Thursday Morning Links

by | Feb 24, 2022 | Daily Links | 518 comments

Goals! Goals for everyone!

ManUre got a late goal to salvage the first leg of their UCL tie. Benfica and Ajax drew as well.  Liverpool absolutely demolished Leeds and put some pressure back on Man City at the top of the table. And Spurs, coming off their defeat of the aforementioned City, lost to lowly Burnley.  Don’t look now, Everton, the bottom of the table is calling. This is non-sports, but the guy used to be an athlete. And I wholeheartedly applaud this move. Had he done this at the start, I think a lot more people would have supported him. And MLB said if there’s no labor agreement in place by Monday, the season will have to be shortened.  SO plan on the season being shortened.  And that’s sports.

He’s right, you know. This is not a decision people should be pushing very young children into making and they should be reserved for when a person is old enough mentally (read: an adult) to understand the repercussions of permanently altering their physiology.

Compliments of the United States government.

I hope our government is proud of itself. Because they caused this as much as anybody.  They did. And it’s a freaking genocide. Nice work, Obama, Truimp, and Biden. And those in Congress who allowed them to pursue it, you pieces of shit.

It’s just “cultural differences”. And FIFA are letting these backward-ass people host a World Cup.  SMDH.

Remember this? Why is there nothing being done to hold anyone accountable?

I’ll believe it when I see it. Which means I don’t believe it.  The rules are different for people like him.

Lightfoot! Lightfoot! Lightfoot!

She should be worried. Unless it’s commonplace for a police informant to be driving a chief’s car with a bunch of heroin.  Oh wait, it’s Chicago. So it probably is.

I’m sure this is somehow the fault of the right. Those greedy bastards should be putting these people up in their homes, right Chesa Boudin?

Super! If only there was a way for us to be energy independent.  You know, like we were a scant 18 months ago.

This song is an absolute gem. And in case you need more, then enjoy this one as well. I bet it’s not the one you were expecting as a follow-up.

Now get out there and have a great Thursday, dear friends.

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

518 Comments

  1. AlexinCT

    I’ll believe it when I see it. Which means I don’t believe it. The rules are different for people like him.

    He is gonna get community service.

    • Drake

      Time served – his work in international relations was community service.

    • Sean

      Is this paving the way for Hillary’s come back?

    • mock-star

      “The walls are closing in!” – NY post

      Narrator: “The walls never close in.”

  2. Yusef drives a Kia

    Howdy from the frozen tundra!

  3. AlexinCT

    He’s right, you know. This is not a decision people should b pushing very young children into making and they should be reserved for when a person is old enough mentally (read: an adult) to understand the repercussions of permanently altering their physiology.

    What would you do differently if you just wanted to groom kids as a sexual predator?

    • SDF-7

      Buy a white van, some candy and set up a web site where I could normalize my actions….

      KIDDING… KIDDING! 😉

      • Swiss Servator

        *elbows OMWC*

        They’re on to you!!!!!!

    • hayeksplosives

      The only exception to the No Pediatric “Gender-Affirming” measures is for intersex people. That condition, mercifully, is very rare, and I do think it could be argued that relatively early hormone therapy and//or surgery is appropriate, depending on the case.

      I’ve only known one person (AFAIK) born “intersex”, and her parents chose physical, biochemical, and eventually psychological therapies to help her lead a normal life. She’s completely fine with it now.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        ^^

        Oh, and they can fuck right off with the term “pediatric gender-affirming procedures”

  4. AlexinCT

    I hope our government is proud of itself. Because they caused this as much as anybody. They did. And it’s a freaking genocide. Nice work, Obama, Truimp, and Biden. And those in Congress who allowed them to pursue it, you pieces of shit.

    You sure this isn’t an appeal to emotion so they send UN troops out there to rape and abuse the womenz?

    • sloopyinca

      You misspelled “children”.

      • AlexinCT

        My apologies: you are correct.

    • SDF-7

      Did it keep the Saudis happy and hence “balancing” Iran and Israel? Check.

      Did it provide some sweet, sweet graft ^W *cough* contracts to Raytheon and other drone / bomb companies here in the States? Check.

      Was it enough out of the media that none of our constituents notice or care? Oh yeah… check.

      Yeah, we’re all good here.

    • juris imprudent

      Hey, those bastards like Iranians better than Saudis, and we’re BFFs with the Saudis. SO there!

    • Fourscore

      Where is Madeline Albright when we need her?

      So, if a 1/2 million kids die it would be worth it.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Yet another prime example of our benevolent foreign policy establishment.

  5. Not Adahn

    Unless it’s commonplace for a police informant to be driving a chief’s car with a bunch of heroin.

    And the chief’s daughter. But I’m not kinkshaming.

    • Pope Jimbo

      My dad had a car provided by the state. He wouldn’t even let us drive it around the corner to park in back of the house because of Minnesoda’s rules regarding state cars.

      The best was when they replaced his old Plymouth Fury state car with a Chevy Chevette. One of the first Chevettes that broke down piece by piece. Dad wasn’t happy at all.

  6. AlexinCT

    It’s just “cultural differences”. And FIFA are letting these backward-ass people host a World Cup. SMDH.

    That’s because they know she liked it… Otherwise she would have kept her mouth shut?

    • slumbrew

      The article notes the victim is a Muslim, which is why she’s subject to lashes (and perhaps the rest?)

      I’d love to know if she was a convert. Dunno how many Mexican Muslims there are.

      • juris imprudent

        A Muslim woman that knows nothing of Islamic law? Hmmm.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Also fun fact, for now at least, the Champions League final is in St. Petersburg.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I should have googled before submitting…but looks like as of 3 hours ago, UEFA is moving the finals to somewhere else.

      • The Last American Hero

        Kiev, right?

  7. Not Adahn

    Ban gay conversion therapy.

    Mandate trans conversion therapy.

    Also, no amount of therapy can switch a person’s sexual orientation.

    But give me tax monies to do it and also to fund research proving it’s impossible.

    • juris imprudent

      Your heart is not pure – grant denied.

    • waffles

      Dieting and exercise are fat conversion therapy. I read it online so it’s true and good and right to ban dieting and exercise.

      We are a decadent and foolish culture.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Ben Gay conversion therapy

      Is that where you rub an analgesic on your pecker anytime you have impure thoughts? Interesting. Would you like a bowl of Kellogg’s cornflakes while we talk more of this?

      • C. Anacreon

        When I joined the high school swim team, I got to enjoy the newbie initiation…ben gay applied secretly to the crotch of my speedo right before practice. I can still remember how it burned. The sadistic upperclassmen found it hilarious, of course.

      • Tres Cool

        + Road to Wellsville

      • Lackadaisical

        +1 up to his elbows

        What an eye opener for a teen.

  8. SDF-7

    Besides the whole Ukraine mess this morning — the Middle East is Yet Another Reason I wholeheartedly support US (and anyone else who cares) energy independence. I don’t care how many times people try to trot out the “You screwed up the Middle East! You have to fix it!” crap — that region (and Africa for that matter) has been gleefully slaughtering each other since the dawn of recorded history. I don’t think anything we do will change that — and we need to stop jumping into that mess with both feet.

    • Pope Jimbo

      At one point it looked like Russia was going to jump into Syria with both feet. That was our chance to withdraw and let Putin fill that vacuum.

      Instead the neocons got their war panties in a bunch about Russia’s “influence” in the region. So while we didn’t start a full blown invasion of Syria we kept the Russian Bear out.

      Yeah, we need to just leave. Fuck that whole place.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Our foreign policy in the area is so thoroughly fucked up that I don’t how it’s possible to unwind it.

        Assad was keeping the Islamists at bay. And Syria has traditionally been a Russian client state dating back to the Soviet Union.

        Sticking our dick in that particular hornet’s nest was insane. Never mind that it appears we staged false flag attacks in order to drum up popular support for it.

      • juris imprudent

        how it’s possible to unwind it

        Woodchippers could do a lot – pour encourager les autres.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Problem being… Tar babies are sticky.

        Letting Russia sort out Syria would have been for the best. They’d be too busy to fuck with The Ukraine.

      • juris imprudent

        Oh, if we subjected some of our experts to the consequences of their folly, I think they’d be much less enthusiastic to dive into another shithole.

    • AlexinCT

      I am telling you that it is now absolutely obvious to me that the people that cheer on the Great Reset agenda, are fighting against the US’ energy independence because it is part of that agenda to keep the US from simply saying “I ain’t playing this game, bitchez”. An energy self sufficient US must be a serious problem to that reset. Not to mention that by forcing countries to be energy dependent these same people have stood up massive government backed rackets that have enriched an élite few that peddle the whole green energy agenda (but never nuclear, the only true carbon free energy source that is viable).

    • hayeksplosives

      We need too resume designing and building new nuclear power plants. People need to get rid of their irrational fear of them.

      • AlexinCT

        There was a concerted effort to scare people about nuclear power that was very successful. I have had countless discussions with people that actually told me I was wrong for telling them the nuclear reactors can never explode like a nuclear bomb from a meltdown simply because they saw that idiot movie “China Syndrome” and were illiterate about nuclear physics. But they were SURE nukular was bad. Chernobyl!

        We will never generate enough energy to support a modern and energy consumption heavy society without adopting nuclear. Especially if we want to do it green. The gen4 nuke reactors that don’t even use uranium (and/or produce plutonium) make even the old meltdown stories impossible, but people still have this programming that nuclear is bad. It is a travesty that China will have working gen4 reactors in the next couple of years and we are still not even accepting we need nuclear.

        Here is a piece of information for all of us: without nuclear power, the US will not be able to field even a decent orbital space force (commercial or military0. And forget habitats in orbit or on other planets without it. Whichever country becomes the leader in nuke tech will be the one to control space (and thus life on earth), and right now that looks to be something we have ceded to the CCP. get ready for your credit score and a laser from orbit to clean you up once you drop too low.

      • SDF-7

        Definitely preaching to the choir here. And to think I left out a rant on nuclear from my original comment because I figured y’all had heard it from me too often. 😉

      • Certified Public Asshat

        People need to get rid of their irrational fear of them.

        It even looks like Russia wants a nuclear waste site.

  9. rhywun

    the medical condition in which a person’s gender identity is different from the sex they were assigned at birth

    I would love to see someone cobble up a medical definition for “gender identity”. I won’t hold my breath.

      • DrOtto

        I was expecting Madea, but then you went OG on me. Well played.

    • Rat on a train

      sex they were assigned at birth
      My sex wasn’t assigned at birth. It was recognized. The assignment came months earlier.

      • rhywun

        And it’s CNN so of course the story reads like a recent college grad wrote it, complete with every misleading language trick in the book.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I day old and already I’m being given homework?

        Fuck this! Let me back in.

      • AlexinCT

        That’s got to be a male or a lesbian!

        We spend the rest of our lives trying to get back into the pu$$y!

    • Donny Three-Fingers

      That whole absurd assigned at birth thing grinds my gears. XX or XY, determined at conception, is still the methodology outside of a lab. Good morning!

      • Festus

        Yup. Baby has a teeny winkle? That’s a man-baby!

    • Not Adahn

      Gender identity is the product of a persxn identifying their gender, duh.

      • Donny Three-Fingers

        I identify as an A10 Warthog. A male A10, forcefully ejaculating my 30mm Freedom Seed

      • Lackadaisical

        Nice call back.

      • Donny Three-Fingers

        *blushes coyly

    • sloopyinca

      Putin knew he won before the first shot was fired.

      You mean in 2014?

      • juris imprudent

        I think he knew in 2012.

      • blighted_non_millenial

        You mean 2008?

      • mock-star

        There were shots fired in Georgia though.

      • blighted_non_millenial

        Shots fired now. Not by anyone that could or would stop it, then or now. 2008 should have been our lesson to stop pushing.

      • C. Anacreon

        That’s the night when the lights went out in Georgia.

      • Festus

        Yup. Limber-dicked cocksuckers, the lot of them. Reap the whirlwind you mendacious fucks. It’s a bad thing but it’s not our hairball to wipe up.

  10. db

    Talley’s niece was not arrested and the car was not impounded. At this time, it’s not believed by authorities that Talley intervened or even knew her niece was using the vehicle.

    If they were little people, the car would have been taken through asset forfeiture already, and charges probably would have been brought against the owner.

    • db

      But the story took another twist. According to sources and records, Miles is the same person who gave police bad information that led to the botched raid at the home of Anjanette Young in early 2019.

      “Confidential informants are a fact of life and it’s important that their identities be safeguarded,” Lightfoot said.

      Twist? I’m not sure an informant giving bad information to police to get someone else raided is at all worthy of that description.

  11. Festus

    Well, you just know in our heart that anyone named “Archer” is sure to be an entitled cunte.

    • Sean

      Lanaaaaaaa!

    • Cy Esquire

      LlanAAAAAAA!

      • Sean

        ?

    • db

      WHAT!!!??

      • rhywun

        LOL at the lot of ya

    • Nephilium

      Wait… I had something for this.

      • Tres Cool

        was it about phrasing ?

  12. PieInTheSky

    Stupid war. I am aging wine here I cannot afford to be blown up until I can taste it.

    • Cy Esquire

      Roughly how far away is all of that madness from you?

      • PieInTheSky

        We Romania does share a border with Ukraine. Kiev is some 900 kilometers from Bucharest

      • db

        Is that like 30 miles or something?

      • PieInTheSky

        42

      • Festus

        He can see The Ukraine from his house!

      • Pope Jimbo

        You can’t see that far in the dark. And we know he can’t be out in the daytime.

        Maybe he meant he can “see” it using echolocation when he is in bat form?

      • Cy Esquire

        That’s only a 12hour drive on google. yeesh. That’s way too close for comfort.

      • LJW

        We’re mostly Americans you need to give us measurements in the context of refrigerators, swimming pools and football fields.

    • db

      I thought you never drank…wine.

      • PieInTheSky

        that joke was never funny and it did not improve with age

      • Pope Jimbo

        So you want us to put a cork in it and stop telling those jokes?

      • R.J.

        It’s a pour excuse for a joke.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Vat are you talking about. These jokes are a tun of fun.

      • SDF-7

        Shrug. Any old port in a storm (one of my favorite Columbo episodes as well, for some reason… right up there with “The Conspirators”).

      • AlexinCT

        Where is the UN stern letter?

        HANS BRIX! YOU BREAKING MY BALLS, HANS. YOU BREAKING MY BALLS!

      • Rat on a train

        Are they upset that Russian didn’t offer to share the conquest?

      • Swiss Servator

        You know who else called on Russia to halt their military campaign?

      • Rat on a train

        Stalin outside Warsaw?

      • Loveconstitution1789

        General Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim of Finland?

      • MikeS

        Me the last time I played Risk?

      • SDF-7

        They strenuously object…

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Rasputitsa happens in Spring and Fall. Putin only has a few weeks before the rains might start.

  13. PieInTheSky

    “Secularism” is a boring word for an idea that isn’t boring at all: that nobody’s religion should rule another. When Christian Nationalists make trans kids the latest target of their assault on that idea, don’t think you’re immune if you’re not trans: they’re coming for all.

    https://twitter.com/JeffSharlet/status/1496145719425646597

    What if I am neither religious nor nationalist but I cannot believe children understand enough to actually be trans?

    • Pope Jimbo

      If the right influencers got on social media and declared that they are furries and furries are the only gender that cool people would consider, I’m confident that the number of trans kids would plummet back down to 0%.

      On the other hand, I’m sure a bunch of attention seeking, insecure teenage furries would come with their own batch of problems/demands. But at least they could take off their furry costume when they mature with no lasting damage.

      • Fourscore

        Does sneaking into the girls’ bathroom in grade school count as trans? Inquiring minds and all

      • Pope Jimbo

        At your age, Fourscore, I wouldn’t recommend even going into a grade school. Much less sneaking into the girls’ bathroom.

        Leave that stuff for the professionals like OMWC.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      If having sex with a child is abuse even if consensual, then surgical mutilation and permanent alteration of their natural development through the use of drugs is just a tad bit suspect.

    • EvilSheldon

      Funny how unconcerned I am about these Christian Nationalists lurking in the shadows all around me, despite my atheism and various kinks.

      Must be false consciousness or internalized homophobia or something…

      • Lackadaisical

        I really don’t see what Christianity even has to do with the trans issue.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They’re just framing the argument in order to make it backwards-thinking Christians versus the enlightened woke.

  14. PieInTheSky

    The Ukraine is weak

      • rhywun

        There it is.

    • AlexinCT

      So are the great reset idiots…

    • Cy Esquire

      Serious Question, isn’t there military significantly more powerful than Romania’s?

      • PieInTheSky

        probably. Romania does not have much of a military

  15. PieInTheSky

    Guy Walters ??@guywaltersIf the UK really wants to hit the Russians where it hurts, remove the visas from the 2,300 Russian pupils at British private schools.

    Ryan Bourne
    @MrRBourne
    The ease with which people reach for internal discrimination of a whole nationality of people simply for being born within a country is quite frightening. The neocon worldview of conflating govt actions with nations is poisonous.

    https://twitter.com/MrRBourne/status/1496819624683479042

    See this is a silly suggestion, but, to be faaair, Russian kids in British private schools are not random Russians, they are the children of the ruling class I would assume.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      How about pumping oil and gas instead?

      This ain’t rocket surgery.

    • AlexinCT

      How many of those kids are the kids of the Russian oligarchy however?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’d bet many of those oligarchs predate Putin. As bad as it is now, it was god-awful in the 90’s under the watchful (yet absolutely drunken) gaze of Boris.

        I met Yeltsin in the early 90’s. He was drunk of course.

    • Festus

      NO! All of the them come from impoverished Lower Slobavia! Why you hurt children?

  16. Not Adahn

    So, Russia’s been bombing Ukraine for how many hours now?

    How long until Biden can be woken up, drugged, and put in front of a teleprompter?

    • Swiss Servator

      He is too busy staring off into the void and picking his teeth.

  17. PieInTheSky

    And to keep the important things in perspective, conversation I heard in the gym locker room was centered on the odds of hot young Ukrainian women escaping the war by coming top Romania

    • Festus

      That’s the spirit!

      • Not Adahn

        *Gets the paperwork for a fiancee visa ready*

    • Pope Jimbo

      top Romania

      I wouldn’t have pegged your country as being into that Pie.

      • Rat on a train

        Is that an even cheaper knock off of Top Ramen?

      • Not Adahn

        It’s a dehydrated cabbage soup mix.

      • juris imprudent

        If Romania is getting pegged, they ain’t the top.

      • Pope Jimbo

        The way I read it, Pie is excited Ukranian women are coming to top Romania.

        He never made any wild claims that Romanians would be the tops.

      • EvilSheldon

        Someone has no imagination…

      • Tres Cool

        He went to Romania a tight-end. Came home as a wide-receiver.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      My college roommate dated Miss Odessa in 1991, just after the fall of the CCCP. She was hotter than Hades and crazier than a headless chicken.

      • AlexinCT

        Them Slavic women tend to make other women almost look sane…

      • mock-star

        Natasha Chistyakova? If my googling is correct.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        As I recall, her name was Gala. I’ve tried to find her on the internet in the past, but to no avail.

    • PieInTheSky

      I remember I knew some ukranian guys in college and they always said they would bring authentic local beer and vodka when they back to Bucharest after the holiday period, but the booze never survived the train journey.

      They tried to come by car once but the border guards did not let them pass because they were all drunk including the driver

    • Nephilium

      /looks at local Romanian and Ukrainian population

      So… you’re saying there’s a chance there will be an influx of attractive young women coming to my neck of the woods?

      • Tres Cool

        I was thinking about you the other day. My Kroger has an enormous pączki display, but so far Ive been able to avoid them.
        Back when I dated the Big, Huge, Giant, Polock (OG-2X-OG) my kitchen was littered with those things this time of year.

      • Tres Cool

        …she’s from Cleveland

      • Nephilium

        We’re getting all fancy with them up here now. I picked up a pączki and wine pairing to pick up Friday night, and I’m planning on calling off work on Tuesday for the big celebration up the street from me. A brewery is coming out to pour beer and sell cocktails. For their annual special flavor, they partnered with a tiki bar, and have Hurricane pączki this year.

      • db

        I never heard of pączki until Neph mentioned them here a week ago. A day after that, there was a big table display of them right at the entrance of our local Giant Eagle. It’s still there, continuously replenished…

  18. Gustave Lytton ????

    Flight Radar 24 unavailable. Thanks Putin.

    And fuck east coast people who cannot look at a clock. My phone has been buzzing for the past five minutes because some jackass likes txt messages instead of just sending and email and waiting.

    • rhywun

      Boss-boss is like that. When he wants something, he wants it yesterday.

      Boss is much more chill, thank God.

      • Gustave Lytton ????

        I wish it was someone like that. Nope, it’s a change management clerk clarifying a future ticket.

      • rhywun

        FFS he just called me and he knows I was in a meeting.

        Dude – CHILL.

    • Festus

      I turn notifications off for sleepy-time. Go fuck yourself. My actual response in voice-mail is a guttural “Not here!” Seems to skim the assholes from the surface. Resting Murder Voice.

      • Tres Cool

        Tinkerbell-
        Mine too. Being a day sleeper, my phone goes into Do Not Disturb at 1500h.

    • tripacer

      ADSB Exchange and Radarbox are still working.

  19. Gustave Lytton ????

    Thoughts and prayers for Dr G and family.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      ??

    • db

      +1

    • Festus

      I’d forgotten about that situation. Mighty positive thoughts, indeed.

    • Donny Three-Fingers

      Yes.

      • Festus

        Dude. How are you?

      • Donny Three-Fingers

        Things are chaotic, but making do…

  20. Not Adahn

    Well,

    I’ve gotten the Mandarin spam calls before, but this is the first time I’ve gotten one in English.

    “Hello. This is the Chinese Embassy. There is an important document for you that is about to expire. If you would like a personal consultation…” *hangs up*

    In what possible circumstance would a “personal consultation” at a Chinese embassy ever be a good idea?

    • Cy Esquire

      It seemed to work well for Swalwell. I’m told that they were very intense personal consultations.

      • Festus

        What was her name again? Was it Fuck-Fuck?

      • AlexinCT

        Fucky-Fucky. Sucky-Sucky. Love you long time.

      • Cy Esquire

        Something like that. Fuck Bang or Love yu Long.

      • Tres Cool

        I think she was really short so everyone called her Low Pieh.
        He sister doesnt have teeth and she’s called Gum Hwang.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Fang Fang. Which must drive Pie and his countrymen wild with desire!

    • AlexinCT

      When you want to be the target of some ChiComm setup?

  21. robc

    The two teams directly “above” Everton are actually below them in Pts per Game. Everton is in dicey territory, but would still have to get passed by 4 teams. And home form is looking good under Lampard, as bad as away still is. Of course, this weekend’s home game is against Man City, so that doesn’t matter.

    • rhywun

      Lampard?

      *spits*

    • sloopyinca

      I want Everton to win this weekend.

      (Mark this for posterity, because it’s one of the few times you’ll ever see it beside my name.)

      • rhywun

        #megadittoes

      • robc

        Of course you do. I do too, but if City wins, there is a positive side effect.

        And a loss to City isn’t going to determine Everton’s fate.

        I am not even sure if top 11 will play this weekend, with Boreham Wood coming up on Thursday.

      • robc

        I would be thrilled with a pt vs City, and I am sure you would take that result too.

      • Fourscore

        Give ’em a Particpation Trophy and move on. Spring Training will soon be upon us

  22. Gustave Lytton ????

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/doj-terminates-program-targeting-chinese-espionage-amid-accusations-of-racism_4298077.html

    “To be clear, we are focused on the actions of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] government, the Chinese Communist Party, and their agents—not the Chinese people or those of Chinese descent,” Olsen said.

    Haha, if you think the CCP and their agents is the only one doing those things in China, you’re a fucking fool.

    • AlexinCT

      They think the people that this bullshit is targeted at are the fools for believing the shit they peddle..

    • pistoffnick the refusnik

      Nice!

  23. robc

    Schadenfreude update: The company that layed me off last June (stock price at the time $42) closed just above $6 yesterday. They fell from $28 to $14 overnight after the 3rd quarter earnings call in November. Tomorrow is the 4th quarter call. I don’t expect another fall on Monday, because all the negatives have to be priced in, so any positives at all will probably lead to a jump, but it still amuses me.

    I do feel bad for some of my co-workers who are still there. That numbers gets smaller every time I check linkedin.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Been there. The company I left was broken up and sold off a year later.

      • robc

        The company I worked for was busy for a few years buying up smaller companies. Integration was bad at best.

        They recently announced they are selling off one of them. At their current price, I could see someone buying them out, because there are some valuable pieces within the company. Competent management and paring down the losers would lead to a good company, IMO.

      • AlexinCT

        I left GE in 2002 after they told me if I didn’t do what they wanted, they would not be compensating me properly anymore. So many people told me I was crazy for leaving that company, especially with all my uncashed stock options I had. Best decision I ever made. Even my ex was pissed at me. For years. Sometimes you might not be happy or sure about leaving but then you realize when you see things happen that t was actually something good for you.

        Looks to me that’s how you need to see what happened to you. Something that looked/felt bad, turned out to be a boon…

        Life has a lot of those moments, but you won’t realize it as such until after.

      • robc

        I am much happier with current company. I like the job more and the company is in a better spot financially. Privately held too. Just finished 11th consecutive year of double digit growth and broke $1B in revenue for the first time in 2021. And is profitable too. Well, EBITDA is positive, being private I don’t have access to details beyond that.

      • juris imprudent

        What remains of a company I used to work for.

        Website looks much more significant/professional than the actual location of the business. I guess someone is still making a living though.

    • PieInTheSky

      did you short in time? are you claiming credit for the downfall?

      • robc

        Clearly, I was the most important employee, based on performance since I left.

        My options expired worthless on my last day, the strike price was $49. The company shot up to $53 in the two weeks after I left, before the cratering started. If the bump had happened earlier, I would have got at least a small parting gift for the small amount of vested options (I was only with the company 20 months, so I didn’t have a huge amount vested).

    • Festus

      I hope that you have paper copies. Take them out to the back yard and piss all over them. I had a company do the same to me. I tried to tell them but they just wouldn’t listen.

      • Festus

        I accepted the buy-out. Two years later the company was toast.

  24. PieInTheSky

    Chief of Germany Army this morning: “The Bundeswehr, and the Army that I have the privilege to lead, is more or less stripped bare. The options that we can offer politicians to support the alliance are extremely limited.”

    https://twitter.com/tobiaschneider/status/1496759242786852871

    • Not Adahn

      But they’ve practiced yelling “BANG!” loudly.

      • Festus

        It all started with wooden tanks back in the 20’s. Do you want a new Hitler, NA? Do you?

      • Cy Esquire

        Only after they confirmed there are no jewish people within earshot and have apologized 4 times for the holocaust and did the hokepokey.

    • AlexinCT

      I guess Trump calling NATO out on not spending enough to keep up their end is also proven to be accurate despite the propaganda machine’s attempts to demonize him for telling us the emperor was nakked..

      • Sensei

        China looking toward Taiwan and thinking maybe Japan might be doable too…

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Trump’s right on a lot of things.

      • AlexinCT

        And that’s one of the reasons I think the never Trumpers hate hm the most. They would like to keep on believing bullshit and he harshes their mellow.

    • Rat on a train

      They need to lose about 90,000 soldiers to get down to the Treaty of Versailles limit of 100,000.

  25. Q Continuum

    “she was assaulted in a violent incident by an acquaintance *and fellow Latino*”

    How is this relevant to the story? Just to remind us that the religion of peace treats women so well?

    • Cy Esquire

      I stopped at “she’s also a muslim.”

      Reap what you sow lady.

    • Festus

      Thanks again for the sundresses yesterday, Q!

    • Festus

      You are killing me!

      • Pope Jimbo

        Between Q and I, we have you covered Festus.

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        …have you covered…

        Ewwwww!

  26. The Late P Brooks

    It’s gender affirming medical treatment. You know, like medicine and stuff. How could anyone object?

  27. Tres Cool

    Did Sloopy demand MOAR LIGHTFOOT ?

  28. The Late P Brooks

    i haven’t heard any Cheap Trick for ages. good choice.

    • Festus

      Cheap Trick was what we used to play to lure in 14 year-old girls when we were 15.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Surrender but don’t give yourself away.

      • Festus

        Precisely! Virginity used to mean something back then.

      • robc

        I always think of them as a local* gig band who somehow hit it big (totally deserved, IMO) and didn’t get all cocky about it.

        *not to me

      • Festus

        Two pretty boys, the two dweebs with talent. Pretty good pop hooks and a ton of A and R behind them.

      • Swiss Servator

        There were to me.

        /From Rockford

      • robc

        I’m sorry. Although every time I drove to Madison, I admired the water park by the interstate.

      • robc

        I avoided Chicago on the way up, but still had to pay the damn “leaving Illinois” toll in Rockford.

    • Necron 99

      I saw then last August at Billy Bob’s, they still put on a heck of a show. It was a lot of fun.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Excellent use of the word “de-Nazification”.

      Putin understands how to troll us.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        He’s referring to the Azov Regiment, which is actually made up by of a bunch of Nazis. And not the tiki torch variety.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Citation fell off.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        HAHA. That page is run by Russian administrators. HAHA

        You and Scruffy are falling for it. Well, Scruffy is a Russian apologist, so not unexpected for him.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        It does means that its inaccurate and even if that unit was full of “Nazis” so what?

        Russia is killing innocent Ukrainians.

        Youre own citation has the “Nazis” in that unit at 10%. We have more Nazis in the US Military according to wikipedia.

        You make me laugh. But hey, keep doubling down just liek teh last few days when you doubled down on Russia violence being America and Ukraine’ fault.

      • Gustave Lytton ????

        It’s funny labeling Slavs as white supremacists and Nazis.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Christ you’re dull.

        My response to Jimbo was to point out that the Russian propaganda in this case was tied to reality. The US government knew that the Azov Regiment had Neo-Nazis in the ranks and more importantly the leadership, when it included them in its support during the 2014 overthrow of Yanukovych.

        These are the allies that we made when we involved ourselves in the internal politics of a foreign country, yet again.

        And then our politicians (Biden, Pelosi, Kerry) immediately sent their kids over along with a number of other notables like former CIA agent Joseph Black to start collecting their extortion payments. The Ukraine was a private corruption playground for DC.

        From the beginning, my argument has been that the entirety of the US’s involvement in Ukraine was a very bad idea because of the provocation to Russia, but also because it’s just another example of DC swooping in to fuck with a country and bleed some dollars out of it before leaving it high and dry to suffer the consequences. DC doesn’t give a shit about average Ukrainians, it only cares about servicing its own hubris and enriching itself at the expense of both Ukrainians and the American taxpayers.

        I know this more complicated world frightens and confuses you, but when people like George Kennan who created the architecture of Soviet containment , including NATO, made predictions twenty years ago that our current foreign policies would lead to this outcome, it’s worth going back and studying how we actually got here instead of just being a useful idiot for the regime in DC.

      • Rebel Scum

        DC doesn’t give a shit about average Ukrainians

        DC doesn’t give a shit about average Americans either.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        I thought for sure you would blame America and Ukraine for Russia bombing innocent Ukrainians.

        You dont disappoint.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        I wanted to see your citations and whether you chose Russian propaganda source.

        You don’t disappoint.

      • mock-star

        He didnt do that though. Dont be a dick.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        He did. He got called on it. Violence in Ukraine is America’s and Ukraine’s fault. I can quote him.

        I will gladly point that out. Dont be a dick trying to defend someone like that.

      • Claypoolsreservoir

        At this point LC, the only thing you’ve convinced any of this lot of is that you don’t actually understand your own love of the constitution, or what it’s founders envisioned, and more importantly, that you really shouldn’t have bought a share of that weed farm in eastern Ukraine. We all could have told you it was a bad investment, but here you are, praying for Uncle Sam to give you your land back.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Scruffy Nerfherder on February 22, 2022 at 9:37 am
        At a minimum, we assisted.
        Furthermore, what would be the US motivation to stage a coup in Ukraine. At the time, Ukraine had an elected Russian stooge as President.
        You answered your own question.

        Scruffy Nerfherder on February 22, 2022 at 9:37 am
        The puppet regimes in the Donbass region were a direct response to Western involvement in the overthrow of Yanukovych (during which I’ll note that actual fascist paramilitaries such as the Azov Regiment were employed ).

        The Ukraine is not a monolithic entity any more than the United States is. Eastern Ukraine largely speaks Russian while Western Ukraine largely does not. In fact, the 2017 effort to make Ukrainian the only legal language in the country only further heightened tensions between Kiev and the separatist regions.

        There are long-standing cultural issues at play, some of them left over from the Soviet Union, and some dating back to the 18th century. Once again, our simplistic view of the situation has helped unleash tensions (Iraq, anyone?) and led directly to escalation. Enough already.

        Scruffy Nerfherder on February 22, 2022 at 9:22 am

        I’m not making excuses for anyone. The realpolitik of the situation is that sticking our noses in the Ukraine and dangling the offer of NATO expansion destabilized the region. Russia cannot and will not accept that outcome for obvious reasons. No more than we could accept missile bases in Cuba.

        Add to that, the direct coordination between figures such as the US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, Victoria Nuland, and Joe Biden himself with opposition forces in the Ukraine in 2014 leading up to the overthrow of Yanukovych and the election of a new government while the opposition was in effective exile was a provocation that led to Russia invading Crimea and recognizing the Donbass region as an independent entity.

        As for proof of such, the recordings of Victoria Nuland talking to the ambassador about hand-picking the successors in the new government and notoriously saying “Fuck the EU” because they were dragging their heels on the plan to get rid of Yanukovych are widely available.

        Was the Yanukovych government corrupt? Sure, but so was what replaced it. Was the Yanukovych government legitimate? Yes

        That overthrow sparked the hostilities that have now cost thousands of lives and precipitated a crisis which threatens the entire region. All because the hubristic asshats at State thought they could cut off Russia from their only year round warm water port and get missile platforms in the Ukraine, as if Russia would tolerate that

        If you folks choose to ignore what he is advocating, so be it. Im not letting Scruffy blame America and Ukraine for Russian murdering innocent Ukrainians.

      • mock-star

        Ok, be a dick then. Let me know how it works out for you.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        claypoolresevoir:

        Im sure you speak for everyone here.

        I know that advocating against murder of Ukrainians by Russians and Scruffy’s apologist statements means that I must have some Ukrainian weed. Its safe for you.

        The US Constitution has nothing to do with Ukraine and the fact that you need to defend Scruffy is very telling. I know Scruffy cant defend himself, so dog pile on.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Mock-star: I cited Scruffy’s comments. You trying to defend him is on you, not me.

        Pretty shocking for people supposedly into Liberty, property rights, and non-intervention.

        I would say Russia attacking Ukraine today violates all 3 at once. Feel free Correct me if I’m wrong.

      • Grumbletarian

        LC, if you can refute Scruffy’s assertions, let’s see it.

      • Claypoolsreservoir

        LC, you deny the possibility of blowback and now you assert that intervention on behalf of supporting non-intervention is somehow still non-interventionist… Charlotte couldn’t even spin such a web of illogical and self defeating principles.

        You’re familiarity and empathy for/with the region is not a good enough reason for the United States to enter into any kind of war with the second most advanced and well regulated military on the fucking planet… Are you really this daft???

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Looks like we picked up some more Russian apologists today..nice.

        I see Russia and their apologists here are still on the denazification justifications for murdering innocent Ukrainians. Ukrainian President is Jewish and had multiple family members die in the holocaust. He didnt disband the Azov battalion before the Russians started injuring and murdering innocent Ukrainians. Zelensky must not have a problem with “Nazis” being in the Ukrainian Army or knows those claims are russian propaganda.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Claypoolresevoir: youre out of your depth or you might want to read my comments.

        I have said multiple times that I dont think America should send us troops to fight russians at this time.

        America gave ukraine intel, weapons, and other noninterventionist help and Im glad we did.

        You trying to insult just lets everyone know that you dont know what youre talking about and got schooled just like scruffy the russian apologist.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Russia is a paper tiger. Its clear now that Russias primary goal was to capture the Ukrainian govt and turn them into puppets or criminals that can be removed.

        Its pretty obvious Russia wants to take Ukraine fairly intact, so they are not bombing every building.

        Russia cant capture the Ukraine president and invasion day 2 is behind schedule.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Yeah, baby! Corpse Fuck This Thread! Nothing more satisfying than getting in the last word half a day after the argument ended!

      • Trigger Hippie

        ‘… see Russia and their apologists here are still on the denazification justifications for murdering innocent Ukrainians.’

        *Grins*

        Indeed. You made the claim that a significant minority of a single battalion of the Ukrainian military were not at least sympathetic to what’s considered neo-nazi beliefs in todays terms. When shown a rebuttal to your denial, you make the claim that anybody who agrees with that idea is openly supporting the actions of the Russian government. As if anybody here would support overthrowing a sovereign government because they turned a blind eye to the military support of a few dozen jack offs.

        My god, dude! You didn’t just shift the goalposts, you rested them upon your back, hauled them up a high hill Jesus style, then strapped them to a SpaceX rocket and launched them into orbit.

        Yes. A few dozen assholes in the Ukraine military are open Nazis. Therefore I have no problem with Russia toppling a neighboring government.

        Pull the other one, you myopic hack.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Says the bitch who posts garbage days later.

        The Russian apologists around here got exposed. Y’all got checked in their ridiculous trolling.

        Amateurs.

    • Festus

      Big dicks swingin”! Duck and cover!

    • Cy Esquire

      “de-Nazification of Ukraine”

      That’s rich. How long until CNN starts singing his praises?

      • juris imprudent

        The stuttering by CNN talking heads is going to be epic.

      • Nephilium

        I would have been more impressed if he mentioned that he was trying to UN-Nazi the world

    • Rat on a train

      After the liberation is complete, Russian will build an Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart to defend against future fascist incursions.

      • Rat on a train

        But they are Social-Nationalist. Isn’t that the opposite of National-Socialists?

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Never stop Russian propaganda trying to justify violence against Ukraine when Russians and their apologists are on a roll.

        Scruffy is literally doubling down today that Russia violence against Ukraine is the Azov Battalion’s fault.

        If they were the “Tiki Torch” variety, Russia wouldn’t have to kill innocent people in Ukraine.

      • Rat on a train

        The Ukraine forced Russia to invade by not ceding territory and installing a puppet government.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Thats the official position of the Russian govt and some people on here.

        Im curious how big the Scruffy dogpile defense fund will get.

        Should I start a Kickstarter for Scruffy now or wait to see if he gets stimulus checks in Rubles?

      • Rat on a train

        Russian stock. I hear it is inexpensive right now.

      • Rat on a train

        Russian stock. I hear it is inexpensive right now.

      • juris imprudent

        Thats the official position of the Russian govt and some people on here.

        You’re trying to out-Winston Winston, aren’t you?

      • Swiss Servator

        rat – You can say that again!

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Poor ji. He gets schooled on here so he hit and runs like the commies at unreason. I live rent free in his head.

        Its funny as scruffy, ji and others double down against Liberty, rational thought, historical fact, and property rights.

  29. DrOtto

    One of the first things I did after Biden got elected was grossly expand my energy stock holdings. That has paid dividends both literally and figuratively. A few people I talked to said it was crazy and I simply replied, look at what happens to oil prices when someone unfriendly to oil starts setting policy. They always create an artificial scarcity, and prices go one way, up.

    • Festus

      Smart man.

    • Sensei

      Until they get nationalized…. Like Nixon’s price controls.

  30. Pope Jimbo

    You know what would be a good issue to run on right now?

    Stopping the DOT from regulating that car makers install kill switches. I’d use the Candadian truckers as an example of why the govt should never be able to control your vehicle.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Absofuckinglutely

      Between that and digital currencies that they can switch off, they’re aiming for total control

      • robc

        Death cult.

        I disagree with Rand on some things, but she got that one right.

        On a somewhat related note, there was a recent twitter roll-out that pointed out that if you read the appendix carefully, 1984 actually had a happy ending. It is clear that Ingsoc fell apart within a few years of the end of the story. The twatter didnt point it out, but that aligns pretty well with the fall of the eastern bloc. Orwell was really damn prescient.

  31. The Other Kevin

    Thanks everyone for the good review of last night’s article. I know our travel discussions tend to be involved so I added as much detail as I could. Hopefully it helped some of you who are making plans.

    • Cy Esquire

      Thank you for the time and effort. It looks like a good place to get drunk.

      • The Other Kevin

        Absolutely. Nice scenery, drinks included, short walk to your room, on a resort so the potential for trouble is limited.

    • Nephilium

      It’s been added to the list of potential vacations now, and it made me dig out my passport to check the expiration date.

  32. The Other Kevin

    I guess Biden’s getting a bounce in the polls, but if this Russia thing lasts longer than a few weeks 40% is going to look like the good old days. And I’m sure China’s taking very careful notes.

    • Festus

      That doddering old fool is being led into a mess that he doesn’t comprehend. I haven’t felt this way since 1983.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    Cry Havoc, and let loose the shit-flinging howler monkeys of war

    Just as diplomats at a last-minute United Nations Security Council meeting were pleading for peace, Russian fire began raining down on Ukraine.

    On a haunting night, marked by an address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that felt like a eulogy for a democracy, decades of peace between nations on the European landmass ended with loud blasts in multiple Ukrainian cities. Within hours, livestream video showed a column of military vehicles streaming into the country from Belarus, where Russian troops had been massed. And thunderous explosions soon boomed over the capital Kyiv, as air raid sirens wailed, heralding a dangerous new crisis for a world already rocked by turmoil.

    President Vladimir Putin’s long-feared assault will reverberate far beyond Russia and its democratic neighbor. It will bring consequences including painful spikes in already high gas prices for Americans struggling to navigate out of a once-in-a-century pandemic. And it may rekindle a Cold War that had once seemed a relic of history, creating a precarious new standoff between the US and Russia, the world’s largest nuclear powers. President Joe Biden will unveil the most punishing set of sanctions ever imposed against Russia when he addresses the nation later Thursday.

    ——-

    Putin, in an unscheduled televised address dripping with false claims about genocide perpetrated against ethnic Russians in eastern regions of Ukraine, declared an operation to “demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.” His malfeasance recalled the dark maneuvers of dictators in the 1930s that pitched the world into war. His reference to Nazis raised the idea of political purges and suggested a mindset seemingly verging on paranoia.

    It was the surreal moment when a leader traumatized and obsessed by the collapse of the Soviet Union, which he witnessed as a rank-and-file KGB officer in former East Germany, launched a battle to avenge forces of history and erase the freedoms and democracy of a people of an independent, sovereign nation.

    I think they must keep this guy in a cage, and only let him out when they need some extra special hysterical shrieking.

  34. AlexinCT

    Speaking about changing jobs, this asshole deserves this shit. But I still think it was a great move (for the rest of the world) that he left a working company to go grandstand at one that would give it to him good and hard.

  35. Festus

    War will solve all of our problems, foreign and domestic. Just ask my ex.

  36. Rebel Scum

    In a stunning legal opinion released publicly this week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton declared gender-affirming surgical procedures in children and prescribing drugs that affect puberty to be considered “child abuse,” a claim seen by many as an attack on transgender children.

    1) And brave?
    2) Shouldn’t be a thing and is absolutely child abuse.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Apart from the challenge to the US-led world order and what was once known as the free world, Americans will pay a price for this attack, though they are not, like the people of Ukraine, coming under fire.
    Higher gas prices and inflation are certain. Oil raced above $100 a barrel almost as soon as the Russian assault started.

    ——-

    More broadly, Putin’s attack on Ukraine is another challenge to America’s global power and the concept of a free and democratic world that multiplies its influence. Liberal democracy now faces a fearsome challenge, not just from a revanchist Russia but from a rising, authoritarian super power in China. And unlike during the Cold War, when all parties stood firm in the face of a 40-year struggle against communism, America’s own democracy is reeling, threatened by a former President who tried to cling to power.
    In a sign of the shattered fabric of US national unity, ex-President Donald Trump, fresh from declaring Putin a “genius” on Tuesday, quickly called into Fox and lied that a “rigged election” in the US saddled Americans with an illegitimate President and emboldened the Russian leader — over whom he himself always fawned.

    Trump is to blame. I never saw that coming.

    And- by the way, as long as we’re on the subject of “free and democratic” let’s hear your take on Canada.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Putin a genius? Maybe, maybe not but he’s head and shoulders above the capabilities of the current typical western political castrati.

      • AlexinCT

        That’s for sure. The people that tell us they are the reals smart ones are playing checkers and he is playing 5D chess with their idiot asses.

      • Swiss Servator

        Plain old military invasion is not 5D chess.

      • AlexinCT

        No it is not, but I am pointing out he is at levels higher than our idiots whom made this conflict all but a given by fucking things up at every opportunity.

    • Rebel Scum

      America’s own democracy is reeling, threatened by a former President who tried to cling to power.

      Yes, yes. Drumpfler questioned an election and is clearly a nazi/fascist/autocrat who intended to rule by the mighty pen and phone, unlike Biden and co. who are ardent adherents to the constitution, limited government and individual freedom.

      • Rebel Scum

        fresh from declaring Putin a “genius” on Tuesday

        Showing respect for perceived intelligence is obviously treason.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Trump is also one to prod an idiot narcissist to keep them making mistakes.

        Putin is making mistakes left and right.

        Russia wont get to use Ukraine to further Putins fanatsies. Ukraine wont be the puppet they planned for.
        Russia has and will continue to lose wealth by the day.
        Putin just gave EU and smaller countries a huge reason to form military alliances. That makes them harder to pick off.
        Putin wont have the legacy he wants. He will die a commie and criminal against humanity.
        ….

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      More broadly, Putin’s attack on Ukraine is another challenge to America’s global power and the concept of a free and democratic world that multiplies its influence. Liberal democracy now faces a fearsome challenge

      OFFS

      Our founders’ graves must be the ultimate renewable energy, because they’re spinning like a flywheel with shit like this.

      Hint: this country was once proud of its non-interventionist attitude, and saw international meddling as something below a free republic.

      • juris imprudent

        Post-WWII we’ve been an empire. The republic died.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        The Founders sent US warships to fight the Barbary Coast pirates.

        The Founders warned of foreign entanglements but non-interventionism has its limits. Additionally, diplomacy, espionage, and other non-military means to maintain world peace are definitely in America’s interest.

        The World would likely be a very different place if the USSR was never challenged non-militarily.

      • MikeS

        The Founders sent US warships to fight the Barbary Coast pirates.

        Do you know why they did that? You citing it as a counter-point to Trashy makes me feel like you don’t.

      • juris imprudent

        I think he’s going full neo-con, so don’t encourage him.

      • MikeS

        That’s good advice. I will heed it.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Poor ji. His education is so poor that he doesnt know the difference between me and a neocon.

        Ji gets owned a lot on here so he follows me around. Hes not food at actual discussions. They scare him.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Its okay Mike S. I will explain my comment in more simple American English.

        The founders never considered America noninterventionist as some of you folks think noninterventionist means.

        The current definition of nonintervention describes the principle of avoiding getting involved in the affairs of other nations.

        That leaves off military action against other countries.

        The founders got very militarily interventionist in North African pirate nations. This was after diplomatically trying to get African pirates from pillaging our ships.

        Let me know if you want me to explain in more simple terms.

  38. Rebel Scum

    UN food agency says 13 million Yemenis may face starvation

    Yemenites?

    • Urthona

      Yemen and Yewomen.

      • Rat on a train

        Come on, Yepeople.

      • one true athena

        Yex

  39. Rebel Scum

    A Mexican woman reported a sexual assault in Qatar. She faces jail, 100 lashes.

    Should have kept her mouth shut. //jk

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Putin a genius? Maybe, maybe not but he’s head and shoulders above the capabilities of the current typical western political castrati.

    Next you’ll try to tell me Putin looked at the political purges in our military forces as some sort of opportunity to be exploited.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Certainly that along with the added disaster of the Astan withdrawal showing our current situation manifested into reality sealing the deal.

    • Loveconstitution1789

      Belarus forces are also involved which would make Russia AND Belarus at war with Ukraine or Belarus “allowed” Russian forces to cross its border to attack Ukraine.

      Either way, we will get scruffy in here all day saying how all this Russian military violence against innocent Ukrainians is America’s and Ukraine’s fault.

      • db

        I suppose it’s better that we get involved militarily now so that there’s no dispute whether it’s partly our fault or not.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        We share some of the blame too as does Western Europe and NATO. Things like this don’t happen without plenty of blame to go around although the lion’s share obviously goes to the Russians at this point.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        National sovereignty either means something or it doesn’t.

        Attacking another nation because they want to join an alliance violates international law.

        Dont let Russia or their apologists like scruffy off the hook. Poor scruffy has been cursing me for two days now. Scruffy has a few defenders but they have laughable comments like scruffy.

        Russia invading ukraine is americas and ukraines fault, says the apologists.
        Ukraine is Nazi, says the apologists. Ukraine president zelensky is jewish and had multiple relatives die in the holocaust.

    • Rebel Scum

      Supposedly they’ve hit everything from air defense to weapons depots. Shock and awe. Seems they’ve basically neutralized the Ukrainian military overnight. In fact, I’m wondering where the Ukrainian military is in all this. Where’s the damned air force?

      • Loveconstitution1789

        They have images of downed Russian helos and planes.

        If I was the Ukrainian military, I would lie in wait for most of those 200k Russian troops to get inside Ukraine and then kill them all. Then scalp them and send Putin their scalps.

        It appears Ukrainian military forces are going to pick their points of defense not defend everything.

        The Russians will control the outgoing media soon. I have seen average Ukrainians using their cell phones to film Russian military forces. I guess cell towers are still up and running.

    • db

      Wow, not just in the disputed territories–way to the west as well, and even in the Capital. That’s like Mexico trying to annex part of Arizona and dropping bombs in D.C.

    • Loveconstitution1789

      There is one map showing attack locations and 4 Ukrainian nuclear power plants, including Chernobyl.

      Look out World, Russia wants to take over Chernobyl and operate it again.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      And Biolabs, don’t forget those,

    • Rat on a train

      Any hits on the French Embassy?

      • blighted_non_millenial

        Watching the France24 English live stream. Some joker in the comments – 3:00 GMT – Russia invades Ukraine… 3:01 GMT – France surrenders…

      • AlexinCT

        They surrendered preemptively?

  41. The Late P Brooks

    If I were an evil genius, bent on world domination, instead of coercively vaccinating my armies against the WuPlague (or kicking them out if they decline), I’d send in a bunch of “infected” hookers to have a giant plague party and get it over with. You might lose a few good men, but the rest would have natural resistance, which might come in handy somewhere down the road.

  42. The Other Kevin

    The people at CNN have to be smiling ear to ear this morning. They first made their name covering a war, and at their darkest hour those sweet views and clicks are coming back.

  43. Rebel Scum

    Hot water for Hunter Biden is reaching a boiling point

    *yawn*

    • db

      Yep, suuuuuure it is.

    • Rat on a train

      It is just getting up to his preferred hot tub temperature.

      • Rebel Scum

        I assumed he dips his balls in hot wax.

  44. Evan from Evansville

    Well, yeesh. Two days of work left on my contract. A total of 5 hours class time combined.

    Haven’t started packing yet, but I live small and just clothes and things in two bags of luggage, along with my computer bag. Starting my legal battle with my boss to get money that I am legally entitled to. Got an airbnb for two weeks starting March 2 here in Daejeon. Legal and medical stuff to take care of. And also just rest and relaxation. And furthering my work on becoming gainfully employed in the US. Ziprecruiter wants to keep offering me teaching gigs, which I would do, but I have also applied to editing gigs, which is where I really want to be.

    It’s so strange that going BACK to my place-of-birth feels like such an Indiana Jones adventure. Need to pack up my life and get on with it. Just errands to run, first. And those 5 teaching hours. Most of which will just be games and me no-longer giving a shit about following the books.

    It certainly is interesting, but I will say that I haven’t had any adverse stress reaction to it at all, yet. I’m sure I will. But That Moment hasn’t hit me (yet). Time to relocate my life once again. It’s why I live so small. My friend just moved back Tuesday and she had like six HUGE bits of luggage and boxes. I purposefully don’t live that way. Too much hassle. Will land in Chicago and probably take a few days there to chill and heavily stack my weed supply. It’s where my bro gets his and seems easy enough to get it to Indy.

    Gonna be weird starting over in a New Place where I lived for 20 years and can speak the language and know the law. (Not that it always is respected, but you know what I mean.) Meeting with a lawyer on Monday to talk about my fucking boss’ illegal actions to fuck me over for several thousand dollars. My first legal battle. And normally, it’s like “Oh, you’ve never played basketball! Come out to the court with your elementary friends and have fun!” This is more like “Oh, you’ve never played basketball! Get on the court and go 1-on-1 with Jordan!” It’s…difficult.

    I’ll be just fine. Just in the mode of counting down the time I have left. First with work, then with my stay and my flight, and then the restart button back in Indiana. I may not even stay there for too long. Remote work would be nice. Working someplace else is just A-OK. Going back “home,” but into the Unknown. Very curious.

    Sorry for the odd rant. Needed to get that typed out and off my chest.

    • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

      Have you considered technical writing, EFE? There are assloads & fucktons of tech writer jobs all over the place.

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        Anecdotal – I did a very brief contract gig as a tech writer (I had NO qualifications other than good English skills and good web & MS Word/Google Docs skills) back in the early ‘aughts. To this day, the vast majority of recruiters contact me about tech writer jobs.

      • Evan from Evansville

        HA! I recently applied to InformaTech. They had me do a timed assessment…on CYBERSECURITY! Which I know dick about. I was so fucking happy…that I CHEATED! I looked everything up because I don’t know anything. But I passed! I have a ziprecruider bade for CyberSecurity now! My bro is in the programming biz and I talked to him about it afterwards.

        Hey, it shows that I’m resourceful and can do research on a deadline and figure shit (that I know nothing about) out and get it done. I was teenager-giddy about my cheating being successful.

        I will write/edit anything. Have and will. That’s definitely what I want to be doing. I would also be thrilled to hook up (not that way…) with the LP folk I have worked with in Indiana and would be thrilled to write about shit that I’m passionate about. But I’ll do the work for anyone that thinks my work is worthy of employment. I’d also work as a janitor or whatever. Biggest concern, really, is getting a car and transport/independence in a city that doesn’t have lots of it.

        Any references or contacts that you have would be lovely. My selling point that I’ve been using: I write and edit and have created (and performed) curriculum to non-native speakers from ages 2.5-17. I know how to gauge an audience (especially international ones) and get the best reaction, their interest and desire, out of whomever I’m writing/performing for. There’s a market for that. It’s not easy and I have 12+ years of experience doing it. It’s honed. That’s always the (I hate using this word) unique ability that I have that is hard to fake and harder to be confident with and succeed at doing. I can sell that.

        That’s the game plan I’ve got moving forward. I’ve got a skill. If you’re good at something, never do it for free.

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        You should get on Indeed as well as Zip Recruiter. But seriously, my tech writing experience was a fluke and very brief, but they’re so hard up for people with good English and documentation skills, they’ll even take someone like me whose experience is almost nil and worked in the field for less than a year more than 15 years ago.

        As pointed out a million times, I am a quasi-Fed, so I can send you some stuff from the company I work for, but it’s all Fed work (most of it will be remote). I’ll send you a PM in the forum.

      • Evan from Evansville

        I will absolutely get on Indeed. Thanks for the insight. If all they need is English/documentation skills, I can take that all day, every day.

        My internet at home has been turned off because I’m leaving so soon. Is it possible to email me whatever stuff you have?

        mathews . evang AT gmail

        Seriously, thank you. Anything that I can add to my possibility-list right now is HUGE. And that is absolutely the type of work that I want to be doing, and with my bro as a 20+year pro, I can get direct insight into anything that I can’t research outright on my own. He’s very successful at his programming/business-owning side of the tech world. Such a perfect inside asset to have directly on my team for whatever help that I need. He’s a fantastic brother. He’s always there for me.

        He may be more successful than me. But I’m 3 inches taller….(Dad is 6’2″, Mom 4’10”. He’s 5’4″ and I’m 5’7″. I’m hilariously the second tallest Clan member.)

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        ? sent you an email from my fake email address

      • Evan from Evansville

        YOU. ARE. AWESOME.

    • Cy Esquire

      Before you leave, I’d make a couple of quick stops at any companies that look like they may operations in the US. Explain your situation and ask if they’re looking for multilingual people in the US.

      • Evan from Evansville

        That’s a fantastic idea, but sadly I’m not multilingual. I can read Korean and can certainly get by in the world here. My ‘Teacher Korean’ is better than most, but I am not at all capable of speaking in Korean sentences. I’ve said before: I focus on what comes up and what I need. Not fluency.

    • Fourscore

      Good luck in your new adventure, after a few months you may reconsider your decision. Don’t close the door completely.

      • Evan from Evansville

        Doors are still open. Have contacts here and can always return. No burned bridged. Yet.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      That was a close one.

    • db

      jeeezus.

  45. Yusef drives a Kia

    Do cats fart? I think my kitten just did,
    /Ghaa!

    • Rat on a train

      Yes. They aren’t as bad as dog farts.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        He stank the joint up pretty good, I really wasn’t sure,
        thanks! I think 😉

      • Festus

        They are worse but less copious.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I hope so, all my cats have been females until Otis, the little shit.

      • Rat on a train

        Volume is likely a major factor. Dog farts have range.

  46. Rebel Scum

    Airborne.

    Breaking: @mchancecnn with Russian forces at the Antonov airport about 15 miles outside of Kyiv. “These troops you can see over here, they are Russian airborne forces. They have taken this airport”

    • Urthona

      Amazing defense the Ukraine put up.

      • Gustave Lytton ????

        About as much as they did the first time around or Georgia did. Russia 3-0.

      • Swiss Servator

        Georgia actually did very well until they literally ran out of ammo. Killed the Russian commanding general, used the Hawk missiles we gave them to shoot down a bunch of Russian planes… but they shot out their supplies and 1/3rd of their army was in Iraq, oopsie.

      • Swiss Servator

        Yup, its all over. Your sources must be better than the livestreams I am watching.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Some Ukrainian lady confronted a Russian armored unit and told them to carry sunflower in their pockets when they die in Ukraine.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Looks like they’ve decided to take the in for a penny in for a pound route.

    • Urthona

      Hopefully things will be back to normal when Ukraine finishes being conquered tomorrow.

  47. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    OK, I pay for Gold membership on FlightRadar24, and they have me in a waiting room to get on their site. That’s fucking bullshit.

    At least the app works. But I’m-a see if they’ll give me some $ for my loss of paid service.

    • Gustave Lytton ????

      Bitched about it upthread. Apparently their site overloaded thanks to a spike in traffic related to Ukraine.

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        I get that, but they should figure out a way to prioritize logged in paid members. I have a feeling I’m waiting in line behind the hoi polloi 😉

      • Tres Cool

        You mean our Air Force and DoD ? I think FlightRadar may be their best intel site.

    • db

      I have an enterprise account on FlightAware. There’s no traffic depicted over Ukraine and a large swath of Russia. I’m imagining there might be a DDoS attack on ADS-B feeder stations going on there? Blocking traffic to the FlightAware servers from that area of the world?

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        There has been very little air traffic over Ukraine for several years now (only direct inbounds – overflights between Europe & Asia have avoided Ukraine since the Malaysian flight was shot down). I am curious about air traffic into/out of and over Russia and Belarus, though. On the app, there are still flights in/out of Moscow.

        I wonder where the AN225 is right now?

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        Looks like the 225 was in north central Ukraine as of Feb 5 ?

  48. The Late P Brooks

    Today, in treating the symptoms and not the disease

    The spike in crime and deadly incidents in the New York City subway system, like the death of Michelle Go last month when she was pushed onto the train tracks at the Times Square subway station by a mentally Ill homeless man, has the MTA putting in place new safety measures.

    The MTA is looking to install platform barriers between the platform and the tracks to prevent people from falling or being pushed onto the tracks. The technology has existed for a long time and is already used on the JFK Air Train.

    I assume there will be a blizzard of injunction filings from homeless advocates.

  49. Count Potato

    “Russian helicopters swoop above Ukraine’s capital as Putin launches all-out invasion from north, south and east, with cruise missiles hitting airports and military bases, tanks rolling in and scores killed”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10545389/BREAKING-NEWS-Explosions-heard-Ukraine-port-city-Mariupol.html

    “How the Ukraine invasion unfolded minute-by-minute: Russian shells rain down on Mariupol at 3.30am, Putin declares war two hours later and then all hell breaks loose across nation and capital Kiev”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10546123/How-Ukraine-invasion-unfolded-minute-minute.html

    That escalated quickly.

    • Animal

      “Only the dead are safe; only the dead have seen the end of war.”

      George Santayana. Guess he saw it coming.

      • Rat on a train

        The dead still have to worry about decay and necrophiliacs.

      • Animal

        Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I think that was Marcus Aurelius, from a few millenia ago,

      • Animal

        I’ve seen it attributed to Plato, too, which I’m pretty sure is wrong. Santayana actually wrote it, whether he coined the term or not. I’ve read Aurelius’ Meditations and don’t remember it being in there, but it’s been some time since I went through it.

  50. Rebel Scum

    Write a strongly worded letter.

    Under the present circumstances, I must change my appeal:

    President Putin, in the name of humanity, bring your troops back to Russia.

    This conflict must stop now.

    I’d say it’s about time to dissolve the UN and raze the building. Or make it a Trump hotel.

    • Urthona

      Of course we expect the UN to do nothing.

      I’m still a little surprised (but only a little) at the gutlessness of Europe. The EU is overall richer than the United States, this is in their sphere, and they have done absolutely nothing. In fact, the U.S. was the only entity that seemed even concerned about Russia’s imminent invasion.

      These allies suck ass. Can we just jettison them and go home?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        “he U.S. was the only entity that seemed even concerned”
        Question answered, it’s all wag the dog now,

      • SDF-7

        Yeah — yet another reason to have dissolved NATO in the early ’90s – besides getting an actual peace dividend of shutting down the various bases and discouraging the War Hawks from feeling like we need to go poking every hornet’s nest in the world, having Europe actually have to care about their own damn defense again would be a nice change of pace.

        Slightly off-topic, but reading a relatively old Star Trek novel to lighten my mood and in the prologue they mention that the authors were previously writing some Civil War tomes with the comment “And just think of how the 20th Century would have been different without America on the world stage” or some such.

        And yeah — thinking about a world where Wilson couldn’t screw around with things and World War One probably would have ground to a halt in a stalemate, leaving a weakened but still potent Imperial Germany to balance (or more likely get wrapped up in fighting) Red Russia for a couple of decades instead of building up to WW2 sure seems better from this side of the Atlantic. I suspect the French and British would have been better off as well, setting aside of course that avoiding WW1 in the first place would have been better — but that one seems more like it was going to happen somehow…

      • Urthona

        I would simply propose the condition that the EU — who is overall wealthier than us and constantly touting their enlightenment — actually spend more than us and become the leader of NATO. I would be willing to help them. But this is their sphere and they need to take ownership.

        Then when this failed we could leave NATO justifiably.

  51. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    The ChiComs have a live webcam in Kyiv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_ktlQnDr8A

    (literally, it’s the ChiComs, so click or not at your own risk)

  52. The Late P Brooks

    Too late

    Target will no longer require its staff and shoppers to wear masks inside its store as a matter of corporate policy.

    The popular retailer updated its coronavirus dashboard Monday, where it now says that it will not ask shoppers or employees to wear masks unless it must comply with local regulations. Target confirmed to NBC News that the new policy went into effect on Monday.

    Though masks are no longer a requirement, Target said in a statement that it will continue to encourage social distancing and regular disinfection protocols within its locations.

    Fuck Target and their mask Nazi idiocy. I haven’t been in a Target store in two years, and i don’t plan to stop not going.

    • Urthona

      I’ve been going for a year and never worn a mask. This is Texas, though, so maybe they are not allowed to require one.

      • Rat on a train

        It has been long enough that I don’t recall when they dropped their mandate here. The last mandate I encountered was at a public school before Youngkin freed us.

  53. Tundra

    Good morning, Sloop!

    Fuck this.

    That is all.

    Oh, and thanks for the great songs. Truly gems.

  54. Mustang

    I know we like to be glib around here, but my beautiful little daughter was standing in the kitchen upset this morning and I flashed to a vision of her standing in a street crying, surrounded by a pile of burned rubble, and I almost lost it.

    Regardless of who caused what anywhere…hug your kids, family, whoever, and tell them you love them.

    • Fourscore

      The picture of the Yemeni baby got an Old Grandpa…

    • Compelled Speechless

      Thanks man. That’s a great message for this morning. This is the most uncertainty I’ve felt about the future in my adult life. All we can do is take care of the things we can control and see what the forces beyond us decide to do. Here’s hoping cooler heads can prevail sooner rather than later. BTW, I know I’m a relatively new guy, but I’m really enjoying this little community tucked in the deepest glibbest corner of the web. You crazy people make for some good conversation.

  55. PieInTheSky

    It seems the US is sending 2 f35 to romania

  56. PieInTheSky

    Overall i blame ypu people. Should ev nuked the bastards in 45

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      We only had a few at the time, and we were tired of saving your Euro asses again,

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      And when they come for you, who’s going to help you? Germany?

      • Swiss Servator

        The Poles. They knew this was coming and have been arming for some time now.

    • R C Dean

      I’ve wondered occasionally what would have happened if we had gone after the Soviets at the end of WWII, instead of ceding them an Eastern European empire. Without Western support, I don’t know how long they could have lasted, but US domestic support for an extended European war would have been weak.

      • SDF-7

        I strongly suspect you’d have to go further back and clean the USSR agents / Commies out of FDRs administrations. Those whispers in his ears / policy decisions were a big reason for giving up Eastern Europe at Yalta, and going to war over something we’d already agreed to certainly seems like it would lack any and all popular support.

  57. The Late P Brooks

    Overall i blame ypu people. Should ev nuked the bastards in 45

    Hindsight is 20/20.

  58. Festus

    I want to thank all of you for putting up with my bullshit for the last few years. It sounds lame but you folk have helped me through some very trying times and it is very much appreciated. That is all.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Cheers Buddy!

    • Gustave Lytton ????

      Tribulations perhaps, but never bullshit.

    • Sean

      🙂

    • slumbrew

      You’re alright, Festus.

      Not even in the top-10 on the “putting up with” list.

    • Fourscore

      The door is always open, Festus…

    • Nephilium

      If it comes to it man, I hope that you’re able to get across the border and we can hoist a pint together.

      • Swiss Servator

        “a” pint?

        I am in for many, many.

      • Animal

        Same here, if by chance it’s easier to get out via the Yukon.

      • MikeS

        I live very close to the Manitoba/NoDak border. There’s you random, for no reason what-so-ever, fun fact of the day.

    • Donny Three-Fingers

      Rock on!

  59. KSuellington

    Kamala has now officially made a statement in her capacity as point person for the Ukraine crisis:

    “Hey guys, come on, I mean, like this is really war now that we’re talking about. Totally. It’s like a big deal. And by continuing our perseverance in doing the things we have been doing, to effectively deal with this major issue, we just have to keep doing what we have been accomplishing by persevering and not giving in to Putin. While the previous administration was content to appease Putin, we will endeavor in our sanctions, knowing that it is our endeavoring that will ultimately prevail by staying the course, of our effective strategies. These strategies, along with our tactics, continuing to endeavor to persevere to hold strong with the tactics, effective tactics, have lead us to believe these strategies our sound.”

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      “endeavor to persevere”
      /So we went to War.

      • KSuellington

        Hopefully these bumbling idiots are cognizant enough to keep up with their sanctions bullshit and keep our military the fuck out of this.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Keeping our military out of anything has not been our forte historically. The evil fucks that really wanted bloodshed in Iraq and Afghanistan and the rest of the Middle East were beside themselves hoping for this too. They’re still in charge. I’m trying not to be nihilistic, but the people running the empire have given me very little reason not to be. Our weapons stockpiles were getting a little too high, we can’t just let them go to waste.

    • The Last American Hero

      Hey now, that sounds like her COVID speech – now is the time to keep doing what we’ve been doing.

    • Drake

      The second one is hilarious.

      I think a lot of people admire Putin because he is a smart serious person who does what he believes is in the best interest of his country. We’ve had clowns and puppets in charge for a long time now.

      • Rebel Scum

        who does what he believes is in the best interest of his country

        Only nazi/fascists/authoritarians/dictators/etc. do what is in the interests of their countries. Real democracy and freedom involves selling out your people to the highest bidder.

      • Drake

        It’s the nationalist part of National Socialism, and the current Russian government that they hate.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Which is hilarious since Marxist or Democratic Socialism still involves the blind worship of the state that leads to the unmitigated bloodshed of any and all dissenters. It’s a distinction without a meaningful difference. Absolute evil rains supreme – unchallenged and unaccountable until it collapses under the weight of it’s own contradictions and takes even more bodies with it during the collapse and uncertainty that follows. Statism is the disease that needs to be cured. But how to take down the state without becoming one?

      • Tres Cool

        Or rigging elections in a ‘democracy’ so the right person gets in .

    • Rebel Scum

      The right-wing doesn’t love Putin. But I suspect the right-wing respects competence.

      These people are nuts.

      Cenk has always been a dishonest and/or retarded cunte. Idk who that other chick is but I am pretty sure race is not the issue. It only is to the left as a divide/conquer tactic.

    • R C Dean

      As I said yesterday, there people cannot think past personalities. You can’t express respect for a competent adversary without completely supporting everything they do, in their minds. Its just part of being a Principals, not Principles, person.

    • Plinker762

      What is the dog whistle for Praise Putin?

      • Tres Cool

        Ask a Borzoi doge.

      • Nephilium

        Well, with P being the 16th letter of the alphabet, that means it’s just a new variant of 88 = HH = Heil you know who.

      • Plinker762

        I’m convinced, one can’t argue against the numerology.

      • Compelled Speechless

        I know it’s not a car horn since that’s the dog whistle for Hitler.

    • Tres Cool

      Idi Amin concurs.

  60. The Late P Brooks

    Persecution

    The New York Police Department arrested three union organizers at Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island on Wednesday.

    Among those arrested was Chris Smalls, a former worker and president of the Amazon Labor Union. The ALU successfully petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for a union election at JFK8 last week. The election is due to be held between March 25 and March 30.

    Smalls told Reuters he had come to the warehouse to give out food to workers in the break room.

    Derrick Palmer, an ALU organizer and employee who witnessed the arrests, told Vice an Amazon general manager said they were calling the police after organizers brought grilled chicken and pasta to workers in the break room.

    “I think it started off as a scare tactic that completely went off the rails,” Connor Spence, another ALU organizer and employee, told Bloomberg.

    An Amazon spokesperson told Reuters and Bloomberg Amazon had called the police because Smalls has “repeatedly trespassed” on JFK8.

    “Smalls — who is not employed by Amazon — has repeatedly trespassed despite multiple warnings. Today, when police officers asked Mr. Smalls to leave, he instead chose to escalate the situation and the police made their own decision on how to respond,” spokesperson Kelly Nantel told Bloomberg.

    The man’s a saint, selflessly bringing food and succor to Amazon’s slave laborers.

  61. The Late P Brooks

    Hopefully these bumbling idiots are cognizant enough to keep up with their sanctions bullshit and keep our military the fuck out of this.

    I think the tripwires are already in place. It’s just a matter of time. I honestly don’t think there is anybody in this administration smart enough to realize they’re fucking around with a Big League opponent.

    • Urthona

      Eh, they’re not that all that amazing. Russia’s economy is half the size of Texas’s. If Europe cared enough to invest in a military, they could wipe Russia off the map all by themselves.

      Italy alone is about as rich as Russia.

      • Count Potato

        Italy is as rich as Russia?

      • Urthona

        Correct. I think a little richer.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        They’re ranked about the same for total GDP; on a per-person basis, Italians are about twice as wealthy as Russians (lots more Russian bodies). In contrast, many of the economic “indicators of health” of Russia look better than Italy’s (public debt, unemployment rate, the usual blah blah blah).

      • Urthona

        Yeah, but those things are really a symptom of wealth. If you have lots of public debt and unemployed people, you’re probably a rich Western country.

      • Count Potato

        What does Italy produce that makes them so much money?

      • MikeS

        Olives and Catholicism.

      • Urthona

        I think the U.S. is approximately 873x more Catholic than Italy these days.

      • Urthona

        They sell 3 Ferraris a year.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Hot-headed women

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        What does Italy produce that makes them so much money?

        D00d, have you tried their pasta and their hazelnut spreads? They’re the bomb. To die for.

        (What? Too soon?)

      • Compelled Speechless

        I think that’s fine. You might want to steer clear of Chicken Kiev jokes though.

      • R C Dean

        So much this. Russia has a big military, probably funded basically by oil exports. For an extended campaign, that’s a house of cards. They simply do not have the economic base to extend an empire all that far, especially if their conquests engage in much in the way of resistance, before and after the initial invasion. In a serious war, I would expect Russia’s oil infrastructure to be targetted, which will gut their economy. Russia also has suffered from a declining birth rate for decades – at some point, the babushkas are going to tire of the body bags filled with their very limited supply of sons and grandsons.

        Russia has ever been a regional power. Their lunge at global power status in the Cold War met the predictable end of empires – colonies are typically wasting assets, at least after the initial looting. You can’t build an empire on wasting assets.

      • Drake

        Yes, a regional power (except for the nukes) – and the Ukraine is their region.

        Their army is big, and vastly improved over the last two decades – while western armies have been busy going woke. This is a big league first world military. Not unbeatable, but the cost would be absolutely shocking. There’s a chance Turkey comes in on the Russian side, that NATO completely disintegrates, China takes advantage, and we lose a big chunk of our surface navy.

        Scary to see people that incompetent handling a situation this dangerous.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Russia cant defeat ukraine by Day 2. Russia is a paper tiger and this murder spree by Russia will weaken it more.

    • Cy Esquire

      My literal, no shit, best friend is 4 miles from the border of Ukraine in what was farmers field 3 weeks ago and is now a full on US military base. He called me last night scared out of his mind. This is the beginning of WW3.

      • db

        yikes. what country?

      • Cy Esquire

        He’s US army.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        I’m thinkin’ Poland. {shrug}

      • Urthona

        I don’t think it’s the beginning of WW3, but I’ve been wrong before.

      • R C Dean

        Periodically, I drive past the air force boneyard here in Tucson. Among many other planes, it has a pile of mothballed Warthogs. I was reminded of this watching footage of Russian armored columns in Ukraine. Warthogs are purpose built to stop . . . Russian armored columns. And we have way more than we need.

        I’ve been saying for years we should have been selling them to countries concerned about Russian aggression. All I could think of when I saw those armored columns was how different this might be going if we had sold Ukraine a couple dozen Warthogs a few years ago. They are, of course, vulnerable to true fighters (technically, a Warthog is a fighter), so maybe it would just mean a couple dozen piles of smoking Warthog wreckage.

      • Urthona

        Hakuna Matata

      • Drake

        Getting air superiority on the Russian / Ukrainian border would not be easy or cheap. Might not actually be possible.

      • tarran

        The jets alone are not enough.

        1) The gun requires very specialized ammunition. Depleted Uranium is not easy to come by.

        2) The Warthog is an ineffective death trap if you don’t have air superiority. Consider how the English annihilated Stukas in the Battle of Britain despite the fact that the German fighters were able to maintain Air Parity over English territory during much of the battle.

  62. Broswater

    Hi All, news from Chinada!

    Thank you for all your comments on Tuesday’s morning post. The little fuck weaseled out as he knew he was going to lose the vote in the Senate. Many saw it as a victory, I don’t. He just put the Emergency Acts in his back pocket, ready to get it out anytime he feels threaten again, and he took away the option from the Senate to say ”enough is enough”.

    The convoy people are digging into their trenches. We’re far from done yet. If it started about silly mandates it’s now about getting rid of those encroachments on our civil liberties and making sure that that shit never happens again.

    I like the idea of WV. Not too far south that I have to learn to deal with alligators in my house, yet a very plausibly state where we will be left alone. And the kids already know all the lyrics to Country Home !

    Festus ; we leave no man behind. I don’t care if I have to travel all across the country; yet I know I won’t have to. We’ve got our freedom loving people all across Canada ready to help. You’re not alone.

    I’m sorry if I sound overly-dramatic, but I was technically an enemy of the state until yesterday afternoon, and I don’t trust Trudeau’s peace offer.

    • slumbrew

      He just put the Emergency Acts in his back pocket, ready to get it out anytime he feels threaten again, and he took away the option from the Senate to say ”enough is enough”.

      Sadly all too true.

      You’re fighting the good fight up there.

    • Urthona

      I actually thought that was rather shrewd for him to withdraw it himself. Maybe I wasn’t giving him enough credit.

    • Count Potato

      “I like the idea of WV. Not too far south that I have to learn to deal with alligators in my house, yet a very plausibly state where we will be left alone. And the kids already know all the lyrics to Country Home !”

      Alligators down south aren’t any more of threat than bears in WV, and this way your kids can learn the lyrics to Molly Hatchet songs 🙂

    • KSuellington

      Keep on truckin’ Bros, right on.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      They had to put it in writing this time. The US and NATO had to put it in writing that they would not expand east and invite Ukraine to join NATO.

      Exactly

      • Drake

        All anyone has to do is look at a map to understand why Russia was so adamant about the Ukraine not being in NATO. It would be like Mexico joining the Warsaw PACT, maybe worse given how close the border is to Moscow and how it cuts into south-east Russia.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        You must be a Russian stooge for noticing that.

      • Urthona

        I think as sort of a Missouri Compromise, Ukraine should’ve joined NATO and Mexico should’ve joined the Warsaw Pact. Totally fair.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Scruffy knows russian stooges. Scruffy just to know who will take Rubles now.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Russia apologist scruffy still peddling thats is America and ukraines fault for russia having to murder innocent ukrainians.

        Russia is less secure now than if Ukraine was admitted into NATO.

        Never stop idiot russians from making mistakes.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Remember when Russia built a military base in Venezuela and has a defense agreement?

        Drake doesnt.

        Were up to about 5 russian apologists on here. Lets see how many more come out of the wood work tomorrow, day 2 of Putins orders to murder innocent Ukrainians.

    • SDF-7

      I don’t have any idea if fiscally / materially they could have maintained them — but if I were Ukranian I would sure be regretting my country giving up its nukes right about now.

      And I know… blah, blah blah proliferation… but I seriously can’t blame any country for wanting to get them so they won’t be screwed around with in the current world order. And given President Poopy Pants, Japan should seriously be assembling them on the sly right about now.

      • Swiss Servator

        Taiwan should be doing the same.

      • R C Dean

        I read several years ago that Japan could probably have functioning nukes in less than a year, once they set their mind to it. I would hope that they have the road map laid out for it, being so close to China and all.

      • Count Potato

        Being the only country that was attacked by nukes, I assume they have them.

        Also Israel since the Manhattan Project was bunch of Jews.

    • Swiss Servator

      Bitch was askin’ for it!

    • Sean

      But why?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s still in operation.

      • db

        Trying to control the energy infrastructure in the country you are invading is pretty much standard. Chernobyl has at least two operating reactors still, I think. also, it was part of a large “energy center” which included large substations and it was/is a hub for power transmission lines.

      • Sean

        Chernobyl has at least two operating reactors still

        I was unaware.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Yeah, when did that happen. Who’s working at them since I understand it’s still incredibly radioactive?

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        They were decommissioned in stages (1991, 1996 and 2000) after the disaster at #4. I seem to recall that they still have skeleton crews who monitor their cores.

  63. The Late P Brooks

    Smalls was released later on Wednesday, tweeting at 9:28 p.m. Eastern time: “I’m free ‼️ and I’m not stopping unionize @amazon.”

    Smalls told Reuters shortly after 10 p.m. he was heading back to the warehouse.

    “I’m going to bring more food for the night shift,” he said.

    He’s a Hero of the Revolution.

    Biden will probably invite him to the White House for smoochies.

    • R C Dean

      Thanks a lot for that flashback to yesterday’s Joemala.

  64. grrizzly

    Ровно в четыре часа
    Киев бомбили, нам объявили
    Что началася война.

    • AlexinCT

      Da Tavarish.

  65. tarran

    Anyone know how Groovus is? I haven’t heard from him since 2017. 🙁

    • Nephilium

      I don’t think anyone has heard from him since then.

  66. Rebel Scum

    I suppose it’s better than the alternative.

    RUSSIAN soldiers began bombarding Ukraine yesterday — with Tinder messages looking for love.

    Ukrainian women in second city Kharkiv — just 20 miles from tyrannical Vladimir Putin’s vast invasion force — have been stunned by a salvo of admirers in uniform.

    The Sun is just asking for it.

    • R C Dean

      “We’re coming for your women” is a time-tested tactic for weakening the resolve of your opponents.

    • Compelled Speechless

      How does this not end with the headline “Rash of Russian Soldiers Getting Throats Slit While They Sleep.”

      Ukrainian girls be like “Sounds like you had hard day on firing squad taking out my whole extended family. Why don’t you come in for nightcap?”

  67. AlexinCT

    Now THIS is how you really do conquering….

    • AlexinCT

      DOH! Rebel beat me to the dick punch.

  68. Rebel Scum

    AJ is a prophet.

    Alex Jones Predicted War In February On 10/21/21 – Putin Invades Ukraine

    • AlexinCT

      Did he also predict China would take advantage of the chaos and go after Taiwan soon after too?

    • Count Potato

      Impressive he got the month right.

    • CPRM

      Because he works for Putin!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Ummmm…. they should probably be concerned about your average twelve year old embarrassing him.

      • Rat on a train

        Twelve? He’s not smarter than a 5th grader.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Yeah, a phot-op with a precocious kid smells like trouble for Biden

  69. Sean

    https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a38975569/us-postal-service-mail-trucks-epa-electric/

    The Biden administration and the EPA told the USPS, which operates independent of the executive branch, that the new Oshkosh trucks are just 0.4 mile per gallon more efficient compared to the outgoing LLVs—8.6 mpg versus 8.2 mpg for the older vehicles. It also said that the Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) the USPS conducted as it decided where to award the contract were not conducted correctly.

    Why do they get such bad mileage?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Constant starting and stopping.

      It would seem to be a decent target application for a hybrid.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Get in line, buddy.

    • kinnath

      stop and go traffic — lots of time idling

      This is the recipe for bad mileage.

    • Swiss Servator

      Start and stop, lots of idling?

      • Tres Cool

        Im not much of a car guy, but Im going to bet it was lots of idling plus start/stop traffic.

        Too soon ?

      • MikeS

        It’s never too soon for an unnecessary and/or sarcastic reply.

    • MikeS

      I’m no expert, but I’ve heard from a few people it’s all the start/stop driving.

      • Swiss Servator

        You may be on to something!

    • Urthona

      Did anyone mention that it might be all the starting and stopping?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Not yet, maybe someday

      • R C Dean

        Hmm. Sounds like they should look at hybrids.

    • CPRM

      FAKE NEWS! If it’s from (SL)Oshkosh it runs on pure alcohol!

    • Rat on a train

      All the bags full of empty cans going to Michigan?