Wednesday Evening Open Post

Time to carry on those conversations that started earlier, and unload all those links you have been saving up…. HAHAHAHA! OK, who am I kidding. You already did that in the other posts. But feel free to dump more in here.

 

ATTICA! ATTICA! …Er, LINKS! LINKS! LINKS!

Comments

292 responses to “Wednesday Evening Open Post”

  1. ScoobaSteve

    First

    1. Bob

      No link or comment form the links, You LOSE!
      /the more you know….
      /Fuck off!

      1. MikeS

        OK. I’ll bite. What is with you changing your handle all the time?

        My guess? V is for Vacuum on the willy sucking all the blood out of your brain.

        🙂

  2. Soooo, next review is up tomorrow morning as always – it’s related to this older review. Which has got me thinking about a concept you don’t see much. Why don’t we see more stuntmen/stunt coordinators turn to Directing? Lasse Spang Olsen turns in some amazing stunts on an obvious budget both times (this review and my next review) and makes it look great – but it doesn’t seem to attract that many folks. I reference Hal Needham and Buddy Van Horn in my upcoming review – but those are almost the only names you see in articles on the subject.

    Although since Olsen doesn’t get much press, it’s possible there are more foreign actors doing it. I think Wu Jing just directed – and he started out with stunts before progressing to acting in SPL, etc. Tony Jaa did stunts before as well (as well as his own stunts) and obviously there’s also Jackie Chan (and Buster Keaton) – who are the real exceptions….but not very common 🙁

    1. Yakima Canutt was a second-unit director.

      1. Yeah, a few ADs and second unit, but not too many going all the way even though they definitely have a different way of framing/thinking. Seriously recommend a rental of “In China They Eat Dogs” and take a look at those stunts. I have no idea what the budget was for it – couldn’t find any numbers – but I guarantee a normal director with just a film school background, etc would not have managed most of those shots.

    2. CPRM

      I would very much enjoy you putting your reviewing skills into my fan edits. Even if they aren’t your genre; I like notes on the film structure and story as it stands in my cuts, and I find people who have no interest in the original source material have a blank slate as it is.

      1. I should have some more viewing time the next week or so – I’ll go back through the links you posted in your post and see if I have time (if they’re feature length it may take a little longer ;p).

  3. Rhywun

    What’d I miss?

    1. We all got laid.

      … Hobbit

      1. Tundra

        Some of us twice…

      2. Rhywun

        Don’t any of you work?

        1. AlexinCT

          WTF is that?

        2. juris imprudent

          How do you think they got laid?

        3. I drove through several inches of snow to get to work bright and early.

          1. C. Anacreon

            These euphemisms….

  4. Rhywun

    ATTICA! ATTICA!

    I thought that was Jugend at first.

    1. Tundra

      Ok, asshole. I started The Tomb last night, past my normal bedtime.

      Very, very tired today.

      1. Rhywun

        Ha. Enjoy the next 14 books in the series but do go back and read the other series starting with The Keep before you read the final book.

        1. Tundra

          I already ordered The Keep. Can you take care of my morning meetings for a week or so?

          Seriously, thanks for the recommendation. I love finding a new series.

          1. Rhywun

            The later trilogies with Kid Jack and just arrived in NY Jack (action centers around activities leading up to the first World Trade Center bombing) are very good too.

            I do all my reading during the commute and at smoke breaks. I don’t think I’ve sat down to read a book outside those times in a couple decades.

            *prepares to sleep well*

          2. Tundra

            Haha. Yeah, I read every night before I crash. I have some really dry history books for when I absolutely must get a good night’s sleep.

  5. Mustang

    I split my workouts up even more so I can lift more for different muscle groups and added some explosive workouts and sprints to the end for more stamina. Normally I just workout whatever I feel like for a given day:

    Chest/back
    Shoulders/abs
    Legs
    Chest/back
    Arms
    Legs
    Rest

    Now I’ve made it more focused:
    Chest (barbell presses/flyes)/back
    Shoulders/abs
    Legs (heavy on deadlifts/hamstrings)
    Chest (dumbbell presses/flyes)/back
    Arms
    Legs (heavy on squats/quads)
    Rest

    I’ve already noticed an improvement in my strength and stamina, so that’s been nice.

    1. Tundra

      Ever done Jefferson squats? One of the strongest dudes I know turned me on to them. They look easy, but I can barely climb into my truck after I do them.

      1. Mustang

        Nope, but that’s happening today, thanks!

        1. Tundra

          Sure, you thank me today. You’ll hate me tomorrow!

      2. AlexinCT

        Ever done Clevland Steamers?

        1. Tundra

          Nope. I lift alone!

      3. juris imprudent

        That causes doomcock, doesn’t it?

        1. Tundra

          Causes? No. It confers Doomcock.

          1. Mustang

            I’ll warn the wife.

          2. Tundra

            Warn?

            Promise.

          3. Galt1138

            I pretty much follow the Starting Strength program. I feel better in my 40s than I did in my 20s. I’m certainly a lot stronger than I was then.

          4. CPRM

            Galt1138, nice to see you an active thread for once. What the Hell?

  6. Playa Manhattan

    I was chatting with my neighbor today, which I normally wouldn’t do, but it was my only adult interaction today due to the flu.

    She’s a never Trumper and a die hard Obama fan, and our interaction gave me a new perspective.

    One of the reasons I think that some people hate Trump SO MUCH is that he makes Obama look so bad. It could have been anyone; it just happened to be Trump.

    All it took was getting Obama’s boot off the economy’s neck.

    I hear all of this vile shit about Trump…. but… he’s undeniably doing better than Obama by every measure.

    I can imagine how angering and frustrating it is to have some uncouth asshole make your Messiah look like a chump… so maybe pick a new messiah.

    1. Just Say’n

      I thought “Never Trump” only applied to conservatives (mainly neoconservatives, though) who refused to ever vote for him? Wouldn’t an Obama fan just be classified an idiot?

      I’ll say this- I agree with regards to his performance in terms of the economy, but I think he still behaves like a buffoon and it’s unbecoming. Better head of government, worse head of state

      1. Playa Manhattan

        The economy is like a $50 steak. All you have to do is not fuck it up.

        1. juris imprudent

          Seems appropriate.

        2. Just Say’n

          Agreed. But this tax cut was a huge boon. I think a lot of people underestimated the economic growth that is going to come from the repatriation of money abroad

    2. Tundra

      Or maybe THE Messiah. These people spend so much time avoiding the real deal, only to join a weird, nonproductive and negative religion.

      AS HM always reminds us.

    3. AlexinCT

      One of the reasons I think that some people hate Trump SO MUCH is that he makes Obama look so bad.

      Actually he is making not just Obama and the disastrous shit he did, but all the shit the left believes in in general, look terrible. These people are going into hissy fits because Trump through action, and even through his boorish talking, still gets results that the left claims their policies would deliver but never do. The left has spent 8 years telling us how they won and their ideas would eventually make a just and better world. We never saw any of that unless you were one of the connected few that profited immensely and/or thumbed their nose at the laws us plebes were brutalized with.

      I have had several arguments with proggies whom inadvertently, during a moment of weakness, come clean and admit that for them the worst thing that could possibly happen is for people to actually see anything Trump does as successful, because it would destroy all their effort to make people do right-think. So they see it as their duty to deny him any success, even if that means they need to burn down the country and hurt others and even themselves to accomplish this. If you start from the premise these people would rather destroy the country than not be in charge, the shit day do makes perfect sense and even becomes predictable.

      1. juris imprudent

        Yeah, I’m having a difficult time remaining civil with people that are that zealous. I’d really rather just point a gun at them and say “this is where you are headed, do you really want to keep going?”. Not doing that of course. But I sure am thinking about it.

    4. Rhywun

      I think the main reason people hate Trump so much has nothing to do with economics or any actual policy. It has to do with pussy and Mexicans and yes, his behavior is “unbecoming”.

      1. Tres Cool

        I’ll say it again. As politics go, we elected Happy Gilmore.

        1. Just Say’n

          No. Rodney Dangerfield from Caddy Shack. Happy Gilmore was poor.

          1. antisthenes

            So, we elected Billy Madison. All that was missing was Hillary failing a question about ethics in the presidential election debates.

          2. MikeS

            ^ wins tonight’s analogy contest ^

        2. Playa Manhattan

          I would have actually voted for Happy Gilmore.

        3. Chipwooder

          Biff Tannen

    5. hayeksplosives

      One of the reasons I think that some people hate Trump SO MUCH is that he makes Obama look so bad.

      Intriguing. Plausible.

      Thanks.

    6. Gilmore

      i think you’re pretty much spot on.

      my version of the same

      1 – Trump is pretty much an idiot
      2 – Trump is a boor and gross and has terrible manners
      3 – Trump knows very little about policy or governance
      4 – Trump is still a more-effective president than Obama was, or Clinton would have ever been, because he correctly identified a few key areas in which improvement could quickly be made.
      5 – Which just goes to show that you don’t really need to be smart, a suave and adept politician, or a policy wonk, to pilot the ship of state in America.

      The reason he makes many people so mad is not 1-3, but 4 and 5. Because it shows how incompetent all the ‘professionals’ really are, and how any fool can pretty much do the jobs that politicians pretend is the arena of the Good and the Great.

      1. Rhywun

        not 1-3

        I dunno… I think back to when I moved to NYC near the end of the Giuliani era. Every right-thinking person of course hated his guts, and do you think it was because the city was clearly operating somewhat better than under his predecessors? No, it was because of Piss Christ. “He’s so uncultured and prudish.”

        1. Gilmore

          i think NYC, especially NYC in the mid-late giuliani years, is a bit different than national office.

          I grew up in Koch’s + Dinkins ny, and was in college for early-G, and returned at the back end. The change that had occurred – economically and ‘culturally’ – was dramatic

          there was a lot of anger @ him not just because of piss-christ and the “poop madonna” (which i think might be the one you’re thinking of – it was a bigger deal)… it was the arresting all the street artists on 5th ave, and arresting all the prostitutes on 23rd street, and condemning 100s of buildings and letting developers come in and knock whole neighborhoods down, and basically saying, “Fuck you, i’m doing it my way”.

          he wasn’t uncultured and prudish – he was sort of a petit-dictator who felt he was justified in using whatever tactics worked. i disliked him at the time, even tho i was thrilled to be able to walk across central park at 2am without getting rape-cannibalized

          1. Rhywun

            sort of a petit-dictator who felt he was justified in using whatever tactics worked

            Bloomberg and Deblasio are exactly the same but differ only in the details. But each one seems to ratcheting their shit a little bit tighter.

          2. SIV

            I miss the rape-cannibals.

      2. C. Anacreon

        Related to all this, here’s an op-ed that was apparently published somewhere in the Bay Area today. It was forwarded to me by a conservative neighbor who has me on her secret blind cc e-mail list (when you live around here you can’t be too blatant if you’re to the right of Lenin).

        Trump’s lack of decorum, dignity, and statesmanship
        by Marshall Kamena, who describes himself as a registered democrat and was elected mayor of Livermore, CA.. He ran on the democratic ticket as he knew a Bay Area city would never vote for a republican. He is as conservative as they come.

        My Leftist friends (as well as many ardent #NeverTrumpers) constantly ask me if I’m not bothered by Donald Trump’s lack of decorum. They ask if I don’t think his tweets are “beneath the dignity of the office.”

        Here’s my answer:

        We Right-thinking people have tried dignity. There could not have been a man of more quiet dignity than George W. Bush as he suffered the outrageous lies and politically motivated hatreds that undermined his presidency.

        We tried statesmanship. Could there be another human being on this earth who so desperately prized “collegiality” as John McCain?

        We tried propriety – has there been a nicer human being ever than Mitt Romney?

        And the results were always the same. This is because, while we were playing by the rules of dignity, collegiality and propriety, the Left has been, for the past 60 years, engaged in a knife fight where the only rules are those of Saul Alinsky and the Chicago mob.

        I don’t find anything “dignified,” “collegial” or “proper” about Barack Obama’s lying about what went down on the streets of Ferguson in order to ramp up racial hatreds because racial hatreds serve the Democratic Party.

        I don’t see anything “dignified” in lying about the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi and imprisoning an innocent filmmaker to cover your tracks.

        I don’t see anything “statesman-like” in weaponizing the IRS to be used to destroy your political opponents and any dissent.

        Yes, Obama was “articulate” and “polished” but in no way was he in the least bit “dignified,” “collegial” or “proper.”

        The Left has been engaged in a war against America since the rise of the Children of the ‘60s. To them, it has been an all-out war where nothing is held sacred and nothing is seen as beyond the pale. It has been a war they’ve fought with violence, the threat of violence, demagoguery and lies from day one – the violent take-over of the universities – till today. The problem is that, through these years, the Left has been the only side fighting this war. While the Left has been taking a knife to anyone who stands in their way, the Right has continued to act with dignity, collegiality and propriety.

        With Donald Trump, this all has come to an end. Donald Trump is America ’s first wartime president in the Culture War.

        During wartime, things like “dignity” and “collegiality” simply aren’t the most essential qualities one looks for in their warriors. Ulysses Grant was a drunk whose behavior in peacetime might well have seen him drummed out of the Army for conduct unbecoming. Had Abraham Lincoln applied the peacetime rules of propriety and booted Grant, the Democrats might well still be holding their slaves today. Lincoln rightly recognized that, “I cannot spare this man. He fights.”

        General George Patton was vulgar-talking. In peacetime, this might have seen him stripped of rank. But, had Franklin Roosevelt applied the normal rules of decorum then, Hitler and the Socialists would barely be five decades into their thousand-year Reich.

        Trump is fighting. And what’s particularly delicious is that, like Patton standing over the battlefield as his tanks obliterated Rommel’s, he’s shouting, “You magnificent bastards, I read your book!”

        That is just the icing on the cake, but it’s wonderful to see that not only is Trump fighting, he’s defeating the Left using their own tactics. That book is Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals – a book so essential to the Liberals’ war against America that it is and was the playbook for the entire Obama administration and the subject of Hillary Clinton’s senior thesis. It is a book of such pure evil, that, just as the rest of us would dedicate our book to those we most love or those to whom we are most indebted, Alinsky dedicated his book to Lucifer.

        Trump’s tweets may seem rash and unconsidered but, in reality, he is doing exactly what Alinsky suggested his followers do. First, instead of going after “the fake media” — and they are so fake that they have literally gotten every single significant story of the past 60 years not just wrong, but diametrically opposed to the truth, from the Tet Offensive to Benghazi, to what really happened on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri — Trump isolated CNN. He made it personal.

        Then, just as Alinsky suggests, he employs ridicule which Alinsky described as “the most powerful weapon of all.” Most importantly, Trump’s tweets have put CNN in an untenable and unwinnable position. … They need to respond. This leaves them with only two choices. They can either “go high” (as Hillary would disingenuously declare of herself and the fake news would disingenuously report as the truth) and begin to honestly and accurately report the news or they can double-down on their usual tactics and hope to defeat Trump with twice their usual hysteria and demagoguery. The problem for CNN (et al.) with the former is that, if they were to start honestly reporting the news, that would be the end of the Democratic Party they serve.

        It is nothing but the incessant use of fake news (read: propaganda) that keeps the Left alive. Imagine, for example, if CNN had honestly and accurately reported then-candidate Barack Obama’s close ties to foreign terrorists (Rashid Khalidi), domestic terrorists (William Ayers), the mafia (Tony Rezko) or the true evils of his spiritual mentor, Jeremiah Wright’s church. Imagine if they had honestly and accurately conveyed the evils of the Obama administration’s weaponizing of the IRS to be used against their political opponents or his running of guns to the Mexican cartels or the truth about the murder of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the Obama administration’s cover-up.

        So, to my friends on the Left — and the #NeverTrumpers as well — do I wish we lived in a time when our president could be “collegial” and “dignified” and “proper”? Of course I do. These aren’t those times. This is war. And it’s a war that the Left has been fighting without opposition for the past 50 years.

        So, say anything you want about this president – I get it – he can be vulgar, he can be crude, he can be undignified at times. I don’t care. I can’t spare this man. He fights for America!

    7. Mustang

      A relative has a calendar with a daily question that he posts to Facebook. He doesn’t really answer, he just likes to read the responses and ask more questions. One question a long while ago, before the election cycle really took off, was “would you rather have a President who was effective but crude, or ineffective but polite?”

      The answers pretty much fell down political lines. I suppose I’ve got my own answer now as well.

      1. Mustang

        I paraphrased the question cause it was a while ago but I hope you get the idea.

      2. Drake

        Obama was no statesman. He was rude and disrespectful towards our allies. It was only when he met up with our enemies that he genuflected.

  7. Just Say’n

    Where’s Q with the girly pics?

  8. Gordilocks

    My old man is still driving trucks for one of the companies I worked for when I still lived in Canada.

    Recently, he had a conversation with one of my old bosses, a guy by the name of Mac Paddock.

    As has been the case for quite some time, the topic of conversation was about the new ELD mandate. According to Mac, since they’ve installed the ELD’s in their trucks which service the US, which has only been a few months, and specifically since they were required by law starting only a month ago, their fleet has experienced a 35% reduction in efficiency.

    You read that correct, 35 percent.

    On what planet is it logical to hamstring one of the key industries in a modern economy by 35%, and expect there to not be a concomitant increase in freight rates, and thus increases in prices across the economy? Also, in what universe do you expect employees who are mostly paid in piecework, to withstand a 35% pay cut and not then seek greener pastures?

    Many of my dad’s friends are incensed, and are looking at early retirement, or finding some other employment.

    Gee, who could have seen this coming?

    If anyone from the FMCSA, or any other government agency is reading this, go and fuck your hat.

    1. Are the weigh stations ever open?

      We always used to pass one on I-91 in southern Vermont, and the running joke was that it was never ever open.

      1. Gordilocks

        Yep. Some go out of commission for whatever reason, some are open sporadically, some are open all the time.

        Can’t speak to that location in Vermont; haven’t been that way in years.

        1. AlexinCT

          They go out of commission because the state is not desperate enough for the income. In the People’s Republic of Connecticut the weigh stations have all been abandoned, but with the current budget crunch and the fiscal trouble the state is feeling, they are talking about bringing back these stations and toll roads. Both of these went away 19 years ago when we got the state income tax…

          1. Gordilocks

            Not true.

            The eastbound scale on I84 coming in from New York is open quite often.

          2. Number.6

            “Office hours only” I think.

      2. Gordilocks

        Yep. Some go out of commission for whatever reason, some are open sporadically, some are open all the time.

        Can’t speak to that location in Vermont; haven’t been that way in years.

        1. Gordilocks

          The squirrels are always open.

        2. Playa Manhattan

          The one on the 405 in Carson was never open. They finally ripped it out.

          It was too easy to bypass. Mall parking lot.

    2. Tres Cool

      “If anyone from the FMCSA, or any other government agency is reading this, go and fuck your h̶a̶t̶ toque.

      There.

    3. Gordilocks

      With all of the economics heads around here, I thought I would have developed some righteous indignation over this mad interference in the economy.

  9. quincy

    I did the 23&me. I’m 3.7% Ashkenazi Jewish, but less than average Neanderthal.

    1. Just Say’n

      Prove it. Off the top of your head what’s the price of gold right now?

      1. quincy

        In Bitcoin, or as a multiple of the spot price of intermediate crude?

        1. trshmnstr

          Umm, all of the above… of course!

          1. quincy

            Uhh, 23?

        2. Just Say’n

          Checks out. Congrats

    2. AlexinCT

      I have never trusted these services because while they can map the genes, they use questionable statistical models and vague and error prone methodologies to determine ancestry/lineage. I have heard several people that got contradicting results from different providers even.

      1. quincy

        My neanderthalness is some how determined by my sneezing or not after eating dark chocolate. Seriously?

      2. Number.6

        Well, there are a couple of things at play.

        Firstly, they analysis you get is based on current genetic distribution. Good example would be an analysis that Joe is 30% Polish ancestry. How do they come up with that? Well, he’s got alleles very similar to (a) Polish nationals and (b) other 23AndMe clients who have ancestry like yours who somehow get profiled as Polish. Problem is that the migratory patterns in Europe mean that those Polish genes? Probably Western Urals, Ukraine. Go back further, those genes might have been typical of a herder from the location currently named Turkmenistan.

        Secondly, the analysis leverages other clients’ data. American nationals will be oversampled compared to European. The more samples collected from a more representative universe of alleles, the ‘better’ the analysis would be.

        1. Caput Lupinum

          Turkmenistan? They’re Poles, not Hungarians. P.o. push would likely trace back to Kievan Rus and Baltic blood.

        2. CPRM

          I have it on good word (family tales) we wuz kangz n shit in Eurape until a polish guy married into a Lutheran family. Where my reparations?

  10. Derpetologis – paging Derpetologist – interesting stuff going on with Current Affairs….

    https://twitter.com/HashtagGriswold/status/953799744748490753

    1. Just Say’n

      Newsweek said the same thing. What a joke publication

    2. juris imprudent

      I got your derp, and my take is that jezebel and everydayfeminism are in for a run for the money.

      1. AlmightyJB

        She seems to at least know her limitations which are legion.

        1. juris imprudent

          But she is just sure she is the wittiest, snarkiest little thing this side of Amanda Marcotte.

  11. Tres Cool

    University of Dayton lost, and Im on 40 oz #2.
    ——–nothing follows———-

  12. Juvenile Bluster

    I despise staying in hotel rooms by myself. I can never sleep.

    And I can’t expense booze either. So it’s benzos (LEGALLY PRESCRIBED, DEA. LEGALLY PRESCRIBED) tonight.

    1. Playa Manhattan

      I find that booze is worth paying for out of pocket.

      1. MikeS

        ^ This guy gets it ^

        1. NOT a Naked Intruder

          Of course he does-he pays for it!

          ::ducks, runs::

    2. Tres Cool

      You dont take a flask with you?
      Guess you never got surprised by a ‘dry county’ in your travels.

      1. C. Anacreon

        Or stuck in a hotel on your business trip that’s beyond walking distance to any liquor store or even a 7-11, and all the drinks in the hotel bar, the only booze available to you, are $16 plus tax and tip, and they measure the shots with one of those auto-dispensers, so you always get a tiny pour for your $20. Then you better have a flask back in the room, because it would suck to pay $80 and not even get a buzz.

    3. J. Frank Parnell

      Do they need a receipt for everything? My work only requires a receipt for meals over $50.

    4. I can’t expense booze

      So, definitely not a consultant

    5. Drake

      Me neither. I just got back from a mandatory fun corporate event with an open bar. I’ll still sleep like shit.

  13. “The time has come,” the Walrus said,
    “To talk of many things:
    Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
    Of cabbages–and kings–
    And why the sea is boiling hot–
    And whether pigs have wings.”

    1. Takes me back. Love the rhythm of that one…had it memorized sometime in high school.

      1. ‘I weep for you the Walrus said
        I deeply sympathize
        With sobs and tears he sorted out
        those of the largest size.’

        Politicians in a nutshell.

  14. Playa Manhattan

    On top of all of this flu bullshit…

    They just sent home another lice letter.

    1. Juvenile Bluster

      The lice letters were never scary.

      The hand, foot and mouth letters were always scary.

      1. Playa Manhattan

        We haven’t had that yet this year.

        Still, after being sick for a couple of days, this is something that I don’t need right now.

      2. Just Say’n

        Hand, foot, and mouth is Satan’s spawn. That’s a week of my life that I never want to relive

    2. AlexinCT

      It’s Trumps fault I bet….

  15. Question (somewhat rhetorical): Why are people that take opiates for chronic, otherwise untreatable pain so demonized? If you have a drug that treats your ailment and allows you to live life, why the hell would doctors (and the “people” at large) want to demonize that and take them away under the guise of “saving you”. Do you take away a diabetic’s insulin? “You shouldn’t need that insulin anymore, you’re dependent on it.” Same with schizophrenics. “You’re hooked on those antipsychotics! Give ’em here!”

    Fuck the WoD and puritan, intellectually inconsistent douchebags.

    1. AlmightyJB

      You have my vote

    2. Rhywun

      Because other people who don’t need it take it to feel good. That is all.

    3. Tres Cool

      I went on a rant on the prior thread. If you have any interest in my WOD proselytizing, it can be found there.

    4. Mustang

      Because people can’t see the results of pain as readily as something else, same as things like depression or anxiety.

    5. Raven Nation

      TOS had a good Zach W. interview with a doctor who won’t stop prescribing opiods: http://reason.com/reasontv/2017/07/07/pain-patients-cant-get-meds-opioid

  16. Bob Boberson

    https://thelibertarianrepublic.com/libertarian-party-idiots-idiots/

    Nothing new here but I agree with the authors basic premise. Between Johnson’s bumbling, Welds ass-baggery, Sarwark’s medacious cuntery, etc., I have lost all interest in the LP. I may still vote for an LP candidate in local elections but I think the national party is beyond hope. I think there is more to be gained by voting for Amash/Paul types in the Repub primary’s. Does anyone think differently? Is there any hope for the LP?

    1. Grumbletarian

      TOS has an article about a fellow named Larry Sharpe who seems to be an up-and-comer in the LP.

      1. Bob Boberson

        I’ll check that out but if TOS is carrying water for him I already am wondering I’d he is the Nick Gillespie of up-and-comers.

      2. Mustang

        I follow Larry on Facebook and he is VERY good.

        1. Bob Boberson

          Ill check him out then. I said this in the comments the other day but, once again, great article the other day.

          1. Mustang

            Thanks Bob!

    2. Juvenile Bluster

      I think there’s hope for the national LP. But it desperately needs new leadership.

    3. Somalian Road Corporation

      Night of the Long Stems. Purge the cosmos.

      1. Just Say’n

        Mises Caucus

        1. Bob Boberson

          ^This! Related to that….why is it that people affiliated with Mises continually say how disappointed they are with Rand Paul……did I miss something? I fail to see where he has been inconsistent or sold out on libertarian principles.

          1. Just Say’n

            He’s not anti-war enough for them. The shit that the Mises people say about American foreign policy would make Jill Stein blush

          2. Bob Boberson

            Yeah, I listen to a lot of Tom Woods and Dave Smith and while I consider myself pretty hard-core anti-war, I occasionally hear them say things that are a little out there (things akin to “baby-killer” slurs), I think it’s not entirely fair to throw the baby out with the bath water when it comes to Rand just because he didn’t rule out military action against ISIS. Was there more to it that I missed?

          3. Bob Boberson

            *non-specific, theoretical military action at that

          4. Raven Nation

            Woods tends to veer into “the US was responsible for starting the Cold War” shit too.

          5. Just Say’n

            That’s about it from what I gather. The Mises people claim heritage from the Old Right (like Rothbard did) and pretty much everything boils down to foreign policy to them.

            I really think the big effort by cosmos to try to smear them recently is because they’re more successful. All elected libertarian leaning Republicans are closer in principle with the Mises/Rothbard/Paul people than they are with the Koch groups. Despite all the money the Koch groups have failed to ever get libertarian leaning Republicans elected. They didn’t even financially back the Pauls, Amash, and Massie when they first ran. Even since then, Rubio still gets more than double than what Rand Paul got from the Kochs. Which makes no sense to me. Stupid petty bitching on both sides

          6. Bob Boberson

            Yeah I really respect those guys but I’m occasionally uncomfortable with the way they will assign sole responsibility of *insert conflict* to the US without any acknowledgment of acts of aggression by other agents. It feels a little cavalier coming from people whom are otherwise very knowledgeable and consistent.

          7. Tundra

            Stupid petty bitching on both sides

            Kind of like this?

          8. Bob Boberson

            Reply to Just Say’n….I agree that a lot of the sniping back and forth is rooted in jealousy. I’m not very knowledgeable about the recent history of libertarianism as an intellectual movement but it seems like much of it can be traced back to Rothbard’s falling out with Cato. That and just as we’ve identified that the way forward is making in-roads on the right I think Cosmos see the left as their path to relevance…..which just seems crazy too me….you have to look pretty hard to find a leftist who won’t sell out on war, civil liberties, etc if it’s convenient to do so…..they are pretty transparent about wanting power and stamping out dissent.

          9. Just Say’n

            Tundra, you know the Judean People’s Front are straight-up assholes, though.

            People’s Front for Judea is the real deal

      2. Bob Boberson

        I find it ironic that Ron Paul did more for the message of liberty/gaining supporters in one campaign than the LP did in their entire history and the cosmos really seem to resent it. I tend to think cosmos are mostly just closet progs, they seem to sell out their principles in a heartbeat if it’s fashionable.

    4. juris imprudent

      No. The LP has all the credibility of Nick Gillespie touting the Libertarian Moment.

      Think of pie slices, but flipped so the point isn’t at the center but on the outer edge. That’s the LP, and all other true-believer parties — Greens, lefties (of whatever stripe), cons (neo- and so-) — everybody right? The hardcore believers are out on the fringe and small in number. Now, when they look back toward the center, there are more people but they aren’t pure. In fact, lots of the inner corners overlap. Now the optimistic hardcore look inward and see a vast movement about to follow them to ideological glory! The disillusioned see the half-believers that need to be purged (always a self-defeating activity). The reality is that those inner (and larger numbers of) folks have some affinity with your ideology but no commitment – it is purely a matter of temporary agreement (or as we are quick to put it, principals over principles).

      We will always see libertarian threads running through the larger body politic, but never enough to achieve critical mass. Really being with the program, as we tend to be, is just too hard for far too many people.

    5. The LP was a waste of time even when it didn’t suck this bad. Duverger’s Law ensures only two major parties in our electoral system, and the two we have right now have such an overwhelming monopoly on power that they’re never going anywhere. Our best bet was, and still is, entryism into the Repubs. The socialists have accomplished this to great success with the Dems. The socialist moniker was (and still is to some extent) so toxic back in the day that a “Socialist Party” was doomed to failure. They changed their strategy to transform the Dem party from the inside bit by bit. You see how that’s worked out; the Dems are now a de facto socialist party. The only way libertarian thought makes inroads is by modeling that strategy.

      1. Gilmore

        I basically agree w/ this if the objective would be for a *real* “libertarian political party”

        However i don’t know if there could really ever be a 100% doctrinaire libertarian “party”- libertarianism has enough diversity of opinion on the way basic ideas should be applied that there would be just as much conflict ‘within’ as between any libertarian parties and other. My thinking is that Libertarianism should simply expand its role as the ‘philosophical basis’ which informs the dominant cadre within one of the main parties

        maybe that’s a distinction without a difference from your point. but anyway

      2. Bob Boberson

        That’s my inclination as well. With as bad as things are on team red right now it’s going to be one uphill slog but who knows…..I definitely hear more of my Republican friends and neighbors expressing dissatisfaction with their party than say, during the Bush years. The problem is, and I guess this is human nature, people are so hopelessly tribal the will take a defacto statist position if it is antithetical to their enemies (team blue) and nothing changes. I see this in many of the discussions I have with my army veteran neighbor and SOCON father. They will readily agree with the tenants of small government until you challenge militarism or advocate for non-intervention in social/moral issues and then they love them some government.

      3. creech

        Sounds like a plan. But how does one sustain their standing the the local GOP, let alone rise, without publically being seen to support the douchebags the party runs? I could probably get elected precinct committeeman for two years but would never be re-elected if I pushed even squishy libertarian views or opposed the rino views of the
        candidates I’m expected to get the vote out for. Or is it kick, claw and lie one’s way to a powerful party position and then show one’s true colors?

  17. Playa Manhattan

    My slimline II roof rack just showed up. I really want to play, but…. I’m not up for it today.

    1. RAHeinlein

      New LC? We just traded ours…

      1. Playa Manhattan

        In a manner of speaking, I own a new Land Cruiser Prado.
        (GX 460)

        1. Tundra

          Do you like it?

          1. C. Anacreon

            Yes, I’m interested too — I have a 2015 LS 460 sedan, and wondering how that 460 engine feels in an SUV model. I got the LS because it has the smoothest ride of any car out there, it always feels like you are driving on glass, which isn’t for everybody, but is the most important thing for me and my crushed spine, we love not feeling bumps and rough roads. I would imagine the GX has a more road-hugging, sporty feel? (The LS does have a switch to go to a ‘sport’ suspension but I’ve never tried it, I guess I’m fearful it would get stuck on that).

          2. Playa Manhattan

            I have the variable suspension too. You can put it in sport mode or comfort mode. I keep it in comfort.

            It’s pretty high off the ground, which I assume would be good for your spine. No squatting down to get in.

          3. Playa Manhattan

            Love it. It’s got a high center of gravity, but still corners like a race car. We had some pretty heavy rain here about a week and a half ago, and it handled very well in several inches of water. It has some features that I don’t really need, like the adjustable height rear suspension. All in all, a damn fine car.

            But…. keep in mind that I drove a shitty minivan for 10 years. I used to get excited about rental cars.

          4. Tundra

            All new cars are amazing. I was just curious what you thought of that vs the 4Runner.

            Glad you like it! There’s something about a nice vehicle that gets the blood going.

          5. Playa Manhattan

            I really wanted the 4Runner. But, I needed 4wd and 3rd row seats. That proved to be almost impossible to find here, but it comes standard on the GX. I finally gave up after about 3 weeks of looking.

          6. Tundra

            The Lexus is way more luxurious. If you ever need 4wd, we can set you up. I’m not even sure you can buy 4×2 here!

          7. Playa Manhattan

            I’ll still have to pay sales tax in CA. They won’t even let me register until I do.

  18. SJW Letters Home:

    “Hi Mom!

    Thanks for the care package, you know how much I love Sour Patch Kids! So sweet. Everything’s fine here except this creepy guy in my Transgender Afro-Caribbean Poetry class that keeps psychicly raping me. I may not have proof, but I know he thinks about my while he’s taking a shit. I contacted the Sexual Assault Crisis Response Center and they’re in the process of castrating him. All’s well that ends well I guess. Brittany did the funniest thing at the protest yesterday! She had this lead pipe and this totally old, white guy was walking by with a cane. You could just tell by how expensive his watch was that he was an evil corporate oppressor Nazi, so Brittany snuck up behind him and hit him in the head with the pipe! Serious lulz. They’re disconnecting him from life support today, he totally had it coming. It’s so encouraging to know that the Chief of Police is an ally since he isn’t pressing charges. I mean, it was self-defense right?

    Patriarchy’s almost dead, just give me till next week lol!! 😛

    Send more money!

    Love,
    McKenzie”

    1. Tres Cool

      McKenzie’s mom is either Lena Dunham, Gloria Steinham, or a weird hybrid of the 2.

    2. Playa Manhattan

      Mom doesn’t pay; we do.

  19. I know we have some real honest-to-goodness authors on this board, but I have an idea:

    What would the commentariat at large, as well as the Uberglibs, think of self-publishing an anthology of the original content from the site? I swear I read more interesting, insightful and useful stuff on here than I do pretty much anywhere else. We have an astonishingly intelligent and diverse crowd. We could take donations to get it going.

    What say you?

    1. Mr Lizard

      STEVE SMITH HAVE PLENTY OF MATERIAL TO DONATE

    2. Tundra

      Fuck those people. Why should we share?

      1. Bob

        You want Content? Give the Clicks Bitches!

    3. RAHeinlein

      I’m in. Donations or other.

    4. Just Say’n

      Only if the book is called “The Nick Gillespie of Books”

      1. hayeksplosives

        Thumbs up.

        1. MikeS

          Thumbs are the Nick Gillepsie of rating systems.

          1. hayeksplosives

            Cocks out?

            (unqualified—SAD!)

    5. Mojeaux

      I’ll do the ebook/print formatting.

    6. If the Uberglibs (and a critical mass of people) are into this, maybe we should take it offline and/or start making a list of people who want to be involved in the process. I’m just making suggestions here, I thought it would be a cool thing to do. We can keep it pseudonymous (if that’s what’s desired). Lemme know.

      1. MikeS

        So…are you looking for dick pics? Asking for Tundra a friend.

      2. Gordilocks

        I’m in.

      3. hayeksplosives

        How the heck do we edit it? So much good content, but it’s all over the place.

        I s’pose the place to start is, who is the audience? Are we making this for ourselves or to share with newbs?

        1. Gordilocks

          ^Good question.

          I think we’re dealing with a niche market of a niche market of a niche market.

          Maybe the admins could help by telling us which posts, outside of the daily links, that get the most hits. People share some of the articles from here, and it would be interesting to see how far some of them have traveled.

  20. Tres Cool

    Im about to watch THE Ohio State University mop the floor with Northwestern.

    *legit head nod*

    1. C. Anacreon

      I’m sure you will destroy us, too. I have no idea what happened to NU this year — we have essentially the same squad as last year’s tournament darlings, with one of the country’s hottest coaches, supposedly even better by the addition of a couple of top-100 frosh, and we were rated the preseason #19 in both polls — but we’ve absolutely stunk, and are losing to teams by 20 points that we easily beat last year. Right now I don’t even see us making the NIT unless there’a a miracle turnaround.

  21. Gilmore

    I feel like Heroic Mulatto should have been the ‘art director’ on this project

    Butt-Art

  22. Bob

    The Nocturne ended up a non starter, OTOH , this Man was a friend of mine, who passed away recently at 75, Accompanied by His SIL , my bro,
    He sings and plays the Uke on this one,
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__9jSLfpG34

  23. A Fuggin White Male

    Lmao… Krugabe BTFO. Trump names him #1 fake news merchant of the year.

    1. Rhywun

      Oh lord, that’s actually happening? I hope Trump’s got some good stuff to sneak past the Establishment while they’re occupied with this nonsense.

      1. Juvenile Bluster

        It’s unbelievable how dumb the Dems, the eGOP and the MSM are with regards to Trump. They don’t care one bit about the substance, just the spectacle.

        (the substance with Trump, of course, has been a metric ton of shit and a few good things mixed in. That being said, he’s probably our best President since Reagan (it’s a really, really low bar).

    2. Mustang

      I’m simultaneously chuckling and facepalming.

    3. Somalian Road Corporation

      I have to admit, this “Fake News Awards”-type stuff is precisely the leadership I want to see.

    4. Grumbletarian

      Point of order: Noted derptard Krugman blargled his idiotic statement about the market never recovering in Novermber of 2016. That comment shouldn’t be eligible for 2017 consideration.

      /comic book guy

      1. Playa Manhattan

        It’s so dumb that it’s timeless.

  24. Bob

    Office Manager Mohammed Takes a business trip

    Assistant Yusef: I really think we should have Rented a car, it’s only 450 miles to San Francisco from here.
    Office Manager Mohammmed: NO! We must fly so that I may intimidate the INFIDELS! With my presence.
    Assistant Yusef: whatever………
    1 hour later, at the airport TSA check in,
    OMM: no this isn’t Ricin! It’s Castor oil for my lumbago, don’t you even Old Man!
    TSA POS:I’m sorry Sir, please step this way…
    Assistant Yusef passes through and waits patiently for OMMs impending release.
    OMM: Can you believe it! I have been Constipated for 3 days and they Harass me? I shit on the TSA!
    Assistant Yusef: Well you’re allowed to fly, let’s go…….
    OMM:No, I really shit on the the TSA when they inspected my Anus for Bombs, ALLAH was pleased, and they released me, although the stench was Horrible..
    On board flight 221 Ontario to Oakland
    OMM: Why are you serving Alcohol? Are you trying to bring down the Plane?
    Panic ensues as two Navy SEALS take OMM down and the plane returns to ONT
    Assistant Yusef: I told you we should have Driven…

      1. Bob

        Thanks

  25. Badolph Hilter

    Trump tweets out a link to the “2017 fake news awards” and gop.com is instantly brought down due to traffic overload, LOL.

    Meanwhile the likes and retweets on his tweet are spinning like an odometer in a looney tunes cartoon.

    Signifying nothing in particular, except I suppose that the appetite for bashing the MSM is still YUGE.

    1. Just Say’n

      Classy

    2. Best fake news awards ever. Top quality.

    3. Best fake news awards ever. Top quality.

      Grab the fake news by the pussy.

        1. MikeS

          Best squirrlz ever! Huge! Classy!

  26. juris imprudent

    Woods tends to veer into “the US was responsible for starting the Cold War” shit too.

    Um, the Long Telegram? The policy of containment?

    Now, admittedly, Stalin outmaneuvered FDR – yet that was also because FDR thought he was the shrewdest/slyest of the Big 3. He was not. Had FDR better aligned with Churchill, Eastern Europe might never have been written off at the end of WWII.

    1. Raven Nation

      Sorry, should have been clearer, would have been better to say “solely responsible.” In some of podcasts, it’s like Stalin doesn’t exist. And, I should note, I’m generally a fan of Woods, but I disagree with some of his historical interpretations.

      1. Tundra

        A perfect example of why we can’t stand Top. Men.

        We’re never gonna find the perfect One.

    2. Juvenile Bluster

      It’s an interesting thought experiment to think of what would have happened if Operation Unthinkable had gone through. Would’ve been before the end of the war in Japan. Obviously in this scenario the USSR never invades northern Japan a month later (or maybe they still do, to try and capture it with the US and Britain concentrated on fighting them in what was left of Germany and Poland). What happens to the Eastern Front in that scenario?

      1. juris imprudent

        The loss was unavoidable because FDR was a Wilsonian and absolutely no grasp of natural European outlooks (Western or Eastern). He would not accept the spheres of influence that Churchill found quite normal. And the goddam fool actually trusted Stalin.

    3. creech

      I believe I read somewhere that Churchill was complicit in sacrificing Poland as a sop to Stalin in exchange for British influence in Greece. Churchill was most concerned about
      the Med, protection for Suez Canal, etc.

      1. Bob

        I had not heard this before, source please?

        1. creech

          Found this. Deals with the Balkans but I believe the Free Poles were incensed as it would appear to give USSR a free hand in Poland.
          I may have read about the Polish part in “Killing Patton.”

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percentages_agreement

          1. MikeS

            +1 Naughty Document

      2. juris imprudent

        Churchill was treated by FDR as the junior partner in the alliance – somewhat legitimately but ultimately most unwisely.

        1. Raven Nation

          FDR thought he could “handle” Stalin in the same way that Chamberlain thought he could with Hitler.

      3. Raven Nation

        Probably too much Tullamore Dew to pull this off but, overheard at London society gathering in June, 1945:

        Society gentleman (looking out at dancing couples): this is what we’ve been fighting for these long years.

        Society woman: why, are they all Polish?

    4. mikey

      “Um, the Long Telegram?….”
      Haven’t read that in forever, but thanks to the inner tubes I was able to do a quick re-read.
      I was struck by how applicable it still is with regards to our own current commies. The contempt for moderate socialists and the the denial of objective truth to start.
      Everything old is new again.

  27. commodious spittoon

    Dad’s watching lady Ghostbusters in the other room. I’d heard it’s unremarkable, but I didn’t realize how cringy and joyless it is. I don’t think it’s the cast per se, I think these actresses could easily deliver punchy dialogue. But none of it seems written. It all sounds ad-libbed. What happened to comedy?

    1. Rhywun

      Millenials?

      1. SIV

        Their consumption of laundry pods is pretty funny.

    2. Drake

      Was looking for a comedy to watch with the wife last weekend. Just gave up after a few minutes.

      1. Go back to the 90’s and Netflix it.

    3. There was a ton of unfunny self-absorbed ad-libbing on set.

    1. RAHeinlein

      Trump didn’t initiate this (even based-on Bloomberg data) – there are only a handful of places in the US worth visiting as a foreign tourist.

      1. MikeS

        Really? Curious what your definition of “foreign tourist worthy” is.

        1. Rhywun

          Yeah that strikes me as an odd claim too.

        2. RAHeinlein

          I actually intended to add foreign/domestic tourist worthy – essentially meaning there are very few places in the US that are differentiated on most levels. Same chain stores (or privately-held shops with similar items), no cultural attractions, museums, etc. This is not dissimilar to what is occurring in Europe, but there are more historical options abroad.

          1. MikeS

            It seems like you have been going to different places in the US than I have.

            I’m honestly trying to understand your contention; are you saying there are only a “handful” of places in the US worth anyone visiting? If I am understanding you correctly, you have amazingly high standards.

          2. RAHeinlein

            I’m not at all suggesting there are only a handful of places in the US worth “anyone” visiting. There are, in my opinion, very few destinations worth a lengthy and costly tourist vacation.

          3. MikeS

            Ahh. Ok, I think I get what you’re saying now.

            In my mind, it all depends on how much “the tourist” was willing to travel. If the definition is enough “things to do” for a week, within a 30 miles radius, I could maybe accept your definition. If “the tourist” is willing to do a little traveling and consider the countryside in between stops to be “tourist worthy,” then I’d have to vehemently disagree.

            For instance, while I could certainly enjoy spending a week within the city limits of Rome, I would much prefer to spend a week traveling around Germany. And I don’t mean hitting all the the tourist spots. I mean just traveling around Germany and stopping wherever looked interesting.

      2. juris imprudent

        Of course Trump is responsible for a down-turn a full fucking year before he was elected! Don’t you understand how POWERFUL the Trump is?

    2. Mustang

      So.

      Fucking.

      What?

    3. Rhywun

      Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump (…strong US dollar…) Trump Trump Trump

    4. mikey

      Maybe we could have the TSA and Customs stop treating them (and us) like shit

    5. Gustave Lytton

      Fucking autoplay video ads.

    6. Gustave Lytton

      Also, Saudi Arabia issues exactly 0 tourist visas during the period and hasn’t issued any since 2014. A 20% increase in tourists & listing as a top twenty tourist destination is pretty much impossible.

  28. Just Say’n

    He looks like he’s in physical pain. No more silicon valley social life

    https://twitter.com/ABC/status/953821706690293760

    1. Forget about that invite to the next sex party Cooky.

          1. creech

            She looks like she could suck a tennis ball through a garden hose.

        1. Bob

          both, Beautiful Women, Thanks Q, you make me smile!

        2. commodious spittoon

          You could get any one of these girls, if you wanted. Just hit right click and save to file…

    1. Just Say’n

      Well done. Just a well endowed normal girl. Classy

      1. I do it all for you guys.

    2. commodious spittoon

      Ozzy Man reviews… Yanet Garcia in lingerie.

  29. SIV

    So I’m reading Jesse Walker’s twitter feed (one of the best things on there) and I come across this linkThe Porn Riot at the Mental Hospital

    Which is amusing enough but then up pops this libertarian Easter egg:

    The attorney called the recent crackdown a retaliation against the patients’ recent dooming of a much-needed sales tax measure in the city of Coalinga.

  30. Gilmore

    To paraphrase (and expand upon) an excellent tweet:


    The Left
    : We need an end to oppression (which means every form of human relation!) and inequality (of income! of age! of capability! of gender! of food choices!) and the resolution and re-education of everyone who dares to sill hold retrograde views! (which we won’t define clearly because they will always be ‘not what we think at the current moment’) and to engineer the collective efforts of every government on the planet to change the direction of the planet’s weather! which will require taking all of your money! and we need to liberate the Genders! and give special rights to LGBTQRS+#()2 and various indigeneous peoples and every form of PoC or BAME whom are all our intersectional allies in the struggle against marginalization of cultures! and to ensure that…

    The Right: I’d just like to keep some more of my money, thanks

    ‘choices, choices’

    1. straffinrun

      Check out That guy T’s latest video. Libertarian strategy. Connection to our talk yesterday.

      1. Gilmore

        thanks!

        i never get updates from my yt political stuff.

    1. See Double You

      OMG that CNN shithole compilation is hilarious!

      1. Just Say’n

        Someone put a lot of effort into that. Well done

  31. Raheem Kassam on Sky News talking shitholes.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgTxdH7PVAQ

    1. Drake

      The pompous dickbag doing the interview seems to think Durbin is a reliable source. What an ass.

      1. straffinrun

        “He’s been in congress for 20 years.”

        As if that adds him more credibility.

  32. Playa Manhattan

    Ha!

    Dave Wiegel got nailed in the fake news awards!

    1. straffinrun

      Weigel loved it, I’m sure.

      1. I love it. Bout damn time someone said the media has no clothes.

    2. Gilmore

      did you not see the tweets where trump went ballistic on wiegel? it was priceless.

      weegs, for all his slimyness, handled it well. he said sorry, deleted the og error, then was like, “come at me bro” to trump. he didnt delete his account and hide. he also didn’t get into some indignant defense for his shitty tweets. everyone moved on.

      1. Playa Manhattan

        TBH, I wasn’t following it very closely, or at all.

        What was Weigel’s excuse? That he didn’t know the picture was from several hours before the rally?

    3. Gustave Lytton

      Already a wiki page for it. Can’t wait to check it tomorrow and see if everything’s been listed like any other award show like the Razzies.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_News_Awards

      1. Just Say’n

        This is beyond hilarious.

      2. MikeS

        The “awards” have been cited as an example of President Trump’s assault on the freedom of the press and the First Amendment. Trump was also criticized for the awards by Republican Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain.

        Flake and McCain are against it. Hmmm…I believe I am for it!

      3. Gustave Lytton

        It’s happening! The FNA winners table has been added to the wiki.

    4. Gustave Lytton

      Trump’s ‘Fake News Awards’ were a huge flop

      Trump’s anticlimactic unveiling was a fitting end to an idea that seemed poorly executed from the get-go. Trump, former star of “The Apprentice,” knows how to put on a show, yet his “Fake News Awards” were shaping up to be a total flop even before Wednesday’s website trouble.

      That’s some self-licking ice cream cone there. The awards are a flop before they even flopped because the media says so. Which is part of the point of the Fake News Awards.

      Callum Borchers covers the intersection of politics and media.

      This is what passes for journalism these days? Bring on the Fake News awards.

    1. straffinrun

      Sacred matriarchy. Sacred racism. Sacred sexism.

    2. Gustave Lytton

      She always looks like she’s pouting.

    3. She’s not that great.

    4. CPRM

      Wait, her looks get her jobs? Standards have fallen.

    5. Only if it’s the correct Top Women. Look at what they did to Margaret Thatcher.

  33. Lachowsky

    Lazy union protected shit bags piss me off profoundly. I work in a union plant (right to work state) and I pay the dues and am a member.

    Some (not most or even a lot) of my coworkers use the union contract to make sure they do the least amount posit le without getting fired.

    Yesterday, I ran into a situation with a coworker that made me want to drop a crane loan of steel on his fat lazy entitled ass.

    I can’t describe the situation in detail without writing a Ken level wall of text. Short story-

    we were undermanned. the plant was at risk of going down for several hours. I was working two (and more like three) positions. There were problems in multiple areas that needed immediate attention. Said fat fuck lazy employee could have resolved one of the problems because not an hour before said problem occurred, I explained in great detail what to do if the anticipated problem occurred.

    I’m tied up on a major problem (that I successfully resolved) when problem for fat entitled man happens. Fat entitled man can’t fix said problem unless I help him. I cuss at fat entitled man on the radio while fixing what I’m working on. Fat entitled man decides he can’t do his job without my guidance. I tell my apprentice how to complete the job I’m on and storm off to fat entitled man’s problem. I tell fat entitled to go suck a dick and fix his problem, then rush back to the problem I have left wit my apprentice.

    The silver lining is that my apprentice had done exactly what I told him to do and I had corrected the problem I started on.

    Sorry if this is somewhat incoherent. Where I work, there are problems that if not fixed within a very short period of time can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I feel a ton of pressure when these problems occur. A fat lazy entitled man hiding behind the union pisses me off.

    1. Gustave Lytton

      Sorry L. If it makes you feel any better that type of person is everywhere, the union part is just an amplification rather than the cause. When you can figure out how to orient that laziness and limited awareness in a productive manner, then you will be an excellent manager.

      1. Lachowsky

        Thanks Gustave. I’m well over it at this point. It feels good to bitch about it though.

        1. CPRM

          Yeah, worst thing that happens when one of my incompetent brethren messes up is the radio has dead air. But still we can’t find anyone competent to do even the most menial jobs. Helps me negotiate higher wages though. So in my case, I think it favors me when other guys fuck up and get fired, there ain’t no fire at stake.

  34. Watching “First They Killed My Father”

    It’s astounding how little oppression most of us in the West have actually experienced. Like The Killing Fields, it’s horriftying.

  35. Tres Cool

    I dont wanna steal Sloopy’s thunder, but THE Ohio State University beat those “community organizers” from Northwestern.

    And goodnight Missus Calabash- wherever you are.

    1. Tres Cool

      *obligatory head nod*

    2. Holtmann is clear frontrunner for B1G COY.

    3. C. Anacreon

      Hey, don’t blame us at Northwestern for Obama, he never had anything to do with our school, short of the fact his brother-in-law used to be one of our basketball assistant coaches, and our school is in Chicago. And it’s not really a place where other community organizers come from.
      Now, obnoxious Hollywood types and Stephen Colbert, you can blame us for a lot of those.

      1. CPRM

        What is the Montreal test? And do you view it as a valid marker of cognitive ability? Thought this might be in your wheelhouse. Perhaps an article?

        1. C. Anacreon

          It’s a pretty standard cognitive assessment tool that could be part of a general comprehensive history and physical examination, one of a number of such validated and established tools that can be used. This one is actually a bit more difficult than some of the others — for example, the typical memory test on a screen like this is three unrelated words after five minutes, in any order, while the Montreal has five words which must be remembered in order five minutes later. It’s not nearly as easy as you might think, go ahead and try it on someone you’re with right now, give them five very different words, have them say them back to you, then quickly change the subject and talk about completely other topics for five minutes, then say “OK, say those words back to me.” It’s considered fairly normal to forget one, for example, or to remember them all after some prodding, but perhaps not in order; but Trump got them all exactly right.

          What’s unusual about this test, or any cognitive test, is that a physician wouldn’t even give it to someone who there wasn’t concern about cognitive impairment (e.g. symptoms or warning signs for dementia, neurologic illness, brain damage). The ‘draw a clock’ test, which might seem silly to the average person, can give an amazing number of variations for people with neurologic impairment — but there’d be no reason to give that, or most of these tests, to someone who was just getting their annual physical exam and had no reports of any signs or symptoms.

          The fact that they even gave this test was clearly only to shut up those who were insisting that Trump has dementia. And yet, these TDS folks are still so out of control, so desperate to find something wrong with the man, that they have been out there even doubting these results, questioning this doctor’s ability, or suggesting this exam was inadequate and/or other tests should be done.

          But the examining physician was exactly right — anyone who gets a 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Test does not have dementia and does not have cognitive impairment, period. Sorry, media pundits, time to find your next thing to obsess about.

          1. CPRM

            Thanks, it’s great we have such a wide base of knowledge here.

  36. CPRM

    I hate working on these supersecret Glib jobs. So I’ll post some Secret Squirrel.

  37. Juvenile Bluster

    And yet if the family were to blow up city hall with the idiots inside, they’d be the ones going to prison

    Only government can produce this kind of asshole. tl;dr part is that this 91 year old woman with dementia was apparently racking up “nuisance” fines on her property, that she couldn’t know about because she had dementia and even if she didn’t have dementia she wouldn’t have known about them anyways because they were sending them to the wrong address.

    When asked to comment on the Sansom’s property this month, Coachella officials and a city attorney said that they were unaware of the owner’s advanced age, mental state, true address or death at any point during the nuisance property case, but still stood by the actions taken by the city. Luis Lopez, Coachella’s development services director, said the city presumed the citations and legal notices it had mailed to Sansom were received – even though they were notified twice by the U.S. Postal Service that the documents were sent to a vacant house.

    Lopez also defends holding Sansom’s heirs responsible for her debt, saying her legal guardian should have been maintaining her land and that funds collected from the lien would “go towards replenishing the public’s money” that was spent to inspect and clean her property. After The Desert Sun noted that a majority of Sansom’s debt came from punitive fines, which are not reimbursement of public money, Lopez said the family should still pay because of their negligence.

    “The city believes these fines are justified in this case due to the willful, or at least reckless, disregard for the public safety of the community which includes an elementary school as evidenced by the nuisance on the property,” Lopez wrote in an email statement.

    “Additionally, the fines are justified because there was no ‘good faith’ effort by the owners or successors in interest to contact the city, pay part of the citations or abate the nuisance.”

    1. CPRM

      The city believes

      Well, I guess that’s their problem.

    2. Playa Manhattan

      “prosecution fees”???

      Fuck off, slaver.

  38. CPRM

    As a film maker myself, knowing how well an actor that gets your vision can help you with making your vision come true, this interview with John Carpenter about Kurt Russell is great.

  39. Mustang

    How much more fake can they get? They’re just flat out making shit up.

    “Trump’s Physical Revealed Serious Heart Concerns, Outside Experts Say”

    https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/us/politics/trump-physical-heart-health-cholesterol.html?referer=http://www.google.com/

    1. CPRM

      Yeah, at the same time they don’t get how he could have the same BMI as Aaron Rogers or Jay Cutler, because they don’t get how BMI works; in the next breath they say his BMI means he HAS TO HAVE heart problems, because they don’t know how the heart works…I hate having to defend this shitberg; gosh can’t they come up with actual reasons to hate him? It wouldn’t be that hard.

    2. C. Anacreon

      Any doctor who bases their opinion solely on some isolated lab values is a moron. Looking only at labs, and not at the overall person and putting everything in context, is really the sign of a small-brained doc who is not very good at their job.

      If all we need is lab results, what do we even need doctors for? Draw some blood and the computer will tell you if you are sick or not. Sheesh.

      And no one who is 6’3″ and weighs 239 is obese. The frigging height-weight scales are done so that you have to be a beanpole to fit in them. Someone like Trump, who has a large frame, should be expected to be well over 200 pounds.

      Is he at higher risk for a heart attack? Yes. He’s 70 fucking years old! These jerks are comparing him to the general population, most of whom are of course much, much younger. Everything needs to be put into context for the individual, not some data sheet.

      Again, these fools are most likely TDS sufferers who can’t wait to impugn the man in the New York Times.

      1. Mustang

        He’s definitely not a model of physical health but this whole thing is just insane. They don’t like what the doc said so they found their own sources that agree with them. It’s absurd. I’m sure the guy has access to all sorts of crazy medical benefits and treatments that we have no inkling of. I am not worried about it. They’re really grasping for any negative reporting that doesn’t also make their party look bad.

        1. C. Anacreon

          Yeah, when they only have to talk to a news guy or a ‘tv doctor’ these docs can make all kinds of proclamations — but I could sit in a room with these same docs, and get them to retract virtually everything they said in this article in just a few minutes. I’m not amazing by any stretch, any competent doc could do the same. That’s why we rely on peer review that is truly peer review, and we tear each other to shreds all the time (even small hospital department “morbidity and mortality” weekly conferences can get heated and nasty over diagnoses and prognoses, and can be rather amusing). There’s not much in medicine you can say with absolute confidence, so the fact that the New York Times found some nitwits willing to do so is just yet another sign of how desperate they are for any tidbit to go after Trump.

  40. This week’s review: Old Men in New Cars. I freaking love this flick. Violent, funny, profane, ridiculous. Start with a bit of a Snatch/Lock Stock premise – but think about if Guy Ritchie had been a stunt man, not a guy filming TV ads before directing. Cannot recommend this enough and thankfully it’s still available on DVD.

    1. And my backup copy of Marathon Family just shipped – not sure how soon I’ll get to it though.