Category: Daily Links

Well yesterday was a strange day.  It only rained for about 20 minutes.  I didn’t know what to do with myself.  Hell, the sun actually came out in the afternoon too! So hopefully the storms are passing and we can set the auction yard for tomorrow’s sale and nobody will get sucked through a sinkhole into the bowels of the earth.  But if they do, maybe they’ll see the Argentina team bus on the way down.  I mean…wow.  They got kicked in the taint by Croatia so hard that their chances of advancing into the knockout stages are really, really low.  Like winning-the-Falklands War-level unlikely.  Elsewhere in the tournament, the Frogs beat Peru and the Socceroos drew with Denmark in what was a rather exciting game.  Today brings us Brazil-Costa Rica, Nigeria-Iceland and Serbia-Switzerland.  Two of those three should be enjoyable while the first one will probably look like a dramatic reenactment of the Charles Whitman shooting spree with all the flopping that’s been going on from South- and Central American players.

Well we’re down to the Final Four in the College World Series.  And yes, those Happy Hogs are alive and kicking squealing.  They’ll take on Florida for the right to go to the championship series, needing to win just one game to get there and Florida needing to take a pair of games since they already have a loss.  The other pairing puts Oregon State in the position of needing two wins against Mississippi State, who needs just one to reach the final series. The action kicks off with Oregon State-MSU in the afternoon and UF-Arkansas in the evening.  Good luck to everyone. But not to the Gators.

The Astros were off. The Brewers won, the Reds beat the Cubs, the Giants won, the D-backs won and Baltimore continues to be inexplicably terrible as they fell to the Nats.  And that, my friends, is it for sports today.

Today we celebrate the birthday of gun enthusiast and enemy of bankers John Dillinger, the extraordinary filmmaker Billy Wilder, hospice founder Cicely Saunders, Highwayman Kris Kristofferson, “journalist” Ed Bradley, the pistol Pete Maravich, Polanski fan Meryl Streep, opportunistic scumbag Lizzie Warren, black Spock Tim Russ, filmmaking genius Bruce Campbell, Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, hater-of-Catholicism and writer of fiction Dan Brown, TV personality Carson Daly, top ranked golfer (in addition to being the dude banging Paulina Gretzky) Dustin Johnson, and somebody who goes by the name “Bob the drag queen”, whatever that means.

Mutineers set Henry Hudson adrift in Hudson Bay on this date. He was never seen from again. Galileo was forced to deny heliocentrism by the Pope, the first Continental Currency was issued, Napoleon abdicated his “throne” for the second time after getting crushed at Waterloo, the first ring doughnut was made, the US Government created the Department of Justice, the first passenger airship , named the Zeppelin Deutschland, took flight, George V, under which the British Empire reached its greatest size, took the throne, the aforementioned John Dillinger is named “public enemy No. 1, arguably the biggest military blunder of modern times, Operation Barbarossa, begins, Tricky Dick signed legislation setting the voting age at 18 across the country, John McEnroe threw his famous tantrum and Whitey Bulger was finally arrested.

Now that’s a lot better than yesterday, in my opinion. And there was a bunch of shit I left out too!  But I had to. Otherwise I’d have never gotten to…the links!

Looks like in addition to dying “in darkness” Democracy will die because of the jacket Melania Trump wore for a few minutes yesterday. Way to go, WaPo. I’m sure a Pulitzer is just around the corner for this bit of hard-hitting news.  Next thing you know, you’ll be reporting on what kind of salad dressing President Trump had relative to everybody else at lunch.

I’m just kidding.  That was actually breathlessly reported on by VOA and NPR. Seriously.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the biggest pussy in America.  Shocking that he’s facing charges and has been fired, which should be a relief to pre-teen children across the Wichita area.

Charles Krauthammer, Pulitzer Prize winner and war monger, has died. The world is no worse off for the loss.

Well it turns out that John McCain is a bigger piece of shit than even we believed him to be. Seriously, telling the IRS to audit PACs because the SC struck down your campaign finance law is a slap in the case of separation of powers, let alone a direct attack on the First Amendment.  That man needs to be charged with conspiracy to deprive the first amendment rights of every single group targeted by Lois Lerner and her jackboot goons.  I cannot stress enough how gross a violation of our rights to peaceably assemble and petition our government for a redress of grievances this is.  It attacks the fundamental foundation of a free people.

Is this what Alanis Morrissette would call “ironic”? I would.  I’d also call it hi-lar-i-ous!

Delta Airlines is banning pit bulls as service or “support-type” animals on their flights. And people are angry about it.  Here’s a bit of advice, Delta: ban ALL dogs that aren’t service animals for the blind or otherwise physically disabled.  The rest of your passengers will thank you and you can avoid headaches with breathlessly retarded people who can only fly if their Great Dane is standing beside them.  Let those fuckers pay to crate and ship their dog like everybody who wasn’t blind had to do before the whole “support animal” bullshit craze kicked off a short while ago.

Chicago medical examiner is so lazy that she wants to do away with the law that actually requires her office to visit crime scenes. The reason is simple: people in her office don’t follow the law anyway, so better to abolish the requirement rather than expect these public officials to follow it.  And furthermore, I mean who needs to look at a crime scene to determine cause of death anyway, right?

New Hampshire is rightfully pissed off over the Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision yesterday. Yeah, so is every small business owner in America who will be required to comply with the tax laws in 50 states, DC and several territories.

And lastly, Angela Merkel finally realizes her job is in jeopardy. About time you listened to your own citizens, dumbass.

Here you go, folks.

Have a great day and a better weekend, friends!

 

France goes through, the Soccerroos did a fair dinkum job against the Danes, but it won’t be enough. Messi and Argentina are looking to spend the rest of the summer at home, well, Messi won’t go back to Argentina if he wants to live. Looking forward to the youtube mashups — “Don’t shoot at me, Argentina”. It’s the longest day of the year, and I am feeling every second at work today.

Statists worry that TOP. MEN.’s plans for transit will be spoiled by the unwashed (and thanks to capitalism, far too rich for their own good) masses. Who keep wanting the control of being able to drive themselves! The nerve!

And, no sooner have the unwashed masses been granted the right to try life saving treatments thanks to unseemly protests against their leaders than the cries of “profiteering” ring out. Probably by someone who thinks paying $150/hr for holistic medicine practioners should be covered treatments for Stage IV cancer.

Hey guys, I’m sure we’ll all be surprised that doctors employed by the State suffered no consequences for prescribing life-shortening amounts of heroin to patients merely because they were old, and without first gaining the patients’ approval. Its almost like liability is a feedback mechanism….

And finally, state capitalism seems to be entering its terminal phase in Venezuela. May the coup be relatively bloodless and the next government more open to a free and fair society.

 

Here you go. The Longest Day. 

The Astros ended their one game losing streak and are still sitting on top of the AL West. Those lovable Hogs won in Omaha while North Carolina were eliminated. And in Russia, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay all won, with the latter sealing their bid in the Round of 16 and the others all but locking their spot down as well.  Today’s full of interesting games, with the Danes taking on the Socceroos, the Frogs playing Peru and the Brazilians who think they’re Italian but speak Spanish (otherwise known as Argentinians) take on Croatia.  Good luck one and all!

Sometimes the birthday roster is meh.  But I gotta say, I enjoy scrolling through them and catching an odd name or two.  Let’s see…today we celebrate the birthdays of: bullshit-artist Jean-Paul Sartre, the voluptuous Jane Russell, singer Ray Davies, E Street Band member Nils Lofgren, former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto, maker of one good film and two bad ones Larry (or Lana if you believe in that) Wachowski, talking head Gretchen Carlson, actor Chris Pratt, result of inbreeding Prince William, American hero Edward Snowden, and singer Lana Del Ray.

Its also the day Vespasian conquered Jericho during the Great Jewish Revolt. The US Constitution, largely ignored 230 years later, went into effect, Cyrus McCormick patented his reaping machine (insert STEVE SMITH joke here), the first Ferris wheel was unveiled in Chicago, the Pullman strike in Pittsburgh took place, Lou Gehrig retired, Chief Justice Earl Warren resigned, John Hinckley was found not guilty for trying to kill Ronald Reagan, and SpaceShipOne became the first privately-funded craft to achieve spaceflight in 2004…and was then regulated out of business.

I’ve seen better days for birthdays and events, but we got Ray Davies and Ed Snowden! plus the Constitution and Cyrus McCormick’s reaper which are undoubtedly two of the most important days in the history of individual liberty. Yes, I believe the reaper definitely earns that distinction as much as any invention from the last 300 years not related to firearms or personal weaponry. Feel free to debate that in the comments…which we will get to right after…the links!

Let’s see if there’s any discipline for this socialist federal employee pissing away tax dollars to protest while on the clock. Also, bonus points for trying to use the Groucho mask as a disgui…oh, never mind. She’s that ugly.

Trump takes another step libertarians should applaud. Hopefully it’ll result in the elimination of both at some point, but let’s at least enjoy the thought of another federal downsizing.

Uh, hey pal, there’s an easier way to do research on your novel than this. Christ, what an asshole.

This is going to be the next flashpoint in the BLM-Police UOF showdown. I’m gonna reserve judgement until I see the body- or dash cam with audio, but this one is hard armchair quarterback.

Not sure if it was brought up already, but even if it was, its absolutely hilarious. I only hope to God its true and there is video.

This should make everyone happy except the politicians in Cook County. I find a lot of joy in reading that more people are able to move out of that shithole war zone.

The Japanese appear to be taking the Trump-Kim summit at face value.

And as always, you gotta keep your head on a swivel!

I can think of no song I’d rather play on June 21st than this one.

Make the best of today, friends!

The Great “Just Shit in the Potty” fight with the two year old has been joined today. He won the first round, but I’ll get him by the end of the weekend. I don’t understand why shit in a diaper is no problem for me, but shit running out of underwear challenges my gag reflex. IIRC, that passes in about 3 days. Oh well, in six weeks, we’ll be more or less done buying diapers. For at least a year. Mrs. L and I are still negotiating whether we need an odd number of odd children.

And so Trump caved to the pressure, because he is nothing more than a weathervane. Signs executive order ending family separation. The GOP must be sighing with relief that they don’t actually have to do anything about AND don’t have to spend the July campaign recess discussing it.

Here’s a quiet little bombshell — IG admits to House oversight that it appears some FBI witness interview forms may have been edited after the fact. Do the FBI realize quite how hard they’ve fucked themselves if they can no longer bully juries into taking their interview notes as the only record of an interview? Absolutely fucked. Which is great!

This is a ballsy fucking scam, even for Florida Man.

England fans continue to prove that Churchill was about the only thing that stood between them and enthusiastic Nazism.

 

I went down the rabbit hole chasing videos, and came up with this.

Man, I hate it when a sale day gets close and the more I look at the weather, the more I realize its gonna rain and throw my entire layout off.  So it looks like I’ll be spending today setting up tents rather than items.  BOO! I feel like the Colombian soccer team.  Uh, hey guys, don’t you remember what happened to some of the 1994 team members after that failure?  Yeah, let’s try not to repeat that, ok Colombian fans?  Also, Poland fell to Senegal and Russia locked their place in the Round of 16 after beating Egypt.  Uruguay can lock their place down today as well. And Portugal and Spain both get a chance to get a win, as they face some weak opposition.

Well the Astros were bound to lose eventually. But it seems to happen all too often that their bats go to sleep when Verlander is on the hill.  Way to go guys.  And in the CWS, we will have to wait yet again to see Arkansas-Texas Tech after another day filled with delays.  Texas was bounced from the tourney and Mississippi State advanced in their winners bracket by drilling North Carolina.

Guitarist Chet Atkins was born on this date. As was super-fucking-badass Audie Murphy, National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, Beach Boy Brian Wilson, Commodore Lionel Richie, brilliant actor John Goodman, Speaker Of The House Munster Butch Patrick, high-flying wrestler Koko B Ware,  actress Nicole Kidman, and possibly the second-best real wrestler of all-time Cael Sanderson.

It is also the date on which the Romans and Visigoths joined up to defeat Atilla the Hun on the Catalunian Plains, Oxford received its charter, Queen Victoria ascended the throne at the age of 18, the telegraph was patented, Andrew Johnson announced the purchase of Alaska, Lizzie Borden was acquitted, the NAACP was incorporated, Jesse Owens, running for The Ohio State University, set the 100m indoor world record, Muhamad Ali was convicted of refusing induction into the armed forces, Juan Peron returned to Argentina from exile, “Chinatown” debuted at the box office, so did what is arguably a perfect movie in “Jaws”.  Jesus, so did “Blues Brothers”, and OJ Simpson was arraigned in the murder of his wife and her “friend” Ron Goldman.

Heady stuff there, even if the birthday roster was a bit “meh”.  Anyhoo, on to…the links!

Look at the picture and see if you can guess the crime without clicking on the link

Please let this happen. Please let this happen. Please let this happen. I don’t know if there’s really anything else to say.

Hey, imagine that: as the economy continues to improve, a bunch of deadbeats are going back to work. Gee, makes you wonder how much of the previous years’ payments were fraudulent.  Actually, don’t think about that, it’ll only lead to depression.

Teacher. Students. Sex. You know the drill. But in this case, she only got 30 days.

OK, now do the rest of the United Nations. Because it isn’t much better.

Ah, travel league softball…never change.

See if you can find all the double-standards for the Kings Men in this piece. It’ll be like “Highlights”, but for libertarians.

If he did it, I hope they spring him up by his nuts until they shrivel up and die. I really don’t have anything else to say.

A pretty big catalog.  But I decided to go with this one.

Hope y’all enjoyed this War And Peace-length version of the links.  Go have a great day!

More adventures in the World Cup. Colombia couldn’t overcome a very early intentional handball to stop a clear goal. Japan won 2-1, and the 1 for Colombia was a gift from the ref. I missed the Senegal v. Poland, but I hear there was some controversy on one of the goals. Russia came out of the 2nd half and are just destroying Egypt, although the VAR official gifted Egypt a penalty kick. Also, Egypt is playing dirty as fuck. Not much going on here at the home front. I’m reliving a bit of the past as an Azure deployment runs over an hour. That is how I started reading the internet in the first place. **Pours out one for the Slashdot of 15 years ago**

Tesla builds tent for ad hoc assembly line, ars technica creams their jeans. They’re probably lining up to lynch Musk’s “saboteur”.

In the never-ending philosophical debate over whether consciousness is material and emergent or universal and existing, one scientist-philosopher brings in brain scans from multiple-personality disorder patients to make a complex and interesting case for and ideal and universal consciousness that can be experienced differently by different beings.

Now THIS is a nice gun collection.

Allowing people to form their own associations to buy insurance is obviously sabotage and racist, tovarisch.

Fuck Cancer! But please don’t treat John McCain until he agrees to retire.

Alcohol makes your heart toughen up. Apparently, there’s a maximum effective dose, so go easy.

 

And I was thinking of one of our passed on bag-piping friends when I saw this — so I’ll share it with everyone.

Its Juneteenth, Texans.  Time to celebrate the ending of slavery in the state and in the south.  Of course, slavery was still legal in some states that didn’t secede. But historians would prefer people believe slavery, once ended in the former confederate states, was ended for good much earlier that year.  And it still goes on in much of the world, of course.  Today is also the day we celebrate birthdays for the following: mathematician Blaise Pascal, divorcee Wallis Simpson, fucking GENIUS funny man Moe Howard, Iron Horse Lou Gehrig, author Salman Rushdie, “singer” and vodka fan Paula Abdul, hilarious Top Gear guest and former mayor of London Boris Johnson, actress Mia Sara, Maverick Dirk Nowitzki, and mean-as-snot child Justice Forall Sloopy Juneteenth Spicer. Its also the day the Metropolitan Police in London were formed, the British royal family dropped their German name and adopted Windsor in order to throw people off the scent of their ties to those filthy Huns, Max Schmeling knocked out Joe Louis, Rommel occupied Cherbourg, Cheerios was unveiled to the disgust of children everywhere, Lewis and Martin ended their run together, that bastard Jim Davis subjected the world to “Garfield” for the first time (and may God have mercy on his soul), drug lord Pablo Escobar surrendered to police, “Batman Returns” was released, and Cherry Garcia hit the shelves.

England barely pulled out a win over Tunisia, after a dozen missed chances and a lot of crappy play by their attackers.  No word yet on whether or not Harry Kane will try to take credit for Tunisia’s goal as well. Belgium thumped Panama and Sweden bested South Korea. Meanwhile, in Omaha, Oregon State sent Washington home in a losers bracket game. No other games were completed, meaning three are on the slate today, with Arkansas taking on Texas Tech in the nightcap.  In the big leagues, the Yanks and Cats split a doubleheader, the Dodgers-Cubs was postponed, the D-backs won and the Houston Firstros took their current win streak to 12 with a walk-off win against the hapless Rays.

OK, time for…the links!

“Look, you got your kid eventually. I think its best we all just forget this and move on. No harm, no foul, right?” -Logan Regional Medical Center Legal Counsel (paraphrased) I’d probably go berserk as well, but its kinda funny since it happened to someone else.

I was wondering why James Comey hadn’t tweeted in some time and the wave of supporters he had from the intel community seemed to have dried up a bit.  I suppose now I know why.  He belongs in jail for admitting to leaking classified information in the name of self-aggrandizement.  Even he knows that, which is why he chose to double-down in an attempt to win the PR war.  Doesn’t look like it worked.

The SPLC took a financial hit and will have to pay $3.375 million for wrongfully labeling a reformer an “anti-Muslim extremist”.  Not to worry, Morris Dees and his little slush fund will continue to shake people down and slander them.

Listen, if you’re dumb enough to throw your money at a place like this, you probably get what you deserve.

AG Jeff Sessions asks Supreme Court to intervene in sanctuary cities receipt of federal block grants. The feds have thus far not successfully challenged sanctuary cities ability to get federal tax dollars. But they’ve not exactly been zealous in their challenges from past administrations.

Massachussets grifters will have to wait a little longer to steal more money from the Commonwealth’s wealthiest taxpayers. LOL, these dumbasses are too stupid to even know how to write a ballot initiative that complies with the state constitution.  Do we really think for a second they’ll be good stewards of the additional confiscated money?

And Pervez Musharraf will not be allowed to seek office, according to Pakistani Election Commission.

One of these guys is celebrating a birthday today.  Plus its from a pretty funny scene in “Caddyshack” involving Spalding, vomit and Dr Beeper.

That’s it for me.  Hope y’all have a great day. I’m gonna bake a birthday cake for the youngest member of the family.

 

So lets see, Sweden survive, Belgium does their job, and England are trying to give away what should be a win — oh wait, Harry Kane wanted it. Nice header. That’s what I’ve got today. Its feeling like summer in Florida, so I can’t tell if I was sweating or I was just a convenient spot for condensation. That’s all I got.

Florida people doing Florida things. Man goes to separated wife’s place to dispute an air conditioner, gets shot in the nuts, his brother chokes the wife out. Lovely.

DC wins the psychopathy award. Places with high density of stock brokers come in 2-5.

This is complete and utter shit. James Hansen declares all his 1988 Global Warming predictions have come true. This is wrong.

Trump orders a Space Force. Obviously we need at least a Yamato and Rodger Young in the fleet.

Monster Magnet, why no love for Florida?

Someone’s been playing with tannerite, and not in the fun way.

 

I should have loved to see this live.

Hope all you dads out there had a great Fathers Day weekend. And I hope the USGA are proud of themselves for killing the greens on Saturday.  Looks like they are, because they spent all day yesterday patting themselves on the back for “fixing” the problem they created in the first place.  At least next year is at Pebble Beach.  They can’t ruin that as well, can they?

Way to go, Germany.  You too, Brazil. Hell, throw Argentina in there.  They all gave points away, Germany most of all.  But I think all Americans who follow soccer can unite in our contempt for Landon Donovan. I especially like in his tweet toward Carlos Bocanegra where he says to “stand for something.”  I guess “something” is Wells Fargo dropping a small pile of money in your lap.  Douchebag.

Hey, look. The Astros just completed a 10-game road trip. And went 10-0. They have their streak at 11 right now and are finally looking like its coming together.  Now about that bullpen…

And speaking of baseball, your CWS early round winners were Texas Tech, Mississippi State, North Carolina and the Arkansas Razorbacks.  And speaking of Razorback fans, of which I know we have a couple here, get a load of this genius in Omaha.

That’s it for sports.  Hey, famous mountain climber George Mallory was born on this date. He shares it with (should-be) basketball legend George Mikan, base-stealer Lou Brock, musician and scold Paul McCartney, blowhard Roger Ebert, one-time hottie Isabella Rossellini, (possibly the best) defensive end (of all time) Bruce Smith, former ace of hearts Uday Hussein, and spitter Sandy Alomar. Its also the date when William Penn founded Philadelphia, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, Susan B Anthony was fined $100 for voting, the 1st Amusement park in America opened its doors in Atlantic City, Ameila Earhart proved that women can do anything men can do (several years later) by flying across the Atlantic, Winston Churchill gave his “this was their finest hour” speech, Brezhnev visited the US and Nixon, Sally Ride travels to space, Boris Yeltsin visited the US, and Unabomber (and possible Glibertarian) Ted Kaczynski was indicted. Fine stuff, some of that.

OK, on to…the links!

Five are dead after their SUV, filled with 14 people, overturned while being pursued by the Border Patrol. Its safe to assume both sides in the illegal immigration and detention debate will be using this all day.

Meghan Markle’s father is a really weird dude.  I, for one, look forward to him making an ass out of himself and the royal family he’s now technically a part of.  This is gonna be like Billy Carter on steroids.

The New York state assembly says “In this case, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.” And apparently, they were just the guys to do it.

Party-crashers get what’s coming to them.  I’m shocked none of the attendees got arrested.

Fucking Chicago…..not much else to say. But by all means, keep him. We don’t want him back in Texas, unless its to serve out a sentence.

22 people were injured when gunfire erupted at an all-night arts festival in New Jersey. Huh, it got pushed off the front page of all the liberal rags pretty quickly.  Gee, I wonder why.

And Ted Cruz beat Jimmy Kimmel in a game of 1-on-1 basketball for charity. I can only imagine that it was a near shot-by-shot remake of the “cripple fight” scene from South Park.  Come on, you two. Settle your spat by strapping on gloves and beating each other to a pulp. 1 on 1 is boring and lacks the violence we crave in out politician-vs-talk show host disagreements.

I almost picked “Jet” just to rile someone up, but I’m going further back. And picking a better song.

Have a great day, friends. I’m going to get a root canal in a couple hours.

Since I can’t get any Cryptid support this weekend, and I am not trying call ZARDOZ on his CB any more today, you get my links again. I guess the folks in the home office won’t be very happy when they have to come to work on Monday morning. Too tired from celebrating the ultimate neutral result.

I feel for them. I got food poisoning Saturday evening… but managed to go see my Dad today, have a couple of Swedish pancakes and drive home…whee.

 

Sheesh, OK Conan. Here are your links:

• You know what other extremist group threatened to bring down a Czech government?
• Uh oh, this woman is in serious jeopardy!
• World Cup moment of the event so far?
• I must say I am surprised that groups of armed Arabs are not carefully safeguarding Jewish relics. And, no, I don’t mean OMWC!

 

I am going to go see if any of those darn AWOL cryptids are answering their email yet. Bis spöter!