Thursday Morning Links

by | Feb 20, 2020 | Daily Links | 474 comments

Duke humiliated!

When Duke gets destroyed, it’s a good day. Also, Spuds lost at home in the first leg of their UCL tie. And Atalanta thumped Valencia. Oh, and Man City made up that game in hand, and in winning closed the gap at the top of the table from “insurmountable” to “nearly insurmountable”.

And on the ice, which I’ve neglected this week, your winners were NYR, Dallas, Boston, Colorado, Florida, and the MINNESOOODA WIIIIIIIIIILLLLDDDD. Good skating, boys.

“The World Is Mine”

Birthday celebrants include: photog Ansel Adams, (the underrated) “Our Miss Brooks”‘s Gale Gordon, test pilot Joseph Walker, jeans maker from the 80s Gloria Vanderbilt, acting great Sidney Poitier, scumbag Roy Cohn, race car owner Roger Penske, alleged cocaine kingpin Mitch McConnell, hockey God Phil Esposito, Steely Dan’s Walter Becker, former PM Gordon Brown, “the round mound of rebound” Charles Barkley, musician Kurt Cobain, and supermodel Cindy Crawford.

OK, on to…the links!

Evisceration: Part I

There was a debate last night. And hoo-boy, was it ever an absolute shitshow.  And I’m not exaggerating when I say that.  It was an all-out monkey knife fight…with the clear winner being “anybody not on the stage”.

Trump installed a “loyalist” as his acting Intelligence chief. You know, like every President does. But this is different. This time it’s political!!!!! Or so I keep hearing nonstop from the media talking heads.

The NFL is expected to expand the playoffs when they get the next CBA done. I don’t think this will hurt or help them. Others disagree.

Same old shit. It is Chicago, after all.

The German nutcase who went on a killing spree appears to have been a Nazi asshole. Big surprise that when your government forbids idiotic speech, assholes seek other outlets for their impotent rage.

Not coming to UCLA.

Holy shit, they actually made a good decision? It’s shocking when I’m able to say that about school administrators for the UC system.

Look at these greedy bastards. They didn’t put up the lines. They don’t maintain the lines. They have nothing to do with the lines.  So why should they make anything from them at all?

Birthday boy music! And no, it’s not that mumbly fuck who blew his own brains out.

Now go have a great day, friends!

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

474 Comments

  1. Nephilium

    he NFL is expected to expand the playoffs when they get the next CBA done. I don’t think this will hurt or help them. Others disagree.

    Ohio will continue to talk about next year.

    • sloopyinca

      Or Saturdays in the fall.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      NFL isn’t thinking big enough. Let all teams into the playoffs or better yet, just never end the season.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Thunderball! Two teams enter, one team leaves!

  2. UnCivilServant

    Texas Telecom question – who put up the lines and who maintains the lines?

    • AlexinCT

      I think Obama has an answer for you, but it will neither be accurate/factual nor what you likely want to hear.

    • sloopyinca

      Telecom companies do. Sometimes they use existing poles that other utility companies used, for which they pay a fee. The municipalities are clamoring for more money because they are “letting” them use easements that “permit” them to put their lines up beside city streets or under them.
      I hope Abbott rolls over them and points out that these fees disproportionally impact poor people, as the fees are passed on to the customers.

      • Tonio

        You try to use existing poles wherever possible. Utilities are responsible for their own cables. Pole maintenance is done by the various utilities on an as-needed basis, and billed back to the other utilities using that pole.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s a double-billing situation. The municipalities are charging the cable companies twice, once for cable TV and once for internet phone service, even though it uses the same infrastructure.

      The contracts should be written around the actual cost to the city to provide the right-of-way instead of on a per service basis. Instead, the cities are treating it as a profit center to subsidize other programs.

      • UnCivilServant

        From the sounds of it, the actual cost to the city is $0. They don’t put up the poles, they don’t maintain the wires, and they impose costly delays on both.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s a easement issue. The city has the rights to the easement so it is within their rights to charge for it, just as it would be for any landowner.

      • UnCivilServant

        Why was the city given the easement and not the utilities?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        That question goes back decades, probably a century or more. Might be a good topic for an article.

      • sloopyinca

        Because the city maintains the roads and sidewalks and the easements are adjacent to the roads/sidewalks.
        Not that they should be maintaining the roads, but that’s where they derive their power to control the area within a few feet of their public property.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        There had to be an inflection point when most of the current accepted laws were developed. It would be interesting to get a little more in-depth on this topic.

        *stares at twenty pound tome on telecom regulation sitting on bookshelf*

        Nah….

      • Gadfly

        FYI, it’s technically not an easement issue, it’s a right-of-way (ROW) issue. Easements are rights of use on private property. The right-of-way is the public land the roads (and other things) are built on. In Texas, private companies that provide a public service (utilities) are allowed to construct facilities in the ROW (i.e. on public land) subject to certain conditions. The rules governing the ROW are set by the state of Texas, but the cities can collect fees for use of ROW that is within their city limits. The cities are pissed that the state has decided not to let them double-charge the telecom companies.

      • Enough About Palin

        This. Look at any electric bill and odds are that it will have a charge called “Franchise Fee”. This fee is a pass through fee. The utility collects it and then passes it on to the city. It is a hidden tax of sorts.

        Here in Minneapolis, I believe it’s 2%, which works out to (if memory serves) about $26 Million per year. Our current franchise agreement with Minneapolis is for ten years over which time the will collect $260 Million.

        The City also gets a similar fee from the gas company, which when added to what the electric company comes out to over $500 Million over ten years.

        They do the same thing with the phone and cable companies, but I didn’t work on the negotiations with those two entities, so I’d have to look at my cable and phone bills to figure it out.

  3. Tejicano

    “…with the clear winner being “anybody not on the stage”.

    Or you could go with the BB version – the winner was Trump!

    • AlexinCT

      Po-tay-toh, Po-tah-toe…

    • Brett L

      I’m not sure people watching it count themselves as winners.

  4. Rebel Scum

    In Grenell, Trump will have an unwavering loyalist overseeing the 17 U.S. intelligence agencies. Grenell supported Trump during his 2016 campaign and has close ties to Trump’s inner circle and the political network surrounding the White House.

    So…a wingman?

    Grenell will also be the first openly gay Cabinet secretary.

    Neat. All criticism of him by the left can easily be chalked up to the fact that he is gay. Leftists like to play by their own rules, right?

    • Nephilium

      He’s not a real gay. For reference, see Walter E. Williams, Thomas Sowell, and Clarence Thomas.

      • Tonio

        Who was the highest-level, out gay Obama appointee?

      • Tonio

        Pegging doesn’t count!

      • Nephilium

        Honestly… no idea. I was just mocking the standard prog line.

      • l0b0t

        The late Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens?

      • Tonio

        Thanks.

      • straffinrun

        That guy who did fast and furious?

      • Bobarian LMD

        He said pegging doesn’t count.

      • Social Justice is Neither

        Hillary?

      • Pope Jimbo

        He’s not a real gay.

        See Buttigieg from the Dems if you want to see faux gayz.

      • Tonio

        They hate that gay males are becoming all boring, respectable, and middle-class.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Sure seems like there is a lot of dislike for gay guys who are out there proving that gays are just like anyone else. Unless you are willing to act like an extra in Will & Grace, you are right out of the tent.

      • Festus

        BSA did just file for bankruptcy…

      • AlexinCT

        I wish I didn’t have to agree with this, but you are right, your holiness. If I was gay, or any of the other special categories that team blue claims ownership of, I would really wonder why I am only considered special as long as I am playing the game team blue wants, and an enemy of the people otherwise. It almost looks like team blue is just using these special people…..

      • Nephilium

        Soon you guys will just be white like the Poles, Irish, Italians, Slavs, Russians, Germans, and most Asians.

      • Festus

        Bluidy Wogs, the lot of us!

      • leon

        Bad news. We are rapidly running low on our privilege supplies. Fools that we are we don’t have enough to spread around to all the people who are now white.

      • Chipwooder

        Which is the inevitable result of gay now meaning not just a sexual preference, but a set of sociopolitical beliefs as well.

    • Atanarjuat

      Giving big promotions to openly gay buddies = literally Hitler when OrangeMan does it.

      Trump has made no secret of his deep suspicion of and antipathy toward the intelligence community — which he has told advisers is populated by “Deep State” operatives who “hate Trump.”

      Needs more “without evidence”.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Anonymous sources say Trump made these claims without evidence.

      • R C Dean

        Anonymous sources familiar with his thinking.

    • Agent Cooper

      Now do Eric Holder.

      • Agent Cooper

        Shit. Pegging doesn’t count.

  5. leon

    Trump filling the ranks with loyalists means he’s not getting the most experienced intelligence folks, because all the experienced ones are Democrat partisans

    • sloopyinca

      Exactly. We need qualified people like “aspiring novelist” Ben Rhodes running shit.

      • AlexinCT

        I know we are parodying these people, but seriously, they are shameless. They are still trying to tell us the Obama administration had zero controversy, especially in light of what we know now, while pretending anything orange man does is political and out of evil motivations. It’s like they never look in a mirror or think the rubes are simply so stupid they can be told to not believe what their eyes/the facts show them.

      • DrOtto

        To admit it now means having to admit they were looking the other way instead of doing their jobs then.

      • AlexinCT

        It goes beyond that: they were complicit under Obama, and they want to make sure people believe Obama is clean so they can pretend to be clean too.

  6. Rebel Scum

    Suspect with ‘far-right motive’ found dead after nine killed in German hookah lounges

    Collectivists of any stripe are not “far-right”.

    • leon

      Why not? I’d call Franco right wing

      • AlexinCT

        This is the biggest lie perpetrated by the marxists. Labeling another totalitarian collectivist movement “right-wing”. Franco was only right wing in so far as fascist despise marxists and vice versa.

      • Rebel Scum

        fascist despise marxists

        And they are just different flavors of collectivism. I know there is debate about the spectrum and the only way I see left/right working is if at a fundamental level there is a discernible difference. So I put big-government/collectivism on the left and small-government/individualism on the right.

      • robc

        Nolan chart is only way to make it work.

      • Raven Nation

        I know this is a debate that we’ve (the site) had before. I agree that the general wisdom of presenting fascism/Nazism as sort of an extreme version of conservatism/libertarianism is inaccurate. At the same time, I don’t think dismissing fascism as just another version of socialism is helpful either. I’d go so far to say that the left/right paradigm doesn’t really work in discussing these kinds of states. Just as, say, 1950s European conservatives despised fascists, so 1950s European social democrats hated hard-core communism.

        As both you and Rebel Scum allude to, I think it’s much more useful when discussing this with people to use the term collectivism. In that way, we can point out the horrific aspects of such systems and emphasis the common grounds between them rather than getting caught up in left and right. This is what I emphasize when I teach this part of world history (which in no way makes me an expert on this, but I’ve had to grapple with it for about a decade).

        To use a couple of examples, I talk about the collectivist state subverting then replacing traditional organizations and point at both the Young Pioneers and Hitler Youth destroying the scouting movement. I also talk about the collectivist nature of the economic approaches of both systems while also showing the differences.

        *preachy voice off*

      • PieInTheSky

        I have heard people say that Franco was not actually fascist fascist but a hybrid…

      • invisible finger

        NOT REAL FASHIZZUM!!

      • AlexinCT

        The people in Brussels today (and yes, also in China or in D.C.) are also all hybrid fascists. Fascism is the collectivist ideology that, unlike marxism, just puts government in ultimate control of all things by giving it the power to pick winners & losers. The marxists instead are directly in charge of things, and everyone knows who makes the bad decisions. The fascists score big because when shit goes bad they can always lay blame on the private private entities, obfuscating that they “incentivised” said private entities through government force. Of even bigger value is the fact that these crooks in government can then demand more government control to solve the problems they created in the first place through government control. The system that the marxists have forces the marxist government to take the blame for fucking things up. The new fascism, which tends to be far less bloody in its actions, now only needs such a mundane thing as a social score to basically ostracise the enemies of the state (see that article about Chinese social score or the recent one about the NHS denying services to people that will not suck PC cock).

        The fact of the matter is that marxism is doomed to always fail (but Bernie wants to peddle it), and always does so real fast. Fascism gives the elite in charge a sublime mechanism to insulate themselves from their corrupt and inept ways, which is why it has won the battle of collectivist ideologies, and despite what the people in charge pretend, id the de facto engine of western democracies (a name that is a pure joke IMO). People have abdicated their freedoms to an inept and corrupt political elite, basically reinstituting the old medieval system of serfdom, because of the lies sold to them that government would do the heavy lifting and somehow make the world more just. Good luck with that shit.

      • Viking1865

        Franco was not a fascist. Fascists are revolutionaries. They are anti-clerical, anti-tradition. Franco was a traditionalist, a Catholic.

      • Drake

        That was definitely a family feud and it’s still going on. Does Bloomberg’s have any proposals that wouldn’t have fit in nicely with Mussolini’s platform? And Bernie is nothing but an old-school Marxist.

    • AlexinCT

      These days anyone to the right of Stalin/Mao is a far-right entity in Europe.

    • PieInTheSky

      This talk about what is right and left never leads to anything. Depends on definitions, and most definitions are silly. Right and left are mostly pointless.

      • Rebel Scum

        most definitions are silly

        Your face is silly.

      • PieInTheSky

        well your wife / girlfriend / usual escort /all of the above does not think so…

      • AlexinCT

        BAZINGA!~!!!

      • Agent Cooper

        A barrage-a-trois!

      • Swiss Servator

        Exactly – in this guy’s case I think we can stick with “murderous asshole”.

    • Ted S.

      Did these foreigners with the hookah pipes say “way oh, way oh”?

      • Private Chipperbot

        Unsure,

        /walks off like an Egyptian.

      • Swiss Servator

        Say “hi” to the cops in the donut shops.

      • Festus

        Ted S. with a zinger!

      • Tundra

        *applause*

    • Gadfly

      Collectivists of any stripe are not “far-right”.

      The right-wing and left-wing both have strong histories of collectivism (I’d argue a certain level of collectivism is inherent in any movement, but that’s a different topic). Fundamentally the right/left division is a division of tradition vs change. Things get confusing though when you compare America with other countries, because in American culture liberty has a significant place in the traditions of the nation, so right-wing people in America will be defending things as part of their tradition that others will see as left-wing, and left-wing people will be promoting things as part of over-turning tradition that others will see as right-wing. Specific policies being promoted by left/right are very context specific.

    • Agent Cooper

      “dead after nine killed in German hookah lounges”

      There’s a snappy David Caruso rejoinder to this, I know it.

  7. leon

    Question. Are Americans dumb enough to praise a tax increase as long as the increase planned in to overtax people and thus guaranteed a refund?

    • Tonio

      Yes.

      • Sensei

        If I get a check I’m all in!

      • AlexinCT

        Stupid is as stupid does…

    • Private Chipperbot

      Based on the number of people who crow about their huge tax return, I’ll say yes.

      • UnCivilServant

        Yet the amount of money the feds don’t give back never seems to go down each filing period.

      • Nephilium

        ^This right here^

        I just went through and adjusted my W-4 to try to prevent a refund next year.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        I’m going in the other direction. I’ve been teetering on the edge of the underwithholding penalty the last couple years and just want a happy little refund check next year. Maybe I’ll be able to get it near zero the year after. Way too much year to year change to reliably withhold.

        Granted, the new W-4 is light-years better than the old one.

      • Gadfly

        The under-withholding penalty is BS. If tax day is April 15, I should get to wait to pay it all until then, if I so choose.

      • leon

        I agree.

        But in reality Tax Day isn’t April 15. For most Americans it’s every two weeks.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        Yup, basically they’re penalizing for not paying enough estimated tax quarterly.

        Still stupid, but based on a different stupid rationale.

      • AlexinCT

        Fuck the whole refund thing. I will be sending Uncle Sam a check for over $3K because that is the most I can not let them steal out of my paycheck before I am forced to make quarterly payments so they don’t audit me for not paying enough taxes. I can do far better with that money in my own pocket during the year than I can letting Uncle Sam act as my savings account at a negative return because of inflation/depreciation.

      • Fourscore

        I just wrote those checks to both the fed and state and I haven’t had a job/worked in 28 years. Crazy world that penalizes success.

      • AlexinCT

        You didn’t make that money by your own efforts (government build the roadz or something), and so you owe society. Remember, lifting everyone up is impossible, because some will work harder than others. Penalizing the productive and dragging them down to the lowest level is a lot easier, and that’s the goal of social justice. Of course, the elite consider themselves immune from/above the system they want to foist on the serfs.

    • The Hyperbole

      Are Americans dumb enough

      Yes to just about any thing that follows.

      • pan fried wylie

        So we’re clear, the rest of humanity is just as fucking stupid.

      • The Hyperbole

        Good point. I didn’t intend to single out Americans for their dumbedness.

  8. Sensei

    Occasionally I’m reminded why I spend a not insignificant amount for WSJ paywall access.

    Italy’s Alpine Border Melts and Leaves a Pasta Restaurant In Switzerland—Maybe A glacial ridge that defines the boundary between the two countries has moved, putting a mountain restaurant in the middle; ‘this is still Italy’

    The Swiss say the building, which also has communal rooms with about 40 beds, is in Switzerland. It made the claim in 2013 following an on-site inspection. Italy refuses to recognize the border change.

    The restaurant sits about 11,500 feet above sea level, high enough that some of the nearby slopes are open in the summer. On a recent morning, skiers were taking a break inside, drinking coffee and eating cake while Italian pop music blared from speakers outside. A menu written on a chalkboard announces the offerings and a wood-burning heater warms the cozy seating area.

    If the building is acknowledged to be on Swiss territory, then all the food and other products brought up by cable car from Italy’s Breuil-Cervinia would potentially need to pass customs inspections…

    It’s an existential problem for Mr. Trucco. He wants to do renovations, but can’t until he knows which country to ask for various building permits.

    A few years ago, Alain Wicht of Switzerland’s Federal Office of Topography, known as Swisstopo, met his Italian counterparts at the Rifugio del Cervino to try to unfreeze the situation. A compromise was floated: Italy could keep the building in return for territory elsewhere.

    “We had a solution,” says Mr. Wicht. “We thought everybody was happy. But when it was time to sign, the Italians backed out.”

    The Italian army, whose Military Geographic Institute defends the country’s map outline, declined to comment. Fresh negotiations with the Swiss are due this spring.

    • Tonio

      You know what other Northern neighbor Italy backed out on?

      • UnCivilServant

        The province of Brittania?

      • Tonio

        Good one!

      • Sensei

        Carthage was technically the south, right?

      • UnCivilServant

        Technically and actually.

      • Brett L

        Trans-Alpine Gaul?

    • UnCivilServant

      Switzerland’s Federal Office of Topography, known as Swisstopo

      The ‘Swisstopo’? Logically, I know the topo comes from topographical, but…

      • AlexinCT

        it comes from this topo….

      • AlexinCT

        Is that EYE-talian or Swiss?

    • Rufus the Monocled

      “It’s an existential problem for Mr. Trucco. He wants to do renovations, but can’t until he knows which country to ask for various building permits.”

      Sheesh. And I thought we I had problems with the municipal urban planning department here.

      • UnCivilServant

        So Trucco doesn’t know if he needs to be a fastidious rule-follower, or slip the inspection officer an unmarked envelope of euros.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        The latter is how things work in Quebec.

        And probably California.

      • Swiss Servator

        See, if he were in Chicago, it would first go to the alderman….then a gratuity to the building inspector.

      • Bobarian LMD

        In California, you have to sacrifice your first born on the altar of the CARB.

        (Ca Air Resources Board)

      • pan fried wylie

        He wants to do renovations, but can’t until he knows which country to ask for various building permits.

        “Hmmm….’Fuck Off Slaver’?”

        “…yup, ‘Fuck Off Slaver’, that work for everybody?”

        *mumbled agreement*

        “Yo, Fuck Off Slaver.” *triggers avalanche slamming door in face*

    • PieInTheSky

      The restaurant should declare independence and become Truccoria

    • Ted S.

      It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

      • Tejicano

        It’s actually easier to get forgiveness than permission – but you do you.

      • Tonio

        [golf clap]

      • Fourscore

        easier to get forgiveness (and a fine) than permission

    • sloopyinca

      The Swiss should be careful here. This is the same kind of line-drawing dispute that caused Ohio to get stuck with that shithole Toledo.

      • invisible finger

        Toledo was a swamp. Then Ohio got it and turned it into a shithole.

      • Festus

        That’s what you call your little guy?

      • Not Adahn

        It’s a shame there aren’t many Mexicans in that group. I’ve always found Swiss Topo Chico to be really good.

  9. Rufus the Monocled

    “We shouldn’t have to choose between one candidate who wants to burn this party down and one who want to buy this party out,” Buttigieg said.”And most Americans don’t see where they fit if they’ve got to choose between a socialist who thinks that capitalism is the root of all evil, and a billionaire that thinks power, that money ought to be the root of all power.”

    Succinct Buttegeig!

      • dontreadonme

        So many great lines in that movie.

  10. Tundra

    Good morning, Sloopy!

    Thanks for the lynx.

    I couldn’t be arsed to watch the debate last night, but I’ve sure enjoyed reading the recaps. What a shit show.

    If Trump wins a second term it will be interesting to see what he does with DOJ, DOD and the FBI. Putting people in place who won’t actively try to fuck him seems like common sense to me.

    Good musical selection (not as good as this, though), but we both know mumbles was murdered by the harpy!

    Make it a great day!

    • Pope Jimbo

      You watched the debate. You just don’t want to admit it now. You were sitting there in your vintage Special K t-shirt ready to watch her tear up the debates only to see her nearly reduced to tears by Pete.

      It was sort of ironic to see Warren of all people help Special K out by circling the wagons around her.

      • sloopyinca

        It was sort of ironic to see Warren of all people help Special K out by circling the wagons around her.

        She’s just following the immortal words of Leslie Knope, “hos before bros”.

      • AlexinCT

        Are there Bernie hos?

      • Festus

        Sure but they probably reek of patchouli and fish. You’d find their politics just as repellent, Alex.

      • Festus

        White girl dreads. The sweet smell of success.

      • Tundra

        Amy is breathtakingly terrible. Did you see her step on her dick with the Spanish-speakers yesterday?

      • leon

        Wus up mi fellow latino’s? Donde Queda la grapadora?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Too bad one of her abused aides didn’t send her out there to say “donde es el burro?” “Yeah, Amy it means ‘I love Mexicans'”

      • UnCivilServant

        Wheres’ the caterpillar?

        /callback.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Are you saying I’m dumb?

        I actually thought she was about to go full Muskie and start crying. That was so cringeworthy.

        Amy also seemed like she had just gotten done frenching Michael J Fox because she was shaking and trembling every time she got a chance to talk.

        It was also funny that the Mexican moderator gal was pretty frontal with Klobuchar when she said she had simply forgotten the name. Moderator Gal said that she also wasn’t able to discuss any policies. Luckily for Klobuchar most of that was drowned out by the candidates all shouting and yelling.

      • Tundra

        Pathetic.

      • Fourscore

        K wants to run with the big dogs but hasn’t learned to pee in the tall weeds yet.

      • pan fried wylie

        Amy also seemed like she had just gotten done frenching Michael J Fox because she was shaking and trembling every time she got a chance to talk.

        STOP TELLING PEOPLE IT’S CONTAGIOUS, fucking cockblock.

  11. Atanarjuat

    I heard about a similar anti-immigrant attack in Norway recently. Of course you can’t fix crazy but when people perceive that there are two sets of rules and one party is abusing the system there are outliers who will attack the other party when they should be attacking those who set up the system.

    Halle was the site of a deadly anti-Semitic attack last year. A man expressing anti-Jewish views tried to shoot his way into a synagogue, failed and killed two passers-by before being arrested.

    Because of all the dishonesty in reporting, my gut tells there’s a nonzero chance the anti-Semitic shooter they’re trying to link to the “far-right Nazi” was on the other side of the native German / imported Muslim divide than they would have us believe.

  12. Q Continuum

    I didn’t watch any of the debate but supposedly Bloomy got walloped. It’s not surprising to me at all though I do find it hilariously ironic. The things that make him unattractive in a general (gun grabbing, nanny statism and contempt for Middle America) are not at all liabilities in the primary, but similarly things that probably wouldn’t hurt him that much in the general (his wealth, stop and frisk, past un-PC comments) make him poison in the primary.

    I’m not at all surprised that he had difficulty dealing with his opponents; he’s never actually had to face any stiff criticism.

    • Tundra

      It sounds as if Warren landed some good punches, which is pretty surprising to me. Something about releasing some women from NDAs related to harassment settlements. It appears Mike wasn’t expecting it.

      • Sensei

        Better still Bloomberg initially countered her with a “few” NDAs and she shot right back with “how many?”.

      • Festus

        Channeling her inner Bella Abzug. “Hide yer balls!”

      • Festus

        She’s just pandering, as per the usual Warren playbook. Harvard Professor? *elongated fart sounds*

      • AlexinCT

        I guess you could change the old saying “kill a commie for your mommy” to “Fuck a commie for your mommy”. On second thought I think I will pass. I just am not willing to take the numerous risks plugging one of these crazy bitches would entail.

      • sloopyinca

        He should have said “out of respect for the parties that signed the NDAs, I refuse to infringe on their privacy. By the way, have you sealed all your records where you claimed to be native American so you could take the job of an actual minority candidate?”

      • Pope Jimbo

        She was desperate. She came out swinging for the fences. All of her zingers against Bloomberg seemed like she had practiced them for a week in front of the mirror. Bloomberg was so bad that I’d almost swear he was a plant by her campaign.

        You know you are going to get asked about that shit and you can’t coherently answer? Uffda.

        Warren also tried to appear like she is an inclusive person by White Knighting for Special K. Going after the moderator and Pete for being mean to her for simply forgetting a name.

      • AlexinCT

        What a lot of people miss is that team blue cuntes are so used to being protected from having to answer/deal with though questions, that no amount of preparation will get them to the point they can handle even tepid questions. The dnc operatives with bylines playing goalie for team blue have helped them cover their ineptitude/corruption from the unwashed masses, but the side effect is that these people just can’t do any real thinking or debating outside of calling people negative adjectives to shut them up. And when you sick them at each other, like this debate, it shows.

      • Viking1865

        Hothouse flowers. Bill Clinton won in 1984 in Arkansas by 20 points, Reagan carried Arkansas by 20 points on the same day. Every Senator up there is from a D +8 state. Pete was the mayor of a college town.

        Where’s the Democratic Senator from a state that typically elects Republicans? Where is the Democratic governor from a state that went Trump in 2016?

      • Fatty Bolger

        This is true. And on the rare occasions when they are confronted, they can barely conceal their outrage.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        This is why they can’t handle Trump. He just shrugs off the insults and keeps moving.

      • Agent Cooper

        He needed to go straight to the NDAs are with Bloomberg LLP and not me personally. Sure it’s a technicality but it would have helped diffuse the thing a little.

    • straffinrun

      Once he heard he could stand on a box, he signed right up for that struggle session.

      • Festus

        Did his aides help him up there with a merry chorus of “Whoops-A-Daisy!”?

    • Atanarjuat

      That’s probably a huge understatement. My impression is he surrounds himself with a retinue of ass-kissers who have lists of words not to use. To think a fragile Napoleon could debate a verbal brawler like Trump might be the most hilarious setup yet.

    • PieInTheSky

      I also did not watch the debate and as such I have nothing to say as I did not watch

    • Tonio

      The best comment was from a prog acquaintance who said that all of the candidates both advanced their profiles and damaged themselves. This is going to be so delicious.

      You know there will be riots at the convention if Bernie doesn’t get the nom.

    • Agent Cooper

      He actually held his own/nearly dominated the latter part, especially with the digs at Sanders’s multiple properties as a millionaire socialist.

    • invisible finger

      Anyone who thinks Hedy is thicc is either Ethiopian, Venezuelan, or gets a boner for Olive Oyl.

      • Tonio

        Pretty good for 54, and those sweater puppies appear natural.

      • PieInTheSky

        Always reminds me of the jimmy car joke, watching TV with his girlfriend and she said “I wish I look as good as Elizabeth Hurley in my 50s”, to which the reply was “you don’t look that good now, what do you think is going to happen?”

      • Atanarjuat

        I used to call my ex Olive Oyl. That’s my type.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      HAWT

    • Tundra

      TUNDRA SMASH!

      (thanks, Pie!)

    • Ted S.

      That’s Hedley!

      • Ted S.

        And you should see Barbara Stanwyck brandishing a whip in “Forty Guns”.

  13. Festus

    Nice work, Sloop! It’s funny how that tune has been making the rounds since I posted it a few days ago. My favorite of theirs. In other news, night two of the great return went well. No tearing or anything drastic but holy fuck am I sore from having to change my shtoyle. Belly is fine but back and legs are screaming bloody murder.

    • PieInTheSky

      Where is the line between state and federal power on these things?

      • The Hyperbole

        Overlapping, The Feds/EPA can force states to do shit and is Trump is simply reigning in the Feds/EPA great, if he’s just changing what they are telling the states to do then, fuck him, he’s still imposing the Feds will on the state.

      • Viking1865

        I’m a conservationist, and a steward, not an environmentalist. I think that hydro engineering is a pretty good litmus test for telling the difference. Bankrupting farmers because of a tiny fish is evil.

      • Swiss Servator

        Uncle Fed has long since usurped dominion over H2O in our country. The second one drop crosses a state line….FED TIME!

    • leon

      Who needs federalism when Daddy FedGov can always stick his Dick in your state.

      • AlexinCT

        Euphemism?

    • Rhywun

      OMG won’t somebody please think of the delta smelt!!1!

      • Rebel Scum

        Survival of the fittest.

      • Festus

        Survival of the finnest. FTFY

      • pan fried wylie

        *Fished that for you.

    • sloopyinca

      I’m glad he’s doing this. Most of those farmers have bought useless land so they can use the acreage to get water to their orchards and farms. That delta smelt shit let the state change the rules on them and effectively kill hundreds of thousands of acres of land on the western side of the Central Valley. When I worked out there, I probably liquidated the equipment for a dozen family farmers who simply couldn’t farm anymore after they weren’t allocated the water they had a contractual right to. Sure, it’s too late for those guys, but this will right the ship a bitch for those who played by the rules and then got fucked when the state decided to simply change them at their sole discretion.

      • pan fried wylie

        They weren’t fucked by their own decision to start farming in a desert based on the State of California promising to bring in water from hundreds of miles away?

    • Atanarjuat

      I ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold digger… Wait, yeah, I am.

    • pan fried wylie

      he does look stringy.

      oh, ‘stingy’. shrug.

  14. Tonio

    So, last night I attended what I believe to be my first ever political candidate event – a town hall meeting hosted by libertarian-leaning Va Delegate Nick Freitas who is seeking the nomination for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, and hoping to unseat the loathsome Abigail Spanberger.

    Freitas is a good speaker and does a good job of articulating free market and self-ownership concepts.

    He did a really good job of encouraging recent US citizen (formerly Canuckistani) woman who told us about waiting three years for surgery, and paying 52% taxes. Also did a good job of nodding and smiling when she started off on a “forget about the guns” tear; this in a heavily Pro-2A audience where most of the questions were about RKBA. Yes, she really did say “the guns,” and this after Frietas had earlier explained how the right to self-defense was a core right.

    A little bit Jesus-y and a lot moment of conception personhood, but I understand that if you oppose abortion on religious grounds that you have to embrace MOC personhood to stay consistent. And there was that cringeworthy moment where he said “clump of cells.” I understand that you may not like the fact that the embryo is really, really a hollow ball of cells for a day or so, but SITFU and argue that that ball (not clump, which is disorganized and formless) is a human being instead of pretending that embryos, later fetuses, don’t go through a long, complex development.

    I will probably be supporting him in some fashion, and would certainly vote for him over Spanberger even though he’s not a perfect candidate.

    • PieInTheSky

      Is there ever a perfect candidate?

      • Swiss Servator

        Yes, but I am not running for office.

        /Lifts chin heroicaly

      • AlexinCT

        Who will gaze at the gazers?

      • Rebel Scum

        Swiss for prez.

      • Not Adahn

        Lots. Anyone who’s dead, for starters/

      • Atanarjuat

        I’m not even my own perfect candidate, because I change my mind sometimes.

      • Drake

        Self-doubt or even self-awareness are handicaps for politicians.

    • Chipwooder

      Freitas was the speaker a few years ago at our Veteran’s Day ceremony at work. He was indeed a very dynamic speaker.

      I’d vote for a slime mold over Spanberger, but I do hope Freitas wins the primary.

      • Rebel Scum

        Word. And he is on the pro-2A train with Amanda Chase. My fed house rep is currently the one that suggested using the nat. guard to deal with non-compliant gun-owners.

    • Drake

      That guy looks good to me.

    • A Leap at the Wheel

      I gotta run, but Imma just throw this golden apple into the wedding reception, and let any of you glibs claim it by giving the best answer:

      Please identify the number of days before your birth you would be emotionally-ok with your mother abort you, as it would not be violating the NAP.

      • Atanarjuat

        This comment is great on so many levels.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        If I can’t shit post, why even post?

  15. straffinrun

    A 43-year-old German man shot and killed nine people at several locations in a Frankfurt suburb overnight in attacks that appear to have been motivated by far-right beliefs, officials said Thursday.

    OK. But what motivated the far-right beliefs?

      • leon

        I thought the whole point of the game was to not say Hitler….

    • sloopyinca

      Does it really matter? He’s a piece of shit who killed people who had done nothing to him to warrant it.

      • straffinrun

        It matters to me because one of the reasons I’m a libertarian is because when the left or right goes too far in one way they create violence coming back the other way. The lurching between left and right radicals is what emboldens pieces of shit like this guy.

      • straffinrun

        Tired and a few beers in, but you get the point.

      • sloopyinca

        Nobody “creates” violence carried out by someone who disagrees with what they’ve done when that violence is carried out against innocent third parties. The responsibility for that violence is the sole responsibility of the person carrying it out.
        Had he shot up a government office Creating or carrying out the policy, it would be a different story. But this asshole carried out his violence against innocents. It doesn’t count as “retaliating”, IMO. This violence wasn’t “coming back the other way”.

      • leon

        Straff isn’t trying to justify the murders sloop. He’s just saying that this shit doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

      • sloopyinca

        I know. And I wasn’t trying to be a dick. If I came across as one, I apologize, as that wasn’t my intention.

      • straffinrun

        It’s a necessary discussion. Glad you brought it up.

      • straffinrun

        I’m not defending the guy by any stretch. He’s a scumbag. I am saying that Germany, with a very interventionist state, is going to have these type of events more and more. I’m not justifying anything. I believe a free society will have fewer of these type incidents than a heavily statist society because the mechanisms a free society would employ to stop these kind of killings would be much more effective.

      • AlexinCT

        When people are left with the feeling they have neither representation nor recourse, especially when their concerns are dismissed as being evil in nature so nobody has to deal with the issues, some will eventually despair and resort to violence…

      • straffinrun

        I think we are making a mistake by dismissing some of these right wing arguments out of hand. I don’t agree with the underlying solutions they are proposing, but some of the points they raise are legit. Same with Bernie. We need to offer them a solution that is moral and pragmatic. That’s how we’ll get converts.

      • sloopyinca

        I understand what you’re saying. I’m just making note that he’s lashing out, not lashing back. There’s a distinct difference.

    • Chipwooder

      Clearly, Indiana’s lax gun laws are to blame.

    • Not Adahn

      Alongside the manifesto, Rathjen posted his plan to help the German football team win a World Cup and a strategy that he insists could have ended the Afghan and Iraq wars within 10 years.

      His website included links to prominent conspiracy theorists including people who claim to have carried out autopsies on aliens or to be investigating missing persons cases which they link to alien abduction.

      The links to Trump couldn’t be clearer.

      • Viking1865

        “a strategy that he insists could have ended the Afghan and Iraq wars within 10 years.”

        Does it involve the Europeans actually deploying real combat troops?

  16. Rebel Scum

    Credit where credit is due.

    “I believe in a democratic socialism for working people, not billionaires. Health care for all, educational opportunity for all,” said Sanders as he finally ended his stump speech by declaring he will create a government that works for everyone.

    And then Bloomberg torpedoed it in a couple of sentences.

    “What a wonderful country we have. The best-known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses. What did I miss here?” he replied.

    Except Bloomer is still all in for most big-government policies that all Dems seem to generally agree on.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      And Sanders said his third house is a “summer camp” ?

      • leon

        I’ve heard that the gulags were really like vacation resorts.

      • Viking1865

        It’s called a dacha.

      • UnCivilServant

        No greater hate than for the apostate.

      • JD is Unemployed

        It’s too much to hope for that all they just wipe each other out completely.

  17. Rufus the Monocled

    So. I was watching this appalling video from Campus Reform about students are so open and tolerant to listen to Angela Davis even after being told her part in the murder of a judge and being part of the Black Panthers.

    I kept hoping the interviewer would ask, ‘how would you feel, then, if Jordan Peterson or some other conservative, came to speak here.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsSyRRUNbyQ&feature=em-uploademail

    And then, catching up on some links, came across this in Accuracy in Academia discussing Angela Davis with this tidbit:

    And then, catching up on some links, I came across this in Accuracy in Academia discussing Davis with this tiny, tidy tidbit:

    “Not that anyone should forget but the revolutionary radical turned credentialed academic has a special reason to remember the mass suicide/homicide that occurred 40 years ago in the country of Guyana on November 18, 1978.

    Back then, messianic murderer Jim Jones ordered hundreds of his People’s Temple congregants to down cyanide flavored with flavor aid. Although portrayed as a religious fanatic, Jones actually openly despised the religion he allegedly represented.

    His left-wing leanings won him many supporters in the United States including Davis, Jane Fonda and openly gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk. Milk, murdered within two weeks of the Guyana massacre, is now as lionized as Jones is loathed.”

    As Larry Elder says….”End. Of Quote.”

    https://www.academia.org/why-angela-davis-should-remember-the-jonestown-massacre/?utm_source=AIA%20Email%20List&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AIA%20Email%2016-Nov-2018

    As if we didn’t have enough examples of how broken inside Jane Fonda is we see she can be even more broken than first thought.

    • Mookman

      Every San Francisco liberal worth his or her salt was in bed with Jones in the 70’s. And yes, he was full commie and not a religious figure by the end. A book I read on the subject detailed how Davis called down to Guyana and offered encouragement over the loudspeakers as Jones’ followers were repelling a nonexistent attack on Jonestown, a situation entirely manufactured by Jones and his leadership. Loony Toon land all the way down.

      • Rhywun

        Including the mayor – that guy everyone forgot was murdered along with Milk.

      • Mookman

        Moscone, who Jones helped get elected in part by bussing his followers from district to district to vote more than once. Pretty incredible stuff.

    • dontreadonme

      Okay that was amazing.

  18. straffinrun

    I do love how team blue has been screaming for years about how the most important thing is to get rid of Trump. Bloomberg is all, “Alright. I’ll spend a shitton of my own money and try” and they pile on him.

      • Drake

        I got less than half right.

      • robc

        15/22

      • Rhywun

        16/22

    • Tonio

      Party Elite versus Unwashed Masses. Delicious.

      • AlexinCT

        The mask is really, really off, and one has to wonder if team blue just doesn’t care anymore. The ONLY thing that matters is to get power back and block orange man from dismantling the work they have done the last 50 plus years to infect every important institution with elite ideologues that put team blue agenda over the constitution or the people.

  19. Rebel Scum

    Arrogant but probably not wrong.

    Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg’s top strategist, said: “The fact is if the state of this race remains status quo — with Biden, Pete and Amy in the race on Super Tuesday — Bernie is likely to open up a delegate lead that seems nearly impossible to overcome.”

    “I don’t think many people understand the dire circumstances here.” …

    “If Biden, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar remain in the race despite having no path to appreciably collecting delegates on Super Tuesday (and beyond), they will propel Sanders to a seemingly insurmountable delegate lead by siphoning votes away from [Bloomberg].”

    • Urthona

      So why doesn’t Bloomberg call it in then?

      • R C Dean

        That was my question. Note that he is not calling for Warren to drop out, since she is splitting the hard left vote with Bernie. If she drops out too soon, Bernie could well win outright. So Mini Mike is definitely on board with the DNC propping her up even though she is a no-hoper.

        Four candidates splitting the non-hard left vote is totes bad. Three of them need to drop out. I suspect that all four would agree that the other three should drop out.

  20. PieInTheSky

    A teenage environmentalist set to be awarded an honorary doctorate has said it feels “unreal” to receive such recognition at the age of just 17.
    Mya-Rose Craig, also known as Birdgirl, set up Black2Nature to help engage more children from minority ethnic backgrounds (BAME) in conservation.
    Bristol University said she would become the youngest Briton to receive an honorary doctorate.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-51561747

    Well she hits all the good woke points

    • leon

      Sorry Greta, your time is up. Now you must pay the devil his due

    • Tonio

      BAME is a term long used in the UK to refer to black, Asian and minority ethnic people. Its origin derives from “political blackness”, an idea that various ethnic groups united behind to fight against discrimination in the 1970s.

      The term is apparently falling into disfavour because somehow insulting.

    • Atanarjuat

      There’s something about the left and their penchant for pre-awarding high honors to light-skinned minorities, see Obama and the Nobel Peace Price.

      Through Black2Nature, Mya-Rose runs camps for young BAME people to help them develop an interest in nature.

      Do they take trains to the camps?

      • leon

        Yes, and the trains are never early or late.

  21. Rebel Scum

    Go home, Joe.

    I’ve been knocked down a whole hell of a lot. I know what it’s like to get knocked down, but I know you have to get back up. We have to provide some safety and security for the American people. Right here in Nevada, the sight of the most significant mass murder in American history. Guns. Our kids are getting sent to school having to hide under desks, learning how to run down corridors to keep from getting shot. It’s immoral. I’m the only one who beat the NRA nationally, and I beat them twice.

    No, they aren’t. And you didn’t “defeat the NRA”. You violated the constitution.

    • leon

      I’m the only one who beat the NRA nationally

      Biden is so old his talking points are still stuck in the 90’s

      • Drake

        So old he’s stuck in the 30’s and talking about the National Recovery Administration.

      • leon

        Damnit Drake. First yesterday with the Janet Reno quip and now today with this one. Stop Showing me up on my jokes.

        :Opera Applause:

      • Drake

        You want useless information, I’m your guy.

      • Viking1865

        Fun fact. In “mock New Deal” in high school I was assigned “Hugh Johnson, head of the NRA”. I got really excited and my teacher had to break the news to me that it was a different NRA.

      • Chipwooder

        General Hugh “Iron Pants” Johnson….he was a real beaut. Big Mussolini fan.

    • Nephilium

      I’ve been knocked down

      So Chumbawamba is going to play the next campaign stop?

    • Brett L

      learning how to run down corridors to keep from getting shot

      If only. Run, hide, fight is actually an effective strategy, and one that is taught to adults as well for handling the situation of being disarmed against a gun-wielding assailant. Shelter in place in most schools is fish in a barrel.

      • R C Dean

        Run, hide, fight

        They changed our “active shooter” training after I pointed out that these were instructions for setting an ambush, which was what I would hope to do if a gunman were killing my friends, colleagues or patients. The revised training is now specific that you are supposed to run away from the shooter.

      • Brett L

        Yes, I would certainly be looking to counter-attack and neutralize them. Our local is such a clusterfuck. They installed locking gates as mandated by the State in the wake of Parkland. Right now, the gates are locked on both sides during school hours. The plan is to literally lift kids over the fences until someone with a key arrives right now. Which, what’s the fucking point of locking a fence an adult can lift a child over (and therefore climb themselves)? Additionally, as I’ve mentioned before, right now the elementary school is basically a big open structure with classrooms demarcated by bookshelves and filing cabinets. It could not be a more perfect setup for lots of small people to evade one large person with a gun. So, of course, the school board wants to build walls and doors “for the children”. I want to take all of them on an active shooter drill. All of them against me and two people I choose. I suspect we could pick them off all day long in ambush without losing a single kid.

      • leon

        All of them against me and two people I choose. I suspect we could pick them off all day long in ambush without losing a single kid.

        Not to mention that almost all active shooters, at the prospect of resistance, have stopped and either fled, or killed themselves.

      • Chipwooder

        I have told my kids repeatedly to ignore the shelter in place instructions they are given by teachers. In the exceedingly unlikely event that there’s shooting, do everything you can to get the fuck out of the building and run far away. Only try to hide if there’s no possible way out.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Our school system changed policies years ago. They’re told to run, hide if they can’t get out, and fight if they can’t get away.

    • leon

      It’s immoral.

      I mean the immoral thing is forcing kids and parents to use those schools.

    • Shirley Knott

      He’s an idiot. (I know, I know)
      Any of us can think of more significant mass murders in US history.
      Bath, MI, holds the record for school violence fatalities, and it’s not even close.

  22. Sensei

    How’s that bail reform working for you New York?

    NYC subway scammer who bragged he couldn’t be stopped arrested for 140th time

    “Bail reform, it’s lit!” Barry said. “It’s the Democrats! The Democrats know me and the Republicans fear me. You can’t touch me! I can’t be stopped!”

    Barry also said he get $200 to $300 per day from his scams.

    • UnCivilServant

      He won’t be crowing when someone else let out an absurd number of times pushes him in front of a train.

      • pistoffnick

        Or when somebody Bernie Goetz’s him

  23. Festus

    New sody-pop tax up here in beautiful BC. The kids feel safer and I personally don’t give a shit. I drink like maybe less than a few dozen pops a year. They already came for my vices. Suck it you little free-loaders!

  24. Not Adahn

    I am sad that the links I was saving got posted already (MAGA pigeons and freezing Police “Chiefs.” )

    Everything about the latter story is great – useless police “department being” eliminated, disrespect being shown to the pissant government, coppage throwing a temper tantrum,…

    What would make the story even better is if he had to have some of his toes amputated afterwards (the radio said he walked out into the snow afterward)

    https://www.wcax.com/content/news/NH-police-chief-stripped-of-duties-disrobes-walks-into-storm-568021071.html

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Sounds like he was a stable individual.

      • Q Continuum

        Stable genius.

    • leon

      I am sad that the links I was saving got posted already (MAGA pigeons and freezing Police “Chiefs.” )

      You think acknowledging it will keep those drugs from falling out of that police chiefs ass?

    • Festus

      Round these parts we call that Tuesday night.

    • Tundra

      Thanks. The ‘stache is still awesome.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      “American journalists talk about how bad a country is because people are lining up for food. That’s a good thing! In other countries people don’t line up for food; the rich get the food and the poor starve.”

      Wow

      • UnCivilServant

        You hadn’t heard that one before?

        And yet the biggest problem among the poor in America appears to be… Obesity.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        I had heard of it, but had never read the actual quote. Harrowing is the word coming to mind.

      • Chipwooder

        Yes, I remember reading someone’s column once where the author was told by a visiting scholar from India something like “America is amazing – nowhere else on earth will you find that a major concern is too many poor people are fat”.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        This has been my new tactic when discussing issues with progs. It’s all about privilege and racism.

        Not enough women at tech companies? That’s economic privilege. I’m more concerned about why there’s not equal ratios of female sanitation workers and miners. That’s the group that needs a hand up.

        For some reason, no one wants to go down that path and the conversation ends.

        Same with gun control. I always tie it back to racism. I’ll have to remember the nationality privilege point for next time I hear someone talking about food deserts.

      • Naptown Bill

        Yeah, you never hear that there aren’t enough female garbage collectors or commercial fisher…persons.

      • Chipwooder

        Or enough male wedding planners

      • Certified Public Asshat

        There is that Boris Yeltsin story too about how amazed he was when he went into an American grocery store.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        The pudding pops really have him blown away.

      • UnCivilServant

        “Now with extra vitamin Q”

        /Bill Cosby

      • Gdragon

        Was anyone a fan of “The Americans”? Makes me think of Poor Martha and her sad potato. 😉

      • RAHeinlein

        +1 the “The Americans” – I was hoping for more of Martha’s adventures behind the iron curtain.

      • Nephilium

        Food Deserts! KKKoproration food! Poisoning the poor with meat!

  25. Pope Jimbo

    Someone said it last night, but what the fuck sort of “debate” was that? I only made it for about 45 minutes before I gave up (when they teased Climate Change during a break I quit).

    From what I watched, it seemed like a Jr. High cat fight between second tier girls. Almost no policies were actually discussed. No questions for each candidate to answer so a voter could compare and contrast. Just random blowhards throwing shade at each other.

    Have to admit, it makes better TV than actually trying to discuss boring shit like budget items, but it probably isn’t going to deliver up the best person to wield executive power.

    • UnCivilServant

      “Candidate Sanders, if elected, how would you cut government spending and reduce the national debt?”

      “What?”

      • leon

        That is a republican talking point!

      • leon

        And Heaven Forbid that the DNC try to appeal to anyone on the otherside of the aisle

      • Pope Jimbo

        At one point, Pete taunted Bernie with the fact that some outside firm had said that Medicare for all would cost $50T and Bernie’s tax plan only raised $25T of “revenue” (that bugs the shit out of me) which meant that there was still a $25T hole in the funding.

        Bernie’s response? “Medicare for all would save $450B every year!”

        No one batted an eye or pointed out that while yes, 450 is a bigger number than 25, billions are smaller than trillions.

      • ChipsnSalsa

        Bernie’s tax plan only raised stole $25T

      • Pope Jimbo

        but, but, but it was revenue, Chipsy. You don’t steal revenue.

      • ChipsnSalsa

        Don’t corporations steal from the workers and customers then proceed to call that revenue?

        This is getting tricky. I’m going to need an infographic.

    • A Leap at the Wheel

      I can’t think of a single presidential candidate that has ever won on the “The other guy is really bad” ticket. Every single winner has a proactive vision or message. Bernie is the only candidate that has any hope of putting that together. “I could Beat Trump(tm)” is a sure sign that, no, you can’t.

      • robc

        This. I told Dems this in 2004.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Didn’t Obama and Trump win the “My opponent is really bad” race? Or are you going to claim that because you said “guy” that you are technically correct?

      • Gadfly

        Didn’t Obama and Trump win the “My opponent is really bad” race?

        Yes, but not just that. Obama also had “Hope” and “Change” while Trump had “MAGA”. The message can be shallow, but it should be there.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Good point. I mean, his vision is a dystopian nightmare that would devastate America and Americans, and turn the country into a desperately poor shithole on par with your typical third world country – but he does at least have one.

      • Gadfly

        Every single winner has a proactive vision or message.

        “Make America Great Again” beat “I’m With Her”, but they didn’t learn.

    • Agent Cooper

      “ut it probably isn’t going to deliver up the best person to wield executive power.”

      Like that’s ever been the goal.

  26. Q Continuum

    Following last night’s geriatric circle jerk, Bernie is cracking 50% on the betting odds; first time anyone’s done so this time around.

    Man are the Berniebots gonna be pissed with the DNC fucks them again.

    • Raston Bot

      Milwaukee will burn for it.

      • Swiss Servator

        I hope not – My sister lives in a suburb and my youngest goes to college there.

    • Rhywun

      I just don’t get it. Have any of them actually watched him speak?! He’s terrible.

      • Nephilium

        That’s because you’re listening to the words, not feeling the Bern!

      • ChipsnSalsa

        *fist pump*

        The engineer who designed the control arm

    • PieInTheSky

      I say if he wins his party will have him heart-attacked, this time fatal

      • Festus

        That depends upon whom he chooses as his running mate. Kamala? Certain death. That strange creature from Georgia? Certain death. Death? Certain death.

      • UnCivilServant

        Grandfather Nurgle? Death, followed by reanimation.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Science was being the only black person in the program for four years. Science was saying nothing because I was tired of being corrected about the particulars of my own experience. Science was being told that I should consider moving to the other side of town where more black people live. Science was someone suggesting that I find a church in order to find community. Science was having my hair stroked and touched. Science was being told that I was articulate. Science was watching people’s eyes widen slightly in surprise when I told them what program I was in. Science was the constant humiliation of wondering if I had justified my presence or if I had made it harder for the next black person to get admitted. Science was having to worry about that in the first place.

      That guy is completely full of shit.

      • leon

        Science is also a Liar….sometimes.

      • Festus

        “Dear Roots Letters, I would have never believed it but this actually happened on my academic fast track…”

      • Akira

        Science was someone suggesting that I find a church in order to find community.

        Yes, getting badgered to go to church is something that only happens to black people.

    • Chipwooder

      LOOKATMELOOKATMELOOKATMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

    • Raston Bot

      science is having a debilitating sense of persecution.

  27. Raston Bot

    suppressor shopping. think i’m settling on the CGS Mod9. it has rave reviews just about everywhere. and for $585 it’s reasonably priced considering it’s user serviceable and rated for 300BLK subsonic. will also need a fixed barrel spacer ($45?!) to run on the rifles and a thread adapter ($20) for the 300BLK: https://hughesprecision.com/product/5-8-24-female-to-1-2-28-male-thread-converter-adapter/

    goddamn i love this country. U-S-A U-S-A U-S-A

    • pistoffnick

      “goddamn i love this country. U-S-A U-S-A U-S-A”

      Explain to me again why they are NFA?

      Want but not willing to jump through the stupid hoops.

      • Raston Bot

        hell if i know. something to do with Al Capone, i think. i was making more of a reference to the ease of finding the precision accessories that will allow me to run it on multiple firearms.

        as far as those hoops go: the govt already has my passport photos and fingerprints. and i get a kick out of my progtopia CLEO being notified that i now have a suppressor. CLEO sign-off no longer required.

      • pistoffnick

        One guy in our deer hunting party has a suppressor for his S&W Victory .22 pistol. With the right ammo (a certain brand of subsonic), the only things you hear are the slide and the bullet hitting.

        His wait time was 7 months. License was…what…$200? The suppressor itself was $300 and then he had to replace his original barrel with a threaded one , another $150. Kinda spendy for a toy (although the squirrel population in our neighborhood has been reduced tremendously – must be the coyotes)

      • Raston Bot

        yep, it took a few years of squirreling away the savings and searching to find the best value and utility.

        $585 hearing protection device + $200 tax stamp + $35 state sales tax + $25 trust + $45 fixed piston barrel spacer + $20 thread adapter = $910 for a tool that i can run on my three threaded barrels. and it’s fully serviceable so that includes the CZ455 Scout which is my daughter’s rifle (so long as i clean it immediately afterward). i think my daughter’s reaction shooting suppressed will be one of those “moments” for me.

      • dontreadonme

        Except for handgun, I pretty much only shoot suppressed anymore. It’s nice to not have to wear ear pro and also not piss off the neighbors (not that they have ever said anything). Also, shooting subsonic rounds for ‘Hollywood’ quiet is great for introducing newcomers to shooting and still makes me smile every single time.

      • R C Dean

        Same here.

    • leon

      They changed the title after being ribbed. The original was something like “We need to let elites decide in elections”, which was funny juxtaposed under “Democracy Dies in Darkness”

      It’s time to switch to preference primaries

      I would note, that caucuses are somewhat like that, in that you can have a better way of understanding what preferences are viable and matching those.

      • leon

        Also, anyone who complains about the voting system in use, but doesn’t mention Arrows impossibility theorem, is just trying to maneuver you into a voting system that is better for their desired outcome.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        These are the same people that would eliminate the electoral college.

      • Rhywun

        URL’s are forever 🙂

        Idiots.

    • Chipwooder

      “Goddammit, why won’t you fucking proles just obey your betters?”

      Hey, maybe the author of that is the real identity of Rev Arthur Kirkland from TOS.

      • Raston Bot

        glad i saw that when no one was around b/c just chokelaughed.

    • AlexinCT

      Gotta love this guy…

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      “Some fat people have persecution complexes.”

      TRUE

      • R C Dean

        “Some fat people have persecution complexes.”

        To that extent, at least, fat people are like normal people.

      • Festus

        I always say that you’ve never lived life to the fullest until you fuck a fat girl in the mud behind the Legion Hall. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

      • Gadfly

        Sometimes life is better not lived in full.

  28. Gadfly

    Look at these greedy bastards. They didn’t put up the lines. They don’t maintain the lines. They have nothing to do with the lines. So why should they make anything from them at all?

    LOL, their complaint isn’t even that they don’t get to charge fees, since they still do, but that they don’t get to double-tax a single line that is used for two purposes. Greedy bastards is right.

    • leon

      Why raise revenue when we can spend money to create great new jobs!

    • Rebel Scum

      Oh, deer.

    • Agent Cooper

      What becomes of the venison? Hunters usually use the deer they shoot.

      • R C Dean

        Very probably donated to a food bank. A lot of venison is donated every year.

    • RAHeinlein

      I see why that guy was elected.

  29. Nephilium

    Damn it! I’ve found a down side to losing weight. I’m going to need to get new cycling jerseys now.

    • Tundra

      Make sure and get rid of the old ones.

      No going back!

      • Nephilium

        I will never get rid of my fancy Oberon jersey, nor my Sweet Corn challenge one, nor my Team Left Hand one. Two of those were earned with sweat, pain, and hills. The other just looks damned nice and much better then the new version.

      • egould310

        “ Two of those were earned with sweat, pain, and hills.”

        Turns out, Seattle is built on a series of hills. My morning jogs have gotten real hilly since moving here. My legs hurt.

    • Viking1865

      It’s the only downside to dropping weight, having to get rid of favorite clothes. I had so many XXL tshirts that I liked.

      • UnCivilServant

        Oh come on, oversized tshirts are not an issue.

      • Viking1865

        Depending on the brand, an XL tshirt now for me is enormous. an XXL is just too large to actually work as a shirt.

      • Nephilium

        For me it means I get to fit back into some of my favorite shirts. I’ve noticed I’m going to have to start retiring some of the work polo shirts, as they’re noticeable too big for me now.

      • Festus

        Orangutan arms, hard to find a shirt that fits. Sweat shirts and hoodies are a nightmare. I’ve got one hoodie that fits properly and it is mine, Dammit! Being such an average-sized fellow you wouldn’t think this was a problem.

      • leon

        Just wait till Bernie is elected, You’ll be loosing weight so fast, you won’t be able to purchase new cloths.

      • Raston Bot

        b/c the shelves will be empty?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Yeah, but he’ll be super ready for the gas shortages!

        Also, you could just not buy a cycling jersey at all. Just you know where a regular t-shirt?

      • Nephilium

        Regular shirts are fine for short rides, but for anything 25+ miles, I want the jersey. If for no other reason, then having pockets I can access while peddling.

      • Sensei

        It’s just a bonus as you’ll be getting lots of exercise.

        Sure, finding tires and parts for you bicycle will problematic however.

      • Nephilium

        Us cyclists will be the first among equals when we’re tapped to produce green power. Based on the last max power I generated, I could get your gaming PC to boot up… you wouldn’t have time to play anything on it, but it should have time to boot up (assuming the OS is on a SSD).

      • ChipsnSalsa

        I’ll make the toast

      • Pope Jimbo

        What will really be problematic is finding my new bike after OMWC and SP visit Minnesoda again.

      • ChipsnSalsa

        *sputters and coughs*

        You don’t simply get on a bike and ride it!

        I do often ride with a basic sport type tee shirt, but the jersey pockets are nice for when you want to be able to keep riding and have access to food and other items.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Maybe you could add one of these to your bike?

        Looks like you can get all sorts of food and stuff in there.

      • Nephilium

        I do have one of these already, and a couple different bags depending on the bike I’m riding.

      • Raston Bot

        where a regular t-shirt?

        chafed nips

      • Pope Jimbo

        Why would wearing a regular t-shirt on a bike ride irritate your Japanese neighbors?

      • Raston Bot

        nip is slang for Jap? i did not know that.

      • Sensei

        Nipponese

      • Festus

        Hemp rope belts tied in a comical bow for every man-jack!

    • Rhywun

      ?

    • Festus

      My Dad’s eldest step-son used to douse himself with that stuff out on the Rez. Who’s he gonna attract? A cousin? Probably.

    • leon

      Thats some X-files shit.

      • UnCivilServant

        Not really, it’s one of the common complications from tapeworm infestations.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That’s what you get for eating gas-station sushi.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Yeah, but he was a great guy to go fishing with. Never had to worry about running out of bait.

    • Rhywun

      ?

      • leon

        Get some fluids for this man STAT!

    • Festus

      Right before bed-time too.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I can see some poor person in a third world shithole getting a tape worm. But Texas? I would have expected a mp3worm, or at least a cdworm.

      But whatever, any of those are better than a Victrolaworm.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        *groan*

        OK dad.

  30. The Other Kevin

    That debate confirms what I’ve been saying about the dems. All they have to do to beat Trump is be the adults in the room. And they can’t even manage that.

    • Viking1865

      I think being the adult in the room might have worked in 2016, but not in 2020. Trump squeaked in when he got elected, and that was an absolutely enormous gamble by the electorate. They elected a man who had never held political office or commanded an army at war. Every previous President had done of those two things. That’s an enormous leap of faith, and that leap was rewarded with a booming economy, and one that actually has filtered down to the tail end of the bell curve in ways that people have been told for 20 fucking years by the leadership of both parties was impossible. “Those jobs aren’t coming back” and “there’s a certain amount of unemployment that won’t ever go away in an information economy” and “we can’t drill our way out of high gas prices” and all the other Beltway consensus bullshit.

    • wdalasio

      Honestly, I think they misread the electorate’s message from 2016. The message I think they sent was “Tear the system down and get back to a basic, simple, policy that favors the U.S.”. What the Democrats seemed to mostly hear was “Display a lot of outrage and outrageous behavior.”. That is, for the Democrats who didn’t hear the public’s message as “We hate minorities, women, blah, blah blah…”

      • The Other Kevin

        A moderate dem who appeals to blue collar voters would be the only one who could win.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        You’ve perfectly described Trump.

      • Viking1865

        It’s incredibly telling to me that the left goes apeshit over “America First!” being SECRET NAZI DOGWHISTLES.

      • Rebel Scum

        Expecting American politicians to care about America is racist, sexist and probably homophobic.

  31. R C Dean

    Am I the only one who finds it amusing that the party that provides a safe haven for virulent anti-Semites has two Jews as Presidential front-runners?

    Given their demonstrably poor judgment/impulse control, I can hardly wait to see what Tlaib, Omar, and the rest of the Jew-haters in the Dem party have to say if Bernie or Mini-Mike is the nominee.

    • The Other Kevin

      I also am amused. It’s also great that they accused the Republicans of being the party of old white men, but their top tier is Bernie, Bloomberg, and Biden.

    • The Other Kevin

      Also they accuse Trump of being racist and sexist but have no proof, while Bloomberg is in the race one week and there are actual recordings of him saying racist and sexist things.

      So many rakes to step on, so little time.

    • Chipwooder

      Bernie enthusiastically embraces Linda Sarsour, so….

      • Pope Jimbo

        Muslim chicks Bernie for some reason. Omar is full on Bernie lover. I think Tlaib is too. My guess is that they know Bernie would have no problems sending (((them))) to the new gulags once elected.

        Mini-Mike won’t get the Squad’s endorsement if he wins though.

  32. zwak

    OK, who replaced the good music with Steely Dan?

    #howdareyou!

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Blow me!

      • Sensei

        You do know where the band name came from, right?

        So related, but a different kind of stimulation.

      • KSuellington

        Good taste isn’t always appreciated Yusuf. That’s my favorite SD song. That band has always been appreciated by musicians for a reason.

  33. Pope Jimbo

    Remember that muslim doctor who moved out to the sticks in Minnesoda and had 15 minutes of fame for calling his Trump supporting neighbors a bunch of racists? Well he’s written a book and still holds out hope for the mouth breathing Trump supporters.

    Turns out he has parlayed that fame into a better gig and moved to the UAE with his family.

    MP: While you continue to work at the medical center in Dawson, you also have begun working for New York University at its campus in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Why did you accept that position?

    AV: The offer from NYU Abu Dhabi came as a surprise. NYU as a university and Abu Dhabi as a city embody the values of wisdom, diversity, inclusion, and equity that I want to stand for. It became an unexpected, but welcomed, turn in the story for my family and me. Both Musarrat and I have strong family ties in nearby Dubai, which further sealed the deal. We now get the best of both worlds: Dawson, Minnesota, and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. How crazy, but amazing!

    Yeah, diversity, inclusion and equity are exactly what I think of when I think of the UAE. Am I a horrible person for hoping that one of his kids is gay and this guy has to flee because of all that diversity in the Mid East?

    • R C Dean

      Abu Dhabi as a city embody the values of wisdom, diversity, inclusion, and equity that I want to stand for.

      *outright, prolonged laughter*

      I wonder what he means by “wisdom, diversity, inclusion, and equity”.

      • UnCivilServant

        I have the statement here.

        Ahem – “Shut up, Bigot.”

      • Raston Bot

        they treat all of their slaves equally horrible.

      • Pope Jimbo

        What is funny is that the guy is “of Indian descent” himself. I wonder if he notices how the Arabs in the UAE treat the Indian help?

        Or have they swapped out the Indian maids for Philipinas now?

    • leon

      Yeah, diversity, inclusion and equity are exactly what I think of when I think of the UAE. Am I a horrible person for hoping that one of his kids is gay and this guy has to flee because of all that diversity in the Mid East?

      What makes you think he won’t be pushing his kid off that building himself? He seems oh so tolerant.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Of course it was NYU.

  34. UnCivilServant

    On the plus side, I no longer have to go to the meeting this afternoon.

    On the minus side, I’m not so sure my lunch is going to stay down.

    On the plus side, I can read the reactions to the Banker of Stirnberg.

    On the minus side, I have a barf bucket next to my seat.

    • AlmightyJB

      I’m feeling a little rough today. Self-induced though.

    • Drake

      Depending on what happens, that barf bucket could be a real plus.

      Feel better.

    • Nephilium

      You know the poisoning the poor with meat upthread was a joke, right?

      Feel better, stay hydrated.

      • UnCivilServant

        I didn’t even see it.

        With any luck this will fade and I won’t have any problems for the weekend.

    • egould310

      “ Bloomberg has since gotten the support of Sam Waterston and Ted Danson, former “Project Runway” star Tim Gunn and singer John Mellencamp. Actor Michael Douglas is a big fan of Bloomberg.”

      Ok Boomers.

    • AlexinCT

      Then he went to hell?

  35. Semi-Spartan Dad

    ViacomCBS Posts Loss as It Unveils Streaming Plans
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/viacomcbs-posts-loss-11582204261

    In its first earnings report since the merger closed, ViacomCBS VIAC -14.82% posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $258 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with a profit of $887 million, or $1.44 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were 97 cents a share.

    Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of $1.32 a share, or $1.41 a share on an adjusted basis.

    I think we’re starting to see the impact from the industry shift to streaming. Maybe even as late as last year, some of the cable CEOs were still stating that the impact of streaming on the industry will be negligible at best and largely ignored it. ViacomCBS has been dragging their feet and now their stock is getting slaughtered. The article doesn’t provide a reason for the unexpected loss, but I’m guessing that’s a major factor since the CEO focused the earnings call on their upcoming streaming service.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      There’s still a reckoning to come in streaming. Currently I have 3 services. Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+. Plus OTA. Netflix is about to go away as there’s nothing drawing us to it.

      What I’m not going to do is subscribe to 7 more services to get access to the 8 shows I watch. I’m simply going to find better things to do with my time than watch TV.

      • We're not saying BEAM's an alien, but . . .

        I’m simply going to find better things to do with my time than watch TV.

        So much this. I can’t believe how much free time I’ve got (and how much calmer I am) now that I’ve largely stopped watching TV, particularly news programs of any stripe. Local evening news is Of The Devil.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I turned on local news last night to get the SNOWMAGEDDON forecast.

        I was tired of it in about three minutes flat.

      • Private Chipperbot

        Same here. We haven’t opened Netflix in two weeks. Disney and Amazon have plenty. We’ll do a month of Netflix again when Umbrella Academy comes back.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Yep, I think four services is our limit. We have HBO, Prime, Hulu, and Disney+. I dropped Netflix to add Disney. We have Showtime too, but it came with my student Spotify bundle so I don’t count (or ever watch) it.

        We don’t watch that much, mostly at night. I hate commercials and not having to waste my time sitting through those is worth a premium even though we’re actually far ahead since cutting the cord.

        I’ve enjoyed rediscovering older shows that couldn’t be made today. Married with Children and 3rd Rock from the Sun are in my recent rotation.

      • Fatty Bolger

        We have Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, and Disney. We’ll subscribe to services like HBO every once in a while just to watch a particular series. Amazon makes that easy, and they’re constantly offering sales (for instance, 3 months of HBO right now for $10 a month). Add it all up and it’s still much cheaper and more convenient than cable ever was.

      • Agent Cooper

        AVOD will supplant SVOD as the way to go. You still get ads, just not as many and not as often.

        Peacock (NBC’s new platform) is AVOD. Other AVOD platforms (basic Hulu, Pluto TV, Tubi, Crackle, etc)

        Now, AVOD was a way to go to reach the original quality that SVOD platforms develop, HOWEVER, what people watch most on even those streaming platforms are not original shows (Netflix’s biggest audiences were for The Office and Friends) Sometimes you get a big original hit (Stranger Things)

        I say this because I am currently working with a friend in the business on developing an AVOD streaming platform with a potentially big brand name.

      • Agent Cooper

        AVOD = ad-supported video on demand
        SVOD = subscription video on demand

    • Rhywun

      O frabjous day – another streaming service!

    • Fatty Bolger

      Doesn’t sound like it’s really a new service, just an expansion/re-branding of CBS All Access.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Prompt, effective response

    In response to the surge in far-right extremism in Germany, the country’s parliament, the Bundestag, approved new gun laws last month, further tightening regulations on firearms that are already among the world’s most stringent.

    After the bill was approved, federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said the government’s goal was to make sure there were “no weapons in the hands of extremists.”

    Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht said, “I do not want to wait until arms get into the hands of right-wing extremists.”

    But of course. Just one more law, and hate will be a thing of the past.

    • Rebel Scum

      They should make sure wrongthinkers don’t get healthcare either.

  37. Pope Jimbo

    My favorite part of the debates? Watching the lamos wave their hands around in the air begging a panel of journalos for permission to speak.

    You guys want to be the leader of the free world, but you let yourself get bullied into waving your arm in the air like a 2nd grader that has to go piss? Fuck that noise.

    If they had any brains they would have just sat there with a bemused look on their face and only talk when called on. If some other candidate throws shade at you, just giggle and shake your head like you are watching a puppy looking cute while clumsily trying to do something.

    • Urthona

      The Yang method.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Sure I might not want Yang to be the next president, but I also don’t think he is a miserable person. I’d probably be able to have a beer with him and not end up rage quitting. We could just stick to neutral topics (like how much we dig Asian chicks).

      • Viking1865

        I’d be ecstatic if we replaced the ~100 federal welfare programs with UBI and fired all the bureaucrats who administer it, but of course that was never gonna happen.

  38. Spudalicious

    The Nazi going on a Muslim killing spree is ironic, given that they were allies in WWll.

  39. KSuellington

    Listening to the Blogojevich presser linked above. As RAHein above said it’s easy to see how the man got elected. I didn’t imagine I could feel sorry for the guy, I haven’t even thought of him really. I don’t remember all the specifics of why he went away other than it was for trading Obama’s seat for something. Even if he was guilty as shit, 8 years does seem like plenty for a nonviolent crime (not counting crimes like Madoff which financially ruined many people). I just cant see the justification or putting someone away for more than a handful of years for a non violent crime not of the Madoff variety.

    • Private Chipperbot

      Maybe a month before the election Trump will pardon anyone in prison for non violent drug offenses. Heads will explode across all political groups.

      • Urthona

        He already did that for a number of people.

      • Agent Cooper

        He even had a Super Bowl commercial about it.

      • B.P.

        A coworker of mine (they are all leftists) mentioned that ad yesterday. It simply did not compute that a black woman was thanking Trump for righting a criminal justice wrong. She really didn’t understand it.

    • leon

      Sigh. I can see both sides. I tend to lean to the side of mercy and clemency, but at the same time, my heart is very hardened towards corrupt public officials. Using public office to enrich yourself is bad, and so my Pity takes a beating when hearing the sob story about it.

      • KSuellington

        Yeah I can absolutely see your point, really that’s probably about where I stand anyway with regards to corruption with public officials. The man did hard time and I’m not shedding tears for him, but 8 years in a cage is probably enough for what he was accused of.

      • wdalasio

        Using public office to enrich yourself is bad, and so my Pity takes a beating when hearing the sob story about it.

        I’m inclined to agree. However, how many instances do you have where precisely that happens and nothing whatsoever happens as a result. And I’m not even talking, “they got away with it”. I’m talking “they did it in full public view, didn’t have a moment’s conscience about it, and they’re still considered pillars of the community.”. It seems to me like that’s the overwhelming majority of instances of people using public office to enrich themselves. And, if that’s the case, are the prosecutions really for using public office to enrich themselves, or simply for not being part of the favored group.

    • Gadfly

      I just cant see the justification or putting someone away for more than a handful of years for a non violent crime not of the Madoff variety.

      For a Madoff-like case, I’d say 5 years for punishment, plus restitution. If it takes a lifetime of working at prison rates to pay restitution, so be it.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    “ Bloomberg has since gotten the support of Sam Waterston and Ted Danson, former “Project Runway” star Tim Gunn and singer John Mellencamp. Actor Michael Douglas is a big fan of Bloomberg.”

    What more do you need, America?

    • Juvenile Bluster

      Does daytime TV still show commercials of Sam Waterston selling shady life insurance, or did that go away when Law and Order did?

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      “I gave her everything I had,” DIRubba told The News. “She had me drained… physically…”

      It’s hardly even a euphemism

    • Fatty Bolger

      Interesting, but yeah, that’s terrible writing. It took three reporters to put out that drivel?

  41. Juvenile Bluster

    Been paying attention to Roger Stone’s sentencing hearing. Turns out that the government’s claim that the first set of prosecutors (who wrote the initial sentencing memo) actually didn’t lie to the DOJ about sentencing, despite some claims (per the new prosecutor). Judge has struck down some enhancements the government had originally asked for but upheld some others. I’m thinking 3-5 years, mostly for the witness intimidation, until he’s pardoned by Trump tomorrow.

    • Juvenile Bluster

      With friends like these…

      The judge moves on to look at the history and characteristics of the defendant.

      “Certain themes emerge.” Quotes letters sent by Stone’s friends saying Stone was referred to as a provocateur and dirty trickster. Points out these were letters sent *on his behalf.*

    • R C Dean

      Turns out that the government’s claim that the first set of prosecutors (who wrote the initial sentencing memo) actually didn’t lie to the DOJ about sentencing, despite some claims (per the new prosecutor).

      What evidence did they put forward that their original recommendation was approved by Main Justice? Because Main was pretty clear (for what its worth) that what they approved wasn’t what was given to the judge.

      I know: when a bunch of proven liars accuse each other of lying, who to believe?

      Prediction: Trump commutes, but does not pardon. May or may not happen before the election.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Fleas take over circus

    The black-led movement #NotAgainSU launched the sit-in at Crouse-Hinds Hall with more than 20 students Monday to protest the administration’s handling of racial incidents at the university. They charged that the school failed to address issues of racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism and white supremacy that prompted #NotAgainSU’s initial protests in November.

    ——-

    Protesters called for the punishment of students involved in alleged bias incidents, the creation of more diversity initiatives and the resignation of administrators for their response to the incidents. They singled out Chancellor Kent Syverud, Department of Public Safety Chief Bobby Maldonado, DPS Associate Chief John Sardino and Dolan Evanovich, senior vice president for enrollment and student experience.

    The student group, camped out in the lobby of the building, vowed “escalated action” if the administrators don’t step down by Friday.

    Expel them and have them arrested for criminal trespass if they don’t vacate thirty minutes after notification.

    Why do these imbeciles stay, if the atmosphere is so poisonous? They are risking life and limb on a daily basis.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Why would the inmates leave when they can be running the asylum?

    • B.P.

      “We refuse to remain silent in the face of this onslaught of racist incidents that later turn out to be hoaxes.”

  43. The Late P Brooks

    “Certain themes emerge.” Quotes letters sent by Stone’s friends saying Stone was referred to as a provocateur and dirty trickster. Points out these were letters sent *on his behalf.*

    “He’s mostly harmless, Your Honor.”

  44. IntraveneousWoodChipper

    How can a progressive, democratic-socialist societies with “common sense” gun control legislation have a gun crime? I’ve been assured by many of my Betters that such a thing only happens in icky America!