Glibertarians.com 2018 Archive

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  • Tuesday Morning Links

    I hope your week got off to a good start yesterday.  Well, I’m sure it was better than the Celtics anyway.  They’ll, as I said they would, to Cleveland yesterday to even the series at 2-2.  The Lightning also fell to the Capitals, and now we have a winner-take-all Game 7 to decide the Wales Conference. Meanwhile Vegas is resting up.

    Never. Gets. Old.

    Oh yeah, and TTUN announced that the football team is planning on going to South Africa in 2019.  I believe Ohio State announced they are planning on going to the CFP Championship Game in 2019.  Meh, to each their own. Have fun, skunkweasels. Those cultural trips probably erase some of the shame of never, ever beating your biggest rivals anymore. Or you’ll tell yourselves that anyway.

    We got a few birthdays today.  Noted composer and anti-Semite Richard Wagner, author Arthur Conan Doyle, children’s author Herge, oilman T Boone Pickens, politician Harvey Milk, Unabomber (and possible Glibertarian) Ted Kaczynski, supermodel Naomi Campbell and fading tennis great Novak Dokovic. Also on this day, for you military historians, Alexander the Great defeated Darius III in the Battle Of The Granicus. And one of the most catastrophic proposals in the history of the United States made its debut when LBJ presented his “Great Society” shitshow of a plan.

    OK, that was fun.  Now…the links!

    Want to see how far to the left a so-called “fact checker” has slipped? They don’t even know the definition of the words “all”, “every”, “mass” or “mostly”.  Fucking losers.

    “Sorry suckers, fingers crossed”
    -James Comey

    DOJ Inspector General is about to savage James Comey for not moving quickly enough in securing a warrant to get the emails illegally stored by Hillary Clinton confidante on her convicted sex offender husband’s laptop.  I wonder if it’ll touch on the facet that they were trying to avoid it becoming news at all until the press got wind of its existence and forced them to acknowledge its existence.

    Huh. I had no idea there were Glibs living in Portland. Anyway, I believe you’ve made bail by now so you won’t be outed by a lack of comments today.

    Welcome to Starbucks.

    Starbucks already feeling the consequences of its retarded new bathroom/vagrancy acceptance policies.  Dumbasses didn’t know this was what would happen?

    I don’t even know why suicidal people jump out of windows or put a gun to their own head.  Apparently all you need to do these days is buy a Tesla and let the car do the job for you. Sure beats the messy cleanup and your heirs can cash in rather than have the insurance claim rejected.

    That’s right…blame the inanimate object rather than the asshole who pulled the trigger.  Fuck you, Chicago Tribune. You’re not gonna get most peoples’ guns on a registry and you aren’t going to force us to get a permit to exercise a fundamental human right.  Molon Labe, grabbers.

    Don’t blame these career criminals…blame the inanimate object.

    Palestine demands the International CriminalCourt look into how Israel defended herself when faced with a series of border fence assaults last week.  Israel points out that they’re not even members of the ICC and tells the Palestinians to GFY and stop trying to breach the border and kill innocent people, which the Gaza’s are wont to to.

    I hate this fucker, but this is a good song. Even if its a little long.

    Best of luck out there today.  I gotta take Reason to get some dental work done.  That’s gonna be a lot of fun.

  • Monday Afternoon Linkses

    Happy Monday, everyone. One of my kids is sick again. It must be the cool thing to do. Tomorrow everyone is going to school who is able to maintain consciousness and not vomiting. Not because they’re “missing school” but because it throws off my routine and they’re well enough to want to go out and play. In this case, running around in the rain like he don’t have the sense to come in. Dad, what are you doing talking out of my mouth?

    Today in the links:

    • Science confirms Adolf Hitler is actually dead. Plus a good rundown of Hitler myths. I mean, he’d be, I believe, the last surviving veteran of WWI at this point, so of course he’s dead.
    • 8-D Chess strikes again. That man is the luckiest sumbitch in the world. I wonder how much it will cost the individual American taxpayer to keep ZTE afloat. Is corporate welfare better than trade warfare?
    • But nobody is that lucky.
    • Headline says this box could become the coldest place in the known universe. I got excited thinking my ex-girlfriend had a terminal illness. Its just stupid science stuff
    • Pope decides tells this man God loves him like he is, gay and practicing. I’m pretty fucking cynical about this. Not that the Pope would say that in private, but that he said that to a victim of clerical abuse. I do hope any people who like to sleep with people of their same sex and want to be good Catholics get full recognition of being decent human beings who don’t deserve the scorn of any Catholic. I’m not sure I’m all about the Petrine Doctrine but it does seem to allow for the Bishop of Rome to uncover new revelations of God, if we’re going to be Catholic about it.

     

    Speaking of the weather.

  • On Political Extremes (And What to Do About Them)

     

    A Polarizing immigrantIt seems the word of the last two years, if not the last decade, is “polarizing.” The media runs countless stories about how polarized the country has become, with each segment of the media casting political opponents as the cause of the polarization. I do not deny that some people in our society espouse extreme or outrageous viewpoints; such is a known risk when freedom of speech and freedom of conscience make up the framework of our governing philosophy. But despite a few oddballs and whack jobs, I think we find that most people, whether conservative or progressive, hold beliefs that are not irrational. The polarization, then, comes from opponents misrepresenting the other side’s views to their own bases. So rather than finding common ground to have a dialogue we are left with hysterical screaming in defense of or against some view or another. This is my attempt to cut through some of the screaming to help each side understand the other a little better in three specific areas: immigration, education, and wealth/poverty gap.

    I read a story like this about MS-13 attracting girls to their ranks–and yes, it’s Salvadorans and not Mexicans–and the very real truth is that there are violently-minded people illegally immigrating to the United States. To deny that is naïvete at best and utter mendacity at worst. Some of these girls are driven to MS-13 or affiliated gangs because of some past trauma, but only a dyed-in-the-wool progressive would argue that assimilation to American culture radicalized them.

    Still, not every immigrant that comes to this country illegally is ready to behead someone or stab a man 153 times with fellow gang members watching and laughing. In fact, many come here in spite of the danger that illegal entry presents because the opportunities continue to be far better than what they can achieve in their countries of origin. Even the risk of deportation and a lifetime ban from re-entering the United States (which means leaving other family and even offspring behind) does not deter many who just want to provide for themselves and their families. A new documentary series on Netflix called Ugly Delicious, produced by renowned chef David Chang, explores this very issue in its second episode on tacos.

    In a similar vein, but on the topic of education instead of immigration, my wife and I were discussing some of the students in her class last week. She seems to have quite a few bad apples this year, but one girl in particular stands out. This girl failed sixth grade last year and was actually held back to repeat the sixth grade again (shocking in Chicago Public Schools!), and is now in danger of failing again. My wife says the girl’s mom has to work 2-3 jobs and crazy hours just to provide for her daughter, and the mother was in tears about what to do since she can’t be home to watch the girl do her homework every night. The girl attends a magnet school but chooses to hang out after school with kids that go to the much worse neighborhood school. Basically, the girl is a textbook case of total apathy toward education (and life in general), even with a mother who wants her to become something more.

    Many people believe education is so important that it should be provided for free to students at taxpayer expense. And I agree that education is vitally important. But progressives who demand public subsidizing of education deny the existence of students like the one in my wife’s classroom. When my wife has to focus more attention on this girl and other students who are not interested in learning, it holds back the potential of many others in the class. The “Education is a Right!” crowd would have us believe that every student has an innate desire to learn and the only thing preventing them from doing so is a lack of money or profit-seeking charter schools. (In fact, the latter may actually address the needs of apathetic students more by giving them a school to be proud of. See The Ron Clark Academy, for example.)

    I think the other side, however, plays up the apathy or entitlement a bit too much. There are plenty of students who grow up in homes where education is not valued, but with the right teacher or educational environment they could thrive. Unfortunately, our system rewards teachers based on tenure and not on merit, creating a structure that chews up and spits out young and inspiring teachers who can reinvigorate apathetic students with a passion for education. Meanwhile, thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of jaded teachers clock in at 7:30 and clock out at 2:30 just so they can collect a paycheck and employee benefits that are funded by the taxpayer, and care little for the time and attention it takes to nurture a student’s desire for learning.

    With public education, most families are at a complete loss when assigning value to their kids’ education because they do not have any direct costs. On the other hand, they know how much their groceries cost; they can see how expensive refueling the car is. They even know, for the most part, how expensive a new car or cell phone is (although there are a lot of hidden fees in those contracts that can ensnare the unsuspecting buyer). But when it comes to education, people have accepted the belief that education is “free,” and therefore they assign no value to it. It’s just something one has to do, going through the motions from K-12 and beyond because society tells us its important.

    A final example of the polarizing extremes that people ascribe to their opponents comes from personal finances. One side believes that all wealth is inherited and every millionaire only got where he or she is by stepping on others. Dave Ramsey, on his national radio show, disproves this theory regularly with a segment he calls “The Millionaire Theme Hour.” He asks millionaires–those whose net worth is over one million dollars–to call in and asks a series of questions about how they obtained their wealth. Only a tiny fraction of callers received any inheritance, and for those who did it was a paltry sum from a family member who died well after they were already self-made millionaires. By and large, the secret to success is, wait for it… spending less than you make!

    The other side, however, categorizes the poor and downtrodden as lazy, dumb, or victims of divine judgment. There is a common perception that because most successful people have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, anyone who is struggling must not be working hard enough. Although free markets and laissez faire government offer the best economic opportunity for people to rise from nothing to something, reality intrudes on that idealistic worldview in that some people just get bad breaks. Whether they are immigrants whose options are limited because of their legal status, or they come from a family of under-educated individuals, or they just have unplanned expenses continue to assault their monthly income, life has plenty of people who can’t get ahead.

    Ultimately, the solution to all of these situations–immigration, education, poverty–lies not in either of the extremes, but in looking past the collective and at the individual. A system that cares more about enabling hungry, driven, and dedicated individuals to thrive will prosper far more than one that seeks only to sustain a lower class in poverty. If we focus on providing incentives to make good decisions rather than making decisions for others, we will prosper. This means that some people will continue to make bad decisions, and we have to be okay with that. We–as individuals–can show them grace; we can show them compassion and mercy; we can even show them charity and generosity. But if we–as a society–continue to enable people to coast instead of strive to succeed, everyone suffers.

  • Monday Morning Links

    Well the Rockets sure shit the bed in the second half last night.  Not that it wasn’t predictable that the Warriors would go up in the series.  In fact, they’ll go up 3-1 tomorrow night. And then Houston will win at home and the Warriors will close them out in 6 after the league thinks they’ve bled enough tv revenue ofut of the series without looking WWF-like.  The Celtics, now up 2-1, will fall again tonight to there Cavs and that series will go 7.

    Meanwhile, on the ice, the Vegas/Army Expansion Knights have won the Campbell Conference and are waiting to see who they’ll play for the Stanley Cup.  Congratulations, NHL.  Your retarded-ass expansion rules for this go around have created a team that never would have happened on its own, at the expense of the rosters other teams took years to build.  Which means I’m wholeheartedly on the Tampa Bay bandwagon. Not only because I love Stevie Y, but because the Caps vs Vegas in the Stanley Cup final will make me cheer for a meteor to strike the arena they’re in one night.

    Oh, and the Astros took 2 of 3 from the Indians. And some other baseball happened, including an appearance by the mercurial Sidd Finch. (If you don’t remember that story, that’s a bummer.  It was one of the best trolls by a major media publication ever.)

    You better say happy birthday, fool!

    I pity the fool that don’t recognize Mr T’s birthdate. Also sharing this date are jazzman Fats Waller, Canadian actor Raymond Burr, industrialist Armand Hammer, douchebag Al Franken, actor Judge Reinhold, gourmet cook Jeffrey Dahmer, and marijuana enthusiast Ricky Williams. Its also the day the American Red Cross, once a responsible charity now a money-making empire for those on its board, was founded by Clara Barton, Leopold and Loeb, inspiration for Hitchcock masterpiece “Rope” did their deed, Lucky Lindy Landed in Paris, The Sultan of Swat hit three homers in a row, douchebag Heinrich Himmler was captured, and “Empire Strikes Back” hit theaters.

    That’s out of the way.  Which means we are ready to segue into…the links!

    Imagine your local economy doing so well that it actually supposedly created a food desert.   Of course the story is a lot more complex, but local leaders want, nay demand answers from businesses as to why they won’t keep unprofitable stores open even though local residents didn’t use them with enough frequency to keep them profitable.

    The latest entry in the “libertarians told you so” book.  Which means local pols will immediately try to find a way to get their grubby little hands on it and fuck it up.

    Former officials Comey, McCabe, Wray and unknown Mueller staffer

    Former Clinton staffer unleashes on the Office of the Special Prosecutor. Not that it’ll matter. Witch hunters don’t usually stop their witch hunt until they do the nose bit. And the hat.

    Today’s entry in the “Christ, what an asshole” sweepstakes is this former Playboy centerfold.  Nice job, lady.

    I’m shocked, shocked, I tell ya, to find corruption and abuse going on in a Chicago housing scheme.  Just kidding. I’d be shocked if it was only used by the people it was intended for.  Not that it would do any good then except inflate prices and cause other working poor to be priced out of the market.

    Oh, for the love of fuck, can’t people stop apologizing for shit like this? I mean…ah, fuck it. Just read it yourself and give me your thoughts in the comments.

    Badass

    This dude right here makes Bear Grylls look like a little bitch. Seriously, this man should never have to buy himself a drink again for the rest of his life.

    And in local news, people are starting to blame “bullying” rather than the piece of shit person who pulled the trigger in the school shooting rampage just south of town.

    For the birthday boy.

    Have a great start to your week, friends!

  • SEA SMITH SUNDAY EVENING LINKS

    SEA SMITH ANCESTOR CLOWNING AROUND SHIP

     

    SEA SMITH ENJOYING WEEKEND. HE COME ACROSS TRAMP STEAMER OFF HORN OF AFRICA. TRAMP WAS ASKING FOR IT! HA HA! STEVE SMITH CONTINUE TO MAKE FUNNY JOKES. KEEP WORKING ON MATERIAL AND LOOK FOR STAND UP OPPORTUNITY.

    ANY OF FUNNY GLIB PEOPLE KNOW A GOOD AGENT?

    BUT YOU COME FOR LINKS AND TO SAY OWN FUNNY THINGS. SO SEA SMITH GIVE LINKS, THEN KNOCK OFF TO SEE BUDDY NINGEN. HIM STILL ONLY SAY “BLOOP” BUT HIM OK FELLAH.

    BLOOP!
    • SEA SMITH GLAD HE NOT IN NYC…HE GET LIVE IN WHOLE OCEAN, NOT EXPENSIVE PLACES. LAND PEOPLE CRAZY.
    • DEMOCRACY!!! NO WHISKY OR SEXY. NO FOOD OR MEDICINE EITHER. SEA SMITH SHAKING FINNED HEAD. LAND PEOPLE REALLY CRAZY!
    • YOU THINK SEA SMITH TOO HARD ON CRAZY LAND PEOPLE? EXPLAIN THIS TO SEA SMITH!
    • SEA SMITH ASK…YOU KNOW WHO ELSE UNITE ITALIANS AND RULE COUNTRY? AND NO, ANSWER NOT “CAMPARI” YOU SILLY GLIB LAND PEOPLE!

    “BLOOP!” OK, NINGEN, SEA SMITH COMING OVER….HE BRING SEAWEED SNACKS!

  • Spontaneous Cooking: Homemade Salad Dressing

    Summer Time is Salad Time

    The weather is finally getting warmer. That means it’s time to eat more salad. I thought I’d talk about homemade dressings. I have a special place in my heart for homemade dressing because that is what inspired me to really learn to cook.

    I was visiting a friend over July 4th for a big party when her mother opened a three ring binder full of recipes. Some of them were handwritten, others clipped from newspapers and magazines. She pointed to one and said, “You’re making that.” It was a green salad with dressing.

    Growing up, there were always three bottles of Wishbone dressing in the fridge: Ranch, French, and diet Italian. Salad was iceberg lettuce with tomatoes, or if Mom was feeling fancy sliced radishes or shredded carrots. The salad I made and its dressing were a revelation. I never knew salad could taste so good, the dressing was tart and fresh and garlicly. I’ve made my own dressing ever since.

    I save small jars, like caper jars or glass spice jars. They’re the right size for making small amounts of dressing and they are easy to clean in the dishwasher. They are also small enough to put in my salad container and take to work.

    I think they are far superior to this plastic crap. I used these once and was never able to satisfactorily clean them. The only reason they are still in my house is that my mother gave them to me and she might visit.

    Basic Vinaigrette

    Let’s start with a basic vinaigrette. A vinaigrette is three parts oil to one part acid. If you want to make a low fat version (unlikely on this web site), use two parts oil to one part acid. I say acid instead of vinegar because you can use a dry wine or citrus juice instead of vinegar.

    Start by choosing a vinegar and oil. I have red wine, balsamic, white wine, apple cider, rice and white vinegar on hand.

    I also have a variety of oil on hand. Olive, canola, peanut. Using a neutral oil like canola or peanut makes the vinegar the predominant flavor, using something like olive oil, changes the taste. While I don’t have any on hand right now, you could also use walnut or macadamia nut oil. Sesame oil is used as a flavor, I really don’t recommend using it for the dressing. It is overwhelming.

    I just do the three to one ratio by eye. Using a small, narrow jar makes that easy. Pour some vinegar into the jar and add salt and pepper.

    If this is the first time you’ve made your own dressing, you might want to stop there and add the oil – three times as much as the vinegar. Then shake well and taste. This lets you see how the vinegar and oil tastes. Experiment to find what you like. Remember you could also use citrus. I suggest adding a pinch of sugar or a little honey to balance the sour when using citrus juice. I accidentally added too much mustard, so I added more vinegar and oil and saved the extra for another day. It will separate, so take it out early and let it reach room temperature and shake it again.

    Always add the seasonings to the vinegar, then add the oil. This lets the salt dissolve and flavors of herbs infuse into the vinegar. Although most dressing recipes say to add the oil in a thin stream while whisking continuously, you really can just add it, cap and shake. It will separate more quickly than if you whisk, but you’re only making enough for one or two servings and you are going to serve it shortly, so it doesn’t really matter. If you make enough to keep it for a few days, you might want to do the thin stream while whisking.

    Once you know what kind of vinegar and oil you like, you can start adding other flavors. For example, add chopped garlic, or shallots or onions. You can also add fresh or dry herbs. Many classic dressing recipes call for mustard. I prefer dijon. Mustard is an emulsifier. If you use it, it helps the dressing to stay blended, and makes it creamier. For quick dressings for side salads, I often just use salt, pepper, mustard and a few pinches of either Italian or Provence blend dry herbs.

    I have used tahini instead of mustard to give the dressing a Mediterranean flair. If you want to take the dressing in an Asian direction, use rice wine vinegar and add ginger in place of, or in addition to the garlic. I have also dropped the garlic and mustard and used serrano peppers to make a spicy version. This kind of vinaigrette is a low stakes opportunity for experimentation. Just try whatever you like. You’re only making a small amount, so if you don’t like the result, just start over. I hope, by writing these posts, that I encourage people to just try new flavor combinations and gain confidence in the kitchen.

    Warm Vinaigrette

    A fun variation on the basic vinaigrette, and my current obsession, is warm vinaigrette. Spinach salad with warm bacon vinaigrette, is probably the most familiar of the warm vinaigrettes. A spinach salad is spinach, red onion, sliced mushrooms, hard boiled eggs and bacon. Make some bacon, and when done, let it drain on some paper towels. Toss spinach with the red onion and mushrooms, then crumble bacon over it. Add a sliced hard boiled egg. Spoon out a little of the bacon fat and add it to some red wine vinegar seasoned with salt, pepper and dijon mustard. Whisk and pour over the salad; toss and enjoy.

    Pan sauces are also close to warm vinaigrettes. The biggest difference is that you don’t reduce the sauce. Sometimes, instead of deglazing with wine, I use a vinegar to deglaze and serve it over a salad. This sort of dressing is great over grilled romaine or radicchio.

    Creamy Dressings

    If you like a creamy dressing, they are also easy to make. Creamy dressings usually use buttermilk, cream, mayonnaise, yogurt, sour cream or even cream. Sometimes, they use more than one. Blue cheese dressing over a wedge of iceberg lettuce is a classic. An easy blue cheese dressing combines blue cheese, mayonnaise, buttermilk, apple cider vinegar, salt, and lots of fresh ground black pepper. I start by putting some blue cheese in a bowl and mashing it with a fork.

    Then I add mayonnaise and buttermilk. I add salt and pepper, then thin it a bit with a little (like, ½ to 1 tsp) apple cider vinegar.

    Then I serve it over an iceberg lettuce wedge with a pan fried pork chop. If I had bacon, I would crumble a little over it.

    You could alter that basic recipe by using lemon juice instead of apple cider vinegar. Use sour cream or yogurt instead of (or in addition to) mayonnaise. Again, this is a canvas for experimentation. Make a creamy dressing thicker by adding more mayonnaise or sour cream, and you have a dip.

    So, here is that salad I made for fourth of July years ago. I lost the actual recipe years ago and I never measure when making it so all the quantities are estimates. Years later, this is still my go to dish for taking to potlucks.

    Dressing:
    2 -3 cloves of garlic chopped
    ½ tsp of salt
    ¼ tsp of freshly ground black pepper
    about ½ tsp of honey (I think the original used 1 tsp of white sugar).
    juice of one lemon
    ¼ cup neutral oil

    Combine first five ingredients, then pour in the oil in a thin stream while whisking. Then make the salad.

    9 cups of mixed salad greens – use both red and green lettuce – torn into bite sized pieces.
    3 cups of fresh basil leaves – torn into bite size pieces.
    ½ pint of cherry or grape tomatoes sliced in half.
    ¼ c shredded parmesan.
    1-2 T toasted pine nuts.

    Toss all with the dressing and serve.

  • I Fucking Love Astrology – The Horoscope for the Week of May 20th

    Well, well, well… what have we here?

    Pull out your star charts boy and girls, we’ve got something very interesting going on this week.

    Yes, yes, we’ve still got that Jupiter-retrograde-in-Scorpio, old news.  But see that Mercury-Sol-Venus alignment?  Change in relationships?  Well, this week, it’s moved in opposition to us.  And if that’s not enough we also have the moon in opposition to that opposition.  Double Opposition.  What does it mean?  This week, your relationships are going to be rock solid.  You can take advantage of this, as we can see from another alignment concurrent with the double opposition.  We have Venus (love) aligned with Mars (war) and Saturn (endings) retrograde (not).  So a fight this week will not end your relationship.  Having said that, while you can get away with having a spat this week, there’s no indications that you should.  There’s nothing here indicating that the makeup sex will be good, and with Venus having moved out of Gemini, there’s no indication to look up Heather and Holly on facebook to see if they are conveniently available this weekend.  Mars moving into Aquarius indicates “trouble with the provider,” so maybe it’s a good thing you’ve got a little stellar stability helping you out.

    One last alignment in this week’s very busy sky:  Sol – Jupiter retrograde – Luna.  Literally, good news for queens.  Elizabeth II is not going to die.  I don’t know if this also extends to drag queens, but it just might because:

    Both the Moon and Venus are in Cancer.  And of course, we’ve already mentioned how Luna has rulership of Cancer, but with Venus in the mix we literally have (almost) all the most feminine influences possible coming together and amplifying each other.  Indulge in your wildest stereotypes. Eat ice cream while watching rom-coms.  Cry every now and then for no reason whatsoever.

    People born under the sign of Taurus will receive good news this week.  Also, a new speed record for a racing cow will be set.

    If you are kidding this week, it will go successfully.  Both mother and child will be fine, but it won’t be twins.

    This week is also auspicious for naval forces.

     

     

     

  • Sunday Morning Links With Trigger Warning

    Before getting to the news, please allow me to be a bit self-indulgent. SP and I love baseball, and particularly love minor league baseball. It’s wonderful to see young players who are chasing their dreams, still really care, and aren’t likely to be caught wrapping their Lamborghini around a light pole. There’s a delightful intimacy to the parks and a lack of pretense. Best of all, you’re not put through a TSA-level screening to get in (which has caused us to stop attending MLB games).

    With great delight, we discovered that there are independent league teams playing in our area, with the Schaumberg Boomers just an hour or so away. SP scored us some nice seats at their charming little park (row six, on the third base side, perfect for watching the pitching). When we got there, we found out that it was a promotional night, this time with (TRIGGER WARNING!) a Harry Potter theme. So of course, the stadium was over-run by geeky kids in capes and round glasses. And some folks who aren’t exactly kids.

    And of course, minor league ball rates minor league mascots. I wonder what Philly fans would do with this one?

    My favorite was, of course, little girl in front of us who was playing with a toy cell phone.

    “I can pretend I’m Mommy when she’s driving!”

    Anyway, we got a bonus when the Boomers and their opponents, the Grand Traverse Beach Bums, played the last three innings of a rain-interrupted game from the day before, then a full game. Boomers got crushed in both, likely due to their uniforms matching the style and color scheme of my beloved but hapless Orioles.

    On to news:

    Speaking of sports and wrapping a Lamborghini around a light pole, here’s a wonderful, “He din do nuffin!” story.

    Cowboys receiver Terrance Williams was arrested for public intoxication and leaving the scene of an accident. Williams has now supplied his side of the story that, as told by the authorities, involved Williams allegedly wrecking his Lamborghini into a light pole…

    Williams’ lawyer, Chip Lewis, added this: “Contrary to media reports, Terrance did not hit a light pole and there was no light pole even near the vehicle. Secondly, his arrest was wholly unrelated to the traffic accident.”

     

    This story has it all, from a wonderful headline to massive assholery all around. One of the pleasures of doing links is stumbling across gems like this.

    According to Orlando police, as the flight from Colorado was descending for landing at Orlando International Airport, Timothy and Petrini Manley took issue with fellow passengers’ service dog. Petrini Manley allegedly complained she was allergic to dogs and Timothy Manley complained the dog, a Great Dane, was taking up too much space.

    Timothy then punched the service dog with a closed fist, according to police.

    The owners of the service dog, Mathew Silvay and Hazel Ramirez, who are both deaf, began arguing with the Manleys “as best they could,” police said, though both communicate using sign language.

     

    I am shocked, totally shocked, that a Chicago machine politician’s Justice Department would abuse their power for political gain.

    It is not clear if the professor was paid to speak with Trump campaign figures, but public records show that he has received large payments from the federal government in the last two years. The Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment — a shadowy think tank that reports directly to the secretary of defense — paid Halper $282,000 in 2016 and $129,000 in 2017.

    Nice work if you can get it. And lest you think that he just did this because he was an Obama True Believer,

    Halper has close personal and professional ties to the CIA reaching back decades. He is the son-in-law of a former deputy director of the agency and worked on the 1980 presidential campaign of George H.W. Bush, who had served as CIA director. When Bush became Ronald Reagan’s running mate, Halper was implicated in a spying scandal in which CIA officials gave inside information on the Carter administration to the GOP campaign.

     

    “Hey, isn’t that…?”

    Since Jay was not filming on the premises, nor did she have any complaints, it seems odd that Airbnb had discovered she was a porn star—unless someone within the company recognized her.

     

    Never change, Al never change.

     

    Ah, California, so woke!

     

    #metoo rolls on and on. Latest “rape” accusation:

    Sources said Besson’s accuser went to police on Friday to file a complaint against Besson after the alleged assault at the Bristol hotel in the French capital. The complainant said she had been in a relationship with him for around two years, stating she felt pressured into being intimate with him for professional reasons.

    For good measure, she even threw in a Cosby.

    According to Europe 1 radio, which broke the story, Besson’s accuser said she had “drunk a cup of tea, then felt unwell and lost consciousness”. The station quoted her as saying that when she came round she remembered being sexually assaulted.

     

    OK, enough news, let’s have some music. The right kind of music. Old Guy Music. And this time, a live version of a classic. See, I’m not actually old, I’m a classic.

     

  • Death of Stalin Review

    I once again entered the local hipsterplex to watch The Death of Stalin. The trailers before the film established once again that as a glib I was a stranger in a strange land. There was a trailer for a sad looking rodeo movie and a documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsberg which received audible applause from the audience. After the applause I couldn’t help but wonder what the rest of the audience thought of the film and of Stalin. I assume they all disliked Stalin but likely had blinders on for certain aspects of why he was terrible which is a trait I believe the film mostly shared.

    The film is directed by the creator of the HBO show Veep. I haven’t seen any of that show so I can’t comment on the similarities. The film’s tone reminded me of a more cosmopolitan take on Monty Python, less loose, less cutting. The Python connection is reinforced by the presence of Michael Palin as one of the minor cabinet members Molotov. The film brought forth a couple chuckles but it didn’t really have any laugh out loud moments. The film mostly explores what totalitarian power does to people, the mind games, the unsure standing and most of all constant fear.

    The film begins with a concert performance where Stalin calls the control board and asks them to call back, they do so only to find out he wanted a recording of the performance; unfortunately it wasn’t recorded. The reaction of the control board to this simple misunderstanding is the first example of the constant fear, the crew close the doors and prevent the orchestra and most of the audience from leaving this goes on for a while and a great deal of drama happens for a recording Stalin is likely only to listen to once. Stalin falls ill maybe a quarter way through the film and immediately the now open struggle for power begins before he is dead. In the film there are three main people in the straggle for power and they are arguably the three main characters of the film. They are Simon Beal as Beria, the director of security forces, Steve Buscemi as Khrushchev, head of the party and Jeffery Tambor as Malenkov.

    Steve Buscemi’s Khrushchev is pretty much Steve Buscemi, a bit neurotic but not to Larry David levels. Khrushchev has the main character arc of the film. He starts out as one of many ministers and isn’t particularly powerful within the dynamic of the group, but he rises to the occasion and ends up leading the group against Beria. The film seems to present him as the good one, the smart one, the reasonable one, and the film is largely about how the totalitarian system of the Soviet Union under Stalin corrupts him through the horrible things he must do to survive.

    Beria is portrayed as the villain, the one who gets things moving and forces a power struggle. He plots, he schemes, and seems to have been preparing for this for years. He is shown as being the most linked with Stalin’s system of terror and violence, but the most willing to openly distance himself from Stalin and the past. Simon Beal’s performance as Beria is tonally inconsistent; at times he is just goofy and slapstick as the rest of the group, but there are other moments where he seems to come from a darker and much more serious movie.

    Tambor’s Malenkov is quiet, nervous and confused. He doesn’t seem very intelligent and reminded me of Lurch from the Addams Family, which made it funnier for me when Beria compared him to Boris Karloff. His character isn’t very active throughout the film and the performance doesn’t go very deep because of that. He inherits the position of leader once Stalin dies and it seems like he was put in that position by Stalin as a political pace car for the rest of the ministers.

    Strangely, but not super surprisingly, the film doesn’t really address communism, there are hints towards it but for the most part the focus is on the idea of Stalin as a dictator who rules by murder and fear. The film goes into the constant cautiousness and the double think it requires to survive in Soviet Russia, but it never really explores how or why this system came about. One instance where a better understanding of how the filmmakers feel about this would have improved the film, is when we are shown the shabby conditions that Khrushchev and the others live in. Is this to show how even the powerful are poor under communism? Or more likely is this shown as a contrast to the wealth Stalin lives in and how a dictatorship is the ultimate system of inequality?

    Ultimately, the film has left me inspired to show my appreciation for this platform to ramble about movies by starting a coup of my own and rise up against the Eternals in The Vortex and post the first and almost certainly last Waterfall Insurance links. I also thought I would try something else new and stay on topic.

    • First the real deal.
    • And the NY Times. They almost get it right but they throw in a couple lines brown-nosing Mao.
    • The NY Times again, so brace yourself against the paywall, this time about Khrushchev.
    • And I will end with a music link a childhood favorite. My mom hated this song, especially when my brother would play the video on the living room tv.

  • Rye ask why?

    Heretay akingmay, rogfays aygay! -Plinus 55AD

    It was Gaius Plinus Secundus, who was of the opinion the only people that would ever eat rye, were people that were starving. Gaius was an authority during the medieval period due to his extensive writings on his observations of the natural world.  He is credited with over seven books during the first century AD (or CE if you are so inclined) on things such as grammar, Roman history, throwing the lance, and a biography of Pomponius Secundus.  He is best known for Natural History from where the above opinion is written.  He is known for his ability to string together previously unrelated concepts in a vernacular style easily interpreted by the masses, easily transcribed by medieval monasteries, and indeed can be considered one of the first to pen an encyclopedia.

    Unfortunately many of those concepts had more to do with what we now call mysticism, and most of his assertions are to put it bluntly—wrong.  Quite frankly Gaius may not have been as bright as he thought he was, given that he died while investigating the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.  Though in fairness, the Romans were probably unfamiliar with the dangers of erupting volcanoes.  In all, he is probably better known by his anglicized name.

    This is not my review of Russian River’s Pliny the Elder.

    Why not?  I can’t find it, and quite frankly I need a way better excuse to go to California—and possibly find it.  Pliny probably did hate rye, so I will honor his memory by reviewing a rye pale ale.

    Rye is a species of grass similar to wheat and barley except that it grows in colder climates.  People first began eating rye bread around the Black and Caspian Seas, which is why it’s sometimes affiliated with Russian oligarchs.  Interestingly enough, it is planted in the fall, where it survives through the winter and harvested in June.  Rye is chewier, and has a more robust flavor than wheat or barley, and beverages made with it share this quality.

    I don’t know about anyone else here, but I for one happen to like rye whiskey and rye bread; naturally I liked this as well. Others might just be happy this is not an IPA.   Abita Bourbon Street Rye Pale Ale 4.1/5.