We’re just soooo excited. Tonight is Festivus Eve!!! I’ve got my list of grievances prepared and I’ve checked it twice. We set up our pole. I’ve been exercising like crazy so as not to embarrass myself at the Feats of Strength. And we’re preparing vegetarian meatloaf, which kills two birds with one stone (sorry, “feeds two birds with one scone”). It’s going to be a Festivus miracle tonight! Just to keep my idle hands busy until then… here’s some links. Yes, I’m doing these as an excuse to avoid packing chores.
Oh wait, first it’s the birthday list. And one anniversary of note- the Embargo Act of 1807, proof that even brilliant men get stupid ideas, and the stupid idea of restricting trade as a retaliatory measure never ends well. And this particular stupid idea has cropped up again and again, with always the same results. Actual birthdays include composer and Zappa influence Edgard Varese; Vladimir Fock, he of the eponymous Hartree-Fock self consistent field methods; ideal mom and fluent speaker of jive Barbara Billingsley; and Princess Bride expert Ted Cruz.
And now the news.
Team Blue handwringing over ending two of the numerous Bush-Obama wars continues apace. If we had done the right thing and elected Clinton, by god we’d be making our wars bigger, better, and more numerous! We would be preserving our national honor!
The free vacation for a small subset of Federal employees begins. And they will, of course, concentrate on things that will inconvenience people in the highest profile way as well as tell stories to tug at your heartstrings, assuming you have a heart and have zero memory of every other goddamn shutdown which ended with everyone getting a pile of back pay. At least this time, the news media are calling it a “partial shutdown,” so there’s been some progress.
Every asshole incident is racial. Welcome to 2018.
I’m not quite sure how I feel about this. But I will admit that the last 5 weeks have been entertaining and encouraging.
The Ginsburg Ghoul Watch continues. I’m already laying in a stock of popcorn.
This upsets me because it greatly narrows my window.
If the Postal Service collapses, where will psycho killers find useful employment?
More reasons why I didn’t bother deleting my account, I just… left.
One more example of how courts are constitution-free zones.
Old Guy Music today features a brilliantly talented friend of ours who is decidedly not old. The lyrics were particularly resonant with us this week. But we WILL get all the way to Arizona.
Comments
267 responses to “Saturday Morning Pre-Festivus Links”
Is that a tower of PBR cans?
Reminds me of post-college when I had no money, and lots to forget.
Mr. Mattis was a rock of stability in an otherwise chaotic administration, and his anounced departure followed a pair of precipitous and reckless decisions by President Trump: the removal all U.S. forces from Syria and a 50 percent force reduction in Afghanistan.
WaPo has been hit in head with a rock of stability. Prove, assholes, that these endless engagements have made anyone safer. Oh, you can’t? Then don’t support the war machine.
As I’ve said repeatedly, replace the enlisted men in Afghanistan with the generals (and go down in rank if necessary to get sufficient numbers) at the Pentagon, and make then do normal enlisted man work.
What’s driving me nuts is the narrative of “The Adults in The Room Disapprove!”. Nothing more “adult” than lettin’ god sort ’em out, eh.
Those same “adults” who have been so catastrophically wrong in their prognostications during the runups to all our previous wars.
I know there are a lot of right-wing types who are whining about the troop withdrawal as well, but it particularly disgusts me when it comes from the Left.
These are the people who talked the good talk about ending US involvement in the Middle East back in the early 2000s. I was a freshman in high school when the Iraq War began, and I thought the Democrats were the sane ones; I planned on voting for them as soon as I was old enough. But it was a colossal disappointment when they elected Mr. Nobel Peace Prize and then proceeded to shut down the whole anti-war contingent of their party. It turns out they don’t really have any problem with war; they just wanted to poo-poo the Republicans on something.
Hearing those same people agitate for a continued military presence in that sandy shithole makes me want to fucking vomit.
So Julius Streicher’s Post thinks these decisions are reckless? More than getting in the wars? Every time I think maybe im too hard on the media and biased, the go and prove that all they care about is the power of the establishment.
Then don’t support the war machine.
Bi-partisan consensus!
Meets the Stupid + evil requirement.
Mrs Fourscore is a trumpinista, she keeps asking why all the “adults” are upset about the proposed Syrian/Afghan pull out. I explained about death/dying/wasted Trillions but she has difficulty understanding how all the “adults” could be wrong. I told her that it isn’t all the adults, if fact its none of the adults. I reminded her of the tragedy of VN and how the final result is not as bad as predicted. She is tormented about how Donnie might be wrong
In all likelihood many will die as the result of the pull out, many will die by not leaving. Tough choice, not for me. 60 K of my generation died in a needless experiment. A rice cake walk, so to speak.
“Made anyone safer”. I made a mistake in my original response. I’m sure having troops in Syria protects somebody. There was a group of Hmongs that were stuffed into a house next to ours in Northern Wisconsin when I was a kid. Why was that family from a mountain village in Laos living in the frigid climes of cheesehead land? Because we thought we would fix the giant screw up that the French left. For your wife, the only thing I would ask her is, “Would those Hmongs be uprooted from their homeland if the US hadn’t intervened?” There are consequences to military actions and no one truly knows what will happen. It better be Nazis or The Mongols and not some war based on “geopolitical interests”.
Yeah, I suspect the loving Communist government of North (and later all of) Vietnam was not going to come in with flowers and candy…opposition to them aside.
I think that Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam probably wished to NOT be yoked by the commies.
Trying to prop up France, then do it ourselves was not the way to work it out – but don’t pretend there are no consequences when being run over by a T-72 army from the NVA.
How could the US have improved the situation in 1961 or 62? I don’t think it was possible for it to be done militarily, but I’m no military guy. Just on the US side alone, losing the population of a mid sized town is a lot men. No one has a time machine and the men that fought there deserve to be remembered. The people who sent them there deserve to be remember, too. Albeit for different reasons. Maybe those Hmongs would’ve been swept up by the same evil that swept up the villagers in the Cultural Revolution in China. I honestly don’t know. It’s a tough call and therefore I wouldn’t be dropping the bombs on people in that state of uncertainty.
“How could the US have improved the situation in 1961 or 62? I don’t think it was possible for it to be done militarily,”
Especially when you are not fighting to win. As I have repeatedly said, I think wars should be things we avoid until there is no other option, and then we only go to war if we are willing to do whatever it takes to win fast. The way we do this today has made it easy for our elite to justify sending our young troops to die or waste their time in never ending engagements. Vietnam was a prime example of how to fight a war you don’t really want to win. So is most of the shit we are doing today. Anyone telling you that we need to win the enemy’s heart & minds is an idiot. You need to fucking bulldoze them until they realize they surrender or they go to the grave.
The idea that war can conducted in a civilized and gentlemanly way, as if it’s a jousting competition, has been one of the most harmful lies of the modern era.
I’m no pacifist and I’m not going to hang the sins of commie aggression on the US. The US is responsible for its involvement in what, with the benefit of hindsight, was a total disaster. If the standard is win or don’t do it, you’ll see a lot less adventurism.
Intervening in a civil war will lead to disaster. Picking winners and losers in a domestic problem, as every cop knows, results in a real conflict, for the cop.
I cried real tears in ’91 when Bush 1 was busy bombing Iraqis on the highway. In Bush 2 intervention, after 9-11, many smart friends said “Well, we have to do something”. I knew from my VN experiences doing the right thing was far more important than doing some knee jerk reaction. Many thought that we’ll find the bad guys in the open on the desert and eliminate them. “It ain’t like the jungle, man” .
Where empires die…
So many links to ignore. Well done OMWC!
Normally I do the same but these links are top notch. Also I can’t listen to music in the morning because of work, but have gone back and searched through your posts to find stuff to listen to.
Hey, we found an honest man!!!
If the Postal Service collapses, where will psycho killers find useful employment?
With the police?
Border Patrol.
Not The Police. The Talking Heads.
Run run run away
I’m probably due to rewatch Stop Making Sense again.
I went to that show in Tallahassee. Tripping balls.
Best concert ever.
Yes, run, run, run, run away
Dagnabbit.should have checked upthread before snarking.
Ted’s a monster.
[rubs palms together in glee]
Whis is pretty much the same as it ever was
My 23 years with USPS = 1 bombing, by a supervisor upset with lazy employees.
1 shooting, between 3 employees who had recently returned from camping. (draw your own conclusions)
1 stabbing, was a domestic dispute in the parking lot.
After the shooting, those employees that stayed (traumas a bitch lol) got free pizza.
1 shooting, between 3 employees who had recently returned from camping. (draw your own conclusions)
It’s a warning to Straff?
There were rumors that “something” happened. Think nonconsensual brokeback mountain.
Definitely not me then. 9 year olds can’t consent or refuse consent *Deliberately steps on OWMC’s toes*
Was the question “If you go camping and you wake up with your ass covered in vaseline and hurting from a shafting, do you tell anyone” followed by the answer “Of course, not!” involved?
“wanna go camping?”
When I was young, I thought about USPS for a job. Sorting stuff, then walking a route, seemed nice. But it all seemed like such a dysfunctional workplace that I never pursued it. Still think that if not for the dysfunction, it would be a nice, pleasant way to spend the days.
My last year: 55K base pay, $1.68/hr after 6pm, time/half after 8hrs, double after 10hrs (except Dec), time 1/4 for sundays (the entire shift even if you worked only 1 minute into sunday) 26 days vacation, 14 days sick leave, 10 paid holidays (which if worked, you’d get a make up day.. xmas if worked paid at 1.5x) upto 80 hours of leave without pay (any more and they’d subtract from next years leave). 90% healthcare paid by PO. 401k matching funds up to 5%
The pay and benefits were great.
The job and people sucked ass.
I repaid social sec. 3k (for military service) and currently receive 1/3 pay plus a 15k bonus to retire early.
I have no doubt that I’d be deceased had I stayed.
“I have no doubt that I’d be deceased had I stayed.”
I don’t know how many friends I’ve lost to govt work. It really is soul crushing.
Why do you think that stupid tyrannical statists love government so much? It’s soul crushing and delivers hell on earth…
I know one postman. He’s a goalie.
You can draw your own conclusions.
Also, the last postwench we had maced my dog. From inside her fucking truck.
I worked indoors at a sorting facility. no dogs around.
Our postal lady ADORES the big white dog. And vice versa.
The new guy is much better.
The UPS guy, though, is the best. He always leaves treats for the pup.
You would have to be an inhuman monster not to love your big white dog…. *looks around for bacon-magic*
My next door neighbor retired into a walking postal delivery job. He works 2 or 3 days a week, gets 6 or 7 miles of walking in, has something to do besides be a bump on a log, and gets a decent paycheck. Granted, this is semi-rural, so most of the BS that comes with more urban/suburban delivery job is not present out here.
His hair does appear to be too long, but why wasn’t he just able to cover it, per the rules?
That ref sounds like a great guy. 😉
why wasn’t he just able to cover it, per the rules?
Like Hitler, the answer is always “racism.”
Let him wear his dreads and learn the hard way.
I can see it being for the safety of both wrestlers.
I read someplace that he had it covered initially, and ref still said no.
Thats what it sounded like. One would really have to crawl into the rules to find out why, and that just isn’t something I’m interested in doing.
Simple explanation: the ref is an asshole. And surprisingly, it’s possible to be an asshole and not be a racist.
He also has a history of using racial slurs, per the article, so I’m not ready to rule out the racism idea either.
Cue the international outrage machine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lk2KHajp4Y
More.
A Festivus miracle of bouncy, squishy proportions!
http://archive.is/2ZI65
Merry Christmas 28.
Surf and Ski. Love the theme.
Bonus:
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/hottest-celebrity-bikini-bodies-of-2018?intcmp=oborg_hdc&intcmp=ob_article_sidebar_video
Elizabeth Hurley must have made a deal with the devil.
Mmm, Padma Lakshmi.
Definitely some photoshop going on in those pics though. Why do people find Kate Upton so beautiful? Also ‘model’ Iskra Lawrence. Looks like a 6/10, and I’m being quite generous there.
“Why do people find Kate Upton so beautiful?”
I can think of two reasons…
https://ohfree.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Kate-Upton-Leaked-Nude-041-www.ohfree.net_.jpg
NSFW.
Hot damn. Those are two good reasons.
Nice
I don’t know why but my news feed has articles on wood working and Elizabeth Hurley.
9 gives me life. This is truly the season to be jolly.
10.
17 is lovely.
Winner.
Flying to MN today. When I return, I will have my house back. I’ve enjoyed the visit, but I am really ready for Mom to go home.
Not Chicago? We are disappoint.
Congrats on the return to normal!
I am not flying to, or through, Chicago at Xmas. Shudders.
We do have that effect on people.
*puts out welcome mat*
#metoo
I can see Minnesota from my back yard. I’ll wave at you.
Old Guy Music today features a brilliantly talented friend of ours who is decidedly not old. The lyrics were particularly resonant with us this week. But we WILL get all the way to Arizona.
Will SP be crying by the time you get to Phoenix?
She does have a thing for cash.
Johnny Rivers, Glen Campbell, and this, but I don’t see Johnny Cash if that was your cash reference.
Song that mentions AZ:
youtube.com/watch?v=txX-kPn3h6s
Again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txX-kPn3h6s
Re: Syria.
Tucker Carlson had the most brutal takedown of the Syria withdrawal critics on his show last night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNAE_IM0vO8
He’s not perfect, but I’m really beginning to like this guy. To think he was the bozo with the bow ties; now he appears to be one of the only Fox News hosts that can think.
“So unless the US continues to fund and die in pointless Middle Eastern conflicts, the world will collapse? That’s the core tenet of neo-conservative theology, no surprise there.”
I never watched anything on Fox news during the entire Obama reign. Since then I’ve started watching Tucker and also Gutfeld.
Lindsey Graham: “We’re not the policeman of the world, but we’re the glue.”
Go take another huff.
Lindsey Graham likes being the glue between hirsute middle eastern despots.
“Tucker Carlson” is a racist and ending the war is white nationalist. So it must be bad.
When does he get kicked off of Fox?
I really didn’t think he’d ever take this tack.
His advertisers have been targeted by leftist groups and are caving so maybe not too long from now.
Wow. That was excellent.
I like his references to ‘permanent Washington’.
“An American withdrawal would also be a gift to Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, who has been working hard to supplant American influence in the region…
If the gift is a pile of shit wrapped up with a ribbon, it’s still a pile of shit. Hey, Putin, onegaishimasu.
Yeah. Let Russia become the great Satan and get bogged down, leave NATO and re-assert American Nuetrality.
I don’t know why, but this whole thing bugs me more than the usual DC bullshit point scoring. You’re right. Let Russia have it and if learned anything from Afghanistan in the 80’s it’s that Russia is going to regret getting mired in another one of these messes.
Even if Russia is not bogged down and manages to stabilize the situation, is that bad for the United States?
This whole argument is being measured as a zero-sum game between the US and Russia. It’s stupid and dangerous.
^^^So much this. Who gives a flying fuck if Russia has a presence in the region? Yeah, Putin is a bad guy, but how is it bad for the US, or the rest of the world for that matter, if the US has a civil relationship with Russia?
Frankly, Russia is no worse, if not better than, Saudi Arabia, and we’re bestest butt buddies with them.
That’s the whole point. The US doesn’t have the clout in terms of GDP to be throwing it’s weight around like it owns the joint. It will have to rely on brute military strength to keep unruly nations in line. It’s a disaster in the making.
Russia, you mean?
I had this argument the other day with someone. The apparent logic is that anything that might benefit Putin is necessarily bad for the United States and obvious evidence of Russian manipulation of Trump. It’s roughly equivalent to the belief that disease is caused by sin.
It’s hilarious and sad these clowns didn’t learn about the last time Russia got stuck wasting blood and treasure on a shithole in the desert.
It’s our dessert to waste blood and treasure in!! Meanwhile no one cares what the locals want.
It’s our dessert to waste blood and treasure in!!
I waste my blood and treasure in cheesecake. What do you waste yours in?
Strawberry Ice cream with gold flakes.
We’re obviously civilizing Afghanistan so much more effectively than them.
Well… akshually, we are. But that ain’t saying much.
It is going to be a Central Asian craphole….I don’t know if they can get back to what they had in the late 1960s.
I think that as long as the religious fanatics in Pakistan want Afghanistan destabilized, this effort is fruitless.
It’s so nice in Eilat that after swimming with dolphins I decided to stay here for another day. I can see Jordan across the bay.
Wait until July when it’s 120 in the shade.
“My father was in the commandos, my mother was in the SS, together they burned Jews ’cause Jews burn the best.”
Brugges was a lovely little city when I visited it. What the hell?
“they burned Jews ’cause Jews burn the best”
Assumes facts not in evidence. Orphans burn best by far, regardless of religion.
I’ve found puppies make good kindling.
Aaaand this is why I don’t tell anyone about this website.
Was it the puppies comment that went to far, cause I thought it was tame compared to the one that mentioned burning orphans.
I don’t tell anyone about this site because there would be a line around the block.
Buddhist orphans make the best kindling.
“Self starting”
+1 immolation
Letters to the Local Rag: Subsidized Ballbusters Are the Future
+1 Public-private partnership
I should have gone made a quick trip there when I was in Wheeling in February.
I’ve probably driven through there 20 some times, never stopped. My personal favorite billboard in that area is right when you get into Ohio from PA, there’s a billboard about a Christmas wonderland… in Michigan.
Frankenmuth.
Fun fact- not only are Dean Martin and Jimmy “The Greek” from Steubenville, but so is…..Traci Lords.
Letters to the Local Rag: Agitating for the Dead
Same rights? I don’t think she really wants that, does she?
Well, fighting for ‘equal rights’ up until now has got them better than normal rights, so why not continue down that path?
I’m sure some friendly Justices can figure out what the true meaning of the ERA is, should it ever be implemented.
Equal rights = special treatment.
The icky stuff like suicide, workplace injury and selective service doesn’t count because MUH TOKSIK MASKYOOLINITEE.
Not to mention that men do not have a right to abortion.
The ERA would ensure that they get a say. Or I’m sure that they would get that covered by a FYTW clause.
+150 million draft registrations
“the ERA seemed destined for ratification until Phyllis Schlafly mobilized conservative women in opposition, arguing that the ERA would disadvantage housewives and cause women to be drafted into the military.[3]
Five state legislatures (Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, Tennessee, and South Dakota) voted to revoke their ERA ratifications. Four claim to have rescinded their ratifications before the original March 22, 1979 ratification deadline, while the South Dakota legislature did so by voting to sunset its ratification as of that original deadline. However, it remains a legal question as to whether a state can revoke its ratification of a federal constitutional amendment”
There is so much from that quote. I would say she pointed out that it would make women eligible for the draft. The proponents of the three state strategy are evil if they think a state should not be allowed to rescind their ratification.
+another one-way ratchet
More dog bites man.
https://nypost.com/2018/12/19/teacher-who-had-sex-with-student-should-get-off-easy-because-he-wanted-it-lawyers/
The thing that pisses me off the most about this is the double standard. Perhaps there actually is a sliver of truth to it since sex is a naturally higher risk activity for a female; however imagine a male teacher using “she wanted it!” as a defense for fucking an 8th grade girl. Sexual activity is biologically imbalanced between men and women, but the law shouldn’t be.
But the teacher… YOWZA.
I just get flashbacks to this bit from South Park every time: https://youtu.be/KY2AaM_9iW0
It’s not rape rape. Would.
Agreed. These stories always attract comments about how horny teenagers would be grateful for the opportunity, so what’s the big deal. Apart from the possibility that sex with an authority figure might also be confusing and weird, there are still risks for teenage boys: contracting STDs and knocking her up.
Sex in general is confusing and weird.
At least if you do it right.
Thanks, IFH. Mad that exact point a couple days ago.
I haven’t seen you in a while, how have things been Down Under?
Women glow.
Men plunder.
Same old, same old.
“The illicit trysts were later revealed when another teacher called his home to offer to tutor the teen, prompting his mother to jokingly ask him if the teacher was planning to molest him.
“Anyone could molest you,” the teen replied while crying.”
I’m guessing the Mom doesn’t make jokes anymore.
Also, the author needs to learn to use pronouns correctly.
I was sympathetic to her until I read this. The boy is traumatized.
Stil… would.
“Get off easy”. That’s what he said.
Not saying what this guy did wasn’t bad, but how is this the worst journalistic scandal in years?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/germanys-der-spiegel-says-reporter-made-up-facts-11545334314
CNN, MSNBC, WaPo, NYT et. al., make shit up every single day and people beg for more. The scandal is that people believe any of the shit the media’s selling at all anymore.
I thought the scandal was him getting fired for it.
The middle-aged ‘Gatwick drone saboteurs’: Man, 47, and woman, 54, from town five miles from airport are arrested amid speculation they’re eco-warriors after cyclist was spotted with UAV amid chaos
The authorities should just take them into the terminal, cuff them to a post, and make an announcement. And then leave.
I’m fairly certain any drone trying to shut down a major US airport would have quickly been taken care of with shotguns.
If it wasn’t so cold out, I’d put on a suit and stand on a street corner with a “Will shuffle papers for food” sign.
Casino blackjack dealer sounds like an interesting job.
USPS
Qu’est-ce que c’est?
How do you get the Brits to change their minds on Brexit? Why, with a Dutch boy band
Breunion Boys. You just gotta laugh.
Almost as bad as the beech boys.
Humbug
Next vote: “Leave” gets 99%.
Versailles closes ahead of ‘yellow vest’ protest
Fearing possible unrest, authorities said they were closing the Palace of Versailles and its gardens, a top tourist venue, on Saturday.
You know who else closed the palace at Versailles?
The Girondins?
Science!
I’m often skeptical of science that says it will melt my brain, but I’m just a denier.
Get your affairs in order
Perhaps the timing of George H.W. Bush’s death last month was merciful. This way he didn’t have to see America lose the Cold War.
Bush presided over the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. But the triumph he and others earned with American blood and treasure over 71 years, defeating the Soviet Union and keeping its successor in check, has been squandered by President Trump in just two.
Trump’s unraveling of the post-war order accelerated this week when he announced a willy-nilly pullout from Syria, leaving in the lurch scores of allies who participated in the campaign against the Islamic State, throwing our Kurdish partners to the wolves, isolating Israel, and giving Russia and Iran free rein in the Middle East. Then word emerged that Trump is ordering another hasty withdrawal, from Afghanistan. Trump’s defense secretary, retired Gen. Jim Mattis, resigned in protest of the president’s estrangement of allies and emboldening of Russia and China.
The TV series “The Man in the High Castle” imagines a world in which Nazis won World War II. But we don’t need an alternative-history show to imagine a Soviet victory in the Cold War. We have Trump.
The End is upon us.
Women,
childrenpeople of color hardest hit.Hasty? 18 years is “hasty”? JFC.
I used to think the NYT was bad, but the WP truely is an organ of the buerocratic deep state. They are the heirs of der sturmer.
So wait does this make Jeff Bezos?
“announced a willy-nilly pullout ”
You know who else announced a willy pullout.
Gennifer Flowers?
*rises to begin fierce and prolonged applause*
The protagonist on MTV’s Teen Mom?
“Perhaps the timing of George H.W. Bush’s death last month was merciful. This way he didn’t have to see America lose the Cold War.”
There’s an adult columnist in a major US Newspaper who thought this was a great way to start his column. There’s also an adult editor who didn’t see fit to stop him.
A nice bit of Americana this morning, OMWC.
Here’s some more traveling music.
Love it!
Would you like me to take you out of your musical comfort zone some more? 🙂
*shudders*
Road trip song from a son.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRzu1FFLUTI
Not sure when they are heading, but it takes awhile.
I saw him with Skynyrd about 10 years ago. He’s cool.
Here’s another good road song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR9sPqs8H2I
Great video. I haven’t seen one so well done in a long time.
Mr. Trump claims he was acting on a campaign promise by ordering troops home from the Middle East, but that ignores the reality that for two years he pursued a very different policy at the unanimous urging of his national security team. His abrupt shift came without any process of internal deliberation, or consultation with allies, or, it would seem, serious consideration of the potential consequences.
Umm hmmm.
“Sources familiar with the President’s thinking….” aka our crack team of mind readers and crystal-ball-gazers have attributed to him these things which further our narrative of his unpredictability and incompetence, based on our shameless slobbery adulation of the Deep State.
I’m surprised they can manage to type with CIA cock so far up there mouth and ass.
A bit of Sullivan for your consideration WaPo.
Meant to include the quote…
“…like every single occupier before us…”
Actually not true. But I doubt we have the inclination to destroy their irrigation systems as the Mongols did to bring them to their knees. History seems to point that that would be the only way to subjugate Afghanistan.
Biological warfare to kill off all their livestock would probably work too.
Let me think… does his national security team benefit from permanent war? Well, it allows them to load up their buddies at Lockheed and Northrop with piles of filthy gubmint lucre; then eventually leave the government to wildly lucrative executive positions at said defense contractors. Rinse and repeat.
So, yes, yes I think they do benefit!
Did somebody say Tulsa?
I remember the days when the Democrats were anti-war and supportive of civil liberties….oh wait.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage_Act_of_1917
That was before the party switch, where Republicans became racists!!
(Funny how the lefts heros, WW, and FDR were all before the great party switch.
And they don’t have much use for JFK either.
My Dad’s Friendship With Charles Barkley
Nice story about an unlikely friendship.
Good article, almost teared up there.
Thanks for that, Tundra. Made me feel better after all this war stuff.
Good read. ?
Seconded.
Muh PAAAAAARKZ!
“Regardless of what happens in Washington, the Grand Canyon will not close on our watch,” Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said in a statement on Friday. The Arizona Office of Tourism will help ensure that restrooms are cleaned, trash is collected and shuttle buses operate throughout the shutdown, Ducey said.
All five of Utah’s national parks will remain open, and the three most popular ones will have maintenance costs underwritten by the state during the shutdown, according to Vicki Varela, the Utah Office of Tourism’s managing director.
—————
Some conservationists warned that it was safer to shutter the parks entirely, as happened under Barack Obama’s presidential administration during a 2013 shutdown, rather than have them open with skeleton staff.
During the January shutdown, a pregnant elk was killed in Zion and tourists in Yellowstone drove snowmobiles dangerously close to the Old Faithful geyser, said Theresa Pierno, president of the National Parks Conservation Association.
“It’s unrealistic and dangerous to think that parks can remain open with only a skeleton crew and continue with business as usual,” Pierno said in a statement.
Unrealistic! and DANGEROUS!
When I want to know what to think, the first person I ask is a “conservationist”.
*If they didn’t want elk to die, why did they reintroduce the wolves?
I don’t know. Maybe it’s part of the plan to make the shutdown painful for the government, but not the people?
Winter kill is ever present especially among animals in snow covered terrains with brutal cold. Another dead cow elk feeds lots of other animals.
However, before they adjourned for the night, the Senate passed a bill to ensure federal employees who are furloughed get back pay.
Of course. Fuck.
Yes. This is what has to change. If Fed employees lost their pay when a shutdown happens there would be a large surge of pressure by them to ensure Congress does their job on time.
A growing reliance on e-commerce has driven demand for direct-to-door shipping for everything from textbooks to toothbrushes. And to the casual observer, USPS is playing what looks like a seamless part in the process, with more and more packages delivered the “last mile” to customers’ doors by government workers.
Sounds like there is a market opportunity here if the USPS disappears. I don’t see the problem.
If you told me in 2015 that Trump would cause the left to embrace war, the intelligence agencies and censorship even with a Republican in the White House I wouldn’t have believed you but here we are. Yay?
Also has Trump wrecked the Nolan chart?
A Christmas song for woke times. Even though it’s from back in the mid 90’s. And with that, I’m off to spend my day productively playing board games.
Azul is becoming a favorite for a quick game.
Ours to reason why
Fuckin’ A.
Sadly all too frue. I was on the phone with my mom, an Army wife,mind you, and I mentioned that the U.S. Has been at war for the past 17 years.
She flatly denied it and was confused about why I thought that was the case.
Working on defense, perhaps I’m more conscious of it, but the media should really cover this more so that our Dear Leaders get some feedback from us to GET OUT.
This “tidy” war in the background reminds me of the original Star Trek so where two planets had been at war for a long time because they came to an agreement to substitute battle simulations for real damage and equipment, but if you were identified as a person who would have been killed in a simu!ated attack, you had to report to a killing chamber and get calmly snuffed.
Captain Kirk delivered a rousing speech on how the distance and clinical nature of it allowed it to go on too long, and that was is hell and should be viewed as such in order to prevent it when possible.
Man, I need to find that episode again. I’ve only seen it once, as a teen.
Should say “Star Trek episode” . Kindle autocorrect is the worst autocorrect.
“Blake’s Seven” had a variation on that theme where two duelists were the proxies for the war.
Yeah. I would say that any period when people finishing any US military branch’s basic training get issued a National Defense Ribbon the US is at war. I know it is a trivial point to most people – even those in the military. But that ribbon being issued as SOP basically means we have a hot war going on somewhere. That ribbon has been awarded/issued to every active duty service member since 2001 to this day.
Along those lines; eligibility for membership in the American Legion has remained open to all service members who have served since Aug. 2, 1990:
Meh, the Legion is open to any vet. VFW has to have actual combat-ish service (I am looking at you “Korea DMZ” service).
I hate my local Legion for a particular experience, and won’t go near them. My VFW Post is literally dying off (which, while sad, is not necessarily a bad thing….when you consider that means no giant pool of conscripts to draw from).
Yes, any vet, but you still must have served during a “conflict”.
As an aside; I hope you don’t let your local experience taint your view of the group as a whole.
/15 year SAL member
“A Tate of Armageddon” IIRC.
You spelled “taint” wrong.
“A Taint of Armageddon”
Wasn’t that a SugarFree short story?
Netflix or amazon has ST on streaming.
Dammit I thought Star Trek was free of leftist virtue signaling before Discovery.
As one profound Glib said a few days ago, Left v Right is meaningless when the real spectrum is Totalitarianism v Freedom.
From the Wiki page on “A Taste of Armageddon”
I’m saying the fact that we don’t linger on war and don’t see the hardships inflicted on our troops and on the civilians whose lives are shattered is the only reason we are still in it to this day. It’s too distant, too clinical.
If you did man-in-the-street interviews and asked “Is the United States at war?” what would the answers be?
Oh noes!
Actually, not a problem. These articles seem to be targeted at… a certain demographic group… that lives on social media. I think I’ll get by without all that crap just fine.
And to the casual observer, USPS is playing what looks like a seamless part in the process, with more and more packages delivered the “last mile” to customers’ doors by government workers.
I fail to see the problem here. Silly me.
Also- when I hear people talking about Amazon somehow “exploiting” the Post Office by getting better than retail rates…
If you came to me and said, “I need a cage for my lion. Here’s a not-to-scale sketch on a torn napkin, and I have no idea what the material specifications or actual dimensions should be,” you can bet your ass you’d end up paying more than if you showed up with a detailed set of blueprints and all the materials pre-cut and marked for assembly, which is pretty much analogous to how Amazon hands off their last mile deliveries to USPS.
“The whole concept of war has changed under Obama,” said Jon Alterman, Middle East specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonprofit think tank in Washington.
Obama “got the country out of ‘war,’ at least as we used to see it,” Alterman said. “We’re now wrapped up in all these different conflicts, at a low level and with no end in sight.”
And people say the DNC’s obsession with “messaging” was a bunch of cynical hooey.
” war is peace.”
I’ve already seen two lefty columnists that used the theme “Turkey now has green light to destroy the Kurds who thought U.S. was their friend.”
Next stop, Justice Head-in-a-jar Ginsberg
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg voted against President Donald Trump’s proposed immigrant asylum restrictions from the hospital where she had cancer surgery Friday, according to media reports.
NBC reported that Ginsburg voted from her hospital bed. National Public Radio and Mother Jones magazine said she cast the decisive vote in the 5-4 decision against the Trump administration shortly after her surgery to remove two cancerous nodules from her lungs.
Immortality is coming.
And here I thought that fuckstick Roberts was the decisive vote.
Roberts is the new Souter.
Yeah, her vote being “decisive” only makes sense if there was ever any doubt which way she would go. There wasn’t.
FYI WaPo, NYT, CNN and other assorted suckers of deep state cock:
The fucking government would have been shut down for the next four days no matter what!!!!!!!!!!
Local news in Philly is concentrating on disappointed tourists at the closed Independence Hall. Guess they couldn’t find even one person who welcomed the shutdown.
…shall not be infringed…
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/ut_y8NOdTiOTuWqm-gvByA.R7xxTTs6sOKQHeZ1cJM6in
Pretty.
686?
686+
Yeah, I’ve been wanting one of those. That’s really sharp.
Gitchyerself a 460V.
Totally impractical but I love, love, love it.
.44 mag is 90% of that. I personally don’t notice the difference. Lotta fun when you interrupt all the 9mm and .40/,45 pop-pop*bangs with a massive kaboom at the range.
Is that a 3″ barrel?
Yup
Yeah, that’s what I want. Seems like a nice substitute.
I meant a nice compromise to the 4″
Nice!
Seconded.
“If feminism is, in part, about women being seen as independent and free sexual agents—adults, in other words—then why is it so frightening to them when a man treats them as just that? If women want to be seen as sexual free agents then we should stop acting like scared and helpless children when men treat us as such. Those who respond by appealing to the bureaucratic systems of corporate structures (broadly known as the patriarchal system), or to the warm and nurturing responses of “friends” on social media, are hardly demonstrating that women are strong enough to handle sexual situations on their own.”
https://quillette.com/2018/12/20/feminisms-dependency-trap/
That’s because feminism is not about that at all; it’s all about special privileges. Men being unable to read women’s minds and cater to their every whim = sexism.
Chris Murphy on Syria
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/12/democrats-and-trumps-troop-withdrawals-is-the-criticism-hypocritical.html
What good is the “diplomatic process” without the threat of military force?
And what does “humanitarian relief” mean?
To me it means charity. So leave it to the charities.
Unless that includes free guns I’m not sure how that will protect them from Assad or Erdogan.
I like this quote.
Going down
Twitter plunged just over 11 percent Thursday after a report from an investor group that called the company “toxic” to advertisers and investors.
Citron Research, led by investor Andrew Left, wrote that Twitter is “uninvestible” and “advertisers will soon be forced to take a hard look at all sponsorships with Twitter.” The report followed the publication of an Amnesty International investigation earlier this week, which found that women are sent abusive messages on the platform every 30 seconds.
———-
The Amnesty International report said that women of color were even more likely than white women to experience abuse on Twitter. According to the study, black and Asian women as well as Latinas and those of mixed race were 34 percent more likely to be mentioned in problematic or abusive tweets. Black women, in particular, were 84 percent more likely than white women to be mentioned, and abuse was directed at those across the political spectrum, the study said.
They’ll be shoving people into ovens, soon.
…by whom?
By aquariums talking about their otters, of course.
Like this?
Dunking, Autofellating Otter At Oregon Zoo Dies At 20
Cool link, bro.
Grrr
Actually, I was referring to this story that got posted in one of the links threads yesterday or Thursday.
Please don’t wish me ‘Merry Christmas’
It would be a little easier to read your mind if you wore some sort of identifying mark.
Someone saying “Merry Christmas” must be a Christian?
She has voluntarily opted out of Christmas, so the rest of us must opt out to respect her choice.
How about “Happy new year and fuck you”?
(((She’ll))) say the new year began in September.
I’m sorry… but if you didn’t expect exactly this, you’re beyond help.
I honestly don’t get why someone would be offended at “merry Christmas”. I’m nonreligious, and I get wished a merry Christmas all the time, but I don’t fly off the handle; I just wish it back. And we had a Pakistani Muslim doctor at my previous job who gladly participated in our Christmas carry-in and gift exchange. It’s really not a big fucking deal if someone wishes you well for a holiday that is not part of your religion.
Also, holidays can have one origin but take on different meanings for different people. I may not believe that Jesus was the son of God, but Christmas is more of a happy childhood memories thing.
I just can’t imagine being such a miserable person that such a phrase would jangle your nerves. Are these the same people who think that eating turkey with your family in November is going to cause some kind of harm to Native Americans?
I’ve wished “Merry Christmas” to folks who held a door for me on two separate occasions. Both times, the recipients sounded surprised and returned it.
This ^ The PC gang and people like this woman have made people scared to say Merry Christmas. I say it often and there are always some people who react as you described. You can tell they like it, but have been told it’s wrong and so they stopped. And I’m seeing this (granted, not a lot, but still…) in the SoCon stronghold of North Dakota. SMH
She has voluntarily opted out of Christmas, so the rest of us must opt out to respect her choice.
Like the “cashless oppression” article I linked yesterday, if something is not perfect for everyone, it cannot be allowed as an option for anyone.
Because fairz.
Good god, that sums up the American Left perfectly. Did you sneak into one of their secret meetings wearing a wire or something?