Glibertarians.com 2019 Archive

Saturday night links of fall

Written by

Spudalicious

in

Not this. That’s a month, or two from now.

After wet, shitty weather, we’ve gotten a brief reprieve and fall came back. Clear, blue skies, warm days, no wind, and gorgeous foliage. It will be winter in about a month. I hope our midwest Glibs are warm and safe while Gaia drops some serious global climate change on their climate denying rear ends. And shout out to our Glibs in Japan, which Gaia seems to hate.

 

How’s ’bout some links!

 

Gravity sucks.

 

I’m inspired by people who strive for greatness.

 

Dexter missed his calling.

 

Let’s just say that at least in Idaho, not everybody bothers to get a tag first before pulling the trigger.

 

Pardon me while I put on my shocked face.

 

May I suggest sterilization? The nation would thank you.

 

And for tonight, a little Warren Zevon for your face. Definitely NSFW.

 

Comments

382 responses to “Saturday night links of fall”

  1. The Hyperbole

    Around 30 people — including several strippers — were inside the small club

    See, this is the kind of important information The Mainstream Media never reports!

    1. Spudalicious

      I try not to trigger people on Saturday.

    2. blackjack

      Hey! Wasn’t the LAST post called “Just the tip?”

  2. The Hyperbole

    The general contractor hired for the project, Citadel Builders, did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for comment.

    Yeah, I’m guessing they may have had other things to do.

  3. Jarflax

    I don’t see what the big deal is, I run less than 2 hours every day.

    1. KibbledKristen

      I LOLed

    2. blackjack

      It’d be impressive if he did it late at night, down an alley and carrying a TV set.

    3. Fourscore

      Now every one will start doing it, once the barrier is broken even the high school kids will get in the act. Nonetheless, even with all the tech stuff, pretty impressive.

      1. Walford

        Meh, it was more impressive when your shoes were made with waffle makers.

    4. MikeS

      We need a Citizen Cane applause gif over here

  4. MikeS

    Possibly my favorite Zevon song.

    1. Spudalicious

      I spent part of the afternoon doing a deep dive on Zevon. His interviews on Letterman were really cool.

      1. The Hyperbole

        He’s no John Hiatt.

        1. MikeS

          Correct. Warren is enjoyable to listen to.

          1. The Hyperbole

            He’s no Graham Parker?

          2. blackjack

            He ain’t no Graham Nash.

          3. DEG

            Hiatt had a few good songs.

          4. MikeS

            I agree. I was just trolling the troll.

          5. Gender Traitor

            Before Mr. GT and I met, he heard this John Hiatt song and decided that’s the woman he was looking for. Who turned out to be me. ::breathes on fingertips, buffs them on shirt::

      2. MikeS

        Yes. Letterman apparently had a genuine like for him and it really came through in the interviews. Did you watch the episode from right after Warren died?

        1. Spudalicious

          Yeah, I did. Very touching.

          “Enjoy every sandwich.”

          1. MikeS

            Uffda. Just re-watched the interview portion and the Rolland performance of his last appearance. Very emotional.

            Found this in the comments:

            From Rolling Stone’s interview with Letterman:

            “After the show, it was heartbreaking — he was in his dressing room,” Letterman told Rolling Stone in 2008. “We were talking and this and that. Here’s a guy who had months to live and we’re making small talk. And as we’re talking, he’s taking his guitar strap and hooking it, wrapping it around, then he puts the guitar into the case and he flips the snaps on the case and says, ‘Here, I want you to have this, take good care of it.’ And I just started sobbing. He was giving me the guitar that he always used on the show. I felt like, ‘I can’t be in this movie, I didn’t get my lines.’ That was very tough.”

          2. Crusty Juggler

            Letterman’s love of Zevon was one of his good qualities.

      3. MikeS

        Here.

  5. KibbledKristen

    AOC flew to Copenhagen, even though the conference offered video links. So she can just fuck right off. Elitist scum.

    1. Jarflax

      I though you like planes?

      1. KibbledKristen

        I love planes – I ain’t the one claiming they’re the scourge of the earth

        1. Jarflax

          Gaia is a naughty girl. She loves the scourge.

    2. 0x90

      Don’t worry, she plans to boss everyone around more than enough to make up for it.

  6. MikeS

    re: wolves. Shoot, shovel, shutup

    1. Fourscore

      In some cases that’s past tense

      1. Jarflax

        Wait you mean when you pass idiotic laws that ‘protect’ animals by blocking people from using their land or protecting their livestock, people find another way?

  7. blackjack

    Kid’s Birthday party just ended. Chaotic mess everywhere, they’re coming to take down the bounce house. The kids thought it was funny when I told them (in my dad voice) “NO JUMPING IN THERE!”

    1. blackjack

      They’re all around his age, but none of them could ride his electric motorcycle. He’s about ready for a gas powered one.

    2. Walford

      Also no fighting in the war room.

  8. Spudalicious

    I just opened one of these from 2018. Definitely a touch of chili heat on the back end.

    https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25433/271124/

    1. MikeS

      Looks good. I really beers with spicy pepper in them. This is (finally) a fad I can get behind.

      1. Nephilium

        That fad peaked a couple years back. There were some really terrible beers that came out during a part of that.

        1. MikeS

          Oh. Fine. Well, then as long as the good ones stick around, I’ll get behind that.

          1. Nephilium

            Not saying it won’t swing back again, but I suffered through quite a few bad ones. If you really like heat (and have someone to split a bottle with) I really liked the Mango Magnifico from Founder’s.

          2. MikeS

            Thanks for the recommendation. I don’t have high hopes of finding it up here, but it’s added to my wish list for when I make it to M/SP.

          3. Tundra

            https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33819/154496/

            I liked this one.

          4. MikeS

            I’ll add that to my big city liquor store list, too. Thanks!

        2. Spudalicious

          They also do a salted caramel version and a straight bourbon barrel aged.

          1. Nephilium

            New Holland has made a bunch of variants of their Dragon’s Milk. The ones I’ve had have been pretty damn good.

    2. westernsloper

      chili heat on the back end

      Been there.

      1. SP

        That will be OMWC tomorrow after my green chile enchiladas tonight.

  9. Crusty Juggler

    Crusty’s Saturday Beer Review:

    Fat Tire

    It’s still delicious.

    1. Trigger Hippie

      Hey, me too! Cheers!

      1. Crusty Juggler

        TWINSIES

    2. MikeS

      I’m enjoying an nice cold can of Buschhhhhhhhh Light. I might have another…6-ish before the night is through.

      1. Crusty Juggler

        jfc

        Why? Are you from Iowa or something?

        1. Jarflax

          Ice cold and carbonated is all some of us require.

        2. MikeS

          Shit, I wish! Then I could get one of these babies!

        3. MikeS

          It pairs well with Rye. And Bourbon.

          1. blackjack

            It pairs well with lies, fights and DUIs.

          2. MikeS

            Also true.

  10. 0x90

    “The climate change-powered storm killed over 3,000 Puerto Ricans, American citizens — my own grandfather died in the aftermath — all because they were living under colonial rule, which contributed to the dire conditions and lack of recovery.”

    ————————————-

    The storm made landfall on Puerto Rico on Wednesday, September 20 […] The primary airport in San Juan, the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, was slated to reopen on September 22

    ————————————-

    26 Sept. 2017 (twitter.com/AOC/status/912870630009294848)

    It has been 5 days since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico.
    I’ve received one message from my family.
    Only two words: “We’re alive.”

    23 Oct. 2017 (twitter.com/AOC/status/922496492950126592)

    Saddened to say my abuelo passed away in #PuertoRico. Please keep all Puerto Ricans in your prayers, as many more have passed than reported.

    1 May 2018 (twitter.com/AOC/status/991489954839658503)

    My abuelo passed during Huracán María.

    1. leon

      “because they were living under colonial rule, which contributed to the dire conditions and lack of recovery”

      If by utterly corrupt and bankrupt government elected by the Puerto Ricans..

      I have no problem letting Puerto Rico leave and form a country. I doubt they would have been better off.

  11. Derpetologist

    It turns out that if you commit suicide like the Terminator by lowering yourself into molten steel, you will not sink dramatically, because even liquid metal is much denser than the human body.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4yUBJElXX8

    In order for the Terminator to sink, he would have to be made of something denser than steel. Lead? Silver? Gold?

    1. Jarflax

      Onboard nuclear reactor?

      1. Derpetologist

        That leads to the question of how he didn’t immediately kill everyone with radiation by mere being within 1000 ft of them.

        There’s only so much shielding you could fit into the space of a human torso.

        The reactor can’t be much bigger than the one on a space probe and those only produced power in the 10 kW range.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BES-5

        1. Jarflax

          They have 40 megawatt range plasma rifles, clearly reactor tech has advanced in their time.

          1. Derpetologist

            Lies! It was a plasma rifle in the *40* watt range!

            ***
            The Westinghouse M-27 Phased Plasma Pulse Rifle is a plasma-based weapon used by Skynet forces in the Future War. It has a bullpup configuration and is in the 40 watt range.
            ***

          2. Jarflax

            40 watts wouldn’t do squat.

          3. Jarflax

            a six year old on an ergometer generates more than 40 watts

          4. Derpetologist

            A 0.001 watt laser is enough to pop balloons:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuipJ7YuDfk

          5. Jarflax

            Plasma rifles aren’t lasers.

          6. Derpetologist

            Hold on- 1140 mW watts is 1.14 watts.

            “Math class is tough!”

          7. MikeS

            A 40 watt laser could maaaybe cut paper. If you were up close.

          8. MikeS

            OK, it’ll cut paper. And engrave some materials.

          9. Derpetologist

            The USAF put a laser on a 747 that could shoot down missiles. That laser was in the megawatt range:

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_YAL-1

            ***
            The heart of the system was the COIL, comprising six interconnected modules, each as large as an SUV. Each module weighed about 6,500 pounds (3,000 kg). When fired, the laser produced enough energy in a five-second burst to power a typical American household for more than an hour.[9]
            ***

    2. MikeS

      Schwarzenegger is quite dense.

      1. Spudalicious

        *golf clap*

      2. Walford

        So says the nanny.

    3. Winston

      Next thing you will be telling me that liquid metal can’t shapeshift and imitate anyone or anything.

  12. Crusty Juggler

    Climate Change – I used to be a denier but this dance made me a believer (watch until the end)

    NSFW for work or for your eyes but I agree with the Twitter-er – Climate Change is real.

    1. MikeS

      She makes a compelling argument.

    2. pistoffnick

      THAT’S MY FETISH!

      1. Rhywun

        Nice avatar. ?

  13. Heroic Mulatto

    Fuck Fall.

    1. Spudalicious

      Hater.

    2. Jarflax

      Is that when you just slipped and your dick went in her by accident?

    3. Crusty Juggler

      Go back to Chinatown, commie!

    4. MikeS

      Sounds about right.

    5. blackjack

      SHUT THE FUCK UP, FALL-TARD!

  14. Winston

    https://www.businessinsider.com/xi-jinping-good-for-china-2010-10

    The heir apparent to the Chinese presidency is a free-market, libertarian intellectual — relatively speaking.

    ….

    Xi’s father was jailed by Mao Zedong for 16 years for disobedience. Does Xi have a rebellious streak?

    Xi started college at the late age of 22. Then he continued his education longer than Hu, staying to attend law school. Is he a free-thinking itellectual?

    Xi’s wife is a famous folk singer, while Hu’s wife remains mostly invisible. Does he support women’s rights?

    Xi made a name for himself in the nineties by promoting entrepreneurship and market economics. This is pretty self explanatory.

    In other words he’s a man who seems likely to promote modernization and market reform. Anyway that’s what the Communist Party wants to you to think

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/opinion/sunday/kristof-looking-for-a-jump-start-in-china.amp.html

    HERE is my prediction about China: The new paramount leader, Xi Jinping, will spearhead a resurgence of economic reform, and probably some political easing as well. Mao’s body will be hauled out of Tiananmen Square on his watch, and Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning writer, will be released from prison.

    These won’t happen immediately — Xi won’t even be named president until March — and I may be wrong entirely. But my hunch on this return to China, my old home, is that change is coming.

    Here’s my case for Xi as a reformer.

    First, it’s in his genes. His father, Xi Zhongxun, was a pioneer of economic restructuring and publicly denounced the massacre of pro-democracy protesters in 1989. Xi’s mother chooses to live in Shenzhen, the most capitalist enclave in the country.

    Xi is also one of the first Chinese leaders to send a child to the United States as an undergraduate. His daughter is a junior at Harvard, reflecting her parents’ emphasis on learning English and their admiration for American education.

    1. Derpetologist

      I am reminded of a quote from a Doris Lessing novel: if the BBC had been able to interview Genghis Khan, they would have said he had a wry sense of humor and enjoyed reading The Guardian.

      For fuck’s sake, he got Winnie the Pooh banned from the Chinese internet over a meme:

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

      1. Jarflax

        I suspect Genghis was way too conservative for them.

  15. Derpetologist

    First man to run a marathon in less than 2 hours:

    https://www.npr.org/2019/10/12/769732863/eliud-kipchoge-dashes-past-2-hour-marathon-barrier-in-assisted-event

    1. MikeS

      Big deal. I run less than 2 hours all the time.

      *looks around*

      1. Jarflax

        If I had the ability to post images you would sooo be getting judgmental kitteh! I made the meme, uploaded the meme, then realized I cannot post the meme.

        1. MikeS

          Link it

          1. Jarflax

            I uploaded it here. I don’t have any photo sharing accounts. It is in the media library.

          2. MikeS

            Sweet talk HM

          3. Jarflax

            I am pale white and can’t twerk

          4. Jarflax

            Ok, you made me enact labor. Here

          5. MikeS

            ppfffffft!

          6. Ted S.

            You can still find the URL and link that.

          7. Jarflax

            2 comments above yours.

          8. Ted S.

            I got a 404 error.

          9. Jarflax

            Does this one work?

          10. MikeS

            There you go. Nice

    2. Jarflax

      Wow, I’ll bet Spud will be really happy someone linked this here, I hear he is inspired by people who strive for greatness.

      1. Derpetologist

        Great minds think alike.

      2. Spudalicious

        Nobody reads the links.

    3. Winston

      Dorando Pietri needs a lift

  16. Tundra

    Idiots. The necessity of managing wolves means your program was a goddamn success!

    Wait until the grizzly bears start eating more people…

    1. Jarflax

      Grizzlies take a backhoe for the whole shoot, shovel, shut up thing.

  17. Nephilium

    You know, while looks pretty, it seems like it’s just making it more difficult to drink your whiskey.

    1. Spudalicious

      I think I’ll stick with the cabinet in the kitchen.

      1. Nephilium

        I’ve got the shelves by the basement bar. I’m not really that concerned that my bottles aren’t behind bulletproof glass and safe from thieves.

  18. Crusty Juggler

    The harm from worrying about climate change

    In one study of a programme called Carbon Conversations, which involves group discussion and activity to reduce climate impacts, half of participants said that the programme helped them face their worries about climate change. And greater emotional engagement was associated with more change in habits. This showed the linked benefits of feeling part of a community, reckoning with difficult feelings, and taking constructive measures.

    This kind of research has been put into practice at New York University’s Environmental Health Clinic, which prescribes climate-friendly actions and group activities to its visitors. “There’s less space for anxiety emotionally when you take practical steps,” Hickman notes.

    This is true even for extreme feelings. Hickman has counselled parents who fantasise about killing their children, out of fear of the climate-ravaged future. But she calmly points out that history is rife with examples of parents preparing to end their children’s lives in order to protect them. “If we disallow those feelings, we’re just driving them back into the unconscious,” Hickman argues.

    The parents who confess these dark thoughts to her aren’t actually going to act on them, she believes, and it’s important for them to have a safe, shame-free mental space to express the depth of their anxiety. Psychotherapy and other psychology tools can help people become more comfortable with the uncertainty that is inevitable when it comes to climate change.

    “One of the routes through the anxiety is to engage with your grief and your sense of loss,” Hickman says.

    omg

    1. Mojeaux

      This showed the linked benefits of feeling part of a community, reckoning with difficult feelings, and taking constructive measures.

      The Church of Gaia.

      Let us pray …

      1. Jarflax

        Our Mother, red in tooth and claw, harrowed by thy fangs,
        Our bowels be torn.
        Thy maw be fed by flesh as well as its by fowl.
        Give us this day our daily dead,
        And savor each blood drop, as we savor each scrap we rend.
        Lead us not into mercy, for mercy allows the prey to flee,
        For thine is way of the hunt, of blood hot and red in the air.

        1. Derpetologist

          +1 all creatures short and squat

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPriOQkKd6k

        2. Spudalicious

          Don’t forget the barbecue. We need to have a barbecue.

        3. Shirley Knott

          The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
          He makes me down to lie
          Through pastures green He leadeth me the silent waters by
          With bright knives he releaseth my soul
          He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places
          He converteth me to lamb cutlets
          For lo, He hath great power, and great hunger
          When cometh the day we lowly ones
          Through quiet reflection, and great dedication
          Master the art of karate
          Lo, we shall rise up
          And then we’ll make the bugger’s eyes water

          Bleating and babbling we fell on his neck with a scream
          Wave upon wave of demented avengers
          March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream

          1. Spudalicious

            Still no barbecue.

          2. commodious spittoon

            +eleventy

            God damn I love me some Floyd.

          3. commodious spittoon

            Roger Waters is a dumbass communist, and he can rot in hell, and I get that a lot of his music is tainted by association, if not by implication, given the lyrics, but nonetheless, Animals is a great album.

          4. commodious spittoon

            Roger Waters: “Fuck you, got mine” incarnate. Fuck you, Rog.

          5. blackjack

            All of them are. If I select music
            by political beliefs, I listen to silence.

          6. commodious spittoon

            https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/10/chevron-case-shakedown-ecuador-roger-waters/

            Especially fuck you, Roger Waters.

            But yes, idiot song people aren’t intelligible politics people. HEY FUCKASS, YOU’RE BASICALLY A CHILDREN’S BIRTHDAY MAGICIAN. Fuck off.

          7. Rhywun

            Holy shit – I was unaware of any of that.

            Their only mistake was getting caught. Imagine all the shakedowns that aren’t.

          8. commodious spittoon

            Fuckwit Waters makes a fortune bitching about capitalism courtesy of good lord capitalism, spends it in part making money battling capitalism in countries that could use it most.

            Roger, find the girthiest, rustiest meathook you can, insert it rectally, and suspend yourself from an electrical line.

        4. Mojeaux

          Brilliant!

          However, I don’t believe Gaia is evil or hateful of humans. I believe Gaia just set things in motion and things are what they are.

          1. Jarflax

            Gaia the watchmaker.

          2. Mojeaux

            tick tock

          3. Tres Cool

            + Dr Who

          4. Mojeaux

            Weeping angels BEST VILLAIN EVER.

            EVAR

          5. l0b0t

            Submitted without comment. https://youtu.be/9WBqHdI5Bdw

          6. Mojeaux

            I larfed.

          7. Rhywun

            BEST VILLAIN EVER.

            Ah, before Moffat lost his head up his ass.

          8. Mojeaux

            Ah, before Moffat lost his head up his ass.

            Which villain(s) are you talking about?

            I hear this a lot, but I’m not enough of a Who fan to know when he did this. I know there were episodes I rolled my eyes, though.

          9. Jarflax

            Dr Who has been pretty consistently leftist from the beginning.

          10. Mojeaux

            I am not interested in the girl Dr. Who, though. The first episode I tried to watch got woke in about 5 minutes, so I didn’t stick around for the rest of the season.

          11. Mojeaux

            Dr Who has been pretty consistently leftist from the beginning.

            Not enough to keep me from watching. Until girl Dr. Who.

            Oh, wait, no. I haven’t watched the season with Bill, but only because it wasn’t free on Amazon Prime.

          12. l0b0t

            I’m pretty sure the final Dr. Who was that vet from All Creatures Great And Small.

          13. Mojeaux

            vet from All Creatures Great And Small.

            My mom loved him. James Herriott. Thirsk, England. Yeah, we made a pilgrimage. Sadly, he was not in the office the day we were there. But I did buy a little cross stitch kit at the embroidery shop next door AND we ate pasties in that little village square.

          14. Rhywun

            Which villain(s) are you talking about?

            Mostly I am referring to the writing – although I did find “The Shadow” (?) to be particularly tedious. But more generally it’s just that everything got so convoluted and full of itself after he became the showrunner.

          15. l0b0t

            Mojeaux, did you ever watch The League Of Gentlemen? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_League_of_Gentlemen

          16. Mojeaux

            No. I have seen very little British television (a few episodes of Ab Fab). I went on a Dr. Who bender from Eccleston through Capaldi when I saw them on Amazon Prime and I was bored.

          17. Jarflax

            Fawlty Towers! and don’t forget A Fish Called Wanda.

          18. Ted S.

            Yes, I have seen The League of Gentlemen. Jack Hawkins is excellent as usual.

          19. Mojeaux

            I didn’t forget A Fish Called Wanda! I haven’t had a chance to see it yet.

          20. Ted S.

            “Are You Being Served” and “Countdown”.

          21. l0b0t

            TLoG has a cursed vet – https://youtu.be/WsnlL0CwIY4

          22. Rhywun

            Finish AbFab.

            +1 Fawlty Towers. For my money, the funniest sitcom ever.

          23. Plinker762

            Don’t mention the war

          24. DEG

            +1 Fawlty Towers. For my money, the funniest sitcom ever.

            Seconded.

          25. Nephilium

            To add onto the British shows to watch, if you have any idea at all about tech support, the IT Crowd. If you like watching people making terrible decisions and suffering for it, Coupling.

          26. DEG

            If you like watching people making terrible decisions and suffering for it, Coupling.

            “Coupling” is good. It superficially looks like “Friends” but isn’t as “Coupling” is actually funny.

          27. Nephilium

            Oh, and I almost forgot Black Books. Misanthropic store owners who own shops next to each other.

          28. Shirley Knott

            Thank Pink Floyd 😉

            This was one of my mantras for getting through hard times. (I have a history of working for sane bosses in psychotic companies or psychotic bosses in small businesses.)

          29. Jarflax

            Life exists by eating life. I respect people who decide that their moral code requires them to eat lower down on the ladder of awareness to minimize the pain they cause, although I disagree with them. People who try to mandate that for others can die screaming under the claws of a bear.

      2. Nephilium

        M-I-Ceee-K-E-Y.

    2. Winston

      You know who else who wanted to murder their children desired to be part of a community?

      1. Jarflax

        The Zealots?

    3. Rhywun

      Madness – literally.

    4. Sir Digby

      a programme

      Aaaannd, I’m out.

      1. Rhywun

        Hatefoulle.

  19. Crusty Juggler

    Tennessee woman arrested after twerking wildly on moving car

    Police say the bad move caused motorists to divert their attention and caused a dangerous situation, according to the station.

  20. Winston

    http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367_2066369_2066495,00.html

    During the Cold War, scholars would analyze new Russian leaders for clues that they might open up their political system. If they liked jazz and scotch, they were deemed pro-Western reformers. The guessing game has shifted to China and Xi Jinping, 57, who will likely be appointed President in 2012.

    You can make the case that Xi has reformist impulses. His father, once a comrade of Mao Zedong’s, was purged three times. Xi is an engineer, like most of China’s leaders, but he also has a law degree and a breadth of knowledge that many of his colleagues lack. His wife is one of China’s most famous singers. His daughter is at Harvard. Who knows? Maybe he even likes jazz and scotch.

    The limiting factor, however, might not be his intentions but his power. For the past 40 years, as the strength of the Chinese nation has risen, the power of its top leader has declined. From Mao to Deng Xiaoping to Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao, each supremo has wielded less power than his predecessor. Whatever Xi’s views, he might not be able to impose them on his country. And that, in a sense, is political progress for China.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/10/china-xi-jinping-opens-door-reform

    Now, Zhu’s ideas are back in fashion. One dissident figure I interviewed for my Radio 5 Live documentary, to be broadcast on Monday, believes the next five to seven years will change everything. “I would expect to see a popularly elected parliament in that time,” he said

    One more year for the end of one-party rule…

    Again, I had the feeling I had been here before. In the Soviet bloc in 1988, most intellectuals felt divorced from the processes of formal Marxist-Leninist politics. And very soon the old, brittle system had cracked because of its utter lack of relevance to the lives of real people.

    Can Xi reform the system, without – like Gorbachev – destroying it? He has advantages that Gorbachev lacked, so it’s not absolutely impossible. But I suspect things have gone too far for traditional Marxism-Leninism to survive. The dissidents who talk enthusiastically about wholesale change during Xi’s tenure may yet turn out to be right.

  21. Crusty Juggler

    Millennials only like pizza because it looks good on Instagram

    About 1 in 10 millennial respondents told OnePoll they like Italian food for how “Instagrammable” it is. Some even admitted that they like how they can make it look fancy faster than other cuisines.

    On average, millennial respondents copped to posting Instagram photos of Italian food three times monthly.

    While some people just want to watch the world burn.

    1. Ted S.

      Amazingly, that’s not a Babylon Bee link.

    2. Spudalicious

      *head on desk*

      I’m putting in a wood burning pizza oven and I’m not even on Instagram.

    3. Rhywun

      It’s not just millennials. I know people my age and older who post nothing but pictures of plates of food on FB. Another reason I deleted my FB account.

      1. Mojeaux

        You should see the pics SP took of our tapas.

        1. Rhywun

          I should add that these are almost exclusively plates of food they didn’t make.

          1. Mojeaux

            Well, we were at a tapas bar so we didn’t make our tapas, either.

          2. Rhywun

            Ha – busted! Millennials!

          3. Mojeaux

            LOL!

          4. Derpetologist

            People want attention and they will go to great lengths to get it.

          5. Jarflax

            There is a guy here who is even willing to read things like Jezebel and DU to get us to… Oh Hi Derpy!

          6. Derpetologist

            legit LOL

      2. Ted S.

        The food photos I’ve taken have been of holiday meals to send to my sisters who can’t make it.

        1. Jarflax

          I’m sorry your sisters can’t make food.

          1. Mojeaux

            Oh snap!

      3. blackjack

        If you want good photos of food, you have to make it inedible. They slather vaseline, spray clear paint, spray other colors of paint and otherwise tweak the stuff to make it beautiful.

        1. Winston

          Don’t they use glue for the shots of milk in cereal ads?

          1. l0b0t

            In the US. if the commercial is for a foodstuff, the actual product has to be used. I’ve worked jobs for McDonald’s where the food stylists have 3 soft-serve ice cream machines running, cranking out hundreds and hundreds of sundaes that melt almost instantly under the studio lights. If the food is just in a scene for an unrelated product, all bets are off and some of the fakes are stunning (ice cream made of shortening, milk made from glue, food slathered in glycerin and dry-ice to appear to be sizzling on a griddle).

          2. Trigger Hippie

            I was told growing up that they used handcrafted polystyrene replicas for the hamburgers in commercials.

          3. Rhywun

            Yeah, they never look like the real article, do they.

          4. Trigger Hippie

            Too perfect. My best friend was a GM for a major fast food restaurant for over a decade and he would often get complaints from people that the actual food didn’t look exactly like it did on the menu board. He had to explain to people that they make the item’s contents appear larger and they place them so you can see every ingredient inside the food.

            To be fair, it’s a little misleading, but if you believe that complete truth in advertising exists, well…

          5. Jarflax

            Truth in advertising laws have nothing to do with consumer protection. They exist so lawyers can shout GOTCHA and get paid.

      4. Akira

        It’s not just millennials. I know people my age and older who post nothing but pictures of plates of food on FB. Another reason I deleted my FB account.

        IF I had any social media, I would post pictures of things I cooked, but only for the whole “taking pride in something you created” angle. I wouldn’t just post pictures of something I got at a restaurant.

        1. Rhywun

          Yeah, I was talking more about this as a symptom of the recent trend of photo-documenting every goddamn minute of your life in order to impress other people with how exciting your life is or something.

  22. CPRM

    The New York congresswoman traveled to Copenhagen for a meeting with the C40, a group of 94 mayors led by Los Angeles’ Mayor Eric Garcetti — who was just announced as the group’s new chair. There, several U.S. mayors supported the “Global Green New Deal.”

    The plan aims to halve carbon emissions by 2030 through cleaner alternatives and the “strictest possible building codes.”

    Once again, they all travel to Europe to complain about the climate, and they want stricter building codes, and they’ll turn around and complain about affordable housing. How does anyone take these people seriously?

    1. blackjack

      Here in Los Angeles, we have cheap housing and energy. We can totally afford to strict up our building codes and increase all of our taxes. No biggie. If we keep tightening it up and ratcheting up the costs, we’ll probably find the answer to our homeless problem.

  23. Winston

    https://www.extremetech.com/internet/299996-blizzard-hearthstone-nba-capitalism-democracy-china-authoritarianism

    We have arrived at this point because a lot of very smart people believed a very convenient argument about how democracy and capitalism were intertwined in order to feel good about themselves while opening new markets and making huge amounts of money. Above all else, it was convenient to believe that China would democratize its social policies as it took certain steps towards opening its markets. This is not a recent affliction. In his paper, “The Emergence of Capitalism in China: An Historical Perspective and Its Impact on the Political System,” written in 2006, Jean-Francois Huchet referred to a specific question “that has been repeated like a mantra in foreign government circles and by reformers in China: Will the economic transformations that have taken place in the People’s Republic soon lead to the emergence of a democratic regime that will enable China to complete its cycle of modernization?”

    Writing 13 years ago, his assessment was decidedly negative. “In the case of China, we can find very few factors in the current economic situation likely to lead to a democratic evolution.”

    Interesting that there were people who realized long before Xi came to power that political liberalization was not happening.

    Also many of the “Xi is a reformer” arguments made many of the same erroneous assumptions made by classical liberals in the past and cosmos today: the inherent libertarianism of: urban life, University education, foreign travel and desiring foreign goods.

  24. MikeS

    I’m going to go see how bad the roads are after snowmagedon. And get some beer.

    See you peeps on the night shift. ?

    1. hayeksplosives

      I hope so!

      1. MikeS

        Hi lady!

    2. Fourscore

      You plowed your driveway? No delivery service? Order a delivery pizza and a 24 pack

      1. Tres Cool

        Dont canuckians call that a “two and four eh” ?

    3. DEG

      Good luck!

  25. Derpetologist

    I have some cheese called drunken goat – it’s goat cheese that was aged in red wine. Not bad. The rind is deep purple, probably from the wine. Taste is a bit like Parmesan. Goat cheese is usually very soft, bit this was harder.

    Behold the power of cheese!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQkR1T_B7FA

    1. Jarflax

      Ok that may have been the best commercial ever.

      1. straffinrun

        Cute little mousey. Let me offer another entry.</a

        1. Jarflax

          Da fuq’d I just watch?

    2. Ted S.

      I prefer this entry in the ad campaign.

      1. Jarflax

        That was good, but the Mouse benching beats that.

  26. Stinky Wizzleteats

    If you ever run into a rapesquatch that’s less tender than STEVE SMITH and he binds you with duct tape, here’s how to get free:

    https://youtu.be/nXw0AG7e5cc

    As long as you know what to do it looks surprisingly easy.

  27. Fourscore

    Oh, Sgt Derp is too good for mess hall food now. Isn’t that part of your pay? Like free immunizations?

    1. Derpetologist

      I get BAS instead of a meal card. I’m not complaining.

      You ever eat powdered eggs so long that regular eggs taste weird?

      1. Tres Cool

        Yes.

        1. Sean

          Hey Tres…I had a piece of bread and a couple onion rings tonight. ?

          1. Tres Cool

            SHAME!

            Honestly, when Jugsy want those fuckin’ ‘Mrs Fields break & bake’ cookies…..Im their bitch

      2. Fourscore

        Yeah, although a creative mess sgt would do wonders with Army rations. In Spain, in the commissary we got some sort of vegetable product for milk, a little thicker, a different taste. The ice cream wouldn’t melt and go down the drain. When I tasted real milk again it took a day or two to get used to it
        again.

        Some of the best food was in small AF mess halls.

        1. Derpetologist

          Nothing beats an Army Thanksgiving meal. 10/10.

          1. l0b0t

            I do sometimes pine for those chow-hall omelets.

          2. The Bearded Hobbit

            I do sometimes pine for those chow-hall omelets.

            I used to love midnight chow. Come off of swing shift and hit the chow hall for breakfast. The place was always mostly empty and the cooks bored, so we’d get great meals.

          3. mikey

            Me – Can I have some more bacon? Lots of bacoon?

            Chow hall guy – Sure

          4. l0b0t

            Up on DIVARTY Hill, we had a wee burger shack called The Muzzle Break. If you missed chow, just show your meal card at The Muzzle Break and they would make you a few burgers to go

          5. Fourscore

            Families were always invited for Thanksgiving/Xmas dinner. Took mine to the mess hall a couple times, ate lotsa good groceries cheap.

    2. Tejicano

      Heck, sometimes we stay on a military base overnight here just because it is a bit of distance from home. A few times I’ve taken the family to a Navy mess hall for breakfast because a) cheap, and b) lots to choose from. My grade school kids care usually picky – and generally can’t decide what they want to eat until it’s in front of them – so quite often neither of them can agree to eat the same type of food as the other or as what mom and dad want. The mess hall kinda bridges all that.

      1. l0b0t

        It’s getting dusty or someone’s cutting onions. My grandfather always took me to Saturday breakfast at the Officers Club on Homestead AFB. Best SOS on Earth, then a spin by the BX, and the rest of the day at the bowling alley eating deliciously greasy cheeseburgers while Papa rolled the rock.

  28. LJW

    Elizabeth Warren’s economic advisors are making bold claims about taxes—but can they be verified?

    Strange that a left leaning outlet would debunk this. Of course it’s a sort apologetic debunking.

    1. Rhywun

      Excluding “transfer payments” allows the government to claim a quarter or a half of Whereversville is living in “poverty” while, you know, not actually living in poverty.

    2. Trigger Hippie

      ‘A new narrative has taken hold in America that the rich aren’t paying their fair share of taxes.’

      Define new.

      *triumphant in his snarky one-liner, TH ignores the rest of the article and continues to peruse the comments*

  29. Derpetologist

    CNN videos with banned comments are the best:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaR-bH2hENM

    But the best part of the night was Biden wearing equality pins on both lapels.

    1. straffinrun

      Kept waiting for the twerking, but it never came. 🙁

      1. Pan Zagloba

        And here I was searching for this classic to show my friend. Serendipity!

      2. Sir Digby

        Did you?

    2. Akira

      “I don’t want to take this away from you, but-” *forcibly grabs the fucking mic*

      It’s the trans version of Kanye West.

      1. Sir Digby

        Kanyetta West

  30. Derpetologist

    Actual quote:

    “Please rise for the singing of our national anthem, performed by the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0JqL0dSgVI

    [anguished Zoidberg groan]

  31. DEG

    He had been greeted with a misty autumnal morning as he tore up the specially tailored course over 4.4 laps of the Prater Hauptallee, a park in central Vienna.

    I’ve walked the Hauptallee, nowhere near as fast as that guy. This place is a pretty good place to get food in the Prater.

    From the sidebar of the psychopaths make the best doctors story.

    The dead included a gambler who sources believe sparked the carnage by pulling the handgun and trying to rob his fellow players — only to be met with fatal crossfire.

    See, an armed society is a polite society!

    “I speak to you not as an elected official or a public figure, but I speak to you as a human being,” the freshman congresswoman told a climate summit in Copenhagen. “A woman whose dreams of motherhood now taste bittersweet, because of what I know about our children’s future,” she added, apparently choking back tears.

    Go fuck yourself.

  32. DEG

    My last beer for the night. I like it.

    1. Hyperion

      “My last beer for the night”

      That’s what I said too, before the next one.

  33. Old Man With Candy

    Green chile enchiladas tonight. I weep for the future of our porcelain.

    1. Jarflax

      Douse the fire with a couple bottles of something alcoholic.

      1. Old Man With Candy

        SP has been asking for an ice cream bidet.

        1. Jarflax

          I suspect the Wonder Dog would be on board.

        2. Spudalicious

          I suggest ghost pepper hot sauce to really give it a kick.

          1. Jarflax

            Why do you hate SP so much?

          2. Spudalicious

            Um. I’m a sadistic SOB?

          3. Nephilium

            Step it up to Carolina Reaper.

          4. Jarflax

            We spend thousands of years learning what things are edible and what are toxic. We use that knowledge and empirical experimentation to breed better more edible, more nutricious foods. Great benefactors like Brillat-Savarin and Larousse compile volumes of techniques and recipes to craft delectable morsels to sate your appetites. And now we carefully breed new strains of pepper to concentrate an acid to burn out our taste buds and digestion. Y’all are crazy.

          5. Nephilium

            Carolina Reaper isn’t even the hottest. The hottest are currently being bred for medical purposes. High levels of capsaicin can work as a topical anesthetic (your skin goes numb after burning for a while). Visitors to my house have learned that when I warn that a dish is spicy, that I actually mean spicy.

          6. Rhywun

            I don’t get it either. I don’t like pain.

          7. Jarflax

            I’m not a hot food guy, but I get, and even enjoy occasionally foods with some heat. But the point of heat is to set off and accentuate other flavors. These hyper concentrated peppers overwhelm everything else and end up numbing your taste buds. It sure seems like food as a dare.

          8. Spudalicious

            It’s also being used for cancer research. People eating these chilis is a byproduct.

    2. Winston

      out porcelain.

      There making the plates gay! / Alex Jones.

      1. The Hyperbole

        There’s a don’t ask don’t tell joke in there somewhere.

      2. Jarflax

        Wrong porcelain, or… You know, I do not want to pursue this.

        1. Spudalicious

          On a good day he damages the porcelain. I’ve never known anybody that had to change toilets like they change HVAC filters.

          1. Mojeaux

            You haven’t met my son.

          2. Old Man With Candy

            I can think of two bathrooms you literally destroyed.

          3. Spudalicious

            I can think of one. And I kind of feel bad about that one. But I was really backed up.

        2. Tres Cool

          Really?

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJWlBfo5Oj0

    3. commodious spittoon

      Green chile enchiladas

      Finally, someone’s talking sense.

      1. Derpetologist

        Enchilada means “seasoned with chili” in Spanish.

        Chili’d chilies?

        Taco comes from an Aztec word that means folded. Burrito means little donkey.

        1. commodious spittoon

          Derp… shut up. Shut up and enjoy the green chile.

          1. commodious spittoon

            I want to make you enjoy green chile like Archer made that one Russian KGB agent enjoy a can of I guess spray on butter? Or maybe oven cleaner? I just watched the clip and I can’t tell what it was.

            But yeah, I am so in hate with you right now I want you to have a canister or Hatch green chile exploded into your mouth.

          2. Spudalicious

            So much for the NAP.

          3. commodious spittoon

            It’s only because I love too much.

          4. Derpetologist

            I like spicy food. Just thought I’d point out the bi-lingual ATM machine/PIN number/free gift aspect of it.

          5. commodious spittoon

            Good lord, the opening of Return of the King is fucking awful awesome.

          6. commodious spittoon

            This fucking chatroom.

          7. Jarflax

            Are you drinking heavily or channeling your avatar?

          8. commodious spittoon

            Oh goodness, yes.

            Poor Eowyn. She’s lovely. Stupid Liv Tyler, stealing away Aragorn’s heart. Eowyn is bae.

          9. Pan Zagloba

            Read the book and you’ll see she arguably ends up better off. Much better off.

            For one, Aragorn is old enough to be grandfather. Seriously.

          10. Jarflax

            There is a lot that is somewhat symbolic and mystical in that triangle. Eowyn represents the fully human. Atwen is obviously of the Eldar. Aragorn is the last heir of the line of Numenor, who are human, but with a trace of the Eldar blood giving them long life and a strain of power. Aragorn is the restoration of that ‘higher’ form of man and he is foretold to restore that glory. The marriage to Arwen is a last rekindling of that link between man and elf as the elves themselves are leaving Middle Earth. Eowyn is a bit of a psychological mess looking for a savior, and her love for Aragorn is more worship than love. Her marriage to Faramir is a more balanced joining of equals.

          11. commodious spittoon

            I love this goddamn chatroom.

          12. straffinrun

            “want” is NAP compatible “Must” isn’t.

    4. straffinrun

      Never heard of a porcelain dildo. *Shrugs*

      1. Ted S.

        A quick search would have revealed more than you care to know

        1. straffinrun

          Explains my unusual bidet handle.

        2. Mojeaux

          *sends link to Mr. Mojeaux with “Christmas” in the subject header*

          1. straffinrun

            Oooh, a stocking stuffer.

          2. Spudalicious

            I did notice what you did there.

          3. Spudalicious

            Pics or it didn’t happen.

          4. Sir Digby

            Will he post a review on Amazon?

          5. Mojeaux

            “My wife wanted this for Christmas. She loves it. It looks very pretty sitting on our knickknack shelf when not being used as intended.”

          6. Tres Cool

            Bore a hole, move to NV or CO and call it a ‘smoking piece’

          7. Sir Digby

            Four stars, then?

            4.5?

          8. Mojeaux

            Four stars, then? 4.5?

            Well, that all depends on how well he–

            Ope. Never mind.

          9. straffinrun

            With a knickknack patty whack give your wife a bone.

          10. Mojeaux

            Straff wins the internet.

          11. Sir Digby

            on how well he–

            Huh…I was expecting a ‘u’

  34. Derpetologist

    Say what you will about the CIA, they inspired a pretty good song parody:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-CG5w4YwOI

    1. l0b0t

      That man is so damn talented.

      1. Sir Digby

        It’s interesting that you say that, l0….

        Veeery interesting

    2. dbleagle

      Give, give until it hurts;

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGvrmltfMrA&t=17s

      1. Derpetologist

        +1 I’m old! Gimme, gimme gimme!

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI7hJHLyBZo

    3. straffinrun

      Had me until “plugging the leaks like yeah”.

      1. Derpetologist

        There was a CIA guy who disrupted commy meetings in yerp with cockroaches:

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_P._Wilson

        ***
        Wilson’s first assignments were for the Office of Security; this included a stint in 1956 guarding U-2 spy planes in Turkey. In 1960, the Agency sent him to Cornell University for graduate studies in Labor Relations. He put this and his knowledge of psychology to use in the Agency’s International Organizations Division (IOD) tackling communism in trade unions around the world. Wilson was involved in attempts to destabilize European labour unions, for example, by using methods as diverse as involving Corsican mobsters and using plagues of cockroaches.[6][7]
        ***

  35. Derpetologist

    recap: NYC will fine you for saying “illegal immigrant” or not using someone’s preferred pronouns, but it’s perfectly OK to piss and shit on the sidewalk.

    https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-york-city-eases-severity-of-laws-against-public-urination-drunkenness

    Where muh country gone?

    1. AlmightyJB

      Here ya go

      https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2019/10/12/wait-now-talking-decriminalizing-intentional-hiv-transmission/

      1. Rhywun

        How is it treated with other STDs?

  36. Rebel Scum

    “NFL 2019” — A Bad Lip Reading of The NFL

    1. straffinrun

      Nice. The whole thing should be Brady, though.

  37. straffinrun

    She got the nuts.

    1. Rebel Scum

      That was a peach of a hand.

    2. commodious spittoon

      She’s the Arby’s of nuts.

    3. Tres Cool

      I don’t get it.

      1. straffinrun

        Get what? Nipple popping pleasure? The nuts? The “nuts” is the highest possible hand after all the cards are dealt. She didn’t technically have the nuts, though. Just wanted to make y’all click.

        1. Tres Cool

          Oh, I dont gamble. Just gambol.

          1. straffinrun

            Me neither, but the freaks that play pro poker are amusing.

  38. commodious spittoon

    …Why wouldn’t Minas Tirith be on a permanent war footing? Why wouldn’t they know it’d be a principle target after the fall of Osgiliath? Did they really need Gandalf to ride out from Rohan to inform them that, goodness, they’re in the eye of Sauron?

    1. Jarflax

      Denethor has been subverted by using the Palantir. Sauron has overthrown his mind.

      1. straffinrun

        CS eats cherry tomatos like Denethor.

        1. straffinrun

          And of course YT beat me to it.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DRB8rOoCoI

        2. Jarflax

          So damned anachronistic (yeah I know, but the fictional world is obviously based on/parallels Britain in pre history)

        3. commodious spittoon

          That is just hurtful.

          1. straffinrun

            Apologies. By all means, continue finding plot holes in 20 year old movies.

          2. straffinrun

            😉

          3. commodious spittoon

            Straffin finds the salt shaker and the rubbing cloth.

            It’s a cloth for which rubbing salt is recommended.

          4. Jarflax

            Not a plot hole! A deeply significant representation of the whole Steward/King dichotomy! (sorry, I really like Tolkien)

          5. straffinrun

            And you found plot hole in my post. Meta.

          6. Derpetologist

            +1 a wizard did it

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVgVB3qsySQ

      2. commodious spittoon

        …after doing some reading I like the book version of Denethor better.

        1. Jarflax

          The books have more psychological depth. As always. Film simply cannot go deep into the inner life, not a criticism of film as artform really, just different arts do different things.

          1. westernsloper

            I read and re-read those books when I was 13. I missed all the depth, but then again I am not deep. Bring on killing Orks!

  39. Drake

    That bulllshit roughing penalty call ended up costing USC the game.

    And the game ends on an uncalled penalty by Norte Dame. Good job Pac-12 officials.

    1. leon

      Good. Screw USC.

  40. westernsloper

    Grapefruit, cranberry, tequila and soda…….delicious.

    1. Tejicano

      Well, it has Tequila so that would be hard to screw up (as long as you stick to good Tequila).

  41. Rebel Scum

    Neat plane that I am unfamiliar with, despite being somewhat of a ww2 (military tech…) buff.

  42. westernsloper

    https://twitter.com/beinlibertarian/status/1182850722133618688

    1. Jarflax

      He was robbin’ them but OH Well!

      Physically adult but morally toddlers.

      1. Mojeaux

        I have a philosophical question:

        I see videos all the time with kids behaving badly (toddlers, kindergartners) and their parents thinking it’s cute and are encouraging the behavior. These children know nothing.

        Are these people really morally responsible for how they think? Should we expect them to have that “light” in them (see Don Escaped Texas’s origin story)? Is it their fault they go “Yeah, he shouldn’t have been doing that, but oh well” when they have been trained from the cradle to think that way?

        I say often that I think Joe Jackson is to blame for how Michael Jackson turned out and that MJ had no capacity to make decisions for himself. I think this about people like this often. They think this way because they have been trained to think this way.

        My kid–he can deny he’s responsible for stuff all day long (he does) and we call him on it hard and fast (not politely or quietly, either). Other people call him on it. He knows he’s responsible. He just wants to dump it off on somebody else.

        These people don’t actually seem to know that his getting shot was entirely his fault.

        1. Gender Traitor

          I am reminded of a term I learned in a long-ago educational psychology class (when I had delusions of becoming an art teacher:) locus of control. In a tiny nutshell: is your success or failure due to your own behavior, or is it controlled by external forces?

          1. Mojeaux

            My locus of control is quite a bit external, which I am trying to fight and have always tried to fight, but I am often not successful.

          2. Jarflax

            educational psychology class

            BURN IT WITH FIRE! You might as well quote Stalin on ethics.

          3. Gender Traitor

            I changed majors after that. Several times.

        2. westernsloper

          It is cultural. We are all individuals on cultural islands. Some islands are better than others and we can blame that on……….chance? Roll of the dice? The stars?

        3. Jarflax

          That isn’t a philosophical question, that is most of Ethics. You learn morality and consequences form your parents, your church, your friends and your school, but you also have it within you to learn these things on your own. His sister for example has learned enough to get that killing someone is wrong. She is outraged at the clerk who killed her brother. She lacks the clarity and grounding to step back from that outrage and see that her brother put the clerk in the same position by threatening him with imminent death and that therefore the clerk was justified in his action. Although even that is not true as she recognizes that her brother had ‘some’ of the blame. So she knows that threatening to kill someone is an act that justifies a response.

          She is just morally a child, quite literally. She sees the right and wrong of the situation, but she doesn’t like the result so she rails against it and refuses to accept it and she lashes out in a tantrum. Her parents have completely failed her, but in the end, no matter what their failures and guilt, she has autonomy and that means it is her responsibility to act morally, and she must bear the blame if she does not. Her parents have failed at an essential duty and are morally culpable in their own right.

          This is phrased didactically because it is how I see morality. YMMV

          1. Mojeaux

            Thank you for your response.

            She sees the right and wrong of the situation, but she doesn’t like the result so she rails against it and refuses to accept it and she lashes out in a tantrum.

            Boiled it down to this in my mind:

            I will assume she knows enough not to pull a gun on someone.

          2. Sir Digby

            Well, until she wants something, and there’s someone who has it/has more than her, and can “afford to lose it”.

          3. Mojeaux

            *resigned sigh*

          4. Sir Digby

            Ahhh…the sound of love!

        4. Rhywun

          It’s a tough question. The way I see some parents treat their kids nearly every day… it’s no surprise at all how they turn out later in life.

          1. Jarflax

            But not all of them. Some people have a rougher road than others, but if we absolve them of their responsibility we also deprive them of agency. Living things without responsibility or agency are animals and have no rights we cannot put humans in that class no matter how badly their parents failed.

          2. westernsloper

            It happens every day all over the world. Hence my cultural comment. Parents are part of the culture and pass it on. Taking a human life in the moment to obtain what one wants or even because of a religious belief is acceptable in many cultures/societies. Ya, humans can be, and should be called animals.

          3. Rhywun

            But not all of them.

            Agreed. Did not mean to imply otherwise.

          4. Jarflax

            I know. I just go into lecture mode too easily. I really should start adding a “I’m using your post as a springboard to spout my lecture cause I’m kind of a dick” signature line.

    2. Mojeaux

      “Yes, he’s robbin’ y’all. Oh well.”

      That hurt my head.

    3. Derpetologist

      Reminded of this:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZGSQXmJPaQ

      “How he gonna have his money to have clothes?”

      @ 1:48

    4. Gender Traitor

      Finally clicked the link. Just from reading all the comments below, I thought the story sounded awfully familiar.

      I’m so proud of my hometown. ::headdesk::

      1. Jarflax

        Thank you for being from there so I can bask in the 50 mile separation instead of being the local Glib. (Hey I ate the plate of crap after Harambe)

        1. Gender Traitor

          Per Bing maps, the store where the shooting happened is less than a mile and a half from where I grew up.

    5. Viking1865

      Best reply:

      https://twitter.com/Sgt_Skillcraft/status/1182893633013334016

    6. Tejicano

      She says it was wrong for the clerk to bring a gun to work…

      Yeah, like why did he feel like somebody would threaten his life at work? Who would do something like that? …oh

      1. straffinrun

        He just wanted money. He didn’t kill the clerk therefore the clerk was wrong. *Scratches temple*

  43. Tres Cool

    Night kiddos.

    /taps out

  44. MikeS

    Hi.

    So, I have a soundbar under my TV. It is Bluetooth capable. Sometimes, when the wife and I have had a few, we like to play music from my computer through the soundbar.

    Pretty simple shit, right? Well, why does the soundbar completely ignore all volume changes from the computer except mute?

    1. Sir Digby

      A shit soundbar? A shit computer?

      1. MikeS

        (yes) A Dynex soundbar and (no) a Surface tablet.

        1. CPRM

          Dynex that I’ve had have been more reliable that MS hardware.

          I don’t no nuffin bout sound bars or blu tooth in the home though.

          1. MikeS

            Yeah, I’m fairly sure it’s not a hardware problem. Likely me either expecting too much or ignorant of how to achieve my desired outcome.

          2. CPRM

            That’s why I like wired connections, I know what they do and what to expect. Wireless always seems to be able to do things, they should do it, but they don’t.

          3. MikeS

            Oh, man. Tell me about it. I am actually just starting to research that. My lovely wife would like to have something approaching a “whole home” audio system. And it will be wired.

      2. straffinrun

        No late night at digby’s tonight?

        1. Sir Digby

          It’s always late night at Diggy’s.

        2. SP

          2300 Glibtime.

          1. CPRM

            glaad to know Glibtime hasn’t changed with the move.

          2. SP

            The Glibs Foundation is still headquartered in Texas, so.

    2. westernsloper

      Climate change.

      1. Sir Digby

        That’s it: Gretta’s fuckin’ with him.

    3. Jarflax

      Digital signal and the receiver is only getting the base signal, not the external modifications such as volume, mute blocks the base signal. Would be my guess.

      1. MikeS

        Well that’s just great, Bill Nye, but how do I fix it?!?!?!?!?!

        1. Jarflax

          volume controls after the receiver. It’s playing through the TV? Does the TV volume work?

          1. MikeS

            Nope. Straight from the tablet to the soundbar. TV is not involved.

          2. Jarflax

            and the soundbar has no volume controls? OK, I’m lost, if it has no volume controls I think what I said above is probably wrong. Who would make an audio device with a fixed output level?

          3. MikeS

            Sorry. The soundbar has volume controls, but it’s in the other room. I expect (unreasonably?) to be able to adjust the volume from the output (the tablet)

          4. Jarflax

            Is there a remote app you can download onto the tablet and use the tablet both a the source, and separately as a remote control for the soundbar?

  45. MikeS

    Despite my audio problems, my wife is currently giggling at this song. Gawd I love her.

    1. Mojeaux

      OMG I AM DYING LOLOLOLOLOLOL

    2. CPRM

      I had a friend who was big into Bloodhound Gang. He went with me to a Collective Soul/Marvelous 3 concert; on the way there (he was driving) we listened to Bloodhound Gang and Everlast, and on the way back all he could talk about was how awesome Collective Soul and Marvelous 3 were.

      1. Sir Digby

        You (should) know I love me some CS…and, cs, too.

        But, they don’t have this!

      2. MikeS

        As we both know, Collective Soul is extremely underrated.

        1. Sir Digby

          Speaking of underrated…

          coughcough>>cough>>>>>>>>>>

          1. MikeS

            *hands Digby a Ludens*

            So, anyway…

  46. Mojeaux

    What I’m listening to right now.

    1. Jarflax

      I like.

      1. Mojeaux

        In case you are interested in the rest of the playlist. It’s kind of eclectic.

    2. Plinker762

      A little different than what I was just listening to

      1. Mojeaux

        Well that harshed my Zen. 😉

  47. MikeS

    Hi-Ex isn’t here, so…

    New post is up!

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