Author: sloopyinca

What’s with all this rain lately in Houston?  Good thing I’m not into cave exploring.  Oh well, we got to wrap up a few painting projects around the house, so the weekend wasn’t a total washout.  And at least I’m not in Los Angeles.  Or a seeded woman at Wimbledon.  Jeez, they dropped like flies through Saturday. Let’s see who survives the second week.  The Men’s side is going a little more to script, and if you’re interested, you can catch a Federer-Nadal doubleheader starting right about the time these hot, steamy links hit the interwebs.

But if you’re not into tennis, we’ve got some baseball news: starting with the MLB All-Star Game team selections. Which are a travesty now that they’ve implemented a rule that says the Orioles, Royals, White Sox, Mets, Marlins and all the other teams that suck deserve a player on the roster.  Why not just name every player in the league an All-Star and be done with it, huh?  And speaking of baseball, your winners yesterday were: thew Yankees, Athletics, Rangers, Rays, Marlins, Pirates, Brew Crew, the MINNESOOOOODA TWIIIIIINS, Red Sox, Cubs, Gigantes, Mariners, Padres, Angels and the defending World Series champion Houston Astros, who won on a suicide-squeeze play…which was awesome. As an aside, Albert Pujols hit homers #627. World Cup semifinals start tomorrow, so I won’t discuss it until then when I make my picks.

Hero to women everywhere, Elias Howe was born on this date. As was architect Michael Graves, actor Brian Denny, blackspoitation actor Richard Roundtree, writer Dean Koontz, noted musician Bon Scott, rental-car pitchman and golf enthusiast Orenthal James Simpson, TV ‘s John Tech, NWA Member Kevin Nash, suicide-muse Courtney Love, and actor Tom Hanks.

Its also the date on which the following happened: Talleyrand became the first Prime Minister of France, the donut-cutter parent was issued, the first successful open heart surgery without anesthesia was performed (that must have hurt like hell), the Commonwealth of Australia was established by Britain (unlike we Americans that did it the right way), the HMS Vanguard blew up killing 804, Spain voted to institute the Franco monarchy, the great Satchel Paige made his major league debut, the Russell-Einstein Manifesto was released, Jack Nicklaus won the British Open to become just the fourth man to win all four of golf’s majors. He would go on to win more than any other player has. And Kissinger visited China.

That’s it for the extras, now for the entree. Which means…the links!

Trump makes his Supreme Court nomination today.  Which means its time to gauge how college students feel about him/her. Let’s just say I’m not exactly surprised.

It’s probably been covered already, but somebody needs to show this to that little dipshit David Hogg. And somebody else needed to have checked to make sure their snowplow worked properly over the weekend on the highways around Chicago. But that’s another story.

The entire Brexit process has officially (again) turned into a shitshow. I still don’t see what the problem here is: you say “we’re no longer part of the EU,” you pack your shit up from Brussels, you announce what will be your process for allowing people and goods to travel into your country and you tell your former “partners” that they’re free to trade or let the flow of people be whatever it is they want.  That’s it. That’s the whole process.  Stop kowtowing to the ECB and Brussels and just pull the fucking band-aid off.  Jesus H Christ.  This isn’t rocket science.

The Mueller investigation witch hunt continues to reach new levels of absurdity. But there’s no bias and they aren’t going beyond the scope of their mandate. They promise.

And today’s Darwin Award goes to… But hey, at least they weren’t blowing up watermelons with M-80s.

Hero woman gets properly noticed for her bravery. Now, if only one of the people were armed instead of living in a state that all but outlaws transporting weapons without an expensive and arduous (by design) permitting scheme.

Let’s all step back, take a deep breath and try to regain a sense of humor, huh? I mean…Jesus, this shit is getting absurd.

Good! That’s all I’ve got to say about this entire case. With one caveat: none of those fuckers should still have a job.

Starbucks is going to work on saving the planet by ditching plastic straws. I guess closing hundreds of stores when their business faded wasn’t enough of a carbon-footprint reduction for them.

Too many choices today, and I know I’ll piss somebody off. But here you are.

Have a great start to your week, friends!

Let’s do historical events first, shall we?  On this date, Stamford Raffles, a dude with an awesome name and also the founder of Singapore, was born. As was Tsar Nicholas I, Harry Ford Sinclair (of Teapot Dome infamy), artist Marc Chagall, eyebrow aficionado Frida Kahlo, astrology fan Nancy Reagan, early adopter of Rock N Roll Bill Haley, TV host and exec Merv Griffin, hotelier Conrad Hilton Jr, the Dalai Lama himself (Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald… striking.), Hollywood treasure Ned Beatty, former president George W Bush, underrated actor Sylvester Stallone, rapper and businessman 50 Cent, comedian and (near) midget Kevin Hart, and loving wife and also a (near) midget Banjos. Happy birthday, sweetie!

Its also the day Francis Drake curb-stomped the Portuguese Navy, Captain Kidd was captured, Louis Pasteur successfully tested anti-rabies vaccine, T.E. Lawrence captured Aqaba from the Turks,  MLB held its first all-star game, Patton landed in France, Abbott and Costello’s “Naughty Nineties” was released, the AK-47 went into production in Russia, Jefferson Airplane was formed, “Forrest Gump” hit theaters, and California passed the nation’s first “no-fault” divorce law.

Some fun baseball games yesterday. Winners were: Washington, Texas, Milwaukee, the MINNESOOOOOOOOODA TWIIIIIINS, San Diego, Seattle, St Louis and the defending World Champion Houston Astros walked-off the White Sox as Justin Verlander got another no decision.

Serena and Federer both in action today at Wimbledon.  And in the World Cup, France and Uruguay, arguably two fo the more enjoyable teams to watch this year, play at 9 am and Belgium-Brazil play at 1 to see who rolls their way into the semis. Dios Mio, man.  My picks: France and Belgium.

That’s it for sports ball. Now time for…the links!

This is not surprising news at all, if you merely look at the overall numbers. Reading into the details, however, it looks like the issue is considerably more important to GOP voters than Dems, who still place healthcare at the top of their list. What is surprising is that only 7% of Team Blue members polled place immigration as the most important issue yet they’ve got the news media banging that drum nonstop.  Look for the media to start talking about how evil anything shy of single-payer is as we get closer to November.  In fact, look for it today on Twitter as Journolist 2.0 members get their marching orders.

Anthony Bourdain was shockingly worth just $1.2M when he died.  That number either indicates that he wasn’t very good at negotiating contracts, he had someone ripping him off or he had a “problem” that was costing him a shitload of money.

Trump trolls Masshole Warren. Warren goes on warpath with wild wesponse.

Men get what was coming to them as the violate property rights.  B&E is pretty stupid. B&E into an area heavily populated with lions is almost as dumb as shooting a mortar off your head. Adios, dumbasses.

Hey dumbass, just because you think they’re cute and cuddly now doesn’t mean they’re not filthy, disease-ridden vermin.  What a maroon!

Trump says “3 or 2” judges in play, but media thinks it will be Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. Which means it will be Barrett or Kethledge. My money is on Kethledge, since all of the Team Blue (and media) focus have been on the “negatives” of Barrett and Kavanaugh, which basically amount to them being literalists. We’ll know Monday at 8 pm.

This seems like a reasonable use of taxpayer dollars, right? I’m sure he couldn’t give two shits even if it is a colossal waste.

If you’re gonna be a douchebag and assault a kid just because you don’t like his hat, then make sure its not on video, dumbass. Also, you’re so tough for taking on a kid, asshole. And dropping a n-bomb on him too! That’s gonna resonate well with the griefer crowd, I bet.

Well that’s it for the links.  Tough call on the song, but this is what I ended up with.

Happy birthday, sweetie. And have a great end of the week and weekend, the rest of you.

I hope y’all had a nice Fourth of July. It rained here pretty much the entire day and downtown flooded, as usual. But today looks a little better.

ESPN showed how much they care about their readership when they turned off comments without any explanation a couple days ago.  So now I think I’ll seek out my basic sports (scores and quick headlines) somewhere else.  Let me know in the comments where I should go. (Note: I do not want to go somewhere where I have to scroll for a mile to get past the hundred videos they have of their talking heads yammering on about a trade deal, new shoe release, etc before getting to the actual game scores and recaps.) And on that note, Boston, the Yankees, Cubs, Indians, Dodgers, Cardinals, Astros, Marlins, Phillies, Athletics, Angels, Brewers, Reds (they’re on fire!), Mets, and Rockies won. Wimbledon has a few good matches today. I recommend tuning in if you can.  No soccer until tomorrow.

If you were born on this date, you share the day with such famous and infamous folks as: Mary Walcott (accuser at Salem witch trials and herself probably a witch), Admiral David Farragut (of “damn the torpedoes!” fame), genius entrepreneur P.T. Barnum, inventor of tree-ring dating A.E. Douglass, football coach John McKay, musician Robbie Robertson, rocker Huey Lewis, pitcher Goose Gossage, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, Wu-Tang member RZA, (too) skinny person Eva Green, and Dolly The Sheep.

Its also the day Newton’s Principia was published, the USA beat the Limeys and Canadians at Chippewa, Ontario (and should have kept the place as a trophy), FDR signed the NLRA (like a good socialist), the famous tank Battle of Kursk began, Ian Fleming graduated from spy school, the bikini made its debut in Paris, Israel passed the “Law Of Return”, William Shockley invented the junction transistor, that creator of billionaires Robert Mugabe was re-elected and “Seinfeld” debuted on NBC.

Hope that suffices for needless stuff.  Now we can do…the links!

Rather than simply allowing the people to arm and defend themselves, New York City will be rolling out buses of “peacekeepers” in the wake of spreading violence in the city. I guess personal responsibility truly is dead in that town.

That brave person who scaled the Statue Of Liberty most likely has a screw loose and an unhealthy obsession with Donald Trump. Shocking, I know.

Angela Merkel warns of a worldwide financial crisis if Trump presses NATO. You know, we should stop this insanity and go ahead and pull all of our troops out of Germany, Italy and elsewhere in Europe if their nations don’t want to pay the required percentage of their economy to the organization.  Its high time they paid their fair share as outlined in the charter rather than keep letting us piss our money away defending their lazy asses.  Same goes for the United Nations.

Well, at least these yo-yos are smart enough to do this in Oakland instead of a Texas city.  Christ, what a bunch of assholes.

Michael Avenetti eyes White House. He says he will run if there is no other candidate “that has a real chance of beating” Trump.  Well, he should start getting those PACs together, because unless the entire nation takes socialist crazy pills and buys their bullshit, I don’t see the Dems coming back to the political center.

Orlando group pushes for more “diversity” in medical marijuana business. They go into the barriers to entry and the steep startup costs including licensing fees and compliance costs.  Unfortunately it never occurs to any of these people that they are essentially asking the government for handouts rather than calling for free market solutions to a problem created by the government themselves.  Maybe they’ll catch it the next time it flies by, but I doubt it.

Kim Dotcom has lost his appeal and will be extradited to the United States. His crime: creating a website that people used freely to conduct their own business he knew nothing about. As a side note, he never visited or resided in the United States and his business was never incorporated there. How’s that for justice?

I’ll just copy this headline word for word: Bath salts land two in jail for shooting at ‘alien lasers’ that were really fireflies, police say  Ok then!

Local death penalty trial resumes in Houston in “honor killings” case. I know there are some anti-death penalty people here, but I ain’t one of them. I hope they cook that fucker after he’s found guilty.

I went deeper in the catalog than most of you would have expected. Hope you enjoy.

Give em hell, friends!

Hope y’all have the day off.  I’ve got plenty of work to do but will hopefully get a chance to relax as well. Like Colombia does now, right?  Their hack-a-shaq strategy almost paid off with a late goal, but England prevailed in PKs.  Thank goodness, too. They might have killed somebody in the next match, should their violent play continue to progress. Also moving on are the Swedes, who dispatched the Swiss in a pretty boring game. Quarterfinals start Friday, so enjoy Wimbledon or baseball until then. Speaking of tennis, Venus and Serena are both playing today. Sharapova was bounced yesterday and the womens draw is completely up for grabs now.

In baseball, Boston stayed red hot and whipped Washington, The Yankees beat Atlanta, Tampa beat Miami, Seattle beat the California Angels and the Houston Astros continued their domination over the Rangers with a 5-3 win.

Bane of high school English students Nathanial Hawthorne was born on this date. So was libertarian presidential hero Calvin Coolidge, cartoonist Rube Goldberg, mobster Meyer Lansky, lovely actress Eva Marie Saint, playwright Neil Simon, Raiders owner Al Davis, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, the buxom Morganna Roberts, singer John Waite, drummer William Goldsmith, and sign-language-using gorilla Koko.

Its also the day the colonists told England to fuck off. And the day the first US Tariff Act was signed by George Washington, the first city bus went into service in London, Whitman’s “Leaves Of Grass” was published, the Tuskeegee Institute was established by Booket T Washington, Radio Free Europe made its first broadcast, LBJ (in one of the only decent things he ever did) signed the Freedom Of Information Act into law, “American Top 40” with Casey Kasem debuted, Kobe Bryant was arrested in Eagle, Colorado, and Nolan Ryan got his 3000th strikeout.

OK, its a holiday so I better get rolling. Please enjoy…the links!

Its good to be the king! Or even the guy who did the kings IT with his family, stole a bunch of stuff, absconded it to Pakistan and whose prosecution would have led to much embarrassment for a lot of high level Dem Party operatives/congressmen.  Its also good for you when the idiot who hired you has a brother working at the prosecutor’s office write op-eds in major newspapers as the entire investigation is going on that say its all a big nothing burger, in gross violation of departmental policy. But like I said: its good to be the king.

The head of the DNC makes clear that they’re now effectively a socialist party. Its a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off. You know, I’m sure it will be just as effective after being attacked by Donald Trump as it was in a primary with <2% turnout of just her own party in one of the most progressive enclaves in the country.

San Francisco is circling the drain. Actually, they’re not circling the drain because its clogged with human waste, used needles and other shit the hobos leave all over the place.  But it is turning into an interesting case study on terrible politics mixed with zero personal responsibility.

And across the bay in Oakland, the city said its likely that a property owner and city inspector “colluded” to have people evicted…from the commercial property they were not allowed to live in. So the city had the eviction notice rescinded. Then a few months later, the Ghost Ship fire burned everybody to death. ::smdh::

Looks like Amy Coney Barrett is at the top of Trump’s Supreme Court candidate list.  Sounds good to me.  But the left are losing their absolute shit.  Which also sounds good to me.

One Masshole cop pleads guilty to fraud. Three more are yet to face their charges. And no word on sentencing yet.  The other three are collecting their retirement already, so it’ll be interesting to see how that part of the equation plays out as well.

If any of you are planning on taking your mother to a nursing home: Please take note of this. And be careful.

Wow, that’s one tough, old sonofabitch. I can only imagine how that must have felt.

Here is a birthday boy song.

Go enjoy your holiday, friends.

 

You had Hiroshima. You had Nagasaki. And now you have Rostov-on-Don.  Those poor Japanese had it. Then the Belgians got one back, yet the Japanese kept pushing. Then it was tied yet the Japanese kept pushing. Then, with what might have been the finest outlet from a goalkeeper ever, Chadli scored at the death as Japan were pushing for the win themselves and the Belgians were moving on to face Brazil.  What a hell of a game. Both teams pressing, nothing dirty. Just an enjoyable game of attacking soccer.  Oh, and Brazil beat Mexico in a game that was very much the opposite: flopping, hacking, dirty cheap shots one after another. I hope Belgium thumps Brazil after that shit. And I hope Neymar’s legacy is marginally tarnished for all of his bullshit play-acting antics. There’s no place in a man’s sport for garbage like that.

Serena, Venus and Federer all moved on at Wimbledon on Day 1. Sloane Stephens and Gregor Dimitrov made early exits.

And on the diamonds, the Tigers beat the Blue Jays, the Red Sox beat the Pats, the Braves beat the Yankees, the BIG RED MACHINE topped the White Sox, the Marlins beat the Rays, the Brew Crew topped the Twins, the Indians drilled the Royals, Colorado beat San Francisco, St Louis beat the D-backs, and the Dodgers annihilated the Pirates.

French explorer Samuel de Champlain was born on this date. So was Austrian writer Franz Kafka, assclown “attorney” Gloria Allred, selfie-taker Geraldo Rivera, “Baby Doc” Duvalier, tv’s Montel Williams, midget Scientologist  Tom Cruise, eye candy Olivia Munn, four-time F1 champ Sebastian Vettel, and hero to those who believe in transparency Julian Assange.

Today is also the day the aforementioned Samuel de Champlain founded the city of Quebec, George Washington took command of the Continental Army, Jesse James pulled off a $45,000 robbery in Iowa, Karl Benz took the first automobile for a spin, Idaho was admitted to the union, the first color tv transmission was made, the Veterans Administration was created, “Double Indemnity” was released, Jim and Gaylord Perry faced each other for the only time in their careers, “Back To The Future” hit theaters, the 2 Live Crew were charged with indecency in Florida, and Steve Yzerman, arguably the greatest captain in Red Wings history, announced his retirement.

Those were better than many recent days.  I even got a little love for our Canadian brethren in there. And the Frenchies at that!  I hope they’re happy.  And with that, I’m on to…the links!

You want to read about some shady, deep-state shit?  Well this is some shady, deep-state shit. There’s no way any of this passes the smell test. No way all 40 of these (Democrat) staffs were unaware of what was going on. And no way it wasn’t a coordinated effort to get rid of evidence.  DWS and Xaxier Becerra should be in an interrogation room until they give some straight answers. This is totally unacceptable and I, for one, and in no way surprised that the MSM are choosing to keep as much of a lid on it as they possibly can.

I hope Trump is still in the mood to pardon some people. I’d love to see some idiots attack this.

The (Russian-backed) bid to split California into three states is gaining traction. Sorry, but its still probably not constitutional as I read the document. But I wish them the best and think more of this should happen when parts of states become so polarized politically, socially and economically.

Multi-billionaire thinks its a good idea to have the government take money away from everybody else and give it away. Hey Dick, why not try it out by stroking checks from your own account to everybody in your hometown for a year or so instead of trying to get people to take money from me instead.  Asshole.

OH SHIT!!!!!! Well of course its about San Francisco. What did you expect?

Vermont becomes the first state to legalize recreational pot use through its legislature. I guess they’re not a total shithole after all. They just are if you want to have a gun, speak publicly, keep more of what you earn or be represented by someone that is not a complete progressive assclown.

OK, so here’s a head-scratcher: the city of New York’s Staten Island DA’s office is being sued for back pay…byt the guy who took care of their therapy dog.  That’s right, tax cattle. You’re paying handlers of therapy dogs now for use in courthouses.  Congratulations.

And let the pants-shitting, anti-Catholic bigotry begin! Trump to start interviewing possible Supreme Court candidates, which means Amy Coney Barrett can expect the progs to try and Bork her.  Which will not go over well with feminists, right?  RIGHT?!?!

Getting a little funky today.

Enjoy your pre-holiday workday, friends!

Holiday weeks suck when the holiday is in the middle of the week. Especially for those of us who don’t have vacation days.  Meh, I need to stop complaining. At least its an extra day I get to spend with the family, even if I do spend it working. Which is not what Spain’s soccer will be doing.  LOL, Russia?  Really?!?!  Also Croatia beat Denmark. And I will be cheering for Russia in their game. At least they’re exciting. That Croatia-Denmark match was exciting for about 10 minutes…the first five minutes of the game and the last 5.  The rest was nearly unwatchable boring. And on Saturday, France beat Argentina…and the world laughed. There Uruguay beat Portugal…and it laughed harder. And I have to say, those were a pair of fun games to watch.  Let’s hope Brazil-Mexico and Belgium-Japan are as much fun today.

Baseball games keep happening, and that means the Rays beat Houston again.  What is it with that division that has them struggling this year?  Other winners were: Baltimore (yes, Baltimore), Detroit, THE BIG RED MACHIIIIIIINE, the Mets, Phillies, Braves, Cubs, White Sox, Indians, Giants, Pirates, Dodgers, Mariners and Yankees.

And LeBron James signed with one of the Los Angeles basketball teams.  I think it was the Lakers. So he will be playing there next year.  Best of luck to him and Cleveland as they recover from the inevitable riots.

Hey, Hermann Hesse was born on this date.  So was groundbreaking jurist Thurgood Marshall, shoe lover Imelda Marcos, Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas, “The King” Richard Petty, former Mexican President Vicente Fox, funnyman Larry David, Canadian wrestler Brett “The Hitman” Hart, steroid aficionado Jose Canseco, flamboyant figure skater Johnny Weir, drug- and alcohol fan Lindsay Lohan, and actress Margot Robbie.

Its also the day Martin Luther decided he would become a monk after a violent thunderstorm, slaves aboard The Amistad revolt, Guiseppe Giribaldi began his hunger strike in Rome, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid rob a train of $40,000 in Montana, John McGraw managed his first game for the Giants (a tenure that would last 30 years), the US Army Air Corps was founded, Amelia Earhart gets lost over Pacific, the “Lawrence Welk Show” made its debut, Elvis recorded “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel”, Sam Walton opened his first store, LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Acts into law after the Democrats who had opposed it via filibuster give up, the Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to be reinstated, the first of the idiotic Susan B Anthony dollars was issued, Airplane! premiered, and the AbioCor self-contained artificial ear was created.

That’s the appetizer.  Now for the main course. And by “main course”, I mean…the links!

Mexico takes a hard left turn at the ballot box. Best of luck. Obrador’s failed philosophy (see: Cuba, Venezuela, Argentina, etc, etc, etc) will surely work this time.

Please let this happen. Please let this happen. Please let this happen. Just in case you didn’t know, I really want this to happen.

“Bag rage” is apparently a thing in Australia. Thanks a lot, government.

Hollywood is a place filled with weirdos.  I mean, who even comes up with “recreational mummification bondage” as a thing?

Chicago kicks off the holiday week in a way only Chicago can. Wait, wait, let me guess: its Indiana’s fault?

Crazy dude gets stabby on refugees in Idaho. The attacker wasn’t a white conservative, so this will probably fade quickly. Hey, just like the Annapolis shooting news did.

Remember the link I put up last week about somebody leaving flyers with fentanyl on them on police vehicles here in Houston?  It turns out to have been bullshit all along. Which means any cases where people were convicted based on the results of an initial drug test should be tossed out of court, right?  They also need to get the deputy who was hospitalized with fentanyl-like symptoms some psychiatric help.

Posted for no reason other than I just felt like hearing it.

Go have a great start to your short week.

Sorry to all our Arkansas baseball fans.  That was a tough way to go down last night. Especially after the foul ball from the night before. Chin up though. You had a hell of a run. And speaking of college sports, methinks Devontae Hobbs needs to learn a lesson in how recruiting actually works. Enjoy MSU, but know this: people being nice to you and people telling you you’ll play as a freshman aren’t being fake or lying.  They’re being courteous and offering you an opportunity (especially since they’ve started a freshman OL and had others play extensively in recent years).  Oh, and if you don’t like being told those things, you should probably never go buy a car. You might have a fucking heart attack.

Colombia and Japan are through to the knockout stages. They’ll play England and Belgium respectively.  No games today but the knockout stages start tomorrow.  I’m feeling good about Belgium, Uruguay and France.  Don’t ask me why, I just am.  On the diamonds, your winners were: Arizona, Oakland, the MINNESOOOOODA TWIIIIIIIINS, Seattle (who are doing a hell of a job mostly keeping pace with the red-hot Astros), the Cubs pounded the Dodgers, Colorado, Boston, Philly, Milwaukee and your defending world champ Houston Astros.

On this date we cwelebrate the birth of America’s first female governor Nellie Tayloe Ross, actor Slim Pickens, “Godfather” and “Chinatown” director Robert Evans, the late, great Harmon Killebrew, actor and nut job Gary Busey, jewish comic Richard Lewis, rocker Don Dokken, Canadian legend Theo Fleury, and that’s pretty much it.  What a short list.

Its also the date on which Shakespeare’s Globe theatre in London burned down, Apartheid began in South Africa, the first US bombs fell on Hanoi, Patrick Henry was made governor of Virginia as the state adopted her constitution, George Custer was made a general at the ripe old age of 23, the Federal Interstate Highway System Act was signed into law, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed after the Democrat Party filibustered it for 83 days, and the world’s first pregnant man (Thomas Beatie) gives birth to a daughter.

OK, on to…the links!

Some crazy asshole shot up a newspaper in Maryland, killing five. And yes, people were politicizing it about two minutes after it happened, blaming President Trump, Maxine Waters, Milo Yiannapolis, and a host of other people…until it came out that the dude was a whack-job with a vendetta against the newspaper, some of its writers, the publisher, a judge, several local officials and just about everybody who crossed him.  And by the way, a Maryland Senator had this to say (emphasis mine):

“Clearly we need universal background checks and need to get rid of the military style assault weapons and private ownership,”

Hear that? He wants to end private ownership of shotguns, which is what the shooter used.  Well, I hope he’s the one planning to go door-to-door and taker them away, because I can assure you the cops won’t do it (outside of a few progressive strongholds) and I can assure you his dumbass followers won’t do it after the first reports of resistance come in.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Rod Rosenstein spent several hours under oath but managed to answer almost no questions whatsoever as Congressmen from both sides of the aisle decided to grandstand rather than ask pointed, deliberate questions.  Why don’t they just subpoena the damn records and hold him in contempt for not turning them over?  That’s the way to handle a “reluctant” employee you have oversight for.

Democrats have been asking where their “everyman” president of the working class has been.  Well, he finally came up for air…at a DNC fundraiser where guests paid $100,000 a piece to get a photo with him. See, people? Democrat leadership understands your pain and are just like you, with the exception of paying $100k for a photo and eating off of gold plates.

Oh no. The Hedgehog is the latest to get caught up in the #metoo mess. Say it ain’t so, Ron!

Vice President Mike Pence tells Central American countries to do more to stop all the migrants illegally entering the US. Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.

If you think you have a right to do what you want with your own property, then you definitely want to read this. Way to go, government. You bunch of fucking assholes.

And the US and Japan agree to continue military exercises after Trump-Kim summit.

The 80’s says hello.

Have a great Friday and enjoy your weekend, friends!

Shit, I typed Wednesday Morning Links by accident. Maybe its because if I had a chance to, I’d live that day over and over and over and over again.  Not only did I shoot a handsome 77 in the afternoon, I got some high-quality work done in the morning and found out only after I walked off the golf course that the pants-shitting had been going on for a few hours so I’d be able to reap the benefits of everyone else already picking out the tenderest of morsels from Twitter and the internet for me to digest.  Let’s just say I wasn’t disappointed in the least.

More on that later, let’s do our morning routine first. Which means…sports!

Apparently Germany traveled too far into Russia again, bouncing out of the World Cup after group play with a 2-0 stunning loss to the South Koreans.  Sweden throttled Mexico but both teams will be going to the knockout stage.  Elsewhere, the Swiss and Brazilians made it through, where they will face Sweden and Mexico respectively.  On tap today are Senegal-Colombia and Japan-Poland in the early set and Panama-Tunisia and the match everyone has been waiting for in England-Belgium.  Enjoy.

On this side of the world, there was much baseball played. The College World Series final was knotted up as Oregon State topped those Happy Hogs. Its winner-take-all tonight, so tune in.  I just hope our resident Razorbacks can keep it together until then.  Meanwhile, on the big-boy circuit, the big red machine dumped the Braves, the Royals be- hey the Royals actually won a game! The Mariners dumped Baltimore, the Phillies blanked the Yanks, the BoSox beat the Angels, the A’s over Tigers, the D-backs over Miami, the Pirates stopped the Mets, the Rangers over Padres, the White Sox drilled the Twins, Cleveland stopped St Louis, the Dodgers were better than the Cubs, The Giants blanked the Rockies and the Astros came back from giving up 5 runs to Toronto in the top if the 1st to win with a 2-run Bregman dinger in the bottom of the 9th.

Born on this date were Henry VIII, Methodist Church co-founder John Wesley, philosophizer Jean Jaques Rousseau, cheese-eating-surrender-monkey Pierre Laval, composer Richard Rodgers, blues guitarist David “Honeyboy” Edwards, the funniest man ever to write a script Mel Brooks, actor Pat Morita, prozac inventor Klaus Schmiegel, funny woman Gilda Radner, acclaimed actress Kathy Bates,  quarterback John Elway, actor and assclown John Cusack and inventor/con man Elon Musk.

Its also the day Catherine II assumed power and became Catherine The Great, the final draft of the Declaration of Independence was submitted to the Continental Congress for approval, Queen Victoria was coronated, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua formed the Central American Union (great job with that, guys!), the US bought the rights to build the Panama Canal from France, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, setting off a horrible chain of events, the Night Of Long Knives occurred in Germany, Amos ‘n’ Andy premiered, LBJ (no, not Nixon in case we have some leftist dumbasses here) authorizes first ground combat troops in Viet Nam, “Band On The Run” was released by Wings, Lee Trevino is struck by lightning at a PGA event, and the amazing Jonah Lomu made his national debut. Rest in peace, big guy. Here is a video of all his international tries. And no, you will not see one against the Springboks as hard as you might squint. Because that’s one thing he was never able to do.

OK, now its time for…the links!

The big news yesterday was the Kennedy retirement announcement. I caught some CNN coverage later, and Jeffrey Toobin looked like he was about to have kittens.  But I’m not sure we will find as scorching hot a take as this one from a nam who probably couldn’t beat his way out of a wet paper bag. I’ve got just two words for you, EJ: bring it on you punk.

Wait a minute… so the whole any last requests thing is bullshit?  Well, adios asshole.

Nancy Pelosi sure doesn’t like sharing the spotlight with younger, fresh-faced Democrats. Maybe even she realizes that a pretty hardcore Socialist isn’t gonna sway too many voters in the age of record-low unemployment for minorities, lower taxes and a relatively strong economy.

Way to go Mexico, you managed to make it election week with barely over 130 candidates killed so far. I honestly wonder how many of them were killed by the Fast and Furious guns the Obama administration deliberately had sold to drug cartels in order to undermine the Second Amendment here.

“Civilian” helps end crime spree in San Francisco. Way to go, dude. Come over here for your award.  Mind your step, there’s a pile of human feces right in front of you and a hobo shooting up some smack just after.

Another bonus from the Janus v AFSCME decision: Democrat machine infighting in Chicago. Keep playing the blame game, dumbasses. And watch your ability to extort continue to be eroded.

EU leaders seeking ways to halt migrants. An alternate headline would be: EU leaders look for ways to keep their cushy jobs.

That’s it for me.  I know not all of you will enjoy this medley, but I will.

Have a great Thursday, folks. Make sure to pack a life preserver so you don’t drown in salty liberal tears.

Damn you, Argentina!  You had to pull it out of your ass, didn’t you?  I just hope Diego Maradonna is ok.  He had to be treated after the match. Not sure if he pulled a muscle in his middle finger or sprained his nose, IYKWIMAITTYD. Croatia topped the group and now Argentina will have to take on France, who look pretty dangerous. Croatia will play Denmark, who also went through from Group C.  Today we have there crazy groups E and F, where a lot of permutations for advancement exist.

Back in America, there was a full slate of MLB games, with the following results: Tampa blanked Washington, Seattle beat Baltimore, The Yankees blanked the Phillies, the Red Sox drilled the Angels, Oakland beat Detroit, the D-backs topped Miami, The Mets beat the Pirates, the BIG RED MACHINE took care of Atlanta, Can Diego beat Texas, Milwaukee beat the hapless KC, the White Sox doubled up the Twins, St Louis scalped the Indians, the Cubs mauled the Dodgers, the Giants beat Colorado and your defending world champion Astros shut out Toronto.

And last but not least in sports, the College World Series final got underway in what can only be described as a circus of a game. the Hogs took the game 4-1, but if you didn’t watch the fourth through the sixth inning, you missed some wacky shit.  Game 2 tonight, with Arkansas having a chance to become NCAA champs (and a couple of Glibs have the chance to go berserk on us). Good luck, everyone involved.

On this day in history, New York and Boston were linked by telegraph wires, mutiny on the “Potemkin”, German President Hindenburg refuses to pay war debt, Truman ordered the US Navy and Air Force into the Korean War, the CIA officials overthrew the Guatemalan government, Ross Perot founded Electronic Data Systems, the world’s first ATM machine went into service in England, a police raid led to the Stonewall riots in New York City, Roger Moore makes his debut as James Bond in “Live And Let Die”, Nixon visited Russia, the Supreme Court ruled that employers can discriminate based on race with quotas, the US government reinstated the draft (1980), Timothy Dalton also made his (side note: the worst ever) Bond debut in “The Living Daylights”, and Bill Gates stepped down as head of Microsoft.

Born on this date were: German weapon designer Paul Mauser, poet and novelist Paul Laurence Dunbar (Dayton, whats up!), possible pinball enthusiast Helen Keller, Pan Am founder Juan Trippe, billiards master Willie Mosconi, the aforementioned Ross Perot, fashion icon Vera Wang, story-killer J.J. Abrams, “actor” Tobey Maguire and idiot Khloe Kardashian.

Now that was a shit list of names, in my opinion.  Oh well, on to…the links!

I’m afraid I have to announce that John McCain’s brain cancer is apparently contagious. I can only hope Schmidt gets the meds he needs to control his disease/insanity and that the white coats are at least gentle with him.  Christ, what an asshole.

Joe Crowley was supposed to take the Speakership from Nancy Pelosi when the blue wave happens in the fall. Problem is, he got his ass kicked in his Democrat primary and won’t be making the trip back to Washington next January.  While that’s pretty funny, you need to read the words of the woman who defeated him:

“When we talk about the word socialism, I think what it really means is just democratic participation in our economic dignity, and our economic, social, and racial dignity. It is about direct representation and people actually having power and stake over their economic and social wellness, at the end of the day. To me, what socialism means is to guarantee a basic level of dignity. It’s asserting the value of saying that the America we want and the America that we are proud of is one in which all children can access a dignified education. It’s one in which no person is too poor to have the medicines they need to live. It’s to say that no individual’s civil rights are to be violated. And it’s also to say that we need to really examine the historical inequities that have created much of the inequalities—both in terms of economics and social and racial justice—because they are intertwined. This idea of, like, race or class is a false choice. Even if you wanted to separate those two things, you can’t separate the two, they are intrinsically and inextricably tied. There is no other force, there is no other party, there is no other real ideology out there right now that is asserting the minimum elements necessary to lead a dignified American life.”

I guess she hadn’t heard about Venezuela, North Korea, the former USSR and every other shithole where socialism was tried and resulted in abject poverty, absolute misery and what is essentially a prison state.  Way to go, New Yorkers!

The tolerant left has led to Sarah Sanders needing Secret Service protection. Hopefully a violent idiot won’t go all Steve Scalise or Rand Paul or Berkeley or Mizzou or…well, you get the point, on her.

Christ Jet Blue, even Spirit Airlines isn’t this bad. Just kidding, they probably don’t have any of those buttons on their planes unless someone wants to pay extra for them.

Merkel is on the brink in Germany, while Austria’s Sebastian Kurz gains popularity. I wonder when the last time was that an Austrian became this popular in Germany.

A federal judge has said that separated families must be reunited by the federal government within 30 days.  I wonder if this is a hard order or if it can be ignored like the DoJ ignore records requests from congressional committees tasked with oversight.  I also wonder what legal basis the judge had for the decision, since theres no absolute timeline for due process in these cases.

Everybody knows Chihuahuas are the demon seed of the canine world, but seriously, what the fuck dude?

Chicago head of $2.54 billion foundation bitches about inequality being the biggest problem in the city. Yeah, I think you might want to spend a little more time on the job, sweetie. Because if there’s inequality, its not a racial or sex issue. Its the fact that the kings men, including cops and teachers and any pubsec union worker are treated like gods at the expense of the taxpayers.

Wow, somebody out there sure doesn’t like Houston cops.

EXTRA! EXTRA!: This just broke a few minutes ago but I thought it important.  The police officer who shot and killed Antwon Rose in East Pittsburgh, PA has been charged with criminal homicide.  That’s a bit of a shock.  Hopefully the prosecutors don’t over charge and let him walk. And hopefully there won’t be any riots now.

No musical birthdays today, so get ready for me to pick my own.

Have a great hump day, friends!

What in the world is going on with the CWS this year?  These weather delays are getting out of hand.  Game 1 of the finals series was postponed until today, so we’re gonna have to wait on the Hogs a little longer.  (Note: do not jump out of the outfield stands if you’re there waiting on the game to start. It will not go well for you!)  Thankfully, there was MLB action. Unfortunately, all of the top teams lost, including the Astros, Cubs, D-backs, Reds and Indians.

Across the globe in Russia, Spain and Portugal both moved on from the group stage, but it was not without some controversy.  Spain were, in my opinion, gifted a game-tying goal that denied Morocco a much-deserved win and will now play Russia after topping the group.  Iran and Portugal also drew, which send the Portuguese to play a very motivated Uruguay, who thumped Russia in the final game of their group earlier yesterday.  Today, we will be treated to Denmark-France and the Socceroos vs Peru, with Nigeria-Argentina and Iceland-Croatia in the afternoon, all of which are still alive in the wacky Group D.  These games will be at least as entertaining, seeing as everyone has a lot to play for.

I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been a little disappointed in the birthday slate the last few days.  I guess people historically weren’t into a lot of banging in the late days of summer.  Meh, I can’t say much. I only have one kid born in June myself.  Anyway, today we celebrate the birth of: baseball inventor Abner Doubleday, physicist and engineer William Thompson (1st Baron Kelvin), Marine badass Chesty Puller, aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt, athlete Babe Didrickson Zaharias, rocker Larry “The Mole” Taylor, brilliant singer with shitty politics Mick Jones, silky-voiced Chris Isaak, another great singer Patty Smyth, cyclist Greg LeMond, nerd hero Richard Garfield, the unintelligible Shannon Sharpe, “actor” Chris O’Donnell, actor (and crush of our very own Kristen) Nick Offerman, motorcyclist Max Biaggi, baseball executive and former player Derek Jeter, dog fighting enthusiast Michael Vick and donut- and America-hater Ariane Grande.

Its also the day the Chinese (what, you didn’t think it was the English, did you?) invented the toothbrush, Hong Kong was declared a British Colony, Die Walkure made its premiere in Munich, Karl Benz received the US patent for the gas-driven motor, the New York Daily News began publishing, the Ziegfeld Follies opened up, the UN Charter was signed by 50 nations, signaling the beginning of that failed experiment, the Berlin airlift began, John F Kennedy called himself a donut in Berlin, Elvis gave his last performance, Kirby Puckett became the all-time hits leader for the Twins,  Yasar Arafat left his hidden fortune behind and returned to Gaza, and the first of the Harry Potter series was released.

Finally, we had a day full of good ones. It had beed a little soft lately.  Anyway, now on to…the links!

Gee, I wonder what could have possibly motivated James Comey to intervene to kill a limited immunity deal for Julian Assange that might have helped the US Intel apparatus maintain some secrecy about their collection methods?  Could it have been the fact that it would have caused the release of the source of the DNC emails to be revealed? If I’m reading the story right, that’s certainly what it looks like.

The California government continues to oppose the First Amendment. Meh, they’re against the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Tenth and a host of others. I can’t imagine why I’d expect them to respect the First.

It looks like the Red Hen owners did a little more than politely ask Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave. I have no problem with them refusing to serve whoever they want, but they’re overstepping a line when they enter another private establishment with the intent to harass someone who is no longer on their property or in a public space.

Political failure Hillary Clinton decries the Electoral College. Funny, she wasn’t decrying it just before she got cocky and tried to pile on the electoral votes rather than actually paying attention to the swing states.  Christ, what an asshole.

Person operating in a gray area of the law begins to lose business after she calls the cops on an 8-year old kid operating in a gray area of the law.  Good, she’s an asshole too.

The Chicago Public Schools shitshow continues apace. Now we just need to find out if “removed from their positions” means they were actually fired or if they’ll continue getting money taken from taxpayers. Because we know without a doubt that they’ll never see the inside of a courtroom or a jail cell.

Boston’s mayor goes full retard. Didn’t anybody tell him you never go full retard?  I’ll give him a pass if he was never taught about slavery, internment, the various drafts and a whole host of other things.  What a maroon.

And the positive developments from the Korea talks keep coming. Look for this to not be reported on very much in the mainstream media.

The golden age of music: when a hideously ugly dude with a flute could get any ass he wanted.

That’s it.  And yes, I had a hard time picking a song today with all of those great birthdays. But I stand by my decision.  Now get out there and have a great day, friends.