in January 2021 — when it merged with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Its North American operations had been the company’s main source of profits, but Stellantis has struggled this year amid larger market changes.

    ——-

    The carmaker reported net revenues of 33 billion euros (nearly $36 billion ) in the three-month period ending Sept. 30, down from 45 billion euros in the same period a year earlier. All regions except South America reported double-digit dips in revenues — led by North America, which plunged 42% to 12.4 billion euros. Europe revenues dropped 12% to 12.5 billion euros.

    I’m sure they’ll give him a nice go-away gift.