Thursday Morning Links

by | May 15, 2025 | Daily Links | 322 comments

The NFL schedules are out. So are the Warriors (there’s your NBA news, European readers). Boston stayed alive for one more day. In hockey, Toronto laid another egg and are now on the brink of elimination, which is kind of their thing. Vegas is out. And the Reds had a Pete Rose Day and the place went nuts. Now that he’s reinstated, he’s all but a lock for the HOF on his first chance. I’m just glad they waited until he was dead. And that’s it for sports.

This right here is a crazy story. I guess they shouldn’t have relied so heavily on US government money being funneled to them through NGOs. But even that’s just a small part of the zaniness.

OK. This is what happens when you are indicted by a Grand Jury. Best of luck to her as she gets treated the same as any other person would.

Sounds like discrimination to me. In fact, it’s a textbook example.

First they came for the e-bikers. And I didn’t say anything because I was too busy clapping. Hopefully they go after the urban cycloterrorists next.

This could have happened to anybody. He might have wanted to have addressed his outstanding warrants before trying to go on tour.

There’s a simple solution to this problem: Stop the racial discrimination on campus.

Won’t somebody think of the poor Boomers? Sorry, chumps. Pay your bills.

This is pretty common for probationary employees. Not sure why it was ever controversial.

Hey, I’ve seen this movie before! I didn’t like it the first time around. And I bet the remake sucks as well.

Sounds like it wasn’t a very happy ending. Well, it was and then it wasn’t.

This hasn’t been played in forever. Don’t blame me. Blame their ridiculously extensive catalog. But what a great catalog it is. Enjoy them both.

And enjoy this lovely Thursday, dear friends.

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

322 Comments

  1. PieInTheSky

    So are the Warriors – well there goes 2 dollars. Goddamnit.

    • Pope Jimbo

      *runs to check mailbox*

      I don’t see anything from you π! I want my $2!!!

      • Pope Jimbo

        Oh, and Go Wolves!!

      • Ted S.

        Dire wolves?

  2. PieInTheSky

    OK. This is what happens when you are indicted by a Grand Jury.

    In April, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested by the FBI

    I remember there was a Hannah Lee Dugan chick doing vanlife YouTube. I assume not the same person

    • Furthest Blue pistoffnick (370HSSV)

      Hannah Lee Dugan

      She has a cabin now. Just north of Duloot.

  3. PieInTheSky

    Sounds like discrimination to me. In fact, it’s a textbook example.

    Scholarships are for moochers. What happened to good old fashioned striping for college

    • Jarflax

      Only Fans

      • SDF-7

        They have stripers on OnlyFans? (Well… besides Candy Stripers, I suppose…) .. I’m surprised that’s a lucrative enough market that anyone seeks them out.

      • Jarflax

        I spotted that, and thought about making a joke along those lines, but I checked myself because it felt kind of off color to zigzag because Pie’d dotted his line with a typo.

  4. Not Adahn

    Re (sorta) e-bikers. This morning I had a pedal powered bicyclist wearing a hi-viz sweatshirt hand signal to change lanes in front of me, THEN I witnessed him enter and successfully navigate a traffic circle.

    I know car drivers that can’t manage that feat.

    • PieInTheSky

      traffic circle – is that like a shitty roundabout ?

      • UnCivilServant

        is that like a shitty roundabout ?

        So, a roundabout?

      • R.J.

        Yes and yes.

      • PieInTheSky

        i like roundabouts. they make traffic better

      • UnCivilServant

        If by better you mean congested…

      • Sensei

        RJ – Thanks I was about to post the same.

      • Not Adahn

        “Roundabout” is a dumb term. But insufficiently dumb to be entertaining.

        “roundy-round” OTOH is acceptable.

      • SDF-7

        I despise roundabouts with the passion of a thousand suns. Give me a 4-way stop sign or a traffic light any day over those abominations. Stupid f’ing keeping-up-with-the-Jones “traffic planners” forcing them on everywhere for the last stupid decade. Screw off, assholes. Leave perfectly good intersections alone.

      • Drake

        A rotary for people not properly trained.

      • PieInTheSky

        roundabouts are much better than a 4-way stop. Americans sooo stooopid.

      • slumbrew

        I love them, assuming the other drivers aren’t tarded.

        (*narrator* the other drivers are, in fact, tarded)

      • sloopyinca

        When you can navigate a man to the moon, you can talk about how best to navigate people through intersections.

        U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!!!!

      • Not Adahn

        I finally encountered one of those Diverging Diamonds in Sevierville. I can see how they’d work great once someone got used to them but that a sleepy or drunk driver would be catastrophic.

      • PieInTheSky

        When you can navigate a man to the moon – you mean to some studio where it was faked?

      • Not Adahn

        Yes, but we navigated to that studio without GPS and with the Soviets trying to sabotage our car.

      • Rat on a train

        I like the roundabout in my neighborhood. It improved traffic flow over the two-way stop it replaced. The problem is DOT putting roundabouts where they don’t help.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Traffic circles in the right place are a god-send. But the town one over has gone crazy and is putting them everywhere.

        Right place == lower speed, heavily-used intersection.

      • Rat on a train

        VDOT has proposed putting roundabouts on a stretch of US-1 in a 55 mph zone.

      • Gustave Lytton

        ODOT did that and permanently lowered the speed. Fuckers.

      • Rat on a train

        It would be a dick move as there is little cross traffic and it is a way to avoid I-95.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Yes, roundabouts all over, and often in the middle of nowhere. Here in the PNW they will put two of them right next to each other, like a figure eight. They put them in areas with no visibility, they have crosswalks right at the edge of them, etc. In short, they take something that could be a good idea in limited circumstances, and use it all the damn time, and it doesn’t work in the states due in no small part to US traffic laws such as pedestrians having the right of way, unlike England or Europe.

    • sloopyinca

      You managed to see a real-life unicorn in the wild and you didn’t get a picture?

      Dammit.

      • Not Adahn

        with a bicyclist in front of me there is no way I’m taking my hands off the wheel or my eyes off of what is happening in front of me.

      • Sensei

        For the first time in three weeks somebody on a Citibike actually yielded to me in a crosswalk at a light in Manhattan this morning. I thinking of playing Lotto.

        Part of my solution for this is anybody on a bicycle over age 12 on the sidewalk or going the wrong on a one way street gets smacked with a baseball bat with no questions asked.

      • slumbrew

        Part of my solution for this is anybody on a bicycle over age 12 on the sidewalk or going the wrong on a one way street gets smacked with a baseball bat with no questions asked.

        Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

    • Nephilium

      You’d be surprised how many drivers don’t recognize the hand signals.

      • UnCivilServant

        It wasn’t on the driving test.

        It’s almost as if they’re made up and not official.

      • Not Adahn

        They were official when I was growing up.

      • slumbrew

        Wait, wut? It was certainly on my NYS driving test and I’m not much older than you.

      • rhywun

        I had to know them but I have never, ever seen them in the wild.

        I do hand signal but in a more obvious manner – I point in the direction I’m going because, you know, I have two arms to choose from.

      • R C Dean

        Well, when you see someone use the hand signals once every several years, no wonder people don’t recognize them.

  5. PieInTheSky

    First they came for the e-bikers. And I didn’t say anything because I was too busty clapping. Hopefully they go after the urban cycloterrorists next.

    I find the for rent Lime electric scooters very useful on occasion and I am annoyed about all the mostly kids who go wild on them because it turns people towards banning them

    • rhywun

      Most importantly:

      As always, the NYPD does not inquire about a person’s immigration status and does not cooperate with ICE on civil immigration matters.

      lol No one really needs to question them.

      • Common Tater

        Then cut off every cent NYC gets from the federal government.

      • The Last American Hero

        How are they supposed to maintain the world’s 5th largest army and 8th largest intel agency without federal dollars?

  6. SDF-7

    I guess they shouldn’t have relied so heavily on US government money being funneled to them through NGOs.

    True enough — though as you allude to with the zaniness, that wouldn’t have helped them with their cloud provider issue when OMB told US companies like Microsoft not to do business with them.

    My reactions:

    1) Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of preening, grandstanding grifters. Now do the UN.

    2) Funny how we’re the piggy bank for all these “international” groups even when we’re not a member, isn’t it? Almost as if there’s collusion across the “Western” governments to rule through technocratic institutions with no feedback from the citizens of their countries or something… almost….

    Morning all.

    • Rat on a train

      They are deplatforming the wrong people.

    • Chafed

      Yeah, I admit to be surprised how utterly dependent on US money some of these international orgs are.

    • The Other Kevin

      It’s amazing just how much of a piggy bank we are. Is there anything in the world that ISN’T financed by our tax dollars? We are still seen as the “rich” Americans but in reality we’re the dolts who keep charging rounds of drinks to our maxed-out credit cards.

      • DrOtto

        A lot of people conflate spending with wealth.

  7. Chipping Pioneer

    Pete Rose was an asshoe, but keeping him out of the HoF until after he died makes baseball look petty.

    • Ted S.

      I’m not sure he’s a lock to get in on the first try, either. It wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of sports writers want to virtue signal by not voting for him the first year.

    • sloopyinca

      Fuck Pete Rose. I had to drive past Jonathan’s Cafe in Franklin, OH and see his Lambo with 4192 on the vanity tags parked outside of it all the time when I was a kid. Everybody knew what was going on and they all knew it was against the rules. He broke the one rule you can’t break and he knew it. He deserves to be enshrined exactly when he’s gonna be enshrined. I only hope somebody told him on his deathbed that he’ll never be reinstated so he died disappointed in himself.

      • sloopyinca

        I’ll expand a bit: I understand people who weren’t “there” thinking he should have gotten a slap on the wrist and allowed in much earlier. But they didn’t see how brazen he was with his gambling. Gambling he absolutely knew would result in a lifetime ban. And yes, he bet on games he had some level of control over. He’s since admitted to that even though he didn’t have to since the evidence was there. Plus he agreed to the lifetime ban.

        He was one of the best players of all time. But that doesn’t excuse his actions while still being involved in the sport as a manager with responsibilities to conduct himself with integrity and follow the rules. He failed miserably in that respect and had nobody to blame for his omission but himself.

      • Jarflax

        I grew up in Cincinnati, during the Big Red Machine, and I agree with Sloopy here. Rose was a great player, showed signs of becoming a very good manager, and threw that away all on his own. He was a textbook degenerate gambler, and was arrogant and unrepentant about it when he got caught. The idea that he ‘deserved’ the accolade of the HOF while he was alive is the same sort of overly empathic response that releases predators early. He’s a tragic tale in the old style. His hubris brought him to ruin.

    • Nephilium

      It’s not just Rose, they decided that a lifetime ban ended with the death of the player instead of the death of the league.

    • Drake

      The Germans aren’t building any kind of effective army. That takes an industrial base. They are busy destroying theirs.

      • WTF

        It helps if Uncle Sam gifts you billions of dollars of military hardware.

      • The Other Kevin

        I was expecting monkey bars. I am disappoint.

    • rhywun

      “[geboren] als Marc Biefang”

      I knew where that was going to go without clicking.

    • The Last American Hero

      How does that sit with the Islamic majority in Germany?

    • Swiss Servator

      Air Force – *snortlaugh* the Luftwaffe can’t put much into the air anymore. But wait, after going tranny, now is in Cyber-Information Space command. A real warrior, for sure.

    • Drake

      No so staunch these days. Sounds like he’s negotiating a peace deal with Iran instead of bombing them as Netenyahu wants.

    • SDF-7

      Or you just continue to f’up links willy nilly because apparently you’re a moron who can’t handle markup languages. Dang double nabbit!

      • Ted S.

        Nobody reads the links, anyway.

    • Rat on a train

      From what I’ve been told, it would be an official act for her to order her bailiff to assassinate the prosecutor.

    • WTF

      It’s a bold strategy Cotton, let’s see if it pays off.

    • The Other Kevin

      I’m pretty sure there have been disputes between judges over who gets to exercise authority over a defendant who’s charged with multiple things. I don’t think this is how it’s supposed to be resolved.

  8. PieInTheSky

    There’s a simple solution to this problem: Stop the racial discrimination on campus.

    I would think the simple solution would be stop all federal funding for universities in general

    • rhywun

      I wonder why Harvard is getting all the attention when every campus (hell, every organization that receives government dollars of any kind) practices racial discrimination and has done so for longer than I have been alive.

      • slumbrew

        They consider themselves the premier American university, so they make the biggest target.

        The open Jew-hatred and their outsized, unspent endowment also attract attention.

      • UnCivilServant

        Because it’s famous for being famous.

      • WTF

        As an example for others?

      • Sensei

        As an example for others?

        My thoughts here as well.

      • rhywun

        Columbia is worse than Harvard in many regards, especially as the center of postmodern woke “oppressor” bullshit.

        And I get the “set an example” thing… my problem is that Trump being Trump, it would not surprise me if he is punishing Harvard and nobody else because he hasn’t thought of it.

    • robc

      Yes, end the funding, then Harvard and other private schools can do whatever they want, IMO.

      • Ted S.

        +1 Dear Colleague letter

  9. SDF-7

    In fact, it’s a textbook example.

    Someone is tempting Swiss this morning, I see… nicely played.

    • Chipping Pioneer

      He’ll be here soon to teach us a lesson.

  10. PieInTheSky

    There are some 2.9 million people age 62 and older with federal student loans, as of the first quarter of 2025, according to Education Department data.

    Serious question. I saw many glibs payed off their loans. Isn’t it a bit much to still have loans at 62?

    • Chipping Pioneer

      Low interest rates and the possibility a future D administration will forgive them.

    • Jarflax

      My loans are locked in at 3%, so while I am not a fan of debt it just makes financial sense to take the 30 years.

      • slumbrew

        Yes, you’ve done something inadvisable if you’ve got student debt you’re worried about at 62 (Jarflex’s situation doesn’t count).

      • rhywun

        30 years

        😲 10 years was the standard in my day. It took me longer but I had defaulted and made some other poor decisions back then.

    • robc

      Another example of ending the federal funding and the problem fixes itself. Without the government backing, banks would go back to requiring a cosigner on a loan, like a parent with assets.

      Also end the GSL program and watch tuition prices fall like a rock.

    • The Other Kevin

      I went to a local branch of Purdue and got a bunch of merit scholarships, so I had no student debt. My wife went away to school and had loans. They were among the smallest of our bills, low interest rates and low monthly payments. I think we had them all paid off by the time we were 30. It wasn’t so much a financial burden as it was a nuisance to have one more bill.

      Meanwhile, my youngest kid is having to turn away scholarships because she already has enough to pay for her 4 years and those new scholarships have some restrictions she doesn’t like.

    • R C Dean

      “many glibs payed off their loans”

      *grinds teeth*

  11. SDF-7

    Not sure why it was ever controversial.

    Certainly the clue is in the name after all….

  12. PieInTheSky

    Sounds like it wasn’t a very happy ending. Well, it was and then it wasn’t.

    Ok so what is the official glibertarian position: should massage therapists require occupational licensing?

    • Nephilium

      Hell no.

    • robc

      My position is doctors shouldnt require occupational licensing. Now if a hospital or whatever wants to require one before hiring, they can, and they can list which private certs they accept. And a potential doctor can try to get certified by those orgs if they so wish.

      • The Last American Hero

        And if that doctor that has a drinking or drug problem?

        In the current environment, the threat of loss of licensure is both a deterrent and allows docs to get into a treatment program on the down-low without losing their career.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Do you want a doctor to get treatment “on the down low”? And, as it currently stands, how many doctors get by with a drinking or drug problem that is unknown?

        I don’t have a problem with licensure as an idea, but not as a threat hanging over a career or a blockage to keeping more doctors available. I do think that this is something that has to be constantly updated, and is a good proxy for training and ability, which is the reason it was developed in the first place. Humans want certainty, and licenses help provide this.

    • The Other Kevin

      At the gym our insurance requires anyone working as a trainer to have a certification. My wife is the exception, as the owner she is covered even though she doesn’t have a certification. She is still the best trainer we have.

      I’m fine with no licensing for trainers, massage therapists, or physical therapists. If people prefer someone with credentials, they can ask.

  13. Not Adahn

    According to the administrative complaint filed by the Florida Department of Health on Thursday, Ponce Rodriguez lifted a drape covering the boy’s buttocks, “grabbed” his penis and “manually manipulated” it on the evening of March 1. Her license was suspended on April 23, records show.

    “The victim stated that he reacted by attempting to slap (her) hands away, at which point she ceased the act,” an arrest report from the Doral Police Department states.

    The boy is a club member and “a frequent patron of the spa facility” who “had previous sessions” with Ponce Rodriguez, police said.

    He wanted to upgrade from a handy and she wouldn’t accommodate?

    • PieInTheSky

      I mean BJ or gtfo. and no spitting.

  14. SDF-7

    I didn’t like it the first time around. And I bet the remake sucks as well.

    All I see is a bunch of bluster and pontificating with no real action or policy changes from the Euros over the last few months on defense, immigration policies, energy policies, etc… Since I’m 100 percent behind Europe standing on its own two feet — I say “Go for it.” I’m sure France wants any ramp up of the Wehrmacht to be under the auspices of the EU for historical and hysterical reasons, true… their best bet is to ramp up as well just in case… but I doubt both of them can get the recruits.

    • WTF

      You know what other German chancellor built the strongest conventional army in Europe?

    • SarumanTheGreat

      The first time around dates back to Frederick the Great. When he used the army Dad built to FAFO with Austria (he won, eventually, thanks to a timely death), but it was a hell of a time for central Europe). The later iterations were even less kind to neighbors.

  15. Not Adahn

    UnCiv: who was painting steel? We don’t paint steel in AP. I didn’t put paint out!

    • UnCivilServant

      I don’t recall the guy’s name*, some skinny younger guy.

      *I have trouble with faces the first time around

      • Not Adahn

        I hope he brought his own paint.

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t know where he got it from.

        I just have a few bits to clean out of the creases in the texture of the nice wood grip, then I have to see if the isopropyl displaced any of the gun oil.

      • Not Adahn

        If you haven’t seen them before, Tipton makes dental picks out of plastic that you can buy on Amazon for cheap.

    • EvilSheldon

      You don’t paint steel between shooters? Do you also not wash your hands after taking a dump?

      • UnCivilServant

        Why would you need to paint the steel? The criteria is “did it fall over?” The steel could be entirely unpainted.

        Unless your “steel” is nothing but layers of leaded paint accumulated over the rounds.

  16. SDF-7

    This hasn’t been played in forever.

    Just another reminder that I really hope KK has landed on her feet. Still want waste and over-bloated FedGov cut… do want her to find a job she likes. But yeah… they’re a bit of a guilty pleasure at times, though I still play the Wedding Album the most out of what I have of their stuff.

    • slumbrew

      Hear hear

      • R.J.

        Second!
        I miss her and hope she is well.

      • Jarflax

        I concur

      • Gustave Lytton

        Third or fourth this sentiment.

  17. Sensei

    Interesting analysis.

    Mr. Haqqani notes that Mr. Trump initially showed no interest in the conflict. “Another American president would have gotten into it much earlier,” he says, “and would have been working through it from the very start, on a moment-by-moment basis.” He cites the example of Bill Clinton in 1999, when India responded forcibly to Pakistani intrusions into mountainous Indian territory near the northern town of Kargil.

    https://www.wsj.com/opinion/why-trump-calmed-the-india-pakistan-clash-40bdbca7?st=HXddr6&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • Jarflax

      Much earlier? It lasted like 4 days and he mediated the cease fire.

      • Sensei

        More along the lines of the minute the terrorists attacked Kashmir our professional diplomats at State would have been brow beating India not to do anything, but say mean things.

        In this case the US did little until it looked like India was going to overreach and was actually more effective.

    • SDF-7

      “Another American President would have rejoiced at finding Yet Another Beehive To Stick America’s Dick Into!” is all I hear there, asshole. If the ceasefire actually means anything there, and if OMB helped with that… great. Nicely done. But we aren’t fucking Daddy to the world just looking to get home from work to stop everyone’s tantrums. Fix your own shit.

      After all — you’re all so gorram smart with your “roundabouts” according to Pie… :glower:

    • SDF-7

      There are worse things that keep getting stuck in your head for no reason you can determine….

      • Not Adahn

        Oh, I know why it’s there. The package is currently in Tupelo MS.

        DAMMIT!

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!
  18. rhywun

    Hey, I’ve seen this movie before!

    This time, it’s high fantasy where Russia attacks NATO. 🙄

  19. UnCivilServant

    I have this 70% keyboard that’s light and portable and useful for random compute tasks related to the normally headless devices around the house, or when recording videos because it’s small. The key spacing is identical to my full sized keyboards, but for some reason the narrower width makes it feel craped despite the actual typing area being the same exact size and layout as the regular keyboards. It’s the stuff to the right of the Enter key that’s compressed and when I’m doing regular typing, that’s not regularly used… (sorta, but the exceptions are not relevant).

    Amazing how the visual element can impact the impression of being cramped. The keyboard looks shorter, so the keys feel cramped despite being 100% the same as regular sized keyboards.

  20. Pope Jimbo

    Minneapolis’ schools are losing tons of students and test scores are tanking, but at least they have their priorities straight.

    The Minneapolis school district is using a citywide embrace of girls flag football this spring as a way to help address its Title IX troubles.
     
    Tasked to raise its participation rates in girls sports after a 2023 Title IX investigation into the equity of its athletic programs, the state’s fourth-largest school district adopted flag football across all seven of its traditional high schools and began play in April in a new statewide league.
     
    Minneapolis girls get a booming new sport to play, and the district gets its participation numbers closer to equal opportunity — a win-win? The district hopes so, and it has over 200 girls helping by passing, catching and pulling flags.

    I don’t know how it is where the rest of you Glibs live, but it seems like there is some huge push to make fetch flag football a thing. I’ve seen multiple stories about how flag football for girls is going to be the new Thing.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I forgot to point out how egregious the oppression of female athletes was:

      The OCR found that, in the 2021-22 school year, 55.2% of the district‘s 4,324 athletic participation opportunities were on boys teams, 44.8% for girls. At the time, the district‘s total student enrollment was 50.5% boys and 48.9% girls.
       
      That put the districtwide disparity between enrollment and participation at 4.1 percentage points, highest at Edison (16.2), North (11), South (8) and Camden (7.5). Roosevelt, Southwest and Washburn reported participation proportional to their gender splits.

      • slumbrew

        Just spitballing here but what if boys and girls aren’t interested in athletics in the same percentages?

      • UnCivilServant

        what if boys and girls aren’t interested in athletics in the same percentages?

        UNPOSSIBLE!

        BURN, HERETIC!

        🔥

    • Not Adahn

      There seemed to be a push for flag football for everyone coinciding with the latest TBI/Ban tackle football panic.

    • SDF-7

      In all seriousness, I could see several places (probably not Texas) making it mandatory instead of tackle football. Allows more co-ed competition, reduces the risk of concussive shock injuries… there are arguments that can and likely will be made, I think.

    • Nephilium

      The NFL has gotten behind the flag football movement to try to keep youth interest going. I mean, don’t you want your high school girls going to [checks notes] Cleveland?

    • The Other Kevin

      We had flag football in the 80’s. Mrs. TOK was on a coed team in junior high.

      • slumbrew

        Six Million Peso Dog

      • Rat on a train
      • slumbrew

        Columbian Pesos

    • The Other Kevin

      Wow neat. The woman that made my most recent pair of leg braces also makes prosthetics and things for pets.

    • ron73440

      We can rebuild him.

      We have the technology.

      We can make him better than he was.

      Better, stronger, faster.

      • Fourscore

        Dog starts chasing cars, gets hit in front of his young owners, kids have personality difficulties, join cults. parents spent tons of therapy money.

  21. Sensei

    This is how you stimulate the economy and create jobs!

    “Lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee approved a long list of new fees for individuals who are going through the immigration system, both for processing applications and unlocking next steps in an immigration court proceeding. That includes a fee of at least $1,000 for processing new asylum applications and a $100 annual fee for asylum applications that are pending. ”

    So FedGov will give NGOs money which they will than use to pay these fees on behalf of the “undocumented”.

    Also now love that now after subsidizing the heck out of EVs:

    “Republicans on the House’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved two new annual fees for car owners—$250 for an electric vehicle and $100 for a hybrid vehicle—as a way to stream money into the country’s depleting highway trust fund. The measures are expected to raise $38 billion over 10 years, all of which will go to the fund. They initially floated a $20 annual fee on traditional gasoline cars, but blowback scotched that idea. ”

    https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-tax-bill-funding-fees-savings-a43c50d1?st=aXKsNw&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

  22. Sensei

    Drug overdoses from opioids, alcohol, suicide and chronic diseases drive most of those early deaths, researchers said.

    So what we need to do to fix this is reduce sugar and sodium consumption and put warning labels on all processed food. Also candy and soda should be covered by SNAP because farms and ADM are our heartland.

    How Chronic Disease Became the Biggest Scourge in American Health
    Americans live shorter and sicker lives than people in other high-income countries

    https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/chronic-disease-america-charts-b74372ac?st=SE325N&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • Derpetologist

      I find it interesting that the Inuit and other carnivore people have about the same lifespan as everyone else.

      Tribes that follow a high-carb diet do about as well:

      ***
      The Tukisenta tribe predominantly eats sweet potatoes, a carbohydrate-rich food.

      The Kitavans have a very high-carb diet with lots of saturated fat and little protein, yet they appear to thrive on it without becoming obese or developing metabolic syndrome.
      ***

      https://drscottsolomons.com/blog/2024/10/28/the-tukisenta-tribe-a-nutritional-paradox-in-the-highlands-of-papua-new-guinea

      Human metabolism is flexible. Blue zone lifestyles have evidence for longevity (Mediterranean diet, moderate daily exercise, low stress).

      • Derpetologist

        ***
        What differentiates the Tukisenta, Maasai, and Tokelauans from modern Western populations is their lack of processed foods, refined sugars, and seed oils
        ***

        Blue zone diets are free of such things too.

      • The Other Kevin

        It’s been interesting observing my oldest here. She’s lost 20 pound because she’s not working and has no access to junk food. She still overeats, but it’s mostly meat and “whole” foods. She gets zero exercise and sits hunched over her phone for 90% of the day. It’s easy to see why we have these health problems in our country.

      • Suthenboy

        I am going to say the biggest factor is physical exercise.

      • Rat on a train

        I’ve lost my “COVID” (sitting on my ass within sight of the kitchen) weight.

      • The Other Kevin

        Suthen, I would disagree. If you eat a bunch of calorie-dense junk food, there’s no way you could exercise enough to burn that off. Both diet and exercise are critical, but if you had to make one change, it would have to be diet.

  23. PieInTheSky

    he general consensus among Chinese netizens: if India won this Indo-Pakistani war, and if it was Chinese J10s that were shot down instead of French Rafales, then the US would not have removed its tariffs, its aircraft carriers would have sailed into the Taiwan Strait, and China would have been forced to buy US treasury bonds.

    https://x.com/thinking_panda/status/1922920143702852090

    • slumbrew

      The general consensus among Chinese netizens bots…

      FIFY

    • Not Adahn

      I totally believe that “general consensus among Chinese netizens” is a thing that exists and that this twit knows what it is.

    • WTF

      I guess that somehow makes sense to them? I don’t really follow the logic though.

      • PieInTheSky

        the logic is the Americans are scared of the Chinese jets, otherwise they would be more aggressive to China. If they can shoot sown Rafales they can shoot down whatever you have.,

      • UnCivilServant

        How does “We’d rather not trigger a hot war” translate to “Afraid of Made In China knockoff jets”?

      • PieInTheSky

        well everyone knows Americans want to trigger a hot war, it is in your capitalist imperialist soul

      • WTF

        If they can shoot sown Rafales they can shoot down whatever you have.

        No. Rafales flown by Indian pilots are not F-22s flown by American pilots.

    • Suthenboy

      Hint: Everything the Chinese say and do is a lie or scam of some sort.

    • The Last American Hero

      Who cares what Mainland Taipei thinks?

  24. PieInTheSky

    Providence City Council
    @pvdcitycouncil
    You’re invited to a Palestinian flag raising at City Hall this Friday, May 16! Elected officials and community members will deliver remarks on the steps out front at 12 pm. Join us!

    https://x.com/pvdcitycouncil/status/1922677862064136561

    For RI glibs I guess

    • WTF

      And then at 1:00 PM the town council will begin “The Running of the Jews”.

      • dbleagle

        Dafuq?

        Is it genetic among progs? Must they always stick their govvie noses into places they don’t belong.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Will they fire AKs into the air in celebration?

  25. OBJ FRANKELSON

    I haven’t seen anyone here talking about the ghost of Enoch Powell (who was considered the second coming of Oswald Mosley) speaking through…. Kier Stamer.

    TL;DR: Stamer had the temerity to say that maybe allowing infinity migrants into the UK isn’t a great idea.

    It is a cynical political play following the Reform Party drubbing of both the Labour and Conservative parties in the local elections. As Farage is kind of a prick, this might actually help him keep his job.

    • PieInTheSky

      Stamer seems to be more of a do whatever for power politician.

      • SDF-7

        To me he looks like he’s still a true believer — so more of a “say whatever for power… do what you really want and just try to keep it hushed up”… but I don’t live there or as close as you, Pie… so you’re probably seeing stuff I don’t see reported as well.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Certainly, but it is an interesting shift for Labour of all parties.

    • slumbrew

      These are Kier’s principles. If you don’t like it, he has others.

      • rhywun

        He is the Gavin Newsom of English politics.

    • SDF-7

      We’ve definitely commented on Starmer in general and his self-serving rhetorical about face when the local elections scared him. I’ll grant nothing about Enoch Powell or Mosley, not being that inside cricket of a discussion….

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Enoch Powell was a nativist; at worst, Mosley was an actual, unironic 1930s British Fascist. Comparing Stamer to either them is probably the most ridiculous thing I have seen since ever.

    • R C Dean

      Looking forward to Stamer being arrested for hate crimes.

  26. DrOtto

    One of my customers is a firefighter in downtown Austin. I asked if he ever puts out any, you know, fires. His response was along the lines of – we’re busy Monday-Thursday mostly administering Narcan and beginning Friday is when the scooter and e-bike accidents occur and continue through the weekend. Occasionally we’ll go to a fire.

    • UnCivilServant

      So what you’re saying is that the Austin Arsonists are failures?

      • DrOtto

        And also homeless.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I have a buddy who was a fire captain at the Minneapolis airport.

      He said that they mostly did first aid for people at the airport. And cleaning up suicides (of which I guess there are lots more than you’d think).

    • Sensei

      Sounds about right.

  27. Evan from Evansville

    I hauled a half-ton of manure, mulch and salt to a woman today.

    *Whispers* she gave me a $5 tip, which is super no-no. I’m munchin’ on a Baconator from Wendy’s. Five dollars even with my cup of ice.

    Fun how the world sometimes ‘aligns.’ Happy little coincidences! I like good coinky-dinks.

    • PieInTheSky

      I hauled a half-ton of manure, mulch and salt to a woman today. – American diets are getting weird

      • SDF-7

        Don’t kink shame the woman, Pie. She even gave Evan the tip!

    • Ted S.

      Way to assume her gender, you cis-shitlord.

    • Not Adahn

      Wait, baconators are $5 where you are? They’re closer to $12 here,

      • cavalier973

        It’s more expensive for you because they have to ship them through Tupelo, MS.

      • Evan from Evansville

        $5 even in Noblesville, IN. Just the sandwich, not the combo.

        They’re fucking great for what they are. *Chef’s kiss*

      • Not Adahn

        I am not disagreeing. Wendy’s large-form burgers are pretty darn good. I loved the double in Nacho Cheese livery.

    • cavalier973

      Why is tipping a no-no?

      • Ted S.

        Just the tipping?

      • Not Adahn

        Some places prohibit it so the customers don’t feel obligated to offer, and so employees don’t treat non-tippers badly.

      • UnCivilServant

        Instead they treat everybody badly?

    • The Other Kevin

      I had a similar alignment this week. Saturday we’re casing 70# of meat for next weekend’s annual Sausage Fest. By now I should have had the meat purchased but I’m behind, and I was stressing about where to get it. None of the local stores had sales. Then while I was working out yesterday, I remembered one more store, and saw they just started a .99 sale. So I’m getting pork butt for .99 a pound, which is 2.00 off. Limit 2 butts per person, but no big deal. This was a major score, those are old-school prices.

      • Ted S.

        Limit 2 butts per person

        Tres hardest hit.

      • Furthest Blue pistoffnick (370HSSV)

        pork butt for .99 a pound

        That is half the sale price where I buy! Good score!

        limit 2

        Just put on your glasses with the mustache attached. They’ll never know.

    • The Last American Hero

      I’ve seen this movie before, and we never learned if the manure was actually dumped or not.

  28. Suthenboy

    ICC, NATO, UN…..these people openly despise us and work against our interests and principles….on our dime. Cut off all of their water.

    I have heard some but not enough whining from other judges. No one is above the law, remember? Speaking of which, you cant arrest congresscritters when congress is in session so, when do they recess? Ah, they recess for a whole month in August.

    Germany….*sigh*….arent they tired of that shit yet? If the shit starts flying again in Europe we really, really need to let them sort out their own house.

    Harvard: So Trump cut off their water but they are still sitting on an ocean of money. The students that were the targets of the discrimination, why aren’t they sueing the tits off of the school? Keep at it until they quit or break.

    • The Last American Hero

      I really don’t see the Teutonic Caliphate going to war with the British Caliphate anytime soon.

  29. Pope Jimbo

    I’m linking to this story about live bait just for this quote:

    “You take away nightcrawlers and leeches, what are kids going to fish with? They’re not going to be interested in casting and casting and casting with a stupid lure,” Jares said. “You know, I’m not against lures or anything. But you know what I’m saying? The kids lose interest and then, I mean, what is this world coming to? It’s just sad.”

    The rest of the story is about the Minnesoda DNR trying to pass more regulations to alleviate problems caused by its current regulations.

    • PieInTheSky

      when I was a kid I never liked touching the worms so I preferred not to fish if any of the sort was involved. Other people unhelpfully did not want to put my worms on the hook for me.

    • ron73440

      The rest of the story is about the Minnesoda DNR trying to pass more regulations to alleviate problems caused by its current regulations.

      https://despair.com/products/government

      It’s what they do.

      I really need to buy that poster.

    • Not Adahn

      My dad worked at the county heal department when I was a hid and they had crickets there for toxicity testing, so along with dug-on-the-spot earthworms those were our preferred bait.

      I learned the proper way to place the hook so as not to impede the cricket’s movement. Looking back on it, that was kind of a sadistic thing to do.

      • cavalier973

        Crickets aren’t sentient.

        There was a small amusement park in Arkansas based on the comic strip “Lil’ Abner”. The park was called “Dogpatch, USA”.

        One of the attractions was a fishing pond. The lure was cooked kernels of corn.

        The fish (rainbow trout, as I recall) would fight each other to bite that hook.

        It was free to fish, but if you wanted to keep what you caught, you paid some money, and they cooked it for you for lunch.

      • Gustave Lytton

        *looks at tourism/lodging tax on every hotel room*

        Grrr…

      • dbleagle

        Hawaii may soon learn that lesson. Tourists will discover there are other beaches that don’t tax tax tax you to despair.

      • UnCivilServant

        My only reason for ever setting foot in Hawaii at some future date will be my goal of collecting all 50 states as a tourist destination.

        I doubt I’ll be back once I’ve checked off the “Touristed” box, probably by visiting the Arizona memorial.

        Have they turned the old royal palace into a tourist trap? that might be something to see.

        I don’t care about beaches.

    • Suthenboy

      *Sigh* What is their excuse for nightcrawlers and leeches?

      If you teach properly is it nearly impossible to not catch fish with a lure but only certain species.

      *Go to the grocery and buy chicken gizzards

    • R.J.

      Not odd. But it is annoying. Just look away and he will vanish.

    • The Last American Hero

      Hard to impersonate Audrey with boobs.

      • Common Tater

        The boobs are new. Mulvaney got surgery to have her nose and eyebrows years ago.

        Don’t do YT on this machine, so hope this is the right link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8OqNvR53Og

    • Suthenboy

      I figured by now he would be doing tranny-porn.

      • UnCivilServant

        To know for sure we’d need someone who’s a purveyor of that content.

  30. Not Adahn

    Woo hoo! I got my first grades in the Range Master Program. They’re all passing!

    Just… seventeen more to go. And those are the annoying ones. And then the complete documentation review. And then the review board. And the supervised running of a major. And then the final review. Still, on track to be a Red Jersey by 2026 and then the big bux roll in!

      • Not Adahn

        Lol no.

      • Not Adahn

        At best they’ll pay for your hotel room ad offset some of your other costs.

      • R.J.

        That is good enough. Hotels are expensive.

      • Not Adahn

        Absolutely. That’s the only way I’m able to attend major matches.

        For the upcoming one in Marengo, I’m looking at six-seven nights in a hotel.

    • Suthenboy

      Shooting these days seems like work and not much fun.
      I haven’t shot since the mid ’80s. We all just threw a few bucks in a pot for first and second place but we usually spent more on BBQ than we won.
      I still associate the smell of burned powder with the smell of BBQ.

      • Not Adahn

        USPSA is both a tremendous amount of work and obscenely fun. It is also the most mentally demanding thing I’ve ever done. When I first started there was just too much for my brain to process and still create memories, so I’d remember my sights coming into alignment on the first target than then… nothing. I’d wake up to a feeling of euphoria and a guy standing next to me saying “unload and show clear.”

        Now days my brain has adjusted so that amnesia isn’t a problem, but I still go into an altered mental state that also kicks in under high stress extreme time-dependent things like slipping on ice or dropping something breakable.

        I am ridiculously happy at the end of a day of shooting. Bone tired, sore, caked in dust and salt and starving, but happy.

    • The Other Kevin

      “charges of obstruction”

      Wait, doesn’t obstructing an official proceeding get you a life sentence in solitary confinement? Oh wait, the SC struck that down. Hope he realizes how lucky he was.

      • WTF

        Wait, doesn’t obstructing an official proceeding get you a life sentence in solitary confinement?

        Only if wrongthink is involved.

    • cavalier973

      Moving to address the overcriminalization of federal regulations, the order flatly declares, “It is the policy of the United States that … criminal enforcement of criminal regulatory offenses is disfavored,” while adding, “Agencies promulgating regulations potentially subject to criminal enforcement should explicitly describe the conduct subject to criminal enforcement, the authorizing statutes, and the mens rea standard applicable to those offenses.”

      • Suthenboy

        Mens rea. How quaint.

    • cavalier973

      Surprisingly few people have noticed the thing, which somehow mostly hasn’t made the news. Reuters and the AP both wrote stories, but those stories haven’t been picked up widely. My first thought was to go see how the actual libertarian narrative mothership covered a libertarian grand slam, but I couldn’t find any mention of it.

      *an image follows of an unsuccessful search query on TOS

    • cavalier973

      Harvey Silverglate, the criminal defense lawyer who wrote the book on the explosion of federal crimes, is an old-school 1960s liberal, now in his 80s, who’s not enthused by the current administration. But he responded to my request for comment immediately. “I’m not generally a Trump fan,” he said, “but even a stopped clock is right twice a day.”

      • Suthenboy

        “I love what he Is doing but I still hate the guy. ”

        So many people have been complaining for decades that this or that should be done or stopped. Along comes Trump and actually does it and he is a monster.
        I am getting tired of hearing that.

    • robc

      An unrelated aside, laws with a criminal penalty should require a 90% supermajority to pass.

      If we are going to send people to prison/jail, the law should be something damn near unanimous.

    • cavalier973

      She looks like she’s about to say, “It’s a fair cop.”

    • cavalier973

      About the size of Sean Combs’ penis

    • Rat on a train

      You can get them in lengths up to 10 inches.

    • Urthona

      So is there anything actually illegal he did?

      • Common Tater

        Hiring prostitutes is illegal, and more illegal over state lines.

    • Not Adahn

      No reason to let the kid die if you can save it.

      • Common Tater

        Except it sounds like the family doesn’t want to keep the mother on life support or pay for it.

      • Not Adahn

        “In the best interests of the child…”

    • rhywun

      Can’t they just truck them up to New York or another abortion-friendly state so they can die together?

  31. Common Tater

    “A Texas mom was arrested for allegedly purchasing ammunition and tactical gear for her son, who was accused of planning ‘mass violence’ at his San Antonio middle school.

    Ashley Pardo, 33, was arrested for aiding in the commission of terrorism after she allegedly made a slew of concerning purchases for her son, including ammunition magazines, a tactical vest, a helmet, and army clothing, according to an arrest affidavit.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14714137/texas-mom-arrested-son-planned-mass-violence-school.html

    The purple hair and face tattoos are a nice touch.

    • UnCivilServant

      There’s a picture that says “I make poor life choices”

      • Sean

        ^^ Nailed it.

      • Suthenboy

        It also says “Guns aren’t the problem”

  32. Sensei

    The mother said she still wanted to meet with administrators, but a session scheduled for earlier that day, April 11, had been called off by the district, records show, because they wanted to have a lawyer present. That night, police showed up at her door, after the principal said the boy missed eight days of school without permission and that Hanslik-Buruiana had skipped out on the meeting with district administrators that the district had called off, according to an e-mail exchange viewed by the Globe.

    A Beverly mother questioned why her son was placed in timeout 13 times. The school reported her to the state and police.

    https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/15/metro/beverly-mother-special-education-police-timeout-seclusion/

    Massachusetts? I’m shocked.

    • Ted S.

      Synopsis, please.

      • Don escaped Memphis

        hope I get this right and say it right: USSG challenges whether federal circuits can issue nationwide injunctions bc DJT47 is aggrieved that his EO re birthright citizenship got put on ice

      • Don escaped Memphis

        justices are generally incredulous, fully half of them seeming to enjoy beating up the SG while the rest seem to be sad for his lot in life

      • Don escaped Memphis

        lefty justices are scrutinizing end effects….transparently looking for the results they prefer….and only in this way are the implications for 14A coming up

        BK is trying to be serious, but his are rapid-fire and not necessarily friendly questions; he clearly respects the Circuits’ responsibility. He is tacitly asking the SG: what, was I out of order and wrong and terrible and unconstitutional when I was doing my job on the DC circuit?

        it’s thin ice for the SG and no best way back to shore

      • Don escaped Memphis

        random federal judge

        maybe think about the little guy: it’s easy for the feds to go to 11 circuits and argue essentially the same case over and over knowing they’ll get the win somewhere, while the victim of an putatively unconstitutional law/order/act must suffer the status quo while waiting to years of challenges to run their course: for district splits to come to the attention of the USSC and a suitable case be granted cert

      • Don escaped Memphis

        maybe think about the little guy

        or, put it another way: would you feel differently if the case centered on something affecting you

        KBJ and SS are predictably calling back to civil rights cases, and none of the conservative judges are asking any questions leading to challenges in parallel space. ACB is also far from warm.

        I think the entire Court is pissed off that such a stupid vehicle is being brought before them. Of course, any belligerent president is fighting up hill: courts get pissed when they think principals are end-running law, precedent, or court authority.

      • Don escaped Memphis

        SG got one hour and I’d say he made almost no inroads
        but you never know: lot’s of good faith and devil’s advocacy is currency at the Court

        I didn’t hear NMG or ACB coming to his aid
        it’s early, but this smells 6-3
        and it could be worse if they want to send a Marbury-esque separation message

      • Sensei

        I’m not a fan of random federal judge with a bee in his or her bonnet holding the whole country hostage regardless if I agree or disagree with the outcome.

      • Don escaped Memphis

        lot’s

        so embarrassed

      • rhywun

        an executive order to reinterpret the 14th Amendment

        The “reinterpretation” was the common understanding at the time it was approved, as elaborated by certain contemporaries. The Wong thing changed it and gave us the mess we have today.

      • Jarflax

        The courts have power to hear cases deciding matters between the parties to the case, and only those parties; if during such a case they conclude that a law is abhorrent to the Constitution, they can declare that law void, which has broad effect, but only within that court’s jurisdiction traditionally, other District, then Circuits may disagree, at which point the Supreme Court generally grants cert to decide the issue nationwide. The leap from those powers to issuing nationwide preliminary injunctions at the district level is pretty big. I know you hate Trump, but the current situation is untenable.

      • Don escaped Memphis

        bee in his or her bonnet

        That’s tantamount to saying that only the USSC has any credibility; I’ll agree that there are problems with the situation both ways.

        However, it’s not a fair reading of this case: a nutjob who has never read the Constitution is the one with a bee in his bonnet, and he’s banging his spoon on his high chair as he always does when he doesn’t get his way.

        It’s a messy question. the Founders never imagined such a huge country or such a huge government. 11 circuits reviewed fewer than 100 times a year seems impossibly thin coverage.

      • R C Dean

        I’m wondering about the little guy suffering the effects of whatever policy is imposed by an unelected and functionally unaccountable District Court 1,000 miles away, waiting out the appeals process. Does he count?

        As far as the civil rights cases go, nationwide injunctions by District Courts were vanishingly rare until relatively recently. I don’t recall if the big civil rights cases in the ‘50s and ‘60s started with nationwide injunctions from District Courts.

        And it’s odd that we see, time after time in 2A cases for example, injunctions are exquisitely narrowly tailored, down to benefiting only the named plaintiffs.

      • Don escaped Memphis

        I know you hate Trump

        I like your synopsis.

        In fairness to me, I have hated every president forever. I didn’t find libertarianism recently, and my track record is one of voting against whichever candidate I thought was truly and practically the most dangerous to our freedoms. This isn’t a game I just learned or a posture or a convenience or some identity politics. My libertarianism is nearly religion. Every president has a chance to reduce the size of government and to reduce overreach, and each has failed to earn my respect. I so wish this weren’t so.

      • Ted S.

        What’s needed is some federal judge explicitly calling out the Hawaii injunctions as illegal and requiring the Hawaii judge to do what the Red State federal judge wants.

        A circuit split in theory ought to get the Supremes to nix the idea of nationwide injunctions, but they’ll rule on an ad hoc basis.

      • Don escaped Memphis

        exquisitely narrowly tailored

        truly a shame and one of my biggest beefs

        CT seems to want to stretch out, but I don’t see any others with the guts

      • Don escaped Memphis

        suffering the effects of whatever policy is imposed by an unelected and functionally unaccountable District Court

        right, of course, the blade swings both ways

        what’s an example to make your point?

      • Don escaped Memphis

        Feigenbaum is sailing along, none of tension the SG encountered, 30 minutes in

      • Don escaped Memphis

        KBJ is getting snotty, basically questioning the role of the executive.
        I don’t think it helps the mood or wins hearts or minds.
        It’s a life appointment: who’s she posing for?

        If she has a beef with Article III, she should say so.

        now Corkran is up. Feigenbaum ran 45 minutes fairly unscathed.

      • Jarflax

        In fairness to me, I have hated every president forever.

        Fair enough, and almost certainly with justification. On this issue I just find the District Courts the worst possible group to hold this much power. It puts the ultimate control in the hands of not just judges, but the worst judges, because forum shopping is quite easy for NGOs, so they will inevitably seek out the most partisan, least constrained by law and precedent, venue.

        I also despise the notion of citizenship by way of birthplace. It should follow the citizenship of the parents if it is to be automatic. That is not a statement about what the law is, just what I think it should be.

      • Don escaped Memphis

        forum shopping

        exactly correct

        what would the FF do with that?

      • Don escaped Memphis

        citizenship by way of birthplace

        I have similar, nationalistic urges, but I have no libertarian arguments that support us. The purist in me wonders what the hell a nation or a citizen even is….this is the convention of the world, and it necessarily and automatically pits us against our administration when it attacks us while supporting it when foreign administrations attack it…..strange fish.

        The FF had sense enough to codify the importation clause: too bad the 14A didn’t have an expiration date for birthright citizenship.

        As a new nation, without birthright, at some point every family would need to make their case: “my father’s people landed in Charleston in 1730, have lived in and owned and improved property in SC, VA, NC, TN, KY, AL, MS, AR, and TX over the past three centuries; we fought in 1812, Civil War, WW1, WW2, Korea, and Vietnam; my mother’s clan evolved similarly in VA from 1750; ergo, I deserve a Class 1 passport!” That’s actually how my application would read, but the bureaucrats would need to process Confederate documents to complete my file.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    It’s supposed to be a secret

    The Trump family’s involvement with crypto should be setting off alarm bells, according to Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University.

    “You have a government official, no less than the leader of the free world, essentially creating and promoting a rampant vehicle for financial speculation and then using his office to promote it and directly profit from it,” Prasad told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead” Wednesday.

    With little oversight from a Congress controlled by Republicans and Trump in charge of the financial regulators, Prasad said there are few checks on what Trump can do.

    “The question is who is going to restrain Trump and his family from doing this, and as president of the United States, it’s not obvious there is anybody who can stop him,” Prasad said.

    You’re supposed to pretend you have no interest in shabby capitalist dealings, and receive your payoffs on the sly.

  34. Common Tater

    “The governor of Virginia asked the attorney general to investigate Loudoun County Public Schools over its handling of an alleged incident involving a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.

    According to Gov. Glenn Youngkin, three boys at Stone Bridge High School expressed concern about a transgender boy in the locker room in March, and that transgender student allegedly recorded cellphone video of their reactions….

    The three boys allegedly asked why a transgender boy was in the locker room, according to Founding Freedoms Law Center, which represents them. As they complained among themselves, the transgender boy allegedly recorded the discussion — which is against school rules — and then filed a Title IX complaint against the three boys.”

    https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/high-school-students-investigated-for-comments-about-trans-student-in-boys-locker-room/3908894/

    So this is a case of a female in the boys locker room, not the other way around. Although, as usual, the press is automatically calling this person a “a transgender boy”, even though this person is described as a feminine-presenting female who identifies as male. So a girl who looks like a girl trying to cause trouble.

    • Rat on a train

      Loudoun is Virginia’s version of San Fran.

    • UnCivilServant

      If she wants to play at being a boy, they should have clocked her the moment the phone came out, flushed the phone and laid a beat down on her for recording in a bathroom.

      Fair’s fair.

    • Common Tater

      “It’s a controversial policy that put LCPS in the national spotlight after a boy sexually assaulted a girl in a Stone Bridge High School girls’ bathroom in 2021.

      In the years that followed, a mother and her daughter told 7News that a boy was changing in the girls’ locker room at Loudoun Valley High School as of result of the school board’s policy. And a father told 7News a girl was changing in the boy’s locker room at Woodgrove High School, which prompted student protests.

      After a group of parents who were largely Christian, Muslim, and Hindu expressed their concerns about Policy 8040 at a school board meeting and called for girl-only and boy-only bathrooms and locker rooms in February 2024, the newly elected Loudoun County School Board shut off cameras during public comment so the public could not see parents speak to the school board about their concerns.”

      https://wjla.com/news/local/virginia-loudoun-county-public-schools-lcps-gender-identity-boys-locker-room-female-student-policy-8040-president-donald-trump-stone-bridge-high-school-title-ix-complaint-department-of-education-bathroom

    • rhywun

      JFC this nonsense is so tiresome.

      It’s not gonna end until you deprogram half the country.

    • creech

      I guess it depends on who the girl is and what she looks like, but I doubt that back in high school we would have objected to certain girls coming into the boys locker room to shower and change.

      • rhywun

        She looks like this.

      • creech

        Wow, she would have been at least an 8 in my high school!

    • R.J.

      Not that I would know, but there is not a fed level investigation, much less a criminal investigation. And the one lawsuit leftists tried to bring after Luigi was without merit. This could most definitely be a concerted effort by media and commies to cause issues. Similar thing going on with Coinbase. This just does not smell right. The only real fact is that the medical losses were not properly predicted in the Medicare business, which does cause stock drops. Beware commies trying to create chaos in the markets.

  35. Derpetologist

    Chinese ‘kill switches’ found in US solar farms

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/chinese-kill-switches-found-in-us-solar-farms/ar-AA1EPEHS

    [Kif sigh]

    ***
    The components found in the US included cellular radios capable of switching off the equipment remotely, raising serious concerns about grid security, according to Reuters.

    They were found inside power inverters manufactured by unnamed Chinese companies.

    Power inverters are the key links between solar or wind farms and the rest of the power system, converting their electricity so the wider grid can use it.

    One source told Reuters that compromising such equipment would give Beijing the ability to inflict blackouts on the West, claiming it would create “a built-in way to physically destroy the grid”.
    ***

    FFS, name and shame the commie bastards.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Sticking point

    The ongoing fight has not only pitted Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., the chair of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, against a determined bloc of House Republicans from high-tax blue states; it has also created divisions between the pro-SALT Republicans, undercutting their negotiating leverage and complicating the path to a deal.

    While some of them are willing to accept an offer from Smith to raise the cap to $30,000, another faction flatly rejects that figure as insufficient. And they’ve grown increasingly frustrated with some of their colleagues for, in their view, settling for a low-ball offer.

    Those tensions came to a boiling point Tuesday when pro-SALT Republicans met in Speaker Mike Johnson’s office to discuss strategy, and asked Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y. — a member of the Ways and Means panel who’s supportive of the $30,000 cap — to leave, according to two sources in the room.

    ——-

    Top House Republicans have highlighted their support for the $30,000 level to suggest that a quartet of other New York Republicans who want a bigger deduction — Reps. Elise Stefanik, Mike Lawler, Nick LaLota and Andrew Garbarino — are being unreasonable. But taxes vary by district, which explains why each member has a different level they are willing to stomach for the deduction. The 2017 tax law Republicans are now seeking to extend imposed a $10,000 cap for state and local tax deductions.

    This is where they get everybody in a room and compromise on a $100k limit.

    • Gustave Lytton

      What a shock Rinos wanting to subsidize high tax states. Fuck them and fuck anyone whining about high taxes t except to the state lawmakers who impose them.

    • Ted S.

      Fuck you, cut spending.

    • creech

      Unless you can get a few Dems in low tax states to break with their party, then expecting GOPers in high tax states to slit their throats and vote against SALT is the same as ensuring a permanent GOP minority in the House. RINOS are exasperating but Purple and swing states could not avoid being Blue without them. Case in point: Shapiro wins governorship in Penna. due, in some major part, to the GOP hard liners nominating a guy so conservative that lukewarm Republicans could not hold their nose and vote for him.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Yeah? Fuck them. If your bitch ass PA voters want Democrat lite, they deserve it good and hard. Stop providing cover for them, stop driving the speed limit over the cliff. Jesus H Christ.

      • creech

        Sure, but newly elected Dem House members from Penna. impose their votes on your state too.

    • Rat on a train

      With friends like this, who need enemies?

    • robc

      Suggestion: eliminate the SALT deduction altogether and raise the standard deduction an amount to make it “revenue neutral”.

      Run adds making it clear it is a tax cut for the poorest (or at least, those who don’t itemize).

      Yeah, it hurts me, but nearly anything that simplifies the tax code is good.

      Next up, do the same for the mortgage interest deduction. Which, after doing the above, would not really hurt me, because I am probably not itemizing anyway with SALT gone.

      • Ted S.

        I ran the numbers the first year of the current tax regime, and I would have paid about $400 more if the Obama-era tax rates had remained in effect.

        I say this as someone at the bottom of the economic ladder.

      • Rat on a train

        also ditch charitable contributions

    • Don escaped Memphis

      Suggestion

      or get rid of federal income taxes entirely so there’s nothing to argue about

      just go brrrrrr until everything is paid for and all our savings are destroyed since both points are coming anyway

      • robc

        or get rid of federal income taxes entirely

        Well, yeah, that is assumed, right?

      • Don escaped Memphis

        assumed, right

        fair enough, yes, but replowing old ground is pretty much a Glib specialty

    • Certified Public Asshat

      $10k is already too high.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Stefanik and Lawler are also eyeing runs for governor in New York, making it even more politically imperative to act.

      You run on getting the people of New York a SALT “deduction” at the state level.

      • UnCivilServant

        Layoffs, please.

        Give me an excuse to leave!.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Good news

    US drug overdose deaths saw an unprecedented drop in 2024, but federal cuts could threaten momentum

    ——-

    “On the one hand, it may be that the epidemic is burning itself out or that there is some regression to the mean after the spike in overdose deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic,” he wrote in an editorial published in the New England Journal of Medicine last year. “More optimistically, we may be starting to apply enough funding and effort into scaling evidence-based responses to the size of the problem.”

    Maybe the dumbest junkies killed themselves off. But that’s no reason to cut spending.

    • The Other Kevin

      “spike in overdose deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic”

      That was probably because people were so upset about the unvaccinated killing their grandmother.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    “The general dissatisfaction with the illicit opioid supply right now is surprisingly high,” Dasgupta said, referencing xylazine in particular, an animal sedative commonly known as “tranq” that can cause severe skin wounds. “This is not what people signed up for. It’s way more sedating. It’s way more unpredictable. It’s not as pleasurable.”

    Where’s the glamor? Where’s the fun?

    • Jarflax

      Ok, I am pro legalization of all drugs, but I still don’t give a damn what the junkies signed up for. Junkie satisfaction is significantly below invertebrate liberation in my hierarchy of concern.

    • Common Tater

      Solution is make it legal.

  39. Common Tater

    “A report by the nonprofit Do No Harm has revealed that a study from 2020 alleging white doctors exhibit “spontaneous racial bias” leading to worse outcomes for black newborns continues to serve as a pillar of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, despite major methodological flaws.

    The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), concluded that the disparity in mortality rates between black newborns and white newborns dropped by 58 percent when the black babies were treated by black physicians.

    However, the paper drew criticism after it was revealed by the Manhattan Institute that the co-authors had made a methodological error, which revealed that controlling for very low birth weight newborns nullified the effect of racial concordance on infant mortality. According to Do No Harm, the authors buried that data in the appendix. Additionally, one of the study’s co-authors left her university in April amid allegations of plagiarism and incompetence from her staff.

    Despite the study’s flaws, Do No Harm says it remains influential, as PNAS has not retracted the study. It has been cited to support affirmative action in medical school admissions and within physician DEI training. The study even appeared in an amicus brief filed by dozens of medical associations led by the Association of American Medical Colleges in the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard case. Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson cited the study in her dissenting opinion.”

    https://thepostmillennial.com/debunked-study-claiming-white-doctors-show-spontaneous-racial-bias-still-widely-cited-to-support-dei-report

    SCIENCE!!!!!!!