Sandbox – 28may23

[KIA – War Between States 620,000; WW2 405,399; WW1 116,516; Vietnam War 58,209; Korean War 36,516; American Revolution 25,000; War of 1812 20,000; Mexican-American War 13,283; War on Terror 7,075; Spanish-American War 2,446 (more here).  For what did all these Americans put on a uniform and die?  gjr]

Comments

[scenes]

Aah, now that's a good question.

Is it better looked at as individual events or as a general theme?

[scenes]

Babylon Bee o' the Day.

https://twitter.com/TheBabylonBee/status/1662896595623464963

[Scott O]

re the B.B. joke - I say acting awards all around for the pols and the news media for acting like all this "debt ceiling crises/fake budget cutting/killing children scare" crap actually ends up meaning anything.
I'm soooo glad the "crises" is over and I can breathe again. (sarc off)
Fie on them all.

[Paul Emery]

I'm glad its over as well Scott. Biden made the Repubs look like real idiots and is leaving them to squabble with each other. What a hoot.

[Gregory]

Punchy is an idiot.
Biden can't think his way past the next pudding cup.

[Scott O]

Speaking of debt - has Newsom informed his serfs about this?

"$139 Dollars A Second: That’s How Much the EDD Will Borrow TODAY…"

"In recent weeks, the EDD has been paying out about $130 million in benefits per week. It has been borrowing about $84 million a week, or about two-thirds of the amount it paid out, to cover costs.
In other words, the EDD made a debt payment and then immediately started increasing the remaining debt."

And -
"...no, the EDD did not respond to questions regarding the matter and, yes, the questions are at the bottom of the story."

It gets better -
"That means – because the EDD keeps borrowing – that tax money being paid by California businesses to pay down the EDD debt is being given to the EDD to increase the debt at the same time.
Whether that qualifies it as a triple tax or a circular tax or some type of pan-dimensional meta-tax is unclear."

A pan-dimensional meta-tax.
I like that phrase.
How, uh, 'progressive'!
https://californiaglobe.com/articles/139-dollars-a-second-thats-how-much-the-edd-will-borrow-today/

[Scott O]

Paul 7:52 - " Biden made the Repubs look like real idiots..."

Paul is the real idiot...

Let's see here -
"Biden and his top advisers have repeatedly indicated that they will reject demands from the new GOP majority in the House of Representatives to link increasing the debt ceiling with cutting federal spending. Instead, Biden is insisting that Congress pass a clean debt-ceiling increase, with no conditions attached."
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/01/biden-debt-ceiling-negotiation-republicans-congress-obama/672858/

So, it turns out Biden's big bad stance was a loser.

Paul - "Trump, Trump..."

[🐠]

…..and speaking of Green Libertarians (tm)

Biden's Solar Push Is Destroying the Desert and Releasing Stored Carbon

It’s Biden……by definition it’s stupid and counterproductive. That’s been his entire career in government. No wonder psul likes him so much.

Kindred spirits.

https://mishtalk.com/economics/bidens-solar-push-is-destroying-the-desert-and-releasing-stored-carbon

[scenes]

psul: "Biden made the Repubs look like real idiots and is leaving them to squabble with each other."

That's sure a fancy way to say "the bureaucracy got the bureaucracy to agree with itself".

A culture based on having dessert first seems like the perfect place for everyone I think. There's something exhilarating about being on a handcart to hell.

[scenes]

re: 🐠 @ 5:00AM

Pretending the battery problem doesn't exist, how much solar to equal a nuclear plant. Maybe 25 square miles? I wonder what 15 GWh of battery (a day's worth) looks like.

My guess is that the future of solar will be to push the problem off onto homeowners. There's a lot less PG&E capital expenditure in having the Great State of California change building code. Good luck in foggy coastal areas, but then cities always grab resources from the country, and these days they send little back of value.

[Scott O]

re fish 5:00 - Well, yeah - but the grift is endless.

And don't forget we are in a CLIMATE EMERGENCY!!!!

C'mon, man!

[Scott O]

scenes 7:02 - "That's sure a fancy way to say "the bureaucracy got the bureaucracy to agree with itself"."

But they did put on a nice show for a while.
Now...
Back to the CLIMATE EMERGENCY!!

[scenes]

re: Scotto@8:23AM

In the meantime, between emergencies, we can celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Month. That covers over 1/2 the planet but everyone needs a special trophy. Judging from the hodgepodge of people involved I guess that they all look alike to the folks who invent these things.

Next up, International Left Handed People Week. For years, we have been ignored by the makers of column-shift cars and scissors manufacturers. Time for a rally.

[scenes]

Now, June is LGBTQLMNOP month.

I'm thinking banners on lightpoles, speeches by County Stupidvisers, a proper parade with Gay Men In History. Statues of Hadrian, DaVinci, Ernst Röhm, a little something for everyone.

National Ice Cream Month is coming up.

[Scott O]

scenes - "Time for a rally."
Oh, hell no! I had to learn how to use scissors backwards, smear my handwriting when it was hot in the classroom and contort my body in college with those one-sided desks. I say burn it all down!
Sinister, indeed!
International Left Handers Day August 13th - mark your calendars.
Ah, shit!
This year it falls on the second Sunday in August -
https://nationaltoday.com/gay-uncles-day/

[scenes]

It's funny how far the rot has advanced. Rust never sleeps I guess.

"At High School Debates, Debate Is No Longer Allowed
At national tournaments, judges are making their stances clear: students who argue ‘capitalism can reduce poverty’ or ‘Israel has a right to defend itself’ will lose—no questions asked."

https://www.thefp.com/p/judges-ruin-high-school-debate-tournaments

The article's links are worth a look.

I thank my lucky stars every day that The Left lacks anyone with charisma, retail or wholesale. We'd be in the soup if that was true.

[scenes]

I think I need a little help here, and who better than the people on the adjacent barstools. I invite even the bolshies to weigh in.

Reading the Der Union this morning, this took up half of a full page.

https://www.theunion.com/lifestyles/savannah-hanson-beyond-the-predator/article_0419553a-fb4a-11ed-89de-67deb045aa63.html

What in the hell does it mean? Am I feeble-minded? I need a tl;dr or something I guess.

[Cereal Liar]

Yes, the rot has advanced,

"Happy Memorial Day! Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today. Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more. Nice!" Trump 2018

2023 Trump,

“But especially to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the country they love, and to those in line of a very different, but equally dangerous fire, stopping the threats of the terrorists, misfits and lunatic thugs who are working feverishly from within to overturn and destroy our once great country, which has never been in greater peril than it is right now. We must stop the communists, Marxists and fascist ‘pigs’ at every turn and, Make America Great Again!”

MAGA

[🐠]

Posted by: scenes | 30 May 2023 at 07:49 AM

Reading the Der Union this morning, this took up half of a full page

Hey…..those column inches aren’t going to fill themselves……and while I it found it all little more than the usual standard new age spiritual bafflegab it’s still better than reading the latest from psulbot.

[Gregory]

"I see dead people"
-The Sixth Sense

"I draw white people"
-RL Crabb

No, Darth Vader didn't count.

[Gregory]

"We must stop the communists, Marxists and fascist ‘pigs’ at every turn"

So "Cereal", you want to help communists, Marxists and fascists along?

[Cereal Liar]

Yo, Gregory,

You forgot Maoists.

[Cereal Liar]

Another gun loving libertarian free marketeer taken off the streets,

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0f4jUrxgNRw6UjEq8GsK1hKMMF8bVEuxsbqeM1JNo2eAMgJeCrkGRVPxPYEvgeqbvl&id=100064556774669&mibextid=Nif5oz

[Cereal Liar]

"President Joe Biden was asked on Monday if he or any other future president should consider a pardon for Donald Trump, who is facing potential federal charges in the classified documents probe.

Biden didn’t provide much in the way of an answer ― yet managed to speak volumes at the same time.

The question came from Peter Doocy of Fox News.

“Did you see that Ron DeSantis said that if he became president he would pardon Trump?” Doocy asked. “Where are you on the idea of presidents pardoning Trump?”

Biden chuckled, waved and walked away.

“I’ll see you guys,” he said over his shoulder. “Great question.”

[scenes]

re: Cerealiar @ 12:14pm

Guardians of the Galaxy III must be a hella bad movie. My suggestion is to make that specific rifle illegal in California.

re: Gregory@11:37 "So "Cereal", you want to help communists, Marxists and fascists along?"

Of course. So far as I can tell, most of the point of those belief systems is to allow gracile men to obtain status. Trotsky or Himmler would have been working at H&R Block otherwise.

[🐠]

Posted by: Cereal Liar | 30 May 2023 at 12:14 PM

Thank you for that cereal….it always cracks me up when progressives quote the constitution.

[Scott O]

Serial Liar 12:14 - Nope. He was like a lot of the FBI and IRS folks that think they can ignore the law.
Too bad the local sheriffs can't move in on the Fibbies like they did with this drug peddler.

[scenes]

"I draw white people"
-RL Crabb

I'd say it's mostly the nature of the medium.

https://www.nairaland.com/attachments/4319514_168225pol4jpg6d4644aa45943414af4e9a4f01d3ffea_jpege351817671a07db9011d3f7657fd452b

I appreciate the problem of the editorial cartoonist. Both funny/insightful gags and decent caricatures are a tough nut. Bummer that Jeff MacNelly died so young. Strips generally are sort of a wasteland anymore. I think that to be a Winsor McCay, you actually have to earn your keep as an illustrator for some time just to get the hand skills.

[Gregory]

Serial liar, 1214p

Did you learn to lie at the J-school at Northwestern, or does it just come naturally to you?

There is nothing libertarian about carrying loaded weapons while transporting drugs for sale. Shame on you.

[Gregory]

scenes 1232p

Of course, that specific rifle WAS banned in California 33 years ago. The ban is currently on death watch, with a ruling to overturn it expected any day now from Federal Judge Roger Benitez.

[Cereal Liar]

Gregory, you forgot Maoism (the latest scary word of the week being pushed to the MAGA mainstream).

[🐠]

Posted by: Cereal Liar | 30 May 2023 at 01:50 PM

Yeah….MAGA too! That word even scared Joey Diapers.

[Gregory]

Serial liar, 150p

Maoist is but a flavor of Marx. I thought you knew that, Serial.

"Marx! Mao! Marcuse!"
-a cheer heard in Berkeley in the 60's and 70's

[Cereal Liar]

You would know, Gregory.

[Gregory]

Feel free to dispute anything I write, but please, be specific, Jeff/Cereal.

Marx, Mao, Marcuse. Ever see those words before, in that order?

[Gregory]

"Gregory, you forgot Maoism (the latest scary word of the week being pushed to the MAGA mainstream)."
-Jeff/Cerial Liar

I've owned an offical copy of Quotations from Chairman Mao for 50 years. In English, printed in Communist China. Bought it at the Huntley Bookstore in Claremont for a buck. A gaggle of Chinese co-workers were amazed... "Where did you get this?"... it was, they assured me, identical to the version they were carrying at the time, except for the language. A translucent red plastic cover, quality paper, onion skin paper facing the pages with photos. 50 years later, the paper shows no sign of burning from acid content of the pages.

I'm not afraid of Marx or Mao, Jeff. Boo!

[scenes]

Gregory: "Of course, that specific rifle WAS banned in California 33 years ago."

At least there was some try for accuracy by stating that in the article. Thankfully, we were spared the 'high powered' rifle business given that there's not much in the way of rifles that are lower powered.

Dunno what the proper police response is. Their tendency is to load up every last thing they can think of, but that's probably to serve as a chip for a plea bargain.

It's funny how little difference it all makes. I just looked up the FBI firearms murders for Arizona and California (2019) and divided it into the population that year. The numbers are practically identical. CA has beaucoup rather mysterious rules. AZ allows concealed carry without a license, open carry without a license, legal NFA guns, no background checks for private sales, Castle Doctrine, no stupid black gun rules, etc.

[scenes]

re: Gregory@3:22

Say, that's cool. I'll bet there was some official Chinese publishing company that churned them out in 100 languages for a bit.

I've always wanted a Gaddafi Green Book in English to check out. Maybe the old man had something useful to say before Hillary and The Gang had him sodomized to death with a broom handle leaving the utopia that is Libya today.

[Gregory]

5.56 NATO, the standard ammunition for an AR-15, isn't even "high powered" enough for deer hunting in a number of states, I think including Kalifornia.

I am looking forward to buying an AR-15 soon... in 6.5 Grendel, that is high powered enough for deer hunting. And accurate enough for target shooting with low felt recoil.

Boo!

[Gregory]

scenes 350p

That would be "People's Press"

[Scott O]

Serial Liar - "the latest scary word of the week being pushed to the MAGA mainstream"

That's hilarious! How many times do I see the Dems use their fav scary label "NAZI" at anyone not totally on board with the latest lefty party line?
But "Maoism" is just too much for Liar's tender ears.

And since I can't recall Maoism being "pushed" at me by anyone, I must not be MAGA.
Liar is getting to be the excellent Paul Emery replacement. Shows up with inane BS - shits on himself - calls us names - lays low for a spell.
A fine example of lefty stupidity.

[Gregory]

Yet another Woke definition... perhaps the best:

Woke is Marxism evolved to take on the West.

Thank you, James Lindsay.

[🐠]

It’s schadenfreudetacular…..

Chicago Sees Deadliest Memorial Day Weekend In 8 Years Despite Hundreds Of Yellow-Vested 'Peacekeepers' In Streets

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/chicago-sees-deadliest-memorial-day-weekend-8-years-despite-hundreds-yellow-vested

[Scott O]

5:42 - "despite"?

More like "because of"

Here's a pro tip: When you signal to violent animals that you won't be suppressing their actions with any meaningful deterrence...

"no worse - there is none."

[Scott O]

Again 5:42
An interesting note is that Drudge kinda forgot to mention that about Chicago but had a link to an article about a shoot-em-up in Florida with black gang members except they forgot to mention the shooters were not Amish.
Any news that can be slanted bad about Florida is suddenly popping up on Drudge.
I laughed about the story that "gays are leaving Florida".
Yeah - Uhaul keeps track of the sexual activity of the folks renting their trucks and trailers.
C'mon, man!

[Scott O]

OK, it's the sandbox so here's a good example of something completely different.
https://getpocket.com/collections/its-not-just-burnout-how-grind-culture-failed-women?utm_source=pocket-newtab

"...many women are considering an alternative to relentless ambition and are exploring what a life of “ease” might look like."

Ah, really? Like - "I'm sorta sexually attractive and some dope will pay for everything"?

Money quote:
"Leaning into ease isn’t about laziness or a refusal of productivity. It’s simply a rallying cry to attempt to center something new: Ourselves."

Camille Paglia is laughing her ass off.

Turns out Gloria Steinem and the rest are full of shit. Reality bites -- everytime.

[Scott O]

I just have to post one more quote from the article previously cited.
It's a winner fer sure:
"But burnout is not only about work; it’s about the flaws in our approach to work and the low value our full lives hold in the scheme of capitalism. So it makes sense that as we battle the complexities of equal pay, maternal rights, healthcare rights, and the layers of racism, sexism, and misogyny that overlay these issues, many women are considering an alternative to relentless ambition and are exploring what a life of “ease” might look like."

Baby, sweetie, honey - your "full life" is actually worthless to me.
And most everyone else.
This is not about capitalism - it's just that you produce nothing of value.
Well - humor - to a point.
Humans evolved along a certain path for eons. You are free to diverge, but please don't blame your finding yourself in a tent on a side walk on capitalism.

[Don Bessee]

Who knew the chronicle was trying to be the new BB -

https://www.foxnews.com/media/san-francisco-paper-says-arguments-against-biological-males-female-sports-little-basis-science?dicbo=v2-5daxH4e

;-)

[🐠]

Posted by: Don Bessee | 30 May 2023 at 08:56 PM

Remember Don ……the industry told you…..it’s not about news, or information, or examining a particular issue from different perspectives, it’s about open advocacy now!

No need to waste time paying attention to the media…..err….marketing department anymore.

[Scott O]

from the SF Chron article:
""Attacks on trans athletes have little basis in science," the Chronicle claimed in a piece published Friday in the Science section."

See? - the "attacks".
They didn't say that the lowest rated NBA team wouldn't annihilate the top rated WNBA team before the first half - they said "the attacks"

And the "attacks" can be carefully scripted to include Billy Jean King beating Bobby Riggs and so forth.
The folks that write this crap will never have to put their money on the line.
Ever.
We notice the usual loud mouths on the left are silent now.
After all, their wives/identify as female house mates are beating the crap out of them anyway.

[scenes]

"Attacks on trans athletes have little basis in science,"

lol. Yeah right. Because science.

It'll all depend on whether the biologically male athlete is a decent one or not.

I admit, if this guy decided to become a sprinter, I'd believe that original gender made little difference to the result:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-owBhLGaH4

The real truth of the matter surrounds the grievance pyramid. Women outrank men, but men-in-dresses outrank both. In order to redress (so to speak) their inequality, put forth the notion that it's all normal, and improve their feelz, women can be sacrificed.

Like the Chronicle sez:

'Youth sports experts told the paper they believe the physical, mental and social health benefits of athletics for youth "outweighs any potential issues of unfairness."'

Sounds to me like we need new 'youth sports experts', the sane kind, assuming that the reporter didn't simply invent them from whole cloth.

[scenes]

I love this kind of thing. I suppose the same talk went down at the NC City Council.

https://twitter.com/MythinformedMKE/status/1662165786167738369

[Gregory]

Mythinformed is right... I recall the pushback against folks having to sign away their right to revolution to work in public schools in California. In the '60's.

DEI... that's Discrimination, Exclusion and Inequality?

Hands up, don't shoot!
https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.pDdRmE0D_c9TiXx19u1OfgHaGq?w=200&h=180&c=7&r=0&o=5&dpr=2&pid=1.7

[🐠]

Well of course they were…..!

Naturally though, the media sees no enemies to the left: Media Hot on Threats Against Target, Until Alleged LGBT Bomb Threat.

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/bill-dagostino/2023/05/31/media-hot-threats-against-target-until-alleged-lgbt-bomb-threat

[Don Bessee]

Trigger warning for the sock puppets and the ponytail of ignorance another urban legend turns out to be true -

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/05/31/james-comer-fbi-confirms-existence-of-file-allegedly-linking-joe-biden-to-5m-bribery-scheme/

;-)

[Paul Emery]

Ho Hum Don. That's an old one. Boring. Show me the indictments and then we'll talk.

[Don Bessee]

Another one bites the dust -

https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/white-house-officially-withdraws-nominations-234353902.html

;-)

[Misanthrope]

Is McCarthy going down as Speaker now that we see how poorly was able to herd his House Cats over the Debt Ceiling Crisis?

[scenes]

re: Mis@6:34AM

Who knows? The ways of Congress are a mystery and the system is corrupt enough that the deals are always cut in a backoffice somewhere. Nothing new there, it's baked into the cake of humanity. The difference in the case of the USA is that it took some time before the fedgov was large enough to really matter, percent of the economy, metastasized criminal code and regulations, number of apparatchiks.

I expect that McCarthy was a loyal member of the uniparty and did his part. Nothing financially painful will ever happen since the short term benefits always outweigh the long term, large groups of adults having the same planning horizon as children and all. It eventually will all blow up, CBO expects the debt to get beyond the WWII level in just a few years.

Perhaps we can build an economic system using leaves as money.

I'd say that a 'Republican' in the traditional sense should just assume the worst, with the potential outbreak of some huge change in technology always floating around, and simply cut themselves off from Clusterfuck Nation to the extent they can. Self-employment, self-sufficiency, community building can't be such a bad thing in any case. Just keep your head down and enjoy the show.

[Misanthrope]

Scenes, The uni-party is really where we want to be. The uni-party would be the moderate middle ground. We all know by now that the far right freedom caucus, tea party, etc. can never work because there are too many people already employed by the government, too many industries and corporations that are dependent on the government and to cut anything anywhere means someone in someone's district is going to get fired or laid off.

[Gregory]

re: Mis@6:34AM

It's up to the cats in the House, not Missy's dogs of war.

[Misanthrope]

Scenes, What I'm referring to is that condition the far right house cats required that only one vote be needed to consider the removal of the Speaker.

Will it be invoked? I think it might.

[Gregory]

The uni-party is an invention of folks like Jeff Pelline, who can't see the forest for the leaves.

[scenes]

"The uni-party would be the moderate middle ground."

There is no 'moderate middle ground'. The whole she-bang is a coalition of special-interest groups, largely interested in holding or increasing status and wealth. The 'uni-party' shares vigorish but not much in the way of philosophy.

You are thinking in terms of a great big 2D bell curve of mass behavior and attitude. It's a mental model that doesn't map to reality.

Is there somebody mad at the Speaker, enough for a shot across the bow? No doubt. They'll be ignored, smothered in their sleep, investigated by the IRS, given highway money for their district. Different players, same game.

[scenes]

re: Gregory@8:57

I view the 'uni-party' as a web of interlocking debits and credits. No overall goal really, but the individual nodes are always looking for that local maximum.

[Misanthrope]

Scenes, the uni - party would be what used to be called bipartisanship.

[fishanthrope]

Posted by: Misanthrope | 01 June 2023 at 09:53 AM

…. the uni - party would be what used to be called bipartisanship.

Funny watching the worlds fattest Barbara Walters impersonator weigh in on matters political.

[Gregory]

"…. the uni - party would be what used to be called bipartisanship."

That's why folks like Pelline would define anyone not on the left to be "far right"... to make a very large tent with commands coming from the far left.

Give it up, Jeff.

[Misanthrope]

Funny watching this blog's snarkiest troll try to stay relevant.

[Gregory]

"Funny watching this blog's snarkiest troll try to stay relevant."

That would be you, Missy.

Defining the great middle as all those great public employees we can't do without is beyond the pale.

[Scott O]

Missy 8:47 - "...and to cut anything anywhere means someone in someone's district is going to get fired or laid off."

So? How many lost their jobs when Biden halted the pipeline. I don't remember the Dems being worried in the slightest.
We can get rid of largely un-productive govt workers or we will have to get rid of productive workers in industry.
Which way ends up better for our country?
We can do it - it only takes the will to do it.
I totally agree there are tens of thousands of un-productive lay-a-bouts in govt, universities, large corps, etc. Look at how many workers Musk got rid of at Twitter and yet it still functions just fine.
We don't have to be stuck with our current reality if we don't want to.
But it seems the sheeple would rather watch the whole nation go into the ground as long as their TV still functions.

[fishanthrope]

Funny watching this blog's snarkiest troll try to stay relevant.

Relevance ...huh.....? Highly overrated Court Scribe.

[Gregory]

What used to be called "bipartisanship" was the Right caving in to the demands of the Left, most of the time. That suited the Left just fine.

[scenes]

"Right caving in to the demands of the Left"

It seems to me that bipartisanship implies 'bi', when there's really a lot more than two buzzards fighting over the carcass.

Also, my old general take was that the Right generally becomes Left once it joins the government in a permanent or semi-permanent manner. One of those hammer+nail situations. Plus, it's hard to lose your sweet sweet elected gubmint gig if you bring home some bacon.

But that was back in days of yore, when the arguments were primarily economic.

I'm finding it hard to come up with a modern model for politics. Most of the 'Left' and part of the 'Right' has formed a coalition War Party. The DEI religion continues apace. MSM and school administrations have a strong POV. The Surveillance State continues to grow with a thousand tendrils. It's probably not best to think of our current situation in terms of the politics of 50 years ago.

[scenes]

Scotto: "We can get rid of largely un-productive govt workers or we will have to get rid of productive workers in industry."

Well, the first one ain't gonna happen. Every time they try, the hue and cry carries across the land of "BUT YOU ARE TAKING ALL THE GOOD JOBS FROM POC!!". I'll bet it's increasingly true and a cube farm at HUD or the Department of Education would make that obvious.

Dunno what 'productive' workers will be going forward. While it's tempting to tell the AI-threatened artistic folks (and potentially software writers) to 'learn to mine coal', there's a certain amount of 52-card pickup just starting up now.

Heck, I'm just waiting for the Chinese EV invasion to begin as the Big 2.5 go belly-up as the car biz changes technology. Just imagine the bailouts for legacy employees in terms of pensions/healthcare. Should be exciting.

[scenes]

Scotto: "Look at how many workers Musk got rid of at Twitter and yet it still functions just fine."

A minor thing, but I'll humor my logorrhea.

Ignoring government, which has it's own logic, I'd say that the layoffs will be slow and then fast. A lot of those 'tech' companies (these days, typically surveillance capitalism) have stock prices or potential purchase prices based on a story, not profits. Growth, often artificial (buying other companies, fake metrics, growth in headcount) keeps the story afloat. The minute they have to worry about turning a buck as their primary focus, it'll get ugly.

Now, how you run a company that is both DEI-infested and profit-oriented is a circle I can't square. BlackRock's approach, by forcing wokeness as a trade-off by buying shares, is one answer, but I'm not sure it's sustainable. Larry Fink's kinkiness for distorting US companies probably can't stand up to a full court press by the Chinese. The physics of money can only be ignored for so long.

[Don Bessee]

Creepy grampa joe alienates another former ally -

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2023/05/31/uae-says-it-withdrew-from-u-s-led-maritime-coalition-two-months-ago/

;-)

[Misanthrope]

Gregory 1119 a.m., I'm sorry that you can't handle the truth about why it is so hard for politicians to cut programs.

[Misanthrope]

Scott o. at 1218 p.m., Scott, those people were fired before they were hired. It could have been a boondoggle like the Trump wall.
Everyone knows the oil industry is a boom and bust industry.

I recently saw a lame, manipulative documentary about the wild horse roundup program, but it pointed out the stupidity of rounding up a bunch of wild horses and basically putting them in a prison so that well connected sheep and cattle welfare ranchers could graze where the horses had been grazing.
I could easily see that program being cut, saving 100 million a year.

[Gregory]

No, you're not sorry, Jeff/Missy, and if you'd written something as defensible as "it's hard for pols to cut programs because every program has its defenders" you'd have gotten agreement.

What you did write was that being one of the wallowers in the mud is where everyone ought to be.

No.

[scenes]

"I'm sorry that you can't handle the truth about why it is so hard for politicians to cut programs."

That should be obvious as all get-out.

Basically, (1)small and highly-motivated groups punch way above their class and (2)the benefits of spending are obvious, the benefits of saving (or most other good habits) are a lot murkier. Think of the final victory of the Bolsheviks in the first case, the difficulties of dieting in the second.

Speaking of the power of the few. JHK's Monday column:

" An anxious silence falls over the land this Memorial Day as we discern increasingly that those we put in charge of this shape-shifting thing called the public interest are running out of trips to lay on the people. Something grotesque is revealing itself: a bankruptcy not just of money but of national purpose, meaning, and legitimacy. You realize this day, with a breaking heart, that your country has been stolen by psychopaths.
....
How that tiny fraction of the citizenry came to take charge of our affairs is surely the big mystery of the moment. My guess is that under conditions of economic-social-and-political collapse, the people who care about each other become preoccupied with their mutual caretaking duties while the psychopaths, unburdened by such cares, can go about other business — such as plunder, murder, and the sowing of chaos."

https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/memorial-service/

[The Estonian Fox]

scenes 01:24 PM

"BUT YOU ARE TAKING ALL THE GOOD JOBS FROM POC"

Well, that's as it should be, since they are POC = "piece of chit". Am I missing something? Do I need to review, AGAIN, my latest leftist dictionary V3.4 and their interminable changes?

[scenes]

Mis@2:10PM

"I recently saw a lame, manipulative documentary about the wild horse roundup program,"

As an aside, that's always an interesting question in morality.

Who should control and benefit from the land? You also see it in humanity, especially with all the hatred of the West as of late.

Do indigenous people have a moral right to land? Which ones? It isn't like the Navajo have been in their chunk of paradise much longer than the Spanish. People have replaced each other a hundred times in practically any chunk of property, a lot of it by conquest. The vast majority of cultures have had slavery or something akin and have been pretty darned murderous. No doubt K-12 textbooks will soon contain a proto-America filled with wild unicorns and peaceful matriarchies run by Wise Women.

In the case of animals...do horses outrank cattle? they're not native...except that they were if you go back far enough. There's more than a little reason to think that the successive waves of pre-Columbian humanity moving to the new world put paid to most megafauna on the continent.

[scenes]

"Well, that's as it should be, since they are POC = "piece of chit"."

Obviously it's People Other than Caucasian.

I just assume that the stories are already in the can, ready for posting.

(from 2014)
https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/government-layoffs-add-racial-wealth-gap-msna288101

If not ethnicity, it would be gender, or gender-fluid, or something.

[Scott O]

Missy 2:10 - "Scott, those people were fired before they were hired. It could have been a boondoggle like the Trump wall.
Everyone knows the oil industry is a boom and bust industry."

This is bull shit.

Lil' Missy needs to get up to speed. The pipeline was underway already and Biden killed it. Workers were laid off. They were promised higher paying "green" jobs which was the usual lie from the Dems. Gas and oil pipelines are already in use all over the country. There is no "boom and bust" with pipelines. The oil that would have been in the pipeline will go somewhere, but not as efficiently.
Nice try, moron - please play again after getting some education.

[Scott O]

The horsey round-up makes great theater. The horses are not native to that land and have zero beneficial use to our country. I've seen docs on that program and the various interest groups involved all have their emotional irons in the fire. The cheapest fix would be killing them all off and put an end to the whole deal.
Good luck with that.

[Gregory]

There are currently no (zero) white Anglo-Saxon Protestants on the Supremes.

Perhaps a few Presidential candidates will go on record that the next 3 or 4 nominations should be reserved for white Protestants, and another 2 or 3 be reserved for avowed agnostics or atheists of all hues?

Also, since black (aka Black) Americans are currently wildly overrepresented, going on the record to not replace both of the two current black justices with same once they leave the bench. Just one would do nicely.

Regarding wild horses, the French seem to like to eat them.
Free range, organic horsemeat... yum!

[scenes]

"Perhaps a few Presidential candidates will go on record that the next 3 or 4 nominations should be reserved for white Protestants,"

I've got your problem solved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Brinton#/media/File:Sam_Brinton.jpg

"Brinton was raised in Perry, Iowa and is the child of two Southern Baptist missionaries."

[Scott O]

scenes - unfortunately for Sam's SCOTUS hopes, he seems to have fallen in with a bad crowd and has a bit of an "involvement with the legal system" problem.

[Don Bessee]

We can forgive the great ponytail of ignorances memory issues so to be clear it not old news -

Last week, Comer attempted to "narrow the breadth of the subpoena" in response to FBI staff criticisms, and the committee determined "additional terms based on unclassified legally protected whistleblower disclosures that may be referenced in the FD-1023 form." The terms included "June 30, 2020" and "five million."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fbi-bring-biden-document-capitol-hill-monday-after-threats-hold-wray-contempt-congress

;-)

[Don Bessee]

No arnold rebranding didn't work the first time and wont now, you cannot fear monger for over 50 years and expect it to work now. Unless you are talking about uninformed teenage girls with mental illnesses ala gretta -

Climate crusader Arnold Schwarzenegger is urging a rebranding of global warming as “pollution” to generate more intense fear among the general population.

“As long as they keep talking about global climate change, they are not gonna go anywhere,” Schwarzenegger said in an interview this week on CBS’ Sunday Morning. “Cause no one gives a shit about that.”

Schwarzenegger is not the first to spot the need to intensify climate change rhetoric if people are going to be to frightened into action.

https://www.breitbart.com/environment/2023/06/01/arnold-schwarzenegger-laments-no-one-gives-a-s-t-about-climate-change/

;-)

[Don Bessee]

What a great way to neuter your armed forces -

“I don’t really need to see loads of useless white male pilots, let’s get as focused as possible, I am more than happy to reduce boarding if needed to have a balanced BAME/female/male board,” Harwin continued.

Speaking to the broadsheet, a source within the Royal Air Force said that the “email clearly demonstrates the endemic culture that was created by the senior leadership to chase ridiculous diversity statistics that were patently unachievable”.

This culture extended to issuing orders that were illegal,” the RAF source added.

Under the Equality Act of 2010, it is illegal to discriminate in hiring based on protected characteristics, including gender, religion, sexual orientation or race.

Despite ethnicity and gender seemingly having nothing to do with protecting the nation from foreign threats, the Royal Air Force has committed to transforming its ranks to 40 per cent female and 20 per cent from a minority background by the end of the decade.

This has so far failed to materialise, with pesky white males still making the overwhelming majority of RAF pilots last year, with just 30 out of 1,5000 pilots being women and only 10 being ethnic minorities. When expanded to the RAF engineering corps, white men still dominate, with less than two per cent of engineers being minorities and six per cent female. As a whole just three per cent of the RAF comes from a minority background.

This is perhaps unsurprising given that men have traditionally been overrepresented in the military of ever nation in history and given that Britain remains a majority white country

According to testimony provided to the defence select committee by former RAF Group Captain Lizzy Nicholl, the force allegedly discriminated against 160 white men in order to hit their woke diversity targets.

The insistence on diversifying the skies comes at a time when many in the top ranks are increasingly expressing concern over Britain’s military readiness for a potential war.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/06/01/raf-recruiters-told-to-stop-selecting-useless-white-male-pilots/

;-)

[Scott O]

"to generate more intense fear among the general population."

And - that's about all the left has to offer the public.
Seems to work a treat.
Just look at Paul and Lil' Missy's posts.

[Don Bessee]

Aint it funny that the voracious woke cancel culture in lala land gives this creep a pass, must be the -

The director of the upcoming Warner Bros. superhero movie The Flash is standing behind gender non-binary star Ezra Miller, saying he won’t recast the role in a possible sequel despite the actor’s recent string of legal troubles.

Andy Muschietti voiced his support for Ezra Miller in a recent interview with “The Discourse” podcast during which he used the actor’s preferred “they/them” pronouns.

As Breitbart’s John Nolte reported, Miller’s run-ins with the law are numerous and troubling:

April 2020: Alleged video of attack and strangulation of woman surfaces.
March 2022: Arrested for disorderly conduct and harassment in a karaoke bar.
April 2022: Arrested for second-degree assault, including hurling a chair and cutting a woman’s head.
May 2022: Arrested for disorderly conduct and threatening police officers.
June 2022: Accused of grooming 12-year-old girl with “violence, intimidation, threat of violence, fear, paranoia, delusions, and drugs.”
June 2022: Another accusation of grooming a 12-year-old.
August 2022: Charged with felony burglary.
August 2022: Allegations of child endangerment

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2023/05/31/the-flash-director-says-he-wont-recast-ezra-miller-in-sequel-despite-legal-troubles/

;-)

[Don Bessee]

Another global warming societal suicide move -

We will have to do in ten years what we have struggled to do in thirty years,” Pisani-Ferry reportedly said in the report.

The report is now to be considered by the French government, with both Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and Green Transition Minister Christophe Bechu previously expressing openness to radical measures aimed at pushing climate ideology.

Other officials appear far less keen to back the plan, however, with Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire having already come out to decry the plan as being a very bad idea.

“Is the tax a solution? No!” the minister declared on Tuesday, saying that the wealth tax seemed completely unreasonable considering France’s wealthiest are already operating within income tax brackets of 75 per cent.

“Our policy is to lower taxes, to lower the tax burden in a country that has the highest tax burden of all developed countries,” he continued, insisting that he wanted to “reassure taxpayers” that France was not coming to steal all their wealth away.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/05/25/the-red-green-agenda-french-government-told-to-implement-wealth-tax-to-fight-climate-change/

;-)

[scenes]

"scenes - unfortunately for Sam's SCOTUS hopes, he seems to have fallen in with a bad crowd and has a bit of an "involvement with the legal system" problem."

Given that 'screwing the pooch' seems to be the national watchwords at this point, I'd think he'd be just the man.

[scenes]

I had to look up Ezra Miller, but upon a moment's reflection, who better to play this guy:

https://www.comicartcommunity.com/gallery/data/media/704/GOLDEN_AGE_FLASH_BY_ALEX_ROSS_Alex_Ross.jpg

than this guy:

https://assets.vogue.com/photos/5d5c246765a11f0008ef2654/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/01-ezra-miller.jpg

Thank God for Hollywood to show us the way.

Speaking of which, I was looking up fire news at Yubanet, and ran into all the 'Pride' hullaballoo in NC. I drive there occasionally so it's best to keep an eye on matters.

What strikes me is the sheer genius of the whole thing. It's as if they aggressively welded Christian symbology to a particular political movement, which has been the case now and again.

For it? Well, it's a brilliant GOTV group hivemind kind of thing. Give those Trumpsters what for. Agin' it? YOU'RE A HATER, THERE'S NOTHING POLITICAL GOING ON HERE!!

Truth is, you might as well splash MAGA flags all over town and then wonder why people are against making America great again what-are-they-some-kind-of-traitors?

It's a bummer that successful social movements, basically emotion-driven mass activities, are always built atop a concept of payback. A lot of the current outrage is driven by people who have felt put-upon for 100k years, but I'd say that the joy in group anger is really no different than mostly-peaceful building burners from the Summer of Love, Tutsi vs. Hutu, German mobs in the intra-war period (shoutout to Godwin), Russian expulsion of intelligencia in the 1920s, perhaps an upcoming traditionalist backlash. The Revenge of the Gracile is an interesting thing to watch.

Humans are deeply attracted to groupthink and symbology. Maybe it's a natural side effect of grafting language to a fancy sort of ape.

[Scott O]

scenes 5:28 - You're getting a bit ahead of the acceptance curve, there.
Important male govt officials showing up at high society functions in full drag is quite the thing, now. (no govt dyke cross-dressers - why?) Going back just as far as the Obama admin, this would have been a major scandal. So - we are "progressing". But sodomizing furry pup-boys is just still over the horizon. Ya got's to pay attention to what is in the current Overton Window.
So, be patient - folks like Misanthrope will be scolding us old fuddy-duddies for not accepting a cabinet head or some such showing up at a govt photo op in full-on furry. Maybe next year.
They are working on it:
https://theconversation.com/what-are-furries-debunking-myths-about-kids-identifying-as-animals-and-litter-boxes-in-schools-193908
Best quote:
"If your knowledge of furries comes mostly from television or social media, then what you’ve heard about furries is probably wrong. It’s not your fault — the misinformation is pervasive."
Yeah -
https://breakingdigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/image-97-585x378.png

[scenes]

"You're getting a bit ahead of the acceptance curve, there."

The Overton Express Elevator is on it's way.

I'm waiting for the first cabinet member who is a diaper furry or an adult infant as DNI (TIL the term 'Paraphilic infantilism'). With a doddering President, it's hard to tell just what bits of exotic behavior will be introduced to the American public next.

In normal times, we'd probably be treated to a version of extreme Puritanism in a generation or so, but I honestly think that surveillance tech combined with the newfound ability to parse all of it might result in a permanent State this time 'round. The difference between China and the USA will be the tastes of the elite, not the toolset used to enforce it.