“Mueller is totally discredited,” Donald mumbled under the sheet. “Conflicted and confused, convoluted collusion collision; cucked, cocked, cockled and contused.”
The hat typed as quickly as he could on Donald’s phone, desperate to keep up. The vent torn in the floor of the Oval Office under Donald’s desk belched another cloud of gas.
“Is this going to hurt him?” the hair asked worriedly.
“He’ll be fine,” the hat said distantly. “Fucking autocorrect. ‘Ducked?’ That’s not what I typed, you bitch phone.”
“Fake,” Donald said, sitting up suddenly, his hoarse breathing puffing the sheet out before his face. “Fake and dirty. Fake dirty dossier. Crooked Hillary DNC FISA court witch hunt!” He fell back into his office chair heavily and groaned.
“Good, Donald,” the hat crooned. “This is good stuff.”
“No, it isn’t,” the hair said. “It’s just rambling crazy nonsense.”
“I’m not saying I don’t have to edit it,” the hat replied. “Tweak it a bit. You know, polish it here and there. Hold on.” He typed quickly and then the hair heard the whooshing noise of a message being sent.
“See?” the hat said, holding the phone so the hair could read the screen. “This session made for a perfect tweet.”
“THE WALL!” Donald screamed. “THE WALL!”
“Quick, put on some Pink Floyd!” the hair said.
“Catch Lottery! Chained Release!” Donald yelped. “ICE! ICE! ICE!”
“No, you idiot,” the hat said. “He’s talking about the border wall.”
“This is so…” the hair began, “Confusing,” he finally said with distaste.
“But. You know what isn’t confusing?” the hat said, looking over the phone at an index card on the table in front of him.
“No, what?” the hair asked, devoid of any enthusiasm.
“The deals down at Uncle Papa’s Hat and Wig store, Washington D.C.’s classiest Hat and Wig shop for these past 50 years.”
“Uncle Papa’s?” the hair said with flat affect. “It does sound classy.”
“I buy all my hats and wigs there, you know,” the hat said.
“Really?” the hair said.
“Yes,” the hat said, annoyed. “Conveniently located in beautiful Historic Anacostia, Uncle Papa’s Hat and Wig Store will have everything you need.”
this is a paid advertisement
“I want a wig,” Donald said under the sheet.
“Men don’t wear wigs, Donald,” the hat told him. “Men wear toupées.” He typed some more on the phone and then sent another tweet.
“Toupée? Sounds French,” Donald said dubiously.
“It is French,” the hair.
“French? I don’t like the French,” Donald said. He adjusted the sheet. “When can I take this off?”
“Just a few more tweets, Donald,” the hat said.
“It’s hot under here. And it smells funny.”
“They have found toupées in ancient Egyptians tombs,” the hair said proudly.
“Yes, dudes have been bald for, like, ever,” the hat said. Moving like an inchworm, he slowly pulled himself closer to Donald.
“The French,” Donald sneered.
“Oh, hush, Donald,” the hair said. “You really like the French President and his wife. Remember? You had them over for dinner.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Donald said.
“His wife was real skinny? You told her she had nice legs? You planted a tree together out in the yard?” the hair prompted.
“Mademoiselle Macaroni!” Donald said. He pulled the sheet off and let it slither to the floor. “Oh, yeah, I liked her.”
“Mah-chron,” the hat said absently.
“I really liked the Macaronis. Nice people. Real Classy. And it was so nice that he traveled around with his mother.”
“That was his wife, Donald,” the hair said gently.
“Impossible,” Donald muttered. He pulled the sheet off the floor, flapped it twice to get the crumbs off of it and let it settle back down over his head.
The trade deadline this year was a flurry of activity. Let’s hope it made the divisional races more exciting. One of the more active teams was the Washington Nationals. And they went out afterward and put up 25 runs on the Mets. Jeez, that’s gonna leave a mark. Other winners were: San Francisco, Philly, the Yankees, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Tampa, Atlanta, Kansas City, Cleveland, Colorado, Arizona, Oakland, Milwaukee and the World Champion Houston Astros, who needed a win pretty badly.
WROOOOONG!!!!!
On the historical note, Roman Emperor Claudius was born on this date. He shares it with American explorer William Clark, composer Francis Scott Key, long-winded writer Herman Melville, funny fat man Dom DeLuise, hippy musician Jerry Garcia, bassist Rick Anderson, role-actor extraordinaire Taylor Negron, and rapper Coolio.
Its also the date on which King George I was crowned, Horatio Nelson routed the French Navy off the Egyptian coast, London Bridge was opened to traffic, the British Empire abolished slavery, Wilhelm II declares war on his nephew Nicholas II and kicks WWI into high gear, the 1936 Olympics were opened in Berlin, the first Jeep rolled off the line, Anne Frank made her last diary entry, David Ben-Gurion’s party wins the first Israeli election, Charles Whitman went on his rampage, Mike Tyson unified the heavyweight championship, Rush Limbaugh made his radio show debut, Hedy Lamarr was arrested for shoplifting, the Rolling Stones began their Voodoo Lounge World Tour, and the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis collapsed during the evening rush hour.
That’s a decent amount to take in, even if the birthday cupboard was pretty bare. Anyhoo, on to…the links!
Robinson freed
Tommy Robinson is out on bail. A judge found that there were “irregularities” in the original finding. Let’s hope he stays out as the British attack on free speech continues to criminalize actions we take for granted in America.
It looks like TANSTAAFL is once again going to become a reality in Ontario. Its amazing that a program throwing free money at people for doing nothing is financially unsustainable. The comments (at least before it was linked at Drudge) are hilariously pathetic.
Well this could be an interesting case. Can the Pulse nightclub survivors sue unnamed police officers for not trying to capture the shooter right away. Pretty sure the Supreme Court has already ruled that cops have no obligation to protect, but maybe that only applied to criminal responsibility and not civil law. Maybe a couple of our legal minds can chime in.
In October 2012 I went to the local gun show in New Bern, North Carolina with my sons (10 and 16). A gun store dealer had a steel .45 caliber Baby Eagle for $600. I had shot one of these a couple years before and had been looking to buy one. My younger son told me, “Just buy it, it’s your money, you don’t need to ask Mom.” But, luckily for me, common sense prevailed and I called my wife. She gave me permission, but she wasn’t happy about it. My wife is Japanese and was used to my rifles, but she is not a gun person.
Best $600 .45 you can buy IMO
Since it was a gun show, and I had never bought a new gun before I was surprised and a little irritated that they had to do a background check on me. I had always heard of the “gun show loophole” and was stupid enough to believe it. As Suthenboy always says, “Gun grabbers lie, it’s what they do.” But I went through with it (never again) and was approved. The only loophole was as an active duty Marine I needed permission from my Commanding Officer, but this doesn’t apply to gun shows.
I was due to deploy to Afghanistan in January, so I planned on getting my North Carolina Conceal Handgun Permit(CHP) when I got back. While I was deployed, I started looking into the laws and requirements for the CHP. As I did the research it was grinding my gears, and I kept thinking this is not something you should have to ask permission for. One of the websites I found was www.opencarry.org and there I learned that a permit was not required if you open carry in North Carolina.
I was unfamiliar with OC and really looked into the pros and cons.
OC Pros:
Comfortable, I don’t have to dress to hide the gun.
Easier to access the weapon in emergency
Deterrent factor, if a bad guy sees it, I’ll be more likely to be left alone.
NO PERMIT REQUIRED! (in NC, VA, and 29 other states)
OC Cons:
Potential target, this is the one most often mentioned by CC advocates, but if you look at statistics it is a minuscule risk.
Attract attention from law enforcement, this happened to me once and it was scary and enraging.
People reacting negatively, hasn’t really happened, most people either don’t notice or care.
Prohibited from certain stores, happened to me once, but I’m ok with this. If you object to my being armed, I assume you don’t want my money.
Losing the “element of surprise,” this is another one you hear from CC’ers, I would rather not shoot someone that tried to rob me because they thought I was unarmed, but that’s just me.
I decided OC was the best option for me, and since June of 2013, I OC everywhere outside of work, since I work on a military base. The first time it was like a 13-year-old boy with an awkward boner, you feel like everyone is looking at you. Over time it gets easier as you realize nobody cares. My wife is used to it, and even my proggy Mom doesn’t complain when she comes to visit.
I’ve had several comments and the overwhelming majority have been positive. As I look over the list below, there are some that were negative, but I’ve forgotten many of the nice things random people have said to me. 99% of the time no one says a word and I think most people don’t even see it.
Custom FIST Leather holster with thumb break
Here is a rundown.
Went to the Wicked Superstore in Havelock NC to look for a costume for my 11 y/o son. We weren’t in there for more than a minute when a guy who worked there came up to me:
Guy: “The owner wanted me to ask if you were law enforcement?”
I’m wearing work boots, jeans , a long sleeve black t-shirt with a Spartan helmet on the front and MOLON LABE on the sleeves and an old Penguins ball cap, so I don’t look like a cop.
Me: “No, just a normal guy.”
“She said if you’re not then you need to put the pistol in your truck.”
“Then we’re leaving”
“Oh.”
“I’ve been to a lot of different places and never had a problem.”
“It’s her property.”
“I know, guess we’ll go somewhere else.”
“Sorry about this.”
“I don’t care, we’re going.”
So we left and drove to the Halloween store in Morehead. I wish I could have taken a receipt back to the Havelock store, but my son was getting into the too cool for Halloween stage and we ended up not buying anything.
At a Hardee’s in Fredericksburg VA, I had a man walk up to my table.
Man: You can carry like that here?
Me: Yea, totally legal.
Man: You got a permit though, right?
Me: No, not required and I don’t want to jump through hoops for other people’s feelings.
Man: I’m not used to that, we’re from Jersey.
Me: Feel sorry for you, that is on the list of states I won’t move to.
Man: OK have a good one.
Me: you too
Later he came back and was amazed when I told him there were no limits to the number of bullets I could carry, I finished with, “Freedom is awesome”, and he replied with “I guess,” although I did hear him tell his wife they should move here “to get away from the Nazis.”
Chick-fil-A in New Bern with my wife, had the following conversation.
Some Guy: Excuse me, do you mind if I ask you a question?
Me: Not at all.
SG: Are you a cop?
M: No.
SG: Do you ever get hassled?
M: No, been kicked out of one store, but that doesn’t bother me.
SG: So the police leave you alone?
M: Yeah, I’ve eaten in here right next to two state troopers and been at another place with a couple county sheriffs and they didn’t say a word.
SG: Cool, I let my concealed lapse, since I didn’t want to take the class again, so I was OC’ing earlier, but put it in the truck before I came in here since I thought it would create a scene.
M: I go all over the place in New Bern and Havelock and 99% of the time people don’t notice or they have nice things to say about it.
SG: That’s good, I’ll let you get back to your lunch. Have a good day.
M: You too.
Dryer quit one night, so my wife and I went to the coin laundry in New Bern. There were two people plus the attendant, no one said anything and about 15 minutes later the other people left.
Now that it’s just my wife and me, the attendant calls me over.
Attendant: Do you have a permit for that?
Me: Nope, don’t need one to open carry, only if you conceal it. It’s still mostly a free country.
A: You can’t be in here, what if someone tries to take it and shoots us?
M: That never happens, are you telling me to leave?
A: Yes, I’m not comfortable with you in here.
So I stood outside on the sidewalk while my wife was inside (clothes were in the dryer at this point). Little later he came out.
A: It’s illegal to carry that without a permit.
M: No it’s not, can you tell me the actual company name?
A: Why?
M: I want to email the corporate office and find out if it’s their policy or just your policy.
A: It’s my policy, but I’m in charge so I say you can’t be in here.
M: I am not arguing that, I am just trying to find out where this comes from.
A: You can’t be in here.
Then he mumbled something about permits and walked back into the laundry. So I figured I could Google the company and find out. Five minutes later he comes back.
A: I’m not trying to be a dickhead, I tried to call my supervisor, but she’s not answering. You can go back in if you want.
M: OK, I’m not trying to cause a problem.
So I went in and he wanted to talk about problems with other people not listening and bringing dogs in, I said my gun will cause less problems than a dog. He asked why I didn’t get a permit, so I told him I don’t believe in asking permission, so I open carry.
All in all, minor inconvenience, and when I went back one more time he didn’t say a word, just nodded a greeting.
I got thanked in Popeye’s for “exercising your 2nd Amendment right.” I wasn’t quite sure what to say, went with, “do it everywhere I can.”
This one still pisses me off. Went to the Havelock Chili Fest, ate some good chili and walked around for a while. I think we were there for an hour, but as we were leaving a pair of Havelock cops came over to me. Only one cop did all the talking.
Cop: You can’t be armed here.
Me: Why not?
C: It’s illegal.
M: No, it’s not.
C: This is a festival.
M: So?
C: You can’t carry here, not even concealed, just like a place that charges admission, or a parade.
I jokingly point to their pistols and say, “but you’re carrying.”
C: You’re just a citizen.
M: This isn’t a parade or demonstration, so it’s legal.
C: No, it isn’t and you can either cooperate or….
He shrugged his shoulders a little and gave me a look. He didn’t say it, but I knew what he meant. I couldn’t keep my big mouth shut though.
M: I carried here last year. I also carry at the seafood fest and mum fest; cops definitely saw me.
C: If they didn’t stop you they are wrong. Are you going to put the weapon in your vehicle or not?
M: (deciding on not being arrested) We were leaving anyway.
I just started walking towards the parking lot and they didn’t say anything else. My wife says I need to work on my “angry face,” and I know I talked a little more than I should have, but at least they didn’t try to ID or disarm me. Spoiler Alert: I was 100% legal, but I was retiring from the Marine Corps and job hunting so I wanted to avoid having to answer “YES” on the “Have you ever been arrested” questions.
At Flatwoods Outfitters in Jacksonville NC, the RSO made me go back to my truck to unload and then hand carry my empty pistol to the line. It is illegal to OC if admission is charged, he admitted it was stupid, but the law is stupid and makes you do stupid things.
I went to the NC seafood festival, not sure why: food was too expensive and there were way too many people. But on the bright side, there was not a single reaction to my pistol (except my wife). She started with, “there are so many people, if something did happen, you couldn’t do anything.”
I explained that if someone started shooting, most people would get down and it’s not like I would go looking for them, but if they were coming towards me it would be fairly obvious who the BGs were. Then she told me that I was the only one with a gun, so I said that’s not true, I’m just the only one you can see. No big deal, for the most part she leaves me alone about it.
The gun did protect me while walking to the festival, there were two ladies sitting outside of the Democratic Party HQ and they stopped the people about 100 yards in front of me, but when I got to them they didn’t say a word.
At a HESS in Ahoskie or Oriental (it was a long trip, not sure) a man says, “You can carry like that up here?”
Me: That’s the only way I carry, since I refuse to get a permit.
Him: That’s legal? I’m from Florida so I’ve never seen that before.
Me: Totally legal, most people don’t notice or care.
Him: My man! I’m all about that.
Me: Freedom is awesome.
Him: We need more like you.
Me: Carry yourself. NC is a good place for it.
Him: Maybe I will, I keep mine in the truck.
It was nice to get a positive reaction, although no reaction is just as nice.
In 2015 we went to the gun show again. There were some nice guns and accessories there and the usual group of booths. I entered a few raffles and bought both of my boys a knife. One booth had a raffle for a free CC class and when the guy asked me if I wanted to enter, the conversation went like this:
Me: No, I carry open and don’t want a permit.
CC’er: Really, well what if the you go to CVS and the minimum wage worker freaks?
Me: I’ll leave and contact management.
CC’er: What if she calls the cops? (starting to get himself hyped up about something)
Me: Not breaking the law.
CC’er: What if he doesn’t know that and takes you to jail?
Me: I’ll sue their asses.
CC’er: Well, you be careful, that doesn’t seem like a good idea to me.
Me: I am, never had a problem (as I’m walking away, no patience for this).
It struck me as strange that a legal activity that doesn’t affect him at all was such a big deal. He was a little agitated when he got into the “what if” scenario, but it could have been worse; I thought he was going to start with the, “you’ll be the first guy shot” thing. My kids thought it was funny especially after I put it into the “two types of people”* discussion. It was funny to me because I’ve seen these types of discussions on the Internet, but this was my first experience in real life.
*There are two types of people, the ones who want to be left alone and the others who refuse to leave them alone. I always try to stay in the first group, but a lot of people jump back and forth depending on the issue at hand (drugs, healthcare, guns, religious freedom and so on).
If it doesn’t hurt anyone else I believe there is no reason to join the second group.
I was in Truckers Toy Store in Morehead City and no one complained, but I did have a customer come in and loudly say, “What the hell is going on here, we got guys with guns!” The lady behind the counter looked up a little startled and said, “WHAT! Oh yeah, he has his,” then she kind of shrugged and after he left she said “sorry about that.” I don’t know why people feel the need to bring attention to themselves trying to make a stupid joke. But it really didn’t bother the staff so it’s all good.
Since I’ve moved to Suffolk, Virginia and have been OC’ing all over Hampton Roads, I’ve seen some other OC’ers and haven’t had a single negative reaction. I always try to encourage OC’ing instead of CC’ing, but I think most people think it’s crazy. If you carry and it’s legal for you, maybe this will at least help you think about letting your freak flag fly.*
Special thanks to STEVE SMITH for stepping up to the plate this morning. The 70s really were a strange time. Also special thanks to whoever brought up fish and grits in the comments yesterday. I realized today that I had bacon, grits, and fish. That was a heck of a good lunch. Also my wife made me breakfast and mowed the lawn, so I suppose I will get a big-ticket item request today or tomorrow.
Sorry, no time to look for music today, some genius decided our Azure DB needed FB data center levels of performance and the client was pretty shocked at the bill. I’ve been spinning like a sales-guy in a delivery meeting all afternoon.
This is a brain droppings piece on the development of modified stock car racing in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and a couple lessons that can be learned from it. My family has been racing for three generations, and it is without a doubt my biggest hobby and passion. Hopefully, the lesson is clear: without the guidance of a Top Man, people spontaneously created a sport that still thrives almost 70 years later.
Early History
In the late 1940s, much of the young male population returned from war with a decent education in mechanics. This set the stage for a transition from the special-built race cars of the past, to racing stock cars. In the northeast, the coupes and sedans of previous decades were pulled from junkyards and put to work on the dirt ovals as racing machines.
Over the first few years, innovation was rampant. Each week the coupes and sedans would become more modified. First went the front fenders, to allow for bigger tires with more turning radius. Then the engines were altered, custom building parts and boring out the cylinders to make the biggest (and fastest) motor. They went from being stock car races, to modified stock car races.
1960s style coupe modified, restored
The Golden Age
By the mid ’60s, the cars followed a basic formula, a ’55 Chevy frame, a ’40s truck solid front axle, a classic coupe body, and a 427ci Corvette engine. Most of the parts were gathered from junkyards, stripped off of old cars, or custom built. This is where the spirit of small time dirt track racing lies. A driver or mechanic could come up with something in their garage, build it themselves, install it onto a car, and win.
As 1930s coupes and ’55 Chevys began to transition from junkyard jalopy to collector’s item, the racers had to seek out a new body and chassis design. Enter the subcompact car. Turns out those cheap Pintos, Gremlins, Pacers and Omnis might not have race car hearts, but they did have the skins. The small, boxy style was easy to recreate with a sheet metal brake and some elbow grease. The bodies were made as small as possible, with the driver going from the stock left side of the car to the center, running the driveline directly between his legs. The modified stock cars began to stray further from their stock roots.
Late 1970s Gremlin body modified, restored
Super Dirt Car Big Block Modifieds
The innovative minds of the day took racing from junkyard cars racing for a couple hundred bucks, to highly tuned machines running for purses in the tens of thousands. The northeast touring series, which still exists today, brought regional and national sponsors into the fray. With more money available, drivers were willing to spend more to have a better chance at the prize (incentives and all that). Enterprising and successful drivers began to build their cars for other people. Speed shops began popping up to sell custom parts. The days of winning with a home built car began to fade.
The stock car moniker was finally dropped in 1981. At the end-of-season race at the Syracuse Mile, a driver from Florida and a car builder from Missouri showed up with a car that looked nothing like anything on the street. The rules of the time prohibited bodies that were too narrow to reduce weight and drag, but they made no mention of a maximum width. This was exploited by the team of Kenny Weld and Gary Balough, who showed up with a piece holding F1 inspired aerodynamics, with wide wings and louvers that sucked the car to the ground. The car won by a lap. Teams scrambled in the off season to imitate the aerodynamics of what became known as the “Batmobile” and the rules were altered to become far more restrictive. The sanctioning body vowed to never let this happen again, as the racers all deserved a fighting chance against such innovation. And so the cars went from varied bodies and individual pieces to uniform cars bought from a few dealers.
Modern Era
This year, one of my local tracks (Orange County Fair Speedway) will host the 57th annual Eastern States Championship weekend in October. Older than the Super Bowl, this race is a remnant of days gone by. It once hosted over 150 unique and homemade modifieds and packed the house with close to 10,000 fans. This year, 2018, it will still pack the house, with a weekend full of camping, racing, and general redneck debauchery. But the cars will be towed there in stacker haulers, they will all look exactly the same, with components that can be bought from two or three different suppliers. The car counts will remain strong; 60-70 will try to qualify for 40 spots. But the sport has definitely changed. If someone comes to the track with something new, it is more often called cheating than innovating.
Eastern States 200
How this connects to Glibs
You might wonder what this is doing on this site, as opposed to some blog. In my opinion, this was a description of what a completely unbridled marketplace can create. Rules were not developed before the class, but afterwards to fit what already existed. Many of these rules were misguided attempts to keep the sport safe and inexpensive that often had the opposite effect. The biggest rule, a mandatory 467ci big block engine, has priced many people out as these engines become antiquated and harder to find. If the rule was not in place, bored out small blocks would easily surpass the big blocks in use and efficiency, but a bureaucratic series that has the philosophy of “it has always been this way” will not allow it. After all, they collect the sanction money.
Many tracks operate independently with open motor rules and see good car counts and better competition. However, these small budget drivers are unable to run for the large purses that the series offers, hamstringing them from being able to grow their team. Almost as though having more restrictions gives the established, higher dollar teams a better chance of remaining dominant…amazing.
The story of modifieds is also one of order arising spontaneously and not from the might of a sanctioning body. Competition normalized, cars became safer and faster, all without the guiding hand of a Top Man. The track was a safer place when a wild driver would be taken care of in the pits by the team whose night he wrecked, as opposed to a he said/she said scenario arbitrated by a track promoter and sometimes the local police.
Afterword
Hopefully you enjoyed this and learned something. Racing has been in my family for generations, and I tried to keep it as brief and true as possible. The links to libertarianism may be tenuous, but they are sincere.
As a parting word, I would ask you to go to your local dirt track. Bring the family, it is happening somewhere close to you (unless you live in Massachusetts; I have yet to find a dirt track there). Not all racing is the glamour of F1 or NASCAR. The top billed car classes may be pre-built, but most tracks have beginner classes that are pulled out of used car lots. Plus, the drivers are still the same old blue collar guys looking to have a good time on a Friday or Saturday night by participating in a sport they love.
Any Glib that lives around the NY/NJ/CT area, try to get to the Eastern States 200. The racing is better than any major series, and the beer is cheaper and cold.
Thanks to Tundra for getting me off my ass to write this finally.
STEVE SMITH CONTINUE TELL STORY. LAST TIME, HIM TELL ABOUT SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN. IT FEATURE GOOD FIGHT SCENE!
GIVE HUG TO STEVE AUSTIN!
BUT THING GO BAD WHEN CUT ALL RAPE SCENES STEVE SMITH WANTED…”MAKE ACCURATE!” STEVE SMITH SAY. “We are very sorry, Mr. Smith, but we are bound by the Code! The Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters won’t let us show that, no matter how accurate it might be!”
STEVE SMITH DISAPPOINT. HIM ASK AGENT WHY NO TELL HIM THAT. AGENT NOT HAVE GOOD ANSWER. STEVE SMITH FIRE AGENT. BY FIRE, MEAN RAPE…AND TERMINATE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP.
LAST STRAW COME IN 2 PARTS. FIRST, STEVE SMITH GET NO ROYALTY FROM TOY SET!
THEM TRY MAKE “BIGFOOT” LOOK LIKE JERRY GARCIA IN BEAR SUIT!
THEN STEVE SMITH SEE HIM IDEASSTOLEN! THEM MAKE CROSSOVER WITH BIONIC WOMAN. ANDRE GIANT GET REPLACED, WHEN HIM STAND SOLIDARITY WITH STEVE SMITH. THEM USE LURCH INSTEAD!?
STEVE SMITH VERY ANGRY. HIM ARGUE WITH STUDIO EXECUTIVES, BUT NO HELP (BY ARGUE, MEAN RAPE). THEM TOO COKED UP MIND RAPE. STEVE SMITH LOSE BEST METHOD PERSUADE…
NEXT TIME, STEVE SMITH TELL HOW THINGS END UP….BUT RIGHT NOW YOU WANT START DAY WITH LINKS. SO HERE ARE LINKS FOR FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN PEOPLE.
STEVE SMITH THINK COUSIN SEA SMITH GET ANGRY. WHY STEAL SHARK?! LUCKY FOR SHARK, THIEF DUMB – “HEY, WHO WANT BUY SHARK?”
THIS SENTENCE SILLY. STEVE SMITH HIM TEACH CRAZY LADY MANNERS. BY TEACH MANNERS, MEAN RAPE.
STEVE SMITH WAIT AND SEE. HIM HEAR THIS BEFORE. STILL, JAW-JAW BETTER THAN WAR-WAR. AND RAPE-RAPE BETTER THAN RAPE (RIGHT WHOOPI?)
As usual, this is based on various recipes found elsewhere, then adapted for my purposes and tastes. You may want more (or less) sugar than we prefer.
If you are making this for an “ethical vegan,” you will want to use organic sugars. Otherwise, regular sugars will work fine.
You will need to chill the coconut cream overnight before you start. When you purchase it, just pop it into the fridge and it will be ready whenever you need some.
1. Chill the coconut cream or milk for 8-24 hours. You are going for the separation of the milk and fat, so don’t shake or tilt the can once you place it in the fridge.
2. Once thoroughly chilled, open the can carefully and scrape out the thickened cream, leaving the thin liquid in the can for another use.
3. Place the cream in a mixing bowl and beat for 20 seconds or until creamy. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined and smooth.
4. Place the bowl in the fridge until ready to use. This keeps well for a week or even more!
Today is the last Monday in July. You know what that means. Today is Web Dominatrix’s birthday. Also, I got tired of seeing the permalink say “monday-afternoon-links-37”. I don’t know what everyone else did this weekend, but I ended up driving to Century, FL. For those who don’t know, Century is a pistol shot from Alabama to the north, and a rifle shot from Alabama to the west. I use firearms-based distances because I was visiting a prison. Warty told me I might be a redneck if I spend a whole weekend going to visit a family member in prison. Anyhow, I did the family thing, my youngest son got to see his grandfather for the first time since the boy was weeks old — he’s now weeks from being three. Its not the most fun, but it isn’t a terrible thing for my kids to understand just how much even visiting prison sucks, much less having to stay there. I will say that (for the first time ever) I encountered not a single surly or power-tripping guard. They all were professional, and a couple were downright polite. I’m assuming it was my kids’ winning personalities that brought out the best in them.
There was no Sportzball update, so let me get that in: Cleveland Browns picked as “most likely to improve” by ESPN. Glad that the egg-head statisticians have pointed out that regression to the mean is on the Browns’ side. OMWC’s benighted Orioles won a game and scored 11 runs. Save some of those for a close loss, boys. Red Sox and Yanquis won, too. Indians, Big Red Machine, Marlins, Braves, Mets, Blue Jays, Rangers, Rockies, Mariniers, Giants, D-Backs, and Cubbies won. AL MVP Jose Altuve went on the DL for the first time in his career. Apparently, he fell off the step stool he uses to reach the top shelf of his locker and hurt his knee.
Kangaroo food riots in Australia. When they start kicking people down and stealing their food, the Aussies will wish they hadn’t lost all those rifles in freak boating accidents. Or start blasting kangaroos.
I’m interested in the legal point of this one. Can a union member wear a union shirt in an ad supporting a political proposition the union opposes? The libertarian in me says he can wear any shirt he owns while making an advertisement. The union contends he is misleading the public into believing that the union supports the position by doing so. Can police departments then send take-down notices of officers shooting dogs in uniform?
Florida Reporter kills me with this headline: “Six people in St. Petersburg receive medical treatment after smell of carbon monoxide”. Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas. Most likely a CO detector alerted.
Bank of America acts like a giant bank, pisses off customer with bureaucracy.
Supreme Court Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty ImagesIn 1981, Elena Kagan wrote her undergrad thesis on why socialism failed in the United States. It is a mixture of the usual litany of excuses, but primarily she contends that: A) the right people weren’t in charge; and B) the people were deplorables who voted against their own interests. They were unworthy of the glories of socialism.
Aside from sitting on the Supreme Court, there is not anything notable about her daftness. Almost to a man this is the line that leftists use to excuse the catastrophic results that socialism yields each time it is instituted, without exception. If it were not so serious, it would be entertaining to listen to the gibberish that is indistinguishable from insanity; after all these are people who cannot accept objective reality and wish to impose their views on the population as a whole.
What I find more alarming is that the inability to completely grasp reality is not limited to the left. Last night, I made the mistake of watching news on television. There was a lot of ranting about the evils of the Obama administration, the calling out of bad actors and explicit accusations of corruption since the 2016 presidential election in our entrenched and unaccountable bureaucracy. One phrase kept coming up: abuse of power.
It is frustrating to me that so many people only ever get it almost right. Of course there has been gross abuse of power. Of course there have been and are bad actors. The chances of this not happening are exactly zero. What the bobblehead pundits are missing is the fundamental premise that the Founders based our constitution on.
I hear people cite the separation of powers fairly often but it is not really that. It is not about separating of powers, it is about dividing power into smaller and smaller portions until no one person or group has the ability to do serious damage to our society. The Founders knew from experience that bad actors and abuse of power are inevitable so they crafted a system that dispersed power as much as possible.
Eventually some discussion of Senator Rand Paul’s hesitancy for endorsing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanagh came up. There seems to be much alarm about this yet no real examination of why Senator Paul has taken this position. While Kavanagh is a brilliant jurist and a fine human being, Paul’s hesitancy is based on Kavanagh’s less than stellar stance on Fourth Amendment rights. I think in the end Paul will vote to confirm, but now is his chance to call attention to the massive surveillance state we have built that is trampling our inalienable rights with impunity. You cannot have a massive surveillance state and secret courts in a free country. It is a simple fact. The FISA law and its courts should be burned to the ground and the ashes thrown in the sea. This is what Paul is trying to draw our eye to. This ain’t rocket science.
I would be satisfied with Kavanagh sitting on the court. He is probably the best we can hope for. He would be a huge help in undoing much of the undiluted evil that has been inflicted on us by statists, but he is not a cure for the problem. We must dismantle the apparatus of the surveillance state and the concentration of unaccountable power. As long as it remains, we will continue to have gross abuses of power.
And speaking of dying (which is what would happen to me in any sort of athletic endurance event), what would you want your last meal to be? I think I’d want a burrito smothered with Christmas from Harry’s Roadhouse in Santa Fe, posole, and a big basket of sopapillas. Brits seem to want a holiday roast dinner.
I have a fascination with collective nouns, especially lately as a murder of crows has taken up residence in my backyard. Many of the collective nouns are amusing, especially the “mutation of thrush” which sounds like an extra bad STD.
“As far as knowledge goes I’ve come a long way.” ~ Jurgen Klinsmann
Do you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset? This is something I’ve been fascinated with since I first learned of the concept. I believe a growth mindset is very much a requirement for success as those with a growth mindset see knowledge and intellect a something that can be increased, as opposed to static.
“Milk is for babies. When you grow up you have to drink beer.” ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger
Today may be a Monday, but as it’s my birthday, and as my last year kind of sucked, I am celebrating with some booze! For the last couple days I’ve been sipping on a bottle of Basil Hayden’s, which was brought to my attention by SugarFree. There are some great looking cocktail recipes using this bourbon, but I can’t bring myself to mix it. As far as beer goes, my husband and I have been enjoying Suspended Particle Double IPA.
