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Censorship

From Halftime Show to Social Media, Calls To Ban Rap

Plus: Texas voting law likely unconstitutional, remote workers and rural towns, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 2.14.2022 9:30 AM

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upiphotostwo844923 | John Angelillo/UPI/Newscom
(John Angelillo/UPI/Newscom)

"League of Sexual Anarchy" would be a great band name, no? The halftime show during last night's Super Bowl LVI featured a roster of hip hop icons, including Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Eminem. The New York Times called it "a halftime spectacular heavy on nostalgia and California pride." Conservative talk show host Charlie Kirk, co-founder and executive director of the right-wing student group Turning Point USA, thinks it should've been banned.

In a much-mocked Sunday night tweet, Kirk commented that "the NFL is now the league of sexual anarchy. This halftime show should not be allowed on television."

The tweet is especially rich since Kirk complains frequently about cancel culture and mocks people for taking offense too easily. Yet here is Kirk—a 28-year-old man—aghast at a bunch of musicians nearly twice his age performing a relatively tame, generally crowd-pleasing selection of songs made popular 20 years ago.

Making the NFL sound way cooler than it actually is https://t.co/pm7wCiSRkL

— Justin Whang ???? (@JustinWhang) February 14, 2022

A lot of people surmised that Kirk's tweet was born out of racism, as the main performers were mostly black (Eminem being the one exception) and the show consisted of hip hop hits. (As the Times notes, "hip-hop has landed a handful of moments on one of sports' and entertainment's biggest stages, but it hasn't held the full spotlight until Sunday evening.") But it's easy to imagine Kirk complaining no matter which pop stars took the field last night: Portraying contemporary culture as especially depraved is a time-worn conservative tradition.

The Super Bowl halftime show was basically pornography on television. Absolutely disgusting.

It shouldn't have been permitted for cable television.

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) February 14, 2022

Regardless, Kirk and the right aren't alone in calls to drive hip hop from certain public platforms. Last week New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a black Democrat, called on social media companies to ban drill rap.

"We pulled Trump off Twitter because of what he was spewing. Yet we are allowing music [with] displaying of guns, violence. We allow this to stay on the sites," Adams said, echoing vintage concerns about "gangsta rap."

'Twas a time a few decades back when folks like Bill Bennett and Joe Lieberman were crusading against rap music that glorified violence. Adams assumes—like his predecessors—that lyrics about violence are driving gang violence in New York City, instead of simply reflecting this reality or, in many cases, serving as mere bravado and fantasy.

Pair this nouveau concern with hip hop with the resurgence of book bans and fear of Satanic cults (a la QAnon) and…oof. Apparently, nostalgia for the entertainment of the 1980s and '90s isn't the only comeback of 2022. We seem to be experiencing a revival of that era's moral panics, too.


FREE MINDS

Texas can't prohibit people from encouraging mail-in votes. From The Texas Tribune:

A new Texas law that keeps local election officials from encouraging voters to request mail-in ballots likely violates the First Amendment, a federal judge ruled late Friday.

Following a testy three-hour hearing earlier in the day, Federal District Judge Xavier Rodriguez temporarily blocked the state from enforcing the rule against Harris County's election administrator until the rest of a lawsuit plays out. Although the scope of Rodriguez's preliminary injunction is limited, the judge dealt the first legal blow to new elections restrictions and voting changes Republican lawmakers enacted last year.

The injunction applies to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and local county prosecutors in Harris, Travis and Williamson counties.

More here.


FREE MARKETS

Can remote work revive rural areas?

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1492518335673778179?s=12


QUICK HITS

• Nostalgia and cryptocurrency ruled the Super Bowl ads last night.

• President Biden says lifting mask mandates is "probably premature."

• Police arrested protesters and towed trucks from a U.S.-Canada bridge where they were blocking traffic. "Protesters shut down the corridor for roughly a week in a fight against Covid-19 restrictions," reports The Wall Street Journal. "Protests continue in Canada, most notably in Ottawa where truckers and their supporters have camped for 17 days and counting."

• COVID vaccines for kids age 5 and under won't be around until April at the earliest.

• The Volokh Conspiracy explains why a bid to get Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R–N.C.) banned from the ballot is likely unconstitutional.

• Illegal baby names from around the world.

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.

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NEXT: Canada’s Freedom Convoy Embodies Fatigue with Pandemic Authoritarianism

Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason.

CensorshipSuper BowlReason RoundupRapMusicMoral PanicViolenceEntertainment
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  1. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    President Biden says lifting mask mandates is "probably premature."

    He's so senile he doesn't even realize the midterms of this year.

    1. OpenBordersLiberal-tarian   3 years ago

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      #LibertariansForBiden

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      2. Don Nico   3 years ago

        Open,
        Biden did not shut down the virus. Omicron had the same temporal behavior in the US as in every other country on the globe.

    2. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

      “Wear a mask for 100 days”…

    3. Union of Concerned Socks   3 years ago

      When exactly are those midterms?

      "In 267 days" -- Google

    4. Kevin Smith   3 years ago

      Its posturing, he's not up for re-election so he can keep preaching to the pajama choir

      1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

        Yeah, basically this. It matters a lot more what the actual candidates are saying about masks mandates than what Biden says.

        1. HorseConch   3 years ago

          The same candidates that shamelessly supported them without any scientific basis? I don't think it would be wise for any candidate who ever supported mandates to use the word mask on the campaign trail.

        2. Cronut   3 years ago

          It matters what actual candidates have been saying for the past two years about mask mandates, not what they're saying 8 months before a critical election.

          1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

            Yeah, it's very convenient when the science is now showing masks are useless and public opinion is turning so fast against all the COVID theater, that the side that pushed this the most is suddenly having a change of heart. We've been saying this shit for two years and were labeled racists, liars, deniers, Grandma killers, etc. No, the gaslighting by the Democrats won't change anyone's mind.

            1. Hank Ferrous   3 years ago

              Honestly, the evidence has always demonstrated that masks were next to useless. But the cultists would trot out another in their ongoing series of bogus studies ( a la the gun violence studies) to show that masks were effective, because they insist that everyone caters to their needs.

          2. Unable2Reason   3 years ago

            8 months seems about the right amount of time to re-write history.

          3. Agammamon   3 years ago

            Not to the people who voted them into office it doesn't.

        3. Overt   3 years ago

          " It matters a lot more what the actual candidates are saying about masks mandates than what Biden says.

          Really...The President of the fucking United States is telling all the people around the country that Mask Mandates should continue. This is the guy who leads the CDC that puts out recommendations, which are used by businesses and schools to force people to mask. When he speaks, he is pushing the policies that affect our entire lives. But it doesn't matter as much?

          Christ.

          1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

            Have any of them admitted they were wrong? Nope! If they admitted they were wrong and apologized it might mean something. But instead they are gaslighting.

          2. R Mac   3 years ago

            Dee’s quite dumb.

        4. Marshal   3 years ago

          It matters a lot more what the actual candidates are saying about masks mandates than what Biden says.

          Not true. Whatever Biden says is the Democratic party line and as such is far more likely to be enforced that whatever deviation a random candidate espouses.

          1. Utkonos   3 years ago

            Let’s hope that, come November, Brandon has VERY long coattails to trip over!

    5. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

      He says that because his servants haven't brought out his Jello Pudding and Boost.

      1. Utkonos   3 years ago

        Either Boost or Ensure….it all Depends though

        1. Vexatious   3 years ago

          If he neglects his regimen it really takes a geritole on him.

    6. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

      Biden was just introduced to leather dog masks.

  2. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    Police arrested protesters and towed trucks from a U.S.-Canada bridge where they were blocking traffic.

    That's not very much in the spirit started with previous protests.

    1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      The protesters should have burned down a laundromat and looted a Walmart. It seems that the police aren't allowed to arrest you after that.

      1. HorseConch   3 years ago

        If they do, Kamala will raise bail funds to get you released.

  3. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    Making the NFL sound way cooler than it actually is...

    Certainly making that halftime show seem like it was at all notable.

    1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

      It was much better than last year’s The Weeknd show, but that’s not saying much.

      1. R Mac   3 years ago

        Then why say it, bird?

        1. Vexatious   3 years ago

          When you say that, I hear it in Glenn Howerton’s voice.

          1. R Mac   3 years ago

            Great!

    2. Overt   3 years ago

      The set design was amazing on that show. Better than Katy Perry's "Roar" song on the back of a giant tiger in 2015, which was a high point for modern super bowls IMHO.

      1. Nardz   3 years ago

        I disagree.
        The performers and performances were amazing, but as a whole the show lacked energy.
        While the set looked cool, it kept everyone separate and stationary.
        Katy Perry and Bruno Mars were awesome, and other acts like JLo and Shakira, because there was massive choreography and a crowd of performers acting as a whole.
        Loved the music, but the show was lacking.

        1. JimboJr   3 years ago

          Bruno Mars' was the shit, one of my faves. The dude is an all around performer. Starting out with a nice drum solo then into a well choreographed set highlighting both him and his band, and ending with a little chili peppers for some cross over fans. The guy is a true musician and performer

          1. Bubba Jones   3 years ago

            I didn't give two shits about Bruno Mars until that show. He was amazing.

            1. JimboJr   3 years ago

              Ive always liked his stuff just fine, but saw him live when he was in town for something to do, and saw what a show he can put on. He jumped on the drums during that set too which put me over. Pop music is fine and all, but when you can sing/dance AND hold your own on an instrument, you get a little more credit in my book. And his live shows he really puts a lot into.

              1. Consensus_Denier   3 years ago

                "when you can sing/dance AND hold your own"
                you mean grab your junk, right? lot of that last night

            2. Nardz   3 years ago

              Same here.
              Absolutely blew me away

  4. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    COVID vaccines for kids age 5 and under won't be around until April at the earliest.

    HOW MANY UNDER 5'S ARE GOING TO LIVE OR DIE BECAUSE OF THIS DELAY.

    1. Michael Ejercito   3 years ago

      Probably a few who have type 1 diabetes.

  5. JohannesDinkle   3 years ago

    91,6 million viewers is a lot, but fewer than any year since 2007. The Super Bowl and the NFL are driving away a lot of potential audience by being 'relevant' and woke.
    Maybe the Chinese will pick up the slack.

    1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

      It was a lackluster game, the commercials were uninspired and the halftime show sucked.

      1. Union of Concerned Socks   3 years ago

        ^This

      2. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

        I thought it was a good defensive game. Both defenses set the tone of the game. I like that Kupp got MVP but lean more towards Donald being more deserving. If you like shoot out games I guess you could call it lackluster, but I have no problem with a defensive battle. The ultimate deciding factor was field position. After they scored the first ten points of the 2nd half, Bengals started from inside their own 20 on almost every single possession after that, and couldn't break out. That ultimately decided the game.

        1. Outlaw Josey Wales   3 years ago

          Darnold definitely gets my vote for MVP. Game was decent. Good back and forth. I thought the shift in penalty calls at the end of the game was noticeable. Too bad. Up until then the game had been called pretty loose. One bad miss on the facemask on Ramsey. The Def holding on the Bengals at the goal line was ticky tac relatively speaking.

          No interest in the halftime show. It's been a wasteland for years.

          1. Sevo   3 years ago

            "No interest in the halftime show. It's been a wasteland for years."

            Yes. Washed-up acts, trying to beat the dinner-theater bookings.

          2. Nardz   3 years ago

            Those 2 calls were awful, but ultimately evened out.
            Unfortunate that one happened on the game winning drive.
            Also, Perine should've caught that 4th down fling from Burrow.

            1. Outlaw Josey Wales   3 years ago

              Yes, Perrine should have caught that one. I didn't like the last play call for the Bengals either. They were driving and Mixon was running pretty solid. A roll out pitch option would have gotten the yard they needed, with a TE slant out a few yards upfield to keep the D honest and give Burrow another option. Darnold was coming hard up the middle. Everyone knew it.

              1. Nardz   3 years ago

                I'll never understand why teams go away from their stars in critical moments.
                Mixon should've been on the field.
                If you're going to run on 3rd and 1, give it to your feature back.

              2. Nardz   3 years ago

                The LT completely whiffed on Donald. Other than a quick shovel, not sure any play call could've overcome that

        2. Sevo   3 years ago

          Far better than some of the blow-out games of the past. Hell, it wasn't until there was less than a minute left before it was decided.

          1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

            Yeah, I think the Refs played to big a role in the final minutes of the game, that first holding call was bullshit in my opinion. But they did miss the facemasking on the first play of the second half.

            1. Irishman12   3 years ago

              But they did miss the facemasking on the first play of the second half.

              that was huge; it was a 75 yard play that shouldn't have stood; maybe Cincy could have driven the field, but more likely they get a FG, if anything...

      3. Nardz   3 years ago

        It was a good game, the commercials were horrifying.
        Really pushed the New Normal, Soma, live in virtual reality with constant surveillance messaging.
        Not to mention the continuous stoking of racial collectivism and resentment.

        1. Outlaw Josey Wales   3 years ago

          Agreed. Covid killed cleverness and wokeness killed humor. Commercials were uninspired.

          1. CE   3 years ago

            Arnold as Zeus driving an electric SUV was pretty cool.
            Risky move by BMW to put Arnold behind the wheel of an SUV though.

            1. Salted Nuts   3 years ago

              "No Ahnold! No! Ve turn ze INDUSTRY on it's head, not ze car!"

    2. CE   3 years ago

      Relevant? By playing music that was popular 20 to 30 years ago?

  6. Enjoy Every Sandwich   3 years ago

    I didn't think the halftime show was all that perverted. Rather, it was boring to people who aren't fans of rap.

    1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

      Rather, it was boring to people who aren't fans of rap.

      Which probably describes the typical football fan.

      1. Kevin Smith   3 years ago

        Is the typical football fan a fan of Justin Timberlake? Lady Gaga? Jennifer Lopez? For at least as long as I've been old enough to take notice it seems like the halftime show has always been geared toward the non-football fan

        1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

          That’s what I’m saying, it makes no sense.

          1. Cronut   3 years ago

            The primary audience for the super bowl is Millenial and Gen X, based on marketing data from last year's super bowl. Early millenials and pretty much all of Gen X grew up with Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre daily on the local top 40 stations. Despite NFL fans not being a primary audience for rap, I doubt there was anyone there who HASN'T heard Dr. Dre or Snoop or Eminem. Also, the show itself probably drew a lot of people who DIDN'T watch the game, but tuned in for the show, because Snoop Dogg.

            Snoop just acquired Death Row Records. The super bowl show was an enormous ad for Death Row Records.

            1. Overt   3 years ago

              Rap isn't my thing, but this is basically right as far as I can tell. It was a fine show. The set design was awesome. They didn't try to treat it as a big concert with fans on the field- but instead a big music video, and it worked pretty well.

              I was entertained.

              1. Cronut   3 years ago

                I enjoyed it. I thought it was fun to watch. I expected it would be pretty watered down, because the Super Bowl is a family-friendly event, but I think Snoop is always fun to watch. He's a great perfomer.

            2. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

              Darius Rucker was at the Superbowl. The lead singer of one of the most popular Gen X bands of the late 1990s and an extremely popular Country Star. I think he would have been great as a half time show and bridged a lot of the fan base. Do some Hootie and some country.

              1. Its_Not_Inevitable   3 years ago

                One question I've always had. Was he Hootie or was he the Blowfish?

          2. raspberrydinners   3 years ago

            It makes perfect sense. Football fans tune in for football, other ones tune in for commercials and the halftime show.

            They're gaining the widest swathe of eyeballs they can.

            1. Salted Nuts   3 years ago

              It makes sense you'd jump up to watch advertising...

          3. Kevin Smith   3 years ago

            How does it not make sense? The football fans are already captured because they want to watch the game, so the halftime show specifically captures those who aren't watching the game and overall ratings increase

          4. Bubba Jones   3 years ago

            Football fans are already watching. The point of the halftime show is to generate excitement for a larger audience.

        2. JesseAz   3 years ago

          average weekly viewership for the NFL is around 15 mil. SuperBowl is 90 mil. vast majority of SB watchers aren't football fans.

    2. Rich   3 years ago

      Rap gets a bad rap.

      1. Claptrap   3 years ago

        Rap from the past ~15 years is deserving of all the scorn it gets. Kendrick Lamar one of the few exceptions, but going with Alright yesterday kind of killed the vibe of the show (also, why bother with Mary J. Blige? East Coast R&B had no place there). I'd have stuck with MAAD City because it's great, the beat fit in, and they could have looped back to the mains with MC Eiht, but that's also why I don't set up concerts for mass media consumption.

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          I was very confused by her as well. And why did she get 2 songs?

          1. Cronut   3 years ago

            Dre produced "Family Affair." They probably had to give her another song to get her to perform.

            1. Bubba Jones   3 years ago

              That would be the excuse for including Eminem and his legions of 40 year old white women fans.

          2. JimboJr   3 years ago

            If she just got one song we would have to see 20 articles today about how female POC's are marginalized. And misogyny

            ...we still probably will anyways

        2. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland   3 years ago

          I love that it was "nostalgic California" with marshal Mathers and mjb

          1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

            Should have thrown Missy Elliot in there for good measure.

          2. Nardz   3 years ago

            Hey, Matt Stafford winning the Superbowl with Eminem performing at halftime is the greatest football moment Detroit will ever achieve.
            And yes, others have already made that joke.

            1. Irishman12   3 years ago

              Hey, Matt Stafford winning the Superbowl...

              speaking of Stafford, how 'bout his wife...? in the immortal words of Jimmy Durante, hotchacha...

              1. Nardz   3 years ago

                Stafford's wife, Kelly I believe, is awesome.
                Not just beautiful, but really dedicated to volunteering for various things.

        3. Salted Nuts   3 years ago

          Get Immortal Technique up on stage for a spicy show...

    3. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

      Didn't even watch. I haven't watched a half time show in ages. It's like the NFL doesn't even consider who half of their fans are any more.

      1. Commenter_XY   3 years ago

        They don't care. They just want more Communist Chinese money.

      2. Claptrap   3 years ago

        The pregame fluff made this plain, beating the audience over the head with the fact that the wokesters are the only culture that matters. 5-10 years ago there would have been some kind of obvious military presence, and no babbling about equity when announcing the kids selected to be honorary captains.

        For some reason the NFL has targeted the smart set as a growth market, even though the types of people they're attempting to endear themselves to regularly disparage football as the equivalent of gladiatorial bloodsport.

        1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

          I think they should have invited Darius Rucker. He was lead singer of a very popular band in the 1990s, he is a very popular country singer (and one of the few black country singers). So they could have gotten their nostalgia angle and their virtue signaling and had some damn good music. I listened to Hootie almost every night before I went to sleep at AIT in 1995 (either Hootie, Sheryl Crow or Cranberries).

      3. Sometimes a Great Notion   3 years ago

        The halftime show isn't for, nor has it ever been about football fans

        Exhibit 1 - New Kids on the Block
        I rest my case.

        1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

          Well, more to the point it's mostly set up to try and keep the middle-aged viewers from changing the channel. 25-30 years ago, it was all 60s-70s era acts. Even when a contemporary pop singer like Justin Timberlake is brought on, they included an older one like Janet Jackson, even if they are past their sell-by date as a hitmaker by then.

          This show was specifically targeted at late Gen-Xers and early Millennials who listened to this stuff in middle school and high school.

          If the NFL wasn't putting on its hair shirt about race, I'd have expected a boy-band themed show at next year's game. But the vast majority of those guys are white.

          1. Nardz   3 years ago

            KPop at Superbowl XVII

            1. Bubba Jones   3 years ago

              When KPop is the halftime show, I will know I am too old to be relevant.

              1. Nardz   3 years ago

                I must be to space out on my Roman numerals so badly.
                *Superbowl LVII

          2. Irishman12   3 years ago

            If the NFL wasn't putting on its hair shirt about race

            I turned off the pregame show because of the self flagellation over the black head coach thing; 75% of the players are black, some of the refs in the game were black, every commercial prominently featured blacks, and they're still bitching about under representation...

            1. Nardz   3 years ago

              Black people are actually way over-represented in commercials, a trend that's become ever more apparent over the past 5-10 years.
              Based on commercial demographics, you'd think black people represent the vast majority of consumer spending. That is, until you realize black actors are used to target primarily white urban professionals...

              1. Its_Not_Inevitable   3 years ago

                There are white children all over the country who are whimpering "Mommy, there's no one on TV that looks like me."

            2. Vexatious   3 years ago

              I saw an ad comp,aiming that only 6% of federal judges were black women. Which is hilarious because black women are roughly 6% of the American population. According to their own logic, only 13% of NFL players should be black.

        2. CE   3 years ago

          For halftime shows, the Prince and Tom Petty and then everyone else. Although if they want to invite Shakira back I'm fine with that.

      4. ElvisIsReal   3 years ago

        I normally don't watch but did this time, because I was 100% the target for the show.

        It was a bad radio edit of shit I still listen to.

    4. Ronbback   3 years ago

      I mostly ignore all half times of every superbowl, that said it was on so i watched some of it while i bbq'ed. I didn't see anything overly sexual unless you like fat women i guess. the dance routines were not much different from what cheerleaders do

      1. Its_Not_Inevitable   3 years ago

        I dunno. Was it the words? Did anyone listen to the words?

    5. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

      Obviously not boring for Charlie Kirk, Brigitte Gabriel, and Eric Adams. Charlie Kirk is basicaly trying to revive the Zombies who put pressure on Ed Suloivan to not show Elvis and all that "shakin' and sinful thangs!'

      Brigitte Gabriel is practically mimicing the Islamofascists that she professes to despise by calling for the performance to be banned even on cable. (Cable? What's that?)

      And Eric Adams is in the same vein of politicians who make the racist assumtion that blacks are not free moral agents responsible for their own actions and can be veered into crime by the latest iteration of what old folks used to call "Devil Music."

      Variations on a very old theme:

      Frozen Ghost--Should I See
      https://youtu.be/a50u6lcLsMY

      2 Live Crew--Banned In The U.S.A.
      https://youtu.be/tzbl6n7Mqjo

    6. Zeb   3 years ago

      I guess it's good to be reminded from time to time that annoying social conservative crap is still a thing.
      I thought TPUSA was more of a free speech thing. Maybe not, I guess. But I don't know how any student conservative group isn't absolutist on free speech at this point.

      1. Utkonos   3 years ago

        Is that Kirk guy any relation to Russel Kirk?

        1. Vexatious   3 years ago

          He’s an ancestor of James T..

          1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

            He's out of hìs Vulcan mind if he thinks censorship is a good thing.

        2. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

          According to his Wiki page, Russell had four daughters. So, Charlie would not be a progeny unless he were an exceptionally crotchety FTM Transgender.

          Their Social Conservative ways of thinking have overlap, though Russell shunned automobiles, television, and what he called "electronic computers." I guess Russell preferred The Babbage Differential Engine instead. 🙂

    7. Consensus_Denier   3 years ago

      A superbowl halftime show that would be very popular would be a public caning of Tony Fauci (close up of him screaming like a little girl) and a line of corrupt politicians waiting their turn to drop trow and accept their due.

      1. Zeb   3 years ago

        I would have tuned in for that.

      2. Utkonos   3 years ago

        Now THAT’S Whacking Material!!

    8. EISTAU Gree-Vance   3 years ago

      No, it wasn’t perverted. But with all that ass hanging out it’s kinda funny how the “stop exploiting womyn!!” crowd goes silent sometimes.

      1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

        It's not objectification when womyn do it to each other. Then it's just hawt.

        Well, you know the rest. Show us your tqg-line.

  7. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    The Volokh Conspiracy explains why a bid to get Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R–N.C.) banned from the ballot is likely unconstitutional.

    It doesn't count as overturning an election if you try it before the fact.

  8. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    Texas can't prohibit people from encouraging mail-in votes.

    They're going to have to take a page from the Trump playbook and steal mailboxes.

    1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

      Or provide *one*, located in the most inconvenient place conceivable.

    2. David Perry   3 years ago

      Lol, I love when quickly debunked CTs get recycled and recycled. Maybe change this one up and say he sent them to Russia? Might get more of the Twitter bots to retweet...

  9. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   3 years ago

    Cato:

    5 Years Later the United States Is Still Paying for Its TPP Blunder

    Last month—January 23 to be exact—marked the five‐​year anniversary of President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Trans‐​Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. The country has been paying for it ever since.

    Comprised of the United States and eleven other Pacific Rim countries—including economic heavyweight Japan—the TPP was found by a 2016 Cato analysis to result in net trade liberalization. A study by the U.S. International Trade Commission calculated a real U.S. GDP increase of $42.7 billion through 2032 as a result of TPP membership while a Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) working paper foresaw gains to U.S. real incomes of $131 billion through 2030.

    But the United States withdrew from the TPP, and those gains never happened.

    https://www.cato.org/blog/5-years-later-united-states-still-paying-tpp-blunder

    1. OpenBordersLiberal-tarian   3 years ago

      Bad news Mr. Buttplug. You know "wingnut.com" — our umbrella term for websites that run anti-Biden misinformation? It now includes The Guardian.

      Embrace or avoid? Midterms dilemma for Democrats as Biden’s ratings plunge

      "For Democrats in tight re-election races, being photographed with a president whose approval rating hovers at 40% is a risk"

      LOL

      That 40% number is an obvious lie. I mean, just yesterday you were talking about how everything is great because rig count is up. Surely voters know this. I suspect Biden's real approval rating is closer to 80%. Putin must be blackmailing someone at The Guardian.

      #DefendBidenAtAllCosts

      PS — But thank you for continuing your pattern of mentioning Drumpf in literally every thread.

    2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      "The TPP was just about trade and not currency manipulation, no compete clauses, the worlds worst copyright restrictions and government control of the internet"

      Sure thing, Buttplug.

      1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

        The left still doesn't realize how pissed off the working class is, and I enter Buttplugs post as exhibit Y or possibly Z. I've lost track.

        1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

          What really astonishes me is how fast the left abandoned the working class for the aristocracy. For the last 175 years the workers were supposed to be their whole raison d'être.

          1. OpenBordersLiberal-tarian   3 years ago

            #OBLsFirstLaw

          2. Cronut   3 years ago

            You can't buy a mansion with principles.

            1. Salted Nuts   3 years ago

              But you can finance a yacht on principal interest.

          3. Nardz   3 years ago

            The left's europhilic love for aristocracy has always been apparent.
            Their pose for workers was always as a mob of footsoldiers to be harnessed and directed by their credentialed superiors.

          4. Hank Ferrous   3 years ago

            Shit, that happened in the 1970s, if not the 60s. The lefties never really were into getting their hands dirty with manual labor, more about protesting, then a party.

        2. HorseConch   3 years ago

          As an elite, buttplug doesn't care about the working class.

          1. Vexatious   3 years ago

            He’s doing it all for the kids!

      2. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   3 years ago

        I suspected you would hate Cato as much as you do Reason.

        1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

          Both are libertarian institutions that allow their thinkers to engage in a spectrum of libertarian thought without imposing an official, narrow institutional lion they must tow. That drives many commenters here, who are fans of narrow, black and white thinking, nuts.

          1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

            Mike chimps in, despite not knowing what the hell we're talking about, like the ignorant fuck he is.

            1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

              Ignorant and evil fuck that he is.

          2. JesseAz   3 years ago

            You misspelled sea lion.

          3. Vexatious   3 years ago

            Do you have a citation to support your premise?

            1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

              Nope, just my opinion based on observation.

              1. R Mac   3 years ago

                So…bullshit you made up.

        2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

          Because Cato taking a greasy dump on the corpse of libertarianism is just as egregious as when Reason does it.

          Free trade agreements are good, but that was just the hat for the barrel of authoritarian antimarket measures that composed the TPP. Its main purpose allowed currency manipulation, no compete clauses, the horrendous copyright laws and government control of the internet.

          And remember how in 2015 Rand Paul opposed the bill to fast-track the congressional ratification of the TPP, because they wouldn't tell anyone everything that was in it?

          I can never tell if you're just duped or an actual Nazi like your boss.

          1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   3 years ago

            You're an idiot who believes Rand Paul.

            The complete text of the TPP was released before any vote to ratify it was taken.

            While it was being written it was not open for lobbyists to attack it with their special interest in mind.

            1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

              Believing Rand Paul over a paid shill like you who is known by everyone here to be a deliberate and habitual liar.

              What was I thinking.

            2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

              Also, interesting how you're ignoring the bit about currency manipulation, no compete clauses, copyright laws and government control of the internet.

              1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   3 years ago

                Because over 60 countries other than China peg to the USD, copyright protection is in the treaty, there are no no-competes, and the internet protocols are open standards.

                1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

                  Now you're just flailing. Pretending they were just some foofaraw rather than the point. And your ascription of the necessity of no-competes to currency pegging as the reason is a flat out lie.

          2. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland   3 years ago

            I'm not sure eighter but we all know he is a pedofile

          3. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

            TPP had nothing that would have helped the working class. Making it easier to offshore more American jobs, while ignoring the protectionists policies of the countries we are supposedly "freely" trading with, and then claiming it will help the working class because cheap goods, is elitism at it's worse.

            1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

              Yeah, all the tariff eliminations only went one way. They were bribing China to get on board with the TPP's draconian new copyright rules.

              1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

                The idea that China would democratize if we increased trade with them has arguably been the greatest strategic foreign policy blunder of the last 50 years, and there's a lot of material to work with there.

                Every president since Nixon has harbored that delusion because, to be blunt, the numbnuts in DC think the Chinese are a bunch of ignorant but well-meaning children, rather than a millennias-old civilization who literally wrote the book on deviousness and misdirection in warfare.

            2. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   3 years ago

              Bullshit.

              1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

                Shush, hicklib.

              2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

                You showed up to lie, fascist. You should expect pushback.

              3. Sevo   3 years ago

                turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a pathological liar and a TDS-addled asshole, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
                If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
                turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.

    3. Sevo   3 years ago

      turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a trafficker in kiddie porn, a TDS-addled asshole and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
      If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
      turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.

      1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        turd lies; it’s all he ever does

    4. Agammamon   3 years ago

      Are we libertarians or are we trade restrictionists?

    5. Salted Nuts   3 years ago

      Years later you STILL are not in jail for child pornography.

      Turn yourself in, pederast.

  10. OpenBordersLiberal-tarian   3 years ago

    "From Halftime Show to Social Media, Calls To Ban Rap"

    Ugh. My professors told me rap is the most sophisticated form of musical expression — far more worthy than the output of dead white males like Beethoven — and only racists don't appreciate it.

    Plus as a Koch / Reason libertarian I cannot support any government restriction on speech, unless it's done to protect marginalized groups. See for example Reason contributor Noah Berlatsky's piece Is the First Amendment too broad? The case for regulating hate speech in America.

    #BringBackBerlatsky

  11. Union of Concerned Socks   3 years ago

    The Nobody Cares Bowl, featuring the Nobody Cares Halftime Show.

    Brought to you by Pepsi.

    Which will be demanding quite a few make-good ad spots from NBC, if the ratings are anything to go by.

    What a fucking dumpster fire.

    1. Salted Nuts   3 years ago

      A dumpster fire would have kept a dozen homeless individuals warm for hours.

      The Stuporbowl saw them evicted instead.

  12. JesseAz   3 years ago

    A lot of celebs and politicians not wearing masks last night in California. Yet kids will be wearing them this morning in schools.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-celebrities-flouting-mask-mandate-while-enjoying-super-bowl-lvi

    1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   3 years ago

      No mask requirement outdoors. Or so that is what a reporter said.

      1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

        It’s an indoor stadium.

        1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

          He knew. He's just being deliberately retarded.

          1. Social Justice is neither   3 years ago

            He can't help that, he was born that way.

        2. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

          With people packed cheek-to-jowl.

        3. Bubba Jones   3 years ago

          It has a roof, but it's otherwise open air.

          So they can claim they were technically outside.

          1. Salted Nuts   3 years ago

            Hey, just like my house when I leave a window open!

      2. Sevo   3 years ago

        turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
        If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
        turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.

      3. JesseAz   3 years ago

        You can't honestly be this dumb shrike. Look at the stadium.

        1. Sevo   3 years ago

          This is turd; "honestly" should not be used in any sentence applying to turd.

      4. R Mac   3 years ago

        Even on a topic like this you have to lie? Sad.

    2. ElvisIsReal   3 years ago

      Called it before the game. The only ones wearing masks would be the help. And kids going to school in masks tomorrow.

      https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/blue-state-officials-dont-even-believe

  13. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

    Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Eminem

    They all looked so old.

    1. Rich   3 years ago

      Probably from wearing masks right up to the moment of the performance.

    2. Cyto   3 years ago

      Hey! 50 isn't old!

      1. Nardz   3 years ago

        Yea, but inflation hit him too...

        1. Nardz   3 years ago

          Oops, misread.
          Yea, 50 isn't that old.

          Also, 50 Cent definitely showed signs of inflation

        2. JimboJr   3 years ago

          53.5 Cent this year

  14. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland   3 years ago

    ENB is seriously on yegalsias payroll. Yo retard ENB, Matt is a two faced lying(yes he bragged about lying) weasel cunt. Anyone that repost them is also a lying weasel cunt retard

  15. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

    I'm getting a kick out of the Olympics for libertarian and capitalist reasons, and I'm really hoping to see the U.S. beat the shit out of the Russians--just like we are the Chinese.

    1) Russia's problems in the Olympics are about crony capitalism.

    What happened with the doping of the 15 year old Russian skater is exactly what you'd expect to happen under crony capitalism. Somebody at the top decides they want to win, and so they put a tremendous amount of pressure on the people running the program at the bottom. If this were an industry, they'd cut all kinds of safety concerns. This is why all those people in that train ended up dying in Atlas Shrugged.

    The cronies at the top can't help but insert themselves in the process, even though they know nothing, and so they end up just making threats. Fear is the mind-killer, and so someone probably put her on a banned substance--out of fear. This is the third or fourth Olympics in a row that Russia has been busted for doping. The Russians can't stop themselves to save themselves because the ultimate problem is the cronyism in the system itself.

    P.S. The Washington "football team" has had the same problem since Dan Snyder took over. Any organization shouldn't be able to perform well under those circumstances, and that's why I'd love to see the USA, Canada, and others beat the shit out of them.

    2) China squandered a shitload of CCP money on the Olympics for propaganda purposes, but they're embarrassing themselves in terms of performance. They're somewhere south of Japan.

    You push the games for their propaganda value on your own people, and then when you get the games, your athletes suck despite all the power, population, and wealth at your disposal. Was China trying to make itself look inferior to the nations of the west? All that propaganda is falling flat if you can't compete with the west for medals. LOL

    They just can't centrally plan a better team than the United States or Canada or Norway. You need capitalist consumerism for that. Our athletes beat them with very little in the way of state support. Most of its driven by parents who want their kids to succeed and consumer product companies that want to use these kids to sell snowboards and auto insurance.

    1. Commenter_XY   3 years ago

      This Olympics was a debacle for the communists. And NBC.

      1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

        LOL

        1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

          All of China's enemies keep giving each other awards for beating the shit out of the CCP's athletes--in China--without a Chinese athlete anywhere near the podium. If it wasn't Xi's idea to hold these Olympics in China, he should be mad as hell at whoever told him this would be a good idea. If things keep going the way they are, they're gonna make it against the law to talk about the Olympics on the Chinese internet. It's like Xi invited us over to watch the game, and we screwed his wife right in front of him. LOL.

      2. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

        And this hilarious slapstick comedy didn't cost U.S. taxpayers a penny!

      3. Social Justice is neither   3 years ago

        But you repeat yourself there.

    2. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

      “Most of its driven by parents who want their kids to succeed”

      Hmm, figure skating, for example, requires tons of parental time and money.

      The snowboarders on the other hand, requires having a kid who smokes a lot of pot, becomes a snowboarding bum, and discovers he or she is really good at it.

      1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        Maybe back in the 90's, grandma.

        1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

          The United States has been competitive despite not spending hardly any taxpayer money on our Olympic team since forever.

        2. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

          Not even then. Pretty much every snowboarder since the sport became a fad back in the late 80s-early 90s is some privileged upper-middle class or upper class kid, the vast majority of whom are white. That's because buying the equipment and getting the annual ski passes costs a shit-ton of money. The ski areas themselves are largely filled with a lot of well-off families, because a lot of the workers can't afford to live there and have to commute from nearby small mountain towns, while most of the customers have to drive in from the cities--which costs money for gas, food, and lodging.

          Laursen still thinks that hitting the slopes is like it was in the 1970s, when the industry was still in its adolescence and living in Aspen was dirt-cheap.

          1. Overt   3 years ago

            Mike doesn't know about anything outside of his Bay Area bubble. Even the "middle class" in his town are embarrassingly wealthy and have the disposable income necessary to get out to Tahoe periodically. And of course that leads him to make very silly generalizations about the people he never interacts with.

      2. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

        The snowboarders on the other hand, requires having a kid who smokes a lot of pot.

        Cite?

        1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

          Snowboarders require a fat chunk of suburban America with the disposable income available to take their kids snowboarding--after a ski resort markets themselves to parents and a snowboard company markets themselves to their kids.

          You need parents who can afford to pay for their daughters' ice skating lessons. Ever notice that some of the biggest American stars in the winter Olympics today hail from southern California? American consumer wealth makes winter sports available to kids from all over the country. And trade with China makes us richer!

          Meanwhile, most of our best athletes are gravitating to football, basketball, and baseball anyway. Our consumer private company financed Olympic system identifies Olympic champions--when they're little kids--and trains them in their spare time! They identified Shaun White as a skateboarding prodigy--and consumer product companies started sponsoring him when he was seven years old. They built a halfpipe in his back yard so he could train.

          Who'd have thought the capitalism of Americans consumer product companies could identify and develop Olympic champions better than the central planning state model of the CCP?

          Everybody who knows anything about capitalism. That's who. Capitalism wins in every other area, too, for the same reasons.

          1. Cyto   3 years ago

            Give it time. China now has more people in the middle class than the US has people. Give them another generation. They have another US population in poverty. Soon they will have 3x the US population and a much more developed consumer market and sports market.

            1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

              Middle class means different things to different people.

              Let's talk about GDP per capita (with PPP), which is the rule of thumb for standard of living.

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita#Table

              The USA is at $68,309 U.S. in 2021

              China is at $18,931 per capita in 2021

              20 years ago, that number for China would have been a fraction of what it is today, but even at $18,931, there wouldn't be many American parents taking their kids for a snowboarding vacation if the GDP per capita was only $18,931. There wouldn't be as many ski resorts. There wouldn't be as many snowboards manufactured. You need that consumer culture.

              We think of Norway and Canada as doing really well in the winter Olympics, and those are countries with a strong winter culture. Look where they are on the list of countries ranked by GDP per capita, though. Norway is at $69,171 per capita, and Canada is at $51,713.

              Having a slew of kids who live in Winter all the time helps, but having a thriving and wealthy consumer economy is probably necessary to really thrive in the winter Olympics, too. I'm sure there are countries that can do well despite not having all that consumer wealth, but when they win, it isn't because they're lacking the consumer wealth. It's in spite of not having that.

              1. Cyto   3 years ago

                They are getting there.... Look at this year's list of top grossing movies. Lots of Chinese films you never heard of.

                They are moving into an analog the 1950s US society. The 70s should be around soon. Maybe that is when they have cocaine and run out "the man" and change governments.

                1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

                  If they get to where we are now, it won't be because Xi is turning his back on capitalism and embracing communism--and that's what he's doing now.

          2. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

            "Snowboarders require a fat chunk of suburban America with the disposable income available to take their kids snowboarding--after a ski resort markets themselves to parents and a snowboard company markets themselves to their kids."

            A snowboarding career can be financed with a high school or fast food job, including the option of teaching snow boarding and skiing, doing ski patrol, etc.

            1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

              This is literally one of the stupidest things you've ever written, and it's not like there isn't a large pool to draw from there.

              1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

                A comment like this is why bugmen like Laursen need to be kept far away from actually running anything that's necessary for society to function--these people are so retarded outside their small professional window, that they end up causing any community where a mass of them settle to turn to absolute shit.

                1. Overt   3 years ago

                  Again- he is a Bay Area resident. He lives in one of the most privileged and wealthy metropolitan areas in the world. Later he'll be asking us why everyone can't just use their spare teslas to the ski area.

            2. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

              Cite?

            3. Cronut   3 years ago

              I bet you think you can make it to the NHL by playing pond hockey.

            4. JimboJr   3 years ago

              "A snowboarding career can be financed with a high school or fast food job, including the option of teaching snow boarding and skiing, doing ski patrol, etc."

              - said the pajama class liberal.

              Also potentials you could hear from a pajama liberal:

              "This pandemic has people pissed off. Its probably just that they are tired of being stuck inside watching netflix/disney plus, ordering restaurant delivery, and riding the peleton"

              "Inflation isnt real! And even if it is who cares if goods are costing 7% or much more? My stock portfolio is up 25% this year? Why should anyone care?"

              "Let them eat cake" - ok this one might be older

          3. Bubba Jones   3 years ago

            The top snowboarders seem to be people who actually live in the resort towns. Not just people with vacation homes there.

            That said, I know the wealthy parents of an aspiring snowboarder. Aspiring.

          4. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

            Capitalism can fuck up a sport too, Speedo's LZR Racer as an example.

      3. R Mac   3 years ago

        Haha Dee, you’re stupid and wrong.

    3. Claptrap   3 years ago

      China squandered a shitload of CCP money on the Olympics for propaganda purposes, but they're embarrassing themselves in terms of performance. They're somewhere south of Japan.

      Doing this for the Winter Olympics is a terrible idea. You can potentially dope your way to a million medals in the summer games, but the winters are a bunch of nichey technical sports. That they evidently couldn't build the requisite program in a decade (no matter how much they bent the rules) shouldn't be surprising.

      1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

        Fundamentally, Xi's thinking on the Olympics is wrong for the same reason turning his back on capitalism is wrong.

        He seems to genuinely believe that the intelligence and will of the Chinese people is all they need to succeed--with the CCP's support and guidance.

        He's wrong. They need freedom, too, both economically and in terms of free speech, etc.

        Xi's Olympic team is doomed to fail for the same reason his return to communism is doomed to fail--because of him and the CCP.

        1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

          P.S. Biden and the progressives have the same problem for the same reasons.

        2. Sometimes a Great Notion   3 years ago

          Have you ever see the documentary, The Other Dream Team? Worth watching if you haven't. It's about the Lithuanian basketball team and how they hated playing for the Soviets, struggled to get the funds to (thanks Bill Walton and the Grateful Dead) make it and then went onto win Bronze.

          1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

            I'll check it out!

        3. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

          Is there any communism practiced in China? Xi is turning more into a nationalist fascist.

          1. Agammamon   3 years ago

            Communism is fascism.

            1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

              They're both totalitarian.

              I'll leave it at that for now.

            2. Utkonos   3 years ago

              “communism is fascism”—-without the ability to make trains run on time.

          2. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

            Yeah, Xi is actually championing going back to communism and central planning.

            No joke.

            1. Utkonos   3 years ago

              Xi actually aspires to be a new Mao. Now he just needs his own Lin Biao to promote his personality cult. (Heads up to Putin: You’ll have an interesting plane crash to investigate in a few years)

      2. Hank Ferrous   3 years ago

        'Nichey technical sports,' not baseball, football, or basketball, you mean? The Olympics would be a lot more interesting if stupid traditional sports weren't included, but the focus was on those that required individual training, excellence, and skill.

        1. Claptrap   3 years ago

          'Nichey technical sports,' not baseball, football, or basketball, you mean?

          As opposed to raw athleticism which is of greater value in say, track or weightlifting. The team sports are whatever; they take up a lot of focus by a lot of athletes, but you only get one medal for being good in each.

          the focus was on those that required individual training, excellence, and skill

          This is the bulk of the winter olympics. The only major team sport doesn't really rate outside of Canada, Canada-adjacent America, Russia, and Scandinavia.

        2. Agammamon   3 years ago

          We just need to get back to the Olympics being about combat sports.

    4. Cyto   3 years ago

      Russia did a great service.

      Their athletics is so corrupt at the national level that they got banned from international competition. The national testing facility was taking test results. Cheating, to be blunt.

      So they got banned. Like, hugely banned. Out of the last Olympics and this one.

      Which means....

      They cannot use the Russian flag or anthem. And they cannot say they are the Russian team.

      Nope. They have to go by " Russian Olympic Committee".

      Ha! That'll teach them!

      I mean, they still get to compete. And they still are under the same governing body that was cheating.

      But, you know.... The Olympics are super- cereal about stopping cheating.

      1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

        The next sanction over this 15 year old girl will be worse. The Olympic Committee won't punish a 15 year old girl, but they may ban the Russian team from competing. This is just too much--when they're already under sanction. It's like driving drunk and running over a pedestrian when you're out on bail--for driving drunk and running over a pedestrian. You gotta throw the book at 'em at this point.

        1. Cyto   3 years ago

          Or, you know, accept some more bribes and wring your hands

          That is always an option for the IOC.

        2. Bubba Jones   3 years ago

          "It's not fair to ban this young girl for something that clearly wasn't her idea."

          1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

            They shouldn't treat 15 year olds like adults. That would be like statutory rape. She's underage. Even if she knew what she was taking, which isn't clear, she's a child. The adults who did this to her need to punished for it. They've been punished for the same thing repeatedly. Time to get mean about it before the Russian government does this to more children.

      2. Sevo   3 years ago

        And they're still cheating.
        This time, the IOC will give them a fore-arm slap!

    5. CE   3 years ago

      What I can't figure out is why Norway is so good at the Winter Olympics. Is there a lot of snow and ice there or something?

      1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

        And they're stinking rich.

        Tons of oil money, relatively few people, great work ethic.

        And, yeah, when Norwegian women give birth, the babies can already cross country ski their way home. They give them little, tiny ski boots, click 'em into their skis, and off they go--like baby fish know how to swim.

      2. Utkonos   3 years ago

        Not only snow…but that whole wealth angle people are talking about upthread? Heck Norway can afjord anything!

    6. Agammamon   3 years ago

      The best part, IMO, is the Chinese figure skater that decided she wanted to be on the CCP team and skate for them - and the eating the ice.

      1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

        Chinese mean girls from all over China were apparently bullying her on Chinese social media.

        The government is trying to make it stop.

        "The hashtag "Zhu Yi has fallen" was viewed more than 200 million times within hours on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, before apparently being censored. The comment "This is such a disgrace" quickly garnered 11,000 upvotes."

        https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/07/opinions/zhu-yi-olympics-figure-skating-positive-slamming-alaimo/index.html

  16. JesseAz   3 years ago

    Whitehouse is asking to not release report on security vulnerabilities of Dominion Voting machines. Report was written by University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society Director J. Alex Halderman.

    Go to just the news. Headline Biden administration asks court not to release Dominion Voting Systems report. Reason is censoring links to this news site for no reason.

    urging a judge not to release a report on Dominion Voting Systems equipment in Georgia by arguing that the move would "threaten election security."

    1. Social Justice is neither   3 years ago

      I'm sure Sullum is personally blocking the links to anything that disrupts his DNC narrative.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        It has been happening for at least 3 days now. Not sure why that site is so special to Reason they have to block it. Maybe their use of primary sources.

  17. Rich   3 years ago

    US intelligence briefed by the Pentagon reportedly points to a detailed plan in which Moscow will launch a barrage of missile and bomb attacks this Wednesday followed by a full-blown ground invasion.

    "Shock and Awe, Comrades!"

    1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

      Are these the same guys who thought the super bowl would be interrupted by truck drivers?

      1. HorseConch   3 years ago

        The same ones that knew Sadaam was staging his WMD's to wipe us out.

    2. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

      I truly believe Putin isn't planning on invading. I think he is exerting pressure and showing the world how impotent Biden and America are to stop him.

      1. Nardz   3 years ago

        Yes, because there is so much strategic value in taking over direct control of your shithole economic drain buffer state with half its population already hostile...
        But Putin bad, so obviously he wants to recreate the USSR. Couldn't possibly be that Russia's autocratic feels responsible for protecting Russians abroad as they have traditionally for centuries.

        1. Zeb   3 years ago

          Or both? All of the former Soviet states have significant Russian populations and they were for the most part once part of Russia.

          1. Utkonos   3 years ago

            And the Soviet regime did more than it’s fair share to make those population shifts happen

  18. JesseAz   3 years ago

    GiveSendGo hacked to dox donations to trucker convoy.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/givesendgo-hacked-names-of-freedom-convoy-donors-leaked

    Twitter had so far refused to take down links to the doxxing.

    1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      Because nothing says Radical Haxx0rs like enforcing authoritarian charter-violating court rulings.
      Antifa wants to be an arm of the sate so badly they can taste it.

    2. Cyto   3 years ago

      Wasn't that a red line for them? Didn't they take down evidence of voter fraud (lists of people who voted by mail from fake addresses) as Doxxing? They said it was super serious and would never be allowed.

      I guess only if it was then. But this is now. So, you know. It is different.

    3. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

      This is living proof that Antifa is 1) an arm of the left-liberal establishment, and 2) they're fucking terrified of what will happen if the actual working class decides they've had enough of these people's shit.

  19. sarcasmic   3 years ago

    If Reason was really libertarian, they'd have done stories about [insert Republican hobby horse here] but they didn't which means they all voted for Biden!

    /you know who you are

    1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

      Ideas!

    2. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

      The voices in your head?

      1. sarcasmic   3 years ago

        Ken?

        https://reason.com/2022/02/14/canadas-freedom-convoy-embodies-fatigue-with-pandemic-authoritarianism/?comments=true#comment-9354021

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          Ideas!

        2. R Mac   3 years ago

          This post doesn’t even mention Reason voting for Biden, broke ass liar.

    3. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

      Yup, I’m seeing complaints that Reason hasn’t covered the Canadian truckers until today — even though a simple search shows they have been covering the story all month long.

      1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        Remember folks, sarcasmic and White Mike don't try to start shit here. They promise that they're not trolls. It's everyone else's fault when the shitstorms start.
        Not these two little lambs.

        1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

          Sarc and Mike seem extremely sensitive towards any criticism of Reason. This doesn't display critical thinking. It is sycophantic behavior most associated with devotees, cult followers and blind partisans.

          1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

            Also, there belief that others who do criticize their beloved institutions are the blind ones is also a sign of those that practice blind obedience to a narrative rather than someone who is open minded.

            1. sarcasmic   3 years ago

              I'm simply making fun of the whiners who bitch and moan and cry like little children when Reason doesn't report on what they think is important.

              1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

                And they are usually plainly wrong about Reason not having covered their hobby horse, which they could find out with a quick Internet search.

                1. sarcasmic   3 years ago

                  Shhhhhh! You're confusing the narrative with facts again!

                  1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

                    Here are the facts:

                    sarcasmic
                    August.12.2021 at 4:45 pm
                    I only show up to watch the clowns duke it out while tossing in this or that provocation. Bread and circuses. This is a circus.

                    I like to stir shit up. So what.

                  2. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                    I doubt it. You two can't stand any criticism of your bible.

                    1. sarcasmic   3 years ago

                      Is that the new troll thing? Reason is my bible now? Well that's just dumb. But if it impresses the trolls then you're gonna shout it from the rooftops.

                    2. sarcasmic   3 years ago

                      If you want to be really cool you can drop a turd on every one of my comments! Say something like "You're an alcoholic child molester who thinks Reason is the Bible!" and all the trolls will love you! You'll be so impressive! They'll all swoon! You'll be scooping them up off the floor!

                    3. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

                      "Is that the new troll thing?"

                      You tell us, trollboy.

                    4. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                      No, it's a statement of reality. You two defend Reason like a fundamentalist creationist defends the bible. Literally you can't take any criticism of it.

                    5. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                      You have never criticized Reason, even when they have been shown to be blatantly wrong. In fact, when people have shown them to be blatantly wrong that is when you and Mike defend them the most. Just like a fucking fundamentalist creationist.

                    6. sarcasmic   3 years ago

                      So making fun of partisans who constantly whine and cry and bitch and moan about Reason not running stories on what the partisans bitches feel to be important equals worshipping Reason like the word of God?

                      That might pass for troll-logic, but to anyone who isn't an idiot it's a bad joke.

                    7. sarcasmic   3 years ago

                      Hey sm. This is your argument in a nutshell: "sarc/Reason/Mike didn't say [insert hobbyhorse here] and that means they believe [insert strawman here]."

                      It's the same argument JesseAZ and the other trolls use.

                      If that's how you want to be then sure. Be a troll. I thought you were better than that, but obviously I was very, very wrong.

                    8. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                      No you aren't making fun of partisans. You may believe this, and believe you are virtuous, but the fact that you have defended Reason at all costs, especially when they have proven to be blatantly wrong or blatantly misrepresenting the story and facts, doesn't demonstrate this. You dismiss anyone pointing this out as being upset they are only upset that Reason isn't toeing their preferred narrative.
                      You dismiss me as a troll because it is easier than doing self reflection.

                    9. JesseAz   3 years ago

                      cite? You brought me up again Sarc. I request a cite.

                    10. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                      I offer criticism of you, and your behavior, your response is to put me on your enemies list and passive aggressive insults (I expected better of you) and then call me a troll. These are the reasons I criticize you. It's your behavior. It's you lack of intellectual honesty and self awareness. It's your constant need to degrade anyone who dares disagree with you. It's your constant need to attack people who aren't even part of the thread. It's your constant need to dismiss anyone who disagrees with you, by implying they are Trump supporters.

                    11. R Mac   3 years ago

                      MUTE HIS ASS SARC!

                    12. sarcasmic   3 years ago

                      I've been plenty critical of Reason, but you weren't paying attention. Just like certain articles by Reason don't exist because they don't fit the narrative.

                    13. sarcasmic   3 years ago

                      I don't have an "enemies list." The only enemies I have are people who declared themselves as enemies. I do have a lot of people on ignore because their arguments contain the word "you" all the time. They don't argue with what I say. They argue with me as a person. So fuck them.

                      If you're going to be one of them then fuck you too.

                    14. R Mac   3 years ago

                      MUTE HIS ASS!

                    15. JesseAz   3 years ago

                      Sarc you call your list the land of the sarcastrated.

                      https://reason.com/2021/12/13/chris-wallaces-departure-from-fox-news-is-a-blow-to-unbiased-commentary/?comments=true#comment-9255328

                      Why do you lie about your bullshit so much?

                    16. JesseAz   3 years ago

                      By the way. Anybody notice sarc crying about people talking about him when that is literally 100% of his posts today being about talking other people?

                      Just like him, Jeff, Mike can freely call everyone trump cultists but don't you care call put their defending the left.

                      It takes a special lack of self awareness to be that dense as those 3.

                  3. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                    I despise intellectual dishonesty, that is why I despise Mike, Jeff and am fast growing to dislike you.

                    1. sarcasmic   3 years ago

                      What dishonesty? Disagreement is not dishonesty.

                      What is dishonest is when the usual suspects whine and bitch about how Reason doesn't this and that, and then when presented with an article that is about what they said Reason didn't write about they move the goalposts. Sorry if that comes off as defense of Reason, but hey I don't like liars. And it's so predictable that it's comical.

                      I never liked you. I thought you had interesting insight now and then, but like the trolls I ignore you infer things that aren't there. Then call a person a liar when they disagree with what they never said.

                      But they're cooler than me, so keep on impressing them.

                    2. R Mac   3 years ago

                      Damn, sarc’s super upset.

                    3. JesseAz   3 years ago

                      Sarc hasn't presented one argument about any topic today but claims it is only disagreement on ideas. Lol.

                    4. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                      For someone who doesn't like liars you've been called out with citations often enough to imply self loathing.

                  4. Vexatious   3 years ago

                    Look, if you two red diaper babies don’t like it here I’m sure there’s a home for you both at any one of a hundred far left publications. Nearly all of which would never allow the rest of us to comment there at all. You would finally have the democrat echo chamber you’ve dreamed of.

              2. JesseAz   3 years ago

                And once again you dont understand comedy. There was zero humor in your strawman.

          2. sarcasmic   3 years ago

            *snort* I'm making fun of the blind partisans!

            But you knew that. You're just trying to impress the trolls and look cool. Just like middle school.

            1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

              1. *sarcasmic trolls*
              2. *gets criticized for trolling*
              3. "You're just trying to impress the trolls and look cool"

              What a fucking retard.

            2. JesseAz   3 years ago

              Not even you find your strawman funny sarc. Youre turning into hihn.

            3. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

              You're making fun of blind partisans by being a blind partisans? Is that nth level chess?
              No, you lack self awareness to realize what is self evident to everyone else.

              1. sarcasmic   3 years ago

                How am I being a blind partisan? Unless you're so simpleminded as to think disagreement with X equals support for Y. What have I ever actually said that was partisan?

                1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                  Just about everyone of your posts is blatantly libertarian partisanship. Your constant both sides narrative is partisan. Your constant attacking anyone who dares disagree with the strict libertarian party line is blind partisanship. The fact that if anyone challenges you, you call them a Trump supporter, a right wing nut, a troll or any other such titles, is blind partisanship. The fact that you overtly misrepresent what people say, is blind partisanship. Your holier than thou attitude is blatant partisandhip. Your enemies list and bragging about all the people you've muted is blatant partisanship. You are as tribalist as those who you constantly disparage.

                  1. sarcasmic   3 years ago

                    I'm principled, not partisan.

                    1. JesseAz   3 years ago

                      Funniest think you've said today.

                2. JesseAz   3 years ago

                  Unless you're so simpleminded as to think disagreement with X equals support for Y.

                  Stop calling me a leftist all you all right trump fanatics yelled sarc not realizing the irony.

                3. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                  You also seem to think that if I call you a partisan I am implying you are either Republican or Democrat. Libertarian is also a partisan position, and blind partisanship to it is no better than blind partisanship to any other party.

                  1. sarcasmic   3 years ago

                    Libertarian is a political party. I'm not a Libertarian. I'm a libertarian. I'd think you'd know the difference by now.

                    1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                      Partisanship can apply to ideology as well as party. Keep flailing.

                    2. R Mac   3 years ago

                      Sarc’s really just a contrarian at this point. No libertarianism at all to his schtick at this point.

              2. sarcasmic   3 years ago

                *this is the part where he goes silent because he has exactly zero comments of mine supporting the accusation that I'm a partisan*

                1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                  And once again you are wrong. I just posted above all the examples of your behavior that demonstrates your blind partisanship. You totally lack self awareness or the ability to take criticism. Instead you imply evil intent on anyone who points out the juvenile, shallow thinking you are famous for on here. You think you are being noble and pure, and deny the fact that the majority of people point out the fallacy of your behavior. These aren't the behaviors of an open minded individual. These are the behaviors of a narrow minded tribalist.

                2. JesseAz   3 years ago

                  The hilarious part is you cried so badly with Jeff that we have bookmarked your previous comments. Now you want comments again?

                3. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                  I am tired of your empty platitudes, personal attacks against anyone who disagrees with you, especially when, as today, you initiated the hostility and attacks. I am tired of your simplistic thinking about everything and pollyanna thinking that lacks any nuance. I am tired of you shitting up comment threads with your juveniles, puerile, jejune behavior. You and Mike are toxic. You are hurting the cause of those who are advocating for more personal freedoms, by openly attacking them if they have wrong think. You are as bad as any partisan right or left winger. Your inability to ever debate honestly is simply sickening. Your constant need to bring up Trump in every discussion is sickening. Your attacking others as trolling, when all you do is troll others (mute them but then post shit about what they say and make sure you tell everyone you have muted them so you don't know what they actually said is about the most trollish behavior you can do). Everything you criticize others for you are as guilty of, it not more guilty of.

                  1. sarcasmic   3 years ago

                    personal attacks against anyone who disagrees with you

                    What personal attacks?

                    You are hurting the cause of those who are advocating for more personal freedoms, by openly attacking them if they have wrong think.

                    "Vote Republican rah rah rah!" is not advocating for persona freedom.

                    Everything you criticize others for you are as guilty of, it not more guilty of.

                    Nope. I argue with what people say, not with people. I don't use the word "you" in every post. Sure I'm not perfect, but I make a point of criticizing what people say instead of people.

                    Everything you laid out was against me as a person. All of it. You never criticize what I say, you always criticize me as a person.

                    So yeah. You're a troll. Sorry but it's the truth. When you've got a rebuttal to what I say, let me know. As long as you're going to criticize me as a person then you can fuck off.

                    1. R Mac   3 years ago

                      “I argue with what people say, not with people.”

                      You literally argue with people you have on mute, while making up what you think they said to argue with.

                      Seriously sarc, if you decide to peak at this post, you need psychological help. You clearly have some serious mental health issues that you’re not addressing.

                    2. JesseAz   3 years ago

                      You have to admit sarc asking for links already in a muted post or making up a strawman about the post is hilarious.

                      Just proof of his blind partisan ignorance.

                4. EISTAU Gree-Vance   3 years ago

                  Ya know sarc, I’ve always thought that anyone who understands that the right answer re taxes is, “fuck you, cut spending” can’t be all bad.

                  That said, you’ve got a lot to say about the “right wing trolls” around here, while posing as a “pox on both their houses” (prog/con) kinda guy. Any progs on your shit list?

                  This should be interesting. Or at least it might be if the thread wasn’t cold, but I just can’t get here on time.

              3. R Mac   3 years ago

                Sarc’s a broken man.

            4. Vexatious   3 years ago

              So do you actually have some kind of point, or anything useful to impart, or are you just bitching and crying about how everyone else is a big meanie?

      2. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

        Example: https://reason.com/2022/02/14/canadas-freedom-convoy-embodies-fatigue-with-pandemic-authoritarianism/?comments=true#comment-9354002

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          Your example is FROM TODAY. The convoy started before today dummy.

          1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

            That really was a pretty big self own.

        2. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

          Jesus.

      3. sarcasmic   3 years ago

        Don't confuse the narrative with stupid facts. Reason is a progressive magazine run by progressives. We know this because they didn't vote for Trump. That's all you need to know.

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          Double down on your ideas sarc. Doesn't make you look idiotic at all. Lol.

        2. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

          Your constant dismissing of any criticism of you, Mike or Reason as being only because the poster is upset because you didn't vote for Trump is blind partisanship. It is implying evil intent rather than honest criticism. These are the actions of a tribalist and partisan, not of someone who is self reflective and open minded.
          And I didn't vote for Trump in either elections, so what is your hypothesis as to why I criticize your actions?

          1. sarcasmic   3 years ago

            And I didn't vote for Trump in either elections, so what is your hypothesis as to why I criticize your actions?

            Impressing the trolls.

            1. R Mac   3 years ago

              Why would he insult you to impress you?

            2. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

              I don't work like you, I am not trying to impress anyone. But I will call a strike a strike and a ball a ball unlike you.

    4. sarcasmic   3 years ago

      Hey JesseAZ, I think you may have missed a post or two of mine. True trolls drop a turd on every single comment. You're slacking. C'mon boy, you can do better!

      1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        Look at sarc just begging for your attention, Jesse. He wants you to fuck him so bad.
        Watch out for Mike though. Sealions get jealous around their mates.

        1. Double_U   3 years ago

          I threw up in my mouth a little.
          They're really pathetic. Especially as he started it all today.

        2. JesseAz   3 years ago

          I will forever be number one on his list 🙂

      2. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

        You make a blatant, unwarranted attack on people you disagree with and then blame others when they call you out, and think they are the problem? This is like the bully crying when his victim punches back.

        1. sarcasmic   3 years ago

          You make a blatant, unwarranted attack on people you disagree with...

          Pointing out how so many in the comments say "Reason isn't really libertarian because they didn't cover this story the way I'd like" isn't an attack. It's an observation.

          ...and then blame others when they call you out...

          JesseAZ and others don't call me out. They're on mute because I got tired of saying "Hey, nice response to what I never said nor did, but here's what I really said and did" only to be called a liar when I attempt to clarify. They are pieces of shit that attack people, not what the people say.

          ...and think they are the problem?

          Not since I muted them.

          This is like the bully crying when his victim punches back.

          I'm a bully? Really? That's a new one. No, the trolls aren't punching back. They're just punching.

          1. JesseAz   3 years ago

            JesseAZ and others don't call me out. They're on mute because I got tired of saying "Hey, nice response to what I never said nor did, but here's what I really said and did" only to be called a liar when I attempt to clarify.

            A few problems here. Yes. We are calling you out for your hypocrisy, lack of principles, and your defense of the left.

            We are on mute because we posted links to your previous statements showing where you were being hypocritical and defending the left.

            And that goes to your last point. We started saving links to your comments because you are such a chronic liar and alcoholic that you either lie about past comments or simply don't remember them. You even started crying to Jeff about how awful it was someone took 2s to bookmark your previous comments when you began asking for citations.

            I'm a bully? Really? That's a new one. No, the trolls aren't punching back. They're just punching.

            I have plenty of posts of your asking for someone to beat up another person for comments on the boards. While at the same time you cry about Sevo's comments. Do you want some of them?

          2. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

            Pointing out how so many in the comments say "Reason isn't really libertarian because they didn't cover this story the way I'd like" isn't an attack. It's an observation.

            Bullshit. And you know it.

            1) Your original comment was not a response nor an observation.

            2) That's not what anyone says. They typically say that Reason has abandoned libertarian positions which they used to champion. And they usually provide examples.

            Try again, gaslighter.

            1. Vexatious   3 years ago

              Sarcasmic obviously wants to control what is said here. Only Sarc approved opinions are allowed.

          3. Vexatious   3 years ago

            You’re not a real bully. A bully is actually intimidating. You’re just shrill and annoying. Like some kind of deranged bitchy control freak.

            I consider it almost 100% likely that if you were face to face with any of us that you would backpedal, and beg for mercy.

        2. sarcasmic   3 years ago

          I gave JesseAZ and the others the benefit of the doubt and unmuted them. It was a mistake. Their arguments were against me, not what I said. Everything became personal. That's why they're on mute. There is absolutely nothing to be gained by reading any of their comments, because the comments are about me as a person not what I said.

          And you're doing the same thing.

          1. JesseAz   3 years ago

            You've said nothing of substance today dumbass. Holy shit are you delusional.

          2. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

            the comments are about me as a person not what I said.

            As opposed to the comment at the top of this thread?

            /you know who you are

            What the fuck is wrong with you? This goes waaaay beyond hypocritical. It is evil.

            You are standing at the entrance to the room flipping the switch and yelling that anyone that thinks the lights are flickering is crazy. When someone points out that they can see you actually flicking the switch, you claim it is a personal attack because the comment addresses your actions and is not about the lights you are talking about, which are definitely not flickering.

          3. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

            Oh yeah now threatening me to not call it the way I see it. You can't stand criticism but are more than willing to call out everyone else for their criticism.
            In fact, I think you don't even realize what everyone else sees. You actually believe you are sainted and everyone is attacking you unwarrantedly.

          4. Vexatious   3 years ago

            You just scream and bitch for no reason. You make me think of the guy that Ray Liotta pistol whips in Goodfellas.

      3. JesseAz   3 years ago

        I only comment on your entirely idiotic posts sarc. Sadly that is about 90% of them.

        But keep looking like a fool. It's fine with me. Just verifies everything I've said about you for the last 2 years.

        You have no principles. You feel like you are a victim. Soldiermedic has said everything I would say.

    5. R Mac   3 years ago

      You need therapy.

      1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

        He needs to be medicated. 75 mg of an admixture of copper, lead, and zinc applied internally would be most efficacious.

        1. Vexatious   3 years ago

          Or throw him in a barrel of H2SO4, which is commonly known as drinking water (to White Mike).

  20. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

    "The Bureau of Land Management held the roundup as part of a controversial plan to remove 16,797 wild horses from Western public lands in 2022, which would represent the most ever in one year and a 43% jump from 2021.

    Bureau officials say wild horses, as well as burros, need to be removed from Nevada and other Western states because there are too many of them for the amount of grass and plants they feed on, supplies of which are shrinking due to drought.

    The horses, also called mustangs, compete for the limited food supplies and water with deer, elk, and other animals, including cattle raised by ranchers

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/wild-horses-are-removed-from-government-land-as-drought-shrinks-food-supply-11644764401?

    I have dogs in both sides of this fight. I care a lot about capitalism, and I care a lot about conservation. No matter what side of this fight you're on, the one things we should all agree on is that the federal government is a terrible way to do conservation.

    Too many people imagine that the purpose of the BLM, the Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, et. al. is to protect our natural resources from industry, but we live in a pluralistic democracy, and that means people who care about industry get a say in policy, too.

    The purpose of the BLM isn't just to protect our natural resources from industry. The purpose of the BLM is also to protect industry from environmentalists and animal rights activists. If there's any doubt about this, look what they're doing to the Mustangs to keep grazing cheap for ranchers.

    Conservation is too important a job to leave to the government.

    1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

      https://www.americanprairie.org/news-blog/american-prairie-purchases-73-ranch

      1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

        The American Prairie Reserve is a watermelon organization that is openly intending to destroy ranching in Montana in the name of conservation. They are funded heavily by wealthy investors who just destroyed one of the largest, oldest ranches in Montana by paying far more money than any rancher could. They also claim that they will allow access to the public to hunt, but many of their funders are elitist who either want to end hunting on public land (most of the land the bought blocks access to public land) or want to curtail it so severely that only their elite cliental will be able to use it. They are opposed by the local communities, because the jobs from eco-tourism that they promote pay far less than the jobs they destroyed. And as a not for profit organization, their property taxes are far less than the ranches they are replacing. Also, their grazing plan for buffalo is not considered sustainable by many range scientist. The BLM has in fact granted far more lenient grazing permits than ranchers have to deal with (even buffalo ranchers) and their grazing permits are not at all consistent with modern grazing methods, and are methods that are known to degrade the land and water.

        1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

          "The American Prairie Reserve is a watermelon organization that is openly intending to destroy ranching in Montana in the name of conservation. They are funded heavily by wealthy investors who just destroyed one of the largest, oldest ranches in Montana by paying far more money than any rancher could."

          Is this better or worse than the federal government taking a ranch through eminent domain and compensating the rancher with far less than he would have made if he'd sold it on the open market?

          Respect for private property rights mean that other people can do what they want on their own property. It's a way for animal rights people and conservationists to make whatever rules they want for their own property--without using the government to violate anyone's property rights.

          No, it doesn't mean they won't do things that you don't like on their property. It just means that you get to do what you want on your property without having to worry about the government or the animal rights people telling you that you can't.

          1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

            Except, private ranchers do get told what they can do on their private land and on public land, but the APR gets different rules from everyone else.

            1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

              Surely, taking the ownership away from the BLM and giving it to the ranchers will give the ranchers more say over how that land is used.

              This won't solve all the problems of the government bossing ranchers around, but it will be a big step towards them being free to make choices about how that land is used.

              1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                I also disagree with the idea that they are just using their private land their way when they use their charitable status to pay little to no taxes, making them more competitive than private ranchers. They've also used their relationship with the previous governor and federal government to give them a competitive edge, throw rezoning and regulatory means. Finally, I am sick and tired of conservation groups buying or leasing private land that was open to the public before they came in and closed it. That is why I ended my relationship with Ducks Unlimited and Trouts Unlimited. Farming and ranching is such a low profit business that the contracts of these private, charitable organizations is to attractive, and it is elitism. Most DU and TU members can't even afford the fees to utilize these exclusive hunting and fishing leases and plots. These groups also tend to have unfair influence over state fish and game departments, most of which are funded by the sale of licenses permits and tags and out of staters pay far more than in staters so they are incentivized to cater to out of staters.

        2. Its_Not_Inevitable   3 years ago

          Is this a spoiler for the next season of Yellowstone?

          1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

            No, but it is one of the things the show gets right.

    2. Commenter_XY   3 years ago

      Meh, pass a law allowing the harvesting of horsemeat. The Frogs like horsemeat. So turn the hunters loose and they can sell the horsemeat to the Frogs. Why not? Horsemeat is actually good eating.

      1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

        Horse is very tasty.

      2. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

        I appreciate that you might not share the concerns of other people, but the point is that environmentalists, animal rights activists, and conservationists really shouldn't reflexively support the federal government taking or holding land as if it were the solution to THEIR concerns. Effective conservation requires private property, and if you're someone who cares about keeping wild horses wild, next time you think the federal government taking something over is good for conservation, think again. Pluralistic democracy says that sometimes people who want to shoot those horses will be in charge. Private property says that the people who own that land can make the choices--whether the people who want to shoot those horses like it or not. Private property is the solution to the issues they care about.

        1. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland   3 years ago

          Horses are an invasive species

          1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

            Everything is.

          2. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

            Mustangs are an American icon, and people care about them--whether they should or not. Libertarian capitalism isn't just for people who agree with us on various issues, and property rights are the solution to whatever animal rights activists and conservationists care about. If they really want to save the Mustangs, they need to help us get that land out of the government's hands first. Plenty of those ranchers wouldn't even be using that land if the government wasn't offering them cheap grazing. Environmentalists and animal rights activists have just as much cause to be livid with the BLM as any libertarian.

            1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

              If the Federal Government sold off all the mustangs, Bernie Sanders dream of everybody getting a pony would be fulfilled.

              1. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland   3 years ago

                That's was vermin Supreme with the free pony for everyone

                1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

                  Oh, wrong looney.

            2. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

              The federal government basically took land that the ranchers were already grazing and declared it BLM land. The fuck the ranchers wouldn't be grazing that land if the federal government didn't offer them cheap grazing fees. They were grazing they land decades before the government decided that they had to pay to graze it. Look up the fucking history.

              1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

                That's a serious problem that needs to be resolved--and won't be resolved so long as the question of grazing rights is determined by the next president.

                My solution to privatize that land would give it to the ranchers who are grazing on it, and let conservationists bid for it on the open market--if a rancher wants to sell it.

                The land that no one wants could be donated to private charity.

                The "solution" where the government "owns" it isn't a real solution, and if privatizing it means gifting that land to the ranchers who already have the rights to graze on it, then I'm all for it.

                But real conservation won't be possible so long as that land remains under the "ownership" of the federal government. It will never be put to its best and highest use or truly conserved so long as it remains nationalized rather than privatized.

                1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                  Mainly because the federal government and the BLM and USFS have been taken over by activists who don't understand true conservation. They think cattle bad, no grazing good. Logging bad, overcrowded forests good.

                  1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

                    "They think cattle bad, no grazing good. Logging bad, overcrowded forests good."

                    All I'm adding here is that they also think, "Private property bad!"--and they're wrong about that, too.

                    Meanwhile, the BLM is culling thousands of Mustangs, and the reason the conservationists and animal rights people are not the ones making the choices about those Mustangs is because they don't own the land.

                    Conservation requires an unwillingness to compromise--over the long term--and pluralistic democracy means the rules for public land can be changed in the future, every four years if need be. Private property, properly done, means conservationists don't need to be subject to compromise or changes as a result of elections.

                    Private property is not bad from a conservation perspective. Private property is the solution, and they won't really get that land protected until they can own it privately rather than have it administered by the government.

                    1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                      They'll just use the ESA or something similar to regulate how private property owners manage feral horses (let's use the correct language, wild implies they are native).

                    2. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

                      I'm not saying it's the ultimate solution to every problem. I'm saying privatizing federal land--by giving it to the people who are using it--is a necessary step in the right direction. Going back further than the BLM, wasn't title to that land originally conferred on the basis of settlers actually using the land? It's not like doling federal land out to the people who are actually using it has never been tried before.

                    3. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                      To a degree, but much of the land was used by multiple ranches, who worked cooperatively. Quite often to keep smaller ranchers out, I will admit. So the land was divided up and grazing deeds given to individual ranches after the formation of the BLM. This actually benefited smaller ranchers as they got more access to grazing land that the big ranchers had colluded together to keep them off of. Land use and water use laws are extremely complex in the west. We could go by modern grazing leases to divide the land. But over the past three or four decades many of those grazing leases have been taken away or modified so much because of sue and settle policies that many deserving land owners have lost access to grazing leases that are by right there's.

                    4. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                      Not to mention the unprecedented number of national monuments Obama instituted, that took away a number of leases. Maybe if we had implemented privatization in the 1990s things would have been fairer,

                  2. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                    Also, privatization, with current market value for land in the west, would result in huge property tax bills that would ruin most ranchers. People like APR, Kevin Costner, Taylor Sheridan, David Letterman and Ted Turner have bid up land values so much that it is far above what true market value should be. Actually, Taylor Sheridan addresses this problem in Yellowstone a lot and Kevin Costner has spoken about it as well. It doesn't stop them from paying to much for ranches, but they both have saved some historic ranches and kept them operating.

                    1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                      I am not a totally free market capitalist when it comes to agriculture and manufacturing, because I think food security and manufacturing security are national security issues, and the fact that our global competitors so openly use protectionist schemes to distort the market, especially in commodities such as meat, grains, produce, and timber, it makes a true free market in the US unsustainable. I wish it was otherwise. I just think at this point, if we converted to a true free market in these fields we would end up were we are with oil and semi-conductors, overly reliant on foreign production.
                      I would love it if we could pressure our biggest competitors to practice free markets in these commodities, because US farmers, loggers and ranchers could easily compete then. Also, we need to rein in how countries like China and India blatantly manipulates commodity futures.

                    2. JesseAz   3 years ago

                      Supply chain risk totally has a cost. And it is a cost people have ignored for decades. Yet we saw it with covid and see it today.

            3. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

              BLM land is land that was considered only usable for grazing.

              1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                You know a lot Ken, but you don't know shit about this. I am sorry but you are extremely misinformed. it has nothing to do with cheap grazing and everything to do with the fact that these ranches historically predated the BLM and have always grazed that land. You miss the entire complexity of the history of those grazing permits. It is literally part of the BLM mission to maintain the grazing rights of those ranches. The USSC has ruled multiple times that they have to maintain those rights. They took away something that everyone had available.
                And the ranchers are far better stewards of the land than the so called conservationists, especially the fucking American Prairie Reserve. Fucking coastal elites trying to dictate to Montanans how we live, destroying our communities, and destroying the environment in the process.

                1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

                  I'm aware of the history.

                  I'm also aware that these issues won't be ironed out until that land is privatized. And I'm not talking about taking anything away from ranchers.

                  I'm talking about privatizing that land--by giving it to the ranchers who are using it.

                  This is like privatizing industry after the fall of the Soviet Union. You don't want politicians only letting the politically favored to use it or have it, but you do what it takes to get it privatized. It seems to me that if we're going to privatize it, it should go to the people who are using it. If they want to sell it, they can. If they want to keep using it, they can. And they should be the ones deciding its ownership and use--not the BLM or Congress or the president.

                  I hope this clears things up.

                  1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

                    Until we can do away with federal laws that dictate how ranchers and farmers can conduct business on private land, your solution isn't a whole lot better than what we have now. A true rancher isn't in the business of managing cattle, he is in the business of managing grass. Ranchers who don't manage their land properly go out of business quickly.

          3. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

            Horses evolved on the American continent. They disappeared around the same time the noble native American people showed up. Buuuuurp.

        2. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

          They reflexively support the federal government because they really don't care about conservation, they care about power.

    3. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

      Wild horses are not native and are far more destructive to the environment than cattle are. They are an invasive species but because they are horses and cute people have given them protections that other invasive species do not have.
      As for grazing, those cattle ranches have historical use, that predates the formation of the BLM. The USSC has ruled that the BLM is supposed to protect those grazing rights. It actually is part of their mission. When the USFS and BLM were created and public land use was regulated for the first time, one of their primary missions was (and remains still) to conserve land for public use, including sustainable commercial use. It is literally part of their mission. It was never controversial until environmentalist started trying to pervert their mission starting in the 1970s to ban any and all commercial activity in national forests and grasslands. And I am sorry to see you've fallen for this.
      Public land is for the public, including ranchers. Horses are destructive and harm wildlife far more than cattle grazing does (actually the science shows managed cattle grazing as practiced today is actually beneficial for native wildlife).

      1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        Wild horses are sort of native. There were at least 26 species of horses and asses (and possibly zebra) here, including Equus ferus which is the species the domestic horse is from, at the start of the Holocene.
        The whole genus actually evolved in North America and spread to the rest of the world, and there's genetic evidence in BC wild horses that some pre-Columbian wild horses may have persisted into early modern times and introgressed into escaped feral European horses.

        That said, domesticated horses, including feral ones, can have behavior different from their wild ancestors.

        1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

          That is like saying elephants are native since mastadon and mammoth once lived in America. They went extinct thousands of years ago and weren't part of the native fauna until Europeans came.

          1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

            No, because while mammoths were in the same family as Asian elephants they were a different species, and Mastadons were a completely different genus.

            Domesticated feral horses are the exact same species as the native North American horses. They formed one giant population sharing genes from Spain to Guatemala for hundreds of thousands of years: https://news.ucsc.edu/2021/05/horse-genomes.html

            As for being extinct in North America for seven thousand of years, that's no time environmentally. All the species they lived with are still around. Nothing new has evolved to fill the niche.

            1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

              The Amerindians didn't have horses. Domestic horses evolved from wild horses native to the Asian Steppe.

    4. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

      Your misguided mindset is also how the USFS abandoned almost all forest thinning practices, resulting in rampant disease and catastrophic fires from overcrowded forests. Public grazing and logging is fucking conservation. Grasses evolved to be fucking grazed. If not the grasslands become overcrowded, burn at extremely hot and fast rates. Destroys the soil and the native grasses and the replacement is fucking weeds.

      1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

        Also, if you look at Homesteading land, the reason most ranchers couldn't utilize them is because Homesteading laws basically were created for farming. It required the land to be plowed and planted. Which isn't beneficial to ranchers. They weren't allowed to purchase most of this land, but were given access for grazing then the federal government decided to begin to regulate it and at first tried kicking them off the land. The USSC stepped in and said they couldn't do that.

    5. Hank Ferrous   3 years ago

      A better solution would be a herd management plan, which they likely have, but something that culls on a less drastic scale. I would suggest annual hunting permits, but suspect the reaction from the anti-hunting morons would be epic. On another note, horsehide makes excellent leather, and horse is good eating.

      1. soldiermedic76   3 years ago

        Yeah, horses, despite not being native, aren't managed like any other wildlife or domestic stock on federal land. Because of the drought the ranchers have been forced to reduce their grazing, both by the situation and by regulations.

  21. Sevo   3 years ago

    "...Conservative talk show host Charlie Kirk..."

    A guy with an audience of ENB (tuning in to be outraged) and three others. Why not ask what your crotchety uncle has to say?

    1. A Thinking Mind   3 years ago

      I was going to post a comment like this. This seems to happen a lot where they frame this as "conservatives are calling for X" and their reference is some obscure asshole I've never heard of.

      I looked this guy up. He's no Ben Shapiro, he's no Steven Crowder, and he isn't Dennis Prager. He certainly doesn't have the name recognition and political clout of Tucker Carlson or Steven Bannon. You've got to really look if you want to find this guy.

      1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

        Charlie Kirk, however, is on the same network as Dennis Prager, The Salem Witch-Burner Radio Network and they probably share Kirk's views.

        1. A Thinking Mind   3 years ago

          So he's an obscure asshole with a tangential connection to someone with an actual substantial audience?

          1. Sevo   3 years ago

            De Rugy pulled the same assholish riff last week: "Some conservatives..."
            No names, no hint of numbers, nothing, just the bullshit claim that 'some conservatives' supported some government subsidies.
            Pathetic.

            1. Vexatious   3 years ago

              Someone somewhere said something. Does that about sum it up?

              1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

                But remember: A lot of things started with just one.

  22. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

    Good article with interviews of key scientists working at the Wuhan lab. It’s long, but well worth reading. They are, apparently, actual human beings:

    https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/02/09/1044985/shi-zhengli-covid-lab-leak-wuhan/

    “The two viruses may be related, but they sit on different evolutionary branches that diverged half a century ago…”

    1. Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland   3 years ago

      Fuck off and die

    2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      A hagiography in which the people involved swear that they weren't involved is good enough evidence for White Mike.

    3. Cyto   3 years ago

      Hey, you already posted this a couple of times. Exact wording and everything.

      Do you get paid by the post? Was this an order from on high? Is "actual human being" some poll tested phrase? Was anyone ever saying otherwise??

      Such a weird thing to say.... Actual human beings??

      How much of what you present is from your own mind? Just the sideshow ad homenim stuff? Or the misdirection deflections too?

      1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

        Confuse, conflate, distract. The article contains lots of jargon, it covers lots of issues, and the final few paragraphs are a completely unsupported claim that, "Western democracy is hypocritical, and that much of its media is driven by lies, prejudices, and politics."

        This Science! writer likes to mention how the people she interviewed look when they smile of frown.

        On the Marxist propaganda scale it scores a 9.8.

        1. Zeb   3 years ago

          "Western democracy is hypocritical, and that much of its media is driven by lies, prejudices, and politics."

          And all of the media of authoritarian communist states is driven by lies, propaganda and politics. I'll stick with the Western capitalist version.

    4. I, Woodchipper   3 years ago

      the only question to be answered is did they release the illegally created artificial virus on purpose, or on accident?

    5. Claptrap   3 years ago

      She knows her audience: all criticism is racist.

      After talking to dozens of scientists involved over the past year, it has become clear to me that people’s opinions about the lab leak theory, to a large extent, depend on whether or not they believe Shi. Some support her, partly because they know her as a person or understand her work, or because they are willing to put up with the messy reality of science and China’s lack of transparency. Others, possibly driven by a deep mistrust of China, grave biosafety concerns, or an intense desire for greater transparency, simply reject every piece of evidence that she offers to define her work, and regard any inconsistencies as deliberate attempts to cover up a crime.
      ...
      “I used to admire the West. I used to think it was a just and meritocratic society. I used to think it must be wonderful to live in a country where anybody could criticize the government.”

      “What do you think now?” I pressed.

      “Now I think if you are Chinese then it doesn’t matter how good you are at your job—because you are tried by nationality,” she said. “I’ve now realized that the Western democracy is hypocritical, and that much of its media is driven by lies, prejudices, and politics.”

      1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

        "She knows her audience"

        Oh, yeah, maybe her response was even scripted by The Party. Or, she was honestly speaking her mind.

        I'll admit I don't know with certainty which it is -- can you do likewise? Or do you just know what is in people's hearts?

        1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

          Or do you just know what is in people's hearts?

          If you had the slightest glimmer of self-awareness, you would realize that you can't write that statement without engaging in the exact behavior of which it is critical.

          You are the stupidest of the regular trolls. Even SPB has you beat.

          1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

            you would realize that you can't write that statement without engaging in the exact behavior of which it is critical.

            Mike knows. He/she/it is just pathologically dishonest.

          2. Sevo   3 years ago

            "...Even SPB has you beat."

            Wait a darn minute here!

        2. R Mac   3 years ago

          “Or do you just know what is in people's hearts?”

          Hey Dee, tell us about people that aren’t getting vaccinated.

        3. Claptrap   3 years ago

          Oh, yeah, maybe her response was even scripted by The Party. Or, she was honestly speaking her mind.

          You really are retarded. This is in an academic journal: taking a "woe is me there's so much racism" is exactly the play for sympathy you would expect if you knew absolutely nothing else about the situation.

          1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

            So, you don’t have an actual argument for your position — so, go for the insult!

            1. R Mac   3 years ago

              What actual argument were you making that claptrap was responding to? Because it looked like a response to sarcastic squawking to me.

      2. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

        Some support her, partly because they know her as a person or understand her work, or because they are willing to put up with the messy reality of science

        Note the positive language - support, know, understand, willing, reality. Meant to evoke sympathetic, tolerant, intelligent, i.e., 'good' people.

        Others, possibly driven by a deep mistrust of China, grave biosafety concerns, or an intense desire for greater transparency, simply reject every piece of evidence that she offers to define her work

        Note the negative language - driven, mistrust, grave, intense, reject. Meant to invoke suspicious, prejudiced, unscientific, i.e., 'bad' people.

        Pure. Fucking. Propaganda.

        1. R Mac   3 years ago

          Why do you think Dee linked it?

  23. Longtobefree   3 years ago

    The NFL is racist.
    It hosted a half-time show by many artists with a long history of using the "n-word".
    How are they not being cancelled?

    (On the plus side, American health should improve; we have to boycott Pepsi for participating in this race based hate fest, and Coke for supporting slavery and genocide in Communist China.)

  24. I, Woodchipper   3 years ago

    President Biden says lifting mask mandates is "probably premature."

    for god's sake, who would listen to Biden's take on this? Seriously.

  25. Cyto   3 years ago

    Those darned right wing racists on Twitter... Bad mouthing the halftime show!!!

    Before the game, my leftist spouse was already anticipating the right wing reaction online. "They are going to hate it, no matter what!"

    So, excellent job becoming a trope, Reason.

    More interestingly, CNN covered the Superbowl on their website. CNN, the news network. Earlier today their top Superbowl story was a piece about Eminem taking a knee. He is known to support Kaepernick you see, so this is huge.

    NBC News also had this as their top story. Coincidence? Nah...

    The number 2 story at CNN? Mary J Blige dazzled in her crystal embellished costume. She was fierce, apparently.

    Other adjectives that might come to mid are "desperate" and "overstuffed". You are supremely talented and could have played any one of a number of hits... And you are in your 50's. Las Vegas showgirl is probably not necessary. Also. You had a lot of better songs to chose from.

    In the end. The left wing and female crowd who were proudly anticipating the greatest halftime show of all time gave it a giant meh. Well staged. Nice to look at. Ultimately mediocre though, was the conclusion. (To those who were saying the "best ever", they said "I guess you didn't see prince")

    1. A Thinking Mind   3 years ago

      And clearly nothing else of consequence happened over the weekend. The media really wants you talking about the pointless distractions instead of Canada's gradual slide into becoming East Germany.

      1. Cyto   3 years ago

        It really is amazingly Orwellian... Not just Canada, but everywhere, particularly the US though.

        They spent all of 2020 supporting violent protests. They used state power to support and fund them.

        Now the exact same people are using illegal means to stop legal and peaceful protests. They are bringing state power and the threat of state power to bear on the right to petition the government for redress.

        And somehow nobody in the press notices. Even in the supposedly independent alternative press.

      2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        Not if the trucker revolution succeeds.

        1. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

          It has to.

          1. Zeb   3 years ago

            Yeah, I'm watching that very closely. Seems like the best hope.

            Hold the line!

      3. JimboJr   3 years ago

        bread and circuses

    2. R Mac   3 years ago

      Just watched Fox’s noon time version of the view, called Outnumbered. No mention of anyone’s clothes, and the response to Eminem taking a knee was “meh”.

      1. Longtobefree   3 years ago

        Anyone at all speculating Eminem dropped to his knee in frustration over how bad it turned out?

        1. Longtobefree   3 years ago

          Of course, we have to present "context":
          https://babylonbee.com/news/eminem-takes-a-knee-in-heartfelt-tribute-to-tim-tebow

          1. R Mac   3 years ago

            Lol.

    3. CE   3 years ago

      Yeah, surprised "right wingers want to ban rap" was the Roundup headline for the day, since A) there's no real call from anyone of any significance to ban rap, and B) there are a lot of bigger stories to cover.

      1. MasterThief   3 years ago

        My take was that the show would have been better if they stuck to the simple Snoop and Dre stuff then maybe mix in a collab with Eminem. Always thought 50 Cent sucked. Mary J Blige was fine but out of place. Kendrick Lamar is one I actually have some respect for, but the song and performance were bad and didn't flow with the rest of the performances

    4. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

      NBC had to do the SB half time show to throw shade on their Olympics debacle.

  26. ElvisIsReal   3 years ago

    I grew up on this music and still listen to it. I couldn't hear anything but the 7,000 'niggas' that weren't uttered. Like a terrible radio edit.

  27. A Thinking Mind   3 years ago

    I was happy that, right after the superbowl, a woman who went to high school with me was on TV getting a silver medal in bobsledding. Congrats to Elena Meyers Taylor. That's her third Olympic silver and I know she desperately wants at least one gold medal; hope she gets it in the two-woman.

    1. I, Woodchipper   3 years ago

      People are watching the olympics?

      1. Dillinger   3 years ago

        I love the competition

        1. Sevo   3 years ago

          In sob-stories?

      2. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

        I'll tune in for the Ice Fishing events. I hear it eventually leads to prostitution. Hubba Hubba! Vice on Ice.

    2. R Mac   3 years ago

      “hope she gets it in the two-woman.”

      Go on…

  28. Dillinger   3 years ago

    was like Ed Sullivan marched down Crenshaw and won lol.

  29. Cyto   3 years ago

    From the ironic department:

    The sidebar video that keeps popping up as an overlay had an interview segment with the Superbowl halftime headliners.

    I unmuted it and Dre says "we are in LA. Who else in LA could perform this halftime show? Who else, than these artists right here?"

    Uh... In Los Angeles? The entertainment capital of the world? If there aren't 50 acts in town that could have done it, I would be shocked.

    1. I, Woodchipper   3 years ago

      So full of himself.

      I like Dre and Snoop etc because I'm Gen Z and have no choice but come on man.

      1. I, Woodchipper   3 years ago

        ^ lol typo i mean Gen X

        1. Dillinger   3 years ago

          funny I was about to say I'm genX and just carried on from Grandmaster Flash, Sugar Hill Gang, and Run-DMC

    2. I, Woodchipper   3 years ago

      I was embarassed for Mary J Blige.

  30. Ronbback   3 years ago

    I suppose its good that the big news of the day was superbowl half time unlike peacefull Truck protesters being arrested and the Durham report showing how Hillary did spy in Trump

  31. Cyto   3 years ago

    Also, for those who want to confirm so hard that they have to play "Republicans pounce" with the halftime show.....

    Snoop is so mainstream that he did the puppy bowl pregame with his good personal friend in real life, Martha Stuart.

    1. CE   3 years ago

      Snoop was also featured in an earlier segment about the youth football league he sponsors in LA, and how his team went to the championship and got to play at SoFi stadium (but lost). I was impressed by his commitment of his time and effort, not just writing a check.

  32. Marshal   3 years ago

    I'm not sure what he was watching during the halftime show, it didn't seem particularly sexual to me. Compare this year's show to the one with J-Lo and Shakira. That one was cringingly sexual, as was the one with Beyoncé. Maybe he was watching a re-run and didn't know it.

    Remember when the XFL started and was heavily criticized for low-angle cheerleader shots. Apparently those are fine when done at halftime.

    1. Nardz   3 years ago

      Charlie Kirk?
      He's been on a streak of really bad takes lately

      1. JimboJr   3 years ago

        He's too bible obsessed to be rational on a lot of things. IMO

  33. Nardz   3 years ago

    https://twitter.com/KonstantinKisin/status/1493230429612253193?t=p25S1eJ8G3i8ux1yJb7Jog&s=19

    This year is going to be full of people complaining about the economic consequences of the very things they demanded and demonised the rest of us for predicting.

  34. damikesc   3 years ago

    You'd think Hillary paying people to spy on the fucking President of the USA would at least get a passing mention.

    1. R Mac   3 years ago

      Too local?

  35. Marshal   3 years ago

    Isn't it revealing there is no reference to the report of Hillary Clinton hiring hackers to break into White House communications as part of her Russia Collusion Hoax?

    1. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

      Probably not mentioned because there is no evidence it happened.

      1. Marshal   3 years ago

        there is no evidence it happened.

        Of course there is evidence, any assertion is evidence and we have legal filings based on a governmental investigation claiming this happened. What is not public yet is proof, but this is why ENB omitting it and your own comment are revealing. We already have more evidence this happened than we ever did for Russian Collusion, yet the left's and ENB's behavior is quite different. Thus shows ENB (and M4E) are incapable of balanced judgement and reach conclusions based on their partisanship.

        When the issue is misbehavior by Dems (or left of Dems) leftist supporters require proof before making any comment. When the issue is misbehavior by anyone right of Dems even absurdly ludicrous evidence is sufficient - including the Russia Collusion Hoax itself or the Kavanaugh rape-ring assertions.

        It's revealing that ENB follows the left's gameplan.

        1. R Mac   3 years ago

          M4E is a parody.

          1. Marshal   3 years ago

            Not intentionally.

  36. Nardz   3 years ago

    https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1493221799810711553?t=daXenUUAgN1zQRMPI9Am7Q&s=19

    Never lose sight of the fact that the exact same monsters who broke everything on purpose are demanding to run everything in a whole new way now so they can be our saviors.

  37. Rob Misek   3 years ago

    Imagine the fan reaction if they could understand the lyrics.

    1. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

      In my day it was "if it's too loud, you are too old", I am guessing that today "if you don't know the lyrics, you are too old".

      1. Rob Misek   3 years ago

        Yeah, I remember when understanding was important. Because it still is.

  38. Hank Ferrous   3 years ago

    Baby names are not news, even if illegality might as a stretch make this a civil liberties issue. Biden is not backing ending mask mandates because 56% of cowardly ignorant dipshits are for mandates, per yougov poll. The superbowl is dumb, the halftime show is painfully stupid, and neither has a damned thing to do with civil liberties.

  39. Moderation4ever   3 years ago

    Just waiting for the Florida and Texas legislatures to ban all references to hip hop and rap in the school class rooms.

    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   3 years ago

      Just release the #MeToo Kraken. The problem will take care of itself.

    2. JimboJr   3 years ago

      Everyone wins right? Conservative christians would be happy, that is for sure.

      But the woke left should be even happier. The combination of the N word blasted every 2 seconds, gun violence, violence against women, and general misogyny and mistreatment of women should have them screaming at the top of their lungs.

      But of course that would involve holding black culture up to the same standard we hold all cultures up to, and we of course cant do that. Having standards is only for the whites and other enlightened cultures, not the savages. Did I get it right?

      1. Butler T. Reynolds   3 years ago

        Progressives should be outraged by hip-hop, but gentrifiers don't understand ebonics.

  40. Tom Morrow   3 years ago

    Rap should be banned because it is such an awful cacophony that is the antithesis of everything good music should be. But, hey, if people want to watch that crap along with the crap that is the NFL, I don't care. I just don't understand.

    1. Zeb   3 years ago

      You should have just done the last sentence and left it at that.

      And find some better rap to listen to if that's all you think it is.

      1. esteve7   3 years ago

        Rap and Hip Hop is offensive to real music.

        It's like if you took a song for a 4 year old, added some generic beat and 'melody' on loop, then replaced every other word with a swear word, that's what it would be.

        Oh and the lyrics have to be so immature it's like a rebellious 13yo wrote them who has no understanding of the world and no mortality either

        1. Zeb   3 years ago

          Yeah, none of that is actually true generally. There is bad rap like there is bad music in any genera.
          You don't have to like it. But it's not a great look to ignorantly belittle those who do. There are a lot of very smart, very musically talented rappers out there.

  41. drisco304   3 years ago

    Hopefully the politicians who favored mask mandates will use several layers on themselves when they talk to the press or give speeches. Topped off with a layer of duct tape, out of an abundance of caution.

  42. Cronut   3 years ago

    https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1493302515663704066?s=20&t=BendsXyBFGfs95246JeBFw

    MORE BOOK BANNING!

  43. Liberty Lover   3 years ago

    I am not for banning anything. How about we voluntarily quit highlighting, watching and listening to it. You don't have to watch the half time to watch the Superbowl. Shut it off.
    Economics wins.

  44. esteve7   3 years ago

    Rpa and Hip Hop should not be banned no matter how much trash it is.

    There is absolutely no skill, nothing interesting about the 'music', and the lyrics are terrible as if a thug 13 year old wrote them.

    How anyone can listen to this crap is beyond me. And yes, I said the same thing when I was in middle school and everyone started listening to gansta rap.....

  45. Brandybuck   3 years ago

    > Can remote work revive rural areas?

    Yglesias is right. If I do get the opportunity to leave this horrible state and still keep a good paying job, I won't be moving to Bumfuck Kentucky. No offense to Kentucky, lots of nice towns there, but Bumfuck is not one of them. You know what I'm talking about.

    If I got the choice I don't want to escape Leftie Hell just to land in Wingnut Hell. Is there any moderate place in America left? Where one doesn't have to shovel snow or endure 120 degree summers?

  46. NOYB2   3 years ago

    State and local employees should not be protected by the 1A while acting as agents of the state. That's true for teachers, professors, government spokespeople, and election officials.

  47. NOYB2   3 years ago

    From Halftime Show to Social Media, Calls To Ban Rap

    If you're going to ban anything at all, Rap would be at the top of my list.

  48. NOYB2   3 years ago

    In other news, I'm glad that Eminem emulated Tim Tebow, took a knee and bowed his head in prayer, giving thanks to God Almighty for everything in his life. Maybe there is hope for him yet.

  49. Butler T. Reynolds   3 years ago

    The halftime wasn't really rap or hip-hop: The n-word wasn't used with every breath and nobody got shot.

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