180 Comments

  1. SDF-7

    Morning (again) all — guess we know who’s going to Wendy’s for breakfast today! (Morning, Banjos!)

      • SDF-7

        Front page image for this links post.

      • UnCivilServant

        The one I get just says “Cocaine”. I don’t think that’s on the official menu, and I have never gotten any from a Wendy’s

      • Nephilium

        UCS:

        You should spend the time to learn the secret menus, there’s a whole world out there.

      • UnCivilServant

        Mr Ilium, while understand that cocaine and methamphetamines can have a weight loss effect that would be beneficial to a fat bastard like myself, staying away from fast food and improving my own cooking is likely to be a better long term solution.

      • Nephilium

        Well if we’re doing music links

  2. AlexinCT

    AG Bondi Says NY FBI Withholding Epstein Docs, Demands Investigation

    PR stunt, or is this a real attempt to take the criminal resistance public?

    • cavalier973

      That’s an idea.

      I have wondered if Team Trump already has everything, and they are now testing to see which FBI agents are gunning for a treason charge by shredding documents.

      *FBI “accidentally” trips the guy who is holding the glass slipper on a pillow, and the slipper shatters on the ground*

      Trump: “I have the other one!”

      • Tonio

        Not sure that would count as treason, but IIRC unauthorized destruction of government records is a crime. I can also see a scenario where the Trump admin doesn’t have the documents already, and is indifferent to whether they are released, but salivating at being able to fire and prosecute disloyal FBI employees.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Ten years to alter/edit whatever is being withheld.

    • Drake

      It’s a civil war within the FBI and DOJ. Why Patel and Bondi aren’t in NY with a company of Marshals arresting people is the question.

      • Not Adahn

        Yeah, I wanna see the perpwalk vids.

      • R C Dean

        Everybody in the NY office should be fired, every single one, the offices padlocked, the offices tossed, and a couple of DOGE nerds need to go up there and dig through their computers.

        Offer the ex-employees a deal: tell us everything, and you won’t go to jail. Dummy up, and FAFO rules are in effect.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        “First person to talk gets the deal, everyone else gets new bracelets.”

    • Urthona

      On of the big problems here is there was never any “Epstein client list”. The internet made this up.

      And so what she releases will never satisfy anyone.

      • juris imprudent

        ding-ding-ding

        There were flight logs/manifests with passenger names. Some names may have been the teenage girls and those should be redacted, but every name redacted will be a flashpoint of “who is being covered up?”

      • Drake

        Of course. It would take a review of the flight logs and the video tapes the FBI seized.

        The question is – does that evidence still exist?

      • The Last American Hero

        It just might. It would be useful for blackmail.

      • B.P.

        I would imagine sleazy people looking to participate in illegal activities on Smut Island have the ability to create false names for flight purposes.

      • Urthona

        I could see the blackmail argument. Maybe.

        But then think through it further. It’s too big a liability.

        It’s a weird affection of modern right wingers that the government and other parallel institutions of power are sinister and deeply corrupt… yet also like to document that corruption in a way that can’t be easily destroyed.

      • B.P.

        Everybody got lucky that one time the Nazis fastidiously documented their crimes.

  3. AlexinCT

    Trump Signs Executive Order Giving DOGE More Power

    Congress. get congress involved and making it law.

    • SDF-7

      Maybe… given that this is “I established an advisory group to focus on efficiency and proper execution of the Executive Branch. All parts of the Executive Branch shall check in with them on new outlays to make sure they comply with our efficiency/graft standards”, it seems entirely within the purview and discretion of the Executive.

      Yes that means the next guy (if it isn’t JD I suppose) can chuck it…. but honestly, that’s the way Article II reads anyway — the President is supposed to have sole discretion on how he delegates and disperses Executive power. Congress isn’t really supposed to be micromanaging them to that extent…. so for this case — I’m not sure I really want them enshrined in law, possibly given a “Senate must approve” cabinet position, locked into the usual perpetual growth empire building, etc. Let them do their job — and if the President thinks they’re not needed, disband them.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        I think this is a big part of it. Much of what he and his team have done is to push back at the administrative state, and that starts with the judicial branch staying in its lane.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Yes.

        Trump is currently EXPOSING the constitutional crisis, not creating one. He’s been well within Article II, whereas some judges have fancied their opinions over the president’s in strictly Executive Branch affairs. He’s also exposing the administrative state acting well outside of the powers given it.

        The left see him as usurping power, but he’s lessening the power of his branch by exercising his executive authority given to him by Article II to gut it.

        Hopefully SCOTUS issues a stern warning for district court judges to stop interfering in executive branch matters outside of their purview.

        The Canadian district judge who wasn’t even an American citizen until 2019 cannot subsume the judgement of the President in executive branch matters. I also don’t even know how a guy who wasn’t a citizen until 5 years ago can already be a fucking federal judge.

  4. cavalier973

    Anonymous Conservative speculated that Team Trump is trying to stall the release of everything until the politically optimal time.

    *I* think that if Trump really wants stuff released, he needs to have the files brought to him, announce a press conference, and read the files aloud while posting images of each page on Truth Social/Twixter/etc.

  5. SDF-7

    AG Bondi Says NY FBI Withholding Epstein Docs, Demands Investigation

    1) It has been pointed out that Maxwell’s silver hammer appeal is still pending — so there’s going to be some redaction regardless because of “ongoing case”.

    2) I personally expect all the actual documents are being memory holed / wiped “like… with a cloth” / whatever needs to be done.

    I honestly don’t know if they felt they had to do a performance piece here to meet campaign promises or what…. but I seriously doubt we’re going to find out anything real before 2120 or so. If then (how are those JFK files?) I’d rather we find out what really happened in Vegas anyway….

    • R C Dean

      Who is the AG demanding investigate her very own FBI? Shouldn’t it be “announces” investigation?

      • WTF

        She basically told Kash Patel to investigate.

      • juris imprudent

        Oh what, you think I’m responsible or something? /Bondi

      • juris imprudent

        WTF – interesting point. Patel was appointed to a 10 year term by Trump while Bondi only serves at his pleasure. Gods our federal govt is fucked up.

      • The Last American Hero

        The 10 yr term is a Not to Exceed. He can be shitcanned tomorrow by the Donald, or fired by Whitmer in 2029.

  6. AlexinCT

    DOGE Finds Top Biden Aide Received Millions Through Shady Contract for ‘Migrant Housing’

    They have been looting the valuables and loading those on the life rafts for close to 2 decades now, which is why they are so freaked out this is all coming out. I can clearly see the entire democrat party was doing this, but there were republicans – like that asshat McConnel – doing this shit as well. These people should have their wealth redistributed, and their asses remanded to government care in a pound-em-in-the-ass prison.

  7. AlexinCT

    Delistings Surge as Housing Market Teeters Toward Correction

    Buy low. Sell high. You never go broke making a profit.

  8. juris imprudent

    Not sure what kind of mineral deal the president can unilaterally sign off on, it obviously isn’t a treaty.

    • AlexinCT

      It’s a global admission that Zelensky is his bitch.

      • juris imprudent

        It ties us into Ukraine even further, rather than say, getting at the truth of why we had bio-labs there we were concerned about back in the beginning.

  9. AlexinCT

    https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/trump-now-says-tariffs-canada-mexico-will-kick-march-4

    The Mexican cartels are not gonna be happy, but they are driven by money, so this is a great move. As far as the CCP’s China, they need to triple the tariffs and completely disconnect from that evil entity, and do so faster. We have created our own destructor, and have for years known this was the case but kept going along. Time to accept they want us taken down, and act accordingly.

  10. Stinky Wizzleteats

    The Epstein Files: What a colossal fuckup regardless of the underlying reason and they’ve managed to blow a lot of goodwill on the right. Will this stuff ever be released? Even with Trump in office my answer has moved to a firm I’ll believe it when I fucking see it.

    • cavalier973

      Yeah, releasing files full of already available information to “social media influencers” is like those Trump digital cards level of cringe.

    • Not Adahn

      Eh. If I were writing the script for maximum theatricality I’d want something like this to get everyone re-focused on Epstein. Now if there IS a big reveal people will be “this is a BFD” rather than “Who? Oh that dead child molester from years back?”

    • WTF

      I’ve been certain that the files have been redacted/shredded for some time now, there was no way they were going to risk Trump getting them once they saw the election results.

    • juris imprudent

      If the people in the govt in possession of that believed it had value to them – for whatever reasons, then there was never any chance they would give it up. Not until those people were in no position to have any say about it. So the first thing that had to happen was ferret out who was in control of the docs and remove him/her and the entire chain under them.

      Instead we are getting cheap theatrics about the docs themselves.

      • Urthona

        They’ll give it up and of course there will be nothing of note in it.

    • The Other Kevin

      I’m willing to be a little forgiving and say this was a case of “You can have it fast, or you can have it good, but not both.” People were bitching pretty loudly about those files since the inauguration. This was a rush job.

      HOWEVER… the photo op was not great. If it’s not already a meme, it will be soon.

      • The Other Kevin

        It’s funny how the Bee is regarded as “right wing propaganda”, but they have no problem giving Trump all kinds of shit.

      • juris imprudent

        But they refuse to shit their pants, that’s how you know they aren’t serious! /tards

  11. UnCivilServant

    Does anyone know of a good reference for the techniques and processes of whaling and processing whale products for industrial and nutritional use? I’m looking for something that isn’t either interrupted by fiction (ie, not Moby Dick) nor an ecological screed against the evils of whaling. Something clinical and factual.

    • PieInTheSky

      There once was a ship that put to sea
      The name of the ship was the Billy O’ Tea
      The winds blew up, her bow dipped down
      Oh blow, my bully boys, blow (huh)

    • juris imprudent

      You’ll need something translated from Japanese or Inuit.

      • UnCivilServant

        Not necessarily, it need not be a modern work.

      • juris imprudent

        It will be if you want industrial usage. Whaling was mostly pre-industrial – certainly pre-petroleum products.

      • UnCivilServant

        Industry is as old as civilization. And kersene wasn’t really introduced into the latter half of the 1800s, and whaling continued for decades in a shifting market.

        Modern is 1950s or later.

      • UnCivilServant

        I said something not mixed with fiction.

      • UnCivilServant

        I was ready to be quite happy, but the data on site appears to be about the voyages, vessels, sailors, and owners, rather than the processes.

        🙁

      • Jarflax

        Hmm, the best I can think of for that you already eliminated. Moby Dick is a treatise on whale harvesting interrupted by a psychological novel. 🙂

      • slumbrew

        Hah, and they promptly link to the site Jarflex offered up

      • UnCivilServant

        I admit Jar’s site does look like a great resource for the people involved, but I’m doing research for writing fiction not set in our world.

    • Timeloose

      All my knowledge in this area came from the Judy Bloom book Blubber.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Read Moby Dick. No, there isn’t a better book on that subject, and it is, contra the illiterate, a great story.

      • UnCivilServant

        I have read that book.

        It doesn’t provide sufficient information about shore processing, storage in re rancidity, candlemaking, nutritional usage, expected yields, processes before the introduction of the shipboard tryworks, alternative uses of materials, etc, etc.

      • dbleagle

        Agree. When it was published in the papers initially, he had to get the “workings” correct to keep his audience.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        UCS, for that information you would need to dig, and dig deep, into contemporaneous accounts from whaling ships, accounts of those specific subjects: whale oil processing and whale consumption, and tertiary subjects such as scrimshaw and ship construction from the the appropriate time period. Basically, you would need to work on a masters degree on the subject.

        In that case, here is the best place to start: https://www.whalingmuseum.org/

        The area of New England most involved with the trade, Cape Cod and Rhode Island if I remember, has a few museums tied into the trade, but one of the great obstacles you will face is that this is a verboten subject right now.

      • UnCivilServant

        I know. I was hoping someone had already done the compilation, since time doing research through primary sources is time not spent writing.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      John McAfee might know a thing or two.

  12. PieInTheSky

    America Is the New Enemy!” – Ex-Loyalists Switch Sides Faster Than Voters Can Cast a Ballot
    Romania’s political elite spent years flaunting their loyalty to the U.S., but now that democracy isn’t going their way, they’ve suddenly discovered their “sovereignty.”
    Lucian Davidescu

    Why all the havoc? Well, Romania is special. Its intelligence apparatus is far larger than one would expect for a country of this size. The budget of the main domestic intelligence agency, at over $1 billion, is second only to the FBI among all NATO countries. In the EU, it’s the largest – equal to the next three combined (Germany, France, and Italy).

    Romania is the ultimate security state, and everything – politics, business, justice, and media – revolves around that. This includes carefully selecting political candidates so there are no surprises, no matter who wins. But this strategy backfired spectacularly last December, when Mr. Georgescu came out of nowhere and surged past a mediocre set of choices.

    https://luciandavidescu.substack.com/p/america-is-the-new-enemy-ex-loyalists

    while I do not always agree with this fella he has interesting viewpoints. while not really libertarian himself, his blog Riscograma was one of the places for Romanian libertarians, yours truly included, to hand in the 2011-2015 period…

    Georgescu is still a psychopath and I hope he never becomes president. But then again the charges are still bullshit.

    • WTF

      Damn, and I thought things were bad here.

      • rhywun

        Things always seem bad here until you look at, well, any other country.

    • AlexinCT

      The vampires have sent out their orders?

      • The Last American Hero

        Never send a familiar to do a bloodsucker’s job.

    • Drake

      The previous article on the substack: “Did Russia Meddle in Romania’s Elections? The Answer is Comedy Gold
      It was not the Russians that helped Mr. Călin Georgescu win, it was president Klaus Iohannis’s own party’s weird blunder.”

      Really? It wasn’t the Ruskies, it was another Romanain party trying to syphon of votes from opponents that backfired.

      The whole thing could be a comedy about a banana republic. Funny if it wasn’t driven by the EU turning into a dictatorship and NATO deciding that Romania would be a terrific place from which to launch an invasion of Russia.

      • PieInTheSky

        , it was another Romanain party trying to syphon of votes from opponents that backfired. – well that is what I said on my post on the topic last year

      • PieInTheSky

        NATO deciding that Romania would be a terrific place from which to launch an invasion of Russia. – zero chance of this as long as russia has nukes

      • Ted S.

        Don’t you know Romania’s massive border with Russia is a perfect place for an invasion?

  13. PieInTheSky

    1960: America seems to be entering an era of hope and prosperity.
    > End of the 1960s: Complete break-down of law and order. Half the country afraid to go out at night. A crime wave of “epic proportions.”

    https://x.com/s_decatur/status/1895434385685610979

    • UnCivilServant

      LBJ did a number on the country.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      That’s what happens when you end segregation. /JK

      • Drake

        And politicize race relations.

    • rhywun

      The “crime wave of epic proportions” was deliberately encouraged and the country was too paralyzed by racial bullshit to do anything about it.

      Sound familiar?

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Not taking is giving

    Extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which Trump signed into law in 2017, would cost $4.6 trillion over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the official nonpartisan scorekeeper.

    That’s under the “current law” metric that has traditionally been used, as the tax cuts are slated to expire at the end of this year. But Senate Republicans want to use a different scoring method called the “current policy” baseline, which would assume that extending tax cuts costs $0 because they’re already law.

    The chair of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, endorsed the “current policy” approach, telling reporters that it “recognizes that extending current law does not change the tax policy, does not reduce tax revenue.”

    Rich fatcats! Trump deficits!

    Fuck you, cut spending.

    • juris imprudent

      Stop making shit temporary. Set the rates and stop fucking around.

      [bwahahahahahaha – man, I crack myself up sometimes]

    • Ted S.

      My taxes went down significantly under those tax cuts, something like $400 a year for someone at the bottom of the economic ladder.

      • AlexinCT

        Mine went up. Even though the media told me it was a big tax cut for the rich. Not that I am rich by any means.

    • The Other Kevin

      Our esteemed Congress seems to be cheering on DOGE, then turning around and writing a budget that ignores everything DOGE found. If DOGE is finding $50 billion of waste, for example, why not make that the new baseline? We all know the answer, I’m just venting.

      • Drake

        It is a weird disconnect. Literally creating more waste and corruption to be eliminated because they don’t have the backbone to even try it themselves.

      • rhywun

        Because their job is to bring home the bacon. Why would they bother to cut spending when there is zero benefit to them for doing so? It’s not like anyone is going to vote them out.

    • WTF

      Tax cuts are not an ‘expense’ that needs to be ‘paid for’. It’s letting people keep more of their own fucking money.

  15. Common Tater

    “Long Island cops arrest 13th person in twisted case of missing teen Emma Gervasi as web of alleged sex creeps grows

    During her 25-day abduction, which began overnight on Dec. 9 when 35-year-old Alton Harrell allegedly picked Gervasi up from her home, she was taken to multiple houses and a motel in Suffolk County by several suspects who are now facing major kidnapping and sexual assault charges.”

    https://nypost.com/2025/02/27/us-news/li-cops-arrest-13th-person-in-twisted-case-of-missing-teen-emma-gervasi-as-web-of-alleged-sex-creeps-grows/

    Damn.

    • AlexinCT

      There are real evil people in this world..

      • juris imprudent

        Did you get a look at daddy in the video? Bald with a beard and full face/head tattoos. I woulda guessed he was a perp from the article – but they had his name up as he spoke.

      • Common Tater

        The father could have been involved. I’m not saying he was, but it’s not impossible.

      • Brochettaward

        The story stinks to me. But I get that reaction whenever I hear cops touting out the dreaded sex trafficking shit.

        Little teen was exchanging drugs for sex. Vanishes for 25 days, and then pulls out the sob story.

        Which doesn’t excuse the piece of shit adults in the story. But who the fuck knows.

    • The Other Kevin

      My wife follows something called “Region News Source” on FB. She sees stories like this every day. One recently was a 15 year old girl who ran away with a 30-something year old guy (I think the school janitor?). He drove her across the state, demanded sex from her, then on multiple occasions gave her ecstasy and pimped her out. Yes Alex, there are evil people.

      I really hope we get a revamped FBI that focuses on this sort of crime, instead of persecuting people based on their politics.

      • The Last American Hero

        Somewhere, maybe the Federalist, was commenting that the FBI is good when it is pursuing criminals and acting as a law enforcement agency. When it acts as an intelligence agency is where they go astray. I don’t totally agree (Weaver and Waco had shit to do with intelligence work) but I think there was a point. There are crimes that are beyond the capabilities or jurisdiction of local law enforcement to handle. The FBI needs to stay in its lane. And to learn that lesson, they will likely have to get slapped around pretty good by the President.

    • Not Adahn

      who are now facing major kidnapping and sexual assault charges

      I thought they kidnapped a minor?

    • WTF

      Bullets, brains, some assembly required.

  16. Suthenboy

    Epstein: he was a front man for an IC honeytrap
    Wanna be somebody? Go see Epstein, let your freak flag fly so we have something incredibly damning on you and doors will open
    Gang initiation stuff
    The records and tapes are so bad and include so many upper rank people that they will only see the light of day when a lot of people are in prison
    They killed the guy already to keep that from happening
    How is Diddy still breathing?

    • AlexinCT

      Diddy is still breathing because too many people are paying attention…

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Democrats “sure as hell will” fight to stop Republicans from upending the budget process.

    “It’s not going to fool anybody at all. What they’re trying to do is spend more money — and they’re going to spend it on billionaires,” Wyden said in an interview. “This is a phony, fake concept.”

    If only we could confiscate the wealth of those we dislike, and steal their castles and throw them in the dungeon…

    *The Sheriff of Nottingham was the hero in those old Robin Hood movies.

    • The Other Kevin

      I’m already seeing “tax cuts for billionaires” on FB.

    • Jarflax

      Budget process… They haven’t passed a budget in decades. Call it what it is, legislative theater veiling the fact that the bureaucrats spending the money are allowed to spend whatever they want as long as they grease the wheels.

    • AlexinCT

      Dick school?

    • Ted S.

      How do we know that penis doesn’t identify as a vagina?

      • Beau Knott

        Is it an innie or an outie?

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Sen. Jeff Merkley, of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said changing the accounting technique wouldn’t prevent the Republican bill from blowing up the debt.

    “The Republicans need to realize that ‘magic math’ does not exist. Tax cuts cost money, even if Republicans say they don’t, and the Treasury would still need to borrow trillions of dollars that would explode the deficit,” Merkley told NBC News in a statement. “Refusing to measure something doesn’t mean it goes away. The earth is still warming even if you get rid of thermometers.”

    No, you fucking retard, spending costs money.

    But raising taxes is easy and we should do it. Cutting spending is inconceivable and should never happen under any circumstances.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Merkley is a mouth breathing idiot. He makes St Ron (D-NY) look like a genius in comparison.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      It’s the role of government to maximize revenue for itself.

  19. Chipping Pioneer

    OT: Something that I’m trying to get as succinct as possible:

    Markets do not fail. When someone says the market failed, they mean the market didn’t produce what they wanted. That is not the market failing; it is the market sending you a signal that what you wanted was, at best, inefficient, and likely infeasible.

    • The Other Kevin

      I don’t think that’s ever OT.

      I think every market “failure” I’ve seen has been a market distortion.

      • Nephilium

        True, but you have to be clear about what those distortions and government manipulations were. Otherwise you (the general you, including me) run the risk of sounding like the Commies, “Real markets have never been tried!”

      • The Last American Hero

        This times 1000. Even if there are “failures”, the market will quickly respond when you allow it to.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Whaling was mostly pre-industrial – certainly pre-petroleum products.

    john D Rockefeller saved more whales than Greenpeace.

    • Suthenboy

      Green peace has never saved anything
      Watermelons are not in the saving business

  21. Suthenboy

    All the talk over what Trump/doge can do…don’t y’all read the Bee?
    A federal judge has ruled that the constitution is unconstitutional

    • WTF

      Well that’s barely even satire.

  22. Common Tater

    “On Friday, Kennedy issued a 90-day stop-work order to give the agency time to review the contract between HHS and Vaxart Inc., the American biotech company that is working on creating an oral COVID-19 vaccine.

    Clinical trials involving 10,000 participants were set to begin on Monday to test the efficacy of the new vaccine product. The contract is not yet canceled outright but has been temporarily halted.

    The Biden administration signed the contract with Vaxart as part of their $4.7 billion Project NextGen. That program, which launched in 2023, was intended to accelerate vaccine development. The Biden administration was heavily focused on Covid vaccine development and went as far as to implement mandates for all government workers, including those in the military, requiring them to take the Covid-19 vaccine.

    Funding for Vaxart’s work came through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), an HHS division focused on preparedness and response efforts, which allocated about $460 million for the vaccine’s development, with $240 million already authorized for preliminary studies. The stop-work order halts Vaxart’s ability to invoice for the renaming $230 million in their contract. However, Vaxart can still bill HHS for medical monitoring of participants who took part in earlier trials.”

    https://thepostmillennial.com/rfk-jr-halts-460-million-biden-era-covid-19-vaccine-contract

    Why do they need an oral vaccine?

    • AlexinCT

      Why do they need an oral vaccine?

      The alternative, if you go by the CCP model, will be an anal one.

    • The Other Kevin

      Certain companies would like to repeat their record profits from the previous vax, that’s why. People get used to a certain lifestyle.

      While some people are still getting the Covid vax, it’s nowhere near the number they want. Yet the hospitals aren’t exactly overflowing this flu season. Hmm.

      • WTF

        At this point Covid is basically just a cold.

      • The Other Kevin

        Covid was the human equivalent of Cash for Clunkers. The people who died were mostly going to die in the next few years, Covid just shifted it forward.

        Just as predicted, like every virus, the first variant was bad, and gradually became less deadly.

    • creech

      “implement mandates for all government workers, including those in the military, requiring them to take the Covid-19 vaccine.”
      What happened to “my body, my choice?”

      • Nephilium

        Look, you’re free to get an abortion, that’s all the choice you need prole.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    If Republicans succeed, they could set a precedent that may come back to haunt them, Democrats warn. For example, Democrats could extend temporary programs indefinitely without finding any mechanisms to pay for it. They could create a costly program on a one-year basis and make it permanent the following year by scoring it at a cost of $0, given that it’s already in law.

    Business as usual, then.

    • juris imprudent

      Without a scorecard who will ever understand taxing and spending?!?!

    • Rat on a train

      Backloading and GIGO accounting is nothing new.

  24. Not Adahn

    So, NPR did their usual pre-Oscar stuff. Interestingly enough the previous darling, Emilia Perez, was not mentioned at all.

    Those must have been some bad tweets.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Priorities

    efense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s first female chief, last week without any clear explanation — part of a purge of top uniformed leadership that included the Joint Chiefs chairman, who is Black, and sent shock waves across the military.

    Franchetti’s firing has left the military without a single woman in a four-star general or admiral leadership position, as women in top positions are already a rarity across the services, and many female officers say that they’re concerned that the ouster will have far-reaching consequences.

    Hegseth has repeatedly touted what he calls a merit-based approach as he seeks to overhaul the military and scrub programs and policies that advocated for women, as well as for troops with minority backgrounds. But false claims that race and gender have played an outsized role in military promotions and a lack of clarity on why he actually fired Franchetti have left troops wondering whether the shake-up is more political than procedural.

    Everything is political.

    • Ted S.

      I assume most troops understand Franchetti’s promotion was political.

    • rhywun

      “false claims”

      I see “opinion” is masquerading as “news” again.

    • WTF

      But false claims that race and gender have played an outsized role in military promotions

      He said without evidence. Actually he said in contradiction to the evidence right in front of us all.

  26. Mojeaux

    Delistings Surge as Housing Market Teeters Toward Correction

    I oughtta sue Cunty Aunt Susie for loss because she’s stalling.

    OKAY. Just got done with my GI appt. I didn’t even have precancerous polyps last scope 2-1/2 years ago. I just had insufficient prep and a few polyps, so he put me on 3-yr followup. Have to wait till October for another scope that insurance will pay for.

    Bro1 starts very aggressive chemo March 4, and he will have to have that for some months before they can try surgery again.

      • Nephilium

        I keep jars of their stuff in the fridge at all times. Nice to just be able to add a punch of flavor with a spoon.

      • Mojeaux

        Oh, thank you! I’ve been craving ham and navy bean soup so much I found a meat market near me that has hamhocks. I’mma get some.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Many of the women who spoke with Military.com noted how important it was for them to have high-achieving female role models. Some said that their own sense of how included they felt in the military would be critical in determining whether they would recommend military service to their daughters or other female relatives.

    Earlier in February, retired Adm. James Stavridis, a former supreme allied commander of NATO, publicly said that he couldn’t recommend military service to his daughter today while citing Military.com’s reporting on the Trump administration removing websites dedicated to female service members.

    The Department of Defense is a talent agency nd public relations firm, apparently.

    • creech

      “have high-achieving female role models.”
      Yes, if they can kill our enemies and break their stuff, then they are “high-achieving” and welcome to join.

      • WTF

        Shockingly, men just tend to better than women at some things.

    • Drake

      Can we just admit it was a mistake and make ground combat arms MOS male only again?

    • Rat on a train

      We’re never going to be able to recruit gingers without more ginger generals.

    • Ted S.

      Paywalled.

      • Not Adahn

        It’s not for me.

      • Nephilium
    • Ted S.

      “Homosexualists in the Mist”

    • rhywun

      the president’s anti-LGBTQ record

      lol

      And people wonder why the other letters want to kick the T out.

    • rhywun

      aversion to gender fluidity

      Because fakeness attempts at fooling people are turn-offs?

      Jesus tapdancing Christ this stuff is not hard.

    • Tonio

      Thanks for that, NA.

      • Beau Knott

        +1

  28. Sensei

    Enjoy!

    Anybody who has ever worked for a big corporation has dealt with exactly this as whatever 3rd party consultant that comes in for an assignment does. The FedGov freakout is hysterical.

    Inside DOGE’s Clash With the Federal Workforce

    The only thing surprising is that somebody with inside knowledge about exactly what and where to go advised Trump and Musk so that they could begin the “shock and awe” essentially the moment Trump took the oath of office.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Those rat fuckers didn’t turn on their webcam during a teams call!

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Workers of the world, unite

    The People’s Union USA says the goal is to unite Americans against what it sees as corporate greed contributing to high costs.

    “For our entire lives, they have told us we have no choice … we have to accept these insane prices, the corporate greed, the billionaire tax breaks, all while we struggle to just to get by,” People’s Union USA founder John Schwarz said in a video uploaded to Instagram. “They’ve made us actually believe that we need them.”

    “For one day, we are going to finally turn the tables,” he added.

    When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. Speaking of which…

    • UnCivilServant

      I need to buy eggs, take the venison out of the freezer, and figure out a few weekend meals (and what vegetable goes with the country fried venison steak).

      I don’t need to buy anything else I’m afraid.

      • Ted S.

        After you buy the eggs you won’t be able to afford anything else.

      • Nephilium

        Eggs were up to $6/dozen at Aldi’s yesterday. I did not pick any up.

      • Not Adahn

        Classically, any potato variant or typical southern vegetables.

        Personally, I like some sort of pickle.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    According to a recent poll from Navigator Research, 3 in 5 Americans cite corporate greed as a “major cause” of rising costs.

    Sounds legit.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of rare and exotic cars…

    The other night, youtube served up a thing about the Pontiac OHC six cylinder motor. This piqued my interest because when I was in high school my dad had a ’66 Le Mans with that motor, and a manual transmission. I liked that car.

    Anyway, in the rundown of production numbers, the guy said in ’67 Pontiac put that motor in about 75 Tempest station wagons; ~8 of those had four speed manual transmissions. I want one.

    • Sensei

      Yeah, I’ve seen that as well. Also interesting was the rubber timing belt.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Automotive journalism

    “I don’t know,” I said to a friend.

    My friend has a gas-powered car and they’re interested in making a switch to an electric vehicle. They know I write about EVs, and they had questions. I’d call them “Ohio comfortable,” making a wage above the median in this state with enough to have a house and a car or two, but chump change in any given top-five U.S. metropolitan area.

    Like many Americans, they had been watching in horror as the Trump Administration—either with or without Elon Musk’s help—slashed away so many key programs meant to support a fair chunk of American life. Within weeks of Trump taking office, century-long relationships of trust between us and our allies have crumbled. Economically and politically, the future feels very uncertain right now.

    “Should I get something now, or should I wait until more models are on the market?” they asked, unsure if any forthcoming tariffs or incentives or tax credit programs would still be around by the time they figured out exactly what they wanted.

    Whatever you do, don’t buy a Tesla.

    • UnCivilServant

      Poor sod, the EV fad is on the way out, there won’t be more models on the market, they lose money for the manufacturer and don’t meet the needs of most of the market.

    • Nephilium

      I’d call them “Ohio comfortable,”

      Hey!

      I resemble that!

    • Ted S.

      Thanks for the comic relief.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    Also interesting was the rubber timing belt.

    There wasn’t much detail, but I think he said the belt also drove the oil pump and distributor, which was interesting. And it didn’t run inside the oil pan.