Dear reader,
Due to a slight mishap involving heavy drinking, and choosing between watching a recording of the Survivor Finale or Impeachment Hysteria…I picked drinking.
Signed,
Sorry about that.
Links for today…well, who cares about anything else, really. Its pretty much what you will talk about anyways. Its all going according to plan.
If you did need something else to chat about I have this. Give me your best insult along the following parameters:
- Cannot contain any of George Carlin’s forbidden words.
- No racial, ethnic, or sexual epithets.
- Thats it. No swearing, no calling somebody an Indio.
Example: You are the damp and dirty washcloth I toss in the hotel trashcan out of respect for the housekeeper’s humanity.
Late links let me be first!
Congratulations, sentient station wagon.
Have some respect for KITT’s grandpop!
I posted about having a sad the other day and then “Tulsi Gabbard Apologist” and a couple of other people said nice things which made me feel warm and fuzzy but by the time I got back to the internets glibs was like 3 or 4 new posts deep so I just wanted to say thanks and that’s very cool. Looking forward to today’s thicc.
You always brighten my day, JD
*seductively winks*
hubba-hubba!
*blushes, playfully twirls hair around fingers and bites lip while making swoony eyes at TGA*
At least your momma loves you.
When you pay in advance….
But not as much as she loves me.
How’s your wife and my kids?
Actually, that’s what I don’t care about. I’d like other news not related to that.
Would you like to talk about Star Wars spoilers instead?
No.
We got anything from BBC Pidgin?
Gunz?
Whoever posted that link to classicfirearms.com should get a commission from them, since I bought an Anderson lower in order to build a 9mm PCC that takes CZ75 mags.
More hate for NYS: PSA won’t ship complete lowers to a NY non-LEO FFL. I can only imagine what hind of legal bullshit some AG put them through to get that policy put in place.
Question for Glock guys: Who makes cheap but good magazines? I won’t have a CZ75 mag adapter until January at the earliest, so I’ll probably need to buy a couple of Glock-compatible magazines to QC the build until then.
Glock, duh.
I also have some Magpul & ETS that seem decent.
Avoid those “Korean military”.
I second Glock. Because Maryland is stupid I buy extra mags when I go see my FIL in Texas so I can get standard capacity, and I want to say they’re like $8 a pop or so. I mean, dirt cheap and they feed reliably.
Never used Magpul for the pistol but I’ve got a Magpul AK mag in 30 that does just fine. It gets a little chewed up by the SKS where the mag latches into the receiver but that’s likely because it’s got the AK-style conversion.
Among many annoying things, I have to buy NY-compliant mags.
I don’t own any, but my understanding is you get Glock for flush-fit and Magpul for standard capacity 30 rounders.
Didn’t that happen about 8 movies back?
*flashes back to the Reagan adminstration*
A wee young rat is standing in line to go see The Empire Strikes Back. A group of teenagers come out from the previous showing, loudly exclaiming “I can’t believe Vader is Luke’s father!”
I was too small to beat them to death.
Walking out of an early showing of whatever Batman movie had Gordon fake his death, my friend turned to me and loudly said “I can’t believe they killed off Gordon!!” in front of a bunch of teenage fans.
“Gordon’s Alive?”
/Brian Blessed
Dispatch War Rocket Ajax!
Alfred Hitchcock once said to a friend, while riding in a full elevator:
“I can’t believe the old man bled so much…”
Star Wars spoilers? They have made the same damned movie about 5 times in a row.
Vader is his father! (another Hollywood bunch with family issues, say it aint so)
Luke is a girl this time! (whoa! didn’t see that coming!)
We are killing off. your favorite characters! (about fucking time)
If you thought that character was cute and charming, wait until you see this one! (zzzzzzz)
*hides behind chair waiting for nerds to start throwing eggs*
All I really know about Star Wars is that you have to hate everything about it to be a real fan.
Nono, you have to hate approximately one half of it. Which half you hate indicates which flavor of Trufan you are.
The Movies. I definately hate the movies.
I like a good chunk of the video games though.
The coin-op vector graphics game was excellent. The multi-mode “Jedi” game was pretty good.
TIE fighter was better than X-wing, but the latter was still a pretty good game. Not as good as Wing Commander though. .
KotOR was good. The FPS that came out in the 90s was pretty good too, and of course X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter is classic.
Dark Forces? Yes, that had a really good feel of being part of the SW universe.
Yeah, Dark Forces was the shit. The level design was great, I thought. The graphics look like dog butt today but the design principles in the game hold up.
Malcolm Tucker agrees – https://youtu.be/Cg-pnGFbwMQ
I think SF’s rundown in H&H was the most I’ve read on it. I also think it was the least “enjoyable” H&H I’ve read. But at no point did lunch threaten escape.
You don’t want to talk about Vladimir Putin?
How about NoDak girl’s b-ball? Does that interest you?
Grand Fork’s Central snaps 49-game losing streak.
Grand Fork’s central what?
And which girl does the b-ball belong to?
Central is capitalized. It’s a proper noun, owned by Grand Fork.
No.
I read “Senate will quit”…,
Did a little very slow but jubilant polka around the wood box. Had a senior moment but then reality set in. With the MS constraints on the comments I, along with Jimmy Carter and the country, am in a funk.
Your mama is so stupid, she went to the dentist for a bluetooth.
Oh, Mexican Sharpshooter, I am disappoint. Not even that girl from that Mexican soccer game.
*kicks pebble*
I am literally buttoning a shirt, getting ready for work…I don’t have time for that.
Have fun at work
“Hey Doctor Jones, no time for love!”
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/f7f5b0ca-5f9b-4dbe-ac61-81ee25233ebb
Dammit. I was going to go with ‘Human’.
Christmas beer will be rationed!
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2019/12/christmas-beer-will-be-rationed-this.html
I like the part about buying bonds with your estate in order to purchase free beer for local elderly annually.
Also good:
“It really pissed off the temperance twats that things like sugar and tea were rationed but beer wasn’t. They pulled their usually crap about “destroying food” until Churchill told them to shut up.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5993lPFEwaE
Really good series about British rations, featuring Gun Jesus.
Was hoping it was about the British Army’s 24 Ration Packs, which used to be quite good.
*24 hour
Insult:
Nice job, Tundra-breath.
Minty fresh with undertones of citrus?
How is that an insult?
1. Lutefisk doesn’t actually smell of citrus.
2. Storing mints in your hockey gloves isn’t really helping.
Is the “Nice Job” part the sarcasm/insult? Otherwise I don’t get it.
How about: “You remind me of a Minnesodan I know.”
Off, that’s low.
YOU THROW LIKE A NODAK!
MikeS, next time* you come by we’ll go to the river and dive for an SKS, see if it still shoots.
*But not at HH, too crowded.
Before the accident several deer were taken 1 shot out to 100 yards before the brush got to thick to see through.
Oooh! I would enjoy that very much. I’ll have to take a trip over there this summer. Maybe rent the secret Glib Cabin for a weekend.
Be careful. Those aren’t chocolates that are on your pillow at the Secret Glib Cabin.
MikeS, next time* you come by we’ll go to the river and dive for an SKS, see if it still shoots.
Just one? I thought you needed at least 3?
Skssksksks
lol, and I oop!
Indio
I must not be up to date on my slurs because I have no idea what this is.
It what one of those freaks with an incorrectly-trimmed umbilical cord call us normal people.
It’s the Villan from A Few Dollars More
I should try to write a western sometime.
Hang ‘Em High was classic Clint. The Outlaw Josey Wales was a spectacular orgy of violence.
I always have a hard time deciding which film I like better between Fist Full of Dollars and a Few Dollars More. I go back in forth.
“A Few Dollars More” since it wasn’t a remake of Yojimbo.
Yeah probably, But it is the best rendition of Yojimbo.
“Fist Full of Dollars” because it was a great remake of Yojimbo.
Its a slur Mexicans use against Indians.
I thought that was cholo?
That’s not an insult.
*word to the wise—don’t call a cholo a cholo.
My brief time in Escondido taught me that a cholo is someone who drives a dropped Chevy S-10 painted like a Miami Dolphins jersey on 13″ rims with shag carpet on the dashboard, listens to oompah music, and will react poorly to being called a cholo.
Yes please, minus the shag carpet, and the paint job. I’ve got a soft spot for baby Chevys.
I always got a chuckle that Robert Parker named Mexican hawk, Chollo.
I read that in Andrew Dice Clay’s voice……Indy-OH!
Indi@
Pronounced “in-deeks”
2019 was a really good year for movies. Just watched Once Upon of Hollywood last night, just fucking yes. Best movie Tarantino’s made all decade. I’ve seen more good movies this year than I have any year since like 2009 when Iron Man and Dark Knight came out. Dragged Across Concrete, Under the Silver Lake and Ford vs Ferrari were all very good movies. I still haven’t seen Joker yet kind of waiting on that one to go down in price before renting on Amazon.
*2008
Did not like Dark Night. Only saw it once.
You got the chinese knockoff, that’s why.
See same both dark both knight. No difference.
Yeah, the quality of Chinese counterfeits has gotten really good.
That’s fine. YMMV.
I didn’t think The Dark Knight was as good as everyone else thought, but it was a good movie. The Dark Knight Rises was a trash fire.
God that movie was a drag.
Batman Returns Is best Batman.
Um, Batman: The Movie disagrees.
Ok boomer.
QT gave me the kind of raw, unfiltered hippie hatred my soul thirsts for. I salute him for that.
I can’t decide whether I like it or Jackie Brown better for my #2 seed. Obviously #1 is Pulp Fiction. Just everything about Once Upon a Time was refreshing. The total beatdown of the hippy women in the #metoo era, the fucking huge risk he took story wise with an audience that probably for the most part have never ever even read Helter Skelter or know who Sharon Tate even is, and the fucking awesome set pieces.
It reminded me more than a little of The Big Lebowski in that the plot was merely an excuse to tie the scenes together. As with The Big Lebowski, this led to criticism that there wasn’t any plot, or that it didn’t make sense, etc. People can’t seem to just enjoy the incredible scenes on their own, in a sort of a-la-carte fashion. When Cliff goes to Spahn Ranch and feels every hippie layabout there staring at him, then emerges from the house to find them standing around watching him in silence? Genius. In a film that winks at the audience more than a few times, QT plays it straight and delivers a creepy as hell scene that really nails the malevolent weirdness of the Family.
I wasn’t alive in 1969 but goddamn it made it feel very real and present in a way few historically based films are able to.
yep just brilliant. I’m a sucker for meandering slow burning plots with interesting characters and a hint of neo noir. Big Lebowski is an obvious favorite of mine. If you haven’t seen Dragged Across Concrete or Under the Silver Lake you need to. I can’t recommend either enough. I don’t understand how Under the Silver Lake got made, It’s like a less surreal David Lynch movie but far better than any of his fucking drivel.
I can’t be the only one, can I? Hate all superhero movies. Live in reality, motherfuckers.
Definitely way too drunk to defend that, but I stand by it.
Agreed. In reality, Superman’s X-ray vision wouldn’t have allowed him to tell Lois’ panties were pink, since pink is a visible-wavelength phenomenon, and X-rays result from inner shell electronic transitions.
get a load of Madam Curie over here
Hedy Lamar > Marie Curie
Do doubt. Noped out of Nazi Germany early in the game. Made scientific advances in the use of invisible energy but without killing anyone.
Clear winner.
Hedy Lamarr > Greer Garson.
It’s Hedly.
I’ll stand with you. As long as I can still dig Army of Darkness.
Enh, you’re not alone. I’ve mentioned that the last one I enjoyed was probably Superman II.
Mine was Darkman.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the BEST superhero movie of the 21st century. Peter Porker: The Spectacular Spider Ham – ’nuff said True Believers.
This is pretty much the only Spider Man scene I remember.
I was 18 in 2008 and I didn’t see or understand what it meant for the next decade of movies after Hollywood realized the cash flow potential of running the genre into the ground over and over and over. How naive I was.
With a couple of exceptions I don’t care to investigate, superhero stories are statist propaganda.
Uhh, I’ve been reading (western) comic books for the last thirty years, and I find them to be more reliably anti-statist than, say, the Libertarian Party or writers at TOS.
Also, Steve Ditko has a sad.
Exactly–much of the idea of superhero comics is that there are problems the police/authorities can’t handle, so individuals with great abilities must take things into their own hands. I don’t think vigilantism is necessarily a libertarian message, but definitely not statist.
You need to watch The Boys on amazon and read the Watchmen. Both make this point pretty saliently.
The first Iron Man and the first Guardians of the Galaxy are very good. Most of the others are now blending into a Marvel melange. Kick-Ass was decent.
Idea I had a number of years back, that I still like. Oscars should be awarded based on a 25 year lag.
So, for 2019, we decide the Best Picture of 1994. And, of course, the correct answer is The Shawshank Redemption. With a 25 year lag, I don’t think Forrest Gump gets a vote.
I had a friend who used to always bitch about Gump winning, he was a big Tarantino fan. I finally shut him up by agreeing with him, that Gump didn’t deserve it, that clearly Shawshank did.
For 2020 we have Braveheart, Apollo 13, Babe, Il Postino, and Sense and Sensibility (those were the nominees back then, maybe something was missed).
No sure Braveheart would win today, I would guess Apollo 13 holds up the best.
No need to stick to the nominations made in the target year. They were too close to the event. Any release is eligable.
I agree, the nominations at the time are a good starting point for consideration.
Seven was released in 1995.
Wait… Tommy Boy, Bad Boys, Crimson Tide, Die Hard 3, Hackers, Canadian Bacon, Mallrats, Casino, Toy Story, 12 Monkeys… and the list keeps going.
Omg Hackers was dated the day it came out. I would have sworn it came out it 88-91. What was it made than and shelved for half a decade?
It was a great comedy.
I most recently saw it in college. It was made funnier in context aside from the fact this was a technical institution, we were in Gibson Hall at the time.
So, nothing better than Apollo 13. Got it.
You have strange taste in movies.
I was just amazed at how many films I have seen and liked came out in that one year.
Desperado, Heat, and then we get into the guilty pleasure category of bad but fun movies.
Tom Hanks owned the 90’s I really hate Tom Hanks for reasons I don’t quite understand.
Bosom Buddies, and Bachelor Party make up for all his modern nonsense.
Nah, Braveheart is still better than Apollo 13.
As is Babe, which is a terrific movie I can’t get my kids to watch.
That is a great idea.
Most Oscars are already given as *make-ups* to people they snubbed in the past, your plan would just make it even more convoluted.
For that reason, I don’t think Braveheart wins because of Mel Gibson over the last 25 years.
Oh, no, we don’t care who was “Snubbed”, and we don’t let movie folks vote.
Their biases don’t reflect what makes a good movie, and produces strange results where a movie about the film industry that isn’t any good to the general audience gets praise because it strikes close to home for the academy.
I’d take this further and deny the vote to anyone who went to film school. They get so caught up worshiping their ‘superior’ knowledge about techniques and innovation that they miss the entire point. Was the movie good or not?
A college friend of mine pointed out when Forrest Gump came out that that was what Hollywood thinks of the South–everybody’s either evil, or they’re like Gump, kind-hearted but dumb.
lol that’s a pretty on point observation.
The Dark Knight was waaaayyyy too long. I really needed to piss and I kept sitting there thinking “it’ll finish in a minute, I’ll go then,” but 45 minutes later I did a quick dash to the urinals and back and there was still probably at least 30 mins left. I also never really thought about comparing it to Iron Man, but now I think about it Iron Man was 123487x better, and kind of showed just how stale super hero movies has gotten up that point. I get that there were some intense, dark, broody performances etc, in those Nolan Batman films, but the dude does not know how to tell a story without keeping at least an hour of boring, extraneous footage in every movie he’s made. By comparison, Iron Man was most excellent, totally refreshing, and enjoyable.
This is as good a theory on the “why” of the impeachment itself as I’ve heard. Basically a fishing license for dirt to be used in the campaign next year.
While not actually moving the articles of impeachment over to the Senate for an embarrassing trial.
Meh maybe all that’s all fine and good but it still doesn’t explain why they would take this course when the most interesting and salacious bit of the story is about Joe Bidens crackhead stripper impregnating son was making millions of dollars sitting on the corporate board. Feels self defeating as your knee capping your presidential candidate in the process as well. I feel like this is more a hail mary sop to the base to try to hold onto the house and to try to flip the senate to blue, They are going to try to bludgeon the acquit senators saying they are corrupt like the president. I don’t think it’s going to work, but what else can you do when everyone gets what Trump is already that was baked in 2016 and the Economy is going like gang busters right now.
They realized that the Biden corruption story was going to come out either way after the old moron bragged about it in public. By accusing Trump of doing what Biden really had done, they muddied the waters.
This brings it front in center, I just don’t see the benefit. If you impeach Trump over it you can’t than run Biden as your candidate because not only does Biden admit on tape to doing exactly what they are accusing trump was thinking while he did what he was doing. Biden had a clear reason to benefit finacially directly and politically. If they had just stuck to Russia and done a bullshit impeachment there they could just waive off the Biden stuff that Trump was stacking the deck against Biden and persecuting him.
I also don’t think they ever saw Trump getting in front of this scandal by just dumping the Transcript into the open right away. They were hoping to gaslight everybody about this phone call for months and having him dump it so early totaly crippled them in a way they weren’t expecting that early.
They don’t want Biden running. They want Hilary.
yes like Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorheeves or Michael Meyers before her no matter how bad the last movie was or how it ended I never ever doubt the possibility of a sequel.
IANAL but cant the senate file for a mandamus and force them to send it? I fully expected them to not want it to go to trial but I figured once they had the vote they would be fucked.
And then impeach Pelosi for Obstruction of the Senate.
Now THAT would be interesting.
The house is self governing. The senate cannot remove house members.
McConnell should schedule a trial, and if Schiff & Co. don’t show up, vote to acquit.
That’s certainly what the demands for his tax returns are about.
Phew! I was concerned.
Did your test for Hep C come back negative?
Do you want the Alladeen news or the Alladeen news? You are HIV Alladeen.
Ok, ok, I’m allowed a guilty pleasure or two as well.
Speaking of violating Constitutional norms…
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) appears to be considering an idea Democrats have floated for several days of holding back the articles of impeachment to exercise leverage over the Senate and the president.
She declined formally to transmit the articles to the Senate on Wednesday evening after the House voted to impeach President Donald Trump.
Unfortunately for them, the Senate can act, regardless — and would vote to acquit.
That’s because the Constitution is absolutely clear about the Senate’s authority. Article I, Section 3 says: “The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.”
Unfortunately for them, the Senate can act, regardless — and would vote to acquit.
That’s because the Constitution is absolutely clear about the Senate’s authority. Article I, Section 3 says: “The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.”
While i’m inclined to get a second legal opinion about this, i did wonder how feasible this is. It’s not like the senate doesn’t know what happened, nor what the Articles of impeachment were.
Would the Senate sue the House or vice versa?
If the house can claim obstruction for not being allowed to question witnesses they never called why can’t the Senate vote on a passed bill they haven’t been formally given.
The answer is simple. Just hold unofficial hearings, both private and public. Control and sculpt the info coming out of those meetings to make it increasingly untenable for the house to continue withholding the impeachment articles.
Basically, just copy what happened in the house
I was thinking as I was reading that that it sounded very familiar…
Did you know December 16th was the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party? Today, it is taught as the “Racist Cultural Appropriation of Hate Party”, but to those who are still sane, here is an interesting write-up on it.
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/today-in-history-the-boston-tea-party/
FTA:
“After congregating at the Old South Meeting House, a group of patriots donned the attire of Native Mohawk Indians – to show that their action was reflective of an American cause rather than a British one. They rushed down to the harbor, where they boarded the tea ship Dartmouth and unloaded all 342 chests of tea into the water. Although they engaged in a particularly rebellious act, the Sons of Liberty made sure to avoid the destruction of private property. Nothing was stolen or looted from the ship, and the decks were even swept clean.
Those who participated in the tea’s destruction were sworn to secrecy, and those who participated are still subject to historical debate. Although the complicity of Samuel Adams is still disputed, he unquestionably embarked upon an immediate campaign to publicize the event. Adams and the Massachusetts Whigs declared that taxes could not levied without the endorsement of the people’s representatives – a notion that stretched all the way back to 1215 and the Magna Carta.
Contrary to popular belief, the destruction of the tea was not specifically a tax protest – the patriots did object to taxes levied without representation, but the 1773 Tea Act had actually lowered the taxes on tea. Instead, the colonists disavowed mercantile practices of the British government, specifically the tea monopoly that was granted to the East India Tea Company through the law. Additionally, they renounced the idea that Parliamentary law was supreme over all of the British Empire and could override the will of the colonial assemblies.”
So both the old and new Tea Parties leave the protest sites cleaner than they find them? Interesting parallel.
No, you need to leave your broken down tents, filthy bedding and feces around to stick it to those corporate fat cats who hate Gaia.
/Left-wing protestor
Don’t forget a couple of corpses to.
THIS. I wrote about it long ago when blogging was still a thing.
Some of us still blog.
Well, apart from the entire cargo of tea that they stole and looted. Also, wasn’t this more about the ongoing feud between the Adams (smugglers) and the Hutchinsons (magistrates/tax collectors?)
I may be wrong on this, which is often the case, but wasn’t Hancock the smuggler and Adams was just the “rebel without a cause and a large inheritance left to him from his father” (I’m talking about Sam, not John who was almost the polar opposite)?
Destroyed isn’t looted.
Adams was likely only a smuggler because it was impossible for him to be legit. Hard to know for sure, since he was a hot head who might have gone “All Taxation Is Theft” but I personally don’t think so.
Exactly. Only a statist considers “smuggler” a necessary word.
Bruh doe you even Anarchocapitolism?
By all means Fauxcahontas, disassemble the electoral college. I mean, what could go wrong?
Where’s the part about Sam Adams starting a brewery?
Did you know December 16th was the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party?
I did not. I DID coincidentally buy a “Boston Tea Party” tea sampler two weeks ago. Amazon suggested it via the previous sampler I got though, so I don’t think it was anniversary related…
Did you get empty boxes smelling faintly of seawater and sewage?
“Leave me alone. I already have a mother.”
Well done.
His Holiness, Leap and I got to add another victim to our MNGlibs group (even if he is technically a Sconnie).
Turns out, PudPaisley, beyond having almost excellent taste in music, is a super cool guy. Thanks, Pud.
I was a bit worried there this morning that PP was an undercover G-man and he used us to get enough info to break into Glibs HQ. That being why the links were gone this morning.
Nice to find out that he really was the nice guy he seemed to be.
No G-man would show up in a Steve Smith Christmas sweater.
The one with STEVE SMITH on it, or the one MADE OF SS?
The G-men have been called the American SS before.
You may get me next year (early summer?) next year. Figure I’ll just walk off the plane and throw my gloves to the ice and see who gets in my face.
How dare you disrespect your handwear like that?!
My whole life is based on disrespecting handwear.
Yes, but in the U.S., you can’t easily replace your gloves at a nearby vending machine.
“Fingerblaster Gloves” doesn’t mean what you thought.
Leap and I were early and were sitting at a table when a disreputable dude walks in and starts looking around in a clueless manner. That is when we whispered* “Glibs” and PP decoyed right in. So your plan to drop the gloves would probably work great.
*yes, whispered, despite being a dive bar that is a good way to get your ass kicked by the normies
You don’t think the bikers at the bar would have been intimidated by your lavender button down shirt?
It was violet!
Like the top hats and monocles didn’t tip him off.
Well, it wouldn’t be my first scrap at baggage claim…
I still chuckle over what you wrote when your wife experienced a Minnesota for the first time.
I’m assuming she said “uso” and I think you translated it as “no way” or something similar at the time.
I intentionally misinterpreted it as “I wanna …..” *Saving our family friendly rating.
I always have a hard time deciding which film I like better between Fist Full of Dollars and a Few Dollars More. I go back in forth.
Based on nothing but the “My mule wants you to apologize to him” part, I’m going with Fistful.
Fistful. Definitely.
+1
That was a great part, but not enough for me to think it was better than Few Dollars More. I felt the story was more fleshed out, and Van Cleese’s character was better than either of the supporting characters in a Few Dollars More.
Van Cleef is probably the best Cowboy ever. He does menacing so well, but he could be a bad guy or he good be totally evil he sells both so well.
Indeed. That’s why I love the Sabata series.
This is America, FFS.
I love them both.
And yet, we as a country allow the Italians to overtake up in Western Nostalgia (that’s where all the replica cowboy guns are made, and you know, Sergio Leone) and Japan to overtake us in Denim Nostalgia.
SMDH.
What the fuck is “Denim Nostalgia”?
Blue Jeans were quintessential American work-wear and wormed their way into Americana. Then the big US denim manufacturers all liquidated their looms and started selling shitty denim. The Japanese market fell in love with Americana at the same time and purchased all the looms, and now they make more Americana denim than the US does, and people into Americana or who have nostalgia for the glory days of US denim production buy from the Japanese manufacturers.
So, like cosplay.
Krugabe wrote a book. This poor dummy reviewed it.
In the Obama years, technocrats determined that the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying in a depressed economy wouldn’t generate dangerous inflation, but “the official Republican view,” Krugman tells us, was that the Fed was being irresponsible. In the Trump presidency, technocrats have pointed out the lack of support for the claim that tax cuts for high earners will generate prosperity, but Republicans have preached this gospel regardless. Commentators in this post-evidence, post-truth environment find themselves “arguing with zombies,” to cite Krugman’s book title. They confront “ideas that should have been killed by contrary evidence, but instead keep shambling along, eating people’s brains.”
Faced with these alarming undead adversaries, Krugman has concluded that politically neutral truth telling is not merely impossible. It is morally inadequate. He duly sets out four rules for engaged public intellectuals. First, they should “stay with the easy stuff,” meaning subjects on which experts have achieved consensus: This is where an authoritative commentator can improve public understanding by delivering a clear message. Second, they should communicate in plain English—no controversy there. Third, and a bit more edgily, Krugman insists that commentators should “be honest about dishonesty.” If politicians deny clear evidence, they should be called out for arguing in bad faith. Finally, Krugman proclaims a rule that flies in the face of traditional journalistic tradecraft: “Don’t be afraid to talk about motives.”
To see what Krugman means in practice, let’s apply his rules to the topic that best suits his approach. As he rightly maintains, Republican leaders have repeatedly ignored the solid expert consensus on climate change. Given that this consensus has been clear for more than a decade, it is fair to conclude that Republican leaders are consciously making false statements—in other words, that they are liars. Guessing at their motives seems risky but not totally unreasonable. Conceivably, they might be lying because they don’t want to irk voters with the news that hamburgers and pickup trucks are cooking the planet. But Krugman is basically right that “almost all prominent climate deniers are on the fossil-fuel take.” To state the matter plainly, conservatives lie about this issue because they are paid to lie. Or, in Krugman’s broad and snarling formulation: “Republicans don’t just have bad ideas; at this point, they are, necessarily, bad people.”
——-
In short, Krugman is suffering from an especially public case of what’s come to be known as Trump Derangement Syndrome. Appalled by the Republican Party’s most bigoted leaders, whose rise he traces at least as far back as the George W. Bush administration, he has allowed himself to believe that nearly all Republicans are corrupt and evil, and therefore that reasoned argument is futile. “The modern G.O.P. doesn’t do policy analysis,” he pronounces. Yet the reality is subtler. Republicans are more open to reason than Krugman allows.
The world as seen through the eyes of a shit flinging howler monkey. It’s a dark and fearsome place.
The title is clearly a dig at Bob Murphy, who wrote “Contra Krugman”.
/Ok probably not but still…
Wow, he literally stole Tom Woods and Bob Murphy’s bit for the title of his book
https://youtu.be/TrcM5exDxcc
You are the sock that young boys hide under the bed after looking at hentai.
The Senate snuck a path to citizenship for Liberians into the spending bill. I thought Liberia was founded by freed slaves and its Constitution was a near copy of the U.S. Constitution, why would they want to leave?
Because it’s a shit hole.
Winona LaDuke. Eco MLK.
Also she is totes 100% truthful.
The 2018 State of the Polar Bear report called and would like a word.
Huh, maybe they are eating each other because they are overpopulated due to arbitrary hunting restrictions ….gee, I wonder.
What are you talking about Double B?
Everyone knows that polar bears ride around on the ice playing together and drinking cokes.
Once in a while a young polar bear will befriend an orphaned seal and they will gad about the arctic having great adventures.
Do the adventures involve seal entrails followed by polar bear naps?
When the bears get tired of playing with their food, yes.
I’m still pulling for Marianne Williamson to get the nomination.
At this point I’m a Biden man, I want more utterly incoherent stories and bleeding eyes.
But Mystic Marianne is hawt.
Yeah, after watching the latest season of The Expanse I’m all in on GILF-y brunette presidents.
NO SPOILERS
Aww…
I thought Mary McDowell was in BSG, not The Expanse.
Indeed, as climate change begins to transform our world, billions feel the devastation of drought, floods, hurricanes and forest fires. The world is on fire.
Please define “feel”, would ya?
Feel
Clicked that and let it run. They are more than just the Milky Way song I knew. Putting me to sleep, though.
The whole album is terrific. Very chill, though.
Winnipeg Police Hunt Black Market Gun Maker\
Ah, the sweet, sweet smell of prohibition failure.
Gets me every time.
RACISTS!
I’m assuming they are looking for a black guy who sells guns in the local market?
Seen at Instapundit: McMuffin takes a direct hit
Dammit, now I want a McMuffin, but don’t want to lose my parking place at work.
Send an intern. That’s what they are there for.
Make sure they wear blaze orange or a reflective vest. Its dark this time of year, and if you leave an intern in your parking spot to save it when you run to McD’s, you don’t want someone driving over them.
Safety first.
Celebs are still politically retarded.
Michael Moore✔
@MMFlint
I GOT IN! I AM SEATED IN THE HOUSE GALLERY FRONT ROW WITNESSING HISTORY. CONGRESS IS ABOUT TO IMPEACH A LAWLESS, CRIMINAL PRESIDENT. I had to give my phone up, but will be back tonight and on the podcast to share what I witnessed.
Then who tweeted this twat?
Alyssa Milano✔
@Alyssa_Milano
I expected this moment but I expected to be more joyful. Maybe jump up & do a happy dance. Maybe.
But I’m just sad and heartbroken. What he’s left behind can’t be erased with this vote.
The bigotry and xenophobia he’s emboldened. The lies.
It will take generations to recover.
*rolls eyes*
Rob Reiner✔
@robreiner
There are not alternative facts. There are only facts. The sky is blue. The world is round. Water is wet. And the most Criminally Corrupt President in our Nation’s history has committed High Crimes & Misdemeanors & will be Impeached by The United States House Of Representatives.
Yeah, sure.
Shut up Meathead.
So corrupt they found exactly nothing of substance and what is in plain view is no worse than prior presidents.
It doesn’t seem to bother these dolts that the House has failed to present actual evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors, which is why they used vague made-up things like abuse of power and obstruction of congress, which have no statutory standing or definition.
Comfortably Smug
@ComfortablySmug
“I think what I like more than anything with Amash is how he’s wanting to impeach the president over *checks notes* not giving the foreign aid that Amash votes against.”
She’s twisting his words to make him look like a hypocrite when he’s just being an asshole.
What do you think Amash’s angle is with his Never Trump schtick?
Frankly it’s kinda baffling to me, even from a utilitarian perspective.
I think Chipwooder has it. I think he’s dazzled by the press he’s getting and he loves hearing that he’s some sort of maverick politician daring to speak truth to power or whatever. Unfortunately for him, I suspect it’s not a growth sector and I’m not seeing a big speaking circuit role for him.
Like I said yesterday – I bet he gives a *great* concession speech.
Amash has really fallen in love with the fawning press coverage he now receives. He should be smart enough to realize that it will flip on him when he’s no longer useful to them, but then some people just like seeing their name in lights.
What he should be worried about is that I found this, because it was retweeted by a few libertarian accounts that I read once in a while.
Comfortably Smug is like the only reason I would ever consider getting account. That guy is fucking hilarious. I hate that I love that parody account so much.
Wait, I thought he did give the foreign aid and no investigation into the Bidens bribe money was launched? Right? He is being impeached over something he never did.
*One of my favorite lines: “Once again I am the last one to find out about what I did”
Trump should borrow that one.
That describes most of the “obstruction” stuff in the Mueller report. It was all stuff like, “he wanted to fire Mueller, but never did”.
I wanted to give every communist in the counrty a helicopter ride, but so far have not.
Yeah, I can’t fly a helicopter either.
121) I’ve seen this in a few places the last week: Oceans contain a million times more plastic than previously thought.
A million times more plastic? How is that possible? Have the Chinese been manufacturing plastics on a massive scale for the express purpose of dumping in the world’s oceans?
No, not at all. Actually what the study found was that there are lots more micro-bits of plastic than previously believed, not that the actual volume is a million times more. But even then, why would there be so much more microplastic?
What none of the articles I’ve seen has addressed, but the only thing that makes any sense, is that it’s because larger plastics are breaking down in the ocean. In other words, it’s a good thing! Natural processes are at work, turning our garbage into smaller, less damaging bits—and eventually into harmless microscopic particles.
No-no, smaller pieces are worse, because they can slip into your DNA and mutate your kids.
Have the Chinese been manufacturing plastics on a massive scale for the express purpose of dumping in the world’s oceans?
Gotta do something to pump those GDP numbers up
The actual headline is correct, though. It’s not that the total volume of plastic is greater, it’s that the amount of it that’s considered “microplastic” is much higher. As for the impact, the jury’s still out. On one side, there’s concern that microplastics are carcinogenic, or they could interfere with biological processes. On the other, there’s some skepticism that they have any special impact beyond what you see with all the other teeny tiny bits of crap that your circulatory system filters out. As usual, it’s being heavily politicized by people who want to expand state authority, Luddites, and anti-capitalists.
More interesting gun news:
Second Amendment Sanctuary Movement Spreads To Kentucky
Keep grabbing, grabbers.
“Remember, this movement actually began in Illinois in 2018 before spreading west to Washington State, Oregon, Colorado, and New Mexico.”
It really didn’t get a lot of local attention, but I was always curious why new gun control measures were not being put forward at the state level. I imagine that every country south of Joliet probably declared themselves a Second Amendment Sanctuary.
*county
Related
Another wave of support for the right to keep and bear arms swept across the state of Virginia on Tuesday, with five more counties and one town adopting Second Amendment Sanctuary resolutions in the hopes of sending a message to lawmakers in Richmond, and sending the number of 2A Sanctuary communities in the state into the triple digits.
Excellent. I liked this:
You don’t see that kind of fairness in ProgLand.
I’m not arguing this isn’t newsworthy, but why is the geography lesson so important in the headline?
Pennsylvania man accused of vandalizing Beverly Hills synagogue arrested in Hawaii
What do you call a person from Pennsylvania? Pencils? Vain?
Wait. sylvainia? like Transylvania….
All of the sudden i realize why Pie won’t come visit. There is a rival Clan of Vampires here.
He could go to Lexington, KY. I am sure SF would meet him down at Transylvania U.
Transylvania is a very blue blood old Lexington money (which is very old money indeed) private school. Picturing SF there makes me smile.
Statistically, I would go with “Meth addict”
No, we cook meth, we’re addicted to heroin. At least around Scranton, any ways.
Quaker.
Good thing they caught him before he ended up somewhere in Asia.
Failure
How should we tell the story of the digital century, now two decades old? We could focus, as journalists tend to do, on the depredations of the connected life. As Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have devoured the online world, they have undermined traditional media, empowered propagandists, and widened America’s political divides. The smartphone, for all its wonder and utility, has also proved to be a narcotizing agent.
But what if, instead of focusing on Big Tech’s sins of commission, we paid equal attention to its sins of omission—the failures, the busts, the promises unfulfilled? The past year has offered several lurid examples. WeWork, the office-sharing company that claimed it would reinvent the workplace, imploded on the brink of a public offering. Uber, once seen as an unstoppable force that would transform urban transit as radically as the subway had, has likewise seen its public valuation plummet. From January to October, the two firms together lost $10 billion.
While these companies might seem like outliers, their struggles hold a message, not just for investors but for all of us. Big Tech continues to find new and profitable ways to sell ads and cloud space, but it has failed, often spectacularly, to remake the world of flesh and steel.
——-
the digital age has coincided with a slump in America’s economic dynamism. The tech sector’s innovations have made a handful of people quite rich, but it has failed to create enough middle-class jobs to offset the decline of the country’s manufacturing base, or to help solve the country’s most pressing problems: deteriorating infrastructure, climate change, low growth, rising economic inequality. Tech companies that operate in the physical world, such as Lyft and DoorDash, offer greater convenience, but they hardly represent the kind of transformation that Reagan and Gore had in mind. These failures—perhaps more than the toxicity of the web—underlie the meanness and radicalism of our era.
Decades from now, historians will likely look back on the beginning of the 21st century as a period when the smartest minds in the world’s richest country sank their talent, time, and capital into a narrow band of human endeavor—digital technology. Their efforts have given us frictionless access to media, information, consumer goods, and chauffeurs. But software has hardly remade the physical world. We were promised an industrial revolution. What we got was a revolution in consumer convenience.
The digital revolution- all promise, no deliver.
Where’s my flying car? Where’s my city in the clouds?
No kidding.
I think someone is feeling some heat in their current job as a poli-sci professor. At least based on his screed agains STEM education.
It also really bugs him that Trump is trying to get more of the poors to go into STEM fields to escape poverty.
You shouldn’t have majored in [insert non-STEM field here]. Should have majored in STEM!
Damn right!
Nice own-goal, there.
It’s not the children’s fault there is no demand for the career they paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to get credentials for.
“Trump’s glibly anti-science ideology”
That must explain why Trump wants a Space Force.
primarily about creating a certain kind of labor market that benefits particular types of employers
The type with open positions?
The original Industrial Revolution freed humanity from the centuries-long prison of slow economic growth. In the early 19th century, productivity and income were skyrocketing, first in England and soon throughout Europe. While the transition was brutal for many, the gains were broadly shared: Real wages for the working class doubled in the first half of the century, and life expectancy at birth rose dramatically in the second half.
In the computer age, the economy has trended in the opposite direction. If American productivity had continued to grow as it did from Harry Truman’s election to Richard Nixon’s resignation, the 201The original Industrial Revolution freed humanity from the centuries-long prison of slow economic growth. In the early 19th century, productivity and income were skyrocketing, first in England and soon throughout Europe. While the transition was brutal for many, the gains were broadly shared: Real wages for the working class doubled in the first half of the century, and life expectancy at birth rose dramatically in the second half.
In the computer age, the economy has trended in the opposite direction. If American productivity had continued to grow as it did from Harry Truman’s election to Richard Nixon’s resignation, the 2013 economy would have been about 60 percent larger. (Dividing those gains equally would have given the typical middle-class household a bonus of roughly $30,000 a year.) Instead, income growth from 1973 to 2013 was 80 percent slower.3 economy would have been about 60 percent larger. (Dividing those gains equally would have given the typical middle-class household a bonus of roughly $30,000 a year.) Instead, income growth from 1973 to 2013 was 80 percent slower.
Yes, and if pigs had wings, they’d be eagles.
Mmmm…. Eagle bacon.
I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this – is three years the right amount of time, too little, too much?
Knowingly puts people at risk although not extremely and also causes quite a bit of inconvenience and expense.
American Airlines mechanic pleads guilty to sabotaging plane in Miami: reports
I don’t know enough about avionics to decide if this was a couple hundred counts of attempted murder.
Following the link in this article to the earlier story: https://nypost.com/2019/09/06/american-airlines-mechanic-accused-of-sabotaging-flight/
Alani was accused of gluing foam inside a tube leading from outside the plane to its air data module, . . .
Depending upon the system architecture, the aircraft will have at least left and right air data modules and a standby instrument. He screwed with one of them.
The pilots of Flight 2834 aborted their takeoff on July 17 when the tampering sparked an error alert as they powered up the plane’s engines
Poorly written, but I assume the crew detected the problem during the pre-flight check list during engine power up because the affected air data module reported that it wasn’t working to the onboard maintenance system.
Alani added that he only tampered with the ADM “to cause a delay or have the flight canceled in anticipation of obtaining overtime work,” the affidavit said.
I also assume that Alani knew the tampered ADM would report its failure and he could spend a bunch of time troubleshooting the issue.
According to PPRUNE, the plane never made it off the taxiway, so yes, it was caught while taxiing and they aborted well before they would have lined up on the runway for takeoff.
More union scum.
Also, he couldn’t learn English after 30 years?
I’m not even going to address the ISIS bit.
Based solely on my fear of flying, I’d give him the chair.
“I didn’t want to, but I thought I owed it to him.”
Mornin’, Glibbies.
I set myself a bunch of onerous tasks for today that involve driving my pickup truck to faraway places and lifting heavy things. Thus, I must clear my truck of its snow burden, which will be difficult because I am short and my truck is not. Now, whether it’ll start is another thing (it has a hard time if it’s been sitting). Lastly, it is cold and the heater doesn’t work. Are 2 good Hon file cabinets at opposite corners of the metro, priced at $15 each, worth it?
*looks at the used office furniture outlet, $40 each*
I suppose.
Do you have an air pump? You could drop the tailgate, let the air out of the back tires and push the snow out with a broom, then reinflate the tires.
If you don’t have an electric pump, don’t do it this way.
I don’t care about the snow in the bed. It’s on my windshield that’s the problem.
I have an air compressor and a ladder. The ladder is far less work.
I see, you’d like to see to drive.
I do find it somewhat helpful.
It is always nice to be able to teach someone in the ways of internet horsetrading. I am off to do my onerous tasks.
You’re like the Dane Cook of Glibs.
DAMN!!! Sean comes in off the top rope swinging a folding chair.
That is savage.
…whoa. I’m not even mad.
?
Well shit, I may as well not even bother.
ABC News✔
@ABC
Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer says Pelosi should withhold transferring impeachment articles to Senate: “I hope the House retains control of the articles until the Speaker and Leader Schumer can negotiate agreement on process and witnesses from McConnell” https://abcn.ws/2S7uOSi
That’s not how it works.
I assume they don’t want certain witnesses called.
Clearly because they support getting at the truth. That is why the refused witnesses from the minority party in the House.
they want a whole new batch of witnesses. they’re treating it like a fishing expedition so they can drag it out and have dirt for the election cycle. McConnell said he’s going to limit the trial to the two articles and no new witnesses.
we’ll see what happens. This idea is just a few days old and was born of the desperation of realizing that “Oh yeah, when we throw this over the wall, we have no control over it anymore”.
It can be if you really, really, really don’t want to deal with the impeachment circus anymore.
This will be the best way for them to just end the silliness. They can pretend that they did impeach him, but those dastardly Republicans won’t have a fair trial in the Senate so they were forced to just sit on their charges.
I am wonder, is he impeached if they don’t pass on the charges? At what point does he officially become impeached.
According to my DerpBook feed, he IS impeached and that’s good enough because he will, always and forever, be known as an impeached president and that will haunt him for the remainder of his life. Then I got dog-piled with stupidity and rage for asking if they felt the same way about Clinton.
Tell them to move on.
I’ve been thinking about this.
The constitution says the house has the sole power of impeachment, and
the senate has the sole power to try them. There’s nothing about
“sending” the impeachment to the senate.
Either the president has been impeached, at which point there is
simply nothing left for the house to do, and the senate can take it
up as it wants, or the president has not actually been impeached yet
because the house rules require some further step. The senate
gets to try him once he’s impeached. The house simply has no power
to impeach but prevent a trial.
That could be the angle, but i don’t believe it is.
On a side note, it is sometimes fun to take a step back and see the political maneuvering that is happening. You saw the battlefield prep for this last week as they began to talk about how the Senate was planning to not take the trial seriously. Which was funny to me that the senate never said “we will take this as seriously as the house and give the minority party every benefit that was afforded to the minority in the house”
Us rubes are all supposed to believe these are august legal proceedings when in fact, they are just marketing meetings.
This keeps the narrative going. Trump is evil and corrupt, we all know it. But those evil Rethuglicans are also corrupt and preventing justice. So keep screeching and #resisting dems, you are fighting the good fight.
Blumenauer is a certified idiot.
Merry Christmas, Here’s How Congress Is about to Waste Your Money
This package includes $25 million for the “operation, maintenance, and security” of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
It includes a $7.25 million increase in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the largest increase in a decade.
These spending increases might be nice to have, but we are $23 trillion in debt. We need to make some tough choices.
It includes more than $1 billion in new foreign-aid funding without any discussion about what we’re getting for this funding.
It repeals three Obamacare taxes, with a cost of approximately $400 billion over ten years — the medical-device tax, the sales tax on health insurance, and the Cadillac tax. While I’m all for cutting these taxes, there’s never even been a discussion about whether we should also repeal the spending that these taxes were supposed to pay for. That’s Washington in a nutshell.
We need more gridlock.
It includes more than $1 billion in new foreign-aid funding without any discussion about what we’re getting for this funding.
That kind of talk will get you impeached.
Maybe useful, but only if you add a clause that requires them to read all 2,313 pages.
Out loud, in the chamber, each time it’s amended.
With a per-page-read bonus.
Unfortended Consequence: so much lingual padding is introduced no bill can ever be completely read before vacation time, ensuring permanent gridlock.
hahahaha
JK Rowling has been cancelled for being a TERF
https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2019/12/19/we-regret-to-inform-you-that-spins-wheel-j-k-rowling-has-been-officially-canceled-after-her-istandwithmaya-tweet/
If she’s smart, she’ll take her fuck-you money and go live her life giving no shits.
She’s not smart. Not by her past behaviour in dealing with the internet.
One can hope.
It is also handy to know that TERF now includes people who say “sex is immutable.” Don’t know how that makes one a radical feminist, but here we are. The sky is green and grass is blue.
I predict she’ll try pleading for forgiveness and get torn to shreds.
Sadly, I’ll never understand what compels people with so much money they can live a life of opulence and ease without lifting so much as a finger to then delve into Internet hot-takes, get attacked by the hoi polloi, and then give two shits about the results. John McAfee has it right: say whatever you want, give zero effs, and stay rich.
“Stay rich” is the key.
She does a lot of philanthropic work. I admire that. If I had fuck-you money, I’d get myself a dream home, a housekeeper and gardener, and a new truck and then go help other people. My wants are not great in the scheme of fuck-you money.
By garden, I hope you mean moat and swivel-mounted .50 cal emplacement.
The only acceptable alternative is to go “off grid” and set surround your house with literally 2 million angry bees like fourscore.
I tried that, but bumbled.
Dude, no. Mansion on perfectly maintained grounds with a secret bunker and stockpile.
Be prepared but wallow in luxury.
It’s gonna be weird doing this on an acre lot in front of a colonial in Davidsonville, but I promised myself that by the time I’m 50 years old I’m going to have a pair of gargoyles with machine guns in their mouths that track targets on my front lawn.
I’d buy a mountain and install retractable arty and .50s.
I’d put enough money in some kind of sturdy financial instrument (or combination, likely) such that I could live off dividends with enough ready cash to never have to not buy something when I wanted it, buy a large patch of land for my compound, a couple of vacation places (I’m thinking somewhere on the Gulf and maybe a place in Virginia Beach), and then split my time between goofing off, funding causes that are important to me, and being an angel investor. I could do that with a surprisingly low (all things considered) amount of money, I think.
in her defense, she was speaking out about someone else being fired.
Yes, I know. And she was “brave” in today’s climate for doing so.
I thought she’d gone FULL SJW, so this is refreshing.
I don’t care if the Fed was debt free and running a budget surplus. They shouldn’t be spending a dime for the NEA (which should be abolished) or the Kennedy Center for Fucking Celebrities While Taxpayers Get the Bill.
It includes more than $1 billion in new foreign-aid funding without any discussion about what we’re getting for this funding.
Well current opinion in Washington is that getting anything for foreign aid is a quid-pro-quo, so this is fine.
More drunken ranting/cob web clearing. Apart from the “subsource” stuff that’s driving me nuts, complaining about the 17 “mistakes” in the FISA application proving that the FBI was biased about Trump is also bugging me. Yes, they fucked Carter Page and by extension Trump on that. However, the FBI is always going to find a way to justify moar excuses for surveillance. The state will always find excuses to trample civil liberties and it’s foolish to think that if we just stand up for Trump in this case, we’ll set a new standard. You may set a new standard, but that standard won’t be applied to us peons.
For sure. My Takeaway is that when Cops have their sights set in on you, there is nothing – No Law, no ethical norm, no common decency – that will stop them from getting you. Part of it is that they are taught “My job is to get the guy” and not “My Job is to get the right guy”. Part of it is that those jobs attract the worst people in society.
As for the SubSource stuff, i don’t do intel. But it made sense to me in a hierarchical fashion. Steele maintained his own network of informants so he was the Source (contractor) and those informants were the “Sub Source” (Sub-Contractor)
The subsource thing was more about how Comey was using jargon in his interview with Wallace when he should’ve used language the public would’ve understood. “The actual” source of the info said it was bullshit. Use that phrase, Comey. And yes, as libertarians, we shouldn’t fall for the idea that only Top Men are the victims of “go gettim'” mentality that permeates the FBI. It’s scarier to believe that they do this shit to everybody and not just Trump.
Those 17 mistakes were caused by a lack of funding. You can’t expect janitors with out a law degree to be perfect every time. FBI needs more money, more people, more supervisors that care.
The thing that kills me the most about all this coverage is the lack of context of what a FISA warrant actually does or is. It’s not just a simple tap on Carter Pages phone, from what I understand it’s a tap of everyone within like 3-4 degrees of him. So his boss and his bosses boss and his bosses bosses boss are all monitored if he makes a phone call or communicates with them. Its a license to spy on everyone in the chain as if they were just tapping him they weren’t. The caveat with a tap like that is nothing they get on it is admissible but rest assured they heard and listened to phone calls that Donald J Trump made himself. At a mininum every single person involved in the investigation deserves to be fired(something Hilary would have done for certain and without any coverage if she won) and tried for crimes. If I was in charge I’d go scorched earth on the every single one of these agencies and spy services.
Reps. Jeff Van Drew, D-N.J., and Collin Peterson, D-Minn., voted against both articles of impeachment. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, voted in favor of impeaching Trump on abuse of power, but not on obstruction of Congress.
Another Democrat, presidential candidate and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, voted “present” on both impeachment resolutions.
in case anyone wondered how they voted.
My Rep., from the other end of the state in my gerrymandered district, pretended to be considering which way to vote. I doubt he fooled anyone.
Voting to impeach your political rival in the upcoming presidential election sounds like a conflict of interest and abuse of power to me.
Tulsi is clearly over the DNC/Establishment Democrats.
Reason had an article about her and Amash talking about how it was rare to see someone buck party for principle. Which i found odd. I guess it makes sense if you are arguing a “Moral Relativism” theory of principles, in which each person’s principles are unique to them and it’s just good that they kept to them. But then couldn’t you say the same thing about every reps vote?
I get that bucking the party shows that you are doing something costly, and so the explanations is for principle, but couldn’t you also argue that the Democrats are being principled for voting for impeachment when they know it won’t succeed and that it most likely will cost them? Or you could argue that the Republicans are being principled because they strongly feel that the impeachment is wrong and know that they will catch flack in the popular eye for voting against it?
A present vote is lame. Just fucking vote no.
Surely it’s a sign of her excellent leadership skills. A principled stand even.
Nah, I think she did the right thing. Sometimes, if you chose not to decide, you really aren’t making a choice. She’s conflicted out of making a choice.
It would be lame for someone who’s not conflicted out to vote present
Laziness and indecision are two different things. Neither are admirable but one is worse in my view.
if you chose not to decide,
you really aren’t making a choice.you still have made a choice. – Metallica – Little Drummer BoyUh no. Rush. “Free Will”
I thought it was Dr. Doom.
Joke
Mojeaux’ head.
Well, it’s not the first time in the last few days.
You made it too easy with “Little Drummer Boy” and Mojeaux still wiffed.
Meh, I’m chalking it up to stress and extreme emotional lability. I didn’t actually stop to think about it before my fingers got to walking all over the keyboard.
I didn’t actually stop to think about it before my fingers got to walking all over the keyboard.
Boots are made for walking!
-Taylor Swift, ‘Just Like A Pill’
Uh, no. Nancy Sinatra.
Mojeaux, they’re doing it on purpose.
So did I.
You made it too easy with “Little Drummer Boy”
That’s NOT an actual Metallica song?
I read her explanation.
I’m sticking with lame.
I’m changing my vote to lame after reading that.
Yeah, me too. If you think he should be impeached, vote for impeachment. If the case for impeachment was poisoned by the partisanship of the people involved, then you’re against it; vote “no”.
Just what a RUSHUN ASSET would say!
The poor woman sitting behind Schumer looks somewhat displeased, I’d say. It’s like his diaper needs changing.
Game over, man
Trump also faced rebuke by more than 700 leading American historians who signed an open letter which said he should be removed.
“It is our considered judgment,” the historians wrote, “that if President Trump’s misconduct does not rise to the level of impeachment, then virtually nothing does.”
TW: Guardian.
Also prominently featured is the preposterous claim that Republican Senators are duty bound to ignore their duty to represent the wishes of the people who elected them, and pretend to be impartial jurors. Because the Democrats in Congress have conducted their investigation in a COMPLETELY apolitical and impartial manner.
I don’t see how you can’t be an impartial juror and take into account the procedures that were used in the house? Are jurors not allowed to balk at questionable police tactics? I think ignoring that would make you partial.
I don’t gather those historians are very familiar with history.
They probably read Zinn, so are worse than ignornant.
Leaving aside how one “leads” the field of American History (wait, are they specialists in American History, or Historians of American Descent?)…There’s seven hundred “leaders”?
https://reason.com/2019/12/18/breaking-fifth-circuit-declares-individual-mandate-unconstitutional-punts-on-whether-rest-of-aca-must-fall/
This is a VC link, not a Reason link.
From the Dissent
Any American can choose not to purchase health insurance without legal consequence. Before January 1, 2018, individuals had to choose between complying with the Affordable Care Act’s coverage requirement or making a payment to the IRS. For better or worse, Congress has now set that payment at $0. Without any enforcement mechanism to speak of, questions about the legality of the individual “mandate” are purely academic, and people can purchase insurance—or not—as they please. No more need be said; it has long been settled that the federal courts deal in cases and controversies, not academic curiosities.
Penaltax was bad. But the idea that that the federal government can mandate you to do whatever it wants you to do because there is not punishment is arguable worse.
And its not like putting the issue off is going to manage this guy’s docket any better. The ACA has used an incredible amount of lawyer and judge time.
Sadly, for some judges, that’s more important than getting a decision right, and he still fucks this up.
Adlers take is a poor one IMO.
Basically he is saying that the government can mandate anything it wants as long as there is no penalty, no one has standing to sue the government. So the Government could mandate that you vote one way, but if it doesn’t penalize you then you have no standing on Freedom of speach grounds. The fact is that some people will still follow the law regardless of their being no penalty, because they thing following the law is the right thing to do.
It’s further disingenuous when you consider that we must uphold the thing because it’s a tax, but otherwise it’s unconstitutional, but then when it’s not a tax, you can’t ask if this is unconstitutional (something Roberts already established) when the tax is repealed because you have no standing.
The idea he is putting forward is that when the government (the agent with a monopoly on force) says “You have to do x, but not doing so won’t give you a penalty” is not still a use of government power. In that case an employer saying “You have to have sex with me, but i’m not going to punish you if you don’t” is not exercising any illegal authority over their employees.
Yeah, Adler’s take on this has the benefit of being constant in his wrongness, so at least he’s got that gong for him. He gets too caught up in the trees and loses sight of the forest.
Yeah. I’m not a lawyer but Standing seems like a mess of “Fuck You government wins, you loose”. Especially in this case where, if there is a penalty, the thing is legal because it’s a tax, And if there is no penalty it’s de facto legal (even if we have the highest court saying it would be unconstitutional) because you have no standing.
To be clear, I’m not a lawyer either. But I did have a public school education, so…
You’re right about his views being consistent.
Sorry to belabor this point, but i got dragged down the rabbit hole of the comments at reason. Gosh those are awful. A lot of people mad because the case doesn’t follow the rules of standing that they think are right. It’s a microcosom of what is wrong with that part of “Libertarianism”. A Slavish enthrallment to the arcane ideas of legal proceedings. Questioning the idea that maybe the standing doctrine is wrong if it creates a situation where the government can do anything it wants as long as it doesn’t punish you is just right out.
Also geeze a lot of people who seem mad because people want to tear down the law, which is surprising to me. Why would they be reading at TOS?
Get The Hell Out Of Afghanistan Now
Yesterday I mailed a package to a neighbor’s son who is a Marine deployed there right now. I pray that he and his whole unit get back here without any of their lives being wasted on this idiocy.
He called Afghanistan a Shithole!
20 years ago I heard “This isn’t like the ‘Nam, this is the desert” I said “Bullshit, it’s exactly like ‘Nam without the canopy” , I could have added, “Only longer”.
Hope your friend (and all his associates) get to enjoy Christmas at home next year.
Kurt Schlichter can be a real tard on LOTS of issues but I am glad to see the right pivot to non-interventionism. I hope it lasts.
Honestly, if Ron Paul had given a speech in that tone, he’d have been president. I hear a lot of people say that non-interventionism doesn’t sell with conservatives. I disagree. Casting America as the bad guy (cynically, yes, even when we are) doesn’t sell with conservatives.
Of course, that “imparti9al juror” business is just more smokescreen for why the trial in the Senate needs to be a secret ballot.
Because fuck the voters. We’re saving democracy.
“Give me your best insult along the following parameters:
Cannot contain any of George Carlin’s forbidden words.
No racial, ethnic, or sexual epithets.
Thats it. No swearing, no calling somebody an Indio.”
I don’t think I can…
Jizz mop? Nope, too sexual.
Eurotrash? Nope, too ethnic.
Intersectional Progressive.
Sick burn!
OMG! UCS said the IP word! The gloves are off.
BEST TIMELINE!
Agreement renewal talks broke down.
Their king did break the accords.
He’s not the true king. He is a puppet of western CIA handlers and broke centuries old law and custom in military coup. Killmonger was the lawful king and was executed in the coup.
I was partial to armored rhino guy myself.
I wouldn’t make it as a tester for these things because i would use things like “Elbonia” for testing and have one of it’s exports being “Mud of varying qualities”. That would get leaked and then i’d get fired.
“Hydrolically Extracted Alluvial Minerals”, Leon.
And don’t forget ‘Pottery precursors’ and ‘Health and Beauty products’
There should be a disclaimer on the Health and Beauty, like YMMV. I can attest that some manufacturers’
stuff isn’t working but hope springs eternal for some of the fairer sex.
A few first-class militaries have specifications for muds of varying qualities to test the reliability of rifles. The army once had to rerun a bunch of reliability tests because it was discovered that some of their mud was out of spec.
We offer the best mud, high quality, comes with a guarantee to wear out any thing you can put in it, on it or through it.
Kids excepted, of course.
You can totally get NIST-traceable Certified Reference Material mud. And lime leaves. And pine needles, and…
“Did your parents have any children that lived?”
“Did your parents have any children that lived?”
“Sir, yes Sir!”
“I bet they regret that.”
It’s simply the best insult.
Just like the best threat is: “I used to fuck guys like you in prison.”
That scene from Full Metal Jacket made me think of how a Drill Sergeant must have a repertoire of insults, and also reactive/secondary insults.
Below I posted two insults of my own (admittedly, I was not being my best), and I recall thinking during the delivery what reactions I would have to respond to. Typing this now, I am reminded of the late Don Rickles.
This, SF, is not the best example I have seen of Rickles, yet I think that it should suffice.
The only believable part of that half movie was when the bathroom got redecorated.
“The only believable part of that half movie was when the bathroom got redecorated.”
Please elaborate for the sleep deprived and others.
I was trying to avoid spoilers. But I expected the sergeant to be shot sooner.
“Just like the best threat is: “I used to fuck guys like you in prison.””
ROAD HOUSE!
review of cats
https://twitter.com/davidfarrier/status/1207450843844243456
that did what all reviews aspire to do. namely, let us know if we should see it sober.
p.s. parking was ample
With a name like Farrier, you’d expect him to be reviewing horses, not cats.
“Unlike the thoroughbred, this breed’s leg bones are not hollow twigs.”
I cannot imagine a thing I’d rather see less, and I’m including a surprise vasectomy on myself.
Speaking of cats, my petite, female feline won’t stay out of the tree. Every day I come home and have to re-flair it out and replace the ornaments. It is a fake tree and she gets on the top of second of the three pieces, plays and flattens all the branches.
Could be worse. I saw a post on /r/guns recently where a guy has a sticker that says “Check Gun Safe For Cat Before Closing”
Incidentally she does try to get into my gun cabinet* when I have it open.
*Which, of course, has been empty since I tried to transport my collection down the James in a paddle-wheel during a thunderstorm. Wouldn’t you know it, the damn thing capsized.
A friend of mine was arguing with her husband while she was loading the dryer. She punched start and went out of the room to continue the battle.
Moments later they heard it:
“rowr!”
*thunk*
“rowr!”
*thunk*
“rowr!”
*thunk*
Yep. Kitty took a ride in the dryer. He was ok, though.
I feel kind of bad for laughing at that as hard as I did. But I do make a point to keep the cats out of the laundry room.
My old male cat won’t either. He clambers in between the presents and is probably drinking the water out of the tree stand. He’s senile, too, so he does it like every twenty minutes as if he’s just noticed there’s a tree in the room. Which I guess is nice, kind of like getting a surprise birthday party every few minutes.
Water? What for?
/artificial tree
Look at Mr. Moneybags over here with his fancy fake tree!
Seriously, I was astonished to find out how much a decent artificial tree goes for.
I actually don’t have a tree, but gorwing up we had one fake tree for the whole time. Amortized, it was cheaper and less hassle than dealing with live.
And worth every dime. Ours is pre-lit-too. If I had the storage room, I wouldn’t even take the decorations off.
Love my fake tree.
We do the $45 Home Depot job every year, string the lights, the whole shebang. It smells like a real tree, which is nice. On the other hand, we have to get rid of it, no matter how much water and “tree preserver” crap you put in the stand it sheds needles like a Golden Retriever, and by mid-January you’ve got a 6′ tall dead tree to deal with.
Especially with LEDs. Minimal fire hazard and I can forget to turn it off because its using like 5w.
Mine thinks he’s a puppy and plays fetch. Unfortunately, he wanted to play fetch at 430 a.m. amd attacked my sleeping face, awakening me violently, then he dropped his toy on me and jumped up and down on me.
I cannot wait for this to be on Netflix.
and lol
https://twitter.com/_PerziaN_/status/1207578393916694529
Shocking revelation
Millennial investors residing in California are packing their bags for friendlier tax climes.
That was one of the findings from a recent analysis by financial services firm Wealthfront. The company studied more than 200,000 clients, defining millennials as those born between 1980 and 1994.
Half of the young clients who are planning to leave California are fleeing to locales with lower taxes, according to the data.
More than 1 in 3 millennials who are moving from the Golden State are heading to states with no income tax, Wealthfront found.
Meanwhile, 14% of these young investors are leaving California for places with low property taxes.
Wealthfront’s findings are reflective of a larger trend. Last year, a total of 691,145 Californians packed up for other destinations, according to Census data.
I don’t even know what to say.
*staggers toward fainting couch*
Will they be self-aware enough to not vote for the policies that made their previous homes untenable?
https://imgflip.com/s/meme/Laughing-Men-In-Suits.jpg
Millennial investors? Doesn’t that imply millennials have money and not soul-crushing piles of debt?
By that metric I am one. My debt is well managed, consisting of a mortgage and a car loan, both of which are on their way to being paid off. I even have savings – and I’m too lazy to get a real job. Imagine what a motivated person would have.
“Imagine what a motivated person would have.”
I don’t have to imagine. I can see them when I lick the windows on the office buildings before they haul me away.
some of them majored in STEM fields. Lots of them don’t have kids.
I am a millennial, I majored in Chemistry, I have a mortgage, savings, and investments.
I’m mocking the stereotype.
Hopefully they aren’t going to act like the East Coasters that came to California and brought with them their votes for more taxes and more gun regs.
Amen. Fucking carpetbaggers ruined California.
Gone rogue…
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday defended her decision to hold off on sending impeachment articles to the Senate, calling Mitch McConnell a “rogue leader” in an unusual press conference where she repeatedly tried to shut down questions about the impeachment process.
Pelosi spoke to reporters after Democrats passed two articles of impeachment against President Trump in a Wednesday evening vote. She indicated the House would eventually send the articles over to the upper chamber, but insisted it is up to the Senate to determine how the process develops going forward.
“The next thing for us will be when we see the process that is set forth in the Senate, then we’ll know the number of managers that we may have to go forward, and who we would choose,” Pelosi said during a Thursday morning press conference.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday defended her decision to hold off on sending impeachment articles to the Senate, calling Mitch McConnell a “rogue leader”
Look i can get how if you are convinced that you are defending democracy that anyone against you is clearly against democracy (“If you aren’t with us, you are against us”). But if you are even slightly not convinced that this is the case, wouldn’t you be worried that the Speaker is going around saying all the other elected leaders in government are illegitimate?
I’ve been–very, very rarely–wrong about things before, but I suspect that the Democrats have stepped all over their own collective dick good and hard here. In the short term, they’ve burnt some bridges with moderates while failing to adequately deliver what the TDS leftists really wanted. In her flailing efforts to offer excuses to people who say things like, “YASSSSSS QUEEEN!” to AOC on Twitter, she’s going to irrevocably piss away any chance she had of getting Senate Republicans to offer a way for her to save face in the impeachment trial. In the longer term, the impeachment vote will cost vulnerable Democrats their seats and make Pelosi look weak. The Democrats may very well lose the House over this AND further weaken the moderates in the party.
That or this is Mueller Report 2.0…..”We drug that out through the mid-terms, we just need to keep this charade up through Nov 2020″
Honestly I’m not sure at this point. They’re either cunningly stupid or stupidly cunning.
Pelosi’s a wily bugger, but this has the feel of having a tiger by the tail. I’m not sure she’s fully in control of the pace of this thing, and hasn’t been for some time. Like she’s been scrambling to stay in front of the parade so that everyone knows she’s leading it, type of thing.
it was her only move and it’s a delaying tactic more than anything. the votes are not there in the Senate.
Brit Hume called it: this was half-assed
You’ve got to be kidding me. As far as I’m concerned, McConnell should start making a joke out of the entire thing. If McConnell pussies out on this, the Republicans deserve what they get. The Senate isn’t answerable to the House. And the Majority Leader should make a point of reminding the Speaker of that.
“Rogue Leader” has a cool ring to it. Cocaine Mitch’s team will run with it. turn that pejorative into a positive.
My biggest fear in life is passing gas in my office, but realizing that I actually sharted. Am I the only one who has nightmares about this?
Depends.
*thunderous applause*
“My biggest fear in life is passing gas in my office, but realizing that I actually sharted. Am I the only one who has nightmares about this?”
“Depends.”
Nicely deposited.
Consider this pun number 2.
I wish i could float puns like you guys.
It’s more about pushing them out
Those who can’t teach, those who can dodo
“Nightmares? No, not nightmares.”
-German guy
I never ever ever had a dream about showing up to school in my underwear.
Then one day a few months ago i had one about showing up to a work briefing in my briefs.
I’ve done that. I was a little sick at the time. I was able to go home without anyone knowing.
Thank you for the serious response on a serious question, Matt. I ate Thai food last night and I am currently working in fear.
Hope noting happens; if I had an embarrassing accident from chowing down on Thai food people would surely banh mi.
That’s a heck of a first comment, Tulpa.
/haven’t been around much, sorry if you’ve posted before
For real, talk about goin’ hard in the paint.
Is that you, Swalwell?
Well done
I’m watching Rifftrax “Santa’s Summer House” since I have nothing to do today. It may be the most laughably bad movie I’ve seen them riff on yet and they’ve done some REALLY bad movies. It has the feel of a medium-budget porno that refuses to get past the dialogue/story part.
Anyhoo……is 9AM too early to start drinking?
In which time zone?
is 9AM too early to start drinking?
Does a shower-beer count?
It’s a good day to stay home because as usual, Spokane can’t do proper snow control for the morning commute.
Ah, good to see you here when I’m still on! Yeah, I figured the roads would be a disaster this morning so I’m chilling by the wood stove. Let me know if you’d like to grab beer sometime: mtman four one nine at gee mail
Will do. I have some travel for work coming up so it will be after the holidays.
I’ll probably have to chain up to get home today because I decided to live up a fucking mountain.
But so far it is not looking as bad as the winter storm warning sounds.
The only one’s I can think of that fit these parameters are some of Shakespeare’s insults. I’m partial to “you are not worth the dust that the rude wind blows in your face”.
Did you Bite your thumb at me sir?
Good
You are the scum that scum scrapes off it’s shoes.
Stolen from Carla Tortelli.
You’re better than that.
Not really
“Terrible, terrible lapse in judgment, but it does not make him a terrible man.”
Umm…
https://www.foxnews.com/us/american-airlines-mechanic-pleads-guilty-to-sabotaging-plane-in-miami
I’ve never had a problem deciding whether or not sabotaging a passenger jet would be a morally good or bad thing to do.
You remind me of Amy Schumer. Just maybe not as masculine.
“Cannot contain any of George Carlin’s forbidden words.
No racial, ethnic, or sexual epithets.
Thats it. No swearing, no calling somebody an Indio.”
Here is an exchange that actually occurred:
Charles: “Do you know what I like about you?”
Them: “No.”
Charles: “Me either.”
Here is another one: “You are solidified flatulence.”
Given the general comity some of you have seen me display in my commentary on “TOS” and here, I will leave it up to you to surmise whether the recipients of the above comments were deserving of such acrimony.
Charles: “Do you know what I like about you?”
Them: “No.”
Charles: “Me either.”
*golf clap*
Pelosi spoke to reporters after Democrats passed two articles of impeachment against President Trump in a Wednesday evening vote. She indicated the House would eventually send the articles over to the upper chamber, but insisted it is up to the Senate to determine how the process develops going forward.
“The next thing for us will be when we see the process that is set forth in the Senate, then we’ll know the number of managers that we may have to go forward, and who we would choose,” Pelosi said during a Thursday morning press conference.
Something something don’t ask a question you don’t already know the answer to.
Hopefully they aren’t going to act like the East Coasters that came to California and brought with them their votes for more taxes and more gun regs.
An old Roy Rogers movie from the early fifties, probably, came on the other morning. I watched it for a while. California really was like paradise on earth, seventy or eighty years ago. Look at it now.
McConnell in “no hurry”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/no-hurry-mcconnell-waves-off-pelosi-threat-to-withhold-impeachment-articles
Senate Republicans, led by McConnell, have settled on a trial strategy that forgoes witness testimony and would move straight to a vote to convict or acquit Trump after hearing arguments from House Democrats and Trump’s legal team.
just send those articles over whenever you’re ready. i’ll be over here in the Senate approving gobs more Federal judges.
McConnell should make abundantly clear to Ms. Pelosi that a vote to convict or acquit is the best option she’s going to get. If she plays any more games, she’ll get a trial. A trial engineered to create such a shitstorm that people’s grandchildren will be talking about it.
Yeah… The House is trying to play a weird game. I mean it could work cause they have the Propagandists on their side, but what they are trying to do is trying to sell impeachment to the Senate republicans. I think Mitchs take is the best he could give which is: I’m not interested in what you are selling.
So now the House and Pelosi will be in the somewhat untenable position that they voted for impeachment but aren’t going to go forward with it. They can cry about the Senate all they want, but I’m not surprised if that would make Senate Republicans more staunch. Having someone who has no authority over you try to dictate what you are going to do only is going to make people less likely to do what you want.
Not that it would matter much, cause I’m sure that the articles could be re-voted on party line again, but would the House have to re-vote at the start of the next session?
Which is another thing, The only selling point of “Get this impeachment done now” is that democrats would agree to not do it again if Trump is acquitted. They have already undercut that with their words and actions.
The media has trouble understanding pistols rifles, and apparently even guns.
I like how the twits in the article are done in Comic Sans. All Twits should be rendered that way, gives them the appropriate reverence and gravitas twitter deserves.
Lol. Wait till they find out about the 155 mm Guns
(yes i know those are 6 inches, but if they thing the gun is 5 inches long, then they probably don’t know how to do the conversion from mm to inches)
“Those must be huge, you can fit a whole person in there”
/journo who tried to do the math.
Never apologize!