Thursday Morning Links

by | Apr 17, 2025 | Daily Links | 200 comments

The NHL playoff teams are set, as Montreal grabbed the last one on the last night of the season. Boo! Baseball is just plugging along this year, with few teams getting off to hot starts. The Rockies and White Sox, on the other hand…geez. That’s bad. Across the pond, Arsenal went to the Bernebeau and burned Real’s Euro hopes to the ground. And Inter dumped Bayern. Oh, and Van Dijk and signed his Liverpool extension. And that’s it for a moderately slow day in sports.

Wait, but he didn’t even have jurisdiction to issue the order. Not according to the Supreme Court, anyway. This will get spicy.

So there’s no bias after all? Good. They can fund their own research then, and reap the rewards when it results in a breakthrough. (Which is what they do already, btw.) Just like the private sector that everybody pisses and moans about.

It’s too late to spin this, you dumb fuck. I still don’t understand how this repugnant woman got work at such “prestigious” rags.

“Lock her up! Lock her up!” Because, in her own words, “nobody is above the law.”

Looks l.ike Ted Cruz is safe. I knew he had a strong alibi.

I’m shocked! And now it’ll be forgotten by the mainstream media, as they can’t exactly use this case for political purposes.

That’s some good, shooting. Just a shame they didn’t get a twofer.

Damn, I’m surprised he’s still alive. I doubt he would be if this was in Texas.

“A fight to save democracy,” my ass. Bet this doesn’t get much coverage elsewhere.

Good. Now make the coffee taste better. OK, that’s not gonna happen. But at least this will make their union more irritated.

Haven’t played these guys in a while. They really embraced the 80s video trend with that song. And this track really makes me think go my youth. And the impact the radio had on it. Enjoy them both.

And enjoy this lovely Thursday, dear friends.

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

200 Comments

  1. Common Tater

    “I still don’t understand how this repugnant woman got work at such “prestigious” rags.”

    Sociopaths can be very effective.

    • sloopyinca

      For a short period of time, perhaps. But eventually they damage your reputation. Which is where we’re at now.

    • Ted S.

      A vulva, and goodthinkful opinions?

    • juris imprudent

      No kidding about sociopaths – we should be happy she didn’t go directly into politics.

  2. Common Tater

    “Because, in her own words, “nobody is above the law.”

    There was a whole montage of her saying that repeatedly.

    • sloopyinca

      I hope they play it at her trial. Repeatedly.

      • juris imprudent

        I’m sure she’ll claim it has tainted the jury pool (if it ever gets that far).

    • SDF-7

      Interesting mention in the article that I hadn’t heard elsewhere — she apparently also owns a brownstone in NYC that she’s renting out for apartments. Claiming 4 when it supposedly actually has 5… because 4 or lower somehow qualifies for a better mortgage rate.

      There’s a pattern here of investment/rental properties and getting better loans it seems. And if there’s one think New York loves — it is a landlord fucking around with the law, right? That should go well if it goes to trial…

      • Sensei

        NY Post has been all over that.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      It takes an outlaw to catch an outlaw, if you wanna find a Dunkin Donuts call a cop…she was doing it for the people and deserves a bonus.

  3. Rat on a train

    “A fight to save democracy,” my ass.
    But they voted for tyranny.

    • juris imprudent

      Hey, here’s someone else working to save democrat-zi!

      Nothing like having a party co-chair that wants to take down half of the party’s incumbents!

      • Common Tater

        David Hogg pees sitting down.

      • SDF-7

        PJ Media speculated he’s basically teeing up for an AOC takeover / the rabid socialist democrat “youth wing”. I could see that.

      • rhywun

        Because the Party has not moved left far enough.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        It seems that they saw the Red Guard as something to emulate.

  4. SDF-7

    Wait, but he didn’t even have jurisdiction to issue the order.

    Just about one step below “As a District Judge, I can order anyone in the government to do anything I want and if you don’t you’re in contempt!” Might as well go for broke and have the contempt “remedy” be “Install Kamala”… Roberts really needs to shut this down yesterday or the Judicial branch is going to be stuck with “Who’s going to enforce any of your crap?” otherwise.

    • juris imprudent

      Sure, but he has jurisdiction to appoint a prosecutor? Does anyone understand the three branches of government anymore?

      If Trump’s Justice Department leadership declines to prosecute the matter, Boasberg said he will appoint another attorney to do so.

      • SDF-7

        “In my Court — I AM GOD!!!” Or at least, that’s how his rulings read to me.

      • sloopyinca

        Not only can he appoint a special prosecutor, but he can hear the case even though he’s already stated his opinion that they’re in contempt, which would mean he cannot possibly be an impartial jurist.

      • Rat on a train

        I will also appoint my own police and wardens to enforce my judgements.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Better appoint a lot of them and bring tanks.

      • SDF-7

        Oh.. and issue my own funding laws for my Court and Empire which will be binding on Congress.

        Because — fuck it… that’s why!

      • Ted S.

        A court in another district needs to hold Boasberg in contempt and subpoena him.

      • Not Adahn

        Didn’t the judge in the OMB/DB call their own witness to discredit DeutcheBank?

      • Gustave Lytton

        Keep pissing away the legitimacy of the courts, asshole.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      Could Trump not preemptively give a blanket pardon for any contempt charges issued by the judge as a way to shut the whole thing down from the beginning?

  5. Pope Jimbo

    I can’t believe that so-called “sports genius” Sloopy didn’t link to this story about the next huge professional sport

    Breanna Stewart, who along with her 2024 WNBA Finals rival, Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier, are starting Unrivaled, a three-on-three women’s pro basketball league that tips off Friday night in South Florida.

    The league, which has raised $35 million in capital and attracted sponsors like Ally Financial, Miller Lite, and Under Armour, is seeking to build on the momentum that women’s basketball—and women’s sports in general—has seen over the past few years. Unrivaled’s success should leave little doubt there’s still plenty of upside to the boom.

    Plus, for the WNBA players competing in this upstart league, Unrivaled offers an opportunity to bank significant offseason income, in the United States. On average, the 36 Unrivaled players will earn more than $220,000 in salary, which is higher than the $214,466 regular max base salary, and close to the $249,244 supermax base salary, for the 2025 WNBA season. Unrivaled also offers players equity and revenue sharing.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Unrivaled provides players with housing in South Florida. The league’s regular season and playoffs run from Jan. 17 through the March 17 championship game; regular season games generally take place on Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays, with a midseason one-on-one tournament—featuring a $250,000 prize for the winner—unfolding the week of Feb. 10. Unlike Olympic 3×3, which is staged in a half-court setting, Unrivaled players will run up and down a full court, though one with smaller dimensions than the WNBA’s.
       
      There are 6 teams, with names like Lunar Owls BC (Collier’s squad) and Mist BC (Stewart’s): each roster features 6 players and a coach. TNT or TruTV will broadcast every Unrivaled contest. Max will stream all the games, which are all held at the league’s Medley, Fla. facility. That space includes a practice and game court, meeting and training rooms, a cafeteria with nutritionists, a family room, child care center, and a Sephora glam room.
       
      “I would stay here forever,” Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, the WNBA rookie-of-the-year runner-up who will play with Unrivaled’s Rose BC, said at a recent Unrivaled media availability. “Everything I need is here—from massages, to cold tubs, to just being able to have resources, from workouts, to everything. So, just being able to be here and value women, it’s just really important right now, especially with the growth of women’s basketball.”

      Yes! They got superstar Angel Reese to join the league. They are sure to make gobs of money. What? Oh, no Caitlin Clark isn’t going to join the league. But who needs her? Women’s Hoops is booming right now.

      • SDF-7

        “I would stay here forever,”

        “We find your terms….. acceptable.”

      • Pope Jimbo

        Plenty of others have shown interest through their checkbooks. Unrivaled’s investors include tennis star Coco Gauff, NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo, private equity billionaire and former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry, University of South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, and former Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff. Unrivaled’s latest $28 million funding round was oversubscribed. “We really just hit the market at the perfect time,” says Collier, citing the steady growth of the WNBA over the past few years, plus the influx of popular young players from college who joined the pro ranks this season.

        This must be some sort of tax dodge, right?

        Who would invest millions in a league that runs three months and is basically the same product as the WNBA which loses money?

      • Not Adahn

        They have an actual ghetto to keep their players in?

      • Ted S.

        Which one is Maxine Bialystock?

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        The Moist, BC? A much better name.

    • SDF-7

      “Momentum”? Wasn’t it reported that they “only” cost the NBA 60 million or so this past year?

      And given they have Caitlin Clarke out doing her “I have white privilege, all the rest of the league is so morally better than me!” tour — that’s likely going to sour some of the buzz she brought in her rookie season. Who wants a sports icon that just has to grovel in interviews and gets beaten up on the court?

      But not my money — not my problem. If it works out, more power to them… I’ll just be more than a little surprised.

    • Rat on a train

      Not the PPA? Pickleball is the future.

      • DrOtto

        We have what’s been referred to as a “pickle park” by us. Is this where pickleball is played?

      • slumbrew

        You should go check that out some evening, Doc, and report back.

        We need content, after all.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      So, when do the men in dresses brigade take over?

    • Nephilium

      Well, that doesn’t compare to the joy here in Cleveland!

    • Pope Jimbo

      By the way, the two founders of that league were part of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025 list. From the award list:

      Unrivaled makes female athletes think about everything differently. It’s not always just take the salary and sign on the dotted line and be happy. Sometimes you can just do it yourself better. That’s what Phee and Stewie did here. The launch of Unrivaled will go down in history as a pivotal moment for continuing the tidal wave of momentum in women’s sports.

      tidal wave of momentum. No wonder all the trans dudes are trying to hop on that bandwagon.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        So, wait, are they saying that there is going to be a heavy flow of women’s sport one day?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Zwak, you are thinking of women’s professional hockey.

        There are at least three periods in every game and with OT possibly more.

      • DrOtto

        Red wave incoming!

    • invisible finger

      Isn’t there already a womens 3-on-3 basketball league?

      Would prefer women’s volleyball anyway. At least there are a few attractive women in that sport. Basketball has zero.

    • juris imprudent

      the momentum that women’s basketball

      THE WHAT???

      • UnCivilServant

        You know, the expression of inertia.

      • Not Adahn

        NPR had a story on the WNBA draft. It’s that exciting!

      • Pope Jimbo

        NA:

        This year’s first pick was Paige “Buckets” Bueckers. She was a high school player in Minnesoda and since she was in Jr. High, we’ve all been preached at by local sportz writers about how great she is and how proud we need to be for her.

        I’m wondering if she will get the same “get whitey” beat downs that Caitlin Clark got. If she does, I sure hope she doesn’t also grovel about her privilege.

    • Chafed

      When social posturing overrides financial decisions.

  6. Sensei

    Won’t somebody think about the frigid women?

    California-based Daré Bioscience hoped to move forward with a late-stage study this year of a treatment for sexual-arousal disorder in women. But the biotech hit a wall getting the final nod from the FDA on how to measure the study’s goals, and now the company is delaying the start of the study indefinitely, said Chief Executive Sabrina Martucci Johnson.

    Drug Development Is Slowing Down After Cuts at the FDA

    • juris imprudent

      Sad that this is moving at such a glacial pace.

    • Pope Jimbo

      You can’t jump right to the study.

      Women want to warm up to that. You need some smaller testing first. Informal. Spend more time on informal tests. Focus more on 4 tests.

  7. Pope Jimbo

    In fairness to that female deputy who got pepper sprayed, she might not have filled the hole in the door and stopped him from coming in, but she did chase after him and take him down later.

    Good for her.

    Given her full figure, I didn’t expect her to be able to do that. She stuck with it and did her job in a professional manner.

    • Fourscore

      22 years ago and he can still be proud and humble.

      Thanks, Jimbo

    • Pope Jimbo

      If a plastic tea bag was broken down into all of its individual microplastic pieces, how many would there be?

      And please Mr. Journalo don’t just give me a straight up number. Make it accessible to the masses by converting it into something like bathtubs of rope.

      • Tonio

        “bathtubs of rope” for the WIN! I’m stealing that.

        Those bogus, contrived journalo units of measurement are one of my pet peeves.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Tonio:

        I stole that from a guy I used to work with. If some guy named “puppy nips” accuses you of plagiarism, just plead guilty.

    • sloopyinca

      “Tea and plastic is stored in the balls” stories coming in 3…2…1

      • SDF-7

        “He was shooting Airsoft Pellets — so we couldn’t have kids!”

    • sloopyinca

      I’ve got the solution:
      Just make the teabags out of microplastics. Then when they break down they’ll leave nanoplastics, which will be inherently safer and easier to store in the balls.

    • Akira

      It’s fucking dumb, and the tiny volume of microplastics produced by tea bags is a stupid thing to focus on.

      … Having said that, loose leaf tea brewed in a tea infuser is a thousand times better than tea bags. They even make reusable tea bags you can fill with your own leaves.

  8. Common Tater

    “Wheelchair-bound Jocelyn Pierre has filed 113 federal lawsuits against restaurants, pharmacies, clothing stores and even a charity in Brooklyn and Manhattan since 2018 for their alleged failure to provide handicap access to their establishments.

    In each case he cites the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), according to the filings reviewed by The Post. Once the lawsuits are filed, his lawyers move in and offer to settle if the businesses pay thousands of dollars, according to those who have received them.

    All of Pierre’s lawsuits have been brought by Manhattan-based attorneys Bradly and Darren Marks and have targeted everyone from high-end clothing store Paul Stuart on Madison Avenue and a Duane Reade to Electric Lotus Tattoo, a tattoo studio in Fort Greene.”

    https://nypost.com/2025/04/16/us-news/disabled-man-launched-dozens-of-lawsuits-in-ada-shakedown-lawyer/

    CWAA

    • sloopyinca

      Wasn’t there a guy in San Francisco that did this for years and made millions off of it?

      • SDF-7

        This one I would think.

        Though this article had a judge slapp’ing (ha!) down a different gentleman.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        And a guy in Sacramento. He basically got my favorite burger joint shut down.

      • SDF-7

        Interesting 2019 case against a whole law firm that actually called it a RICO case.

        But yeah — CA has been fighting spates of this for some time now as I understand it… the “Your ramp is 0.05 microns below the legal limit” type as I hear things.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I don’t know if the Minnesoda group who sued everyone for ADA compliance made millions, but they sure filed a lot of suits back in the day. But they have a lot of great people as part of their group.

        Their attorney is Paul Hansmeier who was already notorious in the legal world as a copyright troll. He was partner in a firm called Prenda Law that orchestrated a scheme where it placed pornographic videos on file sharing sites, then sent letters to people who downloaded them threatening lawsuits or public exposure. Most settled and Hansmeier reportedly made millions. That is, until federal judges in Minnesota, Illinois and California shut the operation down.
         
        Hansmeier then set up the Disability Support Alliance as a nonprofit with Eric Wong, who in a deposition admits that Hansmeier, or his associates, would drive him around looking for businesses to sue.

      • UnCivilServant

        They should all be branded (on the face) as vexatious litigants, barred from filing new suits, and forced to repay every cent (with interest) levied against their victims.

      • Raven Nation

        Years back when I worked at a large insurance company, they handled a slew of these kinds of suits against car dealerships and the like. Even though they knew it was basically a racket, the filing attorney/s were willing to settle for small 5-figure sums. So, they just kept settling.

      • Nephilium

        Pope Jimbo:

        /points upthread at the link to Prenda

      • DrOtto

        We had one in the Austin area pulling this shit.

    • rhywun

      Jeebus… this racket is decades old.

  9. Sensei

    I also quickly noticed that everyone here—my neighbors, the street sweeper, a policeman—enjoys nothing more than gently correcting any linguistic error I make, large or small. Which, for me, is every time I open my mouth. If I say “le voiture” to the guy at the grocery checkout, he will say “la voiture” before handing me my change.

    I have the reverse problem. My Japanese friends are so polite they won’t correct my broken Japanese. My teacher generally does a good job finding a middle ground.

    What It’s Like to Retire in Paris: One Couple’s Experience

    • rhywun

      Today I learned that the French are assoles.

      • SDF-7

        Sacre bleu!

      • rhywun

        Germans don’t do this, not strangers at least.

        /assumes superior visage

      • juris imprudent

        Parisians are detested by the rest of France, so they really put themselves into the worst of it.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        In my experience in Paris and elsewhere in France, the French are happy that you attempt to speak French and only give you attitude if you start right off with English. And if I was learning a language, I wouldn’t mind being corrected if I make a mistake. It’s certainly better than having the other person pretend they don’t understand you. The only people that really gave me attitude in France were the Arabs and the Quebecois.

    • sloopyinca

      ::Gallic guffaw::

    • Ted S.

      My dad’s cousin had a great way of correcting me, basically asking questions to clarify what I meant but using the proper grammar in the hopes I’d pick up on it.

      • UnCivilServant

        Sounds like you learned the wrong lesson from it.

      • Sensei

        My teacher does similarly.

    • Pope Jimbo

      The accessibility of everything is life-changing. My gym, doctor, grocer and market are all within minutes on foot. I walk everywhere here. I don’t need a car, I don’t want a car

      I lived that in Japan/Korea and my take away was: Man do I miss not having my own wheels.

      Not just for the independence of being able to go where I want, when I want. The other thing I noticed about being in a “walkable” city is that you better hope the local businesses aren’t greedy because you don’t have any convenient options if your local grocer decides to pad his profits. Taking a train with a bunch of groceries isn’t convenient at all.

      You also get to walk to that grocer a lot more than you’d think. No driving up and getting a week’s worth of food, putting it in your trunk and driving home. Nope, you have to walk down to the grocer every few days to get a bag of food.

      I was lucky in the fact that my in-laws had cars and were happy to drive you somewhere if you asked. But that still sucked to not have my usual freedom to go where I wanted.

      • Sensei

        I’ve done both. I also much prefer having wheels.

      • rhywun

        I see merit in both. As a confirmed bachelor I like the walkable thing. But under most other circumstances I would probably go with the flow.

    • Fourscore

      I lived/worked in small villages in France for 5 years. My French was broken, GI accented but yet had no problem spending money and buying what I wanted. Often some young English speaking French person would help me out.

      Maybe the ’60s were different.

      • Ted S.

        Small towns are also different from the big cities.

      • sloopyinca

        You had the luxury of being around frogs who had survived the war and were grateful for what America had done to free them from the Nazis.

        The people there now are more likely to be dealing with a different, ungrateful French people.

      • Jarflax

        Most of the stereotypes of the insufferable French are based on the behavior of Parisians and Quebecois. If you talk to people from the rest of France they share the rest of the world’s opinion of Parisian manners. Quebec copied Paris and dialed up the intensity.

      • creech

        I was in Paris in late 70s. Young waiter was very rude and condescending, etc. I called over the manager (looked to be in his fifties), showed him a photo of my father in uniform, and mumbled something like “morte Ste. Mere Eglise” (no , he didn’t die in WWII). Manager chewed out the waiter, comped my meal.

    • Gustave Lytton

      a policeman—enjoys nothing more than gently correcting any linguistic error I make

      The language police?

    • KSuellington

      It does help you learn the language when you get correction. I almost always was receptive to it when I was learning Portuguese. But then again most Brazilians are super happy when a foreigner makes an attempt to learn their language.

  10. Common Tater

    “By letting a New Hampshire school district ban parents from wearing “XX” wristbands at their daughters’ soccer games to silently protest male participation, calling the female symbol a “demeaning and harassing assertion” in that context, U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe may have doomed the political viability of gender identity-based athletics policies.

    The President George W. Bush nominee’s denial of a preliminary injunction against Bow School District’s XX ban this week, after mostly rejecting an emergency temporary restraining order last fall, sparked outrage among high-profile activists for sex-based distinctions including swimmer Riley Gaines, but also criticism from within the movement about the legal strategy….

    McAuliffe believes that gender identity is “immutable,” ignoring the phenomenon of gender fluidity and rapid-onset gender dysphoria most common in adolescent girls, and says that demeaning it “strikes a person at the core of his being,” quoting a 7th Circuit ruling about a phenomenon based on sex – sexual orientation….

    McAuliffe paraphrased testimony by Superintendent Marcy Kelley that the XX symbol “conveys a well-understood anti-trans message” in contrast to the “Pride” symbol, which she might allow at games because it “conveys a message of inclusion and does not target or harass any specific student.” (Morrison, the student, testified otherwise in his 1st Circuit case.)”

    https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/judge-spurs-grassroots-backlash-upholding-ban-demeaning-xx-symbol-girls-games

    The root of the problem is that both sides conflate sex and gender. Sports are segregated by sex, not gender. Wearing pink to support females is no more “anti-trans” than wearing pink for breast cancer.

    • Ted S.

      Sue the district to the point the administrators are left starving and living under a bridge to pay the judgment against them.

      • juris imprudent

        There is no personal liability for official conduct, the district (i.e. taxpayers) must pay.

      • Gustave Lytton

        That is what tar & feathers/running out of town on a rail/lynching used to be for.

      • creech

        Get two hundred parents and fans to show up, put on XX bands and dare the school district to do something about it.
        Sit ins at Woolworth’s were illegal 65 years ago but civil disobedience eventually won the day by creating sympathy and then change of thoughts.

    • Jarflax

      Once you accept the idea that people have a right not to be offended there is no end to the mental contortions that become possible or even necessary.

      • Ted S.

        I’m offended by their attempts to control my thinking.

    • sloopyinca

      The root of the problem is that both sides conflate sex and gender.

      No. The root of the problem is that this retarded judge doesn’t understand that the first amendment covers speech and apparel that might make someone else uncomfortable.

      • Common Tater

        There is that too, but there wouldn’t be biological males playing in girls sports in the first place.

        Although, I think a school can impose limits on free speech.

    • rhywun

      My God, the hatred of women out there is unbelievable.

      But I’m curious what the judge has against straight edgers.

      • Nephilium

        Maybe the judge knew some?

      • rhywun

        “Maybe the judge knew some?”

        LOL

      • Nephilium

        rhywun:

        At least locally, the old joke used to be “Vegan, straight edger, or atheist” before Crossfit was a thing.

    • Ted S.

      Replace the XX with “20”, or a Dos Equis logo.

    • robc

      Fall of 1986, the best female distance runner in KY ran in mostly boys X-country meets for the competition. Dual and tri meets, invitationals she ran girls. When she tried to run against us, our coach told their coach that if she ran in the boys race, he would enter all our guys in the girls race. So she ended up not running that day.

      I guess my coach was just 40 years ahead of his time.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      It’s just the denial of a preliminary injunction, right? The case is still to be heard and, while I agree with the sentiments of the parents, schools and their functions can ban all sorts of shit.

  11. robc

    Re: The DNA situation. I would consider it too sketchy to be used in court unless another lab can also verify the information. Not that they aren’t doing it right, just if they are the only ones able to do it, it can lead to some shady situations. If its science, its repeatable.

  12. Semi-Spartan Dad

    The root of the problem is that both sides conflate sex and gender.

    The root of the problem is that there is a side pretending that a difference between sex and gender exists and is forcibly seeking to impose this view on everyone else.

    • Common Tater

      There is a difference between sex and gender.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        The difference is a delusion. Plenty of people have all sorts of delusions. Live and let live. The problem is when a delusion is forced onto others.

      • Common Tater

        “The difference is a delusion.”

        No, it’s easily observed.

  13. bacon-magic

    Go BLUES ♪♪♪!

    • UnCivilServant

      I didn’t know you were a fan of the Chariots at the Circus.

    • Not Adahn

      Too moody.

  14. Evan from Evansville

    Repost just in case: My right big toe just shocked me. Twice so far. More ‘aggressive’ than before.

    I also had a slight ‘aura’ s but before that. One shock legit brought me to my knees. Mostly in surprise, not ‘pain.’

    This. Is strange . Will monitor. Ruh roh.

    Now at lunch and boss knows and is supportive. Cool, but tremors will go if I don’t control them. Not fearful of a seizure, but the thought and shocks certainly occupy my thoughts.

    Another interesting day at the office. This, too, shall pass. Onward and upward.

    • Pope Jimbo

      This piggy has a taser!

      • Fourscore

        All his piggies are at the WalMarket.

    • UnCivilServant

      I don’t know. They keep putting up headlines about a Maryland Man, then go on to talk of a violent Salvadorian Illegal alien gang banger

      • DrOtto

        Maybe the Maryland man is his FBI handler?

      • robc

        It reminds me of the choice of who to protest when a cop kills someone.

        There are plenty of no-brainer cases of police misconduct that would cause no controversy. Perfect cases. And instead we get George Floyd. Philando Castile would have been much better, to stay within MN. The El Salvadoran situation seems similar. Not the guy to be the face of the protest.

      • juris imprudent

        Not the guy to be the face of the protest.

        Nope, this is exactly what they want – the worst to rub in all of the rest of our faces.

      • robc

        Nope, this is exactly what they want – the worst to rub in all of the rest of our faces.

        Oh, I know. It is intentional. They want the divide, the conflict. They don’t want to actually make changes for the positive.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        It shouldn’t matter if he is a baby raper or mother murderer. If he warrants Due Process, then he warrants it.

        The left doesn’t choose these cases to rub anyone’s nose in it, but, rather, they believe that the process, and the rights that this comes from, are just as important. Edge cases get greater coverage due to the fact that they highlight the differences, not that they only care about the worst of us.

        If we only cared about the speech that we agreed with, there would be no need for a first amendment. This is really no different. This is an area that the Right misreads as badly as the Left misreads the root of the Right’s moral grounding.

      • Pope Jimbo

        robc:

        If you want to keep it in Minnesoda: Chris Lollie

        Dude was in a public skyway and wouldn’t give a cop his ID, so they tasered him, beat him and arrested him. He eventually got a payout, but still. When this happened everyone was on Lollie’s side.

        Of course, the cops were the true victims:

        Mark Ross, treasurer of St. Paul’s police federation, said the three officers have an outstanding reputation within the department and that they did everything right in Lollie’s case. If people are just compliant and do what officers ask, it almost always ends well, he said.
         
        “For the officers’ sake and their families, I’m glad it’s over with,” he said. “It’s unfortunate they were put through this.”

        It is kind of amazing that illegal immigration has pushed most people over to supporting LEO’s again.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        It shouldn’t matter if he is a baby raper or mother murderer. If he warrants Due Process, then he warrants it.

        I agree completely.

        The left doesn’t choose these cases to rub anyone’s nose in it, but, rather, they believe that the process, and the rights that this comes from, are just as important.

        No, sorry, I don’t believe that the modern left gives the slightest fuck about the abstract notion of “due process”, any more than they care about abstract notions of “free speech”. If they’re standing up for someone, it’s either because that person is a political ally and/or that person’s opponents are their political opponents.

      • Jarflax

        Due process means you get notice of proceedings against you, and a chance to appear to answer them. Due process has nothing whatever to do with a police shooting, except that the police officer is entitled to notice and a chance to appear if they are charged for the shooting. George Floyd was not deprived of due process. He was either wrongfully killed or he was not, but since this was manifestly not a judicial proceeding talking about due process indicates a deep misunderstanding of what the words mean.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        And everyone who is against abortion just wants to keep women barefoot and pregnant…

        There are plenty of things wrong with the modern left, but deciding their motives are pure evil is just as silly and blind to the issues.

      • B.P.

        “If he warrants Due Process, then he warrants it.”

        I very much agree with this. I also think there’s a big chasm between deporting a guy to his home country and the country tossing him into CECOT in a nudge nudge/wink wink manner. The details are pretty blurry in this case. I’ve heard that the Trump administration admitted that he was deported by accident. I’ve also heard that he was afforded due process years ago, and has a deportation order. Due process in this particular case may mean he’s returned to the U.S. and gets (another round of?) his day in court. Then he’s deported again. The administration needs to be very careful about not cutting corners. I’m also to understand that the guy’s wife is a U.S. citizen, along with his kids. Was there no movement on this guy’s part to seek citizenship?

        “…they believe that the process, and the rights that this comes from, are just as important.”

        They also believe that any poor person, or person from a poor country, who touches foot on U.S. soil gets to stay here forever, no matter what. This is something that just about zero people believed until maybe a dozen years ago.

      • Jarflax

        Substantive Due Process which is what the left is obsessed with is nonsense and every reasonable decision that has come from it could have been based in actual Constitutional provisions. Most Substantive Due Process decisions are Federal overreach.

      • UnCivilServant

        Was there no movement on this guy’s part to seek citizenship?

        Given his multiple rounds of being officially found to be a member of a violent criminal gang, I think he wouldn’t have made it past the basic application stage.

    • Common Tater

      I saw a montage of that — almost parroting word for word.

      TMITE

      • Ed Wuncler

        I remember for a small time on Fox News of all channels, were leaning towards criminal justice reform but then the Riots of Spring/ Summer 2022 and Defund the Police happened and that all but disappeared. The Left thrives on injustice and has maintained their power through the lens of the oppressor/ the oppressed, so why on Earth would they want reformation? It would eliminate one of their monopolies on being for the oppressed.

    • The Other Kevin

      This story is a collection of rakes the Dems keep stepping on. They need to cut their losses and hope it’s forgotten, but of course they won’t.

      • rhywun

        They won’t because their base won’t have it.

        They are full-on pro illegal aliens and the more the better.

      • creech

        I’m waiting for the day they full on admit their agenda: “Hands Off Criminal Non-Citizens.”

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      The FBI ordered his release, or they said “We don’t have a reason to detain him”?

  15. Not Adahn

    If “male and female” in a biological context describes sex, and

    If “male and female” in a linguistic context describes gender, then

    What does If “male and female” in a firring or connector context describe?

    • EvilSheldon

      Fucking, of course!

    • Common Tater

      In a linguistic context, it’s masculine and feminine.

    • Fourscore

      I bought a 3/4 inch double female connector yesterday. $3.98 at the local hardware store.

      • Not Adahn

        …are we allowed to write that on a Family Friendly website?

  16. Gustave Lytton

    Re Starbucks dress code: No visible tatts, no face piercings or other body mutilations, no excessive flair on aprons. Work at the hip independent coffee shop down the block with that shit. I’m tired of getting food and beverages served by people who need to groom themselves.

    • UnCivilServant

      I’m tired of getting food and beverages served by people who need to groom themselves.

      The wait staff should have maids, valets, and bath attendants before they are fit to serve me!

    • creech

      I dress my orphan servants in tuxedos and white gloves.

  17. The Other Kevin

    I had a thought last night. I keep getting riled up seeing lefty posts on FB. But I should be encouraging them. Allow me to explain.

    The Dems are controlled by the batshit crazy faction of their party. They are on the wrong side of every 80/20 issue, and as a result their recent approval rating was 26%. The FB posters aren’t advocating for their party to change, they are doubling down on the batshit craziness and Trump hatred. That’s not going to convince anyone, and in fact they are the anchor that is dragging the party to the left.

    As JI said today, never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

    • robc

      I had a similar thought last year. There were people outside the grocery stores and etc getting signatures for a ballot measure in order to make sure abortion rights were protected in the CO constitution. CO may have the most open abortion laws in the nation. There is zero chance of it changing. I wanted to rant on these people telling them how much they were wasting their time, then I realized it was a good thing. If they weren’t doing that, they would be spending time on an issue that might actually matter. So I just shut up and walked on.

      • creech

        You should have signed something like “John Galt, Galt’s Gulch, CO” Increases the phony signatures when the petitions are scrutinized.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Both parties have always been controlled by the fringe as they’re the only ones who show up to vote in the primaries. The current Dem fringe does seem particularly crazy though, no doubt.

  18. PutridMeat

    They really embraced the 80s video trend with that song.

    I’m not sure they should have ever tried anything beyond the performance videos a la “Limelight”. PUPPY! “Time Stand Still” is about as cringe-worthy as it gets – not the song, great song, the video!

    And this track really makes me think go my youth.

    Ah, barreling down the road at 5AM in a rusted out VW Rabbit, adapter in the cigarette lighter connected to the little tape deck in the back seat, “The Spirit of Radio” “blasting” through that crappy, tinny speaker-like object. No better way to get pumped up for swim practice.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      2112 or Exit Stage Left or GTFO.

      • PutridMeat

        GTFO

        I’m not familiar with that album…

        “Exit…Stage Left” – a bit too thin, overproduced.

      • robc

        Weirdo alert: My favorite song off Moving Pictures is “Vital Signs”.

        I love the rest, except not a big fan of “The Camera Eye”.

      • PutridMeat

        “Vital Signs” is a great tune. Just so much competition on that album. And I’ll let you have your little delusions about the “The Camera Eye”. By far the weakest song on that album is “Witch Hunt”. One of the rare songs I’ll skip over, maybe 50% of the time, when it comes up in the rotation.

      • Sensei

        No “Hemispheres”? I’m disappointed.

      • PutridMeat

        No “Hemispheres”? I’m disappointed.

        Here, I’ll make it easy. Every album from 1974-2012. I’ll leave off R40 because it’s so painful to hear Geddy’s voice on that one, never listen to it except YYZ. Guess they didn’t want to break out the baritone guitars to get into his range.

    • rhywun

      The leadership may be spineless but it’s the professors that are turning the kids into monsters. Good luck addressing that.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        You start fucking with Harvard’s all-holy endowment, and the regents will have strong words to the president and provost, who will have talks with deans, who will start to work on the prof’s. They know this, and they are scared of the repercussions; it is visible with all the posturing already.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Isn’t the fact that international students pay full tuition what makes them so sought after by these universities?

      If they can’t subsidize the domestic student’s scholarships, that will get rid of the 2 or 3 actual farm kids who are trying to better themselves.

      • Sensei

        Absolutely!

    • creech

      I was seated yesterday at a luncheon next to a woman who had a PhD in History from Harvard and retired after a long career at Penn. She admitted being a woman “right place at the right time” in the 1960s advanced her career. Anyway, she started in on what a travesty it was that Trump wanted to punish Harvard, and that there should be no strings on federal aid. Unfortunately, I was a guest at the luncheon and she was a member of the club, so I didn’t want to embarrass my host by getting into a debate with her. I’m pretty certain, however, she wouldn’t have any problem putting strings on where her money is invested.

      • Ted S.

        I’m sure she loved her some Title IX strings.

  19. KSuellington

    From JI’s linked article on masculinity:

    “This disconnect often falls along class lines. Some of us are afforded the emotional and social freedom to distance ourselves from masculinity without fearing a loss of our identity or belonging. For men who have been raised to see work as a central part of who they are, performing the masculinity they were taught to admire is important to them, even if the labor market no longer supports it.”

    This article was written by a woman, or at least a they that uses the name “Alice”. The left is aware that theys have a problem with men, but has zero clue on how to approach that as evidenced by that wonderful example of academise and condescension.

    • PutridMeat

      Yes, masculinity is a social construct, not an evolutionary imperative. I’m not sure you – or anyone for that matter – will like where that little experiment ends up if you insist on forcing it.

    • rhywun

      “performing the masculinity”

      OFFS 🙄🙄

  20. pistoffnick (370HSSV)

    Haven’t played these guys in a while.

    MikeS. triggered

    • dbleagle

      Damn. The number of lies she spews about Europe’s freedoms are packed into that article more than doubling up the chocolate chips into the Tollhouse cookie recipe.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      They put a Ribbon on Trop!

    • Sensei

      Prosecutors said that an officer placed the muzzle of the rifle into the suitcase, pointed at the ground, and attempted to remove one of the handkerchiefs to render it safe. While doing this the rifle discharged without the officer touching the trigger, “indicating that the gun was allegedly booby-trapped,” the attorney general’s office said.

      • EvilSheldon

        The dumbassedness on display here is physically painful.

      • Common Tater

        That’s complete bullshit.

        Although, why was the chamber loaded and the safety off? Why would someone have multiple handkerchiefs wrapped around the trigger guard?

      • Sensei

        Mr Spud – because FL man was bringing guns into Newark for resale.

        He’s not what you would call responsible owner.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Alec Baldwin’s personal gun shopper?

    • Fourscore

      Difficult to understand the perp’s thinking, leaving a suitcase and….

      File under “Things/People I Don’t Understand”

    • Fourscore

      Just needs to be fried and the micro plastics disappear