¡Viernes por la mañana enlaces mexicanos!

by | May 15, 2020 | Daily Links | 442 comments

I would like to offer my sincerest condolences to Banjos and Sloopy.  Even if it seems trifling we’re all happy to pick up the links on their behalf.

Now onto the news from the south.

Airline bailouts:  because if the airlines go under, we’d have to travel by boat, or something.

Turns out lockdowns aren’t the worst thing when your economy sucks to begin with.  It probably helps it was summer when the the virus left China in January.

…or maybe they’re ignoring the lockdown too?  It gives the Argentines a point or two in my book.  Raising their total to a point to two.

Interesting take…

“There is real danger of a large-scale outbreak followed by a humanitarian crisis in Haiti,” said Carissa Etienne, the head of PAHO, in a briefing with reporters. She said Haiti’s health care system is ill-equipped to deal with an outbreak of a highly infectious, potentially fatal respiratory disease. And the measures used elsewhere to stem the spread of COVID-19 are impractical or impossible in Haiti.

Isn’t that a typical day in Haiti?

We’re going to Make American Goods Again!

Mexico begins making goods for Americans, again.

I assume if this happened to the nurses counter-protesting in the US, AP would’ve sat on it.

Colombian footballer (or soccer player, if you will) arrested for cocaine trafficking.  Don Brett could not be reached for comment.

The most “OMG Brazil” headline of 2020?

Something I heard playing at Circle K yesterday; seemed appropriate for these stressful times…

About The Author

mexican sharpshooter

mexican sharpshooter

WARNING: Glibertarians.com contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. https://youtu.be/qiAyX9q4GIQ?t=2m22s

442 Comments

  1. Shirley Knott

    Early links!
    And the return of the ugly page layout bug 🙁
    (First?)

    • Shirley Knott

      Yay, first!
      Early bird gets the … well, it’s better than a worm 😉

      • SugarFree

        But not that much better…

      • Shirley Knott

        Incremental better is all we can ever aspire to.

      • Q Continuum

        G-d must be a civil engineer because they’re the only ones who would run a sewage line through a playground.

      • UnCivilServant

        Through a playground, breaking the containment seal on the toxic waste storage unit under the ground.

        /Love Canal.

      • Tres Cool

        And brought to you by……HOOKER chemical

      • Shirley Knott

        Now that’s plumb creepy.

      • Q Continuum

        Trying to follow the euphemism here; I’m guessing it has something to do with female ejaculation.

      • Q Continuum

        I know, I was just trying to be funny. And failing.

      • Atanarjuat

        STEVE SMITH ENJOY SCENT OF LOVE CANAL

      • SDF-7

        STEVE SMITH SET YOUR CUYAHOGA RIVER ON FIRE, BABY!

  2. Fourscore

    Morning MS

    Looks like its OK for Mexicans to go back to work but we’re still on a sit down and wait. Oh well, the pols are looking out for out best interest, right? Right?

    • Nephilium

      Of course they’re looking out for their best interests. Our best interests are somewhere on that list as well, they just happen to be near the bottom.

    • gbob

      What pisses me off is that I can’t even cross the border to look for work. God damned wall.

      • Fourscore

        Two sides to a wall? What’s up with that?

    • mexican sharpshooter

      ¡Buenos dias!

      My reading of it is NOT okay for Mexicans to go back to work but they’re going to do it anyways, because team MAGA is making them do it.

      • Fourscore

        Yeah, that’s what I was implying. US not OK but since the US needs Mexican goods it was OK for them to go back to work with a US prod.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        The greater good.

  3. Gender Traitor

    As far as I can tell, Haiti IS a humanitarian crisis. I recall some wag commenting that their earthquake caused millions of dollars in improvements.

    (Too soon?)

    • WTF

      It caused millions of dollars in improvements to the Clinton’s bottom line.

    • mexican sharpshooter

      Never too soon.

    • commodious spittoon

      “In other global warming news, a tornado hit downtown Detroit, putting out several fires.” /30 Rock gag

  4. Drake

    I think it was RC Dean who called it yesterday – New Hydroxychloroquine Trial is designed to fail.

    Everywhere it has been reported as successful, it was taken on conjunction with zinc. so of course they are not using the zinc in this trial.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      After all of the Flynn shenanigans exposed this week, I’m completely in conspiracy theorist mode.

      Fauci must have a financial interest in suppressing HCQ.

    • invisible finger

      There would have been plenty of volunteers for a trial of HCQ and Guinness around March 17. Another ball dropped by bureaucrats.

    • Fatty Bolger

      I wondered about that, since zinc wasn’t mentioned in the linked article.

  5. Q Continuum

    World Ends. Women and Minorities Hardest Hit.

    “She worries though that the system masks the true numbers of indigenous suffering from Covid-19. She says indigenous are not being registered as such, instead they are put down as ‘white’.”

    A person’s life must be very empty if this is the first thing they think of when people are dying in a pandemic.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      We have a large population of public intellectuals that contribute nothing other than discord.

    • leon

      Those dastardly racists who only see people for their race aren’t correctly annotating your race when documenting you!!!

    • J. Frank Parnell

      Empty and, above all, comfortable.

    • Hyperion

      The indigenous in Brazil look sort of Asian to me, but they also have fairly light skin.

      Also, BBC, one of the same publications that keep reviving that same ‘uncontacted tribe found in Amazon’ story, for like the last 30 years. They’re uncontacted, but they’re also wearing Levis and Brazil soccer shirts.

  6. Drake

    ACLU sues DeVos because she wants due process on college campuses.

    • Rebel Scum

      The ACLU’s mission remains realizing the promise of the Bill of Rights for all and expanding the reach of its guarantees. Beyond one person, party, or side — the ACLU dares to create a more perfect union.

      Could have fooled me…

      • Q Continuum

        Didn’t you hear? The BoR is like a Chinese menu; you can just pick and choose the amendments you like and discard the ones you don’t.

      • WTF

        They have long opposed the second amendment, but now that they’re actually opposing due process, they have descended into complete Orwellian insanity.

      • mindyourbusiness

        Reading through the article, and thinking on George Orwell, the line from Animal Farm occurred to me about some pigs being more equal than others.

      • Nephilium

        Well, the ACLU used to sell this mug.

      • Festus

        It’s like 1976 era National Lampoon.

      • Fourscore

        When its full the BoR is empty

      • juris imprudent

        Not just any Chinese menu – dim sum.

      • pan fried wylie

        Or a Chinese buffet.

      • AlexinCT

        I wish that is all they did. They have invented their own bill of rights and it is whatever team blue’s marxists want.

      • KSuellington

        Sum ting wong

      • AlexinCT

        Ho Lee Fuk!

      • R C Dean

        An odd phrase. Why not “defending” or “enforcing”?

      • invisible finger

        Those words are too masculine.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Because they don’t defend the actual amendments, just the supposed “promise” of the amendments, as inferred by the ACLU.

    • {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

      Reminder that the ACLU was founded by a collection of Communists and Socialists with the express aim of protecting the distribution of Communist literature and advancing the adoption of Marxist philosophy in the U.S. They have never been pro liberty.

      “I am for socialism, disarmament, and, ultimately, for abolishing the state itself… I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and the sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal.”
      -Roger Nash Baldwin

  7. Rebel Scum

    because if the airlines go under, we’d have to travel by boat, or something.

    And if the boats go under…

    • Q Continuum

      Then all our guns will be tragically lost?

    • Tonio

      They become submarines?

      • Festus

        You’d like that, wouldn’t you? j/k Tonio, yer a good egg!

  8. Q Continuum

    This happens pretty often.

    https://apnews.com/9cc779fa893b6d0c531c4af14f3aeed4

    I remember reading about some guy who had his dog off-leash in the Park. The dog, as dogs are wont to do, went charging into the hot spring for playtime. The owner then charged in after the dog to try and save it. Neither one of them made it.

    • Tonio

      MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) — A woman illegally visited Yellowstone National Park while it’s closed during the coronavirus pandemic and suffered burns Tuesday when she fell into a thermal feature, officials said.

      I love how they don’t even pretend it’s an article about the poor woman but lead with lockdown violator injured.

      • Festus

        You should see the spin up here in America’s Hat. Every fucking story.

      • Rhywun

        Another tragic ‘vid statistic.

    • Chipwooder

      People are stupid. It is known.

      • AlexinCT

        Two most common elements in the universe: Hydrogen and stupidity.

      • Grosspatzer

        Stupidity FTW! /Zappa

      • Agent Cooper

        But at some point, you have to trust them enough to let them go.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      FENTON!

      DAMMIT!

      FENTON!

    • J. Frank Parnell

      Why hasn’t this been blamed on Trump yet? Surely at some point he’s said something about heat and humidity killing off the Commie virus.

  9. I. B. McGinty

    Annoyed Nomad – great article on finance.

    • Festus

      I just found it depressing as hell. Then I went to work. Festus has been a grasshopper, fiddling in the noon-day sun. I honestly thought that I’d never live this long.

      • Q Continuum

        Hopefully you left a trail of broken hearts in your wake.

      • Festus

        I made a conscious effort to mend my ways in that regard so progress?

      • Drake

        More like a humble brag.

      • Festus

        In all seriousness, I tried to stop being a selfish cunte when I met my second Wife 24 years ago. I still drink too much but it’s a work in progress. My Step-kids and their own little families seem to like me okay. I’m trying Dad! Yeeesh!

      • AlexinCT

        What did Yoda tell Mark Hamill again?

    • Annoyed Nomad

      Thanks! I was glad to make a contribution.

  10. Festus

    You know you’re old when the rebel anthems from your youth are co-opted into mall music.

    • juris imprudent

      Guessing that all of our funeral services will feature some Elton John.

      • Festus

        You won’t be there to choose the tunes.

    • DrOtto

      Bill Bellamy had a bit on that in his act. Something along the lines of “next up on easy listening oldies – Fuck the Police by NWA”

    • mexican sharpshooter

      …or only get played on the “classic rock” station.

  11. Rebel Scum

    Isn’t that a typical day in Haiti?

    I was gonna say…they aren’t really prepared for much. Maybe they could ask the Clintons for help. I hear they are all for Haitian humanitarian aid.

    • Festus

      Send in the Blue Helmets! They get shit done!

    • Agent Cooper

      If Bill Gates wanted to help, he should just buy Haiti, name it Haiti Home Edition or Haiti ME, and rebuild the entire place. He could try out all his twisted little global management fantasies in his own little petri dish and leave the rest of us alone.

      • Rhywun

        “It looks like you’re starting a military coup. Would you like help?”

      • Gender Traitor

        Genuine LOL!

      • Don Escaped Australians

        * leaps to feet cheering and clapping *

  12. Shpip

    From the sidebar of the Mexican nurse story:
    Student Guilty of Disorderly Conduct for Elevator Noose.

    Judging from the mugshots, “Andrew” here isn’t the most stable individual to begin with.

    That said, a felony “hate crime” charge for “tying a noose out of string” is preposterous on its face.

    • Q Continuum

      Ummm… I know Lefties are animists that believe in the totemic magic of objects, but since when is a noose itself, outside of any other context, automatically racist? I seem to remember a very long history of people of all races and genders being hanged for hundreds of years.

      • juris imprudent

        Not in Amerikkka buddy – only black people got strung up here. Don’t you history bro?

      • DrOtto

        Pace picante sauce ad “This other stuff is made in New York City. New York City? Get a rope.” Totes racist.

      • leon

        You wana take my Gusto!? Say hello to your lunch.

      • pan fried wylie

        (((NEW YORK CITY!!11one)))

        see, totes racist.

    • Rebel Scum

      A University of Illinois student on Tuesday pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct for making a noose out of string and leaving it last September in a residence hall elevator.

      A “noose” … out of “string” … ///fakenoose

      I seem to remember a very long history of people of all races and genders being hanged for hundreds of years.

      Oh hush. It is well known that only black Americans were hanged by Democrat, white-supremacist lynch mobs in the south. Before the parties switched, of course. Next you’ll tel me that slavery has been practiced all throughout human history in all cultures all over the planet.

      • pan fried wylie

        It’d be sufficient to hang Flat Stanley, why do you hate People of Paper (PoP)?

    • Atanarjuat

      I wonder if the teens who spraypainted swastikas and “white shit” on a local guy’s Trump yard sign were charged with federal hate crimes.

  13. Count Potato

    What’s with the new login?

    I was told there was going to be no math.

    • UnCivilServant

      What new login? My old session is still working, so I haven’t seen anything

      • Count Potato

        “prove your humanity”

      • Nephilium

        It’s a way to weed out the non libertarians.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        Wouldn’t it make more sense to prove we aremore likely to be a bot?

      • SDF-7

        I’m hearing that in the Mortal Kombat announcer voice…

        “Prove your humanity!”

        “Flawless login”

      • mexican sharpshooter

        Fight!

      • pan fried wylie

        I was confused by not having to Login To Reply this morning, what gives? Suddenly my password is good for longer than an hour?

    • Festus

      Happened once to me but clear sailing ever since. I suppose that adding 4 and 1 together was the magical key to the gates of glory. Or something. The annoying script issue has returned but we can live with that.

      • SugarFree

        Can we?

      • Swiss Servator

        Yes, we can.

        *shivers hearing distant thunder from SP’s realm*

      • R C Dean

        Yo, Swiss, long time no see.

    • SugarFree

      It was part of the WordPress server upgrade due to comment volume and storage.

      Nevertheless, the CSS bug persisted.

      SP is a saint.

      • Count Potato

        I blame Elizabeth Warren.

      • Festus

        Yes. Yes she is. Actually very personable and caring on a human level as well. (magical rusty tin can lid force field engaged)

    • Tonio

      I didn’t get that this morning but have once in the past. It’s a bot filter. Don’t know what triggers it.

      • Swiss Servator

        Count Potato is a bot!!!1111!!1!oneoneone!!eleventy!

      • Q Continuum

        Only a bot could find Demi Rose attractive.

      • Count Potato

        She has 14M IG followers. Only half of them are robots.

      • pan fried wylie

        the other 7mil are SpudSocks?

      • bacon-magic

        Filled to the brim.

      • pan fried wylie

        crustily juggled into the laundry.

      • Festus

        The Hyperbole’s contrarianism, Count Potato’s infatuation with a hobbit, Winston’s screeds and DNT’s well, DNT. It’s the bay leaf in the sauce that makes Glibbing special!

      • Atanarjuat

        Correction, Hobbit RealDoll.

      • bacon-magic

        Bacon is the magical ingredient that blends the rest together.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

    Holy shit, how did that get by the editors narrative curators?

    This is the most plagueiest plague since Moses.

  15. Rebel Scum

    But others in Mexico fear a reopening — saying the measures were too long in coming and haven’t been in place for long enough. The announcement came as hospitals from Mexico City to its northern border with the U.S. were nearing overload, and many manufacturing workers in border cities like Ciudad Juarez had only recently been sent home in the wake of protests demanding a shutdown.

    I’d think a cold would be the least of their worries.

    • WTF

      the measures were too long in coming and haven’t been in place for long enough

      Mañana, amigo, mañana.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Just out of morbid curiosity, I turned on Bloomberg News. I was rewarded with an AFSCME ad, pleading with America to fully fund their vital public servants, in these trying times.

    • PieInTheSky

      vital public servants – to be fair, there is probably 100 of those, should not be that hard to fund.

      • juris imprudent

        Fund them, hell we can’t find them!

  17. Drake

    I talked to my mother last night – the news and some family members have succeeded in scaring the shit out of a 78-year-old woman. She’s horrified that I’m taking the son to SC to clear out his dorm next week. She’s convinced that this is the Black Death and we’ll be in grave danger. I realized it was a lost cause, promised to be safe and said goodnight. When my Dad was around, he could keep her grounded in reality.

    • Festus

      Sucks. Sorry to hear that, Drake. At least when my parents went they were of sound mind(ish).

    • robc

      THAT is why you are here! Which school?

      • Drake

        Coastal Carolina – flying down Friday, renting a giant SUV, moving him out, and driving back Saturday.

      • invisible finger

        One-way flight = terrorist

      • Atanarjuat

        Sorry for the life detour your son has been forced to take, but thank you for playing your part in the bankrupting of the government subsidized communist propaganda factories.

      • Drake

        First day of orientation a kid came on stage and told everyone what pronouns he preferred. Every parent in the audience groaned. My eyes rolled so hard I got dizzy.

        They may have some work yet to do on my kid. He has one professor he refers to as “Soy Boy” and another is “Fat Dyke”.

      • RBS

        I live in MB (and actually grew up here).

      • robc

        Okay, you can get your haircut. It probably won’t affect the wait in Charleston.

        I havent made it up to the Myrtle Beach area yet.

      • RBS

        Come for the beach, stay for the heroin overdose.

    • Grosspatzer

      Sorry about your mom, there’s no way to reason with that kind of fear. We’ll be taking the youngest patzer up to Scranton to clear out his dorm some time in the next 3 weeks, and Mrs. Patzer may need to go if my hip issues don’t improve. She is in a bad place with this – in the war between reason and fear, the fear is winning out – , but she’ll go if she needs to.

      • Grosspatzer

        Thanks for that, Festus. My depression needed a jump start ?

      • Suthenboy

        Already in my play list

    • AlexinCT

      My girlfriend is the same way unfortunately. So are a bunch of my coworkers. I am starting to notice that the people that are prone to appeal to emotional argumentation rather than logic (proggy types) tend to overwhelmingly be the ones that are in absolute pants shitting panic mode about this shit. She freaks out when I tell her I am 100% certain that when we look at the data in hindsight, and especially once the political bias is removed, we will find that this was not just all unnecessary, but that it was done on purpose by people that cared very little how much pain their obsession with getting and keeping power would cause others.

      • Agent Cooper

        I have FB friends who lose their shit when people go to a bar in Colorado. They live in Ohio. It’s insanity.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        But if you don’t freak out over that sort of stuff, how will everyone on Facebook know that you fucking love science and hate those stupid science-denying drumpf supporters?

    • Agent Cooper

      My mother is the opposite. My dad is 77 and has diabetes, is overweight, and is fighting prostate cancer. I actually wish they’d be more f-ing careful!

  18. The Late P Brooks

    We shall hound him unto the very gates of Hell

    Former Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that he would not pardon President Donald Trump if elected and insisted any prosecutorial decisions would be left to a more independent Justice Department.

    Answering questions in a virtual town hall-style event on MSNBC Thursday, the Democratic presidential hopeful was asked by a voter about whether he’d follow the lead of former President Gerald Ford, who pardoned Richard Nixon in large part to help the nation move beyond the Watergate scandal.

    Biden, while not speaking to any specific potential charge, committed to ensuring that any prosecutorial decisions would be dictated by the law, in contrast to what he called the “dereliction of duty” by Trump and his attorney general, William Barr.

    “It’s hands off completely. The attorney general is not the president’s lawyer. It’s the people’s lawyer,” Biden said. “We never saw anything like the prostitution of that office like we see it today.”

    Yes, yes, of course. Vindictive prosecution using ever asset available to the federal government is what made made this country great. It’s time to bring that back.

    • leon

      “It’s hands off completely. The attorney general is not the president’s lawyer. It’s the people’s lawyer,” Biden said. “We never saw anything like the prostitution of that office like we see it today.”

      I mean its almost like Trump put his own brother in as AG.

      • AlexinCT

        Why did Biden never say anything like this shit when people were pointing out Holder was Obama’s bitch and Fast & Furious was an act of war and criminal?

    • WTF

      The attorney general is not the president’s lawyer. It’s the people’s lawyer,” Biden said. “We never saw anything like the prostitution of that office like we see it today.”

      Eric “I’m the president’s wingman” Holder says hi.

      • invisible finger

        Biden reminds me of my favorite line from The Sopranos.

        “If you give him a golf club, he’d try to fuck it.”

    • Gustave Lytton

      Follow up question. “Would President Biden pardon Obama?”

      • AlexinCT

        They would railroad Trump like they did Flynn (and would resume doing to Flynn if he was president) for sure.

    • bacon-magic

      Joe better hope Trump doesn’t feel the same way.

      • Sean

        “Lock him up” chants seems a bit on the nose for Trump’s re-election campaign.

    • Rebel Scum

      he would not pardon President Donald Trump

      Pardon him for what?

      “dereliction of duty” by Trump and his attorney general, William Barr.

      Example? Barr made a legal argument in the Flynn case, if that is what is being referred to.

      The attorney general is not the president’s lawyer.

      Someone should have told Barry and Holder. ///wingman

      It’s hands off completely.

      Speaking of dereliction of duty…the president is chief law enforcement officer and the AG serves at the pleasure of the president.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Much of Thursday’s hour-long Q&A with Biden was focused on how he as president would respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, and included a notable personnel commitment.

    “I hope if I’m president that Dr. Fauci will stay on in the administration,” Biden said, offering a vote of confidence in the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as Trump has ratcheted up criticism of him.

    Swell. Just as long as we find the money to keep AFSCME happy.

    • Festus

      The man is an incoherent shell of his former self! What the fuck are the DNC playing at? Wait! I’ve got it… loading….

      • Fourscore

        Wilbur Ross is competitive in the Joe Biden look alike contest. These two guys in the park with a checkerboard, waiting for the other to make a move.

        “Tech jobs coming to AZ, 1600 starting in 2024”

    • Count Potato

      “National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases”

      How many more federal agencies do we need?

  20. PieInTheSky

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdQtdgjHX30

    Akkad Daily – Simping

    Having occasionally wondered into egirl/ethot/camgirl/tiktokgirl whatever twitter, sometime by curiosity sometimes by link jumping, I have to admit I have never gor non ironi, non troll, honest to god simping. But I assume each human is different and many don;t get things about my psychological makeup. But to spend time and money simping and doing embarasing shit on the internet is beyond me. I don’t get it. At all. And I am not what the “manosphere” would consider an alpha. I am a lonely single guy. Still… why simp?

    All that being said, I googled the “ok boomer” girl mentioned in the sargon video and found her twitter is neekolul (sounds like simping bait to me) and damn she easy on the eyes… If I were to simp… hits a sweet spot for me looks wise if literally nothing else.

    https://media.apnarm.net.au/media/images/2020/03/11/v3imagesbin1094150ab1a9bbbcb532cea04dd52bdf-si67fbsql9ciq0l5zt2_t1880.jpg

    Anyhoo. I hate when shit don’t word due to tool bugs. Stupid skill procedure messing up my day.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      That seems to be English, but I can’t seem to derive any meaning from it.

      • AlexinCT

        Was he mispronouncing “Shrimping”?

    • Chipwooder

      I don’t know what any of that means, but the chick is cute as a button.

      • Festus

        A “simp” sounds like something that any man would take violent offence to being called.

      • PieInTheSky

        depends on how one defines man

      • Festus

        Watched the video. I was not wrong. Fucking dweebs.

      • PieInTheSky

        Make bullying great again is what you are saying…

      • Festus

        *shrugs*

    • Atanarjuat

      So simping in this context is being a superfan of some camgirl? I don’t think that is really a new thing. Guys were fans of porn stars when I was a kid and would go to their appearances and get signed swag.

      It’s definitely a lifestyle of choosing to be an incel. Wouldn’t want it for anyone I care about. Maybe we’re turning into Japan, sexless and isolated young people.

      If simping is being overeager when dating and coming off as desperate, that’s unattractive whether men or women do it.

      • PieInTheSky

        I think is more than a fan. Is giving her money for almost nothing in return and practically worshiping her online i

      • Trolleric the Goth

        yes, it’s the former.

        it’s short for simpleton, and it’s not a new term either, although why it just came to prominence now I don’t know. Three 6 Mafia used it regularly as far back as the ’90s – see “Sippin’ on Sizzurp”, “Late Nite Tip”

        the true simps are the guys paying a shit ton monthly for a few extra “lewds” and the guys doing unpaid moderator work on these e-girls’ discords. These guys are buying a pretend girlfriend experience because these are attractive girls who are nice to them (in the same way a stripper is IRL, but over a longer term)

        the lesser simps are the guys paying anything (via onlyfans, patreon, twitch bits, etc.) for things they could find online easily, but not deluding themselves about their relationship to the e-girl.

    • Count Potato

      He is just so long-winded. That should be a two minute video. Or better yet, a one-page article.

      • Ted S.

        So much this.

    • Festus

      I’m stunned by the ability of Glib Nation to take obscure memes and make it their own. Who the hell wants to eat an ass? That’s fucking disgusting.

      • AlexinCT

        A hawt woman can make some men engage in things they would otherwise never do….

      • leon

        +1 Head of John the Baptist…

    • invisible finger

      I think HM would be more likely to go to the yellow courtesy phone.

      • AlexinCT

        They do promise to love you long time….

    • Agent Cooper

      She’s cuter and less cold-looking than mom.

  21. PieInTheSky

    My friend in dutchland is quite panicked about the chicom cold, with all sorts of anecdotal evidence like the 2 colleagues of his who got it were superbad and he heard from as Swedish colleague that Sweden is a disaster and so on. I see nothing like this in that data from Dutchland. Then again he was always a bit hypochondriac and his wife is due to whelp in June.

    • Festus

      Soon to be parent? There’s your answer right there. Especially first-timers.

      • PieInTheSky

        second timer

    • robc

      Sweden is mildly worse than the US, not a disaster, but not great either. But they should survive the 2nd wave better than other places.

    • EvilSheldon

      Among my friends and acquaintances who are extremely concerned about the Supercold, a solid third of them were hysterical germaphobes beforehand.

  22. Count Potato

    “Bumbling Joe Biden gaffes his way through COVID-19 roundtable as he falsely claims ‘85,000 jobs have been lost in the US and millions of Americans have died’ since pandemic began”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8322127/Bumbling-Biden-claims-85-000-jobs-lost-millions-Americans-died.html

    “Joe Biden says women ‘probably shouldn’t vote for me’ if they believe Tara Reade’s sexual assault claim against him and then admits he does not even remember her”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8322561/Joe-Biden-insists-does-not-remember-Tara-Reade.html

    I think his only hope is to blame Trump for the economy, but I doubt he could even maintain convincing bullshit at this point.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      I’m not sure how they think the debates will play out, but it’s not going to be good.

      Trump wouldn’t even have to beat Biden up. Just wait until a gaffe or stutter and say “You alright Joe? I’m a bit worried about you.”

      • Q Continuum

        I don’t even think “gaffe” is an appropriate term anymore; it implies accidentally misspeaking when trying to make a point. Joe is just senile ramblings at this point.

    • Nephilium

      85,000 jobs have been lost in the US and millions of Americans have died’ since pandemic began.

      As over 85,000 jobs have been lost, we consider that true.

      Since pandemics began, more then millions of Americans have died.

      We find this statement TRUE.

      /fact check

      • R C Dean

        You forgot:

        /The Hyperbole OFF

      • pan fried wylie

        *more THAN

        /TedS OFF

    • Tejicano

      I think his only hope is to blame Trump for the economy,

      “Until Trump took office America didn’t have an economy to worry about but then the COVID AR-14 struck and Trump caused America to take on this crummy economy which threw 850 Mexicans out of work”

      • egould310

        …850 Mexican pony-soldiers out of work.

    • Rebel Scum

      Numbers exactly backwards.

      “I’m Joe Biden and I forgot this message.”

    • JaimeRoberto Delecto

      “Joe Biden says women ‘probably shouldn’t vote for me’ if they believe Tara Reade’s sexual assault claim”

      I actually appreciate this kind of honesty.

      • leon

        I can’t think of another politician who was so willing to say “don’t vote for me” to people. I mean Mitt Romeny oozed, it but i don’t know if he ever said as much.

  23. Florida Man

    Good news everybody! I’m working my fifth day in a row. Hospital volume is picking up but not back to pre-panic levels yet. Disney World is supposed to open soon and if we are lucky Florida may return to normalcy by July.

    *Crosses fingers*

    • Q Continuum

      “Florida may return to normalcy”

      Normalcy in Florida of course being drastically different from normalcy everywhere else in the world.

    • KSuellington

      Once some guy robs a liquor store with an alligator under his arm on a five day bath salt bender you can rest easy.

      • JaimeRoberto Delecto

        I’m working on it.

    • The Other Kevin

      Yeah there’s literally no place where anyone’s written down what would happen if a president or vp got sick or died.

    • mexican sharpshooter

      Calm down, its DailyFail.

    • l0b0t

      Didn’t we go through this a few decades ago with Alexander Haig?

    • Rebel Scum

      White House has NO plan

      The plan is in the gov’ts founding charter.

      rival ‘presidents

      One would be pres. and the other vice pres.

    • R C Dean

      Congress has twice spelled out the line of succession, but there is a catch – it is unclear if the speaker or a senator is an ‘officer,’ as required by Article II.

      OK, that’s an interesting point that’s worth digging into.

      That is the result of the ‘ineligibility’ or ‘incompatibility’ clause.

      It says: ‘No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.’

      The first bold clauses shouldn’t be an issue, unless the Presidency has had its “emoluments” increased while Nancy is in office. She’s been in office a long time, so its possible. Another interesting question.

      Assuming that’s not an issue, Nancy would have to resign her seat to take over a Acting President. Possibly only temporarily, but I don’t know if that’s possible.

    • Chipwooder

      The Dave Gettleman era of Giants football continues to shine!

    • R C Dean

      That’s impressively stupid.

    • Agent Cooper

      Florida Man, er Men strike again!

    • R C Dean

      Also the Japs, don’t forget.

  24. Nephilium

    So, there’s another lawsuit running through the courts about the Ohio shutdowns. I’m guessing this one is going to be declared moot as gyms can now reopen on the 26th.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Crucial

    The Aspen Institute think tank on Thursday said it will return an $8 million loan it received through an emergency small business rescue program, the latest major organization to relinquish the aid following a public backlash.

    The Washington-based nonprofit — which disclosed having a $115 million endowment in 2018 — said it planned to return the government-backed loan after talking with “our stakeholders.” The group in recent days faced criticism for accepting the money, which Congress appropriated to help fight layoffs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    ——-

    The Aspen Institute had previously defended taking the loan, saying it was hit hard by pandemic-related shutdowns because a significant portion of its revenue comes from in-person events. It projected a $14 to $17 million loss. But the think tank became the target of scrutiny that earlier forced companies such as Shake Shack and Ruth’s Hospitality Group to return Paycheck Protection Program loans they received.

    “We believe that our application, which was made in the first week of the PPP, was consistent with the goals of the program,” said the institute in a statement Thursday. “Upon listening to our communities and further reflection, we have made the decision to return the loan.”

    Won’t someone think of the lobbyists? Think tank “policy analysts” have to send their kids to college, too.

    • Raven Nation

      They do employ a lot of support people in Aspen itself.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    I am Bezos, destroyer of worlds

    According to Comparisun, a company which allows small- to medium-sized firms to compare different business products, the world’s first trillionaire will likely be Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.

    Their projection shows Bezos reaching trillionaire status by 2026. The company said their projection is based on taking the average percentage of yearly growth over the past five years and applying it to future years.

    Comparisun shows Bezos’ net worth grew an average of 34% over the last five years.

    ——-

    The projection has sparked anger on Twitter, noting how many people are financially struggling during the coronavirus pandemic as Bezos rakes in billions of dollars.

    “Jeff Bezos is about to become the world’s first trillionaire while we’re about to enter a depression,” said Twitter user @Thomas_A_Moore.

    If they did it with a computer model, it must be true. And it must mean something. Outrage meter pegged.

    • leon

      Something that i think Tom Woods does really good with is that concerns of “income inequality” are purely exercises in Envy. The fact that someone makes 10X what i do does not hurt me. If they stopped making 10X more than i do, i would be no better off.

      • juris imprudent

        You will also note that none of these retards ever have one clue about improving incomes at the bottom – all of their focus is on cutting off the top. Envy through and through.

    • SugarFree

      Most of them seem really into blurry women.

      • PieInTheSky

        eh he’s one surgery away from being in

      • SugarFree

        Yup. Three months away from screaming online that any lesbian who won’t sleep with her is worse than a thousand Hitlers.

  27. Drake

    The craziness of the current LA Mayor and his endless lockdown got me to reminiscing.

    I was going to grad school in LA in 94 when the Northridge Earthquake took out a lot of the overpasses and made commuting even more of a mess. Governor Pete Wilson (R) and Mayor Richard Riordan (R) (crazy, right?) were desperate to get them fixed quickly, so the offered huge bonuses to contractors to work fast. I was taking a Project Management class at the time and was in awe of the way these guys hustled.

    Now the same Mayor and Governor are choosing to close that city for far longer than the earthquake did – just because there is a cold going around.

    • Drake

      Not the same mayor – same city. More coffee please.

    • PieInTheSky

      I don’t know what these people expect will happen outside having a whole bunch of sickly broke people…

      • juris imprudent

        [Mr. Burns finger flexing] “Excellent”, we’ll have these people sucking the govt tit for a hundred years.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Something happened. Some people did some things.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom says that unemployment in California amid the COVID-19 pandemic has far exceeded what it was during the peak of the Great Recession, with 4.7 million people filing for jobless benefits, requiring the state to borrow billions of dollars more from the federal government to cover claims.
    At a news conference Thursday to present a revised state budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, Newsom said the state will need $43.8 billion to cover unemployment claims in the new year, a 650% increase over what was originally proposed.

    The state will have to borrow much of that money from a federal trust fund that helps states cover jobless benefits in times of recession.

    “These unemployment numbers are jaw dropping,” Newsom said. “We are at a time that is simply unprecedented.”

    Some 4.7 million Californians have filed claims for unemployment benefits since March 12, compared to 2.2 million in the third quarter of 2010 at the height of the Great Recession.

    The state’s unemployment rate is expected to peak at more than 24.5% this year but the rate for the year as a whole will be 18%, which is still higher than the 12.3% peak rate during the third quarter of 2010, Newsom added.

    “I have no idea how any of this happened. It was an Act of God.”

  29. The Late P Brooks

    I mean its almost like Trump put his own brother in as AG.

    Nice.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    “Clearly, the unemployment numbers and ongoing impacts to workers and employers across our state are staggering,” Leyva said. “So I agree with the Governor that — while we need to continue to protect public education, public health and public safety — we also need to help those most impacted by COVID-19.”

    That’s the ticket.

    • Count Potato

      “The one who wrote this opinion should be ashamed of him/her-self. You are just a loser on the background trying to be an expert and impose your authority. If you really know what works, then try to invent your own vaccine. Your criticism will not change your status as a loser trying to sound like you know better than those great scientist who actually invented true vaccines. Please remember this before you try to write again about these things, you’re a loser!”

      Science.

      • Gender Traitor

        ::holds thumb and index finger in shape of “L,” presses them to forehead, gloats about the scathing smackdown just applied::

  31. The Other Kevin

    So the major media is still framing every story as “if you catch CORONA you will die.” If you flip that around and point out that 99% of people who catch it will not die, then every story becomes pointless. I’m hoping peoples’ every day experience gets us to that point soon.

    • robc

      “If you are over 80 and catch Corona, there is a pretty good chance you will die” isn’t a very catchy slogan.

      • PieInTheSky

        20% overall, probably less if you are in shape for 80 and not that sick.

      • robc

        KY numbers that I posted yesterday were about 28%, but considering the health of the typical KYian, 20% sounds about right.

      • grrizzly

        Last night the local TV news showed a 101-year-old celebrating his birthday with a parade of cars with his friends and relatives driving by his house. He has recently recovered from COVID-19.

    • R C Dean

      More like 99.9%. Maybe 99.8%, worst case.

    • The Other Kevin

      “Nurse catches virus that is very unlikely to kill her”
      “Mexican workers go back to work even with an increase in cases of virus very unlikely to kill them”

      See?

      • WTF

        To be even more accurate: “Nurse catches the flu”
        “Mexican workers go back to work even with an increase in flu cases”

  32. PieInTheSky

    So question for anarchist glibs:

    Let us say you have an island, like New Zeeland, which has a somewhat delicate ecology which was negatively affected by introduced animals from elsewhere and would benefit not to have any more introduced. A government with borders can basically control the organic matter that comes in to prevent people releasing random crap. How would a no borders anarchis island handle that? or would it be a free for all everyone releases whatever in the wild and fuck whatever local ecology ? Or even something like phylloxera which never got there but id random soil was brought in with it could destroy the vines.

    • leon

      What would happen if your Neighbor released his cattle in your corn field?

      • PieInTheSky

        you could sue your neighbor. It would probably damage one cornfield not every cornfield in the country. Bad analogy.

      • robc

        Are bees miniature cattle?

      • leon

        My point being that if its an owned resource and it does considerable dammage, then the owner may be able to seek recourse. Furthermore, the limitation of import seems much more invovled than the “night watchman” state that minarchists talk about, and one reason why i’m on the anarchist side of the line. the “Night Watchman” state often seems to get roped into a lot of other things rather rapidly when questions like this come up.

      • robc

        That question (totally out of context here) was a thought question I used to ask, before I learned about Coase. Coase shut that down, because bees and coasean bargaining is a long historical thing, well before Coase even came around.

      • robc

        My preferred minarchy is probably a bit larger than the night watchman state, as a functioning court system is necessary.

    • robc

      The problem with anarchy is there are no property rights. With minarchism, you can enforce property rights, which doesn’t prevent new animal introduction, but helps somewhat.

      • juris imprudent

        Even at that, you are talking about the ability to induce damage that exceeds the ability of the liable party to remediate. So tort claims won’t suffice.

      • Viking1865

        Damage?

        “which has a somewhat delicate ecology which was negatively affected by introduced animals from elsewhere and would benefit not to have any more introduced.”

        The presumption here is that the local ecology has some sort of intrinsic right to not have species from overseas entering the environment.

        “negatively affected” and “would benefit” are value judgments. If the native hummingbird can’t compete with the immigrant hummingbirds, they will die out. That’s evolution working.

      • robc

        All species are invasive species at some point in time.

      • Fourscore

        Lots of lakes in MN with no inlet/outlet and have a variety of fish in them. OTOH perhaps there was water flowing some years ago.

        The reclaimed mine pits are a good example, many of them have trout introduced by the DNR. Some have flowing water and a variety of fish. Mine pits are deep, cold environments.

      • pan fried wylie

        Topographic map with adjustable water-level would prolly be illustrative in that example. How far would the water really need to rise to connect a bunch of those lakes, and them with nearby rivers etc, 3 feet? It probably shifts that much on a (10)kiloyear scale.

      • PieInTheSky

        no the presumption is for example every single vineyard will be destroyed, or any other crop, for example.

      • pan fried wylie

        The vinyards full of all those Native New Zealand Grapes?

      • PieInTheSky

        no the vineyards that are private property of others.

      • pan fried wylie

        The private property that includes some right to protection for your preferred introduced species?

      • PieInTheSky

        yes. similar to the protection for your preferred introduced house.

      • pan fried wylie

        The introduced house that doesn’t have the capability to reproduce or move (independently)? Zoning works in here too somehow I think…

      • PieInTheSky

        the point is the house or whatever is on your property and stays there is on your property. neither viner no houses reproduce by themselves.

      • leon

        I thought we were supposed to be the same person….

      • robc

        Where did we veer off? Are you goatee-wearing anarchy supported robc from the mirror universe?

      • leon

        I don’t know, but does that mean one of us is the Evil Twin? who is which?

      • robc

        The one with the goatee is the evil twin. Duh.

    • Rebel Scum

      Nuke it from orbit?

  33. The Late P Brooks

    What we need now is more regulation

    The New York City Council voted Wednesday to cap fees by third-party services at 15% for providing food delivery during a state of emergency where restaurants can’t serve food on premises.

    For other types of charges, the fee would be capped at 5%. The caps would extend 90 days after the emergency has ended.

    The legislation, which still needs to be signed into law by Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, would be a blow to food delivery services like GrubHub and Uber Eats that have seen demand surge during the crisis but are still not profitable. The third-party services, which also include private businesses such as DoorDash and Postmates, would be subject to a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per restaurant per day for violations.

    Similar mandates have been made in San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Jersey City. Chicago announced new rules Tuesday for services to provide greater pricing transparency.

    The city council bill is a win for restaurants in New York City that have long complained of hefty fees that come with delivery services and have recently seen their revenue fall off a cliff during the coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants in New York City are only allowed to provide takeout and delivery under local guidelines, eliminating the most profitable part of the business for many and forcing longtime holdouts to finally sign up for a third-party service.

    There is no product or process which cannot be improved by stringent price controls.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      There is no product or process which cannot be improved by stringent price controls.

      True for the private sector but definitely not for government products/services. Price controls are the only thing keeping a concealed carry permit application at a max of $40something in VA instead of $40,000 for places in NOVA.

      Although, now that the VA progs and Gov Blackface repealed the hardwon preemption protection, I wonder if that will allow counties to set their own application fees outside of the cap.

    • WTF

      Well, that ought to cut down on the availability of delivery services.

      • pan fried wylie

        Those drivers didn’t need those substandard jobs anyway.

    • Rebel Scum

      Price fixing has never failed to yield positive results. It is known.

  34. leon

    Something i’ve been annoyed with, even the “good” leftists that i watch, when talking about Flynn, is that they always re-iterate that “Now remember Flynn did lie to the FBI”. After reviewing the actual motion to dismiss, even that claim seems dubious. And what is more annoying is that the people parroting it seem to not know what they claim he lied about. Krystall ball claimed that he told the FBI that he “Hadn’t talked to Kysliak” which is absolutely ridiculous because the FBI told him they wanted to talk about his call with the russian ambassador. That was the nucleus of the conversation.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Ball is a mendacious moron.

      • PieInTheSky

        Lavar has been trying to make the Ball name grate again but it is an uphill battle.

      • PieInTheSky

        grate was a typo but I think it sort of works.

      • leon

        She is, and i imagine doesn’t write her segments, but I do thing that her and Saaggar are pretty good at being honest about the DNC, and interesting to see how the Socialist Left thinks.

    • Chipwooder

      Correct me if I’m wrong – the guy who actually interviewed Flynn said that he believed Flynn wasn’t being deceptive, only that he didn’t recall everything correctly, right? And it was Strzok who changed that?

      • leon

        I don’t know. In a legal sense the FBI has no founding because “lying to the FBI” must affect an actual criminal investigation in a material way. Since the FBI knew the contents of his conversation, word for word, even if Flynn deliberately lied, it wouldn’t have been material, because the FBI already knew what the truth was. In other words, the questioning was completely an entrapment. Add in that they had no basis to be investigating Flynn because the investigation was supposed to have been closed and just hadn’t been, there can be no case for lying, since it has to affect an actual case/investigation. This is somewhat similar to the “Trump Obstructed justice, in our investigation that cleared him of any wrong doing” but much worse. Flynn was prosecuted for lying to affect an investigation that had already been closed, but for filing the paperwork to close it.

        Straff linked this today, and it does a really good job and explaining what the motion to dismiss lays out:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svYdF4UvJf0

      • Viking1865

        Yeah they interviewed him, brought him back and asked him the same questions, and since he didn’t say the exact same thing twice in a row, hes “lying to the FBI.” Just listen to the tapes.

        Oh wait…..there are no tapes. Lying to the FBI is based entirely on if a handwritten 302 form conflicts with the other 302. What’s that? No one can actually produce the original 302 only a copy? What’s that Peter Strozk took weeks to file the 302? What?

        Nothing to see here citizen. The FBI are sterling professionals.

      • Chipwooder

        And Strzok wasn’t even the interviewing agent, and thus had no reason to be editing the other agent’s 302, not to mention his girlfriend who wasn’t even in the room.

      • WTF

        And never mind that Flynn didn’t agree to plea guilty until the FBI threatened to go after his son.

    • Chipwooder

      Newsome really wants to provoke some kind of violent response, doesn’t he.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Well he’d only be declaring it because OrangeManBad isn’t providing the needed leadership and is failing Californians.

    • The Other Kevin

      The Dem governors are gambling that there will be more cases of the virus and more deaths, and if that’s the case they will look like the smart ones. The governors that are opening up their economies are gambling that it will fizzle out, and they’ll look like the smart ones. Our governor in Indiana is trying to play it safe and proceed cautiously with the option to roll back if things start getting bad.

      Only time will tell who’s right, but eventually some people are going to look like fools.

    • SDF-7

      Given that’s a 2 month old article — no, I’d say we aren’t right now.

      And given the way the state seems (barring the crap I read about Ventura County which never got a follow up to see if it really started), I don’t think it has or will get to that point.

      If we give Trump a bit of a pass for having no verbal filter, I think this is probably a similar moment for Newsome — at that point I think he was spitballing because they didn’t have any idea how bad it might get (this was before folks were pretty sure it has been circulating in the Bay Area at least since December and all).

    • leon

      From the comments:

      Another governor declared martial law in response to an assassination and rumors of political corruption. In June 1954 Albert Patterson, a nominee for state attorney general in Alabama, was shot to death on a street in Phenix City. Alabama governor Gordon Persons declared martial law in Phenix City and dispatched General Walter J. (“Crack”) Hanna and the Alabama National Guard to take over the city. Hanna appointed a military mayor, and the troops took control of the county courthouse and city hall. The troops physically removed certain officials from the courthouse and city hall, seized gambling equipment, and revoked liquor licenses.

      I don’t understand how someone can think like this. Just stating “this has happened before” and then some random factoid, and then…. profit?

    • Florida Man

      Interesting point raised in the comments, California grants rights to illegal immigrants and takes rights away from citizens.

    • leon

      LibertyBansTrump
      @YesWeCan4Us
      Replying to
      @brianklaas
      As the WH monster willfully sacrifices tens of thousands of lives to secure his stolen presidency, I’m deeply worried that the countervailing forces the American people have a right to rely on really believe that waiting until November will rescue us. #RemoveTrumpNOW

      Ok, Now this has to fit the definition of Irony. Right? I don’t think people realize that “being ironic” is not something generally admirable.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        He has to win in a landslide.

      • kbolino

        Later in the thread, someone calls upon the Secret Service to save us from Caesar Trump, which is making the unstated analogy with the late Roman Republic a little too on the nose.

      • Ownbestenemy

        March already passed so thats a no go

    • Rebel Scum

      Defend Democracy!

      @MelissaJPeltier

      My hope is that OUR Secret Service will do their jobs and escort him out of the building, IF they are loyal to their oaths and OUR Constitution!

      Ironically there is no mention of democracy in the constitution.

  35. Grosspatzer

    I am friends with a number of local musicians, and my neighbor is a promoter. They are hurting, I get it. But this seems odd:

    https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2020/05/njs-music-scene-will-be-destroyed-without-federal-aid-heres-their-survival-plan.html

    Putting aside the general issue of federal bailouts, what’s the point of throwing money at the problem if venues remain shuttered and when “reopened” are constrained to sparse occupancy?

    I have a better idea: open the venues. I crack myself up.

    • Drake

      Notice how that site dropped it’s comment section a while back? Seeing thses kinds of party line stories mocked was the only thing that made the Star Ledger readable.

      • Grosspatzer

        No kidding. My late stepfather was a regular “contributor” to the pre-millenium version of their comments section (aka letters to the editor). He was a staunch Republican, and none of his screeds would make it to print in the current climate. Shit, it just occurred to me he is gone for 20 years now. RIP, dad.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Advance Newhouse turned off the comments for the local rag here too, at the beginning of the year. Has been much less informative and well entertaining.

        I really hate this clickbait style of headline writing that use two sentences and the second one starts off with “Here’s what” or “This is why” or similar. It’s journalistic laziness and poor writing. The headline should be a single sentence and tell you what the main point of a story is without needing that crutch.

    • Nephilium

      I’m really curious what the open places (patio only) are going to look like today and tomorrow.

  36. Chipwooder

    When the JournoList signal goes up, they all come a-runnin’:

    A CNN headline told readers, “Trump pushes ‘Obamagate’ conspiracy based on routine intel activity.”

    Obama’s Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, now a CNN contributor, told his viewers that it is “routine” to unmask Americans who are communicating with foreigners under surveillance.

    Yahoo News told its readers unmaskings are “routine.”

    New York Times reporter Charlie Savage tweeted the practice is so “routine” that under President Trump, the National Security Agency handled 10,000 unmasking requests last year and 17,000 requests in 2018 – an average of 47 per day.

    Something the article doesn’t delve into – it may be routine for intelligence operatives, but is it routine for, say, the ambassador to the UN, the vice president, and the chief of staff to put in requests?

    • Gustave Lytton

      And why is it routine to unmask Americans? Wasn’t the whole idea of masking citizens sold as a means of protecting from warrantless spying? So perjurer Clapper is admitting the IC doesn’t give a fig leave for America of civics textbooks?

    • kbolino

      Also not asked, why does this happen so often, and are all of these requests actually justified?

    • The Other Kevin

      Yes. I don’t care how many thousands of times this happens every year. The most important question is, how many times a year does the VP do it?

    • leon

      I’ve notice two similar tacts.

      1: Mock the idea that there was any scandal ever in Obama admin, and paint it as Right wing racist hatemongering, angery that the black man was in the white house.

      2: This is routine for intelligence agents to do, so don’t get worked up over the politicians doing it. As you say Chipwooder, sure an analyst might unmask it, but why is fucking CoS and Ambassador to the UN and VP doing so? what counterintelligence job do they have?

      What is even more silly is that Comey (who has admitted to personally sending the FBI agents to interview Michael Flynn), will claim at the same time, when the FISA abuses came out, that “well as a director, you really don’t get into the weeds of the investigation, so it totes wasn’t his fault that the abuses were happening. If that’s the case, then you totes don’t need to be unmasking people, because that seems like getting into the weeds of an investigation. Go fucking hang yourself Comey.

  37. Festus

    Fuck it. I’m exhausted. Need some chow and a little sleep. See you Wonderfuls on the flip-side.

    • Ownbestenemy

      See ya Festus

  38. The Late P Brooks

    Here’s a random question:

    If the Justice Department drops the charges against Flynn, but the judge refuses to accept it, what happens? Does the judge act as prosecutor? Issue a summary judgement? Just ship Flynn off to jail on his personal say-so?

    • Gustave Lytton

      Presumably it would proceed to sentencing. DoJ has filed a motion to drop the charges and it hasn’t been accepted by Sullivan yet. They could file an appeal once Sullivan rules, or maybe earlier if he delays, so that might be why he’s slow rolling this with the contempt nonsense. How does the second Wednesday in November sound for a hearing to dismiss?

      • Gustave Lytton

        At this stage, I don’t think DoJ can unilaterally drop the charges. Usually it would be pro forma more or less, but a guilty plea has been entered as a result of the plea deal so it’s no longer quite in the hands of the prosecution.

      • juris imprudent

        And the defense has moved to vacate the plea – also not something that simply gets rubber-stamped by the judge, but there are rules to be followed and Sullivan isn’t.

      • leon

        The whole “Know that 9-0 Decision by SCOTUS?, I’m gonna go tell them to go fuck themselves” does seem to conjure a bit of admiration for the sheer brazenness of it.

    • Don Escaped Australians

      I once toyed with the DoJ as a fourth branch as a way to unhook it from executive discretion.

      But now I lump it in with my wider, general notion that, simply, there are too many laws. The real problem is outlawing too many behaviors; the DoJ necessarily has a lot of stupid, criminal work to do today. If we get rid of most of the federal criminal code, the cases under the DoJ’s umbrella shrinks to almost nothing and there’s not much to worry about.

      • kbolino

        The large DoJ and FBI seem a little out of place in an era where the state Attorneys General routinely band together. But the media and a not trivial share of the public clamor for the Federales to step in and solve every problem of people in other states not doing what they think is right, so ¿por qué no los dos?

      • Nephilium

        When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.

        –Some old dead French guy.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Will the judge hold Barr in contempt and have him jailed until he agrees to prosecute?

    • R C Dean

      No prosecution needed. The judge is considering criminal contempt of court for perjury.

      The mystery is why he needs an amicus to brief it. Aside from being unheard of in criminal courts, and repeatedly denied in this case by this judge, amicus support one litigant or the other. This amicus is opposing both litigants. Its bizarre. The DC Circuit needs to step in, but I think they need one or both of the litigants to file an appeal, and I’m not sure there’s anything to appeal yet. Maybe ask for a writ of mandamus from the DC Circuit ordering the case dismissed?

      • leon

        I had never heard of a writ of mandamus before, but have seen it tossed around. From what i understand it would seem that it would apply as they are used to seek relief from not just bad decisions but ones that are egregious to the rights of one party or the other.

      • R C Dean

        Vague recollection: its a court order for a government official to do something that they are “required” to do but are refusing (or delaying, same-same) to do.

      • leon

        Then Flynn might have to wait for the contempt sentence before he can challenge it.

        Something, something “absolute immunity” is complete bullshit.

  40. Rufus the Monocled

    “Miguel Boggiano, one of Argentina’s most prominent liberals in the media, announced on his social media that his quarantine ends on May 11. Following his comment, the economist had a hard time with the ruling party’s journalist Pablo Duggan, who called him an “anarchist” on his Radio 10 program. In Boggiano’s opinion, the government has seriously violated individual freedoms within the scope of the quarantine, which is still in force.”

    Am I reading that right? Ruling party’s journalist? A statist who peddles propaganda pretending to be a journalist calls another person an ‘anarchist’ for speaking on behalf of liberty?

    Boy this scamdemic really has flushed out who the degenerate coo-coos really are, eh?

  41. The Late P Brooks

    Crisitunity

    President Donald Trump and his administration are confident that the U.S. economy will quickly rebound after the coronavirus pandemic is contained — but some experts are not so sure.

    Count hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio among the skeptics. “We’re not going to go back to normal,” Dalio tells CNBC Make It.

    But he also has hope. “Soon we are going to reconsider how we are going to divide the pie and there are reasons that it won’t be good for capitalists,” Dalio says.

    Dalio sees the closest parallel to the world’s current economic situation as the Great Depression, which lasted from 1929 well into the 1930s, and is regarded as the worst economic crisis in American history.

    Much like with the Great Depression, Dalio predicts that the impending downturn will require a recovery period that could last several years, even as long as five years, he says.

    “Think of the virus as like a tsunami that comes in,” Dalio says. “And if it goes away completely and we never see it again, it still will produce damage, the financial damage … incomes that are lost, balance sheets that are hurt, restructurings that need to take place. So that will impede the recovery.”

    ——-

    Meanwhile, Dalio is optimistic about the future.

    He’s said that this downturn will result in a major restructuring of the economy, similar to what happened after the Great Depression, when American as a superpower rose in the wake of World War II and Roosevelt’s New Deal helped distribute wealth more equitably.

    In the wake of this current downturn, Dalio, who has written an upcoming book on this topic called “The Changing World Order,” expects a “reordering” that will see increased conversation and action around issues like addressing the wealth gap, corporate taxes, health care and even the U.S. relationships with rising powers like China.

    As a result of this experience, soon “we’re going to say: ‘How do you divide the wealth? Who owes what part of the bill? What is it going to mean for health care? What is it going to mean for taxes?’” Dalio says.

    Maybe we should declare war on China. That will stimulate the economy, and allow us to put the country under the control of the Washington Eggheadocracy.

    We’ll get our economic justice, good and hard.

    • kbolino

      Hooray, we only have to wait 16 years, stumble through many iterations of mostly unhelpful but nevertheless wasteful and destructive policies, remove term limits so the President can remake the entire government in his image, suffer through another world war and holocaust, and then we’ll emerge on the other side as a superpower in a world in ruins, destined to shoot itself in the dick and stage coups in every third world country that doesn’t do what it wants, while living in fear under a cold war and sending people off to die in various proxy wars.

      Why anyone wouldn’t be hopeful for that is beyond me.

    • kbolino

      Also, I’m not sure which is more predictable at this point:

      – The “hedge fund billionaire” is a clueless socialist

      – “Eat the rich” media network finds sympathetic “hedge fund billionaire”

      • Yusef drives a Kayak

        “divide the pie” coming from a Billionaire?

    • Rufus the Monocled

      I’m sure Dallio will proclaim himself as one of the top men to do the job.

      One major difference between the Great Depression and what we have now is that the former naturally occurred mostly through market and human forces. This depression was SELF-INDUCED. So maybe if we end the lockdowns like ASAP we may have a chance.

      If we keep closed, we give a chance to scam artists like hedge fund manages to control the narrative.

  42. robc

    “The need to do something tends to trump the need to understand what needs to be done.” — Angus Deaton

    • Don Escaped Australians

      bullshit; the direction is obvious:

      * destroy the Viet Minh
      * national thermostat setpoint
      * War on Drugs
      * remove Hussein from “office”
      * Space Force

      I see trees of green . . . . . .

    • Don Escaped Australians

      ICYMI ya boy Pepper Rodgers assumed room temperature

      PineTree and Cannoli around?

      • robc

        Pepper seemed like a really amusing guy to be around.

        After beating Air Force, the team got stranded at the airport due to a snowstorm. Pepper bought 4 kegs for the players and threw a party. This was the 70s, so there wasn’t a drinking age issue.

      • robc

        Eddie Lee Ivery was a beast. 356 yards on 26 carries.

      • egould310

        And GT is still running that same offensive scheme to this day!

      • robc

        Someone didnt watch us in 2019.

      • Don Escaped Australians

        he had an interest in a name-sake bar here for several years: Jimbo probably remembers

      • Pine_Tree

        Hadn’t heard that. Rodgers was the coach when I was first old enough to have consciousness of who the coach was. And yeah, reading about him later he actually seemed like an interesting guy.

        And Ivery (mentioned above) was the first Tech player I can remember knowing of by name.

      • robc

        Being an out-of-stater, I didnt start following Tech football until 1987. Ross and I arrived at the same time (I guess, technically he arrived about 9 months before me); his first season was my freshman year.

        So Ivery, Pepper, etc, was all history to me, nothing I knew personally.

  43. The Late P Brooks

    That was odd. That last comment was supposed to look more like this:

    The “hedge fund billionaire” is a clueless socialist

    “I’m on your side. You’ll rob me last, right?”

    • kbolino

      Maybe he’ll also call for all of us to pay more taxes while simultaneously employing an army of accountants to ensure his own tax burden is minimized.

      • Drake

        Or just sail his mega yacht down to the Cayman Islands and declare himself a resident.

  44. Yusef drives a Kayak

    Meanwhile in beautiful BhC, the park is officially open! Basketball hoops, benches and playgrounds, neato!
    We never really shut down, and people tend to distance themselves when sun bathing or picnicking anyway, it’s still nice to see normalcy again.
    /Float the River!

  45. The Late P Brooks

    You can’t slip anything past these guys

    3 million more US layoffs intensify fears of lasting damage

    Nearly 3 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week as the viral outbreak forced more companies to slash jobs even though most states have begun to let some businesses reopen.

    Roughly 36 million people have now sought jobless aid in just the two months since the coronavirus first forced businesses to close down and shrink their workforces, the government said Thursday. An additional 842,000 people applied for aid last week through a separate program for self-employed and gig workers.

    All told, the figures point to a job market gripped by its worst crisis in decades and an economy that is sinking into a deep downturn. The pace of new applications for aid has declined over the past several weeks but is still four times the record high that prevailed before the coronavirus struck hard in March.

    The waves of job cuts have heightened concerns that additional government aid, on top of the nearly $3 trillion already allocated, is necessary to sustain the economy. Without another aid package, many economists worry that thousands of small businesses will go bankrupt, leaving millions of the unemployed with no job to return to. And state and local governments, facing huge revenue shortfalls, could be forced to lay off millions more workers and cut services.

    Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell this week stressed his belief that Congress should consider providing additional rescue money to avoid prolonging an economic catastrophe.

    Warm up the helicopters.

    Act of God. We’re all in this together. Stay home, and LIVE!

    • pan fried wylie

      even though most states have begun to let some businesses reopen

      *glare*

      • KSuellington

        Thank you beneficent and all powerful overlords! You truly love us.

      • pan fried wylie

        For various values of “us”.

    • Yusef drives an Island

      Are Bowlines OK? I use them a lot…….
      /Idiots……

      • leon

        Every boy scout knows how to tie a bowline, and Boy scouts are a racist organization, so no it is not ok.

      • Yusef drives an Island

        / kicks pebble……

    • juris imprudent

      The soy is strong in that one.

      • pan fried wylie

        I mean, not “strong”, that’s not the right word.

        “extensive”?

      • R C Dean

        Repellent? Disturbing? Annoying?

      • pan fried wylie

        While I accept the applicability of all the suggested terms, none convey the idea of “maximum theoretical soy levels”.

      • juris imprudent

        C’mon on “strong enough for a man, but made for a woman”?

      • pan fried wylie

        Now you’re just being sexist.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    Has anybody else seen the CDC ad which is a direct ripoff of the Soviet Heroic Worker style of propaganda art?

    I can’t remember the slogan. Something about Strength Through Fearful Cowering.

    It creeped me right the fuck out, when I saw it.

    • RAHeinlein

      I saw it and thought the same thing – just glad there is no public sector worker union responsible for the ad’s creation.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Yes. I had the same reaction to it, and was kind of shocked to see it was an official CDC ad.

    • PieInTheSky

      double their funding for the add to go away

  47. The Late P Brooks

    “There really isn’t any sign that the labor market is bottoming out yet,” said Daniel Zhao, senior economist at Glassdoor, the career website.

    The Trump administration insists that as states reopen, more Americans will shop, dine out and resume other activities, thereby stimulating the economy. But early data suggests it is fear of contracting the virus, even more than shutdown orders, that may be impairing the economy. Without stronger public health measures, such as widespread testing or a vaccine, economists say such fear will depress growth even as more states reopen their economies.

    Even though Georgia reopened its restaurants for sit-down dining late last month, Adam Ozimek, chief economist at Upwork, said data from the reservation site OpenTable shows that reservations are still 91% below their pre-virus level.

    “Simply ending lockdowns is not going to be a panacea for these companies,” Ozimek said. “People aren’t going out because they don’t feel safe yet.”

    I read it in the newspaper. They couldn’t print it if it wasn’t true.

    • commodious spittoon

      “People aren’t going out because they don’t feel safe yet.”

      Onerous health safety requirements might play a part in discouraging public outings. We’re supposedly “opening up,” although not much changes due to the stringency of the requirements. Oh, and now masks are “required, but not mandatory.” The governor pinky promises that cops won’t enforce that rule. But you can be sure tart-faced old ladies of all ages and genders will make sure you know they’re now required.

      • commodious spittoon

        I wonder if anyone will balk if I wear a clown nose and tape over my mouth.

      • pan fried wylie

        I’m getting back to my witchdoctor mask project.

    • Rhywun

      “People aren’t going out because they don’t feel safe yet.”

      I’m sure constant fear-mongering by the media has nothing to do with that.

    • KSuellington

      If this is true, then there is no justification for continuing the lockdowns. As soon as restaurants open here I will be in one for a date night with my wife. As soon as we can go to Mexico without restrictions I am getting on a flight with my wife and kids. We can be the guinea pigs and the cowerers in place can go right on cowering. I have no problem with that.

      • commodious spittoon

        What the cowerers want more than anything is for you to continue cowering.

      • KSuellington

        Yup, and that is the problem CS. The reason why I have spent the last two months alternating between total rage and depression.

      • juris imprudent

        Cower with me so I don’t feel like a simpering idiot!

      • commodious spittoon

        Maybe I’m playing the same game that leftists play when they invoke false consciousness to explain endemic white racism/internalized misogyny/inherent bias, etc., but whatever. I suspect a great deal of this campaign to sustain fear isn’t driven by fear of getting sick or overwhelming hospitals or anything remotely sensible (emphasis on remote), but by a sense that things can’t go back to normal, because normal means Trump, and if Trump is the old normal, then we must have a new normal in which everyone feels the same manic lunacy they’ve exhibited since he was elected.

        Not all lockdownistas feel this way, but the people most shrill about how things will Never Be The Same are passionately driven by a need for the New Normal.

      • R C Dean

        I think Branch Covidians are mostly people with a pre-existing addiction to drama in their life. The Commie Cough was a godsend to them; they have latched onto it like a meth addict with a new dealer who has the good stuff, and refuse to give it up.

        I don’t know that its more complicated than that.

    • Agent Cooper

      ” said data from the reservation site OpenTable shows that reservations are still 91% below their pre-virus level.”

      I assume that this is correct on some level (that people are hesitant to just go right out and sit down at a restaurant) but I am highly skeptical of their “data.” How good is their reach when many locally-owned restaurants operate somewhat off the grid?

      • leon

        I think you’d have to argue that there is some difference between places that use OpenTable, and those that don’t. Otherwise it still is a sample of data and the trends should hold.

      • Agent Cooper

        I wonder what the sample size is.

      • Sean

        I’m ready for dining out at a favorite restaurant.

      • KSuellington

        I have only used OpenTable a couple times and I have eaten out in restaurants thousands of times. I’m not reserving a table at my local Thai joint or pho place. Even a fancy pants restaurant for a birthday I would usually call up or use the restaurant’s own website. The only time ima use that particular site is if the restaurant uses it exclusively. Bad data.

  48. The Late P Brooks

    Ozimek pointed to signs that business failures are rising. A survey by the Census Bureau, released Thursday, found that 41% of small businesses have closed temporarily since the pandemic hit. Other research has found that half of small businesses lack enough cash to survive longer than a month without revenue.

    “Those are the signs that we’ve stretched the economy too far, and it’s starting to tear,” Ozimek said.

    If only there were some way to help those people.

    • Sean

      We’ve put our field staff back on the payroll and are slowly resuming field operations next week.

      • pan fried wylie

        MUH GRANMAS!111oneoneone

    • Suthenboy

      At some point it will be irreparable. Even when businesses open back up there wont be anyone with money to patronize them.

      It is getting very close to time to buy rope.

    • R C Dean

      Our volumes are crawling back, even with elective surgeries graciously permitted by Gov. Ducey (Idiot-AZ). Still down probably 35%, all furloughs and pay cuts still in full effect. Patient care staff is probably getting a few more hours.

  49. The Late P Brooks

    And now a word from the Ministry of Truth

    The country is facing an unprecedented crisis, and many legislators, policymakers, and people in power are now offering a tepid reaction. Congress has provided about $2.9 trillion in fiscal support, according to the Federal Reserve, and is going to need to do more in order to salvage the economy. But the White House has suggested a pause on further legislative stimulus, and as Democrats put forth a new proposal for a major legislative package, key Republicans aren’t eager to move ahead.

    It’s not a time to test the waters, it’s a time to dive in. In a conversation in March as the gravity of the economic crisis set in, former Obama economist Betsey Stevenson issued a warning: “The risk of doing too little is much greater than the risk of doing too much.”

    That’s playing out right now in real time.

    This is an extraordinary moment that necessitates extraordinary measures
    Things, they are bad. Unprecedentedly and extremely bad. The US leads the world in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases after having failed to get the virus under control. Tens of thousands of people have died, and thousands of daily deaths are expected into the summer.

    Meanwhile, the economy, which government officials have put on pause to try to stop the spread of the disease, has plummeted. GDP shrank in the first quarter at its fastest rate since the Great Recession, and projections indicate that the worst is yet to come.

    ——-

    Meanwhile, states and cities are sounding the alarm about billions of dollars in budget shortfalls they’re facing. Their expenses have skyrocketed due to the health crisis while their revenue sources have dissipated. States can’t run deficits; if the federal government doesn’t step in, they’ll be forced to make deep cuts to their spending, which will only harm the economy more. “The last recession felt like running down a hill,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego recently told me. “This one feels like falling off a cliff, it happened so quickly.”

    The government can and should do more, and fast
    In a speech at the Peterson Institute for International Economics on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell highlighted the actions that Congress and the Fed have taken to try to uplift the economy during the pandemic. Congress has provided nearly $3 trillion in fiscal support to households, businesses, health care providers, and state and local governments. The Fed has taken extraordinary actions as well; it’s cut interest rates to near-zero and announced a series of sweeping measures to boost the economy and ensure liquidity in the markets.

    And still, he emphasized, there’s a need for more, and a grave risk to underreacting.

    “The record shows that deeper and longer recessions can leave behind lasting damage to the productive capacity of the economy,” Powell said. Debt, unemployment, and shuttered businesses can weigh on the economy for years.

    We can’t rebuild society without thoroughly demolishing it, first.

    • R C Dean

      Of interest – I have seen some data that the Swedish economy is suffering a contraction only somewhat less than the EU in general. Voluntary “social distancing” is having a heavy impact even without government-ordered lockdowns.

      • JaimeRoberto Delecto

        Exports account for something like 45% of Sweden’s GDP. If their customers are not buying, Sweden was going to get hit hard regardless of what they do.

    • pan fried wylie

      But the White House has suggested a pause on further legislative stimulus

      Is it too early to start voting for Trump? He’ll get a vote from me for every bill he vetoes.

  50. The Late P Brooks

    But is now really the time to worry about the deficit, especially when interest rates are low and the economy is in such disarray? As Vox’s Matt Yglesias laid out, one huge way to boost the economy right now is to “just spend the damn money.”

    It will be worth it in the long run if Congress sends money to people who need it, gives full support to the states, and shores up small businesses. Officials have to think beyond the liquidity problem — the actions taken to keep the economy afloat now — and make sure the country doesn’t have a sustained solvency problem, where demand is so diminished it can’t bounce back.

    Buzzword bingo.

    • Mojeaux

      Can’t spend money in closed establishments.

      Obvious fact is obvious.

      • pan fried wylie

        I would assume when he says “spend the damn money” he’s referring to congress handing out cash, not the people then spending that cash.

      • Mojeaux

        Me: *skims as per usual*

      • pan fried wylie

        For a professional wordsperson….

      • Mojeaux

        I have the attention span of a gnat.

      • UnCivilServant

        A studious gnat or a scatterbrained gnat?

      • Mojeaux

        Scatterbrained. I keep a gazillion color-coded lists and even then that only works about half the time. With the bankruptcy and move it’s almost intolerable.

        When I first got to BYU, somebody said to me in wonder, “You are the most brilliant ditz I’ve ever met.”

        She wasn’t wrong.

      • juris imprudent

        I refer to our era as having the attention span of a gnat on meth.

      • Mojeaux

        I overestimated the amount of work I could take on within my family’s needs and I have too much. I’ve got 3 proofreading projects and I’m behind on all of them because I can’t get into a groove. I could stay up all night but then I’d start making mistakes.

      • Mojeaux

        “our era” = GenX?

        I’d say yes but because we’re too busy and distracted.

        I haven’t read a book for pleasure in years.

      • Agent Cooper

        That is why I listen to books. Can’t spare the time to sit and read.

    • kinnath

      Sad beard is an idiot.

      Anyone relying on sad beard is also an idiot.

    • mrfamous

      Taking economic advice from Paul Krugman is a bad idea, but you can kinda sorta see why one would do it. Taking economic advice from Yglesias is like taking social distancing advice from Biden

    • Shirley Knott

      Never heard of Say’s Law, has he? You need production for consumption to be possible.

    • Drake

      “raise $2.5 billion over a decade to fight homelessness”

      They’re going to shoot the homeless? Sam Kinison agrees.

      • robc

        At $50k each, they could buy 50000 homeless a small home.

    • juris imprudent

      All of you who are so concerned, that you can’t be asked to pick up any of the tab, yeah you – hypocrites through and through.

    • KSuellington

      Sounds like a great way to draw more “homeless” to your city. SF has perfected that.

      • R C Dean

        Since what they mean by “fighting homelessness” is “subsidizing homelessness”, you are most certainly correct.

        You get more of what you reward . . . .

      • juris imprudent

        Since the cost isn’t being borne by them, what do they care if it generates more cost?

      • R C Dean

        You’d think they’d care that its drawing/”generating” more homeless people.

      • KSuellington

        Indeed. It’s all carrot and no stick here. Enabling done on a grand scale by daddy gubmint. If you wanted to design a system to keep addicts using drugs you couldn’t do better than what a West Coast cities have undertaken. It’s sickening.

      • Rhywun

        If you come to NYC they’ll put you in a nice hotel room and ply you with free booze, cigs, and weed.

    • JaimeRoberto Delecto

      I think California passed a millionaire tax to fund homeless programs many years ago. Somehow we have ever more homelessness.

  51. The Late P Brooks

    Of interest – I have seen some data that the Swedish economy is suffering a contraction only somewhat less than the EU in general. Voluntary “social distancing” is having a heavy impact even without government-ordered lockdowns.

    I have seen that, as well, in the context of, “SEE? Not cowering in place didn’t save their economy, nyah nyah nyah!” It appeared to be a misdirection play, because if Sweden’s plague numbers were significantly higher, that would have been the headline to the story.

    As far as the economic numbers go, I can’t help wondering how much of the Swedish decline is an inescapable effect of the general Eurozone collapse.

    • R C Dean

      I can’t help wondering how much of the Swedish decline is an inescapable effect of the general Eurozone collapse.

      That’s undoubtedly part of it, but I think the Swedish data shows that if everyone had adopted their approach, we’d still have a serious problem.

      Of course, even the Swedes treated this as something extraordinary not on par with a second flu season. The fundamental error drives bad results even without lockdowns.

      • Florida Man

        The economy is global now, so I’m sure Swedish tourism/exports is down and all the knock effects from that as well.

    • Drake

      They did not lockdown, but did implement “social distancing” rules. People assume these don’t have a cost?

  52. KSuellington

    I was just looking at my calendar for what I have to do today and saw that yesterday was to have been our last baseball practice and tomorrow our last game to the team that I was coaching for my middle boy. Just one more loss in the hundreds of millions of losses across the country for this fucking panic. I’ve asked one question to a number of people and haven’t gotten a satisfactory answer. Why can’t those of us who don’t want to cower anymore do so? Anyone who wants to stay at home and only take deliveries left on their porch and sanitize those and have no physical contact with the outside world can do so. Of course I’ve gotten the “we can’t let you overwhelm the hospital with your silly freedoms” answer. But that doesn’t apply at all after the first couple weeks or so of this. The real answer, as alluded to above by another commenter, is that “we don’t like you having freedoms while we simper in fear”.

    • Toxteth O’Grady

      Buncha Jeannie Buellers and Principal Rooneys*, I’m tellin ya.

      * (Principals Rooney?)

      • Mojeaux

        Jeannie came through when it got down to the wire.

      • KSuellington

        True, she did come through in the end.

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        The healing powers of a Charlie Sheen snog!

      • Mojeaux

        TOTALLY forgot that part!

        That magic peen, in Romancelandia speak.

      • Agent Cooper

        Played by Jennifer Aniston in the short-lived Ferris Bueller TV show. Huh.