Thursday Afternoon Links

by | Feb 15, 2024 | Daily Links, I Am Lame | 245 comments

Music.

 

 

INTUITIVE MACHINES PRIVATE MOON LANDER OTW: Intuitive Machines Odysseus spacecraft has slipped the surly bonds of Earth and is coasting towards the Moon for a planned soft landing Feb 22. The IM-1 mission hopes to become the first private mission to soft land on the Moon. Full disclosure: I am a very minor investor in Intuitive Machines (LUNR); that rivet on the bottom row, just to the left of center, is mine, bitchez.

IRAN CLAIMS ANTARCTICA AS TERRITORY: In a provocative move Iran claims Antarctica as its territory. “We have plans to raise our flag there and carry out military and scientific work.” Iran is not a party to any of the international treaties regarding Antarctica. But, hey, if the Biden administration took Navajo Nation claims of Lunar jurisdiction seriously, why not this?

BIDEN ADMIN BLATANTLY ENCOURAGES GRIFTING: [A White House] memo asks that federal officials speak with “spiritual leaders” and reject “methodological dogma” when considering policy directives. Federal agencies have since held dozens of meetings on the topic featuring “indigenous knowledge” consultants. These speakers have argued, among other things, that time is cyclical and that the federal government should pay tribal elders for their “indigenous knowledge. (Emphasis added.) Now, contrast this with government reactions to people who were skeptical of mask mandates.

PEER-REVIEWED SCIENTIFIC STUDY CASTS SHADE ON CLIMATE HYSTERIA: Climate alarmists have long suggested that human industry, farming, and the consumption of affordable energy would amount to environmental ruin and possibly extinction. It turns out that humanity’s much-lamented carbon dioxide emissions are actually doing a great job feeding plants and greening the world. But, hey, those Greeners have indigenous knowledge from their tribal elder Greta Thunberg.

THEY WONDER WHY PEOPLE DON’T TRUST THEM: Politico takes us on a journey through the world of public health propagandists. They acknowledge that they’ve lost the public’s trust, but there is not an iota of self-reflection or blame acceptance.

NEXT TIME SOMEONE TELLS YOU ALL GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS ARE REASONABLE AND NECESSARY: United Airlines grounds fleet of new Airbus A321neo planes. FAA rules require that aircrews be able to manually operate ‘No Smoking’ lighted signs. On certain Airbus planes the ‘No Smoking’ signs are always on. United has an exemption for their older Airbus models but neglected to request an exemption for the new Airbus A321neo plane. The new plane is not grandfathered in to the exemption because that’s how regulations work. No, you’re not allowed to ask why the FAA didn’t proactively change the rule to simply require working ‘No Smoking’ signs.

FROM ATTENTION WHORE TO JUST PLAIN HO: Former fake POC loses teaching job over OnlyFans page. Seriously, who would pay to see that? Apparently this POS was also involved in welfare fraud at one point.

About The Author

Tonio

Tonio

Tonio is a Glibs shitposter, linkstar, writer, and editor. He is also a GlibZoom guest host and prankster. Tonio is a big fan of pic-a-nic baskets. His hobbies include salmon fishing, territorial displays, dumpster diving, and posing for wildlife photographers.

245 Comments

  1. Common Tater

    “that rivet on the bottom row, just to the left of center, is mine, bitchez”

    $10K well spent?

  2. The Late P Brooks

    These speakers have argued, among other things, that time is cyclical

    I read that as “cylindrical”. It would explain a lot.

    • kinnath

      Time is a flat circle

    • juris imprudent

      Time is on my side. Yes, it is.

    • bacon-magic

      Time keeps on slipping…into the future. *takes another puff

      • Sensei

        Fly like a beagle…

      • R.J.

        ….Into the poutine…

      • Bobarian LMD

        But you’re older
        Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death?

      • Grummun

        Now you’ve got me humming that song thinking “jeez Miller is a frickin commie”

        Feed the babies that don’t have enough to eat
        Shoe the children with no shoes on their feet
        House the people living in the street
        There’s a solution

        Probably not the solution you’re thinking of, Steve-o.

      • Tonio

        Damn, you lads are taking me back to my salad days.

  3. Shpip

    Four years after Covid hit and fueled growing vaccine hesitancy, the rollout of the RSV vaccine this fall and winter offered a case study unfolding in real time.

    If this shot is just as “safe and effective” as the Covid jab, I can see why no one wants it. Fool me once…

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      On top of that RSV is something few people even heard of until a couple years ago.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        In a typical year, according to the CDC, as many as 80,000 children under age 5 are hospitalized, and between 100 and 300 kids die. For those 65 and over, there are up to 160,000 hospitalizations a year, and 6,000 to 10,000 deaths.

        It will kill all of us though.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      The latest data from the CDC shows that only 16 percent of eligible pregnant people got vaccinated.

      The Science, you believe The Science, right?

      • R C Dean

        “pregnant people”

        Wouldn’t that be “pregnant women”? It’s funny how wokism erases the very people it claims to champion.

    • grrizzly

      Be careful about saying this in France. They’ve just passed a law making criticism of mRNA jabs punishable up to 3 years in prison.

      • Tonio

        JHTFC

      • Sensei

        +1

      • rhywun

        And here I was already never going to set foot in that shithole again.

        Thanks, France, for confirming the wisdom of my choice.

  4. Common Tater

    “Fox News went as far as to question the State Department about the recent unloading of $6 billion of Iranian assets in Qatar and how it could possibly be used to set up a military base at the South Pole. A spokesperson came out with the firm response: “No”. Referring to Iran’s funds in Qatar, they ensured that “those funds can only be used to purchase humanitarian goods, meaning food, medicine, medical devices and agricultural products.””

    This wino assured he wouldn’t use the money to buy booze.

    • The Other Kevin

      Well no, he used the money to pay rent, and used his rent money on booze.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Money is fungible? Getthefuckouttahere!

      • Tonio

        No, we swear we only spent that government “grant* on condoms and education and paving the parking lot. /Planned Parenthood

    • rhywun

      those funds can only be used to purchase humanitarian goods, meaning food, medicine, medical devices and agricultural products

      I laughed so hard at that sentence, I think I tore something. Obviously I could not continue.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    Now, contrast this with government reactions to people who were skeptical of mask mandates.

    You’re silly.

  6. The Hyperbole

    That Sinatra song song very slowed down from the version I’m used to hearing. It says ‘remastered’ but I wouldn’t thing that would change the tempo.

    • The Hyperbole

      replace the second ‘song’ with ‘sounds’

      • The Hyperbole

        And ‘thing’ with ‘think’. Jesus man ,get your shit together. No more three Old Fashioned lunched for me.

      • R C Dean

        “three Old Fashioned lunched”

        Perfect.

  7. Common Tater

    “”Indigenous knowledge” posits that native peoples possess hidden wisdom about the workings of the universe and has been widely dismissed by experts as pseudoscience. The proposed guidelines point to other “non-traditional modes of science,” including “citizen science, community-engaged research, participatory science, and crowdsourcing.” Including these methods is part of the agency’s “support” for “equity, justice, and trust,” the document states.

    “A strong culture of scientific integrity begins with ensuring a professional environment that is safe, equitable, and inclusive,” the report says. “Issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are an integral component of the entire scientific process.””

    Common sense not included.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Sounds like the kind of science that got plastic straws banned.

      • R C Dean

        And was banned for COVID treatment and prevention.

    • juris imprudent

      White people knowledge (logic, math, etc) is non-indigenous, even in their own homelands.

  8. pistoffnick

    Seriously, who would pay to see that?

    There are millions of thirsty, thirsty interweb surfers out there with more money than sense….

    • Common Tater

      It’s microdosing interracial.

      • Sean

        lol

    • Tonio

      Presumably there are better-looking models who charge rates competitive with hers?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        The internet is a dark place, much darker than Dolezal on OF.

      • Nephilium

        /looks around for a grue

      • R.J.

        She is hideous.
        She has a perm with a butt-cut, combined with her over-tanned Easter Island head makes her look like Sideshow Bob. Throw her and all her admirers into the deep sea and the world will not miss them.

        Sideshow Bob clip provided for comparison:

        https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aRq1Ksh-32g

      • R C Dean

        The pic I saw, you would swear her melon head had been photoshopped onto somebody else’s body.

      • R.J.

        Yes! It is absolutely unreal shocking and ugly.

  9. Common Tater

    “FAA rules require that aircrews be able to manually operate ‘No Smoking’ lighted signs.”

    Is there a time when people are allowed to smoke? No? Then there is no need to turn the sign off.

    • Nephilium

      Don’t some international flights still allow smoking?

      • Tonio

        Damn your nimble fingers, you young whippersnapperer!

    • Tonio

      International flights? Non-US carriers on flights that don’t have stops in the US? I’m guessing somewhere still allows smoking on the airplane?

      • Rat on a train

        Robert Hays hardest hit.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I don’t miss the phony smoking/nonsmoking sections.

      • Rat on a train

        You are in 24A. The smoking section starts at row 25.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    They acknowledge that they’ve lost the public’s trust, but there is not an iota of self-reflection or blame acceptance.

    Go to the mirror, boy

  11. Shpip

    The Biden administration’s “indigenous knowledge” push began in November 2022, when the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a memo directing more than two-dozen federal agencies to apply folk wisdom to “research, policies, and decision making.”

    Remember when “indigenous knowledge” completely eradicated smallpox? With that kind of track record, it’s boggling that we didn’t turn to the shamans earlier.

    • kinnath

      soft men make hard times

      • Tonio

        Inorite?

    • bacon-magic

      Remember when we were informed that the White man deliberately gave blankets infected with smallpox to the natives? Interesting…especially since nobody knew what bacteria or viruses were back then.

      • R C Dean

        People had a pretty good idea how diseases got transmitted. The whole quarantine thing was invented during the Black Plague, I believe.

        Now, has it ever been proven that infected blankets were intentionally given to the Indians? I have no idea.

      • cavalier973

        It’s possible that isolated incidents were reinterpreted as mainstream policy.

  12. Fatty Bolger

    “It is ironic that the very same carbon emissions responsible for harmful changes to climate are also fertilizing plant growth,” said co-author Jarle Bjerke of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, “which in turn is somewhat moderating global warming.”

    Note the assumption that the changes are still harmful… somehow.

    • The Other Kevin

      I’m not sure this person knows what “ironic” means.

      • prolefeed

        Or “harmful”.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Rain on your wedding day?

  13. The Late P Brooks

    Four years after Covid hit and fueled growing vaccine hesitancy, the rollout of the RSV vaccine this fall and winter offered a case study unfolding in real time. At issue was whether the public health and medical communities had acquired the skills, speed and agility needed to counter malicious misinformation before it took hold in the public’s mind.

    Is there a shot for credulous expert-ism? Somebody should be working on that.

    • R C Dean

      There is, but the survival rate is very low.

  14. Sensei

    THEY WONDER WHY PEOPLE DON’T TRUST THEM

    I’m not reading much apologia in that article about acknowledging any wrongs.

    • Nephilium

      Well, what did they do wrong? Why do you hate SCIENCE?

      • juris imprudent

        You is too ignorant to understand science so just does what the smaht people tell you to do.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Still, health organizations have begun to mobilize since the tidal wave of Covid vaccine misinformation undermined demand for the shots and drove broader suspicion toward all vaccines, including routine childhood immunization for diseases like measles. But while clinicians and health groups are more alert to the threats, much of the population is so distrustful of public health and medicine — inside or outside of government — that any assertions of safety immediately get sucked into the conspiracy vortex.

    Aaaaand done. Maybe you should try arguing in good faith, for a change.

    • juris imprudent

      What is this good faith you speak of, we have credentials.

      • Sensei

        Have the inspected the Cuyahoga River?

      • Sensei

        They!

      • Nephilium

        Hey now! It hasn’t caught on fire in my lifetime!

        /goes and buys some Burning River Pale Ale

  16. JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

    “[A White House] memo asks that federal officials speak with “spiritual leaders” and reject “methodological dogma” when considering policy directives.”

    The Party of Science!

    • The Other Kevin

      They’re going to save a ton of money on Medicare.

      • Necron 99

        Sacrifice two chickens and call me in the morning.

  17. Common Tater

    “Squirming Fani Willis takes the STAND: Georgia DA’s Trump election fraud case hangs in balance as she’s quizzed about her ‘good’ sex life with prosecutor lover and how she reimbursed him in cash for luxury ‘work'”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13089125/Fani-Willis-takes-STAND-hearing-disqualify-Trump-case-Embattled-DA-testifies-prosecutor-boyfriend-Nathan-Wade-grilled-sex-life-stunning-hearing.html

    “Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis started her romantic relationship with her prosecutor ‘lover’ Nathan Wade three years earlier than they stated, her college friend claimed in dramatic testimony”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13087945/Fani-Willis-college-friend-claims-Fulton-County-DA-started-dating-lover-Nathan-Wade-2019-three-years-said-relationship-started-Trump-prosecutors-story-unravels-devastating-testimony.html

    This is less like Law & Order and more like Real Housewives of Atlanta.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      ‘As a woman, you should have at least six months in cash in your house at all times,’ she advised. She said her father, who Merchant wants to call as a witness, ‘bought me a lock box and I have cash in the house.’

      ‘If you’re a woman and you go on a date with a man you better have $200 in case,’ she further advised.

      Willis said on her ‘worst days’ she had $500 cash. ‘At my best days, I probably had $15,000 in my house, cash,’ she said.

      Completely normal.

      • Sensei

        + 1 Menendez

      • The Other Kevin

        At one point she said she had cash from her campaign funds in her house.

      • prolefeed

        To be fair, it’s not illegal to have cash campaign donations in your house. It’s not reporting it then spending it on non-campaign stuff that’ll get you in trouble.

      • R C Dean

        I’m trying to think of any legitimate campaign expenses that you would pay in cash.

      • Nephilium

        Six months of cash on hand? Sure thing.

        Holding that in your house? Yeah. No.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        ‘As a woman

        Women have no access to banks.

      • pistoffnick

        Holding that in your house?

        Right! It goes in a mason jar buried in the back yard!

      • Gustave Lytton

        In the freezer. Cold cash is best.

      • Mojeaux

        Yeah, tried that. Didn’t go well.

      • The Other Kevin

        It’s ok she’s got a Saturday night special to keep it safe.

      • Name's BEAM. *James* BEAM.

        *AHEM* Some of us have to worry ’bout having a shitstain Prime Minister who weaponizes the banking system against common citizens who disagree with him.

        Putting the cash in a safety deposit box doesn’t work in situations like that.

      • R C Dean

        I keep a fair amount of cash in the safe, since back in ought nine when the banks started running out of cash during the big financial meltdown. I knew a bank president, and what he told me was pretty scary about the supply v the demand for cash.

    • R C Dean

      “Squirming Fani Willis”

      I almost didn’t make it past the first three words.

    • Spudalicious

      I watched and listened to a lot of it. I’m sure the judge is thinking to himself “fuck, and I’m up for election this year”.

  18. prolefeed

    Final thought on the Stargate thread:

    One of the biggest problems with the Stargate thing is that the “true ideology sensor” would cause Libertopia to have about a 10:1 ratio of men to women, while Progtopia would have maybe a 2:1 skew toward women. Which is a recipe for violence.

    Might as well call Libertopia by the likely outcome of GayTrannyIncelLibertopia.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    “A strong culture of scientific integrity begins with ensuring a professional environment that is safe, equitable, and inclusive,” the report says. “Issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are an integral component of the entire scientific process.”

    ——-

    “Science will always be at the forefront of my administration,” Biden said at the time, “and these world-renowned scientists will ensure everything we do is grounded in science, facts, and the truth.”

    Error! Error! Analyyyyze!

    • rhywun

      “are an integral component of” is a curious way to rephrase “have nothing to do with” but what do I know.

  20. Shpip

    Florida Woman (a bank district manager at that) forgets that she isn’t in California.

    One of you lads can fix her, I’m sure.

    • Bobarian LMD

      Crazy eyes… like a doll’s eyes… Bet they roll back in her head.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Very racy. Maybe racy-est?

      • Fatty Bolger

        Eww.

      • Tres Cool

        Whomever managed to pull me out of her would be the next king of England.

  21. Ed Wuncler

    “Given the magnitude of the challenge of misinformation/disinformation and distrust … we felt like this would be the moment where you had to bring together the entire health ecosystem,” said one of the founders, Reed Tuckson a well-known health consultant and physician who is also a co-founder of Black Coalition Against Covid. The organization, though drawing in a broad membership, is still in the early stages.

    No reflection at all of how their blatant lies and authoritarian tendencies completely destroyed whatever trust we had in public health. Pre-COVID, public health was this benign entity in my mind but now, I truly do believe that they don’t have our interests at heart and are willing to harm us if it advances their agenda.

    • Sensei

      There are a few public health articles I’ve read that say they need to acknowledge what harm they caused, but they are very rare.

    • prolefeed

      It’s impossible to reflect on something when you have mental blinders making it impossible to know it exists. It would be like asking sane people to reflect on their unicorn denialism.

    • juris imprudent

      No, pre Covid public health was every bit as bad as the Covid version. The field is intellectually dead and has been for decades. Why else the fascination with gain of function.

  22. rhywun

    I can’t wait for the cripple fights between elders who aren’t down with the later progressive goodthought and the Dems who hold the pursestrings.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    People are not allowed to look at the clear evidence before them (the “vaccines” were obviously not effective at preventing infection) and draw their own conclusions.

    • prolefeed

      It’s worse than that – I know several people who took every mandated “vaccine” shot, and got COVID twice. My daughter’s boyfriend is a young athletic person who took all the shots, got a “one in a million” blood clot causing a stroke, and it is still off limits to any of my family members for me to even suggest an alternative, far less improbable explanation.

      • rhywun

        And people wonder why the Establishment makes everything political, as soon as possible.

    • R C Dean

      At one point in the wave of COVID infections after the boosters came out, I was talking to some doctors and nurses at my hospital. Several of them had gotten it after they had been boosted. Nobody who hadn’t been boosted had caught it.

      • LCDR_Fish

        I seem to recall one confirmed case by a British officer during the French & Indian wars, but everything in the 19th century was incidental or unintended.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Sorry, that was meant for RC Dean’s other comment – I’m reading on my work computer and [trying to] comment[ing] on my phone.

      • Name's BEAM. *James* BEAM.

        I’ve got a buddy who’s had all of the boosters and buys N95 masks by the case and wears them constantly.

        He’s presently experiencing his third Covid infection, which (like the previous two) has hit him like a sledgehammer. He will not draw the obvious conclusion.

        I’ve not even been vaxxed with the primary series, and I’ve had two infections since March of 2020, both mild.

      • Pope Jimbo

        On our last trip, while trying to check in, I made the young gal working the front desk remove her mask to talk to me.

        It started with “I have a hard time hearing, could you take your mask off or talk REALLY loud?”.

        She tried with the LOUD bit a few times, but I kept saying “I’m sorry, a bit louder please?”

        Finally she took the mask down with a long sigh and checked me in. I was tempted to point out that if she really believed in the Rona she would have screamed because no way would she have lowered the mask if she thought she was at risk of dying. But Mrs. Holiness had just returned from the bathroom, so my fun was at an end.

  24. Mojeaux

    Tonight is the Jordan Peterson lecture I won tickets to.

    • R.J.

      Awesome. Can’t wait to hear about it. Like what did the crowd look like, what was the energy level, etc…

      • Mojeaux

        Blue dots are available. However, floor tickets have halved in price since I first saw them. If I had not won the tickets, I was planning to just show up at the box office and buy a floor seat.

      • Pope Jimbo

        So you were willing to take a shot in the dark? In KC?

      • Mojeaux

        Yes. Alone, even. A woman. Because if I’d had to buy tickets, my husband wouldn’t be here. He’s never heard JBP before and I didn’t want to spend that much money for him to be on his phone.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Sounds like some of that indigenous knowledge

    U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Wednesday that recent consumer price inflation data was “a tad higher” than expectations, but Americans should focus on longer-term declines in inflation trends and a strong economy and rising wages.

    “I think it is a tremendous mistake to focus on minor fluctuations and to have failed to see the longer-term and bigger trends. And the trend here is that inflation is moving decisively down,” Yellen told the Detroit Economic Club, where she appeared with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

    ——-

    Yellen said the burst of inflation following the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided almost to levels consistent with the U.S. central bank’s 2% annual inflation target.

    Yellen told reporters that Americans had been through a hard time with COVID and prices of some significant things – rental housing and food – were higher than before the pandemic, but wages were also increasing more than prices were.

    “Over time, as inflation normalizes at a very low level, and wages continue increasing, American households will feel more secure this episode is behind them, and they’ll be able to see they’re getting ahead,” she said.

    Facks, schmacks. Prosperity is just around the corner.

    *she neglects to mention she and Ben were never able to hit that 2% number (from below) no matter how hard they stimulused

    • R C Dean

      “See, inflation isn’t a problem – wages are going up” is an argument that our Treasury Secretary just made in all seriousness.

    • rhywun

      Then they all spoke out of the other sides of their mouths and demanded a $50 minimum wage because reasons.

    • Ted S.

      Whose wages are rising faster than inflation?

  26. The Late P Brooks

    I know several people who took every mandated “vaccine” shot, and got COVID twice.

    Like my brother (who got it at least twice), who harangued me on multiple occasions about how I desperately needed to get vaxxed.

  27. grrizzly

    The neocons are losing their minds after Tucker’s visit to Russia.

    This is so amazingly stupid. I don’t care what some flagship supermarket in an imperial city looks like.

    Big supermarkets with full shelves can be found in most of Russia these days. Supermarkets like this existed in a small city where my mom lives 15 years ago.

    • rhywun

      I can’t really comment without having watched the video but I have noticed that a lot of these types have turned into the sort of flag-waving rednecks they despised ten or fifteen years ago.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Six months of cash on hand? Sure thing.

    Holding that in your house? Yeah. No.

    Just stick it in the freezer, in a Bird’s Eye lima bean box . Nobody will ever look in there.

    • Grummun

      ::stares flatly into the distance at the memory of Mom’s corn-and-lima-bean succotash::

    • The Other Kevin

      He’s banking on people not noticing when they replace conservative talk shows with clips from NPR.

      • cyto

        Still confused from when they did that to Drudgereport

    • rhywun

      Well, they’ve got a lock on the senior citizen vote. 🙄

      Radio, lol

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Yellen said the Biden administration continued to work to reduce the cost of health and energy.

    Stop it. You’re killing me.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Mark it up to mark it down.

    • cavalier973

      “Well, prices were going to go up 50%, but thanks to our tireless efforts, they are only going to go up 48%”

  30. cyto

    Those who have not dropped in on Fani Willis testimony are missing out. What a dumpster fire.

    She seems to have raised serious questions of misappropriation of funds from both the state and her campaign. They both perjured themselves several times. Really nutty.

    The only upside is that she obfuscated her failure to answer questions well enough that they didn’t pin her down to get contradicted in several things they appeared to have in reserve for impeachment.

    • cyto

      But my key takeaway is actually how dishonest people are with themselves. There is a huge army on Twitter convinced that she is absolutely slaying and is a great lawyer and a superstar.

      • The Other Kevin

        My big takeaway is how she’s so arrogant, unprofessional and low class. It’s amazing that someone who’s supposed to be in charge of “saving democracy” sounds like the “cash me outside” girl.

      • cyto

        Hahaha….

        She basically said “I AM THE SCIENCE!!!”

        Except it was “I am democracy!”

        So unhinged and campaign rally in tone that I have to wonder if the judge didn’t give her the heads up that she is not in any jeopardy because they both cut checks from the same place

      • rhywun

        unhinged and campaign rally in tone

        She learned that from Letitia James. You can campaign on literally nothing but taking down Orange and watch the votes roll in.

      • Shpip

        Somehow I’m reminded of this chick.

        Politics selects for ambition, not character. Sometimes it’s obvious.

        Unfortunately, John Derbyshire was right about black politicians.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Her dad was a lawyer for the Black Panthers. Her definition of democracy might be a little different.

      • Gender Traitor

        My big takeaway is how she’s so arrogant, unprofessional and low class.

        I wasn’t able to listen to all her testimony because I was at work, but from what I heard/read, it seemed as if she had thought she could get away with doing whatever she wanted because if challenged, she could just assume the persona of Angry Black Woman and intimidate any accusers into backing down. Makes me wonder if that approach has worked for her before. She seemed to take every opportunity to grandstand instead of answering the questions.

      • Common Tater

        The “cash me outside” girl has three houses now.

      • rhywun

        how dishonest people are with themselves

        This. It must be a mental illness; I wonder what it’s called.

      • Mojeaux

        Delulu

      • Tres Cool

        Just like Bagdad Bob.

  31. Pope Jimbo

    You know what would be a super awesome way to make kids love reading? Make them pay to do it!*

    Oh and make sure that the books are woke as fuck.

    Benjamin E. Mays Elementary has new vending machine at school — and it’s not filled with beverages, but rather, books.

    Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood brought in the book vending machine Wednesday, unveiling it in a ribbon cutting ceremony alongside Mayor Melvin Carter, who went to kindergarten at the same school.

    “When I was your age, we would open the books, and not a lot of the books had people in them that looked like me,” Mayor Carter told the children.

    All of the books inside the vending machine are written by local Black authors, including Dr. Artika Tyner, founder of Planting People Growing Justice, and news reporter Shayla Reaves.

    * They don’t have to pay money, they just need tokens. No mention how they earn tokens.

    • Pope Jimbo

      One of the things I failed at as a parent (in my eyes) is that none of my kids is a voracious reader. I’d die without books and reading. All my kids are lukewarm at best.

      No idea how my dad made me love reading (despite the fact that I am a super slow reader). My favorite Xmas gifts were always books.

      • Fatty Bolger

        I don’t think it can be considered a parenting failure because it’s not something you can make happen, other than making sure they have the ability.

      • R.J.

        Agreed. I have a similar problem.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        One of our kids likes to read. The other doesn’t. They are their own people. I wasn’t much of a reader myself until I lived without a TV for a couple years.

      • Pope Jimbo

        One of the most frustrating things in my life is how slow I read. I was always in the “advanced” classes and all my friends could read very quickly. It took me forever and I had to go back and re-read a lot to understand what I scanned over.

        I remember them all bragging in the 6th grade about how they could read a Matt Christopher book in an afternoon. It would take me a day at least.

        I once heard on NPR a few of the nattering nabobs of negativity talking about how a person can read 3K books in a lifetime and I panicked. I needed to stop re-reading things because I wanted to get as much new stuff as I could.

      • The Bearded Hobbit

        how a person can read 3K books in a lifetime

        I figured one time around the 90’s that I had read around 10k books. That number has probably trebled by now.

        I love to read.

    • R C Dean

      “No mention how they earn tokens.”

      Oof. In our groomer-infested government schools, I don’t even want to know.

      • Sean

        Lap dances.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Better than the Catholic priests who try to make reading a habit?

    • Nephilium

      Huh. When I was a kid, I remember Book It, which was run with Pizza Hut. Reading books, and turning in book reports got you a personal pan pizza.

    • rhywun

      people in them that looked like me

      I hope the authors don’t talk down with baby-talk like the racist mayor does.

  32. Pope Jimbo

    Tonio, peening over your ownership of a rivet isn’t a good look.

    • Grummun

      Way to hammer a point home.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Maybe he has a screw loose.

    • Tres Cool

      Took a trip to pound town ?

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        That is a riveting response…

    • cavalier973

      Yeah, that’s nuts

  33. DEG

    Nevertheless, Zimmer characterized the carbon emission-driven phenomenon thusly: “It’s a bit like hearing that your chemotherapy is slowing the growth of your tumor by 25 percent.”

    I was waiting for this. I thought to myself about that study, “How the fuck did this get published?” And of course….

  34. DEG

    The latest data from the CDC shows that only 16 percent of eligible pregnant people got vaccinated.

    Pregnant people. I tapped out.

  35. R.J.

    “ Iran claims Antarctica as its territory.”

    The Dead Snow Nazis beg to differ.

    • Grummun

      Penguins …. with lasers on their frickin’ heads?

      • R.J.

        Muslim polar bears.

      • Tres Cool

        Arent the polar bears at the other side ?

      • R.J.

        Don’t fact check my joke!

      • Pope Jimbo

        white bears are the polar opposites of penguins.

      • Grummun

        Arent the polar bears at the other side ?

        No, those polar bears are Episcopalians.

  36. Mojeaux

    The news squawking about Missouri’s “lax” gun laws. Yeah, MO pretty much hews to the constitution so far that it ignores federal gun laws and it’s being sued in federal court for it.

    The only two “worse” states are Arkansas and Wyoming. 🙄

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      I would have thought that MO would have some kind of law about not being an asshole and firing your gun in a crowded place. This wouldn’t have happened if SF won.

      • Mojeaux

        Well, it appears that it was a personal dispute amongst a few people and the guns got pulled out. The two suspects are juveniles.

      • Tres Cool

        Juveniles?
        The one photo I saw (I know its early) was a black guy in a red hoodie. Looked like Marion Barry.

      • Mojeaux

        This wouldn’t have happened if SF won.

        Wah.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Am I wrong though? I mean, we might have flung some poo, but that never killed anyone.

      • Tres Cool

        Everyone in San Fran would be too fucked-up and verging on an OD to be effective combatants.
        Until the homies from Oakland rolled down and started looting everything.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I would think that open carry is super cool in MO, but concealed carry is super bad.

      What with being the “Show Me” state.

    • R C Dean

      I thought states weren’t required to enforce federal laws. What are they being sued for?

  37. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Now, I watched a lot of sitcoms in the 80s. A lot. And I don’t remember 90% of these. I do see some names I know, some of whom became very successful (Allison Hannigan is one)

    Anyhoo…fun romp through obscure 80s sitcom intro themes

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3241N1stDNA

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      OMG 08:42 LOL

    • Ted S.

      The only one I remembered was “I’m a Big Girl Now”.

      • Tres Cool

        Diana Canova (was also in SOAP) rockin that Kate Jackson haircut with the bangs.

      • R C Dean

        “I’m a Big Girl Now”

        Tres-approved.

      • Tres Cool

        If not sought after…

    • rhywun

      a lot of sitcoms in the 80s. A lot

      Me too and while I didn’t stick around for the whole thing, I didn’t see one that I remember.
      I guess we only watched the good stuff in our house.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Good lord, I lived through it and I don’t remember any of those. Too busy drinking Busch my friend’s older brother bought and listening to Iron Maiden and Rush I guess.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        A Brian Dennehey country comedy? What the hell?

    • Shpip

      I don’t remember 90% of these.

      It seems like most of these were extremely short-lived. The Cavanaughs looks like a mid-season replacement. It started in December ’86, lasted thirteen episodes, went on hiatus for two full years, then had 13 more episodes in ’89. To quote from wiki:

      The series revolved around Francis “Pop” Cavanaugh, a 71-year-old, blue-collar Irish Catholic man living in South Boston with his daughter Kit and son Chuck, as well as Chuck’s sons (one of whom was a Catholic priest) and daughter. Much of the show’s humor stemmed from conflicts between the cantankerous, opinionated Pop and his grown children.

      So basically All in the Family, but set in Boston with a Mick instead of in Queens with Archie Bunker’s never-stated ethnicity.

      Fathers and Sons lasted a total of four episodes.

      Dads lasted nine.

      Hard to become part of the zeitgeist if no one ever sees the show.

      • Tres Cool

        I think All In The Family made it clear that Archie was an english descendant. And protestant.

        However, just like MASH was funny until they let Alda produce/direct, All In The Family was great until they let Reiner run things.

        What a Meathead.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Dead from the neck up.

      • rhywun

        I do remember The Cavanaughs – if only from commercials.

    • cavalier973

      “And Chad Herkemer as Pallinino”

    • cavalier973

      “I’m a Big Girl Now” has Danny Thomas AND Martin Short.

      How did it all go wrong?

    • cavalier973

      I recognized Short Round in “Nothing is Easy”

    • cavalier973

      Brian Cranston was in “Raising Mirandazona”

  38. Tres Cool

    “Now you’ve got me humming that song thinking “jeez Miller is a frickin commie”

    I always assumed he was a commie, or at the very least a smelly liberal.

    • Grummun

      I saw Miller in concert at the now-defunct amphitheater in Westerville. He finished the show with some “be good to the earth” rah rah.

      Good show, though, I still like his music.

      • Tres Cool

        Things I read about people that have dealt with him, anecdotally, make him out to be an asshole.

        And this is the original Jet airliner.

    • rhywun

      Lately I assume everyone is a commie unless they explicitly deny it. And it works, going back probably sixty years, with hindsight.

  39. Derpetologist

    Had an interview at a high school near Ocala today. It went well. I have another one tomorrow at different school nearby and one more next week in the same area.

    I don’t like driving in Ocala, but the commute isn’t as bad as I expected.

    As for Pi’s Planet thing, I think most men would end up going to where they could make the most money or have the most sex, regardless of other factors. The 50 states are sort of like different planets in a way. My brother lives on Hoth (Alaska) and I moved to Dagoba (Florida).

  40. Tres Cool

    “St. Paul elementary school unveils book vending machine”

    Or they could, for free just go to, ya know…..a library

    • cavalier973

      What was the idea behind the scheme? Was it that making things hard to get make them more attractive?

      • rhywun

        Grift for the principal’s friends would be my guess.

    • R C Dean

      We had some kind of monthly(?) book club(?) thing when I was in grade school. Can’t remember the name, but you could order books for probably a book or two each. They were all kids books, there wasn’t a long list. It’s been 50 years, so it’s obviously very fuzzy.

      But there’s something about “your” book that matters. I ordered as many as I could, because I wanted “my” books. I am, to this day, a compulsive reader. Probably got it from Mater Dean, but I’ve always been this way.

      • R C Dean

        A book or two, a buck or two, whatever.

      • Tres Cool

        We had the book-mobile come around. And I can remember the local library offering free McD’s cheeseburger after completion of so many books checked out over summer break.

      • rhywun

        Scholastic? Or was that something else.

        Yeah, I tore through a ton of that shit.

        I was a compulsive learner already but it helped that my mom let me read all her Stephen King and Dean Koontz hand-me-downs. Her and an older bro (especially him) were into syfy and so was I.

      • R C Dean

        That rings a bell.

      • Mojeaux

        Yes, Scholastic.

    • rhywun

      he charged several lavish vacations with DA Fani Willis to his corporate credit card while working on the Trump case, and was later reimbursed in cash by Fani

      LOL normally I’d say “big deal” about office romance but come on. This is impeachment level shit.

  41. Tres Cool

    WRT Dean, ESQ
    “Now, has it ever been proven that infected blankets were intentionally given to the Indians? I have no idea.”

    Still ambivalent, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fort_Pitt

    • cavalier973

      Maybe the blankets were contagious rather than infectious.

      • Tres Cool

        Just like flammable vs combustible ?

  42. Mojeaux

    I am now at the (small) arena where JBP will be speaking in 45 mins. It’s quite the crowd. Young Mennonite couple in a lifted diesel pickup rolled up next to us.

    Many young couples (20s, 30s). LOTS of young men (20s, 30s) coming in packs. Some people our age (backside of 55). A very few people older than we are.

    • cavalier973

      Mennonites who have trouble cleaning their room.

      • Mojeaux

        MOAR MENNONITES!

        Lots more variety of ages now but I haven’t seen a black or Hispanic or Asian person yet who wasn’t working.

      • cavalier973

        Whites are the lazy folk, as it turns out

      • Mojeaux

        Manbun spotted.

  43. R C Dean

    “Young Mennonite couple in a lifted diesel pickup rolled up next to us.”

    Remnant America is still a great place.

    • Tres Cool

      Once of the simple distinctions between Mennonite and Amish.

      The Amish would have a lifted buggy.

  44. Derpetologist

    Also related to Pi’s post today:

    Red Sun: Soviet Plans to Colonize Venus
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP2z25JgOq8

    It’s an intriguing and plausible idea, but impractical for the same reasons as many other utopian/colonization schemes.

    ***
    At least as early as 1971[10] Soviet scientists had suggested that rather than attempting to settle Venus’ hostile surface, humans might attempt to settle the Venusian atmosphere. Geoffrey A. Landis of NASA’s Glenn Research Center has summarized the perceived difficulties in colonizing Venus as being merely from the assumption that a colony would need to be based on the surface of a planet:
    However, viewed in a different way, the problem with Venus is merely that the ground level is too far below the one atmosphere level. At cloud-top level, Venus is the paradise planet.

    Landis has proposed aerostat habitats followed by floating cities, based on the concept that breathable air (21:79 oxygen/nitrogen mixture) is a lifting gas in the dense carbon dioxide atmosphere, with over 60% of the lifting power that helium has on Earth.[11] In effect, a balloon full of human-breathable air would sustain itself and extra weight (such as a colony) in midair. At an altitude of 50 kilometres (31 mi) above the Venusian surface, the environment is the most Earth-like in the Solar System beyond Earth itself – a pressure of approximately 1 atm or 1000 hPa and temperatures in the 0 to 50 °C (273 to 323 K; 32 to 122 °F) range. Protection against cosmic radiation would be provided by the atmosphere above, with shielding mass equivalent to Earth’s.[12]
    ***

    So long as it costs thousands of dollars or more to put a pound of stuff into orbit, any talk of space colonization in moonshine.

    • cavalier973

      It could have been a communist paradise

    • R.J.

      Might be a little sweaty there too.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Interesting concept but they couldn’t even build a digital clock.

    • Suthenboy

      The only idea dumber than the colonize mars scam would be a colonize Venus scam.

      Somewhere I saw a headline or title “What NASA saw on Venus”
      I thought instantly “Hell?”

      • cavalier973

        “What NASA has seen on each of the nine planets. You’ll never believe what was on Uranus!”

    • Suthenboy

      The same could be said about any of the gas giants. The infrastructure to produce energy, food, plastics, metals, etc etc would be massive but necessary as shipping it in would be logistically ridiculous.
      Simply having a city in orbit around earth or any other body would be more practical. The question still remains….why?

  45. Bob Boberson

    My timezone and schedule make my prime posting time when 90% of Glibs are asleep or at least have lost interest as commenting has gone silent. Oh well, I’ll still post my thoughts here just in case one insomniac happens to still be lurking:

    i.e. “Sciencey “indigenous knowledge.”

    While silly on it’s face and probably just throwing a bone to the race and culture hustlers, I can’t help but be somewhat taken back by how regressive the whole concept is and wonder where it leads. To say that the Democratic party platform 20 years from now will be “let us rape your kid before we sacrifice xer to Molech because SCIENCE!” might sound hyperbolic but who’d have thought in 2004 the Democrat party platform would be “shut up and let us cut your kids dick off.”

    • Suthenboy

      We miss having you around Bob. There was a discussion recently about what kind of content different Glibs consider more desirable and you popped in my head.
      I personally prefer more of a philosophical bent, i.e. the discussion of ideas. Were I to list my favorite articles here there is one some dude wrote a while back on Envy and how it is one of the ugliest/most common of human notives. That one is near the top, if not the top. Thank you for that. It appeared to me that what you did was write an excellent review of Eric Hoffer’s thoughts on the subject.Few people appreciate the importance of that.
      I remember once upon a lifetime ago seeing a city buss pass by me and I noticed spray painted on the rear of the bus “Envy is a Sin”. The Catholics get a lot of things wrong but their list of mortal sins is right on target. In that place not only was envy very common but it was the main driver of their entire culture. The results are very, very ugly.

      What we have regarding the democrat party platform….I think Archimedes had something to say about that. “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the Overton window. ” On the spectrum including all human behavior the Overton window includes those behaviors considered moral and acceptable. They want to move that window because THEY WANT TO DO IMMORAL THINGS. It is as simple as that. In their view truth and morality are entirely subjective. I have argued many times in the past that that is not true, that there is objectively good and evil and the distinction is easy to see.
      Maybe I should get off of my lazy ass and bang out an article. We do need content.

      • Suthenboy

        Re: Moving the Overton Window

        In the discussion over Pie’s thought experiment someone suggested that evil people will always seek out positions of power and exploit any cracks in cultural institutions to further their own agendas – namely obtaining power for its own sake.
        Our founders knew this and came to the conclusion that the only way to guard against that is to create a system that did not allow the accumulation of power in few hands. Because that was the foundational principle of our constitution their debates centered around what limitations should be included and what should be allowed. I am trying to plow my way through The Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers now. My own laziness and personal matters have put a far too long pause in my effort. Speaking of which I miss the ‘What are we reading’ articles.

        The reason our constitution is so despised by the political class is that very premise: that great limitations should be placed on power. I think that drunken old fucktard Teddy Roosevelt referred to the constitution as a ‘hindrance’, a ‘nuisance’, preventing government from doing great things. Ahum….the first progressive president indeed. If only Schrank had chosen his shot more wisely. It’s the head dummy. When you are cleaning up poop, shoot for the head.
        From Wikipedia: “On October 14, 1912, former saloonkeeper John Schrank attempted to assassinate former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt while he was campaigning for the presidency in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Schrank’s bullet lodged in Roosevelt’s chest after penetrating Roosevelt’s steel eyeglass case and passing through a thick single-folded copy of the speech titled “Progressive Cause Greater Than Any Individual”. Wow, that is a mouthful. ‘Greater than any idividual’…that says it all right there. Fuck that old gasbag.
        Also, wiki assholes….it wasn’t his eyeglass case, it was a whiskey flask, which Roosevelt immediately replaced with a pocket bible, a bible he then shot a hole in himself as a contrivance for his blowhard showmanship at the impending speech.

        *Speaking of election shenanigans I will tell a story just for fun. As told to me by my Grandfather: Remember now, this is the guy who put a wildcat in a suitcase, for those who remember that story….
        Earl Long was giving a campaign speech in downtown Columbia on the banks of the Ouachita river. Before the speech my grandfather and some of his buddies were standing around shooting the shit and came up with the idea that they would get Long a cup of coffee before the speech. They, my grandfather most likely, carefully melted some ex-lax into the coffee before giving it to him. Do I have to tell the rest of the story? It kinda writes itself from that point on.
        Needless to say Long was unable to finish his speech. Remember the character Matlock from the TV show? He always wore a white suit, right? I think that aspect of the character was taken from Earl Long who was known for always wearing a white suit.
        I am just rambling now… I will stop torturing ya’ll….for now.