Monday Afternoon Links of Cold

by | Jan 10, 2022 | Daily Links | 246 comments

Seen in my neighborhood?

Last couple of days have tested my ability to handle cold (it seems like I have never gotten it back after a year in Iraq). So far I can take it in the short term, but another day or so of this, I might end up sitting next to the space heater and refusing to move.

But the world continues moving along (much like many newly fired NFL coaches and GMs) so lets go take a look at it.

  • I didn’t know RPGs and 107 mm rockets were used for “humanitarian purposes“?
  • The language of our TEAM BLUE is spreading?
  • Whycome French people get an article like this, from a “mainstream” site….but here…nah.
  • This guy is still talking?

I am going to go boil up some tea or such.

About The Author

Swiss Servator

Swiss Servator

Currently serving at the pleasure of a Swiss multinational. Previously a Soldier, rugby player, lawyer, bouncer, bartender, substitute teacher, risk manager, and cubicle mushroom. Will work for raclette.

246 Comments

  1. Spudalicious

    And Spud slips it in first.

      • SDF-7

        Mrs. Potato Head?

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        Does a potato have spudenda?

      • pistoffnick

        HEY! My eyes are up here!

  2. Tres Cool

    Jesus H. Shiva
    At least my 1st is still superior over 2nd

  3. Shpip

    A lot of people thought this pandemic would just be temporary – and I’m one of them. I’m young, I’m in good health, and I tell myself that my body can take on Covid. I follow public health measures even more strictly than people who’ve been vaccinated. But if the whole thing drags on – if in three years’ time I still have to get a health pass to sit at a café – I might change my mind.”

    That guy is a lot more patient than I would be.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      “Sonia”, 27, lawyer: ‘I’d prefer to wait and see what happens with the vaccine’

      “I had Covid two months ago. I’m almost glad I had it because I wasn’t seriously ill and I got immunity. The immunity gave me a health pass, which I’ve had ever since.

      Before, I used my sister’s. She lives in a different city. No one has ever checked my identity, neither in France nor in Italy, where I’ve been several times. Often, people don’t even ask me for the pass.

      I didn’t want to get the vaccine because I thought this pandemic would eventually pass, because I don’t need it to work, and because I’d prefer to wait and see what happens with the vaccine. But if the same situation continues and the pass remains in effect, I’ll probably get vaccinated when my health pass expires.”

      Just get covid again.

      • rhywun

        What the fuck is wrong with people that they see nothing wrong with having to show papers everywhere?! JHTFC!!

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Sonia is a lawyer, being unvaxxed is her only redeemable quality.

      • grrizzly

        The vast majority of people don’t have any problem with that.

      • rhywun

        To get on a bus? To enter a restaurant?

        Am I taking crazy pills?? This is not normal.

      • Tonio

        But it’s an *emergency* rhywun. Our rights will return as soon as everyone gets vaxed.

      • grrizzly

        My mom shows her QR-code to visit cafes, movie theaters, concerts, operas, swimming pools. Buses don’t require QR-codes. But for a couple of weeks malls and non-grocery stores required them too. She is completely undisturbed by it. Rather proud that she managed to install an app from gosuslugi.ru and her account works. Some of her vaccinated friends failed to accomplish this and cannot go to many places. A piece of paper is not enough in Russia, everybody would use fake ones, you must have a QR-code.

      • DEG

        Several of my relatives are fine with it.

      • R C Dean

        I’ve talked to people who were positively envious that CA has COVID passes, and wishes benighted AZ would follow their enlightened lead.

      • DEG

        Oh, and that Boston Swing dance I used to go to, the one that requires proof of vaccination (including boosters) and masks at all times? I’ve heard that folks like this.

        They’ve also stopped dances because of fears of Omicron.

        This weekend I plan to be in PA for a Swing dance that has none of that shit.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Do they know also that gullible isn’t in the dictionary?

  4. Shpip

    Some neighbouring countries are stepping up calls for the international community to take action to tackle a humanitarian crisis unfolding amidst the harsh Afghan winter.

    Turns out that the ‘international community’ is doing just that — only not in the way you’d like.

  5. Rebel Scum

    The World Health Organization’s special envoy on COVID-19 said Monday there’s an “end in sight” to the pandemic — but warned of a “difficult” three months ahead with the spread of the Omicron variant.

    It won’t be over until we are all dead.

    • Sean

      They can pfuck off with that.

    • UnCivilServant

      Why would we need one when we can just recover from Omicron for free?

      • rhywun

        So you never get it again, duh. It’s like you don’t even know what a “vaccine” is.

    • Sensei

      Moderna also put out a “hold my beer” press release and says it will have one too.

      • rhywun

        It’s almost like they’re chasing federal dollars or something.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I don’t think having them shovel dollars into your front door requires much chasing.

    • Drake

      Right after everyone has had it. They’ll try to force you to take it anyhow so you can further destroy your immune system.

    • The Other Kevin

      They’re just printing themselves money at this point. I don’t have the skills to do it, but I’d love to see that audio dubbed over a guy sitting on a yacht with a big fur coat and 20 fat gold chains, surrounded by scantily clad women, and lighting a cigar with a $1000 bill.

      • rhywun

        Tommy Wu? “Come to my seminar!”

    • Fourscore

      The evolution of the omicron will step up and become a revolution. It’ll speed faster and faster, poor Pfizer/Moderna/J&J. The harder they work the farther they get behind. I really feel sorry for those trying to keep their vaccination cards current.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        That’s why we have an app, you see, much easier than using paper. Won’t you download the app?

        Or we also have this chip…

  6. The Other Kevin

    So what’s up with the vax mandate case? Will there be more arguments, or are they back in their chambers having a jovial discussion of the matter over martinis?

    • Gustave Lytton

      Probably watching CNN, hoping something will render their decision effectively moot, and then they’ll issue a narrowly tailored ruling with Solomon’s baby nicely diced, legal style.

  7. Rebel Scum

    Everyone involved is asshoe.

    Authorities have released body camera footage from a deadly shooting involving a Canton police officer that took place early Saturday morning. The footage begins with an officer outside of a home in the 2300 block of 10th Street Southwest shortly after midnight. He can be heard relaying information about his location when gunshots ring out from a fenced-in area nearby.

    “The officer, who was outside of his vehicle, confronted a subject that began shooting a firearm. The officer, in fear for his safety, fired his duty weapon at the subject and struck him.”

    Authorities say the man was taken to an area hospital, but later died. He has since been identified as 46 year-old James Williams. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating the situation.

    Williams’ wife told the Canton Repository that he was shooting celebratory gunfire into the air to ring in the New Year. “Out of the blue, he said he got shot, he got hit. I don’t know where it came from. Nobody said anything. They didn’t say, ‘Police.’ They didn’t say, ‘Freeze.’ They didn’t say, ‘Drop your weapon.’ They just shot him.”

    • kbolino

      “The officer, who was outside of his vehicle, confronted a subject that began shooting a firearm. The officer, in fear for his safety, fired his duty weapon at the subject and struck him.”

      Are there any cops who speak English as a native language?

      • juris imprudent

        What? You are not familiar with this particular dialect?

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        +1 individual / high rate of speed / apprehended / Politics and the English Language

    • Mojeaux

      How could she not know?

      It happens.

      • Count Potato

        It’s not like a woman who threw a baby in a dumpster would lie.

      • Mojeaux

        That is true. However, that does not negate the fact that it happens.

      • Count Potato

        They wouldn’t notice the not menstruating, weight gain, etc?

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        Some women have highly irregular menstrual cycles, even at a young age.

      • R C Dean

        It happens.

        Can confirm.

      • Ted S.

        You were pregnant and didn’t know it?

      • R C Dean

        Hey, we deliver over 5,000 babies a year. You . . . hear things.

      • Tonio

        Isn’t the lack of realization most common among the morbidly obese?

      • R C Dean

        Yup.

    • Tonio

      “How could she not know?”

      Denial. Or a convenient excuse.

      Tragically, stories like this come up about once a year.

      There is no excuse for this since most states have penalty-free surrender laws where the mothers can drop infants at hospitals, police stations, and firehouses with no questions asked.

      • l0b0t

        In her time working the ER, my mom saw a number of surprised patients who presented with lower GI pain, only to be informed they were going in to labor. These women were all morbidly obese and had not noticed.

      • Count Potato

        “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”

      • R.J.

        Replace that with ma’am. Or birthing creatures.

    • Fourscore

      Public school?

      • R C Dean

        Public Government school?

      • Rebel Scum

        That’s right-wing conspiracy hate-speech.

    • Mojeaux

      Good gravy. You know, it IS possible for there to be few to no classic symptoms except weight gain, which a woman will blame on overeating. A good friend of mine with MS got to month 8.5 without knowing she was pregnant because she didn’t have classic symptoms and thought it was an MS flare.

      It might be denial. It might be lack of symptoms. It might be lack of healthcare (definitely that, regardless of reason for said lack). It might be lack of education (religious girls who haven’t had The Talk—yes, it happens).

      Every woman is different. Me, I just KNEW almost immediately without displaying any symptoms whatsoever. The only other symptom I had was that I couldn’t stand the smell of cooking beef. With XY, I was just crying a lot more than usual, over absolutely nothing. I was at my in-laws’ place teaching my FIL how to use power tools and build a bookcase. I told my MIL, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” She said, “You’re pregnant.” And nothing else happened for 9 months.

      • Animal

        When we made #2, in a hotel room in Colorado Springs while we were down there for a gun show, Mrs. Animal knew the next morning – and it was her first pregnancy. (#1 is from my first marriage.)

        We woke up, had some breakfast, and she told me “Last night? I think I caught.”

        She was right.

      • juris imprudent

        Bene Gesserit?

    • Tonio

      Thank you for that. It’s been a frustrating day and I needed a chuckle.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Perfect, thanks!

    • robc

      See my post #12. I would think comorbidities were a major issue in both Omicron and 2018 flu.

      • Count Potato

        To me, the big difference is that flu often kills the very young.

    • Gustave Lytton

      “No one expects a covid death! Our chief comorbidity is age. Age and weight. Our two chief comorbidities are age and weight. And diabetes. Our three chief morbidities are age, weight, and diabetes. And cancer. Amongst our chief comorbidities are age, weight, diabetes, and cancer. Damn I’ll start my testimony again.”

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Bring out the comfy chair!

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      Some people are trying to defend her by saying that the deaths amongst vaccinated had 4 comorbidities. I’ve watched the clip, and if that’s what she meant, she wasn’t very clear, but I suppose it’s possible. Of course Wapo is now lamenting that she is fueling “conspiracy theories”.

      • juris imprudent

        Being fat, drunk, and stupid is now a conspiracy?

      • juris imprudent

        Left out old, didn’t I?

      • UnCivilServant

        They say the memory is the first thing to go.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        They’re wrong.

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        I think something else went first, but I don’t remember what it was.

      • R C Dean

        Pretty sure I’ve been seeing that 4 co-morbidities number applied to every COVID death for quite some time now.

        Allofasudden, also, they are talking about cross-immunity from previous coronavirus infections.

        Just about everything the crazy COVID denier conspiracy theorists were saying in 2020 is becoming standard writ. Right down to the lab leak.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        “mistaken” isnt enough to describe what is going on here.
        “trying hard with limited data” doesn’t fly either.

        There is malice in more than a little bit of this covid reaction, and I’m not giving them the benefit of the doubt on the first few months, either. Their credibility is sharply negative. Take whatever they say, negate it, and and make that negative your presumption. You’ll get much closer to truth than most everybody else.

      • Urthona

        I agree it’s not news. A CDC being forced to admit it kinda is though.

    • rhywun

      Covid hospitalizations hit record high

      Hospitalizations with the plague or from the plague?

      • juris imprudent

        Shush you!

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        A thought formed in my head while reading Coffee & Covid this morning.

        There aren’t merely two buckets, there are three.

        “with” covid = died from an unrelated cause

        “of” covid = had comorbidities that made long term survival odds bleak, but covid was part of what did them in

        “from” covid = but for covid, there is no reason to believe that they wouldn’t go on living for years

        This is important because they all have different solutions. “with” is solved with tar and feathers. “of” is solved with targeted measures for the most vulnerable. “from” is likely such a small number that it doesn’t really need a solution besides mourning and appeals to a higher power.

      • R C Dean

        It is disappointing, but unsurprising, that there is zero data available on who is admitted to hospitals because of COVID, and with COVID. Hospitals test everyone on admission. If you come in for a knee replacement and pop positive with no symptoms, you suddenly become a “COVID hospital admission”. My gut is that somewhere around 1/2 of COVID hospital admissions were because of COVID a few months ago, and its down now, to maybe 1/4? Really hard to say, because for some reason nobody is interested in digging into the BIGGEST HEALTHCARE CRISIS EVAR to find out what might actually be contributing to it.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I saw an analysis (from the UK, I think) that placed the number at 50% as of some number of months back. I forget if this was admissions or deaths, but it was tied to some of the CDC equivocation on the death numbers the other day.

      • R.J.

        “Adjacent to COVID”
        Had a car accident, died, had a post-mortem certification.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        “After we nuked the city, we realized that approximately two-thirds of the now-incinerated probably had COVID, mostly asymptomatic. We therefore declare with confidence that most of the now-incinerated were COVID deaths.”

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I wonder how I would test, not having been ill in 6 years.

        (Beam, your avatar is making a funny moue. Lovely almandine eyes though.)

    • Raven Nation

      TOS had a piece a month or two back that included a section on Walensky. Sadly, she’s a classic example of being corrupted by power. Basically that documented her views on covid from 2020 and then her public statements since she was appointed CDC director and how much they’d changed. I couldn’t find the specific article in a quick search, but there’s a whole ton on her and the shifting narrative: https://reason.com/search/walensky/

  8. robc

    2017-18 flu CFR: .27%

    Current Omicron (technically all covid, but its mostly Omicron) CFR: .23%

    This new variant is now officially flu level.

    Of course the real number that matters is IFR, but that can only be guessed at and I don’t trust the CDC to guess it right for covid. And question their numbers for the flu in the past now.

    • Count Potato

      Flu fatality rates vary widely from year to year, country to country, etc.

      • robc

        Yes and over 50k died in 2018, so it was a high one, but not super high. So to be below that level is a sign that covid is just another “flu” strain at this point.

    • Urthona

      Wow is that true? good to know!

    • Fourscore

      Good one, RS, that kid is a Glib in training

    • Drake

      Look down in the comments. They found her, beat the shit out of her, and threw her in the bus with curtains for more beating.

  9. Ted S.

    I have a feeling most of you haven’t heard the name Marilyn Bergman, who died last week aged 93. She was a lyricist of some very well-known songs, notably Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were” and “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”, as well as the theme lyrics to TV shows like Good Times, Maude, and Alice.

    Anyhow, I mention it because I went looking to see if she was at the Academy Awards when she won for “The Way We Were” and if the clip was on Youtube to embed on my blog. What I got was a spectacular conceptual failure from Ann-Margret that’s too good not to share with all of you.

    • l0b0t

      Wow! She is one sexy Time Lord.

    • slumbrew

      She’s gonna do a little speed skating right after the show.

  10. DEG

    A lot of my friends live parallel lives because of the health pass. I’d like to feel free in my own country. I think that – instead of forcing the vaccine on us – the government should increase hospital capacity and treat health workers better.

    If the government does that, how would it stroke its authority boner?

    • R C Dean

      the government should increase hospital capacity and treat health workers better

      And here I thought the response to COVID couldn’t get any more simple-minded.

      • Urthona

        Why is someone in the government not moving the capacity slider up for health care? so strange.

      • rhywun

        It is all a game of SimCity to them, isn’t it.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      If you are an attractive woman and can play piano, you can have a youtube career

      • Certified Public Asshat

        If you are an attractive woman and live in a Prius, you can also have a youtube career.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Sex still sells, at least on youtube.

    • Mojeaux

      I like her much better than Lindsey Stirling. A little of Lindsey goes a very long way.

      Tangentially related regarding computer-generated music: St James Ballroom

  11. Certified Public Asshat

    Who wrote this about Ted?

    correcting spelling is probably the most low effort and pathetic status signaling imaginable. congrats man, you've shown off your 3rd grade spelling proficiency on some throwaway internet comment someone typed up while taking a dump— EMPERORINTERNET (@INTERNETKAISER) January 10, 2022

    • Animal

      What about capitalization, which this guy evidently can’t do? It’s the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse, and helping your uncle jack off a horse.

    • Ted S.

      Hateful®.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    The World Health Organization’s special envoy on COVID-19 said Monday there’s an “end in sight” to the pandemic — but warned of a “difficult” three months ahead with the spread of the Omicron variant.

    “I’m afraid we are moving through the marathon but there’s no actual way to say that we’re at the end – we can see the end in sight, but we’re not there. And there’s going to be some bumps before we get there,” Dr. David Nabarro told Sky News.

    Nabarro said that new variants could play a role in upcoming waves, putting more strain on already overwhelmed health systems.

    One or two more mutations, and we’ll all be dead.

  13. Rebel Scum

    Clay just hasn’t found the right girl yet.

    NC congressional candidate @clayaiken: “For every Madison [Cawthorn] and Mark [Robinson] in North Carolina, there’s a Marjorie in Georgia or a Lauren in Colorado. These folks are taking up all the oxygen in the room and I got to tell you, I am sick of it.”

    • wdalasio

      What the hell does a Georgia or Colorado representative have to do with an election in North Carolina? If they’re “taking up all the oxygen in the room”, isn’t it guys like Aiken who are diverting the room’s oxygen to them? Of course, I like this bit from the announcement that he’s running:

      “But then things changed, and the progressives lost power, and we started getting backwards-ass policies, like the voter suppression bills and the bigoted bathroom bill​,” he said.

      Yeah, nothing like telling voters they’re a bunch of “backwards-ass” hicks to rev up your election prospects.

      • Ted S.

        Apparently he’s running in a safe blue district.

      • rhywun

        voter suppression bills and the bigoted bathroom bill

        I see he’s got “lying through his teeth” down pat. Kid’s a natural.

    • Tonio

      Wow, the conflation of MTG and Bobert with those other two people…

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Meanwhile, back at Disinfo Central

    High levels of T-cells from common cold coronaviruses can provide protection against COVID-19, an Imperial College London study published on Monday has found, which could inform approaches for second-generation vaccines.

    Immunity against COVID-19 is a complex picture, and while there is evidence of waning antibody levels six months after vaccination, T-cells are also believed to play a vital role in providing protection.

    The study, which began in September 2020, looked at levels of cross-reactive T-cells generated by previous common colds in 52 household contacts of positive COVID-19 cases shortly after exposure, to see if they went on to develop infection.

    It found that the 26 who did not develop infection had significantly higher levels of those T-cells than people who did get infected. Imperial did not say how long protection from the T-cells would last.

    “We found that high levels of pre-existing T cells, created by the body when infected with other human coronaviruses like the common cold, can protect against COVID-19 infection,” study author Dr Rhia Kundu said.

    That outlandish claptrap may have passed for SCIENCE! in the Middle Ages, but this is the 21st century. Vaccines are our sole route to freedom, and don’t try to pretend otherwise.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      If it works in reverse and getting covid provides strong protection against future colds, then maybe it was all worth it.

  15. Rebel Scum

    “Whycome no one listen to us fear-monger and racebait?”

    CNN’s @oliverdarcy worries people will be directionless without the major media: “If people are tuning out what’s going on in cable news … they’re just, you know, ignoring everything and living their lives and we’re not really getting the information that they need to them.”

    • Tonio

      They are terrified of becoming irrelevant, which will lead to their becoming unemployed.

    • pistoffnick

      “…not really getting the ,strike>information propaganda that they need to them.”

      • pistoffnick

        Sigh…try again

        “…not really getting the information propaganda that they need to them.”

    • The Other Kevin

      Is this what is meant by “smelling one’s own farts”?

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      CNN’s @oliverdarcy worries people will be directionless without the major media

      Erm, it’s just the opposite. Want to find people with purpose and direction, find people who don’t spend their entire lives immersed in the soap opera that is current events.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    “If people are tuning out what’s going on in cable news … they’re just, you know, ignoring everything and living their lives and we’re not really getting the information that they need to them.”

    Stop it. You’re killing me.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    “Expert”

    Dr. Bob Wachter, the chair of the department of medicine at UCSF, has been tweeting about COVID-19 for nearly two years, sharing regular updates with his views on the state of the pandemic in San Francisco and worldwide.

    Over the weekend, Wachter’s Twitter account with 245,000 followers got a little more personal when he revealed that his son tested positive and had symptoms. In a series of 25 tweets, he touched on many of the issues around the omicron surge, including the scarcity of at-home tests and testing appointments and the supply shortage of treatment options for symptomatic patients.

    ——-

    Wachter shared that his son caught the virus last Monday while watching a movie with a fully vaccinated friend at home in San Francisco. Wednesday morning, 36 hours later, his son woke up feeling awful, with a sore throat, dry cough, muscle aches, chills, no taste and smell abnormalities. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study suggested omicron’s incubation period is just three days.

    Blah blah blah terrifying ordeal. Oddly, no mention of the date of little johnny’s funeral.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      his son woke up feeling awful, with a sore throat, dry cough, muscle aches, chills, no taste and smell abnormalities

      As recently as 40 years ago, such complaints would result in a gruff “suck it up buttercup, you’re still going to school”.

      • R C Dean

        I doubt it. In the Before Times, if you were sick, you stayed home. When you felt better, you went back to school. At least, that’s what I saw.

        And nothing else happened.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        No mention of fever in the list of symptoms. In the trashy household we were expected to go to school unless we had a fever.

      • R C Dean

        Now that you mention it, I don’t remember staying home unless I had a fever. I also don’t recall feeling like crap without also running a fever, but its been a long time.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        That’s a good point. I probably would’ve gone to school if I felt like I do right now (sans fever) , but I also would’ve taken my temperature and fully expected to have a fever.

        For me, it’s the body aches and chills that are weird. The rest is a mild cold.

    • rhywun

      caught the virus last Monday while watching a movie with a fully vaccinated friend

      ORLY?

      I am amazed at some people’s ability to track the virus like that. It’s like some kind of super-power.

      • Sean

        Why do you hate science?

      • grrizzly

        My partner tested positive for covid last week. He didn’t go anywhere except for doing a bit shopping in the 3-4 days before the start of the symptoms. Just like a cold in the before days, it makes little sense to be obsessed where you got it.

      • R C Dean

        Like testing, my question about where you caught it is “So what are you going to do differently now?”

      • rhywun

        It’s different now because we have to find someone to blame.

  18. Certified Public Asshat

    Breaking Points is good and not biased in any way:

    Krystal Ball: NEW EVIDENCE Candace Owens is an Anti-Vax FRAUD

    Allegation: Owens is a fraud because she went to Madison Square Garden. If Owens really cared about bringing down big pharma, she would support medicare for all (like me!).

    I like Rogan, but he needs to stop promoting her and Kyle fucking Kulinski.

    • ron73440

      I think she still has a grudge from this.

      Isn’t she the same woman who said the lesson from 1984 is to trust authority?

      • R C Dean

        I thought that was Hillary.

      • ron73440

        I remember Krystal Ball book reviews being a thing.

        I also remember Hillary having the same awful take.

  19. Tundra

    56 and sunny. Got kind of sweaty out walking.

    • pistoffnick

      -17 and windy this morning. Still -5 and windy.

      Keeps the riff-raff (like Coloradans ;^) out!

      • Tundra

        Lol!

        I’m am and will always be a (displaced) Minnesodan!

    • Q Continuum

      This winter has been absolutely ridiculous. My house usually gets ~120 in of snow a year. So far we’ve had 6 (maybe?). If I wanted this shit I would’ve stayed in the Southwest.

      • Tundra

        I fucking love it

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Williams’ wife told the Canton Repository that he was shooting celebratory gunfire into the air to ring in the New Year. “Out of the blue, he said he got shot, he got hit. I don’t know where it came from. Nobody said anything. They didn’t say, ‘Police.’ They didn’t say, ‘Freeze.’ They didn’t say, ‘Drop your weapon.’ They just shot him.”

    Also (apparently) not said:

    “STOP SHOOTING THAT GUN IN THE AIR, YOU FUCKING RETARD!”

    • EvilSheldon

      Yeah, if there’s a gun in your hand, a verbal challenge is a courtesy that you shouldn’t necessarily expect…

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I mean the cop did go up to privacy fence and unload through it without being to see anything. There could have easily been kids or other innocent parties standing around the guy that the cop plugged.

        As far as a I could tell, the deceased was on private property, was not aiming at anyone, and the officer should never have felt his life was in immediate danger. Yeah, the guy should have been arrested and charged with public endangerment for shooting into the air. But the cop should be in cuffs right behind him for shooting blindly into a private residence.

      • R C Dean

        If the cop was just blasting blindly through a privacy fence, for all he knew it the victim was defending himself.

  21. Pope Jimbo

    You know how the Vikings are going to win their first Super Bowl ever? By hiring a black GM and coach no matter what!

    It’s time for the Wilfs to prove that they care about more than slogans and symbols. They have an opportunity to take advantage of the NFL’s inherent racism and hire an underappreciated coaching candidate.

    When Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane popularized modern sports analytics, he did so by taking advantage of undervalued metrics. For him, at that time, the answer was on-base percentage.

    In the NFL, the most undervalued assets are Black head coaches.

    Sure, sure, sure. Once the NFL implements a rule that awards teams with minority coaches and GMs 10 points at the beginning of a game as “reparations”, the Purple will be a dynasty.

    • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

      Breaking News: Dennis Green is White

      • Gustave Lytton

        At least he isn’t mean.

      • Ted S.

        Crown his ass.

    • slumbrew

      Enjoy the Hue Jackson era of Vikings football.

      • Nephilium

        If they go 0-17, they’ll officially have the worst recorded record in pro football.

        And you should definitely hold a parade if that happens.

    • slumbrew

      ” the most undervalued assets are Black head coaches.”

      Citation needed.

    • rhywun

      Now do White wide receivers.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      I’m pretty sure Billy Beane didn’t use race as one of his variables. In fact, he preferred to sign players who had college experience rather than players out of high school, because they had a larger sample size to judge. That tended to make his teams whiter than most.

  22. Drake

    I have a rant.

    My wife has had covid for over a week now. She just got off the phone with Remote Health Solutions who seem pretty good. The Doctor was worried about her breathing and order a couple of antibiotics to keep it fropm becoming pneumonia. That’s the good, I guess.

    The Bad: He can’t give her Ivermectin. I’m not sure if it’s only because we still live in NJ or if they’ve effectively suppressed it nationally. The ratfucking fake-reelected cheater we call Governor wouldn’t have any problems getting it, but us peasants get to suffer. How many people are being forced to suffer and die because of these greedy, power-hungry, demonic assholes? When the Day of the Rope comes, I’ll be there with popcorn watching.
    End rant.

    • The Other Kevin

      When my wife had it they also gave her antibiotics and steroids to keep it from becoming pneumonia. Then they sent her home. I don’t know of anywhere that would give you Ivermectin. I was offered some under the table but I don’t know anyone personally who had it prescribed.

      • Raven Nation

        We’ve been able to get it via tele-appointments for the last few months. I think most of the pharmacies my wife used were in Florida. My local pharmacist here in flyover country filled some of them. One of the FL telehealth folks mailed it to us.

        However, my wife got a prescription for my FIL in Colorado and, after filling one, all the local pharmacies refused to fill any more when the feds started their campaign against Ivermectin.

  23. Pope Jimbo

    All problems are SOLVED in Minneapolis. The first black trans person has been elected City Council President. I’m sure that everything will be fine now.

    Minneapolis City Council members unanimously selected Andrea Jenkins as their president on Monday, a historic decision as she becomes the first openly transgender, Black woman to take the post.

    In remarks after the vote, Jenkins highlighted the racial, religious and generational diversity of the council, which for the first time includes a majority people of color. And she emphasized the importance of collaborating as they seek to serve residents trying to heal from the trauma of the past two years.

    “We represent a diversity of thought, of ideas and solutions to the most pressing issues of our time,” Jenkins said, noting that they would take up concerns such as public safety beyond policing, rent control and housing insecurity.

    So diverse. They have communists, socialists, even few liberals (who are the Far Right).

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      But is she a dwarf? The problems are NOT all solved until we have our first openly transgender, Black woman dwarf.

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        Dammit, you’re right. We still have so much work to do.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Chicago has a black lesbian. She’s short but I’m not sure that counts. Murder rate is the highest since the ’90s. I’m sure this number would be better if she were trans.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        God damn, throw on some pancake makeup, lady. You are frightening both children and the horses.

      • DEG

        She has the Innsmouth Taint. I doubt that would work.

    • rhywun

      Why do you hate utopia?

  24. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    I’m listening to Narita Tower and am hearing something about a potential missile launch from NK? WTF????

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        I’m wondering if it’s a some kind of regular warning on Japan ATC…it was right about exactly at :30 after the hour. All I heard was bits & pieces like “all stations” “north korea” and “missile”

      • B.P.

        Fear not. Biden will go all six-foot-chain on lil Kim’s ass, just like with Corn Pop.

    • Sensei

      Has happened before.

    • juris imprudent

      They’re coming already here for your children.

      • rhywun

        They already have your children.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    This is what successful public health activism looks like

    More than 6 million cumulative coronavirus cases have now been reported in California, according to data compiled by The Times — the latest milestone as the Omicron variant continues its record-smashing race across the state.

    On Monday, the state reported 308,820 new infections, a colossal figure that includes data from both Saturday and Sunday.

    It was a little less than two months ago that the state recorded its 5 millionth coronavirus case, a threshold that came and went at a time when California was seeing declines in both the daily numbers of newly recorded infections and those hospitalized with COVID-19.

    But the arrival of Omicron has reversed those trends with a vengeance, pushing daily caseloads to their highest levels and sending a stream of new coronavirus-positive people to the hospital.

    Los Angeles County has reported more than 225,000 new coronavirus cases over the last week, including its three highest single-day totals of the entire pandemic. County health officials announced the latest record, 45,584, on Sunday.

    And even such large totals are likely an undercount, officials say, as they don’t include many of those who may have self-diagnosed using an at-home test.

    Just keep doing what you have been doing, only harder. We’ll whip this thing.

  26. Count Potato

    “Column: Mocking anti-vaxxers’ COVID deaths is ghoulish, yes — but necessary

    ….

    It may be not a little ghoulish to celebrate or exult in the deaths of vaccine opponents. And it may be proper to express sympathy and solicitude to those they leave behind.

    But mockery is not necessarily the wrong reaction to those who publicly mocked anti-COVID measures and encouraged others to follow suit, before they perished of the disease the dangers of which they belittled.

    Nor is it wrong to deny them our sympathy and solicitude, or to make sure it’s known when their deaths are marked that they had stood fast against measures that might have protected themselves and others from the fate they succumbed to.

    There may be no other way to make sure that the lessons of these teachable moments are heard.”

    https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-01-10/why-shouldnt-we-dance-on-the-graves-of-anti-vaxxers

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      I feel like there’s an iron law and a golden rule that both address why this is a horrible idea.

      • wdalasio

        I feel like there’s an iron law and a golden rule that both address why this is a horrible idea.

        Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve been feeling that a lot lately. I’m thinking we’ve been crossing a lot of thresholds we shouldn’t have been crossing lately. We’ve been throwing out a lot of rules and standards we held in place because we, or at least our forefathers, understood protected everyone. And I think it’s not that long before things start going to a really dark place, if they haven’t started going there already. People are getting little short-term wins by setting aside these standards and they don’t think it ever plays out beyond that one-off win for them. But it does play out. And it escalates. And things degenerate.

    • R C Dean

      I’m curious how you both mock someone, and express sympathy and solicitude.

      And if we’re mocking people who opposed anti-COVID measures as being ineffective and counterproductive and caught COVID, why not mock people who complied with ineffective and counterproductive anti-COVID measures and caught COVID?

      Of course, I’m so old I think its wrong to speak ill of the (recently) dead, regardless.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    As of Sunday, 11,048 coronavirus-positive patients were hospitalized statewide, more than triple the number a month ago.

    Dr. Edward O. Blews III, a regional physician director for infection prevention and control with the Kaiser Permanente Fontana and Ontario Medical Centers, said that “the overwhelming majority” of their coronavirus cases are the Omicron variant and the bulk of those being hospitalized are unvaccinated.

    The emergency room is “very, very, very busy right now,” he said.

    ——-

    However, officials note that not all of those patients were admitted with COVID-19. Many coronavirus-positive patients are seeking hospital care for other reasons, and their coronavirus diagnoses have been confirmed only because hospitals require incoming patients to be tested.

    But even those who have been admitted to hospitals for other reasons place a high burden on the healthcare facilities, according to L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

    “People who test positive for COVID require resource-intensive, transmission-based precautions, including isolation rooms, cohorted staff and personal protective equipment,” she said during a recent briefing.

    So deadly you probably won’t even know you have it.

    • Gender Traitor

      But even those who have been admitted to hospitals for other reasons place a high burden on the healthcare facilities

      “It’s just darned inconsiderate of people to get sick with stuff that doesn’t pay us as handsomely, so by golly we’re gonna turn ’em into COVID cases if we possibly can!”

    • B.P.

      “However, officials note that not all of those patients were admitted with COVID-19. Many coronavirus-positive patients are seeking hospital care for other reasons, and their coronavirus diagnoses have been confirmed only because hospitals require incoming patients to be tested.”

      Great. So what is the percentage in the “not all” category? I suspect it’s a large number.

    • DEG

      He never called it “mass formation psychosis”. Fact checkers say he’s right.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Propaganda is a fine word. I don’t know why the academic jargon is needed anyway.

  28. Not Adahn

    I didn’t know RPGs and 107 mm rockets were used for “humanitarian purposes“?

    They’re used to eliminate man-eating dolphins.

    You know, humanitarian porpoises.

    • Sean

      ?

    • Animal

      I remember hearing about a guy who was doing some very interesting longevity research. In the course of his work he discovered that the common bottle-nosed dolphin, when fed a diet of exclusively sea birds, had greatly expanded life spans.

      One day he had been out collecting sea birds, and when he returned to his lab, was surprised to find a large lion, asleep in front of his lab’s door.

      So, he carefully and quietly stepped over the lion and went inside. He thought everything was fine until he was arrested by the FBI. The charge?

      Transporting gulls over a staid lion for immortal porpoises.

      • Mojeaux

        Booooooooooooo

      • The Hyperbole

        Paging Patty Whack, Patty Whack please pick up the shaggy dog phone.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Serious people, with serious concerns

    “America has an extraordinary number of guns and private militias,” they write. How many? They cite the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s estimate of 434 million firearms in civilian possession in the U.S. right now. That would be 1.3 guns per person.

    “Semi-automatic weapons comprise around 19.8 million in total,” they add ominously, “making for a highly armed population with potentially dangerous capabilities.”

    The New York Times recently reviewed How Civil Wars Start by political scientist Barbara F. Walter of the University of California at San Diego. In an interview with NPR member station KPBS in San Diego a year ago, Walter said the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was surprising but should not have been because we had been watching “American democracy decline since 2016.”

    A scholar of international law, Walter adds: “The U.S. used to be considered a full democracy like Norway, Switzerland or Iceland,” she said, “and it’s now considered a partial democracy like Ecuador, Somalia or Haiti.”

    The United States was never (nor was it ever intended to be) a “full democracy” you ignorant bint.

    • B.P.

      “American democracy decline since 2016.”

      Democracy: In the United States, a noun indicating that the Democratic Party holds the presidency.

      ““Semi-automatic weapons comprise around 19.8 million in total,””

      So the other 415 million firearms are revolvers, single shot, bolt action, etc?

      • Animal

        I’m sure they aren’t counting, oh, these, for example.

      • ron73440

        That doesn’t look like it counts all the 80% lowers that were sold.

        I have 4 I need to work on once I am more mobile and finish my truck.

      • R.J.

        I dig revolvers personally. And a nice shotgun. Still haven’t done a blunderbuss yet.

    • Q Continuum

      It’s almost as if they want a Civil War.

      • juris imprudent

        Just as they think they can talk/shame us into submission, they believe that if they explain the horrors of a civil war, we’ll all just lie down our arms – and principles – and let them do as they please. I just can’t figure if that makes them simply stupid, or totally insane.

      • DEG

        Why not both?

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Some WSJ letter-writer recently made the (IMO) excellent point that Dems* aren’t stupid, but irrational.

        *I assume voters more than the party members IIRC; I can find it for youse

    • juris imprudent

      American democracy decline since 2016.

      All the decline prior to 2016? She wasn’t watching that.

    • rhywun

      since 2016

      Oh please, you can pinpoint it more precisely than that.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    As West and Gale write:

    Today’s toxic atmosphere makes it difficult to negotiate on important issues, which makes people angry with the federal government and has helped create a winner-take-all approach to politics. When the stakes are so high, people are willing to consider extraordinary means to achieve their objectives.

    A “winner take all” mentality? Where could that have come from?

  31. Semi-Spartan Dad

    They cite the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s estimate of 434 million firearms in civilian possession in the U.S. right now. That would be 1.3 guns per person.

    “Semi-automatic weapons comprise around 19.8 million in total,”

    Only 5% of firearms owned by Americans are semi-automatics? That seems way way off.

    • Drake

      Agreed. I assume double-action revolver counts as semi-auto?

      I would guess closer to 50%.

      • Not Adahn

        (Most) revolvers do not automatically load themselves, so no.

    • UnCivilServant

      If they claimed 5% were fully-automatic, I’d believe that more.

      And given the numbers over the past few years, we’re probably looking at closer to 600 million firearms in american hands.

      • Animal

        Over 11 million Marlin 60s. Also, before 1968, lots of inexpensive .22 rifles weren’t serialized, and good production numbers don’t exist. The old Mossberg .22 semi-auto my Mom bought my Dad for their third anniversary in 1950 has no serial number. Back then lots of lower-cost guns didn’t.

        I suspect the actual number of functional firearms of all kinds in the U.S. may be over a billion.

      • UnCivilServant

        I expect there was some wastage and attrition of the older models, which is why I go with a slightly lower number.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Fun with numbers:

    You can measure some of this geographic/demographic division in the 2020 election results. Trump won in 2,588 counties covering most of the national landscape, as Republican candidates usually do. (This is why we are accustomed to Election Night maps that are strikingly red even as the popular vote is close or leans Democratic.)

    Biden, in stark contrast, carried only 551 counties, less than a fifth as many as Trump. But the counties Biden carried had a total population of nearly 198 million, while Trump’s altogether had just 130.3 million. That is a difference of nearly 68 million people. Put another way, Biden won the counties that are home to 60% of the total U.S. population.

    Every single person in those 551 counties voted for Biden. Smart people love him.

    • rhywun

      That’s stupid even by stupid-people standards.

      • Sean

        Would you rather have smart enemies?

      • rhywun

        Guess not.

  33. Gender Traitor

    It’s time for another exciting episode of “What the Hell is the grocery out of NOW??”

    Last week: No tomatoes.
    This week: They have Roma tomatoes (the kind we wanted,) but few others, and no green bell peppers. (::shrugs:: The orange one will work in the salsa just fine.) And a great big wall of empty in the produce section where bags o’ lettuce and other salad stuff is supposed to be.

    Also AWOL: fat-free sour cream, so had to substitute Light. And the selection of Atkins frozen lunches and bags of frozen vegetable blends still sucks.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Don’t bother going to the pharmacy section. CVS was cleaned out, Walgreens was half stocked, at best, and Walmart was somewhere in between.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      This is actually a good thing. It’s forcing stores to supply more local goods, which taste better and are healthier. It’s for your own good.

      /Jen Psaki

    • rhywun

      fat-free sour cream

      What kind of dark sorcery is that? ?

      • Count Potato

        IKR?

    • Raven Nation

      Our local (chain) store pulled all its bags o’lettuce etc., a week or two back because of a threat of some kind of poisoning.

      • UnCivilServant

        Listeria contamination at a processing plant.

        I got the recall notice from my grocer because I’d had one of the impacted brands on a pick-up order (so they knew I’d bought it)

      • Swiss Servator

        That plant just might have been one suburb over from me….

  34. The Late P Brooks

    a great big wall of empty in the produce section where bags o’ lettuce and other salad stuff is supposed to be.

    Another lettuce recall?

    • Urthona

      i recall lettuce.

      It was mediocre.

      I went to a taco place today and they said they were out of lettuce so now the scarcity is even getting to me.

      No one has suffered as greatly as I.

  35. Tulip

    I love Beforeigners so, so much. “Killing saints is not compatible with our values.”

    • Urthona

      Those at home tests don’t work very well in my experience.

    • rhywun

      I thought we were going to punish the unclean by making them pay for their own testing.

      Do better, Joe.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Coming soon: mandatory testing and mandatory test reporting for at-home tests.

  36. LCDR_Fish

    Matt from Gourmeltz is running for office in the new VA27 state senate district.

    https://twitter.com/FishLikesFlicks/status/1480699247917944835 (includes vid from facebook).

    He told some of us a little while back but wanted us to wait till his announcement dropped. I can’t vote for him since the 27th district – brand new from the redistricting is only around Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania/Stafford. No incumbent though – but I guess he’ll have to make it through the GOP primary first – we talked about libertarian stuff, but even with his leanings, its easier to get elected as an ‘R’.

    • DEG

      Excellent.