Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

šŸŽ¶ Those boots were made for mockinā€™ šŸŽµ

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Letā€™s not be the monsters we hate.

Despite his magical powers, I donā€™t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Itā€™s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesnā€™t end.

Iā€™m pretty sure thereā€™s only one Jack Smith.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

A democracy canā€™t function when people canā€™t distinguish facts from lies.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Everybody saw this coming.

Iā€™d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day canā€™t get worse.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

T R E 4 5 O N

Let’s finish the job.

The willow is too close to the house.

Iā€™d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / That’s Nice to Know

That’s Nice to Know

by | 197 Comments

This post is in: 

One less imbecile:

Robert David Steele, a former CIA officer turned conspiracy theorist who claimed to be the first person to call COVID-19 a hoax, has died from COVID-19.

Steele, who was among the earliest QAnon promoters and helped the conspiracy theory move from the fringes of the internet into the mainstream, was hospitalized with symptoms of COVID-19 earlier this month. But he continued to spread anti-vaccine and COVID-denial conspiracy theories until the end.

ā€œI will not take the vaccination, though I did test positive for whatever theyā€™re calling ā€˜COVIDā€™ today, but the bottom line is that my lungs are not functioning,ā€ Steele wrote in his final blog post on August 17, accompanied by a picture of him hooked up to what appears to be a ventilator.

ā€œWe will never be the same because now we know that weā€™ve all been lied to about everything,ā€ Steele added. ā€œBut, now we also know that we can trust each other. Iā€™m alive today because I had a network that put me into a good hospital in Florida.ā€

In the not so distant past, I wondered to myself if I needed to buy some fire-arms (mainly a shotgun and perhaps a nice long rifle) to protect myself if the shit went down. This was when all the right-wingers were objectively being scary, and fortunately that concern passed for me. However, since the ‘rona virus, I’m even happier I did not buy any firearms, because I won’t need to.

If my hunches are correct, there is a significant overlap with anti-vax nutters and gun owners, so if the shit really does go down, I’ll be fine. I read the Stand. I’ve seen the Walking Dead. I’ve played all the Wastelands. I’ll just put on a mask and some gloves, walk on over to these idiots’ houses, and just take the shit they have been stockpiling.

I’ll take your potable water and filters, I’ll take your 250 lbs of dehydrated macaroni and cheese, the seeds that Glenn Beck sold you and the vitamins Alex Jones sold you. I’ll rummage around for the gold and silver you bought from Fox news infomercials, and then, when I am done scavenging, I will saunter on over and take your fucking guns from your cold dead hands.

Reader Interactions

197Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    But when you also take their livestock, be careful to check for worms and other parasites because, well, you know…

  3. 3.

    Matt McIrvin

    I think COVID-19’s lethality seems almost too low to explain the sheer number of these stories, and then I turn that ratio around and realize how many of these fools there must be.

  4. 4.

    Cermet

    The worst part, come 2060, the next old geezer generation of loons will be just as crazy but the world will be missing half its population and we can point the blame at fox news and the right wing army of imbeciles that it created and monsters in power it protected; the window to stop this world wide disaster of AGW was missed. The looming freight train bearing down on humanity can’t be stopped now –Ā  its bakes in – literally.

  8. 8.

    CaseyL

    To paraphrase Benedict (from Much Ado About Nothing): The world must be de-peopled.

    It would be a dream come true, if the malevolently stupid finally died en masse as a result of their own diabolical idiocy.

  9. 9.

    bbleh

    I will saunter on over and take your fucking guns from your cold dead hands.

    Get ’em before they start to decompose and liquefy though. Otherwise you’ll have to strip it all the way down and clean it good and … yuck.

  10. 10.

    Stella

    As more and more of these people die my fear of another insurrection or an all out civil war have been dissipating.Ā  I had the same idea about if shit went down but I wasn’t even worried about my source being dead.Ā  He talks about killing liberals like me but somehow still thinks we’re friends and asks me why I don’t visit him anymore.Ā  He’s older and disabled and he recently shot a hole in his roof due to an irresponsible discharge.Ā  He has guns stashed all over his house.Ā  I could easily go over with a bottle and get him drunk and take a couple of guns and he wouldn’t even realize for a while.

  12. 12.

    Brachiator

    Iā€™ll take your potable water and filters, Iā€™ll take your 250 lbs of dehydrated macaroni and cheese, the seeds that Glenn Beck sold you and the vitamins Alex Jones sold you. Iā€™ll rummage around for the gold and silver you bought from Fox news infomercials, and then, when I am done scavenging, I will saunter on over and take your fucking guns from your cold dead hands.

    John Cole, you are on fire, and I love it!

  13. 13.

    Eunicecycle

    My dad always used to say, “The world would be better off without people” when he ran across a particularly stupid specimen of human. Now our family just says, “Grandpa was right!” and we all know what it means.

  16. 16.

    pat

    Wow. I bet you are still high from convincing your friend to get the vax.
    Way to go!
    When I wear my mask in the stores I consider it a f-u to the idiots who will not get the shot.

  19. 19.

    Mike in NC

    Pass it on: Biden is going to both take away your guns AND make you live next door to Afghan refugees.

  20. 20.

    NorthLeft12

    I hope that the people who Mr. Steele was speaking to when he said that ā€œwe all have been lied to about everythingā€ weā€™re listening very carefully and have now drawn the proper conclusion.

  21. 21.

    Brachiator

    @mali muso:

    Never change. This is classic Cole and I am HERE for it.

    Hmm. Is there Classic Cole, Diet Cole, and Cole Zero?

    It’s all good!

  23. 23.

    bluehill

    I’d rather die on my back with a ventilator shoved down my throat than live with this never-ending cognitive dissonance.

  24. 24.

    sab

    Until quite recently I really believed these talk radio types were extremely cynical. The country club Republicans are utterly cynical, vaxed to the max but vocally pro-Freedom. But these RWNJs actually believe what they are saying. Sad.

  27. 27.

    bbleh

    @Brachiator: no, but there’s Cole Lite (all the flavor but only 1/3 the cussing), Cole Ice (a rap version of BJ, but frankly kinda wannabe), and Cole Proprietor’s Reserve (illegal to transport out of WV).

  29. 29.

    JaySinWa

    John Pierce missing and presumed COVID. https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2021/08/30/former-kyle-rittenhouse-lawyer-john-pierce-mia-jan-6-insurrection-cases/5650396001/

    Wackaloon, former Kyle Rittenhouse defence attorney, current attorney for 17 Jan 6 defendants, Twitter anit-mask and anti-vaccine evangelist John Pierce has gone missing. His associate now claims he is on a ventilator suffering from Covid, after previously claiming he was hospitalized in an accident.

  30. 30.

    Taobhan

    I completely understand your thinking, Cole. It’s a bizarre outcome of the COVID pandemic that ignorant right-wing nutcases would voluntarily off themselves by practically bathing in the coronavirus. I didn’t expect or hope for this to happen but yet here it is. I thought they valued their own lives a lot more than this but it appears they’re willing to sacrifice everything for their ridiculous cause.

  32. 32.

    Adam L Silverman

    Robert David Steele was a member of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. Some of the other members are Michael Shueur, William Binney, Larry Johnson, and a number of other well known former intelligence officials. A number of them like Scheuer, whose wife is still a serving senior official at the CIA, and Steele had inserted themselves into the QAnon conspiracy and were actively promoting it. Johnson inserted himself into the Hunter Biden laptop garbage.

    Laugh at these people if you want. But they, as well as other former senior military and intelligence personnel now serving in the state and federal governments like my former colleague Doug Mastriano, have the knowledge, skills, ability, education, experience, and expertise to actually plan and carry out a rebellion against the US government, state governments, or both. They may seem like they are loosely tethered to reality, at best, but they have the ability, capability, and capacity to do significant damage to the US. Madison Cawthorne, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Louis Gohmert, etc are a bunch of bumbling stooges. They generate a lot of noise and rile people up, but the people like Steele, Binney, Johnson, Scheuer, Michael Flynn, Mastriano, etc are the really dangerous ones.

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    @raven: It works very nice on my grandmother’s silver ware and silver platters. I’ve never used it for anything else. The people I know who have used it on firearms seem to only use it as an external protectant, especially on heirloom firearms. They don’t use it on the internal working and moving parts.

    Once I get around to having the 1858 Remington .44 cap and ball revolver used during the Great Rebellion that I purchased from the same folks I bought the Carlson’s Raider bowie from, I’ll check with the person recommended to restore the revolver if I should use it as an external protectant. I didn’t purchase the gun to shoot it, just to restore it and then display it.

  40. 40.

    Another Scott

    … I will saunter on over and take your fucking guns from your cold dead hands the rack in the back window of your $65,000 coal-rolling pickup truck.

    FIFY.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  44. 44.

    EmanG

    Godammit, can we get an upvote button? There is literally nothing I can do to improve or intelligently comment on that truth bomb.

  47. 47.

    Ksmiami

    @Adam L Silverman: they need to be summarily dismissed and stripped of their pensions etc. These people are dangerously unhinged and obviously shouldnā€™t be in any type of authority or decision-making role

  50. 50.

    justawriter

    “If the shit really does go down, Cole will be fine” should be one of the rotating tags

  54. 54.

    SpaceUnit

    @Ksmiami: Ā I really don’t take any joy from watching somebody die from their own stupidity, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to waste any sympathy on them. Ā There’s too many people that are more entitled to it.

  55. 55.

    Poe Larity

    I feel bad for all the neighbors who lost their homes in the fires last year, but their basements were filled with Exxon Valdez levels of guns and ammo. And from the looks of it, none of that was insured.

    Losing the house hurt, but losing the guns broke them.

  58. 58.

    Mary G

    Dog is his co-pilot:

    MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says tonight that his multi-million dollar private jet is ā€œbroken,ā€ which he calls ā€œdivine intervention.ā€— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) August 30, 2021

    “Stay the fuck home and count what little is left of your money.”

  59. 59.

    JaySinWa

    @Adam L Silverman: While the politicians may not have the ability to create and execute an insurrection, they do seem to be rousing the rabble and give a patina of legitimacy to be used by those who can. They also work to obstruct justice, running interference for the insurrection.

    So I see them as dangerous allies to the others.

  60. 60.

    Honus

    @Another Scott: In West Virginia itā€™s illegal to have a firearm in the gun rack of your truck unless itā€™s daylight during hunting season. Ā At least it used to be.

  64. 64.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Richard Engel needs a sabbatical, or a new beat altogether

    Charles P. Pierce Ā @CharlesPPierce 1h
    Were we dropping ā€œwestern valuesā€ from the B52? Did we torture people at sacred Bagram in keeping with ā€œwestern valuesā€?

    NewsBustersĀ @newsbustersĀ 3h
    NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel called Biden surrender in Afghanistan “the worst capitulation of western values in our lifetimes.” Ā 

  66. 66.

    Bodacious

    Damn, this blog is not making me a better ‘person’, but if I need a hearty chortle, no place beats it. These days I always make sure I’m not drinking coffee while reading……

  67. 67.

    different-church-lady

    @Cermet: Exactly: dying before the food riots begin might be the smartest thing they’ve ever done in their very dumb lives.

  69. 69.

    dmsilev

    @Mary G: So heā€™s saying that itā€™s Godā€™s will that he be grounded or have to (gasp!) fly commercial? Not quite the trials of Job, but ok.

  75. 75.

    Gravenstone

    COVID, methodically ticking boxes as she harvests some of the worst. Alas, she’s not that discerning and far too many innocents have also been lost. But for each of these denialist cretins that Lady Death claims, I cheer.

  76. 76.

    Poe Larity

    People said they wanted a sequel to Idiocracy. But weā€™re living it.

    Reality trumps fiction.

  82. 82.

    Tony Gerace

    Sounds like a good plan.

    “CIA officer turned conspiracy theorist” … I seriously wonder how many CIA guys fit the profile of this lunatic.Ā  If the answer is “more than one”, that’s pretty bad.

  83. 83.

    trollhattan

    @Mary G: Pac 12 soccer has revved up and that motherfucker runs ads on the Pac 12 network. Hope they got their money up front.

  85. 85.

    Ken

    @bbleh: Otherwise youā€™ll have to strip it all the way down and clean it good and ā€¦ yuck.

    You’d want to do that anyway, in case they incubated some mutant strain.

  86. 86.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:Ā ā€‹ 
    Yeah, he has really shown all his ass today. Cheryl Rofer made a point on her Twitter that many of these beating their chests and rending garments over Afghanistan are in their mid-40s or so and grew up in the 90s when they saw the fall of the wall and America triumph over commies. They don’t know what losing looks like and they’re mad.

  87. 87.

    Brachiator

    I ran across this little factoid in a USA Today story about a guy trying to get a hospital to give him the horse poison snake oil.

    The lawsuit doesnā€™t mention whether Jeffrey Smith is vaccinated against COVID-19. However, overwhelming majorities of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated ā€“Ā data from the Ohio Department of Health showsĀ of roughly 21,000 Ohioans hospitalized with COVID-19 since Jan. 1, only about 500 were vaccinated.

    I didn’t realize the degree to which the hospitals are filling up with anti vaxx idiots.

    A foolish death cult.

  88. 88.

    kindness

    Speaking of Deja vu, about 2 or 3 months ago I was reading a piece written by someone who had inside militia people tell him/her that they way they figured they would survive the armageddon that they fully believe will come is by taking what they want.Ā  What struck me as really shitty is they planned on taking the newbies to their side’s stored rations and new sparkling guns.Ā  They had a big laugh about that.Ā  Some of them want this to happen and really do expect to live through it by strong armed robbery and back stabbing theft.
    At least John doesn’t recommend back stabbing or theft, just taking abandoned goods.ā€‹

  89. 89.

    Ken

    @L85NJGT: Nice pictures, but after the first dozen or so, the entire phrase “after Hurricane Ida blew ashore Sunday” collapses into semantic meaninglessness.

    Also, do trees in Louisiana have roots?

  91. 91.

    PsiFighter37

    So this dumbshit said getting COVID was helping to expose it as a hoax? Great logic.

    IMO, hospitals should ask if people coming in are well-known anti-vaxxers / conspiracy theorists. If so, refuse entrance and have them die at home. They should all be made fucking examples of.

  96. 96.

    Gravenstone

    @Adam L Silverman: A sad reminder that we are entering the silly season where far too many products are inexplicably laden with “pumpkin spice” flavoring. A particularly vile example being the store brand “pumpkin spice bratwurst” my local grocer tried to foist off on the paying clientele a couple years back. Small wonder that it rather filled the remainders section a week or three later.

  97. 97.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    @JaySinWa: based on his phones already being shutoff, though, i am thinking he’s using covid to fake his death & disappear, like that indo-american doctor who did similarly on 9/11/01

  100. 100.

    Miss Bianca

    @HumboldtBlue: That’s a great point about these pundits being totally unused to the idea that America could *lose*, dammit. Glad Cheryl was out there making it.

  102. 102.

    ronno2018

    Really the problem (or solution for old right wingers?) is that guns in the house often accidentally discharge or the depressed home occupants off themselves.

    Really — I want Japanese or UK gun laws in this country and full free mental health services for all as I do not want people to hurt themselves,Ā  but currently if things get crazy I am OK delaying my preferred public policy for a bit. LOL. :(

  103. 103.

    SpaceUnit

    It used to be a running joke that President Obama could have significantly thinned the republican base by issuing a PSA that warned of the dangers of sleeping on the railroad tracks (or some such). Ā All this anti-vax / horse pill business proves it wasn’t actually a joke.

  106. 106.

    dmsilev

    @Brachiator:

    I didnā€™t realize the degree to which the hospitals are filling up with anti vaxx idiots.

    The study that LA Public Health released a week or so ago showed that fully vaccinated people were hospitalized at roughly 1/30th the rate of unvaccinated, looking at May through July. So, yeah. The vaccines arenā€™t perfect, but theyā€™re better than we had any right to hope for.

  108. 108.

    VeniceRiley

    IDK how well thought out this is. My expectation is theyā€™ll be an unshaven old survivor in a recliner with a sour smell, a dog, a rifle, and a long Covid bad case of broke dick. Recipe for disaster.

  114. 114.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: You’re asking the wrong person.

    I will say that the agency is a lot more heterogenous than it is given credit for, especially the analytic service.

  117. 117.

    Jeffro

    I dunno….250 pounds of dehydrated mac & cheese is still a LOT of mac & cheese.

    Maybe just take half?

  118. 118.

    dexwood

    @Bodacious:Ā  I stopped worrying about being a better person upon the Orange Asshole’s selection. These days, with all The Stupid everywhere, I work at not being worse.

  119. 119.

    Splitting Image

    If my hunches are correct, there is a significant overlap with anti-vax nutters and gun owners, so if the shit really does go down, Iā€™ll be fine. I read the Stand. Iā€™ve seen the Walking Dead. Iā€™ve played all the Wastelands. Iā€™ll just put on a mask and some gloves, walk on over to these idiotsā€™ houses, and just take the shit they have been stockpiling.

    Iā€™ll take your potable water and filters, Iā€™ll take your 250 lbs of dehydrated macaroni and cheese, the seeds that Glenn Beck sold you and the vitamins Alex Jones sold you. Iā€™ll rummage around for the gold and silver you bought from Fox news infomercials, and then, when I am done scavenging, I will saunter on over and take your fucking guns from your cold dead hands.

    After years of being innundated with near-future apocalyptic dystopias, it’s nice to see people looking forward to a better future again.

    I’m curious to what people think will wipe out the fuckers as they hide themselves away from society to escape the nasty vaccines. Will it be tetanus making a comeback? Cholera? Dysentery? I wonder what they’ll come up with to try to cure themselves of measles. Maybe brown recluse venom?

  120. 120.

    Jager

    @Another Scott: 

    “Then I’ll drive the $65,000 coal roller down to the dealer, have your idiotic modifications taken off the engine and drive it for a quarter of a million miles on your nickel.”

  122. 122.

    Adam L Silverman

    @JaySinWa: You missed my point, we now have a group of Republican elected officials, a few at the Federal level and even more at the state level, that actually do have that knowledge and capability. Mastriano’s last assignment before he retired from the military was as a faculty instructor for the theater strategy and campaigning course at USAWC. That lunatic retired Air Force aviator in the AZ senate attended command staff college. Same with Congressman Clyde from GA. RADM Jackson, despite being Navy Medical, had to attend one of the senior leader colleges (war colleges) or complete Joint Professional Military Education level 2 and/or complete a senior leader college fellowship. There’s dozens of these men and women between the state and federal level that we’ve spent millions training and educating and have now decided that unless they and their party win every election, then the election must have been stolen. And what we’ve educated and trained them to do is plan military operations across the Land, Sea, Air, and Amphibious domains depending on their branch of service. Flynn is not only a senior leader college graduate, but was also the #2 deputy commanding general in JSOC for years.

  126. 126.

    Citizen Alan

    @kindness: 

    Totally unsurprised to see that most survivalists idolize Negan Smith from The Walking Dead. At this point, I think anyone who owns more than three guns should be presumed a psychopath until proven sane.

  127. 127.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: one thing Cheryl doesn’t mention about those who came of age in the 90s is the first Gulf War. It’s easy to forget given how fast Poppy’s presidency crapped out, but if you were there, you remember the near-deification of “Stormin’ Norman” Schwarzkopf and of course, Colin Powell. I can’t remember if people came out and said the FGW cured “Vietnam syndrome”, but I think they did. I’d say ‘The Blob’ as it exists today, the Very Serious Persons who think “boots on the ground” is the answer to every foreign policy question, traces its roots back there

    ETA: my memory of the Clinton administration’s handling of the Balkan situation are fuzzy, but I believe that was another part of the formation of The Blob even pre-9/11

    “My constant, unwelcome message at all the meetings on Bosnia was simply that we could not commit military forces until we had a clear political objective,” Powell wrote in his memoir. Albright, he wrote, “asked me, `What’s the point of having this superb military that you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?’ I thought I would have an aneurysm.” Powell said Albright was treating American GIs as “toy soldiers.”

    In the years since that encounter, the Clinton administration has deployed tens of thousands of peacekeepers to Bosnia and waged an air campaign over Kosovo and Serbia. There are now roughly 11,000 U.S. peacekeepers in Bosnia and Kosovo, representing about one-fifth of the total NATO ground force.

    With a democratic regime in power in Belgrade and peace taking hold in Bosnia, Albright said the Clinton administration’s view has been “vindicated.”

  128. 128.

    Citizen Alan

    My biggest fear about the anti-vax assholes is that in 3-5 years, the ones who survive will all have long Covid, and they’ll demand long-term SS disability in numbers big enough to bankrupt the system.

  130. 130.

    Citizen Alan

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The worst thing about all that is that Dubya learned the wrong lesson from Poppy. Specifically, he learned that once you start a war, you never let it end or else you lose your “war president” approval ratings and people start to notice how bad the economy sucks.

  131. 131.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Miss Bianca:Ā ā€‹ 
    I think another angle is that they have also seen just how badly the foreign policy can be when for 20 years we were just one more surge, one more change in strategy, one more troop increase would turn the corner and turn the country around and they fell for it every time.

    They never questioned the illogic behind that notion, how it was supposed to happen, what to do in a fractured nation of tribal interests and international intrigue.

    From my standpoint, these assholes didn’t give a flying fuck about Afghanistan last month, they didn’t give a shit last year when Trump surrendered, they didn’t give a shit four years ago, it was just a story they could cover and while they may be personally invested, that in no way accounts for what a useless endeavor it has been.

  134. 134.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    I’m surprised that some whackanoodle preacher hasn’t told their followers that people aren’t dying of COVID but rather that they are being raptured to Jeebus’ mammaries (or whatever passes for heaven for them). And that those who are vaccinating are accepting the mark of the beast.

    There’s money to be made there!

  135. 135.

    satby

    Iā€™ll take your potable water and filters, Iā€™ll take your 250 lbs of dehydrated macaroni and cheese, the seeds that Glenn Beck sold you and the vitamins Alex Jones sold you. Iā€™ll rummage around for the gold and silver you bought from Fox news infomercials, and then, when I am done scavenging, I will saunter on over and take your fucking guns from your cold dead hands.

    And I’ll help.

  136. 136.

    Ohio Mom

    @Citizen Alan: Donā€™t spend too much time worrying.

    We donā€™t yet know what the time span for long Covid is. Maybe it abates over a few years, maybe treatments will be developed to blunt the worst of it.

    And qualifying for SSDI is not easy, if numbers of Covid survivors do wrestle with symptoms over time,Ā lots of them will be turned down. Which will just feed their rage about ā€œgovernment bureaucratsā€Ā but they were going to be mad about something, anyway.

    Howā€™s the move to NY and the start of classes going?

  137. 137.

    Citizen Alan

    @Ohio Mom: So far so good. I love NY, or at least Queens, which is all I’ve seen so far. Classes started earlier this evening with a Chapter 11 Business Document Drafting class. I went into it thinking I would drop it but it turned out to be fascinating, so I’m going to stick it out.

  141. 141.

    Jeffro

    @HumboldtBlue:I think another angle is that they have also seen just how badly the foreign policy can be when for 20 years we were just one more surge, one more change in strategy, one more troop increase would turn the corner and turn the country around and they fell for it every time.

    Yup. Ā a 6-month mission + 39 Friedman Units

  142. 142.

    Kent

    How refreshing, a NYT “Cletus Safari” that actually goes to someplace with diversity and interviews almost no white people.Ā  Ā And who would have thought, but they mostly sound intelligent and mostly support the president.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/us/california-voters-afghanistan-biden.html

    What Voters in a California Swing District Say About Afghanistan

    In a battleground district, even some Trump voters said they were hesitant to hold President Biden accountable for the casualties and chaos in the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan.

    ā€œI donā€™t think it was ever going to be easy to leave,ā€ Ms. Ortiz said while watching her children play soccer in their recently resumed league at a park in the Los Angeles County community of Hacienda Heights. ā€œAt the end of the day, our country is where we need to be focusing. We have our own issues: getting the kids to school, healing our communities. Itā€™s not our war to fight anymore.ā€

    At a time of deep partisan division, in a Southern California congressional district where Democrats narrowly outnumber Republicans, voters interviewed over the weekend were largely united on at least one issue: After a two-decade war, President Biden was right to pull American troops out of Afghanistan.

    The bombing at the Kabul airport had done little to change their minds, the killing of 13 soldiers leaving them more numbed than saddened. Many said they were simply too overwhelmed to pay close attention to another overseas crisis. ā€œWe have a lot of mending here to do,ā€ said Ms. Ortiz, who considers herself a political moderate and voted for Mr. Biden.

    Amid a still-raging pandemic and a still-recovering economy, this was a time to be focused on problems at home rather than abroad, more than a dozen Republican, Democratic and independent voters said in conversations in and around Hacienda Heights, a community of 55,000 people about 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles where first- and second-generation immigrants fill the subdivisions and strip malls.

    Afghanistan could be ignored, they said, but the possibility of their too-young-to-be-vaccinated children getting sick could not. Leaders in Washington might worry about the threat of terrorism or Americaā€™s standing with allies, but voters in Hacienda Heights said they were far more concerned about issues affecting them directly: Covid-19, homelessness and climate change, to name a few.

    They also seemed hesitant to hold Mr. Biden accountable for last weekā€™s attacks, at least for now.

    ā€œWhen you have no good choice, you still have to pick one,ā€ said Patrick Huang, a 65-year-old independent who has voted for both Republicans and Democrats. ā€œThey had plenty of time to prepare to get everybody out, and they totally messed it up. But I donā€™t blame President Biden for everything. This came after many, many presidents made mistakes.ā€

  143. 143.

    Jeffro

    I’m sure I missed it…did someone cover Rep Cawthorn (Q-resume’ lying and sexual harassment)’s remarks today? Ā Truly inspiring rhetoric! Ā He doesn’t want to have to take up arms against his fellow Americans, you know…

  144. 144.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Citizen Alan: If you like Asian food, you have to make your way to Main St in Flushing. Depending on exactly where you are near St, John’s, there are several bus options that will get you there.

  145. 145.

    PsiFighter37

    @Kent: Refreshing to say the least. And I do think even amongst the knuckle-staggers in this country, most of them couldnā€™t give two shits about Jake Tapper clutching his pearls.

  146. 146.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jeffro: Josh Marshall has it

    ā€œAnd let me tell you, the reason why they have taken these political prisoners is because theyā€™re trying to make an example, because they donā€™t want to see the mass protests go on in Washington.ā€

    Then, someone in the crowd interrupted: ā€œWhen are you going to call us to Washington again?ā€

    ā€œWe are actively working on that one,ā€ Cawthorne grinned, before adding that he didnā€™t have a specific answer for the man but that ā€œwe have a few plans in motion that I canā€™t make public right now.ā€

  147. 147.

    Tehanu

    @mali muso:Ā ā€‹
     

    Never change. This is classic Cole and I am HERE for it.

    Same here. I’d feel sorry for someone who can’t admit they were wrong when they’re literally dying from their error, except they deserve what they get and my empathy vaccination wore out.

  148. 148.

    Kay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel called Biden surrender in Afghanistan ā€œthe worst capitulation of western values in our lifetimes.ā€Ā 

    It’s worse than that. He said “he thinks some have described” it as the worst capitulation.

    Not him, you understand. He’s an objective journalist. Some others.
    Donald Trump used to do that. “Many people are saying…”

  149. 149.

    Urza

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    Iā€™m surprised that some whackanoodle preacher hasnā€™t told their followers that people arenā€™t dying of COVID but rather that they are being raptured to Jeebusā€™ mammaries (or whatever passes for heaven for them). And that those who are vaccinating are accepting the mark of the beast.

    Thereā€™s money to be made there!

    I’ve always known its not hard to start a cult in America.Ā  But i’ve always had the problem that I couldn’t stand to be around the people that would follow.Ā  On the other hand, this might be a great time to consider funding an early retirement plan off the rubes.

  152. 152.

    Urza

    @Tehanu:Same here. Iā€™d feel sorry for someone who canā€™t admit they were wrong when theyā€™re literally dying from their error, except they deserve what they get and my empathy vaccination wore out.

    I used to have such faith in the good of all humanity back in the 90s (I was young then).Ā  I thought the early Shrub years were just a bad phase.Ā  Not so much now.Ā  And I don’t really know how to fix any of it aside from shooting embryos into space and having robots raise them without most of the mistakes of current society.

  153. 153.

    Richard

    @janesays:

    Good. He asked for it, and he got it. ” fuck around and find out”, as they say. What a sad man. Pay attention people and do not be like that poor miserable asshole.

  154. 154.

    Kay

    @Kent:

    Many said they were simply too overwhelmed to pay close attention to another overseas crisis.

    Biden always understood them better than his critics do. I don’t think that’s why he did it and at this point it’s laughable to think he did it for political purposes given the feeding frenzy, but I think he has a good sense of ordinary people and what they want. They are overwhelmed and they should be. They’ve been thru a lot. Is it as bad as some other places? No. But they don’t measure against other places- they measure against this place.

  155. 155.

    dmsilev

    LA Times just now:

    The Los Angeles teachers union is calling for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all eligible students and stricter quarantine rules while raising some objections to a new district mandate for online instruction when students are in quarantine.
    The demand from United Teachers Los Angeles, in a proposal submitted at the bargaining table, calls for students ā€œto achieve full vaccination no later than 12 weeks following the birthday in which they become eligible,ā€ subject to medical and religious exemptions laid out in state and federal law.

    No word yet on the school administration’s response, but the union even just making this proposal is a big step. LAUSD is already mandating vaccination for staff and weekly testing for everyone.

  156. 156.

    Kay

    DR. KRUPALI ??
    @krupali
    Ā·31m
    South Dakota is in trouble.
    @Viddy_Well42
    Ā· 6h
    Welp. Iā€™m sitting in a meeting as we speak to expand our ICU units. 10th floor is Covid full. 9th floor is nearly Covid full. We will move to 8th floor when 9th is full. 4 ICUs are full.
    We have patients that need ICU that we donā€™t have beds for.

    Probably pretty far between hospitals in South Dakota, right? Good Lord.

  157. 157.

    Dan B

    @Adam L Silverman: Your comment is what makes me hope that these people who are trained in military tactics are being heavily monitored.Ā  January 6 was a mob but a large enough group of organized units could use a demonstration as cover for something like a coup.Ā  It doesn’t take a majority of the public to impose an authoritarian regime.Ā  It takes threats and fear of violence and there are plenty of people who kniw how to overthrow democracies.

    Wish I knew more about how to stop these monsters before they can cause lasting harm.

  158. 158.

    Brachiator

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I think another angle is that they have also seen just how badly the foreign policy can be when for 20 years we were just one more surge, one more change in strategy, one more troop increase would turn the corner and turn the country around and they fell for it every time.

    They used to say the same damn thing, word for word, about Vietnam.

  159. 159.

    dmsilev

    @Kay: Looks like SD’s hospital load has roughly doubled over the last two weeks. Ā Yikes.

    Hope the biker rally was worth it.

  160. 160.

    Kay

    @Brachiator:

    They’re basically in “Mexico will pay for the wall” territory –Ā  “Only Afghans will fight! It won’t cost more than 40 billion a year! VERY small war. Just a skirmish”.

  161. 161.

    Dan B

    @NotMax: Sandy Munroe and some other carĀ experts fanatics have said that few, if any, big auto companies will be able to overcome Tesla’s huge advantage.Ā  They’ve been through the issues and kniw how much effort it takes to ramp up production.

    I was hoping for GM and VW to be successful.Ā  Nissan might but their efforts seem anemic.Ā  It’s important to have competitors with unique strengths.

  162. 162.

    Kay

    @dmsilev:

    It has so few people the rally could have been a big factor, but I think the whole upper midwest gets hit next. It’s going straight up in my county too and we’re too boring for biker rallies.

  163. 163.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Dan B: I have no idea if they are or if they are not. But given what we know about how the DOJ has reverted to institutionalism, my guess is they are not.

  164. 164.

    Mike S

    When this all started I watched The Stand, Contagion and Omega Man. Its made the actual Pandemic a little easier to take.

  165. 165.

    Dan B

    @Adam L Silverman: All it takes is blindness to the current situation in a few institutions and we’re like Weimar Germany – sitting ducks for the crazed and motivated.Ā  I’m not sure the propaganda apparatus is in place but I only get tidbits of Oann and others.

  166. 166.

    Brachiator

    @dmsilev:

    Hope the biker rally was worth it.

    Here is the data for 2020.

    Vendors at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally brought in $1.34 million in taxes for the Black Hills.

    The 2020 rally featured 784 temporary vendors, while the 2019 event had 1,006. While vendor attendance was 22% smaller than the previous year, the total amount of taxes collected increased by 6% from 2019, the Sout Dakota Department of Revenue reported.

    Taxes collected at the 2020 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally included state sales, tourism, municipal sales, and municipal gross receipts.

    I hear that 2021 knocked them dead.

  168. 168.

    dmsilev

    @Brachiator:

    Vendors at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally brought in $1.34 million in taxes for the Black Hills

    So, roughly the cost of ten people in the ICU for two weeks? Not sure theyā€™re running a net profit, all things considered.

  170. 170.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman:  I saw something about bratwurst with gummi bears on Twitter today. It was made in Illinois. But, as someone noted, any American bratwurst not made in Wisconsin is really only sparkling sausage.

  173. 173.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @A Ghost to Most:Ā  I’ll play.Ā  When did it matter?Ā  When was it important to say on a blog that one was prepared at a moment’s notice to bug out and play mountain man?Ā  When exactly was that necessary to save democracy?

  174. 174.

    mrmoshpotato

    Robert David Steele, a former CIA officer turned conspiracy theorist who claimed to be the first person to call COVID-19 a hoax, has died from COVID-19.

    Can someone please explain to me like I’m 5 years old how all of these stupid, selfish assholes keep dying from a virus that supposedly doesn’t exist?!

    Oh, and like I’m 5 years old!Ā  Feel free to curse like a goddamn fucking sailor in your explanation!

  177. 177.

    danielx

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:Ā ā€‹
     

    Thereā€™s money to be made there!

    Not news to TV preachers. As TFG noted a long time ago, there’s no shortage of willing marks in this country. Pat Robertson has been fleecing his flock for decades and continues to do so.

    People like this are no more than three card monte dealers on a grand scale.

  180. 180.

    Splitting Image

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Can someone please explain to me like Iā€™m 5 years old how all of these stupid, selfish assholes keep dying from a virus that supposedly doesnā€™t exist?!

    Oh, and like Iā€™m 5 years old!Ā  Feel free to curse like a goddamn fucking sailor in your explanation!

    Naturally, the government is killing them by infecting them with a secret disease they have been developing in laboratories. They are doing this to stifle dissent and force people to go along with the mass vaccinations for the non-existent hoax disease.

    Also, the plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces are called aglets. Their purpose is sinister.

  181. 181.

    danielx

    @mrmoshpotato:Ā ā€‹
     
    His followers/stooges/fellow travelers are already busy manufacturing theories about how he actually met a darker fate (poison, induced heart attack, etc.) which pretty much tells you all you need to know.

    Lather, rinse, repeat.

  182. 182.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Splitting Image: Also, the plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces are called aglets. Their purpose is sinister.

    For fucking Christ’s sake, don’t you know better than to even mention the shoelace things.Ā  May god have mercy on your soul.

  185. 185.

    Urban Suburbanite

    Cory Doctorow wrote a version of “Masque of the Red Death” that was a bit more updated. Techbro masters of the universe hole up for the Big Collapse, and it doesn’t go all that well for them.

  186. 186.

    opiejeanne

    @Kay: S Dakota would ship them to Oregon or Washington, if those states had room. Right now, Washington State is having trouble freeing up beds for new patients because people who are well enough to go home, have nowhere to go. Nursing homes are understaffed and not accepting new enrollees, and many people have no family that can take them in, mostly the elderly and homeless.

  187. 187.

    Coloradoguy

    It dawned on me today that most of the really sick people in hospitals are MAGAs, with a sprinkling of body-builders and health food nuts. Part of what’s exhausting the staff are these lunatics railing at them that everything is fake, they just have the flu, and could their doc prescribe ivermectin and hydroxy-whatever. Unlike the previous waves, this one is highly politicized since they are nearly all antivax and antimask.

Comments are closed.