Tuesday Morning Links

by | Jan 25, 2022 | Daily Links | 459 comments

Nothing in the sports world to bring up. Sorry.

Soccer moms taking control again.

Well what did you expect to happen? You don’t think these people want their kids to have normal life again? You don’t think they want to have a say in what their kids are taught? You don’t think they want to see shelves full and prices stable?  This is inevitable, CNN.

This ought to be interesting. You know what else is gonna be interesting that’s not getting nearly as much coverage? The EPA “wetlands” case. Watch that one as well. It’s huge.

A woman’s gotta eat.

Oh the humanity! This is almost like hugging people in a gay bar in Florida two days before testing positive.  Except, you know, this one is front page news about a has-been and in the other case the timing wasn’t mentioned even though it’s a high profile congresswoman. Also, what business is it of a judge to speak of her vaccination status in a civil trial that has nothing to do with it?

If this was a limbo contest, he’d be kicking ass right now. Unfortunately for him (and fortunately for the rest of us), it’s not.

Well, this should be a bigger story. Let’s see how long before it’s overruled though. It’s not as if the NY courts aren’t packed with progressives.

Being deployed to combat sagging poll numbers?

Well, this isn’t good. Especially with those tanking poll numbers. Because that’s what the whole Ukraine-Russia thing is all about anyway.

I’m confused. How is this anybody’s fault but him and, to a lesser degree, the person who sold him the drugs?

I’d like to see this succeed. But I’d prefer to see some competition out there that runs them out of business.

Here’s a rollicking tune. Hope you enjoy it. I will.

And I hope you enjoy this fine Tuesday, dear friends.

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

459 Comments

  1. AlexinCT

    Condoms for glasses? She is gonna get sprayed, right?

    • robodruid

      cheap safety glasses against fluids.

    • DrOtto

      It’s to prevent her from getting cockeyed.

  2. The Late P Brooks

    The goggles- they do nothing!

    • Festus

      I thought it was a photo of Senator Hooker-Boots but that’s just how I roll.

      • SDF-7

        Could be much much worse — I thought it was Hillary of all people.

  3. AlexinCT

    I’m confused. How is this anybody’s fault but him and, to a lesser degree, the person who sold him the drugs?

    This way they can blame someone other than themselves or their kid for fucking up…..

    • juris imprudent

      He was a victim, thus he died in the most noble manner possible. Fucking sick.

    • robc

      I disagree only on the lesser degree part. Is there no honor among drug dealers?

      • AlexinCT

        Personal responsibility? Fuck that shizz…

    • Rat on a train

      We are all guilty because society made him do it.

  4. R C Dean

    The affirmative action case is a can just begging to be kicked. Again.

    • l0b0t

      The article mentions a 6 – 3 “conservative” majority on the court. I’m familiar with Thomas and Gorsuch, but who are the other four?

      • rhywun

        “Conservative” is the new “sometimes not rabidly leftist”.

      • AlexinCT

        I thought “domestic terrorist” was the new non-leftist tool?

      • Zwak, All dressed up in his ridiculous seersucker suit

        Conservative = domestic terrorist.

        Get with the program!

      • db

        I’d be fine if we could get “consistently liberty-minded originalist” even if the decisions occasionally went against my preferences.

      • juris imprudent

        That puts Thomas out.

        -1 girl’s underwear search

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Everybody has their own peccadillos.

      • Festus

        Placing one of your own pubic hairs on the Coke can of your intended is a sure-fire way to entice the Ladies! Works 100% of the time 60% of the time!

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I still don’t understand that anecdote, F.

      • Lackadaisical

        There was a case where grade school kids were step searches because someone lost a necklace or they were searching for drugs. I forget which.. Basically Thomas thought you could do that as the school was acting as the custodial parent of the child, therefore no rights infringement.

        Not a good look from a liberty perspective.

      • juris imprudent

        It was a check inside a pre-teen girl’s underwear by a principal searching for an illicit aspirin. The Court ruled correctly, 8-1, with only Thomas dissenting because drugs.

      • Count Potato

        “illicit aspirin”

        OFFS!!!

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It was ibuprofen, dude. Totes different.

      • Festus

        Anita Hill accused Thomas at his confirmation hearing of sexual harassment. One of her stories involved a pube on a Coke can. It’s fine, Miss O’Grady, it usually takes a moment for me to parse some of your comments.

    • robc

      I wouldnt mind a split decision. UNC loses and Harvard wins on public/private grounds. And the latter being a frredom of association decision.

      • Chafed

        I’m not sure that distinction is meaningful given all the federal student loan and aid money Harvard collects.

      • robc

        That, should be, a separate issue.

        I hate the “if you receive one ounce of government benefit” argument. Its advanced ROADZ!!!

    • ron73440

      I’ve known for a long time the Supreme Court was useless, but couldn’t explain why.

      When the NRA would trumpet some narrow win for the 2nd Amendment, it never seemed like a real victory.

      After reading Anatomy of the State, it gave more credence to this.

      Yesterday, driving to my appointment, I was listening to Peddling Fiction. I am way behind and he was playing excerpts from the Vax mandate case.

      Listening to the “Wise Latina” was so infuriating that I have to get screened for high blood pressure. (I have never had high blood pressure)

      I think I need to quit listening to podcasts.

  5. UnCivilServant

    The EPA “wetlands” case. Watch that one as well. It’s huge.

    Anyone got a link or an unambiguous search term?

    • Festus

      Trump signed an XO curtailing the overreach of the EPA. Biden signed an OX reversing it. Games.

      • SDF-7

        If only Trump had gone for the center square…

      • juris imprudent

        He is certainly snarky enough to take Paul Lynde’s place.

      • Festus

        Likes to laugh at his own jokes too!

  6. rhywun

    “We are taking this isolated incident — and unfortunate oversight —very seriously,” Guaitolini said in a statement Monday. “Elio’s adheres to and believes in the vaccine mandate, and all it is doing to protect our staff, regulars and the dining public.”

    Blink your eyes three times if you’re safe.

    What a sanctimonious twat.

    And that judge should be tossed out onto the street.

  7. rhywun

    A City Hall statement took Palin to task.

    “The key to NYC rules were put in place to protect all New Yorkers — including the small businesses that power our city’s economy,” it said. “Ms. Palin needs to respect small business workers and follow the rules just like everyone else.”

    Now do the seven Democratic city council members who were caught flouting the Commandments yesterday.

    • Nephilium

      Look, they know better then the little people. They are of the body.

    • WTF

      Now talk about how the “vaccines” don’t prevent infection and don’t prevent transmission.

    • juris imprudent

      I wonder how many of them pounded their little puds over Palin, forgetting of course that she was the running mate of that great American maverick (and good kind of Republican) McCain?

      • Nephilium

        McCain was no longer a good Republican once he was nominated for president, at that point, he had become “literally Hitler”.

      • Festus

        I ‘member that.

      • juris imprudent

        But he got better, after he lost.

      • l0b0t

        Brilliant, sir, Brilliant.

      • db

        I would have thought the paper would dedicate more column inches to Zardoz’s advice section.

      • Lackadaisical

        Nice really liked the praise of Castro headline.

  8. UnCivilServant

    Well, this should be a bigger story. Let’s see how long before it’s overruled though. It’s not as if the NY courts aren’t packed with progressives.

    I’m surprised that the local rag actually covered the ruling. I expected them to quietly bury it.

    • Not Adahn

      There have been some twists in the local news. They’ve started including the bad behaviors of the decedent in “cop shoots citizen” stories, though they’re keeping the same template.

      A [county] grand jury has declined to indict [cop] for the [date] shooting of [age, town of residence] [decedent]. The [DA] said [cop] used reasonable force and was in fear for his life when [decedent] stabbed him in the face.

      • Not Adahn

        ^That one was an actual report.

        The most recent one was about a [decedent] that was “armed with a knife and a large dog.” AFAICT, the cops did NOT shoot the dog. And the [decedent] threatened to cut the dog’s throat if the cops came any closer, so I’m glad he’s dead. If the reports are accurate.

  9. Fourscore

    Has a president ever resigned ?

    Oh, yeah but now I’m resigned into believing this one won’t.

    • UnCivilServant

      He might get the 25th. But not until after the senate is no longer 50-50.

    • SDF-7

      I seriously doubt DOCTOR Jill would let it happen. She’ll have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the White House at some point.

      • Sean

        I’d pay good money to see that.

      • Homple

        I’d pay good money to hear a few private conversations between Jill and Kamala.

      • AlexinCT

        “I will bitchslap you ho!”

        “Oh no you wont bitch!”

      • limey

        DOCTOR Jill Biden reminds me of how Dr. Sanchez introduces himself in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.

        DOCTOR Sanchez.

      • limey

        “You’re acting like an ape. A wild ape.”

        I wonder if I still have my DVD.

      • rhywun

        I hope Fox News gets tipped to film the perp-walk.

      • Festus

        Hopefully by the hair.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    As Omicron began storming the country in December, the president and the vice president changed their own masking protocols. At the advice of their personal health advisers, they largely ditched the black surgical masks they previously sported and began wearing KN95’s weeks before the CDC updated their own masking guidance.

    The change reflects a dynamic within this White House — one that’s dictated everything from internal operations to the president’s travel schedule and could very well scuttle his ambitions to criss cross the country more this year. They’re terrified of JOE BIDEN getting Covid.

    Some current and former White House officials foresee a potential political and policy disaster if the president were to contract the virus, even though he is vaccinated and boosted. Covid protocol critics and vaccine skeptics would have a field day with Biden catching Covid and use it to further undermine trust in the administration’s efforts to combat the pandemic. The 79-year-old president would likely take at least a few days to recover—in addition to placing himself in quarantine—which could exacerbate concerns about his age and health.

    Nothing matters but political appearances. That’s what made this nation great.

    To be honest, I’d rather see Biden go out from a massive stroke (or a massive head trauma from a tumble) than from the Chinee chickenpox.

    • Not Adahn

      As long as the fall down the Air Fore One steps is caught and uploaded to youtube.

      • Festus

        Needs catchy background music ala “America’s Funniest Videos”.

      • Lackadaisical

        Yakety sax.

    • rhywun

      I’d be perfectly happy if he holed up in a clean-room for the next three years, and took Mrs. I’m the Vice President with him.

      • Fourscore

        I’m a little confused as to which of the presidents is in charge of vice.

        I have to think that Hunter has a good chance in that crowd. There’d be a lot of elbowing to get in front though

    • Plisade

      I’d rather see Biden strangled nearly to death by Hunter in a crack rage, then slowly finished off by Commander’s nibbles, as he lay bleeding out and alone on the floor behind the Resolute Desk.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Of course they’d wear KN95 rather than N95 masks…

  11. AlexinCT

    https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/supreme-court-takes-cases-future-affirmative-action/story?id=78255962

    Affirmative action is a great tool to pretend to help minorities by giving the vast majority of beneficiaries access to an ultra-expensive school they are very unlikely to be either qualified or prepared to thrive, let alone succeed, in, all while making them borrow a huge amount of cash from the government to pay for just the first year, so that then they end up failing out disillusioned and destitute, with their chances at success in life drastically reduced.

    • UnCivilServant

      I highly recommend Mismatch. Pretty much lines up all the damage affirmative action does to its “beneficiaries”.

    • Not Adahn

      Open, unrepentant (but polite!) communist has some thoughts on affirmative action.,

      • l0b0t

        Thank you for linking that. That was a very good read and he totally nails it.

      • Homple

        That was swell!

    • rhywun

      And it lets us continue to ignore political landmines like parenting and shitty public schools.

    • Lackadaisical

      Great way to make more seem voters…

      If your were a smart kid who might have succeeded against the odds, only to fail out of Harvard and get into a massive amount of debt, that might make your somewhat resentful, and looking for others to blame.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    Has a president ever resigned ?

    There was that one guy, but he did it for the good of the country. Don’t get your hopes up.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    UCS- in case you didn’t see it at the end of the dead thread.

    Check for highway dept webcams along your route to see what the road conditions look like.

    • Not Adahn

      I don’t think Maine has any. They get coated with salt, then eaten by moose.

  14. Rebel Scum

    “If you would’ve told me two years ago that I would be alienated from the Democratic Party, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Angie Schmitt, a Cleveland writer with two young children, said in an interview.

    ///WalkAway

    “I hated (Donald) Trump and what the administration was doing,” she said. “But I just don’t think people realized what a big deal closing school for a year was.”

    Learn to identify propaganda.

    • AlexinCT

      Yup. Every time I have talked to one of these recent converts, I welcome them to the flock and ask them why it took them so long. Usually you get a question about what you mean, from them. Then you can point out that most of us picked up that we were being fucking lied to by our experts and government more than 18 months ago, were then accused of being anti-science, deniers, conspiracy theorists, and down right evil for not caring about the poor people affected, but held strong until the liars no longer could keep passing bullshit to those that easily fell for their crap. And then I stress these experts and the political class that wanted to get rid of a guy that was not controlled by their machine, were lying on purpose, for personal gain, and not because they thought their lies would actually be helping the vulnerable or the spread of the disease. Some people get hard red pilled after that while some will be uncomfortable about the fact their delusional world view makes them prone to being taken advantage off. In either case, it is a good thing.

      • Tonio

        “some will be uncomfortable about the fact their delusional world view makes them prone to being taken advantage [of]”

        These people are really Hoffer’s True Believers. They will never change their mindset, just convince themselves that the Top Men were just wrong this once about this one tiny thing, and really want the best for everyone. It’s sad and frustrating to have to share a world with these people.

    • juris imprudent

      You know I kinda read that as I’ve been inconvienced and had to deal with my children all day, every day.

      • Festus

        ^^^ Circle gets the Square!

    • WTF

      “I hated (Donald) Trump and what the administration was doing,”

      But please don’t bother to provide any specifics.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        “I’m just a simple moron animated by party propaganda and hatred of the other.”

      • Lackadaisical

        Mean tweets bro. Mean. Tweets.

  15. AlexinCT

    Stupid is as stupid does

    BTW, I bet if you ask her where electricity comes from she will give you a stunned look then answer, everyone knows it comes out of a wall…

    • ron73440

      One of the comments quotes 1984 and perfectly describes way too many people:

      Arnieus
      10 hours ago
      Orwell described her perfectly: “She had without exception the most stupid, vulgar, empty mind that he had ever encountered. She had not a thought in her head that was not a slogan, and there was no imbecility, absolutely none that she was not capable of swallowing if the Party handed it out to her.”

  16. Rebel Scum

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it would take up a pair of cases that could decide the future of affirmative action in college admissions.

    The justices will hear appeals from a conservative student group that has been challenging the use of race as a factor in undergraduate admissions at Harvard University, the nation’s oldest private college, and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest public state university.

    Seems cut and dry to me.

    • waffles

      Affirmative action is not legally defensible under current circumstances. That doesn’t mean it’s not contentious. In my lifetime (and perhaps even in my parent’s) it’s been one of those things that’s just so. We shall see.

      • Not Adahn

        MPR ran a story about how there was no discrimination against Asians since there are disproportionately represented in higher ed.

      • Rat on a train

        Some get in so they aren’t excluded.

      • Fourscore

        Just call it reparations and that will solve the dilemma

      • AlexinCT

        If you really want to give reparations, end the whole public school racket and let parents pick where they send their kids. There is no more destructive and racist system than the public school system. It has been designed to hold back our elite’s competition, but cause the most harm to minorities. I doubt this solution will help all minorities, but at least it will give the people that know and want better a chance.

      • R C Dean

        Not public schools.

        Government schools.

      • AlexinCT

        People that defend things like affirmative action are people that believe two wrongs equals a right. Yeah, you can say this is just stupid, but I tend to believe there is more evil than stupid involved in that sort of shit.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan, who is presiding over the case, announced that “Ms. Palin had tested positive for coronavirus” just as her case was about to get underway Monday.

    “She is, of course, unvaccinated,” Rakoff added.

    Of course.

    Depraved indifference.

    • R C Dean

      Motion for a change of judge, filed.

      Judicial ethics violation complaint, filed.

      • UnCivilServant

        Have either actually been filed?

      • R C Dean

        O f course not. That’s just what I would do.

  18. CPRM

    “She is, of course, unvaccinated,” Rakoff added.

    So much condensation condescension.

    • juris imprudent

      The prerogative of the self-righteous.

      • Festus

        There are plenty of “the Elect” that believe healthcare should be withheld from “the Unclean”. Now everyone else gets to see how they have been treating smokers for the last 30-odd years.

      • WTF

        But don’t dare suggest that the obese bear any responsibility for any of their health issues.

      • Festus

        “Beautiful at any size”! Right, Tres?

  19. Rebel Scum

    Sarah Palin dined at NYC restaurant two days before testing positive for Covid

    And? No one is “vaccinated” because it is not a vaccine.

    The former Alaska governor is not vaccinated, a judge said Monday.

    And? What business is this for the court?

    • Festus

      None and none. He’s tainting the jury pool (assuming that a jury is involved) or just trying to sway public perception. Incredibly unprofessional, at any rate.

  20. PieInTheSky

    Rolling Stone
    @RollingStone
    “They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young,” Neil Young wrote in a letter to his manager and label, “Not both.” Young demands Spotify remove his music over “false information about vaccines”

    https://twitter.com/RollingStone/status/1485757517523308548

    • invisible finger

      I’m pretty sure Rogan gets a shitload more streams than Neil Young music nowadays.

      While he’s at it, let’s see Neil make that offer to Gaia too.

    • juris imprudent

      ♪♫ “Old man look at your life…”

      • Plisade

        “I’ve seen the needle and the damage done…”

        What happened to you, Neil?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Well…. bye

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      The worst of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young has spoken. Fuck that fucking guy and his shitty voice.

    • Festus

      He has his swimming pool full of boomer bucks and his new squeeze to keep him warm. Whatta cunte. Threw over his wife that helped raise their kids, including a developmentally disabled one for Daryl Hannah. The hypocrisy from this guy would scare buzzards off a shit-wagon. Fuck you Neil, you haven’t made anything good since the 70’s.

      • The Last American Hero

        Um, what about when he partnered up to jam with Pearl Jam 25 years ago to show how relevant he still was?

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        Fuck you Neil, you haven’t made anything good since the 70’s you first picked up a guitar.

        Not every Boomer thinks this guy was a genius, even if he was a Canadian.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Thank god someone else will say it. I struggle to think of a more overrated musician on this planet. Jack White maybe?

      • rhywun

        Jack White maybe?

        THIS

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        The problem with far too many of these 60s&70s icons is that their output was based on their awakening from the callow self-interests of the teenage mind into a world where life just might be about more than the immediate satisfaction of your gross desires/appetites, the universe was mysterious, being an adult wasn’t nearly as much fun as you thought it would be and your precious existence will come to an end someday. The same awakening that hundreds of generations before the Boomers also experienced, yet when (ferinstance, and yeah I know I’m opening up a can of worms here) Joni Mitchell sings The Circle Game we’re all just so enchanted with her and her “genius,” while the Psalmist came to the same conclusions thirty-odd centuries ago (and that’s just someone who was fortunate enough to have his or her ruminations written down for future generations to discover).

        Boomers and their singer spokespeople’s world-views are one of the things I spend time apologizing for to my nieces and nephews. The Western pop/rock/punk/whatever music of the 1980s was far more creative, and at least it was honest when it was being materialistic.

        Yeah, I said it.

      • juris imprudent

        Circle Game isn’t a brilliant insight, it is a brilliant vocal performance – both her original rendition and her later, lower-octave version.

      • Festus

        He made a lot of good music way back when and I was a huge fan. Mind you, I was still a teen so take that for what it’s worth. I find him nearly unlistenable nowadays. Pardon me, I need to change out this onion hanging from my belt.

      • l0b0t

        Mr. Van Zant and chums said all the needed to be said about Mr. Young back in 1973.

        https://youtu.be/6GxWmSVv-cY

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Apocalypse porn

    Seattle doctors say hospitals are reaching their breaking points as they deal with a crush of COVID-19 patients amid the latest surge fueled by the omicron variant.

    Between Jan. 13 and Jan. 19, there has been an average of 64 new hospitalizations per day with a total of 449 during the week, according to county health department data.

    This is a 460% increase from the 80 hospitalizations that were occurring over a one-week period just a month ago.

    Additionally, 19.9 per 100,000 residents have been hospitalized over the seven-day period, according to health data.

    As of this weekend, UW Medicine — which has four hospitals across its system — reported more than 200 COVID-19 patients for the first time ever.

    By comparison, at the end of November, there were about 30 patients infected with the virus across the system, according to Dr. John Lynch, an infectious disease expert at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and UW Medicine medical lead for the COVID-19 response.

    “I think we’re closer now to a crisis — like a true crisis in health care — we’re closer than we’ve ever been during this entire pandemic,” Lynch told ABC News.

    He said this is due to several factors, including the number of patients getting sick, hospitals reaching capacity, an exhausted health care workforce and the frustration of COVID patients being admitted to hospitals who are unvaccinated.

    Those hospitals would be empty if not for HighlyContagiousUbertron!

    • PieInTheSky

      Bring back double masking

    • CPRM

      Apocalypse porn

      Not what I expected/ X-Men fan

      • l0b0t

        You wanted hot Darkseid/Granny Goodness action? (confused former comic shop manager)

      • Homple

        I would read an article about being a comic shop manager.

    • R C Dean

      How many were admitted because they had COVID?

      How many have been discharged? The sleight of hand makes it sound like they are just piling up in hospitals, not, like every patient, coming and (eventually) going.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Who the hell knows?

        The CDC has made the data difficult to obtain and interpret. By design of course.

      • CPRM

        The only person I know who was put in the hospital for covid got out the next day. He has a plethora of health problems and is hospitalized 3-4 times a year on average. He is vaxxed.

    • The Last American Hero

      Seattle has vax passports, masking in schools and all indoor locations and one of the highest vax rates in the country.

  22. R C Dean

    We all know the restaurant’s real sin was allowing Ms. Palin in the door, regardless of her vax status.

    Just like the judge is offended by her presence on his docket as anything other than a defendant.

    • AlexinCT

      The left really wishes it could permanently banish or end those people that hurt the left’s narrative and expose the whole thing as a criminal enterprise. It’s really as simple as that.

      • juris imprudent

        But not before they learn to love Big Brother.

      • AlexinCT

        As they pointed out in 1984. Disappearing the resisters before breaking them and making them love big brother doesn’t have the same satisfaction factor.

      • ron73440

        How many fingers do you see?!?

      • AlexinCT

        At least they are not asking you “How many fingers do you feel up your ass” cause that might be even more humiliating for some…

      • Festus

        Enh. 3-4% like that butt stuff.

      • ron73440

        “Wiggle them again, I’m not sure yet!”

    • Certified Public Asshat

      You can always avoid the rules if you are wealthy enough.

  23. Rebel Scum

    President Biden’s approval rating has tanked to a new low of just 39 percent as his administration contends with a number of domestic and global concerns, a new poll shows.

    No chance it is close to that high.

    “This is a new low for President Biden as he struggles to solve a myriad of issues,” pollster Mark Penn said, according to the report.

    Curiously the issue were mostly caused by the admin.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    “But I just don’t think people realized what a big deal closing school for a year was.”

    Sounds to me like she’s mostly just mad about losing the free daycare.

    *did not RTFA

  25. Scruffy Nerfherder

    This may be paywalled, but if anything meets the definition of neoliberal apologia for war, this is it.

    https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/a-conversation-with-the-last-liberal

    The philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy insists that not only should we care, but that we must. What is happening right now in Ukraine, he argues, has everything to do with us. It has to do with whether we still believe in Western values and in Western civilization—and if we really think those values and that civilization are worth defending and sacrificing for.

    But BHL is a highly endangered species: the liberal interventionist. In the 1990s, his kind seemed to run the world. The West had triumphed over Soviet totalitarianism. We had arrived at the “end of history.” Then the first two decades of the 21st century happened.

    • CPRM

      Should we care? Yes. Should we start WWIII because our government supported a coup 10 years ago? Nah.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I love this part. The hubris drips off of it and he avoids the question masterfully.

      Is it paternalistic to assume that people around the world crave Western democratic norms? According to a Pew study from 2013, 99% of Afghans—men and women—desire to live under Sharia law.

      I am aware of that poll. The same words do not necessarily mean the same things. When a woman in Kabul refers to Sharia, she is not advocating for the right to be stoned in the event of adultery. By the way, a real liberal, an interventionist worth his salt, would never deny that broad principles are flexible. We know well that they obviously cannot be applied identically in Afghanistan or Burma, but that they must be adapted.

      • Plisade

        “principles are flexible” and “must be adapted”

        Um, what?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        In other words, the elites will decide when, where, and with how much force the “principles” will be applied. Don’t worry yourself about it, just give them your support for their noble undertaking of saving the ignorant deplorables from themselves.

    • juris imprudent

      I call bullshit. You should care about things you can actually do something about. There is absolutely nothing sacrosanct about the current borders of countries and like fucking climate – they change throughout history. So the infantile mindset that thinks what is now must always be needs to be called out for exactly what it is.

      • EvilSheldon

        Very much this. ‘Caring’ about things that you can’t afffect turns you into an anxiety-riden mess.

      • Homple

        “So the infantile mindset that thinks what is now must always be needs to be called out for exactly what it is.”

        G. K. Chesterton would have a word with you about a fence.

      • juris imprudent

        That’s not really what I’m speaking to – they aren’t dealing with that kind of reality, but a reality they imagine.

      • Plisade

        Killing random strangers isn’t *always* bad.

    • R C Dean

      Well, that settles it.

      Nuke Moscow. It’s the only way to be sure.

    • Festus

      Colonizer! Cancel that man, post-haste! What the fuck would he know about people from the East craving Western values? Has he ever met an Orthodox Christian? Fucking world builders will be the death of us all.

    • wdalasio

      You know, if we really believed in Western values and in Western civilization, maybe we shouldn’t have toppled the previous Ukrainian president and installed a regime that the Russians were never going to find acceptable over a trade deal.

  26. Rebel Scum

    New York judge strikes down state mask mandate ruling that Gov. Kathy Hochul overstepped her authority in imposing a rule that needed to have been passed by the state legislature

    Still wouldn’t legitimize it imho.

    • AlexinCT

      That would require a different case in front of a court to show why it was unconstitutional even for the NY congress to do something like that….

  27. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Tard Tuesday: WAR, IT’S GOT WHAT PLANTS CRAVE

    There is no nice way to say this. If you reside in this country and you are voicing your support for Putin and your hope that he invades Ukraine and humiliates NATO and President Biden, do NOT call yourself an either an “American” or a “patriot”.

    You are traitorous scum and you should expect to be treated as the disgusting bottom-feeder you are. You would not enjoy my reaction should you spew this sewage in my presence.

    • AlexinCT

      Putin, PUTIN, P-U-T-I-N!!!!

      /Xi’s sockpuppets

    • juris imprudent

      Hope? Who in the hell hopes for that? Why can’t these morons ever deal with real people in the real world? It is only the voices in their head they argue with.

    • EvilSheldon

      Dunno. I think I would enjoy giving you a humiliating beating, then watching the cops drag you off. The cavity search before you get booked in gives me a bit of a chuckle, too.

    • Count Potato

      This is what we get from years of Russian collusion bullshit.

      • rhywun

        So much this.

    • wdalasio

      I understand they’re frustrated. Their guys were too clever by half. They thought they were going to pull a fast one and “take” the Ukraine out of Putin’s orbit. But, they pretty much always only had their pecker in their hand. They, rightly, weren’t willing to fight over it. Putin was. And they looked utterly ridiculous, like anyone coming to a fight with their pecker in their hand would. They couldn’t have admitted their plan had an obvious failing (it was negated by an adversary willing to fight) and so they’ve spent the last eight years sulking with their bruised egos and demanding that Putin make their fast one work the way they wanted to.

      I don’t want Putin to “win” against America. I just don’t want to get into a contest where there is a winner and a loser between us and another nuclear armed power. And the only ones who really seem to be making this one are them and the people they support.

      • l0b0t

        I’m pretty sure Russia, in all of its iterations, traces its legitimacy to the Kievan Rus while the concept of Ukraine as a sovereign state only dates to the 1990s. I don’t know why anyone would expect Russia to abandon an important part of Russia.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Russian control of Sevastopol dates to the 18th century.

        Our geniuses at State thought they could end that arrangement and nothing would happen.

      • l0b0t

        Maybe I’m the idiot, IDK, but from a realpolitik perspective, wouldn’t it make more sense to strengthen ties with Russia as a hedge against the PRC?

      • wdalasio

        If nothing else, it would make more sense not to drive them into the arms of the PRC.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’ve never heard anyone explain with any clarity exactly why it is in America’s interest to encircle Russia and put military pressure on them.

        Do they actually think that putting nuclear tipped Tomahawk missiles five minutes from Moscow is going to improve the stability of the world?

      • wdalasio

        Because the guys doing these decisions think they’re God’s gift to the world. They think they’re the cleverest ones in the room and they can outwit anyone who comes down the pike. They think that they can pull whatever fast ones they want and everyone’s just going to go along with it because they’re just so damned smart. Encircle Russia and put military pressure on them? Sure why the hell not. Those old guys who said that might not be such a wise move were just a bunch of old white guys who weren’t nearly as enlightened or sophisticated as our new elite. Probably slave owners, even.

      • juris imprudent

        They believe coercion is what keeps citizens in line, so why not countries?

      • wdalasio

        Except they don’t really have the wherewithal for coercion. That’s why I said they came out with their peckers in their hands. They’ve made abundantly clear that they aren’t going to war with Russia (Biden even greenlighted Nord Stream II just a couple of months ago). Once that’s decided the rest is just sound and fury signifying nothing. Putin understands that. I don’t think these guys do. And that might actually make the situation more dangerous than it might otherwise be.

      • juris imprudent

        And in reality, the vast majority of these idiots have little taste for real coercion more locally. Oh, there are the truly bloody-minded few, but most can’t understand why anyone would resist.

      • Plisade

        Big missile, little dick?

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Maybe the judge in Palin v NYT will order her into a plexiglass Eichmann Booth in the courtroom, so she doesn’t kill everyone with her unvaxxed metatoxins.

    • Festus

      She’s the same age as me and I would welcome my unvaxxed metatoxins.

  29. Jerms

    My kids attend two different NY schools. One sent an email saying masks were optional today, the other left a message saying ruling will be overturned so mask still mandatory.

    • Nephilium

      I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t think that’s how rulings are supposed to work.

    • l0b0t

      Both my kids’ schools are still requiring masks. I also, just 10 minutes ago, got a text informing me that a student in son’s 2 grade class just tested positive. Son will given 2 free tests to take home. One test for tonight, one for 5 days from now. If he is negative on tonight’s test, he can go to school for 5 days then test again. We really aren’t that far removed from Theodoric of York Medieval Barber

      • db

        This is what happens when people with education degrees try their hands at public health policy.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m coming to the conclusion that “public health” is like macroeconomics, useless at best, incredibly destructive at worst.

        Perhaps if they limited themselves to clean water and sewage systems.

      • db

        I think I came to that conclusion in the early 2000s. Ever since the SARS and H1N1 scares early in this century, I have been convinced that it was only a matter of time before the public health mechanisms would be abused badly in the way that 9/11 led to DHS and the known abuses of liberty it has enabled. It took less time than I expected.

      • EvilSheldon

        ‘Public’.

        It ruins everything.

      • Not Adahn

        Exhibitionists disagree.

      • Ozymandias

        Scruffy, I’m surprised at you. You know there is no such thing as “public” health. Did “Public” have a fever today? What did Public’s doctor say?
        It’s just like putting “public” in front of “restroom”, “education”, or “servant.” It’s all the same.
        The “public” is nothing more than a construct – it doesn’t fucking have “health” short of the aggregate of every individual’s personal situation, which is treated case-by-case.
        It’s all a giant mindfuck of propaganda that we’ve all fallen for. Same-same for “society’s” needs… the sleight of hand has already happened the minute you even agree to talk in those terms.

    • Tonio

      I’d say record the second message and share that with Fox or another friendly news org.

    • rhywun

      the other left a message saying ruling will be overturned so mask still mandatory

      That is sort of the governor’s position – they immediately appealed the court decision which supposedly means that her illegal mandates are “still in effect”.

      Frankly I think at this point there is enough confusion in the air and disgust in every quarter not filled with Karxns that you can probably tell the elites to blow it up their ass.

      • R C Dean

        they immediately appealed the court decision which supposedly means that her illegal mandates are “still in effect”.

        That rather depends on whether the lower court decision was stayed pending appeal. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t. Its not automatic.

      • rhywun

        Who knows?! But good point.

  30. Rebel Scum

    US orders 8,500 troops on heightened alert for potential Europe deployment amid Russia concerns

    Nothing distracts the plebs like a war.

    The Pentagon ordered 8,500 troops on higher alert to potentially deploy to Europe as part of a NATO “response force” amid growing concern that Russia could soon make a military move on Ukraine. President Joe Biden consulted with key European leaders, underscoring U.S. solidarity with allies there.

    Obviously we have to ensure Ukrainian territorial integrity. But fuck US border integrity.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    It has to do with whether we still believe in Western values and in Western civilization—and if we really think those values and that civilization are worth defending and sacrificing for.

    Let’s impose those “values” by force on countries with no evident desire for them. That’s what freedom and democracy mean.

    • AlexinCT

      National Review has not gone out of business yet?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      On the other hand, I believe we should keep up the pressure on vaccination. The Biden administration was right to extend the vaccine requirement for air travelers to noncitizens arriving by land and by sea, a small but intelligent step. I believe that there is a reasonable case for requiring vaccination for domestic air and train travel; among other considerations, vaccinated people who suffer from breakthrough infections are less infectious than non-vaccinated people are.

      Go fuck yourself Kevin. If you’re scared, stay home.

      • WTF

        vaccinated people who suffer from breakthrough infections are less infectious than non-vaccinated people are.

        Well there’s an assertion without evidence.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        He cites a study. Let’s see if you can spot the problem with it.

        To determine the validity of these hypotheses, Kissler and his team collected and analyzed 19,941 SARS-CoV-2 viral samples from 173 individuals obtained as part of the National Basketball Association’s occupational health program between Nov. 28, 2020, and Aug. 11, 2021. The researchers compared SARS-CoV-2 viral dynamics among individuals infected with various variants, including the Alpha and Delta variants, and individuals who were vaccinated versus those who were unvaccinated.

      • R C Dean

        “The” problem? I see about four, and I know little about study design.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        True. I was going for the applicability of a study on virus strains that no longer exist though.

      • Gustave Lytton

        As if covid vaccines would be the last restriction imposed on domestic travel.

    • Drake

      Heh – Somebody is keeping National Review afloat? This kind of back-stabbing crap is why they turned off their comments section and lost almost all their readers. There are conservative blogs getting more hits than NRO these days.

      • ron73440

        Comments are on this piece of drivel.

        90% are calling him out for baseless assertions and swallowing the narrative.

    • rhywun

      He’s lost what little respect I had for him during the plague years.

      • Festus

        He’s old and scared.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        He really should have fit in better at the Atlantic.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Vaccines are not magic, and they have proved more effective at preventing hospitalization and death than they have at preventing transmission of the virus per se. But relieving pressure on health systems and reducing transmission, even modestly, is a very great benefit.

      Yes, ignore the impact of firing healthcare workers with natural immunity.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        And ignore the data coming out of Denmark and Israel that suggests the vaccines are now causing more cases and hospitalizations.

      • rhywun

        And completely ignore the different risk/benefit ratios at different age groups.

  32. PieInTheSky

    In China, Fight Club has a different ending: instead of Ed Norton blowing up buildings, he’s arrested by the state. Lord of War too: instead of evading justice Nicholas Cage is…arrested by the state.
    Can’t quite put my finger on the pattern

    https://twitter.com/gerryshih/status/1485596952721256448

    • CPRM

      “Through the clue provided by Tyler, the police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding,” a caption said. “After the trial, Tyler was sent to lunatic asylum receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012.”

      Actually, that kind of lines up with the books.

      • Nephilium

        Did you see they’ve gone to sequels in comics? I think they were up to Fight Club 3 last time I was at a comic store.

      • CPRM

        Yes, I read the Fight Club 2 graphic novel. It is terrible. I haven’t tried 3.

  33. waffles

    The pandemic is over!
    We won!
    Let the war begin!
    It’s dumb!

    • Sean

      ‘We did it, Joe.”

      *cackles*

      • waffles

        *shudders*

  34. The Late P Brooks

    I have never fought in a war, but my veteran friends assure me it is much more disruptive and unpleasant than receiving a free, safe, effective vaccination against a potentially deadly infection.

    Eat shit and die, Williamson.

    • juris imprudent

      Effective? I hope it is safer than it is effective.

      And FREE? When did conservatives start believing in free lunches?

      • PieInTheSky

        It is the European conservative way. US conservatives are just getting more civilized. Like opposing guns and being for free healthcare

    • Rebel Scum

      a free, safe, effective vaccination against a potentially deadly infection.

      Except it’s not a vaccine, it’s not safe, and it’s not effective. I’d prefer to take my vitamins to boost my natural immunity.

      • R C Dean

        Its also not free.

      • Sensei

        If I don’t pay for it it’s “free”, right?

        – average voter

    • LCDR_Fish

      Got a bunch more texts from one of my group chats with Matt from Gourmeltz and others about folks getting forced out, Delta dudes with myo, and a lot of related tissues. Reserves are purging a lot of folks this qay.

      • ron73440

        That sucks.

        I hate all this bullshit.

  35. CPRM

    I have been going back and re-watching the original Transformers cartoon. In an episode I watched this morning the Transformer’s computer, Teletran 1, was damaged and began saying random things. One thing it said was the quote from 1984 about the the chocolate rations being increased.

    • CPRM

      I didn’t get to it yet in this watch-through, but there is also an episode with Middle Eastern country named Carbombia.

      • AlexinCT

        Cobra commander used to tell people to watch out for his spitting cobra?

  36. Rebel Scum

    Rock ‘n roll.

    “They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young,” Neil Young wrote in a letter to his manager and label, “Not both.” Young demands Spotify remove his music over “false information about vaccines”

    Covid propaganda has broken people.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      I heard Neil Young whine about him.
      I heard Neil Young put Joe down.
      Neil Young should remember,
      Spotify don’t need him around anyhow.

  37. pistoffnick

    Baby, it’s cold outside. My truck said it was -19 deg F.

    /global warming

    • CPRM

      Last week it was -20 on my way home, tried to stop for gas, but the pump declined all my cards; went back later when it was warmer and everything was fine. Luckily I had enough gas to wait until later.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    This morning, during my 3:30 AM sleep mode malfunction, I turned on the teevee news. Good grief, it’s nonstop terrorporn. The stories, the ads… everything will kill you.There is no risk too remote to work yourself into a lather over.

    Household pets are a grave risk to your family’s health and wellbeing.

    Ticks! Mosquitoes

    Sledding. There was this little girl who hit some sort of post and suffered life threatening injuries! It happened to her. It will happen to your precious babies.

    It’s impossible to keep track of he deadly threats which surround us.

    Don’t leave the house without a helmet.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Sledding. There was this little girl who hit some sort of post and suffered life threatening injuries!

      I feel like it’s an improvement to return to the old standby local news terrors like sledding and Halloween apples with pins in htem.

    • pistoffnick

      *thinks back to all the near misses I had while sledding*

      “Damn that was fun. Let’s go again!”

    • Plisade

      “Don’t leave the house without a helmet.” Just stay home and watch the news, they’ll give you all the socially acceptable excuses you’ll need to do nothing with your life.

  39. ron73440

    The Stanford drug story is sad, but then they go and make me hate them by suing for no good reason.

    Reminds me of a woman who was hit by a train on a bridge.

    They were filming a movie and the director didn’t clear it with the train company.

    A train came rolling through and they were unable to get off the tracks in time.

    She sued the film company and director, I’m with her there.

    She also sued the train company, kind of lost my sympathy for her then.

  40. Rebel Scum

    Seems legit.

    So, if you’re unvaccinated in Quebec and walk into big box store you will need to be accompanied by an employee who will make sure you’re not there to buy socks or a toaster oven.

    • WTF

      SCIENCE!!!

    • db

      super

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      She’s getting rabies shots because a monkey hissed at her? Bullshit.

    • AlexinCT

      If she starts feeling like she wants to eat bananas and climb trees do we have to worry about “Planet of the Apes” coming true?

    • Sean

      YAY! We’re finally gonna get our zombie apocalypse. We all know it’s supposed to start in PA.

      • db

        When I attended a major university in the centre of PA, my GF at the time was in biochemistry and told me of the “secret” basement floor in one of the buildings that housed all manner of live test subjects. They tried to keep an extremely low profile to avoid protests against monkey research. I sometimes fancied it would be the start of something big.

      • waffles

        This started out as a fun story, damnit. Then the CDC and state troopers shot the escaped monkeys and clammed up in response to all questions. Now it’s a terror story.

        I’ll forget about it in a week.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m guessing that the monkeys were being transported illegally and without regard for all of the bazillion regulations that the CDC requires for everyone except themselves.

      • db

        Almost certainly; no one can follow all the pertinent regulations in place at any given time for any given action.

      • l0b0t

        The Brooklyn hardware store I once worked at still has about 100 gallons of genuine Red Lead marine bottom paint in a partitioned section of the basement. Thanks to a combination of FedGov, StateGov, and NYCGov regulations, it can’t be transported or disposed of.

      • db

        I wonder if it could be stolen. A convenient outage of security cameras…

      • Festus

        Jesus! I feel a caper brewing… that stuff is like chloridians to boat owners, just mind that one vat.

      • Festus

        I do dream about the Hawaiian Shirt Adventures of Lolbot and Festus, though.

      • Drake

        This sounds more like The Stand.

      • db

        This sounds more like The Stand.

      • Drake

        I was expecting this.

    • PieInTheSky

      I wish people would stop licking random monkeys

    • The Other Kevin

      At the time it came out I made a joke about them being from one of Fauci’s projects but I didn’t think it would be real!

      • ron73440

        Another conspiracy theory comes true.

      • The Other Kevin

        I’m just surprised at how low the turnaround time is getting.

    • Festus

      You know my weakness too well, Q! I’d break under even the threat of torture.

  41. PieInTheSky

    CRAZY—When 7 Wisconsin hospital workers quit to work at another hospital for better pay & work/life balance, the 1st hospital didn’t try to match the 2nd hospital’s offer. It instead got a judge to issue a temporary order blocking the workers from leaving.

    https://twitter.com/greenhousenyt/status/1485355704651337730

    Libertarians will not admit it, but this is what happens with unregulated private healthcare

    • PieInTheSky

      “In the complaint, lawyers for ThedaCare wrote that Ascension had “shockingly” chosen to “poach” the employees during a stressful time for health care. More COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in the Fox Valley now than at any other time during the pandemic, according to Wisconsin Hospital Association data, and ThedaCare has canceled non-emergency surgeries to make space. ”

      Poaching should be illegal

      • pistoffnick

        Poaching should be illegal

        I wouldn’t go THAT far. Never the less, steaming or braising are better in my opinion.

      • Fourscore

        Is it poaching if you’re hungry and with your Dad?

        “Go out and put the spears in the truck, suckers should be running tonight”

      • db

        huh, missed it by *that* much

      • Swiss Servator

        Huh. I thought “adscriptus glebae” was gone with the 13th and 14th Amendments.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I thought that was gone with the discovery of penicillin.

      • Festus

        *golf clap*

      • R C Dean

        Of course, they will provide exactly as much care with their new employer as they did with their old. One searches in vain for the “public interest” here, In fact, the judge has managed to remove them from the health care workplace entirely, because there is a healthcare worker shortage crisis.

        There’s a reason for the joke “What do you call the guy at the bottom of his law schools class? Your honor.”

      • Rebel Scum

        Also, possibly, “Mr. President.”

    • SDF-7

      Wait… are you stealing Winston’s shtick now?

    • Urthona

      This is basically clickbait.

      The “temporary order” was on a Monday to a Sunday.

      Yes they will win over this ridiculous legal action and be allowed to change jobs.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Maybe he just sucks

    Arizona Democrats are growing increasingly alarmed that the drama surrounding Sen. Kyrsten Sinema will make it harder for her counterpart, Sen. Mark Kelly, to win re-election in November.

    It’s an unintended side effect stemming from the intra-party outrage that Sinema kicked up after her decision last week to block a major voting rights bill that sits atop President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.

    Now, Sinema is the talk of Grand Canyon State politics when Democrats very much would rather the focus be on Kelly, ahttps://www.businessinsider.com/kyrsten-sinema-filibuster-democrats-mark-kelly-arizona-senate-race-2022-1 former astronaut running in a tough 2022 midterm cycle where Republicans need to pick up just one Senate seat to win back the majority.

    “I do think that Kyrsten Sinema is making it significantly more difficult for Mark Kelly to get re-elected,” said one Arizona Democratic Party official, who requested anonymity to speak bluntly about the race.

    Maybe Arizonians who are not members of the Inner Party want to dump the anti gun ass kissing yes-man on his own merits.

    • PieInTheSky

      looking at the picture in the article the chick seems to have better sucking lips than the dude

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      make it harder for her counterpart, Sen. Mark Kelly, to win re-election in November

      Yes, please.

    • ron73440

      Kelly is a gun safety activist

      That’s the Newspeak Dictionary definition for a gun control freak, I guess.

    • R C Dean

      harder for her counterpart, Sen. Mark Kelly, to win re-election in November

      I hope so. He is a nullity, a vote for whatever the machine tells him to vote for. A crooked crony capitalist, on top of it.

      It all comes down to who the Repubs put up against him. He should be very beatable.

      I am amused at the pics they choose, and how they change over time. When Sinema was a fave, they were always flattering. Now, not so much.

  43. db

    RC Dean, have you seen the Wisconsin case where one hospital system tried to hire a number of employees away from another, with better pay and benefits, it was sued by the first hospital, and a judge has issued an injunction denying the ability of “at-will” employees to leave employment with the first hospital?

    • R C Dean

      Yeah. Judge be stupid, yo. Unfortunately, that injunction will take time to overturn. I can’t imagine there’s a defensible legal basis for it.

      • nw

        I looked up the case. There was a hearing yesterday, and the “additional text” on the
        public records says “Court finds that ThedaCare has not met their burden. Court removes
        Injunction and denies request for relief by ThedaCare.”

        The case was filed on the 20th, as was a motion for a temporary restraining order.
        The court then scheduled a hearing for the 24th, which is pretty fast. At that
        hearing the judge removed the injunction. I wouldn’t say the judge was stupid.
        The point of a TRO is to preserve the status quo and give some time to figure
        out what’s going on.

      • R C Dean

        The point of a TRO is to preserve the status quo and give some time to figure out what’s going on.

        But the standard for a TRO is a high likelihood of success on the merits (which was nonexistent). And it didn’t preserve the status quo ante of these people being ThedaCare employees. Instead, it removed them from the workforce altogether.

        The judge still did a stupid, IMO.

      • db

        Good to know the situation is corrected so far! It still should be regarded as a mistake.

        Since this involves directly the potential compensation of these individuals, could any party (including the state) be held liable for lost wages?

  44. The Late P Brooks

    Fuck that fucking guy and his shitty voice.

    No kidding. He sounds like an animal with his leg in a trap.

  45. The Late P Brooks

    looking at the picture in the article the chick seems to have better sucking lips than the dude

    She also wears thigh high boots, to better enable her to navigate the Senatorial bullshit.

    • R C Dean

      She has a lot in common with AOC in one important way:

      She is a brand. Being Senator is just a brand extension, just like being a Rep is AOC’s brand extension. Other than being photogenic, what does either really bring to the job? Sure, Sinema’s current brand is a remake of McCain’s “Maverick Arizona Senator” schtick, but don’t kid yourself.

  46. Q Continuum

    Democrats know this:

    He who controls the MILFs, controls the world!

    • AlexinCT

      Amen brotha..

    • Festus

      The comely MILFS in yoga pants control the world in my estimation. “Yes, Dear”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Arthur can shove his test swabs up his fat ass.

    • Drake

      I want a flying car, a thousand acre estate, and a harem of beautiful women.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Mandatory tests for everyone and bullets for those who refuse to quarantine. Who the hell is that loser?

    • CPRM

      And if HE is found to be a reservoir it’s ok to terminate him?

    • WTF

      I want constant mandatory testing for total awareness of where the virus is and uncompromising elimination of infection via total quarantine of the infected

      And I want self-absorbed idiots like you to shut the fuck up and go away, but here we are.

      • juris imprudent

        They have gone away – they congregate on Twitter. It would be really nice if we stopped paying attention to them.

    • The Other Kevin

      Is it a respirator virus or The Blob?

    • Rebel Scum

      What a dangerously ignorant asshole.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    I want constant mandatory testing for total awareness of where the virus is and uncompromising elimination of infection via total quarantine of the infected

    Good for you.

  48. Brawndo

    Life attempts to return to normal, first day the son was allowed back at day care meaning both the wife and I can return to work. If I could put pictures in a comment I’d post Libertarian Candidate Joe Exotic saying “I’m never going to financially recover from this”

    • SDF-7

      Eh — without knowing details I’m leaning towards giving them a pass on this one. Carrier trap incidents happen, it is inherently dangerous. Should sailors have been injured? Probably not (my best guess skimming it since the pilot ejected into the drink was a missed trap perhaps due to a snapped arrestor cable and the cable is what injured the sailors? Because surely they weren’t standing in the landing path trusting in the trap — if so, yeah… that would be really, really stupid…)

    • CPRM

      The status of the Lockheed Martin-made F-35, estimated to cost around $94 million, is unclear.

      Eggs, omelet, MIC bucks.

    • Rebel Scum

      The pilot of the F-35 Lighting II warplane was recovered by a helicopter after ejecting and is in stable condition. …

      The status of the Lockheed Martin-made F-35, estimated to cost around $94 million, is unclear.

      I assume it crashed and burned.

    • Drake

      The Russians have no idea what their in for if the go against our Army!

    • AlexinCT

      Slutty women make the world go round..

      • Festus

        Depends where you stand on the cock/cuck axis. Never happened to me but that shit is usually earth-shattering for the spurned one regardless of gender. No beuno.

  49. Rebel Scum

    No stone shall be left unturned.

    Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said: “We’ve had conversations with the former attorney general already. We have talked to Department of Defense individuals.” …

    “We are concerned that our military was part of this big lie on promoting that the election was false,” Thompson said. “So, if you are using the military to potentially seize voting machines, even though it’s a discussion, the public needs to know — we’ve never had that before.” …

    Thompson said the Jan. 6 committee did not have proof that “an operational plan” to seize voting machines was developed.

    “The draft itself is reason enough to believe that it was being proposed,” he said. “Our job is to get to the facts and circumstances of how far did they go.”

    No, your job is to perpetuate the narrative because it is all you have going into the midterms.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      They can just taste the power. Just a little further and they’ll have it all, they know it.

      • CPRM

        They’ve got Trump this time! The Walls Are Closing In!

    • Plisade

      “We can’t prove he’s a pig fucker.”

      “I know that,” replied Johnson. “I just want to hear him deny it.”

    • l0b0t

      On Instagram, I’m inundated with ads for various brands of “hop water”, seltzer flavored with different hops. I like hops, but I can’t stand seltzer.

      • Nephilium

        There’s also a couple companies doing hop tea, hopped still water (sometimes with a touch of tea with it).

      • l0b0t

        Oooh… I would try hopped tea; that sounds like a good use for hops.

      • Nephilium

        You can also make your own hop tea. It was used as a folk remedy for restlessness and insomnia. You can also make hop tinctures to add the flavor of hops to other things.

        /realizes he should go check where his cookbook focused on hops is

      • l0b0t

        And now I’m craving a 120 Minute IPA.

      • robc

        60 minute is okay, 90 minute is great, 120 is okay.

        I HAVE DECREED IT SO.

      • l0b0t

        120 is my favorite as I can sip one slowly over an hour or so and then fall fast asleep.

      • ron73440

        I like the 120, but can only drink 2 in a row.

      • R C Dean

        I’ve had carbonated hopped tea (blanking on the brand). Not bad at all. Mild, refreshing, and it scratches the beer itch when I shouldn’t oughta be drinking.

      • R C Dean

        It just came to me.

        Hoplark.

  50. Rebel Scum

    At some point…

    Just got a heads up that Loudoun County Schools are punishing kids who don’t wear masks by putting them in the equivalent of a rubber room without access to instruction.

    Teachers insisting kids wear masks regardless of the Governor’s order and saying wait until SCOTUS decision.

    …it’s time to grab your pitchforks.

    @LCPSOfficial is having people patrol the hallways, removing maskless kids from class, and sending them to a separate location.

    Epically bad decision from Title IX Officer Scott Ziegler. #LoudounCounty

    • juris imprudent

      Ah, the subject of a Matt Taibbi four-part investigative report and they still haven’t got a clue.

  51. CPRM

    Swiss, I submitted something last night.

    • Tonio

      I’m not Swiss, but thanks.

    • robc

      I have to decide whether to hit submit or delete on a peice.

      • robc

        peice?

        Really, peice? That is what you went with?

        That wasn’t a typo, that is what I decided was the correct spelling before I hit post.

        This is why I am so slow at writing articles. Stupid engineering brain.

  52. Lackadaisical

    Today is my son’s first day at the new daycare. He was awesome all yesterday on the flight down and even sleeping at our new digs without an issue. Of course, he wasn’t too happy during drop off.

    It’s really rewarding being a father, but much harder in someways than I thought it would be. Hoping my wife arrives soon.

    Packed everything up over the past few days and had the movers come (thieves, but what can we do?) Not sure when they’re expecting to get here, had a small disagreement about price…

    • CPRM

      Cue Funny Farm Clip I can’t find.

      • Lackadaisical

        Do your mean that Napoleon the 14th song?

    • juris imprudent

      I wouldn’t trust the bastards not to hold your goods for ransom. Speaking from painful experience.

      • R C Dean

        “You might be interested to know that my guns aren’t in your van. Now, when can I expect delivery?”

      • Lackadaisical

        That’s exactly what was happening. What made it worse was I had a flight in an hour, so we really didn’t have time to negotiate anything.

      • juris imprudent

        I called AmEx before I paid the moving company and told them what was happening and that I would be disputing the charge. They pre-cleared me to both pay and contest the charge, thus I got my goods delivered and eventually prevailed on only paying the contracted amount. Allied took the overcharges up the ass.

      • Lackadaisical

        They was smart. They did legitimately do some extra work which we were happy to pay for, but added on a billion dollars for wrapping and handling charges for things that were already on the quote.

        I am already paying you to handle it! Grumbles.

  53. Rebel Scum

    It’s not like congress has any role here.

    The Biden administration is withholding a “secret agreement” with Iran from Congress as negotiations over a revamped nuclear deal continue in Vienna, according to two Republican lawmakers.

    Reports emerged late Friday that Russia proposed an interim nuclear deal to Iran with the knowledge of U.S. officials. The deal would reportedly lift some sanctions on Iran in exchange for a limited set of restrictions on the country’s nuclear program. Russia offered the deal to Iran on the sidelines of ongoing negotiations in Vienna, according to NBC News, which first reported on the document. Tehran is said to have rejected the interim deal, saying that it prefers a large-scale agreement that will provide it with billions in cash windfalls. Republican lawmakers say details of the agreement are being kept from Congress.

    “Russia sent a secret agreement to Iran,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Washington Free Beacon on Friday during a press call. “Russia is trying to take the lead now in the negotiations with Iran. This is a secret agreement. We haven’t seen it.”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      We already stuck our dick in but we appear to be too stupid to pull it out.

    • CPRM

      Followed. Follow Back?

      • db

        Follaback Glib

    • Lackadaisical

      Lol, is that a hornet’s nest?

      • db

        yuuuuup

  54. Rebel Scum

    War analogies are ok when we do it.

    Cross was discussing alleged Trump election interference with Democrat state representative Jasmine Crockett, who is running for Congress in Texas, during Saturday’s edition of MSNBC’s “The Cross Connection” when the duo speculated about how to fend off Republicans who could object to future results. …

    Crockett responded that “the role that Black women play in democracy” isn’t talked about enough by the media, but she will fight for them in the ongoing “war” against people who oppose liberal viewpoints.

    “So there’s a bigger story that I think is brewing, and that is that Black women have consistently fought for our democracy on every single level,” Crockett said. “And I think that Black women will continue to fight for our democracy. And that’s exactly what I plan to do. I don’t plan to give up. I know that I wouldn’t be here but for those that fought before me, so I’m going to continue this fight. We can’t let up. If we say we’ve been defeated, then they have won. This is a war. This isn’t a battle, and we absolutely will win this war.” …

    MSNBC’s “The Cross Connection” namesake host agreed that it’s a “war,” and took the analogy a step further.

    “It is indeed a war. And I have to say, they have won some battles, Jasmine, but we have to keep our eye on the war. And everybody needs to pick up a weapon and get involved because this is for the safety and lasting of the country,” Cross said.

    • juris imprudent

      Uh huh. She speaks for all black women about like I speak for all white men. I’d love to see her face to face with Candace Owens.

      • ron73440

        I still want to see Joy Reid debate Winsome Sears.

      • Rebel Scum

        ^

    • Festus

      If someone were so rude as to wag their finger in my face I would be hard pressed to refrain from breaking off said digit and shoving it right up their loud mouthed asshole.

  55. Rebel Scum

    I’m sure Putin takes you seriously.

    Vice President Kamala Harris warned Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine on Tuesday, in an interview in Wisconsin.

    “If Russia and Vladimir Putin violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine there’s going to be serious consequences, and we’re very clear about that,” Harris told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday.

    Harris’ comment is the highest level response from the administration on the escalating tensions in Ukraine since President Joe Biden commented on the issue last week.

    • R C Dean

      Russian diplomat: “Vlad, Kamala Harris has strongly warned us about Ukraine.”

      Putin: “Who?”

    • Nephilium

      Not a new trend… Jane Foster Thor… Ironheart…

  56. Rebel Scum

    Now is not the time to give up the charade because muh-science.

    Bolduan asked, “What do you think about lifting school mask mandates right now?”

    Hotez said, “Well, look, this is the most highly transmissible variant we’ve seen. We’ve got something on the order of measles, and therefore, if you start lifting mask mandates now, you’re basically condemning all the kids to get infected with Omicron and — and having to live with those consequences, which means some kids have to be hospitalized or possibly worse. So it makes no sense to lift mask mandates at this point. It makes every bit of sense to maximize vaccinations because we know that’s having a huge impact, especially the boosters, on reducing hospitalizations reducing emergency room visits by quite a bit. So if you’ve only gotten two doses of the vaccine, you need that third dose to stay out of the hospital and the emergency room, point one, and we need to max out vaccinating our kids, and we’re just not doing that nationally, and therefore, we invite Omicron to continue to — to linger. And so, you know, we should talk about this like it’s out of our hands. It’s every bit in our hands to get rid of Omicron, you know, out of the country right now.

    That’s not how it works. And the kids should all get *insert scare-iant*.

  57. Fourscore

    Well, she does have her fist balled up so she really, really means it.

    Putin knows better than to challenge a woman when she’s serious, he’ll get what’s coming to him whether he likes it or not.

    /Kamala calls Rev Sharpton, asks him how he liked her being all presidential and stuff.

  58. The Late P Brooks

    “If Russia and Vladimir Putin violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine there’s going to be serious consequences, and we’re very clear about that,” Harris told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday.

    “It’s going on your Permanent Record, young man.”

    • Urthona

      Triple secret sanctions.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Way too much, seems like the potential for a legal bind is there too. Why Glock refuses to come out with their own carbine is beyond me, they’d make a mint.

      • R C Dean

        No kidding.

        That might be the least ugly bullpup I’ve seen, though.

        Speaking of pistol caliber carbines, I have unaccountably acquired a craving for an HK USC-to-UMP conversion. This is a bad idea. Financially. Pls. talk me out of it.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Get one of the Ruger pistol caliber carbines instead if you just have to buy something, they’re way cheaper. Not as pretty though.

      • pistoffnick

        Want!

  59. The Late P Brooks

    Shorter Hotez:

    “Polly wanna cracker jab.”

  60. The Late P Brooks

    Looked out the window a few minutes ago. Sunny and cold.

    Better than dreary/cloudy and cold.

  61. juris imprudent

    If this isn’t peak derp, I really don’t want to get any closer.

    Racist and threatening banners aimed at Dusan Vlahovic appeared outside Fiorentina’s Artemio Franchi stadium on Tuesday following reports the Serbia forward is set to move to Juventus.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Pretty stupid no doubt but we all know that peak derp doesn’t exist.

    • ron73440

      Gypsy” is a term normally used in reference to someone from a travelling community. It is considered derogatory because of its history as a slur against the Roma people.

      I love how they explain why you should be offended.

      • l0b0t

        The BBC felt the need to issue an apology after Jimmy Carr told this joke on the radio – “The male gypsy moth can smell the female gypsy moth up to seven miles away – and that fact also works if you remove the word ‘moth’.”

      • limey

        *weird Jimmy Carr laugh*

      • ron73440

        That’s a good one.

      • Festus

        That is funny! Now I go pretend to feel the shame…

      • PieInTheSky

        I mean many a Romanian would be pissed at being called the G word

      • Gustave Lytton

        Would they prefer tramp or thief?

      • PieInTheSky

        some probably would

    • PieInTheSky

      eh a Serb he is probably one o them antivaxxers

  62. Sensei

    Weekend at Bernie’s – Irish style.

    Men drag dead body into Irish post office, seeking the deceased’s pension

      • Festus

        I’ve heard of the Irish dragging the dearly departed to the local pub for a proper send off so this doesn’t surprise me one little bit.

      • R C Dean

        One strongly suspects that was step one, and the “hey, pension” idea came after.

      • Festus

        You should rename your avatar “Banacek!”

  63. PieInTheSky

    Once you understand your computer has 16 cores running at 3GHz and yet doesn’t boot up in .2 nanoseconds you understand everything they have taken from you.

    Your lifetime is simply a consumable to the programmer class

    We have given the programmers everything yet we get close to nothing. Silicon marvels of metallurgy are dashed against the rocks of their largesse.

    https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/1485822027923603456

    • l0b0t

      I remember a John Dvorak column from the late 1990s (IIRC) lamenting that for every increase in CPU power, there are legions of programmers writing new, increasingly bloated, versions of perfectly acceptable programs that waste all of that potential.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Now there’s somebody who dropped off the radar.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Peter Norton says ‘hold my shirt’.

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        He has a podcast with Adam Curry from MTV fame. No Agenda.

      • db

        It’s the same for CPU, RAM, and storage. In a way, capacity begets laziness.

      • PieInTheSky

        I am not a programmer per se but I did have this one script that needed a machine with 300 GB of RAM to work.

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        One of my previous companies did software development in Russia. The CEO said he chose to do it there because they were so used to programming on crappy hardware that they wrote really efficient code.

    • PieInTheSky

      He needs Mark Norman to get involved, he is pro-midge

    • Festus

      Napoleon Syndrome

    • Drake

      Somebody wasn’t offered enough for a part.

      • juris imprudent

        “I am not playing Dopey, at least not for that money I’m not!”

    • WTF

      Shut the fuck up, Dopey.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Lol: Dinklage, who has achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism that results in him being 4-foot-5, found the movie especially hypocritical as they were “very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White.”

      He’s not wrong there.

    • Lackadaisical

      Not the bee?

      I refuse to believe it.

    • The Other Kevin

      He’s an angry elf.

      • Festus

        If he parties like Tyrion he and I would have got along along swimmingly when I was young man.

    • rhywun

      But he was OK playing a dwarf stereotype before anyone knew who he was.

      “Why is there a dream with a dwarf in it?! Do you know anybody who has dreams with dwarves?? NO!! You can take this movie and shove it… up your ass!”

  64. PieInTheSky

    Giving Moms Money Can Boost Babies’ Brain Activity, Study Finds

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharysmith/2022/01/24/giving-moms-money-can-boost-babies-brain-activity-study-finds

    Giving mothers an unconditional cash gift of $333 each month may result in their children displaying increased brain activity, according to a study of 1,000 low-income mother-infant groups published Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, reinforcing previous research linking childhood poverty to differences in brain structure and function.

    Researchers measured stronger high-frequency brain activity—which is associated with improved language, cognitive and social-emotional functioning—among healthy 1-year-olds whose families received $333 per month for a year.

    The study included a racially and ethnically diverse group of mothers, most of whom were Black or Hispanic, drawn from the New York City, greater New Orleans, Minneapolis–Saint Paul and greater Omaha areas.

    Participants reported an average annual household income of a little over $20,000, making the monthly $333 gift a roughly 20% income boost.

    A control group of infants whose families received only $20 a month did not show the same gains as those in the $333 group, researchers found.

    • Festus

      Meth and Cocaine work on toddlers too?

    • R C Dean

      a racially and ethnically diverse group of mothers, most of whom were Black or Hispanic

      Nothing like starting with a non-representative sample, and leaping straight to causation. The mind boggles at the number of confounding variables that are casually disregarded.

      • Festus

        “Boggle” is a fun game played by Peggy Hill, the whitest woman that ever lived. Coincidence? I think not!

      • PieInTheSky

        is that where that wordle shit comes from?

    • Lackadaisical

      I mean, maybe do some longer term studies instead of trying to extrapolate from brain activity allegedly associated with some form of development. Don’t there is any long term difference in outcomes, unlike, say, having an intact family.

  65. Festus

    My apologies for dialing up the old Snark-O-Matic. I’ve been feeling under the weather for that last while and balance issues are getting worse. I’m hoping that the last couple of days of misery is nothing but a stomach bug but I’m running a closed trial to discover whether it’s just a bad bit of potato or maybe my pancreas is shouldering arms and marching. I do have an appointment with my doctor next month so twiddly fingers will be afoot. (H/T to upthread comment from Alex)

    • l0b0t

      I hope it gets sorted out quickly and painlessly. You very much deserve an upswing of the Rota Fortuna.

      • Festus

        At best it’s just a stomach bug, at worst I hope they just put me out on an ice floe. These balance issues are not going away, though. 4X20 could beat me down the stairs lately. Thanks for the well-wishes, Friend. You are a good Man.

  66. db

    The Edgecomb defense is too stupid to realize they are asking questions about blood alcohol and alcohol content in beer that are leading directly to a destruction of the point they’re trying to make. This guy is sooooooooooo dumb.

    • PieInTheSky

      never heard of the phrase Edgecomb defense

  67. PieInTheSky

    I probably wasted 225 Lei but I went and did on of the RT PCR covid tests. The cheaper antigen test was negative but those are not that accurate.

    • pistoffnick

      And? Are you pregnant or not?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      He should call me. I’d be willing to sit for a photo with Brad Pitt.

    • Sean

      Aliens.

    • The Other Kevin

      Further proof we live in a simulation.

    • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

      There’s a guy here in Edmonton who looks so much like me that people have approached me in shopping centres saying “So-and-so! How you doin’, man?” with big grins on their faces.

      At least he’s a nice guy. But then I think that the poor bastard’s being mistaken for me and is suffering the consequences.

      • robc

        I have had two instances of this happen to me.

        One, my cousin (who went to U of KY same time I was at GT) went up to a guy on UK campus and said, “Rob, what are you doing here?”

        Second, there was a girl behind me in line at a Frozen Custard place in Wisconsin who looked exactly like a girl I had a crush on in Atlanta. To the point, that I almost did the same as above, I literally thought it was her at first. She had a Sconnie accent instead of an East* Tennessee one, that was the difference.

        *the part that is usually in a separate insert on a map, THAT far east.

    • Mojeaux

      I always had this problem when I was younger. Think young Melanie Griffith, just ubiquitously, unoriginally pretty. We’re a dime a dozen.

      • Festus

        Top o the rope humble-brag! I love you even more now, Mojo Nixon!

      • Mojeaux

        *deep curtsey*

    • db

      OK so that concept gives me an idea for a story

    • ron73440

      It says one of the available categories is “Fat Woman”.

      Does Tres know?

    • The Other Kevin

      Sounds like a cool idea but of course it’s only being applied to social justice bs.

    • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

      . . . what would people chat with you about for a half hour?

      These days?

      Nothing, particularly in the past two years. I’ve become a singularity of boring — move past its event horizon, and all interest in and fascination with the world ceases.

      You’ve been warned.

  68. Tundra

    One of my favorite Clash songs.

    Thanks, Sloop!

  69. Count Potato

    “LA will force students to be masked in non-cloth masks with nose wires, even while playing sports, even outside. (!) Vaccine mandate to come as well. Why kids have to deal with harsher pandemic policies than anyone else, still unexplained!”

    https://twitter.com/robbysoave/status/1486000935449022468

    • ron73440

      If I had a kid in school, I would end up under the jail.

      • Drake

        In the foundation?

      • ron73440

        They would probably disappear me.

        I had enough of dealing with teachers before we started homeschooling.

    • rhywun

      Oh, I can come up with a couple explanations.

  70. Grummun

    Dean, if you’re still hanging around: when you took the shotgun classes, what fraction of students were using pump guns vs. semi-autos?

    • R C Dean

      I think around 50/50.

  71. Festus

    Checking out dear friends. Mashed potaters as part of the experiment. Wish me and my alimentary track good will and God speed! ;-0