Saturday Morning Pre-Passover Links

by | Mar 27, 2021 | Daily Links | 242 comments

It’s Pesach tonight! Fittingly, SP and I are having dinner at our favorite PHX-area restaurant with some old friends who, like us, are a Jewish guy married to a shiksa. Much chametz will be eaten, much wine will be drunk, and very little in the way of praying will happen. Maybe I can get her to ask the Four Questions, the problem being that her Four Questions start with, “What the fuck was I thinking when I married you???”

Birthdays today, by the goy calendar, include a guy who wrote one of the best and most important books of the last 200 years; a guy who inspired a Beatles song; a man who managed true evil; a guy who designed the boxes that buildings came in; a guy who didn’t give a fock (but should have won a Nobel); a piece of shit who capped a career of failure by leaving us his idiot son; a brilliant singer of the most American of genres; a guy whose opponent was disarmed; my favorite football player to watch- and here’s why; a guy whose films leave me in a state of wonder- at why people think they’re any good; and a delightfully named baseball player who was damn fun to watch.

Let’s look at the news.

 

Venessa sees a gravy train.

 

“Looka meeeee! I can be just as mendacious as Ted Lieu!”

 

“Let’s copy the Left’s stupidest anti-Trump tactic. Yeah, that’s the ticket!”

 

Just a reminder that the Kennedys are the scummiest family in America.

 

Dining at its finest.

 

Team Blue thinks that the problem with the Surveillance State is that it needs even more snooping power. Oh, and thank you, Bush, for creating this agency. It’s a pity that tar and feathers is out of style.

 

Watch propaganda being made.

 

Old Guy Music, of course, is a lineup rich with (((us))). SP and I have seen Corky live, and Harvey was a guitar student and later bandmate of the (((guy))) who introduced us. Some excellent fast electric blues.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

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

242 Comments

  1. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Good morning

    *reads links *

    I need a drink already

    • UnCivilServant

      Are the last two clauses related? Or do you just start drinking this early anyway?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Any excuse will do

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        who needs an excuse? you’re a Big Boy,

    • TARDis

      Not me, I’m probably above the legal limit.

  2. The Late P Brooks

    QUESTION AUTHORITY

    and wind up in jail.

  3. Yusef drives a Kia

    To look at the links is to bring on a depression I don’t need,
    Good Mornin’

    • Trigger Hippie

      I’m trying to offset them by laughing at myself.

      I really am a simple, silly motherfucker.

      *shrugs*

      • Festus

        Aren’t we all?

  4. The Late P Brooks

    DHS plans to expand its relationships with companies that scour public data for intelligence, one of the senior officials said, as well as to better harness the vast trove of data it already collects about Americans, including travel and commercial data through Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service and other DHS components.

    The children are en route to Grandma’s house. They are bringing their new toys.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    The officials stressed that the trigger for scrutiny would be plans for violence, not political ideology.

    Phew. I was kinda worried for a minute.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Words are violence, haven’t you heard?

      • Trigger Hippie

        Enjoy the silence?

      • leon

        This is all I ever wanted.

      • SDF-7

        But I think that God has a sick sense of humor – and when I die, I expect to find him laughing.

    • rhywun

      Pull the other one.

      I won’t hold my breath waiting for the 2022 GOP landslide to dial down Joe’s enhanced Stasi, either.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Yeah, banking on the GOP to not only win in 2022 but also “restore sanity” is a leap of faith at best.

    • Agent Cooper

      Antifa: HA HA HA HA

  6. Scruffy Nerfherder

    I’m beginning to think that in addition to a vaccination card, we’re also going to need a card stating that we have participated in our mandatory diversity, inclusion and equity classes (every six months).

    • leon

      Racism is a worse public health issue than the coronaviris

    • Tonio

      You are the PKD of your generation.

    • TARDis

      If you work for a modern woke corporation, it will be assumed you have received all the required browbeating.

  7. Atanarjuat

    That Ronny Jackson feller worked for my dad for a short time at his walk-in clinic. I think someone looked up my dad to ask about the guy when he was being considered for White House physician.

    You don’t need to be a doctor to see that Biden has been declining for a while. Between that and Trump’s shenanigans, at least the shine is coming off the throne.

    Who is the Valerie Jarrett of the Biden administration?

  8. The Late P Brooks

    The 2019 Brennan Center report examined how ICE, CBP, the Transportation Security Administration and other components monitor social media. The report, written by civil liberties activists, concluded that “wholesale monitoring of social media creates serious risks to privacy and free speech. Moreover, despite the rush to implement these programs, there is scant evidence that they actually meet the goals for which they are deployed.”

    Fucking civil liberties fetishists. They’d let 99 domestic terrorists run free to protect the “rights” of a single innocent man. What a warped and dangerous philosophy. Round them up, too.

  9. TARDis

    Ah, Passover. Or as I like to call it , Charles Heston Day. I think we watched The Ten Commandments every year it was available.

    • leon

      I imagine that if it is available to stream, they will add some Gone with the Wind style disclaimer explaining how the Jews use the story to oppress the real owners of the land.

    • Festus

      “Let My People Go!” Charlton was an icky right winger.

      • Trigger Hippie

        “Soylent Mana is made from Canaanites!”

        …I’m stoned.

    • rhywun

      I like to call it “why do we get this holiday? oh yeah”.

    • Trigger Hippie

      As a child, I was once grounded from TV for nearly a year straight, the only exception being the required viewing of The Ten Commandments by my father…

      In retrospect, that wasn’t the worst thing in the world. It got me into the habit of reading books.

      • TARDis

        “Awww, mom! Can I at least watch Ben-Hur or The Greatest Story Ever Told too?”

      • Agent Cooper

        The Robe is pretty good.

    • Agent Cooper

      (((Charlton Heston)))?

  10. The Late P Brooks

    Paul Rosenzweig, who was DHS’ deputy assistant secretary for policy in the George W. Bush administration, said that in the fight against international terrorism, the intelligence community has long targeted money, travel and communications. Doing that in the domestic context poses thorny constitutional issues, he said.

    He said the Trump presidency shattered his confidence that the government can be trusted with intrusive surveillance authorities.

    Yup. Just look at all the journalists disappeared by Former President Cartoon Villain and his henchmen. He turned Nixon’s bowling alley into a torture chamber, just for journalists.

    But we’re totally safe now. Democrats only use their powers for good.

    • SDF-7

      I’d say that the Trump presidency shattered my confidence that intrusive surveillance authorities should be anywhere near government, much less trusted.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Doing that in the domestic context poses thorny constitutional issues, he said.

      It should in the international context, too. In spirit, if not in letter, the BOR is universal.

    • Agent Cooper

      The gaslighting is incredible. Stunning, actually.

  11. Festus

    Outstanding music link, Old Man. I can’t feature why the only people playing Rock Music are a bunch of fossils like us? All the new music sounds the same and isn’t being young part of being counter-culture? It’s like the younger generation have just bought into whatever they’ve been told to believe. Heartbreaking.

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      It’s not.

      Rock is alive and thriving. It’s just not “popular” in the sense it isn’t what’s on the radio anymore.

      You have to look to find it, which is fine by me. It just means it’s less likely to be molested by corporate label hands.

      • leon

        Much of what is popular these days contains everything I hate in music.

        I mean did rappers secure a deal where they are required to supply some garbage bridge in every song?

      • Nephilium

        It also appears (to me at least) to be much more fragmented. The internet has allowed various subcultures and fans of subgenres to link up, and help artists that would be local/regional novelty acts get worldwide exposure.

    • TARDis

      Sad, isn’t it? It’s like people are closed-minded or something. I know people who only listen to 80’s music; some only 90’s. When I look at my wife’s Spotify playlist, I just shake my head. She’s only four years younger than me.

      • Ted S.

        Yeah; I get the impression that many rock aficionados are close-minded about non-rock genres.

    • Old Man With Candy

      I like variety in music. That’s a polite way of saying that my feed is a horrible mish mash.

      • TARDis

        Music is like food to me. If I don’t like something, I’ll give a rest and try again later. Many things will be disliked, but at least I tried.

        I was in my car and said, “OK Google, you rotten spying bastards play Jangle Favorites.”

        This came up instead. I thought, well okay then, and listened all the way home.

    • SDF-7

      I keep trying to persuade my son (and thus, hopefully his generation) that Polka is the music of rebellion now…. 🙂

      • Nephilium

        So… you’ve never heard any Punk Polka?

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      I find something to enjoy in every decade going back to the 50s. My Spotify list ranges from Buddy Holiday to Tupac. My wife used to give me shit about being an old man when Sinatra or the Drifters came on, but now she’s hooked.

      I am partial to the 80s though and my wife played the 80s music tv channel for ~48 hours nonstop while I was in a coma. I think the nurse was more relieved about getting to stop the music than my coming back.

      • Akira

        I find something to enjoy in every decade going back to the 50s.

        Haha, I’m on the other side of the spectrum. My playlist starts at about 1890 (there are a few things surviving from this era of listenable quality), peaks in the ’20s-’30s, and drops off when the ’50s end. There are a scant few items I like from after that but not many.

    • gbob

      I’ve been working on a project where I listen to the top songs of 1971, 1991 and 2021. What quickly becomes apparent (and will be the title of my podcast, is that it was never any good. For every Marvin Gaye you got yourself a dozen Donny Osmands or Karen Carpenters.

      Genres seem to come and go. Rock isn’t great, but Metal is undergoing a new renaissance. Country has some amazing acts once you get away from the radio. The singer/songwriters style acts of the 70s that produced your Jim Croce’s or your Tom Waits is going strong. Hip Hop, of course, is the predominate sound with some of the best albums being released over the past few years. (Check out Rugged Man and Immortal Technique from, what I consider to be the best hip hop album of 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqgIKOXykHo )

      I think there are two things going on when people say that music is dead. First is that the best music will always be whatever the hell we liked when we first got laid. Music is about emotions, and there are few stronger emotions than nostalgia.

      Next, as has been mentioned, the music cultures are more fragmented. Back in the day, if you liked metal you hated R and B. If you liked pop, you hated punk/ Today’s generation is much more diverse in their influences.

      Like in any art form, 00% of everything is complete bullshit…..it’s only as the years go by do we see the top 1%, and the furthur you are from the time you first got laid, the harder it is to see it.

      • Nephilium

        it’s only as the years go by do we see the top 1%, and the furthur you are from the time you first got laid, the harder it is to see it.

        Yep, the survivor bias is real, and why so many people seem to think everything was better in the past.

        Then you start looking at some of the stuff that survived, but didn’t really get released until the internet came to make it easier to disseminate information… and there’s garbage from all eras.

  12. TARDis

    The length and width and depth of the Swamp is truly staggering. The hive mind’s mendacity is incredible.

    • leon

      One of the worst aspects of Twitter is that if gives the impression that the mindless progressives are insurmountably large.

  13. Muzzled Woodchipper

    Baseball is not meant to be played at 8am. Especially not baseball that needs to be played over an hour from home.

    Ugh.

    • Festus

      I see you’ve played tournament ball before. Anybody puke on the field yet?

    • Don escaped Cancun

      who’s your MLB team ?

  14. The Late P Brooks

    I watched Richard III last night (the one with Ian McKellan). Much excellence. Annette Benning is kind of a weak link, but…

    I wish Titus was on Amazon Prime. I haven’t seen it in a long time.

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      The modern adaptation of R3 with Ian McKellen is awesome.

    • Festus

      Those are both great movies! Highly recommended! I even like her Beatles movie. The part where Robert Downey get stabbed through the chest from under the bed. Even the start when they have a swing band. Of course nobody can top Anthony Hopkins in a chef’s hat.

  15. Trigger Hippie

    ‘The attending nurse, who was fully capable of delivering the baby, ordered Rose to keep her legs closed until the doctor arrived. When this didn’t work, the nurse pushed the baby’s head back into the birth canal and held it there for two hours. The effects of this decision only became clear as Rosemary grew older.’

    WTF

    ‘Both parents believed that Rosemary could be “cured” through a combination of holding her to the same standard as her siblings, specialized education and experimental injections.’

    WTF?

    ‘Despite this compassion for his sister, Joe Jr. would later become radicalized on a trip to Germany in 1934 and adopt less than tender attitudes towards “undesirables,” including people with disabilities. He wrote home to his father: “[Hitler] has passed the sterilization law which I think is a great thing. I don’t know how the Church feels about it, but it will do away with many of the disgusting specimens of men which inhabit this earth.” His father seemed to agree in his reply: “I think your conclusions are very sound.”‘

    WTF?!

    Not even done reading the article, just pausing to say:

    WTF?!!!

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      They are a despicable Family, this is known,

    • Atanarjuat

      It gets worse, somehow.

      • Trigger Hippie

        *reads the rest*

        People like Joe Sr. make want to believe in Hell again.

      • Trigger Hippie

        *reads the rest*

        People like Joe Sr. make me want to believe in Hell again.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Heh, I like that I thought my comment didn’t go through, then thought: “Okay, I guess this is my chance to edit this post.”, then ended up looking like an even bigger asshole.

        Ha!

    • limey

      I thought the horrific saga of Rosemary Kennedy was commonly known?

      • Festus

        You guys are spoiling my wiki-boner for tomorrow afternoon.

      • Trigger Hippie

        First I’ve heard of it. Not saying it hasn’t been documented before but the slime trails left by the Kennedys are far and wide.

      • rhywun

        I’d heard of it but not in that much detail.

        Just… sickening.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Prissy from GWTW would have been of more use.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      The only good-looking one too; shame.

  16. UnCivilServant

    For cardboard tube biscuits, unidentified cheese, and generic breakfast sausage patties, my breakfast sandwiches turned out pretty well.

    • Sean

      Missing: hot sauce. ?

      • Sean

        I recently went through a (gifted) bottle of a Chipotle sauce. It was low heat, with a smokey and slightly sweet taste. It would have sent that sandwich to the next level.

      • TARDis

        Good call, I’ll be putting some Sriracha on my Chic Fil A bagel when it arrives.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    In the photo, Kemp and the Republican lawmakers surrounding him are wearing face masks because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Republicans rushed the bill through both chambers of the legislature within a few hours, allowing Kemp to sign it into law that night.

    But the optics and timing of the signing — under cover of darkness, with White men wearing masks — will only fuel suspicion among voting rights advocates and Black Americans that what Georgia Republicans did Thursday wasn’t lawmaking.

    It was the 21st-century political equivalent of strongarm Jim Crow tactics to prevent Black citizens from voting.

    It’s a Ku Klux Klan LYNCH MOB!

    • leon

      That is the epitome of media mendacity. Fuck off and take your race baiting to hell.

    • Atanarjuat

      Translation: the legislation is effective at stopping the more egregious forms of fraud.

    • Trigger Hippie

      Those poor simple-mided Negroes. Too lazy and dumb to show proof of residency or have a free government issued ID.

      Seriously, how are black people not offended by this shit?

      • Akira

        Seriously, how are black people not offended by this shit?

        I’m sure plenty of them are, but if they voice it publicly and it gains too much traction, they will be subjected to actual racism by mostly white activists who will openly call them an “Uncle Tom”, “Sambo”, “sellout”, and “house nigger”.

        Look at what they said about Colion Noir when he started getting famous for making pro-gun videos. Democrats truly view black people (and their minds) as property.

    • Nephilium

      with White men wearing masks

      FFS! Up here the complaint is that the rural hick knuckle dragging Republicans refuse to wear the masks (and are the reason that the sooper dooper contagious ‘vid is spreading).

      • rhywun

        “Masks are racist now” seems like an opportunity for some of us to rid ourselves of the fucking things for good.

  18. Gender Traitor

    I have a feeling that our new cell phones, which were supposed to arrive yesterday (WTF, FedEx??) are not going to be delivered today. They’re at the local sorting facility, but delivery is “Pending,” and I think I saw something about weekday delivery. Tom T. will not be pleased.

    When SOMEONE found out the hard way that his phone wasn’t machine-washable, we decided to take the opportunity to switch providers in hopes of saving money.

    The transition is not going smoothly.

    • UnCivilServant

      Can you at least tumble dry the phone?

      • Gender Traitor

        It might be worth a try at this point. We tried the rice trick, but it didn’t work. I found some regular rice, but he used Minute Rice instead. Maybe he thought it would work faster.

      • Sean

        ??

      • Tonio

        The laundry chemicals probably did a number on it. I’ve seen the rice trick work, but only for brief immersion in fairly pure water.

  19. limey

    The two photos show…

    Straight out of Pravda.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    That is the epitome of media mendacity. Fuck off and take your race baiting to hell.

    What rock do you have to turn over to find somebody capable of writing that hysterical nonsense?

    • leon

      It’s CNN. And judging from the link ( im not going to click) it’s not even in their opinion section.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        It Says Opinion in the piece, and what a piece it is……

  21. rhywun

    Dining at its finest.

    That story took a while to get where I knew it was going to go, but it got there.

    “Faith” in humanity, restored.

  22. TARDis

    Shiksa. At least I learned a new word today.

    Help! (((They))) are coming for our [[[women]]].

    Not that I know the symbology for goy girls.

    • Gender Traitor

      A common debate among the (fairly numerous) Jewish guys at my high school were the relative….um…”merits” of shikses versus Jewish girls.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Seems more of an expression of Mediterranean genes generally than an ecumenical matter.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        (Busts, that is. If your classmates were talking about something else then I cannot comment.)

      • Gender Traitor

        It was more their respective “talents” than their physical features.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Ah, so I got it right the second time.

      • Tonio

        “Shiksas are for practice.” -Moishe Maisel

    • leon

      I think [[[]]] is already reserved.

      • Gender Traitor

        If I may remind everyone, I believe I suggested the preferred brackets for }}women{{.

      • limey

        Heh.

      • TARDis

        Mythological Glib-ladies?

      • TARDis

        For whom?

      • Gender Traitor

        Mormons, I think?

      • Tonio

        Mormons.

    • Festus

      I want a horny little Jewish Princess! Turnabout is fair play.

      • Tonio

        “She can even be poor…”

      • TARDis

        Sure, as long as tush fits in nice pair of

      • TARDis

        Dammit!

        Jeans!

      • Trigger Hippie

        I’ve always held the theory that SP meant: Shiksa Princess

      • Festus

        Oh My…

  23. The Late P Brooks

    DEMOCRACY!

    “This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century,” Biden said, referring to laws of the last century that enforced heavy-handed racial segregation in the South.

    “It must end. We have a moral and Constitutional obligation to act,” he said. He told reporters the Georgia law is an “atrocity” and the Justice Department is looking into it.

    Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, lashed back, accusing Biden of attempting to “destroy the sanctity and security of the ballot box” by supporting what the governor sees as federal intrusion into state responsibilities.

    Behind the chorus of outrage, Democrats are also wrestling with the limits on their power in Washington, as long as Senate filibuster rules allow Republicans to block major legislation, including H.R. 1, a sweeping elections bill now pending in the Senate.

    Yes, yes, of course. A tiny minority of Republican legislators, representing a few dozen depraved antediluvian voters who want to bring back slavery and the gold standard, have completely thwarted what we know to be the universally agreed upon wishes of the American People.

    Send in the troops, before it’s too late.

    • leon

      He would get upset that Georgia tightened up it’s election laws.

    • rhywun

      Democrats are also wrestling with the limits on their power in Washington

      The poor dears.

  24. limey

    What’s the deal with Crispy Gnome? I watched an awkward squawking heads zoom conference thing featuring four or five contributors at The Federalist which was focusing specifically on how terrible it was that Gov. Norm hadn’t immediately signed the women’s sports bill, and how she is a turncoat and a traitor. None of them seemed particularly interested in what’s in the bill, or what grift she might be trying to fight to get to a point where the bill she would sign isn’t going to make too much compromise elsewhere. Maybe she is “squishy”. I haven’t read the bill, either, but I’d be more interested in just what the issues are with it before I start lashing Noem to the stake. I know she’s recently offended libertarian types because “MUH WEED PRINCIPLES!”, but I would like to understand a bit more afore I start chopping kindling.

    As an aside, The Federalist publishes some good content, and some not so great content, and I’m not the sort to throw my toys around just because a publication isn’t 100% on message in line with my principles ?‍♂️

    • leon

      I saw that the other day. Noem did a good job on coronavirus. I get wanting to avoid squishes, and I’m pissed at my Gov for vetoing a bill that did the same thing. But the Federalist seems rabid about it. I went over the other day and about half their articles were egregious.

      • Festus

        She’s playing to win because the 9th circuit will overturn it. Noem wants to win, not scrabble at the side of a sinking ship.

      • leon

        Her state isn’t in the 9th circuit.

      • Festus

        That matters now?

      • Gender Traitor

        If the NY AG can go after a GA law, I’m sure the 9th Circus will look for a way to weigh in on the SD gov.

      • leon

        Surely the courts will state that the NY AG has no standing…

      • Gender Traitor

        If it gets up to Roberts, all bets are off.

    • Tonio

      “Crispy Gnome” – typo or brilliant comedy? Not that crispy since she hates MJ.

      • limey

        I’ve been thinking her name as that for a while. I like funky malapropisms. She’s definitely not baked to a crisp, though. You’re right about that.

    • rhywun

      I dunno but I saw Tucker ripping into her on this. He was accusing her of vetoing the bill because Big Tech threatened to take their ball elsewhere because virtue signaling is and she was denying that without clearly explaining herself.

      I couldn’t make head or tails of the whole thing.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    I watched an awkward squawking heads zoom conference thing featuring four or five contributors at The Federalist which was focusing specifically on how terrible it was that Gov. Norm hadn’t immediately signed the women’s sports bill, and how she is a turncoat and a traitor. None of them seemed particularly interested in what’s in the bill, or what grift she might be trying to fight to get to a point where the bill she would sign isn’t going to make too much compromise elsewhere.

    If you’re not a knee jerk culture warrior, you’re against us.

  26. Festus

    See comment above.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    I keep trying to persuade my son (and thus, hopefully his generation) that Polka is the music of rebellion now….

    Hop on the bandwagon

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      ? They said “No, he don’t work here”

    • Trigger Hippie

      We should protest Mexicans for appropriating the genre.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Nope, it’s just European Peasant music, every country over there has a variation of “Polka”
        go here at Noon EDT,
        https://kspc.org/listen/
        best Polka show around,

      • Trigger Hippie

        Was it Imported by the Spanish during their reign over much of the Americas?

        I could be way off here but I thought the Mexican music genre with a heavy polka influence didn’t really gain steam until the latter half of the twentieth century.

  28. trshmnstr the terrible

    so many sad fates have befallen this brood that even Murphy’s Law is like, Ok, we get it. Damn!

    I hate this style of writing.

    • leon

      Because it’s garbage.

    • Trigger Hippie

      Sad/Cosmic Retribution

      Tomato/Tomahto

    • mock-star

      That made my day. And the comments were pretty funny too.

      • TARDis

        The comments are great.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Wagons were circled

    Dr. Robert Redfield, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told CNN he believes the coronavirus originally escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China. But a team of experts from the World Health Organization, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and a number of virology experts have said the evidence to support such a claim just isn’t there.

    ——-

    Dr. Anthony Fauci addressed Redfield’s comments at Friday’s COVID-19 response briefing and suggested that most public health officials disagree. He noted that if the virus had escaped from a lab, that would mean that “it essentially entered the outside human population already well-adapted to humans.”

    “However, the alternative explanation which most public health individuals go by, is that this virus was actually circulating in China, likely in Wuhan, for a month or more before they were clinically recognized at the end of December of 2019,” Fauci said.

    ——-

    “It is highly probable that SARS-CoV-2 was circulating in Hubei province at low levels in early-November 2019 and possibly as early as October 2019, but not earlier,” reads the study. But for weeks or months, its prevalence was low enough to escape notice. “By the time COVID-19 was first identified, the virus had firmly established itself in Wuhan.”

    Kristian G. Andersen, director of the infectious disease genomics, translational research institute at Scripps Research, told CBS News that “none of (Redfield’s) comments” on the lab theory are “backed by available evidence.”

    “It is clear that not only was he the most disastrous CDC director in U.S. history where he utterly failed in his sworn mission to keep the country safe, but via his comments, he also shows a complete lack of basic evolutionary virology,” Andersen said.

    Lashes out like a cornered rat, she does. Attacking the man leads me to believe she is afeared of the man’s argument.

    So the virus mutated in the wild to became more focused and lethal? Isn’t that the exact opposite of what we (used to) believe?

    • leon

      We believe what is beneficial for the DNC for us to believe.

    • Trigger Hippie

      ‘But a team of experts from the World Health Organization, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and a number of virology experts have said the evidence to support such a claim just isn’t there.’

      Who you gonna believe? An organization that has become a propaganda wing for the CCP and a hack with financial interests in the Wuhan lab, or you own cynicism?

    • Ask your doctor if BEAM is right for you

      Here’s a peer-reviewed white paper/artucle from Environmental Chemistry Letters (2021), published on SpringerLink and downloadable as a PDF, arguing that due to a number of hard-to-explain features of CoV2, the lab escape hypothesis should not be ignored or downplayed:

      https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10311-021-01211-0

  30. Festus

    Drinking the 15th and last beer for tonight. I am in a terrible rut. All that I do is work and I have very little control over the rest of my life. If Judi went away I would be fucked. She controls the finances and I haven’t a single friend left in the entire world. At least that drop-foot went away. I’m a well-groomed servant.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      You got many friends here Festus

      • Sean

        ^ This.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Aw, Festy.

    • Tulip

      Hang in there Festus. You still have us.

      • Festus

        Thanks, guys. I get morose from time to time. Sometimes I need someone, anyone to slap me the hell out of it and you fit the bill. It lives in my head and will not be dislodged. 56 years and counting.

      • TARDis

        Yes, this very much. The LOA I was on last year really messed me up. Not having any friends in meat space is bad. It has been like this for too long.

    • Nephilium

      Buck up little camper.

      Seriously, we’re here for you man. Or at least I am, I can’t really speak for the rest of the degenerates here. 🙂

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I love that movie beyond all reason. “Uneven but funny”.

      • Nephilium

        I really wish that Savage Steve Holland made some more theatrical release movies. I love Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Sounds as if he went into kids’ TV.

      • Nephilium

        Yeah… but those two movies are near perfection!

        I also seem to remember he carried his grudge against Siskel and Ebert into the cartoons as well. IIRC, there were two critics that were constantly getting eaten in one of the bits on Eek! the Cat.

  31. Festus

    Dumped over a beer on my desk. No worries, it just adds to the patina.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Uh oh, man the pumps! And see the forum within the next half hour or so, if desired.

      • Festus

        I twied. I weawwy , weawwy twied! Saw nothing there.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Twy again now. I did give a half-hour buffer.

    • Tulip

      My peppers (bell, jalapeno, habanero,Anaheim) have finally sprouted. I plan to make more hot sauce this year. Nice looking seedlings Sean.

      • Sean

        ?

  32. The Late P Brooks

    I dunno but I saw Tucker ripping into her on this. He was accusing her of vetoing the bill because Big Tech threatened to take their ball elsewhere because virtue signaling is and she was denying that without clearly explaining herself.

    I think there was something in that Federalist screed (I tapped out early) about an Amazon fulfillment center, and how she sold those of the True Faith out for a few pieces of silver.

    The lefties are not the only ones who have made politics their god.

    • Agent Cooper

      It’s quite possible she f-ed up but I haven’t read the bill to know how sound it is.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    Hang in there Festus. Soon the bears will return to entertain you.

    • slumbrew

      Tonio is already here, man.

  34. slumbrew

    OMWC, the Haggadah my MIL sent is the ’60 Minute Seder’ variety and not some social justice nonsense.

    I have dodged a bullet, at least for this year.

    The bad news is that it’s my wife who would like a social justice version used. In the words of your people, “Oy.”

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      We’re having trouble with using even the traditional version this year. The moral of being meek slaves until fleeing from your masters is not something the wife and I want to instill in our children. The Haggadahs I’ve seen even include the Holocaust as a modern repeat. No lessons of courage, strength, or fighting for your freedom.

      There’s an interesting alternative Passover version on BC Battles which portrays Moses as a general and frames Passover as a bloody fight where the Jews fought for their freedom from the Egyptians and continued to fight anyone blocking their path on the exodus to Israel. Fictional tv of course, but their version is heavily cited throughout with quotes from the Old Testament. I don’t know that it’s any less a valid interpretation than the Haggadah version. Mundane and mortal fighting seems more realistic to me than divine intervention from the heavens.

      I think we’re going to use some combination of both plus Passover at Bubbe’s since the kids are all under 7.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Under 8. I can’t ever seem to get it right anymore.

      • slumbrew

        My wife’s family is Reformed – e.g., her mom’s rabbi is a married lesbian, the cantor is a single lesbian. I don’t see a “muscular Judaism” Haggadah on offer anytime soon, sadly.

  35. Sean

    Time to go shopping. *waves bye*

    • TARDis

      I wonder what pistol and cut of steak he will return with this time.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Gone to an estate sale to buy vintage plates.

      • rhywun

        Just returned from shopping with a couple rib-eyes. Nothing like the beauties he will probably return with and holy crap the price made my eyes water but I wanted to try my hand and these.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Elegant in its simplemindedness

    When U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy laid out plans Tuesday for the future of the post office, he pointed to higher postage rates and slower first class mail as a means of stemming postal service losses he says could reach $160 billion.

    But missing from his new 10-year plan were two ideas economists, members of Congress and consumer advocates say could generate billions of dollars for the beleaguered service and bring the post office into the 21st century: a return to postal banking and the post office’s entry into the lucrative alcohol delivery business.

    “We don’t expect the post office of the 21st century will be the same as the post office of the 20th century,” said Rakim Brooks, senior campaign strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union. “People are using the mail less, and we think that the institution has to provide new services.”

    ——-

    McConnell said postal banking could help raise critical revenue and serve the public, noting consumer advocates would find it particularly appealing to have a post office that’s able to provide consumers with digital wallets, low-fee ATM machines and an ability to cash checks without paying the often-exorbitant fees that check-cashing establishments charge.

    Also in favor of postal banking: a growing number of economists, including Melanie Long, an assistant professor of economics at The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio.

    “Postal banking has been used in other parts of the world to democratize services,” she said, noting that postal services in 139 countries around the world offer some form of financial services.

    Long said it makes sense for post offices to double as banks, especially given the growing number of “bank deserts” in the U.S., communities in which there are no commercial banks.

    ——-

    Congress is taking notice of postal banking. Last year, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced the Postal Banking Act, aimed at providing consumers with bank accounts and mobile banking services.

    In a statement, Gillibrand noted, “Postal banking is an elegant solution that would provide the USPS upwards of $9 billion a year in revenue and would address the high cost of being poor in America by eliminating payday loans, check cashing, and other predatory financial products.

    If Senator Sorority Girl is in favor, that’s good enough for me.

    We cannot allow banking deserts to exist. Maybe the Post Office should get into the lottery business, too.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Sounds lucrative.

    • Gustave Lytton

      low-fee ATM machines

      So much better than those no fee credit unions.

      People don’t use check cashing and payday loan places as their first stop in the banking world. It’s usually the last one after burning through accounts in overdrafts or other shenanigans. The post office bank wouldn’t be any different.

      • Gustave Lytton

        And rather than mere alcohol delivery, repeal all of prohibitions against non hazardous items in us mail: firearms, ammunition, vaping products, etc.

      • slumbrew

        Schwab checking has no minimums, no fees, no ATM feeds and pays you back any ATM fees other banks pay.

        I’m sure I could find similar offers.

        Clearly, there’s some sort of market failure and the government needs to step in.

      • slumbrew

        *ATM fees
        *banks charge

        (need moar caffeine)

      • Gustave Lytton

        No foreign exchange fees either. Schwab is my account for pulling money out overseas. Their interest rates are decent (in world where savings interest is essentially zero).

      • slumbrew

        That, too. It was pretty sweet to be able to just take some euros out of an ATM when I was in Italy.

      • rhywun

        The post office bank wouldn’t be any different.

        Only this time you get to subsidize other people poor choices (again).

    • Gustave Lytton

      the growing number of “bank deserts” in the U.S., communities in which there are no commercial banks

      Branches are closing because there is less and less of a need for physical locations. Something the post office is going to be doing shortly as well.

    • slumbrew

      “postal banking”

      Yes, let’s be more like Japan.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Except for limiting the lottery to New Years.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Ill-considered imagery is murder

    Michigan GOP Chair Calls Gretchen Whitmer, Female Democrats ‘Witches,’ Suggests ‘Assassination’

    ——-

    The chair of the Michigan Republican Party referred to three of the state’s top female lawmakers as “witches” as part of an effort to summon voter support ahead of next year’s midterm election.

    ——-

    “Our job now is to soften up those three witches and make sure we have good candidates to run against them, that they are ready for the burning at the stake,” he told the gathering. Weiser went on to specify that there were three statewide elected positions on which he was focused: the seats held by the governor, secretary of state and attorney general.

    Horrific.

    Horrifically dumb.

    • slumbrew

      Stupid party is stupid.

    • TARDis

      The Party of Stupid, Exhibit #43,297.

      *Rolls eyes*

      Hey, I can see my brain!

  38. westernsloper

    Old guy music…………Double ?

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Housing desert

    Echo Park Lake is hardly the first place where L.A. has sought to clear a homeless encampment, but it became a flashpoint for many reasons. Homeless activists defined the camp as a community and mobilized others — including Echo Park residents who aren’t homeless — to rally to their cause. Angelenos troubled by the encampment, in turn, were emotionally invested in a beloved park that had undergone tens of millions of dollars in renovations years earlier.

    “I’m not sure how many privileged residents on Nextdoor badly want to reclaim an alley in South L.A.,” said Bill Przylucki, executive director of the progressive group Ground Game LA. “Caving to that pressure is part of how we got to the response we saw.”

    Another factor is who leads the council district: O’Farrell, who represents the area, drove the decision to temporarily close the park, arguing that it had become a chaotic and dangerous place where assaults and other criminal activity flourished. The closure would allow for repairs, he said.

    ——-

    Others on the council have criticized the move. “The sudden closure of the park, the massive LAPD presence, the use of force against protesters, the enclosure of unhoused people who were in the process of placement into hotel shelters … none of it needed to happen,” said Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who visited Echo Park amid the furor.

    Meanwhile, some residents in her district said they were frustrated that Raman had not taken similar action to eliminate an encampment along Berendo Street in Hollywood, which has spurred complaints about illegal activity.

    “She has time to show up for a photo op in Echo Park, but she cannot come down and meet with the neighbors who have been asking for months to meet her face to face,” said Charlie Collins, who said he is part of a committee concerned about encampments in Los Feliz and Hollywood.

    Trump should offer to build affordable housing in L A.

    • rhywun

      “Privileged” is quickly becoming the new “racist”.

      Don’t want to live surrounded by bums and squalor? You’re “privileged”.

      • TARDis

        There are several unfriendly folks in my sub who are quite unhappy about my privilege.

  40. Suthenboy

    goddammit, we are drowning in an ocean of stupid. This is not going to end well.

  41. Gender Traitor

    Finally set up camp at Tranquility Base (back porch futon.) Pleasant weather, but the weekend yard work has begun. Leaf blowers are of the devil in spring and summer.

    • westernsloper

      ? We are supposed to get warm this coming week. I can’t wait! Yard work is non existent on plot de westernsloper because it is mostly sagebrush. I might wash out the pool for the upcoming season if it is warm enough tomorrow though.

    • TARDis

      That sounds nice. And yes, yard noise is evil.

      We are in what call I dodge the pollen days her. I have to bring my outdoor cushions back inside when I’m not sitting on them. Also, need to keep an eye out for wasp nests.

  42. westernsloper

    So, last night after Tulip nuked us all in the Zoom I put a few pieces of pizza from the joint up the road in the oven to reheat and then woke up on the floor (from what I can tell) an hour later. The pizza was still warm so I ate it and went to bed. This morning I had the worst sciatic attack I have ever had. I think last week caught up with me. A nerve blocker and a few White Claws have eased me into wanting to have a good day. Fuck me though, I almost pissed myself from the pain. Not very fun. Thank the lord on this pre-passover for pharmaceuticals and sorority girl drinks.

    • straffinrun

      You sound like a sorority girl.

      • westernsloper

        Achievement unlocked!

  43. westernsloper

    He said the restaurant is a fine dining establishment where people dress up.

    So the new Carhartts and a shirt with buttons. Got it.

  44. Suthenboy

    I haven’t been around for a day or two. Has anyone got any news on Fourscore? How is the guy doing?

    • kinnath

      trending positive

      • kinnath

        Looks like the last update in the forum was March 25.

      • slumbrew

        “Dear Glibs Forum, I never thought this would happen to me but…”

  45. The Late P Brooks

    Completely unexpected

    The percentage of adults under age 30 with recent symptoms of an anxiety or a depressive disorder rose significantly about five months after the U.S. imposed COVID-19 related lockdowns, and reported rising deaths from the fast-spreading virus.

    Between August 2020 and February 2021, this number went up to 41.5% from 36.4%, as did the percentage of such people reporting that they needed, but did not receive, mental health counseling.

    The study suggests that the rise in anxiety or depressive disorder symptoms reported correspond with the weekly number of reported COVID-19 cases.

    ——-

    Even with more vaccines gaining authorization beginning late 2020, the effects of the pandemic on mental health continued into 2021.

    Months and months of panicmongering has an adverse effect on mental health? Who could have seen that coming?

    • Gustave Lytton

      During which, Cuomo reportedly drank whiskey, vodka, lager, and cider.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Yer never gonna keep him down!

      • Don escaped Cancun

        I laughed

        but I’m an awful human being

    • Gustave Lytton

      Just like the Nobel prizes. Good work on devaluing your brand.

  46. Shpip

    In one-hit wonder news, on this date in 1982 everyone’s favorite Canucks reached #16 on the pop charts.

    They were seven spots behind a little ditty about a guy with an insatiable appetite, the only song from the supergroup Buckner & Garcia to hit the Top 40.

    • Agent Cooper

      You’re treading on Ted S’s schtick. Be forewarned.

      • slumbrew

        s’chtick

  47. prolefeed

    Question: If something is labeled lesbian pr0n, but it features a trans woman and a cis woman, would you consider that straight pr0n, since a penis and a vagina are in use?

    • UnCivilServant

      Assuming no surgical mutilation, how would you know the difference once you’ve cropped out the credits?

      • Lazer

        I cant’ (and will not try to) understand any of that. WOW

  48. The Late P Brooks

    after Tulip nuked us all in the Zoom

    ?

  49. KromulentKristen

    When you’re a four-eyes and you get drunk like I did last night, the next morning tryna find your glasses be like

    https://pasteboard.co/JUzDJIX.jpg

  50. Mojeaux

    Oh good gravy. XX and Mr. Mojeaux are involved in a not-friendly disagreement about calling people by their preferred pronouns.

    • slumbrew

      I like to stick with “hey, asshole” – covers all the bases.

      • Mojeaux

        She tried to claim “they/them” MUST BE grammatically correct for a single person. When she said it was, because I used it that way, I told her I’d just say “it” so as to be grammatically correct.

      • rhywun

        Sorry. Get to work on some needed deprogramming, I guess.

      • Mojeaux

        Too late now. I’ll depend on life to beat her down a little and see what happens.

      • rhywun

        ?

    • Agent Cooper

      I tell people are me/you. That tends to confound them.

      • Ted S.

        Prof. Plum does not get to dictate to Miss Scarlett how she talks about him with Col. and Mrs. Mustard.