Wednesday Morning Links

by | May 5, 2021 | Daily Links | 414 comments

Good morning my Glibs and Gliberinas!  And what an absolutely fantastic day it always is!

 

Buckle up, Buckaroos!

 

Chauvin files motion for a new trial.

 

Trump launches a blog.

 

US Steel cancels $1.5 billion project in western PA.

 

Cheney in trouble.

 

McCarthy in trouble.

 

Racist Democrat in trouble.

 

Wokeness in trouble.

 

Wokeness in trouble.

 

Economy in trouble.

 

That’s all I got for today.  I’ll leave you with a song and move along with my day.

About The Author

Banjos

Banjos

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

414 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    Interspecies erotica?

    • Rat on a train

      Is it named SIV?

    • AlexinCT

      TIJUANA DONKEY SHOWS!

    • Cy Esquire

      Nature gives a fuck! Lots of them. To anything.

      • Not Adahn

        -1 exploding puffin

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Gonzo endorses this message.

    • Surly Knott

      It’s how you get Easter eggs. Bit late is all.

    • Festus

      Some folk love chickens. I for one care less for them.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Shoulda been a Muffin,

    • Brawndo

      “but this donkey’s a dude”

      “Kelly can be a guy’s name too!”

  2. Count Potato

    “The motion did not mention recent revelations that juror Brandon Mitchell had participated in Black Lives Matter protests in Washington, DC, last summer. The Associated Press (AP) reported that a photo of Mitchell shows him “standing with two cousins and wearing a T-shirt with … the words, ‘GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS’ and ‘BLM,’ for Black Lives Matter.””

    I wonder why that wasn’t mentioned?

    • AlexinCT

      If this was the ONLY problem with this trial, it would still be freaking idiotically bad. The judge fucked up, the prosecution was downright criminal in its constant lying to appeal to emotion, the jury was basically a bunch of scared fucks, and the state really had no case once it became obvious Floyd had such a high level of drugs in his system that he was going to die unless he was somehow able to process enough shit to kill a pack of adult elephants. The real tragedy is that those of us that thought this might finally get some real and serious police reform were left with an insane reaction that made us have to defend the police. That’s what pisses me off the most.

      • Tonio

        Your last sentence, Alex, says it all.

      • Rat on a train

        It is a recurring problem. A good cause ruined by asshats that want to rage. Come to our rally to protest civil asset forfeiture. Oh, we are teaming up with BLM and Antifa who will also add some of their own causes.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Children, the lot of them.

      • Festus

        Yeah that.

      • Count Potato

        “the state really had no case once it became obvious Floyd had such a high level of drugs in his system that he was going to die”

        I don’t know if that’s true. Maybe they should have called an ambulance?

        What pisses me off is that people made it all about race, when there wasn’t evidence it was about race. That, and all pointless violence and destruction.

      • AlexinCT

        I don’t know if that’s true. Maybe they should have called an ambulance?

        Maybe they should have called a priest for last rights…

        By the time Floyd, whom already had been high as a kite before the cops showed up from all evidence, finally admitted to swallowing more drugs, the only thing they could have done for him is drive him to the coroner.

      • Count Potato

        Narcan works.

      • WTF

        The cops did call an ambulance, the EMTs had to load and leave rather than start treating on site due to the hostile crowd. And there has been medical testimony that Floyd had three times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system.

      • ScoobaSteve

        the state really had no case once it became obvious Floyd had such a high level of drugs in his system that he was going to die

        I really disagree with this statement. It basically condones any action taken against someone as long as some other action can be attributed for their death.
        Your {insert beloved female family member} just crashed her car and is bleeding out. The first responder begins finger banging and tea bagging her until she dies. The state really has no case once it becomes obvious your beloved female family member had such a high level of injuries the she was going to die.
        I don’t think so.

      • AlexinCT

        I really disagree with this statement. It basically condones any action taken against someone as long as some other action can be attributed for their death.

        You went there. Not me. I pointed out that a travesty of law happened because people pretended this didn’t matter just so they could appease a bunch of fucking marxist criminals and their political masters.

        I for one now am certain that I will never put myself at the mercy of the legal system because it is an unjust one unless you are part of the corruption machine, and I am not.

      • AlexinCT

        BTW, your analogy sucks. Crashing your car only brings the police & the EMTs there to assist in an accident because we gave these people that responsibility to help when something bad happens. Floyd committing crimes and then resisting arrest, while high, and then swallowing even more drugs to avoid getting charged with drug possession as well as the other crimes, resulting in police being is not even in the same ballpark. It doesn’t give the people that respond the right to abuse him, but I point out that had Floyd just cooperated and allowed them to realize he had as usual made some deadly stupid choices, things would likely have still ended up the same way, only with them rushing him to a hospital.

        At some point people that make really fucking stupid decisions should be held accountable. And people used to know this… Now we pretend this is not the case. Adults understand that actions/choices have consequences, but it seems so many people want to avoid the consequences of their actions/choices.

        I have had tons of interactions with police. I have never had any of them feel they needed to use force against me despite the fact that I never bowed to them and on several occasions stood my ground and told them they would not do what they wanted without my lawyer being present (and I had nothing to worry about, but did it for the principle). There are ways to deal with shitheads. The most important lesson is to bide your time and take the fight to them once the odds are in your favor. You should be smarter than giving them a reason to fuck you over when they have the advantage.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I too have had favorable interactions with police. I can afford a lawyer and have connections to those who can and have resolved issues for me. It sounds like you can too. Most people can’t. The cops treat people differently based on their ability to cause them trouble.

        “Standing your ground” against a cop without those resources at your disposal is good way to end up with your face busted in, charged with resisting, and potentially even executed.

        Floyd fucked up. But Chauvin was no good guy either and deserved what he got. The show trial was travesty but that has no bearing on Chauvin’s innocence.

      • AlexinCT

        I too have had favorable interactions with police. I can afford a lawyer and have connections to those who can and have resolved issues for me.

        I think affording a lawyer or not is not the issue: the issue is understanding your rights and knowing how to walk the line so they understand you are informed an not just someone they can fuck with. I often find that people that end up in trouble with cops do so because they handled the situation totally wrong. You can stand your ground without turning totally hostile and into an asshole. That’s a recipe for an ass kicking as Chris Rock points out. It also helps not to be committing a crime when you end up interacting with them. At that point the problem is on you, and you have no real ground to stand on, so you shouldn’t act as if the problem was not of your own making. Adults understand the consequences to choices/actions dilemma.

        Floyd fucked up. But Chauvin was no good guy either and deserved what he got.

        Never said Chuavin was innocent or even something as crazy as a good guy in this exchange. Chauvin chose poorly. He should have tazed him as soon as Floyd started resisting and thrown his ass in the car (I suspect he chose not to do this because he knew him). Floyd however fucked up, and did so in more than one way, lethally, so while I get the animosity towards police, mostly well deserved, I seriously worry about people that feel it is OK that Chauvin got railroaded in court because he was an asshole (instead of because he was really guilty).

        The legal system being used as a political or social justice mechanism scares me far more than the police ever will. I also pointed out that I had originally seen that interaction and hoped wiser heads would use it to fix the problems with police. We now will never get that. I am getting the feeling a lot of people feel that Chauvin deserves what he got just because he was a cop, and that makes people that think like this just as bad as BLM/Antifa IMO.

      • ScoobaSteve

        How do you reconcile these two statement?
        “It doesn’t give the people that respond the right to abuse him”
        “state really had no case once it became obvious…he was going to die”

      • UnCivilServant

        The state’s “Case” was trying to prove murder/manslaughter. If there is no causal link between the defendant’s actions and the death, neither of those charges can be shown beyond a reasonable doubt.

        If the charges had been excessive force or some other abuse, they had more of a case.

      • ScoobaSteve

        There is an argument there, but I don’t think it is very persuasive. Someone actively killing another person is not absolved if that other person happens to die of another cause before succumbing to the attack.

        Additional lesser charges of assault would have been prudent.

      • UnCivilServant

        The information thus presented has not shown me any intent. And even unintentionally causing the death is questionable given the coronor’s testimony.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Someone actively killing another person is not absolved if that other person happens to die of another cause

        No, that’s exactly right. They cannot be convicted of murder. They didn’t cause the death, which is a core element of murder.

        Are they guilty of attempted murder? Almost certainly.

        Of course, in the real case, it’s not at all clear that he was “actively killing the guy”, so that’s another wrinkle to be explored.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        The first responder begins finger banging and tea bagging her until she dies.

        Ignoring the duty to assist issues that may exist there, what actually killed her? If it wasn’t the molestation, then you can’t convict the EMT of murder. Are they guilty of other crimes? Sure.

        That’s why the drug OD is in question. If he died from drugs, then it doesn’t matter if Chauvin pissed in his mouth, stomped on his balls, spit in his eye, it wasn’t murder. It was something else.

        Obviously I didn’t see all evidence, but from what I saw there seemed to be a reasonable doubt as to how Floyd died. Not sitting in the courtroom, I’m not going to malign the decisions of those who were there, except to say that there appears to be grounds for appeal.

      • Drake

        The Dems are like Lucy with the football. Every time Charlie Brown thinks we’ll get meaningful reform, they snatch it away and turn it all into a race hustle. Tim Scott’s reform bill was never considered in Congress because it wasn’t a hustle. I’ve given up on any reform until the current batch of elites are chased out.

    • hayeksplosives

      That’s what I wonder too.

      Maybe they already had the motion written so they filed it as-is and plan to bring up the activist juror later.

      • AlexinCT

        This mistrial shit sure as hell helps keep the peaceful protesters engaged, huh?

    • Tejicano

      +1 ace up the sleeve

  3. Not Adahn

    Coca Cola from a Waffle House fountain is the drink of the gods.

    • Cy Esquire

      While I’m going to miss my rum and cokes, it’s been a bit of a PIA finding drink that aren’t owned by Coca-Cola company to drink. Dr. Pepper, Shasta and water have been adequate substitutes.

      • Rat on a train

        Shasta was my favorite to take to the range. Inexpensive, disposable targets at the time.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        RC is a good drink if you can get it with a taste kind of between Pepsi and Coke.

      • Drake

        Grew up near the Polar cola factory and was always partial to their products. Now it’s mostly tonic for my gin.

      • CPRM

        Faygo? We no Juggalope here?

    • Nephilium

      McDonald’s was always the one with the Coca Cola reps coming out to adjust the machines and clean them (at least back in the day, no idea if that still happens). Now most of those kegs of syrup have been repurposed to a much more noble calling… serving home made beer.

      • UnCivilServant

        Fermented coca cola syrup beer?

      • Nephilium

        While it could be interesting, it wouldn’t be a beer. It would be classed as something else (I would guess wine in most jurisdictions), as there would be no malt involved in the production of the coca cola syrup.

        In seriousness, the distributors used to bring five gallon kegs of syrup to locations that would get hooked up to the fountains. The beverage distributors found a way to shift to a lighter, easier hookup system for the fountains (bags in a box, and eventually cartridges) so all of the five gallon kegs were sold as scrap/salvage. Homebrewers took them like mad as they were stainless steel, could be cleaned, scrubbed, rebuilt, and most importantly, could hold pressure safely (IIRC, at least a couple of mine have a rating of over 100 psi on them).

      • db

        I have a stack of Cornelius kegs (from different manufacturers). I don’t brew as much as I used to 7-10 years ago, but kegging is so much easier and better than bottling.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I have one of those kegs sitting out in my garage. It was the one piece of equipment I kept from my first foray into homebrew. The second foray won’t be for a few years (no space for the equipment), but i wasn’t about to part with that keg.

      • l0b0t

        Ditto the early 1990s switch from glass carboys to plastic in the water cooler industry. A homebrewer at my mom’s office got a couple dozen of them from their vendor.

    • UnCivilServant

      That’s why you’re banned from Waffle House?

      • Not Adahn

        Trufax: Waffle House used to have an all-you-can-eat menu that included bacon cheeseburgers. Then I started going there when I could get a pledge to drive my drunken self there.

        They discontinued that menu.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Getting banned from Waffle House is a low that very few can achieve.

      • UnCivilServant

        That’s why it’s supposed to be funny.

    • Count Potato

      You have to fight for it though.

      • Not Adahn

        I honestly remember no bad behavior at WH. Then again, I am blessed with being a happy drunk.

  4. Muzzled Woodchipper

    “Wokeness in trouble”

    We can only fucking hope so.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Team Red does seem to be getting at least some traction by standing up against it, regardless of how tepid they are.

      • AlexinCT

        I warn you against thinking team red is finally wising up. I think some of them are realizing that the old timers and their country club ways are why they as a party kept ending up dropping the soap in the prison shower and being passed around, but the old timers sure are pissed their cushy shitshow has come to an end and that they will now actually have to keep their fucking promises to the people they ask to vote for them.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I don’t think that it is a global phenomenon in team red, I know that the Mittens of the party are still quite happy to pretend to oppose team blue but vote with them when their cocktail party invitations are in jeopardy.

      • AlexinCT

        You might be surprised how many team red people that are not as blatantly fucking high society snobs as that cunte Mittens is are still fucking country club assholes that talk out of both sides of their mouth, but never do shit. Some of them saw the Trump phenom and wizened up, turning into team red action figures rather than actors, but the minute they feel they can go back to the old ways, they will.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        *heavy sigh* Yep.

      • AlexinCT

        That is why if you are going to go with team red support, you need to hold their feet to the fire and not just be a team player regardless of how they fuck you over. At least team read top men can be conditioned. That option seems to not exist with team blue crime syndicate members, as the crime syndicate and its agenda (that favors the top men of the team blue top men pyramid) will ALWAYS come first…

    • juris imprudent

      We can assume pretty reasonably that it will follow the same trajectory of previous religious awakenings.

  5. Gdragon

    I really thought we were gonna get something with “trouble” in the title for the music but Banjos’s curveballs break sharp and late 😉

  6. Count Potato

    “The US Government’s Debt-to-GDP Ratio Is Worse Than Greece’s Before the 2008 Crash (And It’s About to Get Worse)”

    That is not good.

    “The just-released $1.8 trillion plan, presented just weeks after Biden signed a $1.9 trillion in COVID relief spending into law, includes “free” community college as well as universal preschool for all three and four-year-olds.”

    Why the hell should three and four-year-olds go to school?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      So single mothers can continue to justify their lifestyle.

      • Count Potato

        They can’t put up a playpen at the strip club?

      • Bobarian LMD

        Where do you think the pre-school is gonna be?

      • rhywun

        And vote Democrat.

    • Cy Esquire

      The indoctrinations weren’t kicking in quickly enough. Clearly there’s still a small percentage of the population that needs to be properly educated, in exchange for a baby sitter service for the parents. It’s a win-win for the proggies. on top of that they’ll get to send out tons of freshly printed money to newly minted voters AND I’m sure the bill will have a bit of pork in there just because the Kennedy center needs new 50 million dollar blinds or some shit. So really it’s a win-win-win-win for the Dems.

    • AlexinCT

      Don’t you know that we can do whatever fiscally irresponsible and downright crazy shit we want, because the world not ever deign to fuck with the US economy as it would destroy their own? At least that is what the reason that Keynesian liberal assholes that think the solution to all problems is government playing Santa Claus every day of the year for the people whose votes they want to buy while fucking over the real productive by stealing the wealth they produce, tell me…

      • Count Potato

        No real Keynesian would increase spending and raise taxes at the same time.

      • AlexinCT

        The new woke bunch does it seems. But only to people making over $400K (snork!)…

      • Spartacus

        They think they’ve found the goose that lays golden eggs, and they are certain that with a bit of prodding, they can get it to lay several dozen eggs a day, forever, without any ill effects.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Yeah, we are definitely in post-Keynesian territory. Not that they really cared about Lord Keynes anyhow, his work was just a convenient way to justify keeping the gravy train rolling.

      • l0b0t

        “…the world not ever deign to fuck with the US economy as it would destroy their own?”

        Wasn’t that the same shared hallucination underpinning the view of those who thought World War One was an impossibility? European nations are too entangled by trade to be truly belligerent?

      • WTF

        Yeah, and the sun never set on the British Empire – until it did.

    • Fourscore

      “The US Government’s Debt-to-GDP Ratio Is Worse Than Greece’s”

      What? How did this happen? Who was supposed to be watching out for us? Does Congress and the Prez know about this? Heads are gonna roll!

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        We have more important things to deal with these days, apparently, people are very confused about which bathroom they need to go into. First things first!

  7. The Late P Brooks

    Executives with the U.S. Steel Corp. announced days ago that they are canceling a $1.5 billion project in western Pennsylvania that was set to bring thousands of middle-class union jobs to the region, a move that many are now blaming on Democrats and environmental groups.

    Those jobs suck. We’d rather see you starve.

    • Tejicano

      Besides, those are the kinds of dangerous, dirty jobs that very few women ever apply for so who cares if we are making it more difficult for men to find blue collar jobs?

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I demand gender equity in garbage collection!

    • WTF

      Didn’t PA vote for Biden?
      Enjoy, halfwits.

      • WTF

        Well, okay, PA allegedly voted for Biden. But they did provide enough actual votes to make any cheating at least slightly plausible.

      • AlexinCT

        The people that “counted the votes in PA” said Biden won… Everyone else that is not a hack seems to understand there was something seriously wrong with that count, especially in specific areas run by democrats that do dubious counting gymnastics every fucking election, but set new records in 2020.

      • juris imprudent

        JFC, I gave you the numbers and here they are again. If there WERE shenanigans in Philly and Pittsburgh, it was entirely within NORMAL parameters for the last 3 elections. Biden won in swing-counties. So please don’t repeat that Trumpian pity party about how unfair it was – at least for PA.

        There is also no need to relitigate the legal bullshit perpetrated by the state SC – I would decapitate and place the impaled heads of the justices responsible for that at the door to the court, pour encourager les autres. That however does not implicate any county elections officials for direct corruption (which is the alternative presumption).

      • AlexinCT

        JFC, I gave you the numbers and here they are again. If there WERE shenanigans in Philly and Pittsburgh, it was entirely within NORMAL parameters for the last 3 elections.

        As I pointed out, election regularities in Philly are the norm, not the outlier. And as I pointed out, the 2020 election saw a shit-ton more of them, because the crooks allowed it to happen. In the end the counters were able to count so much that otherwise would not have been allowed.

        So what’s your beef with my argument that they cheated (as usual)? Just a need to dump on Trump as usual?

      • juris imprudent

        My beef is that Biden won outside of Philly and [s]Pittsburgh – that is where the margin of victory came from, compared to previous elections.

        Now, you can indict all of the elections officials in all of those counties – and you’ll run out of tin foil or break your neck from the weight of it. Or you can accept that Trump was not a popular figure – which seems to be nearly fucking impossible to hear even from someone who voted for the SOB.

      • AlexinCT

        So the cheating was statewide as I pointed out because the illegal changes. And Philly as usual had the usual cheating, a lot more of it, as well… Still not sure what the beef is with my statement..

      • juris imprudent

        Cheating implies that some people were directly involved in doing illegitimate things. The changes that were implemented encouraged more votes (via mail) and sloppy controls (across the state) on cutting off late arrivals. Trump voters showed up in person, Biden voters literally mailed it in.

        Biden got the laziest votes. I just wouldn’t call that cheating (as in manufacturing or destroying ballots or manipulating counts).

      • AlexinCT

        Cheating implies that some people were directly involved in doing illegitimate things. The changes that were implemented encouraged more votes (via mail) and sloppy controls (across the state) on cutting off late arrivals. Trump voters showed up in person, Biden voters literally mailed it in.

        I see the problem…

        You somehow think that the fact that the Pennsylvania legislature letting people other then themselves decide how voting could happen, something only they have the right to do in their constitution, and not being able to redress it (or wanting to do so) somehow is not cheating.

        To me it is the same shit…

        Adding a veneer of legitimacy to criminal activity doesn’t make it OK. And that was the story behind the last election. The fraud was hidden behind all sorts of legal bullshit, and the low information people gobbled it all up. Those that are smart enough to see through that defending it however is what worries me…

      • Nephilium

        PA, like most states has a very stark urban and rural divide in voting patterns.

      • db

        Yeah, this. Allegheny county went heavily for Biden, but the surrounding districts mainly did not.

      • Pine_Tree

        nobody knows

      • Sean

        Ghost ballots, dude.

    • Rat on a train

      They can always learn to install solar panels.

  8. The Late P Brooks

    Is that how the Easter bunny gets his eggs?

    • Cy Esquire

      You should see how Santa makes those reindeer!

      • Not Adahn

        Animal husbandry?

      • Cy Esquire

        That’s a delicious double entendre you have there.

      • Plisade

        Seconded.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Further adventures in wealth destruction

    The U.S. is taking a two-pronged approach toward its goal of implementing a worldwide minimum tax for corporations as it progresses through negotiations with a global consortium, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday.

    Getting countries around the world to implement a bottom level tax that all companies pay has been a goal the White House has set to stop firms from relocating their home operations to countries with cheaper rates.

    That objective has taken on greater urgency as the administration seeks to raise taxes on U.S. companies. Yellen said she’s encouraged so far by developments in talks with other countries.

    ——-

    “We are very actively engaged with other countries to end what has been a global corporate tax race to the bottom,” she said. “I fear this race to the bottom globally with respect to corporate taxes is depriving economies of the revenue they really need to invest in infrastructure, education, research and development and other things to spur growth and also impact corporate competitiveness.”

    “So we’re asking companies to step up and pay a little bit more to help realize fiscal priorities that are equally important in making them competitive and doing it in a context where we’ll see an increase in global rates as well,” she said.

    We’d be better off if the government just took that tax money and burned it.

    • WTF

      Companies don’t pay taxes, they incur business costs that are factored in to the price of their goods and services.

      • Rat on a train

        Don’t forget worker compensation.

      • WTF

        Another business cost.

    • rhywun

      The chutzpah is something else.

      I hope every business and every country in the world tells her to pound sand.

      • Gustave Lytton

        They’re salivating at the thought of being able to prevent their competition from undercutting themselves.

    • Gadfly

      Getting countries around the world to implement a bottom level tax that all companies pay has been a goal the White House has set to stop firms from relocating their home operations to countries with cheaper rates.

      LOL. What idiot nations would sign onto something like this? If the political winds changed in a major participant country (such as, say, the US), you’ve just screwed yourself. I will laugh if the Europeans agree to this only to see Republicans take things back in 2024 and immediately undercut them in the tax game.

      • The Other Kevin

        I think it’s safe to assume China is going to game the system and every country in the world is going to send them money.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    Yellen said the administration is looking for ways to discourage companies from deducting tax payments they make to tax-haven nations.

    Ultimately, she said companies will pay more taxes in the U.S., but she said the revenues are necessary to help fund the expansive spending programs on the administration’s agenda.

    Yeah, just dump the money in hole and torch it.

  11. Scruffy Nerfherder

    I’m reposting because after reading the Nicholas Wade article on the origins of COVID yesterday, I don’t put anything past our esteemed virologist community and their apparent overflowing well of hubris.

    This should scare the living shit out of everyone.

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24732960-100-we-now-have-the-technology-to-develop-vaccines-that-spread-themselves/

    See page 45 of this publication

    https://www.medicdebate.org/files/johns-hopkins.pdf

    While self-spreading vaccines could help reduce illness and death in a severe pandemic, this approach comes with several big challenges. One important component of the current vaccination approach for humans is the informed consent process. In order to receive a vaccine, individuals (or their legal guardians) must be informed about the risks of vaccination by a healthcare provider and provide their consent before being vaccinated. Those who decline are not forced to receive a vaccine. In the case of self-spreading vaccines, the individuals directly vaccinated would have this option, but those to whom the vaccine subsequently spreads would not. Additionally, self-spreading vaccines would potentially infect individuals with contraindications, such as allergies, that could be life-threatening. The ethical and regulatory challenges surrounding informed consent and prevention and monitoring of adverse events would be critical challenges to implementing this approach even in an extreme event.

    Finally, there is a not insignificant risk of the vaccine virus reverting to wild-type virulence, as has sometimes occurred with the oral polio vaccine—which is not intended to be fully virulent or transmissible, but which has reverted to become both neurovirulent and transmissible in rare instances. This is both a medical risk and a public perception risk; the possibility of vaccine-induced disease would be a major concern to the public. Modeling efforts suggest that making self-spreading vaccines weakly transmissible might reduce the risk of reversion to wild-type virulence by limiting the number of opportunities for the virus to evolve. However, weakly transmissible vaccines would have to be introduced to more people to obtain sufficient immunity in the target population.

    • Cy Esquire

      All of these asshole pavers have the best of intentions.

    • Sean

      This is how you get Reavers.

      • juris imprudent

        Also the backstory to V, right?

  12. The Late P Brooks

    Muh mandate!

    House Democrats are beginning to confront the challenging reality awaiting them in the 2022 midterm elections amid a spate of retirements and dim redistricting prospects.

    Democrats had hoped that brightening economic and public health outlooks combined with ongoing discord within the GOP would save them from the kind of electoral thrashing that historically besets the president’s party in midterm elections.

    But privately, some in the party are beginning to acknowledge the uphill battle they will face next year when their narrow majorities in the House and Senate will be on the line.

    “I think it’s starting to set in a little bit,” one Democratic consultant and former House staffer said. The consultant noted there was “a lot of optimism” among Democrats earlier this year after they captured the Senate majority and President Biden was sworn in to the White House.

    But this was supposed to be the beginning of a thousand years of socialist Paradise. We can’t lose.

    • UnCivilServant

      Only if they manage to shove through cheat by mail in time.

      • juris imprudent

        You might recall that even though Biden won the Presidency, there was no blue wave. They expected/hoped-for a blue wave. Not even a ripple.

    • leon

      a lot of optimism, meaning: hey maybe we should have kept that mask on…

    • Gadfly

      Democrats had hoped that brightening economic and public health outlooks combined with ongoing discord within the GOP would save them from the kind of electoral thrashing that historically besets the president’s party in midterm elections.

      If they wanted brightening economic outlooks, they shouldn’t have immediately set about trying to harm the economy.

    • juris imprudent

      Senate majority

      They keep using that word, but I do not think it means what they think it means.

      • Gadfly

        The new, anti-racist math clearly indicates that a 48D/50R/2I breakdown is a solid D majority.

      • juris imprudent

        So minority rule is okay after all?

    • juris imprudent

      But this was supposed to be the beginning of a thousand years of socialist Paradise. We can’t lose.

      Their wet dream and the nightmare of quite a few folks hereabouts.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      I still stand by my prediction that the dems will outperform the polls and historical trends in 2022. They may still lose ground on an absolute level, but they’re spinning up the fraud machine writ large, and it’s not something you can set up overnight, even if a pipe bursts.

  13. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    Or is it?

    As a result, the $28.2 trillion national debt will swell even faster. Worse, when unfunded liabilities are included in the balance sheet, as private companies are legally required to do, the debt exceeds $120 trillion.

    Nah, it still is. What the fuck are you gonna do? Protest? Yell at passing clouds? Vote?!?

    Or are you gonna look around you and appreciate all the cool people who aren’t in the thralls of insanity, pet your dog and enjoy the sunshine on your skin?

    Have a great day!

      • Tundra

        I do love it when school levies fail.

        “If we’re not successful, the district will be forced to look at areas in our operations that we will need to reduce or eliminate services and programs for students,” Zalar said. “That’s certainly not something we want to do.”

        Cry more, bitch.

        (And fire some admin)

      • Nephilium

        Especially after this past fucking year. I think the schools may have gone back to in-person learning out here, but I’m not sure.

      • Pope Jimbo

        My favorite school levy was the local one where they claimed that if it didn’t pass one of the two neighborhood elementary schools would have to close. Now these two elementary schools are so close together that they share a playground.

        The neighborhood mothers were all in a tizzy and I got in trouble for not signing petitions and asking the petitioners why they thought we needed two schools that close.

        The levy failed and …..

        They changed things up to send all K-3 to one school and grades 4-6 to the other school. Somehow that cleared up enough money that they were both able to stay open.

        Both schools still have duplicate administrators at each school. Both have principle, vice principle, therapist, etc., etc.

      • Swiss Servator

        ITS FOR THE CHILDREN! THE CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE!

      • Akira

        School districts are the some of the biggest money-grubbers in government.

        My friend did IT for a school system for a while and told me this: District A got a new building. District B complained that they’ve been asking for a new building for years and never got it because they were told their building is perfectly functional. District B then purposely neglected maintenance so that the building became dilapidated, then showed the dilapidation to the board as evidence that they need a new building. They got it.

        One more thing I overheard some yuppie housewife saying in a coffee shop: “There are kids going to school in the same building that their parents went to – I mean, there is something fundamentally wrong with that!” Yes, because buildings become unusable after one generation, apparently.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’ve watched entire buildings get demolished except for the slab, which was then cut into for new plumbing until it was Swiss cheese.

        When I asked why they just didn’t replace the obviously decrepit concrete slab as well, I was told that this way it comes out of the military’s maintenance budget and not new construction.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Two different buckets of money.

        At Ft Irwin, each building they did this type of maintenance on cost roughly 50% more than each of the new buildings they built at other locations.

      • juris imprudent

        (And fire some admin)

        THIS ^^^

        The growth of admin in education, at all levels, is what has driven expenditure growth the last few decades.

    • Festus

      Nice ?

    • Gadfly

      What the fuck are you gonna do? Protest? Yell at passing clouds? Vote?!?

      Transfer your wealth into more stable assets than cash.

      • Not Adahn

        If I did that. I’d just wind up turning it into noise and holes in cardboard.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Democrats saw their majority in the House shrink to one of the smallest margins in decades after a worse-than-expected performance in 2020. Twelve of their members were defeated by Republicans, while every GOP incumbent held their seat.

    “We were all expecting to gain seats last year too, and that’s when we were playing offense,” one Democratic strategist who worked on key races in 2020 said. “We’re on the other side of things now, so yeah, there are some reasons to be wary about next year.”

    Don’t worry. Your charismatic Maximum Leader will galvanize the electorate and lead you to a massive victory.

    • commodious spittoon

      Just imagine when Harris is the official face of the party. They’ll have to keep her more bottled up than Biden is now.

      • Festus

        I’m imaging a triple layer corset and a ball-gag.

      • Festus

        Stupid autocorrect.

    • Rat on a train

      The participation rate in 2020 was 8% higher than 2008. Even with a couple percent drop typical of midterm elections, the Democrats can still hold the house if they can find a way to spread the vote counters out from the urban districts.

    • UnCivilServant

      Someone finally went “Fukitall”

    • AlexinCT

      That’s where we are today…

      So many assholes/cowards hoping that as long as they put the stupid signs in their front yard the alligator will eath their fucking neighbor first….

    • Count Potato

      Idiots.

  15. Surly Knott

    Happy Cinco de Miracle Whip!

    • Certified Public Asshat

      You need to be banned.

  16. Count Potato

    “Why the Chinese diaspora support the Proud Boys: Almost 90% of $106K raised for far-right group last year is from expats from China ‘who fear BLM and Antifa are plotting communist takeover of America’

    Growing numbers of Chinese Americans and other expats from Asia have embraced far-right groups like the Proud Boys because they fear Antifa and Black Lives Matter want to create a communist dictatorship in the US.

    Chinese Americans and expats from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong donated around $86,000 as part of a crowdfunding effort to help Proud Boys pay for medical expenses after members of the group were stabbed in Washington, DC this past December, according to a USA Today report published Tuesday.

    The newspaper spoke to several of those donors who said they supported the fundraiser because they believe the Proud Boys and others including former President Donald Trump and radio host Alex Jones stand between America and a communist takeover.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9543551/Why-Chinese-diaspora-support-Proud-Boys.html

    • Nephilium

      Damn those Asian white supremacists!

      • Rat on a train

        Asians are white-adjacent.

      • juris imprudent

        They are half caucasian!

      • kinnath

        Schrödinger’s white people

      • AlexinCT

        I dated an Asian lady that told me she was a banana… Yellow on the outside, but white inside…

        Needles to say that was the last date we had…

      • Rat on a train

        I’ve heard some use bleaching products.

      • Not Adahn

        You were supposed to ask her “would like some more white inside you?”

      • AlexinCT

        Oh we did do the wild thing before I left. She did love me a long time, if you will pardon that stereo type, as well. So technically, even if the question was not asked…

        But yeah, the crazy killed the fun as I started worrying when she would come to my home, break in, then leave a bunny boiling on the stove…

        When they are single at my age and they look good, there is a reason they are alone…

  17. AlexinCT

    Have you Glibs talked about this??

    There is something very fishy about the new 2020 Census Bureau data determining which states picked up seats and which states lost seats.

    Most all of the revisions to the original estimates have moved in one direction: Population gains were added to blue states, and population losses were subtracted from red states. The December revisions in population estimates under the Biden Census Bureau added some 2.5 million blue-state residents and subtracted more than 500,000 red-state residents. These population estimates determine how many electoral votes each state receives for presidential elections and the number of congressional seats in each state.

    Is this a mere coincidence?

    Nothing is sacred to those that want power and/or to keep their power, and hate the people standing in the way of their hold on power despite proving to us they are not just inept, but evil and stupid….

    • rhywun

      It happens every census. Blue states always get a bonus for their illegals.

      • robc

        I am surprised they didnt find another 90 people to keep NY’s seat.

        But like I said, the Dems needed that loss to redistrict AOC out, so maybe it was intentional.

      • rhywun

        LOL the Dems aren’t going to get rid of AOC when there are multiple Republicans to choose from.

    • WTF

      Blatantly unconstitutional – the constitution says “count”, not “estimate”. Not that anyone pays attention to that old piece of paper anymore.

      • Rat on a train

        In the past, weren’t the adjustments only used for funding, not apportionment?

  18. The Late P Brooks

    I need to find another place to drink. Or maybe try coming in later.

    It wasn’t bad this winter, but the raging hypochondriac Democrat morons (but I repeat myself) are crawling out of the woodwork, now that they have been vaccinated. They talk about their shots like cultists swooning over their leader’s holy sacrament.

    All that “Are you of the Body?” talk is really starting to grate on me.

    • Rat on a train

      They’ve been vaccinated and now must find ways to punish those that haven’t.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Yes. They know they put themselves at risk and want company for their potential misery.

      • Tundra

        “The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people they will have a chance of maltreating someone. To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior ‘righteous indignation’ — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.”

        — Aldous Huxley “Crome Yellow”

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Great quote. I hadn’t heard that one.

      • Tundra

        Taxed from AoS this morning.

    • Sean

      They’re gonna be really confused if and when they still get covid,

      • commodious spittoon

        Think how much sicker they’d have been without the vaccine.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        There is a very distinct possibility that receiving the vaccine will cause them to get extremely sick from a COVID variant that the vaccine doesn’t cover. This was a problem with the original SARS vaccines and is why they were abandoned.

      • commodious spittoon

        Well into feature, not bug territory.

  19. db

    The Allegheny County Health Department is prohibited by PA law from exercising authority in excess of that granted to the state DEP and DCNR, but they maintain their own Air Quality Division to issue and enforce strict regulations in violation of that prohibition. Of course, the state government has never reined in the County’s department, so it continues to go on and on. Even the state regulators I’ve had the displeasure of dealing with don’t care for the County’s Air Quality Division.

    Dealing with the ACHD AQD has been a complete nightmare and has resulted in the cancellation of many different industrial projects, and delayed even more to the point where the economic opportunity to be captured by some projects has slipped by.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Why doesn’t some screwed over business or industrial concern sue the piss out of them then?

      • db

        hahahahahahahaha. That’s totally the way you keep them from sitting on your permit application and interrupting your business and demanding more testing and dragging out your project until it gets canceled or moved to another state.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        It sounds like that’s happening anyway though but, yeah, reprisals for legal action are to be expected when you’re dealing with an organization that’s worse than the mob.

      • db

        More directly, there are very few corporate concerns that have both the resources to undertake such legal action with any chance of success, and also the backbone to resist. It’s easier for them to go along than have new projects stymied. Plus, most corporate industrial leadership aren’t philosophically opposed to the environmental goals. They just want to continue doing business and making money. The regulations aren’t a matter of principle to them, just another input to the business model.

  20. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Cheney in trouble. Good…

    McCarthy in trouble. Good…

    Racist Democrat in trouble. Good…

    Wokeness in trouble. Good…

    Wokeness in trouble. Good…

    Economy in trouble. Good…no wait, not good…

    • Festus

      Yeah, that’s where the snark gets out of hand. We don’t want everyone to suffer, just the unclean.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    . They know they put themselves at risk and want company for their potential misery.

    These people are completely convinced Father Joe has blessed them with a miracle cure. They’re much too ignorant and gullible to ever question the Public Health high priesthood. They are full bore cultists.

    • WTF

      But if people start having adverse effects watch how quickly it will become “Trump’s vaccine.”

  22. db

    Even though Gayton no longer serves Coca-Cola in his capacity as general counsel, he signed a contract worth $12 million a year to serve as a consultant to Coca-Cola’s President and CEO James Quincey.

    It is unclear if Gayton will be able to have a say in the company’s outside law firm diversity plan in his consulting job.

    Maybe coca-cola investors should take a close look at their Board and executive team.

    • juris imprudent

      What? Those are Top. Men.!!!

  23. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Peter Daszak, president of Eco-Health Alliance, grant recipient of the NIH “gain-of-function” research program, talking about how they manipulate coronaviruses and why. He spent that grant money in Wuhan on Dr. Shi’s research program splicing coronavirus genes to make them more virulent.

    Video shot about a month and a half before the official outbreak of COVID.

    https://youtu.be/IdYDL_RK–w?t=1651

    This is the same person who was put in charge of the US investigation into the coronavirus outbreak. He has laid all blame for the outbreak on wildlife transmission. His grants into “gain-of-function” research were administered by Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins, both of whom have stepped up to shield him from criticism.

    • Q Continuum

      …and nothing else happened.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      If people knew about this they’d be up in arms but they don’t and they won’t so they aren’t.

      • Mojeaux

        If people knew about this they’d be up in arms

        Nope. I no longer trust the American public to get up in arms about the loss of their liberty.

    • Tundra

      The fuck? How did YT leave that up?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        After the Wade article detailing all of this, I expect that they will be scrubbing it shortly.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      *rips piece of tin foil*

      Josh Rogin was on Joe Rogan talking about this in the episode after the one with Dave Smith. No one knows about that episode because they used the outage from the ‘healthy people might not want the vaccine’ comment to bury it.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It is right out there in the open. There’s no need for tinfoil in this case at all.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Oh, I was just covering this casserole over here.

    • Festus

      Ass Wednesday, my least favorite of the holy days… At least we have Sundress Saturday to look forward to. (Hint hint)

  24. Q Continuum

    “Some questioned if Gayton’s policies violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which says employers cannot discriminate against people on the basis of race.”

    Why bother with the 14th Amendment when you can cite a law that was enacted 100 years later? Whatev, as long as they’re doing the right thing IDRGAF why.

  25. Pope Jimbo

    Minnesoda GOP grows a spine and the Dems are not happy.

    The new rule, similar to one in California and more than a dozen other states, aims to help drive down heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions from transportation by requiring automakers to increase deliveries of electric vehicles to Minnesota for sale. DFL Gov. Tim Walz directed the MPCA to develop the rule as part of his emphasis on addressing climate change and the need to cut global warming gases.

    Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, reiterated the ultimatum for clarity: “So, if there’s not a repeal of the authority for the Clean Car rule-making coming out of this conference committee, then the budgets for BWSR [the Minnesota Board of Water & Soil Resources], the Minnesota Zoo, the LCCR [Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources], the Conservation Corps, the Science Museum … the MPCA and the DNR [Department of Natural Resources] will not happen, unless we accede to the Senate position, is that correct Senator Ingebrigtsen?”

    Basically this is a tiff between the legislature and the executive branch about who has the power to do what. King Walz is not happy about being balked though.

    When asked about the standoff Tuesday, Walz said it makes no sense.

    “There’s irony in that, they are going to hold up the environmental budget for a proposal that cleans the environment,” Walz said. “The idea that you would shut down government, shut down funding … because we’re doing what 15 other states and most of the rest of the world has done just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

    “If you don’t want to buy an electric vehicle, don’t buy one,” he said.

    An intrepid reporter could have asked King Walz about the inverse: “If electric vehicles are so great, why do you have to mandate them by force?”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Why not just provide property tax and fee exemptions for EVs, hybrids, and the like? Seems like that kind of incentivization would work much better than any kind of mandate.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Adding a charging station at someone’s house is nearly the same as adding another house to the grid in terms of power consumption (assuming gas heat).

        Mass adoption of EV’s is going to require a huge infrastructure upgrade (that is one of the few things probably not in Joe’s fancy infrastructure bill).

        So don’t incentivize shit. If EV’s are good, people will buy them. If they aren’t? Well I’m sure they can still sell them in Cali.

      • Q Continuum

        No matter what I won’t be buying an EV (unless IC is outlawed) until it has the battery power to go as far as my car on 1 tank of gas without needed to be charged. I like roadtrips and stopping every 200-300 miles to charge is bullshit.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I’m also pretty sure that Minnesoda winters are going to put a real crimp in the range of those EV’s. But those dumb rubes should still buy those cars even if it means they need to walk the last mile home in winter.

  26. Q Continuum

    “As Republicans grapple with the future of their party in the post-Trump landscape, one issue appears to be animating GOP officials and voters across the Right: opposing so-called “wokeness.””

    Exsqueeze me? “Post-Trump” anti-wokeness? Trump is the poster child for opposing wokeness and he’s the first (and only) high-profile GOPer with the gonads to actually stand up and fight. There was a food fight yesterday about whether Trump is the “future”, or a good politician, or had good policies; I submit that it doesn’t fucking matter.

    The guy in most ways is a trainwreck. However, he is the ONLY national level politician I’ve known in my life that went to The Swamp with the intent of cleaning it up and actually accomplished something, if nothing beyond animating a “silent majority” of people who are sick to death of corruption and the creeping totalitarianism. He also appears to actually care about America and its people in his own weird way. Is he a hero? Certainly not, but he was a shot in the arm that IMO was needed. It had nothing to do with policy or party, it was (and is) always about personality.

    • Tundra

      Agree completely. He was a major disappointment in most ways, but he woke up a lot of people.

    • Festus

      Agreed ?. He loves his idea of America. He is sincere in his beliefs.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I’d caveat that with if he wasn’t sincere, he at least knew what the role was and played it well.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Trump has some good ideas and maybe some good intentions as well but, at least as it comes to running government, he was a rigid thinking fuck up. Hopefully someone who knows what he’s doin, DeSantis maybe, can fill his shoes and not get steamrolled.

      • commodious spittoon

        Trump is the right’s equivalent of choosing the worst poster child for a mostly righteous cause.

      • juris imprudent

        So here’s another Huxley Crome Yellow quote:

        Wherever the choice has had to be made between the man of reason and the madman, the world has unhesitatingly followed the madman.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I also think he was the only GOPer who had a shot at beating Clinton. So I’m grateful for that alone.

      Agree with the idea that Trump truly loves the country and tried in his way to do what is right for most of us.

    • Not Adahn

      The political class is an insular, interdependent bunch of log-rolling backscratchers. There will never be reform from within. And they’re doing everything they can to seal it up tighter so an outsider with extraordinary resources can’t get in again.

    • juris imprudent

      Trump’s entire Swamp shtick is rehashed Reaganism – which itself was the real life enactment of the cinematic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The most fearsome words in the English language? “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”.

      This is the stuff that drives me nuts, and that should only be coming from the illiterate and ahistorical left. Please.

      • l0b0t

        Still waiting for St. Ronnie’s promised abolishment of the Federal Dept. of Education and the BATFE. Should be happening any minute now.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Now that was a betrayal of campaign promises that we will be paying for all the way to America’s grave.

      • Gustave Lytton

        *cough*conscription registration*cough*

      • juris imprudent

        It’s like Lucy with the football, and we’re all Charlie Brown, every fucking time.

  27. Q Continuum

    ““Mr. Biden could usher in a new era that fundamentally expands the size and role of the federal government,” The New York Times reported.”

    …as it approached orgasm from its vigorous self-abuse.

    Just finishing the quote.

  28. Festus

    It’s also Sugarfree Day so I got that going for me which is a good thing…

  29. The Late P Brooks

    But he really is an Oreo

    A Texas county’s Democratic Party rejected the resignation of its chairman Tuesday, days after he described Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) as an “oreo.”

    Lamar County Democratic Party chairman Gary O’Connor, who is white, told the Washington Examiner in a statement that he was “deeply and sincerely sorry” for using the “racist term” against Scott, one of three black senators and the only black Republican.

    “It was insensitive and I have embarrassed myself and my party by its use,” O’Connor’s statement read.

    However, the Lamar County Democratic Party issued its own statement late Tuesday.

    “Our local Democrats have taken the last few days to reflect upon this incident,” the organization said, according to MyParisTexas.com.

    “After much discussion — especially among our local [b]lack Democrats — we chose not to accept Mr. O’Connor’s resignation.”

    ——-

    The party’s statement concluded that O’Connor’s “life of service, collaboration, and activism for racial justice is well known throughout this community. His recent remark is incompatible with his core values.

    “Lamar County Democrats recommit ourselves to conduct our private conversations and our public social media discussions with anti-racist, pro-reconciling attitudes and language. We strongly condemn bigotry of any kind and will continue our historic efforts to work for justice and equality for all our fellow citizens.”

    O’Connor used the slur, commonly used to describe a black person perceived to be acting like a typical white person, on his personal Facebook page after Scott delivered the formal Republican response to President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress last week.

    We now return to our regularly scheduled hypocrisy.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      “we chose not to accept Mr. O’Connor’s resignation”

      How convenient.

    • Rat on a train

      #MeToo

    • Tejicano

      “we chose not to accept Mr. O’Connor’s resignation”

      …an agreement which I’m certain was in no way arranged before he even considered resigning.

  30. Pope Jimbo

    Over/Under on when a judge rules that Trump can’t ban people on his new platform?

    • UnCivilServant

      Heck they can probably find a judge that says the existence of the platform infringes on the rights of Twitter and Facebook.

      • Pope Jimbo

        The judge will probably compromise and allow Trump’s platform to continue to operate under a consent decree that says he has to honor requests by Twitter and Facebook to take down content that they deem improper.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      I was thinking more his web hosting will get pulled. If he had vision and really gave a damn he’d sink his efforts into providing that kind of service because that’s the censor’s ultimate ace in the hole.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Actually, he might be better positioned to create an alternative to some of the payment processors, IMO. PayPal and Stripe have caved to activists in the past, an alternative would be worthwhile and potentially very lucrative.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        This too…the clampdown on payment processing and credit for wrongthinkers is worrying to say the least.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        It would require its own infrastructure as well, I suppose. The hosting/cloud providers have proven to be ideologues and/or spineless cowards.

      • Gadfly

        an alternative would be worthwhile and potentially very lucrative.

        The Fox News of banking. There’s a whole bunch of potential market share just sitting there for the taking.

      • Q Continuum

        ^^^This beyond belief. If I were a zillionaire I would already be building AWS-style datacenters in some liberty-friendly state like Wyoming and offering cloud hosting to anyone and everyone with the explicit agreement that you can’t be terminated for any reason besides truly illegal stuff (kiddie porn, etc.)

        You would make an obscene amount of money, but you need a shitload of startup capital because no SV wokester is gonna fund that.

      • commodious spittoon

        Weeding out fifth columnist applicants is a must, too… much of the activism is coming from inside the house.

        I suppose locating your business outside blue state hothouses has that effect already.

      • Gadfly

        Weeding out fifth columnist applicants is a must, too… much of the activism is coming from inside the house.

        Mandatory firearms safety/proficiency training would be a start. If companies can have mandatory diversity training, surely unwoke companies can have mandatory unwoke training of a sort.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        This is actually a good idea and would serve as a pretty good selector.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I dunno, I have run ranges with Intel Officers that touch a weapon every five years, at most. It is terrifying.

        “No, no, sir that is the end that goes bang. I’d like it very much if you stopped using to wave to the Battalion Commander.”

      • Gustave Lytton

        Transit and IX providers would be pressured to drop them as customers, just as payment providers were.

      • commodious spittoon

        That and payment processors.

      • Rat on a train

        Payment processors are the hardest to overcome. There are registrars that support free-speech. ISPs haven’t gone woke yet, so you can host your own hardware. But if you rely on income, you need one of the few payment processor networks which have not been friends of free speech.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        And are highly regulated and therefore susceptible to political influence from the Feds.

      • Rat on a train

        I don’t know who is hosting, but GoDaddy is the registrar, so there is that risk.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        That’s yet another thing that meeds more viable alternatives.

      • Rat on a train

        There are pro speech registrars like Rob Monster’s Epik. You can also become a register if you have the cash (I believe it is a few thousand for application, a few thousand each year, and a cost per registration.

    • Not Adahn

      Why would they need to do that? Precedent has already been set!

    • Count Potato

      It’s not a social media platform. As far as I know, people can read it, subscribe to alerts, but can’t comment.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Well some judge needs to get cracking on fixing that! How can people virtue signal their opposition to Trump if he doesn’t allow comments? That is a clear deprivation of their right to express themselves.

  31. The Hyperbole

    Am I the only one who can’t figure out why we are suppose to care about the McCarthy-Luntz thing?*

    *I am not criticizing Banjos for linking it, I’m wondering why Tucker is raising such a stink.

    • Q Continuum

      I have no idea either. Is renting a room to someone of the same sex now a scandalous thing to do?

    • Not Adahn

      I think it’s supposed to be a combination of outrage at the incestuous nature of the ruling class, as well as a sense of betrayal that a purported Repub leader is so tight with a progthinker.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Swamp creatures are gonna swamp.

      • The Hyperbole

        I thought Luntz was a republican pollster? Or isn’t he the guy that was always on Fox with his panel of voters?

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      I think the point they are making is that there is a potential legislator/lobbyist conflict of interest or ethical issue. Not that I am super-wound up about it either.

      • rhywun

        That plus as Not alluded to above, the lobbyist is purportedly a prog who for some reason has a lot of power over the GOP.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Seems like a tempest in the beltway teacup to me. But, we shall see.

    • Festus

      Because Luntz is a neo-lib and Carlson is a neo-con.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Carlson strikes me as more of a conservative populist.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I think he is more populist now, but he was a full bore Neo-Con in the past.

      • Drake

        He’s moved towards Paleo-Con now. Probably not far from Pat Buchanan who was right about the Bush’s.

    • Rat on a train

      Don’t tell him who Mary Matalin shacks up with.

      • Not Adahn

        To be fair, both of them are too hideous for anyone else to fuck them.

      • l0b0t

        But, she was fantastic in Children Of A Lesser God.

      • Rat on a train

        Quiet, you!

      • Swiss Servator

        That is punishment for her, in and of itself.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    I also think he was the only GOPer who had a shot at beating Clinton. So I’m grateful for that alone.

    No kidding. Trump will always be the best President of my lifetime because he kicked that harpy lunatic out of the goal.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Well, to be fair she was missing slapshots from the crease too. The deplorable comments and transparent pandering were essentially own goals.

      • rhywun

        The Dems are pretty openly contemptuous of the voters (not that the GOP is much different) so I doubt the “deplorables” thing hurt her at all. I think she would have handily beat any of the others besides Donald.

      • Q Continuum

        As alluded to above, he was the only one with the stones to actually call it as he saw it. He called her corrupt, he pointed out her obvious health problems, he insulted her… All that stuff people already knew but were afraid to say.

      • Gadfly

        As alluded to above, he was the only one with the stones to actually call it as he saw it.

        Heck, he invited one of her husband’s rape victims to be his guest at one of their debates, when she was talking about character and such. He did not pull any punches.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        He was the only one who could beat Clinton but also the only one who could lose to Biden but I guess the coronavirus didn’t help there.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        And the media going full Pravda.

      • Q Continuum

        …and wokester Big Tech playing MiniTrue.

      • Pope Jimbo

        My fear is that every other GOP candidate would have listened to the “experts” in how to beat her and would have lost badly. None of them would have personally made a big stink about her emails. They would have taken the high road because the pollsters told them that going after a woman would look bad.

        “And who are you to knock my ability to make a slapshot from my crease? You try it! Those other guys used sticks. Talk about cheating.”

        – Hillary

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Definitely. See Mittens v. Obama. Obama was actually pretty vulnerable in 2012 but the GOP nominated the one guy that was guaranteed to lose (badly) to him. I don’t remember the GOP primary field being particularly remarkable that cycle either.

      • Rat on a train

        If you are going to lose, lose with Ron Paul, not Mittens.

  33. Festus

    Which one of you wise people mentioned that Greek philosopher that taught about your worries becoming reality a couple of weeks ago? It really seems to be coming true in my life and I need to study those words more closely. Thanks in advance.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Sorry to hear that.

      I don’t remember that: was it one of the Stoics? Joan Didion? 😉

    • Ozymandias

      I would guess Seneca off the top of my head, but any of the major Stoics would probably be good guesses, too.
      Look for a guy that has a name kinda like yours… ends in ‘-us’.
      You’re welcome.

      • juris imprudent

        Commodus? [ducks and runs while laughing maniacally]

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        No no.. it’s Ficus.

        Specifically, the one that was in the employ of Harvey Weinstein.

      • UnCivilServant

        I haven’t seen Commodius in a while.

  34. The Other Kevin

    The Dems can’t help but overreach. They do it every time. The question is, would people get tired of it before they “fortified” the country to give themselves a permanent majority? Still too early to tell, but I like all the positive signs.

    • Festus

      You’re right about that but just remember, one of the most cogent amongst us only copped to a 136 IQ. That was my score and I’m a janitor.

  35. robc

    Baseball birthdays…HoFer Chief Bender, with the inappropriate nickname.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      All over-50s to ‘get a third Covid jab in autumn’ to stop third wave – so Britain never needs another lockdown

      “Two weeks to flatten the curve…”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Holy fuck, they’re still quoting this asshole?

      Professor Neil Ferguson said the booster jab could spell the end for lockdowns forever.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Damn, so two shots per year in perpetuity. The vaccine makers must be happier than pigs in shit.

    • Swiss Servator

      I dislike that term “jab”. That is a punch from a boxer or a remark similar in nature.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        The Brits like it; IDKY.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    The Atlantic sucks its thumb and ruminates on anti-vaxxers

    After many conversations and email exchanges, I came to understand what I think of as the deep story of the American no-vaxxer. And I think the best way to see it clearly is to contrast it with my own story.

    My view of the vaccines begins with my view of the pandemic. I really don’t want to get COVID-19. Not only do I want to avoid an illness with uncertain long-term implications, but I also don’t want to pass it along to somebody in a high-risk category, such as my grandmother or an immunocompromised stranger. For more than a year, I radically changed my life to avoid infection. So I was thrilled to hear that the vaccines were effective at blocking severe illness and transmission. I eagerly signed up to take both my shots, even after reading all about the side effects.

    The under-50 no-vaxxers’ deep story has a very different starting place. It begins like this:

    The coronavirus is a wildly overrated threat. Yes, it’s appropriate and good to protect old and vulnerable people. But I’m not old or vulnerable. If I get it, I’ll be fine. In fact, maybe I have gotten it, and I am fine. I don’t know why I should consider this disease more dangerous than driving a car, a risky thing I do every day without a moment’s worry. Liberals, Democrats, and public-health elites have been so wrong so often, we’d be better off doing the opposite of almost everything they say.

    Think for yourself? That’s just crazy.

    • Q Continuum

      “Liberals, Democrats, and public-health elites have been so wrong so often, we’d be better off doing the opposite of almost everything they say.”

      Yes. And?

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Although I think I’m right about the vaccines, the truth is that my thinking on this issue is motivated. I canceled vacations, canceled my wedding, avoided indoor dining, and mostly stayed home for 15 months. All that sucked. I am rooting for the vaccines to work.

    But the no-vaxxers I spoke with just don’t care. They’ve traveled, eaten in restaurants, gathered with friends inside, gotten COVID-19 or not gotten COVID-19, survived, and decided it was no big deal. What’s more, they’ve survived while flouting the advice of the CDC, the WHO, Anthony Fauci, Democratic lawmakers, and liberals, whom they don’t trust to give them straight answers on anything virus-related.

    The no-vaxxers’ reasoning is motivated too. Specifically, they’re motivated to distrust public-health authorities who they’ve decided are a bunch of phony neurotics, and they’re motivated to see the vaccines as a risky pharmaceutical experiment, rather than as a clear breakthrough that might restore normal life (which, again, they barely stopped living). This is the no-vaxxer deep story in a nutshell: I trust my own cells more than I trust pharmaceutical goop; I trust my own mind more than I trust liberal elites‪.

    The horror.

    The HORROR.

    • Tundra

      That made my day. Thanks, Brooksie!

    • Q Continuum

      “But the no-vaxxers I spoke with just don’t care. They’ve traveled, eaten in restaurants, gathered with friends inside, gotten COVID-19 or not gotten COVID-19, survived, and decided it was no big deal. What’s more, they’ve survived while flouting the advice of the CDC, the WHO, Anthony Fauci, Democratic lawmakers, and liberals, whom they don’t trust to give them straight answers on anything virus-related.”

      With therapy you can overcome your crippling fear of the world and enjoy life too, you just have to have the courage to admit you are ill.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        and cowards.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      a clear breakthrough that might restore normal life

      Not to mention, the undisputable fact that nobody knows what the long-term effects of the vaccines are.

    • Akira

      But the no-vaxxers I spoke with just don’t care. They’ve traveled, eaten in restaurants, gathered with friends inside, gotten COVID-19 or not gotten COVID-19, survived, and decided it was no big deal.

      Most Branch Covidians are doing whatever the fuck they feel like, but they do their penance by castigating the heretics and proclaiming the gospel of the mask. Someone I know is taking advantage of the telecommuting by going on a months-long pleasure trip all over the US and periodically sends emails with photos and updates about where they are right now – they often contain some line like “I went to this bar and couldn’t believe how many people were in there, it’s like they don’t care about this virus at all.

      Specifically, they’re motivated to distrust public-health authorities

      The models were ridiculously wrong, there’s no demonstrable correlation between lockdown/masked states and free states, and Dr. Fauci has admitted that he just fabricates things if they sound good and he thinks the public will believe them. At this point, the ball is in their court to explain to me why I should trust public health “authorities”.

      they’re motivated to see the vaccines as a risky pharmaceutical experiment

      We have zero knowledge about the long-term effects of these vaccines, just the word of government and Big Pharma (oh so trustworthy). I’m not seeing why this is some kooky conspiracy theory.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Per the Nicholas Wade article on medium, it is obvious that they have been actively lying about the origins of the virus. Primarily because the NIH, Fauci, and Collins are directly implicated in the outbreak. They have been scrambling to cover their asses ever since.

        I can not and will not believe a single fucking word that comes out of that weasel Fauci’s mouth. He should be hanging from a lamp post for his crimes along with many other virologists and immunologists that have put their careers ahead of the wellbeing of the public.

    • Nephilium

      Well… I had to cancel a couple of my vacations. So I went on other ones.

      Speaking of, summer trip is booked now. Girlfriend and I will be heading up to Put-In-Bay again (her choice) for pirate weekend, with a day or two spent over at Cedar Point (we got the season passes last year, since they would be good through this year as well). In a good news for the island side, it’s a lot harder to find a room this summer then it was last summer. And when I spoke to the hotel, they’re planning on having all of their outdoor bars and entertainment open this year (3 swim up pool bars, and a pirate ship bar). The law allowing the state legislature to override all of DeWine’s health orders goes into effect the day before we’re planning on heading up.

      • UnCivilServant

        The law allowing the state legislature to override all of DeWine’s health orders goes into effect the day before we’re planning on heading up.

        So you won’t be around when I’m headed into Ohio then.

      • Nephilium

        We’ll be in Ohio, out in the Sandusky/Erie islands area. Last weekend in June.

        The girlfriend chose the weekend for the pirate festivities on the island.

      • Pope Jimbo

        What is the reason Ohio/Lake Erie has a pirate festival? What is the connection?

        Besides the predilection of Ohioans for other men’s booty.

      • Nephilium

        Because there used to be pirates in the Great Lakes (as well as privateers). The lakes are an international border, and used to be more contested.

      • DEG

        I like this.

    • Rat on a train

      “They don’t trust us after all our lies!”

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      I don’t understand. Is the writer making a caricature or parody of the no-vaxxer position? Because these all seem like entirely reasonable, if not excellent, points from the no-vaxxers.

      Reminds of the libertarian character on Parks and Rec. I think Ron Swanson was supposed to be a ridiculous caricature of a libertarian from the Hollywood viewpoint but he just comes off as the best character.

    • rhywun

      Yeah. And?

    • Fourscore

      “She has finally conceded she had a one-night stand”

      2X a week for the last 4 years?

      • Rat on a train

        one-night stand = every Wednesday night?

  38. The Late P Brooks

    From my conversations, I see three ways to persuade no-vaxxers: make it more convenient to get a shot; make it less convenient to not get a shot; or encourage them to think more socially.

    It always comes down to the iron fist.

    If wheedling won’t work, and shunning won’t work, get the cat-o-nine-tails.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      I can’t be persuaded, or convinced,
      I Will Not Comply, its a religious thing for me,

    • AlexinCT

      He is just doing that to fuck with the statistics that say serial killers are predominantly men….

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Millions of people want to go to sporting events, attend concerts, or travel internationally. If those who cannot prove that they’ve been vaccinated are denied service, I expect that some will sign up for shots purely as a means of reengaging in their favorite activities. “If all or most countries instituted vaccine passports, that might change [my mind],” Younes, the attorney, told me.

    But the cultural backlash against domestic restrictions could be prodigious. If blue-state governors and sports stadiums deny economic activities to the unvaccinated while red-state stadiums allow anybody to sit at a bar or in the bleachers, it will deepen the culture-war tensions between scolding liberals and accommodating conservatives in a way that might not be good for Democrats politically, even if they have the upper hand in the public-health argument.

    And if people finally take a long hard look at the real world outcomes of those lockdowns and mask mandates and the rest of hysterical Foochyism, and how ineffectual it all was…

    You and the rest of your cult might find yourselves an endangered species, and we wouldn’t want that, would we? We have to find a way to force those evil red staters to get with the program.

    • B.P.

      The cult runs deep, though. Anecdotally, I hear a lot of, “I went to [insert state full of crazy right-wingers]. Those people are behaving normally, like there’s no pandemic. It’s insane.”

  40. Festus

    Which school of Philosophy was that? I need to sleep sometime. I never went to real college.

    • Nephilium

      I believe the one that was being referenced frequently was Stoicism.

      • juris imprudent

        And the most notable of Stoics was Marcus Aurelius.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        No. Shave that off! Where is my rolled-up newspaper?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Looks like some kind of Smurf fetishist but what’s with the wings? Why oh why do people who ostensibly base their credibility on real world stuff allow photos like this to get out (a quick search shows several that are similar)?

  41. tarran

    Here in MA, I’ve noticed there’s not much talk of a vaccine passport.

    Then this morning, after getting my first shot, I was reading the packet they handed out and lo and behold I found this:

    Massachusetts Immunization Information System (MIIS)
    The Massachusetts Immunization Information System (MIIS) is a web-based immunization registry.

    The Massachusetts Department of Public Health Immunization Division is committed to promoting the health of Massachusetts’ citizens by reducing the burden of vaccine preventable diseases that affect the residents of the Commonwealth. As part of this effort, in 2011 the MDPH Immunization Division launched MIIS. The MIIS is in the process of being rolled out statewide and once fully implemented will be the official source of immunization information for Massachusetts.

    The goal of the MIIS is to give health care providers and families a tool to help ensure that all individuals are immunized based on the latest recommendations. The MIIS will establish a complete, accurate, secure, real-time immunization record for residents of Massachusetts of all ages.

    An immunization registry provides numerous benefits to all those involved in the health care of children and adults, contributing to a higher immunization rate and a healthier population.

    * Providers have access to more complete immunization records of their patients and receive clinical decision support in accordance with an increasingly complex vaccination schedule.
    * Individuals, parents and caregivers get reminders when an immunization has been missed. Up-to-date information on a person’s vaccination history helps to prevent over-immunization.
    * Schools will be able to save time in complying with immunization requirements.
    * Public health systems will use the information to help monitor and control vaccine preventable diseases.

    Opting out is easy as pie. You have to crawl through several pages to find the link for the opt out form (which is also the opt-in form… hmmm), which collects all sorts of information (why do you need my phone number, guys), which if turned into your health care provider – requires the provider to provide information about themselves – but can be faxed into the department directly.

    Reading the verbiage, one thing that leaps out… they make no promise to delete your info; they just won’t update it anymore. And most people will only find out about this thanks to the Covid-19 vaccine – ergo that info will be in the system regardless.

    The upshot is that almost nobody will do it, and if there are any refusenik doctors out there, the system will identify them right quick.

    Remember how the Nazis had an easy time rounding up jews because they had access to Census data on punch-cards going back to WW-I? I do.

    Can’t move out of this state fast enough – two more years until my custody arrangement with the ex expires and I can leave this expletive deleted polity.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The nurse was rather astounded yesterday that I wasn’t getting the shot. I was not able to determine if she was notating it in a state record.

      • tarran

        I’ve been shilling Ozy’s book to people who are aghast at reluctance to take the vaccine. So far no luck. They all look at me like I have grown dandelions from my forehead. They just change the conversation.

      • DEG

        Every state has a vaccine registry.

        The details will vary from state to state.

        In NH, any time you ask a medical provider about getting a vaccine, you go to a medical provider for a vaccine, or a medical provider offers you a vaccine, that is an event that is to be recorded in the vaccine registry. So in NH, I think that would be enough to get you in the registry. Normally you can opt-out using a procedure very similar to what tarran describes above. However, the Clown Prince decided to issue an emergency order preventing an opt-out for COVID-19 vaccines.

    • tarran

      To make it a little clearer, the infrastructure for a MA vaccine passport has been put in place. Right now they are only sharing with schools. Next it will be youth sports in extracurricular leagues. I would be pleasantly surprised if at the end of the summer they don’t open it up to places like Fenway Park as a voluntary resource as part of the final reopening and the establishment of the “new normal”.

      No debate – no reasoned acceptance or rejection by the populace, just the technocrats imposing their will using a soothing variant of the salami strategy.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Are you surprised? There were probably dozens of companies in the Boston area that were climbing over each other to implement that scheme.

      • tarran

        Not at all. This state is Mussolini’s wet dream.

    • Akira

      I hear that some bad people might be sitting at home thinking of ways to hoax the “vaccine passport” systems. An electronic one is hard to do. I think the only way would be to somehow convince a doctor to give you a vaccination appointment and mark the process as completed without actually sticking the needle into your arm.

      • tarran

        No way that’s happening at the facility where I got my shot.

        Everything is done out in the open in a facility with a very high ceiling. The various roles are dispersed among many people all working under the eyes of dedicated monitors. One person puts demographic info on your card. The vaccinator takes your card and puts it out of your reach the moment you sit down.

        If you are slow, or turn the wrong way, a facilitator is on you like a shot to move you along. I think the staff keep people moving along so that they don’t have time to have second thoughts or change their mind.

        It’s brilliantly set up.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I think the only way would be to somehow convince a doctor to give you a vaccination appointment and mark the process as completed without actually sticking the needle into your arm.

        I’ve thought this is the best bet. There are docs will prescribe X for cash. They’re difficult to find but exist. One was arrested and convicted near me not too long ago. Similar for medical marijuana back when recreation was still illegal. We might see a resurgence in docs who are willing to shoot the vax into the trash.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Aren’t the vaccine registries operating in every state now? I thought I saw a day or so ago here that NH was one of the last holdouts.

      • DEG

        Yes.

      • DEG

        I did a little digging, and found this. It’s not just the states. DC has one. Some cities and counties have them too.

      • CPRM

        DC IS a state, facist!

      • Gustave Lytton

        Then it’s only a matter of an interstate compact and it’s off to sharing between like drivers licenses. Wonderful.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Back to this:

    What’s more, they’ve survived while flouting the advice of the CDC, the WHO, Anthony Fauci, Democratic lawmakers, and liberals, whom they don’t trust to give them straight answers on anything virus-related.

    This guy is seriously pissed that there is no pile of bodies to stand on.

    How can he do his “TOLDJA SO!” dance if there is no giant mound of festering corpses to prove him right?

    • CPRM

      I saw a promo that Fauci is going to be on Kimmel this week. That little gremlin sure loves his spotlight.

      • Akira

        Hence why he is intent on keeping this shit going for as long as possible. He wants his name in the history books as the hero of the pandemic along with Jonas Salk and John Snow (even though instead of doing any actual life-saving research, he just postures for the government as a Doctor™ to lend credibility to their policies).

        I’m sure he’s also going to have a bullshit book ghostwritten and make tons of money off that, too.

  43. Drake

    More cryptocurrency millionaires. While I applaud alternatives to the dollar and will dabble in cypto myself when paychecks start coming in again – I get worried about an economic system that makes people very rich who have added no value to the economy.
    Ethereum, Dogecoin hit records
    Between spending and debt levels previously unimaginable, inflation already obvious to anyone paying attention, and help-wanted signs everywhere because unemployment benefits are too lucrative… I’m getting a really bad feeling about the economy.

    • CPRM

      It all depends on if the value is from scarcity and real value or simple speculation. The Salton Sea was once valued land…

    • Rat on a train

      I get worried about an economic system that makes people very rich who have added no value to the economy.

      Kardashians and others.

  44. juris imprudent

    We should refer to the Commonwealth as the Three P’s: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania.

  45. trshmnstr the terrible

    In-house lawyer industry group just dropped their schedule for their annual meeting. Nearly 60 topics of discussion spanning a week. a solid 30% are diversity/woke/ESG related. What a world we live in…

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Fiddling while Rome burns (thru all available credit)

    • LJW

      Our company just banned several internal color coded terms because someone complained they could be perceived as racist… I no longer feel safe at my company, any obviously harmless comment could be twisted into something offensive and I’ll end up with HR calling me.

      • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

        So they created a blacklist of terms?

      • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

        Sorry. I should have capitalized that. A Blacklist of Terms.

      • CPRM

        This is why I’m glad my department has policy of not talking to anyone outside of the department, and they are all scared to talk to us. That and that when I go on break they don’t want to sit near me, so I can get all those farts out.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    After due consideration, we decided we were right

    Facebook was justified in its decision to suspend former President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the company’s oversight board said on Wednesday.

    That means the company does not have to reinstate Trump’s access to Facebook and Instagram immediately. But the panel said the company was wrong to impose an indefinite ban and said Facebook has six months to either restore Trump’s account, make his suspension permanent, or suspend him for a specific period of time.

    Freedom of association is in everybody’s best interest. Unless you use it to oppress anybody in our bestiary of protected species. That is strictly verboten.

  47. DEG

    Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), a populist who supported the project, wrote in a statement that he “will never understand why I was one of the only elected officials who pushed for this major project proactively and enthusiastically, while so many others turned their back on the working men and women of the Steelworkers and Building Trades in Allegheny County.”

    Sense from Fetterman? WTF?

    • Swiss Servator

      Post-hoc Ass covering – knows a lot of votes will be lost because of this.

    • juris imprudent

      Safe positioning statement – after all there isn’t anything he can do to overrule them.

  48. Sean

    https://www.pennlive.com/coronavirus/2021/05/us-parents-excited-by-the-idea-of-children-getting-coronavirus-vaccines.html

    That is welcome news for Robin and Aaron Perry of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, who have five boys, ages 5 to 17. Their oldest, Cooper, has been battling leukemia and contracted COVID-19 in November, in what his mother described as a “terrifying” time for the family. The disease spread to the rest of the family.

    They all pulled through, and Cooper and his parents have all since been vaccinated. But his mother can’t wait for her 15-year-old, Reece, and 12-year-old, Tucker, to get their shots so their brother is as protected as possible.

    Emphasis added.

    • Drake

      If they all had it, they are as protected as possible. Now they are just using experimental drugs on their kids for the hell of it,

      • CPRM

        You don’t understand, because you don’t have kids! And if you do, you’re a MONSTER! This is why we all need to come together, to do what I want!

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I just don’t understand how anyone can be that stupid. Wasn’t there a doctor raising his hand and saying “Hey, uh yeah, ummm… yeah… that isn’t necessary or advisable.”

      • CPRM

        An anti-vaxx doctor?! Get him/her/they!

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        There are a lot of people walking among us that I’m honestly surprised don’t drown in heavy rainstorms like domesticated turkeys supposedly do. Getting vaccinated if you’ve had it already is beyond stupid and doubly so for kids.

      • rhywun

        Well, until next fall when all of this starts over again from scratch.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        No kidding, I’m going to start brainstorming rational investment strategies based on covid irrationality. If I play my cards right I stand to make a mint.

      • CPRM

        Don’t forget the Q folks that think…fuck, I can’t even keep up…Everybody is crazy on both sides, and it’s not even the fun kind of crazy.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Yeah. And then there’s the team uber alles, fuck any honesty, principles, or desire to seek the truth.

    • grrizzly

      Brainwashed by Fauci and the media.

    • juris imprudent

      Because Idiocracy wasn’t happening fast enough.

    • CPRM

      I’m all for that, I suck at math. Those fags are lame! (wait! What did I say that got you mad? Ah! *is cast into the fires of hell*)

    • Rat on a train

      To be equitable, all students will take the same classes from K-12 and will receive the same grade.

      • CPRM

        Surely the rich kids can give their fair share of the grades to those more deserving.

    • rhywun

      “The push to calculus in grade twelve is itself misguided,” says the framework.

      LOL. We’re really speeding down the drain faster than I would have expected.

      Congratulations, America. You did this to yourself.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        !(*^&$@&*^%!*&%!!!

        As someone who started their career in a technical field, this is a load of fucking bullshit.

      • Rat on a train

        Certain toothpastes can help with calculus.

      • rhywun

        I… can’t even, that is so heinous.

        Well done.

      • The Other Kevin

        There are some that think China is behind all this. That doesn’t seem so crazy now.

      • rhywun

        If they’re not behind it, they are absofuckinglutely enjoying the hell out of it.

      • Rat on a train

        As evidence for this claim, the framework cites the fact that many students who take calculus end up having to retake it in college anyway.

        Remedial math and English say hi.

      • CPRM

        When I went to college no one told me there was an entrance exam for English for the school, so I had to take a remedial class. The prof apologized that I had to take it, as I would have aced her 101 class. When I transferred, that class transferred as 101.

      • Rat on a train

        Bureaucratic cracks hit again. I recall the English placement test was really short. Something like read a one page statement and write paragraph-size responses to a few questions. The math placement test actually took time.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        And whose fault is that?

      • Rat on a train

        white supremacy? patriarchy? Canada?

    • rhywun

      “we reject ideas of natural gifts and talents”

      Just… wow.

      We are so fucked.

      • Mojeaux

        I … can’t even.

      • Rat on a train

        Well, we reject them when they help groups we hate. Natural gifts are great when they help our favored groups.

  49. juris imprudent

    About wokeness and standing against it.

    I also learned to fight fire with fire by using their woke moral code against them. When a staff member said I couldn’t speak to a topic because I’m straight, I told her it was wrong to assume about my sexuality just because I’m married to a man. She immediately groveled.

    Incredibly, when staff members were forced to concede some of their demands were contrary to the best mental health research, they persisted, claiming “deep personal conviction” as their justification. These were professionals with clinical training and advanced degrees from respected institutions. It was disheartening. At this point it was evident there was no good-faith dialogue to be had. We were dealing with ideological devotion rather than a commitment to seeking truth.

    • The Other Kevin

      It’s all sociology. And sociology is not science.

      There, I said it.

  50. Pope Jimbo

    In fishing news, godless Wisconsinite rips my heart out with his 6.3lb sunfish.

    Uffda, I’d love to catch a sunny that big. Might have to make a trip to Lake Havasu next spring.

    • CPRM

      Farchione

      That name isn’t native, german or polish, no way he’s really a sconnie.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Uff da, I tink you might be fegittin’ someun…

    • Shpip

      If he fed that to his family, they’d be filled to the bream.

  51. Yusef drives a Kia

    Where’s my lunchtime Jomala?

  52. CPRM

    Biden must have banned SugarFree! Now is the time to riot!

    • CPRM

      #DLM Diabetic Lives Matter!

    • Gender Traitor

      I hope this isn’t like Sunday morning – the right-pointing arrow never appeared on the overnight’s post page, so anyone who’d showed up early thought the AM links had never posted, and they’d been there all along.

    • SugarFree

      Work forced to me post a fill-in post lurking in drafts.