I have always prided myself on being hardbitten and wise to the depravity of this world. I grew up reading Mike Royko’s columns about Chicago politics. I prosecuted severe child abuse and sex crimes. I fought the Talib, HIG, JAM, AQI and IRGC. But the sheer scale of the corruption being shown out from the Feds to NGOs pipeline has floored me. The reach – both parties, every sector of the G and the economy. No Byzantine official, no Mandarin functionary, no Tammany Hall weasel could even imagine the scope and scale of how far this has gone.
Taking that down will free up enormous amounts of money – which can pay off the almost unmanageable debts we have, in not too many years. I hope we have the guts to stick with this for long enough.
With that in mind, here are some links, that might not mean all that much afterall.
- Not this guy’s first shoot, I reckon.
- Nuts. Last time, a Dark Age resulted. Keep a look out for collapsing Minoan civilizations.
- OK then. Now the hard part starts.
- It ain’t just the US.
Music – I got nothin’
Go forth and comment, or whatever you want.
Santorini II: Return of Atlantis
I don’t practice Santorini, I ain’t got no crystal ball.
The Great Santorini?
I thought Santorini retired from politics after his failed presidential campaign.
Would it be any different if it hit Thira?
Well it would be more Thiraious. That’s for thure.
GrimaceAid sounds like it would give you a fair shake.
The whole thing fries in the face of logic.
You know Swissy isn’t gonna like these puns, but go ahead and have it your way.
You can try to derail the thread with threats of Swissy, but I’m lovin’ it!
I was thinking purple drank.
It’s just a front for Big Mac.
There’s probably a lot more depths to the Deep State, but uncovering USAID within the first two weeks was a big shock.
I’m seeing it was used for lefties to push their agenda, and programs were used by the CIA as a front for overthrowing other governments. Did I get that right?
60 years ago USAID jeeps would have a VN officer plus wife and several kids driving around Saigon. Not sure what the hierarchy was to rate a jeep to use but there seemed to be no shortage of vehicles and families to use them.
More or less. And I think that part of why this has been able to go on so long is that no one looked at the cover-ups. Now you’ve got weaponized autists, specifically a guy who managed to figure out a way to use AI to read scrolls from a mansion in Vesuvius that were stilled rolled up, looking into the corruption. It’s like sending in a full Ranger battalion with ROE of ‘Fuck shit up’ to deal with a bunch of bronze age savages.
You talk purty. Also, welcome back from your hiatus.
Thank you. 2024 was a crazy year.
That’s how I read it: The Crimes became too large, with too many individuals acting, for them to ever ‘come out.’ Too many legacies, pensions, current jobs, lovers, know people *also* too close… Too much at stake, too much to lose, so everyone just ‘Goes with it.’ It’s like when everyone believed that slut Chastity was *actually* a virgin. (But dontcha know! *I* nailed her *first.* So there.)
I’m also especially excited to see you ’round again. Hope all is well.
Hello, CA, good to see you!
Yeah, I don’t think this part can be overstated.
Nobody ever thought to throw some of them at this issue before. I hope they’re just getting started.
The left is no all onboard with overthrowing foreign governments – any that don’t bend their way.
NOW, not no
I’m amused that the left is now interested in prices and inflation. 🙄
When I first lived overseas I was working on something sponsored by USAID. The USAID boss said she relied on us to be her eyes and ears about what’s going on amongst the little people (my paraphrase). We walked out of the meeting asking each other, “Did she just ask us to be her spies?”
The Oldtimer doesn’t just stop at one, apparently the bag limit is at least two.
The Robbin’ Duo is reduced and maybe lessons were learned.
“The [perforated] teenager, who was described by a friend online as a “great person,”
Of course.
Always finding a quote about someone holier than thou….
That was by far my favorite part. But to end with some ‘Why can’t it happen here?:
“Local prosecutor Diego Rulli ..will not seek charges against the 78-year-old man, who he said 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 with a weapon that he is licensed to carry and use.”
But fuck. Mom was there a few months ago. My Iranian-Canadian friend I met in Korea was, too. He’s actually there right now! Amazingly interesting chap, he. I’m sure we all quibble with the ‘well he had to be ‘licensed!’ bit, but gotta focus on the positive.
Officials credit architecture and state-of-the-art fire suppression systems for the Getty’s survival.
I would certainly hope so.
They built the thing and maintained it from day one with something like this in mind. Including the landscaping. They had a fire protection plan, and executed on it.
The fire suppression systems (inside the building, I assume) didn’t do anything. There were teams outside throughout the fire doing firefighting stuff, but that’s not really a fire suppression system.
Honestly, I find myself not all that surprised (just maybe a tad disappointed that it got to this point). “Power corrupts — and absolute power corrupts absolutely” and a variation on ‘Immense money’ leaps to mind.
Which also makes me think that something is going to come up to preserve the pig troughs. There’s no way that this much graft and corruption is going down this relatively easily — at this point I’d more than half expect the Pentagon to roll out to assault the White House under a pretext and reestablish the Established Order.
(Yes… I’m a very odd mix of optimism and cynicism some days…. I contain multitudes and all that…)
to preserve the pig troughs
Oh, I hope so. I would love to see someone stand up for that – what better way to identify a target.
They’ll float dozens of different approaches until they find one or two that get traction without drawing suspicion. Still plenty of blue state tax cows and university endowments that can be tapped. MI6 will show them the way.
“(Yes… I’m a very odd mix of optimism and cynicism some days…. I contain multitudes and all that…)”
Your multitudes are awfully binary. (I’ll add ‘grim acceptance.’)
He didn’t pick up the bonus points for using a chainsaw, however.
As long as it isn’t Yellowstone or whatever caused 536 A.D., we can probably tough out a Mediterranean local one. Of course — it might not be good for all the EU solar and wind… another fun aspect of nukes for baseload there, Greenies….
I thought 536 was Krakatoa the Elder.
I wasn’t sure — I thought it was a Southeast Asia Ring of Fire thing — so I checked the Wiki (for however reliable that is, granted) and it just said “Up to maybe 3 in unknown locations” so I hedged my bets.
How many yahoos in 540 were running around complaining about all the Global Warming?
“The earth has warmed over 2.5 degrees in just 4 years! We have to do something!!!! Raise taxes!”
Yes – USAID was a giant regime change / kickback operation.
https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/1886488496237314406
Bill Kristol bitched and got exposed.
https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2025/02/03/the-dirty-truth-behind-bill-kristols-money-n4936617
aka “grift”
Not all that hard when Bass already has crony “consulting” firms lined up and all the eco-warriors chomping at the bit to 15-minute-city the shit out of things. I’m not there — but honestly if I were I’d be looking at what I could get from insurance (if anything) as pure gravy and just relocate knowing that at least I didn’t have to worry about getting a U-haul. Not a great answer — but I think that’s the reality.
Your SFH must include rooms or an ADU for low-income families.
Is it the CIA manipulating the Davos crowd — or the Davos minions in the CIA manipulating foreign aid? (And do we really care as long as we stop it?)
At this point, they’re probably pretty much on the same team for a lot of things.
Trump is hosting the Stanley Cup winners today. Seem that they like him. They also have the Stanley Cup with them. Kind of boring, I’ve seen it like a dozen times. 🙂
The chaperone won’t let you do anything cool with it.
Better than what Mater heard they do with the Piston Cup….
That is correct. They often have the Cup at our national tournaments (especially the NHL Sled Classic). I’ve chatted with Phil Pritchard a few times, and got my photo right up next to it. Not 12 times, but probably 5 or 6. Out of respect I have not touched the Cup.
Will the Canadians be allowed to attend?
I heard they were booing the Star Spangled Banner at a recent game. 🙄
Look out, hosers.
I have a Stanley Cup, it came with my thermos.
Canada will fold quickly if we threaten to keep the cup.
Well now you asked for it….
Santorini article mentions other islands, too, so you could say the risk is for Santorini and Thera-bouts.
They’d better prepare — some hard Rhodes ahead otherwise.
NYT Headline: Santorini Explodes, Lesbos Hardest Hit
Getting the message loud and clear?
Delaware’s leadership has vowed to make changes to prevent further businesses from locating elsewhere amid reports that Meta and Dropbox are moving out of the state.
Governor Matt Meyer promised that his state would “get it right” when dealing with businesses.
——-
While Delaware has long been considered a business-friendly state due to corporate tax advantages, it is facing a wave of departures after Judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $56-billion compensation package was excessive. The tech billionaire has since urged companies to pull out of the Democratic-led state, with Meta, Dropbox, and Tesla all indicating that they would move operations elsewhere, with Texas being touted as a possible destination.
Meyer, who won the gubernatorial election in 2024, said that his office was working hard to get businesses to come back to the state if they were thinking of leaving.
I believe Ackman is moving his business domicile to Nevada.
Impeach the Judge in question or nobody will believe you.
“No Byzantine official, no Mandarin functionary, no Tammany Hall weasel could even imagine the scope and scale of how far this has gone.”
That is breathtakingly good writing, also enraging beyond words.
And the Dems are out in DC protesting it. You’d think someone in that party outside Carville would realize their brand is shit right now, and maybe they should stop doing things that make them look even worse.
The sources they listen to are cheering them on. This is the danger of echo chambers, you get no negative feedback. Positive feedback loops are catastrophic, it is why no matter how much I want to I don’t block or unfriend my left leaning acquaintances.
I agree 100% and I bet everyone else here does too, echo chambers suck.
Hear, hear! Down with echo chambers!
What you did there was seen, Jaime.
Those Dems, such as Ilhan Omar, are forfeiting their right to ever again bitch about the U.S. meddling in poor “black and brown” countries. Here’s a step to address the issue, and you’re foursquare against it.
I guess nothing has ever stopped these people from claiming one thing and directly contradicting it 90 seconds later.
You notice he didn’t include Chicago machine in that rogue’s gallery.
@Tonio it’s enraging, but also depressing. I probably sound like a Bernie Bro, but my family and a lot of other people I know are struggling financially. And then I see all this lavish bullshit spending funneled to the “right people”, while they express faux outrage over “the poor” losing money.
Another angle on the Capt Lobach affair. In my interactions with Army helicopter pilots it was never too long before the CWOs would start griping about the commissioned officers. The CWOs are the line pilots. They regarded the commissioned officers as desk jockeys who get enough flying in to keep their qualifications up to date and the flight pay coming. The role of the CWO during a flight is to keep the commissioned pilots from killing everyone. Could just be GI griping but I’ve seen a staff officer kill people in the AF trying to keep the flight pay coming.
No real way to tell here, but the whole thing just shows how poison DEI is. There’s plenty of room for regular human error given the conditions
I remember when military aides wore their uniforms to the WH. But that’s been a number of years.
And when DA file photos were a requirement.
The fire suppression systems (inside the building, I assume) didn’t do anything. There were teams outside throughout the fire doing firefighting stuff, but that’s not really a fire suppression system.
I have no idea if they had them or not, but outdoor misters and sprinklers are effective at reducing the combustibility of the fuel through evaporative cooling as well as wetting things down. I had a long discussion with a friend in Montana who is a wildland fire guy about this when a major fire was burning just south of Livingston. Fortunately, it was on the other side of the valley from me.
When my father lived out in CA fire county, and on a place that had burned once in the Los Pilitas fires, the county required him to have a water reservoir, and in this case a pool worked out well, as long as it was always filled.
Now, isn’t that a good idea?
Whelp, he done it again. Trudeau gives even MORE than Mexico, gets his tariffs paused for a month.
https://x.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1886529228193022429
Will stores unpack all the American merchandise they just packed up?
“In addition, Canada is making new commitments to appoint a Fentanyl Czar, we will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, launch a Canada- U.S.”
*Looks ’round* I hastily apply for this position. I wanna be the Drug Czar everyone loves. Craves. Needs. (But don’t take *my* shit, ya’hear? This is Government Quality. I throw down with Omar with this shit. No other white dudes to the party. And no brothers. And not her brother, neither.)
I mean no one really gave up anything and this is all fake, but I am happy tariffs weren’t really happening. Most people suspected it.
My favorite part is watching the total pants shitting on both sides for something that was fixed in a few hours.
Are they booing the Swedes and Canadians playing for American hockey teams?
Fuck, the grift will go on – just with new players.
Yeah, seems like its just one faction of the deep state getting cut off, not the whole thing. Not naming who it was delegated to is odd though I noticed nobody asked for whom it was delegated to. Seems like that is the obvious first question.
Musk maybe?
Something I haven’t heard about lately is fireproofing sprays and foams. They were a hot(!) topic in Montana, where the nearest fire truck might be hours away.
Just don’t ask where that Argentine gunslinger’s dad was in the 1940s.
“I [Rubio}said very clearly during my confirmation hearing that every dollar we spend and every program we fund will be aligned with the national interest of the United States. USAID has a history of ignoring that and deciding that it’s somehow a global charity separate from the national interest.”
IOW we’ll be giving different people the graft. FFS just kill it!
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/02/03/secretary_of_state_marco_rubio_is_now_acting_director_of_usaid.html
Or what JI said.
Drop what you’re doing
Scott Bessent, who was confirmed as Treasury secretary last week, has been named acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Bessent replaces Rohit Chopra, who was fired on Saturday.
In an internal email shared with NPR, staff members were instructed to immediately cease much of the bureau’s work, including issuing or approving proposed or final rules or guidance, and suspending the effective dates of all final rules that have been issued but have not yet become effective.
Staff members were also instructed not to commence or settle enforcement actions, nor to issue any public communications of any type, including research papers. The directive was made “[i]n order to promote consistency with the goals of the Administration,” the email said.
With any luck, Elizabeth Warren will keel over dead in an apoplectic fit.
She’s the harridan church lady who wants to see the manager if the waiter puts the salad fork on the wrong side, just the fucking worst.
At least her job in the Senate has saved some HOA major grief.
Dude, she is everyone’s Ex-Wife.
As director of CFPB, can he dissolve it?
New staffing level 5 people, two janitors, an IT guy, a receptionist to put people on hold if they call in, and an intern to run and get the others lunch.
Day Without Immigrants 2025
Why do these always pass without me noticing?
Do you live in a hateful, ultramaga part of the country?
I don’t live in Chicago.
I’m working in a deep blue city and didn’t notice anything.
USAID today, all the shitty shady pocket lining and corrupt, which is all of them, NGOs tomorrow. It boggles the mind that other countries let us and our “help” get our foot in the door over and over again.
This so awesome.
It even defies verbs.
Russia banned USAID in 2012.
Well Putin’s not stupid, he’d be nuts to let our little (not so) clandestine coup making agency operate there. My question is why all the other countries set themselves up for being smashed?
Giant rambling mishmash of apocalypse porn
Many climate scientists are pessimistic about how this discourse might go, with one predicting that Los Angeles will simply hollow out and become “the world’s first ghost megalopolis” when — after the next decade or so of continued weather-related disasters — insurers refuse to protect housing in the area at all.
Florida and Manhattan under water, the southwest an uninhabitable inferno. Meanwhile, the upper midwest will be a frozen waste.
“the world’s first ghost megalopolis” – Wouldn’t that be Detroit?
Detroit’s more of a Zombie City.
Check out the YouTube vids of the urban explorers going through the formerly grand ruins of the nice old Detroit buildings. Kinda sad seeing all that nice old stuff going to shit.
Stinky, it was gone to shit 14 years and more ago. This is from 2011, and the grauniad to boot, and I’ve linked it before. Still, I went to concerts in some of those halls, drove most of those streets. It’s tragic, but was foreseeable even at the end of the 60s.
Oh, no. Cats and dogs living together. POC, women and children hardest hit.
The climate scam is going to collapse soon. Heard a long speal on the radio earlier. People ;who used to tentatively buy into is cursing about the carbon capture program here in Louisiana. It is a multi billion dollar scam so transparent that no one except the thieves running it can see that plainly.
Global warming is a scam. It was always a scam and it is going to be a mark of shame on the scientific community until the end of time.
That explains why real estate is so cheap there. Oh wait. Nope.
Hey, leave us out of it.
https://x.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1886529228193022429
Huh, I guess he was using the tariffs for negotiation…
https://x.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1886529228193022429
Um… tough shit?
How did we get to the point where relatively rich countries are expected to be the dumping ground for everyone else’s castoffs?
“Take your people or we air drop them without parachutes.”
“Wait until we’ve assembled enough hyenas.’
How did we get to the point where relatively rich countries are expected to be the dumping ground for everyone else’s castoffs?
Something something soft power something something empathy something something charity.
Old: Your huddled masses yearning to breath free
New: Too many men in the huddle
Gotta throw a flag here.
Have we checked on Neph after the Miles Garrett trade request?
“No Byzantine official, no Mandarin functionary, no Tammany Hall weasel could even imagine the scope and scale of how far this has gone.”
…………………………
“Music – I got nothin’”
In honor of the above…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pios2RY2G_Q
collapsing Minoan civilizations
Fishermen hardest hit!
From what I’ve read, the multitude of quakes is a typical crustal response to magma on the move. Happens in Yellowstone, Long Valley and other hot spots frequently without catastrophe. Also the Thera explosion destroyed a much larger entire volcanic mountain/island and what’s left is a (as yet) much smaller volcano. Similar to Anak Krakatoa. If it erupts, IMO it be bad for the immediate vicinity (ash showers, etc.). But a Thera-style event or even a Laki? (Iceland 1783). I personally doubt it.
Your timing sucks dude! Imagine being a disabled trans man now. A year ago the world was your oyster, companies would be lining up to hire you to juke their numbers. Now? Fucking merit is back.
Actually this story has some deeper context about the person who has cerebral palsy who had top surgery to become a man. They are 19 so, who am I to stop them from destroying their lives.
That degree ain’t gonna help in any job searches either.
Oh for crying out loud.
That’s like several of us majoring in Asshole Studies.
I understand the scorn but I also feel pity but I’m a bit of a softie. The doc who performed that surgery though should be, um, yeah…
Let your softie side contemplate this on the tree of woe: The college is collecting a shitload of money from that poor kid in exchange for magic beans. She is going to go out in the real world and….what? The tide has turned against lunacy. Spouting marxist progressive clap-trap is worth less than a flea’s fart.
Today in Cunty Aunts Susie and Millie… They’ve been flailing around trying to figure out how to untangle their phones from ours, so my husband ended up having to step in anyway (even though they’d already rejected his help, nastily might I add). Millie forgot how to spell her last name. Three times.
🙄
How have they survived into old age? Seems like they’d have drowned the first time a storm passed through.
They’ve had my mom to hold them together all these last few years. She has often said, when asked why she didn’t just move out, that they depend on her.
My mom is three times smarter than those two are put together.
Leroy, 19, is a freshman at the U of M Twin Cities campus designing his own major in disability studies, LGBTQ+ studies and political science with the hopes of one day holding office in the Minnesota Legislature or Congress.
“Hey, this ditch is full of dead people. Why did you bring me here?”
Just think of what we could accomplish if only 1% of USAID’s budget were reallocated to Mammary Monday!
https://archive.is/UxsHN
Oh, I’m sure some of the budget was paying for boob jobs for trannies too.
I guess I should rephrase that as “life saving gender affirming care”.
I love the ‘life saving gender affirming care’ bit.
The suicide rate for post op trannies is 20x higher than not operative whatever.
Twenty. Times. Higher.
The people pushing this are outright ghouls. It is undiluted evil.
You get your head filled full of pipedreams that permanently mutilating yourself will solve all of your pretty serious psychological problems and it does not that, the opposite in fact. It’s no wonder that their suicide rate is off the charts.
Boob Jobs for Trannies is the the world’s only Death Cab for Cutie tribute band.
I hate that I like that one song of theirs. The video has the broad traveling all over the world.
/mildly jealous
TOS but includes discussion of IJ and the DOJ’s newest version of render unto Caesar.
The good news is that after ten or so years of very expensive legal wrangling the Supreme Court might…might…find against the DOJ. So we’ve got that going for us.
Oh? Money is not property? That makes for some interesting possibilities. I dont think the DOJ is going to like them very much.
Thief says it is ok to steal money because money is not property. I am guessing the thief only likes that when he is doing the stealing. The other way about…not so much.