Wednesday Morning Rant

How much, and where?

Big news yesterday about cuts to the Department of Education amounting to around $880 million, with around $100 million of that specifically being cut from DEI-type programs. No matter who you are, that is a lot of money and I am glad to see it get sliced out. It does make me wonder, however, just how much money it actually is. With numbers this large, it is usually easier to understand it by looking at it in its own context.

So how much is $880 million, to the Department of Education? It should be a lot, because Ed shouldn't exist at all, but is it? Per the Department's FY2025 budget proposal as put forward by the Biden administration, I guess the answer is, "kinda." We don't do "budgets" anymore, of course, but we do at least pretend to track spending and per the linked document, the 2024 appropriations amounted to $79.6 billion, with Biden asking for $2.9 billion more for this fiscal year. Yesterday's cuts represent 1.1% of the 2024 appropriation.

A good start? Yes, of course. Any cut is a good start. But where the hell is that much money going? There are around 50 million students enrolled in public schools in the United States. Assuming that every penny of the Department's budget went to students, that comes out to a staggering $1,592 dollars per student nationwide. That is a stupendous amount of money. It just about covers the per-pupil capital costs of public schools (that is, the schools themselves). If, of course, that's where the money goes. It isn't.

About $19 billion, or a quarter of the Department's budget, went toward "Education for the Disadvantaged" in the form of grants to public school systems across the country. This is the "core mission" for the Department. Even assuming that money does any good at all, it's a minority of the budget. Of that $19 billion, about 2% of it went directly to subsidizing state costs for educating "migrants" under Title I-C. Hey, DOGE? I found another $375 million for you!

About $1.5 billion was in "Innovation and Improvement" grants including such things as "Education innovation and research" ($284 million) and "Supporting effective educator development" ($90 million). I strongly suspect that this is where most of the cuts DOGE announced yesterday came from, and there's surely a lot more room to cut. How much money is being shunted around in these "improvement" grants, and to whom? I look forward to finding out more as the Trump Administration and its budgetary skunkworks at DOGE continue to improve spending transparency.

Like in the $890 million discretionary spending category called "English Language Acquisition." How much of that is going directly into services for illegal aliens? How much of the $350 million - $255 million of it discretionary - put toward "Aid for Hispanic-serving institutions" in higher education went into services for illegal aliens? Tom Homan might end up saving more than DOGE.

There's more, of course. There's always more. Did you know we have mandatory (that is, legislated) spending for HBCUs? We do. It was about $80 million last year - a paltry sum when compared to the discretionary spending of $396 million in that same category, and the $120 million in discretionary spending for HBCU graduate schools. And that apparently (if I am reading the sheet correctly) doesn't count the $227 million spent on Howard University, which is a separate line item (though not Howard University's hospital, which is yet another separate line item). That is over $740 million of discretionary spending pumped into HBCUs, which have a total enrollment (as of 2022, per Pew) of around 300,000 students. That's around $2,500 per pupil. That's a lot of money, too. Where's it going? Inquiring minds want to know.

And we will likely find out, at least some of it. DOGE sliced almost a billion dollars out of Ed's budget seemingly without even trying. Good. Excellent. But as Ace put it yesterday,

This is just the easy stuff, the lowest-hanging fruit. I'm sure he can trim another $2-3 billion without much trouble at all.

Definitely. I look forward to more disinfecting sunlight as DOGE continues not only its cost-cutting, but its far more vital work of putting the "public" back into "republic."

Posted by: Joe Mannix at 11:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 On a roll

Posted by: Skip at February 12, 2025 11:00 AM (fwDg9)

2 I'll go let the others know.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 12, 2025 11:00 AM (O7YUW)

3 ?

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle for festive little hats at February 12, 2025 11:01 AM (tw5K6)

4 I'm here.

Posted by: Half Dozen at February 12, 2025 11:01 AM (uVHlT)

5 Nicely done with the first and the first-nood, Skip.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 12, 2025 11:01 AM (O7YUW)

6 top 100

Posted by: Sturmtoddler at February 12, 2025 11:02 AM (nXhwP)

7 So how much is $880 million, to the Department of Education? It should be a lot, because Ed shouldn't exist at all, but is it? Per the Department's FY2025 budget proposal as put forward by the Biden administration, I guess the answer is, "kinda." We don't do "budgets" anymore, of course, but we do at least pretend to track spending and per the linked document, the 2024 appropriations amounted to $79.6 billion, with Biden asking for $2.9 billion more for this fiscal year. Yesterday's cuts represent 1.1% of the 2024 appropriation.

=======

I mentioned this in the last thread, but that $880 million represents the total, lifetime contributions from 1600 American taxpayers.

Choose 1600 taxpayers at random, tell them they don't have to pay federal income taxes again ever, and also cut that funding, and it's a balance.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:02 AM (GBKbO)

8 It's starting to look like shutting off the purse is the way to kill Leftism, they live on it

Posted by: Skip at February 12, 2025 11:03 AM (fwDg9)

9 put toward "Aid for Hispanic-serving institutions"

Where's my Mexican waitress?

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle for festive little hats at February 12, 2025 11:03 AM (tw5K6)

10 where does the money go? into the payments for the lobbyists, consultants, publisher and union representatives new BMW

Posted by: wildman at February 12, 2025 11:03 AM (mhyKH)

11 > Where's my Mexican waitress?
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle for festive little hats at February 12, 2025 11:03 AM (tw5K6)

To hell with that. Where's my Mexican weathergirl?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 12, 2025 11:04 AM (W5ArC)

12 Imagine a decrease of 1.1% in the entire federal "budget!"

Now repeat that for the next three years.

That is a good start, but there is far more waste to be identified.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 12, 2025 11:04 AM (mWSu4)

13 I'm still of the belief, this is a war between the entrenched bureaucracy, and the cutters. Courts will be involved, congresscritters will get in front of microphones, nooz agencies will cry and gnash their teeth, but you know what's not happening?

The people... they're not out in the streets protesting that grandma is eating dog food, that we won't have kids drag shows, that midnight basketball will not have nets for their hoops, and certainly not protesting that we're no longer funding bullshit overseas crap (which is really just a front for CIA operations).

The people don't care. But the gnashing of teeth is noisy, and courts are wobbly, so we'll see how all this goes.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 12, 2025 11:04 AM (dGCAG)

14 Burn it.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 11:04 AM (dDmld)

15 There has to be more... honestly. they added a trillion to the spending in '09 when they stopped doing budgets and just kept continuing resolutions.. so there is at least 2T by now if we just cut that extra spend out, no?

Not just DOEd, but I'm actually surprised they haven't found more.

Posted by: Inogame at February 12, 2025 11:04 AM (53oGX)

16 Thing is, the deficit in a year right now is 1.9 trillion, that's 1,900 Billion dollars, in 365 days.

5.2 billion debt added PER FUCKING DAY.

Cutting 3 billion is barely making a dent in that. I'm not saying it shouldn't be tried, far from that. I'm saying cut deeper, harder, and faster.

This hydra is yuuuuuge.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 12, 2025 11:04 AM (O7YUW)

17 I hope they are driving towards zero-based budgeting - "you all are such a bunch of fckups that we're going to make you justify EVERY SINGLE ~~PENNY~~ NICKEL you want, or you get NOTHING".

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 12, 2025 11:05 AM (Vqx30)

18 At a certain level, the numbers get too big for many people to effectively conceptualize. Maybe that's how we got so out of control to begin with, because the concept of money itself loses relevancy.

I liken it to gambling. There's a reason the casino gives you chips...it makes you forget that you're dealing with real money.

Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 11:05 AM (ky8PV)

19 Tangentially related to DEI...

I looked around the university in which I work (but do not work for). I noticed a curious absence of a "Black History Month" display.

Instead, there's a display of books near the front entrance celebrating "Engineers Week" (Feb 16-22) (we're a STEM school) and another display of books that are wrapped up in colorful paper so that students can have a "date with a book" for Valentine's Day.

Curious...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 12, 2025 11:05 AM (7fElN)

20 Taxpayer-funded NGOs should not exist. They are only conduits for grift.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM (dDmld)

21 12 Imagine a decrease of 1.1% in the entire federal "budget!"

Now repeat that for the next three years.

That is a good start, but there is far more waste to be identified.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 12, 2025 11:04 AM (mWSu4)

That is what happens automatically if they don't pass a budget by April 1, right? So, Musk is showing how easy it is to let that happen (when every year, it was always gonna be a travesty)...

Posted by: Nova Local at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM (exHjb)

22 There's more, of course. There's always more. Did you know we have mandatory (that is, legislated) spending for HBCUs? We do. It was about $80 million last year - a paltry sum when compared to the discretionary spending of $396 million in that same category, and the $120 million in discretionary spending for HBCU graduate schools. And that apparently (if I am reading the sheet correctly) doesn't count the $227 million spent on Howard University, which is a separate line item (though not Howard University's hospital, which is yet another separate line item). That is over $740 million of discretionary spending pumped into HBCUs, which have a total enrollment (as of 2022, per Pew) of around 300,000 students. That's around $2,500 per pupil. That's a lot of money, too. Where's it going? Inquiring minds want to know.

Yes, but IIRC, Trump made funding HBCU's one of his big pitches to blacks, so that's probably sacrosanct.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM (xCA6C)

23 20 Taxpayer-funded NGOs should not exist. They are only conduits for grift.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM (dDmld)

======

What makes a Non Governmental Organization funded by taxpayers "non governmental"?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM (GBKbO)

24 Just look at DC schools. One of the most expensive per student and nearly at the bottom of achievement.

Posted by: Pudinhead at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM (Wg6v7)

25 >>About $19 billion, or a quarter of the Department's budget, went toward "Education for the Disadvantaged" in the form of grants to public school systems across the country.

"disadvantaged"?
Just teach kids.

Posted by: Lizzy at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM (Cki93)

26 Yesterday's cuts represent 1.1% of the 2024 appropriation.

This is why we have DOGE.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM (W/lyH)

27 >>> 20 Taxpayer-funded NGOs should not exist. They are only conduits for grift.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM (dDmld)

That's not true!!!

Posted by: Chelsea Clinton at February 12, 2025 11:07 AM (Vqx30)

28 ok, serious question on the hbcu funding. during PDJT's first term, he did some kind of expanded funding for them exclusively. something to "save" them, iirc.

Looking at the figures above, and at howard specifically, how does that change the math? do they really need the funding?

did they manage to show PDJT cooked books or something similar?

Posted by: Sturmtoddler at February 12, 2025 11:07 AM (nXhwP)

29 Ugh though - remember Sean Hannity basically orgasming over the "Penny Plan?"

Yeah, at this point we do need an axe and not a scalpel.

Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 11:07 AM (ky8PV)

30 This seems too small.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:07 AM (bss/y)

31 To hell with that. Where's my Mexican weathergirl?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia

Fun Fact: Mexican Weather Girl Union maintains a full-time Depilatory Action Team to keep them presentable for HDTV. It's a booming business.

Posted by: Elliot Gould's Back Hair at February 12, 2025 11:07 AM (G5+As)

32 Willowed, fraud and waste.
Waste can only be minimized, not eliminated. Nothing is 100% efficient.
Fraud has no such limitation. The goal should always be 100% eliminated.
The two should never be conflated, the only purpose is obfustication.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 12, 2025 11:07 AM (4780s)

33
Has the slumbering Senate opened for the day yet?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at February 12, 2025 11:08 AM (xG4kz)

34 With all those decades and billions spent on education “research” the education process should be perfect by now. Every child in school should be at his maximum learning potential with such a broad and deep knowledge base as to put to shame any other country in the world.

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at February 12, 2025 11:08 AM (Vh9CX)

35 In a $6 plus trillion dollar spending program (not a "budget", the government literally has no "budget"), cutting $300-600 Billion should be easy. And improve operations too.

The problem is the screaming fits from Democrats, who refuse to improve anything at all, lest it somehow be seen a political "loss" for them.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 12, 2025 11:08 AM (U/c7k)

36 A lot of the money goes to brainwashing kids into being obedient Democrats. They teach Wokeness and teach how evil USA is. And kids must learn all religions are equal, and white people are privileged and must pay.

Posted by: illiniwek at February 12, 2025 11:08 AM (Cus5s)

37 Schumer has not come out and admitted there is waste and fraud in the government.

So-called conservatives are shocked to learn that the Overton window actually moves in two directions.

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at February 12, 2025 11:08 AM (KbCG3)

38 To put it into perspective: $880 million is less than what DeBlasio's wife spent in her 2 year mental health program. Not one dime of it was accounted for, no specified results from the program's efforts.

Posted by: Lizzy at February 12, 2025 11:08 AM (Cki93)

39 33
Has the slumbering Senate opened for the day yet?
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at February 12, 2025 11:08 AM (xG4kz)

======

Schumer's already given an impassioned speech about how Tulsi falls for Russian misinformation instead of CIA funded misinformation.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:08 AM (GBKbO)

40 Where's my Mexican waitress?
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism

To hell with that. Where's my Mexican weathergirl?
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia

Careful here or we are going end up with a bipartisan bill allocating billions for Mexican pool bois from Sen. Ms. Lindsey and Sen. Corey "Stronkly Heterosexual" Booker.

Posted by: Altaria Pilgram - My President has convictions at February 12, 2025 11:09 AM (Q8Bj8)

41 Perspective. The interest to service our nation debt this year is 1.3 trillion dollars

Posted by: Ben Had at February 12, 2025 11:09 AM (mB6WH)

42 Good morning good people.

Posted by: Tonypete at February 12, 2025 11:09 AM (WXNFJ)

43 Has the slumbering Senate opened for the day yet?
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at February 12, 2025 11:08 AM (xG4kz)
=================
Just yell out "Open bar!" and the Senate will come running.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 12, 2025 11:09 AM (U/c7k)

44
Taxpayer-funded NGOs should not exist. They are only conduits for grift.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM (dDmld)

That's not true!!!
Posted by: Chelsea Clinton

This ought to have been signed

"Chelsea Clinton, Rolling in $$Million$$ of Mommy & Daddy's Gifted Grift"

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at February 12, 2025 11:10 AM (xG4kz)

45 This hydra is yuuuuuge.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 12, 2025 11:04 AM (O7YUW)

Exactly. But the combination of radical decrease in regulation and some sort of consistent, methodical cutting of budgets will go a long way to growing us out of the worst projections.

Obviously I am a big fan of the Laffer Curve!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 12, 2025 11:10 AM (mWSu4)

46 24 Just look at DC schools. One of the most expensive per student and nearly at the bottom of achievement.

Posted by: Pudinhead at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM (Wg6v7)

Feature, not a bug.

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at February 12, 2025 11:10 AM (KbCG3)

47 Here.

Here's an example:

"The federal government has already allotted $200 billion in funding for K-12 schools over the past three years to address learning loss and mitigate the impact of the pandemic-related policies on disadvantaged populations. North Carolina has already received about $6 billion in Covid relief funds for public education. Of the money designated for Covid relief for K-12 education, about 90 percent must be distributed to local education agencies (LEAs). A minimum of 20 percent of that money must be spent on learning loss. "

https://tinyurl.com/3622mxyz

$200B, and 20% is required to be spent on the problem.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - You can only be a feminist in a 1st world patriarchy where men allow it at February 12, 2025 11:11 AM (pjCCc)

48 That youtube interview by Shanahan of Datarepublican is fascinating. DR signs (sign language, not gang) and while it looks like she's speaking, it sounds like an AI voice or something. And yeah, she's a 20-something female version of a 20-something male computer science nerd. She seems to be really into the nerd aspect of what she's doing much more than the narrow party politics, as in if the shoe were on the Republican foot, she'd be doing the same thing. I can see a bunch of late teen/early 20-somethings seeing the crap they're going to inherit and thinking "if we put our nerd superpowers to good use, we can really make our adult life much, much better than what it will be. Look at all this graft, corruption, and wasted $ we can get at by doing what we do!"

Posted by: SFGoth at February 12, 2025 11:11 AM (KAi1n)

49 To hell with that. Where's my Mexican weathergirl?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia

https://tinyurl.com/v6hvhcnr

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:12 AM (bss/y)

50
Schumer's already given an impassioned speech about how Tulsi falls for Russian misinformation instead of CIA funded misinformation.

"We dedicate or divert $$billion$$ for our misinformation! The American people deserve their $$dollar$$ worth!

Who's up for some grilled gray meat?"

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at February 12, 2025 11:12 AM (xG4kz)

51 22- Yes, but IIRC, Trump made funding HBCU's one of his big pitches to blacks, so that's probably sacrosanct.
Posted by: Archimedes at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM

Yep.

Posted by: Moonbeam at February 12, 2025 11:12 AM (rbKZ6)

52 As a tactical matter, targeting the worst of the worst makes sense, even if it's only a little. It's impossible to defend this spending, and that shifts the debate to what should be cut, how much, not whether there should be cuts. The Dems are on their back foot and resorting to lawfare for a reason.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at February 12, 2025 11:12 AM (5GshG)

53 The staggering looting of the nation's wealth that has gone on unchecked for decades (it really got rolling under LBJ) has reached its maximum. We are now at a point where it is increasingly likely that every will implode

Posted by: Altaria Pilgram - My President has convictions at February 12, 2025 11:13 AM (Q8Bj8)

54 How much money does the Department of "Education" spend feeding students?

Posted by: I gotta ask at February 12, 2025 11:14 AM (dg+HA)

55 24 Just look at DC schools. One of the most expensive per student and nearly at the bottom of achievement.

Posted by: Pudinhead at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM (Wg6v7)

Feature, not a bug.
Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at February 12, 2025 11:10 AM (KbCG3)

If the children of govt workers were mandated to attend public schools, they would improve overnight.

Posted by: nurse ratched at February 12, 2025 11:14 AM (RycRI)

56
Is there a live link to the Senate vote?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at February 12, 2025 11:14 AM (xG4kz)

57 Want to know how to tell when the Left realizes these injunctions are doomed?

When they start howling something like, "if we can't force Trump to spend money, he could stop payroll to judges he doesn't like!!!"

Yes, that is exactly what the Constitution allows.
And the Constitution has a perfect remedy:
The People can vote the President out.

You know what isn't in the Constitution?
The Judiciary having the power to order the Executive to act.

The Constitution doesn't start "We the People of the United States--but only if a District Judge allows us-- ...."

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at February 12, 2025 11:15 AM (2k0oQ)

58 I agree that an ax needs to be applied to the tree of corruption. I would love to see the IRS investigate AOC and lots of others who are obviously getting money from other sources. My gut instinct is that at least half of all fed dollars spent are in the waste, fraud, abuse, and bribe category. Cut the budget by half and make the agencies figure it out.

Posted by: Bonecrusher at February 12, 2025 11:15 AM (JNTt1)

59 >>Just look at DC schools. One of the most expensive per student and nearly at the bottom of achievement.

Because most of it is skimmed off by administration.

If you really want to control spending in public schools, you eliminate the credit cards and go back to the old-fashioned PO approval process.

In a WashPost expose on DC school graft (~20 years ago) they showed how most expenses are handled by administrators who are given credit cards, and then only charges that exceed a specified amount require review and approval.

Gosh, do ya think some of them make a lot of low dollar charges for non-school items?????

Posted by: Lizzy at February 12, 2025 11:15 AM (Cki93)

60 I never liked Amy Bony Carrot (or as I also like to call her, Amy Comey Jarrett). I thought it was funny when we were memeing her but she rubbed me the wrong way from jump. We get these goo goo eyes for people that say ONE thing that sounds good to us. Fuck.

Posted by: ... at February 12, 2025 11:15 AM (D2ajs)

61 re: link to the interview from last thread

'You've asked to remain annonymous, but let's throw your face up on ewetub.'

Also, her (DataRepub's) body language is painfully uncomfortable to watch.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:15 AM (bss/y)

62 Eliminate Medicaid. Let the individual states figure out what they want to do, without 50% match financing from federal deficit spending.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at February 12, 2025 11:15 AM (Dm8we)

63 What makes a Non Governmental Organization funded by taxpayers "non governmental"?
Posted by: TheJamesMadison

No sovereign immunity?

Posted by: SFGoth at February 12, 2025 11:16 AM (KAi1n)

64 Nuke DC from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

Posted by: Dr. T at February 12, 2025 11:16 AM (lHPJf)

65 All I know is I'm paying a shitload of local school taxes and constantly voting against school bonds.

What exactly is the Dept of Education spending their huge budget on?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:17 AM (IOGah)

66 That youtube interview by Shanahan of Datarepublican is fascinating. DR signs (sign language, not gang) and while it looks like she's speaking, it sounds like an AI voice or something.

-

I remember seeing on X that she's deaf. She'd discuss it here and there in between exposing the money laundering connections.

I hadn't seen the interview, but watching a bit of the clip you can see the interpreter in the reflection of her glasses. I'm guessing they added the AI voice because so many people use youtube like a podcast now.

Thanks for posting that it existed. That young lady is awesome and has done more in a couple of months than 40 years of (R) Congressmen have done.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - You can only be a feminist in a 1st world patriarchy where men allow it at February 12, 2025 11:17 AM (pjCCc)

67 15
‘ honestly. they added a trillion to the spending in '09 when they stopped doing budgets and just kept continuing resolutions’

This is the way. If DOGE can trace THAT money: where it went, what quantities, then we can be sure that we cut all of that money and only hurt democrats.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at February 12, 2025 11:17 AM (jbnUc)

68 54 How much money does the Department of "Education" spend feeding students?
-----------------
Yep. Its a feeding program that should be run by the Department of Agriculture.

Posted by: Pudinhead at February 12, 2025 11:17 AM (Wg6v7)

69 OT: One of the key characteristics of Leftists is that they don't think people respond to incentives.

Seattle last night voted to fund a "social housing" program via a payroll tax on companies that pay anyone over a million dollars a year - 5% of the amount of pay over $1 million (so, a company that pays someone $2 million would pay $50,000).

"Advocates" think that this will raise $50 million a year.

The slight problem is that the city of Bellevue is right across Lake Washington from Seattle, with a flourishing business sector.

Think anyone will move?

The Washington legislature recently passed a capital gains tax intended to hit the 7,000 richest people in Washington (Washington has no state income tax).

Jeff Bezos alone was supposed to pay 45% of the tax, and he responded to the tax's passing by immediately moving to Florida.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:18 AM (uxCna)

70 Definitely. I look forward to more disinfecting sunlight as DOGE continues not only its cost-cutting, but its far more vital work of putting the "public" back into "republic."

This is key since, I believe, Trump is still paying out all money explicitly assigned by the "budgets". Fortunately, once DOGE, and DataRepublican, finish their work, the people will be able to point to specific aspects of funding and ask their members of Congress "why?"

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 11:18 AM (ExV1e)

71 As a tactical matter, targeting the worst of the worst makes sense, even if it's only a little. It's impossible to defend this spending, and that shifts the debate to what should be cut, how much, not whether there should be cuts. The Dems are on their back foot and resorting to lawfare for a reason.

One thing I haven't seen is a Repub addressing Schumer and Max Maxine, and saying "we're spending $3T more than we take in every year. What's your plan for getting the budget to balance? Once you present it to us, we can talk."

Posted by: Archimedes at February 12, 2025 11:18 AM (xCA6C)

72 Being Resolved to Continue is a lot like Endeavor to Persevere.

Posted by: Pudinhead at February 12, 2025 11:18 AM (Wg6v7)

73 I’m OK with another continuing resolution as long as it has a 25% cut across the board. Prepaid that would be enough to get regular budgets passed. If not maybe a 30% cut would do it.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable at February 12, 2025 11:18 AM (17s+e)

74 It may be a low budget item comparably speaking but look at the questionable connections between those who choose and buy text books and who's selling them.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:19 AM (IOGah)

75 https://tinyurl.com/v6hvhcnr

Weather girl? That's a life support system for an ASS

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle for festive little hats at February 12, 2025 11:19 AM (tw5K6)

76 The cost per student here in North NJ is +/- $24,000 per year. That is insane. Bloated budgets driven by free Fed money and ultra high taxes. And less than half graduate reading and math at grade level. Tear it all down!!!!

Posted by: Indy Bill at February 12, 2025 11:19 AM (+WI3k)

77 I never liked Amy Bony Carrot (or as I also like to call her, Amy Comey Jarrett). I thought it was funny when we were memeing her but she rubbed me the wrong way from jump. We get these goo goo eyes for people that say ONE thing that sounds good to us. Fuck.
Posted by: ... at February 12, 2025 11:15 AM (D2ajs)

In fairness, abortion is a big thing.

But it would have been nice to have done our due diligence in other areas, I admit.

Posted by: Dr. T at February 12, 2025 11:19 AM (lHPJf)

78 "Taxpayer-funded NGOs should not exist. They are only conduits for grift."

and for undermining USA, while they build their globalist regime. Destroying the West seems to be the primary motive of most of government, and especially all these shadowy NGOs and Foundations.

Return Education to the states and get rid of the Federal power to make mandates on what indoctrination the beaten down kids must receive.

The government teachers' unions also cost taxpayers a pretty penny.

Posted by: illiniwek at February 12, 2025 11:19 AM (Cus5s)

79 Choose 1600 taxpayers at random, tell them "did you know that you'll pay over a half million dollars in taxes over the course of your life?" Then ask them if some program really matters all that much to them.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 11:20 AM (ExV1e)

80 64 Nuke DC from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
Posted by: Dr. T at February 12, 2025 11:16 AM (lHPJf)

As a thought exercise, I wonder how many nukes at what yield would be required for full coverage?

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:20 AM (bss/y)

81 To make all the venn circles overlap, as it were.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:20 AM (bss/y)

82 My gut instinct is that at least half of all fed dollars spent are in the waste, fraud, abuse, and bribe category.

I saw a claim that 90% of USAID funding is actually spent in the Washington DC area. The point of USAID is to provide a huge subsidy to DC and surrounding areas.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:20 AM (uxCna)

83 Are there any Democrats who would not, in a fair and just world, deserve a knee in the balls?

Posted by: Northernlurker , Maple Syrup MAGA at February 12, 2025 11:21 AM (ZbsBz)

84 When we start talking about kilobillions we'll be making the progress we need.

(A kilobillion = 1 trillion.)

Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 12, 2025 11:21 AM (a3Q+t)

85 As a thought exercise, I wonder how many nukes at what yield would be required for full coverage?
Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:20 AM (bss/y)

Heh. Ron White:

"I didn't know how many of those bouncers it would take to kick my ass.... but I knew how many they were gonna use."

Posted by: Warai-otoko at February 12, 2025 11:21 AM (VoAdT)

86 The staggering looting of the nation's wealth that has gone on unchecked for decades (it really got rolling under LBJ) has reached its maximum. We are now at a point where it is increasingly likely that everything will implode and the USA enter a period not unlike not what happened to Russia after the USSR collapsed.

There is still hope but to make it work Felonious D. has to fundamentally end the looting LBJ kicked off and somehow reduce the cost of the Federal Government by what, 30%, 40% over the next 4 years. The scale of the problem here is breathtaking. With this in mind, every second the Left delays getting these changes in place borders on treason.

Steamrolling the Left is necessary if meaningful change is going to occur - sometimes I think this will be far more difficult than reducing the Federal government by 40%.

Posted by: Altaria Pilgram - My President has convictions at February 12, 2025 11:21 AM (Q8Bj8)

87 REEEEEEE

Brought to you by the letters R and E

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 12, 2025 11:22 AM (U81Si)

88 https://tinyurl.com/v6hvhcnr

Weather girl? That's a life support system for an ASS
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism

*snort*

Posted by: Bulg at February 12, 2025 11:22 AM (77rzZ)

89 My gut instinct is that at least half of all fed dollars spent are in the waste, fraud, abuse, and bribe category.

-

I remember reading in the 90s or early 2000s that only a dime of each tax dollar made it to the end-user it was intended to reach. I had always assumed it was useless make-work crap, but now I wonder how much has been simple money laundering.

Also I bet that amount is a penny or less now.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - You can only be a feminist in a 1st world patriarchy where men allow it at February 12, 2025 11:22 AM (pjCCc)

90 Are there any Democrats who would not, in a fair and just world, deserve a knee in the balls?
Posted by: Northernlurker , Maple Syrup MAGA at February 12, 2025 11:21 AM

To be fair and equal, the kick would have to be adjusted to account for differences in the size of the testicular orbs.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 12, 2025 11:22 AM (a3Q+t)

91 Because most of it is skimmed off by administration.

If you really want to control spending in public schools, you eliminate the credit cards and go back to the old-fashioned PO approval process.

In a WashPost expose on DC school graft (~20 years ago) they showed how most expenses are handled by administrators who are given credit cards, and then only charges that exceed a specified amount require review and approval.

Gosh, do ya think some of them make a lot of low dollar charges for non-school items?????

This goes back to the Marion Barry days and beyond. The local black government sees that money as a giant slush fund to reward their buddies. The object for which it was originally slated is immaterial. Barry paid people off at the expense of luxuries like water, light, and sewerage.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 12, 2025 11:22 AM (xCA6C)

92 Welcome to The People's Republic...

Howie Carr
@HowieCarrShow
1st MA transgender judge party today, at Dani's Queer Bar. Be there or be straight.... er, square!

Connor, formerly Margaret, goes by "he/they."

I'm reliably told that "they" is/are the best lawyer recently nominated to the judicial hackerama by Healey. Which tells you a lot, A LOT about this administration.

Posted by: Mister Ghost at February 12, 2025 11:22 AM (TGPs7)

93 "I didn't know how many of those bouncers it would take to kick my ass.... but I knew how many they were gonna use."
Posted by: Warai-otoko at February 12, 2025 11:21 AM (VoAdT)

LOL. *golfclap*

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:23 AM (bss/y)

94 As a thought exercise, I wonder how many nukes at what yield would be required for full coverage?
Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:20 AM (bss/y)

There was some website that could actually estimate that sort of thing, but I can't for the life of me remember its name.

Posted by: Dr. T at February 12, 2025 11:23 AM (lHPJf)

95 About $19 billion, or a quarter of the Department's budget, went toward "Education for the Disadvantaged" in the form of grants to public school systems across the country. This is the "core mission" for the Department.

-----------------

Huh. My money would have been on "Muslim Outreach."

Posted by: ShainS -- It's A Sorry State of Affairs When It's The Judges Who Need Hanging at February 12, 2025 11:23 AM (ZxM+9)

96 DoEd doesn't educate ONE student. Either shut it down, or shut down the 50 duplicate departments in every state.

And since the 9th & 10th Amendments haven't been repealed, states rights reign supreme.
Fed department goes.

Posted by: rickb223 at February 12, 2025 11:23 AM (8NNF8)

97 >>This goes back to the Marion Barry days and beyond. The local black government sees that money as a giant slush fund to reward their buddies. The object for which it was originally slated is immaterial. Barry paid people off at the expense of luxuries like water, light, and sewerage.

Yes.
The system of handing out credit cards was a key in turbo-charging the graft.

Posted by: Lizzy at February 12, 2025 11:24 AM (Cki93)

98 Weather girl? That's a life support system for an ASS
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle for festive little hats at February 12, 2025 11:19 AM

Sadly, it appears she skips leg day more often than not.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 12, 2025 11:24 AM (a3Q+t)

99 One thing I haven't seen is a Repub addressing Schumer and Max Maxine, and saying "we're spending $3T more than we take in every year. What's your plan for getting the budget to balance? Once you present it to us, we can talk."
---
Remember during the election, Kamala was asked how she was going to pay for all her new spending programs?
And the answer was to keep repeating "we'll get a return on our investment."

That's a deep as the Democrats have thought on the matter--if they have thought at all.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at February 12, 2025 11:24 AM (2k0oQ)

100 96 And since the 9th & 10th Amendments haven't been repealed, states rights reign supreme.
Fed department goes.
Posted by: rickb223 at February 12, 2025 11:23 AM (8NNF

======

Technically, the states enter agreements with the DoEd to receive funds. They don't have to.

The federal government just waves hundreds of millions of "free" money in their faces in exchange for doing what the feds say.

Totally different.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:24 AM (GBKbO)

101 The Dept of Ed is nothing more than a full-employment act for leftwing commie retards and their assorted remoras. DOGE could shitcan the entire department and it would be like the entire oozing pustule never existed. The only things that will change are fewer Lamborghinis for connected remoras, and increased squealing like stuck pigs from Democraps. Both make gutting the entire thing very worthwhile.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at February 12, 2025 11:25 AM (iFTx/)

102 It turns out that the wife of the judge who said that Trump couldn't remove the LBGQT web pages from government websites has a wife who runs a nonprofit funded by USAID.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:25 AM (uxCna)

103 83 Are there any Democrats who would not, in a fair and just world, deserve a knee in the balls?
Posted by: Northernlurker

The women are just as bad!

Posted by: ERA, Now! at February 12, 2025 11:25 AM (G5+As)

104 99 Remember during the election, Kamala was asked how she was going to pay for all her new spending programs?
And the answer was to keep repeating "we'll get a return on our investment."

That's a deep as the Democrats have thought on the matter--if they have thought at all.
Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at February 12, 2025 11:24 AM (2k0oQ)

=====

Well, the cut footage from 60 Minutes had her saying she'd raise taxes.

Weird that it was cut, though.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:25 AM (GBKbO)

105 It turns out that the wife of the judge who said that Trump couldn't remove the LBGQT web pages from government websites has a wife who runs a nonprofit funded by USAID.
Posted by: The ARC of History!

-

GASP!

What are the odds!

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - You can only be a feminist in a 1st world patriarchy where men allow it at February 12, 2025 11:25 AM (pjCCc)

106 Weather girl? That's a life support system for an ASS
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism

Ok, one with a bit more fore than aft.

https://tinyurl.com/34dbwend

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:25 AM (bss/y)

107 Are there any Democrats who would not, in a fair and just world, deserve a knee in the balls?
Posted by: Northernlurker , Maple Syrup MAGA at February 12, 2025 11:21 AM

To be fair and equal, the kick would have to be adjusted to account for differences in the size of the testicular orbs.
Posted by: Duncanthrax

In a just world, they would use NFL place kickers.

Posted by: rickb223 at February 12, 2025 11:26 AM (8NNF8)

108 Ominous skies in Van Nuys area. Sposed to rain a toad strangler tonight, tomorrow.

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle for festive little hats at February 12, 2025 11:26 AM (tw5K6)

109 Is there a live link to the Senate vote?
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at February 12, 2025 11:14 AM (xG4kz)

https://youtu.be/gTq2uLqCCpc

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 11:26 AM (ExV1e)

110 It turns out that the wife of the judge who said that Trump couldn't remove the LBGQT web pages from government websites has a wife who runs a nonprofit funded by USAID.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:25 AM (uxCna)

Polygamists, amirite?

Posted by: Dr. T at February 12, 2025 11:26 AM (lHPJf)

111 Well, the cut footage from 60 Minutes had her saying she'd raise taxes.

Weird that it was cut, though.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:25 AM (GBKbO)

Yeah, who'd have guessed?

I like big breasts, btw.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:27 AM (bss/y)

112 If the USAID head count can be reduced by 97% that implies the lower floor for Federal head count is around 100K. I say go for it as this reduction signals the corrupt and endless agencies are wiped out. Good luck trying to rehydrate all that. Ruthless destruction is not just a aspiration, it is more of an existential necessity.

FOX: TUSLI IS CONFIRMED

Posted by: Altaria Pilgram - My President has convictions at February 12, 2025 11:27 AM (Q8Bj8)

113 https://tinyurl.com/34dbwend

Moo! Where's her salt lick?

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle for festive little hats at February 12, 2025 11:27 AM (tw5K6)

114 Education money. Erie PA had a school superintendent making $400K per year. His wife was on the payroll at $250K per year. Plus expenses. And cars. And stuff.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at February 12, 2025 11:27 AM (gm9Sb)

115 Ok, one with a bit more fore than aft.

https://tinyurl.com/34dbwend
Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:25 AM

Why is she talking about Illinois?

Posted by: Wesley Crusher at February 12, 2025 11:28 AM (a3Q+t)

116 The federal government just waves hundreds of millions of "free" money in their faces in exchange for doing what the feds say.

All this "free" Federal money handed to states and localities does the same thing domestically that foreign aid does internationally - it removes accountability from the governments that receive the money.

"It's FREE money! What don't you understand about FREE money?"

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:28 AM (uxCna)

117 In a just world, they would use NFL place kickers.
Posted by: rickb223 at February 12, 2025 11:26 AM

And punters for the distaff Dems?

Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 12, 2025 11:29 AM (a3Q+t)

118 "I didn't know how many of those bouncers it would take to kick my ass.... but I knew how many they were gonna use."
Posted by: Warai-otoko at February 12, 2025 11:21 AM (VoAdT)

he is funny as hell and I still listen to some of his old stuff but was disappointed to learn he was a nominal yellow dog Democrat that disliked Trump. I think he officially ran for President in 2016.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:29 AM (IOGah)

119 113 https://tinyurl.com/34dbwend

Moo! Where's her salt lick?
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle for festive little hats at February 12, 2025 11:27 AM (tw5K6)

Cruel. Very well.

https://tinyurl.com/25kmn3z4

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:29 AM (bss/y)

120 114 Education money. Erie PA had a school superintendent making $400K per year. His wife was on the payroll at $250K per year. Plus expenses. And cars. And stuff.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at February 12, 2025 11:27 AM (gm9Sb)

The school my mother used to teach at was a small school with a diverse and poor population. They wanted a DEI hire to better identify with the students. Naturally, this cash-strapped district went out of state to hire some black woman at a high salary who was in litigation against her former district.

Guess how this turned out?

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at February 12, 2025 11:29 AM (KbCG3)

121 Yeah its a matter of perspective. Almost a billion dollars is a lot. It would be more than enough for me to live comfortably the rest of my life, and boost all my extended family considerably. But compared to the pointlessly vast budget of the DoE overall? Its pennies.

Now, explain to me as if I am a child... why, exactly is the budget for the Department of Education over a hundred billion dollars??

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2025 11:29 AM (2VST1)

122 I mentioned this the other day; make 2025 a personal income tax free year. No personal income tax should be collected until all the waste, fraud and abuse can be brought to heel.

Whether that takes a year, a decade... whatever.

But at least start with this year. Put out the EO tomorrow. Worry about 2026 and beyond when the administration has a handle on things and the bullshit lawfare is under control.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at February 12, 2025 11:29 AM (Q4IgG)

123 I wish FOX had a live counter on these votes. I don't know who I missed.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 11:30 AM (ExV1e)

124 The federal government just waves hundreds of millions of "free" money in their faces in exchange for doing what the feds say.

All this "free" Federal money handed to states and localities does the same thing domestically that foreign aid does internationally - it removes accountability from the governments that receive the money.

"It's FREE money! What don't you understand about FREE money?"
Posted by: The ARC of History!

They just write it off, Jerry! They just write it off!
Posted by: Kramer

Posted by: rickb223 at February 12, 2025 11:30 AM (8NNF8)

125 >>Taxpayer-funded NGOs should not exist.

If an NGO can't exist without government funding is it really Non Governmental?

Posted by: JackStraw at February 12, 2025 11:30 AM (LkLld)

126 As a thought exercise, I wonder how many nukes at what yield would be required for full coverage?
Posted by: Aetius451AD

220, 221 - whatever it takes.

(Clearly, I want to be damned sure)

Posted by: Tonypete at February 12, 2025 11:30 AM (WXNFJ)

127 Wall Street Apes
@WallStreetApes
FINALLY ‼️ The Jeffrey Epstein files are being released!!

“In the next 10 days, you’re going to see the Epstein files released… Day number 1, Kash Patel walks in, by the end of the day, it’ll be released.” — Glenn Beck

Jeffrey Epstein Victim: “I have spend the last 17 years in my own prison for what she, Jeffery & all the coconspirators did to me. I was raped repeatedly, I was raped 3x per day sometimes and I was not the only girl on that island. There was a constant stream of girls being raped over and over and over again”

Posted by: Mister Ghost at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (TGPs7)

128 Well, seems like all the weak Sisters of the GOP are voting for Tulsi.

Guess she's getting in.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (GBKbO)

129 >>Taxpayer-funded NGOs should not exist.

If an NGO can't exist without government funding is it really Non Governmental?
Posted by: JackStraw

Amen

Posted by: Altaria Pilgram - My President has convictions at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (Q8Bj8)

130 How many school districts are there in the united states, total?

How many are getting the lion's share of whatever gets belched out by DC?

How many are getting jack squat bupkis and wondering where their cut has been all these years?

Posted by: Warai-otoko at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (VoAdT)

131 https://tinyurl.com/25kmn3z4
Posted by: Aetius451AD

Her face looks like it's AI-generated.

Posted by: Bulg at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (77rzZ)

132 Trump was shocked in his first term that the HBCU's had to show up yearly hat in hand. So he funded them for 10 years, I think.

I would bet that secretly the various deans loved coming to DC to gladhand with the Dems and be wined, dined, and probably screwed for a week.

Posted by: University Is The Opposite Of Diversity at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (G5+As)

133
Huh.

This is....weird.

Peter Dinklage, the dwarf guy, is going to play the Big Bad serial killer on the up-coming "Dexter: Resurrection"

His catch-phrase?

NO MORE ANKLES!!!!

which oddly enough is also AtC's Catch Phrase.

I denounce myself.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (iJfKG)

134 124 "We make it up in volume!"

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at February 12, 2025 11:32 AM (gm9Sb)

135 Now, explain to me as if I am a child... why, exactly is the budget for the Department of Education over a hundred billion dollars??
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2025 11:29 AM (2VST1)

It's for the children! Are you some kind of monster who wants kids writing their lessons in charcoal on the back of a shovel?

Posted by: Just Lily at February 12, 2025 11:32 AM (Dd0t8)

136 126 As a thought exercise, I wonder how many nukes at what yield would be required for full coverage?
Posted by: Aetius451AD

220, 221 - whatever it takes.

(Clearly, I want to be damned sure)

Posted by: Tonypete at February 12, 2025 11:30 AM (WXNFJ)

You're making the assumption they actually work...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at February 12, 2025 11:32 AM (ynpvh)

137 If an NGO can't exist without government funding is it really Non Governmental?
Posted by: JackStraw

Hence the term "quango", quasinongovernmento. I just hear Euros use the term but we need it here.

Posted by: gKWVE at February 12, 2025 11:32 AM (gKWVE)

138 Having DEI is like having rats in your house. I'm fighting that fight now. Poison gun traps.

Posted by: It's Not Rediculous at February 12, 2025 11:32 AM (0Gnoc)

139 135 It's for the children! Are you some kind of monster who wants kids writing their lessons in charcoal on the back of a shovel?
Posted by: Just Lily at February 12, 2025 11:32 AM (Dd0t

======

Why has increased funding through the federal government and increased centralized control of education not led to increased education results in America's schools?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:33 AM (GBKbO)

140 Posted by: Mister Ghost at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (TGPs7)

First Kash Patel has to get in. The way Democrats are holding up his nomination vote that should take place around April. Grrrrr.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 12, 2025 11:33 AM (lRvfO)

141 102 It turns out that the wife of the judge who said that Trump couldn't remove the LBGQT web pages from government websites has a wife who runs a nonprofit funded by USAID.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:25 AM (uxCna)

"It turns out that the wife of the judge ........has a wife...."

Huh?

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at February 12, 2025 11:33 AM (QGaXH)

142 131 https://tinyurl.com/25kmn3z4
Posted by: Aetius451AD

Her face looks like it's AI-generated.

Posted by: Bulg at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (77rzZ)

Her hips don't lie.

Posted by: Shakira at February 12, 2025 11:33 AM (ynpvh)

143 Her face looks like it's AI-generated.
Posted by: Bulg at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (77rzZ)

Damn. Tough crowd this morning.

https://tinyurl.com/5bmzpsyj

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:33 AM (bss/y)

144 The quangos became extinct shortly after the European colonization of Australia.

Posted by: Bulg at February 12, 2025 11:33 AM (77rzZ)

145 132 Trump was shocked in his first term that the HBCU's had to show up yearly hat in hand. So he funded them for 10 years, I think.

I would bet that secretly the various deans loved coming to DC to gladhand with the Dems and be wined, dined, and probably screwed for a week.

Posted by: University Is The Opposite Of Diversity at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (G5+As)

The reality is either:

A) They loved being whined and dined by their dem allies
B) Their dem allies loved making their minorities dance

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at February 12, 2025 11:34 AM (KbCG3)

146 FINALLY ‼️ The Jeffrey Epstein files are being released!!

Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, and many other people start furiously investigating which countries don't have extradition treaties with the United States.

Just kidding - they all did that research a long time ago.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:34 AM (uxCna)

147 And given his recently documented performance as a grill~~meister~~schisster, you'll not convince me that Charles "Chuck" Schumer (D-NY) has any testicles at all.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 12, 2025 11:34 AM (a3Q+t)

148 133
Huh.

This is....weird.

Peter Dinklage, the dwarf guy, is going to play the Big Bad serial killer on the up-coming "Dexter: Resurrection"

His catch-phrase?

NO MORE ANKLES!!!!

which oddly enough is also AtC's Catch Phrase.

I denounce myself.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (iJfKG)

I have canckles....Hic!

Posted by: Hillary at February 12, 2025 11:34 AM (ynpvh)

149 The Ron White bouncer bit:

https://tinyurl.com/4r9x77cx

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:35 AM (bss/y)

150 Peter Dinklage, the dwarf guy, is going to play the Big Bad serial killer on the up-coming "Dexter: Resurrection"

--

This might be peak DEI.

I could see him getting away with poisoning someone, or shooting people from hundreds of yards away, but it's absurd to think of him doing anything up close and personal. I assume even a 7th grade girl would be close to a physical match for him. That's not an insult, but just a reality of height and strength.

And he's almost certainly not moving a body anywhere.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - You can only be a feminist in a 1st world patriarchy where men allow it at February 12, 2025 11:35 AM (pjCCc)

151 https://tinyurl.com/5bmzpsyj
Posted by: Aetius451AD

Very nice, all-American girl. I approve.

Posted by: Bulg at February 12, 2025 11:35 AM (77rzZ)

152 Cuts alone are only part of it. Cutting regulation that is strangling businesses will be a huge shot in the arm for the economy. Growth is what we need.

Posted by: steevy at February 12, 2025 11:35 AM (KQk9m)

153
Why has increased funding through the federal government and increased centralized control of education not led to increased education results in America's schools?
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:33 AM (GBKbO)
----

How very dare you ask such things you hate kids!!!

Posted by: Just Lily at February 12, 2025 11:35 AM (Dd0t8)

154 "It turns out that the wife of the judge ........has a wife...."

Huh?

Insufficient caffeine, and you can't edit Pixy.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:35 AM (uxCna)

155 It's for the children! Are you some kind of monster who wants kids writing their lessons in charcoal on the back of a shovel?
Posted by: Just Lily at February 12, 2025 11:32 AM (Dd0t

======

Why has increased funding through the federal government and increased centralized control of education not led to increased education results in America's schools?
Posted by: TheJamesMadison

Before the Federal DoEd, we were second in the world. After? Pffffftttt.

Posted by: rickb223 at February 12, 2025 11:35 AM (Mbbwg)

156 140 Kash Patel is looking like this week if the GOPe doesn't muck things up. I hope Justice Thomas swears him in and as soon as Kash's hand comes off the Bible he dons a raid jacket and says "you'll have to excuse me, but we have work to do".

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at February 12, 2025 11:36 AM (gm9Sb)

157 Before the Federal DoEd, we were second in the world. After? Pffffftttt.
Posted by: rickb223

Who was first? UK?

Posted by: Bulg at February 12, 2025 11:36 AM (77rzZ)

158 "It turns out that the wife of the judge ........has a wife...."

Huh?

Insufficient caffeine, and you can't edit Pixy.
Posted by: The ARC of History!

Hey. This is 2025. We don't judge. His wife can have a wife if she wants.

Posted by: rickb223 at February 12, 2025 11:36 AM (Mbbwg)

159 bazinga

>>@EricLDaugh
·
>>3m
🚨 #BREAKING: Tulsi Gabbard confirmed by the Senate as President Trump's new Director of National Intelligence.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 12, 2025 11:36 AM (LkLld)

160 The Dept of Education is run exactly like the Leftist Dems run all the large urban centers. All which are failing hell holes of graft, fraud and waste.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:37 AM (IOGah)

161 One wonders when we go around the country and a see lots of expensive property sold in the millions. Who are all these people? Well I now know they work for the government and bilked us so they can live the good life plus pension.

Keep shining sunlight on this.

Posted by: Paisley at February 12, 2025 11:37 AM (ny1NG)

162 My wife is a Special Needs teacher. All schools special needs programs are funded by the Federal Department of Education. If there is one area that this nation needs to revamp is how we handle mental health issues. I feel that since the horror of the 60's and 70's mental institutions we have pull too far to the other side of hand wringing on what to do with severe mental disorders, and there by doing nothing until violence happens then lock up the "perp". There really isn't anything to help identify and treat them to prevent the violence since no one wants to make the difficult choices. Too often in schools the right of the one student causing problems overrides the rest of the students' rights to personal safety, until something extreme happens, but then it is too late. If the DoE survives, then I would like to see them take up this challenge and provide Federal Level special needs schools. This removes the pressure from local districts to shun special needs students so they can achieve their reading/math/science proficiency targets and these SE schools can tailor to the needs of these kids.

Posted by: scruboak at February 12, 2025 11:37 AM (GqS2d)

163 I know you're all shocked but McConnell voted no on Tulsi.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 11:37 AM (ExV1e)

164 And given his recently documented performance as a grillmeisterschisster, you'll not convince me that Charles "Chuck" Schumer (D-NY) has any testicles at all.
Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 12, 2025 11:34 AM (a3Q+t)

Did he chop up those burgers with a 'meat axe'?

Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:37 AM (MGB5H)

165 I assume even a 7th grade girl would be close to a physical match for him. That's not an insult, but just a reality of height and strength.

And he's almost certainly not moving a body anywhere.
Posted by: Boron Cobbie

I have heard that dwarves are freakishly strong.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 12, 2025 11:37 AM (C0bPf)

166 their lessons in charcoal on the back of a shovel?
Posted by: Just Lily

Some of the best lessons in life are learned through use of an Ames #2 shovel.

Posted by: Trans-Oceanic Dignity Canal at February 12, 2025 11:38 AM (G5+As)

167 When I become Mrs. Thunberg-Hogg, I'll be getting a wife, H8rs!

Posted by: Greta at February 12, 2025 11:38 AM (a3Q+t)

168 156 140 Kash Patel is looking like this week if the GOPe doesn't muck things up. I hope Justice Thomas swears him in and as soon as Kash's hand comes off the Bible he dons a raid jacket and says "you'll have to excuse me, but we have work to do".
Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at February 12, 2025 11:36 AM (gm9Sb)

=====

I think the weeklong delay was the last major timeline addition possible. It'll be debate in the committee, vote, and then to the floor, assuming he gets voted out, which seems lie a safish assumption.

And, it should be remembered that Garland wasn't appointed as AG until late March of 2021.

There's little dastardly or unusual about what's going on. It's just how the Senate operates now: partisanly.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:38 AM (GBKbO)

169 🚨 #BREAKING: Tulsi Gabbard confirmed by the Senate as President Trump's new Director of National Intelligence.

OH MY GOD - PUTIN NOW CONTROLS OUR INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES!

Posted by: Establishment Media! at February 12, 2025 11:38 AM (uxCna)

170 nitch the bitch votes no on Tulsi

Posted by: Time for a new nick. Certified dangerous radical and Trump cultist!Ketchup goes on hotdogs! at February 12, 2025 11:38 AM (89Sog)

171 Hey. This is 2025. We don't judge. His wife can have a wife if she wants.
Posted by: rickb223 at February 12, 2025 11:36 AM (Mbbwg)

Dat's the B in LGBTQUERTY, haters.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 12, 2025 11:38 AM (PiwSw)

172 make 2025 a personal income tax free year.

Can you imagine the mayhem in the stock market as everyone converted their IRA/401K to Roth?

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 11:39 AM (ExV1e)

173 wen RFK

Posted by: The Unvaxed and Unmasked Ranger - China is Assho And Void of Freedom Loving Wagshambas at February 12, 2025 11:39 AM (HYKHz)

174 163 I know you're all shocked but McConnell voted no on Tulsi.
Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 11:37 AM (ExV1e)

All sorts of shocking/surprising info this morning.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:39 AM (bss/y)

175
I have heard that dwarves are freakishly strong.
Posted by: Thomas Paine

There's video evidence that they are quite good at Bowling.

Posted by: Rizzuto-Berra Bowl at February 12, 2025 11:39 AM (G5+As)

176 I know you're all shocked but McConnell voted no on Tulsi.

Huh? Wha?

Posted by: Droolin' Mitch McConnell! at February 12, 2025 11:40 AM (uxCna)

177 nitch the bitch votes no on Tulsi

****************

Correction: McConnell's STAFF voted no on Tulsi

McConnell is too busy tripping over flat surfaces and staring into the void

Posted by: The Unvaxed and Unmasked Ranger - China is Assho And Void of Freedom Loving Wagshambas at February 12, 2025 11:40 AM (HYKHz)

178 There is still hope but to make it work Felonious D. has to fundamentally end the looting LBJ kicked off and somehow reduce the cost of the Federal Government by what, 30%, 40% over the next 4 years. The scale of the problem here is breathtaking. With this in mind, every second the Left delays getting these changes in place borders on treason.
---
There are 3 ways to manage debt:
1) save money and pay it off
2) leverage your existing assets to grow your income and make the debt servicing manageable enough to easily pay it off
3) both 1 and 2.

Americans are only taught #1.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at February 12, 2025 11:40 AM (2k0oQ)

179 > FINALLY ‼️ The Jeffrey Epstein files are being released!!
--------
IIRC there's some sort of committee that will be "managing" the release of this, the JFK files and the UFO stuff. If the Fed's actually release the action files and not a bunch of redacted nonsense.

"Managing." I doubt it matters who is on this committee as their marching orders will be pretty strict.

YMMV

Posted by: Martini Farmer at February 12, 2025 11:40 AM (Q4IgG)

180 Why has increased funding through the federal government and increased centralized control of education not led to increased education results in America's schools? Posted by: TheJamesMadison

New Mexico should be interested in the answer to this but it can't read. When the current Communist governor took over she immediately give raises to everyone involved with public schools including their pensions to improve outcomes. 6 years later New Mexico public schools are ranked 51st down from 49th.

The real answer is all this spending has one goal and that is grift as much money into the bank accounts of the recipients.

Posted by: Altaria Pilgram - My President has convictions at February 12, 2025 11:40 AM (Q8Bj8)

181 173 wen RFK
Posted by: The Unvaxed and Unmasked Ranger - China is Assho And Void of Freedom Loving Wagshambas at February 12, 2025 11:39 AM (HYKHz)

====

Some sort of procedural vote today. I suspect the actual cloture vote will happen tomorrow or so.

I suspect floor vote will be early next week.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:41 AM (GBKbO)

182 "I bit his kneecap with fava beans and a nice chianti..."

Posted by: ... at February 12, 2025 11:41 AM (D2ajs)

183 I assume even a 7th grade girl would be close to a physical match for him. That's not an insult, but just a reality of height and strength.

And he's almost certainly not moving a body anywhere.
Posted by: Boron Cobbie

I have heard that dwarves are freakishly strong.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 12, 2025 11:37 AM (C0bPf)

I did really enjoy his movie that put him on the map.

The Train Agent

Just a regular life story type movie but captivating imo.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:41 AM (IOGah)

184 167 When I become Mrs. Thunberg-Hogg, I'll be getting a wife, H8rs!
Posted by: Greta

And breed a brood of happy, positive little people just to piss off mom and dad.

Posted by: Auspex at February 12, 2025 11:41 AM (j4U/Z)

185 Probably the single most effective -- and devastating -- thing Trusk (get it?) can do is outlaw all these insidious, incestuous, nepotistic family arrangements that invariably are at the core of government waste and corruption.

It seems like every single bad actor is married to, the sibling of, or somehow related to other bad actors that together conspire to loot the treasury. It's literally a husband directing piles of money to his wife, or a wife protecting her husband at all costs, or some other sleazy arrangement that enriches the participants but fucks the taxpayer.

This. Must. Stop.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at February 12, 2025 11:41 AM (iFTx/)

186 Heard earlier today that in Teh Swamp, DC, three times the national average of internet searches are for "criminal defense lawyer."

Unexpectedly.

Posted by: ShainS -- It's A Sorry State of Affairs When It's The Judges Who Need Hanging at February 12, 2025 11:42 AM (W2dl3)

187 179 IIRC there's some sort of committee that will be "managing" the release of this, the JFK files and the UFO stuff. If the Fed's actually release the action files and not a bunch of redacted nonsense.

"Managing." I doubt it matters who is on this committee as their marching orders will be pretty strict.

YMMV
Posted by: Martini Farmer at February 12, 2025 11:40 AM (Q4IgG)

=====

They're executive documents. The legislature doesn't have control of them.

I suspect that the committee is more of a way for Congress to just have an eye on what's being released without any say on what happens.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:42 AM (GBKbO)

188 145
‘ The reality is either:

A) They loved being whined and dined by their dem allies
B) Their dem allies loved making their minorities dance’

Making them dress as lawn jockeys was pretty cruel.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at February 12, 2025 11:42 AM (jbnUc)

189 I have heard that dwarves are freakishly strong.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 12, 2025 11:37 AM (C0bPf)

What you got, bitch?

Posted by: Gimli Son of Gloin at February 12, 2025 11:42 AM (LxER7)

190 I know you're all shocked but McConnell voted no on Tulsi.
Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 11:37 AM (ExV1e)

All sorts of shocking/surprising info this morning.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:39 AM (bss/y)

Very Maverick Fetterman was also a no. Don't know how people are posting she's confirmed as a lot of Senators are still voting.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 11:42 AM (ExV1e)

191
FOX: TUSLI IS CONFIRMED
Posted by: Altaria Pilgram - My President has convictions at February 12, 2025 11:27 AM (Q8Bj

Video:

https://www.c-span.org/congress/

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 12, 2025 11:42 AM (W5ArC)

192 IIRC there's some sort of committee that will be "managing" the release of this, the JFK files and the UFO stuff. If the Fed's actually release the action files and not a bunch of redacted nonsense.

"Managing." I doubt it matters who is on this committee as their marching orders will be pretty strict.

YMMV
Posted by: Martini Farmer at February 12, 2025 11:40 AM (Q4IgG)

Anna Paulina-Luna heads it. She Xed today that she believes there were 2 shooters for JFK and she has seen the new docs. YMMV

Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:43 AM (MGB5H)

193 185 Probably the single most effective -- and devastating -- thing Trusk (get it?) can do is outlaw all these insidious, incestuous, nepotistic family arrangements that invariably are at the core of government waste and corruption.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at February 12, 2025 11:41 AM (iFTx/)

======

Musk did do a guest star role on Rick and Morty where he played Elon Tusk, an alternate universe version of himself that was all the same except he had tusks.

It amused me.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:43 AM (GBKbO)

194 It seems like every single bad actor is married to, the sibling of, or somehow related to other bad actors that together conspire to loot the treasury.

Official Washington is more inbred than a West Virginia trailer camp.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:43 AM (uxCna)

195 >>>DOGE sliced almost a billion dollars out of Ed's budget

Took me a second to figure out who "Ed" is. I like it!

Posted by: m at February 12, 2025 11:44 AM (v0TzN)

196 >>"Managing." I doubt it matters who is on this committee as their marching orders will be pretty strict.

Anna Paulina Luna is on the committee. That's why she came out yesterday and said after what she has seen she believes there was more than one gunman for the JFK assassination.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 12, 2025 11:44 AM (LkLld)

197 >
I have heard that dwarves are freakishly strong.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 12, 2025 11:37 AM (C0bPf)

And hung, too.

Posted by: Gimlet, son of Groin at February 12, 2025 11:44 AM (W5ArC)

198 Heard earlier today that in Teh Swamp, DC, three times the national average of internet searches are for "criminal defense lawyer".
Posted by: ShainS -- It's A Sorry State of Affairs When It's The Judges Who Need Hanging at February 12, 2025 11:42 AM (W2dl3)

Followed closely by searches for "criminal judge" and "criminal politician".

Posted by: ... at February 12, 2025 11:44 AM (D2ajs)

199 Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at February 12, 2025 11:40 AM (2k0oQ)

you forgot the third and fourth options that Americans choose.

3. Use Debt reduction companies

4. declare bankruptcy

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:44 AM (IOGah)

200 That's not true!!!
Posted by: Chelsea Clinton at February 12, 2025 11:07 AM (Vqx30)

That whining sound you hear?

It's a Chelsea Mourning.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 12, 2025 11:44 AM (8zz6B)

201 Well, the cut footage from 60 Minutes had her saying she'd raise taxes.

Weird that it was cut, though.
---
yeah, and she was--at the same time--running ads that Trump's proposed tariffs were a "tax increase" on hard-working Americans.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at February 12, 2025 11:44 AM (2k0oQ)

202 Musk did do a guest star role on Rick and Morty where he played Elon Tusk, an alternate universe version of himself that was all the same except he had tusks.

It amused me.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:43 AM (GBKbO)

That show was GREAT for about 3 seasons.

Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:45 AM (MGB5H)

203 185 Trusk (get it?)
Posted by: Elric The Blade at February 12, 2025 11:41 AM (iFTx/)

Better than Mump!

Posted by: m at February 12, 2025 11:45 AM (v0TzN)

204 > shooting people from hundreds of yards away

Oh, not necessarily that far.

Posted by: Tywin Lannister's Crotch at February 12, 2025 11:45 AM (W5ArC)

205 192 IIRC there's some sort of committee that will be "managing" the release of this, the JFK files and the UFO stuff. If the Fed's actually release the action files and not a bunch of redacted nonsense.

"Managing." I doubt it matters who is on this committee as their marching orders will be pretty strict.

YMMV
Posted by: Martini Farmer at February 12, 2025 11:40 AM (Q4IgG)

Anna Paulina-Luna heads it. She Xed today that she believes there were 2 shooters for JFK and she has seen the new docs. YMMV

Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:43 AM (MGB5H)

FIB: "Sure. One shot JFK, the other shot Oswald..."

Posted by: Hillary at February 12, 2025 11:45 AM (ynpvh)

206 202 That show was GREAT for about 3 seasons.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:45 AM (MGB5H)

======

I still think it's really funny through Season 7. Season 8 should be soon.

But it probably was its best in the beginning.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:45 AM (GBKbO)

207 Official Washington is more inbred than a West Virginia trailer camp.

Before the 1994 wave election, the biggest caterer in Washington just happened to be owned by the wives of powerful Democratic Congressmen.

"How DARE you try to deny my wife a career!"

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:45 AM (uxCna)

208 Interestingly, Samantha Power disclosed income from something called "Social Capital Partners" of between $1 million and $5 million dollars in a 2022 filing. At the time, Palo Alto-based Social Capital was a hybrid hedge fund and venture firm, now a venture investor. It's publicly disclosed a lot of loser investments and one really good one, in Slack Technologies. But those were before Power became an "advisor" to the firm. You know who else was an advisor? Marc Mezvinsky, Chelsea Clinton's grifty husband.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 12, 2025 11:46 AM (yRbrH)

209 150 I could see him getting away with poisoning someone, or shooting people from hundreds of yards away, but it's absurd to think of him doing anything up close and personal.

nice kneecaps you have rhere. be a shame if something were to happen to them.

Posted by: peter dinklage at February 12, 2025 11:46 AM (m9C5Z)

210 Anna Paulina Luna is on the committee. That's why she came out yesterday and said after what she has seen she believes there was more than one gunman for the JFK assassination.
Posted by: JackStraw at February 12, 2025 11:44 AM (LkLld)

https://tinyurl.com/yx79keaw

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:46 AM (bss/y)

211 206 202 That show was GREAT for about 3 seasons.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:45 AM (MGB5H)

======

I still think it's really funny through Season 7. Season 8 should be soon.

But it probably was its best in the beginning.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:45 AM (GBKbO)

Think I lost interest around season 5. Was a lot like South Park in how far it could range in terms of super clever to just straight up juvenile. And they could do both equally well.

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at February 12, 2025 11:46 AM (KbCG3)

212 > Official Washington is more inbred than a West Virginia trailer camp.
-------
The most incestuous city on earth. Probably. And, yea, every politico, his/her family and all the hangers on are in on the grift.

Think about this when filing taxes this year as most of those people won't have to worry about it.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at February 12, 2025 11:46 AM (Q4IgG)

213 ‘ The reality is either:

A) They loved being whined and dined by their dem allies
B) Their dem allies loved making their minorities dance’

Making them dress as lawn jockeys was pretty cruel.
--
The part where they try to get them to sing old Negro spirituals, like "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was pretty funny, though.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at February 12, 2025 11:46 AM (2k0oQ)

214 51 for Tulsi - so far

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 11:46 AM (ExV1e)

215 Interesting Wrinkle Developing in Germany's Energiewende Wipeout

The things that made Germany and what Germany made are now shallow husks of better times. An unexpectedly cold winter with extended periods of the dreaded dunkelflaute - or dreary days with little to no wind - has brought that home to the wind and solar-dependent country. For a nation so proud of their self-sacrifice at the altar of decarbonization, it would appear they're killing themselves for nothing...

The neighbors with abundant power - from whom Germany leeches electricity when their coal plants can't keep up with the country's peak energy demands - have had enough of the EU's scheme for subsidizing and prioritizing Green energy development by penalizing those countries who kept their nuclear and hydro-electrical plants operational. They are tired of paying a premium for the electricity they generate when Germany has to draw from their power, while stubbornly refusing to change their own suicidal national energy security trajectory.

Who could have predicted?

https://is.gd/O2CAHZ

Posted by: Archimedes at February 12, 2025 11:46 AM (xCA6C)

216 I still think it's really funny through Season 7. Season 8 should be soon.

But it probably was its best in the beginning.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:45 AM (GBKbO)

I think I gave up during 6. It just didn't have the same "zing" to the humor anymore. I think that is around when all the shit went down with Harmon and the other dude. My timeline could be wrong tho.

Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:47 AM (MGB5H)

217 > https://www.c-span.org/congress/
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 12, 2025 11:42 AM (W5ArC)

Murky was an aye.

We're still going to primary your ass, Lisa.

Posted by: Tywin Lannister's Crotch at February 12, 2025 11:47 AM (W5ArC)

218 DOGE has really brought this into focus for me:

The difference between one million and one billion -
One Million seconds is about 11 days.

One Billion seconds is 31.5 years.

Posted by: LASue at February 12, 2025 11:47 AM (lCppi)

219 Heard earlier today that in Teh Swamp, DC, three times the national average of internet searches are for "criminal defense lawyer".

==

normally it is "girlfriend experience", but you know , sign of the times...

Posted by: runner at February 12, 2025 11:47 AM (g47mK)

220
I have heard that dwarves are freakishly strong.
Posted by: Thomas Paine

-

It's their exoskeleton. If they were taller they wouldn't be able to walk, though.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - You can only be a feminist in a 1st world patriarchy where men allow it at February 12, 2025 11:47 AM (pjCCc)

221 Yahoo! News is spinning Trump's 70% approval with this caveat - 'but he's not as popular as other Presidents,'

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 12, 2025 11:47 AM (vBmjk)

222 But it probably was its best in the beginning.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:45 AM (GBKbO)

Probably true of a lot of things. Except for Frascape (better as it went on.) Babylon 5 (best in 2nd and 3rd season.) And Firefly (the beginning was the end.)

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:48 AM (bss/y)

223 Murky voted to pass Gabbard? Someone had a chat with her and "persuaded" Murkowski to get with the program.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 11:48 AM (tT6L1)

224 143 Her face looks like it's AI-generated.
Posted by: Bulg at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (77rzZ)

Damn. Tough crowd this morning.

https://tinyurl.com/5bmzpsyj
Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:33 AM (bss/y)

Third times the charm ...

Posted by: browndog remembering the blizzard of 1960f at February 12, 2025 11:48 AM (TTAGa)

225 I am still trying to figure out how Elon Musk, who is working under the direction of the Felonious D., to reduce government spending is illegally hacking the government so he and his billionaire buddies can profit.

I know. The Ds rhetoric here is not grounded in anything remotely connected to reality.

Posted by: Altaria Pilgram - My President has convictions at February 12, 2025 11:48 AM (Q8Bj8)

226 51 to 47 for Tulsi, confirmed

Posted by: Notsothoreau at February 12, 2025 11:48 AM (EV2jz)

227 McConnell was the only R to vote no on Tulsi.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 11:49 AM (ExV1e)

228 Think I lost interest around season 5. Was a lot like South Park in how far it could range in terms of super clever to just straight up juvenile. And they could do both equally well.
Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at February 12, 2025 11:46 AM (KbCG3)

Me too. The perverted story lines became a little over the top for me.

Space baby?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:49 AM (IOGah)

229 Who could have predicted?

It takes a truly incompetent government to close your nuclear plants at the same time that you lose access to cheap Russian natural gas.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:49 AM (uxCna)

230 Yes, but IIRC, Trump made funding HBCU's one of his big pitches to blacks, so that's probably sacrosanct.
Posted by: Archimedes at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM

Yep.
Posted by: Moonbeam at February 12, 2025 11:12 AM (rbKZ6)

Just identify which HBCU's are misusing the money, and tell the black students, "I directed money to go to these schools for your benefit, and faithless administrators stole your money, and wasted your money."

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 12, 2025 11:49 AM (8zz6B)

231 > 223 Murky voted to pass Gabbard? Someone had a chat with her and "persuaded" Murkowski to get with the program.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 11:48 AM (tT6L1)

Bitch McConnell, by contrast, voted nay

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 12, 2025 11:49 AM (W5ArC)

232
Imagine the post-coital cuddly pillow talk Greta and the Hogg would make.

Posted by: Auspex at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (j4U/Z)

233 I am still trying to figure out how Elon Musk, who is working under the direction of the Felonious D., to reduce government spending is illegally hacking the government so he and his billionaire buddies can profit.

I know. The Ds rhetoric here is not grounded in anything remotely connected to reality.
Posted by: Altaria Pilgram - My President has convictions at February 12, 2025 11:48 AM (Q8Bj

Ya I'm really gonna need them to show their work on how canceling 20M$ for Jihadi Sesame Street makes Elon and Donny richer.

Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (MGB5H)

234 216 I think I gave up during 6. It just didn't have the same "zing" to the humor anymore. I think that is around when all the shit went down with Harmon and the other dude. My timeline could be wrong tho.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:47 AM (MGB5H)

======

Probably had more to do with Harmon's relationship problems. He went through a divorce, or a big break up or something.

Roiland hadn't been a significant creative presence since season 1. Even looking at the behind the scenes vignettes through the seasons, he just kind of disappears from them after season 2 or 3, and even then his contributions seem minor.

He went off to build his brand through things like Solar Opposites and his video games. And then he got MeTooed.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (GBKbO)

235 218 DOGE has really brought this into focus for me:

The difference between one million and one billion -
One Million seconds is about 11 days.

One Billion seconds is 31.5 years.
Posted by: LASue at February 12, 2025 11:47 AM (lCppi)

On Trillion seconds is about 31,700 years...

Posted by: Hillary at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (ynpvh)

236 Yahoo! News is spinning Trump's 70% approval with this caveat - 'but he's not as popular as other Presidents,'
Posted by: Anna Puma at February 12, 2025 11:47 AM (vBmjk)
-------------------

I believe 70% is the highest approval rating possible for a politician to get. 30% malcontents are pretty much baked into the cake.

Anything in excess of 70% should be regarded with deep suspicion.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (tT6L1)

237 Imagine the post-coital cuddly pillow talk Greta and the Hogg would make.
Posted by: Auspex at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (j4U/Z)

They're both retards. So assume a lot of apologizing and giggling.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (bss/y)

238 Huh. That's sort of interesting and good for him:

"A powerlifter with dwarfism has defied the odds to win a world title for able-bodied athletes - despite standing just 3ft 8ins tall.

Strongman Rich Willis, 48, managed to bench press twice his body weight to break a world record in his category with a final lift of 97.5kg."

https://tinyurl.com/35f7zt46

(a bit over 200 lbs if I'm thinking right)

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - You can only be a feminist in a 1st world patriarchy where men allow it at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (pjCCc)

239 McConnell was the only R to vote no on Tulsi.

He's definitely not running for another term. I doubt he lives to the end of this one.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (xCA6C)

240 Usually AI art programs have rules that the user can reinforce against odd looking people.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (vBmjk)

241 227 McConnell was the only R to vote no on Tulsi.
----------------
Turtles are kind of slow.

Posted by: Pudinhead at February 12, 2025 11:51 AM (Wg6v7)

242 The JFK revelations will probably be crystal clear. Oswald was firing blanks, the guy with the umbrella shot Kennedy, Jack Ruby went away to Costa Rica and it was a Brownsville inmate that looked like Ruby that shot Oswald, being promised two cartons of smokes. And Oswald wasn't shot. Those were blanks and the blood came from theatrical squibs. He died in 2005, running a gas station in Montana. And LBJ totes had nothing to do with any of it with the blame falling on Lady Bird.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at February 12, 2025 11:51 AM (gm9Sb)

243 Bitch McConnell, by contrast, voted nay

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 12, 2025 11:49 AM (W5ArC)
---------------

His staff did. Mitch probably barely knows where he is, let alone what he's doing.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 11:51 AM (tT6L1)

244 @159

>>BREAKING: Tulsi Gabbard confirmed by the Senate as President Trump's new Director of National Intelligence.

It would be neat if she was the person to greet him when he gets off the flight back to the US when he gets pardoned.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at February 12, 2025 11:51 AM (XV/Pl)

245 240 Usually AI art programs have rules that the user can reinforce against odd looking people.
Posted by: Anna Puma at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (vBmjk)

Apropos of Greta or Hogg?

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:51 AM (bss/y)

246 Just identify which HBCU's are misusing the money, and tell the black students, "I directed money to go to these schools for your benefit, and faithless administrators stole your money, and wasted your money."

All of them?

Posted by: Archimedes at February 12, 2025 11:51 AM (xCA6C)

247 You know who else has problems with stairs?

Daleks.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 12, 2025 11:52 AM (vBmjk)

248 I'm guessing it was Harmon who made it interesting based on his Community resume. Roland just added the perversions.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:52 AM (IOGah)

249 > 237 Imagine the post-coital cuddly pillow talk Greta and the Hogg would make.
Posted by: Auspex at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (j4U/Z)

She keeps asking why he makes her wear a Tom Cruise mask.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 12, 2025 11:52 AM (W5ArC)

250 Anything in excess of 70% should be regarded with deep suspicion.

Hey, wait just a cotton-picking minute!

Posted by: Kim Jong Un! at February 12, 2025 11:52 AM (uxCna)

251 237 Imagine the post-coital cuddly pillow talk Greta and the Hogg would make.
Posted by: Auspex at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (j4U/Z)

They're both retards. So assume a lot of apologizing and giggling.
----------------
I could see Greta pegging Hogg boy hard, telling him to squeal like a piggy.

Posted by: Pudinhead at February 12, 2025 11:53 AM (Wg6v7)

252 Huh. That's sort of interesting and good for him:

"A powerlifter with dwarfism has defied the odds to win a world title for able-bodied athletes - despite standing just 3ft 8ins tall.

Strongman Rich Willis, 48, managed to bench press twice his body weight to break a world record in his category with a final lift of 97.5kg."

https://tinyurl.com/35f7zt46

(a bit over 200 lbs if I'm thinking right)
Posted by: Boron Cobbie - You can only be a feminist in a 1st world patriarchy where men allow it at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (pjCCc)

Advantageous levers and short range of motion. Trust me that helps my dead and squat as well.

Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:53 AM (MGB5H)

253 Oh Tensor knows who Greta von Thule is.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 12, 2025 11:53 AM (vBmjk)

254 PA, all the time, for example:

Diverse Education dot com, Pennsylvania Increases Higher Ed Budget for 2024-25, Aug 5, 2024

In small part, "Cheyney University of Pennsylvania will be a benefactor of an historic increase in basic education funding in the state.

Governor Josh Shapiro Governor Josh Shapiro The historically Black university is set to receive an additional $992,500 for Fiscal Year 2024-25 to total state appropriations above $21.7 million for the year. The increase is part of the largest increase in basic education funding in the state’s history at nearly $1.1 billion."

This state continues to be cesspool.

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at February 12, 2025 11:53 AM (NFX2v)

255 Isn't there some type of procedural strategy to cast a No vote?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:54 AM (IOGah)

256 I saw Budgetary Skunkworks open for The B-52's at The Warfield Theater in '80.

Posted by: ShainS -- It's A Sorry State of Affairs When It's The Judges Who Need Hanging at February 12, 2025 11:54 AM (W2dl3)

257 Advantageous levers and short range of motion. Trust me that helps my dead and squat as well.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12

Hmmm…maybe I should test out my low center of gravity!

Posted by: Piper at February 12, 2025 11:54 AM (pZEOD)

258 144 The quangos became extinct shortly after the European colonization of Australia.

---------

Unlike the giant sloth, they were delicious. It sealed their fate.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 11:54 AM (dDmld)

259 224 143 Her face looks like it's AI-generated.
Posted by: Bulg at February 12, 2025 11:31 AM (77rzZ)

Damn. Tough crowd this morning.

https://tinyurl.com/5bmzpsyj
Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:33 AM (bss/y)

Third times the charm ...

Posted by: browndog remembering the blizzard of 1960f at February 12, 2025 11:48 AM (TTAGa)

Weather Channel could have blockbuster ratings with a Yanet Garcia.

Posted by: Hillary at February 12, 2025 11:54 AM (ynpvh)

260 More Anna Paulina Luna:

https://tinyurl.com/2m87wxf5

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:54 AM (bss/y)

261 I prefer not to imagine Hogg and Thunberg doing anything but shutting up.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 12, 2025 11:54 AM (42Vb+)

262 I'm guessing it was Harmon who made it interesting based on his Community resume. Roland just added the perversions.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:52 AM (IOGah)

He had to gone back to community after he was thrown off prior to season 4. 5 and 6 are odd and not as good mostly due to not the same cast but they are still superior to 4.

Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:54 AM (MGB5H)

263 229 Who could have predicted?

It takes a truly incompetent government to close your nuclear plants at the same time that you lose access to cheap Russian natural gas.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:49 AM (uxCna)

Or traitors.

Posted by: Hillary at February 12, 2025 11:55 AM (ynpvh)

264 He's definitely not running for another term. I doubt he lives to the end of this one.
Posted by: Archimedes at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (xCA6C)

Surprised he doesn't officially swap to D and then retire so Beshear won't have to fight to replace him with another D.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 11:55 AM (ExV1e)

265 262 I'm guessing it was Harmon who made it interesting based on his Community resume. Roland just added the perversions.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:52 AM (IOGah)

======

I'm fairly certain all the incest stuff is from Harmon.

Harmon's a fuck up.

He understands story structure really well, but he's a fuck up.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:55 AM (GBKbO)

266 Has anyone here ever done breathwork?

Has it helped?

Thanks in advance......

Posted by: Stateless...38% - mental state clawing up from 10% at February 12, 2025 11:56 AM (jvJvP)

267 Ouch.

Was the United States of America ever number one in world rankings in education?
If so, when did the ranking begin to change?

As recently as 20 years ago, the United States was ranked No.1 in high school and college education. Much of the boom in American education during the second half of the 20th century was fueled by the Montgomery G.I. Bill, which provided scholarships and student loans to veteran service personnel returning from World War II.

In 2009, the United States was ranked 18th out of 36 industrialized nations. Over that time, complacency and inefficiency, reflective of lower priorities in education, and inconsistencies among the various school systems contributed to a decline.

https://tinyurl.com/3rvfvfw9

Posted by: rickb223 at February 12, 2025 11:56 AM (Mbbwg)

268 They are tired of paying a premium for the electricity they generate when Germany has to draw from their power, while stubbornly refusing to change their own suicidal national energy security trajectory.

Who could have predicted?

https://is.gd/O2CAHZ
Posted by: Archimedes

Many people could, and did, predict this, including you and me at this site.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 12, 2025 11:56 AM (C0bPf)

269 New Democrat attack line: "DOGE is not cutting, really. No one has seen specifics."

First, DOGE was the enemy for cutting. Now it is the enemy for not cutting.

Make up your mind, guys.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 12, 2025 11:56 AM (rdzLB)

270 108 Ominous skies in Van Nuys area. Sposed to rain a toad strangler tonight, tomorrow.
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle for festive little hats at February 12, 2025 11:26 AM (tw5K6)

Clouds and a little drizzle around sunrise in Huntington Beach around dawn. Supposed to get moar later today and tomorrow.

Might be precipitating in the form of rain outside as I type....

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at February 12, 2025 11:56 AM (QGaXH)

271 I was done with Rick and Morty in S4 and The Simpsons in S5. It's the way of it and I don't have patience for stupidity.

Posted by: ... at February 12, 2025 11:56 AM (D2ajs)

272 262 I'm guessing it was Harmon who made it interesting based on his Community resume. Roland just added the perversions.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:52 AM (IOGah)

He had to gone back to community after he was thrown off prior to season 4. 5 and 6 are odd and not as good mostly due to not the same cast but they are still superior to 4.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:54 AM (MGB5H)

Harmon is a dude with some deep issues. Saw a doc on the dude and I find it hard to believe that anyone enjoys working with him.

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (KbCG3)

273 And hung, too.
Posted by: Gimlet, son of Groin at February 12, 2025 11:44 AM (W5ArC)

Not true! I once knew a Dwarf who had a small member, kinda like a peanut M&M. Well, I did not actually "Know" him, I read it somewhere. No, really.

What?

Posted by: Lindsey Graham, Closeted Homosexual at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (y7KuV)

274 I knew there was a reason to separate church and state. It is to avoid tweets like this.

Rick Warren@RickWarren
John 19:18 “They crucified Jesus with two others-one on each side & Jesus in the middle.”
The guys on both sides were thieves.
If you’re looking for the #realJesus, not a caricature disfigured by partisan motivations, you’ll find him in the middle, not on either side.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (CTFOK)

275 Look leftards, DOGE isn't cutting anything and it's good that it is.

Gosh that's fun!!

Posted by: ... at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (D2ajs)

276 Who could have predicted?

It takes a truly incompetent government to close your nuclear plants at the same time that you lose access to cheap Russian natural gas.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:49 AM (uxCna)

------------

An abiding faith in a nonsensical false religion makes one do things that, on the face of it, make no sense whatsoever.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (dDmld)

277 ... but its far more vital work of putting the "public" back into "republic."

---------------

Nice turn of phrase, Mannix.

"A re-republic, if you can take it."

Posted by: ShainS -- It's A Sorry State of Affairs When It's The Judges Who Need Hanging at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (RwVoK)

278 272 Harmon is a dude with some deep issues. Saw a doc on the dude and I find it hard to believe that anyone enjoys working with him.
Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (KbCG3)

=======

He's probably a terrible human being.

But his story circle stuff is good.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (GBKbO)

279 Anything in excess of 70% should be regarded with deep suspicion.
Posted by: blake

Don't be silly.

Posted by: Saddam Hussein 1994 at February 12, 2025 11:58 AM (G5+As)

280 269 New Democrat attack line: "DOGE is not cutting, really. No one has seen specifics."

First, DOGE was the enemy for cutting. Now it is the enemy for not cutting.

Make up your mind, guys.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 12, 2025 11:56 AM (rdzLB)

DOGE doesn't cut, it recommends to the President who cuts...

Posted by: Hillary at February 12, 2025 11:58 AM (ynpvh)

281 274 I knew there was a reason to separate church and state. It is to avoid tweets like this.

Rick Warren@RickWarren
John 19:18 “They crucified Jesus with two others-one on each side & Jesus in the middle.”
The guys on both sides were thieves.
If you’re looking for the #realJesus, not a caricature disfigured by partisan motivations, you’ll find him in the middle, not on either side.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (CTFOK)

======

Cutting government spending without pocketing it personally is stealing?

What's demanding taxation by gunpoint and pocketing some of it after a couple of cutouts?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:58 AM (GBKbO)

282 Imagine the post-coital cuddly pillow talk Greta and the Hogg would make.
Posted by: Auspex at February 12, 2025 11:50 AM (j4U/Z)

She keeps asking why he makes her wear a Tom Cruise mask.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia

Why is she always behind doing the pushing?

Posted by: rickb223 at February 12, 2025 11:58 AM (Mbbwg)

283 274 I knew there was a reason to separate church and state. It is to avoid tweets like this.

Rick Warren@RickWarren
John 19:18 “They crucified Jesus with two others-one on each side & Jesus in the middle.”
The guys on both sides were thieves.
If you’re looking for the #realJesus, not a caricature disfigured by partisan motivations, you’ll find him in the middle, not on either side.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (CTFOK)

What does that even mean?

'Clowns to the left of me...'

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 11:58 AM (bss/y)

284 Isn't there some type of procedural strategy to cast a No vote?
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:54 AM (IOGah)

Only for the majority leader, which McConnell isn't, and only when there's a chance you could lose the vote.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 11:58 AM (ExV1e)

285 Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), "...Elon, illegal,...DEI...I am literally beyond words at this point," literally, without taking a breath, kept on talking for another 5 minutes. The comedy never ends.

I love living in NM but the communists here are increasingly making it likely I will move to another state.

Posted by: Altaria Pilgram - My President has convictions at February 12, 2025 11:59 AM (Q8Bj8)

286 Harmon is a dude with some deep issues. Saw a doc on the dude and I find it hard to believe that anyone enjoys working with him.
Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (KbCG3)

=======

He's probably a terrible human being.

But his story circle stuff is good.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (GBKbO)

Separate the artist from the art. I always try. Some people *cough* Sean Penn *cough* make it damn near impossible.

Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:59 AM (MGB5H)

287 "In 2009, the United States was ranked 18th out of 36 industrialized nations. Over that time, complacency and inefficiency, reflective of lower priorities in education, and inconsistencies among the various school systems contributed to a decline.
Posted by: rickb223 "

We are #1 in spending per pupil so there's that.

Posted by: Ripley at February 12, 2025 11:59 AM (GUOwU)

288 RICK WARREN GETS US!!!

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - You can only be a feminist in a 1st world patriarchy where men allow it at February 12, 2025 11:59 AM (pjCCc)

289 I think Insty had the best take on Schumer's sudden, "Hey, yeah, there's waste, but" speech. "Democrat internal polling must be terrible."

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 11:59 AM (tT6L1)

290 Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 11:55 AM (GBKbO)

I never saw those story lines in the first seasons of Community. What I did see were a lot of thought provoking timeline , multiverse type shows. That's why I assumed those R&M storylines were from Harmon.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:59 AM (IOGah)

291 Who could have predicted?

It takes a truly incompetent government to close your nuclear plants at the same time that you lose access to cheap Russian natural gas.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:49 AM (uxCna)

---------------------

Almost strikes one as willful, intentional, destructive national suicide. Almost.

Posted by: ShainS -- It's A Sorry State of Affairs When It's The Judges Who Need Hanging at February 12, 2025 11:59 AM (RwVoK)

292 We are #1 in spending per pupil so there's that.
Posted by: Ripley at February 12, 2025 11:59 AM (GUOwU)

To teachers:

'Here's your money, go ahead and do whatever.'

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 12:00 PM (bss/y)

293 286 Separate the artist from the art. I always try. Some people *cough* Sean Penn *cough* make it damn near impossible.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:59 AM (MGB5H)

=======

I'll do Polanski's films at some point.

After he's dead.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:00 PM (GBKbO)

294 Imagine the post-coital cuddly pillow talk Greta and the Hogg would make.
Posted by: Auspex

"How dare you!!"

Posted by: Tonypete at February 12, 2025 12:00 PM (WXNFJ)

295 >>He's definitely not running for another term. I doubt he lives to the end of this one.

Did you see him being wheeled out of the Senate yesterday evening wearing a boot on one leg and sitting in a wheelchair?

It's disgraceful the way these ancient turds cling to power.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 12, 2025 12:00 PM (LkLld)

296 You buy the artist, not the art.

Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:01 PM (ky8PV)

297 Separate the artist from the art. I always try. Some people *cough* Sean Penn *cough* make it damn near impossible.
------------------
Sean is an asshole who acts and films well. Just don't go fishing with him.

Posted by: Pudinhead at February 12, 2025 12:01 PM (Wg6v7)

298 290 I never saw those story lines in the first seasons of Community. What I did see were a lot of thought provoking timeline , multiverse type shows. That's why I assumed those R&M storylines were from Harmon.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 11:59 AM (IOGah)

======

The incest stuff started after Roiland largely disassociated from the show. And I think Harmon's said stuff about liking that genre of pron.

The difference is that Community was network television and Rick and Morty is late night cable. Also time. He's probably gotten worse with time.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:01 PM (GBKbO)

299 Separate the artist from the art. I always try. Some people *cough* Sean Penn *cough* make it damn near impossible.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:59 AM (MGB5H)
---------------

My wife is finally waking up to that problem. She ran across video of Richard Gere mouthing off and it immediately turned her off to him.

She's starting to understand why I find some movies intolerable to watch.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 12:01 PM (tT6L1)

300 @293

>>I'll do Polanski's films at some point.

His best film is The Ninth Gate, FIGHT ME!!

Posted by: Thomas Bender at February 12, 2025 12:01 PM (XV/Pl)

301 "Democrat internal polling must be terrible."

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 11:59 AM (tT6L1)

----------------

"That sounds vaguely familiar."

-- White Cucks for Kommie-la

Posted by: ShainS -- It's A Sorry State of Affairs When It's The Judges Who Need Hanging at February 12, 2025 12:01 PM (RwVoK)

302 DOGE is not cutting, really.

I believe that this is technically true. I don't believe DOGE has the authority to cut anything. They can only point them out to Trump, or cabinet secretary, who officially cuts them.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 12:01 PM (ExV1e)

303 I'll do Polanski's films at some point.

After he's dead.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:00 PM (GBKbO)

I'm looking forward to you doing Lynch's films as he has recently left us.

Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 12:02 PM (MGB5H)

304 Did you see him being wheeled out of the Senate yesterday evening wearing a boot on one leg and sitting in a wheelchair?

It's disgraceful the way these ancient turds cling to power.

-----------

Pelosi's pendulous tits would respectfully disagree.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 12:02 PM (dDmld)

305 226 51 to 47 for Tulsi, confirmed
Posted by: Notsothoreau at February 12, 2025 11:48 AM (EV2jz)

Whew!

Posted by: m at February 12, 2025 12:02 PM (v0TzN)

306 300 @293

>>I'll do Polanski's films at some point.

His best film is The Ninth Gate, FIGHT ME!!
Posted by: Thomas Bender at February 12, 2025 12:01 PM (XV/Pl)

=======

Been way too long since I've seen it.

Gotta be better than The Fearless Vampire Killers, though.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:02 PM (GBKbO)

307 302 DOGE is not cutting, really.

I believe that this is technically true. I don't believe DOGE has the authority to cut anything. They can only point them out to Trump, or cabinet secretary, who officially cuts them.
Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 12:01 PM (ExV1e)

That is what I assumed. They are like the Bobs. Essentially making recommendations.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 12:03 PM (bss/y)

308
I'll do Polanski's films at some point.

After he's dead.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:00 PM (GBKbO)
------------

I've run across what look to be interesting movies, see they're done by Roman and...there goes that.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 12:03 PM (tT6L1)

309 'Here's your money, go ahead and do whatever.'
Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 12:00 PM (bss/y)
==================
Running classes via Zoom from poolside in Cabo has already been done, so maybe from a cruise this time.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 12, 2025 12:03 PM (Agjev)

310 The real answer is all this spending has one goal and that is grift as much money into the bank accounts of the recipients.
Posted by: Altaria Pilgram

All the while requiring Ed school credentials - schools that are nothing more than marxist madrasas at this point.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at February 12, 2025 12:03 PM (mlg/3)

311 Rick Warren@RickWarren
John 19:18 “They crucified Jesus with two others-one on each side & Jesus in the middle.”
The guys on both sides were thieves.
If you’re looking for the #realJesus, not a caricature disfigured by partisan motivations, you’ll find him in the middle, not on either side.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (CTFOK)

and one thief mocked Jesus while the other asked for forgiveness. Jesus chose one of those thieves to join him in heaven.

Does Warren even read the Bible?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 12:03 PM (IOGah)

312
It's disgraceful the way these ancient turds cling to power.
Posted by: JackStraw

Dox the members of their staff in DC.

"That's unfair and dangerous!"

Well, aren't you the ones (illegally) casting their vote?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at February 12, 2025 12:03 PM (xG4kz)

313 In high school we had a fullback who was about 5' 4". It was like tackling a fireplug.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 12, 2025 12:03 PM (C0bPf)

314 285 During COVID, I was heading for AZ. Stopped at a NM gas station and when paying, the guy behind the bulletproof glass (indoors) said I(outdoors) needed to put on a mask. Quite the state.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at February 12, 2025 12:04 PM (gm9Sb)

315 I'll do Polanski's films at some point.

After he's dead.
--------------
China Town and The Fearless Vampire Killers are two that I like. Thought Rosemary's Baby largely sucked. But it did make him big man on campus.

Posted by: Pudinhead at February 12, 2025 12:04 PM (Wg6v7)

316 @306

>>Been way too long since I've seen it.

It also might be Johnny Depp's best film, in fact you can categorize Depps career as BPOTC and APOTC.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at February 12, 2025 12:04 PM (XV/Pl)

317 and one thief mocked Jesus while the other asked for forgiveness. Jesus chose one of those thieves to join him in heaven.
-

And it's one of the most beautiful lessons in the Bible.

It's never too late until it is.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - You can only be a feminist in a 1st world patriarchy where men allow it at February 12, 2025 12:04 PM (pjCCc)

318 Off sock.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at February 12, 2025 12:04 PM (ynpvh)

319 What does that even mean?

I think it might mean there are political thieves on both the left and right and that Jesus was neither a Republican nor a Democrat , but not seeing if this is response to any other tweet I can not be positive .

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 12, 2025 12:04 PM (MC5FV)

320 "Democrat internal polling must be terrible."

Just wait until Trump make them defend the poor overworked and much beloved, IRS

Posted by: Ripley at February 12, 2025 12:04 PM (GUOwU)

321 In high school we had a fullback who was about 5' 4". It was like tackling a fireplug.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 12, 2025 12:03 PM (C0bPf)

---

Reminds me of a classmate of mine, about 5'6"ish who joined the Air Force after high school.

We were all wondering if his AOS was "bomb."

Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:04 PM (ky8PV)

322 51 to 47 for Tulsi, confirmed
Posted by: Notsothoreau at February 12, 2025 11:48 AM (EV2jz)

Final count was 52/48. All Democrats, including McConnell and Fetterman were no.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 12, 2025 12:05 PM (ExV1e)

323
McConnell was the only R to vote no on Tulsi.
----------------
Turtles are kind of slow.
Posted by: Pudinhead

Buy him a skateboard.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at February 12, 2025 12:05 PM (63Dwl)

324 303 I'm looking forward to you doing Lynch's films as he has recently left us.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 12:02 PM (MGB5H)

======

Forever ago, actually.

https://is.gd/vXdoLw

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:05 PM (GBKbO)

325 266 Has anyone here ever done breathwork?

Has it helped?

Thanks in advance......
Posted by: Stateless...38% - mental state clawing up from 10%

Yes.

Posted by: nurse ratched at February 12, 2025 12:05 PM (mUKNl)

326 She's starting to understand why I find some movies intolerable to watch.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 12:01 PM (tT6L1)

----------

There are assholes, then there are the Reiners, DeNiros, Streisands and Goldbergs. I try to distinguish between the two groups when I choose what entertainment to watch.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 12:05 PM (dDmld)

327 313 In high school we had a fullback who was about 5' 4". It was like tackling a fireplug.
---------------
Our HS had a cannon ball half back. He was so short the defense couldn't see him coming. Also, tackling cannon balls is hard.

Posted by: Pudinhead at February 12, 2025 12:05 PM (Wg6v7)

328 320 "Democrat internal polling must be terrible."

Just wait until Trump make them defend the poor overworked and much beloved, IRS

Posted by: Ripley at February 12, 2025 12:04 PM (GUOwU)

Dems like Hogg stick the pole up their ass, so yes, quite terrible.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at February 12, 2025 12:06 PM (ynpvh)

329 some recent news:

Trump and Putin agree to reciprocal visits.
House R's propose a $4.5 trillion tax cut; $4 trillion debt ceiling increase

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at February 12, 2025 12:06 PM (2k0oQ)

330 Original European version or the American edited version released as "The Fearless Vampire Killers."

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 12, 2025 12:06 PM (vBmjk)

331 Forever ago, actually.

https://is.gd/vXdoLw
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:05 PM (GBKbO)

Well damn now I have something to read today.

Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 12:06 PM (MGB5H)

332 Separate the artist from the art. I always try. Some people *cough* Sean Penn *cough* make it damn near impossible.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 11:59 AM (MGB5H)
---------------

My wife is finally waking up to that problem. She ran across video of Richard Gere mouthing off and it immediately turned her off to him.

She's starting to understand why I find some movies intolerable to watch.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 12:01 PM (tT6L1)
_________

There's some truth to "appreciate the art, not the artist" but why should I increase the fame and wealth of shitfuck cocksuckers I despise (and who despise me)? I try to avoid doing that as much as possible. Fuck these people.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at February 12, 2025 12:06 PM (iFTx/)

333 And hung, too.
Posted by: Gimlet, son of Groin at February 12, 2025 11:44 AM (W5ArC)

Not true! I once knew a Dwarf who had a small member, kinda like a peanut M&M. Well, I did not actually "Know" him, I read it somewhere. No, really.

What?

Posted by: Lindsey Graham, Closeted Homosexual

It's sophisticated humor like this that brings me here.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 12, 2025 12:06 PM (xCA6C)

334 I'll do Polanski's films at some point.

After he's dead.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:00 PM (GBKbO)

-----------------

Did you ever study and analyze Oliver Stone?

I thought Platoon was brilliant, and JFK was okay.

I walked out of Natural Born Killers after about 30 minutes (and haven't seen any of his films since).

Posted by: ShainS -- It's A Sorry State of Affairs When It's The Judges Who Need Hanging at February 12, 2025 12:07 PM (T06DR)

335 Senate Confirms Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence

The vote was 52-46. Of course, Mitch McConnell voted no.

Posted by: SMOD at February 12, 2025 12:07 PM (GITLP)

336 Mitch McConnell is the face of everything that's wrong with the GOP. Grifting sack of shit.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 12:08 PM (dDmld)

337 Eliminate Medicaid. Let the individual states figure out what they want to do, without 50% match financing from federal deficit spending.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at February 12, 2025 11:15 AM (Dm8we)
==
Legislative passed and executive signed program - no one will agree to cut it, even though it provides almost no overall value for anything it does.DOGE can't touch it outside of fraud searches.

Posted by: Black JEM at February 12, 2025 12:08 PM (GZYu7)

338 There's some truth to "appreciate the art, not the artist" but why should I increase the fame and wealth of shitfuck cocksuckers I despise (and who despise me)? I try to avoid doing that as much as possible. Fuck these people.
Posted by: Elric The Blade at February 12, 2025 12:06 PM (iFTx/)

---

That's the ideal, but the reality is the opposite. People don't go see a movie...they see a Scarlett Johannsen movie.

Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:08 PM (ky8PV)

339 and one thief mocked Jesus while the other asked for forgiveness. Jesus chose one of those thieves to join him in heaven.

Does Warren even read the Bible?
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 12:03 PM (IOGah)

Warren's a grifting charlatan like Osteen

Posted by: Quasi-religious conmen with credulous audiences at February 12, 2025 12:08 PM (mEkvo)

340 And it's one of the most beautiful lessons in the Bible.

It's never too late until it is.
Posted by: Boron Cobbie - You can only be a feminist in a 1st world patriarchy where men allow it at February 12, 2025 12:04 PM (pjCCc)
------------------

I think too many people believe the "Thief on the Cross" lesson means one can wait until the last minute to repent. However, I suggest the the fall of the Tower of Siloam is also a warning one never knows when death may occur.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 12:08 PM (tT6L1)

341 334 Did you ever study and analyze Oliver Stone?

I thought Platoon was brilliant, and JFK was okay.

I walked out of Natural Born Killers after about 30 minutes (and haven't seen any of his films since).
Posted by: ShainS -- It's A Sorry State of Affairs When It's The Judges Who Need Hanging at February 12, 2025 12:07 PM (T06DR)

======

He's still kickin', so I've resisted.

I did recently revisit Platoon, and I found it...dull. I know I'm in the minority on that, but it feels like a comic book rendition of Vietnam, not actual drama. It's major saving grace is Stone's obvious knowledge of grunt life which imbues the film with a lot of physical authenticity.

I also once did a three night run of three different version of Alexander (there's a fourth, which I skipped because 3 was enough). Final Cut is the way to go. Still bad, but less bad.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:08 PM (GBKbO)

342 In fact, The Ninth Gate is the only Polanski film I have had a desire to watch more than once.

Once you've seen China Town, you really don't have to watch China Town ever again, same goes for Kubrick.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (XV/Pl)

343 336 Mitch McConnell is the face of everything that's wrong with the GOP. Grifting sack of shit.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 12:08 PM (dDmld)

I saw Grifting Sack of Shit front for...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (ynpvh)

344 That's the ideal, but the reality is the opposite. People don't go see a movie...they see a Scarlett Johannsen movie.
Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:08 PM (ky8PV)

That's 'Sydney Sweeney movie' now.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (bss/y)

345 Scar Jo in The Girl with the Pearl Earring.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (vBmjk)

346 To put these cuts into better perspective, the $880 million cut is about what Disney spent on Indiana Jones 5, Captain Marvel 2 and Captain America 4 combined.

Posted by: Darth Randall at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (o0ejd)

347 That's the ideal, but the reality is the opposite. People don't go see a movie...they see a Scarlett Johannsen movie.
Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:08 PM (ky8PV)

The Star sells a movie has always been a Hollywood lie. And it is even more so today. No "Star" can guarantee a big opening anymore.

Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (MGB5H)

348 I did recently revisit Platoon, and I found it...dull. I know I'm in the minority on that, but it feels like a comic book rendition of Vietnam, not actual drama. Its major saving grace is Stone's obvious knowledge of grunt life which imbues the film with a lot of physical authenticity.

---

Maybe, but then Wall Street was pure caricature. JFK was a disaster.

Dude is like George Lucas - way way overrated.

Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (ky8PV)

349 329 some recent news:

Trump and Putin agree to reciprocal visits.

---------

Just wait. Some Hula District Court Judge will enjoin the meeting.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (dDmld)

350 332 Yep. There's this thing called, IIRC, residuals, where anytime somebody sees one of your appearances on film you get paid. Maybe a small amount but it mounts up. I try to avoid assholes like DiNiro, Penn and others when I watch flicks on TV.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at February 12, 2025 12:10 PM (gm9Sb)

351 There's some truth to "appreciate the art, not the artist" but why should I increase the fame and wealth of shitfuck cocksuckers I despise (and who despise me)? I try to avoid doing that as much as possible. Fuck these people.
Posted by: Elric The Blade at February 12, 2025 12:06 PM (iFTx/)
---------

Well said.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 12:10 PM (tT6L1)

352 osted by: ShainS -- It's A Sorry State of Affairs When It's The Judges Who Need Hanging at February 12, 2025 12:07 PM (T06DR)

His most interesting one to me was the one hew wrote but didn't direct. Scarface.

Same with Tarantino. My favorite of his is True Romance which he wrote but didn't direct.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 12:10 PM (IOGah)

353 344 That's the ideal, but the reality is the opposite. People don't go see a movie...they see a Scarlett Johannsen movie.
Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:08 PM (ky8PV)

======

I maintain that this is a complete and total fiction, a bastardization of the star system mostly propped up by PR agents in Hollywood.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:10 PM (GBKbO)

354 I know you're all shocked but McConnell voted no on Tulsi.

Huh? Wha?

Posted by: Droolin' Mitch McConnell!

It's worse than that:

https://tinyurl.com/ydrh5smp

Posted by: Stu Podaso at February 12, 2025 12:10 PM (PcVUY)

355 349 329 some recent news:

Trump and Putin agree to reciprocal visits.

---------

Just wait. Some Hula District Court Judge will enjoin the meeting.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (dDmld)

Spirit of Aloha...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at February 12, 2025 12:10 PM (ynpvh)

356 The Star sells a movie has always been a Hollywood lie. And it is even more so today. No "Star" can guarantee a big opening anymore.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (MGB5H)

---

Not always. And again, you buy the artist, not the art. If a "star" is being a butthead, you don't go see the art. That's the point.

Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:10 PM (ky8PV)

357 I liked Rick Warren's book about dolphins: "The Porpoise Driven Life."

What?

Never mind.

Posted by: Emily Litella at February 12, 2025 12:10 PM (PiwSw)

358 The Star sells a movie has always been a Hollywood lie. And it is even more so today. No "Star" can guarantee a big opening anymore.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (MGB5H)

This. May have been somewhat true in the days of John Wayne or Doris Day. Today? Pffft.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 12:10 PM (bss/y)

359 major saving grace is Stone's obvious knowledge of grunt life which imbues the film with a lot of physical authenticity
--------------
The credit should likely go to the military advisor setting up the scenes. The VC Night Attack is textbook tactics.

Posted by: Pudinhead at February 12, 2025 12:11 PM (Wg6v7)

360 I maintain that this is a complete and total fiction, a bastardization of the star system mostly propped up by PR agents in Hollywood.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:10 PM (GBKbO)

---

Not in my experience.

Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:11 PM (ky8PV)

361 347 That's the ideal, but the reality is the opposite. People don't go see a movie...they see a Scarlett Johannsen movie.
Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:08 PM (ky8PV)

The Star sells a movie has always been a Hollywood lie. And it is even more so today. No "Star" can guarantee a big opening anymore.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (MGB5H)

=====

At the height of Steve McQueen's popularity, he starred in the Sam Peckinpah film Junior Bonner.

It bombed. Horribly.

Even though it had one of America's biggest movie stars in it.

Because the star system, as most people understand it, is fake garbage sold by those employed by actors to sell themselves to movie studios.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:11 PM (GBKbO)

362 354 I know you're all shocked but McConnell voted no on Tulsi.

Huh? Wha?

Posted by: Droolin' Mitch McConnell!

It's worse than that:

https://tinyurl.com/ydrh5smp

Posted by: Stu Podaso at February 12, 2025 12:10 PM (PcVUY)

Were they Ghanian?

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at February 12, 2025 12:12 PM (ynpvh)

363 Eh, forget it. Over the past two days it's been pretty clear that I'm wrong about everything.

See you all sometime. Maybe.

Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:12 PM (ky8PV)

364 Broke an egg making breakfast this morning. My insurance company said an adjuster will be out tomorrow.

Posted by: Ciampino - The yolk is good! at February 12, 2025 12:12 PM (KjLnc)

365 Broke an egg making breakfast this morning. My insurance company said an adjuster will be out tomorrow.
Posted by: Ciampino - The yolk is good! at February 12, 2025 12:12 PM (KjLnc)
-----------

heh, Took me a moment.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (tT6L1)

366 364 Broke an egg making breakfast this morning. My insurance company said an adjuster will be out tomorrow.

Posted by: Ciampino - The yolk is good! at February 12, 2025 12:12 PM (KjLnc)

That's a terrible yolk.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (ynpvh)

367 The Star sells a movie has always been a Hollywood lie. And it is even more so today. No "Star" can guarantee a big opening anymore.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (MGB5H)

There are no "stars" today like there were in the golden age. Just cookie cutter pretty faces with no talent. Or in the case of Disney, cookie cutter ugly faces.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (wyMQY)

368 Our school district several years ago sent out slick color mailers, no doubt at enormous expense, positively gushing that “over 80 different languages are spoken in Maple Valley!”

This is a disaster, and exactly the kind of thing that costs money as well as destroying common bonds and culture in society. Note well we can’t even agree on the meaning of words and concepts in English, when dealing with Progressives.

The cop shop has to have interpreters and stenographers who speak the lingo. Everything is a Racket now. Everything

Posted by: Common Tater at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (G6Lak)

369 I will give any movie with Keanu Reeves and Gary Oldman a chance so yes some stars do make me watch.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (IOGah)

370 I saw Platoon on shrooms. I've always liked it. What a horrible waste of young men's lives and bodies. Carter was right to pardon the draft dodgers (and I served, though only reserves and not in combat).

Posted by: SFGoth at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (KAi1n)

371 358 This. May have been somewhat true in the days of John Wayne or Doris Day. Today? Pffft.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 12:10 PM (bss/y)

=======

It wasn't even then.

The star system was a way to tell audiences what kind of movie they were buying tickets to. See Marlene Deitrich on a poster? You know what kind of movie it is. See Cary Grant? You know it's another kind. See James Cagney? You know it's even another kind.

The whole, "well, they sell tickets" thing is grasping in the dark for explanations why some movies succeed and others don't.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (GBKbO)

372 Eh, forget it. Over the past two days it's been pretty clear that I'm wrong about everything.

See you all sometime. Maybe.
Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:12 PM (ky8PV)
---------------

Are you sure about that?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (tT6L1)

373 Time for some willow-bait via random links!

Drone Warfare in CW2
Get up to speed, or become a casualty
Feb 11, 2025
https://shorturl.at/IhTSL
Steel Cutter [Matt Bracken]

Bird Flu Terror: Egg Rationing Hits U.S. Grocery Stores
Ben Bartee
Feb 12, 2025
https://shorturl.at/ziUw3
Armageddon Prose

Mapped: The Top Import Partner of Every U.S. State
February 1, 2025
By Bruno Venditti | Graphics/Design: Miranda Smith
https://shorturl.at/CHPVW
Visual Capitalist

How the U.S. Dollar Has Performed, by President (1967-2025)
February 11, 2025
By Dorothy Neufeld | Graphics/Design: Joyce Ma
https://shorturl.at/fG7uj
Visual Capitalist

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (Vqx30)

374 @358

>>This. May have been somewhat true in the days of John Wayne or Doris Day. Today? Pffft.

Nah, there was a time the name Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks or Denzel Washington could sell a film.

The thing that has affected Hollywood has affected all of culture, the fracturing of the unified cultural zeitgeist, there is still a main zeitgeist, but now there are satellite zeitgeist silos, that most have retreated to.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (XV/Pl)

375 The Turtle is thete just fir spite now

Posted by: Skip at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (fwDg9)

376 I am shocked, SHOCKED, that there is a movie thread in this establishment.

Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher at February 12, 2025 12:14 PM (LxER7)

377

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 12, 2025 12:14 PM (Vqx30)

378 Uh Oh.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at February 12, 2025 12:14 PM (ynpvh)

379 The Star sells a movie has always been a Hollywood lie. And it is even more so today. No "Star" can guarantee a big opening anymore.
Posted by: BruceWayne at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (MGB5H)

There are no "stars" today like there were in the golden age. Just cookie cutter pretty faces with no talent. Or in the case of Disney, cookie cutter ugly faces.
Posted by: Tom Servo at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (wyMQY)
___________

"Fuck you!"

-- Rachel Zegler

Posted by: Elric The Blade at February 12, 2025 12:14 PM (iFTx/)

380 Data Republican weighed in on the H1B controversy, from her own perspective of competing for software engineering jobs, and hiring coders as her career advanced.

https://tinyurl.com/34vm2d23
=========================
Additionally, Elon Musk’s emphasis on recruiting exceptional engineers also reveals flaws in the current H-1B framework. By favoring lower-cost skilled labor (Cognizant) over truly top-tier talent, the program strays from Musk’s vision.

If attracting the highest-caliber professionals is truly the goal, Musk and others should also advocate for a merit-based H-1B model that prioritizes companies like SpaceX over outsourcing firms. Alongside these reforms, we must invest in educational reform which unleashes the United States’ own latent engineering potential. Ignoring either aspect risks entrenching mediocrity and creates a wedge between Trump supporters and tech culture.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 12, 2025 12:14 PM (Klv6q)

381 Doris Day?

Veronica Lake.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 12, 2025 12:14 PM (vBmjk)

382 *tries to flee*

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 12, 2025 12:14 PM (Vqx30)

383 It turns out that the wife of the judge who said that Trump couldn't remove the LBGQT web pages from government websites has a wife who runs a nonprofit funded by USAID.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:25 AM (uxCna)
==
Interesting conflict of interest there - it would seem that case is getting tossed pretty quickly now.

Posted by: Black JEM at February 12, 2025 12:14 PM (GZYu7)

384 I think too many people believe the "Thief on the Cross" lesson means one can wait until the last minute to repent. However, I suggest the the fall of the Tower of Siloam is also a warning one never knows when death may occur.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing

-

Yeah, I've been badly hurt a couple of times, and I'd suggest that when you've been in a head-on collision and are going in and out of consciousness you're not going to be thinking "Oh, okay, now is when I need to be doing that praying I was waiting to take care of at the last minute"

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - You can only be a feminist in a 1st world patriarchy where men allow it at February 12, 2025 12:14 PM (Rsgsz)

385 THE BOSS HAS A NOOD

Posted by: Skip at February 12, 2025 12:14 PM (fwDg9)

386 382 *tries to flee*

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 12, 2025 12:14 PM (Vqx30)

Helena Handbasket -> Helena Barrel...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at February 12, 2025 12:15 PM (ynpvh)

387 369 I will give any movie with Keanu Reeves and Gary Oldman a chance so yes some stars do make me watch.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (IOGah)

Keanu Reeves is a good point. Meh, even that could not make me watch the recent Matrix... thing.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 12:15 PM (bss/y)

388 Eh, forget it. Over the past two days it's been pretty clear that I'm wrong about everything.

See you all sometime. Maybe.
Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:12 PM (ky8PV)
---------------

For gripes sake its the internet. And you ignore the people who agree with you. Like you want to be a victim.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 12:15 PM (IOGah)

389 If you’re looking for the #realJesus, not a caricature disfigured by partisan motivations, you’ll find him in the middle, not on either side.

I guess I get what he's trying to say here, and technically he's right. Jesus is not on your side. He's not on their side. He's on HIS side. And we need to be on that side.

But this is one of the worst illustrations ever, and it depicts someone trying to be the "middle man" who isn't "like that publican"

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at February 12, 2025 12:15 PM (2VST1)

390 Broke an egg making breakfast this morning. My insurance company said an adjuster will be out tomorrow.

Posted by: Ciampino - The yolk is good! at February 12, 2025 12:12 PM (KjLnc)

That's a terrible yolk.
Posted by: jim

Pfffffft.

Lance is a name not used much anymore. But back in medieval times, they used Lance a lot.

Posted by: rickb223 at February 12, 2025 12:15 PM (Mbbwg)

391 *tries to flee*
Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 12, 2025 12:14 PM (Vqx30)

-------------------

Uh huh, that won't do. I'm expecting a big smile and a hug in October.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at February 12, 2025 12:15 PM (tT6L1)

392 Our school district several years ago sent out slick color mailers, no doubt at enormous expense, positively gushing that “over 80 different languages are spoken in Maple Valley!”

-

Ah, so no shared American culture, then.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - You can only be a feminist in a 1st world patriarchy where men allow it at February 12, 2025 12:15 PM (Rsgsz)

393 Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:12 PM (ky8PV)

Try not to take it personally, WD. People can be opinionated here and it's always harder when affected by depression, but your presence is much appreciated and you are a very nice guy who apparently stood up at work when it would have been easier not to. Take a break, though . Those can be very helpful but do come back. We'd miss you if you didn't .

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 12, 2025 12:15 PM (zZ5GU)

394 363 Eh, forget it. Over the past two days it's been pretty clear that I'm wrong about everything.

----------

Carrying the coveted Moron card requires both a thick skin and a dull intellect!

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 12:16 PM (dDmld)

395 The Amish Powerball is up to 4 dozen eggs.

Posted by: Ciampino - The yolk is better at February 12, 2025 12:16 PM (KjLnc)

396 NOOD Tulsi

Posted by: ShainS -- It's A Sorry State of Affairs When It's The Judges Who Need Hanging at February 12, 2025 12:17 PM (tZoYC)

397 Eh, forget it. Over the past two days it's been pretty clear that I'm wrong about everything.

See you all sometime. Maybe.
Posted by: WitchDoktor at February 12, 2025 12:12 PM (ky8PV)

Eh, don't get worked up about fucking movies, pal.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 12, 2025 12:17 PM (8zz6B)

398 Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 12:15 PM (bss/y)

I just think he may not be the best actor but the guy knows how to pick a script. I'm ignoring sequels which 99% of the time are crap and just a money grab.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 12, 2025 12:17 PM (IOGah)

399
Yes.
Posted by: nurse ratched at February 12, 2025 12:05 PM (mUKNl

Thanks nurse!

I'll give it a a shot shortly.

I've turned a corner so that's good.

The cats are still hanging around outside. I pet them occasionally but no food. I really fattened them up. I turned Snowflake into a Snowball.

Posted by: Stateless...38% - mental state clawing up from 10% at February 12, 2025 12:18 PM (jvJvP)

400 This. May have been somewhat true in the days of John Wayne or Doris Day. Today? Pffft.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 12, 2025 12:10 PM (bss/y)

=======

It wasn't even then.

The star system was a way to tell audiences what kind of movie they were buying tickets to. See Marlene Deitrich on a poster? You know what kind of movie it is. See Cary Grant? You know it's another kind. See James Cagney? You know it's even another kind.

The whole, "well, they sell tickets" thing is grasping in the dark for explanations why some movies succeed and others don't.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching B-movies with Roger Corman at February 12, 2025 12:13 PM (GBKbO)
________

There are no guarantees that having a star actor will make a movie a success. That I agree with.

But you can't tell me that if you made a movie with a nobody named Thomas Kruus in the lead it would have as much chance at a big box-office draw than the exact same movie with Tom Cruise as the lead.

Having a big "star" helps with marketing, exposure, and even helping get the movie made in the first place. In today's world, that's probably more important than the content of the movie itself.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at February 12, 2025 12:20 PM (iFTx/)

401 I'm lonesome Cowboy Burt! (Speakin' atcha!)
Come smell my fringe-y shirt! (Reekin' atcha!)
My cowboy pants,
My cowboy dance,
My bold advance,
On this here waitress...

(He's lonesome Cowboy Burt
Don'tcha get his feelings hurt)

Come on in this place,
'N I'll buy you a taste,
You can sit on my face-
Where's my waitress?

Posted by: Lonesome Cowboy Bert at February 12, 2025 12:21 PM (QB+5g)

402 Warren's a grifting charlatan like Osteen
Posted by: Quasi-religious conmen with credulous audiences

And McConnell.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at February 12, 2025 12:25 PM (CTFOK)

403 Carrying the coveted Moron card requires both a thick skin and a dull intellect!
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 12, 2025 12:16 PM (dDmld)

WUTTTT??

Posted by: Mortimer Snerd at February 12, 2025 12:29 PM (dgRL6)

404
I could see him getting away with poisoning someone, or shooting people from hundreds of yards away, but it's absurd to think of him doing anything up close and personal. I assume even a 7th grade girl would be close to a physical match for him. That's not an insult
===
Somebody has never seen the movie ELF

Posted by: South pole elf at February 12, 2025 01:20 PM (CxsC/)

405 Typical Dem thinking. We destroy the Historically Black Colleges (and high schools) then we give them money do do what we say.

Posted by: Oldcat at February 12, 2025 01:59 PM (n7h9X)

406 Warren's a grifting charlatan like Osteen
Posted by: Quasi-religious conmen with credulous audiences

And McConnell.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at February 12, 2025 12:25 PM (CTFOK)

I'm shocked that you think that someone who got college, grad school/law school, and jobs by stealing them from minorities would be anything but a grifter once they go into politics.

Posted by: Oldcat at February 12, 2025 02:01 PM (n7h9X)

407 Having a big "star" helps with marketing, exposure, and even helping get the movie made in the first place. In today's world, that's probably more important than the content of the movie itself.
Posted by: Elric The Blade at February 12, 2025 12:20 PM (iFTx/)

If that were true all movies would have a star in them instead of the reverse being true. The only product with superstars in them these days are *made* with the stars own money or direction or both.

Posted by: Oldcat at February 12, 2025 02:04 PM (n7h9X)

408 The real answer is all this spending has one goal and that is grift as much money into the bank accounts of the recipients.
Posted by: Altaria Pilgram

All the while requiring Ed school credentials - schools that are nothing more than marxist madrasas at this point.
Posted by: weft cut-loop at February 12, 2025 12:03 PM (mlg/3)

Ed school even in the late 70s / 80s was crap. My mom got a credential so she could sub teach and work at the school and it was all cutting out paper dolls and nothing interesting and I was 13. She had been a college teacher before the kids but no, she had to spend this money and dick around to get permission to smack the kids with a ruler.

Posted by: Oldcat at February 12, 2025 02:08 PM (n7h9X)

409 Rick Warren@RickWarren
John 19:18 “They crucified Jesus with two others-one on each side & Jesus in the middle.”
The guys on both sides were thieves.
If you’re looking for the #realJesus, not a caricature disfigured by partisan motivations, you’ll find him in the middle, not on either side.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at February 12, 2025 11:57 AM (CTFOK)

Probably not 'thieves' but the pretty common 'bandits' that were working to free Judea to make the final Jewish state and bring on the Messiah that would topple Rome. In between disastrous rebellions they probably spent most of their time stealing from the Romans or anyone with a few shekels.

Most of the craziness of Judea in the BC-AD 100 year stretch of 200 years or so is edited out of the Bible

Posted by: Oldcat at February 12, 2025 02:14 PM (n7h9X)

410 Who could have predicted?

It takes a truly incompetent government to close your nuclear plants at the same time that you lose access to cheap Russian natural gas.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at February 12, 2025 11:49 AM (uxCna)

...by blowing it up yourself and then getting into a war you can't win.

Posted by: Oldcat at February 12, 2025 02:16 PM (n7h9X)

411 Yes, but IIRC, Trump made funding HBCU's one of his big pitches to blacks, so that's probably sacrosanct.
Posted by: Archimedes at February 12, 2025 11:06 AM

Yep.
Posted by: Moonbeam at February 12, 2025 11:12 AM (rbKZ6)

Purge the administrators and the program with new teachers.

Posted by: Oldcat at February 12, 2025 02:18 PM (n7h9X)

412 The neighbors with abundant power - from whom Germany leeches electricity when their coal plants can't keep up with the country's peak energy demands - have had enough of the EU's scheme for subsidizing and prioritizing Green energy development by penalizing those countries who kept their nuclear and hydro-electrical plants operational. They are tired of paying a premium for the electricity they generate when Germany has to draw from their power, while stubbornly refusing to change their own suicidal national energy security trajectory.

Who could have predicted?

https://is.gd/O2CAHZ
Posted by: Archimedes at February 12, 2025 11:46 AM (xCA6C)

Germany's coal is absolute garbage...garbage might burn better. it is one step above peat. They should buy from Britain that used to have good coal (because it is the same mountain range as the Appalachian) or the US which as even better Anthracite coal in the Rockies.

Posted by: Oldcat at February 12, 2025 02:22 PM (n7h9X)

413 To put these cuts into better perspective, the $880 million cut is about what Disney spent on Indiana Jones 5, Captain Marvel 2 and Captain America 4 combined.
Posted by: Darth Randall at February 12, 2025 12:09 PM (o0ejd)

The real cuts are in the peeps they fire or give severance to. Unless they were dying before next year it has a lot of win to get them out.

Posted by: Oldcat at February 12, 2025 02:23 PM (n7h9X)

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