The U.N. Pullout

Plus: Eric Adams pursues trans bathroom policy change, SCOTUS to rule on Lisa Cook firing, and more...

Trump rethinking American support for United Nations: President Donald Trump has already pulled back $1 billion in funding from the United Nations (U.N.) and has told Congress he has plans to revoke another $1 billion. Since bureaucrats always and everywhere are fans of malicious compliance, U.N. officials signaled that human rights programs would be some of the first to go. But now The New York Times headlines are trying to guilt the U.S. into…I dunno…spending infinite sums of money? Never pulling out or reevaluating the use of the diplomacy organization?

Of course, countries run by authoritarians seek to step into the breach. "Qatar, with its history of labor abuses, is offering to host some of the offices of the U.N. workers' rights agency," reports the Times. "Russia has proposed cutting speaking time for advocacy groups to save money on hearings. Eritrea has called for an end to a U.N. investigation into human rights abuses there. The countries are 'using every opportunity, including the opportunity presented by the liquidity crisis and at high-level meetings, to try and advance their agenda,' said Phil Lynch, the executive director of International Service for Human Rights, a nongovernmental group focused on U.N. advocacy in Geneva. 'Cuts are on the table, and it opens a window of opportunity for them.'" That's always a risk, but overreliance on the U.S. as the bulwark stopping such a takeover places an unreasonable, costly burden at our feet.

"The U.S. continues to be assessed by the UN at an unfair rate, currently paying 26.1 percent of all global peacekeeping activities," reads a State Department report from earlier this year. "The U.S. is one of five members (P5) on the UN Security Council (UNSC) with permanent veto authority, yet the other P5 members' assessments average under nine percent. Congress has sought to reduce the United States' assessment by capping assessments at 25 percent, and yet success of that is questionable: as a result, over $1.5 billion of arrears have accrued. Due to these recent abuses and failures, and amidst the disproportionately high level of fiscal burden, it is clear that significant change is needed at the UN."

"Trump withdrew from the rights council and the World Health Organization [WHO] earlier this year and from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the first U.N. agency to undergo a review, on July 22," reports the Times. (It's not like the WHO had been covering itself in glory or doing its job.) Naturally, the administration gets blamed: "The Trump administration's wariness of international bodies has only made the United Nations' cash crunch worse: Some U.N. agencies in Geneva stand to lose as much as 40 percent of their funding." But those who fear this new paradigm could stand to ask: What is truly in America's interest to fund? What do we have budget for?

---

Scenes from New York: "Mayor Eric Adams said on Thursday that he would push the New York City Department of Education to change its policy of allowing young people in schools to use the bathroom most closely associated with their gender," reports The New York Times. "'We are going to always respect how one identifies themselves,' Mr. Adams said on Thursday. But 'I do not believe a safe environment is allowing boys and girls to use the same facility at the same time,' the mayor added, speaking at an unrelated news conference in front of the United Nations's headquarters." This will likely result in protracted legal battles: "Denying the use of facilities because of a person's gender identity is considered unlawful discrimination under the state's Human Rights Law. New York City's guidelines on supporting transgender children also state that students cannot be forced to use a bathroom that conflicts with their gender identity." But I would hazard a guess that Adams has his finger on the pulse of what most New York parents want—especially the parents of young girls.

---

QUICK HITS

• Goodbye to my show, Just Asking Questions, cohosted with the illustrious Zach Weissmueller. To all who watched, thank you so much for giving us some of your time and attention; we hope it enriched the way you view the world around you. Onwards!

• A possibly interesting evolution for Sen. Chris Murphy (D–Conn.):

NEW: Chris Murphy, whose Senate career has been defined by his pursuit of gun control legislation, begins rethinking the litmus test he has applied to the issue

via @Lauren_V_Egan https://t.co/sgiXZkipo4 pic.twitter.com/jtazz0yeKy

— Sam Stein (@samstein) September 18, 2025

• "President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fire Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook, setting up a test of the president's ability to take control of the powerful interest-rate setting body," reports Politico. "The Justice Department on Thursday asked the high court to reverse the decisions of two lower courts that allowed Cook to remain in her position while the broader legal fight is underway. Their decisions enabled Cook to participate in a meeting this week that resulted in a quarter-point reduction in the interest rate."
• Inside Airpods' translation features.
• Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk's widow, just became the new CEO of Turning Point USA.
• "North Carolina jobless claims data were mistakenly understated in a weekly US Labor Department report on Thursday, as a technical error slashed the state's tally by more than 19,000," reports Bloomberg. "The report showed just 205 continuing claims for the week ended Sept. 6, the lowest on record for the state. Typical readings hover closer to 20,000. The North Carolina Department of Commerce, which gathers and transmits the data to Washington, said the figure was the result of a "technical error" and that the correct number is 19,355. A Labor Department spokesperson said they were still looking into it."
• Deeply humane and fair:

.@adamcarolla reacts to the news that ABC has indefinitely suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live. pic.twitter.com/ZB6bjcRwIP

— The Adam Carolla Show (@AdamCarollaShow) September 18, 2025

• I think this is roughly correct. But I also can't get over the weaponization of a government agency—the Federal Communications Commission—as the mechanism by which it happened. (That is not to say this is the first time the government has pressured a private company to make a censorship decision. Reason has covered Biden-era jawboning extensively.)

A lot of people with the same beliefs Charlie held woke up last week and realized some of their neighbors & friends & family members would celebrate if they got killed—and today the Left is asking them to care about a late night host who also hates them and got fired. Tone deaf.

— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) September 18, 2025

And this, too. I share the rage:

A man was just shot for his beliefs and Democrats are really out here with "first they came for Jimmy" signs. Are you people fucking nuts? Where have you all been for the last decade while people were debanked, deplatformed, and canceled??? You were cheering for it. That's where.

— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) September 18, 2025

Comments

[Chumby]

Demurdocrats Plotting?

In an unusual move, the U.S. Secret Service has started protecting White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt following the murder of Charlie Kirk

- Bellum Acta

To the “words are violence” trantifa armed actors, the WH spokeswoman could be a target for an assassination.

[Idaho-Bob]

A lot of people with the same beliefs Charlie held woke up last week and realized some of their neighbors & friends & family members would celebrate if they got killed—

Not just celebrate, actively try to kill us. The violence perpetrated by the left needs to be met with violence.

Allowing them to knock over tables, slap/poke/push conservatives, and general intimidation can no longer be tolerated. If the table attendees do not have the stomach for this (and I understand why), allow those of us who embrace righteous violence. End the emboldened behavior.

[tracerv]

They still think "You killed the moderate one Now you get the other guy" is just a meme.

The pendulum in the mirror is closer than it appears progs.

[damikesc]

Steven Crowder's change is telling and just.

"I want the Left to be able to talk all they want. I want them to be absolutely petrified of trying to do anything at a conservative event."

No more grace

[SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad]

The gloves are finally coming off. And not a moment too soon…..

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/anti-ice-protest-illinois-democrats-tear-gassed-pepper-sprayed-by-federal-agents-2025-09-19/

FTA:
CHICAGO, Sept 19 (Reuters) - In a chaotic scene at an immigration detention facility in the Chicago suburbs, Illinois Democratic candidates running for Congress said they were tear-gassed, shot with pepper balls and shoved to the ground by federal agents on Friday while protesting against President Donald Trump's immigration surge into the city.

No more of these acts of democrat insurrection.

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

I’d love to cover her back

[Chumby]

Sloppy pullout from the U.N.?

[Kungpowderfinger]

Let them get their fucking money from Hamas

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

They should have enough left over from the Iraq Oil for Food program if the didn't squander all the bribes.

[Minadin]

Can we compromise on a 'Slappy Pullout'?

[Scooter]

Well, they have decades of running sex-trafficking as a side business to "Peacekeeping missions".

[Fist of Etiquette]

Trump rethinking American support for United Nations...

Trump is getting America out of the UN? BUT AMERICA'S THE BEST ONE IN IT.

[Chumby]

Exactly. We could do better.

[Bubba Jones]

The opportunist reaction of nations to the defunding of the UN is just proof it's a good idea.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

I didn’t see where any one of them offered to fill in the funding gap.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Wut?

Guys. Corruption proves the UN is a good idea!

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Just like the IOC.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Did he even ask congress?

[Chumby]

Sarc will be by later to make the libertarian argument for staying in and helping to fund the UN.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

Then Jeffy will back him up with some bullshit bluster about how leaving the UN is like leaving them with a bear in an unlocked trunk.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Haven't seen jeff since I reminded him of his defense of censorship.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

I have full and total faith Jeffy will be back as Jeffy has no shame and no honor.

[Chumby]

Jeffsarc operate by Nintendo rules. The next day is like playing an old school video game with no saves - clean slate (in their minds).

[Ajsloss]

That's why you leave the machine on, but turn the tv off.

[Quicktown Brix]

Anyone play NES Rygar?

It was an adventure game with no save or codes and the character builds up XP strength with each kill (or something). We used to set a weight on one of those special remotes with the repeat button, turn off the TV and let Rygar get stacked while we slept.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I wasn't able to get anywhere on that game until I got an NES Advantage, turned on the turbo, and put tape on the shoot button for about an hour.

[Quicktown Brix]

NES advantage...yeah that's it. Great minds think alike!

[SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad]

The morbidly obese pedophile has likely temporarily retreated to the comfort of another 55 gallon drum of Ben & Jerry’s.

Amd on a related note……..

https://apnews.com/article/ben-jerrys-greenfield-cohen-unilever-9ed945056cd243ca459d130d9933ee62

Jeffy hardest hit.

[JFree]

Hell I'll make that case. The US spends $13billion/year to fund the UN. Much of it is a failure or ineffective but it is very easy to see how the US could use its leverage to make that more effective. Rather than behaving like a petulant arrogant imperial power.

We have spent $10+ trillion over the last 20 years (and will spend MUCH more in future on those past wars) purely on fighting wars and the direct aftermath of that. Not on defense (whether preventive or preemptive) but on fighting wars overseas. ALL of them have failed completely. ALL were most heavily caused by the US' lack of interest and capability in promoting diplomacy (and for lack of a better word a 'rules-based order'). Those wars have resulted in 10,000 dead soldiers, 10,000 dead contractors, 15,000 allied troops, just under one million direct dead (best estimate is 3-5 civilian dead for every combatant dead), and between 4.5 - 5 million indirect dead (basically all civilian). ALL with virtually zero protest from libertarians (who are totally ok with permawar as long as it is funded by debt and is conducted by a mercenary 'volunteer' army) or any other anti-war crowd.

Not one PENNY has ever been spent pulling the US into wars that we do not wholeheartedly approve. Whether by a UN or by a coalition of the willing or on our own. Indeed, the vast majority of the UN's efforts (ineffective or not) are spent trying to prevent things devolving into war - not to create wars. Anyone pretending that the US is the world's policeman is a lying asshole. Virtually all ''libertarians" who purport to be 'non-interventionist' are lying hypocrites AND useful idiot assholes. That means you.

[JFree]

One would think real libertarians would understand the economic cost of war that is NOT paid by taxes but by debt. But not this crowd of idiots and jackasses.

Paying for war via debt means children who are too young to be conscripted into service (or to vote) are instead conscripted into paying that cost forever - and then passing it on to their own children. In the old days this was called selling your children into slavery but libertarians seem to be ok with that.

Paying for war via debt means the cost of that war is now INCOME to the top 10% of wealthy. They don't serve in the military. They don't even really pay income taxes except to the degree that their tax lawyers/accountants are a bit incompetent or they need to turn wealth into income unexpectedly. They do however decide which wars will be fought and how that war will be fought for the benefit of MIC rather than some 'national interest'. They are not even remotely neutral here re the role of the coercive state. Certainly not compared to the shmucks at the bottom of the ladder who feel the sharp end of the stick when it comes to war.

It is no surprise that 'libertarians' here far prefer that 'unexpected' wars be funded (via debt) instead of 'expected' costs of preventing war (via taxes).

[SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad]

If on,y the US would go along with all the leftist nations on pro Jew extermination policies, right JewFree?

[Overt]

"but it is very easy to see how the US could use its leverage to make that more effective."

Ah, the modus operandi of JFear. Take a subject he knows shit next to nothing about, and speak his hopes and dreams on that subject as if it were unassailable, obvious fact.

It takes an epic level of narcissistic self delusion for JFear to post this drivel. Instead of just parroting whichever brain fart that pops into his head as some sort of sage advice, JFear would just take 20 seconds to ask himself, "Wait what if I'm wrong" he would not have his reputation as one of the biggest, bloviating clowns on this site.

For the record, the UN has been around for 80 years. That's 14 presidential administrations. And not even the self described globalist utopians like Clinton or Obama were able to affect any change to keep it from being anything but what it is: a club of countries, the vast majority of whom are kleptocratic regimes that corruptly syphon money from foreigners and countrymen as their main mission.

If it is "easy" to see how the US could make that more effective, it has escaped the notice of every leader since Truman. But, I'm sure JFear the Great Knower of Things, is just the man for the job.

"We have spent $10+ trillion over the last 20 years (and will spend MUCH more in future on those past wars) purely on fighting wars and the direct aftermath of that."

This is what I love about JFear. He is so incapable of logic or thought that he cannot realize how he hurts his own argument with these facts. Like that time he insisted that masking worked in Asia, and then gave reasons why the masking...didn't work in Asia.

https://reason.com/2023/05/03/surgeon-general-vivek-murthy-refuses-to-acknowledge-the-governments-misrepresentation-of-mask-research/?comments=true#comment-10048977

In any case, it should be obvious but we've spent those trillions of dollars despite...you know...the UN existing. So in fact the evidence is that the UN is not an effective remedy to these war expenditures. Yet we are just to take his word that THIS TIME IT WILL BE DIFFERENT!!

"ALL with virtually zero protest from libertarians (who are totally ok with permawar as long as it is funded by debt and is conducted by a mercenary 'volunteer' army) or any other anti-war crowd."

I mean, this is JFear. He thinks he is right. And to be right, it means libertarians must not have protested any of these wars. 5 seconds of searching would bring him thousands of examples that he is wrong, but- again- this is just the way JFear is. He just assumes his stream of consciousness is always right.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Thanks for actually reading all that. Lol at the assertion that libertarians aren’t consistently anti-war.

[JFree]

If it is "easy" to see how the US could make that more effective, it has escaped the notice of every leader since Truman

It has not escaped the notice of anyone. Every Prez before 2005 took the role of UN ambassador/delegation seriously which is why the UN took our whining about payment seriously. Even Jeane Kirkpatrick (the most hostile to the workings of the UN pre-2005) realized later that it was the US which had squandered goodwill rather than the UN which had somehow squandered competence. The UN is NOT America's poodle and only an idiot can imagine that should be its function.

As for the American public, Walter Russell Mead identified four main 'schools' of thinking about American foreign policy. One is interventionist and mostly unilateral (Hamilton). One is interventionist and multilateral (Wilsonian). One is 'non-interventionist' (though it is really more like foreign policy as demolition derby) and unilateral (Jacksonian). One is non-interventionist and non-unilateral (Jeffersonian). When we engage all four, American foreign policy is the most effective in the world. When not, we suck.

What 'libertarians' of the Reason stripe have done is conflated the first with the fourth and pretended that the first is really libertarian. What 'libertarians' of the Trump or populist stripe have done is conflated the third with the fourth. In so doing, they have abandoned non-interventionism in favor of unilateralism.

Oh - and thanks for once again demonstrating that you don't understand the difference between addressing an actual post v boring ad hominem.

[Overt]

"It has not escaped the notice of anyone."

And yet YOU are the one who said that a) most of our money spent at the UN is ineffective and b) we could make it more effective.

None of your little google lore-dump makes any effort to prove your silly and naive contention. Whether there are 4 or 10 approaches to foreign policy, it doesn't disprove the assertion (to which you agreed) that our money is wasted at the UN. Nor does it do anything to prove that we could make it more effective.

HINT: Baldly asserting your hopes and dreams is not the same as providing evidence. You assert that if we "engage in all four" forms of policy, "American foreign policy is the most effective in the world." First, you provide no evidence. Second, even if that were true then GREAT, we can do that instead of funding the UN.

"Oh - and thanks for once again demonstrating that you don't understand the difference between addressing an actual post v boring ad hominem."

The generous clown keeps on giving.

Hey idiot: Your first post ended with an ad Hominem about "virtually all libertarians". A particularly stupid one that is easily rebuked by the simplest of web searches.

Further, I did address the post. I pointed out that your wishcasting is not "evidence" and in fact all evidence indicates that the UN is a failure and cannot be redeemed. AND I engaged in ad Hominem against you. Like you, I have no problem engaging in both ad Hom AND providing an argument. Unlike you, I am at least self aware enough to notice it and not look like a hypocritical fool calling it out. And also unlike you, I tend to save my ad Homs for bratty children attempting to sound smart (that's you) instead of cowardly snipes at "all libertarians" or vague groups.

But you do you, JFear. I'll be hear laughing the entire time. I do have to admire your willingness to come here and make these stupid, illogical arguments so often. It gives me no amount of pleasure to watch you act like an emotional middle school student.

[JFree]

it doesn't disprove the assertion (to which you agreed) that our money is wasted at the UN. Nor does it do anything to prove that we could make it more effective.

Nearly half the money we pay the UN goes directly to peacekeeping missions. China and Japan are the 2nd and 3rd funders of that and combined they pay what we pay. The difference is we also pay money to ATTACK those peacekeeping forces from time to time. Thus undermining our own diplomacy.

The other money is mostly opposed by us because of domestic politics. Not because it's wasteful - which it is. But because opposing it gets votes here in our elections where UN spending is the primary reason our budget isn't balanced (or hell - preventing tax cuts and a surplus).

Further, if you look beyond the money to our 'diplomacy', our efforts are now intended to undermine the UN. Not to utilize the UN. Just to look at the 2003 Iraq War. The UN passed 16 SC resolutions after the first Gulf War. Mostly re getting rid of WMD's and forcing inspections (UNSCOM). We used those inspections entirely for the purpose of spying on Iraq for ourselves not actual inspections related to their purpose. When Saddam ended those inspections because of the spying, we passed the Iraq Liberation Act (supported by 96% of House R's, 84% of House D's and 100% of Senators) stating that regime change was now our policy and rationalizing that on the basis of 'international law' and 'UN resolutions'. After 9/11, we decided that Saddam/Iraq was responsible or something. We sent Colin Powell to the UN to lie to the world about WMD's. Our AUMF (supported by 97% of House R's and 98% of Senate R's and 39% of House D's and 54% of Senate D's) specifically cited as 'rationale' all that the UN had done - in order to UNDERMINE the UN and pretend that it supported our war.

You clowns now want to pretend that you opposed the war, that the UN itself failed to get rid of WMD's, and that D's are really the warmongers. That alone is trillions of dollars wasted with the US fighting a war specifically to undermine anything the UN did in the past or might do in the future. You all are completely full of shit.

[JFree]

Further - the veto power in the SC is the one true 'privilege' the US exercises to potentially prevent the UN from pulling us into wars. Since the Rabin assassination (not a merely random event - but one that changed our UN involvement), we have vetoed 2 SC resolutions that might involve some perception of US war/peace interests (re Bosnia 1998 and reelection of Boutros Boutros Ghali 1996). We have vetoed 22 SC resolutions - all symbolic with both the UK and France saying ok and of course post-Oslo accords.

The primary purpose being to ensure there is no restart of 'peace talks' between Israel and Palestinians. Only the US is now allowed to start peace talks in that area. Again a HUGE expense - and squandering of whatever diplomatic cred the US used to wield.

[Overt]

"The primary purpose being to ensure there is no restart of 'peace talks' between Israel and Palestinians."

Again, even IF I were to agree with your ridiculous "The JEWZZZZZ!!!" JFear Fantasy masquerading as evidence, it does not prove that the UN COULD stop wars. All it would do is prove that the UN has been incapable of stopping wars.

You insist that it is just the US who needs to stop being a meanie. But there are several other permanent members of the Security Council, each of whom has used that veto power in the past to further warmaking. For example, when the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the UN tried several times to sanction and peacefully resolve the issue, but the USSR threatened or actively vetoed these resolutions. The UN's inability to deter USSR aggression in these areas emboldened the regime's efforts to push guerilla revolutions in other countries around the globe.

So again, let's be clear that you have provided no evidence that the UN is an effective tool to keep the US out of wars. All you have shown is that the US can start wars if it wants to. And in the process, shown how feckless the UN is when it DOES try to impede warmaking.

[Overt]

"The difference is we also pay money to ATTACK those peacekeeping forces from time to time."

The US has never attacked a UN Peacekeeping force.

"The other money is mostly opposed by us because of domestic politics."

I repeat: You are just stating shit that makes sense in your head. The fact that you think making this shit up is the same as providing evidence is the reason you will always look like a clown in these threads. You don't know what evidence is, because you don't know how to argue logically.

[Long diatribe attempting to rewrite the history of the Iraq war]

Even if your silly fantasy about the Iraq war were true, all it proves is that the US has its own self interest (surprise!) which is often at odds with the UN (mon deux!). That is not evidence that the UN would suddenly operate in our interests to avoid wars if suddenly the US stopped.

Indeed, your handwaving distraction once again not only fails to prove your point, it continues to undermine the point.

In 2002 UNSC Resolution 1441 UNANIMOUSLY found Iraq in material breach of its obligations. Let's make that clear: Everyone at the UN, including Russia and France, disagree with you that it was "just America Spying". And, of course, this resolution would be the pretext that the coalition used to go to war.

So you, as usual, are making shit up, and looking like a clown doing it.

[JFree]

In any case, it should be obvious but we've spent those trillions of dollars despite...you know...the UN existing. So in fact the evidence is that the UN is not an effective remedy to these war expenditures.

And yet - amazingly - almost everyone else in the world spends very little on defense and does not engage in permawar either. And it ISN'T because they are sucking on our tit (except the Germans/Italians).

[Overt]

So let's be clear on how idiotic JFear is here:

1) His argument is that we should continue paying into the UN because it will prevent wars that cost us lots of money.

2) He seems to hand wave past the fact that the US is both the largest payer into the UN and is also the biggest warmonger. I mean, this is what one might call "Hypothesis falsifying evidence"...But he doesn't think logically. He just emotes "truisms" that sound right in his head.

Case in point:

3) His argument now is that there are all these other countries that spend very little on defense and are not warmongers. He doesn't realize that he has blown up his own argument (#1 above). Those countries seem to have avoided permawar, and yet they are not massive payers into the UN. Perhaps...just maybe...the answer has something to do with de-prioritizing warmaking in your budget and not sending billions of dollars to kleptocrats in a tyrant club in New York.

God JFear, never change. Never.

[JFree]

You and your whiny little bitch crowd. The US isn't pushed into righteous permawars because the rest of the world refuses to fight our wars for us. You truly do seem to believe that the rest of the world SHOULD be our poodle and that there is no function served by talking with people who aren't our poodle.

The only nonintervention crowd that is worth a shit nowadays is the congressional black caucus - and they only care about non-intervention because they know who gets pushed into the fighting with our 'volunteer' army. They understand coercion. You assclowns don't.

[Overt]

"You and your whiny little bitch crowd. "

Could JFear be any more precious?

Get a load of this kid. Accusing others of being whiny bitches when he posts these pathetic little "Nuh Uh" rejoinders.

Let's just note he has not tried ONCE to provide any evidence to support his contention that, "Gosh darnit, if we just spent another couple billion and asked real nice the UN would prevent wars." No he just asserts it as so.

And then...get this...when I show that he has no evidence to support this silly claim, he just goes off on random tangents and now has resorted to reading my mind. I note that JFear LOVES to do this. He is so clueless that he just makes up my motives, often to comical effect. Like when we were discussing Bitcoin and he couldn't make up his mind what I actually supported:

https://reason.com/video/2022/08/08/gold-vs-bitcoin-a-soho-forum-debate/?comments=true#comment-9638943

But this is par for the course for JFear:
1) Act like a self-important blowhard by spouting off an obvious (to JFear only) truism.
2) Distract and try to change the subject when people call him on it.
3) Completely forget what he was originally arguing and spout off another bunch of obvious (to JFear only) truisms that completely undermine the original argument
4) Get so frustrated that he can't prove his point that his only recourse is to keen like a petulant cur about the motives of the people who made him look like a clown.
5) Ghost the thread <--- WE ARE HERE?

[SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad]

Nope. Try again.

[Chumby]

Too long; too gay; didn’t read

[JFree]

No surprise. Your 'non-interventionism' too is just a pose.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

tl;tr;dr

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

THE DECISION will be made on ESPN in a month.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

"We have decided to take our talents...to Buenos Aires."

[Fats of Fury]

Trump should demand a seat for each state.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...U.N. officials signaled that human rights programs would be some of the first to go.

Who's head of their human rights commission these days, anyway? Iran? Saudi Arabia? North Korea somehow???

[mad.casual]

North Korea somehow???

You say that like NATO isn't tacitly defending a kleptocratic puppet regime that we know blew up the world's largest gas pipeline in NATO territory.

[Minadin]

What is the Biden administration?

[Chumby]

Adult diaper product testers?

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Kamala did the jeffsarc meme.

https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/09/harris-too-big-of-a-risk-to-pick-buttigieg-as-running-mate-because-hes-gay/

[Chumby]

Does Chase know?

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

You know who else knows?

[Chumby]

An inanimate carbon rod?

[SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad]

The Shadow?

[A Thinking Mind]

I think he was too big of a risk because of his startling incompetence. He definitely didn’t cover himself in glory during his work for the administration.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Getting caught getting his bike out of his suv a couple blocks from his office would have made a brutal campaign add.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It's pretty clear he was completely checked out during that time, and that he was mostly just a chair moistener biding his time until he could run in 2028.

That slot was his reward for dropping out early, and it's telling that they thought a guy with such a high media profile and Deep State/dark money connections wasn't capable of handling anything more than Transportation, which is largely a figurehead position with little prestige. As long as you make your presence known in the inevitable crisis situations, and just make sure the bureaucrats are doing their jobs, there isn't much to the position. I don't think Sean Duffy is ever going to run for President based on his time there, and if he does, he's an idiot.

[damikesc]

That she thought he would be a great VP speaks very poorly of Buttegieg.

[Fats of Fury]

The unwritten rule is a presidential candidate picks someone dumber than them to take all the heat. That was an impossible task for Kackling Kamela. Ironically she went with a flamer anyway.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Waltz is currently trying to make the case that he is, in fact, dumber than her.

[Scooter]

He's pretty damn successful!

[SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad]

Walz and Harris are both mildly retarded.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Newsome signs bill to create state run media.

https://www.thecentersquare.com/california/article_563cb001-17e4-4730-8c30-1ed22ce67993.html

[Idaho-Bob]

Damn, they already have NPR, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, and ABC.

[Chumby]

But they recently lost Jimmy Kimmel Live.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

Yes, worse than Pearl Harbor, worse than 9/11, worse than Hiroshima. Worse than literal Hitler.

[Chumby]

Worse than J6 multiplied by someone burning rubber on a tranny groomer crosswalk?

[Social Justice is neither]

It's close but I don't think Jimmy Kimmel is that far out of the Hollywood norm, more Mao that Hitler really.

[Minadin]

Nothing says 'finger on the pulse of the nation' quite like trying to make a martyr out of Jimmy Kimmel, less than a week after the other side had one of their most prominent figures assassinated.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Once again, left wing violence is speech and right wing speech is violence. Please remember.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Well now Newsom can give him a show!

[Kungpowderfinger]

At least now his shitty podcasts will receive an audience, maybe at the airports and bus stations at least.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Bet a lot of the funding ends up with his wife's production company.

[Ron]

State controlled media, he who pays controls talk about authoritarian fascist. And People want Newsom as president. Unfortunately Trump is showing him the way with his threats of media license removal and Newsom has been mimicking Trump since he doesn't have an idea of his own

[Fist of Etiquette]

Never pulling out or reevaluating the use of the diplomacy organization?

Aren't there any US judges willing to step up and say the Framers never intended the United States to get out of the UN and declare this whole thing illegal?

[Longtobefree]

There are several, and the democrats are interviewing them now to select the court they will use.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Rand Paul's vs former CDC director is glorious. Proves the CDC was not actually pushing science.

https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/09/sen-paul-stumps-former-cdc-director-over-newborns-and-hep-b-vaccine/

[Chumby]

Bailey hardest hit

[mad.casual]

Monarez: “I want to go back to the assertion…”

LOL. Imagine being so deep state mind fucked that you think you get to control the Congressional hearings after you've been shit canned.

Like a rapist saying "I want to go back to the assertion that her skirt was too short..." from the stands.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Today was a good day. DHS shuts down last remnants if Biden censorship agencies like GEC.

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/state-department-finally-shuts-down-framework-behind-censorship-nerve

[HorseConch]

Just in time for all of the outcry about the terrible Jimmy Kimmel. I wish I could be as censored as Jimmy.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Goodbye to my show, Just Asking Questions...

Aww. Although to be fair it got crowded out by a saturated market.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Should have gone out pulling a Kimmel then you could blame the FCC.

[Chumby]

Liz is too classy to stoop to Kimmel level of garbage.

[mad.casual]

+1, same to Fist above.

[Randy Sax]

Honestly, a lot of their guests just weren't that interesting. I wish they had done a show more away from the Overton window. Be devils advocate, ask more heretical questions on "Just asking questions". Not necessarily promoting fringe beliefs, but at least discussing them.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

Asking the wrong questions is dangerous.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

And potentially illegal. Or at least heretical.

[Minadin]

I think that the main problem was actually that they didn't break it up very often into short, digestible bits, in the 7 - 15 minute range. Most of the content was an hour plus of watching time. I watch Robby's 2 shows, the Hill one and the Reason one, and they both break them up into segments like that.

If you want to do long form content, that's great, I just think that if you want to get viewers to commit to that, you need to also offer the short-form versions to get people on board.

Also, Liz listened a lot more than she talked. Asked pertinent questions and made good points when she did, but I wanted to hear more from her.

[Dillinger]

>> I watch Robby's 2 shows, the Hill one and the Reason one

jeebus ... on 4x speed or as some kind of self-punishment?

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Lol.

Muted staring at his hair.

[Minadin]

For the Hill show: I actually like Robby's takes for the most part. Niall is a decent foil when he's on - the other co-hosts are so cringe I do mute or skip. They haven't had a decent woman on the show since Kim Iverson left.
On the Reason show: I like Amber - she's good and witty, has a sense of humor.

[Dillinger]

kewl fair enough. thanks.

[Use the Schwartz]

I don't mind Robby's show even though he has more hands than Shiva.

On the other hand,

Wait, on the other, other, hand.

Oh hold on, on the other, other, other, hand...

[Chumby]

Does your Akita growl at the tv when he is on?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The biggest challenges in building an online audience are that it can't happen inorganically, and the reality is that it's something that ultimately takes time, even in unusual circumstances.

Ultimately, Reason has always been a niche space in the political media market. Remember that Nick, Stossel, and Remy have been doing vids for several years now. They don't get a bunch of views, but it's not an issue because their model doesn't require YouTube revenue to keep going.

I get why Liz's show is going away, but honestly, it it wasn't that expensive to produce she probably could have kept it going for a while and shopped around for a variety of guests. Rogan, for example, doesn't just have political or celebrity guests, he's brought on academics like Elliot West to discuss western history, or special ops guys to talk about their military experiences. Politics might come up, but it's not the point of that particular show, it's just to shoot the shit on a topic he finds interesting.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Rogan largely launched tim pool who was doing it for a decade before his appearance with Rogan and Facebook.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

That's interesting because I thought Tim had already had his rep made as a lefty media refugee who had made his bones at Vice. But it makes sense that showing up on Rogan is what ultimately raised his media profile.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

He was on vice and other channels. Decently known. But his Timcast empire started after Rogan.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Reformatice justice in Chicago is literally broken.

https://thepostmillennial.com/illinois-state-funded-peacekeeper-has-outstanding-warrants-in-4-states-charged-with-in-fatal-burglary-6-days-after-photo-op-with-jb-pritzker

[HorseConch]

They'll have to change the name of the group to the mostlypeacefulkeepers.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

I prefer the fireypeacekeepers.

[HorseConch]

Can we compromise and do fierybutpeacefulkeepers?

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Deal.

[Longtobefree]

fireypeacekeepers

Potential band name?

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

Chicago is the shithole where all of this communist crap in the US originates.

[Chumby]

Are wide angle lenses mandatory when taking a photo with chemjay radical governor?

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

Oddly, that might explain a lot if chemjeff is JB Pritzker.

[DesigNate]

That just makes the Cartman references even funnier.

[Z Crazy]

What we really need is to develop EMP technology.

Did you know that EMP's can cripple cars?

We need to figure out a way to develop an EMP that can cripple cars within a ten mile radius, that can be detonated by police, to put an end to things like this.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Trump to raise social security age. Something long needed.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/trump-administration-considers-raising-retirement-age-save-social-security-from-insolvency

[Randy Sax]

Don't. I'd rather it crash and burn faster rather than a slow, smoldering death.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

Did he ask Congress?

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

How did it get so far, to this?

https://x.com/christianheiens/status/1968866408105910635?s=46&t=qeA47-JjK6vq0pfnxg60dA

I see so many people asking some very important questions.

Why didn’t the Left stop when they already had power? Why didn’t Conservatives realize what was happening sooner? Why did it have to get to this point?

People will look back one day and realize that, whether they realized it or not, Progressives wielded an immense amount of cultural and political power in the late 2000s and early 2010s, and yet it was not enough for these individuals.

For some reason, these people wanted even more. They went way too far during the Great Awokening and became explicitly authoritarian and illiberal. And in doing so, they destabilized the entire system and radicalized the Right to become illiberal in response…thus initiating the crisis we now find ourselves in.

What's so astonishing is not the fact that we've finally reached this point. It's that Liberals are completely incapable of realizing that it was their actions from 2013 to 2024 that initiated the Right-wing backlash that's now playing out.

But still, the question is why? I'll try my best to answer this to explain where we currently are and where we might be heading.

Conservatives might already know the answer to the first question of why the Left didn’t stop before violence broke out. The Left's entire project has never been just about winning an election or changing policies. It has always been about changing the nature of society and mankind itself.

Asking why the Left didn't stop before violence broke out is like asking why water flows downhill. Doing otherwise would have meant violating a fundamental metaphysical law. The Left will never be satisfied with anything.

Everything will always be a good first step for them. Nothing will ever reach its end because the whole ideology is built around endless critique and perpetual revolution. Each new victory opens the door to a new struggle against oppression.

Which sort of leads me to why Conservatives didn't realize what was happening sooner. They have the exact opposite problem of the Left in some ways. While the Left sees everything as an existential battle that requires total ideological mobilization, Conservatives have (until recently) bought into the illusion of neutrality.

In short, they continued to believe they were losing a game without realizing the rules of that game had been rigged from the start.

This also explains why we reached the point of violence. Once the old rules that Conservatives still believed in had been either abolished or rigged in a way that perpetually benefited the other side, the Left could no longer tolerate even the existence of dissent, because the dissenters were committed to bringing back the old rules which Liberals had long since declared to be oppressive.

And once dissent became synonymous with "bringing back oppression", even the idea of tolerating the existence of Conservatives became an immoral act. And if Conservatives refuse to repent and become Progressives themselves (let alone if they continued to preach in places that had already moved past the point of debating what is sacred vs what is profane), then violence naturally became the logical endpoint.

Charlie's murder is the most extreme example of this, but there are countless others. Many accounts on this site have documented this, particularly in the education system and on college campuses.

I've spent the past week mulling over what we could have done differently or how we as a society could have avoided this calamity that we now find ourselves in. But I can't see an off-ramp in the rear-view mirror. I don't think this was a detour so much as it was the destination.

The fact is, the Left cannot and will not stop because their worldview contains no brakes. It demands a universal, totalizing view of the world between the forces of good (them) and the forces of evil (everyone else). And once you map that worldview into a political movement, violence against those you demonize is essentially inevitable.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

Crisis? What crisis? My life is going along just fine.

[tracerv]

"The Left will never be satisfied with anything."

Truer words have never been spoken. Always on the grift like a shark. If they stop they will perish.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Its instructive to point out here that the left hasn't taken this many Ls in the culture war since, maybe, the late 1940s to 1950s, and it's dizzying now because Kirk's death seems to have lit off a couple of rockets on the pendulum swing that was already taking place. Even the supposed "conservative" era of the 1980s was mostly a wash, because MTV ended up being a massive bulwark in at least maintaining a rough equilibrium, until the end of Cold War happened and the left was able to start accelerating their march through the institutions in the early 90s.

Remember that in Rules for Radicals, Alinsky wrote "Anything that drags on for too long becomes a drag." The left has been on a full-blown cancel culture jag for a decade at this point, both due to Obama's "whole of society" strategy, the cultural fallout beginning with Gamergate, when the cracks in the media's credibility with male Zoomers started to set in, and the ongoing impact of the cultural left turning Occupy from a general complaint about unfair punishments for the banks after the housing bubble, into one primarily dedicated to pushing CRT marxism.

They're now effectively seen as the modern version of 80s televangelists--a bunch of finger-wagging, moral-scolding hypocrites whose only motivation is money and power, and who don't give a shit about the social contract except for when they can manipulate it to force their opponents to shut up. That's why they're not getting a lot of sympathy at the moment outside of the remaining 20-30% of the population they haven't alienated.

Shit, they're even adopting neocon MadLibs boilerplate such as "________ are the real _________" and "Just imagine if ___________ did this!" An elegant demonstration of how the migration of the neocons over to the Democrats has affected their political engagement. They have no fucking clue because these people are firmly stuck in a late 2000s media paradigm where Republicans were content to be punching bags, and any support they got was blamed on Rush Limbaugh and talk radio.

Hell, that's why they keep dragging Jon Stewart's corpse out of his coffin--that dickweed is 50% of the problem, because he not only provided a pseudo-intellectual cover for these assholes to justify their power grabs, he's the one who really established the post-Y2K pretense that political disagreement is divisive instead of healthy (a classic Maoist unity-criticism-unity tactic) with that moronic appearance on Crossfire with Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala.

[Dillinger]

>>Even the supposed "conservative" era of the 1980s was mostly a wash

coming out of a Carter era into Reagan it was nice to see people everywhere believe in America again ... 41 wrecked up the place with the read my lips failure

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Shorter version: if Trump didn't exist then progressives would create him.

[Fats of Fury]

The right Rinos didn't care what the left did as long as they had a free pass to invade countries around the world. They never made one peep about cutting a penny out of the bloated budgets and turned a blind eye to "asylum seekers".

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

That and get rich.

[Randy Sax]

Since bureaucrats always and everywhere are fans of malicious compliance, U.N. officials signaled that human rights programs would be some of the first to go.

Good. Cut all the USAID-like programs that give money to tranny theaters in Nicaragua.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Chris Murphy, whose Senate career has been defined by his pursuit of gun control legislation, begins rethinking the litmus test he has applied to the issue

Get a load of the DINO over here. Next this fascist is going to say it might not be as virtuous as once thought to use abortion as birth control.

[mad.casual]

begun reconsidering what it means to be dogmatic about guns

Given the number of people I know who, across more than 3 generations, Rick Dalton pointing meme anytime a character in a movie or TV show loads a 5.56 mm round into a .223 cal. rifle, I'm dubious of Murphy's ability to consider dogmatism accurately in the first place.

When he's successfully penned 96 theses that debunk the Holy Trinity of rear charging handles, forward assists, and direct impingement, *maybe* I'll believe his opinions on gun control.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

What about Tim Walz? Didn't you like his tips on loading shotguns?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

What, it's not normal to prop it up on your hip while you load it? Next you'll be telling me you shouldn't look down the barrel to make sure the round is fully engaged or something.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

My question is do you eat the carburetor before or after loading up the magazine for your shotgun?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

During, of course, duh. Any True and Honest Manly Man knows that, chud.

[Chumby]

Does that make one a Mega Chud?

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Goodbye to my show, Just Asking Questions, cohosted with the illustrious Zach Weissmueller. To all who watched, thank you so much for giving us some of your time and attention; we hope it enriched the way you view the world around you. Onwards!

Fine. I'll subscribe.

[tracerv]

Ha! #metoo

[Dillinger]

shoulda tried Rumble

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

^

[Chumby]

OnlyFans or bust

[mad.casual]

I'd like to think that Liz is too good for OF... and then be pleasantly surprised when I stumble across her content.

But seriously, of all the Reason writers I think should be humiliated into Fansly or whatever the off-brand-means-more-profit-for-uggos OF content platform is, Liz is the last.

[Chumby]

Mastodon?

Seriously, she could have a libertarian take channel on Telegram and it likely would do quite well.

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fire Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook...

"Kind sirs, can you pleeeeeeeease let me use my catchphrase?"

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

How funny would it be if he actually showed up at her office right after the ruling and did that?

[Social Justice is neither]

Press release where he looks directly at the camera, addresses her by name and dramatically reveals her fate on this season of "The Prez".

[DesigNate]

It would be a ratings Bonanza for ABC. I bet more people would tune in than watched Kimmel.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

I think this is roughly correct. But I also can't get over the weaponization of a government agency—the Federal Communications Commission—as the mechanism by which it happened. (That is not to say this is the first time the government has pressured a private company to make a censorship decision. Reason has covered Biden-era jawboning extensively.)

A) carr bever contacted Iger or Disney.
B) affiliates preempted the show prior to Carrs statement.

Statement from Sinclair.

https://sbgi.net/sinclair-says-kimmel-suspension-is-not-enough-calls-on-fcc-and-abc-to-take-additional-action/

By continuing to state this only happened due to Carr is ignorant.

Continuing to call what Biden did as jawboning by your colleagues is just evil.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Reason has covered Biden-era jawboning extensively

Might wanna check your facts there Liz.

[mad.casual]

I mean sorta. They didn't *not* cover it years after the definitive proof was released which itself was months-to-years after the general populace had seen the receipts documenting it in real time.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

They famously did cover it at the time. That’s where the muh private corporations meme came from.

[mad.casual]

Fair. Favorable coverage is coverage.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Yeah, I'd say they "covered" it, but not as jawboning

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

sarc kept telling us those articles didn't exist so maybe she has a point.

[Chumby]

The narrative doesn’t push itself. Not surprised this is happening at (D)icked magazine.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

At some point reason has to realize that pretending they were never wrong on an issue isnt the correct stance if they want to be trusted, right?

[Chumby]

Unsure. They are catering to the edgy libertine-metro progressives that have one pet libertarian issue. The attention span of that TikTok crowd is short. And they are not obligated to turn a profit where accountability is not on their bingo card.

[Dillinger]

>>if they want to be trusted

lol Reason?

[Ron]

complaing about the FCC enforcing their own Rules while under Obama the IRS specifically targeted center right organizations and the banks shadow banning of gun stores and anyone they didn't like and the FBI flagging anyone who even bought a bible. yea Trump is a real authoritarian, an amature one at that compared to Obama and Biden and Newsom. this isn't what aboutism here this is our government has been full on authoritarian and yes fascist for a long time now. I can say its Fascist since no company can do anything without government approval. the very definition of Fascism

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Its just like how evil it is to have visa holders live to the agreements they willingly signed for a visa.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

They should’ve gotten a Mastercard or American Express instead.

/I’ll show myself out…

[Chumby]

Only now did they Discover this?

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

Oh, how I hope so. I’d laugh my ass off of it netted Shrike.

https://x.com/datarepublican/status/1969029612845092931?s=46&t=qeA47-JjK6vq0pfnxg60dA

Watch closely. Across Europe, Antifa is moving toward designation as a terrorist organization, while in Central and South America the Cartel of the Suns faces the same. These are not isolated developments.

Globalist networks (Soros, the UN) and authoritarian regimes (Venezuela, Iran, China) are ideological enemies on paper, but both share a common goal: undermining American sovereignty. They draw on the same infrastructure, the same street-level operatives, the same channels of disruption.

The Trump administration is assembling evidence of a multinational structure: foreign governments and actors linked together in ways that are undeniable.

Once they have fully mapped the connections and Venezuela is contained, the final step will be striking at the heads of the hydra with RICO: Soros and the foundations.

https://x.com/ocraziocornpop/status/1969034422818156800?s=46&t=qeA47-JjK6vq0pfnxg60dA

The Venezuela connection is uber important here politically.

The NeoCon RINO so called "moderate" Republicans will need to be on board and Venezuela gives them the justification to do so.

So important!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Especially after it's now come out via Daily Fail that Robinson had a bunch of really fucked up furry porn on his computer associated with a guy called RedRusker who just so happens to be a pedophile.

The left just can't stop taking Ls. First their funding gets cut and now their foot soldiers are being treated like ISIS.

Over three more years of this to go.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

How many of these freaks are pedophiles anyway!?! It seems to be a common theme here.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

If you did a Venn Diagram of pedophiles in a blue circle and furries in a yellow circle, it would be a 99% circle of green.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Outside of the Storage Wars episode years ago, I’ve never really given any thought to them until recently.

So my question is, how fucking bad must those costumes smell?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

"you may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension." — Nikola Tesla.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Lmao

[Fist of Etiquette]

Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk's widow, just became the new CEO of Turning Point USA.

And now Kimmel doesn't even have a show to float a new conspiracy theory to his audience.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

It’d be funny to see how Kimmel can start a new show with negative ratings.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

He did have a covid podcast with the other late night morons.

[Chumby]

I think we libertarians start a GoFundMe to buy Mr. Kimmel a set of WNBA mascots to help him spend his newly found free time. I think he’d enjoy Dunker.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

A woke version of the Man Show?

[Chumby]

The Tran Show

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

Dudes with boobs on trampolines. Yeah, that’ll get ratings.

[Chumby]

Chicks with dicks and late night schtick. Quix Brix lix those stix for kix.

[Dillinger]

silly Rabbi, kicks are for Trids.

[HorseConch]

If he's as popular as they believe, and he's really being censored, he'll get filthy rich podcasting and working cable. That obviously won't happen.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

It will be as successful as Don Lemon’s new show.

[DesigNate]

I’ve seen clips from him walking the streets of NYC and just getting savaged by average people.

[Fist of Etiquette]

His ratings were probably okay for a much cheaper show. He should be able to make something work, but it will have to be scaled down to where he mostly relies on his personal gravitas to pull in viewers/listeners.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Fist, Stewart had a post-Daily Show project on AppleTV that completely flopped, despite him being the most popular left-wing media personality of the 2000s to mid-2010s. If he couldn't cash in his Q rating into something sustainable, Kimmel is fucking toast because his actual media metrics show that he's a niche media personality at this point.

[Ron]

they gave an Emmy to Colbert for getting fired what will they give Kimmel. they always give losers awards, remember when the gave Dan Rather an award for his fake story on Bush.

[Fats of Fury]

They gave Cuomo an Emmy for killing old people, they took it away for his crime of flirting while ugly.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I remember as a kid one time my father drove us to a nearby town for some supplies, and seeing a billboard which said in huge letters "US OUT" and in tiny letters near the bottom "of the UN" and not understanding even what the UN was. This was as the Vietnam War was building up, so I assume now someone thought it was a cute way to get the hippies' attention.

I'd love to get out of the UN altogether. Tell them they've got five years to vacate, then the building will be auctioned off.

A useless organization. The whole setup was as anti-democratic as possible, as elitist as could be, and not worthy of respect right from the start.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

Agreed. The UN has outlived its usefulness and needs to go.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Agree, except five years is much too kind.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

A useless organization. The whole setup was as anti-democratic as possible, as elitist as could be, and not worthy of respect right from the start.

Yeah, the whole point of it was to serve as a jumping-off point for the elites to establish the foundation for what they expected to be a world government. This isn't a conspiracy theory, it's something that was heavily discussed and supported by the intellectual classes and social elites at the time. My wife's grandfather mentioned in his memoirs that it was a consistent topic of discussion amongst students and academics when he was in college after the war, there's other media articles from the late 40s debating the subject, and in a Time article from the war called "American Malvern," the representatives of the US's church organizations were openly demanding it. Notably, that meeting described in the article was led by none other than John Foster Dulles, Eisenhower's Secretary of State.

[Mickey Rat]

With all due respect to Adam Corolla, people perceive Jimmy Kimmel as a cartoon character because that is what Kimmel has chosen to portray himself as in his late night hosting role.

[Bubba Jones]

People play characters on TV. All of them.

It's called acting.

[Mickey Rat]

There is something to that, but Kimmel is allegedly playing himself and it is a deliberate choice.

[Zeb]

Lots of comedians put on like they are playing themselves, but few really are. I have no idea about Kimmel, I don't know him, and I don't need to have an opinion on him as a person. I am glad that he got canned for spouting stupid nonsense like that, though.

[mad.casual]

Yeah, I think there's a lack of awareness on Corolla's part too.

Like people outside Hollywood think Michael Buffer announces everything he does or can't fathom someone like Ryan Reynolds or Chris Pratt not being snarky and dopey 24/7.

Kimmel has probably helped a few friends and donated to charity. Maybe even done it a lot. But he pulled his income down mocking people who also donate to charity and who work at helping friends and he went too far. Damore, Eich, etc., etc., etc. all lost their jobs for far less. Everybody who defends Alex Jones pretty much understands that he shouldn't be hosting nationwide television and is more appropriate for Unsolved Mysteries or Ancient Aliens at best. He just shouldn't be impoverished and forced to live in exile for what he did.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

These people show their real selves on social media all the time. They can't help themselves.

Chris Pratt, that really isn't who he actually is like in real life. He's good at playing these goofy, smartass characters and is fully typecast at this point, but you read his social media and he's not like that at ALL.

Kimmel actually is a smartass left-wing asshole. We know that because that's how he is on his social media accounts. I don't know why Bubba is claiming he's just playing a role, other than playing dumb because he doesn't like the outcome.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Bubba is almost as dishonest as Lying Jeffy.

[Chumby]

And he could pull ahead. And I’m not just talking about the NPR station manager offering him ten bucks. Shrike was king retard around here for a while until Tony rolled up his sleeves, used some elbow grease, and pulled out a victory with those takes from the past few days.

[Social Justice is neither]

Corolla worked with Kimmel so he knows who he was before he became part of the Hollywood in crowd. Surrounding yourself with greed and evil has a habit of highlighting that in US too.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

Yes, but Jimmy Kimmel has never actually been funny and is not a good enough actor to hide his own personality.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

So, perfect for The View?

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

There’s a lot of memes going around X suggesting he join them.

[VinniUSMC]

He was a cartoon character long before that. Have you seen the "Man Show"?

[Fist of Etiquette]

North Carolina jobless claims data were mistakenly understated in a weekly US Labor Department report on Thursday, as a technical error slashed the state's tally by more than 19,000...

LOOKS LIKE THE LABOR DEPARTMENT NEEDS TO ADD ONE MORE TO THE TOTAL.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Because someone keeps fucking up the numbers and should be fired, is what I'm saying here.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

Math is racist.

[Chumby]

Correct. The recent Sydney Sweeney jeans ad was racist due to the significant figures.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

33-23-34.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Oh what a winning hand.

[Ajsloss]

Only if she 5'3".

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

She’s apparently 5 foot 3.5 inches tall.

[mad.casual]

"I recognize that from the era of fat-shaming all but the thinnest of women!" - Emma Camp

[Dillinger]

Lionel likes them 36-24-26 iirc

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

So do Angus Young, Malcom Young, and Bon Scott.

[Longtobefree]

Some of the people that "learned to code" didn't really learn.

(DEI hires in the IT department?)

[VinniUSMC]

IT departments have always been DEI hires. Just a different kind of diversity.

[Bubba Jones]

I'm still confused by the allegations that Jimmy was factually incorrect.

He characterized MAGA as jumping to conclusions about the motives of the shooter. That seems largely true.

Are people reading his statement as a claim that the shooter was secretly MAGA? That seems like reading a lot into what Jimmy said.

I can't say that I give a fuck about late night television, but help me understand just what the alleged lies are.

[Zeb]

Well, he basically accused "Maga Gang" of doing exactly what certain elements of the left are doing: desperately trying to claim he isn't one of them. No, he didn't claim that the shooter was MAGA, but there was an implication there. So maybe not strictly speaking a lie, but definitely some bullshit. Seems to me that it is a pretty safe assumption that the shooter was driven by left-wing ideologies.
I don't think the FCC should be doing anything here. People on TV are allowed to be stupid and wrong (as demonstrated by most of what's on TV). But people are sick of that shit and it's good that the networks are catching on.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

No honest person could watch that clip and not conclude Kimmul was claiming the assassin was MAGA.

[Marshal]

This is not true. The only reason it's a problem that MAGA people don't want the shooter to be known as MAGA is if he is in reality MAGA. Otherwise they are simply pushing for the truth and there's nothing for Kimmel to be upset about. So the shooter being MAGA is an underlying assertion of Kimmel's criticisms.

[Zeb]

Which part of what I said isn't true? Are we going to argue over whether it was a claim or an implication? What he said was stupid and wrong, let's not quibble over how exactly to describe it.

[Minadin]

It's not a leap. He said this after the perp was caught and the bullet casing carvings were all public. Had 2 days to correct himself.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Maga was right about the shooters motivations from the outset dumdum.

[Idaho-Bob]

If JK's statement confuses you about what's factually correct, I can't help you.

[Mike Parsons]

the entire thing smacks of they wanted an excuse, and this flimsy excuse lets them cut the dead weight while appearing maximally virtuous/victimized.

[A Thinking Mind]

By the time he said it, we had the shooter in custody. Beyond that, it’s pretty damned clear what the motivation was from what he wrote on the bullet casing, before they ever captured the shooter. If it was someone on the right killing Kirk for whatever grievance, they aren’t saying “catch this, fascist.” That’s what the left would call a moderate conservative like Charlie Kirk.

He still somehow implied this kid was MAGA, and then pretending any inference that he’s not is all about political points. He was literally the one trying to score political points by framing him as MAGA , while gaslighting people by pretending it was the opposite. It’s not just out of loop, it’s willful maliciousness to try to blame the right for a kid who was radicalized by the left. People are sick of this type of gaslighting and he was way too late to pretend there wasn’t enough information about the kid’s motive. It was all there long before he said this.

[A Thinking Mind]

And let’s also not pretend that this didn’t come after we saw victim-blaming approval, and in many cases, celebration for this murder. It was clear which side was more ideologically aligned with the result.

If conservatives scored points, it was based on the reactions of people to this assassination, not the shooter himself. I’ve pointed out in the past how I dislike mass shooters being used as political footballs each side is trying to push down the field, but the shooter is almost irrelevant because of the left’s response to this. People not only celebrated this murder, but they argued about how it was justified, and some started sharing suggestions for who needs to be killed next. That was how conservatives scored points from this: people absolutely demonstrated their beliefs.

It wasn’t the right trying to push an agenda to score points, it was lefties with a disgusting display of own-goals.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I'll have to point out here that I was mistaken about Kash fucking this investigation up, too. Turns out he was being ratfucked by the Deep State Utah FBI chief, and pulled rank to release the photos of the shooter and the gun that was used. Turns out Robinson took his Grandpa's Mauser, and in his haste to get away admitted that he not only left the gun behind, he probably left a bunch of prints and DNA all over the place in the process.

Robinson's dad recognized him from the photos, confronted him, and got him to admit that he did it. Recall that Brian Laundrie's parents are complete social pariahs now because they didn't turn him in and helped him hide out long enough to kill himself. Tyler's dad actually did the right thing and turned him in rather than risk getting his life completely destroyed by his son's idiocy. He's going to take a hit for a while, but ultimately the community will respect the fact that he didn't help his son dodge the law.

[A Thinking Mind]

I haven’t really followed the investigation angle. I always felt that catching an assassin who fled the scene in less than 48 hours was generally a success.

Of course, I don’t think there’s any risk of anyone under 50 ever pulling an Eric Rudolph in the modern world. The world is too plugged in, nobody is going to hide out in the wilderness for weeks or years, so there probably was no scenario in which they had video footage of him and he remained a fugitive for more than a few days.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Even before modern tech internet tech, if the feds really wanted to find you, they'd figure out how to do it. The FBI KNEW where the Weather Underground assholes were all hiding out, because they illegally tapped their phones. That's actually why Ayers and Dohrn ended up not doing prison time, because the evidence against them wasn't considered admissible on those grounds. They released the Unabomber's manifesto on the assumption someone would recognize his writing style and would turn him in, and that's exactly what happened.

Nowadays it's even easier. Digital forensics and Palantir surveillance make it pretty much impossible to dodge an arrest if they really want to catch you. The assholes in Colorado who dropped a rock on a girl's car from a bridge a couple of years ago and killed her were busted from the signals of their cell phones hitting the towers.

The only reason the Antifa terrorists that burned down the pregnancy centers after Dobbs were never caught is because Garland supported what they did. If they had done it to an abortion clinic, they would have been picked up within a week or less.

[mamabug]

If Jan 6 taught us anything, it was that the government has more than enough tools in their arsenal to track down anyone given enough time and institutional will to do it.

[Ron]

this all shooters are clearly crazy that surpasses any marginal political party they may have had affiliations with but in this case the lefts actions, even if the shooter had been Maga, make him a leftist loon, they literally own this shooting by their claims he deserved it and of who should be next

[Ron]

lets also not forget the lefts on going harassment of those memorializing Charlie Kirk. they own this one

[A Thinking Mind]

This kid doesn’t seem unhinged in the way that David DePape was, much less the guy who shot Gabby Giffords. This seemed like a run of the mill liberal kid who simply believes murder is an appropriate response to speech.

Likewise, the kid who shot Trump doesn’t seem to have mentally unstable, even if you think there’s insufficient information on him. The guy who tried to kill Trump at West Palm Beach does seem to have been some manner of whack job. But the guy who shot up the congressional baseball game in 2017 was not nuts at all, he was a bog-standard leftist whose life was falling apart and he decided to go out in a blaze of glory.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Nuh uh. They were all conservatives.

-kar/shrike/sarcjeff/molly, arguing in good faith.

[Ron]

Jimmy Kimmel simply pulled an Alex Jones, he made false statements that have been shown to lose big when sued. Even Disney couldn't afford that kind of lose both financially and to their reputation

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Are people reading his statement as a claim that the shooter was secretly MAGA?

That's literally what he fucking said. He wasn't doing anything other than repeating the troonsky psyop that a troon-chasing furfag was really MAGA.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

I made my comment that Bubba was ALMOST as dishonest as Lying Jeffy before reading this comment. I’ve changed my assessment.

[damikesc]

"We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them "

That certainly is him saying the shooter was MAGA.

[DesigNate]

Edit: should have kept scrolling to see you got put in your place by others.

[mad.casual]

malicious compliance, U.N. officials signaled that human rights programs

Not exactly a criticism Liz, but this isn't malicious compliance, it's just malicious.

If I cut funding to my local ice cream shop and they say my favorite flavor will have to go first, or that it will take weeks to get through the backlog and delay until the next guy is in charge, that's malicious compliance. If they say they can no longer serve the handicapped in the hopes that the backlash will make me look bad, that's just malice.

Maybe, semantically, I'm injecting a rational element of spite that the opposition isn't capable of, but that should be on them.

[Dillinger]

I like it.

[mad.casual]

On second reading, I may be too optimistic of their intellect.

I might be considering things like "running water and sanitation" or "free speech" as 'fundamental human rights' that will be cut off.

It seems entirely possible that they're threatening trying to threaten Trump by cutting off funding for free sex change operations for children.

Still just unnecessarily malicious or malicious *and* stupid though.

[Dillinger]

indeed.

[Fist of Etiquette]

.@adamcarolla reacts to the news that ABC has indefinitely suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live.

That response is too classy. What, does this guy think he's better than us???

[Fist of Etiquette]

What does this guy think he is, better than us???

[Fist of Etiquette]

What does this guy think he is better than, us???

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

Yes, they all think that way.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

His bank account says yes.

[Chumby]

1.1 million liberal boomers and progressive Gen X-ers will now have a free hour each weeknight. He’s like a philanthropist.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

It’s like an extra hour of sleep for them.

[Chumby]

Or they could spend the time updating their tranifesto or working on their furry costume.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

That’s more for the millennial and GenZ viewers.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

What, does this guy think he is, better than us???

[Chumby]

False flag. Kimmel worked with Trump to get the affiliates to cancel him.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

It’s false flags all the way down!

[Chumby]

There will be a Broadway play about it. Hopefully it gets nominated for a Tony.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

Otherwise known as a Molly.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

Ohhhh, 34DD chess.

[mad.casual]

With Charlie Kirk's assassin's motivations forever shrouded in mystery, the full story may take longer than the Kennedy Assassination to unravel.

[Chumby]

An enigma for sure. Could be a MAGA groyper. Saw a photo of him on Blue Sky wearing a Trump shirt.

[Randy Sax]

NEW: Chris Murphy, whose Senate career has been defined by his pursuit of gun control legislation, begins rethinking the litmus test he has applied to the issue

tl:dr
We are losing to many votes and need to backpedal a little to get more of them.

[Zeb]

I'm going to say it's often a good thing when legislators change their views when they realize public sentiment is against them.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

But politicians are supposed to know what’s best for us, not represent our interests.

[Quicktown Brix]

Like with tariffs that 61% of Americans disapprove of?

Oh well. You get used to it.

[tracerv]

Come on QB. Tarrifs in this conversation? You ask for it sometimes my friend.

[Quicktown Brix]

All this Charlie Kirk stuff has left me with a solid week of no tariff arguments. I'm in withdrawal.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

He has had a mask on for a week. Gets hot and sweaty under there though.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

At least he displays a bit of a sense of humor.

[Chumby]

He should remember to hydrate. Someone get him a glass of HO2.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

And a nice heaping plate of GMO turducken.

[Quicktown Brix]

You idiot! Turducken is GMO2.

[Zeb]

No, no, its GM2O. Which proves you are... someone, I'm sure.

[Quicktown Brix]

LOL. Nice capper!

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

Confront him with a fire extinguisher and a can of bear spray and the truth will reveal itself.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A lot of people with the same beliefs Charlie held woke up last week and realized some of their neighbors & friends & family members would celebrate if they got killed—and today the Left is asking them to care about a late night host who also hates them and got fired. Tone deaf.

Oh, so suddenly they're supposed to abandon their bubbles? TOO MUCH TO ASK.

[Mike Parsons]

People Okay With Murder Outraged By TV Show Cancellation
https://babylonbee.com/news

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

Should be Not The Bee.

[mad.casual]

I must say, "FCC Mandates Every Station Air Nightly Broadcast Of 'The President Trump Happy Fun Variety Hour'" is some pretty genuflection-worthy satire.

Obviously, the FCC shouldn't be dictating what does and does not get broadcast but, as far as saying what does and doesn't get broadcast goes... The Orange Hitler Comedy Show *would* be a highlight of the dark era of fascism.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Where have you all been for the last decade while people were debanked, deplatformed, and canceled??? You were cheering for it. That's where.

Well, to be fair, LOOK OVER THERE! [runs away]

[Fist of Etiquette]

To paraphrase a great president's once pastor, the American left's chickens have come home to roost.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

So the hipsters are back to Urban farming?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Is this about Mamdani's state grocery stores?

[Mickey Rat]

Rashida Tlaib goes on screaming, unhinged rant, asking for the "temperature to be turned down" while rationalizing calling her opponents fascists in the same breath:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwWB1oKOiQc&t=353s

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

She is one of the most toxic bitches to ever serve in Congress. I do wish the Speaker would call a vote to censure her.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

No, let her keep spewing, embarrass the hell out of who ever voted her into office.

[Randy Sax]

Treason for putting foreign nation's priorities above American's.

[mad.casual]

Assumes both individual and collective shame despite a lack of evidence.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

4 GOPe will protect her. They haven't forgotten who pays them.

[tracerv]

Mills vote is sure looking suspect. What a maroon.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Dude, I grew up going to school with Palestinians, and I promise you, they're nearly all like this. Massively entitled and are constantly crying out in pain while they strike you.

[Social Justice is neither]

So they're good progressives?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Yeah, and that's not an exaggeration. They may nominally be Muslim or Greek Orthodox, but politics and specifically marxism in all its forms is their real religion.

[Mike Parsons]

"The U.N. Pullout"

How does this relate to a Hot Carl, or Cleveland Steamer?

[Chumby]

Is Cleveland Steamer like an upper decker?

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

It’s the tops!

[tracerv]

This situation calls for the Angry Pirate.

http://angry-pirate.urbanup.com/5091311

[Longtobefree]

How many "homeless" can NYC put into the old UN building?

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

And then put up a tall fence.

[Chumby]

Cast in a foundry that melted confederate general statues for the metal.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

Only if a judge allows it.

[Longtobefree]

Nah.
Those guys would just pull it down and take it to the recycling center for cash.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Could be Manhattan Alcatraz.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Needz more gators.

[Super Scary]

Oh wait, I know this one! 1 to hold the ladder, 1000 to screw it in.

[mad.casual]

No, this is like burying the survivors of a plane crash on the border. Once they're in the UN building, they're not homeless, so 0.

[Ron]

not just the Un Building but all the residential housing In N.Y. that would become available when all the staffers and support people have to leave. Real estate prices would drop to rock bottom. better not let Trump know this since it would affect his buildings as well and he would quit that idea real quick

[Mother's Lament]

Liberal news rooms, breathing a sigh of relief: "You asked for a miracle, Theo... I give you the F C C."

Now we get to listen to the left REEEEEE incoherently about freedom of speech under attack, desperately trying to distract normie America from how they saw with their own eyeballs last week that a quarter of the liberals they know would celebrate their brutal murders for having normal American beliefs, while the rest would make excuses why they deserved it.

But anyways, poor Jimmy Kimmel. He's the real victim.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

having normal American beliefs

Do you not realize that Kirk WORKED FOR TRUMP??

-chemjeff

[Chumby]

I hear he debated college students.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

Poorly informed college students.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Are there any other kind?

[Ron]

Some say that he only debated them since he was not capable of debating professionals however he was proving a point and getting them while they were hopefully still open minded enough to see what bilge they were being taught

[Marshal]

Some say that he only debated them since he was not capable of debating professionals

What a coincidence, that's the same reason left wingers become college professors.

[Mother's Lament]

"not capable of debating professionals"

Not too many people are. You have to be super on the ball and have a good recollect ability, coupled with unflappability.

[Chumby]

The two previous team blue potus candidates couldn’t even coherently answer canned questions and required creative editing to attempt to make chicken salad. But let’s set a world record height bar for someone else.

[DesigNate]

To those people I say:

You obviously didn’t see much of Charlie Kirk if you think he only talked to dumb college kids.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

How disgusting!

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

UN can be funded by the EU since they are so much more wealthy and sophisticated, unlike cowboy Americans.

[Randy Sax]

Move the UN to Copenhagen and auction off the land in NY.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

What evil did the Danes do to deserve that? Move it to Paris.

[Mother's Lament]

Lindisfarne, 793.

[Mother's Lament]

Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen
Friendly old girl of a town
'Neath her tavern light
On this merry night
Let us clink and drink one down

[Mickey Rat]

""Denying the use of facilities because of a person's gender identity is considered unlawful discrimination under the state's Human Rights Law. New York City's guidelines on supporting transgender children also state that students cannot be forced to use a bathroom that conflicts with their gender identity.""

Facilities such as restrooms are segregated on the basis of sex, not gender. Is the Human Rights Law defining "gender" as synonymous with "sex"? Did the writer's of that law realize they were effectively outlawing single sex facilities. Do people, especially women, have no human rights to privacy from the opposite sex in certain types of facilities? If so, then this a bad, if not an outright evil law, should not be enforced, and should be repealed as soon as possible.

[mad.casual]

The saddest, most intellectually crushing part of the whole thing is the requisite pretense that humans don't have a biological sex and that bathrooms do.

It really goes past any sort of rational, "secular" middle ground and straight to "punish the infidels".

[damikesc]

Funny, seeing Sen. Hirono admitting that males and women are physiologically different.

Democrats do not believe the BS. At all.

[mamabug]

The sex != gender argument has completely fallen apart in the last few years. Just look at how everyone is describing Lance Twiggs - a male transitioning to female (complete biological impossibility that contradicts the whole 'gender is just a social construct' argument used to push the trans agenda in the first place).

[Longtobefree]

Ever notice how, of all the invented "genders" in the world, you can only transition to/from the two that actually exit in the real world?

Men are men; they cannot become women.
Women are women; they cannot become men.
The sun rises in the east.
The earth is not flat.
Deal with it.

[See.More]

The earth is not flat.

Ackshually...

More than 71% of the Earth is covered in water. The vast majority of that water (more than 99.9%, I wager) is not carbonated. Therefore, the Earth is, indeed, flat.

=P

[Longtobefree]

Like certain jokes - - - - - -

He'll be here all week, folks!

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

If cow farts can cause global warming, whale farts can keep the oceans bubbly.

[See.More]

If cow farts can cause global warming, whale farts can keep the oceans bubbly.

But that would be methane-ated, not carbonated...

[Mickey Rat]

The trans movement is ideologically caught up in Postmodernism, which is entirely cynical in its manipulation of word definitions. They do not believe in fixed definitions of words, even from moment to moment. All they care about is winning power by hook or by crook.

[mad.casual]

All they care about is winning power by hook or by crook.

And/or, arguably more importantly, forbidding any power to others, including their own speech and thought, by the same means.

Again it really is the Margaret Thatcher "more equal, but less well off" concept except they just kind of mumble through the "more equal" part because that means definitions.

[Longtobefree]

Forget it Mickey, it's New York City.

For reference:
"When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master— that's all."

(Through the looking Glass was published in 1871; major look forward)

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'"The U.S. continues to be assessed by the UN at an unfair rate, currently paying 26.1 percent of all global peacekeeping activities," reads a State Department report from earlier this year. "The U.S. is one of five members (P5) on the UN Security Council (UNSC) with permanent veto authority, yet the other P5 members' assessments average under nine percent.'

Easy fix. Weight the votes based on contribution.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'But 'I do not believe a safe environment is allowing boys and girls to use the same facility at the same time,' the mayor added, speaking at an unrelated news conference in front of the United Nations's headquarters." This will likely result in protracted legal battles: "Denying the use of facilities because of a person's gender identity is considered unlawful discrimination under the state's Human Rights Law.'

Another easy fix: close all the bathrooms.

[Longtobefree]

In an unrelated story, shovel sales skyrocket.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

Isn’t that how India operates normally?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I think this is roughly correct. But I also can't get over the weaponization of a government agency—the Federal Communications Commission—as the mechanism by which it happened.

That isn't how it happened, and any assertions in this regard are fake news. This happened at the ground level, not from the top.

What happened is that local affiliates under Nextar, which is owned by Disney via Sinclar Media, told Nextar and Sinclair that they wanted the show off their dials. This is a show that has taken a ratings nose-dive in the last decade, like all the other network late night shows. This isn't conjecture, it's an actual fucking fact that's easy to verify. The only people watching them consistently are Boomerlibs out of lifelong habit and political allegiance, and ads are primarily for various pharmaceuticals and reverse mortgages at this point.

The affiliates are notably mostly located in flyover country, and made the calculation that if that time slot is going to be a money-loser, they're better off showing reruns of Family Feud instead of propping up a guy who's nothing more than a DNC propagandist at this point. If he wasn't already losing them money, they'd live with it, but that's no longer the case, and since they're not getting backstopped by Blackrock funds, theirs no reason to keep indulging his politicsperging anymore.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But never waste a good "crisis". Or an opportunity to invent one.

[Dillinger]

>> But I also can't get over the weaponization of a government agency—the Federal Communications Commission—as the mechanism by which it happened.

mho, you & Kat Timpf both miss the obvious display of triumph of words. Brendan Carr did nothing but speak and results happened. no violence, no action. words won.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

And as I pointed out above, Carr didn't even do that. All he did was dunk on Kimmel after the fact. The affiliates are the ones who made it happen, not Carr.

[Dillinger]

gracias, Sinclair

[Open Borders Libertarian (formerly Sandra)]

I guess the centroid of the discussions I’ve had about Charlie Kirk over the last week was that he was a miserable fuck who spread hate and division. While perhaps he didn’t deserve what happened to him he would have excused a similar act committed against, say, an abortion clinic by the numerous right wing nutters out there. That sentiment is a lot more brave than the anodyne sentiments expressed by the author of this piece:

And this, too. I share the rage:

Oh, fuck off. Charlie Kirk was a fuck and you probably are too.

[Mickey Rat]

How many abortion clinics have been attacked in the past decade compared to how many crisis pregnancy centers have been attacked by pro-abortion extremists?

[Open Borders Libertarian (formerly Sandra)]

Since we’re all supposed to engage in some stupid collective hagiography around the life of Charlie Kirk i’ll invoke his words, employed by him about trans shooters and by me about abortion bombings: “Too many.”

God, what a douche he was.

[Mother's Lament]

You're a lying sack of shit, KAR. Always interesting how you can never give a quote or a specific example to back up your deranged smears.

Also, quit socking as Sandra or at least spell her name right.

[Chumby]

KAR is transitioning to a woman. From what? Not a man. Anyhow, the new name is Sandra (or Trandra to her clients).

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Kill yourself.

[Open Borders Libertarian (formerly Sandra)]

Case in point: Discussion with my wife after doing it…

Me: “… yeah well… I guess I’d say that he didn’t deserve getting shot for what he believed.”
Her: “He was a fuck. His wife looks more annoying than he was.”
Me: “I know, but her husband just got killed so even though she looks stupid it’s hard to judge… she was once Ms. Arizona or something”
Her: “Yeah, and she’s getting fat. That Ozempic a’int working bitch”
Me: “Jesus Christ!”

Some people are downright cruel!

[MT-Man]

Your wife's grammar in her dialogue indicates a lower level of existing. I'm sorry for you!

[Mother's Lament]

There is no wife. KARs sex life is comprised entirely of rape and is rarely with an adult, and often not even a human.

What KAR wrote is a fantasy. His last conquest was not capable of speech.

[InsaneTrollLogic (smarter than The Average Dude)]

As if KAR were actually married.

[Chumby]

I don’t doubt he has a husband.

[Minadin]

What species of trans-Mormon furry do you suppose?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Shitthatneverhappened.txt

[Open Borders Libertarian (formerly Sandra)]

I’m not claiming the discussion is verbatim here, but it was the gist of the conversation.

When are we throwing down you fat turd? Post your address… I lost it.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

LOL, sure.

And quit playing like you aren't stalking my posts and don't have it saved. Feel free to drop by anytime.

[Mother's Lament]

"Discussion with my wife"

And Then The Whole Bus Clapped

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Kill yourself.

[TJJ2000]

"Trump withdrew from the rights council and the World Health Organization [WHO] earlier this year"

EXCELLENT!!

[damikesc]

Hmmm...96 Democrats refused to support a resolution honoring Charlie Kirk.

AOC then decided to attack him on the floor.

There. Is. No. Compromise. Or. Dialogue. With. Them.

[sarcasmic]

What did he do that was so honorable? Argue with college students? Support Trump? Sure his murder was terrible and the people who celebrate it are disgusting, but the way Trump and Republicans are politicizing it is no different than what Democrats do after a mass shooting. I'm just waiting for the GOP to propose a "Charlie Kirk" law that criminalizes anti-Trump political speech and bans trannies from having guns.

[Mother's Lament]

Oh wow. Even in the face of his tribe constantly killing conservatives and MAGA, Sarc manages to make himself the real victim again.

"Sure it's bad he killed all the Jews and whatever, but the real problem is potential repercussions I've just imagined against Germans like me".

[Chumby]

Something something something, BUT!

He promoted the idea of debate instead of violence and was assassinated for that. He talked ideas where he was struck down by a rainbow cultist’s bullet at the young age of 31. A tragedy.

The politicization by team blue and its apologists is creating more resolve within the right. The lying (MAGA groyper Trump shirt crap), the boaf sidez, the moral equivalence, the mischaracterizations, the open celebrations, the destruction of memorials, and the attempts at minimization all to bolster team blue is backfiring. Some with TDS now suffering from KDS.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Good to see you're still chemjeff's sycophant, echoing every dumbass talking point of his.

[MWAocdoc]

I hate to have to keep reminding Reason commentators of this, but there is no self-contradiction for lefties in approving of the cancellation and debanking of righties while decrying the injustice of cancelling Kimmel, because it has nothing whatever to do with any basic principle about free speech. For lefties it is a tactical matter of eliminating evil: they feel it is okay to celebrate the murder of Charlie Kirk because he was "literally Hitler" but deplatforming Kimmel is a violation of his First Amendment right to free speech because he is NOT "literally Hitler!" All clear now, Reason?

[MWAocdoc]

I know it might be too subtle a distinction for some of the blunt objects on this page, but the FCC threatening to yank the broadcast licenses of some broadcast stations who air broadcasts that officials don't like is not the problem. The problem is that the FCC has the explicit duty under the law to regulate broadcast stations in the public interest in the first place. Never mind that the regulatory definition of "public interest" is unconstitutionally broad and vague, the only possibly legitimate excuse for the existence of the FCC at all is to issue permits to use the electromagnetic spectrum. Content should have nothing whatever to do with making sure that radio broadcasts do not turn into chaotic noise. But of course Trump has no intention of voluntarily eliminating a possible dministrative tool that can be weaponized to help him smite his personal and political enemies. The solution to this problem is not "turnabout is fair play!" The solution is to repeal the part of the regulation that gives officials the authority to regulate content. I'm not holding my breath.

[MWAocdoc]

"What is truly in America's interest to fund? What do we have budget for?"

This is way too generous a question! The idiots who are being asked this believe in such bullshit items as "vital national interests" and "making the world safe for democracy" and there is no rational, logical approach to these people available! It's not about the money, guys. There has not been a single successful diplomatic negotiation in the history of the United Nations that anyone can possibly believe has benefited the American people generally; while I can cite quite a number of disasters resulting from our participation and financial support to their slush fund. And don't make me laugh about "Peacekeeping forces! The eradication of small pox is the only possible exception that comes to mind. Pull out of the U.N. completely and stop sending out foreign aid immediately.

[Longtobefree]

"What do we have budget for?"

Not the question.
The question is "What does the US Constitution require the federal government to do?"
If the constitution does not require it, the states or the people are stuck with the job.

Then the question becomes "How do we fund those few things we are required to do?"

[Use the Schwartz]

A possibly interesting evolution for Sen. Chris Murphy (D–Conn.)

Not really, this is more of the same old Dem skinsuit "we need say different words to hide what we really believe" thing.

[Roberta]

All I know is, 10 years ago, running for president, DJT answered a question on this subject, "I think they should use whatever bathroom they want to use." Which is still the most sensible thing anyone's said on the subject. You simply have bathrooms there and let their users sort themselves out.

[Vernon Depner]

^^^The only female who believes this.

[Public Entelectual]

Were the UN worth its salt in its salad days, it might have warded off the Six Day War and many that followed it by shifting the Irish troops who kept the Greek and Turks from each other's throats on Cyprus to the Levantine mainland.

It didn't happen.