Monday(?) Afternoon Links — Now with More Government

Monday? Is it still only Monday? I worked until about 3am (to be fair, I didn’t really get fired up until 8pm) and was up getting kids ready before 6:00. I think it’s Monday, and I hope this is the Glibertarians Afternoon Links slot. If this is the company wiki, I’m about to be out of a jerb.

Dems realize that nobody gives a shit that the Federal Government “closed”, agree to end closure. My neighbors across the street just had a baby last week and grandma got an extra day with her daughter and new grandson out of this.

I was rooting for this ending

This is pretty much everything I think about the modern US Navy. It’s a long way from “We’ll cross a frozen river on Christmas to kill you in your sleep.”*

*Technically not the Navy, but given that material…

Oh joy, Wonder Woman 2… THAT’S NOT FUNNY!! (may not be the actual subtitle). As someone pointed out, the first movie was basically Captain America, pushed back a war — probably to prevent a lawsuit — with a woman so beautiful that she lowers male IQ 30 points and men didn’t care. I don’t know if that’s going to work for a second feature-length film

Since we have lots of cooking nerds and history nerds, here is a nerd who recreates historical food.

 

This is basically what my head has sounded like all day.

Comments

571 responses to “Monday(?) Afternoon Links — Now with More Government”

  1. Ooh, more site changes.

    1. Tonio

      Having the commenting policy, etc, in the posts instead of just on the top page is no bueno. This horizontally compresses the posts and comments making the posts more difficult to read and multiply-nested comments will get real skinny real fast.

      1. Hyperion

        Yep

      2. Bobarian LMD

        Do you have something against skinny?

        1. Tonio

          Why,
          no,
          Bob-
          arian,
          I
          don’t.
          Why
          would
          you
          think
          that?

      3. JUST A MINOR SIDEBAR ERROR. NOTHING TO SEE HERE. MOVE ALONG, CITIZENS!

        1. Tonio

          And now it’s gone. Thanks, SP. Please don’t cat-butt me.

          1. Playa Manhattan

            It’s almost like you’re asking for a regular butt.

        2. We’re not citizens, we’re Eidgenossen.

    2. Brett L

      Sorry, everyone. That was my bad.

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        I rather likes the changes. Keeps me awake.

  2. Tres Cool

    I like how they framed the “shutdown” as a “fight”. As if it wasn’t just pageantry and theater.

    1. Kabuki, no less.

      1. Bobarian LMD

        I was thinking more like an old school porn theatre in Time Square, with trench coats, and something landing in your hair.

        1. Tres Cool

          +1 hole in the popcorn bucket joke

    2. Ed Wuncler

      I like the fact that Donald Trump basically called them out on their bullshit and was willing to wage a PR war against the Democrats and media. For far too long the GOP played by the Marquess of Queenbury rules (because they are spineless assholes) while the Democrats pull every dirty trick out of the book. That’s one of the reasons why the establishment hates Trump is because he doesn’t play by their rules and is willing to flaunt them when it suits him.

      1. Semi-Spartan Dad

        ^this exactly

        1. Ed Wuncler

          I also think what’s telling is that the Dems will make all sorts of accusations against the GOP such as wanting old people/children to die, or being anti-woman and other bullshit. But the moment the GOP starts to fight back against those accusations, the media and Left accuse the GOP of playing dirty politics and poisoning the political discourse.

    3. Zunalter

      When your main public facing behavior is bloviation…everything is theater.

  3. Hyperion

    What just happened? Half my screen is gone, I have no room to type!

    1. Tres Cool

      Trump, Russia, or the shutdown. Perhaps a mild case of net neutrality. Take your pick.

      1. hayeksplosives

        It was Russians.

    2. Tonio

      Aliens.

        1. Tres Cool

          I knew it was only a matter of time….

        2. PBRstreetgang

          Illegal Aliens?

  4. This is pretty much everything I think about the modern US Navy.

    When my dad was drafted, the Army found out he was allergic to ragweed, so they sent him to White Sands NM (where he kept the illegal immigrants from getting their hands on the missiles). Dad quickly found out he was allergic to tumbleweed, too.

  5. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Leave the damn ship there. Apparently these things are the biggest waste of moolah since the F-35.

    https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/3125890-littoral-combat-ship-lcs-another-military-boondoggle-waste-of-taxpay

    1. CPRM

      But…but those littoral ships create jobs here in Wisconsin! If they stop buying those ships I have to listen to news stories about those workers complaining that they’re being laid off!

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        They don’t need to worry, they’re junk and the brass knows they’re junk but they’ll churn them out anyway.

    2. Rasilio

      Hey those littoral ships are gonna be the first ones to get lasers

      Boondoggles with friken lasers on their decks

      1. pan fried wylie

        Yo Dawg, we heard you like boondoggles, so we put a boondoggle on your boondoggle.

        #ridepimped

      2. Nah, we’ve already put the lasers on the Landing Platform Docks. Screw the LCS. I’m holding out for FFG MK2. Maybe they’re not pulling the OHP outta mothballs yet, but a two hangar, actual multi-mission ship would be great. – Oh yeah, the DDGs technically do that, but I think we can do something a little cheaper – use the smaller version of Aegis we sold to the Norwegians and Spanish, cut the VLS bank in half (Aussies use a single 8 pack on their old OHP variants). Since a single 8 pack is actually enough for 32 ESSMs….point defense is good enough if you’re not trying to defend the carrier.

        Either way…that’s what you get if you try going through the great lakes in Winter. Who thought that was a good idea?

        1. Left Hand of Radar

          LT: Despite my avatar, some of us don’t speak “military.” What does any of the above MEAN?

          (Just jerkin’ yer yardarm!)

          1. Yeah…I’ll spell things out better in the future. I was in a hurry.

            Basically the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate was a good multi-mission ship (created for Anti-Submarine warfare at the end of the cold war) but extremely versatile (although they removed the missile launcher after 9/11 and outfitted them with 25mm cannons for counter-trans-national crime operations, etc). Two helicopter hangars, torps, CIWS, AAW 76mm gun, etc. Limited redundancy with just one shaft/screw, but you also had the Auxiliary Propulsion Units which were amazing for moving pierside.

            They’re talking about commissioning a new FFG model (Guided Missile Frigate – by the time Perry’s were decommissioned they were technically just FF – no missiles) – researching bids/options right now. They need to look at the designs that have worked and stick with one model. The Arleigh Burke destroyers are great, but more expensive than we need for the multi-mission ship mission (as opposed to Air Defense for the Carrier Battle Group, Anti Ballistic Missiles, etc).

            Australia, Norway, Spain, Japan and Korea have all licensed the Aegis Weapon System (Japan has the Ballistic Missile Defense model too). We could take one of the slimmed down shorter range designed versions and cram that on to a new ship along with just a few of the VLS cells. (Vertical Launch System). The normal DDG has 96 tubes while the Tico Cruisers have 120. If you gave a Frigate 2 or 4 8 cell modules, you could still make up a decent mix of weapons for a single ship, solo deploying mission.

            The other thing is that we seriously need a solid over the horizon (OTH) anti-surface weapon. The harpoon is far too old and out of date, and the newer Chinese and Russian ASCMs (anti-ship cruise missiles) are a serious concern. It should have been a priority a long time ago but just fell off the priority list with the last administration (a lot like the A-10 issues, limited purchases of F-22s, etc).

    3. Drake

      It looks like a smaller, shittier, less sea-worthy version of Leonardo DiCaprio’s yacht.

      Is any foreign county impressed when one of those things sailed into a harbor? When I was in the Marines, we had ships like the New Jersey, and Iowa; 55,000 tons of whoop-ass. Jaws would drop when they passed by.

  6. Bobarian LMD

    Wonder Woman 2 will be first film to officially adopt new #PGA policies on sexual harassment,

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but if I kill all the golfers, they’ll lock me up and throw away the key.

    1. Chipwooder

      The wee furry rodents!

    2. Hyperion

      Will Wonder Woman now wear a pussy hat and battle the Trumputin led patriarchy?

    3. Tres Cool

      +1 fill your bagpipes with wheateana

    4. Bobarian LMD

      And why would an organization with Tiger Woods, Fuzzy Zoeller, and the Master’s Tournament be concerned about harassment?

      /Everybody’s #MeToo?

  7. Gustave Lytton

    with a woman so beautiful that she lowers male IQ 30 points and men didn’t care. I don’t know if that’s going to work for a second feature-length film

    Just reduce the amount of clothing of said star. Problem solved. Where do I pick up my consulting fee?

    1. Tres Cool

      -30 points? Thats scary, cause I dont think I have a lot of room to play with, in the IQ dept.

      1. Number.6

        I didn’t realize you were an Egyptian college graduate!

        1. Tres Cool

          I’m trying to work in “I’m a Phoenix” bit, but getting a head start on the drinking (in celebration of the crisis in DC ending, of course) isnt doing me any favors.

    2. AlmightyJB

      I’d watch her paint a fence.

      1. AlexinCT

        Wax on… wack off?

      2. Bobarian LMD

        Especially the low parts…

        amirite?

        *High fives JB

        1. AlmightyJB

          Hoo ya!

      3. Mad Scientist

        She can come paint my fence anytime, IYKWIMAITYD.

      4. DenverJ

        Lynda Carter showed a lot more cleavage

    3. Count Potato

      “As someone pointed out, the first movie was basically Captain America, pushed back a war — probably to prevent a lawsuit”

      They both fought Nazis in the comic books. Everyone knows the Nazis were evil. First World War Germany was just some country in Europe fighting some other countries in Europe.

      1. Rasilio

        That is what I never got about the WW movie.

        Her origin was ALWAYS in WW2, not WW1 and she always started off fighting the Nazi’s and then later the Commies with Steve Rogers it make absolutely 0 sense for them to change that part of the story

      2. Pan Zagloba

        That’s because her character arc goes from “things are good or evil and I fight them” to “people are fucked up and fuck up regardless of side, and I fight because I’m better than them”. Which, not what I’d choose for a superhero movie, but DC cinematic universe is a place closer in tone to The Watchmen than to their animated shows.

        If the opponents were Nazis, the whole Ares subplot would totally have to be redone. “Oh, you’re providing us with weapons and determination to fight the guys currently exterminating multiple races? Why you villain, you!”

    4. “I don’t know if that’s going to work for a second feature-length film”

      Sorry, but I would watch Gal Gadot do anything for hours.

  8. AlexinCT

    Democrat pollsters reported that despite the campaign to pretend the shutdown happened because the democrats hoped to use it to bully the current administration into basically not doing any kind of immigration reform that would negatively impact their plan to load the country with people that would turn the vote perpetually in their favor, the move remained not just unpopular, but backfired. So they voted to end the shutdown.

    Had a discussion on immigration with a coworker where I pointed out that while immigration 100 years ago only checked for health, nobody worried if the immigrant could work, because the industrial revolution had just started gaining steam and opportunities, especially entry level or low skill work, abounded. That no longer holds true these days where cost is pushing for not just automation, but too many people now come for the handouts instead of the opportunity (regardless of whether they work or not).

    1. Tonio

      “the industrial revolution had just started gaining steam”

      Golf clap.

      1. AlexinCT

        Didn’t like my reference? 🙂

    2. Hyperion

      The Democrat plan is to first get authorization to make these 800,000? ‘dreamers’ citizens so they can vote for Democrats. As soon as that happens, they will suddenly find a few million more of them and argue that they were forgotten and it’s only right to make them citizens also. Once that is accomplished, they will then argue that it’s only right to make the other 10-30 million illegal aliens citizens also. Once that is done, everyone south of our border all the way to Cape Horn will realize that all they have to do is walk across the US border and they will eventually be made a citizen. I don’t see how anyone cannot be concerned about the ramifications of that. Do you know how most of those people vote? Have you had a look at Venezuela lately? I’m not even saying they are bad people, but they have been taught that the government is there to give people free stuff and take care of them. Which sort of makes sense in some of those countries because there are no jobs or opportunities because of them being run by corrupt banana republic leaders since forever. There is nothing good for libertarians in open border immigration. There is nothing good in it for anyone except the corrupt Democrat ruling class.

      1. AlexinCT

        I remember when we wanted the people that came here from all parts of the globe to be part of the great American experiment. People that and would do anything and everything to become Americans and live the American dream. Now we have a political party that wants to give preference to the people that come here specifically because they see these people will change what made those immigrants come to America, and people that think the American dream is free shit paid by other people.

        1. Hyperion

          If you come here legally, you have to prove that you can support yourself, or that someone else will. If you come illegally, you just find a sanctuary city and then choose if you want to work, or just go on the welfare, both of which will probably be a better life than the place you just fled from.

          Let the GOP offer the Democrats a deal where the ‘dreamers’ get permanent residency, but no citizenship and no path to it and right to vote that comes with it. If they want to be citizens, they would need to go back to their country, apply like everyone else and go to the back of the line. See if they go for it. I know that they won’t.

          1. Gustave Lytton

            Even if they did, in ten years, the D’s would be back with how unfair it was to have this permanent group of people unable to become citizens. ‘They’ve lived here their whole lives, they’re Americans.’ Sob stories with young kids saying ‘How come papa isn’t an American like me?’

          2. thepasswordispassword

            In January 1992, Niec was convicted of malicious destruction of property under $100.

            In April of that year, he was convicted of receiving and concealing stolen property over $100 and a financial transaction device.

            Why he wasn’t deported then speaks more to the quagmire of bureaucracy than anything else. Of course he just a wild teen, no big deal.

            Both of the offenses took place when he was a teenager. He associated himself “with some bad people” his sister said. The first of the incidents involved an altercation with a driver after a car crash, Niec’s sister said. He was one of multiple teenagers in the car at the time.

            Definitely people who grow up to become model immigrants. He’s a doctor after all.

            According to Kalamazoo County court records cited by MLive, Niec also pleaded guilty in 2008 to operating impaired by liquor.

            He was also charged with domestic violence in 2013 and a jury found him not guilty after a trial, MLive reported.

            Model immigrant. Of course since he renewed his green card “a few years ago” that means the system shouldn’t be allowed to deport him until the next time he has to renew it right?

            Lucasz Niec had been considering applying for citizenship, particularly after his July 2016 marriage to his current wife, Rachelle Burkart-Niec, who is an American citizen, she told The Post. But with both of their demanding schedules, they had not gotten around to it yet, she said.

            I can’t tell if the Post is trying to assassinate his character with this piece or not. Not to say the guys current situation in immigration court isn’t a nightmare. Particularly given the claim that’s made about parents becoming citizens while a teen that auto-grants to children. But this seems more complaining that he should have been deported and because he wasn’t it’s unfair to finally get around to it. (Never mind that motivated folks could just write him off as a violent, thieving, drunk driving, wife beating pole.)

          3. Hyperion

            That one is sort of odd in many ways. First they said he had 2 misdemeanors 26 years ago, then they admit he had two other issues a lot more recently. It would be surprising that they would detain the guy like this even with that. I’m thinking that there is possibly something more serious going on with this guy that is not being revealed, yet. Also sort of odd that the guy had lived here his whole life, has no connections at all with his former country, yet never applied for citizenship.

          4. Ed Wuncler

            And a lot of immigrants who did things the legal way would get super pissed if they allowed the Dreamers to get instant American citizenship.

            I think our immigration system is fubar but government giving amnesty to individuals who sort of broke the law like I said above creates perverse incentives.

          5. Number.6

            Rewarding criminals never really works, especially when you reward them in a way that effectively retroactively reforms them and eliminates the criminality.

          6. Count Potato

            Let’s not forget these people came over as children. What were they supposed to do? Abandon their parents to stay in their birth country?

          7. Number.6

            I’m speaking in general terms. In the specific case of DREAMers, they were minors and not responsible for the actions of their parents. Given that until recently, a ‘minor’ could get medical treatment based on their parents’ health insurance, you deport the *illegal* immigrants along with their dependents. No blame attaches to the dependents, who are at liberty to apply for residency and subsequent citizenship with no criminal record, should they wish to apply, once they have reached the age of 21, if they haven’t done so already.

          8. Number.6

            And sure, hard cases make bad law. But the reason we have these hard cases is because prior laws weren’t enforced.

            Enforce the laws, or repeal them.

            I’m a bad one to discuss this with as a legal immigrant, legal alien who had to bust his balls to come to the US.

          9. Ed Wuncler

            I know someone who is affected by DACA and they are as American as I am. I’m conflicted because it would be shitty to send them back or not allow them to become citizens unless they start the process from scratch. But I also recognize that we can’t give them amnesty or let them cut in line because it would create a perverse incentive. I don’t know the answer but what I do know, both the GOP and Dems benefit from the current system and won’t change a damn thing.

          10. AlexinCT

            I think these people – if they are not on assistance and are not criminals -should only be given residency, and maybe their parents who did break the law, if they pay a huge fine and prove they are not on any sort of assistance either, can get that too. No anchor relatives allowed. The Dreamer’s kids will have citizenship since they were born here.

            The major issue here with these people is to block them from being democrat voters for a few decades and keep them off the free shit bandwagon.

          11. Hyperion

            If they make these people citizens in line ahead of all the people who have been waiting, sometimes for many years, to do this the legal way, they will have effectively nullified the immigration system. Why would anyone go through the draconian immigration process, when they could just walk right in and wait for their turn to get amnesty?

          12. AlexinCT

            That is what the democrats want. The agenda is to flood the country with people that will change it to a socialist paradise instead of people that want to be Americans and pursue the American dream.

          13. Festus

            Unfair. Wifey is a landed immigrant and still had to jump through hoops to visit her native country. I have a DUI from 1999 that makes it 50/50 whether I’d be allowed into America. I missed my niece’s wedding a coupla years ago because fucked if I was gonna drive 500 miles and get turned away.

          14. Hyperion

            My wife is an immigrant and she hates the idea of illegal immigration. Most people have no idea what a pain in the ass legally immigrating is. I remember sitting on the plane with a guy coming back from Brazil who had married his Colombian wife in 1990. He told me that they just went to the US embassy in Columbia and he said this is my wife. Signed a couple of papers and that was it, he then flew to the US with her in tow. It was not the same story for me in 2010 when I applied for residence for my wife. But a year later it ended happily with us re-united. The thought of these assholes just making a million people instant citizens is fucking infuriating.

      2. Ed Wuncler

        I’m what some may consider to be an open borders guy but I do recognize that granting these so called “Dreamers” outright citizenship creates a perverse incentive to allow more of this shit to happen.

        1. Count Potato

          I still don’t see how (although I’m not arguing for “outright citzenship”, they should have to go through the same process as any one else with permanent residency). A large part of the problem is that the U.S. is terrible at enforcing it’s own immigration laws — poor border security, failure to follow on expired visas, sanctuary city policies, etc. It’s a huge bureaucratic mess. If I remember correctly, the student visas for the 9/11 hijackers were renewed after they died in 9/11.

          1. Ed Wuncler

            If it was up to me, I would most likely give them a green card for 7 years (arbitrary number) and then if they have a clean criminal record they should be able to apply for citizenship. But it would only be offered to those who came here during a certain time period and are defined as Dreamers.

            It’s not perfect but I think what Gustave said above would come true if we didn’t allow them to apply for citizenship.

          2. Hyperion

            Keep in mind, that if they are granted a permanent residency with no conditions, they are eligible to become citizens in 2 years. Then they get to vote, for Democrats. This is the problem, because the Democrats will find millions more ‘dreamers’ and say they get the same benefits. Imagine what happens after that? Everyone south of our border will believe that they’re going to get the same deal if they just bring their children here. Who can sponsor them after becoming citizens. Venezuela do Norte, here we come!

          3. grrizzly

            It is five years for most people, not two years.

          4. Hyperion

            Ok, yeah, I was thinking of marriage visa.

          5. AlexinCT

            The conditions should be they can’t commit any crimes or go on any kind of public assistance, or they lose their path to citizenship.

          6. Gustave Lytton

            And what happens if they do get a criminal record? Or it’s pled down to a misdemeanor and then “expunged”? More sob stories about how they don’t have ties to their country of citizenship and other than XXX, they’re model Americans doing good with a family that loves them.

            If the stick (deportation) is unacceptable now, it will be then.

        2. Chipwooder

          It would make much more sense to give them some kind of permanent resident status but NOT citizenship.

          1. Hyperion

            This. No path to citizenship either. No voting. That’s exactly what the GOP should offer Democrats. The Democrats will not go for it because all that is in it for them is a few million new life time democrat voters, so it will fail and Trump can blame Democrats.

          2. Hyperion

            Oh, and it should be a one time only deal. Then you let potential illegals know that their kids will not be able to remain here and that they could be deported for being in the country illegally.

            Didn’t the GOP do a deal with Democrats once already to give amnesty to millions of illegals and it was a one time deal? And look, here were re back in the same place again, already.

          3. Gustave Lytton

            The 86 amnesty was a one time deal also. That didn’t work either.

          4. thepasswordispassword

            Most of the people writing about this stuff are too young to even know about it.

  9. Juvenile Bluster

    Oh joy, Wonder Woman 2… THAT’S NOT FUNNY!! (may not be the actual subtitle). As someone pointed out, the first movie was basically Captain America, pushed back a war — probably to prevent a lawsuit — with a woman so beautiful that she lowers male IQ 30 points and men didn’t care. I don’t know if that’s going to work for a second feature-length film

    Gal Gadot is beautiful enough that I will watch any movie she stars in. I don’t care what it is.

    1. gbob

      Gal Gadot stars in “Fearless: The Nancy Pelosi Story”. That’s right bub, now you’re committed to watch that.

      I should stop typing. Somebody might actually try to make that as a movie.

      1. Sean

        Gal Gadot stars in “Fearless: The Nancy Pelosi Story”

        Not cool bro.

      2. Juvenile Bluster

        Gal Gadot in skimpy figure skater outfits for 2 hours? Hell yeah I’d watch it.

        1. Juvenile Bluster

          Wait, you said Pelosi not Kerrigan.

          WTF, brain.

          1. Juvenile Bluster

            But I’d still watch.

            Maybe it’s like Mellisandre in Game of Thrones where in public she’s gorgeous but in private she’s a hideous old witch except this is in reverse and they only show the parts in reverse.

          2. invisible finger

            Yep. You can watch with sound off.

    2. Chipwooder

      Yep. I endured the turd that was Keeping Up With the Joneses to see her cavorting in lingerie with Isla Fisher.

      1. Chafed

        That’s a sacrifice worth making.

        1. Chipwooder

          The funny thing is, my wife (who liked the movie – she has the worst taste) convinced me to watch it by touting that scene. She does know me so well.

      2. Wait, wait – that was really a thing?

  10. Juvenile Bluster

    The fact that there were zero arrests as a result of the Broad Street celebrations last night in Philly is a goddamn miracle.

    A pre-emptive Fuck Tom Brady, even with the game two weeks away.

    (Philadelphia may burn down if the Eagles win. Everyone will think it’s well worth it.)

    1. CPRM

      I suppose all the rioters where slipping on Crisco.

      1. Gustave Lytton

        I’d like to see Gal Gadot in crisco.

        1. Count Potato

          Is Crisco kosher?

          1. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

            Does it matter? Alternatively, would it be hotter if it isn’t?

    2. PBRstreetgang

      No arrests is more surprising than Foles’ performance.
      You’ve probably already seen the Eagles fan run into a pole at full speed, but just in case you haven’t
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cEE_xpx5oI

      1. Juvenile Bluster

        Of course I’ve seen it.

        Hope the dude’s ok. Looks like he fell towards the tracks.

      2. Hyperion

        Now that there was funny, I don’t care who you are.

      3. PBRstreetgang

        I saw an article later that said he is fine. Well, “fine” other than being interwebz famous for being a knucklehead.

      4. Tres Cool

        Oh, thats priceless.

      5. Rasilio

        I don’t get what the hell he was running for, the doors were already closed so it is no like he had any chance of getting on the train

        1. PBRstreetgang

          Yeah, but you’re talking about logic, rationality and general thinky-stuff. Not really a strong suit for a lot of Philly fans.

    3. Chipwooder

      Nick Foles is not going to best Tom Brady in a Super Bowl. I refuse to believe in such a thing.

      1. Count Potato

        As a Giants fan, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to watch the Super Bowl. They both can’t lose. Root for a giant meteor to hit the stadium?

        1. Juvenile Bluster

          That was my feeling in 2011.

          (I rooted for you guys to break up the perfect season)

        2. Chipwooder

          Nah, easy call – Patriots all the way, because:

          1)It’s the fucking Eagles. Do you really need another reason?
          2)Belichick is still Giants family.
          3)I want to hang on to the fact that the Giants are the only team to beat the Belichick/Brady Patriots in a Super Bowl.

          1. Juvenile Bluster

            Does Belichick get extra points for the way he fucked over the Jets, or do y’all not care about them?

          2. Chipwooder

            Jets fans HATE the Giants, Giants fans mostly just laugh at the Jets. Very similar dynamic to Yankees-Mets, which makes sense since Jets fans tend to be Mets fans and Giants fans tend to be Yankee fans.

            I say a little grateful prayer every day that my dad raised me a Giants-Yankees fan rather than a Jets-Mets fan like most of my relatives.

          3. Count Potato

            Those are all perfectly good reasons. Still hate Brady for being an egomaniacal cheating douchebag.

          4. Rasilio

            Except for the part where there is more evidence for Trump Russia collusion than there ever was for deflategate

          5. Count Potato

            Besides actually deflated balls?

          6. Rasilio

            The ideal gas law would like a word

      2. PBRstreetgang

        Eagles D will come through. They are playing out of their minds right now, only 17 points through 2 games and one of those drives was all of 18 yards (and that included two penalties AND a Matt Ryan hook-shot pass to get in the end zone). Its the Eagles year!

        1. Chipwooder

          Eh, I heard the same thing about the Jaguars defense before the AFC title game. Didn’t work out that way.

          Belichick with two weeks to prepare is almost invincible. You’re not going to see the Patriots secondary blowing coverages left and right like the Vikings did. He’s going to do what he does best, which is scheming to make a team’s weakest link beat him. In this case, it’s Foles, just as he forced the Jaguars to rely on Bortles’ passing to win.

          1. Rufus the Monocled

            I don’t get the hate on Foles. He’s fricken pretty good. He could start elsewhere. God knows a few teams could use a decent QB.

          2. Chipwooder

            Not really. Stunk with the Rams, was a backup with the Chiefs, remained a backup this year with the Eagles. He had one huge year in Chip Kelly’s gimmicky offense and has never done much since.

          3. Rufus the Monocled

            Yeh. I know but those places were shitholes.

          4. DenverJ

            “God knows a few teams could use a decent QB.”
            *Raises hand

          5. F. Stupidity Jr.

            If the Broncos got a bad QB it would be an upgrade.

        2. Rufus the Monocled

          Yes!

          Fly Eagles FLY!

          1. PBRstreetgang

            ^^5 ^^

            FLY EAGLES FLY!!

      3. Viking1865

        “Nick Foles is not going to best Tom Brady in a Super Bowl. I refuse to believe in such a thing.”

        I fear that the karmic balance for the vanquishing of the Most Qualified Candidate Ever is that the Eagles win a Super Bowl. There must be balance. If one great evil falls, another must rise.

        I want a blowout. I want Foles to throw 2 INTs in the first quarter, for Brady to be handing it off the entire second half. I want the Eagles faithful to know early how far they have come only to fall short. I want to taste their sadness for a good 2 quarters.

        1. Having a good three quarters of Viking fan sadness was wonderful.

    4. Sean

      (Philadelphia may burn down if the Eagles win.

      *unzips pants*

      Go on…

    5. DEG

      Philadelphia may burn down if the Eagles win.

      So, not much different from a normal night right?

    6. creech

      I heard on the noon news that a fan was arrested for punching a cossack’s horse twice and then punching the cossack. Probably good that he didn’t bring his dog to the celebration.

    1. AlexinCT

      That witch that wanted to eat Hansel und Gretel?

      1. Yeah, The Brothers Grimm sure wasted a lot of people on their pages.

        1. Rufus the Monocled

          The original title was: Hansel, Gretel and Guentzel – the long lost brother who didn’t make it having been sacrificed during their escape.

          *Hockey reference.

    2. Stinky Wizzleteats

      Vasily Vaytsev?

    3. Mr Lizard

      The Ark of The Covenant?…

      1. Nice…

        + a whole lot of face melting.

    4. Tonio

      The Romans?

      1. Gaius Marius did a good job, but they sort of fell down on the job after him.

    5. Bobarian LMD

      Aldo Raine?

    6. Andreas Lubitz?

    7. PBRstreetgang

      Louis Pasteur?

    8. Hyperion

      Trump?

    9. mexican sharpshooter

      “The Mighty” 8th Air Force?

    10. Chipwooder

      Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky?

      1. Pan Zagloba

        +2 breakthroughs, comrade Stalin! Two! Two!

    11. Bobarian LMD

      Bismarck?

    12. Juvenile Bluster

      Monty Burns?

    13. Tres Cool

      Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin?

      1. Bobarian LMD

        He was a lot better at killing Russians.

      2. KSuellington

        John McClane?

    14. Juan-Baptiste Emmanuel Seguin

      Simo Hayhaa?

    15. Juan-Baptiste Emmanuel Seguin

      Alexander Suvorov?

    16. David Hasselhoff, figuratively?

  11. mexican sharpshooter

    CNN: MOAR RUSSIA!

    The Russian spy ship, the Viktor Leonov was spotted 100 miles south east of Wilmington, NC in international waters, according to a US military official, just days after the vessel was seen leaving the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain.

    Cool story, brah. Let us know if this one Crazy Ivan’s to the left.

    1. AlexinCT

      It’s Trump’s yacht…

      1. “IT’S BRING PUTIN’S PAYMENT TO DRUMPF, IN GOLD!”

    2. Chipwooder

      The average Russian don’t take a dump, son, without a plan to hit up the Brew Thru.

    3. Playa Manhattan

      If it was in Trinidad and Tobago a few days ago, it’s in quite a hurry.

  12. libertarianjoe

    In regard to the historic food article, there’s a guy who does all kinds of Revolutionary war and early USA recipes and cooking methods, etc. He has a company by the name of James Townsend & Sons. You can find them on youtube too, I think the channel name is just Townsends.

    Really cool stuff, and he takes the time to research 18th century cookbooks and everything, so the recipes are very authentic.

    1. Semi-Spartan Dad

      There is a book called Lobscouse and Spotted Dog in which the author compiled recipes of almost every food dish or drink mentioned in the Aubrey/Maturin novels. It’s a little pricey for essentially a novelty item, but I’ll probably buy it anyway at some point.

      1. Number.6

        Some of those old recipes aren’t very difficult at all. When all’s said and done, the ships’ cook was usually working around a big Aga burning whatever they had available. “What they had available” when it came to it was a remarkably restricted list of basics, and a lot of suet.

        “Drowned baby” is pretty much all suet, flour and sugar. Spotted dog is basically that, but with currants or raisins in it. Bonus points for steeping the craisins in rum for a few days first.

        1. Semi-Spartan Dad

          They did enjoy their suet. I’d say some variation of drowned baby covers a great deal, but sometimes the captain’s cook got his hands on some varied ingredients and may have even been a somewhat accomplished chef.

        2. Mojeaux

          Sort of off topic: Cinnamon and Gunpowder.

      2. mindyourbusiness

        The book’s worth picking up. Haven’t tried to make a pie 18th/19th Century style yet cuz it looks like a helluva challenge. I have made lobscouse and it’s very good.

    2. Tonio

      There’s also this black guy named Michael Twitty who has done some great work on what US slaves ate and the african and slave influences on Southern cooking. Unfortunately he got co-opted by the identity politics people real quick.

      1. libertarianjoe

        I think i’ve heard of that guy. Sounds pretty interesting, i’ll take a look.

        But i dunno if I could make any of that food, lest I be arrested on charges of cultural appropriation /s

      1. libertarianjoe

        Yeah, that’s the guy! He really gets into the whole reenactment thing

  13. Mad Scientist

    As someone pointed out, the first movie was basically Captain America, pushed back a war — probably to prevent a lawsuit — with a woman so beautiful that she lowers male IQ 30 points and men didn’t care. I don’t know if that’s going to work for a second feature-length film

    It definitely works for me.

  14. Juvenile Bluster

    Testing to see if I can comment on my iPad. Squirrels are eating my posts on my laptop.

    1. Bobarian LMD

      Did it work?

      1. Did what work?

        1. Mad Scientist

          It.

          1. Where’s Rufus when we need him to ask the question?

          2. But Enough About Me

            Where’s Rufus when we need him to ask the question?

            I’ll step in on this one: DON’T ANY OF YOUR DEVICES WORK?

  15. Playa Manhattan

    My appetite is back.

    I need dinner suggestions. I’m going to have at least 2 dinners.

    1. CPRM

      rocky mountain oysters

    2. Sean

      Blackened pork chops

    3. Surströmming.

    4. mexican sharpshooter

      Brisket.

      1. Playa Manhattan

        Do you have a time machine where you can go back and suggest brisket yesterday?

        1. mexican sharpshooter

          If I had access to that kind of technology, not only would I bring you a brisket from some fat guy in Mississippi, I would also murder Woodrow Wilson as a bonus.

          1. Playa Manhattan

            I wouldn’t kill Hitler; I’d talk him out of it instead. I’m that good.

          2. robc

            Everyone murders Wilson the first time.

          3. robc

            I didnt think the link was necessary.

          4. commodious spittoon

            Har!

        2. Gustave Lytton

          Maybe he’s here from tomorrow?

          1. Playa Manhattan

            God dammit, you’re right. I’d better hurry up and get to the store.

    5. Juvenile Bluster

      Take one of your heavier orphans. You can find recipes for human on the internet. Use the choicest cuts.

    6. Bobarian LMD

      Greasy grimy gopher guts,
      Mutilated monkey meat
      Hairy pickled piggy feet
      French fried eyeballs floating in some kerosene
      And me without a spoon.

      1. Tres Cool

        My version includes “little dirty birdie feet”.

        1. robc

          Teenie Weenie birdie feet, in mine.

          “a bowl of puss” instead of “some kerosene”.

          1. prehistoric piggy feet, pool of blood and we followed the spoon line with a very basso ‘I had a straaaaaaw’

        2. Rasilio

          Chopped up little birdies feet is how I learned it

          Also the french Fried Eyeballs were swimming in a pool of blood

        3. one true athena

          mine went
          “little dirty birdie feet
          french fried eyeballs dipped in tomato sauce,
          to eat without a spoon.”

          which I recited thoughtlessly as a kid, but now I wonder when it became a really tame and not gross ‘tomato sauce’. huh.

    7. Tres Cool

      Lutefisk.
      That’ll teach your appetite a lesson or 2.

    8. Timeloose

      Pizza and a Pizza like casserole

        1. Playa Manhattan

          Something just like that came out of my body last week.

    9. Hot Pockets. Twice.

    10. DenverJ

      Gal Godet

    1. Chipwooder

      Joy Reid is a shining example that severe mental retardation is no impediment to a career in the media.

    1. Mr Lizard

      If Minnesota had any proper miscreants then this score could be settled quite easily. Also the stooooopid Viking fans should have worn stealth eagles swag.

    2. Count Potato

      How about this for a headline:

      “UPDATE: Dems free 8.9M hostages from kidnappers; 690K adults still being held, negotiations continue”

      https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/1/22/1735038/-Dems-free-8-9M-child-hostages-690K-adults-still-being-held-as-negotiations-with-kidnappers-continue

  16. Ed Wuncler

    http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/01/21/scarlett-johansson-under-fire-for-attacking-james-franco-at-womens-march-after-defending-woody-allen.html

    “Scarlett Johansson, who slammed fellow actor James Franco in a speech at the Women’s March in Los Angeles, is being called a hypocrite for previously defending Woody Allen and saying the child abuse allegations against the director were “all guesswork.”

    “I want my pin back, by the way,” Johansson said on Saturday, in reference to the “Time’s Up” pin Franco wore at the Golden Globe Awards, which inspired five accusers to come forward and call him out.”

    This whole #metoo Movement is starting cannibalize itself and I fucking love it. It couldn’t have happened to a shittier group of people.

    1. TK

      Being pure is hard!

    2. Playa Manhattan

      Vanity Fair gave Woody Allen the kid glove treatment (pun intended). The entire truth is probably much much worse, but the part of the story they did tell is creepy as fuck.

    3. Viking1865

      In a more civilized time, actors slept in the barn with the animals.

      1. Bobarian LMD

        Ach, da poor ships! And da coos!

      2. JaimeRoberto

        So what you are saying is that they were like Jesus?

    4. Chafed

      For sure. Let’s hope it continues.

  17. TK

    I had to take the annual “code of conduct” certification course for my employment today. I only got one question wrong: I said it was OK to take a client out to a golf course for the day.

    Apparently taking a client to a golf course is a “lavish gift” and could be considered too much of a personal favor. Weird considering golf is something people in finance do with their prospective clients all the time. I’m not going to invite a client out to a round and then say “oh, but you’re paying your own way and fuck you.”

    1. Number.6

      The correct answer is to punt it to compliance and let them be the bad guy,

      Then complain to your manager that when the client fires the firm for being penny-pinching ass-clowns, it was compliance’s decision.

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        As a “compliance guy” I would say this is correct, given that many people in compliance hate everybody, and really don’t care who hates them back.

        1. Number.6

          I always ace my annual ethics tests.

          1. mexican sharpshooter

            I screen shot the answers for use at a later date.

          2. Bobarian LMD

            I always ace my annual ethics tests.

            If you’re not cheating you’re not trying?

        2. Gilmore

          many people in compliance hate everybody, and really don’t care who hates them back.

          the financial industry should serve as a nonstop series of case-studies on ineffective over-regulation. its at the point where so much time, money and effort is spent policing meaningless, trivial bullshit, that there’s a general atmosphere of contempt for the *serious* stuff, and compliance people barely have time to focus on those crucial issues because they’re so busy collecting data to ensure they’ve ‘crossed all their i’s/dotted t’s’ for their own quarterly reporting/disclosures.

          1. TK

            I can confirm this. But I should point out that its WAY worse in retail banking than it is in commercial banking. A lot of commercial banking is pretty close to a wild west-type environment (at least when it comes to lending/deposits).

            Retail banking is a fucking nightmare. I would never, ever, want to work in consumer-oriented banking.

          2. mexican sharpshooter

            compliance people barely have time to focus on those crucial issues because they’re so busy collecting data to ensure they’ve ‘crossed all their i’s/dotted t’s’ for their own quarterly reporting/disclosures

            It’s pretty cyclical to be honest. Most days I have plenty of time to fuck off here, other days…

          3. Tres Cool

            Why does Sarbanes-Oxley immediately leap to mind, even though I have no direct association with accounting or finance?

          4. Gilmore

            Sarb-ox wasn’t that bad for the average, on the ground financial employee. it was a headache for General Councils and senior execs, and meant accounting compliance got more expensive.

            Dodd Frank is the true behemoth of idiotic regulatory mess. it fucks everyone and everything to pieces. its basically “financial regulations written for the purpose of providing lawyers permanent employment”.

            No one could possibly comply with it all; much of it doesn’t even make sense, and has bizarre, perverse outcomes. they had to revise whole swaths of it when it was revealed that the prop-desk regulations would basically bar many institutions from dealing directly in municipal bonds. For a hot second, the idiot legislators shrugged, and were like, “So”? then all the mayors and governors screamed at them, “HOW DO YOU THINK WE GET MONEY YOU IMBECILES. Wall st buys our debt and sells it on to investors.”

          5. wdalasio

            Sarb-ox wasn’t that bad for the average, on the ground financial employee. it was a headache for General Councils and senior execs, and meant accounting compliance got more expensive.

            I don’t know about that. I remember having to spend a shitload of time documenting processes and procedures and running into a giant pain trying to change or improve any procedures.

            Dodd Frank is the true behemoth of idiotic regulatory mess.

            Agreed. It was pretty much a celebration of retardation.

          6. Gilmore

            My main experience w/ Sarb Ox was doing some consulting work for the NASDAQ corp, where i ended up surveying/interviewing executives (mainly general councils, but also ceo/cfo) @ ~300 of their top 500 listed companies, and asking them to basically ‘rate the burden of Sarb Ox’ relative to other major regulations and try and quantify its actual $ impact on SGA or its quarterly ‘burden’

            most said it was low burden; they said the real costs were going to be in investing in legal council who specialize in protecting their asses in the event the SEC actually tried to prosecute anyone under the law.

          7. AlexinCT

            I don’t know about that. I remember having to spend a shitload of time documenting processes and procedures and running into a giant pain trying to change or improve any procedures.

            Bloated processes and procedures created because of this nonsense that in the grand scheme of things made no real difference. I wonder if my company could just have used the FBI defense that they had a software/system problems and lost the information the auditors needed…

          8. RAHeinlein

            I disagree – SOX was a major pain-in-the-ass to implement and resulted in rapid adaptation of horrific “systems” to accommodate. Many of our clients (and former employers are still struggling).

        3. Tres Cool

          I had a client at a major auto manufacturer that loved her holiday gifts & goodies from vendors, but due to policy, she couldn’t accept them. So it was “ship to her home address, and not the office”.

      2. Gustave Lytton

        Be sure to claim not spending money on the golf as a cost savings bullet on your monthly eval.

        1. TK

          I actually will. We always have a section on our self-evaluations that asks what we did to keep operating costs down. All I do is list a bunch of shit that I decided not to do.

          Its the most retarded question I’ve ever seen on a self-evaluation.

          1. Number.6

            Reconsidered the planned invasion of the Andromeda Galaxy having run the numbers and calculated a ball-park ROI. Net savings to the firm, ONE GOOGLEPLEX QUATLOOS!

      3. Gilmore

        The correct answer is to punt it to compliance

        ahem. ‘escalate’.

        1. Number.6

          The firm goes to incredible lengths to tell us that compliance are our loyal allies, and not our superiors. We work with them, not for them, so ‘escalate’ doesn’t work. ‘Consult’ works, but in practice, they get an email from me and I usually get one back saying ‘no’ to anything I want.

          Sounds more like playing pass the hand grenade than anything else, so ‘punt’ is appropriate.

    2. Semi-Spartan Dad

      Heh, try navigating the Sunshine Act for healthcare practitioners.

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        I’ve done that. When asked by our CMO why it mattered, I handed him a screen shot from the open payments website showing where he accepted a meal for $125.

        1. Bobarian LMD

          At $125, shouldn’t meal be in quotes?

          1. mexican sharpshooter

            I don’t know where he are. For all I know Sanofi gave him 125 tacos from Del Taco.

          2. Semi-Spartan Dad

            It’s pretty easy to get that high without even trying. A good steakhouse will run $70 with tax and tip just for the steak and sides. Add in a moderate bottle of wine and you’re there.

            The good docs don’t like to be wined and dined at Denny’s.

    3. Trolleric the Goth

      odd, since that’s standard practice in industrial sales

  18. Count Potato

    “How Did the FBI Lose Five Months of Text Messages Between Two Trump-Hating Employees?
    The bureau’s claim of an IT failure is not sitting well with some Republicans.

    The special counsel’s biggest headache is the conduct of Peter Strzok, a former member of his team who was revealed in December to have exchanged anti-Trump text messages with another FBI employee, his girlfriend Lisa Page.

    That controversy grew more heated this weekend, when the FBI reportedly informed congressional overseers that it had failed to retain more than five months of text messages between the Trump-loathing lovebirds.

    On Saturday, Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray asking him to explain why the FBI “did not preserve text messages between Ms. Page and Mr. Strzok between approximately December 14, 2016 and May 17, 2017.”

    The FBI reportedly chalked the failure up as an IT problem, citing “misconfiguration issues related to rollouts, provisioning, and software upgrades that conflicted with the FBI’s collection capabilities.””

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/how-did-the-fbi-lose-five-months-of-text-messages-between-two-trump-hating-employees/article/2011253

    1. Sean

      Makes you wonder how they ever get anything accomplished at the FBI.

      1. AlexinCT

        If you think this shit was lost accidentally and due to incompetence…

    2. Viking1865

      Fuck prison, there should be heads on spikes for this shit, and I am only half kidding. The bureaucrats are now the most powerful branch of government, they are completely unaccountable. This is actually, seriously, for real, how democracy dies.

      1. Winston

        But Weed, Ass-Sex, Mexicans and Smart-Phones?

    3. Chipwooder

      It’s amazing how frequently government IT departments just can’t seem to retrieve data pertinent to major corruption investigations. The FBI must use the same techs that the IRS does.

      1. Number.6

        It’s almost as though I’m wasting my time encrypting everything that might be sensitive information.

      2. Hyperion

        So, where’s the mandatory offsite backups? Can’t we just pull those?

    4. Pardon any non-government defendant accused of the same sloppy IT practices.

    5. Chafed

      I guess you missed the morning links.

    6. Hyperion

      The same way that all of the IRS computers hard drives crashed and the way that Hillary wiped it with a cloth.

      1. Tres Cool

        “The same way that all of the IRS computers hard drives crashed and the way that Hillary wiped it with a̶ ̶c̶l̶o̶t̶h̶ BleachBit.

        /FTFY

    7. Bobarian LMD

      Just more proof that government IT is the worst, that’s why Hilary needed her own server.

      /Future NYT editorial

      1. Hyperion

        I can’t recall how many times I’ve been at the post office when their 30 year old computers failed. Then they just stand around like dummies and say they can’t do anything.

  19. Gilmore

    Cultural appropriation, or cultural imperialism? Your kimchi is problematic

    Western influence on the South Korean diet dates back more than a century thanks to missionaries, diplomats and world explorers who left an imprint on the cuisine, it was the massive GI influence since the 1950s that brought a wave of new ingredients and tastes at time when hunger was a serious problem in the country.

    1. Kimchi is problematic in the same way the pineapple on pizza is problematic.

    2. mexican sharpshooter

      There is some truth to this. Korean Pizza Hut Commercial

      1. Playa Manhattan

        I’m reserving judgement until I taste it for myself.

    3. Hyperion

      One of them Koreans told me that Koreans invented Ketchup and Mustard. So who influenced who?

      1. Playa Manhattan

        Indonesians. Probably. Kecap.

      2. CPRM

        Ketchup was an asian sauce, but it didn’t have any tomatoes. The most popular was a fish sauce, but there were multiple variations. Tomato Ketchup was invented in America in the 1800s. Hence why a lot of Ketchup still says Tomato Ketchup, because it was just one of the many variations.

        1. Number.6

          Were there 57 of them?

          1. No — those are pickles.

          2. Homple

            Wrong again. It’s states. 57 states.

        2. Real tomato ketchup?

        3. Tres Cool

          from that same Townshend guy, I give you…..Mushroom Ketchup!

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29u_FejNuks

        4. thepasswordispassword

          https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/09/06/the-ketchup-conundrum
          It’s the New Yorker but a really good article about Ketchup and Tomato Sauce. I think it might have found it linked from here some months ago.

        5. Hyperion

          One of my Korean philosopher friends told me about that. But he says that Koreans in particular invented Ketchup and also mentioned the fish part. Then again, he claims that Koreans invented everything, so there’s no way to tell when he’s being serious. Crazy fucker.

    4. Rufus the Monocled

      Don’t let the cultural appropriation dinks read about, for example, Sicilian cuisine. It incorporates a beautiful kaleidoscope of influences from other places and cultures that passed through over the centuries.

      Try and dissect that.

      1. Bobarian LMD

        I don’t believe you’re supposed to call Koreans dinks, you shitlord.

        1. Number.6

          Funny thing, that transatlantic language thing. In the UK, a ‘Dink’ is “Dual Income, No Kids”

          1. Bobarian LMD

            It is in the US as well, but it was also a epitaph during Viet Nam and Korean Wars for the locals.

          2. Rufus the Monocled

            Same here.

            But the true dink is a mope; a chooch. A twit.

          3. Bobarian LMD

            Says the greasy wop?

          4. Rufus the Monocled

            Yes.

            And I prefer lubricated thank you very much.

        2. Hyperion

          You’re right, I think gooks is the correct term.

      2. dbleagle

        Well it was easy for the Sicilians to incorporate other influences into their cuisine since anybody that wanted to be anybody has conquered Sicily. Hell even the USA has invaded and conquered Sicily

        1. thepasswordispassword

          This is the part where someone links the obligatory True Romance scene right?

  20. Gilmore

    stuff that gets overlooked while the media bitch about ‘shutdowns’ and trump tweets

    Turkey is basically shooting up our proxies.

    Turkey shelled targets in northwest Syria on Monday and said it would swiftly crush U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG fighters in an air and ground offensive on the Afrin region beyond its border. … Ankara has been infuriated by U.S. support for the YPG, one of several issues that have brought relations between the United States and its Muslim NATO ally close to breaking point.

    Erdogan has also pledged to drive the SDF from the town of Manbij to the east, part of a much larger area of northern Syria controlled by the YPG-led SDF. That raises the prospect of protracted conflict between Turkey and its allied Free Syrian Army factions against the U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters.

    1. TK

      Fuck Erdogan. Isn’t that the guy whose thugs beat up U.S. citizens on U.S. soil for protesting?

      1. Chafed

        Yes it is.

      2. Number.6

        Yeah, but they’re part of NATO. Professional courtesies and all that ….

    2. Chafed

      Thinking is hard. Why bother?

      -Most of the media

      1. Tres Cool

        You know who else thought nothing of making things hard?

        1. DenverJ

          Gal Godat?

        2. Chafed

          Every female pornstar that ever lived?

    3. Gilmore

      i’m not really intimately familiar w/ Turkish politics of the last 20 years

      (i’ve got a rough outline of ‘since the islamists were allowed back into politics, they have grown in power’ stuff, and the ‘ever since the WoT broke out, we’ve curried favor w/ them’ stuff)

      but the impression i’ve gotten is that they’re super quick to jump between demanding loyalty from the US, to siding with the Russians, depending on which they think might be more domestically advantageous to them at the moment. i mean, it was not very long ago they shot a russian plane down, and very much pissed putin off. i think this posture of theirs extends all the way back through the cold-war, where they were basically constantly playing US/soviets against one another, neither 100% in bed with either. old habits die hard.

      can’t help but dislike them.

  21. Hyperion

    Man, whatever happened to hope and change? I mean, there was this dreamy colored guy and the world was in perfect harmony and now it’s just pure chaos and doom every single day. Some big orange meanie is terrorizing us every day. How the hell did this happen?

    1. Pan Zagloba

      White people ruin everything.

      1. invisible finger

        Orange is the new white?

      2. Went to my son’s chorus concert not too long ago. The whitest show choir on Earth certainly ruined Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground, that’s for sure.

  22. DEG

    The recommendations also note that reports of sexual harassment are to be listened to with attention and empathy, “while bearing in mind that the report itself does not predetermine guilt.”

    I’m certain no one will predetermine guilt.

  23. Chipwooder

    Another reason to pull for the Patriots this year – these people should not be afforded an escape from their miserable lives.

    1. Playa Manhattan

      The absolute worst fans anywhere:
      off duty cops.

      I’ve seen some shit at the Rose Bowl that you absolutely wouldn’t believe.

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        Off duty cops playing hockey.

        You haven’t seen anything until you see that.

        And nothing is more beautiful than watching them get a beat down.

        1. Number.6

          I dunno. Watching the London Metropolitan Cops get beaten at Rugby Union was pretty damn entertaining.

          1. Rufus the Monocled

            Heh. I’m sure it was.

      2. l0b0t

        Drunken firefighters (FDNY) brawling in the street with drunken cops (NYPD) is a St. Patrick’s Day tradition here in NYC.

    2. Rufus the Monocled

      /wipes tear from eye. Hugs Eagles blanket tightly.

      1. Chipwooder

        The hell is up with a Canadian Eagles fan?

        1. Rufus the Monocled

          Since 1980 baby.

          EAT IT.

      2. Trolleric the Goth

        they just don’t understand our passion for our teams!

        1. Rufus the Monocled

          Oh I get passion alright being from Montreal Canadiens land and a lifelong part of the Azzurri/AC Milan tifosi.

          1. Winston

            Do you miss the Maroons?

          2. Rufus the Monocled

            Fun fact: The Maroons were the Anglo side of the coin. The Canadiens les francais (founded by an Irishman).

            Guess who won out?

          3. Winston

            The Irish had their own team called the Shamrocks.

            Also the Canadiens’ founding is a bit more complicated. They were really founded by an Anglo mineowner who created a hockey league to compete with his league’s own Anglo Montreal Team the Wanderers and a rival league’s Francophone team the Nationals.

            Also this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Montreal_Canadiens#Founding

            At the time, francophone teams were not considered to be good enough to play with the top anglophone teams: the Montreal Gazette warned potential fans of the new team not to get too excited, as “French-Canadian players of class are not numerous”

          4. Rufus the Monocled

            O’Brien is Irish not Anglo though.

            And it’s true about the English. The French-Canadians at first weren’t as numerous.

            But Joilat, Vezina, Lalonde etc. changed that soon enough.

            The Shamrocks won five straight Stanley Cups (in the Challenge era) but folded in 1924.

            No kidding. With a logo like that:

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

      3. Hyperion

        I remember a Superbowl with the Eagles in it. They got their ass kicked by the Raiders. Have they been back since?

        1. Rufus the Monocled

          They were in it in 2004 too.

          /stern Eagle squawk directed at Hyperion.

          1. Hyperion

            Did they win? Lol, just messing with you, I already know the answer. I’m just not into the NFL like I was after this shit show of a season. If they want me back as a fan, they’ll drop the political non-sense and play the fucking game.

          2. Rufus the Monocled

            Well it was a pretty big, bad ass flag during the anthem.

    3. Hyperion

      No worries, Trump and Putin have already rigged the game for the Patriots. White privilege, man.

    4. It’s like a Mark Wahlberg Convention is in town.

  24. tarran

    Bastards.

    The order is to kill you,’ Venezuelan soldiers reportedly told rebel cop before firing

    Venezuelan special forces who launched a deadly attack using rocket launchers and assault rifles against a former cop-turned-rebel had orders not to take anyone alive, the insurgent told an ally by telephone shortly before he was killed Monday with six of his followers.

    Fearing for the lives of his fellow rebels and those of an innocent family also in the house where the shootout occurred, Óscar Pérez tried to negotiate his surrender with a National Guard major, whose agents had surrounded the house, according to a member of the Venezuelan opposition group known as Resistencia who was in touch with Pérez by phone during his last hours alive.

    “He told me that it was the major himself who announced that they were not going to take anyone alive. ‘We are not going to negotiate; the order is to kill you,’ that’s what he [Pérez] was told,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

    1. Chipwooder

      Where are the Hollywood Chavistas? They have any comment?

      1. Winston

        Or Greenwald, Rockwell and Raimondo?

      2. Pan Zagloba

        “Everything was great while Hugo Chavez was alive, but then a few missteps by his successor were exploited by the CIA and the opposition to create artificial shortages and stir up the poor, uneducated people against their own interests.

        Literally like Trump’s campaign.”

        1. Hyperion

          Wait, I thought that state capitalism was to blame?

          1. Winston

            Telesur is Venezuela State TV so they are not to blame themselves obviously.

    2. DEG

      Will the ending in Venezuela be more or less bloody than the French Revolution?

      1. Winston

        Lead to 23 years of War?

      2. tarran

        It’s going to be horrific. The government has gone so far in their murder campaign that they know if they surrender their corpses are going to be hung from street-lights.

        So they have lost all restraint. And the horror of their rule is such that once they do lose power (and it’s inevitable at this point that they will) – I expect they will be torn limb from limb by hand by a baying mob. And they will deserve it.

        1. Hyperion

          No matter how it ends, I’m afraid it won’t change anything. They’ll hold new elections and vote in the same left leaning sort. In a couple years, nothing will have improved and they’ll be right back in the same situation. Maybe after a few more times of that, they wind up with a sort of Russia like situation with a different sort of strongman at the helm and a small group of oligarch billionaires operating in mafia like style.

          1. Winston

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

            When he was sworn into office in 1969, it marked the first peaceful transfer of power from one party to another in Venezuela’s history

            ….

            During his second presidential period, he pardoned Hugo Chávez, who eventually went on to succeed him in 1999

    3. Gustave Lytton

      More Venezuela

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/01/22/why-venezuelas-government-hasnt-collapsed-even-though-its-economy-has/

      But that doesn’t mean that nothing matters or that these governments will never fall. “The conditions for an internal split in Venezuela are actually very good,” Levitsky told me, because the country’s “deepening fiscal squeeze” should lead to more “battles over power and resources” between different elites.

      Yeah, it’ll just be between the elites. Nothing to do with the average Venezuelan not having enough toilet paper or food and saying to hell with this.

      But it does mean that extremism in defense of a leader is no virtue. Staying loyal to the president even if he, say, shot someone in the middle of the street is the kind of thing that leads a nation to ruin.

      That’s true whether you’re talking about Venezuela or Zimbabwe or a lot closer to home.

      You mean like the personality cult of the previous president or the continued whitewashing of the criminality of the rejected presidential candidate because they have D’s after their name? Like that?

  25. Rufus the Monocled

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CkLX_Eho24

    Just because everyone loves a hockey fight.

  26. Rufus the Monocled

    Vice Sports: Canada’s toughest league.

    Le Colisee de Laval. That’s my hood.

    Watching junior hockey in the 1980s there was….erm interesting.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpjnIb6_zU0

  27. Count Potato

    “DC Comics Fans Are Petitioning To Make The Joker Gay”

    http://comicbook.com/dc/2018/01/22/dc-comics-fans-petitioning-to-make-the-joker-gay/

    1. Gilmore

      he’s not? i thought harley quinn was a beard/fag-hag

    2. Winston

      I’m sure there have already been hints (or more) that the Joker is a bit too obsessed with Batman.

      And a mass-murdering gay villain is going to make the SJWs happy.

      1. They already have Omar Mateen.

    3. Count Potato

      “Every GLAAD-Nominated Marvel Comic Book Has Been Axed

      Comic book readers are apparently not fans of progressive politics—a fact no more evident in Marvel’s decision to cancel every single one of its comics that has been nominated by the LGBTQ advocacy group, GLAAD.

      In December, the publisher announced its decision to cancel many of its comics, citing poor sales. LGBTQ, feminist, and social justice-themed comics involving stories that revolved around Black Lives Matter, illegal immigration, and LGBTQ issues were among those to end up on the chopping block.”

      dailycaller.com/2018/01/20/every-glaad-nominated-marvel-comic-book-has-been-axed/

      1. Hyperion

        So, all comic book fans are racist sexist homophobes?

        1. The Last American Hero

          Well there is significant overlap with the Gaming and Comic communities, and we all know how Gamergate turned out…

          1. thepasswordispassword

            https://twitter.com/mikemearls/status/955153201434525696

            Co-creator of D&D 5th edition, D&D franchise creative director. I put dragons inside of dungeons. Awesome header image via http://theweem.com

            Mike Mearls‏
            @mikemearls
            Funny how many of the same “fans” who insist on gatekeeping via rules complexity and lore density also have a problem with women in tabletop gaming.

            Hey guys! You’re all fired from D&D. Find another game.

            It’s contagious.

          2. commodious spittoon

            Those ren faire wenches still aren’t going you fuck you, loser.

          3. Hyperion

            Most gamers I know, including myself, are not comic fans, but I believe you that there are many. Go to Steam forums and claim you’re an SJW. Gamers hatred for SJWs is pretty much universal and you’ll find that out very quickly and in no uncertain terms.

          4. Pan Zagloba

            Comic fans are such a tiny group compared to even serious gamers, they could be 90% gamers themselves and still be a blip in the Steam forums…

            And yeah, most gamers didn’t give a crap about SJWs (I only knew the term from pen-and-paper roleplaying and their attempted shitting up of that hobby) until Gamergate blew up.

    4. Rasilio

      Gay? if anything the Joker is Ace. He is too busy causing destruction and mayhem to really care much about sex

      1. Bobarian LMD

        This^^.

        Although the Joker would totally bone Batman.

        And Imma guess that the “fans” signing the petition won’t be buying any of the comics.

    5. Tres Cool

      Cesar Romero would like a word…
      /reads “Romero never married and had no children, but made frequent appearances at Hollywood events escorting actresses, such as Joan Crawford, Linda Darnell, Barbara Stanwyck, Lucille Ball, Ann Sheridan, Jane Wyman and Ginger Rogers; he was almost always described in interviews and articles as a “confirmed bachelor””

      Oh, nevermind.

    6. thepasswordispassword

      275* people have signed an online petition with a target goal of 500. This is somehow news.
      *at time of checking

  28. Count Potato

    “People want the Spanish word for black changed because they think it’s racist”

    http://www.briefreport.co.uk/news/people-want-the-spanish-word-for-black-changed-because-they-think-it-s-racist-5523007.html

    1. Yusef drives a Kia

      That is Stupid, Negro? What next, Black is a “bad” word?
      It is a Fair description of Black People, To me it’s better than Colored

      1. Winston

        “Colored Person” is racist but “Person of Color” is not.

        1. Rufus the Monocled

          Fuck it. I’m going back to nigger.

          /with a Canadian accent.

        2. hayeksplosives

          This one baffles me as well.

          I also was away when Oriental became somehow derogatory. Way more useful than “Asian”–Paki? Indian? Siberian? Southeast Asian? At least Oriental tells you Far East, and you get an instant idea.

          1. Hyperion

            A couple of my Korean friends were laughing about that. They asked me if Oriental was supposed to be derogatory. I told them that I don’t really think so, it’s just that people used to refer to Asia in general as the orient and so referred to Asians as oriental. I then offered them some of the derogatory terms people used to use for Asians, we had a good laugh.

    2. Tres Cool

      Frijoles Negros hardest hit.

      1. Hyperion

        I just saw two cans of those in our cupboard. I’m not a racist!

      2. AlmightyJB

        And Negro Medelo which is quite tasty beer.

      3. robc

        Not Negra Modela?

        1. robc

          rsslow and wrong vowels.

    3. Hyperion

      Don’t they think it a tad racist to try to tell other people what they can do with their own language?

      1. Bobarian LMD

        Or at least unethnical.

      2. Rufus the Monocled

        Never mind the possibility of not getting the cultural aspect to such words.

    4. Gustave Lytton

      Don’t go to China….

      well, aside from the actual racism, there’s the um word “nèige” which can be repeated for similarity to ummm.

      1. Winston

        Doesn’t Nigger come from the French form of negro?

        1. Bobarian LMD

          It’s pronounced Knee-Jher.

        2. Drake

          I always assumed it was slang for Nigerian or had something to do with the Niger River.

        3. Gustave Lytton

          Nèige in Chinese is properly “that”, as well as used as a filler um. No origination from French, as far as I know other than a similar sound.

        4. creech

          True story: about 40 years ago, a Phila. city official introduced a speaker – on the stand at Independence Hall on July 4th – as the “distinguished ambassador from Nigger-rhea.”

    5. mexican sharpshooter

      There’s the stupidest thing I’ll read today.

        1. mexican sharpshooter

          What rich Arabs do with their money is never stupid. They create the most unlikely markets for the most unlikely services.

          1. Hyperion

            They could make hummus out of camels… or camels out of hummus!

    6. Rufus the Monocled

      LOL. Twitter thinks she should change the name.

      And what would be eleventy retarded is if she gives in.

      Just don’t publicize your life. No one gives a shit about your dog in case you’ve noticed. They care about bull shit and virtue signalling.

      Do you see me posting pics of me fucking other muppets?

      1. AlmightyJB

        It’s hard to see how some people can make it through life

    7. AlmightyJB

      What about Spic n Span, or Micky Mouse, or the Whopper?

  29. Unreconstructed

    Work frustration of the day – our DBA has decided (after over a year) that having our deployment tools automatically make database changes in production (that were tested in two previous environments, I might add!) is no longer kosher. Now we’re going to have to jump through a bunch of stupid hoops to deploy stuff that’s been going smoothly without extra hands on it. Joy.

    1. Hyperion

      Sounds like a waste of time to me. Once we’re done with client testing in staging and the client signs off on it, it’s going to production the quickest route possible.

      1. Unreconstructed

        Especially since the only thing that would be different is that the DBA would be running the exact same changes, without any serious review of said changes, and any errors will come back to us to fix…

        1. Hyperion

          Yeah, we had a little dust up at one of my clients where the DB team was going to have to do the database updates, but I won that battle without trying and I think they’re happy about it now because they have plenty of other shit to do.

    2. Sounds like security fetishism. We get that a lot at my place, except our guys trend towards over-automation. And then monkey around with the scripts and screw up production sites repeatedly and automatically, instead of just once by hand.

      If you’re following best practices, changing a production database is totally fine. Worst-case scenario, you restore a backup and you’re looking at a little bit of down time.

  30. Lafe Long

    Since we have lots of cooking nerds and history nerds, here is a nerd who recreates historical food.

    The Supersizers Go…” was actually a pretty interesting series. I think it’s on Hulu.

    1. Rufus the Monocled

      /sucks on water bottle.

      IT WAS HORRIBLE.

      /wraps blanket around them.

      I MEAN, TRULY HORRIBLE. THEY DIDS REAL MEANS THINGS TO ME.

      /looks around sucking on water bottle.

    2. Tres Cool

      I have to deal with those people all the time, primarily at the state level. The things they come up with when I present a testing plan can seriously boggle the mind.

    3. hayeksplosives

      Over the past year, more than 700 EPA employees have quit their jobs or taken retirement buyouts. According to Steve Hopkins, who worked at the EPA for 15 years, that’s unprecedented.

      Maybe I am not reading this from a sufficiently lofty SJW perch, but this sounds like a good start to me.

      1. Hyperion

        Yeah, I’m reading it the same way.

      2. Suthenboy

        Only seven years to go.

        I signed over a small strip of land in order for Catahoula parish to build a bridge over a creek in an extremely remote part of the parish. There are few roads in there so the few residents and the mail truck have limited access. When the original bridge was condemned it caused great inconvenience for those people. It took three years for them to start constructing the new bridge. Apparently the watermelons were required to count the clams in the creek, bugs, do various impact reports etc.
        Three years those people had to add 45 minutes onto their commute over fucking clams. How many watermelons are we paying to gum up everything we try to do? Is it any wonder that a guy who made his fortune in real estate development hates them?

        Yeah ‘Splosives. It is a good start.

        1. Mad Scientist

          Same thing in California. My neighbor works for CalTrans on some remote state roads that were just surrounded by the Thomas fire. Along comes the rain, and then the mudslides. The enviro-weenies from the state consider that mud to be a sort of toxic waste, and as a result CalTrans has to scoop the stuff into trucks and carry it quite a ways away, rather than just plowing it over the side of the road where it would have gone anyway had the road not been there.

  31. Lafe Long

    Dunno if this has been shared here before:

    Liberty Memes

    … some good stuff there.

  32. hayeksplosives

    Had the required HR interview with new potential employer. Went pretty well, then the HR wienie asked if I had a salary target in mind, and I told it to him. He said, “Well, I can tell you right now that I am not going to be able to meet that target, and I don’t want to waste anyone’s time.” (Trying to intimidate me a little.) I answered that I am not interested in making a lateral move, and a step back is out of the question. He kept talking and is still planning to fly me out for an interview, so I suspect there’s more wiggle room there than he let on.

    I reported this unofficially to the people who actually want me to work for them. My main engineering contact said “Yeah, good for you. {company} always tries this sh!t, sometimes they get lucky and the applicant is a sufficient sucker to accept the initial borderline-insulting offer. I’ll talk to {would-be manager} this morning.”

    They need me more than I need them. Even in 10+ inches of snow.

    1. Rufus the Monocled

      Good luck.

      Yeh, we’re getting hit majorly at the moment.

      And my daughter has a fricken music concert tomorrow. Not looking forward driving into Montreal tomorrow. They should cancel it.

      No one gives a shit anyway.

      1. hayeksplosives

        Ours should be mostly over by midnight. So one more early morning plowing and right back to it!

        1. Rufus the Monocled

          What’s annoying is it goes below 0 and then to plus 4 tomorrow. So all this shit becomes rain.

          1. hayeksplosives

            What, you’re talking centigrade now?? Even the British weather reports I used to watch in Stockholm used Fahrenheit!

          2. But Enough About Me

            *AHEM*

            “Centigrade” refers to any measuring system that divides measurements into 100 equal parts between two anchor points that are considered meaningful at the time of inception of the measuring system (such as the freezing and boiling points of water). “Celsius” (the correct name for the temperature measurement system in SI) is a centigrade system.

            My engineer dad, back when I was a wee lad and Canada was still on the Imperial system, went apeshit on some science teacher’s ass over precisely this point when the teacher docked me on an exam for referring to it as the “Celsius” system rather than the “Centigrade” system. I still remember him yelling at the teacher: “Centigrade system? Which one, you witling?”

            Dad wasn’t very popular with the teachers. It’s just a shame that he didn’t fight for me in other ways. We might still be talking today…

          3. hayeksplosives

            I consider myself schooled. Thank you.

            Also, this.

        2. We’re supposed to get flooding rain tomorrow.

    2. Gustave Lytton

      Good luck ‘splosives! A job you don’t need is a wonderful place to bargain from.

      1. hayeksplosives

        Thanks.

        And yup, no pressure, really. I am not going to uproot my life just to go out to the Left Coast and be destitute.

        1. Hyperion

          I’m happy to hear that you were saved from the left coast.

          1. Hyperion

            Or maybe I read that wrong and you’re still in negotiations…

          2. hayeksplosives

            Yeah, in negotiations. But HR can quit with the insults already.

          3. Hyperion

            HR people are special. Just keep that in mind.

          4. But Enough About Me

            Special.

            Yeah, that’s one way to put it.

          5. hayeksplosives

            Engineer reports to me that the manager has had words with HR since this morning. He says “You can assume that problem is being worked on. We aren’t giving up that easily.”

        2. Yusef drives a Kia

          Good Fortune, Whatever your Decision

    3. DEG

      Good luck!

  33. The Late P Brooks

    According to an article over at Business Insider (ha!), there is a lot of petulant thumb sucking going on in response to the Democrats’ “surrender” to Trump’s racist minions. So, it’s not a total loss.

    1. Hyperion

      They’re actually at each other’s throats over at DU. It’s between the ‘well we really won’ crowd and the ones who want to lynch Schmoobz as a traitor for caving. It’s quite entertaining!

      Last time that happened was right after the election where the Bernie bots and the ‘you should have supported her!’ factions went at it.

      Seriously, how dumb do they have to be to think that shutting down the government over a fight they cannot win for an unpopular issue, is a good idea?

      1. Suthenboy

        Tranny. Bathrooms.

        When all of your premises are wrong you are going to formulate failing strategies to arrive at faulty goals. Losing is baked right into useful idiocy, and done so deliberately.

  34. Hyperion

    Someone is messing with the styles again. Nice that the button is back, but the text is so small and grayish that I can’t read it now.

    1. Hyperion

      Now it’s back to normal. You guys fucking with us?

      1. hayeksplosives

        When I hit reload, the gray goes away. Makes it tough to see the blue highlighted new posts, though.

      2. They enjoy fucking with you, Hyperion.

        1. Hyperion

          I’m not triggered, damnit!

  35. Drake

    Can’t make this shit up. L’Oreal Muslim Hair Model (who doesn’t show her hair) Amena Khan Is Fired After Series of Anti-Jew Tweets.

    1. Hyperion

      How can you be a hair model and not show your hair? That doesn’t make any sense.

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        They can let their hair down at home. Supposedly they’d be washing their hair for their shitlord husbands.

      2. Bobarian LMD

        Moustache?

    2. Rufus the Monocled

      Lol.

      https://www.instagram.com/amenaofficial/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_legacy

      Wow. She really sifted in just four years.

      Calling Jews ‘child murderers’ to ‘diversity is one of my passions’ is quite the gap there.

      Let’s file under bull shit because if there’s one thing I’ve learned is ant-semitic people don’t just go cold turkey.

      She was protecting her job and it’s obvious.

    3. mikey

      For such a modest chick she’s sure wearing a lot of makeup.

    1. Hyperion

      I know a couple who went there for vacation and literally the first thing that happened to them is that they were robbed at an ATM in broad daylight. I

    2. Drake

      Been going on for a while. It will be the most under reported genocide in history.

      1. Winston

        The Expulsion of the Germans after WWII? The fact that holocaust deniers love to bring it up does help.

        1. Winston

          *does not help*

          Ummm….

        2. Wasn’t a genocide since they weren’t killed.

          However, suggest that the Sudeten Germans should have a right of return, and the people who say the same thing about the “Palestinians” would have a shit fit.

          1. Viking1865

            Wasn’t a genocide since they weren’t killed.

            Thousands were in fact killed, and thousands more died of exposure, hunger, or disease. Plus thousands more were enslaved as part of war reparations. Several hundred thousand as a lowball estimate died, and it could very well be higher.

            Should have cut off Lend-Lease as soon as the Soviets pushed into Bellorussia. Would have saved millions of lives and trillions of dollars and decades of suffering.

    3. Ed Wuncler

      Somehow the issues of Zimbabwe came up during a conversation during the coup and I brought up the fact that since the former Mugabe regime went after whites and their lands, the country experienced a brain drain. Mentioning this got me some puzzled looks and even an insinuation that I’m a racist (ha) but while I can understand the black population’s anger towards the white minority in Zimbabwe, taking their lands and abusing them was counter productive and made their country worst off. And the crazy thing is that Mugabe gave those lands to his cronies who didn’t know a damn thing about agriculture, which explains why they went from being the breadbasket of Africa to the economic shit-show it is now.

      The same thing is happening in South Africa but at a much slower pace. I sort of understand the displeasure towards the whites and how apartheid was shitty and harmful towards the majority, but they (the ANC) use it as an excuse to cover their shitty policies and corruption. It’s a shame to see once prosperous places like Zimbabwe and South Africa slowly turning into shit-holes because the former revolutionaries are morons who have become the oppressors they used to fight against.

      1. Hyperion

        Well, Ed, you know if you’re not a Democrat, you are no longer a real black person. Just like women who don’t vote Democrat are no longer real women. Just like how the Democrats treat the only black SCOTUS member.

        The Zimbabwe thing is really fucked up. I think the farmers who have been lured back are setting themselves up for trouble. Does anyone think that Mugabe’s replacement is going to be any better? The guy’s nickname is the crocodile because of his brutality for crikey sake. It’s not like they had new free elections and elected someone who is not also going to be a ruthless dictator. That guy is just the lucky winner of the latest Edi Amin lotto.

        1. Ed Wuncler

          My wife and I watched a documentary about this white farmer who fought off Mugabe’s thugs and resisted his takeover for as long as he can only to finally be thwarted by the courts. He ended moving to England with his children but died a broken man.

          The issue was that the whites did hold a monopoly in the fields of education, medicine, and civil service along with getting the best lands and this showed when majority rule was implemented in Zimbabwe. Mugabe and his cronies were revolutionaries but didn’t have the knowledge or wisdom to run a country. And when you combine that with the alluring power of government, it becomes a clusterfuck. So now you have a population of uneducated people (through no fault of their own) being allowed to dictate policy and you get the Mugabe’s of the world manipulating them and telling them that seizing the white’s wealth will fix everything. Mugabe and the assholes in the ANC were handed two countries that were already prosperous and they somehow managed to fuck it up

          1. Hyperion

            Kind of similar to what happened in Venezuela. Chavez took land away from experienced farmers and gave it to poor people who had no idea how to farm. One of the reasons for the current food shortages. Hey, they’re equal now, although they’re starving.

          2. DEG

            Just like Collectivization. Maybe they’ll find the right TOP MEN at some point.

          3. CPRM

            Um hello! In South Africa they have a right to housing in their constitution. Unlike this shithole country. Get your facts straight shitlord.

          4. Hyperion

            Yes, they do. Watch this if you want to see some fucked up shit.

            South Africa today

          5. Rufus the Monocled

            Hey, whoa now. No need to blind us with the facts!

      2. Sounds like Quebec, too.

    4. Ed Wuncler

      And what’s also dismaying about this is the assclowns in the ANC are unintentionally fulfilling every doom and gloom prediction that the apartheid government made when they tried to prevent majority rule.

      1. DEG

        This reason.tv video says basically that.

      2. Viking1865

        unintentionally

        Uh, how is an avowed socialist party doing socialist things unintentional?

        The issue with African decolonization has always been not black or white, but red. The continent was essentially handed over to the communists, and communists, no matter what they call themselves, are pure evil and produce nothing but oppression, poverty, and violence wherever they are allowed control of the government.

        every doom and gloom prediction

        White Africans: “If you force us to go to one man one vote democracy, then the blacks will just vote the Communists in power”

        White American liberals “THAT’s RACIST!!!!”

        White Africans “Maybe it is. But the fact remain: if we go straight to democracy, then they will just vote in the local Communist ‘liberation movement’ and the country will become a shithole”

        White American liberals “THATS A LIE RACIST!!!! THAT WON’T HAPPEN!!!!”

        It did, in fact, happen.

        1. Winston

          Don’t forget the libertarians…

  36. The Late P Brooks

    The other three best-known expected 2020 contenders in the Senate — Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — joined Harris among the 18 “no” votes.

    Kirsten Gillibrand, a “2020 contender” (for President, presumably)? By all means, DNC, nominate that vapid ninny. I could use a good laugh.

    1. Hyperion

      White Squaw is facing quite a bit of trouble from her own leftist base over her claims of being native American. I don’t see her running now. Bernie is 300 years old. Also, Hillary will probably have them all disappeared, it’s still her turn.

      1. AlmightyJB

        If it’s 3 women and an old socialist Dems are screwed. I don’t see anyone from the gop successfully primarying Trump either.

        1. Juvenile Bluster

          My worry is Kamala Harris runs (and everyone ignores the awful shit she did as California AG) or Michelle Obama runs and nobody cares what she’s done in the past.

          1. Hyperion

            Well, at least we’ll be rid of anyone who dares challenge the Hilldawg, so there’s that to look forward to.

            Hillary 2020 – Because it’s still my turn, or else!

          2. AlmightyJB

            Oh hell no

  37. AlmightyJB

    Have I mentioned how much I hate politicians and the media. The shutdown media coverage and pol masterbation is vomit inducing.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    Why do you hate America, Almighty?

  39. Tres Cool

    Lookit! We made national news (via Drudge) and it didn’t involve a teacher-student sex story!

    https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2018/01/22/corn-closure-collapse-corn-silo-causes-road-closure-power-outages/1055285001/

  40. Derpetologist

    museum binge

    My museum binge continued today with a stop at the Fernbank Museum in Atlanta.
    The main hall has a skeleton of Argentinesaurus, the largest dinosaur ever
    discovered. A minivan could fit in its rib cage with room to spare.

    I find that I enjoy museums more as an adult because I can take my time and
    read all the plaques. Plus there are Easter eggs hidden in the text.

    Museums are quiet places with neat stuff to look at and read about. I guess that’s why I like them so much.

    On a side note, why isn’t Captain D’s a national chain? It’s better than
    Long John Silver’s.

    Things I learned:

    -There is a theory that stegosauri could angle their plates in order to take
    advantage of the sun. No stegosaurus skeleton has ever been discovered with the
    plates in place.

    -Hadrosaur means “hard lizard”. I suspect as “hadro” journeyed to English, the
    consonants got reversed and the o was dropped.

    -Trilobite means “3 lobed [animal]”. I always wondered about that.

    -People often judge complex and humanlike animals as being better, but sponges
    have been around longer than any animal and have not changed much in a billion years.

    1. Hyperion

      You damn nerd. I love museums also. The best one I’ve been to is the Field Museum in Chicago. Just nuke the rest of Chicago from space, but relocate the Field Museum first. Last really great exhibition I saw was at the new American Indian museum in DC. They had an awesome display of actual weaponry used by Cortez in the conquest of the Messicans.

      Yeah, but sponges don’t post on the the intertoobz. In fact, they didn’t even invent their own intertoobz yet. What use are they? Are they good to eat?

      1. Derpetologist

        When Santa Ana was getting ready to attack the Alamo, he had a red flag raised from a nearby church as a warning that no quarter would be given. The Texans responded by shooting a cannon at his tent.

        Later during the US-Mexico war, a young Ulysses Grant had a small tent taken up a bell tower and propped it up so it could be fired downward. It turned the tide of battle.

        Grant halted the practice of exchanging prisoners during the Civil War, because most rebel POWs quickly returned to the war. Also the South treated captured black Union troops like runaway slaves. This halting of exchanges did a lot to hasten the South’s defeat.

        1. Derpetologist

          oopsy- a small cannon, not a small tent

        2. F. Stupidity Jr.

          Grant halted the practice of exchanging prisoners during the Civil War, because most rebel POWs quickly returned to the war.

          It’s a classic principle of chess: When you’re ahead in material, trade down. The Union population was about 22 million, the Confederacy 9 million. The prisoner exchange program was simply a way to put material back on the board, so good job by Grant at getting to a favorable endgame.

      2. PudPaisley

        The Field Museum is my favorite! I’m gonna be in Chicago for a concert Friday night and I’m gonna force my brother to go to the Field Museum on Saturday. I wish I had two days to spend there. I haven’t been there in over 20 years so pretty excited.

    2. DenverJ

      Captain D’s is a national chain.

      1. Derpetologist

        I’ve only seen it in the south though.

  41. In late since I flew into Santa Clara for work today. Bewbs may be a bit late/irregular this week as a result.

    https://archive.is/RnkvV

    1. DEG

      It’s not the morning and I’m still not fully recovered. I’ll take two of #13.

      1. Hyperion

        I drank too much this weekend and I’m feeling it. Time to slooow down and admit the holidays are over.

        1. DEG

          No drinking for me. I haven’t been feeling well. Yesterday, sore throat and messed up sinuses. Today just sore throat.

          1. Hyperion

            That’s when you need to drink. Get some cask strength bourbon and drink it!

    2. Lafe Long

      Bewbs may be a bit late/irregular this week as a result.

      That’s okay… a little asymmetry is normal, sweetie.

  42. Winston

    So Shitholes. What makes them that way? Part of the problem is the tendency of their nationalist leaders to adopt Marxist views despite the fact that Marx was a white euro-male. Also many of them have colonial pasts so the economy is dominated by the former colonialists hence the tendency to adopt dubious economic and land reforms. Then there are the tribal issues which mean there is no real national sentiment and plenty of opportunities to exploit these tribal issues for the benefit of politicians. And many of these politicians think that their countries need a TOP MAN to lead them into modernity and they of course are that TOP MAN.

    1. Hyperion

      There’s very little power for very few people in a libertarian like free market system. But there is vast amounts of power in a socialist utopia, for a lot of people. There’s your answer.

    2. wdalasio

      So Shitholes. What makes them that way?

      It’s actually pretty funny. In a leftish attempt to impose social conscience on my MBA class, NYU required us to take a class on Economic Development. The funny part was that, despite the leftist intent of whoever pushed to impose the class, it ended up having one of the most libertarian takes of any class I’ve ever taken. The underlying model the professors taught was called the “Growth Diamond”. And what you learned, what you got drilled into your head, was nothing, whatsoever, starts an economy on the path to prosperity other than “non-predatory government”. Basically, every country in the world was, at one point, a shithole. A few of them happened on the idea that, if the leaders don’t beat you over the head and take your shit, you start on the path to becoming a prosperous place. And, really, there’s no other way. After that, you develop sophisticated financial and payment systems, entrepreneurship, and professional management (the other points on the growth diamond). But, until you got non-predatory government, you weren’t leaving the batting plate.

      1. Hyperion

        That’s very good. So where were the ‘socialism works’ and ‘economic equality’ people while that went on?

      2. creech

        My professors agreed, but there was always the “rein in the excesses of laissez faire capitalism” to just back-stepping to industrial socialism.

      3. Number.6

        Well, that’s Hernando de Soto Polar’s hypothesis. You can’t develop as a successful culture unless you have a reliable mechanism for ensuring property – particularly land – rights.

    3. Breet Pharara

      It’s pretty simple actually. The natural state of humans is grinding poverty, shitholes (with the exception of a few at the top with the force needed to seize what wealth there is).

      The real question is what makes places not shitholes. That’s also easy. Different cultures and societies form bonds and base behaviors i.e. values. Some of those are values based on strong property rights, usually phrased as equality since that implies that just because someone has force it’s still wrong for them to steal from others. In order to survive in those societies, you must engage in voluntary exchange since you can’t just take the wealth of someone else. This encourages people to create wealth of their own, and market forces push people to produce what is most desired by that society. Though that process the society prospers and becomes a non-shithole.

      Of course, at any time someone will come along and explain that property rights should be ignored and are unnecessary. These people claim some moral authority to do so. It’s for the good of the people (socialism), the race (Nazism), the country (fascism), the proletariat (communism) ect. who are oppressed under this system and deserve more. As the country abandons property rights they move steadily back to shithole territory.

      Yes I’m preaching to the choir on this board, but it’s worth spelling out every once in a while.

    4. Urthona

      Haiti’s problems actually go way back. In colonial times. They slashed and destroyed all their natural resources to create enormous plantations that used slaves. Then they kicked out all the owners and wound up with no markets, no production of good, and no resources left on the island. They really have an unfortunate history.

        1. Winston

          Article needs total rewrite[edit]
          The people of color in this article are portrayed horribly. It is framed as a genocide when it was really throwing off the shackles of oppression. This article is being referenced heavily on neo-Nazi, white nationalist alt-right websites such as Reddit’s The_Donald and 4chan’s political board to incite violence against PoCs in the US.
          I am formally requesting a comprehensive evaluation of this article and how things can be worded to stop indulging the bloodlust fantasies of America’s most paranoid. –Lunatic, Esquire (talk) 00:17, 23 January 2018 (UTC)

          Erm…Every genocide ever has been justified as retribution for real or imagined atrocities and usually claim that the dead are oppressors/

          1. Urthona

            I’d even go so far as to say it’s almost always due to scapegoating a group of people because of economic tension. Germany, Armenia, Bolshevism, Rwanda. Almost always.

    5. Suthenboy

      When your native language doesnt have words for abstract concepts, only for tangible things you can see or touch, development isnt going to take place much more than it’s current state. If you want to use that metaphor, it’s a shithole because it is full of turds.

      1. Derpetologist

        Haitian creole and African languages have words for abstract concepts like love and freedom. All languages do.

        Spanish, Russian, and Chinese have plenty of words for abstract concepts, but that did not stop central planners from ruining Venezuela, the USSR, and China.

        Central planning is the problem.

  43. Winston

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

    More than three decades after the publication’s termination, Marx’s close associate Frederick Engels recalled that the NRZ had a political program with two main points: “a single, indivisible, democratic German republic, and War with Russia, including the restoration of Poland.”[7] With respect to foreign affairs, Engels recalled that the NRZ sought “to support every revolutionary people and to call for a general war of revolutionary Europe against the mighty bulwark of European reaction — Russia.”

    So much for the notion that anti-war and anti-nationalist Communists ever existed.

    Also the left is back to their old views, right?

    1. Hyperion

      Which left are you talking about? The communists? The socialists? The progressives? The left? The liberals? Just joking, they’re all the same. And of course they’re back to their old views, it never changed.

      1. Winston

        Liberals have changed a lot since the Victorian times.

        Progressives have always had some pretty statist ideas.

        Except for these guys but they were German so it doesn’t really count: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Progress_Party

        Ralph Raico had nice things to say about Eugen Richter.

        And apparently back in Bismarck’s time a “left-liberal Progressive” is very different from what we mean today.

  44. F. Stupidity Jr.

    Milo: Jordan Peterson is getting Milo’d (minus a lot of butt-sex, I guess)

    For those unwilling to watch a video, a Twitterer pointed out to Milo that Peterson, in the wake of his vivisection of Cathy Newman, the left has begun a campaign to marginalize JBP:

    Step 1A: Change the conversation from the loss of the debate to “vile on-line abuse” without showing evidence of abuse
    Step 1B: Media frame Peterson as transphobic and alt-right to steer people away from the original debate video
    Step 2: Peterson will be asked to disavow fanbase, and will be conflated with online abusers.
    Step 3: Media outlets hosting Peterson will be characterized as “endorsing an abuser”. He’ll be banned from UK events or his appearances will be cancelled due to “safety”
    Step 4: Peterson’s presence on social media and YouTube will be called into question

    There’s probably more steps, but I think we’ve got the gist. How long before Reason falls in line with this new narrative? I’d say no later than mid-April we’ll be getting ENB hit pieces.

    1. thepasswordispassword

      Hasn’t Peterson already been shitlisted in Canadia by right thinking people?

    2. Pan Zagloba

      Patreon is a big prize in your timeline. If they can get his Patreon taken down, that’s big big money out of his pocket.

  45. Hyperion

    We’re dying!

    “We could see all the progress of the last 100 years erased.”

    Hmm, that sounds pretty damned good to me.

    1. thepasswordispassword

      You have to have an honest heart to heart with Republicans and explain the situation.

      Sit them down, draw charts for them. Explain why voting Republican is not in their best interests.

      I’m sure if you make a compelling case these mouth breathing imbeciles will see the light and change their ways…

      Oh, wait…

      Someone’s been reading How to Make Friends and Influence People.

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        They might at least have better luck if they had somebody besides Robet Reich draw the charts. I thought it was just a vicious ad hom from the Breitbart crowd, at first.

        Nope, that guy looks and sounds like a garden knome. Its hilarious.

        1. juris imprudent

          My favorite part of RR though is that he sits in an endowed chair at UC collecting a salary over a quarter-mil a year, without apparently ever actually doing anything. Yes, please tell me again how much you care about my grubby interests.

    2. Suthenboy

      “Our glorious future can only be realized if we are a one-party state!”

      Where have I heard that before?

  46. Derpetologist

    Just watched a bit of a news show. The prog lady was upset because there are too many white men in the Trump admin. The prog lady says she wants to be represented by a woman because she’s woman.

    Imagine a white man on TV demanding to be represented by a white man.

    1. Winston

      Imagine what the progs would say if Trump appointed a cabinet with no white men?

    2. Stinky Wizzleteats

      Betsy Davos can be her rep.

    3. CPRM

      Well, Romney was literally Hitler because he had binders filled with female prospective appointees, so…

      1. hayeksplosives

        That was such a ridiculous joke. He used an inelegant phrase, but anyone who has done research or an analysis of alternatives (AoA) knows that binders are very good tools in making major down-selects.

        It was obvious what he meant, but the pearl clutchers managed to make Mitt Freaking Romney public enemy and woman hater #1. And after taking Romney to the extreme, they have Trump, and can’t go any further on the outrage scale because they called wolf on a gentlemanly Mormon.

        I love the non-stop entertainment from the left.

    4. Urthona

      Doesn’t Trump have the most women in cabinet positions in history?

      Also Trump is the first president elected to never have been against gay rights.

    5. juris imprudent

      As if Nikki Haley isn’t a woman, and a minority. Somebody isn’t keeping score!

    1. Mojeaux

      The comments are gold.

      1. Playa Manhattan

        They are a thing of beauty.

        “I dont like the hats. I dont like the term pussy hats. I dont think calling them that is appropriate. However, I myself love the pussy on my face Just sayin”

    2. Playa Manhattan

      “It is a stoic and dignified memorial befitting Harriet Tubman (even if a little watered down by the fact that the fearless liberator is depicted without her shotgun).”

      So close. So so close.

  47. Derpetologist

    other random things I learned recently in museums:

    -Medieval European men wore beryl crystals as they believe it would prevent arguments with their wives.

    -One of the rubies in the British Crown Jewels was actually another similar gem.

    -Trilobites were the first animals with eyes. The chemistry of the eye was such that the eyes fossilized as pyrite, or fool’s gold. A lot of pyrite is the result of ancient sulfur-metabolizing bacteria.

    -Speaking of eyes, “seeing stars” is the result of the movement of red blood cells in the capillaries of the eye. The cells refract light as it passes through them.

    -The Devil’s Paintbrush was a chart used during WW1 to describe the effect of entrenched riflemen vs. an entrenched machine gun. An entrenched riflemen could kill 11 out of 12 attacking infantry over a distance of 300 yards, but an entrenched machine gun could kill 14 at a distance of 300 yards.

    – T. rex was named in 1905 by Henry Fairfield Osborn. He theorized that the creature’s wimpy arms were used for caressing mates and young. Apex predators always have ways of showing affection.

    -The giant prehistoric bird Diatrymus is often portrayed as a carnivore, but since it did not have a hooked beak, it was most likely an herbivore.

    1. Did Osborn bang a gong?

      1. Derpetologist

        My favorite new idiom is “beaten like a Hong Kong gong”.

        1. Tres Cool

          “Schlong in Hong Kong, pimp ’em like Bishop, Magic, Don Juan” -Ludacris

      2. Tres Cool

        +1 Minnie The Moocher

    2. creech

      Interesting stats about marksmanship, but probably derived on the range and not in combat. Years ago, some civil war buff set up a wide target showing a company of Union soldiers and placed it about 50 yards in front of guys firing real minie balls at it. By the second volley, 90% of the target soldiers were hit. Yet, in real combat, Yanks and Rebs blasted away at each other at similar ranges for 30 minutes or more and the casualty rates were seldom over 30% before one side or the other retreated.

      1. juris imprudent

        Ha, that’s because the targets weren’t firing back.

      2. Pan Zagloba

        If the guys firing were reenactors, they also probably had more drill than an average Civil War soldier, and higher quality gunpowder (because authenticity stops at “my musket fucking blew up” even for most of that crowd).

        As additional factor, I don’t think firing started at 50 yards, probably they blasted at or beyond max range, so three volleys in you can’t really see much to aim at from the smoke.

        And, not a small thing, it’s easier to shoot a target than a person. Supposedly, lots of people fired high at the moment, either to miss on purpose or because they’d close their eyes just before firing.

        1. Bobarian LMD

          Your last point is the most likely the largest determinant. A minie ball firing through a rifled barrel was effectively accurate out to 300 yards.

          American people were shooting at American people, possibly relatives and neighbors, over political issues that most combatants had less than significant and visceral concerns over.

          Poor visibility may have actually been a cause of more casualties than what otherwise might have happened because of this.

          90 men volley firing into cloud of smoke in the direction another group of men are going to randomly hit a good number of targets.

    3. Hyperion

      “Medieval European men wore beryl crystals as they believe it would prevent arguments with their wives.”

      Well, I’m sure they were stylish and all. but the only going to to prevent that is if your wife is not a woman.

  48. Gilmore

    China co-opts American Idol, modifies it slightly so that winners are chosen by govt committee, and losers are thrown in political prison.

    And they seem to have a problem with “Rap” music because, while the genre grows in popularity, they dislike its occasional references to bitches and hos and smoking blunts w/ your homies.

    Beijing is eager to use popular culture to shape public opinion, including co-opting rap artists ahead of its five-yearly congress last year. With state support comes the insistence that Party values must take center stage in the artists’ work.

    The latest cleanup started when PG One was forced to apologize for lewd lyrics, which critics said were insulting to women and encouraged the use of recreational drugs.

    The official Xinhua news agency wrote that PG One “does not deserve the stage,” and that “we should say ‘no’ to whoever provides a platform for low-taste content.” Other official media and companies quickly followed suit; the rapper’s tracks were soon pulled from most online sites.

    GAI, who had been in third place on The Singer, broadcast by Hunan TV, was cut from the program last week with no reason given. Rapper Vava was hastily edited out of the same station’s flagship variety show “Happy Camp” because of her association with hip-hop culture.

    “Hip-hop’s prospects in China seem dim after Chinese rappers removed from TV shows,” read one headline from influential state-run tabloid Global Times on Sunday.

    The same paper this month said hip-hop – which it called a “tool for people to vent their anger, misery, complaints” – did not suit China and “cannot thrive” here.

    1. Derpetologist

      There was an Onion article that was something like “Chinese Andy Rooney has humorous thoughts about how great the Communist Party is.”

      Speaking of China, in past centuries, govt officials wore badges on their chests. There were 9 badges, each a different animal.

      It reminded me of the way rank is displayed on the chest of Army uniforms.

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

    2. Suthenboy

      Somewhere Thomas Friedman is jerkin’ it to this article.

  49. Gilmore

    The one intellectually-honest person left @ The Atlantic calls it like he sees it re: the Jordan Peterson vs BBC fiasco.

    pretty sure that means The Atlantic will later publish some screed declaring peterson a closet racist and Alt-Right leader.

    1. Gilmore

      …What struck me, far more than any position he took, was the method his interviewer employed. It was the most prominent, striking example I’ve seen yet of an unfortunate trend in modern communication.

      First, a person says something. Then, another person restates what they purportedly said so as to make it seem as if their view is as offensive, hostile, or absurd.

      Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and various Fox News hosts all feature and reward this rhetorical technique. And the Peterson interview has so many moments of this kind that each successive example calls attention to itself until the attentive viewer can’t help but wonder what drives the interviewer to keep inflating the nature of Peterson’s claims, instead of addressing what he actually said.

      1. Breet Pharara

        Fox News hosts do it but not MSNBC or CNN or BBC or…you know what, he still gets a point for not being entirely moronic even if he needs to clutch his partisan blankie to get there.

    2. Playa Manhattan

      Your link is 404, so… maybe they already killed it.

      1. Playa Manhattan

        I don’t believe that she was harassed, but if she was…. she earned it.

        What a lying hack.

        1. Breet Pharara

          Depends on your definition of harassment. I have no doubt she got nasty messages on twitter and such. Anything will get you those messages. If you post about the greatness that is pineapple pizza, you’ll get death threats. If stupid people on stupid sites saying stupid things with no actual threat is harassment than fine. As for what I’m sure you and I would consider harassment, she almost certainly didn’t receive any.

          1. Bobarian LMD

            Pineapple Pizza! You ignorant slut! You’re as bad as Hitler.

            The only person worse than you is my wife, who orders all our shared pizzas with pineapple on them.

            I’m pretty terrible to because I don’t mind eating it; especially if it’s Deep Dish.

          2. Bobarian LMD

            *too

      2. Pan Zagloba

        OK, top-ranked comment is worth a tipped monocle

        So you’re saying women can’t be good journalists?!

  50. commodious spittoon

    Out of curiosity, has anyone on CNN or msnbc yet squared the circle between “Republicans were responsible for the shutdown,” and the fact that the shutdown ended when Dems finally showed up to the table? Seems difficult to rationalize the idea that Republicans held all the cards when the game finally moves on only because they folded.

    1. Playa Manhattan

      It’s the president’s fault. Please try to keep up.

    2. Lachowsky

      Dems good Pubs bad. That’s all they know.

    3. juris imprudent

      Oh, I have some FB friends crying about how the Dems just caved. I’m not smirking (to their faces anyway).

  51. Tulip

    I went to a talk/tasting by McGovern and Dog Fish Head about how they recreated drinks from residues found in tombs. Fascinating.

    1. Mad Scientist

      Literal rot gut?

  52. Gilmore

    i realized i don’t get Fleccas updates anymore. so i updated myself. he does good work

    i would probably have sex with the green and purple haired communist women, just so i could light a cigarette after and be like, “and another victory for capitalism”

    1. straffinrun

      Chicks with bizarrely dyed hair used to be independent thinking and hot. Not anymore.

      1. RAHeinlein

        OT: Thanks for the Japan trip input. We are departing next week, and in Tokyo from Jan 30 – Feb 4. I’d love to get-together if you are free for lunch/dinner/drinks (family welcome as well).

        1. straffinrun

          Let me check the schedule. Have a good trip!

  53. TrueNeutralPaladin

    “Wonder Woman 2… with a woman so beautiful that she lowers male IQ 30 points”

    No-Boobs McGee is supposed to be beautiful?

    1. Pan Zagloba

      I’m a face man, I drooled at her the whole picture and have no damn idea what her cup size is.

  54. quincy

    I would like to take this moment to apologize to Nephilium: he is not a pig fucker. Upon further reflection, he is correct in his assessment that “The National Anthem” is not on the 10 best list of “Black Mirror” episodes.

  55. CPRM

    Ok. Here is a professional story I have declined to tell until now for fear of exposing myself on the intertoobs to the NSA, but I’m sure I’ve already fucked that with other posts. So, as I have disclosed I work as a video editor. I own my own production company, which now is just me and I do a few jobs to make ends meet. But years ago I had partners. And we were starting to make progress in the local industry. They were the business folk, I was the talent. They both knew I was a libertarian, and eventually just assumed I was only interested in money. Through a series of events the parents of Bow Bergdahl propositioned one of my partners to make a documentary about their son. This was when he was still a POW. I had never heard of him before; so I did some research. After that I had questions about the story. So I asked this business partner about how we would present these questions, and he said ‘Well, the family said they would provide us with the script’. I was shocked. I told him I couldn’t do that, that is propaganda. He replied, well they will pay us very well. I told him I wouldn’t do it. He said he would hire someone else to do it then. Eventually after the other partner intervened it was agreed we wouldn’t do it. But a pattern was set that led to me having to buy back my own company so this asshat wouldn’t use the name of what I created on projects that were morally repugnant. The shitty part was that asshat of a partner was my brother-in-law I brought into the company because he was unemployed at the time. I fucking hate people. Sorry for the Ken Shultz length post.

    1. Pan Zagloba

      Some years ago I listened to the Civil War course from Yale. It covered 1850s to 1870s, so it included some of the scandals of U.S. Grant’s presidency. As he’s describing one (I think it was Credit Mobile), prof goes “and Grant appointed his brother in law [pause] Never appoint your brother in law to anything.”

      Listening to the other history podcasts has confirmed that wisdom (quick link: a fuckup who ruined combined East-West Roman expedition against Vandals and sealed the faith of Western Roman Empire), so what I’m saying, you’re in company of some great historical figures.

      1. CPRM

        Yeah, at the time, he had been laid off (during the recession) He wasn’t going out and looking for jobs to help support my sister and their daughter, because none of the jobs he found paid as well as his unemployment. I offered him some odd jobs for cash with my company. He had worked in sales and hit it off with my business partner. And I thought ‘Gee, a win/win I won’t have to wast all that time talking to my partner about business stuff I don’t care about, and I’ll be helping out family. Sure, lets offer him equity, it’s worthless now, but it will incentivise him’. Never give away majority share is the lesson I learned.

    2. Derpetologist

      If you want to expose yourself, I have an old trench coat you can borrow…

      fun fact: the last of the buttons popped off when I was walking past a Burger King. I took it as a omen that I should eat more carefully.

    3. Don Escaped Texas

      More proof the one should never ever partner. Pay people what their services are worth to keep them as vendors or as employees, never partners.

      It’s great that you didn’t publish their propaganda, but it would be okay with me if you did.
      Yours is a service pure and simple; no endorsement is implied or should be inferred.

      I’ll build pretty much anything that isn’t illegal;
      it’s not my business what you’re doing or how stupid it is so long as your check clears;
      basically, all jobs are just various lies (advertising) or 300th flavors of deodorant;
      I leave it to markets to sort it all out and just make sure my deodorant equipment runs goods parts at the specified rate.

      1. CPRM

        I have a strange aversion to willfully lying. It has led me to turn down or not seek multiple jobs. Funny how, when I was younger, I was a compulsive liar to the point that I would even introduce myself to strangers as someone else without even thinking.

    4. Suthenboy

      My Grandfather: “All partnerships end in a court battle or a gun fight.”

    5. KSuellington

      It seems that you are one of those libertarians with morals. Imagine that, having a set of beliefs and following them. The most radical thing in the world you could say.

  56. Suthenboy

    I have trouble keeping up lately so I haven’t been contributing much. Just for fun here is a little story related to the sea of tears over the EPA being decimated.

    A few years ago phone rings. “Mr. Suthenboy? I am Scarlett Commie with the EPA. I see that you have land that has an abandoned gravel mine on it. I am calling to confirm your address and I will be sending you and order to restore that land to it’s natural condition.”

    “Well, good morning to you as well. Have you actually been to that location?”

    *a few seconds of silence* “No”

    “You are sitting at a computer looking at google earth and then cross referencing with parish records online, aren’t you?”

    *longer period of silence* “Yes”

    “Well Scarlet, that pit is not abandoned. It is a working mine. Also, it is not located on my land.”

    “Ok, Mr. Suthenboy, where is your land located? And who is the owner of the land the mine is located on?”

    “Scarlett, honey, you have a nice day.” – *click*

    I cannot overemphasize how much joy I feel knowing those damned watermelons are getting the what for. It is long overdue. I hope Scarlett got cut loose. She can hook, or panhandle I suppose.

    1. CPRM

      gravel mine? Up here we call it a gravel pit, well because it is a pit.

      1. Suthenboy

        Commonly called that here too. A pit where gravel is mined.

        This state is peppered with them. There is an interesting deposit just north and east of me. Ordinarily our gravel is composed of deposits washed down from the mountain ranges that stood before the current Appalachians. It had to survive quite a long trip so it is all ground smooth and the hardest gravel in the world. The anomalous deposit is some kind of relatively much softer, super high iron content rock. I cannot for the life of me figure out how that got here and I cant find anyone with an explanation. The entire state was laid down by sedimentation either when an inland sea covered this area or later by river deposits, and yet right in the middle is this island of non-layered, hard iron oxide.

        1. CPRM

          The squirrels ate my first attempt, so if this double posts my apologies. My great-grandfather wanted to be a farmer, but lost his land to the bank because nothing would grow there. To this day it is a profitable gravel pit. He moved 15 miles west and eeked out a living on his new farm. His grandson who inherited the family farm has run a pretty profitable gravel pit on the property for over 30yrs. My great-grandfather was shit at buying farm land.

          1. Suthenboy

            I am sorry to hear that. I grew up on a small farm so I know what it means to work one. More of my grandfathers advice: “Son, a farm aint nuthin’ but hunger, tears and sweat.”

            We grow timber, so technically I do farm…trees.

          2. Suthenboy

            That also reminds me of a saying in…Thailand?…somewhere in SE Asia

            “Every grain of rice represents 10 drops of sweat”

          3. Derpetologist

            The immature stalk stands erect, but the mature stalk, heavy with grain, bends over.

            -Cambodian proverb

          4. CPRM

            I never knew the man. From what I know he was stubborn son of a bitch. He found out he inherited a large sum from a relative in NY, but was too proud to borrow the money to get there, even though with inheritance he would have profited well even if he paid interest to the folks that loaned him money to get there. But that’s the way family legends always go isn’t it. ‘If X relative had done Y we’d all be Kangz n shit’.

          5. Suthenboy

            Yeeeep. I have heard a thousand of those. Good God, doing a title search on a piece of land in south rapids parish I found where an old man had given away and 80 acre farm for a bottle of whiskey. When I called the grandchildren, who now live in California, to find out if they wanted to have anything to do with the land (it was up for tax sale) all I got was cussin’ and spittin’

            “Hell no! I will never set foot in Louisiana again! If my grandfather hadn’t……”

          6. Suthenboy

            Mining gravel used to be a thriving industry here but these days it is hanging on bye the skin of it’s teeth. A couple of decades ago the state changed the standards for aggregates – it has to have two broken faces. As I said before the locally mined stuff is smooth and harder than a preacher’s dick at a wedding. So now we import all of our aggregates on barges. Can you imagine the opportunities they created for graft, kickbacks, cronyism etc. just by changing that one tiny standard?

    2. SandMan

      That’s a good one, just needed a “Well bless your heart” thrown in the conversation.

      1. Suthenboy

        She is lucky I couldn’t reach through the phone and throttle her.

  57. CPRM

    Fake NEWz from 2012, was this the Russianz as well?

    1. Suthenboy

      There are some other gems there

      *Trump giving Lincoln bedroom to Putin to streamline U.S takeover by Russia
      *Trump vows to send Statue of Liberty back to France
      *Besty DeVos bans ‘teaching’ in classrooms
      *Trump signs executive order to sell Grand Canyon

      1. Derpetologist

        I heard a rumor that Trump was going to close the Defense Language Institute.

        “Why do American soldiers need to learn *foreign* languages?”

        It was stupid, yet it was endlessly repeated.

  58. Suthenboy

    I have to go to bed Y’all. Goodnight.

  59. Number.6

    OT. Got to shoot a Bren Ten Compact in 10mm tonight (yes, they also made a 45 ACP model), but DAMN, girl, I had to pay dearly for the pleasure. The owner is a veritable bukakke movie of information on the thing. I thought I’d have an endless capacity for gun minutiae, but nope. Nope, I don’t. I now know far more than any man should care to know about the things. All that information went EVERYWHERE! Anyway.

    10mm, in a Compact. Sounds like bad news. But the gun weighs in at 33oz, which is good news. However, it’s a big brick of a gun (good and bad news).

    Well, it’s a freakin’ cannon. Not as much barrel lift as I expected – has the CZ-like low bore axis – but it’s big, clunky and – I hate to say it – ugly. Controls are well-positioned, but (possibly thru’ lack of use) they bind a bit. Everything that moves has just a little too much ‘grainy’ friction. The gun had been lubed, but the metal surface to surface fit was a little bit off. Grip was big. Bigger than this P229 I just bought. Front- and back- straps had vertical grooves that helped somewhat with the grip, but if I wanted to fire this regularly, I’d want to slap some skate tape on the handle.

    I can confirm that somewhere along the way, some Ruger guys hung out with Dornaus and Dixon, because this freakin’ gun has nearly as much lettering on it as a Ruger. It’s like holding a large metal cash register receipt or mortgage contract.

    So, sadly (and disappointedly) I have to give it a ‘meh’. Partly because I had been so excited and I just felt let down. I mean, I’d take one if it was offered as a gift, but I wouldn;t buy one if someone offered me a ‘great deal’.