469 Comments

  1. Toxteth O'Grady

    Last!

    • Rat on a train

      penultimate

    • db

      From first to last
      The peak is never passed
      Something always fires the light that gets in your eyes
      One moment’s high
      Glory rolls on by
      Like a streak of lightning
      That flashes and fades in the summer sky

      1988
      2011

      • Galt1138

        Nice. I love that album, especially “Tai Shan.”

      • Necron 99

        At least someone likes Tai Shan, from what I understand RUSH doesn’t.

      • Galt1138

        Well, they can’t like all their songs like some fans do.

        And, of course, I have the wrong album. Marathon is from “Power Windows,” not “Hold Your Fire.” *facepalm*

      • Galt1138

        To add insult to my self inflicted injury, I was actually thinking of Second Nature off “Hold Your Fire,” not Tai Shan (although I do like one).

  2. robodruid

    Good Morning Banjos, thank you for the links.

  3. Translucent Chum

    Bob Saget died from head trauma, family says. “They have concluded that he accidentally hit the back of his head on something, thought nothing of it and went to sleep,”

    Billy Mays redux? Weird.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Hillary’s team is learning to be more subtle.

      Saget should have taken extra precautions ever since he got that box of VHS tapes labeled “Epstein’s Funniest Island Videos”.

      • AlexinCT

        I especially liked that episode with Prince Harry, Bill Gates, and Bill Clinton tag teaming an underage goat.

      • Pope Jimbo

        The nut shots in Epstein’s Videos are way, way different than on America’s Videos.

      • Pope Jimbo

        But they both involve lots and lots of kids

    • Ted S.

      You mean Natasha Richardson.

      • Gustave Lytton ????

        You disappoint me Ted’S. I was sure you’d come up with Joe Spinell.

      • Galt1138

        Ouch!

        Liam Neeson hardest hit.

  4. The Late P Brooks

    Propaganda calliope clanks and wheezes and toots

    Masks have proved to be one of the better aspects of the pandemic, Dr. Erica Johnson said.
    “Masks were one of our earliest effective tools, and I think it will continue to be an absolutely important tool, particularly when rates are high within a community,” said Johnson, chair of the infectious disease board of the American Board of Internal Medicine. “They work.”

    A December review of multiple studies by the CDC showed as much. Masks control the spread of disease, and they protect the wearer, particularly a well-fitting mask that the CDC recommends, such as an N95 or KN95.

    ——-

    The odds are significantly lower that someone will catch Covid-19 if they consistently wear a face mask in an indoor public setting, according to a study published Friday by the CDC.
    That would be the case even if few others were wearing one, said Johnson, who is also an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

    “People still derive protection from wearing a mask, particularly an effective mask like the N95,” Johnson said. “They will go a long way in terms of keeping an individual safe.”

    And now we apparently have veered back over into the “Your mask protects you. My mask protects me.” lane. It’s like riding on a Greyhound bus driven by a bunch of drunken monkeys.

    • R C Dean

      “Masks were one of our earliest effective tools”

      She asserted, without evidence.

      • TARDis

        Funny that she wants a study to prove that not wearing a mask is safe.

      • rhywun

        Talk about doing a 180.

        I remember when masks were useless and we were supposed to hug a Chinaman.

      • UnCivilServant

        The hand axe was one of our earliest effective tools.

      • Ted S.

        Don’t sell the lever short.

      • db

        The hand axe is a compound tool: both a lever and a wedge.

      • UnCivilServant

        The initial stone hand axe had no handle. I don’t think it was used to lever.

      • db

        hmmm. I could be pedantic and point out that the arm is a lever, and that good tools are extensions of the body of the wielder…

      • UnCivilServant

        To be fair, I’d thought the same thing, but the tool is the stuff outside the base anatomy.

      • db

        Yeah, I’m not sure I’d buy my own argument here if it were presented as a counter to me.

      • Plisade

        A caveman was trying to move a boulder, using a tree branch as a lever. The branch broke, as did subsequent ones. Finally, Nate, a giant of a caveman, came walking by and easily moved the boulder for his fellow.

        Moral: Better Nate than lever.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        The odds are significantly lower that someone will catch Covid-19 if they consistently wear a face mask in an indoor public setting, according to a study published Friday by the CDC.

        What does the study say?

        Wearing an N95/KN95 respirator (aOR = 0.17; 95% CI = 0.05–0.64) or wearing a surgical mask (aOR = 0.34; 95% CI = 0.13­–0.90) was associated with lower adjusted odds of a positive test result compared with not wearing a mask (Table 3). Wearing a cloth mask (aOR = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.17–1.17) was associated with lower adjusted odds of a positive test compared with never wearing a face covering but was not statistically significant.

        Ok good, at least we admit cloth is garbage.

        Trained interviewers administered a structured telephone-based questionnaire and asked participants enrolled after September 9, 2021, to identify the type of face covering typically worn in indoor public settings during the 2 weeks before seeking a SARS-CoV-2 test. Participants who indicated typically wearing multiple different mask types were categorized as wearing either a cloth mask (if they reported cloth mask use) or a surgical mask (if they didn’t report cloth mask use).

        Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate the unadjusted odds of mask use by type of face mask or respirator worn in indoor public settings during the 2 weeks before testing. Models included matching strata defined by the week of SARS-CoV-2 testing.

        What a study.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Wearing a cloth mask (aOR = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.17–1.17) was associated with lower adjusted odds of a positive test compared with never wearing a face covering but was not statistically significant.

        This was beaten out of me by journal reviewers early in my career for a med device company. If it’s not significant then there is no association and it’s showing incredible bias by the authors and a lack of understanding to claim otherwise.

      • TARDis

        It says right on the damn box that they’re useless against covid.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        The box in my car doesn’t even spell virus correctly.

      • Endless Mike

        Not to mention that it was based on phone interviews with the types of people who don’t screen their calls.

      • kbolino

        GIGO

    • AlexinCT

      People that actively defended the chin diaper/talisman can’t now simply say “Well, shucks! I guess all that was for nothing and the experts were anything but.”, and move on with the new misinformation information saying masks are at best unknown to be effective. It’s an ego/self esteem thing. Admitting you were not only dumb enough to fall for bullshit and propaganda from your team forces you to take a hard look at your own belief you are S-M-R-T and your team is the good guys silencing the doubters.

      Shit like this causes brains to assplode.

      • waffles

        I find I can only stay angry for so long. I am going to have to rely on the anger of my countrymen to stay roused enough to believe we can hold anyone to account.

      • Fatty Bolger

        My favorite part was how they ignored the science showing that masks don’t work, and insisted that everybody follow the science and wear their masks, because only backwards idiots ignore the science.

      • AlexinCT

        The mask will work if you are infected in that it will reduce your ability to spread it. Not stop. Reduce. And then in unmeasurable ways depending on the various scenarios. The mask will however not protect you from aerosolized virus, which is what the people seeing it as a talisman want you to believe. Yeah, your mouth & nose are kind of covered, but your eyes are not, and your mouth and the mask will be of little help if you got someone really infected putting that shit out in a closed environment. It’s just a question of luck whether the mask does anything to help stop someone from getting the virus. You might be better off wearing a Hijab.

      • R C Dean

        The mask will work if you are infected in that it will reduce your ability to spread it. Not stop. Reduce.

        A little, for a brief window of time, in some scenarios.

        You have to start with the risk of transmission, which exists mainly indoors in relatively close quarters for some period of time (classically, more than 15 minutes). Very little risk of transmission in other scenarios means the masks can’t have an appreciably reduction in the risk of transmission.

        And masks are so leaky (all that fogging on your glasses, the big gaps on the sides), that after a certain period of time in the scenarios where there is a risk of transmission, enough has leaked that the risk is back.

        So, something like, masks reduce the risk of transmission somewhat when you are in close quarters indoors with someone for between 15 and 45 minutes.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Every single RCT I’ve seen says the masks, they do nothing. Some of the same trials showed effectiveness in preventing bacterial transmission. But not viral.

      • Galt1138

        “Some of the same trials showed effectiveness in preventing bacterial transmission. But not viral.”

        This. No RCT I’ve seen (and I’ve had time to read damn near all of them the past two years) shows any statistically significant effect on preventing viral transmission.

    • Plinker762

      The monkey bus sounds more fun. Plus one is not mandated to ride in it.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      There is a benefit to some of this. It’s a pretty good litmus test.

      I can safely ignore anything Dr. Johnson has to say now.

      • Compelled Speechless

        You hadn’t been already? I’d say by April 2020 I was absolutely certain that the entire establishment COVID regime was a bunch of uncredible buffoons.

    • kbolino

      Masks control the spread of disease, and they protect the wearer

      I’m old enough to remember when they didn’t protect the wearer, they protected everybody else.

      What can’t they do?

    • Rebel Scum

      People still derive protection from wearing a mask

      Protection from breathing and hygiene.

    • Lackadaisical

      Not studied: maybe people who wrote the mask tended to leave the home less and this less likely to be exposed, etc etc.

    • wdalasio

      I’d like to think they might do that. But, honestly, I don’t think the college dorm room bull session crowd running the Biden White House is any more in touch than that running Trudeau. Joe Biden might have a schtick of playing Union Joe. But, for a Jen Psaki or Ron Klane? Their idea of a working union guy is Randi Weingarten. And their entire bubble presumes that anyone without their pedigree, let alone some blue collar type with rough hands, is a lesser breed to be dictated to.

      • waffles

        I suspect you’re right, but I hope you’re wrong. Nobody ever really went wrong betting against the regime why start now? I don’t know, just hoping I guess.

      • Compelled Speechless

        I suppose that’s true by the measure of those who decide “The Science”. They’ve had a flawless track record and it would be foolish to bet against them. Now if you were measuring using objective truth and empirical science, they’ve had a worse all time record than the Cleveland Browns. Lucky for them they live in a world where politics decides truth.

    • Tundra

      Good thread.

      Policing doesn’t work when the bulk of citizens don’t consent.

      An important point to remember.

  5. Fourscore

    Mrs F loves the Winter Olympics, particularly the skating, maybe because a lot of Asians. She stays up late and briefs me the following day about noon. All I need to know.

  6. Sensei

    Good Morning.

    You’ll be happy to know that NYC is keeping is vaccine passport rules. And business are allowed to require masks, but they aren’t mandatory. And, no surprise, Broadway is all in on masking and vaccines.

    • l0b0t

      Also, the NYC Board of Education has no intention of allowing children to see one another’s faces. It’s asinine, arbitrary, and capricious. The teachers and administrators should spend the next 2 years in scold’s bridles.

    • Urthona

      It’s the place in the world where vaccine mandates poll most favorably.

    • Ghostpatzer

      And, no surprise, Broadway is all in on masking and vaccines.

      I just don’t get this. How is it that entertainers, who were denied the ability to work by the insane pandemic restrictions, continue to support the policies which closed their venues and continue to shut out potential customers? Of all people, they should be shouting to the rafters, “Open up already!”

      • UnCivilServant

        Thye must signal the same virtues as the gatekeepers between them and the positions they covet.

        Some, I assume, are also true believers.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They’re not noted for their fervent individualism.

      • db

        Graduates of schools of performing arts are clearly the most qualified to judge claims of Science.

      • CPRM

        Haz sad about having BA with Theatre Minor

      • db

        Let me tell you the artistic reasons why Hamilton sucks, now.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I can think of at least two.

      • db

        I’m thinking it could be a reboot of Springtime for Hitler.

      • Ghostpatzer

        “I’m thinking it could be a reboot of Springtime for Hitler.”

        “Kill the actors!”

      • The Last American Hero

        It’s the greatest magic act since Houdini. What are you talking about?

      • invisible finger

        Entertainers were known for their staunch opposition to the introduction of the hays Code, Jim Crow laws, McCarthyism, and the Vietnam war.

        Unfortunately, their staunch opposition was always 10-20 years after 95% of them supported these things..

      • kbolino

        The most politically connected entertainers never had a pay cut.

    • rhywun

      I will not patronize a business that wants to muzzle me and I sure as hell won’t patronize a restaurant, theater, or other establishment that wants to see my papers (not that I have any).

  7. The Late P Brooks

    “But in order to get people to view the pandemic differently, they have to feel differently about the pandemic,” said one senior administration official, echoing a belief among at least some on Biden’s team that Americans are living in fear and are pessimistic about returning to their normal lives.

    Wait, what? Stepping on a crack won’t break my mother’s back?

    • Fourscore

      Whoa, not so fast! It was true many years ago, has the science changed? I’ve avoided stepping on cracks or a long time, even as my own mother is unaffected. I have other mothers to think about.

      • db

        My avoidance of cracks protects your mother, your avoidance of cracks protects my mother.

        That’s The Science.

      • Compelled Speechless

        I’m hoping that the people that developed my super effective tiger repelling rock are working a similar fix to this mother’s back crack problem. It’s absurd that I can’t just have something I carry around in my pocket to solve this in 2022.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Fourscore, cracks ain’t what they were back when you were a kid.

        Your cracks were formed as the Earth’s crust was cooling. Those cracks had power!

        Today’s cracks are so weak, they can be handled by a govt pipe.

  8. CPRM

    The Drug Policy Alliance said the administration’s decision to not fund smoking pipes “is deeply disappointing.”

    “This is a missed opportunity to be preventative of more deaths due to overdose,” the non-profit group tweeted.

    How does having a clean pipe stop one from overdosing?

    Of course, evil vaping machines have a puff limiter one can lock a device with, but that’s an evil technology that must be thwarted.

    • rhywun

      I want to enter one of those fancy new drug dens the city has set up in the ghetto and light up a cigarette and see what happens.

  9. AlexinCT

    Fuck the tests or face mask, where the shitz is my crack pipe and syringe government package?

    • Certified Public Asshat

      No crack pipe unless you are vaccinated.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I’m actually for clean needles. It is much cheaper to give out needles than to have to pay for HIV crack addicts’ hospital bills.

      Yes in an ideal world, they’d be responsible for themselves. But giving out clean needles seems like a decent ROI for a govt program. Crack pipes? No idea why that is needed.

      Of course, the best approach would be to simply legalize it all. Then the addicts could get pure shit from an evil capitalist who’d probably throw in a free needle for good customers.

      • Fatty Bolger

        I try to make this argument with people, and usually it’s like beating your head against the wall. I can get them to agree that almost every single negative of drug use that directly affects anybody but the user is due to drugs being illegal. They’ll agree with you all the way until you get to the logical conclusion that drugs should be legal, and they just won’t cross that line. They see that it all makes sense, but they just won’t do it.

      • db

        I managed, over time, to turn a good friend away from the war on drugs by continually pointing out that the effects of prohibition are worse than those of the drugs, overall. He considers himself a libertarian now. A lot of his change of heart, however, came from his work as a social worker and seeing how that “system” works and how ineffective most government social programs are.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I had one proggie friend who I almost converted to the cause with the argument that if she really wanted to do something to reduce gun violence, she should support the legalization of drugs. All the violence around the drug trade would mostly go away.

        She was intrigued and actually thought about it. But in the end she went back to “make guns illegal”.

        Sigh.

      • db

        I can’t figure out the logic people use when looking at the failure of prohibition and deciding that more widely spread prohibition is the answer.

      • Compelled Speechless

        You’re up against a massive, relentless propaganda complex. The fact that you could even get your friend even considered your off-narrative argument is a big win.

      • Fourscore

        It took a long for me for me to see the light. Drugs were almost unheard of when I was growing up and were unheard of in rural areas time. I opposed drugs/drug legalization as a father but was also aware of teen age follies. Only after I started to recognize government fallibility on everything else (See Viet Nam War) did I understand what Prohibition really meant.

      • kbolino

        Unfortunately, there’s still the Iron Law that you get more of what you reward. Handing out needles blatantly encourages drug use, even with strings attached, and that will lead to more drug use, not less.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Agreed. Drug use would go up.

        The trade off would be whether clean needles led to less suffering/costs than the misery of more addictions. I think it would.

        Prescribing opioids for pain leads to more drug use and more addictions. We have decided that is bad, bad, bad and made it harder to prescribe them. The result is that people in pain are suffering more.

        Everything is a trade off. There isn’t a clear inflection point on when a policy goes from good to bad.

      • Plisade

        I’d say when the policy prohibits voluntary exchanges of value between consenting adults is pretty clear, or when the policy violates the NAP, or when it basically does anything but defend everyone’s freedom equally.

    • Not an Economist

      Hey, quit spreading accurate but fake news! Somebody might think you are an extremist.

  10. l0b0t

    Why on Earth would someone think the top of a multi-story building is an appropriate place to learn motorcycling? Use a parking lot, not a parking garage.

    • CPRM

      Yeah, buses don’t park in parking garages, so you can’t learn to jump them there.

    • TARDis

      Darwin Award nominee.

    • R C Dean

      Why am I unsurprised that her family immediately tried to cash in on her death with a GoFundMe?

      • WTF

        The ghetto lottery.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Kindly forgive the cliché, but: Darwin award.

      $20k for burial expenses sought via GFM? “Pull the other one, it’s got bells on,” as our Brit friends say.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Jinx, RCD.

    • waffles

      She was learning how to ride the motorcycle, while also attempting to do stunts

      This line seems darkly funny to me.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Teenage me was not much brighter. I was lucky enough to survive those years.

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        I still ride motorcycles. And I still claim that my IQ drops 25 points anytime I swing a leg over.

    • Lackadaisical

      Personally, I cheer this advance in equity.

      We need more female daredevils to close the stupid gap between the sexes. For far too long, only young males have been dumb enough to eject themselves from parking garages while riding a crotch rocket.

  11. UnCivilServant

    Who designed sharepoint and why weren’t they all tortured to death?

    • robc

      Who says they werent? Possibly be being forced to use sharepoint.

      • UnCivilServant

        It took far too long for the simple task of creating a folder and uploading a document. Of all the tasks that should be the most intuitive.

      • R.J.

        Just wait until you decide to move the folder and contents to a different location! Whee!

      • UnCivilServant

        At least I have the document up where I can share it with my team and let them put their own updates in there.

      • rhywun

        Or do a backup of the whole site.

        I tried and failed at that one once.

      • db

        I am so disgusted with Office 365 and sharepoint. File management is garbage with these applications. It’s like Microsoft went out of their way to take a well known paradigm and trash it for absolutely no reason other than to force their customers to learn to put up with disappointment and frustration.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, I remember stumbling around trying to figure out how to save a goddamn file where I want it.

      • Timeloose

        I’ve been encouraged to put all of my collaborative work on the Sharepoint system over the past several years. We are now moving to a cloud based SP system. This transition will blow up all of my custom page designs and possibly break links between sites.

        Looks like I have a week of recreating months of work.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m sorry to hear that.

        I’m lucky that it’s just one spreadsheet right now.

      • db

        It’s awful. So terribly awful. I have to keep copies locally on my HD to be able to work with them properly.

    • Rat on a train

      I had to use sharepoint on a previous job. My favorite part is when someone goes on vacation with a file locked for editing.

      • UnCivilServant

        Our setup seems to handle simulteneous edits without much issue.

    • Pope Jimbo

      why weren’t they all tortured to death?

      Because they are beloved by an army of “consultants” who have extracted billions of dollars from big corporations helping them get SharePoint to cripple along? I put consultants in scare quotes because I hate people who call themselves that just because they have bothered to learn some shoddy software package.

      Look at the money that the locusts from Salesforce, Peoplesoft and Oracle have screwed out of people dumb enough to buy their software packages.

      • UnCivilServant

        Wait, you mean if I jumped the fence, I could turn my PeopleSoft knowledge into cash?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Could you live with yourself?

        A couple jobs ago my company acquired a Salesforce consulting shop. They thought that somehow they could integrate their IoT products into SF. (It never made any sense). Anyhow as part of that we could all get as many certifications as we wanted for free. I just couldn’t force myself to do it. What a crap platform.

      • UnCivilServant

        It might get me out of New York.

      • Pope Jimbo

        In an ideal world, someone would have said “Hey Lotus, your Lotus Notes package is awesome at content sharing, but totally sucks at email and scheduling. Microsoft, you can handle mail, contacts and scheduling with Exchange, but you can’t even save a document to a server. Maybe the two of you should merge?”

      • db

        Lotus Notes was great, IMO. I prefer its e-mail and calendars greatly to Outlook/Exchange. But I don’t deal with the nuts and bolts, just the user-facing parts.

      • Pope Jimbo

        When I worked for Andersen Consulting back in the day, they were one of the biggest users of Lotus Notes in the world.

        It was really a cool tool. For AC, all their white papers, proposals and other docs were kept there and you could browse/search like crazy. Extra nice was the way it synced docs in a world that wasn’t 100% connected.

        You could download databases and browse them offline. Then when you hooked up to the network all your updates would be synced back up.

        Great tool. When IBM bought/ruined them they were on the verge of creating a product (Domino) that took all that information and served it up as a web page. That was at a time when people were paying NetScape $$$ for their web servers. But IBM ignored that and worked on calendaring and messaging.

      • EvilSheldon

        That’s pretty much my career plan…

    • UnCivilServant

      … I just actually typed out “What am I forgetting?” into the spreadsheet.

      The document I need to reference is somewhere on my supervisor’s computer, and he’s off until monday.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    Face it, MSNBC. People as smarmy and unselfaware as Rachel Maddow don’t grow on trees.

    • invisible finger

      Maddow filled a much needed void.

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        Ewwwwww!

      • AlexinCT

        Lying bitch queen?

      • Compelled Speechless

        Technically that’s not Maddow filling the void, it’s an attachment anyone can buy at a sex shop.

    • Compelled Speechless

      “People as smarmy and unselfaware as Rachel Maddow don’t grow on trees.”

      No, but flick a paperclip in a journalism school and you’ll hit 10 of them.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    Why am I unsurprised that her family immediately tried to cash in on her death with a GoFundMe?

    Question number one: was she vaxxed?

    • R.J.

      She died of COVID in mid-air.
      Too soon?

      • db

        Probably not too soon–she probably only had 4-5 seconds to fall.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Three stories? 9.8 m/s / s?

      • db

        I just took a mental stab at it, no calcs.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Will take your word for it!

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Dr. Patty Manning, chief of staff at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, added that masks also are a good reminder to the wearer.
    “When you’re wearing a mask, you’re more cognizant of safe practices,” Manning said. It reminds you that there’s still a virus out there that can make you really sick. So you may be more apt to observe prevention measures like keeping physical distance from others and washing your hands regularly.

    Just as wearing your Rosary reminds you to love Christ.

    SCIENCE!

  15. TARDis

    So apparently my son is getting pressure to get the jab from his coworkers at his fast food job. He brought it up last night. Now he wants to join the “club”. I am against it, but now I’ve been been demoted to dumb-ass dad and have no say. My wife and I are not speaking. I managed to walk away before unloading on her. She is going to go with him and get her booster while he gets his first….

    • waffles

      It seems kind of late in the game to give in, no? If I had known what I know now last spring I’d likely have avoided all shots. At this point it will take heavy-handed employer coercion to even get me to consider another. Even then, I think the off-ramp to the madness is coming into view.

      • TARDis

        I just caught him on the way out the door heading for class and said basically the same thing. The covid times are ending soon because of the mid-terms. He insisted it wasn’t his co-workers. So I asked him what changed his mind. No answer. See my response to Mr. Finger below.

        Please let it be a hot Asian chick who wants him to join in 3-way with a zesty red-haired tart.

      • Compelled Speechless

        It’s fun to live vicariously through your kids, huh?

    • CPRM

      Did you use the old “if all of your friends jumped off a bridge”?

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Fast-food job?! Ugh, as if.

      Threaten (bluffing) to write him out of your will?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      demoted to dumb-ass dad

      As compared to fast food workers? That’s harsh.

      • Sean

        * I don’t believe Hoffe’s claim.

        Still, there is no upside for your son to get it.

      • db

        Yeah, his claim is a little too strong for me.

        In the next few years, Hoffe says, nearly everyone who got stabbed with an mRNA needle will die from heart failure.

        I don’t know if that’s an overstatement of his position, but it is a bold claim bordering on reckless for a scientist.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s way too bold, particularly given that we know the side effects are highly correlated with specific lots.

        The simple fact is we don’t have a clue because the long-term safety studies were not completed and the short term studies were utter crap.

      • TARDis

        specific lots

        My state turned blue so we got the good shit, right? Right?

      • Pope Jimbo

        You want disinformation? Check this site out?

        The videos are infuriating. They are running shorter versions of them on tv here. An Indian woman pediatrician is talking to some muslim gal in a hajib (because who will listen to a white tricknologist?).

        The latest is:

        Rube: I heard that the shot will make you infertile
        Dr: Nah! In fact during the studies that proved that the vax is totes safe, some people got pregnant! Checkmate Joe Rogan.

        My taxdollars at work.

      • Pine_Tree

        For broad-enough defintions of “few” and “from”, it’s pretty much correct…

      • Rebel Scum

        He’ll probably live long enough to be proven correct or incorrect. So better than the climate nazis.

      • db

        See, I worry about the vascular damage and blood clotting thing for a couple of reasons: 1–my GF had a DVT a few years ago and I fear she might be more susceptible to clots. She has had vaccine and booster shots, but no apparent ill effects yet. 2–there is a history of aneurysms in my family and there is research to suggest a hereditary vascular weakness, but not conclusive yet, AFAIK. I don’t want to risk ill effects. I haven’t seen any specific guidance about COVID vaccines and aneurysm history though.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Is she on thinners?

      • db

        occasionally, for reasons.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        That’s probably a good thing in her case.

        I have a friend who is genetically prone to clots. She’s been very pro-vaccine. I’ve tried to warn her, but I can only hope she remains lucky.

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        I am genetically prone to clots thanks to my Dutch ancestors. I’ll be taking rat poison for the rest of my life.

    • Ghostpatzer

      Sorry to hear that. Both my sons got jabbed, one because his uni requires it and the other because he works for a medical group. Their decision, I can only hope that there are no long-term consequences.

    • invisible finger

      “getting pressure to get the jab from his coworkers”

      Sounds like the girl he wants to fuck wants him to get the jab.

      • TARDis

        You know, I almost wish that was it. But he is too aspie to be interested in girls. He’s pretty much a volcel.

      • Pope Jimbo

        If it was a girl behind all this, it would be your duty as a dad to show him how to print a fake vax card and start him on the path of lying to women.

      • Fourscore

        ” how to print a fake vax card and start him on the path of lying to women.”

        I got 1/2 of that down, now tell me about a fake vax card.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      from his coworkers at his fast food job.

      If you truly cared about community health…

      • Claypoolsreservoir

        “The Myocarditis Treatment Trial reported mortality rates for biopsy-verified myocarditis of 20% and 56% at 1 year and 4.3 years, respectively.6 These outcomes are similar to the Mayo Clinic’s observational data of 5-year survival rates that approximate 50%.4 Survival with giant cell myocarditis is substantially lower, with <20% of patients surviving 5 years70 (Figure 5)"

      • TARDis

        Thanks. I did a DDG search before posting, and I mostly got reasons why young people SHOULD get jabbed. Damn big tech liars.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Manning, who is also an attending physician in developmental and behavioral pediatrics, said she thinks the pandemic has put more people at ease with the idea of wearing masks, and that could help with future outbreaks.

    “Despite all the politics around masks, Covid has normalized mask wearing in a way that didn’t exist in this country,” Manning said. “You can wear one and for the most part, you’ll be left alone, and it’s not anybody’s business if you wear a mask or not.”

    But as the mandates lift, she said, it will be even more important to remind people to respect those who choose to wear masks.

    People who choose not to wear masks are selfish assholes who should be excommunicated and banished from society.

    • WTF

      But as the mandates lift, she said, it will be even more important to remind people to respect those who choose to wear masks.

      They are entitled to just as much respect as was given to those who chose not to mask over the past 2 years.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Do docs have access to some searchable database at the CDC?

      Because prior to the Rona, the CDC had conducted lots of studies that said masks weren’t very effective in a hospital setting and that they did nothing to limit outbreaks of influenza.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      We’re debating canceling. Our attempts to use alternatives has been successful so far.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        What are these alternatives?

      • Compelled Speechless

        Is that a rehab plan for the kids from Epstein island now that they’re out of work?

  17. Rebel Scum

    Biden job approval falls below 40% in RCP aggregate

    Fake new. Most popular president evar.

    Rachel Maddow hiatus is costing MSNBC in primetime ratings

    Fake news without the snark. But I guess her kid sister, Chris Hayes, needs to pick up the slack.

    • WTF

      If they are reporting under 40% they way they over-sample Democrats, it could actually be around 30% or less.

  18. Rebel Scum

    Dems do 180 on pandemic response, attempt to rewrite history

    The Democratic Party has been rewriting its history for some time now.

  19. Rebel Scum

    New York to drop indoor mask mandate while children to remain masked at school

    It’s for the children, of course.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Stacey Abrams agrees.

      • Compelled Speechless

        It makes her feel less guilty when she eats them if she didn’t have to see their faces.

  20. waffles

    CPI 7.5%

    • robodruid

      This matches what I am paying for propane, chicken food, animal feed etc…
      I am compensating by planting an even bigger garden. Very glad to have gotten 0% financing on tractor.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    The vast anti-gay right wing putsch has begun

    When Justin Romanov fled to Canada from Russia nearly a decade ago, he found a safe haven. As a refugee who had been repeatedly beaten by police in Moscow for protesting in support of LGBTQ rights, he felt safe enough to build a life — finding a partner and buying a house just outside Ottawa.

    But over the past two weeks, Romanov, 26, said he has seen a different side of Canada, with an unprecedented demonstration in the country’s capital. The hundreds of truckers and protesters rallying outside Ottawa’s Parliament Hill and demanding an end to Covid-19 vaccine mandates have made him and many others in the city afraid.

    “I just don’t feel safe to be there,” Romanov, who travels downtown every day to work as a food delivery driver, told NBC News. “I do not feel safe in downtown Ottawa right now because I have a feeling if people will learn that I’m a refugee and a gay, I’m afraid of some trouble there and to be honest, I am a little bit disappointed that this protest (is) still happening across Canada.”

    He could always get a job as a lumberjack.

    • robodruid

      He’d be ok.

      • db

        The weekday daylight shifts allow a healthy sleep schedule.

      • TARDis

        And he can dress up like a girly.

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        just like his dear papa

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Oh fuck off.

      If he’s so stupid as to not to be able to distinguish between actual discrimination against gays in Russia and Canadian blue collar workers who aren’t even protesting homosexuals, then he’s barely smart enough to breath without assistance.

    • rhywun

      I have a feeling if people will learn that I’m a refugee and a gay, I’m afraid of some trouble

      I have a feeling you are an ignorant moron.

    • Rebel Scum

      The Truckers are the new Bolsheviks. It is known.

    • PieInTheSky

      I feel this fucker just wants some attention.

    • Gustave Lytton ????

      “I fled to Canada because there weren’t enough authoritarian commies back in Russia anymore.”

  22. The Late P Brooks

    Amazon: I either need to use it more, or figure out how to drop and replace it.

    • Sean

      I use it. A lot – general shopping, Christmas shopping, subscribe & save, wish list shopping, etc.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I look up things on it and buy locally.

      • Tulip

        Me too.

      • Rebel Scum

        Same. Too much in fact. Too damned convenient and my “whish list” seems to only ever expand…

      • db

        I use it a lot as well.

        If you use Amazon, make sure you use Smile. Not sure if the Glibertarians Foundation shows up as a potential beneficiary, but it might be worth checking if you don’t already have another set up.

      • Swiss Servator

        Hmmm. I will have to check on getting the Foundation on.

      • db

        I did this for a 501(c)3 of which I am an officer. I didn’t have to do anything–Amazon already had us on the list. I think they get a list of all nonprofits from somewhere and use it.

      • db

        WAIT NO!!! I did have to do some things.

        You need to supply an image of a canceled check with the organizations bank information on it. Also an officer of the corp needs to sign up as a contact. Let me look for the details…

      • db

        Go here and read up:

        How do I register and receive donations for my charitable organization?

        Registering your organization is easy. In order to register and receive donations, you must be an official representative of an eligible organization, and then follow these easy steps:

        Search for your charitable organization by name or EIN number and then select the organization you represent. Be sure to confirm you are selecting the correct organization, as many charitable organizations have similar names.
        Create an organization administrator account and accept the AmazonSmile Participation Agreement on behalf of your organization.
        Verify your email address (we recommend that you use an email address that is associated with your charitable organization).
        Submit your organization’s bank account information.
        Upload a copy of a voided check or bank statement to verify your organization’s bank account information.
        What is an organization administrator?

        An organization administrator is an official representative of an organization that has authority to access and manage AmazonSmile program information on behalf of their charitable organization.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Same here. The closest big box store is ~half hour away and most are an hour. Much more convenient to order on Amazon. We use their 5% cashback card for Amazon purchases and that more than pays for Prime.

        Same deal for Costco, especially now that they deliver frozen and refrigerated food.

      • db

        Before the pandemic overreaction, I was about to sign up as a Costco member–there’s one right on my way home, 3 minutes from my office–but now that I’m working from home most of the time, I’m nowhere near one.

      • Mojeaux

        Me too. Lots of things I need I can’t get at local stores anymore because, well, Amazon made it so it wasn’t profitable to stock those items.

        Also, better prices.

        Also, convenience.

        However, I don’t know if I can get my husband to give up the crack that is free next-day shipping, even though we have rarely had next-day shipping on anything for the past year.

        On the third hand, I do like access to Prime Video.

    • PieInTheSky

      Outside ebooks have not bought a thing on Amazon in 7 years, but Amazon does not have a presence in Romania so it is not convenient. Closest is Poland I think.

      • Mojeaux

        What about inside ebooks?

      • PieInTheSky

        droll

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        As with dogs, inside ebooks it’s too dark to read.

    • rhywun

      I use it a lot but I don’t pay for Prime, I just order more than $25 at a time and wait an extra day or two.

      No need for any of the other Prime features.

      But the delivery stinks lately. I have a package that’s been “running late” for a week and the seller never responded when I asked why it was delivered to the wrong state. And I don’t see anywhere to cancel it.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        This is how I’ve done it, too.

        Although sometimes, when you’re a Prime member, some items (which normally would’ve had outrageous shipping charges and were not eligible for free shipping at any price level) suddenly had free shipping. The SU and I took wild advantage of that fact when Amazon made the foolish mistake of offering me two free months of Prime just before Christmas 2021. She bought the heaviest, most expensive and best-reviewed “adjustable standing desk” hardware she could find. The shipped box probably ended up costing Amazon a year’s worth of Prime fees, if not more. I also made quite a dent in their pricing model for Prime. Proud of that, I am.

  23. Rebel Scum

    Soft. On. Crime.

    “I want to see 500 more cops on the street by the end of the year,” Lamont said. He proposed identifying chronic juvenile offenders faster and to get them in courthouses, before judges, within 24 hours of their arrests.

    Lamont also wants law enforcement officers to have the authority to ask people who openly carry their firearms to show their gun permits. In recent years, legislative attempts to require the presentation of permits have been rejected by lawmakers from urban communities concerned that such requests amount to racial profiling. …

    “We have more damn guns in this state than ever before,” Lamont said with more than a dozen advocates and lawmakers in the Capitol’s historic Hall of the Flags. “We have more legal guns, we have more illegal guns. You’re not tough on crime if you’re weak on guns.

    • rhywun

      I can’t imagine why nobody has thought of harassing legal owners before.

    • Drake

      …legislative attempts to require the presentation of permits have been rejected by lawmakers from urban communities concerned that such requests amount to racial profiling.

      I assumed open carry in CT was prohibited except for licensed hunters.

  24. PieInTheSky

    Biden job approval falls below 40% in RCP aggregate – bunch of yokels in that country of yours, not seeing Joe’s greatness. And you people want me to visit.

  25. Semi-Spartan Dad

    I ended up having to put down our male donkey yesterday. It wouldn’t stop trying to kill a newborn calf and attempts to rehome the donkey went nowhere*. It previously killed another calf and two baby goats, after which we gelded him but that still didn’t stop the aggression towards newborn animals. It’s evil that sedatives and blue juice aren’t allowed to be sold OTC. I made sure it was instant while eating its favorite treat, but it still fucking sucks. Been a member of the SSD homestead for 7 years. At his legacy lives on in a much kinder Jill.

    *Strangest message was from someone asking if we could meet them halfway. I’m still trying to figure that one out. Like we’re going to meet in a McDonald’s parking lot and shoo a freaked out 700 lb donkey from one trailer into another?

    • UnCivilServant

      That sucks, but It had to be done.

    • PieInTheSky

      So while it is sad you had to do it, and I don’t want to sound insensitive or nothing, are you going to eat it? In Europe donkeys are eaten in like Italy and stuff, I assume in the US not so much

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        No, no eating. We don’t eat equine, but even if we did, he’s a bit older and probably wouldn’t be good. The donkey will be composted down with hay. It takes about 5 months for the body to completely disappear except for a few bones. There’s no smell and no flies or anything like that.

      • Mojeaux

        Likely not, but I wish we’d get over that nonsense.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Farm life. Sucks, but has to be done.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Reminds me of a similar situation a few years back.

        Elderly lady calls me about her old donkey. I’m guessing it was over thirty years old and she was going to put it down as it was chronically ill.

        She wants to bury it on her property, so she called us for a backhoe.

        I said “Sure we can do that. Are you going to operate the loader or is someone going to do it for you?”

        She said she had a helper who would do it. He had already administered the shot to the donkey.

        I said “Ma’am, you already put the donkey down? It’s the middle of summer and 95+ degrees out. When did you put it down?”

        “Yesterday”

        Let’s just say that the order of events was not ideal and the donkey was stinking up the neighborhood.

      • Mojeaux

        My plumber (with whom I got acquainted through repeat vists, sadly) had a horse ranch. He had one horse that he was about to put down for being evil (that was redundant; they’re all evil), but he needed to get a backhoe to dig a hole. Once that was done, he was going to walk it up to the hole, and shoot it so it’d fall in.

      • db

        “Nice hole, dude! Hey, why’d you want me to see this?”

      • Fatty Bolger

        Is that supposed to be the horse, or the plumber?

        I’ll let myself out.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The easiest way is to dig a hole with a slope and lead the animal in first. Then it’s just backfilling.

        Dead horses are not easy to move.

        Which reminds me of another story involving a hog farm, a flat bed truck, and a chainsaw….

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Doing that in the summer heat sounds miserable. We buried a cow with a excavator once (not sure how it died so did not eat it). Septic company came out and did it. I didn’t have a tractor then though, so DIY options were limited when it died in the middle of the field.

      • ron73440

        We would burn the cows that died in the field.

        I can still smell it.

    • db

      Sorry to hear that, man. Could you not get a vet to do a house call for it?

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        We could as the last option. Though in the end, the vet would still put it down with a shot through the brain cavity. He uses a revolver though and would need to sedate the donkey to get close enough. It took about 90 minutes to catch and sedate him when we got him gelded, and he still kicked my wife in the process. I bypassed all that by throwing some treats on the ground and the donkey was never stressed or saw it coming.

        We’ve had to put a couple dogs down since we moved here and do bring the vet in as a house call for that (blue juice of course and no revolver for that).

      • db

        Well, it’s good that he didn’t suffer. Just the presence of the vet can be stressful, but with our pets we’ve tried to do a house call when possible to minimize it.

    • waffles

      Donkeys are kind of badass. I had a friend who’s son had to put hers down after it semi-successfully fought off a mountain lion. This was in the sierra foothills where mountain lions are kind of common. Sucks that yours couldn’t use his violence for good. Wishing the best for you and yours.

    • Sean

      Sorry, dude.

    • Tundra

      Sorry, SSD. Sucks to have to be the man sometimes.

    • Pine_Tree

      Dairy farmer acquaintance who used donkeys as guards to actually protect his calving herds: “you can always find somebody trying to get rid of a donkey”.

    • Rebel Scum

      It previously killed another calf and two baby goats

      What a jackass.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      Thanks everyone.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    In an interview, Bernie Farber, chair of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said that while the protests may have started with demonstrating against vaccine mandates, they appeared to have been effectively “co-opted” by the far right.

    “You don’t need a large number of people to co-opt a protest like this. You need a few instigators, you need a couple of Nazi flags and Confederate flags, and the media quite rightly so starts focusing in on that,” he said.

    Right. And it wouldn’t take very many enterprising far-leftists to create the appearance of a racist or anti-gay element to the protests. A flag here, some paint-can graffitti there…

    Any hint of far right influence is prima facie credible.

    • PieInTheSky

      do eagles shit on you like pigeons do?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Damn straight.

        Otherwise what’s the point of being an eagle?

      • Compelled Speechless

        Yep. And it comes out red, white and blue. ‘Merica!

    • waffles

      Near me a nesting bald eagle has taken refuge on an old railroad tower and is currently delaying 3 construction projects as no one is allowed to disturb earth within 660 foot radius without a variance. Apparently the statutory nesting season is 1/1 to 7/31, not leaving a lot of construction season. This is in a decent-sized city too, albeit on the edge by a river.

      I think it’s safe to say bald eagles have made one hellofa comeback.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Bald eagles are everywhere now. Of course, the endangered designation will never be dropped.

      • Pope Jimbo

        ^This^

        When I was a kid, a nesting pair showed up in a nearby refuge and a story about it was printed in the Fargo paper. Now they are pests.

        We went on a rafting trip in Colorado a few years ago and the guide and some other people were so excited to see a bald eagle. My family? Yawned. We told them that we have two nesting pairs less than a mile from our house (on different lakes).

    • Fourscore

      Amazing picture, RS. We have eagles as well but more than 2 and cameras come out. Love to see them around the lakes. In Canada they would follow us out to our fishing hotspots and wait for a treat. We always obliged, got some videos and pictures of them scooping up our excess.

    • UnCivilServant

      You would end up in a very uncomfortable situation.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Yeah, but it is a helluva deal.

    • PieInTheSky

      Life is tough for 15 year old athletes in Russia. Skating gymnastics etc.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    No, no eating. We don’t eat equine, but even if we did, he’s a bit older and probably wouldn’t be good. The donkey will be composted down with hay. It takes about 5 months for the body to completely disappear except for a few bones. There’s no smell and no flies or anything like that.

    A friend’s horse died, or was put down, I can’t remember. He dragged the thing out in a field and buried it with the backhoe. A bear dug it up and ate part of it and made a giant mess of the rest. Then the coyotes and birds came to mop up.

    That was in Montana.

    • PieInTheSky

      bears got to eat

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      Before I put fencing up in the backwoods, I’d find deer carcasses like that. Poachers would cut out the backstraps and leave the rest of the deer to rot. Coyotes and vultures did a lot of work on them.

      A neighbor stopped me one day though to complain about it. He said his dogs would get loose on my land and come back reeking of rotten deer. And that this was my problem I needed to do something about. At least the fence kept his dogs out too.

      • Fourscore

        A bear in my yard had an accident and I gave him/her an open air burial in the woods. 4-5 months later I couldn’t find anything, no bones, hair, nothing.

      • PieInTheSky

        Justin Wolfers
        @JustinWolfers
        It’s not just the offensive claim that heterodox economists aren’t “real economists,” this is also bad pedagogy as the unnecessary jab at Bernie both distracts and sends a message to a (reasonably large) chunk of students that economics does not speak to their concerns.

        https://twitter.com/JustinWolfers/status/1491606757042442242

        lol economics should not speak to your concerns just analyze the world

        also the previous was not meant as a reply

      • R C Dean

        It’s not just the offensive claim that heterodox economists witch doctors aren’t “real economists doctors . . . .”

      • Fourscore

        PhD Ed are real doctors

      • robc

        It was worth just 2 pts, so I assume “Price Controls are fucking stupid” is the correct answer.

    • Festus

      Tight Tees and polyester pants, here we come, Baby! It’s the 70’s redux but with less sex and drugs and rock and roll but a hell of a lot of more arthritis and cirrhocis.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Hey F! Hanging in? OK if not.

      • Festus

        Dangling freely. Company released my payroll records which was a W. Payroll also forced me to install a location tracker on my phone, which is a big old L. The Hanger swings like a pendulum.

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        …install a location tracker on my phone…

        That’s a hard no for me.

      • UnCivilServant

        Yeah, that’s a nope.

        I’ll burn the phone before I agree to that.

      • Nephilium

        If it’s a work phone, I’ll install it. My personal phone, nope.

        I’ve had people confused as to why I didn’t install Teams and Outlook on my personal phone to get work communications. The reason is simple, I want to make it more difficult for people to reach me outside of work hours.

      • UnCivilServant

        If it’s a work phone, it’ll only be in one location – on my desk.

      • UnCivilServant

        *and yes, I am talking about the work cell.

      • db

        Also, if you do that there is a much greater chance of having your personal phone and communications be subject to discovery if your company gets into a lawsuit that even tangentially involves you.

      • UnCivilServant

        @db and that’s not even counting the number of places who want the ability to remote wipe your phone if you connect it to their email and messaging systems.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I had a buddy get burned with that. He used his private phone for work and to connect to work email he had to give them permission to remotely wipe his phone.

        When he got fired, they wiped everything remotely. Even his personal contacts. Luckily he was able to get those back, but he was so pissed about how much got erased from his personal phone.

      • Nephilium

        Pope Jimbo:

        One place I worked would either supply a work phone, or would pay for your personal phone. If you chose the latter option, you would have to transfer the number to their account. One of my coworkers went that option, and transferred in a number he had had for quite a while before working for the company. When he left the company a couple years later, he learned that the company wouldn’t transfer the number back to him.

    • Rebel Scum

      It’s just transitory…to a command economy.

  28. Festus

    Rachel Maddow’s show lost that much viewership? In those numbers? I didn’t think there were that many Subaru owners that you could shake a chewed pencil at…

    • Rebel Scum

      I’m just glad we have been post-racial since the whites elected Barry twice.

      • db

        I kept reading that as “we elected Barry White twice.”

      • Rebel Scum

        We would have been better off.

      • Festus

        That’s when they began to gin up the problem. That video was so ugly that I can’t even.

    • TARDis

      Well that’s true for lefties at least.

    • WTF

      White privilege is having a major outlet like Showtime promote a racist screed against you while not being able to criticize the content and authors without being called racist and having your life ruined. Just imagine the response if someone made a film like this about black people.

    • Festus

      You’re a Greek, olive oil slatherer!

    • db

      Glad to see his association with the Glibs Foundation has led to great things.

    • Festus

      He caught it from a horse, again?

      • Fourscore

        Please, leave Camilla out of this

    • Drake

      I always assume that most of our “elites” aren’t vaxxed. Why bother when you have easy access to the treatments that work? Charles may be dumb enough to get a real shot.

      • UnCivilServant

        It might be an easy way to remove him from contention for the throne. I wager QEII is holding on long enough to outlive him.

      • robc

        She has made it clear he is going to be King, and recently even stated (reversing previous policy), that Camilla would be Queen-Consort.

      • Mojeaux

        Probably to make up for the fact that she wouldn’t let Charles marry who he wanted the first go-round. What a fucking disaster.

      • UnCivilServant

        She doesn’t have to follow through if she outlasts him.

      • Sensei

        I always assume they are all in. Independent analysis isn’t usually their strongpoint.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Wut?

    In a press conference Wednesday, Gov. Jay Inslee said Washington will lift its outdoor mask mandate on Friday, Feb. 18.

    The governor says he is planning to make an announcement next week on when the state’s indoor mask mandate will be lifted.

    An outdoor mask mandate? Is this some sort of sick joke?

    • The Last American Hero

      It’s for sports gatherings, not walking in the park or on the street. Although about half the people in the Greater Seattle area wear masks everywhere if they leave the house.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    It’s not just the offensive claim that heterodox economists aren’t “real economists,”

    Okay, now do “scientists”.

  31. Rebel Scum

    Sedition! Insurrection! Treason! Muh-democracy!

    Councillor Diane Deans, chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board, on truckers protesting mandates:

    “This is treason—this is way bigger. This is a group of well-polished professional people that are trying to overthrow the government…It’s really an insurrection.”

    • R C Dean

      Truckers are now well polished professional people?

      I guess if its treason, they need a taste of grapeshot.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Did you see that soup kitchen they built with their own hands?

        Diane Deans and her buddies could never build something like that. So they must be polished crisis actors. How else would “truckers” know how to build stuff?

      • rhywun

        I read that as her thinking there’s some shadowy financier behind the convoy.

        Are we still blaming everything on Koch?

    • Festus

      They can’t help themselves. Tug the forelock and bend the knee or else! Ya know what, councillor? Fuck you and the hate bird you rode in on! They are panicking now. It is delicious.

      • Swiss Servator

        She would never ride in on a Hate Bird – co-opted by too many Gadsenesque flags! We will have to use your “and the otter she rode in on!”

      • Festus

        I am pliable with my insults.

  32. PieInTheSky

    The modal faculty member is now 65. In 1980, the modal faculty member was *35*.

    “Boomer Ballast” — in this “uncapping”, as in so many other cases, compounded by favorable policy for Boomers at each stage of the life cycle

    https://twitter.com/kmmunger/status/1491534739030700033

    • wdalasio

      Maybe I’m going to sound cynical here. But, is it possible that even the most woke law schools know they have to have at least some professors who are going to teach things like Contracts or Torts that get asked about on bar exams? And that woke young professor teaching woke legal philosophy isn’t going to make for a very good replacement?

      • UnCivilServant

        They’re already pushing to abolish the bar exams.

      • Festus

        Reasoning is racist.

      • AlexinCT

        ^^^THIS^^^

        And so is expecting results or doing real work.

        This is an assault by the kakistocracy people that see their kids and grand kids getting dumber and dumber and dismantling any system that requires results and rewards merits in favor of one that is about credentialing. They want a hereditary aristocracy, and they don’t want hard chargers that are not part of the clique taking away from their ever dumber and incapable offspring.

        There is a reason that the public school system keeps dumbing down the kids stuck in it.

      • R C Dean

        Who do you thnk writes the bar exams?

      • robc

        What are your thoughts on going back to ye olden days and getting rid of law school requirements and anyone who can pass the bar is a lawyer?

      • Fourscore

        Those that can’t can be school teachers

    • kbolino

      Given what Baby Boomer literally means, this is not surprising. It’s also not immediately clear to me why 35 is more desirable than 65.

      I do think there is a problem of the younger generation not being trained/mentored effectively to take on the roles necessary to sustain vital systems, but that’s also a two-way street. I’ve seen plenty of examples where someone was given the opportunity and squandered or rejected it.

  33. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    So sad for the motorcycle girl, but like we always say, play stupid games…

    Biden is completely and utterly fucked. There is no way he can fix things before November.

    So we go to war.

    And I have yet to watch a minute of the fake Olympics.

    The last time it was real.

    I still get shivers.

    Have a great day, friends!

    • Urthona

      Bidens got years more. It will be interesting to see if Republicans can pull off their own impeachment though.

    • Pope Jimbo

      RIP Herbie.

    • R C Dean

      There is no way he can fix things before November.

      I fear that too many Americans have the memory of a goldfish. Lift the lockdowns and mandates now, slather them in “muh democracy” and “muh racism” and “Orange Man Bad” for six months, and they will be pulling the D lever again.

      • Tundra

        They waited too long. And even the ones trying to backtrack are kowtowing to the fucking teachers and leaving the kids masked.

        I actually don’t care what lever they pull. I want to see this whole thing blow up in their faces.

      • Urthona

        I think the inflation will be more damaging than the mandates. Way more actually.

        And I doubt the economy gets fixed by then.

  34. Nephilium

    In modern wonderful cultural appropriation a local bakery has partnered up with a local Tiki bar to host an early pączki day celebration tonight (at least that’s according to the girlfriend as they only posted about it on Facebook). There are supposed to be Tiki themed pączki to sample. Worst case scenario, I get a Tiki drink. Best case scenario I get Tiki drinks and pączki.

    • PieInTheSky

      real men don’t drink Tiki cocktails

      • Pope Jimbo

        Real Men go to to tiki bars though. Because that is where the easy girls who are drunk on tiki cocktails are. amirite?

      • AlexinCT

        Highly recommend the view. The drinks felt overpriced and watered down. The pizza was sacrilegious. There was no pineapple on it and it was not deep dish… Just kidding about the pizza.

      • Pope Jimbo

        One of the few bars my wife likes to go to. The deck is wonderful on a nice day.

        I’m not sure I’ve ever had a drink inside.

      • Nephilium

        Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber would beg to differ.

      • EvilSheldon

        Real men don’t know what they’re missing, apparently.

    • db

      pączki

      If I have to copy and paste to enter characters in my reply, I kindly request you supply a phonetic pronunciation as well…

      • R C Dean

        “Throatwarbler Mangrove”.

      • Nephilium

        They should be in your area as well, you’re part of the pierogi belt. But pączki is pronounced “Poonch-ki”. Rich, fat heavy, overstuffed Polish donuts.

      • db

        I’ve never had one, but I have a good friend who is proud of his Polish heritage and is learning the language–I’ll ask him where I can get some good ones.

    • Tundra

      Boy, I’ll say.

      Thanks, Holiness! That’s a good one.

    • PieInTheSky

      Ice skating is dangerous and should be banned. children might get hurt.

      • Sean

        children might get hurt.

        That’s the point.

    • WTF

      Soon to follow: “Woman gets sued over injuries sustained on ice rink she built for neighborhood kids”

      • Pope Jimbo

        This is supposed to be a happy day!

        Let’s not quibble over who sued who.

      • Mojeaux

        Shit, building a rink for kids is just a lawsuit waiting to happen.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Our old Swiss neighbors bought an above ground pool. They put it next to the swingset. They then put a mini-trampoline between the slide and the pool.

        Kids would climb up the ladder jump on the trampoline and land in the pool. The kids all loved it.

        Every American who saw it said “That’s great! But you know you will be sued right?”

        They were very puzzled about how in the Land of the Free something like that was off limits.

      • Mojeaux

        See: “Attractive nuisance”

      • Tundra

        We made one every winter and had exactly zero problems.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Red Queen takes pawns

    New Zealand police on Thursday arrested 120 people as they attempted to forcefully remove hundreds of protesters camped outside parliament to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates and tough coronavirus restrictions.

    ——-

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday told the protesters to “move on”, saying the protests are not a reflection of what the majority in the country feels. As of 8.00 p.m. (0700 GMT), protesters remained at the site, defying warnings and efforts by the police to clear them.

    It has been three days since the protesters blocked roads and set up camp at the parliament grounds.

    “All of us want to actually move on. We are working very hard to put ourselves in the best possible position to do that,” Ardern told reporters after visiting a vaccination centre in Auckland.

    Ardern acknowledged every New Zealander had the right to protest, but said that should not disrupt others’ lives. Removing protesters was an operational matter for police, she said.

    You have the right to protest. Silently, in your room, with no supper.

    • R C Dean

      New Zealand police on Thursday arrested 120 people as they attempted to forcefully remove hundreds of protesters

      I initially read that as if it had been written by somebody acquainted with the rules of grammar, rather than by a journalist, and thought “I was not expecting the New Zealand police to arrest counterprotestors, but it sounds like the counterprotestors got violent”.

    • Festus

      With one thumb in your mouth and the other one stuck up your arse. Sorry, I’ve a dark turn of mind after the last few weeks…

    • Swiss Servator

      They should simply claim to be homeless…no arrests, but subsidies instead!

  36. PieInTheSky

    NPR
    @NPR
    Some white people may choose Thumbs up yellow because it feels neutral — but some academics argue opting out of Thumbs up white signals a lack of awareness about white privilege, akin to society associating whiteness with being raceless.

    https://twitter.com/NPR/status/1491520306036543496

    • db

      Can we use a brown OK symbol instead?

      • PieInTheSky

        that is worse than digital blackface

    • Rebel Scum

      Thumbs up means “ok”. The “ok” sign makes the shape of “wp”. “WP” means “white-power”. It all makes sense, man.

    • Lackadaisical

      I now purposefully use the white emojis, of everyone is playing the race pride game I will too.

    • UnCivilServant

      Oh come on, I didn’t even watch the show and I’ve heard of the Soup Nazi.

    • wdalasio

      Yes, it was a stupid turn of phrase.

      That said, I can’t say I think she’s wrong about the actual issue. The Capitol police spying on members of Congress? Yeah, that does sound a little police state to me. I think it’s fair to say that they’ve been effectively weaponized as an instrument of the regime.

      • Compelled Speechless

        If there’s going to be a police state, I would prefer that it spends it’s time and resources harassing politicians.

        I’ve said for years that I think if you want to be a “public servant” you should agree to being taped 24/7 and these tapes would be available publicly. No corner where you can hide and make backroom deals. Taking a shit? Taped. Having sex with your wife/mistress/underage hairless asian pool boy? Taped. Having a conversation with your doctor about your genital warts? Taped.

        Show me your how virtuous you really are and how much you believe in serving the public.

    • rhywun

      Now do Biden’s endless series of gaffes and malapropisms.

      • Rebel Scum

        C’mon, man. What’s a couple nazi fags among friends?

      • Mojeaux

        What you did there…

  37. Mustang

    This is the notice that went out to military base security regarding the upcoming “Freedom Convoy”:

    “This recent group may have spun off from a Canadian “Freedom Convoy” which had a right wing, anti-worker agenda. The Canadian group has ties with Canada’s United We Roll and Yellow Vest movement and other white nationalist hate groups. Those groups threatened to run over workers participating in union picket lines. Freedom Convoy organizers also have a history of associating with hate groups expressing racist and anti-immigration sentiments.”

    • db

      what?

    • Festus

      Well that’s just a bunch of malarkey, bullshit, even.

    • Swiss Servator

      That was some authentic frontier government gibberish.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Shorter version of that announcement.

      “We intend to destroy whatever credibility we still have. Seriously, why do you pay attention to us at all?”

    • Seguin

      Leaving aside the idiocy that the convoy, yellow vests, et al. are primarily composed of “workers”….

      The official base notice using Marxist phraseology (“anti-worker”) is definitely disconcerting.

  38. Rebel Scum

    Someone can’t see that the science politics has changed.

    “Our guidance has consistently been this: When you are in a high-transmission area, which is everywhere in the country, you should wear a mask in indoor settings, including schools,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday during the daily briefing.

    She also recognized that several Democrat states had lifted masking requirements, but urged Americans to keep wearing masks anyway.

    “Certainly, we continue to advise and recommend abiding by public health guidelines,” Psaki said.

    • rhywun

      which is everywhere in the country

      Oh fuck off.

      This is the media darling that everyone is celebrating?

    • WTF

      They don’t care that everyone knows they are corrupt liars and murderers.
      What are you gonna do about it, huh?!

    • Rebel Scum

      But leaning on someone that OD’d on fentanyl is murder and two forms of manslaughter all at the same time.

      • Drake

        Don’t forget the double-jeopardy “hate” crimes.

    • Plinker762

      BACK THE BLUE!!

      • WTF

        I wonder if that might wake up a few conservatives to the fact that the police are just government enforcers who will gladly trample the constitution and your rights if ordered to do so.

      • ron73440

        I still shake my head whenever I see a truck with both a thin blue line and a Gadsen flag.

        Who do you think will do the treading?

      • Tundra

        I think this shit is opening a lot of eyes.

        Even my law ‘n order peeps are no longer backing the blue.

      • Compelled Speechless

        I love how everyone is starting to come to the conclusions that libertarians came to decades ago. They still don’t have the humility to admit that they were wrong (and massive arrogant pricks about to boot.) Without that humility and self reflection, the conclusions and principles derived from them will likely be fleeting.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The DC medical examiner said Boyland died of an accidental overdose of Adderall

      Oh give me a fucking break…

      • db

        Now do St. Floyd…

  39. PieInTheSky

    I do not sense too much excitement on this fair forum for the NBA tradeline which is today at 3 PM ET whatever the fuck that is in civilized time

    • Festus

      We don’t care about China Ball. They don’t follow the rules of their own sport and the players are to a man a bunch of star-fished assholes. Fuck the NBallet!

      • Swiss Servator

        Demar Derozen and Ayo Dosunmu are good fellas! Enes Kantor Freedom is no slouch!

    • Drake

      You are at least 30 years too late to talk NBA with me.

    • Nephilium

      15:00 Eastern.

      But nope, don’t care.

    • Swiss Servator

      2pm civilized time. And I suspect the Bulls will stand pat, so what is to be excited about?

    • Pope Jimbo

      It is a weird situation for the T-woofs this year.

      They are good enough that they don’t need to trade for anyone and they are also good enough that they won’t sell off half the team and start rebuilding.

      • PieInTheSky

        Yes but will they get a title in a few years with this core?

      • Pope Jimbo

        They probably need one superstar who is a pure scorer to have a chance.

        The good news is that they are actually watchable this year. They play defense. They have good role players.

        The problem for anyone in the West is that the Warriors are there. They are nearly unbeatable and they aren’t that old. (KD leaving that team was still one of the dumbest decisions in sportzball history).

  40. PieInTheSky

    17% of black people with “at least some college” report “regular discrimination” vs. 9% of those with “HS or less.”

    Why the disparity?

    Is it because black people w/ college:

    1. End up in “whiter” settings?
    2. Learn to see hidden racism?
    3. Learn to over-attribute racism?

    https://twitter.com/FreeBlckThought/status/1491510259113885696

    • Urthona

      All 3 but especiallly #3

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t buy the first two being a statistically significant factor, unless you put scare quotes around “hidden racism” where it then becomes #3.

      • Festus

        Mind-readers. “Dude, do your fucking job or I’ll let you go!” Grievance monkey, “He hate me because I’m Black!”

      • PieInTheSky

        Grievance monkey – you need a better choice of words in the context

      • Swiss Servator

        We’re taking it back!

    • UnCivilServant

      3.

      They get more time being told everyone is racist against you and all your setbacks are from racism. Ironically, they are also most hurt by racism because the quota policies end up with them in institutions they are unprepared for rather than ones they’d excel in. The same people hurt them twice.

    • Claypoolsreservoir

      3. They likely weren’t of merit to attend the university and learned to attribute their failings to the system rather than their own deficiencies.

    • Festus

      “Sounds Great!” said every barista! How can they be soooo ignorant about how the human market actually works?

  41. db

    Fricking SpaceX stacked S20 on B4 last night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_Y__hUYrQ4 you have to scroll back about 12 hours in the stream to get to the beginning of the stacking op.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I fell asleep in my chair watching this live. That thing is gigantic and cant wait for it to go boom! Or achieve whatever they need it to.

      • db

        It was during the Zoom last night, I think. Why didn’t you mention it!!???!?!?!?!

      • Festus

        I always miss the Wednesday Zoom. Mid-week drinking is the best drinking.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I started watching after I dropped off, which wasn’t that long after you.

      • Fatty Bolger

        That’s going to be amazing.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    This recent group may have spun off from a Canadian “Freedom Convoy” which had a right wing, anti-worker agenda

    WTF?

    As opposed to the left wing anti-worker lockdownistas who have been destroying businesses and jobs for two years?

    • Rebel Scum

      The left is pro-worker no matter how anti-worker they appear.

      • kbolino

        The only workers who matter are the ones with the right politics.

  43. PieInTheSky

    Nassim Nicholas Taleb
    @nntaleb
    Attention: @Twitter
    vulnerability
    Abt 4 years ago Heather Morgan accused of stealing $3.6 billion of #BTC managed to hack Twitter to get me to *follow* her so she could DM me.

    I promptly unfollowed but she was still able to DM and kept sending long messages, some more recently.

    https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1491435447423496194

    hack… sure

    • kbolino

      Taleb has done an amazing job of beclowning himself lately.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        His ego gets in the way of his intellect.

      • PieInTheSky

        Does not help that he sorounds himself only with ass kissers

  44. prolefeed

    Mrs Proles’ nephews’ friend, a young guy in his 20s, committed suicide recently, “for no apparent reason.”

    It was all I could do to STFU when that “no apparent reason” comment was made during her family call. Seemed a bit too callous to point out a plethora of things, that politicians that pretty much everyone else on call support in lockstep, have done since March 2020. That that might be driving young kids to commit that act at unusually high rates.

    • PieInTheSky

      Yes but you cannot assume though… It is a fairly high possibility for someone with some underlying issues though.

      • Festus

        30% higher now. I was a kid like that. Things weren’t exactly rosy but the situation was much better and more “free” than it is today. I hope those experts drown in a lake of fire for what they have wrought!

    • PieInTheSky

      lawsuit against whom? I thought the companies were exempt.

      • UnCivilServant

        Maybe it’s a hail mary to get the liability shield overturned.

      • Sensei

        Give that man a prize! But you can try other folk in the chain too – all of whom are basically immune as well.

      • Urthona

        Sue social media companies for suppressing accurate information.

      • Tundra

        Since the ’80s.

        We’re fucking lab rats.

  45. Sensei

    Another good reason to never listen to NPR

    Mazda Owners Say NPR Radio Signal Is Bricking Their Infotainment Systems

    If you live in the Seattle area and drive a Mazda built between 2014 and 2017, I sure do hope you like listening to National Public Radio. Why? Because you may not have another choice if you accidentally set your radio to 94.9 FM HD, which carries local NPR affiliate KUOW. Recently, Mazda owners in the Emerald City have been reporting that the frequency is permanently crashing their cars’ infotainment systems and leaving key features like GPS, Bluetooth connectivity, backup camera, and yes, the radio unusable, stuck playing 94.9 FM. Yes, it’s a good old fashioned car mystery—one that Mazda thinks it’s solved, but won’t be able to fix quickly for those affected.

    • db

      Something like a trick with the text-over-air stuff that radio stations use? Did someone come up with a cleverly malformed message that the radio system chokes on?

      • Sensei

        I read about it last night.

        It’s a malformed piece of data from the radio station that forces the device’s watchdog to cause a reboot. However, after the reboot the device reads the stored malformed data again and the process starts over.

      • db

        I wonder how many people are f-ing around with this concept right now…

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        LOL

        Yet another reason to hate smart cars.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s the highly motivated minority that controls things.

      We’re going to find out who that is.

      • PieInTheSky

        So twitter is the real world

    • kbolino

      Wow, young people have the same politics as public school teachers.

      Mysterious phenomenon.

      • PieInTheSky

        The phenomenon is clear but the world is still fucked unless they change after graduation, which seems less than in the past.

        Then again 40 years of commie romania did not permanantly create the new man, but in commie romania life eas shit. This fuckers are still enjoying some of the fruits of market economy.

      • kbolino

        People do generally get more right-wing/conservative as they age, but the education establishment moves leftward slightly faster than that.

      • PieInTheSky

        The fellar who twitetered that is of the opinion this generation does not

      • kbolino

        I don’t think conservatives should take comfort in the trend, even when it is clearly happening. It’s a losing strategy. When every victory is Pyrrhic you’re not actually winning.

    • Compelled Speechless

      Methinks that this isn’t based on random sampling. You need to poll more than just the students at Evergreen University to get an accurate picture.

    • kbolino

      ¿Por qué no te callas?

  46. ron73440

    I will probably be going to Boston for work mid March.

    I would love to go see the USS Constitution, but here are their visitor policies:

    Visitor Policies
    The safety of our visitors and staff remains our top priority. We require that all visitors:

    Provide proof of vaccination (Effective January 15th).
    Wear a face mask over their nose and mouth (Ages 2+)
    Wash or sanitize hands frequently
    Do not visit if they are experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19

    That sucks. I have the shot, but will not participate in the voodoo theater.

    To quote Tom Woods “I wish all of these businesses would stop making my health and safety their top priority.”

    This is going to be my first ever trip to Boston and I have always wanted to see that ship.

    Fucking COVID Regime.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Ancient Chinese secret huh?

    • rhywun

      Sadly I know all of them.

    • ron73440

      Which commercial jingle also describes going to the bathroom?

      Plop plop, fizz fizz oh what a relief it is!

    • Gender Traitor

      I can sing the entire jingle from a Tombstone Pizza commercial older than the one CPRM mentioned in his “Too Local” post. ?

    • KSuellington

      Give a hoot, don’t pollute.

      From the land of clear blue waters, waters.

    • Grumbletarian

      Strong enough for a man, pH balanced for a woman.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Relief is spelled .. “R-O-L-A-I-D-S”

      Mama Mia! Thatsa spicy meatball

    • Pope Jimbo

      I was watching a documentary about Lewis & Clark and one of the interesting things that they mentioned was about nails.

      A park ranger was explaining that one of the reason that there weren’t old ruins of their camp was that when they decided to move on the spring, they burned all their cabins down because the needed to retrieve the nails from the ashes so they could be re-used.

      Interesting that something that is so cheap now was so valued back in the day.

      • Mojeaux

        Japanese joinery is actually sorcery.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Japanese joinery is just like any other races joinery Mo!

        Don’t go around spreading that racist lie about their grooves going sideways.

      • ron73440

        A girl I was seeing told me that before I went to Okinawa.

        She was 100% serious, I didn’t believe it, but told her I would do some “research”.

      • UnCivilServant

        It makes perfect sense to me. Then again, I’ve made nails by hand. If I’m leaving, I’m getting those things back from the wall one way or another.

  47. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. I may have to denounce my wife in order to escape the wrath of the mob.

    Amazon just delivered this to my house: Nigari Liquid Tofu Coagulant, All Natural, Made in Canada

    1) Nigari – do I even need to say more
    2) Coagulant – Trigger warning needed for any of Pie’s contrymen
    3) Canada – Probably shipped by nazis.

    • Tundra

      Nigari, please.

  48. KSuellington

    | But as the mandates lift, she said, it will be even more important to remind people to respect those who choose to wear masks.

    Has this actually ever happened? I’m sure it must’ve happened at least a couple times, but I can’t imagine it is a thing. This country desperately needs a “live and let live movement” .

    • Pope Jimbo

      It is like the trans people, it isn’t enough to let them go around doing what they want. You have to give your whole hearted approval to their mask wearing.

      I’m sure those poor people will have to endure hate crimes where people roll their eyes at them, or even worse giggle when they see them with their N95 at the beach.

  49. Festus

    OK, I’m out. Snarked out, as it were. Tired of swimming upstream. You people have a great one if you can manage it!