Thursday Morning Links

Our B-side is (marginally) better than your B-side!

The Nationals won on the diamond last night in the only scheduled MLB game. Your hockey winners were Tampa, Edmonton, St Louis, Montreal, Florida and Vancouver.  And across the pond, ManUre knocked Chelski out of the League Cup and Liverpool did the same to Arsenal on penalties after an incredibly entertaining 5-5 draw. Although Klopp isn’t thrilled with the potential quarterfinal scheduling.

“You, Angie, pick up that blood!”

Dutch master Jan Vermeer was born on this day.  As were poet John Keats, Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low, Chinese leader Chang Kai-shek, habitual liar Dan Rather, actor Michael Landon, comedic actor and brother Brian Doyle-Murray, funny man John Candy, football coach Nick Saban, and human hobbit hybrid Peter Jackson.

That’s a decent list. Now on to…the links!

Trigger Warning!

NYT looks for a “gotcha” moment. Gets punked by the person they were hoping would be outraged.

WaPo is not a big fan of race-mixing when it comes to religious music. They hope they can keep those musical and religious negroes in their place.

Trigger Warning II: Zuckerberg Boogaloo

Facebook and Instagram take a step closer to going full retard. Didn’t anybody tell them you never go full retard?

 This is why you don’t try to cook while you’re traveling on a freaking train. Man, that’s incredibly sad.

What an idiot. Lucky for him Ilhan Omar has an opening on her staff.

The tuition “scandal” claims another victim. Meanwhile, people like de Blasio’s son continue to get into Ivies on their “merits”. Sure thing.

And in the latest version of “gee, who couldn’t have seen this coming”, I present you with this little nugget from the middle east. Yeah, what a shock.

A great song by a band with shitty politics. But that was most of that generation, so I can get past it.

Anyway, have a great day, friends. Happy Halloween.

Comments

669 responses to “Thursday Morning Links”

    1. PieInTheSky

      OFFTOPIC

      1. AlmightyJB

        To you maybe.

    2. Charles Easterly

      Thank you for the link, AlmightyJB.

      I am glad Representative Gabbard has more support because I think that she offers voters a foreign policy very different than the other candidates.

      Regarding the article to which you linked, I found it similar to several others that I have read regarding Representative Gabbard: But it’s noteworthy that Gabbard would lead her in any poll at any stage of the race given widespread predictions that Harris would contend seriously for the nomination and that Tulsi would be a nonfactor. Those predictions were half right — Gabbard is essentially a nonfactor.

      Notice how the author thought it necessary to reiterate the “nonfactor” conclusion even after noting that Senator Harris seems to be the candidate becoming a “nonfactor”.

  1. PieInTheSky

    WaPo is not a big fan of race-mixing when it comes to religious music. They hope they can keep those musical and religious negroes in their place. – Do you know how hard it is to churn new outrage articles every day? Give poor wapo a break

    1. Shpip

      Just wondering… if a Romanian woman is rude and condescending to you, can you refer to her as a Cunte Dracula?

      Happy Halloween, y’all.

      1. AlmightyJB

        I thought it was “Mistress”.

      2. PieInTheSky

        If you ever meet a Romanian woman, do it. They love being called that.

        1. AlmightyJB

          Lol.

        2. Jarflax

          Breaking News Shpip aka Tulpa found gutted outside Gypsy camp. Authorities baffled.

      3. JaimeRoberto Delecto

        I thought you called them Mom.

    2. In honor of Pie, the music link should have been this.

      1. Now I know what Davey Jones would have sounded like if he was singing in gibberish.

  2. PieInTheSky

    Facebook and Instagram take a step closer to going full retard. Didn’t anybody tell them you never go full retard? – They need to be nationalized and fast

    1. Certified Public Asshat

      Facebook explained: “People use Facebook to discuss and draw attention to sexual violence and exploitation. We recognise the importance of and want to allow for this discussion.

      “We draw the line, however, when content facilitates, encourages or coordinates sexual encounters between adults.

      They draw the line at consensual encounters?

      1. AlmightyJB

        You can’t “allow” people to make their own decisions. What if they do something you disagree with or disapprove of? Then you might be sad or upset.

      2. leon

        The Catholic Church got to sick and is trying to turn us into opus dei initiates!!!!

      3. Count Potato

        We all must control the means of reproduction, comrade.

    2. I deleted my FB account a few days ago. Haven’t missed it.

      1. Trigger Hippie

        Good for you, seriously.

  3. robc

    Astros: No one comes into Houston and wins 5 in a row!

    Nats:. Ok.

    1. AlmightyJB

      So yawnball is over? Awesome.

      1. PieInTheSky

        A fellow NBA man I see

        1. AlmightyJB

          Football. Real American football. NBA used to be fun when they played defense. It’s still fun to see some of the crazy shots that are made but all that run and gun bores me after a while.

          1. Rasilio

            I hated the Pistons with Lambeer back in the day but damn they made the game more interesting than anything played today.

    2. Count Potato

      I’m surprised. Nolan Ryan was so well rested.

    3. Jarflax

      Are you going back to the regular season? Or back to 1921 for best of 9?

  4. leon

    NYT looks for a “gotcha” moment. Gets punked by the person they were hoping would be outraged

    Stupid and hateful is no way to Live son.

    1. mindyourbusiness

      Hateful can be fixed. Stupid…

  5. Slammer

    several Afghan, Taliban and U.S. officials, including some who are involved in trying to resuscitate peace talks, said the Taliban won’t agree to reduce attacks without a reduction in violence from the U.S. and Afghan side.

    President Donald Trump ended negotiations with the Taliban over what he said was the insurgents’ unacceptable level of violence.

    Spider-man points at Spider-man

    1. At this point, Trump just needs to withdraw all ou troops, apologize for Bush and Obama further destroying their shithole (aside from killing the actual people behind 9/11) and tell them to get their own house in order.

      1. Tonio

        ^So much this.

      2. AlmightyJB

        GTFO. STFO.

      3. Akira

        I’d buy a goddamn MAGA hat and wear it everywhere if he actually did that.

  6. PieInTheSky

    What an idiot. Lucky for him Ilhan Omar has an opening on her staff. – to be honest, white supremacy is the real culprit here

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Yeah, Holocaust denial is a much bigger thing among the American black population than it is among whites.

    2. Drake

      “I can’t say the Holocaust is a factual, historical event because I am not in a position to do so as a district employee,” he responded.

      Is that really “Holocaust Denial” or just an admission of ignorance? Is that all he said? He should have been fired for being ignorant on how history is studied.

  7. Slammer

    Was every WS win by the road team?

    That’s nuts

    1. robc

      First time it happened in first 6 games, much less 7.

      1987 Twins was the first time all 7 were won by the home team. Repeated by twins in 1991. Not sure if it has happened since.

      1. Pope Jimbo

        No place like the Metrodome!

        1. Enough About Palin

          G-d I hated that place.

          1. Pope Jimbo

            I loved it. In the late ’90s when the Twins absolutely stunk I could buy a $5 gen admission ticket for me and my daughter and literally have an entire section to myself. My daughter would have a blast climbing all the way to the top of the stairs and then coming back down.

            Once the concessionaire didn’t have whatever it was that we wanted, so he went back down and brought it to us. Talk about service!

    2. PieInTheSky

      BRIAN: Larks’ tongues. Otters’ noses. Ocelot spleens.

      REG: Got any nuts?

      BRIAN: I haven’t got any nuts. Sorry. I’ve got wrens’ livers, badgers’ spleens–

      REG: No, no, no.

  8. PieInTheSky

    And in the latest version of “gee, who couldn’t have seen this coming”, I present you with this little nugget from the middle east. Yeah, what a shock. – In hindsight, we may eventually need to admit that involvement in Afghanistan is not necessarily the best idea…

    1. WTF

      We need to re-learn “punitive expedition “.

      1. Tonio

        No, because then they would see how we worked and gin up something which would cause us to do a bigger punitive expedition which would turn into an embarrassing ambush. Just GTFO already.

        1. WTF

          A real punitive expedition uses overwhelming force to invade and destroy all their shit and kill all their leaders, and then exit. It isn’t a limited force that could be ambushed.

  9. leon

    Are evangelicals exclusively white?

    1. Apparently they are inside the beltway.

    2. robc

      No.

      Black dude sitting next to me at Church on Sunday, black woman in front of me.

      It was a bit of an anomaly, the church I attend now is mostly white.

      1. My church is 30% Chinese, 15% Indian, and 15% Hispanic (oh and probably 5% various other ethnicities) . Clearly they’re all white on the inside.

        1. PieInTheSky

          I hate to break it to you, but in the brave new wokeosphere Chinese, Indian, and Hispanic are white, especially if they escape the plantation

          1. Akira

            It’s highly variable. If Trump says something mean to a person who is East Asian, they get minority status and are therefore beyond criticism. But if they want to advance the narrative that IQ tests are white supremacist tools, East Asians get lumped in with whites.

    3. PieInTheSky

      Well Jesus was black so….

    4. Everything bad is cuz of whiteness, which is now a social construct. Even colors aren’t real anymore.

  10. Certified Public Asshat

    Looks like basically everyone quit from Deadspin. Now that is a good union.

    1. Certified Public Asshat

      Seems like a good time to admit that I *hated* waking up early every morning to do the 9am blog. I am *not* a morning person. I was just told to do it back when I first started the job and the site had a staff of four, and then I guess just never stopped.— Barry Petchesky (@barry) October 31, 2019

      Can someone please get this man a medal?

      1. What a fucking pussy. I get up every day (well, most days) to do the 7am links. But we probably have more readers to satisfy than Deadspin, so I, as well as the other Glibs overlords, feel honor-bound to get the done on time or reasonably close to on time.

        1. Count Potato

          It’s definitely appreciated.

          Anyway, getting up is a requirement of every job. There are people who work from home, but I don’t know anyone who works in their sleep.

          1. Winston’s Mom.

          2. Not Adahn

            +1 waterbed

          3. Bobarian LMD

            If you love what you’re doing it’s not really work.

        2. If they were actually posted a 7AM real American time, I’d be impressed- but since you’re in flyover country….

      2. He quit, he doesn’t even qualify for the participation postit

      3. leon

        “I was just told to do it back when I first started the job”

        I hate testing other people’s code, but I was just told to do it…. yadda yadda. These people are the most antisocial people in the world. The idea that they would be asked to do something inconvenient by their employer is too much.

        1. “We’re gonna pay you a salary to write.”
          “OK.”
          “Part of your assignment is a daily 9 am post.”
          “This place is a fucking prison!”

        2. Pope Jimbo

          I had a young kid tell me that the reason he wasn’t getting his coding done on time and that it was full of bugs was because I didn’t make it fun to come into work.

          I told him if it was fun to come to work, we would be charging him for the privilege to come in. The reason we paid him was because it was “work”.

          *I also had a crusty old boss who once told me that if I wasn’t miserable, I wasn’t working hard enough. (He was actually a great boss. Learned a ton from him, but he expected you to work hard and listen to him).

          1. Fourscore

            I never had a job that wasn’t fun. I went to work to have fun, laugh. Makes days shorter and get paid once in a while.

            As my son said “Its only work”

          2. A Leap at the Wheel

            I love my job. It is interesting, intellectually stimulating, and frankly very easy since I just press the same 36 buttons all day. I enjoy my coworkers, I like the people we do work for, and I believe in my work.

            But if I wasn’t getting paid, I wouldn’t show up.

          3. robc

            Do you not use punctuation, or are there certain letters you don’t use?

            Try not using the e for a day.

          4. Nephilium

            robc:

            I think I can do that.

            /logs off

            /Option 2

            Sur3 thing, ar3 th3r3 any oth3r l3tt3rs you would lik3 m3 to replac3?

        3. Social Justice is Neither

          They are entitled narcisists.

      4. Nephilium

        Early… 9 AM blog.

        /looks at the time for my alarm.

        /hands CPA a large anchor on a chain

        There you go!

        1. 9am is almost lunch.

      5. Rufus the Monocled

        That the guy who who didn’t listen to his bosses and got canned for it?

        Talk about being a smug snowflake.

        /bum tap.

        Off you go.

      6. Scruffy Nerfherder

        What an asshole.

    2. PieInTheSky

      I blame Peter Thiel myself

    3. Slammer

      “Stick to sports” is the new “learn to code”

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        Yesterday I heard on Adam Schein (who I don’t really listen to) something that pissed me off. Some guy called in about the Bregman and Soto (I think it was Soto. Whatever a Nats player) spat about showing each other up.

        The caller made a point that he was willing to give Soto the benefit of the doubt because he’s Dominican and of course Schein had to go all sensitive ‘what’s that got to do with it?’ And then I changed the channel because I didn’t feel like hearing him paste the caller because it wasn’t that bad a take.

        Everyone knows it’s part of the Latin culture to play with some emotion and machoism. They literally admit to it and even sports guys on the radio have said it’s fun to watch. I even recall Le Batard (pre-TDS) mocking the ‘white notion of how to play the game’ right around the Bautista incident.

        It just annoys the crap out of me when a sports radio host can get all huffy over something like rather than just let it play out and then calmly disagree when the caller is off the phone.

        It also reminds me of when Cowherd (righty) mocked the Dominican education system and everyone went all faux-outrage on him.

  11. PieInTheSky

    In sports news, Steph Curry broke his hand. Someone must of cursed the Warriors. Or maybe the move to SanFran is bad luck for em

    1. straffinrun

      Or many reasons he’s wafer thin, not young and trying to play beyond his physical capabilities. He’s fucked without Clay and Kevin. The Mavs. I’m telling ya.

      1. PieInTheSky

        Doncic be lookin smooth

        1. straffinrun

          He’s the best young player I’ve seen in years including Lebron or Kobe.

          1. PieInTheSky

            yeah but he’s white guy slow. I am unsure if that affects his ceiling, although it is high anyway.

            He will never be all defense.

          2. straffinrun

            He had Porzingingis in the paint. Just funnel the guy into the paint and make him drop a floater over a 7’2 monster. The Mavs give matchup nightmares to either LA team. Remember that Magic wasn’t a killer athlete. He had vision and size which is exactly what Doncic has.

          3. PieInTheSky

            The also have Boban

    2. “Or maybe the move to SanFran is bad luck for em”

      Its not like he slipped and fell on a pile of human shit, got accosted by a street lunatic or stuck himself with a used needle…

    3. JaimeRoberto Delecto

      This isn’t the Warriors’ year. They need to rest, get healthy, see what the young guys have, and get a lottery pick. I hope this they aren’t reverting to their historical norm.

  12. Pat

    A great song by a band with shitty politics.

    That could have been almost anything, really.

    1. leon

      And now you’ve done it. Ted S. Music Link inbound

      1. There’s one above.

    2. For socialists, they sure loved chasing that pretty green.

    3. robc

      Might be able to remove the almost.

      1. robc

        Nope, you were right. I don’t know about overall, but the politics of this great song is dead on right:

        https://youtu.be/LySTISqaH9o

    4. Is this travelball you’re talking about?

      1. Dafuq? I was replying to pie

    5. Avenged Sevenfold is outwardly libertarian, maybe a tad to the right even.

      1. Pat

        Yeah but Sloop said the song was good.

        1. Ha! Well, there’s no accounting for taste.

          1. Ozymandias

            One of my fave picks!

          2. My bad, sometimes there is accounting for taste 🙂

  13. leon

    “Meanwhile, people like de Blasio’s son continue to get into Ivies on their “merits”. Sure thing.”

    Attempting to stay in the good graces of state power is not the same.

    1. Slammer

      When I worked in the bookstore we sold study guides for college entrance exams. The son and his mom came in when he was in HS and bought a stack of what must have been at least 10 to 15 of them. He looked completely disinterested and somewhat embarrassed. It’s kind of a tell to me that if you’re studying to go to college that you need to buy that many of the damn things. (Also, the mom gets a female NYPD Officer to bodyguard her wherever she goes. I wanted to say something about her being protected by a firearm, but I needed the job at the time)

      1. WTF

        Let me guess, she had the cop carry the books for them.

  14. AlmightyJB

    “These troops include Afghan strike forces who have been responsible for extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances, indiscriminate airstrikes, attacks on medical facilities, and other violations of international humanitarian law, or the laws of war,” it says.

    Fast learners

  15. Fourscore

    “The joke photo appeared to use an image from a 2017 Medal of Honor ceremony. The medal recipient was amused”

    Do I amuse you?

    We have to be able to laugh at ourselves. Otherwise we just close the gap with the other team that wants us to pissed off all the time.

    1. Tonio

      “Otherwise we just close the gap with the other team that wants us to pissed off all the time.”

      That is an excellent observation. Ima use that.

    2. Pope Jimbo

      I look forward to the Left trashing the medal recipient who failed to be outraged and help them run Trump out of town. The trashing will be done by the same people who have said that no one better ever question the integrity of that Lt. Col who just testified in Schiff’s show trial because he is a decorated veteran.

      1. Fourscore

        Decorations and 7 bucks will buy a pound of cheap coffee and you can drink it by yourself.

    3. pistoffnick

      “…pissed off all the time.”

      It comes naturally for me.

  16. Rebel Scum

    Since yours is account-walled.

    Trump tweeted an obviously photoshopped image depicting him honoring the dog, whose photo was released on Tuesday.

    “AMERICAN HERO!” Trump wrote alongside the photoshopped image.

    However, Trump’s decision to tweet the image, reportedly created by Daily Wire, prompted some to fact-check the obviously doctored image.

    “I’ve requested details from the @WhiteHouse on this photo. There was no such canine event on today’s @POTUS schedule but there is a Medal of Honor ceremony set here for later today for an active duty Green Beret,” Voice of America White House bureau chief Steve Herman wrote.

    Ya, dood. It was joke.

    1. “Why do you keep punching yourself in the face?”
      -Trump Press Secretary to NYT

    2. Tonio

      If only dear Pie were still on the job.

    1. WTF

      Noting that fat is generally unhealthy and unattractive does not mean you are afraid of fat people. This “phobia”crap is ridiculous.

      1. Tonio

        Anti-fat, pro-healthy.

    2. Slammer

      The author on the right

      1. leon

        More like on the right, middle and left, amirite.

        1. Slammer

          She’s gonna speak next, the podium looks shook

          1. TARDIS

            Someone has to make sure all that good food at the all-you-can-eat buffet does not go to waste.

          2. Bobarian LMD

            Going to waist.

        2. Enough About Palin

          There are women who look like that on my bus. And they have little kids. And I think, who in the world would sleep with that let alone actually procreate?

          1. Fourscore

            That’s my observations as well. Not on a bus but when I’m shopping. I’m only guessing that that may be why there are homeless guys. I know, I know, its been said there’s someone for everyone but I’m calling BS on that. I’d take homeless and cheap booze as a better choice.

          2. Well, I have been told this to my face before, so … *shrug*

  17. Rebel Scum

    How Kanye West embeds black gospel music in white evangelical theology

    0_o

  18. AlmightyJB

    Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter will all take “full retard” to depths never imagined. It’s Idiocracy on display. Any hint of intelligence must be wiped out.

    1. leon

      I don’t get you conservotards. First you don’t like Facebook, but then when Zuckerberg says he’ll help Trump like his way back to win, you like him, and now you hate Facebook again. Don’t you see how inconsistent you are being?/ Obtuse to the free speech concern.

    2. Don’t worry scro. There’s lots of tards out there living really kick ass lives. My first wife was tarded. She’s at Facebook now.

  19. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. I better stock up on rifle ammo. Minnesoda busy bodies are hard at work trying to ban all lead ammunition and fishing tackle.

    Casey said human health is at risk as lead from ammunition and fishing tackle builds up in the environment.

    “Sooner or later that lead is going to be exposed to children,” Casey said, “and that’s not a good thing.”

    I’m sure scientist Casey can point to the relevant data that shows increased lead levels in the blood of children.

    1. leon

      Not talking about fishing tackle, but isn’t lead way more humane for hunting? You’d want a round that tears through and kills the animal faster than some steel round that just pierces and creates painful wounds. I’m not a Hunter, so anyone feel free to correct me if you are.

      1. Pope Jimbo

        I’m not a big duck hunter, but my buddies who do still hunt them all bitch about how much more steel shot costs and that it is less effective than lead shot was.

        I’m sure that steel rifle bullets will be even worse. I can’t imagine how poorly they will perform.

        1. Bobarian LMD

          Tungsten shot is very effective, and very expensive. Steel shot just doesn’t carry as well because of reduced mass.

          1. Copper jacketed mercury?

          2. Don Escaped Texas

            zinc comes to mind

            antimony and bismuth probably cost more

            someone will figure it out

          3. No one in their right mind would use a mercury-filled bullet. At least not for hunting.

      2. Tejicano

        A big problem I see is that rifles are designed to fire copper jacketed lead bullets and if you try to replace those bullets with something with a lower density you won’t get the same range nor trajectory. A less dense bullet is just going to decelerate faster. You could make up for that somewhat by using a core of depleted uranium or tungsten but then your prices will be extreme.

        You could engineer the bullets to expand well enough but that would be must more expensive than just using copper jacketed lead.

      3. Caput Lupinum

        Lead is useful for three reasons:

        1. Mass. Lead is heavy. For bullets of the same size made from different materials that normal people can use, the lead bullets will weigh the most, meaning they have more energy at the same velocity and lose that energy less readily when traveling trough the air on the way to the target. Mass is the reason depleted uranium is used by militaries for some armor piercing and antitank rounds, it’s the heaviest thing available.

        2. Malleability. Lead, like any metal, deforms when struck. This deformation causes the bullet to flatten on impact, creating a larger wound and allowing for more complete energy transfer to the target. Harder metals like steel still deform, but to a much lesser degree. That’s useful if you’re trying to get through armor, but not so much against soft targets.

        3. Cost. Lead is cheap. Gold alloys would have a higher mass and better malleability than lead, but would be prohibitively expensive for all but the most well landed of shitlords. Ammunition is expensive enough as it is.

        Material science is wonderful and there may be some as yet undiscovered substance that will work better, but as of now banning lead in ammunition will require sacrificing performance, which in terms of bullets means the ability to reliably kill as quickly and humanely as possible under the circumstances, and in increase in price.

    2. Count Potato

      So no more lead sinkers?

      1. Pope Jimbo

        Or jig heads. Yeah, I’m sure there is a huge market out there for tackle manufacturers to make non-lead items.

      2. Scruffy Nerfherder

        This has been coming for a while in all states.

        To be fair, a lot of bird species will eat lead sinkers sitting in shallow water and die from lead poisoning. Switching to another metal for fishing tackle is not as much of an impact to the fisherman as it is for hunters to switch.

        1. Mercury capsules, with biodegradable shells.

    3. Tonio

      You realize that this is all pretext, right? This is just a subterfuge to raise prices and lower availability of ammo. That they get to hide behind teh childrenz is just super convenient.

      1. Pope Jimbo

        I’ve thought about that, but I’m still not sure that this isn’t more of a ruse to stop hunting and fishing. The eco-nuts are just as mendacious as the anti-gunners.

        1. Rebel Scum

          ^

        2. Tejicano

          “…but I’m still not sure that this isn’t more of a ruse to stop hunting and fishing.”

          I am certain it most definitely is nothing but a ruse.

          Your average hunter might shoot a half dozen to a dozen bullets in a season – and that’s counting sighting the rifle in at the beginning. There is no way that 6 to 12 small lead objects – multiplied by a few thousand hunters – buried into the ground out in the countryside (disbursed about as randomly as you could ask for) are going to affect the health of anybody.

          1. JaimeRoberto Delecto

            The argument is that the bullet stays in the gut pile and is then eaten by scavengers.

      2. A Leap at the Wheel

        The rules, proposed by Friends of Minnesota Scientific and Natural Areas, would ban lead fishing tackle in most of the state and outlaw lead bullets and shot everywhere.

        Yes, I noticed that my local indoor range that has better than than state-mandated lead remediation procedures would be unable to allow users to use lead. Being an indoor range, it isn’t a hunting zero-in place. Its a place where you can practice (and take classes for) defensive use of pistols, carbines, and pdw.

        1. Tundra

          They’ve been trying to do this for years. They will never give up.

    4. Rebel Scum

      ban lead…ammunition

      IOW ban ammunition.

      1. A Leap at the Wheel

        Crosses fingers for Hornady Critical Defense with patented FTX tip and DU core…

        1. Don Escaped Texas

          I’ve got my favorites too.

          I’d rather the market figure this out without regulation, but the market will figure this out with regulation.

          We grew up with lead in gasoline, paint, and, really, just about everything. It was mostly gone or going long before RoHS.

          There’s even a greater than zero chance that something even better than lead will come along.

          1. A Leap at the Wheel

            I wasn’t seriously suggesting that the market is going to supply me with depleted uranium 9mm.

            Unfortunately.

          2. Clearly not. Depleted Uranium is for .44 Magnums.

            9mm gets compressed fiberboard.

          3. A Leap at the Wheel

            With modern bullet designs, pressed fiberboard can perform just as well as DU .44 mag. Plus, you can carry more rounds in the same size and weight constraints!

          4. You need the added carry capacity for 9mm.

        2. Not Adahn

          Someone (who knows more about bullet design than I do — which is pretty much everybody) a while back was saying that the solid copper Leihigh bullets were designed to perform well in gel, that they wouldn’t necessarily work well on people.

          They do pretty ok on the Meat Target.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1xpAbV2gsQ

          1. A Leap at the Wheel

            I was really surprised when I saw that. Happily so, because my cynical mind assumed the same thing that your Someone does.

          2. R C Dean

            My experience with all copper bullets:

            They drilled straight through the deer, leaving a perfect .30 caliber exit wound. Terminal ballistic performance was inferior, IMO. Probably led to one lost deer and a difficult recovery on another. My good old-fashioned lead soft points drop deer in their tracks or leave short, E-Z blood trails. When I saw the copper bullet exit wound, I stopped using them. I still have most of a box of the all-copper rounds somewhere in the safe.

    5. Gadfly

      Is lead really that much of a risk? I mean, they used to use lead for pipes for drinking water – if it was as harmful as these advocates make it sound I’d think the entire first world would have died out a century ago.

    6. pistoffnick

      Almost everyone in our deer hunting group uses non-lead ammo.

      This is the article that convinced me: https://growlermag.com/leaving-lead-behind-one-hunters-decision-to-rethink-his-choice-in-ammunition/

      Yes the ammo is slightly more expensive, but I use 2-5 rounds per deer season (1 to make sure I’m sighted in, 1 to get the dear’s attention (Hah! I always flinch on the first shot), the rest to put it down).

      I have been exposed to enough lead in my lifetime *shakes uncontrollably*.

    7. Enough About Palin

      This is so silly. Lead comes from the earth.

  20. PieInTheSky

    Shuri Castle: Fire destroys 500-year-old world heritage site in Japan

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50244169

    1. Destroys 500 year old world heritage site built in 1992.

      1. straffinrun

        Be fair. They use the techniques used by the builders at the times. May be a waste of time, but it is amazing how far they go to replicate the original woodworking involved.

        1. My point is, it’s been rebuilt before, and often. It can be rebuilt again and be equally authentic and equally 500 years old.

          1. Nephilium

            I think I heard of some ship like that…

          2. A Leap at the Wheel

            Its kind of amazing how much understanding modern computer technology requires you to understand Greek philosophical ideas, even if you don’t know what the name is.

          3. Well, uhh… it’s stil… the same case.

          4. straffinrun

            Legit point, but it still costs a shitload of money. The bright side is that it provides resources for those practicing the lost arts.

          5. Not Adahn

            Ah, Bastiat’s famous “Torched Castle Fallacy”

          6. straffinrun

            Even in Ancapistan, I think there would be a market for this stuff.

        2. Scruffy Nerfherder

          There is no person more anally retentive than a Japanese woodworker. Those guys are absolute sticklers for details and techniques.

          1. A Leap at the Wheel

            I don’t claim to understand budo, but it is awesome (as in inspires awe) to see someone live it out.

          2. Tejicano

            I used to work with three traditional Japanese carpenters. At the end of the day, every day, they sharpen their razor sharp chisels.

            One of the carpenters made scaled down Shinto temples (about the size of a doll house) – these are put in place where an original temple once was but the landowner had repurposed the plot. They almost always keep a small one somewhere to represent the real one that once stood there.

            The temples he made were really amazing works of art.

        3. Japanese woodworking is magic to such a degree I could swear they’d sold their soul to the devil to wield that sorcery.

          1. Tejicano

            I’ve heard that some of the first European carpenters to see examples of Japanese carpentry swore that it could only be produced by magic.

            When they use a plane they listen for the tone of the blade slicing the wood to guide their hands for the right speed and pressure.

  21. Rebel Scum

    This is why you don’t try to cook while you’re traveling on a freaking train.

    The flavors were explosive.

    1. Pope Jimbo

      Maybe if they had cooked a nice bland food like lutefisk instead of that hot, hot curry crap.

    2. blackjack

      70 dead? They musta been really Paki’d in there.

    3. Tejicano

      The wrong kind of fast food

  22. Slammer

    ManUre knocked Chelski out of the League Cup

    That Rashford free kick, tho

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Who is the real victim, here?

    Lori Loughlin has hit “rock bottom,” according to a long-time friend of the actress.
    The most recent blow came when Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli, along with nine other accused parents in the college admissions scandal were hit last week with an additional bribery charge.
    “She’s at rock bottom, devastated,” the source tells CNN. “She knows she could go away for a long time and it’s terrifying for her.”

    ——-

    Loughlin and her husband previously pleaded not guilty in April to charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors say she and Giannulli paid $500,000 to a fake charity to get their two daughters accepted into the University of Southern California, falsely designating them as crew recruits. They face a maximum of up to 45 years in prison for the charges.
    When asked by CNN how her marriage has been affected by this scandal the source said it’s “beyond strained.”
    “All she wanted was the best for her daughters and she wishes people would see that,” the source added. “She definitely regrets the way she’s handled herself since all this came out.”

    I’m having a hard time caring about this, but jail time? For trying to game college admissions?

    1. PieInTheSky

      Depends on the law really… Fraud is a thing.

    2. Count Potato

      Well, the penalty for shoplifting is Death By Grenade.

    3. Pope Jimbo

      I’m also curious why no college admissions officers aren’t in the dock with her. Doesn’t it take two to bribe?

      1. I’m murky on the law being used to prosecute. Could be that the violations were all in the way they got the money to the admissions folks, and a suitcase full of cash might have been legal as far as the statutes go.

        1. robc

          Also, writing off the bribes as a charitable donation is tax fraud. As always, that is the big no no.

          1. Jarflax

            Unless you endow something at the college and do it the legal way. Really the crime here is the same as employees of a store selling product off the loading dock. You are supposed to bribe the University for access, not the admissions staff.

      2. robc

        The admissions officers usually weren’t aware. Some coaches are going down too. They accepted the bribes to claim the kids were being recruited by them.

      3. leon

        It’s like Prostitution, the officer of the state has to partake in order to be sure a crime was committed.

    4. Raven Nation

      It’s been a while since I read up on this, but i have a vague recollection that there was some kind of tax fraud involved and that’s what started the legal process.

    5. blackjack

      It’s totally fucked up. They’re using viscous draconian charges to force her to plea it out. The fact that our laws enable charges carrying 45 year sentences for this piddly bullshit is beyond shameful. The prosecutors should be imprisoned just for that.

      1. They’re using viscous draconian charges to force her to plea it out.

        They’re just trying to grease the wheels of justice.

        1. blackjack

          Fucking phones. It’s one of the biggest trolls ever that a system called “auto correct ” is responsible for causing so many extra errors. I spend more time undoing that bullshit than I would just proofreading and fixing it myself.

          1. One of the first things I did was find the setting and disable autocorrect. My mistakes are my own, and probably closer to what I meant than what the phone thinks.

          2. +1 disabling autocorrect and predictive text

            However, when I’m in Word, I make liberal use of autocorrect so I don’t have to type the same words over and over again.

          3. Having the computer change what I wrote sends me into fits of apoplexy and spittle-flecked rage.

            I may not be entirely rational about that element of the software.

          4. Jarflax

            I’ll use auto complete/correct when it stops:

            Not recognizing actual words
            Objecting to passive and subjunctive constructions
            Objecting to starting sentences with conjunctions
            Putting words in my mouth

            And Word needs an easier way to override it’s autoformating when it gets confused about what is and what is not a bulleted list.

          5. And Word needs an easier way to override it’s autoformating when it gets confused about what is and what is not a bulleted list.

            You can turn that off. I’ll hit you up on FB when I get to my office.

          6. Jarflax

            I don’t want it off. I want to be able to override it when it gets mixed up. I draft a LOT of things with bullet points and outline formatting (indented subparagraphs) It is when it gets stubborn about letting me move things to a different level, because it is convinced that the second paragraph of a numbered item is the next numbered item, or the next non-numbered paragraph MUST be locked at the wrong indent level, that I get mad.

            I want it to do all its magic, but have an easy way for me to override it at one specific point, without then screwing up all the other formatting.

          7. Don Escaped Texas

            “auto correct ” is responsible for causing so many extra errors

            brilliant, really: never thought of it that way

        2. Akira

          It’s pretty slick of them to try that.

  24. PieInTheSky

    The Scaled Composites Raptor was a long-endurance UAV developed by BMDO for Raptor/Talon, an air-launched kinetic boost-phase missile defense system. Early prototypes featured a “saddle” with a human operator in case its autopilot failed.

    https://twitter.com/divert_thruster/status/1189225484929904640

    1. Not Adahn

      That’s not Slim Pickens!

      1. Michael

        +1 miniature combination Russian phrase book and Holy Bible

  25. Rufus the Monocled

    I love how these rich people get prison time for giving money to universities (who seem to be getting off without penalties) to get their kids in but Hilary has an unsecured private server and nothing.

    Democracy! /High five! Up high! Down low! Too slow!

    1. They deducted their “charitable donations” – that is why they got jail. Never stop the G from getting its lucre.

      1. Nephilium

        I be willing to bet that most of these same people who deducted their donationsbribes are also in favor of raising taxes on the rich.

        1. JaimeRoberto Delecto

          They are probably outraged by the limits on SALT deductions.

      2. Rufus the Monocled
    2. Drake

      They aren’t really rich – just upper middle-class climbers. The Kennedys knew how to play that game – bought the university a whole building after Teddy got kicked out.

  26. Rebel Scum

    Afghan special forces then shot them in the head and heart.

    That’s how the CIA teaches double-tap?

      1. Akira

        Haha, one time on a gun board, people were jokingly making up new names for the Mozambique drill such as the Somalia maneuver, the Nigeria process, etc. Someone threw out “the Djibouti shooty”. At one point, someone edited the Mozambique Drill Wikipedia page to include “also known as the Djibouti shooty”. Good times.

    1. We’re not saying BEAM’s an alien, but . . .

      “Winning hearts and minds — two rounds to the heart, one round to the mind.”

    1. Jarflax

      I’d be afraid she’d decide it was pegging time .

  27. The Late P Brooks

    We draw the line, however, when content facilitates, encourages or coordinates sexual encounters between adults.

    Awww, Mom!

    1. Jarflax

      They appear to be fine with kids doing it, it’s just when it is between adults that Facebook draws the line.

  28. Rebel Scum

    Majority of Voters Oppose Impeachment and Removal in Battlegrounds

    A New York Times Upshot/Siena College Poll released on Wednesday shows residents of six battleground states oppose impeaching and removing President Trump from office by a 52 percent to 44 percent margin, but support the House impeachment inquiry by a 51 percent to 44 percent margin.

    Broken down even further, the poll’s results show that 42 percent of respondents oppose both the House impeachment inquiry and impeaching and removing the president, while 41 percent support both the House impeachment inquiry and impeaching and removing the president. Eight percent of respondents support the House impeachment inquiry but oppose impeaching and removing the president, while nine percent were categorized having “other” views.

    I remain skeptical of the Poles. ///Ukrainian

    1. I think there’s a growing number of people that support the impeachment inquiry but oppose removal because they think the inquiry will result in a lot of sketchy deep state shit becoming public knowledge.

  29. Rufus the Monocled

    Sloppy is awfully silent about the Astros. Eerily slow.

    Well I say it, Hinch panicked and the bull pen went choke while the batsmen went wee wee wee all the way home.

    When your closers come in and can’t throw strikes and Altuve uncharacteristically starts to swing at pitches:

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

    1. leon

      I don’t know why, but those “Woman Yelling at Cat” memes make me laugh almost every time.

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        I started seeing that meme when it was about Greta. The caption had the women screaming as Greta and the cat posing at the person on the other side listening to Greta’s screeds.

      2. Don Escaped Texas

        I don’t follow a lot of that, but the kids are funny in new ways.

        Along this line, this OC Choppers meme is kinda meta and really funny to me.

        1. Don Escaped Texas

          let’s see if this link works better

    2. creech

      Fourth place teamer Bryce Harper hardest hit.

    3. Not Adahn

      NPR was very happy.

  30. PieInTheSky

    Asthma sufferers could sharply reduce their carbon footprint by swapping commonly used inhalers for “greener” alternatives, a study from the University of Cambridge has found

    https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/30/health/asthma-greener-inhalers-intl-scli/index.html

    Yes, I am sure this is where the big problem is. For fuck sakes.

    1. Count Potato

      “Studies illustrate how marketing, flavors may impact vaping habits among young people”

      Fuck off

      1. Count Potato

        “The data, however, was largely collected in 2015 and 2016, the authors say — before the popularity of the latest vaping devices and the proliferation of e-liquids with high nicotine concentrations.”

        The nicotine concentrations of vape juice has gone down you idiot.

    2. PieInTheSky

      Also apparently they tried years ago greenhouse gas friendly inhaler and it was a disaster to the point in which people may have died or were seriously ill

      1. Trigger Hippie

        Death cult, dude, death cult. That’s a feature, not a bug.

  31. Halloween Thot Thursday provides slutty costumes of every shape and size.

    https://tinyurl.com/y6axzd9t

    Archive not working this morning, apologies.

    1. AlmightyJB

      Yeah, I may have to hit a few bars tonight to check out the cosplay action.

    2. WTF

      1 and done

      1. AlmightyJB

        Agree

    3. Tonio

      Number Eleven needs to come work here, amirite?

    4. Pat

      I’d go trick or treating with 5, 8, 37 and 49

    5. whiz

      Dare I say it? #2 needs more meat on her bones.

  32. Rebel Scum

    The ‘Lynching’ Hypocrisy-LARRY ELDER

    Here’s the problem: Where were the voices of indignation during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton when his defenders used the very same word? Let’s go to the 1998 videotape:

    White male Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., described those pursuing Clinton’s impeachment as a “political lynch mob.” McDermott said, “Find the rope, find the tree and ask a bunch of questions later.”

    White male Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said to Clinton, “The lynch mob, though, Mr. President, now has a new leader.”

    White male Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said, “It’s a verbal political lynching on the floor of the Senate.”

    Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., on the House floor, said: “What we are doing here is not a prosecution, it’s a persecution and indeed it is a political lynching.”

    Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., on the House floor, said: “I will not vote for this nightmare before Christmas. I will not vote for this lynching in the people’s House. I will vote against these resolutions.”

    Biden, another white male, in 1998 told CNN that history will judge Clinton’s impeachment as a “partisan lynching.” When asked about the apparent hypocrisy of slamming Trump for using the same lynching rhetoric he once used, Biden apologized for using the word “lynching” in the case of Clinton. But Biden argued that when Trump used the word, he did so as a “dog whistle,” meaning Trump did it to fuel his supposedly racist political base.

    1. PieInTheSky

      It was different back than, white supremacy was not on the rise, a fascist was not in the white how, in the mean time the far right appropriated the word etc etc etc.

      1. Pope Jimbo

        was not in the white how

        Hold on there Pie. Warren hasn’t been elected yet.

    2. AlmightyJB

      I would guess that throughout history a lot more white people were lynched than black people. I guess anything outside the narrative is irrelevant though.

    3. Stinky Wizzleteats

      Being lynched has long been a euphemism for a person being subjected to an unfair process followed by an unjust punishment and the fainting couch breaker outers are well aware of that. Screw those people, they’re being disingenuous and they know it.

      1. Pat

        They’re lynching the word lynching.

      2. leon

        America has a real Slavery mental block. As in many students think Slavery, racisim and its attendant ills were unique to America and the American south.

        1. DOOMco

          I can’t find it, but I have the scene from always sunny where Mac and Charlie go to the welfare office to pick out their slave.

        2. Stinky Wizzleteats

          Sounds like the public indoctrination system is working as designed then.

        3. Rhywun

          And the MSM are doing everything in their power to keep it that way.

    4. Rufus the Monocled

      I subscribed to him a couple of months back and never looked back.

      He has a good one about the NBA and its refusal to talk about a real issue: The high rates of children out of wedlock in the black community. As well as the one on Kaepernick.

      1. PieInTheSky

        : The high rates of children out of wedlock in the black community. – what are those rates? And I find out of wedlock misleading… If the parent live together it may not matter if they are married or not

        1. PieInTheSky

          What I mean it matter single mother which had a child with the man unknown or not involved at all. Those statistics are probably more relevant

        2. A Leap at the Wheel

          If the parent live together it may not matter if they are married or not

          It does.

          https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4768758/
          Fig 1 should be enough to prove the point. This is one study, but there are many, many, many out there and the sum of the evidence is that marriage > cohabitation > separated but 2x involved > single parent.

          Basically, on the issue of ‘what is good for kids, long term’ the socons where right all along (which goes against what my priors where, but I’m not convinced).

          1. Don Escaped Texas

            TL DR but respect the link

            throatclearing: I believe in marriage and don’t mean to preach to the choir but

            marriage is just the oil pressure gauge on a relationship, not a dyno; marriage is merely covariant with family success, not causative (much)

            viz: the kind of people who make good parents and run good households tend to be the kinds of folks who marry

            so making people marry through threat or stress or law won’t move any needle

          2. A Leap at the Wheel

            sure – but if we live an environment that doesn’t supply the training to young families on how to become healthy families, and we don’t take them to task when they fail at family formation, you are going to end up with a lot more coupes who do not develop into “the kind of people who make good parents and run good households”.

          3. I was going to post something along the lines combining what you and Leap said before I got caught by the dreaded “you must be logged in to reply” screen. It’s not that marriage is a magical cure-all, something at least two of my friends and a number of Glibs can probably attest to, but in societies where marriage is a thing–which is most I can think of–it represents a state of mind that is conducive to the successful rearing of healthy, well-adjusted children.

          4. Draft anything longer than your memory in another screen.

          5. What I usually do is copy the contents to the clipboard before I submit, but I got cocky.

          6. Don Escaped Texas

            it represents a state of mind

            and I’ll happily concede that there’s 10% of married people who never really wanted to be married but baby happened who feel obligated to try 10% harder because marriage means something until they give up after four years, whatever benefit to children and society might profit from that

          7. @Don: And to your point, I’ll use myself as an example. My mother died when I was very young and my father didn’t remarry until I was a teenager, so for most of my formative years I was a child of a single-parent household. Our family in those days was still very close, so I spent a lot of time with aunts and grandparents, too. When I got married, the idea of divorce existed in my mind as sort of the absolute last-ditch, utter emergency option. My mindset was (and still is) that marriage is a lifetime commitment, and that the point of it isn’t just to make me happier but to create and sustain my own family.

            So, that outlook came from my dad, who got it from his parents, who got it from their parents, and so forth. There’s a multi-generational heritage of that value in my family. And it was reinforced by peers in each generation, which is to say that there was social support for that value as well. Both of those influences equated that kind of a commitment with marriage.

            Something interesting I’ve seen in other literature is that even in upbringings such as mine, where one parent dies early in a child’s life and the other doesn’t remarry, is that the effect of the marriage on the stability of the remaining family persists. The implication, of course, is that the kind of person who is willing to marry and raise a family, with all that entails, will continue to demonstrate the values we associate with that, e.g. self-sacrifice, reliability, etc., even after the marriage has been ended by death. That was certainly the case with my father.

          8. I should also point out that in my case it’s easy for me to stay married as my wife and I feel much the same way about that sort of thing. And we actually like each other a lot and want to be around each other and stuff.

        3. A Leap at the Wheel

          what are those rates?

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_family_structure

          When Moynihan wrote in 1965 on the coming destruction of the Black family, the out-of-wedlock birth rate was 25% among Blacks.[19] In 1991, 68% of Black children were born outside of marriage.[20] In 2011, 72% of Black babies were born to unmarried mothers.[21][22] In 2015, 77% of Black babies were born to unmarried mothers.[23]

          1. Rufus the Monocled

            Pie, go on youtube and just watch black conservatives like Sowell, Williams and Elder talk about it. There are many others too like Owens. Even Jesse Lee Peterson if you can handle him.

            But there’s a lot of literature out there on the subject.

          2. Fourscore

            Late to the party but something else happened too. Most of my friends my age age came from stable 2 parent families. We went on to get married, have children and some of us got divorced, for one reason or another. Then our children’s generation, those now in their 40s/50s, even from stable families themselves, found divorce far more frequently.

            Then our grandchildren’s generation, 20s/30s/ are into cohabitation and divorce far frequently than their parents. I have no explanation but the War on Poverty may have been a contributor, the schools that seemingly impart no positive social benefits and no social ostracism for out of wedlock pregnancies. I don’t know. Times…changin’…

          3. Don Escaped Texas

            a ton of things changed, no doubt

            * the pill
            * equality (jobs, earnings, women could take out a credit card without husband’s approval until the 1970s
            * more childless relationships

            lots of things leaned that way

          4. Jarflax

            No fault divorce, people no longer shaming/being shamed about failing to follow social norms, widespread propagandizing that single parents are somehow saintly…

            In other words erosion of standards of behavior. Liberty without responsibility is destructive. It makes me somewhat fatalistic. are we doomed to always vacillate between restricting liberty and celebrating irresponsibility? Is it possible for free people to self regulate? Because imposing order externally sure doesn’t work out well.

          5. leon

            The cycle is long as time. Partly because people start seeing any consequence as impinging on their liberty to do what they want. The Libertines. Because Libertines often are doing what is not socially acceptable, and what isn’t socially acceptable is often outlawed, they often have a strong voice for Liberty.

            I think the US may have an interesting heritage in being born in some semblance of Liberty (for some), but it is quickly being erroded, with any non-libertine libertarian being labeled as a Racist/White Supremacist/ etc.

          6. Don Escaped Texas

            irresponsibility

            There’s no clear line. I behave conservatively in many areas, but there’s no proof that my ways are the best ways or the exclusive path to an acceptable outcome.

            There might be better things than lead bullets and state-licensed attorneys; boorish presidents are all the rage . . . who knows. Some things get defended to the last ditch as eternal truths; other standards are chucked in a blink. I’m not gunning for anyone, but it’s funny to see oxen gored and the go-round: never a dull day.

      2. blackjack

        He’s been on the radio here for decades. He’s good on a lot of stuff, but he’s a serious cop sucker and gets a war boner often. Typical neoconservative, that way.

    5. Oh get off the cross, race-baiters, we need the wood.

  33. Rufus the Monocled

    But I bet Principal William Latson thinks Trump concentration camps are real.

    So? Chalk under ‘blacks can’t be racist?’

  34. Pine_Tree

    Memory spurred by the train thing: Once on a work trip to India, the little conference room we were in overlooked the street where a bunch of trucks were parked waiting to come into the plant. It was about lunchtime, and looking out the window I could see into the cab of this truck where I noticed the driver was sorta hunkered down on one of the seats, obviously doing some kind of chore. Well, there was a wok-looking thing in the passenger seat, and he was about to cook. Suddenly a big plume of orange flame erupted around the base of it (in the cab) and a bunch of black smoke puffed out the windows while he adjusted the fuel valve. Cooking (gas or gasoline) on an open fire in the cab – yikes – so the train thing doesn’t surprise me.

    1. l0b0t

      I’ve been on winter time commercial shoots where it’s so cold, I had to cook in the back of a van or box truck. 5 gallons of frozen carrot ginger soup takes hours to boil in those conditions. Ince I was set up in the locker rooms at Giants’ Stadium but it was so cold, the coffee I served was starting to ice over by the time the crew made it onto the field with their cups.

    2. Shpip

      Supposedly, this sort of thing was to blame for a nasty airline accident. Not sure if merely anecdotal.

    1. That makeup job: yikes!

    2. Gdragon

      I will eat peanut butter, I swear Daily Mail! Just let me see more pictures and read less about eating habits!

  35. The Late P Brooks

    But Biden argued that when Trump used the word, he did so as a “dog whistle,” meaning Trump did it to fuel his supposedly racist political base.

    “I know you are, but what am I?”

    It’s different when we do it.

    1. robc

      Only dogs can hear dog whistles. If Biden can recognize it, then he is the racist.

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        I’ll cut Biden some slack because he has dementia, the others not so much.

    2. leon

      It’s so convenient when you can take obscure phrases, gestures and words and turn them into Dog whistles for Racists.

      1. Pat

        The term ‘dog whistle’ is a racist dog whistle.

        See how easy?

        1. DOOMco

          That’s ableist against deaf dogs.

    3. Akira

      I hate the term “dog whistle”. You can just throw it out there with no evidence.

      Unless you bugged a conference room and have audio of a person presenting their sinister plot to use this word or that word as a secret signal to racists, you’re just speculating.

      I could just as easily say that when Leftists talk about “the ultra-rich” or “the one percent”, they’re actually referring to Jews through the magic of dog whistle racism.

  36. Slammer

    Dad of the week.

    1. Pope Jimbo

      Sorry, I give this dad the edge.

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        I thought you going to go with Josh Hamilton.

    2. PieInTheSky

      The replies say that is a mare

      1. Tejicano

        If that’s true then it means the mare took off when the fire started but the dad stayed with the colt to get it out safely.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of evangelical demographics- When my parents still lived in New Jersey (far northern Bergen county), I noticed several churches with signs in Asian script; my mom told me there were a bunch of Korean evangelical churches in the area.

    1. Pat

      Moonies

    2. From what I understand, Koreans are very much into being Baptists and Pentecostals. Why, I don’t know.

      1. Don Escaped Texas

        Related: All the Tongans in Fort Worth are Mormon (I didn’t know you could bicycle across the Pacific). From my BSA experience I can testify: excellent community.

        Regarding the earlier haka controversy: the Trinity High football pregame haka rituals are epic and celebrated by fans and opponents equality, considered a community asset at this point.

        1. Yes, I grew up with lots and lots of Tongans and Samoans. And that is where I will leave it.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    We have to be able to laugh at ourselves.

    Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Cry, and the world laughs at you.

    1. I will admit that I have a very hard time laughing at myself because I never forgive myself for eing unintentionally stupid. I really really hate feeling stupid.

      1. JaimeRoberto Delecto

        That’s stupid.

        1. It’s because the truth hurts.

  39. DOOMco

    I think my favorite part of the dog medal post has to be all the people who’ve said “it’s such a shitty Photoshop!”
    They really convinced themselves that the original person would be super upset, too.
    And we’re back to “Trump made the Photoshop because he hates dogs” https://twitter.com/PressHereJG/status/1189627831325777925?s=19

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Somebody should photoshop Trump’s head onto that dog’s neck.

  41. Rebel Scum

    When a Canadian Explained to Me the Horrors of Socialized Medicine

    I heard from her accent she was from Canada. I asked her about socialized medicine. I said to her that all the men and women of the American Left (the Democratic Party) tell us to look to Canada, to a big powerful government as a model of what we should seek to run our own health care here in America. This articulate, open, and wise woman responded and warned me about such nonsense. She reminded me of what is fast fading in America: a people in love with liberty and all that it brings. Millions in America now tragically and foolishly follow the lead of the freedom- and wealth-destroying Left. Its propaganda, false promises, and foolish ideas are alluring but in the end destructive. Their values would destroy the Costcos of America. They are well on the road to destroying our great medical system.

    The woman said (paraphrased), “Even though you’re getting close to complete government control of health care, you American’s don’t know how good you still have it here. If you really want to know, come to Canada, where the state now runs everything. It’s ugly and scary.”

    She elaborated. She told me the tragic story of her sister, who had worked as a nurse in a hospital. She experienced some serious symptoms that needed further tests. She was put in a long queue to have an MRI. Her sister worked as a nurse. She could have pulled strings to get ahead of others waiting in the long line. She chose not to take advantage. Finally, seven months later, the scan was performed. The test revealed a cancer that was no longer treatable. My Costco line-mate said, “This happens all the time in our state-run Canadian system. You in America, you don’t hear about these things, do you?”

    1. PieInTheSky

      Counterpoint

      Why do Republicans fear Democracic rule?

      They would have:

      Fairer taxation
      Infrastructure improvements
      Better health insurance
      Better education
      Less pollution
      Less corruption
      Sensible gun control
      Sensible immigration policy
      Qualified cabinet secretaries
      Qualified judges

      https://twitter.com/joelvb/status/1189478588497715201

      1. Rebel Scum

        Looks like a load of unconstitutional and/or presumptive horseshit.

      2. leon

        It’s easy when you just take your spin on everything to think that your choice is the obvious one. But “Qualified Judges” and “Qualified Cabinet Secretaries” is especially blinded by “My Team is Smart, your Team is Dumb”. I seem to remember a Few Czars that were not “Qualified” but were totes “Qualified” because they were appointed by the One and Only himself. “Sensible Gun Control”, Yeah because “We’re gonna take yur gunz” is sensible. “Sensible Immigration policy”: You mean like the policy of “Lets’ pay for all illegal immigrants healthcare” that every single democrat running for president said they supported?

        Fairer taxation: Meaning the Rich pay for everything and no one else pays, cause that’s “Fair”

        1. WTF

          It’s also easy when you don’t have to define your terms. Define “sensible”, define “qualified”, define “fairer”, etc.

          1. Akira

            + “common-sense gun control”

      3. kbolino

        Why, just look at Illinois… uh, Massachusetts… uh, Maryland… uh, California… uh, New York?

        At best, you’re batting .500 and at worst, well, closer to .000. Throw in the Republican states and allow them to define “fairer”, “sensible”, “better”, and “qualified” and you’ve got no real benefit to one or the other.

    2. “She was put in a long queue to have an MRI[…]Finally, seven months later, the scan was performed. The test revealed a cancer that was no longer treatable.”

      But at least she didn’t have to pay out of pocket!

      1. “But some people don’t have $66 for an xray!”

        — Guy who had literally learned to stitch his own lacerations due to NHS wait times.

      2. leon

        Makes me think of a sweet buisness gig. We can call it “Living Insurance”. People pay in an amount that we decide, and we promise that we will provide housing and healthcare and food for free. Sure it will be shitty, and some people might be overlooked, but if people are stupid enough to believe what they get out of government is free, then maybe this could work.

        1. Florida Man

          That won’t work because you are asking them to pay. They expect the “rich” to pay for their benefits.

          1. Akira

            Back when I made $11 per hour, I didn’t qualify for Medicaid and got forced to pay $135 a month for Obama”care”. Since they repeatedly assured us that only the rich would pay more, that must mean I was rich! Sweet!!

    3. Rufus the Monocled

      The Canadian health care system is second world. Period.

      If there’s one – no two things – that annoy the living crap about Canadians it’s their hyper-pride in shitty Tim Hortons (no, really it’s terrible) and the lousy health care system. There’s literally nothing to emulate. How American progressives would want this is beyond me.

      I know, I know. No one gets bankrupted in Canada and everyone gets it! Two points. One, if you can get access and service in a timely fashion. Two, some services are above our pay grade. Three, our politicians, when push comes to show, use the American system. Four, we put little R&D into developing medicine and pharmaceuticals and don’t manufacture the vast majority of the equipment used in the hospitals. Gee, I wonder where we get it all from?

      My daycare is located in an area where a lot of international families relocate either temporarily or permanently for work. EVERY single one of them be it from Australia, Italy, France, USA, Belgium are all shocked at a) how unimpressive the health care system is and b) can’t believe the Quebec government tells them where to send their kids because of the language laws.

      We’re one of the most inefficient societies in the West.

      Dirty little secrets. Keeping it real.

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        shove. wtf?

      2. kbolino

        It sounds like Canadians are one step behind the Brits. They think they’ve got the greatest healthcare system in the world, but they’ll ignore all its problems, including the times when it just straight up murders people, and go “la, la, la I can’t hear you” when it’s pointed out that half of Europe has a better system. They’ve got a superiority-inferiority complex when it comes to Americans.

        1. Rufus the Monocled

          Without a doubt. Don’t tell a Canadian ours is a branch plant society. When Heinz picked up and left Ontario, the usual ‘those meanies!’ filled the airwaves. A competitor – French’s – decides to put a Maple Leaf on all its bottles. So it’s not uncommon to see on any ‘Made in Canada’ label stupid shit like ‘Tomatoes grown by Canadian farmers!’ It’s like this across the board this subtle insecurity. When you read the ticker on TSN (ESPN jr.) they make sure to highlight the Canadian at the bottom.

          This couples in with the ‘How dare Lowe’s come and buy our inefficient companies! They may be shitty, but they’re our shiftiness!’

          Whenever there’s a discussion about ‘reform of health care’ it always ends up being ‘yeh it can use some fixing but what’s the solution? Be like the Americans?’ They literally believe the scare tactics of people dying in the streets, people getting rejected, people being bankrupted etc.

          And that we have both the Canadian and American progressive left to thank.

          The myopia and parochialism is quite stunning really.

          1. Nephilium

            You’d think more Canadians would have at least visited somewhere in the US, doesn’t the majority of the Canadian population live within 200 miles of the US border? Or are they too afraid of the gangs and guns that dominate the northern states?

          2. Detroit and Buffalo are in blocking position for popular border crossings. At the other end of the country you get Seattle. We’re not showing them our best side.

          3. Rufus the Monocled

            My favourite is GM.

            My contention with people who mix nationalism with companies is you end up supporting zombie companies in loser industries like Bombardier. That company is literally a ward of the state because ‘Made in Quebec’. A snowmobile company that tried to conquer the world in other areas and fell flat because of mostly horrible mismanagement. Yet, the Federal government has given them billions and billions since the late 1960s. Because ‘jobs’ and we need to ‘compete’ with Embraer and Boeing. These are the people who lead our country. And if you think this was ‘just politics’ it gradated to a much more disturbing level when Trudeau obstructed the rule of law in the SNC-Lavalin (another favourite with the political class) in order to get a Justice Minister from allowing an investigation into corruption allegations to go further. Had it done so, it’s almost certain SNC-Lavalin would have been found guilty. Justin fell back on the ‘I was just trying to save 9000 jobs’ line. Yeh, I bet.

            GM is a classic case of reaping what you sow with Canada. For decades real nationalists warned, we need to create our our indigenous manufacturing base. That would mean getting the backing of our industrialists and banks to lend the capital needed to create an independent manufacturing base. Instead, an easier route (the path of least resistance) was chosen: American investment that was ready and available. Doing it ‘Canadian’ was hard.

            So who provided the cash to develop and push through our railways and extract our oil? You guessed it: American. And later on, international through other various major works. Sure, the government kicks in some money but at the root of it, we don’t do it ourselves because we can’t.

            I would warn people, GM and the Americans owe us jack shit no matter what the unions say. What kind of independence is this if decisions are ultimately made in Detroit? It doesn’t matter Ontario had the best plant. Bottom line is you’re not steerers of your own destiny. It never seems to crack into our thick skulls this reality.

            Branch. Plant. As a result, we never really developed and diversified our economy. We’re like that middle floor in Being John Malkovich while all the people stuck in there pretend to be in their own world.

            We’re very lucky to be next to the USA. It allows us to succeed in spite of ourselves.

            I know this is harsh but take it from me. Once a true blue nationalist only to be disillusioned by our ways. It’s even worse in Quebec.

            Here’s a classic case of how we think: The Montreal Canadiens. When the Molson family put the team up for sale in the mid-90s no Canadian billionaire stepped up to buy them. Imagine. The greatest hockey team in the world with the most championships and illustrious history had no buyers. It took an American – George Gillette – to buy them at a dirt cheap price. He built up the brand and then sold it back to the Molson’s a few years back at a premium. Canada: Sell low, buy high.

            Bah.

  42. PieInTheSky

    On the one side Halloween is not a thing in Romania

    Ont he other, it is a public holiday tomorrow in Germany Austria and Italy so those people will leave me alone at work

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Why celebrate a holiday when you’re living the real thing the rest of the year?

      1. Rebel Scum

        Pie should spend one day not dressed like a vampire.

          1. Out of the very few episodes of that I watched, I remember that one!!!

          2. Sean

            I loved that show. We rewatched all of Season 1 not long ago. We started season 2, but sorta lost interest and haven’t finished it.

  43. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Supposedely some ex NSC douchebag is going to testify today in front of the House star chamber that he witnessed a quid pro with Ukraine vis a vis Biden:

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/nsc-official-who-quit-ahead-todays-testimony-reportedly-witnessed-quid-pro-quo#comment_stream

    “ Morrison is a lifelong Republican described as a Reaganite and is referred to as “‘Bolton’s Bolton””
    With a moniker like Bolton’s Bolton he’s got to be a credible guy.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      We need a real warmonger in the Presidency, this guy’s got to go.

    2. PieInTheSky

      Honestly, which person involved for more than 10 years with government is credible?

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        I think Cincinnatus was the last one.

    3. Rebel Scum

      Bolton’s Bolton

      Straight to the nukes, then?

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        VE MUZT NOT ALLOW A MINEZAFT GAP!

        1. A Minecraft gap?

    4. straffinrun

      How is this not a star chamber? The democrats have gone from deep skepticism of government agencies and war to full on propagators of state reverence and war propaganda. It’s bizarre until you remember that it’s all about the path to power. They don’t care how they get there as long as they get there.

      1. “It’s different when we do it” is the guiding philosophy of both political parties. Right now it’s the Democrats, but given the chance the Republicans wouldn’t turn their nose up at the same shit if it benefited them. This is what you get after a bureaucracy is formed and allowed to largely manage itself over a hundred or so years.

        1. kbolino

          Yeah. It’s important to remember (although it in no way absolves the Democrats) that impeachment theater started with the GOP against Clinton*, and those (largely) same people threw the rest of their principles out the window when it was a Republican president in charge to pass sweeping expansions of government that play a big part in the problems today.

          * = Not that he wasn’t guilty of the charge, and more serious ones, but the whole thing was, ultimately, a spectacle with no benefit and lots of downsides

          1. straffinrun

            This is true, but I don’t think the stakes were as high as they are today. Back in Clinton’s time, we didn’t see open Socialists vying for legitimate shots at the white house. There really wasn’t much difference between the two parties then, but today’s right wing vs left wing populism makes the stakes a lot higher. I don’t want either and that is what is scary. They are making the majority of Americans choose between the two.

          2. kbolino

            If anything, the stakes being lower makes it worse. They did those things because they wanted to, and they didn’t care about the consequences.

          3. straffinrun

            There are a million examples of where people broke the unspoken rules that kept civilization going. It was incredibly stupid what team red did to Clinton. And now we are here. *Shrugs*

          4. kbolino

            Yeah. My only point is that nobody close to the levers of power is standing on any moral high ground, here.

          5. Well that’s always the risk with precedent. Ask Harry Reid how that worked out. You always do it when it seems like the risks are low and the rewards are high, or at least decent. Then it turns out that the worst-case scenario you assumed would never happen when the shoe got on the other foot always ends up happening.

            This is worse than Clinton by orders of magnitude. Every Democrat involved in this should be ashamed of themselves–exiled to Siberia, but also ashamed of themselves–and every Republican who isn’t fighting this tooth and nail should join them. But, when the dust has settled, I fully expect Team Red to do the same shit when they have the chance, and even harder.

          6. straffinrun

            You aren’t wrong. My opinion is that any sport (i.e. politics) will always eventually resort to breaking the unspoken rules. Power is too seductive.

    5. kbolino

      From Brennan to Clapper to the current DNI saying he’ll protect “whistleblowers” (but not, you know, actual whistleblowers) to this guy, the intel community is playing a dangerous game. There’s a lot of money that could dry up real quick if Trump got serious.

      1. Pope Jimbo

        the current DNI saying he’ll protect “whistleblowers”

        So Snowden can come home and not worry about being thrown in the slammer?

        1. kbolino

          And a half dozen other people prosecuted since then, too.

          1. kbolino

            (While the others are not generally considered “whistleblowing” cases, as they seem to range from crazy people to people trying to one-up competitors, playing politics with your civil service position isn’t “whistleblowing” either)

    6. Pope Jimbo

      He must have been using those special Nick Cage National Treasure eye glasses to see that quid pro quo stuff. That is why us normies haven’t been able to see it ourselves in that transcript.

      1. kbolino

        Facts are a racist dog whistle. That’s why the Clintons and Bidens are innocent, and Trump is guilty.

    7. Raston Bot

      the NSC folks have been all over this quid pro quo stuff. at this point, i’m going to probably accept that Trump did it.

  44. I know we don’t seem to have any Glibs in the UK, but which one of you is this?

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/drunk-man-jailed-trying-sex-20761991

    1. Pat

      Everybody says “go green” and then then they jail you for dendrophilia. Hypocrites.

    2. AlmightyJB

      That’s almost as weird as Sloopy’s fat belly fetish.

    3. Pope Jimbo

      What did a rakish man like him think was going to happen in today’s #MeToo world?

    4. Michael Golsorkhi had consumed alcohol, cocaine and cannabis before committing the filthy crime

      I love how lurid the British press gets about stuff. It’s adorable.

      Also, I love that in every picture this guy is grinning like the cat that caught the canary. Like he’s gonna bang this pile of leaves as an appetizer for some REALLY outlandish shit later on.

    5. Sean

      There’s so mulch wrong with this story.

      1. Not Adahn

        Wood ticks, for one.

  45. Pat

    Chile cancels climate and Apec summits amid mass protests

    Chile has pulled out of hosting two major international summits, including a UN climate change conference, as anti-government protests continue.

    President Sebastián Piñera said the decision had caused him “pain” but his government needed “to prioritise re-establishing public order”.

    The COP25 climate summit was scheduled for 2 to 13 December, while the Apec trade forum was next month.

    The UN said it was now looking at alternative venues.

    The political instability in Chile? Caused by climate change. This just demonstrates the importance of addressing this issue.

    1. AlmightyJB

      Marxist stirring up shit again. They won’t be happy until everyone in the world is starving.

  46. PieInTheSky

    UN-BALI-VABLE Eye-popping picture of Bali tourist wearing G-string bikini in a shop divides the internet

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10241096/bali-tourist-g-string-bikini-shop/

    1. AlmightyJB

      “the front parts were even smaller than the back”

      Pics, or you’re lying.

    2. “Divides” the internet?

      Between prudes and leches?

      1. Between people at work, and everyone else.

      2. AlmightyJB

        Between jealous bitches and everyone else.

      3. Count Potato

        These three people said something on the internet stories are getting out of hand.

        1. PieInTheSky

          I hope you are not in an office

    3. I especially like the photo down in the story about the woman being fined $40 with her face pixelated out and a video still below if of the same photo with her face clearly visible.

      Nice work, Sun.

      1. PieInTheSky

        Deadspin wishes they had such quality journalism

  47. leon

    We had record cold temperatures yesterday, and this morning. I even checked and it was warmer in many parts of Antarctica than it was here. It’s some serious Bullshit.

    1. Pope Jimbo

      I’m not going to commiserate until you tell me what the actual temp was.

      We went on vacation in Oahu a couple days after Honolulu set their record low temp (52) and the locals were all so excited when they found out we were from Minnesoda. They wanted to let us know that they now knew how bad the cold can be.

      1. “Did you get locked in a freezer?”

      2. Florida Man

        I’m not going to commiserate until you tell me what the actual temp was.-

        Right now? 81F

      3. leon

        hahah. 14 degrees. It was a Record low for October in Salt Lake. It ain’t minnesoda nice, but it was still damn cold. That’ kind of temperature is normal for January not Fall.

        1. Pope Jimbo

          Well you’ve got us beat so far. 26 here now. Of course no one is complaining and everyone is just wearing their fall jackets.

    2. Nephilium

      Supposed to be dropping into the 30’s (with rain) tonight. No snow yet, but it’s predicted for next week. Guess it’s time to take the road bike in for a tune up, I’m not taking it out on wet/frozen leaves.

  48. AlmightyJB

    What we need is huge wealth and inheritance taxes. Also, advertisers sure don’t act like most disposal income is in the hands of boomers.

    https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/millennials-richest-generation-ever

    1. Certified Public Asshat

      We will all be rich because of the Giving Pledge.

    2. kbolino

      Meh. I think more parents should spend their money and tell their kids to kiss their ass. The wait for mom and dad to die and get their money game is ghoulish.

      1. Pope Jimbo

        Uffda. That hits too close to home for me right now. Mom passed away a while ago and my kid sister has been pestering my dad for an early inheritance to use as a downpayment on a house. My dad wants to give me an equal amount of money to “be fair”.

        I’ve told him that I don’t want it and that I hope he spends all his money before he passes. My biggest fear is that he wouldn’t take some fishing or hunting trip because he wanted to leave us kids more money. He earned that money and as far as I’m concerned he should be spending it all.

        1. kbolino

          It tore my mother’s family apart and it looks like it will tear my father’s family apart too (neither side was especially close to begin with, but they’re farther apart than ever now). Fuck the money. Live like you’re not going to get it, be happy with what you’ve got, help each other out, and if you happen to receive something be grateful.

        2. Don Escaped Texas

          My dad wants to give me an equal amount of money to “be fair”. I’ve told him that I don’t want it and that I hope he spends all his money before he passes.

          fucking affirmative; my situation: please spend it all so my sister doesn’t squander it

          1. Pope Jimbo

            lol. Yup.

            My sister has been horrible with money all her life. She is bound and determined to buy a house NOW. You can’t tell her that the market is super hot right now and there is no reason not to wait a while and buy when it has cooled off.

          2. Florida Man

            I hope my parents spend it all so my Gen-X siblings don’t piss it away.

          3. Nephilium

            Man, I must be lucky. Me and my sister are both doing pretty well, have a house and a job. We both are in favor of having our parents spend out all of their money and enjoying themselves while they can. Me, I’m a college drop out. My sister was a single teenage mother (she’s now married with a total of 3 kids).

            It must be our white privilege.

          4. Meh. My parents don’t have any money. I am hands-down the most well off member of my immediate family. I just managed to make less mistakes than anyone else.

          5. Mistakes were made. Just not as many/as severe as by people I’m related to.

        3. JaimeRoberto Delecto

          Every time my dad takes a hunting or fishing trip he thanks me and my siblings, because it comes out of our inheritance.

    3. Florida Man

      I have a plan for that money:
      https://youtu.be/5F91emCX3pI

  49. banginglc1

    It’s the last day of Epidermolysis bullosa awareness week . . .and the little girl I know with it is in surgery right now. So any prayers or thoughts you can send her way would be appreciated.

    1. AlmightyJB

      Good juju.

    2. Tundra

      Done. Good luck.

    3. Done. Every time I think about that it breaks my heart. In addition to the book, are there any charities in particular you can recommend? I know there are a lot of folks here who use Amazon, which has their “Smile” program where you pick a charity and a portion of every purchase is donated to it. I also know a few people who do Humble Bundle, which lets you pick a particular charity to get your donation money when you buy stuff from the site.

      1. banginglc1

        Debra.org is the biggest one, I don’t know much about them, so I can’t say if they’re worth it or not

        I just found ebresearch dot org which seems more dedicated to research.

        Then, since her medical bills are non-stop and she misses large chunks of work due to hospital stays, you can always give direct . . .

          1. Even better. Thanks, man.

    4. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Wishes sent.

    5. banginglc1

      Update: already out of surgery and doing well. Still need prayers and we’ll wishes for the recovery!

      1. Raston Bot

        happy to hear that.

  50. Re: WaPo because I’m all fired up about it:

    The WaPo staff has some of the most blatantly racist people you’ll ever meet, and the readership is just as bad. I’m not dealing with the paywall, but if you look in the comment section I will bet you’ll find that the general opinion is some blend of, a,) Kanye is crazy, b.) Kanye is being used by Trump, c.) Kanye has been brainwashed by his white wife, and/or d.) Kanye has sold out his race. For these people, if you’re black, here’s what you’re permitted to do: attend a Southern Baptist or AME church, a mosque, or nothing; vote Democrat; blame white people. If you deviate from those three pillars, you’re an apostate, dare I say a runaway, and you’ll be dealt with accordingly.

    1. straffinrun

      This is the white, rich liberal mindset and explains why they got so worked up over the smiling Covington kid: They bow to the minority in any situation and don’t think that the minority person will think it’s patronizing. How dare Sandman not bow out of shame when a native American starts banging a drum in his face? We bow and then go home to our gated communities.

      Seriously, fuck these people who are enabling this racial divide and are probably driving it more than anyone else

      1. The Covington thing really pisses me off. If you look at the expression on that kid’s face, he’s terrified, not smug. He’s got some strange old man walking straight up to him, staring him down, banging a drum at him. How would anyone handle that situation? Myself, I’d probably ask the guy to back off, and when he didn’t, I’d probably see if there was a cop nearby. Failing that, I’m not above grabbing his stupid drum and tossing it in the street.

    2. Akira

      You should have seen the uproar when Colion Noir (a black man who had been making pro-gun videos independently for a few years) got hired by the NRA as a contributor. Lefties were calling him an “Uncle Tom” and “sambo” and insinuating that “the NRA bought themselves an obedient little negro!”

  51. The Late P Brooks

    Sports reporters are oppressed

    Grossi then asked if Mayfield was happy with the way the drive ended.

    “Was I happy with the drive? No, we didn’t score points,” Mayfield answered. “The dumbest question you could ask. What? Jesus, Tony.”

    ——-

    Grossi said later on 850 that it was not the first time he had been at odds with Mayfield this season.

    “I didn’t want to be in a confrontation with the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, but he had been disrespectful so many times in the last couple weeks in response to simple questions by me,” Grossi said.

    Keep asking stupid questions, and you should expect to get slapped in the face once in a while.

    1. Trigger Hippie

      Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

    2. leon

      Yup that reeks of “I’m incompetent, but youre so rude for pointing it out.”

    3. LJW

      Does anything useful ever come out of on field or post game interviews. I can’t think of a professional more worthless than the field reporters for sports.

      1. Florida Man

        Science reporters?

      2. A Leap at the Wheel

        No. They are horrible. I’ll never root for Bill Belichick… unless he’s talking to a reporter. Then, he’s the hero we need.

        1. My respect for Belichick skyrocketed when a friend of mine pointed out that the reason he dresses like a bum for games and interviews and gives the bare minimum responses is because the NFL told him that wearing the team logo and talking to reporters is mandatory. If the NFL is going to tell him what he’s allowed to wear and force him to talk, he’s going to give them precisely what they ask for, and nothing more.

          1. Don Escaped Texas

            After a certain Super Bowl, I was sent to some plant in Indiana for quality training (grumbles about who should be trained and who should be teaching, but nevermind). During the goround and introduce yourself and tell us a little about you and what you hope to get out of this course, I was direct:

            “I’m just here so I won’t get fined”

          2. That might actually be a direct Belichick quote.

          3. A Leap at the Wheel

            Marshawn Lynch

          4. Oh, yeah, that’s right. And didn’t he get fined for it? God, I hate the NFL.

    4. JaimeRoberto Delecto

      I don’t blame people like Barry Bonds, Belichik or Popovich for being rude to the media. If I had to answer such inane questions every day, I’d be rude too.

    5. Gdragon

      Now that most phones don’t have cords anymore Hal McRae would have probably gotten him right between the eyes. And he could put that in his pipe and smoke it!

  52. PieInTheSky

    Low Levels of Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Mortality Outcomes in Non-Statin Users

    https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/8/10/1571/htm

    Apparently low ldl aint that good always

    1. Don Escaped Texas

      yup, correlation causation

      Statin use for the marginal cases has been under review and in retreat in the States for a couple of years now.

      1. Good, because statins are toxic.

        1. Annoyed Nomad

          If you read the small print for a statin, their own studies show no change in mortality. Frankly, I want to live as long as possible – WITHOUT the negative side affects of statins.

    2. Pat

      Pritikin diet cultists hardest hit.

      AHA acknowledges new findings, recommends a plant based diet with less than 3 grams of saturated fat per day.

      1. Raston Bot

        3g of saturated fat?? i get that by breakfast when i mix peanut butter into my oatmeal.

      2. Scruffy Nerfherder

        Fuck that. Just stop abusing your blood sugar levels with large doses of simple carbs and sugars.

        1. Pat

          That’s been my strategy since I found I had high cholesterol a couple years ago. My LDL hovers between 120 and 130 now. HDL mid 50’s. Trigycerides 30-50. Total cholesterol right at 200. Theoretically my LDL should be big and fluffy and therefore less dangerous than the smaller and nastier VLDL. Regardless I’m definitely not going to get on medication at this point. I’d rather die from a coronary than any of the other shit I’m at risk for.

          1. Tejicano

            I finally came to understand that the body produces LDL cholesterol when it needs to repair tissues. Since I have always enjoyed high intensity cardio workouts my body needs a bit more LDL cholesterol than it might otherwise. This is most probably why adjusting my diet has never done much towards reducing LDL cholesterol in my blood.

            The idea that high amounts of LDL cholesterol causes heart disease is like saying smoke causes fire.

          2. Pat

            My maternal grandmother had high cholesterol all her life, eating white bread, bacon, eggs, lots of butter, and weighing maybe 120 pounds soaking wet. She and my mother had a falling out many years ago so I don’t hear much about her anymore, but as far as I know she’s still alive and closing in on 90. Mother nature’s a mad scientist.

            I needed to shift to a more grown up diet anyway, as I was eating a lot of fried and packaged foods, but I suspect there’s probably a genetic component at work there as well. I took about 35 points off my LDL, halved the triglycerides, and that’s as good as it’s gonna get.

        2. Tejicano

          /\/\/\ This exactly.

    3. Annoyed Nomad

      A recent blood test calculated my LDL at 158. If I’m reading that study’s tables correctly, I’m in the LDL range that had the LOWEST mortality rate, even lower than the “reference group” (120-139). But they don’t point that out in their abstract.

      I’ve previously heard that people with total cholesterol in the 200-240 range had the lowest mortality rates, but many doctors will try to prescribe statins for that range.

  53. ttyrant

    I hope I’m not jinxing it, but Liverpool are remarkably well run, particularly given where they were just a few years ago. We’ll see what happens when Klopp leaves – there’s rumblings that he’s gonna want out in a year or two, despite his contract running longer than that – but for now, I’m enjoying it.

    And for anyone looking for a laugh this morning, read the Twitter thread of the intrepid White House reporter who confirmed the dog photo wad a fake. I thought the media couldn’t do any better than “austere religious scholar”, but they’ve managed it.

    1. Juvenile Bluster

      He’ll stay until the end of his contract in 2022. And then either Pep Lijnders or, if he’s ready, Gerrard will take over.

    2. robc

      Speaking of Klopp. If you don’t like the dates of a tournament, don’t enter.

  54. Nephilium

    Well, I was waiting around for Tundra to share this link. But I don’t want some of you other car geeks to miss out. Viva Las Vegas has started posting some (owner submitted) pictures of the cars that will be at the car show next April. A quick scan shows that they should all be SFW (but I can’t vouch for all of them).

  55. Count Potato

    “Washington D.C.:

    Under Obama (two terms): 0 Stanley Cups, 0 World Series titles, 0 WNBA titles

    Under Trump (in his first term): 1 Stanley Cup, 1 World Series title, 1 WNBA title”

    https://twitter.com/SirajAHashmi/status/1189752840761294848

    1. Rebel Scum

      If only Trump could Make the Redskins Great Again.

    2. What the fuck is a “WNBA”?

      1. West Nashville Bluegrass Association.

      2. It’s basketball without dunking.

      3. Not Adahn

        You moved in too late to know the glory days of Cynthia Cooper.

  56. Trigger Hippie

    I’m a stoner and my memory is shit. Thus, you’re new to me. So…

    Fuck off, Tulpa!

    1. Sloopy’s been here from the beginning.

      1. Trigger Hippie

        *takes a long pull off the bowl*

        Who?

    2. Trigger Hippie

      Jesus Christ, Brooks’ed a FOT! Well, that’s my cue to piss off. See ya!

      1. Count Potato

        LOL

  57. Rebel Scum

    The Shot Heard ‘Round the World?

    GM, FiatChrysler, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru and Hyundai/Kia apparently want to survive. They have just announced they are opposed to what is doggedly and dishonestly portrayed as “clean” vehicles by the Fake News media.

    They might as well have done a blackface skit – as far as the predictable eruption of feigned outrage in the usual quarters. Typical was this effusion from Senator Tom Carper of Delaware:

    “Instead of choosing the responsible path forged by four automakers (he means Ford, Honda, VW and BMW) and the state of California, one that will move us (he means force us) toward the cleaner (a lie; bear with) alternative fuel vehicles of the future (oy vey) these companies have chosen to head down a dead-end road.”

    But what is actually at issue is the open road – and whether it is to be closed, via onerous fuel efficiency mandatory minimums despicably conflated in recent years by Carper, et al, with emissions regulations – to guilt-trip acceptance of their legitimacy and suborn acceptance of the state of California’s attempt to impose a near-doubling of these mandatory minimums on the entire nation…

    CAFE regs date back to the ’70s, when it was thought the world was close to running out of oil (or so we were told) and “steps” had to be taken to conserve what was left. But the regs are as outdated as bell bottom cords given the facts about how much oil there actually is – and right here in the U.S.

    We are literally swimming in it.

    But the regs – premised on a scarcity that doesn’t exist – persist and expand, forcing people to pay more for “efficient” cars than it would have cost them to buy less “efficient” but far less expensive cars which didn’t have to have cost-padding technologies such as Automated Stop/Start (aka, ASS) and direct-injection (which carbon fouls engines) and transmissions with nine or even ten speeds rather than five or six to eke out fractional MPG gains.

    California is insisting on much more than fractional gains. It is demanding the MPG/”clean” regs be raised to almost 50 miles-per-gallon – and by 2025.

    I’m disappointed in Honda.

    1. LJW

      It makes total sense! California wants to make cars so unaffordable that the middle class won’t be able to buy a car to flee the state.

    2. kbolino

      I’m disappointed in Honda.

      They were getting slapped for failing to live up to the pie-in-the-sky bullshit that is CAFE. Other companies were gaming the system and fudging the numbers, while Honda was acting like a car company selling to the consumer. It is a sad turn but a predictable one. You get more of what you reward, and all that.

      The problem is that the design pipeline is a couple years long and companies were planning for the ratchet to continue turning (even it if was going to eventually kill them). Now, a more agile competitor can take advantage of the change, and not everybody is happy about that fact. It is funny (read: also predictable) to see liberals champion regulatory capture, though.

      1. kbolino

        I shouldn’t say liberals, as they haven’t got a liberal bone in their body. They’re only liberal compared to communists, and in some cases, that’s not by much.

    3. leon

      So Krugman had a big article talking about how Trump was so dumb because the “Automakers” agreed with californias regulations and so we should listen to them cause they are obviously smart and Trump is Obviously dumb.

      So i’m interested to see how he handles this.

      1. kbolino

        So i’m interested to see how he handles this.

        Why? He hasn’t stop being a mendacious idiot despite making ridiculously bad predictions before.

      2. Pat

        So i’m interested to see how he handles this.

        Market failure and Trump exercising undue fascist control over private enterprise.

      3. Scruffy Nerfherder

        The automakers don’t give a shit as long as everyone is forced to follow the same rules. It limits competition and drives the overall price up, so more profit.

  58. The Late P Brooks

    26 here now. Of course no one is complaining and everyone is just wearing their fall jackets.

    That’s about what it is, here, but the wind is blowing about 45mph. Still better than 7 below, I guess.

  59. PieInTheSky

    The Game Changers Documentary Scientific Review

    https://mennohenselmans.com/game-changers-documentary

    To be blunt the science is all over the place in nutrition, but I simply cannot see how a vegan diet can be superior to a balanced omnivore one, from basic human biology and evolution. Also I am very skeptical of the whole new vegan push, it seems a lot of start from the conclusion and torture the data to be believable. And as nutritional science cannot really be in any way conclusive, pass the steak.

    1. Don Escaped Texas

      the shape of an animal’s teeth and the length of its digestive tract are the best indicators of what an animal should eat

      1. PieInTheSky

        Well some would say humans do not have a carnivore digestive system, but neither is it a herbivore.

        1. We are obligate omnivores.

        2. Don Escaped Texas

          it’s clearly in the middle and is similar to other omnivores in every way

          there is no way to chart these things out without humans ending up somewhere between pandas and rats

        3. Tejicano

          The interesting thing (to me) that I’ve heard from a few humans who have gone to a total carnivore diet is that they produce almost zero solid waste. Basically a small amount two or three times a week. Sounds pretty efficient to me.

    2. kbolino

      Nutritional science can be (more) conclusive. You just have to achieve Josef Mengele levels of control over your test subjects.

    3. PieInTheSky

      My main problem is that I can no longer trust the studies, if I see an agenda. I cannot trust the data was correctly gathered, correctly reported, correctly analyzed. So on more study one way or the other is not really going to sway me, unless I have time and inclination to look at the data myself. I have seen to many claim things without correctly controlling all variables, I am not sure all variables can be correctly controlled for, and there are plenty of factors we may not even know to correct.

      1. kbolino

        Sometimes, the data is right there and it still gets ignored. There’s a bit in Forks Over Knives (I think) when they put up an excerpt from a study and highlight that a “plant-based diet” (read: vegan) was correlated with lower rates of cancer in mice. But in the unhighlighted (yet still visible!) portion of the excerpt, it was also clearly stated that the mice on the “plant-based diet” lived shorter lives. Basically, they weren’t getting cancer because they were already dead.

        1. Don Escaped Texas

          death cures everything

          the joke in the seventies: I’ll never stop smoking! yes, yes you will

    4. PieInTheSky

      I mean I would not give up meat or alcohol anyway for a small statistical improvement in all cause mortality, but am curious really of the health thing. But I cannot see a way to make a correct view

      1. Suthenboy

        Balanced omnivore diet as you mention above. Moderation in all things. It is not difficult. Good things to add in are nuts and fish. Go easy on the sugar (not a problem for you) or cut is out altogether and get your carbs from bread and pasta. Don’t overeat. Eat a comfortable amount and quit. Avoid non-human foods like avocado, cilantro and turnips.

        You should be good.

        1. Body doesn’t differentiate bread/oatmeal/pasta carbs from straight refined sugar carbs.

          1. Pat

            Whole grain bread and pasta has a lower glycemic and insulin index than white bread and pasta, so there’s at least a minimal difference. Whatever your chosen carbohydrate, you’re better off making it a whole grain source.

          2. kbolino

            Well, not counting for inflammation anyway.

        2. Hey, pal, some of us happen to enjoy avocado, cilantro, and turnips. Lemme guess, you’ve got a problem with radishes, too!

          1. Pat

            You can keep the turnips, but avocados and cilantro are used in probably close to a quarter of my meals.

          2. Sean

            99.9% of my meals contain meat. They can keep their vegatarian diets. Hard pass.

        3. l0b0t

          Avoid non-human foods like… turnips.

          When the Army Air Corps sent my grandparents from their native GA to somewhere in the Midwest, granny was aghast when the checkout girl at the base commissary cut and binned the greens on her turnips at the register – “That’s the part you eat!”

    5. Drake

      Here’s a study I believe because I like the results.

      Study Shows High Cholesterol May Help You Live LONGER

      1. LJW

        I think the French diet proved that a long time ago.

    6. Raston Bot

      2. Is a vegan diet the healthiest diet?

      Vegetarians have an excellent health record in the literature, particularly the epidemiological literature. However, vegetarians almost by definition tend to be more health conscious than the average meat eater.

      vegetarians are not vegans. if you don’t eat meat but consume cheese, yogurt, other dairy, then you’re getting all of that saturated fat and cholesterol that a vegan would not. this seems like a significant flaw in the analysis.

      1. kbolino

        Part of the problem is that veganism is a relatively recent phenomenon and thus the presence of widely reviewed multi-decade studies on long-term vegans and their health outcomes hasn’t been possible. But, it’s true that vegetarianism != veganism and even what “vegetarian” means varies from person to person (ditto vegan; some thing vegan = raw as well)

      2. Tejicano

        Since the significantly highest cause of death in both vegans and vegetarians is heart disease I don’t see any reason to fool and torture myself in following that diet plan. Cut down the sugar and simple carbs and the rest doesn’t matter as much.

        1. I had a friend observe that vegans and vegetarians generally are sugar-hounds.

          1. A craving is generally a sign of a nutritional deficit, though the craving itself may not provide much insight into exactly what’s missing.

          2. I know when I am craving either salt or Gatorade my electrolytes are out of balance. When my taste for salt changes and/or I stop buying Gatorade, everything is all better. If I am craving chocolate, I’m low on magnesium.

          3. So what did it mean when I had a several day craving for good fried chicken?

          4. Don’t know, but ever since my peptic ulcer began forming, I can’t eat much beef (certainly not by itself), and since that used to be the core of my diet, I am in mourning.

            Bad things happen when you can’t digest meat very well.

          5. The good news is peptic ulcers are treatable. You should be able to recover from this setback.

          6. Sortamaybenotreally.

    7. Florida Man

      LJW on October 31, 2019 at 8:38 am
      Does anything useful ever come out of on field or post game interviews. I can’t think of a professional more worthless than the field reporters for sports.
      Reply
      Avatar
      Florida Man on October 31, 2019 at 8:41 am
      Science reporters?

      SEE!?!?!

  60. The Late P Brooks

    saving us from ourselves

    Twitter (TWTR) will stop accepting political ads, the company’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, announced Wednesday.
    “We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally. We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought,” Dorsey tweeted.
    “A political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet. Paying for reach removes that decision, forcing highly optimized and targeted political messages on people. We believe this decision should not be compromised by money,” he added.
    Twitter’s chief financial officer, Ned Segal, tweeted Wednesday that the company made less than $3 million from political ads in the 2018 cycle.

    “This decision was based on principle, not money,” he said.
    The announcement comes amid intense scrutiny of Silicon Valley’s handling of political ads. Social media companies, particularly Facebook, have been criticized for allowing politicians to run false ads.

    At this point, I don’t even know what that means.

    Presumably, any politician or self-styled “thought leader” is still free to post whatever moronic nonsense s/he wishes, as long as it’s not an “ad”.

    The last thing in the world I expect to see is an elevation of discourse in the twatterverse.

    1. dorvinion

      My question is what is a political ad. Seems like its just adding another arbitrary category that gives them the appearance of being objective.

      Something from a politician’s election campaign certainly comes to mind as obvious.

      But what about say AFT/NEA and other leftist groups. Are their ads political? Why of course not, those are public service announcements.

      Ads from the NRA on the other hand are definitely political ads.

  61. Don Escaped Texas

    My favourite is GM.

    Related advice: get out of the OEM and Tier I business. When you’re tied to one company, its stockholders and boards and decisions, your boat goes up and down mostly on their tide. And you wash away when they wash away.

    Tier 1 (sellers to OEM) is similar, or can be: the dash pad for an F150 won’t fit on a Corolla; all the energy, brains, effort, and money you put into it can barely be used for anything else (gross oversimplification, maybe 60% true).

    Tier 2 is the place to be, and, FWIW, Ontario is full of these guys. Like Fasco: they make, among other things, DC shaft motors: run a fan, a belt drive, kinematics, whatever . . . for whomever: Chevy, Ford, neighbor, exporter. Similar guys are injection molders: yes they’re hanging a tool that only makes one part, but they have hundreds of clients and thousands of tools they switch between. If you get too persnickety with a molder over the shade of black on your widget, they’ll fire you, ship your tool back, and just spend the rest of the year stamping out garbage cans for WalMart.

  62. PieInTheSky

    https://mobile.twitter.com/Pawtiko/status/1189176759998189569

    Tankies or anarchosocialist who wins?

    Irl tankies would probably be the first to shoot to the back of the head

  63. LJW

    Across the Board, Scores Drop in Math and Reading for U.S. Students

    “Carr said that she’d love to be able to more fully analyze all the subgroup data they collect, but her team is strapped for resources. She encouraged other researchers to dig deeper”

    And there is your motive for the alarmism.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Based on my personal experience with the public school system, I believe that it’s related to the propagation of the “no homework” model among school systems.

      I’ve taken to assigning my kids more to do so that they progress faster.

      1. I followed the “No homework” model in school.

        The school didn’t, so I got Bs and Cs.

        1. This is what my son does. Homework done before school dismisses.

          1. You’re too charitable. I just didn’t do the homework. I could have been an A student, but didn’t bother.

          2. Don Escaped Texas

            #MeToo

            80th percentile in HS class ( motto: who cares about homework: there are carburetors to rebuild! )

            99th percentile in every standard test I’ve ever taken from PSAT to GMAT (except GRE = 78th) . . . but school’s a drag, man

          3. Homework is graded (as it was in my time). You don’t do the homework, you don’t pass.

          4. Oh it was graded, but I was good at looking at the syllabus and deciding what I could ignore and still pass.

          5. Akira

            I usually did barely enough to avoid being held back, but I actually did flunk senior “English” (scare quotes because that class was nothing but stupid bullshit that had nothing to do with the English language).

            I had to take correspondence by mail in order to get my diploma. If I had known how fucking easy that was, I would have flunked more classes.

            Honestly, I wish I would have done what my brother’s friend did – drop out of school as soon as you’re allowed, then drive down to Florida and take the GED exam since there’s no legal distinction there between a GED and an actual diploma.

            The utter uselessness of 90% of school was the first thing that clued me in that government programs are incredibly wasteful.

          6. The utter uselessness of 90% of school was the first thing that clued me in that government programs are incredibly wasteful.

            In hindsight, the fact that all the kids with stay at home parents who taught them to read were cordoned off in the gifted and talented program in elementary school, only to be unceremoniously dumped in with the general population in 5th grade tells everything you need to know about priorities.

            Education cannot succeed when the primary factor for advancement is age.

          7. Ah, I see we pursued the same educational strategy.

            Teenage Bill: “Ok…let’s see…final grade is 10% based on notebook checks and homework”

            *crosses off syllabus*

            “That leaves class participation at 5%…”

            *crosses another item off syllabus”

            “Figure another 5% give or take…excellent, another gentleman’s C in the record books.”

          8. Akira

            Haha, that was too much work for my shitheel teenage self. My strategy was basically:

            1. Do nothing all year
            2. Receive “the talk” from the teacher about how I might not pass if I don’t do X, Y, and Z
            3. Do X, Y, and Z with barely enough effort to pass

          9. Totally. I’d pretty much written off the concept of an academic scholarship by my sophomore year. I basically just did what I needed to pass and saved the effort for classes I found interesting, which is why I was in AP US History and AP Psychology and also in Probability and Statistics, aka “Math for the Lacrosse Team”.

          10. Not Adahn

            And now look at where you are.

          11. Like I said, Mistakes were made.

      2. My kindergartener and first grader get homework.

        1. l0b0t

          Our kindergartner is bringing home more, albeit easier, homework than his 4th grade sister.

      3. LJW

        Do they still do common core? I don’t pay much attention to public schools. Although I should start my oldest is almost Kindergarten age.

        1. Not in Missouri. Too many people screamed too lously, including teachers.

          I am willing to believe that the concept of a common core of curriculum is a good one. The way it is/was executed was terrible.

        2. Scruffy Nerfherder

          Yes. The objection I have to common core is that it’s just generally lousy. The whole thing was a scam to sell a new generation of books and materials that weren’t actually needed.

      4. Pope Jimbo

        I made my kids do flash cards for math (as well as those tedious work sheets with 100 simple addition/subtraction and multiplication/division problems on them.

        Why? Because their school was huge into the whole math thing. Repetition was to be avoided and instead you were supposed to learn by listening to a story and then coming up with methods to determine what the answer was. For example, the problem would be “If UCS has four driving gloves and gives Straffin 2 of them, how many does he have left? Then you would draw four driving gloves, cross out two of them and then count the remaining ones. If you didn’t do the drawing and crossing out, your answer was marked wrong.

        Never could convince a single teacher during parent/teacher meetings that basic math should be learned via repetition. My kids all had the highest scores in their classes, but that was because they were half asian, not because I made them do flash cards.

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          A small minority of children gravitate to the conceptual math early. Most of them absolutely need the repetitive fundamentals in order to build a solid foundation for further learning. I consider it to be a major flaw in how they teach math now. If you have an exceptional student, remove them from the standard fare and put them into a group more appropriate to their method of learning. Don’t try to bridge the gap with all the students, it just makes failures of everyone.

          1. Tracking makes the slow students feel bad, you have to hold the good students back.

            /Handicapper general.

          2. Florida Man

            Government school is one size fits all, because people don’t want to be responsible for their own kids.

          3. Not Adahn

            Having more than one size isn’t fair!

          4. I agree. On Twitter, one of these exceptional students (whom I otherwise really respect) declared he thought people who needed repetition were idiots. He didn’t get a lot of pushback because most of his followers were the same.

            Like will to like, I guess.

          5. kbolino

            Idiots still need to get taught, though.

          6. Florida Man

            Have all the ditches been dug?

          7. With spoons, for the multiplier effect.

          8. Exactly! Teaching in a way the the majority cannot learn is crippling.

            But the problem with not segregating students out by “gifted” and normal and “not so gifted” is because of this misguided notion of mainstreaming.

          9. kbolino

            While my initial response was glib (who’da thought?), I don’t think reptition is actually just for “idiots”. You can learn higher mathematics without your times tables, but you’re going to be slower carrying it out and you will have fewer tools to guess and check. Estimation is an important skill and helps prevent minor mistakes from turning into catastrophic ones; mental math is all about shortcuts, and rote memorization is one of those shortcuts.

            And yes, you do have to teach to the student; while that doesn’t necessarily mean an individualized education for everyone, it does mean identifying common factors and adjusting teaching strategies accordingly. Grouping has social consequences, but the primary objective of schools is education not socialization per se.

          10. Scruffy Nerfherder

            Current objectives for public education put socialization first.

            In fact, it’s always been that way, beginning with Fichte in Germany.

            Once the children are separated, educators can turn their attention to internal matters. In his essay on education, Kant had of course argued that “above all things, obedience is an essential feature in the character of a child, especially of a school boy or girl.”[78] However, Fichte pointed out, children are children and as such they do not naturally impose duties upon themselves. So the school’s authorities must firmly impose the duties upon them:

            “[T]he legislation should consequently maintain a high standard of severity, and should prohibit the doing of many things. Such prohibitions, which simply must exist and on which the existence of the community depends, are to be enforced in case of necessity by fear of immediate punishment, and this penal law must be administered absolutely without indulgence or exception.”[79]

            One of the duties to be inculcated is the obligation of the student who is more able to help the more needy students. Yet “he is to expect neither reward for it, for under this system of government all are quite equal in regard to work and pleasure, nor even praise, for the attitude of mind prevailing in the community is that it is just everyone’s duty to act thus.” Anticipating Marx, Fichte believed that the school should be a microcosm of what the ideal society would be like: “Under this system of government, therefore, the acquirement of greater skill and the effort spent therein will result only in fresh effort and work, and it will be the very pupil who is abler than the rest who must often watch while the others sleep, and reflect while others play.”[80]

            More broadly, the new education will eliminate all self interest and inculcate the pure love of duty for its own sake that Rousseau and Kant had prized:

            “[I]n place of that love of self, with which nothing for our good can be connected any longer, we must set up and establish in the hearts of all those whom we wish to reckon among our nation that other kind of love, which is concerned directly with the good, simply as such and for its own sake.”[81]

            If the system is successful, its fruit will be as follows: “Its pupil goes forth at the proper time as a fixed and unchangeable machine.”[82]

          11. @kbolino

            I thought you were being sarcastic.

            My only real point was that it was unutterably arrogant for him to draw that conclusion and his libertarian circle-jerk about it only strengthened his view.

            1) He doesn’t have children, and I find that my narrow and very idealized views about child-rearing and education changed drastically once I did.

            2) Yes, I specified libertarian because, much as we KNOW that if you get 10 libertarians in a room, there will be 11 different opinions and a fist-fight, there are certain characteristics of libertarians that will trend heavily, and the ability to do conceptual math is, I think, one of them and I felt that he was using the No True Scotsman fallacy and, quite frankly, I thought he was smarter than to do so.

            Yes, “idiots” need

          12. On the question of obedience. I used to think that an ADHD boy just needs to be allowed to be a boy and understood as such, and not stomp his spirit into the ground.

            My kid goes waaaayyyyy beyond that and obedience would be welcome. It doesn’t matter how much you try to stomp his spirit, it refuses to be stomped.

            This is both excellent and terrifying for us as his parents.

            He is absolutely brilliant with some not great characteristics, and is going to end up either as a billionaire or in prison or homeless in the gutter or dead.

            He belongs in the wild west in the 1800s, not here and not now. And how do you corral a kid like that?

            No idea. Or at least, no ideas that we can afford (e.g., military boarding school).

            And yet, at heart, he’s a really sweet kid, a hard worker, self-motivated, entrepreneurial, and very professional when dealing with his clients.

          13. Pope Jimbo

            When we taught flashcards to my daughter (oldest) we would sit with her and run through them. No problem.

            With my middle son, my wife got super frustrated because he had such a hard time sitting and concentrating on the flashcards. He would get lots wrong simply because he had to devote so many brain cells to sitting quietly.

            Finally I took over and made rules like “if you get the next one wrong you have to hop on one foot 50 times.” Then I allowed him to run and jump while answering questions. It worked great. He got way better at answering the flash cards.

            We took the same approach with the youngest son. My wife still rolls her eyes at the fact that boys are small apes that need to be tamed.

          14. l0b0t

            I’m gonna toot my horn real quick. Last week we had my daughter’s IEP meeting. I threw a fit about the current pedagogy that disregards rote memorization of multiplication tables. Teachers finally relented and copped to the fact that the bulk of the class took a nosedive on the most recent assessment. There are now charts up on the walls of the classroom and the kids are drilling on them.

          15. Excellent! Good job.

          16. Don Escaped Texas

            I graduated with a hundred mechanical engineers who could do all kinds of calculations but didn’t know when to use a ball valve and when to use a gate. You don’t have time in four years to get into that kind of minutiae, and I’ll bet half of them still get it wrong.

          17. Scruffy Nerfherder

            Unfortunately, most engineers don’t get out on the production floor and learn to assemble and test their own product.

            One of the most effective engineer training tools is making them perform RMA diagnosis and deal with the hangar queens on the production line.

          18. Not Adahn

            when to use a ball valve and when to use a gate.

            Which one do I currently have in the parts room?

          19. Don Escaped Texas

            Which one does the rep who takes me to lunch every week carry !

          20. Pope Jimbo

            My middle son was bright enough in math that he sort of taught himself multiplication on his own (trying to keep up with his older sister).

            But no matter how bright you are, you need to be able to quickly do the rote math operations, so you can concentrate on the higher level subjects.

          21. But no matter how bright you are, you need to be able to quickly do the rote math operations, so you can concentrate on the higher level subjects.

            Yes!!! Muscle memory clears our your head.

        2. Florida Man

          My kids all had the highest scores in their classes, but that was because they were half asian, not because I made them do flash cards.-

          Well, half white privilege, half racial superiority.

      5. A Leap at the Wheel

        I would be money that it’s simposon’s paradox. That is to say, I bet each racial and ethnic subgroup has been improving compared to say 5 years ago (but not compared to say 100 years ago), but that the mix of subgroups has changed to the point where pure aggregates have gone down.

        This has been happening at a bunch of local schools that used to be lilly white 5 to 15 years ago.

        https://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/03/longhorns-17-badgers-1.html

        1. kbolino

          The primary goal of public schools 100 years ago was to make people less Catholic. I don’t think they’re doing worse on that front today. They’re probably not testing for it, though.

          1. Florida Man

            If those damn millennials hadn’t demanded FREE education we wouldN’t be in this boat…

          2. The primary goal of public schools 100 years ago was to make people less Catholic heretical. I don’t think they’re doing worse on that front today. They’re probably not testing for it, though.

            Replace Catholic with heretical, and you see how little the purpose has changed over the years.

          3. kbolino

            Fair enough.

      6. Chipwooder

        There has been a huge change over the past few years for my kids. Three or four years ago it seemed like they were buried in homework every night. Now, they hardly get any. It was too much before (especially considering they were in first and third grade at the time) and now it seems way too little.

    2. Pat

      The solution is obviously more centralization, more standardization, and more money.

      1. kbolino

        It’s done absolutely nothing for the past 40 years, so naturally let’s keep doing it.

      2. Shirley Knott

        The only possible explanation for the failure of “one size fits all” is that the wrong size was specified.

    3. Rhywun

      In my state, they are ditching standards and graduating anyone with a heartbeat. This is driven largely by laziness, funding, and identity politics.

      1. Florida Man

        It’s smoke and mirrors. Public school is baby sitting so parents don’t have to raise their own kids. Did mommy get 7 hours to herself? Then the plan worked.

  64. The Late P Brooks

    My question is what is a political ad. Seems like its just adding another arbitrary category that gives them the appearance of being objective.

    Exactly. Any ad intended to “open up a dialog” on global warming is political, but I doubt that shit gobbling weasel Dorsey would refuse it. Same for any other social justice bullshit. It will just inspire creativity, like the old Limey cigarette ad rules. “What the fuck does this full page picture of a pair of scissors cutting a ribbon mean? Oh, yeah. Silk Cut Cigarettes, duh.”

  65. Have any of you read, The Next 100 Years by George Friedman? I’m just getting into it. And while his strategy for the US’ growing in power/success makes sense, I’m having a hard time reconciling it with the NAP. I’ll assume he presents a false choice between 1) a successful US by destabilizing potentially competitive regions and maintaining an intimidating navy that controls the world’s oceans, and 2) a US declining in power and subject to invasion. But not being anything near a global strategist, I can’t imagine what other choices there are.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      How about we reduce barriers to economic success inside the US and stop this constant focus on rivals?

      And the idea of the US being subject to an actual invasion is laughable outside of mass migration set off by the complete collapse of Mexico.

      1. So one of the threats he’s hinted he’ll address is the “invasion” from the south, like a slow internal reset to the west coast belonging to Mexico. He states that North America will be the dominant power over the coming century, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the US will control North America that entire time.

        1. Given Mexico’s track record at getting its shit together over the past three centuries… I have my doubts they’d manage to take the title. So… Greenland?

          1. His argument for this is that most third world countries (or at least the ones that matter here) will have saturated population-wise and be more competitive in their domestic manufacturing, while the US birth rate won’t support our own, and we’ll need to import labor (even more). This will give other countries a better chance at forming alliances, making them less dependent on the US for trade, and providing them with the chance to form stronger navies. Naval superiority is definitely Friedman’s main concern.

          2. He claims the tipping point for the above happens around 2050.

          3. Or, they’ll vote in Chavista-style socialists and shoot themselves in the balls.

          4. Don Escaped Texas

            manufacturing, while the US birth rate won’t support our own

            I’m late to this thread, but is there data somewhere that projects a need for more defect-creation-devices people in the US ?

          5. Don Escaped Texas

            are there data ?

            * lights candle near corner TedS shrine, then, aw fuck it: lights candle in TedS shrine as well *

          6. It’s an unchallenged assumption a lot of people make in fortune telling horoscopy economic forecasting that you must have constant population growth and constant growth of output to be compeditive.

            Besides, that’s what Robots are for.

          7. Not Adahn

            Comparing me to Krugman is something up with which I will not put.

          8. Don Escaped Texas

            absolutely

            that’s what design-for-quality has been proving for three decades (Stateside)

          9. @UCS, apparently your argument will be addressed as well. He states that our economies *are* based on population growth, but that will start to change in 2050. I don’t know yet how he thinks economies will look when that’s no longer possible.

          10. @Don, I’m assuming Friedman will present such data, but I’ve not gotten to the deets part of the book.

          11. Pat

            It’s an unchallenged assumption a lot of people make in fortune telling horoscopy economic forecasting that you must have constant population growth and constant growth of output to be compeditive.

            You need both of those things to perpetuate the social systems that underpin this our modern society even if you don’t strictly need them to remain competitive economically. Japan demonstrates the risks involved in both areas.

        2. Tejicano

          “…a slow internal reset to the west coast belonging to Mexico…”

          Hell, if they – or any other people/culture – can replace the festering cancer which is the political/social infection which is California I would give the my wholehearted support.

      2. Don Escaped Texas

        an actual invasion is laughable

        It took us 300 years to invade it the first time when there was only trifling Stone Age resistance

        1. To be fair, we ate our own at times.

          1. “Donner, Party of Thirty-two.”

          2. Tejicano

            “Ah, make that thirty-one”

          3. Florida Man

            Europeans are the biggest killer of Europeans.

    2. R C Dean

      Yeah, if you can only “succeed” by sabotaging everybody else, yer doin’ it wrong.

  66. Scruffy Nerfherder
    1. Chipwooder

      Can’t believe she’s 60 years old!

      12 year old me used to get that special feeling when watching the Walk Like an Egyptian video on MTV.

    2. Damn, she’s still got it.

  67. The Late P Brooks

    Let them eat cake learn to code

    Presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Wednesday that she agrees with a University of Massachusetts-Amherst economist who concluded a Medicare-for-All health care plan could result in substantial job losses, calling it “part of the cost issue.”

    Robert Pollin of UMass’ Political Economy Research Institute told Kaiser Health News earlier this year that most of the roughly 2 million estimated job losses would hit administrative positions — about half among insurers and half in hospitals and doctors’ offices.

    Warren was made aware of Pollin’s conclusions during an interview with New Hampshire Public Radio.

    “So, I agree,” replied Warren. “I think this is part of the cost issue and should be part of a cost plan.

    “Although do recognize on this what we’re talking about, and that is in effect, how much of our health care dollars have not gone to health care?” she added.

    Pollin said supporters of the ambitious health care overhaul would have to think about a “just transition” and what “it would look like” when implemented.

    Whatever. She’ll always have a job.

    1. Florida Man

      I get the point. Slashing fedgov would cause millions of job losses. Also, I don’t care. Get a real job.

      1. kbolino

        It will cause a loss of jobs among the private insurers that no longer exist, and an equivalent if not greater creation of jobs by the new bureaucracy and contractors.

        1. Florida Man

          I’m just viewing it through their eyes. If you see private healthcare as evil, private healthcare workers getting the ax doesn’t matter. Ending foreign wars hurts private military contractors. Again, I don’t care. Get a job not killing people.

          1. Get a job not killing people

            It’s not like I work for the NHS.

          2. Florida Man

            LEARN TO, oh wait, never mind.

    2. kbolino

      how much of our health care dollars have not gone to health care?

      Now do education.

    3. Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s bullshit anyway. Paperwork compliance costs with Medicare are astronomical.

      1. Florida Man

        I know that, but the government school educated voter doesn’t know that.

      2. R C Dean

        Many of those admin jobs in the insurance sector (and some in the health care sector) are essentially cost control. Dump them, and costs will go up. The insurance companies and health care systems don’t keep those people employed because they are a net negative.

        Many of the rest are there for regulatory compliance. Since Medicare for all will drastically deregulate healthcare*, those jobs we can do without.

        *sarcasm

  68. Raston Bot

    Tim Morrison late of the NSC will testify that Trump offered $400M in military aid to Ukraine in exchange for investigating Biden. but Morrison wasn’t on the call so it’s Morrison being told by Sondland who was told by Trump. is that 3rd hand? and Sondland already testified there was no quid pro quo offered. and Vindman wasn’t allowed to be cross-examined the other day. why am i so biased? 3 reasons: guns, guns, guns.

    1. Drake

      Republicans should subpoena Supertramp.

      1. leon

        His testimony would be to Logical

        1. Shirley Knott

          Breakfast!

  69. It’s cold as a witch’s tit here in the heartland, with snow that didn’t stick except to cars 2 days ago, and this morning I wake up to snow. I know I said “Christmas—bring it on!” a few days ago, but I didn’t mean like THIS.

    1. AlmightyJB

      Raining all day here. Will be below freezing tomorrow a.m.

    2. Heading towards 70F here between the mighty Spa and Back Creeks. Should hit the mid-70s by this evening, with a nice gap in the rain for trick or treating. By Monday, lows will get perilously close to freezing, just in time for the Seasonal Affective Disorder to start to kick in.

    1. Funny, I got Anarchist.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        Same

      2. Drake

        me too

      3. Sean

        #metoo

      4. Not Adahn

        Yup. Although the answers to the Zombie question were bullshit.

        1. Drake

          Yep – I’ll stake a vampire and headshot a zombie whenever I damn well please.

      5. AlmightyJB

        I think the Vampire Hunter question was the main difference.

        1. Florida Man

          It all depends on the vampire lore. If they can live without killing humans, then they are cool with me.

      6. R C Dean

        Anarchist.

        I went with pre-emptive self defense against emerging violent hierarchies. While the NAP requiring an immediate threat is fine on a one-to-one basis, an organized movement trying to put its boot on your neck requires a more pro-active response.

        1. AlmightyJB

          “emerging violent hierarchies”

          I guess I missed that part of it.

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      The villains that scare you most are manifestations of unchecked, irrational, predatory power: The Borg, The Thing, The Blob.

      Well, other than the blob, yeah.

      1. Florida Man

        Thanos is the worst because he is killing you for your own good. You can’t reason with that.

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          It’s a manifestation of my distrust of mass movements and large groups of people all reaffirming each other’s convictions.

          1. A Leap at the Wheel

            Good call. I too mistrust mass movements and large groups of people all reaffirming each other’s convictions.

          2. leon

            Whew. I’m glad i wasn’t the only one who voted that way too.

          3. Florida Man

            Whew. I’m glad i wasn’t the only one who voted that way too.-

            Ironically you wanted to be part of a group that was afraid of a group.

          4. Florida Man

            What did you do with the zombies?

          5. AlmightyJB

            I think I picked containment.

          6. Florida Man

            I killed them. Not for any political reasons, but because of my blood lust.

          7. Not Adahn

            You were afraid of a zombie taking your job? Where exactly do you work?

          8. Florida Man

            You were afraid of a zombie taking your job? Where exactly do you work?-

            Brain surgeon?

          9. AlmightyJB

            Not the wall one. Contained because they are a threat but we should live and live (although technically it should be unlive?)

          10. Smoked ’em. I almost picked “pity”, because it really isn’t their fault, but I’m also not letting something that is going to eat me given half a chance live.

          11. Florida Man

            Same for socialist. It’s not their fault they’re brainwashed by government school, but I ain’t letting them rob me.

          12. R C Dean

            I went “pity”, but I’ve killed animals I felt bad for in the past. “Mercy” killing, it is called.

          13. Rebel Scum

            Killed them. They are monsters and a disease.

            For w/e reason I got ‘conservative’. The questions had a lot of issues, such as comparing of a threatening mod and dangerous mythical creatures. One of those is not like the others.

        2. AlmightyJB

          Yeah, I picked Thanos as well

          1. Florida Man

            He’s not going to stop because he’s a zealot. If I out run the borg, they’ll just go on to the next people they encounter.

        3. Yeah, individual killers are bad and need to be put down, but the mass-murdering tyrants are orders of magnitude more powerful in their reach and capability. Plus they usually spread an ideology that is itself contagious and dangerous.

    3. Florida Man

      Why is Sara Connor the icon for libertarian? There are no libertarian women.

    4. kinnath

      Libertarian as well.

    5. dontreadonme

      Ditto…these other people are fakers apparently

  70. The Late P Brooks

    Perfidious bitch!

    Democrats are growing increasingly suspicious of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s (D-Hawaii) political intentions, fearing that she may be considering a third-party bid for the White House in 2020 if she doesn’t win the Democratic presidential nomination.

    Gabbard’s announcement last week that she would not seek reelection to her House seat and would instead focus solely on her presidential bid only served to hasten those concerns.

    Some party strategists and operatives fear that a third-party bid by the Hawaii congresswoman could fracture parts of the electorate and stir chaos in the 2020 contest, ultimately setting the stage for President Trump’s reelection.

    The criticisms are particularly pointed from people in former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s orbit.

    “She has absolutely zero path to becoming the Democratic nominee, so what is she doing?” said Adam Parkhomenko, a Democratic strategist and former aide to Clinton, the party’s 2016 presidential nominee. “To say that she’s going to take her campaign all the way to the convention just suggests that she’s trying to create chaos.”

    Who will rid us of this treacherous Russian collaborator? Democracy must be rescued. At any cost.

    1. Chipwooder

      Adam Parkhomenko is a particularly repulsive piece of shit, even for a Hillary operative.

      1. JaimeRoberto Delecto

        And his name sounds Russian. He must be a Russian asset. Wheels inside wheels, man.

    2. Rebel Scum

      Temptress Tulsi / Mystic Marianne 2020!

      1. Florida Man

        I’d vote for that.

    3. R C Dean

      Maybe if the DNC didn’t treat her like shit, she wouldn’t be playing the field.

      I’m still holding out for the Hot/Crazy ticket: Gabbard and MacAfee.

  71. Chipwooder

    University of Maryland seriously directs students to an Everyday Feminism post to illustrate the horrors of Halloween costume “cultural appropriation”.

    No, really.

    The University of Maryland defines “cultural appropriation” as “when cultural imagery and materials (ex: ways of dress, music) are removed from their cultural context and used in ways they were never intended,” giving the examples of “dressing up as a person with a disability that you do not have, or wearing a sombrero as part of a ‘Mexican’ costume.

    The guide links to several other resources, including an article from Oprah Magazine about the dangers of appropriating “queer culture” and another from Everyday Feminism, which attempts to dispute the notion that cultural appropriation is a “free speech” issue by comparing the claiming of a “right” to “take freely from disempowered groups” to the concept of the “white man’s burden.”

    1. Here’s an exchange from earlier today between my wife and I:

      Her:

      BAHAHAHA
      hahash
      omg are you ready for this
      i just snort-chuckled into my coffee reading one of these essays

      Me:

      I’m about to weep for the future, aren’t I?

      Her:

      “This is very crucial and important not just for the non-dominant students in the classroom but also the dominant students. They get to learn and share with others about cultures and different
      backgrounds that they have never witnessed before. This makes children become “woke” on real-
      world communities and other topics relating to culture and more. ”

      i am honestly laughing out loud

      I’m tellin’ you, it’s the weirdest thing, but after all these years the thing that is redpilling my Progressive wife is being exposed to the University of Maryland as an instructor.

    2. Rebel Scum

      claiming of a “right” to “take freely from disempowered groups”

      I’ll wear, eat, and listen to whatever I like. Fuck off. *sits cross-legged, wearing a sombrero while listening to jazz and eating pizza*

      1. Florida Man

        If they are disempowered they ought to shut the fuck up, because evidently I can do whatever I want.

    3. Rhywun

      “Minoritized communities experience heightened anxiety and tension as they also encounter these stereotypes in the media, classrooms, and social settings,” the document warns.

      All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe.

      1. R C Dean

        Minoritized communities

        What is it with the jargon/gibberish of progs and SJWS, anyway?

  72. Not Adahn

    One of the cafeteria staff is in costume as Garth from Wayne’s World. Well done too. Which makes me wonder how many of the yoots will recognize it, and if Tia Carerra has got the “unaging Asian hotness until menopause” thing going on.

    1. A Leap at the Wheel

      TBF, most of the cafeteria staff when I was growing up dressed like Garth unironically.

      1. Not Adahn

        She doesn’t ordinarily wear glasses and he natural hair color is brunette.

    2. I guess if I’m in a costume it’d be “Assistant Manager”.

      1. AlmightyJB

        I’m definitely dressed as man working from home.

        1. AlmightyJB

          Although I could probably pass for homeless man as well.

    3. Chipwooder

      She’s not aging as well as Susannah Hoffs, that’s for sure.

    4. Akira

      One of the guys at work dressed up as Guy Fieri last year and fucking nailed it.

    5. XX would get it. She dressed up as Beatrix Kiddo one years and EVERYBODY knew who she was supposed to be. /proud mama

      1. “That’s the wrong knife to be dressed as Chen Kenichi.”

  73. The Late P Brooks

    More demonization of Tulsi:

    And during an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show last week, Gabbard criticized what she said was a lack of transparency in the House impeachment inquiry, remarks that some Democrats saw as echoing Republican talking points.

    “It’s not just whether she’s a loyal Democrat. The issue is whether she’s prepared to stand up to the corruption and incompetence of the Trump presidency,” said Robert Zimmerman, a DNC member and Democratic fundraiser. “If she runs as a third party, she’ll be an enabler to his reelection.”

    Some Democrats have sharpened their attacks on Gabbard in recent weeks, raising the alarm over what they see as suspicious online efforts to amplify the congresswoman’s criticism of Democratic detractors and rival campaigns.

    She is not of the Body! Burn the heretic!

    1. AlmightyJB

      It would be awesome if she started winning primaries. Lol.

      1. Oh my God. What if Tulsi Gabbard is the Donald Trump of the Democratic Party?

        1. Then she picked the wrong year to run.

        2. AlmightyJB

          How long before Hillary calls her followers deplorable?

    2. Drake

      She is of the body and full of shit when she says otherwise.

      1. Pope Jimbo

        The vote was expected to be deeply partisan. No Republicans broke ranks with Mr. Trump and voted in support of the resolution and two Democrats, Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, joined the Republicans in voting against it.

        Nice to see that even as he gets older, Colin knows what his constituents want and is willing to pander to them.

        1. R C Dean

          So that’s bipartisan opposition, right? I mean, if one Repub votes for some socialist shitshow, its bipartisan.

    3. leon

      echoing Republican talking points.

      That is such a deliciously insular phrase. Nothing says “Forming a coalition for election” like outcasting anyone with a differing opinon

  74. The Late P Brooks

    Across the Board, Scores Drop in Math and Reading for U.S. Students

    The goddam students are failing the system.

  75. leon

    Did the avatars go bye bye again?

  76. The Late P Brooks

    Nothing says “Forming a coalition for election” like outcasting anyone with a differing opinon

    “Shut up,” they explained.

  77. Been real, been fun, been real fun, but it’s time for me to turn my attention to weightier things. Ciao for now.

    1. leon

      Is this a classy flouncing out, or is this a sign off for the day?

      1. I hope it’s for the day. The “For now” implies a return at some point.

      2. Neh, just for now.

        I don’t flounce. I just never come back.

        1. Of course, I could be writing a book too but OMWC gets worried and makes me account for my whereabouts.

          1. I need to get back in book writing mode, my vacation is starting soon (one more workday to go) and I set mysef the easier goal of finishing “On Unknown Shores”, and if I’ve got the time “Prince of the North Tower”.