About The Author

Banjos

Banjos

Wife of sloopy, mother to three bright, curious, and highly active young girls. Perpetually exhausted.

606 Comments

    • Banjos

      Mornin’

  1. Not Adahn

    Morning Banjos!

    So, my workplace has begun a new ‘vid-proofing program.

    Before you come to work, you are to take your tempearture and write it on a card.

    You then show the card to the guard who will let you in.

    After a month you turn in your card (which will be filed away) and they will give you a new card to begin the next month.

    I’m pretty sure this is some scheme to figure out when my coworkers are ovulationg.

    • AlexinCT

      It’s another way to track how long you are there…

    • Nephilium

      So… self reported temperature checks?

      /looks over history of user generated data

      SCIENCE!

      • Sean

        We have one employee who constantly reads low.

        Like 93-94 degrees, when he even registers.

      • Tonio

        That guy will disappear and be shipped off to a government research lab for research into human hibernation and cold-weather survivability. /tinfoil

      • Nephilium

        A standard discussion I’ve had when new management comes into a call center is that they want the agents to categorize the types of calls they’re receiving (using wrap up codes). I explain that as they’re grading the agents on their handle times, they’re going to chose either the first option (fastest) or the misc./other option (technically correct) for the majority (if not all of their calls). Wrap up codes get put in place (usually mandatory to start), and garbage data starts being collected. Several months later, wrap up codes are either set to optional or removed.

      • AlexinCT

        How dare you question some management tool’s brilliant idea?

      • Rat on a train

        I worked on a contract that wanted charge codes more granular than what are you billing to. I had to fill out a timesheet detailing which project and then whether it was development, test, documentation, … The only charge code they didn’t break out was all the pointless meetings and mandatory training.

      • Count Potato

        Maybe chip in and buy him a sweater?

      • Not Adahn

        A headband with a little pocket for a handwarmer.

      • db

        Lizard person?

      • Rebel Scum

        That’s because they are using an infrared temp gun (I assume). I tried the one I use for cooking on me once and it registered in the 80s. I guess I am actually dead and in purgatory, which would explain a lot…

      • Sean

        Other people test in a normal range. He’s the outlier.

      • Festus

        He probably shouldn’t have messed with that drum of chemicals in the sub-basement.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      I assume rectal temperatures are the order of the day.

      • Nephilium

        Don’t forget the one that goes in the mouth and ear too.

      • AlexinCT

        Looks like the whole COVID lockdown shit in a nutshell to me…

      • Not Adahn

        The bag contains one (1) “We Care Eononomy Digital Thermometer” by Dymarex. Made in China. It’s definitely designed to be inserted somewhere, but I haven’t opened it up to read the directions.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Well, any of them could be rectal if you were so inclined. If you should do that you should make uncomfortable eye contact with the security guard while doing so.

    • db

      I don’t go many places that require temperature checks, but when I do, the pistol-grip IR scanners freak me out a little bit. I have a strong aversion to having anything pistol shaped pointed at me, and especially at my head. I have a hard time pointing one at other people (we have a few of them at work to check equipment temperatures).

      I guess it’s the gun safety focus that I have developed over the years, including my time as an RO.

      • pistoffnick

        I have the same reaction

    • Ted S.

      Don’t get me started on the temperature tracker here. It uses facial recognition, but first recognized me as *Marion*, much older than I am, white-haired, and, most importantly, a *woman*. And the HR cunt who put our faces in the database tried to make us feel like it was our fault the thing didn’t recognize us properly.

      • AlexinCT

        Easy there Marion…

      • Festus

        Yes, “Marion” will be added to the archive. Be forewarned, Teds.

      • Not Adahn

        Were you ovulating?

      • juris imprudent

        I am actually happy to hear just how well their facial recognition is working.

      • Pope Jimbo

        As the Limeys say…

        Marion and keep calm

      • Not Adahn

        Marion, my wayward son, there’ll peace when you are done.

      • juris imprudent

        Marion,
        love is coming,
        love is coming to us all

      • db

        Maaaarr-ion!
        Gli-ibertaaaarian!

    • Rat on a train

      Do you write your temperature in Kelvin? We live in an absolutist world.

      • Not Adahn

        Oooh! I’ll see if there’s a units requirement.

      • db

        Rankine or nothing.

      • Rat on a train

        That or Delisle. Doctor his temperature is dropping!

  2. Certified Public Asshat

    The average FICO score reached record high of 710 in 2020.

    So we can pay our debt after all.

    • UnCivilServant

      No, it just hasn’t been sent to collections yet.

      • Rat on a train

        With that high a score we can go on a borrowing spree.

    • AlexinCT

      So even the FICO system is now broken and unreliable? I blame those commercials about how you can instantly fix your score by just giving all your information to some third party data aggregator…

  3. The Late P Brooks

    Muh respeck!

    As a result of the episode, US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund is resigning. He said in a statement earlier Thursday that Capitol Police and other law enforcement officers were “actively attacked” with metal pipes and other weapons.

    “They were determined to enter into the Capitol Building by causing great damage,” Sund said.

    “The violent attack on the U.S. Capitol was unlike any I have ever experienced in my 30 years in law enforcement here in Washington, D.C.,” he added. “Maintaining public safety in an open environment — specifically for First Amendment activities — has long been a challenge.”

    Oh, golly. It’s a strange and terrifying new world when your default assumption that the proles will be intimidated by your badge and hat is ripped to shreds right before your eyes, isn’t it?

    Respect is earned, dummy. Go get a job at 7-eleven.

    • Tonio

      One of his masters said that property damage wasn’t actual violence. So, there. Nyah, nyah…

      • AlexinCT

        Somebody should put Kah-moh-loh’s interview where she tells people these “peaceful protests” must go on, because that is democracy… So many people pretend that there was zero violence, every fucking day for 7 months until the election (or that there would have been even more of that if the mandarinate had not stolen the election) until the people seeing the mandarinate fuck them over and stealing the election decided to do their own “peaceful protest”.

    • Tundra

      It’s a fucking 2,000 pig force. The protestors made it through 4 levels of security.

      You should resign, cunt. You suck at your job.

      • AlexinCT

        The protestors made it through 4 levels of security.

        I saw the video where the security team guarding it not only opened the barricade they had in place, but encouraged these people to go inside..

        After that I think acting like a bunch of hurt cuntes about it loses legitimacy…

      • Festus

        It’s the higher-ups covering their own asses. The rank and file probably agreed with the protestors.

      • AlexinCT

        Oh, it is always the higher ups. D.C is broken because the higher ups make sure it is. Anyone that gets out of line gets taken care of.

      • Festus

        DC foot soldiers have been taking abuse for a year. Half of them are leaving.

      • Festus

        No need to “Defund The Police” when demoralizing them works twice as well and I am no fan of cops.

    • WTF

      The violent attack on the U.S. Capitol was unlike any I have ever experienced in my 30 years in law enforcement here in Washington, D.C.

      Really? I’m pretty sure DC has very recently experienced violent BLM/Antifa riots.

      • AlexinCT

        Those were mostly peaceful protests!

    • Rebel Scum

      he violent attack on the U.S. Capitol was unlike any I have ever experienced in my 30 years in law enforcement here in Washington, D.C.

      Never mind the several instances in history where similar or worse happened there. Fuck off, you sanctimonious cunte.

  4. AlexinCT

    Nolte: ABC News Political Editor Calls for ‘Cleansing’ of Trump Movement

    This is the major motivation behind the whole thing. The fucking mandarinate wants to set an example, and by punishing the ones that defied them they set the best example to discourage others, but also because as long as people that can oppose them remain around, they will have a hard time rewiring the people that don’t suck lame stream media cock and believe any lie told by them, to believe the problem was Trump, and not that Trump was just a symptom of the problem that the mandarinate class is inept, corrupt, and downright evil.

    • Not Adahn

      I would love to see one of the people whining about how gently the Capitol protesters wre treated asked “how many of them should have been killed in your opinion? I want to know how deep your bloodlust goes.”

      • UnCivilServant

        “We opened fire on the most dangerous persons in the building. Several hundred congresscritters were killed in self-defense.”

      • Tonio

        ^This.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        They want them put down like animals. My school colleagues are all wealthy women whose livelihoods are unaffected by the lockdowns. My phone blew up Wednesday with hysteria about how if the protesters were black then they would all be dead. They consider anybody who opposes the Dems to be fascists, thus subhuman, and the ABC Editor sums up their feelings perfectly with a “cleansing” being needed.

        Although the level of regular violence in society may be at a historical low, have no doubt that these people would revel in the deaths of millions of their countrymen. I’m under no illusion that they wouldn’t and am as careful in my actions and speech around them as I would be with a rabid animal.

      • AlexinCT

        They want them put down like animals. My school colleagues are all wealthy women whose livelihoods are unaffected by the lockdowns. My phone blew up Wednesday with hysteria about how if the protesters were black then they would all be dead. They consider anybody who opposes the Dems to be fascists, thus subhuman, and the ABC Editor sums up their feelings perfectly with a “cleansing” being needed.

        Sounds like my employer’s leadership response to this whole thing… I am waiting for them to offer us safe spaces in Zoom calls where these fucking idiots can all show how woke they are by claiming to be more emotionally compromised than everyone else…

      • Jerms

        I woke up to the local news station having a child therapist on telling us how to talk to our children about what happened in Washington the other day. They have half the country convinced this was another 9/11.

      • Tonio

        “My phone blew up Wednesday with hysteria about how if the protesters were black then they would all be dead.”

        And in many cases that is a dishonest way of saying they wish more protesters had died. Because, you know, equity.

      • prolefeed

        Were there any POC among the protesters? If so, how many of them died?

      • Not Adahn

        No. Rallying in favor of Trump makes you white, regardles of what race you were assigned at birth.

      • Gdragon

        I actually heard this last night on a mainstream news program up here, that everyone at the Capitol was tied together loosely by white supremacism.

      • WTF

        An unarmed white woman was killed by the cops. How many unarmed BLM protestors/rioters were shot by the cops?

      • AlexinCT

        According to the people that gave a thumbs up or turned a blind eye to all the Antifa/BLM rioting & looting (don’t forget that last part) of the last 7 months, cops killed every person of color they could, which is why that rioting and looting was necessary to bring awareness to the injustice…

      • Not Adahn

        All of them! Trayvon Martin, Jacob Blake, Heather Heyer… don’t you even watch the news?

      • Rebel Scum

        if the protesters were black then they would all be dead.

        Recent, observable history betrays that assertion.

      • WTF

        They just make statements that are easily known to be verifiably false, and expect people to go along with it. We have really gone past the point of no return.

      • Festus

        Yep. Outright lies that the populace know to be false carried as the narrative demoralizes the enemy.

    • ZARDOZ

      ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN LINKING ONE. “CLEANSING” YOU SAY?

      ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.

      • AlexinCT

        Please stop giving Nancy Pelosi and her ilk ideas, oh great Zardoz….

      • Floridaman

        Nah there is no way the taker of guns would listen to the giver of guns.

    • juris imprudent

      So I followed the link to find the “cleansing” remark and couldn’t. Maybe it was memory-holed, or maybe Breitbart is whipping up hysteria – I don’t know.

      • juris imprudent

        I didn’t look for the tweet – I thought it was in the article. Which could’ve been quietly scrubbed even if it originally was published that way. You know, the NYT way.

      • Not Adahn

        You are correct on that

        (UPDATE: After this story posted, the tweet was deleted and the story wording changed. The “cleansing” paragraph reads, “Cleaning up the movement he commands, or getting rid of what he represents to so many Americans, is going to be something else.”)

      • Viking1865

        The guy deleted the tweet. Screenshots were on Twitter yesterday. I suppose the screenshots could have been faked.

      • juris imprudent

        No, it’s more likely the tweet was deleted, as even the author realized how stupid he was to commit that thought to public scrutiny.

      • Viking1865

        I appreciate you going against the grain. The point of “Look what this nutjob on the Internet said!!!” journalism, to me, is whos saying it.

        An apprentice plumber in Bumfuck Missouri might be posting SECOND AMENDMENT TIME!!!! on his Facebook, and thats not good, but its a whole different story if hes say a guy who delivers packages to the federal building in St. Louis.

        This Julius Streicher wannabe is typical of media people, in my experience.

      • juris imprudent
  5. Rebel Scum

    House May Move Forward with Impeaching Trump After ‘Armed Insurrection’

    An armed what? I do not think that means what she thinks it means. And I am sure that will not make the MAGA crowd fell more disenfranchised and ignored.

    • Tonio

      I would count a pipe as armed, if that claim is indeed true. But there’s also a big difference between one person brandishing a club and an entire unruly mob with found weapons.

      • Not Adahn

        But there were IED’s placed at demococrats offices!

      • Rebel Scum

        I haven’t seen photos of those as I’d imagine there would be so I am skeptical of that.

    • prolefeed

      “Nancy Pelosi endorses Mike Pence for president.”

      That would be a great troll of a headline.

      • Not Adahn

        Even better, they’d need to remanufacture all the Biden 46 gear. Stimulus!

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s not like anyone is going to buy it.

        I mean no one could be arsed to show up for his campaign events.

      • Not Adahn

        Of course it will be bought. In bulk. It’s one of the best ways of laundering bribe money there is.

      • UnCivilServant

        Laundering? They didn’t bother before, why start?

      • Not Adahn

        Because politicians are too lazy to give enough $!M/hour speeches to shovel that much cash at them.

        Also, by allowing publishers and swagmakers to get their cut, they’re more willing to blacklist badthinkers.

      • UnCivilServant

        Who’s talking speaches. I mean they just cut checks to some Biden and didn’t even ask him to show up.

      • Not Adahn

        FYI the oldsters were complaining about the cold, so the Steel start time has been pushed back to 11:00.

  6. The Late P Brooks

    I guess “Sacred Temple of DEMOCRACY” is the talking point du jour.

    What a heaping helping of misguided adoration.

    • AlexinCT

      The people tat just stole 2 elections talk about democracy…

    • WTF

      I love pointing out to the derpbook idiots that America is not a democracy.

      • Rat on a train

        I keep pointing out the Democracy is a method of choosing policy. It doesn’t limit the options. Tyranny appears to be the favorite option.

    • Rebel Scum

      Sacred Temple of DEMOCRACY

      More like a den of crooks and thieves.

      You will never find a more retched hive of scum and villainy.

    • juris imprudent

      When GOVT is your god, then it makes sense for the Capitol to be the sanctum sanctorum. For that to be overrun by heretics and infidels – well, that is truly intolerable, even for a religion of peace.

      • Plisade

        +1 “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Very prescient, who knew that Jesus was on the MAGA train, besides Pat Robertson.

  7. Certified Public Asshat

    In response to AOC’s communication’s director:

    The whole point of retweeting her is to make people uncomfortable— Caesar Pounce: Inmate TK421 (@caeser_pounce) January 6, 2021

  8. Tonio

    Good morning Banjos, and other fine Glibs. I’m up uncharacteristically early this morning.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    While 2020 was a year of economic uncertainty for many Americans, the average FICO Score still managed to hit a record high of 710, according to Experian’s 2020 Consumer Credit Review. That’s a seven-point increase from 2019 and up a whopping 21 points since 2010.

    The rise in credit scores can be attributed to Americans spending less money and paying their credit card statements on time.

    Something something social promotion.

    • Not Adahn

      Now more pople will be ablt to qualify for NINJA loans! Social justice!

  10. Not Adahn

    “For people who say, ‘I won’t be able to go for a walk anymore,’ well, come on,” Legault said. “If you want to work a little bit later, you can work after 8 p.m. at home, and go for a walk during the day. We’re talking here about saving lives and we’re talking about saving our health-care system.”

    The fact that he hasn’t been torn apart by moose is an indication of how nice Canadians are.

    • Tres Cool

      A Møøse once bit my sister… No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge – her brother-in-law – an Oslo dentist and star of many Norwegian møvies: “The Høt Hands of an Oslo Dentist”, “Fillings of Passion”, “The Huge Mølars of Horst Nordfink”

  11. The Late P Brooks

    “CLEANSING”?

    *looks around suspiciously*

  12. Rebel Scum

    “Now is the time for Silicon Valley companies to stop enabling this monstrous behavior – and go even further than they already have by permanently banning this man from their platforms and putting in place policies to prevent their technology from being used by the nation’s leaders to fuel insurrection,”

    Again, that does not mean what you think it means. And I am sure there will be no negative consequences in public discourse from censorship.

    • Tonio

      Yet when we voluntarily create and participate in free speech platforms we’re ‘afraid of reality.’

    • Not Adahn

      And I am sure there will be no negative consequences in public discourse from censorship.

      Of course not. By banning hatespeech, public discourse can only improve! And think about how much better our response to the Trumplague would be if we didn’t have to constantly wade through Russian Disinformation!

  13. The Late P Brooks

    That guy will disappear and be shipped off to a government research lab for research into human hibernation and cold-weather survivability. /tinfoil

    Nonsense. He’s been drafted into the Space Force.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    I thought DC was for all intents and purposes a (civilian) gun free zone. What’s all this jibberjabber about “armed insurrectionist mobs”?

    • Chipwooder

      Yes, that’s why I asked this yesterday – was anyone in that crowd armed? Because I didn’t see any firearms.

      • AlexinCT

        They had angry words about the mandarinate! That’s not “mostly peaceful” anymore!

    • AlexinCT

      It’s propaganda, using the most inflammatory and inaccurate language, on purpose, to create the specter of something nefarious, so the fucking paste eaters that spend 3 1/2 years waiting for the whole Russia collusion fucking lying campaign to finally allow them to punish the bad orange guy for daring to win the election they believe should have gone to one of the most crooked and despicable members of the mandarinate class, finally get that moment where they feel vindicated for all their hatred and self loathing?

      • Rebel Scum

        using the most inflammatory and inaccurate language, on purpose

        I.e. “insurrection, sedition, domestic terrorist, etc.”

        These cuntes didn’t speak ill of and in many cases endorsed the violence, looting and destruction of Antifa/BLM that went on for months (including in DC), and they endorsed the invasion of the capitol by abortion-at-all-cost leftists during the Kavanaugh confirmation. But some MAGA people get uppity and actually go to one of the sources of many problems and it is “insurrection. I don’t support the actions of the few that did break some windows, cause a mess and steal a few things, but I do not want to hear a peep from the hypocritical fucks in the msm or anyone else.

      • AlexinCT

        And then these asshats act as if the reason the whole MAGA movement exists is because of bad orange man, and not the blatant abuses, and this particular example of the dysfunctional system the ruling oligarchy have created, where things like this clearly show that there isn’t just a double standard, but that those that will not comply with the will of the mandarinate, no matter how hard that will fucks them over, will be destroyed by the master class.

        I actually had one of these fucking team blue cuntes tell me it was a battle between good an evil. Man, was she pissed when I told her that as usual, the side that was evil had convinced the sheep that they were the good guys, and cited how this happened in every fucking place where people went along with corrupt leaders with hidden agendas from the old days of Babylon all the way to the marxist and fascist movements of the last century. When she asked me how I could think that, and I pointed out the good people wouldn’t feel the need to steal not one, but two elections, demand the other side be muzzled and not be able to challenge the false narrative peddled by “her good guys” in their cause, and most importantly, demand those that dared oppose “her good guys” be punished good an hard. That practically always was what bad guys did and people just didn’t realize until after the bad guys showed their true colors…

        In complete denial and unaware of what it sounded/looked like, she told me people like me needed to be killed because I was evil for questioning her dogma. At that point I realized I was wasting time again with someone motivated by quasi religious fanatical belief that government was the new god and heaven would only be created on earth by this new god, while anyone that opposed that was considered part of the devil’s legion by people like her. Fucking inane…

      • prolefeed

        In complete denial and unaware of what it sounded/looked like, she told me people like me needed to be killed because I was evil for questioning her dogma.

        * pulls out cell phone, starts recording *

        “You think I should be dead because I disagree with you? I’m right in front of you. What’s stopping you?”

        Try and get that on video, her being evil and you being calm, then post it online.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        One of the great features of a smart watch is the ability to record conversations discreetly.

      • AlexinCT

        Yeah, I have a sever aversion to anything “smart” because I prefer not to be spied upon by the fuckers producing these things. It is hard enough to have to hack my phone to make sure they can’t enable or bypass the location or backup settings.

      • AlexinCT

        She wouldn’t ever stoop down to doing any of the killing. That’s work for other people. She would just cheer them on in the name of the “good guys”….

      • juris imprudent

        She would add though that it was terrible that they had to get their hands bloody – but you FORCED them to do that.

      • Floridaman

        I didn’t think people like that existed commonly, that level of malice was something I assumed was not common.

    • Rebel Scum

      That’s been my thinking as well. The mayor specifically said no guns during the event. I suppose some may have had other items. But the rhetoric is specifically intended to cause low-info, non-inquisitive people to envision firearms.

  15. Rebel Scum

    Cleansing the movement he commands is going to be something else

    I assume the solution will be final.

    • Tres Cool

      You know who else had a cleansing movement ?

      • juris imprudent

        If you removed the shit from these people, there wouldn’t even be a husk left.

      • pistoffnick

        *Remembers the antifreeze taste of that prescription drink*
        *rocks rhythmically back and forth*

      • juris imprudent

        Tutsis and Hutus?

      • DrOtto

        Charmin?

      • juris imprudent

        Dr. Kellog?

      • Festus

        Such a flawed movie and I really enjoyed the novel.

      • Not Adahn

        Excellent breasts in it though.

      • Festus

        The green ones were especially nice!

  16. wchipperdove

    OT –

    OK, so artists, writers, musicians are promoting themselves right now mainly by social media, right? So if social media keeps censoring and shadow-banning people they don’t like, pretty soon we’re going to be left with nothing but essentially State-approved art. The culture will have been swept clean of badthought, and without any government interference necessary. There’ll be no need to track down and silence heretical artists with force, because they’ll only have access to a handful of fans here and there without the support of the online juggernauts.

    Thoughts?

    • Not Adahn

      It depends on whether you believe that there is a significant difference between the official government, and the unofficial members of the ruling caste. If people in the media (news and entertainment) and governemnt see themselves as being on the same team, that’s the way it is already.

      • prolefeed

        Being the loyal propaganda arm of the DNC does not make the billionaires who own social media part of the government. They want certain policies that make them rich and let them make the proles dance to their tune by manipulating their thoughts. The politicians who run the government want to be reelected, and to wield the power to use armed minions to make the proles submit, regardless of whatever thoughtcrimes go through their heads.

        Different powers, different agendas and incentives. A symbiotic relationship does not mean the partners are the same. Your mitochondria are necessary to your survival, and vice-versa, but they have different DNA than you do.

      • Not Adahn

        Different powers, different agendas and incentives.

        But the same net effect, which is what wchipperdove was asking. State approved art, but without the necessity of the State taking any direct action.

      • Homple

        Just like we have state approved censorship of speech without state direct action because muh private companies

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        The separating line may be there but it’s definitely getting blurred. The actual owners may not work for the government, but there is a revolving door between Tech’s top executives and appointed government positions. Same as with Pharma and the FDA.

        True these positions are not elected, but that’s probably even worse. It’s the entrenched, unelected, and unaccountable bureaucrats that appear to be the real power in the government behemoth.

    • Festus

      The rise of Rap might be coincidentally tied to this phenomenon. Lowest Common Denominator. The Barbarians have stormed the gates, taken the City and stacked the skulls.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Modern and postmodern art primarily has value as a political message. It only makes sense that they would seek to censor the messages they disagree with.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    putting in place policies to prevent their technology from being used by the nation’s leaders to fuel insurrection

    Insurrection includes campaigning for office, if you happen to be anything other than a Democrat, or RINO in good standing.

    • AlexinCT

      ^^^THIS^^^

      The mandarinate will not tolerate anyone but one of their own in power.

    • Not Adahn

      Yeah, some regionally local senator was on the radio saying how Trump needs to be banned from ever running from office again. You can be a murder, a rapist, or a child molester, and the DNC has no problem with you running for office under their banner. But Democracy DEMANDS that the people must not be allowed to vote for such evil!

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The SOBs refused to attend Trump’s inauguration, encouraged a violent protest during such, and have yelled RESIST for four years no matter the situation.

        Yet they demand civility from everyone else.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Rep. Mike Quigley, an Illinois Democrat who was locked in the House chamber during an armed standoff between Capitol Police and a rioter, praised the officers who were in the building that put their lives on the line, but made clear that they were outnumbered and law enforcement was under prepared.

    “Honest? Honest as the day is long.”

    • prolefeed

      Hmm, one side with thousands of armed officers, with I’m assuming at least some machine guns. The other side with several times that number, a few with hidden pistols.

      What matters in that situation is who has more and better guns, not who has more bodies.

      • Jarflax

        What matters in that situation is not who has more and better guns. It is who has the will to use them.

  19. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    Wow, that’s a lot of vile shit this morning.

    I always thought that “They hate you and want you dead” was hyperbole.

    I don’t think so any longer. This was nice:

    Quebec’s official website warns that people outside their residences must justify their travels — specifics of such justifications were not provided by authorities — if set upon by police officers in transit

    “Set upon”, huh? Disband the fuckers already.

    I’m ready to go out on the road. Nice song.

    Well, get out there and give it hell, people!

    • db

      “Hey guys, you look like you could use a nice hot shower. Follow the hall to the right!”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That’s…. odd

      It gives more credence to the rumors of Antifa helping to inflame the situation.

      • Count Potato

        And more credence as to why Facebook has banned videos of the event.

      • Rebel Scum

        So they were let in and Antifa infiltrated the MAGA crowd and broke shit.

        I did see video (I believe I shared it here) yesterday where someone in a helmet was beating a window and everyone else around him were yelling for him to stop. And I heard a witness say that someone eventually forcibly stopped the window breaker.

        Of course, none of this will ever make it on MSM.

      • JMBOO

        Lest we forget, one of this past summer’s prevailing narratives was that it was a few bad actors, mostly from the alt-right or law enforcement, that had infiltrated the peaceful BLM protests in order to stoke the flames of anger and were mostly responsible for the rioting, looting, and arson. Also, ANTIFA was not a real organization.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      They weren’t rioters, they were just taking a self-guided walking tour of the Capital Building.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Well, whaddayouknow?

      https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1347318930138918930

      One of the men who was part of the siege of the Capitol building is John Earle Sullivan, an extreme BLM activist from Utah. He was arrested & charged in July 2020 over a BLM-antifa riot where drivers in Provo were threatened & one was shot.

  20. bacon-magic

    Banjos with the best links…again.

    • Count Potato

      +1

  21. Rufus the Monocled

    Francois Legault is a complete utter dictatorial clown.

  22. Rebel Scum

    Kamala Harris celebrated BLM and Antifa riots

    And the campaign had a bailout fund.

    • AlexinCT

      That has all already been forgotten, because…

  23. Sean

    I ordered a bunch of boating accessories yesterday.

    Still not finding PPQ M1 9 mags anywhere in stock though.

    *sad trombone*

  24. Rebel Scum

    The Biden folks are pretty tough on Russia, Iran, North Korea.

    He stated without evidence.

    • Drake

      They drive hard bargains!

    • Not Adahn

      Dude, they only paid ONE planeload of cash as ransom when Iran was demanding THREE! Multiple-bankruptcy failure Trump could have never pulled off such a slick deal!

  25. The Late P Brooks

    I don’t support the actions of the few that did break some windows, cause a mess and steal a few things, but I do not want to hear a peep from the hypocritical fucks in the msm or anyone else.

    I think this is a perfect example of a self-fulfilling prophecy. For a year (or more) the wind-up monkeys have been beating their drums about Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the election, while simultaneously gloating about the removal of any sort of electoral safeguards. Unlimited unverifiable mail in ballots, FTW.

    Then, when vote counts exhibit fantastically improbable patterns, they laugh theatrically up their sleeves and say, “Shenanigans? That’s the dumbest thing we’ve ever heard. Nobody we know voted for Trump! This has been the most legitimatest election ever; a triumph of democracy and the Will of the People. Haha, suckers! We kicked the Bad Orange Monster out, and so what if we threw the rulebook out the window to do it? You can’t prove a thing, because the system is rigged in our favor.”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      ?

    • Not Adahn

      when vote counts exhibit fantastically improbable patterns

      Oh lord, here we go again.

      • juris imprudent

        I’m just gonna ask – is it that there were too many ballots distributed (and harvested, in order to hide the fraud), or was that immaterial, as the vote counting is where the real action (flipping and/or inventing votes) was at?

      • Plisade

        Dude.

      • Agent Cooper

        I will just say that I believe there were irregularities and leave it at that.

      • juris imprudent

        That’s a perfectly reasonable statement, and I have no argument with getting our electoral house in order – this was a shitshow and for my money the PA SC should be strung up from one end of the commonwealth to the other.

  26. Pine_Tree

    Changing the subject a bit, but based on conversations with friends who have college-aged kids, expect a rash of breathless news about the “spike” in Cooties case-counts getting much, much worse. Evidently colleges are “requiring a negative test” before students can come back, so all these asymptomatic yoots are getting tested and a bunch of them are officially “positive”.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Yes

      Got the notice from my son’s school last week. Utterly pointless exercise.

  27. Rebel Scum

    Hawley to lose book deal with Simon and Schuster for using constitutional process.

    The Constitution is a threat to our Dem-mobocracy.

    • Plinker762

      The Constitution is not a cook book!

  28. Drake

    The same guys who couldn’t find evidence of Antifa violence (or their very existence), and failed to see any evidence of voter fraud whatsoever, apparently have compiled a big list of Maga protestors they intend to arrest and prosecute.

    At this point the FBI is nothing except enforcers for the Left. The Gestapo or Stasi with better technology.

    • rhywun

      By all means, bring it on.

      Open Americans’ eyes a bit.

    • Not Adahn

      At this point

      It never was anything else. I guess it depends if you think Hoover was of the left or not.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Hoover was about himself and his own power.

    • Rebel Scum

      Considering Adding President Trump

      They want a war…

      Trump needs to blanket pardon everyone involved asap.

      • Not Adahn

        *nods*

      • Not Adahn

        Seriouisly though,

        -Blanket pardon
        -Media shits themselves
        -Pelosi/Schumer call Congress into osession to peach-fo-five.

        Then what would happen?

        -Republicans slow to show up, denying quorum(?)
        -Next congress spends all it’s time “disciplining” recalcitrant Republicans.

        And in the best of all possible worlds:

        -Some populist R actually gets fed up enough to submit secession legislation
        -Through some failed gambit/rank stupidity, Pelosi and/or Schumer lets it come to the floor.
        -Media goes berzerk
        -Secesson becaomes something possible in the cognitive space of Americans.

      • Drake

        Yes – everyone except the guy who hit a cop with a fire extinguisher.

      • juris imprudent

        Yeah, the cop who made it back to his office and collapsed there? I kinda question that narrative.

      • R C Dean

        Fake News. Seriously, the DC police have denied the story.

  29. Rebel Scum

    Nearly half of U.S. voters believe public health officials have misrepresented pandemic data,

    The other half are ignorant, willfully or otherwise.

    • AlexinCT

      Some people lack the ability to question whatever line of shit presented to them’s validity. If someone tells me today that the sky is purple, and I go along with it, but tomorrow they tell me the sky is green, my first instinct isn’t to change my belief to be that the sky is green, but that it is very likely that these fuckers are playing me for a fool. A large swat of people, practically all of them team blue followers, lack that ability.

    • The Last American Hero

      Fauci admitted he lied about masks. Even if you think the gov’t is playing it right every step of the way. The fact is the fucker lied.

      • R C Dean

        I saw an interesting take that Fauci got very publicly vaccinated in his left arm, and then said his right arm was a little sore from the vaccination. I’m doubting he was vaccinated at all, which worries me. What does he know that would make him avoid the vaccination?

      • UnCivilServant

        Setting aside the very real possibility that the man doesn’t know his left from his right, I’d say the fact that it was rushed as hell.

      • PutridMeat

        This one bothers me a lot. People actually use that as an excuse to justify the fact that no, masks really do work. So the most generous interpretation of the facts as *as they (those they, you know the ones) present them* is that Fauci was willing to lie to you and intentionally expose you to illness and death. That’s a defense?!?!

        For the record, I believe Fauci was being honest back in March. The science that’s been done in the last decades shows no effect of mask wearing on viral transmission and he was basing his statement on that data. When it became convenient at some point, he lined up where he was supposed to.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    Lighten up, Francis Marion.

  31. robc

    Top 4 baseball birthdays, in order: Jason Giambi, Mike Cameron, Walker Cooper, and HOFer Bruce Sutter.

    Pretty mediocre list. And I am ok with Sutter in the hall despite only 24.0 WAR. He at least was pitching in the era of the multi-inning save.

    • Gdragon

      My stance is that there should be no Sutter in the hall without Quisenberry as well.

      • robc

        There WAR is almost exactly the same. Quiz is .1 higher. Sutter had more saves, a better peak season and won a Cy Young. Quiz is a 4 year period finished 2nd twice and 3rd twice but never won it.

        What is weird is that after his huge 4 years, Quiz remained the closer in KC for another 2 years but only got 20 saves total. KC as a whole had some of the lowest save totals in those years. And they were basically .500 teams, a little under in 86 and a little over in 87. Just weird results that makes Quisenberry look like he fell off.

    • Jerms

      As a Yankee fan i watched Giambi for years and my wife and i would constantly question whether he would put some type of grease in his hair or if he was just constantly sweating making his hair wet. Would love to ask him.

      • Chipwooder

        Dude was definitely greasy, yeah.

      • Gdragon

        I’m like that too. I don’t sweat heavily for no reason during normal everyday activity but after less than a minute of serious exercise I am basically drenched. Not worn out or too tired to continue, just very sweaty.

        I didn’t mean for that to be a layup about sex/premature ejac but go ahead, take a free shot and make it funny 😉

  32. Rebel Scum

    The Quebec government is imposing an overnight curfew beginning on Saturday until at least February 8, ostensibly to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.

    It’s not really novel at this point.

    As of Saturday, January 9, a curfew will now be in effect. Between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m., anyone will be prohibited from moving outside their place of residence, except in the case of exceptions justifying the move, for example to benefit from health care, for humanitarian reasons or for carry out work considered a priority.

    So IOW the curfew is arbitrary, tyrannical horseshit.

    • juris imprudent

      It will be novel until we tell you it’s not, peasant. And you will be terrified of it, and obey us too.

  33. Festus

    Good god, that was a never ending parade of derp! Nice work, Banjos! Vive la Resistance! The mockery will continue!

  34. Rufus the Monocled

    Between what i’m seeing in the USA and the gaslighting and this….gotta disengage again because it’s beyond belief.

    And it’s going past February 8 because Legault is a piece of shit liar. No way this measure works because all it will do is funnel and concentrate people further into places. Fucken retard. Someone asked ‘but what do we do?’ I said, ‘we’ve done everything we can. At this point….NOTHING. There’s nothing to be done. You’re in quasi-lockdown. You’re in a mask. You can’t buy ‘non-essentials and now you’re imprisoned. What the fuck do you want more? Camps? Break up families bigger than four people? What do you want now? They’ve already said no science backs them and that they’re just trying different things without a single thought to the fraying of the social and economic order.” Blank stare. Some people deserve a punch in the face.

    The only reason why they’re doing this is because they’re terrified the system ‘breaks’. A system where 900 nurses quit under the fool Legault.

    Oh. We’re running at overall 75% capacity. Lies, lies, LIES. Liars. All of them.

    No rhyme or reason.

    • Festus

      Here in BC “Doctor” Bonnie, she of the cute shoes PBUH has extended the lockdown to February as well. Just two more cycles to flatten the curve. We’re on what, month nine now? Granted, it is not quite as draconian as the measures in Quebekistan but they are still very onerous.

      • Nephilium

        I’ve already seen some areas cancelling their St. Patrick’s Day celebrations for this year. Currently our curfew is going until January 23rd. Of course, before that it was January 2nd, and mid-December.

      • mrfamous

        As an Irishman, two straight years without St. Patrick’s Day is unacceptable.

      • Ownbestenemy

        As an appropriating American, it is also unacceptable. I need my excuse to display my alcoholism in public.

    • The Other Kevin

      That’s beautiful. Hope you have multiple shower heads, or maybe one of those big ones that makes it feel like it’s raining.

    • Raven Nation

      Could you swing by our place when you’re done and finish ours?

      • Gustave Lytton

        No, he’s coming over to ours first.

      • Lachowsky

        I charge by the hour and I’m extremely slow.

        Took five 10 or so hours days for me to do the tile work in the shower. Looks good, but it took me forever to get it right.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Booking plane tickets now…

    • Festus

      Glad to hear that! I’m still working seven days a week until the crazy stops. No time or energy for fix-er-ups, I’m afraid.

      • Lachowsky

        Hang in there. I took 2 weeks of vacation at the end of the year. Longest time I have spent off work in 10 years. It was nice. Im back at it hard this week. God knows when ill have to finish.

    • Sean

      Cool.

    • Fourscore

      Heck of a job, Lach. I like the insulation on the pipes, the Duroc backing and the floor tile is especially nice and tough to do. Artiste!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Nice work, I understand the pain involved with that.

    • kbolino

      The only thing I genuinely dislike about my house is that I only have 1 full bath (and no rough-in for a second one). The bathroom needs to be redone but I’d have to shower outside or something for the duration.

    • Mojeaux

      Beautiful!

      I always appreciate good DIY.

  35. Not Adahn

    Honestly, all of this could have been avoided if the meme magicians hadn’t slacked off.

    • AlexinCT

      WOAH! Who has the dice?

    • Count Potato

      There were very few memes this election, as most of the meme makers and social media groups were banned.

      • Not Adahn

        It was more likely that they got tired of winning, though the government shutting down the Code Red supply chain undoubtedly played a factor.

    • Rebel Scum

      Heh…

  36. The Late P Brooks

    And now for something completely different:

    A while back, there was some discussion about ye olde tuna noodle comfort casserole. I have been pondering this, because I have been looking for an alternative serving suggestion for the cans of tuna on my shelf. I grabbed one of those “noodle side dish” envelope thingies at the store the other day- herb and butter, or some such.

    Yesterday, I whipped up the noodles, and when the sauce was nearly thickened, I tossed in a can of tuna. Not bad, not bad at all, on a wintry afternoon. Would cook/eat again.

    • Not Adahn

      Starch + sauce + protein = yum.

    • AlexinCT

      Was there enough dolphin in that tuna can to make it real tasty?

    • Tres Cool

      Protip- buy cheap Tuna Helper. Even store brand works. Substitute real butter for margarine and heavy cream ( or half-half) for the milk. I also typically toss in sliced mushrooms.

      Enjoy.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Protip- Don’t eat like a starving college student.

    • Tulip

      Add a vegetable and that’s known as stove top hot dish

  37. The Late P Brooks

    OK, so artists, writers, musicians are promoting themselves right now mainly by social media, right? So if social media keeps censoring and shadow-banning people they don’t like, pretty soon we’re going to be left with nothing but essentially State-approved art.

    Or we could look at it as the collapse of a weird temporary phenomenon. Those artists will undoubtedly lose a big chunk of their audience/market, but they won’t necessarily be prohibited from working. Consider the art movement in Berlin in the ’20s and ’30s.

    Going all the way “underground” will allow some people to be even more creative.

    maybe.

  38. Jerms

    Been so angry with whats going on in the country i had to get off Facebook for a bit. Finding it tough to not go on and vent about the media and how dishonest they are. These links didnt do much to calm me down—im at the gym right now trying to let go of some of this shit. I know that Trump is far from being a libertarian, but i felt that finally there was someone in government that hated the media and the left as much as i do. Now its over. The ones i hate have won and the worst part is i know that as these people ruin whats left of this country the blame will always fall on the Orange man, and the media will parrot that and half the country will lap it up.
    This too shall pass i guess. Thankful to be able to come to a place like this where there are so many rational anti-media types.

    • juris imprudent

      I counsel a little patience – they are provoking a backlash; and while it may be enjoyable to watch that backlash send them into the next century, it likely won’t end well for the majority of this crowd, as it will really just mean a different set of hands cranking down the ratchet.

    • R C Dean

      Been so angry with whats going on in the country i had to get off Facebook for a bit.

      Try never going back. I suspect you will not regret it.

    • Plisade

      “Now its over.”

      I can’t resist…

      “Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don’t turn it off! It wasn’t my war! You asked me, I didn’t ask you! And I did what I had to do to win! But somebody wouldn’t let us win! And I come back to the world and I see all those maggots at the airport, protesting me, spitting. Calling me baby killer and all kinds of vile crap! Who are they to protest me, huh? Who are they? Unless they’ve been me and been there and know what the hell they’re yelling about!”

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfBuvRk1thQ

  39. Drake

    Memes, so many memes.

    • Drake

      More and more.

      • Drake

        More and one for 2021.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        That last one is pretty funny.

      • UnCivilServant

        So you’re saying that 2021 will be less of a problem since only a few unwanted kids in Maine will be at risk?

    • Not Adahn

      Bad meme. RDJ played a bootlicking statist.

    • Drake

      This one made me laugh yesterday.

  40. Dr. Chipping Pioneer

    Not sure if this is the right avenue, but it looks like the link to the eyepiece and monocle is broken. Maybe because of the archiving?

    • Dr. Chipping Pioneer

      Yeah, if you go to the 2017 archive and search for monocle, it’s the first article that comes up.

  41. Count Potato

    “Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s communications director asked Twitter to bar users from sharing one of the New York congresswoman’s previous tweets in support of protests that make people “uncomfortable,” saying it was being used as “misinfo.”

    “@AOC’s Comms Director here. Right-wing accounts are taking the last tweet from this old thread on the ‘defund’ mvmnt & twisting it to imply AOC supports violence like what’s happening at the Capitol. We asked @Twitter to stop the misinfo, but as we wait, you can help with a RT,” she wrote on Twitter.”

    OFFS!!!

    • Certified Public Asshat

      RT for me, but not for thee.

    • Pope Jimbo

      It is like when she had a hissy fit when the GOP tried to bring her Green New Deal legislation to the floor for a vote.

      “I didn’t mean you should take me seriously!!!”

    • Chipwooder

      “How dare you hold me accountable for anything!”

      • EvilSheldon

        Who was it who said, ‘My words mean exactly what I want them to mean, and nothing more?’

      • Ownbestenemy

        Mary Poppins?

      • mrfamous

        Lewis Carroll? Or the character he was writing?

      • mrfamous

        Humpty Dumpty

      • Not Adahn

        Some egghead.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Or more obscure, King Azaz the Unabridged

    • LJW

      A sitting congresswoman asking a company to censor people. How is that legal?

      • mrfamous

        You’re on the list LJW!

        This shit is frightening. They’re gonna get their totalitarian on, for realsies. 2020 was just practice.

      • kbolino

        That’s more or less how we got the Hays Code. The Democrats (and some of the Republicans) are all too happy to bring back censorship and blackballing against their opponents.

  42. mrfamous

    As they say, never let a Reichstag fire go to waste.

    • Aloysious

      ^this

  43. Count Potato

    “Tucker Carlson (pictured left) split away from Trump on his Thursday show as he encouraged viewers to look past a ‘single politician’ and asked if the president is ‘worth all of this time and attention’. Carlson, who is generally a Trump ally, said the president had reached his ‘expiration date’ and the end of his ‘shelf life’ as he said that he was ‘wrong’ for having ‘recklessly encouraged’ his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol (pictured bottom right) during a rally speech on Wednesday (pictured top right). Carlson did continue to defend the actions of Trump’s loyalists, despite Wednesday’s violent scenes, as he blasted the Republican party for not caring about the president’s base. He claimed that the storming of the Capitol yesterday was simply a ‘political protest’ that ‘got out of hand’. His comments came as the Wall Street Journal, which like Fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch, called on Trump to resign before he is impeached in an abrupt about-turn from the paper.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9125099/Tucker-Carlson-turns-Trump-blames-president-U-S-Capitol-riot.html

    • Count Potato

      “What happened yesterday, they’re telling us, wasn’t simply that a political protest got out of hand after the president recklessly encouraged it, that is in fact what happened,’ Carlson continued, admitting the president was to blame.”

      • WTF

        There is actual video of Trump telling the crowd to be peaceful when he addressed them. Too bad even Tucker is going for the lie that Trump incited or encouraged the riot.

      • Floridaman

        Yeah at least archive so they get no revenue.

    • Rebel Scum

      for having ‘recklessly encouraged’ his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol

      When did this happen?

      • WTF

        It didn’t, it’s a lie to shape the anti-Trump narrative.

  44. Ownbestenemy

    Tundra I didnt get a chance to say those pics of the pups were great. Right as rain in the new home.

    • Tundra

      Thanks! She’s awesome.

  45. Festus

    It should be like 1848 all over again but I fear it will turn out no better than 1968. Smoking rubble, disillusionment, and no change in the status quo.

    • Floridaman

      Yep my main prediction the gop copies the super delegate system of the Dems, to prevent outsiders from taking over. On the bright side, less mischief in the general, because like with what happened to Bernie all the mischief will be in the primaries.

    • Count Potato

      1968 also had a plague.

      • Festus

        Shhhhhh! We don’t talk about that in polite company.

      • juris imprudent

        Sure, the Summer of Love may have spread a few STIs, but that’s no reason to call it a plague.

      • Floridaman

        I’lol say the nation still hasn’t recovered from bob dylan music.

      • Floridaman

        I’ll say the nation still hasn’t recovered from bob dylan music.

    • Count Potato

      That guy on CBS also seems to be making the assumption most BLM protesters were black.

      • UnCivilServant

        Blacks as a proportion of BLM protesters were rarer than Blacks as a proportion of the total population.

        Clearly BLM protests discriminate against Black people.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    I would like to see rational voices (is Tucker Carlson rational? I have never watched his show) urging the MAGAnites to look beyond Trump to the ideas which rallied them behind him. Generalized disdain for and distrust of government actors, rejection of destructive economic policies and generalized repudiation of objective reality…. and so on and so forth, and make a serious attempt to formulate a coherent program of action for the future.

    And find a front man who can express himself in an orderly manner.

    Crazy, I know.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Of the prominent ‘Right Wing’ commentators, he is probably the most rational. He has been drifted from his Neocon postions in to _more_ libertarian positions. However like Ben Shapiro, he becomes more statist when his sacred cows are being gored, though not as bad as Shapiro gets IMO.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I love Steyn. He’s brilliant.

      • Festus

        He’s dumb as dog shit about drug laws but is really good about freedom of speech.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Pretty much. Shapiro, to me, is really good at doing things like analyzing court decisions and the like. He generally provides a pretty good summary of documents and what the implications are. That is what I go to him for, beyond that he is hit or miss.

        Tucker, brings people on that have been banned/de-platformed and the occasional leftist lol-cow and he generally challenges his guest to some degree or another.

        But, yes, to a man you will not find any of these types that go beyond a, ‘Drugs are bad m-kay’ level of analysis of the War On Drugs.

    • Festus

      As much as I sometimes agree with Carlson he’s just another creature of the swamp. A neo-con-liberal. He still goes to the same functions as the rest of those cuntes. We’ve had the carnival barker President. What’s next?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The amyloid plaque President.

    • Gustave Lytton

      That’s exactly what Carlson was saying (despite DM’s misrepresentation above) last night.

    • juris imprudent

      It is crazy. Most people don’t really care about ideas. No one loved Obama because of his policy.

      This is the real reason we’re all fucked – we have met the enemy…

  47. Stinky Wizzleteats

    “ The average FICO Score reached a record high of 710 in 2020”

    Damnit, and here I was thinking I’m special.

  48. The Late P Brooks

    A sitting congresswoman asking a company to censor people. How is that legal?

    We must repudiate totalitarianism by any means!

  49. UnCivilServant

    Am I the only one who hopes they find the people behind those auto warranty robocall scams and hold a mass public execution?

    • UnCivilServant

      My phone should only ring when there’s a person I want to talk to on the line. Mosst of my calls should not be spam.

      • db

        More than 95% of the time my phone rings, it’s a spam caller. I don’t even answer if the number isn’t in my contact list.

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t have that luxury, especially on my work cell.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Personal phone ya, but I am tied to a work phone also and it gets annoying. I can generally pickup on the phone number patterns but sometimes they get me. We usually have a 5 minute conversation before they realize I am just messing with them.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I heard the warranty on your automobile is about to expire, please contact me at 1-800-etc. for great rates (we’re having a special this week).

      • juris imprudent

        I use ring-tones to figure out if I’m going to answer. Anyone in my contact list has a ring-tone different from the default one; the default one just goes to voice mail, and most robo-calls drop.

    • Ownbestenemy

      No you are not the only one.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Well everyone is lining up to be the next Robespierre, so get in line and you may get your wish.

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t want to be in line, everyone in line had a date with Madame Guillotine.

      • Ownbestenemy

        It’s not like heads will roll, You people are so dramatic. The nose stops that from happening.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        That, and they usually have a basket for just that purpose.

    • Nephilium

      Most are coming from overseas call centers. There’s been some pressure on the phone companies to tighten up restrictions on accepted calls (one common issue I run into is phones that were configured without an outbound ANI, and all external calls get dumped). The problem is that the phone system (like e-mail) was built on trusting people on both sides of the calls, as well as the ones carrying the data.

      • UnCivilServant

        Overseas doesn’t change my request. I figure there are none in this country by default.

    • The Other Kevin

      Mine are from “Apple support”. I sometimes get 15 a day. I’m with you.

    • Chipwooder

      “We’ve been trying to reach you!”

    • db

      I get tons of spam text messages on my work phone, the latest ones of high volume ask “Would you allow BUD LIGHT DRINK to place a small sticker or sign on your vehicle for [some amount of money] per week?”

      These are coming from numbers that appear to be from the same area code and local exchange that my phone number has.

      Then I get a whole bunch of reply texts (like, hundreds) from other numbers because the spammers must be spoofing my number as well.

      “Who is this”
      “STOP”

      So far I haven’t read enough to see if there are any funny replies or threats. It’s frickin’ annoying though.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Ah man you get beer ones? I get them for Dr. Pepper. This blatant discrimination needs to stop.

    • Pine_Tree

      Serious question – how are these scams supposed to work? I’ve never stayed on long enough to hear the spiel.

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t know but I assume they get the mark to give them personal information or just send them money.

      • Nephilium

        There’s a couple of different scams, with different goals:

        1) Computer virus scam – Get people to install malware on their computer, giving them access to all of their accounts, passwords, and anything else they enter. Eventually culminating in financial information.

        2) IRS/Debt scam – Get people to mail them gift cards to pay off a false debt.

        3) Slamming scam – Get people to say yes on a recording. Then charge their phone number for something, using the recording as proof that they agreed to it. Most of the charity spam calls are this type (“Can we count on you if we send you an envelope?”)

        4) Credit/Debit scam – Get people to pay for something with a CC on the phone call, then set up recurring billing or several small charges to verify. Then a month or so later, hit for a big charge.

        I’m sure there’s some others out there, but those are the majority of them

    • R C Dean

      I have the RoboKiller app set so that if the number isn’t in my contacts, my phone doesn’t ring.

      • UnCivilServant

        Don’t have that luxury.

      • R C Dean

        If they leave a message, I listen right away and call back if they’re legit.

      • Nephilium

        I’m in the same boat as UCS, I do support, so I need to answer random calls. It doesn’t help that for some reason, even the valid callers won’t leave a VM or e-mail. Instead they’ll just call back a second (or third) time.

      • db

        Would it be possible to set up a virtual number, and use that as your customer-facing contact, then have that number forwarded to the real phone? Then, at least most legit calls should appear to come from the safe number.

        I don’t know enough about the mechanics of this kind of thing, but I do know that my office number is forwarded to my work cell, and so if someone calls my desk phone and gets forwarded, my cell phone then looks like our office main extension is calling me.

      • UnCivilServant

        What forwarding system are you using? When I set my desk phone to forward, I see the caller info for whoever called the desk phone.

      • db

        Honestly I don’t know what our phone system is. It is some sort of VOIP deal in the main office and at some branch locations/production facilities.

      • Nephilium

        I have a virtual number as my primary “cell” number, but I have it pass the ANI of the calling party along. I could turn that off, but that doesn’t help, as that number still gets it’s fair share of spam calls as well. FFS, my office desk phone gets a decent number of spam calls, and I’ve never published it anywhere outside work e-mails.

        If you’re referring to a phone, then the forward ANI option is an option that can be configured in the system, most prefer it forward the ANI instead of appearing to be coming from the number that was called.

      • db

        I guess our system is set up not to forward ANI, as you say. I kind of prefer that, since the only people who use my desk phone number are cold callers and vendors. My cell phone number is not on my business cards, and I never give it out to people who want to sell me something.

    • Mojeaux

      Half the time, when they say “Mojeaux?” or “Is this Mojeaux?” I say, “Who’s calling please?” they hang up. What they want is a “yes” answer so they can get you with an automatic bank draft and say you agreed to it.

      Sadly, I still have to answer them because it might be my business number (which is forwarded to my real number).

  50. leon

    The left is clearly just upset because they burn down entire city blocks across the nation, and the Media ignores it. The right storms one building in one afternoon, and it’s all over the news, and we are going to se real change afterward, rather than lip service that the left gets. The Media has a strong right wing bias in this country.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      They lock you in your house and look the other way when your business is burned down but they become apoplectic when someone breaks some windows at what amounts to a political office building. Not the media but I haven’t seen Graham so mad since Trump refused to (seriously) bomb Syria.

      Frankly, the reaction has been heartening to me, the mask has come off in a way that can’t be denied by anyone that isn’t a bootlicker.

      • Mojeaux

        Doesn’t matter if the mask comes off if the people who can see the truth are helpless/hunted OR they like what they see.

        “The mask is off” means diddly squat.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        They’re not helpless in the least, I hear where you’re coming from but you’re too blackpilled. They were doing a pretty good job of boiling the frog, now it knows it’s being boiled and has at least a fighting chance to jump out of the pot.

      • Mojeaux

        I don’t even know what “blackpilled” means.

        I’m a fatalist at heart and somewhat cynical about the willingness of people to look at truth and see it for what it is. I’ve been snoozing people left and right on FB because they’re having Deplorables Fever Dreams.

        They REALLY believe that if you are not with’em you’re agin’em, and they are not interested in persuading people to their side. They’re interested in forcing them to believe as they do or destroying their lives.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      and we are going to se real change afterward

      More defense spending for the capital?

    • Not Adahn

      Violence = Trump.

      That’s a law of the universe discovered by government-funded researchers after their nobel prize winning equality Silence = death.

    • Rebel Scum

      I want to see photos of the “bombs”. ‘Member that MAGA Seminole faux bomb-maker a couple years back?

      • Count Potato

        The article has a blurry photo of one of them.

  51. Count Potato

    “Trump ban sees Twitter shares fall 1.8% because president’s followers account for HALF of the sites daily users – while Facebook’s shares rise despite ‘indefinite’ suspension

    The 89 million followers on Trump’s main Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, represented nearly 48 percent of the company’s total base of monetizable daily active users at the end of the third quarter.

    Facebook has a much larger base of 1.8 billion daily active users, and less than two percent of them – 35 million – are followers of Trump.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9124637/Twitter-shares-fall-suspended-Trumps-account-MAGA-riots.html

    • db

      Well, there ya go. Here’s a near zero cost action for Twitter users who like Trump to take. Voting with their feet will show Twitter what’s up.

      Will they take that action? Probably not.

      • leon

        I imagine over half of Trumps Followers on Twitter are “Hate Follows”.

        I understand the sentiment, because people tend to idolize that which they hate, but it is not healthy in any way shape or form.

      • db

        Possibly. I’m sure not all of his followers actually like him.

      • Count Potato

        They don’t, but what he says is “news”.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      president’s followers account for HALF of the sites daily users

      Wow, that’s kind of amazing.

      • R C Dean

        Well, half of Twitter follows Trump is probably more accurate. That doesn’t mean they will leave if one of the people they follow is booted off.

  52. The Late P Brooks

    You’ve got to stop linking those retards at DM. They’re doing exactly what Carlson was raging against last night in his open.

    As I said yesterday, when I want serious knowledgeable analysis of American news and politics, I go straight to the Daily Mail.

    • Gustave Lytton

      The British origin is misleading. It’s American side is US run, trying to grow a clickbait monster.

  53. Count Potato

    “Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned on Thursday, becoming the second member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet to step down after he incited a mob of supporters who broke into the US Capitol.

    In a letter to Trump, DeVos blamed her departure on his role in fueling the ‘unconscionable’ violent invasion of the Capitol on Wednesday when Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s election victory.

    ‘We should be highlighting and celebrating your Administration’s many accomplishments on behalf of the American people,’ DeVos wrote.

    ‘Instead, we are left to clean up the mess caused by violent protestors overrunning the US Capitol in an attempt to undermine the people’s business.

    ‘That behavior was unconscionable for our country. There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is an inflection point for me.’

    News of her resignation came hours after Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who is married to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, also stepped down, joining seven other members of the Trump administration to resign in a single day.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9124783/Education-Secretary-Betsy-DeVos-second-Cabinet-member-resign-MAGA-riot.html

    Weren’t all those people going to be fired in 12 days anyway?

    • Chipwooder

      Personally, I find this performative nonsense hilarious.

    • Floridaman

      Yes, that is why this is so common they are doing their favorite thing pointless virtue signaling.

    • Ownbestenemy

      It also makes the amount of principles needed to invoke the 25th Amendment, but Pence took that off the plate. At least was my thinking yesterday as they started to drop.

    • kbolino

      Weren’t all those people going to be fired in 12 days anyway?

      By leaving early, their employment prospects improved dramatically.

      • Floridaman

        Bingo.

      • Chipwooder

        That’s the idea, but it won’t make a damned bit of difference. They hated Betsy DeVos anyway – they’re going to stop just because she issued a weepy resignation letter less than two weeks before she became unemployed anywya?

      • kbolino

        They will never truly forgive her unless she recants fully (see: Diane Ravitch) but they can at least pity her now.

      • robc

        DeVos doesn’t need employment opportunities.

      • kbolino

        Just because you have “fuck you” money doesn’t mean you have “fuck you” attitude.

      • juris imprudent

        None of them have done any work the last 4 years, and I doubt other than sinecures they have the desire for any work in the future.

      • kbolino

        They may not want to work, but I’d assume they still want to get paid. And I’d hazard that they consider what they’ve done the past 4 years to be work, whether you or I may disagree regardless.

      • Fourscore

        You just described my army career except for the work part.

        /Reshuffles paper around on the computer desk

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      It’s the “Please Give Me a Job After All This is Over Shuffle” they’re playing. Again Republicans prove they’re spineless.

  54. The Late P Brooks

    More than 95% of the time my phone rings, it’s a spam caller. I don’t even answer if the number isn’t in my contact list.

    #METOO

    • The Other Kevin

      Same here. On my mobile phone, it’s always from a different part of the country. On my home phone, it’s always a spoof of a local number. The caller ID says it’s a person or business in my town.

  55. Count Potato

    “Federal prosecutors have launched a murder investigation into the death of a Capitol cop who died on Thursday night a day after being ‘hit over the head with a fire extinguisher’ during the MAGA mob riot.

    Brian D. Sicknick is the fifth person to have died as a result of Wednesday’s insurrection but he is the only cop – the other four were all Trump fanatics.

    His social media pages indicate that he, like the mob, supported Trump.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9124461/US-Capitol-Police-officer-DIES-following-MAGA-mob-riots-Congress-marking-FIFTH-death.html

  56. Count Potato

    “The man captured in a viral photo taking a lectern from the U.S. House during Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol has been identified as a Parrish resident.

    Adam Christian Johnson, 36, smiled and waved as he was caught on camera carrying what appeared to be U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s lectern as he walked through the U.S. Capitol Building with other rioters on Wednesday…

    Johnson’s past criminal history includes possession of marijuana and violation of probation charges.”

    Florida man using drug? Fake news.

    • db

      “Past criminal history”

      Wow, he sounds like a Bad Dude. Better take a pool chain to him.

    • Rebel Scum

      Nancy Pelosi’s lectern

      I am pretty sure it belongs to the taxpayers and whoever is speaker at any given time gets to use it.

      • Ownbestenemy

        That’s cute you think they actually mean the People’s House and that we have some agency or claim to it.

    • Not Adahn

      In one of the photos circulated online, the man can be seen posed alongside of a sign in the Capitol Building that reads: “Closed to all tours.”

      The photo is simply captioned, “No.”

      See, that’s how you know you’re on the right side.

  57. CPRM

    ESPN was on in the break room over night. One time when I went through it was LaBron James talking about the protests at the capital, the next time it was Keshawn Johnson talking about it. Dumbest timeline.

    • Count Potato

      Do they even cover sports?

      • CPRM

        I wouldn’t know, I dropped them a couple years ago.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Laura Ingram, while not right about many things, was right to say, “Shut up and dribble.”

      When I watched ESPN it was for entertaining commentary on highlights and lowlights in sports and the World Strongest Man. So glad I cut the cord and use legally questionable means to watch the games I want to watch. They can take their idiotic takes on politics and fuck all the way off.

  58. zwak

    VP(elect)Ho.

    That is all.

  59. The Late P Brooks

    The left is clearly just upset because they burn down entire city blocks across the nation, and the Media ignores it. The right storms one building in one afternoon, and it’s all over the news, and we are going to se real change afterward, rather than lip service that the left gets. The Media has a strong right wing bias in this country.

    Prole-on-prole violence and destruction is no big deal. When they inconvenience the important people and wreck stuff in the Top Men’s neighborhood, It’s time for the iron fist.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Kinda like when protestors start showing up near Guv mansions and such all of a sudden its “We need to fix these protests! It is not right!”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Their reaction has shown that they only care about themselves. We knew that was the case but now normal people get to see that too. Let’s face it, the scope and ferocity of the damage done was nothing compared to what happened over the summer to mostly average people.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Its the optics and face it, the media in this country put on a masterclass display of how to propagandize the situation. The words they used to describe, block independent content from getting out, and in the end, the normal people will all be in on the public execution of anyone in or near the capitol building.

      • Count Potato

        Sad, but true.

      • Floridaman

        Ehh interestingly the media seems pissed that half the public doesn’t believe them, from what we have been seeing even the approved polls aren’t showing the shock and outrage the media demanded. Which seems to be angering them more.

      • UnCivilServant

        Spend decades burning your artificial credibility, get shocked when people don’t find you credible.

        Makes sense.

      • Floridaman

        We know that, but for some reason they think people should have forgotten.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yeah, people are getting the impression that everyone is outraged from mainstream media sources and Twitter and/or Facebook. What do they expect to hear there. Half of the people in this country wouldn’t believe what the MSM told them if they said the sky is blue.

      • Floridaman

        Err with twitter the moment you leave the blue checkmarks, the most common thing you see is the mocking laughter about things. For instance the podium showing up on eBay,

  60. leon

    Trump is now most certainly going to be indicted once Biden is in office. Even if Biden is still of mind of not wanting to be wrapped up in a case against the former president, i don’t think he can say no to the people that will be pushing for it.

    And this is probably a good thing. Trump has done jack squat for Us. The least he could do is jump on the grenade and tie up Biden’s political capital.

    • db

      It could be a really good diversion.

      I wonder, however, how foreign adversaries will be able to use the political chaos and tumult that will result if this shit doesn’t stop.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Indicted by whom for what?

      • leon

        Before i would have said for “Obstruction of Justice” was the angle they were going to go after. Now, “Sedition” and “Insurrection” are being tossed around like they were right wingers in portland, so yeah i bet something like that.

      • Grummun

        Indicted by whom for what?

        By every self-aggrandizing US Attorney, state AG or attention whoring left-wing law firm, for every civil or criminal slight that they can imagine, at the very second Ol’ Handsy repeats the oath of office.

        If Trump has not been planning for this eventuality for months, he really is an idiot. On inauguration day, he should be on a private plane to a non-extraditing jurisdiction.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I figured the various states and even some federal jurisdictions would go after him and that’ll probably suffice. Trump has plenty of money and can tie them up with lawyers indefinitely, he won’t be going anywhere (unless they really do have a tax case or something, if that’s the case he needs to haul ass).

      • Rebel Scum

        For being bad, orange, and a man.

      • R C Dean

        Indicted by whom for what?

        Indicted by prosecutors for crimes? Does it really matter which prosecutors, or what crimes? It certainly doesn’t matter whether he ever committed any crimes.

      • Floridaman

        Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime – Beria

    • Count Potato

      “Trump has done jack squat for Us.”

      That isn’t true.

    • Count Potato

      Can’t he pardon himself? I remember a TOS article saying Hillary could.

      • R C Dean

        Only for federal crimes, not state crimes.

  61. Stillhunter

    Since Trump doesn’t appear to take kindly to being slighted, [see correspondent”s dinner with Obama, etc.]

    1. What are the chances he starts the MAGA party to run in 2024?

    2. Chances he starts “big tech” operation(s)?

    3. Chances he fades away (for the most part)?

    4. Chances he goes (is?) batshit crazy and does some really crazy shit?

    I think 1 and 2 are pretty good chances, 3 less likely and 4 is distinctly possible.

    • Drake

      The problem with Trump starting his own political party is that he does really believe in much besides his own awesomeness.

      He’s pro-business and pro-America in vague non-ideological ways. That made him miles better than his opposition but was part of his downfall. It makes him inconsistent and (along with his liberal daughter) let him wander into some very dumb positions.

      • leon

        The problem with Trump starting his own political party is that he does really believe in much besides his own awesomeness.

        To be fair, believing in anything hasn’t really been necessary to the process for other politicians.

      • Drake

        I just find it hard to picture somebody as shallow as Trump founding a political party.

        The half dozen Senators and hundred and something Reps who voted against election certification would probably make a good nucleus for a Conservative Party. But no way could Trump lay-out the ideology that would entice them to walk away from the shambles of the GOP. Ted Cruz, Pat Buchanan, Rand Paul – they could do it. If Trump could see past his own ego and played the long-game for revenge, that’s what he would arrange – then step back and play the George Soros kingmaker role.

      • leon

        I don’t disagree, just being snarky. Glib if you will.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Buchanan’s a little old but could give it his blessing, he’s sort of the Godfather of Trumpist populism.

      • Stillhunter

        Are you saying the vast majority of politicians aren’t shallow and unprincipled?

      • Floridaman

        This, here is a hint most of the reps who still voted that way out of fear of the primary more than any idea. It isn’t principals, unless you call the need to remain in office a principal. And if so then we really do have a principled government

      • Viking1865

        Effective politicians are organizers and builders of movements. Trump believed that he actually was President, when in fact the ruling class just ignored him and did what they wanted to all along. Including, most ominously, the general staff.

        The last four years has truly revealed what a sham representative government is. The President has unlimited power only as long has he enacts policies that are in the consensus of the Acela Corridor. When he tries to use that same power to enact non consensus policies, he is blocked by the courts and the bureaucrats.

        Clinton’s murders at Waco, Bush’s torture and kidnapping, Obama’s murdering of Americans via drone, all pass without comment because The Right Sort Of People approved of them. Obama can backdoor amnesty via EO, but Trump can’t order that backdoor amnesty struck down via EO because reasons.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        ?

      • juris imprudent

        Very well said.

      • kbolino

        If Trump and Congress had been on the same page, they could’ve accomplished a lot more. The courts would still have stood in the way, but they would have had to be less blatant.

        Trump had a problem not just with the bureaucracy and the courts, but with the legislature as well. The bureaucrats had the legislators’ backs and vice-versa.

      • juris imprudent

        That is the problem right there – the assumption of alignment between Executive and Congress. They are supposed to be a check and balance, just as with the Court. We have allowed our govt to run off the rails and now we expect the President to lead Congress – it doesn’t work that way and it isn’t supposed to.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Dude, the Republican Congress should have just shut up and listened to Obama. The only reason they didn’t is because they’re racist to the core.

        /NPR

      • Floridaman

        Yep in effect, we somehow circled back to the British parliamentary system the founders didn’t want.

      • kbolino

        Well, clearly that assumption didn’t hold in this administration. They are independent branches and they are supposed to check each other, but it’s questionable that those checks are functioning as intended. I won’t hang my hat on the average American voter “really” be in closer ideological alignment with me than the elected officials, but I do think legislative representation is piss poor especially at the national level. The House is just a mini-Senate and the Senate is just the place where the graft is haggled over.

    • R C Dean

      I think the odds are slightly in favor of Trump being tied up defending criminal charges, and perhaps even being jailed as a flight risk, in which case 1 -3 are off the table. 4 is always on the table.

      • R C Dean

        If he is indicted, an early indicator that the fix is in is if the federal indictments wind up in Judge Sullivan’s court. The Judge who refused to dismiss charges against Flynn and appointed his very own pet prosecutor when the DOJ tried to bow out.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        If he gets indicted, this country will have much more to worry about than some sham trial.

      • Viking1865

        Trial would be in DC, naturally, to stack the jury with Senior Public Officials and Wise Academics and Captains of Industry and other noble, intelligent, serious people.

      • Banjos

        You think Democrats are stupid enough to start a civil war? Because that’s how you start a civil war.

      • Floridaman

        Looks at the quality of our county’s politicians and bureaucrats,well shit were fucked.

      • Drake

        Next month they’ll be passing a domestic-terrorism bill that may as well be a declaration of civil war.

      • Sean

        I firmly believe they are that stupid.

      • Stillhunter

        I’m torn. On one hand I find it hard to believe Democrats in general want a civil war. But, history has shown that elites are willing to let the plebes fight amongst themselves while they watch from afar, all the while cashing in and gaining more power.

    • juris imprudent

      No he will not spawn a political party. Even if he does, it will go nowhere. Amash was done as soon as he dumped the R label, and he had been elected multiple times. Fucking TEAM matters (as much as I hate that, I’d have to be blind to ignore it).

      He does know media manipulation, whether that means he could run one is another matter. Remember, this man bankrupted a casino, which is damn near a license to steal.

      Fading away would be his own personal hell, he will avoid that if he possibly can – which leaves you with:

      Batshit crazy.

      • Floridaman

        To be fair that was in Atlantic City, which due to NJ rules was dying, most of the other casinos there are gone as well.

      • Banjos

        Exactly, a fact always conveniently left out.

      • Floridaman

        Don’t get me wrong he screwed up plenty in his business ventures over the years, but blaming the insane regulations of the state on the business owner is one of my pet peeves.

      • Floridaman

        Fourth casino, if a venture is losing and going down there is no reason to try to fix it. And I said most are gone now, cutting and running early is not a flaw in business.

      • Floridaman

        Besides, you have to be a fool to think it would have been worth the effort to prevent the decline in a business in Atlantic City, between cheap flights to Vegas, the recession, and New Jersey’s insane business regs, I would have been cutting and running far earlier. But then I don’t have the ego, so I don’t care about failing ventures,

      • juris imprudent

        There were a dozen opened and seven remain.

      • Banjos

        The idea of Trump fading away is laughable. The media depends on him and he’s the master of media manipulation to gain attention. Plus, if the last fours years did not make him go batshit, then nothing will.

      • Stillhunter

        Agreed he’s not fading away, but felt the need for that option.

      • Stillhunter

        The question was start a MAGA party, not that it would be successful.

        Amash is irrelevant. He is not a populist and was barely known outside his state and DC.

      • Chipwooder

        Ehhhh, I’m mostly in agreement with you, but Amash is an obscure rep with almost no national following. Not really an apples to apples comparison there.

      • CPRM

        Amash let down not only his supporters in R party by the way acted, but many of his supporters of the little L variety. It wasn’t that he left the Rs what ruined him, it was how his actions were perceived by any constituency that supported him.

    • Banjos

      1.) None
      2.) 50/50
      3.) None
      4.) None

    • Not Adahn

      1 and 2 will never happen.

      3 is quite likely unless The Media(tm) can’t figure out another way to create drama.

      4 Would be different from the statsu quo how?

      • Stillhunter

        Outside some strong hyperbole, rhetoric, and lies which every politician does, what has he been batshit crazy about?

        I find this the most fascinating part of the Trump phenomenon. The fact that people can look at someone who doesn’t fit the politician mold and assume he must be nuts because he talks like a regular person instead of being a “statesman”. We’ve had loud, bombastic, politicians for decades, but Trump is treated differently because he’s NOT a politician in the traditional sense of coming through the ranks.

        It’s almost like people see whatever they’ve predisposed to see.

      • CPRM

        Clearly you don’t read or watch enough Hat and Hair.

  62. KSuellington

    So it looks like the National Association of Realtors may institute a complete and total “hate speech” ban on its members, for anything that they say in any part of their life, private or professional. If you don’t belong to this organization then in many places you cannot get access to the MLS, which essentially means you will not be able to continue in the profession. And remember hate speech is not just for racial and gender issues but can include, other things. “ In one case, a Realtor waved an assault rifle on camera saying he was eager to shoot looters and protesters.” “ We can’t give you the ‘Here’s the words you can’t say or use, and if it’s one of these words they’re in violation, and if it’s not it’s not,’” Difanis said. “It doesn’t work that way.”

    https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/01/08/realtor_groups_big_move_to_ban_sales-agent_hate_speech_in_private_247_126671.html

    • Chipwooder

      “ We can’t give you the ‘Here’s the words you can’t say or use, and if it’s one of these words they’re in violation, and if it’s not it’s not,’” Difanis said. “It doesn’t work that way.”

      “We can’t give you clear definitions and guidelines, because then it would be much more difficult to railroad someone whose politics we dislike.”

      • R C Dean

        “And we can’t just say ‘Support the Democrats and leftism or else.’ At least, not yet.”

      • The Other Kevin

        I honestly see that coming in the next 12 months.

      • Chipwooder

        Also, the guy quoted there pretty much defines the term “punchable face”.

      • KSuellington

        I believe that qualifies as hate speech C Dub. And yes, he veritably oozes smarmy.

    • kbolino

      Hays Code and Blacklist 2: Electric Boogaloo

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Get it to the Supreme Court before it gets packed. This is one issue that Roberts is probably still good on.

      • kbolino

        You expect Penaltax Roberts to not find a way in which this can both be a private organization (and thus immune from 1A suits) while also being the sole state-legitimized licensor and gatekeeper for a profession?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Admittedly, it’s gamble but I think the odds are good.

      • R C Dean

        Long odds, in my opinion. Its just too easy to rule on them as a private organization (with much huffing and puffing about free association) and ignore their quasi-governmental role.

        Fortunately, lawyers are licensed by actual state organs, and not their quasi-private bar associations, any more. I think in every state its the Supreme Court that is nominally in charge of licensing, although the deets are often delegated to a state bar association.

      • Chipwooder

        No one would care about their draconian policies if they weren’t given the power to essentially ban people from the profession.

  63. R C Dean

    So, I’ve got to get serious about learning Spanish, since the odds are increasing that I won’t be living in a country with English as a primary language in a few years. Suggestions/recommendations for a program? It can’t be in-person, and the time-honored method of getting a Spanish-speaking mistress is right out.

    • Drake

      “Mexico is officially the least corrupt country in North America.”

      – Bill Buppert

      • Floridaman

        Nah the Cayman Islands, they even let you actually keep your money there rather than demand it be sent to the gaping hole that is the public coffers.

      • R C Dean

        Can’t afford to qualify for permanent residency there. I don’t have $2.4mm, much less $2.4mm to spend just on real estate.

    • leon

      Moving to a country where people don’t speak English, will do wonders for your ability to learn another language.

      • Count Potato

        Unless it’s England.

    • The Other Kevin

      I liked DuoLingo. It worked well for me, but I never got conversational. I’d start there, then go online and hire a native tutor on something like iTalki.

    • CPRM

      Meh, immersion is the best way to learn. We expect it from people from all the Mexican countries, you can do it to.

      • R C Dean

        I want to get a running start. Even if we stay in Tucson, it will be handy. Especially after Biden opens the borders and migrant caravans start coming through again.

      • Plisade

        The United States of Northern Mexico

    • KSuellington

      I speak Spanish and Portuguese and before I went to live in SouthAm I used the Pimsleur tapes (back when they were actually cassette audio tapes). They were pretty good to get a bit of basics down. Just a few weeks in country though can be as beneficial as months of self practice. That means total immersion though, and not speaking English at all or in very limited doses. I’d also recommend watching Spanish movies or telenovelas (at first with subtitles and then without). Watch it multiple times with and then try one without. Luckily the eye candy will help. Y tu mama tambien and Amorres Perros are two great Mexican films, but there are many more.

      Also, don’t discount the reading aspect. Even if you have to start with kids books, it really helps to get the flow once you get to intermediate level. I look forward to visiting your Panamanian hideout. I may buy the plot next door as I am a huge LatAm lover and this place is getting far too insane.

      • R C Dean

        I’m thinking that learning to read Spanish (I already have the ability to kind of follow it, just lack way too many specifics for grammar and vocabulary) might be a lot quicker and easier to get rolling.

      • KSuellington

        Reading both those languages is what really kicked my ability up to the next level. If you and remember really well by reading it is highly recommend. They also have books that are one page in Spanish and the next the English translation so you can go back and forth. But I would start with books you have already read or kids books.

      • CPRM

        Reading it is easier than following it in conversation. Most native speakers speak way faster than I could even follow in English. (Yes, I know that isn’t Spanish)

        Then you also have to know there is a difference between Mexican Spanish, Spanish Spanish and Cathtillion Thpanish.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        And then there’s Tijuana Spanish which is is Spanish on methamphetamines.

      • KSuellington

        And since you are in Arizona use it as much as possible with the Spanish speakers. Even if you think you sound silly, they will have fun with it. Latinos and Brazilians made learning those languages pretty fun as they enjoyed seeing a gringo try and bungle words. As getting a novia is not an option for you (really the best way to learn) you’ll have to settle for less optional methods.

      • grrizzly

        I have this on my shelf. I haven’t studied it. But I did go through the French for Reading book written by one of the coauthors, Sandberg. My French reading skills went from zero to reading French novels for pleasure. Now if I start studying a Romance language, I can read newspapers in Spanish or Portuguese after a month.

    • grrizzly

      I like* Fluenz. After finishing the first level I was able to have dinner in Buenos Aires without switching to English. And I could mostly follow a German-language opera in the Teatro Colón by reading Spanish supertitles.

      *An understatement: I think I’ve purchased all their available languages.

  64. Festus

    Whelp, on a lighter note – “Little Miss Yoga Pants” seems to have been replaced by “Surly Sikh Boy” in the parcel line. Just one more reason why 2021 is going to suck harder than Winston’s Mom. Godspeed, “Yoga Pants”, we hardly knew ye!

    • Festus

      It would be cool if he was a friendly sort but Sikhs are not known for their sense of humor or jocularity. I suppose that centuries of being the target for murder might do that to a culture but it makes no sense. Jews are the funniest humans on the planet.

  65. The Late P Brooks

    If Trump could see past his own ego and played the long-game for revenge, that’s what he would arrange – then step back and play the George Soros kingmaker role.

    Ooh. Me likey.

    • Festus

      He’s an actor. He acts. Rather, he reacts. He has no skin in the game. He’s a walking, talking flayed man. I’ve got a buddy like that, zero to sixty in two seconds flat. Insult him? He runs for President. He can’t manage from behind the scenes, it is not in his nature.

  66. UnCivilServant

    If my new phone lasts until tomorrow, it will have gone a fortnight on one full charge.

    It’s at 5%. I think it was at 11% last night.

    I don’t think it will quite make it.

    • CPRM

      How does the battery drain that much if you never turn it on?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        UCS’s aura sucks the power away.

      • Plisade

        This is why I love this place. Just wish were all on some giant front porch passing a bottle around.

      • UnCivilServant

        *wipes mouth of bottle before drinking*

      • Festus

        He’s treating it with kid gloves.

      • CPRM

        Well texting gloves look like kid gloves, I can see how you can be confused.

      • Festus

        Good Gravy…

      • UnCivilServant

        Funfact – You can operate a smartphone touchscreen while wearing nitrile gloves.

      • Not Adahn

        Yes, but they have to warm up for a bit first. Which takes a LOT longer if you have sweat liners underneath.

      • UnCivilServant

        Where are you storing them?

      • Not Adahn

        The gowning room is kept at 21 deg C.

      • Festus

        God love ya, UCS!

  67. The Late P Brooks

    So, I’ve got to get serious about learning Spanish, since the odds are increasing that I won’t be living in a country with English as a primary language in a few years. Suggestions/recommendations for a program? It can’t be in-person, and the time-honored method of getting a Spanish-speaking mistress is right out.

    I have heard multiple stories about people who claim to have learned English by watching Radio Free Europe (or equivalent) broadcasts of American movies and teevee shows. Telenovelas, FTW!

    • R C Dean

      + 1 spicy senorita!

    • leon

      On that note, RC, If you are still considering Uruguay on the short list: VTV Noticias is a news channel on YT from Uruguay, which can help with understanding that specific kind of accent (as opposed to a Mexican flavour of spanish)

    • Urthona

      I’m sure he was invited though.

    • leon

      The reason he didn’t pardon Snowden is that he wanted a friend while he was in Russia.

    • Viking1865

      He won’t. Wonder if his supporters will attend?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        If 2016 is a model for behavior, they should burn some cars and bust some windows.

      • Chipwooder

        Oh but that would be insurrection!!!

      • R C Dean

        After what just happened, Trump supporters would be allowed within 5 blocks of the Biden inauguration.

      • R C Dean

        would/won’t

      • Viking1865

        Depends on how many came, and what they brought with them.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I thought all the celebrations and whatnot had been canceled cuz COVID.

    • Festus

      “When I asked Melania to the Prom and she said no I decided to stay home, write in my dream book and eat thin-mints. That will send the right message. I don’t need ANY friends!”

    • Drake

      I thought he had a double-permanent two lifetime ban from Twitter?

    • CPRM

      The Hair speaks!

    • Agent Cooper

      I did not hear any denunciation of white supremacy, so it’s a terribad speech.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Yes if he does not disavow white supremacists at the top and bottom of every hour he must be sending super-secret dog whistles to them.

      • Rebel Scum

        Word.

        *unbuttons sport coat revealing inadvertent “hate” symbol*

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        So, the ‘okay’ hand sign?

  68. creech

    A letter in today’s local newsrag argues that all good Americans should forever shun Donald Trump as punishment for his “incitement” of the riot in D.C.
    You mean like everyone shuns Jimmy Carter? Now Carter may be doing admirable work with Habitat for Humanity, but his actions in 1979 make him even more worthy of shunning than Trump. In 1979, Carter pardoned a Puerto Rican terrorist who killed a policeman in 1951 during an attempted assassination of President Truman at the Blair House in D.C. Carter also pardoned three Puerto Rican terrorists who fired shots, on 3/1/54 onto the “sacred” House floor, wounding five congressmen. Undoubtedly, when Carter passes, none of this will be mentioned during the eulogies about what a great man he was. I’d write a letter to the local newsrag about this but, why bother, as I know they wouldn’t publish it.

    • Festus

      Unless some sort of seismic shift happens the notion of Free Speech is done.

      • Floridaman

        Let’s not kid ourselves, it died years ago. If anything they would just stop using the ideas corpse as a puppet.

    • cyto

      Obama used the CIA and FBI to undermine an incoming administration and intentionally framed people for prosecution.

      I think we can survive a president who says “let’s show our support to our congressmen”, even if a couple of nutters get carried away and break the glass in a pair of doors.

  69. Count Potato

    “The number of people with massive platforms who didn’t support Biden because “something something AOC” but who now want Trump removed and indicted is jarring.

    Why should those who showed such horrible judgment keep these platforms if they don’t grapple with their screw up?

    How are readers supposed to take seriously the judgment of someone who couldn’t decide between a wannabe dictator and a replacement level centrist Democrat?

    Now they’re supposed to think you have insights on future matters when you haven’t owned up to this colossal screw up?

    If you were headhunter in charge of analyzing CEOs and 2 months after you green light a complete moron they instigate an insurrection at the company resulting in 5 deaths you would be fired.

    So, nice column @Peggynoonannyc, but time to put in your two weeks.”

    https://twitter.com/Timodc/status/1347360012251774980

    • kbolino

      On the one hand, this is quite disingenuous. On the other hand, it’s directed at Peggy Noonan, the Mitt Romney of conservative journalists.

  70. cyto

    We are beyond the looking glass. When the incoming president makes statements like the one Biden did yesterday, that black protesters would have been shot but these white supremacists were allowed in without resistance… We are just done.

    They are all unhinged from reality.

    • leon

      The fact that they are even making that statement is actually kind of interesting. It means that they feel like they have to justify themselves for the Summer. It is okay to be outraged about this and not about the BLM riots because these guys were handled lightly whereas the other guys were handled severely!

      If they had half the power they act like they have, they wouldn’t have to justify their outrage.

    • kbolino

      I don’t care that they have their own truth anymore. Let them live it. There is no point in trying to unify with people who hate me. All I ask for is the freedom to live in the manner that suits me, apart from them if must be.

      • cyto

        Funny joke.

        Now report for re-education

    • CPRM

      -1 shot to the neck..

      • cyto

        Listened to hours of commentary from CNN, NBC and MSNBC. Nobody mentioned her. Nor did they mention tear gas. In fact, they claimed the opposite … That no tear gas was used, and nobody was shot.

        Specifically because these were white supremacists, and the police support white supremacists.

  71. The Other Kevin

    Today Scott Adams suggested that if one Democratic senator decides to not always vote with their party, that person becomes the most powerful person in the country. Tulsi may have her day yet. 😉

    • The Other Kevin

      The other suggestion: a Democratic senator could get anything they want from the Republican party if they were to switch parties.

    • Floridaman

      Duh that is manchins whole stick, the way he goes depends on who gives the best deal.

      • Raven Nation

        It might be more likely that there are different Dem senators who break with the party on different issues.

        That said, I suspect Collins & Murkowski, and probably a few others, will vote with the Ds fairly often. And, of course, as Ben Nelson showed with the ACA, you can always be bought.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Mittens is delirious that he will be able to be the great bipartisan bridge builder to the Democrat agenda.

      • juris imprudent

        WV is gonna get more pork in the next two years than the whole of Byrd’s career.

      • Floridaman

        Hence the filibuster new state’s and Supreme Court packing aren’t likely, unless manchin is given more gold than exists on paper in all of Fort Knox.

      • db

        The NFA branch of the ATF was moved to Martinsburg about 10 years ago. Gonna get a lot bigger…

        Actually, no, it probably won’t—they’ll keep the same staff and wait times for stamps will go from months to multiple years.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Tulsi’s Out ya know,

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I will miss her glorious cans.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        She was on Dave Rubin yesterday, worth watching,

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Dave, from what I can tell, is good people or at least his on-screen persona is.

      • Rebel Scum

        The whole bod…

      • Chipwooder

        Surfer girls always have great bodies.

    • Festus

      Yeah but she’d have to be elected Senator and that ain’t happening anytime soon. She won’t be a Congresscritter come the 20th.

    • cyto

      When she took on the Trans activists the other day, she earned my support.

      Even if it turns out that I disagree with the underlying philosophy she has, the fact that she has a big enough pair to stare them down on this one says she is tough enough for me.

      • Festus

        It ain’t the “pair” that I likes about her, it’s the pear!

  72. cyto

    Every local station here in South Florida ran a poll yesterday on invoking the 25th amendment and removing the president.

    You don’t think they have command and control for their media minions? 4 disparate networks… Local stations… All polling something so ludicrous within minutes of each other… All with 12 hours or so of what really was a small group of protesters who broke a window in a door and got one of their number shot.

    Yet within the course of a few minutes yesterday, every station was talking about sedition and saying Trump had to be removed.

    • kbolino

      Aren’t most local news outfits owned by large media conglomerates anyway?

      • UnCivilServant

        There are local media outlets?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Yes

      • CPRM

        Even if not by BIG conglomerates, a local conglomerate usually owns at operates arounds 3-4 stations in any given market.

      • CPRM

        The small company I worked for had markets in 4 towns in northern Wisconsin and the UP, but had somewhere around 12 stations. The one I worked at had 4 stations on 7 frequencies (one station had an AM/FM, another had an AM/ 2 FMs)

      • Not Adahn

        My “local” NPR station is a conglomerate of twenty. When they do their identification mantra, it takes a loong time.

    • Rebel Scum

      They are all on the same script.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        It is Journolist on steroids. They aren’t even trying to hide it anymore.

      • hayeksplosives

        Why bother having multiple news outlets? Just save some money by consolidating it into one outfit and call it Pravda already.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Nah that is already taken, The Temple of Trustworthy Truth might work, plus alliteration.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Because the illusion of locality is useful.

      • Floridaman

        Nonsense we also need another called izevestia, that way we can have the saying there’s no truth in Pravda and no news in Izvestia”

  73. Mojeaux

    So my first 3 books have lots of libertarian politics in them. I was going to split them up and take out the date stamps, update them just a little. Then I split them up and that didn’t work well, so I put it back together again. My goal was to change the cover after updating them. I REALLY want more people to know and love my imaginary friends and I think there’s a market for them.

    Then…yesterday happened. As I told Stinky Wizzleteats upthread, the left/progs firmly believe that if you are not on their train you are against them and a de facto Trump supporter. So….since my politics are not the rightthink, I decided to put that project away. I don’t need my life ruined by cancel culture and I don’t have fuck you money like Rowling.

    I’m about half a heartbeat away from pulling them altogether.

    I’mma stick with the Cods & Cuntes series, and leave my political books stewing in their 2000s innocence. I’m so glad I dated those.

    • Chipwooder

      I am sorry to hear that. It is repugnant what our culture has become.

      • Mojeaux

        I’m reading a book now that is calling out authoritarian/totalitarian society. It’s a surprising book, though. The Fairy’s Tale.

        In short, if you don’t follow the fairy tale script no matter how you have to forced your characters into the approved plot, you get “redacted”.

    • Plisade

      Could you re-release them under an alternate nom de plume? Mo’ Dough is kinda libertrianish.

      • Mojeaux

        No, it would still come back to me somehow.

        My bestie is black and she wants me to write black romance under a different pen name that is close to her name, and use her face as the author photo. I know, somehow, that would come back on me. I can’t write it as a white woman because authenticity. I don’t dare write it as a black woman and fear being outed.

      • Chipwooder

        That whole business never ceases to annoy me. They’re trying to eradicate imagination and creativity. Sickening.

      • Plisade

        Sorry it’s such madness.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Probably a good move, going through life oblivious to the facts on the ground can leave you twisting in the wind. Give people a year or so to calm the fuck down.

      • Mojeaux

        That’s not a bad idea, actually. Thanks!

    • Floridaman

      Should someone tell them that people are leaving fox for the new competitors, so even if cnn gets it killed, they still will only have empty airports as an audience.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I have to laugh because the Murdoch kids think they’re going to escape their fate by going RINO.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      I wonder what people who don’t feel like they are being heard will do?

  74. Fourscore

    Bob Dylan sells his music a month ago. Inside info? Coincidence, I don’t think so.

    Biden bans Bob!

    • Floridaman

      Shit if I knew he would do that I would have voted for the guy.

  75. Count Potato

    “There’s absolutely a new War on Terror being initiated — it’d been lurking for awhile, but it’s accelerating now for obvious reasons. This new one is aimed inward, domestically. It entails many of the same frameworks.

    They’re saying it explicitly:

    https://wsj.com/articles/biden-says-mob-that-stormed-capitol-were-domestic-terrorists-11610046962

    If the last few decades teach anything, it should be that making weighty decisions at times of high and intense emotions, closely following an event that unifies most everyone to the point that any deviations or questioning are treated like treason or heresy, is extremely unwise.”

    https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1347542374952677377

    • LJW

      Bidens just setting up the groundwork to enable him to spy on his political enemies.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Groundwork? Nah, that’s already in place. This is just a fig leaf to provide justification for what they were already doing and going to do.

      • kbolino

        The next step is to remove the restrictions on the big tech-intelligence community data spigot. Right now, there are “privacy protections” that they have to honor where ordinary Americans are concerned. But we all know damn well big tech has a list of badthinkful people and examples of their badthink, as well as a notion of their friends and social networks. The only thing stopping the government from becoming their enforcement arm is a handful of legal provisions. Those will get repealed or at least narrowed.

      • kbolino

        He can already spy on his enemies. The tricky part is he can’t so easily dragnet the proles.

  76. The Late P Brooks

    WaPo headline (more or less)-

    Internet “detectives” are busily identifying pro-Trump rioters at the Capitol. Some have already been fired.

    Great. The vast internet lynch mob strikes again.

    And if you were misidentified, what recourse do you have?

    • Festus

      Full on Ted what’s his face. Cabin in the mountains, writing screeds with your own blood on toilet paper… You know, 2021!

      • Agent Cooper

        John Wayne’s real name?

    • kbolino

      And if you were misidentified, what recourse do you have?

      At some point, perhaps not so far down the road, they will have the numbers to form their own grey market economy.

  77. hayeksplosives

    I vu wish Trump had already pardoned Snowden and Assange.

    Now the Dems might block him somehow, constitution be damned.

    • Floridaman

      They would have anyway. We would have seen probably the joint chiefs remove him if he did.

    • Fourscore

      They were clean, articulate and had written demands, unlike those ruffians from 2 days ago.

    • creech

      Isn’t the Capitol Police under the jurisdiction of the House of Representatives? And hasn’t the House been in Democrat hands for the last two years?
      If so, then the racist Capitol Police exist at the sufferance of the Democratic Party? Inquiring minds want to know.

  78. Festus

    Alright, this has been a blast but I need to bow out. Aside from Xmas and New Year’s Day I’ve been at it for five weeks straight. Festus is a tired old man. Be well, Glibs!

  79. Chipwooder

    Tommy Lasorda has died.

    • Fourscore

      RIP, Tommy

    • Tundra

      *pours out SlimFast*

      • Gustave Lytton

        Have another for lunch and then a sensible memorial.

    • CPRM

      He was still alive?

      • Chipwooder

        Yes indeed. Even went to the Series-clinching game last fall. He was 93.

  80. Dr. Fronkensteen

    Just as a football game can’t end on a defensive penalty. I propose that if the Democrats try to remove Trump through the impeachment or 25th amendment process. He should stay in office until the process is done.

    Hopefully that will put an end to this nonsense of getting rid of a guy who is leaving office in 12 days.

    • Urthona

      Will they even succeed? 2/3 of the senate seems like a tall order even now.

      Donald Trump is the only president to ever be “DOUBLE IMPEACHED”!!

      ooooooh

      • Rat on a train

        If you get to three is that an automatic out or a hat trick?

      • kbolino

        Who cares. I say go for it. It would set the perfect tone for the new Congressional session. We hate you, we want to waste your time, we want you broke and dependent, and we will tell you that you are a bad person for not valuing our sanctity over your own well being.

        It would be the truth anyway, so the more explicit the better.