China's Retribution

Plus: Homework liberation in Poland, Orthodox rabbi tells students to flee Columbia, toddler anarchy, and more...

Banning TikTok for real this time: On Saturday, the House passed bills that will send large sums of aid to Israel ($26 billion), Ukraine ($60 billion), and Taiwan ($8 billion), as well as a long-gestating measure to force the divestiture of the video app TikTok.

Now the legislation will need to be approved by the Senate and signed into law by President Joe Biden.

The TikTok ban will probably be challenged. "This is an unprecedented deal worked out between the Republican Speaker and President Biden," declared Michael Beckerman, TikTok's head of public policy, in a memo to the company's American staff. "At the stage that the bill is signed, we will move to the courts for a legal challenge."

China's internet regulator/censor, the Cyberspace Administration, has taken note of the movement on the TikTok bill, which would either ban the Chinese-owned company from operating in the U.S. or force sale of the app to an American owner within a tight timeframe. Forcing divestiture presents a few problems, namely that the proprietary algorithm and source code would likely fail to convey with the purchase, making the app…practically useless.

Not to be outdone by American lawmakers, China's government on Friday ordered that the Meta-owned WhatsApp and Threads be pulled from Apple's app store over "national security concerns" (of course). "A person briefed on the situation said the Chinese government had found content on WhatsApp and Threads about China's president, Xi Jinping, that was inflammatory and violated the country's cybersecurity laws," reports The New York Times. WhatsApp is used minimally compared to WeChat (owned by Chinese company Tencent). But for Apple—which anticipated this to some degree, and already started shifting its supply chain overseas after having been quite conciliatory to the Chinese Communist Party for many years—to be caught in the crosshairs is a harbinger of more to come.

This type of justification can always be found if one looks hard enough—and China's censors certainly do. But beware the coming internet wars, and the use of the American TikTok ban as justification for all manner of crackdowns.

Free and open internet? "A Russian opposition blogger, Aleksandr Gorbunov, posted on social media last month that Russia could use the move to shut down services like YouTube," argues The New York Times' David McCabe. "I don't think the obvious thing needs to be stated out loud, which is that when Russia blocks YouTube, they'll justify it with precisely this decision of the United States," said Gorbunov.

Xi's regime in China and Vladimir Putin's regime in Russia, of course, feel quite comfortable taking whatever cheap shots they can at U.S. lawmakers; if they want to crack down on internet freedoms, they can and will, no excuse necessary. But the TikTok bill is certainly escalatory, and it undermines America's longstanding rhetorical commitment to a free and open internet—or the internet as a "global free-trade zone," in the words of former President Bill Clinton.

---

Scenes from New York: Today is my birthday! And on Saturday, I went out with friends (including a grand total of three babies, who were shockingly well-behaved) to eat crab in Chinatown. After that we went to an event in a basement on East Broadway where the books attempted to teach my toddler that rules are for breaking! Marginally better than Ibram X. Kendi's children's books, but not by much.

---

QUICK HITS

• New York just passed the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, which sets aside $30 million annually to incentivize hiring new local journalists. "The late addition to the $237 billion budget allows eligible outlets to receive a 50 percent refundable credit for the first $50,000 of a journalist's salary, up to a total of $300,000 per outlet," reports Politico. I think it would be fun to troll the legislators by being one of the beneficiaries of this program and then choosing to be the most aggressive muckraker that ever was, scavenging through their records, making them rue the day they were born, etc.
• Tubal ligation and vasectomy trends since Dobbs. Will that Supreme Court decision, which led to abortion being returned to the states (and many states choosing to institute crackdowns), end up actually leading to a lower fertility rate?
• Children in elementary schools all over Poland have been freed from the shackles of homework.
• Protests at Columbia have prompted an Orthodox rabbi on campus sent this message to students:

In response to "horrific" scenes of antisemitic harassment at and around campus, the Orthodox Rabbi at Columbia/Barnard sent a WhatsApp message to more than 290+ Jewish students this morning recommending that they go home until it's safe again for them on campus: pic.twitter.com/uqAntEICLv

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 21, 2024

• The Cass review—a four-year review of the evidence on child gender transitions that has led the U.K.'s National Health Service to substantially alter its guidance—isn't important enough for Scientific American to cover, apparently:

Scientific American doesn't cover the Cass Review -- "cass report" and "cass review" net zero Google hits -- but instead, the week after its release, it publishes an interview with an activist who believes kids should have full medical automony and that interpreting scientific… https://t.co/C7C19zxYKT

— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) April 21, 2024

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

New York just passed the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, which sets aside $30 million annually to incentivize hiring new local journalists.

I hope that New York government centric biases don't start to creep into news reporting.

[Medulla Oblongata]

An awful lot of people outside of Albany and NYC hate NY government, absolutely loath Gov Hochul (and pretty much all the Gov's before her). Local radio station morning show rips them constantly, and was even more vociferous before the previous morning host got cancer and retired (think he may have passed away now).

[Medulla Oblongata]

OTOH, a lot of them are also union members who are somehow still compelled to vote that way.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

I’m surprised the democrats haven’t passed legislation that allows union bosses to hand out prefilled ballots to their members, indicating how they will vote.

[Medulla Oblongata]

I've long thought that the unions not only filled out the member's ballots, but turned them in, too. Members don't even have to register to vote or anything!

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But how much "sustainability" money will they get?

[damikesc]

Man, remember when "State-run media" was an insult?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Yup. And I remember when anti-state media were commonly arrested or worse, at least in some countries. But never happen(ed) in the US, right?

[InsaneTrollLogic]

In some circles, it still is. In others, it’s (D)ifferent.

[BYODB]

One wonders if a journalist hired through government funds might suddenly find their job dissolved if they happen to report unfavorably towards the local politicians that pay their salary, but hey who cares that New York is rebuilding Pravda I guess.

At least they’ll probably just be fired and black balled from ever working as a journalist in New York again instead of lined up against a wall and fired at.

[mad.casual]

Personally, I feel I've been under served by our post-parody reality when I can't get a pithy comment on the term "epistemological violence" from Fist of Etiquette.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Will that Supreme Court decision, which led to abortion being returned to the states (and many states choosing to institute crackdowns), end up actually leading to a lower fertility rate?

I knew it! Big Pharma is behind Dobbs, masking fertility issues from certain other mandated activities.

[LIBtranslator]

Why not? Germany's Big Pharma got cash behind Hitler's political party as soon as Herbert Hoover's Moratorium on Brains euchred the Weimar Republic into joining the Republican Party's War On Drugs, Alcohol and Sunday Baseball! Look it up. The signing was 13JULY1931. The former nobody became Fuhrer less than two years later.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Fascinating. And then what happened?

[tekcoyote]

Perhaps you'd be good enough to provide a location to find this. I just looked up the fight about Sunday baseball: the ban, such as it was (unenforced), came out of the 19th century. It was rescinded in April of 1933--a few months after FDR took the reins from Hoover. As for a war on drugs, that came about in the US as the Harrison Narcotics Act--in 1914.

So, Mr. Translator, what exactly are you talking about?

[JesseAz]

NY Home Depots hire guards and dogs to keep illegal immigrants from stealing and harassing customers for "10 dollars to lift a bag into a car."

https://nypost.com/2024/04/21/us-news/home-depot-stores-look-to-security-to-keep-migrants-at-bay/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nypost

[Don't look at me!]

No Americans will do the job of lifting packages into cars.

[HorseConch]

Got to love how fast we got the 3rd world in here. Nothing else moves that quickly and efficiently. The kind of shit I try to avoid like the plague when travelling is the new reality in America's delightful urban oases.

[Mother's Lament]

Tsk, tsk... culturally enriched. Enjoy the food trucks.

[damikesc]

But the FOOD TRUCKS, yo.

Food Trucks!

[Medulla Oblongata]

That's not possible. I'm told all immigrants are always a net positive influence on our society, culture, and economy.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

Especially illegals.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

I remember noticing that Paris went from the capital of France in the 1990s to Little Africa in the 2000s.

[JesseAz]

African migrants in NYC complain Americans won't learn hundreds if African languages to make it easier on them.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-migrants-complain-new-yorkers-dont-learn-african-languages

[Don't look at me!]

That clicking thing is the tough one.

[JesseAz]

They are just trying to train the African dogs.

[Ajsloss]

If only raccoon dogs were so amenable to commands...

[JesseAz]

If they were trained not to eat bats there enough have been no pandemic.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

With African dog whistles?

[Mother's Lament]

To tell you the truth, if I'm going to learn another language I'd like one with clicks and whistles.

[Zeb]

It would be interesting, but you probably won't have many opportunities to use it.

[R Mac]

I tried to learn Gaelic before going to Ireland. Do not recommend.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

We were nice enough to take all those people their ancestors captured off their hands 400 years ago, and they're still not satisfied.

[TheReEncogitationer]

I collect foreign language words as a hobby (I used to collect foreign language packages and books, but that got too bulky.) I love using Google Translate and would love a Star Trek Universal Translator that works ambiently in real time.

My big problem with Francophones from the Carribean and Africa is that they don’t respond or respond with delay when you speak to them.

Evidently, they must still use Lead pipes and cups where they came from. No Star Trek Universal Translator (or Welfare State) can help a problem like that.

[JesseAz]

Hey guys. The FBI targeting of Catholics wasn't malicious even though it was wrong. DoJ inspected themselves and found no bias.

"The [FBI Inspection Division] report found that although there was no evidence of malicious intent or an improper purpose, the [memo] failed to adhere to analytic tradecraft standards and evinced errors in professional judgment, including that it lacked sufficient evidence or articulable support for a relationship between RMVEs (Racially Motivated Violent Extremists) and so-called RTC (Radical Traditional Catholicism) ideology; incorrectly conflated the subjects’ religious views with their RMVE activities, creating the appearance that the FBI had inappropriately considered religious beliefs and affiliation as a basis for conducting investigative activity; and reflected a lack of training and awareness concerning proper domestic terrorism terminology," the inspector general stated.

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/fbi-cleared-malicious-intent-anti-catholic-memo-justice-department

Can they just have amnesty and we forget the whole thing?

[Gaear Grimsrud]

I had a feeling that more training would fix it.

[JesseAz]

Training to not get caught?

[Ron]

correct training to use words to hide what they are doing

[Unable2Reason]

Remedial "Smokescreen 101".

[Mother's Lament]

"that although there was no evidence of malicious intent or an improper purpose"

Well that's a huge relief. It was just happenstance that all the diverse and unrelated targets just happened to be Catholic.

Thank goodness you can always trust the Staatspolizei FBI to reliably investigate itself.

[Social Justice is neither]

And that they failed to follow norms and procedure at every level to get there, but totally not malicious, pinky swear.

[R Mac]

Well I’m convinced.

— Jeffsarc

[Fist of Etiquette]

Protests at Columbia have prompted an Orthodox rabbi on campus sent this message to students...

Remember when Trump was going to bring on the brown shirts?

[Don't look at me!]

It was the school board’s final solution.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

The jewish students could make it easier by voluntarily wearing certain star-shaped "pieces of flair" on campus.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Shenanigans made people wear 30 pieces of flair.

[Ajsloss]

If you want to be seen as someone who only does the bare minimum.

[TheReEncogitationer]

The Administrators could wear the black triangle, since they are obviously "Asocial," which was most likely the Nazi diagnosis for people we now know are autistic.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

No, that was Chotchkie's. Shenanigans had all the weird shit on the walls.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

And it was 15 pieces of flair (minimum).

[InsaneTrollLogic]

I believe you have my stapler...

[TheReEncogitationer]

Better yet, they could sport shop-made knives, hatchets, and clubs, along with Mauser rifles and Luger machine pistols, apropos of and a loving tribute to the escaping inmates of Sobibor.

And they could add British Lee-Enfields and Czech hand-me-downs, as added assurance that the Zionist dream isn’t dead yet.

So guns and weapons on campus? Yep. It sure beats skull calipers, hook-nosed propaganda posters of Der Ewige Jüde, ill-furnished windowless trolleys, and curiously-equipped “showers.”

[Rev Arthur L kuckland]

You reminded me of a charecter, like a wizard, or a grand cyclopse

[TheReEncogitationer]

For wanting students in general and Jews in particular to be safe on campuses? I don't know where you'd get that.

Your Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide needs retweaking or replacing if you mistake me for those.

Then again, you still need to learn to use AutoCorrect and AutoFill as well as basic spelling, so that's a tall order.
🙂
😉

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

You’re thinking of the Monster Manual, not the DM’s Guide.

[TheReEncogitationer]

It's been a while since I've played, but either way, he needs it...assuming he can or will read it.

One thing I've learned over time but especially from him and Artie is that "Rev." mean "Not-Bright-Bulb-iness" and "inability to learn from mistakes."
🙂
😉

[LIBtranslator]

THOSE are now being celebrated in Tatsuya Ishida's "Sinfest" cartoon strip, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Der Stürmer. Tat is all in for Japanese exclusion laws and White Supremacy. DISCLOSURE TO PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS: Cartoon propagandist Julius Streicher was hanged by the Nuremberg tribunal 16OCT1946, despite defense claims he'd never himself gassed anyone to death.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Fascinating. And then what happened?

[LIBtranslator]

When they came for the Jews, I did nothing as I wasn't Jewish. But then when they came for the hippies... And now that they've come for the women, and I see that Republican-convert Tesla and Xitter stock prices are tanking, I recall Julius Streicher's 1933 call for a boycott of all Jewish trade and production. Down, my Schadenfreude! Pity the poor mohammedan and christian girl-bulliers, for they know not what they do.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

You’re with the Nazis Hank, not us.

[R Mac]

Hank doesn’t know what year it is.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

Probably thinks it’s still 1939. So he hasn’t figured out that Adolf Hitler was a bad egg.

[Unable2Reason]

How can Xitter stock be tanking when it's a private company?

[Jefferson Paul]

I was going to ask the same question. In fairness, though, do you expect Hank to remember that Musk bought the company and made it private, when he often seems to think in his comments that it's 1972 (or some other year other than the current year)?

[Stuck in California]

I've asked him several times what year he thinks it is. He has yet to respond.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

He almost never responds. He’s a gibbering idiot. I want to make a panel show that would consist of him, Hihn’s rotting corpse, SQRLSY, Rev. Arty, with Jeffy as moderator. Shreek and Sarc could be among rotating guest panelists.

[JesseAz]

Trump still will if you elect him. - sarc and Jeff

[Mother's Lament]

"Remember when Trump was going to bring on the brown shirts?"

In a long running Kristallnacht, Democrats are still breaking the windows of Jewish owned businesses and attacking Jews on the streets of New York for being Jewish.

But the guy with the Jewish family who wore a kippah and prayed at the HaKotel? He's the one who's practically Hitler.

[TheReEncogitationer]

Though I never liked Trump and still don't, I never thought Trump was a Jew-Hater. Detractors who accuse him of that only make themselves look stupid.

It wasn't tongue-trippers who spread Goebbels' propaganda and it wasn't ham-hands that pressed the bottons that dropped Zyklon-B tablets into Hydrochloric Acid in the showers.

[LIBtranslator]

Martin Luther, Father of Protestantism, made Christian plans for Jews: "First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools ... This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians ..." So how is this different from Proud Boy Trumpanzees and girl-bullying Republicans in general? Recall also that Adolf Hitler was raised a Catholic before joining the Deutches Arbeiterpartei. Mysticism, aka "Truth," is not always a pretty thing.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

Trump’s daughter and grandchildren are Jewish, you senile old Marxist fuck. And it’s 100% democrats going after Jews now.

You are the Nazi.

[Mother's Lament]

"Recall also that Adolf Hitler was raised a Catholic before joining the Deutches Arbeiterpartei."

Being raised by a Catholic mom doesn't mean you're a Catholic, you senile old fuck.

Word for Word/The Case Against the Nazis; How Hitler's Forces Planned To Destroy German Christianity" - New York Times

You are the Nazi, Hank.

[TheReEncogitationer]

Hank, I didn't say Trump wasn't an Authoritrian Asshole, simply that he wasn't the Jew-hating flavor of Luther and Hitler.

Please go commiserate with Revs. Artie and Cuckie. They're in a la-la land near you.
🙂
😉

[Truthfulness]

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/019513088X/reasonmagazinea-20/

Could you please let go of your antisemitism?

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

“….. pressed the bottons…”

Haha. Too easy. Lecture the rev cuck some more about spelling and autocorrect.

[TheReEncogitationer]

My mistake I own and, when I find them, I correct them. “Buttons”. There, I said it.

Rev. Cuckie makes the same mistakes months or even years after corrected and ignores anyone who tries to correct him.

Now, since "Everything Is So Terrible And Unfair"™, why don't you go take a nap on a Procrusean Brand Mattress™. The 4 Horsepower 4-sectional ones were quite popular not long ago.
🙂
😉

[TheReEncogitationer]

Correction: Procrustean. Coercive Utopians Ask For It By Name!™
🙂
😉

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Ok, boomer.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Come on. Trump is still some how responsible.

[JesseAz]

Guess I'm changing banks as both USAA and BoA continue the practice of debanking. A process started under Obama Operation Chokepoint to go after bad people. The early form of Chinas social credit score.

https://thepostmillennial.com/john-eastman-says-bank-of-america-usaa-will-not-tell-him-why-he-was-debanked?utm_campaign=64506

[Rev Arthur L kuckland]

Any bank theat debanks someone over politics should have all of their employees subject to a 100% income tax. If you want fascism you deserve to get it good and hard

[damikesc]

I'd be OK with removal of any access to any financial systems that use one penny of federal funds to operate.

[Overt]

Except it is just the opposite: I work at one of these big banks and we have hours of training telling us that all it takes is one overzealous Federal or State DA to write a letter and put our membership to these cash clearinghouses in jeopardy. Our leaders live in constant fear of the regulators. And when those regulators decide that a person buying from this vendor "Might" be potentially terrorists, they drop that vendor as fast as possible, because we are too big to fail- we don't need vendors. We do need regulators to keep our bailouts coming.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

Just get rid of the democrats and their RINO collaborators.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Hey, how can we ever achieve equi-topia if people are allowed to do what they want?

[JesseAz]

Shrike and sarc will be here soon to claim limiting supply has no affect on gas prices as Biden blocks more leases.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/interior-department-blocks-13-million-acres-northern-alaska-oil-and-gas

[Don't look at me!]

But we can by it from other countries that don’t have regulations that raise prices, or something like that.

[Medulla Oblongata]

But the rig counts!

[Longtobefree]

Didn't that useless old institution, the supreme court, tell him he has to lease?

[R Mac]

That clearly doesn’t matter to this administration.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'Native groups have criticized the Biden administration for pursuing its anti-fossil fuel agenda, even when it conflicts with the interests of Native Alaskan communities.'

Shut up and get back on the plantation.

[soldiermedic76]

What reservations? Maybe?

[soldiermedic76]

Though there was a brief period in history when Amerindians were enslaved by English Colonists, it lasted only briefly, as the slaves had a tendency to not survive very long, and thus, African slaves, though costing more, were the better investment. The Spaniards persisted much longer, but again, due to high mortality, African slaves were preferred over Amerindian slaves.

[soldiermedic76]

Some tribes, like the Cherokee, and Comanche became quite wealthy as a result of the Amerindian slave trade.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Yeah, our dumb, evil white ancestors did not even know how to enslave the natives. Other Indians were much better at it, again proving their indigenous superiority.

[JesseAz]

Biden Ed Sec is trying to shut down largest Christian College. The reasons will make you laugh.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-education-secretary-threatens-shut-down-largest-christian-college-us

“But the product is not worth the paper it’s written on. We have students graduating 60K to 70K dollars in debt, only eligible for jobs making under 30K. That to me is unacceptable.”

[Zeb]

Seems to me that's true of an awful lot of PHD programs.

[Mother's Lament]

How dare you! Are you implying that a gender studies degree from Yale isn't worth the expense?

[JesseAz]

Said 70k, not 300k.

[JesseAz]

Until they make schools at least partially responsible for paying back any forgiveness it will continue to be grift.

At this point I'd be close to supporting a law that required business to have a 2% tax for any job requiring a degree to go to these repayments. Of business stopped requiring a degree for jobs that don't need them, maybe the degree industry would collapse.

[Illocust]

That is actually not a bad idea at all. Then again, most jobs don't technically require a degree. They just require a degree or equivalent years worth of experience in the field, and anyone with enough experience makes more than the job is paying.

[BYODB]

It's a catch 22 since if it requires a degree or experience, then practically the degree is the only real option for entry since they won't have experience without the degree.

[Mother's Lament]

But credentialism is such a handy way to weed out the poors, and keep the classes separated.

[Randy Sax]

Maybe for jobs that require “a degree”, as opposed to being a lawyer requires a law degree. CPA might require a finance degree. etc. But any job that just lists any degree as a requirement I’d be on board with a 2% tax.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Likewise with engineering. You kind of need the degree for the training it provides.

[JesseAz]

Most states have tests for engineering licenses. If you can pass the test shouldn't matter the degree. Samr with a Bar exam.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

The tests actually require the degree. I should know as I had to pass both of them - 2 separate 8 hour exams. If you’ve never been through an engineering program, the odds of passing the first exam, the Fundamentals of Engineering is extremely low. There’s a lot of knowledge going into engineering that is not, and really cannot be covered at a high school level. In many ways, engineering universities operate more as engineering vocational programs, unlike a typical liberal arts program.

[BYODB]

True, but the fact remains if someone decides to study on their own and they can pass the test then it shouldn't be a problem.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

No, but it requires 8 years of working under the tutelage of a PE before you’re allowed to apply for the license. If you’ve been to an ABET accredited program, then it’s only 4 years. Keep in mind that when a doctor fucks up, one person may die. When an engineer fucks up, multitudes die in a plane crash, bridge collapse, or building failure.

[BYODB]

Fair enough, but as far as education goes either the test is reflective of what you'd need to know or it isn't.

[Zeb]

Depends on the engineering. I've done quite well with no directly relevant degree.

[Randy Sax]

Are you a PE?

[Zeb]

No. That's why I say it depends.

[LIBtranslator]

Last I looked, Motorola listed "any degree" as a job requirement. I guessed this had something to do with proven ability to survive a bureaucracy; so at least it qualifies as discrimination on the grounds of ability.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

This isn’t 1972 anymore Hank.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

The CPA exam requires an accounting degree AND experience. I have 20 years of experience, but no accounting degree so I can't sit for the exam.

[American Mongrel]

I believe it also requires credit hours above what is standard. Something like 135? Whereas 120 will get you almost any degree.

[Mother's Lament]

The state will no longer tolerate any religion other than the state religion.

“Officials continue to make derogatory and inflammatory public statements that are legally and factually incorrect and not shared by any of the other 26 regulatory and accrediting bodies that oversee GCU,” the GCU spokesman continued.
“The Secretary’s comments to the House Appropriations Committee were so reckless that GCU is demanding an immediate retraction, as they do not reflect the factual record in this case. He is either confused, misinformed or does not understand the actions taken by his own agency.”

I hope that they sue the ever-living shit out of him.

[Think It Through]

I guarantee you he is neither confused nor misinformed. The word you are looking for is "lying."

[HorseConch]

Sounds like it's time to close just about every college in America.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Today is my birthday!

Competing with Earth Day? How dare.

[Randy Sax]

During Safe Digging Month?!

https://www.pa1call.org/pocs/d7168d7f-1e80-43a4-bc3b-044dfa6cbaf3/Test-Proclamations#:~:text=We%20support%20April%20as%20Safe,Keep%20your%20community%20safe.

[TheReEncogitationer]

If Gaia doesn't like it, they can mud-wrestle for the honors! Even then, Liz would still win in the form of a spa treatment!
🙂
😉
Happy Birthday, Liz! Hope you enjoyed your Weekend and enjoy your special day today!

[NealAppeal]

I share the same shame. No cake for me…just an Earth shaped and decorated cookie.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Better than a dirt nap.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Booo.

[JesseAz]

Karol Markowicz
@karol
750,000 of households receiving loan payoffs from Biden are making over $312,000. From
@NellieBowles
: https://thefp.com/p/tgif-wwiii-may-come-tomorrow-nellie-bowles

[Mother's Lament]

"this week, my love affair hit a snag. Here’s RFK’s new vice-presidential pick, Nicole Shanahan, arguing that the Covid vaccine is not just bad, that it’s not just something she personally doesn’t want and should have the freedom to choose not to take, but that it should be banned."

From your link. I have to disagree here. Not only do the mRNA injections not protect you from Covid, they are physically harmful in every case, not just the ones that result in injury or death. There's severe long term inflammatory responses in everyone who takes it.

[Quicktown Brix]

There’s severe long term inflammatory responses in everyone who takes it.

What?

[American Mongrel]

ML has been taking some extreme stances lately. Can't say he's wrong or not... no links provided.

[Mother's Lament]

It's not one single study that say's it, it's the logical conclusion of dozens and dozens of very different studies showing various injuries and negative effects + the fact that these vaccines cause inflammation with no exceptions.

I don't think people appreciate that they aren't getting denatured proteins as in traditional vaccines. They are being injected with mRNA and CRISPR ready DNA (contrary to earlier claims that they were not.

This will take a while, because I'm at work.

Increased Age-Adjusted Cancer Mortality After the Third mRNA-Lipid Nanoparticle Vaccine Dose During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan

and

Sex-specific differences in myocardial injury incidence after COVID-19 mRNA-1273 booster vaccination

[Mother's Lament]

and

Serious adverse events of special interest following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in randomized trials in adults

and

A prospective study on myocardial injury after BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 fourth dose vaccination in healthy persons

[Mother's Lament]

and

Detection of Messenger RNA COVID-19 Vaccines in Human Breast Milk (something they said couldn’t happen)

and

Cardiovascular Effects of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in Adolescents

[Mother's Lament]

and

Sus­pect­ed Cas­es of Ad­verse Re­ac­tions and Vac­ci­na­tion Com­pli­ca­tions af­ter Vac­ci­na­tion with Comir­naty in Chil­dren aged 5 to 11 Years from Ger­many

and

COVID-19 Vac­cine Janssen – Pos­si­ble Re­la­tion to very rare Cas­es of un­usu­al Blood Clots in Com­bi­na­tion with a re­duced Platelet Count (German gov site, Janssen = Johnson and Johnson)

[Mother's Lament]

and

Oc­cur­rence of Cere­bral Ve­nous Throm­bo­sis af­ter Vac­ci­na­tion with COVID-19 Vac­cine As­traZeneca

and

The Paul-Ehrlich-In­sti­tut in­forms - Tem­po­rary Sus­pen­sion of Vac­ci­na­tion with COVID-19 Vac­cine As­traZeneca

[Mother's Lament]

and

Myocarditis Cases Reported After mRNA-Based COVID-19 Vaccination in the US From December 2020 to August 2021

and

Abstract 10712: Observational Findings of PULS Cardiac Test Findings for Inflammatory Markers in Patients Receiving mRNA Vaccines

[Mother's Lament]

and

Spontaneous Abortion Following COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy

and

Receipt of mRNA Covid-19 Vaccines and Risk of Spontaneous Abortion (different study)

[Mother's Lament]

I'll post more when I get home, because I know that one or two of the Lying Jeffy's here are going to claim that it doesn't show inflammation with every injection. So I have to post some stuff from Pfizer itself showing that inflammation with spike proteins is the point. And some stuff from medical journals what those spike proteins do, as well as the fact that this process is continuing for months in many cases contrary to initial claims. Also that DNA was not present in the tested vaccine, but is present in the public release, as well as that people's bodies are beginning to replicate the injected mRNA.

[Quicktown Brix]

Thanks for all the cites. Certainly there are some ill effects in some people, sometimes severe. Unfortunately, you failed to convince me about being severe inflamation in all cases. Much like Biden can point out economic factors that show the economy is great, my daily experience tells me otherwise.

Where I work, vaccination was mandatory out to 1 booster. Everyone I work with and I have been vaccinated. Almost everyone in my family has been vaccinated. Of those, I know zero that have had anything I would consider severe or long term and absolutely nothing beyond 2 days post-jab. I have heard from someone at work that knows someone who said his wife has had long term severe problems though.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

Quixy, it might be a decade before we really see the full results from the COVID vaccines. We’re only seeing the most immediate severe cases this far. My best guess is that we will see a significant increase in heart disease among the vaccinated in the years to come.

So glad I never got the WuFlu vaccine. I’ve COVID twice and it was no big deal either time.

[Mother's Lament]

I wasn't quite done but I had to wait until I got home to access some links. Read the summaries if you don't want to tackle the whole things.

This one was important:

Duration of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine persistence and factors associated with cardiac involvement in recently vaccinated patients

As was this one. Especially this one.

‘Spikeopathy’: COVID-19 Spike Protein Is Pathogenic, from Both Virus and Vaccine mRNA

[Mother's Lament]

You're still a spike protien manufacturing plant several years on:

Intracellular Reverse Transcription of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 In Vitro in Human Liver Cell Line

Remember how they told everyone there was no DNA present in the mRNA vaccines? Well turns out that they knew there was, and lied:

Sequencing of bivalent Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines reveals nanogram to microgram quantities of expression vector dsDNA per dose

[Quicktown Brix]

Some questions:
You pointed out that the mRNA vaccines are contaminated with DNA. A reasonable assumption is that since the vaccines are delivered in lipid nanoparticles, the DNA will be internalized into cells. Some small percent of that DNA may be incorporated into the host DNA. We agree here.

In attempt to remove DNA, the vaccine manufacturing digests the DNA. Thus, the average length of detected DNA was <100 base pairs. The maximum length was something like 3000 bp. The spike protein gene is about 30,0000 bp. What are the chances that the entire spike protein gene will be incorporated into a dividing cell line (so that it can expand) and cause long term inflamation?

How does the vaccine compare to the virus itself? We know the virus injects its RNA into cells which is converted to DNA and incorporated into the host DNA. Unlike the vaccine in which DNA incorporation is minimized by design, it is maximized by design in the virus. The key difference is only the mode of cell internalization and therefore cell type infected. Has research shown this to be a critical difference?

The greatest risk I see is that the SV promoter of the vector plasmid (which is only a few hundred to a few thousand bp) can be incorporated into DNA upstream of an oncogene and increase the risk of cancer. Again though, viruses insert viral promoters in our DNA by design and we are bombarded with them constantly. We know that this can cause cancer. It's akin to getting an x-ray, I think. The x-ray radiation exposure increases your cancer risk, but it's negligible compared to the cosmic radiation exposure we sustain.

Or more simply: why isn't every vaccinated person I know sick and dying?

[Quicktown Brix]

Graf,

I hope you're wrong, but only time will tell. There are reasons to suspect both the man-made virus and the man-made vaccine will lead to future health problems, but it seems we're in a wait and see situation.

[Mother's Lament]

Myocardial inflammation seems to be exceptionally common.

Circulating Spike Protein Detected in Post-COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Myocarditis

Here's were things get really spooky:

Further evidence supports controversial claim that SARS-CoV-2 genes can integrate with human DNA

Where I work, vaccination was mandatory out to 1 booster. Everyone I work with and I have been vaccinated. Almost everyone in my family has been vaccinated.

Start collecting your lawsuit material, Brix. You're damaged whether you notice it now or not. Pfizer might be lawsuit proof but your employers aren't.

[Quicktown Brix]

Here’s were things get really spooky:

It is indeed scary, but it shows integration of reverse transcribed viral DNA from COVID-19, not from vaccines.

We carry a lot of viral DNA baggage in our genome and undoubtedly much from many viral infections throughout our lives. I believe this is the leading theory as to why HIV cannot be cured even when viral replication is reduced to nothing.

This is a fascinating topic. Thanks for humoring me, ML.

[Jerry B.]

"750,000 of households receiving loan payoffs from Biden are making over $312,000."

And what's worse, they probably aren't holding Union jobs.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But they do carry NPR tote bags on the way to Democratic caucuses.

[Illocust]

Tying tubes and vasectomies seems like a unabashed win for everyone. No kids die, and people don't have to have kids when they don't want them.

[JesseAz]

Yeah. Not sure why the comment on fertility rates. If they were going to kill the kids anyways, why does it matter?

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Given the current low fertility rate, it’s not a good thing.

[Illocust]

Eh kinda, the low fertility thing will fix itself in the end. Some cultural strain that pushes its kids to have kids will become dominant simply because they outbreed the others.

[TheReEncogitationer]

If that were the case, I hope you would enjoy your Muslim, Catholic, Mormon, and Amish neighbors as they vie for world hegemony.

Fortunately, there is such a thing as Volition and Modernity and in these, child is father of the man.

[soldiermedic76]

Why would Mormons and Catholics be a problem, hmmm? Or Amish? Even most Muslims wouldn't be a major issue. You just can't help show your anti-theism bigotry, can you?

[TheReEncogitationer]

Illocust is the one who thinks fertility or infertility are problems.

I say none of them are a problem as long as children question their parents' irrational upbringing and they conceive and create enough goods and services to sustain themselves and posterity.

[soldiermedic76]

That sound is the point going over your pointed head.

[soldiermedic76]

So, it’s not a problem as long as they follow your religion but not their parents. Got it. You totes aren’t a anti-theist bigot. So, by inference from your statement, it would be a problem if they choose to follow their parents religion. Got it. When do we Christians have to get on the train in your world?

[LIBtranslator]

That was the theme for Monteiro Lobato's "race war" science fiction. But never fear. Logistic replacement curve calculations in 1926 proved there was no way America would elect a Black President before the Year of Our Lord 2228, so Republican White Supremacists are safe for another 204 years.

[Truthfulness]

Why do you accept the conclusion of an apparently non-existent study? You are lying about the "Republican White Supremacists".

Your ilk doesn't want kids anyway. We can do without you.

[JesseAz]

Fertility rates don't matter if your intention is to kill the results of fertility.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

I guess you are not a WEF member.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

What gave that away?

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Unless your a Catholic; those are sins.

[TheReEncogitationer]

And, fortunately for them, the Laity by and large has more sense than the Clergy.

[Truthfulness]

The studies actually don't support that--Catholic population is increasing.

[Mother's Lament]

Tying tubes and vasectomies seems like a unabashed win for everyone.

Yup. So many options not to get pregnant that abortion no longer has any excuse.

[TheReEncogitationer]

Except that vas deferens can re-merge and tubes ties aren't always a barrier. These are the best methods, granted, but still not 100 percent bulletproof.

[Randy Sax]

You know what is bulletproof? Blowjobs. New group; feminists for blowjobs. Someone make up posters, someone else a sign-up sheet. Let's change the culture.

[LIBtranslator]

Christian National Socialist Republicans are the best popularizers of same-sex as birth control since the Papacy! The Gee Ooo Poo can rest easy and nominate race-suicide rednecks with Greene Teeth all they want. Tesla and Xitter stock are in God's goood hands with them defeating Libertarians and initiating deadly force. Virgin Birth goood, Birth Control baaad!

[Truthfulness]

1) There is no such thing as "Christian National Socialist Republicans"
2) The "Gee Ooo Poo" and "the race-suicide rednecks" support accountability for the actions of individuals, both men and women. It's not their fault for any population decrease, it's the liberals who don't want children.
3) Tesla and Twitter/X are actually great manifestations of libertarianism--they are in full support and are the result of free market principles. You on the other hand, are not a libertarian.
4) Mary knew how to control herself. That ought to be applauded.

[TheReEncogitationer]

Ah! I hadn't thought of that one! Excellent thinking!
🙂
😉
Make sure to market it well to Feminists who somewhat care about their looks. Blowjobs from some of them would get into the realm of the bestial. Yeeech!
🙁

[Mother's Lament]

"Except that vas deferens can re-merge and tubes ties aren’t always a barrier."

True, but in 99.99% of the cases they are. How about just everyone who gets pregnant after tubal ligation can get an abortion?

[TheReEncogitationer]

How about Big Papa and his Orthodox and Protestant counterparts invest in R&D for bulletproof contraception if that's what becomes them most?

[Mother's Lament]

Protestants don't have a problem with contraception. Evangelicals, fundamentalists and mainstream protestants for the most part have no problem rubbering up. Monty Python even did a famous bit about it in The Meaning Of Life.
The various Orthodox Branches don't either. The Greek Orthodox used to a while ago, but that was when they considered abortion to be a part of birth control too.

[soldiermedic76]

If he ever gets anything about religion correct, I would faint from surprise. The sad thing is, he really does believe he is clever, rather than just jejune with his whole "look at me, the edgy atheist" routine.

[mad.casual]

“look at me, the edgy atheist” routine

Even this is being generous. The Monty Python crew, 50 yrs. ago, were being edgy. Today it's "Look at me! I'm a retard" in the same retarded, desperate Mr. Meeseeks voice

[TheReEncogitationer]

See my reply to Mother’s Lament below--er--above..

[LIBtranslator]

I thought Tha Mutha had set itself on fire to save Tha Don.

[Mother's Lament]

That was one of your boys, Heinkel.

[LIBtranslator]

Note to foreign readers: Fascista wankers regard spermatozoa--which are both human and alive--as Babies to be saved by men with guns. See U.S. v. Robert Dear
https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/robert-dear-indicted-federal-grand-jury-2015-planned-parenthood-clinic-shooting

[Truthfulness]

The "Fascista wankers [sic]" are at full harmony with hard scientific principles, yet many of those you decry are also willing to make compromises. You do not believe in the Non-Aggression Principle.

[LIBtranslator]

Race-suicide Teedy Roosevelt Comstockists will find a loophole through which to squeeze goons with guns to murder all physicians who disobey their Visions of Revealed Faith and Racial Collectivist Will. Just yesterday a bunch were arrested saluting Hitler's Catholic home on the Austrian Fuhrer's birthday. Kinder, Küche, Kirche!

[Mother's Lament]

Hey you senile old fuck. Sorry to pee on your narrative but why don't you tell us what kirchenkampf was.

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

Thank you. I was getting concerned I wouldn't get my Comstock fix today.

[mad.casual]

I think you're underselling the benefit of people performatively sterilizing themselves/each other.

[Randy Sax]

books attempted to teach my toddler that rules are for breaking!

Generally correct.

[TheReEncogitationer]

Nota Bene: As George Carlin pointed out, rules like "Don't stick your head out the window of a moving car" are Goddamn good rules from Dad for the kiddies.
🙂
😉

[JesseAz]

Free and open internet? "A Russian opposition blogger, Aleksandr Gorbunov, posted on social media last month that Russia could use the move to shut down services like YouTube," argues The New York Times' David McCabe. "I don't think the obvious thing needs to be stated out loud, which is that when Russia blocks YouTube, they'll justify it with precisely this decision of the United States," said Gorbunov.

Will they justify their own censorship based on US censorship colluding with government agencies?

Weird to me how this is getting so much more outrage than the US colluding with Silicon Valley in massive censorship.

Maybe if Reason had stood up then it wouldn't continue to grow?

[JesseAz]

New York just passed the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, which sets aside $30 million annually to incentivize hiring new local journalists.

Good. Now China and Russia can blame this for state sponsored media.

[Mother's Lament]

Yeah, I don't think that the Democrats and the GOPe have any moral high ground against Russia here.

They could have if they hadn't pulled their Covid and election shenanigans, but they were in many ways worse.

[mad.casual]

Maybe if Reason had stood up then it wouldn’t continue to grow?

Really, this is squarely on Reason and Koch.

Seriously, Section 230 was passed by Democrats and the GOPe. The WOT and social media skimming went hand-in-hand under the Bush Administration. It’s impossible to believe that any one of them would materially change things.

The only thing that’s changed is that the Libertarian flagship “Free Minds and Free Markets” publication when the most massive and widespread human rights and free press violations this country has seen since The Civil War, maybe ever, reversed course and, reluctantly and strategically, chose to remain silent.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland]

Poland recently had a soft coup where the evil globalists took over. The no homework is in order to destroy the country from within, same as they did with the US.

[Mother's Lament]

"the House passed bills that will send large sums of aid to Israel ($26 billion), Ukraine ($60 billion), and Taiwan ($8 billion)...
The TikTok ban will probably be challenged. "This is an unprecedented deal worked out between the Republican Speaker and President Biden," declared Michael Beckerman, TikTok's head of public policy, in a memo to the company's American staff."

Fucking Johnson, the coward. The GOPe always, always, always pull this shit. They always go along with evil in the end.

America needs a brave speaker who doesn't have any family they can threaten.

[Jerry B.]

Who says bipartisanship is dead?

[JesseAz]

All it takes is one paid opposition party member to make it bipartisan.

[Idaho-Bob]

Fucking Johnson, the coward. The GOPe always, always, always pull this shit. They always go along with evil in the end.

They are also evil. The waving of Ukranian flags on the House floor tells me all I need to know.

[Longtobefree]

Well, it would be a wonderful thing to watch if the republicans vacated the speakership, and appointed Trump.
Third in line for the presidency! What a hoot!
Mass suicide on live tv by the view - - - - - - - -

[Medulla Oblongata]

Fucking Johnson, the coward. The GOPe always, always, always pull this shit. They always go along with evil in the end.

Um, that's because they are also, by and large, evil. Maybe not capital-E evil, but evil in the “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” sense. They want to retain their offices, and go-along-to-get-along tends to be part of that.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Looking up that quote to get it right, I learned this:

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” It’s a quote routinely attributed to Edmund Burke. But it turns out falsely so. Apparently, he never uttered these words.

At best, the essence of the quote can be traced back to the utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill, who delivered an 1867 inaugural address at the University of St. Andrews and stated:

“Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.”

[Truthfulness]

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." - Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770)

It was from this quote where the more famous quote was derived from.

[Mother's Lament]

"Um, that’s because they are also, by and large, evil. Maybe not capital-E evil, but evil in the “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” sense."

I would argue the Republicans are the moral equivalents of small-time mobsters, bank robbers, and drug pushers.

The Democrats on the other hand are genocidaires and demons.

The equivalence isn't the same.

It would be nice to be able to vote for the angels, but the mobsters are still better than what is on the other side of the aisle. Boss Hogg versus Cthulhu.

[Sandra (formerly OBL)]

"leading to a lower fertility rate"

I just got a great idea for Fiona's next column: she could cite this as a reason the US needs more immigration.

#CheapLaborAboveAll

[Anomalous]

I'm sure she was already on it.

[LIBtranslator]

No problem. Just export another gaggle of DEA agents and SOUTHCOM political assassins to strangle South America's trade and production. That'll bring refugees by the millions and provide handy camouflage for devout Saudi terrists.

[Medulla Oblongata]

I feel like she already did that a few weeks ago, but maybe I'm misremembering.

https://reason.com/2023/01/03/population-growth-still-isnt-a-problem-anti-immigrant-groups-still-think-it-is/

[sarcasmic]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13334087/Sydney-Sweeney-apologizes-having-great-t-s-Mexico-trip.html

Sydney Sweeney 'apologizes' for 'having great t**s' during bikini-clad Mexican getaway... and shrugs off bitter female producer who said the Anyone But You star is 'not pretty and can't act'

No need to apologize. No need at all.

[Zeb]

Oh, my, that lacy halter top thing.

[LIBtranslator]

"I apologize for all my shortcomings." --Clark Gable as Rhett Butler

[Mother's Lament]

Do you have any cultural knowledge that isn’t more than 65 years old?

Gone With the Wind was shown 85 years ago.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

He knows. He was at the premiere, with Biden.

[Dillinger]

producer correct and sweatshirt correct can both be true.

[TheReEncogitationer]

When facing Islamofascists, RadFems and the Occupy/Antifa/Tankie crowd, Kelly LeBrock's ad slogan of: "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful!" is a plea for mercy from "Revolutionary Justice."

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

BRING BACK PAGE 3!

[TheReEncogitationer]

It’s still around…It’s just modelling hair shirts and sack-cloth and ashes. Oh, and Mao Jackets and Antifa hoods.
🙂
😉

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

Finally, we agree. Her jugs are delicious.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

The weaponization of the intel agencies.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/intel-agencies-government-are-fully-weaponized

It’s a long read, but worth it.

[JesseAz]

(1) to control every other branch of government;

(2) how it functions as an entirely independent branch of government with no oversight;

(3) how and why it was created to be independent from oversight;

(4) what is the current mission of the IC Branch,

and most importantly (5) who operates it.

[mad.casual]

Before I start I'm going to need someone to rightly frame for me how intelligence agencies aren't fully weaponized from the get go.

Maybe I missed something, but isn't a (mostly) non-weaponized intelligence agency normally referred to as a "school"?

[Ajsloss]

Children in elementary schools all over Poland have been freed from the shackles of homework.

Bart Simpson strikes again!

[Jerry B.]

"I think it would be fun to troll the legislators by being one of the beneficiaries of this program and then choosing to be the most aggressive muckraker that ever was, scavenging through their records, making them rue the day they were born, etc.'

But you'd have to lie on the DEI and political beliefs portions of the application.

[Illocust]

They probably have a provision about being a legitimate news organization. Chosen by the people handing out the cash.

[Sevo]

Test

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2]

Test

You're still a moron.

[Sevo]

turd, the ass-clown of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, 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.

[LIBtranslator]

The Sieve? That sockpuppet whiner's got Scumbag written all over it! Ask any Republican with an IQ above 80.

[Sevo]

Fuck off and die, steaming pile of lefty shit.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Stewardess, can you find someone on board who speaks Retard?

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

Other than Hank?

[Dillinger]

is it wrong I understand Hank?

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Nah, it just makes you bilingual.

[Mother's Lament]

The senile old idiot is telling Shrike about sockpuppeting? Wow.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Obviously you typed that while looking in a mirror, Shrike.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

You’re really going there? You’re so stupid that you regularly post links that contradict your own retarded arguments. You are incredibly stupid.

Hell, you’re so goddamned dumb that you posted child porn links here.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2]

Shut your blowjob-hole, you lying redneck Trump trash.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Please, for the sake of the commentariat, tell us how and why you have a “2” after your name.

[Mother's Lament]

Yes. Why the "2", Buttplug?

Did you suddenly forget the password on the account you use every day?
Or maybe you were one of the few people to ever be perma-banned from Reason for posting kiddie porn links?

Which is it?

[Sevo]

Doesn't like my link - Oh, well.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2]

Republican's Stunning Condemnation of GOP Colleagues: 'Scumbags'
..
Representative Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, shared a stunning condemnation of some his GOP colleagues on Sunday, describing them as "real scumbags."
...
Tensions are high among House Republicans, with a few GOP lawmakers threatening they could try to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, after he passed a series of major bipartisan bills. The far-right faction of the GOP has been frequently at odds with more moderate members since Republicans took control of the House in the 2022 midterms.
..
"I serve with some real scumbags," Gonzales said. He then took specific aim at Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, and Representative Bob Good, a Virginia Republican.

https://www.newsweek.com/tony-gonzales-stunning-condemnation-gop-colleagues-scumbags-1892582

#TroubleInDaHood

[Sevo]

turd, the TDS-addled ass-clown of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, 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.

[LIBtranslator]

To Kleptocracy looters, LOSING is watching the other faction repeal God's Own Patriotic laws targeted by hostile Libertarian Party spoiler votes and take their seats in Congress and elsewhere on gubmint payroll. God's Own Prohibitionists are feeling that on their hides the way they felt it after G Waffen Bush used prohibitionist asset forfeiture to wreck the economy with his 2008 remake of the 1987 Omnibus drug law Crash and recession. Tough tittie, Tesla! Sooo solly, Xitter!

[Mother's Lament]

Subscription watermelon temporary order business accident own critical.

[JesseAz]

I thought you said they were all cultists.

[Minadin]

Gonzales failed to win his primary election and was forced into a runoff with a pro-2A Youtuber who has never been involved in politics before. Matt Gaetz endorsed the Youtuber.

Gonzales is salty.

[Chaino]

Here’s an article on the YouTuber, Brandon Herrera:

https://sanantonioreport.org/brandon-herrera-ak-guy-texas-23rd-congressional-district-runoff/

Gonzales got censured by the Republican Party because of his votes for Democratic bills. No wonder Gaetz is supporting Herrera.

[Minadin]

Brandon Herrera is the only politician I've ever donated to.

[LIBtranslator]

"lower fertility rate?" Christianofascist initiation of force is the best same-sex marketing tool ever invented. Ever since LP spoiler votes backed The Kleptocracy away from queer-baiting and girl-bullying under color of law. Televangelist Trumpistas have reversed that and made it open season on the individual rights of women. So if women cross the street to avoid Mystical bigots and anarcofascist bulliers, who can blame them?

[Sevo]

Fuck off and die, asshole.

[Mother's Lament]

"Christianofascist... Televangelist Trumpistas..."

Hank is Shrike's dad (probably Sqrlsy's too). It all makes sense now.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

“Hank is shrikes dad..”

I was thinking encog.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Glad to see you putting your Oppressive Studies degree to use. Now how much do you still owe in student loans?

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

TBD. Sleepy joes working on it.

[Sevo]

Try without the link:
“S.F. prioritized building homes for the ‘missing middle.’ 80% of units sit empty”
[…]
“Ventana’s market-rate units are meeting expectations with about 70% of them leased. So are the deeply affordable units focused on families making 55% of area median income, or AMI, or about $72,000 for a family of three. Those have all been leased. But of the 14 units intended for households at the 110% level, only two have found takers…”

Once again, SF proves PLANNED ECONOMIES DO NOT WORK!
And once again, fails to learn.

add link:
https://www.allsides.com/news/2024-04-21-0430/general-news-sf-prioritized-building-homes-missing-middle-80-units-sit-empty

[Medulla Oblongata]

Meanwhile, across town...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/california-city-ok-s-1m-per-unit-homeless-housing-project-after-audit-found-state-wasted-billions-on-crisis/ar-AA1noVQ4?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=4527f4d63e034169b214d62b38c5b306&ei=21

Santa Monica city officials last week approved a multimillion-dollar apartment unit for the homeless just days after the release of an audit which found California could not account for the $24 billion it spent on the state’s burgeoning homeless crisis.

The 122-unit building for the homeless will include a mix of studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments, along with ground floor retail and residential and commercial parking spaces.

A design concept available on the city's website shows that the multi-apartment unit will cost more than $123 million, for a cost of just over $1 million each for the 122 apartments. A second design concept would have cost even more, north of $200 million for 196 units.

[Minadin]

What percentage of homeless people live in a family-type situation that would suggest that 3-bedroom apartments are needed?

[Sevo]

What sort of idiocy does it take to provide bums with $1M residences in the hopes more bums won't show up?

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

People running things there appear to be fairly simple-minded.

They are homeless.
We will cause homes to be built for them.
They are no longer homeless.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The Cass review—a four-year review of the evidence on child gender transitions that has led the U.K.'s National Health Service to substantially alter its guidance—isn't important enough for Scientific American to cover, apparently:

And it should be noted that the report would have had an even broader set of data to use if the Megelean "transition" clinics had actually shared their data instead of hidden it.

Yeah, I can't imagine why a "medical" institution whose existence is dependent on years of follow-on surgical procedures and medication prescriptions would want to obfuscate how many of their patients end up realizing they made a mistake or change their minds. It's a never-ending dopamine rush of "trans joy" and "euphoria"!

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Scientific American long ago abandoned science for The Science.

[Sevo]

Yeah, as Fortune abandoned business and The Economist abandoned economics.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

In the article that Scientific American posted instead of commenting on the Cass review, they notably use the exact tactics that we see from Jeff the Chemist. Without addressing any argument specifically, they try to make every argument against transitioning kids a fallacy while completely ignoring the abnormality of the psychology of people who would choose to mutilate their bodies to fix their perceptions. It is disgusting. Schizophrenia is more common than gender dysphoria. They are arguing for special dispensation to cater to a poorly understood mental illness.

There's something to be said about the rhetorical tricks here. The people who use ideas about biological sex against trans people are first appealing to the idea of biology as a description of difference, but then they do a jump and use that conception of biology as a form of meaning. The thing is, we organize society around meaning, not difference. Biology at its core can't tell you what matters to human organizations. So there is a fallacy here of looking at the human difference at the biological level, oversimplifying it, and then saying, “That's what we should organize people around.” We should really be asking what we care about, and then look to see if biology has anything to say about it. If you go through that exercise, then you realize that biology really has very little, if not virtually nothing, to say about things like trans rights.

See how they conflate biology (science) and sociology (Science!) and then actually lie about the sociological aspect? Societies are fundamentally organized around differences (ancestry, language, religion, politics) and always have been. Organized around meaning? Sophism is not science.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/anti-trans-efforts-use-misinformation-epistemological-violence-and-gender/

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Are we sure Jeffy didn’t write or edit that article? Sure as hell sounds like him.

[JesseAz]

All post modernists sound like that.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Note the false dilemma that they employ here as well--The thing is, we organize society around meaning, not difference. Biology at its core can’t tell you what matters to human organizations. So there is a fallacy here of looking at the human difference at the biological level, oversimplifying it, and then saying, “That’s what we should organize people around.” We should really be asking what we care about, and then look to see if biology has anything to say about it.

They are arguing for special dispensation to cater to a poorly understood mental illness.

The mental illness has actually been pretty well understood for a long time. What changed was the fields of psychology and sociology became infected with leftist radicals steeped in the language of cultural marxism that accelerated in the 90s and 2000s, and led to gender dysphoria being de-classed as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association in 2012.

It's not an accident that the queer/trans cult became a marker of social status among the soft classes around the time Obama got elected.

[Mike Parsons]

"and led to gender dysphoria being de-classed as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association in 2012."

Look for more coming soon.

Kleptomania? Nah, those people are just stealing to make up for some deep rooted past or societal injustice.

Pedophilia? You mean minor attracted person. I mean, that guy just looks at child porn, he has never fucked a kid...(that we know of)

Cheating on every partner? No thats nothing wrong, just ADHD hypersexuality, nothing to be concerned about, they are just living their best life and expressing themselves.

Its pandering to deviants and mentally unwell people with the message that "everything is normal, nothing is your fault, you dont have to be ashamed of anything" and that sort of parenting/guidance makes for the absolute worst humanity can produce.

[Truthfulness]

What does Hank (LIBtranslator) have to say about this?

[Mike Parsons]

"If you go through that exercise, then you realize that biology really has very little, if not virtually nothing, to say about things like trans rights."

Note the inherent false premise, that "trans rights" have been infringed upon in some way.

This is in addition to the usual false premise that "a trans kid is better than a dead one", also shown to be complete hogwash.

When you look at what they are saying, its that anything short of giving into the delusions of a mentally ill person is an infringement upon sacred rights.

I dont know of any great evidence for a parent to allow a child to claw their eyes out to identify as blind, to or amputate a limb to identify as disabled, or jump off a cliff and try to fly to identify as a bird. All of these are delusions and giving into them, as a parent, to a child unable to understand what they are doing and mentally unable to consent to such procedures, is neglect/abuse.

They have this false caricature of their activists' positions as "trans/human rights" when its really "why cant you load the gun for the suicidal man?"

[mad.casual]

I don't know what meaning they think they're trying to organize a society around, but I do know they're doing a shitty job of it.

[Dillinger]

>>Protests at Columbia have prompted an Orthodox rabbi on campus sent this message to students:

Apologies it is my nature to point out ridiculous syntax 🙂

also you never need the have prompted just use prompted.

[Jefferson Paul]

I never thought about the unnecessary "have" preceding "prompted." Thank you.

Somewhat related to that is when people write "utilize" instead of the simpler "use," which has the same meaning.

[Dillinger]

yes. also "that" is rarely necessary. I had a writing prof who scored us like golf - best points in fewest words wins.

[Jefferson Paul]

good catch ("that")

[Dillinger]

yikes I was criticizing Emma not you.

[Jefferson Paul]

But it applied to my comment, as well. I appreciated it. I learned something, and you weren't at all trying to be a dick about it.

[mad.casual]

-5 points +5 strokes for the failure to recognize the irony of the Rabbi going "on campus" to send an email warning students to stay off of campus.

Probably an embedded Rabbi with the Israeli forces engaged in the ongoing conflict at Columbia.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Lol. You’ve actually been trained in brevity. Nice.

[Dillinger]

if you are attending the Sphere in Las Vegas and want the Sphere experience as opposed to want to be within social distance of the band get tickets in the front of the 400 section.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Political violence. Words count now, I'm told.

https://twitter.com/joma_gc/status/1781827286179643889

Nate McMurray
@Nate_McMurray
·
Apr 20
Slava Ukraine

Die MAGA die. You lose.

[Dillinger]

the "candidate" who won't be on his district's ballot says maga loses?

[Mother's Lament]

Nate McMurray, practically Hitler or something.

[Ska]

It's German for "the Maga, the."

[Mother's Lament]

I'm stealing that.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

This mainly shows it's not about policy, it's just about getting a win over your political opponents.

Which is fine if such sentiments were allowed to go in two directions, but they're not. So that's why I'm going to laugh when Ukraine ultimately doesn't do anything except live with what they've lost and hope NATO finally takes them in.

[Medulla Oblongata]

I’d like to support Ukraine and Israel in their fights to protect their citizen and borders from invaders, terrorists, and nearby autocracies. I in no way support Putin or Hamas, want to see them defeated and/or eradicated.

On the other hand, I'd like to see our own borders be made more secure.

And just doling out tens of billions of dollars to Zelensky without any accountability on how it is spent and how the weapons, etc. purchased are actually fueling the war effort there and not just ending up in some oligarch’s pockets seems like bad idea. Not to mention that the money we do hand to them is all borrowed money, which taxpayers are on the hook to pay back with interest, and also that foreign aid seems like it should be pretty low on the spending list when we’re looking at $1T deficits.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Ukraine is really just a glorified charity at this point. With the Israelis, they've been in siege mode for so long that you at least know the money is going to actual defense materiel. Ukraine is basically a state version of an NGO where very little of the donations for the NGO actually fund the "cause," and instead mostly line the pockets of the few people who actually control it.

[mad.casual]

Even further, Stuxnet worked and I've seen no evidence that even begins to refute the evidence-based, albeit loosely assembled, conjecture that the Biden Administration colluded with Ukraine to blow up NS1 and 2.

I understand not having to address "Jet fuel doesn't melt steel beams", but even the Bush Administration caught flack for letting OBL escape Tora Bora.

[Dillinger]

>>"A person briefed on the situation said the Chinese government found inflammatory content on WhatsApp and Threads about China's president, Xi Jinping

vid of a Pooh Bear self-immolating?

[Dillinger]

>>making the app…practically useless.

hate to break it to you ...

[Dillinger]

>>Today is my birthday!

feliz cumpleanos!

[Dillinger]

progressivism undermines America's longstanding everything.

[Dillinger]

>>Children in elementary schools all over Poland have been freed from the shackles of homework.

up with miniskirts.

[Mother's Lament]

Down with underpants.

[Dillinger]

>>New York just passed the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, which sets aside $30 million annually to incentivize hiring new local journalists

an obvious solution is under the mayor's nose.

[Dillinger]

>>Tubal ligation and vasectomy trends since Dobbs.

people so retarded maybe need not procreate anyway?

[Dillinger]

>> books attempted to teach my toddler that rules are for breaking!

music for 12 year-olds seems more appropriate for this.

[BYODB]

Will that Supreme Court decision, which led to abortion being returned to the states (and many states choosing to institute crackdowns), end up actually leading to a lower fertility rate?

Uhh...if those babies would have been aborted anyway then what does it matter?

Not an argument for or against, I just fail to see the logical connection there.

[Zeb]

I don't know that it's a given that people who are sterilizing themselves would otherwise never reproduce. A lot of women change their thinking about abortion when they find themselves pregnant. Or decide that having children is important after all as they get a bit older.

[BYODB]

Last I checked, those procedures are generally reversible.

Personally I'd say it's not a necessary procedure and therefore one should probably not go forward with it, but that is ultimately their choice.

It's easier and generally safer to simply use contraceptives or birth control.

[soldiermedic76]

Somewhat reversible, not 100% reversible.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Yep, and a vasectomy is more reversible than a tubal ligation. The latter is far more permanent.

[mad.casual]

Not an argument for or against, I just fail to see the logical connection there.

And that's why you shouldn't be allowed to be in charge of Women's Rights.

[SRG2]

Re Zero Hedge:

"Is Zero Hedge a Russian Trojan Horse?"

If the cap fits:
What Zero Hedge became, in essence, was a forum for the hateful, conspiracy-driven voices of the angry white men of the alt-right. Racists, anti-Semites, extreme right-wingers, and conspiracy nuts were an underserved audience, and, as it turns out, a profitable one.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2]

ZeroHead has always been anti-USA. Their stated objective was to blow up the American market system.

[Sevo]

turd lies. turd lies when he knows he’s lying. turd lies when we know he’s lying. turd lies when he knows that we know he’s lying.
turd lies. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit and a pederast besides.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Talking to yourself again?

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2]

Millions of readers visit Zero Hedge each month, drawn by the site’s deeply pessimistic view of Wall Street and its alarmist, conspiratorial take on international affairs. In the world according to Zero Hedge, the financial markets are always on the verge of collapse and the United States is always a power in decline.

Yep, that is MAGA JesseAZ here. Pro-Soviet all the way.

[Mother's Lament]

Jesse almost never posts anything from Zero Hedge, and Diet Shrike's article doesn't offer any proof for its McCarthyesque claims, but dishonesty never stopped either of you, did it?

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2]

How much is the KGB paying you two?

[Sevo]

turd lies. turd lies when he knows he’s lying. turd lies when we know he’s lying. turd lies when he knows that we know he’s lying.
turd lies. turd is a TDS-addled lying pile of lefty shit and a pederast besides.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Probably the same your side was paid before 1989.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

I wish. Then, I wouldn’t have to work for a living. You, on the other hand, seem to get your fifty cents from the Open Society daily.

[Mother's Lament]

Less than Open Society was paying you before you got canned, pedophile shill.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

The real question is how much is Soros paying YOU? And is it in little boys and kiddie porn?

What am I saying? Of course it is.

[SRG2]

Jesse almost never posts anything from Zero Hedge,

From this very thread:

https://reason.com/2024/04/22/chinas-retribution/?comments=true#comment-10530748

https://reason.com/2024/04/22/chinas-retribution/?comments=true#comment-10530758

And from another recent thread
https://reason.com/2024/04/22/tiktok-measure-passed-by-house-is-unconstitutional-in-multiple-ways/?comments=true#comment-10531555

I think his two favourite sources are Zero Hedge and Just the News.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

Sure they are Diet Shrike.

[Sevo]

The TDS-addled turd lies. turd lies when he knows he’s lying. turd lies when we know he’s lying. turd lies when he knows that we know he’s lying.
turd lies. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit and a pederast besides.

[JesseAz]

I love how Soros retards still think blaming Russia for everything is a working argument instead of just proving youre a dyed in the wool democrat.

[Mother's Lament]

“IT’S RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA!!!”

Speaking of paid shills, it’s pretty gutsy of you to post that accusation, Shrike/DOL/Jeff/whoever the fuck.

“Zero Hedge became, in essence, was a forum for the hateful, conspiracy-driven voices of the angry white men of the alt-right. Racists, anti-Semites, extreme right-wingers, and conspiracy nuts were an underserved audience”

Does he post any evidence for his name calling? Does he post any evidence that most of the articles there are even slightly right-wing? Is Bulgaria Russia? Does he actually manage to create a demonstrable link between Russia and Zero Hedge?

No, no, no, and no. But believe this slimey Democratic Party mouthpiece anyway when he says they’re really, really, really bad.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It opposes his rootless cosmopolitan buddies, so that's why he hates it.

[JesseAz]

Lol. Love that a shrike sock posted this type of shit.

Just matches up to your pro censorship beliefs to justify more censorship like a good Soros acolyte.

[JesseAz]

Doubly funny as it is a New Republic post. Where liberal retards go to get their DNC talking points but think they are intelligent. Lol.

Good one shrike.

[SRG2]

This may be the only time I've ever linked to NR - and I don't read it. I googled an lo! It's not evident from your response that the article is actually false. But you'd probably regard any anti ZH article as from a left-wing source by definition.

[Truthfulness]

https://crookedtimber.org/2014/12/06/the-real-problem-with-the-new-republic/

The New Republic has shown that they cannot be trusted. You fell for their partisan hit piece.

[SRG2]

Still not a shrike sock, you lying POS.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

Cite?

[Zeb]

Ha, my work blocks new republic as "Entertainment".

Seems appropriate. I'm going to guess it's some kind of "just asking questions about when you stopped beating your wife" kind of nonsense with nothing to back it up.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Lol. SRG courageously staying on the cracker beat.

Godspeed, douchebag.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Fuck Biden. Fuck Congress. Fuck China.

Who did I miss?

[soldiermedic76]

Yale and Columbia Universities??? Fuck those anti-Semitic, brown shirt so called bastions of higher education with a rusty chain saw sideways.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

Need to send in some powerfully built Pinkertons to crack some Hamas skulls with their Skullcracker 4000 nightsticks, which are fully usable during the day too.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'And on Saturday, I went out with friends (including a grand total of three babies, who were shockingly well-behaved) to eat crab in Chinatown. After that we went to an event in a basement on East Broadway where the books attempted to teach my toddler that rules are for breaking!'

Just try that in fly-over country, you rubes!

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2]

LIZ IS PROBABLY A COLLEGE GRADUATE!

[Sevo]

turd lies. That's not a surprise to anyone who reads his constant stream of bullshit.
But it's becoming obvious that as Misek is too stupid to understand the concepts of "evidence" or "relevance", the concept of "honesty" is simply beyond turd's ken.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

And your lack of a point is?

[Jefferson Paul]

She and I have the same alma mater. I don’t know why it matters, though, or what point you think you have made.

[A Cynical Asshole]

I'm guessing someone made the Winnie the Pooh comparison again:

"A person briefed on the situation said the Chinese government had found content on WhatsApp and Threads about China's president, Xi Jinping, that was inflammatory and violated the country's cybersecurity laws," reports The New York Times.

Oh, bother...

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Sounds like Xi needs some hunny.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

Didn’t he attend the Cannes premiere of ‘a Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey’?

[Medulla Oblongata]

Maybe we can join UK in sending illegal aliens to Rwanda?

WSJ:

LONDON—The U.K. government is set to press ahead with a controversial policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as soon as this summer, with parliament poised to pass a law stating that the central African nation is a safe place to house those claiming to flee persecution.

[rbike]

I suggested we do this by sending asylum seekers, homeless, and socialists to Greenland a couple of times already.

[soldiermedic76]

I actually proposed shutting Gitmo down and moving all the prisoners there to one of the multiple closed radar stations the USAF built during the Cold War in western Alaska. They'd be on US soil then and chances of escape would probably be less than at Gitmo

[rbike]

We could put the Aleution islands to use. Send the Palestinians there also.

[Medulla Oblongata]

The Aleutians was my thought as well.

[I, Woodchipper]

New York just passed the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, which sets aside $30 million annually to incentivize hiring new local journalists.

The regime will always take care of its own.

[I, Woodchipper]

Tubal ligation and vasectomy trends since Dobbs.

"no one treats abortion like simple birth control, it's ONLY FOR THE LAST RESORT"

lol

[mad.casual]

Funny thing about the data... no geography. So it could entirely be: Tubal ligations and vasectomies in New York, Illinois, and California skyrocket after the Dobbs decision.

Which would be fucking hilarious.

[Commenter_XY]

@LizWolfe....Happy Birthday!

It is nice when the young ones behave in public.

[Stuck in California]

Oh, Liz isn't that young. No need for the underhanded compliment.