Wednesday Afternoon Links

by | Jan 8, 2020 | Daily Links | 418 comments

Happy Wednesday, everybody. I got a new work computer last night. Apparently, it hates to do MS cloud stuff with Chrome, which is like, my whole day. So I guess I’ll start using… Firefox? to do my work? Any other recommendations? Other than that, life is good. I know everyone hates Windows 10, but I really don’t mind it.

Iran has decided it’s good with America now that they have thrown trash at our base. Yeah.

Ricky Gervais has decided to keep punching. I expect mobs of outraged bloggers to make it all the way to the top of their mom’s basement before getting distracted by snacks.

I mean, Gloria Allred should be banned from appearing in any court room, except as a witness or defendant.

Suck it, cancer!

 

I was flipping the radio dial and ran across this, which I hadn’t heard in years. I hope it makes you chuckle as much as it made me.

About The Author

Brett L

Brett L

Brett set out to find America, the real America, the America of strip malls and serial killers, of butthole waxing and kelp smoothies, of cocaine and maggots. He sought it in the most American part of America—Florida: swamp gas and fever dreams, where love arrives on a rickety boat and leaves when it doesn't have the money for its fourth abortion. Oh, where has Brett gone? He’s drinking at the neck of America’s wang, chewing its foreskin and working its shaft. Brett is becoming legend. Brett can never die. Brett can never die. Brett is America, facedown in his own patriotic puke: the red his blood, the white his stomach lining, and the cold, cold blue his gas station slushie, spiked with coconut rum and tetracycline.

418 Comments

  1. Rebel Scum

    Iran has decided it’s good with America now

    #Winning

    • Count Potato

      “”Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens & senior officials were launched,” Zarif tweeted. “We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression.”

      Were there any casualties?

      • Juvenile Bluster

        Apparently not. They told the Iraqis in advance what would happen, the Iraqis told the Americans, and everyone had long since taken cover (radar picked the missiles up anyways).

      • mexican sharpshooter

        I saw rumblings about Iranian state media saying there were over 80 causalities.

      • UnCivilServant

        Iranian state media

        I think I see a flaw in that number.

      • invisible finger

        They counted insects.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        No, they counted the passengers on that plane.

        *looks around nervously*

        Too soon?

      • Juvenile Bluster

        Sweet Meteor O’Death
        @smod4real
        TRUMP: Do we have a deal?

        KHAMENEI: Yes, our Ukrainian friend will launch an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden. He is flying out of Teheran tonight, and will make the announcement as soon as he lands.

        TRUMP: Nice

        KHAMENEI: He also has dirt on the Clintons

        TRUMP: Uh-oh
        11:40 PM · Jan 7, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

      • Count Potato

        LOLOLOL

      • JaimeRoberto Delecto

        You mean MSNBC?

      • Gustave Lytton

        Translation: Iranians just shit all over themselves shooting down a passenger jet without the usual paper thin deniability and realize that stirring more shit is dumber than they usually are.

    • J. Frank Parnell

      Wait, so we’re not having WWIII then?

      Now what will Trump use to distract from his impeachment that everyone has already forgotten about?

      • Mojeaux

        Wait, so we’re not having WWIII then?

        Not enough RSVPs to justify the dry chicken dinner catering.

      • WTF

        Why would he want to distract from his impeachment? It’s blowing up in the Democrats faces.

  2. Count Potato

    “Happy Wednesday, everybody. I got a new work computer last night. Apparently, it hates to do MS cloud stuff with Chrome, which is like, my whole day. So I guess I’ll start using… Firefox? to do my work? Any other recommendations?”

    Brave?

    • UnCivilServant

      Is there a Stunning browser?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I’m assuming Edge works with MS Cloud stuff.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Hate Edge with a white hot passion. The Windows ME of browsers.

    • Mojeaux

      Brave was wonderful…for a while.

      Then it interfered with things I really need to do. For instance, on an ebook distributor website I must frequent, it will not allow me to log out. Now, that might sound stupid, but I upload my clients’ work there also so I need to log in as them. And Brave won’t let me.

      There are other weird glitches like that. If a thing doesn’t work, I move to Firefox. I have had to do that so often now that I went back to Firefox.

      I do still use it for YouTube because its ad blocking is superb.

      • JaimeRoberto Delecto

        I still like Brave, but there are some sites that it doesn’t play well with. I blame the sites more than I blame Brave. I use other browsers for those sites.

    • Jarflax

      Brave is Chrome.

  3. Spudalicious

    Gloria Allred is a attention seeking cunte.

    • UnCivilServant

      If she’s representing someone, I assume the client is lying.

      • Count Potato

        It’s a real time-saver.

        “The high-profile Allred represents Mimi Helayi, one of the two women at the center of this criminal case. Allred is also working with several of the more than 80 woman who have publicly proclaimed over the past two years that Weinstein sexually assaulted or sexually harassed them.”

        Eighty minus several is still a large number of women telling the truth.

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, when you see a lot of accusations being made, piling on and claiming lawyers fees for joining a legal action is an easy payday, plus getting to elbow in front of the cameras. Classic Allred. Doesn’t matter if her clients were ever victimized, they just have to sign the paper claiming they were.

  4. Juvenile Bluster

    This morning my daughter came out of her room with a long sleeved t-shirt under her uniform shirt with horizontal black stripes on the sleeves and wearing a black rubber choker. I’m afraid she’s going goth.

    • UnCivilServant

      There are worse phases one can go through than goth.

      • Juvenile Bluster

        This is true.

      • Not Adahn

        Watch and make sure she doesn’t add black velvet cat ears. That’s a stop on the goth-to-furry pipeline.

      • Count Potato

        That’s weeabo not furry.

      • Caput Lupinum

        Those are not mutually exclusive categories.

      • Sensei

        Not my thing, But first thing I thought of with goth + nekomimi.

      • Juvenile Bluster

        It is my thing.

        And my waifu is NOT trash, thank you very much (but she’s not a nekomimi)

      • Jarflax

        Nothing wrong with Goth.

      • Rhywun

        Goth-pop. I remember them.

    • Count Potato

      It could be worse.

    • Tundra

      Better than yoga pants.

      • Caput Lupinum

        Not really, the youngins are all about their goth gf. HM can doubtlessly provide supporting links.

      • pistoffnick

        Especially yoga pants that say “Juicy” on the ass

      • J. Frank Parnell

        JFC for a moment I thought I was still reading the Gloria Allred thread above and I almost threw up.

    • Florida Man

      Better than a Che T-shirt or worse Harris.

      • Juvenile Bluster

        Luckily I’ve been brainwashing her into libertarianism for most of her life.

        Though her best friend is Russian…

      • grrizzly

        There’s a contradiction?

      • Juvenile Bluster

        Why, she could start spouting out Trump propaganda as a result!

      • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

        You can’t be a xenophobe and claim to support individualism, however, fashion dictates that xenophobe toward Russians is OK.

        What don’t you get about this?

      • Florida Man

        Russians at least understand these things.

    • Ted S.

      Hawt.

    • Mojeaux

      It could be worse. Trust me. *gives XY TD the side eye*

      • Count Potato

        Why, what he do?

      • Mojeaux

        Well, vaguebooking aside, I don’t really want to talk about it.

        Let’s just say I’d prefer black clothes and Drakkar Noir.

      • Count Potato

        Hmmm…

      • Tonio

        Ouch! That sucks.

    • Florida Man

      You know what I find odd. The number of teenage girls I see walking around in shorts so short you can see their butt meat out with their parents. I get sneaking out with girl friends and letting it all hangout, but doing it with dad there seems…weird.

      • Brett L

        I see you were at Busch Gardens recently, too. Although they weren’t short shorts, so much as pulled up to their 3rd rib.

      • Florida Man

        I went in October. I forgot what a great park it is.

      • Brett L

        We went the Sunday after Christmas. It was a shitshow, but my wife has the annual pass with parking, and the rest of us have some sort of annual pass without parking. We’ll go on a drizzly day in February and have the park to ourselves. But yes, nice park.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        You guys need to go to Kings Dominion.

        That’s some real trailer trash skin viewing material.

      • Tonio

        From the trailer parks of Prince William County to the slums of DC, KD is their preferred entertainment venue.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Six Flags over Anything.

        Except Magic Mountain.

        Magic Mountain is too stabby.

      • Mojeaux

        Dad trolling daughter.

        My husband would come down on XX TD like a ton of hot bricks if she posted selfies like that.

      • WTF

        That’s hilarious!

      • Tonio

        Him having twice her followers has to leave a mark.

    • Timeloose

      Start making her playlists to listen to. Lots of the Cure, Type O-, The Smiths, Joy Division, and maybe some My Chemical Romance or Deftones for something from the late 90s early 2000s.

      She will go any other direction quickly or you will be the coolest.

      • Sean

        Some Sisters of Mercy and some Skinny Puppy too.

      • Trolleric the Goth

        get some Bauhaus and Depeche Mode in there as well

      • Rhywun

        Bonus points if you actually like those bands.

      • Tres Cool

        After all, Bauhaus w/o Peter Murphy is just……?

      • Rhywun

        Love and Rockets.

      • l0b0t

        Tee hee. I do, I do. Also Siouxsie and The Banshees and Gene Loves Jezebel.

      • Rhywun

        hell yeah

      • Not Adahn

        Echo and the Bunnymen?

      • Tundra
      • Rhywun

        Nah, not goth at all.

      • Rhywun

        Gorgeous.

        sooo good

      • Rhywun

        Nah, not goth at all.

        re: Echo if that wasn’t clear

      • Shirley Knott

        Maybe early Dead Can Dance and/or Clan of Xymox.
        Definitely some Sisters of Mercy — they do a version of Gimme Shelter that’s pretty great. Given your taste in male vocalists, Mo, I’d think SoM would be right up your alley.

      • Sean

        Xymox? OMG, I haven’t heard anyone mention them in forever!

      • Rhywun

        I don’t often scream like a little girl but it’s possible I did when I saw them in concert circa ’99. Best show ever. Granted, I was drunk AF and maybe on something.

      • Sean

        ?

      • Rhywun

        I have an album from 2014 (!) I haven’t even listened to yet. They need to slow down with the releases. And there was another one in 2017! Of course it’s not as good as the old days but I’ve noticed there’s always at least one or two killer tracks on each one.

      • Shirley Knott

        I have some of their stuff in my regular rotation. Back Door off Medusa just finished. 😉
        But the further away they got from being ‘Clan of’ the less impressed I became.

  5. Rebel Scum

    Ricky Gervais has decided to keep punching.

    Learning from Dave Chapelle.

    • Florida Man

      It helps that his is British and Can get work places besides Hollywood

    • Q Continuum

      The response to bullies is not to cower in fear and apologize.

  6. Not Adahn

    Please tell me the cancer drop was caused by vaping crowding out smoking.

    • Brett L

      “Drop in lung cancer deaths”

    • Donation Not Taxation

      From the report linked to in the article linked to above:

      “The cancer death rate declined by 29% from 1991 to 2017, including a 2.2% drop from 2016 to 2017, the largest single-year drop in cancer mortality ever reported.”

      “The pace of mortality reductions for lung cancer – the leading cause of cancer death – accelerated in recent years (from 2% per year to 4% overall) spurring the record one-year drop in overall cancer mortality. In contrast, progress slowed for colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers.”

      ““The accelerated drops in lung cancer mortality as well as in melanoma that we’re seeing are likely due at least in part to advances in cancer treatment[.]”

      The closest it gets to addressing smoking and vaping is: “Lung cancer incidence continues to decline twice as fast in men as in women, reflecting historical differences in tobacco uptake and cessation.”

      From http://pressroom.cancer.org/CancerStats2020, from link at https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/477278-cancer-death-rate-has-biggest-one-year-drop-ever-report-finds

      • mexican sharpshooter

        How does anyone live in Canada for under £2m?

      • Bobarian LMD

        They’re discussing real money, not canadian money.

      • Not Adahn

        American women destroy royals, it is known.

      • Gustave Lytton

        She’s doing her damnedest. I can’t imagine ordinary Brits are very happy to continue subsidizing their extended vacay without doing the dress up and handshake gig.

      • Florida Man

        It’s the Brits own fault for letting the monarchy survive. Be a republic or don’t, assholes.

      • Animal

        The correct answer is “who gives a shit?”

      • Tulip

        Ding ding ding

    • UnCivilServant

      The proper response is to strip both of them of all titles and any lands/revenues from them and ban them from royal properties.

      Want to be independant – go, be independant.

      • UnCivilServant

        Royal properties include all commonwealth nations.

      • Donation Not Taxation

        “This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.

        “We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.”

        — “PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle” as quoted @ https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10700782/prince-harry-meghan-markle-moving-canada/

        Yes, that is from The Sun (UK)

      • Donation Not Taxation

        Half-squirreled!

        “We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.

        “It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.

        “We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.

        “This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.

        “We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.”

        — “PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle” as quoted @ https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10700782/prince-harry-meghan-markle-moving-canada/

        Yes, that is from The Sun (UK)

    • Gustave Lytton

      Financially independent? Harry’s going to get a real job? Hope that pussy is real good because Megan seems intent to prove she’s dumber than a sack of rocks.

    • Ted S.

      She should disown them.

    • grrizzly

      OMG. That’s devastating. I had no idea. Harry was the only good looking guy in the royal family–before he started losing his hair.

      • Gustave Lytton

        And his balls.

      • Tonio

        He’s still hot af. Hairloss was inevitable given his gene pool (both official and suspected).

      • Mojeaux

        I wouldn’t go so far as to say hot. Adorable, sure. But I’m a mom and I would never be a cougar.

        I feel bad for him. Meghan’s got his balls in a jar.

        I’m giving this marriage 8 years, tops.

    • leon

      As long as he stays the fuck out of USA, then i don’t care. Keep those damn inbred dirtbags out of Merica!

  7. Rebel Scum

    If there is anyone I trust on foreign policy, it is Susan Rice.

    Mitchell said, “He demanded that Russia, China, the European allies get out of the nuclear weapon deal themselves. What leverage does the president have with Germany, France, the U.K., Russia and China right now?”

    Rice said, “None.”

    Mitchell pressed, “Because?”

    Rice said, “We are the ones who withdrew from the deal. We are the ones who have precipitated this cycle of escalation, unfortunately. And we treat our allies under President Trump like trash.”

    She added, “We don’t give them even a heads-up when we’re about to take dangerous action that put their personnel directly at risk. We don’t consult. We don’t concert our efforts. And so why should they simply follow along like sheepish puppies just because President Trump finds himself in a bind and has to give a speech.”

    He should have just let the attack proceed resulting in the deaths of diplomats and blamed it on a video I guess.

    • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

      “What leverage does the president have with Germany, France, the U.K.,”

      Like every American president post-World War II, literally all the leverage in the world. Sure would be a shame if we just decided to close down those bases, aye Germany and France.

      • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

        *UK

        France hasn’t had American bases since DeGaul

      • Bobarian LMD

        But they benefited from a lot of US bases between them and the Warsaw pact.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yeah, that’s yet more proof Rice doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Rice consistently impresses me as one of the more despicable and mendacious characters from the Obama administration.

      • Count Potato

        That’s a pretty high bar. Or low bar. Still no idea how that works.

      • Donation Not Taxation

        Compliment = high bar. Insult = low bar

        Hypothetically, if you come across an article entitled “Bill Clinton is an Unusually Good Liar and Hillary is No Slouch”, then if a Leftie, being better than Bill C at lying would be a high bar, because want Leftie politicians to be good at lying, but if Rightie, constitutionalist, monarchist, etc., than being better than lying than Bill C would be a low bar, because accusing a Leftie politician of lying is supposed to be saying s/he did something bad.

  8. Pope Jimbo

    I can only imagine how great a sex tape of Gloria Allred and Al Sharpton would be. I don’t know how much actual fucking would go on, but watching them wrestle with each other trying to be the one in front of the camera would be epic.

      • Pope Jimbo

        pffttt

        That isn’t barf-worthy. You know what is?

        The sex tape video of those two where Al unwittingly earns his red wings. Why inadvertently? Because he just assumed Gloria was in her traditional red getup.

    • Juvenile Bluster

      You should be banned, and probably arrested for this.

    • Ted S.

      Add *uck Schumer for a threesome.

      • Tonio

        You are a terrible human being, Ted.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Ted S. reveals himself as a breast man.

    • Brett L

      ** spreads gasoline around site, sighs, lights match **

    • Sean

      SP is right about you.

      • Ted S.

        What do you expect from Viking fans?

    • Spudalicious

      EYE BLEACH!!! EYE BLEACH NOW!!!

    • Tres Cool

      Nuke him from space.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Iran has decided it’s good with America now

    Ritual retaliatory punch on the shoulder.

  10. Count Potato

    “This makes no sense. Sanctions are economic warfare.

    They have already caused medical shortages and countless deaths in Iran.

    You cannot claim to want deescalation and then announce new sanctions with no clear goal. This is not a measured response!”

    https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1214966888142376962

    Now do BDS.

    • Ted S.

      And the sanctions against 80s South Africa.

    • Rebel Scum

      with no clear goal

      Actually the goal is clear. It is just not to your liking.

    • J. Frank Parnell

      BDS has a pretty clear goal, though.

      • Count Potato

        Do you know who else had a clear goal?

      • Mojeaux

        *wild applause*

        UCS wins the internet.

      • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

        No he didn’t. That bastard should have been carded in the box!

      • Spudalicious

        George Blanda?

      • Ted S.

        Cristiano Ronaldo, every time he was offside?

    • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

      Sanctions are a form of economic warfare, but somehow I have a hard time taking a person seriously when they actively promote sanctions against nations such as Russia and Israel for no discernible reason other than being fashionable and insane or pretty blatant antisemitism.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Turn that frown upside down Omar, it’s less bad than being bombed.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    Harry’s going to get a real job?

    He’s the chopper pilot, right? He can go work for a heli-skiing service in the Bugaboos.

    • Tonio

      No, that’s his uncle, Andrew.

      • Brett L

        Harry flew medivacs in Afghanistan for the Army, I believe.

      • Tonio

        My bad.

    • creech

      I heard they are short at least one helicopter pilot in Hawaii.

  12. Certified Public Asshat

    Well, I’m on the phone with my computer security service, and as I understand it someone compromised my IP address and is using it to download child pornography. I might just be a random target. But this could be an attempt to Qanon me.It’s an ugly world out there.— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) January 8, 2020

    This would have never happened with a fax machine.

    • Q Continuum

      He was “hacked”. Suuuuuuuuuure…….

      • UnCivilServant

        Look. He probably doesn’t know how to put a password on a wireless network. He was probably providing free internet to his whole neighborhood.

    • Brett L

      as I understand it someone compromised my IP address and is using it to download child pornography

      Translation: My internet provider just sent me a letter telling me they know what I’ve been doing

    • Ted S.

      He shouldn’t have been trying to get Kurt Eichenwald’s tentacle porn.

      • Gustave Lytton

        That’s the guy! I was trying to remember who had the tentacle porn tab and David French was the name that was coming to mind.

      • Sensei

        He was doing “research”!

      • Gustave Lytton

        I’m going to tell my wife that I’m just practicing my conversational Japanese by watching those videos.

        *cranks up volume on any random JAV*

        Uh, maybe not…

      • Sensei

        iku! iku! Ichatta!

    • Florida Man

      I didn’t know Krugman was a pedophile. Makes sense in retrospect.

      • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

        He raped a whole generation’s understanding of economics with his consistently wrong forecasts

      • Tonio

        He stole their childhoods.

      • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

        How dare he. They should be on ze otter zide of ze osean!

    • Gustave Lytton

      Might want to get on the other line to your lawyer, Krugnuts.

    • invisible finger

      “I’m on the phone with my computer security service”

      Life Lock?

      • J. Frank Parnell

        “Hello this is computer security for internet support we are finding suspicious activities from your computer, please do the needful and call right away to disrupting internet services.”

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They got my father with that one.

        At least he balked when they asked for his debit card number.

      • JaimeRoberto Delecto

        My mom fell for that too, and she gave them the debit card number and pretty much every single password she has ever used.

      • Mojeaux

        My mom’s like, “Talk to my son-in-law.” *click*

    • Winston's Mom

      AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

      AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

      I got you good, fucker!

      • Tonio

        Hey, you got another column in the works? I uploaded a Kruggy illo for you a while back.

      • Winston's Mom

        Sorry, I stay busy and I often to get bumped by Zardoz and STEVE SMITH. How far back, dear?

      • Tonio

        NP. Dec 24.

      • Winston's Mom

        I can’t seem to find it, which is not easy for me to admit. I’ll tell ya what, link it here and we’ll something together?

      • Jarflax

        Do they bump you at the same time? I guess Zardoz provides the head?

      • Winston's Mom

        What? I’ll have you know Zardoz is totally celibate you sick fuck.

      • Spudalicious

        Why would a woman want a stream of firearms launched at her crotch?

      • Jarflax

        Money?

      • Spudalicious

        Fair point.

      • leon

        With that kind of skill, you could make some decent cash as a black hat.

        So you’re just doing the other work for fun then?

      • Q Continuum

        When you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.

    • invisible finger

      How does he know it’s child porn unless he deliberately opened the files??

    • ChipsnSalsa

      attempt to Qanon me

      and that would mean what?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That’s called “getting ahead of the story”

    • Timeloose

      He was doing research with his pal from the Who.

    • R C Dean

      I understand it someone compromised my IP address and is using it to download child pornography

      How would he know that some total stranger was using his IP address to download child porn?

      • Brett L

        He got a letter from his internet provider. They’ll send you something vaguely threatening at first. If it happens again after that, they’ll forward it to the cops. Torrents are the same way. If your IP address is visiting someone on the copyright violators list, you’ll get a letter, and then they’ll cancel your internet.

      • Sensei

        I can see it.

        I’ve no idea where he lives – NYC? But I’m guessing apartment and somebody is leeching off his poorly secured WiFi or something like that.

      • Brett L

        That’s why mine is named “Definitely NOT an FBI van”

    • Bobarian LMD

      @Liberty4Masses

      Every pedophile that ever got caught with CP: “a hacker must have compromised my IP address!”

      @BobarianLMD

      Every pedophile that ever got caught with CP:

      “I’m not Paul Krugman!”

    • Michael

      I have no idea which timeline I woke up in this morning, but Eugene Gu is apparently doling out sensible legal advice to Paul Krugman in it.

      https://twitter.com/eugenegu/status/1215022615229689856?s=19

      Guess I’ll just sit here and wait for the Uber driving giraffe to drive me to the next quantum leap terminal now.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    Well, I’m on the phone with my computer security service, and as I understand it someone compromised my IP address and is using it to download child pornography.

    This is what happens when you cheap out on your VPN service, people.

    • invisible finger

      They came highly recommended by Debbie Wasserman-Schulz.

  14. Rebel Scum

    When you’ve lost Difi…

    The prominent Democrat addressed Pelosi’s refusal to transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate, essentially questioning the point of her delay.

    “If we’re going to do it, she should send them over,” Feinstein said, according to Bloomberg. “I don’t see what good delay does.”

    • slumbrew - double secret satan

      Too easy.

  15. "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

    https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/californias-increasing-weed-taxes-are-fueling-crime-destroying-environment-and-killing-jobs/

    “California’s Increasing Weed Taxes are Fueling Crime, Destroying Environment, and Killing Jobs”

    FTA:

    “At the end of 2019, the Cannabis Advisory Committee warned Gov. Gavin Newsom and California legislators that high taxes, overly burdensome regulations and local control issues posed debilitating obstacles to the legal marijuana market. In response, California officials enacted a new a law on New Year’s day to increase these taxes and overly burdensome regulations.

    “Essentially, the state is raising our taxes $3 on every $100,” said Eric Miramon, co-owner of All About Wellness in Sacramento.

    Miramon told KCRA his pot shop pays a whopping $120,000 a month in combined state and city taxes — and those fees are going up.

    Cannabis wholesalers were already paying outrageous excise fees of 60%. But this year, those fees went up to 80%. Cultivation fees are also going through the roof. The effects of extorting the legal cannabis industry for more and more money are devastating both for crime and the environment.

    “Increasing the taxes over and over a little bit every month, this is pushing people further and further into the black market,” Miramon said.

    The effects of officials steadily stealing more and more from the market via higher taxes and more regulations have been staggering. In fact, despite bringing in $3.1 billion in licensed pot sales — becoming the largest market in the world in 2019 — it is estimated that over 80% of cannabis sales still take place in the black market.”

    • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

      The War on Drugs is seamlessly transitioning into a War on Tax Avoidance

      • invisible finger

        They keep this up and eventually even stupid true believers will come around to the fact that government isn’t entitled to other people’s money.

      • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

        I wish, but I doubt that. I’ve never heard big complaints from people when someone is arrested for “smuggling cigarettes” (as in traveling from one state to buy cheaper cartons of cigarettes from another state).

        If people are cool with destroying the lives of people buying cheap smokes within the US, they’ll fall in line with this.

      • Donation Not Taxation

        If you like your NASA, you can keep your NASA, as long as you get people to voluntarily pay for it.

        And the Constitution of the United States of America is cool with non-nanny-state* government programs such as farm subsidies and NASA if the money is donated instead of taxes or from borrowing on the full faith and credit of the United States. *Farm subsidy programs do impose regulations on the recipients, but they can opt out of them by ceasing to take the money.

    • invisible finger

      95% of my gasoline is smuggled from DuPage county.

      • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

        Hehe

        That’s where I use to buy my smokes back in the day too

    • Gustave Lytton

      Where’s my shocked face at?

    • Pope Jimbo

      I don’t know about you guys, but I sleep much better knowing that the only reason Our Ruling Class decided to legalize pot was because it offered them a grand chance to snatch more money out of our pockets.

      For a while I was worried that we were going to quit on the War on Drugs for sissy-ass reasons like it was immoral or something. Would have made me sick to my stomach if some politician told me he wasn’t going to lock me up for using a substance that didn’t affect anyone else because it was wrong.

      • Donation Not Taxation

        “I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing.” — Milton Friedman

    • Spudalicious

      Most of the license plates at East Oregon pot shops are from Idaho.

  16. Pope Jimbo

    SCIENCE!!!

    Raising the minimum wage by $1 an hour could lower the suicide rate among people with a high school education or less by up to 6 percent, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

    Not surprisingly, the study also found the effect is strongest during periods of high unemployment.

    These findings underscore the important role that government policies designed to improve the economic security of people with less education can play in reducing socioeconomic disparities in health across the United States, the study’s authors say.

    • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

      There’s a simple way to test this theory, which is to look at the suicide rate for rural residents in states that have increased the minimum wage versus residents of rural parts of states that have a comparably low minimum wage. I suspect they already looked at this and found that it did not support their conclusions so they just decided to roll with their theory anyways. Because nothing about raising the minimum wage has anything to do with helping anyone. It’s just a mindless religious tenet.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      Lemme guess, higher taxes on the rich and government ownership of capital also reduce suicide among the poor…

    • leon

      Just a question, pretty unrelated. But what is the suicide rate of the chronically unemployed?

      • UnCivilServant

        It depends. I think you’ll have two populations, one that wants to be employed and productive, and one that’s okay being mooches.

    • invisible finger

      “could lower the suicide rate among people with a high school education or less by up to 6 percent”

      Lowering the minimum wage would reduce the suicide rate by up to 50%.

      Because I said so. I can make up the bullshit “study” proving it if necessary.

      • R C Dean

        up to 6 percent

        Which would include a reduction of 0.0001% .

        “Up to” means the same thing as “no more than”.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I don’t think negative numbers are restricted from being in this equation.

      • Fourscore

        Easy problem to solve. Just give everyone a high school diploma. If suicides don’t go down up the ante to community college, if necessary to a bachelor’s. Suicides should be at zero at that time.

      • Jarflax

        Just name everyone Epstein

    • Tonio

      Interesting. Normally “homeless camp clean-up” means bringing in the big trucks and the bulldozers.

      There really is no good solution to this problem, including not having a solution.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Water cannons?

      • Fourscore

        Bring back the draft for the homeless. Food, shelter, clothes, friends, fun, travel, adventure, what’s not to like

  17. The Late P Brooks

    em>These findings underscore the important role that government policies designed to improve the economic security of people with less education can play in reducing socioeconomic disparities in health across the United States, the study’s authors say.

    *outright, prolonged laughter*

    “Our study proves just what we said it would. We’re geniuses.”

  18. "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

    Senator Rand Paul

    @RandPaul

    “I am pleased that President Trump has pulled back and taken the preferred path of no further military action. I believe any further decisions on military action require a full debate and Congressional authority.”

    I imagine his dad reading this tweet and shaking his head- “that boy ain’t right”

    • R C Dean

      I believe any further decisions on military action require a full debate and Congressional authority.

      Uhh, Rand, Congress already gave him authority with the AUMF. With the declaration of Iran as a terror sponsor, its fair game under the AUMF. If you think the AUMF is invalid and unconstitutional, fine, but that would mean everything done in the WoT is illegal.

      The only authority Congress has in this area is to declare war. That’s it. Either the AUMF is valid as a lesser included power, in which case its valid for a lot more “military action” against Iran, or its not valid at all. We invaded Iraq under an AUMF, why not Iran?

      Sorry, but Congress doesn’t get to dip its toe in randomly. Its power is pretty binary – declare war, or not. The nancing around since WWII has been very unhelpful, and this sounds like more nancing around to me.

      • Juvenile Bluster

        Fine. We get the fuck out of every country in the world (save maybe our bases in Germany and South Korea) and Congress can vote to put them back anywhere else they want. Deal?

        And fuck the AUMF. And fuck any politician who voted for it.

      • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

        Well said

      • R C Dean

        *casts “yay” vote*

      • R C Dean

        I would cast a “yea” vote, but this one is too enthusiastic for that.

  19. "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

    https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/idaho-republican-party-passes-antiwar-resolutions/

    “Idaho Republican Party Passes Antiwar Resolutions”

    FTA:

    “One resolution, urging Risch to hold public hearings based on the Washington Post’s publication last month of findings — acquired through the Freedom of Information Act — of the Congressionally-created office of Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), was approved by voice vote of the roughly 150 members of the Idaho GOP state committee meeting Saturday in Boise.

    The resolution urges Risch “to cast the white hot spotlight of public hearings on the outrageous disclosures of these newly uncovered government documents, and then – based on the overwhelming weight of evidence these previously secret documents provide to the American people – refuse to continue to be a party to allowing the unmitigated disaster in Afghanistan to continue at the cost of even one more American life.”

    • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

      The times, they are a chang’n

    • Tonio

      refuse to continue to be a party to allowing the unmitigated disaster in Afghanistan to continue at the cost of even one more American life

      I think I feel a tingle in my dingle.

    • Shirley Knott

      Well, well, well.

    • Spudalicious

      Per capita, there’s a lot of military members that come from Idaho.

  20. Pope Jimbo

    Robby’s long lost brother?

    Benjamin Canine bought an electric car from Tesla more than a year ago, and he still doesn’t have a charger at the parking garage under his Minneapolis condo building.

    It’s not for lack of trying.

    Canine has worked to retrofit the North Loop garage, a project he and other residents had to plan and design from scratch, while grappling with questions about the new technology: Who should pay for the installation and electricity? And how can they make building new stations easy if more people buy electric cars?

    “I would say the biggest obstacle so far has just been trying to figure out how to get started,” said Canine, who works as the vice president of Lorenz Bus Service. “None of us are electrical engineers, none of us have a background in electricity.”

    Uffda. I’m about as mechanically declined a person as you can find, but if you gave me the task of getting a charger installed, I could at least get started. Of course, I know a bunch of peopel in the trades, so I would just lure them over with the promise of beer and then pester them with questions.

    I also suspect that the condo’s management isn’t thrilled about the idea of spending lots of money on this stuff (and trying to collect monthly usage fees).

    • Pope Jimbo

      Also:

      Mary Robinson, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, said the state considers the lack of EV charging in multifamily housing to be an equity issue. For that reason, Robinson said the agency will prioritize clustered charging stations at “public locations, mobility hubs, workplaces and multi-unit housing” in a second round of grants paid for by Volkswagen’s legal settlement for cheating on emissions tests.

      I remember when cars became popular because the govt spent shitloads of extortion $$ on building an infrastructure of gas stations and fuel delivery.

      • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

        What is MN’s energy mix?

        Because I feel like if you own an electric car in say South Carolina then you are actually polluting the environment MORE by owning an electric car than if you just owned a standard car.

        Oh well, though, praise Gaia!

      • Pope Jimbo

        We’re doing our best to be super green and use lots and lots of wind power. Solar Power is also surging due to lots and lots of grants and subsidies. And our rates are going up accordingly. And the bulk of our power is still from coal and nukes.

        All of which makes this a funny story ending quote:

        But Canine said his lengthy work proves there should be more help for charging in multifamily housing, where dense living provides an opportunity to spread EVs quickly. “If you can get charging in this building as opposed to one single-family home here or there you can really get a meaningful reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

        Yup. Because electricity just magically (and in a 100% Gaia friendly manner) just grows in the walls. Nope, his car juice didn’t come from a bunch of coal being burned out on the prairie.

      • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

        Yeah, that’s why I used the South Carolina example. Last I looked they were about 80% coal or something obscene as far as energy source. Not surprisingly, they were one of the first states to sue the federal government over the Obama era clean power mandates.

        Climate Change Cultists are rather dumb

      • pistoffnick

        “What is MN’s energy mix?”

        Coal 60%
        Nuke 24%
        Solar 9%
        Natty gas ??% (I know of at least 2 natural gas power plants in the state)

      • pistoffnick

        I got to tour the Monticello Nuke plant back in college as part of our engineering club. I stood directly above the rods in the water tank. I don’t believe they allow tours at nuke plants after 9/11 anymore.

      • Juvenile Bluster

        That triggered a memory of visiting Turkey Point in 1995 for a similar club (though in High School). One of those things lost to time, like visiting the cockpit during a flight.

      • Rhywun

        Juvie, do you like Turkish baths?

      • Juvenile Bluster

        I have never been in a Turkish Prison, nor do I like gladiator movies. Except I guess Gladiator.

      • slumbrew - double secret satan

        A (hot) ex GF got to sit in the cockpit during landing as she was flying back from Germany to Boston, in 2000.

        (I used to tease her that she sat on the pilot’s lap).

        I’m certain that’s a no-no these days.

      • Pope Jimbo

        In the old days you could fish salmon off the nukes in Kewaunee and Two Rivers, WI. The bait fish would be in the warm water feeding when they would hit the colder water they would be stunned for a bit. The salmon cruised in the cold water looking for that to happen and would swoop in and scarf them up.

        The trick was to find the temp break and troll along it. Good times.

        Now if you get within a mile (or something like that) they will start hailing you on the marine radio and telling you that you are in a restricted zone and to get the fuck out. If you ignore it, a Coast Guard cutter will arrive shortly to escort you out.

      • Tundra

        Just texted you a pic of a fish Spawn 1 caught just downstream of the nuke plant.

        Warm water means big, happy fishies!

      • Gender Traitor
      • Gustave Lytton

        paid for by Volkswagen’s legal settlement for cheating on emissions tests

        So wasted just like the tobacco extortion money.

      • Juvenile Bluster

        That’s completely untrue. For example, the tobacco extortion money is now being used for commercials to discourage people from vaping (rather than smoking).

      • Gustave Lytton

        Tobacco and smoking are just synonyms for nicotine.

    • Mojeaux

      Of course, I know a bunch of peopel in the trades, so I would just lure them over with the promise of beer and then pester them with questions.

      YouTube.

      • pistoffnick

        YouTube has saved me a TON of money.

      • Mojeaux

        This is where I learned about the magical combination of Pex and SharkBites.

      • Lackadaisical

        *nods in homeowner*

    • Brett L

      Who should pay for the installation and electricity? And how can they make building new stations easy if more people buy electric cars?

      So they never found someone else’s money to do it. Also, you don’t need an electrical engineer. You need an electrician who can read a spec sheet and walk through your garage to figure out whether you have 3 phase power or need to find some sort of 220V transformer.

      • Brett L

        You could get 3 quotes in 2 weeks, for free. Just tell them your condo association wants 3 bids before they’ll select a vendor. Boom.

      • Tundra

        My parent’s condo has plug in options, but the costs of installation and usage are borne solely by the resident.

        Seems pretty obvious to me…

    • Sensei

      NJ winters just kills range on my Tesla. I can’t imagine what they do in Minnesota.

      Do most apartments have 120v outlets for block heaters?

      • pistoffnick

        Some do, but not all that many.

      • grrizzly

        I’ve only heard of block heaters because I had frequented Calgary. Even Boston isn’t cold enough for them.

      • Spudalicious

        Every diesel truck has a block heater. My F250 didn’t fit in the garage, so I used it frequently.

      • Dr Mossy Lawn

        The block may have a heater, but Ford doesn’t supply the power cord from the heater to the front bumper as standard unless you are in a far northern delivery state.

        Even in barely cold temperatures (below 30) the engine starts with much less noise if you use the heater. Ford says that starts down to 0F without it are allowed with no problems, but it sounds like crap.

        I need to remember to throw some PS additive into the next tank. I’ve had the system gel up twice in previous years.

      • Tundra

        Mine has one, but I’ve never used it. Gas engine, so it doesn’t seem to matter, even on really cold mornings.

        I’ve already had two recalls related to it, however, so I’m a little afraid to use the fucking thing…

      • Spudalicious

        I bought my truck in 2000, so things may have changed since then, but mine had the cord. And I bought it in California.

    • Tonio

      Not that difficult to find info on basic units. 110 VAC chargers are slow but way better than nothing. This would seem to be a how do you pay for it problem. No, your neighbors may not wish to subsidize you on this.

      • R C Dean

        Whycome condo no pay for my Tesla charger?

        I think that’s about all this really is.

      • Mojeaux

        Go to Walmart and plug in.

      • Fourscore

        Buy a generator, carry it with you, recharge as necessary. Gotta think these things through.

      • Mojeaux

        Is that gas or diesel?

      • Jarflax

        Whale oil.

      • Mojeaux

        Has Greta given her okay?

      • Not Adahn

        Speaking of Greta, how much is the upcharge to use rendered panda tallow as the lubricant?

      • Sensei

        In the dead of winter, especially in frozen country, you can’t heat the battery pack up enough to take a charge with 120V source.

        At best keeping it plugged in warms it up enough to fully utilize the charge the existing charge without needing to run the battery heater.

  21. Rufus the Monocled

    ‘Suck it cancer’.

    You know cancer can’t read, right?

    • Pope Jimbo

      I’m trying to decide how to pass this story along to my friends. Do I attribute the drop to vaping? Or to breakthroughs from Trump’s CDC programs?

      I’m just looking forward to having them reply in long convoluted arguments about how great cancer is and how horrible this drop is.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        Trump’s CDC programs? I need more details!

      • R C Dean

        I don’t think vaping been around long enough to affect cancer mortality.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Like I am going to worry about facts when I have anti-smoking/vaping zealots to troll.

    • Not Adahn

      Eyeball cancer can.

  22. Pope Jimbo

    Fucking liberals always overcharging people for minor shit

    Some poor guy gets frustrated on New Year’s Eve because his CD player isn’t working right and shoots it a few times with his shotgun and the next thing you know he’s being charged with a felony for reckless discharge of a firearm within a municipality. No one got hurt, so how reckless could it have been?

    the defendant said he was upset with his multi-disc CD player because it would not work. He brought it outside and shot it with his shotgun 2 or 3 times. He said he then beat the player against his truck 10 to 15 times.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    <You know cancer can’t read, right?

    Don’t you have work to do?

  24. R C Dean

    Apparently, CA has a new law prohibiting hair discrimination. It amends the definition of “race” to include hair texture and “protective” hairstyles like braids, dreadlocks and twists.

    That is all. Carry on.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Next will be to prohibit shower shaming bathing fluid people.

      • Donation Not Taxation

        +1 Lady Gaga

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      All I want to know is if I can touch their hair. I have to touch it, I can’t help it, because I’m white, and a dude.

      • pistoffnick

        Back off, Creepy Uncle Joe!

    • Ted S.

      One of the NYC channels was running a commercial about not discriminating against “natural” hair. Braids are not natural. And dreads are only natural on a komondor.

      • Tundra

        Love those, but no fucking way. My sheepdog breed is related to the Puli and he’s already a maintenance nightmare.

      • Mojeaux

        I don’t like dogs (or horses), but my heroine in Cods & Cuntes has a Scottish deerhound (small plot point) and she DID once have a cane corso (Italian mastiff) (point of contention between her and the cod). I had to do a whole lot of research into dogs to find out what breeds were common. Surprisingly very little breed information is available and I may be pushing it with the deerhound.

      • Spudalicious

        My hunting dog is a Pudelpointer. They came into being in the 1880s, and are a cross of an English Pointer and a German hunting poodle. I read a description of the German hunting poodle from the 1600s, and thought to myself, “that’s just a Standard Poodle”.

      • Rhywun

        To be fair, dreads are natural on anyone if they don’t wash their hair for long enough.

      • Mojeaux

        Actually, I think dreads ARE actually natural, if you don’t comb your hair. I can’t help but think early humans had better things to do than comb their luxurious manes. I imagine they groomed each other and finger-combed it, but early homo incellus had less grooming than others.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Damn incels are nasty

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Saving the planet, he is

    Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown is bringing the heat to CES 2020 in Las Vegas, America’s biggest consumer tech trade show. The head of the plant-based meat company not only debuted two new products, a ground pork and pork sausage alternative, but slammed the meat industry in an interview with Yahoo Finance, calling it “the most destructive technology on Earth by far.”

    The company’s ultimate goal is to completely replace animals as a form of food by 2035.

    ——-

    “Again the thing that you just have to remember to anticipate everything Impossible is going to do is that our intention is to completely replace animals as a food production technology, the most destructive technology on Earth by far,” Brown said.

    “And that means that any product that we’re currently producing using animals, Impossible Foods is already working on, and will commercialize a plant-based, a better, more delicious, more affordable, vastly more sustainable version of that product.”

    Brown’s claims of the impact of the meat industry on the environment aren’t unfounded. There have been several studies linking meat to everything from climate change to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Which is why, he says, Impossible Foods is so important.

    Whatever.

    • Fourscore

      Live animals are a food storage solution

      • Mojeaux

        +1 Royal Navy when sails were all the rage.

    • Florida Man

      I agree. Men should have to wear a shirt too. I don’t want to see none of it.

    • Rhywun

      in New York City, female toplessness is allowed

      News to me. In any event I have never seen it. It’s almost like this is a “solution” to a “problem” that does not exist.

      • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

        Yeah, I’ve never met a woman who wanted to just walk around topless. And that makes me sad.

      • Florida Man

        Walk around? No

        Sun at the beach? I’ve seen em!

    • J. Frank Parnell

      What you want: The 20yo playing topless frisbee in her yard

      What you get: Kathryn Watzel, president of the American Association of Nude Recreation

    • Pope Jimbo

      Look, I’m all for letting the gals go topless. Even the older gals who have to throw them over their shoulder like a Continental Soldier.

      But I just know that once gals get the right to go topless, they will be calling the cops to arrest the men who are looking at their hooters. “I can’t believe that that uggo over there thinks he can look at me and not be arrested!”

      • Mojeaux

        Rule 1: Be attractive.

        Rule 2: Don’t be unattractive.

      • Rhywun

        Yes. I am irritated that what this is really all about is the attempt to bring about New Soviet Man. This crap is going to end badly only I don’t know for whom yet – women, or men.

      • Brochettaward

        There’s nothing inherently sexual about titties, you queer shitlord.

      • slumbrew - double secret satan

        You SF’d that link on purpose, didn’t you? Don’t tease us like that.

      • Tundra

        Anticipation is a good thing.

        2nd try.

      • slumbrew - double secret satan

        Well done.

        Had brunch on Saturday with some friends, their early-20’s son and his girlfriend. The subject of “free passes” came up – kids didn’t know who the pictured lady was.

        Kids these days.

        (for those playing at home – my wife’s “free pass” is Alton Brown, which I’m oddly OK with. My choice gets a “yeah, I understand that” from my wife).

      • Tundra

        Thanks!

        I like Salma and Liz Hurley. Solid into their 50’s is impressive as hell.

        Either makes an excellent free pass.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        My wife gave me a Hurley pass back in the 90’s.

        I guess it still applies.

      • slumbrew - double secret satan

        I’m assuming Hurley actually met the devil when she did Bedazzled and struck a deal. She looks ageless.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I assume that everyone better-looking than me is in league with the Devil

      • Mojeaux

        Where is your psycho ax wielder?

      • JD is Unemployed

        Probably both.

      • Rhywun

        True.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    In the dead of winter, especially in frozen country, you can’t heat the battery pack up enough to take a charge with 120V source.

    At best keeping it plugged in warms it up enough to fully utilize the charge the existing charge without needing to run the battery heater.

    As I understand it, the battery has to run the battery heater when it’s cold. Maybe you need to bring a diesel generator on a trailer everywhere you go.

  27. "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

    https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1215028542813220864

    Remember during Fever Dreams when all the *smart* people were criticizing Senate Republicans for not believing the conspiracy theory enough (just Gulag “Mike Lee Russia” to revisit that insanity)? Well, those people were conspiratorial kooks who are literal pieces of shit and Mike Lee is no sycophant.

      • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

        I didn’t read the whole thing, so I’m not sure if he wrote something retarded.

        I’m just in awe at how many Republicans now are actually anti-interventionist under a Republican president. I think I linked the article before, but there are only six members of the House of Representatives that voted against chastising the president for withdrawing troops from Syria and also voted to force the president to end our support for Saudi Arabia in Yemen. All six of those representatives are Republicans.

        Republicans reverting back to the Old Right position in opposition to adventurism overseas is Rothbard’s dream come to life. They just need to purge more Republicans like Lindsey, while the other neocons scatter back to their homes in the Democratic Party. The times they are a change’n.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Big government and government enforced morality do have a home there. Just need to tweak what is meant by morality.

    • R C Dean

      Did somebody from the administration actually say Congress “can’t debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran.”?

      Or did they say something about not being prohibited from taking further military action against Iran until they got Congressional authorization?

      • "Tulsi Gabbard Apologist"

        “Did somebody from the administration actually say Congress “can’t debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran.”?”

        Apparently, it was said within a closed door meeting with Republican members and Lee was pretty pissed about it.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        That’s a sure way to make enemies out of friends and a stupid move. If congress can’t do something so vital then what good are they?

  28. Donation Not Taxation

    William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975)

    • Juvenile Bluster

      The First Doctor!

      • Donation Not Taxation

        Yes.

    • Spudalicious

      Lol!

  29. The Hyperbole

    Two spots still open in GlibDip 4 : The Simple One Code – No Biffer

    If you have never played before this is the game for you, no reliability restrictions and so far you’ll be matched up against a bunch of easy marks, Me (an Idiot), Trigger Hippie (filthy stoner), Florida Man (meth), Lackadaisical ( I really don’t know what his issue is but I’m certain he has one), and Jarflax (who thinks Skyline “chili” is food).

    • tarran

      Dang. Sadly, I’m going to have to sit this one out. Work and home life got simultaneously very busy. 🙁

    • Jarflax

      RobC was asking about the prior game this morning, if he switches over we are only one short.

      • Tundra

        You know who else was one short?

      • Spudalicious

        My dog, uniball?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        My buddy who had testicular torsion, or as we called him… Captain Mono?

      • Fourscore

        Kirk Cousins, frequently

    • grrizzly

      I have no idea what the rules are but I’m curious to find out. I can play if you still have a spot.

      • Jarflax

        Just click the link the rules are simple and available on the site, although the outcomes of some situations are more complicated so I’d suggest looking at some of the strategy guides. The actual moves are very very simple, the game complexity is in the actual negotiation with other players.

      • Florida Man

        I will NOT negotiate with terrorist!

      • Jarflax

        Good, I am the only non-terrorist playing

      • Florida Man

        Touché

      • The Hyperbole

        Go for it, I’ve only played two games, and I think a few others are first timers. As I explained yesterday it’s exactly like Risk other than all the ways it’s not like Risk at all.

        Seriously it’s an easy game to get the gist of, if there was no ‘diplomacy’ strategy wise it’s no harder than checkers. The thing I learned (in two game) is you really do need to talk to all the other players even if you aren’t actively working with or against them. I guess the name of the game should have clued me into that but as I mentioned above I’m an idiot.

      • grrizzly

        I’ve just registered on the site with the same handle as here. How am I supposed to join the game?

      • The Hyperbole

        You should be able to click on the link in my post above, or search for GlibDip 4 from the Web diplo home page, that should take you to the games page, the code/password to enter is “No Biffer”.

      • grrizzly

        Found the code and I’m in.

      • Florida Man

        And then there were 6

  30. Brochettaward

    Watch CNN dance around the fact that Iran bitched out and ultimately vindicated Trump after they spent a week in hysterics.

    If the attacks in Iraq are indeed the full scope of Iran’s response, they carry another risk: That the Trump administration thinks its ramshackle performance over the past week has paid off, and Iran has been vanquished.

    This would risk further irrational action from Washington, perhaps not just against Iran but also other enemies. It would also make Iran look weak, which might embolden Tehran’s other regional adversaries.

    Much will hinge on Donald Trump’s mood as he awakes. On what Fox News says. And on whether he feels slighted by Iran’s rhetoric.

    Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has sent the clear message that Iran does not want war. It is notable that his moderate English-speaking voice has been heard clearly throughout this volatile morning, at a time when moderation might be considered to have taken a back seat.

    Trump may just take that off-ramp. Tehran and Washington have one thing in common: Their lack of appetite for a prolonged, open conflict with the other. Iran has a weak economy and internal dissent. Trump wants re-election and not another episode of “sand and death.”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      What the fuck?

      CNN sounds like they’re rooting for Iran and the entirety of the USA is under a totalitarian regime.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      CNN sniping at Fox News is funny when most sane people realize they’re equally terrible.

    • JD is Unemployed

      On the topic of CNN, my sister seems to regard Don Lemon as a very dignified and serious journalist who is totally unbiased and stunning and brave etc etc.

      • Sean

        If my sister told me that, I’d disown her.

      • Rhywun

        Stunning and brave

        in August of 2019, when Lemon invited the Reverend Bill Owens onto his show and then grew angry as Owens, an African-American pastor who had just met with President Trump to work on improving conditions in inner cities and wanted to talk about that rather than about Trump’s ridiculous tweeting, repeatedly refused to call the president a racist. When it became abundantly clear that Owens was not going to take the bait, Lemon instantly and dramatically switched tack, accusing Owens of homophobia, questioning whether he was sufficiently “Christianly or godly,” and implying that Owens was “condoning” Trump’s attacks on figures such as Representative Elijah Cummings. As Lemon did this, the technical team at CNN changed the chyron at the bottom of the screen so that it ceased to describe Owens as an “African American faith leader” and labeled him instead as a “controversial pastor.” From honored guest to enemy of progress in five minutes flat.

      • leon

        Don “make the right political statement or I’ll call you a homophobe” Lemon?

    • Not Adahn

      they carry another risk: That the Trump administration thinks its ramshackle performance over the past week has paid off,

      They are literally saying It’s bad if Trump gets (or thinks he got) a win.

      • leon

        Trump can’t just keep winning. If he did he will never learn how to accept defeat and then he won’t ever leave office.

  31. Rhywun

    Reefer madness

    I am not a doctor but… c’mon. Seriously? The pot made him do it?

    After all, he had been smoking cannabis since he was 15 without any psychotic episodes.

    Oh I see, the pot made him do it this time.

    • slumbrew - double secret satan

      That was a deeply fucked up verdict.

    • Count Potato

      May be he ate a Twinkie?

      • Spudalicious

        You’re old.

      • JD is Unemployed

        Is that the new “OK boomer”?

      • slumbrew - double secret satan

        Same same.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Does insanity, and more specifically, self inflicted insanity, absolve guilt?

      Discuss.

      • Rhywun

        Sounds like a good topic for the next round of Glibs Death Match

  32. Mojeaux

    Okay, so fuck Adobe sideways with a rusty fork, but ALSO CVS.

    CVS is the worst. I have no profanities strong enough to express this.

  33. J. Frank Parnell

    It’s Not Arson, You Absolute Fucking Morons

    While 183 arrests have been made in connection with fires, only 24 people have actually been charged with arson.

    So I guess it’s not ‘arson-arson’, as Whoopi might say.

    • Jarflax

      so if 24 people were charged with arson, doesn’t that mean it was arson?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m going to use that one as a defense.

        I’m sorry your Honor, but it’s not reckless driving because an accident was going to happen somewhere, sometime, even if I wasn’t involved.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        omg why do you hate science

    • Spudalicious

      I just lost brain cells.

      • Tundra

        They aren’t lost, they are just astonished at the stupidity of it all.

    • Rhywun

      That headline is super-cereal.

      • JD is Unemployed

        Thuper thuper thereal!

    • slumbrew - double secret satan

      *checks URL*

      I’m not clicking that.

      • Tundra

        Nah, it’s fun. Like going to the Freak Show at a really low-rent carnival.

    • Brochettaward

      I doubt arson is the main cause of the fires.

      I am more willing to believe that environmentalists pushing bad policies contributed to the fires more than global warming. Sort of like how California’s water issues.

      • leon

        ^^^This. It’s the hottest year which creates weather good for fires, but we can’t talk about the policy’s that create situations that make it perfect for fires.

      • leon

        Also: a heat wave seems to fall under weather not necessarily climate change. But you know that argument only goes one way.

      • Ted S.

        The Australian ABC radio podcast I check daily had multiple stories today talking to “experts” who said that clearing underbrush and other policies not pushed by the greenies wouldn’t have stopped the fires.

        They’re clearly in damage control mode.

      • commodious spittoon

        Like, it wouldn’t have prevented them entirely? Of course, sure. Wouldn’t have helped mitigate the explosive growth?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That guy graduated with a Master of Arts in Climate and Society from Columbia.

      Got that?

      And people wonder why we’re doomed.

    • Brochettaward

      The real moral of the story, like every thing I ever see coming out of Australia, is that it was never meant for human habitation.

      • Yusef escaped California

        Yet Arizona is populated, go figure…
        /And it will kill you,

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      What a bunch of front holes.

      • Not Adahn

        “Front??!??” What the fuck is this ventral privilege bullshit??!???!?

  34. Not Adahn

    I didn’t rank it the winner its round, but I am really loving Few rye. It’s an excellent dessert.

    • Florida Man

      I picked up high west bourye. It’s really good, but I’m not sure it’s worth the price of admission.

      • Not Adahn

        If you have to wonder about it, it’s not.

      • Ted S.

        It says they don’t ship to NY.

        And I’m not paying $61 for a bottle of rye.

      • Not Adahn

        Those prices are double what I paid at my local liquor store.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The black tar heroin gives it a nice spicy finish.

  35. commodious spittoon

    Huh. Bobcats are named after their short tails.

    I just assumed they’re all named Robert.

  36. Gender Traitor

    For Mojeaux and my fellow unicorns (courtesy of Mr. GT.)

    • Gender Traitor

      (Reposted on fresh thread.)