Friday Morning Links for a Rainy Day

by | Dec 11, 2020 | Daily Links | 374 comments

There’s an odd phenomenon happening here. There’s water that seems to be, believe it or not, falling out of the sky! This must be some kind of weird miracle, an unknown event hitting Arizona. The gods must be punishing us.

Speaking of punishment, yes, the birthday ritual begins with a guy who always had an angle; a guy who always eschewed bombast in favor of subtlety; a guy who was approximately correct; Rudy Giuliani’s spirit animal; a guy whose name is likely unfamiliar to the Squad; a pianist who’s backing up Lou Reed; proof that pieces of shit attract; and the best butler the Addams Family ever had.

On to the news.

 

“How are supposed to run a war with assholes like this in the way?” And right on cue, a classy response from a real Republican.

 

Don’t worry, Biden will turn this around.

 

And he’ll likely turn this around as well. I mean, don’t we all miss Li’l Kim’s nuke tests?

 

So what, we’ll only have seven candles?

 

OK, I’m a geek. I love shit like this.

 

It’s not Giant Meteor. I am disappoint.

 

Bye Bye.

 

 

There really is only one choice for Old Guy Music today. And let’s face it- it’s always time for Hendrix.

 

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me. Wait, wrong book, I'll find something else.

374 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    Well, I’m sure it’s confusing for you desert people.

    • Animal

      Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey.
      Whiskey makes my baby, feel a little frisky.
      Back roads are boggin’ up, my buddies pile up in my truck.
      We hunt our hunnies down, we take ’em into town.
      Start washin’ all our worries down the drain.
      Rain is a good thing.

    • Old Man With Candy

      They all keep staring at the sky, mouths hanging open. Hundreds of drownings. All classified as COVID deaths.

      • mrfamous

        My wisdom should no longer be questioned. Wednesday afternoon was about the most glorious weather in the history of the Earth and I was gonna be damned if I didn’t go out and enjoy it, since I didn’t know how long it would last. “Hours” appeared to be the right answer.

    • Swiss Servator

      Rain, on the open belt of Dune?!

    • bacon-magic

      How dare you mock a Tuscan Raider.

  2. Count Potato

    I’m pretty sure John Coltrane died.

    • Count Potato

      404

      • Tulip

        Second one works for me (tried on a different device as well)

      • Count Potato

        Yes, thanks.

    • Nephilium

      Breaking the rules

      This way lies anarchy!

      • Tulip

        Did you like In the Flesh?

      • Nephilium

        I did. Too bad it got cancelled before its time.

  3. Rebel Scum

    Shutdown a possibility as Rand holds up defense bill

    Good.

    .@RandPaul is currently holding up passage of the #NDAA, blaming America, and delaying hazardous duty pay to hundreds of thousands of our service members and their families. Inexcusable.

    Fuck you, stop the wars and cut spending.

    • Spartacus

      Way to non-sequitur there, Liz.
      PS–he’s not blaming America, he’s blaming YOU.

    • Tonio

      Also, stop larding up bills with irrelevant BS.

      You want to fund the military? Fine. Have a bill that just funds the military; nothing about snail darters.

      • Nephilium

        /writes second bill to draft the snail darters into the military

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        Well, snail darters do sound kind of dangerous. They’re snails but quick ones.

    • WTF

      How the fuck are hundreds of thousands in line for hazardous duty pay? Just how many are actually deployed in combat zones?

      • db

        Are they still giving hazard pay for being stationed in malaria areas, like D.C.?

    • rhywun

      blaming America

      “Hey, that’s OUR job.”

    • Idle Hands

      Good, join the club you fucking assholes. I hope he shuts it down and we get the clips of the poor gov workers going a week without a check sincerely it would be awesome. Fuck these people.

    • Tonio

      That’s some impressive ass-kissing there, Time magazine.

    • Rebel Scum

      I await the Nobel Peace Prize they win for being rigged in elected.

      • rhywun

        They’re waiting for Joe to shuffle off so they can give it to Kamala.

      • Social Justice is Neither

        Essentially the same reason as Obama’s peace prize, saving leftists from having to deal with non-leftists in positions of power.

    • Idle Hands

      the level of straight propaganda and bullshit being just pumped into the ether right now is incredible and would make pravda blush.

    • Jarflax

      You know who else was Time Person of the Year?

      • Idle Hands

        greta thunberg?

      • Tres Cool

        R.H. Ingersoll ?

      • Rebel Scum

        Barry?

      • DrOtto

        Rudy Giuliani?

      • Suthenboy

        Bono?

      • zwak

        You Dad! I learned it from You!

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Leon Breitling?

      • Bones

        Nixon?

      • C. Anacreon

        Norman Borlaug?

      • Nephilium

        All of us?

  4. invisible finger

    “….delaying hazardous duty pay…”

    By delaying hazardous duty. You know, the proper thing to do.

    • PBRstreetgang

      Rand’s trying to cut the military’s burial fund to ZERO!!

      • Swiss Servator

        I saw him urinate on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier!!!!11!oneone1!eleventy!1

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        He SEEMS such a decent sort. WTF is he doing being a politician? Probably enriching himself just like the rest of them. Why do all of these politicos live well beyond their means? That being said, I like that he makes token gestures to a near empty House once in awhile and bent Trump’s ear about ME bullshit.

      • leon

        I think the thing I like most and Rand is that during recess he provides free eye surgeries back home.

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        There is that but I fear he’s the tallest midget in that troup.

      • Gadfly

        He SEEMS such a decent sort. WTF is he doing being a politician?

        While it is surely an aberration, it is entirely possible for decent people to aspire to political office, and even occasionally win. Some people are just too optimistic to be deterred by cesspool that swirls around politics and still hold out the vain hope that something good can be done. It’s possible Rand is such a person.

  5. Rebel Scum

    Don’t worry, Biden will turn this around.

    Warming up the drones of the office of president-elect as we speak.

  6. Rebel Scum

    Experts weigh in on how Biden should approach North Korea

    Nuke it from orbit? Or pallets of cash? I could go either way.

    • Social Justice is Neither

      Obviously both but in a display of government incompetence the pallets of cash get lost in-transit somewhere in Delaware and nothing else happens.

  7. Rebel Scum

    Jewish Americans from a variety of branches of the faith are celebrating Hanukkah with smaller-than-usual gatherings this year, in hopes of keeping the year-end holiday safe but still joyful as coronavirus cases spike across the country.

    I’m not a Jew but I’m Jew-ish. So lets have 8 crazy nights.

    • WTF

      Nice of him to keep that information from his boss.

      • leon

        Actually yes. Unless we are going with full KGB, the FBI shouldn’t be reporting every case to the president.

      • WTF

        This was hardly just any case though, was it?

      • leon

        It’s a high profile case, of a political rival. By keeping it secret it also helps remove the appearance of impropriety. Or we could go full Obama and spy on political opposition.

      • WTF

        Sure, we wouldn’t want any negative information about rivals to get out, or heaven forbid engage with the opposition on their own terms. No, we must adhere to Marquis of Queensbury while they fight by prison yard rules. Because reasons.

      • WTF

        Or we could go full Obama and spy on political opposition.

        Nobody was making that argument. It was a matter of concealing information about an active high-profile investigation from the President, Barr’s boss.

      • invisible finger

        “By keeping it secret it also helps remove the appearance of impropriety. ”

        That should be up to individual voters to decide. Withholding information makes them low-information voters by default.

        And It certainly isn’t spying a la Obama.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        By keeping it secret it also helps remove the appearance of impropriety.

        That would be the most charitable interpretation and giving Barr, the FBI, and the DOJ the utmost benefit of the doubt. I wouldn’t be doing that given their track record to date, especially when it comes to protecting the swamp.

      • leon

        I agree. They were likely keeping it secret because they wanted to bury it. I’m not trying to praise the institution, since they clearly have no problem spilling the beans, I’m just not sure there are any non political arguments for not keeping it a secret.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I don’t think that there needs to be a non-political justification when it involves a politician, especially if that politician is running for office. Voters have the right to know and adjust their vote based on facts to date. Keeping it a secret is also inherently a political argument and I think it’s better to err on transparency.

        Now for a private citizen, absolutely. Complete agreement there that information shouldn’t be released or reported until charges are filed.

      • R C Dean

        They were burying this all through the year. They never had any intention of doing anything to any member of the Biden family. The only reason we are hearing anything about it now is the October release of a copy of the laptop the FBI had for months? over a year? Without that, they wouldn’t be saying anything at all now.

        Probably. An alternative explanation is, of course, that the DOJ and FBI are working with the Inner Party, the Obamaites who thoroughly corrupted those organizations and are now prepping to take over again, to lay some groundwork for getting rid of Joe and clearing the way for the ultimate Inner Party knife-fighter, Harris.

      • Not an Economist

        Enough information was publicly available for somebody to figure out Biden was being investigated. It is just that a large segment of the elite didn’t want that information being given to the public. This was done primarily to influence the election.

    • leon

      I’m going to go out and actually defend Barr here. For what reason should Barr have not kept this secret, except politics? Obama orchestrated and leaked the investigations of Trump for political reasons.

      • WTF

        Because people should have as much information as possible about the candidate they may be voting for?

      • leon

        So only the political reasons.

      • Drake

        Having somebody compromised by our most dangerous competitor potentially elected President extends beyond politics.

      • leon

        You need to stop reading DU, Russia didn’t get an inch from Trump.

      • Drake

        Funny they all think Russia is particularly dangerous but China is a big friendly panda.

      • Agent Cooper

        I don’t believe reporting it to the American people is Barr’s job. Is it?

      • R C Dean

        Obama orchestrated and leaked the investigations of Trump for political reasons.

        Obama signed off on an entirely false pretext for spying on the Trump campaign and undermining his legitimacy. He had the eager cooperation of the FBI and DOJ.

        Trump orchestrated nothing. Hunter’s known activities, and especially the laptop, are pretty much the opposite of a pretext for an investigation. The FBI and DOJ have slow-played and buried it.

        The FBI and DOJ have zero problem announcing investigations, etc. when they feel the need for publicity. Its not like every white collar crime investigation into high-profile people is kept a deep dark secret.

        They are political agencies, doing things for political reasons. They are aligned with one of the parties, and do things to benefit their political allies. This should surprise no one, and no one should deny it.

    • Rebel Scum

      Fire this asshole.

      On the plus side it looks like the fix is in for Biden to be removed.

      On the negative side we get Harris.

      I’m with Styx. SCOTUS needs to throw it to Trump in some form or fashion. Invalidate the states with apparent fraud and throw the election to the House.

      • Count Potato

        There is no way that is going to happen at this time.

      • Not an Economist

        Anybody else think that it is funny that, after 4 years of screeching that Trump will be led out of the White House in handcuffs, it may actually happen to Biden.

        I agree that it probably won’t happen, but there is a non-zero chance that it could.

    • leon

      Saying “inform the voters” is clearly a political issue. The left could argue easily that the Revelation of the Steele Dossier was done to “inform the voters”.

      So what reason other than politics would Barr have to not keep this secret?

      • Jarflax

        I’m with you. Criminal investigations should not be publicized until someone is charged with a crime. To do otherwise allows law enforcement to ruin people’s lives with unfounded accusations. Plenty of completely innocent people get investigated. The only argument the other way boils down to “I don’t like person X therefore doing evil to him is good. That is pure tyranny.

      • zwak

        I have to agree. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and repeating what Comey did in 2016 is just as bad. If there is a crime suspected, someone doesn’t lose their rights simply because they are related to a presidential candidate.

        That said, watching the media carry water with a fleet of tanker trucks was just sad.

      • R C Dean

        Criminal investigations should not be publicized until someone is charged with a crime.

        I agree. Which begs the question: why have the obvious and well-known criminal activities of Hunter Biden never resulted in an indictment?

  8. Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

    That (((lesbian))) has a cute smile! Does she like Pina Colodas and taking walks in the rain?

    • Tonio

      Yes. Just not with you.

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        That was well earned! Good one, Tonio!

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        We could have bonded over our shared love of Ani Difranco? Yeah, she probably smells like a wet dog. I withdraw my proposal.

      • Old Man With Candy

        DiFranco absolutely ruined the music of SP’s and my favorite singer/songwriter. I can never forgive her for that.

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        Which one? I’ll admit to being a sort of casual fan of Ani. We had a stunningly beautiful relative that went to Uni and brought back hairy legs, armpits and Difranco cassettes. Sincere.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Peter Mulvey.

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        I mean, have you ever seen a crop of red hair on a well-turned leg? It was well, disturbing…

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        Yep. He’s really good.

    • Fourscore

      Happy Belated Birthday, Festus. You fall in between the ages of my 2 kids. Wait ! You coulda…nah. I was in France at the time. Say, your mother isn’t French, is she?

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        Part French, two parts Scot and part Feather Indian. I don’t think your balls would have survived the ordeal, even if you were a combat veteran. Pit bulls have a better reputation around children than Mother did.

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        Thank You for the Birthday wishes! I’m not done quite yet.

  9. Tundra

    Good morning, Old Man!

    Liz Cheney appears to be as big a piece of shit as the Dick. DIAF, bitch.

    Wyoming – do better.

    What an excellent song! And his anti-war stuff at the beginning was great!

    I am not feeling very motivated today. It must be Friday…

  10. Rebel Scum

    The gf has informed me that my cats are “Democats”. I said they lay around all day and leech off of me to survive instead of providing for themselves so that sounds about right.

    • invisible finger

      Wrong.

      A cat will at least catch a mouse once in a while if not keep them away by scent alone. A Democrat would invite more mice in.

  11. robc

    Baseball birthdays are pretty good despite only one HoFer: we kick off with Old Hoss Radbourn, who was 310-194 with a 2.68 ERA and also hit 9 HRs in his career. The top 3 non-HOFers are Bill Nicholson, Jay Bell, and Fred Toney.

    Oh, yeah, Radbourn did that in only 12 seasons, he retired in 1891.

    He also looks exactly like you would expect.

  12. Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

    That Hendrix tune has been a favorite of mine for over forty years. “Hey, Man take a look outside!” ” Awww Man, it’s raining!” Thanks for that OMWC, I needed it.

    • Old Man With Candy

      I started going down a Hendrix rabbit hole last night. Such is the addictive nature of Amazon HD streaming.

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        My first exposure to Hendrix was when I was 12. Imagine my disappointment years later when I discovered that the album that I adored was was just a pastiche. Made me question certain things about this world and then, somehow, I wound up here. Makes ya think.

  13. Certified Public Asshat

    Executions may pose risk of spreading Covid-19

    According to Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson’s order denying the preliminary injunction, up to 125 people enter the facility for an execution, including nearly 40 out-of-state Bureau of Prisons employees who are part of the execution team.

    If you’re going to do it, why do it efficiently?

    • invisible finger

      I’m sure the correctional officers union is against capital punishment because offing someone 40 years sooner than natural death is costing them jobs.

    • Jarflax

      This is a perfect juxtaposition of the inefficiency of the public vs. the private. The private side is represented by the individual, who all by himself, or possibly with a partner or two, managed to kill multiple people in a matter of minutes at almost no cost. The public side takes 25 years, 125 people, and tens of millions of dollars to maybe kill one dude, all while being performed by the same government that at vast expense maintains a force of literally millions of people it has trained to kill, but uses an entirely unrelated group of people trained to heal when performing the execution.

  14. Q Continuum

    “These interpretations argue that quantum states reflect our own knowledge of physical reality, rather than being faithful representations of something that exists out in the world”

    This has always been my contention. I have never personally believed that quantum mechanics/the Standard Model reflect capital T Truth; I have always considered the equations to be useful tools to predict events that are dependent on our methods of observation and measurement. As we get smaller and smaller, our ability to conduct experiments and interpret the observations become more and more crude relative to the scale and size of the phenomenon under scrutiny. That is what my instinct has always told me accounts for all of the non-deterministic irregularities in quantum physics.

    • Old Man With Candy

      I’m a stodgy old Copenhagener. Then again, all I ever did was 1/r physics.

      • Chipwooder

        Huh….never had you pegged for a dipper

    • Q Continuum

      Let me say that I have no evidence of this, it’s strictly an instinct that plagued me throughout learning QM/QFT.

    • robc

      All our formulas are just models.

      Newton had a damn good model, but it had its limits. Einstein improved on it. You know the old model is good when the new model reduces to the old one with basic assumptions.

      • leon

        ^^ all models are wrong, some are useful

        -some dead science guy.

      • invisible finger

        Or Bob Barker.

    • Rufus the Monocled

      I didn’t see tits.

    • Rebel Scum

      So you are saying it was aliens?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The cat is dead.

      • Jarflax

        No the cat is bloody furious

    • Suthenboy

      “…non-deterministic irregularities in quantum physics.”

      It isn’t reality that is non-deterministic. It is our understanding of it that is flawed. Our brains are not wired to grasp the infinitely large or small or the basic rules that govern the universe. I am amazed that we have gotten as far as we have. We can make a fire, dress game, build a house….those activities we are wired for, but the further away from that we go the more iffy our understanding gets.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Much less boring than “spiders make web differently when you leave the light on for them”

  15. Nephilium

    Nothing to see here. I’m sure there’s not going to be any downstream effects from this. And those jobs probably weren’t paying $15/hour, so they weren’t real jobs anyways.

    • WTF

      And the restaurants weren’t closed due to Covid, they were closed due to the unconstitutional actions of various sate governors. That detail is important, but never mentioned, which is a pet peeve of mine.

      • EvilSheldon

        You and me both.

    • Rebel Scum

      110,000 US RESTAURANTS CLOSED DUE TO COVID-19

      That’s not why.

    • mrfamous

      That’s absolutely obscene. If they all sued the government for an unconstitutional taking and won, the government would collapse from their lawsuits alone. And they should win.

      And I agree on the “virus caused this” madness. No it didn’t. I feel the same way when people talk about what a “bad year 2020 has been.” The year had nothing to do with it.

    • Chipwooder

      One of my favorite places to eat went under for good during Coonman’s shutdown earlier this year. Really pissed me off.

      • mrfamous

        The bar/restaurant where I was essentially “Norm” got killed by the restrictions this year. Bastards

  16. Rebel Scum

    Trump gave some of the GOP a spine again.

    New amicus brief from 106 Republican House members in support of Texas’ bid to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s win in the Supreme Court.

    • WTF

      My prediction: SCOTUS admits that these states did bypass the legislature in altering election rules in violation of the constitution, but find that it did not have a significant effect in altering the results of said election, and the remedy will consist of a strong admonishment to follow constitutional procedures in the future.

      • robc

        Sounds about right. And I am okay with that, if they really mean it…if they actual define a remedy requiring states to meat certain standards. Sort of like how the southern states had to have district boundaries approved.

      • leon

        See and I’m not sure i like the case because it begs the FedGov to get into the business of the states. But as you point out, they already do that.

      • robc

        As long as it only applies to Federal elections, I am okay. That is their business.

        Of course, I don’t see states having two separate election procedures, so it will be across the board.

        Also, the guarantee clause, from Article IV, Section 4:

        The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government

        I think that includes fair elections. So totes constitutional.

      • leon

        I’ve wondered what the limits on that are. Bicameral legislature is not one. 2020 has shown that the appointment of dictators in an emergency is whithin the realm of “republican government”.

      • CPRM

        dictators in an emergency is whithin the realm of “republican government”.

        Blame Rome.

      • R C Dean

        And I am okay with that, if they really mean it…if they actual define a remedy requiring states to meat certain standards.

        If that’s how they rule, this case will establish the precedent that the courts and administrative agencies can unconstitutionally alter how elections are conducted, with no consequences.

        If the Court rules the way you describe, I fail to see how the next case complaining that the courts and administrative agencies unconstitutionally altered how elections are conducted will result in a different result.

        I’m not sure i like the case because it begs the FedGov to get into the business of the states

        When state actors act unconstitutionally, that’s the only way to get a remedy. With no remedy, the Constitution is purely decorative.

      • Fatty Bolger

        That would be a good outcome.

      • dbleagle

        Put the four states in question under court supervision for all election matters under the terms of the Voting Rights Act. Then listen to the Dems argue that the law wasn’t meant for THEM and that it is punitive to keep their elections under court supervision for a half of century.

  17. Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

    ^^^ This! We just don’t know yet. Newtonian physics worked just fine until we delved deeper. We are almost at a level of Angels dancing on the head of a pin semantics today. Models. Bullshit always comes in “model” form.

    • Tundra

      Bullshit always comes in “model” form.

      Not always.

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        I’ll allow it.

  18. Count Potato

    “The far-left fundraiser promoted by BLM-antifa for the people squatting at the Red House has raised over $258,000. When police finally raided the house earlier this week, they found a stockpile of weapons & firearms. In response, antifa retook the house & made an autonomous zone.

    The antifa Red House autonomous zone continues to grow as it is now in its fourth day. Militants continue to build new border check points further and further out to buffer the area. The zone is now three blocks long. Graphic: Oregonian”

    https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1337351796990337025

    Seriously, WTF??

    • leon

      Isn’t that Le Mes book about youths and their autonomous zones?

    • rhywun

      I heard they’re calling themselves “sovereign citizens” now.

      ?

      • db

        Funny, if a Clinton were in the White House, this place’d be firebombed and bulldozed before you can say “Ruby Ridge.”

      • R C Dean

        Only if antifa were right-wing.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Why don’t I hear the FBI helicopters yet?

    • Rufus the Monocled

      Biden is gonna fix all this.

      Anyway. Spoiled toxic children in permanent tantrum mode.

      This is a consequence of the ‘everybody gets a ribbon’ movement.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        My world
        @fighttofighting
        ·
        18h
        “Replying to
        @tedcruz
        I am from Iran
        Iranians are counting the moments for victory
        We set fire to the net and try hard to reveal the truth
        I call on the people of Asia and Europe to take to the streets in support of Trump and the American people
        Trump’s victory is a victory for the whole world”

        As a foreigner observer from afar, I agree with this sentiment.

        Americans don’t appreciate this enough. I don’t think this election should be allowed to stand. Now the clown Trudeau wants mail-in ballot voting.

        The Liberals know a good scam when they see one.

        Thanks for nothing America.

      • Pine_Tree

        Apropos of nothing, but just triggered by the Iranian guy:

        I know full-well that selection bias massively influences my opinion on what I’m about to type, because all the Persians that I know are ones who left and came to America, so that’s just a subset but they gotta have folks like them back in Iran, but: I have really liked every Persian I’ve ever met.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        I had had an Iranian employee. Let’s just say she could be my Puuuursian pet.

      • Jarflax

        You had had her when what happened?

      • rhywun

        “Mail-in voting” is another reason Pandemic Panic will never end.

    • Rebel Scum

      Cut the water and power and see just how autonomous they are.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Here’s more about how the family ended up mortgaging a bought and paid for house:
      https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/12/a-sons-crimes-spurred-the-financial-problems-that-led-family-to-lose-n-portland-house-now-at-center-of-activist-occupation.html

      Still doesn’t answer how at least two generations of adults not including the repeat criminal were unable to pay a small mortgage. Not to worry, in light of the bad publicity, the new owner is offering to sell the house back and Go Fuck Me has raised around a quarter million.

    • Tres Cool

      “I’m 41 and my partner is 43. We have been together for 20 years.”

      I think I found your problem, lady.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Vaccine in a matter of days!

    We’re saved!

    Poor Foochy, back to the basement for you.

    • Rufus the Monocled

      You actually think this is over. They’re going to milk this scam dry until there’s no juice left. Quasimodo ain’t going anywhere.

    • robc

      Is the vaccine that is being delayed a year the one that the old lady in the UK got?

      One is being delayed because in it ineffective on older people…who, umm, are the only people it really needs to be effective with.

      • Nephilium

        What part of “Most dangerous virus ever” do you not understand?

      • robc

        The part that I can name a few more dangerous from the last 103 years?

      • Jarflax

        Would any of those help get rid of Trump? No? Then shut up LIBERTARD

      • invisible finger

        It only needs to be effective as a money-maker.

        The medical profession makes money by managing disease, not by curing it.

      • Surly Knott

        The mistake people make is to believe that the patient is the customer for medical services. This is in no way correct. The customer is one of the inputs to the product, medical services, for which the customers are the insurance companies and the state.
        More succinctly, the patient is not the customer but the product.

    • Rebel Scum

      back to the basement

      I consider him to be more of a garden gnome.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      And ivermectin appears to be a foolproof prophylactic at a fraction of the cost and nearly zero side effects.

      Yet they’re going to try to force us all to take the sketchy vaccines.

    • Idle Hands

      It’s not going to end until they literally can’t afford it to keep going. When the people pushing this start losing a paycheck call me because that’s when this ends.

      • Idle Hands

        *people collaborators.

    • R C Dean

      The official line is already set:

      Masking, social distancing, and lockdowns will continue regardless of the vaccine.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Persecution complex

    The St. Louis prosecutor spearheading the case against Mark McCloskey, one half of the husband-and-wife team accused of menacing Black Lives Matter protesters with weapons, has been removed from the case.

    Circuit Judge Thomas Clark II on Thursday dismissed Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and her entire staff, saying campaign fundraising emails Gardner sent to constituents that alluded to Mark and Patricia McCloskey’s case “raise the appearance of impropriety and jeopardize the defendant’s right to a fair trial,” The Associated Press reported.

    The ruling means Gardner can no longer oversee McCloskey’s prosecution. Instead, a special prosecutor will have to be selected to take over. The decision does not apply to McCloskey’s wife, Patricia, who is scheduled to appear before a different judge on Jan. 15.

    The couple’s defense attorneys filed the motion to disqualify Gardner in July, arguing it was an unprecedented move for a prosecutor to discuss a case in campaign materials, NBC affiliate KSDK reported. Court documents note the materials were sent out as early as three days before Gardner had filed any criminal charges against his clients.

    “Appearance of impropriety.” I like that.

    • leon

      NRA should do the same thing with the NY AG since she campaigned on destroying the NRA.

    • EvilSheldon

      Like I keep saying, the appearance of impropriety is impropriety. It’s nice to see an occasional tiny glimmer of ethical behavior amongst the mandarinate…

      • The Other Kevin

        I always liked that concept. I took one ethics class in college in the 90’s. It was during the summer, and it was the only time my little sis and I took a class together. The teacher was fantastic. We basically learned how to identify different sets of values, and then analyze situations based on those values. So something like, “Based on avoiding the appearance of impropriety, in this case you should…” or “Based on the golden rule, in this case you should…” It makes me sad to think that classes like that are probably no longer taught.

      • Jarflax

        With one exception, every ethics class I have taken as a lawyer has been focused entirely on “what should I do to stay out of trouble?’ rather than “what should I do?” This along with the fact that legal reasoning gradually bleeds over from its proper use as a technique for crafting an argument into lawyers’ day to day thinking is why I hate being a lawyer.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      She ought to be permanently disbarred.

    • Rebel Scum

      The DA needs to be prosecuted for tampering with evidence.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    More lockdowns are coming.

    Maybe if we all go outside and bang our pots and pans together we can scare it away.

    • Rufus the Monocled

      Yeh, we’re poised for one coming.

      The piece of shit loser criminal ‘leading’ this province stopped surgeries. Can you believe this madness? Nine months on they’re still clinging on to bad policies. There’s still a back log from the last shut down and now people are going to die as collateral damage.

      Of course, if the criminal Legault gets sick you can bet he’s gonna get service. This whole thing is just an incoherent and malevolent clusterfucked hysteria.

      May they all, and I do mean this sincerely from the bottom of my heart, rot in hell.

      • invisible finger

        “Nine months on they’re still clinging on to bad policies. ”

        Never apologize.

  22. The Other Kevin

    I don’t know why Terre Haute is always the place they execute people, but add dead convicts to guns and fireworks as Indiana’s main exports.

    • db

      “If you keep setting fires they’ll stick you in the nuthatch in Terre Haute, Trash!”

  23. Count Potato

    “Mastercard Terminates Use Of Pornhub After Discovering ‘Illegal Material’ On The Platform

    Mastercard has terminated the use of its cards on Pornhub, Mastercard told the Daily Caller News Foundation Thursday.

    “Today, the use of our cards at Pornhub is being terminated,” Mastercard said in a statement to the DCNF. “Our investigation over the past several days has confirmed violations of our standards prohibiting unlawful content on their site.”

    “As a result, and in accordance with our policies, we instructed the financial institutions that connect the site to our network to terminate acceptance,” the credit card company continued. “In addition, we continue to investigate potential illegal content on other websites to take the appropriate action.”

    Pulitzer prize-winning opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof accused Pornhub in a Friday New York Times op-ed of monetizing “child rapes, revenge pornography, spycam videos of women showering, racist and misogynist content, and footage of women being asphyxiated in plastic bags.””

    https://dailycaller.com/2020/12/10/mastercard-terminates-use-of-pornhub-after-discovering-illegal-material-on-the-platform/

    I’m sure rape and murder is already illegal.

    Anyway, all the people cheering this because should realize that anything could be called “racist and misogynist content”.

    • leon

      1 what is MC market what share? It’s got to be less than American Express.

      2. I kinda expected porn hub to be more on top of that.

      3. I imagine that the road the payment processors are going down will end up being the means by which crypto currency end up being more widespread in usage.

      • EvilSheldon

        More on top of what? Keeping dried-up Karen’s away from the BDSM section?

      • Tres Cool

        I think ‘Dried-Up Karen’ was a headliner at Lilith Fair one year.

    • Gustave Lytton

      “Our investigation over the past several days

      Insert HM’s knowing smile gif here.

    • Chipwooder

      Yup. That dumb asshole Josh Hawley is triumphantly cheering this news, as if this kind of tactic would never be focused on the kind of wrongthinkers who comprise his base.

      • Jarflax

        This is why (well this and not wanting to have my house stormed by feds) I don’t advocate civil war. It’ll end up with 3 factions, the Progcommies, the Socontheocrats, and the Trotskyites Neocons/third way democrats. I hate two of those groups whether they have power or not and hate the other one if they have power.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Mohammad El-Erian, Sooper Genius, is on my teevee. He just said people are becoming more and more reluctant to go out and engage in normal business activities, and this is going to fundamentally alter the economy in the future.

    They are so *reluctant* they must be threatened and badgered incessantly, and coerced to stay home.

    • Idle Hands

      It’s going to lead to a super sized black market and a top heavy gov with no way to pay it’s bills is what it’s going to lead to.

      • BakedPenguin

        But not before the elites get rich selling out their countrymen/women to China.

  25. Idle Hands

    https://twitter.com/robinmonotti/status/1336923426259349504

    KARY MULLIS, PCR TEST INVENTOR: “#Fauci knows nothing about nothing. The man thinks you can take a blood sample and stick it into an electron microscope and if it’s got a virus in there you’ll know it! [chuckles]”

    • EvilSheldon

      This one was good, too.

      “..the vast majority out there don’t possess the ability to judge what is & isn’t a good scientist & that’s a major problem for science this century”.

      • Idle Hands

        Mullis is kind of a crank but most geniuses are.

      • mrfamous

        The best scientists demand that the “conventional wisdom” be held to the same strict scientific evidentiary standards as so called “heterodox” ideas. They know that this is the _only_ way we can truly advance our actual knowledge.

        For the average person that can often make them sound like a crank. More often than not the CW is right, but when it’s not these people often pay a huge price for being brave enough to help advance human knowledge.

      • Jarflax

        Imagine a world in which a few people are capable of understanding something and the vast majority are not. Because the majority do not understand that thing they have made up stories about it. Take for example lightning. The story goes that lightning is crafted by a crippled smith and given to the King of the Gods for his use as a weapon. The few people that understand lightning know that it is not a bolt cast down from heaven, but rather is the discharge of built up energy. They talk about static charges and ionization paths, and the truly staggering amount of energy inherent in masses of warm air. They use funny symbols when they write and scoff at the obvious truth that John Miller must have displeased the Gods because he was struck by lightning. In short they are cranks.

        We are all in the majority most of the time. Even those who are geniuses in a specific area are in the majority about most things. Cranks are frequently wrong, but the person who is right is always seen as a crank, so the only chance at finding truth is through the cranks.

      • Idle Hands

        If you are a genius you are by definition not a heterdox thinker.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Most people think electricity comes from an outlet.

        There is not a single thing more important to modern society than the uninterrupted provision of electricity, but the public’s ignorance on the topic is staggering. And the environmental agitators are even worse.

      • Sensei

        So much this. And naturally we’ve fucked up both generation and distribution.

        Exhibit A: The state of CA.

      • Idle Hands

        The environmental agitators are the worst by design. Many in the leadership caste of the movement are under no illusion of the feudal agrarian society they are seeking to create they just think they’ll be the ones living in the castles issuing the edicts.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m acquainted with a PhD physicist who works at NASA and lives in my neighborhood.

        He could not comprehend how his leaky underground heating oil tank was contaminating the lake 100 yards away and downhill.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Healers!

    Time’s choice to name Biden and Harris over Trump, who was also shortlisted, marks the first time a president-elect and vice president-elect have appeared together on a Person of the Year cover. Harris is also the first vice president-elect to get the designation.

    “If Donald Trump was a force for disruption and division over the past four years, Biden and Harris show where the nation is heading: a blend of ethnicities, lived experiences and worldviews that must find a way forward together if the American experiment is to survive,” the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Edward Felsenthal, said.

    Finally, we can begin the arduous process of clearing away the rubble and rebuilding a country ravaged by President Cartoon Villain and his total war on democracy.

    The Germans had it easy in 1946.

    I wish I could still laugh at these delusional psychos. At this point I want them involuntarily institutionalized.

    • Gustave Lytton

      How about a Nobel Peace Prize for healing the world after Trump rendered it asunder?

    • Chipwooder

      You can stick your “lived experiences” up your collective asses, Time.

    • Rebel Scum

      If Donald Trump was a force for disruption and division

      Only because of the msm narrative/propaganda.

      Biden and Harris show where the nation is heading: a blend of ethnicities, lived experiences and worldviews that must find a way forward together

      All I see is corrupt, power-hungry, tyrannical assholes hell bent on destroying what is left of the republic.

      • EvilSheldon

        ‘Corrupt power-hungry tyrannical asshole’ seems to be a fairly common lived experience.

      • SandMan

        #metoo

    • Tres Cool

      that old bat is still getting paid?
      She must be 80 by now

  27. Idle Hands

    I really really hope Paul and Sanders get the shutdown there couldn’t be a better time for it as I’m almost positive it would have true popular support complete with gales of laughter for the media vignettes of the poor poor feds that have to miss a paycheck.

    • Nephilium

      The difference being that the Federal workers will get their back pay when the spigots turn on again.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    2. I kinda expected porn hub to be more on top of that.

    I thought the titillation of “forbidden fruit” FANTASIES was a big part of the business model.

    Just because Kristoff is dumb enough to think all those step-moms committing statutory rape are real, that doesn’t mean it’s not all an act. We’re back to “snuff film” panic.

    • Chipwooder

      It was weird when it suddenly became overrun with incest-themed videos a few years ago.

    • leon

      Huh. I haven’t performed the research like the authors, so when I saw “child rapes” I took them at their word that there was verifiably kiddie pron. I expect pornhub would be very much making sure that shit isn’t on the platform.

    • DrOtto

      I worked in snuff films briefly, it was short lived.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I almost got a role in a snuff film, but I choked during the audition.

    • Rufus the Monocled

      Didn’t PA join the suit?

      Because, you know, 2020.

      • Drake

        The Governor against it, the state legislature for it.

    • PieInTheSky

      so which side would win in a fist fight?

      • mrfamous

        America!

    • PieInTheSky

      it may cause infertility in women. – and thus bring down birth control pill revenue

      • Idle Hands

        on the other that might be offset by the increase in boner pills sales.

    • Nephilium

      So is this what happened in the run up to Children of Men?

    • Rebel Scum

      WEF/WHO goal is to reduce world population, so…

    • Pope Jimbo

      it may cause infertility in women

      Muslim immigrant women just moved to the top of the vaccination list in the EU.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Pfizer’s ex-chief of allergy research Dr. Michael Yeadon has asked the EU’s Medicine Agency to halt COVID vaccine studies because it may cause infertility in women.

    Feature, not bug.

    #SAVETHEEARTH

  30. The Late P Brooks

    Now they’re talking about “market psychology”.

    A coiled spring; waiting for Foochy, et al, to give the word. The sky is the limit!

  31. PieInTheSky

    The persistent framing of tech as an unmitigated good to San Francisco is also a self serving, dangerous lie.

    Tech extracted, but gave nothing back: they fight taxes, they fight regulation, they donate less to charity.

    https://twitter.com/MJB_SF/status/1337085630619078656

    I say kick em all out

    • kbolino

      San Francisco city/county revenue, per capita, in CPI-adjusted 2019 dollars:

      1989: $6,800
      2019: $13,900

      Whether it came mostly from tech is debatable, I’m sure, but this isn’t exactly what “extracting without giving back” looks like. It’s not as easy to compare the size of the legal code between then and now but I’d bet dollars to donuts it’s increased more than just twofold.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      LOL. She’s been burnt by unicorn companies that evaporate overnight as the founders take the money and run.

      Well dipshit, exercise better judgement next time. It’s not government’s responsibility to protect you from the vultures.

      And if you didn’t realize that Silicon Valley was chock full of that kind of crap after the dotcom bust, then you’re a fucking moron.

      • Nephilium

        Theranos and the juicer scam were both recent.

      • Jarflax

        And We Work, and about a dozen meal prep kit companies etc. etc. When there is a glut of QE dollars seeking an investment home there is good business for the Ponzis and Madoffs.

    • rhywun

      “gave nothing”

      Well, except the shit-ton of tax dollars that they couldn’t “fight”.

      What a maroon.

    • BakedPenguin

      Loyal Dissent is not tolerated in Venture Capital. EVER.

      I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more ironic comment by a leftist.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    “..the vast majority out there don’t possess the ability to judge what is & isn’t a good scientist & that’s a major problem for science this century”.

    The vast majority of people can’t even tell whether the milk in their refrigerator has gone bad. That’s why they need expiration dates.

    • creech

      I was always told that public education would mostly eradicate ignorance about science, history, diet, etc. Guess it hasn’t fulfilled its mission.
      Time to throw even more money at it.

      • kbolino

        As Mann and Dewey intended, it drove out religion and replaced it with the state. Teaching people along the way was just the fig leaf for credibility.

  33. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. A kick in the nuts for any Minnesoda Glibs who like to work out in a gym.

    Not only is the article infuriating because the govt idiots basically admit that the data doesn’t support shutting down gyms (there is a chart listing all the cases tied to a gym and it is about 600 total):

    While the numbers are small compared with the 242,000 Minnesotans who tested positive through Nov. 18, state health officials say they set a high bar for pegging a gym’s involvement in spread of the virus. They believe the virus spreads through fitness centers at a greater rate than data captures.

    “The longer you are near someone in a smaller space and if you’re doing things that make you breathe harder, the chance of infections go up,” Walz said on Dec. 1 as he acknowledged the inconsistency of closing health clubs while big retailers and liquor stores are open.

    So they believe it is higher. SCIENCE!

    • Pope Jimbo

      But the article gets worse because the gym owners have decided that licking the boot stomping on their face is the way to go.

      With executives from Minnesota-based chains Life Time, Anytime and Snap Fitness leading the way, the state’s fitness executives and owners have waged a campaign to pressure Walz to let them reopen. They offered to adopt more stringent safety measures, including reducing occupancy to 10 from 25% and requiring people to wear masks as they work out.

      Yeah, guys if they allow you to reopen and you want me to exercise with a mask on my face, I’m not coming back.

    • Drake

      Over the summer there were gyms around here that put up “closed” signs, then kept letting in the paying members for “personal training”.

    • Pope Jimbo

      If you go read that article, you will notice that they made the chart as difficult to read as possible. They didn’t sum up all the cases, you have to do that yourself.

      In addition to being an expert in why gyms are so dangerous, our Gov has said this about Lockdowns in Minnesoda:

      It isn’t about the numbers, it isn’t about the data, it is about neighborliness

  34. The Late P Brooks

    Yay! The EU has a giant stimulus plan! They’re smart. Not like us.

    • Chipwooder

      EU: We can handle things! We’re smahhhht! Not dumb like everybody says, we’re smaht, and we want respect!

    • PieInTheSky

      I know someone who made 600k Euros this year writing paperwork for EU funds and it pissed me off tbh.

    • Tejicano

      That’s not flying. That’s just falling with style.

      • Tres Cool

        So you’ve seen me leaving a bar, too.

  35. Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

    So a couple of nights ago while tidying Gualeiter Tyler’s office I sorta maybe read the minutes from the Health and Safety Committee meeting. First on the agenda was “cleaning solutions”! Ruh-Roh!

    • Tres Cool

      Was that solution final?

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        No. Just the regular round of bitching from the malcontents. Happens every Winter. Staff won’t move stuff so I can remedy. Staff complains about the mess. Meetings occur, plans are drawn up and nothing ever happens. The day shift thinks that I sit on my thumb for fun and pleasure but the night shift knows what is what.

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        They brought in a helper for me but she contracts so I imagine all she does is sashay her pert ass and bolt-ons around the plant for an hour.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    They believe the virus spreads through fitness centers at a greater rate than data captures.

    Christ on an anodised chinesium pogo stick.

    “The real world data does not conform to the model. That means the real world is defective.”

    • Urthona

      Two major studies have shown just how uncommon asymptomatic spread really is.

      That’s probably why in reality it’s not quickly spreading via gym.

      • Idle Hands

        I mean one of my buddies got it from something close to asymptomatic spread. His fiance’s brother had it went to lunch with them told him someone at work had it, he never had symptoms but everyone he came into contact with all tested positive including him. My buddy had mild flu symptoms along with missing smell and his fiance had a head cold for a day.

      • Urthona

        It’s possible. Just not all that common.

      • Idle Hands

        I think it’s one of those things that is nearly impossible to track or quantify. I’ll caveat that with It’s suicide as a country to harbor under the illusion that it’s the prevailing or even a substantial minority of spread. Anyone who talks about it is is doing this nation a vast disservice and should be treated skeptically.

      • Urthona

        True.

      • Pope Jimbo

        There’s scant data about how the coronavirus spreads in gyms. Studies from the British journal Nature and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that working out at gyms may be less risky than other activities, though researchers in both studies acknowledged limitations.

        The International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), a trade group, sponsored a study that found a “virus-to-visit” ratio of 0.002% out of 49.4 million gym visits between June and August. Some experts questioned the research, but the figures have been cited often by Minnesota’s fitness leaders and the IHRSA, which stands by them.

        Any study that doesn’t conform with our model is also suspect and not to be used in polite company.

      • R C Dean

        There’s scant data about how the coronavirus spreads in gyms.

        Which, of course, could well mean the data shows the ‘Vid doesn’t spread in gyms.

        Remember when we were spending millions of dollars to hire thousands of contact tracers? Shouldn’t that have produced a mountain of data that would resolve these questions?

    • Idle Hands

      Notice how the data not conforming to the model is never evidence of the current course of action being bad, just evidence of a flawed study.

      • Drake

        I notice they never analyzed the covid death rate of flabby fat-asses versus people who are fit.

      • Urthona

        Three morbidly obese people in my life got it, as well as my 94 year year old grandma. All beat it.

        But I did wonder why I know of so few low risk people who’ve gotten it. Maybe they just have few symptoms.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      I work with models at work. I created a model based on real world data for someone in management. He didn’t like the results, and I defended the model saying that it is based on real world data. He replied that I should create a theoretical model and make the real world fit the theoretical. He’s a PhD, so I guess he’s the expert.

      • R C Dean

        “You don’t need a data scientist. You need a magician.”

  37. PieInTheSky

    Owners of weapons such as knives, knuckle-dusters and rifles are being offered cash to hand them in to police.

    The Offensive Weapons Act comes into force next year, and items banned under it can be surrendered under a three-month scheme in England and Wales.

    Compensation for lawful owners ranges from £2 to £5,105 for each item – but the total value of a claim must be at least £30.

    The National Police Chiefs Council said the scheme would make streets safer.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55260166

    • Tejicano

      I agree.

      That act regarding weapons is definitely offensive.

  38. PieInTheSky

    Our paper on a hydrophobic ratchet that preserves useless molecular complexity is out in Nature today. I am excited and nervous in equal parts. A not so short thread on what we found.

    https://twitter.com/KaHochberg/status/1336722610097369094

  39. Rebel Scum

    You ain’t black.

    Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Rep. Cedric Richmond met with several civil rights groups yesterday.

    @blklivesmatter—as the largest social and justice movement in history—was not invited.

    • leon

      Well what do they expect. The rioting they organized did far more harm than good for Biden. Sure Kamala cheered it on, but they should have been smarter than her.

    • kbolino

      as the largest social and justice movement in history

      This is what it’s all about. LARPing and replaying the civil rights movement. Being more famous than MLK or Ghandi. The moral narcissism of thinking you’re fighting systemic oppression when you’ve never faced much oppression or any difficult moral choices because your forebears already accomplished what you are claiming to.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s about fleecing the capitalist idiots. BLM has taken in hundreds of millions, if not billions from corporations eager to burnish their social justice cred on Twitter. Where is that money going?

      • Akira

        BLM has taken in hundreds of millions, if not billions from corporations eager to burnish their social justice cred on Twitter. Where is that money going?

        I thought I read something about it going to “Act Blue PAC” which funnels it straight to the Democrat Party (ya know, the same Democrat Party that has been solidly in charge of many of these cities where the police violence occurs).

      • Pope Jimbo

        Completely agree. Kids today want to fight EVIL. The problem is that there really isn’t that much white/black left to conquer. Racism has pretty much been solved and is getting better all the time. Sexism is pretty much over.

      • Idle Hands

        the retarded people of my generation no shit think they are on the cutting edge of some kind of revolution. It’s both hilarious and scary.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    President Cartoon Villain’s swathe of horrific destruction

    When President-elect Joe Biden takes office next month, one of his first challenges will be the nearly 2 million-member federal workforce. Morale is down in many agencies after four years of attacks on the civil service from President Trump.

    Trump has called the federal workforce the “deep state.” His administration has moved hundreds of jobs out of Washington, D.C. There was a hiring freeze, a government shutdown and job cuts in some agencies.

    Max Stier, president of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, says the actions and rhetoric by the president have taken their toll on the federal workforce.

    “There’s no question that the Trump administration has diminished the value of civil service or public service for many agencies,” Stier tells NPR. “And you can see that just in the morale scores of those agencies themselves.”

    Of the 17 largest federal agencies listed in the partnership’s Best Places to Work survey, morale in 2019 was down from the previous year at 10 of them.

    ——-

    Convincing someone to work for the federal government can be “a tough sell,” says Traci DiMartini, who is the chief human capital officer at the General Services Administration. But she says not everyone is deterred. Through the end of November this year, the GSA posted some 1,300 job listings.

    “For that, we received over 66,000 applications, which means we’re only hiring 2% of the people that applied,” DiMartini says.

    Across the whole federal government, according to the Office of Personnel Management, there were more than 18 million applicants for some 331,000 federal job postings this year.

    OPM spokeswoman Rachel Tripp said in a statement to NPR: “Because of the President’s vision, the swamp is actively being drained and in doing so, Americans around the country — outside of Washington, DC — who would never have had the chance to serve in the Federal Government now do.”

    The majority of federal jobs are, however, already located outside Washington, D.C.

    DiMartini says working for the federal government is a noble calling. “We are really what makes America tick. And I think of all of the jobs in the civil service that people often don’t think about. Seasonal firefighters at USDA, food and safety inspectors, park rangers, police officers. You know, it’s a whole gamut of individuals all across the country

    ——-

    So far, figures show there has been no spike in new applicants because of the upcoming change in administrations. And DiMartini says that despite the challenges, in tough economic times such as these “people want to work for the federal government no matter who is in charge.”

    Trump has undermined the notion of public service so comprehensively that not a single person has applied for a job with the federal government, or something. WTF?

    Maybe NPR should hire some editors.

    • LJW

      Whether intentionally or not Trump has further exposed the public sector for the political frauds they are.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      DiMartini says working for the federal government is a noble calling. “We are really what makes America tick. And I think of all of the jobs in the civil service that people often don’t think about. Seasonal firefighters at USDA, food and safety inspectors, park rangers, police officers. You know, it’s a whole gamut of individuals all across the country

      They’re what ticks America off.

    • Idle Hands

      what the fuck is even the point of this article? bragging about how cushy and sought after federal jobs are?

  41. LJW

    Best glitch ever.

    **NSFW NSFW NSFW**

    Glitch, or feature? Is there a popcorn bucket you can get in the game store?

    • Sensei

      I just bought the game yesterday.

      It’s a good glitch, but the game actually has full nudity. You can customize the genitalia. So in this case the bug is just that when the clothing layer is added the genitals aren’t removed.

      • LJW

        I picked it up too.
        Best bugs I’ve encountered:

        Called my car it showed up rammed into another car launching it into the air.

        Sliding NPCs

        Guns inside heads

        Limo ride with dex scene, the limo plows through pedestrians

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Limo ride with sex scene, the limo plows through pedestrians

        Reminds me of the days of my youth.

      • Sensei

        I liked that in addition to the size of the male genitalia you could choose natural or (((man made))).

        I haven’t gotten that far in the thing. It finished downloading last night and I was going through the training and sucking at hand to hand and said time to go to bed.

      • PieInTheSky

        This is not the game for Q though as I understand the boob size customization stops at c cup

  42. KSuellington

    Right on OMWC, that’s my favorite song from my favorite Hendrix album. Electric Ladyland is one of the best rock albums ever made, just incredible and I’m still not bored of it after thousands of listens. Here is a killer clip of Jimi playing 12 string. How much awesome music could he have made if he’d stayed with us? I liked the direction he was going in prior to his death with the Band of Gypsies.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P701paKEMXs

    • Idle Hands

      Electric Ladyland is my favorite as well but Axis bold as love is an acceptable retort to that assertion.

    • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

      You are my friend. I like that feeling.

      • KSuellington

        One day I may just stop by to have a few pints with you on the way up to Alaska. I’ve always wanted to take that drive.

    • KSuellington

      Cheers guys, and yes I also have deep love for Axis. I once found an old record in really good shape of him playing with Curtis Knight in his beginning days. It has on it a bunch of great rock/soul and this sweet cover version with the fat ass beat of this well known tune.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOR03EBP2XU

  43. mrfamous

    Twitter thread on the dire straits Harold’s Chicken Shack in Chicago is in. Maddening that the comments seem to think that the consensus is that “bailouts” are what is needed here. Yeah, _that’s_ the reason why these folks are in trouble.

    • Nephilium

      The common refrain in the local news stories about restaurants is that most will fail if there is no government bailout. The sad thing is it’s even the owners and managers of the restaurants saying it. On the other hand, there have been months of scare stories about how leaving your house will lead you to die from the ‘vid.

      • Urthona

        I’m actually of the opinion that if you shut down someone’s business forcibly you *should* have to pay for every cent they lose as a result. Which in this case would be owed by the taxpayers.

        Apply this rule in New York and I think the lockdowns end quickly. People would immediately realize the cost isn’t even remotely worth it.

    • Idle Hands

      The level of economic ignorance people have on this subject is fucking insane. There’s a whole cohort of people who think just paying the restaurants to stay close would beat this thing. I honestly think they just think it’s the restaurants that are suffering. What are we going to do for the people who clean the uniforms, who service the equipment, who sell them the alchohol/drinks/food, the people who service the building space, the landlords and on and on. It’s staggering how ignorant people are when it comes to economics.

      • Nephilium

        Those same people continue their WFH jobs while saying, “We’re all in this together!” without missing a paycheck.

      • Urthona

        Here’s what was very telling.

        All the leftwing teachers I know on social media were sent back to school. Including a few from New York City. They were strident lockdown advocates and bitched about having to go back to school.

        Yet, exactly 0 of them chose to give up their job for safety when ordered back.

        That’s a choice they were willing to make for millions of other people.

      • R C Dean

        I’ve never gotten a response to my observation that, if teachers are so afraid of catching the ‘Vid, why don’t they strap on N95s and faceshields while at work? Its good enough for hospital workers, it should be good enough for them. I mean, they are essential, devoted to their profession, which is really a calling, blah blah. Right? But they can’t be arsed to do something which most of them insist is merely an inconvenience.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Tundra and I had lunch at a local watering hole just before our current lockdown started. The waitress was telling us that when they tried take out orders only during the first lockdown, their volume of food was too low to warrant a delivery truck coming from their supplier. So they had to drive to the suppliers warehouse and pick up their food themselves.

        Yeah, most people are dumb as bricks when it comes to supply chains and logistics.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      Nooo! I loved Harold’s when I lived in Hyde Park. The piece of bread under the chicken that soaked up the grease and sauce. Mmm. The bullet proof glass at the counter and the turnstile where you placed your money and received your food added to the ambience and also should have provided protection from the virus.

    • Urthona

      I live in Texas, and this was all over the radio yesterday.

      It’s Texas though so we all just shrugged and laughed.

      Ain’t happenin’.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Tarring and feathering would be an improvement to her looks.

      • Idle Hands

        It would probably increase her chances of getting laid as it would open her up to the furries.

    • Sensei

      I used to think when politicians did these things it was for the attention and grandstanding. They knew that it wouldn’t pass and were trying to make some other point.

      In the current world with the amount of lunacy that has broad support I’ve completely abandoned this hypothesis.

    • Rebel Scum

      What. The. Fuck?

    • Jarflax

      That is not a pretty woman.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    I notice they never analyzed the covid death rate of flabby fat-asses versus people who are fit.

    It couldn’t even manage to kill that fat fuck Chris Christie.

    Lamest pandemic ever.

    • hayeksplosives

      They have no interest in telling you the truth that the virus isn’t deadly to most segments of the population.

      “Don’t worry; everything is fine” doesn’t sell clicks.

    • Nephilium

      /looks over the list of the dead and dying pro sports players who have had the ‘vid

  45. hayeksplosives

    “Funny they all think Russia is particularly dangerous but China is a big friendly panda.“

    This perplexed me also. Are the ChiComs considered less of a threat by the American electorate because otherwise the electorate would be racist against Chinese people?

    Is it a natural outcome of years of misplaced admiration for “Eastern philosophy” and religion? (Going to school in the 80s, all we heard about was how much better Japan and other Asian countries’s kids were compared to American students school performance.)

    Or is it because if China were a threat, then that makes many Democrat politicians traitors?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s not the Russians that currently have millions of their own people in gulags and other assorted prison camps.

      • hayeksplosives

        So why don’t the media report on that? Are they part owned by China?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The media conglomerates are desperate for a piece of the China pie.

        Take Disney for example, they own ABC and ESPN. They also depend on Chinese money for the success of their movies, parks, etc…

        There is no way in hell that they would jeopardize their investments in China by being critical of the CCP. And the CCP does not let anything slide, even the most minor criticism.

    • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

      Ding-fucking-dingaling!

      • hayeksplosives

        I’ll bet very few Americans know that China is building artificial islands so that they can extend a claim to territorial waters further into the South China Sea.

        How many even know what Taiwan is or Hong Kong for that matter? School doesn’t bother teaching history anymore, even when that history is key to understanding the present.

    • Urthona

      China literally practices slavery and has a million slaves, and the left is cool with it.

      • Suthenboy

        They have always been cool with slavery.

    • The Other Kevin

      I think every country wants to have influence on the world stage, and that’s where Russia is right now. China, on the other hand, wants to rule the world, just like the USSR wanted to. They have no qualms about doing anything to further that goal. They’ve made it so they have influence over a lot of people with money and power.

    • Idle Hands

      The amount of the media, universities and business that china owns in this country is impressive and downright scary. They figured out they can beat us at our own game by tethering all our media and cultural institutions to them with the allure of capitalism, it’s quite impressive. They learned all the right lessons from the cold war.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        And they learned from Japan.

        Japan came in roaring in with fiat money and bought overpriced real estate which they lost their asses on.

        China bought politicians and universities.

      • Urthona

        meh. China’s overrated.

      • kbolino

        Indeed. The problem with their foreign strategy in the West is that they are trying to take over the culture without being able to take over the state. Owning a controlling stake, or at least having the ability to bend the ear of, the media, education complex, and largest businesses gets them a lot. But without a top-down party-state apparatus to ensure total control they are just causing lots of people to seek out and find alternatives. The “fact check” bullshit, which is probably homegrown and not a PRC op to be fair, is turning lots of people into skeptics and dissidents. In the PRC, those people would be threatened, reeducated, disappeared, or otherwise made an example of. But here, they can only be shamed, and shame from your (at least) equally shameful enemies isn’t very effective.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        The problem with their foreign strategy in the West is that they are trying to take over the culture without being able to take over the state.

        I wouldn’t make this assumption. Who knows how many politicians they’ve bought, directly or indirectly, with campaign financing and “consulting” jobs. Hunter Biden and Swalwell are the two quickest that come to mind. They also have fingerprints on the 2020 election fraud.

      • kbolino

        Yeah, I wouldn’t say they aren’t trying. And there are plenty of useful idiots who are willing to help centralize power and criminalize common behavior in ways that would make the PRC’s job easier. But they are still fighting an uphill battle and their chosen weapons are fickle activists and already weakened institutions.

      • Idle Hands

        they aren’t in that they aren’t reported on properly. But for them to become a powerhouse they’d have to start selling their stuff to themselves.

      • R C Dean

        They have some very serious structural problems. Whether those are enough to keep them from dominating weak countries is another question. They don’t have to be the strongest nation ever, just the strongest nation right now. And the West is doing a fine job of making itself weak, indeed.

      • kbolino

        One of the interesting things about the Nazi government is that it was a total mess (the other Axis powers weren’t much better, either). They couldn’t outright replace everyone in the German federal and state governments on day one, so there ended up a lot of people in the military, intelligence services, state-approved businesses, etc. that were covertly working against them. And Hitler loved to create redundant agencies so that he could slowly replace the existing structure with one more favorable to himself, but they didn’t really start killing off (often quite literally) the old agencies until very late in the war. Many of their successes were down to some last-minute dumb luck behind the scenes. The Brits captured or turned every single German operative sent behind Allied lines. Their economic organization was as counterproductive and centrally planned as the Soviet Union’s.

        And yet, they rampaged across most of Europe and North Africa and inflicted 2 causalities for every 1 they took (which, it turned out, wasn’t good enough, as there were still plenty of Soviet conscripts left when all of the German soldiers were dead).

    • KSuellington

      If the CCP could have been given a wish at the start of 2020 as to how the rest of the world would react to the virus that they helped become a pandemic it couldn’t have turned out better for them. We did exactly what they wanted us to.

      • DrOtto

        Kind of like when just after 9/11, Bush said we couldn’t let the terrorists win, I knew that meant we were screwed and that the terrorists had, in fact, won.

      • KSuellington

        “They hate us because of our freedoms”.

        Let’s get rid of some of those.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    Tarring and feathering would be an improvement to her looks.

    Sealing her in a 55 gallon drum would be better.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      There’s probably a cartel member in Irving that could handle that service for a fee.

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        Don’t use the upstairs bathroom. Saw it in a documentary once. Bad news!

  47. The Late P Brooks

    “Funny they all think Russia is particularly dangerous but China is a big friendly panda.“

    The Russians fucked up by not going all in on manufacturing cheap consumer products for the American market.

    • Drake

      Lack of year-round deep water ports. Cheap stuff for Western Europe maybe. Selling them gas and oil isn’t a bad move.

  48. The Late P Brooks

    They have no interest in telling you the truth that the virus isn’t deadly to most segments of the population.

    “Don’t worry; everything is fine” doesn’t sell clicks.

    They tried to paint Trump as a monster for saying he didn’t want to cause needless hysteria.

    I guess I’m just a dope, but I still can’t understand why they focus on the most tragically scariest anecdotal outliers instead of, “Granny, 80, kicks plague’s ass. Says. ‘No big deal. I felt worse when I was pregnant with my first child.'”

    • EvilSheldon

      It’s worth repeating that what we commonly describe as ‘Big Tech’ is more accurately ‘Big Advertising’.

  49. Rebel Scum

    Mask theater has increase in the office and in the building.

    • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

      I’ve been non-conforming unless I get within 50 feet of anyone.

      • Gustave Lytton

        You’re really only wearing one so package girl in yoga pants doesn’t see the leer on your face, right?

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        I use the Ray-Bans for that.

    • Sean

      I’m here in my office mask free.

  50. Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

    Got another Zippo for my B.D. yesterday. Honest question for Judi. How many Zippo lighters do I need in this lifetime? Five? Six? Many? Tube socks is the answer. I want so many pairs of socks that I can throw away a pair after wearing them a dozen times. 10 miles a night wrecks the bottom of your feet.

    • The Other Kevin

      I love a good Zippo. I had one I got from a flea market, and teenage me used to carry that and a Swiss army knife with me everywhere I went.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I used to carry a Swiss Army knife as a kid until I cut my finger pretty good cutting off the ends of cable ties. Then I went to a pocket folder (first Spyderco then other others) and a Leatherman (til I learned the error of my ways and changed to flush cutters).

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        Learn me in the ways of flush cutters because she is just as bad about Leathermen. Have at least a dozen of them.

      • Gustave Lytton

        The side cutters on a Leatherman, other pliers, or regular dikes leaves a rough edge on cable ties that will cut your or another installer or abrade cables over time. Flush cutters look like regular sidecutters just better alignment and usually a sharper but weaker edge.

        https://www.grainger.com/mobile/product/XCELITE-ESD-Shear-Cutter-4CP18

        This one used to be made in USA for a handful of coins.

  51. Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

    I rag on my Parents a lot on this site but they did instill a love of reading in their boys. We had encyclopedias, atlases, a globe and any number of educational toys. Momma Tried https://youtu.be/loT_pYzi3Vw

    • EvilSheldon

      Who was it who said, “A dullard is somebody who opens an encyclopedia, looks up what they want to know, then closes the encyclopedia and puts it back on the shelf…”?

    • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

      Mollie is at the upper limit of “cute chub”. Definite wood!

      • Gustave Lytton

        Certainly her glamor photos.

  52. Ownbestenemy

    GOvernment restrictions have swallowed my wife’s tattoo parlor. The guy was a firm believer in the mask theater (which he already wore for sanitary reasons) and even the initial 2-weeks to flatten the curve.

    I wonder about now. Now that his shop was forced out of business.

  53. Shpip

    It was the ninth execution since Attorney General William Barr announced restarting federal executions after a 17-year hiatus — a decision that has been fraught with controversy, especially during the global pandemic

    I see that it’s not just NPR that excels in the non sequitur.

  54. Gustave Lytton

    Walmart.com is listing toilet paper as FSA eligible.

  55. Agent Cooper

    So many people voted for Biden …

    The one that gets me is the county that grew by +2K people in 10 years but found 4,500+ more votes for Biden in 2020 than Clinton in 2016. If crossover (R to D in the Presidential election) voting were happening, Trump’s increase of about 90 votes would be an overall decrease, would it not? It’s just odd.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      It’s right in the edge of unbelievable for me. Mail in ballots are just such a mess. Is the Biden tick up because lazy non-voters sent in their low information votes again OMB? Is it because of the long known fraud and harvesting operations that the democrats have run?

      At this point, I’m over it. Nothing is gonna change. Answers are not forthcoming. The system is irreparably broken. I’ve disengaged.

    • kbolino

      Mail-in voting changes the turnout profile.

  56. Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

    Funny tail. A girl that was finishing up her shift asked me while I was wielding the broom of destiny where certain packages should go. Asian girl, taller than me. I told her “Sorry, I don’t have my readers on and I am the Custodian. I don’t sort the mail. Leave it for the next shift.” Feature that! A six foot tall Asian girl that is as dumb as a post.

  57. Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

    I’m out. Perogies and “sourced” sausages it is. Work is kicking me badly but you guys will be here tomorrow. Good night!