Glibertarians.com 2018 Archive

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  • If I weren’t vegan…Iranian Edition نسخه ایرانی

    I’m vegan.

    But it pains me to admit this because many vegans (like the ones JP Sears is parodying in this video) give us a bad name. Really, it could be argued that most vegans give vegans a bad name, and there are very few of us who are not pretentious fucks, but I digress.

    I have been vegetarian for 4.5 years, and vegan for 2 years because I have a “colicy gallbladder” (according to a recent perambulation through my medical records), and because my electrophysiologist thinks being vegan could reverse my heart problem.

    But before all this happened…

    I could really cook the fuck out of some #NotVegan food. Especially Iranian food.

    If I weren’t vegan, I would be cooking these Iranian dishes this week.

    1. Tahdig ته دیگ

    Tahdig is a must-have for your Iranian meals. Tahdig means “bottom of the pot” and is what happens when you leave rice on the stove for too long. I was told it goes back to when the Persians were cooking over open flame (you know, before non-stick cookware), and the bottom of the pot of rice would always crisp up. They found a way to turn it into a tasty, crispy, crunchy, buttery treat. Tahdig refers specifically to the crispy layer.

    I had started typing out my whole process for you guys when I realised I have no pictures, and this is a dish that needs some pictures to accompany it. I happily found a guy on YouTube who does it pretty close to the way I do it.

    2. Ghormeh Sabzi قورمه‌ سبزی

    This is one of my all time favourite Iranian dishes. I was taught how to make it by an old family friend of ours.

    You basically take a fuckload of onions, herbs, kidney beans, and meat, and throw it into a pot, cook until delicious, and serve over rice.

    This recipe from MyPersianKitchen.com is closest to the way I was taught.

    Get some limu omani and throw them into the pot. Limu omani are little dried Iranian limes. Take a knife or a nut pick and stab some holes into the limu and add into the pot with your stew. They soak up all the meat juice and turn into little exploding flavour grenades in your mouth.

    Trigger Warning (or Joy Warning, depending on your perspective): This dish is like… 50% cilantro.

    3. Fesenjan خورش فسنجان

    Fesenjan is a pomegranate walnut chicken stew. It’s rich and soooo delicious. You basically slow cook chicken with walnuts and pomegranate molasses until the chicken falls apart.

    Pomegranate molasses is hard to come by if you don’t have a good Persian Grocery, but it’s fairly easy to make if you can get your hands on pomegranate juice.

    On the stove in a non-stick pan add 4 cups of pomegranate juice, 1 cup of sugar, and 2/3 cup of lemon juice. Slow cook until reduced down to 1 cup of liquid. With so much lemon juice, this keeps in the fridge for a long time in case you have any left after you make fesenjan.

    Fesenjan is one of those dishes that every Iranian family I know has a different method for, and as you cook it more frequently, you’ll discover your own methods. But this recipe from SimplyRecipes.com is a good place to start.

    4. Mast-o-khiar ماست و خیار

    This is a cucumber and yogurt sauce that bears a remarkable resemblance to tzatziki. Again, this is a recipe that basically every family has a version of.

    The spread should be pretty thick with big chunks of cucumbers, a subtle undertone of rose, and a refreshing mintyness that doesn’t hit you right away.

    I’m really bad about measuring things. Like OMWC I combine things until they taste right, so my recipe for mast-o-khiar is fairly free form.

    In a bowl add plain yogurt, diced cucumber with the seeds removed or it’ll be too watery, a teeny-tiny bit of chopped mint, and a dash of rose water. I like to add 1 part labneh for every 2 parts of yogurt to thicken it up a little bit. Labneh is basically Lebanese cream cheese. If you can’t find it near you, you can make it with this recipe.

    If you want a recipe with measurements, this one from Sunset Magazine is surprisingly authentic.

    5. Khorake Loobia Sab خوراک لوبیا سبز

    While the name of this dish is “green bean stew” beef plays a major role, as do potatoes. Khorake loobia sab doesn’t taste very green-beany. Instead it’s rich, and comforting with incredible umami. Key ingredients are beef, green beans, potatoes, onions, cayenne pepper, and turmeric. You can easily make this dish spicy by using more cayenne pepper or replacing it entirely with a spicier pepper. Khorake loobia sab holds up well to spice.

    For best results make sure you get stew beef that has some fat in it. I always hated eating fat, but it adds an essential richness to this dish.

    Most recipes call for sour plums to balance it out. You could omit them and replace with a bit of lemon juice, or limu omani.

    Get started with this recipe from PersianMama.com.

    A couple notes:

    I’ve never seen a recipe discuss this for khorake loobia sab or ghormeh sabzi, but you can really improve the quality of a cheap cut of meat for both of these recipes with this technique:

    Get a cut of beef roast like something you would use for London Broil. The day before you plan to cook the beef cover it with honey and/or diced onions and stick in a dish to marinate. Both honey and onions contain enzymes which tenderize the meat. It will be so tender that you will be able to slice into the meat with a spoon without overcooking it. Remove the onions and use them in the recipe for some extra beefy-ness.

    Most Iranian entrees go well with a  dash of sumac, which can be hard to find. I order mine from Amazon.

    Most of these dishes can be made vegan by replacing the meat with a vegan alternative. It would be hard to do mast-o-khiar vegan.

    Featured image: Mazandaran Province, Iran

  • Monday Afternoon SugarLinks – The Hat and The Hair: Episode 87

    “Here, take a bite of this,” Donald said, thrusting the Finnish Big Mac into Sarah’s face. She moved away from the dripping sandwich.

    “Take a bite, Pie,” Donald insisted.

    “My name is Sarah, sir,” Sarah protested.

    “Take a bite. I insist,” he said.

    “What’s wrong with it?” she asked.

    “Wrong? Nothing’s wrong. It’s a Big Mac. It’s delicious.”

    “Why is it, uh, dripping?” Sarah asked. Her stomach rumbled audibly.

    “I always ask for extra-extra secret sauce. Because it makes it better. And because it’s secret.” He reached out and smushed the edge of the sandwich lightly into her face. Sarah licked her lips reflexively and gagged.

    “See? I told you. Just tremendous. I made this Big Mac so much more delicious,” Donald said. “Me. I did that.”

    He devoured the Big Mac in three enormous mouthfuls, except the small part that had touched Sarah. He looked at as he chewed the last giant bite and then dropped it on the floor. He turned back to rummage through the McDonald’s bag.

    “Shit. The fries are cold. I can’t eat these,” he said with roiling disgust. “I bet Vlad never has to eat cold fries!” He threw the large order of cold fries at Sarah and they dotted her white dress with grease and salt where they struck.

    Get up off my dick, New York Times. I am going to cut you.

    NYT gay-bashing freak out in the replies. Which I don’t get. Can’t two virile world leaders be in love without it being coded as gay? Platonic bromance, fam.

    Tim Tebow Dating Alleged Woman

    Tim Tebow has confirmed he is dating Miss Universe Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters.

    The 30-year-old football star, who has made a vow to stay chaste until marriage, gushed about the 23-year-old pageant queen to ESPN.

    The former NFL quarterback, who famously switched from football to baseball, told the outlet on Sunday: ‘She is a really special girl and I am very lucky and blessed for her coming into my life.’

    Imagine a world where everyone was judged solely on the opinion of the exes. Do you think the cat ladies of Jezebel really want to live in it?

    Yvette Nicole Brown Will Fill In for Chris Hardwick on Talking Dead Following Abuse Allegations

    Last month, actor Chloe Dykstra posted a lengthy, harrowing essay on Medium detailing extensive sexual and emotional abuses she says she faced during a three-year relationship with “a mildly successful podcaster to a powerhouse CEO of his own company.” It didn’t take long for readers to realize she was accusing Nerdist founder and AMC’s Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick, and it didn’t take long for noted dumbass Adam Carolla to come to his defense.) AMC is currently investigating the accusations, and because of that, Hardwick will be replaced, temporarily, on Talking Dead by Yvette Nicole Brown (Community, Drake & Josh).

    And to show you I am not just being biased, here are pictures of my cats:

    Turtle man is really just a big ol’ dog…

    Scientist Loses Distinguished Award After Acceptance Presentation Full of Racy Photos

    The Herpetologists’ League rescinded its annual Distinguished Herpetologist award after winner Dick Vogt showed racy photos during his acceptance address.

    The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports:

    According to several attendees, Vogt, a longtime researcher of Brazilian turtles, showed several pictures of “scantily clad female students” doing field research. The photographs were risqué enough that conference organizers added blue boxes to cover parts of the women’s bodies.

    Henry Mushinsky, committee chairman of the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, told the Democrat and Chronicle that the conference did not have a code of conduct. He said that students doing fieldwork near water often wear bathing suits, but that these photos were “not just typical documentary photos,” the Democrat and Chronicle wrote. Several attendees tweeted that they walked out of the talk. The Herpetologists League offered a statement to conference attendees condemning Vogt’s behavior.

    With bonus “asking to see the pics is being childish” action in the comments.

  • On Shaping the Army Network…

     

    The story starts here – pages 5-7 in particular. And yes, you need to read that article to appreciate the rest below.

    I was asked to provide comments, this was my response:

    The scenario reads like a rejected plot treatise from the TV show 24.

    Is this now proposed to be a doctrinal infantry battalion operation? Or is the “battalion sized raid” really an over-grown Special Ops activity? The scenario posits that stealthiness and surprise are essential – which argues that some 800 soldiers in uniform aren’t the right force, no matter how they infil/exfil. The scenario then assumes that this large of a physical operation is critically dependent on cyber (in a country with a dysfunctional government but a “sprawling mega-city”); and that a greater threat to the operation is presented by social media than either Attican military or Sogali police force or the armed criminal gang with a bio-toxin. There are two distinct air assaults (initial and follow-on), and these proceed undetected and undisturbed by Attican civil and military personnel (presumably deterred but not killed by “ground protection robots”).

    As a proof of the concept, let alone of the operational capability (test or field exercise), in what CONUS location will cyber teams deploy and clandestinely establish access to cellular (e.g. Verizon), landline/internet (e.g. AT&T and TimeWarner) as described? This will all be accomplished while evading detection and counter-measures of course.

    Does the author of the scenario actually have a notion of what a “quantum gravity sensor” is – or is that just a collection of cool sounding words? Is a microbot really the size (and appearance) of a rodent, or is it smaller – say the size of a cockroach?

    The rehearsal of the raid is conducted while the raid is already underway, i.e. the force is in country potentially drawing hostile attention? And it is all virtual (simulation)? While rehearsal of [small] special operation missions is a key component of McRaven’s case studies in SpecOps, they are not done as part of the mission itself. They are done well in advance to drill and debug the mission plan. One can imagine a game designer philosophy in the virtual rehearsal – nope, we need to reset, again.

    Direct neural interface? Is the author of this scenario going to be involved (as a subject) in the testing of those?

    XT “combatants” are neutralized non-lethally, but the armed UAVs are eliminating threats on rooftops via more conventional means? And that draws no attention/reaction from any Sogali or Attican officials?

    The crowds gathering in the streets receive the PSA ‘burst’ transmitted to them, which they ignore and develop into a threat to the mission. Now what? Social media detects anxiety and hostility (I suspect the soldiers on the ground are sensing that too), but no ameliorative action is suggested let alone taken.

    Friendly casualties (hey, there’s a touch of reality after all) are treated while wounded hostiles and neutrals are left to fend for themselves. No repercussions there. All withdraw, including captured hostiles (and the biotoxin – presumably all to be destroyed at our convenience) without so much as a scolding from any actor of the government who’s sovereignty we just stomped all over.

    Heck, if we’ve got direct neural interfaces – why don’t we just slip a few operatives into the XT compound and de-neuralize the bad guys (to borrow from another Hollywood plot)? That way they won’t even remember that they could produce a lethal substance.

    The scenario is so broken as to make any contemplation of possible technology capabilities within the forecast timeframe too immature and fantastical to warrant the amount of time spent in producing and reviewing this document.

    Now, remind yourself – this is a document on a U.S. Army website that all of the officials in charge of public affairs deemed suitable.

  • Monday Morning Links

    Goooood Monday Morning my Glibertariat shitlords. I’ll be giving you the links because Sloopy had a prior engagement this morning. Let’s see, Astros lost. Justin Verlander appears more interested in seeing what pregnancy is doing to his wife’s already generous bust than striking people out. And good for him. Seattle lost, too. As did Croatia, The Yankees, D-backis, Angels, and Toronto. Its the All-Star break, so lord only knows what Sloopy will talk about tomorrow.

    People had birthdays and shit happened in the past.

    NASA chief says the new US Space Force will be based on the Navy, not the Air Force. So I guess the dropship Rodger Young is a possibility.

    Elon Musk calls Thai rescuer “pedo” in tweet, fuck stick.

    Cocaine is a hell of a drug, that encourages you to engage in poor choices.

    We give Californians a lot of shit, but I’m going to give this one’s persistence a thumbs up.

    Okay this is too funny. Is this one of you?

  • SEA SMITH SUNDAY NIGHT LINKS

    SEA SMITH TELL GOOD JOKE!

     

    SEA SMITH HAVE JOKE!  WHY NORWEGIAN NAVY PUT BAR CODE ON SIDE OF SHIPS? SO THEY CAN SCAN DA NAVY IN!

    THAT FUNNY! HAHAHAHA!

    YOU NO THINK FUNNY? …WELL SEA SMITH DON’T SEA IT THAT WAY!

    HAHAHAHAHA!

    OK, NOW YOU ALL LAUGHED TO POINT YOU TIRED, SEA SMITH GIVE LINKS! SEA SMITH HAPPY STEVE SMITH ALL SAFE, AND HE NOT HAVE TO WORRY!

    1. SEA SMITH CANCEL SWIM UP RIVER SEINE…SEE FRENCH HOOMANS ACT TOO SILLY. SILLY HOOMANS KICK BALL, NOW MANY HURT. SEA SMITH SHAKE HEAD.
    2. SEA SMITH WONDER IF OMWC INVOLVED WITH CRAZY ELECTRIC CAR HOOMAN?
    3. THIS MAKE SEA SMITH SAD. HIM WONDER IF OLD SUPPORTERS OF SANDINISTAS GET MAD?

     

    GO SEE FRIENDS BAND NOW!

     

  • Spontaneous Cooking: Pantry Meals

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    So far, I have talked about cooking from fresh ingredients and avoided the use of processed ingredients. But, just as I think everyone should have a date night dinner they can pull out to make, I think everyone should be able to make dinner strictly from pantry items. This is useful when you (like me) have recently been traveling and haven’t been able to get to the grocery store, or if (like me) you are just swamped at work and haven’t been able to get to the grocery store. Knowing how to make a meal from the pantry means you can still avoid the high calorie, high volume of take out.

    I have a pretty extensive pantry. As a partial list, I keep canned beans (black, white and red), canned tomatoes, canned green beans, canned artichoke hearts, canned tuna, and cream of mushroom soup on hand. I also always have frozen broccoli, artichoke hearts, Brussels sprouts, and salmon or other frozen fish in the freezer. I keep rice, wheat pasta, rice noodles, and bouillon in my pantry as well. In addition to canned, frozen, and dry goods, I think of a few fresh (fresher) items like kielbasa, or other pre-cooked sausage, onions, garlic, spinach, and lemons or limes as pantry items because I always have them on hand. Your pantry items may be different.

    Pantry meals do have a downside. They aren’t as tasty as cooking from scratch and downside for me – upside for some – they make more than one serving. I take the leftovers to work for lunch.

    Sausage and Beans

    I make sausage and beans from pre-cooked sausage (most recently chicken and garlic), white beans (usually cannellini, but others work), garlic and spinach.

    Sausage & Beans Ingredients

    I cut about one third of the kielbasa into rounds,the rest I put in the refrigerator – it will keep for a few days for other recipes – and sauté the rounds.

    Sausage Saute

    I just brown the slices on both sides. I don’t even add any oil. The slices will give off fat while browning. Next, I add some chopped garlic and a drained and rinsed can of white beans. I like the beans toasted, so I give it a minute or two, stirring occasionally.

    Add Beans
    Add Spinach

    Then add about one half of a bag of spinach.

    Turn off the heat and toss it until the spinach wilts.

    Sausage Sauté with Spinach

    Squeeze a lemon quarter over it, it does make a difference. This makes about three servings for me.

    But why not just get takeout? I timed this. It took me sixteen minutes to make, including slicing the sausage and chopping the garlic, and I wasn’t rushing. It also cost much less than takeout and I think it is better for me.

    Variations: You can use black or red beans, even chickpeas, instead. On one occasion, I didn’t have sausage, but I did have pepperonis. So I put a little oil in the pan, sautéed the garlic, added the beans and pepperonis, then the spinach. It was good. You could substitute chorizo or other sausage as well. If it isn’t pre-cooked, though, it will take longer to make.

    Another use for sausage is a variation of the stove top hotdish I grew up with. Stove top hotdish is a package of mac ‘n’ cheese combined with a cut up hot dog and frozen veggies or a can of tuna and frozen peas. I no longer buy packaged mac ‘n’ cheese. Instead I use a little pasta, frozen veggies and whatever cheese I have on hand. Most recently I had cream cheese to use up. I sautéed my sausage, microwaved a broccoli cauliflower mix and combined it with some pasta, cream cheese, cheddar, and cayenne pepper.

    Spinach, sausage, and garlic are fresh(er) ingredients. What if you don’t have those on hand?

    Easy, make 8 minute soup. This is a strictly canned goods dish. Drain and rinse a can of black beans and a can of red beans. Put in a pot. Add a can (including liquid) of tomatoes. Add a drained and rinsed can of corn. Add two or three cups of broth (made with bouillon if needed) and a tablespoon of chili powder and ½ tsp of cayenne and ¼ tsp of black pepper. Taste, then add salt. All those canned goods have salt, so make sure you taste to avoid an overly salty dish. Bring to a boil and boil for 8 minutes. If you use vegetable broth, you have a vegan soup. (You’re welcome, SP).

    These are just three of what I call pantry meals. There are hundreds more that you can make. As I mentioned above, it really depends on what you keep in the pantry. So, Glibertarians, what do you keep in your pantry, and what are your favorite pantry meals?

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  • I Fucking Love Astrology: The Horoscope for the Week of July 15

    The way that a horoscope should be cast:

    Call up the charts.  Get the rough facts in mind.  Where is what, and at what angles.  Don’t worry so much about interpretation.  Sleep on it.  Draw initial relationship markers.  Sleep on it again.  Consume some of your favorite consciousness/awareness expander (if available) and really study the charts.  Write down your revelations.  Reformat those revelations and upload.

    That’s the way I have been actually casting them lately.

    Wake up on Monday, head to work.  Engage in shouting matches with various trades, particularly emphasizing that “pre” means “before” which means those facilities should have been in place before you spent two days disconnecting, decontaminating and packing for shipment a piece of equipment that really is quite necessary for the functioning of the fab only to find that the tool has literally nothing to connect to in its new space, and why did you confirm that you were on schedule and ready to receive the equipment when I am plainly staring at a piece of completely empty RMF where there are supposed to be drains, water, CDA, nitrogen, argon, and vacuum lines? And, btw, absolutely none of this runs on 110 so why is that outlet there when the drawing clearly calls out 208?   Rinse and repeat until after stomping into the lab you find it strangely quiet because the trades don’t work on Friday.  Realize that it’s Friday and you have no recollection of Wednesday or Thursday.  Also realize that you haven’t worked on the horoscope.

    For this week, we have a BARCO alignment of Mars (retrograde)-Terra-Sol with Mercury-Venus in opposition.  Since Mars is in Aquarius, this indicates that the World cup is going to end (creepy how accurate the stars are, isn’t it?) With the Sun being part of the alignment, this indicates that the correct team is going to win.  Mercury-Venus is an odd combination to be in opposition to a Mars retrograde alignment.  In this case, we have “false news of a massacre,” either one happening and not being reported on or a false report of one happening.  It’s hard to say which, but the particularly bad part is that the news source at fault here is going to be one that is trusted.  Since I only trust glibertarians.com for my news, I’m wondering which one of TPTB is going to treat me like a dead Browns fan.  For future reference, it’s pretty generic to interpret any Mercury-opposed construction as “the news media are lying pieces of shit” and the customer will be able to confirm your predictions.

    This week, Jupiter has finally pulled its head out of its enormous Jovian ass and gone station direct.  Since it did this while in Scorpio, it means increased chances of breaking a dry spell… unless it’s with your SO.  For that to be true, we’d need a conjunction with Venus, but she’s hanging out over in Virgo.

    Venus in Virgo.  The personification of sex and The Virgin.  Astrologically, this isn’t that big of a contradiction, since Venus represents peace more than passion, the former of which is very good for Virgo.  But again, Virgo is stability and thoughtful consideration, and joining Venus is Luna, the sign of change.  When you put these together, it adds to the instability I mentioned last week that occurs to all non-Cancers during this month.

    Mercury in Leo: expect news about royalty, drama.  You want to hear bout drama?  I get a call from a union plumber installing the lines onto my VPD.  It went like this:

    “Yeah, usually I just make a flare connection but the part that the tube goes over isn’t there.”

    “That’s because it’s not a flare connection.  It’s a compression fitting.”

    “So, I just ask my boss for compression fittings?”

    “… Who is this?  You’re a plumber, right?”

    Then he wants to know if I have a catalog number for the fittings.  Then if I would buy them for him.  Then there was drama.

    Mars retrograde in Aquarius.  Not only does it signify the end of the World Cup, but it indicates a reduction in waste.  It had fucking better.  I’m paying these assholes $79/hour base, plus the various levels of “supervisors,” etc.

    I have nothing creative to add.  All of my creativity is dedicated to torture fantasies of the people to whom I am paying vast sums of money to do crap work.  But here’s some relevant zodiac music:

     

  • Hot Take: LA Judge Defies First Amendment

    In a major “oopsie,” a sealed plea agreement in a police corruption case was posted publicly. So judges being what judges are (convinced that they have royalty status and don’t really have to follow the constitution), the judge here defied the First Amendment and ordered that the LA Times remove all references to the secret plea agreement. The LA Times complied with the order but is appealing it. I’m somewhat surprised that they didn’t issue the equivalent of “Fuck off, slaver!” and challenge the judge to do something about it. But they caved for the moment.

    Of course, the judge either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that the Internet is a forever thing. And we have no scruples about giving that slaver the finger. So here’s the story as it originally ran, complete with the several added details that the judge thinks are FYTW exceptions to the First Amendment.

     

  • You Look Like Someone With a Case of the Sundays: Morning Links

    Sundays suck. You’re just getting into the swing of the weekend and you realize that, shit, it all starts again tomorrow. There isn’t even any football- yet.

    Yes, I’m in a shitty mood. Even “Today in History” sucks. John Ball, who is an inspiration to us all for protesting taxes, forever wars, and the unaccountable Deep State, was brutally executed by some asshole king who was young, elegant, and handsome, so therefore totally woke. Christians broke into Jerusalem and slaughtered the Jews, while burning their synagogues to make the city Judenrein. Georgia was readmitted to the US, a major mistake that ended up giving us Jimmy Carter. Twitter was launched, plunging the world’s IQ into the single-digit range. There was seriously nothing good happening. Looking at birthdays, for a moment I got excited when I saw Ian Stewart was on the list, but then found out it wasn’t the mathematician, it was some guy who drove his car around in circles.

    Fuck Sunday.

    Well, at least I ran across a cute dog and baby pic. It’s still not enough.

    And on these depressing notes, here’s some news to chew on:

     

    Mencken once observed, “Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” This is one of those times.

    The police got a search warrant for the devices, claiming that they contain evidence of “Possession of Cannabis Less Than 20 grams” and “Possession of Drug Paraphernalia”—both of which Montanez already admitted to, which makes it unclear why the cops still want to search the phone to prove the charges.

    It was that warrant that brought Montanez to court, where the judge asked him to unlock the phones, which he again refused—or simply couldn’t do because he didn’t remember the passcodes for the devices. Now he’ll spend nearly the next six months in jail for not allowing police to dig through his phones for evidence they don’t seem to need.

     

    As stupid as the London “protests” were yesterday, this might even be stupider.

    Across the other side of London, a pub in Hammersmith had renamed itself “The Trump Arms” for the presidential visit and was scheduled to hold an event Saturday evening featuring hot dogs, cocktails and other American treats. Decorated with copious amounts of American flags, MAGA caps and a life-size cutout of President Trump, patrons told Fox News they had come out of their way to show support for Trump.

     

    On the one hand, we can only be delighted that the single most evil and corrupt member of the Senate has gotten kicked in her wrinkled ass by her own party. But it’s not like the alternative is any better, and if he’s not as blatantly senile, he could even end up being worse.

    De León’s campaign has focused on the party’s energized liberal faction. He supports single-payer healthcare, aggressive goals for renewable energy and helped lead the successful effort to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. He has criticized Feinstein, known for having moderate tendencies, for being too conciliatory toward Trump, such as when she urged people to have “patience” with the president last year.

    Left harder!

     

    On the topic of stupidity, I don’t know if I can top this.

    When she was about 16, Ms. Ponce decided to undergo hormonal treatment and eventually vaginal plastic surgery, “to remove what for me was a burden and a trauma.” But she said that her message to the teenagers whom she now meets is always that vaginal surgery is a personal choice, and that it is not essential to being a woman.

    “There are women with a penis and men with a vagina, because the only key part of being a woman is to be and feel like a woman,” she said.

    I suspect that a “woman with a penis” probably doesn’t feel much like a woman, but what the fuck would I know.

     

    Did I say that I couldn’t top the previous stupidity? Hold my beer. Vegan beer, that is.

    The global workplace startup told employees this week that the company will ban employees from expensing meals that contain red meat, pork or poultry. The company won’t provide meat for events at its 400 locations, either — part of an effort to reduce its environmental footprint.

    “New research indicates that avoiding meat is one of the biggest things an individual can do to reduce their personal environmental impact, even more than switching to a hybrid car,” WeWork co-founder Miguel McKelvey said in an email to staffers.

    Employees wanting “medical or religious” exceptions can hash those out with a company policy team.

    As a lifelong vegetarian, I admit to being embarrassed.

     

    Wait, didn’t somebody make a remarkably shitty movie about this?

    “The waters are back open this morning. Ocean Rescue will remain on high alert and will continue monitoring the water,” the city said on its Twitter page Saturday — which just happened to be Shark Awareness Day. The city fire department said it received a report of the first incident at 3:35 p.m. ET Friday. Three minutes later, while attending to the first victim, the department received a report of a second biting incident. The city then closed the beaches to swimmers.

     

    There’s only one thing that can possibly cheer me up. Yes, indeed, Old Guy Music. I admit that I’m not much on dinosaur tours, but at least this one still had Robert Fripp, even though Greg Lake was unavailable due to being dead. And it’s a pretty enjoyable rework of a classic, capturing the way I feel today. Still, couldn’t they have replaced the three drummers here with one Michael Giles? (trivia: the singer here is Giles’s son in law)

     

  • STEVE SMITH SATURDAY NIGHT LINKS

    STEVE SMITH HAVE BUSY WEEK. HIM WORK WITH REINDEER PEOPLE TO SOLVE PROBLEMS WITH COUNTRIES. SEA SMITH TELL STEVE SMITH STRANGE STORY ABOUT GLIBERTARIAN LOOK FOR STEVE SMITH. BUT HIM NO SEE ANYONE.

    STEVE SMITH MOVE REINDEER TOO!

    HIM MAKE REPUTATION FOR CASCADIA GOOD. TALK MUCH WITH LOCALS. THEM NEED HELP. MAYBE FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN PEOPLE APPLY? MAYBE SAMI PEOPLE RECOGNIZE CASCADIA!  STEVE SMITH WOULD BE MOST PROMINENT FOREST LAWYER EVER!

    STEVE SMITH GIVE LINKS, THEN FIGURE OUT IF HIM RAPE NORWAY OR SWEDEN OR FINLAND OFFICIALS TO SOLVE CRISIS. STEVE SMITH GOOD AT DIPLOMACY!

    1. STEVE SMITH FIND CHANCE FOR SEA SMITH BE HERO. GO RAPE ICEBERG AND MAKE IT GO AWAY!
    2. WAIT…STEVE SMITH KNOW HOW DO THIS! “YOU KNOW WHO ELSE FROM AUSTRIA TOOK HELM OF EUROPE?” STEVE SMITH LIKE “YOU KNOW WHO ELSE” GAME!
    3. STEVE SMITH DID NOT KNOW FAN MAN STILL AT WORK? HIM THINK VERY SILLY THING.
    4. MAYBE FRIEND ZARDOZ IS GOING TO MIDDLE EAST? HIM LIKE CLEANSING.
    SMELL LIKE REINDEER SPOOR!