Thursday Afternoon SPeedy Links

by | Apr 15, 2021 | Daily Links | 240 comments

Super SPeedy links again.

So, let’s see.

 

Pence has a broken heart.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Wanton endangerment? That sounds more interesting than it is.

Apparently, only the “alt right” do this, according to the NY Times.

 

OMG, I am laughing so hard after that last one. I need to go catch my breath. Have a great afternoon, kids!

 

About The Author

SP

SP

I've got an idea! How about we just stick to the Constitution as written and then the government can leave me the fuck alone.

240 Comments

  1. Swiss Servator

    Thank Goodness the NYT is here to protect us from those meanies!

    • R C Dean

      The pic sure makes you think there’s something to the alt-righters being incels.

  2. Rebel Scum

    Pence has a broken heart.

    He will be back on the beat soon enough.

    • SDF-7

      With his finger on the pulse of the nation? Or at least something in that vein….

      • Ownbestenemy

        He’s too old to pump any new blood into the Party though.

      • rhywun

        Ugh… thanks for the image that prompted in my head.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        But he bleeds red.

    • blackjack

      Was he ever alone in the same room as a female nurse?

      • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

        Aorta know better.

      • Animal

        At least that joke was in the right vein.

      • blackjack

        I was trying to come up with a heart pun, but I give up. Can’t take the pressure!

      • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

        Coming up with puns is an artery.

      • Animal

        At this point we’re just lymphing along.

      • blackjack

        No, no, this all very serious. It’s as serious as a…

    • Swiss Servator

      *NARROWS GAZE AT ALL OF YE*

  3. Count Potato

    “A teacher and basketball coach at a North Carolina school was killed in a shooting after trying to rob the home of an Mexican drug cartel member, authorities said Wednesday.”

    Teachers are our best and brightest.

    • Count Potato

      “Harris, wearing a bulletproof vest, gloves and a mask, was shot multiple times, according to the sheriff. Lara, whose hands and feet were bound, was shot twice in the back of the head.”

      I think we are missing some facts here.

      • leon

        You don’t remember the “Old West Style Shootouts” where the one guy is tied and shot execution style?

      • J. Frank Parnell

        Harris, wearing a bulletproof vest, gloves and a mask, was shot multiple times

        On the bright side, everyone was safe from Covid.

      • Tonio

        Late, but finally something worthy of [Le Clap Golf]

      • Ask your doctor if BEAM is right for you

        I don’t think you can get the French Clap from golf, but I’m not up on these things.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Plauserunt pila in foraminis!

      • EvilSheldon

        Dealer tied up and executed, one bandit dead at the scene, one bandit (with a felony record, of course) gets away with the swag. Hmm.

        Argument over the division of the spoils?
        Barney realized he was in over his head and was making noises about the police?

      • commodious spittoon

        making noises about the police

        Oink oink?

    • pistoffnick

      Omar comin’!

    • Drake

      I bet he watched all three John Wick movies first and was sure he could pull it off.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Should have trained at Front Sight first

    • blackjack

      He finally provided a real valuable lesson to his students.

  4. Rebel Scum

    Teacher killed in ‘old Western shootout’ after trying to rob Mexican drug cartel, authorities say

    I did no care for Breaking Bad.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      Damn your nimble fingers.

  5. Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

    Somebody took Breaking Bad a little too seriously.

  6. leon

    Who could have foreseen that you might get killed trying to steal from the murderous criminals?

    • blighted_non_millenial

      Or trusting a felonious brother in law.

  7. Rebel Scum

    Wanton endangerment? That sounds more interesting than it is.

    Indeed. But these Asian hate-crimes must be stopped.

  8. SDF-7

    I understand that a guy is in trouble for getting in a fight with the deliveryman for a local Chinese food restaurant.

    They’re charging him with wonton endangerment…

    • Ownbestenemy

      I think the story is getting scrambled in the mix.

      • leon

        If litigation gets bad, he could end up with fried rights

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        No way, our rights are inalienable and integgroll

      • Ownbestenemy

        No sense in being sweet on it otherwise it will just sour our views.

      • The Gunslinger

        It’s like a buffet of puns.

    • PBRstreetgang

      Wow, that’s lo mein.

    • Rat on a train

      Was it over the font on the packaging?

    • juris imprudent

      Any narrowing of gazes here would be lacist.

    • Swiss Servator

      DAMN YOU!

      *Narrows gaze*

  9. leon

    Feeding Hate With Video: A Former Alt-Right YouTuber Explains His Methods

    Focus on conflict. Feed the algorithm. Make sure whatever you produce reinforces a narrative. Don’t worry if it is true.

    Sounds like standard propoganda. NYT is an expert in this area, so they are probably reliable to report on the methods used.

    • Sean

      Those sunglasses…lol.

    • kbolino

      “Somebody figured out how things have worked on the Internet for 15-plus years and it’s not a lefty!”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The funny part is that the kid is still working them over during the interview. They don’t even realize it.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Wonder how long they sat on that article and had to speed it up cause of the PV Tinder Honey Pot.

    • limey

      I fell out of my chair.

    • blackjack

      I thought they just revised their motto to more accurately reflect their MO.

  10. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Focus on conflict. Feed the algorithm. Make sure whatever you produce reinforces a narrative. Don’t worry if it is true.

    This kid works for CNN?

  11. SDF-7

    At this point I expect the New York Times to start reporting on The Incredible Frog Boy. About their speed.

  12. rhywun

    Apparently, only the “alt right” do this, according to the NY Times.

    Hey NYT, you’re stealing our schtick.

    /Salon

    • leon

      I used to be a libertarian…

      • SDF-7

        … until I got an arrow in the knee?

        Oh, sorry — Riven’s gaming centric links are tomorrow.. 😉

      • TARDis

        I hope someone steals your sweet roll.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Sky-*rim shot*

  13. Rebel Scum

    Feeding Hate With Video: A Former Alt-Right YouTuber Explains His Methods

    I think they do it with song…

    Mommy’s alt-right. Daddy’s alt-right. They just seem a little weird
    Surrender! Surrender! But don’t give yourself away.

    • leon

      Your little song made me think of West Side Story. Think they’ll have to update this song.

    • rhywun

      Excellent ear-worm

    • Swiss Servator

      NO SHIT, THERE I WAS…

      At my buddy’s 18th birthday party in 1983 (same guy I later gave a kidney too) – in walks Rick Nielsen with a case of Heineken and says “Happy Birthday _____”.
      They were next door neighbors.

      My jaw took a day or two to lift off the floor.

  14. Semi-Spartan Dad

    I didn’t realize the reach of the Mexican cartels until moving here. They are embedded throughout rural VA. They buy safehouses along the highways and police. There was a big federal bust here that involved a large number of county LEOs being arrested for being on the cartel payroll.

    I was also amazed when we had an actual Bloods vs. Crips shootout in a graveyard of a little old country church during a funeral. We have biker gangs in droves but never thought to see that since we live in the boondock section of the middle of nowhere. My wife’s admin was hiding behind gravestones to cover from bullets.

    • Ownbestenemy

      we live in the boondock section

      one of my considerations when it comes time to buy up some land in the middle of nowhere

  15. Not an Economist

    Work was fun today. Locked my work computer to eat lunch and then I couldn’t log back in. Says I didn’t have permission to do so. Turns out thousands of people at my company have the same issue. So who knows when I’ll be able to work.

    • Sean

      So who knows when I’ll be able to work.

      Oh noes!! The horror.

    • LCDR_Fish

      So…a day that ends in a ‘y’?

    • mikey

      Last time that happened to me it was the first sign of the mass lay off.
      Hope this isn’t the case.

  16. Rebel Scum

    Everything in my political agenda is infrastructure.

    Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) took to social media Wednesday and announced, “Supreme Court expansion is infrastructure,” shortly after news emerged Democrats intend to roll out a court-packing bill this week to increase justices from nine to 13.

    • leon

      While i’m optomistic that such a thing is DOA in the Senate, it is crazy. Joe Biden wants to be a second FDR, but he aint got the popularity of FDR, nor the smarts. But what he does have is a compliant congressional party. the reason why court packing didn’t succeed with FDR was because his own party shot it down.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        But what he does have is a compliant congressional party

        And a system that has reaped 80 years of what FDR sowed.

        And a blatantly fascist media.

        And a blatantly fascist tech industry.

        And thousands of non-profits with billions of dollars all dedicated to agitating for the whims of the prog-fascists.

        And…

        Don’t get me wrong, it may not pass this time around. Feels more like a trial balloon to me. I’ll put money on the fact that by April 15th 2031, there will be 13 or more justices on the SCOTUS, assuming the institution still exists.

    • juris imprudent

      Pelosi announced that that bill will not come to the floor. I don’t like her, but I can respect that she isn’t the suicidal idiot that are scattered about her caucus.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Will not come to the floor yet. She has debts coming home to roost to focus on at the moment.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        And suicidal it would be.

        I can’t really imagine what else they could do that would be more likely to bring out some no-shit insurrectionists.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Ambitious gun control. Wealth confiscation. In fact, they’re probably stupid enough to try both at the same time and top it off with court packing.

  17. Rebel Scum

    Flipping the script.

    On Thursday, defending the plan he has sponsored to pack the Supreme Court with additional justices so that the Democrats have control over the Court, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) insisted, “Some people say we’re packing the Court. We’re not packing the Court; we’re unpacking it.”

    • blackjack

      They are unpacking because they think they have moved in forever. If nobody cares that they cheat again, they just might be right.

      • WTF

        ^^This
        Once they have court that will declare anything they want to do constitutional, they never need relinquish power.

      • juris imprudent

        Which one of you is Pinky and which is the Brain?

      • kbolino

        It’d be worth it to see all of John Roberts’s respectability jurisprudence go up in smoke overnight.

    • rhywun

      While we’re going with gibberish… “we’re fortifying it.”

    • R C Dean

      Yeah, their schtick is that Trump packed it by filling vacancies during his term.

      Here’s hoping Breyer makes it through the Harriden administration, and a Repub wins in 2024 and fills his seat.

      This all about “fortifying” their hold on power, of course. All one-party states fall eventually, but it can be a very long time.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        The Garland grudge.

      • blackjack

        Yes. They are claiming that the (R)’s changed their course they made for Garland in order to confirm Barrett. Conveniently leaving out the whole, ” they had a majority in the senate and you did not” part. Like they owed the dems a confirmation and then owed them to not confirm until the dems regained a majority the second time. They are full of themselves.

      • Tonio

        I love the new avatar, TOG. We should go out for girl drinks and shopping sometime.

      • SDF-7

        Usually when I have this dream, I’m wearing pink taffeta…

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        No pizza, “Sick Sad World”, or Alternapalooza?

      • Tonio

        My handle is a deep reference.

      • SDF-7

        I could have loved you — if you weren’t as red as the blood now streaming from your exquisite chest

        Or something along those lines… not looking it up.

  18. grrizzly

    We asked experts what they’re comfortable doing now that they’ve been vaccinated. Here’s what they said

    Dr. Howard Koh, professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and former US assistant health secretary and Massachusetts public health commissioner:

    “I reach full-vaccination status in a week. As the University and School are still closed, professors like me are still doing all work online — teaching classes, delivering lectures, directing research teams, and attending meetings. Wearing a mask, I feel comfortable getting together with small gatherings of my immediate family only — most of whom are either fully vaccinated or on their way. And it would be great to soon have a restaurant meal outdoors again.”

    “But I personally will wait for herd immunity before resuming activities involving bigger social functions, going to theaters, or air travel.”

    Dr. Megan L. Ranney, an emergency physician at Rhode Island Hospital and director of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health:

    “I have been fully vaccinated since mid-January, and I will say that what I am comfortable doing increases proportionally to the number of people around me who are also fully vaccinated. Now my parents are vaccinated so I get to go to their house and, although my children are not yet vaccinated, because my children are low-risk, I bring them with me. So I spent Easter dinner at my parents’ house.”

    “I’ll get on an airplane myself at this point, now that I’m fully vaccinated, but I won’t bring my family with me because my husband and children are not vaccinated.”

    “As the number of folks in my social circle who are fully vaccinated increases, the number of things that I feel are safe to do with them continues to increase. Just in the past couple of weeks, I’ve had an in-person work meeting along with other folks who I know have been vaccinated, and that was the first time I’ve done that in 13 months.”

    “There are still some things I am not doing. Eating indoors at restaurants is one. Although these vaccines are amazing, they are not 100 percent. To be somewhere indoors with the current rate of COVID what it is and being there without a mask on — it’s just not worth it.”

    • Sean

      These poor people.

      • EvilSheldon

        I’m amazed that you can feel sympathy for people who are so willfully stupid.

        Let them live in the hell they’ve created.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I took that more as a “bless your heart” type comment

      • Sean

        I mean I’m not losing sleep over it…

    • WTF

      Perpetual panic porn over a virus only slightly more dangerous than a bad seasonal flu.
      Stick a fork in America, we’re done.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Meanwhile, a significant portion of us have been out working in the real world sans vaccinations through the entirety of this shitshow. We’re not complaining. We just do what needs to be done in order to eat.

      It’s difficult to describe my loathing for these cowards.

      • Tonio

        The worst part is that they disguise cowardice as virtue, and demonize normal folks just going about our business as granny-killers.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Well put.

      • Tonio

        THanks for not going all Ted S on the hilariously misplaced phrase.

    • R C Dean

      I will say that what I am comfortable doing increases proportionally to the number of people around me who are also fully vaccinated

      I have serious questions about how she has functioned as an ER doc this whole time.

      I personally will wait for herd immunity

      Defined how? The idiots here in Tucson/Pima County just pulled out of their arses “75% of the population vaccinated”. Which is going to be a very hard percentage to get to since 21% of Pima County residents are under age 18 and there isn’t an approved vaccine for anyone under 16.

      • one true athena

        well, I’d be dubious too, but it’s the second half “director of digital health” which sound like she had some past ER training and has long since been moved to some bureaucratic position. It’s like how they always call Leana Wen an “ER doc” and elide her years as pres of Planned Parenthood.

      • blackjack

        I thought that meant she specialized in finger care?

      • Swiss Servator

        …not again.

        *narrows gaze*

      • TARDis

        I’m surprised you’re still conscious. You should at least have an eye cramp by now.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I think it has more to do with viruses.

      • commodious spittoon

        A vaccine they assure you is completely ineffective if you think it means taking off the mask, but is absolutely essential if you want to… keep wearing the mask.

    • grrizzly

      They have more opinions like this.

      Dr. David Hamer, an infectious disease expert at Boston University and a physician at Boston Medical Center

      “Relative discomfort: riding on a crowded elevator; riding a crowded city bus or subway line for more than 15-20 minutes unless everyone on board is being compliant with mask use; and taking medium-length domestic flights (1-5 hours).”

      “With great trepidation: long-haul air flights (more than 5 hours); dining in a crowded, poorly-ventilated restaurant; attending a large party indoors (more than eight people especially if their vaccination status is unknown); attending an indoor sports event.”

      “I feel comfortable with short trips on public transportation (I have been taking the No. 1 bus to work since March 2020 (only three to eight times per month instead of 20-plus) but it has generally been empty until recently; outdoor dining; a de-densified movie theater with universal mask use; and having a small gathering with friends who I know have been vaccinated or extremely cautious with their social contacts.”

      I have absolutely no idea why I keep living in this state.

      • B.P.

        This dweeb thinks a large, indoor party is one involving more than eight people. Someone knock him down and take his lunch money.

  19. Rebel Scum

    Allow me to substitute reality with my racially divisive narrative.

    After watching the footage of multiple police encounters when a “human being is being treated like trash,” Noah said he’s not convinced there are “good apples” willing to stand up to the law enforcement officers who use “chokeholds,” “excessive force,” and “violence in their words and their actions to the people they’re meant to be protecting and serving.”

    “If we’re meant to believe that the police system in America, the system of policing itself, is not fundamentally broken, then we would need to see good apples,” Noah said. “And by the way, I’m not saying that there are no good policemen, don’t get me wrong. I’m asking where the good apples are, and what I mean by that is where are the cops who are stopping the cop from putting their knee on George Floyd’s neck?” …

    “It’s funny how we live in a society where people who will defend these cops at all costs will say, ‘Oh, black on black crime’ and ‘You see these people in their communities, they don’t care,’ but go to any disenfranchised community in America and you will find people marching against that same crime,” Noah said, noting that many of them will call 911. “But I don’t seem to see that with the cops. We don’t see a mass uprising of police say, ‘Let’s root out these people.’ We don’t see videos of police officers stopping the other cop from pushing an old man at a Black Lives Matter protest or from beating up a kid in the street with a baton. We don’t see that.” …

    “The system in policing is doing exactly what it’s meant to do in America, and that is to keep poor people in their place. Who happens to be the most poor people in America? Black people,” Noah said. …

    “It’s a system, not broken. It’s working the way it’s designed to work,” Noah said. “And once you realize that, I feel like you get to a place where you go, ‘Oh, we’re not dealing with bad apples. We’re dealing with a rotten tree that happens to grow good apples.’”

    • Brochettaward

      but go to any disenfranchised community in America and you will find people marching against that same crime

      Really? I must have missed this.

      • R C Dean

        Me, too. I haven’t heard of a single protest against black on black crime.

      • Surly Knott

        Well, it’s greater than 20 years ago, but KC had some activism against black on black crime. There was a lot filled with small crosses representing the victims and some local news coverage.
        I knew I was in a bad neighborhood when I recognized the memorial lot out my vehicle window. Left KC not long after, Sprint was shit to contract with (at least my project, which failed spectacularly after those responsible for the shit got promoted up and away).
        But yes, you didn’t hear much then and you hear much less now. Easier to blame the other.

  20. mikey

    We’ve got a YouTube Star in our midst.
    Lachowsky just showed up on the second row of my home page.
    He has a noce collection of steel mill pRoN.

    https://youtu.be/06dZo-j2zPg

    • Ownbestenemy

      Mid-Terms first

    • blackjack

      Don’t matter. They are just chumming the water for more lefty power grabs. They are probably shopping for a S/C case that will offend their base and then spring it back out. Then they claim, “hey, we held off last time, but that was before…Now, we must stop these white supremacist/rapist justices from further eroding our right to pilfer from rich people or steal your rights!” They are just moving the window so that they can eventually make the move.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      No. Nadler doesn’t take a shit without permission from Pelosi. This was all scripted in advance and done in coordination with Pelosi. It’s a warning to the Supreme Court to not obstruct Dem legislation.

      Pelosi’s message is essentially “nice Supreme Court you got there, be a shame if something happened to it”.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        That makes perfect sense.

      • R C Dean

        Yup. Roosevelt got exactly what he wanted with the threat of court packing. I don’t think Justices today have more of a spine than they did then. Probably less.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        But there was that one time he shit his pants on camera. I doubt Pelosi approved that one.

        https://youtu.be/r_U-hUC6Efc

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      For now.

    • one true athena

      as pointed out, her follow up statement was basically “It’s still in the discussion phase” – which is exactly “nice Supreme Court you got there” complete with her fake rictus grin.

      • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

        The grin isn’t fake. She just has gas.

      • The Bearded Hobbit

        She just has gas.

        At two weeks baby grinned a grin
        From ear to ear and back again.
        And doc, the smartie, had the brass
        To say that it was only gas.

    • Urthona

      Like I said yesterday, this in some ways is a good sign because it shows the division in the Democratic Party.

      Nancy wants to get the committee’s findings and then media propaganda to get behind it and sell it for awhile.

      They’re at least not allow the same page though.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      And there it is.

      I’ve been waiting for that announcement.

      Let’s see, regular treatments with an experimental vaccine that nobody knows the long term risks of? What could possibly go wrong?

      • Sean

        *Roots for zombie apocalypse*

      • TARDis

        Is it too late for me to get some katana training? There must be a class somewhere.

      • blackjack

        Don’t forget, this is for a virus which is only dangerous to a fraction of a percent of mostly older and fatter people, also.

    • Sean

      Duh. It was always going to be this.

      • Tundra

        Yeah, Moderna announced their follow up the other day.

        Hard pass.

    • topnotchtoledo

      It’s hard to get the third when I’ll never get the first. I live in a county with approx 100k people. 214 people are claimed to have died from the rona. 13 have been under age 60.

    • Swiss Servator

      As a shareholder….I am pleased with his grasping, graftitudinous position.

      • westernsloper

        *NARROWS GAZE*

  21. LCDR_Fish

    Good comment this morning about whether we’d be better off allying with Russia or China. I thought the concept of allying with Russia after the cold war, particularly in the last 15 years might have been a good idea – esp wrt islamic extremism, etc.

    Putin, et al have been demonstrating that there’s more at work that simply shared western values unfortunately. This article does put a bit of it in valuable context.

    http://strategycounsel.blogspot.com/2018/07/sources-of-russian-conduct.html

    Firstly, there is no real trust between the Russians and the West. The expansion of NATO to Russia’s borders occurred in contradiction of the guarantees made to the former Soviet Union that a united Germany would be the only addition to NATO’s membership. By 1999, under the Clinton Administration, former Warsaw Pact members such as Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic became NATO members, which has since grown to include all manner of smaller European states that few if any US politician could find on a map. Also in 1999, NATO bombed Russia’s ally Serbia in support of the Kosovars. All this NATO expansion occurred when Russia was at its weakest, most dysfunctional, and, in the Russian mind, while they were being exploited by the new oligarchs and Western vagabonds who plundered their wealth. These grievances are all ‘baked in’ the Russian relationship – and Vladimir Putin is but one of the inevitable reactions by a Russian people with grievances towards the West. The (disastrous) Western interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, continuing or leaving chaos in their wake, have also raised Russian anxieties as to Western enthusiasm for ‘regime change’. Even if a Vladimir Putin was not the Russian President, the advance of the NATO frontier so close to Russia and the Western involvement in the 2014 Maidan Square toppling of Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovych would mean any Russian President would take steps to rebuff the West’s advance.

    (I leave aside the West’s own grievances against Russia, most recently its proxies’ shooting down of the MH17 aircraft, killing 298 innocent people, and Russia’s support for Iranian moves. Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea is, in truth, a less serious issue, as it has no real likelihood of being reversed, given the local Crimean support for Russian unity and the fact that no Russian leader will ever surrender Sebastopol. Those criticising President Obama for weakness towards Russia over Crimea and Donetsk ignore that Obama had no good options. Simple fact is that there is simply no trust between either side and Russia is entrenching its newly acquired position.)

    ……

    The conundrum of Western statecraft is that, at present, the Russians, Chinese, and Iranians, form a geopolitical bloc that dominates the Eurasian heartland and rimland. The military, security, and other working partnership between Russia and China has been termed “DragonBear”. The more Western policy punishes Russia (rightly or wrongly), the more Russia is pushed to sees its future as one of these three overlords, rather than, say, as a humiliated counterparty of an ever more mercurial West. Moreover, from a Muscovy perspective, it is far better to be in penury and have good relations with the other land powers adjacent to Russia than to risk disappointment again by engaging with the West. A Russian people that lost tens of millions of people during the Second World War, a war that still helps define even a modern, non-Sovietised Russia, has little fear of Western sanctions that do not bind China and other states.

    To some degree, the future will be determined by this geopolitical question: does the West see curtailing Chinese and Iranian ambitions as worth overlooking some previously unacceptable Russian belligerence? Can Moscow win concessions if Chinese and Iranian aspirations become the most pressing concern? If so, does Russia do what it can via arms sales, training, intelligence sharing, and subversion, to assist the Iranians, especially, and the Chinese to make as much of a nuisance of themselves as to force the West to come to terms with Russia – on Russia’s terms? There is no feasible way that the West can posture military forces to engage in a “Triple Containment” of Russia, China, and Iran, especially as they are all land powers. The future of Russian statecraft may seem to be adventurist but that is to assume that the Kremlin sees the world as the West does. Where the liberal West eschews the means of military power in favour of absurd ideas of ‘soft power’, the Russians look at the required ends to be achieved, including intervening with overwhelming military force, as Russia’s Syrian campaign has shown.

    On any view, relations with Russia will remain fraught for the foreseeable future. If one is to understand Russian statecraft, one must understand the Russian people, history, and culture, on their own terms and as Russians see them. To understand your adversary is not to betray your own nation but to be able to pursue its interests all the more effectively and with a needed grounding in reality.

    The current hysteria over Russia helps no one. We need a broader debate over Russian policy rather than allegations of treason or puppet when anyone tries to correct error. Conformity helps no one, especially when it is imposed on pain of dissenters being defamed. The real question must be asked, also, of the utility and realism of Western security pledges made to states on the historic Russian periphery by alliances in which Americans shoulder an immensely disproportionate share of the military burden, at a time when most Americans are tired of alliances that are, in effect, dependencies. Europeans that have effectively disarmed take grave risks when poking the Russian bear or threatening the approaches to its historic domain. The question, “Who will die for Donbass?” may not be wholly rhetorical for NATO in the years to come. The Russian view is that the Europeans are too weak, infantilised, disarmed, and militarily unserious, as well as too divided by conflicting interests, to mount any response to Russian advances, whether by way of open or by hybrid warfare. The American appetite to defend Europeans who cannot and will not help defend themselves is also, likely, waning, on all sides of US politics. The Cold War is (long) over and, to the degree that Europeans have chosen butter over guns, then the European military decline is a choice that Europeans have made for themselves. The Americans are not obligated to prevent the Europeans from suffering the inevitable consequences of their military delinquency.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Thank you. Very close to my feelings on the Russia question.

    • Gadfly

      There is no feasible way that the West can posture military forces to engage in a “Triple Containment” of Russia, China, and Iran, especially as they are all land powers.

      For a while I’ve thought that this seems to be the most dangerous alliance possible, if these three nations decided to make an Axis-like pact and overthrow the current world order. Not that the US per se would be in any real danger, but this alliance could break US hegemony and then rewrite international law on their own terms. None of these nations buy into the current world order, and they all have potential military objectives that the US is standing in the way of. The US is powerful, but it essentially stands alone in upholding the current world order and would be incapable of defending multiple fronts at once.

      • R C Dean

        Well, China can’t project military power for shit, although their Navy may, may, be making strides.

        Iran can certainly stir up trouble in the Mideast, but who would notice/care, other than defense contractors trying to sell missiles to the US.

        Russia, sans nukes, has been a paper tiger for a long time.

        Being a land power is its own restriction on military adventurism, as the Nazis learned the hard way.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Everything I’ve been hearing – at least from the Chinese side – is that Russia is contemptuous of China and that goes both ways (back to Mao and Stalin). Not a lot they’ll agree on other than working against the west – but they don’t actually trust each other enough to cooperate militarily.

        (one big example is jet engines….after all their industrial espionage, reverse engineering and tech development, China *still* can’t build a reasonable aircraft jet engine domestically and is forced to keep importing them from Russia)

      • Gadfly

        Their contempt for each other is the single most important thing preserving international peace and protecting the current liberal world order, IMO. None of the 3 parties are natural allies. Let’s hope that their disdain for the west never overcomes their contempt for each other.

      • grrizzly

        I recall that in the early ’80s my grandma (a history teacher and a Communist Party member) taught me to hate China but didn’t say anything negative about America.

      • Gadfly

        All of those points are why they are separately not much of a threat, but collective action would change the calculus. Each of these nations are perfectly capable of achieving their potential objectives (Russia taking parts of Eastern Europe, Iran taking the Gulf – and maybe even Arabia, China taking Taiwan) if their targets don’t have foreign (mainly US) backing, which they wouldn’t if the 3 coordinated for a simultaneous effort, as the US probably can’t fight a 2-front war, let alone a 3-front war. To defeat the US and remake the world order doesn’t require taking the fight to the US, just pushing the US out of the eastern hemisphere.

      • creech

        Sounds like a good novel for Tom Clancy or Mike Greaney to write.

      • R C Dean

        China could take Taiwan, although they would take some pretty bad losses. They can’t take Japan, or anything else worth having (although South Korea would be an interesting one).

        Russia is a second-rate, at best, economic power. They could likely cause trouble in Eastern Europe, but I seriously doubt they have the depth to do all that much there.

        The Middle East is such a nonstop shitshow that I have no idea how much more trouble Iran could cause there.

        *note: the previous opinions are pretty impressionistic, and not based on any deep study of the topic*

      • LCDR_Fish

        This is still one I have trouble determining. “Take” is a fairly definitive statement.

        They could bomb the crap out of things but I still don’t think they could land enough folks effectively – airborne or amphibious in a timely manner. Which is weird given the size disparity, but it shows their priorities.

        Maybe after 5 more years of shipbuilding.

        That said, I’m still curious about their NCO development and mid-long term maintenance habits on all those shiny new ships. Salt water is a bitch and a half to work with and our training pipelines for good technicians are long.

      • Tonio

        We need to ask India out on a nice date with flowers and everything.

      • commodious spittoon

        With an ally like the US, the Chinese would be flying jets over Indian airspace in ten years.

      • LCDR_Fish

        We need to be building up the regional quad with Japan (and Korea), Australia (NZ doesn’t really count militarily) and India.

      • Tonio

        ^This. It’s a shame Australia went full prog. As you say, NZ doesn’t really count.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Their military (Oz) is still proportionally solid with a ton of great folks.

      • B.P.

        What!? Did you not see the link to the deployment of Australia’s Twerk Force below?

  22. blackjack

    The fucking LAUSD is requiring a current negative covid test to go “back” to two hours of in person teaching per day. The mandate tat we get the kid tested. The wife struggled with making the appointment, so she called to complain. The principal told her that there was no testing available and she’d have to procure private testing. She tried and it’s 150.00 a pop, for both her and my kid. She then tried the online portal (which the school told her was all filled up) and it worked. The fucking lazy bastard teachers are going to have two whole hours per workday to actually face children. Of course they are getting 500.00 per child for their own personal child care, so that should ease some of the pain for them. Could you imagine demanding the kids get tested, not allowing them to use your tests, making them pay 300.00 to get the test, and all of this is after the whole rest of the state has basically stopped testing because the whole thing is basically over? Fuck these people. I’m going to have to have my wife do all of the talking to the school people, because I will get arrested if they hear what I am going to tell them.

    • LCDR_Fish

      Talk to Adam Carolla. He’s all over the LA BS.

    • Tonio

      Sorry, bro. That must be maddening. Good choice on your part.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Why are you denigrating those heroes?

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      Wanting your kid to be in school is just white supremacy.

      • blackjack

        Yeah, my kid’s black, though..

      • R C Dean

        Blacks attacking Asians is white supremacy, so I think he’s covered.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Ugh

      Davidson’s such a twat.

    • Gustave Lytton

      funnyman Pete Davidson

      Assumes facts not in evidence.

      • Enough About Palin

        No. His last name is Davidson.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The question is whether or not the FBI put the malware there in the first place.

  23. Rebel Scum

    I guess down under they don’t bust champagne, instead they bust a move.

    A group of stunned officials didn’t know where to look as a group of scantily clad dancers twerked toward them during celebrations to mark the official launch of a new $2billion navy ship.

    The commissioning of the HMAS Supply in Woolloomooloo, Sydney was attended by Navy top brass including chief Michael Joseph Noonan and the Governor-General David Hurley.

    Defence Force chief Angus Campbell was also part of the audience.

    But the risqué dance moves marking the ship’s launch were not enjoyed by everyone.

    A Liberal MP slammed the decision to commission the unusual dance, and the choice of entertainment was met with bewilderment on social media.

    • blackjack

      Check out the stern on that one!

      • Ownbestenemy

        Some of them look as if they need a wide berth.

      • Tonio

        Would you say the aft quarters are spacious?

      • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

        Let’s just say there would be a lot coming over the transom.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Its a good thing the Swiss doesn’t have a navy to narrowly gaze upon the horizon with.

      • Swiss Servator

        Quite so. I am exhausted with you people today.

    • B.P.

      Muammar Gaddafi is looking up from Hell thinking, “Twerking! Why didn’t I think of that?!”

  24. Yusef drives a Kia

    Big news at the The Farm today, the rumor was mando Vaccines to work there, this means the entire Maint. Department, me included, would be terminated, we started packing our tools. You see, our Cali plant has a 95% Vaccination rate, ours is 20%, and we have to follow Cali’s protocols, so SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE! after the Big People all talked, we just have to wash our hands more, and a BAN on mass travel by any employee, subject to a 2 week quarantine upon return, unpaid, at least I still have a job,

    • R C Dean

      I guess some Big Person realized they would have to fire way too many people. My guess is mushrooms can’t go unsupervised for long, and it would basically wreck The Farm.

      We did a similar math, and realized if we fired 20% of our nurses, we were fucked, so “mandatory” was never on the table.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I have my suspicions that even the Federal Government has done that math cause we haven’t gotten the mandatory call being in a safety related position and all.

      • Gustave Lytton

        My workplace now wants to know who has been vaccinated. Not to worry, only a limited number of authorized HR droids will have access to it. Just for planning and to meet customer requirements for vaccinated contractors. Oh really? And who would those be?

        Like many things, I’m keeping my head down, venting here, and not telling nobody nothing no matter which way it is or will be.

    • Tonio

      Mass travel is, what? Cruises? Buses? Trains?

      • grrizzly

        Yes, that was really weird.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        and airlines, how they can enforce, or even know, is beyond me

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I’m reminded of something my dad said to me last weekend. Everybody is just keeping their heads down and ignoring all the crap their employers are foisting on them.

        Wanna absolutely murder any and all morale? Start firing people for talking about their vacations.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        We were literally packing our tools while the Big meeting was going on, making plans for Contracting, etc.
        It’s not over, I suspect,

      • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

        It means going to church.

      • Swiss Servator

        Shippin’ up to Boston?

    • R C Dean

      Oh, and ProTip:

      Legally, you can’t require anyone to get a vaccination if they have either a doctor’s note or a religious objection. If HR thinks they can determine which religions or objections are valid and which aren’t, well, they haven’t talked to Legal about it.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I was hoping for your opinion, I’m of the Religious objection myself, if that makes me a Crazy Christian, so be it,

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        *shrug*

        People look at me weird when I refuse to swear oaths. They get over it when I tell them that I’ll gladly sign a declaration. Whether or not it makes me a Crazy Christian, I’m not gonna be disobedient when all it takes is a change of language to turn it from swearing an oath to “letting my yes mean yes”.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        My son will be obtaining a medical exemption.

        I’m more in the “fuck you” exemption category.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Mass travel? Out of state or what?

      Why do they need a second outpost 1000s of miles away if CA is so smrt?

      I suspect the poor stats of late in MI, PA, NJ, etc. are due merely to meteorology.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I need that outpost, I want to cruise to retirement, here’s where I can do that,
        How about fresh East coast products?

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Well, you won the battle.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I unmask when I work with the Big Man, and he flips me no shit at all anymore, he knows how I feel about the theatre, and I think he wants to keep me around, so he “ignores” it, and he’s a Mask Dick!

    • creech

      This shit isn’t ever going away. Pfizer is now saying they think you’ll need a third shot within 6 months and then an annual booster and that vaccines will never catch up to all the variants. I guess everyone over 65 will either stay home forever or people are just going to defy whatever “advisories” are put in place in certain states.

  25. wdalasio

    The US is powerful, but it essentially stands alone in upholding the current world order and would be incapable of defending multiple fronts at once.

    The U.S. really has no strategic framework. Our “leadership” has relied on our status as a hyperpower as a replacement for any sort of strategic prioritization or definition of objectives. As a result, our foreign policy has become inconsistent, self-serving, contradictory and capricious. The “principled realism” of the Trump administration was a step at least in the right direction. But, I strongly suspect that idea has been shown the door.

    Our officials should be able to sit down with the leadership of any power and tell them “We want A, B, and C”. But, the truth is, the political class can’t name A, B, or C in any meaningful way.

    • Brochettaward

      Democrats totally know what it is that they want from their foreign policy. They want Europeans to like them.

      • R C Dean

        Having Euros like them is nice.

        Having foreigners stuff their bank accounts is nicer.

    • kbolino

      A = 10% to the big guy
      B = “I’ll have more freedom after the election”
      C = UraniumOne

  26. Ownbestenemy

    So the bounties story really is that Dems paid bounties to journos to kill the Trump campaign?

    — Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) April 15, 2021

    Heh. More true than the Russia story.

  27. Ed Wuncler

    https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/adam-toledo-video-footage-released-of-chicago-police-shooting-13-year-old/2487175/

    “The city of Chicago on Thursday released video of the fatal police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, as Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the boy’s family together called for people to “express themselves peacefully” following the “incredibly painful” release.”

    Welp, there’s going to be some rioting going on this weekend in the city and I’m going to stay my black ass in the burbs.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Great… yet another case where the cops fucked up yet the victim is also complicit in the tragedy.

      Grab yer nuts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

    • B.P.

      I don’t think I’ll be watching that video. Also, good to see the mayor is focused on shoehorning the agenda into this event:

      “Lightfoot said she saw “no evidence whatsoever” that Adam fired any shots at police as she renewed calls for federal action on gun laws as well as a review of the Chicago Police Department’s policy on foot pursuits.”

      Federal gun laws are needed to keep the mayor’s police force in line, I guess. (assuming the police screwed up here; I don’t know the fact pattern for sure)

    • blackjack

      Free book on cops having a bad shoot. Bonus: it’s in L.A. in the late sixties/early seventies. Well worth a skim.

  28. Hank

    Hmmm…

    “A spiritual healer who performs surgery with a machete and tells his patients drinking half a bottle of rum a week will stop them getting Covid-19 has become popular in Cuba.

    “Jorge Goliat’s unorthodox methods have increasingly attracted Cubans who are seeking alternatives to traditional medicines. They flock to him despite the Communist country offering excellent free healthcare to all residents.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9475299/Cuban-healer-uses-MACHETE-perform-surgery-prescribes-half-bottle-rum-beat-Covid.html

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The “despite” seems out of place in that sentence.

      • R C Dean

        That sentence also rates a “assumes facts not in evidence”. I seriously doubt that “excellent” health care is available to all residents. The apparatchiks and nomenklatura, sure. In the barrios and cane fields? Uh-huh.

      • rhywun

        Newsitorial.

        The socialists and commies that staff most newsrooms can’t help themselves.

    • kbolino

      Et tu, Daily Mail?

  29. DEG

    Too Local News Lazy Edition: Sununu’s mask order ends tomorrow according to news outlets. There are no updates to his emergency orders webpage, but that is typical. Usually he announces on Thursday, and then either late Friday or Monday the emergency orders webpage gets its update. Yes, even if the order takes effect on Friday, the page isn’t updated until either late Friday or Monday. WMUR coverage.

    This story notes that by May 7th the state will transition to a single set of best practices instead of the enormous mish-mash of mandates. The story also states that the state of emergency will likely last until the end of the year.

    • DEG

      I suspect the budget situation played a role in Sununu’s decision. See the e-mail from Rep. Weyler (House Finance Committee Chairman) to the Senate Finance Committee in this piece by Andrew Manuse.

    • westernsloper

      Both counties I frequent here had their mask mandates end last week, (except for folks working in medical environments and the stupidest of all, those working with kids ie. Schools. Fuck I hate people) yet all the big chain businesses/grocery stores, convenience stores, Home Depot, Walmart………..all have their mask signs up and all employees still complying. I find it odd to say the least. I also saw a guy riding a bike wearing a mask today. For some they comply to keep their job, for some it has became religion.

      • DEG

        I wouldn’t be surprised if the grocery store chain I shop at continues their “you must wear a mask if medically able to” policy. When I show up and shop without a mask, employees at this store have said nothing more than, “Would you like a mask, sir?” To which I reply, “No thank you.” And we wish each other a nice day.

  30. Ownbestenemy

    Nevada had its framework (or is it infrastructure now?) set on an ‘opening’ trajectory of May 1 – decision making ‘allowed’ at local levels, but have to get the stamp of approval from the State house. Supposedly, 100% capacity in June, but still masked.

  31. DEG

    NH regulation of CBD likely a year off

    Another year will likely pass before New Hampshire regulates the sale of cannabidiol (CBD) that’s widely on the market here in hair salons, vape shops, health and wellness and even pet stores.
    CBD is contained in a variety of products ranging from tinctures to oils and creams used to treat conditions from seizures and chronic pain to insomnia and anxiety.
    Last week, the New Hampshire House of Representatives approved, by voice vote, a bill (HB 272) to set standards for the manufacture of CBD from hemp that arises from the Cannabis sativa plant.
    But State Rep. Jerry Knirk, D-Freedom, told the Senate Commerce Committee earlier this week that this bill that he and other advocates had worked on for two years wasn’t ready for prime time.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      That’s just dumb, you don’t get high, just relief, Slavers, they should Fuck Off!

    • westernsloper

      I am seriously thinking about trying the CBD thing. You can buy it at the convenience stores around here but I am not sure I trust that stuff to be what they claim. Or I might just take up smoking weed on a regular basis but I am out of practice.

      • Swiss Servator

        Mexican Sharpshooter has a relative with a connection to that stuff (she is medical person) – their CBD Salve helped me when my discs were failing in C5-6 and C6-7.

      • westernsloper

        I am big time L4 and L5 herniation and doc wants to shoot me up to fix sciatic nerve angry.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Search around online, there are plenty of reputable mail order outfits. I’d steer clear of the convenience store crap because there’s no telling what is or isn’t in it.

      • westernsloper

        The shit has taken over the valleys around here. (right up until the over saturation a few years ago) I can buy from a grower but I am lazy and never cared to put in the effort to go to them.

  32. westernsloper

    Thanks for the SPeedy links!

    • Chafed

      I guess drugs fell out of my ass. Which seems appropriate for this story.

      • westernsloper

        Heh

      • Mad Scientist

        Damn stool softeners.

      • westernsloper

        At least it didn’t happen in the TSA line. Mmm’yule regret that one.

    • blackjack

      I got my pencil!!

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Class disMISSED!