Good morning one and all to another beautiful day!
Meet The Wealthy Private Firms Controlling The Democrat Party
Mysterious Swiss Billionaire Spent $800 Million Bankrolling Left Wing Causes, States Say No More
Eco-Kingpins: How the Soros Empire Funds and Steers the Global Climate Change Agenda
HHS Secretary Kennedy to unveil plan to rid US food supply of petroleum-based synthetic dyes
NIH Director Gives Update on New Project to Find Causes of Autism
Pharmaceuticals company from Switzerland to $50 billion in US over next 5 years
These companies have announced their intention to increase US manufacturing
U.S. public schools brace for ‘fiscal cliff’ after surge in hiring meets budget shortfalls
Hakeem Jeffries to Lead Bipartisan Delegation to Denmark to Discuss Greenland
Elon Musk Says He Will Step Back From DOGE
Jury rules New York Times did not libel Sarah Palin in defamation case
That’s all I got for today. I’ll leave you with a song and move along with my day.
The Daily Caller is blocking me?
I’m sure you did something to deserve it.
/narrows gaze
[golf clap]
Dangnabbit… that’s what I get for actually finding the Federalist article interesting and not refreshing when I returned to this page before snarking.
Nicely done all the same.
’tis not I!
Hakeem Jeffries to Lead Bipartisan Delegation to Denmark to Discuss Greenland
The Logan Act is dead.
Obvious attempt to sabotage the current administration’s foreign policy.
I keep wondering what the left would do differently if they were trying to foment a civil war.
New offer – you can keep the delegates, free of charge.
We’ll pay you to keep them.
Here’s the play:
Bondi immediately charges them with Logan Act violations (and I’m sure there’s a raft of other charges she could slather on), and requests that Denmark arrest and extradite them.
Public schools across the United States are facing a financial reckoning in 2025 as federal pandemic relief funds expire and student enrollment continues to decline, according to data from the Georgetown Edunomics Lab.
The funding crisis stems largely from the end of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, which pumped billions of federal dollars into school districts during the Covid pandemic.
Oh no! We thought the temporary money was going to last forever!
Of course, if you look at how Congress tends to fund things after every “crisis,” this is entirely understandable.
Not to mention I don’t think any of said money was spent for “COVID related” expenses (even being generous on ventilation or whatnot.
Best use of COVID funds would have been to encourage outdoor physical activity for the kids… and you know full well no one did that.
Hell. They blocked off basketball hoops in playgrounds, put caution tape up on outdoor paths, and “closed” the exercise stations on the fitness trails (1-2 mile trails that have areas for pull ups, inclined press, jumping jacks and the like).
And I’ll never forget the idiot riding his motorcycle on the freeway, wearing shorts, flip-flops, a ball cap, and a paper mask.
Neph, my favorite mask-on-a-motorcycle memory from the Plague Years was somebody wearing a full gimp mask while tooling down the road on their ride.
The can is nearing the end of the road.
We left the road behind decades ago.
Good thing I bought these Patagonia(tm) All-Terrian Can Kickers! Just $399 online!
“education” 🙄
More like “administrative dead weight”.
“Hey plebes, if you don’t pass this series of bonds over the next decade the children will all suffer in rat infested classrooms with no books and lead paint. Only rich people can afford homes now, so they need to pay their fair share on property taxes to support our public schools!”
Don’t worry ed vendors, we will still buy the shiniest new curriculum every year.
“At the same time, public school enrollment has fallen nationally since 2020.”
If you need more money for fewer students, you are doing it wrong.
The schools will always be underfunded, no matter how low the enrollment or how high the budget. /leftist propaganda trope
Yup… even easier than roping off a state park — “Think of the Children!”
One might even say they’ve narrowed their gaze upon his influence.
Morning Banjos — thanks as always for the links. Morning all.
[sfx: sad trombone]
Obligatory
There it is.
I used to have an app on my phone where you could play sound effects like “sad trombone” and “Price is Right”. I admit I used it way too much.
“We actually warned school districts in advance, be careful about this money,” said Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University. “Because if you take on recurring commitments, financial commitments, you’re going to really find that in 2025, we will be calling it the bloodletting.”
Spigots were opened, assumptions about long term policies were made, said assumptions were incorrect, much wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued…
But the opening of the spigots was part of the long game. Once those “temporary” grants were enacted the left knew that anyone voting to suspend them would be accused of cutting educational funding.
Everyone just assumed that the Covid “emergency spending” would be the new and permanent baseline.
Oops.
If the Ds won it probably would have continued.
Under the Ds, it did continue. And, yes, if they had won last year, the spigots would be welded open.
Hell, they’re still arguing about whether/how to start charging people to ride busses again in Tucson, as the fares were cancelled as an emergency measure 5 fucking years ago. Not being seriously discussed: having everybody pay full fare.
Simple fix – Fire all the administrators/superintendants/board members until you’ve met your budget shortfall, then keep cutting.
SOP to commit any temporary surplus to long term projects, when the revenue disappears demand more revenue.
money is endless no need to be stingy with it.
I haven’t mentioned them in a while (mostly because I was away for a year), but this is one of the arguments StrongTowns.org makes. Cities get themselves in financial trouble by using grants to build new infrastructure and then are responsible for the ongoing maintenance, which they cannot afford.
“Maintenance comes after I’m out of office.”
/everyone who voted for the original infrastructure
Any new program or expansion using temporary funds.
I’m thinking that Denmark already knows that it has too many Hakeems.
Although if Trump can cut a quick deal to keep them there (or send them all to Greenland)…
Denmark is no where near diverse enough, those are rookie numbers
Fie! Where is a good danish prince to take action against Congressmans Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
Maybe Jeffries wants to talk about unemployment benefits for giants.
Hooked up to an IV an ready to get fentanyl’d up for my bilateral psoas injections!
This should be interesting.
Slip the juice to me, Bruce!
not sure what all that is but best of luck… And happy fentanyl i guess.
From the Greek word for “loin”, it’s one of several muscles which together comprise the hip flexor.
So he’ll have a tender loin afterwards?
The great @tylercowen
in defence of expertise in @TheFP
https://x.com/clairlemon/status/1914552867974996009
lockdowns were not a real issue fellas
Wow, that’s some serious disingenuous dipshittery.
I’m getting dizzy from all the spin.
Not mentioned is that long covid is really just lingering/possibly permanent side effects from said vaccine.
Bryan Caplan
@bryan_caplan
“If you take luxury beliefs seriously, opposition to low-skilled immigration fits the definition, because virtually everyone in the First World is affluent by global standards, and despite what you’ve heard, casual nationalism remains high status.”
https://x.com/bryan_caplan/status/1914738708294803631
I am starting to think Caplan does not understand the meaning of those things of which he speaks.
That’s some impressive gibberish, in that it does not actually say anything.
Authentic frontier jibberish?
He’s breaking out an “Ackchyually, your believe is the luxury belief, not mine!”
i.e., it’s not the open-borders types who want cheap lawn- and child-care engaging in luxury beliefs (since they don’t compete for those jobs), it’s the people who do compete for those jobs and oppose open-boarders who have the luxury belief because, um, they’re richer than your average Pakistani dirt-farmer.
It’s a terrible argument.
So the James Bond movies were documentaries and the left in the US appears to be a mostly foreign controlled criminal cabal. Whodathunkit?
And nothing else will happen.
If you haven’t seen it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G94n14eTfUQ
“In one of the most extreme cases, the Climate Action Network, which has major influence in the U.N., condemned Israel’s so-called “climate violence” for daring to launch a defensive attack against terrorist organizations like Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon after both perpetrated genocidal attacks against the Jewish state within months of each other.”
Climate violence?
without climate violence Sudan would be like Switzerland. Israel has a lot to answer for.
Wait… aren’t the Israelis reducing carbon emissions by bombing Gaza?
how do you think bombs work?
PieInTheSky:
Away with excess enemy
But no less value to property?
Sequestering lots of carbon under piles of rubble.
“Twas bryllyg, and þe slythy toves did gyre and gymble in þe wabe.”
You are a real thorn in my side, this morn.
Burning Teslas is the way to save the climate.
I’m old enough to remember when burning Hummers was the way to save the climate. My how times have changed.
Daily Ray of Sunshine
Oldie but a goodie. Still makes me grin.
I could use that kid to help me, has the right ideas…
Thanks, Jimbo
YouTube turned 20-years-old yesterday and celebrated by breaking everything.
Can you be more specific? YouTube is still working for me. What was it they changed?
Well, they announced they added some new volume control shit. Now none of the subscribing/downloading software works. Which I don’t think is due to the volume control shit.
I see.
I don’t think they advertize advances in the arms race against the viewers. So I suspect they added other malicious code to coutneract usability in favor of forcing more ad views.
All I’ve been doing is using it for background noise in my headphones because wednesdays are the “Everyone in the office day” and it’s not as peaceful as Fridays when almost nobody is here.
Common Tater:
Wasn’t the volume control thing announced only for Youtube Music (which I don’t use) since they didn’t volume balance the tracks (so the loudness wars make everything shitty).
But also keep in mind, by introducing a VPN, it’s not necessarily the platforms fault.
Neph – Video’s have already been “volume normalized” and dynamically compressed if they weren’t detected to be music. They just added it to the music only portion of the service.
Supposedly it won’t dynamically compress music only tracks just normalize. I’m sure there will still be issues as the music detection portion on YouTube has been far from accurate.
‘But also keep in mind, by introducing a VPN, it’s not necessarily the platforms fault.”
A VPN shouldn’t keep anything from working.
Common Tater:
It shouldn’t, but if it’s not properly configured, or if it’s doing some masking, that can cause a connection reset. If it works without the VPN, but doesn’t work with the VPN, that’s a problem with the VPN, not the site.
The dynamic compression is a PITA. The good news is
https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTube
allows you to select which audio stream you want.
“Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration and Department of Justice on Tuesday to ensure that states can continue letting biologically male trans athletes play in girls’ sports.”
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/trump-admin-responds-minnesotas-lawsuit-let-trans-athletes-girls-sports-creepy-anti-women
He’s hitting back.
That must hurt.
Do better, Minnesota.
It’s nice to let others go first
He should have stood in the doorway to the school when making the announcement.
Brother Keith is probably going to be filing all sorts of stuff against OMB in order to avoid talking about his meeting with the Somali fraudsters who stole $250M from the govt. The meeting where he promised to help them.
No federal funds for your state, then.
No worries, a district judge will rule that Trump must provide them with unlimited federal funding.
When are the 80 or 90 percent going to fight back against this shit? And not just wingnuts on X.
Why isn’t some prominent Minnesotaer up on a stage somewhere calling him a misogynist pig?
Minnesodans voted for this shit.
Well I’m too busy at work to do that.
WTF:
Minneapolis/St. Paul voted for this shit.
The last two elections proved that the metro area can now outvote the rest of the state. If you had just eliminated Minneapolis from the vote totals Walz would have lost his last race.
If a movement ever does succeed in letting counties leave one state for another, I think most of out state Minnesoda will secede to NoDak and SoDak. Not sure if Iowa or Wisconsin would pick up any.
Fair enough Holiness, someone made a comment a while back that there are no blue states, only blue cities that can dominate the voting.
“The last two elections proved that the metro area can now outvote the rest of the state.”
Phoenix and Tucson are just about there, too.
NoVA + Hampton Roads
Jimbo, that is pretty much all of the western states right now. One large, well organized politically if not practically, city can break down years of peaceful coexistence.
BOGEY BRAWL: A wild fight broke out on a golf course over “slow play.”
https://x.com/FoxNews/status/1914727321262498240
If golf was more like hockey …
Happy Gilmore lives!
Elbows Up!
I bet those foreign moneybags influenced Minnesoda’s cat burglar legislator! It the only reason I could think of for why she voted the way she did.
I wonder if she feels bad that her case hasn’t garnered more support from prominent Dems? Why can’t she get any MS-13 love from US Senators?
I mean, who the fuck lets someone vote on a motion on whether they should be expelled?
Democrats.
Only because she preserved their majority. If it wasn’t so tight, they would have had her abstain or even resign.
*Haiti Update April 2025* – the international Kenyan led forces have failed to dislodge the gangs now running the capital, cholera outbreaks have been noted, gang rape is rife and the homicide rate continues to increase.
https://x.com/Paracelsus1092/status/1914955680118718539
I blame climate violence…
But seriously though, short of letting them all come to America, what is the solution for Haiti?
“Ultimately transitional councils, war budgets and international interventions have failed to crush the gangs, and the death toll is rising. The capital is a warzone, civilians are routinely killed, kidnapped and raped. Disease is spreading. The UN says that Haiti is collapsing.”
But would a international intervention which could sicced escape criticism by global leftists?
I mean an international force of 100k soldiers with tanks etc crushing the gangs… I think the EL Slavador guy offered to coordinate
Does there need to be a solution?
I mean humans in general seek solutions.
Yeah but for their own problems. You quickly learn to stay out of other people’s affairs. These international problem solving seems to be more about continuing conflict to siphon money and corruption.
If Haiti had any resources worth acquiring, a stronger nation would move in, assume control of the territory, and restore order. That’s probably the best solution. And then the international community would throw a tantrum because their spigot is cutoff.
lol Nice one.
Maybe when Ukraine dries up.
The solution to Haiti is to let this play out. If gangs rule the country, then gangs rule the country. It isn’t any worse than Pakistan, or the Congo, and no, we shouldn’t be there either. A gang is what turned into the ruling families of each European country, and are what lead to democracy.
Running a country is a bit different than toppling a country. Let the gangs get to discover that joy.
Let them figure it out themselves?
Their main problem is that they practice voodoo economics.
*golf clap*
Out of curiosity, where were the majority of Hatians enslaved from? It would not surprise me if they were a group that was/is traditionally hated by whichever group of Kenyans predominantly makes up their military.
Oh come on no one holds grudges that long outside of fantasy dwarves
The carribean was supplied from the west coast of Africa. I’m unsure of the amount of East-West Contact across the continent, but they don’t seem like regions with a lot of pent up animosity towards each other. (Unlike neighbors who fought constantly)
The reason it wouldn’t have surprised me, other than the ongoing irony of the universe, is the whole who/whom was taking and selling slaves.
Kenya would have been Selling to the Middle East, not the Carribean.
Haiti is a lost cause. Build a high, sturdy wall to protect the Dominican Republic for the sake of the future of Major League Baseball.
Nope nope nope
To be fair, the US stuck its dick in there way too many times but like GT said it’s a lost cause.
Let Europe stick its dick in there and then they can be on hook for importing all that tribal warfare.
France did create the Haiti problem after all.
France can air drop all of its migrants onto Haiti covered in BBQ sauce – solve two problems at once.
There is no solution, in the sense of some kind of program that will turn Haiti around. I suspect the culture of whatever-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-Haiti won’t be dislodged without some sort of mass casualty event.
I would just like to remind everybody – Haiti is not a shithole.
Looking forward to Conan’s next video from Haiti, scolding us about calling it such.
“To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of the women?”
Honest question, because I can’t be bothered to do any research… what was life like in Haiti under Baby Doc Duvalier? Are Haitians better off now, or worse? Or more of a lateral move from centralized brutality to crowd-sourced brutality?
It was a gang led country. Papa (and Baby) Doc was a dictator, just like every other gang warlord.
Was it worse? Eh, depends on who you talk to. It was stable in it’s tyranny. For certain values of stable.
It is easy to deride banana republic monkey dictators but often they turn out to be the best that that given culture has to offer.
Under Duvalier they were not cooking and eating each other openly in the streets.
Fake News. The Clinton Foundation fixed Haiti years ago.
At the request of a friend, I watched the first two episodes of Leverage. It seems to be a silly, semi-wholesome series in the vein of Burn Notice, Person of Interest, A-Team, or Psych in which criminals use their criminal powers for good.
The characters are easy to understand since they’re flat stock characters. I assume since the show ran for multiple seasons that they eventually develop but at the moment you can directly map four of the to the A-Team (the fifth is “The Uberhacker” which was not present in that show).
I think I saw a couple of episodes of that when it first appeared. I think I remember one of the thief women being weird in that she did not buy anything with the money because she likes money not stuff. Also I remember they got a payday by engineering a stock marker short or something.
That would be Parker (she likes money, not stuff). Yes, the pilot has them get extremely wealthy which funds the rest of the series.
Another thing that made it popular among the geek set was that one of the show runners kept up a blog and would discuss plot points, network changes, cut scenes, and tell stories about the episodes.
Yes, that character is the analogue of Mad Murdock – Crazypants and an acrobat.
There’s also The Mastermind, The Face, and The Combat Master (though unlike BA Barackus, the one in Leverage hates guns.).
(though unlike BA Barackus, the one in Leverage hates guns.)
Kind of tough to be a combat master if you eschew firearms. You know, because you’re not bullet-proof, and can be killed or disabled at a distance with no recourse by someone who does use guns.
That is a tiresomely overused TV trope.
If you’re Plot Armored, you’ll be fine. Have you never seen a Bruce Lee movie?
*Batman haz a sad. I mean, moreso than ususal. *
Ah, of course, I completely forgot about Plot Armor!
The characters get more development over time. I really like Leverage, it’s a nice palate cleanser from the darker shows I generally watch. The original ran for 5 seasons, and then there was a delayed sequel called Redemption that started on IMDB.tv (which became Freevee, and was rolled into Amazon Prime) that just started its third season. The most recent season has been specifically targeting “libertarians” in at least two of the three episodes they dropped, which had me… disappointed. Both cases were people using legal loopholes and tricks to convince people to sign bad contracts, and would likely be able to be litigated as fraud/signing under duress. If this turns into a season long theme, I’m going to be upset.
I always expect at least some leftist dipshittery in any show I want to watch, and it’s always a balancing act as to whether the leftist bullshit rises to a high enough level to make the show unwatchable.
I plan on continuing to watch it if for no other reason than I can talk about it with my mother. She has very little tolerance for grimdark.
WTF:
The original series coded left to the point that they went after corrupt corporate executives, and would turn people over to the useful idiots at the FBI/local police. Proto-finance bros are a frequent target as well. There’s several episodes where they interact with politicians and all of them find the politicians distasteful (with lines such as, “I’m a professional thief, and that just made me throw up in my mouth a little.”
It got better. And then it got worse. Par for the course.
So, Last night I mentioned the Oblivion remaster had dropped unceremoniously onto Steam. My impressions – It’s Oblivion, but pretty. The artists did a fine job at making things look good, probably practice for Elder Scrolls 6 (or creating assets for that game). I am the target audience for the remaster, as my biggest problem getting into the game previously was those faces. I have not noticed any differences in mechanics, though they did rearrange the UI, which could bug fans of the original. There might be changes, but I am not so in-depth with regards to the mechanics as to notice.
One thing I did notice was the triggers on one of the quests being absurd. I finished this quest in both versions, so it’s a good comparison. It’s the one where you find out one of the shops is being supplied by a grave robber. After following the shopkeep to his meeting with the graverobber. In the original, if either saw you, they wouldn’t have their conversation. I eavesdropped from the other side of a low wall. In the remake, they wouldn’t start talking unless you huddled up to them, and were very clearly “seen” by both according to the stealth indicator. Yet they merrily had their suspicious conversation regardless of the weird guy crouched by their knees. I was not happy at that. The far side of the wall was a more natural feeling eavesdrop location, and their willingness to chat with me practically in their faces was wrong.
I saw that. Yes’, I’ll probably get it at some point.
I do wish Bethesda would (a) roll the mod community unofficial patch into Oblivion/Skyrim/Fallout whatever and/or (b) put up a mod page for Oblivion/Fallout 3/Fallout New Vegas. As a console monkey, if Bethesda doesn’t have it, I can’t get it as you can’t mod the Xbox from the online sources.
And if they’ve remastered Oblivion, why not remaster Fallout 3? I think its newer than Oblivion?
Fallout 3 is newer than Oblivion, but the next big title on their announced roadmap is an Elder Scrolls title, and I suspect they needed to staff up as a lot of their Elder Scrolls team has been working on ESO. I can see the Oblivion Remaster as both a training project and a place to create reusable assets for Elder Scrolls 6. If Fallout 76 hasn’t collapsed by the time they gear up for Fallout 5, you may get your wish.
R C Dean:
There’s rumblings about a Fallout 3 remake. If they leave in the plot, it’ll still be garbage.
Mr Ilium – Have you seen the theories that the plot was originally mean to take place much closer to the immediate aftermath of the Great War and got shifted to the later date midway through development?
I think if they dropped the Brotherhood and had it in the immediate aftermath, it would fit better.
UCS:
I did, I also saw the rumors that they wanted to put it so far in the future so they wouldn’t have to deal with anything from the older games. My complaint (beyond the lore and that apparently the entire East coast did absolutely nothing to permanently build) was stuff like the ending (fuck spoiler warnings for a game over 15 years old) when you had to sacrifice yourself at the end, even when you had companions who were immune to radiation (one of whom has a bomb collar around their neck) who won’t go in for you.
Black Isle wrote plots that fit together, and had some clever solutions to them. I’ve yet to see something like that in a Bethesda game.
On the other hand – I actually made it to the end of the Bethesda games. The isometric games … Not so much.
I imagine it matters how you got to Fallout. I rolled into them as a happy player of the other Infinity Engine games so I completed them.
Then at some point I moved into someone who let me use their Coty of Heroes account, and then their World of Warcraft accounts and I pretty much stopped buying games.
Fallout 3 was my first Fallout.
I’ve been trying to articulate what it is about the isometric games that makes me walk away. I think it boils down to “I never had a clue what I was doing” and “Wherever I was, I was too weak to be there.” It’s been a while since I last tried, so I can’t get more detailed than that.
Given I have the original and …. checking…. have played it for 3 minutes — and have only one real playthrough on Skyrim (and that was before the Vampire DLC I think)… I think ES just isn’t my bag, really. As such… they got a resounding “Meh” from me yesterday.
Nobody is forcing you to play. Otherwise you’d have more than three minutes playtime.
At three minutes I have to conclude you bailed at the character creator.
I enjoyed Skyrim, and some of the older ES, but they always did take a while to get into. They were noticeably uglier, and kind of opaque in the way that the game worked compared to their contemporaries.
Just did the long intro in Skyrim?
The long intro in Skyrim
Oh, yeah!
New interesting study on European cranial morphology:
“The evolution of European cranial morphology: From the Upper Paleolithic to the Late Eneolithic steppe invasions”
https://x.com/nrken19/status/1914745285663740054
Well that is a bone headed theory.
Phrenology is just as valid a science as Economics.
*Looks at economics*
Well, look at that. You are correct.
“Former President Joe Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has landed a new gig out of the White House as a grand marshal of NYC Pride Parade.”
https://nypost.com/2025/04/23/us-news/former-white-house-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-lands-new-nyc-pride-gig/
Grand Wizard has more of a ring to it.
Question is she capable of messing up a two car parade?
Isn’t pride one of the seven deadly sins?
Anyhoo… that parade has been nothing more than a mandatory stop on the DNC circuit for the last few decades. A stop with oily men on floats gyrating simulated sex acts.
It’s just another one of the seven that is now being celebrated in our sick culture, like envy.
A Humility Month would be a great thing for tnis country. Regardless of sexual orientation, it is a more needed virtue.
The age of men is over.
Where did you find such an accurate gif of some of the women I work with?
” Twisted son ‘doing witchcraft’ allegedly murdered mom, dog then shared gruesome footage on Snapchat: ‘It was an exorcism’”
https://nypost.com/2025/04/23/us-news/son-allegedly-murdered-mom-then-shared-photo-on-snapchat-it-was-an-exorcism/
That must be some intelligent dog.
Not smart enough, apparently.
One phenobarbital overdose for the human coming right up!
Crazypants lunatic has “several friends”…. I imagine the law is taking a close look at them too.
Rhetorical question: Does somebody care to explain to me why these bonds are usually tax exempt?
Elite Universities in Trump’s Crosshairs Are Drumming Up Cash
Princeton, Harvard and Brown are among the schools issuing debt
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/trump-college-universities-cash-federal-funding-fa001311?st=Te4JVZ&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Can someone explain to me why the fuck they are issuing debt when they have multi-billion dollar endowments?
Harvard’s endowment is actually pretty restricted for a large percentage of it. For example, a donation for physical plant can’t be used to pay tuition.
Several hypotheses:
A: They expect the returns on investments from the endowment to outpace the interest on the loans.
B: They expect the loans to be forgiven.
C: Legal reasons make it easier to borrow than to withdraw.
UCS – A and C.
They historically borrow because of both return and investment horizon matching. It just shouldn’t be tax exempt, but that’s up to states. I don’t know if if it is federally tax exempt as I’m not a fixed income guy.
Sensei: yes, they are federally tax exempt.
RC – thanks. I thought they were. I wonder if that was legislated or another club Trump can use to beat them with…
Yeah, that’s typical for endowments.
Any 501(c)(3) can issue tax exempt bonds. Admittedly, it’s hard to see the logic of the interest being collected from a charity as something that the bond holder shouldn’t pay taxes on, but there it is.
So…I haven’t been sleeping very well recently. This morning was no exception. While flipping through the network channels around 3:30 this morning I saw a glowing hagiography for Pope Frankie via ABC News. The subtitle under his name kinda blew my mind. “The People’s Pope”, it read..
What in the ever-loving fuck are you talking about? Look, I’m not a Catholic. Never have been. So I can’t speak for their general feelings about his reign. Anecdotally speaking, however, around at least half the Catholics I’ve spoken to online and in person weren’t particular fans of his. In fact, I believe he was the most contentious Pope of my lifetime. And I don’t think it’s even close. The People’s Pope…
He was admired by elite Leftist for his myopic hot takes on economic and environmental issues so therefore…The People’s Pope… don’t gaslight me, bitch. Get the fuck out of here.
As a (lapsed) Catholic, I can confirm your opinion.
According my very Catholic wife he was more conservative than expected on matters related to faith. Far from doctrinally conservative, but much more so than initially expected.
But on secular matters he was a socialist.
I would assume that “The People’s Pope” suggests the same inclinations as any country called “The People’s Republic…”
Double Dangnabbit! Ah well.
As a recovering (my friends would say lapsed) Catholic. Yeah, not a lot of love for Francis among the devout. Vatican 2 was before my times, but I recall some of the older Catholics still complaining about that, and some blame still being thrown at John Paul 2 (who was famously loved here in Cleveland with our Polish population).
Speaking of that. On Monday, when the Polish celebrate Dyngus Day (which is celebrated locally by polka, piwo, packzi, and pierogi, heavy focus on the piwo) the girlfriend and I went out, and saw Planned Parenthood setting up a table right near one of the large gathering locations for it (Great Lakes Brewery). I’m sure that went over well.
“The People’s Pope” in the same sense as “The People’s Republic”.
When I was younger, Catholic families we visited always had 2 pictures hanging in their living room. JFK and the Pope. I haven’t seen any of Francis hanging in anyone’s living room. Completely unrelated – most black people I knew also had 2 pictures hanging up in their house – JFK and MLK, jr.
That is creepy AF on both sides.
It’s like pics of Mao or one of the Great Leaders.
I don’t even have pictures of family hanging in my home. To put political figures on the wall is just wrong.
Do you have a Buca di Beppo in the area? The food is adequate, but they have a “Pope Room.”
Not Adahn:
Pretty sure the lockdowns killed Buca di Beppo.
/goes and checks
Never mind, there’s one still in the Cleveland area. There used to be at least 4 I knew of.
The last time I went to one, the head in the middle of the table was JPII’s.
Italian chains are not widespread up here for some reason.
If anyone wants a “deep dive” this is as good as any.
Pope Francis before a youth Mass in Myanmar in 2017.
Pope Francis Leaves Behind a Church That’s More Global—and More Divided
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/pope-francis-death-catholic-church-6a57af4f?st=8tSMVF&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
TW – Long Read…
Pope Francis spent an inordinate amount of time thwarting Christ’s wishes that humans were free to choose charity or self-interest, and that government coercion was not part of the program for making one do right.
The Heat Coming Out of Your Car’s Tailpipe? Some Can Be Turned Into Electricity
https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/car-tailpipe-electricity-eaab01f2?st=tEv6En&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Sure, you can get milliamps of current and nice big restriction in your exhaust. Let’s put it on everything!
“In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!”
(Yeah… recycling waste heat can be done… but entropy always wins…)
Did you know you can use power from your bike pedals to charge your devices when riding?!
I love that video.
I remember generator-powered bicycle lights being a thing in the 1970s, and like so many products manufactured then, absolutely sucking.
My dad had those lights. You had to go so fast to get a decent amount of light that it would really only be useful to a Tour de France rider.
I have a clamp on light that runs off of the rear wheel tire on my vintage Raleigh. And that is the most inconsistent light I have ever seen on a bicycle.
Rand Paul Fights Trump on Tariffs as Other Republicans Duck
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/rand-paul-trump-tariff-opposition-643aea6f?st=4Va4Sy&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
I wonder what Team Blue will do now that it recently discovered free trade…
What Team Blue will do is win the 2026 elections and eventually forget they discovered free trade.
If by “eventually” you mean “immediately”.
The Impossible Four-Hour Test You Need to Pass to Become a Tariff Pencil Pusher
https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/tariffs-trump-trade-world-economy-markets-824b9c25?st=NVdhFQ&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
I don’t recall the WSJ sneering at Biden’s 80,000 new IRS employees as “pencil pushers”.
They were issued laptops, not pencils!
…and guns.
“According to the New York Times, the White House has been mulling over a number of different ideas in order to increase marriage and birth rates. One would be a $5,000 “baby bonus” to every mother after they have a child. Another proposal would reserve around 30 percent of the Fulbright scholarship program to people who are married or have children.
Another idea that has been floated is a government program that would educate women about menstrual cycles so that they understand the best timing for conception of a child. This comes as the birth rate in the US has recently hit historic lows.”
https://thepostmillennial.com/trump-admin-floats-plans-to-increase-fertility-rates-including-5000-baby-bonus-as-births-drop-to-record-lows
“Get that baby out of here!”
Gimme $5k for my dog, then we’ll talk.
Like forgiving debt, I want back pay.
Can he use Snapchat?
She’ll need reasonable accommodations like a custom keyboard, obviously. Or, I guess you could pay me to be her “communication facilitator.” Yeah, that second one.
$5k would be a nice one-time payment, but not really a game changer to a family. Meanwhile it would cost a lot. Birth rate is an issue, but if Trump could get the economy back to a point where people could afford to have kids, the problem might fix itself. The other option is to force women to have kids. Maybe they could get fancy red outfits.
Some of the stacks I’ve been reading have been pointing out that this is a cultural issue, not a political one. It’s not considered cool to be in your 20’s with kids, so people in their 20’s are less likely to have kids. The authors of the pieces I was reading was pointing to the trad wife trend as being more likely to reverse the birth rate slide, as it starts to become cool (to a larger cohort of yutes) to have kids again. And it is something that you need the younger generations to do.
You’re also gonna have to figure out a way to stop women from being the majority of college students. All sorts of outcomes from that have lead to fewer marriages and kids.
Neph, I’d add that waiting until later makes it harder to have kids because there are more fertility problems. That creates additional expense, too. I’m guessing biology will eventually step in and do its thing.
You’re also gonna have to figure out a way to stop women from being the majority of college students.
Once Trump starts assigning us Handmaidens, it’ll all work out.
I thought the tax code already favors multiple children.
But yeah… promote a zillion policies that favor no children on one hand, and more children on the other hand.
Good luck with that.
Where’s my 15 thousand dollars?
No shit. First I don’t take out any student loans, and now my kids are grown and I don’t get baby bucks.
TOK:
I just skipped going to college and had no kids (that I’m aware of, and it’s pretty unlikely that I spawned one I don’t). On the other hand, I did get a mortgage at a sub 4% rate, so I’ve got that going for me.
Right? I think this whole panic about an underpopulation problem is even more ridiculous than the one about the overpopulation problem that was the main narrative throughout my life up until a few years ago. There are plenty of humans and no shortage of them anytime soon. If there is then they’ll make more of the robots need more.
One would be a $5,000 “baby bonus” to every mother after they have a child. Another proposal would reserve around 30 percent of the Fulbright scholarship program to people who are married or have children.
What could possibly go wrong with central planning?
This badly misses the point. We are not running short of babies born into the poorest, least functional communities. We are running short of babies born into the productive middle class families, and $5000 isn’t going to persuade women with decent careers to change a thing.
Not sure that is true. Most of the recent (last 20 years or so?) decline in US fertility matches pretty dead on with the decrease in teen pregnancy. Basically 20+ fertility rates are roughly the same. But teen pregnancy has cratered.
I assume teen pregnancy would correlate with the “poorest, least functional”.
However, I agree, I don’t think $5k is going to convince career women to have 3 kids in their 20s instead of 1 in their 30s.
“Another idea that has been floated is a government program that would educate women about menstrual cycles so that they understand the best timing for conception of a child.” Shouldn’t that be part of sex ed in school? Or did that get dropped in favor of teaching about butt plugs and queer sex?
Left out men with menstrual cycles. How transphobic.
“”We are sharing images and documentation of the threats the family has faced this past weekend to make the public aware of the dangerous atmosphere that has been created — an atmosphere fueled by organized hate, systemic racism, and intentional misinformation,” the group added in the release.”
https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-karmelo-anthony-advocacy-group-says-he-has-been-moved-to-an-undisclosed-location
No, it’s been fueled by your race-grifting.
Is it as dangerous as telling him he’s in the wrong place?
Race grift to buy house. Use the backlash to your house buying to justify race grifting.
Perpetual motion!
I read that. So who wants to bet that the threats are mostly from leftists? Damn near every “OMG I found a Nazi swastika on campus” has been faked by leftists. If you want a P.R. campaign…
Ever since I moved to NY, my estimate of the population of no-shit-for-real white racists has gone up. Also, the law of very large twitter users implies that they absolutely got some threats.
Just think about the level of cultural sickness when we have people happily funding advocacy groups and grift for a murderer just because of his skin color.
“Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reportedly considering removing the COVID-19 vaccination from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended vaccine schedule for children.”
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/health/rfk-jr-considering-removing-cdcs-covid-19-vaccination-recommendation-kids
Why the fuck would it be on there in the first place?
Those record pharma profits aren’t going to just happen on their own.
If I recall correctly, the mRNA product went from emergency use authorization, hence immune from liability, directly to the childhood vaccine schedule, hence immune from liability. So it was added (again, IIRC) over the objection of an FDA advisory council as a gift to Pfizer and friends.
“One of Kennedy’s biggest concerns about the country’s medical system is the power and influence wielded by pharmaceutical companies, particularly their ability to “advertise directly to consumers.”
“We’re one of only two countries in the world that allows pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to consumers – everybody agrees it’s a bad idea,” Kennedy said last year, referring to the U.S. and New Zealand.”
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/health/dr-aseem-malhotra
Fat people singing about diabetes medicine should be shot on sight.
I know it’s not very free-speech of me, but I’m for banning them. Not because they are convincing people to take those drugs, it’s that pharma companies are spending tons of money on advertising as a way for them to control the media.
That, and increasing demand increases the cost of medicine.
And the fact that 95% of commercials on air are for drugs or political action committees.
I like how there are ads to buy life insurance, directly followed by ads offering to buy your policy.
Followed by ads advocating euthenasia?
If he can get those fucking advertisements for dick pills and fat people shots off the television screen he will have wildly succeeded in his position. If you want to make all that shit possible to buy OTC that would be fine. Fuck this “ask your doctor” bullshit.
Stop, I can only get so hard (and without “Friday Plans” 🙄).
LOL
“We’re one of only two countries in the world that allows pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to consumers – everybody agrees it’s a bad idea,”
I don’t. Who the fuck are you to tell me who can advertise to me and who can’t? You know what I have to pfear from Pfizer? Nothing, not a damn thing. I can tell Pfizer to pound sand. You know whom I do have to fear? A central state that can coerce, manipulate, require, censor, and force ‘de-platform’ people. Without State enforced mandates and a central ‘authority’ to bless some, condemn others, and require every doctor to accept said blessing or condemnation, I have nothing to fear from Pfizer telling me I need coochstankitaseiarity to reduce my cooch stank.
There are plenty of restrictions on advertising and what people are allowed to advertise, from federal law to zoning restrictions.
There are plenty of restrictions on advertising and what people are allowed to advertise, from federal law to zoning restrictions.
And? There is plenty of Federal over-reach in all aspects of our lives. If that justifies more, there’s not an end to that.
The focus on pharmaceutical advertising obscures the fact that the true problem is centralization of medical care into the apparatus of the State. If you have a bunch of centralized agencies that control medical policy and, via centralization of medical care, control doctors, it doesn’t matter whether Pfizer can advertise dick pills to me or not, the battle is already lost, and you’re just ineffectually nibbling around the edges.
I guess it depends on advertise what. In Romania TV is full of medical advertisements, though only for over the counter drugs. But you can’t turn on the tv without seeing a nurofen ad
OMG – I wonder how many will die.
US FDA suspends milk quality tests amid workforce cuts
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-fda-suspends-milk-quality-tests-amid-workforce-cuts-2025-04-21/
I don’t believe for a second that anything whatsoever needs to be “suspended”.
This is more rEsIsTaNcE bullshit.
Seriously, how in the hell could Palin’s lawyers have brought that case in Manhattan? Was there any reason for doing so? Couldn’t it have been brought where she was living at the time? The jury deliberated for two whole hours (including the time to pick a foreman and instructions). There was zero chance she was going to win that case in that venue. Bizarre.
Sounds like that’s correct to me!
Dudek calls for entire SSA offices to be converted to new Schedule F
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/04/dudek-calls-entire-ssa-offices-be-converted-new-schedule-f/404755/
The salary is irrelevant if they are indeed making policy.
‘This could make communities less safe, there could be rioting over this.’
＠GreenJennyJones tells @AndrewMarr9
that Labour is ‘pandering to the far right’ by publicising the nationalities of foreign criminals.
https://x.com/LBC/status/1914740989606158608
Gaudy emotionalism
The resumption of involuntary student loan repayments for federal borrowers in default couldn’t come at a worse time for Americans already struggling with higher prices. The policy also underscores the Education Department’s transformation under President Donald Trump from a guarantor for quality education for all into a glorified collection agency.
——-
McMahon doesn’t acknowledge that Trump’s ill-advised and often incoherent economic policies are already causing a new pinch on Americans’ wallets. People are already struggling to repay their loans, and there’s nothing on the horizon to indicate that money won’t be missed deeply as the economy worsens. When you consider the racial disparities of those in default, it’s clear that what Trump is doing will hurt Black and Latino people especially hard. And those communities are already fare worse economically than their white counterparts do.
——-
McMahon’s inordinate focus on recovering student loan debt makes a certain kind of sense when you consider her background is business, not education. The Education Department is being systematically stripped of all the parts that help people’s lives in nonmonetary ways. Instead, all that’s likely to be left soon is an agency dedicated to clawing back money from those who borrowed it for their chance at the American Dream but are finding their reality of bills and expenses hard to afford.
Once upon a time the Education Department was a shining beacon of hope for the poor and underprivileged. All they wanted was a shot at a better life, but Trump and his minions are going to steal their last crust of bread and grind them into the gutter.
The resumption of involuntary student loan repayments for federal borrowers in default
It’s not involuntary, they willingly signed up for those loans and agreed to pay them back on the contractually-agreed schedule.
It’s just like “involuntary mortgage” holders!
I would have preferred someone just give me a house, but I was forced to buy one instead.
Wait… does this mean I have involuntary mortgage, insurance, and credit card payments? Or are they only involuntary if I go into default?
Dear MSNBC: Fuck. Off.
New Zealand offers one of the best case studies on housing policy.
Auckland made it easier to build housing.
Wellington didn’t.
Results speak for themselves:
https://x.com/AlecStapp/status/1915023507156521304
from the replies
Minneapolis is a good one too.
https://x.com/ApoStructura/status/1915038311564902642
It really is that simple. Make housing easier to build and prices come down. It is really basic econ 1001. Move the frickin supply curve and price drops and quantity increases.
Yup. My town is on the “regulate the everloving fuck out of it” side followed by endless bitching how “the poor” struggle. Rinse, repeat.
Bryan Caplan estimated a 50% drop in housing prices with a full-scale deregulation.
He also realizes that will never happen.
But just cherry picking the easy to do things with have a pretty dramatic effect. Dezoning, eliminating parking minimums, eliminating lot size minimums, eliminating setbacks. Build by right, instead of build by approval.
That latter still requires you to follow code. But if you do, you can build without pre-approval. Its like “shall issue” for concealed carry permits. There should be “shall issue” building permits.
Dezoning, eliminating parking minimums, eliminating lot size minimums, eliminating setbacks.
I’ve seen all of that passed. None of it is deregulation and none of it reduces actual costs. It’s car hating commie crap to destroy low density housing and SFHs. Shitholes will crowded streets because there’s no onsite parking. People paying 1/3 of their rent for a parking space. Reduced visibility at intersections because the building is right on the corner. Never able to expand a road again because the lack of setbacks.
CommieTowns can fuck right off.
inhumans of capitalism (Ojibwa )🔻 ☭
@Inhumansoflate1
Capitalism offers no meaning to life
https://x.com/Inhumansoflate1/status/1913197932750447076
In non-capitalism it was life had meaning: lets try not to freeze / starve one more winter.
communist history vids ☭
@commsurreallism
what is the life of the communist.?
The life of the communist is the Party . for the communist there is no question of the meaning of life. the meaning of life was service of the people
https://x.com/commsurreallism/status/1908997754552283483
“life was service to the people”
Or else.
About the birth rate:
How many times have you heard somebody say, “I just couldn’t bring a child into a world like this”?
Maybe if we laid off the “Gaia is dying!” apocalypse porn in the education system people might have a more optimistic view of the future.
Family court isn’t helping.
Eh, we’re selectively breeding out the panicky fragile people.
Maybe, but not nearly as fast as we are creating more.
All by design.
For years on end I have always heard about how Blue States were somehow subsidizing the Red via federal spending. Today I went to check on my pay stub for and amidst the Comprtoller’s fearmongering about fed cuts, they had this on the front page:
So, who’s subsidizing who?
People who work are subsidizing those who do not.
Low birth rates? Reparations? Fatherless homes?
Modern problems require modern solutions.
There are 20 million black men in the U.S., and 20 million women in Canada.
So every black man gets a Canadian wife, and if either of them try to leave the marriage, they get sent back to Africa or France, respectively.
Pulling the strings?
News over the weekend that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s wife Jennifer was included in a second group chat where he shared sensitive military operations details has focused attention on the prominent role she has occupied at the Pentagon without being formally employed during her husband’s short tenure running the US military.
Jennifer Hegseth has been a constant presence in her husband’s inner circle from even before he was confirmed to the Cabinet job. Her involvement thrust her back into the spotlight over the weekend, when it was reported that she was in a Signal group chat with her husband, his brother, and his lawyer, in which the secretary disclosed sensitive information about military operations against the Houthis.
——-
Jennifer Hegseth has been a near-constant presence around her husband since his confirmation process earlier this year, when she was frequently seen attending his confirmation meetings with senators on Capitol Hill. Her attendance quickly caught the attention of lawmakers and their staff, a Senate aide told CNN.
“She attended every single one of his meetings with Republican senators, which we’re not aware of any nominee for any nominated position doing,” the aide said. They added there was particular frustration among some of the female senators who met with him and were looking to ask questions about allegations of sexual assault. Her presence “totally changed the dynamic” of the conversations around those allegations, they said.
A former senior Pentagon official who served under a Republican administration told CNN that they had “never heard of anyone” bringing their spouse to an office meeting, and that it “bothered a lot of senators.”
He hid behind her skirts while she bullied those poor helpless female Senators.
They are going hard against Hegseth this week. My neocon hockey friend thinks he’ll be gone by Friday.
Doubt.
Those tricks no longer work.
Now I’m wondering how many times this happened under Joe and the media buried it.
Family Structure Matters for Rich Kids, Too
https://ifstudies.org/blog/family-structure-matters-for-rich-kids-too
Musk’s approach to family life indicates that some on the right do not think family structure matters for kids. Over the decades, primarily left-leaning commentators have discounted the importance of marriage and family structure. But now, on the other end of the political spectrum, there are those on the right suggesting that kids will do fine, so long as their parents have money or the right genes. From this corner of the right, family structure is relatively unimportant, especially at the upper echelons of society.
But this view is not consistent with the evidence. Children from wealthier families are more likely to graduate college and stay wealthy when raised in an intact family. As documented in Brad Wilcox’s book, Get Married, among children raised in upper-income families, those who lived with both biological parents are twice as likely to graduate from college as their affluent peers who did not.1 This comes from an analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), a survey that followed the lives of nearly 9,000 teenagers into their adulthood. The same data also suggests that rich kids whose parents stick together have 73% higher odds of remaining rich as adults compared to their peers whose parents do not.2
For the record, I’m not a fan of Musk’s “Impregnate every hot Xwitter personality” strategy.
Kevin Cotedge
@KevinCotedge
Never buying regular Zyns again. 5lb bucket of fucking horse nicotine from tractor supply. Never underperforming or having a foggy mind ever again. I am the #boss . Lipping half of a horse dose and I feel great. My skin is fucking tingling.
https://x.com/KevinCotedge/status/1914471252326277371
This seems like an excellent way to murder someone.
What is wrong with Haiti: When the Haitian slaves successfully revolted against France they were left on their own. Mostly because of the Napoleonic wars and other reasons no one stepped in. These were multi-generational slaves that were beyond ignorant and backward. The French forbade them to read or learn anything. Those people laid the foundation of the culture and politics of Haiti today.
They never really had a chance and the culture there is unsalvageable.
I just finished season 4 of the Revolutions podcast, which was on the Haitian revolution. That is not completely accurate.
Pre-revolution there were a lot of educated, wealthy, mixed race freed men. Sons of slaves and whites, primarily. There were plenty of chances for Haiti to come out okayish, but by the time it was all over with, there had been too much destruction of the productive equipment.
Like with the French Revolution, there were a couple of points were if everyone had stopped and calmed down for a bit, they could have come out the other side in decent shape.
Following up on my comment, I think the KEY moment was when Toussaint L’Ouverture turned on Sonthonax. If they could have continued to work together, I think Haiti would have been in much better shape. Except, Napoleon probably would have still screwed it up.
Is there some advantage that the Dominican Republic has that Haiti doesn’t?
google ai says:
Natural Resources and Geography:
The Dominican Republic benefits from a greater availability of natural resources, including fertile land for agriculture and access to water resources. Haiti, with its drier climate and mountainous terrain, faces challenges in agriculture and resource management.
So, starting from scratch usually starts with agriculture. Have to feed yourself before you can create other industries.
Well… From a quick skim of the history of the Republic it appears to be that they were not created by a violent slave uprising that slaughtered anyone who knew what they were doing.
Kinnath, neither country was starting from scratch. The colonial agricultural infrastructure was in place before any revolutions started. And there are plenty of places with worse conditions than Haiti for farming that did not become shitholes. The difference was cultural and social.
Trying to find a non green agenda explanation of Haiti’s deforestation has been difficult, but this article can at least help explain one major issue.
https://lifepowered.org/haiti-v-dominican-republic/
The lack of electricity is a symptom of the shithole status, not a cause.
To elaborate, conditions on the haitian side would never have let them modernize their energy usage at any time, so no petroleum, no electricity, nothing but burn whatever you can light on fire.
Book review:
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/our-dollar-your-problem-and-king-dollar-the-currents-of-currency-e83fc6b5?st=J9v75f&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink