Monday Morning Links

by | Sep 14, 2020 | Daily Links | 457 comments

About time you beat somebody.

Is this Everton’s year? Probably not.  It’s never their year. But they did beat Spuds to start the season. And that makes even me happy.  Liverpool won a shootout in which their defense was inept (at best). Hopefully that says more about Leeds than it does the champions. And I think there’s a couple more matchers to go for the start of the season. The NFL started this weekend, apparently. I didn’t watch.  And all eyes (in my household) are on the Big Ten. Hurry up, you stupid fucks. Make your decision to get back on the field already. Thanks in advance.

He’s not even Russian!

German explorer Alexander von Humboldt was born on this day. He shares it with racist abortion proponent Margaret Sanger, infielderJerry Coleman, pitcher Stan Williams, Star Trek actor Walter Koenig, actor Sam Neill, MC5’s Sonic Smith, scumbag disbarred attorney Mike Nifong, Russian politician and Obama messenger boy Dmitry Medvedev, brilliant singer and drug aficionado Amy Winehouse, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and baseball player Delmon Young.

That list was average at best.  Oh well, time to move on to…the links!

Elon Musk unloads on Bill Gates. Not that a catfight between two gazillionaires means much to me, but it’s kinda funny seeing these two going at it. Also Windows 95 was released 25 years ago today. So Gates has some deserved hate coming his way.

Here’s the link between the Corona and the California (and Oregon) wildfires. Note: there is no actual link between the two.

Not cool!

Sally about to lay down some rain on New Orleans and Mississippi. Stay safe if you’re in the path. I know they’re not even close to digging out from the last storm.So this could get very messy very fast.

Well this is pretty fucked up. Although I can’t say I’m the least bit surprised.

Pretty sure this is legal in the San Francisco area. Sorry, Nancy, but them’s the rules. Also, read it. The last sentence should generate a chuckle.

Cool.

The answer to your question is “No. No it cannot.” And it has little to do with the pandemic but everything to do with a burdensome tax scheme, a bunch of crazies making life miserable for anybody wanting to go downtown, and a shitload of people leaving the area for greener pastures.

No shit, Sherlock. I mean, is this even debatable at this point?

This is the endgame of socialism. But they have universal healthcare and shit. Or something, I can’t remember all the talking points I heard about what a paradise it was from all the elitist dipshits…who are conspicuously silent about what’s happened there.

Let’s start the week off with a great song. Maybe it’ll make up for the shitty links. Maybe.

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

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

457 Comments

  1. PieInTheSky

    I am less interested in the NBA than before but the clipper losing is always good.

    • Festus' Mustache

      I’m Canadian but I laughed at the Raptors getting the boot. No, I stopped what little interest I had In the NBA long before the woke-fest. It’s not a sport, it is a circus and has been for thirty years.

  2. PieInTheSky

    Elon Musk unloads on Bill Gates. Not that a catfight between two gazillionaires means much to me, but it’s kinda funny seeing these two going at it. Also Windows 95 was released 25 years ago today. So Gates has some deserved hate coming his way. – for someone who works so much Musk he certainly has a lot of time for beefs

    • SDF-7

      I assume he’s actually capable of delegating / hiring good people and getting out of the way. That’s the way Space-X looks from the outside, in any event. He has a goal — colonization of Mars, he probably has some idea of wants/needs to get there – cheaper cost to orbit but much higher payloads to orbit — that implies things like rocket re-usability, etc. He hires good people to work towards those goals and presumably listens to them on next steps… and things work from there.

      Leaves plenty of time for Twitter wars.

      • Atanarjuat

        He also pals around with celebrities a lot, and claims to study the underlying science of rockets, engines, orbital mechanics, etc to the point where he understands it as well as the experts, which I suspect might come as a surprise to the actual experts who listen to him on those subjects.

      • Festus' Mustache

        He just wants to escape the planet and colonize Mars with about a thousand clones of whatever the fuck he’s bedding right now. I too should have become a billionaire. That crazy blond one was about ten times hotter, though.

      • SDF-7

        And who could blame him?

      • Hyperion

        Glibs should make a film, ‘Escape Earth’.

        And it won’t be about climate change. It will be about getting away from the people pushing climate change hysteria and all the other bullshit that seeks to oppress all us peasants.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        to the point where he understands it as well as the experts

        Having heard him talk on those subjects, I have never heard him go into the level of detail that would tell me that he understands it as well as the experts, but he does understand it well enough to be a good project manager.

      • Tundra

        And a good fundraiser. Being able to construct a solid pitch is an underrated skill.

      • Atanarjuat

        You know, the interview where he said that was several years ago and I might be overstating his bragging a bit.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        “to the point where he understands it as well as the experts”

        No do Gates and vaccines.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Elon Musk unloads on Bill Gates.

      He has no clue— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 12, 2020

      Musk destroys Gates?

  3. PieInTheSky

    Here’s the link between the Corona and the California (and Oregon) wildfires. Note: there is no actual link between the two. – Is it Trump? It must be Trump.

    • Atanarjuat

      Climate change, easily.

      • AlexinCT

        ^^^^THIS^^^^

        I watched some dumb as liberal program where an interviewer asked the governor about the fires, and he told the douchebag dnc operatives with bylines without skipping a beat that it was climate change. It was not until the very end that they, in passing, mentioned that California law prevents any kind of remedial action be taken, and that practically every fire not started by nature (lightning strikes kindling woods) -more than half of them – were man made, including the one started by the gender reveal party that is now the largest fire in their history.

        The thing is plenty of idiots want to believe the fires are climate change related, like the brown outs, because admitting liberal control of the state caused this shit, is anathema to those invested in the marxist bullshit. In the mean time, the credentialed elite class, despite its ineptitude, robs the productive still not bright enough to flee, actively works to eliminate the middle class (cause what they want is a 2 class system with them in control and the serfs beholden to them for their livelihood so they remain compliant little bitches that respect their intellectual betters), and in general seeks to divide people into sub categories they can then put against each other so they can keep them conquered.

        Fucking evil.

      • juris imprudent

        Climate change causes gender reveal parties; it is known.

      • AlexinCT

        It’s the cause of all things that can only be fixed by more marxism….

      • Hyperion

        Bad orange climate change?

    • Festus' Mustache

      All the bad things. That’s all you need to know.

  4. PieInTheSky

    Pretty sure this is legal in the San Francisco area. Sorry, Nancy, but them’s the rules. Also, read it. The last sentence should generate a chuckle. – I don;t understand modern art myself…

    • sloopyinca

      Most modern art is shit.

      And this guy proves that.

      • Tejicano

        And in this case it covers both the medium but the audience as well!

      • Atanarjuat

        Gavin McInnes briefly mentioned a book that revealed speculators would find an unknown, moderately talented artist, secretly buy up his old work for pennies, then stage a high dollar bidding war for his new stuff. Collectors would see demand and prices rising, and seek out the artist’s older work, which the speculators would then sell at vastly inflated prices, recouping their losses on the bidding war and making a huge profit.

        Which kind of explains why modern art sucks: some of it is essentially Dutch tulip bulbs except the people who bought it have to keep pretending it’s great or they’ll look like huge suckers.

        Actually, as an auctioneer, you wanna go in on something like this?

      • Nephilium

        There’s a board game about that already. Multiple editions, some using actual modern artists, others using classic artists, others running with the theme and having the most terrible artwork they can find.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        Gavin is filled with those interesting sub-culture nuggets.

      • Festus' Mustache

        Well if “Piss Christ” is taken seriously why not “Pinch Christ”? Same diff.

      • Mojeaux

        See Robert Mapplethorpe. Women post better pix of their kids on Insta now.

      • Cancelled

        Well, I suppose this is inarguable since most of us consider pics of kids better when they are dressed and not being fisted.

      • Mojeaux

        I think I vaguely remembering hearing about such a thing, but I’ve never seen it. In keeping with my befuddlement about my educators not educating themselves, I actually picked up a Mapplethorpe coffee-table art book and looked through it. It was marginally creepy. There was no Google in those days. And even now, Google’s not offering anything up on first glance.

      • Cancelled

        My father’s office is in the same building (technically separate building but with connecting doors on every floor) as the museum/gallery that was ground zero for the Mapplethorpe obscenity trial. And the local news was pretty much nonstop discussions of him and his work for months.

      • Mojeaux

        Can confirm. I was working at a press-clipping company at the time and the news was all Mapplethorpe. They didn’t show any of the images.

    • AlexinCT

      Anyone else getting issues loading the page where the video seems to crash it? I suspect it is that YouTube came to their masters rescue and deleted the video or restricted it….

    • Hyperion

      I’t just an effort to bring SanFran Nan closer to the little people she serves, who probably have their lawns crapped on every day in SanFran.

  5. PieInTheSky

    Sally about to lay down some rain on New Orleans and Mississippi. Stay safe if you’re in the path. I know they’re not even close to digging out from the last storm.So this could get very messy very fast. – I blame CO2 or Sin or Trump… either way we must needs repent for our failings

  6. PieInTheSky

    See people this is how you do firsts. Lesson over. I will stop now.

    • SDF-7

      You’re missing the homoerotic overtones, Pie. Otherwise, good job.

    • Atanarjuat

      Formatting would make it so much more readable though.

      • PieInTheSky

        Formatting? I can’t be arsed… putting in tags and shit

      • Mojeaux

        I have just learned to wait for the hyphen.

      • Tejicano

        Inorite?

      • pan fried wylie

        When its Pie and I detect a what looks like a raw link, I stop reading and start again from the tail end of the post. Easier than picking hyphens out of my teeth.

    • Hyperion

      Brokenwad hardest hit?

    • Ozymandias

      Has anyone ever seen Pie and Bro in the same room??
      ‘Cuz that’s six consecutive firsts on a Monday AM links post.
      If they’re not, in fact, the same person (“We are ALL Tulpa” sonorously intoned), I think this makes Pie the Tom Brady of Firsts… and a Green Brochetta (of envy).
      Brohcetta is, like, the Brad Johnson of firsters.
      Sad.

      • UnCivilServant

        Has anyone ever seen Pie and Bro?

  7. SDF-7

    Morning, Sloop!

    I think you meant Babylon 5 scene stealer, Walter Koenig. 🙂

    • Nephilium

      Be seeing you…

  8. robc

    Everton has an entirely remade midfield, and that makes all the difference. I think they have gone from a really poor premiership midfield, to a really good one. Not saying that makes for a Champions League spot or anything, but Europe is an absolute minimum.

    Ancelotti went out and got 3 guys that he knew he could work with. All were stars who were just down a little in present situations. They may only have a year or three left in the tank, but based on yesterday, they are willing to give all that they have got.

    Fixing the midfield with just a few decent upgrades would have been huge, Turning it from a raging negative to the team positive is outstanding.

    • sloopyinca

      James played his guts out. That was the biggest tell to me that they have probably turned a corner for real. It will be interesting this season on Merseyside.

      • robc

        Now if Richarlison can just finish….

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Alright settle down robc (and sloopy). The first half was competitive, Richarlison was gifted a goal and Son should have laid it to Harry. 1-1, 0-0, what’s the difference.

      The big turning point was Mourinho pulling Dele for Sissoko at half-time. I was warming up to Mourinho after watching the first 6 episodes of All or Nothing but the guy does not know how to manage anymore. Christ that was a bad sub.

  9. Rhywun

    Congrats to Everton. Totspur can suck it. So can “Peacock”.

    • robc

      I heard Peacock had all kinds of streaming issues.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Worked for me. Also, since I am stuck with Comcast this is the first time I can say being a Comcast customer was a benefit.

    • sloopyinca

      Well now I’m ready to rant. Fucking NBC…you had a good thing with NBCSN. You’re going to throw it away on Peacock, you stupid assholes. You don’t even have a Roku app and you’re going to make everybody pay extra for a subscription after they already pay a subscription for NBCSN? Fuck youuuuuuuu!

      • robc

        No Roku app? Then how do you even watch it?

      • sloopyinca

        PS4, XBOX, An Apple TV, or on a PC. That’s it.
        Oh, I guess you can buy the channel if you still have cable and your provider offers it.

      • robc

        Ugh.

      • invisible finger

        Hating on Comcast is fine with me, but this is really just a repackaging of NBC Sports Gold. That said, they at least had a Roku app for NBC Sports Gold – if you used that app and now longer can get that programming on a Roku app then it is a major ripoff.

      • Rhywun

        NBC Sports Gold

        That’s the name I was grasping for.

      • Rhywun

        I’ve had NBCSN for years but weren’t many of the games on some other subscription service last year? I swear I recall being unable to watch many/most matches the last couple years.

      • sloopyinca

        I was fortunate that Liverpool’s matches were all on NBCSN. Now they’re going out of their way to feature the big name matches on Peacock only so the biggest fan bases have to pony up for a second subscription to see them.
        They’re going to create a lot of new Brighton, Leicester and Crystal Palace fans by putting all the Liverpool, Arsenal, and ManUre games on Peacock.

      • Rhywun

        Now they’re going out of their way to feature the big name matches on Peacock only

        I noticed that. Well other than Liverpool I haven’t been following the league very closely for a couple years anyway so no big loss.

      • juris imprudent

        I’ll watch the EPL on the Spanish language channels before – better commentary even if I only catch half of it.

      • Apples and Knives

        Is that what happened? I just cut a bunch of streaming services over the weekend and ponied up for FuboTV so my son could watch Premier League and La Liga. Then I turned it on and found one Sheffield United match. Fuck. If Peacock doesn’t have a Roku app, it’s pretty much useless to me.

    • Festus' Mustache

      But what of Nottingham? I kid because in the 70’s my best friend’s English Dad was an old Navy guy and he had a short wave radio hobby. Every Saturday morning he would sit and listen to the results.

      • robc

        QPR beat Forrest 2-0.

      • Rhywun

        ?

        I have some work buddies in Nottingham so I chose to support them. QPR is the team all the London hipsters support – fuck them.

      • robc

        Nottingham and Wednesday (and Leeds, but they are back!) are some of the teams that, to me, belong in the Premier at all times. I don’t like seeing them down in the Championship, even if they have been their almost forever now.

      • Rhywun

        Seriously. Fucking West Brom… again?? Ugh.

      • Not Adahn

        Fucking West Brom… again

        What are titles of porno movie sequels?

      • robc

        Forest.

        Nottingham is not part of the Klan, as far as I know.

      • Agent Cooper

        Stoke fan here. Last few years have not been fun. I picked them because they were technically the oldest club in the Premiership.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I guess for all of the bitching above, watching the Championship is easier than watching Premier League.

  10. Festus' Mustache

    “That’s not your purse!”

  11. Pine_Tree

    No surprise to anybody here, but the Chicago and Venezuela links are good real-time examples of what little Pine_Tree, as a history and architecture buff, always wondered as a youngster: what was it really like when (e.g.) Rome fell into ruins? How on earth did nobody keep it going? Well, now we know.

    Also, regarding the Nifong birthday: I always wonder things like “where are they now?” about people in this situation. Had a decades-long “normal”-ish career, blew himself onto the national stage, then went up in smoke. I mean, what do you do for a living when you’re a disbarred lawyer – seriously?

    • Festus' Mustache

      Porn?

    • sloopyinca

      I mean, what do you do for a living when you’re a disbarred lawyer – seriously?

      CNN analyst?

      • cyto

        Serious answer: corporate law offices. There are plenty of jobs for trained lawyers who work inside the walls of corporations shuffling papers and doing low-level review work.

        Also, various financial product sales – like being a broker or insurance sales guy.

        Source: I used to work in a corporation that did financial product sales – we had former lawyers on both of those roles. Also present, folks who could not pass the bar. They made substantially less than an actual attorney and in the legal group worked under supervision of actual attorneys.

        The ones who went into sales were definitely bad hires. They were continuously looking for a way to scam the company. One stole a big sale and slipped it to a competitor for a quarter million dollars. Another kept filing workplace complaints, like calling the fire marshal over fire exit regulations, etc., looking for a whistleblower payout if he was retaliated against. Filed 3 workman’s comp complaints. Dude sat in a chair in a cubicle. Finally got caught trying to steal leads by printing them out and carrying them home.

      • R C Dean

        I would never hire a disbarred attorney. It’s nearly impossible to lose your license; I wouldn’t want that level of malice/incompetence inside the walls.

      • cyto

        Most of the ones I knew ran into trouble with drugs.

        That being said, I totally agree. The ones who couldn’t pass the bar were mostly idiots. And the ones who got disbarred were absolute scum who would sell their mother for a sandwich.

        No offense to present company intended.

      • Cancelled

        Drug use alone won’t get your license lifted. There are all sorts of intervention and diversion programs to ‘help’ attorneys with substance issues. It is when the lawyer starts stealing client funds to pay for the drugs that they lose the license.

      • Cancelled

        ^this. Never hire a disbarred attorney or an embezzler. Almost every way to get disbarred involves betraying or stealing from a client. A person who will betray a fiduciary relationship cannot be trust, by definition.

    • Atanarjuat

      I definitely understand much better now why “may you live in interesting times” is a curse.

  12. robc

    You missed the top 2 baseball birthdays: No big deal missing #2 Tim Wallach, but HoFer Kid Nichols is a big miss. Happy #151 Kid!

  13. Tejicano

    “… I can’t remember all the talking points I heard about what a paradise it was from all the elitist dipshits…”

    Yeah, my Korean – particularly the Northern dialect – is kinda thin when it gets to political discussion.

  14. PieInTheSky

    I got an add on daily mail article from the link for a Romanian whiskey store I use often. What amuses me is probably based on some of my searches it highlight products from the store. One is Rittenhouse rye which has been out of stock for more than a year.

    I don’t know if I mentioned it but wild turkey 101 rye is decent. Not fantastic but perfectly adequate for a cocktail.

    • TARDis

      Rittenhouse should team up with Bulleit and make a “You Gonna Die” rye.

      • Tejicano

        How about a “COM* Skateboard” bourbon?

        *Center Of Mass

      • sloopyinca

        “It has a surprisingly disarming taste.”

      • TARDis

        Bicep in the Mist

      • Tejicano

        “one hit from this is all it will take”

      • Festus' Mustache

        We need one for “Gordon Lightfoot” from the other day.

    • Not Adahn

      Rittenhouse rye bottled-in-bond is an excellent value.

      • PieInTheSky

        no, because it is always out of stock

  15. Rhywun

    So Gates has some deserved hate coming his way.

    Feh, Windows 95 was a huge advance over the crap that came before it.

    Also, he’s right about trucks.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      W95 is the reasonwe are on this website, everything was in place, W95 put all in one box,
      / whiners

      • SDF-7

        I think you either mean Win NT 4 or Windows 98. Win95 had to mess around with adding on winsock, for heaven’s sake. Yeah, the shell was nicer — but this was the era when MS was not yet getting the whole internet thing, if you recall.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I know it was a mess, I still run 98 shell on W10 ffs, but it had to start somewhere, and the competition, don’t forget that,

      • SDF-7

        I definitely don’t — see my plug for OS/2 Warp (1994, remember!).

        I still remember the fun of demo’ing OS/2 on a 486DX having a chess window, TIE Fighter, a spreadsheet and a paint program all running at once.

        Really too bad IBM was really, really bad at marketing compared to MS.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        total agreement IBM could have crushed MS, and our desktops would all be Unix/Linux

      • Tejicano

        IBM was dragged kicking and screaming into the PC market by a renegade R&D group in Boca Raton and they bailed out as soon as it was expedient.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I worked as a repairman for IBM in college. We were forbidden to take any walk-in repair business from people because we just didn’t do that.

        An enterprising fellow set up a shop across the street repairing IBM PC’s and made a killing off of our butt headedness.

        Yeah, IBM never could get away from their mindset of “We sell to businesses and we only put out new models every 3 years because that is how long it takes a business to depreciate a PC and be ready to buy a new one”

      • Festus' Mustache

        I liked W95. It had an interface that I could understand and I really liked the office suite. Then I went and ran chainsaws for the next 15 years and now I’m lost in the barrens.

      • Mojeaux

        I remember DOS from 1986, and thanks to WordPerfect, now I need to have all the hidden characters in Word (spaces, pilcrows, soft return arrows, etc) show or I can’t function.

      • pan fried wylie

        notepad++ is my main squeeze.

      • Mojeaux

        EditPlus is my boo.

    • SDF-7

      Don’t go knocking OS/2 Warp, good sir!

      • juris imprudent

        Gods, I’d almost forgotten about running that.

    • Count Potato

      Windows 95 was Mac 87.

  16. robc

    it has little to do with the pandemic but everything to do with a burdensome tax scheme, a bunch of crazies making life miserable for anybody wanting to go downtown, and a shitload of people leaving the area for greener pastures.

    Which means, yes it can. If you reverse the first two, the third will also reverse.

    • PieInTheSky

      I remember a few years ago a guardian article about Santa Fe NM saying basically despite the high taxes and many regulations young people are not starting businesses in the city. Because off course prog shit leads to good business and it is a paradox if it doesn’t

      • Nephilium

        Well burdensome restrictions didn’t stop a lot of craft breweries from opening. Never mind that you could see a stark difference between the states that allowed self distribution and take out sales and those that did not.

    • Rhywun

      It is remarkable what people will put up with. NYC of all places gained a million people in the 80s and 90s, and the business corridor near my house – at least in the before times – is mile after mile of little shops without an empty storefront to be found. The current situation is certainly unique but I am more optimistic than many that things will eventually bounce back because that is what people do.

      • Nephilium

        That reminds me of this local story.

        Downtown Cleveland will come back from coronavirus, even if it takes time, booster says at forum

        Cleveland is just like Denver and London!

      • Rhywun

        *shrug* I wouldn’t be surprised. People tend to forget how utterly awful the 70s were for most American cities, and many of them bounced back or at least showed some signs in that direction.

      • robc

        NYC has a few magnets.

        What does Chicago have that says, “If I want to do that, I have to be there”?

        I don’t think Chicago has anything that you can’t find in Nashville or Atlanta or Charlotte.

      • Rhywun

        Fucking Buffalo was a magnet for all the young people living in Western NY/northern PA.

        That’s what cities do, always have.

        Most people don’t venture that far from home, so if Chicago is closer that’s where they’ll look before those other cities.

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t understand why you would move towards a city.

      • Count Potato

        To sleep around?

      • Fourscore

        Opportunities abound. The US is the land of opportunity, including the villages

      • Fourscore

        UCS gets it. Get out of town! The farther the more comfortable.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        Not everybody hates people like we glibs do.

        Seriously, the only reason that I’m living within 50 miles of a metropolitan area is because my wife would leave me if we lived that far from civilization.

      • EvilSheldon

        Seriously. Certainly not since I learned to cook.

      • Fourscore

        I suspect the WFH is going to motivate a lot of people to change their address.

      • Drake

        We are exploring the limits of crap people will tolerate right now. I know a few young people still there, and a lot of older professionals who are done with the place.

  17. Rhywun

    soon after the act he was detained by officers with the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police

    Wut?

    Maybe the cops with actual jurisdiction there were busy on poop duty in the Tenderloin?

  18. Tundra

    Good morning, Sloopy!

    And welcome back.

    The news, as usual, is fucked up.

    The researchers compared health system and patient visit records from the period between December 1, 2019 and February 29, 2020 to previous years and found that outpatient clinic visits for those seeking care for coughs increased by over 50%. The number of visits by patients reporting coughs exceeded the average number of similar visits over the prior five years by more than 1,000.

    It would be interesting (and expensive, I suppose) to go back even further. Say October 1, just when the cold and flu season usually starts. Not that it really matters when it hit. China lied and covered up a ton of shit. I believe absolutely nothing I read about this fucking virus, except that the response is worse than the disease.

    This is gonna be back-breaker for Chicago and Minneapolis for certain. Things in both cities were trending the wrong way well before the ‘vid and the riots. Pre-trial shit happened last week for the cops in the Floyd trial, which is supposed to happen in March. Ellison completely fucked us by charging Murder 1, which will be pretty much impossible to reach.

    So we will burn again.

    Those of you who moved way the fuck away from the big cities are looking pretty smart right now.

    Fuck.

    *clicks musical link*

    Ahhhh, now that’s the ticket!

    Thanks, Sloop. I hope you and the rest of the gang have a great day!

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      Those of you who moved way the fuck away from the big cities are looking pretty smart right now.

      Our extended family didn’t get it when we moved 7 years ago. Many family friends told my parents we were crazy and ruining our lives to give up our expensive rental in the city for 30 acres and a farmhouse.

      They’ve all eaten crow. I’ve lost track of how many of these people have said what a great move that was in hindsight and coming to our place is their SHTF plan. Yeah, good luck with that one.

      • EvilSheldon

        Oh, how I love that line. I usually respond, “Cool. Bring your daughter, and have her dress nice.”

      • dontreadonme

        LMFAO

      • AlexinCT

        Tell them to bring toilet paper, ammo, and their own food, because otherwise payment is in labor, which includes tapping their ass for the hawt ones…. Works wonders to motivate them properly.

      • EvilSheldon

        Gas, grass, or ass. No free rides.

    • EvilSheldon

      What’s worse? The cops getting acquitted, or the cops getting convicted?

      • AlexinCT

        The riots will happen regardless if Trump wins, and they will be mostly peaceful reparation endeavors that target entities with insurance anyway, so it will be no biggy and just fun times?

      • Tundra

        For whom?

        The city? Acquittal.

        The cops? Conviction.

        Justice? HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!

  19. Brawndo

    Summer’s see a spike in violent crime. People also eat more ice cream in the summer. Ergo, ice cream causes violent crime

    • Brawndo

      Or violent crime causes people to eat ice cream. More testing needed

    • Count Potato

      This Summer more than most though.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      WTF Gillespie.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    “We may never truly know if these excess patients represented early and undetected COVID-19 cases in our area,” Elmore said. “But the lessons learned from this pandemic, paired with health care analytics that enable real-time surveillance of disease and symptoms, can potentially help us identify and track emerging outbreaks and future epidemics.”

    Shut down earlier. Shut down harder. Never take the masks off.

    • Tundra

      Bold new technologies to assist in contact tracing!

      The future will be glorious, comrade!

      • Akira

        Bold new technologies to assist in contact tracing!

        That’s what makes me sick – the same people who lambasted G.W. Bush for the Patriot Act are now cheering on the constant monitoring of citizens’ locations, activities, and contacts. Yea, they say it’ll just be for sick people, but everyone on this site knows that government programs never stay where they say they will.

  21. Tundra

    Oh, and since it’s Fred Smith’s birthday:

    Looking At You.

      • Tundra

        That’s a great story!

    • dontreadonme

      Wayne Kramer just tears it up. Love this from the comments,”It used to bug me that the MC5 wasn’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
      But then I remembered that no christian church has ever asked God to join.”

  22. Mojeaux

    Gates said, “Electricity works when you need to cover short distances, but we need a different solution for heavy, long-haul vehicles.”

    Does he mean an alternative energy source other than gas or electricity? Or just other than electricity? Cuz we’ve got what we need now. Trains run on electricity anyway.

    • PieInTheSky

      Someone should find a way to make a non polluting synthetic fuel.

      • Count Potato

        hydrogen

      • Tejicano

        Unfortunately, not energy dense enough. And even if you could somehow pull that off I wonder if production methods would be problematic – haven’t thought it through but most people who propose solutions (present company excepted) often haven’t looked at the downsides.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s dense enough if you pressurize the tanks to highly unsafe levels.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        use
        solar overcapacity to create the Hydrogen for the fuel cells you need for peak load times, no brainer, and no I don’t have the money

      • Tejicano

        The man with efficient energy expenditure on the brain comes through. Maybe not simple but not impossible.

    • cyto

      Also, trucks are already built to carry big and heavy things.. like the batteries they need. Musk is already using Tesla trucks internally in his companies. I think they probably have a pretty good handle on their utility, or lack thereof.

      • Mojeaux

        trucks are already built to carry big and heavy things.. like the batteries they need.

        Disclaimer: I don’t know how big and heavy these batteries are. Gates could be blowing smoke, for all I know.

        Never mind that the trucks may or may not be able to haul it. That’s extra weight that can’t be on the road (weight restrictions) at the sacrifice of cargo space. That’s inefficient and will drive prices up, because you have to put more trucks on the road.

      • Tejicano

        “…That’s inefficient and will drive prices up,…”

        But that price increase will never affect Bill Gates’ lifestyle so the rest of us proles will just have to suck it up.

      • cyto

        The real problem isn’t that – most trucks already operate well below weight limits (they are volume limited).

        But if/when the battery revolution happens, taxation will have to change. The up front cost of electric vehicles is much higher due to the batteries, but operational costs are much, much lower. Maintenance, fuel, taxes… all much lower. We fund much of our transportation infrastructure from fuel taxes, which have always been a pretty good proxy for miles driven and therefore road wear.

        When that change comes, there will be much consternation in the public. Thusfar, the government has subsidized electric vehicles heavily… removing subsidies and adding taxes will seriously alter the financial calculation…. on that is still a net negative for most electric vehicles not made by Tesla (they are claiming that the next generation will be able to go a million miles before needing a new battery.)

      • invisible finger

        Most of the miles driven tax could be shifted to excise taxes on tires. People are paying roughly $250 a year in gasoline taxes – shifting that to tires means a tire would cost $250 more (assuming tire life of 4 years).

        Since there is already a (federal) excise tax on tires we could basically dismantle the gasoline tax infrastructure. But the whackos would shriek about people driving on worn tires, as if that would be something unprecedented.

      • cyto

        That is a really good summation of the issue and potential solution.

        The preferred solution seems to be tracking my every move electronically and taxing those movements in various locales.

      • Mad Scientist

        You already see people driving around on bald tires. Doubling the price is going to make a whole lot of people go even farther on tires that are in no condition to be on the road. To solve that problem, there will be all kinds of annual inspections. Which will mean “borrowing” a set of tires before your inspection. IOW, it’s also going to dramatically increase the number of tires stolen every year.

    • Timeloose

      I always though a hybrid battery and gas turbine or small two stroke diesel would make the most sense for a large semi. It can run a engine at its most efficient operating conditions using diesel fuel already available to charge batteries to be used when the truck is in towns or cities while the turbine runs continuously to charge the battery. Electric motors that are relatively maintenance free and weigh less than the current transmission and differentials.

      • cyto

        That is pretty much exactly how new train locomotives work, so it is probably a good idea.

        The Tesla Semi has a range of 500 miles in the current incarnation. At 500 miles, that is about all you could drive without a break under current regulations anyway, particularly if deployed for local transport instead of interstate long-haul trucking.

      • Mojeaux

        new train locomotives work

        *sigh* @ me. I have been out of the railroad industry for decades. I still miss it.

      • invisible finger

        500 miles is about the limit for one driver. But there are two-driver teams where that electric engine range would not be practical.

      • Mojeaux

        I’m blanking on 500 miles being the limit for a driver. On a bad day, mine is 700-900.

      • cyto

        I’m not a trucker… but I think the feds have put all manner of regulation in place about hours driven and mandatory breaks.

      • Mojeaux

        Oh, I thought he was talking about physical ability to drive 500 miles or more.

      • cyto

        Crazy astronaut lady put the idea of “limits on how far someone can drive without a break” to rest. Grab a box of depends, some small arms and you are good to go….

      • Mojeaux

        Hey, there’s a movie about her! Natalie Portman (I think).

      • BakedPenguin

        I have been out of the railroad industry for decades. I still miss it.

        Okay, Dagny, glad you’re still keeping score.

      • Mojeaux

        Hey! I could deal with being called Dagny if she hadn’t taken up with that cipher Galt and stayed with Rearden instead.

  23. PieInTheSky

    Do average working class people enjoy a better quality of life in socialist democratic countries in Europe vs the average working class U.S. citizen?

    https://www.quora.com/Do-average-working-class-people-enjoy-a-better-quality-of-life-in-socialist-democratic-countries-in-Europe-vs-the-average-working-class-U-S-citizen

    And it is a proven fact that it really DOES lead to a better life. Countries that run like the Netherlands are systematically in the top 10 of happiest countries in the world. And the Netherlands has been the number 1 for happiest kids, a few years in a row.

    • Swiss Servator

      They euthanized all the unhappy ones..

    • juris imprudent

      Goths hit hardest.

    • AlexinCT

      People that sacrifice their chance at prosperity or their freedoms for a promise of security (crappy government healthcare actually being considered a valuable commodity, because being overtaxed you lack resources to pay for even that mediocre but “free” healthcare) will end up sorely disappointed. I have heard this argument that they feel their system is better because of the illusion of a safety net. At the same time, because so many now abused the system to a breaking point, their benefits are being rolled back, and they are being told they have to pony up more of whatever their burdensome tax system allows them to keep, all while their already insanely high taxes remained the same.

      Maybe the problem is with me for not thinking this trade off is a good one, but then again, I have never wanted to sell my soul for the illusion of security.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      And it is a proven fact that it really DOES lead to a better life. Countries that run like the Netherlands are systematically in the top 10 of happiest countries in the world. And the Netherlands has been the number 1 for happiest kids, a few years in a row.

      Did someone from Sweden write a Glib article a few years ago about the difference between American and Sweden? I could be completely mistaken, but I think I remember reading an article that essentially said Swedes are like animals in a zoo. They are well-taken care of but there’s no spark or desire to improve their lives beyond the maintenance provided by the State. It’s also not possible to better your life even if desired with the bureaucratic rules/regulations, so the population is probably self-selecting as those with ambition leave for opportunities.

      Going back to the Netherlands, there’s a shows about prisons on Netflix where the host visits prisons around the world. The one in the Netherlands is unreal. It’s like living in a hotel. The inmates are given an allowance and can shop at a prison grocery store that looks like a small bodega in NYC… even has Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. You can also learn a trade, including sound engineer in the prison’s own music recording studio. I’d half-seriously say it’s a much better deal going there than paying out of pocket for trade school.

      • PieInTheSky

        Denmark I believe. Holger Dansk

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Yep, that’s it.

    • Not Adahn

      Well, according to this youtube channel the Dutch are all gorgeous blondes living in stylish homes with perfectly behaved animals in their pet farm.

      That seems like a rather happy life if you ask me.

    • Cancelled

      Oddly the Netherlands was also a roaring success when it was capitalist, and when it was mercantilist, and when it was Calvinist theocratic, and…

      Maybe the cause is not to be found in the system?

      • PieInTheSky

        Netherlands was very lefty and crap in the 60s and 70. Now it is pretty free market as EU economies go.

    • EvilSheldon

      Happiness is a stupid metric.

      • Akira

        Yea, you’re never gonna convince me that they not only quantified happiness but also did it in such a way that it’s equivalent and comparable across different cultures with different words for happiness, different connotations of them, different cultural ideas of what a good life is, etc.

    • Atanarjuat

      It depends how the news was reported. I saw one initial headline that said “police kill autistic man and leave his body in the streets for hours”. Like they’re trying to piss off already-angry people.

      • Count Potato

        “Skirmish line advances in Lancaster as anarchists throw bricks and fireworks in Lancaster PA”

        Antifa in Amish Country? Who is paying for transportation?

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        Lots of English in Amish country. I used to live there as a kid.

    • Chipwooder

      Yep. I am not a copsucker by any means, but when a lunatic is charging you and waving around a large knife, I have no problem with that guy getting dropped.

    • Drake

      Yes – any excuse will do. If there isn’t a good one, they’ll fake something.

  24. Rhywun

    I heard about what a paradise it was from all the elitist dipshits…who are conspicuously silent about what’s happened there

    Usually by this point they’re furiously scribbling think pieces about how the US destroyed paradise on purpose.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Unfortunately, government at all levels has been taking exactly the wrong steps to solve this problem. The Trump administration has been rolling back environmental protections from day one, putting vulnerable communities across the country at even further risk. The administration has already completed 68 of 100 targeted rollbacks of environmental rules, including repealing and replacing Obama administration-era emissions rules for power plants and making it easier for new power plants to avoid emissions regulations.

    Blow it out your ass.

    • PieInTheSky

      Blow it out your ass. – that might produce methane.

    • Tundra

      Christ, that’s a lot of words to say you need to train your body to use whatever fuel is available and if you don’t, you may gain weight.

      Interesting, though, and I thank you for linking it.

  26. Swiss Servator

    Sonic Smith?

    THE SOUND OF RAPE!

    • invisible finger

      RAPESPEED

    • Festus' Mustache

      The Wind Calls Marapeiah

  27. Festus' Mustache

    Great day to you all! I need to sleep a bit.

    • Mojeaux

      Night, Festus! Good to see you!

      • Festus' Mustache

        You too Mojo! Heh. I just chased two sizable bears out of my yard armed with a tiny stick that I found on the ground. Don’t mess with Scots. Was actually reaching for rocks but all I came up with was this yard-stick thing. Nuns and Festus will put the fear of God into the average bear.

      • Festus' Mustache

        No shit I grabbed the flimsy piece and charged them. NYAAAARRRGGGGGHHHH! I’m a little put out for the moment. I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking but they ran away and I’m okay. What a stupid thing to do.

      • Mojeaux

        You so silly.

      • Festus' Mustache

        It’s name shall be Etceteracalibur! I’m keeping it!

      • Tejicano

        This is probably part of why the human race got ahead of most other species. We present above their line of sight and thus make them instinctually see us as much larger than we are.

      • Festus' Mustache

        You are right but both of them were much larger than me. It was probably the battle-cry.

      • Tejicano

        I’ve run off dobermans mostly because I gave them my “war face/yell” before they broke to run at me.

      • TARDis

        It’s okay if you just admit it’s your magic wand and you cast the Flipendo Ursa spell with it.

        /Harry

  28. cyto

    On the Covid/wildfire article…

    The good doctor thinks that Covid risks increase:

    as economies around the world reopen, exposure to higher levels of carbon emissions may be the unavoidable risk factor that increases vulnerability to the virus of already vulnerable demographics worldwide, particularly older people and people who are disenfranchised.

    Just let that word salad wash over you.

    Increased carbon emissions are going to make people die of covid. More C02 in the air (in the ppm or ppb range) will kill people who literally exhale C02 all day, every day.

    And increases risks, particularly to people who are disenfranchised. Because not having the right to vote means that you die of covid.

    What in the ever-loving hell? NBC news has been slathered in fake news sauce for quite some time, but even taking that into account, this is particularly pathetic. And that’s just one sentence.

    • Tejicano

      “…exposure to higher levels of carbon emissions …”

      Sounds like Nancy Pelosi was recently exposed to higher levels of carbon emissions too!

    • PieInTheSky

      I shared this mostly because I accidentally clicked on it and I hate clicking on any boingboing link and decided to spread it around

    • Mojeaux

      I wpuldn’t cry if it died. I haven’t been a target of attacks mostly because I keep my mouth shut on social media, but I know authors who have. Also, I don’t understand hate-reading. Why spend time reading something just to shit on it?

      • cyto

        Isn’t that the entire point of comments sections like this?

      • Mojeaux

        Well, *I*, unlike Bro, don’t hate-read and rarely tell people how much they suck. I get no pleasure from it.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Tearing someone else down so you can stand on their corpse is a time-honored tradition only made more fruitful by social media.

        Get in on the action Mo.

      • Mojeaux

        Get in on the action Mo.

        Oh, wait. I did.

      • TARDis

        Dang it Mo, I was just about to have a nap! It’s bad enough dreaming about Mutant Booty Demi, now I’m going to have nightmares

      • Brochettaward

        Also, I don’t understand hate-reading.

        Telling people how much they suck is like one of the three things I enjoy in life.

      • Festus' Mustache

        That’s why you are such a vital piece of this strange little place that we frequent, Bro. I’ll bet YOU have never chased bears out of your yard with a twig, huh?

      • Brochettaward

        Chasing off bears with a stick is not gay. So congratulations.

      • Cancelled

        And yet somehow touching a bear’s stick is gay!

  29. PieInTheSky

    Castellfollit de la Roca is a municipality in the comarca of Garrotxa, in the Province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The urban area is bordered by the confluence of the Fluvià and Toronell rivers, between which the town’s basalt cliff rises.

    The basalt crag where the town is situated is over 50 meters (160 feet) high and almost a kilometer long. It was formed by the overlaying of two lava flows.[5]

    Based on google image search that is a cool looking village

  30. The Late P Brooks

    Political panicmongering

    Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak slammed President Donald Trump on Sunday night for violating state rules by holding a 2020 campaign rally indoors with thousands of people.

    In a lengthy thread on Twitter, the Democratic governor said that Trump “is knowingly packing thousands into an indoor venue to hold a political rally” and has “forgotten that this country is still in the middle of a global pandemic.”

    “This is an insult to every Nevadan who has followed the directives, made sacrifices, and put their neighbors before themselves,” Sisolak said. “It’s also a direct threat to all of the recent progress we’ve made and could potentially set us back.”

    Everybody at that trump rally is going to die, if we have to hunt them down and kill them ourselves.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Maybe they can borrow the dump trucks that SD used to haul off the Sturgis Rona victims?

    • A Leap at the Wheel

      Should be pretty easy for them to count up the number of deaths of attendees and demonstrate how bad a move it was. Right?

    • pan fried wylie

      “Insulting every Nevadan is MY job, Buddy!”

    • UnCivilServant

      Or, it was always a display piece.

      • PieInTheSky

        For a writer you jump to boring conclusions

      • Mojeaux

        Not-flip answer: That’s our job. It’s our job to ask crazy questions then try to answer them. If I had the interest, I could construct a story around that sword. Hell, I have constructed stories around a single dress before.

      • UnCivilServant

        It was used for killing Kaiju, it was a crew-served weapon, where three people would swing the sword to try to decapitate the monster.

      • AlexinCT

        What? No yeagers?

      • AlexinCT

        Why not? It is very time-racialist to assume they couldn’t build one from bamboo and other stuff… they did make that big sword after all….

      • Not Adahn

        #lineartimesowhite

      • pan fried wylie

        it was a crew-served weapon

        Kit available in stores for xmas.

    • sloopyinca

      It only weighs 32 pounds. I’m sure it could have been carried by a pretty big dude. Not sure how effective a weapon it would be, but it easily could have been carried as an intimidation piece.

  31. Tundra

    Did you know Fauci is a cunte?

    Yeah, you knew.

    We’re never gonna be done with this.

    • Drake

      November 4th – when Trump announces Fauci’s retirement.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The lesson in all of this is that there’s no reason to destroy us when we will willingly destroy ourselves. Osama had us pegged.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Just got back from western North Dakota and it was awesome. Not a mask in sight. The one chain gas station we stopped at had a “Face coverings are mandatory” to enter, but as soon as we got inside, we realized the locals didn’t care.

      At dinner at a great place in Beach, NDak and not a single patron had a mask and the tables looked like they were pretty much the same as they had been before the Panic.

      The people there are all acting just like before the Panic and it was refreshing to hang out there.

      • Nephilium

        Looks like there was some civil disobedience in Cleveland for the opener. Some hope exists, even with the pants shitting tone of the article.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        When you follow the Browns, what’s the point of trying to stay alive?

      • Nephilium

        So we can continue the mantra of the Cleveland fans, “Well, there’s always next year.”

      • Certified Public Asshat

        The first games for my kids’ soccer was this weekend. Parents are required to wear masks on the sideline. Kids have to wear masks to the field (stupid) and then put them on when sitting on the bench (stupid).

        But good news! The overwhelming majority of parents and kids went no masks.

    • Count Potato

      “3) the newly discovered phenomenon of COVID-19 reinfection gives panic-pushers an excuse to keep lockdown measures until some new target of vaccine efficacy or compliance is met”

      I don’t think that’s been demonstrated.

    • sloopyinca

      This little fuck thinks he’s a king or something.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Henderson authorities said in a statement late Sunday that officials warned the event organizer in writing and verbally that they must obey the governor’s directives, which include not gathering in groups larger than 50 people, wearing face coverings and social distancing.

    In response to criticism the campaign received for holding the indoor rally, Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign 2020 communications director, said in a statement, “If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets, gamble in a casino, or burn down small businesses in riots, you can gather peacefully under the 1st Amendment to hear from the president of the United States.”

    The president had also held a rally on Saturday on the tarmac of Nevada’s Minden-Tahoe Airport where most people were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing.

    The horror.

    The HORROR.

    • Pine_Tree

      Because kulturkrieg – just like everything else they’re doing.

      A criminal in a Dem stronghold with tons of laws already breaks another law, and so Biden’s answer is to attack … me.

    • Brochettaward

      Pretty sure the shooter used a handgun in that attack?

    • AlexinCT

      Don’t you know that disarming the sheep you want to fleece is necessary to prevent gun violence?

      /Snickers..

      • creech

        I’ve heard it reliably (Biden campaign ad) that he is only going to fleece people who make more than $400,000 per year.
        [Checks 2019 Form 1040 – whew I’m O.K.]

      • AlexinCT

        Right….

        That’s like that whole line about “only sticking in the tip” or “not gonna cum in your mouth”, and just as reliable a promise….

        Wait until they start confiscating People’s 401ks because the people that saved like that have an unfair advantage compared to those that didn’t and the social justice crowd is all about fixing injustices like this one…

  33. Scruffy Nerfherder

    In this case, the weapon of war appears to have been a handgun.

    • PieInTheSky

      anything more than a pointed stick is a weapon of war

      • Drake

        Nope – those were used in more wars than guns.

      • cyto

        Sure, everyone wants to learn about defense against pointed sticks. But what about bananas?

    • Pope Jimbo

      Some pervy zookeeper is sweating this out. Hoping no one at the zoo thinks to do a deep background check on him.

      • Festus' Mustache

        Can’t find it but “Chicken Lady” being hatched seems apropos. “How dare dare you!” and runs of into the storm…

    • EvilSheldon

      Sweet drunken Enkidu, the IFLS people are complete idiots…

      Oviparous reptiles lay clutches of unfertilized eggs all the time. It’s completely normal, only slightly unusual in this case because of the age of the snake

      • PieInTheSky

        but they FLS which is what matters

    • AlexinCT

      Has anyone seen or resident space lizard recently? Is this why it has been absent?

  34. Count Potato

    “Stay in Will Smith’s Fresh Prince of Bel-Air kingdom! The iconic mansion from the show is becoming an Airbnb – and the sitcom’s DJ Jazzy Jeff will provide a personal welcome

    The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air mansion is being added to Airbnb’s listings 30 years after Will Smith rolled up the driveway and knocked on the door of the iconic crib for the very first time.

    The grand pillared home, which features in the opening credits of the sitcom, has been decked out with ‘bold graffiti art and timeless family portraits’ – and Philly cheesesteaks will be served on silver platters. ”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/escape/article-8722947/Will-Smiths-Fresh-Prince-Bel-Air-mansion-Airbnb-Jazzy-Jeff-welcome-guests.html

    • A Leap at the Wheel

      I have no interest in this*, but I applaud its existence.

      *aside from the fact that I love cheesesteak and the show correctly referenced the brown bag** test to determine quality.

      **No, its a different brown bag test than that one.

    • Gdragon

      Can I get thrown out like Jazz?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I don’t think a loss of reproductive capacity is going to be a loss to society in his case.

    • AlexinCT

      Social justice, right there….

  35. Festus' Mustache

    I’ll save my bear-repeller stick for a future Zooming. Damn that was dumb.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Linked to that NBC News article about air pollution never passing up on the chance to tie your hobby horse to an opportune crisis, there is a terrified screed from some woman writer in Iowa about how the University of Iowa is killing everybody by not taking the plague seriously, or some such nonsense.

    In it, she refers to what they oh so cleverly call the “Covid Lounge” which is apparently a shared student residence. Night after night, kids show up, not a mask among them, to drink and fraternize and infect each other with this deadliest and most contagious of diseases. It’s a slaughterhouse. It’s the same all over town.

    But she does not mention (perhaps out of delicacy of feeling) the endless parade of body bags coming out every morning. Some people might look at this sort of phenomenon and think, “Maybe it’s not as universally lethal as we have been told.” But that would be foolish and wrong and self-delusional. We must believe in SCIENCE, and be afraid.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    I’ll save my bear-repeller stick for a future Zooming. Damn that was dumb.

    Get out your pocket knife, and sharpen that stick for next time.

    My friends I had dinner with last night told me there was a big fat black bear wandering around their yard in the middle of the day, recently. No sticks were brandished.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    A criminal in a Dem stronghold with tons of laws already breaks another law, and so Biden’s answer is to attack … me.

    Admit it. You were never going to vote for him.

    • AlexinCT

      Careful…

      These folks don’t take kindly to the people that point out that they have been in charge for decades in the places where you have the most problems with the evils they tell us are rampant and why this country is a horrible place…..

  39. Brochettaward

    Orange Man Bad must be punished. Orange Man Bad must be punished. He dared to usurp the presidency from the Mandarian class.

    Here in the United States, we have never yet witnessed such an event. No commander-in-chief has been charged with a criminal offense, let alone faced prison time. But if Donald Trump loses the election in November, he will forfeit not only a sitting president’s presumptive immunity from prosecution but also the levers of power he has aggressively co-opted for his own protection. Considering the number of crimes he has committed, the time span over which he has committed them, and the range of jurisdictions in which his crimes have taken place, his potential legal exposure is breathtaking. More than a dozen investigations are already under way against him and his associates. Even if only one or two of them result in criminal charges, the proceedings that follow will make the O. J. Simpson trial look like an afternoon in traffic court.

    https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/donald-trump-criminal-case.html

    I’d say this is fantasy, but I could really see this happening if Trump loses. These people don’t care what precedent they’ll be setting. It’s why Trump may as well have gone ahead and found someone to prosecute Hillary.

    • AlexinCT

      Better to rule in hell….

    • sloopyinca

      No commander-in-chief has been charged with a criminal offense, let alone faced prison time.

      Only because one (Nixon) was preemptively pardoned and another (Clinton) wasn’t subject to perjury laws like a prole would be.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      “Considering the number of crimes he has committed…”

      The number is probably not zero, but I’m having a hard time naming any.

  40. PieInTheSky

    So they officially opened a new subway line in Bucharest. 7.2 kilometers. Work started in 2011 with a 3 year time to finish.

    • Chipwooder

      Oh, so Massachusetts Democrats were in charge?

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        No. It got completed.

    • Rhywun

      NYC got a three-station extension a couple years ago and it only took 80 years.

      • PieInTheSky

        I hope it works for NYC. Here the line does not end at one of the main stations where you can switch on multiple lines.

        So people will take the subway to the end, change to go to a main station and change again. Switching trains at a main station is a nightmare already, the tunnels are full and people have to wait for 3 trains to be able to get in at rush hour. You add a bunch more people and it will clog even more. That being said, it goes to an area of Bucharest that is just a huge mass of commie apartment blocks without much infrastructure for going in/out so it was a nightmare traffic wise. SO at least the subway will run faster. But changing trains will be worse.

      • PieInTheSky

        There are to many people in this city which was built poorly.

    • PieInTheSky

      What pisses me off there is a bridge being built over a like 15 meter diameter roundabout and the official time to completion is 30 months. That should be done in 3.

      • AlexinCT

        Got to keep people employed, yo….

    • robc

      There was an econtalk podcast on superprojects a few years back.

      1 in 10 finish on time.
      1 in 10 finish on budget.
      1 in 10 provide the benefit promised.

      It turns out those are basically independent variables, so only 1 in 1000 superprojects hit all 3 goals.

      • Lackadaisical

        Anyone who has been a part of a planning study (at least a government one) could tell you this is true for all government projects.

  41. KibbledKristen

    Yesterday’s TdF stage was a clinic on strategy and fitness.

    Two Slovenians are battling for the yellow jersey. I love that France hasn’t won the thing since the mid-80’s, but along comes this little country that didn’t even exist during Bernard Hinault’s glory days…

    • R C Dean

      We had to look up where Slovenia is. Further west than I had thought.

      • KibbledKristen

        I’m familiar wit Slovenia on account of their skiing. And the FLOTUS, too, I guess.

  42. Sean

    Conspiracy theories.

    On Monday, September 14, 2020 at 3:37a.m., East Precinct officers were dispatched with Portland Fire and Rescue to a report of multiple fires burning along the west side of the I-205 freeway. Portland Fire and Rescue extinguished three of them while passing community members put out the other three. All were caught early. No one was injured and no structures were burnt. Officers located Domingo Lopez, Junior walking along the shoulder and arrested him. They seized a lighter as evidence.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      so nowI’m an arsonist?
      /pulls Bic from pocket, lights cigar…….

      • Count Potato

        Gave up on vaping?

    • Gustave Lytton

      Buried in there, that was the second time the arsonist was arrested. He was arrested (also for arson) and released without bail the previous afternoon.

  43. PieInTheSky

    A Brief Walk Along Denver’s Notorious Market Street

    https://www.historycolorado.org/story/going-places/2018/11/26/brief-walk-along-denvers-notorious-market-street

    Gamboling along Market Street, heading west from 20th Street, one could visit Belle Birnard’s at 1952 Market. Belle’s boasted 14 rooms, five parlors, choice wines, liquors, and cigars—“strictly first-class in all respects.” Twelve “boarders” entertained at Belle’s.

    The women who worked at a parlour house such as Belle’s were expected to be talented, attractive, well-dressed, and abstemious from drink. Earning $30 to $100 an evening for the pleasure of their company, a parlour house girl paid 50% of her earnings to the proprietress of the house, plus room and board. Many women began a life on The Row as a way to make money when few other professional options existed for women and “respectable work” as typists, clerks, seamstresses, laundresses, and domestic servants paid meager wages, as little as $1 a week.

    • Nephilium

      /goes and checks

      Nope that’s not where my great grandfather’s tavern (and reportedly a brothel during prohibition) was.

  44. cyto

    In my continuing disillusionment, some “science communicator” types informed me that black bears are not dangerous to humans.

    Now, I’m not saying that a black bear will just hunt you down at the local strip mall and have its way with you… But black bears are top predators. They are strong enough to tear apart galvanized steel trash cans (I have seen the aftermath in person…. claws cutting through steel like a pair of tin snips is terrifying, I don’t care who you are.)

    But they insist that bears never harm humans (citing the fact that they couldn’t find any recent articles about bears harming people in their home state).

    So, I’m gonna tap into the vast knowledge of this crowd.

    Am I insane? Or are black bears absolutely nothing that you ever want to mess with? I’ve encountered them in the wild a couple of times, and quietly let them pass without drawing attention to myself. But I was under no illusion that I was not in any danger from that animal. Just that they are not that numerous and are generally not inclined to attack unless they are protecting their cubs. What say you?

    • PieInTheSky

      black bears are not dangerous to humans. – they are less dangerous than brown I would say. But any large wild animal and many small can be dangerous. Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Black bears won’t hunt you down like a grizzly or polar, but they certainly can kill you.

      Most encounters with black bears that end badly are directly caused by stupidity on the part of the homosapien. For example, if you’re hiking in the mountains and a black bear gets your pack at night, that’s not your pack anymore. Attempting to argue with the bear over ownership will probably just end with blood and tears on your part.

    • Not Adahn

      They are unlikely to attack you. But you are also unlikely to die from the ‘vid, and apparently that’s worth panicking over.

    • Festus' Mustache

      Black bears will hunt you and we have a problem with too many around here. Jesus, I have at least two or three stories about those goddamned things every year. Nobody hunts them anymore. Hardly any one even hunts anything, anymore. Wolves are a problem, coyotes are a problem. Moose are disappearing because the predators are taking the calves.

      • Drake

        New Jersey has too many now. They used to have a bear season to keep the numbers under control. The big city libs have ended bear hunting on state land and their numbers are rising.

      • Festus' Mustache

        Just three weeks ago I told you guys the story wherein I was about ten seconds away of throwing trash bags onto a sow in the garbage bin. Her babies were waiting at the foot for goodies.

      • cyto

        I was thinking about the numbers thing. We hunted down all of the top predators and nearly eliminated them. We don’t like the competition or the danger. But since we are no longer a rural agrarian society, we have moved to restore the ecosystem and the predators. Up in northern Wisconsin where my in-laws spend their year preparing for deer season, wolves and bears are on the comeback. Wolves are a serious consideration when retrieving a deer from the deep woods. My FIL had to cede ownership of one to a pack of wolves a few years back when he couldn’t find it in the fading light.

        Bears are less numerous, and therefore less of a problem. But there are enough of them around that I hear stories just about every year about some not-so-pleasant encounters.

        As numbers of top predators continue increasing, and numbers of people living in the country but not working the land increases… I anticipate a coming conflict.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      The guide I spoke with in Alaska said black bears were much more dangerous than grizzly bears. He said black bears were much more likely to attack a person and if they charged you, it was for the kill. The good news is that you can fight a black bear off with enough dedication.

      In contrast, grizzlies aren’t interested in people. He warned us to stand our ground if charged by a grizzly because, 9 out of 10 times, they’ll stop a few feet away. It’s a test to see if we’ll run and are prey. Of course, you’re fucked if it’s that 1 out of 10 times where the grizzly really is coming after you because there’s no fighting one off.

      • Tundra

        I know a dude who rounded a corner and surprised a couple grizzlies. He had his fucking bear spray in his hand and didn’t have time to use it.

        So sometimes it’s just bad luck.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Yeah, surprising one wouldn’t end well.

      • Tundra

        He fucked up and got up ahead of the other guys in the group. Bad plan in bear country. They would most likely have heard them coming and split.

        He lived to tell about it, so I guess there’s that.

      • Tulip

        That’s why you’re supposed to make noise.

      • Festus' Mustache

        Thywipppppppted is a kinda, sorta noise.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Does loudly shitting your pants count?

      • Tulip

        One of my nephews does a lot of hiking in Yellowstone. He has bear spray and bear bells (jingle bells to wear on your ankles). Of course he jokes that you can identify black bear scat because it contains seeds and berries and you can identify grizzly bear scat because it smells like bear spray and contains jingle bells.

      • Chipwooder

        Huh….I’ve encountered black bears a few times when camping in Shenandoah and the GW national forest, and they never seemed aggressive. I kept my distance and they went about their business.

      • Festus' Mustache

        I think Northern bears are probably more desperate for food.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I don’t think it’s that black bears are naturally aggressive towards people, but if one does attack you then the bear’s intention is to kill you. Grizzlies may have other intentions and not follow-through. Kind of like a great white taking a bite out of a surfer and then leaving after realizing the person’s not a seal. I imagine attacks are rare for either bear type.

      • Cancelled

        There is no outrunning them either so might as well try standing your ground

    • cyto

      Also….

      Same science communicators told me that the US covid situation is by far the worst in the world, by every measure.

      Now, this flies in the face of everything I know. Is this remotely true?

      The only measure I can think of that could justify a comment like that is “total cases”, where the US does more testing and verifying than anyone and has a larger population than anyone except China and India. So they compare the US with nearly 200k “deaths with covid” to Luxemborg’s 124 deaths.

      They also specifically mentioned on a “per person basis”. But the WHO puts the US in 11th place by that metric, kind of in the middle of the pack of nations that have been hard hit. And since more than a quarter of the deaths in the US are still from the botched New York initial response, I put an asterisk beside that too. Belgium, Spain, the UK, Italy are all well ahead of us on that measure, and Sweden, Mexico and France are right with us.

      But they were quite certain that the US is by far the worst off of all nations – and particularly among wealthy nations.

      • EvilSheldon

        “You are an idiot,” is a complete sentence.

      • R C Dean

        DIVOC sez total deaths per million:

        Sweden: 566
        US: 589
        NYS: 1,697
        NJ: 1,804

    • Drake

      Black bears aren’t dangerous until they are. I’ve had some males ramble out of the state forest and through my yard that are 500 to 600 lbs. They look slow until I realize they walked across my 1 acre yard in half a minute.

      • Festus' Mustache

        Faster than horses.

    • littleruttiger

      Supposedly, if a brown bear attacks you it is likely going to make sure you’re not a threat, i.e. f you up a bit, and then leave. A black bear, on the other hand, will be more likely to want to eat you.
      Therefore, they say to play dead with a brown bear, and fight back against a black bear – this was from a book I read awhile ago, so maybe the thinking has changed (and, of course, if any kind of bear starts to eat you, you should probably fight back).

      Also, black bears are obviously much more common than brown bears in most areas, and typically can climb trees much better than brown bears.

      So no, in my opinion every bear should always be viewed as dangerous, and completely capable of killing and eating you – which they do from time to time. It may not be a statistically likely way of dying, but if I were to ever come across them in the wild my first thought would likely be “shit”, not “neato”.

      • Animal

        An Italian biologist, Stephen Herrero, spent a career studying “unfavorable human-bear interactions.” His book Bear Attacks is informative. It was his work that revealed that while grizzlies will attack if startled or to intimidate, blacks are more likely to attack with predatory intent.

      • littleruttiger

        That was probably the one – my grandpa had quite a few bear books, most of them of the pulp, “I was attacked alone in the mountains” type stories

    • Chipwooder

      Black bears, in general, are not aggressive and will flee when encountering a human. You’d have to be pretty damned stupid to say that an apex predator which weighs around 300-400 pounds with huge teeth and claws isn’t dangerous.

    • invisible finger

      Sounds like “Black Bears are mostly peaceful.”

    • EvilSheldon

      Very few wild animals are significantly dangerous to people, absent people’s stupid behavior.

      • Cancelled

        Mosquitos are the reigning “Threat to humans” champs, by several orders of magnitude.

      • EvilSheldon

        Yup. Fleas and rats are gonna be in there somewhere, too.

      • robc

        Mosquitoes are at about 725k per year.

        Looks like Dogs may be top mammal at 25k per year. If you can avoid the plague, looks like rats aren’t too too horrible. I can’t find an exact number.

    • A Leap at the Wheel

      This totally depends on whether or not the bears have been trained to see humans as a source of food. Live near a public park where people car camp and leave food scraps around? That bear will eat your head, no matter what color it is.

    • pan fried wylie

      They are strong enough to tear apart galvanized steel trash cans

      Galvanizing doesn’t make it resistant to being torn apart. /irrelevantdetails

      • UnCivilServant

        It does defray corrosion, making it less likely to be weakened by the time the bear rips it apart.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      When I was a boy scout a black bear stole my bag of food that was a yard away from me while I was sleeping. We should have put the food in a tree, but my dad assured me that there were no bears there, because he hadn’t seen any when he backpacked there decades before. Anyway, it seems that if easy food is available the bear will take that instead of attacking people.

  45. The Late P Brooks

    I’m gonna tap into the vast knowledge of this crowd.

    Black bears seem, for the most part, to be adherents of the non-aggression principle. They’re the libertarian bears, unlike the grizzly and polar types.

    • Festus' Mustache

      Sure. Until they realize that they hold the high cards. Never trust bear. Bear is asshoe.

    • Not Adahn

      Except for the whole thieving part.

      • Festus' Mustache

        Roly-poly raccoons until they’re not.

      • Brochettaward

        Now I can’t steal? Don’t tell me how to libertarian, pal!

      • Drake

        Hey – you were giving away that trash and birdseed anyhow.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      They don’t have much respect for private property though.

      • cyto

        This entire discussion was initiated because one of the hosts had a young bear visit his bird feeder on his deck. It bent the metal to get to the feeder. Which is trivial for a bear. They can rip open most normal containers designed for human use pretty easily, including things like houses and cars. They generally are not motivated to do so, but that doesn’t mean they can’t.

        Here’s a nice collection of what they will do to your stuff if they decide they are so motivated:

        http://bearsmartdurango.org/gallery/property-damage-from-bears/

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Black bears will hunt for food by sight. The ones in Kings Canyon are mostly halfway house bears from Yellowstone, ie they got too cozy with humans there and got sent to Kings before they get selected for permanent removal.

        Therefore, the black bears in Kings Canyon know exactly what a cooler looks like and will peel the windshield off a vehicle to get at one, regardless of whether they can smell food.

        After they get in the vehicle they sometimes get a little confused on the way back out and tend to shred the upholstery in frustration.

    • A Leap at the Wheel

      So you are saying a bear armed bear is a polite bear?

  46. Not Adahn

    For UnCiv and any nearby lurkers:

    The club is doing Thursday evening Steel Challenge. Register on Practiscore, search “SSRG” to find it.

    The next five Sundays are dedicated to doing USPSA level Is to keep our affiliation current.

    • EvilSheldon

      One of my locals is doing Outlaw Steel this Sunday, and we’re gonna bring some noobs.

      I gotta get my AR-22 zero’d sometime this week…

      • Not Adahn

        Zeroed? Bah. My fastest times are with 10/22 with no rear sight.

      • EvilSheldon

        That is both cool and horrifying at the same time. Kind of like a Ducati Diavel.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    Rooshunz

    Russian operatives are using a sneakier, more sophisticated version of their 2016 playbook to undermine the November election — and this time, groups inside and outside the U.S. are furthering their goal of sowing chaos.

    Kremlin-backed operatives are flooding social media with fake accounts and stoking racial divisions around topics like Black Lives Matter. Articles in state-owned Russian media with millions of U.S. readers online seek to dampen Joe Biden’s appeal among progressives and echo President Donald Trump’s unsupported claims about voting fraud.

    At the same time, Russian state-backed hackers are waging cyberattacks against political parties, campaigns, consultants and others tied to the U.S. elections — using more elaborate deceptions than in 2016, Microsoft said last week.

    So far, the 2020 race hasn’t featured any obvious repeats of the mass hacking and dumping of confidential documents that undermined Hillary Clinton at key moments during the 2016 campaign. U.S. intelligence agencies later blamed that breach on a covert Kremlin effort to torpedo the Democratic nominee and help Trump win.

    But security researchers, former intelligence officials and lawmakers now worry that the Russians may still have a hand they haven’t played.

    “One thing we know that happened in 2016 was Russia, particularly with misinformation and disinformation, tried to exacerbate those divisions that we see play out in real time in America,” Senate Intelligence Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) told an audience at a cybersecurity conference last week. “I’m very, very concerned in these last 50-plus days whether Russia could try to exacerbate those kinds of racial divisions again.”

    Boris Badenov is coming for you. Be afraid.

    • Drake

      Now do the ChiComs.

    • Rhywun

      Laying the groundwork for Coup II – Electric Boogaloo Boys

      • AlexinCT

        There are people that despite all the facts now proving this Russia thing was not just a hoax but part of a larger far more nefarious plot to first provide justification (not real, but good enough to get a pass if someone asks) and then run a soft coup, that still so desperately want it to be true that they will accept the resurrection of this idiocy on face value.

    • creech

      Meanwhile Bloomberg says he will dump $100 million into the state of Florida alone in order to swing that state to Biden.

      • Nephilium

        While screaming that we need to get money out of politics.

    • Charlie Suet

      Either in January this year or in late 2019 I read the Wikipedia article on “Foreign interference in the 2020 US Presidential Election”.

      On the talk page there was someone claiming that there was hard and incontrovertible evidence for Russian interference in an election that was almost a year away. This evidence proved to be a single instance of someone with an IP address in the Ukraine or somewhere editing the Wikipedia page for some bureaucrat to read “Swamp Monster”. That was the entire argument.

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        I keep waiting for articles like these to present evidence, but it’s always lacking.

  48. Certified Public Asshat

    Why isn't #MiracleWhip trending every day? smdh— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) September 14, 2020

    Iowahawk is cancelled. It’s been fun.

    • Rhywun

      No idea. Should it be?

    • Mojeaux

      Miracle Whip has its place, as does Spin Blend.

      • cyto

        2 things:

        1. I knew you were kinky… but damn. There have to be limits in a civilized society.

        2. Isn’t Miracle Whip just mayo with a little lemon juice and sugar?

      • Mojeaux

        1. My people are Belgian, so it’s in the DNA.

        2. Also paprika.

      • AlexinCT

        Heh, I like my European fries when I am there to be “war” fries. Ketchup (whatever they have that passes for that), Mayo, peanut sauce, and raw onions….

        Bad habit with some room clearing consequences, but same as eating Brussels sprouts…

      • cyto

        That is so incredibly weird…. I feel a compulsion to try it.

      • Mojeaux

        Use Wendy’s fries to try with mayo.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Not a little sugar, a lot of sugar.

      • Rhywun

        And some other weird spices. Yecch.

      • EvilSheldon

        If there’s no mayo, how can you make chicken or tuna salad?

      • TARDis

        Poorly.

      • Mojeaux

        Miracle Whip.

        My tuna salad (cribbed from my bestie):

        2 cans tuna, drained
        lots and lots of grated extra-sharp cheddar
        lots and lots of white onion, diced
        3 hard-boiled eggs, diced
        salt
        black pepper
        lots of parsley
        lots of chili powder
        lots of paprika
        lots of cayenne pepper
        enough mayo to make it stick together

        combine well

        Refrigerate for an hour to get the kick.

      • cyto

        That sounds great.

        I do it redneck style…. cubed sweet pickles, dijon mustard, can of tuna. Mix and eat with crackers. Or without.

        That was my “fancy” meal on my last “get back to my wedding day weight” bender for the wife. Skip the crackers for even greater effect.

        BTW… in 2 years of holding my wedding day weight… and she never even noticed. At least not out loud. Having a spouse is weird.

      • Mojeaux

        There’s another way I make it that involves less prep: tuna, sweet relish, garlic powder, garlic salt, salt, mayo. Make a piece of toast, put a slice of cheese on it, pile on the tuna salad. (Smacks of backwoods diner tuna melt, but so what.)

      • EvilSheldon

        That sounds outstanding, although you can keep the cheese.

        Something else to try – tuna salad made with equal parts Sriracha and ranch salad dressing.

  49. PieInTheSky

    Why Do Most Indian Men Live With Their Parents?

    Updated: 18 hours ago

    In East Asia, extended families were dissolved by rapid economic development. Despite rapid economic growth since the 1980s, India has seen little change in the prevalence of nuclear families. Why is this? The answer lies in the KIND of economic development India has experienced. Indians tend to work for small family-owned businesses. This pattern of structural transformation and occupational diversification has strengthened multigenerational households.

    https://www.draliceevans.com/post/why-do-most-indian-men-still-live-with-their-parents

      • AlexinCT

        Did they finish off their mostly peaceful protests by burning the place down after getting their reparations quota for the day? And then tell everyone the man is trying to starve them?

      • creech

        Well Trader Joe’s is owned by Aldi, a German company. So it may be understandable that Marxists have no love for Nazis.

    • Lackadaisical

      ‘rapid eocnomic growth’

      Is that another way of saying still a third tier country?

      Most of east Asia has GDP/capita an order of magnitude higher than India’s.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        this. Living with extended family is highly correlated with poverty.

  50. The Late P Brooks

    Seeking to evade the hunt for fake accounts, the IRA used artificial intelligence to create photos of non-existent people, then built social media personas with those images to push news articles to left-minded online groups, the two companies said. Most strikingly, the IRA also hired freelance journalists to write for a bogus online news outlet called PeaceData that promoted causes favored by Russia, such as attacks on Belarus’ opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, and U.S. foreign policy toward Venezuela.

    They hired writers to push their preferred narrative, and argue for their policy goals? Like, OMG!

    How is that meaningfully different from CNN or the Atlantic?

    *IRA= Internet Research Agency (Rooshun troll farm!)

    • Not Adahn

      NPR ran that story a while back. At the time I wondered (and still do): if they are using actual human being to write actual stories and then actually publishing them, in what sense are they a “bogus” news outlet?

      • Pope Jimbo

        They don’t pay their fair share of server costs to keep the JournoList 2.0 running.

        Talking points don’t distribute themselves people!

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      They used AI, or they just wrote a script?

  51. Lackadaisical

    Let’s start the week off with a great song. Maybe it’ll make up for the shitty links. Maybe.

    Just wanted to let you know you accidentally linked the wrong song. Great links though, thanks.

  52. The Late P Brooks

    Today, in bad ideas

    San Franciscans will cast their ballots in November to decide whether 16-year-olds can vote in local elections.

    The proposition, if passed, would make San Francisco the first major U.S. city to give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote in municipal elections.

    Advocates of the measure say lowering the voting age would instill a lifelong habit of voting.

    On its website, Vote16SF says “lowering the voting age can lead to a long-term increase in voter turnout, bringing more citizens in touch with their government and pushing the government to better serve its people.”

    Crystal Chan, an 18-year-old organizer for Vote 16 SF, told NBC News the measure “will help youth of color in San Francisco establish the habit of voting at an earlier age, and really provide them with the support and the resources that they need to continue building on that habit as they grow older.”

    Yet, skeptics of lowering the voting age say 16 and 17-year-olds are not mature enough to make rational decisions at the voting booth.

    Rational decisions? Pfffft. This is politics.

    • Pope Jimbo

      No drinking and smoking before you are 21 because your brains aren’t fully formed yet.

      Voting? Sure, let’s do it at 16!

      • Urthona

        I cannot believe we get away with not allowing these things until 21.

        Does show how little political power young people really have though.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I’m sure there will be common sense controls put in to prevent these newly minted voters from voting for a drinking age of 16 (or smoking).

      • pan fried wylie

        and obviously labor laws are off the table. over the table? they can’t change them.

      • Akira

        Those are particularly stupid. Most of them haven’t been re-written since the ’40s.

        If I remember right, kids under 16 are not allowed to work on powered machinery. Machines nowadays have light curtains, shock sensors, E-stop buttons, and a host of other things that make it nearly impossible to injure yourself while running it.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      Advocates of the measure say lowering the voting age would instill a lifelong habit of voting.

      I’m actually not against letting 16 and 17 year olds vote (along with all the other rights and responsibilities of majority). That said, this is the most garbage reason for such a move. Voting should not be habitual and easy. There should be a barrier to entry, no matter how nominal. People who couldn’t be arsed to [go to the polls; register in advance; get valid ID] shouldn’t be encouraged to fuck up the system with their lazy ass votes (usually for the party of free shit).

      • Rhywun

        usually for the party of free shit

        That’s crazy-talk.

      • Charlie Suet

        Other rights and responsibilities is the key. So long as the left continues its line that teenagers are commercially irresponsible but politically mature it’ll be obvious that this is an entirely self-interested policy.

        Part of me wants to raise the voting age to thirty to allow people to get over the damage caused by state education. But that’s a) unjust and b) wishful thinking – some people will never grow up.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Drop the age requirement and add an IQ requirement.

      • pan fried wylie

        Sounds great, who makes all the IQ tests again?

  53. KibbledKristen

    Every time my colleague talks about this soon-to-be-ex-wife, this sketch plays in my head (where Phil Hartman is my colleague’s wife)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoVItVwLFzg

  54. Pope Jimbo

    It is still early, but I think Trump really does have a shot in Minnesoda.

    1) On my trip out west we saw 0 Biden signs along interstate 94. We saw at least 30 Trump signs. Last election it was 2-3 Hillary signs vs. 15 Trump signs.
    2) The only Biden support we saw was about 30 Biden supporters rallying on a pedestrian bridge over the interstate. Typically they chose a bridge over the interstate where it was currently being torn up so all the drivers were pissed and tense. I would have missed them completely because I was concentrating on the road but my son saw them and pointed out how bad of a place they chose.
    3) This morning we are being reliably told that Trump is at least 9 points behind. The NY Times said so! And Dave Weigel agrees!!! Yup. That is all I needed. East coasters telling me that it is raining on my leg.

    • Urthona

      A few of the polls have shown him as close, but I don’t know what to do believe. One did come out today that showed him trailing by 9. It’s only one though.

      The Trafalgar and Emerson polls in mid August were both neck and neck.

      • Pope Jimbo

        The local press remembers Ventura winning. He was way behind in the polls too, until the very end when everyone realized that other people thought he was the best candidate too and instead of “throwing away your vote” a vote for Jesse was a good idea.

        They aren’t going to let that happen again. Keep telling the formerly Dem voters in northern Minnesoda that Trump has no chance, so they will keep voting Dem. They shouldn’t listen to all the talk down at the bar where everyone seems to be for Trump. And they shouldn’t vote against the Dem party who wants to stop mining and prevent a new oil pipeline from being built.

    • PieInTheSky

      looks nice actually

  55. Urthona

    BTW, I looked up the Northern California county where the largest wildfire started, and it’s gotten cooler and wetter over the last 100 years.

    So Governor Newsom is claiming that Northern California getting (very slightly) cooler over the past 100 years is causing wildfires.

    This took literally 30 seconds of research on the NOAA database.

  56. The Late P Brooks

    The news is bad. Very very bad.

    Coronavirus cases continued to grow over the weekend in nearly a dozen U.S. states as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, warns about the nation’s worrying level of new infections.

    Covid-19 cases were growing by 5% or more, based on a weekly average to smooth out daily reporting, in 11 states as of Sunday, according to a CNBC analysis of data collected by Johns Hopkins University, an increase from eight states on Friday.

    The states were Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Wisconsin hit a record high in its average of daily new cases, reporting 1,353 new infections, a roughly 32% increase from a week ago, the Hopkins data shows. Kansas and Montana both hit record highs for new deaths.

    ——-

    While cases are growing in 11 states, the overall daily average of new cases in the U.S. is declining. Over the past seven days, the country has reported an average of about 34,300 new cases per day, down more than 15% compared with a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of Hopkins data. That’s far lower than the roughly 70,000 new cases a day the U.S. was reporting weeks ago.

    Still, the 34,300 new cases a day is alarmingly high, infectious disease experts say, and U.S. health officials fear the outbreak could get worse as the nation enters the fall and winter seasons. Health officials have repeatedly warned that they are preparing to battle two bad viruses circulating later this year as the coronavirus outbreak runs into flu season. Earlier this month, Fauci said daily new cases were “unacceptably high” this close to fall.

    Sorry, folks, but you’re all gonna die. That’s our story, and we’re sticking to it.

    • Urthona

      The U.S. covid tracker shows continuous decline.

      • Hyperion

        “The U.S. covid tracker shows continuous decline.”

        Then why is it raging?

    • Not Adahn

      in nearly a dozen U.S. states

      So less than 12. Out of 50.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yeah but if you round up slightly it’s one in four…which still isn’t that bad. Nevermind.

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        Yeah, but it’s increasing in 100% of those 12 states.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      Here comes the utterly unanticipated second wave. Nobody could have seen this coming.

      • Rhywun

        Followed by the never-saw-it-coming second lockdown. Stock up on TP again, folks.

      • R C Dean

        Second wave of what, is my question?

        Positive tests? Who cares.

        People who feel kinda crappy for a few days? Who cares?

        People who get hospitalized? OK, show me we won’t have capacity.

        Dead people? Now I want to know what counts as a second wave. Any reversal in the decline, no matter how small?

      • robc

        I wish Ivor Cummins wasn’t so Euro-centric. I want to see “dry tinder” stats by US state.

        For those who haven’t watched his recent youtube video, go do it. Basically the dry tinder is the relatively low flu cases last year in a number of European countries, which pretty successfully predicts which EU countries would have high numbers of covid deaths.

        Basically, a lot of seniors and etc who would have normally died of flu, died from covid this year instead.

      • Rhywun

        I wish Ivor Cummins wasn’t so Euro-centric.

        How I mis-read this

      • R C Dean

        I work in one of the largest hospitals in AZ, one of the hottest hot spots in July.

        As of Saturday, we have zero (0) COVID patients in an ICU bed, and less than ten (10) in the building anywhere.

        What’s the emergency that justifies the governor’s and misc. county and municipality lockdown, masking, and social distancing orders, exactly?

      • mrfamous

        Reason? What reason do they have to lift them? It’s the same with teachers returning to school: once they have something you want, they’re not going to give it to you unless they get something in return. Doesn’t matter if they value it themselves or not, what they value is the power they wield over you, and the use of that power to get something they do want.

        When the laws and constitution don’t protect us, this will _always_ happen. It has _always_ happened for as long as governments have existed.

      • Urthona

        Here in North Texas we now have hospitals shutting down covid wings for lack of patients.

        We were total just a few months ago our lack of lockdowns (only bars shut down) was irresponsible.

      • R C Dean

        I think at one point we had 5 COVID units. We now have one.

      • Hyperion

        “Here comes the utterly unanticipated second wave. Nobody could have seen this coming.”

        Starts now and peaks around Nov 3?

    • R C Dean

      We have enough data now to be able to predict how many will likely need hospitalization and/or will die, based on age and, if you want to get fancy, comorbities.

      So tell us: are these all young healthy people unlikely to twitch the needle on hospitalization and death? Do some elementary projections and let us know how much worse this will be than a wave of sore throats?

    • Tundra

      Uh, since the pcr tests are hot garbage, would it be ok if I don’t give a flying fuck about new cases?

      • Sean

        Yes.

      • IRBE

        From pandemic to casedemic in one easy step.

      • Not Adahn

        Since it’s scientifficully proven that more cases lead to more deaths, you just outed yourself as being a nazi.

      • Tundra

        Hmmm. I do look good in Hugo Boss…

      • Mojeaux

        Pix.

      • Cancelled

        You want to see Tundra in an SS uniform?

      • EvilSheldon

        To (mis)quote P.J. O’Rourke, “No one has ever fantasized about being chained to a bed and sexually ravished by a liberal.”

      • KibbledKristen

        WHile driving your VW, after having taken a coupla Bayer aspirins?

      • Cancelled

        It is a necessary condition for more deaths. Never mind about sufficient.

  57. Count Potato

    “Watch how “peaceful” #BLM protestors coordinate, surround and then attack me-simply because I am filming their police-escorted parade in the middle of Georgetown.

    I was physically assaulted and one of them snatched my phone.

    An owner of a nearby restaurant came fo my aid.”

    https://twitter.com/ReaganBabe/status/1305124837610991616

  58. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Just saw the video of the Pennsylvania shooting. I can’t believe they’re rioting over that shit. Time for the cops to break out the fucking firehouses.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      I’d love to see that myself but Biden’s people would never ever agree to Rogan moderating any length of debate. Rogan can be dense sometimes but he’s openminded and tries to be fair from what I’ve seen so he’s miles better than most of the other goobers they’re considering.

    • EvilSheldon

      Everyone does a bong rip and a shot of Gentleman Jack to start, then another one before each question. It would be better than the Elon Musk and Alex Jones JREs combined…

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Trump’s a teetotaler when it comes to booze. Maybe give him a line of coke to start off.

      • EvilSheldon

        Sorry, rules are rules! Drink up and be somebody!

    • B.P.

      “4 hours? Poor Joe would stroke out before the end.”

      To be fair, so would I as a viewer.

  59. prolefeed

    The ones who went into sales were definitely bad hires. They were continuously looking for a way to scam the company.

    I suspect almost ever sales person has a fair amount of larceny in their heart. It’s a brutal, “what have you done for me today?” business.

    I spent two years recently cold calling businesses selling internet service and whatnot. They’d hire almost anybody who showed some intelligence, and then fired the vast majority because they either tried to scam the business or customers, or couldn’t close, or didn’t show up for work, or flat out quit. In those two years, my little 15 person team had around 150 to 200 people rotate in, and then quit or get white-boxed (fired). It was one strike and you’re out if they caught you cheating.

    I quit when the business was going under and the owner reneged on the bonuses he’d promised.