Sunday Morning Book Thread - 06-09-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(ht: Moron who forgot his nic...)

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(Now in espresso!)

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (426) | Trackbacks (Suck)

EMT 6/9/24

Happy Sunday

Posted by: krakatoa at 07:01 AM | Comments (251) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 9 June 2024

Top Story

• With a successful suborbital test flight of Starship under his belt, Elon Musk is turning his attention to the Starfactory. (Space)
  
  Starfactory, already under construction, is planned to be able to build a Starship - the largest and most powerful rocket ever launched - every day.
  
  And keep in mind that both Starship and the Super Heavy booster with its 33 engines are fully reusable. So that's multiple launches per day.
  
  He's the main character in an old-school Heinlein novel.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (79) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Overnight Open Thread (6/8/24)

*****

The Saturday Night Joke

It’s an oldie but always funny



An old man was sitting on a bench in the mall when a young man with spiked hair came over and sat down beside him. The boy's hair was yellow, green, orange, and purple. He had black makeup around his eyes. The old man just stared at him.

Finally the boy said, "what's the matter, old man, haven't you ever done anything wild in your life?"

The old man thought for a while and answered, "well yes, actually, I have, I once got drunk and fucked a parrot. I was just wondering if you were my son."

From commenter: “dhmosquito”

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 10:00 PM | Comments (349) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Evening Movie Thread [moviegique]: Late Night With the Devil

The most preposterous element of the '70s-based recent horror flick Late Night With The Devil is the notion that anyone—even the Devil himself—could compete with Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show.

What's commendable about it is that it's interesting enough to hold your attention to where the third act, which is probably going to divide people, isn't such a big deal. (That's good movie making!)

The story is about Jack Delroy, a host who has a late night talk show that manages briefly to challenge Carson's numbers, only to crash and descend into a more controversial Wally George/Morton Downey style. Delroy and his sleazy manager Leo plans a last ditch spooky spectacular on Halloween to try to get that coveted top spot before being canceled by their corporate owners. The centerpiece of this spectacular? A girl possessed by the gnostic deity Abraxas, and her guardian, a psychologist with a book to sell.

Verisimilitude, no?

The logo on the camera is VERY similar to ABC's, which ultimately settled for a lesser demon, Ted Koppel.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:34 PM | Comments (212) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Weekend Hobby Thread (6/8/24) Presented By - TRex

Welcome hobbyists. Do not adjust your interweb. This thread is going to have an edge. A spin of the Ace of Spades “wheel of hobbies” has come up with knives.

TRex is not wise in the ways of collecting or making knives, but the horde has shown in various posts and threads that there is deep and wide interest.

Do you collect knives? Did you have a favorite every day carry? Do you have a favorite that was lost seized at airport security? Have older knives been passed down through your family? Have you forged your own knives? Do you use knives for carving wood or turkey? How do you sharpen your tools?

As usual, keep this thread limited to hobbies. Politics and current events can wait for other threads. You get the point. Behave or I will summon Bluebell and her shiv.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 05:30 PM | Comments (246) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Ace of Spades Pet Thread, June 8

* * *

Good afternoon and welcome to the almost world famous Ace of Spades Pet Thread. Thanks for stopping by. Kick back and enjoy the world of animals.

Would you like a treat?

Let's relax a little with the animals and leave the world of politics and current events outside today.

Posted by: K.T. at 03:30 PM | Comments (78) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, June 8

Above, from Neal in Israel, some lovely Alstromeria, a great cut flower that grows in his garden.

St. Martin's Lily: That's the plant according to the plant identifier app, though I haven't taken the time to confirm. I planted last year, and they bloomed from spring well into the summer. Now they're putting on a nice spring display, and I hope they'll once again continue flowering into the summer.

They should be well-adapted outdoors in Israel.

Below the fold, a few more flowers he has been growing.

Well, the hot weather predicted for a lot of California hit us on Thursday. The urban heat thing is real. The concrete around the house stayed hot after the sun went down longer than the air stayed hot.

How is your weather treating you and your garden?

Posted by: K.T. at 01:29 PM | Comments (68) | Trackbacks (Suck)

It starts with P and it rhymes with G but it ends with Q

Modern problems require modern solutions

Well, "Pride Month" is off to a mixed start. Concerning the graphic above, Mexico has elected its first female president (after numerous candidates for elected office, plus aides, were murdered). She may be even more leftist than the last president. But she's a different gender, and that's what seemed to count in this election. The two leading candidates (who were not murdered) were both women.

As we learned from J.J. Sefton's excellent 6/6 Morning Report, the local teachers' union in Portland (ironically also advocates of Pride Month) have created extensive lesson plans for kindergarteners to participate in the Intifada.

Meanwhile, in Israel, four Israeli hostages were rescued alive. Astonishing!

The rescued hostages are named as Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv. All four had been abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7 from the Supernova music festival near the southern community of Re'im.

Special forces had simultaneously raided two Hamas sites in central Gaza's Nuseirat. At one location, Argamani was rescued, while Meir Jan, Kozlov, and Ziv were at the second location.

The rescued hostages are all in good condition, according to initial medical assessments. They were taken to Tel Hashomer Hospital for further evaluation.

Amid the operation, heavy airstrikes were carried out in the area against Hamas sites and in support of the ground troops. Hamas health authorities reported a "large number" of casualties.

Imagine!

Posted by: K.T. at 11:15 AM | Comments (123) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival

(Meme H/T Lurker/Infrequent Commentor, French Jeton)
(Music Ideas H/T Hadrian the Seventh)

*****

Good morning Horde. Do you need stimulating facts about coffee? Sure, I knew you did.

12 Stimulating Facts About Coffee

ccording to Ethiopian legend, the first beings to get a java jolt were a herd of goats who nibbled on the fruit of a coffee shrub; a goat herder named Kaldi quickly followed their lead. While it’s unclear whether Kaldi and his caprines truly discovered coffee, today the brewed beverage is one of the most widely consumed drinks in the world. Introduced to America in the mid-17th century, coffee quickly replaced heavily taxed tea as a more patriotic staple during the fight for independence. In the time since, soldiers have relied on coffee to boost morale overseas, children of U.S. Presidents have founded their own coffeehouses, and American coffee brands have expanded across the globe. Can’t get enough coffee? Discover 12 amazing facts you might not know about this beloved morning beverage.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 08:06 AM | Comments (370) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 8 June 2024

Top Story

• Just in time for the weekend, there's a new critical security vulnerability in PHP. (Ars Technica)
  
  Sysadmins worldwide panic.
  
  On Windows.
  
  Sysadmins worldwide go back to sleep.
  
  If you have Chinese or Japanese language packs installed and run PHP on Windows, Windows itself will helpfully slip unsafe characters past the normal security mechanisms and into database queries where they will wreak havoc.
  
  There are several fatal design flaws working together to make this a problem, and none of them are unique to PHP.
  
  Though PHP is still awful and nobody should use it for anything, ever.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (187) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Back In The F-O-N, Back In The F-O-N, Back In The F-O-N-T!

Welcome to June! Didja know that it's pride month?

Posted by: WeirdDave at 10:00 PM | Comments (351) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Dolphin Fun Cafe

Swiss village
Ronald Soethje

Yesterday I linked a bird catching a fish. That's kind of easy. Today, the really impressive feat: a fish catching a bird (in flight).

Sound on: Doggo isn't done with his pool time yet.

Diving down a waterfall.

Diving a colorful underwater cave.

Puppy is a gentleman.

Kittens playing King of the Sling.

Some nice parachute flying.

Flying video.

Cool video of a drone flying over razor-sharp mountains.

Guy puts on drone shows in Austin. As you'll see, one drone show formed a QRC code which people could scan.

This is special: On the Fourth of July, Alaskans celebrate by running cars and trucks off a cliff. I didn't know about this. I'll have to watch this year's event.

How do you propel a semi-truck to over 300mph? The answer may surprise you. Or it might not: just rockets, really.

Sometimes you should just admit you've lost your raft and will just buy a new one.

Storm chasers chase a tornado... and catch it.

Dogs who acted as surrogate mothers to cats. And by cats I mean tigers.

Cute game to play with your pupper.

High detail 3D rendering of a proposed and absurd skyscraper design. This is like "The Producers" of architecture. It should be called the Insurance Scam Tower. (I doubt that even the design is real, actually, but I'll play along.)

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (203) | Trackbacks (Suck)

John Tierny: More and More People Understand that DEI Stands for "Didn't Earn It"

At City Journal.

"Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" [is] a textbook example of doublespeak, the term inspired by Orwell's 1984 dystopia in which the Newspeak language enables citizens to engage in "doublethink"--simultaneously holding two contradictory beliefs. The words in DEI sound like admirable goals, but the officials mouthing them are working to do just the opposite, as Florida governor Ron DeSantis observed when he banned DEI initiatives at public universities. What DEI really stands for, DeSantis said, is "Discrimination, Exclusion and Indoctrination."

That formulation hasn't caught on, but another one has: "Didn't Earn It." It went viral this spring after Ian Miles Cheong, a conservative journalist, and Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoonist, tweeted it to their 2 million followers on X. Adams, who had fearlessly predicted in 2015--six months before the first Republican primary--that Donald Trump would be elected president because of his skill as a "master persuader," tweeted another forecast: "Whoever came up with 'Didn't Earn It' as the description of DEI might have saved the world. Normally, the clever alternative names people use to mock the other side's policy are nothing but grin-worthy. This one could collapse the whole racist system. It's that strong."

Sure enough, "Didn't Earn It" has become an Internet meme, a buzz phrase on social media, and a conservative talking point on cable television, radio, and podcasts. It appears in posts linking to Kamala Harris, the plagiarism accusations against DEI officers at Harvard and MIT, the 50 percent failure rate on tests of medical students at UCLA, and the sentencing of a DEI executive for stealing $5 million during her work at Facebook and Nike. In the surest sign of its success, "Didn't Earn It" has been solemnly denounced by DEI executives, progressive pundits, and the left-wing watchdogs at Media Matters, which was so alarmed that it published a report documenting the phrase's popularity and--inevitably--labeling it "racist."

There's nothing racist about expecting people to earn what they get, which is why the phrase is so powerful....

This pretense inspired ludicrous doublespeak, as when Harvard and the University of Texas at Austin told the Supreme Court that their consideration of race would improve the chances of some applicants but never negatively affect other applicants--a claim that "defies the law of mathematics," as Justice Samuel Alito observed. DEI executives like to say that they're defending women against "systemic sexism," but hundreds of studies in the past two decades have shown that female applicants for jobs in academia and other industries are now favored over similarly qualified males.

However widespread racism and sexism were in the past, Americans have now experienced a half century of programs and policies promoting reverse discrimination. They're sick of pretending that it's not happening.

Related: See the sidebar for the firing of Brihana Joy Gray.

Konstantin Kisin adds this:

Konstantin Kisin
@KonstantinKisin

DEI Barbie is upset.

Imagine participating in a debate about Israel and Palestine.

Imagine answering literally zero of the questions you were asked.

Imagine talking over everyone else and being disrespectful to fellow panellists and the moderator.

Imagine storming off stage afterwards, screaming that everyone is racist, telling the moderator "I'm never doing this again" and throwing the microphone at the debate organiser.

Imagine then complaining online that your abject failure is the fault of the organisers, moderator and crowd.

DEI Barbie. Wow.

Dee you bitch.

Via andycanuck, a white liberal would-be academic complains about not being able to find a job because all jobs are reserved for blacks.

Then he cancels himself for thinking Unapproved Thoughts.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:40 PM | Comments (148) | Trackbacks (Suck)

This May Shock You But It Appears As If the Trump Trial Might Have Been #Rigged by Ringers Who Came Into the Jury Box Already Determined to Convict

Thanks to garret for the alert.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:33 PM | Comments (377) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Hollywood Reporter Wonders If This Time, Hollywood Really Is In Trouble

You can't survive long on costly failure after costly failure.

The Summer Box Office Crisis: Is the Sky Really Falling This Time?

With fewer big movies out as a result of the strikes, theatrical revenue is plummeting every week as fans grow accustomed to staying at-home.

ComicsGate had a good point about the word fans: Don't call them "fans."

Call them what they are: Customers, or potential customers.

"Fans" suggests that people love you so much they will show up for whatever crap you churn out. t "Customers" suggests you have to woo them and provide them with good value for money.

Hollywood would do well to correct its mindset. No one needs what they're selling. It's not fuel or food. It's a diversion.

They need to stop thinking they're stars and "creators" and start thinking that they work in a customer-service industry.

...

Toward the end of the SAG-AFTRA talks, studio chiefs were accused of being disingenuous when saying their 2024 release calendars were in danger every day the four-month strike dragged. Now the impact of those warnings is coming into view.

Dee you bitch.

Without the usual parade of tentpoles, including a Marvel superhero pic to kick things off over the first weekend of May, the early summer box office is in tatters after a tough winter and spring. Domestic box office revenue year-to-date is $2.68 billion, down a whopping 24 percent over the same corridor last year and 42 percent behind 2019, the last normal year before the COVID-19 crisis, according to Comscore. In fact, every week has been down this year from 2023; the smallest gap was 11 percent, when Dune: Part Two and Godzilla v. Kong: The New Empire opened.

The deficit has reignited the sky-is-falling debate over the future of theatrical, and whether it can survive the post-pandemic world and the rise of streaming. Box office observers agree that the ecosystem is incredibly fragile but hang on to the hope that moviegoing will pick up in the coming weeks when all-audience tentpoles Inside Out 2, Despicable Me 4 and Deadpool & Wolverine come out, followed by Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in early September. But there won't be a steady volume of product until 2025. Nor does it help that many movies are opening behind expectations (all eyes will be on Bad Boys: Ride or Die this weekend to see if it can clear $48 million to $50 million in its launch). "We are concerned," says one studio insider. "You'd be a fool to not be thinking about that. People are not in the moviegoing habit and are firmly ensconced in appointment viewing, which is a huge problem. But there hasn't been a real igniter."

Movies like The Fall Guy or Memorial Day's Furiosa were never intended to be all-audience summer tentpoles that could generate huge grosses, but people expected them to be merely because of when they were dated. The Apes franchise, which saw Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes released in May, has never risen to the full-blown tentpole level since it is sci-fi and targeted at older and younger males.

Oh, so you do understand that some genres naturally appeal more to males.

Weird how Hollywood keeps remaking male-appealing genres for the sake of appeasing women.

Except for one installment, all the films have grossed less than $500 million globally....

[W]ith every movie that disappoints and underperforms, whether Furiosa or The Fall Guy, studio insiders are growing more and more alarmed. "It's mind-numbing that Furiosa hasn't grossed $50 million domestically," says another studio exec. "My worry is that studios will put on the brakes and make fewer movies, which will further contribute to the problem."

The May 31 to June 2 weekend is a terrifying snapshot of what can happen when there isn't a series of tentpoles waiting to unfurl during the summer.

Well, there used to be a few franchises that men would turn out to see, but you decided to remake them all into Girlboss Princess movies.

Dee you bitch, I am not going bankrupt because of your lack of grace.

..

To date, Apes is the only summer film to have cracked $100 million domestically even if it, along with IF, are considered moderate successes in their own right (IF has grossed $80.2 million domestically). At the same time last year, The Little Mermaid had grossed $206 million and Guardians $328 million.

"When The Little Mermaid opened to $118 million, people called that soft," reminds one studio source. "Can you imagine?"

Is this something?

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:23 PM | Comments (438) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Weak Are Woke

An account called "I_Heart_Bikes," run by a "female bike racer," had her tweets about the unfairness of men competing with women in bike competitions removed by the thugs of the EU for "defamation/insult." So she decided to to sarcastically push the EU line and celebrate how amazing and empowering it is that men finally have the freedom to ride bikes!

That gal has some big Sweet Dee mitts.

Leftwing "comic" Michael Rappaport -- who you might know as the dumb failed actor from True Romance, a role he was born to play -- defied the rest of the progressive animal pack and has supported Israel in its struggles against the terror-rapists of Hamas.

You'll never guess what happened next -- the left began making death threats to the owners and managers of the venues he was scheduled to do stand-up at, and the venues capitulated to the Woke Terror mob and #cancelled him.

The Comedy Vault in Batavia has canceled next weekend's shows from comedian Michael Rapaport after reportedly receiving death threats.

Just days ago, a local pro-Palestinian organization posted on social media, asking supporters to call the club and demand they cancel all of Rapaport's shows.

In addition to comedy, Rapaport is known for his pro-Israel social media presence, which has generated controversy.

"Controversy" only means "defying the left's commands." The media never labels the pro-terrorist position "controversial," because the left supports terrorism. As the media does.

The Comedy Vault has issued a response, saying in part, "We have decided that we cannot, in good conscience, proceed with a show that poses such a significant safety risk to our staff, audience members, and the community as a whole.

Full statement from the Comedy Vault:

We would like to give an update regarding next weekend's shows.

The vision for The Comedy Vault has always been to be a place to gather and enjoy laughter as we truly believe it is the universal language that brings us all together. Over the last two and a half years we have worked hard to curate a space that supports our vision of freedom of speech. We have always welcomed comedians from all walks of life and will continue to book talent regardless of their personal views.

Given the escalating violent threats towards our staff and performer, including recent death threats, we have decided that we cannot, in good conscience, proceed with a show that poses such a significant safety risk to our staff, audience members, and the community as a whole.

Having given in to the death threats offered by the leftwing mob, they now apologize to the leftwing mob making the death threats!

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Our priority is always the safety and well-being of our patrons, and we are sorry for any anxiety or uncertainty this situation may have created. This was never our intention, nor ever would be our intention.

We deeply appreciate your support and understanding during this time. Your safety and well-being are paramount to us, and we are committed to providing a positive experience for all. We hope you stay safe and find moments to laugh during these challenging times.

They're not apologizing for giving in to terroristic threats, they're apologizing for having caused "anxiety" for those making the terroristic threats.

Children's book publisher Scholastic -- which is a private company which has been granted a monopoly to enter the schools and sell books to children- say they have ways of getting around laws prohibiting their books from indoctrinating children into homosexuality and transgenderism.

Scholastic, one of the largest publishers of textbooks in the U.S. announced on Tuesday the "Read with Pride" campaign. The campaign is designed to provide teachers with a list of "LGBTQIA+ stories for kids and teens." But that's not all. Parents need to be ready for a fight as the publisher also said that the company would utilize all its resources to fight parents and local school districts who want to determine what is best for their students.

...

So, what might the "Pride Guide" include? Well, for starters, every young skull full of mush to be indoctrinated must know the proper terms. The guide lists a glossary of terms, such as "allocishet." I can't pronounce it, but the meaning describes someone who is a combination of "'allosexual/alloromantic,' 'cisgender,' and 'heterosexual/heteroromantic' that is used as shorthand to describe people whose gender and sexuality are privileged by society.

...

Ellie Berger is the president of Scholastic Publishing. She makes no bones about the company's motives and agenda, saying:

"We will find an alternate way to get a greater range of books into the hands of children. We remain committed to the books in this collection and support their sale throughout our distribution channels."

Kick them out. This is a private company with no right to enter the schools as a monopoly seller and peddle their Groomer Lit to a captive audience.

The accurately-named video game company Activision has a new USP for the Call of Duty franchise -- "trans bullets" for Pride Month.

It's incendiary for a game about sneaking around and shooting people to feature "trans bullets" given the very real but very media-embargoed trend of Trans Terrorist Shooters.

A woke consulting/grifter group along the lines of Sweet Baby Inc. has been paid to destroy another valuable franchise and render it toxic to its former audience. They're hewing to the woke SJW line that the "male gaze must be defeated," so all female characters in video games have to be plain and dumpy, or else men might actually enjoy them, and we can't have that.

Amazing is that this DEI stuff is still going full force in entertainment.

There's another video game remake coming out that had one of those "Sweet Baby" DEI consulting firms on it. "Silent Hill 2" from 2001. The problem? A couple female characters in it were attractive. By 2001 graphics standards. One was dressed provocatively, for reasons that were important to the story, but who cares about plot and symbolism right? Have to defeat the "male gaze".

So they made one look like a tranny in a wig and the other look frumpy and unattractive.

Game maker responds it's being remade "for modern audiences."

It never ends with these companies.

Posted by: brak

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:20 PM | Comments (352) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Biden's "Biggest Achievement" Was Spending $1.2 Trillon on "Infrastructure."
How Surprised Would You Be to Learn That Almost No Infrastructure Has Been Built?

a) Not surprised at all, I am reasonably well-informed

b) Somewhat surprised, I don't keep up with the news

c) Completely surprised -- my pronouns are Zey/Zem

d) What are you talking about? I identify as a marmot and I am part of a polymorphously perverse polycule with various sexual weasels

Don't worry, everybody -- they spent a lot on Government Infrastructure and Racial Infrastructure. Almost as good as real infrastructure.

You will remember that Trump also tried to get an infrastructure bill through -- but Democrats refused to vote for it, to deny him any kind of a success.

Let's see how the Sage of Scranton did with $1.2 trillion that he set on fire and which we'll never see again.

Spoiler!

Rampant inflation and President Joe Biden's favoring of left-wing policies are contributing to a lack of progress on his landmark infrastructure law, analysts told the Daily Caller.

Two and a half years after Congress ratified the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in November of 2021, there has been very little concrete progress on new roads or bridges. The trillions of federal dollars the Biden administration has poured into the economy may actually be hindering the completion of the infrastructure that Biden promised to build, analysts told the Caller.

"Right now, the inputs cost 31 percent more than they did in January 2021," David Ditch, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Caller. "They've been flat for, frankly, about two years at this point, but they increased so dramatically right away that even though the amount of available money for highway projects is much higher now than it was in 2021, the value of that spending is lower."

The lack of headway undercuts Biden's campaign messaging on "transforming our crumbling transportation infrastructure -- including roads and bridges, rail, aviation, ports, and inland waterways."

The Biden campaign touted it as "the largest infrastructure plan since President Eisenhower's interstate highway system."

The federal government has granted $454 billion to states across 56,000 projects, according to the White House. This commitment of taxpayer dollars would seem to make good on one of Biden's marquee campaign promises to deliver new bridges and roads to the nation. But of the 10 bridge and highway projects with the most money allocated from the bill, only one -- the $1.6 billion Penn Station Access project -- has broken ground on major construction.

As Obama was true of Obama's "infrastructure stimulus" -- which produced almost nothing except a few bike paths and dog parks in blue cities -- the purpose of this "infrastructure spending" was just another massive heist of money from Republicans to pour into Democrat precincts.

...

One of Biden's most touted campaign initiatives was to "rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges and ports," a line he has repeated ad nauseam, including when he introduced former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg to be his Transportation Secretary. Biden tapped Buttigieg, a move he lauded as "precedent-busting," to help "revitalize the nation's infrastructure," according to Politico.

Buttigieg touted the bill's expenditures as "some of the most meaningful investments in infrastructure we've ever seen in this country."

However, despite Biden making electric vehicles and net zero carbon emissions a tentpole campaign promise, Buttigieg seemed unable to explain why the administration has made so little progress during a recent media appearance.

"The Federal Highway Administration says only seven or eight charging stations have been produced with a 7.5 billion investment that taxpayers made back in 2021. Why isn't that happening more quickly?" CBS's Margaret Brennan pressed Buttigieg during a May appearance on CBS's Face The Nation.

Buttigieg maintained that the administration's goal was still to produce 500,000 chargers by 2030.

So I guess seven in three years means your right on track for those 50,000 in ten years?

And while Buttigieg has remarked that infrastructure projects take time, Ditch noted the uniquely stubborn nature of Biden's bill. "The 2009 Obama stimulus package was sold in part as funding 'shovel-ready' projects, which ended up being a dud due to red tape and delays. The Biden Administration had over a decade to learn from those mistakes and instead leaned into the red tape by adding extra mandates for ideological purposes. Worse, the amount of money in the 2021 infrastructure package was dramatically larger than the comparable portion of the 2009 stimulus, so the damage is far greater," Ditch argued.

People always complain that European public infrastructure is outstanding, but Americans won't pay for such public works.

The reason is simple: The Democrat Party steals this money in enormous unprosecuted heists. We know damn well that we get NOTHING for our "infrastructure spending," until a bridge actually collapses, and then they spend like crazy to rebuild the bridge at a furious and unsafe speed.

The money is all stolen. Stop telling us what we're getting for our trillions. We know what the trillions buys: Obamaphones for welfare addicts and foreigners.

The public might actually support "public" spending if it were actually spent on public goods for public use and was not just poorly-disguised wealth transfers to Democrat constituencies.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:20 PM | Comments (421) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Elon Musk Provided Internet to a Primitive Tribe In the Amazon.
Now They're Living the American Dream.

What's the worst that could happen?

A reclusive tribe in the Amazon finally got hooked up to the internet, thanks to Elon Musk -- only to be torn apart by social media and pornography addiction, elders complain.

We should definitely allow children to keep using the internet.

Brazil's 2,000-member Marubo tribe has been left bitterly divided by the arrival of the Tesla founder's Starlink service nine months ago, which connected the remote rainforest community along the Ituí River to the web for the first time.

"When it arrived, everyone was happy," Tsainama Marubo, 73, told The New York Times.

Yeah, I remember when we were all stoked about the internet, too.

Happier days.

"But now, things have gotten worse. Young people have gotten lazy because of the internet, they're learning the ways of the white people."

...

The Marubo are a chaste tribe, who even frown upon kissing in public -- but Alfredo Marubo (all Marubo use the same last name) said he is anxious that the arrival of the service, which delivers super-fast internet to far-flung corners of the planet and has been billed as a game-changer by Musk, could upend standards of decorum.

Alfredo said many young Marubo men have been sharing porn videos in group chats and he has already observed more "aggressive sexual behavior" in some of them.

It takes a very stable and grounded society to not dissolve morally when confronted with ten thousand videos of hot stepmoms in heat.

"We're worried young people are going to want to try it," he said of the kinky sex acts they've suddenly been exposed to on screen.

Yes, definitely, we should continue treating it as normal and acceptable for children to carry around the entire internet in their pocket.

"Everyone is so connected that sometimes they don't even talk to their own family."

...

Initially, the internet was heralded as a positive for the remote tribe who were able to quickly contact authorities for help with emergencies, including potentially deadly snake bites.

Internet Phase One: This is going to connect the world and allow our scientists to work together to cure diseases.

Internet Phase Two: People stop reading books to scan headlines. People hop on the internet to check a fact and then spend the next ten hours watching an Iceberg video about the history of Bane.

Internet Phase Three: People stop talking to friends and family because of politics and Busty Lesbian Internet Porn.

Internet Phase Four: Man can no longer maintain an erection unless they a Dom Stepmom is stepping on their hands in high heels. The species ends for lack of trying.

"In the village, if you don't hunt, fish and plant, you don't eat."

"Some young people maintain our traditions," TamaSay Marubo, 42, added.

"Others just want to spend the whole afternoon on their phones."

This all checks out.

Tribespeople became so addicted that Marubo leaders, fearing that history and culture -- which is passed down orally -- could be lost forever, they have now limited access to the internet for two hours each morning, five hours each evening, and all day Sunday.

But parents still worry the damage may already be done.

It is already done. People's brains and morality and natural animal drives have been -- what's the word the tech vampires prefer? -- "disrupted."

Below: The nitwit shitlib Jack Dorsey, formerly of Twitter, says that algorithms and AI are "reprogramming" us. I wouldn't care much for his babbling but Elon Musk says he's right.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:20 PM | Comments (278) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Unemployment Rises as Americans Lose Jobs to Foreign "Newcomers"

Best economy in history, Fat!

At 4%, the claimed unemployment rate is still low. But it's rising.

The claim about Americans losing jobs to illegal "newcomers" isn't just supposition. It's right there in the numbers.

The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report revealed a rise in unemployment to 4.0%, highlighting continued economic struggles under the Biden administration. Significant job losses for native-born workers and gains for foreign-born workers, including illegal immigrants, paint a concerning picture for the American workforce.

Key Details:

The unemployment rate increased to 4.0% in May, up from 3.9% in April, highlighting ongoing economic instability under President Biden's leadership.

Native-born Americans saw a significant decline in employment, losing 663,000 jobs, while foreign-born workers, including illegal immigrants, gained 414,000 jobs.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta recently revised its GDP growth estimate down from 4.2% to 1.8%, reflecting slowing economic activity and reduced consumer spending as inflation remains steady and prices continue to rise.

In the socialist utopia of Califoreign, ten thousand jobs have been lost in the fast food industry alone since the minimum wage was jacked up to $20/hour.

California's recent minimum wage hike to $20 per hour has resulted in nearly 10,000 job cuts across the state's fast food sector, according to a major trade group. The California Business and Industrial Alliance (CABIA) criticized Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom for implementing the law, which took effect on April 1. Tom Manzo, president and founder of CABIA, highlighted the adverse impacts on businesses, including closures and increased prices, in an interview with Fox Business.

One notable casualty is Rubio's California Grill, a popular taco chain that shuttered 48 of its 134 locations in late May, citing the rising cost of doing business in the state. The San Diego-based company filed for bankruptcy shortly afterward. Similarly, a Fosters Freeze location near Fresno closed due to the inability to sustain the upgraded wages.

Fast food giants like McDonald's, Burger King, and In-N-Out Burger have responded to the wage hike by raising prices. For example, McDonald's has increased the cost of its Quarter Pounder and Double Quarter Pounder burgers, while Taco Bell raised menu prices by 3%. These price adjustments come amid already high inflation, making fast food meals significantly more expensive for consumers. A LendingTree survey revealed that 78% of consumers now view fast food as a "luxury" purchase.

This story from January "resurfaced" on social media: Gen Zers are "bringing their whole selves" to job interviews, and by "whole selves," I mean they're bringing their parents. Or 20% are, at least.

And word has gotten out about the Failure Factories we call "colleges" -- employers don't want to hire recent college graduates.

Helicopter parenting has reached a new level.

Employers are going above and beyond to not hire recent college graduates in favor of older workers, a new survey found.

The survey uncovered many reasons why older applicants are preferred -- including that Gen Z jobseekers are even bringing mom and dad to interviews.

In December, Intelligent, an online magazine focused on student life, surveyed 800 managers, directors and executives involved in the hiring process.

It found that 39% of employers actively avoid hiring recent college graduates for roles they're qualified for.

Out of the 800 people surveyed, a startling one in five (19%) said a recent college graduate brought a parent with them to their job interview.

But that's not the only aspect stopping employers from hiring Gen Z applicants.

One in five employers say that recent college graduates are "unprepared" for interviews -- and are often unprofessional.

Fifty-three percent of employers surveyed said that recent college graduates struggle with eye contact, 50% said they ask for unreasonable compensation, 47% said they don't dress appropriately for interviews, and 21% said they refuse to turn their cameras on for virtual interviews.

That can't all be due to covid; these people were locked down fairly late in their young lives.

It's all very worrying: society is churning out broken, fearful people.

And the younger generations have been lazy for a while. A friend of mine owns a lawfirm and complains that he, the owner, has to work through the weekend because his young attorney employees will routinely blow off writing motions due on Monday morning because they decided to go on a road trip or just want to "set parameters for my work-life balance."

Additionally, 63% of those involved in hiring claimed tht recent college grads can't manage their workload, 61% said they are frequently late to work, 59% claimed they often miss deadlines, and 53% noted that they are frequently late to meetings.

Employers aren't exactly fans of Gen Z's attitudes, either.

Fifty-eight percent said Gen Z jobseekers get offended too easily and are unprepared for the workforce in general, 63% said they are entitled, 57% believed they lack professionalism, 55% said they don't respond well to constructive feedback, and 52% claimed they have poor communication skills.

Of those surveyed, 47% admitted that they had fired a recent college graduate.

Meanwhile, employers are pursuing great lengths to avoid hiring a recent graduate, including offering more benefits for older employees (60%), paying higher salaries to older employees (59%), allowing older workers to work remotely or in a hybrid environment (48%) and hiring older employees for roles they're overqualified for (46%).

A friend of mine commented: Being merely normal is the new "extraordinary."

I really don't know what we can do. A society churning out hordes of economically-useless young people cannot survive.

And obviously: They will repudiate Social Security and Medicare the moment they have a working majority to do so. They can barely support themselves, they're not going to support the older generations.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:13 PM | Comments (386) | Trackbacks (Suck)