Thursday Morning Links

by | Jun 18, 2020 | Daily Links | 633 comments

Man, Arsenal suck.

Baseball might have a season after all. But the 16-team playoff sucks. Especially since it’s going to happen next year as well, for no apparent reason. Ditto the NL DH. Arsenal are back to playing like they’ve played all season. And the NBA Florida plan is a hot mess. And that’s sports.

Don’t care.

Mountain climber George Mallory was born on this day. He shares it with basketball great George Mikan, bluesman Ace Wallace, musician Paul McCartney, onetime-sexy actress Isabella Rossellini, baseball player Andres Galarraga, defensive end Bruce Smith, catcher Sandy Alomar, and piece of shit Uday Hussein.

That list was crap.  Oh well, on to…the links!

I wonder if the Blue Flu will have as big an impact at The Corona. We should know in a couple of days. The results of this won’t take two weeks to fully show up, after all.

Overcharged?

Speaking of Atlanta. This is a terrible decision of overcharging. Pretty sure regular murder would have sufficed. And it didn’t help that the DA didn’t even wait on the investigation to conclude.

CHAZ gets even weirder. Hey, I didn’t think it could happen either, but apparently they’re going to use wrestling storylines as a mode of policing the place.

Eric Swalwell continues being a loathsome human being. Also, if you actually listen to the response, the man did actually say the words.

::FART NOISE::

The headline writer should be beaten with a rubber hose. Oh well, you can get the facts of what happened down in the story. I guess that being factually true is more important than being factually accurate.

Actor allegedly commits a crime worse than his acting. Also, if he’s a rapist, why is he being arraigned in September? And why couldn’t these have been looked into some time over the last 17 years? IS the backlog that long?

New York City gives up all pretense of respecting private property rights. How this could ever be considered constitutional is beyond me.

The war on syrup is a sticky situation. Sorry, I won’t participate. Its real maple or GTFO in my house. #vermontlivesmatter

This was predictible. I wonder if he feels the same way about any other sports nicknames?

Huh, I guess he doesn’t have a party affiliation. At least not one worthy of mentioning in the actual story of political corruption. Way to go, SFGate.

Euros are pissed at the US’s reluctance to steal more money from people. Oh well, I guess they’ll have to go it alone in trying to screw businesses out of their hard-earned cash.

Here’s another fantastic song. And it deserved more play than it got. Well, I’m fixing that today.

Now get out there and have a great day, friends!

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

633 Comments

  1. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Look dude, those guys are always peaceful right up until they open fire on you.

  2. Subwoofer

    That dude was actually identified as a Democrat at the very end of the article

    Canciamilla resigned as Contra Costa elections chief in October 2019. He was the youngest public official in state history when he was elected at age 17 to the Pittsburg school board. He later served on the Pittsburg City Council and Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors before winning three terms in the state Assembly as Democrat in 2000.

    • sloopyinca

      Then they added that detail after I’d checked twice while putting this together.

      • cyto

        Even with that “correction”, the point still stands.

        Tradition is that in any article discussing a politician, you put the (D) right after the first mention of their name – even if you don’t explicitly talk about party affiliation elsewhere.

        I cannot think of any precedent for an article about corruption in a public official where the party of the Republican official is not deemed relevant. I can recall having had this discussion several times about coverage of scandals with democrat officials.

      • Subwoofer

        Yeah it’s definitely a double standard. I was mostly expressing shock that the word “Democrat” appeared at all.

        Republicans are always identified as much. Democrats? Almost never. Presumably because all the reporters are Democrats, so bring a Democrat is the natural state of things as far as they are concerned. Being Republican is an abberation. It’d be like reporting that the person is an air-breather: an obvious truth that need not be mentioned. If he was a water-breather though, clearly that’s worthy of note.

      • Rhywun

        No, it’s because all reporters want to conceal from their readers any hint of corruption by their fellow travelers.

      • cyto

        Which would actually be expected…

        But papers have standard forms. They say “you use capital ‘B’ when you refer to the Black race”. Or “we do not use the Oxford comma!”

        And they have editors that ensure these standards are followed. So one would presume that they have a standard about naming people – you use the full name the first time you identify the person, etc. And for politicians, presumably the (D)/(R) is a standard treatment for the newsroom.

        Which would be the editor’s job to ensure was followed.

        But it somehow gets missed in many articles about corruption or scandal.

        Which points to something a little stronger than “personal bias”.

      • Rhywun

        Right – it’s not “personal bias”. It’s institutional bias. That “D” is missing on purpose.

  3. UnCivilServant

    #vermontlivesmatter

    Don’t fund Vermonsters, they gave us Bernie.

    • Festus

      “Don’t go with her! She got the Herpes!”

    • Certified Public Asshat

      But, do we really need more than one syrup?

  4. invisible finger

    “Its real maple or GTFO in my house.”

    I don’t like the ersatz stuff either. But it’s either lets the kids slather on the fake stuff or keep the real stuff in the liquor cabinet so the kids can’t waste it.

    • Nephilium

      In the past, the Grade B stuff was the better stuff (it has stronger maple flavor). But it looks like the grading scale has been updated to help people realize that it’s the good stuff.

    • Not Adahn

      Eh. I was raised on Griffin’s and I think I’d still like the stuff if I ever bought it again. It’s the added vanilla that makes it imo. But real maple is pretty cheap here through the wholesale club.

      • Nephilium

        Trader Joe’s usually has a vanilla infused and a barrel aged maple syrup in winter. It’s damned pricey though. If I ate more pancakes/waffles, I would probably play with several different home infusions.

      • UnCivilServant

        Don’t go for the cyanide flavored one.

    • EvilSheldon

      Something to try for the cocktail enthusiasts in the audience – use maple syrup in place of simple syrup. It doesn’t do well in every cocktail recipe, but when it works, it tends to really work.

      • R C Dean

        Yup. It goes really well in old fashioned with rye.

  5. robc

    You asked a lot of questions that can be answered with one word…scientology.

    • UnCivilServant

      “I have a notice for you. You’re apparently being sued.”

  6. Nephilium

    In reference to the actor, maybe the police are just getting through their backlog of messages…

    Remember people. When seconds count, the police are not answering the damned phone.

    • robc

      Apparently the Danny Masterson thing was one of those things that is well known in Hollywood but no one feels the need to make it public or take it to the police. Alos, as I said above…scientology.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    The board’s annual vote follows pressure against Gov. Andrew Cuomo to cancel rent for all New Yorkers during the coronavirus outbreak — a measure Cuomo has resisted while expressing sympathy for landlords indebted to banks.

    Sympathy for landlords? String him up.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Cuomo appears to have some sense of how insane these proposals are, even if he’s still trying to play to the mob.

      • UnCivilServant

        He’s always been more self-serving than true believer

      • pan fried wylie

        Then lord over Lynchland! Lilliputian lessors longingly lurch towards free lunch.

        L is a tough alliteration.

    • Rhywun

      Meh. Deblasio has done this a couple times before, because of course.

      New York City gives up all pretense of respecting private property rights.

      About 70 years too late.

      • Not Adahn

        To show my solidarity with #BLM, I am officially declaring all of the units in my properties are now rent-free. To assist those who may have trouble with the rental application process, I am removing the locks on the doors. And I hereby transfer ownership to [insert head of local BLM chapter here].

      • cyto

        Seriously.

        I wonder what percentage of New York residents understand the relationship between rent control, “low income housing requirements”, building restrictions and high rent is?

        Libertarians believe this could be solved extremely quickly by simply removing rent controls and opening up the city to developers.

        Who exactly do the citizens of New York think this stuff is protecting? If I own a high-end rental property in Manhattan that was built 25 years ago – am I more likely to support rules that prevent other developers from building luxury properties in the area, or less likely? So who do you think these politicians are protecting? The guy paying $2500 per month for a dumpy rent-controlled single room apartment, or the guy who owns an $800 million dollar building where there’s a property two blocks away that was built in the 1920’s that would be a prime location for other developers to put a $2 billion building, absent city controls?

  8. Scruffy Nerfherder

    So now Texas Rangers are out. Yeah, something tells me that’s not going to fly.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Do we really want more teams named something like the Texans?

    • WTF

      Do these idiots not realize that the most badass of the Texas Rangers was a black man and the inspiration for the Lone Ranger?

      • Aloysious

        Being ignorant savages, no. Probably not.

    • invisible finger

      I sang We’ll Meet Again to my brother in his final hours in hospice.

      • Festus

        That’s sad, poignant and touching, I.F. Sorry for your loss.

  9. Rebel Scum

    This is a terrible decision of overcharging.

    Felony murder? Unlikely. And I saw somewhere charging with multiple counts of assault? Idk how you get charge with assault after having been assaulted. (unless there is information I am lacking)

    • cyto

      I know we have a lot of “F the Police” types here. I’ve suffered more than my share of abuse for “hating the cops” over the years as I’ve tried to evangelize the cause with stories like Kelly Thomas.

      But this case is ludicrous. The DA flat out lied in that news conference – repeatedly. He said that Brooks was never any threat. He said that he was peaceful throughout… the whole thing was crazy. He said that Atlanta Police procedures dictate that they have to announce that they are arresting you before placing you in handcuffs… and that since they didn’t do so, all of their activities that followed were unlawful. Now, despite the fact that never in the history of the world has any DA ever operated under such a theory, I defy anyone to watch the officer on video looking Brooks in the eyes and saying “I have determined that you are too intoxicated to operate a motor vehicle. Please place your hands behind your back…..” at which point he is cut off by the struggle to resist – and not understand that this is an announcement that Brooks is being placed under arrest for DUI.

      Looking for the death penalty on this one? Even pretending that under the rules we have used for police “use of force” since… forever… he could have ever been charged on this one, nobody would even go for the death penalty if this was two dudes in a fight outside a bar.

      He brought 11 charges against the 1 officer. 11 felonies for maybe 6 seconds of action.

      He played it as if he got his version of events from watching CNN. He pretended that the entire struggle where he was resisting arrest didn’t happen, that he never struck the officers, and to downplay the stealing of the taser and firing it at the officer, he explained that since he missed, there was never any threat. That’s crazy town.

      Meanwhile, the officer fired instantly following that moment and also missed, striking a parked car behind Brooks. The DA is charging the officer with felony assault with a deadly weapon for that one because the vehicle was occupied. So one second missing means that there was never any threat at all, and one second later, missing means criminal intent.

      This is like something out of the Queen of Heart’s court in Alice in Wonderland.

      The guy even made the claim that a taser is not a deadly weapon – therefore no use of force was justified… even though he charged 6 officers for assault with a deadly weapon for using a taser on 2 protesters just 2 weeks ago. I suppose this will bolster their defense…..

      • Not Adahn

        DA’s a political office. Politicians gonna pander. And people loooove them some righteous rage.

      • Rebel Scum

        But this will have bad long term consequences. More and more the law is not being applied equally (see the guy that was chased and eventually opened fire on people openly threatening to kill him). This is not good. And like Cyto, I am in now a copsucker. I am trying to be objective. And as stated, the DA totally fucked this situation. I didn’t even know about that press-conference. But if true it is just all wrong.

      • Not Adahn

        But this will have bad long term consequences.

        As if that matters. Any consequences that result after the next election are irrelevant.

      • Chipwooder

        The guy in New Mexico was released, though. Not trying to be argumentative, just sayin’.

        I think the cop in Atlanta fucked up, but the charge is a joke and a fairy tale is being spun to support it. It is perfectly right to say that shooting a fleeing suspect in the back is wrong while also acknowledging that Brooks’s actions directly led to his death when he attacked the cop and took his weapon.

      • Rebel Scum

        True. But the fairy tale will persist. Narrative > Facts.

      • Not an Economist

        Long term consequences? All the guy is worried about is winning his next election. If he can score some points by throwing the book at some innocent people he will do it, smiling all the way.

      • cyto

        Along with that, he and the mayor may legitimately be afraid that they’ll be the next to be burned out of their homes if they don’t follow this path.

        But judging by their public statements, I’d wager that they see this as a political opportunity. By taking the hardline BLM stance, the probably believe that they will vault themselves into national prominence.

      • Chipwooder

        In a sane world, he would have just fucked up BOTH cases, as the cops charged in the assault case will say “See, the DA says tasers aren’t deadly weapons”

      • cyto

        I’m going to go back to my old whipping boy, the press. Where was the 4th estate? There were what, 20? 30? reporters in that room.

        Nobody asked “Why are you claiming that tasers are not a deadly weapon when you just explained that under GA law they are considered deadly weapons as you charged an officer with “assault with a deadly weapon” for merely pointing a taser at someone? (see link Drake provides above)

        Nobody asked about the “he kicked him” photo. I watched the video that was released. It did not go on too long after the shooting, so I could not swear to any actions that happened later, but I’m going to assume that he was referring to a moment about 3 or 5 seconds after the shooting where the officer clears the taser and checks Brooks with his foot, obviously exercising extreme caution. He pushes his side with his foot to see if he is moving. It isn’t ambiguous. And while pushing something with your foot might fit the legal definition of “kick”, in this context it is clearly a lie. Yet not one member of the press was competent enough to raise their hand and ask for clarification on that one. If you were at that press conference and had not watched all of the videos, you are incompetent. So there is no excuse for being incapable of connecting those dots and saying “Hey, wait a minute. Why the still photo? Are you really calling that instant from the video “kicking” him?”

        And when he says “he was never a threat. He was peaceful and cooperating”, nobody asks “well, what about the part where he punches the officer in the face?”

        When he says that because Brooks missed when firing the taser, he never threatened the officer – nobody asked “exactly how is being a bad shot indicative of not being a threat?”

        Nobody asked anything. They just passed along the propaganda like stooges.

        I have the same contempt for the press when they fail to ask the police these questions when they come out with ridiculous statements like “I’m confident that my officers acted properly at all times. There will be a full investigation, but I’m confident that it will show that they acted appropriately”. Nobody ever asks “well, if you are confident of the outcome of the investigation, why exactly are we allowing you to run the investigation into yourself? Shouldn’t we be bringing in an outside party?

      • ScoobaSteve

        The cop made a simple but MAJOR mistake. He grabbed Brooks before stating he was under arrest. Without communicating he was under arrest, Brooks was defending himself from the cops battery/assault. I don’t know the specifics in Georgia, but generally if you initiate a fight, you cannot then claim self defense when you start losing.

    • Not an Economist

      The police officer fired 3 shots. 2 hit the dead guy. One hit a car with multiple people in it. Therefore multiple counts of assault.

      • sloopyinca

        So not only did he violate the law about shooting at a fleeing person, he didn’t even consider what was behind his target when he fired at the guy whose information they had?

        If they reduce the charges, he might get convicted for murder. He should definitely be convicted for reckless endangerment and a few other things.

      • bacon-magic

        Fleeing, yes it’s a bad shoot.
        Firing a weapon(I don’t care if it’s non lethal) while fleeing? Not a bad shoot.

      • Drake

        Parthians sad 🙁

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m pretty sure they knew it was legit to shoot a fleeing Parthian.

      • cyto

        Yeah.. there’s plenty of “know your line of fire” stuff to talk about…

        But this was literally a split second decision moment. I know the Dunphy always says “split second decision” and “totality of circs” , but in this case it is actually both true and relevant.

        I usually counter that whole “split second” thing with “what happened before that split second” – because that is where the choices were made. Like Tamir Rice – the split second wasn’t the problem. It was the partner who decides to play Adam-12 and hop the curb, dumping his partner out 10 feet from a potentially armed suspect, requiring a “split second decision” where no split second decision should have been needed. This also explains the shooting in Louisville. The problem wasn’t that an officer executing a warrant returned fire after being shot at from a darkened room – the problem was that he was standing in their bedroom door at 12:30 AM holding a gun.

        In this case, this officer was being extremely courteous to the drunk guy who was about to be arrested. Everything was going smoothly – then he suddenly bolts. So he didn’t create the “split second decision”. After being punched a few times and overpowered – he gives chase for maybe 10 feet before Brooks turns and raises the taser and fires from just a couple of steps away. That is by definition a split second decision moment. There’s really no time to scan parked cars for occupants at that moment. Sure, if there had been a crowd of 25 people standing in a group behind him he likely would not have fired his weapon… but in this circumstance? I think being aware of all of the occupants or non-occupants of parked vehicles would be super-human.

      • bacon-magic

        Tamir Rice and countless others are bad shoots. I’m not a boot licker. This Rayshard one is not a clear cut “authoritarian pig shot innocent citizen”. I’m more selective on what hill to die on and this ain’t it. It’s a gross miscarriage of justice and I can’t fault all the cops for the blue flu. I see the blue flu going nationally and we all need to hunker down for the shit show that will become.

      • cyto

        Which I’m beginning to suspect is part of the plan.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    That Seattle story made me woozy.

  11. Festus

    Just commented on the dead thread about my beer-fueled rage. This post is NOT helping! I’d like to speak to the Manager…

    • UnCivilServant

      Your complaint is important to us. Please stay on the line. Your estimated wait time is *mechanical monotone* Three hours and seventy-six minutes */monotone*. Thank you for your business.

      • Festus

        So just like reading Glibs daily?

  12. Rebel Scum

    Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) responded saying “all lives matter.”

    Keeping in agreement with Martin O’maley.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I’m waiting for someone to get up and say “I’m here to represent every individual in my district regardless of skin color. Each and every one of their lives and livelihoods matter. We are not a collective nor will I endorse any statement that divides people up by immutable characteristics.”

      • UnCivilServant

        You’ll be waiting a looong time.

        No politician is going to say that.

    • sloopyinca

      Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) responded saying “all lives matter.”

      “I think black lives matter. I think all lives matter.”
      Somehow this is controversial. ::SMDH::

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s a rhetorical trick used to shame people into dropping their opposition to the left’s political goals.

      • cyto

        No. Not controversial. All lives matter is universally condemned as racist. This is known. There is no controversy about this. Saying “all lives matter” is proof that you should never work again.

    • invisible finger

      All Tax Slaves Matter

  13. Pope Jimbo

    Sigh. The EU and their attempts to tax the shit out of Big Tech is never going to end is it?

    I think it is about 50/50 as to whether the tax is simply greed or if it envy/anger over the fact that Big Tech seems to be mostly US firms.

    The maddening thing is that no one seems to ever ask “Why is this tax justified? What costs is it going to cover?” The answer is that it isn’t justified, it is simply the state grabbing money because they can.

    • Rhywun

      The countries have been discussing an international agreement on the way global taxes work.

      Why the fuck was the US even dickering around that shit instead of telling them to go fuck themselves sooner?

      I guess we have another “Day One” priority for the next Dem president.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Because the US is the biggest extraterritorial taxer and they want every other jurisdiction to rat out income earned in those foreign jurisdictions.

  14. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Investigative journalist Jack Posobiec, who has been reporting from within the CHAZ, provided an exclusive statement to the National File after talking to the Seattle Superheroes on Sunday.

    “They said one of their former members named Phoenix Jones is now evil and threatening women, and that he wears black and gold armor,” Posobiec said. “I saw a guy dressed like that earlier Sunday night during the auto shop mob.”

    KIRO 7 News reports that on Sunday night, a suspect wielding a box cutter attempted to use hand sanitizer to set the Car Tender auto shop, which is located just outside the CHAZ, on fire. The suspect went on to steal cash and car keys from the premises, before being detained by the shop owner. The police department subsequently ignored 911 calls by the shop owner to collect the suspect. Ultimately, an armed mob of rioters, which Posobiec alleges included Phoenix Jones, stormed the auto shop and freed the arsonist.

    I got nuthin’. We’re in Alice In Wonderland territory.

    • DOOMco

      “We were all disappointed, because he was like the face of us, somehow,” Red Ranger’s sidekick, Spirit Fox, added

      Is this real life?

      • Not Adahn

        Superhero LARPing is one thing. But someone is choosing to LARP as a sidekick.

      • sloopyinca

        Hey, betas need to be allowed to cosplay too.

      • Not Adahn

        So if you confront xim with a collar and a buttplug, xe’ll immediately submit?

      • Gustave Lytton

        Burt Ward got plenty of pussy too.

      • sloopyinca

        What do you mean “too”? Pretty sure he was the only one of that partnership getting poontang.

      • sloopyinca

        Well I stand corrected. Fortunately the thread is dead. ?

      • Festus

        It ain’t real until “Power Rangers Assemble!” That’s when you know shit is gonna go down.

      • Not Adahn

        But who’ll form the head?

      • Agent Cooper

        Makes note to find original Voltron on streaming.

    • EvilSheldon

      Sweet drunken Enkidu…

      The lesson I’m talking from this incident is edging uncomfortably close to, “Don’t leave any living witnesses.”

      • pan fried wylie

        Let the fire investigator prove they didn’t start the fire that burned them all alive.

  15. Rebel Scum

    Deputies kill half-brother of black man found hanged in park

    Mhm…sounds bad…

    Detectives with the sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit were tracking a man who was wanted for kidnapping, spousal assault and assault with a deadly weapon but when they tried to stop his car, he opened the door and began shooting, authorities said.

    Deputies shot and killed the man. A woman in the car was wounded in the chest and was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening while a 7-year-old girl in the car wasn’t hurt, sheriff’s officials said.

    Ah. . .

    • pan fried wylie

      I don’t buy it. Investigating a non-victimless crime? Pull the other leg…

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Apparently, Bolton says President Cartoon Villain wanted the ChiComs to make a trade deal which would help him get re-elected.

    UNPRECEDENTED!

    • Rebel Scum

      How dare he politicize a political office!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      OMG

    • Raven Nation

      TBF: I think you’re supposed to wait until your second term and then come with an international deal for your ‘legacy.’

    • bacon-magic

      Bolton is only to be called the Evil Mustache(you all should know who the Good Mustache is).

      • Not Adahn

        H… hitler?

      • EvilSheldon

        Frank Zappa?

      • Jarflax

        Stalin obviously.

      • Incentives Matter

        What? No love for our very own libertarian ‘stache (John Stossel)?

      • bacon-magic

        ^^^
        There it is

    • juris imprudent

      Trump’s problem is that he doesn’t couch political desire in the right terms. Like “I’ll have more flexibility after the election” – see, nothing wrong with that at all (and PBUH that said it).

  17. Pat

    Also, if he’s a rapist, why is he being arraigned in September?

    Probably the ‘rona. Also, he has apparently been violating social distancing rules.

    • db

      Also, he has apparently been violating social distancing rules.

      Wow, so he’s a murderer too?

      • Festus

        Creepy, spoiled boy, drunk with money and power. Grabs women by the pussy. Woodwork oozes out some unsubstantiated claims twenty years later. I’ve read this story before.

      • Rhywun

        To be fair, this time there’s the novelty of his “church” playing wing-man.

      • Festus

        Yeah, that’s a little salt for the wound.

  18. invisible finger

    The Designated HItter thing is probably because they can’t guarantee an even number of interleague games for each team will get played, especially with any realignments. If they can pull off a nearly-full season in 2021, there will be serious talk of expansion afterwards.

    • Festus

      It’s here to stay. A Union ploy for over the hill sluggers. Fatsos with a quick bat need lovin’ too!

      • invisible finger

        Nah, I see the owners clawing it back it get expansion through. Just another bargaining chip.

      • Agent Cooper

        Greg Luzinski FTW!

    • Don Escaped any Landslide

      It’s over.

      The timeless balance of everyone having the same risks and issues that require thoughtful management is ruined by Yankee fuckery.

      How about just one excellent batsman for each team and three Olympic pinch runners and NONE of the fielders bat?

    • Chipwooder

      Who won’t miss the majesty of watching a pitcher feebly wave at pitch after pitch?

      Do position players pitch? No, so why should pitchers hit? They suck at it, and don’t come at me with “But Madison Bumgarner!” MadBum gets held up as the gold standard of the “good hitting pitcher” these days, and you know what his career batting numbers are? .177/.228/.303, numbers befitting the worst all-glove/no-hit backup middle infielder you can think of. And he’s the one the purists always name as the best of the best! Hell, Mario Mendoza, whose name became a literal emblem of hitting futility, hit .215/.245/.262 for his career. Bumgarner has some power over him, that’s it.

      • robc

        Do position players pitch?

        Yes. A few times per year. Usually they do a surprisingly decent job. The score is generally 18-2 when they come in, so it isn’t like the other team is trying hard, but still, its embarrassing to get struck out by a second basemen.

      • Chipwooder

        Yes, I’m well aware that an occasional inning in a blowout gets thrown by a position player.

      • robc

        Okay, instead of Bumgarner, how about Babe Ruth? If that is unfair or too old, how about Brooks Kieschnick?

      • Chipwooder

        Taking the other side of the argument, there are more recent examples, Shohei Ohtani being the most obvious and successful, and Rick Ankiel famously worked his way back to the big leagues as an outfielder after his pitching career imploded.

        These guys are extremely rare, however, which kind of makes my point.

      • robc

        Baltimore outfielder Stevie Wikerson got a save last year.

      • robc

        Baltimore’s Chris Davis got a win in 2012.

        I don’t know what it is with Baltimore and using position players to pitch in close games. May explain their record of late.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Do not speak of Chris Davis.

      • Festus

        Wrong Wrong Wrong! You play around the fact that the pitcher is probably a dud hitter (he was probably the best hitter on his Pony League team) and start playing metrics. When you make the pitcher hit It makes the game more akin to Chess rather than Checkers. When do we pull him? He’s knocking them down right and left but we’re down a run. Sub in some guy that on his best day will come through 1/3 of the time? They used to call it the beautiful game for a reason.

      • Chipwooder

        Sure he was probably, at one time, the best hitter on his team. Same thing is often true of any major league hitter because you have to be incredibly good to even make MLB at all. I remember watching Brendan Ryan be useless at the plate for the Yankees and reminding myself that, in high school, the guy almost certainly raked like George Brett.

        I played organized ball from age 5 through high school, a thirteen year span. The best, most impressive player I ever saw in that time was a kid named TP Waligora. He absolutely fucking dominated Little League, throwing no-hitters. He could hit 80 with his fastball when he was 13 years old. Dominant in high school, was All-Metro for multiple seasons. Starred in college ball. Was drafted by the Cubs and…..never made it past AA.

      • Festus

        *Festus cries in his beer…*

      • UnCivilServant

        Don’t do that, your beer will get watery.

      • pan fried wylie

        Salty ham tears actually compliment many styles of beer. I dunno if these are the right flavor tears.

      • Chipwooder

        5 IP, 13 BB? Ooof.

      • robc

        Being one of the worst MLB players ever stills means you are damn good.

      • Chipwooder

        Oh, absolutely. Out of the millions of boys who grow up playing ball, everyone plays little league. Most of those will end up playing at least a bit of high school ball. A much smaller number will play college ball. Maybe 5% of college players will play at any level of professional ball, and a very small percentage of minor leaguers will ever step onto an MLB field.

      • robc

        He was throwing mid 70s as a 12 year old, which was unhittable at the short little league distance.

        At least at full 60′ 6″ when we moved up to Babe Ruth there was a chance. Fortunately, I only had to hit him in practice at that age, as we were teammates.

    • Idle Hands

      The DH is something the PA and Manfred has wanted for years. They want the increase in offense on the one end and more higher paid players on the other. It’s dumb especially considering Manfred explaining to us fans that the sport will never be popular again because of game length and yet at every turn increases the length with replay and now this stupid shit.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Sigh. The EU and their attempts to tax the shit out of Big Tech is never going to end is it?

    If by “Big Tech”you mean “any profitable business enterprise”.

    • juris imprudent

      By “Big Tech” they mean those fucking American companies dominating the global market.

  20. Pat

    Though there have been debates over Mrs. Butterworth’s race, some have associated the shape of the brand’s syrup bottles with the offensive “Mammy” racial caricature of stereotype for Black women.

    Professional Englee speak goodly writer.

    • Chipwooder

      “some have”…..who might those “some” be? Name names.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They’re various experts.

      • Chipwooder

        I just hate that particularly weaselly journalistic practice.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Dude, they’re familiar with the matter

      • Festus

        “Sources close to the thought process…” It’s right there in black and white! And I Oop.

    • pan fried wylie

      Mrs. Butterworth is the most realistic portrayal of the female form in the realm of advertising.

    • Agent Cooper

      This person has never seen an old woman from Hungary.

    • Jarflax

      If professional racial grievance students have time to worry about the racial implications of syrup bottles racism is officially no longer a problem and we can stop talking about it.

  21. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. I’m so disappointed in local reporters for not busting into loud prolonged laughter at our Governor’s response to local businesses telling him he needs to reopen everything by 6/19.

    “I would just ask them (to) help us,” the governor said. “Don’t just tell me to open more when you all saw the pictures of Dinkytown and some of the bars down there that were really crowded.”

    Seriously? You stood by while thousands of people rioted and burned parts of the city. But bars in Dinkytown were too crowded is what you think is scold worthy?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      There are a lot of pissed off people out there. This election is going to be intereesting.

      • Nephilium

        Yeah. We’re living in interesting times.

        Great.

      • Festus

        “Well those heathen Sky Worshippers did start this, didn’t they?” *takes off Al Swearingen Suit coat*

      • Pope Jimbo

        If any enterprising reporter bothered to read the comments on stories like that, they’d realize how mad people are and maybe follow up on that. I was stunned at how vitriolic the comments for that story were.

        I’m sure NBC will be along to get them demonitized soon for those unwoke comments.

      • juris imprudent

        NBC demonitized for their wokeness? /shivvers with pleasure

      • pan fried wylie

        “fee…feeeee…feeed-bak? No, doesn’t ring any bells.”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      He’d just say the protesters are protesting injustice while the bar attendees just want to get a drink and obviously one thing is more important than the other. BLM is worth getting COVID for essentially.

      • Rhywun

        If the last few months have proved anything, it is just how much more “essential” some people are than others.

    • Idle Hands

      Forget it with the reporters. In VA our gov laid out a case for opening the state all at the same time one week and answered questions with reasons and logic behind not opening it piecemeal and the next week decided to open the state up piece meal after telling everyone not 7 days earlier we were not doing it that way with the exact opposite logic and the reporters didn’t laugh him out of the press conference. The chattering class is the enemy of the people.

      • Not Adahn

        I was talking to the owner of my diner last weekend and she approved of shutting all of NYS down, because NYC residents are “selfish,” and would have fled the city, spreading the plague if anyplace had been open for them to flee to. While I of course disagree on general principle, I admit there is logic there.

      • juris imprudent

        You also have to admire the purely human response of keeping them away from us.

      • Idle Hands

        That’s not my problem. My problem is the blatant hypocrisy and signaling to business’s to go head and prepare to open in two weeks and than pulling the football back days before you told them they could with the exact opposite logic and pretending the facts on the ground somehow changed. fuck these hacks.

  22. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Google tracking device got an update today. I now have Pride themes I can apply to my phone. This is somehow important enough to send out three emails about.

    I never got emails like this when they fixed major security bugs.

    • UnCivilServant

      Wait, you actually take that thing with you and let it run Google code?

      *backs away from Scruffy*

      • Sean

        Scruffy has Google cooties.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s true.

      • Pat

        My next phone is going to be a feature phone for sure. I may even go back to good old T9 given how little I ever send text messages.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Unfortunately, I can’t get away form the smart phones for now. My business pretty much requires it.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Though there have been debates over Mrs. Butterworth’s race, some have associated the shape of the brand’s syrup bottles with the offensive “Mammy” racial caricature of stereotype for Black women.

    Who doesn’t like big butt erworths?

    Besides me.

  24. Q Continuum

    “And why couldn’t these have been looked into some time over the last 17 years? IS the backlog that long?”

    What evidence possibly exists after this length of time? Unless the victims did rape kits (in which case, they wouldn’t have waited almost 20 years to charge him) I don’t see how the State can make any kind of case here.

    • sloopyinca

      Just relax and try not to think about it. Take a break. Have a snack. Here’s a jell-o pudding pop.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        A pudding pop?

        *drops trousers*

      • Festus

        triggered

    • Drake

      I can’t see how a prosecution for an alleged rape 17 years ago can boil down to anything other than his word against hers. Just part of a play to get a big civil court settlement?

      • Subwoofer

        IIRC they looked into it 17 years ago and decided there was no rape and the charges were bullshit.

        But it’s 2020, so they’re taking another bite at the apple

    • Rebel Scum

      rape kits

      According to a former female acquaintance in college these are “humiliating”. Therefor you must #believewomen

      Thinking about it now her view of law and prosecution is rather horrifying. She basically thought that you didn’t need and/or shouldn’t have evidence if you accuse someone of rape or sexual assault. I informed her that our entire system is premised on the rights of the accused and left it at that.

      • Jarflax

        Unless the accused is a member of whatever group is currently unpopular. You just need to only commit be charged with crimes when you are in the right phase of your group’s popularity. For instance right now it is bad to be a cop, but if you wait a year cops will be back to immunity from charges. We really seem to struggle with the concept that justice is inherently individual.

    • Pat

      Keilah Kang in that numba 2 spot tho…

  25. Rhywun

    Cream of Wheat too?!!?!?

    Now they’ve gone too far.

    • juris imprudent

      White bread is living on borrowed time.

      • pan fried wylie

        I will no longer be purchasing Wonderbread once they add squid ink.

  26. Apples and Knives

    “Walker, Texas RACIST!” – Possible new syndication title.

    • pan fried wylie

      Redundant. “Texas” is already in the title, Silly.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Like I said upthread, there are a lot of pissed off people out there. Carlson’s economics suck, but at least he has the vocabulary and the gonads to give voice to all those who are ticked off at the leftist march thru the institutions.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      They’ll just work harder on defunding him.

    • db

      “Broadcast and Cable.” How much do these ratings mean anymore?

      • pan fried wylie

        Among people who actually fill out (their own) ballots?

    • R C Dean

      Ratings don’t matter as much as they used to. Clips on YouTube, retweets, etc. are where a lot of the eyeballs action is.

  27. Pat

    Question for those of you that have been known to partake in the ingestion of certain components of the cannabis family of plants. My mom suffers from interstitial cystitis, which causes chronic bladder and flank pain. She’s had a bit of a hard time with pain management on account of the harder opioids give her nausea, and thanks to the drug Nazis it’s next to impossible to find a doctor to prescribe them anyway. She had a little success with tramadol, but sometimes it doesn’t quite cut it. Being as the devil’s lettuce is legal in our state and municipality, I’ve been trying to convince her to perhaps give it a try. She won’t smoke or vape it because she tried weed when she was a youngster and hated it, but they’ve got low TCH/high CBD edibles and 1:1 microdose tablets available. Any experience with these? Any recommendations?

    • gbob

      I may not be the best to answer since CBD doesnt seem to work for me…that said, others swear by it.

      Tolerance is built over time, so anything she takes could lead to the person starting to freak out a bit. My woman, for example, cant take any amount, so if she needed to I would probably start her off with under 1mg in an edible.

      • Pat

        The microdose tablets are 1:1 THC/CBD and ~2.5mg a piece, so I think that might be the way to go initially. Not a lot of information or studies on edibles for pain management, unfortunately; most people just toke up.

      • pan fried wylie

        Most people don’t like waiting and inhalation is faster. If advil came in an inhaler…

  28. Rebel Scum

    Conagra Brands reviewing Mrs. Butterworth’s brand after Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben’s announcements

    I still don’t see what is wrong with having a black mascot for syrup. In fact, you probably have to be racist in order to have a problem with it.

    “It’s heartbreaking and unacceptable that racism and racial injustices exist around the world,” Conagra’s statement said. “We will be part of the solution. Let’s work together to progress toward change.”

    Virtue. Signaled.

    The war on syrup is a sticky situation.

    Just as long as it doesn’t turn into a hairy situation.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      And what the hell is wrong with Uncle Ben? As I understand it, he was an actual person and an entrepreneur.

      • Q Continuum

        Apparently black people are like Mohammed; any depiction, regardless of context, is blasphemous to the prog religion.

      • AlexinCT

        Your assumption is that these fucking kids throwing a tantrum have any kind of education based on anything other than feelings. They don’t. Everything they want to see as racist will be labeled as racist.

      • juris imprudent

        Not a one of them can actually exercise independent thought to reach a conclusion – it is all groupthink.

      • Overt

        This same thing happened with the Land o Lakes Indian Princess. The picture was done by a native american from the tribe up in that area, and yet SJWs said it was an exploiting stereotype because anything with red skin and a feather must obviously be exploitation, as no real native person would ever wear a feather, amiright?

    • sloopyinca

      Don’t you understand? It’s immoral to eat something that doesn’t have a Caucasian on the front the package.

      • juris imprudent

        New boom in imagery of Thurston Howell III and Lovie.

      • Rhywun

        I went shopping next year and this is what I found on the shelves.

      • pan fried wylie

        “ELBOWS”

        I got nuthin’

      • Agent Cooper

        I can’t wait until they cancel Cap’n Crunch. His cereal is violence!

    • Pope Jimbo

      Look, I can respect both sides of the Mrs. Buttersworth debate. Open discussion is fine with me.

      What I won’t stand for though is the fucking assholes who won’t choose a side. Death to the Wafflers!

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        You must be Belgian.

      • sloopyinca

        The whole thing crepes me out.

      • Chipwooder

        I think the whole thing should be panned.

      • Rebel Scum

        Someone is greasing up for a narrowed gaze.

      • juris imprudent

        Tis a griddle to me.

      • bacon-magic

        Don’t start waffling now.

      • straffinrun

        Mixed my Aunt Jemima with some Mrs Buttersworth and it tasted like Uncle Tom.

    • Rufus the Monocled

      What these splendidly and frighteningly clueless people don’t understand is the concept of ‘systemic racism’ dictates that everything and everyone (white) is racist and engages in white supremacy and denying this is an example of white fragility. Straight from the flapping twat of Robin Di Angelo. As such, CONAGRA you f****n retards, YOU’RE racist. You will always be marked for death. Don’t you get it? Wanna be part of the solution….wanna help? Shut the hell up and DO YOUR JOBS. Keep the rice flowing.

      Nothing short of complete submission will this end. Hence, you two choices. Submit or simply fight back and take your punches. There’s no way they can keep it up over the long-term. I know they’re insane and can if they want to but there are too many places to destroy. So they’ll move on like internet scam artists do when they get called out. Stand up to bullies.

      You’d be surprised how lame they really are.

      All that being said, I freely admit we used to make jokes about Aunt Jemima. I mean come on. Get real.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That dude is rocking the facial hair grooming.

      • Rhywun

        You can tell how cool he is with the shaved tracks in the eyebrow thing. That is so cool.

    • Pat

      Pamela Anderson is quite possibly the most overrated piece of ass in history.

      • sloopyinca

        What about Jackie Kennedy?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Even JFK didn’t want it.

      • Chipwooder

        I vote for Julia Roberts. For over two decades I’ve been told that she’s gorgeous, and I’ve never seen it at all. The interesting thing is that women seem to think she’s much better looking than men generally do.

      • Pat

        The process is repeating itself with Emma Roberts. Eric Roberts is prettier than she is, IMO. Lantern jaw.

      • Chipwooder

        Emma > Julia, I think, but she’s basically the fairly cute girl from down the block. By Hollywood actress standards, she’s quite plain.

      • Festus

        She had great gams. That matters to a certain segment of the creeps.

      • Pat

        Some men are leg men. Some men are ass men. Some men are boob men. The one thing we can all agree on is that foot fetishists should be gassed.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        She looked nice back when she was the Tool Time girl but she got herself overly enhanced.

      • Idle Hands

        Marilyn Monroe.

      • Apples and Knives

        Blasphemy!!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      There’s been a lot of headlines I never thought I’d see lately.

      Drunken murderous monkeys are just par for the course now.

    • Pat

      My spirit animal.

    • Rufus the Monocled

      Homer’s monkey.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    And what the hell is wrong with Uncle Ben? As I understand it, he was an actual person and an entrepreneur.

    I am beginning to think black capitalists are by definition race traitors.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Those companies sure seem hell bent on erasing the representation of old timey black entrepreneurs in this country. What a bunch or racists.

      • Chipwooder

        Seems to be a bit of a continuation of the old tension between Booker T. Washington and WEB DuBois.

      • Viking1865

        ^^Bingo.

        You want actual economic mobility and progress for poor black people, and also poor white people, and poor people of any race, you need the education system to follow Booker T’s model. The slave gives birth to a sharecropper, who gives birth to a carpenter, who gives birth to a doctor. Generational wealth and generational culture change.

        In modern times, the fatherless son of a trash mother, be it a black kid in the ghetto, a white kid in some trailer park, or a whatever scenario is probably not going to be President, or a CEO. But he can sure as hell learn a trade, or work in an auto plant, or join the military, or teach school. Then his kids can rise higher.

        But the way the system is set up, there’s almost no development in the education system toward blue collar work. It’s 12 years of mandatory schooling, and then if you don’t get good SAT scores they kick you out in the world to fend for yourself. Or even worse, they get you to sign up for a bullshit major at a trash tier school and make you a debt peon for 10 years.

      • kbolino

        The schools by and large aren’t accomplishing a damn thing in the inner cities. The Baltimore City Public School system churns out illiterate, innumerate “graduates” at an impressive(ly horrific) rate. I was once shared a story about how one student from an inner-city DC high school managed to go to college, and I was called heartless for pointing out that her education had cost about $40 million, since apparently nobody else got educated at that school. Of course, that’s not her fault. My grandfather loves to talk about how he went to a “Mechanic Arts” high school in Boston in the 1930s. Well, that school doesn’t teach woodworking, machining, forging, or drafting anymore. It’s also pretty selective, which is totally NOT OKAY when a charter school does it but somehow is okay when a public school does it. Hell, the school I went to in the burbs managed to alright by me but left a lot of the other attendees high and dry, since they or their families were not interested in college (preferring agriculture, trades, or ahem recreational substance manufacture instead).

      • Rhywun

        It’s also pretty selective, which is totally NOT OKAY when a charter school does it but somehow is okay when a public school does it.

        Not any more.

        /NYC

      • pan fried wylie

        or ahem recreational substance manufacture instead

        You already listed agriculture. Or did you mean meth? The Pseudoephedrine still comes from a plant, commercially, doesn’t it?

      • pan fried wylie

        and make you a debt peon for 10 years.

        Only 10years, on a barista’s wages?

      • UnCivilServant

        If you get a job in certain sectors, there’s loan forgiveness after a decade.

      • pan fried wylie

        Is Starbucks one of those sectors? Or does it have to be “in your field”, the field they bought a useless degree in?

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s education or government.

    • Suthenboy

      Or counter-examples to their own excuses for failure. Kinda puts a bullet in ‘the white man is keeping me down!’.

  30. DOOMco

    It’s over! Bidens up 13 points! Look at the walls now!!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I said some untoward things about the Orthodox/Hasidic Jews in New York a couple of months ago.

      I hereby apologize.

    • straffinrun

      To be frank, I kind of enjoy the closet.

    • Rhywun

      You would think with the many, many similar stories I’ve seen in the past few months that the city would be littered with piles of (((corpses))) by now, and the same people would be gleefully reporting it.

  31. Pat

    What outdoor space tells us about inequality

    Moikgantsi Kgama has seen far too much of her apartment recently. She’s spent the pandemic inside her home in New York’s Harlem neighbourhood, an affordable housing flat which has no balcony, rooftop or private garden. A communications consultant by day and CEO of her own film company on the side, she spends her time working in a tiny home office alongside her husband, who lost his job in the concert industry when coronavirus hit. They’re also home-schooling their son, who’s developed insomnia due to the abrupt lifestyle change. Having no outdoor space makes everything worse.

    “I don’t have anywhere to go, except outside into the pandemic – which feels extremely scary,” says Kgama.

    Studies have long shown that access to green or open space is often linked to income, particularly in cities. Covid-19 has placed this issue front and centre: those with access to balconies, gardens or good, close neighbourhood parks have been benefiting from them during weeks of lockdown, while others have been trapped inside. Kgama says that she could walk to a park, but that would mean making her way through crowds of people gathered on the pavement to throw birthday parties. “You only see that in poor neighbourhoods,” she says. “People haven’t stopped doing that during the pandemic. I walked through one yesterday.”

    Lacking that private outdoor space is something that “defines the haves and have-nots”, she feels. And there’s no guarantee living outside the city is better; poverty is rising in US suburbs and residents of emerging suburbs have some of the lowest park access in the nation.

    Covid-19 has shone a harsh light on numerous inequalities in our society. Is access to green space one we can fix?

    • Chipwooder

      So access to balconies, which are maybe 30 sq ft, cure everything, but there’s no guarantee living outside the city, where even the humblest of houses have a yard? How in the green hell does that make the slightest bit of sense?

      • pan fried wylie

        “As part of his Rent Freeze, NY poli enacts Balcony Sharing initiative. Residents in units adjacent to sunlight must provide unrestricted access to Residents on the rest of the floor.”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      People shouldn’t have to deal with their choice to live in the cities.

      Cake should be had and eaten.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        And now they have free rent in NYC.

        And Covid did jack shit. OUR REACTION locked her down. She’s an idiot for not exercising free will and seizing control of her family. Go the fuck outside.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        I’ve seen enough of NY TV to say Barbot can go fuck herself. Another incompetent hack. They lock people down, scare the fuck out of them and then wonder ‘why come dey no come to get treatment for diseases?’ and then they take out ads telling people to come. Of course, then they make it one of the most depressing venture you can imagine. And if you’re the sort of person who likes to have someone by your side when talking to doctors, good luck. the sons of bitches don’t allow it.

        BUT GO PROTEST! Worse, then they all congratulate each other for a ‘job well done’.

        They can all go fuck themselves these liars.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Affordable housing out, green space in.

    • Drake

      Steve Sailer (no surprise) has a counter-argument.

      Blacks live on much of the best real estate and they want to keep it, by hook or by crook.

      The current riots have done much to fortify black control of their neighborhoods. It’s probably not a coincidence that the current endemic riots broke out not in a decaying Rust Belt town, but in Minneapolis, which has been the most prosperous city in the Midwest over the past decade.

      The struggle to transfer blacks off valuable real estate has therefore been byzantine. For instance, the Obama Administration more or less originated in an elaborate effort by rich white real estate developers in Chicago, such as Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, to find black front people such as Valerie Jarrett and Barack and Michelle Obama to allow the housing projects near the Loop to be torn down.

      • kbolino

        An interesting theory, if true.

        And also once again an area where libertarians where right on the money decades ago. A lot more people should have paid attention to Kelo v. New London but didn’t because government is good and libertarians are weirdos.

    • Overt

      My favorite thing about lockdown has been watching the stress fuck with the cognitive dissonance of my liberal contacts. They aren’t mixing daily, and many aren’t hardcore online readers. So when they do meet up, it is this funny tap dance as they feel out one anothers’ positions before they get their judgy indignation.

      One of our neighbors was having people over to sit in their yard, and the California version of that article came up. It’s all about the pools, you see. The public pools are all closed. The housing association pools are closed. And so the only people swimming during the lockdown were people with pools in their backyard. It was fun watching the give and take as they tried to settle on who was privileged ENOUGH to be outright evil. It seemed easily that they would all settle on “the people with pools in their backyard are evil”, but then one of the couples confessed that they were thinking about putting in a pool, so we couldn’t all in polite company brand them evil. It was quite a conundrum.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Everybody’s quoting bible verses at each other.

      • pan fried wylie

        Witnessing that, I’d have to put in a pool immediately.

        Actually been considering what they call a “plunge”, like a cold hottub. Fucking YT DIY vids….

    • Rhywun

      Studies have long shown that access to green or open space is often linked to income, particularly in cities.

      *falls off chair*

      • leon

        I started watering my sidewalk to help break the drought.

      • UnCivilServant

        My sidewalk already has enough stuff growing through it.

        I need more roundup.

      • Not Adahn

        I haven’t mown my back yard yet this year, but for some reason the grass didn’t come up after this winter. The front has been mown once. Back in Texas, I’d be mowing twice a week at this point.

        I do have legitimate daisies now, and there’s some milkweed I’m going to allow to stand so the Monarchs have something to eat. The peonies and chrysanthemums are back.

    • Agent Cooper

      “CEO of her own film company”

      Do tell.

  32. Rebel Scum

    French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, speaking on France Inter, called it a “provocation” and said France will still implement the tax regardless of the U.S. change of heart.

    You Eurotards can fuck yourselves. I can’t wait until we start making you pay for your own defense*.

    *Possibly wishful thinking.

    • juris imprudent

      No forcing them to – just pull the hell out.

      NATO is obsolete. It was established to “keep the Americans in, the Soviets out and the Germans down”. Done, done and done. Thank you very much, it’s been grand, but this show came to an end 31 fucking years ago. Roll up all of our shit and get it the fuck out of Europe – ya’ll can figure it out from there.

  33. Atanarjuat

    ‘Wednesday night massacre’ as Trump appointee takes over at global media agency

    In what a former official described as a “Wednesday night massacre,” the heads of Middle East Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the Open Technology Fund were all ousted, multiple sources told CNN.

    I honestly had never heard of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), but first impression, would not be surprised if freedom and democracy are not the only things they spread.

    • Not Adahn

      I have no problem shutting down our propaganda departments. I just wish they’d end the domestic ones as well.

  34. Rufus the Monocled

    NYC. Atlanta. Smallwell, De Blasio, Durkan. Lockdowns. Etc. What do they all have in common?

    STOP. VOTING. DEMOCRAT.

    They’re the party of CRAZY and socialism now. Period.

    NYC is gonna fall if they don’t get rid of De Blasio when is the election? Do they not know this is how you get a Venezuela? Not that I feel too bad. They freely vote for parasites like him and AOC. Now that De Blasio just enslaved 2 million rent payers, he may have cemented those votes?

  35. Not Adahn

    It was adorable listening to NPR fluffing Bolton on the drive in this morning.

    Did you know that according to john Bolton, during a meeting at which Bolton was not present, Trump said concentration camps for Uighurs was a great idea? It’s true!

    • Pat

      Remember the good old days when Bolton was a psychopathic war monger cowboy diplomat who GWB personally programmed to kill?

    • DOOMco

      That totally happened!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I cannot tolerate NPR anymore. It’s constant COVID/RACISM/LGBTQWERTY/TRUMPBAD

      And the condescending vocal fried 23 year old “reporters” drive mu nuts.

      • R C Dean

        I quit NPR probably 10 years ago.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        There’s few choices when driving into work at 5:30AM.

      • R C Dean

        Books on tape, podcasts. And that’s if you don’t feel like listening to music or watching porn.

      • Fatty Bolger

        I always thought it was funny how they put weird accents on distasteful or silly words. Like they need to let everybody know that they’re only saying it because they have to.

  36. Grosspatzer

    Et tu, Patreon?

    Today, I received a notification from Patreon in my inbox talking about the on-going political issues around racism, and proudly stating Patreon as a company will be donating/has donated a large sum of money to Black Lives Matter and “other organizations on the front line”. It also talks about increasing payments specifically for “people identifying as persons of color” and setting aside another large sum to specifically pay out to that group of creators (creating inverse bias).

    This is something I can’t agree with personally, and don’t want our page (and in turn your donations — after all this is all coming out of the margin Patreon takes from your support!) to attribute to any sort of political agenda and racism, whether against blacks or the inverse against others by prioritizing any group over another. We also do not want your donations to implicitly contribute to the opportunistic, aggressive driving forces that have the United States currently in chaos in many states, nor any other political or extremist organization. Your support should benefit the projects in a neutral fashion.

    Much wrongthink. PaleMoon is actually a pretty nice browser, FWIW.

    • Rebel Scum

      I used to use Pale Moon. Switched to Brave. Do you have an opinion between the two?

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Great. Some “public health authority” is on my teevee blabbering about how asymptomatic people are still infectious carriers and must be hunted down and quarantined.

    Needz moar testers. Needz moar trackers.

  38. sloopyinca

    Serious question:
    Since Kelo made it effectively legal for a government entity to steal private property (with compensation) to give to other parties, would it be surprising to see some more progressive politicians start proposing that buildings be taken (with compensation) from their white or Asian owners and given to black people?

    • Not Adahn

      It would be surprising if that hasn’t already happened. Surely AoC or that commie in Seattle has proposed this.

    • Chipwooder

      Zimbabwe, here we come!

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Sure seems that way.

        I wonder how that’s going to work in a majority white country.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      They’re actively floating reparations now. Functionally, it’s no different. You’re taking from one to give to the other.

      • sloopyinca

        But at least with reparations they can claim it’s the government giving away the money. They can pretend it’s not being stolen from someone else. A direct transfer of real property is a different animal altogether since there is an actual victim.
        I still see land grabs being proposed in the near future. And anybody who speaks out against it will be tarred as a racist by the media.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        If they try, that’s when a no-shit armed uprising will start.

      • Chipwooder

        Yeah, only the wokest of the woke will just dutifully go along with their own shit being stolen from them.

      • leon

        And how far are they going to get? Cops seem to be happy to “follow orders” to do anything.

      • Chipwooder

        When their own property is being appropriated, though?

      • Rhywun

        Same as the many “affirmative action” and “women- and minority-owned business” programs that have been around for decades. This might be dialing it up to 11 but the stage has been set for a long time.

    • DOOMco

      A person? I don’t think so at first.

      A “minorities matter org”? Yes.

      • sloopyinca

        They’ll have a government “bureau of equality” or some such nonsense name take care of the redistribution. It’ll all be nice and tidy…with a fair level of graft thrown into the mix.

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        Handicapper General.

  39. Idle Hands

    So I figure the verdict will black brand representatives are bad till we eliminate them all and than we’ll have the think pieces discussing and decrying the lack of minorities represented in branding.

    • Pat

      Aunt Jemima becomes a trans POC dominatrix and the label is her pegging George Washington in a gimp suit. All bases covered.

      • EvilSheldon

        Go on…

    • invisible finger

      Maybe Inky Racer will make a comeback.

  40. Rufus the Monocled

    Quebec maple syrup rules. FIGHT ME.

    • sloopyinca

      Yeah, but you put it on cheese curds.

    • Pat

      Yeah, but you have to interact with Quebecois scum to obtain it.

    • DOOMco

      1. VT
      2. NH
      3. Canada
      4. NY.
      5. Any other states stuff.

      16. Fake

      • Rufus the Monocled

        Quebec scoffs at you saps.

        Not so sure Americans have had pure Quebec maple syrup because from what I can tell it’s about as mafiosi a market as they come.

        I do like VT syrup a lot. I bathe in it.

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, I tried, but the stuff they had in the store in Quebec wasn’t even mostly maple. It was maple-flavored corn syrup.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        Never heard that. Quebec doesn’t produce ‘fake’ syrup. All pure. Every shelf. No one buys ‘flavoured’ maple here. No one.

        Doesn’t exist. I’d like to know the name because it’s literally on NO shelves here.

      • UnCivilServant

        Head on over to Gatineau, because that’s all I found when syrup shopping there.

      • Not Adahn

        I got the feeling that Gatineau is where the servants of Ottawa people live.

      • Not Adahn

        Flannel mafiosi with moose antlers on his wall.

        …wait, that a pic of Au Pied de Cochon’s operation?

      • Rufus the Monocled

        You know that restaurant here?

      • Not Adahn

        Only been once, but yes. It’s very famous.

        I’ve never been to any Joe Beef’s though.

      • Chipwooder

        We bought some of the local syrup in Maine and I couldn’t tell any difference between it and Vermont syrup.

      • juris imprudent

        My palate isn’t so refined as to find even PA maple syrup to be deficient. As long as it isn’t maple-flavored, I’m good.

      • pan fried wylie

        I don’t think the colder climate further north does anything in particular for syrup quality, the land further south is just put to use for more valuable/acre-efficient crops.

    • pan fried wylie

      Quebec maple syrup rules.

      As opposed to, say, “Queensbury Rules”.

  41. Rebel Scum

    Local EE dept. is just making shit up on their plan reviews now. Not good for my blood pressure this morning.

  42. straffinrun

    Go ahead and ask me anything.

    • UnCivilServant

      Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Cannibal Party?

      • straffinrun

        Yes, but I didn’t find it humorous.

    • sloopyinca

      What’s the cube root of pi?

      • straffinrun

        About half a quart if I’m loaded up all week.

      • Not Adahn

        pi are not cubes

      • Grosspatzer
      • UnCivilServant

        Cubed root in pie?

        Carrot?

      • Not Adahn

        Sweet potato.

      • UnCivilServant

        *double checks* Okay, sweet potatos are root tubers, so I guess they count too.

      • pan fried wylie

        Turnips are RIGHT OUT.

    • Rebel Scum

      JAWS?

      • straffinrun

        Sure, if you like bad movies or great Bond villians.

    • Tundra

      Are we not men?

      • Apples and Knives

        A man is real, not made of steel.

      • pan fried wylie

        *paging Swiss*

      • straffinrun

        Let’s swap pics and find out.

    • Chipwooder

      Why do we drive on a parkway but park in a driveway?

      • straffinrun

        Because you’re talking about pussy and assholes.

    • Pat

      How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

      • straffinrun

        You’ve never chucked wood, I see.

    • leon

      Am i your friend?

    • pan fried wylie

      Why?

  43. Tundra

    Good morning, Sloop.

    The Specials are a perfect antidote for the soul poisoning of those insane lynx! Especially the Seattle one.

    “We were all disappointed, because he was like the face of us, somehow,” Red Ranger’s sidekick, Spirit Fox, added. “Now we’re trying to make everyone see that we’re not about him.”

    Spirit Fox?

    There are some parents out there who have a lot to answer for.

    More Specials.

    Have a rude day, people!

    • Pat

      Have a rude day, people!

      Fuck you!

      • Nephilium

        Rude people skank.

  44. Rufus the Monocled

    So two million people won’t pay rent. I wonder how many places/units are owned by mobsters and how they’ll deal with it.

    • Rhywun

      Rent-freeze means no increase this year. It does not mean “won’t pay rent”.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        Ah. I misread.

  45. UnCivilServant

    I guess I’ve become paranoid. The regular church flier stuck in the door handle advertized an AR-15 giveaway, and my first thought was it was some sort of sting operation.

    • Not Adahn

      …which church is this?

      • Not Adahn

        Churches should sing the old hymns, gospel songs, and spiritual songs that are old fashioned without the worldly beat of rock ‘n roll, disco, rap, metal, soft rock, hard rock, religious contemporary music, and any music that promotes the Egyptian-style beat and rhythm of modern contemporary secular and religious music.

        Ah’m a-thinkin’ I should stop by one Sunday morning.

      • Chipwooder

        “Egyptian style”??

      • UnCivilServant

        You know, the songs of exodus.

        /sarc

      • Pat

        Churches should sing the old hymns, gospel songs, and spiritual songs that are old fashioned without the worldly beat of rock ‘n roll, disco, rap, metal, soft rock, hard rock, religious contemporary music, and any music that promotes the Egyptian-style beat and rhythm of modern contemporary secular and religious music.

        Having grown up in a modern evangelical megachurch, I support this proposition on the grounds that Christians trying to do rock ‘n roll, disco, rap, metal, soft rock, hard rock, or religious contemporary music is embarrassing and sounds like crap.

      • Chipwooder

        Our church does a traditional service and a “contemporary” service. My wife insists on attending the contemporary service, which is mostly soft rock Christian songs. It feels like you’re at a dentist’s office.

      • Pat

        Running the sound and video production was a blast, I’ll give it that.

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t attend, they just regularly stick fliers in door handles.

      • Not Adahn

        Obviously not. Sundays are for Steel Challenge.

      • leon

        outlined in God’s holy word, the King James Bible.

        So…. God only likes people who can read English. Archaic English at that.

      • robc

        Maybe they would tolerate the New Kings James.

    • DOOMco

      In New York? Nice try ATF

    • Drake

      That would be my new church. Mine is as far gone from their mission as the ACLU.

  46. RAHeinlein

    Heard on Squawk this morning from Anti-Defamation League CEO – suggesting Soros is funding protests is white nationalist speech and a conspiracy theory – white nationalists are using Facebook to organize protest disruptions – Facebook needs to stop allowing this information on their platform

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      ADL strayed far from their original purpose years ago. They’re just a weaponized NGO for the DNC now.

      • Chipwooder

        Conquest’s law applies – any organization that isn’t explicitly right-wing will, over time, turn left-wing.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Ever notice how there are no “left-wing extremists” any more? If anybody to the right of Marx attacks somebody, it’s the work of “right-wing extremists,” but on the left there are no left-wing extremists, just various well meaning liberal causes, and the occasional misguided individual.

      • R C Dean

        Its been a very long time since there were left wing extremists identified as such. “No enemies on the left”, and all that.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      We’ll see how the police department handles the incoming request for help from the mayor. Should be educational.

  47. straffinrun

    And I’m done answering questions. Good night.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Why?

      • straffinrun

        Cuz I’m drunk. But, go ahead if you want. Ooooh, you bastard.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        *smirks*

      • Pat

        Gottem

  48. Scruffy Nerfherder

    The LPVA is trying to get people to rally at the Richmond courthouse for ballot access on June 19th.

    Only the loons will show up for that one. Anyone with a modicum of sense is going to be far away from that potential shitshow.

  49. pan fried wylie

    Enough About Palin on June 17, 2020 at 4:02 pm
    “Is it time for the Dixie Chicks to rethink their name?”
    Of course they should. Chicks is horrifically misogynistic.

    I don’t know how many times I’ve told those boys “never call Broads ‘Chicks'”.

    • SDF-7

      SUPPLIES!

    • leon

      He’s crazy. When has a Minority every been in control of power and used it to oppress a majority of the population? I also like the whole “Shutup and listen to black voices… NOT THAT ONE!”

    • Chipwooder

      Gotta applaud that – shows some serious cojones, especially considering the business he’s in.

    • Not an Economist

      He didn’t get much support when he claimed some male Hollywood power broker groped him.

  50. cyto

    More on the Atlanta DA press conference and charges:

    https://www.wfxg.com/story/42260904/gbi-was-unaware-of-todays-atlanta-press-conference-regarding-rayshard-brooks-shooting

    From the Georgia Bureau of Investigation:

    The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was requested by the Atlanta Police Department on Friday night, June 12th, to investigate an officer involved shooting at the Wendy’s Restaurant on University Avenue. We are in the process of conducting this investigation. Although we have made significant progress in the case, we have not completed our work. Our goal in every officer involved shooting case we are requested to review, is to complete a thorough, impartial investigation before we submit the file to the respective District Attorney’s Office.

    The GBI was not aware of today’s press conference before it was conducted. We were not consulted on the charges filed by the District Attorney. Despite today’s occurrence, the GBI will complete its mission of completing an impartial and thorough investigation of this incident and we will submit the file, once completed, to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.

  51. Hyperion

    “CHAZ gets even weirder.”

    You know what this reminds me of? It’s like when I was 5-6 years old and me and all the neighborhood kids would go out to play and pretend to be grownups. We’d pretend to run our own businesses and own city, pretend to be cartoon characters, stuff like that. Remember that stuff? But then we all grew up. Some people these days, a lot it seems, keep growing in body, but stop developing mentally and emotionally at around the age of 6. There’s an entire video full of them in that article.

    • leon

      ^^^ This. I’d pretend i was the king of my neighborhood and go around beating the neighbor kids who didn’t submit with a stick.

      • cyto

        But did you block off the streets?

        Oh, wait. We did do that. When it snowed. We rolled a bunch of snowballs into the road to create a wall – under the theory that if the bus couldn’t get through, we didn’t have to go to school. But we were 10 at the time.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I’m not qualified for the head of a state IT department. I don’t have a degree in grievance studies.

      • UnCivilServant

        Minimum Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Management Information Systems (MIS), Information Technology, Engineering or similar technical degree and fifteen (15) years of experience with the application of information technology in support of business objectives and priorities; of which three years include acting in a management capacity.

        A Master’s degree in one of the above mentioned areas of study may be substituted for up to five (5) years of experience.

        Greivance Studies Majors don’t qualify.

      • juris imprudent

        Ha – watch them file a grievance about that!

    • Not Adahn

      $175k – $205k?

      how much of that do I have to kick back to the people hiring?

      • UnCivilServant

        *shrug*

        I’ve never gotten that far

      • Not Adahn

        And it’s only 37.5 hours/week?

      • UnCivilServant

        Officially.

        There is a good chance they get hounded by the governer’s people at all hours.

    • robc

      Is it work from home? Because I am not moving to NY.

      • UnCivilServant

        They have to do presentations to the legislature and the governer’s people, so no.

      • robc

        skype, zoom, gtm, etc.

      • UnCivilServant

        And risk having a record the public can see?

        Surely you jest.

  52. Juvenile Bluster

    I’m stuck in Zoom meetings all day. 10 AM to 6:30 PM. Currently I’m wearing a shirt and tie, cargo shorts, and no shoes.

    I have to lead the first meeting. I think my article on how the police don’t have to protect you goes up today. Hopefully I can check in, otherwise I’ll answer questions in tomorrow morning’s links.

    • Idle Hands

      take the cargo shorts off they are an abomination even when noone can see.

  53. Juvenile Bluster

    Speaking of Atlanta. This is a terrible decision of overcharging. Pretty sure regular murder would have sufficed. And it didn’t help that the DA didn’t even wait on the investigation to conclude.

    Felony Murder is the easier one to prove. Regular old murder you have to prove intent to kill. Felony murder you just have to prove that the person died as a result of the commission of some other felony.

    (speaking of, the common law felonies that used to be the ones that could lead to felony murder charges (now expanded to inherently dangerous felonies in most places) is the one mnemonic I remember from studying from the bar. BARRK. Burglary, Arson, Rape, Robbery, Kidnapping)

    • leon

      Felony Murder is the easier one to prove. Regular old murder you have to prove intent to kill. Felony murder you just have to prove that the person died as a result of the commission of some other felony.

      What about Felonious womanslaughter?

    • robc

      1. All the memorable mnemonics involve sex
      2. BARRK
      QED… Juvenile Bluster is into bestiality.

      • Not Adahn

        Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me.

        Didn’t one of our MDs have a nerve mnemonic involving touching a young girl’s boobs or something?

      • robc

        Bad boys rape our young girls buy Violet gives willingly.

        I shall never forget resistor color codes.

      • robc

        s/buy/but/

      • Chipwooder

        hahaha….learned that one as well back in avionics school, only followed by Get Some Now for the multipliers. That was 2002. Ol’ Mr. Head would get crucified for teaching that today.

    • straffinrun

      That whole thing is a weird one for me. Truth is that America is a pretty violent place relatively speaking and more than a few cops get killed in the course of legitimate stops. Then you got way too many laws which increases the interactions in the first place. Blaming the cops alone for the violence is unfair when the whole system is based on violence. In today’s America and given what is happening between cops and the people, I don’t see how anyone could expect to punch a couple of cops repeatedly and then flee with his taser, point it and not expect to get shot. Taser is empty or not, doesn’t matter. We’ve got a violent society based on violently enforced laws and this is the end result not something that just fell out of the sky.

      • leon

        Truth is that America is a pretty violent place relatively speaking

        SAY THAT TO MY FACE!!! I’LL BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF YOU!

      • straffinrun

        The beatings alone might be on par with some other developed countries, but the murder rate (of both cops and people) isn’t.

      • bacon-magic

        ^^^

      • cyto

        Straffinrun has his finger on the issue….

        It isn’t the cop at the point of the spear. It is the environment we place them in. They are humans. They are going to react like humans react.

        This is why “racist cop” is anathema to solving the problem. If you diagnose the problem as “racist cop” then the solution is to cure racism or filter out racist cops. Neither is remotely plausible.

        But if you diagnose the problem as inherent to the interactions – then you can do something. Ending the war on drugs would be huge. And if shootings at traffic stops is your bugaboo – there’s ways of addressing that specific issue. I can guarantee that not having officers on traffic patrol carrying sidearms would reduce the number of officer involved shootings. They are quite rare as a fraction of interactions, but a large chunk of the “shot someone because of a mistake or misunderstanding” shootings are traffic stops where somebody reaches for a wallet. Changing that policy so that simply handing out tickets isn’t done with a gun would reduce that form of violence. Then you would obviously need other adjustments – greater use of cameras to protect the officers, procedures for calling in armed backup more frequently, etc. Still, it becomes an issue that can actually be addressed, unlike “racist cop”.

        The biggest one is obviously the “dynamic entry” raid, usually for drug related warrants. Ending the war on drugs stops most of that. And just some policy changes about when it is permissible to do a dynamic entry would solve the rest of it.

        It really isn’t that hard to address most of this problem.

      • Not Adahn

        I would disagree somewhat. Incentives matter.

        QI has resulted in a profession in which it’s possible to get away with assault, rape, and murder. Therefore policing will attract those who want to get away with assault, rape, and murder.

        See also: pedophiles and jobs that require working with kids.

      • cyto

        Absolutely…. add in QI and union contracts that allow even people like the guys who beat Kelly Thomas to death to file a grievance and get their jobs back with back pay.

        And there is a bit of “what type of person wants to have that job”, for sure.

        But I’ll point you to this article about a nerdy, far left reporter from Mother Jones who went under cover as a prison guard. He spent 4 months at a minimum security prison and found that he was losing himself, becoming a sadistic jerk.

        This aligns with the famous Stanford Prison Experiment where they randomly assigned students to be prisoners or guards.

        As you say.. incentives matter. And by simply providing a safe environment for bad behavior to flourish.. you will get bad behavior. Humans are not actually pure angels.

      • Suthenboy

        “It really isn’t that hard to address most of this problem.”

        None of those solutions have been used because the problem is a means to an end. This is why they go with ‘racist cop’.

      • cyto

        I am living in a world where the crazy conspiracy theory is the sane answer.

      • R C Dean

        Truth is that America is a pretty violent place relatively speaking

        Relative to what? Its a lot less violent than it was a generation ago, and less violent than a lot of other countries. Especially outside of some pretty small areas.

      • straffinrun

        I’m talking shootings and other developed countries. I’d arm everybody who wanted arms if it were up to me.

    • Chipwooder

      But what is the other felony?

      • cyto

        According to the DA, because they did not officially announce that they were placing him under arrest before attempting to handcuff him – every action they took after that moment was unlawful.

        Which would be a huge stretch in any event, but it is pretty strongly refuted by the body cam and dash cam videos that clearly show them telling him that they have determined that he is too intoxicated to operate a motor vehicle and to please place his hands behind his back. I’m not sure, but I don’t think this is one of those “Klatu Verata Nictu” moments where you have to get every syllable of the magic incantation right or you’ll awake the army of the dead. I think “you are drunk driving, put your hands behind your back” is pretty much the equivalent content.

        Somehow I doubt that this theory he floated at the press conference is going to survive long enough to show up in court.

      • straffinrun

        The press conference was absurd.

      • Chipwooder

        That’s patently absurd, and I say that as someone who generally doesn’t cut cops any slack.

      • cyto

        Something absurd said by someone who is using the power of the state to seek the execution of this person.

    • Not Adahn

      Something I learned in my CCW class: arson is the only property crime where NY says lethal force is permissible to stop it.

      • R C Dean

        Well, the dead guy wasn’t committing property crimes. He had assault and assault with a deadly weapon going on, and was fleeing with a weapon.

        We’re being invited to fall into the usual trap here – ignore all those egregious instances of police abuse, and focus on a very marginal one.

      • R C Dean

        Clicked too soon.

        Now, because he was fleeing, I think there’s an argument that it wouldn’t be a good self-defense shoot, but even for a subject rather than a king’s man, I think that argument has its difficulties given how fast the exchange of “fire” was.

        Now, if the argument is about “should cops ever be allowed to shoot a fleeing, “armed” suspect who they have witnessed committing a violent crime, that’s fine. Its one I struggle with – the idea that somebody should be allowed to shoot at cops, for example, and if he turns and starts running away they have to just let him go if they can’t catch up to him is hard to swallow. The flip side is, why should the cops get to shoot someone that a subject isn’t allowed to shoot.

    • Idle Hands

      I hope he’s right but even he’s suggesting we’re probably headed for some kind of national breakup. He just thinks it will be peaceful. I don’t think the leftist fanatics will give quarter.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        If the current left gets their way they’ll go full Mao with a Red Guard equivalent and everything. The idea that they’ll let a differing population be self deterministic when they’re all about control is naive and, frankly, dumb.

      • Hyperion

        I think it’s pretty funny that less than a couple of weeks after they’ve started their little kingdom, one of their ‘demands’ is that they be able to open carry weapons. You know, I’m talking about those same weapons that they wanted to make illegal for everyone, just a couple of weeks ago.

        Next I expect the dems to start writing up legislation to ban all guns, except for oppressed groups, like BLM and antifa, who need protection since the police cannot protect them. But for the white supremacists, that’s you and me, gun confiscation before we go out into the streets lynching folks and shooting up the place, like we’ve always done.

        Wait for it.

  54. Scruffy Nerfherder

    I don’t know how he did it, but a customer just phoned in with a caller ID of “HIS EXCELLENCY”

    • cyto

      Some 20 years ago when we got our PRI lines installed, I learned all about the D channel coding so I could program our system to automatically route calls based on information returned from our database. I basically placed my own routing system ahead of the PBX routing system to enhance customer service.

      But the knowledge gained also allowed me to have a little fun.

      When I first learned the mail relay protocols back in the 90’s, I used to use open relays to send mail to friends from people like “God@heaven.com”. So I used the D-channel to set up calls from “God” to my coworkers. Even back then (probably 2000, 2001) you had to be circumspect about who you might play such a joke on. Today? Yeah, probably wouldn’t do that.

    • Chipwooder

      20+ years ago, when caller ID on landlines first started to be a thing, my uncle didn’t like the idea of people knowing who he was when he called, so he called the phone company about getting his number unlisted. They told him he had to pay a fee for that. Well, he didn’t like that idea either, but something else occurred to him. He asked them if he could alter how his name was displayed, and they said yes. So, from then on, his number was listed as belonging to one Joe Mama.

    • Nephilium

      Depends on the system. Most systems you can set up any outbound ANI (what displays on caller ID) that you want. Some carriers will label you as spoofed/spam, or not accept your call if it’s not a standard though.

      • cyto

        Yeah, T-Mobile does that. I find it very convenient… they label stuff suspected spam all the time. I never pick up.

        Which is a shame, because it is a nice feature. I programmed the switch at my office to display the name and company by who is logged in at a station — so I could place an outbound call for you from the conference room and have it leave over any PRI with your name and the company name (we had multiple companies). A really nice feature.

        The corollary was that inbound calls would route to you via a “find me” function – no matter where you were, even on your cell or at home (your choice).

        Phone systems started offering that feature a couple of years after we built that. We only used it in limited situations – it was primarily designed for our sales teams and their rapidly shifting work stations, as well as disaster recovery. The “find me” stuff just kinda came along for the ride once we had all the features in place. Simply building an interface for you to check off your location was pretty easy – the phone system already had a login to station function built in.

  55. Juvenile Bluster

    New Jersey, which had a law similar to New York’s forcing nursing homes to take in COVID-19 patients, has had a 12(!) percent death toll among its nursing home residents.

    Florida, which didn’t, has a 1.7% death toll.

    Which one of those governors has been taking the most heat in the media?

    • leon

      I heard something about Chris Christie and a bridge.

    • Chipwooder

      “Something something Ron DeSantis’s bloody hands something something.”
      -NY Times

    • Drake

      People, even in the media, are starting to notice how badly that idiot fucked up. And those were not laws – they were Executive Orders to kill nursing home patients in NJ, NY, and PA.

    • juris imprudent

      Of course the media has to attack DeSantis – my god, if people could actually read the facts instead of the narrative? The media would be a total failure as an ally!

    • creech

      Why is Pennsylvania’s nursing home death toll over 65%? There’s got to be something wrong with the statistics somewhere.

      • db

        Which demographic tends to vote on the conservative side?

  56. leon

    https://twitter.com/michaelmalice/status/1273433652526034944

    It feels like we are so far from this being a thing, but at the same time, it should be a thing. Mass cops walking out because one of their friends gets charged with murder etc. Fuck them. They have no problem chasing after a guy who they know is probably innocent. Let them have some of that Process as punishment, and get back to work you stupid cops. Or get a real job.

    • cyto

      I talked with my buddy who is a cop in Miami last night. He described it as “moral is really low right now”. The squad he commands is about evenly mixed between Black, Hispanic and white guys. He said nobody wants to work in “those areas” right now. Too dangerous – and he wasn’t talking about being attacked by residents. He was talking about the risk that something happens and your career being over, even if you do everything by the book.

      Even the black guys don’t want to work in minority neighborhoods right now, and they have a “doesn’t fit the narrative” pass.

    • Hyperion

      The democrats will never let this happen, they’ll continue to make it all about race, while the media stirs the pot, and the dems will protect police unions and further militarize them once they have some power back in DC. BLM are being played for suckers by the dems, what the dems have done with blacks for at least half a century now, and have completely gotten away with it.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Oh dear

    • Hyperion

      White supremacist deer for sure.

    • db

      I’ve been getting ads for him on YouTube. It’s amazing that they can’t even edit him to sound normal. Do they think that they’re making him seem more palatable by leaving a bunch of verbal tics and mid sentence corrections?

      • Chipwooder

        I’ve seen videos where people have cut together clips of Biden from his campaigning in 2008 and 2012 along with current ones, and his deterioration is blindingly obvious.

    • Hyperion

      Everyone still knows that. I’t just that what little bit of competency and honesty the media may have once had, has completely evaporated.

  57. The Late P Brooks

    You might want to check with some actual Africans before you get too eager to call in the Blue Helmet Boys

    George Floyd’s Brother To U.N. Human Rights Council: ‘I Am Asking You To Help Us’

    ——-

    During a quickly convened session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Floyd asked the group to set up a commission of inquiry into racism and police brutality in the United States — specifically “police killings of black people and America and the violence used against peaceful protesters.”

    “I’m asking you to help him. I’m asking you to help me,” he added. “I am asking you to help us: black people in America.”

    Sounds legit.

    • Rhywun

      Farcical.

    • Drake

      Nigerian and Kenyan troops patrolling our inner cities. That would be fun to watch – from a great distance.

      • db

        Yeah, and you thought the COVID-related increase in sexual assault/domestic/child abuse was particularly bad?

    • pan fried wylie

      If this doesn’t get Trump to leave the UN, nothing will.

    • The Other Kevin

      Is that what Warty’s been up to?

  58. RAHeinlein

    SCOTUS blocks cancellation of DACA.

    • Not Adahn

      Por que?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      What in the actual fuck?

      It was a god-damned EO.

      • leon

        No. IT was a god penned EO. Hence why it can’t be undone.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        In Robert’s crusade to remain out of politics, he’s succeeded in creating the role of King of the USA.

        Fuck him. He’s the worst fucking justice pick in my lifetime.

      • Viking1865

        “high court says administration didn’t provide sufficient reasons for canceling DACA”

        We’re not ruled by elected officials, we’re ruled by the consensus of an elite minority. All of their policy preferences are The Settled Law of the Land.

      • cyto

        That doesn’t even make sense. If that is their actual ruling – what possible reason would you have to provide for “we are going to enforce the law as written”.

        DACA would seem to be the policy that requires the extraordinary justification, since it is in direct contradiction of existing law.

      • Rebel Scum

        Seems like we have entered “he made his law, let him enforce it” territory.

      • Viking1865

        But 4 months in the White House with Kushner whispering in his ear means Trump won’t do shit. Because hes a shallow minded fool who goes with the average of the last 3 people to pitch their ideas to him.

        DACA is such bullshit anyway, if Obama wanted to actually pardon every person on the DACA list for immigration law violations, he had that power. He just needed to take a stack of pardons to the golf course and sign off on them in between strokes. Would have been 100% constitutional.

      • kbolino

        I don’t agree that it would have been constitutional. Illegal presence is an ongoing offense. You can be pardoned for what you’ve already done but not for your future actions. So the most Obama could accomplish by pardon is to let everybody here illegally leave, then pardon them for having been here illegally before, then allow them to apply for legal status as blank slate entrants. If, however, they continued to stay they would continue to be in violation and thus the pardon wouldn’t do anything for them.

        Deferred action gets around this by saying, in effect, the government won’t immediately take the action that the law allows/requires it to. Instead, it grants forbearance of administrative action against you. Of course, under the Obama administration, this forbearance could be extended indefinitely, thus in effect undermining the INA. However, Congress failed to do anything about this. Roberts’s opinion seems to agree that DHS can forbid the extension of Federal benefits to DACA recipients, since the law explicitly says that such benefits are forbidden, but that it must allow the forbearance to continue until some rule-making hoops are jumped through (though, as Clarence Thomas points out, these hoops weren’t jumped through to institute DACA in the first place). Then for good measure, this is John Roberts after all, he invents hoops out of whole cloth.

        DACA was a turd in the punch bowl legally as once created it allowed multiple avenues for recipientsto contest its rescission. However, the courts should never have allowed it in the first place. I don’t know if anyone was able to challenge its creation though, since the courts likely played the standing game with any potential plaintiffs.

    • Chipwooder

      John Roberts strikes again, I’m sure

      • Chipwooder

        OK, a little digging reveals an interpretation of the ruling that it was issued under procedural grounds:

        Shannon Bream
        @ShannonBream
        · 11m
        BREAKING: Supreme Court decides DACA; Chief Justice Roberts authors opinion.

        Justice Thomas authors primary dissent.

        SCOTUS concludes administration did not follow correct procedures when seeking to dismantle the DACA program.

        So then following the correct procedures will result in a different outcome, I’m to assume? Roberts is still a bitch anyway.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It literally takes nothing to implement a new program, even an unconstitutional one, just a pen and a phone.

        But don’t you even think about undoing it.

        This is insane. There are no limits on government per this decision. None. The Executive branch can hog wild.

      • leon

        As long as they have the politics that John Roberts won’t see as making the SCOTUS look political.

        I’ll say this new “Conservative Majority” seems to keep being a boon for Leftist policies and judicial outcomes.

      • Viking1865

        No, they can hog wild as long as the Eastern Elite Consensus agrees with the policy. If Trump decided to declare today that that NFA 34, GCA 68, and the Hughes Amendment were not to be enforced by his executive agencies, do you think SCOTUS would shrug? Do you think the next Democrat would be blocked from rescinding such a policy?

        We are not ruled by laws, we aren’t even ruled by men. We are ruled by whatever this tiny group of people who all went to the same fucking schools think is “the right thing”. They have the final word. The final say.

      • Idle Hands

        no, the executive branch can only go hog wild in one way expanding the size and scope of gov if it goes the other way or even tries to issue edicts for conservative culture that won’t stand.

      • Rebel Scum

        The Executive branch can hog wild.

        Unless it is Bad Orange Man wanting to rescind and EO.

      • Viking1865

        “Trump administration violated the laws governing federal agencies when it decided to end DACA because the memorandum that Acting Secretary Elaine Duke wrote to recommend termination failed to consider important parts of the problem before the agency”

        I would argue that the procedures governing an EO are set by the executive. It’s not the job of the SCOTUS to decide if the President “failed to consider” anything. If 44 can make policy with a penstroke, 45 can erase that same policy with a pen stroke.

      • cyto

        Also, which parts of the problem are “Important parts of the problem” would also seem to be an executive branch prerogative. What happened to his famed “judicial deference”?

      • cyto

        I cannot fathom how one could possibly need a procedure to follow in order to order your border control agents to enforce the law as written.

        But then again, it was hard to fathom that you could issue an executive order that forbid the enforcement of the law as written.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The stakes for the presidential election just went up by an order of magnitude.

      • cyto

        I am worried that people don’t see it this way because of “orange man bad”. Sure, Trump has a lot of negatives. But if these people win – the American experiment might just be over.

        They already have a lock on the media that has moved from “bias” to “on the team” to “outright propaganda of Soviet proportions”.

        They are close to consolidating a lock on internet communications – with an assist from europe and china who have softened up the tech companies to the notion of enforcing speech according to various ideological guidelines.

        And they are espousing an ideology that has little respect for private property or freedom of expression.

        You could do an entire issue of Reason on “what to expect if the left wins”…. if Reason were staffed by, you know, libertarians.

        They’ve been clear that they are for regulating speech – hate speech, political speech they disagree with, stories about things that they don’t like… They also have been clear that they are for confiscation of wealth. They view ownership of large companies as dangerous. They are now for “abolishing the police”, although they’ll angrily tell you that “that isn’t what abolish the police means” when you mention one of the things that BLM folk have claimed they want from abolishing the police. Then of course there is the second amendment. They clearly regard that as a dead letter and a top priority for undermining and obliterating.

        The list is long, and the consequences probably irrevocable.

        Oh, and just remember… Biden ain’t gonna be the POTUS, so you gotta look to the Veep for your clues as to what kind of executive leadership we will have.

      • Viking1865

        “I am worried that people don’t see it this way because of “orange man bad”.

        If Trump is willing to the mat on this, I think he can win the public opinion war.

        This is a very simple concept that people can easily follow: if the office of the President can sign EOs, then the next President can rescind them.

        Hell, whats that abortion EO that gets ritualistically signed and rescinded every time the Teams change the White House? Something about foreign funding of abortion.

      • Drake

        DACA in Ruling Authored by Chief Justice John Roberts

        Roberts continued, “Here the agency failed to consider the conspicuous issues of whether to retain forbearance and what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients. That dual failure raises doubts about whether the agency appreciated the scope of its discretion or exercised that discretion in a reasonable manner.”

        The hardship clause of the Constitution? “No-backsies” on executive orders? WTF is he saying?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        He’s saying that he’s a fucking chickenshit that refuses to interpret the law as written because it’s politically sensitive.

        This is the same fuckwit that creating the penaltax out of whole cloth in order to preserve a contested law.

        Using Robert’s approach, the federal government could dissolve the state governments and he would not vote to undo it because there are just too many consequences.

      • leon

        This is the same fuckwit that creating the penaltax out of whole cloth in order to preserve a contested law.

        It doesn’t even do it justice. Roberts basically said “The Governments arguments suck, so i’ll make one for them that doesn’t suck, so that this can stay around”. Now i’m not a lawyer, but if i understand things correctly, in America, Judges don’t make arguments for one side or the other. They are supposed to take what arguments the sides make and judge off of that.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        +1 Sullivan

      • R C Dean

        No matter what procedures they follow, they won’t be the correct procedures.

        Note that the critical “failure”:

        the memorandum that Acting Secretary Elaine Duke wrote to recommend termination failed to consider important parts of the problem before the agency

        isn’t actually procedural at all. Its substantive.

      • leon

        CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court,

        So will Roberts be esteemed to have 2 decisions be on the top 10 worst decisions by the court?

    • CPRM

      Obama’s diktats are beyond reproach.

  59. leon

    U.N. Human Rights Council: ‘I Am Asking You To Help Us

    Members of the UN Human Rights Council 2020-2022:

    Africa:
    – Libya
    – Mauritania
    – Sudan
    – Nambia
    Asia-Pacific
    – indonesia
    – Japan
    – Marshal Islands
    – South Korea
    Eastern Europe
    – Armenia
    – Poland
    Latin America and Carribean
    – Brazil
    – Venezula
    Western Europe
    – Germany
    – Netherlands

    • bacon-magic

      So you have to violate human rights in order to be on the board?

      • db

        One has to know in pretty good detail what are considered “human rights” so one doesn’t miss any when abridging eliminating them.

    • leon

      I was reading some stuff wrong so other names that i didn’t include are: Afghanistan, Somalia, DR Congo, Pakistan, Qatar and more.

      • Raven Nation

        After you original post, I was going to note “not as bad as I thought it might be.” But these additions make it much, much worse.

  60. wdalasio

    Honestly, I never knew Mrs. Butterworth was black. I kind of always assumed she was an old white lady.

    Also, are we really at the point where it’s the worst kind of racism to suggest that people might be….good cooks?

    • leon

      I always thought she was a Betty White type.

    • Chipwooder

      The old TV commercials from when I was a kid definitely had an old white lady’s voice as the voice of Mrs. Butterworth.

      • db

        Nope. “Berenstain.”

      • Count Potato

        She definitely sounds white.

      • Chipwooder

        Because the actresses doing the voice were all white: Hope Summers, Mary Kay Bergman, and Edie McClurg.

      • CPRM

        Thicc?

    • Agent Cooper

      #glasslivesmatter

  61. Mojeaux

    I moved to Win10. Stuff broke. Stuff I need to do my job.

    I had to then upgrade to Office 2016 (license key issues). Stuff broke. Stuff I DESPERATELY need to do my job.

    This is exactly what I did not want and why I was dreading it and what is taking so much time.

    • db

      That sucks. I switched to 10 a couple of weeks after 7 went out of support. It took me weeks to find all the things that don’t work that used to, and fix most. I gave up on MS Office and switched to LibreOffice, which actually is working out well, as I have direct compatibility with my other Linux machines for office stuff.

      • leon

        ^^^ I pretty much exclusivly use Linux now. Keep a windows machine for my Wife and kids (got to know how to use the Office suite if you want a job).

      • Count Potato

        Which Linux?

      • db

        Don’t answer! It’s a trap!

      • leon

        I run Ubuntu 18.04 At home, and on my work machine, though i do a bit of work on Centos 7 at work.

      • Mojeaux

        I wish I could switch to Atlantis Word Processor but I actually need Word specifically for my job. My Acrobat add-in no longer works so I have to upgrade and as we all know, Adobe is asshole and I’m praying my workaround will work so I don’t need to purchase a subscription. No, I can’t use a regular PDF driver; PDFs I make from that are not accepted by my book printer.

        A couple of things MS did with Word are mere annoyances and I’ll get used to it, but they are important to me.

        My Abbyy FineReader add-in to Word isn’t working and I haven’t delved into that yet.

        I haven’t even checked if my ancient copies of Photoshop and Illustrator work yet. I’m scared to find out.

        This is just what I’ve found on CURSORY inspection. I am in tears right now.

      • Count Potato

        Adobe sucks moose balls.

      • Pat

        Why not just run your legacy programs on a virtual machine?

      • Mojeaux

        I don’t have any license keys left for Word 2010 and I can’t find a bootleg one that works, so a VM is worthless for my needs.

      • Pat

        Your existing key should work. If not, you can grab a new one on eBay for $30-$40. Failing that, just run it unregistered in the VM and disable the network passthrough.

    • Deplorableme

      “No update ever goes unpunished” – DeplorableMe

      • Mojeaux

        Truer words were never spoken.

  62. Rebel Scum

    The difference is that THIS vandalism will be investigated…

    Richmond Police are investigating after someone spray-painted “White Lives Matter” across the Arthur Ashe statue along Monument Avenue in Richmond. Police said they have information on possible suspects.

    Ashe, a Richmond-born tennis star and humanitarian, was the first Black man to win U.S Open and Wimbledon titles.

    Curiously missing from the article, someone also put BLM over the WLM. I am sure that person will be wanted for prosecution as well.

    • Tejicano

      Well of course! That is not just hate speech but also destroying evidence.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      Fuck DACA and fuck the Supreme Court.

      /remembers the ethics violations seen in one day volunteering in a DACA clinic

      • UnCivilServant

        I would love to see the response statement being “The agency will now enforce the law as originally written, and disregard any previously issued executive orders.”

  63. Rebel Scum

    *Shocked face*

    The Supreme Court ruled Thursday against the Trump administration’s effort to end the Obama-era program that offers protections to young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.

    The court ruled that the administration’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

    In a 5-4 decision, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the liberal members to author the opinion, the court said the move to eliminate the program that grants privileges to children who entered the U.S. illegally as minors was “arbitrary and capricious,” although they did not rule on the merits of the program itself.

    “We do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies. ‘The wisdom’ of those decisions ‘is none of our concern,'” Roberts wrote in his opinion. “We address only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action.”

    Some executive orders are more executive orderly than others.

    • Count Potato

      I’m for DACA, but that makes no sense.

    • Rufus the Monocled

      It’s amazing how much power Roberts has.

      If that guy is conservative, then the word has lost all meaning.

      In short: Obama’s pen is nicer looking than Trump’s pen.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Executive orders have more force of law than laws now it seems. Unfuckingbelivable.

  64. Raven Nation

    I’m still intrigued by the importance some people attach to symbolism:

    “Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling said it was a “massive step” that players took a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on the opening night of the Premier League’s return.

    Players and staff from Aston Villa, Sheffield United, Manchester City and Arsenal knelt as their matches began.

    Match officials also took part, on a night players’ names on shirts were replaced with ‘Black Lives Matter’.

    “It shows we’re going in the right direction,” Sterling told Sky Sports.

    “Little by little we’re seeing change. It was natural, it was organic. We saw the teams do it in the earlier kick-off and thought it was something we had to do as well.”

    Of course, Pep had to go a step further: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola added: “White people should say sorry for the way we have treated black people for 400 years. I am ashamed of what we have done to black people around the world. “

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I don’t speak for people of my skin color any more than individual blacks speak for theirs.

      Collectivist fuckwits, all of them.

    • Rebel Scum

      I’m still intrigued by the importance some people attach to symbolism

      I am still intrigued that people see “bending the knee” as anything other than subservience.

    • Rufus the Monocled

      JFC. Eat shit Pep.

      Like I said. Sports are dead to me. Went cold turkey.

      The lecturing about society and history from a bunch of uneducated illiterates I can’t humor any longer.

      • Drake

        I would rather go watch the local high school play football, baseball, whatever, than watch an asshole like that play for $millions.

      • Raven Nation

        One thing the internet has done is to make it easier for me to follow the ins and outs of lower league teams in the UK. I know more about how Torquay United runs than I do about any Premier League club.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        Exactly where I am.

        No more. Done. I’d rather water my grass now than give a second to any of these pricks.

        Yeh. Like I need Lebron and Popovich to teach me about history and morals. Fuck off.

      • Raven Nation

        I wasn’t watching a lot of live sports anyway so I was already losing interest. And having to listen to all the politics doesn’t make it any more palatable.

        Yeah, I was thinking the other day that the Chiefs won last year and the Royals in 2015. So I might be good on elite sports for a while.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        I went along the same track as you. It’s the same with entertainment.

        I laughed at my wife for watching her shows but now I realize she was onto something when she said, ‘I watch them because they’re light and doesn’t cause stress’.

        So Pimple Popper MD it is!

      • Raven Nation

        Yeah, my wife watches a lot of reality TV for the same reason: the people are mostly idiots and you can laugh at them with no consequences. And, it doesn’t require a lot of brain engagement. Since she deals with contractors, city inspectors and such like all day, it’s a way for her to decompress.

      • Mojeaux

        Yeah, I was thinking the other day that the Chiefs won last year and the Royals in 2015. So I might be good on elite sports for a while.

        That’s where I am.

    • Rufus the Monocled

      I have to apologize for something I had no connection to except because for the crime of being white?

      Do morons like Pep ever think at all? How is this NOT racism? It’s text book racism plus with a massive dose of illiberalism.

      And here’s the really weird part. What triggered all this madness was Floyd and from what we’re learning it doesn’t seem to be racially motivated!

      But that’s what you get when you actually believe ‘systemic racism’ is real. You get mob rule based on a lie.

      And dumbass athletes playing their part as useful idiots.

      BLM is a shakedown hate group and you’re a complete tool if you give those shysters money.

    • kbolino

      “400 years” has turned into the new “500 million straws every day” or “the polar ice caps will all be melted by 2020” (ha); everybody repeats it and nobody knows why

    • Tejicano

      ” I am ashamed of what we have done to black people”

      Well I guess I might be ashamed of what you have done to them. Me? I didn’t participate in that and have been 180 degrees out from anything that would make me ashamed of my behavior. Y-Fucking-MMV.

    • Rhywun

      Regarding Liverpool, I will read about their victory in the news.

      Otherwise I’m done with the EPL until sanity returns.

      PS. that prick Sterling can go fuck himself. Asshoe.

    • Hyperion

      “White people should say sorry”

      If I mistreat someone, something I try hard every day to not do, I’ll go apologize to them personally. As to you, FUCK RIGHT OFF.

    • kbolino

      Was he wearing a MAGA hat? I’d find out if him being a “Trump supporter” is relevant but I’m not allowing ads on the Daily Fail so I guess I won’t find out.

    • leon

      Queue Bee article about American Airlines not removing peaceful protester from plane, after setting it on fire.

    • Hyperion

      Another Trumpet trying to kill everyone. Now he’s going to go to that rally tomorrow and then everyone is going to die. Maybe I should get drunk or something.

    • Agent Cooper

      How is being a Trump supporter relevant to anything? It’s become a label to demonize people.

    • Tres Cool

      “Alcoholic Killer Monkey”

      Band name? Or album ?

  65. Chipwooder

    Idle thought – the same people who find it unspeakably outrageous for an employer to investigate job applicants for a criminal record believe that it is right and good that people be fired from their jobs for wrongthink.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Yes

    • kbolino

      It’s wrong for an employer to impose his views on an employee… unless that employee is a “racist”, in which case he or she should be fired from everywhere.

      • Viking1865

        Office prog breathlessly reported that Mike Gundy said the Nword in 1989. Office Prog also thinks Ralph Northam is a swell guy.

        Doublethink is an impressive quality.

    • Count Potato

      It’s like you need an ID to buy cold medicine, but not to vote.

    • Agent Cooper

      The woman who satirically wore blackface to a private party two years ago was recently fired from her job after the Washington Post made it public news. We are officially through the looking glass.

  66. leon

    I’m not the only one who gets a laugh anytime a copsucker says “Few Bad Apples”. Isn’t that the whole point of the adage? that a few bad ones will spoil the bunch.

    • Viking1865

      Yeah it literally makes our point for us.

      “A few bad apples” need to be ruthlessly ferreted out and thrown away from the barrel.

    • R C Dean

      I’ve had exactly the same thought.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Yep. And worse, they all know who the bad apples are, too. They just refuse to remove them.

  67. Scruffy Nerfherder

    NYT HeadInAssLine

    Climate change is tied to major pregnancy complications, with black mothers most at risk, according to a study that looked at 32 million U.S. births.

    • kbolino

      The NYT just wants the children to be aborted anyway, so what difference does it make?

    • Tejicano

      That’s a whole lot of Woke crammed into one sentence from different angles.

      • Rhywun

        Yeah, I was surprised they didn’t shoehorn trannies into that somehow.

  68. The Late P Brooks

    We are not ruled by laws, we aren’t even ruled by men. We are ruled by whatever this tiny group of people who all went to the same fucking schools think is “the right thing”. They have the final word. The final say.

    The other day, the Bloombergers were asking Jeffrey Sachs how to “save” the economy. Jeffrey Fucking Sachs.

    Ivy League Egghead Consensus Economics has put us in this mire. Who else would we look to for salvation?

    • Rebel Scum

      Donald J. Trump
      @realDonaldTrump

      Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn’t like me?

      Seems like that, all things considered.


      Mrs. Krassenstein
      @HKrassenstein
      25m
      Replying to
      @realDonaldTrump

      No, but I get the impression that the Supreme Court realizes that you are a danger to America, and they KNOW that you are NOT ABOVE THE RULE OF LAW!

      Someone does not know what “rule of law” means.

      • leon

        I honestly get worried about the people who reply to Donald Trumps tweets. Like i feel pity for their mental state that they are hanging on his every word to fire back at him.

      • Agent Cooper

        They also don’t know humor or how it works.

  69. The Late P Brooks

    “Alcoholic killer monkey leaves one man dead and 250 injured after going on rampage when his booze supply dried up”

    WTF? Don’t give your alcoholic monkey the keys to the Gatling Gun. It’s just not smart.

  70. cyto

    More from Atlanta:
    https://www.foxnews.com/media/lance-lorusso-officer-garrett-rolfe-rayshard-brooks

    Short article, worth the read. One new fact:

    “And the other thing the DA said was that he’s never seen another officer agree to testify against a bad officer,” LoRusso went on. “My client [Rolfe] testified against an Atlanta Police officer in the grand jury when that officer had done something wrong. So, this is an officer who’s known to the law enforcement community, he’s known to the DA’s office, and he was actually cleared of another use of force [incident] and he testified on behalf of the DA to prosecute a bad officer.”

    So I used hyperbole about the DA in his press conference, saying “he lied about everything”.

    Turns out, not hyperbole. Even lied about never seeing another officer agree to testify against a bad officer – not only did the other officer in this case not agree to testify against a bad officer, the exact officer accused in this case did testify for this DA against another officer.

    There’s lies… and then there’s lies. I mean, holy crap! Between this and the “taser is not a deadly weapon” contradiction, how does this guy ever show his face in court again?

    • leon

      There’s lies… and then there’s lies. I mean, holy crap! Between this and the “taser is not a deadly weapon” contradiction, how does this guy ever show his face in court again?

      I think an highly atrophied sense of shame is a requirement for becoming a DA

    • Hyperion

      I have not seen enough on this yet, to make a judgement one way or other. But what really concerns me is how we’ve went almost instantly from ‘if you’re black you’re guilty’ to ‘if you’re white you’re guilty’ at light speed. How the hell does that improve anything in any way? The media are trying to completely tear this country apart. If this doesn’t stop, it’s going to get very very ugly, and fast.

      My guess is that they try the Floyd case and as many more like this as they can get, right before the election, and all the cops are found innocent, whether they should be, or not, and then the bigger riots start.

  71. Hyperion

    So, people love being locked in their homes, losing their jobs, their livelihoods, and then watching lawless rioters burn and loot everything, while the democrats and the media cheer them on and say it’s OK to riot, just not go to wedding or funerals, or anything.

    That must be true, because in the RCP polls, dems are up by about 10pts, all across the board. Whatever this clusterfuck is we’re going through right now, revolution or Idiocracy, people must be loving it. I must be one of the true outliers who doesn’t like any of this shit and pretty much blame all of it on the left and their media.

    • UnCivilServant

      Polls do not tell you what the public’s opinion is, they tell you what the pulbic’s opinion is supposed to be according to whoever commissioned the poll.

    • leon

      That must be true, because in the RCP polls, dems are up by about 10pts, all across the board. Whatever this clusterfuck is we’re going through right now, revolution or Idiocracy, people must be loving it. I must be one of the true outliers who doesn’t like any of this shit and pretty much blame all of it on the left and their media.

      Anecdotal observation:

      For the last 4 years i have noticed at the end of the year everyone is always talking about “How horrible the previous year was” and how getting to a new one is going to be good. This happened at the end of the year in 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016. Memes talking about how awful things have been. Personally these 4 years have been the best in my life. I’ve seen huge career advancements, and stability. Now that is just me and i’m one data point. But i do think that there has been a distinct pessimism over the media for the last 4 years that has been at odds with my personal life, and probably is influencing a lot of people.

      • R C Dean

        I work with a number of (otherwise?) very intelligent and accomplished people who are completely bought into the DemOp narrative on everything. Its frightening. I was just telling Mrs. Dean last night that I keep my yap shut at work no matter how misinformed/misguided my colleagues are, because I believe an honest explanation of my views and the basis for them would get me fired.

      • UnCivilServant

        How many are true believers and how many are parroting what the true bleievers want to hear to protect their position?

      • R C Dean

        I really think they are true believers. The few who aren’t are doing what I do – keeping their mouths shut.

        The last time I spoke up was to say before the last election that Hillary Clinton had clearly committed multiple felonies with her off-the-books email. My CEO bit my head off.

        Lesson learned.

      • Hyperion

        I’ll let you in on a little secret. Most of those people do not believe in any of that crap. They’re just signaling and going along to get along. I have personally seen this enough times to know. Sure, some of them are true bleevers in all the craziness, but they’ve a very small minority. They just to do think it will personally effect them, which is why they are so shocked when it does.

      • Hyperion

        “effect”

        affect, damnit!

      • R C Dean

        I’m not saying they buy into the more extreme versions, but I’ve looked them in the eyes, and they are completely, honestly sold on TDS and that lifting the lockdowns has led to an increased rate of COVID infections. Not sure where they are on the current racial conflict, other than cooing in support of all the “White Coats for Black Lives” signalling. I will not be the least bit surprised if we make a donation to BLM.

      • Hyperion

        I remember when I was a kid and my grandparents talked about ‘the good old days’ all of the time. Now, I completely believe them. We should have never invented the internet, folks. I used to think it was one of the greatest inventions of all time, right up there with antibiotics, refrigeration, fossil fuels, personal computers, the horseless carriage, all of that. Now, I have to seriously rethink that and I keep leaning towards ‘it should have never existed’. It was once a great tool of free speech, until it was taken over by a bunch of mega-corps who’ve decided to give the craziest and worst people among us the biggest megaphones, and silence everyone who has half a brain. All the brainless outrage mob has to do now is screech that something or someone has to be banned or cancelled, and the media companies and corporate bosses trip over themselves to make it happen.

        We already have thought crime, enforced by the retard mob and their enablers. No day in court, straight to the execution.

      • Raven Nation

        “We should have never invented the internet, folks.”

        But then I would never have met any of you fine folks.

      • UnCivilServant

        Do you really want to know us?

      • Raven Nation

        As faceless avatars on a website? Yes.

      • Trolleric the Goth

        agreed. I’m doin’ great, personally.

      • Agent Cooper

        I work a full-time six-figure job. I have now billed in freelance this year alone through June over half of my normal salary. If it keeps up, I am basically doubling my income in one year. Crazy!

        I’m also very tired.

    • Idle Hands

      I don’t think I can honestly tell you how many normie apolitical people I’ve talked to who are beyond disgusted and pissed off at the current situation. Now this is just anecdotal but counting on young commie retarded white fanatics as your base historically hasn’t been the best electoral strategy.

    • creech

      We are all outliers here. The vast majority of voters pay little to no attention to all the little details of what is going on. They hear a few snatches here or there on the evening news and that’s about it. When “the individual is supreme” lost the media to “the state is supreme” we lost America. Frankly, I don’t see it coming back; at best we are an anchor slowing down the rapid downhill trend.

    • Suthenboy

      “So, people love being locked in their homes, losing their jobs, their livelihoods, and then watching lawless rioters burn and loot everything, while the democrats and the media cheer them on and say it’s OK to riot, just not go to wedding or funerals, or anything.”

      That sums it up nicely. I dont see how this doesn’t hurt the Dems, but what do I know?

      • R C Dean

        We keep thinking that the DemOp Media will be broken/marginalized by the internet, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. Instead, the public discourse is completely saturated with pro-Dem and anti-Repub messages. Its been bad, but its getting worse. Sure, more people may be tuning out to one degree or another, but its pervasive, and there isn’t really a consistent counter to it broadly available – cancel culture and the socials have proven an effective countermeasure to any fledgling alternative.

        I don’t think they can drag Gropey Joe over the finish line. But I think they can damn sure drag a lot of governors, state legislatures, and Congressholes over the finish line, and cripple any Repub who they can’t stop.

      • Suthenboy

        That could be why between Carlson and Hannity they have more viewers than the other networks combined.
        There is still a silent majority out there and I am very much hoping that many of those governors have stepped on their dicks with their commie cooties power grab. The arbitrary exercise of unconstitutional power has hurt an awful lot of people. How likely are they to lose those governorships?

        Hey, a guy can dream!

      • R C Dean

        they have more viewers than the other networks combined

        I have come to believe that the other networks now serve primarily as feedstock for YouTube, Twitter, misc. “comedians”, etc. I would bet that their selected clips get a lot more eyeballs than any broadcast.

      • kbolino

        Old media is dead, in the conventional sense. But it is actually undead, in the sense that certain business models were infused with cash from wealthy “philanthropists”, pension funds, and state-backed corporations, and the old-media institutions that were willing to adopt those business models were given new life. This proved quite a lucrative investment for the backers, as it turns out, because these new business models by and large catered to the lowest common denominator and were kind of fool-proof. Modern media, by which I mean the stuff that makes lots of money on the Internet today, is in some sense a legitimized form of spam. Oh, everyone derides spam because it is so obvious and annoying and only the dolts ever fall for it. But a few clever people realized that spam can be disguised and delivered in tiers based upon the perceived intelligence of the target. They called it A-B testing and all sorts of fancy things, but at the end of the day what they did was find a way to get people who would never click on obvious misspelled emails and pleas from Nigerian princes (while all right-thinkers know Nigeria is a republic) to click on salacious headlines, lists of innate but curious things, etc. Slap a bunch of ads on those pages, get a favorable conversion ratio, and voila you’re making money.

        The problem starts when these organizations built on the model of parting fools from their money at industrial scale start deciding that they are really quite virtuous after all and should be deciding who wins and loses at the game of Internet media (which, in turn, is increasingly affecting people’s lives and livelihoods outside of the Internet). The DemOp media complex, as you call it, is a giant money laundering machine. Not in the mafia sense of turning the proceeds of illegal activity into legitimate dollars, but in the sense of taking money from saps and dupes and convincing themselves (or, at least, the saps and dupes) they really made it off of smart people making informed decisions. This model has taken over the Internet because, to a large extent, it is more profitable than the other models.

      • kbolino

        For what it’s worth, this started to become apparent to me when Thiel helped Hogan sue Gawker into penury. I don’t really think so many publications were actually so hung up about the journalistic freedom to publish sex tapes as they were concerned that one of the progenitors of their funding model was threatened. It’s not that Gawker should be able to publish what they want, it’s that journalists should be able to make a living off of getting clicks at all costs. Some may parlay that into highbrow careers at the New Yorker or wherever, but a man’s got to eat and shit like that pays the bills, at least until you get sued for all your worth.

      • Hyperion

        Their polling numbers are going up like a rocket ship, so expect more of the same.

      • Suthenboy

        The only poll that counts is the one on Election Day. All of the others smoke that blows away in the wind. That is why the left is trying so hard to make voter fraud effortless for themselves.

    • Agent Cooper

      There’s a reason it’s called a Silent Majority.

      • Suthenboy

        I keep thinking the same thing but it does seem a little desperate for me to hang my hopes on some Deus Ex Machina to save the day.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The silent majority might have silented themselves into the silent minority. We’ll fins out soon enough if that’s the case.

  72. Suthenboy

    I am convinced someone has video of Roberts on Pedo island fucking an underage goat while a tranny flogs his naked ass to egg him on.

    • Hyperion

      They do, and then they promised him his own private pedo island. I guess Gorsuch just got one too.

    • Tres Cool

      With no baseball on, Id probably watch that.

    • Rhywun

      Go on…

  73. The Late P Brooks

    Relinquish my grip on the reins? NEVER!

    Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) will be extending her state’s coronavirus state of emergency that was scheduled to expire on Friday.

    “We will remain in some form of a state of emergency order,” Whitmer said Wednesday during a news conference updating residents on COVID-19 in the state. “All 50 states are in some form of state of emergency and we will have to be as well.”

    The state of emergency allows the governor to put orders in place and take actions unilaterally. The designation is not the same as the state’s stay-at-home order, which was lifted earlier this month allowing retailers, bars and restaurants to reopen with some restrictions. The state of emergency will likely remain in place into July.

    Democracy is so last century.

    • Hyperion

      Dude, she’s personally responsible for Biden being up in the polls in MI by 9000 pts! She’s a hero, people love her!

    • Chipwooder

      Jesus Mary and Joseph, and there are a significant number of people who cheer this bullshit.

      I want off of this ride.

  74. The Late P Brooks

    Whitmer on Wednesday said new data show Michigan’s “aggressive actions” have significantly lowered the number of coronavirus cases and deaths.

    “The data shows that very few states dropped their infection rates as low as Michigan has. Only Michigan and New York are on track to contain COVID-19,” Whitmer said.

    Actively kiling off those who are more susceptible to the virus is one way to “contain” it, I suppose.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      That and what’s their testing rate?

    • kbolino

      The disease can’t be contained. It’s a futile effort. Even if you “succeed” at it today, you will fail tomorrow because it doesn’t ask your permission to spread.

  75. R C Dean

    Here’s the guts of the SCOTUS decision on DACA:

    Acting Secretary Duke’s rescission memorandum failed to consider important aspects of the problem before the agency. Although Duke was bound by the Attorney General’s determination that DACA is illegal, see 8 U. S. C. §1103(a)(1), deciding how best to address that determination involved important policy choices reserved for DHS. Acting Secretary Duke plainly exercised such discretionary authority in winding down the program, but she did not appreciate the full scope of her discretion. The Attorney General concluded that the legal defects in DACA mirrored those that the courts had recognized in DAPA. The Fifth Circuit, the highest court to offer a reasoned opinion on DAPA’s legality, found that DAPA violated the INA because it extended eligibility for benefits to a class of unauthorized aliens. But the defining feature of DAPA (and DACA) is DHS’s decision to defer removal, and the Fifth Circuit carefully distinguished that forbearance component from the associated benefits eligibility. Eliminating benefits eligibility while continuing forbearance thus remained squarely within Duke’s discretion. Yet, rather than addressing forbearance in her decision, Duke treated the Attorney General’s conclusion regarding the illegality of benefits as sufficient to rescind both benefits and
    forbearance, without explanation. That reasoning repeated the error in Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association of the United States, Inc. v. State Farm— treating a rationale that applied to only part of a policy as sufficient to rescind the entire policy.

    The legal standard is this:

    The APA “sets forth the procedures by which federal agencies are accountable to the public and their actions subject to review by the courts.” Franklin v. Massachusetts, 505 U. S. 788, 796 (1992). It requires agencies to engage in “reasoned decisionmaking,” Michigan v. EPA, 576 U. S. 743, 750 (2015) (internal quotation marks omitted), and directs that agency actions be “set aside” if they are “arbitrary” or “capricious,” 5 U. S. C. §706(2)(A). Under this “narrow standard of review, . . . a court is not to substitute its judgment for that of the agency,” FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc., 556 U. S. 502, 513 (2009) (internal quotation marks omitted), but instead to assess only whether the decision was “based on a consideration of the relevant factors and whether there has been a clear error of judgment,” Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U. S. 402, 416 (1971).

    Incredibly, Roberts applies this legal standard by first, admitting that the AG’s controlling determination that DACA should be rescinded is not sufficient, even though it is controlling, by going behind the AG’s determination (which was not before the Court) to say that the Secretary was required to engage in additional justification for the change in policy. All that precedent about not substituting its judgment and needing a clear error of judgment (how to square those is an exercise for the reader) is tossed aside to demand substantive reasoning that it just said wasn’t required because the AG’s determination is controlling.

    What a hack.

    • kbolino

      Moreover, as I noted above, DACA itself did not follow the rules that its rescission must follow.

    • Jarflax

      History is repeating. We have rampant political violence in the streets. A Court with a majority of R appointees legislating hard left from the bench. And have recreated the conditions for stagflation. We are back in 1968 and have the 70s to look forward to. Just in case anyone is confused about this the 70s flat out sucked. Crime rates were the highest ever, economic growth was effectively 0, we had shortages and high inflation reduced our buying power, large cities were devastated by racial strife, and we still haven’t repaired the cultural damage. The ‘good’ parts of the 70s all centered around sex, and this time around the left have decided to close that down by adopting a neo puritan view on sex.

      • kbolino

        And, just like then, we have a communist country egging it on.

  76. R C Dean

    One other problem:

    The Obama executive order was not subject to APA review. The Trump executive order somehow is. The APA applies (or used to, and will again I am sure) to agency rulemaking, not to executive orders.

    • leon

      Forgettaboutit Dean. It’s Robertstown.

      • R C Dean

        And now the administration will write a more detailed memorandum, which will also be tested against the APA, and (assuming the Dems don’t win the White House and revoke Trump’s order without going through the APA) found to have failed to “consider the relevant factors” and be “a clear error of judgment”.

        Of course, how an order to enforce the law as written can be “arbitrary and capricious” will not be addressed. As it wasn’t in this opinion.

      • UnCivilServant

        Oh, no, the new memorandum will be “The Obama Administration’s failure to follow the APA procedure means that the program is null and void from it’s inception and thus will no longer be followed.”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Can’t the administration just use this decision to craft an end to DACA that follows the legal reasoning they laid out?

      • kbolino

        Probably. But the timeframe that process will require means the President will have to win another election to see it through.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        True but the recension (if it stood) will just be rescinded if he doesn’t. Doesn’t this curb the power of the exec to issue EOs all willy nilly? If that’s the case maybe it’s not altogether a bad thing.

      • R C Dean

        Doesn’t this curb the power of the exec to issue EOs all willy nilly?

        I see absolutely no reason to believe the Court will apply this decision in a principled fashion.

      • Jarflax

        The left does not obey rules and the courts and agencies do not enforce rules against the left. Witness bars being fined for opening and riots being treated as entirely outside the realm of Covid restrictions.

      • R C Dean

        Yup. The usual suspects in the District Courts will block it immediately, and it will be hung up in the courts until after the election.

  77. Agent Cooper

    Methinks Terry Crews may be (gasp) libertarian. He included it specifically as a choice for white voters in his latest comments. Most people would’ve just said Republican or Democrat.