Seth takes a closer look at Rudy Giuliani’s damning phone call pressuring Ukrainian officials to interfere in the 2020 election.
I’ll say it. White people are not okay. They have more access to a life saving, pandemic-ending vaccine than anyone on earth and while the rest of the world suffers, these entitled ingrates treat the cure like a disease.
This is gluttony. https://t.co/4DX8XMFL4A— Nunca Trumpismo (@NeverTrumpTexan) June 10, 2021
She’s a horrible human. How anyone could ever take her seriously is a sign of how far we have fallen.
re: #1 jaunte
And she has Crackhead Mike as her confidant…
SpaceX is supposed to be people who aren’t a bunch of fuckin’ retards.
Stop hiring interns from the Portnov School of Computer Literacy.
— Sean McCabe (@darthstar99) June 10, 2021
re: #253 Hecuba’s daughter
Gohmert was being a jerk but, as was explained elsewhere, he wasn’t suggesting that anyone can change the earth’s orbit but only that climate change is not due to human activity — especially not fossil fuels, but rather due to solar flares, the earth’s orbit, and the moon’s orbit — so that there is nothing we can do about it, so we can continue on our merry way of putting carbon into the atmosphere and keeping the Texas oil industry running at full capacity.
Even if Climate change were completely non-anthropogenic, I’d _still_ want to save myself from it.
Maybe Gohmert is looking for a literal deus ex machina, maybe after the end of the world.
re: #5 aatharuv
Even if Climate change were completely non-anthropogenic, I’d _still_ want to save myself from it.
Maybe Gohmert is looking for a literal deus ex machina, maybe after the end of the world.
it’s the “covid escaped from a lab” argument.
I’m with you
doesnt matter why were here
doesn’t matter what happened
we are here
arguing why is pointless
what are we gonna do?
re: #6 Dangerman
it’s the “covid escaped from a lab” argument.
I’m with you
doesnt matter why were here
doesn’t matter what happened
we are here
arguing why is pointless
what are we gonna do?
In this case, it does matter how we got here, because the solutions would be different. If our use of fossil fuels is a significant factor in climate change, then we can address the problem by a drastic modification in how we produce energy for our society. If fossil fuels are irrelevant, then we have to explore entirely different mechanisms to stop this change or adapt to its inevitable effects. Anthropogenic change can potentially be reversed by alterations in our behavior; that is not so likely if we are facing catastrophe from outside.
re: #8 Hecuba’s daughter
In this case, it does matter how we got here, because the solutions would be different. If our use of fossil fuels is a significant factor in climate change, then we can address the problem by a drastic modification in how we produce energy for our society. If fossil fuels are irrelevant, then we have to explore entirely different mechanisms to stop this change or adapt to its inevitable effects. Anthropogenic change can potentially be
reversedSlowed by alterations in our behavior; that is not so likely if we are facing catastrophe from outside.
fifty
Democracy was a wonderful idea but it doesn’t seem to be working out https://t.co/RkaBS0mPn6
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) June 9, 2021
re: #2 A Mom Anon
She’s being treated as an expert. FFS.
re: #8 Hecuba’s daughter
In this case, it does matter how we got here, because the solutions would be different. If our use of fossil fuels is a significant factor in climate change, then we can address the problem by a drastic modification in how we produce energy for our society. If fossil fuels are irrelevant, then we have to explore entirely different mechanisms to stop this change or adapt to its inevitable effects. Anthropogenic change can potentially be reversed by alterations in our behavior; that is not so likely if we are facing catastrophe from outside.
An analogy for those who know the games: Bridge vs chess.
To solve a chess problem, it doesn’t matter how you got to the position, all the information needed is available with the current situation. That would be covid: whether it’s natural or escaped from a lab, you look at where you are to solve it.
For a bridge game, you have to know how you got to the current position in order to figure out the right approach. So if there were any actual scientific uncertainty about our environmental problems, then it would be critical to determine why it was happening before you could solve it.
Of course, there is no such uncertainty about climate change — there are only liars who don’t care about the truth or the future of our planet if it might impact their net worth and who have been operating for decades to conceal this truth. Rather like the tobacco companies and their role in lung cancer and other health issues, the fossil fuel industry has excelled at diverting attention from their role in damaging the planet.
Louie Gohmert wasn’t really asking if the Forest Service could alter the Earth’s orbit. He was sardonically suggesting that to address climate change, it would *have* to — which is not a smarter take. https://t.co/ryPBXjAjoZ
— Philip Bump (@pbump) June 10, 2021
re: #4 darthstar
SpaceX is supposed to be people who aren’t a bunch of fuckin’ retards.
[Embedded content]
The engineers are building rockets.
re: #13 jaunte
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Gohmert was expressing what is slowly becoming the new GQP position with regards to climate change: “While we’re not longer arguing whether or not climate change is happening, we are saying that there’s nothing we humans can do to stop it so we might as well just stay the course.”
re: #15 Targetpractice
They’re claiming any attempt at a cure will be worse than the disease.
re: #16 jaunte
They’re claiming any attempt at a cure will be worse than the disease.
Gee, that sounds familiar.
re: #18 jaunte
Masks. Social distancing. Vaccines. School closures.
“An inconvenience to me is base tyranny”
—The Narcissist GOP
Marcus Gause — principal of T. Wingate Andrews High School in High Point, North Carolina was supposed to just give a speech to the graduating class
Then this happened
🥺
pic.twitter.com/mqCmiZzCHS— chris evans (@chris_notcapn) June 10, 2021
re: #16 jaunte
They’re claiming any attempt at a cure will be worse than the disease.
It’s the patient who just learned after years of denial that they’re diabetic now arguing with their doctors about how the danger of complications in the future is a certainty, so there’s no reason for them to alter their diet or lifestyle. “I’m gonna lose a foot eventually, might as well live my life to the fullest! And besides, prosthetic feet are pretty good these days!”
re: #16 jaunte
They’re claiming any attempt at a cure will be worse than the disease.
It’s a difficult problem, and it’s one of those cases where both sides are to blame. Too many on the left have a visceral hatred of nuclear power. You can’t get rid of fossil fuels with today’s technology without going nuclear or stopping progress.
You fear change and all that is new
Stand in the way of progress
Like primitive man afraid of fire
Till the explored it’s many uses
The power of the atom at our disposal
Yet it’s called unsafe
Nuclear energy so clean and pure
Your ignorance is a disgrace
Do not resist
It is your destiny
Have we not all became
The children of technology
Holding fate in a magnetic grip
Of all your irrational fears
The shadow of machinery cast upon the flesh
Blood sweat and gears
The robots of dawn offsprings of industry
Stop you in the cobalt blue light
One fell swoop and you’ve become a memory
Away with your intrusive life
Into the reactor!
You worship a dead man hung with nails
Only a fool would die for the sins of humanity
On your knees before electronics
Lets replace this religious insanity
Tear down the churches and tear up the grounds
Build there the holy reactors
Give us the children science and math
In place of bibles and pastors
You bleeding heart liberals
Who oppose the NRC
Must be completed to retire
You serve only as obstacles and should be used
To fuel the nuclear pyre
Even if he’s dead in 2024, they could Weekend at Bernie’s him. And if he’s incarcerated, he’ll run from his prison cell.
— aagcobb (@aagcobb1) June 10, 2021
re: #16 jaunte
They’re claiming any attempt at a cure will be worse than the disease.
Have you watched Snowpiercer? The backstory is that a geo-engineering attempt to reverse global warming is what caused the Big Freeze.
re: #26 sagehen
Have you watched Snowpiercer? The backstory is that a geo-engineering attempt to reverse global warming is what caused the Big Freeze.
Which should be all the more worrying because guys like Gohmert are the kind who, faced with a choice between a crazy idea at geo-engineering in the far-flung future or cutting back CO2 emissions now will choose the former because it means we can put off doing the latter until some indefinite future date.
re: #28 Belafon
He can’t hold his hate rallies from jail.
The man is crazy enough to demand his lawyers argue before a judge that being a presidential candidate means he has to have access to campaign venues.
Everybody: So NOW are you going to prosecute Trump for obstruction of justice and abuse of power?
Dems: Ask Biden.
Biden: Ask Garland
Garland: The law forbids me from trying.
Everybody: Which laws?
Garland: You know, the ones that say powerful white men are always unaccountable.— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) June 10, 2021
Map of COVID-19 vaccination rates in Colorado, by county. Darker green denotes higher rates.
Low rates out on the eastern plains, TFG country. The closer you are to a ski area the higher the vaccination rate.
Routt: Steamboat, Howelsen Hill
Grand: Winter Park, Granby Ranch, Bluebird
Boulder: Eldora
Summit: Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain
Lake: Ski Cooper
Eagle: Vail, Beaver Creek
Pitkin: Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, Snowmass
Gunnison: Crested Butte, Cranor Hill
Chaffee: Monarch
San Miguel: Telluride
San Juan (highest vaccination rate, 89.1% have at least one dose): Silverton Mountain, Kendall Mountain
La Plata: Purgatory, Hesperus
Mineral: Wolf Creek
The outliers are Mesa where Powderhorn is, Garfield with Sunlight (where I work), and Clear Creek where Loveland and Echo Mountain are.
Phew. Well, Lizards, that is a map of CO counties and a list of all the ski areas and what county they’re in.
You know, information.
re: #30 The GOP is a terrorist organization
[Embedded content]
Everybody: But that’s ridiculous, everybody must be equal under the law.
Garland: Right, which is why I have to defend Trump no matter what, because the only way we can fix the blatant partisanship in the DOJ during the Trump years…is to argue before the courts that it was totally legal.
Two passengers on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean have tested positive for Covid-19. https://t.co/xAWi2lSidb
— CNN (@CNN) June 10, 2021
Queen Elizabeth II marked what would have been Prince Philip’s 100th birthday with the planting of a newly bred rose named in his honor. https://t.co/dWI66nsTLT
— ABC News (@ABC) June 10, 2021
Firefighters have rescued a man who says he was trapped for two days inside a giant fan at a Northern California vineyard. The man told authorities he liked taking pictures of old engines but they say he had more meth than camera equipment. https://t.co/fgg68d25wF
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 9, 2021
A good indication of the crazy levels of phosphate fertilizer being used in Turkish agriculture running off into the rivers and sea.
— I am not the droid you are looking for (AlanMK) (@GardeningAtNigh) June 10, 2021
re: #35 teleskiguy
You’d have to be the kind of person to fuck up a doctor’s exam in “Idiocracy” to get on a cruise ship right now.
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There is something about money being involved that makes people stupid. That if you can’t get a refund for purchases over a certain price, you will do anything up to and including endangering your own life just to make it “worth it.”
re: #35 teleskiguy
You’d have to be the kind of person to fuck up a doctor’s exam in “Idiocracy” to get on a cruise ship right now.
[Embedded content]
If they were running cruises in my area, I’d be there in a hot second. You don’t have to board a cruise ship to catch covid. Also, I’m vaccinated.
re: #38 Targetpractice
There is something about money being involved that makes people stupid. That if you can’t get a refund for purchases over a certain price, you will do anything up to and including endangering your own life just to make it “worth it.”
Current policies of most lines allow for 100% refunds practically up to the last minute.
re: #39 A hollow voice says NOW drain that swamp!
If they were running cruises in my area, I’d be there in a hot second. You don’t have to board a cruise ship to catch covid. Also, I’m vaccinated.
Eh, not my cup of tea. I would maybe maybe do Jam Cruise, and even then probably not.
re: #40 teleskiguy
Eh, not my cup of tea. I would maybe maybe do Jam Cruise, and even then probably not.
I was really hoping that cruises wouldn’t survive COVID, simply because of how big of a floating environmental disaster to the oceans they are. Hopefully there will be fewer of them but I’m not going to hold my breath.
re: #41 Jack Burton, Gunner on Death Star of David
I was really hoping that cruises wouldn’t survive COVID, simply because of how big of a floating environmental disaster to the oceans they are. Hopefully there will be fewer of them but I’m not going to hold my breath.
I have been in places where ships congregate — notably the Panama Canal, but I also live near a port city — and I always see one, or maybe two cruise ships among the dozens of container ships. And we’re not even considering the fishing fleets. Are cruise ships where you should be concentrating your concern?
re: #27 Targetpractice
Which should be all the more worrying because guys like Gohmert are the kind who, faced with a choice between a crazy idea at geo-engineering in the far-flung future or cutting back CO2 emissions now will choose the former because it means we can put off doing the latter until some indefinite future date.
as long as he gets to ride at the front of the train
re: #41 Jack Burton, Gunner on Death Star of David
I was really hoping that cruises wouldn’t survive COVID, simply because of how big of a floating environmental disaster to the oceans they are. Hopefully there will be fewer of them but I’m not going to hold my breath.
They are a well-established and well-lobbied industry: one that generates high profits because it is positioned to exploit a cheap workforce by sailing under foreign flags where labor laws are lax if or not enforced at all.
re: #40 teleskiguy
Eh, not my cup of tea. I would maybe maybe do Jam Cruise, and even then probably not.
I would have thought so too, before I tried it. But you already have one fairly pricey recreation, might not be a good idea to add another.
re: #45 A hollow voice says NOW drain that swamp!
I would have thought so too, before I tried it. But you already have one fairly pricey recreation, might not be a good idea to add another.
I used to make a good living off of Rhine River cruises. They are currently all on hold until end of July.
But I would not even get on one unless everyone was vaccinated or tested regularly, as in daily or every other day.
Being vaccinated isn’t much use when DeSatan won’t let the ships dock because they have Covid.
re: #44 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
They are a well-established and well-lobbied industry: one that generates high profits because it is positioned to exploit a cheap workforce by sailing under foreign flags where labor laws are lax if or not enforced at all.
Not thrilled with the working conditions either, but the people who crew the ships can buy homes and send their kids to college, as their neighbors can not. They wouldn’t thank us for abolishing their source of income. Better to work at reforming the job descriptions than abolishing the jobs.
re: #48 A hollow voice says NOW drain that swamp!
Not thrilled with the working conditions either, but the people who crew the ships can buy homes and send their kids to college, as their neighbors can not. They wouldn’t thank us for abolishing their source of income. Better to work at reforming the job descriptions than abolishing the jobs.
The captain and perhaps the engineering staff probably make enough to buy homes or send kids to college, the service, kitchen and cleaning staff make enough to live off of and send back home to their families who do not have enough…
re: #46 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
I used to make a good living off of Rhine River cruises. They are currently all on hold until end of July.
But I would not even get on one unless everyone was vaccinated or tested regularly, as in daily or every other day.
The situation is, as you know, “fluid,” but I think that’s the way they’ll go with it. The plan seems to be to require vaccination. The only exception I’ve seen is Royal Caribbean, and they’ve said there will be testing and “procedures.” I imagine if you voluntarily disclose that you’re vaccinated, you can skip all that.
But if you’re fully vaccinated, you should be able to get on one without worrying about it. That is, after all, the point of being vaccinated. I’d still avoid long periods with large indoor crowds, though.
re: #50 A hollow voice says NOW drain that swamp!
But if you’re fully vaccinated, you should be able to get on one without worrying about it. That is, after all, the point of being vaccinated. I’d still avoid long periods with large indoor crowds, though.
There is no way to maintain distance and sufficient hygiene on a river cruise ship. And every stopover and excursion into a town or city is another drop on the petri dish…
re: #49 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
The captain and perhaps the engineering staff probably make enough to buy homes or send kids to college, the service, kitchen and cleaning staff make enough to live off of and send back home to their families who do not have enough…
The captain and engineering staff are highly paid (and mostly “first-world”)professionals. The service, kitchen and cleaning staff make enough to be well-off in comparison to their neighbors. Especially if they’re tipped.
re: #52 A hollow voice says NOW drain that swamp!
The captain and engineering staff are highly paid (and mostly “first-world”)professionals. The service, kitchen and cleaning staff make enough to be well-off in comparison to their neighbors. Especially if they’re tipped.
I don’t have the stats to argue, I do know that the working conditions are pretty gruesome, with long shifts and little free time at all.
re: #51 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
There is no way to maintain distance and sufficient hygiene on a river cruise ship. And every stopover and excursion into a town or city is another drop on the petri dish…
That’s what vaccination protects you from. (I’ve never been on a river cruise — the ocean-going ships allow plenty of space to distance yourself if you want to.)
Over 70 firefighting crews, 10 aerial tankers battle to contain MASSIVE FIRE near Jerusalem, Ma’aleh HaHamisha residents evacuated
More: https://t.co/J72BhYpuXo pic.twitter.com/HJdWP7UOo2— RT (@RT_com) June 10, 2021
re: #55 Dread Pirate Ron
[Embedded content]
Latest is that it’s largely under control, and the evacuees have been allowed to return home. No word yet on the cause…
re: #42 A hollow voice says NOW drain that swamp!
I have been in places where ships congregate — notably the Panama Canal, but I also live near a port city — and I always see one, or maybe two cruise ships among the dozens of container ships. And we’re not even considering the fishing fleets. Are cruise ships where you should be concentrating your concern?
International trade and commercial fishing are arguably defensible, if not necessary activities. Giant obnoxious cruise ships are an unnecessary luxury and extremely exploitive of the workers aside from being polluting nightmares. They are just giant middle fingers floating around the world.
There’s a reason all these big “American” cruise ship companies are flagged as vessels from other countries like Panama. These are countries with lax laws on this sort of thing. US flagged vessels have to pay their crew US minimum wage among other things.
I went on a short 15 mile ride yesterday. I found a marijuana grow warehouse business in an industrial area of the town. They don’t seem to filter their air system.
re: #52 A hollow voice says NOW drain that swamp!
The captain and engineering staff are highly paid (and mostly “first-world”)professionals. The service, kitchen and cleaning staff make enough to be well-off in comparison to their neighbors. Especially if they’re tipped.
I earn well as a free-lancer working for the cruise lines, and they do tip well.
And my vaccination appointments finally came: next week and second shot at end of July so I will be ready to rock. I volunteer for the hiking tours either up to the castles in Marksburg or Bacharach or up the cable lift in Boppard.
We walk up and ride down, which is actually pretty stupid…
re: #59 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
I earn well as a free-lancer working for the cruise lines, and they do tip well.
And my vaccination appointments finally came: next week and second shot at end of July so I will be ready to rock. I volunteer for the hiking tours either up to the castles in Marksburg or Bacharach or up the cable lift in Boppard.
We walk up and ride down, which is actually pretty stupid…
Good exercise, though. And it’s hard to catch covid if you’re outdoors. Wearing masks is still advised, though.
re: #60 A hollow voice says NOW drain that swamp!
Good exercise, though. And it’s hard to catch covid if you’re outdoors. Wearing masks is still advised, though.
Yes, I gotta get back into shape if these tours are going to start up again this season…I have been rather slacking off lately.
re: #52 A hollow voice says NOW drain that swamp!
The captain and engineering staff are highly paid (and mostly “first-world”)professionals. The service, kitchen and cleaning staff make enough to be well-off in comparison to their neighbors. Especially if they’re tipped.
The cruise ships are just another business that depends on their customers to supplement the low pay they give to their workers. A couple of days before the end of the cruise, a card and several envelopes are left in your stateroom. The card “suggests” the proper tip amount for each of the individuals who may have “assisted” you. This includes positions such as Room Steward, Ass’t Room Steward, Head Waiter, Ass’t Waiter, Wine Steward, and the maître d’. The suggestion was a tip of $50 for the maître d’ (who assigned you your meal seating at the first meal and someone you never saw again).
On a 10 day cruise, if you tipped the suggested amounts ($ per day X 5-6 employees X no. of days) you can expect to drop off at least another $500 to subsidize their employees salaries.
We were generous with the ass’t waiter and ass’t room steward as they really worked to keep us comfortable. The rest, not very much.
Cruise ships are just like restaurants, expecting tipping to offset poor employee salaries.
re: #61 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
Yes, I gotta get back into shape if these tours are going to start up again this season…I have been rather slacking off lately.
I’m also trying to recover from minimal exercise, and I am sore everywhere. But feeling a bit more fit.
re: #62 Cheechako
The cruise ships are just another business that depends on their customers to supplement the low pay they give to their workers. A couple of days before the end of the cruise, a card and several envelopes are left in your stateroom. The card “suggests” the proper tip amount for each of the individuals who may have “assisted” you. This includes positions such as Room Steward, Ass’t Room Steward, Head Waiter, Ass’t Waiter, Wine Steward, and the maître d’. The suggestion was a tip of $50 for the maître d’ (who assigned you your meal seating at the first meal and someone you never saw again).
On a 10 day cruise, if you tipped the suggested amounts ($ per day X 5-6 employees X no. of days) you can expect to drop off at least another $500 to subsidize their employees salaries.
We were generous with the ass’t waiter and ass’t room steward as they really worked to keep us comfortable. The rest, not very much.
Cruise ships are just like restaurants, expecting tipping to offset poor employee salaries.
I’m not sure what line you’re talking about. The ones I’ve been on certainly provide envelopes for gratuities, but there’s no hard sell. There’s a daily charge for service in general, and a standard added charge for drinks, spa services, and all that.
Since they are standard charges, I think of it as a way for the lines to make their prices seem cheaper to the consumer. Like “resort fees” in Las Vegas hotels.
re: #64 A hollow voice says NOW drain that swamp!
I’m not sure what line you’re talking about. The ones I’ve been on certainly provide envelopes for gratuities, but there’s no hard sell. There’s a daily charge for service in general, and a standard added charge for drinks, spa services, and all that.
Since they are standard charges, I think of it as a way for the lines to make their prices seem cheaper to the consumer. Like “resort fees” in Las Vegas hotels.
Our one and only cruise was to Alaska from Vancouver BC 25 years ago on the Princess Cruise line ship “Star Princess”. Things may have changed since then.
Learned a lot on that cruise. Will never cruise on a Princess ship again. Princess owns the rights to the Love Boat Song, and, morning, noon, and night that song was playing somewhere on that ship.
Don’t rush to buy souvenir clothing or trinkets early in the cruise. The last two days have major price reductions.
Too much to do and not enough time to do it. Never did get to the midnight chocolate buffet.
Don’t get sick on a Princess ship. The on board Doctor and Nurse were contractors and had to be paid up front (via CC) before you could see them. My wife caught a cold/flu and went to see them. They were not very helpful for the $200 cost. Remember this was 1996 dollars.
re: #65 Cheechako
Our one and only cruise was to Alaska from Vancouver BC 25 …
Were you expected to tip the galley slaves?
I still have my eclipse glasses from 1999, the last full eclipse here in Germany.
We got a about an 18% chunk covered at the height of the eclipse, which is just passing now.
re: #69 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
I still have my eclipse glasses from 1999, the last full eclipse here in Germany.
We got a about an 18% chunk covered at the height of the eclipse, which is just passing now.
We ran to Harbor Freight the other day and bought a two-pack of welding goggles. But to take the photos I kinda had to do a Trump and look directly at it.
re: #54 A hollow voice says NOW drain that swamp!
That’s what vaccination protects you from. (I’ve never been on a river cruise — the ocean-going ships allow plenty of space to distance yourself if you want to.)
I’ve done a couple of river cruises, smaller affairs. The Upper Mississippi here in Minnesota has some boats that will run up to the top of the navigable Mississippi River, at St. Anthony Falls, and then run downriver a ways before returning to the docks below the Mill City Museum. A former company of mine rented one of those river cruisers every summer for a company (plus spouses) getaway/drinking affair. The ships are not built for open deck space and are primarily enclosed, and the dimensions of the river locks are such that the ships are not large. For all that, it’s super cool to sail the river and to have the captain pointing out things that you otherwise wouldn’t notice, and as the son of a civil engineer, transiting locks is always fascinating to me.
re: #71 Dopamine Fish
Rhine River cruises give you lots and lots of time to enjoy the scenery, especially where there are over 30 castles on a 40-mile stretch from Rüdesheim to Koblenz
re: #72 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
Rhine River cruises give you lots and lots of time to enjoy the scenery, especially where there are over 30 castles on a 40-mile stretch from Rüdesheim to Koblenz
Here, the limit of the navigable river is just on the other side of the historical mill district, where General Mills and others had their great riverside mill complexes in the early days. The Mill City Museum is on the bank above the river. It overlooks the ruins of the Washburn A Mill, founded by the company that would eventually become General Mills, which exploded in a fuel-air explosion in 1878 and leveled the riverside mill district. The river itself is limited by decree of President Obama, who ordered the US Army Corps of Engineers to close the Upper St. Anthony Falls locks to navigation to prevent the spread of invasive water species into the pristine headwaters of the mighty Mississippi.
re: #73 Dopamine Fish
Well into the 19th century, the Middle Rhine used to be impassable for large ships between Bingen and Bacharach, it was full of rapids, rocks and white water. Until the mid 60’s you needed to take a local pilot on board to get you through that stretch.
That meant that in the Middle Ages, only small boats could pass along a towpath on the banks, where robber barons then built their castles and demanded a toll from everything that passed.
re: #74 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
Well into the 19th century, the Middle Rhine used to be impassable for large ships between Bingen and Bacharach, it was full of rapids, rocks and white water. Until the mid 60’s you needed to take a local pilot on board to get you through that stretch.
That meant that in the Middle Ages, only small boats could pass along a towpath on the banks, where robber barons then built their castles and demanded a toll from everything that passed.
Lower St. Anthony in Minneapolis was, for the longest time, the limit of navigation on the Mississippi River, due to the double falls preventing craft from coming down above the city. That’s why the city was founded, as a navigation port at the top of the navigable channel to ship lumber (and later, flour) down the river, to Missouri or to New Orleans. It wasn’t until 1956 that the lower locks were completed to allow navigation directly up to the mill district, and 1963 when the upper locks were completed to allow navigation by river-draft vessels all the way up to Coon Rapids. Before then, mills drew water power from the waterfall and opened navigation ports below the falls to dock the steamers for shipping.
Though the mills have long since moved on from their riverside operations, Xcel Energy maintains a massive hydroelectric power complex at St. Anthony Falls. They operate the twin dams at the upper and lower falls, which were built together with the locks by the Army Corps of Engineers specifically to harness the power of the river after the mills had left.
Twitter allows sharing of ProPublica article on leaked IRS data after blocking NY Post’s Biden story
While Twitter blocked users from sharing a New York Post story on published emails allegedly from Hunter Biden’s laptop, ProPublica did not face similar consequences despite sharing what could be illegally leaked private information.
two hint
s to fox ‘news’
1. publishing illegally obtained info is not illegal if you didnt have a part in the ‘obtaining’
2. more important, one of the two stories is true and based on facts. One is not.
This family drove all the way from Tennessee to bother people on their way into a doctors office. pic.twitter.com/ko5h47bd4V
— LvilleClinicEscorts (@LouClinicEscort) June 10, 2021
They drove over 4 hours to do….this
— LvilleClinicEscorts (@LouClinicEscort) June 10, 2021
Sully out here measuring skulls again.
Only a mediocre muppet would think a Black woman becomes AG of the third largest state in the country, senator from that same state, and Vice President by being untalented. She’s likely twice as talented as many white people in politics. https://t.co/D91YT8KNB0— Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) June 10, 2021
I don’t care if Kamala Harris gave a bad interview. Everyone gives bad interviews. But calling her one of the least talented politicians in the country is rank bullshit especially when the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Laurie Boebert are Karenning all over the goddamn place
— Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) June 10, 2021
re: #81 Backwoods_Sleuth
I don’t care if Kamala Harris gave a bad interview. Everyone gives bad interviews. But calling her one of the least talented politicians in the country is rank bullshit especially when the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Laurie Boebert are Karenning all over the goddamn place
Again, remember how they reacted to a black President.
Remember how they reacted to a female Presidential candidate.
Therefore, their reaction to Kamala = (Obama + Hillary)²
Where Voters Are Losing Patience With Lauren Boebert - POLITICO - Could these folks please call their friends in Taylor-Greene’s District and give them a nudge! At least Boebert still has Committee assignments! https://t.co/ZMJPUfiKZ0
— Mark C. Dowis (@dowis_mark) June 10, 2021
re: #81 Backwoods_Sleuth
She gave a bad interview? How bad was it? I want an objective comparison against interviews given by TFG, because that man literally could not give a good interview. Every single one was whining about bullshit and lies that were so preposterous his handlers had to go out the next day and “creatively interpret” what he meant.
“Freedom’s just another word for doing what Greg Abbott things you should”
— Actually malicious, no actual malice (@apark2453) June 10, 2021
re: #85 Dopamine Fish
The founding myth of America is that Pilgrims came here to seek Religious Freedom.
They came here to freely practice imposing their religion on everyone.
Abbott is just perpetuating that great tradition.
Such. An. Asshole.
This IG report is as credible as it gets. From a career civil servant with key positions in the Obama Admin, it assembled a huge amount of proof & was *harshly critical* of the Park Police’s use of force.
Yet because people need the media tale that Trump did it, they ignore it.— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 10, 2021
re: #33 Dread Pirate Ron
[Embedded content]
Congrats people. You lasted what? A week before covid19 cases started showing up on board the cruises?
Petri dishes, they are. Dumbass you should be for going on them without having proof of vaccination required for all. /Dr. Yoda, MD
they’re still on this pic.twitter.com/LTawv3OtCW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 10, 2021
re: #87 Dave In Austin
Such. An. Asshole.
You mean they would have gone out and tear-gassed protesters even if Trump had not wanted a photo-op with a Bible?
Just like those rioters would have stormed the Capitol even if Trump had not told them to go and Stop the Steal?
And the 9/11 terrorists would have flown planes into buildings even without Osama Bin Laden shouting “Death to America”?
Jesus 😐😐 https://t.co/EYFsWTokz5
— Anna Ahronheim (@AAhronheim) June 10, 2021
re: #29 Targetpractice
The man is crazy enough to demand his lawyers argue before a judge that being a presidential candidate means he has to have access to campaign venues.
Work release
If you want an excellent overview of the 22 outstanding cases, check out @AHoweBlogger’s summary. https://t.co/mXEq9s2OHD
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) June 10, 2021
Replacement theory is gaining traction amongst the right-wing derposphere.
Oh man this is a dumpster fire of absolute knobs pic.twitter.com/OECxvbA4M7
— Ari Cohn (@AriCohn) June 10, 2021
Watching KTLA morning news here, and looks like it’s going to be brutally hot in Southern California starting this weekend - mid 90s to low 100s. Oof.
re: #96 Dopamine Fish
Replacement theory is gaining traction amongst the right-wing derposphere.
They can only understand things in terms of dominating or being dominated, of perpetrating genocide or being victims of it.
re: #97 Dr Lizardo
Watching KTLA morning news here, and looks like it’s going to be brutally hot in Southern California starting this weekend - mid 90s to low 100s. Oof.
Oh, so you’re going to be getting the heat we’ve had up here in the wild north country for the last week. We’ve been close to setting seasonal records, with temperatures 20 °F higher than the average. Even this weekend, after the heat breaks, the highs will still be in the 80’s.
re: #98 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
They can only understand things in terms of dominating or being dominated, of perpetrating genocide or being victims of it.
Everything is a zero-sum game to them. If someone gains power, or wealth, then someone else (namely, those who currently have it) must necessarily lose it. The world absolutely does not work that way, but this simplistic abstraction enables their worldview, namely, that they are defending the right of the rich and powerful to stay rich and powerful because they’ve pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, and by golly, why don’t you just do the same thing?
re: #99 Dopamine Fish
Oh, so you’re going to be getting the heat we’ve had up here in the wild north country for the last week. We’ve been close to setting seasonal records, with temperatures 20 °F higher than the average. Even this weekend, after the heat breaks, the highs will still be in the 80’s.
I live in Europe, actually. But I always watch the news from my hometown, see what’s going on back in L.A.
re: #84 Dopamine Fish
She gave a bad interview? How bad was it? I want an objective comparison against interviews given by TFG, because that man literally could not give a good interview. Every single one was whining about bullshit and lies that were so preposterous his handlers had to go out the next day and “creatively interpret” what he meant.
She didn’t
If you take the one flame quote out of context, like they’re all doing, then yeah.
If you have a brain and spend a few minutes hearing the full context, then not so much.
Don’t MAKE ME… https://t.co/kXKIxZXe5b
— Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) June 10, 2021
re: #101 Dr Lizardo
I live in Europe, actually. But I always watch the news from my hometown, see what’s going on back in L.A.
I wondered, because you always talked about the current state of the (Czech) Republic, but then you said you were watching a local news station from LA…
re: #104 Dopamine Fish
I wondered, because you always talked about the current state of the (Czech) Republic, but then you said you were watching a local news station from LA…
KTLA livestreams their morning news (my afternoon here) so I switch on the ol’ VPN and watch.
re: #105 Dr Lizardo
KTLA livestreams their morning news (my afternoon here) so I switch on the ol’ VPN and watch.
Thank God for VPN’s in Europe, especially in Germany, where they are very picky about broadcast rights.
re: #106 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
Thank God for VPN’s in Europe, especially in Germany, where they are very picky about broadcast rights.
Exactly. It also lets me read smaller news sites from the US; they’re often geo-blocked due to GDPR regs here in the EU.
re: #107 Dr Lizardo
Exactly. It also lets me read smaller news sites from the US; they’re often geo-blocked due to GDPR regs here in the EU.
Yes, I’ve seen that happen, when I’ve linked to local news here and our European users tell me they can’t access it. Fair enough. Now it all makes sense.
Not to mention all the cool Netflix stuff you can only get on the US site.
Husband and I went out to brunch Sunday (feels so good to say that)
Me: Did you bring a mask?
Him: No, the Governor said we don’t have to wear them if we’re fully vaccinated
Me: *hands him a mask*
Him:
Me: I don’t want people to think we’re Republicans.#vaccinated https://t.co/XH3Acgi7aV— Patti M Piatt #BlackLivesMatter (@PiattPatti) June 10, 2021
The party and the Führer are one!
— aagcobb (@aagcobb1) June 10, 2021
re: #100 Dopamine Fish
Everything is a zero-sum game to them. If someone gains power, or wealth, then someone else (namely, those who currently have it) must necessarily lose it. The world absolutely does not work that way, but this simplistic abstraction enables their worldview, namely, that they are defending the right of the rich and powerful to stay rich and powerful because they’ve pulled themselves up by inheriting their bootstraps, and by golly, why don’t you just do the same thing?
re: #91 Backwoods_Sleuth
Cheryl Rofer wanted to make sure that everyone knew that we already have these all over the place, including in desert sand.
Over half of all qualified Americans (age 12 or older) are now fully vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/wJ6x2HdyeB
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) June 10, 2021
Tough news for Russian steel magnate Roman Abramovich. https://t.co/NRsz6m86W6
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) June 10, 2021
This was my argument to people: has any other vaccine had so much testing:
Both authorization and approval are rigorous processes that look at the safety and efficacy of a vaccine, said @IVACtweets’s William Moss.
“We have more data on vaccine safety than with any other vaccine, even before the review of the full approval.” https://t.co/oS2I663lHD— Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (@JohnsHopkinsSPH) June 9, 2021
re: #115 Belafon
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if the US doesnt hit biden’s target by 7/4 it wont be for lack of a system or availability.
it’ll be nonparticipation
and that responsibility fall squarely on the … nonparticipants
not the biden admin
the 7/4 target should be reframed as “x% of those who want a vaccination have got one”
and ps - no one was denied a vaccine
Study of severe Covid helps uncover the roots of sepsis. Like a tsunami, sepsis occurs when an infection triggers immune system dysregulation, which leads to widespread organ damage & even death. New research offers insight into what goes awry https://t.co/ZGaJicUyKO
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) June 9, 2021
re: #39 A hollow voice says NOW drain that swamp!
If they were running cruises in my area, I’d be there in a hot second. You don’t have to board a cruise ship to catch covid. Also, I’m vaccinated.
Current policies of most lines allow for 100% refunds practically up to the last minute.
When you wound up locked in your cabin because of an outbreak, you’d realize Teleskiguy was right. Being vaccinated will just keep you from getting really sick while confined to a tiny room.
re: #115 Belafon
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There’s a serious discrepancy between regions and vaccinations though. Some regions have done exceptionally well, like the Northeast (from NJ to Maine), while others have done so poorly, that we’re seeing states getting barely a third of their residents fully vaccinated (the South).
Hayes Brown: “The GOP’s offers included a lot of money that Congress was already going to spend, or they would have reauthorized older appropriations. When you look at the new spending in the GOP’s offers, the gaps are much starker. In the end, the GOP offered to support only 15% of the American Jobs Plan’s original cost.”March 31: Biden proposes $2.25 trillion
April 22: Senate GOP counters with $225 billion (10% of original proposal)
May 21: Biden counters with $1.7 trillion (75% of original proposal)
May 27: Senate GOP counters with $257 billion (11% of original proposal)
June 3: Biden counters with $1 trillion (44% of original proposal)
June 4: Senate GOP counters with $330 billion (15% of original proposal)
June 7: Biden calls off negotiations.
msnbc
re: #121 lawhawk
There’s a serious discrepancy between regions and vaccinations though. Some regions have done exceptionally well, like the Northeast (from NJ to Maine), while others have done so poorly, that we’re seeing states getting barely a third of their residents fully vaccinated (the South).
Lots of factors involved in South’s vax lag — GOP resistance, black suspicion of medical system, rural isolation, poor access to health care. Other thoughts: education is predictor of vax willingness — Deep South has low educ levels. Also area w/ low social trust. https://t.co/RzBknysWnr
— Richard Skinner (@richardmskinner) June 10, 2021
Seattle has become the first major U.S. city to hit the COVID-19 milestone of getting 70% of people aged 12 and up fully vaccinated, according to Mayor Jenny Durkan. She says the city and its partners will now start efforts to support Seattle’s reopening. https://t.co/Ot4aT1yadg
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 9, 2021
Capitol Rioter Admits He Hatched Plan to Destroy the Internet by Bombing Amazon Servers
For weeks this spring, 28-year-old Seth Aaron Pendley had plotted an attack on Amazon data centers in Virginia. He had already taken a sawed-off rifle to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Now, he hoped to cripple much of the Internet and take down government networks.
Last April, he finally arranged a meeting with a man promising to provide the C-4 explosive devices. When they met in Fort Worth, Tex., the man showed Pendley how to arm and detonate the powerful bombs.
But just as Pendley placed the devices into his Pontiac, federal agents swarmed in and arrested him. The bomb seller was actually an FBI plant who had helped unravel a plan Pendley believed could “kill off about 70 percent of the internet.”
On Wednesday, Pendley pleaded guilty to planning to bomb Amazon facilities in an attempt to undermine the U.S. government and to spark a rebellion against the “oligarchy” he believed to be running the country.
While Manchin and Sinema are the most public about their resistance to changing the filibuster, Tom Carper of Deleware is also opposed. He’s just doing it quietly.
Source dailykos.com
re: #124 JOE 🥓
Showing he doesn’t understand oligarchies.
WaPo headline from this morning:
Global approval of the United States has rebounded under Biden, survey finds
The survey was apparently conducted by the firm of DUH, Obviously and Clearly, co-sponsored by the good folks at the “Why the hell do you need a survey for this?” Institute.
/
re: #110 Dangerman
vacuum day
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That’s what separates us from animals, we aren’t afraid of vacuum cleaners.
re: #129 Eventual Carrion
That’s what separates us from animals, we aren’t afraid of vacuum cleaners.
We are their masters!
(until the Roombas become sentient, then we are toast….)
re: #124 JOE 🥓
Capitol Rioter Admits He Hatched Plan to Destroy the Internet by Bombing Amazon Servers
For weeks this spring, 28-year-old Seth Aaron Pendley had plotted an attack on Amazon data centers in Virginia. He had already taken a sawed-off rifle to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Now, he hoped to cripple much of the Internet and take down government networks.
Last April, he finally arranged a meeting with a man promising to provide the C-4 explosive devices. When they met in Fort Worth, Tex., the man showed Pendley how to arm and detonate the powerful bombs.
But just as Pendley placed the devices into his Pontiac, federal agents swarmed in and arrested him. The bomb seller was actually an FBI plant who had helped unravel a plan Pendley believed could “kill off about 70 percent of the internet.”
On Wednesday, Pendley pleaded guilty to planning to bomb Amazon facilities in an attempt to undermine the U.S. government and to spark a rebellion against the “oligarchy” he believed to be running the country.
I know AWS doesn’t always fail over to a functioning datacenter when one site goes down like it should, but thinking he could take down the Internet this way tells us he isn’t rational just as much as wanting to be a mad bomber does.
You’d need a virus that exploits router vulnerabilities to take down the Internet.
re: #130 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
We are their masters!
(until the Roombas become sentient, then we are toast….)
No worries, they’ll be defeated by man’s best friend
re: #130 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
We are their masters!
(until the Roombas become sentient, then we are toast….)
I, for one, will welcome sentient Roombas as long as they continue to vacuum my house.
re: #132 Dr Lizardo
That problem has been solved.
Review: Roborock S6 MaxV
If you’ve recently acquired a pandemic puppy, you might need a robot vacuum that can recognize poop.
re: #135 Punish Domestic Terrorists
That problem has been solved.
Review: Roborock S6 MaxV
If you’ve recently acquired a pandemic puppy, you might need a robot vacuum that can recognize poop.
That’s cool. It’s like that time that the Daleks conquered stairs.
re: #135 Punish Domestic Terrorists
That problem has been solved.
Review: Roborock S6 MaxV
If you’ve recently acquired a pandemic puppy, you might need a robot vacuum that can recognize poop.
And be able to distinguish it from Shinola…
re: #131 Punish Domestic Terrorists
AWS will fail over based on how the users of the datacenter configure their failovers.
You can have multiple datacenters running 24/7/365 so if one goes down, the other automatically picks up slack, or it could have a delay between failovers, because the company decides it’s too costly to maintain automatic failover redundancy (they can afford to have several minutes/hours of outage as data reroutes to other server).
re: #136 Dr Lizardo
That’s cool. It’s like that time that the Daleks conquered stairs.
[Embedded content]
I like the way you think.
re: #127 Eventual Carrion
Yeah: the next SyFy B straight-to-video special: ROTIFER! All the right plot elements: Russia, Siberia, sinister Soviet-era chemical/radiation experiments*, long-frozen lifeforms, scientists unaware of their dangers, etc. etc.
The only thing missing is a mechanism to get the bdelloid rotifers up to the size of semi-trailers, but I’m sure some crack team of Hollywood scriptwriters can cobble up a plausible explanation.
Or not: given a lot of the SyFy-produced shlock I’ve seen, “plausible” seems to be very much an optional concept….
*OK, I made this bit up
re: #140 Jay C
Yeah: the next SyFy B straight-to-video special: ROTIFER! All the right plot elements: Russia, Siberia, sinister Soviet-era chemical/radiation experiments*, long-frozen lifeforms, scientists unaware of their dangers, etc. etc.
The only thing missing is a mechanism to get the bdelloid rotifers up to the size of semi-trailers, but I’m sure some crack team of Hollywood scriptwriters can cobble up a plausible explanation.
Or not: given a lot of the SyFy-produced shlock I’ve seen, “plausible” seems to be very much an optional concept….*OK, I made this bit up
ROTIFERNADO!!!
re: #128 Eclectic Cyborg
I imagine that Russia and a few other countries aren’t thrilled that Biden is President. 😃
Even other Libertarians think the NH Libertarians are nuts (DuPage Libertarians on Facebook)
re: #145 Punish Domestic Terrorists
If you view the world in an entirely mercantile sense in which humans exist merely to serve the market by providing a commodity (labor or other creative/technical/scientific skills) then there is no issue with child labor laws.
re: #140 Jay C
Yeah: the next SyFy B straight-to-video special: ROTIFER! All the right plot elements: Russia, Siberia, sinister Soviet-era chemical/radiation experiments*, long-frozen lifeforms, scientists unaware of their dangers, etc. etc.
The only thing missing is a mechanism to get the bdelloid rotifers up to the size of semi-trailers, but I’m sure some crack team of Hollywood scriptwriters can cobble up a plausible explanation.
Or not: given a lot of the SyFy-produced shlock I’ve seen, “plausible” seems to be very much an optional concept….*OK, I made this bit up
About 75,000 years ago, us humans experienced a genetic bottleneck; the Toba Catastrophe Theory posits an explanation for that. But what makes a good prologue for a sci-fi/horror film would be that about 75,000 years ago, an extremely virulent infection wiped out the vast majority of humans still on the planet, the only survivors being a few thousand who were simply never exposed to the infection to begin with (and therefore, no natural immunity to pass on to their descendants).
Now, that virulent infection has surfaced again and come back to life, owing to the thawing of the permafrost of the Siberian tundra.
re: #129 Eventual Carrion
That’s what separates us from animals, we aren’t afraid of vacuum cleaners.
re: #146 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
If you view the world in an entirely mercantile sense in which humans exist merely to serve the market by providing a commodity (labor or other creative/technical/scientific skills) then there is no issue with child labor laws.
Yes, but most Libertarians are still 21st century Americans, just with some extremist views.
The NH Libertarians are either trolls, or got so far into an ideology that they lost the basics required to be considered a civilized person. They’re now an embarrassment to any Libertarian that isn’t an off-the-deep-end extremist.
Another reason why everyone should get vaccinated, to help protect those who are vulnerable.
— aagcobb (@aagcobb1) June 10, 2021
re: #151 Punish Domestic Terrorists
Yes, but most Libertarians are still 21st century Americans, just with some extremist views.
The GOP likes to pay lip service to the “dignity of labor” but in the end their preferred Free Market economic model simply views employees as just another expense to be minimized or abolished in order to boost the bottom line.
Freakout by folks about Iran sending a destroyer and an “intel” gathering ship into the Atlantic Ocean? Yeah, this is a Navy that has a hard time deploying in the Persian Gulf, and doesn’t have a deepwater Navy with logistics reach. The apparent destination is Venezuela, and possibly delivering a batch of “fast attack” boats. These are short distance attack boats meant to harass/interdict, but would have limited capabilities against a heavily armed ships.
re: #151 Punish Domestic Terrorists
Yes, but most Libertarians are still 21st century Americans, just with some extremist views.
The NH Libertarians are either trolls, or got so far into an ideology that they lost the basics required to be considered a civilized person. They’re now an embarrassment to any Libertarian that isn’t an off-the-deep-end extremist.
I want to say that they are outsiders, but it’s hard to know if if they are Free State Project folks or home-grown extremists.
From a Vox article:
Every ideology produces its own brand of fanatics, but there’s something special about libertarianism.
I don’t mean that as an insult, either. I love libertarians! For the most part, they’re fun and interesting people. But they also tend to be cocksure about core principles in a way most people aren’t. If you’ve ever encountered a freshly minted Ayn Rand enthusiast, you know what I mean.
And yet one of the things that makes political philosophy so amusing is that it’s mostly abstract. You can’t really prove anything — it’s just a never-ending argument about values. Every now and again, though, reality intervenes in a way that illustrates the absurdity of particular ideas.
Something like this happened in the mid-2000s in a small New Hampshire town called Grafton. Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling, author of a new book titled A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear, says it’s the “boldest social experiment in modern American history.” I don’t know if it’s the “boldest,” but it’s definitely one of the strangest.
The experiment was called the “Free Town Project” (it later became the “Free State Project”), and the goal was simple: take over Grafton’s local government and turn it into a libertarian utopia. The movement was cooked up by a small group of ragtag libertarian activists who saw in Grafton a unique opportunity to realize their dreams of a perfectly logical and perfectly market-based community. Needless to say, utopia never arrived, but the bears did! (I promise I’ll explain below.)
I reached out to Hongoltz-Hetling to talk about his book. I wanted to know what happened in New Hampshire, why the experiment failed, and what the whole saga can teach us not just about libertarianism but about the dangers of loving theory more than reality.
A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.
Sean Illing
How would you describe the “Free Town Project” to someone who doesn’t know anything about it?
Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
I’d put it like this: There’s a national community of libertarians that has developed over the last 40 or 50 years, and they’ve never really had a place to call their own. They’ve never been in charge of a nation, or a state, or even a city. And they’ve always really wanted to create a community that would showcase what would happen if they implemented their principles on a broad scale.
So in 2004, a group of them decided that they wanted to take some action on this deficiency, and they decided to launch what they called the Free Town Project. They sent out a call to a bunch of loosely affiliated national libertarians and told everyone to move to this one spot and found this utopian community that would then serve as a shining jewel for the world to see that libertarian philosophies worked not only in theory but in practice. And they chose a town in rural New Hampshire called Grafton that already had fewer than 1,000 people in it. And they just showed up and started working to take over the town government and get rid of every rule and regulation and tax expense that they could.
Sean Illing
Of all the towns in all the world, why Grafton?
Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
They didn’t choose it in a vacuum. They actually conducted a very careful and thorough search. They zeroed in on the state of New Hampshire fairly quickly because that’s the “Live Free or Die” state. They knew that it would align well with their philosophy of individualism and personal responsibility. But once they decided on New Hampshire, they actually visited dozens of small towns, looking for that perfect mix of factors that would enable them to take over.
What they needed was a town that was small enough that they could come up and elbow the existing citizenry, someplace where land was cheap, where they could come in and buy up a bunch of land and kind of host their incoming colonists. And they wanted a place that had no zoning, because they wanted to be able to live in nontraditional housing situations and not have to go through the rigamarole of building or buying expensive homes or preexisting homes.
Sean Illing
Wait, what do you mean by “nontraditional housing”?
Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
As the people of Grafton soon found out, a nontraditional housing situation meant a camp in the woods or a bunch of shipping containers or whatever. They brought in yurts and mobile homes and formed little clusters of cabins and tents. There was one location called “Tent City,” where a bunch of people just lived in tents from day to day. They all united under this broad umbrella principle of “personal freedom,” but as you’d expect, there was a lot of variation in how they exercised it.
Sean Illing
What did the demographics of the group look like? Are we talking mostly about white guys or Ayn Rand bros who found each other on the internet?
Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
Well, we’re talking about hundreds of people, though the numbers aren’t all that clear. They definitely skewed male. They definitely skewed white. Some of them had a lot of money, which gave them the freedom to be able to pick up roots and move to a small town in New Hampshire. A lot of them had very little money and nothing keeping them in their places. So they were able to pick up and come in. But most of them just didn’t have those family situations or those 9-to-5 jobs, and that was really what characterized them more than anything else.
Sean Illing
And how did they take over the local government? Did they meet much resistance?
Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
When they first showed up, they hadn’t told anyone that they were doing this, with the exception of a couple of sympathetic libertarians within the community. And so all of a sudden the people in Grafton woke up to the fact that their town was in the process of being invaded by a bunch of idealistic libertarians. And they were pissed. They had a big town meeting. It was a very shouty, very angry town meeting, during which they told the Free Towners who dared to come that they didn’t want them there and they didn’t appreciate being treated as if their community was an experimental playpen for libertarians to come in and try to prove something.
But the libertarians, even though they never outnumbered the existing Grafton residents, what they found was that they could come in, and they could find like-minded people, traditional conservatives or just very liberty-oriented individuals, who agreed with them on enough issues that, despite that angry opposition, they were able to start to work their will on the levers of government.
They couldn’t pass some of the initiatives they wanted. They tried unsuccessfully to withdraw from the school district and to completely discontinue paying for road repairs, or to declare Grafton a United Nations free zone, some of the outlandish things like that. But they did find that a lot of existing Grafton residents would be happy to cut town services to the bone. And so they successfully put a stranglehold on things like police services, things like road services and fire services and even the public library. All of these things were cut to the bone……
re: #154 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
The GOP likes to pay lip service to the “dignity of labor” but in the end their preferred Free Market economic model simply views employees as just another expense to be minimized or abolished in order to boost the bottom line.
Of course. GOP small businessmen keep putting up signs saying no one wants to work, when they really don’t want to pay a decent wage, and their policies are all about making people desperate, so they work for peanuts.
An Aurelio’s franchisee just had to apologize for putting up one of those signs, and I suspect they almost lost their franchise for making the company look terrible.
NEW: Public option becoming law in Nevada.
The pandemic has shown us that people should never be without medical care.
Great work @USofCare who helped make it happen. https://t.co/coWQzG5zKP— Andy Slavitt 🇺🇸💉 (@ASlavitt) June 10, 2021
re: #158 Punish Domestic Terrorists
Of course. GOP small businessmen keep putting up signs saying no one wants to work, when they really don’t want to pay a decent wage, and their policies are all about making people desperate, so they work for peanuts.
Which is another reason we cannot implement comprehensive and reasonable immigration reform: too many industries are based on a business model that relies on an endless supply of cheap, easily exploited labor, including agriculture, food processing, food service, catering, hotel services, gardening & landscaping, cleaning & domestic services, etc…
re: #155 lawhawk
Freakout by folks about Iran sending a destroyer and an “intel” gathering ship into the Atlantic Ocean? Yeah, this is a Navy that has a hard time deploying in the Persian Gulf, and doesn’t have a deepwater Navy with logistics reach. The apparent destination is Venezuela, and possibly delivering a batch of “fast attack” boats. These are short distance attack boats meant to harass/interdict, but would have limited capabilities against a heavily armed ships.
Indeed: one home-built destroyer, and a converted tanker: not exactly the Kaiser’s High Seas Fleet steaming off to Jutland…..
Though it’s unsurprising Venezuela might need to bolster its naval assets: didn’t one of their frigates sink after ramming a “cruise ship” off the coast a year or so ago?
Though an interesting bit from the linked AP piece:
Iran maintains close ties to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and has shipped gasoline and other products to the country amid a U.S. sanctions campaign targeting fuel-starved Caracas
So Caracas, capital of the major oil-producing country in South America is “fuel-starved”?? Sounds like the “sanctions campaign” isn’t the only problem…
Only one new case dropped by the Supreme Court today:
An unusual voting line-up in a complex case with no clear majority. Breyer, Sotomayor & Gorsuch join Kagan’s opinion. Thomas concurs in the result but does not agree with the reasoning. Kavanaugh dissents (joined by Roberts, Alito & Barrett).
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) June 10, 2021
re: #161 Jay C
Venezuela may be a big oil producer, but it is incapable of refining as other countries can do because they’ve wrecked their infrastructure over the years. Sanctions and incompetence compete for root cause.
re: #162 lawhawk
Only one new case dropped by the Supreme Court today:
[Embedded content]
What was it about?
re: #164 Dr Lizardo
LOL
[Embedded content]
One of my friends sent me that yesterday. Ryan Reynolds is a Canadian national treasure.
re: #120 Punish Domestic Terrorists
When you wound up locked in your cabin because of an outbreak, you’d realize Teleskiguy was right. Being vaccinated will just keep you from getting really sick while confined to a tiny room.
Cruise lines have been running all summer in Europe. So far, it seems one ship (about 5000 aboard, in Italy, which is still running about 200 cases per day) has had two cases. I’ll take my chances.
re: #167 A hollow voice says NOW drain that swamp!
Cruise lines have been running all summer in Europe. So far, it seems one ship (about 5000 aboard, in Italy, which is still running about 200 cases per day) has had two cases. I’ll take my chances.
I admit I haven’t looked into it, but I wonder if the cruise lines here in Europe are requiring passengers to show proof of vaccination prior to boarding.
re: #165 Belafon
Per Scotusblog: The justices by a vote of 5-4 reversed a decision by the 6th Circuit, which held that an offense with a mental state of recklessness may qualify as a “violent felony” under the Armed Career Criminal Act.
As if we didn’t figure this out years ago
‘Conning’ their ‘vulnerable’ followers: Here’s what Trump and a discredited televangelist have in common
When the Christian right invaded the Republican Party during the 1980s, Peter Popoff was among the televangelists who made millions of dollars. Popoff, a faith healer, was exposed as a major fraud — he wasn’t really curing cancer patients as he claimed. Journalist Michael Siegel, in a lengthy article published by Ordinary Times on June 8, lays out the things that Popoff has in common with another con man: former President Donald Trump, explaining why their deluded followers have such a hard time accepting the truth.
Popoff and Trump are the same age: 74. Popoff was born on July 2, 1946, and Trump was born the previous month on June 14, 1946. Siegel’s article is really about Trump more than Popoff, although he offers plenty of details about Popoff’s embarrassing history — and Siegel stresses that when people have been conned, they are often in denial about it. Popoff still had his unwavering followers even after he was exposed as a fraud during the 1980s.
And my insane aunt was stupid enough to send “sacrificial tithing” to Popoff multiple times when Helmet Head Paul and Raccoon Face Jan ordered their marks to come to Popoff’s aide when Randi exposed that crook!
re: #172 JOE 🥓
In today’s episode of Pulpit Pimp Theater:
Guess who Racist Rick Wiles blames for his Covid Infection?
[Embedded content]
You would think a hardcore antisemite like Wiles would blame Teh Juice.
He is not about to blame his own careless disregard for masks, distancing and hygiene…
re: #173 The Pie Overlord!
You would think a hardcore antisemite like Wiles would blame Teh Juice.
I would’ve assumed he’d blame his wife, since women are good for 1) making babies and 2) being convenient scapegoats for men’s asshole behavior.
re: #173 The Pie Overlord!
You would think a hardcore antisemite like Wiles would blame Teh Juice.
Would he admit he it was his own stupidity that got him sick?
Nope. Ol’ Racist Prick Wiles has to blame someone else and it shows just how arrogant he is by thinking that the Chinese government wants to eliminate him.
Why would they do that when he provides endless laughter for them?
re: #168 Dr Lizardo
I admit I haven’t looked into it, but I wonder if the cruise lines here in Europe are requiring passengers to show proof of vaccination prior to boarding.
I don’t know either (but I hear that vaccine coverage in Europe isn’t all that universal). MSC Lines, whose cruise this was, do mid-cruise testing, which is how they found these two. They disembarked in Sicily, were transported home by MSC, and the cruise continued.
Katzmann initiated a review of immigrant detention relief back in 2011, which led to a groundbreaking universal legal representation program in NY. https://t.co/JZTbuc1pc1
— lawhawk #vaxxingforafriend (@lawhawk) June 10, 2021
Katzmann saw a problem with how immigrants were denied or lacked legal representation throughout the process and lost out on opportunities to gain relief at different stages of the process. The outcome of that study led to universal representation in NY and it reduced time to get outcomes, improved community response, etc.
There is no greater comedy finale than Glenn Greenwald looping all the way around to “well, if the government says so, that’s good enough for me.” https://t.co/IA3rE7orex
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) June 10, 2021
re: #176 JOE 🥓
Nope. Ol’ Racist Prick Wiles has to blame someone else and it shows just how arrogant he is by thinking that the Chinese government wants to eliminate him.
Just like when our Fearless Leader tried to deflect responsibility for his own failures by repeatedly mentioning the Chinese Virus
re: #180 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
Just like when our Fearless Leader tried to deflect responsibility for his own failures by repeatedly mentioning the Chinese Virus
AFTER President Pantsfulloshit praised the Chinese government for “containing” the infection…
re: #181 JOE 🥓
AFTER President Pantsfulloshit praised the Chinese government for “containing” the infection…
He simply said whatever he thought people needed to hear at the time regardless of anything he had said at some other time in front of other people.
re: #131 Punish Domestic Terrorists
I know AWS doesn’t always fail over to a functioning datacenter when one site goes down like it should, but thinking he could take down the Internet this way tells us he isn’t rational just as much as wanting to be a mad bomber does.
You’d need a virus that exploits router vulnerabilities to take down the Internet.
Cutting fiber backbones in a few key locations would cause massive havock.
Serious question: On MSNBC, border agents say that there’s a record 20k migrants have crossed the border undetected. How can they estimate numbers if they’re undetected?
— Jenn Taylor-Skinner (@JTaylorSkinner) June 10, 2021
UNDETECTED CARAVANS!
At the House FBI Oversight hearing today, Louie Gohmert claims that he spoke to some unnamed Capitol Police officers on Jan 5, who told him they were briefed that “people who hate Trump” were going to dress up in MAGA gear, blend in with crowd, and “cause trouble” on Jan 6. pic.twitter.com/s9l9eQaLTA
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 10, 2021
Many unidentified witnesses were saying…
re: #185 jaunte
Many unidentified witnesses were saying…
They may have been briefed that way. That doesn’t mean that’s what actually happened, Congressman. Maybe we should do some investigation, such as, oh, I don’t know, a bipartisan 1/6 Commission with subpoena powers to interview the people in charge of issuing those briefings and find out where that information came from? OH WAIT, THAT’S RIGHT, I FORGOT, your buddies in the Senate killed it because they’re afraid of being implicated.
re: #187 The Pie Overlord!
Nope. With adorable little NOPE sprinkles on top. I hate heels anyway, this is another reason for hate. I swear designers hate women with some of the shit they come up with.
WUT TEH ACTUAL…
These Balenciaga ‘Croc high heels’ have taken social media by storm — and could sell for as much as $1,000 👠🐊 pic.twitter.com/Fa2uF5wYQO
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) June 10, 2021
re: #191 The Pie Overlord!
WUT TEH ACTUAL…
$1k for a pair of Crocs with a stabby bit attached. There are a LOT better uses for my money than that. Holy shit.
re: #187 The Pie Overlord!
WUT…
[Embedded content]
I personally think that high heels should be banned except for drag queens.
re: #193 Belafon
I personally think that high heels should be banned except for drag queens.
I dunno. Mrs. Fish enjoys some nice tall heels, and as incredibly gorgeous as that woman is, I really can’t disagree. If she wears them willingly and not due to social pressure, I’m here for it.
re: #191 The Pie Overlord!
That heel looks like they just stuck a bolt into the shoe.
re: #195 jaunte
That heel looks like they just stuck a bolt into the shoe.
And?……………….Your point being?
//
re: #193 Belafon
I personally think that high heels should be banned except for drag queens.
I think TFG wore wide kitten heels.
This is the future right-wing nutballs think liberals want. (In hide tags because WTAF)
What the hell? Is this what you believe? (Gab) pic.twitter.com/mNbAiUC1r0
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) June 10, 2021
re: #202 The Pie Overlord!
They never experienced an Emerson’s Steak House.
re: #202 The Pie Overlord!
This is the future right-wing nutballs think liberals want. (In hide tags because WTAF)
[Embedded content]
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
re: #202 The Pie Overlord!
This is the future right-wing nutballs think liberals want. (In hide tags because WTAF)
[Embedded content]
“Upside-down clown world” indeed.
(Though not how they imagine…..)
re: #202 The Pie Overlord!
This is the future right-wing nutballs think liberals want. (In hide tags because WTAF)
[Embedded content]
In that world, the kid isn’t going to say anything because it would be normal.
I remember in Heinlein’s I Will Fear No Evil that wearing body paint to work was perfectly legal.
re: #115 Belafon
So what happened on 2021-04-13, why did the vaccination rate suddenly nosedive?
At that point only 37% of the population had one or more doses.
re: #206 Belafon
In that world, the kid isn’t going to say anything because it would be normal.
I remember in Heinlein’s I Will Fear No Evil that wearing body paint to work was perfectly legal.
If it were worth taking the time to dissect this argument, it would be on par with arguments that “forcing” bakers to serve gay cakes is the same as forcing Kosher delis to serve pork.
re: #206 Belafon
In that world, the kid isn’t going to say anything because it would be normal.
I remember in Heinlein’s I Will Fear No Evil that wearing body paint to work was perfectly legal.
That was a deeply strange book where he really went off the deep end. Some later books were good - Job forex- but none of his best work was in the late era.
re: #210 William Lewis
That was a deeply strange book where he really went off the deep end. Some later books were good - Job forex- but none of his best work was in the late era.
Agreed.
The world is healing:
The mayor is now YELLING about pineapple on pizza. “THIS IS NOT CALIFORNIA,” he says, adding it’s offensive to his Italian ancestors.
Clams on pizza? “We’re not in New Haven,” he says. Life has certainly been strange over the last 15 or so months.— katie honan (@katie_honan) June 10, 2021
re: #202 The Pie Overlord!
Extending his Hooters fantasy into the real world.
re: #210 William Lewis
That was a deeply strange book where he really went off the deep end. Some later books were good - Job forex- but none of his best work was in the late era.
Friday, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and The Number of the Beast are all better than many of his earlier works.
re: #212 b.d. (Lock Him Up, Lock Him Up!)
The world is healing:
Things are heating up!
Thank God for the 2nd Amendment!
I want to be clear: the #pizza shop exhibit @brooklynkids does not currently, nor will it while I serve as President, offer felt pineapple or clams as pretend toppings. We stand with @nycmayor on this vital issue. https://t.co/KQLloCY3x0
— Stephanie Wilchfort (@StephWilchfort) June 10, 2021
So, Jenner’s good with 500,000+ dead, a wrecked economy, and a GOP that stands on the side of insurrectionists and treason.
Gotcha. Thanks for clearing that up.— lawhawk #vaxxingforafriend (@lawhawk) June 10, 2021
re: #207 John Hughes
So what happened on 2021-04-13, why did the vaccination rate suddenly nosedive?
At that point only 37% of the population had one or more doses.
[Embedded content]
There’s an argument that the J&J clotting concerns caused it. It would be interesting to investigate that vs the possibility that those who really wanted the vaccine were able to get it by then.
Yikes. https://t.co/aQiancbxBU
— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) June 10, 2021
I wouldn’t be so sure about that.
There’s no way these laws could survive a First Amendment challenge.https://t.co/MQ644N0AMh
— 🇺🇸Vote Blue in 2022🇺🇸 (@jwhoopes2) June 10, 2021
re: #216 b.d. (Lock Him Up, Lock Him Up!)
Things are heating up!
Thank God for the 2nd Amendment!
[Embedded content]
I would love to talk to some ancient Italians about putting squishy red fruit on flatbread.
re: #217 lawhawk
[Embedded content]
of course one aspect of politics is name recognition
it’s one reason why famous people who are amateur pols run and sometimes win
i know what bruce jenner’s claims to fame are/were
what has caitlin jenner done?
all she’s got is the person she used to be. the person she seriously, radically, and with astounding commitment, rejected
she deserves zero air time, attention, or consideration
re: #199 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
anything is better with bluetooth
My bathroom mirror has bluetooth (I swear I didn’t know that when I bought it). Occasionally I get scared out of the shower as it suddenly starts loudly playing music from my nieces phone.
re: #214 Punish Domestic Terrorists
Friday, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and The Number of the Beast are all better than many of his earlier works.
I’ll accept arguments in favor of Friday as it was equal to Job but TNOTB wasn’t even as good as Glory Road (though better than Farnam). Cat was just a stinker.
re: #222 Dangerman
of course one aspect of politics is name recognition
it’s one reason why famous people who are amateur pols run and sometimes wini know what bruce jenner’s claims to fame are/were
what has caitlin jenner done?
all she’s got is the person she used to be. the person she seriously, radically, and with astounding commitment, rejectedshe deserves zero air time, attention, or consideration
I am really quite surprised that the GOP media machine didn’t just fold their hand on the whole recall idea when Jenner stepped up and took over?
I guess I’m just naïve to the idea that a political party would totally just hand the reigns over to a reality TV star? When will I learn?
re: #225 b.d. (Lock Him Up, Lock Him Up!)
They’re fully committed to live puppetry.
re: #206 Belafon
In that world, the kid isn’t going to say anything because it would be normal.
I remember in Heinlein’s I Will Fear No Evil that wearing body paint to work was perfectly legal.
Already perfectly legal in Times Square…
People pay (“Tips, please. We can’t charge a price”) to take pictures with the desnudas.
re: #215 lawhawk
Well, shit.
It really screwed things up.
After all the poor messaging about Astra-Zeneca here in France we had a slow start, but luckily the number of injections/day keeps going up.
re: #20 jaunte
“An inconvenience to me is base tyranny”
—The Narcissist GOP
And 3-4 of my acquaintances on Facebook.
re: #225 b.d. (Lock Him Up, Lock Him Up!)
I am really quite surprised that the GOP media machine didn’t just fold their hand on the whole recall idea when Jenner stepped up and took over?
I guess I’m just naïve to the idea that a political party would totally just hand the reigns over to a reality TV star? When will I learn?
Well, if Caitlin Jenner has, indeed, “taken over” the CA recall effort, it’s pretty much a good sign that said effort is doomed to ignominious and well-deserved failure. IIRC, Jenner is the best-polling Republican candidate in the race, and she only gets something like 6%???
re: #218 Belafon
There’s an argument that the J&J clotting concerns caused it. It would be interesting to investigate that vs the possibility that those who really wanted the vaccine were able to get it by then.
Well, that would be a disaster, because if things don’t pick up you’re going to be stuck with only 60% or so vaccinated, which doesn’t seem like enough for “herd immunity”.
re: #233 John Hughes
Well, that would be a disaster, because if things don’t pick up you’re going to be stuck with only 60% or so vaccinated, which doesn’t seem like enough for “herd immunity”.
especially as more virulent and potentially deadly variants are spreading.
Republicans pissed off that terrorists that attempted to assassinate VP Pence are facing consequences. https://t.co/UgO1Q3Qa9s
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) June 10, 2021
re: #217 lawhawk
Ah-Nold disrupted California enough.
The last thing California needs is another asshole in the Governor’s chair
re: #230 John Hughes
Well, shit.
It really screwed things up.
After all the poor messaging about Astra-Zeneca here in France we had a slow start, but luckily the number of injections/day keeps going up.
It did. J&J vaccinations dropped to nil, and Moderna and Pfizer vaccinations also took a hit. Why? Because reporting did such a fantastic job of screwing up basic statistics and risks.
They’d breathlessly report 6 new cases of blood clots. Now 7. Now 8.
In vacuum, that’s a meaningless piece of information? Out of how many doses administered? 1000? 10,000? 1 million? Because the risk turned out to be 1 in a million. There were 8 million doses of J&J administered, and there were 8 cases. Did we have enough info to identify those who were at higher risk? Were there demographics who would see higher risk? Lower risk?
In abundance of caution, they paused to try and find out. That slowed things down and gave anti-vaxxers still more ammo to claim that the vaccines were more dangerous than the disease itself (always a bullshit claim).
re: #225 b.d. (Lock Him Up, Lock Him Up!)
I am really quite surprised that the GOP media machine didn’t just fold their hand on the whole recall idea when Jenner stepped up and took over?
I guess I’m just naïve to the idea that a political party would totally just hand the reigns over to a reality TV star? When will I learn?
what have we got to lose?
she could win this….
//
re: #229 sagehen
Already perfectly legal in Times Square…
[Embedded content]
People pay (“Tips, please. We can’t charge a price”) to take pictures with the desnudas.
wonderwomen
re: #207 John Hughes
So what happened on 2021-04-13, why did the vaccination rate suddenly nosedive?
At that point only 37% of the population had one or more doses.
[Embedded content]
My best guess? Indias brutal second wave was in full swing at that point. They manufacture a LOT of vaccines and my guess is distribution was hit pretty hard. I beleive they also blocked vaccine exports for awhile so they had more domestic supply available to try and stop that wave.
re: #206 Belafon
In that world, the kid isn’t going to say anything because it would be normal.
I remember in Heinlein’s I Will Fear No Evil that wearing body paint to work was perfectly legal.
Well… the wearer worked in someone’s home office. The rules for business offices might have been different.
re: #240 Eclectic Cyborg
re: #202 The Pie Overlord!
This is the future right-wing nutballs think liberals want. (In hide tags because WTAF)
[Embedded content]
It’s rather disturbing how much thought and detail they go into with these Liberal sex fantasies of theirs.
re: #235 jaunte
Wray says it was much easier to bring federal charges for an attack on the Capitol than general urban unrest.
The answer in right in there: the Federal Capitol
re: #222 Dangerman
of course one aspect of politics is name recognition
it’s one reason why famous people who are amateur pols run and sometimes wini know what bruce jenner’s claims to fame are/were
what has caitlin jenner done?
all she’s got is the person she used to be. the person she seriously, radically, and with astounding commitment, rejectedshe deserves zero air time, attention, or consideration
Caitlyn Jenner has done one thing—she’s a completely narcissistic and arrogant asshole.
re: #243 Eclectic Cyborg
It’s rather disturbing how much thought and detail they go into with these Liberal sex fantasies of theirs.
well, if you are going to hiring people to act them out for you, you wanna get the details down…
re: #244 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
I think some people are concerned about their phone records coming out.
re: #240 Eclectic Cyborg
My best guess? Indias brutal second wave was in full swing at that point. They manufacture a LOT of vaccines and my guess is distribution was hit pretty hard. I beleive they also blocked vaccine exports for awhile so they had more domestic supply available to try and stop that wave.
The US was getting vaccines from India? Are you sure? I thought most of the vaccines being made in India for export were Astra-Zeneca, I didn’t know you were using that in the States.
I know India was complaining that it couldn’t get the supplies needed to make vaccines from the US.
re: #155 lawhawk
Freakout by folks about Iran sending a destroyer and an “intel” gathering ship into the Atlantic Ocean? Yeah, this is a Navy that has a hard time deploying in the Persian Gulf, and doesn’t have a deepwater Navy with logistics reach. The apparent destination is Venezuela, and possibly delivering a batch of “fast attack” boats. These are short distance attack boats meant to harass/interdict, but would have limited capabilities against a heavily armed ships.
I half-expect this is the Iranian Navy getting their craft out of the area to see if they can avoid what they perceive as sabotage efforts that sank their other ship and damaged a refinery complex.
re: #225 b.d. (Lock Him Up, Lock Him Up!)
I am really quite surprised that the GOP media machine didn’t just fold their hand on the whole recall idea when Jenner stepped up and took over?
I guess I’m just naïve to the idea that a political party would totally just hand the reigns over to a reality TV star? When will I learn?
One thing to note—The California GOP is run by assholes who continually out-asshole each other in their stupidity.
re: #248 John Hughes
The US was getting vaccines from India? Are you sure? I thought most of the vaccines being made in India for export were Astra-Zeneca, I didn’t know you were using that in the States.
I know India was complaining that it couldn’t get the supplies needed to make vaccines from the US.
I am not sure of that. I didn’t realize we were talking about a drop off in U.S. vaccinations in April, I thought we were talking worldwide.
re: #246 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
well, if you are going to hiring people to act them out for you, you wanna get the details down…
You know I bet there’s a not-small market out there for sex workers who are willing to roleplay as Liberals so conservatives can live out their fantasies. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone was already on this.
re: #243 Eclectic Cyborg
It’s rather disturbing how much thought and detail they go into with these Liberal sex fantasies of theirs.
They probably all got reject letters from Penthouse
The Daily Beast is trying to sell a knockoff of the ridiculous head-on stick that people mocked. This is not going to prevent migraines.
And here we go again: Child Among Three Dead After Shooting at Florida Publix
The Pandemic Cost 7 Million Lives, but Talks to Prevent a Repeat Stall In late 2021, as the world reeled from the arrival of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus, representatives of almost 200 countries met - some online, some in-person in Geneva - hoping to forestall a future worldwide ...
Cheechako
Once Praised, the Settlement to Help Sickened BP Oil Spill Workers Leaves Most With Nearly Nothing When a deadly explosion destroyed BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, 134 million gallons of crude erupted into the sea over the next three months — and tens of thousands of ordinary people were hired ... Cheechako
Alone in a Bathroom: The Fear and Uncertainty of a Post-Roe Medication Abortion Angel tucked two white pills into each side of her mouth, bracing herself as they began to dissolve. Her deepest fears and anxieties took over. Angel had wanted to talk to a doctor before she took the pills to ... Cheechako
They Were Desperate to Get Pregnant. Then IVF Gave Them Extra Embryos. One morning last spring, Ashley Harrolle put her 1-year-old daughter down for a nap and went to the kitchen. She pulled up her fertility clinic’s contact information. It was time to make the call. In a freezer several hundred ... Cheechako
Joe Bacon ✅
March FavoritesYou've seen these all already but looking back, just because. These are my favorite shots of this last month. That 1937 Zeiss Sonnar is such a gloriously wonderful bit of glass. Thanks for looking.
William Lewis
Khal Wimpo (free internal organs upon request!)
Texas County at Center of Border Fight Is Overwhelmed by Migrant Deaths EAGLE PASS, Tex. - The undertaker lighted a cigarette and held it between his latex-gloved fingers as he stood over the bloated body bag lying in the bed of his battered pickup truck. The woman had been fished out ... Cheechako
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