2834 Comments
User's avatar
Matthew Hooper's avatar

By the by, some excellent personal news. Starting next week, I’ll be bartending at the Lakewood Country Club. I took time off from behind the stick after my daughter’s health scare, but time and finances were right for me to get back to bartending full time. I’m ecstatic.

Expand full comment
Notorious J.I.M.'s avatar

It's been years since I had a reason to visit Ohio.

Expand full comment
Shocktreatment's avatar

Wonderful news

Expand full comment
Miss Grundy's avatar

Molotov! And just in time for spring.

Expand full comment
willi0000000's avatar

a truly noble profession.

Expand full comment
𝔅𝔢𝔢𝔩𝔷𝔢𝔟𝔲𝔟𝔟𝔞's avatar

Sounds like the place for a WonkWoot! How many guests can a member bring into the joint?

Expand full comment
Pisto75666's avatar

Congrats!

Expand full comment
SterWonk's avatar

Slanté!

Expand full comment
Staramour's avatar

Great news! Is the clubhouse open to the public?

Expand full comment
TheHeroOfCanton's avatar

Full-time Englebert Hooper-Drink FTW!

Well done. I won't insult you by going Caddyshack (I know, wrong country club) and asking "Hey, can you make a bullshot?"

*raises glass* And here's to your kid's continuing good health.

Expand full comment
Uncle Betamax's avatar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaLMFRt9few

As long as you make it magnificent!

Expand full comment
Pauly2coffees's avatar

Huzzah!

Expand full comment
Goin Green's avatar

Congrats to OUR BEST bartender for becoming THEIR BEST bartender. May every other customer be like Rodney Dangerfield in your new hoity toity country club life!

Expand full comment
You Should Ice That Burn's avatar

Glad for you Hooper! Hope it's a great fit!

Expand full comment
Joe Christmas's avatar

I've been to Lakewood.CC.

Expand full comment
cynmac's avatar

I made a new post to my substack - https://substack.com/@cynmac/note/c-95442795

Expand full comment
Linoleum von Curmudgeon, Esq.'s avatar

Can I get metaphysical for a moment?

Y'know the USA is actually built on crimes committed against indigenous nations; crimes like genocide, forced relocations, theft of land and failure to honor every single treaty ever forced on the survivors.

The foundations of our Constitution include human slavery of kidnapped Africans. Huge fortunes were accumulated thru the misery of oppressed slaves. Not one penny has ever been returned. The work for the original White House included dangerous quarry jobs. Slaves were used at the quarry. The actual foundation is stained with the sweat and blood of slaves.

Despite the halos painted upon the heads of the founding fathers, many of the signers of the Declaration Of Independence had family trees filled with actual criminals who had been sentenced to "transportation to the colonies" instead of serving time in overcrowded English prisons. England was not sending over their best.

Those Puritans who are so lauded around Thanksgiving were actually EXPELLED from England. It seems the worst of the Puritans preached a doctrine of complete intolerance for any other christian who was not a puritan. They agitated for a government that enforced their brand of intolerance. Even the monarchy minded English aristocracy found those puritans to be completely insufferable. Solution? Send them over to the colonies.

Could Donald be the balancing of the scales of metaphysical justice? Is it possible that the hell-on-earth he is creating is karma in action? Has the universe finally sent a scourge to chasten USA arrogance, sin and evil? Are we finally being made to repay the debts incurred by slave owners, war crimes against Indigenous people and rapacious capitalism exploiting workers?

Are the chickens finally coming home to roost?

Expand full comment
Oy!'s avatar

"Be all [the asshole] you can be!"

•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•

The DOGE Team is looking for world-class talent to work long hours identifying/eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse. These are full-time, salaried positions for software engineers, InfoSec engineers, and other technology professionals.

https://doge.gov/join

•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•

Expand full comment
abbienormal's avatar

Criminals and foreign nationals are welcome to apply.

Expand full comment
Hops: 86/47 or bust's avatar

The gates are wide open, boys, c'mon in.

Expand full comment
Craig Nixon's avatar

𝐀𝐧𝐱𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐌𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐀𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐃𝐎𝐆𝐄 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐈𝐧

𝐸𝑙𝑜𝑛 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑘’𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑑 𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝐴𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑣𝑢𝑙𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑠.

The DOGE team landed at the Social Security Administration this week, with Musk drawing attention for his outlandish claims that large numbers of 150-year-old “vampires” are receiving Social Security payments. DOGE has begun installing its own operatives, including an engineer linked to tweets promoting eugenics and executives with a cut-first-fix-later philosophy, in multiple top positions at the Social Security Administration.

Their first wave of actions — initiating the elimination of 41 jobs and the closing of at least 10 local offices, so far — was largely lost in the rush of headlines. Those first steps might seem restrained compared with the mass firings that DOGE has pursued at other federal agencies. But Social Security recipients rely on in-person service in all 50 states, and the shuttering of offices, reported on DOGE’s website to include locations everywhere from rural West Virginia to Las Vegas, could be hugely consequential. The closures potentially reduce access to Social Security for some of the most vulnerable people in this country — including not just retirees but also individuals with severe physical and intellectual disabilities, as well as children whose parents have died and who’ve been left in poverty.

In the event of more Social Security office closures like the ones that the Trump administration has begun pursuing — the president is broadly moving to close a range of offices and has even floated the idea of terminating every single federal lease — it is disproportionately poor people with lower levels of education who will become less likely to apply for and get help, research on past closures has found.

The White House press office did not respond to a request for comment. But in a recent Fox News interview, press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized “fake news reporters” for “fear-mongering” about Social Security’s future under the Trump administration. She said that Musk is only going after fraud and waste in the program.

https://www.propublica.org/article/doge-social-security-elon-musk-trump-closures-benefits

Expand full comment
Thesaurus Wrecks's avatar

Tax season is going to be a real shitshow.

Expand full comment
cynmac's avatar

I have already filed my taxes to get my refund. My niece had filed last month and already has her refund. It took 2 weeks to arrive.

Expand full comment
Craig Nixon's avatar

𝐔𝐒 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐬 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 ‘𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐝’ 𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬

𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡’𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖-𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙 𝑎 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒-𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠

Recently, long-dormant white supremacist activity has ramped up in northern Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.

A gathering of KKK members at a “Klan grounds” in northern Indiana was organized last Saturday, according to flyers distributed across Kentucky last month by the Trinity White Knights faction.

An hour’s drive north-west of Maysville, in Ludlow, Kentucky, flyers depicting an “Uncle Sam” figure kicking a Muslim family and the words “Leave now. Avoid deportation” and calling for people to “track and monitor” immigrants were found on the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration last month. Flyers have also been distributed by the Trinity White Knights group in Indiana and east Tennessee in recent weeks.

A call to a phone number printed on the flyers was answered by recorded voicemail that describes a way for people to join the group and said: “Come stand with us and help fight illegal immigration, homosexuality, and every other form of wickedness and lawlessness,” among other racist troupes.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/22/white-supremacist-groups-emboldened-trump-immigration

Expand full comment
Void's avatar

I have no idea how we fight the algorithms that are tuned to spread right wing bs constantly and drown any left wing bs.

I’m absolutely worried that Germany is getting the algorithm deluge right now. When things are good normal people can’t fight the algorithms.

Expand full comment
Thesaurus Wrecks's avatar

Backlash is good. Resistance is good. But keep in mind this isn’t going to be easy.

The more backlash they receive the more they will try to silence us. The more resistance we give the more they’re going to ignore the courts.

These people didn’t write a 900 page plan to end democracy only to give up once they received a little resistance. They didn’t set all this in motion only to say, “just kidding” at the first sign of trouble.

Our will to save democracy has to be greater than their will to end it.

Expand full comment
Land Shark 🇺🇦 🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar

There a few very rich, powerful people who are pushing this agenda. They currently seem to be immune to any push back. It will take a lot of citizens to actually get off their asses.

But even with a lot of resistance, the path to fascist theocracy has been well laid. That is why I'm worried about direct political violence ... cornered persons tend to react very badly.

Expand full comment
EyeQueue's avatar

They have a good number of the population brainwashed into thinking they are geniuses and deserve all that money.

It's been generation after generation of people duped into believing that "things happen for a reason" and there's a reason the rich are at the top and the rest of us are at the bottom and that reason by no means involves exploitation on a mass scale.

Expand full comment
Thesaurus Wrecks's avatar

That’s the part most dystopian political dramas kind of ignore or gloss over.

We aren’t just fighting the authoritarian regime. We also have to contend with their base who agrees with them as well.

Expand full comment
Thesaurus Wrecks's avatar

It’s not like the end of Star Wars where we blow up the Death Star and suddenly there is a grand celebration and everyone is invited.

Expand full comment
Void's avatar

The more they silence us the more annoying they become. Americans hate cancel culture. Gotta label them and hang them (with votes) with it

Expand full comment
paperlesstiger's avatar

They lit the fire thinking they won't get burnt.

Expand full comment
Land Shark 🇺🇦 🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar

Yes, they do believe two things: they are immune and the rest of the world will just kowtow to America.

Expand full comment
calliecallie, aka pollyanna's avatar

Mr. cc woke up in the night puking. Bad leftover burger for a late night snack. So worrisome. He is asleep on the couch just now, puke bucket at the ready. He will be okay. Knock wood.

Reminds me of a work conference years ago. All the managers were there. (I was not that then.) Bad catering. Everyone went home and got violently ill. One engineer puked so much he had a heart attack and ended up in the hospital. One of the caterers was working sick, apparently.

That was more than a decade ago. But our state legislature, in their wisdom, finally passed a law requiring almost all businesses to offer at least some paid sick leave. This week they did that.

Expand full comment
Land Shark 🇺🇦 🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar

I wrote below: "Racism and misogyny are America's heritage. Time to end that ..."

In today's America, I believe that the genies of bodily autonomy and racial/gender equality can't be put back in the bottle. I have no idea whether enough citizens will stand up and fight for those rights. I don't know whether it will require a violent uprising to secure those rights.

What I do know is that America will get there. I'm hoping it does before I leave this mortal coil.

Expand full comment
Menotsure's avatar

I never thought the I would live to see the day when the complexities of operating the most powerful government and it's economy would get (hard?) boiled down to metaphors based on something a chicken squeezes out of its bottom.

Humpty Dumpty has fallen and the King and all of his men don't seem to give a shit.

Oh ..,Jesus, I've done it too.

Expand full comment
memzilla's avatar

Q: How can you tell if someone is a chemist?

.

.

.

.

.

A: Listen to how they pronounce he word "unionize."

.

Q: What do you do with dead chemists?

.

.

.

.

.

A: Ba.

Expand full comment
tehbaddr's avatar

Hold still while I scavenge ALL of your electrons!

Expand full comment
Always Be Ithacating's avatar

Dad?

Expand full comment
Shananigan's avatar

I only got the second one. :(

Expand full comment
memzilla's avatar

If you're not going to ionize something, then you will ________ it.

Expand full comment
Shananigan's avatar

Oh. Oh, no. No. Now I’ll never again hear that word properly in my brain.

Expand full comment
GiggleSnort's avatar

Surprise (not), the Trump Administration's claims that the workers let go in their mass purges of Federal employees were dismissed due to "poor performance" is some bullshit (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/21/trump-mass-firings-federal-government-bill). Can you say lawsuits, as in lots of them?

Expand full comment
paperlesstiger's avatar

A private company might get away with it, but with the government it's public record, so when they falsify the evaluations, it amounts to defamation.

Expand full comment
tehbaddr's avatar

"They were terrible, really disgraceful."

Expand full comment
lmurr's avatar

"I would have done much better. BIGLY better."

Expand full comment
Land Shark 🇺🇦 🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar

👉🏼 😱 !! (not)

𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮, 𝗫 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶-𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗺, 𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀

https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/21/meta-x-approved-ads-containing-violent-anti-muslim-antisemitic-hate-speech-ahead-of-german-election-study-finds/

Expand full comment
Aquaman, Real Estate Investor.'s avatar

Sorry, Meta and X are trying to get banned in Europe?

I guess its a strategy.

Expand full comment
EyeQueue's avatar

They want to get banned so the US can attack Europe some more about their "censorship" (aka "decency" and "unwillingness to accept hate speech like Americans are").

Vance already started in on that bullshit at the Munich conference.

The rest of the world has it right. Our 1A sucks ass in a lot of ways.

Expand full comment
Aquaman, Real Estate Investor.'s avatar

Doesn't mean it shouldn't happen.

Expand full comment
Land Shark 🇺🇦 🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar

They think they can get away with it. They will do this right before the election for maximum impact, and Meta (not twitter) will issue a mea culpa after the fact.

SSDD.

Expand full comment
Always Be Ithacating's avatar

No more mea culpas, I think. Just offhand smirking 'whatever'.

Expand full comment
EyeQueue's avatar

And yet people stay on both Meta and Twitter.

Expand full comment
Thesaurus Wrecks's avatar

So Presidential!

Trump Mocks Bloomberg Reporter At Press Scrum — Demands She ‘Speak’ Her Question ‘Without Reading It’

https://www.mediaite.com/news/trump-mocks-bloomberg-reporter-at-press-scrum-demands-she-speak-her-question-without-reading-it/

Expand full comment
Hops: 86/47 or bust's avatar

He's such an asshole.

Fuck him.

Expand full comment
paperlesstiger's avatar

Trump thinks reading is an unfair advantage.

Expand full comment
Land Shark 🇺🇦 🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar

I remain on Team CVA.

Expand full comment
catsntrees's avatar

or Team PE

Expand full comment