20 States Sue Over Title IX Guidance on Gender Identity

Plus: Biden's Afghanistan speech, Texas abortion ban takes effect, Instagram's creepy new plan, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 9.1.2021 9:37 AM

(Jamie Grill Tetra Images/Newscom)

States sue the Department of Education and EEOC. Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972—which says schools can't discriminate "on the basis of sex"—has long been a battleground, as federal authorities continually expand the definition of just what discrimination on the basis of sex means. At stake is whether the federal government can get involved in and have the final say over a huge range of affairs at U.S. schools and universities, from sports teams to sexual assault investigations to which bathrooms students can use.

The Biden administration has interpreted Title IX's anti-discrimination provision to include discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. An executive order Biden issued his first day in office stated as much (building on Obama-era guidance). And in March, the Department of Justice issued a memo also stating that Title IX "prohibit[s] discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation."

In response, the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new guidance on federal anti-discrimination law.

It goes "far beyond what the statutory text, regulatory requirements, judicial precedent, and the Constitution permit," argue attorneys general from 20 states in a new lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee on August 30.

The Department of Education said it "will fully enforce Title IX to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in education programs and activities that receive Federal financial assistance from the Department" and that the Office of Civil Rights "will open an investigation of allegations that an individual has been discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity in education programs or activities."

At the heart of the lawsuit are attempts by GOP-dominated state legislatures to ban transgender students from using bathrooms or playing on sports teams that correspond with their gender identity. A number of federal courts have already blocked such bills applied to schools.

The lawsuit also objects to EEOC technical guidance stating that employers must allow trans employees to use showers, locker rooms, and bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

States party to the suit include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Their complaint alleges that the Education Department's interpretation of Title IX is "contrary to law because, properly interpreted, Title IX's prohibition of discrimination 'on the basis of sex' does not encompass discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity" and "Title IX and longstanding Department regulations expressly permit distinctions based on biological sex in certain circumstances. "

The interpretations "are so removed from any reasonable reading of Title IX that they amount to an unconstitutional exercise of legislative power," their suit argues. It also alleges that the new EEOC guidance wasn't subject to proper rule making procedure and that it violates the 10th Amendment.

You can read the full complaint here.

FOLLOWUP

No last-minute intervention from SCOTUS before Texas abortion law takes effect. With no word yet from the U.S. Supreme Court, an abortion ban in Texas takes effect today. The American Civil Liberties Union and abortion providers had asked the Court to intervene and block the new law, which bans abortion around six weeks and lets people sue anyone who provides or aids and abets the provision of an abortion.

There is a report circulating that a state court judge blocked the law.https://t.co/F0A885eTaI

That is INCORRECT. The judge blocked two specific defendants from targeting one specific plaintiff under the law. The law IS NOT blocked.

Here is that order: https://t.co/8y5QXa1Eor

— Rewire News Group (@RewireNewsGroup) September 1, 2021

Also, as the near-total abortion ban takes place, Texas lawmakers are apparently trying to…ban abortion again?

FREE MINDS

Leaving Afghanistan is "about ending an era of major military missions to rebuild other countries," said President Joe Biden yesterday.

There was no perfect time or way to exit Afghanistan. President Biden directed the evacuation of more than one hundred thousand people and got our troops out. I disagree with the president on a lot, but I'm grateful he pushed through despite all the pressure.

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) August 31, 2021

Find a full transcript of Biden's Tuesday Afghanistan speech here and find highlights here.

"This decision about Afghanistan is not only about Afghanistan. It's about ending an era of major military missions to rebuild other countries," IS A THING A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES JUST SAID

— Eric Boehm (@EricBoehm87) August 31, 2021

FREE MARKETS

In a plan that seems destined to lead to unwarranted account suspensions, Instagram will monitor users' accounts for truthfulness about their age. "To side-step users who enter incorrect birthday information, the company plans to leverage a new algorithm designed to analyze your posts and determine whether you're telling the truth about how old you are or not," reports Gizmodo.

"We recognize some people may give us the wrong birthday, and we're developing new systems to address this," Instagram said in its announcement. "As we shared recently, we're using artificial intelligence to estimate how old people are based on things like 'Happy Birthday' posts."

QUICK HITS

https://twitter.com/molcranenewman/status/1432749411457699840

• A 21-year-old in Ohio was ordered to get the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of his probation on a drug charge. A judge just lifted that order.

• As coronavirus cases in Florida rose in August, "the Florida Department of Health changed the way it reported death data to the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], giving the appearance of a pandemic in decline, an analysis of Florida data by the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald found."

• A viral video of the Taliban allegedly hanging a man from a helicopter isn't what it initially appeared to be.

• In other fake news about Afghanistan:

To correct erroneous reports, the U.S. Military did not leave any dogs in cages at Hamid Karzai International Airport, including the reported military working dogs. Photos circulating online were animals under the care of the Kabul Small Animal Rescue, not dogs under our care.

— Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder (@PentagonPresSec) August 31, 2021

• The man who tried to extort Rep. Matt Gaetz (R–Fla.) has been indicted on fraud charges. "The scheme outlined in the indictment tracks with one Matt Gaetz, who in late March confirmed reports he was under federal investigation in connection to a sex trafficking investigation but denied committing wrongdoing, had also alleged at the time," notes the Washington Examiner.

• How the "right to repair" might save you some money.

•  What is the "dead-internet theory"?

• We've been hearing about how "monoclonal antibodies" are fighting COVID-19. Could they also fight unwanted sperm in a woman's body?

• Anne Applebaum in The Atlantic on "the new Puritans."

• The Biden administration continues to follow Trump-era immigration policy. "A Justice Department attorney argued Tuesday for American immigration officials' authority to limit the number of asylum-seekers allowed to cross into the U.S. from Mexico each day, even as President Joe Biden's administration is attempting to distance itself from the Trump administration's policy imposing caps on asylum applicants at border ports of entry," notes Politico.

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

NEXT: Crises Bring Out the Toddler in Power-Hungry Politicians

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Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

The Biden administration has interpreted Title IX's anti-discrimination provision to include discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Title IX as a piece of legislation must be reams and reams of pages long.
1. JesseAz 4 years ago
  
  This is the guy who interpreted a USSC ruling 1 month old as allowing him to extend the eviction moratorium.
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2. Zeb 4 years ago
  
  Interesting that the people who claim sex and gender are entirely different things want to interpret the word "sex" in the law to mean gender identity.
  1. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
    
    Typical woke.
    So much context, so much nuance. All of these intersecting nexuses that only they can divine, and somehow those divinations always come up such that they are allowed to do whatever they want and their enemies are allowed to do nothing.
  2. mad.casual 4 years ago
    
    And by 'interesting' you mean completely predictable. But don't worry, there is no agenda.
3. Eeyore 4 years ago
  
  I consider gender identity about as important as color preference.
  
  When people ask for my pronouns I let them know that I'm fine with being miss-gendered.
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

The American Civil Liberties Union and abortion providers had asked the Court to intervene and block the new law, which bans abortion around six weeks and lets people sue anyone who provides or aids and abets the provision of an abortion.

ACLU attorneys don't want other attorneys to get work?
1. Brian 4 years ago
  
  I’d say “my body my choice”, but who are we kidding anymore?
2. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
  
  There are two people involved in every abortion, but the ACLU only seems to give a shit about the civil rights of the one who'll vote Democrat.
  1. Social Justice is neither 4 years ago
    
    No, they seem firmly against the rights of the one that ends up dead.
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

Leaving Afghanistan is "about ending an era of major military missions to rebuild other countries..."

And redeploying our fighting forces to where they are needed: low vax compliance red states.
1. JesseAz 4 years ago
  
  Isnt one of bidens immigration plans to try and rebuild central America with billions of dollars?
  1. n00bdragon 4 years ago
    
    BIDEN: So here's the plan. We get out of Afghanistan and then rebuild Central America with... one billion dollars!
    
    HARRIS: Don't you think we should spend more than a billion dollars? A billion dollars isn't exactly a lot of money these days. The U.S. federal deficit alone is over three trillion dollars a year.
    
    BIDEN: Really? --That's a lot of money... Okay then. We rebuild Central America with one... hundred... trillion dollars!
    1. JesseAz 4 years ago
      
      And still fund the taliban yo rebuild Afghanistan!
buckleup 4 years ago

The squeeing over Biden by Amash is embarrassing on any level.
1. damikesc 4 years ago
  
  It's Justin Amash. Nothing about him rises to the level of embarrassing any longer. He's Reason-style libertarianism in human form.
  1. JesseAz 4 years ago
    
    The feckless party.
2. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland 4 years ago
  
  Notice that boem lies and presents a false dicotomy in one tweet. The 100k evacuated were not done by the US, most were Don by our allies. And the choices you have are another decade of afghanistan, or the worst withdrawal in us history.
  1. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
    
    "Notice that boem lies and presents a false dicotomy in one tweet."
    
    So he's now able to distill the end goal of an average column of his, down to less than 280 characters.
    Pocket demagoguery. That'll be handy for him.
3. Red Rocks White Privilege 4 years ago
  
  Check out Dan Rather's remark that was in the feed below it:
  
  Dan Rather
  @DanRather
  ·
  11h
  It’s worth noting that many of the same people attacking the Biden Administration for leaving women’s rights behind in Afghanistan are eager to control women’s bodies and choices in the United States.
  
  LOL, who the fuck is reeeeeeeeeing about "women and girls" in Afghanistan other than shitlibs?
  
  I can't wait until this self-righteous hack finally kicks off so I can find his grave and drop a deuce on it.
  1. Chumby 4 years ago
    
    We’d all rather he just go away for good.
    1. Dillinger 4 years ago
      
      Goddan what an asshole.
    2. KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
      
      Can you guys tell me why y’all hate Rather again?
      
      The memo I got turned out to be inaccurate.
  2. TrickyVic (old school) 4 years ago
    
    I thought the CDC controls women's bodies?
  3. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
    
    Because not getting to chop your child into bits, and being treated like an Afghan woman, are exactly the same thing.
  4. Overt 4 years ago
    
    I remember a couple weeks ago when people suggested that this asshole somehow got his comeuppance for the whole Bush National Guard scandal. He may have changed jobs, but the liberal establishment continues to prop him up.
  5. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
    
    A whining, self-aggrandizing asshole, the one time I met him in passing. He was evidently pissed that Hurricane Rita perversely decided not to hit Houston, where he and a bunch of other newsies were. Thereby denying him a swan song story to bookend his newscaster career. (He came onto the scene with his reporting from Hurricane Carla in Galveston, in 1961.)
    
    Charlie Gibson & GMA colleagues, conversely, were great. Gracious, and our crew bent over backwards to try and help them.
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

To side-step users who enter incorrect birthday information, the company plans to leverage a new algorithm designed to analyze your posts and determine whether you're telling the truth about how old you are or not...

Gentlemen, start your filters.
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

New: Thirteen public-facing essential workers have been charged in Manhattan with purchasing fake CDC vaccine cards on Instagram for $200 a pop.

Heroes one day, zeroes the next.
1. Chumby 4 years ago
  
  Saw a story on the importation of the fake passports from China. They had spelling errors on them and the CDC logo was blurry.
  Those essential workers can still vote without needing to show ID. As many times as they can.
  1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP) 4 years ago
    
    You know that the goon squads are going to ask for peoples' state issued ID to confirm they are the person on the vaccine doc. A public health workaround for the 4th amendment.
    
    Get used to hearing, "Warrant? We don't need a warrant. Visiting a business during a pandemic is a privilege, not a right."
    1. KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
      
      Goon squads?
      
      I didn’t know LDS missionaries were patrolling businesses in Austin?
  2. damikesc 4 years ago
    
    I do wonder how they'll explain why you cannot eat, buy groceries, etc without photo ID...but voting is perfectly ok.
2. Bill Godshall 4 years ago
  
  The fake vaccine entrepreneurs made the mistake of posting their ads on Instagram. They could have sold far more fake vaccine cards (and not been caught) by hawking them on city sidewalks, and by reducing their price down to $100 or $50.
  
  Regarding Texas' abortion ban, the real blame goes to Biden, Harris, Pelosi, Schumer, other Democrats, and left wing groups that feign concern for women's rights and civil rights because they could have enacted a federal statute (that would trump state laws) legalizing the right of American women to obtain an abortion before the 24th week of pregnancy, and for other cases that pose significant risks for the mother's health or life.
  
  Regarding Title IX, transgender people are mentally ill, and should be given mental health treatment services (instead of having their mental illness be legally defined and treated as a "civil right").
3. Red Rocks White Privilege 4 years ago
  
  What a bunch of balloonheads. They can find printer templates just about anywhere online, and because the Branch Covidians have been posting soylent grin selfies with lot numbers on them, counterfeiting these things would be incredibly easy. That's a big reason why these vaccine passports are gaining traction in the Blue Shitholes.
  
  Why bother getting sucked in to some glow-op and losing $200 to boot?
  1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP) 4 years ago
    
    Why bother getting sucked in to some glow-op
    
    If that document was transmitted across state lines, you know the FBI wants their to get their dicks wet.
  2. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
    
    "Why bother getting sucked in to some glow-op and losing $200 to boot?"
    
    As our elites envy, and evidently wish to emulate, Latin American governance, I ask myself, "How would Juan Cierva handle this problem?" Juan'd likely use a personal contact, somewhere within the vast medical/public health bureaucracy, and make a personal plea to be added to the rolls of the vaccinated. Probably aided by a surreptitious $50 or 100.
    
    "Personal contact" is the key here. Someone you already know, or who knows someone who you both know. Or do you think people in Third World countries actually go through all of the permitting, forms, and other bullshit their laws require on their face? LOL.
    
    And of course, you'll do a similar favor for them.
    1. Red Rocks White Privilege 4 years ago
      
      One wonders how many of these nurses and medical staff have actually gotten the jab, considering the stories coming about the ones who won't take it. It seems like it wouldn't take much to get someone on the inside to forge these things.
      1. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
        
        I'd think it'd be the easiest thing in the world, but I don't know how their materials controls systems work. You'd think the RNs could just 'inject' each other, note so in the log, and no one would be the wiser.
        
        Even better, take a sick day or two post-'jab', because you're not feeling well after the vaccine.
  3. DRM 4 years ago
    
    Yeah, if they're stupid enough to pay $200 on the black market for a single card instead of buying a laser printer and cardstock off Amazon for less, they should lose their jobs.
4. Mike Laursen 4 years ago
  
  It would be so much easier to just get vaccinated.
  1. Chumby 4 years ago
    
    It would be so much easier to take care of yourself and mind your own business.
  2. damikesc 4 years ago
    
    Would be easier to get photo ID to vote but easier does not seem to be desired in some circumstances.
  3. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP) 4 years ago
    
    Without question. A critical thinker would pause to consider that people who purportedly "work in NYC hospitals, medical and nursing schools, and nursing homes" are risking, not just the violation, but their careers and reputations by purchasing false documents. An intelligent critical thinker, upon confirming the veracity of the claim made in a tweet (lolz), would attempt to determine what information or misinformation might have led to what at first glace seems to be irrational behavior for the people in question.
    
    Thanks for playing Are You Smarter Than a College Freshman.
    1. R Mac 4 years ago
      
      Dee’s just squawking.
      1. Chumby 4 years ago
        
        She can’t cawnsider other folks’ perspectives.
OpenBordersLiberal-tarian 4 years ago

"The Biden administration continues to follow Trump-era immigration policy."

LOL

Drumpf. Literally. Put. Kids. In. Cages.

You expect me to believe Joe Biden — or any Democrat, for that matter — would do something so depraved?

#DemocratsDontCageKids
1. ErictheRed 4 years ago
  
  Never Change
  1. Quo Usque Tandem 4 years ago
    
    I'm still thinking he's hired a staff of writers from Bangalore.
2. Jerry B. 4 years ago
  
  Biden is much better, He just puts them in tents, in Texas, in summer. It's like a spa, and they even get sand scrubs. The food is intentionally poor, to motivate them to lose excess weight, and the lack of medical care toughens them up.
  1. R Mac 4 years ago
    
    All that lost weight is why they don’t need Covid vaccines.
Overt 4 years ago

https://emeralddb3.substack.com/p/how-the-national-review-sold-its

How Google and other Big Tech companies paid off big conservative institutions to suppress stories critical of them. Featured prominently in the article, is Jonah Goldberg and The National Review.
1. damikesc 4 years ago
  
  I remember back when I read NR. That stopped before the anti-Trump issue but nothing has made me change my mind on it since then.
2. Overt 4 years ago
  
  The interesting thing about this article is that I think the analysis is actually pretty crappy. It has New York Times levels of allegations by unnamed sources, and tries to tie them all up into one big conspiracy.
  
  But many of the hard facts do point to the problems that ultimately caused me to abandon these conservative institutions. Since Romney's run in 2010, it has become painfully clear to me that a bunch of Big Government Social Planners had wrestled control of the GOP. Romney, a Blue State Republican who had passed his own Obamacare Light, was being shoved down our throat as the Heir Apparent. People claiming Reagan's mantle were arguing that Medicare Part D and No Child Left Behind were conservative answers to our problems. Ramesh Ponnuru was at the National Review arguing for refundable tax credits (i.e. wealth redistribution) to people having children. Add on top of this the dogged belief that they could keep pouring blood and treasure into the middle east and somehow make us safer.
  
  Just as the Democrats will never fix immigration- because that would remove an issue keeping Hispanics locked to their platform- the Republicans were never going to address funding. Perpetual "Debt Ceiling" actions meant that they could pound the podium 2 or 3 times a year while never once actually fixing the problems.
  
  The GOP got what it deserved in Trump. He was nothing good for small government conservatives, but he was a person willing to do something other than perpetuate the status quo power-sharing between Red Elites and Blue Elites.
  
  I cannot tell if Google paid-for-play with The National Review, or if it just so happened that their interests aligned. The reporting in that substack is just that bad. But I can say that in many ways it doesn't matter. Big Conservatism's interests stopped aligning with the populace 10 to 20 years ago. They have fully succumbed to the Ring of Power- they want to use the Government to affect their own brand of Socially Conservative Perfect Society that is just as deeply flawed as the Liberal's Secular Perfect Society. This is what puts them in bed with Big Tech.
  1. JesseAz 4 years ago
    
    He was nothing good for small government conservatives,
    
    He wasn't perfect, but wasn't good is a bit of a misnomer.
    
    Lowered taxes, lowered regulations, no new wars, troop withdrawal. Yes he spent, but plenty of good there.
    1. Zeb 4 years ago
      
      Sure, but still nothing I would call "small government". Unless you are actually shrinking the federal budget (or at least doing everything you can to make those things happen) and workforce, you aren't worth a shit when it comes to small government.
      I'd rather Trump was still president, but he's not a small government anything.
      1. JesseAz 4 years ago
        
        You do know about impoundment is right? How it was removed in 1974 under Nixon?
        
        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Budget_and_Impoundment_Control_Act_of_1974
        
        The president is tasked with spending money allocated. What Trump did due is what was in his power by notnincreasing departments not directly covered by appropriations and reducing regulatory frameworks.
        
        The President can not shrink spending on his own based on the laws currently in place. It makes no sense to criticize him for this.
        
        Zeb 4 years ago
        
        I didn't see him trying to abolish any departments or making much effort to reduce the budget.
        I'm not so much criticizing him as making the case that he is not a small government conservative. He never claimed to be. Even with a compliant congress, I doubt he would have been.
    2. Overt 4 years ago
      
      Meh. Trump is what Trump is, and he is largely irrelevant at this point. The left, the right, everyone wants to keep talking about him. Trump is the new wedge issue that the Elites are using to keep us divided. His rise was a symptom of the fact that our republic has largely been captured by a wealthy elite that sets us at one anothers' throats while they rake in the big bucks.
      
      The important lesson of the fall of the Roman Republic was that Julius Caesar, Sulla, Pompeius, Lucillious- all those assholes were wealthy elites arguing over which one would control the roman empire. Plays to the populace were an aside. They gave very few shits about the populace other than as a tool towards gaining power. Caesar claimed to be for the people, and had many rabid followers who he ruled just as hard as his detractors.
      
      I don't think that Trump is Caesar. But I do think that our government has continued in its path towards being for the people in name only. Our entire foreign policy institution has become a money laundering service for government workers. Our economic policy has become a wealth-transfer service for giant megabanks and wall street brokers. And our federal intelligence agencies have become the ruthless enforcers of its own people. Our next caesar will be the man/woman that best brokers those three powers. As a general public, our job is to be continuously at each others' throats as dutiful soldiers to their ambitions.
      
      The interesting thing about the article is that it shows how many conservatives are a part of that power structure. Romney is the most prominent person on the right trying to make that run. I do not know enough about DeSantis to tell if he is a newbie to that club, or a long time member.
      1. JesseAz 4 years ago
        
        The problem is the analysis like you've given defers the blame of congress to he executive branch and in and of itself increases the perceived power of the executive.
        
        Again. See the link above regarding impoundment.
        
        Overt 4 years ago
        
        "the analysis like you’ve given defers the blame of congress to he executive branch and in and of itself increases the perceived power of the executive."
        
        It does no such thing. I specifically said that Trump is meaningless. And I pointed out that on the right, the most visible power broker on the right is Romney...a member of the legislature.
        
        I don't think we will ever have a real Julius Caesar. He was assassinated because he let himself be seen as a King, and that was something Romans wouldn't tolerate. Augustus figured out how to be the guy in charge while letting other public figures occupy specific posts. Much like Putin has done in Russia.
      2. Red Rocks White Privilege 4 years ago
        
        Caesar claimed to be for the people, and had many rabid followers who he ruled just as hard as his detractors.
        
        Is that really the case, though? Caesar was typically quite generous to the Optimates he conquered--the ones who didn't live through that civil war typically killed themselves or died in battle, rather than being executed after the fact--and I've never seen any indication that he was particularly rough on ordinary Romans during the time he was actually in charge.
        
        It's important to keep in mind that Caesar, like many of the Populares, as well as Antony and Augustus, gained influence primarily because the Republic and the Optimates had grown so corrupt and sheltered during this time, that a lot of Romans became open to the idea of someone in charge willing to clean these assholes out. Like you said, Trump is a symptom and a result of a much larger problem of institutional rot amongst the elites, and an overall lack of civic consensus and shared tradition, which have been undermined by the left for about 100 years in varying levels of intensity.
        
        The real lesson of populist uprisings that the neocons and liberaltarians continually miss (probably because of their arrogance which is fueled by stupidity) isn't to cry that they're happening and try to discredit them. These things don't take place in healthy, stable, high-trust societies. If they're happening, it's because the society itself has become corrupt and unresponsive, and the people they expect to fix things not only aren't fixing them, they're gaslighting and censoring anyone who complains about it.
        
        That's why doofuses like Goldberg and French remain gobsmacked that Trump snatched their party right out of their hands, and why whores like Rick Wilson, Max Boot, and Jennifer Rubin are Democrats now.
        
        Overt 4 years ago
        
        "It’s important to keep in mind that Caesar, like many of the Populares, as well as Antony and Augustus, gained influence primarily because the Republic and the Optimates had grown so corrupt and sheltered during this time, that a lot of Romans became open to the idea of someone in charge willing to clean these assholes out."
        
        Yes, this was my point. Caesar was just another of those big strongmen wheeling and dealing for the ultimate power of the country. Any "house cleaning" that he did in government was merely his faction taking charge. It wasn't returning power to the people, it was returning power to HIS people.
        
        That is the problem right now: If you think anyone near the ropes of power right now is fighting for you, you have a bad wakeup call ahead of you. The GOP insisted they were the party of small government while doing nothing to restrain government. The Dems are the party of Immigrants, and they are doing nothing to actually settle the immigration problem. Both sides (tm)! have figured out that as long as they leave these issues unresolved, they can keep their base in line, fearful of the other group.
  2. Bubba Jones 4 years ago
    
    "The interesting thing about this article is that I think the analysis is actually pretty crappy. It has New York Times levels of allegations by unnamed sources, and tries to tie them all up into one big conspiracy."
    
    That was my impression as well.
    
    So, why link it?
    1. Red Rocks White Privilege 4 years ago
      
      Because it points to a larger problem within the old neocon guard that ran the GOP from about 1988-2016, and its relation to American politics as a whole.
      
      These guys are openly parroting the agendas of whomever will write them the biggest paycheck. I guarantee you if Sheldon Adelson was still alive and promised Jonah Goldberg or Rick Wilson a lifetime trust sinecure to never criticize the GOP again, they'd take it in a heartbeat. That's how weak and unprincipled these shitbirds really are.
  3. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP) 4 years ago
    
    The GOP got what it deserved in Trump.
    
    I have been saying this for 5 years. His biggest victory was not over Hillary. It was when he beat out the entire field of Republicans. IMHO he had a hefty assist from the media, who wanted a matchup favorable to Clinton and from crossover primary voters on both sides. But the core problem was the Republicans not having the courage to refuse to participate. When they bring the donkey into the tent and you stay to watch, don't complain when you end up sticky.
    
    It's not that Trump usurped the Republican platform. They left the door open and the guy just wandered in, drank all the beer in the fridge, dared them to kick him out and then passed out on the couch after shitting his pants. He should have been disinvited after the first debate.
    
    The lefties all participated gleefully during the primaries and then pretended outrage when they got exactly what they had planned. The only mistake they made was letting the People determine the outcome of the actual election.
    
    But both sides got the President they deserved.
3. Fats of Fury 4 years ago
  
  It also includes Cato.
  1. Overt 4 years ago
    
    Yeah Cato was the most significant loss to freedom. AEI and CEI were also significant losses.
    
    The problem is that Free Enterprise type orgs need to reckon with the fact that many large private institutions (Banks, Big Tech, Military) have already captured large swaths of the government. So it isn't enough to argue "Leave private business alone". That Google and Facebook are supporting these Free Enterprise sites- despite the very real, very creepy totalitarianism they are pushing in the private and public sphere- just shows that they have gotten their beach head, and they are now fortifying their position.
    1. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
      
      I remember reading in Steve Jobs' autobiography of an advertising deal being cut during a Clinton fundraiser around 2007, and all the politicians were being mediators between the business leaders and the celebrities. Like an old fashioned bridal market.
      And it struck me how incestuous government, business and the media now is.
      
      Big corporations are now part of the shadow government nowadays. We can't pretend that an actual free market still exists.
      1. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
        
        "Big corporations are now part of the shadow government nowadays. We can’t pretend that an actual free market still exists."
        
        Neofeudalism. In the light of which, doctrinaire Libertarians snidely snarking to "start your own business and compete, if you don't like it," come off as Cargo Cult practitioners wondering why the mock airport towers aren't bringing in anymore airplanes full of Coca-cola and Spam.
        
        Mother's Lament 4 years ago
        
        That's a pretty apt description.
4. JesseAz 4 years ago
  
  This has been known for a while. The Lincoln project was just the pure face of it. Anna Navarro, Jennifer rubin. Etc. All grifters. But that is largely due to the institutional bias found in media at this point. The same is true for publishing companies that funnel millions to democratic slanted authors and politicians even when nobody buys their books.
5. Bill Godshall 4 years ago
  
  Our local left wing newspaper (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) that primarily reprints left wing articles and op/eds from NYT, WaPo and AP never ran Jonah Goldberg columns until five years ago when Goldberg and National Review tried to prevent Trump from getting the GOP nomination in 2016.
  
  Since then, Goldberg's columns trashing Trump have been featured weekly in the Post Gazette. He's probably making a lot more money now (than he did before he began demonizing Trump).
6. Red Rocks White Privilege 4 years ago
  
  It's not like anyone didn't know the neocons and their offspring were whores, it's just nice to see the actual receipts in this case.
7. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
  
  How Google and other Big Tech companies paid off big conservative institutions to suppress stories critical of them."
  
  How much do you want to bet that this is exactly what happened with the Reason Foundation, a lot of the writers here, and Cato.
  We've all seen the negative effects that Charles Koch's money has had on this place.
  
  But Koch alone doesn't explain all the outright anti-libertarian takes published here in the last five years. Or the purposeful ignoring of important stories that have libertarian implications.
  1. KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
    
    I love how the commenters on here think Koch is some commie.
    1. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
      
      Nobody here thinks Koch is a Commie, nice redirection attempt though.
      Everyone knows Koch's interests lie in amassing personal power and lots of lovely money through political connections, with a goal to sitting pretty by 2030. Like Steyer, Gates and Buffett, he's just another discount Soros wannabe.
      1. KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
        
        Tell that OpenBordersLiberaltarian
        
        Mother's Lament 4 years ago
        
        Pretty sure he's well aware.
        
        KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
        
        No he doesn’t seem to be.
  2. Azathoth!! 4 years ago
    
    Any organization, not explicitly and steadfastly right wing, becomes left wing over time.
    
    --Conquest's Second Law
    
    The intellectualists at Reason have held steadfast to the premise that they WERE NOT 'right wing', so it was only a matter of time.
8. R Mac 4 years ago
  
  Soooo… when does this recording get released?
  1. Gaear Grimsrud 4 years ago
    
    That's my question as well. Seems Wired has a copy but won't give it up. I think the story is probably accurate but I don't like putting my faith in journolists.
9. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
  
  I still wonder if the tape, that Ms. Robinson wrote about, has been published anywhere.
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

Those charged work in NYC hospitals, medical and nursing schools, and nursing homes, according to the Manhattan DA.

TREASON AGAINST THE CDC
1. mad.casual 4 years ago
  
  Make them deny medical care to each other.
Idaho Bob 4 years ago

"A 21-year-old in Ohio was ordered to get the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of his probation on a drug charge. A judge just lifted that order."

First kids are taken, now the jab a condition of probation. How in the fuck did we get here, and more importantly, how do we back out? Without bloodshed, I prefer.
1. KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
  
  All Mormon kids should be taken from their parents and put in good homes where they won’t be brainwashed to be evil scum of the earth.
  1. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
    
    Piss of Shrike.
    1. KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
      
      “Piss of Shrike?”
      
      I’m sorry I don’t speak fascist nerd language…
      1. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
        
        Because you fancy yourself a fascist chad?
        Too bad you're actually just another fifty-centing funktionshäftling, huh.
        
        D-Pizzle 4 years ago
        
        I am loathe to mute anyone who is not a spambot, but I made an exception for KAR.
        
        KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
        
        Where do I sign up for that sweet Soros scrilla?
        
        I call out you lying fascists for free.
        
        Mother's Lament 4 years ago
        
        sweet Soros scrilla"
        
        Ask your boss, plug, you probably already are. Open Foundations funds Media Matters.
        
        KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
        
        You’re ridiculous. If someone disagrees with you they must be a paid troll.
        
        You, Jesse, and Nazi Nardz post your anti-American bullshit more than anyone. If anyone’s a paid troll it’s you guys.
  2. Gaear Grimsrud 4 years ago
    
    If it saves one child...
    1. KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
      
      It would save most of them. Mormon kids grow up to be Mormons.
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

A 21-year-old in Ohio was ordered to get the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of his probation on a drug charge.

There's only so much poison a person is willing to shoot into his veins.
1. Unicorn Abattoir 4 years ago
  
  Should have argued that it might trigger a relapse into IV drug use.
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

As coronavirus cases in Florida rose in August, "the Florida Department of Health changed the way it reported death data to the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], giving the appearance of a pandemic in decline, an analysis of Florida data by the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald found."

There's only one direction you're allowed to manipulate the narrative toward.
1. mad.casual 4 years ago
  
  And that direction is towards continued uncertainty:
  
  The dramatic difference is due to a small change in the fine print. Until three weeks ago, data collected by DOH and published on the CDC website counted deaths by the date they were recorded — a common method for producing daily stats used by most states. On Aug. 10, Florida switched its methodology and, along with just a handful of other states, began to tally new deaths by the date the person died.
  
  If you chart deaths by Florida’s new method, based on date of death, it will generally appear — even during a spike like the present — that deaths are on a recent downslope. That’s because it takes time for deaths to be evaluated and death certificates processed. When those deaths finally are tallied, they are assigned to the actual date of death — creating a spike where there once existed a downslope and moving the downslope forward in time.
  
  P.S. - Pay no attention to the fact that for decades, DPHs far and wide have adjusted death numbers up and down after the dust has settled.
  1. Claptrap 4 years ago
    
    “Deaths by date of death curve is the most accurate you can get,” Salemi said. “You know exactly when people died, you know how to construct the curve and exactly when we were experiencing surges in terms of deaths.”
    
    But Florida’s new data structure is less useful for understanding the pandemic in real time, he warned.
    
    “When you have big surges in deaths, the deaths by date reported will always show an increase while deaths by date occurred will go down,” Salemi said.
    
    I find this line of reasoning silly. Deaths are a lagging indicator anyway; when they're accounted should have no bearing on policy changes moving forward. The most useful data point is new hospital admissions (or would be if we weren't snagging so many incidentals), but that's almost never publicized.
    1. mad.casual 4 years ago
      
      He's pretending that "deaths reported' = "actual deaths". The whole point of the switch was that it's not the case. He's insisting that they be able to legislatively chase a mirage.
      1. Claptrap 4 years ago
        
        Exactly my point. He basically admits as much, right there.
    2. Overt 4 years ago
      
      They have been insisting that Florida is cooking the books for a year now. It has become exceedingly tiring.
  2. Overt 4 years ago
    
    Also note that the data in the old methodology was also terrible. You'd have lulls on the weekend then a giant spike on Monday when various offices reported in.
    
    Neither of these reporting processes gives us a realtime view of the data. But because the old way lets the news report giant numbers, for some reason it is preferred.
2. Commenter_XY 4 years ago
  
  The Miami Herald is a Team D mouthpiece. They have been properly called out for blatant deception in their reporting.
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

A viral video of the Taliban allegedly hanging a man from a helicopter isn't what it initially appeared to be.

Reason doesn't feel those cave dwellers could even pilot a Black Hawk!
1. Mike Laursen 4 years ago
  
  I have to admit, I doubt the Taliban can muster more than a handful of helicopter pilots. And even fewer mechanics.
  1. Chumby 4 years ago
    
    You believe that if I gave a firearm to a violent felon, where I knew this, and that felon uses it to kill innocent people I should have no culpability?
Ken Shultz 4 years ago

Joe Biden has invoked emergency powers to unilaterally give federal bureaucrats a fat pay hike.

"Title 5, United States Code, authorizes me to implement alternative plans for pay adjustments for civilian Federal employees covered by the General Schedule and certain other pay systems if, because of “national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare,” I view the increases that would otherwise take effect as inappropriate.

Accordingly, I have determined that it is appropriate to exercise my authority to set alternative pay adjustments for 2022 pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 5303(b) and 5 U.S.C. 5304a.

Specifically, I have determined that for 2022, the across-the-board base pay increase will be 2.2 percent and locality pay increases will average 0.5 percent, resulting in an overall average increase of 2.7 percent for civilian Federal employees.

----Joe Biden

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/27/letter-to-the-speaker-of-the-house-and-the-president-of-the-senate-on-the-alternative-plan-for-pay-adjustments-for-civilian-federal-employees/

Federal employees were scheduled to receive a smaller pay raise in 2022 without Biden's action.

Biden may be going senile, but he still knows where his bread is buttered.
1. Chumby 4 years ago
  
  When a family member used to work at SSA, the inflation adjustments for the employees were greater than the cost of living increases for the recipients.
  1. damikesc 4 years ago
    
    I miss the days when they justified the near-impossibility of firing federal workers because "they'd make more in the private sector".
    
    That very much is not the case now.
    1. Chumby 4 years ago
      
      One of them ran a political campaign from his office. The actual campaign. He got caught and was found to have violated the Hatch Act. Suspended for six months but not fired.
      Another was caught visiting Buttplug’s websites and not fired. And not reported to police.
      A friend’s dad worked there. He got an award for investigating and catching an employee that had made a couple hundred bucks worth of personal long distance calls. Of course not good. But he spent months working on just that costing tens of thousands in salary. And the employee making the calls was not fired.
2. Unicorn Abattoir 4 years ago
  
  All while denying the resurgence of an inflationary cycle.
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

...the U.S. Military did not leave any dogs in cages at Hamid Karzai International Airport, including the reported military working dogs.

OMG, where did they leave them?
1. Mickey Rat 4 years ago
  
  At the Korean restaurant in Kabul?
2. Chumby 4 years ago
  
  No, Biden brought the dogs back but abandoned hundreds of Americans there. Such a disgrace.
JesseAz 4 years ago

Pelosi blocks house members from reading the names of the 13 soldiers who died on the House floor.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/nancy-pelosi-blocked-gop-from-reading-names-of-slain-u-s-troops-reps-say
1. Idaho Bob 4 years ago
  
  Yet Sicknick was given the highest honors, based a lie.
  
  How does the average democrat not see this?
  1. JesseAz 4 years ago
    
    Fire extinguishers are the true weapons of fear.
    1. Jerry B. 4 years ago
      
      I just replaced two fire extinguishers and didn't have to register them or pass a background check. What's this country coming to?
      1. Chumby 4 years ago
        
        Unregistered fire extinguishers could foament an insurrection.
  2. Mike Laursen 4 years ago
    
    Whether or not he was killed, he died as a result of the stress of that day. Since when are conservatives do anti-police and anti-law and order.
    1. Chumby 4 years ago
      
      He died of natural causes. If a peaceful protest was too much stress for him then maybe he should have another vocation such as florist or city park mime.
    2. Red Rocks White Privilege 4 years ago
      
      ?Whether or not he was killed, he died as a result of the stress of that day.
      
      No, he didn't.
      
      Since when are conservatives do anti-police and anti-law and order.
      
      When they simp for lefties like you do.
    3. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
      
      "he died as a result of the stress of that day"
      
      Lol, how?
      Regular cops go through far worse than that every day of the week. Hell, the White House and Kavanagh protesters were far more brutal and he weathered those just fine.
      1. Claptrap 4 years ago
        
        Science shows that 2% of cops on riot duty die within the next week from cardiovascular events. We're lucky Sicknick was the only one.
        
        Mike Laursen 4 years ago
        
        Just curious. Is that a real or sarcastic stat?
        
        Chumby 4 years ago
        
        Incawnceivable!
2. Chumby 4 years ago
  
  Am guessing reading the names of the children that Biden killed with a drone strike is off limits too. Censoring cisinformation is all the rage.
  1. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland 4 years ago
    
    All info coming from cis white males should be censored... Greatest typo ever
    1. Chumby 4 years ago
      
      It was intentional. And defined as truth that is censored under the label of misinformation
3. Zeb 4 years ago
  
  Jeez, you'd think if they died on the House floor, they should get some mention.
4. Bill Godshall 4 years ago
  
  Pelosi also prevented the release (since January) of the identity of the Capitol Police officer who murdered Ashli Babbitt on Jan 6, then made sure the murderer was never charged for anything.
  
  The good news is that Babbitt's murderer (in his interview with NBC's Lester Holt) basically ensured a multimillion dollar settlement in Babbitt's civil lawsuit. Unfortunately, US taxpayers will pay those costs.
  1. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
    
    His name is Michael Byrd.
  2. Gray_Jay 4 years ago
    
    "The good news is that Babbitt’s murderer (in his interview with NBC’s Lester Holt) basically ensured a multimillion dollar settlement in Babbitt’s civil lawsuit.
    
    Let me know when that survives a summary judgment motion... I have doubt. OTOH, didn't Randy Weaver get some payout, many years down the road, and w/o an admission of wrongdoing?
5. I, Woodchipper 4 years ago
  
  If Trump was still president she'd be reading these names her self.
  
  It's political bullshit all the way down.
6. D-Pizzle 4 years ago
  
  "Pelosi blocks house members from reading the names of the 13 soldiers who died on the House floor."
  
  What the hell went down at the Capitol that caused this to happen?
Mickey Rat 4 years ago

The Title IX lawsuit that having sex segregated facilities and institutions for women is incompatible with nondiscrimination based on gender identity. There is no way to square that circle. A male that identifies as a woman is not fundamentally a woman for all purposes, and forcing such people into women's spaces is a violation of women's rights.

At the very least, the Biden administration policy is cognitively dissonant with what Title IX was originally supposed to accomplish.
1. Illocust 4 years ago
  
  What they are going to say is that while sex discrimination is illegal, it is perfectly legal for congressman to mandate discrimination based on gender identity. As long as you treat everyone who identifies as that gender the same type actions are legal.
  1. Social Justice is neither 4 years ago
    
    The Democrat position on gender identity is a death sentence for women in any competitive contact sport, figuratively. By the time you're a HS Sophmore you know if you're competitive for college scholarships but if you claim to be a woman that all changes to the detriment of biological women. Don't know about you but as a man I'd claim to be a lesbian woman for 4 years to secure a scholarship in a sport I loved but wasn't competitive at against other men. Then there is the dramatic increase in injuries to bio-women when trans women are included in their sports, but that seems to align well with the left's treatment of women (see Hollywood, male feminists, etc).
2. Jerry B. 4 years ago
  
  I'm expecting radical Conservative men in college to say they identify as female today, and so have the right to go into the women's locker rooms and showers. If they get an erection while there, they'll say the identify as female lesbians.
  1. Eeyore 4 years ago
    
    They can't help that they have a huge clits.
JesseAz 4 years ago

House committee is requesting private correspondence for Jan 6th. This includes GOP strategists that were not even at the Capitol, members of congress, and private citizens.

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/house-committee-seeks-records-from-facebook-twitter-others
1. damikesc 4 years ago
  
  Jack Posobiec has already told the committee they'll get nothing as this is just a ploy to out his sources.
  1. Unicorn Abattoir 4 years ago
    
    They're trying to get it from internet providers, not the individual. McCarthy threatened to go after any provider that complied when the R's take back the house.
    
    But he's a squish, so nothing will happen.
OpenBordersLiberal-tarian 4 years ago

#BidenBoom update.

In 2021 Democrats have raised the minimum wage by: $0.00 / hour

In 2021 the 10 richest Americans have gained a combined: $259 billion

From a Koch / Reason libertarian POV, Biden is already the best President in US history.

#InDefenseOfBillionaires
JesseAz 4 years ago

In a stunning blow to White Mike and pedophiles everywhere (SPB), DOJ files extortion charges against lawywr who was trying to get 25 million from the Gaetz family about rumors of minors.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/matt-gaetz-extortion-suspect-indicted-on-defraud-scheme
KillAllRednecks 4 years ago

“There was no perfect time or way to exit Afghanistan. President Biden directed the evacuation of more than one hundred thousand people and got our troops out. I disagree with the president on a lot, but I’m grateful he pushed through despite all the pressure.”

Don’t most the “libertarian” commenters on here hate Amash? Most popular reasons seem to be his criticism of Trump and not accomplishing anything. Weird because I thought the “libertarians” on here want govt to do nothing.

Tbh he shouldn’t be praising Biden for his royal fuck up of leaving.
1. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
  
  Except Amash is lying because we've all seen what actually happened, and no amount of gaslighting from you or him is going to make people believe that "President Biden directed the evacuation of more than one hundred thousand people".
  1. KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
    
    How am I gaslighting?
    1. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
      
      You weren't. Amash was and I failed to read your last line disagreeing with him.
      1. KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
        
        Thanks for being honest.
faizan 4 years ago

You have done an amazing work . I really like your content.
For upcoming movie Spiderman Spider-Man: No Way Home (Movie 2021)
Chumby 4 years ago

Does Title IX mandate that all school women’s rooms have a urinal for MTF trans folks that have not yet had bottom surgery?
1. Longtobefree 4 years ago
  
  Everybody has to squat to pee. Urinal removal from "mens rooms" is a major part of the infrastructure bill.
  1. mad.casual 4 years ago
    
    Everybody has to squat to pee.
    
    Fuck FtMs.
    1. Chumby 4 years ago
      
      Not all addadicktome surgeries result in what the patient was longing for…ergo, some may still sit when peeing.
      1. mad.casual 4 years ago
        
        Details. Sit to pee. I don't give a shit whether you plumbing works or not, let alone why, peasant.
    2. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland 4 years ago
      
      What you do in your spare time is your own business
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

The man who tried to extort Rep. Matt Gaetz (R–Fla.) has been indicted on fraud charges.

Florida Man Plan Backfires
JesseAz 4 years ago

The lawsuit also objects to EEOC technical guidance stating that employers must allow trans employees to use showers, locker rooms, and bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

In an entire article ENB fails to address the concerns of allowing men into women's restrooms. Or the dissolving of women's sports.

What other forced shared delusions does ENB support? Some people believe they should be cripples. Should taxpayers fund procedures to make them so? Force psychologists to call anorexic people fat?
1. damikesc 4 years ago
  
  No concerns about prisoners in CA being raped by other "women" housed with them?
  
  How THAT has not led to a massive lawsuit is beyond me.
  1. Chumby 4 years ago
    
    The schlong arm of the law…
    1. Sevo 4 years ago
      
      Why, I'll bet you condom these new regulations.
      1. Chumby 4 years ago
        
        Only of they are not trans parent.
  2. Longtobefree 4 years ago
    
    Actually, it led to condoms being passed out in those "womens" prisons.
  3. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland 4 years ago
    
    If the actual female prisoners complain they will be labeled transphobes and get extra time added
  4. Eeyore 4 years ago
    
    It's just a harmless little jab.
JesseAz 4 years ago

Justin Amash
@justinamash
There was no perfect time or way to exit Afghanistan. President Biden directed the evacuation of more than one hundred thousand people and got our troops out. I disagree with the president on a lot, but I’m grateful he pushed through despite all the pressure.

What an ignorant narrative pushing patsy. Again... the 100k number isn't those removed by the US but all allied forces. You can be glad for withdrawal without pushing WH talking points ignorantly.
1. JesseAz 4 years ago
  
  Eric Boehm
  @EricBoehm87
  ·
  Aug 31, 2021
  Replying to @EricBoehm87
  "To those asking for a third decade of war in Afghanistan, I ask: What is the vital national interest?" Biden going hard at the hawks today.
  
  And boehm with the standard false dichotomy being used by the left to defend Biden like the good little boy he is.
  1. damikesc 4 years ago
    
    I love this as well.
    
    Who, outside of the neocons that make up a large chunk of Biden's voting base, WANTED MORE OF THE WAR?
    
    Is it impossible to fathom you can support a policy and oppose its execution?
    1. JesseAz 4 years ago
      
      They can't fathom it. They can't admit they were wrong in the lead up to the election.
      1. Sevo 4 years ago
        
        I think "they" can, most of them. But "they" are hoping that lipstick will confuse you regarding the pig it's on.
    2. Social Justice is neither 4 years ago
      
      You're talking about people who saw reductions in Iraq as abhorrent for no reason beyond who did the reduction. The poor communists left to fight their own war was beyond the pale but abandoning US citizens...meh.
  2. D-Pizzle 4 years ago
    
    "Biden going hard at the hawks today."
    
    OK, so phrasing is indeed out the window.
2. Commenter_XY 4 years ago
  
  POTUS Biden couldn't direct people to a bathroom in the White House because he is so adilpated. And we are to believe he personally directed that evac = President Biden directed the evacuation of more than one hundred thousand people and got our troops out.
  
  Amash comes across as a lying sack of shit.
  1. Sevo 4 years ago
    
    Yeah, this goes beyond white lies; if you are not capable of doing your job, get out of the way and find someone who is.
    "I'm demented" is not an excuse, it's a reason to find a replacement.
    1. Commenter_XY 4 years ago
      
      Sevo...All the more reason that the congressional elections next year are so important. The legislative agenda of POTUS Biden is dead. That 3.5T infra-bullshit atrocity is not going to pass. It is already pretty hefty lift to get the 1T bill passed, and signed into law. It might not pass.
      
      As for the rest of it....nope. POTUS Biden will be limited to executive orders and federal agency overreach (both of which are bad).
      
      The alternative to POTUS Biden is a POTUS Harris, or a POTUS Pelosi, or a POTUS Schumer. I think I'll stay with utterly incompetent (Biden) as opposed to malevolent and weak (Harris, Pelosi, Schumer). It would be wonderful if they all just disappeared, but that is not going to happen. They need to be voted out, or voted into a minority.
    2. damikesc 4 years ago
      
      Thing is...who do we have to replace him?
      
      Kamala? Pelosi? Schumer? Blinken?
      
      They are the next four in line. None of them are remotely competent either.
      1. Sevo 4 years ago
        
        Biden was picked, obvious dementia included, as *SUPERIOR* to those and any other available D!
        And assholes like Brandyshit, this rag and others did what they could to make sure he was elected instead of Trump.
  2. damikesc 4 years ago
    
    Biden would manage to fuck up a wet dream.
3. Moonrocks 4 years ago
  
  It really needs to be repeated: The Biden regime didn't end US involvement in Afghanistan, the Taliban did after the Biden regime expanded US involvement in Afghanistan.
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

How the "right to repair" might save you some money.

let thAt magci bean roll dude!
Claptrap 4 years ago

Florida changed its COVID-19 data, creating an ‘artificial decline’ in recent deaths

Same article:
Read next: Florida COVID update: 18,608 more cases reported, eight new deaths, fewer in hospital (August 31, 2021)

Anyway, Florida's reporting is now technically more accurate (based on date of death instead of date reported to the state), but the media's panties are in a twist because it's less justification for continued panic.
1. Chumby 4 years ago
  
  With the new reporting, it looks like Florida will stand its ground.
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

We've been hearing about how "monoclonal antibodies" are fighting COVID-19. Could they also fight unwanted sperm in a woman's body?

If I told you you had a monoclonal antibody would you hold it against me?
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

Anne Applebaum in The Atlantic on "the new Puritans."

Ye olde cancel culture is thou myth.
Fist of Etiquette 4 years ago

The Biden administration continues to follow Trump-era immigration policy.

"C'mon, man."
JesseAz 4 years ago

• In other fake news about Afghanistan:

Good thing they added the qualifier about Afghanistan. There would be a lot of links of fake news previously pushed. For example... the afghan bounty stories..
Enjoy Every Sandwich 4 years ago

Instagram will monitor users' accounts for truthfulness about their age

Post-wall women hit the hardest.
1. mad.casual 4 years ago
  
  Post-wall women
  
  Why would women born after the fall of the Berlin Wall be affected? /male privilege
2. Sevo 4 years ago
  
  Pretty sure M4e is gonna take a hit, too.
Longtobefree 4 years ago

"At the heart of the lawsuit are attempts by GOP-dominated state legislatures to ban transgender students from using bathrooms or playing on sports teams that correspond with their gender identity"

At the hear of the lawsuit is science. Men are men, no matter their delusions. And in scientific equality, women are women, no matter their delusions. Tell it to the DNA.
Ken Shultz 4 years ago

Debunking the stories about the guy being executed from a helicopter and dogs being left behind just come across as another kind of elitist misinformation.

The interesting thing about the helicopter video wasn’t what it was being used to do. It’s that the Taliban, apparently, has helicopter pilots who are capable of putting all that military hardware the Biden administration left behind to use.

“The current intelligence assessment was that the Taliban are believed to control more than 2,000 armored vehicles, including U.S. Humvees, and up to 40 aircraft potentially including UH-60 Black Hawks, scout attack helicopters, and ScanEagle military drones"

----Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/planes-guns-night-vision-goggles-talibans-new-us-made-war-chest-2021-08-19/

The issue with Biden incompetently leaving all the military hardware behind for the Taliban and/or the Islamic State to use wasn't that it might be used to execute people. It's that it might be used to further their goals in the region. So, yeah, just in case you were wondering, the Taliban and/or the Islamic State appear to have qualified helicopter pilots. And if anyone is debunking the story that the helicopter was used in an execution in the hope that it will make the real issue of Biden's incompetence putting valuable military hardware in the hands of terrorists go away, you're engaging in what might as well be misinformation.

It's more or less the same thing with the story about the dogs.

"The fear of intrigue and subversion doesn’t exist only on the fringes of society, but has always been part of our national identity. When such tales takes hold, Walker argues, they reflect the anxieties and experiences of the people who believe them, even if they say nothing true about the objects of the theories themselves."

----Blurb from Jesse Walker's The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory

45 years after we left Vietnam, I still see POW-MIA flags all over the country. In Walker's parlance, they reflect the anxieties and experiences of Americans, who have a thing about leaving Americans behind to suffer at the mercy of our enemies. Regardless of whether the story about the dogs is real, the "anxieties and experiences" of Americans concerned about the fate of Americans (and people with green cards) who were left behind is a real as anything needs to be, and debunking the story about dogs does absolutely nothing to speak to those Americans and their concerns.
1. Lord of Strazele 4 years ago
  
  The Afghan army abandoned that equipment. You're just a dumbass if you don't realise that basic fact. You're suggesting that we should have disarmed the Afghan army on our way out. So disarm the Afghan army and release 5000 Taliban fighters. Good job there Ken! You're brilliant!
  1. Sevo 4 years ago
    
    "The Afghan army abandoned that equipment..."
    
    And Lord of Shit assumes that means something, but Lord of Shit is one of the more stupid of the lefty shit piles posting here.
    Hint: "Ownership" of a weapon which can be used against you is irrelevant; it gets removed or destroyed.
    It takes a truly un-educated asshole, or a dedicated partisan apologist asshole to claim otherwise.
    Or both.
  2. Chumby 4 years ago
    
    Biden abandoned Bagram in July, which housed about 5,000 detainees that included IS-K and Al Queda. Am monitoring international news if any participated in planning or carrying out the suicide attack at the difficult-to-defend HKIA that resulted in hundreds dead including thirteen US servicemen. Incidentally, House Speaker Pelosi banned their names from being read in a House session. Your team absolutely sucks and you swallow for them.
  3. Ken Shultz 4 years ago
    
    "The Afghan army abandoned that equipment"
    
    IF IF IF that's the case, why did the Biden administration assume the Afghan army wouldn't completely collapse at the first sign of a fight?
    1. Chumby 4 years ago
      
      Because Biden said so even though his own intelligence (well, the military intelligence) told him the puppet government would fall quickly.
    2. Mike Laursen 4 years ago
      
      Because we’ve been training them to resist the Taliban for years?
      1. Chumby 4 years ago
        
        So they were socially passed like Oregon public high schools students.
        
        Sevo 4 years ago
        
        Could be that Mikes has a turd in his pocket and really means that HE "trained them".
  4. Mike Laursen 4 years ago
    
    Thing is, Ken isn’t dumb. He’s just partisan as hell.
    1. Chumby 4 years ago
      
      As opposed to you, who is both dumb and partisan.
      Some of us enjoy Ken’s partisan libertarianism.
      Keep going with your Kenis envy, Magic Mike.
    2. Sevo 4 years ago
      
      Gotta admit, Ken really doesn't like lefty shits telling him what to do or sticking their hands in pockets, trying to steal money.
      Partisan left shits, OTOH, support both actions!
      Fuck off and die, lefty shit.
  5. Red Rocks White Privilege 4 years ago
    
    You’re just a dumbass if you don’t realise that basic fact. You’re suggesting that we should have disarmed the Afghan army on our way out.
    
    It's not like they ended up using it. Not paying your troops for several weeks tends to have that effect.
2. Social Justice is neither 4 years ago
  
  The bizzare thing to me was that the first time I encountered this narrative was the debunking of it. Seemed more like narrative spin at that point by making it worse so they could simultaneously claim it was more benign.
  1. Ken Shultz 4 years ago
    
    I hadn't heard about it before they were debunking it either.
    1. R Mac 4 years ago
      
      Same.
  2. Chumby 4 years ago
    
    The White House Press Secretary again playing hackey psaki with the truth.
3. Jerry B. 4 years ago
  
  The BBC reports the Taliban is committing violent reprisals against Afghans who aided the American military and government. maybe they're not hanging them from helicopters, but looks like they're dying all the same.
  
  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58395954
  
  Strangely, nothing about this in the Washington Post.
4. BYODB 4 years ago
  
  What baffles me is that of course the U.S. trained Afghan pilots to use this equipment at some point and those people are probably still in the country and can probably be convinced to teach others or fly for the Taliban themselves.
  
  It never made sense that people were saying no one could use that equipment because of training when we provided the training.
Sevo 4 years ago

"...Leaving Afghanistan is "about ending an era of major military missions to rebuild other countries," said President Joe Biden yesterday..."

Yep, droolin' Joe is trying desperately to put some lipstick on that pig he brought to the office.
No, Joe; hardly anyone wanted to stay there; that was a given. Your colossal fuck up, pasting a "kick me" sign on the US presence there is the issue at hand.
How are YOU going to get the remaining hostages out of there, Joe?
1. Chumby 4 years ago
  
  Biden’s withdrawal was a complete botch job by the incompetent imbecile. The isis on the cake was abandoning all those Americans there.
Ken Shultz 4 years ago

There isn't anything libertarian about elitist contempt for the concerns of average Americans.

As libertarians, we use facts and logic to reach average Americans because we have respect for them and their ability to be persuaded by facts and logic. In order to convince me that someone cannot be persuaded by facts and logic, they need to prove it to me, day after day, on an individual basis. Even then, the problem isn't, necessarily, that they can't be persuaded by facts and logic, so much, as that they don't want want to be persuaded.

As libertarian capitalists, we believe that markets are far better at making choices than elitist politicians, bureaucrats, central planners, or experts, but ultimately, markets are little more than 325 million individual Americans making choices. Yes, markets, through signals, make stupid people behave as if they possessed knowledge they couldn't possibly posses, but they also do a better job of reflecting the authentic "anxieties", concerns, and desires of average Americans--and they're better than elitist politicians, bureaucrats, central planners, and experts for that reason alone.

Yeah, you're correcting the record, but if in debunking these or similar stories, you don't address the genuine concerns of average people that are reflected in these stories, then you might as well be hyping strawmen and red herrings. The fact is that Biden's withdrawal was an incompetent disaster that left American hardware and Americans, themselves, to the mercy of our enemies, and showing elitist contempt for those concerns merely serves to undermine the rationale for withdrawing from other places like Iraq.

You don't really want people to think that withdrawing from quagmires can't be done competently, do you? Because dismissing the concerns of average Americans as if they should be debunked like misinformation about helicopter executions and dogs is probably hurting the cause of withdrawing from forever wars. Putting the blame for Americans' anxieties on misinformation is only adding to their anxieties--when the real cause of the real problems that concern them is the Biden administration's incompetence.

The Biden administration had seven months to get every piece of American hardware out of Afghanistan they wanted and every American out of Kabul, and they failed miserably because the Biden administration is woefully incompetent. And that remains true regardless of whether the Taliban hung someone from an American helicopter. And that remains true regardless of whether dogs were left behind. And regardless of whether those stories about helicopter hangings and dogs are true, Americans are right to be anxious about the Biden administration's incompetence and the hardware and the Americans Biden left behind.

Are you trying to get Trump reelected in 2024? Because if you persuade enough Americans that he's the only way their anxieties and concerns will be taking seriously, that's what will happen.
1. Lord of Strazele 4 years ago
  
  The Americans were told to leave Afghanistan 17 times. You can't force people to leave. Those Americans are lucky Biden put troops back into Kabul for that evacuation.
  1. Sevo 4 years ago
    
    Lord of Shit here to lie on droolin' Joe's behalf! Again.
    Tiresome, steaming pile of lefty shit.
  2. Ken Shultz 4 years ago
    
    Some of the people with green cards were the wives and children of interpreters. Because they were told to leave doesn't mean they had the means to do so.
    
    And I won't take your word for it when you say they were told to leave 17 times. Do you have a link for that statistic?
    1. JesseAz 4 years ago
      
      In July bidens state department publicly stated Afghanistan was safe and the taliban would not retake the country.
      1. Sevo 4 years ago
        
        And in mid-August, Joe had his people show up there and pin "KICK ME!" signs on the asses of every US citizen and all the Afghanies who helped the US.
        It was his 'plan', I guess.
    2. Mike Laursen 4 years ago
      
      Biden's claim is that it was 19 times. Strazele may have misquoted it as 17 because the number 17 is mentioned in the same paragraph:
      
      https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/08/31/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-end-of-the-war-in-afghanistan/
      
      "Since March, we reached out 19 times to Americans in Afghanistan, with multiple warnings and offers to help them leave Afghanistan — all the way back as far as March. After we started the evacuation 17 days ago, we did initial outreach and analysis and identified around 5,000 Americans who had decided earlier to stay in Afghanistan but now wanted to leave."
      
      I realize you may not take Biden's word for it, either, (I'm not sure I do) but Strazele wasn't just making it up.
      1. Sevo 4 years ago
        
        Fine. Biden was making it up, you are stupid enough to repeat it and Lord of Shit is stupid enough to believe it.
  3. JesseAz 4 years ago
    
    No they weren't dumbaas. It was the same general travel advisories state issues that nobody reads. The same ones that has Afghanistan and Sweden both currently at level 4. Is there a single WH narrative you dont push?
    1. Sevo 4 years ago
      
      The guy seems to grab every talking point that never got a single salute when it went up the flag pole.
      But, hey, third year in 6th grade - what do you expect?
2. Quo Usque Tandem 4 years ago
  
  "Are you trying to get Trump reelected in 2024?"
  
  Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here; right now I'd be pretty happy with seeing the Democrats lose control of both houses and rendering Joe a lame duck two years into his only term. At least it would mitigate additional damage he would cause [he or whomever is running him].
  1. Ken Shultz 4 years ago
    
    Regardless of whether I want Trump to win in 2024, showing nothing but elitist contempt for the concerns of average Americans is the road map to getting him reelected. All forms of populism, from left to right, are a reaction to elitism, so if people want to see Trump, or some other populist, elected in 2021, by all means, keep pouring it on with elitist contempt for the concerns of average Americans. If they think the only way their concerns will be taken seriously is by electing Trump, then they will elect Trump, and anything that contributes to that notion is objectively pro-Trump.
3. Mike Laursen 4 years ago
  
  “the genuine concerns of average people”
  
  Unless you can cite a survey or some other data, you seem to be projecting your own concerns on “average people”.
  1. Chumby 4 years ago
    
    Average person aka someone appreciably better than Mike.
Jerryskids 4 years ago

I wish you people who keep slamming Biden for the fucked-up withdrawal from Afghanistan would stop it - President Shit For Brains doesn't even get to make the decision about what flavor of pudding he gets for a bedtime snack, you think he had anything to do with the decisions about how to withdraw from Afghanistan? Look, Trump made a deal with the Taliban about withdrawing our troops over a year-and-a-half ago, so why did the withdrawal look like something a fifth grader slapped together in 5 minutes? A year and a half to plan this shit and this is what we got? Because there never was a plan to pull our troops out of Afghanistan.

Sure, Trump had a plan, but he doesn't even have a pilot's license, how was he going to fly a plane over there to get the troops? And you know goddamn well nobody from the Pentagon, the CIA, the State Department or Blackwater was going to lift a finger to do what Trump ordered, they were too busy raking in billions of dollars from the Forever War to even dream of letting this end. Their plan for the war in Afghanistan was to stall around until Trump was gone and then go right back to business as usual.

It must have shocked the shit out of them when Biden said he was going to end the war - and then actually did it. But make no mistake, it wasn't Biden's steely resolve or his cabinetful of woke diverse half-wits that ordered this, it was whoever is pulling Joe's strings that ordered it done. Which is why Mumbly Joe gives such half-assed responses to what went down in Afghanistan, he has no idea what the fuck went down, all he knows is that he was just doing what he was told to do. But he can't hardly admit that he's just doing what he's told, can he? If he admits that, people are going to want to know who is telling him what to do and he's not willing to admit he's just Obama's butt-boy and always has been. Joe doesn't get to make decisions, he damn sure had nothing to do with the Afghanistan fiasco.
1. Ken Shultz 4 years ago
  
  He's the one on the ballot. He's the one signing the laws and the executive orders.
  
  The way to counter whomever is pulling Biden's is to heap opposition on Biden.
  
  Do you imagine things would be better if only we stopped holding Biden responsible for the things the White House does?
  1. Sevo 4 years ago
    
    Ken, sarc gauge needs calibration.
    1. Ken Shultz 4 years ago
      
      I invoke Poe's Law!
      1. Sevo 4 years ago
        
        J's caught me before; he's GOOD!
        
        Lord of Strazele 4 years ago
        
        Jesus you guys are dumbasses.
        
        Sevo 4 years ago
        
        6th grade vote is in.
        
        Mother's Lament 4 years ago
        
        Piss off, Sullum.
  2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.) 4 years ago
    
    It doesn't change the fact that our country is currently being run by a pack of Zoomer interns.
2. sarcasmic 4 years ago
  
  but he doesn’t even have a pilot’s license, how was he going to fly a plane over there to get the troops?
  
  Harrison Ford has a pilot's license. I bet he could have done a better job.
  1. Mike Laursen 4 years ago
    
    Are you saying he could do the Kabul run in … never, mind I can’t finish my dumb joke…
3. Sevo 4 years ago
  
  "I wish you people who keep slamming Biden for the fucked-up withdrawal from Afghanistan would stop it –..."
  
  Yeah, pretty much the entire country wanted us out of there in the worst possible way!
  And Joe managed to find a way that was worse than most anyone could even imagine!
  1. Chumby 4 years ago
    
    Biden has been channeling the later-years Al Davis.
4. Don't look at me! 4 years ago
  
  He is supposed to be the man in charge. He gets the heat for the failure.
mulched 4 years ago

1. Abortion is the greatest evil in the US today.

2. I don't really want this private cause of action thing to work because there's a ton of potential for mischief when it gets applied to other areas. And it will.

3. It's only got to the private cause of action stage because of the courts' jury-rigged abortion rulings.
1. Bill Godshall 4 years ago
  
  Had it not been for legalized abortions, which I strongly support, there would be far more fatherless children (especially among blacks), far higher crime rates (as fatherless children are far more likely to commit crimes), and far more left wing Democrats demanding even more free (i.e. paid by taxpayers) food, housing, education, healthcare, childcare, etc.
  1. mulched 4 years ago
    
    Thanks for making the eugenicists argument for them. Margaret Sanger would be proud.
    1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP) 4 years ago
      
      Margaret Sanger would be proud.
      
      Progressivism: the result of Necessity aborting Invention and adopting Reason's* retarded cousin, Science!.
      
      (*Not to be confused with Reason Magazine, a 6th generational descendent of Fredric Bastiat stricken with schizophrenia in her 30s)
    2. Bill Godshall 4 years ago
      
      Eugenics is when government officials mandate sterilization or abortions.
      
      Freedom is when women make those decisions on their own (typically in consultation with the father and/or their doctor).
      1. Mother's Lament 4 years ago
        
        Freedom to kill your kids for your personal conviniance, isn't actually a freedom.
  2. Social Justice is neither 4 years ago
    
    And yet all of that is incentivised by the financial support for irresponsibility, not the access to legalized murder.
  3. Dillinger 4 years ago
    
    >>there would be far more fatherless children
    
    a fatherless child should be murdered before given a chance at life.
    1. mad.casual 4 years ago
      
      Guilty until birthed and proven innocent. Can't wait for the state-mandated christenings.
      1. Dillinger 4 years ago
        
        and then Droit du Seigneur ...
    2. Cronut 4 years ago
      
      Because there are no other solutions to the problem of fatherless children, other than murdering them.
      1. Dillinger 4 years ago
        
        you may have missed me rolling my eyes @Bill while I typed that.
        
        Cronut 4 years ago
        
        No, I got it. I was also rolling my eyes.
        
        If they're concerned about fatherless children, why not advocate for adoption? That way, the kid gets to live AND gets a father.
        
        And if their concern is for fatherless children, why don't we teach men not to impregnate women and then abandon them? We could do that in the same class where we teach them not to rape.
        
        (Because OBVIOUSLY teaching women to take responsibility for themselves and their own sexual decisions is not an option.)
        
        mad.casual 4 years ago
        
        Not to give any spending ideas, but there's probably something that could be done about fatherless children committing more crimes too. Presumably it's not a 1:1 correlation and there are reasons why not.
        
        Cronut 4 years ago
        
        We already did something about that when we defunded the police and stopped prosecuting crimes.
        
        If they don't get arrested, then TECHNICALLY they're not criminals.
        
        Dillinger 4 years ago
        
        or statistics comprising a Crime! Rate!
2. Mike Laursen 4 years ago
  
  “Abortion is the greatest evil in the US today.”
  
  Do you believe that even for very early (embryo stage) abortion? If so, is your opposition to abortion religious in origin?
  1. mulched 4 years ago
    
    I believe in trolls. Does that count?
    1. Mike Laursen 4 years ago
      
      So, you have an extremely strong position on the abortion issue: "Abortion is the greatest evil in the US today", but the basis for your position is not up for discussion.
      
      Being asked to discuss your beliefs is trolling. Got it.
Sevo 4 years ago

^+1
1. Sevo 4 years ago
  
  Ooop - Meant for BG.
Quo Usque Tandem 4 years ago

"At stake is whether the federal government can get involved in and have the final say over a huge range of affairs at U.S. schools and universities, from sports teams to sexual assault investigations to which bathrooms students can use."

A poignant example of the extent to which our centralized government intrudes into literally every aspect of our lives. Far beyond their constitutional limits. Far, far beyond, and it is not going to get any better as the mission creep proceeds in bounds; unless we take definite actions to push them back.
Bearded Spock 4 years ago

I don't know which is more precious: ENB's trusting acceptance of the official pronouncements Biden Administration, or Boehm's childlike faith that the Era of Nation Building is actually ending.

Reason writers are like the 13 year-old who still secretly believes in Santa Claus; nothing will shake their faith, no matter how obvious the truth may be.
1. Bearded Spock 4 years ago
  
  Oh, and Eric I hate to break this to you but the war in Afghanistan isn't really over, either: the troops may be gone, but the covert ops and unrestricted drone massacres will continue unimpeded.
  1. Sevo 4 years ago
    
    And now we get to figure out how to extricate the remaining hostages.
2. Sevo 4 years ago
  
  And the 13YO vote certainly didn't like mean tweets! Much better to have a friendly, droolin' old man sniffing your hair!
3. Ken Shultz 4 years ago
  
  Like 13 year olds who hold everyone in contempt if they don't believe in Santa Claus, too.
4. mad.casual 4 years ago
  
  More like the conniving, crazy 20 yr. old woman who passes herself off as a teen because her daddy was a good man and everyone else just wants to punish them.
  1. mad.casual 4 years ago
    
    If the Party of Lincoln can become the party of Trump, then we can just be the party of Hunter Biden! That'll show those evil Trumpistas!
Dillinger 4 years ago

>>In other fake news about Afghanistan:

isn't this the place we're not supposed to lap up what the government pours in our bowl?
1. Bearded Spock 4 years ago
  
  Aren't you being a bit ruff on ENB?
  1. Dillinger 4 years ago
    
    needs shorter leash.
Commenter_XY 4 years ago

Sevo...All the more reason that the congressional elections next year are so important. The legislative agenda of POTUS Biden is dead. That 3.5T infra-bullshit atrocity is not going to pass. It is already pretty hefty lift to get the 1T bill passed, and signed into law. It might not pass.

As for the rest of it....nope. POTUS Biden will be limited to executive orders and federal agency overreach (both of which are bad).

The alternative to POTUS Biden is a POTUS Harris, or a POTUS Pelosi, or a POTUS Schumer. I think I'll stay with utterly incompetent (Biden) as opposed to malevolent and weak (Harris, Pelosi, Schumer). It would be wonderful if they all just disappeared, but that is not going to happen. They need to be voted out, or voted into a minority.
Dillinger 4 years ago

also, who's making the argument we still need to be in Afghanistan?
Mike Laursen 4 years ago

“What is the ‘dead-internet theory’?”

Hmm, it would explain R Mac.
1. Sevo 4 years ago
  
  As opposed to your dead-brain condition?
2. Mike Laursen 4 years ago
  
  And Sevo.
  1. Sevo 4 years ago
    
    Poor, brain-dead, victim Mike!
    Fuck off and die, steaming pile of lefty shit.
I, Woodchipper 4 years ago

"the Florida Department of Health changed the way it reported death data to the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], giving the appearance of a pandemic in decline, an analysis of Florida data by the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald found."

Based on my experience with chinaflu reporting so far I put this at 50/50 that the truth is the exact opposite. We do already know for a FACT that much chinaflu death reporting was over-reported.

Alameda county in California revised their numbers after admitting they have over-reported mortality rates by ONE THIRD.

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/california-county-covid-19-death-toll-lowered-25-after-counting-method-change
I, Woodchipper 4 years ago

Their complaint alleges that the Education Department's interpretation of Title IX is "contrary to law because, properly interpreted, Title IX's prohibition of discrimination 'on the basis of sex' does not encompass discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity" and "Title IX and longstanding Department regulations expressly permit distinctions based on biological sex in certain circumstances. "

Did they also add "completely insane" to the list of reasons?
Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP) 4 years ago

Using "public health" as an excuse to check ID (doubling up on blacks for lack of vaccination and lack of ID). Spreading the "definitely not misinformation" that Black women have 4 times the risk of death during pregnancy to encourage abortions. Invoking "inclusiveness" to segregate black kids out of classrooms. The Progressives have changed their tune, but not their mission.

They have re-branded Racism as New Tolerance. All of the oppression without all the hateful rhetoric. Or, for the AntiFa crowd, Classic Tolerance with all the hateful rhetoric of the original and an extra kick.
1. KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
  
  We all know you and your church hate non whites Chuck.
  
  You just look foolish trying to pretend you care about minorities.
Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland 4 years ago

" Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and West Virginia. "

'What are . . . the states at the bottom of the ranking of states by educational attainment, Alex?'

Carry on, clingers. So far as your betters permit.
1. I, Woodchipper 4 years ago
  
  Ha. The mass psychosis gripping part of the American mind about trans will some day fade. It will be interesting to see the embarrassed smirks on all the faces of those who believed it briefly.
2. Sevo 4 years ago
  
  Why do asshole bigots continue to make public asses of themselves here, Alex?
  
  Why, because they're fucking lefty ignoramuses, Sevo!
3. Chumby 4 years ago
  
  Alex is deceased.
Diane Reynolds (Paul.) 4 years ago

In a plan that seems destined to lead to unwarranted account suspensions, Instagram will monitor users' accounts for truthfulness about their age. "To side-step users who enter incorrect birthday information, the company plans to leverage a new algorithm designed to analyze your posts and determine whether you're telling the truth about how old you are or not," reports Gizmodo.

Private company. Next topic.
1. Mike Laursen 4 years ago
  
  Private company kinda shooting itself in the foot a bit. Wonder how hard they will try to eliminate all those accounts.
2. Chumby 4 years ago
  
  Will the algorithm apply to whites that identify as blacks or Cherokee?
Titus PUllo 4 years ago

Gotta love Texas huh ENB? What a shot for liberty by the Great State..standing up for what Jefferson said...right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..

Libertarians have to be against abortion..how can you not be?
1. KillAllRednecks 4 years ago
  
  Telling others what they can and can’t do to their body is so libertarian.

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