Saturday Morning I’m Back Links

Of course, I arrive in Phoenix and the first thing they have me do at my new job is… fly back to Wisconsin. Just in time for a massive snowstorm. It made me feel nostalgic. And cold. But I’m back in the desert now, ready for my next 39.9 years of wandering. And although a journey usually begins with a single step, in this case the journey will begin with a Links post.

I’ve been remiss about birthdays, but today is a good one to make up for that: self-deprecating ventriloquist Edgar Bergen; America’s Dad who didn’t drug and rape anyone, Hugh Beaumont (insert Beaver jokes here); ski expert Sonny Bono; and the guy who made it OK to wear an air filter on your face, LeVar Burton.

Next up, the news.


 

The speech that launched a thousand lawsuits. Of course, none of them were about the real issue of a waste of money (except the ones who also wanted to waste the money, just on different stupid ideas).

 

Expect laser sights to be declared assault weapons. Bonus points for noting that the gunman “went ballistic.”

 

The libertarian moment is upon us! Which will come as zero surprise to any of us who already had zero expectations that Team Red was any different than Team Blue.

 

If you lament our continuing losses of liberty under the aegis of counter-terrorism, close your eyes and think of England.

 

I’m not a Catholic, so please forgive this question: Why don’t you guys just burn the fucking thing to the ground and start over?

 

In the ongoing psychodrama of Jussie Smollett, two guys put in cages have been freed. No word on how they’ll be able to extract compensation from a guy who is about to become asset-free.

 

Not the brightest fellows in the world.

 

“Vapin’ in the boys’ room…” Schools really are prisons, as if we needed reminders. My cynical mind wonders if the supplier is the brother-in-law of a school official…? Nawww, I’m still thinking in Chicago mode.

 

And yet more of the same. Because our kids can’t ever be too safe, right? /starts looking at whose brother-in-law supplies THIS technology…

 

I love the idea that lawsuits based on scientific claims are presided over by guys in black robes who couldn’t tell you how a molecule holds together and decided by twelve people who couldn’t tell you what a molecule is. But hey, lots of lawyers make lots of money, so it’s all OK.

 


Old Guy Music, and literally. What happens when two old guys who happen to be legendary guitarists sit on a couch and just lay out? I think it would go something like this:

Comments

349 responses to “Saturday Morning I’m Back Links”

  1. Fourscore

    And a hearty Midwest Welcome Back it is. Good to see you today and everyday. Now the trains will finally be on time and on track. Thanks OMWC.


    1. “Did you say Trains run on time?”

        1. AlmightyJB

          Nice

  2. straffinrun

    “But with this particular president, no bets are safe in assuming the courts will completely defer to him … Presidents traditionally get tremendous deference, but Trump is not going to get the same level of deference.”

    Can’t wait until we get this deference thing back in 2020 or 2024.

    1. People think that having the law apply differently based on whether the person it’s being applied to is icky or not is a good thing.

      /smdh

  3. Scruffy Nerfherder

    The men, who were arrested Wednesday, were released “due to new evidence as a result of today’s interrogations,” said Chicago police Chief Communications Officer Anthony Guglielmi. “And detectives have additional investigative work to complete.”

    How tight is Jussie’s asshole getting now?

    1. Cy

      The retraction will be nothing compared to the publicity he initially benefited from. Just like the Covington incident. The damage is done. The left gaslighted another ‘victory’ in their victimhood.

      1. straffinrun

        The retraction will be huge. It just won’t be heard by half the population unlike the allegations which were heard by everybody. Are there people out there that still believe the Duke LaCrosse players are guilty? *Crosses fingers and hopes that’s a “no”*

        1. commodious spittoon

          Maybe not rape, but they did kill a prosecutor’s career.

          1. juris imprudent

            That was suicide, at most they assisted.

    2. Lackadaisical

      Is he a top or bottom?

      1. Rhywun

        I was going to make a butt-plug joke but thought it would be tasteless. I should have known better.

  4. Cy

    Meanwhile in Chicago:

    https://heyjackass.com/

    1. straffinrun

      I’ve been looking for a new profile pic. Thanks.

  5. straffinrun

    Why even have a Republican Party any more?

    Got me. Anyone got an answer?

    1. l0b0t

      Because the Globetrotters need the Generals?

    2. Bob Boberson

      Because Big Brother doesn’t work without Emanuel Goldstein?

      1. Raphael

        Gotta have your boogeyman party.

    3. Yeah, because they… I mean… Uh… Uhm.

      Huh.

    4. juris imprudent

      Every coin has two sides.

        1. Old Man With Candy

          +1 Frank Gorshin.

          1. Scruffy Nerfherder

            That’s blasphemous. Gorshin was the Riddler.

            Fun fact: Clint Eastwood was in talks to play the role of Two-Face on the TV series, but it was cancelled before they filmed it.

          2. Lackadaisical

            That seems like it would have been good casting.

    5. AlmightyJB

      So they can pretend we have a choice.

      1. Nikkodemus

        This guy gets it.

  6. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Letters to the Local Rag: Wait, what?

    I used to believe the lies of capitalism. But after many years of higher education and decades of hard work, I find myself unemployed again, laid off by yet another company struggling to compete for a shrinking customer base. I am also trying to keep a roof over my head and avoid foreclosure. Judging from the suicide and overdose death rate of older women, I guess I’m not alone. So from my perspective, democratic socialism is looking pretty good. The sooner it is implemented, the better for this country. Capitalism failed miserably in Venezuela, leading to a socialist revolution there, and it looks like the same thing is happening to this country, although without the violence (as of right now). I do not envy the rich, like some people claim. I’m just seeking to survive and make a decent living, like everyone else I know.

    1. Cy

      #russiantroll

    2. straffinrun

      I used to believe in proven theories until my anecdotal experience gave me an excuse to jettison empirical evidence.

    3. ElspethFlashman

      Ooookay. So to recap it’s “I’m depressed because I was laid off, so I should embrace socialist ideas, or kill myself?”

      1. What a difficult decision….

      2. Cy

        Also, I <3 Socialism so Venezuela is going in the shitter because of capitalism.

      3. Lackadaisical

        “The latter please.”

        -everyone else

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        Nah, probably a resident of Williamsburg, which is 87% blue in any given election.

        1. *sigh*

          I wish there was a way to pretend that nobody is that stupid. But alas, there it is, in print.

    4. Suthenboy

      It is difficult for me to decide sometimes if these people are completely nuts or just spouting propaganda.

    5. Rufus the Monocled

      #narcissisticignoranttwat.

      Also. Chavez was a capitalist?

    6. Lackadaisical

      But after many years of higher education and decades of hard work, I find myself unemployed again,

      Huh… how many years and in what?

      laid off by yet another company struggling to compete for a shrinking customer base.

      Maybe find a business sector which is growing, not shrinking?

    7. J. Frank Parnell

      This person should probably learn to code.

    8. Pope Jimbo

      I almost feel bad for some of these people.

      In the old days, because of the limitations in communication, a lot of inefficiency was needed in a company. Mediocrities could spend an entire career shuffling paper and not working too hard.

      Now that one company can automate the communication between themselves and their business partners all those inefficient louts are being let go. No more cushy jobs taking the faxes from the customers and giving them to the engineers.

      It would suck to watch all the old timers shuffle off in comfortable ease and now that it is your turn to phone it in, the game changes and you are actually expected to work hard.

      1. Pope Jimbo

        I’m sure all those paper shufflers though would scream about their Amazon packages taking 2-4 weeks to show up though.

        1. Akira

          That’s my gripe with the “save American jobs” people as well. They bemoan that many products are made in China, but you can bet they’d be bitching if they had to pay $50 for underwear or $20 for a coffee mug.

          Obviously, the government should not be imposing regulations that make American manufacturing too expensive. But cheap labor is just factor of production that can and should be used to our advantage.

  7. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Letters to the Local Rag: Surgeons Hardest hit

    I have observed that some medical doctors and nurses do not have enough empathy to be compassionate. They have enough intelligence to become a doctor or a nurse, but lack enough empathy to be helpful. This causes the patient to experience more stress and illness. All public contact personnel who care for the sick or old people should be required to take an E.Q. test to find out if they have the empathy to be helpful. If they do not, they are doing more harm than good.

    1. Cy

      Ok, fess up, these are from the Onion, right?

        1. Pope Jimbo

          I can’t even…

          That url. My dyslexia. Most disappointing fucking web page ever.

    2. Politicians have far less empathy than doctors.

    3. Fuck EQ with a rusty auger.

    4. Viking1865

      I’m going to guess that’s a fat person, probably a woman, who just got back from the doctor’s office where he/she/xir was told that she’s got serious health issues on the horizon absent losing weight.

      1. Tulip

        Or someone who was treated badly by an asshole. But, I’m sure it was just some woman who is totally undeserving of any sympathy.

    5. robc

      A recent econtalk suggested that a large part of the placebo effect may be due to caring about the patient.

      Because clinical trials depend on the patient showing up, they are taken well care of, and the placebo effect is huge, making it harder to prove drugs work.

    6. Tulip

      When I asked for an ice pack for my face, I was told I had to wait until my blood test came back. I said, for an ice pack? Took a long time to get it. Not the first time I’ve had asshole nurses. So, I understand where this person is coming from.

      1. Lackadaisical

        ^this.

        The writer isn’t wrong about empathy being important to patient outcomes. Not sure an EQ test is the solution (tests are racist still, right?).

        1. Quote from my mandatory EQ training at work:

          POC, women, and LGBTQ have higher EQ because they have had to navigate an oppressive system to get where they are.

          1. Lackadaisical

            Jesus. I would bail, if I could.

          2. Unfortunately all the other jobs I’m qualified for are objectively worse working conditions, even accounting for the higher pay.

            I’ll take the progressive indoctrination if it means that I make enough money to pay off my student loan AND get to see my family on a regularr basis.

          3. The good thing is I sit next to a randian objectivist and know of a few more shitlords in the department, so we tend to scathingly mock the prog stuff when it comes. It makes it a bit more bearable.

          4. Lackadaisical

            so we tend to scathingly mock the prog stuff when it comes. It makes it a bit more bearable.

            That would make it a lot more bearable.

            Everyone in my department makes fun of the mandatory trainings as well, but they’re not openly racist against us either.

          5. R C Dean

            Sounds like a laydown case for race and sex discrimination and a hostile work environment.

            Or it would, if it wasn’t identifying untermeschen as the inferior group.

        2. Tulip

          Sure, EQ tests are unlikely to help. I don’t know how you find compassionate people, plus make sure they never have a bad day. Just pointing out this is a real issue, and sucks more than normal to deal with assholes when you are sick or hurt.

          1. Lackadaisical

            Isn’t that what face-to-face interviews are for? Usually that shines through, not always of course, but I would think if the hiring environment for medicine was more competitive, employers could shit can and/or not hire people they suspect of being mean to the customers.

          2. Mojeaux

            Meh, nirses are in such sort supply, I don’t think they have the luxury of being that choosy.

          3. Lackadaisical

            I would think if the hiring environment for medicine was more competitive

            Exactly. 🙂

          4. Mojeaux

            My bad, sorry. I blame my gnat-like attention span.

          5. R C Dean

            Outside of a few specialties (surgery, intensive care, ED), you can definitely afford to shitcan a nurse.

            The good news is , surgical nurses don’t need to be nice because their patients are unconscious.

      2. Pope Jimbo

        I think it is a shitshow for both sides.

        Yes, the health care personnel can cross the line and be assholes. On the other hand, they have to deal with people who are in pain and not on their best behavior either.

        My mother is a classic bad patient. Actually when she has been the patient she’s not too bad. The problem is when it is my father who is in the hospital. Mom gets super protective and if a nurse or doctor doesn’t click their heels and snap to attention when she makes a “request” she becomes convinced that that person has a bad attitude and it gets ugly.

        My sister and I have had conversations with Mom about that, but it doesn’t take hold. The sister and I will usually pre-apologize with the staff and explain that my mom is going to get snippy but it is because she is scared about Dad.

        Let’s face it. Any health care interactions are usually a shitty deal. Healthy, happy people don’t have to interact with nurses and doctors. Only sick, scared people do.

        And before you think, I’m pro-health care professional, I’m completely with you on the fact that too many of them have an attitude that begrudges sick people showing up their work and fucking up everything with their whining.

        1. Mojeaux

          Start here: Things I learn from my patients

          Always pay your drug dealer! Bad things happen when you don’t pay.

          1. Pope Jimbo

            lol.

            We’d always tell mom that if she had to yell at someone, yell at a doctor. Nurses do all the real work and antagonizing them has actual consequences. Also yelling at a doctor usually leads to the nurses liking you.

    7. Mojeaux

      I can’t remember what book I was listening to, but they made a statement that very good doctors with a horrible bedside manner were sued more often for a mess-up than incompetent doctors who had a great bedside manner. Apparently, malpractice insurance companies sat up and took notice.

      1. R C Dean

        I believe it. Anyone in the biz will tell you its not patients with bad outcomes who sue, its patients who are angry who sue. Part of our workup of every incident/potential claim is what the patient’s/family’s temperature is.

        For some reason, this reminds me that in one of our cases, we will be introducing the family’s Facebook account, which has comments thanking us for our care, and bragging about how well their kid is doing. They are suing us anyway.

    8. mr simple

      take an E.Q. test

      “And after that they can do an implicit bias test to make sure they’re treating everyone the same and then use feng shui to make sure their offices are aligned for maximum health infusion and then burn some sage (or whatever) to get rid of evil spirits and then whatever else is in this week’s edition of Pseudoscientific Crap Weekly.”

  8. I didn’t see it in the overnight thread, but Bruno Ganz has died.

    Cue somebody to make a Youtube post about the reaction to his death

    1. OK, there’s this from six months ago….

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      They should have put a time limit on it, but that would have made sense.

    2. Sensei

      The ambulance chaser ads have been running non stop on the local radio for the past two months.

      1. Rhywun

        I’ve been seeing them on TV for years. They say – in not so many words – that they’ll basically throw cash at anyone who was in the vicinity and gets the sniffles.

        *sets reminder to jot down phone number next time*

    3. Lackadaisical

      It’s been 18 years….

      Exactly, a lot of the people who were working nearby are probably starting to get older, sicker and retired.

      1. Rhywun

        Yeah, I went back to work a block away the following week. I breathed in what was left of that air for week$.

        1. Lackadaisical

          How long have you had that cough? 😉

          1. Rhywun

            Let me pick up smoking again, and get back to you.

  9. Scruffy Nerfherder

    That reminds me, I need to get a laser/flashlight combo for my Mossberg Shockwave.

  10. straffinrun

    Strip bars in 2019 are cranking out Vapin’ in the Trans Room

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Vince Neil does look like a tranny.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Sure it’s not Kurt Eichenwald?

      1. straffinrun

        That was research!

    2. commodious spittoon

      Who puts a desk up against a sliding glass door?

      1. Sean

        Apparently Asians.

      2. Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s the mirrored ceiling for the internet porn generation.

  11. straffinrun

    He has previously denied the allegations, saying he has “absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse.”

    That evoked a hearty LOL. “I absolutely don’t remember remembering that!”

  12. cyto

    Posting from my phone…

    A nutpunch of a sort:

    https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/02/16/us/baltimore-judge-overturns-korryn-gaines-shooting-verdict/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F

    A mom is killed by police in front of her 5 year old son, who is also shot twice. Jury awards millions..

    Judge says the award “shocks the conscience” and sets it aside.

    Says cop was just being a cop. So qualified immunity applies – which means it cannot be an unlawful shoot.

    1. Sean

      All over a traffic ticket? That’s hardcore.

      1. cyto

        But it doesn’t shock the conscience.

        Suggesting that it might be wrong to shoot a mother and child under those circumstances, now that shocks the conscience.

    2. commodious spittoon

      Gaines vacillated between agitated and calm during the encounter, he said. Several times she pointed the shotgun at officers.

      According to court documents, Gaines would not let her son leave. She was quoted in the documents as saying, “I have a gun you have a gun the only difference between you and me is that I’m ready to die and you’re not.”

      Erm.

      1. Suthenboy

        Yeah, I am having some difficulty with this one.

        1. That assumes the pigs are being truthful.

          1. Suthenboy

            Thus the difficulty. Did she do what they said? How do you end up shooting a 5yo kid?
            The whole thing stinks from one end to the other but who knows what really happened?
            If even half of what the cops say is true, what would you do in that situation?

          2. Suthenboy

            yep.

    3. Cy

      “The man, Kareem Courtney, was wanted on an assault warrant, while Gaines was wanted on a bench warrant over failure to appear in court to face traffic charges, police said.”

      They were unclean. The purge was lawful!

    4. Aus

      Yeah… you’ll want to watch the videos on this one. Both of the traffic stop and the showdown in her home. She was delusional to say the least. It’s been a while since ive watched things about this one but iirc the police actually weren’t the bad ones here. But again, its been a while.

    5. Pope Jimbo

      Justine Damond’s surviving family has a sad.

  13. Sensei

    My friend in Japan just sent over this 80s gem from Japan – 私をスキーに連れて行って

    Trailer – https://youtu.be/88269zAFAkQ

    Full movie on YouTube -https://youtu.be/nfva16u25ec

    English review / description – http://neojaponisme.com/2007/12/22/watashi-wo-ski-ni-tsuretette/

    Oh my. It’s like “Better Off Dead”, but serious. Lane Myer: Gee, I’m really sorry your mom blew up, Ricky.

    1. straffinrun

      Was this your friend?

      1. Sensei

        Oh my…

        Actually this particular friend and I both enjoy classical music. I do, however, drive her nuts with my enjoyment for J-Pop. I’m not alone here as her son just went to a Perfume concert.

        https://youtu.be/q6T0wOMsNrI

          1. Sensei

            Try this.

            https://youtu.be/UBmBGKjFuRQ

            Made my friend I spoke about above head explode.

    2. Tejicano

      Reminds me of a bunch of business trips I had to Japan in the late 80’s/ early 90’s after being away for a few years. Yuming on the soundtrack seals it.

      You don’t have enough money to pay me to watch it.

      1. straffinrun

        Kinda dig the bushy eye brows and the tsunami wave bangs.

        1. Tejicano

          I’m kinda nostalgic for bubble-era Japan but that’s a long, long time ago and it’s not coming back.

          I preferred late-70’s Japan in a lot of ways.

          1. Raphael

            Yeah I really dug the music from late 70s-late 80s Japan. I thank vaporwave for introducing me to it.

          2. Tejicano

            Oohh.. I wasn’t too aware of the music then. I was saying that I enjoyed Japan much more back then. Definitely more downsides for a Gaijin back then but the upsides were special.

          3. Raphael

            Ah, I got you now. My bad.

      2. Sensei

        Yes. She and I both enjoy Yumin.

        I was bit surprised when she opened “Kiki’s Delivery Service”. Not the lyrics you’d expect on a kids’ movie. Great song, however.

        1. Tejicano

          I didn’t say I enjoy Yuming as much as state that her music evokes that period in time in Japan. I guess it’s OK – haven’t listened to it since then.

          I did prefer Kubota Toshinobu much more.

          1. Sensei

            Not that i’d throw a bunch of her albums on, but to me it’s all new music. So it’s fun to hear it for the first time.

            Same way I’d feel about the BeeGees. In retrospect they did have talent, but after Disco burn out and hearing it on the radio I can safely say I don’t need to hear another one of their songs again.

          2. Fourscore

            I enjoyed Paris in the ’50s and’60s but as a much younger man. I have no interest now, Paris may not have aged but I certainly have.

            It may not be music…

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Judge says the award “shocks the conscience” and sets it aside.

    Says cop was just being a cop. So qualified immunity applies – which means it cannot be an unlawful shoot.

    Rule of Law, FTW!

    I’m not the sort of person vigilante who would just go around hanging judges from lampposts as an educational exercise, but if I were…

    1. cyto

      To anyone listening in on this conversation… He did not use the word “woodchipper”, so it is totally OK.

      1. leon

        I heard Dante had special places in hell.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    As for the defrocked cardinal, did they make him crawl through the streets of the Vatican on his hands and knees in a filthy nightgown while the peasants pelted him with rotten vegetables, horse dung and cobblestones to receive his notice of termination?

    If not, they should.

  16. Tundra

    Good morning, Old Man!

    Welcome back and I hope the trip was successful.

    The vape detector story is nauseating.

    “We’ll get either get a text message on the phone, or I’ll also get an email, if I’m sitting in my office, at my desk, and that will alert us to the exact location and what bathroom it is, and we can come out here and meet the student or students that have been in that bathroom,” said Assistant Principal Carl Nasuta.

    Being caught comes with a stiff penalty, sometimes suspension. Kory says the goal isn’t to punish students but to help educate them.

    Oh, ok then. When I was in high school, we had an outdoor smoking area, complete with ashtrays. Also, the vent hood in the darkroom was a favorite place to smoke. And nothing else happened.

    1. cyto

      The difference now is that vaping is mostly harmless.

      So…. Crackdown?

      1. mr simple

        There’s been a sharp uptick in teen’s vaping! Uptick!

    2. Fatty Bolger

      We recently got a notice from our school system that possession of a vaping device will now automatically be treated as a drug offense, rather than the lighter offense of cigarette smoking. They may reduce it to a smoking offense after a clean drug screening test taken within 24 hours.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        That’s just assholish.

      2. The War on Drugs really is wicked, isn’t it.

      3. “We have less to panic about, so we will simply panic harder!”

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          Don’t panic, and remember your towel.

        2. Sensei

          Well put.

      4. Mad Scientist

        Have we got an education for your child!

    3. Akira

      I went to a sort of vocational/trade high school for junior and senior year, and kids in the welding lab used to smoke weed underneath the smoke-sucking vents.

      1. Semi-Spartan Dad

        I had a friend who would stuff a bunch of dryer sheets into a paper towel roll. He thought blowing the smoke through it would remove the scent. No clue if it was successful.

        1. Akira

          Haha oh shit, I did that too.

          I would actually smoke weed in my bedroom with a window fan in backwards, then I’d lean against the fan so that the smoke went out the window. Sometimes I used that fabric softener trick to mask some of the inevitable smoke that would waft into the room.

    4. Fourscore

      “When Tundra was in high school”

      About the same time in TX the larger districts had alternative schools for the pregnant and student mothers, truants, behavioral problems, etc. The kids over there loved being able to smoke, no mean teachers making learning fun. And they were counted for state and fed aid.

      1. Mad Scientist

        Same thing in Denver. I attended one of those schools for a while.

      2. Akira

        I think they did that with the vocation/trade high school that I went to. I heard a lot of anecdotes about girls at the regular high school becoming pregnant, then immediately being pressured by the principal into switching to that other school.

    5. R C Dean

      Kory says the goal isn’t to punish students but to help educate them.

      Typically, when your goal is to not do X, you don’t adopt a policy that you do X.

    6. Pope Jimbo

      In my high school, the guys that smoked were expected to go outside and smoke in back of some trees by some temporary classrooms. The girls who smoked all stayed inside and smoked in one of the bathrooms.

      It was known, but no one in the faculty gave a shit.

      And when we were 18 we were treated as adults. You couldn’t be busted for smoking anymore and could write your own absentee notes.

  17. straffinrun

    D’oh: Only 1 state passes US citizenship test, DC fails big

    Only one-in-four nationally passed the 20-questions.

    In its latest test, the Foundation said that 15 percent of adults knew the year the Constitution was written and only 25 percent knew how many amendments there are.

    1. juris imprudent

      Only stupid people participate in polls? That would explain a lot.

    2. nw

      Memorizing trivia is what confirms you should be a citizen?

      Let’s see… 1787 and 27? How’d I do… (checks the internet
      for facts) … ok, looks like I was right on both, but they were
      both guesses.

      Maybe we should put potential immigrants on Jeopardy.
      You win, you’re in. That way we’ll only let winners in, and
      they’ll have some money.

      1. MikeS

        I was off by a few on both. I guess I’m a terrible citizen…even though I serve on my township board, am a member of the Sons of the American Legion, donate to a few different charities…

    3. Mad Scientist

      “Unfortunately, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation has validated what studies have shown for a century: Americans don’t possess the history knowledge they need to be informed and engaged citizens,” said Foundation President Arthur Levine.

      The Woodrow Wilson Foundation. That’s about all I need to know.

      1. prolefeed

        Because knowing how many amendments have been made to the Constitution, and not knowing that socialism is destroying Venezuela, is sufficient knowledge to become a citizen …

        Memorizing trivia while missing the big picture.

  18. Rufus the Monocled

    “Why don’t you guys just burn the fucking thing to the ground and start over?”

    Because destroying and burning things to the ground is what Democrats and left-wingers do.

    1. Cy

      Nah, they get it sick and slowly drain it’s blood until it dies. Then they blame someone else.

  19. juris imprudent

    Were those two guitarists keeping the same time? I mean the playing was awesome, but it sure looked like they were keeping different time with their feet/legs.

    1. Sensei

      That last minute Hail Mary didn’t work to well, did it…

  20. Chernobyl: The end of a three-decade experiment

    Many suspect that the radiation has or will cause other cancers, but the evidence is patchy.

    Prof Richard Wakeford, from the University of Manchester’s Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, points out that health studies look for a “signal” of a specific health effect linked to Chernobyl.

    They aim to pick out that signal above the “background noise” from other causes. That has been incredibly difficult, primarily because of the huge background noise that was the almost simultaneous upheaval of the Soviet Union’s collapse.

    “It’s assumed that there will be some cancers linked to the accident in addition to the thyroid cancers, but detecting them amid that socioeconomic chaos – that had its own impacts on people’s health – has proven almost impossible,” says Prof Wakeford. Cancer also affects between a third and a half of people in Europe, so any Chernobyl signal is likely to be small.

    Amid reports of other health problems – including birth defects – it still is not clear if any can be attributed to radiation.

  21. Raphael

    That Cardinal is disgusting and yet another shame to add to the Church. Also welcome back Mr. Candy Man.

    1. straffinrun

      They really not to stop using the term “defrocked” in cases like this.

      1. Raphael

        They really do, I’ve never been a fan of that term.

  22. Model who wants to be ‘real-life sex doll’ claims obsession nearly killed her

    Over the years she’s splashed $5,000 on a nose job, and thousands more in lip fillers and Botox.

    She went from her natural B cup to a 30GG with 1,200 cc implants, forking out a massive $20,000 for her new boobs, but said her sugar daddy paid for her third.

    In an interview with Barcroft from 2017, she said: “I found my sugar daddy on Instagram. I wasn’t like looking for him.”

    “He asked me if there was anything that I would like and I said that I would like bigger boobs,” she said. “I have never met my sugar daddy. I’ve only spoken to him on the phone. Obviously, if someone wants to pay my bills or surgeries and is content to not having a physical relationship with me that is fine.”

    1. commodious spittoon

      Charlie’s bang gal.

  23. Semi-Spartan Dad

    Good morning Glibs,

    Can I ask some advice? I had a couple excellent interviews at Company A and was told they wanted to fly me out onsite, but I would need to phone interview a higher-up first before they were allowed to do that. It’s been radio silence for two weeks since.

    In the meantime, I’m having onsite interviews scheduled at two other companies. When I follow up with Company A about their timeline, would it be a good idea to mention the other late-stage interviews I have scheduled? Company A would be such a great opportunity, and I thought mentioning the other onsite interviews might help nudge them as my timeline is now speeding up.

    This is a spinoff of my vent a few weeks ago. I appreciated hearing the Glib perspectives on that and it motivated me to start job searching.

    1. RAHeinlein

      No.

      1. Semi-Spartan Dad

        Thanks.

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      If they’re truly interested and you have a specialized skill set, mentioning the other interviews is perfectly acceptable. Somebody might need a reminder that the jobseeker has other irons in the fire.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        To clarify, you can tell them that you have other interviews going on and are looking to make a decision soon. Names of other companies are not to be used.

        1. Sensei

          Correct!

        2. Semi-Spartan Dad

          Thanks and yes on both. I would not mention the other company names.

          1. I agree with Scruffy _”Hey, just checking in – I am going to need to make a decision soon…”

          2. Semi-Spartan Dad

            Thanks.

    3. Sensei

      As long as you are straight with Company Radio Silence and willing to get called on what you tell them I’ve had good luck with an aggressive approach.

      I’d really like to work for Radio Silence, but I have another opportunity that seems close. In order to be fair to Company Second Choice if I’m offered the position I’m going to take it and that will end our discussions unfortunately.

      1. Semi-Spartan Dad

        Yes, I wouldn’t be quite that direct, but it’d be nice to get past the stall on this one.

    4. Tundra

      It’s tough to put pressure on companies like that. Some people are fine with that approach, but others want to believe they are your one and only and respond accordingly.The fact that they are slow can mean almost anything and isn’t necessarily indicative of their interest.

      I would first try to ascertain their timeline and work from there, particularly if that’s the one you really want. If they can’t give you that, then move on.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        As someone who employed engineers in a mid-size corporation, my perspective comes from being beholden to higher-ups and HR when trying to make a hire. Foot-dragging by VPs can kill a good hire and sometimes you need the ammo to push the process along.

        As a general rule of thumb, HR does not respond well to hearing about the interviewer’s other opportunities, because they don’t have a vested interest in the hire and the fit of the person in the organization. Sharing that info with the motivated person is key.

        1. Sensei

          Yes. Corporate HR is a bloody pain in the neck.

        2. Semi-Spartan Dad

          Thanks for the different perspectives and discussion on this. Unfortunately, all I have is a good guess on the hiring manager’s email and would need to copy the HR partner in case I guess wrong (I do have the HR email).

          Company B is very interested and accelerated the process for me (strong opportunity here too). I would hate to miss out on Company A though if it’s just a delay from the VP.

    5. creech

      I’ve been on enough interviews in career to know that you can never tell what is up. Some interviews went great and I never heard another word. Others were “meh” and two months later, I was offered a fabulous job.

      1. Semi-Spartan Dad

        Thanks. I’ve only interviewed once before, nine years ago for my current job. It’s been interesting but going well so far.

        1. Lackadaisical

          Every time I’ve had an interview, I get offered the job. I am also not the most personable sort, so I’d be surprised if it was because I did amazing on the interviews… more likely (at least in my line of work), the resume is the deciding factor, unless you come off as an asshole during interviews.

          Basically, I would think you’re in at Company A, if you can get past the feet dragging of higher ups/HR.

    6. Tacit Rainbow

      If you like the place and want to work there, call up the contact (HR, recruiter, whatever) and tell them that you want to make sure you’re available to have that phone interview, and stress how flexible you can be (early morning, evening, 2am at the Denny’s payphone). Mention in that you’re interviewing elsewhere. Do this on the phone, not in email.

      Overall good practice: When you first talk to the hiring company recruiter/HR, suss out what the process is and their general timeline.

      It may just be hard to get on this manager’s schedule. Or, someone may have dropped the ball there. This handles both possibilities with a minimum of fuss.

      1. Semi-Spartan Dad

        Thanks. Yes, that was a mistake not asking about their timeline. I had thought when they said let’s advance you to the next step that the 3rd interview would be set up soon. I’ve made sure to ask for a timeline since then.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Kory says the goal isn’t to punish students but to help educate them.

    It always is.

    1. If only they’d learn the real lesson, which is that the state is the biggest bully of them all.

      1. Tundra

        Someone needs to photoshop that with a MAGA hat.

        1. Tejicano

          They could just photoshop the characters into a rough translation of MAGA

  25. Old Man With Candy

    @ Tundra: in the now dead thread from last night, you mentioned 4 Eyes. Was that the Seela Misra band I used for Old Guy Music last year sometime?

    1. Tundra

      Yes, it was. I love her voice.

      1. Old Man With Candy

        Cool- yeah, I love her voice too. And IRL, she’s a total sweetheart. Her husband, Jon Greene, is an absolutely superb drummer and just as nice as she is.

        1. Tundra

          Even though we abuse you, I really look forward to Old Guy Music.

          Her newest album, Track You Down is really interesting. It’s got a little bit of everything – all done beautifully.

          It includes this tasty little number.

          You’ll be the 14th view!!

          1. Old Man With Candy

            I was the fifth view.

          2. Tundra

            Lol. I thought of that as soon as I hit post. 🙂

          3. Tundra

            Gorgeous.

  26. hate_speech

    I have a friend who is staunchly catholic, and I feel so bad for him having to watch the church go through this. It’s his opinion that the church has been converged by pedophiles who are all protecting each other. I think he’s actually praying for a schism right now.

    1. Raphael

      I feel your friend. The church protecting pedophiles, the fact the local diocese didn’t do jack to at least call for calm and reason during the whole Covington Boys incident, the attitudes and positions of the current pope? I myself hope there’s a Reformation 2.0 or a schism coming at this point.

      1. hate_speech

        I used to tease him about the hippy pope, but I don’t anymore. I pretty much only know what he tells me, but it sounds…evil.

        I think there more than a fair few Catholics that are hoping for the same things you guys are.

        1. Tundra

          I won’t go back until that happens.

      2. Lackadaisical

        I myself hope there’s a Reformation 2.0 or a schism coming at this point.

        I’ve been thinking of joining an Orthodox church for some time, only problem is that they are few and far between near me.

        1. Viking1865

          Guy I know left the RCC for the Eastern Orthodox Church 20 years ago. Grew a killer beard.

          1. Lackadaisical

            I’ll admit the beards are no small part of my desire to jump ship.

    2. Nephilium

      I’ve got a couple friends who are still Catholic, and yeah… they’re not to happy with the direction the Church has taken these past couple of years.

      1. Lackadaisical

        The fake Catholic politicians are cringey enough without the pope, dioceses and cardinals sucking too…

        Trying hard to find a bright spot right now but the last crusade was ~450 years ago. :/

  27. Tundra

    What’s Mick playing in that clip? That’s a sweet sounding guitar!

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Someone needs to photoshop that with a MAGA hat.

    Give that assignment to the Penguin. He loooooves photoshop.

  29. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Irony is dead

    Why Your Ideological Echo Chamber Isn’t Just Bad For You

    Published in Esquire

    1. It got a pardon two minutes too late?

  30. The Late P Brooks

    Let’s hear it for the victorious Proletarian Brigade

    But there is some feeling among tech critics that the lack of a native tech giant has meant the city dodged a bullet.

    Tech’s growth in New York and other major U.S. cities — most notably San Francisco, Seattle, Austin and Los Angeles — has been met with growing concern about the impact of tech on society and the impact these companies have on the cities they inhabit.

    But there is some feeling among tech critics that the lack of a native tech giant has meant the city dodged a bullet.

    Tech’s growth in New York and other major U.S. cities — most notably San Francisco, Seattle, Austin and Los Angeles — has been met with growing concern about the impact of tech on society and the impact these companies have on the cities they inhabit.

    The concentration of wealth that has accompanied the success of tech companies has helped put societal issues that are present in New York, such as homelessness, gentrification and inequality, at the forefront of liberal politics. Critics say tech companies have turned a blind eye to their impact on these issues, with those concerns central to Amazon’s ill-fated New York City affair.

    Kshama Sawant, a councilmember from Seattle, where Amazon is based, commended New York for fending off the company.

    “Huge congrats to working people’s movement in NYC for showing that building grassroots fightback can win!” Sawant tweeted. “Shame on Seattle’s politicians for repealing the small Amazon tax to fund affordable housing. NYC’s victory reminds us, we need to keep fighting here!”

    It’s funny how different people can look at a complex system (for lack of a better word) and come away with wildly divergent notions of what makes it work. Or not.

    I look at those cities, and think, people with good jobs do not “cause” homelessness. Once upon a time, “gentrification” was not bad; it was a situation in which decrepit areas were improved and revitalized (like the loft boom in New York City in the ’70s). Smart, innovative people bent or ignored the rules, and the changes they brought about were good.

    Inequality is no more preventable than magnetism.

    1. Fatty Bolger

      “But there is some feeling among tech critics”

      Tech critics? What does that even mean? You know everything that comes after that is going to be nonsense.

      1. Fatty Bolger

        “Tech is bad, mmmkay?”

        1. Viking1865

          Today’s Left really needs a corporate boogeyman. They don’t have coal miners machinegunning the union, they don’t have child workers getting arms ripped off by the machinery, they don’t have women burning to death in factories.

          So it’s time to blame “tech” for all manner of shit.

          1. Akira

            So it’s time to blame “tech” for all manner of shit.

            It’s going to be interesting when these big tech executives – who are overwhelmingly Leftist – realize that in spite of all their virtue signaling, the Leftist mob is turning on them.

          2. Fatty Bolger

            What’s amazing about all this is that Amazon has enabled literally hundreds of thousands of small businesses to exist and often thrive. The types of business and individual entrepreneurs the progs always claim to love.

      2. Mad Scientist

        Tech critics? What does that even mean?

        Marxists.

      3. Suthenboy

        Note: “feelings”

    2. Akira

      Inequality is no more preventable than magnetism.

      I’m just sick of this fucking idea that inequality is inherently bad when there’s a natural inequality in work ethic and talent. Why are incomes supposed to be equal when some people are doctors and others are janitors?

      I guess it’s just part of that view (all too common in Leftist politics) that sees the economy as one singular entity; a big breadline where everyone is trying to eat but the mean man at the counter is handing out unequal amounts.

      1. Nikkodemus

        I see a commercial on TV every so often for an online college (University of Phoenix maybe?), and one of the lines in it is, “The world in which we live equally distributes talent…”. They really believe this from what I can tell. So for leftists like this, it’s not tough to see why they think income should be distributed equally as well.

        1. R C Dean

          “Talent”, without a specific indication as to talent to do what, is so hopelessly vague that the statement is unfalsifiable.

        2. Rhywun

          Yes! I saw that and rolled my eyes too.

        3. Suthenboy

          Wanna see me throw something across my living room? Play that ad on my TV.
          Yeah, I caught that horseshit ad too.

        4. Akira

          University of Phoenix… Isn’t that the one that got purchased by a bunch of former Obama admin officials after they had driven down the stock price with a very public crackdown on “for-profit” colleges?

          https://www.usatoday.com/story/college/2016/07/06/are-obama-insiders-about-to-take-over-the-university-of-phoenix/37420403/

          Yep. I’ll be darned.

      2. Fourscore

        I recall reading somewhere that a group of bureaucrats gathered to assign the value of jobs skills. Pay would be determined on a lot of different factors. Sort of like civil service or union jobs. Job performance and skills, degree of danger, educational requirements and a myriad of other attributes/requirements just weren’t able to be quantified and the project couldn’t even begin. Job value depends on a free marketplace, willing seller, willing buyer.

      3. See Double You

        there’s a natural inequality in work ethic and talent.

        There’s a natural inequality in work ethic, talent, and risk taking. It’s true that wealth isn’t always the product of hard work in the traditional “labor” sense (hence why the labor theory of value is bunk). People who are willing to risk their time and money can profit handsomely; they can also lose everything. People who just want to put in their eight hours a day for five days a week with the bare minimum of work for guaranteed payment are never going to be wealthy.

    3. Rhywun

      At this point it’s really nothing more than blatant racism. The “winners” are too white or the wrong shades of brown. Therefore the “losers” deserve a handout.

    4. prolefeed

      “… Austin and Los Angeles — has been met with growing concern about the impact of tech on society and the impact these companies have on the cities they inhabit.”

      Yeah, the prosperity and plethora of jobs here is Austin is just terrible. Fuck those tech companies for bringing in high paying jobs.

      WTF?

      1. kbolino

        It is better that we all be poor than anyone get rich.

  31. AlmightyJB

    Or they could let priests get married.

    1. The Last American Hero

      Because being celebate causes a guy to get so horny that rather than find a secret girlfriend or hire a hooker he decides to diddle kids?

      Maybe we should lock up those incels or guys who can’t get laid. For the children.

      1. Viking1865

        Yeah never once in a dry spell did I ever find the urge to molest children popping up.

        Priests molest kids because child molesters who want to molest more than kids in their own family/close friend circle go to jobs where they will be trusted with access to children.

        There’s more schoolteachers molesting kids than priests molesting kids, but the media finds one type of molester more worthy of coverage than others.

      2. AlmightyJB

        I’m just saying maybe you could attract people to the job that liked women instead of kids.

        1. Lackadaisical

          I think it is a good idea, if only because the proscription has no basis in scripture and was a solution to a very specific medieval problem that I don’t think applies today under the current structure of the church anyway.

          1. MikeS

            if only because the proscription has no basis in scripture and was a solution to a very specific medieval problem

            According to this article, that is not accurate.

            Paul gets this thinking neither from the Dark Ages nor as the result of repression but from a consecrated virgin named Jesus of Nazareth. He, like Paul, was unmarried and commended consecrated celibacy as a gift of God. That’s what he’s getting at in this incident from Matthew 19:9-12:

            “And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery; and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.” But he said to them, “Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.”

            It’s an interesting article and (at least to this Lutheran) explains the Church’s position on it pretty well.

          2. Fatty Bolger

            He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.

            So it wasn’t a requirement. But was turned into a requirement some time in the middle ages.

          3. Lackadaisical

            Maybe ‘no basis’ is going too far, but it seems to me that “He who is able to receive this, let him receive it” is hardly a commandment to celibacy so much as an endorsement of it as a higher virtue.

            My impression was that celibacy was only required of priests starting in the middle ages… that seems to be contradicted here, and I can only blame public schooling.

          4. Fatty Bolger

            Here’s a timeline: https://www.futurechurch.org/brief-history-of-celibacy-in-catholic-church

            So it looks like it started to be a requirement around the 9th century, albeit not an official one. It was officially decreed in 1123.

          5. Suthenboy

            Oh, FFS. Who needs a 5 paragraph hand-job? It is about property. The church wanted to hold onto its real estate. They dont want priests having children.
            That is all it is about.

    2. MikeS

      They already did that. It’s called Protestantism.

      Tossing out important church dogma (I assume; I’m not Catholic) isn’t the answer. Good people demanding accountability is.

      1. This. immoral excesses aren’t new to the catholic church, and sometimes it has taken centuries to purge the respectivr evils.

        I’ll not be convinced that they’re serious about the pedo priests until more than a few are strung up by their nutsacks by local law enforcement courtesy of info provided from the Vatican.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    And- If Kshama Sawant is giving you a hearty “well done, Mate!” you probably fucked up.

    1. AlmightyJB

      So the commies have taken over the economics departments as well. Great.

    2. Lackadaisical

      I don’t understand why so many uppermiddle-class Indians are socialists.

      I guess you could say the same for Americans.

      1. See Double You

        The Indira-Gandhi strain of political thought continues to outlive her.

      2. kbolino

        Workplace drama writ large. I’ve yet to meet a single such person, of whatever ancestry, who actually thinks their pay should be equalized downward. Some of them are classists of the highest order to boot.

  33. AlmightyJB

    Looking forward to what the responses are when President AOC declares a national emergancy.

  34. AlmightyJB

    Next Snake Plissken movie should be set in the U.K.

    1. Chafed

      That would be awesome.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Inconceivable!

    “It’s over,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio in an interview with WNYC on Friday. “And it’s astounding, and it’s disappointing and it’s disrespectful to the people of New York City.”

    The news caught many off guard. Amazon clearly didn’t want officials to know ahead of time. According to reports, the company had still been in talks with officials as of Wednesday afternoon, with little sign that an about-face was about to happen. In a conversation with CNN, Bishop Mitchell Taylor — co-chair of New York’s HQ2 Community Advisory Committee — said that nothing seemed out of the ordinary during meetings he had with Amazon liaisons on Thursday morning, just hours before the announcement.

    “To get a call out of the blue saying ‘See ya, we’re taking our ball, we’re going home’ — it’s absolutely inappropriate,” the mayor said of how he was informed. “I’ve never experienced anything like this.”

    I re- watched the movie Payback (Mel Gibson), not long ago. He’s getting the runaround about who can get him his money, and he says, “There’s always one guy. You go high enough, you find the guy who can just make a decision.”

    That’s what this made me think of; “…nothing seemed out of the ordinary during meetings he had with Amazon liaisons on Thursday morning, just hours before the announcement.”

    And then the guy who just makes the decisions picked up the phone, and drove a giant stake through the heart of the whole ridiculous dog and pony show. It makes me happy to know something like this can still happen in America.

    *I don’t know enough about Amazon to know if Bezos really is that guy, or if he has somebody like Charlie Munger lurking in the shadows.

    1. R C Dean

      I suspect that, even though Amazon must be used to the ordinary grifters, con men, and cronies that infest any state and municipal government and had factored in an ordinary level of bribes and protection money, the horde that descended on them in NY was something of a surprise. My guess: the union goons were the last straw.

    2. Gustave Lytton

      That co-chair of the city’s advisory committee?:

      https://abc7ny.com/news/dispute-between-queens-pastor-hotel-owners-turns-violent/263905/

      https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ccrb-guy-accused-boozy-horndog-new-orleans-trip-article-1.2119353
      (Don’t start wondering why the police complaint commission and city employees need to fly to New Orleans on city business)

      1. Rhywun

        Sorry, no piggy-bank for you this time. Asshole.

        It is about time someone pushed back on this shit.

        1. Gustave Lytton

          But he’s a bishop!

          (of his own single location non denominational church, yet his title seems to be permanently affixed as if it was his first name)

    3. Fatty Bolger

      Watch “Get the Gringo” if you haven’t already, it’s like an unofficial sequel to Payback.

      1. Nephilium

        Or you could read the books. The first one was original called The Hunter (but was reprinted as Payback for a while), then it goes onto the Man with the Getaway Face. The character is much darker then the original cut of Payback (and the attempted reboot a couple years later stuck closer to the character, but failed in many other ways).

        1. Fatty Bolger

          Books? Nerd.

        2. Or he could watch Point Blank the most bestest version of the Westlake book.

          Lee Marvin pisses on Mel Gibson from a great height.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Tech critics? What does that even mean?

    “You know… morons.”

  37. Rhywun

    If you lament our continuing losses of liberty under the aegis of counter-terrorism, close your eyes and think of England.

    Do you even selective enforcement, bruv?

  38. Subwoofer

    Wow, the comments on that facial recognition software in AZ schools article will make you question any remaining faith in people’s ability to recognize the news media is full of it or that we’ll somehow fight back against the Orwellian surveillance state:

    It is wonderful to watch the advance of technology make us all safer. Just like that creep who resisted arrest in Glendale, we can’t have people walking around public without positive identification of who they are and what they’re doing. And since sex offenders are often naturally drawn to schools it’s high time someone solved this ongoing problem.

    Yep. That’s whats happening alright. We’re all going to be made safer, just give up a teeny weeny bit of freedom.

    I don’t have to check with Local Law Enforcement to know that they’re out there constantly plotting. I watch the news, and it seems like it’s every night that they’re plastering someone’s face up there doing something against our kids. Also, trying to pin the blame on teachers is pretty low. The very idea that teachers would harm their kids completely negates installing them as authority figures.

    I’m appalled that anyone would suggest teachers would ever bang their students. After all, I WATCH THE NEWS, and THE NEWS tells me evil sex offenders/child molesters are always plotting to infiltrate our schools, just not as teachers, no siree!

    If you really want to stop child abuse maybe you should get on board with a national facial recognition database. It’d be really easy since they have all our drivers’ license photos already.

    Your Social Security Number will never be used as a national identity number. Also, your REAL ID will never be used as a national identification database.

    1. Akira

      Your Social Security Number will never be used as a national identity number. Also, your REAL ID will never be used as a national identification database.

      And of course, a nationwide gun registry would never be used for confiscation.

      1. Fatty Bolger

        Of course not! Also, the vast security apparatus and FISA courts would never be used to secretly spy on a rival party’s campaign. What a ridiculous idea!

        1. kbolino

          Someday, all the people who broke the law to do that will go to jail.

          Any day now!

  39. AlmightyJB

    Bacon, eggs over easy, fried potatoes, toast with butter and black raspberry fruit spread, tall glass of whole milk.

    1. Akira

      Nice. I had some home-smoked Canadian bacon with fried eggs and grilled tomatoes. I omitted the toast and fried potatoes because I’m trying to drop a few pounds by cutting out carbs… But then I fucked it up by eating a shitload of grapes.

      1. AlmightyJB

        Excellent. I watch carbs most of the time but was in the mood for a farmers breakfast which I hadn’t done for a while.

    2. R C Dean

      Some kind of hyper-healthy smoothie. Like every morning. *sigh*

  40. See Double You

    *rant on*

    Example 313,928,459,470 of leftist hypocrisy:

    Leftists are big supporters of the rule against perpetuities and other means of restricting property owners from keeping property in their families for generations, such as the estate tax.

    However, when they talk of “gentrification,” they bleat about how richer people moving into poorer neighborhoods allegedly pushes out the poor who have lived their for generations. Even accepting the above as true, then on the one hand, they want to prevent me from putting restrictions on my land to keep it in the family and even force my family to sell assets to pay an arbitrary estate (wealth) tax, while on the other, they want their constituents and their families to live in the same places for generations and prevent others from moving in.

    Also, you’d think you were listening to the left’s stereotype of a MAGA-hat-wielding Trumpster when that megaphone-holding Long Islander was shouting “This is OUR City!” after Amazon decided to pull out. I’m more of an err-on-open-borders libertarian, but the glaring hypocrisy of these “activists” makes me hate them even more.

    *rant off*

    1. AlmightyJB

      When you move away from the city it’s racist white flight. When you move to the city it’s racist gentrification.

      1. See Double You

        When it comes to what progressives want us to do, I think this is it.

    2. Viking1865

      The modern Left is all about the privilege stack.

      If an Indian tech worker buys out a Polack mechanic, this is just the natural result of the New Economy. If that same Indian tech worker buys out a mechanic from Puerto Rico, it’s now gentrification destroying close knit communities.

    3. Mad Scientist

      richer people moving into poorer neighborhoods allegedly pushes out the poor who have lived their for generations.

      Renters? Sure, rents go up when a neighborhood gentrifies. But homeowners only get pushed out when their property taxes are raised. Who’s fault is that?

      1. Lackadaisical

        Non-Georgists?

        Or wait… Georgists?

        Not sure if the value of the land would go up too, and thus the taxes, in a Georgist system.

      2. kbolino

        The tax can go up even if the rate is constant or lowered. But, part of the problem is the insane overvaluation of real property. Gentrification of any kind will drive up property values and thus rents and taxes, but the American government-financial complex is so dysfunctional that it happens faster than anyone not riding the wave can adapt to.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    Natsoc Propaganda Radio- always informative and insightful.

    Electric motors are simpler, which makes them easier to maintain and means they should last longer. Keeping them charged is cheaper than buying gas, an advantage that will grow even more significant if gas prices rise.

    ———–

    Putting more battery-powered cars into circulation is only half of the equation. The next question is, what happens to all the combustion vehicles already on the road?

    One possibility is that they might get replaced quite quickly with electric vehicles.

    That’s what environmental activists want, for the sake of curbing climate change. For instance, the Green New Deal proposed by Democrats calls for phasing out carbon-emitting vehicles within a decade — which would require not only very fast production of electric vehicles, but a sudden withdrawal of combustion vehicles from roads.

    That’s an ambitious target. But some version of that fast timeline could be triggered by very high gas prices, or by bans or restrictions on internal combustion vehicles (like some cities have discussed, at least hypothetically).

    Those electric motors are magic. Who wouldn’t want a car that runs on magic?

    Command and control economics? Whatever. It’s for your own good. Just don’t call it socialism, because nuh-uh, AM NOT!

    1. Viking1865

      Electric motors are simpler, which makes them easier to maintain and means they should last longer.

      I will bet my stock portfolio that Camila Domonoske can’t troubleshoot either an IC or an electric motor.

      Camila Flamiano Domonoske covers cars, energy and the future of mobility for NPR’s Business Desk.She got her start at NPR with the Arts Desk, where she edited poetry reviews, wrote and produced stories about books and culture, edited four different series of book recommendation essays, and helped conceive and create NPR’s first-ever Book Concierge.

      Whycome no one trusts their media betters anymore?

      1. Pope Jimbo

        Uffda.

        I have to confess that in a misspent youth, I actually spent some time as a journalo major. This was after I had spent some time with Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children who had exposed me to a lot of basic “how things get done” experiences as well as giving me an intense training in electronics.

        The fellow j-school students were like the gal who wrote this. Had no clue how things really worked and yet convinced that they knew everything and couldn’t be bothered to learn.

    2. Tundra

      Even people who love the internal combustion engine see the writing on the wall. John Woods owns a 1972 Porsche 914. On a recent Sunday, he joined other car enthusiasts at a parking lot in Alexandria, Va., to rev his engine and grin at the sound of it.

      The internal combustion engine is “the beginning of automotive engineering,” Woods says. “But the electric car will be the future.”

      Uh, electric cars were first, John. Like 1832 first.

      Choice is good. Using force to engineer society is evil.

    3. MikeS

      the Green New Deal proposed by Democrats calls for phasing out carbon-emitting vehicles within a decade

      Hahaha wut?! Even if everyone wanted one, could we possibly build enough electric vehicles in 10 years to replace every car, truck, semi, bus, garbage truck, mail truck, etc., etc. that is currently on the road? This might be the most insane proposal in there. I mean, I know it has some stiff competition, but wow.

      1. Rhywun

        Your lack of enthusiasm is disappointing, citizen.

        1. See Double You

          Citizen is too bourgeois, comrade.

      2. In a sane world, any journo treating the GND serious would be fired for being an idiot.

      3. prolefeed

        Who said anything about “replacing” anything, comrade? Do you hate the environment?

      4. MikeS

        Taxis! I bet just replacing every taxi cab in 10 years would be quite an achievement. SMDH

        OK, I gotta stop giving this fairy tale any more of my precious attention. I’m gonna go move snow with my 1965 Farmall 560; powered by a terribly inefficient internal combustion engine. I can smell Gaia’s burned blood on my clothes after driving it for a while. Delightful. Afterwards, I might take the dog for a drive in my big 4X4 pickup truck. Of course, I’ll let it idle for 10 minutes to warm up before going anywhere.

        1. Gustave Lytton

          Mmmm… I bet that tractor sounds heavenly.

          1. MikeS

            It does. Purrs like a 9000lb tiger.

    4. LJW

      Where we going to get all of the lithium?

      1. Tundra

        Not to mention Cobalt and all the other goodies.

        So. Fucking. Stupid

        1. Rhywun

          Hm, I wonder which country is furiously pursuing a monopoly in all those rare-earth elements needed to pretend we’re going “green”….

          1. Tundra

            I wonder how many of these greenies are even aware of this.

            5%?

      2. Well, the mental patients who wrote the GND aren’t using theirs.

        1. MikeS

          ISWYDT

    5. R C Dean

      Putting more battery-powered cars into circulation is only half of the equation.

      Its less than half the equation. Not mentioned:

      The addition of massive generating and transmission capacity to provide electricity for all those electric vehicles.

    6. Pope Jimbo

      Adding a charging station for an electric car is almost like adding another house to the local electrical grid. So if every house needs a charging station, the grid is going to need a HUGE upgrade. Of course, that is a feature for the chuckleheads pushing the GND, not a bug.

      The only silver lining I see is that the crazies who think power lines are killing people will go away. I’m sure the thoughtful people who are put in charge of the GND implementation will send those anti-powerline people out to the country to some nice camps where they can calm down and rethink their opposition.

    7. kbolino

      I saw a bumper sticker on a car that said, “NPR listener in a Fox News world” or something like that, and all I could think was “why would you advertise that you’re an idiot in a world of idiots”?

  42. Not gonna lie. Battle Angel Alita is an entertaining time. More than worth a couple extra bucks for the 3D. Not a bad seat in the house at the Alamo.

    1. Rhywun

      Is that that weird CGI thing with the huge-eyed chick?

      1. Lackadaisical

        Yup.

        I was going to say it reminds me of a Japanese cartoon I saw, but after googling I found that it is one.

        1. Hopefully they’ll rerelease the anime after this – been outta print almost since it came out.

          What’s interesting is to see how all the progs are trying to push the crap outta Captain Marvel for “female empowerment” and all that – but you won’t hear a word from them about this one.

          I’ll pick this one up on BR, might even catch again in the theater in 2D. Didn’t do that with Avatar – then again, this is directed by Robert Rodriguez, not James Cameron.

    2. R C Dean

      In the trailer, the giant CGI eyes are super-distracting, creepy, and weird. Do you just get used to it during the flick? Other than that, it looked to me like a decent popcorn flick, but when watching the trailer, that was a pretty steep hill for me to climb.

      1. Not really a distraction. Definitely not that oversized while you’re watching the primary thing. I think trailers/poster might have exaggerated a little.

  43. mexican sharpshooter

    I’m not a Catholic, so please forgive this question: Why don’t you guys just burn the fucking thing to the ground and start over?

    If I did that, it would technically make me a Protestant.

    1. JaimeRoberto: Gentleman, Scholar, French Tickler

      It’s ok. Come to the dark side.

  44. Fourscore

    In all the non intelligent discussion of GND I have yet to see an explanation of electricity production. Its almost like there is no understanding that electrical power has to be made somewhere. No, no, you just plug in a wall outlet, that’s it, that’s where electricity comes from.

    Food comes from stores, right? What’s the big deal?

    1. Tundra

      My sister and BIL are true believers and Tesla drivers. They hate it when I ask them how they like their coal-powered cars.

      1. Fatty Bolger

        A recent conversation:

        Prog: Coal is dead.

        Me: We get 30% of our electricity from coal. We’d need even more if we moved to electric cars.

        Prog: No, coal is dead! We’ll use solar panels to replace that 30%!

        Me: OK. How are you going to replace the additional 30% from other fossil fuels? Nuclear?

        Prog: Nuclear, no way. I don’t know. All I know is, coal is dead and isn’t coming back.

    2. Viking1865

      The GND would be viable if it started with “We’re going to build nuclear plants EVERYFUCKINGWHERE, trampling on the NIMBYs and the Luddites” It would still be a massive debt bomb, unconstitutional, and terminally stupid in a lot of ways, but if you start off with the premise of “We’re going to replace oil, coal, and natgas with nuclear power right now to reduce carbon emissions.” that could work, for certain values of the word.

      If you actually tried to replace oil, coal, and natas with windmills and solar panels, you’d see massive amounts of poverty, misery, and perhaps death.

      1. Fourscore

        “We’re going to replace oil, coal, and natgas with nuclear power right now ”

        Good luck with that. It’s truly amazing how environmentalists are in opposition to nuke power but still in favor of doing away with the other sources.
        I heard second hand yesterday that the new MN gov vetoed the pipeline efforts. Not much different from the old guv.

        1. Rhywun

          Cuomo vetoed a pipeline too, one which would have brought cheap badstuff to New England.

          “Sorry-not-sorry, New England.”

          1. Lackadaisical

            I never understood why so many in CT were using oil or wood to heat their homes, until I learned this.

        2. Akira

          Even gas power would be cleaner than coal, and there’s tons of it available thanks to fracking… But no, we can’t do that because of some video where there was flammable tap water (which happens all the time with well water anyway) not to mention those evil, devious Koch Brothers and their PROFITZZZZZ!!!!1111one!!1111

          1. Fracking causes earthquakes, apparently. Because when you pump fracking juice into cavities in the earth in order to get the gas out it…does something…and then earthquakes happen.

            I’m no geologist, but that line of reasoning has always seemed shaky to me. I get the groundwater concern, but honestly that strikes me as a risk that should be mitigated rather than a reason to totally ignore a valuable resource.

          2. kbolino

            As far as I can tell, the best evidence currently available shows that areas with extensive fracking have a slightly higher frequency of tremors but also a lower magnitude. So you shake more often but less noticeably.

        3. Pope Jimbo

          Yeah, I don’t get the environmentalists and pipelines.

          We will block you from building a nice new pipleline. I’m sure that means that the oil will just magically stay where it was. No way it would simply be sent through the old aging pipeline or shipped via rail. Nope.

          Similar to the mining in the Arrowhead. All those valuable heavy metals that are needed for smart phones will just be left alone because the world wouldn’t want to damage the local environment. They will understand that the reason they can’t have an iPhone XV is because some hippies need to paddle in the BWCA without worrying about any runoff from a nearby copper mine.

          1. Fourscore

            There’s a large deposit of something near my property, maybe manganese. Despite the fact that jobs are scarce and higher paying jobs are scarcer all that has done is exploratory. An attempt to irrigate the stuff and pump it out didn’t work. NIMBY is strong in this area. Lawsuits and laws will prevail.

      2. Nikkodemus

        “If you actually tried to replace oil, coal, and natas with windmills and solar panels, you’d see massive amounts of poverty, misery, and perhaps death.”

        Feature, not a bug.

        1. ^^ it’s about power, not gaia

          1. See Double You

            There’s a reason we call them a death cult.

        2. Fatty Bolger

          We’ll just give them money that we take away from rich people. Problem solved!

        3. kbolino

          Not to mention that you’d still be destroying the environment. The carbon cult has displaced traditional environmentalism, which was more concerned with pollution than the greenhouse effect. Apparently it’s okay to turn parts of China into Love Canal times ten, but not okay to put carbon into the atmosphere, even every attempt to assign high sensitivity of global temperature to carbon concentration has failed to make accurate predictions.

      3. R C Dean

        you’d see massive amounts of poverty, misery, and perhaps death.

        You’d set off a new dark age. The US economy would collapse, triggering a global collapse of unprecedented size. Right behind that would be a societal collapse, the kind that has roving cannibal rape gangs. The traditional socialist apparatchik’s escape plan would be a non-starter, because there would be nowhere to run to.

  45. prolefeed

    “It’s been a growing problem at schools across the country. According to the Surgeon General, vaping has doubled in the past year, and the use of e-cigarettes among the youth has skyrocketed.”

    Nannies: “Yeah, it’s terrible that kids are getting doses of nicotine (or weed) in a way that won’t give them cancer. Let’s put a stop to that!”

    1. Fatty Bolger

      Proof that the anti-smoking movement is no longer about health, and has morphed into a puritanic crusade.

      1. Rhywun

        Gosh, I never saw that coming.

      2. The puritans will always be with us.

        See: banning porn, WoD, sexbot regulation, prostitution prohibition, liquor regulation etc. etc.

    2. See Double You

      The propaganda campaign against vaping is in full swing. Have you seen the new ads claiming vaping is as dangerous as traditional smoking?

      Leftists lie, freedom dies.

      1. They’re getting a kickback from the Association of Thoracic Oncologists.

      2. Akira

        The propaganda campaign against vaping is in full swing. Have you seen the new ads claiming vaping is as dangerous as traditional smoking?

        Party of Science™

    3. Nikkodemus

      I notice that nearly everything I read about vaping never mentions you can purchase vaping liquid without nicotine. It’s almost as if the people reporting on this are being dishonest.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    And of course, a nationwide gun registry would never be used for confiscation.

    You skipped a step. First comes, “Those background check forms will never be consolidated into a nationwide gun registry.”

    1. Mad Scientist

      Now they want to check people’s social media as part of the background check. No chance bureaucrats won’t invent all kinds of red flags there. But, of course, that’s the whole point.

      1. Everyone knew this would happen when ATF-managed transfers were first implemented. It just took a while. Something about letting the camel get its nose in the tent.

        1. At first I thought it said camel toes in the tent. Looking at the author confirmed it.

      2. Akira

        It’s the same story with the “mental health” shit…

        You’re upset about some stuff you saw in Iraq? You’re clearly a PTSD basket case; let’s just ban you from buying guns.

        You’re uncomfortable around large groups of people? Good lord, you’re a hardcore autist just like Adam Lanza! No guns for you!

        Your wife of 20 years divorced you and you’re depressed? You must be a suicide risk. Bye bye 2A rights!

  47. The Late P Brooks

    I have yet to see an explanation of electricity production. Its almost like there is no understanding that electrical power has to be made somewhere. No, no, you just plug in a wall outlet, that’s it, that’s where electricity comes from.

    Back at the Before Place, Bailey did a story about a “green electricity” generation system (at or near Judith Gap, Montana, if I recall correctly) which uses wind generators to run pumps to move water up hill into holding ponds from which is it released through hydro power generators. From there, it goes to the grid.

    Simple. Efficient. Beautiful.

    Rube Goldberg would have to put his extra large thinking cap on to outdo that.

    1. Sounds like a really neat science experiment. Not so much a way to provide power reliably to people who depend on it.

    2. JaimeRoberto: Gentleman, Scholar, French Tickler

      That’s what the big offshore windmills in Denmark do. They ship electricity to pump water into reservoirs in Norway. It’s basically storing energy for periods when the wind doesn’t blow.

  48. Something, something, titties.

    http://archive.li/YAYfK

  49. The Late P Brooks

    “It’s been a growing problem at schools across the country. According to the Surgeon General, vaping has doubled in the past year, and the use of e-cigarettes among the youth has skyrocketed.”

    Around here, you can hardly walk out to your mailbox without having to clamber over a pile of dead teenagers, done in by teh vapezz.

    1. Pope Jimbo

      My 18 year old son says his high school is chock full of vapers. Since they can do it legally at 18, the older kids of course flaunt it.

      Altar Boy 2 also gets me in trouble by teasing his mother that now that he is 18, he will start vaping (and get a tattoo). That leads her to hassling me about him and his stupid ideas. The gist is that I should take him out to the shed and beat some sense into him.

      The result is that I have to yell at both of them. Her for not realizing that he is just trying to yank her chain. Him because his antics result in shit coming my way. And then I remind him that shit rolls downhill.

  50. Akira

    Glibs, I am disappoint. I’ve called every liquor store that I’m willing to drive to, and nobody carries (ri)1 whiskey. I guess I’ll have to settle for some nice Cognac or Scotch.

    I’m up for anything really. It may be financially frivolous, but after the week I’ve had, I’m determined to spend $50 on some really nice alcohol. Maybe I’ll get some fancy beers that I wouldn’t otherwise get…

    1. MikeS

      High West Rendezvous Rye. $50 well spent.

  51. The Late P Brooks

    Watch “Get the Gringo” if you haven’t already, it’s like an unofficial sequel to Payback.

    I have not seen it. I’ll be on the lookout.

    I had, prior to watching Payback, watched the Lee Marvin version; Point Blank. Also worth watching. Also featuring hot young Angie Dickinson.

  52. “UM prohibits harassment on the basis of ‘political ideas.’”

    https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11884

    Yeah but only if they’re the right political ideas. Paradox of tolerance donchaknow.

    1. MikeS

      “They continued to just attack [in general] my conservative beliefs and me as a person because I am from North Dakota not Montana…”

      First Pope Jimbo, now random wackos in Montana. This sort of bigotry has got to end!

      1. Pope Jimbo

        Look. You want the bigotry to end? You need to assimilate to our western values. No more Dakota Studies departments. Learn to stop urinating out doors where ever you feel like it. (and in MT, maybe stop dating the local sheep).

        We are only trying to make you guys get with the program and fully participate in our wonderful society.

        1. See Double You

          Hey now, we are just ungulate-curious in MT; it’s not like we want to actually marry them!

          1. Pope Jimbo

            One of the traditions in our family (passed from my father to me and now to my sons) is to always refer to any sheep we see while hunting as “Montana blondes”

      2. Pope Jimbo

        A web designer moves out to a remote farm in North Dakota. He wants to get away from it all and live off the grid.

        He spends months alone on his farm. Planting vegetable gardens and raising some chickens and goats. He is loving being totally alone.

        After a few more months, he starts to get a bit antsy and thinks that maybe he should go to town and talk with some other people. Just then an old beat up truck comes driving down his driveway. An old cowboy/farmer gets out and comes over.

        “Hey dere. I’m your neighbor Ole. I live 15 miles over that way. I thought it was time to introduce myself and invite you over to my place for a NoDak BBQ”

        “That would be great. I could really use some face time. What exactly is a NoDak BBQ?”

        “Well it is pretty much like a normal BBQ. There is some eating, some drinking, some singing, some dancing, some fighting, some loving.”

        “Sounds great. What should I wear?”

        “Doesn’t really matter, just gonna be me and you”

  53. See Double You

    Surprise, Surprise! High-speed rail projects are chock-full of cronyism:

    Though these problems are repeated over and over, many cities and states today are planning more such urban and intercity rail projects. The state of Washington is thinking about starting a state high-speed rail authority. Cities like Austin and Durham want to build light rail even though transit ridership in those regions (and just about everywhere else) is declining.

    The reason these projects go forward is the city or state hired some engineering firm to do a “feasibility study” – and then that firm spent part of its income from the study to lobby for the project, knowing that if it goes forward it is likely to get some of the future contracts. A plan to extend Portland’s light rail into Vancover, Washington died after it was revealed that the main lobbyist for the project was paid by the contractor who was hired to write the environmental impact statement.

    Such revelations rarely come in time: Honolulu is building a rail line whose costs have tripled partly because the transit agency turned most project administration over to consultants – paying them $505,000 a year per person – who made more than 270 contract changes that added a half a billion dollars to the total costs.