Monday Morning Links

Well, its been one year today hanging out with you people here.  I won’t speak for any of the other folks involved here because its not my place, but I want to personally thank you all from the bottom of my heart for making this such a wonderful experience.  I’ve learned a lot in the past 365 days hanging around in our own little place. A lot about diversity of opinion, a reasonable discourse and what quality user-generated content can be (hint: it has been excellent). So many of you, those that are still here commenting daily, those who lurk and those who have come and gone, have contributed more than you’ll ever know.  And a special thank you to the people that came together and founded, fostered and labored for this place to be the wonderful venture that it is.  The site has evolved a lot over the last year and the format has been tinkered with, and it seems to be drifting in the way you guys want it to drift. For that, I am happy.

Anyway, you guys are the best. Thanks for everything.

Ohio State and Liverpool both won this weekend. Man United shit the bed, Michigan State beat Purdue to put Ohio State atop the Big Ten. And in hockey, the Pens, Red Wings, Rangers, Canucks, Avalanche, Bruins, Flames, Flyers and Sharks won.  That’s it. I blew my load on the anniversary bit so I didn’t have time for much else.

And now, I present you with…the links!

The smiling face of an evil member of a murderous clan

This is what happens when you let your political hatred of a rightfully-elected President cloud your judgment so much you beclown yourself on a global stage. I mean…yeah. Well done, WaPo. You’re officially a joke after your “Democracy dies in darkness” schtick followed up with this.  Collect your door prize and GTFO of the building if you think for a second you’re a publication to be taken seriously anymore. You can join CNN’s Lester Holt over there in the corner with the dunce hat on.

Damn, that’s harsh. Looks like he could have used a few of those cats’ nine lives.

California gets the immigrants it deserves.  Unfortunately, these guys won’t be paying into the system.

Dindunuffins get a break in Chicago. Hey, maybe you lazy-ass cops up there can start charging these assholes to the fullest extent of the law and will let your unarmed populous defend themselves from them and this kind of shit won’t continue to spiral out of control. And stop throwing people in jail for drugs at the expense of these idiots walking free.

Boston police apologize for tone-deaf tweet. Yeah, its a little tone deaf, but its still completely accurate. Don’t these people have more important shit to complain about?

Shut down due to Nazis

No, not a bu-, a bomb. London City airport closed down when unexploded WW2 bomb found nearby in River Thames. Shit, I remember when that nation used to fly planes out while under a torrent of bombing. Now they shut down an airport when somebody spots a Nazi shell in the general vicinity. The sun may have finally set on a once-brave people.

This goes out to all of you.

Have a great day, friends. Thanks for a hell of a good year.

 

Comments

707 responses to “Monday Morning Links”

  1. Jefe Hayek

    I honestly don’t think I will ever understand this

    1. I saw that dude in a Portlandia skit, right?

      JK. You’ll never understand mental illness. Neither will I.

    2. Suthenboy

      I am still trying to write up an article that will explain that, but like mathematical descriptions of the universe we will have an explanation but still no visceral, intuitive understanding.

    3. straffinrun

      Capt. Maeve Griffith showed up for her first shift at Spokane Fire Station 3 on Easter Sunday.

      She wore makeup, which was unusual, and was preparing to get into her uniform, which was not. Firefighter Ty Bates arrived and made coffee for the shift crew, and Griffith thought he seemed a little uncomfortable. As she is wont to do, Griffith looked to pop the tension with the needle of humor.

      “How was your Saturday?” Bates asked.

      “Pretty good,” Griffith answered, smiling broadly as she relates the story, “now that I’m a girl.”

      That’s just the start of the article and I’m completely confused. Am I trans now?

      1. Since “she’s” at “her” first day on the job, can the taxpayers be spared the cost of “her” pension unless “she” puts in 20 years starting now?

      2. antisthenes

        Hey, she makes “jokes” that aren’t actually funny, so it sounds like she’s really getting the hang of being a woman.

    4. Bob Boberson

      Oh the Spokesman-Review, you were a leftist derp-rag when I lived in Spokane years ago; good to see you haven’t changed.

      1. When are those shitlord assholes gonna step into the 21st century and change the name of their paper to the Spokesperson-Review?
        -Canadian Prime Minister

      2. Jefe Hayek

        It’s the epitome of small time newspaper not knowing its place. There will be a few good articles here and there, but most of it is just inane paraphrasing of something someone else said.

        It definitely leans left, but in a vapid, matter of fact “centrist” kind of way moreso than an unhinged Communism sympathizing NYT way

        1. Bob Boberson

          Vapid being the key word…..I could never stand to read it much. The Inlander (free local haps paper in restaurants) was always a goldmine of SJW derp

          1. Jefe Hayek

            The Inlander is amazing. The Stranger’s beaten and hidden mutant step-sibling.

            My favorite is the fat “native american” columnist who only writes about the joys of being poor and how turning Perry Street into something other than a place to get Hep C and meth was the worst thing to ever happen to the city

          2. Bob Boberson

            Its been a while but it always was the treasure trove of stupid I’d idly peruse while waiting for my hangover breakfast. Shout out to Waffles Plus…..if it’s still open and you haven’t been- GO.

  2. DEG

    “Only in #Boston do the @bostonpolice honor Red Auerbach for #blackhistorymonth. So we already have the shortest month and now this,” Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson tweeted Sunday night. “Please file this under Hell Nah aka Not Having it aka Not Ok. #bospoli #Boston #mapoli.”

    I’m going to guess Jackson doesn’t want people to know Boston has a long history of racism.

  3. General Vicinity? Is he related to Major Trouble or Corporal Punishment?

    1. He’s actually Private Parts’s cousin once removed.

      1. Oh, so that’s why he got transferred to Major Disappointment’s command.

        1. Colonel Ingus wanted nothing to do with him.

          1. Trigger Hippie

            ‘I never cared much for Colonel Angus. Something about Colonel Angus rubs me the wrong way’..

          2. Not Adahn

            Ur doing it rong.

          3. Psycho Effer

            General Disarray will not tolerate this kind of thing.

          4. F. Stupidity Jr.

            General Lee was a fine officer. His brother Specific never enlisted.

          5. In our sales pitches, we would always bring in Rich Detail to talk about the finer points.

            Rich Lather would be on hand to pump up the crowd and get people excited.

    2. Not Adahn

      Keep firing, Assholes!

    3. Chipwooder

      Major Asshole and his cousin, Gunner’s Mate third class Phillip Asshole

  4. Well, its been one year today hanging out with you people here

    That long? I need to write more

    1. Brett L

      That was my thought, too.

  5. A man’s friend asks him: “What do you and your wife talk about after sex?
    He replied: “Well that all depends on if I can find a phone.”

    Excellent group.

    http://archive.is/F8XVP

    2, 3, 4, 7, 15, 19, 21, 26, 30, 32, 34, 35, 51, 53.

    1. Jefe Hayek

      1, 6, 25

    2. DEG

      #1 looks like a Real Doll. If she can prove she’s not, I’ll let her into the orgy.

      #2 looks really fun.

      I thought I knew who #23 is, but Google image search says I’m wrong and it is Maria Doroshina.

      I hope #30 is bringing me good beer. #32 and #52 look photoshopped. Both are excluded from the orgy.

      Orgy, excluding #30, #52, and possibly #1.

  6. Jefe Hayek

    One year. Damn. Happy anniversary, you fookin animals, ya

  7. Objectifying men’s crotches isn’t equality – and it makes sexism towards women worse

    In the summer Olympics it’s the volleyball players, in their hot pants, who bear the brunt of it. But, for a change, it seems to be the men who are bearing the brunt of the objectification this time.

    Perhaps it’s the tightness of their sporting outfits around the crotch area, or maybe it’s because the #MeToo movement has made slavering over women’s bodies unfashionable, but for whatever reason, tweets like this one seem to be becoming more and more de rigueur

    The reason why talking about someone’s ‘bulge’ is unacceptable are manifold. Firstly, it’s weird. It’s very weird to speculate about someone’s genitals for funsies. Honestly. However you cut it, it’s odd.

    STEVE SMITH WIN GOLD MEDAL OF CROTCH BULGES.

    1. Hyperion

      Remember when a sport was just a sport?

    2. DEG

      It’s disrespectful, too. These people have worked super hard.

      If the athletes didn’t work super-hard and were fat, the crotch watchers would see different bulges which they wouldn’t tweet about.

    3. Rebel Scum

      talking about someone’s ‘bulge’

      I, for one, am perfectly ok with women talking about my bulge.

      1. Rasilio

        What if they are laughing while doing it?

    4. TK

      Why can’t we just oogle each other’s bodies while also agreeing its not okay to be grabby without consent?

      1. Because you’re supposed to cower before the moral scolds and do as they tell you!

        1. Hyperion

          Exactly. Bullies. I refuse to play along. Probably lose a client over it one of these days. So be it.

    5. However you cut it, it’s odd.

      Rabbi, is that you?

  8. DEG

    Armed carjackings have become a major political problem for Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Almost every part of the city has been plagued by the brazen holdups. There were almost 1,000 of them last year, compared with 663 in 2016.

    Illinois should follow Louisiana’s example.

    1. Hyperion

      How do you carjack someone without a gun? Because there are no guns in Chicago, right? I did hear they have common sense gun control there. Are they carjacking people with knives?

      1. Los Doyers

        Chicago’s gun laws actually aren’t all that strict anymore. The courts started knocking down the worst laws in 2010, and have been keeping the repeals steady ever since. This article lays it out pretty well, even though the author is bitching the entire time.

        1. It’s not ownership that’s an issue. It’s the ability to use it to defend oneself.
          Also, Cook County issues the fewest carry permits per capital in the state. And it’s a shall issue state, where all kinds of roadblocks and invasive regs are used to effectively limit the number of guns in that unsafe shithole of a city.

          https://patch.com/illinois/tinleypark/how-many-people-have-concealed-carry-licenses-your-county

          1. Florida, just to use one example, issues CCWs at a rate 7x as high as Cook county, IL.

    2. PieInTheSKy

      Didn’t South Africa have flamethrowers on the sides of cars?

      1. On the undercarriage pointed at the sides, but yes.

        1. pan fried wylie

          Mr. Automotive-flamethrower Pedant over here.

    3. Brett L

      I think they started holding parades in Miami for people who shot and killed a carjacker. Don’t hear about as many carjackings.

  9. Trigger Hippie

    Happy anniversary, all. I despaired at the state of TOS degeneration into shitposting and wandered over here about a month after this place and was up and running….now you’ll never be rid of me short of an outright banning….MWAHAHA.

    1. Banning? Who’d be so crass. We have a simpler fix.

      *chambers round*

      1. straffinrun

        Excellent. I love Scheizer porn.

        1. What? I was just planning to shoot him. You had to go and make it weird.

          1. straffinrun

            I went with the lesser of weird interpretations of “chambers round”.

          2. Trigger Hippie

            Fully peg-a-matic?

      2. PieInTheSKy

        As Glib swag you should sell bullets with catbuts on them

        1. pan fried wylie

          I’ve seen hollow-points with those radial indentations on the front, that kinda looks like a cat-butt.

      3. “We”, white man?

    2. Floridaman

      Hello Tulpa.

    3. Drake

      I joined in a few weeks after you guys launched. Thank you.

      I looked in on TOS over the weekend – yikes. Chapman is starting to fit right in.

      1. From Schultz to Klink? When do you become Burkhalter?

        1. Drake

          I was considering Major Hochstetter – but no monocle.

          1. Didn’t even think of Kinchloe during Black History Month?

            You shitlord.

          2. pan fried wylie

            Wouldn’t that be like eBlackFace, making him an even greater shitlord.

            Shitlord’d if you do, shitlord’d if you don’t.

      2. Trigger Hippie

        Yeah, I still take a peek from time to time as well. The same five or six people espousing the same thing, with minor variations, over and over and over again. With rarely an honest discourse thrown in the mix. It’s all about I’M RIGHT, YOU’RE WRONG. Every damn time. It’s tedious as hell.

    4. Certified Public Asshat

      Are we allowed to miss Fist? Because I do.

      *stares out window, single tear rolls down cheek*

      1. Bob Boberson

        Does anyone know what became of Hamster of Doom?…..he was always really funny and insightful as I recall

        1. F. Stupidity Jr.

          She was here in the beginning under her real name, then left pretty quick for reasons unknown to me.

          1. Bob Boberson

            Holy crap, we have to be up around 4% female commenters! Least sausage-festy libertarian party ever!!!

          2. Where do you get that number?

          3. Bob Boberson

            like most 93% of statistics I site, I made it up

          4. commodious spittoon

            What was it someone tweeted about Shatner going to a Libertarian Party event, something about having fewer women around than a Trek convention.

          5. Bob Boberson

            Seriously though that sucks….. I remember she was a good egg…..I can’t recall the specifics but I remember she really gave Hihn a good zinger on at least one occasion

          6. Bob Boberson

            That’s the only thing I miss about TOS, not the trolls themselves (God no!) but I do miss seeing my fellow Glibs casually eviscerate them with your wit

          7. Uh… no comment.

  10. Hyperion

    “California gets the immigrants it deserves. Unfortunately, these guys won’t be paying into the system.”

    So, while one group of destructive invasive rats flee the state, another group moves in to take their place? Sounds fitting.

    1. PieInTheSKy

      Isn’t nutria fur usable?

      1. Brett L

        Cajuns tell me it isn’t bad tasting in soups and barbeque.

      2. Not in California. IIRC, keeping animals to kill for their fur is illegal there.

      3. Hyperion

        Dude, it’s commiefornia, they’ll be a protected species and even not letting one destroy a road will be considered a hate crime.

  11. straffinrun

    The legal presumption in those cases is that the defendants should not be detained unless the prosecutor can show why, Cunningham said.

    You get arrested for carjacking and you need a reason why?

    1. I thought cops determined why somebody was being detained. Why is a prosecutor involved at such an early stage in an investigation?

      It’s called being placed under arrest “under suspicion of carjacking”. The charging comes later. At least it does for every other crime. I wonder if they use the same standard for people in a Chicago accused of domestic violence, possession of cocaine, DUI or backtalking a dickhead cop.

      1. straffinrun

        That whole article makes carjacking sound like some different category than armed robbery. You point a gun at someone and demand their car, it’s not like they’re going to shoot the car if you say no. Thought they hated gun violence and hence we need strict gun control. Why are they going so easy on people who use them in crimes?

        1. commodious spittoon

          Why not enforce straw buyer rules against people who prove the ineffectiveness of their background checks? You’d think gun-grabbers would take a more personal stake in how their favored laws are so easily circumvented.

          1. Simple – the laws they push are not an end, but a means of leveraging towards the end. It doesn’t matter if they work or not.

  12. They’ve Been Married A Decade. She’s A Sex Worker. Here’s What It’s Like

    How long have you been together? Were you already involved in sex work when you met?

    Eva: We’ve been married almost 11 years. We’ve been a couple for around 18 years and we met around 30 years ago. We’ve always been in each other’s lives.

    I have worked as a sex worker on and off for about 15 years, so I already knew Justin when I started. We’d talked about it for years and it was something I’d always wanted to try and explore.

    Sex and sexiness and being desired and being paid for it was always something I thought about, before I think I even knew it was something people did. I’d worked as a receptionist and manager at a brothel for a few years before I decided to jump over the desk and work the other side of it. It was a mutual decision. He gave me the courage to actually do it. And it’s been amazing.

    1. Drake

      That is the actual definition of a cuckold.

      1. Not Adahn

        …or a pimp.

        1. Drake

          A pimp has a bunch of ho’s.

          1. Not Adahn

            Starter pimp. Artisinal pimp. Small batch mom-and-pop pimp. The kind of pimps that used to flourish on main street before the big-box brothels drove them out of business.

          2. pan fried wylie

            *Mom-and-Pimp Shop

          3. Maybe he is just not a very good one?

        2. Gadfly

          Whether he’s a pimp or a cuck depends on whether she pays him. If she’s getting strange and he’s not getting cash, he’s not a pimp.

      2. Rasilio

        Not really.

        The archaic meaning basically required that it be happening behind the guys back. The more modern use of the term requires that he be humiliated by the act. The other more political term would require the guy to be a simpering sissy boy. None of these seem to apply to this guy so while you could maybe mangle the term to somehow apply to him he isn’t going to be an actual fit to the definition of it.

        1. A Leap at the Wheel

          Well, the really archaic meaning is that the husband is a bird.

          Or possibly a clock.

        2. Exactly…

          I would call this guy more of a hotwifer, ie – he doesn’t mind his wife having sex with other men not because of any cuckoldness factor, but likes the idea of other males also enjoying the goods he has access to. It’s like the sense of satisfaction one can get when your GF/wife is catcalled, but taken to a further extreme.

          Or – I also know a couple who, instead of divorcing, went in an open relationship. It works for them.

        3. Number.6

          Well, certainly in the UK, another term was “Wearing the horns” – I guess the implication is that the cuckold was as dumb as a beast of burden like an ox. In Northern England, during the Industrial Revolution, it was routine to treat tattlers (the mechanics who maintained the looms that the weavers used) as being socially inept technicians (sound familiar?)

          There’s a traditional English Folk song called “The Tattler’s Wife” that goes on for 6 or 7 verses that showcases how dumb the poor bastard is while his wife cheats on him.

          I’ve heard that the Chinese have what appears to us a strange cuckoldry habit – they’ll say that a cuckold “wears a green hat”; I had this pointed out to me in HK back in ’88 when I was there. I was at a casino and one Chinese guy was actually wearing a green hat. When the background was pointed out to me by a long-term Hong Konger, he told me that you could be pretty sure that the guy really was a cuckold.

          Chinese. Fucking weird people.

    2. Jefe Hayek

      Sex and sexiness and being desired and being paid for it was always something I thought about

      Having serious emotional problems that I suppress by allowing my body to be used for nothing more than a breathing fleshlight, it was always something I thought about

      The problem is her damn husband (family and society) who apparently encouraged this woman to sell her body because it’s empowering dontchaknow

    3. PieInTheSKy

      Would not pay for that now. Maybe when she was younger …

  13. Grumbletarian

    Jebus, has it been a year already?

    1. Well it makes sense, the disintegration at ToS happened around election 2016, and there was a few months delay before Glibs was up and running.

      1. Let’s look at Alexa to see where their traffic amount is since.

        And a fall off… and a bump… and another fall off.

        1. Our Canadian user base was scared off! See? It’s now 84% US.

          1. Okay, Alexa’s broken, it claims almost everyone here is Female.

          2. Not Adahn

            They are counting Q’s submissions.

        2. I’m here for the anime titties.

        3. robc

          https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/glibertarians.com

          We havent had a hit in 3 months it looks like.

          1. The Last American Hero

            Alexa excludes the Tulpa accounts from its totals.

  14. Drake

    ‘Hire the best and fire the worst’: Trump proposes biggest civil service change in 40 years

    Now if only the GOP had the balls to pass it.

    1. Suthenboy

      “if only the GOP had the balls”

      If they did we wouldn’t be where we are now.

    2. WTF

      Don’t worry, they don’t.

    3. DEG

      That proposal is beautiful. It won’t go anywhere.

    4. Rufus the Monocled

      That should have been his slogan.

    5. Scruffy Nerfherder

      “Basically it wipes out due process rights for employees.”

      What due process rights? Am I taking crazy pills?

      1. Oh no, they’ll be, *gasp*, At-will employees!

        1. Drake

          The horror!

          Imagine having to add value to your employer if you want to get paid!

          1. Klink looks like he’s cringing in your Avatar – perfect fit to the comment.

    6. Zunalter

      Oligatory:

      Federal employee unions fear the pay-per-performance plan would be used to reward loyalists and discriminate against women and minorities.

      1. Gilmore

        “loyalists”

        people who actually effectively deliver on the plans of their bosses?

      2. R C Dean

        I love the pairing of “reward loyalists” and “discriminate against women and minorities”. Kind of an apple/orange problem there, no? But, they are mentally impaired and cannot see anything other than “women and minorities hardest hit”.

        The latter, of course, is illegal anyway.

        1. I thought it was outright stating that women and minorities are the most disloyal of demographics.

  15. straffinrun

    A big cat poacher has been killed and eaten by the pride of lions he was hunting at a private game reserve in South Africa.

    Great. More Alanis Morissette puns.

    1. F. Stupidity Jr.

      He’s bagged his last pair of tusks, that’s for sure!

  16. Suthenboy

    When carjackings first showed up in Louisiana the occurrences started infrequently but escalated quickly. Once or twice a year to once or twice a month to once or twice per week. We passed a carjacking law – try to carjack someone and the occupants of the car can shoot you dead. A few carjackers were shot dead and the numbers of carjackings plummeted. I cant remember the last time I heard of one around here. Carjacking is just not something I worry about anymore.

    About 25 years ago some dude tried to carjack me. I had my one year old son in the car with me. It was dark, pissing rain so the visibility was poor. I was trapped sitting still in traffic and some guy starts yanking on the door handle and trying to break the passenger window with his fist, screaming and cursing at me while demanding that I open the door. I reached across and tapped the end of the barrel of my SW586 on the window. Tap, tap, tap.

    *Poof* he disappeared. I guess he dropped to the ground and crawled away because I was never able to see where he went. We got home safely.

    1. straffinrun

      Yep. You don’t hear much of the once vaunted Somali pirates anymore.

    2. l0b0t

      Indeed. I moved to NOLA right as that law was being passed and the cultural change was pretty quick. Also, I’m laughing my ass off at the nutria in CA article. Serves ’em both right; they deserve one another. Nutria are the only animal I’ll shoot with no intention of ever eating. Boy oh boy do I miss shooting those varmints; my Thompson Contender in .17HMR makes short work of them.

  17. Peter Rabbit filmmakers forced to apologise after ‘bullying’ scene sparks outrage

    The makers of the new Peter Rabbit film have apologised after a backlash over a character’s depicted allergy.

    In one scene, farmer Tom McGregor, who has an allergy for blackberries, is pelted with the fruit by a gang of bunny rabbits.

    The offending segment sees Peter Rabbit and his friends even manage to shoot one blackberry into McGregor’s mouth, forcing him to use an EpiPen to treat his reaction.

    1. Why do I get the feeling there’s been a contextectomy with regards to the scene and its significance to the story?

    2. PieInTheSKy

      There cannot be a single movie without complaint

    3. Rufus the Monocled

      NEVER APOLOGIZE.

      I swear, if I ever run for office (which I won’t) that would be my tag.

      1. Suthenboy

        I am starting to be more ticked off by the apologizers than the radical agitators.

        1. Rufus the Monocled

          Same here.

          Hold the bloody line.

          Know when they say the best way to deal with a bully is to confront them?

          Same thing here.

          Just stand them down.

          It could get ugly, sure, but if more and more people do it, they eventually will go away.

      2. Brett L

        What’s the quotation attributed to Disraeli? “Never compromise, never apologize, never equivocate” I think.

    4. antisthenes

      While the whining about “bullying” is, as usual, stupid, this is a movie marketed at smaller kids, if I understand correctly. Four and five year olds can’t necessarily understand the full consequences of their actions. Encouraging them to escalate spats from hair pulling and biting to attempted murder seems like a bad idea. They shouldn’t glamorize this sort of behavior for the wee kids any more than they should playing with matches or guns or chugging cleaning supplies from under the sink.

  18. Ayn Random Variation

    From the twats about Ivanka = NK.

    ariranga grande
    @unabombpussy
    ·
    Feb 10
    uh it’s US imposed sanctions leaving people hungry
    6

    1. Ayn Random Variation

      Clicked to fast. My pithy comment is that’s a person who can vote.

      1. Hyperion

        I’d be willing to help set up a gofundme site to raise money to send commenters like that to North Korea, you know, for the humane purpose of saving them from the tyranny Ivanka is inflicting upon our land.

    2. Suthenboy

      Not giving is taking. North Koreans are incapable of cultivating their own food.

      1. leonadasiv

        I mean you should trade with someone who is threatening nuclear attacks on their neighbors.

      2. Hyperion

        But it’s the duty of Americans to provide brutal regimes with food. How damn stupid does anyone have to be to know that the people who are starving are not going to get food anyway if Kim decides they can’t have it? It looks like he eats what they have himself. Hopefully the fat pig just explodes one day.

        1. AlexinCT

          People that believe collectivism can work will never admit that giving anything to these people means, the leadership keeps it and gives it to those it wants, while the unwashed masses go without, because if they admitted this reality, they would have to admit they are morons for believing in collectivism.

    3. leonadasiv

      She was also the pretty face that made a comment about ISIS being better than the US. She’s not very smart.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        I clicked thru her tweets. She’s dumb as a brick.

    4. Rufus the Monocled

      Like how it did to Cuba and Iraq.

      The stupidity of people….

  19. Rebel Scum

    Boston police apologize for tone-deaf tweet.

    White guy is the first to draft black athletes into the NBA. Seems significant to black history in America. But we can’t acknowledge it because he’s white. These people have the nerve to call other people racist…

    1. It’s more properly called white guilt month for a reason. Can’t dare risk showing signs of harmony and cooperation with evil whitey,

  20. Rebel Scum

    The sun may have finally set on a. once-brave people.

    It was all downhill after ww2.

  21. straffinrun

    Cher? Gee, thanks.

    1. Know my luck that’s pretty much what would happen to me…

      1. Suthenboy

        It wasn’t luck. They had no experience with sailing and sunk the damned boat themselves. Also, ditching work and all of their ownings for a boat they had no experience sailing is epic stupidity. Luck was nowhere in sight.

    2. LJW

      On a side note this is everything millennials are stereotyped about all rolled up into one story. Lazy morons who expect everyone else to pay for their mistakes.

      1. WTF

        New to sailing, yet assume they can just sail a 28-foot boat around the world. And they are “tired of working” yet still in their 20s.

        1. Brett L

          People who put everything they own into a $5000, 40+ year old sailboat and can’t afford insurance are too poor to adopt that lifestyle at 28. You either fall into it about 18 when your truck breaks down and your buddy has an old boat that floats but don’t run, or you wait until you can get up $75k.

    3. Hyperion

      “We were pretty prepared,” Walsh said, of gathering items to last them for their planned trip to the Caribbean.”

      Um, ok…

      “Walsh admitted she and her boyfriend, who used to drive for Uber, were “new to sailing.”

      Ok, apparently not so prepared. Are you telling me that sailing is not just like driving for Uber? I mean you navigate around, right?

      “I also grabbed Remy’s food and just about everything he needed,” said Walsh. “He doesn’t deserve to go without his favorite toys.”

      I’m thinking poor Remy doesn’t deserve to have such idiots as owners.

    4. PieInTheSKy

      Nikki Walsh, 24, and boyfriend Tanner Broadwell, 26, decided nearly a year ago that they were tired of working. – well since they were mid twenties and not to keen on work I assume all their possessions were not that many

      1. robc

        I think about 10k.

      2. F. Stupidity Jr.

        In fairness, wouldn’t you be thoroughly burned out after two years of post-college toil, like Nikki was? Poor Tanner had worked twice as long.

    5. F. Stupidity Jr.

      That they survived to tell their story is yet more evidence that this is a cruel and harsh universe.

      1. commodious spittoon

        Who looks more aggrieved in that photo? I’d say the dog.

      2. pan fried wylie

        Way to drop the ball, Sharks.

  22. Tundra

    Happy anniversary to all you deviants and misanthropes!

    Now get out your checkbooks, bitches.

    1. Hyperion

      Crumbs! Just think what that bill would be if Obama and Hillary could implement their plan of free mandatory college for all.

  23. Rebel Scum

    The “Ivanka Trump of North Korea” captivates people in the South

    #TheOnionIsRealLife

  24. Juvenile Bluster

    I believe that today is the first anniversary of Glibertarians.com.

    I demand a party with blackjack. And beer. And hookers.

    You know what, forget the blackjack.

    1. Drake

      I’m celebrating with a monocle.

    2. Hyperion

      You forgot the weed, blow, and Messican ass sex. Are you a fake libertarian?

      1. Drake

        You can’t tell me what to do!!!

        (How’s that for proof?)

    3. Brett L

      Look, not that we aren’t grateful, but we couldn’t afford blow, we had to get meth, and the only hooker that we could get has a 25 year old C-section scar that looks like she lost a machete fight. But her gut laps over it for the most part. On the other hand, we got a keg of Natty Ice and a case of Boone’s Farm, and Swiss was whipping up a little something he learned watching his men skirt General Order #1 in Iraq.

      1. It makes Purple Drank look (and taste) like Chateau Lafite Rothschild…

        1. AlexinCT

          Anything that kills the slow brain cells will make us smarter….

      2. Spartacus

        Or as they say in Polk County, “Tuesday”.

    4. blackjack

      Hey, dont forget me

  25. Is it okay to preach politics to our kids?

    My eldest is now at the age where she is developing an awareness of the world, and as they all get older I struggle to answer a larger proportion of their questions fairly. At this point how much does one hold back on giving them opinions when they’re not quite ready to form views themselves, and cannot see through their parents’ ideological biases?

    My reluctance to offer my own views is partly shaped by seeing other people and the way they pass on their politics like a family religion. Around the time of the last U.S. election, Jessica Valenti wrote about watching with her daughter, who “fell asleep on the couch, still wearing a shirt emblazoned with the word ‘feminist’ and an ‘I voted’ sticker.”

    The anti-religion crusader Richard Dawkins has always opposed faith schools on the grounds that children can’t be “Muslim” or “Christian,” and when I see people describe a 6-year-old as a “feminist” I see his point. My argument against Dawkins would be that religion is a tradition. It is inherited even if it can be abandoned later in life.

    1. TK

      It doesn’t matter anyway, your kids will come out of college thinking the opposite of whatever they were brought up to believe, then they’ll slowly mellow out when they’re in the real world pursuing their career (or they’ll become a radical if they’re unsuccessful, their career is in academics or they’re part of pop-culture).

      I don’t think kids just have this stuff imprinted on them and then they think that way for life.

      1. The Last American Hero

        IDK, there were quite a few people that came to college as more or less a blank slate, and started slurping up the commie-bs since it came from a credentialed “professor”. Some inoculation wouldn’t hurt.

        1. TK

          Yeah, but they mellow out over time (usually). I’ve seen it with a lot of my friends. They come out of college far-left, then start working. If they’re at least semi-successful, they start to gravitate towards the middle.

          I happened to go to a very libertarian-leaning school for economics and came out a very radical almost anarcho-capitalist. I’m more of a center-right conservative now that I’ve been working in the real world for awhile.

      2. Rasilio

        I am not so sure about that.

        I’m a libertarian athiest and my kids are coming out pretty damned libertarian and athiest.

        Hell even my 15 yer old gay daughter routinely mocks SJW narratives

        1. TK

          I used to parrot my parents at 15 too.

  26. Derpetologist

    Southern New Hampshire U. fires professor who insisted Australia is not a country
    https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/41867/

    ***
    “Australia is a continent; not a country,” the prof told Arnold, and gave her multiple zeroes on the assignment.

    In disbelief, Arnold asked “With her education levels, her expertise, who wouldn’t know Australia is a country?” If she’s hesitating or questioning that, why wouldn’t she just Google that herself?”

    Even after an email to the prof providing, y’know, evidence that Australia is not only a continent but a country, the adjunct remained firm:

    I will gladly re-examine your week 2 milestone project report.

    But before I do I want you to understand that any error in a project can invalidate the entire research project.

    Research is like dominoes, if you accidentally knock over one piece the entire set will also fall.

    Australia is a continent; it is not a country. That error made it nearly impossible for you to accurately complete your week 2 research outline correctly.

    As I mentioned above I will look over your week two paper once again and see if you earned more credits than I gave you.

    After another evidence-filled email, the prof then agreed to do “some independent research on the continent/country issue” and to take a second look at Arnold’s assignment.

    Arnold ended up with a “B+.”
    ***

    And that’s why most college instructors make about as much as janitors.

    1. Janitors are more useful than most college professors.

      1. +1 orange sawdust

    2. Hyperion

      When did it stop being both? Seriously, you can teach college today while being a complete moron.

      I remember I had one client who I was working on an app for and it had a list of countries, which I just imported into the database from one of readily available free sources online. One of the users of the app called me up and told me that Southeast Asia was missing from the countries list. I immediately explained to him that Southeast Asia is a region, not a country. Apparently, he had to go verify with the boss that I was indeed correct. I’m not talking about a high school dropout here.

      1. The Last American Hero

        How dare you challenge “his own truth”?

      2. commodious spittoon

        It does appear to be missing Burma, though.

        1. Hyperion

          Myanmar. That’s why, they changed the name.

          1. Hyperion

            Ok, I got the joke now. Duh.

          2. Spartacus

            Rhodesia would like to have a word.

          3. Indeed, it was a close shave.

  27. Derpetologist

    https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10496

    ***
    Smith College is hosting a panel discussion this week that will advocate for “diversifying” the field of construction by hiring more women for construction jobs.
    The federal government estimates that only 3% of construction workers are women, and the panel will argue that more women should have access to “working class jobs that give opportunity.”
    ***

    Cool. Could we diversify the sociology dept by adding a few Republicans?

    1. Diversity of Appearance, Uniformity of Opinion.

      1. The Sleeper

        Translate this to latin and I’ll gladly slap that ipsum on my future for-profit online university degree mill. With my easy to comprehend payment structure, all students of means will have the opportunity to graduate cum loudly.

        1. F. Stupidity Jr.

          Diversitas autem secundum speciem, eodem modo Sententiae

          It’s a little lengthy, but it’s Google translate. I cannot vouch for its accuracy.

          1. The Sleeper

            I have a working theory that all universities/colleges butcher their latin motto’s anyway. I bet I can pare it down to four words.

          2. The Sleeper

            Also, as payment for your service, all online lectures will be done over a repeat loop of the Saturn Valley music.

        2. Google translate was “Diversitas autem secundum speciem, eodem modo Sententiae” it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.

          Do we have a real linguist available?

          1. Number.6

            A cunning one would do.

            ::female Glibs ears perk up::

      2. LETELU: Looks exotic, thinks exactly like us.

    2. Drake

      Perhaps Smith should require their ladies to work construction for a year in order to graduate?

    3. WTF

      They have “access”, but most women typically just don’t want to do that sort of work. So I’m guessing by “access” they actually mean “change the rules and job requirements to be more appealing and easier for women”.

      1. pan fried wylie

        making the guys sammiches is right out though.

    4. leonadasiv

      “mean old Republicans keep pointing out that women don’t work construction. Now we need to figure out how to fix it so we can say that is not true”

    5. Hyperion

      “Cool. Could we diversify the sociology dept by adding a few Republicans?”

      I can almost guarantee you that their ethics model includes not discriminating against anyone because of … political views …, but that would be a lie and everyone knows it.

    6. Hyperion

      Do they maybe think that maybe part of the reason is because women do not want those jobs and at least part of the reason is that they don’t have the physical strength for those jobs and don’t want to work under the often harsh conditions of being out in the weather and being in a dirty environment? The left do not want individuals, they want a herd of obedient uniform asexual drones.

      1. F. Stupidity Jr.

        women do not want those jobs and at least part of the reason is that they don’t have the physical strength for those jobs

        How dare you, shitlord?? I know of a woman who can bench press 200 pounds! That’s proof that all women can do the job!

        1. Hyperion

          Yeah, I knew a guy who could bench 500 lbs, which means I can do it too and if I can’t someone is oppressing me.

      2. commodious spittoon

        I’m trying to imagine more women lugging around 80lb bags of concrete, or clambering up the side of a scissor lift to screw track into the roof deck, or installing insulation batting for hours, or any number of dirty, dangerous, or just unhappy jobs that construction requires.

        Not just women, but young, white men. This isn’t work you do if you have alternatives. Most people will prefer driving for Uber or busing tables or work a call center gig rather than humping tarpaper up onto a roof in the winter.

    7. Scruffy Nerfherder

      The stupidity of this proposal aside, my experience with women in construction management has been less than satisfactory. The majority of them have been petty tyrants who appear to feel that in order to not be taken lightly they have to be a total asshole. There are exceptions, but it’s much more common among women than men.

      1. Hyperion

        Since my wife has started working in security, she has made the unexpected discovery that if you give some women a little authority, they turn into raging tyrants. Here’s my shocked face.

      2. Rasilio

        Why it is almost as if women are actually more bossy than men

    8. Gadfly

      For federal highway projects there are requirements that ~10% of work be completed by minority or woman owned businesses. In the region I work in the most popular woman owned business that construction companies hire (because they do good work at reasonable prices) is run by the woman’s husband and most of its employees are male. The competent companies that fit into this set-aside category are basically set and will print money as long as they don’t over-extend themselves to the point of diminishing the quality of their work.

      1. thepasswordispassword

        Setting up companies with figurehead owners used to be a popular scam but I think the feds started cracking down on it.

    9. There’s nothing stopping women from becoming general contractors or self-employed in the trades.

  28. Timeloose

    Congrats on one year. I came over a week or so after the traitorous 8 left TOS. I decided to actually comment while lurking on TOS. I’m very happy with the content and discourse here. Thank you.

    1. TK

      Hi Tulpa

  29. The NK fellating our MSM is currently engaged in falls to depths even I never thought they’d go to. North Korea is the most perfect example of a repressive prison state currently available and somehow they handwave away it all away because their hatred of Trump is so virulent it’s blinded them to simple reality. Trump Derangement Syndrome is real and an appropriate moniker. As told my defectors:

    “Kwon reported about human experimentation carried out in Haengyong-ri. He described a sealed glass chamber, 3.5 m (11 ft) wide, 3 m (9.8 ft) long and 2.2 m (7.2 ft) high where he witnessed a family with two children dying from being test subjects for an asphyxiant gas. Ahn explained how inexperienced medical officers of Chungbong-ri hospital practiced their surgery techniques on prisoners. He heard numerous accounts of unnecessary operations and medical flaws, killing or permanently crippling prisoners.”

    “Ahn explained how the camp guards are taught that prisoners are factionalists and class enemies that have to be destroyed like weeds down to their roots. They are instructed to regard the prisoners as slaves and not treat them as human beings. Based on this the guards may at any time kill any prisoner who does not obey their orders. Kwon reported that as a security officer he could decide whether or not to kill a prisoner if he or she violated a rule. He admitted that once he ordered the execution of 31 people from five families in a collective punishment, because one member of a family tried to escape.”

    “he gave an account of children in one of the camps who were fighting over who got to eat a kernel of corn retrieved from cow dung.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoeryong_concentration_camp#Conditions_in_the_camp

    So we live in a world in which not only real life examples of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, et. al. exist, but also a world in which our domestic media will praise the state that created them over a freely elected president. Trump was right when he called them the enemy of the people.

    1. PS: Sorry for the Schultz post.

    2. straffinrun

      Can’t call that psycho fucking sister of Kim Jong Un out for what she is, but be damn sure to call Trump a white supremacist. Far right country my ass.

    3. Rebel Scum

      They are the same type of people that made Hitler Time’s man of the year.

      1. Hyperion

        ^this^

      2. I get that we’re suppose to hate the MSM but the Time/Hitler things is as willfully ignorant as the ‘If you don’t want the government baking bread you want people to starve’ idea. You have to pretend that you don’t know that Time isn’t Honoring the person only acknowledging that ,in their eyes at least, the person made the biggest splash that year.

        1. TK

          ^this^

          Time’s person of the year isn’t an award.

        2. The Last American Hero

          True, but consider this:

          Employee of the Month
          Teacher of the Year
          Coach of the Year
          Man of the Year

          Easy to see why people see it as an award.

        3. invisible finger

          Sorry, not giving the fuckwits at Time that benefit. They could easily call it “Topic Of The Year”. (remembering when the mag named “The Computer” its man of the year.)

    4. Rufus the Monocled

      Oh dear, is there any doubt they’re enemy of the people and are acting seditiously for its own sake?

      Their behaviour since his election has been irresponsible, unprofessional, immoral, grotesque, and deranged.

      All we need is for some asshole talk show host to go and take selfies to tell the peons everything is great and that it’s all the imaginings and lies of Trump and the alt-right that North Korea is an evil, dysfunctional place.

    5. leonadasiv

      “So we live in a world in which not only real life examples of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, et. al. exist, but also a world in which our domestic media will praise the state that created them ”

      So kind of like the 1930’s

    6. Hyperion

      “Ahn explained how the camp guards are taught that prisoners are factionalists and class enemies that have to be destroyed like weeds down to their roots.”

      Right there, you have the mindset of the current left in the USA.

    7. Plisade

      I’m starting the think that the left doesn’t even have an ideology, that they’re simply contrarians to anything logical/reasonable. Contrarianism is the source of their feelz. It’s like they’re teenagers defying the reasoning of their parents for no other reason than to assert their independence, no matter how self-destructive doing so is.

      1. Rope Snake

        Would that it were so. Contrarians are curmudgeons. They may be irrational but they’re not tribalistic, nor inclined toward the mob.

        The left is conformist, and anyone who deviates must be ground down.

  30. This is still a thing? I got married 16 years ago and didn’t go to my wife-to-be’s father to get his okay.

    It’s time to ditch the tradition of asking a dad for their daughter’s hand in marriage

    The tradition of the would-be groom asking the father for permission is one that is still going strong in modern relationships. In fact, a 2015 study of 1200 grooms found that 77 per cent asked their bride-to-be’s father or parents first.

    But why do we have such a long-term commitment to a tradition that is not only outdated but seriously smacks of sexism?

    Those 77 per cent are mindlessly following a tradition that hasn’t had a modern modification since its birth in the 11th century, where women were handed from one man – her father – to another man – her husband – as property. It was a business deal.

    And yes, there’s plenty of sexist traditions with weddings, like still favouring a virginal white gown (who are we kidding?) and the irritating expectation that a woman’s surname dissolves.

    1. Who did they poll? 0% of marriages I know of involved any type of permission getting from anyone other than the spouse to be.

    2. straffinrun

      It’s like you don’t even read my contributions. It’s in the FIRST LINE.

    3. spqr2008

      I think it depends on the relationship the woman has with her father. I don’t know if my dad asked my grandfather, or just told him (knowing my grandfather, he’d have appreciated the gesture, but not found it necessary, he’s been married 8 times to 7 women, so…. yeah).

      1. Waterfall Insurance

        Exactly read the room, you have to deal with them for awhile.

    4. TOXIC MASCULINITY!!11!!

    5. Brett L

      I took my FiL out for a drink because my wife wanted me to. She was visibly pregnant with our first, so I assume he was a little disappointed he wasted all that time painting the shotgun white.

    6. Semi-Spartan Dad

      I asked my wife what she wanted and she was firmly against asking. Not asking ended up really upsetting her parents… to the point where her mother said “Well we’ll see” when my wife excitedly called them up to tell them we’re engaged.

      I’m surprised the verbal lashing my wife gave her didn’t scorch the earth. They never brought it up again.

    7. Chipwooder

      I didn’t even meet my father in law until three days before the wedding.

    8. TK

      My best friend notified his now-wife’s father that he was going to propose… but it wasn’t an “ask permission” kind of thing — it was more of a notification that “hey, I’m going to do this thing, I hope you’re cool with it, but I’m gonna do it regardless of what you think.”

      Luckily, they like him a lot and he didn’t have to get to the “I’m going to do it anyway” part.

      1. AlexinCT

        I did the same thing…

    9. The Last American Hero

      I know a grand total of 2 that asked. I did not.

      But you need to deal with these people for a long time, and if it’s important to Papa Bear that you ask, then ask.

      1. R C Dean

        That’s exactly why I asked both times. It made the future in-laws happy and neither wife-to-be minded, so why not?

    10. Rasilio

      LOl if any future suitor of my daughters ever came and asked me for permission I’s laugh in their face and say “It’s not my permission to give, I’m just here to see to it that if you ever lay a hand on her in anger that they never find the body”

      1. Why is it these scenarios never include the possibility that the daughter is the violent aggressor against her beau?

        1. Rasilio

          Don’t care. While it actually wouldn’t surprise me if she was in this case (my older daughter does have some anger management issues), be a fucking man control your emotions, enact the minimum violence necessary to peaceably restrain her and remove yourself from the situation then file for divorce in the morning.

          Unless she is coming at you with a weapon the simple fact is unless you really are a spineless wimp she is not going to be able to meaningfully hurt you but the same is not true in reverse

      2. Number.6

        I’d meet him at the door with a shotgun.

        Then, I’d give him a 1000 yard stare and after 5 or 6 seconds, hand him the gun and tell him to only use it if he really had to.

    11. A Leap at the Wheel

      My wife is incredibly old fashion, or at least I think she grew up in the 50s. She was scandalized I didn’t ask her dad’s permission. I didn’t ask because that stupid fucker would have said no. He was fairly convinced I was going to condemn her to hell since I was raised in a church headed by the Anti-Christ (aka the Pope), and I had “too much education, not enough bible reading.” Never mind that I’ve left the Church for doctrinal reason and have read the book cover to cover in a half a dozen translations.

      When I pointed out I didn’t ask because he was going to say no, she got over it.

    12. Gadfly

      It’s still a thing. I travel in fairly conservative circles, and this is common among people I know (and I’m a millennial). But most people I know who’ve done this are getting married young (early 20s) and/or have strong family ties and/or religious beliefs.

    13. Raven Nation

      I called my FIL to ask for his blessing but not permission. I respect him tremendously and it felt like the right thing to do.

      He announced our engagement in his church the next Sunday this way: “I got a ‘phone call from someone this week who asked for my blessing to marry my daughter. I said ‘sure thing.’ Then I asked, ‘Who is this?’”

  31. F. Stupidity Jr.

    When I was forty-three
    it was a very Glib year
    it was a very Glib year
    for Tulpa socks
    and Hihn’s mad screeds
    Crusty called us drama queens
    when I was forty-three

    1. straffinrun

      Crusty, Citizen X and others were fun to hang out with back in the day. That people decided to leave TOS doesn’t mean we rejected them, but they seem to be taking it personal. Weird.

      1. Hyperion

        When you ain’t got the ballz to boldly go where others have blazed the trail for you, you can make yourself feel better by blaming the trailblazers.

      2. We made entreaties, more than once… sigh.

      3. Chipwooder

        I really enjoyed Crusty’s posting back in those days, but in perusing TOS comments from time to time since, he turned into a bitch. Just my opinion.

        1. straffinrun

          Loyalty. On the rare occasions I go back to my hometown, I sometimes run into an old friend or two from high school. It’s clear from their attitude that they think I think I’m better than them for leaving. Of course I don’t, but what can I do to rid them of that mistaken belief? “Hey Jim, Long time, no see. BTW, I don’t think I’m better than you.”

          1. Gadfly

            It will be hard to disabuse them of that belief, for I’m betting a good part of their identity is tied up into their being a member of the community of your hometown. By leaving you have judged someplace else to be better than that hometown, and thus implicitly judged some other community you have joined as better than the community you left (although this may be wrong, it can be seen so). It’s kind of the same deal how some people always take criticism personally, as if you’re judging someone to be an inferior person just because you vocalize that they suck at a specific task.

        2. F. Stupidity Jr.

          I concur with your opinion. I think he and a few others (Hugh, Chipper Morning Wood, chemjeff) see the Reason exiles as a bunch of Trumpalos upset that Reason isn’t giving our guy a fair shake. I’m no MAGA man, but the coverage was lopsidedly against Trump in favor of Vagina Nixon. Add to that Shikha’s shrieking, Robby’s to-be-sureing, Bailey’s “what voter fraud??” act, and virtually all of Suderman’s leavings, and you’ve got a terrible product.

          And because they so badly want to fit in with the DC journos, they followed everyone else in hammering Roy Moore (not that he didn’t deserve most of it, mind) while virtually ignoring Bob Menendez. Fuck them right in the ear.

          1. Chipwooder

            I’m mostly in agreement with you, but chemjeff always sucked. I don’t know if he actually IS Botard, but he strongly resembles Botard’s style.

            I don’t think anyone here actually LIKES Trump. We just don’t see him as anything but just another shitty politician who does some things we really like and some things we really hate.

          2. I judge Trump by his policy actions. So far, for me, there’s more in the plus column. Tax cut, regulation cuts, free market oil development = really good; budget, WoD = really bad. He’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, however it’s insane to think that the alternative is preferable.

            Also, his trolling is hilarious and I like watching the media self-destruct.

          3. F. Stupidity Jr.

            No, we totally agree on chemjeff. And I’m certainly not upset that Trump got negative treatment; I hate that he got so much more negative treatment than Madame Inevitable Herself. Trump is a self-promoting blowhard – that deserves censure, and he got it. Hillary Clinton is corruption-in-the-flesh, and that also deserves censure. But she got a lot less.

          4. straffinrun

            Trump blew a gaping hole in the credibility of many a news org over the past two years. TOS just took a massive hit like everywhere else. It really wasn’t hard to have an ounce of credibility left: Just don’t go white hot with your hatred of Trump. But that was too tempting because he was acting like such an asshole.

          5. Raven Nation

            Add to that the National Enquirer-type headlines: “Trump’s Travel Ban Caused Grandma to Die!”

          6. They would have to explain how our few bannings whiffed of the Yokel a lot more than the Cosmo.

          7. Chipwooder

            Hmmmm…..John, Eddie, Free Society…..yep, the ledger is pretty slanted towards the yokel side. And SF, Jesse, and Warty (among others) all post here and none of them are close to yokels.

          8. kbolino

            True, but John and Eddie were banned for behavior not views. And Free Society wasn’t actually banned IIRC, there just were far more people who disagreed with him than agreed, and so he left.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    ‘Hire the best and fire the worst’

    That’s not fair.

    1. Hyperion

      Outrageous I tell you! Job is a human right! So is beer, now someone go buy me some beer! What, I can’t drink beer at work? Oppression! Drinking beer at work is a human right!

  33. Derpetologist

    https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/02/does-caring-about-other-people-mean-you-have-to-be-a-joyless-ascetic

    ***
    Whenever I write something criticizing the rich for doing things I find inexcusably wasteful and immoral, such as designing luxury Hawaiian shirts covered in bags of money or firing a convertible into space, I inevitably get the same email, the gist of which is roughly “If you think billionaires should spend their money keeping poor children alive rather than building full-scale replicas of Old West cowboy towns, do you spend every nonessential part of your income keeping poor children alive? If you weigh spending against what the money could be going to instead, how do you justify your own purchase of, say, vintage cravats?” A correspondent recently suggested that my point of view on wasteful spending by the rich, if its implications were followed through, would mean that nobody could ever go on vacation or go to the movies or celebrate Mardi Gras. That’s because all of these things will seem indefensible if you analyze them as “Things You Are Choosing To Spend Money On Instead Of Donating To An Anti-Malaria Charity.”

    I am fine with a world in which we don’t go to space for a while. A world in which we can never have quinceaneras or discotheques would eliminate things that I think are a crucial part of human flourishing. Things like literature and painting and athletics do not seem, to me, expendable. Instead, they seem like basic entitlements that all human beings should be able to participate in.

    People who simply don’t see why they should spend their money helping others will reject the entire premise and say “I earned it, why shouldn’t I do what I please with it?” (Because when you do what you please with it children die, that’s why.) But I think “Give away all of your earnings above Amount X,” with Amount X defined as something very generous that allows a reasonable level of indulgence and luxury, is a moral rule that is both challenging and reasonable.
    ***

    1. Shorter: I get to decide what people spend their disposable income on.

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        Notice what he thinks is frivolous.

        They don’t realize as they jerkoff in the labyrinth of their musings, it always ends up in one place: Cummunism.

        1. SimonD

          “it always ends up in one place: Cummunism.”

          Hmm. I think I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter.

          🙂

      2. leonadasiv

        Yup. Everyone should have the preferences I have, and that’s for they should buy things.

    2. Rufus the Monocled

      He’s not as smart as he think he does.

    3. Juvenile Bluster

      “Amount X” always seems to be “$1 more a year than I make” to these people.

      1. spqr2008

        That’s exactly what it is. Even though, if I were to play the lottery and win, I would establish both a charitable foundation, and education trusts for all of my cousins (and use the trusts to pay off the student debt of the ones who’ve graduated), I would have no obligation to do that.

        1. What the hell kind of libertarian are you anyway? Everyone knows that massive windfalls must be converted into gold coins, poured into a swimming pool inside a huge Scrooge McDuckian vault, so you can swim in it every day while laughing at the plight of the orphans who maintain your mansion.

    4. “Things You Are Choosing To Spend Money On Instead Of Donating To An Anti-Malaria Charity.”

      DDT would take a big chunk out of that malaria problem. I think it was people like you who got it banned.

      The blood of those Malaria victims are on your hands, busybody!

    5. Juvenile Bluster

      This framework, that does not force one to feel guilty about springing for something special or living in a nice apartment, is deceptive in a way. It sounds like it’s rationalizing excess, but actually it’s strengthening the force of the indictment against the super-wealthy. If we believe that what is justified is “that which is necessary for a good, fulfilled, and joyful life” and no more, then really any retention of wealth over a certain amount cannot be defended. There is a kind of “Maximum Moral Income,” and you can peg it at 30,000 dollars, 50,000, or 100,000 (I know people who would go on the low end, I am on the high end). But we can all agree that $100,000 a year is plenty to not only have that which is minimally necessary, but also that which falls into our broadened necessity category, “that without which life wouldn’t be very lively.”

      Adopting a Maximum Moral Income conception is useful because, once you have it, the protests of the rich seem much more feeble. If we believe that anything non-essential is wasteful and immoral, then the nice umbrella I buy on my $30,000 a year salary is in the same category as a 90 million dollar spaceship launch. And since my umbrella seems intuitively fine to most people, the force of the critique of waste at the upper end is blunted. Whereas, if we define a line (albeit a debated one) and agree that whatever falls below it is fine and whatever falls above it isn’t, we aren’t left with a philosophy that is practically unworkable for nearly everybody. In fact, it then becomes much more difficult to defend things in the “waste” category because we’ve limited it to the worst cases. (Can anyone defend having ten cars as something without which life would be significantly worse?)

      I think I may have a concussion. My brain is bashing itself against my skull in an attempt to escape.

      1. PieInTheSKy

        Adopting a Maximum Moral Income – I suggest 10 trillion dollars.

      2. Gadfly

        But we can all agree that $100,000 a year is plenty to not only have that which is minimally necessary, but also that which falls into our broadened necessity category, “that without which life wouldn’t be very lively.”

        If we believe that anything non-essential is wasteful and immoral, then the nice umbrella I buy on my $30,000 a year salary is in the same category as a 90 million dollar spaceship launch.

        Yeah, well, pictures of a sporty car in space, there only because some asshole billionaire decided to blow ~$100M to put it there, makes life far more lively to me than Mr. $30K’s fancy umbrella ever will. So by that metric, Mr. $30K is far more wasteful than Mr. Billionaire.

    6. Hyperion

      “I am fine with a world in which we don’t go to space for a while.”

      Stopped reading there, luddite alert.

    7. PieInTheSKy

      a reasonable level of indulgence – how very gracious of him, allowing others a bit of indulgence with their own money. Also he used reasonable twice in the same sentence, that is not good writing

      1. Juvenile Bluster

        It just shows how reasonable he is, and how terrible you are for thinking people are entitled to do what they wish with their money.

        1. AlexinCT

          I bet he thinks that it isn’t even the people that earned it’s money, but a communal pie that basically results in less for others if some have a lot.

          Fucking marxists hiding their evil shit in word salads..

      2. spqr2008

        What’s ironic is that this idiot uses the same type of morality that existed in Catholicism during the Middle Ages (and of course resurfaced as a strain of Christianity in Protestant traditions like Calvinism), and the same level of stupid that led to the Pilgrims starving before they instituted private property.

        1. AlexinCT

          If we but thought history, I suspect most people would be dissuaded form seeing anything but evil in marxism. The problem is all the whitewashing to make it palatable to dunces.

    8. Suthenboy

      Anyone else notice that this is the crowd that gives the least to charity? Many of them openly condemn private charity because it reduces the justification, in their eyes, for state mandated theft and redistribution? It is the rationale of a thief. Remember this scene?

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

      “What if I want it more?”

      They are the worst kinds of people and it is easy to see why the countries they end up running are grey, desolate, hopeless wastelands filled with crushed souls, hunger, poverty and substance abuse.

      1. Tundra

        Gordilocks inked an article discussing the curious (to them) fact that individualistic societies are more generous and collectivists are total assholes.

        1. A Leap at the Wheel

          I can’t find the link now, but I recall a survey that found per capita charitable donations are higher in some super-LCOL state (North Dakota?) are higher than per capita charitable donations in San Francisco. This measure wasn’t in % of income. It was in absolute dollars.

    9. wdalasio

      Folks, pay attention to this. It’s rare that you see the mask come off and the face of real, uncontested evil show itself. He’s openly saying that he doesn’t want to take away people’s achievements as an unfortunate necessity. He’s saying, in no uncertain terms, that he wants to take them away as an end in and of itself. He’s saying that while his pleasures are sacrosanct, those of anyone else can be done away with as “unnecessary”. But, in the end, he doesn’t want to thrive. He just wants others to suffer.

      1. Hyperion

        To be honest, I think he was already trumped (no pun intended) by WaPos depicting Ivanka as worse than a member of a ruthless regime that typically imprisons, starves, tortures, and murders their own people. That actually made me feel sickened. If people still run out and vote for the left after shit like that, we have a very real problem.

        1. wdalasio

          As vile as it was, I could still write that off as stupidity or derangement. This is open, considered evil.

    10. commodious spittoon

      do you spend every nonessential part of your income keeping poor children alive?

      Holy excluded middle, Batman, your critics are obnoxious prats if this is the gist of their argument. Or maybe you’re being a tad bit unfair.

    11. Psycho Effer

      I am not clicking that link, but I can tell just from the excerpt that this is a work of the pre-eminent cunt of our time, Nathan J. Robinson. Fuck him with a rusty nail.

      Let me give you the short version, “Luxuries I spend money on are fine because I hold the right opinions.”

  34. PieInTheSKy

    My prediction that Romania will win 3 more medals than the US at the Olympics seems to have taken a setback, but I still believe the brave Romanian athletes can do it.

    1. Have you thought about the Tonya Harding method?

    2. straffinrun

      One of the Ice Dancers had a boob pop out during the routine and one of the Japanese Ice Dancers got a giant wedgie in the middle of her routine. I’m loving that event.

      1. PieInTheSKy

        We just talked about women’s hokey in a thread yesterday

    3. Hyperion

      You need to send in the vampires for the win.

      1. AlexinCT

        Are there any night time winter olympic events?

        1. Number.6

          I hear there’s the 1/4 mile “Swim-the-moat, dodge the bullets” qualifier running all week.

    4. Drake

      Pie, I would like to apologize to you and all your sleazy Romanian friends for our FBI.

      https://amgreatness.com/2018/02/10/ruling-class-hates/

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Is it okay to preach politics to our kids?

    At least the question is formulated properly. It’s all just a crypto-religious belief system, untethered from rationality.

    1. Agreed, If you a preaching politics, it’s not politics, but faith.

  36. Cruise ship forced back to Sydney after toilet brawl

    A fight broke out between several men in the early hours of Sunday morning on the P&O ship as they waited in line to use a bathroom.

    “During the fight, a 37-year-old woman, who is the partner of one of the men, allegedly struck a 21-year-old man on the head with an empty wine bottle, causing a laceration,” New South Wales police said.

    “Security separated the men and they were detained.”

    The ship, which was reportedly on a three-day “Comedy Cruise Gala” voyage in Australian waters, steamed back to Sydney where six men and the woman were removed and met by police.

    Slapstick isn’t as popular as it used to be.

    1. PieInTheSKy

      empty wine bottle – they have empty wine bottles on hand on planes? I would have thought they would be put somewhere out of reach of pasangers

      1. Cruise ship, Pie. Not a plane.

        1. PieInTheSKy

          Dunno how I misread that. Why did they turn back then?

          1. Juvenile Bluster

            Because throwing them into the ocean probably would’ve been frowned upon.

          2. PieInTheSKy

            Must be one of them quaint Australian customs

  37. Trials and Trippelations

    Happy anniversary!
    Thanks for all the hard work y’all put in

  38. SimonD

    “Boston police apologize for tone-deaf tweet. Yeah, its a little tone deaf, but its still completely accurate. Don’t these people have more important shit to complain about?”

    In general, no they don’t have anything more important to complain about. There are issues, but the issues have been hijacked and turned into virtue-signaling partisan rhetorical pipe-bombs. The Left doesn’t seem to be interested in solving the actual problems; they’d rather have issues to beat on Western Civilization.

    Plus, with the modern TDS, every single little thing (and they are all little things in the grand scheme) calls for full thermonuclear war. That’s how you get stupid things like this becoming a major kerfuffle.

    *sigh*

    1. Drake

      I know some Boston Cops – none of them would apologize for celebrating an Irish guy who brought 16 Championships to Boston.

      1. F. Stupidity Jr.

        What Irish guy? Red was one of (((them))).

        1. Drake

          Oh yeah – forgot about that (as most people have).

    2. straffinrun

      This pic would be a objectionable to bigots 30 years ago. Now it’s objectionable to bigots again. Man, we only got a few decades of peace before we’re right back at the tribal shit.

  39. PieInTheSKy

    ‘My flirtatious side will make the boys weak’: Welsh farmer Lottie James is revealed as injured Dani Mas Dyer’s replacement in Survival Of The Fittest

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5380871/Lottie-James-replaces-Dani-Dyer-Survival-Fittest.html

    I am fascinated how many stupid TV shows Britain can generate.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Smith College is hosting a panel discussion this week that will advocate for “diversifying” the field of construction by hiring more women for construction jobs.

    Maybe they can make spending a semester working for those Habitat for Humanity parasites a requirement for graduation.

    1. PieInTheSKy

      Weren’t some cases in Africa where Western Students came to build houses and the locals let them do it because they got money from the charaty and then rebuild everything cause it was unusable?

    2. Brett L

      That year I was on site, they actively tried to get more women in construction. But look, there are only so many instrument tech and electrician slots you can hold that don’t involve mounting 40-60lb instruments or pulling cable. So mostly, you get them as drivers, secretarial, and cleaning. Even a lot of the equipment driving involves helping shift a load at the end. It would take a big, strong woman to do some of that work.

      1. leonadasiv

        All women are strong! /Femenist

  41. Rufus the Monocled

    Every anniversary of any kind, we go to youtube a cue up the’Happy Anniversary’ scene on The Flintstones.

    Hanna-Barbara gave more to America than Obama ever could.

    1. Rufus the Monocled

      Barbera. Sorry Joe!

  42. Rufus the Monocled

    Trump’s and USA sanctions make North Korea do crazy things:

    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2008/aug/15/olympics2008.drugsinsport

    1. leonadasiv

      “three-man disciplinary panel ”

      Three-person /some Canadian dude.

    2. robc

      10 year old stories?

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        IT’S RETROACTIVE.

        DON’T YOU GET IT?

        SHOULDN’T YOU BE WORKING ANYWAY?

        /runs off arms flailing.

    1. leonadasiv

      As someone who went and saw two movies this weekend, (neither of those) it’s not surprising.

  43. Just Say’n

    https://twitter.com/Nataliew1020/status/962692596488441857

    Something that will make you misty eyed. I’m not crying- I got something in my eye

    1. leonadasiv

      That piece of dirt in the eye sure gets around.

      1. Just Say’n

        It’s dusty in here.

    2. related: We went to a high school hockey game on Friday night. One of my son’s special needs friends was also there to watch the game. He has Down’s Syndrome.

      A player went down, who hurt his knee bad enough that he had to be helped off the ice. The kid with Down’s was really upset about this, in tears. He had to be consoled by both of his parents. Definitely an empathetic person (who, by the way, was also the Homecoming King).

      1. Tundra

        The cleaning crew at the gym includes a number of Down’s kids. Hands-down the nicest, happiest people I know.

        That said, the strength and dedication of the parents of special needs kids humbles me.

        1. commodious spittoon

          Smith’s always has a couple on staff. I was grabbing food for a party with dad and he was caught up in a big hug by one of the bagger girls. Very sweet.

    3. Suthenboy

      Huh. Wasn’t I just talking about Job’s syndrome yesterday? I see no mention of that girl’s affliction but that is what it looks like to me.

      1. Number.6

        I think down-timeline it’s named “Rett Syndrome”. Not sure whether the diabetes are part of the deal or whether she’s doubly impaired.

      2. MikeS

        AngelaBHAFC
        Can I ask (purely out of curiosity) does Sophia’s condition have a name? She’s seems like a very happy girl who lives a very full life 🙂

        Natalie Weaver
        Sure! One known syndrome is called Rett syndrome. She has T1 diabetes, and immune deficiency and her combination of conditions & deformities make her like no one else in this world. 1 of a kind!

    4. l0b0t

      I’m not ashamed to admit I’m getting weepy reading all that. I do some charity work for Special Olympics and those folk are downright amazing; this story hits those same emotional buttons for me.

    1. Mr Lizard

      “Sexual assault is so bad, in fact, that “anti-rape pants” have been marketed in Germany”

      STEVE SMITH ASK, KNOW WHO ELSE NEED NEW PANTS?

    2. Hyperion

      Not so much. Did you read the part about where’s she still an activist but only works with Muslim women and other non-Muslim persecuted groups. And at least some of those Muslim women are like calling her the stupid German whore behind her back and planning to bring their entire clan along behind them to establish Shariah and put her in a burqua where she belongs. Naivete is apparently a difficult trait to shed.

      1. AlexinCT

        The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity, and the later seems to be the more common one these days.

    3. Suthenboy

      It could be worse. Remember the Bezmenov quote? “They will not believe it. You can take them and show them the gulags and they still will not believe it. They will only believe it when the military boot is crushing their balls, not before.”

      At least she came around before she was gang raped or murdered.

      1. AlexinCT

        I wonder how those that had loved ones that were raped or murdered feel about that….

  44. The Late P Brooks

    People who simply don’t see why they should spend their money helping others will reject the entire premise and say “I earned it, why shouldn’t I do what I please with it?” (Because when you do what you please with it children die, that’s why.) But I think “Give away all of your earnings above Amount X,” with Amount X defined as something very generous that allows a reasonable level of indulgence and luxury, is a moral rule that is both challenging and reasonable.

    A lot of extraneous verbiage, to say, “Do as I say, and not as I do.”

    1. Hyperion

      “People who simply don’t see why they should spend their money helping others will reject the entire premise and say “I earned it, why shouldn’t I do what I please with it?”

      The problem is those people are exactly like the ones constantly going on about paying more taxes and when they get the chance, whine the loudest about having to do so.

      1. fried

        *cough* SALT deduction *cough*cough*

  45. The Late P Brooks

    Adopting a Maximum Moral Income conception is useful because, once you have it, the protests of the rich seem much more feeble. If we believe that anything non-essential is wasteful and immoral, then the nice umbrella I buy on my $30,000 a year salary is in the same category as a 90 million dollar spaceship launch. And since my umbrella seems intuitively fine to most people, the force of the critique of waste at the upper end is blunted. Whereas, if we define a line (albeit a debated one) and agree that whatever falls below it is fine and whatever falls above it isn’t, we aren’t left with a philosophy that is practically unworkable for nearly everybody. In fact, it then becomes much more difficult to defend things in the “waste” category because we’ve limited it to the worst cases. (Can anyone defend having ten cars as something without which life would be significantly worse?)

    Wow. That, there, is a heapin’ helpin’ of convoluted gibberish.

    1. leonadasiv

      “we aren’t left with a philosophy that is practically unworkable”

      Mostly because you aren’t left with a Moral philosophy at all. Your just arbitrarily saying, “I get to decide what is good and what is evil”

    2. Hyperion

      Can anyone defend having ten cars as something without which life would be significantly worse?

      Bernie Sanders? YOU don’t need 10 kinds of cars.

      1. “Need” has got nothing to do with it.

      2. F. Stupidity Jr.

        Jerry Seinfeld was being interviewed by Baba Wawa during the run of his sitcom and she came around to asking about his car collection.

        “Jerry, why do you need 57 Porches?”
        “Why do I need one?”

    3. R C Dean

      Whereas, if we define a line (albeit a debated one) and agree that whatever falls below it is fine and whatever falls above it isn’t, we aren’t left with a philosophy that is practically unworkable for nearly everybody.

      Who is this “we” and why do they get to say what I should do with my money? To Be Sure, he is talking about a moral line, not a legal one, but I think that needs to be caveated with “for now”.

      And, of course, the crucial thing he misses is that “90 million dollar spaceship launch” wasn’t done by some rich dude with his own money, it was done by a company with company funds, so it wouldn’t fall under his maximum moral income rule anyway. He’s either hopelessly uninformed about how things actually work, or he’s stealthing in, not just rules for how you spend your money, but rules for how companies spend their money. You know, fascism.

      1. You see, corporations and joint ownership* would have to end in the name of equality.

        *except for government-ownership.

      2. Hyperion

        Yeah, but he shot car I can’t afford into space, on top of a giant rocket shaped like a penis! Wahhh!!! I’m triggered and my luddite brain hurts!

    4. wdalasio

      It’s only gibberish because, if Robinson were to state his argument clearly, it would be abundantly clear what a vile piece of shit he is. Fundamentally, when you read his objection, it is to people getting joy that he doesn’t have. It isn’t even disguised under the pretense of needing the resources for some greater purpose, but taking joy in taking away the joy of others.

      1. Hyperion

        “It is to people getting joy that he doesn’t have”

        That’s basically what the entire left underclass are about. The elites want power and they control their useful idiots through peddling envy.

        1. AlexinCT

          Misery is much easier to spread than anything else, which is why collectivism spreads it like a disease.

      2. AlexinCT

        At the risk of sounding like I am resorting to religion to make an argument, I feel compelled to still point out that the two emotions that drive people to peddle marxism, are envy and covetousness. People that feel others don’t deserve what they have, because they themselves have less, and justify taking it away by pleading to some noble cause (the general welfare of all!), are fucking evil.

    5. kbolino

      You know, I don’t usually quote Jefferson’s version of this over Locke’s, but sometimes it is the more apt formulation.

      We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

  46. LJW

    Is This Experimental Japanese Drug the Secret to Stopping the Flu?

    “Japanese drug regulators could approve the drug for use in Japan by early March, the Journal reported. The drugmaker plans to apply for approval in the U.S. this summer; however, the drug likely wouldn’t be available here until next year.”

    Or the FDA could bypass the red tape and approve it ASAP?

    1. Juvenile Bluster

      hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

      $100 says that if they file an NDA (New Drug Application) with the FDA in the US, the FDA forces them to do a large-scale Phase 3 test in the US, delaying everything for a year and driving up the cost of the drug significantly.

      They do it all the time with drugs that are already approved in the EU.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        The FDA is all that stands between us and the zombie apocalypse.

    2. Hyperion

      “Or the FDA could bypass the red tape and approve it ASAP?”

      Haahaaahaaaaahaaaahaaa! Oh, my side hurts!

      “regulators could approve the drug for use in Japan by early March”

      This means early March in the USA also, early March of 2038.

  47. RE: North Korean death camps.

    The more I think about this, the more pissed off I get. Hey progressive (((allies))), whatever happened to “Never again”; where’s your compassion and moral high ground now? Where’s your Tikkun Olam? I guess it only counts if people are being systematically slaughtered over ethnicity/religion and not wrongthink. I don’t advocate going to war with NK, however *if* there were atrocities that ever justified it, this is it. It makes me think of my (((relatives))) that, as they were being led to gas chambers, desperately wondered why the outside world wasn’t doing anything to save them. How can they sit on their hands while an assembly line of death is operating under their noses

    It just provides further confirmation that (((progressives))) have forsaken Judaism and replaced it with the Church of Leftism. Abso-fucking-lutely pathetic.

    1. robc

      It makes me think of my (((relatives))) that, as they were being led to gas chambers, desperately wondered why the outside world wasn’t doing anything to save them.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoXFVb1VVJA

      For those that don’t know, Geddy’s mom was in Bergen-Belsen.

    2. Hyperion

      You see, the Nazis were evul RIGHT wingers. That’s why what they did was so bad. The Norks are evul LEFT wingers, so it’s totes ok when they do it. /progs

      1. AlexinCT

        They are getting rid of kulaks and wreckers after all at those camps…

    3. DEG

      I guess it only counts if people are being systematically slaughtered over ethnicity/religion and not wrongthink

      Yep. I’ve had Progressives say to me that the Holocaust is worse because the Nazis killed over things people have no control over whereas the Communists killed people for political reasons.

      Just ignore Stalin’s deportations based on ethnicity, for starters.

      I’m reminded of a bit in Vasily Grossman’s “Life and Fate” where a Nazi and an Old Bolshevik are talking. The Nazi was trying to convince the Old Bolshevik to switch sides. The subject of killing came up. The Nazi said something along the lines of “Does it matter why we kill? We’re still killing.”

    4. This shit is also why I quit going to synagogue. I’m not (nor do I want to be) Orthodox or Chabad, but Reform, Liberal and more and more, Conservative temples are a disgrace. It’s not spirituality, morality or connection to divinity, it’s horseshit progressivism masquerading as (((doctrine))) and “Tikkun Olam” (to heal the world, we have to destroy it!). I’ve seriously thought about going to Evangelical services just to try and get my spirituality fix, but that opens a whole other can of worms.

      So I look at boobs instead.

      1. spqr2008

        It is a religious experience. God wants us to be happy, therefore he invented Beer and Boobs.

        1. robc

          Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship

          As a former southern baptist, I did not know this existed, but am also not surprised.

      2. Hyperion

        I don’t want to burst your bubble, but you likely will not find anything different. The evangelicals went from being morally preening socons to morally preening progs same as all the others. Organized religion, none of it is good. You could try the spritualists, they’re not as bad, just all sorts of goofy. But it’s entertaining since they will heal you with a plastic spork, whether you need healing or not.

        1. Organized religion, none of it is good.

          Collective/generalize much?

          1. Hyperion

            Ok, let me insert ‘In my experience’.

        2. Gadfly

          The evangelicals went from being morally preening socons to morally preening progs same as all the others.

          In my experience, most evangelicals are still of the socon variety. The prog variety of Christian tends to congregate more in the so-called Mainline Protestant denominations.

      3. Psycho Effer

        I will support the Church of FLBP.

    5. Yeah, I often wonder how history will judge the way the world stood by during episodes like these. There were genuine horrors occurring in China during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, and nobody stepped in. You could argue that the prospect of war with China was too risky, but I’d argue that the Wehrmacht was a much, much greater threat than whatever the PLA could field in the 50s and 60s.

      I’m certainly not arguing for military intervention. I’m just thinking about the way we think about the various episodes of mass murder that happen in any number of squalid little shitholes across the world.

      1. Raven Nation

        Apart from general sympathy for leftist views, I think there are (at least) two other reasons people ignore/d things like the Great Leap Forward: (i) no photos – the reaction to the Holocaust is often visceral & there are (or were) few images widely circulated of the Gualg; (ii) keeping it in the country: if the Nazis had stayed within Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland & started slaughtering Jews, I doubt anyone would have intervened.

        I don’t think this wholly explains it but I think they are factors.

        1. Gadfly

          (ii) keeping it in the country: if the Nazis had stayed within Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland & started slaughtering Jews, I doubt anyone would have intervened.

          ^This^. I think the only reason people ask why nobody did anything during the Holocaust is that they are looking at things in hindsight. In hindsight, war with Germany looks inevitable, so the fact that people waited to fight while so many were dying looks bad. But from the perspective at the time, where most people didn’t think war was inevitable and in fact were trying to avoid war, standing by doing nothing made sense.

        2. thepasswordispassword

          The holocaust was also not well known until Germany had essentially already lost the war. People knew about concentration camps. Rounding up political dissidents and undesirable races was seen as bad not crimes against humanity. Full blown death camps came later (1942) and were not well known until the allies found them while taking German territory. If the camps had been destroyed before allied forces found them or Germany had brokered a peace before allied lines reached those areas people would probably still not know or care nearly as much as they do now.

  48. Tonio

    Happy Glibmas day, everyone. Thanks to Sloop and all the other founders, funders and contributors. And to everyone who comments here.

  49. TK

    Spending the last year (or 7, if you count TOS) with you degenerates has been awesome. Here’s to many more years and mornings of unproductivity at work (raises coffee).

  50. robc

    Deregulation is proof that government works, as the government decides what and when to deregulate.

    I don’t have a link, fortunately, because more than that would probably kill us all.

  51. Gordilocks

    Happy Birthday, Glibs, thanks for all of this. What a coincidence, as tomorrow marks the beginning of my 39th revolution around the sun. Let’s all drink together.

    1. straffinrun

      Apart from your denial of Flat Earth theory, I second this.

      1. straffinrun

        And Happy Birthday. *Pulls Horn cord twice*

        1. Gordilocks

          *Sustained train horn blast*

    2. Pope Jimbo

      When do we start the spanking machine part of this b-day party?

  52. Juvenile Bluster

    And I thought the allegations against Harvey Weinstein couldn’t get any worse.

    Weinstein often bragged about his connection to political figures and said he had “contacts within the Secret Service that could take care of problems,” the lawsuit alleges.

    In addition to the threats, at least three sets of employees were required to help Weinstein make “sexual conquests,” according to the suit.

    The company employed one group of female employees whose primary job it was to go with Weinstein to events and “facilitate” his “sexual conquests,” the lawsuit states. Those women were kept on the payroll in various cities, including London, Los Angeles, and New York. Witnesses claimed they were called Weinstein’s “wing women.”

    The second group was made up of women who “were compelled to take various steps to further [Weinstein]’s regular sexual activity, including by contacting ‘Friends of Harvey’ and other prospective sexual partners via text message or phone or at his direction and maintaining space on his calendar for sexual activity.”

    Members of this group at various times allegedly had to handle Weinstein’s erectile-dysfunction shots—and even administer the injections. Others had to prepare rooms in his office for sexual activity—and clean up after it was over.

    The third, predominantly female group of employees responsible for such demeaning work, according to the lawsuit, had to facilitate Weinstein’s sexual activity by meeting with prospective sexual conquests and then following through on the employment opportunities promised by Weinstein afterward.

    1. F. Stupidity Jr.

      The second group was made up of women who “were compelled to take various steps to further [Weinstein]’s regular sexual activity, including by contacting ‘Friends of Harvey’ and other prospective sexual partners via text message or phone or at his direction and maintaining space on his calendar for sexual activity.”

      Members of this group at various times allegedly had to handle Weinstein’s erectile-dysfunction shots—and even administer the injections. Others had to prepare rooms in his office for sexual activity—and clean up after it was over.

      Okay, I call first or third group.

    2. Mr Lizard

      “In addition to the threats, at least three sets of employees were required to help Weinstein make “sexual conquests,” according to the suit.”

      STEVE SMITH OFFER COST CUTTING PLAN TO ADDRESS BOTTOM LINE

      1. R C Dean

        AND BY “ADDRESS”, MEAN . . .

        Although I larfed at Harvey having to use the dick darts to get it up. What a pathetic man.

  53. Not Adahn

    Happy Anniversary, and thank you for making the internet better place.

  54. PieInTheSKy

    Bucharest is divided in 6 sectors and it has one general City Hall and 6 Sector Halls, so a total of 7 administrative divisions, each with their own bureaucracy. Besides the cost of all that, the Sector 1 Hall mayor where I live decided to give 2 million dollars to the building of the huge useless cathedral being build in Bucharest. I cannot understand how a very local administration can give money for a fucking cathedral that isn’t even located in Sector 1. Goddamn it. And Sector 1 is in about 300 mil of debt, which is different to the debt of Bucharest as a whole and added to the national debt. Stupid shit.

    1. You know who else divided cities into sectors…

      1. The Allied Powers?

      2. Chipwooder

        Robert Moses?

      3. Grumbletarian

        SimCity players?

      4. Hari Seldon?

    2. Buying indulgences?

      1. PieInTheSKy

        Yes. Old people who vote how the priest said is a bit of an indulgence for corrupt mayors

        1. “Chicago on The Danube”

  55. The Late P Brooks

    According to the weather service, it is 0 degrees (real degrees, not them wimpy Eurofag degrees) outside. No wonder it’s so fekkin chilly in here.

    1. At least it’s a nice round number.

    2. Hyperion

      My wife is just getting used to using our superior Fahrenheit. I have to steal your wimpy Eurofag degrees line to complete shaming her away from Celsius.

  56. The Late P Brooks

    at least three sets of employees were required to help Weinstein make “sexual conquests,” according to the suit.

    Sounds like a regular slut sisterhood. Will those women be named and shamed?

    1. wdalasio

      Will those women be named and shamed?

      No, those poor women were just more victims of the patriarchy that said that women should have to betray The Sisterhood to survive the perpetual male oppression.

    2. WTF

      No, no, of course not! They were completely unable to leave and seek other employment because REASONS!!11!!

  57. PieInTheSKy

    So in debate with a lefty when he gave a silly YouTube with a particular dumb libertarian which was one of them running at some point for libertarian candidate for president as an example of libertarian ideology debunked. It is like giving a random ben shapiro youtube as clear evidence leftists are wrong. . And then asked me to tell him which are the representative libertarians on YouTube. I am stuck with that. I do not feel anyone fully representative of my views, but apparently an ideology needs some figure to listen to online. I do not see that possible in libertarianism so I struggle to answer this. But for many if I cannot provide means libertarian ideology is crumbling or something.

    As far as I can tell libertarianism is rather diffuse as an ideology. Decentralized. But for most people the concept you need time to study the views is not good enough. They one one source.

    He gave examples of typical for the left: Hillary and Democratic establishment ( Biden/cory booker/kamala harris etc) on the media side : MSNBC , CNN and for progressive Bernie Sanders , Elizabeth warren and David Pakman , Kyle Kulinski , Sam Seder , Cenk Uygur

    I wonder how many self described left wingers consider these people representative…

    1. Number.6

      Yes, I adhere to a philosophy based in individualism and the support for a politico-social system which recognizes that we’re all different.

      Now, let me introduce you to someone on youtube who codifies that and tells you how everything should be run, and who you should emulate.

      1. PieInTheSKy

        I think he was mainly looking for someone who effectively debates a lefty he looks up to…

    2. Hyperion

      You should tell him that unlike the left, libertarians are not herd animals who agree on everything, but instead have a set of basic principles but agree to disagree on a lot of things. IOW, independent thinkers, but who have a core set of principles such as the NAP. Leftists have no principles and their only goal is power for the sake of power. Don’t confuse that with the methods attempted to obtain that power such as social justice, multiculturalism, and identity politics. Those things are not goals, but only methods used to obtain total power over individuals

      1. cyto

        You should tell him that unlike the left, libertarians are not herd animals who agree on everything, but instead have a set of basic principles but agree to disagree on a lot of things.

        No we don’t.

        1. Tundra

          Yes, we do.

          1. MikeS

            I think you’re both wrong.

          2. Hyperion

            That’s the way to libertarian!

          3. MikeS

            No it’s not!

        2. Suthenboy

          We dont?

          Not self-ownership for all persons and what logically follows from that?

          And all this time I thought…

          1. cyto

            If you have to explain the….

            I mean, there’s no true…..

            ah… screw it.

      2. PieInTheSKy

        Well who explains those basic principles best?

        1. Hyperion

          You can do it yourself, because really it is very basic at the core. Don’t hurt other people or steal their stuff. Otherwise do whatever you want even if it kills you.

        2. Suthenboy

          Self-ownership for all persons and what logically follows from that.

          There it is in nine words.

          1. “Logic”

            Don’t introduce processes they don’t understand.

          2. Suthenboy

            For every person their mind, their body, their conscience is their own property and no one else’s. They own themselves wholly. If they are not their own property, they are someone else’s and we have a word for that; hint, it starts with an S.

            The NAP follows from that – do not trespass on the property of others.

            Freedom of expression, of association, of thought, follows from it. The right of self-defense follows from it. The right to the fruit of your own labor follows from it. Etc

          3. cyto

            That mind, body and conscience? You didn’t build that…..

          4. Gordilocks

            ‘The Nine most terrifying important words in the English language.’

            R Reagan

        3. Number.6

          The problem with looking for a *debate* about libertarian fundamentals is like having a debate about whether gravity exists, or whether having oxygen in your dive tank is optional or not.

          Such discussions are usually orthogonal, because the underlying precepts of libertarianism are not primarily political, but philosophical. That’s also the reason why hoping for an ascendant and influential Libertarian Party in (for example) the US is a fool’s errand. To achieve libertarian-ish policies, we have to co-opt or hollow out an existing party and subvert its mission without killing the organism itself.

          To the extent there are worthwhile spokespeople, you have to pick your battlefield, and then we can nominate a champion.

          Libertarian economics – despite his notable lapses in sanity – I’d say Friedman. If you want to see debate, watch the end halves of “Free to Choose” episodes where he takes on some darlings of the left like Frances Piven and some old school trades unionists of the 80’s.

          If you want NAP stuff, Stossel’s not bad, but then Penn has done some interesting stuff.

          How much of a knock-down, drag-out debate CAN you have when you’re arguing that the maximization of personal freedoms, while observing the legitimacy of other people’s personal freedoms is a desirable goal?

        4. Well, Matt Kibbe literally wrote the book. After that, it kind of depends on what you’re trying to focus on. If it’s the free market idea or the limited government bit, Thomas Sowell is hard to beat. John Stossel, maybe. As much as I think he’s suffering from chronic TDS, Jeffrey Tucker has had some interesting things to say about libertarian principles in day-to-day life, as does 2Chili (J.D. Tucille).

          The thing is that I don’t think a lot of the theoretical movers and shakers in libertarian/classical liberal thought engage in much debate with the left because the left doesn’t really play by the same rules. Libertarians typically start from the premise that individuals matter, and the ideas of the modern left are kind of predicated on “society” or the state being more important. Libertarians are generally interested in establishing principles and arguing from a basis of reason, while leftists typically are more interested in things that “feel” right.

        5. Hyperion

          I just thought of the bestest reply, Pie. Not sure what took so long. You just say the following:

          Fuck you, cut spending.

          1. You forgot the corrolary:

            Fuck off, slaver.

          2. Hyperion

            ‘Explain this libertarianism to me’

            Fuck you, cut spending!

            ‘But I … um, what?’

            Fuck off, slaver!

            ‘Wait, I …’

            You’re a towel!

            You may as well do that if it’s a prog you’re trying to debate.

        6. Negroni Please

          Give him a copy of Bastiat’s “The Law” or Rothbard’s “The Ethics of Liberty” and tell him to fuck off. Most libertarians can actually read (apologies to my engineering inclined brethren) and find that reasoned argumentation is better suited to the written word than digital media. Sound bites are inferior to a philosophical meal.

          1. Oooh, those are good. Bastiat in particular.

          2. Hyperion

            Bastiat may have the best quotes ever, and so relevant to today’s world.

          3. cyto

            The problem is that most people are not swayed by logic. (that’s why they are not libertarians to begin with)

            They have an interview with Scott Adams over at reason that might shed some light on the problem. He talks about how people make decisions based on very shaky emotional grounds – and that Trump is plugging into those circuits with his theatrics.

            If he’s right about people, then for most people, hitting them with a well-reasoned and well researched argument isn’t going to move the needle at all.

            I’ve found that hitting people with the simple message of the NAP and live and let live can move the needle over time…. if it is repeated frequently for years. The idea of “leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone” is pretty simple and direct and easy to grasp. But it takes a long time to sink in as an underpinning of political thought.

            I also often toss in a “I’m not smart enough to tell you how to live your life, and I damn well know that you aren’t smart enough to tell me how to live my life…” if they seem to be ready to process that concept – that most people are idiots that you wouldn’t let decide what you were going to have for dinner, let alone how you should live your whole life.

          4. Psycho Effer

            I agree. I think, in large part, that the people who come to libertarianism do so because they have a way of thinking that is different from the vast majority of people. You have to have a certain mode of reasoning to accept the ideas of liberty, and most people do not think in that way. That is always going to limit the ceiling for libertarianism as a political philosophy. I don’t know what that ceiling is, but I’m pretty sure it’s not high enough to ever make a major difference as a political party.

          5. robc

            apologies to my engineering inclined brethren

            I can read better than most liberal artists can number.

          6. Pfft. Easy!

            1,2,3, 7, cow, 888, sky.

            See!

    3. Suthenboy

      “libertarianism is rather diffuse as an ideology. Decentralized. But for most people the concept you need time to study the views is not good enough. They one one source.”

      Because they are simpletons. They think racism is a thing, not a thousand subtle cultural differences. They just need to look at someone’s skin color to know what side they are on…because they are simpletons. They think inequality is a thing, not economic mobility because they can just look at a snapshot of someone’s socioeconomic status and know who they are…because they are simpletons. Etc. Etc. for all of their analysis’.

      You probably wont make much difference talking with them.

      You could send them around here, that might work.

      1. Hyperion

        If they weren’t simpletons, they would not make good useful idiots for their ruling elite and would be kicked out of the club, and then they wouldn’t be leftists.

      2. cyto

        That was actually the perfect summation of libertarian thought.

        Paraphrasing: “everyone else is an idiot”.

        Which they are. I mean, it is self evident, but it still bears repeating. Progressive thought is a self-contradictory mess of shell-upon-shell of misdirection that hides a hideous core of naked authoritarianism. Sure, they can give you a thousand different reasons why they should have control over every aspect of your life… but the bottom line is always more control over your life and property.

  58. Hyperion

    I’m sensing a conspiracy. And like all conspiracies I sense, I’m right, again.

    You see, 2/12/2018, that number rearranged has 2112 in it. And everyone knows that means. No wonder Glibs want that date as the anniversary. I’m onto you guys…

    1. Juvenile Bluster

      Best Rush Album?

      1. You can’t get ‘Fly By Night” out of those numbers.

      2. Hyperion

        There’s things about Geddy Lee that you don’t know.

        1. Juvenile Bluster

          I know .

          Still like the music though.

        2. Hyperion

          Yeah, me too. The first album, 2112, Caress of Steele, I love all of those and some of the later stuff as well.

          1. cyto

            It is almost as if we are white dudes of a certain age who lean libertarian!

            Also, I’m definitely a shameless fan-boy, because I’ll listen to By-Tor and the Snowdog and not feel at all strange for listening to a song with the lyrics:

            The battle’s over and the dust is clearing
            Disciples of the Snow Dog sound the knell
            Rejoicing echoes as the dawn is nearing
            By-Tor, in defeat, retreats to Hell

          2. Hyperion

            That’s a damn great song.

            The first song I ever heard from Rush is Anthem. I was completely blown away by that.

      3. Just Say’n

        You can’t claim to be a libertarian website if there is not at least one reference to Rush. This is known

        1. F. Stupidity Jr.

          I agree, Limbaugh is great.

        2. Hyperion

          It’s Canada’s only redeeming feature, ever. Well, McCinnis and Lauren Southern as well. But I think that’s it.

          1. R C Dean

            Mark Steyn belongs on the list, too.

          2. Just Say’n

            You’re all wrong. Here’s a list of the only good things to ever come out of Canada

            (5) Michael J. Fox
            (4) Lauren Southern’s body (not so much her opinions which are fairly pedestrian)
            (3) Maple Syrup
            (2) Rush
            (1) Norm MacDonald

          3. F. Stupidity Jr.

            (not so much her opinions which are fairly pedestrian)

            Lauren’s pretty good for being just 22. I think she’ll be quite formidable with some more years behind her.

  59. KibbledKristen

    Well, shit. Here I am back in DC. If I didn’t love making money so much…

    1. You got a job with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing?

    2. Hyperion

      Money is evul, KK, I’m setting up a fund where you can send it to in order to save you from corrupting your soul with evul money. I’m already corrupt, there’s no saving me, but I can at least try to save others.

      1. MikeS

        You’re a sin eater?

        1. The Sleeper

          That’s decidedly less bad-ass than the image I had in my head.
          I was expecting like some creepy flying lamprey looking monster that roams around. Flying around eating some sin and shitting out rainbows.

          1. Tonio

            Flying lamprey – I’m stealing that.

        2. KibbledKristen

          I tried to Google “sin eater in popular culture”, because I swear, I’d seen a show or read something recently with one. Gonna drive me batty!

          1. Number.6

            One of the Aubrey-Maturin characters was a former sin-eater.

          2. KibbledKristen

            Haven’t read those. I want to say it was in Stranger Things, but I don’t think that’s right.

          3. F. Stupidity Jr.

            The only sin-eater reference I knew was from the comics. There was a great Spider-Man story arc in the late 80s when a villain he’d captured, The Sin-Eater, was released from prison.

          4. KibbledKristen

            It was in the TV show Sleepy Hollow! So, not that recently.

          5. F. Stupidity Jr.

            Was it in the first two seasons? If so, I don’t remember it. I stopped watching after that. At its best, that was a pretty damn good show. One thing that kept straining the credibility of the show was that the Dark Forces of Moloch and Evil Itself kept turning up in one little town, over and over again. You’d think after getting thwarted in Sleepy Hollow a bunch of times, you might try Iowa or Louisiana or Wyoming or some other place. But the leads were fantastic.

          6. KibbledKristen

            Yep – it was Crane’s son. the old guy wit the bow tie.

          7. MikeS

            That was my first exposure to it.

          8. KibbledKristen

            Why did they fuck up that show, BTW? Such an interesting first season – very much like Stranger Things before Stranger Things existed. Then they had all kinds of production & writing changes that really screwed with the character arcs and shit.

          9. Nephilium

            IIRC, there was a sin eater in Sleepy Hollow.

          10. MikeS

            Played by John Noble (AKA Sherlock Holmes’ father on Elementary) He’s great in the “nice guy who is secretly evil as fuck” character.

          11. Nephilium

            John Noble isn’t AKA Denethor anymore? Or even Walter from Fringe?

            There is little that makes me happier than taking drugs. Perhaps administering them, designing and carrying out experiments that bend the plane of what we consider reality. I’m rarely if ever opposed to such things except now.

      2. Nephilium

        Ahhh, another Yen Buddhist.

        1. Hyperion

          I just thought it was my lame attempt at being a scammer. I didn’t know you guys would go all philosophical.

          1. What good is the commentariat if it doesn’t go off in unexpected directions?

          2. Hyperion

            Tangents for the win. Or is it hijacking the thread for the win?

          3. Hyperion

            Wait, now it’s my time to get philosophical. Which came first, the tangent or the thread hijack

          4. R C Dean

            I think of it as japtackling the thread.

          5. Hyperion

            I can imagine reading the Wiki page on Rand Paul one day and it containing the following entry:

            Rand Paul was the inspiration for the term ‘Japtackle’ after he was attacked by his neighbor from behind.

  60. cyto

    On the anniversary: I’ll toss in my thanks and congratulations, along with an anecdote.

    Online communities can be ephemeral. Starting with BBS systems on dialup modems and into the early nerd days on slashdot, it was always fun to find a community of like-minded folks to hang out with… discussing things of mutual interest, sharing cool tidbits of information, whatever.

    I always avoided politics online as an utterly useless affair. I was a Reason subscriber (in the paper world) and when they went on line I sporadically joined them. It was Radley Balko’s agitator community that pulled me into the world of online politics. He had a great community that was pretty much entirely focused on civil liberties and other libertarian issues. I spewed forth many a heartfelt rant as an agitot and enjoyed a community that would upvote a nuanced view of politics, policing and civil rights. That opened the door to posting on HnR, where there was a similar, if more varied community.

    The best thing about HnR was the humor. Because there was no registration or login, you could make a joke handle on a whim, just to fulfill the needs of a one-off comment.

    And then Balko got a better offer and left for the Huffington Post, killing his agitator community. His absence at Reason was also felt, as the hard-libertarian reporting of police abuse mostly left with him.

    But the HnR community was still pretty good, if populated by a few trolls, shills and the mentally ill. It was sliding away from the best it had been, but it was still a pretty good group.

    Then Trump happened. Holy crap, did that lay waste to the community. Libertarian scholarship and thought took a back seat to team-based political rants. And the community just imploded.

    Thankfully, the Glibertarian was born. While nowhere as serious or focused as the Agitator days, there is at least a sense of libertarian community. And the sense of humor is here. Quick wits, good-natured ribbing and general camaraderie make for a nice sense of community.

    But there is one big difference. The sense of community is palpable. This became really clear during the Hurricanes last year. This group of socially unacceptable reprobates did the unthinkable. People actually cared for each other, asking for updates, offering places to stay and advice on evacuation routes. This is a family. A weird family, to be sure. But a family.

    So thanks for that. It is quite improbable that a group of pedantic, nit-picking contrarians who are brought together by a belief in a political ideology based in personal freedom and responsibility that is so extreme that it doesn’t even get a color on the political map should be able to join together in such a harmonious group.

    Happy Birthday, Glibs!

    1. That’s too sappy, I’m almost obligated to be sarcastic.

      a group of pedantic, nit-picking contrarians

      You’re being redundant with the first two descriptors.

      1. cyto

        I was sincerely hoping for that reaction.

    2. Number.6

      Yeah, yeah, yeah.

      Now get the fuck off my lawn.

    3. Tundra

      I almost hate myself for this after your nice post, but principles over principals, right?

      *clears throat*

      “Fuck off, Tulpa!”

      1. cyto

        Remember the middle-early days at Reason when there was a sort of user’s guide to the commentariate? You could read up on the family tree of Mary and Shreik and Tulpa and Tony et. al.?

        Now they need a full-on family tree over there to suss out all of the sock puppets.

    4. Hyperion

      I remember way back when on the other site, I think the first time I saw one of your posts, I thought you were Cytotoxic and so I blocked you. Then later I realized I had blocked the wrong user. You’re not Cytotoxic are you? Is that you, Tulpa?

      1. cyto

        No, Cyto and Cytotoxic on Reason are two different people. I’m just Cyto, but the names are related.

        I picked Cytotoxic as a handle as a student hanging out on Amiga BBS systems back at the end of the 80’s. So that was my handle on Usenet, on AMUG groups, on Linux user groups and later on Slashdot when they started up.

        On Reason I got lazy and didn’t always type my whole handle. For no particular reason at first. And then I thought I’d rather not have my work identity (in the computer world) get contaminated with my politics. I’ve avoided talking politics for the most part for the first 20 years or so of online life. So I kinda left it but didn’t really make a formal decision on the topic.

        So one day Cytotoxic shows up and now I’m stuck. I can’t really claim it while he’s there. And about that time Reason went to logins and the die was cast.

        At The Agitator and Huffpo and Reason and Here, I’m Cyto. It isn’t a great name, having been picked primarily out of laziness. But there ya go. Not the Canadian Cytotoxic.

        I’m the computer nerd from the south who doesn’t get to go skydiving or scuba diving any more because I’m too busy with the kids. I’m the hardcore, strict doctrinaire libertarian who usually tries to see things from all sides before declaring everyone else to be an idiot. (that last bit is my God-given right as a libertarian.) I’ve dropped the mask a bit and become something of a stealthy libertarian shill on what is left of slashdot. Maybe half of my posts for the last several years have gently pointed people in the right direction.

        1. Hyperion

          “No, Cyto and Cytotoxic on Reason are two different people.”

          Yes, I know that, it’s quite obvious. No person could be as big an asshole as Cytotoxic even if they spent an lifetime trying.

    5. KibbledKristen

      I’m just grateful this site isn’t blocked on my work network.

      1. Hyperion

        Not until we’ve been deemed a Russian bot network by the fedgov.

      2. KibbledKristen

        Ironically, our network is down, but Glibs is the only site I can still access.

    6. commodious spittoon

      Then Trump happened. Holy crap, did that lay waste to the community.

      It certainly colored my perspective of things for awhile. I felt like a brilliant opportunity was slipping away after eight years of Obama. I was absolutely convinced nobody the party fielded would fare worse than Trump against Hillary, and Hillary was the retrenchment of Obama’s policies for good. So rather than having a return to sanity and the repudiation of progressivism, we had this ludicrous populist promoting an era of (I think I put it at the time) managed decline, whereby the white working class would embrace the same race hucksterism that has sapped black communities for decades. And he was going to lose.

      Now, I’m not sure whether a Cruz presidency could do more for conservatism than Trump has, so far. I think the GOP would be even more cowardly and trepidatious without Trump’s lightning pole personality.

      1. Hyperion

        Let’s put is this way. None of the other candidates, Rand included, would have inflicted the mental suffering on progressives that Trump has. And he’s even managed to clip away a little at their shit policies and mountain of unnecessary and harmful regulation, although it’s like a grain of sand in the Sahara at this point, at least it’s a start. If only the rest of the GOP would grow a pair and realize the blight on this country the left are, we might finally be able to start undoing all the damage they have done over the past century. Instead I’m afraid it’s only a fleeting moment of calm before the now hysterical beyond all hope left are back in power and at it again with a new determination to push through their most insane policies.

        1. R C Dean

          If only the rest of the GOP would grow a pair and realize the blight on this country the left are

          A big chunk of the GOP establishment is perfectly comfortable being part of that blight, so I think it would need a major purge before it could grow a pair.

    7. Creosote Achilles

      Fuck Off, Slaver!

      *ahem* I mean, I concur. This really is a remarkable community.

  61. wdalasio

    Thanks to everyone involved with the site. You’ve built a great little corner of the internet where people (including me) can get a wonderful education on myriad topics and encounter some genuinely interesting discussion. Thanks!

    1. Ditto! Thanks to everyone, from the founders on through the rank-and-file Glibs. This is a pretty special thing we’ve got going on here.

    2. MikeS

      I’ve been trying to think of something to write, but you pretty much said what I was thinking. So I’ll join Bill and give you a big ditto! This is a great place and I’m very glad it (and all founders and commenters) are here!

  62. Chipwooder

    Think my older dog is living her last days – she has been barely eating at all for a couple of weeks. Fuuuuuuuuuck. We didn’t have pets when I was growing up and so she was my first , never had to deal with this before. Adopted her from the Yuma County shelter when she was about 4 months old, now she’s 14.

    1. MikeS

      I feel for you Chip’. My first dog is 11 and so far healthy, but every birthday he has “the end” comes more and more to our minds.

      Best wishes to you and you pup.

    2. Tundra

      Bah. Sorry, Chip. The absolute worst part of having a pet.

      It’s amazing how the little fuckers burrow into your soul.

    3. Bob Boberson

      I lost my shelter-adopted buddy a couple years back. Went from just showing a little age to dying really quickly. My suggestion is to put her down before you wait too long an feel guilty. She’ll look at you someday soon and let you know it’s time. This is just my preference but find a vet willing to euthanize her somewhere clam so that you don’t have to do the whole waiting room and steel table bit. The vets office always stressed my dog out, I’m glad he wasn’t anxious when we said goodbye.

      1. Tundra

        I’ll second the suggestion to not wait too long. My GSD collapsed on a Sunday morning and I had to have her euthanized at the emergency vet. I had already arranged with my vet to come to the house, but it was not to be.

        It’s tough to know when it’s time.

      2. Chipwooder

        She’s been physically declining for a while – was really sick a couple of years ago but pulled through, has arthritis, Cushing’s disease (which led to knee problems). Still seemed to be doing OK for an old dog, but when they stop eating (even people food – we gave up on dog food several weeks ago and have been feeding her varying mixtures of beef, rice, beans, and eggs) it’s pretty much over. My wife is taking her to the vet tomorrow just to get final confirmation that this is it. We’ve already made an appointment with a home euthanasia provider for Friday. Like your dog, she’s always freaked out at the vet’s so there’s no way I would take her there.

        1. R C Dean

          The home euthanasia is absolutely the way to go. Did that with my last one (intestinal cancer that impaired her legs also). I had to carry her outside several times a day for her last weeks, and couldn’t see taking her to the vet. Fortunately, someone recommended the at-home option.

        2. Yusef drives a Kia

          I feel for You,
          If there’s a Heaven, that’s where We’ll see our Dogs again….

        3. Bob Boberson

          My sincerest condolences to you. It just sucks, no two ways about it. It’s hard too because unlike losing a person you can’t really grieve publically and have many people understand. By that I mean other than maybe a day off work the expectation is you get back to normal in a day or two. It took me about a month to feel right…..I live alone so it may have hit me harder. Six weeks after I had another dog which was probably too soon but I don’t regret it. She didn’t replace him but she filled the void for sure.

          1. R C Dean

            I kept thinking I saw my last one on her place out of the corner of my eye for weeks. And I woke up a few times thinking I heard the dog door. I’m not saying it was her ghost, but . . .

            We overlapped a new batch of pups with the older dogs for years. I don’t think we’ll do that again; young dogs and very old dogs don’t always get along – the young ones can get aggressive with the old ones. Not always, but when you have pits keeping peace in the valley is priority one.

          2. Bob Boberson

            Same here, I would get weird impulses to talk to him, fill his dish, pet him. I think mostly your subconscious isn’t accepting the fact that they are gone. I wish I could overlap dogs but unfortunately one is my max as long as I stay single (travel a lot for work and sitting can be an issue and is already expensive enough). Luckily I have a neighbor who has the sweetest pit in the world who hangs out at our house constantly so mine always has a buddy around.

      3. Tonio

        What Bob and RC said.

        I’m sorry you’re going through this.

    4. That sucks, man, I’m sorry. At least you gave her a good life, that’s not a little thing.

    5. MikeS

      I just discovered this song over the weekend. Very apropos.

    6. straffinrun

      There is a reason I don’t watch Old Yeller. Though if I were to do a Pet Cemetery remake…
      Sorry about the dog, man.

    7. spqr2008

      I hate it when pets decline. My best friend had a great dog (I’m very allergic to them, and Cooper seemed to know it, stayed mostly away except when I wanted him to, smart fellow), a Golden Retriever, and from a litter from (at the time) the two largest Golden Retrievers on the planet (my friend still has the Guinness World Records book from 1991 with a picture of Cooper’s parents in it). Cooper was 95 lbs. and, unknown to us, had a heart enlargement problem. We went on a 10 mile hike to satisfy part of a merit badge, and took the dog (he was a good hiker, regularly did 40+ miles a month), and about a mile from the end and their van, he collapsed. We found a pallet in the woods, put him on it on our jackets, and had to drive almost 2 hours to get to a veterinary hospital open on a Sunday. Poor guy died, and was only 10.

    8. Kipling: The Power of the Dog

      There is sorrow enough in the natural way
      From men and women to fill our day;
      And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
      Why do we always arrange for more?
      Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
      Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

      Buy a pup and your money will buy
      Love unflinching that cannot lie—
      Perfect passion and worship fed
      By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
      Nevertheless it is hardly fair
      To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

      1. RegicidalManiac

        Dammit, who put all this dust in the air?

    9. wdalasio

      My sympathies. There’s not much I think any of us can say that wouldn’t sound like a trite platitude. Just know you have our best wishes for her.

    10. R C Dean

      Sorry to hear that, Chip.

      I hate having dogs decline. I have not done well in the past in discharging my last duty to them, which is to give them a peaceful sendoff at the right time. I want to hold onto them just a little too long, and then just a little longer, but that’s me being selfish.

      Watch her closely; she’ll let you know.

      Dammit, is that air handler vibrating dust into my office again? Something in my eye . . . .

    11. Suthenboy

      I have a grave in my back yard where the dirt has barely begun to settle. She made it all the way to 20 and even then she was somewhat cheerful up until the last day and a half. I know what you are going through.

      For me I just have to be stoic. Dogs simply dont live as long as humans. I rescued her and gave her a good life – lived in the house with good food and warm bed and no one abusing her. She had a blast chasing frisbees and interacting with the other rescues. I did the best I could and she had a good life. That isnt something to cry about. Now I just have to get my ass down there and carve her name on the stone. Hell, I have a pretty good little graveyard now.

      Max. Stinky. Blinky. Sugar. Lily. Gladys.

      Hopefully it will be a long time before I have to do that again.

    12. TK

      That sucks man, I still have the ashes of my first pet along with an imprint of his paw in some clay. It’ll be rough, but I suggest a new baby puppers. It seems cruel to get a new pup after your old loyal one dies, but you know she’d want you to be happy and have a companion.

      1. Chipwooder

        That will likely have to wait – we have another older dog, a 10 year old dachshund. I don’t think she’ll take too well to a new puppy – neither of my dogs ever really liked any dogs other than each other. We stopped going to dogparks a looooong time ago because they would inevitably get in fights with other dogs that wouldn’t leave them alone. The dachshund is getting more sedentary but she hasn’t had any serious health issues so she’ll be around for a while.

        Poor Baby Dog will be lonely without Lucy – she’s lived with Lucy her entirely life because Lucy came first. They always stick together – if one leaves a room, the other will follow.

        1. TK

          Well at least you still have the other puppers. I feel for her though, that’s gotta be tough on the old gal to lose her best same-species friend.

    13. cyto

      Sorry to hear about that…. I just went through this with my sister-in-law. I mean, her pet… not her. You know what I mean.

      Anyway, this thread kinda underscores my point above about this new corner of the internet. We have almost as many posts about Chipwooder’s dog as HnR can drum up for the morning links… all expressing support.

      At the risk of sounding like I’m calling you all a bunch of chicks, that’s a pretty decent community.

    14. Pope Jimbo

      Sorry to hear this Chip. My old mutt passed about 4 years ago. I still have moments where I look at his favorite spot at the bottom of the stairs and expect him to still be there.

    15. I had a lovable little female cat, named Noodle, who died unexpectedly at age six. The day before Noodle had been to the vet and given a clean bill of health. And that night she slept on my wife’s head. Now Noodle hated my other cat, so she would jump up on a tall dresser that the other one couldn’t reach.

      Well my wife and I went shopping, came home, and began to put away the stuff that we bought. I saw Noodle lying sideways on the dresser. She was very still and I couldn’t see her breathe.

      “I think Noodle is dead,” I said to my wife.

      And sure enough. She had died while we were out. I took a shovel and began digging a hole in the backyard while my wife wrapped Noodle up in a towel, along with a favorite toy. I was pretty stoic about the whole thing until my wife brought Noodle outside and I saw that little tail sticking out of the towel. So I kept on shoveling, and crying… I had to check again that she was really dead… and then we buried her. I was pretty shook up over the whole thing. It wasn’t the death itself – I’ve had plenty of cats who had to be “put to sleep” but the suddenness of it all. It really was unexpected.

    16. KibbledKristen

      Sorry, man. You’ll know when it’s “time”. I did with my cat, and I felt sad, but OK, about my decision.

    17. Spartacus

      Couple of weeks is a pretty long time. How’s her drinking? Urination/defecation?
      14 is old but maybe not ancient, depending on the breed. Big dogs generally don’t live as long.
      It’s hard to know when it’s time. Our eldest cat is going to turn 19 next month, and is clearly declining, but he seems to be comfortable.
      If they are hurting and it’s not going to get better, then it’s time. But it never gets easy. We have buried 9 or 10 pets (mostly cats), and it’s always a really shitty day.

  63. Tundra

    Who’s up for a good old-fashioned shooting war?

    The shadow war between Israel and Iran burst into open warfare over the weekend with a brazen and reckless Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) intrusion into Israeli airspace. The drama unfolded on Saturday at 4:25 a.m. when an Iranian reconnaissance drone, believed to be a knockoff of the American RQ-170 Sentinel UAV, penetrated into Israeli airspace for approximately 90 seconds before being shot down by an Israeli Apache attack helicopter of the 113th Squadron near the Israeli town of Bet Shean in the Jordan Valley.

    Also:

    The Iranian UAV was a knockoff of the American RQ-170 Sentinel spy drone. Iran captured a Sentinel in 2011 when one crashed in Iran under mysterious circumstances. There has been speculation that Iranian cyber hackers intercepted the Sentinel’s data link or otherwise misdirected it by hacking into its GPS. Whether it crashed by itself or was hacked, the Sentinel and all of its technology fell into Iranian hands relatively intact. Obama asked the Iranians to return the UAV and the Iranians naturally refused and likely reversed engineered the UAV with the help of the Russians and Chinese. But Obama had another option that involved bombing and destroying the Sentinel after its seizure by the Iranians. As former vice president Dick Cheney noted, “The right response to [Iran’s seizure] would have been to go in immediately after it had gone down and destroy it.” Cheney added that it could have been accomplished with an airstrike but instead, Obama, “asked nicely for them to return it, and they aren’t going to.”

    Thanks, Obama!

    1. cyto

      Hey! He asked nicely. What was he supposed to do? Jump on a pile of rubble and declare “you’re either with us, or you’re against us!!!”?

      Yeah. I didn’t think so. Peace prize, Motherfkr! /mikedrop

      1. cyto

        Ya see….. this is where the joke handle was perfect. That coulda been first person Obama, or Tony or Weigel. Instead, you just get ordinary old me being snarky.

    2. WTF

      Hell, Obama facilitated Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, why wouldn’t he let them keep a drone?

      1. Tundra

        + many pallets of cash

    3. fried

      Who’s up for a good old-fashioned shooting war?

      Hard pass. Thanks anyway.

  64. straffinrun

    Since no else has bothered to claim it, I hereby declare myself the first annual Commenter of The Year. Thank you very much. I love me, I really love me.

    1. You don’t want it. The title comes with a strike from the banhammer.

      1. Chipwooder

        And a catbutt avatar

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Oh senpai, please honor us with your wisdom.

        1. Hyperion

          Well, 1+0 equals 10 if it’s a string.

          1. Don’t you even base-2 arithmatic, bro?

          2. robc

            I prefer base(-2).

            1+1=110

          3. Hyperion

            I prefer Bernie-base. It allows me to justify all my outrageous spending on hookers, blow, and booze to wifey.

          4. Pope Jimbo

            There are only 10 types of people when it comes to understanding binary arithmetic

      1. straffinrun

        That’s Senpaizuri to you mister.

  65. The Late P Brooks

    And then asked me to tell him which are the representative libertarians on YouTube.

    Tell him Real Libertarians have better things to do than proselytize on youtube. Like drink and shoot guns and pilfer the savings of widows and orphans.

  66. Yusef drives a Kia

    Happy Anniversary Glibs!
    I saw the Flintstones and I remembered the song, then i looked at the Date and said, one Year? Seems like Forever,
    We Are Tulpa!

  67. TK

    I watched the documentary Jobs vs. Gates on Amazon Prime last night.

    It’s pretty good – highlights what a dick Jobs was, especially when he was in his 20s and 30s. I always knew he was the type of guy that pushes engineers into doing cool things that he then takes credit for – kind of like Elon Musk – but I didn’t know that he was actually kicked out of Apple and everyone there kind of hated him until he came back a decade later.

  68. R C Dean

    Question for the tech-savvy Glibs:

    Mrs. Dean needs a new laptop for her business. Which brands would you recommend? She’s not doing any super-heavy duty graphics rendering or anything like that, but uses it mostly for office-type stuff and some back-end website management.

      1. The only misgiving I have about that are the ergonomics of trying to read that screen. The angle and positioning tell me my back and eyes are going to be sore before long.

      2. R C Dean

        I would have been disappointed if someone hadn’t posted similar. Thanks. Thanks a lot. 🙂

        1. Seriously though, most of what you described could be managed on that grade of hardware.

          Maybe not the 100% most modern version of the software that has bells, whistles and flair that it doesn’t need, but the same work-product.

    1. spqr2008

      HP is okay. I’ve heard good things about mid range Lenovo’s, but there is that Chinese Spyware issue.

    2. Number.6

      If she’s actually going to be lugging it about, and ruggedness matters, I think Lenovo are still worth looking at.

      Otherwise, some of the HP ones are pretty good. I’d like to recommend Asus, but I haven’t seen any recent ones that look like good value. I was distinctly disappointed with the Dells I looked at recently.

      1. I’ll echo your recommendation and say Lenovo good, Dell bad. I’ll offer up the caveat that I’ve never been satisfied with the performance of a laptop. I’ll take a desktop over a laptop any day, but I build my own so I don’t skimp on the components.

        1. spqr2008

          I really like ACER’s ROG line, but the problem is they start out at over $900. The one HP you should try and find was one that a lot of Walmarts were carrying (an HP Omen Gaming Laptop) that clearanced in January from $999 to $400.

          1. Last mobo purchase I made I strongly considered an Asus ROG model, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was paying a premium for a lot of chrome (metaphorically and literally) that I didn’t want or need. There’s a huge market in performance laptops and PC components geared toward the kind of people who want their computers to look like spaceships and give free lightshows when they’re on, and unfortunately they also tend to want very powerful machines that cost a lot of money, which has driven the prices on a lot of the enthusiast-grade stuff sky high.

        2. cyto

          Lenovo makes really solid products and unless you are worried about spying by the Chinese government, I’d say you can’t go wrong there.

          Also, if money is no object and a degree of ruggedness is important, solid state drives and lots of ram is the way to go.

          On the other end, I picked up a little HP Streambook for $99 at walmart. It works pretty good for web browsing and limited document editing with MS Office online. It has decent battery life and a decent 14″ display. It is really lightweight too. But it isn’t good for much beyond that – not enough storage in the tiny SSD, limited ram and a little on the slow side with the processor. But for $99, it is a nice little laptop to have on hand for streaming netflix or web browsing or being obnoxious in the comments section. And if my kids break it, I’m not going to cry.

    3. Tonio

      Dell’s Latitude line of laptops are good for that. But anything name brand is also ok. Vendors generally list them as entry-level, business or graphics/gaming.

    4. These days we’re giving Dells to our mobile users. Our PC geeks recommend solid state drives and 8gb ram for faster speeds.

      1. oh and Lenovo too.

    5. Tundra

      I recently bought my kid an Asus Vivobook. Nice specs and pretty well built.

      If she’s toting it a lot, I really like my MacBook Air.

      1. I still have a 7-8yo Asus Eebook that works flawlessly. It’s a bit slow compared to the newer stuff – duh – but can still surf the web and be used with Word. It’s perfect for bringing along for book writing, etc. I would get something with a larger screen if I was doing business work with it.

      2. If you have a pretty static set of needs, it’s hard to go wrong with MacBooks. They’re too expensive IMO, but they feel like quality. A lot of PC laptops feel like they’re going to break if you drop a coffee mug on them.

        1. Tundra

          Exactly. I’ve had this one for four years and it still does what I need. It’s light and tough – important as I’m carrying it around all the time.

          I had a Chromebook for awhile that I loved, but it wouldn’t play well with some of my work stuff. I am the furthest thing from an Apple fanboy, but I’ll probably get another when this one pukes.

          1. R C Dean

            She is thinking about an Apple, too. Switching ecosystems can be a pain, though. How does your MacBook do with Microsoft Office? My recollection from many many moons ago was that Office for Mac was still not really Office, and I crabbed about trying to do work stuff on the home Mac.

            Cost is no object, BTW, because when she is cranky about her laptop, ain’t nobody happy. This is a lifestyle expenditure for me.

          2. Tundra

            Honestly, I don’t even use it anymore. The native apps work fine for most of the normal day to day writing and simple spreadsheets. I do a spectacular amount of emailing and my financial/management stuff is cloud-based, so my needs are pretty basic.

          3. Dr Mossy Lawn

            Forget about the Office for MAC products, they are well behind the times.. Either use office 365 online, Live with the limitations of open office, use the Apple Work products or run a VM for windows.

            The MAC laptops are solid pieces of hardware.

            For work I citrix/remote into the office computers that run the software they mandate.

          4. LibreOffice or GTFO.

          5. Raven Nation

            I’ve got a Macbook at work and run Excel and Word with no problems. Some of the menu items are in different places or work a little differently but not a big deal IMO.

          6. R C Dean

            Some of the menu items are in different places or work a little differently

            *Staggers, reaches for wall, misses, falls down*

    6. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Dell – Less bloatware than most

    7. Badolph Hilter

      I know I’m late to the party and presumably you’ve already selected and purchased a model since this morning. Nonetheless:

      – Another vote for Lenovo from me, they offer several very thin models (X1 and Yoga) which have good specs and very high sexiness. I use an X1 for work and Mrs. Hilter really loves the Yoga for home use. I’ve had no quality or build issues with either.

      – I’ve owned about a half dozen HP laptops over the last 10 years and while the quality has been good overall, for whatever reason they can’t seem to get their hinge design figured out, I’ve had to repair broken hinges on two of them.

      – I’m not an anti-Mac zealot, but as a potentially useful anecdote, here at work we recently gave the entire sales force (several hundred) the opportunity to switch from Windows laptop to Mac laptops. Most of them took us up on the offer because it was the cooler kit, then more than 60% of them came back within a month asking to be switched back to a Windows laptop – they quickly got tired of trying to re-learn how to do basic things that they knew how to do in Windows. YMMV.

  69. The Late P Brooks

    he was actually kicked out of Apple and everyone there kind of hated him until he came back a decade later.

    And they brought in that imbecile Sculley, who did everything he could everything he could to destroy Apple. It’s amazing they survived as an independent entity.

    1. TK

      Yeah, all they said was “Apple was really in trouble by the time Steve came back.” They talked about Sculley a little bit, but only in the context of Steve hiring him and then subsequently getting kicked out by an effort spearheaded by Sculley.

  70. The Late P Brooks

    I gots the hiccups in that last one.

  71. straffinrun

    Sweden tried to drop Assange extradition in 2013, CPS emails show

    The newly-released emails show that the Swedish authorities were eager to give up the case four years before they formally abandoned proceedings in 2017 and that the CPS dissuaded them from doing so.

    The UK really wanted Assange for some reason. Fishy smells fishy.

    1. Number.6

      The UK want to ingratiate themselves with the US.

      While the UK formally has an agreement that they won’t extradite to the US if a defendant might face the death penalty, Assange’s head would accrue a lot of gratitude and brownie points. He might even take an HMG-funded ‘vacation’ in Diego Garcia.

      1. Chipwooder

        Not that it has anything to do with the subject, but Diego Garcia is a beautiful place that very few people will ever see. I was only there for a couple of days while in transit from Uzbekistan back to Okinawa but I got a ton of gorgeous pictures.

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      The UK intelligence services are really chummy with the NSA. I guarantee that US pressure had everything to do with it.

    1. wdalasio

      Meh. I do have to ask what was the point of putting the shelter there in the first place? If all they were aiming for was to stick it to “those people”, then there’s a legitimate complaint. Nothing in the article gave any reason for putting a homeless shelter there other than the mayor’s egalitarianism.

      1. Number.6

        It doesn’t make any sense, because the SOP for those places is to push the clients out onto the streets during the day. It’s inevitable that some will go panhandle, and while I don’t give a shit if they want to shuck for pennies outside the Dakota, it’s gonna cost them a lot more when they want to purchase their daily requirements if their ‘local’ suppliers are in Midtown.

        I’m not advocating that Midtown is inappropriate because a shelter ‘ruins property values’ – I’m agin it because it’s not helping the ‘clients’ as much as it could.

        It really does look like a vendetta’s being pursued here.

  72. I don’t think attacking this windmill is particularly effective as an election strategy. It may rile up the base, but the independent voters that they need if they have any chance of winning back congress are not impressed by this.

    https://hotair.com/archives/2018/02/12/gillibrand-trump-needs-resign-well-take-action/

    1. mexican sharpshooter

      Man of La Mancha hardest hit.

  73. mexican sharpshooter

    London City airport closed down when unexploded WW2 bomb

    I’ll give them that one. You never really know with unexploded ordinance.

    1. spqr2008

      You know what May should be doing with these unexploded bombs? Charging the Germans against the amount the Brits owe the EU for Brexit. Every pound spent on cleaning up German Bombs in England should be charged to the German Volk.

      1. They could just return the bomb – it is, after all, German property.

        1. Number.6

          That would give the Germans the opportunity to return all the ones the UK and US left unexploded around Dresden and Hamburg. My guess is that they’d be returning a far greater tonnage than the UK would.

      2. Yusef drives a Kia

        That would be funny to see

        1. Yusef drives a Kia

          I’m looking at my address bar and it shows #comment-465527.
          Is that the total number for the Website? if so, Wow We’re a chatty bunch

          1. Scruffy Nerfherder

            It’s not even ten times the # of Strzok / Page text messages. We need to get crackin’.

          2. commodious spittoon

            They had a legitimate presidency to overthrow. We’re just a bunch of wankers.

      3. mexican sharpshooter

        I don’t believe they are that cheeky anymore.

    2. LJW

      Well at least in England they know it’s explosive only. In France and Belgium there’s the added threat of poisonous gas.

      1. Number.6

        The Germans rarely used gas during WW2, although there was an incident at Kerch on the Eastern Front. It was much more a WW1 phenomenon and largely restricted to battlefield use, rather than shelling cities with it.

        The German reluctance to use gas was variously attributed to personal unwillingness on the part of the guy with a mustache, who had been gassed during WW1, to the fact that the Germans couldn’t make effective equine gas masks in case of reprisals (it’s often forgotten just how reliant on horse-power the wehrmacht was) and lastly that the Germans believed that if they started using tabun and sarin, that the Allies would retaliate.

        The latter, of course, was ridiculous, because the Allies hadn’t managed to synthesize either by that stage, but fortunately the Germans were victimized by their own fear.

    3. Number.6

      Some of those buggers went up to nearly 600lb. That’s a lot of Amatol and TNT.

      Back in the 70’s they’d find a couple a year in Central London as they were excavating foundations for the ever-growing office buildings. They’d haul them off to Aldershot or some backwater in Wiltshire and blow them up. From what I remember, the primers and detonators by that time were usually completely U/S, but they’d always have proper UXB teams take them out.

      1. LJW

        There’s a saying among the mine hunters. “A mine is a terrible thing that waits”.

  74. Rebel Scum

    Nancy still doesn’t get it.

    “Tomorrow, President Trump will release his 2019 budget and perhaps his infrastructure plan. This occasion presents us with a pivotal moment in the governance of our country,” Pelosi wrote in a letter Sunday evening. “This week, we must pivot aggressively to show the country how the Trump budget is not a statement of our values, and how the Trump infrastructure plan harms taxpayers and consumers.”

    “And we must continue showing the public how unfair the GOP Tax Scam is to the middle class and halt the GOP assault on the Affordable Care Act. This is the time, this is the opportunity. We must be persistent in advocating A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages and a Better Future,” Pelosi wrote.

    “Working together, we must win our fight for American values, the financial stability of America’s working families and the integrity of our elections.”

    1. LJW

      The extra $200 a month my wife and I get beg to differ.

      1. LJW

        Excuse me meant to say get to keep.

        1. Hyperion

          But Nancy is going to give you more, by taking more. She knows how best to spend your money.

      2. We’re keeping $400/month!

    2. Hyperion

      “A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages and a Better Future”

      I’m sure she’s gonna splain for us exactly what the bullshit means, any time now. Right, Nancy?

      She’s persisting, she’s resisting, she’s a babbling idiot.

      1. spqr2008

        Nancy’s idea of fair share is like the early DS9 episode, where Quark is doing Payday with Rom, and he keeps going, “1 for you, 19 for me”

        1. If his contract was revenue sharing on a diminishing share basis, I don’t see what the problem is.

  75. Just Say’n

    http://thefederalist.com/2018/02/12/watch-bill-murray-savage-identity-politics-think-common-us/

    Bill Murray trashes identity politics and praises the tax plan

    1. LJW

      So Bill Murray is a racist?

    2. Hyperion

      He’s no longer one of the cool kids. I wonder how many sexual harassment victims are going to come crawling out of the woodwork now?

      1. Hyperion

        Obvious now, he’s practically supporting that Nazi who stole our whitehouse.

    3. Rebel Scum

      It’s good that not all celebs are complete retards.

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        Yes, unfortunately in tis case, its one that actually is funny.

    4. Scruffy Nerfherder

      How can I like Bill Murray more?

      This is how.

  76. libertarianjoe

    Is it just me, or do both of these portraits look like they were painted by a high school senior for art class?

    http://www.businessinsider.com/michelle-barack-obama-portrait-2018-2

    And isn’t it a little weird painting Barack in the middle of a jungle?

    1. Hyperion

      The one of Obama looks like someone clipped out a photo of him sitting down and then pasted it onto a cartoonish background of an untrimmed hedge.

      1. libertarianjoe

        Yeah, it’s a bizarre choice. And the perspective is all weird

        1. Hyperion

          Not the best cut and paste scrapbook effort I’ve ever seen.

    2. Waterfall Insurance

      Omg those suck I hope we didn’t pay much for them. Maybe they should have had W paint them.

      1. spqr2008

        Now, that would be hilarious. W. as the official White House Portrait artist.

      2. libertarianjoe

        Oh, I’m sure we paid plenty for them

    3. Scruffy Nerfherder

      I think it’s tacky to be present at an unveiling of your own portrait in a national museum. We’re not a goddamn monarchy.

      1. Hyperion

        But it’s exactly what you would expect of Obama.

        1. R C Dean

          “The bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral.”

      2. F. Stupidity Jr.

        It’s also tacky to send the Queen of England an Ipod filled with your own speeches, but there we are.

      3. I don’t think that’s uncommon though with Preezies, is it?

    4. Drake

      Looks like Valerie sent him outside for a timeout while she made a decision. He had to sit in front a of a hedge.

    5. Tundra

      “Amy, I want to thank you for so spectacularly capturing the grace, and beauty, and intelligence, and charm, and hotness of the woman that I love,” Obama said, to laughs in the audience.

      He hates it.

    6. Rebel Scum

      Barry’s is…odd. Looks like a background for Trudeau riding a unicorn. And they are bit too flattering to Michelle.

      1. libertarianjoe

        “bit too flattering” as in “it looks like a completely different woman”

        1. Rebel Scum

          Exactly.

        2. Hyperion

          It’s like they tried to make her a sort of Victorian version of a more caucasian like black person. It looks nothing like her. At least his does look like him no matter how goofy it is.

    7. Juvenile Bluster

      Senator Soshana won the internets with her reply though.

      https://twitter.com/senatorshoshana/status/963086458058887169

      1. Hyperion

        Who the hell is she? I’ve seen her before, her posts are good.

      2. F. Stupidity Jr.

        Anthony L. Fisher‏Verified account
        @anthonyLfisher

        Replying to @senatorshoshana
        DEAD

        10:18 AM – 12 Feb 2018

        I don’t speak Twitter, so I don’t know what he means by “DEAD”. I suspect he is condemning the honorable Senator, in which case:

        Christ, what an asshole!

  77. Waterfall Insurance

    Happy anniversary glibs, I believe rolling paper is the traditional 1st year gift. It’s a shame cafe press won’t make us “weed, butt sex and Mexicans” rolling paper. Anyways love it here you guys are fun, smart and help each other because you want to. I haven’t seen this joke made yet, maybe I missed it https://youtu.be/lQpL5ZLQHyw

    1. Waterfall Insurance

      Wish I had the time to comment more and be less of a lurker, but I get on when I can.

      1. You’re the STEVE SMITH of commentators?

        1. Waterfall Insurance

          Well…Oftentimes I just put my links in there, have my way, and don’t stay to chat.

      2. F. Stupidity Jr.

        I’ve been positively flush with comments this morning (which, coincidentally, is about what they’re worth) because our main software is down. I really can’t do much. Most days I’m a half-step above lurking – like two or three comments all day.

  78. The Late P Brooks

    Meh. I do have to ask what was the point of putting the shelter there in the first place? If all they were aiming for was to stick it to “those people”, then there’s a legitimate complaint. Nothing in the article gave any reason for putting a homeless shelter there other than the mayor’s egalitarianism.

    I think the consensus of opinion is that putting shelters and/or public housing where the property is cheap(er) is discriminatory. Just like public housing should have granite counters and subzero appliances, because otherwise those people would be reminded of their economically disadvantaged status, which would impair their self esteem. And, of course, the willful eradication of single room occupancy hotels has been a major contributing factor in the explosion of urban homelessness.

  79. KibbledKristen

    Those Brits at LCY are such pansies. I went to college around a whole shitton of unexploded WWI chem weapons and they never shut us down!

    1. mexican sharpshooter

      Well, the good news is, now you do.

    2. Former Nick star (Victorious), singer, and probable #metoo victim of Dan Schnieder.

  80. KibbledKristen

    What sucks about being a procrastinator and not unpacking when you get home from a trip is the scramble to dig through your suitcase for toiletries and stuff on Monday morning getting ready for work.

    1. My solution was to buy a separate set of toiletries for travel, so my regular ones are still in their proper places for my half-awake morning routine.

      1. Spartacus

        Same here. I don’t have to hunt for things, just grab one kit out of the closet and toss it into the suitcase.

  81. CPRM

    Are we getting a Hat and Hair anniversary spectacular at 11? Tell me! I can’t wait 8 more minutes to find out!

  82. Rebel Scum

    Leftists still don’t know what capitalism is.

    “Odd how you forget the millions who died under #capitalism,” Zenkus told a conservative journalist who disagreed with CNN calling socialism “cool.” “The two world wars, centuries of slavery and the genocide of Native Americans. Bet they didn’t think that was cool either.”

    “Hitler was a capitalist,” continued the professor. “Good friends with Henry Ford. Please, use the Google machine. It’s there for all of us.”

    I bet he’s fun at parties.

    1. kbolino

      You know, it’s sad in some ways, that as much as Marx was no towering intellect, he was still smarter than many of the people who call themselves Marxists.

      Then again, the same is true of Keynes and Keynesians…

    2. CPRM

      Yes, Fascism is just Capitalism, he has caught us.

      1. Hyperion

        Sometimes, typically, ok always, socialism morphs into another thing which ruins it. The kulaks, hoarders, and wreckers, or whatever Republican happens to be president at the time, are always to blame. Under constant threat from that group of haters, socialism sometimes, typically, ok always, morphs into something else like fascism (in the case of the Nazis) or state capitalism (in the case of Venezuela), and then the right wing extremists who caused it in the first places, make bad jokes like ‘they ran out of other people’s money’. That’s why capitalism must be defeated this time!

    3. commodious spittoon

      Is there an informal fallacy for argumentum ad google? Because “Hey, the info is out there, you just have to look it up and I am myself in no way obligated to actually know whereof I speak” is pretty fucking obnoxious.

      1. kbolino

        In this case, there’s another fallacy at work before you even get that far. Ford and Hitler being friends, true or not, has nothing to do with whether Hitler was or wasn’t a capitalist.

        1. Breet Pharara

          I don’t know which would be worse. Either the author is arguing in bad faith to begin with, or is of the opinion that you cannot be friends with a capitalist unless you are also a capitalist. So disingenuous or incapable of friendship with people who disagree. Both a bad.

    4. Hyperion

      The Google machine? I bet he thinks there’s cogs and sprockets inside it.

      Anyway, it’s easy, socialism is universal happiness where everyone gets a pony, a rainbow colored one, and unicorns are free to fly under the rainbows. Capitalism is where big meanies like the Koch brothers enslave the masses and kill mother Gaia for fun and profit. Which do you want, huh?

      1. commodious spittoon

        Funny that he’d point to Google, the ultracapitalist content-scraping advertising powerhouse that’s helping lead the “income disparity” that pencil-necked academics fret over. You’d think he’d refer to the reliably leftist Wikipedia instead.

        1. Hyperion

          Google are pretty reliably leftist as well. I don’t really know why I guess they believe that when the murderous leftist regime finally takes over, they’ll be part of the elite media instead of lined up against a wall. That’s one hell of a gamble.

          1. commodious spittoon

            It’s not long before they turn on Google the way they did Facebook, despite how uber-progressive both of them are. Facebook hosts Nazis and peddled Russian misinformation, and Google lets you find wrongthinkful opinions from dreaded dissidents like Jordan Peterson or Christina Hoff Sommers.

      2. R C Dean

        “Google shows a vast array of results that are pro, con, orthogonal, and pornographic. It does not filter for quality. I suggest you point me to the best sources for your claim, or admit that you have none.”

    5. OK “professor”, when you make a claim, the burden of proof is on you. If your argument boils down to “go look it up yourself”, you have lost.

      1. “I did look it up, and the sources I found say you’re ful of shit”

    6. WTF

      Sure, the National Socialist German Workers Party were capitalists. Sure they were.

  83. The Late P Brooks

    Is it just me, or do both of these portraits look like they were painted by a high school senior for art class?

    Striking another blow against meritocracy.

  84. commodious spittoon

    Just under four weeks until my favorite time of year, back to those cheerful, limpid afternoons and late evenings.

    1. I fucking *HATE* the time change. Pick a lane and leave it. If that means permanent DST, so be it. Shifting around is a pointless, useless exercise of stupidity.

      1. Count Potato

        +1

      2. commodious spittoon

        It’s a dumb policy, but I do enjoy it in the spring.

      3. Hyperion

        +1 hour

        I’ve always thought that effort was misguided and have never met a single person who doesn’t hate it.

        1. Badolph Hilter

          I’ve met one single person who doesn’t hate it.
          Her: I just love getting the extra daylight in the summer!
          Me: It’s the same amount of daylight. You can’t legislate daylight.
          Her: *roll eyes, shakes head, finds someone more interesting to talk to*

    2. l0b0t

      I found this book to absolutely delightful. Read it and you will Daylight Saving even more than you already do.

  85. Count Potato

    “#SaggyBoobsMatter — a movement whose aim is to raise awareness on the types of breasts not typically seen in the media — is trending on social media, and followers of the hashtag are taking to Twitter and Instagram to show the world that they’re proud of their low-hanging breasts.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/02/09/saggy-boobs-matter_a_23357853/

    TW: HuffPo

    1. Hyperion

      Lena Dunham on a cold day!

    2. commodious spittoon

      It’s funny how these people advertise themselves under a banner that’s instantly ignorable. If they invaded some other hashtag the way 4chan sometimes does to provoke Tumblrinas, that would be one thing. It might even be pretty funny.

  86. The Late P Brooks

    Drain the swamp

    Unilever, which makes everything from Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to Dove soap, has warned Facebook and Google that it could pull its digital ads if the social media networks do not do a better job of monitoring objectionable content and divisive fabricated news stories.

    The company’s chief marketing officer Keith Weed is expected to describe online networks as “a swamp” mired with fabricated news, racist, sexist and extremist content, in a speech today at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s annual leadership meeting in Palm Desert, Calif.

    “As a brand-led business, Unilever needs its consumers to have trust in our brands,” Weed said in a statement in advance of the speech. “We can’t do anything to damage that trust — including the choice of channels and platforms we use. So, 2018 is the year when social media must win trust back.”

    Private advertisers are free to choose where their ads are placed. But Nazis take showers, too.

    1. commodious spittoon

      But Nazis take showers, too.

      *stark narrowed gaze*

    2. R C Dean

      online networks as “a swamp” mired with fabricated news, racist, sexist and extremist content

      Totally unlike the news channels and the broadcast networks.

      1. Of course, the broadcast channels also carry the weather. Totally different, see?

  87. Spartacus

    Damn, that’s harsh. Looks like he could have used a few of those cats’ nine lives.

    Sounds like justice to me.

    1. R C Dean

      “It was a fair fight, guv.”

  88. Sean

    Happy anniversary Glibs!

  89. The Late P Brooks

    The company will not pay to advertise on “platforms or environments that do not protect our children or which create division in society, and promote anger or hate,” Weed says. “We will prioritise investing only in responsible platforms that are committed to creating a positive impact in society.”

    Not the *wrong kind* of social division, anyway.