Thursday (Opening Day!) Morning Links

by | Mar 30, 2023 | Daily Links | 373 comments

YES!!!!!

It’s Opening Day. We finally made it through the offseason and are ready for some pitch clock baseball.  I absolutely cannot wait. I’m hoping, and so is this king, the Astros repeat. But that’s a long time from now and we’ve got 162 games we can all enjoy this season before the playoffs.  Good luck to all your teams as we get underway.  And that’s it for sports.

You keep kicking the hornets nest, eventually you’re gonna get stung. This guy is most likely collateral damage in the escalating war of words our administration has been waging against a nation we are not at war with. I feel bad for him, but he should have assessed the risks and gotten out of there some time ago. But I’m sure we can swap another international arms dealer for his return or something.

Broken Brain Syndrome

Of course he won’t. But he won’t sign it either. Because he’s a dickhead who wants it to continue so the house of cards doesn’t come crashing down on his watch. Besides, he can just ignore the law and act through Eos anyway. They’ve all done it for decades now.

Well…good! Hopefully they’ll keep racking up Ws and the public education cabal gets chucked out completely.

Oh well, you made the rules. Expect people to protest by abiding by them and pointing out the absurdity of your policies by doing stuff like this.

Wait, she’s still on the job? Are they saying a lack of promotion is sufficient? Because I gotta think in the private sector this would be handled a bit differently. End. All. Pubsec. Unions. Now.

He’s sick all right.

I hope he heals completely. I also hope he finds another calling while in there. Because he’s miserably failing at his current job.

Blind squirrel, meet acorn. They finally got something right. Now if they could just repeat the process for a lot of other shit (like birth control, most cold medicine, and a host of other things) medical costs for people could come down dramatically.

What you call “restricting” many would call “protecting.” Hopefully this passes soon so women and girls can feel safe competing against those who don’t have an outsized biological advantage.

I always liked these guys. Sure, they were a bit odd, but you can’t deny how catchy that sound was. What a pair of great songs. Enjoy them both.

And enjoy this lovely day as we get back to some baseball, dear friends!

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

373 Comments

  1. AlexinCT

    It’s Opening Day.

    The great American pastime has gone boring..

    • UnCivilServant

      Has been since the 1800s.

      • AlexinCT

        Loved it as a kid. I played & watched. These days all I see is spoiled rich fuckers dragging the game on for too long for no reason.

      • UnCivilServant

        I loved playing it as a kid – I was less excited about spectating.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Slow sport; makes for good movies though.

      • AlexinCT

        Only the ones where Tom Berenger gets to bang Renee Russo?

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Bad News Bears, A League of Their Own, Pride of the Yankees, et al.

      • AlexinCT

        Nobody up to bat got asked if they had nekked pics of their wife or if they wanted to buy some from their catcher, so yea, not top of the line.

      • Michael Malaise

        Susan Sarandon/Tim Robbins/Kevin Costner not do it for you?

      • AlexinCT

        Did they trash talk the players?

      • R C Dean

        Then you should like the new rules.

      • Grumbletarian

        Well, most of them. I like the pitch clock. Not too sure about limiting pick off attempts.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I think there are gonna be some unintended consequences, once they figure it out.

    • juris imprudent

      MLS is what, 5 weeks in.

      • rhywun

        MLS is dead to me now that they pulled my teams off of regional sports channels.

      • robc

        MLS is dead to me since they didn’t have relegation from the start.

      • rhywun

        I used to like watching the 2nd tier before it too disappeared from cable.

      • juris imprudent

        Why can’t baseball exhibit the same greed for streaming revenue?

      • robc

        They were just getting started as I left town, but if I had stayed around AND they had a path to MLS, I probably would have become a Louisville City season ticket holder.

        But without said path, it was just another minor league team. And yes, they never would have been able to stay up. But that just makes the rare years in the MLS that much better.

      • juris imprudent

        Louisville City as Sunderland eh?

        OK, now this could be a fun game – which American city/soccer club would correspond to an English one. For example, what would America’s answer to Millwall be?

      • robc

        Compton?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        MLS commissioner hints league could introduce relegation in major revamp

        Major League Soccer is expected to announce a 30th team later this year – most likely in Las Vegas or San Diego – but changes are needed in the feeder leagues before the prospect of relegation can be introduced. Speaking at the official MLS season launch in New York this week, Garber explained: “The league needs to be larger for all the reasons that make sense.

        “Not the least that we’re trying to grow the connectivity of a professional league in a market/environment when you don’t have to worry about that in any other country in the world. I’ll be in Germany in the end of March, their football scene has been there for 100 years. We’re creating it a new.

        “We’re doing it without promotion and relegation. You can’t ask someone like Carolyn [Kindle] and her family to invest $700million and then find out if they have a bad year you might be playing in a league that can’t provide the opportunity that MLS can. By the way, that may change at some point a generation from now.

        A throwaway comment at the end, but yeah I am not following until they do relegation.

        Also 30 teams? You already have enough for promotion and relegation.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, it’s not gonna happen when at least 10 of those teams would have to agree to self-relegating.

      • robc

        “You can’t ask someone like Carolyn [Kindle] and her family to invest $700million and then find out if they have a bad year you might be playing in a league that can’t provide the opportunity that MLS can.”

        This is exactly why the Glasers wanted a super league.

      • robc

        I think the only way it would have happened is bottom up.

        Start with a bunch of regional leagues, then promote up the best teams. You wouldn’t be spending mega-millions at the start, it wouldn’t cost much to by the ground floor of one of those smaller teams.

      • rhywun

        The problem is that pro/rel is not compatible with the way American sports operates. They wanted to ape the bigger leagues; well that’s what they got. There is a reason there is no pro/rel in any American league.

      • robc

        I would like to point out that I made some pretty funny jokes in that article, and it has excellent music links too.

        Example of the former: “It would have prevented all the failed competing major league attempts, like the Players League and the Federal League and the American League.”

      • Fatty Bolger

        MLS has been dead to me since they canceled the World Series in 1994.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Um, MLB. Boy did I misread that.

    • DrOtto

      Most sports are fun to play, but hard to watch for me. Except golf. That’s hard to watch and sucks to play.

  2. AlexinCT

    Of course he won’t. But he won’t sign it either. Because he’s a dickhead who wants it to continue so the house of cards doesn’t come crashing down on his watch. Besides, he can just ignore the law and act through Eos anyway. They’ve all done it for decades now.

    Over and under of how fast these fuckers will invent or exaggerate something into another crisis ot get back to fucking robbing the productive blind while selling the country out to our enemies?

    • Drake

      If he doesn’t sign it, isn’t that a Pocket Veto?

      • Rat on a train

        Only if Congress is not in session.

        If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a Law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a Law.

  3. Not Adahn

    “In a fit of rage, defendant Guerra ignored all protocol, retrieved her soiled underwear and violently shoved them into Falcon’s mouth and then aggressively rubbed them all over Falcon’s face,

    Surely she knows she can get paid to do this.

    • Not Adahn

      The Pubsec Union in question’s response:

      <blockquoteAndrew Quinn, attorney for the NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association, said it was “truly regrettable and perplexing” that the department would rescind Guerra’s promotion.

      “The Department has known about these allegations for at least four years, has never accused Sergeant Guerra of any type of misconduct and has aggressively defended her against Detective Falcon’s allegations in his lawsuit against her,” Quinn said.

      “I am hopeful that the Department realizes its error and reinstates Sergeant Guerra’s hard-earned and well-deserved promotion, which is in everyone’s best interests.”

      • AlexinCT

        She should be made a lieutenant and put in charge of morale. I sure would like her to abuse me with her underwear while she talks dirty to me… I would be all gung ho to go shoot someone’s dog after that.

    • AlexinCT

      Stick it in plastic jars and sell in from vending machines…. I hear that’s one of Japan’s greatest profit industries…

    • Sean

      That’s kinda hot…but the incident is still open after almost 5 years? WTF?

      • AlexinCT

        They should take it to court and ask for a reenactment… and do pay-per-view

      • SDF-7

        I am so whitebread around here… that kink doesn’t do anything for me other than a mild gross-out. But y’all do y’all and all.

      • Sean

        Wait, can we do non-kink shaming?

      • Michael Malaise

        What if shaming people IS my kink?

      • Not Adahn

        It’s the magikal Law of Contagion: things that have contacted a pussy contain the essence of pussy.

      • AlexinCT

        Pussy-adjacent…

      • juris imprudent

        You better be careful about that, it could lead to homopathy (since dick has contacted pussy).

      • R C Dean

        Oh, well played.

      • Ted S.

        Homeopathic pussy?

  4. AlexinCT

    Oh well, you made the rules. Expect people to protest by abiding by them and pointing out the absurdity of your policies by doing stuff like this.

    My company started “encouraging” everyone to put their pronouns in their profiles and email signatures. When I put in I identified as a space aircraft carrier/battlestar, I had a bunch of people complain I was not taking their idiocy seriously. They were expecting me to complain about it. I instead doubled down and told them they were insulting me and dismissing how I identified. I was told I didn’t need to put in pronouns then. Lots of others seem to have followed my example despite the fact my company is a woke one. That requirement quickly went away and today you can tell someone is in HR when you see that pronoun shit on their communications.

    • WTF

      We have the option to add pronouns, but it’s not encouraged. I told my boss I was going to put “Holiness/Majesty” but he said “please don’t, give me a break” so I didn’t do it.

      • rhywun

        I saw an encouragement to do so in the newsletter, snorted, and got back to work.

        I have not seen a single example of anyone doing it.

        The fact that the country is agonizing so much over this crap is fucking embarrassing. Is it any wonder that our adversaries are starting to wipe the floor with us?

      • wdalasio

        What if I identify as the Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe?

      • Bobarian LMD

        THAT’S MY JOB!

      • Not Adahn

        *jabs with gom jabbar*

    • SDF-7

      We’re “encouraged” to some extent — but not very aggressively. Most folks don’t bother and no one says a peep that I’m aware of.

      I have one coworker that does it — I ascribe that to him living in Minnesota and having attended University of Wisconsin: Madison — everyone I know that went there is pretty lefty (and I work in California). He’s a good guy, so I don’t think he’s raving or anything… I suspect he just thinks it is the Nice Thing To Do.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      you can tell someone is in HR when you see that pronoun shit on their communications

      Yep. That and certain areas of legal (compliance).

      • Rat on a train

        They could be upper management.

      • R.J.

        If so, it is a sign from God that you should leave the company and not look back, let you become a pillar of salt.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      I’ve noticed the pronoun shit skews heavily female. And deballed males.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      The big four accounting firm I work with has gone wild with pronouns in email signatures. If I had more power I would suggest we dump them and hire a new firm.

      Of course, the partners are not playing along, nor is the Indian (from India) woman I occasionally email.

    • R C Dean

      It’s a handy flag for the weak-minded. I’ve never done it, even in DEI classes when everybody goes around the room and introduces themselves, etc. If anybody asks me to, I’ll just say there’s no need, because it’s self-evident and even if someone gets it wrong, I won’t take offense.

      • R.J.

        “Hi, my name is R C Dean, and I am a BLEACH DEMON.”

    • The Last American Hero

      I saw one the other day where the pronouns were Nig/ga

  5. Shpip

    A conservative nonprofit group founded by former Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said it poured about $9 million into state elections last year, backing nearly 200 candidates. Now, some of those candidates are pushing a wave of legislation boosting DeVos’ longtime goal: subsidizing private schools with public dollars.

    It’s not complete separation of school and state, but I’m willing to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

    • AlexinCT

      The one institution in the US that I will admit suffers from sever and systemic racism is the public school system. Granted, their goal is to undermine every kid’s ability to get a decent education, but wat is being done to minorities in urban areas is downright criminal and evil.

      School money should be tied to the student. Not some baby sitting building where the teacher’s union members hold kids hostage for 9 months out of the year while inculcating them with beliefs that would make sure they can never grow up to be productive, self-sufficient, and successful adults.

      • rhywun

        wat is being done to minorities in urban areas is downright criminal and evil

        I think the parents play a bigger role than most people are willing to admit. The best teachers in the world are going to have a mighty struggle with kids who don’t want to learn.

      • AlexinCT

        I can’t argue with the fact that too often the problem is the parents, not just for minorities, mind you, but one can’t also miss the point that public schools have become indoctrination centers with destructive consequences. When someone tells you you are evil because of the color of your skin or that you can’t succeed in your country because of that, it causes damage. Especially when the educators go out of their way to make sure your children’s brains are filled with idiocy and that they learn no skills that can help them grow into someone that can join a productive society.

        And I doubt the best teachers in the world would ever be found in urban public schools. They would know better.

      • WTF

        And I doubt the best teachers in the world would ever be found in urban public schools.

        As an ex-teacher (literally decades ago), I can tell you that the only people teaching in those schools are people who had no choice because they couldn’t get a job anywhere else.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        When I was in between jobs, I did a short stint as substitute teacher. My very first day was in a dangerous middle school right smack in the middle of the projects. Young 20s SSD, button down shirt, and the only white person within a square mile.

        When I walked into the school lobby, an old sub looked at me and asked how long I’d been subbing. He laughed hysterically after hearing it was my first day. Then he sobered up and said I needed leave now. I stayed of course, and even ended up coming back a few more times there and to other schools. Those kids are fucked. Drugs and gangs are rampant. Anyone who tries to learn is made fun of and dragged down by their peers. It’s tragic to watch. And its all designed that way by the government.

        What I remember most from the stint is a high school. The admin put me on hall monitor duty during a break between classes. I sat in a chair next to two security guards asking to check hall passes for 45 minutes. I started to ask one guy for his hall pass and the guards told me to stop and waved him through. The guards told me the guy was connected and they gave him a free pass. Otherwise his boys would visit their homes and they had families. The guards were huge. Probably were linebackers in high school. And they were terrified.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Season 4 of The Wire.

      • WTF

        Correct. The best indicator of academic achievement is not money spent per pupil, or teacher salaries, or teacher credentials, or programs, or facilities, or class size. It’s parental engagement.

      • Raven Nation

        And the correct kind of parental engagement. Anecdotally, I’ve had a number of friends who are good teachers tell me that parental engagement, even in upper-middle class schools, is often limited to, “why didn’t you give my child an A. They need a 4.0 to get into the right college.”

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Ah yes, the same people who think that little Johnnie and Janie are getting scholarships because they scored a goal in 2nd grade soccer.

      • Rat on a train

        Don’t ruin their retirement plan of their kid being a pro athlete.

      • juris imprudent

        And thus the experts would be very happy to completely disengage parents so that the experts can have control.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Soros, of course.

        That is one evil motherfucker.

      • Michael Malaise

        I do think we should prohibit out-of-state money for state offices. But of course no one will vote for that.

      • The Last American Hero

        Why is the right bending over and taking it up the backside? Where are the modern day Koch’s?

      • R C Dean

        Bringing the barrel of lube?

    • Raven Nation

      “subsidizing private schools with public dollars.”

      It’s like medieval alchemy: magically converting private money to public money.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      $9 million? That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the teachers’ unions.

    • AlexinCT

      The western world is run by a bunch of crime syndicates that have gaslighted a large portion of their populations into believing the only criminals are those running other cuntries..

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        It can’t continue forever. When it inevitably unwinds, it’s going to be spectacular.

        I can’t decide if I want to be around long enough to see it.

      • juris imprudent

        In microcosm, that right there is the human fascination with apocalypse.

      • Fourscore

        For a long time I was worried that I wouldn’t be around to see it, now I’m afraid I will be.

      • rhywun

        inorite??

      • AlexinCT

        Word.

      • Drake

        Welcome to “rules based” government. They just don’t distribute the rulebook.

      • juris imprudent

        Rules based, according to Calvin and Hobbes.

    • AlexinCT

      The left is real good at blaming the victims when said victims are their political enemies. Can you imagine the kabuki theatre from the fucking evil shitbags trying to say the real criminal was the people that made this mentally deranged evil woman commit this heinous crime, if someone had attacked some trans people?

    • WTF

      Not just stupid and deranged, outright evil.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Bowman is a real piece of work. He perfectly captures the emotive aspect of modern America.

      • WTF

        I love how he just shouts falsehoods, but it’s good because he’s “passionate”.

      • SDF-7

        “Everything I know about Political Debate, I learned in Kindergarten!” (literally, apparently)

      • rhywun

        Shut up, commie.

    • sloopyinca

      “I’m not a parent, but if I…”

      “Good. Now shut the fuck up, you asshole.”

  6. juris imprudent

    Moron tries desperately to build a case for world war, which of course will be one by the glorious coalition of democracies led by the infallible and all-conquering USA.

    Then came the attack by an Iranian-origin drone on a U.S. military facility in Syria, killing an American contractor and wounding seven more—the same drones that Iran supplies to Russia in its war in Ukraine. Again, the administration seemed unsure how to respond, even though the attack makes it undeniable that the Russia-China de facto alliance includes a third revisionist power, namely Iran.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      even though the attack makes it undeniable that the Russia-China de facto alliance includes a third revisionist power, namely Iran

      Not even wrong. What it makes obvious is that Turkey is withdrawing from the shitshow that is Syria and realigning itself, thus giving more room for the “insurgents” to attack the American position. Nevermind the entire realignment of national interests in the Middle East and beyond as everyone is abandoning the American Empire at the same time. That trend is only going to accelerate.

      Of course, that interpretation doesn’t give the warhawks their justification for going after Iran.

      • Drake

        We are in the process of losing India too. They’ve long been rivals with China and very friendly with Russia. Our stupid State Department is trying to bully them into opposing Russia and is instead driving them further into BRICS and reconciliation with China.

        Most of the non-European world seems really fed up with this administration’s bullshit.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Once the wall of resistance to changing the world power structure is broken, everyone races to cut new deals as they don’t want to be left out in the cold.

        DC’s arrogance is truly historic in its ineptness.

      • juris imprudent

        It isn’t just this administration, it is the foreign-policy blob. Kinda weird that Obama would have that figured out.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      An Arsenal of Democracies

      The choice of words is apt.

    • Rat on a train

      We could get out of Syria. Syria doesn’t want us there.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      my raw milk semimoist washed rind cheese

      I think you can get antibiotics to treat that.

      • SDF-7

        He’s hoping it will make his underwear marketable.

    • rhywun

      Neat. At least it’s a gadget that goes in the fridge and not shoved into an overflowing drawer or something.

    • Michael Malaise

      “raw milk semimoist washed rind cheese”

      Yikes!

      • Not Adahn

        It was a bit stinky, but good.

      • juris imprudent

        Sounds like a reblochon.

  7. Shpip

    Had a bit of a setback this week. My New Year’s resolution was to train for the Iron Man Challenge, and I thought that I had been making significant progress. Then the other day, one of my buddies had me detail my plans, and informed me that I was doing everything wrong, would only injure myself, and that I would have to start again from scratch. Dammit.

    On the plus side, my shirts have never looked better!

    • Sean

      You bought an iron?

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      And your bull terrier avatars are so cute. Where do you find them?

      • Shpip

        I know a guy…

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        A Mr. Mackenzie?

    • UnCivilServant

      my shirts have never looked better!

      Changed your dry cleaner?

    • PieInTheSky

      Just get a beer some chips and watch it on youtube

  8. SDF-7

    Just quordle today — duotri seems to be having server issues. The Mediocrity Must Flow!

    Daily Quordle 430
    8️⃣3️⃣
    5️⃣6️⃣
    m-w.com/games/quordle

    • Sean

      Daily Quordle 430
      7️⃣3️⃣
      4️⃣6️⃣
      m-w.com/games/quordle

      Blossom Puzzle, March 30
      Letters: E H L U N S T
      My score: 250 points
      My longest word: 11 letters
      🌸 🌼 🌻 🏵 🌷 💐 🌺 💮 🌹 🌸 🌼

      Play Blossom:
      https://www.merriam-webster.com/games/blossom-word-game

    • Tundra

      Daily Quordle 430
      7️⃣4️⃣
      6️⃣5️⃣

      Line

    • Fourscore

      Particularly touching. All my grandparents were gone by the time I was born, I didn’t know there was such a thing until a friend introduced me to his when I was about 7-8 years old. Now I have to wait a few months to be a great grandpa. Well, I am a GREAT grandpa but you know what I mean.

      Thanks, Jimbo

      • Tundra

        Yes. Yes you are.

    • Tundra

      Wonderful. Definite day-brightener.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      a dumb attempt to rebrand marxism through race since class won’t work in a country where opportunity used to be available to all

      Class doesn’t work anywhere. Wasn’t that one of Gramsci’s points?

      • juris imprudent

        But, but, Hegel… dialectic. If it can’t be decomposed to two opposing elements, you can’t be all Hegelian. Besides, Marxists know that MATERIALISM is the highest value.

      • R C Dean

        Class worked just fine in Russia and China, damn near worked in Weimar Germany, and seems to be a successful strategy for getting commies in power in misc. Latin American and Asian countries.

      • juris imprudent

        I can give the Trotskyites this much credit – they know that there hasn’t been a successful revolution because every instance has become degenerated (per the theory). Of course if they were truly scientific socialists, they’d know that is a problem in the theory. But this isn’t now and never has been scientific.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I’d argue that class was conflated with different ethnic and cultural distinctions in those cases, but your point is good.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        damn near worked in Weimar Germany

        Isn’t Weimar where much of the intellectual cruft that has congealed into wokeness came from? It has been a while since I read The Road to Serfdom, but I remember the shift from class to race and gender being a big takeaway for me.

  9. robc

    One of my favorite questions to ask:

    Do you support public education or public schools?

    While it isn’t my preference, I think I could steelman a decent case for the former. I use the former in fact, as my daughter is in a charter school.

    I have never gotten a coherent answer.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      I wish someone like Corey DeAngelis would go on Rogan. Joe is constantly confusing education with compulsory/government provided schooling.

  10. juris imprudent

    Longish read and very interesting. This bit was news to me:

    In his last days in office, President Barack Obama made the decision to set the country on a new course. On Dec. 23, 2016, he signed into law the Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act, which used the language of defending the homeland to launch an open-ended, offensive information war.

    Something in the looming specter of Donald Trump and the populist movements of 2016 reawakened sleeping monsters in the West. Disinformation, a half-forgotten relic of the Cold War, was newly spoken of as an urgent, existential threat. Russia was said to have exploited the vulnerabilities of the open internet to bypass U.S. strategic defenses by infiltrating private citizens’ phones and laptops. The Kremlin’s endgame was to colonize the minds of its targets, a tactic cyber warfare specialists call “cognitive hacking.”

    I love how lefties completely miss that Trump and Sanders had a fair bit of common populist ground in their respective appeals. But the real thing here is the hubris of our cyber warfare specialists. Hey smart guys, how’s that worked out wherever we’ve tried it?

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      I’ve always hated the term “cyber.” It stinks of an effort to reframe what its actual purpose is, namely to control the flow of information.

      To DC, the primary threat to their agenda comes from a recalcitrant populace.

      • AlexinCT

        People that know you are an evil and corrupt crime syndicate willing to sacrifice them all for your own benefit, might not be as inclined to go along with whatever lunacy you try to program them to believe.

    • rhywun

      The Kremlin’s endgame was to colonize the minds of its targets, a tactic cyber warfare specialists call “cognitive hacking.”

      Laughable. But it’s been all Russia! Russia! Russia! even since.

      • PieInTheSky

        To be fair I am sure Russia is happy about some of the crap infesting western minds. Maybe they even helped.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Mostly Davos/WEF/Soros.

      • PieInTheSky

        mostly probably. But I doubt Russian didn’t help along.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        I don’t see why they would have prior to the Ukraine debacle. Moscow wanted to sell oil and gas to the West. That would have been contrary to their economic goals.

      • PieInTheSky

        Moscow wanted to sell oil and gas to the West. – yes. they also wanted to weaken and divide it.

      • PieInTheSky

        I don;t get where the notion comes that Russia was happy minding it’s own business and selling oil/

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        yes. they also wanted to weaken and divide it.

        I see no evidence of that. If anything, they seemed to hold on to rapprochement with the West for far too long to serve their own interests. Meanwhile the rhetoric from DC against “Putin” has been escalating for well over a decade now.

        Moscow put an enormous amount of capital, economic and political, in Nordstream. The geopolitical ramifications of that are far more significant than any “cognitive hacking” via Facebook ads or 4chan troll posts.

        The only real “cognitive hacking” going on is the effort to get you to ignore the obvious. The US was and is intent on preventing a German/Russian economic alliance as it would be a peer competitor to the American hegemon. It doesn’t matter what the costs are in blood and treasure, and it may end up bringing down the American Empire anyway.

      • juris imprudent

        Pie, if I were confronted with a belligerent military alliance that was only pointed at me, it would be in my interest to weaken and/or divide it.

      • rhywun

        Their influence pales in comparison to China’s.

      • PieInTheSky

        I think China may do more but be less effective but I dunno

      • Drake

        Agree – they seem to be much better at subtle propaganda than the Ruskies.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        China exerts more influence through the most effective way of getting at American politicians, they buy them.

      • rhywun

        China got us to willingly hand over tons of intellectual property and zip our lips over their human rights abuses and their ongoing conquest of international waters. That’s more consequential than anything Russia has achieved.

        Russia would be more effective if they had something we wanted, like say a billion eager consumers.

      • AlexinCT

        China got us to willingly hand over tons of intellectual property and zip our lips over their human rights abuses and their ongoing conquest of international waters.

        And they stole the other stuff they wanted but didn’t get handed over, especially the military tech (when people like Bill Clinton wasn’t outright selling them nuclear miniaturization and ballistic missile tech for campaign contributions), and everyone turned a blind eye to it because they loved that big market and their projected profits.

        Fucking Lenin was right about buying the rope from the capitalist idiot he wanted to hang.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Because the CIA and the DOD haven’t been developing “cognitive hacking” for the past seven decades?

      • juris imprudent

        MK ULTRA baby.

    • juris imprudent

      It would be nice to call what has taken place a tragedy, but an audience is meant to learn something from a tragedy. As a nation, America not only has learned nothing, it has been deliberately prevented from learning anything while being made to chase after shadows. This is not because Americans are stupid; it’s because what has taken place is not a tragedy but something closer to a crime. Disinformation is both the name of the crime and the means of covering it up; a weapon that doubles as a disguise.

      The crime is the information war itself, which was launched under false pretenses and by its nature destroys the essential boundaries between the public and private and between the foreign and domestic, on which peace and democracy depend. By conflating the anti-establishment politics of domestic populists with acts of war by foreign enemies, it justified turning weapons of war against Americans citizens. It turned the public arenas where social and political life take place into surveillance traps and targets for mass psychological operations. The crime is the routine violation of Americans’ rights by unelected officials who secretly control what individuals can think and say.

      That’s a black pill.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        There’s an easy fix. Turn off the idiot box. Delete social media. Go outside and do something physical and productive. All of a sudden, the psyop becomes irrelevant.

      • Count Potato

        You would also have to get everyone else to do that. And eliminate any influence of voting or public support.

      • juris imprudent

        Easy enough to do for one, but pretending the machine doesn’t exist doesn’t mean the machine in reality has gone away. The masses will continue to be the masses.

    • Michael Malaise

      ” Disinformation, a half-forgotten relic of the Cold War”

      Or a constant stream of shit coming from the shit fountains of the mainstream news since yellow journalism was a thing?

      • juris imprudent

        Media propagandizing for the Spanish American war?

  11. Sensei

    I couldn’t keep a straight face reading this.

    Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act Betrayal
    Instead of implementing the law as intended, his administration subverts it for ideological ends.
    By

    Joe Manchin

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      I don’t know what’s more laughable, the false naivete of this paragraph:

      Yet instead of implementing the law as intended, unelected ideologues, bureaucrats and appointees seem determined to violate and subvert the law to advance a partisan agenda that ignores both energy and fiscal security. Specifically, they are ignoring the law’s intent to support and expand fossil energy and are redefining “domestic energy” to increase clean-energy spending to potentially deficit-breaking levels. The administration is attempting at every turn to implement the bill it wanted, not the bill Congress actually passed. Ignoring the debt and deficit implications of these actions as the time nears to raise the debt ceiling isn’t only wrong, it’s policy and political malpractice.

      Or the sentence that follows it:

      I believe the only person who can rein in this extremism is Mr. Biden.

      The IRA was a travesty in of itself, but we ducked a massive bullet that was designed to kill the dollar when the Build Back Better bill wasn’t passed.

      • Fourscore

        Pure comedy, Manchin is truly a babe in the woods if he actually believed Biden or any other politician. If Trump get re-elected watch for Biden to be out-Bidened.

      • Sean

        Biden can’t even find his fucking ice cream.

      • The Last American Hero

        Manchin has been in DC for a long time. He can’t be that stupid. The reality is that he got caught trying to reign in the excesses of his party on some bills, tried to make amends by supporting the IRA, and doesn’t want to accept responsibility.

    • juris imprudent

      Mr. Cooke responds.

      Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ve heard this all before: Manchin’s worried about the future, about the debt, about our spending habits, about inflation, about everything. Except, he’s actually not, is he? Sure, he talks a good game.

      Got to admit, Manchin sure comes across as a garden variety Republican.

    • wdalasio

      Joe Manchin caved to Biden on the IRA. In response he was supposed to get fast track on energy projects. They stiffed him on that. Now he’s upset that a bill everyone knew was a left-wing giveaway is turning out to be a left-wing giveaway? What’s he going to do? Nobody really thinks he’s going to flip sides. Honestly, at this point, his best move is to retire. Because the GOP would be fools not to focus on getting him out of his seat (It’s WV, a state Trump won by nearly a 40% margin; absent Manchin, it’s safe GOP).

      If he’s all that worried about the budget implications of the administration, there’s a debt limit fight coming up. A Dem making the rounds against raising it would take a lot of pressure off the Republicans inclined to push back against spending. Is Joe going to make a stand there?

      • R C Dean

        Eh, if Manchin flips, he becomes a standard-issue establishment GOPer UniParty guy. Why wouldn’t they take him? If they don’t, who knows what kind of knuckle-dragging deplorable the WV hillbillies might elect.

      • wdalasio

        They might take him. But, why would he flip?

      • The Last American Hero

        to keep his seat. And I wouldn’t take him if I were Team Red. He turned on them multiple times and they can win the seat.

      • wdalasio

        Honestly, I think he’s secure in his seat. If the seat were really vulnerable to a GOP takeover, it would have happened already. National Democrats have a problem with him, but I think WV Democrats understand that, absent Manchin, they’ve got nothing.

      • juris imprudent

        He’s no Byrd.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        This is where I’m at with McConnell. Being from KY, it gives Kentuckians they have a say in national politics. Because of this no one even 1/2 serious even tries to primary him, and every lefty that goes against him is a fucking loon.

        It’s almost the cathedral wants him there.

  12. AlexinCT

    This article is seriously lowballing the number of deep state instigators that were at that J6 fiasco. One day we will find out the machine, with help from leftist terrorist entities like Antifa, instigated what happened at the capitol. Well, maybe. The machine behind this has decided to go full George Orwell 1984 on people to hide what they did, so they might yet make sure that even when we know we will not be able to do anything about it.

    • WTF

      Everybody knows, but it boils down to what is anyone going to do about it? The machine has all the power.

  13. PieInTheSky

    Wait, she’s still on the job? Are they saying a lack of promotion is sufficient? Because I gotta think in the private sector this would be handled a bit differently – oh come one which one of us never made a mistake at work

  14. PieInTheSky

    Welcome to Brandon Sanderson’s Fantasy Empire

    The genre’s most popular writer is determined to upend how books get made. We visited his mind-blowing headquarters in suburban Utah, where he and dozens of employees are working to restore power to the reader.

    https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a43438119/brandon-sanderson-profile/

    It seems everyone wants to get in the profile Sanderson gig lately… and boy this is a long one

    • PieInTheSky

      “But not everyone was thrilled by the runaway success of Sanderson’s record-breaking Kickstarter in 2022. “Today is a really good day to support your favorite author who hasn’t made $18M in the last few days,” tweeted Natania Barron, a fantasy novelist based in North Carolina. “Am I personally upset at Brandon Sanderson for making money? Not at all. Truly, good for him… If you love fantasy and want to support the genre, I highly recommend reading more & more broadly,” she continued, sharing a “starter pack” of diverse writers in the genre, including N.K. Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor, and C.L. Polk. Barron’s tweet got more than 1,000 likes.”

      “Some critics of Sanderson’s Kickstarter campaign also expressed concerns that backing the project was tantamount to proxy-donating to the Mormon Church, whose members are known to tithe, and which, like many religious traditions, has a complicated history with LGBTQ rights, to say the least. “

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Am I personally upset at Brandon Sanderson for making money? Not at all.

        Yeah, okay.

      • R C Dean

        “a “starter pack” of diverse writers in the genre”

        Without looking, I’m guessing that’s the kind of diverse that is about grifting or feeling smug about yourself.

      • slumbrew

        “Diverse”, then lists 3 black women with identical politics.

    • PieInTheSky

      ” “Tithing is a principle of my church that I believe in,” Sanderson tells me. “So is giving to those who need, and to causes I believe in. However, Jesus Christ taught us not to speak loudly about our charitable giving—indeed, he made it very clear that we are to do the opposite. I generally try to follow this by saying that yes, I do give to my church of my personal funds. I also give to many other causes. The actual numbers and amounts are, generally, private.” ”

      Call me old fashioned but what is the point of charity if it does not boost your social status?

    • EvilSheldon

      As much as I support Brandon’s project (I was an early Kickstarter backer, and have been a drooling fanboy since the day after Mistborn hit the shelves), I don’t see it making a lot of headway with the NYC publishing set. I suspect that Brandon himself is too fundamentally nice a person to understand that the big publishers have no desire to give the readers what they want…

    • Not Adahn

      I’ve never been particularly interested in reading his books, but I do love good worldbuilding.

      • rhywun

        Never heard of him. But I lost interest in that genre ages ago.

      • EvilSheldon

        If Brandon’s stuff can’t rekindle your interest, nothing can.

        Apart from being the best world builder in contemporary sci-fi/fantasy, Brandon gets escalating suspense like no one else I’ve ever read. Better than Stephen King at his best.

        Warbreaker is free online, and a good introduction to his style.

  15. Sensei

    So 500 words or so of explaining the problem and just about no explanation how Apple has allegedly solved it.

    Apple Wants to Solve One of Music’s Biggest Problems

    We get it classical music is very tough to categorize. How did Apple approach it? I have no ******* idea from this article.

    • PieInTheSky

      two categories “dead white dude eeewwww” and “everything else which was historically marginalized though better than that Mozart hack “

    • Gustave Lytton

      “Anyone who listens to Beethoven as much as beyonce”

      And I tapped out.

      • PieInTheSky

        alle alleinstehenden Damen (hope google translate worked )

      • Sensei

        Oh, it gets even more asinine further on. I honestly was curious how Apple decided to approach the problem and kept waiting for the answer.

    • rhywun

      Pay-blocked but honestly I don’t have that much difficulty tagging my classical tracks now.

  16. Rebel Scum

    This guy is most likely collateral damage in the escalating war of words our administration has been waging against a nation we are not at war with.

    I’m not Russian to conclusions.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Denying the deteriorating relationship is just Putin off the inevitable.

      • juris imprudent

        Don’t be a slav to foolish notions.

      • Michael Malaise

        If ukraine your neck you might be able to see a solution on the horizon.

      • juris imprudent

        Ural out of luck if that horizon is east.

    • The Gunslinger

      So ve it.

  17. PieInTheSky

    How the Right Turned Radical and the Left Became Depressed

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/29/opinion/america-unhappy-poll.html

    One of the notable dynamics of American life today is that conservatives report being personally happier than liberals but also seem more politically discontented. The political left has become more institutionalist, more invested in experts and establishments, even as progressive culture seems more shadowed by unhappiness and even mental illness. Meanwhile conservatives claim greater contentment in their private lives — and then go out and vote for paranoid outsiders and burn-it-down populists.

    These dynamics aren’t entirely new: As Musa al-Gharbi writes in an essay for American Affairs, the happiness gap between liberals and conservatives is a persistent social-science finding, visible across several eras and many countries. Meanwhile, the view that “my life is pretty good, but the country is going to hell,” which seems to motivate a certain kind of middle-class Donald Trump supporter, would have been unsurprising to hear in a bar or at a barbecue in 1975 or 1990, no less than today.

    • Sensei

      I say this as a nonbeliever.

      Far more of the right is truly religious compared to the left and it’s religion of government. Unlike God who man can’t control the left is perpetually disappointed when they can’t control their god.

    • Q Continuum

      This guy has never read The True Believer; that would explain a lot.

      Then again, it probably wouldn’t because he *is* one of the true believers so he’d probably just brush it off as racist or something.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Meanwhile, the view that “my life is pretty good, but the country is going to hell,” which seems to motivate a certain kind of middle-class Donald Trump supporter, would have been unsurprising to hear in a bar or at a barbecue in 1975 or 1990, no less than today.

      It must be a problem with those people. Certainly not an issue with the way our shared culture has devolved over the past 60 years. No, can’t even entertain that thought.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        It’s more “I love my country but hate my government.”

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        My impression is that a lot of conservatives shifted away from that sentiment sometime during the Trump era as people watched the insanity leading up to and through Covid. Now it’s more “I love what my country was, and I hate government for fucking it up” *

        *of course, Breitbart’s observation is true here. Politics is downstream of culture, so the blame is misplaced.

      • Rat on a train

        Love the plan. Hate the implementation.

      • R.J.

        It started much earlier. I saw the shift happen in real time during the Gulf War. My dad and many of his friends were red-blooded conservatives – all of them became irritated as the war dragged on and our engagement didn’t end. The famous “Mission Accomplished” picture became a major albatross around the necks of conservatives and poisoned that neo-con well (not enough, unfortunately). The presidents that followed didn’t help the case for conservative love of the government at all.

      • juris imprudent

        The Tablet article – I said it was long – touches on this, the essentially self-appointed ruling class.

    • rhywun

      the Right Turned Radical

      LOL

      All the progjection that’s fit to print.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        It’s definitely not those telling me that men who mutilate themselves are actual women that are radical.

  18. PieInTheSky

    “People say “we won the war”, even if they didn’t fight and weren’t born. They say “we won the World Cup”, even if they didn’t play. But when you mention slavery, they say: “ It wasn’t me. I wasn’t alive.” This contradiction is clearly unsustainable.”

    https://twitter.com/garyyounge/status/1641038137274126340

    • Ownbestenemy

      That’s the logic you think of when stoned and think it’s profound.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Nope.

        No stoner is that stupid. Not because of being a stoner, anyways. If you’re that dumb, you were that way before weed.

    • AlexinCT

      Pics or it didn’t happen!

      • Fourscore

        Well, if it does happen the kid can kiss his inheritance good bye. He won’t always be 23 and stupid. He won’t always be 23 anyway.

      • AlexinCT

        They will make an OnlyFans account and then make a killing being the real thing?

    • EvilSheldon

      Yes, yes, you all are very clever. Now fuck off.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    The Bible Challenged in Utah for Explicit Sexual Content

    There is an awful lot of begatting.

    • Michael Malaise

      He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    conservatives report being personally happier than liberals

    This might sound crazy, but hear me out. What if “conservatives” tend to focus on their own lives and achievements, and direct their energies toward things they can actually influence, instead of making futile efforts to control the behavior of millions of strangers?

    • Sean

      And we eat more steak!

      • R.J.

        Both of these statements are true.

    • juris imprudent

      instead of making futile efforts to control the behavior of millions of strangers

      IT ISN’T FUTILE!!! YOU STUPID PEOPLE JUST WHAT DO WHAT WE WANT!!! /impotent raging liberal

      • juris imprudent

        WON’T dammit! /raging typo

    • AlexinCT

      I bet he was working for the politicians in charge of that drug racket…

    • Not Adahn

      New York’s Finest Taxi Service!

  21. Rebel Scum

    President Joe Biden won’t veto a Republican-led measure to end the national COVID emergency, despite having expressed strong objections against it earlier this year, ensuring the bill is on an easy path to becoming law.

    There was never a covid emergency and there is not a covid emergency. Anyone pushing such a narrative should be ignored.

    • AlexinCT

      These evil fucks knew 2 weeks into that scamdemmic that the variant of the Kung Flu that had escaped the Wuhan lab was not one of the more deadly ones they were playing around with. But the corruptocracy’s machine decided not to miss the opportunity this crisis presented, and we got years of destructive and evil shit as they tried to reshape society and the world, all while making bank. They want to do even more damage to us all, which is why they are having such a hard time letting go of their “emergency powers”. Criminal enterprises want to criminal.

  22. Rebel Scum

    The NYPD pulled the promotion of an officer being sued for allegedly stuffing her panties in a male underling’s mouth — days after The Post reported on the plans to boost her in the ranks.

    Hawt.

    • AlexinCT

      I am horrified that she only let a cat suck on her nipples… Also, did she milk the cat?

    • R.J.

      Trying to stir up outrage? It didn’t work for me. Reminds me of articles on GG Allin. This one, for example states “his dramatic death.” Shouldn’t it be “his expected death?”

      https://allthatsinteresting.com/gg-allin

  23. Rebel Scum

    Texas Senate approves bill restricting which college sports teams transgender athletes can join

    Literal trans genocide.

  24. Brawndo

    We must destroy women’s sports in order to save women’s sports.

    • AlexinCT

      Go Patriarchy!

  25. Brawndo

    Not sure if it was linked yesterday afternoon, but I think I saw something about Saudi Arabia ditching the dollar along with Brazil. Seems kind of important.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Just ignore the collapsing petrodollar system.

    • Drake

      The only reason it won’t be an immediate disaster is because everyone is busy dumping their Euros.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        👆👆👆

        Hence why the Fed is at war with the ECB. It’s a competition for survival.

      • R.J.

        More like a race to the bottom.

  26. Drake

    Exactly one year ago at the Istanbul talks, the Ruskies and Ukes were really close to a negotiated end to hostilities. Then Biden sent Boris to sabotage the whole thing.

    • PieInTheSky

      I doubt Biden does shit

      • juris imprudent

        ^^^truth

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Naftali Bennett confirmed it, but his take was that Boris was acting more aggressively than even the Biden administration. Don’t underestimate the long-standing hostility of the Brits to Russia.

      • Drake

        The Foreign Relations establishment of both countries seem singularly obsessed with the Ukraine. Things going wrong for them in the Middle East , other places in the world, and with their currencies have just been ignored for a year.

      • PieInTheSky

        the perfidious Albion?

  27. AlexinCT

    So why do you think we have yet to see a copy of manifesto that woman with a serious mental disorder that wanted to pretend to be a dude whom shot up the school left behind, huh?

    • Drake

      “Police are still trying to determine the motive.”

    • juris imprudent

      Unlike racist manifestos, a trans manifesto is written in impenetrable jargon that only trained derpotologists can decipher.

    • WTF

      They are still busy scrubbing it.

      • AlexinCT

        So you are saying it will look like all the redacted and meaningless shit you end up getting from the DOJ, CIA, NSA, DHS, FBI, and any other government deep state entity trying to hide the criminal shit they are doing when you FOIA their asses?

      • WTF

        Or they’ll just release carefully curated bits and pieces to make sure the proper narrative is promoted.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        This is precisely what they’ll do.

        And they’ll use it as a way to make the shooter the biggest victim if they can.

  28. Rebel Scum

    Let’s transition to the real victims here.

    Shortly after news broke Monday of a fatal shooting at a private Christian Nashville elementary school, police said the suspect was transgender. This detail, according to trans people in the state, has poured fuel on an already combustive environment that has led many of them to fear for their safety. …

    Within 10 minutes of police saying that the suspect was transgender, the hashtag #TransTerrorism trended on Twitter. Around the same time, Republican lawmakers — including Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. — insinuated in social media posts that the shooter’s gender identity played a role in the shooting. And by Tuesday morning, the cover of the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post read: “Transgender killer targets Christian school.”

    • WTF

      Just like Muslims were the real victims of 9/11.

    • Shpip

      Around the same time, Republican lawmakers — including Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. — insinuated in social media posts that the shooter’s gender identity played a role in the shooting.

      Insinuated? Hell, everyone I’ve seen on the interwebs is stating that outright.

      • juris imprudent

        Played a role? Like, maybe the leading role?

      • rhywun

        You’d think in order to disprove that theory they’d release her “manifesto”, instead of burying it.

      • juris imprudent

        You expect an ounce of honesty from a horde of crazy people?

  29. Rebel Scum

    Commies gonna commie.

    Bolsonaro faces five Supreme Court investigations that could send him to prison — four for alleged crimes during his term (2019-2022), and one over accusations he incited a riot by supporters who invaded the presidential palace, Congress and the Supreme Court on January 8, protesting his election loss.

    The first investigation was opened in 2020, when Bolsonaro’s former justice minister Sergio Moro accused him of interfering in federal police investigations to shield family members from corruption charges.

    Bolsonaro is also under investigation for two cases of spreading disinformation: one, about Covid-19; the other, about Brazil’s electronic voting system.

  30. Rebel Scum

    Why was this a thing in the first place?

    BREAKING: General Mark Milley commits to ENDING drag queen story hour events on military bases after I presented evidence to him during today’s House Armed Service Committee hearing.

    @SecDef Austin however denied that they were happening at all…

    • R C Dean

      “Gen. Milley, I am sure you will copy my office on the order banning such events. When can I expect to see it?”

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Microcosm


    It took just two minutes to encapsulate America’s hopeless estrangement on guns.

    Deep into a long, grueling hearing called by Republicans to target the Washington, DC, government, tensions provoked by the Nashville school shooting boiled over into an emotive exchange between Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and freshman Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz.

    With most of the members’ seats emptied out, Moskowitz demanded to know why Republicans fixated on crime in the nation’s capital were not instead holding a hearing on “murder in schools” and asked why GOP lawmakers were so keen to ban books touching on gender issues when “dead kids can’t read.”

    The Florida Democrat’s comments reflected the extreme frustration of those who believe the logical response to multiple shootings with assault-style weapons is to make such deadly arms less available. His remarks also underscored a sense among Democrats that the GOP is deeply hypocritical as it conjures visions of a nation awash in violent crime but refuses to lay any blame on the easy access to guns that have killed so many innocent victims.

    Greene, a Republican from northwest Georgia, spelled out a common conservative position that the key to stopping school massacres is not banning assault rifles but actually having more guns. She called for Secret Service-style security for school kids while stirring cultural politics that excite the GOP base.

    “If you want to have a good talk about schools and protecting children, we need to talk about protecting our children the same way we protect our president,” Greene said.

    The arguments by Greene – who’s possibly the most visible symbol in the House of the GOP’s march to the extreme right and a loyalist to ex-President Donald Trump – showed how deeply gun access is a driving force in the party in a way that makes it impossible to envisage any future where fast-firing firearms are not easy to buy.

    That’s some mighty fine journalisming. Calling your emotional argument “logical” doesn’t make it so. Ad hominems and guilt by association can’t make inconvenient facts go away.

    If you want to “envisage” a fantasy world, how about one in which mentally unstable people are not encouraged to deny reality?

    • AlexinCT

      It’s like these fuckers want to convince everyone that the 2A is not a thing…

      • juris imprudent

        Living constitution gets trimmed, like a tree.

    • Rebel Scum

      assault-style

      This retarded term has caught on.

      That’s some mighty fine journalisming. Calling your emotional argument “logical” doesn’t make it so. Ad hominems and guilt by association can’t make inconvenient facts go away.

      Leftists have never been known for honesty or intelligence.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        assault-style

        This retarded term has caught on.

        It’s not retarded. The term is carefully scripted and used intentionally.

        AR-15 applies to a specific type of firearm. Assault-style is deliberately vague so it can be applied to virtually every firearm. I’ve mentioned Washington state gun ban a couple times. They are banning “assault-style” firearms, meaning any firearm that contains features that the Dems consider assault-style. It’s no surprise that the list of banned features considered assault-style covers 90% of currently owned firearms in Washington, including most handguns and shotguns.

      • Ownbestenemy

        A staple gun can be an assault style arms

      • Rebel Scum

        Luckily no one was ever assaulted with a musket…

      • R C Dean

        To be fair, they are people. Like it or not.

    • rhywun

      “If you want initiate a repeal of the 2nd Amendment, be my guest. Otherwise STFU.”

      • EvilSheldon

        There are probably 100 million ‘assault-style’ rifles in private circulation in the US. Add in the weapons really suited for rapid mass murder, handguns with double-stack magazines, and the number is probably up over a quarter billion.

        Unless you have a realistic way to gather those guns up, then you don’t have anything useful to contribute. To borrow a Woke phrase, shut up, sit down, and listen.

      • rhywun

        It’s all just performative oUtRaGe.

        They know it ain’t happening but hey, there are votes to win, powers to accumulate, and gold coins to add to the swimming pool.

      • juris imprudent

        They are counting on the law-abiding to abide by the law. No force required. Just aw-shucks, if we have to. I say come and take them.

  32. PieInTheSky

    It is often said that the West is rich due to slavery and colonialism.

    But by 1500, long before the Atlantic slave trade and long before England or France have a single colony, Western Europe was far richer than the rest of the world.

    This divergence, however, began in 1300 AD.

    https://twitter.com/RafFaithfull/status/1641157288424611840

    thread

    • AlexinCT

      The west is rich because of the industrial revolution, which BTW was a key component of why so many people in the west decided to fight slavery.

      • PieInTheSky

        well the whole point is that the divergence started in the 1200s before the industrial revolution

      • AlexinCT

        Slavery is about as old a thing as prostitution, and the colonialism these people decry so fervently didn’t become a big deal until the industrial revolution allowed naval movement of forces in large enough numbers so you could take over land that wasn’t adjacent to your own using land forces (which was the way wars of conquest were fought for 99% of human existence).

      • Count Potato

        Colonialism was a big deal prior to the industrial revolution.

      • juris imprudent

        Roman Empire for example?

      • AlexinCT

        And Egypt. Assyria, Babylonia, the Chin… Conquest became evil when the white man started doing it better.

    • robc

      Important question inspired by a footnote: Did Angus Maddison win any important awards or whatnot before he died. Because he totally deserved it.

      He probably should have gotten a nobel in Economics.

    • Michael Malaise

      So few people note how geography and religion are large motivating factors in how cultures around the world develop.

    • R C Dean

      Weren’t the Muslims taking European slaves in 1300 (and for awhile after)?

  33. The Late P Brooks

    This short congressional back-and-forth captured the utter lack of a common frame of reference and political philosophy on guns – a divide that splits the nation, thwarts many efforts to tackle such tragedies and means that the next mass shooting is usually just hours away.

    If gravity did not exist, people wouldn’t fall out of windows! Gravity must be banned.

    • juris imprudent

      Don’t be silly, gravity can’t be banned; it just needs to be sensibly regulated.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    While Congress did pass the first major gun safety bill in decades last year, the aftermath of the shooting in Nashville has shown how impossible even minor overhauls are now that Republicans control the House. And the reality of a divided nation and a political system that grants small, conservative and rural states equal representation to more liberal, populous states in the Senate, where a 60-vote supermajority is needed for major legislation, also means sweeping gun safety legislation is all but impossible despite Democratic control of the chamber.

    Bingo! I win. Right here, I’ve got my bingo card full.

    • juris imprudent

      Small conservative states like Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware (and DC if they had their way).

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Then maybe states should do their own thing. Maybe an amendment to the constitution that says something like “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

    • WTF

      Typical money-grab targeting a famous person.

    • R C Dean

      That’s just defense 101. I can recall making more than one malpractice case go away by doing exactly that.

      Good lawyering to close with that. Especially the pics of him doing all kinds of activities with a big smile. If the crash changed his personality, as he claims, it seems to have changed it for the better.

      • Sensei

        Done all the time on workers’ comp and disability insurance as well.

        It’s table stakes.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    After allowing Greene to talk, Moskowitz reclaimed his time in the hearing, and accused Republicans of being complicit in the deaths in Nashville because the assault weapons ban lapsed. He also turned to the horrific impact of AR-15-style weapons on the human body.

    “You know why you don’t hunt with an AR-15 with a deer? Because there’s nothing left. And there’s nothing left of these kids when people go into school and murder them while they’re trying to read,” he said, making points that are increasingly becoming part of Democratic Party messaging on gun reform.

    Nothing left. Vaporized.

    Desperate times call for desperate rhetoric.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      It’s remarkable how many politicians have never picked up a firearm in their lives.

      • R.J.

        If we are going to have public schooling, marksmanship should be taught. And graded. It should be taught until graduation from High School. Also I fully support teachers having guns in class. If you cant trust your teacher with a gun, how can you trust them to teach?

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I’m annoyed that the 22 I had earmarked for my kids to learn to shoot with now has to either get a permission slip from Uncle Sam or have a boating accident.

        One of my lawyer buddies suggested getting a suppressor while im at it if I go the tax stamp route. He already had a trust and everything, so it was an easier decision for him.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      And don’t forget that the 5.56 rifle cartridge has a much higher velocity than your typical pistol ammunition, thus giving assailants a tactical advantage against police because their bullet reaches the target sooner.

    • Drake

      In cop takedown video of the shooter, she – he, whatever, was walking around with the Kel-Tec carbine. 9mm probably? But don’t let that slow down the debate on the incredible power of the 5.56.

    • EvilSheldon

      I think, stupid times call for stupid rhetoric.

      I hunt deer exclusively with an AR-platform rifle. It works just fine.

    • Rebel Scum

      You know why you don’t hunt with an AR-15 with a deer?

      Because it is not a large/powerful enough round.

      making points that are increasingly becoming part of Democratic Party messaging on gun reform.

      Dishonest as the day is long.

      Desperate times call for desperate rhetoric.

      They are certainly aiming for the longshot.

      • juris imprudent

        I think their rhetoric is more spray and pray.

      • Bob Boberson

        It makes me recoil

    • R C Dean

      Ackchually, you can’t hunt deer with an AR because the government says it’s too small a caliber.

      Ya feckin’ moron.

      You can smell the flopsweat, now that one (really, yet another one) of their precious mentally ill people has committed mass murder and it’s plainly obvious that the mental illness they are promoting is responsible.

    • R.J.

      Awww…. He loves you.

  36. Count Potato

    “Sunny Hostin, one of the idiots on The View, says she has no issue with China keeping Muslims in concentration camps because lots of blacks people are in jail in America. The View is truly the dumbest show in America.”

    https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1640826067316363266

    “Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin claims “Ron DeSantis is the most over-hyped politician in America.”
    She claims his reelection was simply “good” and suggests he’s never taken a shot a Trump. “I want to see him take a punch at Trump.”
    Joy Behar admits they want Trump.”

    https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1641106523093884929

    I almost admire their dedication to stupidity.

    • AlexinCT

      It’s what their audience appreciates and craves… Like the people that love Brawndo in Ideocracy….

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      For some fun (of sorts) go to stablediffusionweb.com and enter this prompt

      Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin as a coven of evil witches surrounding a bubbling cauldron, by Frank Frazetta

  37. The Late P Brooks

    It’s remarkable how many politicians have never picked up a firearm in their lives.

    Instead of pissing away a bunch of money on security details and an entire police force devoted to the Capitol, every incoming Senator and Congressman should be issued firearms and and be extensively trained in their use. Shotguns and pistols, at minimum.

  38. Sensei

    Nice…

    That declaration is valid until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England living as of the date of this declaration,” if it is deemed to violate rules against perpetuity, according to the document.

    DeSantis’ Reedy Creek board says Disney stripped its power

    • R.J.

      Wow. That is dirty pool.

  39. Tundra

    Good morning, Sloop!

    Oh well, you made the rules.

    Bearded Avi Silverberg is shown calmly approaching the bench in men’s clothing as part of a protest against gender self-identification policies in sport.

    Silverberg then unofficially breaks the female bench press record for the 84+ kilograms women’s category, which was a 270lbs press – officially set by a trans lifter.

    More of this, please. Fucking fake chick sets the record and this hero comes in and crushes it. The only thing normal people can do is keep calling attention to the retardation. Just like the fake chick swimmer, this dude would get laughed out of any PL meet, so decides to fuck up the chicks’ chances. Asshole. Hopefully they’ll eventually vacate or asterisk the “records” and the gals can once again compete legitimately.

    Love THL. Perfect New Wave – thanks!

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Crumbs

    Activists on Wednesday demanded that the state of California pay millions of dollars to each Black resident in reparations as a way to make amends for slavery and subsequent discrimination, dismissing the idea of payments of $5 million per person as “nothing” and “too little.”

    The demands were made at an in-person meeting of the California Reparations Task Force, which was created by state legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020. The committee was hearing comments from the public as it considers final recommendations to submit to the California Legislature, which will then decide whether to implement the measures and send them to Newsom’s desk to be signed into law.

    The task force is considering a proposal to give just under $360,000 per person to approximately 1.8 million Black Californians who had an ancestor enslaved in the U.S., putting the total cost of the program at about $640 billion.

    Just keep adding zeroes.

    • creech

      Hey, what about the descendents of the 2 million Union soldiers who fought, suffered and died?

    • Rebel Scum

      Historically and in every culture ever, slavery was the rule, not the exception. I expect reparations for my Slavic ancestors being enslaved by one asshole or another.

      • juris imprudent

        You just need to identify the suckers descended from those oppressors!

  41. The Late P Brooks

    “I believe that 5 million in reparations is too little for the work that foundational Black Americans have done for this country and as well for other countries,” one speaker said. “I believe that 7.6 million [dollars] is a number that can be used very wisely in our foundational Black American communities.”

    Did it hurt when you pulled that number out of your ass?

    • invisible finger

      The spirit of 7.6

    • Bob Boberson

      1619 gagillion dollars, that outta do it

  42. Shpip

    (Mythical) Ladies and Gentlemen, our best and brightest, “call me doctor” edition.

    For those unfamiliar with Florida, Volusia is the Daytona Beach area.

    • Sensei

      I read the headlines on this.

      The lack of financial control is as disturbing as the stupidity.

      How does a principal have signature authority of $100k?

      • robc

        Yep this.

        And the good thing about school choice is you can pull your kid out of a charter that is this fucking stupid.

    • wdalasio

      Oh, I don’t think they have much to worry about. Sure, $100k is a lot of money. But, when the $80 million from the Nigerian dictator’s widow comes through, they’ll have more than enough to make up for it.

  43. Tres Cool

    Last night I learned that a good friend’s sister went missing while on vacation with a friend.
    Any thoughts, prayers, or general good vibes in her direction are muchly appreciated.

    • Tundra

      Yikes! That’s awful. Are the roads along that route sketchy?

      Will definitely pray for them.

    • Sensei

      Absolutely!

      How rural is that route they took?

      • Tres Cool

        from what little I know, its not clear what route they took.
        I don’t know why anyone would fly in/out of PHX only to drive almost 7 hours to a resort when ABQ or El Paso are way closer. Unless they wanted to take in the scenery,
        In my army days I got to spend a lot of time at White Sands, and while I’m no expert I am familiar with the area. Id think a white sedan would be easy to see, unless it was crashed in a ravine.
        Also, I’m not clear on why the rental company isn’t able to track their assets.

      • Sensei

        Same thoughts on two people’s phones as well the rental.

        No idea what cell service is like in that area. Part of the reason I asked how rural it was.

      • juris imprudent

        It’s past rural – approaching desolate. Few roads, lots of mountains.

      • R.J.

        This is really awful. I hope for a good conclusion.

    • ron73440

      That’s a nightmare.

      That looks like a pretty desolate area.

      Hoping for good news.

    • Count Potato

      Sent.

    • Sean

      Holy shit!

    • Fatty Bolger

      https://twitter.com/901Lulu/status/1641448344676634627

      This says they got a ping in Gila National Forest and are looking for them there. Didn’t get any news sources on a search, but this came up on one of those facebook results that doesn’t actually go to the right page:

      My mom, Robyn Renee, went on a vacation with her friend, Tracie Shoe. … New Update: FBI was able to get a pinged location to the Gila National Forest.

    • wdalasio

      Tucker Carlson takes a lot of heat. I don’t always agree with him. But, he seems like a marginally honest guy. Breaking this story was a good thing.

    • invisible finger

      B-b-b-b-but he pleaded guilty!!!

      /theviewyentas

    • juris imprudent

      And then Tucker never said another word about the Jan 6th videos.

      • ron73440

        So after one day, Shumer threw a fit and Tucker never aired anymore?

        I’m shocked!(not really)

        I’m more shocked that one day happened.

  44. Count Potato

    “Meet the ‘theybies’. Not baby boys, not baby girls. SUNDAY on #60Mins, the new parenting trend letting young children choose their own gender.”

    https://twitter.com/60Mins/status/1640972183135571968

    Not this shit again.

    • Pope Jimbo

      How many little boys are being yelled at because they are playing “guns” with whatever object they happen to find laying around? Or little girls punished because they are turning any object they find into a doll?

      How many parents are crushed that despite their best efforts, their kids really do naturally conform to so many gender stereotypes?

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      “An inside look into how we’re trying our best to raise the next generation of school shooters.” 🙄

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Good, bury the euro/yen carry trade and the ECB with it.

      • Tundra

        Doesn’t that fuck us (the people) too?

      • invisible finger

        By “us” do you mean people with savings or people up to their neck in debt?

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        It’s not a good time to be an ordinary European, if that’s what you mean.

      • Tundra

        No, I mean how on earth will this not affect the US, too?

  45. The Late P Brooks

    Perfidious profiteers poison puddles

    Congress on Wednesday approved a resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s protections for the nation’s waterways that Republicans have criticized as a burden on business, advancing a measure that President Joe Biden has promised to veto.

    Republicans have targeted the Biden administration’s protections for thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways, labeling it an environmental overreach that harms businesses, developers and farmers.

    They used the Congressional Review Act that allows Congress to block recently enacted executive branch regulations. The Senate voted in favor 53 to 43 Wednesday to give final legislative approval to the measure. Four Democrats and Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona joined Republicans to vote in favor of the resolution.

    “The overreach, basically, it’s unreal,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, D.-W. Va., a critic of some of the White House’s environmental policies.

    The Senate vote is the latest development in a long-running fight over the definition of “waters of the United States,” which establishes the breadth of the Clean Water Act’s protections. Environmentalists and the Biden administration have pushed to broaden the definition and protect more waterways from pollution while right-leaning groups and the Trump administration have argued that protecting fewer waterways would benefit builders, farmers and business.

    It’s a battle of good versus evil.

  46. Gender Traitor

    Got results from this morning’s mammogram already! “No suspicious findings are seen.” 👍

    Yay technology!

    • Pope Jimbo

      It wasn’t suspicious that the “doctor” smelled of cleaning fluids and was wearing a janitor’s uniform under that white coat? Or that he told you he had to do a manual test because the “mammo-meter” was broken?

    • Tres Cool

      If you want, Im nearby in case you want a closer look.

  47. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. All those idiots trying to blame new laws in TN for the shooting. I am sure that they will be totally supportive if some nut shoots up a LGBQT meeting here in Minnesoda because of all the new laws we are passing.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      How to identify NPCs. Seriously, if you’re sick enough to justify shooting 9 year olds because you don’t get your way in politics, you’re not all there morally and should be regarded as an imminent threat by all those around you.

      • Pope Jimbo

        In the old days saying shit like that would get your ass kicked more than someone who said they “had a case of the Monday’s”

  48. ron73440

    In the office today, not a peep about the Nashville shooting.

    Wierd after it was the only thing they could talk about for 2 days.

    Steve Harvey didn’t even mention it today.

    I did hear that Gail King got a huge contract to go on CNN and she will save their reputation.

    That is almost a direct quote from one of the office ladies that watches her show everytime she is home for it.

    isn’t Gail King famous because she is Oprah’s friend, or is that some other midwit?