Saturday evening, I’ve got it! links

by | Feb 26, 2022 | Daily Links, I Am Lame | 298 comments

Of course, this is the majority of the Russian military.

 

Yep, I think old Pootty Poot miscalculated Ukraine and the worlds response. There’s plenty of suck left to go though.

How about some cheery links!

 

How many have flipped and today are praising Anonymous?

 

Elon is the hero the world needs right now.

 

She’s written one appellate brief, and has been overturned twice for judicial overreach but hey, why not?

 

Bastards.

 

I’m going to just leave this here.

 

Love him, or hate him, the dude walks the walk.

 

Okay, that was fun. A cheery tune and then off to the bar.

About The Author

Spudalicious

Spudalicious

Survey says I’m a Paleolibertarian bitches. That means I eat “L”ibertarians for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Soave tastes a little fruity. Wait a minute, that doesn’t sound quite right…

298 Comments

  1. westernsloper

    On Friday, the same Russian websites appeared offline for a while, but the Kremlin denied it was being attacked by Anonymous, according to state media. It’s the third day in a row Russian websites have been inaccessible, at least for some period of time.

    +1 troll farm

  2. Ted S.

    Mr. Madonna hasn’t aged well.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Guy Ritchie?

    • juris imprudent

      Neither has Madonna.

  3. westernsloper

    The court currently has six conservative justices……

    Say what now?

    • Don escaped Texas

      Re SCOTUS: I see people borrowing my 3-3-3 court theory but they’ve got it all wrong. The divide is not along a conservative-to-liberal axis. It’s an institutional axis w CJR, BK, ACB factoring in the effect on the credibility of the court vs ‘just the facts, ma’am’ CT, SAA, NMG.— Sarah Isgur (@whignewtons) June 29, 2021

  4. Don escaped Texas

    “For too long, our government, our courts haven’t looked like America,” Biden said.

    The Senate shouldn’t even hold hearings on the next justice until 2061 per the Halley Rule

    • rhywun

      “Judge a book by its cover,” Biden added.

    • Count Potato

      Has there ever been an asian justice?

      • Gender Traitor

        Do rooftop Koreans count as “Asian justice”?

      • Spudalicious

        I’ve seen that Pornhub documentary.

  5. rhywun

    Move over, Putin – Roscosmos Director General Rogozin is the Bond villain the world doesn’t need right now.

    • Hyperion

      Klaus would like to have a word with you.

  6. The Other Kevin

    From the dead thread: Nothing on Facebook from the Team USA guys since they got to China. But the Slovak team posted photos and it looks like a scene from ET, what with all the hazmat suits and whatnot.

  7. rhywun

    Even before Biden nominated Jackson, GOP senators and Senate candidates were already concluding that she’d be far left

    I can’t imagine how they would come to that conclusion. ?

  8. Hyperion

    “Love him, or hate him, the dude walks the walk.”

    How do commies walk?

    • Spudalicious

      Instead of sitting in Hollywood and bitching on Twitter, he’s willing to go there for himself. He also shows up at disasters to help. I’m looking beyond ideology here.

      • Hyperion

        Best thing that fuck can do, with his politics, is jump off a cliff.

    • MikeS

      If we allow it to fight alone, our soul as America is lost.

      For that kind of thinking…wont’ say hate, but strongly dislike.

      However, much respect for putting himself in harm’s way and actually actually doing something.

  9. Hyperion

    Damn, since I stopped drinking beer, no beer for 3 weeks now, I’ve lost a little weight, about 5-6 lbs. But my stomach is killing me almost constantly, cramps, constipation, diarrhea, fuck, this sucks.

    • Nephilium

      That doesn’t sound good. Any other dietary changes that may be causing issues?

    • dontreadonme

      An equal volume replacement of bourbon is not the answer you were looking for?

      • Hyperion

        Well, I’m not doing that. So…

    • Sean

      Someone needs some probiotics.

      • Count Potato

        But isn’t kefir Russian?

      • Hyperion

        So, is that what the beer was giving me that I’m out of now?

  10. Semi-Spartan Dad

    Yep, I think old Pootty Poot miscalculated Ukraine and the worlds response. There’s plenty of suck left to go though.

    I mentioned on the last thread that I think Putin has held back to prevent civilian causalities. They haven’t used their tactical battlefield nukes and mass bombardment has been light. I don’t see how he can back down from this and things will likely escalate now that resistance has increased.

    https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-02-26

    Germany will send weapons to Ukraine including antiaircraft missiles and tank-busting rockets in a reversal of earlier policy, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Saturday.

    The U-turn was triggered by the Russian invasion, which Mr. Scholz said marked a turning point. “It is our duty to support Ukraine to the best of our ability in defending against Putin’s invading army,” Mr. Scholz said in a statement. “That is why we are delivering 1,000 antitank weapons and 500 Stinger missiles to our friends in Ukraine.”

    Berlin has also allowed the Netherlands to deliver German-made weapons to Ukraine, breaking with its strict refusal to authorize the delivery of lethal weapons to Ukraine, German government officials said.

    The government said 400 handheld antitank missiles and 14 armored vehicles would be delivered directly from Germany via Poland. Germany will also donate 10 metric tons of fuel to the Ukrainian armed forces, one official said.

    The Dutch government confirmed it would deliver the weapons to Ukraine.

    There’s a point at which those actively supplying your enemies during war become military targets themselves. I watched an interesting video last night that hypothesized a series of increasing escalations leading up to full nuclear exchange between the US and Russia. It began with Ukraine trying to join NATO, Germany pumping arms into Ukraine, Russia getting pushed back and then nuking Berlin because Putin didn’t think the US would retaliate with nukes unless hit directly. We nuked a couple Russian cities in retaliation. Then all out exchange. Who the hell knows what will happen, but the sequence has been a bit too on the nose so far for a video created back in summer 2021.

    I don’t know. The WSJ ran an editorial today preparing for war against Russia and that Article V will be invoked. It feels like this is rapidly evolving beyond Ukraine and Russia. I don’t think our chattering class even remotely comprehends what actual war against Russia will mean. And probably China too.

    • rhywun

      Pooty has to know that unleashing any nukes anywhere ends with nuked Russian cities.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I don’t know. Biden is senile and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is in China’s pocket. Is the US really going to risk MADD over a nuke that doesn’t hit a US territory? Possibly it would. I can see Putin deciding that is worth risking a gamble on though if he gets backed into a corner.

      • juris imprudent

        I don’t see the use in a tactical nuke – not if it is territory he hopes to retain. And it is far too likely to provoke a counter-strike to prove that the use is not going to be accepted.

      • rhywun

        If he nukes an American ally, I see us nuking back.

      • Brochettaward

        The chattering classes is trying to put out the notion that Putin’s ambitions may go beyond Ukraine. I don’t see it. He knows as well as anyone to keep this contained.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        He’s ruthless, not nuts. All the supposed worry about him attacking Finland or the Baltic states is just war drum propaganda.

      • Spudalicious

        Have you seen his face and listened to his last couple of speeches? Putin has spun a couple of lugnuts.

      • Spudalicious

        If this wasn’t blowing up in his face, he would have absolutely continued on.

      • Brochettaward

        Putin doesn’t strike me as the Napoleon type. All of his military adventures have been kept fairly limited in scope. This is the largest, sure, but it doesn’t mean he’s suddenly looking to start WW3 or conquer all of Europe.

        Even if Putin did wish to do so – he lacks the means and despite the Twitter thread posted below, I don’t think he’s even remotely delusional enough to think he could pull it off.

    • Brochettaward

      Our political class completely fucked up here. Basically, everything they wanted in Ukraine made this the most likely scenario. I still don’t think it escalates all that much.

      I don’t think the relatively small arms shipments from Germany here are going to matter much to the outcome of the war.

      • juris imprudent

        Least of all when Europe is still buying Russian oil & natural gas.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        It probably won’t excepting the Russians going harder on the Ukrainians in general now that it doesn’t look like they’re going to fold completely. Note the fighting in Kiev taking place under lit streets and being broadcast by everyday Ukrainians via cell networks. If Russia decides to step it up a notch they can make it a lot harder on the population than it already is.

      • Spudalicious

        Something like this was guaranteed the day Putin came to power.

      • Brochettaward

        So, before I go deeper into this, what exactly do you think is motivating Putin? Some desire to reestablish the USSR?

      • Spudalicious

        He wants to regain Russian glory, not necessarily the USSR. It’s been his stated goal since before he came to power. Now he’s 73 and has Parkinson’s. And we’ve been feeding his paranoia the whole time.

        When a dictator with a first world military states his goals openly for 20 years, I’m thinking we should take him seriously?

      • Brochettaward

        I think when I look at the actual actions he’s taken, he’s been pretty reluctant to use military force on anything but a small scale until now when Western and Ukrainian leaders presented him with a scenario that would be completely unacceptable to any Russian leader.

        I also think that one look at the Russian military shows that this isn’t a guy who has been preparing for all out war. His army can barely handle invading a country like Ukraine right on his own border. It’s being taxed to its limits. And this would be an operation his military would probably have been preparing for for years. So, do you think he’s just completely delusional about the state of his own country and military? Because if not, the facts on the ground don’t support the notion that he’s been preparing for some grand military operation to restore Russian glory.

        Putin’s previous military operations amount to, what? An invasion of a small country on its border. Stepping into Syria to make sure the West didn’t further destabilize the region after it had ignored him time and time again when he cautioned against regime change (I’m not trying to make him sound altruistic here, it’s of course about Russian interests – but those are limited interests and the actions he took were confined to protecting them while also avoiding a larger conflict), and Ukraine.

        By comparison, do we need to review what his American counterparts have done over the last two decades?

        When Putin uses his military, I see a guy who is attempting to achieve limited goals while avoiding larger scale conflicts. When posed with the threat of escalating conflicts, such as in Syria when Trump called his bluff, he has backed down.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        ?

        So far, he’s been rational. Let’s hope and pray it stays that way.

      • Swiss Servator

        “When Putin uses his military, I see a guy who is attempting to achieve limited goals while avoiding larger scale conflicts. ”

        ’cause yeah, it is so limited to announce a neighboring nation doesn’t exist, and they will be absorbed.

        He is a former KGB dude, who has climbed to the top of the pile of bodies in Russia to go ahead and assassinate journalists, steal the shit out of everything he can, wage war on his neighbors and belch and squeak about rebuilding the Russian Empire.

        All Hail the “limited” goals of killing lots of innocents, enslaving others and remaining a feared despot!

      • Brochettaward

        When did Putin announce that the Ukraine doesn’t exist and that he plans to absorb them back into Russia? It’s already been pointed out on here in recent days that parts of Eastern Ukraine voted to join Russia years ago and Putin said no. Far more likely scenario than Putin making Ukraine part of Russia is that he captures Kiev and installs a puppet government/one loyal to Russia. We don’t know what his plans are, exactly.

        You can attack Putin as a despot all you want. I’m not here to defend his honor. You sound a lot like the Western politicians who self-righteously condemn the guy, treating him like some sort of cartoon villain, and then fold when it comes time to actually confront him. If people think Putin has Hitler or Stalin-esque ambitions, then hell…we should be sending ground troops to Ukraine right now because the time to act is now. But for some reason, that’s not what Western leaders are doing and I don’t think that’s what you would advocate, either. Odd, huh?

        All Hail the “limited” goals of killing lots of innocents, enslaving others and remaining a feared despot!

        Would it make you feel warmy and fuzzy on the inside if was killing lots of innocents and instilling fear in foreign populaces while espousing the virtues of liberalism, like American presidents have done?

        Putin is not a warm and fuzzy guy. He’s an asshole. An asshole’s asshole, if you will. But I do not believe he is a delusional asshole, at least he seems less delusional than most of his Western counterparts. When it comes to his foreign policy at least, he has been far more responsible than American leaders have been.

        And outside the outright killing of dissidents and journalists, there aint much you can tag Putin with that you can’t say the same about Western leaders. He steals the shit out of everything and throws the crums to his cronies? What’s Obama’s networth again, after leaving office? What are the Clinton’s and Bush’s worth after decades in power? Who has caused more death throughout the world? Have they not shown a willingness to weaponize the government against political opponents? In Canada, they’ve seized bank accounts and jailed protesters. Here they’ve locked up 1/6 “rioters” for days while condoning the rioting and looting of their own supporters.

        Honestly, I think you’re kidding yourself if you think Putin is any more reprehensible on a personal level than most of the American presidents we’ve had in recent history. The Americans have a higher body count by far. Where they win, it’s because of long established cultural norms and a piece of paper written a few centuries ago still constrain them. But Hillary is no less cutthroat than Putin as a person. Putin is probably more competent, though.

        The shorter version for those who don’t want to read – Putin is asshole, but it’s a mistake to let that distort how you interpret his actions and so are most Western politicians.

      • Brochettaward

        I think there’s a pretty large gulf between what Putin said and how you described it above. I don’t see any basis for saying that Putin plans to absorb parts of Ukraine, particularly when it’s right there in your article – he plans to make regions of Eastern Ukraine independent.

        Putin’s actual words:

        I have already said that Russia accepted the new geopolitical reality after the dissolution of the USSR. We have been treating all new post-Soviet states with respect and will continue to act this way. We respect and will respect their sovereignty, as proven by the assistance we provided to Kazakhstan when it faced tragic events and a challenge in terms of its statehood and integrity.

        In this context, in accordance with Article 51 (Chapter VII) of the UN Charter, with permission of Russia’s Federation Council, and in execution of the treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic, ratified by the Federal Assembly on February 22, I made a decision to carry out a special military operation.

        It is not our plan to occupy the Ukrainian territory.

        Let me remind you that the people living in territories which are part of today’s Ukraine were not asked how they want to build their lives when the USSR was created or after World War II. Freedom guides our policy, the freedom to choose independently our future and the future of our children. We believe that all the peoples living in today’s Ukraine, anyone who want to do this, must be able to enjoy this right to make a free choice.

        The current events have nothing to do with a desire to infringe on the interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. They are connected with the defending Russia from those who have taken Ukraine hostage and are trying to use it against our country and our people.

        https://archive.fo/oxtBy#selection-3953.0-3953.265

        That’s a far cry from saying that Ukraine has no right to exist. He acknowledges the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian state, states he has no intention of occupying and absorbing all of Ukraine. You don’t have to take him at his word, but he has not stated he plans to do away with the Ukraine as a country.

      • Swiss Servator

        You are excusing someone who took the NAP and shoved it into the garbage disposal. You just keep excusing Putin… by your friends ye shall be known.

        What happened to the NAP?

      • Not an Economist

        Brochettaward,

        he plans to make regions of Eastern Ukraine independent.

        The problem with that statement is Russia is not fighting a war just to “make regions of the Eastern Ukraine independent”. If that is all Putin wanted to do then they could have marched large amounts of troops and equipment into the regions and made it clear a general war would start if anybody did anything. That is what he did earlier. At a minimum, the war Russia is fighting is to install a puppet regime in Ukraine. And there is probably some additional geopolitical gains he is aiming for as well.

      • Brochettaward

        The problem with that statement is Russia is not fighting a war just to “make regions of the Eastern Ukraine independent”. If that is all Putin wanted to do then they could have marched large amounts of troops and equipment into the regions and made it clear a general war would start if anybody did anything. That is what he did earlier. At a minimum, the war Russia is fighting is to install a puppet regime in Ukraine. And there is probably some additional geopolitical gains he is aiming for as well.

        I do not believe that Putin’s goals are just to establish some “independent” regions in Eastern Ukraine. I simply posted his words to show the…discrepancies…with the description of what he plans to do posted above.

        You are excusing someone who took the NAP and shoved it into the garbage disposal. You just keep excusing Putin… by your friends ye shall be known.

        Where have I excused the invasion of the Ukraine? Scruffy has made this point here and repeatedly when discussing this with other people. Pointing out the arrogance and blunders of our own politicians does not excuse Putin of his sins.

        But I think you’d be mistaken or naïve if you think any Russian leader would act differently, or if you thought that the US would act differently if our interests were similarly threatened. The reality is that when discussing foreign policy, there’s nothing at all libertarian about how really any world leader approaches things.

        I also find the attempt to paint anyone looking at this with any nuance to be self-righteous and childish. Frankly, I’m an American. I have far more reason to be worried about the stupidity and arrogance of the politicians who claim to represent me than I do jumping on the war propaganda train and just completely dismiss the relatively reasonable foreign policy concerns of our adversaries.

      • Brochettaward

        Invading Ukraine at this point in time is, in my view, a bridge too far to be justified even by realpolitik standards. Putin did not have some urgent need to do it, and likely is only doing it because he sensed incredible weakness on our part on top of being a convenient time for Russia itself. Just to add some more explanation to my statement that his overall concerns with the Ukraine have been and remain relatively reasonable as far as geopolitics go.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      I watched an interesting video last night that hypothesized a series of increasing escalations leading up to full nuclear exchange between the US and Russia.

      *debates writing the next episode of my apparently prescient nuclear apocalypse series*

  11. Nephilium

    Another Saturday in the books, and I’m home, so here’s the Zoom/Happy Hour/Cocktail discussion link that will be kicked off at 20:00 Eastern.

  12. UnCivilServant

    I am torn on an ethical level. This is a very petty, low stakes story. For quite some time I’ve been feeling like I’m the only one the city has been enforcing the parking rules against, with my neighbors flouting the regulations and me getting hassled for every minor or imagined infraction, including threats of impounding without a stated reason. This annoyed me more during the recent snow storm when I took pains to follow the pointless rules and was hampered by them ignoring it. Since people around here have day jobs, most of the cars had to move at some point, so I couldn’t tally exactly how many had been on the wrong side of the street and who was where when. What I can tell was that three vehicles never moved, and are still snowed in. Of the three the pickup and the white van show no signs the police payed them a visit. The cadillac, however, has a ticket. All three committed the same ‘offense’ but the caddy was on the opposite side of the road. Apparently, the cops only came around and issued tickets on one of the two days, so people who stayed on the odd side of the street were spared.

    Part of me wants to gloat because of past troubles the caddy has caused me in parking. Part of me wants the rules enforced evenly against the guys who didn’t bother to move. Part of me wants no tickets to have been issued over the stupid even/odd parking that was logistically impossible.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      You gotta get out of their UCS. Get a place with some land where you can set up your forge. And not worry about street parking. Or neighbors.

      And thanks for writing up the knife posts with pictures. I don’t read them until the morning after when the thread is already dead, but they’ve been great.

      • UnCivilServant

        You’re welcome.

        I need to sort out the financials before I can relocate.

      • MikeS

        Sort faster.

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, I keep losing the lottery, so 😛

    • Don escaped Texas

      but were the bike lanes clear!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!

      • UnCivilServant

        We don’t have bike lanes, thankfully.

      • DrOtto

        Share the road!!11!11!!!! All lanes are bike lanes!!!11!!!!

    • Nephilium

      I believe that if most laws were evenly and strictly enforced a lot more people would be inconvenienced and penalized, which would lead to hopefully getting rid of most of the pointless laws. Then I think back to selective enforcement that’s been going on my whole life, and how most people aren’t bothered by that, but still say that they want things to be fair.

      • UnCivilServant

        I acknowledge my vengeful streak because I went to the effort of twice digging out my car to relocate, eventually ending up a block away, while those who didn’t move on the odd side block a total of four spaces because the plows drove around them, leaving a space in front and behind them that is too full of a snow bank to use. Those spaces are in close proximity to my house and prime places for me to park.

        I also would rather have just been able to leave my car where it started without fear of repercussion.

      • Gender Traitor

        I don’t think it’s necessarily vengeful, when you feel as if you’ve been unjustly singled out, to feel a bit of schadenfreude when someone who’s caused you repeated trouble is subjected to the same injustice.

        Vengeful would be if you’d called the cops to rat him out.

  13. Brochettaward

    Yep, I think old Pootty Poot miscalculated Ukraine and the worlds response.

    It remains to be seen how the Russian military will perform in Ukraine, but I don’t see how Putin has underestimated or miscalculated the world’s response. Russia is painted as the big meanie. There’s a lot of huffing and puffing, but Russia is getting off pretty light for invading a sovereign nation with no pretext.

    I personally don’t care if I come off as a Putin apologist. He’s been a more responsible actor on the world stage than his American counterparts over the last two decades. What will end up being more destabilizing to the world – Putin invading Ukraine or our invasion of Iraq?

    Love him, or hate him, the dude walks the walk.

    Penn is free to pick up one of those evil guns he so despises and go fight alongside the Ukrainians. The people of Ukraine will probably be better off long term than the people of Venezuela, whose regime Penn was or is still a pretty ardent supporter of.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      I like you when your on your Meds Bro, you provide insight,

      • MikeS

        Agreed. That was a first rate comment.

    • juris imprudent

      Putin has been lied to by our govt, just as we have. I’m at a loss why anyone should think he should just accept that, least of all when it has become totally obvious that the only thing our govt is going to do is talk more.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      invading a sovereign nation with no pretext

      I think the US invasion of Iraq established the pretext Putin is using now. And it set the stage for the distrust Russia has of our intentions in the Ukraine.

      That’s not an approval of his actions, just an observation that the USA is consistently full of shit in this regard.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yeah, us huffing and puffing about the victimization of innocents (which most certainly is happening) as the result of an unjustified invasion would be laughable but it isn’t funny.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        We’ll see if Russia’s body count gets even close to the number of Yemenis that are being starved out right now. Let alone the death toll in Iraq over twenty years.

        I hope not.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I doubt it will, this war’s only been going on for three days. They’ll take Kiev, annex a little here, install a puppet there, and bail. They don’t want NATO troops right up in their grill where they can cut Russia’s own gas flow and that’s what they’re going to get. I feel bad for the Ukrainians but this is high stakes realpolitik and they stand zero chance.

      • Swiss Servator

        It is all our fault. Russia bears no responsibility. I thought “Look What You Made Me Do” was a Taylor Swift song…not a justification for killing people, breaking things and getting a bunch of people on this site to absolve it.

      • Spudalicious

        “Russia bears no responsibility.”

        What you did there was observed.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        They invaded, of course they bear responsibility but we aren’t blameless. If we had pursued a different path vis a vis NATO expansion and engagement with Russia would this have happened? I doubt it but maybe Putin really is just imperialistic and no a degree of accommodation would have made him happy. I don’t see it but I suppose that’s a possibility too.

      • Brochettaward

        If we didn’t stick our dicks into Ukraine to the extent we did, there is no invasion of Ukraine. I’m going to guess if Swiss were actually forced to answer the question, he’d admit as much. I don’t suspect he’ll actually answer it, though. It’s far funner to run around acting self-righteous and condemning anyone who points out that inconvenient fact.

        And that statement isn’t the same as condoning Putin’s actions, either.

        If someone truly believes otherwise, I strongly disagree with them. But at least I could see where there argument is coming from. Spud seems to think Putin was always going to go off the rails, always had these sorts of ambitions.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Spud seems to think Putin was always going to go off the rails, always had these sorts of ambitions.

        Im somewhat on board with that interpretation. I think us dicking around in Ukraine didn’t help the situation, but this conflict was inevitable (maybe it could’ve occurred in a different satellite state instead) as a glimpse of Russia returning to “former glory”.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Putin’s an asshole.

        That still doesn’t change my responsibility to try to influence my own government to stop making the situation worse. And unless we deal with how we got here and our role in it there will be no improvement. I refuse to cede the argument to the warhawks who either through incompetence or malice helped set the stage for this tragedy.

        In other words, I concern myself more with what my government does than what Russia does, because it have no control over Russia. And I fear that those in DC who have been intimately involved in this clustetfuck for years will only be emboldened now, while those who have been critical of our actions, warning of this outcome, and calling for restraint will be shouted down as apologists.

        So kindly knock it off with the strawman argument that anyone is absolving Putin of guilt. There’s plenty to go around.

      • Brochettaward

        I go back to what I said above. I think if Putin had been really looking to engage in military adventurism, he would have built up his military much more than he has over the years. He spent on par with the US when comparing it to percentage of GDP until then.

        Even then, it doesn’t look like a guy planning for a potential all out war.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I think if Putin had been really looking to engage in military adventurism, he would have built up his military much more than he has over the years.

        I think reality prevented that. He was dealing with a society that was less than stable, with domestic issues to be solved. He is well aware of the objective inferiority of his military and economy in comparison to the global superpower and a few of its vassal states. There was going to be no Hitleresque military buildup in plain view of all.

    • Swiss Servator

      “He’s been a more responsible”

      For war, death and repression. Admire him, do ye? “hey, I am going to wage war on my neighbors, repress my own people and kill people for national “honor”.

      You are a truly lost soul.

      • Brochettaward

        Your attempts to substitute slander for actual rational arguments do not phase me.

        What the hell did Bush do in Iraq? Which invasion do you think ends up racking up the larger body count, particularly when you factor in knock on effects it had in the region as a whole over the last two decades? You really want to argue that Putin has been MORE warlike than his American counterparts? Brought about more death?

      • Mojeaux

        I’m reading all of these posts because I don’t understand what’s really happening in Ukraine (Russia invading yada yada yada, yeah I know that part).

        Bro, Scruffy, Stinky, and Trashy (those are Snow White’s dwarf names, right?) have clarified this for me quite a bit.

        I have not gotten any idea that Bro admires Putin in any way. Explaining what might be motivating him is not the same as admiration.

      • MikeS

        It’s like LC1789 hacked Swissy.

      • Mojeaux

        Meanwhile, at Chez Mojeaux, there is embroidery happening and a Rush retrospective on the teevee. *mwah* ?

      • MikeS

        Is the title of the retrospective: “Why the Fuck Does Anyone Like These Guys?”

        ?

      • Mojeaux

        I watched an old Steely Dan concert earlier.

      • Mojeaux

        All three things can make me happy. ?

      • Chafed

        Strong words.

      • MikeS

        Deserved.

      • Brochettaward

        I enjoy a good argument. Always have. But I find the disingenuous attempt to paint everyone as Putin apologists and then to attack my libertarian credentials tiresome. In general, It isn’t explicitly anti-libertarian, but I find self-righteous grandstanding and the need to condemn people based on your own morality somewhat contradictory from libertarianism myself.

        I have what I consider to be a very strong set of principles. They are my own. I don’t try to force them on people, call anyone who doesn’t follow them essentially scum, or interject them into every disagreement I have with others. At the risk of sounding like LC1789, I find it’s usually progtessives and their ilk who engage in such behavior.

    • Grummun

      I don’t think Penn despises guns, just your guns. I recall reading a while back that he lost a Colt Python (and another gun, I think) stolen out of the trunk of his Grand National.

      • DrOtto

        Penn owning a Grand National just bumped up his Dunn & Bradstreet in my books.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Thanks! good thread

    • juris imprudent

      Buying their own bullshit. Bureaucracy really is the same, the world over.

    • LJW

      Just wait until China invades… Or attempts to invade Taiwan. I was listening to a podcast the other day had a military strategist whose expertise was the Chinese military. According to him China’s military is full of incompetence and corruption. The only way to invade Taiwan would be a sea invasion across 100 miles of the Taiwan straight. Taiwan is loaded to the teeth with S2A defense. He expects Chinese losses to amount to the tens of thousands before they hit the shore.

      • Gender Traitor

        Xi might consider that an acceptable level of loss. Do they still have a surplus male population left over from the “One Child” rule days?

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        Since China does not share (or perhaps even have) reliable population statistics, it’s been left to others to do the estimatin’, but the guesses I’ve seen over the years have been between 20 and 50 million “excess” males throughout the Middle Kingdom. That’s a lotta guys who’ve got nothing better to do but die for their country, and that’s probably Xi’s meat-grinder wet-dream (“I’ll show that Stalin bitch!”).

      • rhywun

        Figure I saw the other day was 118 males to 100 females.

      • Gender Traitor

        Is that population as a whole? It would be interesting to know the ratio for the demographic in prime fighting age.

      • juris imprudent

        The one child policy has left a legacy – declining share of prime age fighting men in the population as a whole. They aren’t nearly as expendable as they were a couple of generations back.

      • dontreadonme

        If a substantial number of fighting/breeding age males are killed in a large military conflict, their country is done for. Already it is unlikely that they can breed their way out of the crises that will ensue in 15-20 years when their population is completely upside down. Japan and the US are going to go through similar strains in the coming years, but it pales in comparison to China. The Covids was their best hope to solve that problem, but likely failed. Who knows what they will try next.

      • rhywun

        They didn’t say. A quick glance here seems to show the imbalance is concentrated in prime fighting ages.

      • Sean

        Yeah, but how do they indentify?

      • Count Potato

        It’s China, not Thailand.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The Chinese navy would be crushed by the regional powers in combination with Taiwan. The US wouldn’t even need to get involved for that to happen. I don’t think the Chinese leadership is deluded enough to try it but groupthink can lead to all sorts of unexpected outcomes.

      • LCDR_Fish

        They have a lot of missiles that are mostly fire and forget (and pretty dangerous). Not so sure about ships/crews though.

        If you watch the ADVChina guys, China is starting to freak out about demographics…their population is aging too fast and not enough women to make the babies they need to support the aging population.

        In a decade they’ve gone from 1 child policy to – “4 or more please ” – but they can’t even offer tax incentives, etc.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        ADVChina still on YouTube? I used to get them recommended regularly but I haven’t seen them for a while. They had (have?) a very interesting channel.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Yep, weekly vids on all their channels and a live podcast every Friday afternoon.

      • Count Potato

        Taiwan’s military is tiny compare to China.

  14. rhywun

    Today in “Things the NHL Won’t Do“:

    Dominik Hasek blasts Alexander Ovechkin, wants NHL to suspend all Russian players

    I’d be OK if they just kicked out Ovechkin.

    • Brochettaward

      Fuck Hasek. Was never as good as Patrick Roy.

      The notion of punishing Russian athletes who are bending over backwards to distance themselves from Putin is asinine, to say the least.

      • MikeS

        Unless I’ve missed something (very possible), Ovechkin is nowhere near “bending over backwards to distance himself from Putin”.

        However, I agree that kicking players out for their politics or nationality is asinine.

      • Brochettaward

        In the past? No. Recently? He’s come out calling for peace without making himself a complete pariah in his home country. Other Russian athletes have done the same. Does he need to come out and condemn Putin himself?

      • MikeS

        Does he need to come out and condemn Putin himself?

        He avoided the media as long as he could and then said “war is bad m’kay”. That is not “bending over backwards to distance himself from Putin”. The bending he is doing is trying to take no stand in order to keep both sides from going after him. Not saying I blame him, but he’s no hero.

      • Brochettaward

        The description I gave doesn’t really fit his situation. That’s fair.

      • MikeS

        ??

    • Tundra

      Are you kidding me?

      He’s far and away my favorite current generation player.

      And Hasek is a douche.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    President Joe Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Friday, setting in motion a historic confirmation process for the first Black woman to sit on the highest court in the nation.

    “Today, as we watch freedom and liberty under attack abroad, I’m here to fulfill my responsibilities under the Constitution, to preserve freedom and liberty here in the United States of America,” Biden said at the White House as he introduced Jackson.

    “For too long, our government, our courts haven’t looked like America,” Biden said. “I believe it’s time that we have a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation with a nominee of extraordinary qualifications, and that we inspire all young people to believe that they can one day serve their country at the highest level.”

    President Jungle Fever knows what America needs.

    • Ted S.

      I believe it’s time that we have a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation

      Then nominate people who haven’t spent the vast majority of their working lives working for the state.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    “Among my many blessings, and indeed the very first, is the fact that I was born in this great country,” she added. “The United States of America is the greatest beacon of hope and democracy the world has ever known. I was also blessed from my early days to have had a supportive and loving family. My mother and father, who have been married for 54 years, are at their home in Florida right now and I know that they could not be more proud.”

    Crushed under the White devil’s heel.

  17. Sean

    Looks like I’m on track for 12 pepper plants this year.

    ??️

    • westernsloper

      ?

    • Count Potato

      It’s February, you have plenty of time to get more.

    • Nephilium

      My plan this spring is to rehab the raised bed garden I’ve left fallow the past couple of years (to the point where it’s mostly weeds and grass outside of winter), then try getting some layers of plants to try to keep the critters out. My neighborhood is lousy with deer, rabbits, chipmunks, and squirrels. When I last had ghost peppers, one critter (based on the size of the bite, I’m guessing chipmunk) decided to try to eat the pretty colorful peppers.

      My only lament is I didn’t see that happen.

      • Count Potato

        Groundhogs will eat pepper plants, but they prefer tomato.

      • Nephilium

        Not much in the way of groundhogs, the ground here has a large amount of clay in it.

      • Nephilium

        And mentioning this conversation to the girlfriend, she starts talking about the “strange animal” that was living in her late mom’s house’s backyard. She shows me a picture, and it’s a groundhog.

        /Kif sigh

      • Animal

        You should go get it. Groundhog’s right good eating.

      • juris imprudent
      • blighted_non_millenial

        Used to grow peppers in pots on the deck. I watched a chipmunk tear through a couple of jalapeños like they were nothing.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Though there are currently no Black women serving in the United States Senate in a position to vote for the nominee, Black female House members, all Democrats, applauded Biden for “fulfilling his campaign promise.”
    Congressional Black Caucus chair Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio said the nomination is “something that I will remember forever.” Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey said Jackson will “bring a new, necessary perspective” to the court and “will also be an inspiration to Black women and girls everywhere.” Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida said she “never dreamed that, in my lifetime, I would see a Black woman nominated” to the Supreme Court.

    More obsessed with skin color than Jefferson Davis.

    • rhywun

      It’s so ridiculous – embarrassing, even. But this is what the left has done to this country.

  19. Spudalicious

    Putin just blew up an oil depot outside of Kiev.

    • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

      Personally?

      Man, that’s commitment.

      • Count Potato

        That was a typo. Putin just a blew an oil despot.

      • Ted S.

        I miss the old Home Despot parody site.

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        Lowe’s.com?

      • DrOtto

        I assumed you meant Kyiv, which I just recently learned was spelled this way.

      • Tundra

        I don’t get it. I know everyone other than me is a foreign policy expert, but this makes no sense to me.

      • Q Continuum

        My guess: he figured that he was going to take the country quick and easy and be able to leave the infrastructure intact for his own use. Since Ukraine is putting up more of a fight than originally thought he’s switched into siege mode, trying to wear down the populace by making their lives miserable.

      • Tundra

        Still seems retarded in 2022. Is’t this about access and resources?

      • Spudalicious

        There’s a number of things going on that don’t make sense.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Only partially.

        If you go by what Putin has said in the past and even very recently, this about settling the NATO/Ukraine question once and for all and sending a message to the US to back off.

      • Fourscore

        Putin does Global Warming, Greta and Kerry are very angry with him and are not going to bring presents to his birthday party.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Wow, what a surprise; another Harvard Law School product. But she “Looks like America”?

    Kiss my ass. Joe.

    • rhywun

      I mentioned it before, but Joy Reid was gushing recently about their time together at Harvard. Tugs at the heart-strings, doesn’t it?

      • Count Potato

        Joy Reid got into Harvard?

      • Chafed

        I’m as shocked as you are.

    • robc

      Was O’Connor the last non-ivy?

      • robc

        If elected, I promise to appoint a graduate of Hollywood Upstairs Lawyer School.

  21. LCDR_Fish

    Elon doing more for the people of Ukraine -https://twitter.com/FedorovMykhailo/status/1497543633293266944?t=16DfaL_lhOn9h7hMZFEwxg&s=19

    • LCDR_Fish

      Stupid broken link. Elon bringing starlink online for Ukraine.

  22. Tundra

    Hiya Spud!

    It bothers me that I have become so fond of Elon. He’s a freak, but he’s killing it.

    And then there’s this.

    Have a great Saturday night, friends! I’m taking the family out to dinner for my daughter’s 20th and meeting her new boyfriend for the first time. (Sorry, CPRM)

    • Count Potato

      Have fun!

    • DrOtto

      Agreed, I originally saw him as Bill Murray’s character in Aloha. I’m starting to re-evaluate that.

  23. Q Continuum

    Spudz salacious slootz on Silicone Saturday.

    https://archive.fo/k7QWl

    BTW: I saw a Ukrainian parliament member interviewed on Fox News and she said “KEY-ev” not “KEEV”; I don’t understand how these dooshy reporters keep fucking it up.

    • rhywun

      I’ll take American reporters seriously on this stuff when they start calling Köln by its proper German name instead of the one we got from French.

      • Sensei

        My solution is if there is well known (US) English anglicized version that’s what I use. Otherwise attempt something actually native sounding. So Paris not “Pa ree”.

        The issue is how not to sound like douche when discussing smaller towns and places.

      • robc

        Always pronounce all letters in French words. Even ones that would be silent in english.

      • rhywun

        Agree. All the recent renamings are political. When all the newsheads are suddenly using some new form that replaced a perfectly good one we’ve been using for decades or centuries, it’s because politics.

    • Brochettaward

      There is some ulterior motive to the renaming of Kiev by the Western media. I don’t know quite what it is, but this shit didn’t just happen all at once without some asshole in the Biden administration getting it started. I think even a month ago it was universally Kiev in our media.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Peking>Beijing

      • rhywun

        You’re not going to like it when Hong Kong becomes Xiang Gang.

      • Hyperion

        It’s dumbfuckery? Because that’s all I ever see out of them. It’s fucking Kee-ev, it’s always fucking been Kee-ev. Did they need to rename it so that the TMITE retards can say it every 5 seconds 24 hours a day?

      • rhywun

        America’s elites are some of the most eager-to-please people on earth. Some Ukrainian ambassador or something asked them to say Keev and they said “Sure!”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      I thought one was a Ukrainian pronunciation and one a Russian. How you say it shows where your sympathies lie I suppose.

      • Ted S.

        According to grrrizzly, the letter И is pronounced differently in Russian and Ukrainian, but as I understand it the second syllable is closer to -iv in both languages. It’s not -ev and not stressed in either language (again, AFAIK), so putting equal stress on both syllables, which is pretty close to what English does, isn’t accurate.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Strange that they’d pick a pronunciation that neither language uses.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m wagering NPR started the trend.

      • Ted S.

        Lots of names get translated into English in ways that don’t resemble the native language.

        It goes the other way, too; in Russian “Kansas” and “Washington” get stressed on a different syllable than in English.

      • DrOtto

        Gotcha – Warshington

      • Ted S.

        My mom said “Warshington”. And “Chicargo”, and “Itly”.

        One time she asked me, “How do you spell ‘spear’?” When I told her S-P-E-A-R, she said, “Not that kind of spear”, and showed me a picture of her and her friend vacationing down at Epcot. I was decidedly nonplussed until she pointed to the geodesic sphere.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Only the Glibs would worry aboot pronunciations of Russin.Ukrainian words,
        God I love this place!

  24. Spudalicious

    Try KEev, not KEEV, or KE-ev, and I think you’re about right. Just drop the volume on the last two letters.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Keyev to me,

    • Ownbestenemy

      Foreign city is what I am going to refer to any outside of the US.

      • Hyperion

        Foreign city that’s none of our fucking buiness, for the win.

      • Hyperion

        Well, we could keep business the same.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Yes!

    • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

      It’s Kovfefev to me.

      • MikeS

        ^ winner ^

    • commodious spittoon

      He fishes ender pearls off literally the end.

      • commodious spittoon

        To, if I’m not mistaken, the end tune of the Kingsman movies. I swear to god.

  25. Aloysious
    • Brochettaward

      She’s a Firster. Strap a M-16 to my back and send me to the Ukraine. I will defend her sovereignty.

    • slumbrew

      WE NEED TO SUPPORT UKRANE IMMEDIATELY!

    • SandMan

      Dayyum!

    • MikeS

      I’d change my avatar to the Ukraine flag* but I’m to lazy to even be a slacktivist for her.

      *now that I think about it, I’m a little surprised someone hasn’t done something along these lines for laughs**.

      ** sensible chuckles at the irony, not guffawing over the Ukrainians’ plight.

    • Sean

      Yum.

    • cyto

      The audience reactions they cut in are hilarious.

      First we get a dude kinda licking his lips as his girl watches with .. confusion?

      And then a woman kind of admires the work..

      And then… A woman looks on with approval that shifts to a look of open-mouthed hunger. Let your inner lesbian out, girl!!

      Then a dude involuntarily whispers something that is probably the equivalent of “that’s nice!”

      Those reactions are great.

  26. Mojeaux

    So here in the metro, a bald eagle got hit by a car or hit a car (don’t really know what happened—she had several fractured vertebrae) and died. Now, did someone around here say they weren’t very bright? Raptors in general? Or just owls?

    • The Bearded Hobbit

      I don’t think that they are bird brains. Probably a case of target fixation and missed the incoming car.

    • slumbrew

      Small brains, mostly given over to visual processing, is my understanding.

      Eatin’, fuckin’

      Like most animals.

      • MikeS

        ^ This. I came surprisingly close to hitting a Bald Eagle that decided it could swoop down real quick like for a nibble on the roadkill in the center of the road as I came barreling at him at 65mph. There was another car coming from the other direction, and at a greater distance, (the Eagle was facing towards that car and not me), and apparently it thought the vehicle noise it heard was only from the other car and at the last second it figured out otherwise.

      • DrOtto

        They gotsa take it next level: Eatin’, Fuckin’, gettin’ drunk.

    • SandMan

      Owls have a habit of flying into cars at night. The eagle might have been scavenging something dead on the road or nearby, but I don’t recall hearing many eagles getting hit by cars.

      • dbleagle

        When I lived in Montana I nearly took out two bald eagle that were eating a winter kill bison by the road. When I came around the corner they took off. One made it over my windshield the other clipped it and disintegrated against the roof rack.

        They aren’t too bright.

      • cyto

        They evolved in an environment where nothing on the ground that was dangerous could move faster than about 40mph, max. Even these new fast things are completely safe unless you are directly on the path… So pretty easy to get desensitized to.

        Swooping in to kill a rabbit, you really would not need to worry about a bison going 80 mph hitting you (even if t existed, it would have tried to avoid you).

        So yeah, I can totally see a near apex predator like a bald eagle being too nonchalant about an oncoming car.

  27. rhywun

    Is anyone else digging the new Pfizer commercial full of masking and elbow-bumping?

    Related: Has anyone ever before seen a commercial for Pfizer… ever?

    • Brochettaward

      I don’t recall seeing commercials just for drug companies themselves, though it’s possible they have existed. I don’t watch a ton of TV. But we’ve all seen various adds for various Pfizer drugs.

      It’s pretty funny to me that they think commercials are going to change anyone’s opinion of them. Like, the anti-vax crowd aren’t changing their views because of your 30 second propaganda filled ad. I guess it’s reassuring to the progs who now find pharmaceutical companies to be upstanding corporate actors.

      • rhywun

        Yes, this is specifically for the drug company itself.

        It smacks of desperation.

      • MikeS

        Desperation, or propaganda to get more familiar with our new masters?

      • Gender Traitor

        Way back when I used to watch Sunday morning TV news shows, I’d see lots of those corporate commercials – including big conglomerates whose names you wouldn’t recognize. I always assumed those were the “buy our stock!!!” ads.

      • rhywun

        “Sponsored by Archer Daniels Midland.”

        Yup.

      • Mojeaux

        Intel inside.

        BASF—we make the the that make the things you use.

      • DrOtto

        Chubb Group

      • cyto

        Some of the right wing talk guys have done compilations of news shows with “brought to you by Pfizer” logo shots.

    • MikeS

      So it was just a straight up Pfizer love fest? No specific drug they were marketing?

      • rhywun

        Yes.

    • Plinker762

      Shit, I just got home and flipped on the TV for background sound and a bit of TOS and on comes the Pfizer commercial. Off went the TV.

  28. rhywun

    GODDAMNIT I just caught cable TV cutting content. Again.

    Cozi TV chopping bits out of Columbo. Unforgivable.

    Popped in my DVD to confirm it. I like watching it on cable because it’s convenient background noise but I cannot abide this. The episode is 93 minutes long which means they already have room for 27 minutes of commercials in the two-hour time-slot.

    Apparently that was not enough.

    • MikeS

      That is garbage. Considering they must be paying relatively little for the episodes anyway, cutting scenes is horseshit.

      • rhywun

        I probably saw the full scene a few times on MeTV. But they stopped showing Columbo after New Years and it’s only regularly on Cozi now (and sometimes Sundance).

        I bought the box set a few months ago but haven’t watched it because it’s on cable every week. Bastards.

      • DrOtto

        When they went from old Columbo (1970s) to “new” Columbo (late 80s +) is when I bought the box sets.

    • UnCivilServant

      So, this time there wasn’t one more thing?

      • rhywun

        “One more commercial.”

      • MikeS

        Ahhhh… [turns back towards camera]

        Sir. Sir! Just one more thing. [touches hand to forehead]

        Are you happy with your car insurance? Did you you know you could save 15% switching to Geico?

        /Fin

      • rhywun

        Heh.

        I was watching some old sit-com the other day (My Three Sons?) and you could see the cut-out corner in the end credits where they used to hawk toothpaste and Ford motor cars and shit but in syndication it’s just a blank area.

      • MikeS

        Haha. Yeah, unpaid-for advertising is worse than not enough advertising.

      • UnCivilServant

        Don’t miss the 2023 Ford Colgate, in time for the holiday season!

    • Brochettaward

      I usually keep it a secret, but I have a picture of a shirtless Putin hanging up above my bead.

      • MikeS

        апологет!

      • Chafed

        Doesn’t it cover your mirrors?

    • rhywun

      I wonder if they have a cable news network hawking Pooty Bear figurines.

    • Annoyed Nomad

      Can I get it in a polka dot gift box?

  29. Q Continuum

    Germany supplying arms to Ukraine scares the shit out of me. I’m willing to bet that in Putin’s mind, that makes Germany a legitimate military target; providing material support to your enemy and all that. Best case scenario: Russia cyberattacks them and it gets swept under the rug as a “non-state action”. Worst case: Putin actually attacks Germany with intermediate-range missiles (or similar) giving a casus belli for Article 5 and WWIII literally kicks off. If Europe and the US got into an actual, no-shit war with Russia, my guess is that China finally rips off the condom and starts raw dogging the Western Pacific. And Joe fucking Biden is about the worst possible person to be manning the helm at a time like that.

    • MikeS

      that makes Germany a legitimate military target; providing material support to your enemy and all that.

      At the risk of being called an apologist, I tend to agree with that assessment. And I am worried for all the same reasons as you.

    • Brochettaward

      I’m a Putin apologist and all, but as I’ve said above – I don’t see Putin being crazy enough to engage the West. If he felt he was going to be seriously challenged, he wouldn’t even have invaded. As is, his military is being taxed to its limits to conduct an invasion of Ukraine.

      And the same logistical problems Russia is experiencing in Ukraine would be amplified exponentially if China tried anything. I would guess that an invasion of Taiwan is about the most they could pull off and they’d pay for it heavily. It would be a complete Pyrrhic victory as the entire world would get to witness that their only strength is in raw numbers. There’s a reason they haven’t done anything about Taiwan for all this time. It’s better to saber rattle and keep up the mirage of power.

    • Urthona

      I’m only concerned about nuclear escalation.

      To be honest, Russia sucks ass.

      • DrOtto

        So much this, maybe it’s the duck and cover exercises from school talking, but so much this.

      • robodruid

        All so very valid viewpoints.

  30. hayeksplosives

    I’ve got my Tesla model 3 (2018), have a new model Y in the queue, and am waiting for my Tesla solar panels and “wall” batteries. Also have applied for StarLink internet.

    I’m all in on Tesla. The only thing against them is a Democrat party that resents the non-unionized factory model Tesla uses and the fact that Musk calls them out on their bullshit routinely. I could easily believe a targeted “investigation” or lawsuit against Musk is likely soon since he won’t play politics.

    • DrOtto

      There’s a nickel mine in MN in the iron range they’re stalling because Musk. They want us to transition to batteries they say but they won’t let the miners pull the metal out of the ground for the batteries. It all seems to confusing for me.

      • cyto

        I had not heard of that. I would appreciate a deep dive, if you ever care to post it.

  31. UnCivilServant

    🙁 This ear infection is throwing me off. If I sit upright, I’m pretty okay because the ear drains (and can drain faster if I take some acetaminophen), but if I lay down, say to get some sleep, it all backs up in there, creating pressure, pain, and dizziness. Yes, I have contacted my doctor for proper treatment, but for the time being I have to cope. It’s not bad enough to go to an emergency medical facility of any kind, just an annoyance. But it is why I’m up at 2:30 in the morning.

    • Chafed

      Maybe pile up some pillows so your ear drains and you get some sleep?

    • Sean

      That sucks.

  32. Gustave Lytton

    Apparently #Republicansaretraitors is the new Twitter approved hashtag. If you’re not full on for WWIII, you’re un American. Funny, I don’t remember this level of support for Georgia when Russia rolled over them.

    https://twitter.com/liz_cheney/status/1497613102765907968?s=21

    Fuck that warmonger cunte.

    Historical events I no longer wonder how they happened
    Cultural Revolution
    The Holocaust
    and now WWI

    • Chafed

      AFPAC is a shitty group. But Liz Cheney, like her father, is a warmonger.

    • CPRM

      HAT: Georgia banned Transbathrooms! They needed to be conquered!
      HAIR: Wrong Georgia.

    • Brochettaward

      I’d love to see the full context of that. You know, unedited. It certainly does seem douchey and tone death to call for a round of applause for Russia.

    • hayeksplosives

      I have been listening to David Suchet reading the Bible.

      I’m on Daniel chapter 10 now. That’s the first “end times” prophecy, later echoed by Revelation in the New Testament.

      It’s not completely obvious and can be interpreted a number of ways, but, damn. Seems to fit the present pretty well.

      (You can listen on YouTube for free. I bought it on Audible & downloaded all of it.)

      (Other fun thing: David Suchet is a rare creature: a British man who became a Christian in his adult life. He has some documentaries too: one about Peter and one about Paul. https://youtu.be/dmxvCwgqwGQ)

      • hayeksplosives

        Daniel 9 is probably a better place to start, for context. This is when the Israelites had been scattered away from Israel and Daniel was serving the Persian kings.around 550-650 BC.

        20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill 21 while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. 23 As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision:

        24 “Seventy ‘sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

        25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood. War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.l 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’[h] In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

  33. DrOtto

    I’m calling it -last and drunk.

    • Brochettaward

      Never call yourself last. Just view it as a premature First, for you are trying to get ahead of the cycle of renewal.

  34. Lackadaisical

    “She’s written one appellate brief, and has been overturned twice for judicial overreach but hey, why not?”

    For the first part, I am not against a person inexperienced in law becoming a supreme court justice. Sadly its not that she isn’t a lawyer or judge, it is just that she sucks.

    Lets get an engineer or a janitor on the court please.

    • Lackadaisical

      “I must begin these very brief remarks by thanking God for delivering me to this point in my professional journey.”

      *gasp*
      Theocracy!

      • Lackadaisical

        ‘My mother and father, who have been married for 54 years, are at their home in Florida right now and I know that they could not be more proud.”

        Fake new. Everyone in Florida is dead.

        ‘Eyes will now turn to the Senate, where Biden’s Democratic Party holds the thinnest possible majority.

        ‘Eyes will now turn to the Senate, where Biden’s Democratic Party holds the thinnest possible majority. ‘
        Actual for real fake news, especially with Lujan out.

      • Lackadaisical

        “In 2008, when Jackson was in private practice and well before she became a judge, Jackson referred her uncle’s file to WilmerHale, a law firm that handles numerous clemency petitions, according to a spokesperson for the firm.
        The firm submitted the petition on Brown’s behalf on October 7, 2014, and Obama commuted his sentence on November 22, 2016. According to the firm, Jackson had “no further involvement in the matter” after making the referral. Jackson’s chambers said she would decline comment on the issue.”

        Helps to be connected. How much does WilmerHale donate to Obama?

      • Lackadaisical

        ‘As a judge, some other notable cases she has in her record are a 2018 case brought federal employee unions where she blocked parts of executive orders issued by Trump’

        I’m sure she would have overturned Biden’s illegal orders on similar grounds *eyeroll*

        Lets go break some glass ceilings/race barriers dems!

      • Lackadaisical

        “Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine all voted for Jackson last summer when she was confirmed as a circuit court judge on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the second most important court in the country.”

        They all had to see that she was going to be the supreme court nominee, sometime in Biden’s term, so… not sure if they’re that dumb, or they just don’t mind confirming her.

      • Fourscore

        My parents, if they were alive, would be enjoying their 100th Anniversary this year. Take that, Little Missy.

      • Tres Cool

        Well with comments like that, no doubt she supports school prayer.

        Wait…nobody asked her WHICH God she’s thanking…

  35. Tres Cool

    suh’ fam
    yo whats goody yo

    /standard-sized SABBATH CANS™ !

    • Lackadaisical

      Morning.

    • Fourscore

      Just finished the first cup of Folger’s, bring on the wildcats.

      • Tres Cool

        Ive got ‘sensibly-sized can’ #2 down, but Ive been working all night.

  36. Fourscore

    Morning, Lack/TC and all/any others that are sleep deprived.

    Not a good morning for those in the old country though. They share the same sun as we have but it just doesn’t seem the same for them

    • Lackadaisical

      Morning 4×20.

      Not sleep deprived, I just fall asleep really early these days.

      • Fourscore

        I’m an early to bed, eager to get up, but some mornings I find I have been asleep for 9 hours. As the years have progressed it seems like I need more sleep. Some nights are only 6-6 1/2 hours but then I’ll have a daytime nap.

      • Tres Cool

        Tres Sr., age 82, in recent years has taken to laying on the couch after lunch. But its not a nap- he’s “meditating”.
        Even tho his meditations can last a few hours and involve lots of snoring.

      • Fourscore

        Your Dad gets it right. I seem to do that at 5 PM, in the recliner. I want to catch up on the news but 10 minutes in and it’s 6 PM, the news is over and time for dinner.

  37. Tres Cool

    Cold here when I left work this morning, maybe 20º F or so.
    But as the sun was coming up and I was walking into the house, I could hear the birds waking up and chirping.
    Buoys my sense of “spring is just around the corner”.

    • Fourscore

      I hope you’re right, forecast for another 6 ” of snow next week end. We have a lot of snow this winter, the deer are struggling and stay on their trails now. Looks like the serious cold may be over though.

    • westernsloper

      A balmy 15 here. I spent most of last week moving snow. I am done.

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, homey, 4(20), ‘sloper, Sean, and Ted’S!

      That’s wonderful news, neighbor! I need me some spring something fierce! This morning’s sunshine is helping, but warmer weather can’t come soon enough for me. I need a great big dose of Tranquility Base! ?

      • Gender Traitor

        Not quite as peaceful as my back patio, but…thanks?

      • Ted S.

        Yeah, the snow had finally melted by Thursday, which meant I would have been able to start walking the dog on the trails again, but then we got 5″ of snow on Friday.

  38. Sean

    ?☕??

  39. Tres Cool

    Praise Jesus H. Koresh that a politician is doing SOMEthing! Our shitty RINO governor has put his foot down!

    DeWine calls for Russian vodka to be removed from shelves, production halted
    Now this oughtta show those commie upstarts!

    /reporter Haley Kosik is a solid wood. Look at those upper arms and the potential to be ‘bingo wings’…

    • Fourscore

      There’s someone for everyone…

      • Tres Cool

        She’s about 100 lbs below my weight class, but nothing some burgers from Wendy’s and a few trips to Pizza Hut cant fix.

    • Ted S.

      Is Ohio an ABC state?

      • Tres Cool

        I think? State-operated (though I dont know all the nuances).
        I know some years ago, there were only “State Liquor Stores” that seemed almost as appealing as going to a DMV.

      • Gender Traitor

        Anybody But Clinton?

      • Ted S.

        FWIW, I bought a bottle of Smirnoff Vanilla last week, but it turns out that’s actually made in the US.

    • Gender Traitor

      “No more Russian dressing either! And it’s open season on Muscovy ducks!!!”

      • rhywun

        Freedom Dressing!

    • Fourscore

      They need some horses, pepper spray and big clubs. Canadians to the rescue

  40. cyto

    From the article about the mostest bravest supreme court nomination ever:

    “For more than a year, the President had familiarized himself with her work, reading many of her opinions and other writings, along with those of other contenders.”

    How the hell do you write that with a straight face???