Archive for August, 2021
25th August 2021
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Today in Global Warming Hysteria
25th August 2021
Posted in The Hunt for Heretics and Sinners | Comments Off on Today in Witch-Hunt Culture
25th August 2021
Posted in Whose turn is it to be the victim? | Comments Off on Today in Black Privilege
25th August 2021
Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Pandemic Panic – It’s Titanic
25th August 2021
Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Today in the Biden-Harris Slow-Motion Train Wreck
25th August 2021
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The United States believes that a branch of ISIS intends to cause mayhem at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul as evacuation efforts remain underway, a defense official told CNN.
Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | Comments Off on US Concerned About Security at Kabul Airport, ‘Very Specific Threat Stream’
25th August 2021
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“Never forget class struggle!” proclaimed Mao in Fall 1962 at the Chinese Communist Party’s annual retreat. This maxim quickly became the fevered chant of the day, paving the way for the Cultural Revolution, which began in 1966 and continued until Mao’s death in 1976. This slogan defied reality and logic: How could class struggle persist when there was no private ownership left in China? But the slogan appealed to sentiment, not logic, and thus persisted.
If modified into “Never forget race struggle,” the command has the same appeal in today’s woke America, and serves the same purposes, even though there is no evidence that race is a barrier impeding individual effort in America today, or that it is decisive in distributing outcomes.
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on American Maoism
25th August 2021
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Freedom of the press is not a Muslim virtue. (Check any majority-Muslim country in the world.)
Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | Comments Off on Palestinian Authority Attacks Journalists
25th August 2021
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In the rarified atmosphere of Washington, the debacle unfolding in Afghanistan has led as much to questions of how China might exploit this as it has analysis and discussion of what is ongoing in Kabul.
One regularly asked question is whether Beijing will feel emboldened to invade Taiwan, either because the U.S. is preoccupied with evacuating Americans from Afghanistan or because the U.S. military’s vaunted reputation has taken a beating.
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on How Might China Exploit Afghanistan Debacle?
25th August 2021
The New York Times is not afraid to tackle the hard issues.
You can get cotton bags pretty much everywhere. How did an environmental solution become part of the problem?
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | 2 Comments »
25th August 2021
Sarah Hoyt.
This brings to mind what is creating this big movement — the so called elites who would plan our lives have no clue, by the way. They are actually trying to ignore all the moves because it confuses them — which is the fact that if you take control of even a state’s government by crooked means (Colorado, if the elections were fair, the asshats would be eager to have them examined, not try to hide them. Also, I’m sorry, there’s no way the elections are fair) you can control people’s lives with dictator-like powers and make the state unlivable, in pursuit of the little twinkling sounds in your brain, or something.
You can for instance decide that you’re resettling refugees, when you’re turning the state into a vast illegal camp; or you can decide that the expensive convention center in the capital is now a homeless shelter; or you can allow homeless to camp all over Denver after the people defeat that in the polls; or you can make it impossible to earn a living in a state; or–
The possibilities are endless.
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Refugees
25th August 2021
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For one thing, you can subtract the expense of commuting, plus the non-monetary value of the wear and tear on your psyche.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Continued Work From Home Is Worth a pay cut, say many US employees
25th August 2021
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The probabilities are increasing that China will try and seize Taiwan by force amid America’s disorganized exit from Afghanistan has tarnished U.S. prestige. Allies of the West, such as Japan and Taiwan, are set to hold a meeting about an increasingly aggressive China.
The Financial Times spoke with Masahisa Sato, a parliamentarian who manages foreign affairs for Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), on Tuesday, said discussions are needed about the implications of a China invasion of Taiwan because it would have “a serious impact” on Japan’s security and economy.
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Japan And Taiwan To Discuss China Aggression Amid Invasion Threats
25th August 2021
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I’m talking about the “reader mode”. When available for a website, it is displayed as an icon at the end of the url bar in Firefox. The same is true for Chrome, but you first need to enable it at chrome://flags/#enable-reader-mode. Safari on iOS includes it in the menu at the left of the url bar.
I use it habitually. It often gets around paywalls, as well.
Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on The Most Underused Browser Feature
25th August 2021
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We have vaccine abundance in the United States but not test abundance. Germany has test abundance. Tests are easily available at the supermarket or the corner store and they are cheap, five tests for 3.75 euro or less than a dollar each. Billiger! In Great Britain you can get a 14 pack for free. The Canadians are also distributing packs of tests to small businesses for free to test their employees.
Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Why Doesn’t the United States Have Test Abundance?!
25th August 2021
Severian continues his nlysis.
Even those putatively dedicated to Good aren’t often able to even perceive The Good, much less act on it. Same thing with Evil. The true Hero, capital-H, can both see it and embrace Good, despite his flaws; the true Villain, capital-V, also sees it, but can’t overcome himself enough to choose it, which means he ends up embracing — and, crucially, loving — Evil. Most people, being mere people, only dimly perceive Good and Evil. They muddle through. They often end up serving one or the other unwittingly (Good as often as Evil, though being mere people ourselves, we tend to notice the latter almost exclusively).
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Choosing Evil
25th August 2021
Severian is delightfully dyspeptic today.
Lord knows I have my issues with the guy, but The Smartest Genius in the History of the World (and the “Game” guys in general) have done yeoman’s work on what they call the “gamma,” aka the Secret King. This is the humble farmboy who is of course the rightful heir to the kingdom, who has powers far beyond mortal ken — the standard-issue protagonist of what I-forget-who called GEFP, Generic Extruded Fantasy Product. Luke Skywalker, basically, but even more secret, even more powerful, and much, much whinier.
Posted in Is this a great country, or what? | Comments Off on Paging Luke Skywalker
25th August 2021

I know the feeling.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Thought for the Day
25th August 2021
Freeberg nails it yet again.
“Just wait ’til” arguments are emotion, not reason.
This may not be evident to the people who need to know; the people who go around using them, with varying degrees of frequency. It is abundantly apparent to those of us who have been continually on the receiving end of them for the last sixteen to nineteen months. “Just wait ’til you catch the ‘vid.” “Just wait ’til you’re on a ventilator.” “Just wait ’til you suffer permanent lung or organ damage.” “Just wait ’til it’s your family members who have it, and they caught it from you.”
These are not rational arguments. They feel like they are, to the person who is making them. That’s the problem. Feel.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The “Just Wait ‘Til” Argument
24th August 2021
Steve Sailer.
What happens when an Afghan refugee arrives in America for “processing” and it’s discovered that, uh-oh, this one is a notorious pederast war criminal who skimmed $7 million off the USAID budget and committed an honor killing of his sister?
Are they going to send him back?
Sure. And push him out the door about halfway.
Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | 1 Comment »
24th August 2021
Fun with Find-and-Replace
Bad News For South African Looters As Samsung Moves To Block Their Stolen TVs
9 Black People Who Are Really White Supremacists Babylon Bee.
Posted in Whose turn is it to be the victim? | Comments Off on Today in Black Privilege
24th August 2021
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Today in Global Warming Hysteria
24th August 2021
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Today in Progressive Totalitarianism
24th August 2021
Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Pandemic Panic – It’s Titanic
24th August 2021
Posted in The Hunt for Heretics and Sinners | Comments Off on Today in Witch-Hunt Culture
24th August 2021
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John Bolton calls attention to one aspect of Joe Biden’s decision to choose defeat in Afghanistan — the implications for Pakistan. Bolton argues that “the Taliban’s takeover next door immediately poses the sharply higher risk that Pakistani extremists will increase their already sizable influence in Islamabad, threatening at some point to seize full control.”
By the way, Pakistan has nuclear weapons.
Although I suspect that we could fix that.
Not undre Biden, however.
Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | Comments Off on What About Pakistan?
24th August 2021
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The U.S. Supreme Court said in 2008, when it upheld Indiana’s voter ID law, “that not only is the risk of voter fraud real but that it could affect the outcome of a close election.” It seems we have a perfect example of this in Compton City, California, where felony voter fraud charges have been filed against six defendants, including a member of the Compton City Council, Isaac Galvan, by the Los Angeles County district attorney.
Talk about a close election! Galvan won his city council race in 2021 by only one vote, 855 to 854. Not only have all of the defendants been charged with conspiracy to commit election fraud, but Galvan is also accused of attempting to bribe an election official with concert tickets to “influence” the outcome of the election.
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on The Latest Alleged Election Fraud in California May Have Overturned an Election
24th August 2021
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The choices by Vyas and other members of the millennial generation of where to live have reshaped the country’s political geography over the past decade. They’ve left New York and California and settled in places less likely to be settings for TV sitcoms about 20-something urbanites, including Denver, Houston and Orlando, Florida. Drawn by jobs and overlooked cultural amenities, they’ve helped add new craft breweries, condominiums and liberal voters to these once more-conservative places.
Note the assumption that young people are liberal voters, as if that were a law of nature.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Texas, Florida Gain as Young Adults’ Relocations Reshape Political Geography
24th August 2021
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Recent descriptive work suggests the type of college education (field or institution) is an important but neglected pathway through which individuals sort into homogeneous marriages. These descriptive studies raise the question of why college graduates are so likely to marry someone within their own institution or field of study. One possible explanation is that individuals match on traits correlated with the choice of education, such as innate ability, tastes or family environment. Another possible explanation is that the choice of college education causally impacts whether and whom one marries, either because of search frictions or preferences for spousal education. The goal of this paper is to sort out these explanations and, by doing so, examine the role of colleges as marriage markets. Using data from Norway to address key identification and measurement challenges, we find that colleges are local marriage markets, mattering greatly for whom one marries, not because of the pre-determined traits of the admitted students but as a direct result of attending a particular institution at a given time.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on College as a Marriage Market
24th August 2021
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Plans to build an innovative new nuclear power plant—and thus revitalize the struggling U.S. nuclear industry—have taken a hit as in recent weeks: Eight of the 36 public utilities that had signed on to help build the plant have backed out of the deal. The withdrawals come just months after the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), which intends to buy the plant containing 12 small modular reactors from NuScale Power, announced that completion of the project would be delayed by 3 years to 2030. It also estimates the cost would climb from $4.2 billion to $6.1 billion.
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Several U.S. Utilities Back Out of Deal to Build Novel Nuclear Power Plant
24th August 2021
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Days after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, which was initially sold as a necessary pre-emptive effort to secure deadly weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein planned to use against the American people, National Review ran an op-ed by former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum attacking everyone on the Right who opposed the war as “unpatriotic conservatives.”
In the nearly two decades since it was published, the column has become something of a Rosetta Stone for deciphering the underlying motivations and mindset of the most ardent proponents of the idea that stable democracies can be imposed by military force from the top down. Like an insect captured in amber, Frum’s essay is a near-perfect specimen of the neoconservative id, equal parts delusion and sanctimony.
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Moral Blackmail
24th August 2021
Matt Ridley.
Near Fukushima, ten years after the nuclear accident that followed the tsunami, wild boar have colonised the suburbs. Near Chernobyl, bison and wolves wander abandoned streets. There is no doubt that if humans vanished, indigenous wildlife would return in abundance, minus the mammoths and sabre-tooths that our ancestors extinguished.
Rewilding is all the rage, and it is coming soon to a hillside near you. But what form should it take and how should it be done? In practice, rewilding began quite a long time ago. A recent study found that, contrary to what most people believe, the world now has more trees than 35 years ago and much of the regrowth is natural regeneration: Europe alone has gained an area of tree cover greater than France.
If the Apocalypse comes, there will be plenty of pig to eat. Although it won’t be easy….
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Playing the Wild Card
24th August 2021
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Two armies are gathering to fight a great spiritual war for the future of civilization. On one side stands everyone who treasures tradition, nature, and the family. On the other stand those who have fallen prey to hysteria and fear, who oppose normalcy and excellence. The Coronavirus panic of the last year and a half threw this conflict into sharp relief.
It is time to fight. Do not be naïve: This isn’t going away. No amount of homeschooling or self-segregation, religious or political, is going to save you. Our enemies have accomplished enormous victories, and they will not stop pressing for more. The first step to winning a war is to realize that you’re in one. The second is to know yourself. The third is to understand the enemy.
Posted in Democrats: Party of Plundering and Blundering | Comments Off on The Weak Souls of Our Degraded Strongmen
24th August 2021
Severian reveals some inconvenient truth.
Since it’s impossible that blacks could fail tests at a higher rate than Whites for any reason other than Teh Rayciss, companies like Duke Power had to find some other way to weed out grossly unqualified morons from the interview process. Their ad hoc solution was to require college degrees for any meaningful job, because the SAT at that time was basically a jumped-up Wonderlic test — that is to say, functionally an IQ test, lightly disguised as a “scholastic achievement” test.
The inevitable happened. College degrees were suddenly much more valuable, so more people signed up for college. Which led to Bakke v. Regents (1978). And so the corporate gatekeeping had to keep intensifying in order to keep the morons out, such that by the late 1990s you needed a college degree to work as a shoeshine boy, because having the gumption to pay enough fees to the “college” to get the piece of paper at least demonstrates minimal sticktoitiveness….
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Binary Grading
24th August 2021
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Brad Day and his wife Holly Kulak were first introduced to Pacaso in May, after a romantic sunset dinner in their yard. “And we just saw this drone, coming up and over our backyard,” Brad says. “And we’re like, what is that?”
Pacaso denies directing or paying a drone operator to film the neighborhood. But its website does have drone photos of the house in question, located at 1405 Old Winery Court. It says it bought the photos after the fact.
Nonetheless, after the drone incident, Brad and Holly got suspicious about what was going on in their neighborhood. About a week later, their neighbors told them they were moving and selling their house to a Limited Liability Corporation, or “LLC.” But they were super vague about it.
…
If you buy a share in a house, you’re able to stay in it 44 nights per year, in increments that can’t exceed 14 consecutive days per visit. You can also “gift” these stays to friends or family. Pacaso offers an app to handle the logistics of booking stays. It oversees management, maintenance, and cleaning of the property. In exchange for all this, it charges 12% of the home’s purchase price upfront and monthly fees going forward. If you buy a share in a house, you have to hold on to it for a year. After that, you can sell it and profit from any appreciation in the home’s value (or be on the hook for any depreciation).
Sort of like a time-share.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on A Startup Is Turning Houses Into Corporations, and The Neighbors Are Fighting Back
24th August 2021
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The historic national humiliation of the United States continues in Afghanistan. Several administration officials addressed it in press briefings yesterday, each trying to conceal the scope of the disaster. It is difficult to conceal the scope of the disaster, but in that respect they are doing the best that they can.
Animatronic Joe Biden also delivered two sets of remarks, neither addressing the disaster. In one set (text here, video below), Biden stared vacantly into the teleprompter to deliver “Remarks on the COVID-?19 Response and the Vaccination Program.”
Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | Comments Off on “In the midst of a wartime effort”
24th August 2021
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Thought for the Day
24th August 2021
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Despite its adherents’ pose of rationality, scientism has a serious problem: it is either self-refuting or trivial. Take the first horn of this dilemma. The claim that scientism is true is not itself a scientific claim, not something that can be established using scientific methods. Indeed, that science is even a rational form of inquiry (let alone the only rational form of inquiry) is not something that can be established scientifically. For scientific inquiry itself rests on a number of philosophical assumptions: that there is an objective world external to the minds of scientists; that this world is governed by causal regularities; that the human intellect can uncover and accurately describe these regularities; and so forth. Since science presupposes these things, it cannot attempt to justify them without arguing in a circle. And if it cannot even establish that it is a reliable form of inquiry, it can hardly establish that it is the only reliable form. Both tasks would require “getting outside” science altogether and discovering from that extra-scientific vantage point that science conveys an accurate picture of reality—and in the case of scientism, that only science does so.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Blinded by Scientism
24th August 2021
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As I reported earlier today, Belgian police officials are concerned about the possible arrival of members of the Taliban mixed with the refugees from Afghanistan. In France, however, it has already occurred: French intelligence services have identified newly-arrived members of the Taliban.
Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | 1 Comment »
24th August 2021
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My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.
Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | Comments Off on Thunderous Silence of Women’s Rights Leaders about Afghan Women’s Rights
24th August 2021
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President Biden’s proposal for a new death tax to help pay for his $3.5 trillion social welfare expansion is hitting resistance from members of Congress, including a top farm state Democrat, who warns that the tax will hurt family farms.
The proposal would change the way capital gains are calculated on inherited assets worth more than $1 million, taking a bigger bite out of inherited stocks, real estate, businesses and farms.
Of all the proposed tax increases to help pay for Mr. Biden’s bigger welfare state, this one would have the greatest impact and rake in an estimated $800 billion in revenue.
Leave no pocket un-picked.
Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Biden’s New ‘Death Tax’ Threatens Family Farms, Small Businesses
23rd August 2021
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One man’s quiet fight to save your face, your bank account, and the environment from an endless case of shaving rash.
I used a Gillette double-edged razor until I couldn’t find blades for it any more.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Occupy Your Bathroom
23rd August 2021
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The failing United States military and civilian government are not letting us land to rescue Americans. Many groups have aircraft waiting to fly. Serious people with serious means.
We can get people out but the United States government is so draconian that we are being held back NOT by the Taliban, but by the US Government who created the problem.
Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Kabul: US Government is Stopping Civilian Op Dunkirk Attempts
23rd August 2021
CBS Reporter Confronts Biden With a Negative Poll About His Incompetence
Biden Stands By Kabul Evacuation, Laughs When Confronted With Poll Suggesting Majority No Longer See Him As “Competent Or Effective” Laugh while you can, monkey boy.
Stranded Afghans Delete Social Media As Taliban Seizes US Surveillance Equipment
Deadly firefight erupts at Kabul airport as evacuation chaos continues into second week
Victor Davis Hanson: If Biden were a Republican, Dems in Congress would have impeached him. They should
Brian Stelter & Gang Claim Coverage of Biden’s Afghanistan Fiasco Is ‘Over the Top’ Negative As, indeed, it ought to be.
Just 12 Border Agents Patrol 245-Mile Stretch in Texas
Thousands Of Afghan Refugees Landing At Dulles Airport, Question Of “What’s Next” Looms Put ’em in a Blue state. It’s only fair.
Report: 229 Ex-Gitmo Inmates Returned to Terrorism
Biden: Companies Should Mandate Shots After Vaccine Approval
Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Today in the Biden-Harris Slow-Motion Train Wreck
23rd August 2021
NYT Worries Justice Roberts Will Stop Dems ‘Protecting’ Voting Rights If only we could depend on that.
Schumer, Pelosi panned for dancing with Stephen Colbert, Napa fundraiser with Biden’s presidency under siege Sock puppets come, sock puppets go, but the Crust continues forever.
Is It Time to Break Up Big Ag? (New York Magazine) Proglodyte ‘journalists’ are always full of ideas for how government can be used to make other people’s lives worse.
‘A Beautiful Feeling’: Refugee Women In Germany Learn The Joy Of Riding Bikes (NPR) And, as we all know, riding a bike (instead of a *shudder* car) solves all of your problems.
Neither Huxley, Orwell, Nor Burgess Anticipated This Particular Dystopia
CRAZY: CBS Blames Climate Change for Strengthened Taliban, After Blaming Opium in 2015
WashPost’s Max Boot on Afghanistan: Trump and Pompeo ‘Need to Shut Up’ I think rather it’s Max Boot that needs to shut up, before he embarrasses himself further.
NBC Now BURIES Bad Poll Signaling ‘Forever Stain’ on Biden Presidency
Utah Teacher’s Anti-Parent Rant Exposes Broader, Disturbing Education Agenda
Facebook Report Undermines NY Times Attacks on Conservative Content
‘We Must Not Squander Our Majority’: Pelosi Assembles House Dems As Infighting Threatens To Derail Trillions In Spending Get out there and spend! spend! spend!
Administrative Bloat at Universities Raises Costs Without Helping Students
Democrats Unveil ‘Tread On Me’ Flag Babylon Bee.
Young Russians love Stalin
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Today in Progressive Totalitarianism
23rd August 2021
Posted in Whose turn is it to be the victim? | Comments Off on Today in Black Privilege
23rd August 2021
Posted in The Hunt for Heretics and Sinners | Comments Off on Today in Witch-Hunt Culture
23rd August 2021
Democrats Want to Hate Their Way Out of the Pandemic
French Virus Health Pass in Full Use But Protests Continue
Unmasked Pelosi Gives Speech to Maskless Donors Really, I liked her better with a mask.
COVID-19 Cases Rising Within The Homeless Population My, what a surprise.
Australian Town Council Sparks Outrage After Killing Rescue Dogs To Prevent Covid Spread
Utah couple denied cruise ship boarding despite negative tests, vaccination
How to Choose the Right Face Mask for a Flight so You Aren’t Turned Away
Oregon, Oregon State Will Require Vaccine, Negative Test for Football Games
Covid-19 Vaccination-Associated Myocarditis in Adolescents Yeah, gonna run right out and get that vaccine.
The Coronavirus Is Here Forever
Questions Raised After New York Judges Order Vaccinations for Defendants
NYC Mandates COVID Vaccine for Public School Teachers, Staff What’s next? Pets and people just passing through?
NYC Orders 150,000 Teachers & School Staff To Either Get Vaccinated Or Find A New Job; NJ Orders Jabs For State Workers
Memo: Military Threatens to Revoke Benefits From Marines Who Decline COVID Vaccine
Landlords Ask 5th Circuit Court To Stay CDC Eviction Moratorium
Surgeon General to Big Tech: You’re Not Censoring American COVID Comments ‘Nearly Enough’
Pentagon To Mandate Covid Vaccine For All Service Members; One-Third Have Refused Jab
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Pandemic Panic – It’s Titanic
23rd August 2021
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Today in Global Warming Hysteria
23rd August 2021
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In August 2020, more than 130 self-described Republican national security officials endorsed Joe Biden for president.
…
The statement of the anti-Trump gang was laughably false when issued. Today, in the wake of the Afghanistan debacle, it remains false, and grotesquely so, but no one is laughing.
Is it worth it to publish the names of the signatories? Maybe not, but I’ll do so anyway. See if you (1) find it as unimpressive, generally speaking, as I did and (2) can spot a few rogues.
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Anti-Trump “Republican Security Officials”: From Laughably Wrong to Horribly Worng