The House on Thursday narrowly passed a $1.9 billion emergency spending measure to boost security for the U.S. Capitol complex and other government agencies that responded to the Jan. 6 attack on the building.

...

The bill passed the House, 213-212, with three Democrats voting "present" and three opposing the bill.

The three Democrats who voted against the bill were Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Cori Bush of Missouri and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. The three Democrats who voted present were Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Jamaal Bowman of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. They are all members of the so-called squad, a group of the most liberal lawmakers in the House.

Opposition to the bill largely stemmed from a provision allocating more funds to the police — which would run contrary to calls on the left to "defund" the police.

“There are some things about the bill that I support, like making sure our custodial staff and our cleaners have the resources they need to respond and deal with this trauma. But there are other parts of it that I don't support, like adding more funding to police budgets,” Bowman said. “So that's why I decided to vote present.”

American-hating, no good, anarchist, liberal commies!

No Republicans supported the bill.

Oh.

When George Washington took command of the Continental Army in 1775, America was fighting a war on two fronts: one for independence from the British, and a second for survival against smallpox. Because Washington knew the ravages of the disease firsthand, he understood that the smallpox virus, then an invisible enemy, could cripple his army and end the war before it began.

That’s why Washington eventually made the bold decision to inoculate all American troops who had never been sickened with smallpox at a time when inoculation was a crude and often deadly process. His gamble paid off. The measure staved off smallpox long enough to win a years-long fight with the British. In the process, Washington pulled off the first massive, state-funded immunization campaign in American history.

Bring me the head of the asshole who thought up the Invisible Scroll Bar trend.

Things I've learned about the UK from Netflix:

1. All police detectives are women in their late 30s - usually single women with gruff demeanors.
2. Their partners or significant co-workers are usually non-Caucasian.
3. Their bosses are usually black or incompetent, sometimes both.
4. Cops and wealthier victims always drive new, dark-colored, immaculate, Audis; sometimes a BMW shows up for variety.
5. Normal people drive ancient econoboxes.
6. Everything wraps up in six chapters.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has signed into law a bill that forces death row inmates for now to choose between the electric chair or a newly formed firing squad in hopes the state can restart executions after an involuntary 10-year pause.

... is very bad.

My twin sister Alita and I have a credit problem: not because we’ve defaulted on loans or skipped bills, but because the US credit rating agencies can’t seem to tell us apart. Sometimes they associate her name with my social security number, sometimes it’s the other way around — and sometimes we both show up under the same SSN.

When I applied to work at The Verge, my background check gave my name as Alita Clark; Mitchell Clark was listed as an alias. Over and over, Alita and I have been rejected for credit cards, despite both having good credit. I was rejected for a car loan by a bank that I’ve used for years — despite having enough cash to immediately pay off the loan. Neither of us has had issues with getting access to housing, but it’s hard to feel sure it won’t happen in the future. The problem isn’t banks or lenders but the credit system itself, a vast and invisible information network with little incentive to correct even the simplest of problems.

...

In 2019, I applied for Apple’s new credit card, wanting to try it as soon as it came out. My application was denied, and after some digging, I realized it was likely being handled by TransUnion. I requested a report from them and got back a reply addressed to, you guessed it, Alita Clark. After months of working to fix the errors in my reports, they had crept back in — and someone else’s mistake was keeping me from getting Apple’s shiny new credit card.

My sister and I both filed complaints with the CFPB, and for a while, the situation seemed to be fixed. I finally got my Apple Card and was even able to access my credit report through online channels again. But it was only a matter of time before entropy slipped back in. I was rejected for a car loan late last year, and today I’m back to not being able to access my TransUnion or Equifax reports online. If I ever want to get a mortgage, I’ll likely have to get a lawyer involved.

What a country.

Something I never thought much about before but is completely obvious...

The Colonial pipeline carries about half of the gasoline used by the east coast of the US. There are tubes for different grades of gasoline There's a tube for gas and a tube for diesel, kerosene, etc., but there are not separate tubes for each brand and each of that brand's grades. So, gas is gas. Doesn't matter which station you go to, odds are good it's the same stuff across the street.

I sold my car last summer. So we've been a single car family for a while. No problem, really. We both WFH so the car only gets used a couple times a week.

Seven days ago I started a ritual all men of a certain age have to go through. It involves the Five Days of Soft Food, The Day of Liquid Diet, The Festival Of Laxatives, then The Fast, and finally, The Penetration. Hallelujah. All praise the holy endoscope.

So last night, Mrs was driving home from work (she left me alone to enjoy my laxatives) and she needed to stop for gas. But, because the east coast is in full panic and nobody can possibly last until the weekend without a full tank of gas, there was no gas to be had, anywhere - 75% of gas stations in the area are out of gas today and the rest have lines hours long. So she left the car at a gas station 25 miles away and took a Lyft back home.

Today, no gas anywhere so we can't get the car. I scheduled a Lyft for my procedure, but it turns out that neither Lyft nor Uber will even come out to where we live. No driver accepts our ride request. I am supposed to be at the Dr at 1:00. 12:55, Mrs sends an email to the neighborhood asking if anyone has a car we can borrow. Because there is no way I'm going to re-do this miserable ritual.

And one of our neighbors comes through! So I get in his very new car, very gently back out while he watches, very gently drive to my house to pick up my wife and then burn rubber to get to the Dr.. On the way, we call the Dr. to explain, they're cool with it.

The procedure was fine. Roll onto my side, pass out. Wake up smiling. I love propofol.

On the way home, Mrs is driving and we come to a stop light that's a two-lane merge onto another two-lane road. We're on the inside lane. The light turns and the car on the outside lane cuts it too close and drags his fucking mirror up the side of my neighbor's new car.

We get him to pull over, he denies doing anything. I'm trippin on propofol and am having none of that bullshit. Mrs diffuses the situation. We exchange info. Most of what we can see rubs off - it's just rubber from his mirror. There are some spots that won't rub off, though. Uh oh.

We get home, get a rag and some Windex, start rubbing, and it all comes off! Yay! We decide not to tell him about it because no damage was done and etc..

She drives the car to the neighbor's house, with a bottle of wine, and then tells them about what happened. He goes out, looks... there's a dent.

GahhhhhH!!!