Wednesday Morning Links

by | Feb 26, 2020 | Daily Links | 417 comments

Ha, Duke lost to lowly Wake Forest.  That’s hilarious.  MSU beat Iowa in the wild Big Ten. And Dayton won again as they chase a potential 1-seed.  Go Flyers!  On the ice, your winners were Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, NYR, Philly, Washington, Dallas, New Jersey, St Louis (in a crazy game over Chicago), Nashville, Minnesooooooda, Florida, and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.

Pretty much sums it up.

Across the pond, Napoli and Barcelona played to a listless 1-1 draw and Bayern Munich thumped Chelsea 3-0. Man City-Real Madrid and Lyon-Juventus play their first leg today.

French author Victor Hugo was born on this day. As were jeans-maker extraordinaire Levi Strauss, “Buffalo Bill” Cody, chemical magnate Herbert Henry Dow, hurler Grover Cleveland Alexander, cartoonist Tex Avery, comedic genius Jackie Gleason, rock-n-roll legend Fats Domino, “The Man In Black” Johnny Cash, Turkish strongman Recep Erdoğan, douchebag politician Tim Kaine, and rally car legend Sebastian Loeb.

My feelings exactly!

Alrighty then, let’s get to…the links!

I wonder if they’ll have Hot Pockets in the prison commissary? I wonder when they’ll start trying the people from the universities that took the money?  Is that coming anytime soon?

Accurate

If you thought the last Dem debate was a shitshow, you should have watched this one. Hoo-boy. That was absolute insanity. Also, how do they allocate tickets to these things? Do they find the craziest people outside and give them as many tickets as they want? Because that crowd added to the chaos.

The CDC pushes the panic button on the coronavirus. They’re joining the WHO, and every other government, who are shitting their pants over it.

Chicago fails at everything. Why don’t they just let these people become cops. It would probably be safer than what are patrolling the streets.

Damn, that’s a tough way to go. Also, that was either a big-ass suitcase or he’s Bloomberg-esque in stature.

Coming soon to a California reservoir near you.

I wonder how they’ll use this to steal more water from the Central Valley farmers? Because that’s the inevitable outcome here.

Fuck due process and fuck your oath of office, says NM governor. Jesus, these people are trying to lose every single supporter of individual rights that are out there.  I wonder, though, if there are that many left.

I just wanted to hear this for some reason. Also, midgets!

Go have a great day, friends!

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

417 Comments

  1. Yusef drives a Kia

    no water? no Smelt? HahHa! First?

    • WTF

      Who smelt it, dealt it.

      • Below Sea Level Hell Centro

        Sounds fishy.

  2. PieInTheSky

    I wonder if they’ll have Hot Pockets in the prison commissary? I wonder when they’ll start trying the people from the universities that took the money? Is that coming anytime soon? – what does a hot pocket taste like?

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Pizza, sort of…

      • PieInTheSky

        So to much salt and pineapple… got it

    • WTF

      Loneliness and failure.

      • Trigger Hippie

        *nods knowingly*

      • PieInTheSky

        Shame and tears?

    • UnCivilServant

      Freshly cooked, like lava. Let it cool a little bit before eating.

      • PieInTheSky

        The worst I burned my tongue was from a local cheese pastry. The pastry was cool already on the outside but the cheese was melted and very hot, and when I took a bite it oozed on my tongue.

    • sloopyinca

      You know what, I’ve never had one. And hopefully never will. The whole thing just looks like a bad idea.

      • robc

        ditto.

      • Below Sea Level Hell Centro

        I’m waiting for the deep dish version before I partake.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Do You Slab? or just Fuck Off?

      • Below Sea Level Hell Centro

        Well, I’m near Slab City but I do enjoy fucking off…

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Ever Been?it’s a lot of fun on Saturday Night,
        Welcome!

      • Below Sea Level Hell Centro

        No, it looks interesting. I’ve been meaning to visit Salvation Mountain… Need to get out there before summer hits.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        it’s a good idea actually, convenient, and not horribad,
        kids like them, I don’t eat bread so I won’t touch em,

      • Not Adahn

        microwaveable calzones are a bad idea?

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, if you’re comparing them to calzones, then someone has manages to inject distilled disappointment into the shell.

      • Not Adahn

        The problem with all frozen Italian foods is that their tendency to make you crave more is far in excess of their satiating ability. Probably something to do with their salt content. But in any case, you can eat 2500 calories of them in a sitting.

      • sloopyinca

        “Calzones are stupid.”
        -Leslie Knope

      • robc

        If it had been anything else, I would have been seriously disappointed.

      • Nephilium

        I was coming down to make sure someone linked that.

    • pistoffnick

      I’ve got something hot in my pocket IYKWIMAITYD!

  3. AlexinCT

    .The CDC pushes the panic button on the coronavirus. They’re joining the WHO, and every other government, who are shitting their pants over it.

    I remind everyone that the democrats have been meeting for a while on how to collapse the economy so they can beat Trump at thee polls. Take this corona virus thing with two wedges of lime.

    • WTF

      Yeah, this 24/7 media hysteria over what is essentially a bad case of the flu most likely has an agenda behind it. It’s reportedly receding in China, although you can’t really trust the Chicoms data.

      • sloopyinca

        Some of us “founders” were discussing this yesterday. There will be consequences here. Serious consequences, IMO. I doubt they’ll be deaths from the virus but will be serious interruptions in our supply chains.

        TEUs at west coast ports are down YTD 8.5% at Long Beach, 6.6% at LA, 5% at Oakland and 20% at the NWSA terminals. And iron is about 10-12% off from just before the virus hit.

        When production of transportation parts that are a part of regular PMs for trucks are down 75%, and the same for heavy equipment, how are things going to get moved as efficiently? When a handful of parts don’t get to assembly plants here, how can manufacturing continue at its regular pace? When food packaging isn’t delivered to canneries or other production facilities, how does that food get to market?

        We will likely see few deaths here, but we may see a serious impact on the price and availability of the things we take for granted.

      • sloopyinca

        Of course they all think I’m crazy for saying this.

      • WTF

        Oh, I think you’re probably right, and the left is already prepping the battle space to blame Trump by complaining that the extra $2.5 billion allocated to the CDC isn’t enough.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        So fucking stupid. Trump’s a germophobe and a mild authoritarian on things he doesn’t like, similar to Bloomberg.

        He’s going to err on the side of caution.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        well you are crazy…

      • sloopyinca

        I wish you’d have been there, Swiss.
        ::sobs::

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s likely to pop the China bubble. The largest effects are going to be economic.

      • AlexinCT

        This has already happened. The Chinese economy – which was already drastically exaggerated to keep western money, businesses, and opportunities to steal intellectual property flowing – is now in tatters. A large swath of businesses started moving out of China during the trade battles with Trump and now this virus has pushed a whole slew of others that chose to weather that out (see Apple). The totalitarian response to the virus has also created some serious problem for the totalitarian government. The Chinese people participating in the top down created modernization & economic expansion project were willing to put up with a ton of shit from their bosses – including a massive level of corruption that made the powerful real rich (remember that capitalism makes those with money powerful, while collectivism makes those with power rich, and that’s a fact) – as long as they profited from it too. But more importantly, was the promise of security. That illusion has been blown now, and there is no going back.

      • The Last American Hero

        So much optimism. I used to believe that. Now I believe they’ll be back to their regularly scheduled programming by January 1.

      • AlexinCT

        I will not dispute this line of thinking at all, Sloop. It is inconceivable that the weakness built into our global supply chain will not stress and break under the strain of something as vast as a pandemic, and even one of this small nature. Anyone that pays attention would clearly know how vulnerable these things have become because of the combination of bad ideas that now keep this thing working (and only keep it working under ideal conditions).

      • sloopyinca

        I’m curious what percentage of manufacturing that is reliant on Chinese manufacturing has switched to JIT inventorying. I’m guessing it’s a lot. Which is why I think this will potentially have a serious impact.

      • Tundra

        I think a lot. I remember the delivery times back in the day were really, really long, so JIT wasn’t even a possibility. That changed, however.

        I don’t source anything from China, but I have some tooling being made there and my dude is getting nervous.

      • AlexinCT

        There is no “potentially”. This is already hitting a lot of companies (see all the ones that have revised their earnings and reported so). Most are admitting the virus has impacted their supply chain. Some are not. The real serious hit however, and I admit it will hit everyone, including us because we are an integral downstream, part of this supply chain, is to the Chinese economy. The Chicomss have been exaggerating their economic numbers since forever, and their economy was far weaker than what people believed, and I am already seeing signs that this thing will kick them so hard in the teeth that there will be no denying it. Looks like the top men in China will be doing all sorts of circus acts to make sure their grip on power stays solid. And when these sorts get antsy to keep the people in line, bad shit happens (see Argentina)

      • The Last American Hero

        Or Tianamen Square, except this time the media is sucking commie cock, so it will barely get covered.

        Shit gets back to normal by year end.

    • Homple

      I’ve read in several places that Nancy Messonier, a CDC official making most of the noise is Rod Rosenstein’s sister. Yes, that Rod Rosenstein.

      • AlexinCT

        Every time you dig deeper into one of these latest & greatest anti-orange man things, you find the same people (or people directly connected to them) behind the drama. They are desperate to bring this guy down to keep their own asses safe from being exposed as criminal entities that abused our system for their own gain.

  4. PieInTheSky

    The CDC pushes the panic button on the coronavirus. They’re joining the WHO, and every other government, who are shitting their pants over it.

    Most cases in Europe are in Italy, unsurprising eyetalians are a bunch of unhygienic bastards.

    The problem is that there are a lot of Romanians in Italy, Italians in Romania and a lot of back and forth, more probably than any other country. I hope we don;t get that shit.

    Some Romanians – including a couple of friends – stocked up on some provisions in case the supermarkets empty. I though of doing the same but seems looks a hassle and also I realized I have no idea what to buy. Maybe some pasta, some meat to freeze, some cans of fish… I never though about having food stocks for more than 3 days.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      I feel safe out here in the desert…

      • PieInTheSky

        Yes but how are the local wine bars?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        What is thing thing of which you speak?
        Tall Cans!………later today

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, when grape juice begins to rot…

    • sloopyinca

      This is foreign to me. I can’t imagine having less than a couple months worth of food at any time. Not for shit like this, but because when Kroger or H-E-B has a deal running on some steaks or ground beef under $2 a lb, I have to buy a bunch of it.

      • robc

        Are you a mini-Mormon?

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

        I assume he’s just a parent. Kids are eating machines.

      • sloopyinca

        Nah, just a bargain hunter.
        I bought 8 packages of skirt steaks the other day about 3 lbs each. I probably already have 10 in the freezer. But they were “buy one get one free” at Kroger, and I can’t pass that up at $3.50 a pound. And I will Vac seal them and put them in the deep freezer and they’ll last several months. right next to the three turkeys I bought the day after thanksgiving.

      • blighted_non_millenial

        Hard no on the Kroger meat. It’s uniformly horrible around the ATL. If it’s on sale, it’s about an hour away from needing to be thrown away.

      • sloopyinca

        Around here, it’s still quite good. Probably because it’s all from within 100 or so miles. H-E-B is still better, but Kroger is fine. Besides, it’s skirt steak. It’s gonna get a long marinade anyway most of the time.

      • PieInTheSky

        I don’t like frozen meat that much because I never remember to defrost it in advance. Also I am unsure if I can still cook it medium rare after it was frozen.

      • Nephilium

        As long as you defrost it under 40 F (in the fridge), you’re fine. As a bonus, freezing is another way to kill trichinosis in pork.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        Also I am unsure if I can still cook it medium rare after it was frozen.

        It has never killed me.

      • sloopyinca

        Also I am unsure if I can still cook it medium rare after it was frozen.

        You serious, Clark?

      • PieInTheSky

        Not everyone like well done steak

      • sloopyinca

        No, I mean not being able to cook a steak medium rare (which is overcooking it, btw) once it’s been frozen.
        You just thaw it out and it’s back to being regular uncooked meat. It’ll cook just fine.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Don’t refreeze, that’s about the only way you can get yourself in trouble.

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

      Essentially, stock up on everything you already like, so if the threat never materializes, you can just eat through your stocks of whatever. Whatever you buy, it should be shelf-stable, so you don’t have to depend on refrigeration or freezing to keep it edible. Dried and canned. The spousal unit and I were having this same discussion last night (although we already limit our contact with large groups of people during the winter, since we’re both wary of obvious vectors . . . ).

    • I. B. McGinty

      “Most cases in Europe are in Italy, unsurprising eyetalians are a bunch of unhygienic bastards.”

      Hey that’s a little uncalled for.

      *sniff check*

      Oops. Never mind.

    • The Last American Hero

      If you stock up on bullets, you can obtain whatever supplies you need from others.

      #Y2Ksurvivaltips

    • pistoffnick

      “I never though about having food stocks for more than 3 days”

      {Shudders}

      {Looks at 3 months worth of stocked food supplies}

      {Feels better}

      I even have emergency stuff at work (2 days of food, stored water, flashlight, fleshlight, extra clothes). I night be a tad paranoid though YMMV

      • Tundra

        …fleshlight…

        This explains a lot.

    • A Leap at the Wheel

      I have 2 months of food and water laid up, plus probably another 2 months of just “shit we plannin on eatin” in my house. Yes, I too only have 2 to 3 days worth of food in my house, officer.

  5. robc

    Not sure they can steal water from the Central Valley, as it doesn’t have any of its own.

    This goes back to a discussion yesterday, and property rights in water. They sure don’t have any natural law rights to water as nature didnt provide the valley with much of it.

    • sloopyinca

      They’re stealing water from people who have a contractual right to it with the state. Those farmers bought land knowing they were entitled to a certain amount of acre/feet of water. Then the state just told them to fuck off. So yes, they’re stealing it from them.

      • robc

        “Contract with the state”…you are funny, tell me another one.

        “I’m altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.” — California

  6. Hyperion

    Gunz are even worse than you think!

    150 million people have been killed since 2007, when Bernie voted to exempt the gun manufacturers from liability. More than all the wars! Including Vietnam! From that point on, carnage on our streets, and I want to tell you, if I’m elected [turns awkwardly to camera and points], I’m coming for you, and gun manufacturers, I’m going to take you on and I’m going … blurble [drowned out in cheers].

    Whoaa, Joe, I didn’t think you could outdo Corn Pop. You done just outdone Corn Pop. Time to grab your drool bib and sit down, old man.

    • robc

      1/2 the US population has been killed by guns in the last 13 years?

      • straffinrun

        It wasn’t even just a slip of the tongue. The rest of the answer leaves no doubt he meant million and not thousand or hundred.

      • AlexinCT

        Your “crying wolf” tactic is more effective when you can claim it affects millions. The only time they are immune to millions of deaths is when you remind them of the score the marxist-collectivists or the fascist-collectivists racked up during the last century. Then they hate the whole millions trope and tell you these were not real socialists.

      • Hyperion

        Socialism has never been tried yet! We’ll kill billions this time!

        There’s a lecturer on the circuit giving a presentation at one of my client’s. The guy’s advocating for a ‘3 billion person planet’. At least they’ve moderated their Malthuianism somewhat from their 500 million person quota.

        Let’s see, so they only want to kill off 4 billion or so now? I would say to this guy, you first, jackass.

      • AlexinCT

        Oh, now fucking way. These people want to cull the masses, but they mean everyone else….

      • UnCivilServant

        I knew immigration was out of control, but that’s just absurd.

    • WTF

      Where the hell is Joe’s family? They should be taking him by the arm and telling him “come on, Joe, it’s time to go home.”

      • R C Dean

        Where the hell is Joe’s family?

        Dead or on the lam, I believe.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I thought they were all working cushy jobs that they have no idea how to do.

  7. Rufus the Monocled

    RE NM governor threatening the Sheriff. You won’t lose this guy in the comments. He’s a fan. I wonder if he feels the same way about enforcing immigration laws. Somehow? I doubt it.

    “I’m sure these same red neck Sheriffs would have no problem taking guns away from Muslims, Mexicans or coloreds. Remember that you are a law enforcement officer. Enforce the law.”

    Also. Can the Sheriff do that and repel the governor’s demands? Does he have that kind of authority?

    • Tonio

      I’m guessing not.

    • Tejicano

      In reading the article it sounded to me like a sheriff somewhere said he would use discretion in enforcing this red flag law. Sounded to me like he was saying he would blindly go out and swat every citizen who somebody claimed was dangerous. I guess that didn’t sit well with her majesty the governor.

  8. RBS

    We had the “debate” on last night at the station. I don’t remember hearing anyone talk about policy just the candidates yelling over each other, yelling at each other and, the most hilarious, Bloomberg slipping up and stating he bought some Senators.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      I watched a little last night while I waited for my wife to start Better Call Saul. It was the part where Bernie was grilled on Cuba. After he was booed, he sheepishly replied “Really?”

  9. PieInTheSky

    Laws against wrongdoing may originate in justice intuitions that are part of universal human nature, according to the adaptationist theory of the origins of criminal law. This theory proposes that laws can be traced to neurocognitive mechanisms and ancestral selection pressures. According to this theory, laypeople can intuitively recreate the laws of familiar and unfamiliar cultures, even when they lack the relevant explicit knowledge. Here, to evaluate this prediction, we conduct experiments with Chinese and Sumerian laws that are millennia old; stimuli that preserve in fossil-like form the legal thinking of ancient lawmakers. We show that laypeople’s justice intuitions closely match the logic and content of those archaic laws. We also show covariation across different types of justice intuitions: interpersonal devaluation of offenders, judgements of moral wrongness, mock-legislated punishments and perpetrator shame—suggesting that multiple justice intuitions may be regulated by a common social-evaluative psychology

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-0827-8

  10. Certified Public Asshat

    Jury duty today…are we all hostile toward it?

    • PieInTheSky

      why hostile?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Compulsory state service I assume.

      • PieInTheSky

        I mean it is sort of necessary though rather than having juries of just the people who wanna be there

      • Florida Man

        I think it should work like notary public. A little book work/test and a fee and you go into a pool and if selected paid for your time at a better rate than 10 bucks a day or whatever it is.

      • Jarflax

        The whole point of the jury pool is that it is supposed to be an actual random selection of citizens rather than agents of the State who decide questions of fact in a trial. I am fine with it being compulsory. Also Nullification is an essential aspect of common law justice. If a law or a particular application of a law is offensive to justice the jury is there to say no. Jurors should be instructed about this.

      • leon

        There was a bill a few years ago in the state house that would have obligated judges to inform jurors of their right to find not guilty if they felt the law was unjust. unfortunatly it didn’t pass. But even if it did, it would have been neutered by the Judges, like they did with Section 1984, which basically said “No Qualified Immunity”, and then the courts created Qualified Immunity.

        But imagine the head poping of jurists if the bill had become law.

      • Rhywun

        That’s fine in theory but independent thought is almost always weeded out of the jury pool well before a trial starts.

      • Florida Man

        Have you met your “peers”? I want somebody on my jury that can at least read.

      • Enough About Palin

        “Compulsory state service I assume.”

        Not if you’re not a registered voter.

      • Shirley Knott

        Hah. That depends on the state. Michigan goes by driver’s license and ignores registered to vote.

    • PieInTheSky

      Doug Stanhope had a bit on jury duty

    • UnCivilServant

      I’m agnostic towards it.

      The jury I nearly served on was a civil suit regarding medical malpractice. ie, the sort of thing a lot of this lot say the courts should be adjudicating.

      • robc

        I put away a guy for 1 year and a $1000 fine. We found not guilty on the bullshit felony charge that would have put him away for a long time (repeat felon). Guilty on 2 misdemeanors. Him and his lawyer were all but high fiving in the courtroom.

        He deserved it, but not for that charge.

    • robc

      Nah, its a great chance to practice nullification!

      • PieInTheSky

        See the doug stanhope bit 🙂

      • Certified Public Asshat

        When I was here earlier this month, I was waiting to see if I would be picked for a domestic violence case. I guess I didn’t have all the details though.

      • Hyperion

        Go head and try that and let us know how it goes. Someone has to take one for the tribe.

      • robc

        I would have, but the one I was on was over a legitimate crime.

    • Tonio

      Mixed emotions. It’s inconvenient. The one time I reported for duty I had to park in the ghetto, go through security, and wait around the courthouse only to get sent home. It was a supermarket trip and fall case, so I’m guessing the store settled at the last minute rather than risk a jury.

      But as robc noted, you might luck out and get a chance to nullify a bad law.

      • robc

        My last time, before the vior dire started, I figured no chance a libertarian engineer asshole would ever end up on the case. Then they started asking the questions…I looked around at the other potential jurors and said “Fuck, I am on this jury.”

        I made sure I was foreman. I ran a freakin efficient jury room. The trail lasted 3 days, closing was Friday morning and I my bachelor party was that night.

      • Nephilium

        Cuyahoga county has the worst jury duty system I’ve heard of. When your name comes up, you need to go downtown to the Justice center and be there at 08:00 every day for a minimum of a week. No internet, phones were banned (which was ignored by most of the people there), and you’re stuck in a waiting room. Every once in a while, they randomly select a group of people to walk into a courtroom, and then you wait in there to see if you are selected as a jury member or alternate. Otherwise, back into the waiting room. If you get assigned a case, you’re on the case until it’s over. If the case lasted less then your five day minimum time, back to the waiting room. All this for the princely sum of $20/day, which doesn’t even cover the downtown parking.

      • robc

        Two weeks in Louisville, although after the first day, you may or may not have to go in each day. The night before you find out if your number is in the list. Most days you are there for an hour then get sent home. Unless you end up on a jury.

        KY paid $7 per day, which did cover downtown parking, as long as your parked in the lot with the special deal with the courthouse. Net of $2. And they send you a friggin w2.

      • Nephilium

        Yeah. This you had to show up every day, lunch was at 12:00, and they would start sending people home around 16:30 or so depending on the court schedules.

      • robc

        It was rare if by lunch they hadn’t sent most people home. They brought in enough people for the theoretical docket for the day. But most cases settled, they would build the pools for the few that didnt, and maybe keep a small group around for the afternoon. Everyone else would be out before lunch. I exaggerated a bit at 1 hour, I think it was generally 2-3. There was a day when we had barely got checked in and they sent us all home. Everyone had plead or settled.

      • Raven Nation

        That, umm, sucks. I got a jury notice last month. The letter assigned me a group number. Called an automated line the night before and my group wasn’t one of the ones needed.

      • Spartacus

        That’s pretty much how it is here. The summons has a number. You call the automated line after 5:00 the day before and it will say something like “all numbers below 246 must report”. It’s always numbers below a certain cutoff, so when people get a summons they hope for a high number.

        I’ve been called several times, made it to voir dire twice, and was dismissed both times. It’s almost as if they don’t want pointy-headed professors on juries for some reason.

    • Hyperion

      “are we all hostile toward it?”

      Fuck jury duty. They can’t make you serve anyway, they can just make you come down there are waste and entire day.

      • Hyperion

        My spelling and grammar goes out the window just by thinking about it.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      are we all hostile toward it?

      No. If you truly believe in your principles, you should take part and make a difference. It’s more worthwhile than voting.

      • WTF

        Good luck getting on a jury for anything where your principles matter if you are honest about them. I almost got seated on a gun case but the prosecutor dismissed me on a peremptory challenge because I had been asked my opinion on gun control laws and I told them what I really thought.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I told them what I really thought.

        I see your mistake.

    • Pine_Tree

      I keep hoping I’ll get a chance to nullify. Hasn’t happened.

      Was foreman on a murder case about 10 years ago. 2 accused, tried jointly for murder of her (not his) 2yo. Prosecution dropped the case against boyfriend right before going to jury (they hadn’t proven anything on him and probably just kept it going to keep her from claiming his testimony was bought), and she was guilty – went away for life.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      And dismissed, apparently the main witness is sick

    • R C Dean

      If you believe the standard(ish) libertarian position that broad statutory prohibitions should be replaced with individual dispute resolution when actual rights have been violated, then, yeah, you kinda oughta put your money where you mouth is, and participate in individual dispute resolution when actual rights have been violated.

      And if the trial is for a victimless crime, then you kinda oughta put your money where your mouth is and nullify/hang the jury.

      If you don’t want a plenipotent state, then you need to participate in quasi-civic activities that keep it from expanding even more.

      • Tundra

        This.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        Yep.

    • The Last American Hero

      The chance to educate people on nullification? No way!

  11. Sensei

    A fun A-hed from today’s paywalled WSJ:

    Translating Harry Potter Into Yiddish Isn’t Totally Meshugge Despite the many obstacles, a quixotic publishing feat has generated some magic of its own

    Nikolaj Olniansky, the Yiddish publisher, acknowledged books involving magic aren’t quite kosher. “We had people sending messages, saying ‘Nobody is going to buy this,’ ” he said.

    Yet something magical is happening. The 1,000-volume print run of “Harry Potter un der filosofisher shteyn,” the Yiddish translation of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” sold out this month in 48 hours. A second printing is coming with more than 800 on order.

    And later in the article:

    Mr. Olniansky, the book’s publisher, picked between competing Yiddish translators, he said, settling on “a perfectionist in the best sense of the word.”

    That was Arun Viswanath, a 29-year-old New Yorker. His father is a finance professor from India who converted to Judaism, and his mother wrote a Yiddish-English dictionary.

    While growing up in New Jersey, Mr. Viswanath spoke Yiddish, Tamil and English at home and Hebrew at Jewish religious school. He majored in linguistics at Harvard University, he said, and is fluent in about 15 languages.

    Mr. Viswanath, who works at a startup, took on the task as a labor of love. The Sorcerer’s Stone translation required all of his skills and a lot of his time.

    • WTF

      But why?

      • JD is Unemployed

        Yiddish is the best language.

      • Bobarian LMD

        וועגן דעם,באַרען איר

        baren ir, vegn dem

        *English to Yiddish says this is “Fuck you, that is why”

        But Yiddish to english “About that, fuck you”

      • grrizzly

        Sounds like bad German.

      • Rhywun

        Yeah, Yiddish can be considered a dialect of German, with a lot of influence from Hebrew.

    • Hyperion

      Neither are metal. But AC/DC by far if you have to compare.

    • Naptown Bill

      Ooof. I mean, Zeppelin is probably the best choice; they were the first band described as “heavy metal”, I believe. Also, they’re the most famous band that kind of starts the genre’s split from rock. Cream should be an option, too. I could see an argument for GnR maybe a bit more readily than AC/DC, but neither one is really metal.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        I’m pretty sure Black Sabbath was the first band that was contemporaneously described as heavy metal, but I don’t have proof. It was a long time since I looked into it.

        Cream should be an option, too

        Haaaave you met my friend, Blue Cheer?

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOeOC16Jm9g
        Arguably, these guys where the first band to have heavy metal applied to them too. I don’t think there is a definitive answer.

        My dad had a bookshelf full of psychedelic rock and a hi-fi powerful enough to chip plaster. These bands seem to have fallen down the memory hole, but there was a lot of great fuzzed out rock that sounds more like modern stoner-metal than anything else out there.

    • The Last American Hero

      I’d say Zepp, for while they are not metal, they did the site and survey work for which the house of metal would be built upon.

    • A Leap at the Wheel

      Embrace the term Proto-Metal and tap Led Zeppelin.

  12. AlexinCT

    As I hear news like this, I keep having to remind myself that the people supporting this guy want to go back to marxism, because to them the neo-fascism we have now is too capitalist. And in case you still believe the Nazi’s were right wing, this is a good read to educate you otherwise.

      • AlexinCT

        It’s evil capitalist propaganda!

        /Bernie bro living in momma’s basement

  13. Not Adahn

    Pie, you made HX cry last night.

    • PieInTheSky

      Why? How? Who is HX?

      • Not Adahn

        Hayeksplosives. Apparently your country is too beautiful in 4k.

      • PieInTheSky

        I suspected but never knew the HX shorthand

      • PieInTheSky

        Also if you think my country is beautiful you should see my … neah not gonna say it

  14. UnCivilServant

    well, I’m off to training for a few hours

    • Not Adahn

      I’ve read our active shooter policy, and it’s just the “run, hide, fight” thing. Somehow this calls for a half day of training.

      • Sensei

        I think you should also “press the button that should never be pressed”.

      • Not Adahn

        Eh, if I’m running into the woods to put trees between me and a shooter, I’d be running away from the direction of the “I quit” button.

      • Bobarian LMD

        “press the button that should never be pressed”.

        They don’t like us to bring guns to work.

      • Not Adahn

        An active shooter would do less damage than the “I quit” button.

      • R C Dean

        “run, hide, fight”

        If you run towards the sound of gunfire, these are instructions for setting an ambush.

        I suggest that you spice up your half day of training by repeatedly asking about improvised weapons and small group tactics.

      • Not Adahn

        I’d rather not be a test case for red flag laws. I have too many upcoming matches.

      • R C Dean

        Oh, c’mon.

        “So, if there are two or three of us in position, I’m thinking the worst fighter should go first. If they go down, our combat effectiveness isn’t degraded that much. The best fighter goes second, so we have the best chance of bringing down the shooter faster. Anyone else on the team basically bats cleanup. Your thoughts?”

      • leon

        Door Kickers get two in the chest.

      • Not Adahn

        Yeah, The guy in White Settlement that stood up directly in front of the shotgun before drawing was very brave, but not a tactical exemplar.

      • R C Dean

        When our security team did a walkthrough, I basically have no “run” options – window doesn’t open, I’m at the dead end of a hall that opens into our reception area. I told them I’d be damned if I’d hide while my friends and colleagues were being gunned down. We had a pleasant chat about improvised weapons (“So, if you have to fight, what would you do?” I pointed to several useful items, including a knife, the other knife, and the fire extinguisher right outside my door).

        And nothing else happened.

      • Not Adahn

        That’s all true, and yet you don’t live in NY.

        Depending on which lab I’m in, I have some impressive wrenches.

        I wonder how effective 500mL of piranha would be…

      • Bobarian LMD

        I wonder how effective 500mL of piranha would be…

        Are you injecting it or snorting it? Don’t smoke it, it’s really harsh.

  15. Tundra

    Good morning, Sloopy, and thanks for all the fish, er, lynx.

    I couldn’t bring myself to watch one second of the clown show. Not even to point and laugh.

    I have, however, read a bunch of stuff on the coronavirus and have come to the conclusion that we will all die. But probably not from that.

    Thanks for the earworm, you bastard. Looks like I’ll have to bring out the big guns to kill it.

    Have a great day!

      • robc

        It is good to know I have made a small difference in the world.

      • Tundra

        Holy shit, it does!

      • robc

        Line lengths are longer than brain buffer size.

        I can’t take full credit for it. A college friend of mine suggested it to me one day when I was going insane because “Zippedy doo dah” was stuck in my head.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        Base line from Paranoid does the same thing for me, I think. But I’ll give this a try next time.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I don’t understand, you just replace one earworm with another? Good earworm though.

        The most effective way I found to get rid of an earworm is to finish the song, in your head.

  16. Lackadaisical

    Regarding that dam. I’m really curious why they said a pipe was their big priority. that won’t help you resist an earthquake with an earthen Dan

    • Lackadaisical

      ugh. early post.

      Dam*

      unless their plan is to have such a large pipe that they can lower the water level before the overtopping of the dam from the earthquake can cause total failure. sounds risky to me. I would guess they’re working on something else to rehab it.

    • PieInTheSky

      Well no need to be rude to Baker

      • PieInTheSky

        Baker being a job makes more sens as a last name than a first name

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        Maybe it’s a family name. (Buna ziua, Pie!)

    • straffinrun

      That article didn’t give his height. You’d think that would be pertinent.

      • Viking1865

        6 foot 1.

      • WTF

        According to Wikipedia (I know) he is 6’1″.

      • straffinrun

        How about IQ? Is he a mental midget perhaps?

      • whiz

        football-reference also lists 6’1″ for him. That is a little small for pro quarterbacks these days — that ties for 60th out of 73 quarterbacks who played in the NFL in 2019. (FWIW, Kyler Murray was last at 5’10”, Russell Wilson next-to-last at 5’11”.)

      • Rebel Scum

        That article didn’t give his height.

        “News” media often comes up short.

    • Tundra

      Looks like that chick the Count is always linking.

      • PieInTheSky

        Angela Merkel?

      • AlexinCT

        WOAH!

    • PieInTheSky

      I aint clicking but lemme guess:.

      sports
      chug a beer
      slap a hottie on the ass
      work on your vintage car
      Start a bar fight

      Am I close?

      • AlexinCT

        No peeing standing up?

      • Florida Man

        1. Drink a whiskey neat
        2. Fix something, anything
        3. Swallow your emotions
        4. Open a pickle jar
        5. Forget a birthday/anniversary

      • Tejicano

        What are these “emotions” of which you speak?

      • Nephilium

        So this is guilt, huh? In the past, I’ve always just counteracted this feeling with other emotions, like sugar or drunk.

        –Better Off Ted

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        Underrated show.

      • Rebel Scum

        ^

      • Florida Man

        What are these “emotions-

        Exactly

      • Bobarian LMD

        If you had your period you’d know, you insensitive bastard!

        *runs off to cry in bathroom*

    • WTF

      So what is a man-period? Bleeding out your ass? Seems like a trip to the doctor would be in order.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Hemorrhoid surgery is nothing to joke about.

      • Mojeaux

        I begged for that when I was about 7 months pregnant with XY TD. They wouldn’t do it.

        We now have a name for it: AOF. Ass On Fire.

    • straffinrun

      I remember my first period like it was yesterday. The bleeding, the mood swings, the bloating.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      4. Recognize This Experience Actually Enhances Your Masculinity – By Dismantling It

      Damn, not masculine until you menstruate.

    • Suthenboy

      Gah! You made me click on an Everyday Feminism link!

      Now I have to go take a shower.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Why so pissy? Are you on your period?

      • Suthenboy

        You have no idea

      • AlexinCT

        Chlorine or Ammonia?

      • Bobarian LMD

        And a really stiff brush.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Optional answer: Mix them, it’s the only way to be sure.

    • PieInTheSky

      Everyone deserves help

    • Suthenboy

      You are asking seriously?

      • AlexinCT

        Yes, I am Suthen. I can’t fucking make sense out of the disconnect that our legal process admits we will be destroyed if people are allowed to come here just to suck at the teat of the productive, while the illegal crowd is encouraged to do just that and bring us closer to the brink.

      • Rebel Scum

        “Healthcare/food/housing/etc. at the expense of the American taxpayer is a human right.” – Bolshevik Bernie

    • KSuellington

      It seems as if you hate poor brown people Alex. Yes, I actually caught almost that verbatim accusation about this thing yesterday on NPR as I was shuffling through the stations when the sports talk got boring.

      • AlexinCT

        I hate freeloaders. I am a big advocate of changing the current INS immigration policies because they suck, but I am absolutely against the importation of a new government-tit-sucking class of people just so team blue can rig elections in their favor with more ease. If these freeloaders are brown, black, white, red, yellow, green, or purple, I don’t give a flying fuck: I am not gonna be on their side.

        GET OFF MY LAWN!

      • KSuellington

        Heh, I’m with you there. I’m the son of immigrants who did the exact opposite of freeload. It’s interesting how the lefties, who love to talk about how places like Canada and New Zealand are in regards to healthcare, have zero to say about their immigration policies. Our immigration system should be far closer to theirs.

    • Tundra

      That was really cool. Watching Russia plummet was neato. Watching us not move for 30 years wasn’t.

      • Drake

        It was fun watching the Soviets break their country trying to keep up. Better than fighting a hot war.

      • Suthenboy

        That it was. It was monumentally stupid of them. They are, like much of the world, still stuck in a pre-industrial mentality. Until they can shake it, at least to the small amount we have, they will always lose.

      • Tejicano

        It wasn’t so fun watching it in real time but pretty cool when we got to the end. It also made their combat hardware and ammo pretty cheap and available for a while.

      • Bobarian LMD

        One thing I’ll note, if you back out spending on pay and benefits, the Chinese spend more than us.

        A Voluntary Force is expensive.

      • R C Dean

        I wonder what the relative “shrinkage” rate is on their spending compared to ours. IOW, how much of what is spent actually shows up as useful equipment and supplies?

      • Bobarian LMD

        That is a good point, given we can’t get good data on how many people are dying from the flu there.

        But it ain’t like we spend our dollars real effective in that area either.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        Same with Canada. We emerged as a proud military nation after the Great Wars and then, like typical Canadians, we let it all go to waste. The drop took place in the late 1960s with Pearson and the Liberals who decided we were going to be a ‘Peacekeeping’ nation and then we proceeded to not even spend on that.

        A national disgrace. But I’m a minority voice on this up here. Canadians still buy into that whole bull shit idealism. Meanwhile, we can’t even protect our own Arctic waters we claim to hold sovereignty over. Comically, and inexcusably, we let Inuit Arctic Rangers – all, what, 12 of them? – patrol the vast Arctic region.

        Retarded.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        The other day I had someone take issue with me claiming it’s not true countries don’t recognize our sovereignty in the Arctic. Dude claims he lived in Nunavut for seven years and actually believe that. Blew my mind. Russia, China, Norway, Denmark and the USA have all made national or international claims. He then pulled a ‘what do you want us to do?’ as a retort to my suggesting we pump up the military a tad. The only way to exert sovereignty is to maintain a presence. You can’t just go on the notion no one will touch us ‘because we’re polite Canadians’.

        It’s immature and naive.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Don’t worry, we’d never let anyone knock off our hat.

      • WTF

        Although, what does Canada really need an extensive army for? It’s not like anyone could ever invade.

      • Tundra

        I meant throttle it back. We can clearly cut spending a lot.

      • R C Dean

        Getting rid of the peacekeeping missions would probably save some coin.

      • The Last American Hero

        Relax. Canada does not need even those 12 rangers. They, like Europe, get to bask under the American Aegis and spend their money on long wait times for healthcare.

      • Rebel Scum

        and then we proceeded to not even spend on that

        So now is the time to invade Canada…

  17. Not Adahn

    I wanted to take a swim, but then I got high

  18. Suthenboy

    Do Sheriffs in New Mexico serve at the pleasure of the governor?

    Here they serve at the pleasure of the voters in their respective parishes.

    • leon

      Governors tend to get a Power complex where they think every State official works at their behest.

  19. Scruffy Nerfherder

    SJWednesday: The Short History Of A Religious Cult

    Like so many others who entered the Cultural Anthropology program I was a passionate and dedicated social activist who wished to combine theory with practice. The program seemed like a dream come true. With a deep interest in spirituality, the school at large was very appealing as well. And attending an institution where “San Francisco is your campus” as CIIS advertised was thrilling.

    None of us could have ever imagined what we were about to walk into. Whatever notions we had about what it meant to be a scholar-activist were about to be twisted beyond all measure. Years of trauma, mountains of loss and lots of unwanted financial debt would be accumulated as a result.

    “Dr. Angana Chatterji is the most powerful being I have ever met…Her capacity borderlines on Mastery. Her power is deeply complex…She uses concentrated rage with Mastery…I am becoming a Master — like her I conjure divinity…These beings [Angana and Richard Shapiro] resonate on degrees of consciousness barely comprehensible to others…She [Angana] is the one whom we fear, to whom we gravitate… and in her presence we share divine expression, visions of practice, healing, and transformation. She conjures Kali and she is a destroyer.” — Former Anthropology student

    The article goes on to detail how Chatterji berated her students into subservience using the SJW framework. She and her husband were eventually fired, but of course they landed elsewhere, including a gig at Stanford.

    • AlexinCT

      Cultural Anthropology program

      That’s the problem right there. This is really considered to be a discipline and is a thing offered by the education establishment, when all we have here is Scientology-like idiocy dressed up as something the academic world wants to pretend is serious.

    • Suthenboy

      Want to get lost in the wilderness or find yourself eyeball deep in shit? Start telling yourself how smart you are. What you are really saying is “degrees of conscience barely comprehensible by others” – i.e. everyone else is stupid.
      Everyone else is not stupid. You are for thinking they are.

    • Rhywun

      I don’t know what any of that means.

    • Toxteth O’Grady

      No sane woman wears that much eyeliner. I have never known any exceptions.

      • Bobarian LMD

        You only needed to use three words.

        The rest was redundant.

    • R C Dean

      Remember when prosecutorial discretion was a thing? And principled refusals to enforce unjust laws were applauded?

      • leon

        But these are totaly just laws. The fix the problem with the constitutions that just give people rights left and right.

      • AlexinCT

        The constitution is an evil thing because it gives the worst kind of people rights that interfere with the march of the intellectual elite to progressive utopia. That these people skip the history lessons of the last century when uttering these ideas is just sad. Every character that espoused the need to change things so the revolution could proceed then went on to brutalize and murder. The communists killed some 120 million and imprisoned some 3 billion people in a hell hole of an existence. The fascists killed upwards of 50 million and gave us the WWII debacle. The neo-fascist gave us western democracy and slowly turned western Europe into a new version of the medieval serfdom, and while they are far better at producing a lower body count, they sure as hell have got means to punish those that refuse to bow to their demands. But the problem is the constitution and the deplorables that keep swearing by it…

    • Naptown Bill

      Funny, when I took a Cultural Anthropology class in community college like twenty years ago it was a really interesting class about analyzing cultures, looking for patterns, and trying to figure out if those patterns were meaningful. I guess it means something different now.

      Also,

      Professor Angana Chatterji stormed into class and started screaming and yelling at us. She screamed at students for anything from showing up thirty seconds late to class to asking questions and shutting off a cell phone before class. It was just a tactic; the reason didn’t matter. It effectively shocked us into subservience and fear.

      struck a chord. For as long as I can remember, whenever anyone yells at me I have an almost uncontrollable urge to start beating them until they stop. When I was younger, some facial expressions would be enough. And I’m talking about bypassing anger or offense and going straight to out-of-body experience, before I even realize what’s happening, watching myself start swinging. As you’d imagine, this is a serious disadvantage in 99% of social interactions, and I’ve always had to work really, really hard to keep my shit together. However, the one thing I can say is that people trying to intimidate me by getting in my face and being loud has always backfired. And thus, I can say with absolute certainty, that if a professor started getting in my face yelling at me it would not cause me to join her cult of personality. It would probably end with me in jail.

      • Suthenboy

        I have the opposite reaction. I get calm and watch them the way you watch monkeys in the zoo screech, bare their teeth and waive their arms. If they lay their hands on me my reaction is different but I dont lose my temper until after it is all over. Then I get mad and rant and rave myself.

    • KSuellington

      I actually have a degree in anthropology (pauses for prolonged laughter from the commentariat). I went to a community college part time for several years after high school while I was working and I took every class I could. There was an old school, whiskey drinking, gun shooting, adventuring around the planet old guy who had four different classes in anthropology and archeology. I took all four. He was one of a kind, and the last of his kind. Even in the 90’s he was highly politically incorrect, no way he’d last five minutes today. Those were, by far, the most fun and interesting classes I took there so when I amassed enough credits to finish at a four year, I choose anthropology as the degree path since I had already done all the pre reqs and I really enjoyed the physical history of humans and comparing and contrasting cultures. Then I got to UC Berkeley. That was where I learned I was no way, no how a leftist. After two weeks I looked around and said fuck this, I got myself into this, I’m gonna get out as quick as I can. I did the final two university years in a year and a half, got the diploma and got the fuck out. This was twenty years ago and I could see how leftism was destroying shit, I would get tossed out of there in a day or two if I went back now and opened my mouth.

      • Naptown Bill

        I’ll go to the bat for anthropology as a discipline every time. Just because it’s been hijacked by the left for political purposes doesn’t mean the thing itself is bad. Nobody says, “Economics!? That’s just Commie bullshit!” just because Das Kapital happened.

      • Tundra

        Excellent article!

        Early in Chagnon’s research, the Yanomamö pranked the anthropologist by providing him with vulgarities when he asked their names. He did not realise this until he began bragging to a group of Yanomamö about how well he now understood their genealogies. As he began, the Yanomamö erupted into laughter, tears streaming from their faces. They begged him to continue and, oblivious, Chagnon went on: “Hairy Cunt was married to the headman, Long Dong, their youngest son was Asshole, and so on.” When he discovered he’d been tricked, Chagnon was embarrassed and furious that five months of patient name gathering had yielded nothing but a litany of insults. From that day forward, he would cross-check all information between individual Yanomamö informants and villages.

        People are the same everywhere.

      • KSuellington

        Cheers. Humans love dick, pussy and asshole jokes. This is worldwide from what I’ve seen.

      • Naptown Bill

        Thanks, I’ll check it out.

    • Suthenboy

      I didnt even click the link, I just laughed.

      After their “All is well! Dont panic!” press conference on the Corona Virus where the health minister was obviously ill, this comes as no surprise. They may not be democrats but they are completely incompetent for exactly the same reason. They are useful idiots.

    • AlexinCT

      They are fellow travelers for a reason….

  20. Rebel Scum

    “If they really intend to do that, they should resign as a law enforcement officer and leader in that community,” she said.

    They are making a constitutional argument. You are ignoring it altogether. If anyone should resign, it is you.

    • Viking1865

      When you see the Constitution and particular the specific enumeration of key civil rights as an obstacle to be bypassed, destroyed, or subverted, rather than as a protective wall that keeps great evils out of a free society, that’s the kind of shit you say.

      They hate you, and they want you dead or worse.

  21. Q Continuum

    “‘We don’t work for the governor, we don’t work for the Legislature,’ he said. ‘We work for the people that elected us into office.'”

    Rural sheriffs are often the best example of what cops should be.

    • Rufus the Monocled

      But notice. He’s a ‘redneck’ to the uber-sophisticated progressive urbanite.

    • Suthenboy

      Agreed, but every state is different. Here the parish sheriff is probably the most powerful office in the state. DAs have prosecutorial discretion but they can only eat what the sheriff feeds them. The sheriff is answerable to no one but the voters and they are very conscious of that.

    • Tundra

      Wow. Barely a tattoo or piecing to be found!

      6.

  22. Raven Nation

    “That was Men Without Hats. Or as they’re known now, men without jobs.”

    The Simpsons, back when it was funny (S5E17).

  23. leon

    What’s the Governor of NM going to do? Sue them. They’ll have qualified immunity.

  24. Rebel Scum

    Ironic considering you tried to prevent a black man from getting on the court.

    Biden offered his remarks at the conclusion of the event when CBS’s Gayle King asked all the Democrat presidential candidates what the public’s “biggest misconceptions” about them are and what their personal mottos are.

    Biden replied, “The fact is, what we should be doing, we talked about the Supreme Court. I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a black woman on the Supreme Court to make sure, and in fact, get – Not a joke! Not a joke! – I push very hard for that.”

    Because skin pigment and genitalia is all that matters.

    • WTF

      I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mean someone like Condi Rice.

    • Viking1865

      To be fair to Biden, the “lockstep proggie” part doesn’t really need to be said, does it? Each President is going to appoint the youngest acolyte of their preferred judicial philosophy they can. Bonus points if you can check some kind of box, but the SCOTUS is basically the American House of Lords at this point, and no one is pretending otherwise.

    • R C Dean

      They’ll lose, unless they get a Dem operative for a judge who takes marching orders from the Inner Party to shut Bernie down By Any Means Necessary. The party says who is on the party ballot, and since the Dems were stupid enough to put Bernie on the ballot . . . .

      I thought I heard that they made him join the party for this election, anyway. Any confirmation/denial of that?

      • robc

        The interesting part of the article to me is that he is already receiving donations for his 2004 Senate reelection race as an Independent.

      • Nephilium

        He even signed a loyalty pledge. The first line really shows the quality of the editors and writers though:

        Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has formally declared himself a member of the Democratic Party as he seeks its presidential nomination in 2020, abiding by new Democratic National Committee rules.

        (Emphasis added)

      • robc

        I dont get it. What is the problem in bold?

      • R C Dean

        He is listed as the Independent Vermont Senator, and as a member of the Democratic Party.

      • robc

        got it, missed the bold I.

      • Rhywun

        The way I’m reading various sloppily-written sources, he is NOT in fact a member of the party. Instead the party made everyone sign a card as a cover for letting Bernie run as a Democrat. Shameless, really.

    • Suthenboy

      I am still holding my breath on Hillary jumping in to save the day.

      • Not Adahn

        loading…

    • Rhywun

      Really? He’s not a registered Democrat?? I thought he would have joined by now.

      And yes, they have a point. My state also has closed primaries. If I can’t vote for Sanders because I am not a registered Democrat, how on earth does he get to run?

      • R C Dean

        Because the Dem party lets him, that’s why.

      • Rhywun

        Ah, I see they made him pinky-swear to be a Democrat. Wow.

  25. Rebel Scum

    Shameless.

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) claimed at the Democrat debate in Charleston, South Carolina, broadcast on CBS Tuesday night that she was fired from her first teaching job for being pregnant. Specifically, Warren said that after she was visibly pregnant, her principal “wished me luck and gave my job to someone else. Pregnancy discrimination? You bet.”

    You are on video stating otherwise and there is documentation stating otherwise.

    • R C Dean

      I don’t think her lies are going to help her at this point. Unless she’s totally delusional (which I would never rule out), she’s playing for a VP nom. Her odds aren’t terrible – unless by some freak accident Klobuchar gets the nom or they broker it for Hillary, they will need to “balance” the ticket with a chick. Her problem will be that she’s from Massachusetts, and traditionally the VP is from a state that they think they need help to win. Which, for the Dems, ain’t Massachusetts. I would bet on Klobuchar getting the VP nom, unless Hillary swoops in after a rash of mysterious suicides, car accidents, and muggings to steal the Presidential nom at the convention.

      • robc

        If Bernie is the nominee, they may have trouble winning Mass. I expect a 1984, 1972 type electoral map.

      • R C Dean

        I don’t. I think the Dems could nominate the reanimated corpse of Stalin and carry a dozen states.

        We’re doomed. Demographics is destiny, and the demographics all point to a further drift left until we fall off the socialist cliff. Plan accordingly.

      • robc

        Well, I probably exaggerate some. I think Bernie will carry CA and VT and a few other new englandy states, including MA.

        Hmmm:

        MA, RI, CT, VT, CA, HI…I am not sure I will concede more than those 6. DC too, of course.

      • Rhywun

        You left out NY, OR, and WA.

      • robc

        No, I considered them and specifically didnt include them.

      • The Last American Hero

        Nope. CA, OR, WA, HI, NY, VT, NM, VA, NJ, CO – all deep blue and not going back, and that’s just for starters. Sorry, CO, but you let commiefornia skinsuit you, and they Foxnews crowd down in Co. Springs ain’t enough to turn that ship around.

      • Viking1865

        We will see about VA. Especially if Bernie is the nominee. I can definitely see him pissed off at the giant shakedown racket that is the government contracting industry. Especially the whole defense industry would be shaking in their boots. Grandpa Gulag could sign an EO on Day 1 “All governmental functions will be carried out by governmental employees. No longer will we outsource taxpayer dollars to giant for profit corporations.”

    • Viking1865

      It’s not a lie, if you believe it.

      As time goes on, I’m very interested to see all the different ways white progressive politicians invent stories of discrimination and oppression. Especially since so many of them don’t actually have life experiences at more conservative environments. 20 years from now we’re going to have white leftist politicians born in the 90s who went from highschool to college to lawschool to a leftwing nonprofit to government service, and yet somehow will have all these insane tales of Straight White Male Bigotry.

      I can almost guarantee someone who I went to high school with (at a super proggy school) will spin some tale of the 2007 Young Republicans club spitting on her for being gay, and the media will pump it up as The Hate Crime of All Hate Crimes. I’m 30, and when I was in high school you could still say “that’s gay” and not be ZOMG EVIL. “Fag” was trending toward being something that polite people didn’t say.

  26. Rebel Scum

    Plagiarizin’ Pete hates Revolutionary War reenactments

    Buttigieg said, “I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea for somebody to illustrate … why the kinds of weaponry, anything even remotely like I trained on in order to be sent to a war-zone, has no business being sold anywhere near an American school or church or neighborhood.”

    The weaponry Buttigieg references, AR-15s, are semiautomatic rifles. They fire one bullet each time the trigger is pulled. Rifles made for warfare have a select-fire switch on the left side of the gun, which allows the gun’s action to be shifted from semiautomatic to three-round bursts. During earlier wars, like Vietnam, the select-fire switch allowed the gun to shift to full automatic.

    Oh, you must understand my confusion seeing as muskets are actual weapons of war that historically were used in warfare all over the planet for multiple centuries.

    • Swiss Servator

      “anything even remotely like I trained on in order to be sent to a war-zone”

      He probably fainted when he was given his “familiarization training”.

    • leon

      anything even remotely like I trained on

      I don’t want to get hyprfocused on this because the entire premise is stupid, but to me this is one that non gun people will think is super important. “why do we let weapons of war in peoples hands?!?”. Because God hates the fucking infantry. If he loved them he would have made them Field Artillery and given them a 155 Howitzer. All Modern Small arms are pretty much the same.

      Also aint nobody going to the Gun shop and buying an M2 or 60mm Mortar.

      • R C Dean

        I just wanna go to the gun shop and buy one of these. Is that too much to ask?

      • JD is Unemployed

        I’d like to be able to own whatever firearms I damn well please but, you know, just saying that has probably put me on some (other) list at GCHQ and Counter Terrorism because anyone with such a desire must be some kind of terrorist.

    • Rhywun

      Well, all shooty things are “remotely alike” so he has a point.

      • Rebel Scum

        Their position also ignores that the point of 2A is to have weapons sufficient for militia duty in the hands of citizens, as citizens are the militia. Considering the modern state of technology, the AR platform or something similar in function is the minimum that the average, upstanding citizen should have on hand and have basic knowledge and skills to use.

    • Drake

      He was a REMF Fobbit. While he did some posing with an M4 for photographs, I bet his regular issue weapon was an Beretta M9 pistol that he used as a paperweight.

  27. R C Dean

    The weaponry Buttigieg references, AR-15s, are semiautomatic rifles.

    Unless they have stopped training people on pistols, “anything even remotely like I trained on in order to be sent to a war-zone” would include every semi-automatic handgun in the country.

    • The Last American Hero

      I think that was his point.

    • R C Dean

      Anyone want to speculate exactly how Apple enforces this?

      I suppose they could put it in the iOS EULA, but that only applies to the software, as far as I know. And even that begs the question of how they enforce it.

      • Sensei

        OK – it’s multiple languages.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Other than being an 800 lb gorilla that leans on studios?

      • Sensei

        Yeah, that’s my expectation.

      • The Last American Hero

        How?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They’ve got $200B in cash. That’s a lot of ad dollars.

    • Viking1865

      Pretty sure the editing and post production stuff is overwhelmingly done on Apples. So that’s a pressure point that can be applied.

      • leon

        My brother does a lot of graphics and animation and from my understanding Windows is king.

        Now for software development it seems like Mac is huge and i hate it.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Mac was king for a while, but the windows based, multi-processor chips are so much more capable for video editing and generation now.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        Movie VFX is done on windows.

  28. Certified Public Asshat

    Free Beer? (or water, slaps knee)

    <a href="link text“>Miller Lite Is Offering Everyone a Free Case of Beer for Leap Day

    On February 29, Miller Lite will post a QR code to its Instagram and Twitter accounts. You have to scan the code, so you’ll need to use a computer or someone else’s phone. The code will take you to a site where you can submit a receipt for a 24-pack of Miller Lite purchased on Leap Day. The cost of your case will be refunded to your Paypal account.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      You can also learn html for free too.

    • robc

      Not worth the price.

    • Hyperion

      May as well drink water and water is better for you.

    • Naptown Bill

      Miller Lite is a fine beer for times when you want to perform the physical act of drinking beer, catch a buzz, and think about beer, but not actually commit to drinking beer. It’s session beer for when you still need to pass a breathalyzer on the way home.

      • Rebel Scum

        *Tosses Naptown a Guinness*

        At least consume something with a little flavor if you are concerned with calories/alcohol content.

      • Viking1865

        Bills lying, hes a White Claw man all the way.

      • Naptown Bill

        White Claw seems like this generation’s coke in the club bathroom, which is why it’s the lamest generation. But I do suspect that people who regularly consume White Claw and people who are the ditzy meangirls who get killed first in slasher films have a lot in common.

      • JD is Unemployed

        Grapefruit claw is aight.

      • Naptown Bill

        My go-to cocktail at home is an Rtic full of ice, the zero-calorie Cranberry-Raspberry SodaStream soda, and reasonably-priced vodka, so I can’t really talk all that much shit.

      • JD is Unemployed

        My first claw was bought for me by a lady I just met in a bar because I said I’d never had one. My second claw I think was bought by the same lady. Subsequent claws were gifted to me from the refrigerator of a girl my friend was trying to put the moves on because I had transitioned from wingman to third wheel and I guess she was being polite. I did pretty well on scoring myself some free booze.

        I like bourbon and coke, no ice. That’s about as cocktaily as I get, unless someone is prepared to offer me a mint julep.

      • Nephilium

        “But Guinness is so heavy!”

        –Way too many people who think dark = heavy.

        FFS, Guinness floats on other beers!

      • Naptown Bill

        I think when people say that they’re thinking of the bottled version that tastes like molasses, “Guiness Export” or something, that you’d find everywhere before they started selling the draft cans.

      • robc

        It still floats on top of Bass.

      • Nephilium

        And Harp (Half and Half), and Smithwicks (Blacksmith), and Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold (Black and Gold), and Labatt’s Blue (Black and Blue), and most ciders (Snakebite).

      • robc

        Yes, but all of those are abominations, unlike Bass.

        I think Miller Lite would float on top of Guinness. Aren’t most lite beers under 1 in gravity?

      • Nephilium

        robc:

        I’m a fan of the Half and Half, but that’s as far as I’ve gone into that list. I’m not sure on the FG on lite beers though, I would think they would be over 1.000, as I don’t think they would have enough alcohol to really get them below that.

      • robc

        Found a hombrew clone recipe of Miller Lite (why?) that says an FG of 1.002.

      • robc

        What would be the worst low grav floating on high grav combo?

        Gueuze on top of Scotch Ale?

      • Nephilium

        robc:

        Worst I can think of would be Berliner Weisse on top of pastry stout.

        And playing with an ABV/Attenuation/Calorie calculator I’ve got, starting at 1.025 and finishing at 0.999 gravity would get you a 3.4% beer, at 85% actual attenuation (over 100% apparent), at 77 calories (which IIRC, seems a bit low, aren’t most at around 100 calories).

      • Caput Lupinum

        A proper snakebite should be made with a lager, not a stout.

      • robc

        Mich Ultra is 95 calories, so that does seem low.

      • Naptown Bill

        I like Guiness, but there are times when you want fizzy malt water that has a little booze in it. Although, Guiness is surprisingly easy to pound and, for my money, is a fantastic summer beer in draft form.

    • A Leap at the Wheel

      I want to go on the record to clarify that they have not received permission to use my likeness in this effort.

  29. Hyperion

    BUSTED!

    lololololol

    • JD is Unemployed

      Anything PV posts is excluded from evidence and the jury is instructed to disregard it because wrongthink.

    • robc

      I think the unilateral approach would work too. It is less of a prisoner’s dilemma than suggested.

      • leon

        Me too. If its worth doing, it is probably worth doing unilaterally

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s absolutely worth doing unilaterally. Tax breaks to newcomer companies is just a big fuck you to the taxpaying businesses that have been there for years.

        *fumes*

        Did I mention one of my competitors got a tax break when I have never received jack or shit?

      • robc

        You should threaten to leave the state!

      • robc

        That doesn’t get a politician reelected. Well, it might, but its harder than 1 big ribbon cutting ceremony.

  30. RAHeinlein

    NIH Director Fauci is on Squawk trying to increase the scare factor on coronavirus, and of course shilling for more money.

  31. robc

    If Bernie won every state in which Clinton broke 50%, he would get 182 EV. I think that is his absolute upper limit.

    • Suthenboy

      I seriously doubt he will get that. How Trump handles the Corona Panic and how the economy reacts will make the difference between a landslide and just a win, but he will be re-elected.
      The Dems have gone so far off the rails with their lunacy I dont see how they have a shadow of a chance.

      • robc

        I do too, my suggestion upstream would be 87 EV. Somewhere in that range is about right.

      • WTF

        Never underestimate the stupidity of the Marxist-indoctrinated voting demographic.

    • Naptown Bill

      I was having this debate last night. What does a Bernie nomination do in the general? I think you’d see some independents go his way, but I also think you’d see some Democrats stay home. The question is, how many of each? I think the indies are a wash and enough #NeverSanders stay home that Trump wins it, but the wife thinks Sanders is an outlet for independents who don’t like the Dem establishment but hate Trump.

      • robc

        Will be interesting to see if Dem candidates try to attach to him or run away hard from him.

      • Viking1865

        Bernie would be an answer to a question/theory about the Dem electorate:

        How many of these people are actual moderates who believe in a free enterprise system with a social safety net versus actual commies?

        To me, the whole con the Democrats pull is that they run as moderates and once they get the chance to ram through new enormous government overreach they do it, and then it costs them the next election, but they don’t care because they know once they move the Overton Window, it stays moved.

        When the Democrat is a guy who actually promises to put everyone on Medicare, who promises to make college “free”, who promises to explicitly revolutionize the American system, will they turn out and support that? Will all the soccer moms actually vote for socialism when it is labeled as such?

      • Naptown Bill

        I think a lot of people will say, “It’s not Socialism, which is bad, it’s ‘Democratic Socialism’, which is just the government taxing rich people so that the rest of us can have access to healthcare and college and stuff.” A not inconsiderable number of people think that voting according to ideological principles or a core philosophy is the opposite of moderation, and so they’ll have no problem talking themselves into a candidate who is offering them “free” shit by “making the ultra-rich pay their fair share” and pretending it’s anything but government-run theft, or Socialism, to the extent there’s a distinction.

        The thing is, Bloomy seems to be running on the kind of old-school Democrat platform you mentioned, kind of a highly-regulated free-ish market with a robust safety net. He’s getting killed for being too much like a Republican. The party seems to be racing as far to the left as it can, at least in the short term. I don’t know how many of the candidates are Communists or Socialists per se; I suspect a lot of them are primarily interested in offering whatever they can get away with in order to get votes.

      • leon

        I Think Bernie is a true believer and full on communist. He just is only going as far as he thinks he can and still be elected.

      • Mojeaux

        A not inconsiderable number of people think that voting according to ideological principles or a core philosophy is the opposite of moderation, and so they’ll have no problem talking themselves into a candidate who is offering them “free” shit by “making the ultra-rich pay their fair share” and pretending it’s anything but government-run theft, or Socialism, to the extent there’s a distinction

        I think you’re giving people too much credit for having core principles when it comes to governance, and for thinking at all.

        Not to say that they wouldn’t IF they thought about it but when you’re busy with life and you’ve got to choose between drinking diarrhea straight out of an asshole or eating a solid turd, what is there to think about?

    • Raven Nation

      Well, people were saying the same thing about Trump in 2016. What is more interesting is the number of EVs Trump won by relatively small margins. Would Sanders pick up more votes than Hillary in those states?

      • straffinrun

        Good question. We’re gonna find out the degree of Hillary’s repulsiveness. Bernie may be better than Hillary on that matrix.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s a mixed bag. Bolshevik Bernie’s base is not the same as Hillbot’s base.

      • straffinrun

        He’s better at promising free shit without any equivocation. It’s so direct that you gotta hope that people see through it. Then again, there may be many people that see through it and still DGAF.

      • leon

        It is interesting. I think for a long time the Establishment Moderates of both parties used the idea that “Hey who else are you gonna vote for?” to strong arm their extremist wings into their camp. But things have gotten so polarized, and particularly the rhetoric against Trump has been so rabid, that the Moderates have created an environment that leads to their own undoing. Now the Extremists can talk to their moderates and say “Who are you gonna vote for? Me or that dirty white nationalist?

        What is really surprising is that Trump has been fairly moderate on a lot of issues (Guns for example), but because the Dems decided to not play ball at all it makes it difficult for them to save face and say “Hey if you are too extreme we’ll vote for that other guy”.

        In the end i think if Bernie is nominated a lot of moderates don’t vote at all and few vote for Trump.

      • robc

        An Evan McMuffin of the left could pull in a lot of votes.

      • leon

        Evan McMuffin hardly pulled any votes, except in the one state he was expected to… Which by the way, if you look at the Polling fucking Gary Johnson was his own worst enemy. His support collapsed when he said, “You know i don’t think religious liberty can trump baking that cake”.

      • grrizzly

        I’m still shocked that someone like Megan McArdle is going to vote for Sanders if he’s the nominee. I often found myself in agreement with her even as late as half a decade ago.

      • Viking1865

        The war between Left and Right at this point is a class war. Shes part of the Information Economy/Acela Corridor/Front Row Kids group, and that’s what the Left is in this country. Its the the bureaucrats, the academics, the media employees, the NGOs, the government employees, the tech industry that set the policy and the direction of the American Left.

        Trump is gauche, hes crude, hes boisterous, he eats fast food. She’s never going to support him, because hes not The Right Sort.

  32. AlexinCT

    Bushy tailed rats of the world, beware of the new seagull dysphoria!

    • Rhywun

      On the Atlantic City boardwalk you can hold a french fry in the air and a gull will swoop down and eat it.

      • Naptown Bill

        This is true as far south as Rehoboth and Ocean City, too.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Filed under “No shit Sherlock”

      Something every ten year old with a bag of chips (and some Alka-Seltzer) at the beach has known for decades.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    I wonder how they’ll use this to steal more water from the Central Valley farmers? Because that’s the inevitable outcome here.

    Water used for agriculture is wasted. Everybody knows that.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    I’m probably wrong, but I think/hope a Bernie ticket will torpedo future DNC fundraising in a big way. People like Jamie Dimon are not going to be amused. Even the Silicon Valley putzeratti will think twice about funding the Jacobin mob, I reckon.

  35. Certified Public Asshat

    This is how you do Ash Wednesday: Dunkin’s New Snackin’ Bacon

    Starting today, February 26, customers can enjoy our delicious, new Snackin’ Bacon, which comes with 8 half-strips of our high-end bacon (equivalent to 4 full strips!) wrapped in a portable sleeve for on-the-go snacking ease. Our Snackin’ Bacon starts its journey smoked with natural cherrywood. It’s then treated to our sweet and savory blend of brown sugar and black pepper seasoning, creating a delightfully caramelized bacon our fans know and love from our Sweet Black Pepper Bacon Breakfast Sandwich.

  36. Mojeaux

    So Mr. Mojeaux has right-sided arm, shoulder, back pain and bigly shortness of breath. Guess where we are.

    I wrote a nastygram and tacked it on the Suburban that doesn’t know how to park. Because it was that important. ?

    • AlexinCT

      Hoping this is all just a scare without any bad results Mojeaux…

      • Mojeaux

        Thanks. It is very very busy here for midmorning Wednesday. It is Wednesday, right?

      • AlexinCT

        It’s the Humpday, yes.

    • leon

      Right Side? Hopefully that means its not a heart attack.

      • Mojeaux

        Doc thinks pulmonary embolism bit he hasn’t even been triaged yet.

      • pistoffnick

        “…pulmonary embolism…”

        I did that. After a 13 hour return flight from China, I had a 75% blockage in my pulmonary artery.

        It was not fun. Sorry for Mr. Mojeaux.

      • Mojeaux

        I don’t get it. His family medical history is enviably clean and all the men are long-lived. He had no prior indications. Just started suddenly this morning right after he got to work.

        I thought these things had warning signs.

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        Sorry, Mo. Keep us posted.

        I had two relatives and a dog with PEs; they all recovered.

      • Mojeaux

        Thanks. Triaged now. They seem in no hurry so no worry?

    • straffinrun

      Ugh. Let’s hope for the best.

    • KSuellington

      Damn, hope he turns out okay and it’s just something minor.

  37. Enough About Palin

    “Janavs, whose family invented Hot Pockets,”

    Here’s the thing about that claim. I used to read Ad Age and also Ad Week back in the mid-80’s. One of them did a piece about how to successfully market a new product. They made up a fictional product they called “Hot Pockets”. It was pretty interesting in that it well thought out and exactly the same as what would become Hot Pockets. And I thought to myself, someone’s going to run with this idea. So unless the author of that piece was a Janavs family member (doubtful) her family didn’t invent shit, they just copied an idea they read in a magazine.

    • leon

      Someone is claiming they invented packaged vomit?

      • LJW

        Scalding packaged vomit.

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

        Please. It’s called “mayonnaise slices.”

    • R C Dean

      Dayum. How much longer can they keep this up?

  38. The Late P Brooks

    The ineffable perfection of government spending

    Democratic presidential candidates criticized President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus outbreak during their debate Tuesday night, blasting budget cuts his administration has made to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and his thrashing of the U.S.’s international relationships.

    “This president has not invested like he should have in his budget. He tried to cut back on the CDC. He tried to cut back on the international organizations that would coordinate with the rest of the world. He hasn’t yet really addressed the nation on this topic,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. “I would do all of that.”

    It really makes no difference what those buttchugging nincompoops at the CDC are actually working on, if they just had a bigger budget we’d be immune.

    Coloring books about “gun safety” are exactly the same as scientific research on disease vectors.

  39. Rebel Scum

    *Irony alert*

    Joe Walsh✔
    @WalshFreedom

    I would vote for socialism over authoritarianism. https://twitter.com/dangainor/status/1231384008069656576

    Joe Walsh✔
    @WalshFreedom

    Respectfully my friend, you & @JRubinBlogger need to chill. Like you, I want Trump to lose. There are more people who oppose Trump than support him. Don’t tell me Bernie can’t win. My God, TRUMP is President! ANYONE can win. All of us must unite behind WHOEVER the Dems choose. https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1231341711525322758

    The trouble is that socialism is inherently authoritarian.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Calling all fact checkers!

    “Imagine if I stood here and said we give immunity to drug companies, we give immunity to tobacco companies. That has caused carnage on our streets,” Biden said. “150 million people have been killed since 2007 when Bernie voted to exempt the gun manufacturers from liability, more than all the wars, including Vietnam from that point on.”

    The heavily inflated figure misrepresented gun deaths in America since 2007. From 2007 to 2017, the number of firearm deaths in the U.S. was 373,663. This number includes both violent firearm deaths and unintentional or accidental deaths, according to the Center for American Progress, an organization that promotes progressive values.

    Snopes will probably find a way to rate this, “Substantially true.”

    • Fatty Bolger

      Wow, almost half our population killed off in just 13 years. And now the coronavirus comes along to finish off the survivors.

      • leon

        This is the same progressive schtick, They are obviously double counting deaths, because a bunch of those people were killed by Net Neutrality and the Tax Cut.

    • leon

      So ~ 37K a year. or .11 per thousand people

      • wdalasio

        Don’t expect politicians to have even rudimentary sense of basic mathematics. “Scale” is one of those sneaky, racist, conspiracies that have been created to prevent people from enacting progressive change.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      More in line with Biden’s figures, an analysis of FBI statistics by the Center found that from 2008 through 2017, more than 1.5 million aggravated assaults involved a firearm, with rates varying significantly across the states.

      No, not really more in line.

      • leon

        Yeah. Don’t give them an inch. He was off by an order of magnitude from that number which is a completely differen statistic.

      • Jarflax

        2 orders of magnitude.

      • leon

        I mean was i really wrong? i was pretty close, not an order of magnitude off on the number of orders of magnitude Biden was off.

    • A Leap at the Wheel

      In his defense, its an easy mistake to make. Net neutrality is what killed 150 million people, so that’s likely what he was thinking of.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    Bloomberg shills in the audience?

    At one point, and for what seems to have been the first time ever, an audience actively, aggressively booed because someone spoke ill of billionaires.

    Slate scribbler looks on in stunned disbelief at thought of non-socialist Democrats.

    “But- but- we hate billionaires. Therefor, everyone hates billionaires. That’s how democracy works.”

    • Rhywun

      They know their audience.

    • Urthona

      Bloomberg’s actually pretty popular in New York. The only state where he’s tied for the lead right now in polls.

  42. Tundra

    Today in autonomous transportation:

    Ohio Self-driving Shuttle Service Stalled After Minor Incident

    Additional details kept us hip to how the program has done so far. According to local outlet WCMH-TV, the twin shuttles have moved 50 people around the Linden area since launching on February 5th. That averages out to a little more than three riders per day, which we don’t have to tell you isn’t great value for the money when the entire project costs millions. But that was never Smart Columbus’ plan. The intended goal was to connect a subset of carless residents in one neighborhood with essential services and other parts of the city.

    *bangs head on desk*

    We certainly applaud Columbus for taking what appears to be a rather minor incident seriously, but this once again throws cold water on the entire concept of vehicular autonomy being anywhere near ready for mass consumption. The Linden LEAP program only exists because the city was the sole recipient of a $40 million USDOT grant tied to the Obama administration’s Smart City Challenge, plus an additional $10 million from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. That provided seed money for Smart Columbus — which spent at least $1 million on its contract with EasyMile alone.

    Fuck. You. Cut. Spending.

    • Urthona

      My program that buys each person a ferrari is half as expensive.