About The Author

Banjos

Banjos

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

431 Comments

  1. Tres Cool

    whaddup doh’

  2. Rebel Scum

    And what a lovely day it always is!

    Meh.

  3. UnCivilServant

    Morning? Banjos.

    I can barely hold my eyes open, but the day is full of meetings. And they expect me to participate instead of sleeping.

    • Fourscore

      The others will think you are in deep concentration. You’ll get the promotion you’ve earned, UCS.

      Good luck on the day

      • UnCivilServant

        HR is slow walking the paperwork and it’s pissing me off.

    • Ted S.

      Really? I thought you were a government-sector worker.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        It seems like he goes out of his way to convince us he is not the typical government worker.

      • Chafed

        It’s puzzling to see a government employee with a work ethic.

      • hayeksplosives

        HEY!!

        Oh, wait; strictly speaking, I’m still a contractor, even though I have a “dot gov” email address now.

        It’s pretty cushy right now (plenty of “work from home” days) but when the hardware starts rolling in, it’s gonna get nuts, and the test site isn’t exactly the lap of luxury.*

        *After a couple of decades of working at various military proving grounds, it’s kinda a welcome routine. Ah, the scent and new blue water of a freshly serviced and disinfected port-a-potty.

  4. Rebel Scum

    The board of directors for advocacy group Airlines for America sent a letter to President Biden on Wednesday calling for the end of the transportation mask mandate and pre-departure COVID-19 testing requirements for international flights.

    There used to be this thing in America called “defiance”.

    • blackjack

      I’ve been having to wear the fucking face burka for two whole years at work. I applaud any effort to prod the ‘tard administration to roll back at least this one piece of idiocy. As of right now, it’s in effect until Apr. 18th, when they are most likely going to extend it, based on past performance. Hell, even the supremely evil LAUSD finally let my kid stop wearing his just yesterday. I’m in the only group left in America that’s still mandated for masks.

      • Sean

        How have you not stabbed people yet?

      • Rebel Scum

        I never participated in the theater, even after more than one email about how *someone* in the building was making people “uncomfortable” because said person was not masking up. I think I was the only person refusing.

      • UnCivilServant

        “Those masked ninnies can grow up. The world does not exist to make tehm comfortable.”

      • Brawndo

        We got an email awhile back from the store manager that was probably about me, because he mentioned being disappointed that even store leadership wasn’t masking properly (I refused to wear mine when off the clock)

      • Not Adahn

        that was probably about me

        You’re so vain.

      • cavalier973

        I bet you think this email’s about you.

      • ron73440

        Only time I wear it is in the hospital or airport, letting my nose hang out.

        I did get reprimanded by a TSA agent so I pulled it up and asked him if he felt safer.

        He said every little bit helps and said the masks keep him safe.

        I laughed and said you people are funny.

        After I was screened, I told him to stay safe and not breathe too much air.

        I hate security theater.

      • EvilSheldon

        “Wow, you must be one hell of a narcissist to think that I give a single fuck about your safety…”

        Fun, but maybe not smart.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        “Well, I wasn’t going to examine your butthole, peasant!”

      • PutridMeat
      • ron73440

        My wife was there and said I shouldn’t antagonize them.

        I found that if I don’t, I get infuriated at the whole process and am in danger of loosing my cool, and that would cause more issues.

      • db

        ES, do you have an optic on your C2? If so, which one? I’ve got no experience with optics on carry pistols.

      • EvilSheldon

        Remember, when you gaze into my butthole, my butthole gazes back into you…

        db – Ima start a new thread, see below.

      • Drake

        Before or after you had to pull off the mask so he could compare your face to your ID?

      • ron73440

        This was as I was putting my boots back on and waiting for my laptop.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I was told by a TSA supervisor once that if I said another word, I was going to jail.

        It was in San Diego. I had opted out of the Rapiscan for the pat down. I was telling the guy doing the pat down (very loudly) that if he got a job as a garbage man he’d have the same pay and benefits, but he’d have more dignity.

        Got several laughs/snickers from other travelers which prompted the supervisor to issue his warning. I shut up like a wussie.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I came very close in SF one time. I was returning from China, got hung up in customs for two hours, missed my connecting flight, and was in danger of missing my backup option when the TSA decided to put me through the process.

        Specifically, the guy in front of me had not removed his shoes. I asked the agent if I had to remove mine and was pleased when he said no. After the scan they took me aside for a full patdown and luggage check. I asked why and he said “Because you didn’t remove your shoes.”

        There may have been some impolite words coming out of my mouth at that point.

      • ron73440

        The first time I got really pissed off was in Baltimore after my unit came back from Iraq in 2004.

        We had been travelling for 20 some hours and hadn’t showered for a couple days.

        I don’t remember why, but we had to go through security when we changed planes. I was already pissed because I hated the stupidity of it.

        The TSA agents were joking to each other about how bad our feet smelled and I was IRATE.

        I didn’t say anything, but my Marines knew I was pissed.

        I remember hoping that they wouldn’t touch me, because I knew I would punch him and really didn’t want to go to jail.

        I flashback to that mentality every time I have to go through a metal detector.

        I hate security theater.

      • Brawndo

        Aren’t you a mechanic? Seems like people in healthcare/elder care would be the only ones still mandated (not that they should be imo)

      • Lackadaisical

        They need to be boosted, in some states. Not sure about masking.

      • blackjack

        Yeah, and we’ve only really been exposed to each other this whole time. Almost all of the others have gotten the ‘vid despite being vaxxed. We also have had enforced distancing to an absurd level.

        On a side note, they finally caught up to me fornot doing the mandated testing. They have yet to grant or deny my exemption and recently rolled back the biweekly testing required of exemption applicants to once weekly. The website they use for testing is stupid unreliable. Until the last two weeks, i couldn’taccess it, even with help from IT they finally got me im and i have tested negative for the last two weeks. They threatened me with a Skelly hearing to get me to do it.

      • Brawndo

        God damn, California truly is an authoritarian hellscape.

      • Ted S.

        Austria reinstated its mask mandate today.

      • Chafed

        That’s some strong science they’ve got there.

    • Atanarjuat

      Yeah, I think we’re all pussies for using the cover of the Ukraine invasion to quietly roll back obviously useless Covid restrictions. It allows lefty Karens to not have to admit they were ever wrong.

      • ron73440

        The only reason they are lifting the restrictions is because they worked.

        That seems to be what they are going with.

      • Sensei

        Morning ron. OT question. My son’s friend’s mother is Japanese. However, because America, nobody in the house speaks Japanese although the father lived there two years and speaks more Japanese than the children.

        The one exception is the greetings – https://cotoacademy.com/ittekimasu/ – Ittekimasu, Itterasshai, Tadaima and Okaerinasai

        Was curious what happened in your house.

      • ron73440

        Was curious what happened in your house.

        Am I being detained?

        I lived in Japan for 7 years and was pretty good at Japanese by the time I rejoined the Marines.

        Our first child speaks Japanese and moved back to Okinawa as an adult and has an Okinawan husband.

        Middle kid speaks a little, but can understand most of it.

        Youngest kid understands my wife’s Japanese, but doesn’t speak it at all, wish we would have done more to encourage him learning.

      • Sensei

        Interesting! Thanks. My kid’s friend’s mother and I have spoken a few times and she is also a bit disappointed with herself that she didn’t do more to get both her kids able to speak Japanese.

        So do you generally use the coming and going greetings? Seems like most Japanese people seem compelled to use “ittekimasu” and the like.

      • ron73440

        My wife used to, but she has dropped it in the last few years.

        Sometimes it comes in handy though.

        Once we came home with her parents and her younger brother was in his bedroom having very loud sex with his girlfriend (they were both 18, but he still lived there).

        Luckily for him, my wife and I were first, it’s a small house and you could hear everything in the entrance.

        My wife froze and didn’t know what to do.

        I yelled “Tadiama!” and the noise stopped.

        I have never seen a more embarrassed girl then her when they came out. The father wanted her to stay for dinner with us, but I think the poor girl would have died by the end if she had.

      • Sensei

        Legit LOL!

        Quick thinking.

      • Rat on a train

        My wife speaks Tagalog, Cebuano and Surigaonon. She speaks Surigaonon with her family but not with our kids. She had this idea that it would confuse the children if she spoke Surigaonon to them while I spoke English. Now they are older and only know some phrases which they pronounce with an American accent.

      • ron73440

        My middle kid still says “fridgealator” and “bideo”.

      • Rat on a train

        My wife still misgenders people because she is unfamiliar with gendering people. Filipinx is going to go over well in the Philippines.

      • Sensei

        My Japanese friend mixes masculine and feminine pronouns all the time.

        Since we both try to improve each other’s respective languages my response is always to correct the pronoun back.

        “Oh, HE likes steak!”. Works well and keeps the conversation flowing

      • cavalier973

        That is as infuriating as the restrictions were.

      • juris imprudent

        You could put a gun to their heads and they wouldn’t admit they were wrong.

    • db

      “Defiance” is for people who want to live completely off the grid, because “they” can squeeze you out of it quite effectively. Moreso the corporations that live or die by regulation.

    • DEG

      There used to be this thing in America called “defiance”.

      Yep. Airlines went along with the requirements way too happily.

  5. trshmnstr the terrible

    Hey all, I’m collecting can lids for SP.

    1) Take a lid, rusty or not (preferably a canning lid, but whatever you can get), write your glibs handle on it along with a message of appreciation for her immense contributions to this site. NOTE: you may get better results using a fineliner permanent marker.

    2) email me at trashy-glibs [at] disengage [dot] co (and let me know what your glibs handle is) to get the destination address for the lid.

    3) shove the lid in an envelope and get it in the mail by April 1st.

    Once I get all the lids, I’ll assemble them in a way that only a trash monster can, and I’ll send it up to SP to replenish her stock and keep OMWC in check.

    I’ll continue posting this in the links threads this week.

    NOTE: Athena has graciously offered to put messages on lids for those who, for whatever reason, can’t. (athenaofprogtown at the gmail)

    NOTE2: If you don’t hear from me within 24 hours, let me know on here.

    • Not Adahn

      Haven’t heard from you, but if you want to send me the addy on the forums, that would work too.

    • DEG

      NOTE2: If you don’t hear from me within 24 hours, let me know on here.

      I sent a mail after I got back from PA. I’m not sure if you got it.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I got the unrelated one. I don’t think I got a can lid one from you. I’ll send you the address.

  6. Rebel Scum

    States across America pocketed COVID-19 relief cash to use on pet projects.

    *shocked face*

  7. Sean

    “We’re thrilled to bring the first driver’s license and state ID in Wallet to Arizona today, and provide Arizonans with an easy, secure, and private way to present their ID when traveling, through just a tap of their iPhone or Apple Watch,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.

    I don’t trust my Iphone.

    Question: Should I update the OS? I’m still on 13.3.1.

    • UnCivilServant

      You should upgrade to noOS. It’s what the original Bell phones ran on.

      • juris imprudent

        Racist!

    • Fourscore

      Will I still be able to get telemarketers?

      /Lonely in the woods

      • Sean

        /Lonely in the woods

        Awwwww….

        *waves*

      • Tres Cool

        So you’re that old fart always in front of me in line at the VA when I pick-up prescriptions?
        It never fails that Im behind the 1 remaining Civil War vet that hasn’t had any social contact in a month, and wants to talk to the pharmacist about EVERY damn thing.

      • Ted S.

        [sends STEVE SMITH to northern Minnesota]

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        Remer? I hardly even know her!

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Aw heck, meant for elsewhere. ? Lonely in your nightmare, let me in.

        Sean: 13.6.1 ?

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        I would guess a cuddle session with STEVE SMITH is nightmare fuel.

    • R C Dean

      Don’t trust it to what?

      • Sean

        Be secure, not get hacked, spy on me, etc.

      • R C Dean

        Do you carry it on you all day? I only carry mine at work, or running errands if I think I may need to call Mrs. Dean (or vice versa).

        People are shocked that I don’t feel this irresistible compulsion to immediately answer every text or take every call. It’s a micro-computer – I use it when I want to do microcomputer shit, which isn’t 24/7.

      • UnCivilServant

        My cell phone is a desk phone. It often sits on my desk even when I leave the house.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        It’s within 40 feet of me at almost all times. Yes, as a matter of fact, it is about 40 feet from my home office to my bedroom.

        Usually I set it up on my desk to play music/podcasts/YouTube while I’m working. Also to sneak onto glibs during boring meetings or when I need a break.

      • Tres Cool

        I use mine to text the few friends I have left, and make phone calls and thats about it. If Im stuck waiting someplace like a doctor’s office Ill use the browser to kill some time, but I generally take a book or crossword with me.
        If I phone someone from here at the Palatial 2X-Wide™ I still have a landline, which is entertaining when Im drunk and get a telemarketer.

      • Mojeaux

        I generally take a book

        Me too. Lots of them. They’re all on my phone.

      • rhywun

        Assume every smart phone is not as secure as you would like and proceed accordingly. ?‍♂️

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        “Assume every smart phone is not as secure as you would like actively spying on you and proceed accordingly.”

        *ponders going back to a dumb phone that I can remove the battery from*

      • EvilSheldon

        Invest in a Faraday bag, and/or leave your phone at home when you’re out doing shady deals.

      • juris imprudent

        That is why I absolutely do not have apps for banking on either of our phones. I can at least actually manage a PC, you can’t do that with a smart phone – it would detract from the “convenience” they want to deliver to you.

      • rhywun

        Probably smart. I downloaded mine’s just so I could deposit checks at home but I haven’t received a check in years now.

      • DEG

        Depositing checks is all I use my mobile bank app for. I don’t have a brick and mortar bank, it’s an Internet bank. So, either send the check via US Mail, which is slow and has resulted in lost checks, or use the mobile app.

  8. Brawndo

    Rest in piss, Madeline Albright

    • Sean

      Some people pay extra for that.

      • Fourscore

        She was so brave. Who says women can’t be tough?

      • juris imprudent
    • Fourscore

      Who hasn’t had that happen?

      • Bobarian LMD

        I’m still able to post, so me?

    • Sean

      lulz

  9. Rebel Scum

    Citing someone’s record is just conspiracy theories, man.

    She’s going to end up on the Supreme Court. So the only thing they could do now is publicly flog this intelligent, capable, qualified black woman to the best of their ability with every single crazy QAnon conspiracy they can come up with. They are going to use her to express their bigotry about trans-rights. They are going to use her to express their crazy QAnon conspiracies and anti-Muslim sentiments. The reason this is so problematic is because it won’t change anybody’s votes. She’s going to get on regardless”

    • Tres Cool

      I keep hearing about this QAnon group yet Im not certain who/what they are.

      Perhaps they have a pamphlet or newsletter I could subscribe to ?

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s published at fbi.gov

      • Compelled Speechless

        Pretty sure all the material is written by the FBI too. The whole thing reeks of controlled opposition.

    • Rat on a train

      I thought they were only criticizing her because they want to date her.

      • Tres Cool

        Ew. You’d be safer entering Chernobyl or Fukashima than that angry vag.

      • Brawndo

        Fetishizing black women is racist. Not wanting to date black women is racist.

      • Tres Cool

        Meh. Its all pink inside. I’ve checked.

    • Ted S.

      They could find someone to make an obviously phony rape allegation like the Democrats did to Kavanaugh.

      • Rat on a train

        Somewhere long ago she dead named and misgendered someone.

    • Plisade

      I am glad they have her on record as not being able to define what a woman is (yet somehow she’ll the first black *woman* on the SC), doesn’t know when life begins (though she’ll likely judge abortion cases), and doesn’t know what CRT is (despite her having said she considers CRT in deciding cases in a speech at a law school).

    • rhywun

      She’ll get in on party lines. She’s a leftist, that’s the only “excuse” the opposition needs to vote neigh.

    • Fourscore

      “A refuge for senility”

    • Tres Cool

      Heh. I dropped into Tres Sr’s Palatial (gated) Estate the other morning shortly before 11 am.
      He was eating lunch. Supper is usually around 1600h.

    • Lackadaisical

      I thought SF posted yesterday. Thanks.

    • cavalier973

      “Fortunately the snake did not hurt anybody and it wasn’t injured….”

      Fortunately.

      Was the snake self-identifying as dookie?

  10. db

    Airline CEOs ask Biden to drop mask mandate

    I have a trip coming up in a few weeks; hopefully this silliness will be concluded by then.

    • DEG

      I’m going to FreedomFest again this year.

      I’m going to drive regardless of what happens with the airline mask order.

      • db

        In this case, I’d prefer to fly myself, but I have to meet two other colleagues and I need to be there at a particular time. Otherwise, I’m going to be trying to avoid commercial flying as much as the weather will allow.

  11. juris imprudent

    So this is interesting, if a bit naive (particularly about Zuck’s bucks and what they were ‘buying’). How many of us though remember the Help America Vote Act? [I didn’t.] It’s like every time the federal govt “helps” us, it fucks things up worse than they were.

    • rhywun

      Republicans show up on Election Day. Democrats vote whenever and wherever they feel like it.

      This isn’t rocket surgery.

      I still think there’s fraud, though.

      • juris imprudent

        Yeah, because the laws that encourage voting “access”, dating back to that 2002 one for example.

  12. db

    States pocketed millions in COVID-relief cash for pet projects

    I can’t even come up with a snarky comment about this. There are too many opportunities, too many directions this could have flowed.

    • Nephilium

      /looks at all the unemployment fraud from the past two years

      • db

        I’d bet a sizeable amount went to paving companies to install curbs and bollards to direct cars through drive-through testing lanes in public building parking lots. Paving companies always get to wet their beak.

  13. Sean

    3 6
    8 7

    • db

      I didn’t do so well today. one guess left, two words to go. Mistake.

    • Grumbletarian

      Tough day.

      8 7
      6 9

      • J. Frank Parnell

        6 9

        nice

  14. db

    Apple makes Arizona first state to add IDs, drivers license to devices

    Forget it. There’s no fucking way I’ll link my single, easily misplaced device to literally everything necesary to facilitate theft of my identity.

    • R C Dean

      But enough about your wallet . . . .

      • db

        ha ha, good one, but that’s carefully curated as well.

      • db

        Besides, I’d actually have to lose my wallet for that to work. I’m not sure it’s as vulnerable to remote attacks as my online accounts where, for instance, a SSO provider can be compromised without any help from me.

      • UnCivilServant

        Fun.

        Guess who we just finished switching to?

      • db

        Yeah, us too.

      • Nephilium

        I’m surprised the client that mandates Okta hasn’t flipped out about this hack yet. They’re usually the ones asking us to check on years out of support applications for every Apache vulnerability that comes out.

      • Not Adahn

        My wallet chain is vanadium steel with a cubic boron nitride layer to prevent cutting.

      • UnCivilServant

        If they’re going to cut, you’re not going after the chain, they’ll cut the flesh first, then the cloth, if they really want to take the wallet along and not merely empty it on the spot.

      • db

        That’s what CCW is for–sounds like a threat of imminent bodily harm or death to me.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m just sayin – NA spent too much on accessories.

      • Not Adahn

        Did I mention the capacitor bank attached to it?

      • Tres Cool

        “Did I mention the capacitor bank attached to it?”

        No wonder you find the price of groceries (lowers glasses)…..shocking

    • Rat on a train

      I am fine with the license that fits in my wallet.

  15. Rebel Scum

    White-supreme secessionists.

    This effort to create a new Buckhead City (since there’s a town called Buckhead near Lake Oconee) has earned its own special nickname: “Buckxit.”

    The website for the Buckhead City Movement claims, “The City of Atlanta has displayed a pattern of neglect and disrespect towards our community ​which has caused crime to increase at an alarming rate, our infrastructure to crumble, and many residents to flee the area.”

    The Buckhead City Committee seeks a new city that includes “a police force that is respected, properly staffed, appropriately trained, and fully funded,” “emergency response times that are as fast as possible,” “city services commensurate with taxes paid,” and “a well-maintained infrastructure,” along with more direct control and responsive leadership.

    • Brawndo

      A well regulated infrastructure, being necessary to Interstate Commerce of a free state, the right of the people to keep and drive on roadz shall not be infringed

    • Pine_Tree

      They were talking about that 30 years ago when I was in school in Atlanta.

  16. juris imprudent

    This is why NATO existed of course, because the UN like any other international institution is doomed to fail. It’s funny how few people seem to notice how NATO was and is a contradiction of the reason for the UN.

    International law may be powerful against the powerless, but it is powerless against the powerful. The League of Nations, created after World War I, failed because it could not deter important powers from flouting international law. Its beleaguered successor, the United Nations, may be facing a similar reckoning. How can the UN Security Council fulfill its mandate of upholding international peace and stability if its five veto-wielding permanent members are arrayed into two opposing camps?

    • Rat on a train

      International law is to law like reheating frozen dinners is to cooking. The UN is a debating society full of everything bad from trolls to bullies with corruption throughout.

    • Social Justice is Neither

      It’s like this moron doesn’t realize who was on opposing sides of the cold war for 40 years.

      • Rat on a train

        Yea, but the UN prevented all wars back then.

  17. Atanarjuat

    Biden is sending soldiers to Germany, Poland, and Romania, because obviously a few thousand people will stop Putin if he decides to invade another country, which there is no evidence to indicate will happen.

    • R C Dean

      Yeah, I think he’s stuck in Ukraine for awhile. Eventually, I expect he will win there (if he isn’t deposed first). But, at that point, with three successful invasions under his belt, who’s to say there won’t be a fourth?

      • Drake

        Perhaps in the future when he or another Russian leader expresses a very serious concern and requests a negotiated solution, our fucking idiots at State will take it seriously instead of antagonizing them? Or maybe they always want war with a bogeyman.

      • Lackadaisical

        I’m not convinced we didn’t give a green light to this to provide a distraction from our president’s disasters at home and abroad.

      • UnCivilServant

        Gropey Joe was asking for a limited incursion,.

      • The Last American Hero

        Because there is a difference between invading a country where a big chunk of the people think of themselves as Russian and attacking a NATO ally where they don’t?

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Maybe they’ll get out on the links and play a few rounds of gulf. Perhaps they’ll just sit around Tonkin.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I believe they’re Maine’ly there for show.

      • Drake

        A Franz Ferdinand show.

      • Pine_Tree

        give everybody Sumter see

    • Rebel Scum

      which there is no evidence to indicate will happen.

      Despite Putin’s stated goals in Ukraine we all know he really wants to try to steamroll Europe and start WWIII because he is a madman. We can trust the western media and leadership on this, obviously.

      • cavalier973

        Cue the “10 frightening predictions from the Tom Clancy novel, ‘Red Storm Rising’.”

      • Mustang

        What if he actually is? History is replete with madmen and women doing exactly that. I’m currently reading a book (written well before the current situation) with an entire section about Catherine the Great’s march through the exact same areas for almost the same reasons. Even if we don’t believe Putin is that crazy, it can be useful to try and think about what appropriate actions would be if he were. After all, State clearly didn’t think Putin was mad enough to invade Ukraine over joining NATO, or whatever it is people are arguing about. Maybe if they had considered it, they would have taken a different approach.

      • juris imprudent

        Maybe if they had considered it, they would have taken a different approach.

        Well that’s just crazy talk. We our the God-Empire of this planet and if we say to not do something (even or especially if that is something we get to do) then by god, these little countries just better tow our lion!

      • juris imprudent

        are/our – my kingdom for an edit button

    • The Last American Hero

      No, he’s sending troops there so that Vlad knows if one of our soldiers is killed by one of his, Joe and his handlers will have cause to let slip the dogs of war.

  18. robc

    RE: last night’s post.

    Thanks for the comments (sparse as they were). Part 2 is in final edit, it is a bit longer than part 1 and introduces some new characters (although the main 2 in part 2 have already been mentioned). Some people made guesses, some interesting, and some maybe even somewhat correct. More will be clear in future parts, by about part 3 or 4 all should be revealed.

    • robc

      Well, not all, but the major questions.

  19. Atanarjuat

    Whatever happened to the US trucker convoy?

    • UnCivilServant

      Last I heard it reached the outskirts of DC but won’t make a concerted incursion past the beltway.

    • Rat on a train

      They’ve caused some traffic around DC, but have been denied a permit to protest downtown.

      • db

        Aaaaaaand, there you have it

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Ah, nobody wants to be tossed in the DC dungeons, I see.

      • UnCivilServant

        They should arrest any of the Police who try to arrest them.

      • Not Adahn

        Sting is a sanctimonious prick, but I don’t think that justifies arrest.

      • The Last American Hero

        Copeland, though….

      • Compelled Speechless

        As usual, no one even remembers Summers.

      • db

        US truckers are more afraid of Joe Biden and Merrick Garland than Canadian truckers were afraid of Justin Castreau.

      • cavalier973

        What is happening to the January 6 “rioters” may have something to do with that.

      • Lackadaisical

        +1 indefinite detention

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        And for good reason

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Ukraine

    • Tres Cool

      So….just like people ?

      • cavalier973

        Astonishingly so.

        I wonder if the little dude has been trained to react. Do monkeys do stuff like this to each other?

  20. Rebel Scum

    Do these people hear themselves?

    Sara Haines declared it “made sense” to discriminate against Justice Amy Coney Barrett based on her religion “purely because” the pro-life movement is “dividing this country.”And she decried Sen. Lindsey Graham “trolling” Jackson with his question about religion.

    • juris imprudent

      Cognitive dissonance is a myth.

    • Lackadaisical

      Who?

      Yes, Leftists are asshole.

  21. ron73440

    Remember when TOS was good? Seems long ago and far away.

    Dave Smith’s latest podcast tears apart this Reason article.

    The article is the usual conflation of analyzing and excusing with some junior high level snark.

    It quotes Ron Paul talking about Tech censorship and says he seems to care more about that then war crimes.

    The whole thing is an example of how reason thinks they are smarter and more sophisticated than people like us.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Bless their hearts. When I am reminded of the place, I am continually surprised by all the names I remember.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Paul labeled Putin the “new coronavirus,” and seemed more worried that Big Tech companies were censoring people who “question the U.S. government’s claims regarding the Ukraine crisis” than he was about the Russian military’s attack on hospitals and apartments. Such thinking is harder to unpack, but I believe it stems from the habit of perpetual outrage at our own government’s abuses.

      Woods talks about the concept of subsidiarity a lot. Our problems are right here at home, not in the Ukraine.

      The Reason staff, like every other group of woke assholes, seems to be more interested in preserving their outrage at the designated “enemy” than in saving what little remains of our liberal institutions.

      • rhywun

        I wonder what tiny fraction of every American squawking about “the Russian military’s attack on hospitals and apartments” actually gives two shits about it in any way other than using it as a political football.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I doubt 5% could tell you what happened at Kunduz.

      • Swiss Servator

        The Germans set up a pirate radio station that played lots of Eurobeat and electronic music…we used to call it Radio Frei Konduz.

      • Swiss Servator

        Oh, you meant the bad stuff…

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I thought you might be suggesting that an AC-130 attack on a Eurobeat radio station would be justified.

        I’d probably agree.

      • Lackadaisical

        I have no idea, so you can probably revise that down to 1%.

      • Atanarjuat

        Obviously the media didn’t show the devastation of civilian infrastructure in Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan in the same sympathetic way, and also a lot of it is “I support the current thing” NPC lemming behavior. But I wonder to what extent lefties are just more motivated to care about harm that comes to white people.

      • Lackadaisical

        What the reason writer here is failing to see is how tech censorship directly ties in to the bullshit outage about Russian war crimes, and how censorship like that can help enable shitty foreign and domestic policy that is more damaging to America than anything that could happen in Ukraine short of nuclear disaster.

        Also, accusing Ron Paul of not caring about war? That’s a bold strategy, Cotton.

      • Lackadaisical

        More damaging*** not ‘not damaging’

        *FIXED*

      • Lackadaisical

        Woohoo, thank you edit fairy. Never seen this one before.

      • juris imprudent

        She apparently doesn’t get let out of the dungeon very often.

      • Count Potato

        I’m thinking there might be a surprise under that codpiece.

    • Tres Cool

      They’re the correct kind of libertarian: angst-y and (falsely) anti-government. Just like the liberals of the 60s. But with Fruit Sushi and cocktail parties.

      If there were ever a monarchy reinstated, Robbie would be the 1st to slob anyone’s knob to get a seat on the Royal Court.

    • Atanarjuat

      Holy fuck. I hope Greenhut is getting a check from the Council on Foreign Relations or something, because otherwise there is no excuse for such dreck.

    • Atanarjuat

      It’s far too easy to find glowing descriptions of Putin on the nationalist right, and not just from Donald Trump. “Remember that Zelensky is a thug,” Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R–N.C.) said recently. “Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.”

      Dishonest and bad writing. You can’t just quote someone with an R after their name and have that be proof of their Nationalism. And obviously, saying Zelensky is a thug is not a “glowing” description of Putin. In fact, it seems to be a description of Zelensky.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        False choices abound.

      • Lackadaisical

        I’ve yet to encounter real glowing praise of Putin beyond ‘at least he cares about national priorities ‘ which is a pretty low bar and says more about our choices at home rather than the virtues of neo Hitler.

    • l0b0t

      HOLY JEEBUS!! The comments… the horror…

      Damn, I love all y’all and I’m quite happy this place exists.

    • Warty

      Jesus Christ, Reason is embarrassing.

  22. juris imprudent

    We had the chance to do it right, and of course we didn’t.

    As President Reagan’s U.N. Ambassador and trusted adviser, Jeane Kirkpatrick was one of the intellectual architects of our victory in the Cold War. But Kirkpatrick was not blinded by hubris when the Berlin Wall fell. In the fall of 1990, she wrote an article in The National Interest suggesting that the United States should become a “normal country” in the post-Cold War world. She warned U.S. post-Cold War policymakers against pursuing a “mystical mission” that reached beyond the Constitutional requirement to protect the nation’s vital national security interests. Specifically, she wrote that the United States should not devote itself to establishing democracy around the world. She derided the notion that the conduct of U.S. foreign policy should be “the special province” of elites who too often do not pay its costs or bear its consequences. Such elites, Kirkpatrick warned, often develop “disinterested globalist” attitudes couched in high-minded terms such as “internationalism” instead of focusing on concrete U.S. national security interests.

    • Tres Cool

      For a “non-interventionist” she sure liked sticking our dick in shithole countries tho’.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Raimondo nailed it in describing Rothbard’s split with the Buckleyites.

      The conservative project in the cold war era was essentially fraudulent. All that talk about “free markets,” individual liberty, etc. etc. was just window-dressing for making the world safe for the CIA, the military-industrial complex, and the embittered ex-Communist and ex-Trotskyist types who flocked to Buckley’s banner, and whose “expertise” on the ins-and-outs of “international Communism” gave them status and cushy jobs in the cold war era.

    • cavalier973

      Did we win, or did Soviet Russia lose?

      I have an idea that the USSR would have collapsed many years prior had our own government not propped it up. I have no evidence for this idea, though.

    • Q Continuum

      I’ve maintained that the US squandered a massive opportunity to welcome Russia into the fold of (as Kirkpatrick says) the “normal countries” and develop an amiable relationship based on trade and mutually beneficial discourse. But instead we started buying our own bullshit of being some kind of holy crusader to enlighten all dark corners of the globe. It’s sure worked out well.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’ve come to the conclusion that it was intentional.

        The MIC and the neocons both need a boogeyman but for different reasons. While we view the 90’s as a welcome respite from the constant fear of annihilation, they viewed it as a collapse of the narrative required to justify their existence. They thought they had the answer in the Islamofascists, but it was insufficient enough to last. They’re privately celebrating (sometimes not so privately) about these developments in the Ukraine.

      • cavalier973

        My Dad went to Russia twice on mission trips, back in the 90’s. They talked to the old Russian soldiers, who had fought in WW2. The soldiers had very favorable views of Americans, because our soldiers shared food and stuff with them, and were friendly to the Russians. Anecdotal, perhaps, but possibly an indication that regular Americans might have managed the collapse of the soviet republics better than their “betters”.

      • Atanarjuat

        This should still happen. There’s not a reason in the world (outside of Washington DC, weapons manufacturers and maybe people who want to sell Germany natural gas from US fields) why we shouldn’t be friends with Russia. The next presidential candidate should run on it. The 1980s called, they want their foreign policy back.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, I’d rather have them on our side than China’s, which seems to be what we’re pushing.

      • juris imprudent

        paging Winston and the one-note China policy

    • Atanarjuat

      60+ Hot Busty Girls? I like MILFs as much as the next guy, but GILFs are a bridge too far.

      • Tres Cool

        Wait till you’re my age. I was always into “older women” but no there isnt any.

  23. Q Continuum

    “Did The New York Times Admit Joe Biden Is Corrupt So Democrats Can Get Rid Of Him?”

    Yes.

    Just think of NYT as a government agency and it all makes sense.

    • rhywun

      One of the media organs of the DNC.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’d say the CIA has more influence.

    • cavalier973

      I didn’t vote for them!

    • Drake

      I thought the government was an agency of the NY Times? Works either way.

    • Lackadaisical

      Agreed, they don’t send anything out without instructions from above. They’re the mouthpiece of the party. Like Pravda.

  24. Lackadaisical

    “States pocketed millions in COVID-relief cash for pet projects”

    Not to go all pelosi on everyone, but it’s right there in the bill. You can pretty much use the money for whatever. I plan to use a bunch in my new job, thanks taxpayers.

  25. UnCivilServant

    I finally woke up.

    I don’t know why I was so damn tired.

    • db

      OK, Mr. Durden

    • Lackadaisical

      Working too much, and/or you got the Rona.

      • UnCivilServant

        Oh, come on, just because the after hours work wrapped up at quarter to one in the morning doesn’t mean anything.

      • UnCivilServant

        I was pretty sure narcoleptics didn’t know they were falling asleep.

    • UnCivilServant

      It’s the wide angle lenses.

    • cavalier973

      He has chronic back pain, and these heavier photos aren’t helping.

    • Tres Cool

      I do it for free. They need to HMU.

      • Tres Cool

        Cant fault the guy on his marketing angle tho’.

    • Lackadaisical

      I could see how it’s harder work making a whale look beautiful.

      • Lackadaisical

        Or maybe he just finds it less enjoyable than looking at actual models.

  26. juris imprudent

    Oops. [Airplane doing nosedive was not captured on video]

    • Sensei

      There is another long distance picture from the nearby mining operations security camera that I believe was genuine.

  27. DEG

    “Outrageous” and “just nuts” is how Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., described some of the expenditures, which she said were an affront to responsible government.

    “Our hospitals were overwhelmed because of the pandemic, and somebody now has a hotel somewhere?” she added.

    Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said the states and localities “need to give us an accounting.”

    Crocodile tears from these two.

    Apple announced Wednesday that most iPhone and Apple Watch users with Arizona state documents are now able to upload digital copies in the same manner as credit or debit cards, making it the first state to do so.

    What could possibly go wrong?

    • cavalier973

      And by “ accounting”, he means, “kickback”.

    • Rat on a train

      I hope to see more tears from her when she loses reelection in a district she won’t live in.

  28. EvilSheldon

    db –

    I have a Holosun HE508T-RD X2 on my Staccato C2. I loves it. I like Holosun optics in general, I have 507Ts on my Carry Optics guns as well. I use the open 32MOA circle reticle for everything, even shooting at 25+ yards.

    In general:
    – Bigger dots are better
    – The typical lifespan of an open-emmitter mRDO is about 10,000 rounds of minor ammo. I buy a new optic and drop it on my primary game gun a month before Nationals/Area 8. The old one goes on my practice gun.

    • db

      Thanks, I appreciate it. Do you have the tall sights or the compact ones on the C2 to go with the 508?

      I’m surprised that the open circle works that way.

    • db

      Also, why the 508 vs the 507, which is slightly lower?

      The 508 is 1.08″ high vs 0.95″, and the dots are 0.63″ and 0.55″ above the mount, respectively.

      • EvilSheldon

        I have the tall sights on mine. I have a second C2 on order, I may try the carry height sights for that one just to see if there’s a big difference.

        I went with the 508 because it’s a little bit tougher mechanically. Of course, I’ve only ever had a 507 fly off my gun, and it was none the worse for wear, so I wouldn’t say it’s a huge deal.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    I’ve maintained that the US squandered a massive opportunity to welcome Russia into the fold of (as Kirkpatrick says) the “normal countries” and develop an amiable relationship based on trade and mutually beneficial discourse.

    *scans the horizon for rapidly approaching Winston*

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      He has hypersonic capabilities now. You won’t even see it coming.

      • db

        Well, you’ll see him but not hear him, mercifully.

  30. Gender Traitor

    OK, audio/techy Glibs, I’m looking for a recommendation for wireless earbuds for listening to my SiriusXM app when I go to the Y a couple of times a week in my seemingly vain quest to get GlibFit. Don’t want to spend too much, and I think the style with the cord that goes behind your neck would come in handy if a bud falls out of my ear while I’m on the treadmill. Any ideas?

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      All of that style have crapped out on me, but maybe I am too frugal. Budget?

      • J. Frank Parnell

        Seconded, although I only use mine for audiobooks while I’m walking, I don’t really know how they sound with music.

    • Tres Cool

      I have a spare set of Power Beats Pro that aren’t being used. Remind me and Ill drop em off. Try em out and if you like them, give me what you think they’re worth.
      The set I use at work are WAY better than my AirPods when I listen to Coast-to-Coast AM all night at work.

      • Gender Traitor

        Thanks, homey! ?

    • EvilSheldon

      I have a set of JLab earbuds that have held up pretty well.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Well shoot. I was going to recommend the Soundcore Spirit, but it seems Anker owns them now and they’re just doing earbuds without a wire between the two.

    • Tundra

      Jaybird for me. I have the Vistas (cordless), but I’ve had others.

    • Nephilium

      I’ve got a pair similar to this, which work well enough. They also have a microphone if you want to take calls with it.

    • R.J.

      JBL Endurance Jump earpods have been great for me. The do not shake out. Also water proof and $50 at Amazon, less if you want an unpopular color like teal.

  31. Not Adahn
    • rhywun

      I can’t fathom why any reasonably alert person would use Twatter any more. It is nothing more than a path to ruin.

      • EvilSheldon

        Fetish porn, mostly.

    • Count Potato

      “The Twitter disputes, according to Hough, refer to her defense of Sandra Newman*, a novelist whose new book, The Men, concerns a dystopia where everyone with a Y chromosome vanishes from the earth. Newman had the audacity to describe her book as follows: “The book is about women who can’t let go of the men they’ve lost, and devote their lives to getting them back.”

      This premise ran afoul of certain transgender Twitter activists, since “everyone with a Y chromosome” is a category that includes not just men but also transgender women, and the people left behind would be not just women but also transgender men. Indeed, one such activist described Newman’s plotting as “transphobia and transmisogyny.””

      Typical, just typical.

      • Nephilium

        So a book version of Y: The Last Man?

        The TV show had a large subplot about transgendered people, which was not in the graphic novels.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    “States pocketed millions in COVID-relief cash for pet projects”

    That’s how helicopter money works.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    In general:
    – Bigger dots are better

    I shot a friend’s gun which had a big fat green fiber optic front sight. Holy cow, what a difference.

    • db

      All my carry and competition guns have had fiber sights (with tritium sources) for years, but I’m for the first time considering an optic.

    • EvilSheldon

      The reason is a little different with electronics, but yeah. A fat high-visibility front sight makes a huge difference in shootability.

    • Animal

      What’s wrong with a brass bead on the barrel and a notch on the hammer nose? Kids these days. Next you’ll be wanting self-contained cartridges. Powder measure and round lead balls not good enough for you.

    • Tres Cool

      “Although the test is not ostensibly not meant to prepare soldiers for combat, it still retains combat in it’s name”

      As a commo guy, I was often reminded that the radio remote unit (AN/GRA-39) had a working distance of 2 miles and 16″ using WD-1 wire. The 16″ was the length of the handset cord to the unit. At the time, the run part of the PT test was 2 miles. That was by design.

    • Lackadaisical

      Still letting chicks off easy when we know they’re just as good as men?

      Just look at that swimmer, Lia!

  34. The Late P Brooks

    “Now is the time for the Administration to sunset federal transportation travel restrictions — including the international pre-departure testing requirement and the federal mask mandate.”

    They’re too limp dicked to just say, “This is what’s happening. Don’t pretend to be surprised. If Foochy whines about it, we’ll shove him out a window.”

  35. Toxteth O'Grady

    One Froggy Evening is on right now! Free Beer! ? ?

  36. robc

    re: the bilingual household thread.

    Has anyone heard an update on the family that was raising their kid in a bilingual English-Klingon household? The Mother was speaking only English to the kid, the Father only Klingon. I think this was late 90s so I figured if it ended in murder we would have heard of it.

    • db

      My sister and her husband make and eat a lot of pizza. They have a pizza cutter that resembles a Klingon blade. I pointed this out and she said, “oh yes, that’s our bat’leth.”

    • Sensei

      That’s the last I heard of it. Some quick TV spots and silence.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    I’m looking for a recommendation for wireless earbuds

    Do they have to work under water?

    • Gender Traitor

      No. As much as I love to swim, it was getting too rough on my ridiculously expensive (but worth it to me!!) hair color.

    • Count Potato

      Does that include napalm?

      • juris imprudent

        Doesn’t count when we do it. No one else is allowed to.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      White Russian Phosphorus? So that’s Kahlua, cream, vodka and a match?

      • Sensei

        Careful Man. There’s A Beverage Here!

      • EvilSheldon

        It is National Cocktails Day. If anyone has a recipie for a Flaming White Russian, now is the time…

  38. Rebel Scum

    This is, of course, the only logical solution.

    A new bill proposed by three Democrats – Reps. Mike Thompson of California, John Larson of Connecticut and Lauren Underwood of Illinois – could be worth $300 each month to some families if the price of a gallon stays above $4.

    ‘Americans are feeling the impact at the pump of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and right now we must work together on commonsense policy solutions to ease the financial burden that my constituents are feeling,’ Thompson said in a news release.

    ‘The Putin Price Hike is putting strain on our economy, and I am proud to be working with Reps. Larson and Underwood to introduce this legislation to provide middle-class Americans with monthly payments to ease the financial burden of this global crises.’

    Their plan follows the model of COVID economic impact payments – offering $100 for single filers earning less than $75,000, plus $100 for each dependent.

    • db

      Governors of some states including California and Pennsylvania have petitioned Biden to “pause” the federal gas tax to ease prices at the pump. Tom Wolf of PA has presided over (and proudly owned) increases in our state’s gas tax to be one of, if not the highest in the nation during his terms in office.

      Their constituents are getting pissed off and they want Uncle Sugar to come save their sorry asses (Wolf’s not up for reelection because of term limits but it could end in disaster for the Dems in PA if his successor loses), but they won’t consider reducing the state tax. Why? Because they are so bad at budgeting and spending that the gas taxes, which are supposed to go to road infrastructure spending, are propping up the general fund.

      The chickens are coming home to roost, and Tom Wolf is looking around to see where he can steal some feed.

      • DEG

        Tom Wolf of PA has presided over (and proudly owned) increases in our state’s gas tax to be one of, if not the highest in the nation during his terms in office.

        It was the highest. I think it is the third now.

        (Wolf’s not up for reelection because of term limits

        Wolf could run in 2026, but I think he’ll have moved on by then.

        but it could end in disaster for the Dems in PA if his successor loses)

        The thought of Shapiro, or whoever else might run for the Dems, makes me smile.

      • DEG

        Err….

        The thought of Shapiro, or whoever else might run for the Dems, losing the election makes me smile.

      • Rat on a train

        But pausing the gas tax will not benefit the people they want. They want the direct cash to people making less than $75,000 since they could get an extension of the increased refundable child tax credit.

    • db

      Oh, and those POSs can Fuck Right Off with the “Putin Price Hike” bullshit.

      • juris imprudent

        Totally deserving of a royal bitch-slap.

      • db

        I’m open to edits to make it funnier and/or more foreceful…

      • juris imprudent

        Very good!

    • Rat on a train

      We need more helicopters to combat inflation.

    • Urthona

      These people are such fucking morons.

      But so are the Americans who are convinced by being bribed selectively with their own money.

      Won’t gas stations just raise prices?

      Fuck, and now we’re calling them the “Putin Price Hike”? Bullshit, Even if it were a large factor, it’s our response to Putin’s invasion that is problematic.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Putin is responsible for all the ills of the world, it is known.

      • Urthona

        I probably said that wrong too.

        Even if you favor sanctions and think they’re “worth it”, you can’t claim that our sanctions aren’t a restriction on fuel supply.

        It makes no sense. If you want to choose to suffer higher prices for what you consider a just cause, fine. But don’t claim that the other guy caused them. That’s batshit logic.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Won’t gas stations just raise prices?

        If it’s cash that could be used anywhere, there shouldn’t be any effect on gas prices. Cash in fungible.

        If it’s some kind of gas card that could only be used at gas stations, possibly, but I still doubt it. If you gave every child a school voucher for $10k and none of it was refundable, then the baseline price for school would effectively be set at $10k. Make it refundable and the competition would drop prices below $10k across schools. Even if a gas card isn’t refundable, it’s not a one time use deal so competition for your money would still exist between gas stations.

    • rhywun

      Putin ate my homework.

    • rhywun

      Saw that this morning and my first thought was “Long Island cesspool? Could they be more specific? Like, Islip, or Rockville Center, or…?”

      • Not Adahn

        Her father Daniel owns a prosperous third-generation cesspool draining company, and claims on the company website that it was voted No. 1 in both price and service in Suffolk County for several years running.

        In addition to pumping services, the company provides cesspool installations, grease trap installations, septic tank installations, storm drains and catch basin installations.

        ‘At Dan Pazienza Cesspool Service we pride ourselves on being Suffolk County’s most advanced cesspool service. We have been serving Suffolk County for over 3 generations,’ the website boasts.

        May The Lord bless you and keep you, Daily Mail.

      • rhywun

        Geez, all that’s missing is a coupon to clip out.

    • Not Adahn

      But she reportedly had a sharp temper with neighbors and bullied an elementary classmate

      Aww yeah, goin’ all Kavanaugh on this bitch.

      • Lackadaisical

        Reliable sources say that when she was an infant she once pooped herself.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      “She’s a terrible person and a bully, here’s some bikini pics.”
      Ah Britain, don’t ever change.

    • The Other Kevin

      Yep. Anna Sorokin 2.0.

  39. Count Potato

    “Former Olympic decathlete and gold medal-winner Caitlyn Jenner declared that transgender swimmer Lia Thomas was not the rightful winner of the women’s NCAA Championships, instead naming second place Emma Weyant as the true victor.

    Thomas, who competed for three years as a male collegiate swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania before beginning hormone therapy in 2019, stormed to the 500-yard freestyle title on Thursday with a time of 4:33:24 – more than a second-and-a-half ahead of Weyant.

    Jenner last night said that recognizing University of Virginia swimmer and Olympian Weyant, 20, as the true winner was just ‘common sense’, after previously hitting out at the NCAA’s decision to let Thomas, 22, compete against biological females.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10647445/Caitlyn-Jenner-says-Lia-Thomas-not-rightful-winner-NCAA-swimming-championships.html

    The elephant in the room is that no one gives a shit about women’s sports. If Jenner was a female athlete, no one would know who she was.

    • Not Adahn

      Jackie Joyner-Kirsey has a sad.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Women’s tennis seems to be fairly popular and, uh, well never mind then.

      • rhywun

        It was until Serena went and had a kid and another meltdown or two.

        Now the American media are desperate for the next Serena, more so than even the resurrection of Federer.

      • robc

        Gymnasts and figure skaters, once every 4 years.

      • Count Potato

        Bruce Jenner was a huge celebrity. People would still remember him, from 1976, even without transitioning or the Kardasian stuff.

        If this situation was something that was fucking up high school football, people would a thousand times more outraged.

      • juris imprudent

        That’s a brutal point, it doesn’t outrage more people because of how few care about swimming in general and women’s swimming in particular.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I think this will be only the tip of the iceberg. One guy taking the top spot is one thing, if all three places on the podium were boys?

        It’s also more apparent in individual events. Team sports largely loses the individuals.

    • ron73440

      Former Olympic decathlete and gold medal-winner Caitlyn Jenner

      I know I’m an asshole, but I don’t remember Caitlyn being on the Wheaties box when I was a kid.

      Tangentially related, while watching Battle Bots a couple weeks ago, they were talking about the captain of the Witchdoctor robot, who is a woman, and they described her as “one of the top female robot builders” I told my wife, that’s not correct, she is one of the top builders, period.

      On the other hand when female athletes are talked about as one of the best hockey players ever, they don’t mention the woman part. That is also wrong, is this woman anywhere close to the level of Gretzky, Jágr, Lemieux, so on and so forth?

      It has to be intentional; to insert it where it is unnecessary and leave it off where it is a definite part of the description.

      • robc

        People change their name, whatever. If he wants to be called Caitlyn instead of Bruce, I am cool with it. But he is still he.

        Also, why is Deirdre McCloskey not a celebrated hero of the trans movement?

        Okay, just kidding, I know exactly why.

      • Not Adahn

        Is there an awards ceremony for plastic surgeons? And did Blaire White’s chest win it?

    • Rat on a train

      no one gives a shit about women’s sports
      Women’t beach volleyball? Where is that GIF?

    • Pope Jimbo

      Lia won fair and square. Caitlyn can suck her dick if she doesn’t like it.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    There’s another explanation, though. It’s that Joe Biden is no longer useful to the ruling class. After being used to win an election, he’s now making it impossible for them to credibly foist on Americans the idea that his party could win another one with him on their masthead. The donkey is showing through the lion skin, and so they need a new donkey.

    Maybe Joe turned out to not be the empty-suit middle of the road ventriloquist’s dummy they thought he was. His viselike embrace of panicdemic theater and all-in push on mortally wounding the energy sector, combined with his general pandering to the craziest fringe elements of the Democratic Party cannot be what they had in mind when they propped him up in the captain’s chair.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      It’s a damn shame they’ll have to replace him with someone who has a nails on a chalkboard voice, demeanor, and overall personality then.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m more concerned that they want a “limited” war with Russia and Biden is standing in the way of it.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Could be that but it’s probably motivated by not wanting to put a senile old man who was kinda stupid in his prime up for reelection but I expect the war hawks to make the most of this opportunity if given the chance too.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I still don’t think Joe has any show in this. He is an automaton who does what he is told (and not well).

      The reason the Donks are going to dump him is because his controls are infected with crazy progressive malware that. It will be easier to wipe the entire office clean and start over than to try to get rid of all the viruses that are currently infecting this administration.

    • juris imprudent

      You mean it turns out not-Trump isn’t enough of a qualification? Whodathunkit?

    • Count Potato

      Maybe there is even more shit on that laptop, and the Democrats are projecting that Republicans will impeach after they take back the House.

      • Swiss Servator

        That stuff was all pre-election. So impeachment wouldn’t work. The second he was out of office (unless he pardons himself) he could get rung up on all sorts of stuff.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Wait, there are limitations on what is impeachable now? Fitness for holding office and beholden to foreign powers, even if the original events happened before office, aren’t unreasonable impeachment reasons even without that. Or course, someone with a sense of personal honor would have resigned when those came to light.

      • Urthona

        Impeachment is kinda dumb.

        I know it’s all fashionable for libertarians to say we should do it more, but in order for it to actually remove somebody you’d basically need both parties to agree to it.

        That’s only going to happen with a president that goes seriously and batshit off the fucking rails. (so probably never).

      • Count Potato

        Politicians do dumb things all the time.

    • wdalasio

      His viselike embrace of panicdemic theater and all-in push on mortally wounding the energy sector, combined with his general pandering to the craziest fringe elements of the Democratic Party cannot be what they had in mind when they propped him up in the captain’s chair.

      Really? I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what they wanted. They just wanted someone who was going to do it a little more subtly and cleverly. They wanted precisely this policy mix. They just wanted it doled out with the grandfatherliness of mediocrity mistaken for moderation. Instead they got a senile coot.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    A new bill proposed by three Democrats – Reps. Mike Thompson of California, John Larson of Connecticut and Lauren Underwood of Illinois – could be worth $300 each month to some families if the price of a gallon stays above $4.

    And when the magic trick was performed, the monkeys gaped in awe and somersaulted gleefully.

  42. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    So what countries produce most of the lithium? I wonder if that will present a little problem for our greensters?

    Great upbeat song! Perfect for a sunny morning!

    • juris imprudent

      Lithium production, both mining and refining, is something our greensters want to happen somewhere else, so they can live with the environmental damage (in poorer countries).

      • Gustave Lytton

        Until they decide to curtail it on those same grounds. Bait and switch.

      • juris imprudent

        No, they REALLY don’t care about someone else’s environment, just the one they are most likely to see (or live in).

      • Not Adahn

        Just like NY and natural gas.

      • Lackadaisical

        Been waiting for this link all morning, thanks.

    • Urthona

      Australia and Chile followed by China.

      Chile actually has the most extraction potential.

      Actually China’s lithium potential isn’t real much more than ours, but they are more willing to extract it (sound familiar?).

  43. The Late P Brooks

    I still don’t think Joe has any show in this. He is an automaton who does what he is told (and not well).

    I don’t buy it, and I’m certainly not going to let him off the hook by falling for that “just a puppet” crap.

    • Swiss Servator

      He is senile and was never that bright to begin with – how much of this is Pudding Cup’s own ideas?

      • Mojeaux

        never that bright to begin with

        Underrated observation.

      • Sensei

        But last week Biden released his law school records showing he had graduated 76th in a law school class of 85. The law school transcript also showed he made little progress in class standing through the three-year course, ranking 80 out of 100 in the first semester of the first year, and 79th out of 87 the second semester of his second year.

        https://apnews.com/article/cd977f7ff301993f7976974ba07c5495

      • Mojeaux

        You know what they call the worst student in medical school after he graduates?

        “Doctor.”

  44. The Late P Brooks

    I saw a thing a while back about a big lithium mining project in Chile, as I recall. It’s rather a messy process.

    • Not Adahn

      But the workers are remarkably happy and well adjusted.

    • The Other Kevin

      We don’t care about those brown people way over on the other side of the world. They can ruin their own environment, use child labor, and all die of cancer, and it’s all worth it if we can drive around smugly in our electric cars.

  45. The Late P Brooks

    no one gives a shit about women’s sports.

    Women’s World Cup skiers are pretty goddam awesome.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    ‘At Dan Pazienza Cesspool Service we pride ourselves on being Suffolk County’s most advanced cesspool service. We have been serving Suffolk County for over 3 generations,’ the website boasts.

    “Your shit is our bread and butter.”

    • Gustave Lytton

      Septic company around here has “Yesterday’s meals on wheels” on the back of their pump truck.

    • ron73440

      When I was a kid, we had our septic tank pumped.

      My dad couldn’t stop laughing at the slogan on the truck.

      YOU SHIT’EM, WE GIT’EM

      • Rat on a train

        Shittake Septic?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Are we doing mushroom puns again today?

      • Compelled Speechless

        Don’t ruin our fun guy.

      • DEG

        The guy that pumped our septic when I was a kid had this slogan on his truck:

        “#1 IN THE #2 BUSINESS!”

      • hayeksplosives

        The ever-changing slogans of the Sewage Septic Sucking Service on the “Red Green Show” was one of my favorite recurring bits on that show.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    He is senile and was never that bright to begin with – how much of this is Pudding Cup’s own ideas?

    He’s the same narcissistic sociopath he always was.

    • juris imprudent

      Who had to borrow from other’s political speeches because he couldn’t come up with original material.

  48. robc

    Mojeaux,

    Since you are here, I am wondering if you had a chance to peruse my post from last night. I am interested if you have any comments.

    UCS commented on the thread. Sorry if I have missed any of our other authors, your comments appreciated too.

    • ron73440

      I’m not an author, but I enjoyed it and am looking forward to seeing where it goes.

      • robc

        Me too!

        I have about 4 different arcs plotted out, but not sure exactly how they resolve yet. Or even if they do. Or how or if they tie together.

    • Not Adahn

      I imagine it would cost a lot to have Dame Judi Dench so the voice acting.

      • robc

        That is pretty much the voice I was going for, thanks!

    • Mojeaux

      Hey! I had to read it twice to get the relationships down and court politics are always a bitch to write, get straight, and make sure the reader gets it, so you did a good job setting it up cold like that.

      So, is this the beginning of something bigger or a character study? If it’s something bigger, I suggest creating a relationship graphic.

      • robc

        It is something bigger. Let me get a few episodes in and I will create a chart.

        I don’t know if anyone quite caught it, but the inheritance is male-only matrilineal. There is a name for that, but can’t remember it off the top of my head. It creates some interesting situations, a few of which are explored in part 2.

        That also leads to some of the confusion. I tried to get it across with the opening bit.

      • Mojeaux

        I don’t know if anyone quite caught it, but the inheritance is male-only matrilineal.

        I caught it, but didn’t think of it in those precise terms. I thought, “Oh, that’s interesting.” (That’s a compliment.)

      • robc

        One of the interesting bits is that an important individual, say a Duke or King, needs to marry well if he wants his firstborn son to inherit a title of value.

        If the Duke mentioned in part 1 had married a commoner, his son would inherit no title by birthright. But since the Duke married into the Imperial matrilineal line, his first son Thomas is the Emperor’s heir. The Father’s title didn’t matter at all — the current Emperor’s Father was a Creek Lord (cricklord being the insulting and minor swear version).

      • robc

        Oh, and as Rat pointed out below (and Annelise mentioned in Part 1), marriage isn’t really required. You know who the Mother is, marriage or not. The Mom could be screwing around on the side and the kid still inherits, the Dad has nothing to do with it.

      • UnCivilServant

        So, the first step of the honeymoon is to kill all her children and lock her in a tower?

      • ron73440

        The Mom could be screwing around on the side and the kid still inherits, the Dad has nothing to do with it.

        Worked for The Hair That Walks Like a Man.

      • rhywun

        I caught the male-only-ness; the matrilineal part did scratch at the back of my head but is clear-ish now that you’ve stated it.

      • DEG

        I don’t know if anyone quite caught it, but the inheritance is male-only matrilineal.

        I didn’t catch that. Mother to son inheritance?

        I think a chart of relationships will help. I struggled a bit with that in the story.

      • robc

        I think I will include a chart for Part 2.

        I don’t have a good picture to go with it anyway.

      • Rat on a train

        I believe it is male enatic succession. There were societies that practiced it because who is the mother is more certain.

      • creech

        I had same reaction. I remember giving up on “Game of Thrones” because I couldn’t keep all the relationships, unfamiliar geography, and court goings-on straight.

      • robc

        I hereby promise not to kill off every major character as soon as you get to like them.

        Death happens and all, but I am not that cynical.

      • kinnath

        Hey, subverting people’s expectations is tight!

      • robc

        Saving the Empire will be super-easy, barely an inconvenience.

  49. The Late P Brooks

    never that bright to begin with

    Low animal cunning.

    • ron73440

      When he debated Thomas Sowell on affirmative action, he was too dumb to realize how badly he was outclassed.

      • juris imprudent

        Hey, but he was confident he had the better of it!

    • Plisade

      I don’t think Biden’s making the decisions, but he’s evil enough to go happily along with them and issue the necessary orders. Exactly what (((they))) wanted in him.

      • Mustang

        That last sentence is supposed to be sarcastic, right? Cause if not, you should describe exactly what you mean when you say (((they))) and hope for mercy.

  50. The Late P Brooks

    When he debated Thomas Sowell on affirmative action, he was too dumb to realize how badly he was outclassed.

    How many elections has that Sowell guy won? Huh?

    Appeals to emotion are dumb, but quite often much more successful than dispassionate rationality. Joe doesn’t give a fuck about anything but his own political position and power, and never has. Just like everybody else in government.

    • ron73440

      I know, but I remember that as being one of the building blocks convincing me that uor system is not really fixable.

  51. The Late P Brooks

    I know, but I remember that as being one of the building blocks convincing me that uor system is not really fixable.

    That’s the problem, isn’t it? The only people who WANT to work in government are the very last people who should be allowed anywhere near that sort of power. And our “elected officials” are for the most part people whose single greatest demonstrable skill is winning elections, not understanding complex problems.

  52. Lackadaisical

    Regarding bombing the Chinese embassy:

    ‘President Bill Clinton apologized for the bombing, stating it was an accident.[3][4][5] Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet testified before a congressional committee that the bombing was the only one in the campaign organized and directed by his agency,[6’

    Yeah, we definitely did it on purpose.

  53. The Late P Brooks

    how much of this is Pudding Cup’s own ideas?

    I believe him hen he says he thinks global warming is the single greatest threat to mankind. Just because he’s stupid doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous.

    • rhywun

      I doubt anyone other than a few tree-huggers actually believes any of it. Certainly not anyone in power.

  54. Tundra

    How about another conspiracy theory?

    Behold!

    Oh. Not a conspiracy theory. Just another nail in the coffin of liberty.

    • pistoffnick the refusnik

      “central bank”

      No thanks.

      • Tundra

        It’s coming. They have been working on it for years. The attacks on BTC and others mean it’s close to roll-out.

        Not sure how, but this idea needs to die.

    • Sensei

      Waiting for BTC and ETH people to launch Project Burr,

  55. db

    YAY ONLINE SAFE HANDLING OF GLASSWARE TRAINING

    • db

      “How you handle your glassware is important.

      Always use two hands.”

    • Grummun

      Hmm, let’s see what’s in the online learning queue…

      Workplace Diversity, Inclusion and Sensitivity
      Promoting a Culture of Respect

  56. Tundra

    What the actual fuck?

    You can’t have my kids, you fucking monsters.

    • ron73440

      Tundra, I thought you’d be in a better mood after the Wild got Fleury, but the links you posted today are very depressing.

      • Tundra

        Flower is a great addition to the team, but it’s definitely challenging to stay positive.

        I’ll do better!

      • ron73440

        I wish the Pens would have kept him instead of Murray, he is one of the best.

      • Tundra

        Well, even Vegas had to ditch him for salary cap. We’ll see how he does for 37!