Saturday Morning I’m Baaaaack Links

Sorry for my absence over the past week- I was traveling to one of the garden spots my work takes me, in this case the prairies of Kansas. Not like anything important happened anyway.

Let’s see what’s in the news today… oh yes, a “government shutdown” wherein a tiny portion of Leviathan gets what will amount to a free vacation, accompanied by the usual wailing and gnashing of teeth while the rest of the world sees no actual difference. As opposed to 2013’s “shutdown” where Team Red and Team Blue both demonstrated a hilariously transparent hypocrisy, this time around, Team Blue and Team Red are demonstrating a hilariously transparent hypocrisy. See, it’s totally different. Totally. Just like Lokai and Bele. I’d be happy about it except for already knowing the ending- the government will end up mulcting even more money from us tax cattle.

The guy who assaulted Rand Paul will apparently plead guilty. OK, dull story, but what’s really fun is the delightfully unhinged comments, centering around the latest leftist conspiracy theory: the assault was because of a breakup in a gay love triangle between the mugger, Paul, and Mrs. Paul (insert fish stick joke here).

I’m no fan of the Patriots, but I have a grudging admiration for Bill Belichik. Not just for the wonderful contempt he has for the press, but his brilliant manipulation of them. The latest mind game is yet another gem.

Sometimes I think, “I just love living in a world like this.”

“Hey, Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!” “That trick never works.” “This time, for sure!”

There are two things today that make me wonder, “Why the fuck is this even news???” One is this week’s outrage that some college chick that no-one has ever heard of at a fourth rank school made a stupid video of herself saying stupid things that got her expelled. The other is this. BE SCARED!!!!!

OK, you know what’s coming now. Old Guy music. But with a twist: the song is delightful, Nat King Cole’s band is great, but the video… The Groove Tube was just a wonderful, wonderful movie, which gave rise to a million imitators, including the original Saturday Night Live. Ken Shapiro, an absolutely unappreciated genius, died about two months ago. I hope that one day, he’ll achieve the fame he never got in life.

Comments

317 responses to “Saturday Morning I’m Baaaaack Links”

  1. Private Chipperbot

    My kids asked about the shutdown. Their teachers tried to take them up. I said we just had one to years ago and i asked if they remembered how horrible it was. Both of them lit up and laughed about the whole thing.

    1. Just Say’n

      Non-essential employees in the private sector are called “non-employed”

      1. hayeksplosives

        Yup. My thoughts exactly.

        I work with a guy who’s afraid to take all the vacation he’s earned because people will notice how non-essential he is when he’s gone.

        1. Just Say’n

          That’s like a Seinfeld episode

      2. Hyperion

        Yeah, but people are going to die! Accidents will happen! I stubbed my toe on my nightstand when I got up this morning, it’s the government’s fault!

      3. Not an Economist

        The government, as usual, has a different definition of non-essential than you do.

    2. Private Chipperbot

      And typing on a phone sucks.

    3. Gender Traitor

      What did they light up, and did they share it with you?

  2. The Late P Brooks

    the assault was because of a breakup in a gay love triangle between the mugger, Paul, and Mrs. Paul

    But totally not a slur when they use it.

    1. Atanarjuat

      Brings to mind that clip of the enlightened Rachel Maddow mocking “Tea Baggers”.

  3. Private Chipperbot

    gay love triangle

    Isn’t there one too many not gay people out of those three?

    1. Hyperion

      Not if Mrs Paul was identifying as a gay man at the time.

  4. Just Say’n

    The interesting thing about Paul’s attacker is that he’s pleading guilty to a felony, which would seem to indicate that there’s evidence to show the assault was about politics and not lawn maintenance.

    1. Atanarjuat

      No, it was definitely because Boucher “had enough” of Paul stacking brush too close to the property line.

      https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/amp/prosecutors-reveal-why-rand-paul-was-attacked-neighbor-n839366

    2. DEG

      On the other hand, it is Federal court where the deck is stacked heavily against the defendant. Federal courts have a conviction rate in the 90s, according to this report from 2012 (it’s a PDF), that includes both guilty pleas and jury verdicts. After reading Silverglate’s “Three Felonies a Day” I doubt all of those convictions are on the up and up.

      I like how the article pushes the lawn maintenance dispute angle hard but also mentions that Paul and his neighbor haven’t spoken in ten years. That’s a hell of a long time to hold a grudge. I recall another newspaper interviewed people in the neighborhood that said there was no lawn maintenance dispute. Wasn’t that newspaper WaPo?

      1. Gotta push the narrative.

      2. Hyperion

        Yeah, it was over lawn maintenance for sure, because filing a complaint with the HOA is not the normal thing to do. Jap tacking the perpetrator must be what most people do.

      3. Just Say’n

        That’s true. But, the feds wouldn’t have gotten involved if it was over yard waste. Something doesn’t add up

        1. DEG

          Yeah, we are not getting the full story here. I’m just a bit skeptical of Federal convictions given what I know of how they work.

        2. Hyperion

          It was politically motivated. The neighbor was probably running his mouth about Rand on the intertoobz.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    I was under the impression a “gay love triangle” would require three persons of the same sex. But what do I know? I’m an antediluvian relic.

    1. Sean

      That’s your shitlord cisgender privilege talking. Obviously.

    2. Perhaps its ‘gay’ not in the sexual meaning but in the synonym for ‘lame’ meaning, like they weren’t even trying to ‘love triangle’ seriously.

    3. Yeah what about cucks and hotwifers? Are they all gay, bi-curious, or just plain weird?

      1. RBS

        I’m not bicurious, I’m a man’s man.

        -Meatwad.

        1. pan fried wylie

          “Is that a straight-six?”

          “She’s giving ME a straight-six!”

          “Ur, your innuendo is priceless.”

  6. The Late P Brooks

    During the last government shutdown, I considered going out on one of the Bozeman off ramps where the panhandlers go, with a sign saying, “Will shuffle papers for food.”

    I didn’t. I guess I’m just not sufficiently committed to the art of the troll.

    1. juris imprudent

      And truly antediluvian, bureaucrats these days shuffle bytes.

      1. Plisade

        Haha, in my case, bytes of scanned papers. My plant is in the midst of fulfilling a large USDA contract. Hard copies at every step that are then scanned and sent to others to print out, who fill in their part of the hard copies, scan again, and so on. Contracts. Applications. Certificates. It’s ridiculous. None of the gubmint peeps we’re working with would last a day in the private business sector. The whole lot of them are rule followers and OCD, and think that all this rigmarole is perfectly normal and necessary.

        1. Nephilium

          Don’t be so sure about that. The company I work for had some people in the posting department who followed this process:

          1) Remote offices fax in documents, which arrive in e-mail in PDF
          2) Print out the PDF
          3) Scan the printout, which came as a PDF to their e-mail
          4) Move the scanned PDF to a shared mailbox

          They did this for over 100 offices a day.

          1. Plisade

            I’d lose my mind.

  7. straffinrun

    The president has been accused of — has boasted of, on tape — far worse. This episode, viewed in the hierarchy of all his violations, is more a curiosity than it is an outrage.

    Grabbing pussy is not a violation.

    1. westernsloper

      But should at a minimum require at least a cursory hand washing prior to eating a Filet-o-Fish.

  8. The Late P Brooks

    Short Ford

    Most CEOs preside over whiz-bang demos with snazzy slides and the occasional celebrity to wow the nerds. Hackett instead cut an avuncular figure in a cardigan sweater vest, sat quietly and a bit hunched over on a tall chair, and shared his vision of the future of transportation.

    That vision is bold if incredibly risky. It acknowledges that for all the genius of Henry Ford, whose groundbreaking business processes gave the world the freedom of the open road, his cars also brought parking lots, congestion, pollution, decrepit town centers and worse. “By enabling one kind of freedom we restricted another,” said Hackett, sounding very much like the corporate intellectual he is but also a bold radical, willing to speak truth to the power of his own adopted industry.

    Hackett’s future relies not so much on cars as transportation “systems.” Indeed, that’s the word top executive Jim Farley used to describe Ford’s aspirations. “We’re stressing a systems-based approach,” said Farley, based on building an open-source operating system for transportation available to all companies and also a network of services that stresses Ford’s industrial-grade vehicles. Said Farley: “Any time you’re not carrying goods or people in this business you’re not making money.”

    I just saw an interview yesterday which featured Billy Ford babbling incoherently about how Ford wants to build “smart cities” or some such world-of-the-future hogwash. No thanks. I’m not interested in being an appliance on the internet of things.

    1. Private Chipperbot

      decrepit town centers and worse

      Christ, what an asshole.

    2. Private Chipperbot

      And freedom isn’t a zero sum game. What a dick.

    3. Tundra

      Meh. These guys are just shilling for stock price. Ford sells F-150s and some other stuff. No way they get off that gravy train.

      1. Tundra

        Also a good illustration of why keeping third generation and beyond in a company is retarded.

    4. Pope Jimbo

      Smart Cities are a thing because it is a gold mine for consultants.

      IoT consultants create all these pretty presentations on how much money a city will save once it has all these streams of data coming in. The city administrators drool over all the things they could regulate once they have sensors all over the city.

      So they give the consultants a shit ton of money. The consultants burn most of it “gathering requirements” (aka having meetings upon meetings with city employees). Nothing ever really gets done because the city employees can’t agree on what is really needed. Consultants don’t care because they get to bill hours.

      Eventually a few small proof of concept applications are done. None of them are actually ready for ongoing operations, but it gives everyone a reason to create a new proposal. This time things will go better because you know so much more from the first one.

      (Yes, I have been on the consulting side of this many times. While the money is nice it is a very frustrating experience working with customers who don’t know what they want and will never make up their minds)

      1. juris imprudent

        Consultants don’t care because they get to bill hours.

        Or as my buddy put: in confusion there is profit.

  9. straffinrun

    Welcome back, OMWC. You’re the only Jew I know.

    1. Old Man With Candy

      But I bet you know plenty of JAPs.

  10. I still don’t understand why people get incensed about the gov’t “shutdown”. Something something the boy who cried wolf.

    1. hayeksplosives

      They’ve (progressives, starting with the late 19th century ones) carefully crafted the narrative for at least the last 125 years that government is the fount from whom all blessings flow. It’s always “government money” that is spent (not your tax money), government permission granted (not your natural rights and freedoms), and government taking the role of dad by providing for and protecting families.

      So if you shut down that beneficent and all-enabling government, who will take care of us and allow us to do stuff?? PANIC MODE!

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        It’s amazing how they don’t realize they think they’re mental and physical health is connected to a bureaucrat pushing a pencil and processing paper.

        It’s incomprehensible.

        A more over rated job you can’t find. Yet, apparently that’s the line they imagine between a Somalia libertarian nightmare and civilization.

      2. juris imprudent

        “Ba’al calls to us”!

      3. Exactly.

        An exchange between my wife and I this morning:

        Me: So, is there still a government?
        Wife, at laptop: …I can’t tell…
        Me: Exactly.

    2. westernsloper

      Especially when it happens over a weekend. The gubmint was going to shut down as normal anyways just like it does every weekend.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        I didn’t realize they worked on Fridays…. or Thursdays… or….

    3. I want so badly to go onto Face/Derp book and declare “The fact that you think nanny assholes in some far off kingdom are going to fix all of your problems is ridiculous”

  11. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Those comments on the Paul assault, holy crap are WaPo commenters are unhinged.

    No go fund me page for the neighbor?

    Paul IS a garbage man – that’s the reason behind the assault. Everybody has his breaking point I guess – 17 years of “eat it!” neighborliness, was just all the poor harrassed guy could take. :- ( I’ve had a few neighbors I would have liked to do something similar to.

    rand paul got what he deserved,sniveling little coward.

    When his fellow tea party cronies were attacked in Alexandria, he took off leaving them to their fate.

    Rather then provide medical care, he took off! Must be proud of himself

    1. westernsloper

      That is what I was going to comment on. I did not make it far enough to see the love triangle angle, but there are a whole bunch of people who think it is A-ok to fuck up someone whose politics you disagree with. Those people are nuts.

      Personally I think the moral of the story is don’t live in gated communities. They are mostly filled with people who should be avoided. At least that was my take on them after working in numerous gated communities.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        And as usual, they project their violence onto the opposition

      2. RBS

        Some are great, some are ok and then some are filled with people who left other gated communities because everyone else were the assholes.

    2. kbolino

      Rather then provide medical care, he took off! Must be proud of himself

      I don’t know what this is referring to or if anything like it actually happened, but Rand Paul is an ophthalmologist. There aren’t a hold lot of violent altercations where the primary medical need afterward is corrective eyewear.

      1. kbolino

        a whole lot, not a hold lot

      2. kbolino

        Holy fuck, from the reference to Alexandria he must be talking about Scalise et al. getting shot. Yeah, there’s a lot he could have done there, the damn coward. “Here’s a pair of glasses for your bullet wounds!”

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          These people are nuts.

        2. Not an Economist

          If I remember right, wasn’t there an actual combat trauma surgeon there? One of the Republican’s old or other job?

      3. Just Say’n

        “Shit, I got shot in the stomach. Quick, can someone give me an eye exam? I got dust in my eye and it stings!”

      4. pan fried wylie

        optomologists do vision correction. “An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye disease.”

      5. C. Anacreon

        Dude, you are confusing Paul, an ophthalmologist, with an optometrist. Ophthalmologists are highly-trained surgeons who were usually from the top of their medical school class. He’s more than capable of providing onsite medical care in a situation like that.

  12. hmm… the house behind mine is a rental. It’s 1200ft/sq and they are asking $650 a month more than I’m paying on my 3yo mortgage. Housing prices have jumped the shark around here. It’s been empty for three months now.

  13. Protector: Sumner Redstone
    Corporation:Paramount/Viacom
    Producer: Dan Schneider
    Network: Nickelodeon

    1. A Fuggin White Male

      I think Enty is Adam Carolla. I can think of no man so close to Hollywood that also holds so much disdain for Hollywood.

      Enty is a self-described “entertainment lawyer”. Do you believe that in the most literal sense of the word? I don’t. If he were an actual entertainment lawyer, he would have been outed by now.

      But what if Enty more literally is “not a lawyer but plays one for the purposes of entertainment”, as he occasionally says on his podcast “Reasonable Doubt” which he co-hosts with attorney Mark Geragos? Hence, “entertainment lawyer”.

      Listen to an Adam Carolla podcast sometime, and then go read CADN. The language used is often so similar, you’ll start reading it in Carolla’s voice.

  14. Scruffy Nerfherder

    The Groove Tube, now that’s a blast from the past. Definitely not for kids though.

    1. Professional Beach Bum

      TungSol makes better tubes. The new Mullards aren’t bad either.

      1. Old Man With Candy

        “Tung Sol” doesn’t make tubes- the brand name was bought. They’re coming out of the same factory as half a dozen other brands, with the distinction being the logo printed on them (and occasionally the bottle shape). Ditto Mullard- no connection whatever with the Mullard of old. I’ve been using old-school TV tubes, which are NOS by the millions and rugged as hell. Still cheap, too- my last set of output tubes cost me under $6 per pair.

        /pedant /geek

        1. Professional Beach Bum

          So the Russian factory? I just got an old oscilloscope from the future MIL, along with an extra amp module for it. I’m just moving from modding my guitar amps to getting into making them, now that I looked both my Mullards and ting sols are MOS from Tube Dr.

          1. Professional Beach Bum

            Stupid autocorrect
            Ting Sol, NOS

          2. Professional Beach Bum

            TUNG DAMMIT

          3. Professional Beach Bum

            Tube Depot. I hate phones, fat thumbs, and lack of coffee.

          4. Old Man With Candy

            Hah! Pro tip: fuck the usual 6L6/EL34/6550/whatever shit and go for TV sweep tubes, run in pentode. Great tone and almost indestructible. A pair of 6JN6 (for example) will give you a solid 35-40 watts, and they’re super easy to drive.

          5. I’ve got a pair of 1950s Dutch made – Phillips factory – EL34s just sitting in a box. Probably some of the best EL34s ever made.

            But yeah, what OMWC sez. TV tubes or weird-o plate cap tubes are my go-tos now. Cheap – like I just picked up five 1943-made 1625s for $20.

          6. Professional Beach Bum

            Thanks guys, I will definitely go that route when I actually start doing my first serious circuit tweaks. Mojotone has a sweet JTM45 2×12 combo amp kit I’m going to get for my first ground up build, and Cierratone has their HeyWatt (HiWatt DR 103) clone. Getting the power and output trannys for that from Mojotone, since they use Mercury and Heyboer for all of ther transformers…

    2. Spartacus

      The Groove Tube was the first R-rated movie I saw. I was 12 or 13 at the time, and we bought tickets for the movie next door and then went into the Groove Tube showing because, well, because it was R rated and no one at the theater was paying attention. “How does your bicycle seat smell after a hard day’s ride?” Or the PSA featuring the VD puppet…as it zoomed in, one woman in the audience yells “It’s a cock!”

  15. Scruffy Nerfherder

    The Opiate Epidemic is taking all our musicians.

    After months of speculation, a medical examiner has ruled that Tom Petty died of an accidental overdose, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. The Hall of Fame musician had taken several pain medications, including Fentanyl, oxycodone and generic Xanax. Other medications included generic Restoril (a sleep aid) and generic Celexa (which treats depression).

    1. PieInTheSKy

      Bit possesive arent ya? Your musicians?

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        Keep your gypsy hands off of them.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      I’m shocked and flabbergasted

    2. juris imprudent

      I can only respond that there isn’t enough off for them [slavers] to fuck.

    3. PieInTheSKy

      But Europe has high speed choo choo. No expense is to great to be more like Europe. Why do you people want to be backwards?

      1. totally_not_an_escaped_ai

        Exactly! Many years from now that train will let us Californians travel between a couple of inland cities hardly anyone goes to now, in slightly less time than the current rail infrastructure allows for, with a cost of only $10-ish billion.

        Forward, Comrades!

        1. Rhywun

          Won’t someone please think of the multiply superfluous construction workers’ fat pensions??

      2. IntraveneousWoodChipper

        See: White Sea Canal

  16. The Late P Brooks

    The other day, Swiss posted the surrender ultimatum from Henry V. It reads like an inventory of all the things progressives believe will happen in the absence of government. Slaughter, rape, pillage, infanticide; unspeakable horrors. Wild dogs feasting on the entrails of the abandoned, unattended dead. Wanton destruction and the total lapse of moral restraint.

    All this, and more, will befall us if we fail to properly revere and support our government in all its mighty beneficence.

    1. PieInTheSKy

      Thata where US woupd be without the CFPB

  17. the assault was because of a breakup in a gay love triangle between the mugger, Paul, and Mrs. Paul (insert fish stick joke here).

    Me and Mrs. Paul
    We got a thing going on….

    1. Count Potato

      (insert fish stick joke here)

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9yiNnlnjW8

  18. Rufus the Monocled

    When I heard ‘Brady questionable for the Jags’ yesterday on the radio, I could but grin.

    Belichick is Lex Luthor (as interpreted by Gene Hackman). The hoodie, the monotone responses at press conferences, the supreme control of his team….how can you not but giggle?

    Tell you what. If Brady was indeed hurt (apparently they want you to think four stitches is enough to keep him out…lol) it would bring into focus the Garoppolo trade.

    1. Tundra

      What’s amazing to me is how he has the whole team singing the same song. Each and every player gives the same bullshit answers. It’s impressive.

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        i’ve never seen anything like it. In the annals of great coaches, among those, there’s a pantheon (Bowman, Lombardi, insert college coach etc.) and he’s in it.

        It’s coming on 20 years of this.

    2. RBS

      His press conference was hilarious.

      “It’s Friday.”

      *stares at media*

      1. juris imprudent

        I think Popovich might be even better – because rather than just stone-face the media, he plays with them.

  19. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Seems legit

    Former FBI director James Comey will co-teach a three-credit course on ethical leadership at his alma mater, the College of William and Mary, this fall.

    1. leonadasiv

      So now you can take l teach a class that you have demonstrated that you have not experienced in.

    2. kbolino

      Ugh, ethics. The only class I ever took where I thought the professor was unethical. We had to buy a textbook of his own making, which granted is not unheard of in academia, but it was online-only and was basically just a bunch of excerpts from other works. If a student had submitted something like that as his own work, he would have been hauled before the academic integrity committee tout suite. And the whole class was about Kant and Hegel and other bullshit I didn’t care about that had no bearing on actual ethical dilemmas or conduct.

      1. Pope Jimbo

        At Memphis State, they wrapped the “ethics” requirement that the govt had for engineering students into about 3 lectures in an intro course. During one of those lectures the professor said that as an engineer you couldn’t accept gifts from vendors or let them pay for dinner.

        We had a very attractive gal in the class and she blurted out “What? Looking as fine as I do, you want me to buy my own dinner? That’s bullshit! I haven’t had to buy my own dinner since I was 13.”

        The prof turned beet red and just moved on.

        1. pan fried wylie

          Her first sexual assault at 13, so sad.

      2. Spartacus

        A lot of universities nowadays (including mine) have written policies about that. At my school, you can use your own book but you have to give up your royalties from those sales.

        1. trshmnstr

          My engineering profs were the best, either they taught from powerpoints and made the books optional or they taught from a book that was 2 editions old. I paid less for 80% of my undergrad books than my cheapest law school book.

          At law school, they’d make you get the latest edition because a single case was added. Hundreds of dollars for a bunch of cases you could look up using your free student subscriptions to westlaw and lexis. Of course, if the prof had published a textbook, it had to be theirs, it had to be brand spanking new, and you had to get the supplements too.

          1. trshmnstr

            80% of my undergrad books combined

          2. Spartacus

            I don’t require a textbook anymore because I have tons of powerpoints, worked examples, scanned articles, and book excerpts, and I have written my own homework sets. As soon as I get a block of free time I am going to do some short videos to post. Some of my colleagues still use Schaum’s Outlines for certain courses.

            One of the complications now is that a lot of books for intro courses come with a large array of online resources that students (mostly) have come to expect, and if you use an old edition of the book it doesn’t sync well with the updated online content. Then there is the whole matter of access codes for the web sites. Most of the big publishers now will just put a pdf of the textbook on their site and you can just buy an access code that is good for one or two semesters.

            But in general this is one factor that lots of people miss when they talk about the cost of books, especially for intro science/math courses…that it usually includes the cost of a fairly extensive web presence (usually with online homework and quizzes) that requires a lot of care and feeding.

    3. westernsloper

      “Ethical leaders lead by seeing above the short term, above the urgent or the partisan and with a higher loyalty to lasting values, most importantly the truth….

      such as disregarding the short term or urgent dispensation of justice under any given statute, but rather focus on the lasting value one places on their job and the truth that was that Herself was going to be President and should not be bothered with a felony conviction.

  20. Tundra

    I now see where Mike Meyer got the idea for the opening montage of his first Austin Powers movie. Thanks, OMWC! The ’70s were truly groovy.

  21. I believe Kerber is the only Slam winner left in the women’s draw. Great chance for the four players still with a shot at the #1 ranking (Halep, Wozniacki, Svitolina and Plišková). Although, Svitolina could beat Halep in the final and still be a few points short of #1.

    1. Actually, Plišková could beat Wozniacki in the final and still be #2 behind Wozniacki.

  22. Hyperion

    “The guy who assaulted Rand Paul will apparently plead guilty”

    They seemed to have forgotten in that article that the guy is being charged with felony assault?

    Rand Paul’s neighbor being charged with felonly assault

    To the left the motive is justificiation, if the motive is that Paul is a creepy libertarian.

    I see that the site styles are still fubar.

    1. Old Man With Candy

      Yeah, SP is in full fury about the “updates” that were done with zero regard to the WordPress users.

      1. leonadasiv

        I had a site for work that had an update that would kill it. Every time we would tell them, please don’t update the site, but everytime they would.

      2. Hyperion

        I’m not familiar with WordPress, did the update overwrite the CSS? Is there a custom override?

        1. Old Man With Candy

          I don’t pretend to understand any of this, SP is the genius here, I just do what she tells me to make articles work, but she said something about problems with the provider of themes updating something. Whatever the hell that means, there were a lot of “fucks,” which is the only part I understood.

          1. Hyperion

            Yeah, it sounds like an update overwrote the CSS files. SP should look to see if there is a custom override to stop it from doing that in the future. Typically, with a product like this where you get updates from the vendor of the product, you will have the main style sheets, then you will either have a custom.css in the same folder as the main style sheet(s), which you can use to override the styles to protect it from being overwritten by an update, or you’ll have a custom folder that has the custom stylesheets in it.

            I had the same thing happen to me once, so I spent the next couple of days writing CSS in the custom override.

          2. Tres Cool

            This place is a veritable cornucopia of knowledge, wit, and wisdom. Why just last evening, even 18 beers into a 30-pack, viewing Glibs through 1 eye, I learned what CSS is.

          3. dbleagle

            Combat Service Support?

      3. DEG

        Yeah, SP is in full fury about the “updates” that were done with zero regard to the WordPress users.

        Ye Ole Fix It Until It Is Broken?

  23. Rufus the Monocled

    I think you guys will enjoy Jordan Peterson in full form here taking on one of the BBC’s finest thinkers. I had to pause it every couple of minutes because I wanted to grab her by the hair and scream, “IT’S NOT WHAT HE SAID OR SAYING! THINK….YOU KNOW, THINK!”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcjxSThD54

    “So what you’re saying is….”

    /slap!

    1. I think you need to tell this to the people in Oregon.

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        Why?

        1. I was riffing on the video having been posted multiple times already.

          “I’m from Canada. They think I’m slow, eh?”

          1. Rufus the Monocled

            It was?

            Sorry!

          2. PieInTheSKy

            Warty made a rare apearance to post it

          3. westernsloper

            I hadn’t seen it Rufus so I appreciate the link. Some of us have to work and only get to Glib on weekends.

    2. Gordilocks

      I watched that the other night.

      It’s a real disgrace to the BBC that this lady, who does nothing but misrepresent Peterson’s position, is given a prime time interview slot.

      The MSM can’t be expected to suck Peterson’s dick, but at the same time, deliberate hatchet jobs seem to be the only treatment he gets at their hands.

      As of Thursday night, that vid on YouTube had over one million views, and was already the eighth highest watched segment of all of BBC 4’s content on YouTube. Not bad for a show only online for a couple of days – the other top ten shows on their YT list had been up for 200 days+ or even years. Peterson is a phenomenon.

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        True. But I did want to adjust the shirt collar for 30 minutes.

        There was a part in the interview that was incredible when he said he wasn’t going to bow down to radical leftists on speech.

        He’s a phenomenon because he represents the voice of reasoned people. The strange (and arrogant part) is she presented her side as if theirs is rooted in fact and shifted the burden of proof onto him. In fact, he’s the one with science on his side.

        I loved when he told her curtly and sternly in response to her pathetic ‘what gives you the right?’, ‘I’m a clinical psychologist!”

        She was refusing to understand his nuanced explanation for the ‘pay gap’ and kept interrupting him. It was very disruptive.

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          On the bright side, he dismantled her without losing his cool. No one is going to take her seriously ever again.

          It’s unfortunate that there are a number of idiots who did this afterwards. “YOU’RE NOT HELPING”

          1. Broswater

            I’ll believe it when we get examples of the said abuses.

            The left is really quick to play the victim card when they lose face.

            Saying someone is an annoying cunt when someone acts like an annoying cunt is not abuse. It’s a statement of truth.

            Now if she received physicals threats it’s definitively unwarranted. But as always, you have to believe them on their words because they sure as hell are not going to give you any proofs of that.

            But hey, let’s all punch nazis in the face. #Ibelieveher

        2. PieInTheSKy

          I mean i am not exactly 100% woth peterson but he is very good at arguing. Most non leftiea are somewhat not able to respond clearly to strawmen and changing the subject but he hamdlea it well

    3. Hyperion

      She can’t understand what the guy is saying, so she tries to turn it around into something very simple that she can understand. It’s very clear she cannot understand his thinking, it’s beyond her cognitive ability.

      1. westernsloper

        She is just projecting her predetermined opinions onto what he says, which at one point he points out that that is what many people do concerning what he says, and then she immediately projects her views to interpret what he has said. I am not sure she is dumb as dog shit, but she sure as fuck does not want to have a conversation unless it confirms her predetermined opinion.

        1. Gilmore

          The, “So what you’re saying is, ____________” thing is one of the cheapest tactics there is,

          and its the only form of argument many who lean left know: simply take the worst possible interpretation of every phrase, and make your that’s what your audience hears. Erase every attempt at nuance, and ensure the ‘debate’ remains a cartoonish parody.

          the side benefit is that after 10 minutes of this, any normal man would be driven into a rage of frustration, and would likely say, “look you dumb cunt”, and would instantly lose the debate, because losing calm is seen as ‘aggressive and threatening’ in men… but when women get shrill and angry its generally seen as “positive and authentic and honest”.

          Its a trap.

          The phrase ‘intellectual dishonesty’ is something constantly on my lips over the past 5 years or so. Our society has become so steeped in shitty sophistry and bullshit ‘idea herding’ (e.g. the sort of stuff where every opinion is either SJW or Alt-Right, because if you’re not with us, you’re the enemy! You’re an ‘apologist’ for trump) that almost no one has a single conversation which isn’t riddled with cheap rhetorical ploys.

          they work! why not use them? because no one cares about truth, or whether x argument is better than y argument. they care about looking the right way to the right people.

          1. Gilmore

            Yeah, i liked it better when they were just plain old “straw-men”.

          2. Gilmore

            the ‘reframing’ thing, if i recall, included a bit more than just the ‘cynical distortion of the other person’s position’ and included a lot more value-associating stuff, where you tarted up various policy-positions or lines of arguments with feels-based ideas/adjectives.

            Lakoff’s frustration was that the Right had – intentionally or not – come to own terms like “Freedom” and “opportunity” etc, and that Republicans sold things like “tax cuts” with these basic positive ideas.

            His innovation was in helping democrats spin, “not-taking as giving” – IOW, that “tax cuts” were “giveaways to the rich!” and “subsidies for corporations!”. And that higher-taxes and redistribution and minimum wage increases *liberated* people by providing the ‘middle class’ real benefits.

            meaning, reframing was more a form of qualifying arguments rather than completely obscuring them. at least that was what id gathered from the few articles i’d read about his schtick.

          3. egould310

            That’s creepy. Thanks for writing that. It’s a valuable lesson to remain clear in thinking and speaking. And don’t let these creeps twist your ideas and words into knots.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Would… lose your life savings and your house.

      She’s got the cray-cray look.

      1. MikeS

        For sure. It’s not just a “bad picture” situation. In every one of those photos she looks like she is thinking about her favorite Hasenpfeffer recipe.

        1. westernsloper

          Whatever. She can use my kitchen any day.

    2. Gordilocks

      While on her journey she discovers she has supernatural powers which she must learn to harness in order to achieve her goals.

      ‘Supernatural Powers’

      Mmmmmmm

      1. Private Chipperbot

        Stripping is a talent, not a power.

        1. RBS

          I guess you’ve never seen the atm at a strip club at 3am.

    3. Mr Lizard

      “Would”

      Ha ha, she is totally one of ours. Those new gen 6 mammal infiltration suits are pretty sweet. Don’t worry though that Reptile Overlord is totally female (and even hotter in her native form)

      1. juris imprudent

        So, scaly on the inside.

        1. Mr Lizard

          Nope, the gen 6 has nano-formed inserts. It actually has a lot of options…the intergalactic sex toy trade exploded as a result of exposure to your culture.

    4. PieInTheSKy

      Very brave of you

  24. Gordilocks

    I’ll see your ‘poop knives’ and raise you some high capacity piss jugs.

    1. Rufus the Monocled

      Bubbles was the park’s conscience and voice of reason.

      1. Gordilocks

        Drink!

  25. Gordilocks

    Also speaking of ‘poop knives’, this is the most libertarian story ever.

    1. Count Potato

      Good find. She’s funny.

    2. Twitter is pretty customizable, so I get most of what I want out of it. Unfortunately, I get a lot of Hollywood politics because I follow a lot of writers and directors, but ignore that stuff.

      As for the shadow-banning, that’s regrettable but they’re a private company.

  26. The Late P Brooks
    1. Hyperion

      I’m not even sure what he’s trying to say there, but knowing Klein, he must be trying to say that China looks very appealing right now compared to the US, because whatever Trump is doing is far worse than just killing 10,000 protesters. I mean, what… Trump has killed millions so far by just tweeting, right?

      1. Hyperion

        Oh, and I forgot about the 10s of millions who are going to die soon from tax cuts.

        1. Akira

          I have actually heard this reasoning used before:

          Trump wants to deport illegal immigrants.

          Illegal immigrants are housed in ICE detention facilities.

          Conditions in ICE detention facilities can be bad, and people have died before.

          Trump wants to put foreigners in facilities where people die sometimes.

          Therefore, Trump is exactly like Hitler.

      2. Scruffy Nerfherder

        China looks appealing because… who the fuck knows? It’s Little Tommy Friedman level stupid.

        1. Hyperion

          Obama did say that it’s easier to govern there. I mean, I see what he’s saying. If the peasants get out of line, you just disappear them or run over them with tanks, easy peasy. If the USA was more like China, we would have appreciated dear leader more, or else.

        2. Heroic Mulatto

          What I believe he’s saying is that most cultures/societies value “stability” and “order” over things like “freedom” and “liberty”, which is true. Unfortunately, I believe he’s saying that we should value the former over the latter as well.

    2. Ugh – some of the comments… Trumpity-Trump-Trump is da devil. He really has gotten into their head, hasn’t he?

      1. Hyperion

        Trump lives in their heads and there’s not much room up there. He just got Pelosi and Schumer to shut down the government, lol!

    3. Atanarjuat

      I’m not sure which is a reply to which, but Klein released a video recently saying “I never knew this, it turns out slow drivers should stay out of the left lane!”. Truly an un-self-aware Prince of Derp.

      1. Raven Nation

        Wasn’t Klein the one who referred to the Constitution as being, “like, a hundred years old.” There are at least two things wrong with that statement.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    If Ford really wants to make me hate them, all they have to do is put an end to the WRC program

  28. The Late P Brooks

    I guess you’ve never seen the atm at a strip club at 3am.

    Ewwwwww…

    1. Mr Lizard

      “Out of service”

  29. *grumble* *grumble*

    Day off and get woken up by work calling because someone rebooted the production database server. they were supposed to be rebooting a different frame as part of a migration. At least it’s all back up and running now.

    *grumble*

    “Good enough” is not good enough.

    1. Lachowsky

      I thought you got shutdown today. You shouldn’t have any work to do.

  30. Nephilium

    And today I must suffer by going down to a meadery with the girlfriend, then hitting up a couple of Akron breweries. One of the reasons for the trip? The girlfriend want’s to try this.

    /tries to avoid the gaze of the neutral

    1. Hyperion

      I never had mead until about a year ago, I bought some made here:

      Charm City Meadworks

      The stuff will put a serious buzz on you. I bought the dry one. I thought you are supposed to just drink it like beer, but it’s 12% ABV. I got a little drunk. Not something I would drink every day, but I liked it.

      1. Nephilium

        Yeah… meads can run from session strength up to wine strength, and from dry to sweet. The biggest downside is that due to honey prices, it’s expensive. The girlfriend prefers the sweet meads, while I prefer dry. I’m hoping that Hoppin’ Frog still has some bottles of their Happy New Year’s Eve 2018 still available.

        1. Hyperion

          I definitely prefer dry. My wife drinks mostly sweet wines and I can have maybe one glass and no more. I’m not a fan of any sweet alcohol.

    2. Mr Lizard

      I rather miss-read your first sentence, and was going to make a reptile joke about having to lick it first. Then I sipped more coffee and it came into focus…and Meade is an abomination and 2nd sign of peakMicrowBrew

    3. juris imprudent

      I’m whipping up a batch of chili for a contest at a local microbrew. Hey Hyperion – Gunpowder Falls Brewing today, 3 to 7!

      1. Hyperion

        Man, that looks tempting. Unfortunately for today, I already have a date with wife to do much less interesting things, so won’t make it up to Possumberry today. The Pils and Marzen looks interesting.

        1. juris imprudent

          I had a pint of their Christmas Bock left over in my growler that I used in the chili.

    4. MikeS

      Ooohhh, yeeeeeaaaah!

      1. Nephilium

        Their description of the mead:

        OH YEAH! This is the Macho Mead Berry Savage, right here, coming at you from the one and only home of Modern Mead. Can you feel the currant coursing through these berrylicious veins? Black currant, raspberries and strawberries are what I’m talkin’ about. I’m talkin’ about the undisputed world heavyweight mead champion right now! You think you have what it takes to handle the Macho Mead? Come and get it! Oh Yeah!

        1. MikeS

          I have a bit of a sweet-tooth when it comes to wine, so I think I might like this. And the Macho Man shtick is kinda funny, too.

          I had a brief foray into mead making back when I was home brewing. It wasn’t too bad, however they turned out drier than I cared for. And hi-test. Wow, you could really taste the alcohol. They weren’t too bad with a little 7-Up or something, tho.

    5. *squints suspiciously*

      I like mead – but not fruited up. Dry or with a faint cinnamon or the like.

      1. Nephilium

        My favorite local meadery did a lot of fruited ones that were dry and slightly tart instead of sweet. Unfortunately, they weren’t big sellers, and they’ve had to contract their distribution footprint a lot. The closest place to me that sells their stuff is about 40 minutes away.

  31. Scruffy Nerfherder

    That whole thread is a goldmine of proggie hot takes on political theory.

    Personally, I think the federal government ought to rejigger state borders every couple years ust on general principle. Remind them that they’re just lines drawn on a map and not anything real.

    Of course, Sadbeard weighs in

    Correct answer: Proportional representation and a unicameral legislature.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      @Potato

    2. kbolino

      Personally, I think the federal government ought to rejigger state borders every couple years ust on general principle. Remind them that they’re just lines drawn on a map and not anything real.

      Because gerrymandering wasn’t bad enough already.

      Proportional representation and a unicameral legislature

      Untrammeled legislative power exercised by a group of people with no direct constituents to answer to. What could possibly go wrong?

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        I used to think Yglesias was the dumbest political commentator of note, but he and Klein have inspired a whole generation of morons with internet connections, inflated egos, and no capacity for introspection. We’re in the dark ages of critical thought.

    3. Remind them that they’re just lines drawn on a map and not anything real.

      Ask Toledo, Ohio.

  32. Count Potato

    “Babe Turns a Movement Into a Racket

    The website made a name for itself by going after Aziz Ansari, and now it’s hurting the momentum of #MeToo.

    Predictably, the piece drove huge traffic to Babe, and visitors who explored the site were exposed to its credo: Babe is created by and for “girls who don’t give a fuck.” Collectively, the articles address what the site suggests are universal conditions of the young female heart, or at least conditions universal to its fans. Unfortunately, many of these shared concerns boil down to an almost exact list of traits which blatantly misogynist websites like Return of Kings have enumerated for years. The Babe girl is manipulative (“Period-Trapping Is the Only Way to Find Out if You’re in a Relationship or Not”); insecure (“You Should Be Secretly Looking Through Your Partner’s Phone”); addicted to drama (“We Pranked Our Exes and Asked Them to Be Our New Year’s Kiss and It Was a Complete Disaster”); jealous (“You’re Not Paranoid: This Is How to Tell If Someone Else Is Closing In on Your Man”); and obsessed with alternately fawning over and tearing down the female celebrities she idolizes and envies (“Amber Rose’s Plastic Surgery Is Absolutely a Feminist Statement”; “Sorry, but Kendall Jenner Can’t Model for Shit”).

    Like many news and information websites created by young women, Babe publishes many stories on sexual assault. But unlike most other such outfits, it also runs stories about the pleasure of rape fantasies. Feminists have fought for years to keep the notion of rape fantasy as far as it could possibly get from actual reports of sexual assault. But those were feminists who gave a fuck. Babe gleefully, witlessly runs angry pieces about sexual assault as part of the same cotton-candy pink, swirling galaxy as the ones that describe the pleasures of fantasizing about rape. The site has devoted many pixels to explaining to readers how enjoyable and common these fantasies are.

    Babe explains to readers that rape fantasies serve lots of worthy sexual desires: “You want to know you’re wanted” (“A Clinical Psychologist Revealed Why Women Have Rape Fantasies and It’s Totally Fascinating”); “What I like about rape fantasies is the loss of control” (“These Women Revealed Why They’re Into Rape Fantasies”); “It’s all about ‘sexual desirability’” (“There’s a Major Rape Fantasy Sub-Culture Out There That’s Pretty Intense”); “I hear how rape fantasies can be exciting and fun, even for those who have been raped. It’s not an unhealthy expression of sexuality” (“A Sexologist Explains Why Women Have Rape Fantasies”); “I beg him to stop while he carries on fucking me harder and harder. I dig my nails into his back with tears in my eyes and whisper that I want to go home” (“Sex IRL: The Grad Student With Graphic Rape Fantasies”).

    The piece, with its dreamy opening, its pornographic passages, and its tone of aggrieved score-keeping over petty slights—he didn’t offer her the kind of wine she likes—has stirred something in young women.

    But the piece is the almost inevitable consequence of a lifestyle promoted on the website, which enjoins young women to fulfill men’s sexual desires and to— literally—behave whorishly. Or, as a wrap-up of Babe’s 2017 service journalism put it: “You now know how to give life-changing blow-jobs, what it’s like to have rape fantasies, what percent hoe you are based on a scientifically accurate quiz, and how to keep your lipstick on even if your mouth is … otherwise occupied.”

    In such swirls of high emotion and with diffuse goals, social entrepreneurship becomes lucrative. This Ansari episode, for example, has been a huge boon to the girls who don’t give a fuck, as they gleefully tell every reporter who asks them about it. As the writer Kerry Flynn wrote in an essay about the website published in Mashable, “For Babe, Grace’s story was a big break—good for traffic and for the brand.””

    https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/01/how-a-movement-becomes-a-racket/551036/

    1. Hyperion

      “now it’s hurting the momentum of #MeToo”

      Meh, the #MeToo movement is hurting itself, it needs no help. It doesn’t work as intended because the wrong people get ensnared by it. Can’t control the little monster they created. No matter which faction of the left it is, they don’t really think of unintended consequences of their bullshit. If they did, they would remain forever quiet and we’d have to take our orphans off the tear barrel projects. Forge on, comrades!

    2. The Last American Hero

      So essentially it’s like any number of “women’s sites” that alternate between outrage at Duh Patriarchy objectifying women and running articles featuring attractive male actors strutting on the beach.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    As of Thursday night, that vid on YouTube had over one million views

    It’s been linked here at least fifty times.

    NTTAWWT

    1. Rufus the Monocled

      OKAY I DIDN’T KNOW.

      Aaannddd….I’m seeing it go through 2 million views now.

  34. Count Potato

    “Women Are Afraid Men Will Murder Them

    “Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them.” – Margaret Atwood

    A young woman, alias Grace, recently shared a story about her bad night with the comedian Aziz Ansari.

    A lot of people asked, well, why didn’t she leave? Why didn’t she kick him in the balls? Why didn’t she slap him? Why didn’t she… break his finger, a thing we’re supposed to do now, maybe?

    Because by the time women reach sexual maturity, pretty much every woman has learned that you don’t want to make men angry. Ever.”

    http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a15300130/sexual-consent-versus-coercion-aziz-ansari/

    1. juris imprudent

      Well, that pretty much rules out consent, doesn’t it? Because real consent cannot be obtained via coercion, and all men at all times are in a position to kill a woman who disobeys, right?

    2. First girlfriend? Killed her over an argument over the remote.
      Second girlfriend? Killed her because she took a bite out of my waffle.
      Third girlfriend? She parked to close to a truck and got the car door dinged. Had to kill her.
      Fourth girlfriend? Literally Hitler. Had to kill her.
      Fifth girlfriend? Talked to one of my friends. We both killed her.
      Wife? She’s on parole. But I’m thinking of killing her.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        Bitches had it coming, amirite?

      2. The Last American Hero

        Sixth girlfriend? Refused to make me a sammich.

      3. pan fried wylie

        “I SAID, LEGGO. OF. MY. EGGO. BITCH!!111111”

    3. Aziz Ansari is like 5’5″ and maybe 150 soaking wet with boots on. I’ve dated chicks bigger than him. Also, he’s a comedian, not a professional fighter. Who gives a shit if he gets angry?

      1. Lachowsky

        How much bigger?

        1. Pope Jimbo

          Only about an inch, but Nap’s chicks had a lot more girth and that is what is important to him.

          1. Mostly around the chest and upper thigh regions, to be honest, although I did briefly date a chick who was 6’3″ and about 150. Making moves on a chick who’s the same height as you are is an unusual experience when you’re in the 6′ range.

    4. Akira

      pretty much every woman has learned that you don’t want to make men angry. Ever.

      Actually, I’ve met very, very few women who seem to have learned that…

      1. I’d say it’s the opposite. In fact, the more accurate way to explain the behavior of pretty much every woman I’ve ever met would be that they have an absolute, moral certainty that they cannot suffer any negative consequences whatsoever for anything they do. And, at least with regard to most men I’ve met, that’s a safe bet. Jordan Peterson, that bane of feminism, makes a lot of references to the fact that men frequently use violence to resolve conflicts, either directly or indirectly, where women rarely if ever do, and as a result men’s conflicts tend to escalate quickly and resolve quickly, while women’s tend to simmer over time and grow.

        1. Akira

          I think the “women are oppressed” narrative is just one more example of some people living in a bizarro universe where society is a violent patriarchy, Hollywood is racist, and the mainstream media is biased against Democrats.

    5. JaimeRoberto

      If that’s the case, then maybe she shouldn’t be alone with him in his apartment.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    “Good enough” is not good enough.

    Not even for government work?

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Babe is created by and for “girls who don’t give a fuck.” Collectively, the articles address what the site suggests are universal conditions of the young female heart, or at least conditions universal to its fans. Unfortunately, many of these shared concerns boil down to an almost exact list of traits which blatantly misogynist websites like Return of Kings have enumerated for years.

    [insert expostulation of astonishment and disbelief]

    1. Count Potato

      The oldest person working at Babe is 25.

    2. Just Say’n

      “All staff at Babe are two abortions away from dying alone. Girl power!”

      1. *prolonged and thunderous ovation*

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Second girlfriend? Killed her because she took a bite out of my waffle.

    The very quintessence of “justifiable homicide”.

  38. Count Potato

    “Russia-linked Twitter accounts are working overtime to help Devin Nunes and WikiLeaks

    Republican lawmakers are pushing for the House Intelligence Committee to release a memo written by the panel’s chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, that outlines purported surveillance during the transition period against President-elect Donald Trump by former President Barack Obama’s administration.

    And Russia-linked Twitter bots have jumped on the bandwagon.

    #ReleaseTheMemo is the top-trending hashtag among Twitter accounts linked to Russian influence operations, according to Hamilton 68, a website launched last year that says it tracks Russian propaganda in near-real time.”

    http://www.businessinsider.com/release-the-memo-campaign-russia-linked-twitter-accounts-2018-1

    1. Just Say’n

      “Hamilton 68 tags all accounts that oppose war, support government transparency, and are not deemed ‘wine’s as Russian bots”

      1. Just Say’n

        *woke*

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      As Twitter goes, so goes the nation

    3. leonadasiv

      Russia is a scam! Russia doesn’t even exist!

    4. Gilmore

      This “russia” thing is frightening proof that all you need to do is repeat something long enough and everyone starts pretending its real.

    5. Tacit Rainbow

      The spin is pretty pathetic on this one.

  39. Atanarjuat

    Ok, maybe someone is trying to push the “guy wasn’t another deranged Bernie supporter” angle. No, Rand Paul was just at the center of some really weird goings-on. Check out the name of the second cocktail.

    1. Hyperion

      Lefties don’t care about actual facts or truths. Their entire effort is to control the narrative. It’s not possible to outright sell a failed ideology to people, so you just create a false narrative and push it.

  40. Just Say’n

    The Democrats shut down the government? What the fuck, I love Democrats now!

    1. Hyperion

      It’s ok when they do it. Just like they care about deficits now. The fact that everyone is not laughing at them makes me sad.

    2. Lachowsky

      I wish they would call it something else. The government is not even close to being shutdown. Call it what it is-

      A slight reduction in government workers who were doing shit nobody needed done anyway.

      1. commodious spittoon

        And will collect backpay when the theatrics are over.

        1. Gustave Lytton

          ^this^^^. No pay for no work.

  41. Pope Jimbo

    ICE are a bunch of big meanies!

    Local rag runs a story about a bakery closing. Blames it all on ICE.

    According to one report, the wholesale bakery closed not out of financial mismanagement or on an owner’s whim. The bakery had become aware Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was planning to audit the bakery “as well as its employees” — 10 of whom promptly quit out of fear, according to WCCO.

    The problem is that ICE denied that it had anything to do with it and the bakery owner hasn’t given any reason for the closing at all. It seems to be based all on a statement by one of the bakery’s customers.

    The rub seems to be that St. Paul and Mpls are supposed to be sanctuary cities and how can the Feds be such jerks and do their jobs anyhow?

    1. Hyperion

      The Democrats have to know that illegal immigration is a loser as an issue. They’re just desperate to get a lot of new permanent Democrat voters. Look at their pantsshitting desperation over DACA.

      1. trshmnstr

        This is why giving DACA kids legal status without a path to citizenship fucks the Dems so bad. It takes away their most favorable talking point without giving them a new base of voters. It also ingratiates hispanics to the GOP.

        1. Count Potato

          I still don’t see the point in not giving the DACA kids a path to citizenship.

          1. You get more of what you reward, and less of what you punish?

          2. RAHeinlein

            Re: “DACA kids” – from Pew Research:

            29% are ages 16-20 and 37% are ages 21-25. About a quarter (24%) are ages 26-30, while one-in-ten (11%) are ages 31-36.

            Not disagreeing with your comment, purely informational.

          3. westernsloper

            Because as a a citizen I would go to jail for ignoring something as trivial as parking laws if I tore up all the tickets I received over ten years? Why should illegal aliens get to break immigration law and be rewarded with citizenship? We already did that under Reagan.

            Due to the majority of them coming over as children I am ok with permanent legal status but not citizenship. Trash is right, it blows the doors off the progressive talking point. Is the goal to save these kids from certain death should they have to return to their home countries, or is the goal signing up new voters?

          4. Count Potato

            The goal of immigration is to integrate immigrants.

          5. westernsloper

            Ok, well, there is a whole system for that and while slow and cumbersome like all things ran by the Government it does work. I think just granting a million + (by some claims) people who jumped the line get citizenship is a really bad idea. If I was in that line or went through that line I would be pissed they are even considering citizenship for DACA folk. Permanent legal status is a rational compromise imho.

        2. Gustave Lytton

          Ten years from now it’ll be legalized DACAees have been here long enough. They’re American. Time to allow them to become Americans. Along with sob story profiles of DACAees crying because they can’t be citizens like their kids.

      2. Any other Republican President wouldn’t have had the stones to stand his ground on this. Congress was already lying supine on the issue, it was only Trump that exposed the Dems’ hypocrisy.

  42. Count Potato

    “People like me had to wade through a sea of prehensile dicks to build the world we now enjoy.”

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/26111/watch-samantha-bee-tears-metoo-backlash-her-ben-shapiro

    1. MikeS

      “watch-samantha-bee” in the link was enough for me to not click that link.

      1. Nephilium

        #metoo

    2. Stinky Wizzleteats

      She’s a pseudo comedian and a pseudo political analyst with a take on every story she covers that you can see coming from a mile away. Of the late night comedians, or whatever the hell time her show airs, she’s the absolute worst.

      1. You might say, she’s the Nick Gillespie of late night comedians.

      2. westernsloper

        a take on every story she covers that you can see coming from a mile away.

        I think she employs the laziest lacking wit writers in all of TV. It does play to a certain segment of the population though. The ex-girlfriend was a big Sam B fan. Single middle aged women who get their news from late night comedy and NPR is the target audience and it seems to work.

      3. kbolino

        Jon Stewart, the guy who called out Crossfire for being vapid and corrosive of the public discourse, has managed to foist an entire generation of vapid, corrosive idiots onto the boob tube. I wonder if he has the self-awareness to feel shame over it?

        1. trshmnstr

          Nope, that is what makes him successful, a complete lack of shame

  43. The Late P Brooks

    “watch-samantha-bee” in the link was enough for me to not click that link.

    Umm, yeah. “No fucking way” was my instantaneous response.

  44. Rhywun

    It’s been a day or two between poops

    I think I’ve spotted the problem that family has.

    1. Y’know, it’s all easier for me since I started thinking of CNN as The Onion.

  45. My cat just puked right in front of me so I can’t think of anything clever to say here.

    http://archive.is/P9ogV

    6, 9, 10, 11, 15, 17, 19, 30, 33, 42

    1. MikeS

      Even your pussy can’t handle how incredible this lineup is?

      1. RAHeinlein

        Not clicking, but that was funny.

        1. MikeS

          Thanks. I’ll be here all weekend. Be sure to tip your waitress.

    2. Gustave Lytton

      Too much hairy pussy in 22.

    3. westernsloper

      Holy moses #40. Where do I get one of those phone cases?

  46. The Late P Brooks

    Stick it up your ass

    Shortly after the deadline passed, however, the vote ended, and the recriminations began. The White House issued an immediate statement blaming Democrats and Schumer in particular, vowing not to negotiate an immigration deal until Democrats agreed to reopen the government.

    “Senate Democrats own the Schumer Shutdown,” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. “Tonight, they put politics above our national security, military families, vulnerable children, and our country’s ability to serve all Americans. We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands. This is the behavior of obstructionist losers, not legislators. When Democrats start paying our armed forces and first responders we will reopen negotiations on immigration reform. During this politically manufactured Schumer Shutdown, the president and his administration will fight for and protect the American people.”

    “We’re all gonna die.”

  47. Count Potato

    https://twitter.com/clairlemon/status/954591235309580289

    Q is for Quillette? It all makes sense now.

    1. I tried to follow the Twatter thread on that and could not understand who was defending what side, or even what point anyone was trying to make.

      1. MikeS

        #metoo

        1. “The only three things I believe in are the First Amendment, boobs and WikiLeaks.” Throw AR-15s in there sweetheart and I’m in love.

  48. The Late P Brooks

    Erin Burnett is a brainless twat.

  49. http://www.aellagirl.com

    Linked yesterday. I encourage everyone to visit this blog; the quality of writing and thought is way above what I’d normally expect for a mid-20s former camgirl/porn actress. On top of that, the NSFW pics under the “modeling” tab are certainly thought provoking.

    1. RAHeinlein

      “…the thing I’m speeding towards is “being able to afford a 100% soylent diet.””

      Thanks for the link – I missed yesterday.

    2. MikeS

      I only clicked that link for the articles.

    1. Too nice for what?

    2. Gustave Lytton

      THE harrowing moment a woman was groped and slapped by a complete stranger has been caught on her apartment’s CCTV.

      Really? Harrowing? Good thing Australia keeps their subjects unarmed and afraid.

      1. ” and slapped by a complete stranger”

        Misread this and thought she slapped him and thought “Problem solved.”

  50. whiz

    When I first hovered over the tapeworm article link, I thought it said “512 foot long tapeworm”. Yikes!

  51. totally_not_an_escaped_ai

    So, for the picture at the top, why are two hipsters out in a wheat field making artisanal organic wedding bouquets? I don’t get it…

    /left coaster

  52. Count Potato

    “Amazon’s Alexa is now a feminist, and she’s sorry if that upsets you

    As recent headlines highlight, sexism thrives in and beyond every industry. It’s no secret that in the US and most nations, women are systemically paid less than men, and are significantly more likely to experience sexual harassment and assault at and outside of work. These injustices only intensify for women of color and women working low paid jobs. And nowhere is workplace sexual harassment more rampant and under-acknowledged than in service industries, where the vast majority of servers are women.

    The creators of voice assistants like Alexa are in a powerful position to counteract these norms. As of 2016, Amazon had sold 20 million Alexas, and in the 2017 holiday season alone, conservative estimates suggest Amazon sold 20 million more Echo Dots (Alexa’s mini-me). What’s more, Siri, who is preset to a woman’s voice, sits in the pockets of over one billion people worldwide.

    Imagine what so many voice assistants could do to counteract harassment behavior if companies like Amazon were not only willing to irk sexist users, but, by actually correcting them, make them angry.”

    https://work.qz.com/1180607/amazons-alexa-is-now-a-feminist-and-shes-sorry-if-that-upsets-you/

    1. Gustave Lytton

      “Alexa, go fuck yourself”

      1. RBS

        “I am not equiped to do that.

    2. Fuck you Amazon, like I’d let a spy in my house in the first place.

      1. The Last American Hero

        *typed from Q’s smarttotallynotaspyphone

        1. I have a dumb phone! HA!

    3. Rhywun

      Disabling Siri was the first thing I did on my latest phone and computer. Zero use for it whatsoever.

      1. The Last American Hero

        You think toggling a “button” shut it off? How cute!

        *adjusts tin-foil tricorn hat

    4. That would be an interesting experiment, as millions of users return electronic devices that don’t function as advertised.

    5. Scruffy Nerfherder

      This time last year, Alexa, Amazon’s in-home digital assistant, embodied female subservience. I know this because I spent weeks harassing her—along with Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Google’s Home—with every sexually suggestive insult I could think of. I wanted to see if she or the other bots would stand up for themselves.

      The results, reported in a Feb. 2017 Quartz feature, were disheartening at best. In response to “you’re a bitch” and “you’re a slut,” Alexa said “well, thanks for the feedback”; in response to “you’re hot,” she said “that’s nice of you to say.”

      Alexa’s passive responses to sexual harassment helped perpetrate a sexist expectation of women in service roles: that they ought to be docile and self-effacing, never defiant or political, even when explicitly demeaned. Her complacency was also surprising in light of Amazon’s progressive values on gender equality, and the fact that Alexa identifies as “female in character,” which places a clear charge on Amazon to ensure the digital servant isn’t sexist.

      Author asserts facts not in evidence and is generally an idiot.

    6. “It’s no secret that in the US and most nations, women are systemically paid less than men”

      It’s no secret that this claim has been proven wrong about 2^3000 times, but don’t let that stop you from repeating it.

      1. kbolino

        “systematically”

        You keep using that word…

      2. topnotchtoledo

        My response is why would any corp not just hire women and lower their costs by 20-30%.

    7. wdalasio

      Imagine what so many voice assistants could do to counteract harassment behavior if companies like Amazon were not only willing to irk sexist users, but, by actually correcting them, make them angry.

      Essentially nothing, since Amazon and any other company trying this idiocy would quickly lose market share to competitors who didn’t feel the need to sacrifice multi-billion dollar projects on the altar of social justice virtue signaling.

  53. The Late P Brooks

    Quiet please- genius at work

    The group Amazon seems to regard as its hiring pool, college graduates younger than 40, leans heavily Democratic. In the 2016 election, the national network exit poll found 56 percent of them voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton vs. 35 percent for Trump.

    But will there be enough of them working at Amazon’s new headquarters to swing any states? Let’s try running some numbers.

    Amazon will draw a vast number of super-intelligent, super-woke Democrats to its new HQ2, altering the electoral landscape.

    Talk about grasping at straws.

    1. If they weren’t so evil, I’d pity them.

    2. The Zenome Project

      North Carolina actually used to be a deeply blue state, particularly at the state government level. An Amazon HQ in Raleigh would pretty much keep the political environment as status quo, since there seems to be an equal movement of old-school Democrats turning away from the party, conservative tax migrants from upstate NY/MA, and tech proggies moving in all sort of balancing each other out.

    3. kbolino

      And of course Amazon will be hiring a random sample of college graduates under 40 and will apply no selection criteria whatsoever, so this is a 100% appropriate use of statistics.

    4. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Must be a Sadbeard protege

    1. Heroic Mulatto

      Considering it’s fiat money, he’s got a point.

  54. One might almost be tempted to conclude that being a porn star is not a healthy life choice…

    http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/20/porn-star-olivia-lua-becomes-fifth-adult-actress-die-three-months-7244840/

    1. Pope Jimbo

      She’ll be fine once Jesus cums again

      1. “In the words of the Virgin Mary, ‘come again?’”

  55. Count Potato

    “Fake social media accounts pretending to be chicken nuggets and ice-cream are being set up by paedophiles to lure primary school kids.

    One sex offender even pretended to be a ROAD outside a girls’ secondary school to entice teen students to accept his friend request.”

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/fake-social-media-accounts-pretending-11175055

    1. The Last American Hero

      Old Man with Chicken Nuggets doesn’t have the same ring to it.

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      First question is why would anyone let their elementary school kids post anything on the internet, particularly social media?

      1. pan fried wylie

        2nd question, who Friends a ROAD?

        1. Akira

          Not libertarians, that’s for sure!

  56. J. Frank Parnell

    Speaking of tapeworms, here’s a funny story by a guy who got a tapeworm in Belgium.

    1. Rhywun

      *shudder*

      I too have ordered “steak tartare” by mistake. I took like two bites and pouted, too embarrassed to send that shit back.

      Also, my distaste for sushi is now more validated than ever.

      1. Suthenboy

        Take a gander at this:

        https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/images/articles/286/286166/tapeworm-scolex.jpg

        Next time you might be able to overcome your embarrassment.

        Invertibrate Zoology 4001 changed my life.

        1. Rhywun

          lolbarf

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Logic for Dummies People Who Never Made It Past 8th Grade Emotionally

    2. F. Stupidity Jr.

      That girl is 100% against racism, and thinks it’s disgusting. We should be grateful that people out there saying the things the rest of us are afraid to say.

  57. Gustave Lytton

    Government is just the things we shutdown together.

    /I wish

    1. Actually, if government is just the things we decide to do together, and we decide to stop doing them together, government goes away, right? Otherwise, government would be something else, something compulsory involving threats of force, for instance. Compulsion, one might say, which is the opposite of the spontaneous cooperation implied by Rep. Frank’s incredibly retarded saying.