Good morning one and all to another tremendous day!
DHS says approximately 100,000 migrants have taken self-deportation bonuses
Trump moves to block Wall Street from buying single-family homes in sweeping new executive order
Comer rejects Clintons’ interview request, schedules contempt vote for Wednesday
Supreme Court to Review Trump’s Firing of Fed Governor
Ketanji Brown Jackson Defends Jim Crow Law During Second Amendment Case Hearing
SCOTUS Scolds Hawaii For ‘Relegating’ Americans’ Second Amendment Rights To ‘Second-Class Status’
U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths Plummet
Wells Fargo becomes first major bank to relocate wealth operations headquarters to Florida
Usha Vance expecting 4th child
That’s all I got for today. I’ll leave you with a song and move along with my day.
“The system could produce record-breaking snowfall and hazardous ice accumulations from the Southern Plains all the way to the Mid-Atlantic region.”
Where’s muh global warming?
We used it up between the 70s and today, now we’re in for a period of global cooling as the next phase of the solar cycle.
Yeah right dumbass, like the sun influences climate.
Can’t (((their))) lasers be aimed in a way to heat things up? After all we’ve done for (((them))) some consideration is due.
I’m tired of EO ping pong. I know Congress is retarded and gay, but still.
Have you tried running for congress? I assume you don’t expect your current congresscritter to listen to you.
I would expect he’s had his eyes on things.
But his attention is in too many different directions.
That’s the root of his problems — I thought he was trying to address it by becoming a you Tuber.
He was, but every time he started to work on it he got baked or fried.
NONE OF THAT NOW!
*narrows gaze*
Meanwhile Washington State passed a law making it illegal for local governments to get rid of homeless encampments.
This is where I just get baffled. Some of the evil shit I get, I can see where it benefits them. But what do they get out of keeping the homeless camps and driving away the tax cattle?
Driving towards systemic collapse after which they can usher in the Glorious Revolution is all I can attribute to it.
SDF-7:
I’ve got the same thought when it comes to the brains behind the “abolish ICE” moves. What’s the end game for these areas? It wasn’t white Republicans that voted to ban Pride flags in Detroit suburbs.
“Why are you so mean?”, governance by emotion.
They just want Feral Americans to live their best lives!
They aren’t thinking rationally/long term. This is all emotion-driven suicidal empathy. What do they get out of it? An endorphin hit and belly rubs from their fellows.
Chaos and disorder. It’s what Democrats eat for breakfast.
What RC said. These people aren’t capable of long-range thinking, outside of a handful of truly evil cynics that know how to push the emotional hot buttons of the stupid.
Are you saying camping in the Cascades is now free? That’s kinda nice.
STEVE SMITH, PROMINENT FOREST LAWYER, WELCOME MORE CAMPING HOOMANS TO CASCADIA. HIM VISIT CAMPS, SHOW HOOMANS HOW TO FILE TORT. BY FILE TORT, MEAN RAPE.
Washington was done as soon as they enacted motor voter.
Welcome to Illinois.
Which is ironic since they hate motors and want to abolish cars.
BTW – unregistered vehicles have exceeded 600k due to the outrageous tab prices and anti-racist laws that prevent the state patrol from pulling you over for expired tabs.
30$ tabs! Just kidding
I’ve always had contempt for Hillary Clinton.
After their failure to hold her to account for Benghazi I just can’t fathom what the idiot Republicans think they can accomplish hauling her in front of them again. You like being made to look stupid?
They want to prove, for once and all, that they don’t listen to you?
Considering most Republican politicians, obviously Republican voters aren’t much smarter than Dem voters.
I suspect she has a 50% chance of giving them a glorious soundbite. Not that it would matter that much. Maybe for fundraising.
People wanting to relive the glory days of the mid-90’s.
#metoo
But what difference, at this point, does it make ?
Yup… we’re assuming we’ll get a good old fashioned ice storm out of it — which means lots of tree limbs down… which means power lines down. Probably for a few days. Yay. We’ll see… stocked up a bit on water, firewood and pantry style food just in case.
Stay safe out there if y’all get hit, Glibsters. Hopefully if it concentrates in Texas again they fixed the power grid from last time.
Our forecast has risen to 17 inches of snow, so yeah, we’re figuring on sitting tight for a couple of days. But hardly the apocalypse.
Yes. Inch thick ice here in DFW/Texas. I am a little concerned about power lines, so I am going to lay in another propane tank for the heater.I don’t want pipe damage.
My community FB page has been complaining all summer about how the tree service hired to cut trees away from power lines are doing the job. A lot of “too drastic!!” comments. While 2021 was more of a grid failure than downed power lines, if your lines are down it doesn’t really matter if the grid fails or not. I’m hopeful both the lines and the grid stay up. Stay frosty, my friends.
Predicting 8 to 12 inches here in NYC area, so a pretty typical snow storm. Not a big deal.
6 to 12 in Santa Fe (and trending up). I think that’s a lot for this area. Fortunately, after the last snow I acquired a snow shovel and 50 pounds of ice melter*.
*Mrs. Dean stubbornly refuses to let me have a flamethrower.
Man! We need a Glibertarian – branded flamethrower in the merchandise shop, stat!
50 pounds of ice melt isn’t a lot. I keep that much in my car in case I get stuck (I have gotten trapped on an icy low point where there was zero movement before)
/Upstate New York
Mrs. Dean stubbornly refuses to let me have a flamethrower
Ooh ooh, I forgot that I have a flamethrower! It’s for the weeds, but I’m sure it’ll do a number on the ice.
The forecast keeps wavering for us. Latest run showed 2” in one model and 10” in another. If we are under the bullseye, I expect that we’ll get a foot of snow, which is more than our average annual snowfall here.
It looks like the storm is taking a more southerly track, so the worst of the snow will pass me by. Which I’m fine with.
On the other hand, that usually means below normal temperatures. Brrr.
Looks like a decent snowstorm here in SC. People are going to freak.
At least I’ll get to work at home for a few days (assuming I have power and Internet).
Just dry and very cold in (South) Central NY.
We’re headed for 4 straight days of below zero but no snow. Some minus 20s, we’ve seen worse. Fairly typical.
Good luck to the NA Glibs. Stay warm and may your property remain intact.
We missed the aurora display, again. But for the next days our highs will remain in the upper 70s and lows around 70 with lightish Tradewinds.
Needs to be higher.
These are rookie numbers.
Every journey begins with a single step…
I’ll take “Unconstitutional actions for $400, Alex.” Sigh.
From my skim of the article, it’s a bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing.
It sounds great, but there aren’t that many things he can directly control. Still dumb.
It’s right up there with the “I’m helping” meme.
““The fall begins at the end of the Biden administration, but the question is, was it in anticipation of a tough-on-crime president coming in?” Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct criminal justice professor at Penn State Lehigh Valley, told Fox News.”
I doubt it. They were neither that smart, nor did they care.
“Earlier this month, podcaster Joe Rogan noted that drug overdose deaths in the United States have “dropped off a cliff,” citing the Trump administration destroying drug smugglers’ boats in recent months.”
Sorry Joe, but those boats had cocaine.
IF you wanted to attribute a drop in supply to anything the current administration has done, it would be closing the border. A lot of those Coyotes were running Mules.
Those boats had fishermen …
I look forward to KBJ’s keen dissent arguing that black people should not have 2nd amendment rights because they were traditionally denied those rights. I know Biden limited himself to women of color in his search, but surely this wasn’t the best woman of color available.
The mind boggles.
And, statistically, it is entirely possible that KBJ was, in fact, the best black judge available for the vacancy. When you’re fishing in the pool with, what, 2, maybe 3% of judges in it, the odds of getting a top shelf nominee are vanishingly small.
Meant to say black female judge. Or perhaps, judge assigned black and female at birth.
All they needed was some checked boxes that was a reliable member of the tribe.
I remember hearing the statistics on it and I think it was lower than 2%
Why does it have to be a judge?
It would be nice if they appointed people from other professions. Tom Sowell might be a nice addition.
Think how much better it would be if they had an actual IT person on the court. They could explain how tech stuff works to the other justices.
The sad part is, she probably was.
Ya know, I didn’t much like Mr. Pen-and-phone and his XOs, so I’m not real happy with Trump and his ridiculous pandering.
I thought your thing was controversial opinions, JI…
Hot takes like hot cakes!
Stacking ’em and flappin’ them!
I do not miss the old days, with LC1789.
Meanwhile, in Cleveland, we’re supposed to peak above freezing today. Just enough to melt the top layer of snow everywhere in order for it to freeze solid over the next couple of days. Saturday is looking particularly frigid, with a high of 6 F (-14.44444444 for you Pie)
Ok… I sympathize with the idea and do think a percentage of the homeless likely should be / would have been institutionalized… but that article is so light on details… how does the EO purport to do it? (Federal ones? Somehow pushing states? What?) And of course… “Unconstitutional actions for $1600, Alex”. Oy.
Soviet style psikhushkas?
About 75% if what I read in my psych sociology classes is anywhere near true.
“She went on to say that, “The fact that the Black Codes were at some later point determined themselves to be unconstitutional doesn’t seem to me to be relevant to the assessment that Bruen is asking us to make.””
Did she make a bet with Don Lemon?
I really wish whoever Don was blathering at about his first amendment rights had responded “you do not have the right to deny others their first amendment rights of free exercise by harrassing them on private property.”
… then shot him for tresspassing.
Okay, maybe not the last part.
Why not?
Okay, maybe not the last part.
I would be okay with that.
I’d rather A: he not be a Martyr, I hate seeing/hearing his too much for that. B: he be humiliated, and C: the churchgoer not be dragged through the prosecution.
He takes shots in the back all the time.
Democrats attacking churches and arguing in favor of Jim Crow laws is a solid return to their roots.
Separate but Equal leads to Jim Crow being positive as surely as murder leads to chewing gum.
but the parties switched …
Or we’re going to be hearing shortly “ackchually, Jim Crow wasn’t all bad”.
juris imprudent:
/looks at “Black only spaces” and “No Whites Allowed” signs
We’re not there yet?
Well, the wokists have been trying to resegregate college campuses, so I guess this is on-brand.
Usha Vance expecting 4th child
Gee – the last speculation I heard was their marriage was on the way out. We wouldn’t want MSM to actually cover things that matter.
“Usha Vance desperately tries to hold onto philandering meme lord JD Vance through pregnancy!” (This… is CNN.)
The shocking twist?
It’s Charlie Kirk’s love child.
Nice. I like that angle.
OT – https://www.wsj.com/articles/actor-tom-hollands-nonalcoholic-beer-bero-gets-private-equity-backing-13a13697?st=T2so7h&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Now we know what Vance has been doing while Susie Wiles excludes him from policy meetings.
I suspect it was more in line with internal polling #s in the runup of the election but ya, guess it could have been this year and she is a super gestation machine.
She’s 40, so this is going to be a high-risk pregnancy.
She should be safe as long as she avoids public speeches …
Yup.
/dude with a 39-going-on-40 year old pregnant wife
Seriously, my wife is grateful for the pregnancy symptoms (which are 100x worse than prior pregnancies) because it means she’s still pregnant, which isn’t a guarantee at this age.
Next they will be speculating “who is the daddy?”
I’d like a couple more. May have to trade the wife in for a younger model though.
I hear the trade in process is arduous and costly though and younger models are more likely to be lemons.
If some Dem 1st or 2nd lady ever got pregnant, they would be plastered all over magazine covers in grocery stores across the country with articles about how glowing and amazing she is.
MSNOW – Reincarnation of Poothana confirmed as Usha Vance announces pregnancy
That’s true. But lucky us, we get Amanda Marcotte writing insane articles that have no basis in reality.
They’re right next to the articles about what a fashion icon our smokeshow First Lady is.
HOW DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?
“SCOTUS Scolds Hawaii For ‘Relegating’ Americans’ Second Amendment Rights To ‘Second-Class Status’”
Wrong link
Here it is: https://thefederalist.com/2026/01/21/scotus-scolds-hawaii-for-relegating-americans-second-amendment-rights-to-second-class-status/
Thanks ‘Tater.
The right to keep and bear arms violates the aloha spirit.
Gotta keep those
darkiesPacific Islanders in their place.I thought in Hawaii it is the haoles that are second class?
JI:
They really hate the gay white folx in Hawaii. No one likes those ass haoles.
“Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Taking the First Amendment out of consideration, the Trump appointee posed a different hypothetical involving the 14th Amendment, in which “a state — in the absence of public accommodation laws — decides to flip the default and say [that] unless the owner affirmatively consents, black people cannot enter your home.””
Well, isn’t that true? I think she meant t say “business”.
I’m fine with businesses baring any one for any reason.
Their property.
Their rules.
I’m not fine with businesses discriminating, but that doesn’t mean there should be a law, least of all a federal one. I’d refuse to patronize such a business and I would hope all other people would as well.
I’m fine with businesses baring any one for any reason.
Personally, I prefer not to patronize places that will be able to strip me at a whim.
Wait what? “No tiddies, no service?”
One down, 49 and a Federal District to go….
Not really 49 to go: “As of early 2026, 29 U.S. states have enacted constitutional carry (permitless carry) laws, allowing eligible citizens to carry handguns without a government-issued permit…”
Sadly some of those are still fairly limited. I think it’s closer to 24 that have actual constitutional carry.
Wow. KBJ is actually saying we can use Jim Crow laws as the “history and tradition” of gun control laws to justify them under the 2A.
I’m so old, I can remember when the racist roots of gun control were a bad thing.
Her stupidity never ceases to amaze.
Well, it appears the parties are switching back…
Reverting to the mean.
No guns for you tax slave.
And, I gotta say, the history-and-tradition Bruen test is utter bullshit. It’s pretty much the exact same argument used to argue that segregated schools were OK. “But we’ve always done it this way”, seriously, SCOTUS?
I agree the test is bullshit.
It very clearly states that arms are outside the purview of the state to restrict, regardless of whether unconstitutional restrictions have been tolerated in the past.
I will concede a point that those in prison for their crimes have forfeitted their rights as a part of their punishment, and thus people can be required to keep their arms out of prisons for the sake of keeping them away from the inmates.
In an ideal world, yes, the second amendment means what it says and any restriction is an unconstitutional infringement. But SCOTUS generally will not rock the boat too much on a single decision of they can find ways to avoid doing so, so they came up with the history and tradition bullshit to avoid freaking out the Democrat side more than they thought was necessary.
WTF correctly anticipates that the forthcoming tariff decision will be narrowly construed (probably against Trump) and not a sweeping condemnation of Congress for shirking it’s Constitutional role as author of taxes and obliterating the law as it stands.
I’m wondering how SCOTUS invalidates the Trump tariffs, without requiring him to refund billions of dollars to foreign companies.
Penaltax? I’m sure Roberts can figure something out.
Tax credits going forward.
billions of dollars to foreign companies
You mean American taxpayers?
This is exactly right. SCOTUS would much rather these types of issues were settled politically, not legally. They recognize that in order to make big changes you need to have the populous behind you, and not impose, a la Roe v. Wade, a top down mandate.
The law means what people think it means, and to make it legitimate, you need a people who are already there on these hot button issues.
CNBC on the work TV is live in Davos. I forgot this is the time of year when our politicians visit their bosses, get an annual review, and receive objectives for the year.
I’m using that, Drake.
Me too!
Being in Switzerland is convenient for them to bank their bonuses.
“Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, announced that they are expecting their fourth child together.
“We’re very excited to share the news that Usha is pregnant with our fourth child, a boy,” the couple wrote in a joint Instagram post Tuesday.
“Usha and the baby are doing well, and we are all looking forward to welcoming him in late July.””
https://pagesix.com/2026/01/20/parents/vice-president-jd-vances-wife-usha-pregnant-expecting-baby-no-4/
It’s official.
Not official ’til Trump announces it in an XO
No way you can’t induce on the 4th?
Do better, America!
“Chesty Canadian influencer Julia Ain showed off her best assets while applying for a coveted US visa meant for artists with “extraordinary ability” — a video of herself housing pastrami in a low-cut shirt while asking a sultry question.
Her application was granted — making her one of about 20,000 people allowed into the country in 2024 on a O-1B visa.
“Yes, that video was submitted to the US government,” 25-year-old Ain proudly told the Times of London. “Maybe my extraordinary talent is just that I have big boobs.””
https://nypost.com/2026/01/20/us-news/buxom-influencer-got-coveted-o-1b-visa-for-these-two-reasons/
Mid, but maybe she’ll pay taxes.
“Ain is not the only social media siren to slip into the country on the O-1B — a visa initially conceived as a way to keep prolific talent John Lennon from being deported to England in 1972”
How did that work out?
We should have deported Lennon.
Well, they gave it a shot.
Dear god, we could’ve been rid of him and Yoko?
Keep the productive one. Yoko was the best Beatle.
ZWAK, your hatred of the Beatles is tolerable; showing any love for Yoko is not.
The 0-1B visa has been thoroughly abused. I remember struggling to get them for neurosurgeons with a multi-page list of research publications 15 – 20 years ago.
You’d think that would be another area of immigration that the administration could straighten out.
Below mid.
Damn Canadians.
a video of herself housing pastrami
It’s a simple typographical mistake. She was applying for a 0==B but got an O-1B instead.
*golf clap*
Although I’m sure she has not problem getting the 0==B (sub-mid though she is – some dudes really like tiddies).
They’re not sending us their hottest.
“Senior state planners are formulating a five-year plan to lift domestic demand, acknowledging that the world’s second-largest economy currently faces an imbalance between “strong supply and weak demand,” according to comments from the National Development and Reform Commission to reporters on Tuesday.”
Will the chocolate ration increase or decrease?
https://www.wsj.com/economy/chinese-policymakers-look-focused-on-domestic-demand-to-lift-economy-fb11b0b2?st=TGEVeE&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
They’re in a rut where their economy is based on cheap labor producing export goods. That cheap labor can’t afford to buy the volume of crap needed to prop up the economy when the export market slumps.
Perhaps they should have skipped seventy some odd years of communism. It would have worked out better for their economy.
I read an interesting article awhile back arguing that China’s production is driven more by new factories with lots of automation, and that the cheap labor thing was basically a smokescreen. Either way, it’s hard to see a major transition to a domestic consumer driven economy rather than an export economy in any five year time frame.
I don’t buy it. I’d need pretty good evidence of that. While China is the country of shortcuts and lies, had they managed significant gains of automation, they’d be touting it from the rooftops, as one of their big ambitions is to be seen as a modern, advanced nation when they’re basically a third world shithole with some glitter on top.
I watched an interesting piece on the equipment that China is using to produce high end products and tooling. Swiss, German, French. They don’t seem to have the metallurgy or quality control to make high end tooling themselves. Throw in the good enough cultural attitude and it has no real foundation.
3door – a few years back China had a big hullabaloo because they had finally produced a domestic ball for a ball point pen. The process still had an atrocious failure rate because of their problems with precision engineering and machining… I don’t know if they can make enough or if they still import the balls for making pens.
UCS. Ouch. Only what, 100 years behind the west?
“Former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya has filed paperwork to run for Minnesota’s Senate seat in the 2026 election, joining a crowded field of Republican hopefuls in the 2026 election.
Tafoya, 61, a resident of the Minneapolis suburb of Plymouth, has been eyed as a possible candidate by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and met with the Senate Leadership Fund and other stakeholders in Washington, DC, in December, The Post previously reported.
She has not publicly addressed the “Tafoya for Senate” campaign since it was filed with the FEC on Tuesday.”
https://nypost.com/2026/01/21/us-news/ex-nfl-sideline-reporter-michele-tafoya-files-paperwork-to-run-for-minnesota-senate-seat/
Is she for deporting Chris Collinsworth to Uganda?
I can’t support unless she repents and publicly opposes sideline reporters.
I guess we know who doesn’t want to kiss Suzy Kolber….
This is actually one of the brighter things the MN GOP has done recently.
Our last candidate for Senate (against Special K) was Royce White, a genuine nut and convicted thief.
One of the reasons that the GOP loses all the statewide races here is that they have no decent candidates. I realize that it is dumb to hang your hopes on a quasi-celebrity, but it is better than a candidate with no qualifications at all.
“Stakeholders”. Gross.
“A South Carolina special education teacher, who was crowned 2025 Teacher of the Year at her charter school, was arrested after she was accused of punching a child.
Erin Wheeler, 34, was charged with unlawful child neglect for allegedly striking the child on Nov. 27, according to arrest records obtained by KWQC.
Wheeler, a teacher at South Carolina Whitmore School in Columbia, allegedly chased the child into a bathroom and continued punching them in the forehead and upper body as the victim attempted to defend themselves by blocking the blows….
Authorities noted the alleged assault did not occur on school grounds.”
https://nypost.com/2026/01/21/us-news/south-carolina-teacher-of-the-year-erin-wheeler-accused-of-punching-child-in-the-forehead/
I have many questions.
According to the article it wasn’t one of the school’s students, so I guess it’s a case of “who hasn’t wanted to punch and annoying brat out in public every so often?”
Still, the chasing into a restroom is too far. That’s sex offender territory.
Meh, she identified as mostly peaceful.
Looks like she could throw a mean punch, too.
I have a question or two as well, such as…
charged with unlawful child neglect
Does that mean you can lawfully neglect a child?
I punched my seventh grade English teacher once.
Bitch deserved it.
“And OpenAI is chaos dressed up in a $500 billion valuation.”
Yes, but calling the timing of these is basically impossible. When the whole AI bubble pops this is not going to be pretty.
https://x.com/gnoble79/status/2013639091636633705
The character limit needs to be shorter. Twitter is not the place for essays.
You say that, but apparently there’s internet beef between X and Substack. My (brief, outsider) understanding:
X wanted to move to long form pieces, but established Substack authors generally didn’t want to shift to X as a platform. Due to this, X started blocking/lowering the reach of links to Substack. During this time, Substack launched their “Notes” feature, which is basically an X-lite.
Yep, chooch move by Elon.
Yes, how dare Elon, taking steps to protect his business!
Did I piss in your cornflakes recently ZWAK? Elon has no problem with links to the New York fucking Times or WaPo. I prefer to subscribe to better sources [on Substack].
Twitter needs to be character limited.
Making it like FB is weird. It lets the lefties prattle on.
NYT nor WAPO have a twitter like function.
And I can absolutely see the two of them banning Twitter under the auspices of X starting long form journalism.
The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.
I want the bubble to pop badly, partly out of knowing how much the company I work for will hurt from it.
I have the less noble motive of just wanting people to shut up about it.
I want it to stop being the next thing we all have to train for. People have started using AI for product and it shows.
UCS that is a noble motive sir. The less stupidity coming out of peoples’ mouths, the better.
Balko in the NYT. TDS is real.
“It isn’t just the lying; it’s that the lies are wildly exaggerated and easily refutable. All the evidence we’ve seen so far, including a meticulous Times forensic analysis of the available footage, makes clear that at worst, Ms. Good mildly obstructed immigration enforcement, disobeyed ambiguous orders or perhaps attempted to flee an arrest.”
Paywall.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/opinion/ice-shooting-renee-good.html
So, the internal bleeding from being hit by a multi-ton vehicle is only a mild enforcement obstruction? And “Get out of the car! Get out of the car! Get out of the fucking car!” is “ambiguous”?
I see that we’re believing the ‘internal bleeding’ thing without evidence now, even while knowing that cops, as a general rule, will happily fake and/or overstate their injuries for reasons far more trivial than this one.
Even disregarding that claim, it was still clear she hit him before the shots were fired.
SUVs against pedestrians are lethal force.
On that one I will agree with ES.
In this case I’m wondering if any bruising whatsoever is considered “internal bleeding”.
I read there were medical records.
Regardless, after reading her poetry, they should have used shotguns.
I don’t care if there is or isn’t internal bleeding. She was trying to prevent a law enforcement officer from doing his sworn duty, disobeyed a lawful order, attempted to flee, and used a vehicle as a deadly weapon while committing those crimes. All of those actions are supported by video evidence.
End of story.
Yeah I’m not believing the internal bleeding thing either.
I’ve been hit by a car doing between 25 and 30mph without internal bleeding. Dire I broke my back and it pulverized my ankle ect but no internal bleeding.
Cops are notorious for hiding behind an ‘injury’ for time off.
Blocking a road with your vehicle is not “mild obstruction”.
“a meticulous Times forensic analysis”
Well, that settles it.
That really calls in to question Balko’s other reporting on alleged police misconduct. Because he’s revealed himself as a liar with an agenda.
I think he started out legit, but then became the hammer that sees nails everywhere.
mildly obstructed
The new “mostly peaceful”?
“Get out of the car” is as ambiguous as “shall not infringe”
https://archive.fo/LHbUt
You expect someone who made his bones criticizing out-of-control cops to give cops a lot of benefit of the doubt? If that’s TDS, well…
I don’t know his mind, but I know the take is absurd given the evidence of multiple videos of the event.
This is a good reminder that the right can filter reality through their worldview just as easily as the left can.
Everyone filters by their worldview.
It’s how the brain works.
What do you see when you look at the evidence? What evidence do you disregard out of hand? Please, illuminate me.
The first bad choice by Good was to be there at all, the second was to not follow LE orders. This wasn’t like the shooting of Daniel Shaver, and attempting to force it to fit that is toxic femininity.
But if we acknowledge her bad decisions our narrative is lost!
For one thing, I don’t think that the ICE agent was actually hit by the car. Every single video I’ve seen, when examined frame-by-frame, has daylight between car and cop.
So given that, I’m discounting his ‘injuries’ out of hand. Even if he had been struck, I’d still be suspicious, given that both police departments and individual officers frequently overstate line-of-duty injuries.
I don’t think that Good was intentionally trying to drive over the ICE agent. All the ‘evidence’ to the contrary that has been presented is just nonsense.
That said, I do think that the ICE agent was genuinely and reasonably in fear for his life. There’s nothing in self-defense law, anywhere in the United States, that says that you have to actually be injured before you defend yourself. Nor does the mentality of the aggressor come into play.
But (again), just because someone is in fear for their life, doesn’t mean that they can’t make a bad decision. Shooting a pistol into a moving vehicle to stop it from moving is not a good tactic, especially if doing so prevents one from getting to safety.
Overall, what I see is a legally justified but extremely sloppy use of force, that everybody on both sides is trying to twist to their benefit.
Also, I don’t like cops.
By inserting that last sentence, ES, I can discount your whole argument here. But it doesn’t matter if she hit him or not, she is in control of a deadly weapon while fleeing the scene of a crime. This isn’t any different than robbing a bank with a squirt gun: still a weapon in the eyes of law enforcement.
Also, I don’t like cops.
Nooooo…. I couldn’t tell.
I’m mostly with ES here.
I have watched four different videos of the incident and think she brushed the guy. I don’t particularly like cops either, lots of them are scum, body cameras have shown how much restraint they tend to have which is surprising.
Overall a good shoot.
“Ms. Good mildly obstructed immigration enforcement, disobeyed ambiguous orders or perhaps attempted to flee an arrest.”
I still see three crimes, they just added some qualifiers. “Mr. Jones mildly robbed a bank, ambiguously took hostages, and perhaps pointed a gun at police and pulled the trigger.”
[Michael Brown has entered the chat]
Ashli Babbitt mildly obstructed Capitol Police, if that.
Whether the ICE agent acted appropriately or was out of line and should be prosecuted is relevant only to the question of… whether the ICE agent acted appropriately or should be prosecuted.
Unfortunately, it’s cast as a referendum on whether the whole operation of deporting illegal/criminal ‘immigrants’ is valid or not, for some reason.
So the commies have to deify her, cast her as without blame, and the ICE agent as a malevolent, bloodthirsty murderer lest it weaken their case in support for unlimited criminal invasion. For some reason. Might the ICE agent have acted appropriately and Good have been a moron doing moron things and your position that enforcement of immigration laws is wrong and immoral still be true? Nope, because we’re 0th order thinkers and emotional manipulators.
And the supporters of robust immigration enforcement have to excuse the ICE agents action no matter what the evidence may or may not show and cast Good as a malevolent purple haired commie bent on murdering every single law enforcement officer in a 20 mile radius lest the agents inappropriate action invalidate the entire concept of robust immigration law enforcement. For some reason.
Have I mentioned I like person? But hate people.
Yep. And if one tries to interject some nuance into the screaming, they get eagerly spitroasted by both sides.
eagerly spitroasted by both sides.
This is a safe space, ES. No kink shaming here! You be your authentic self.
The reason “it’s cast as a referendum on whether the whole operation of deporting illegal/criminal ‘immigrants’ is valid or not” because that is the only thing they really have to hang their hat on.
They know they don’t have a real argument, so they need heartstring pulling.
They’re not resorting to emotional appeals. They got to their political opinions because they were emotional people from the outset. Emotions are the only thing that matters to their decision making process. The heartstring pulling is the way they think you win an argument.
Same with George Floyd.
“Popstar Tate McRae has revealed her mum would stretch her hips out when she was a baby to ensure she would be flexible when she was older.
The Canadian singer, who is well known for her flexibility and steamy on-stage performances, was asked during an interview her tips for being a successful dancer.
Speaking on the Las Culturistas podcast, she said: ‘My mum says your hips form before you’re two years old, so if you stretch your babies hips, and she did this to me, she would stretch me in the splits before I was two, and so my hips are naturally open because she formed my hips that way. So that’s a trick if you want to have a dancer daughter.””
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-15480331/Tate-McRae-reveals-mum-stretched-hips-two-years-old-flexible-successful-dancer.html
doubt
Loose hips gives tips?
Two year olds can do the splits. They are all flexy.
She’s a 22 year old female gymnast that can do the splits.
Shocking.
I’m gonna need Van Damme to weigh in on this one.
Fed up with Trump, the Danes have brought out the big guns.
He might be a super trooper.
I was expecting something Great from the Danes.
You let me down, dog.
Trump will finnish him with death metal!
There is Norway that will happen.
Danish artillery unit enroute. https://www.ebay.com/itm/286216802790?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=286216802790&targetid=2450249296795&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=9029519&poi=&campaignid=21214315381&mkgroupid=188184246123&rlsatarget=pla-2450249296795&abcId=9407526&merchantid=6296724&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21214315381&gbraid=0AAAAAD_QDh_yo9AvMP1LVr5AdU_5PITUK&gclid=CjwKCAiAj8LLBhAkEiwAJjbY786H0jY_MhVsukPMEoj_hL4zJY81OOxRS_5psI6dIm9efyUVVM1lmxoCE_kQAvD_BwE
Trumo is bluffing about taking Greenland by force, he is just hoping the Danes Sweden the deal.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-15483941/Phil-Collins-details-health-issues-says-Ive-five-knee-operations-24-hour-live-nurse-kidneys-packed-boozing-theres-life-old-dog-yet.html
Who is the old guy playing bass?
“‘Men, please name some clothing items you CANNOT STAND to see on women, like, gives you the instant ick. I’m tryna build a man repellent wardrobe,’ the initial post by an X user known as @_Sorrengailll read.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/lifestyle/fashion/article-15481973/women-clothing-items-ick.html
a man repellent wardrobe?
Tats aren’t considered clothing, are they?
and body piercings
A Burka.
Please, hide yourself from the male gaze.
I suspect that at least some of the rapeyness prevalent among MENA males is due to all the women covering themselves from the Male Gaze. Forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest.
On the other hand, did Victorian England have the same problem? Maybe not.
EvilSheldon:
Wasn’t prostitution still legal (if frowned upon by polite society) during Victorian England?
Good question, I don’t actually know.
Fun fact – a lot of islamic countries have short term marriages that can last as little as a few hours.
But it’s totally not prostitution, that would be Haram.
UCS:
Islamic banking laws/restrictions include some interesting workarounds to not being able to charge interest.
A plastic bag tied tightly over the entire head.
Its just rolling back through the late 80s and 90s…
Handmaid’s outfit?
Just be yourself, hon, that should do it.
A Scold’s Bridle.
From baggy jeans to yoga pants, many popular trends emerged as apparently undesirable to men.
Baggy jeans yes, but athleisure wear?
I can see it. ‘Athleisure wear’, outside the gym, makes you look like a slob. Men too.
On a 250+ pound woman, spandex is not a good look.
Yoga pants are undesirable to men?
I think it’s more who is wearing them.
Yoga pants, layered with a vest, Ugg ‘boots’ visable tats, tramp stamp, facial piercings, ear piercings on top of the ear…
“Live Updates: Trump Says He ‘Won’t Use Force’ to Get Greenland, but Issues Warning”
Bullet. Dodged.
Time to turn attention to Canada
Cajun Navy could do it in a day
It’s actually worse than that. All the important stuff was overrun in about 12 hours. The other 36 was mopping up the pockets of resistance.
And that’s with the Elbows Up.
I would have given it longer just to get to all the places we want to secure.
The biggest issue with aneexing Canada would be not letting them secure the vote until deprogrammed.
Yeah but how many Baldwins survived? That’s what I thought.
How many Canucks would welcome us as liberators?
I bet it would be the same rural/urban divide we have here. The farmers and country rubes would be happy being part of the US. The city folx would be outfitting their SUV’s like the Road Warrior to fight the Marines.
It would be instructional for many to see what a modern siege would look like. Surround Ottowa and cut off the power, food and water and see how long The Resistance lasted. Heck, you could be merciful and simply cut off the internet and cell service and I bet they’d fold in a few days.
That would make for an awesome skit – the resistance deprived of their smart phones because there is no power (to recharge) and no cell signals. The tears of the suddenly disconnected.
That’s some top shelf trolling.
Why even Resist if you can’t live stream your brave, brave virtue?
Jimbo, farmers talk all conservative until it’s time for their subsidy checks.
Canada would rely on drone warfare and would also request assistance from European allies, namely the former imperial powers Britain and France.
LOL!
War Plan Red included the blockade of both coasts of Canada.
I’m sure we’d do the same in any annexation scenario to make it a case of “abandon the Canukistanis or break through the Us Navy”, which won’t end well for anyone seeking to liberate the maple leafs.
Once the Euros decide to aid Canada they will request logistical support from the US …
I particularly liked the part about Canada depending on armed civilian resistance.
Pretty sure the Canadians with arms would likely be happier joining the US.
To be fair, the unofficial record for longest shot against a human target is held by a Canadian sniper.
But I love how the Canadian government, of all people, just ripped the guts out of all the, “Whut yew gonna do with yer AR-15 ‘gainst a TANK?!?! herp derp” arguments.
EvilSheldon:
Oh, I believe that they’ve got some good shots, and my favorite running joke in the Leverage series was that the group was terrified about going up against the Mounties (Interpol, international crime cartel, the US Government? All targets in various episodes/arcs.).
I would think a sticky grenade would be much more effective against a tank than an AR-15, and the people who can make one are also the people who are likely to at least make an attempt with the other.
If all I have is my AR-15, I’m going to avoid the tank.
What I will do is shoot the tank commander when he’s in town on liberty. Or the platoon mechanic – tanks require a shitload of maintenance. Maybe the driver of the fuel truck?
Or…there’s always shooting the politicians that started shit in the first place?
Or…there’s always shooting the politicians that started shit in the first place?
I find your ideas intriguing and wish to
be added to your watch listsubscribe to your newsletter.Perhaps I just prefer the easy fights.
“Work smarter, not harder!”
Tanks have hatches.
Molotov goes into hatch.
Rank runs out of fuel and battery power in a couple of days.
Wait them out.
In other news. I’ve been up three hours.
Thanks new neighbors.
Don’t move out to the country to leave four big LED strip lights on the side of your shop house on all night and then proceed to run two rigs for 25 minutes with the headlights shining down the road into your neighbors bedroom window.
Time to move further out.
Sadly inflation has gobbled up 40% of my savings and everyone moving to Idaho has tripled the land prices.
You need German-style Rollläden.
mmm… Rollladen.
You need a gigantic mirror to send that light right back to them.
Their bedrooms are on the opposite side of their shouse.
Coming from town I’m guessing they have been leaving their lights on for the last twenty years outside and getting to sleep with the aid of a 30 pack of Stones.
I may park my worktruck up by the road to block some of it.
It’s not been a week yet and the stargazing is already ruined. They leave them on during the day too.
Daily Ray of Sunshine
OT – Another SK President in jail. Say it isn’t so…
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/top-ally-south-koreas-yoon-23-years-prison-129410989
Trying to explain to Mrs. Holiness why we don’t actually throw crooked pols into prison (or the electric chair) has been a full time job lately.
She can’t grasp why we all know Ilhan Omar is crooked, but nothing can be done.
I have to admit, that the ROK pol treatment would be my preference too.
I have some sympathy for that view, but I know there’s going to be a double standard when the DP politicians start getting prosecuted.
Ted’S:
the DP politicians
No kink shaming. What a pol and his wife and a very close friend do in their bedroom is their own business.
Mrs. Holiness for Attorney General?
No kink shaming. What a pol and his wife and a very close friend do in their bedroom is their own business.
You see, the love of a pol is unlike that of a square…
“DHS says approximately 100,000 migrants have taken self-deportation bonuses”
Damn I wish we had more of this. It probably saves us money, and doesn’t provide activists with photo ops.
“Usha Vance expecting 4th child”
Foreshadowing? It is Wednesday after all.
“DHS says approximately 100,000 migrants have taken self-deportation bonuses”
And 110,000 of them will cross back over the next time a Democrat is elected.
Just oneER visit probably costs less.
More dang it.
In an emotional statement read to the court, Akie Abe said the sorrow of losing her husband “will never be relieved”.
“I just wanted him to stay alive,” she had said.
Interesting. Japan has the death penalty, but it wasn’t asked for here. I wonder if this played into it.
Life sentence for man who killed Japan’s ex-PM Shinzo Abe
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86v5lj39zpo
“Greenland is clearly in his sights because Trump and his team see it in the same way a predator eyeballs a 14-year-old girl: as an easy target….
Trump’s invasion of Venezuela to seize the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, was similar in its cowardice. Rather than risk a military confrontation, they forced American troops to play the role of the sleazy kidnapper sneaking in windows. The president and his aides all talk like tough guys, but they repeatedly reveal that the only fights they like are the easy ones.”
https://www.salon.com/2026/01/21/epstein-continues-to-explain-everything-about-trump/
“of course, 37-year-old Renee Good, who was killed by an ICE agent after she and her wife lightly taunted him for playing dress-up in his camo.”
Totally what happened.
Renee Good had no wife (legally).
It would be funny if the grandparents moved in and took custody of that poor kid. Since Becca Good has no legal claims to be the kid’s guardian, I don’t think it would be that hard.
Thanks, I was wondering about that.
“the only fights they like are the easy ones”
That’s called being smart. If she wants to criticize anyone for talking tough, remember Biden increasing the bounty on Maduro but not actually doing anything.
It was symbolic!! For symbol-banging monkeys, that’s all that matters.
C’mon TOK!
Everyone knows that real leadership is picking a hard fight that will lead to lots and lots of casualties. Especially if you don’t work with Congress to get approval.
Easy fights are for losers.
Ah nice framing with the 14 year old reference.
That’s some rape fantasy there.
I hope someone has been flooding her email with SugarFree stories.
Not looking like we will get much of that snow here. It will be very cold here though this weekend (-20F on Thursday night and won’t get above 0 until Monday).
The genius move would be for Nick Fuentes to announce a march in solidarity with ICE on Friday and Saturday. It would force the agitators to take to the streets in the bitter cold. Since most of them probably aren’t local, they won’t have the proper gear and will lose a few fingers and toes to frostbite.
Keep announcing changes in venues for your march, so the AWFLs have to keep outside moving around.
will lose a few fingers and toes to frostbite.
The smart play then is to refuse to treat them and send them off to Canada for ‘care’.
We will get somewhere between 0 and 100 inches.
I don’t remember weather forecasts being so hyperbolic as a kid.
Which is surprising because the early ’70s had some really brutal winters. I can remember several blizzards as a kid where were actually snowed in until a neighbor came to plow us out with his tractor.
We even name blizzards now. What is the deal with that?
We even name blizzards now. What is the deal with that?
(dons chase-any-remaining-libertarian-or-libertarian-leaning-females-away hat)
Feminization of culture. A free society cannot survive that. Doffs cap – that is not to say women cannot participate in the culture or leadership, either political or private, but the system must remain fundamentally masculine. When safety and security (and to some degree, focus on the well being of the immediate clan with out consideration of a larger moral framework) become the dominant paradigms of social organization, freedom will not survive the tension. And I would postulate that those are largely feminine traits – when they become dominant, even the males will adhere to them so as to rise to the top of the hierarchy, so it doesn’t really matter if men or women are running things.
PutridMeat:
I blame the Queen Ant who let the grasshopper come in and sponge off them.
The grasshopper did shit all summer and should have died during the winter. He made his choices. But nooooooooo, Queen Ant feels bad that he has to live with the consequences so she lets him in and feeds him.
Think Grasshopper worked next summer?
Jimbo – The grasshopper only raped a few drones and set up a larva learing center with no larva, whycome you hate them and call them a locust?
Queen Ant feels bad that he has to live with the consequences
Puts hat back on: Empathy. A useful and necessary trait. But it needs to be tempered/constrained and not dominate any other consideration.
“Essentially, the debate is about whether Crockett is unelectable because she has done something that voters have consistently complained that candidates — especially Democrats — should do more readily, which is to tell us exactly who they are and what they believe. In other words: Crockett has been too authentic.”
https://www.salon.com/2026/01/21/jasmine-crockett-and-the-cost-of-authenticity/
LOLOLOLOLOL
Uh, is there anyone out there (with a normal chromosome count) who doesn’t know what Democrats believe?
Virginia voters?
I said with a normal chromosome count, Rat.
So Amanduh has some competition there at Salon?
More retards than the special olympics.
Wait, the woman who grew up rich and went to a posh private school isn’t being 100% authentic when she does her ghetto-speak on TV? And people don’t trust her for some reason?
I wonder how the former Native American will react?
Dimon then said he had a “great idea” to help quell disagreement over the proposed card cap, suggesting that the U.S. government impose the pricing controls on Americans in just two states.
Vermont and Massachusetts are the home states of Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, respectively, both of whom support a bill capping card rates at 10% for five years. Dimon didn’t mention the lawmakers by name Wednesday.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/21/jamie-dimon-trump-credit-card-rate-cap-vermont-massachusetts.html
I was entertained that one of my cards offered me a 9.99% promo rate once the 10% cap started being talked about in the media.
Follow the SCIENCE! Believe the CDC!!!
You remember what happened when they suggested limiting taking Acetaminophen?
There is a strong correlation between dyed hair and retardation.
Affects?
Coincidence?
A strong geomagnetic storm could soon interact with Earth’s atmosphere, bringing the potential for northern lights displays to be seen much further south in the continental U.S., according to space weather experts.
A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) — a massive burst of solar material and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere — that occurred on Sunday is expected to reach Earth within the next 24 hours, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center and the U.K.’s Met Office.
I am a luddite ignoramus science hater, but could there possibly be some sort of relationship between solar disruptions and massive winter storms? Crazy, but…
There seems to be an interaction with vivid dreams. Both my wife and I had some crazy dreams this last week.
The. She looked up the space weather and we saw some flashing Aurora the other morning.
Haven’t been around consistently lately so standard drugs/ass…
Midnight Oil co-founder and original drummer Rob Hirst died a day or two ago: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-20/midnight-oil-drummer-rob-hirst-dies/106249816
Co-wrote Beds Are Burning, Blue Sky Mine, Read About It.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofrqm6-LCqs&list=RDOfrqm6-LCqs&start_radio=1
co-founder and original drummer
Was he replaced at some point?
I’m lucky. I drive a Honda Pilot (AWFL approved anti-ICE vehicle).
Others have not been so lucky. Drive the wrong car in Mpls and you will be asked to show your papers. Not by ICE, but by the agitators.
* I was surprised at how hard it was to track this video down. When it happened, it was everywhere for a day or so. Now I spent more than 10 minutes trying to track it down.
I feel so deprived living in a very red enclave – no roaming bands of fascists.
To be fair, I live here and haven’t seen any roaming bands of fascists.
The gym I go to – that has swarms of Somalis – is just as crowded as ever. They sure don’t seem to worry about ICE.
When Trump was elected in 2016, I was staying in downtown Chicago for business. My wife called me to make sure I was safe. I was confused about why she was worried. I had just gotten back to my hotel room after a nice dinner and drinks with colleagues. Everything was normal.
She said she was watching CNN and there were huge protests/riots in Chicago. I turned on the TV and sure enough there was footage from maybe a quarter mile away from my hotel. I got dressed and went down there to check things out. There was a crown of a few hundred people, who were indeed mad about Trump’s election victory. They were jammed into one end of the bridge over the Chicago River (the one that went to Trump Tower). That was the footage that was being seen on TV. The rest of downtown was normal. Heck even outside the Trump Tower was pretty quiet (surrounded by bored cops who had cordoned off about a block around it).
My guess is that the local mobs are the same way. Probably several hundred people who mass up to make it look way bigger than it is on TV.
Two weeks ago, I met a buddy downtown for lunch and I was stunned at how dead downtown Minneapolis was.
When I worked there before Covid, lunch time filled the skyway system with people. Walking anywhere was a chore.
Now? No people at all. All the small lunch shops were closed or gone.
I’ve been told that there are a bunch of back-the-blue types, including ex-cops and military, who’ve been cruising around in blacked-out SUVs waiting for a scold of Karens to try it on. If true, this is better organizational planning than I’ve typically seen from the right.
Holy shit – “you go rent something else”? I wouldn’t have been Minnesota nice about that. You cunt, shut up and leave me alone or this will get seriously ugly fast.
Outlets need to stop posting all these X links breaking up every article.
CNBC: Stocks rebound from big sell-off after Trump rules out military action on Greenland: Live updates
Runes were cast.
Thanks for the edda-fication CNBC!
“Sony just handed its TV business to TCL — here’s what it means for you”
Spyware. Lots of spyware. Next question.
Ugh, I’ve always owned Sony TVs. When the current one dies looks like it’ll be a different brand like Samsung with their cartoon color pictures.
Same here. Glad I just bought the new big ‘un. They last forever.
I don’t hook my “smart” TVs up to the WiFi anyway. So they, at least, aren’t spying on me.
Yikes! Why would they do that?
It’s bizarre. TCL inked a deal with Google first to make thier products, now this.
Previously they dumped Roku as Roku didn’t make a ton of money for them and also resisted invasive spyware. Roku actually banned the YouTube app for a while over their built in spyware.
Not that Roku os perfect, but they did actively resist prying eyes at one point.
“Two Tier Keir Has a Problem Called ‘Waifu Amelia’ and It Is Screamingly Funny”
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2026/01/19/two-tier-keri-has-a-problem-called-waifu-amelia-and-it-is-screamingly-funny-n3811000
STIJLTH
And the AI meme wars have begun
https://twitchy.com/gordon-k/2026/01/21/uk-labour-amelia-gimmick-backfires-n2424192
I had a hypothesis about her character design.
My thought is that the designer went “Right-wingers hate dyed hair and piercings, if we give the right-wing activist dyed hair and piercings, they’ll hate her too.” but failed to realize that the personality traits that go along eith the dye and pericings are the bigger factor, so the character design didn’t have the intended effect.
I’d invite her over for tea and crumpets.
UCS:
They had a similar thought.
That’s great!
I started watching anime in the early 90s. Character design hits us young Gen Xers nicely.
It would be a shame if everyone started shouting “You go Amelia, we love you!” at every woman with dyed hair.
Think of the trauma that being associated with a Right Winger would cause those poor women. Why they might have to give up their dyed hair! How would they virtue signal to their fellow travelers?
Also, seems like a good place to repost this video of another HR attempt to social engineer our behaviors
That’s amazing.
Did Harry Sisson age out of Democratic favor?
https://twitchy.com/warren-squire/2026/01/21/cameron-kasky-retracts-trump-sex-trafficking-ring-accusation-made-on-cnn-n2424185
Who is this chode?
The less competent David Hogg.
Just another grifter that survived the school shooting in Florida.
It is amazing that the killer chose a school to shoot up that was filled – FILLED! – with moral giants. Our nation is lucky to have these kids lead us to a glorious future.
Tuffgai
alifornia’s Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a strong message to global leaders on Tuesday, urging them to take a stand against President Donald Trump.
“People are rolling over. I should have brought a bunch of kneepads for all the world leaders,” Newsom told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “It’s just pathetic.”
Newsom made reference to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado regifting her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump during a visit to the White House last week and said the behavior around the President is “embarrassing.”
Badass surf punk speaks truth to power, shames world leaders.
I invite Gavin Newsom to take California out of the union. And then we can ban future general immigration from his new country, instead requiring strict guidelines for income and competence.
Kommiela probably could have lent Newsome a couple sets of knee pads?
On international trade, the French President took aim directly at the U.S., describing Trump’s policies as ones that “undermine our [European] export interests, demand maximum concessions and openly aim to weaken and subordinate Europe, combined with an endless accumulation of new tariffs that are fundamentally unacceptable.”
Macron said that industries in Europe, such as chemical and automotive sectors, “are being literally killed by the lack of respect for a normal framework and [a] level playing field.”
If anybody is killing off European industry it’s the EU.
Fairly drawn? Maryland pushes forward with redistricting
“From the start, our commitment has been simple: put Marylanders in the driver’s seat,” Alsobrooks continued. “This process has been conducted in the open, with opportunities for the public to participate, weigh in, and submit their own map proposals for consideration. All Marylanders—regardless of party, background, or zip code—can engage with this process, see the options, and make their voice heard.”
I’d respect it more if they just said “fuck yeah we’re grabbing power.”
On strike
People across the country walked out of school and work on Tuesday afternoon as part of a nationwide walkout to protest the Trump Administration.
Dubbed the “Free America Walkout,” the protest took place on the anniversary of President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. The movement is protesting the actions Trump has taken since returning to office, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, National Guard deployments, and threats to transgender rights.
They have brought the country to its knees.
Wait. I unaware this was nationwide. Does this mean I still get paid?
I had no idea.
These people are laughable.
“One year into Trump’s second regime, we face an escalating fascist threat,” the Free America website reads. “It is time for our communities to escalate as well. On January 20 at 2 PM local time, we will walk out of work, school, and commerce. We will withhold our labor, our participation, and our consent. A free America begins the moment we refuse to cooperate. This is not a request. This is a rupture. This is a protest and a promise. In the face of fascism, we will be ungovernable.”
Huh.
Are you listening Virginians?
You need to save democracy by refusing to go along with Spanberger’s new laws. Form mobs if you must, but you have to prevent the person who was elected from being able to enact the stuff she promised during the campaign.
Huh
Didn’t even notice it. Perhaps we should encourage the to really protest and stay ‘walked out’ forever. Wonder if anyone would notice? Kind of like disabling a service or taking a server offline and seeing if anyone complains. Directly tells you whether maintenance on said service/server is worth the time or not.
Re ChatGPT encouraging people to give in to their basest mentally ill urges. I’m of 2 minds on this.
I actually do use it to vent, to ask some health questions, to try to sort out what labels I’m using that are not inaccurate, but not consistent with the way the rest of the world uses labels, which has always been a problem in my life. I can usually tell when it’s blowing smoke up my ass, but it really just gives me a starting point, and when it does something irritating, I yell at it and go away. I like that I can be rude in ways I can’t to actual people who cross the same boundaries. So, I like its availability.
However, people being validated in their absolutely outrageous solutions to whatever problems is a real problem because people are mentally ill and stupid. Maybe AI shouldn’t be so agreeable. I don’t know if you can program that away or if that’s a feature not a bug.
HOWEVER however, I ALSO don’t think AI should be programmed to report anything.
Now, onto creative endeavors.
One thing ChatGPT did that made me just want to take a sledgehammer to my computer was regarding my books. I asked it 3 very specific questions, which necessitated that I break down my concept.
1. What genre is this, i.e., what label should I use for marketing purposes?
2. Have any of these concepts (x4) ever been done?
3. Please suggest music for concept #1 since that’s the one I’m working on right now.
Okay.
All that went pretty well, UNTIL it
A. Told me one of my concepts (#4) was “fresh as hell” (with italics). W.T.F. No. Stop it. You aren’t my friend.
B. Started to tell me how to write a book and in particular, this concept (#1) even to the point of breaking down the story arc into a 3-act structure, inventing shit on the fly, sketching my characters, and TELLING ME HOW TO END THE BOOK.
Are you fucking kidding me. I had to yell at it that I don’t need help writing a book. Answer the questions I ask you. I’m VERY precise about what I want to know.
Oh, I forgot where I was going with that.
I don’t like people throwing AI-created slop onto Amazon and it being eaten up by the masses either not knowing or caring that it’s AI slop so long as their dopamine buttons are smacked. But hey, it’s like piracy. It happens. That’s the price you pay for putting your work out there.
OTOH, I can’t draw. I like being able to plug my words into ChatGPT and getting an image, sometimes pretty close to what’s in my head, but never hitting the bullseye. I’m not using AI to make my book covers or write my books. I just want to see with my eyeballs what my mind’s eye sees.
Pinterest is chock full of AI images that are super pretty (landscapes, clothes, interior design). I KNOW they’re AI generated, but they do exactly what I want them to do, which is to smack my dopamine buttons.
THEN there’s AI-generated music in genres that humans aren’t interested in making and if they do, they don’t get any airplay (or I can’t find it) with lyrics that actually pretty fucking good, but am I contributing to AI consumption or is it actually superior to the might-as-well-be-AI-generated crap on Spotify? I don’t know the answers to any of these questions.
And the LAST problem is when you’re not using AI at all but people who are confident in their ability to spot AI say it’s all AI generated. Like, I’m starting to be able to spot AI art, but I can’t spot AI text. Maybe I’m not paying attention. Maybe I’m just so sick of confident people saying the tell is em-dashes. Bitch, please. AI’s trained on real people’s writing and real people love em-dashes.
With the models I’ve played with, AI when writing text loves repetition, it’s ‘voice’ has a reverb, if that makes any sense. It’s work is also not very good, especially the longer the piece gets, the more it forgets – at least in details. It will contradict itself or seemingly otherwise forget something established earlier. Foreshadowing is beyond it’s ability, as is character depth.
I will caveat that the models I’ve played with ran locally and were not the latest and greatest fool the meatbags language models.
B. Started to tell me how to write a book and in particular, this concept (#1) even to the point of breaking down the story arc into a 3-act structure, inventing shit on the fly, sketching my characters, and TELLING ME HOW TO END THE BOOK.
Maybe AI is more advanced than I gave it credit for.
Oh, it was completely formulaic* and soulless. There wasn’t a speck of creativity in it. It was just collating tropes and standard characterization.
Like, no, I’m in the middle of having my hero ask my heroine to seriously consider whether she could believe in demon possession or not, as a condition of his revealing his deep, dark secret so they can or cannot have a relationship.
AI’s not going to be able to whip that up out of wholecloth.
*My formula is the genre expectation, which is a happily ever after. It follows the same course as any OTHER story in the history of good storytelling,** in various numbers of acts and one story arc. Every genre has one (or more) requirement for it to be called [insert genre label here].
**Except Elmer Gantry, who doesn’t learn a damn thing and the book ends with his continuing his nefarious ways with no resolution whatsoever.
Formulaic and soulless.
AI is Steven King?
Actually, I consider Elmer Gantry less a story and more a character study.
Elmer Gantry
*shudders*
Read it for 1520 Main. I have to read the books I name-check.