Making Life Easier

I really like a couple of the new business-friendly laws signed by TexGov Abbott this week, particularly this one:

Abbott also signed into law HB 2464, which prevents local municipalities from imposing regulations on certain home-based businesses.

I was stung by this one myself several years ago.  Even though Plano is a very business-friendly town (hence all the corporations headquartered there), there were a couple of regs which made it difficult for a home-based business to operate — especially when related to late-night deliveries (“noise abatement”) and so on.  (We frequently used FedEx’s 3am pickup service, for instance, because of deadline issues.)

And frankly, anything which makes it easier and less costly for businesses to open and set up operations is A Good Thing because #Capitalism.

Missed That Show

Proving that Brazil doesn’t have a First Amendment:

A Brazilian comedian has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for telling offensive jokes.

Offensive, or really fucking funny?  I report, you decide:

“What show could be more inclusive? I even hired a sign language interpreter just to be able to offend the deaf-mute.”

And my absolute favorite:

“I’m totally against pedophilia – I’m more in favor of incest. If you’re going to abuse a child, abuse your own. What’s he going to do? Tell his dad?”

Apparently, the audience roared with laughter all through his set.  The authorities?  Not so much. He’s facing eight years in the clink.

To which I say:  Libertem Léo Lins!

Boondoggle Over

I see it suggested that Elon Musk’s apparent disapproval of Trump’s budget (the Big Beautiful Bill — ugh, FFS) may stem from the fact that included in the suggested budget cuts are federal subsidies for EV purchases.

If this is the case, then Musk’s ire may be understandable… but not excusable.

Sorry, dude:  the whole climate-change-is-gonna-kill-us-therefore-we-must-all-buy-EVs bullshit is one of the more egregious examples of governmental waste and budgetary irresponsibility.  You’ve ridden the gravy train because if Gummint is going to throw money your way then why not take it — say your shareholders — but that time is over, so suck it up and spend more time on other pursuits, those which don’t rely on government subsidies to survive or turn a profit.

Like I said, I don’t know if this is the reason for Elon’s peevishness, but if it is, then it’s just silly.  The gravy train was bound to end sooner or later, and from a taxpayer’s perspective, sooner is better, although said taxpayers who were going to buy a Tesla may not see it the same way, of course.

Too bad.

The Full Story

Sundance has a piece that everyone should read — Trump, Patel, Gabbard and Bondi most of all — concerning the whole disgusting political hit called “Crossfire Hurricane” (a.k.a. RussiaGate).

Using access to the NSA database, the U.S. Govt., specifically “FBI Contractors”, began doing political surveillance of Donald Trump’s campaign. This intel was then sent to the Clinton team. Clinton would benefit from knowing the communication inside the Trump campaign. All of that intel was in the metadata captured by the NSA and searched by the FBI contractors.

All of this activity was political surveillance, using govt resources to feed the Clinton team the info.

I know;  “This is such ancient history, Trump’s president now, can’t we all just move onnnn?”

No.  Now more than ever, the people culpable for the whole thing need to be rooted out, exposed and prosecuted — because if they aren’t, this bullshit is going to happen again, and this time, it might work.

Sundance, as usual, has the right of it.

That “86” Thing

A whole lot has been said about former FBI Chief Thug James Comey’s X-post featuring this picture, and his coy little observation:

Needless to say, this silliness found immediate favor with the Perpetually Indignant (Rightwing Division, even John Kass), who claimed that the “86” is code for “kill” or “assassinate”.

No it isn’t.

“86” means to dump or throw in the trash — in restaurant terms, it also means “not to mention (to customers)”, and back in my executive days, we used to use “86” to mean “forget about it” — e.g. “86 that idea, dummy”.

In other words, it’s a completely innocent term.  It does not mean anything sinister.

I don’t care that the .dotmil uses “86” to mean “kill”, either.  The military (and government, for that matter) has a long and storied history of using the English language to cover a whole panoply of ugly shit (e.g. “Terminate With Extreme Prejudice”), and I don’t care about any of that either.

Now far be it for me to come to the defense of that treacherous lizard Comey, but seriously?

Current FBI Director Kash Patel announced that his department is in communication with the Secret Service over Comey’s social media post “directed at President Trump” on X Thursday evening.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem added in her own X post that the DHS is investigating Comey’s post as well.

Noem appeared on Fox News Thursday night, saying she believes Comey “should be held accountable and put behind bars for this.”

“The rule of law says people like him, who issue direct threats against the president of the United States, essentially issuing a call to assassinate him, must be held accountable under the law,” she said.

FFS, grow up, you assholes.  Your reaction to this is actually in the dictionary, under the word “Overreaction”.  Get a clue, and stop being so hyper-sensitive.

This is just as bad as those foul pricks on the Left complaining about Sarah Palin’s “crosshairs” comment.  It was bullshit then, it’s bullshit now.

Yeah, I know Trump has already survived two actual assassination attempts and everyone’s hyper-sensitive about anything that might hint at another.  But wait… we’re talking about jailing someone for a fucking Twatter post?

And yet we (quite justifiably) mock the BritGov when they send the rozzers over to threaten people over Fecesbook ramblings that run afoul of the dreaded “hate speech” rules?

Fuck off, all of you — and yeah, I’m including Superhero Kash and St. Kristi here — because this is absolute bullshit.

Look, the whole “86” thing may be in poor taste;  but the last time I looked, “bad taste” is kinda protected by the First fucking Amendment.

I know, the Bill of Rights can be a somewhat inconvenient at times — the Second as much as the First, ask any gun-confiscator — but that’s the exact purpose of the Bill of Rights:  it protects us from government.

And as much as I hate to say it, that shitbird Comey gets the same protections as the rest of us, even if he himself is a prime candidate for “eighty-sixing” — i.e. should be dumped in the trash heap of history and forgotten.

Fach.