Hambone v3.0

Friday New Year’s Eve Open Thread

Back before he was President, Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer. And before he was a lawyer, he was something else entirely—a bartender.

Holders of the nation’s highest office have often had a close relationship with booze, as George Washington established the nation’s largest whiskey distillery in 1797 and Thomas Jefferson brewed his own beer. Andrew Jackson’s inaugural party in 1829 was so legendary that we still drink the orange punch partygoers consumed (and you can find it on the menu at Big Jones). But Lincoln was the only president who was also a licensed bartender.

Lincoln was co-owner of Berry and Lincoln, a store/drinking establishment in New Salem, Illinois, where he lived from 1831 to 1837. He first arrived there on a flat boat when he was 22 and en route to New Orleans. His boat got stuck there and after visiting New Orleans, he returned to New Salem and decided to stay. He worked as a store clerk, served in a militia, and unsuccessfully ran for office. Then, in 1833, he opened a small store.

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86 responses to “Friday New Year’s Eve Open Thread”

  1. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Well, here I am, about to wrap up and go to bed.

    Happy New Year’s Eve to all!

    May the coming year bring increased blessings of all kinds to you and yours.
    May the Lord bless those things which should be blessed.
    And give us patience and wisdom to bear those other things.

  2. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    New Years Eve 2021, who would’ve thunk it? 72 degrees here this morning with just a trace of rain. We were supposed to get some serious storms blow through last night but I guess they passed to the north.

    Mornin’ Gang

  3. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    I don’t need one but that doesn’t stop me from wanting one.

    Marlin and Ruger Happy to Announce the Return of the Marlin 1895 BSL!

    Ruger just announced that their new-production Marlin lever-action Model 1895 SBL rifles are now shipping. Chambered for .45-70, these big-bore rifles were a core offering from Marlin until, under Remington, the company was forced to suspend production following financial problems.

    “Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. is pleased to announce the initial production and shipment of Ruger-made, Marlin lever-action rifles,” said Ruger in the announcement. “Just over a year after acquiring the assets associated with the Marlin brand, Ruger is shipping the first Marlin model, the 1895 SBL chambered in .45-70.”

  4. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    Happy Anniversary to us! Thirty two years of marital …..bliss …..yeah that’s what we’ll call it…bliss!

    J/K Love my wife to pieces, can’t believe she put up with me all this time and still loves me and cares for me. Even still likes me! We are best friends.

  5. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    Oops. Thirty three years.

  6. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    Morning gang. Looks like I forgot to sign off last night as we were up late and I was tarred after midnight. Back in the swing of things this morning though. It’s still good to see that the couch send the dogs out hunting when someone misses roll call for a day or two. Sort of like keeping an eye on everyone’s pulse all at the same time. Tomorrow is going to be a travel day, so whatever I’m going to do up here better get done today. Good football games on tap for later in the day, so that narrows my get ‘er done window even more.

    You all have a great one. I heard somewhere that it’s Friday, so I’ll go see if I can find Ammo. More later.

  7. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    More on the James Webb Telescope. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211231.html

  8. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    Ammo Grrrll. https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/12/thoughts-from-the-ammo-line-408.php

  9. texanadian Avatar
    texanadian

    #7: Lagrange point is something I had never heard of before. Most interesting. I wonder if that is where all pretty women gravitate. :- ) Mauw Mauw Mauw

  10. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    It’s bad juju to brag about how much the wife loves you and then get the years wrong.

  11. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    Please be careful on the roads. Lots of people are drinking excessively and letting their wives drive.

  12. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    #10

    I fixed it by saying it doesn’t seem nearly that long. 😛

  13. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Tedtam, do you have any houses available for rent inside Beltway 8 that are not in a neighborhood with an HOA? Or do you know of any commercial buildings that have living quarters built into them?

    My BIL drives a white cargo van that most HOAs probably wouldn’t care if it was parked in a driveway. His roommate, however, drives a box truck that most HOAs would have a problem if parked in a driveway. Ideally they would like to park both of those work trucks inside. Every time BIL comes back from a gig, he has to unload tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment from his van and haul it inside which is not fun when he just worked an 18 hour day.

  14. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    The only property we have that fits that description is currently rented.

    We are currently renovating the bottom level of a duplex that we own. It’s not in the best of neighborhoods, but we’ve never had any crime problems there. Not sure when it’s going to be done, but it does have a driveway where he may be able to park his truck. The address is 5114 Irving Way in Houston, if you want to look it up and see if it’s the place that he could work with.

  15. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    I don’t expect the Alabama Cincinnati game will be very good today, bet Georgia Michigan will be. How’d I miss Baylor being #6??

  16. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Tedtam, what is the square footage of the unit and what will rent be after the reno? I am not sure if they would be interested in the upstairs unit too after that is renovated.

    Their lease is up in April and are looking to move in March. If you do not want to talk pricing here, feel free to email me.

    One last question. Does this place come with a young, hot yoga instructor?  🙂

  17. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    9 texanadian
    There are 5 of them!

  18. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    Clash of the 300lb Titans inside the squared circle.
    The white guy pops the black guy repeatedly with little effect. Black guy is usually off balance.

  19. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    Texpat
    Dec 30, 2021, 10:10 PM (13 hours ago)
    to Mary

    Harper,

    Are you okay ? You said you felt sick the other day and we haven’t heard from you. Please let us know if you need help or are doing alright.

    **************************
    Marilyn Harper
    Dec 30, 2021, 10:45 PM (12 hours ago)
    Thanks, Texpat. I’m slowly getting better, and don’t know what I’ve got. Mostly a sore throat and big balls of mucus in my nose. Cheerios! MHarper42
    **************************
    Texpat
    1:10 AM (10 hours ago)
    to Marilyn

    Well, here’s hoping you get better quickly. If it gets worse, don’t mess around. And keep us informed. We really do worry about you if you [don’t] check in.

  20. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    The omigod panickers are lined up at the local swab tent to get one last inaccurate sinus scrape in for 2021. It’s no longer walk-up, only drive-thru, which makes it difficult for normal people to get through the intersection. Dora’s panic porn has been immensely successful.

    Went to Krogers to pick up some collard greens but they were all out. They haven’t been the harbinger of much good luck anyway for the last two years so I got some turnip greens instead.

    While not dry aged for three weeks per WB’s recommendations, I made up a dry rub of kosher salt, garlic, black pepper, smoked paprika, and freshly chopped rosemary, sage, and thyme. Rubbed it all over a rib roast and have been aging for a week (the refrigerator smells wonderful). We’ll roast it for NYD dinner.

  21. texanadian Avatar
    texanadian

    Thanks, Texpat. I’m slowly getting better, and don’t know what I’ve got. Mostly a sore throat and big balls of mucus in my nose. Cheerios! MHarper42

    Got the same thing happening up here. Felt punky for a couple of days and now just annoying cough. Dayquil takes care of the cough and life goes on, TW has it as well. We’ll just pass it back and forth for a few weeks.

    -27 here this AM.

  22. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Hurricane force winds came off the Rockies into the front range yesterday around Boulder, CO. This caused power lines to fall over and spark devastating fires that consumed hundreds of homes and apartments within a matter of hours. Tens of thousands had to evacuate and thousands are now homeless. The power company had to implement rolling blackouts due to fire damaged natural gas infrastructure. The rolling blackouts extended all the way down I-25 to counties that border NM.

    Meanwhile a winter storm has rolled in today with 100% chance of snow and temps will drop to the single digits tonight.

  23. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    I think between the the squirrels’ encounters with air propelled .22 projectiles and all the crepe myrtle/ligustum pruning that I have succeeded in making my roof a Squirrel Free Zone.

  24. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    I got out of bed to feed the cats, and that was a big hit. But me, I have no appetite at all. Also no energy, so I think I’ll go back to bed. Check y’all later, gators.

     

  25. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    air propelled .22 projectiles

    Squirrel Smacker 6000.

  26. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    LITTLE ROCK, AR—In a huge blow to trans-species rights, Arkansas has passed a controversial law banning the dismemberment and surgical altering of children if they want to be a different creature.

    “I’ll never forget the day my daughter Belle was splashing in the tub and said, ‘Look at me, Mommy! I’m a mermaid!’” said local progressive mother and part-time librarian Zindy Derple. “I knew that day she was different. A mythical fish-creature trapped in a human girl’s body.”

    Belle’s dismemberment surgery has now been canceled due to Arkansas’s new law.

    “Now, we can’t even get her the compassionate leg-removal medical care needed to turn her into her true mermaid self,” she said, fighting tears.

    I don’t care if it is 9 months old. It’s still funny as hell.

  27. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    While working last night, I found an issue that could be resolved by making a bank deposit in the sum of the missing rent deposit. I headed out early to catch the drive-through (lobby is closed because of WLR postive test, I hear) before they closed.

    I had noticed an ad for HEB that said they were selling blackberries for 87 cents a 6 oz pack. Those are normally over $2 each. I swung by HEB and after confirming that there was no limit, didn’t quite clean them out. I did fill the top shelf of my cart. I started feeling guilty, so I stopped there so other folks could get some. While picking up a few other items, I snagged a box from the egg delivery guy. Not all of the berries fit in there, so I also have a grocery bag full as well.

    I’ve never made jelly before, but I’m going to look for a no-sugar recipe and go for it. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just dehydrate the results and get a fruit leather. I may end up dehydrating some berries anyway.

    I’ll finally get to use that food mill I bought years ago. Unless I decide to leave the seeds in. Nah, food mill.

    The berries are delicious, btw.

    PS: My receipt said I saved $95 today.

  28. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    CULVER CITY, CA—Trans woman Amy Schneider broke a winnings record on Jeopardy last week, earning more than any female contestant in the show’s history. Experts say this proves once and for all that men really are smarter than women.

    “As a biological male, Schneider is once again proving the vast superiority of the male intellect,” said MIT researcher Dr. Yamblo Figlenstrogg. “For better or for worse, this will be a huge boost for sexists and transphobes everywhere!”

    Audience members were reportedly in awe to find that Schneider’s dress and pretty hair did not negatively affect the functioning of her brilliant male brain.

    Happy New Year to the Sage of San Saba !

  29. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Dr. Robert Malone’s prepared speech about the mRNA vaccines and kids, from the guy who created the technology:

    *DON’T DO IT! Irreversible damage. Not repairable.
    – brain & nervous system
    – heart and blood vessels, including clots
    – reproductive system – which could affect future generations
    – fundamental changes to immune system

    *This technology has NOT been adequately tested. Harms and risks of new medicines are often not revealed until years later.

    *“The reason they are giving you to vaccinate your child is a lie. Your children pose no danger….” Actually, your kids’ natural immunity is important for the future of the world.

    *There is no reason to vaccinate your children against the small risks of the virus, especially when compared to the risks (of the vaccine) which will affect you for the rest of your lives. Do you, as a parent, want your child to be part of a radical experimental program?

    ************
    The link is from Telegram, but I will try to remember to look later for a more accessible link.

    This scares the ever-livin’ stuff outta me. I can only imagine the medical system impact in 5-10-15 years, from well-meaning but ill-informed parents who think they are doing the right thing.

    Most of them would be those folks standing in line to get their noses scraped.

  30. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    328 – I’ve known that for a long time. Not really newsworthy in my house, but thanks for the verification.

  31. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    They catching pompano two at a time on Melbourne Beach

  32. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    31 Hamous

    When they hit – they hit, but that is funny.

    Pompano run down on Padre Island in December.

    I wish I was there right now.

  33. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    I haven’t bought any jeans in about 5 years and they’re all wearing out at the same time.  I finally took a look at the American-made products of Texas Jeans Co. and are really impressed by their reasonable pricing of $34-37.  Some of these other made-in-the-USA clothing companies are outrageous.  I looked at a couple of other American jeans makers and they wanted $150-180 for a pair of jeans.  Are you going to tell me there’s 5 times the quality difference between the two ?

    *Texas Jeans is really an Asheboro, NC company.

  34. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    I’ve been hawking Texas Jeans here for quite a while.

  35. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    I’ve always had this poor habit of bulk shopping for clothing.  I’ll go out and buy 24 pair of socks, 18 pair of underwear and 6 pair of jeans, 7 polo shirts and then buy nothing for several years.  I get dressed one morning and realize everything I have is wearing out at the same time.  It’s really dumb and I’m trying to break it.  You should buy a couple of pair of anything every couple of months so wear and tear is staggered.

  36. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Haven’t located the text of the Malone press release from above, nor have I found the release on a non-Telegram platform. I know it’s out there, but I don’t have time to do any more hunting.

    I did find this interview.

    Here is his resume. Impressive. The dude knows his stuff.

  37. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    35. Texpat

    I do the same thing. Last week I was pulling out stuff to donate and realized most of it was so worn out it wasn’t worth donating.

    I do stagger my bulk purchases. I buy jeans all at once, then shirts a year later, etc.

  38. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Betty White has passed. So sad.

    Another good one, gone.

  39. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    What was it about Betty White that made her so appealing and charming? Dang, I’m gonna miss her.

  40. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    Dang. 17 days before her 100th birthday. That sucks.

  41. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    Maybe it’s fake news?

  42. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Unfortunately, this is real news.

  43. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    I’ve been looking up recipes for blackberry jelly. Easier than I thought, though the no-sugar recipes required longer cooking times. I just went out and bought some small jars and they are going through the dishwasher now, so I can process the berries later.

    What I can’t jelly up now, I’m going to dry for later.

  44. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    But I bought a buncha berries…gonna take a while.

  45. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Saw this:

    I know someone whose husband won’t let her visit friends or family. He’s made her stop all contact with them unless it’s by phone or computer. He reads and censors her comments on social media. He makes her feel like she’s going crazy for thinking that he’s controlling her and that she’s being ungrateful, after all he’s only doing this because of how much he cares for her.

    He doesn’t want her going to the gym anymore so she doesn’t go. He doesn’t want her going to work anymore, so she doesn’t go. He told her, you gotta rely on me for income. He doesn’t let her go out anymore unless it’s for necessities, and when she does he makes sure he has people in place to guilt trip her about it.

    He wants her to have a medical procedure done and if she does she’ll have more freedoms. And to top it all off he’s always telling her he’s only doing this because he cares.

    Oh wait!! Did I say husband? I meant Government. Here’s the funny thing in society, you’re all outraged if we do this to a spouse, it’s Domestic Violence…. but when the government does it you’re completely OK with it?

    I’m not.

    WAKE UP AMERICA!

  46. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    Wow. Betty White.

    When Keith Richards goes, we may as well all pack it in.

  47. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    A buddy of mine had a popular channel on Tik Tok.  Some liberal commenter went on an Orange Man Bad rant to which my buddy posted this video in response.  He got banned for life

    https://www.hamous.org/wp-content/uploads/Video.mov

  48. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    Roll Tide! 😉

  49. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    48 Hamous

    My God, that was good.

  50. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    Video (1)

  51. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    To technically comply with the upcoming self-imposed Twitter ban, I am posting this link from Instapundit of a 9 tweet thread from Ben Shapiro that is excellent on the whole federal cluster***k of COVID-19.

    So once it became clear that covid was not in fact a pagan god visiting vengeance on the unwashed Trump voters alone, the media and Democrats are now willing to admit the following:

    Read the whole thing.

  52. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    All is proceeding according to plan…

    In a Thursday filing in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss claims against Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, after both complied with the six-month deferred prosecution agreements they agreed to in May.

    Epstein was found hanging in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting trial for sex trafficking, in what New York City’s medical examiner called a suicide.

    Noel and Thomas were accused of falling asleep and surfing the internet that night rather than checking on Epstein every 30 minutes.

    Both admitted to having “willfully and knowingly” falsified records to make it seem they were monitoring Epstein properly.

    Their deferred prosecution agreements required that they each perform 100 hours of community service and cooperate with a federal probe arising from Epstein’s death.

  53. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Childers finally quit slacking off and came out with…
    Coffee & Covid ☙ Friday, December 31, 2021 ☙ NEW YEAR’S EDITION
    [Buckle up – it’s a long one! I’ll see what I can edit out…]

    New Year’s is an important holiday for Coffee & Covid. … We have yet to reach our second-year anniversary of life with this disgraceful engineered pest; but today’s milestone is nevertheless significant. Most of us have survived! I’m referring — of course — not to the disease, but to having survived a second year of unprecedented government over-reaction and the “new normal.”

    We have every reason to be optimistic. Life is good. Even despite my sliced toe.

    So today I present to you what I hope will be my one and only Annual Covid News Recap, providing a sort of timeline of the major events of 2021, packaged in our own unique C&C style. But first, a quick status report on the Childers’ family’s big New Year adventure.

    :: *FIELD REPORT* ::

    The Childers family is having a “plains, trains, automobiles” type of holiday. After our original plans fell through at the last-minute,… and we finally landed on something completely different but within an easy day’s driving distance in a beachy resort town three states away.

    The CDC would FREAK OUT if it saw what was going on down here. It’s a lovely, amazing, marvelous madhouse, bustling with activity, bumper-to-bumper with traffic, and nigh-impossible to find a restaurant reservation. And — it’s almost completely maskless. Everywhere. Even the servers are down to 50% masked. Maybe less.

    /snip

    For instance, we took the kids up the old lighthouse yesterday afternoon….

    It was a popular spot; totally packed. Believe me, it was way over fire code capacity in there. WAY over. Navigating the narrow stairs was an exercise in squeezing tightly past people…It’s been so long since I’ve been reflexively allowing other people extra personal space that it took a conscious effort to be comfortable with crowd-normal.

    Everything is open. We haven’t encountered a single — not one — store, restaurant, event or attraction that required masks. Certainly not injections. … No awkward moments at the elevator, trying decide whether the person already on board is going to freak out if you get in with them.

    My guess is that many of you are also experiencing life this way — something very close to pre-Covid normal. These types of stories, describing ordinary life, are — mercifully — getting boring again. Still, clearly, not everyplace is back to normal or even close to normal. For example, even NBC moved its company New Year’s Eve party to Miami. And a viral picture shows that AOC and her boyfriend are spending the holiday there, too. I guess all that “safety” in New York City isn’t 100% working out.

    My working hypothesis is that Covid madness is draining out of the world like dirty water out of a bathtub. It’s still pooled up in the big cities and the elitist public events, but it’s drying out everywhere else. … the flood is over.

    /snip
    **********************************
    :: *2021 YEAR IN REVIEW* ::

    January. January 2021 began with great news and excitement: the vaccines were coming out! Life will be back to normal soon! Even that happy news wasn’t without controversy, of course; we argued about who should get the highly-desired shots first: old folks, frontline healthcare workers, or historically disadvantaged groups?…

    Also in January, Elon Musk moved his first company — the one that makes the giant drilling machines — from California to Texas.     By the end of the year, the physical moves would help launch Tesla stock into outer space, rocketing share prices to unbelievable stratospheric records and cementing Lorena Gonzalez’ place in the history books as possibly the dumbest California assemblywoman of all time.

    On January 6, I reported without comment my very first “Covid coincidence” — the sudden, unexplained death of 41-year-old Portuguese nurse Sonia Acevedo on New Year’s Eve 2020 — 48 hours after her first Pfizer jab. Fortunately, the CDC got right on this case, by which I mean they slid Sonia’s file folder under the dumpster behind headquarters in Atlanta, which is otherwise known as the “Vaccine Safety Research Department.”

    Newspapers were busy recycling stories from the previous summer about overwhelmed hospitals and aggravated nurses. One notable LA Times headline in January declared: “It’s ‘World War III,’ says L.A. County doctor beset by intensely sick COVID-19 patients.” By “World War III,” the newspaper meant “imaginary,” because at the time LA County’s dashboard showed over 14% available ICU capacity.

    You have to read these stories carefully.

    By January 20, Biden had already broken his campaign promise to shut down the virus,     only two weeks into his administration, proving his masterful ability to set expectations super low, when he said “There’s nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months.”

    February. Because, if one mask is good, two must be better, in February Fauci began advising double masking. Later in the month he’ll reverse himself — again … I guess it didn’t poll well. New York’s attorney general published a report concluding Andrew Cuomo lied about nursing home fatalities, which were in the tens of thousands — and the media immediately got distracted by something President Trump tweeted and forgot all about it.

    On February 3 — about a month from when the vaccines first became available — I reported that Pfizer announced it was starting clinical trials on booster shots. In hindsight, that should have been our first warning sign. I was still reporting “good vaccine news” in February, but also on February 3, I reported for the first time on the data from Israel that seemed inconsistent with the efficacy of the injections being reported everywhere else.
    /snip
    /snip

    March. By early March, Florida had vaccinated every willing healthcare worker and nursing home resident, and over half its seniors. In the first week of March, hours after CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky warned governors of a “fourth wave” and not to reopen too soon, Governor Abbott reopened the entire state of Texas, lifting all mandates. Other states and tourist destinations began relaxing their Covid restrictions. Most of the changes have been permanent.

    In March, the Narrative started showing some cracks, and I began talking about dams and dam breaks. On March 8, the Covid Tracking Project announced its own voluntary retirement since the pandemic was essentially over…. By mid-March, the media was hyping the South African variant and the game was back on.

    On March 14… A number of countries suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to issues with … blood clotting. The CDC was taking a nap and forgot to follow up on checking Pfizer, J&J, and Moderna for blood clotting problems.

    /snip

    By the end of March, I was reporting that the injections were widely available to anyone who wanted them, and I profiled a local nurse who’d declined the injection.     Infections were clearly trending up again, and Governor DeSantis announced for the first time that Florida would NOT be mandating vaccines under any circumstances — even higher case numbers. Times reporters were apoplectic. How dare he.

    April. … Governor DeSantis banned vaccine passports in an executive order that recognized natural immunity, which spontaneously combusted when an unfortunate clerk carried it into CDC headquarters….

    By mid-April, Delta was the name of the game, and the media was worrying about falling vaccination rates. Meanwhile, on April 14, I reported on a BMJ op-ed by a doctor who reported seeing wide scale illnesses including neurological injuries in her injected co-workers. The FDA was shocked — shocked and appalled! — at finding BLOOD CLOTS in some J&J patients, and paused the drug until the media got distracted by a different story. Vaxx rates continued to plummet.

    By late April, the CDC published guidance recommending AGAINST screening for low Vitamin-D levels. Because science. What do you need that vitamin for anyway? The New York Times, in a burst of optimism, and noticing that injected people were still wearing masks, headlined “IRRATIONAL COVID FEARS – Why do so many vaccinated people remain fearful?”…

    Florida, Texas, and four other red states stole eight U.S. Representatives from blue states in the census as citizens voted on Covid policy with their sneakers, loafers, sandals, and one-way U-hauls.

    May. May began with the Florida legislature passing HB 2006 — the statutory vaccine passport ban. Cruise lines ignored this, blaming the CDC, so Florida sued the CDC and won. Then cruise lines sued Florida and got an injunction of the passport ban, thereby getting compliant with the CDC. They kept requiring jab passports to cruise, until yesterday, when the CDC recommended that NOBODY take cruises because so many vaxxed cruise passengers are catching Covid. So. That’s what you get for playing with the CDC.

    The Salk Institute published a study showing that spike proteins damage the vascular system. DC banned dancing at weddings. Vaccination rates fell further as states tried to incentivize jabs and make it SO easy to get them…. In another red flag, Walensky signalled where things were going when she said, “It may very well be that local businesses, colleges, and local jurisdictions will work towards vaccine mandates. That is going to be locally driven and not federally driven.”

    Locally driven. Which is why the head of a FEDERAL AGENCY was announcing it, of course. Makes perfect sense.

    On May 18, I reported an odd development — in Seychelles, almost 40% of positive tests over the previous two weeks were from the FULLY VACCINATED.    …. Giant protests over Covid policy began in the U.K.

    June. June started off with more media hand-wringing over vaxx rates, which just kept falling, and with Buzzfeed’s successful lawsuit to get Fauci’s emails, which show the good doctor coordinating Covid strategy with Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, and conspiring to hide evidence that Covid was engineered, among other sketchy things.…
    /snip

    On June 5, Florida stopped daily Covid reporting, creating peals of protest and riling up Blue-Anon conspiracy theorists. Five days later, Doctor Fauci infamously said that attacking him is just like attacking SCIENCE ITSELF. On June 12, the First DCA entered its order in my mask case, finding that mandatory masking was presumptively unconstitutional — a first and, to my knowledge, only appellate-level decision affirming the obvious. The county did NOT appeal the decision to Florida’s Supreme Court.

    John Stuart ranted about Covid coming from the Wuhan lab on Colbert’s show. The CDC presented clinical evidence of juvenile cardiac vaccine injuries to the FDA’s vaccine committee, which … agreed to add a tiny 4-point-type warning to the safe and effective Pfizer and Moderna vaccine disclosures stating that there is a “likely link” between those drugs and heart inflammation in some teenagers and young adults.

    July. July kicked off with Governor DeSantis signing HB 241 — the “Parent’s Bill of Rights.” Biden admitted that people can get Covid from their PETS, and more animal reservoir news stampeded out of various zoos. The CDC stopped tracking breakthrough cases, for some reason, right after Britain announced that 50% of its hospitalized (i.e. serious) patients were fully-injected. … injected sports figures kept catching the virus.

    Joe Biden declared it was a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” and said that the un-injected posed a deadly hazard to the injected. Somehow. He wasn’t totally clear on the specifics. Florida started the miserable trek up toward its summer Covid summit, and cases began spiking. A terrifying UK study reported that Covid “long-haul” caused MALE MEMBER MINIATURIZATION — among 200 other scary symptoms.
    /snip

    Canceled Dutch virologist Geert Vanden Bosch published an article describing his year-old claim that the spike-protein vaccines would soon result in “escape” and massive breakthrough cases — causing horse-laughs by the media and approved experts, and encouraging social media to delete his accounts. What did he know anyway? But within five months, Omicron would prove him correct.

    On July 26, Biden’s Department of Justice published its now-infamous memo opining that vaccine mandates were totally legal. Within days, private vaccine mandates started metastasizing throughout America’s big businesses and hospitals.

    August. In August, New York’s attorney general tries again in a new report on Andrew Cuomo, this one about his icky habit of touching women in inappropriate places and saying totally inappropriate things to them. And the second time is the charm! …

    If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And use the Me-too strategy. It never fails.

    Then, news about both Pfizer and Moderna’s waning efficacy went mainstream, with both companies admitting the inconvenient fact, and serious talk of boosters starts. The media begins denying that anyone ever promised that the injections would prevent infection. You just imagined that….

    Israeli data continues to show unfortunate injection failure and, they more they jabbed, the more the hospitalizations, especially among the jabbed (over 60% of patients).…. Medium.com jailed my post titled, “The Vaccine Fairy,” for some reason, and Patreon de-platformed me without notice.

    Finally, on August 30 the experts were baffled again, and the Washington Post-Gazette published an article headlined, “Breakthrough COVID-19 cases are rising, and experts are trying to figure out exactly what that means” — and they were talking about hospitalizations. In other words, SERIOUS cases.

    September. September started with a bang: Coffee & Covid was de-platformed off Medium.com, also without notice. Two back-to-back New England Journal of Medicine op-eds reported breakthrough cases in hospitals — of the ALPHA strain. …

    Stories of vaccinated celebrities who catch a serious case of Covid and are hospitalized begin mounting up.    ….

    A study came out titled “The SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant is poised to acquire complete resistance to wild-type spike vaccines.” Florida opened its first monoclonal antibody treatment location. Biden issued executive vaccine mandates for federal workers and contractors. Two top FDA directors resigned, apparently in protest.

    The FDA’s vaccine advisory committee meets and voted 16-3 to DENY Pfizer’s request for an EUA for boosters. Several days later, the FDA will override its own committee and approve the booster injections anyway. Governor DeSantis appoints Joe Ladapo as the state’s new surgeon general.

    On September 23, I won my vaccine injunction against the City of Gainesville and obtained the first broad injunction against a vaccine mandate in the country.     The city did not appeal. The same day, Biden began rationing Florida’s monoclonal antibody treatments. The CDC rewrites the definition of “vaccine” on its website. Because it’s not misinformation if you redefine it.

    October. October began eventfully, with my filing a lawsuit against two of the rebellious counties who continued to defy the state’s emergency ban on mask mandates. Hospitals start to feel the effects of vaccine mandates as nurses retire in droves. Three nordic countries suspended or discouraged Moderna’s injection in people under 30, because of an increased risk of heart inflammation and BLOOD CLOTS.

    On a shareholder call, Tesla announced it was moving its headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin, Texas. Florida’s Board of Education moved to sanction rebellious school districts defying the mask mandate ban. Southwest pilots shut down the airline over jab mandates, which Southwest’s CEO referred to as “bad weather.” The FDA’s advisory panel voted to approve J&J’s booster — this time the right way — and the media published a bunch of stories about how it’s “okay” to mix and match original jabs and boosters.

    For the first time anywhere, the UK’s surveillance data showed NEGATIVE vaccine efficacy, meaning that injected people were more likely to be infected and hospitalized than un-injected folks.    …

    The NIH admitted that okay, it was POSSIBLE that it MIGHT have MAYBE funded some Wuhan coronavirus research, and taking a play from the CDC’s book, re-defined “gain of function” on its website. See how easy that is?

    The FDA’s advisory panel approved shots for kids aged 5-11 in a 17-0 vote, now fully on board, and the CDC opened up FOURTH booster shots.     The Biden Administration pushed its December 8 injection mandate deadline back to allow more time “educate” employees. And, the CDC reports that cases per 100,000 among the fully-injected increased from 12.3 in late June to 121 in mid-August — a tenfold jump over about 45 days.
    /snip

    November. November begins with Biden issuing the long-awaited OSHA and CMS mandates. Before the month is out, the Fifth Circuit enjoined the OSHA mandate and a Missouri court enjoined Biden’s CMS Mandate in 10 states. In staying the OSHA rule, the Fifth Circuit cited “grave statutory and constitutional issues” with the rule.

    Republicans sweep various state and local elections, including (and especially) in traditionally-blue areas like Virginia. Pfizer adds tromethamine — a heart stabilizer — to its injection formula for kids. Just as a stabilizer, or something. Florida’s special legislative session rocks the country with a package of new laws pushing back against vaccine and mask mandates and local government overreach. The court grants my petition for mandamus against the rebellious school districts and the school mask mandates in Florida come to an inglorious end.

    The Narrative finally collapses under its own weight, becoming a low pile of twisted steel, shattered concrete, and smoking rubble. The international Covid machine shifts into high gear — pushing boosters. On November 26, the W.H.O. declared a new strain of Covid to be a “variant of concern” — Omicron! The U.S. shuts down travel with six African countries. Finally, Florida becomes the only state to reach the CDC’s “blue” status — which immediately triggers the CDC to rewrite the rules to make it nearly impossible to reach “blue.”

    Which brings us to December.

    December. On December 1, a Louisiana court enjoined the CMS Mandate for the whole country, a decision that will shortly be pruned back to just the plaintiff states. … A Swedish preprint study accidentally reveals that the overall death rate after the second injection is +20% higher than background mortality rates.

    Omicron creates international chaos and media hysteria! Florida, Georgia, and Kentucky courts enjoin Biden’s Federal Contractor Mandate. Fauci admits that the definition of “fully vaccinated” will now have to include up-to-date booster shots — less than a year from when the injections first became available. And, the UK announces that a booster shot will be required to hold a valid vaccine passport in that country, even before the ink was dry on many Brits’ brand new vaccine cards. That was fast, huh?

    The figures from South Africa quickly begin showing “de-coupling” of cases and deaths. Meanwhile, Omicron seems to prefer injected folks, and Reuters publishes an article headlined, “Most Reported U.S. Omicron Cases Have Hit the Fully Vaccinated – CDC.” But it’s not ADE, don’t worry, why would you even think that?

    Fully-vaccinated Ivy League schools start closing … despite vaxx mandates, mask mandates, and crazy covid restrictions that only a deranged college administrator with a huge endowment and unlimited budget could conceive. The Atlantic publishes an article with the headline, “The Pandemic of the Vaccinated Is Here.”

    Biden holds an emergency press conference right before Christmas, takes no questions, and announces “For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death… for themselves, their families and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm.” So much for shutting down the virus. Thanks, Joe. Pfizer’s CEO admits, “even triple-vaccinated are likely to transmit” the virus. CNN’s TV-doctor admits, “cloth masks are little more than facial decorations.” But Rochelle Walensky said people should “continue to wear their masks to prevent the infections” because the jabs won’t stop them.

    Biden — in a much-anticipated announcement — described a new federal surge plan that includes the federal government buying a lot of at-home test kits and sending 1,000 military healthcare workers to overwhelmed hospitals. If there are any. A fews days later, he says “there IS NO federal solution. This gets solved on the state level.”

    The CDC cut quarantines by two-thirds, because science,     and even lets asymptomatic people who are testing positive back to work after only five days, or asymptomatics back to work if quarantine “isn’t feasible,” as long as they mask up.

    Tests start drying up and are suddenly in short supply, for some reason, probably supply-chain issues. Some citizens line up for hours in freezing weather, and Vermonters fill up ERs, to get their free Covid tests. And — totally unrelated — the Administration floats various trial balloons suggesting ending testing altogether — except for symptomatic folks, which is exactly how this whole thing should have started in the first place.

    If mass testing of asymptomatic people ends, the pandemic WILL officially be over. Think about it. There won’t be any thousands of “cases” for the media to report. Deaths will fall even lower if hospitals stop testing every person who comes in the door.

    2022 is going to be great. I can’t wait.

  54. Dr phil Good Avatar
    Dr phil Good

    Third, the Democrat party is utterly corrupt and power-hungry, while the Republican Party is hopelessly gutless and ineffective.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/covid-19-explained-10-sentences

    Here’s to hoping Count Fraudcila is perp walked in 2022 for the ultimate crimes of the last 75 years against humanity and for his animal torture.

    And other wishes that are too numerous to list.

  55. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    Good late New Year’s Eve afternoon, Hamsters,

    We’ve had another outrageously warm and humid December 31, 70 at 6am and 77 now as sunset nears here on the banks of the Brazos at Richmond.  The cold front is not likely to show up until sometime late Saturday or in the wee hours of Sunday.  Bring it on.  No rain here for a few days so the sprinklers are on every other day.

    Our New Year’s Eve lunch was at BJ’s in Sugar Land around 12:30. We enjoyed a good large house pizza there with plenty of leftovers coming home as usual to sit in the fridge until tomorrow.  It has all the customary pizza makings on it other than the kitchen sink.  Had been quite a while since we’d dined on pizza, and it’s a suitable lunch to be consumed while watching the tube’s offerings tomorrow.

    Now the great question is can we stay awake until midnight for the new year’s arrival?  Neighborhoods will have firecrackers and fireworks going off at individual homes as usual in Pecan Grove a mile or so away from us, and some folks nearby out here will also do so.  I expect Purrscilla kitty will be under our bed all night from the racket.

    Hope sanity will return in 2022 to places it had fled.  Pretty sure Texas will continue to take care of itself as needed despite those states that can’t.  Or won’t.

    Happy New Year y’all.

  56. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2022

    Countdown starts at midnight tonight.  312 days till the overthrow !

  57. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    I spent most of the day lying in bed with a couple of cats leaning up against me. It has been a very long time since I had any respiratory infections, but I am thinking that I some how seem to have caught an old-fashioned bad cold.

    Two cats snoozing on the breakfast room table, when we heard a faint noise from distant fireworks. Two growling cats stood up, looked all around, one has his backbone fur standing on end, to let the unseen threat know that he is on the job! It will be a hard night for all the cats.

  58. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    I can’t find where the open bold tag is. The whole comment thread has gone bold.

    It’s in the #53 Coffee & Covid comment somehow.

    I found it in the July section of #53. A screwed up *strong* tag.

  59. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    It was one of the 10,000 bold tags in 53.  I didn’t have the patience to go through them all so I removed most of it.  If you haven’t already read it just use the link.

  60. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    And here I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

  61. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    If y’all like to ride in the front car of a roller coaster, watch this. It is a bunch of cyclists on dirt bikes riding down a mountain. Once they get off what are obviously ski slopes, the first person point of view reminds me of roller coasters.

  62. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    I guess not.

  63. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    I originally meant to include, yet forgot, this review in the OC headline story about the only president America has ever had who was also a whiskey slinging licensed bartender.

    How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization

    In Drunk, a witty and erudite homage to alcohol, Slingerland offers a novel explanation to an old evolutionary puzzle: Why do we keep drinking? “Humans are the only species that deliberately, systematically, and regularly gets drunk,” he writes. “The rarity of this behavior is not surprising, given its costs.” The downsides of alcohol have always been obvious: impaired motor skills, wretched decision-making, excruciating headaches, and assorted long-term damage to body and soul. Logically, a society of teetotalers ought to be so much more productive that it would long ago have conquered its drunken neighbors and eventually the rest of the planet. Yet from the ancient world until today, from the wine sipped at Greek philosophers’ symposia to the champagne toasts on New Year’s Eve, the richest and most dynamic societies have given alcohol a central role in their cultures.

    and for GJT a scholarly explanation of whiskey myopia or “beer goggles”,

    As today’s scientists have shown, alcohol facilitates social bonding by stimulation of endorphins and serotonin in the brain and by numbing activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), that locus of rational thinking and self-control. “The PFC, while key for remaining on task and delaying gratification, is the deadly enemy of creativity,” Slingerland writes. “It allows us to remain laser-focused on task but blinds us to remote possibilities. Both creativity and learning new associations require a relaxation of cognitive control that allows the mind to wander.”

  64. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    61 TexMo

    I rode one real roller coaster as a kid.  It was my first and last time.  It goes to the same thought and feeling I have about self-driving vehicles.  I don’t like giving up control to other people or some stranger’s opaque, unknown technology when I’m in a moving vessel or truck or car.  I resolved it over flying because of my faith in the training and professionalism of pilots.  I get no pleasure being flung around in a metal bucket at somebody else’s whim.

  65. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    #63

    Not only that, it tastes good too! And it’ll sooth a long bad day or put an exclamation point on a good un!

  66. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    One of my Carmel Light friends is asking for prayers. Her son’s Army base in Iraq is under attack.

  67. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    Her son’s name is Alex, btw.

  68. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    I finally got my first ever batch of jelly in the water bath, getting it up to temp. I’m putting more in the dehydrator. I’ve made quite a dent in the very large pile that I bought today.

  69. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    Georgia seems to be TCB.

  70. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Just can’t stomach any Year In Review stuff.

  71. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    I never do the navel gazing thing.

    In case y’all missed it, my friend’s son is at an Armby base that is under attack in Iraq.

  72. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    I’m feeling better as the day has progressed. Now I just need to wash enough cat bowls to be able to feed my 7 munchers whenever I get up tomorrow.

    The fireworks have been surprisingly subdued tonight, although of course it could go nuts at midnight. I hope to be asleep before then.

    Night-all in Hammy-Town, and Happy New Year for 2022.

     

  73. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    Well it looks like a Alabama/Georgia rematch.
    Oh and Happy New Year Gang! 😉

  74. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    There’s been a country music New Years show on.

    Unsurprisingly, ever single act sucks.

  75. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    This Dirks Bentley guy may be the worst I ever saw.

  76. Hamous Avatar
    Hamous

    Worse than Billy Ray Cyrus singing a duet with a flaming fag black rapper?

  77. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    76

    I have this uncle who couldn’t carry a tune if he had a brain and vocal chord transplant.
    He can sing better than Bentley.

  78. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Vapid Nashville, country radio music.

  79. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    We rang in the new year at 10PM just as the ball game was over. She fed the cats, I went to the bathroom for the hundreth time, and that was it. Tomorrow is a travel day, so going to turn in shortly. got some prescriptions to pick up at Walmart and then I’m on my way. Happy New year you all. Feels just about like the old year to me. Nite nite.

  80. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Heh.

    I think 2020 and 2021 are basically one continuous turd of a year.
    – Ace

  81. Dr phil Good Avatar
    Dr phil Good

    Hey unckewl
    Say unckewl.

    Wash that nasty ol Dirks Bentley taste out of your drums with this.

  82. Dr phil Good Avatar
    Dr phil Good

    Or this.

  83. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Heh.

    For every 50 likes I’ll make her eyes larger

  84. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    LOL.

    Clay Travis tweets that the Michigan band was all wearing masks.

  85. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    Happy New Year err’body!

  86. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    First New Years Eve I can remember stayed at home. Usually forced to go to the boss’s party but they didn’t have it, otherwise we normally do a casino for our anniversary but wife is still hobbling around, so…

    Almost didn’t get the champagne opened in time.

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