It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World out there!
I am done shoveling snow for today… now it is time for me to shovel links! Lets look out there in the rest of the world and see what is going on!
- “Hey, vote for the right (left) person, and we can become a satellite of China!” Who wouldn’t go for that!
- Sportsball be crazy!
- Even your groceries try to kill you in Australia.
- At least somebody in Europe doesn’t want “papers, please”.
Special Swiss Link: Oopsie.
Plea to Authors…if You have something in “Draft” status…please finish it when you can. If it is an abandoned idea/not salvageable, then consider deleting it.
Have at the comments!
“Even your groceries try to kill you in Australia.”
Maybe I should have simply inveighed against broccoli.
Is is something specific about broccoli, or the whole family?
Broccoli is a perfectly fine food, when it’s been cooked in bacon grease.
And bathed in cheese sauce.
“Cooked in bacon grease and bathed in cheese sauce”
At that point it almost doesn’t matter what you started with.
Yeah, my grocery had these @ 2/$1.99. I bought a lot.
Snow’s melting up here. In Alaska, in January, snow is melting. Gotta love that global warming.
But the global warming pushed the global cooling ahead of it, to the south and east. Still the heart of winter here but at least no snow on the horizon.
is 61North still around ?
He posts occasionally. I haven’t heard from him in a while. I should ping him for a meetup next time we’re in Anchorage.
katabatic winds?
“Sportsball be crazy!”
It definitely was this weekend.
In Brussels, no less. I guess resistance is just sprouting up all over.
NONE OF THAT NOW!
*narrows gaze*
They say that eating carrots is good for your eyes.
In France they speak French, so in Belgium they speak Belch.
It takes some brassicas to stand up to a supoerbloc like that.
Boooooo! Booo! Boo.
To be fair, I made that same pun here already.
I did this morning only to realize it was the morning links and after 12pm.
It was low-hanging vegetable.
Lula has a clear lead over President Jair Bolsonaro in early polls – though neither have formally declared their candidacy -and investors are eager to understand what a Workers Party government might mean for relations with Brazil’s largest trading partner.
I did Nazi that coming.
I’m sure the investors will make out like gangbusters while the Workers become impoverished. Vote Lula!
We got a foot and a half so far, but the park gets plowed so we can at least escape,
Howdy!
That’s quite a mix of euphemism and humblebrag.
Digging out of my house tomorrow ain’t no humblebrag,
But ISWYDT
“She said the eight-legged creature became aggressive when she and her husband attempted to capture it.
She said her father-in-law ultimately disposed of the scorpion, fearing for the damage it could do the local ecosystem if it escaped from the home.”
Just kill the thing. You don’t need some pretentious reason.
I think I would lose my shit if I saw one of those things. I am NOT from an area that gets critters like that.
*envisions Rhywun screaming, standing on a chair as it rolls along the floor away from a produce bag*
For some reason Im hearing this.
I would have guessed this.
I’m picturing Rhywun grabbing the pistol grip pump and blasting the fuck out of the counter, walls, floor, wherever that thing runs.
While still on the chair and getting propelled around the apartment by the recoil?
I’d pay real money to watch that sitcom.
*flashes back to when my wife did exactly that upon finding a snake in the pantry*
What happens in your bedroom is your business.
The fact that it’s a story is pretty sad.
“I yelled for my husband to come into the kitchen, and he said some choice words,” Mitchell told 9News.
She said her father-in-law ultimately disposed of the scorpion…
Looks like women needing the menfolk in their lives to dispose of arachnids is a universal phenomenon.
A stinging setback for Feminism
Et tu, Jumbo?
*narrows gaze*
Getting a little froggy there Jimbo
I thought we wanted diversity of ideas here! You are saying I should just toad the line?
All this after the narrow gaze? Swissy is going to croak
* golf clap *
This thread is jumping all over the place.
Antonio Brown is not crazy. The world is crazy.
I think we can go with “both”.
“Biden’s support among black voters plummets as he loses ground among key group that helped put him in White House one year into his presidency”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10432637/Some-SC-Black-Dems-want-Biden-try-little-bit-harder.html
“You ain’t black!”
Right now, sure. But closer to the next presidential election it will be all “You’re going to lose your benefits and candidate ____ is racist and wants to put you in chains.” And for a lot of people that will work.
Also, solid blue bases are only mad at him for not being successful at implementing far left policies.
This doesn’t count as very positive news imo. They still support those ideas.
It could be positive news for near elections because of enthusiasm and turnout, so there is at least that. But still a long term issue.
It’s also kitchen table issues amongst the normies.
key group that helped put him in White House
I’m gonna call bullshit on that. The Democrats’ election prospects hinge on the black vote as much as the success of the next iPhone hinges on fixed income grannies.
Unless something else changes, Democrats can’t win Presidential elections without the black vote.
This. They are 13 percent or so of the US and vote 80 or 90 percent Dem. The Dems cannot afford to lose that vote at all.
Some of my more fecund highschool classmates have grandkids already.
I guess fixed income grannies is my dating pool now. Hell, I’m only 51 and I lost all the color in my hair and whiskers 5 years ago. Guess I’ll learn to play canasta.
*ponders poor life choices that were made*
To be fair, canasta is a really fun card game. I played it a lot in high school – in another country where you don’t have to be a little old Jewish lady to play it.
Oh, look at you with your hair privilege!
Rate hikes are priced in. Right?
I’m nervous and excited that volatility is back in a big way.
“I put it in the steamer on the stove. I then turned around to get the last few pieces and saw something crawling along the chopping board,” Mitchell told News.com.au. …
She said the eight-legged creature became aggressive when she and her husband attempted to capture it.
“It was very angry,” Mitchell said.
Nuke it from orbit.
“California mom takes legal action against school district ‘after two teachers secretly manipulated her daughter, 11, into believing she was a transgender boy and gave tips on how to bind her breasts'”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10428993/Mother-teachers-manipulated-child-change-gender-identity.html
LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE
I hope she successfully sues the school district.
All in all…
Just another kick in the balls.
All in all, it was… just another dick on the hole.
One of these days, I’ll learn to refresh before posting. Not today, though.
How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?
Somebody swiped the temperature map from The Day After Tomorrow.
what do you mean, it’s a balmy 22+ and snow, now tomorrow night….Yikes
This cunte is still talking?
“I think we’re basically just on the cusp of war. I think it’s all but certain in my mind that there’s going to be a large European war… My concern now is making sure that the U.S. is postured for that outcome… The ball is in Putin’s court” – @AVindman w/ @NicolleDWallace
Watching people at the gym this morning fastidiously scrubbing down equipment with baby wipes, it occurred to me (again) that people have been irreparably broken by the panicdemic. Long term, deterioration of the immune systems of the general public will ensure a virus will eventually come along capable of killing half the people it infects.
I’m okay with that.
At least there is a genuine silver lining in terms of gym equipment finally being wiped down.
Yes!
That was the policy at my gym long before covid.
People wiping their booty sweat off the gym equipment was one of the only positives of this whole farce.
Having groceries delivered to my vehicle is another.
No whites.
This is an assignment at Kelley school of Business at Indiana University. People go into insane debt to learn this crap
libsoftiktok; didn’t watch.
Fortunately it’s just a screen shot but yes, that. A friend sends me them regularly but I think it’s all a bit newer to him and he doesn’t necessarily have the context for it.
No Irish Need Apply
Obligatory: https://youtube.com/watch?v=boO4RowROiw
Listen, Jack. I’m gonna stare him down like I did Cornpop.
Vladimir Putin doesn’t want me to be President. He doesn’t want me to be our nominee. If you’re wondering why — it’s because I’m the only person in this field who’s ever gone toe-to-toe with him.
This hasn’t aged well. And neither has Sleepy Joe.
Rate hikes are priced in. Right?
Interesting article on Marketwatch (which I agreed with) saying the Federal Reserve, instead of blindly twiddling the interest rate knob, should focus on selling off the assets they have been soaking up for years.
It would pull money out of circulation, and by increasing the supply, bring prices down and rates up in a more transparent market-based way.
Which is, of course, why they won’t do it.
I guess that makes some sense but the distressed assets they were sucking didn’t magically become worthwhile because of inflation. So I don’t think the effect would be as large as marketwatch is implying.
Brazil’s relations with China have been stormy under its current far-right government and would stand to improve greatly if former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were elected in October, according to one of the leftist’s close aides.
Lula is back? Barf.
News outlet RTL reported that masked demonstrators had smashed a glass entrance to the office of the EU’s foreign policy agency.
It’s a good start.
Sure…
The Richmond School Board is among seven Virginia school boards suing to block Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order giving parents the option to send their children into the classroom without a mask.
The lawsuit was filed in Arlington Circuit Court on Monday, the day Youngkin’s order went into effect, and is asking the court for an immediate injunction to stop the order. The suit argues the governor’s directive goes against the Virginia Constitution and a state law passed last year requiring school districts to offer five days of in-person learning. …
“Without today’s action, school boards are placed in a legally untenable position — faced with an executive order that is in conflict with the constitution and state law. Today’s action is not politically motivated,” the school boards said in a joint statement.
…and nothing screams adherence to the constitution like forcing children to cover their faces with bacteria incubators.
Related.
Numerous Northern Virginia schools refused to provide in-person education to students who were not wearing a mask on Monday, defying an executive order from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin that went into effect this week.
Faced between following the rules of the state or the school district, the vast majority of students wore masks to avoid punishment from their schools, but those who did not were segregated into a separate room.
Segregation is the new hotness.
It isn’t a political response, we just need another brick to bash your children’s heads in with and this is what you are leaving us with since you took away the masks.
The Commonwealth doesn’t set education policy?
The courts have apparently not weighed in on where the authority of the local school boards ends and the authority of the governor to issue such non-emergency orders begins. This will be an interesting thing to follow.
My kids were happy they were able to go to school without masks today. They said many kids still wore masks.
So if we are going to be running an airlift out of Ukraine, can we at least get some hot women out of the deal?
These are the important questions people should be asking.
Make sure you update your hot/crazy matrix to accommodate Eastern Europeans.
I’m already married to one.
+1 Mail order brides
Except mine wasn’t mail order. It was a try before you buy. I lived over there for several years not intending to come back married. The beer was cheap and the women were hot, so I learned the language and went native.
At least you saved on shipping.
+1 thousand yard stare.
New Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares tweeted Thursday night that he is asking the State Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit against Gov. Glenn Youngkin surrounding his attempted mandate for masks in schools. -MSN
MSN, you keep using this word “mandate,” but I do not think you understand what it actually means. You see, a mandate is a requirement that you do something; the governor’s executive order is just the opposite of a mandate in that it allows families to choose whether to mask their children in taxpayer-funded schools.
“Freedom is slavery”…etc.
Finally! Some sanity and justice in this world!
Strangely this news is not being treated as the Ray of Sunshine it should be. Markets work people.
Yeah, but doesn’t McDonalds actually expect to to work?
Did a Fargo school board member just admit to price fixing?
It’s OK when the government does it.
That sounds highly illegal.
ISTR that the Ivy’s got popped for colluding over tuition.
My wife went to our family doctor today. She’s over covid but has some lingering infection or effects in her lungs and sinuses.
He sent her for chest x-rays (okay(, and recommended she get the vaccination. I would have freaked if I was there. You never get vaccinated immediately after recovering from that illness. Doctors recommend waiting at least 6 to 9 months after recovering from shingles before getting the vax, for instance.
He’s been our doctor for 26 years – no more. Even if we weren’t moving out of state in 5 weeks, I’m done with him. He used to put thought into our health and treatment. Now he’s a worthless shill for pharma.
and recommended she get the vaccination
The doctor must have missed a few classes in medical school.
13 year old girl on my daughters softball team just got a booster a week after having the virus. She missed the next week of winter workouts with a 102 fever.
O.o
Da fuq?
WTF???
How could Australia possibly get any worse?
It could have mated with a drop bear?
SCORPION BEAR SMITH LOVE THE IN BACK AND OUT BACK!
Website tracking lockdown damage.
The folks behind the Great Barrington Declaration are involved.
“More mask madness, this time in an elevator. The mask police are really nuts”
https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1485694028620316673
Two crazy white women attack a black man and start saying “Black Lives Matter”.
Covid propaganda had broken people’s brains.
Some brains are more easily broken.
The best part is when she pulls her mask down to yell “do not touch me,” after of course, initiating contact with him.
I got nothing.
Crazy white women are BLM’s bread and butter.
Black Live Matter™ wine would make a fortune.
To be fair, an elevator might be one of the few places where a mask might make some sense.
Provided they actually stopped the virus, which they don’t.
If they are going to work anywhere, it would be in a small enclosed space like an elevator.
Unprecedented.
Corporate interests with business before the state government cut hefty checks to Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s campaign committee after his victory in November through the end of December. That’s according to finance reports filed this week and compiled by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.
Nothing in Virginia law would prevent the campaign donations from being used to repay part of the $20 million in loans Youngkin made to his own campaign.
He could also use the money to help other GOP candidates in future elections.
Give him the McDonnell treatment.
As opposed to the shady out-of-state money from people and orgs with no discernable interests in the state.
She said her father-in-law ultimately disposed of the scorpion, fearing for the damage it could do the local ecosystem if it escaped from the home.
Crikey. ‘E’ll kill all the drop bears!
Pathetic!
What sad times are these when young men settle their differences as room mates with BB guns? Get a real shootin’ iron!
In fairness, I wouldn’t waste real ammo on those stinky little fuckers.
*ferrety laugh*
What’s the roommate being charged with?
animal cruelty he’s being held on $20,000 bail (seems excessive to me, but I know the city attorney. She is excessive)
Inspiring.
“Being brave means knowing that when you fail, you don’t fail forever.” -Lana Del Rey
Sun Tzu has nothing on LDR.
It’s the Art of WTF.
Lol! well Done Sir!
https://twitter.com/exjon/status/1485367840920068102?cxt=HHwWjICj7c6Li50pAAAA
What Chesty didn’t anticipate is how many of the women the foreign soldiers take will be trans. Of course, if they can breed a hardier race by breeding them, more power to them.
Save the children
A California lawmaker known for tightening restrictions on school vaccine laws will propose a bill Monday to close a loophole in the state’s requirement that children receive COVID-19 shots.
State Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) will announce Monday morning a bill to add COVID-19 vaccines to California’s list of required inoculations for attending K-12 schools, a move that would override Gov. Gavin Newsom’s scaled-back mandate from last year.
“We need to make sure schools are safe so that all parents are comfortable sending their children to school,” said Pan, a pediatrician whose legislation has strengthened oversight of vaccine exemptions in previous years. “And we want to keep schools open.”
And when you have waves of “cases”? What then?
https://twitter.com/LPNH/status/1485728606865272835
Has this guy already gotten a check from Pfizer or do you think he’s trying to gain attention so he can get a check? California State Senator, so I’m going with already owned by corporations.
Over/under 1 call?
He said “calls”; I’d guess exactly 2.
That they made to themselves too
I’d prefer we defend our own borders and not worry about the Ukraine’s.
Wanting to avoid an unnecessary war with Russia does not equal “siding with Russia”.
Don’t you even Neo-Con bro?
I wish I had netflix, The Critical Drinker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqLEuikCDHw
As usual, the drinker is right on. I really enjoyed the series even if it was a bit to slow and indulgent on the many, many, many monologues. I can’t think of one that I would remove and it would make the show better off. The performances are all just incredible. The best cast of last year and Hamish Linklater who plays the pastor just jumped to the top of my list of favorite character actors. You can always get Netflix for a month and binge this and Haunting of Hill House, Bly Manor didn’t end up doing much for me.
Why am I so worried about this story about the new “de-colonized” child welfare workers on the Red Lake Indian reservation?
All the Chippewa I know are very happy to be colonized, casinos, free land and resources, and they dress like we do!
One brave can even throw the mighty Spinny Disc! They can be taught the White Man’s way.
I hope this is good news but I fear a lot of abused children are effectively abandoned.
Sort of my take. It would be great if it works, but the fact their metric of success is how many fewer kids are removed from families makes me uncomfortable.
The sad fact is that there is so much severe alcoholism on the reservations there are sadly a lot of times that removing a kid from the household really is best.
At L.A. Unified, the state’s largest school district, infections remain near record levels, although rates have decreased and attendance improved during the second week following the return of students from winter break.
“The evidence clearly shows that vaccines help reduce the spread of infection, which will reduce transmission in schools and protect those who are medically vulnerable,” the superintendents wrote in a letter to legislative leaders. “The vaccine will also help reduce COVID-related absences, and reduce the likelihood that schools will need to be closed for outbreaks.”
Really?
2021 called, they want their talking points back. Two variants later, none of this is true.
These people wouldn’t know evidence if it kicked them in the crotch. Most of the education majors I knew never had to conduct any real research or learned how to critically read a journal article. In fact, they probably never had to read one, critically or otherwise.
Basically, that should read as “the evidence” says whatever I need it to say to justify my political position. I don’t need to cite it, but trust me, it’s there. The fact that hardly any real research has been conducted into covid transmission among children isn’t a bug, it’s a feature.
Swiss (or other PTB), installment submitted for review.
Scheduled.
I put one up as well Swiss,
One of yours is at 1900 today. I should have put it up a long time ago.
I love that Ukraine is trolling Biden at the same time he’s planning to beef up troops to defend them.
Such a fucking weakling. And they all know it and they’re circling the pack around the prey.
https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1485702711647485952
Sick Burn!
But true,
They probably have receipts for deposits into Hunter’s Swiss bank accounts. They can say whatever they want and their paid monkey is obligated to dance.
But, you know, it’s nice America is respected on the world stage again, amirite?
Uffda. The guy who wrote about the Minnesoda Miracle in Time magazine back in the ’70s doesn’t sugarcoat what he thinks of the place now.
That was really sad. I was always so proud of my state. It was always fun to have people visit who thought it was flat and boring. They were astonished by the lakes, the girls and the cities.
And the lefties fucking ruined it.
https://twitter.com/CrimeWatchMpls/status/1485735796753645570?
And the lefties fucking ruined it.
California says hello.
New York slowly backs out of the room.
While I’m “the other Kevin” here, on my hockey team I’m the third Kevin and they sometimes call me K3. Here is my teammate K1 on the cover of USA Hockey’s magazine this month. There’s a good article about the US sled team.
I bet K2 is a chick magnet. Right?
Everybody always wants to clime K2!
Clime?
Fucking global warming! Disrupting my spelling.
Climb! Chicks want to climb K2.
I still got it,
That is why you are 0K
K2 is totally gay. Almost every woman that has climbed it winds up dead.
Dead? I thought they were just frigid.
K2 has all the stiffies?
So maybe you should go by Kevin the Least. Full(ish) disclosure: my real name may or may not be Kevin.
Isn’t that true of everybody?
My name may, or may not, be George; it could also be the name of my little buddy (h/t: Mojeaux).
We could all give our real first names, and then we would immediately forget them.
?
OK, “Sean”. ?
People commonly use the “may or may not” setup to to jokingly admit to something. I thought that would be obvious. My name is really Kevin and I’m just trying to get someone else to be a lesser Kevin than me. Just once……..
*stares longingly out nearby window*
Love him and squeeze him!
Workin’ on it.
Hi! Are you new? If not, please forgive my short attention span. If so, welcome!
Hi! I’m fairly new. I’ve really only started posting around here regularly in the last couple of weeks. Thanks for the welcome. In case you’re wondering I have already been accused of being Tulpa and told to fuck off by several of the fine people around here.
I missed your traditional welcome. I personally don’t care for it, so you get a “Hi!” from me.
Thanks. I does seem nicer to say hi, but I also know who Tulpa is so I think it’s pretty funny.
I’m not Mo, so…
Fuck Off, Tulpa!
And welcome. I’m glad you are here.
So cool! Wish him luck!
Will do. I already told him I was going to be weird and have him sign it when I get my copy in the mail. I have no interest in the Olympics this year due to China hosting, but I will make an exception to watch this. Canada of course is good, but Russia is back and they’re right back to being top 3.
I guess K2 was a younger guy and didn’t last too long. Apparently his last name started with a Y, so they called him KY and his mom wasn’t too happy about that.
MN honey is pretty sweet.
KY jelly is pretty tasteless.
Why do you know what KY jelly tas— Um. Never mind.
Bourbon, of course.
The GF got a copy of that in the mail recently. I’ll have a look at it.
At least somebody in Europe doesn’t want “papers, please”.
The protests, Boris Johnson throwing in the towel, massive numbers of infections in the vaccinated……etc, makes me think the wheels are coming off the covid train. Just a matter of time.
Just a matter of time before they turn the crank even harder…
Meh, I don’t think so but I have been wrong a lot in my life.
I got a haircut. Maybe the world will turn for the better
The full BRANCH COVIDIAN cult is firmly established though. My entire extended family are gold tier members. That’s staying. As far as they are concerned (and friends and acquaintances), it’s the removal of restrictions that will lead to “confrontation”. It’s best, according to them, to keep rules. It’s always the “selfish” people who will terrorise and cause rancor. They talk so much of “safety”.
Yeah, some of mine are too. My mother, as soon as this whole thing hit, wanted to send me plans for homemade masks. And it hasn’t let up yet.
By the way, in honor of Pope Jimbo, I think we need to start calling you Climey.
I don’t get to post much here because often I’m waking up well after the morning links and going to work before the afternoon links.
Today I go to work a little later so I’ve got time to look forward to heading in for another ER shift where we have no nursing coverage, patients are sitting in hallway beds or in the waiting room, and whole floors of the hospital are closed because there isn’t anyone to staff them. Colleagues of mine have seen patients decline or even in one case die sitting in the waiting room because there isn’t anyone to take care of them.
This entire situation is a national disgrace and it’s not because we are overrun with covid patients either. I rarely admit a covid patient anymore. If we were staffed we would be able to handle the patients we have easily, as would most of the places I’ve seen, but there aren’t nurses, or even techs, to be had.
The healthcare system has systematically run good acute and emergency care nurses out of the system. It didn’t start with vaccine mandates, but much earlier than that. The joy of the profession has been beaten out of it. Nobody gives a damn if nurses render great care to a patient. There’s no incentive to do that. Instead all of the incentives are to get the hell out, whether that’s going into nurse education, chart auditing, case management, or whatever. The ones that can leave to take travel positions that pay far more than what they can make locally. Great bedside nurses are leaving in droves to be nurse practitioners or CRNAs. What’s left are drones who comply with the metrics and keep their head down while waiting for their first opportunity to leave.
Nobody is talking about the problem either. Covid just exposed how bad our fascist healthcare model really can be and there isn’t anyone who really wants to talk about the real problems. Instead they’ll wait for it to go away and not fix a damn thing.
Anyway, I still love my profession. I just wish it would stop hitting me.
I was under the impression that nurse practitioner or CRNA market is saturated.
That’s a scary proposition, glad people are still willing to deal with the BS
Remind me to not get sick. Yikes.
Holy crap. Hang in there P.
Are you losing any to the travelers there? The money and stipends, even filtered through the contract staffers, is crazy around here.
The Irish Travelers are kidnapping nurses?!!!!!
It’s the Travelers Aid Society, I says!
I was going to write up a comment satirically poking fun at people who claim that firing medical staff (nurses and support staff) due to vaccine mandates doesn’t matter. I can’t do it, it’s too sad of a situation. And yes, I know it’s been going on since before the vaccine mandates, but it has come to a head with them.
Sorry Contrarian. Hang in there.
Jesus.
Good luck, CP. Thanks for not being a pussy.
This entire situation is a national disgrace
I know what you mean. I was married to a CCRN supernurse for 23 years and totally respect what she did at work; mapwize, I’m just three hours west. I feel you. I’d observe two things.
Every talent market is like this after 40 years of optimization. FirstWife got in in 1992: we’re not going to have enough nurses. Doubled her income and a great career, but, to your point, she left the unit after 10 years for management opportunities. Indeed, she’s Doctor Nurse First Wife: PhD and no more chest tubes. But I told her then: it will get tuned; standards will be lowered; work will be segmented and parcelled and distributed (what part of the job can a Philipino NAx do?). Just like first pass contract review, data entry, customer service: hack to bits and send to India. McKinsey doesn’t model well for the cost of ignorance, the cost of mistakes, the costs of the lack of experience. So I can’t get through the McDonald’s drive through three times in a row and get my order right. Markets are often ugly.
The second thing I might observe is that there’s nothing national about it. We don’t have a health care system. We have some government programs and some markets….but it’s not like healthcare is one simple thing we can tote in a bucket “interstate highways” or “a barrel of WTI.” We pick our doctors like we pick our groceries, and the chips fall where they may.
I’m not lecturing and hope I’ve made the case dispassionately. But I do think it’s important as a libertarian to talk in terms of economics and not let semantics imply other things.
McKinsey doesn’t model well
As if anyone does.
Honestly, I doubt we can possibly unfuck what we’ve done to healthcare. The govt will never get out because it has too many incentives (votes) to stay in.
Dealing with 2 sick parents now and I’ve found that I can’t even get a prescription renewed unless I personally go to the hospital or doctor’s office and raise hell. Everyone in the field, especially the nurses, are overwhelmed it seems. For whatever reason I don’t know. But it wasn’t like this before covid.
It was kinda like the education system. All the bandaids being used to hold it together got pulled off and set on fire.
https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/josh-freed-florida-feels-like-another-planet-compared-with-quebec
This is what Quebec Anglo “liberals” think of lockdowns.
Traveled to a foreign country and interacted with foreigners yet he is still a statist fuck. How do libertarians explain this?
And Quebec is dominated by a minority group yet is by far the most totalitarian part of Canada. How do libertarians explain that?
And yes Roman Baber is an immigrant and Maxime Bernier is a francophone yet they are the minority of…a minority.
“How do libertarians explain that?”
Why is it our duty to explain stupidity?
It isn’t. Humans are irrational.
News at 11.
How do libertarians explain this?
Same way every theoretician does when confronted with reality – people suck.
“BREAKING: Pro-Trump influencer Brandon Straka walks away from his Jan. 6 criminal case with three months of home detention, three years of probation, and a $5K fine.”
https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1485662719197986816
Don’t read the comments.
If I click, I’ll read the comments.
I’m gonna pass on this one.
#ditto
Why do I get the feeling that this story is going to be repeated many times over as the courts finally get around to doing their fucking job and putting a stop to this sham.
That’s not a feeling. It’s called the wisdom of experience.
I just love the scientific rigor of documentaries.
Guest talks about “Seventy billion cubic tons”. Goes by uncorrected.
Cubic tons, like a lb. of feathers, get with the new math!
Now with 200% more woke which is like twice as much!
How many hypercubic tons is that?
42, it’s always 42
The protests, Boris Johnson throwing in the towel, massive numbers of infections in the vaccinated……etc, makes me think the wheels are coming off the covid train. Just a matter of time.
Meanwhile, I’m wondering how long it will be until the FAA/TSA mandate “upgraded effectiveness masks” for air travel.
Since, you know, there are millions of deaths directly attributable to aviation.
Disney+ is a piece of shit. Or maybe I’m living in the past with my fire stick. I don’t know. To heck with Amazon and zum Teufel mit der Wokemaus.
We’ve been buying up blurays and DVDs at garage sales and resellers. Our goal is to switch off of streaming as of next February. We’re sick of the streaming providers.
Good plan. I’m still kicking myself for giving away a lot of DVDs. I just figured I’d catch up on a few things then cancel sub.
Thrift stores are your friend. I get lots of CDs for about the cost of one mp3.
Also, once your media is all on a hard drive, there are a number of options to be your own streaming service.
+1 WD MyCloud.
https://mobile.twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1485592590586109953
Is this an example of the civilizing effects of free trade?
And is Chamath Palihapitiya?
I really don’t understand your shtick, Winston.
^This
Free Trade will civilize the world is something the free traders have been saying for centuries. Ever read Bastiat, Cobden or Bright?
https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2010/Boudreauxglobalization.html
Real free trade is more elusive than real communism.
They are all children of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a wonderful thing, and has some wonderful gifts. But not everyone likes it. Zealots of course fail to notice that other people don’t embrace everything the zealot embraces; in fact, the poor zealot has a huge blindspot about that.
Yeah, but what point are you trying to make?
Normally, when someone comes to a comment section with antagonizing comments they’re labeled as trolls and banned. You frequently make intelligent comments and add discourse, but your delivery is just terrible and it’s hard to parse your actual point.
It seems like you are trying to get people around here to question their assumptions, which is a perfectly valid thing to do, it just works better with the antagonistic “hurr durr free trade sure worked swell, herpy derp what do libertarians have to say about THAT. Checkmate, libertarians” comments.
Just get to the point and let the arguments ensue without the needling.
*without the antagonistic…
Nah, he has been a One-Note Flute since TOS.
An army of strawmen slain!
This.
Exposure to Chinese culture has made Bill Gates and Chamath Palihapitiya more totalitarian, not less, the exact opposite of what free traders predicted. Josh Freed’s visit to Florida caused him to bitch that Florida is too free, again the opposite of what free traders predicted. Don Boudreaux by the way is connected to the Great Barrington Declaration. If you read Cafe Hayek you can clearly see that he did not expect Covidocracy (his term) to be that bad.
Who said free traders were an unassailable authority? Oh, that’s right – you did; as a strawman.
My God, he’s gone Brochetta without the firsting!
Actually Bro is a fine and insightful commenter when he isn’t on his shtick.
^^^
And possible the rudest commenter to others we have.
And here I thought I had an appalling lack of tact.
Oh dear, that isn’t a glove you’ve thrown down there is it?
I’m pretty sure we’ve been through this Winston. Twitter is a cesspool. When you dive into it, you should not be shocked to find yourself swimming in shit. Now, you may enjoy the experience, but that is no reason to presume everyone else does, nor feels the need to explain shit in more detail to you.
I’m looking forward to this week’s Joemala. They aren’t giving the right dosages.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/biden-fox-news-peter-doocy-stupid-son-of-a
wut
Being Libertarian on yesterday’s Defeat the Mandates rally.
Oblivious Unselfaware Irony, part #3290:
On our family call with Ms. Prole’s relatives yesterday, the discussion turned to the Twin Cities’ recent vaccine mandate, which several members of the group applauded.
I was soooo tempted to ask them what would happen if they went to the Woolwoth’s Lunch Counter civil rights museum in Greenesboro NC and asked the employees there how they would characterize people in 2022 happy about a despised minority group being denied, by law, service in restaurants.
The same thing they’d say about requiring unvaxed to wear some sort of marking so that they could be identified at a distance. ‘That’s different!’
Sounds about right. I’m getting way too old to expect others to have consistency, a sense of principles or self-awareness in political discussions. People are fed their opinions and they will do all the mental gymnastics needed to make sure they never have to change the conclusion they were assigned.
We know now that the vaccine doesn’t prevent the spread and yet these ridiculous mandates persist.
Not that I favored them before either.
Hey, they’re being denied service according to the character of their hearts, not the color of their skin. Totes OK.
https://twitter.com/omy_heart/status/1484037888681680899
A little education is a dangerous thing.
So is Gibberish
You keep using that word…
President Joe Biden joined the White House Competition Council for its second meeting Monday, providing a progress report on its efforts to promote economic competition and drive prices down as Biden seeks to show his administration is working to get record inflation under control.
On Monday at the White House, Biden highlighted efforts to lower prices for Americans on a range of products and services from meat to hearing aids to pricy iPhone fixes.
“Competition results in lower prices for families. Competition results in fair wages for workers. And as you all know, competition encourages companies to innovate,” the President said as he kicked off the meeting.
The council was established by a July 2021 executive order and held its inaugural meeting last September. It consists of high-level administration officials across agencies, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, among other top officials representing nine departments and seven agencies, who were present for the meeting.
Somehow I see increased competition as the least likely outcome of circle jerks such as these.
So a council on private business doesn’t include any private businesses?
I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise
Nothing increases competition like more regulation.
I’ve been seeing empty shelves and skyrocketing prices at the grocery store and thinking about government kitchens in DC completely unaffected by either prices or shortages. The Globalists will continue to eat prime steak filets off fine china at fancy State dinners, all paid for through the theft of our labor. I know this is always the case, but it’s especially irksome right now.
Ugh, I sound like a Jacobin. Point remains though.
Sounding like Jacobins is going to be a more common thing as we go on with our government establishment becoming ever more convinced their unearned perks are entirely deserved, while the wealth created by workers and entrepreneurs is provisional, based upon the whims of politicians and bureaucrats.
Understandable – with the aristocracy we have, the Ancien Regime isn’t nearly as repulsive.
Enjoy your meal of bugs, citizen!
There is a tweet — I linked a short time ago — that showed some self described elite person saying something like “The Elite get together at and we all agree what needs to be done. Then we go home and lead and lead and no-one follows. Don’t they know what’s best for them?” There seems to be a royalty-serf mindset going on a large number of the self-described “Elite” with them as the royalty of course.
More theater. Not one of them believes a single word of any of that.
#TFW the game was so crazy no one cared about a runaway fan until the next day.
He got tackled by a player yes?
They avoid showing that stuff on TV now.
It should be in the highlight reel.
But, you know, it’s nice America is respected on the world stage again, amirite?
Grown-ups.
In charge.
“Competition results in lower prices for families. Competition results in fair wages for workers. And as you all know, competition encourages companies to innovate,” the President said as he kicked off the meeting.
If by competition you mean wage and price controls. Businesses will then be forced to find innovative ways to survive.
Australia might have drop bears and veggie scorpions, but Florida has falling iguanas.
Make soup.
Or BBQ.
OH on da news: “Pandemic is to blame for rising gas prices.”
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
not enough credit is given to GWB43 for $4 gasoline back when a dollar was still worth two bits or so
Nancy Pelosi had her PLAN TO REDUCE GAS PRICES (restrict drilling, order car makers to make 1000 mph cars that ran on water, etc), same as the hapless Boosh (do nothing, flail).
Gah yes.
It’s possibly one small factor of a complex equation, but isn’t it amazing that the media can get away with simply creating a narrative today?
We don’t need your hypothesis.
We don’t even need your “experts say” weasel words. If an “expert” thinks something, you may state his name, credentials, and words clearly separated from your own voice. that’s it.
We need to a great reset on people’s understanding of the word “expert”. An expert is not someone who is right 100% of the time. It’s a person who hopefully is right more often than your average schlub, but might not be.
Well said
That’s always going to be a problem, yes, as well as the cultivation of what experts to interview. But at the very least presenting their opinion as separated from the news is a start. They own their opinions and it should not be presented as news or consensus.
Why would they reset something that so effectively achieves its goal? This isn’t a case of modern excesses resulting in an unintended bad outcome. It’s a case of something working exactly as designed, but the true purpose doesn’t align with the stated purpose.
If only Comrade Biden knew!
Oh I’m not expecting “them” to do it. People have to do it themselves.
Some disassembly may be required.
That’s a great distinction.
In all modesty (hah) I’m generally considered an expert at what I do, which is why big global corporations pay me, well, not big bucks, but on the upper end of medium-size bucks to do it. Just this morning I got a phone call from an industry buddy of mine who wanted a sanity check on something. He’s a contemporary of mine and also generally considered an expert, for the same reason as I am.
Together, we went over a section of an Imperial regulation that has been in place since longer than either of us have been in the business, which in my case is 32 years come May. And, upshot, we both parsed a couple of sentences very carefully, checked with a couple of other sources, and found out that both of us had misunderstood one rather important clause of that reg for many years now.
We’re experts. And we weren’t right. But we’re right most of the time, and obviously that’s worth paying for. And I would argue that having people willing to pay you to do something, at least in the private sector, is a pretty good indicator of knowing what the hell you’re doing.
I would argue that having people willing to pay you to do something, at least in the private sector, is a pretty good indicator of knowing what the hell you’re doing.
I’m not sure about that. There are plenty of people I know who are taking a 6 figure paycheck with a journeyman knowledge of their field, at best. That doesn’t even get into the 5-figure work product I sign off on on a daily basis from barely competent lawyers. Looking at the “experts” in academia, they’re mostly wanking to irrelevant questions or trying to upset the Apple cart for notariety.
Well, I did say “pretty good,” not “perfect.” And I’d argue that academia isn’t the private sector, although I agree with your assessment of what they spend most of their time doing.
In my field, we’re all registered with FedGov, so public v. private is shades of gray.
Yeah; I came across an article today purporting to be about the effect of the pandemic on children’s health. It’s not the pandemic that did it, but the government’s response to the pandemic.
That, and reports talking about increasingly radical and extreme mandate opponents, without pointing out how the responses to the pandemic are increasingly shrill, radical, and extreme.
https://thecovidworld.com/canadian-truck-drivers-protesting-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-begin-march-from-vancouver-to-ottawa/
We’ve got a convoy!!
Good, except Turdeau Jr. Won’t care.
It’s not necessary that he cares directly; it’s only necessary that the convoy starts to turn the screws on public opinion and his own backbenchers.
He’s not God. Stop acting like he’s infallible and untouchable.
Good!
Aint she a beautiful sight?
OH on da news: “Pandemic is to blame for rising gas prices.”
We just need to buy more oil from the Russians.
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/01/23/more-overperforming-after-keystone-xl-cancelation-were-now-importing-more-oil-from-russia-n443494
It’s almost like the left’s energy policies were designed to have this exact result.
Embarrassing.
What is that we say around here? Foreseeable consequences are not unintended?
It’s amazing how few people openly make the connection between restricting production and higher energy prices.
It’s even more amazing how fewer make the connection between higher energy prices and Putin’s ability to invade neighboring countries.
https://brownstone.org/articles/ontario-the-cruel/
Fuck you Doug Ford.
https://ontarioliberal.ca/ontario-liberals-call-for-vaccine-certificates-to-require-boosters/
And fuck the Liberals!
and Fuck the NDP!
Fuck the Greens!
Yeah, get it out.
Oh, now it’s up to 7 sprouting pepper plants.
I thought about growing mint. It’s essentially a weed, so I figured even my black thumb couldn’t kill it.
If that worked out, maybe move up to try jalapeños.
I’ve had good results with Lowe’s bought jalapeno plants. Sturdy and already hardened off.
Appreciate the tip. Especially since I find keeping a plant alive is an easier prospect than growing one from seed.
I’ve been battling mint for over a decade. The aroma is pleasant when weeding.
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadas-trudeau-slams-fear-mongering-over-covid-vaccine-mandate-for-truckers
Too bad Morgentaler left you alone…
https://unherd.com/thepost/to-witness-the-covid-divide-walk-from-brooklyn-to-queens/
Can NYC glibs confirm this?
Yes.
I live in Brooklyn but it’s an ignored, unhip neighborhood. Mostly “ethnics” and immigrants. Outdoor feedbags are back up to 90+% but nobody actually gives a shit if you take it off.
Can confirm. Here in The Rockaways (narrow peninsula at the far Southern end of Queens), mask compliance is around 80% but I have NEVER been asked to put one on anywhere but my kids’ pediatrician practice. There is no vaccine passport needed anywhere that I’ve seen. People are still driving around in cars with masks on, and I still see surfers in wet-suits and masks walking to the beach. I was in downtown Brooklyn this afternoon and had to pull my shirt up over my nose to enter the food stamp office but was never spoken to about it when I uncovered my face once in the building. Never even bothered to put one for the subway, even when talking with MTA employees and asking directions from a pair of uniformed NYPD, and nobody said a word about it (even though the PA system was constantly reminding riders that masks were required on all MTA property).
That’s very encouraging because I remember when it was 100% compliance. I was riding a bus last year when some crazy chick wouldn’t pull up the feedbag and the driver stopped the bus and kicked everyone off, with several passengers screaming at the crazy chick. Dark times.
https://citterio.com/en/product/speck-29011
I picked up some of this prosciutto over the weekend. It’s delish.
Speck is a well-known type of deli meat in both Germany and The Netherlands as well, though I’ve mostly seen it made out of beef rather than pork.
And yeah, it’s ++awse. I have fond memories of many great breakfasts throughout North-West Europe where speck played a starring rôle.
Ah crap, now I’m hungry again.
?
Not sure if I should laugh or be concerned at this meme my wife sent me.
Which reaction is more likely to keep you from sleeping on the couch?
*snort*
Theodore Edgecomb on the stand.