For some reason, this song seems appropriate for today.
LOCKDOWN REGIME SELF-OWN: Despite all the locking down, indoor masking, and mandatory vaxing, New Zealand COVID cases skyrocket. And what are they doing about it? You guessed it, doubling-down on the stupidity, hysteria, and control-freakery. Loathsome PM Jacinda Adern should have committed seppuku over this, but is apparently incapable of feeling shame.
NOBODY TO LIKE HERE: Sexual harassment like this is wrong, full-stop. Calling out a politician on her abortion policy is totes legit, and it would have been far more effective had he stuck to that since she now, legitimately, gets to play the victim card.
THE BANALITY OF EVIL: NYT Opinion piece – Please Laugh About My Abortion. While it is unproductive to shame women who have had abortions, celebrating and laughing about your abortion just pushes normal people into believing that you are part of an evil Moloch-worshipping death cult. The cringe illo doesn’t help.
WAPO WHITE HOUSE “BURO” CHIEF IS CLUELESS: “Pretty stunning that Biden heads to Saudi Arabia without explicitly promising to bring up the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to MBS [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman], the man who ordered the bone-saw dismemberment of a Washington Post columnist.” Quick refresher: Khashoggi was a Saudi national and died at the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul, where he went of his own accord. An alleged Qatari asset, Khashoggi was known for his frequent, public trashing of the Saudi royal family. The Saudis postponed Biden’s trip, originally scheduled for June, and many speculate that was because the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia tweeted out about pride month. You do not publicly embarrass these people, particularly if you need something from them.
HONOR, HORROR, WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL? “Biden says we must bear witness to ‘honor of Holocaust’ in shocking gaffe.” Shocking in its horripilation, but not surprising at all given the obvious mental decay of the man.
PLEASE LET THIS BACKFIRE: So, the Houston government will pay you fifty dollars (well, an unspecified gift card in that amount) for fifteen minutes of work making a fake pistol out of wood and a length of pipe. Since private firearms transfers are legal in Texas (h/t Sloopy), hopefully people will show up with pockets full of cash and buy any decent, working firearms from people waiting in line.
KIT OF THE WEEK: “Tonio, why your links always so nut-punchy?” You asked; we listened. Starting this week we’re going to feature unique, non stress-inducing (except for the price) kits for building fun stuff. Kicking off this endeavor is the PP-1 Pencil Precision kit from Bridge City Tool Works which contains everything you need to manufacture pencils in the privacy and comfort of your own home. Perfect for tinkerers, fidgeters, tool fetishists, and fans of Leonard Reed.
HOT NEW DANCE NUMBER: I can’t remember whether this (auto-play warning) delightful dance video has been officially linked here before, but it’s just so good. I particularly appreciate the aerial move of camo shorts guy, who definitely has it going on.
“New Zealand COVID cases skyrocket.”
Are “cases” meaningful? Still a cunte, regardless.
No.
Not meaningful for most people, but if you’re a public health state who vowed that they could stop the spread of COVID and continued to obsess about case numbers it’s pretty significant.
You do have to laugh that they set a metric they were doomed to fail the measure of.
Maybe in New Zealand since they have no natural immunity.
If I were defending the way the Kiwis handled Covid I would say that they locked down long enough to let the virus mutate into a less dangerous strain and to give time for vaccinations so the impact of an eventual outbreak was minimal. But that wouldn’t keep the panic going.
Even with the most generous granting of assumptions, how many people are alive now who would have died if they hadn’t totes gone crazy?
I don’t think it would be that much. My hunch is that a lot of geezers died of “natural causes” before the Rona got to them. And even then, you can say sure they didn’t get offed by the Rona, but since they were locked in solitude, does that make it better?
Agreed. I didn’t say my defense would consider all the negative consequences.
Not meaningful anymore. The term had some meaning when a “case” was “a symptomatic patient testing positive and requiring treatment.” But that was too specific when Our Rulers had to goose the numbers to frighten the peasants.
“Here is a video he posted of the incident. I was actually walking over to deck him because if no one will protect us then I’ll do it myself but I needed to catch a vote more than a case today”
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1547397629260226560
What big booty?
deck him?
That’s like… white grrl talk.
White hispanic.
Privileged Hispanic then.
What big booty?
Have you retired thicc?
Maybe he just wants to date her.
“The cringe illo doesn’t help.”
That is cringe — on so many levels.
Why don’t people just ignore Cortez? If you want her to flip out, don’t give her any attention.
Never kick a horse turd.
Is there a type of turd that should be kicked?
A bass turd.
I’ve gotten a half-dozen internal server errors in a row.
It won’t let me comment on one of the links. Filtering certain words?
Weird. I don’t think it filters words. I know it doesn’t like multiple links. I’m not seeing any comments in moderation, which is what happens when you post comments with too many links.
There weren’t any links, just a quote from your post, and a snarky comment.
I’ve had it happen where I could reply to someone, but I could reply elsewhere. It really seems random.
gah! could not reply to someone – my error, not the server
Let’s try this:
“the m@n wh0 0rdered the b0ne-s@w dismemberment of a W@shington P0st c0lumnist”
“the man who ordered the bone-saw dismemberment of a Washington Post Columnist”
I doubt the crown prince ordered the bone-saw himself to take out Khashoggi. He has people for that.
Khashoggi wrote occasional pieces for the WAPO. He wasn’t a regular contributor until his dismemberment got him a posthumous promotion.
The man who ordered the bone-saw dismemberment of a Washington Post columnist
So you’re obviously both feds 😛
The man who ordered the bone-saw dismemberment of a Washington Post columnist leaps over the lazy dog.
Lorem ipsum bonum sawus mortis columnus
Well, that went through. So it’s an awfully suspicious s3rv3r 3rr0r.
…hopefully people will show up with pockets full of cash and buy any decent, working firearms from people waiting in line.
Had a friend in AZ who did exactly that. Member of the Tucson city council wanted him arrested and was informed that what he was doing was perfectly legal and the officers would not be sacrificing their jobs for her whims.
We have people rotting in a DC dungeon for 18 months and counting waiting for their Trespassing trials. I don’t think we ought to be lecturing anyone else on their justice system.
Khashoggi’s death seems to have been what we would call an extrajudicial killing. They still have slavery, though they don’t talk about it; they still execute homos. The man was sawed up while still alive, presumably dying of blood loss. That was done to send a clear message to Saudis living overseas to not fuck with the royal family.
People like Ashley like to stress that he was a WaPo employee and legal US resident (green card, I believe). They go to great lengths to pretend he was a US citizen, and will only admit that he wasn’t when they are cornered.
Yeah, all that plus it was inside an embassy. Traditionally they are kind of diplomatic “safe spaces,” so it says a lot about the ruthlessness of the Saudi regime.
That said, it would be helpful if the media turned more and more consistent pressure on the Saudis. Not because they’re likely to change the Saudis but they might just move public opinion enough to force the feds to re-think their policy. Imagine if networks, TV, radio, & social media went wall-to-wall with Yemen in the same way as they’re doing with Ukraine.
They’d run it as pro Yemeni government just like they do with Ukraine, and ignore what they want. Just like it’s fashionable to ignore what the Houthis are in this place or what they did to Yemen and Yemeni civilians before the Saudis started using it as target practice.
We have people rotting in a Cuban detention camp for twenty years and counting waiting for their show trials. The Russians are probably sending thank you letters that they don’t have to treat EPWs as EPWs thanks to our precedent. Just like the R2P obligation to invade.
All of the bad things the Saudis have done, and the press only cares that one of their own got it.
It’s very important to these people that journalist murder remains culturally taboo. Especially as it becomes more and more tempting all the time.
Well… in spite of my contempt for some (ok, many) journalists, it’s very important to me, too.
And he was part time at that.
That is a good point, Ted. I wish I was on Twatter so I could call out Ashley on not saying anything about the execution of homos who did nothing against the state or the royal family.
By the same token, I listen to Radio Slovakia’s English service. Although the country has maybe 60 homicides a year, if you listened to RSI, you’d think only two people have been murdered in the past five years.
I’m surprised they even have that many homicides. When I lived there almost all homicides were mafia related. That said, those two murders were probably mafia related too.
Daily Caller website sucks.
I don’t care enough about Gulag Barbie and her douchebag stalkers to deal with popups and whatever other annoying crap you have to wade through to get to the story.
What’s pretty stunning is that a journalist with as much experience as Parker can’t figure out why this would be the case.
But he was a US Citizen! OK, not a citizen, but a green card holder. And he was a journalist! And those are sacred! Well, not really a journalist, but an oped writer. Or maybe they were ghost written, but who cares? He was one of the elect!
She is breathtakingly stupid. Her reaction just spawned a million memes and this non-story will last for days.
Decent ass, though.
I like the HK Slap song. Got my HK to the range a couple weeks ago for the first time in 20 years. Forgot how hard that beast likes to be slapped. And the trigger… like pulling a sled down a mile of gravel road.
I deedn’t come awl zis way fur yew to juss be gentle wis me, alright? I need you to slahp me hard!
Yes! And still kicks like a mule while bending brass and chucking it across the firing line.
Hk91.
I’d still like one. Just for the lulz.
It’s fun.
Another Car Wizard link
This time he’s talking about out-of-the-box cam and lifter failures in freshly rebuilt engines. He blames the “metal”. I’d say it’s more likely bad heat treat, but either way, it makes me nervous, since I’m thinking about freshening the motor in my truck.
With Febreze or Lysol?
Ozium.
That stuff smells worse than what it’s trying to cover.
That’s its superpower.
Uncle Tony has been having the same issues with cams and lifters. UTG
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycb8Yy38DwU
Lifter manufactures reusing pars as new.
Worse yet, Alex Stein just feeds more fuel to AOC’s claim of “REPublIcanS aRe MaD THeY caN’t DAtE me”
Also, hello everyone, havent lurked in probably a year. Its okay to be back.
Hiya, Cowboy. Where the fuck have you been?
Cowboy’s had some legal troubles concerning an incident at the border that may or may not have involved whipping an immigrant.
That, and I’m suing the government over some bad meat.
But really just been busy with work and school, plus we had a baby, he just turned one. Being a dad is pretty awesome but also time consuming. Other than that, ai tried to stay away from politics for a while. It just gets old and depressing. It still is, but at least people here have sane entertaining takes on issues, unlike a majority of reddit.
Hello, Cowboy. Is that a ten-gallon hat in your lap, or are you just enjoying the show?
Welcome back.
Yeah, she’s pretty self-absorbed and probably believes that. I think it’s more the case that her stupid and cray-cray is a big turn off.
😁
Hung up the gloves in the octagon and have more time for Glibs?
Welcome back. The dance floor is still hot.
Dang, that’s a great song.
Redneck.
It’s such a great blues-country song. Hank would have dug it.
I’m not a country guy, so it always rocks me back a little when I come across one like that.
Tonio or Swiss, just FYI–it looks like there may be a scheduling conflict next Tuesday at 11…
Bugger…my fault. Thanks for the heads up.
So you two are staff? Who else is a staff member here?
Nice try, Fed.
What? Nobody knows who the staff is?
One cannot be betrayed, if one has no people.
We are Libertarians. We don’t have staff.
Harrumph, we do have orphans.
I told you. We’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week.
Poor little baby Glib. You need a mentor. I nominate SugarFree.
So RIP Ivana Trump.
Cue up the cries of “god – you called for the wrong one”!
She just died? Wow, I didn’t know that. You’re telling me now for the first time. She led an amazing life. What else can you say? She was an amazing woman, whether you agree or not. She was an amazing woman who led an amazing life. I’m actually sad to hear that. I am sad to hear that.
Lol. I doubt The Donald will be that classy this time.
He actually was.
Miracles
The Donald (Ivana coined that term) called her up frequently during the 2016 campaign to get her input on various things. She would tell him to tone it down here or there, tell him which things were gaining him voters.
When she was stopped on the street by a reporter who asked if she thought Donald could win the nomination, she said yes, and then they asked if she thought he’d win the presidency, she said “Of course.”
Too bad he didn’t have her as an advisor during his presidency.
She also was very cordial with Melania, telling the press “Melania didn’t do any wrong to me.” As opposed to Marla Maples, whom she loathed.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11015223/Ivana-Trump-dies-aged-73.html
Ah, thanks for that. I finished this post earlier in the afternoon, then went out to run errands.
Covid-19 modellers say community cases could reach 20,000 in the coming weeks and will likely mean many more deaths.
Of course they do.
“I can’t remember whether this (auto-play warning) delightful dance video has been officially linked here before”
I posted it in the comments.
Thanks for that. I’d forgotten where it came from; should have hat-tipped you.
Eh, he can try the veal.
That song slaps.
While it is unproductive to shame women who have had abortions
Yes and no. Shame has its place in response to shameful behavior. Shaming a broken woman who regrets her actions is unproductive. Shaming one of these “celebrate your baby murder” types is healthy. Same applies to any wrong behavior.
That’s exactly the distinction I drew above.
China – people aren’t paying the mortgages on their unfinished homes?
I don’t get it, but supposedly a big deal.
Construction is about 30% of China’s GDP. If a couple of the big firms in construction go under, that’s very bad news for them.
It’s a shell game. I mean, literally, it’s mostly empty homes and buildings.
Definitely. And many of the building are unusable, absolute crap construction.
But they have to keep the Ponzi scheme going, or else much of the country will finally have it’s eyes open.
Italy giving us all another object lesson in the stability of democratic governance.
“The former NYT/MSNBC journo who called for Fox News to be censored by the government is still at it.
Now he’s suggesting “federal oversight” of companies for allowing ads to appear on Fox’s website.”
https://twitter.com/ComfortablySmug/status/1547586994452119552
CWAA
But it’s totally fine for the big drug companies to run ads all over the rest of the MSM. No conflict of interest there.
God forbid one out of the twelve major media outlets has a different slant than the other 11. We have to crush it, anything but the approved narrative is disinformation!!
SMH, AOC objectifying Trump.
See? If she would have ignored him, this is dead already.
Thanks for the beautifully formatted links, Tonio. That pencil thing is cool, I’ll put it on the list of things to get when I win the Powerball.
Thanks for noticing and saying that.
“Fleet of 52 empty yellow school buses are on their way to Sen. Ted Cruz’s house in Texas to represent 4,368 children killed by gun violence since 2020
The White House said the president met with Oliver before the event and agrees with him that more work needs to be done.
The president was also criticized for getting the date of the massacre that took the live of Oliver’s son wrong, accidentally saying that it took place in 1918.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11014387/Fleet-52-school-buses-form-procession-Ted-Cruzs-home-protest-gun-violence-against-kids.html
Sigh. Anybody want to guess the majority of those numbers are either suicides or 16-18yo poor inner city gang-bangers. Both of those categories may be sad, but no gun legislation is going to stop people from suicide or criminal gang-bangers from gang-banging.
But I’m sure the MSM will spin that number, as if, it represents innocent school children killed at school by an AR-15.
Ted should fill them up with illegals and ship them back to Portland or wherever.
Why blame Ted? I am not his biggest fan – but the man has pushed to enforce laws against violent crime. Banning guns does not equal reducing violent crime.
Yeah, he does seem to be particularly despised by the left, more than one would expect. He must push their buttons in some way that I haven’t noticed.
For ne thing he’s the wrong color for a Republican.
Tonio, you can make your links as nut-punchy as you so desire.
I’m wearing my well padded codpiece.
Rob Halford approves.
https://imgur.com/gallery/bonQiOJ
I’m so glad we are done with that flash in the pan Covid bullshit. We need to focus on the classics.
It is amazing that the same people who advocate for pumping kids full of an experimental vaccine are the same ones who will tell you that vaping has to be stopped because the long term effects are unknown. Despite the fact that every study (and common sense) show that even if vaping isn’t 100% OK, it is way, way better than cigarettes.
Outdoors, parked car. Yep can’t have that dangerous shit going on.
But some people got really sick from vaping.
Well, they were using vape juice that had toxic chemicals in it.
Well, the vape juice they got was black market stuff.
We need to ban Juul to be safe.
And only Juul.
You know what parking in small cars leads too?
.
.
.
Sex in an uncomfortable place.
Like the backseat of a Volkswagen?
Kids in the front seat lead to accidents.
Accidents in the back seat lead to kids.
As Trump would say… So sad, so very sad. The Sconnies are totes jelly of the Great Minnesoda Gettogether and are desparate.
There are also two – not one – two ice cream dishes full of bugs.
If you want to see what a State Fair should have, check out the list of new foods in Minnesoda*
* I deep linked to the one that might tickle the prurient interests of this group.
Pizza Fight!
Yeah? Well, at the Iowa State Fair you can get deep-fried butter sticks and deep-fried Twinkies.
Neither of those sound appetizing.
Why doesn’t Iowa have a professional football team?
Because then Minnesota would want one too.
Why is it so windy at the border between Iowa and Wisconsin?
Because Wisconsin sucks and Iowa blows.
Iowa does have a professional football team, it’s just not in the NFL (the Iowa Barnstormers of the Indoor Football League). Kurt Warner played with them a long time ago when they were in a different indoor league.
He means a real one, though.
I was technically correct, which as we all know, is …
I don’t care what you all say, AOC is a would in my book. As long as she doesn’t talk.
Pretty sure that’s not possible.
I’m with you. Only I would want her to talk. Sometimes hate sex is the best sex.
“Elon Musk’s father, 76, says he’s had a second child with his 35-year-old STEPDAUGHTER who he’s raised since the age of four: Refuses to live with them because ‘the kids start to get on my nerves'”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11013285/Elon-Musks-father-76-says-hes-SECOND-child-35-year-old-stepdaughter.html
“Grimes breaks up with transgender WikiLeaks whistle-blower Chelsea Manning: Unlikely romance began after singer ended relationship Elon Musk, who is dad to her two children”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11014389/Grimes-breaks-transgender-Wikileaks-leaker-Chelsea-Manning-breaking-Elon-Musk.html
That is creepy.
Which one?
Yes
Here’s an incredibly dense take….
The article is decent news, that Meta is laying off mad numbers of people, but, wow, can journalists be fucking stupid.
Linky
https://stealthoptional.com/metaverse/meta-managers-are-identifying-workers-to-lay-off-amid-huge-metaverse-costs/?fbclid=IwAR0QyapqtxuexRmj-oyIxZVPhul0xMW22vKbaCiBRK9JjkPNDK7UozRmkmM
Meh. Idiot journalist on no name website is dumb. No surprises there.
Reminds me of the argument that there’s no inflation, it’s just companies being greedy. Really? Did they just decide recently to become more greedy? Is there a “greed index” we can use to track such things?
Did they have a meeting about this, or was it a copycat thing?
Wouldn’t the company that decided not to raise prices therefore have the market advantage since they are the price leader? Was this guy AOC’s classmate in economics?
Any time there is even a hint of bad economic news, businesses use it as cover to bum rush bad employees.
The recession will give cover to the employers to streamline things without having to sweat all the paperwork that normally needs to be done to get rid of an employee.
I mean, why don’t those greedy CEO’s just take all the money and lay everyone off. It’s like a perpetual money machine for fuck’s sake.
Keeping stocks high? Either this guy doesn’t have a 401K or, if he does, hasn’t looked at the value this year.
That Laugh about Abortion illustration looks like it came from the file of a schizophrenia patient.
My first thought:
https://i0.wp.com/moviesandmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/s11.jpg?resize=435%2C799&ssl=1
https://www.boredpanda.com/lsd-portrait-drawings-girl/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic
And not a crazy person with talent such as Dali or Van Gogh.
As I have said many time – I will sell back to the government every gun I got from the government. Of all the euphemisms in circulation (and there are a lot), this one really sandpapers my ass.
A very good point.
Also, I just noticed the fine print: “Gift card quantities are limited…”
“Transport your firearms unloaded and in the trunk of your vehicle.” Hmmm, lots of vehicles don’t have trunks: hatchbacks, station wagons, vans, motorcycles. And what about the poor who rely on buses for transportation?
After selling it back to the government you can give something back by donating the money to charity.
Of all the euphemisms in circulation (and there are a lot), this one really sandpapers my ass.
Mine is calling victim disarmament legislation “gun safety reform.”
I had someone use this on me, and I told them “We already have nearly foolproof gun safety laws. One: treat every firearm like it’s loaded. Two: never point your gun at something you’re not willing to destroy.” Etc.
Bros being bros.
/easily amused
That was a legit LOL.
Made me think of the two Altar Boys when they lived at home. They get along, but were constantly going at it about something or other. The youngest one was definitely the primary instigator.
My wife grew up with only sisters, but has seen enough of me and my brother to find it hilarious. She was surprised at the level of planning, though.
lmao. That move with the stick, nice.
Hehe
LOL, that was well thought-out
Re: New Zealand. The state media, Radio NZ (yeah, yeah, technically independent) has never really let up the pressure. I get news updates on their app and every day there is a push notification noting the number of new cases and the number of deaths that day. And there’s usually another story each day about something covid-related. Yesterday it was that “your gym” might not have good air filtration and so it’s a risky place to be.
Sadly, there are still a lot of Kiwis who believed Jacinda saved them from covid.
They get to enjoy the consequences of that fine decision.
Yeah, yesterday they had an interview with the Police Minister (I think that was the title) about new laws to deal with the gangs, and the host was constantly badgering the minister how gang members will just ignore the laws.
Now do US gun laws, hon.
They’ve also just created the position of “Grocery Commissioner” to address the high prices of groceries. Apparently the prices are the result of collusion by the grocery duopoly.
Thot Thursday knows the room is cold.
https://tinyurl.com/ydahuedf
Archive once again no worky.
The ladies be purty.
I have to say it: I hate the nose ring fad. Hate. It.
I’m sorry. I thought this was frowned upon?
Frowned upon by some, smiled at by others.
Actual smutty images/GIFs might get you a slap.
Cargo cultists, assemble
Nick Barragan is used to wearing a mask because his job in the Hollywood film industry has long required it. So he won’t be fazed if the county that’s home to Tinseltown soon becomes the first major population center this summer to reinstate rules requiring face coverings indoors because of another spike in coronavirus cases.
“I feel fine about it because I’ve worn one pretty much constantly for the last few years. It’s become a habit,” said Barragan, masked up while out running errands Wednesday.
Los Angeles is the most populous county, home to 10 million residents. It faces a return to a broad indoor mask mandate on July 29 if current trends in hospital admissions continue, county health Director Barbara Ferrer said this week.
Requiring masks again “helps us to reduce risk,” Ferrer told Los Angeles County supervisors.
She added: “I do recognize that when we return to universal indoor masking to reduce high spread, for many this will feel like a step backwards.”
Haha, no shit, Shirley.
But don’t let hundreds of years of accumulated knowledge erode your faith in your religion.
Losers. Everywhere.
Ratchet effect/ Road to Serfdom
Good for you. Now go fuck yourself. And take that shitty journalist with you.
The “I do it anyway so I’m fine with everyone else being forced to do it” mindset enrages me. I didn’t realize it until now, but conservatives/Republicans who wore seatbelts without a law and people who never went to bars that allowed smoking (or any bar) and had that attitude probably started my road towards libertarianism.
So, apparently Ivana Trump was found at the bottom of a staircase. Wonder who long before someone at DU posits that she had “dirt” on Trump and he had her bumped off.
She had dirt on Hillary.
This has actually been happening on Twitter.
The administration’s challenge, in the view of the White House, is not their messaging, but people’s willingness to hear it — due to pandemic fatigue and the politicization of the virus response.
“We tell the people what’s best for them, but those stupid Republicans won’t shut up and do what they’re told.”
Barragan said he learned a harsh lesson about the effectiveness of masks when he went without a face covering at a film industry mixer last month in Los Angeles.
“I thought it would be fine because we were all outdoors,” said Barragan, 35. A few days later he started feeling sick and tested positive.
He’d avoided catching the virus for more than two years because he was religious about masking up.
“The one time I took it off, I caught it!” he laughed.
Right. Totally believable.
What a miracle that he lived to tell the tale. 🙄
He most certainly would have died, except his vaccine saved his life. – Every idiot progtard in our country.
Instead of taking off a mask, both my mom and I got it when each of us travelled to Western Europe for the first time since 2020: me in late May in England and she last week in Switzerland.
BTW, Turkish Airlines doesn’t enforce the mask mandate that it has supposedly in place. Even flight attendants don’t wear masks.
Drive-by’s –
1. Lack, great article earlier. I just got threw a quick read of the article and comments. I’ll have to go back for more in-depth later, but I look forward to the next one. I think you may be right – counterintuitive as it may seem – but if we had kept the number of Reps closer to that #, we might well have unknowingly avoided the purchase of Congress by monied interests that we have now.
2. The HK slap is hysterical.
3. AOC needs to be ignored. That’s it. Full stop.
4. I don’t have a link yet, but the federal judge in Ohio (Judge MacFarland) certified the class of Air Force plaintiffs for RFRA violations, out a TRO in place for the next 14 days, and gave the government one last chance to convince him why he shouldn’t enjoin the entire Air Force religious accommodation sham. That makes two classes – Navy and Air Force (& Space Force – fine, I’ll acknowledge you, too) – where federal judges have found the DoD is essentially engaged in a sham RFRA accommodation policy. It’s a huge win even though it doesn’t affect my case at all (because we intentionally didn’t file any RFRA claims) – but it means all of my Air Force plaintiffs – most of whom have filed RFRA claims – now can’t be axed during the pendency of our litigation.
The news blackout doesn’t surprise me because the Regime absolutely doesn’t want anyone to know that Biden has lost 5/6 vax mandates and the only one remaining is the military one.
Gotta run to do some writing for my plaintiffs, but just wanted to say thanks to all of you and TPTB for keeping the lights on and the sanity and snark in sufficient measures.
~Ozy
Godspeed, Ozy.
Thanks for what you are doing.
Your daily dose of Sanford & son:
https://youtu.be/3HwElb_RqNw
Am I the only one who thinks that AOc seemed decidedly not angry in that video? Like, she was enjoying the attention and then later realized it was some right leaning ‘comedian’ (guy was not funny, no clue who he is).
Agreed.
His schtick warranted a “Fuck off, creeper.”
Hard to be angry or scared when you’ve got armed security to protect you.
I agree with Tonio. No good people there. The guy was an ass, and she is an ass.
meh.
https://nationalpost.com/news/world/canada-bringing-back-mandatory-random-testing-of-travellers-arriving-at-main-airports
Only lasted one month…
Yep. The Hair That Walks Like A Man™ is following the political science.
Noymer said if he were in charge of the nation’s COVID response he would level with the American people in an effort to get their attention in this third year of the pandemic. He would tell Americans to take it seriously, mask indoors and “until we get better vaccines, there’s going to be a new normal of a disease that kills over 100,000 Americans a year and impacts life expectancy.”
And if I were in charge I’d fire you and all the other lying quacks.
https://www.cato.org/commentary/human-freedom-decline-across-globe
Did Professor Farnsworth join Cato after getting cancelled too many times?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxoNhqmEsnY
And Sri Lanka has gotten much worse…
I think I have my (19 yo) grandson convinced to open a retirement account. Any advice from the Glibs?
401(k) or something else?
I’ve used Vanguard and Fidelity. Any recommendations?
I know that The Future(tm) is uncertain but trying to get him interested while he is still young and am pushing the tax-deferred advantage. I think that he’s smart enough to go ahead on his own once he gets started.
Simple index funds. Set it and review yearly.
Oh at this point see if he could get a Roth IRA. I can’t see taxes being lower 50 years from now.
401k or 403b are employer plans. If he doesn’t have access to those, he should open a Roth IRA. He pays tax now, but withdrawals after 5 years are tax free (check rules). If he does have access to an employer plan, he should put in at least – AT LEAST – the amount required to get the employer match. Explain it this way. It’s part of his pay that he’s giving up if he doesn’t.
I understand pushing the pay less tax now, but the Roth is better for someone that young as after 5 years it could be tapped as an emergency fund. He shouldn’t tap it, but….life has a way of screwing people.
Anyway, my 2¢.
What tulip said.
And I appreciate those comments.
Should have mentioned that he doesn’t have an employer plan. He is working as a waiter/bartender at a long-established inn. The owners have been giving him more and more responsibility and he is just eating it up. Chances are good that he will be a manager in a year or two.
He is living on his paycheck and banking his tips which are on the order of several hundred dollars a week. He’s not going nuts with his money (doesn’t even own a car, for example). His tips go into a savings account and my advice was that each time the account hit $2000 then send $1000 to his investment account.
One question about the Roth; can one borrow against the account? I did that one time with my 401(k) and was pleased that I had to pay myself back, rather than the bank.
I don’t know if you can borrow, but you can access without penalties, tax free, after 5 years. Some restrictions apply, and he’ll need to check. But, he pays tax now, and then doesn’t pay on the earnings. At his age, do that. I like Vanguard, but Fidelity is also good. Either is fine. There are limits on the amount $6500? It changes often that can be put in an IRA Roth or otherwise. But starting now is absolutely what he should do.
Like 25, add bonds, then start rebalancing every couple years. At 30 start rebalancing every year or so etc.
And don’t obsess. A market down turn is an opportunity to buy cheap stocks.
Once he reaches the limit on the IRA he could also buy I bonds, or muni bonds which have some tax advantages. I bonds through a Treasury account, munis through wherever he puts his Roth.
I prefer Schwab over Vanguard. Interface is much better and customer service is actually there if you need it. No experience with Fidelity.
If the 401K is through his employer, he won’t have a choice on the broker or investment funds. If they offer one, try to find an index fund with an operating cost of <0.05%.
He can open a Roth IRA through Schwab (or Vanguard/Fidelity) and invest up to $6k/year in anything offered. Again, I'd go with a broad index fund like SWTSX.
Some are not bullish on investing in retirement funds now due to inflation and potential confiscation. I've scaled back my own retirement account contributions while focusing on building up the homestead resources instead. I can eat a cow, but I can't eat a confiscated account or one that has been inflated into meaninglessness. One advantage of the Roth is that contributions can be withdrawn without penalty after the account has been opened for 5 years, allowing the Roth to act as emergency fund if needed.
Or what Tulip said.
I had Fidelity as my investment adviser, they are now just my account custodian. I switched to Fisher two years ago and am extremely pleased. The only caveat to Fisher is they have a significant minimum to take you on as a client.
I’ve been talking to them, also Prana which is fee only but also has a minimum.
What SSD said. Look for low costs. Hence, vanguard or fidelity.
401(k) would need to be through work, if his job doesn’t offer it, then an IRA (Trad/Roth) would be the choice. I would also recommend simple index funds, rebalance every six months (if needed). Spread out the deposits as well to get some dollar cost averaging.
Thanks to all. Sounds like the Roth is the way to go but I was trying to sell him on the no tax bit. So Roth is still taxable?
I’m still trying to close the deal with him to open an investment account, any investment account. I’ll let him discover index funds, and the like.
Seriously, thank you all for the advice. I’m a lousy investor (buy high, sell low, that’s me) so seeking outside advice.
Tax now, hookers and blow later.
The Roth is taxable on the amount you invest. But, you don’t pay on the earnings. Ever.until the law changes. And, unlike a regular IRA, if he needs it, he can withdraw without penalty, after five years. By contrast, a regular IRA doesn’t tax the investment, but you can’t make withdrawals until age 59 1/2, and you pay tax on all of it when you withdraw. If you withdraw sooner, you pay a 20% penalty. Explain that, and that’s what at his age, he should go ROTH. Now, when he’s making more, a regular IRA or absolutely a 401k or 403b if offered are the way to go. Now, Roth and an index fund. At his age, split to S&P and an international index. Later, add bond index fund.
I would only add to what Tulip says this – what he invests in his Roth IRA is completely set-aside for retirement. He can also invest/save with other mechanisms so that he faces zero penalties in cashing those out. That complicates things a little, but, the payoff is he dedicates a retirement fund AND has resources available if he needs them.
Yes, that’s better, but life… A Roth is for retirement, and he should do other investments. But a Roth offers more options, and at his age, that’s important.
Sounds like the Roth is the way to go but I was trying to sell him on the no tax bit. So Roth is still taxable?
Roth is you pay tax now on your contributions and your investments grow tax free. His employer is already withholding taxes so there no additional tax on the Roth
Traditional will let him deduct income tax (but I don’t think FICA) from his tax return since he’s paying with after tax dollars, but he’ll owe taxes down the road when he withdraws the investments.
Roth makes sense for at the lower end of tax bracket. Right, pay the least tax now and then be able to withdraw later in life tax free when you’re at a higher rate. Traditional makes sense for those on the higher brackets. Middle could go either way. One caveat is that if his income is low enough, he might be able to qualify for the Saver’s Credit and get paid by Uncle Sam to invest. Or get better subsidies for health care if that’s not offered through his employer. Contributions in a traditional 401K/IRA can be used to drop your income enough to qualify for credits like that.
Ooh, yes, forgot about savers credit. Check that out.
TIL “horripilation” is a word. Thanks, Tonio. Now for the hard part; remembering it.
Speaking of stupidity in NZ, Christchurch City Council has just authorized the construction of a NZ$378 million dollar stadium which is “guaranteed” to bring positive economic improvement to the city. In order to pay for, the city will have to raise rates (essentially a property tax). However, some people have acknowledged that poorer residents may not be able to afford the rate increase. So the city is looking into providing “assistance” (welfare/handouts) to help them pay their rates.
Think about that process for a while.
The answer is Electronic pull-tabs, RN.
Electronic. Pull. Tabs.
Here it’s always sin tax on alcohol and nicotine.
It was a joke. The fuckwits in Mpls were gonna fund the Vikings abortion with EPTs. Ended up just raping the public instead.
Think about that process for a while.
Dizzying.
A late afternoon Daily Ray of Sunshine
Kind of cool! I’m surprised someone at the restaurant a) knew and b) give a shit.
That “laugh about my abortion ” self-portrait makes it look like she had the same dentist as a mid-rampage Hunter Biden.