Saturday Morning It’s Almost Over Links

by | Mar 28, 2020 | Daily Links | 334 comments

No, seriously, every day I hear more and more frustration, mostly about the news and about all those OTHER morons. So I think the momentum (symbolized p for panic) is slowing. That’s mostly good, but unfortunately too late, after $2 trillion of money forcibly extracted from us is being hurriedly flushed down the national toilet by the various chimps in suits whom we refer to as “congressmen and senators.” Not sure if this little analysis has been repeatedly linked here, but if so, visualize drugs falling out of my ass.

Birthdays today include a remarkably shitty Secretary of State; his partner in crime; a Mormon president whom I actually knew; Mr. Fuck That Shit himself; the alter ego of Mel Lewis; one of the two people who started the whole BPA scare; one of my favorite living philosophers; and of course, Joe Biden’s speechwriter.

Now to the news.

 

CNN asks itself, “Why do people hate us so much?”

 

CNN asks itself again, “Why do people hate us so much?”

 

This goes along with all those “Christmas baby” stories.

 

Is this why comments are a bit light this morning?

 

I mean, look, I favor hunting down Yankees fans, but this might be pushing the boundaries of the constitution just a weeeeeee bit.

 

Women and minorities hardest hit.

 

I love how this is exactly the same story I read in 2016, but with the names swapped.

 

Old Guy Music: I’m not sure why I waited so long to break this out again. It’s timely. It’s a masterpiece.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me. Wait, wrong book, I'll find something else.

334 Comments

  1. Rufus the Monocled

    !

      • MikeS

        L

      • Gender Traitor

        E

      • Tundra

        S

      • MikeS

        I

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        friends.  ;-)

  2. straffinrun

    Morning, OWMC. I’m going OT because I got some things to do. *Bows deeply in apology*

    An emotional press conference.

    • Timeloose

      Well done sir. I bow in your general direction.

    • Sensei

      The folk from the land of the rising sun make an early appearance! Both you and Tejicano.

      That is one of my favorite videos. Also he represented my friend’s region and she was quite embarrassed that it became international.

      • Suthenboy

        Did she understand the STEVE SMITH reference?

      • straffinrun

        Kind of disrespectful to use a video of a man lamenting the tragic death of his mother. But, it was the only video I could find.

    • westernsloper

      Nice work.

    • Trials and Trippelations

      Well done

    • MikeS

      Nice, Straff. I lol’d

  3. Tejicano

    “Buying a gun isn’t then answer”

    If you believe that I would say you didn’t understand the question

    • leon

      We’re not going to be arresting burglars, but protecting yourself is not the answer.

      • DrOtto

        Even better is making announcements that they won’t be enforcing the law. That will gain volunteer compliance.

  4. R C Dean

    This is interesting.

    https://accordingtohoyt.com/2020/03/27/covid-19-and-us-mortality-by-i-ratel/

    Very puzzling. While it’s too early (maybe) for there to be noticeable excess deaths from the CCP Virus, the crash in pneumonia deaths (where I would expect CCP Virus deaths to be hiding) is baffling to me. The crash in “all cause deaths” is beyond baffling – is the data bad? It’s CDC, so I would think not. Caveat: I have not validated the charts.

    The high level of doctor visits for influenza like illness is consistent with my belief that the CCP Virus has been here since the beginning of the flu season.

    Our media is populated by, at best, fools. Nobody is looking at any useful data. The data thy have, they report in a misleading way ~ raw numbers of infections/deaths are meaningless, it’s the rate per thousand, million, whatever that matters.

    • Sensei

      The media, similar to our legal system, is adversarial in nature.

      The last thing any of the want is to be measured and balanced. That doesn’t sell.

    • Ted S.

      is the data bad? It’s CDC, so I would think not.

      LOL.

      • R C Dean

        I am not aware of bad CDC data for what the charts are tracking.

      • Ted S.

        You being the hospital lawyer probably have a lot more knowledge than I do. I just have a natural skepticism toward the entire public health establishment considering how, among other things, they’ve debased the word “epidemic”.

        The other day on the news, despite that we have a real epidemic going on with the Wuhan coronavirus, there was an advertisement from some group bitching about flavored vapes and the so-called epidemic of vaping. These people are truly evil.

      • R C Dean

        I believe the CDC is pretty good at gathering stat on deaths, communicable disease, etc. That’s a long standing function of theirs, and the systems are well developed.

        Taking those charts at face value, something is strange. Typically, when I see data that I just can’t believe, I, well, don’t. And those mortality charts are pushing it. The office visits chart is not out of line with what I have observed, though.

      • westernsloper

        Ya, the dive does not make sense.

      • R C Dean

        Mrs. Dean glanced at it and said “reporting lag”. Makes sense.

      • Ted S.

        Yeah, I remember hearing somebody say regarding crime statistics and murder, “A dead body is not just a statistic”. All those other crimes can be gamed, but hiding a whole bunch of dead bodies is another matter.

        I’m reminded of the Lancet’s junk science on the 500K extra dead people from the 2003 Iraq War. Everybody at the time was shrieking about where the WMD were, but nobody bothered to think, well, where are all those dead bodies? (Especially since we had been told in the runup to the war how the sanctions were killing zillions of kids.)

    • Florida Man

      Several people at work think they may have had COVID back in January from their symptoms. Evidently there is an antibody test coming out soon so we can know who really had it. The internal projections has mid April starting the surge of admissions and a peak in early May.

      • westernsloper

        That test can’t come out soon enough. Then we might actually have some meaningful data on how bad this thing is. Reporting new cases is meaningless. Look at that, we are testing more people and more people are getting sick!

    • westernsloper

      Ya, I was looking at CDC data last week about office visits for flu like symptoms also but am too lazy to chart such data. I too believe this thing has been here since Nov. Too many people getting some new flu and no positive test for flu. I know multiple people who were flat on their back in Nov and Dec. Two of them I work with and I know they exposed all of us to it before they went home. Why we all didn’t get sick I don’t know.

      • westernsloper

        Scratch that….Not really Nov, but definitely Dec Jan.

      • R C Dean

        It might have shown up last spring. There is a small spike in “influenza like illness” at the tag end of the last flu season in Washington state. Haven’t seen data fro California or New York. If it died back in hot weather, as such viruses typically do, we wouldn’t notice anything at all until the flue/virus season fired up again in the late fall.

      • Suthenboy

        I suspect a small percentage of people are likely to get very sick from it but a majority of people either get mildly ill or asymptomatic. I dont know, and neither does anyone else, what those factors are. You have likely had it.

        My mother just reminded me yesterday of the flu from ’57, ’58. It was much worse than this thing. A lot of people died and she said she nearly did herself.
        I am not sure what makes this particular bug so much more reason for concern. Is there something we aren’t being told?

  5. Suthenboy

    *Searches around in drawers and shelves*
    Goddammit. I cant find a ‘Fuck you’ big enough for CNN. Trump is doing a good job as president and those lying fuckers cant have my guns.

    The first time I used a rubber I was about 17. I tried to pull it off from the end and it was stuck. It stretched out about 18 inches and slipped out of my grip. Yeahhhhhhh…I haven’t used one since that painful day.

    PronHub? Meh.

    *Puts Rhode Island on list of places to never go*

    “…workers who are legally entitled to a check…”
    I dont know where to start with this one.

    One way or another they are gonna put Hillary up, aren’t they? They will go with Joe and her as VP. No matter who they put up if she ends up as VP the president will last about three days before they trip, fall and hit their head on a bullet.

  6. Fourscore

    “Condom shortage looms after coronavirus lockdown shuts world’s top producer”

    We have to get our hands on this condom shortage. Its a Trojan horse around our necks but maybe the US producers will be up to the task.

    • Trials and Trippelations

      The condom business has a lot of stiff competition. I am sure someone is up to the task of filling that hole

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I like your spunk

      • Suthenboy

        You too? Is this comiing out day or something?

    • Tejicano

      “Condom shortage…”

      Yeah, some brands just aren’t long enough. So you guys get that problem too?

    • westernsloper

      What company should Trump slam with the Defense Production Act to fill the hole?

    • TARDIS

      Well there should be enough pork in the stimulus bill to raise the supply.

  7. Rufus the Monocled

    Oh, I beg to differ. Buying bullets is entirely appropriate if you ponder the big picture.

    At this point, it’s not just America divided on basic values, it’s all of North America. I find myself realizing ‘know what? Fuck these assholes. Come at me.”

  8. westernsloper

    Carlson went on to estimate that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is “most likely” to replace Biden for the Democratic nomination.

    Awesome.

  9. Timeloose

    This just in CNN scares a nation of 350M and then comments on how irrational it is that the nation responds.

    Also , “customers line up to buy ammunition, handguns, shotguns, rifles — and even the deadliest of assault weapons.”

    I would like the deadliest of your assault weapons.

    • R C Dean

      I’ll take two!

      • JD is Unemployed

        Back when some mashup featuring that was popular (Fatman Scoop?) I used to think “hell yeah” when I would hear it come on but then get disappointed after it only played for 30s. It was some megamix thing that featured about 30 seconds each of a bunch of old school hip hop tracks that was kind of infuriating because I liked all the tracks individually but anyway everyone else was drunk and stupid and didn’t seem to mind. I don’t miss going out and getting drunk to ear-destroyingly loud music just because it’s what everyone else was doing. I’m not even in touch with most of those people any more. I done growed up I guess, or at least decided the night life is a huge waste of money and anyone over 23 is “ewwww! old much?!!”.

  10. R C Dean

    “Joe Biden will not be the Democratic nominee on Election Day”

    Interesting way to put it. Have a fake nomination, even campaign, then swap him out? Can someone who is not on the ballot for President even be elected? The VP steps in for a sitting President. I don’t think it works that way for nominees. Elected but not sworn in – who knows?

    • WTF

      According to the Dem nominating rules, if nobody has enough delegates to get the nomination on the first ballot, they can then nominate anyone they like. So they kneecap Biden with the sex assault charge to keep his delegate count below the threshold and then nominate Cuomo.

      • R C Dean

        But why say he won’t be the nominee “on Election Day”, rather than just not the nominee, period?

      • WTF

        Because they don’t want to give the game away.

    • Ted S.

      I was going to say that the electors can choose whomever they want, but that’s not true in all states.

      • nw

        I think electors can vote for whomever they want, regardless of what state they’re from.
        What’s not clear is what punishment can be met out to a so-called faithless elector.

        At least that was my conclusion from the last time I looked at it.

    • Suthenboy

      The Dems are more crooked than a barrel full of snakes. There is no slimy, dirty, twisted trick they wont pull to get their way.
      I am still convinced they are going to try and slip Hillary in some way or other at the last minute. It wont matter. Trump will win and the lunatic fringe will lose their minds all over again.
      I dont know what they have left but I am sure they will come up with something that defies belief.

    • Tejicano

      Not sure what the process is for a candidate who dies in a plane crash one month before the election. I suppose it’s up to the party tp pick somebody.

      • MikeS

        Or if they were to go on trial for say…sexual assault.

    • leon

      All that matters is who the electors vote for. The parties could run different people in each state to try to get votes for whomever is popular and then send a memo to the electors for whom they want to vote for.

      The Whigs in fact tried that, and it was a horrible failure.

      • R C Dean

        True. Can you imagine the shitshow if some Dem wins the voting, but all the Dem electors put someone else in office?

    • Atanarjuat

      I can’t imagine any kind of switcheroo garnering much public support. People like consistency, not surprises.

      However, it’s impossible to overstate how irresponsible it would be to put Senile Joe in a position to make important decisions.

      • mrfamous

        Well that’s why they want to make him president. That way the real life Bradley Whitford can make all the calls, while they occasionally water Joe. It’s a West Wing fan’s ultimate jerk off fantasy.

    • Urthona

      Biden is beating Trump by an average of 7% in the polls and pulling a rabbit out a hat would be incredibly dangerous. No, they stay with Biden.

      • MikeS

        Biden is beating Trump by an average of 7% in the polls

        Just like Hillary was in ’16.

    • LCDR_Fish

      I think you could have a write-in win technically but even a month out would be far too late to get on the ballot for virtually every state – especially now that early voting goes so long.

      I concur with someone at NRO who said that we should just have the entire weekend to vote at our leisure.

  11. Fourscore

    Good start for a quiet Saturday, OM, thanks

  12. PieInTheSky

    while not sure how authentic, Pie’s first ever cock o’van is quite tasty

    • WTF

      What is that, an Irish cock?

      • Crusty Juggler

        I wish, girlfriend.

    • Suthenboy

      Uh…your what? *rugs eyes*

      Is this a coming out thing?

      • PieInTheSky

        I see you do not speak french

      • WTF

        Nether do you. It’s Coq au vin.

      • Gender Traitor

        For no good reason, that reminds me of a time long ago when I was helping out at a used book sale hosted by the local chapter of the American Association of University Women. While sorting through the donated books with an older, genteel member of that esteemed organization, we came across a volume titled The I Love to Fart Cookbook, or “Who Stepped on the Duck a l’Orange?”

      • Tonio

        Speaking =/= Speling

      • WTF

        “Speling”.
        Excellent John-O

    • westernsloper

      Weiner Mobile?

      • WTF

        OMWC’s new ride?

      • WTF

        Looks good.

      • Suthenboy

        Ok, if that is coming out I might have to come out as well.
        That looks pretty damned good.

      • slumbrew - double secret satan

        Coq au vin is delicious and not particularly difficult, it just takes a while.

        Perfect for our endtimes lockdown.

        Also, chicken chasseur

    • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

      Coke with wine? Man, us French can ruin almost anything. That sounds awful.

  13. Scruffy Nerfherder

    I guess I’ll get out of bed. Benadryl did its job.

    • PieInTheSky

      Getting out of bed never leads to anything good

  14. leon

    “The reason why is that the government intends to track Americans down and deliver their corona-bonus using the tax information they submitted in 2018 or 2019. But a fairly large number of households don’t file returns to the IRS each year because their income is so small that they are not required to.”

    Spare me the violin.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      All of those people are already likely missing out on the EITC by not filing.

      • leon

        True. But the only time I ever didn’t make enough to file taxes, I was a teenager working part time minimum wage.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I think there must be a reason for it, like RC said below with illegal status. A lot of people around here work for cash, under the table, 11 months out of the year. They make damn sure to get one month of W2 work for that EITC credit.

    • R C Dean

      “a fairly large number of households don’t file returns to the IRS each year”

      Because they are here illegally?

    • Fourscore

      So I screwed up by taking cash payments and not reporting them?

  15. Crusty Juggler

    THE VIRUS IS A HOAX!

    • WTF

      The overblown hysteria certainly is.

      • PieInTheSky

        italians are panicking… i wonder what they will do come catholic easter

      • Crusty Juggler

        Smoke cigarettes, flirt with women walking down the street, get yelled at by their mothers?

      • Tonio

        [applauso di golf]

  16. Sean

    Are there any Glibs or Glib lurkers who purchased their first gun in the past week or two?

    Let’s hear from you. What did you get?

    Are there any who want to get one now, but don’t know what to get?

    • PieInTheSky

      does airsoft count?

      • Sean

        Years ago, we use to have airsoft gun fights at work. One day, dude snuck up on me and killed my monitor in the ensuing assault. ?

      • pan fried wylie

        “Alright, maybe we could shoot an eye out, MOM.”

    • Tonio

      I have long guns, but have been thinking about getting a pistol. I’ve been checking out the selection at PSA. The availability/affordability/glibs-recommended sweet spot seems to be the CZ D PCR Compact and the CZ 75 SP-01. Any thoughts or comments on purchasing online? I know they have to ship to a local gun dealer. How much hassle is that?

      I plan on doing range time with the pistol once all this is over, something I’d been planning for some time.

      • R C Dean

        Concealed? Open? Nightstand?

        Mrs. Dean has a nifty little 9mm Kahr for concealed carry. I have a slightly larger Sig for concealed carry (waves at Sean).

        My hogleg double stack Para Ordnance .45 is pushing it even for open carry. The damn mag alone weighs a pound, fully loaded. Pretty much a nightstand gun, although I am looking at getting an open carry holster for it after being reminded that the veneer of civilization is thin indeed.

      • Sean

        UPS is showing Tuesday.

      • R C Dean

        Thumbs up back atcha.

      • Tonio

        Concealed/Nightstand. I’m old enough that I can get away with wearing a fishing (or insulated) vest out in public.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        M&P9 Shield

        Reasonable size, easy to find holsters

      • LCDR_Fish

        Mine just shipped – a lot sooner than expected.

      • Tundra

        Check out Bravo Concealment for holsters. I love mine.

      • Sean

        Your dealer will likely have to send a copy of their FFL to PSA.
        Not that much of a hassle.

        CZ makes good stuff. Though they’re not my first choice. Everyone has different tastes.

      • Tonio

        Again, this is driven by availability. The CZs are among the few mid-priced models still available.

      • Suthenboy

        For me, no hassle at all. I give the seller the phone number for my gun store and they handle all of that. I sent payment and the gun store calls me when the gun arrives. I pay them a 20 dollar fee for the transfer and I have a new gun.

      • Animal

        Most of the stuff I buy is even less hassle. I send payment and a signed copy of my C&R license. They ship the shooting iron directly to my house. No problem.

        That limits me to 50+ year and older guns, but those are the ones I like.

      • Plinker762

        So early Colt AR-15s?

      • Tejicano

        Or a G-series FN-FAL… /drool…

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        For the FFL transfer, go here and find your local FFL Dealers https://www.cheaperthandirt.com/stores. Pick one, give em call, and ask if they do FFL transfers. I have great place by me, kind of like a general sports store with a small gun selection, that’s always happy to do it.

        The daily carry for both the wife* and I are Springfield XDS 9mm.

        *Until she let her CCW expire *sigh*. That’ll be fixed this week.

      • Tonio

        My local gun range is on the PSA list of “we have their stuff on file” dealers, so I’m guessing they do that.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Even better.

    • leon

      I recently acquired my first pistol, but before the panic. An M&P 2.0 9 compact.

      • Sean

        I have the original compacts in 9 and 40. Great pistols.

    • Fourscore

      Glibs? First guns? You’re joking, right?

      • Tejicano

        I’m pretty sure we all lean that way, it’s just that not all of us have leaned all the way there yet.

        I’ve been trying to make up the difference until they all catch up.

      • Trials and Trippelations

        Gun less glib(s) exist(s). I am leaning towards getting one. I sold my first rarely used or practiced with gun years ago.
        But here have been a bit too many 4am “uturns” on our driveway/fake street recently

      • Tejicano

        Guns are one of those things which are better to have and not need than to need and not have.

    • prolefeed

      I got one of CNN’s deadliest of all assault weapons, only to immediately lose it in a tragic boating accident.

    • SDF-7

      Keep thinking about a home defense shotgun. Main reasons I’m dragging my heels: 1) Don’t expect anything is actually open to do it here in California land. 2) My dad would probably go nuts [before the boat accident he’d made it pretty clear I should just take something off his hands… too bad about that boat…]. Of course, him being on the other side of the country and my not wanting to even imaging the paperwork to bring it into CA makes me question how much I really need it… and 3) Not at all sure what to get / how to practice with it / what I can actually handle recoil-wise (really only practiced with competition-grade air/pellet rifles before, and being a wussy computer programmer who never works out, my upper body strength is doubtless on the low end).

      But yeah — thinking about it just in case break-ins start picking up.

      Have at least googled/bookmarked the nearest gun shop and looked at the study guide for the mandatory CA firearms test before they’ll let you buy.

      • Fourscore

        I lost 2 each .22 rifles this week after the ice went out in the river. 2 grand daughters left with smiles on their faces and it wasn’t from playing with dolls.

      • Tejicano

        I would say get a good pump action 12 gauge – Winchester or Mossberg (Remington’s are OK but they do have a problem if you don’t cycle them fully to the rear before cycling forward again).

        You do need to schedule time to train and get comfortable with it. If you can’t do that get a baseball bat. It can be more dangerous to you if you aren’t confident with it.

        You can always go with lighter loads (less recoil) if that’s a problem.

      • Gender Traitor

        I got a pump 20 gauge on the theory that shooting it would be less likely to land me on my ass. (Also a youth model for the shorter reach, since I’m 5’4″ish.)

      • Tejicano

        I understand the argument for the 20 gauge and smaller bores but I believe it is easier to find the most appropriate load in 12 gauge than it is to find it in 20 gauge. 12 gauge is just so common that you can always get rounds which are manageable which will perform better than the 20 gauge – and performance is really what it’s all about.

      • SDF-7

        Cool… I was tending to look at the Mossberg 12ga line — they seemed not too crazy in price / not a bunch of “leet tactical!” stock add-ons, etc. Local shop shows out-of-stock on *everything* on line (which may just be their way of keeping it to known clientele for now, I know…).

        Have the baseball bat already, fortunately. So that’ll tide me over.

    • MikeS

      My wife is opening to the thought of her own self defense weapon for home. I’m actually leaning towards a .22 so she doesn’t herself become disorientated by the large concussion/flash of something like a 9mm or 12ga. She agreed.

      1. Is that logical thinking? First thing is that she has to be comfortable with it, right? And a .22 can certainly do enough damage to get an intruder to make him retreat.
      B. Any recommendations for .22 handguns? I’m leaning towards revolver.

      • Tundra

        A full size 9mm is a pretty soft shooter, Mike. May want her try a couple.

        Or a rifle?

      • MikeS

        That’s a good pint. Right now, she’s only assuming the concussion is too much for her. I just need to get her some range time with what we have now and maybe she will want to try out a 9mm after she gets used to the pew-pew.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I would not recommend a Mossberg Shockwave. The name implies the concussion you’re going to feel. I’ve got one and I really would not want to fire it indoors. Outside without ear protection is bad enough.

      • RAHeinlein

        I have an SR22 Ruger. My hands aren’t large (I’m only 5′ tall – only my waistline is big). Easy to shoot, handle, reach safety, etc. FWIW – I’m a reasonably experienced shooter (back in the day military expert pistol/rifle), but no way I could/would handle those weapons at this point.

        https://www.brownells.com/firearms/handguns/semi-auto/sr22-22-lr-bl-poly-3-5-10-1-prod120110.aspx

        Also agree with Tundra that there are some nice 9mm.

      • MikeS

        Thanks RA. I’ll take a closer look at that. She might like that.

      • Tejicano

        A 9mm is not bad for somebody who has already or is willing to put in the range time to get knowledgeable and comfortable with a semi-auto handgun. Most people new to firearms, in my experience, aren’t ready to commit that much time. Better to stick with a revolver which is much easier to master and even intrinsically more accurate. Revolvers also allow you to vary your load (how powerful the bullets are = how much recoil you are dealing with) which you don’t have so much choice with a semi-auto.

      • Plinker762

        I looked at a SR22 because it looked like a nice plinker. As I remember, the safety is down for safe and up for fire. The opposite of all my other pistols, so I didn’t get one.

      • Tejicano

        In an enclosed space I doubt the noise/concussion of a 22 would be that much below the threshold for disorientation for most people. There are noise responsive (not sure the right term) ear plugs – I have silencio ear plugs but there are ear muffs which work the same way. As with all things you would have to get used to them – use them at the range and get comfortable.

        For a first time shooter I would recommend a 357 magnum loaded with 38 SPL, 4 to 6 inch barrel. Get a few speedloaders and practice reloading. Not too big or heavy but enough extra to be controllable for anybody.

      • MikeS

        a 357 magnum loaded with 38 SPL, 4 to 6 inch barrel. Get a few speedloaders and practice reloading.

        I had a set-up exactly like that before the boating accident.

    • ttyrant

      I am attempting to do so, and in fact reached out to The Great Minnesota Glibertarian E-mail Group for advice, of which there was plenty. Minnesota requires a permit of so for a handgun, but you can buy a shotgun without one. I went to a few separate gun shops — the shotguns have been completely picked over, so I’ve not yet had luck. My plan now is to do a bit more shotgun research to determine which one specifically I want, as one of the shops mentioned he’d be putting in an order over the next week or two. I am also taking a gun course online such that I can show up to one of the ranges, pass any sort of ‘on-site’ requirements quickly and be in a position to get a handgun if I so choose.

      As far as my background, I mentioned to the Minnesota glibs that I’m pretty green about this stuff. I grew up in the suburban Chicagoland area. My parents were by no means anti-gun zealots, but at the same time nobody in my family hunts or has any particular passion for them. I should have been prepared for this well before now but alas, here I am. Now is as good a time as any to put in my research. And for any folks who are like me and can’t tell an AR-15 from a tommy-gun (okay, I’m not *that* much of a twit), needless to say there’s a great community of folks here who know their shit.

    • Seguin

      Thanks to that Defcad link, I’m looking at machining my first lower. I’m tempted to try to build something based off of my favorite line, the Mas.44 but it’s probably be better just to do the old ar15.

    • Aus

      Not I, but my good friend is adamant about purchasing his first gun after all this crazyness. He likes the simplicity of revolvers.

      I’m gonna suggest he get a .357, not sure of brand/model, I figure we’ll just look over the options for sale, talk with the salesperson, and buy something.

      • MikeS

        Ruger GP100 is a good place to start.

    • PieInTheSky

      these stories, whatever side you are on, do not address what the alternatives for those children are. art school? i think not

  17. Certified Public Asshat

    Congress and President Trump put taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars to United Airlines in exchange for keeping their work force intact at least through September 30.Immediately after the bill was signed, United announced upcoming layoffs—to begin after September 30. https://t.co/lxVPnxDTht— Justin Amash (@justinamash) March 27, 2020

    This bill was not perfect, but we needed to pass it and hey! Thomas Massie!

    • Tonio

      Okay, we need a term for this. Quarantine Theater? Not sure that the more-accurate PPE Theater is as accessible and snappy.

      • R C Dean

        I’ve already called it that. The forehead thermometers people are being screened with are crap. You’d have to be on fire to show a fever.

      • Tonio

        Anal probes. It’s the only way.

      • Tonio

        Kudos on the term.

      • TARDIS

        Quarantine Theater

        Appropriated!

        My (former) boss and I don’t see eye to eye on this mess, but he has to toe the CDC line. I can’t wait to use the term on him.

    • Suthenboy

      They proudly call themselves ‘subjects’.

      Need I say more?

      *There is also a large number of people there who wish they were here because they dont buy into that shit.

  18. Crusty Juggler

    Yo, when Trump gonna get my money?!??

  19. Suthenboy

    Ugh. Wife is watching the Hallmark channel . Apparently they have started their Christmas every time all the time shows to try and cheer people up. Excuse me while I go cut my wrists.

    • westernsloper

      My condolences.

    • PieInTheSky

      just go fishing or something

      • Suthenboy

        I cant. They drained the lake upstream from me to kill weed and the alligators had no where to go except….my back yard. I could probably catch a fish but there is no way in hell will I get it to shore. Seriously, as soon as my bait hits the water a dozen giant lizard pop up and say “Hey, whatcha got there?’

      • MikeS

        ^ This is one major reason I wouldn’t want to live in Louisiana. Being a country boy, I’d want to live in gator country, but the whole thing about it being gator country is a bit off-putting to me.

      • Plinker762

        Washington state closed all recreational fishing.

    • R C Dean

      I’ve never seen one of those. I have this odd desire to – I have a sentimental streak which is at odds with my cold, black heart and dead eyes.

      Well, there is no circumstance short of being threatened with termination where I would not go to work, so I doubt I will get the chance before the world descends into a hell of cannibal rape zombies wandering a blasted wasteland of hellish mutant viruses. Which, according to this chart of exponential growth, should be Thursday, maybe Friday.

      • Suthenboy

        Try them sometime. The problem is that they are like candy. It is easy to overdose on ‘cheesy’ and ‘overly sweet’.
        It is the same story (Cinderella) every time, just different faces and settings, although the settings always include lots of Christmas lights, snow, and log cabins.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Smart. Everybody knows that Christmas is the least stressful time of the year.

      • Fourscore

        “Staying drunk for two weeks is no way to go through life, Grandpa”

        “OK, OK, I get it” Under my breath, “Little Snot Nose”

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of CNNPC- I turned on the teevee earlier, just in time to catch a CNN segment about people hit by the plague lockdown. A female reporter, one of those women with a preternaturally vapid expression permanently affixed to the front of her head, was interviewing NYC nightlife artists, or some damn thing. DJs, fog-and-laser-show producers, whatever. No crowds, no raves. A cultural tragedy playing out in real time.

    “Well, what is going to happen? Will you survive?”

    “Not without a bailout. We need help. From Washington. Send me free money.”

    Party. Don’t party. Makes no difference to me. Finance it yourself.

    • Suthenboy

      No shit.

      On top of that I would rather stab myself in the eye with a rusty fork than spend time at one of those things.
      They appeal to people with the IQ of an Opossum. Loud music, sparkly lights and lots of eye candy. I bet you can get the whole crowd to chase a laser light on the floor.

      • Animal

        Well, I’ve always maintained that stupid people should be conspicuous. I can’t think of a better detection method than to note who is lined up outside of one of these venues, waiting to get into their moron convention.

      • JD is Unemployed

        Ha! See my post upthread somewhere in response to a Ted’S link.

      • mindyourbusiness

        Nah, Suthen, you need to simplify with these folks. A peice of string will do nicely.

    • Rhywun

      I guess it’s a break from the hospital porn that plays 24/7 on the local channels now.

    • Atanarjuat

      The DJs’ stripper girlfriends are having a really hard time financially supporting them with the whole 6 foot social distancing rule in effect.

  21. Crusty Juggler

    The Untold Story of Wood, the Well-Endowed Man From Those Coronavirus Texts

    The acquaintance pulled up the now-infamous photo—the very same one currently being widely circulated in those fake coronavirus alerts—leaving Alegria stunned, but also amused. “That’s how I found out about the photograph originally, and how I even found out about the lifestyle that Wardy was into previously,” she said. As for that massive… endowment shared widely in the prank? Despite some evidence and internet claims that his penis is heavily Photoshopped, Alegria assured it’s only slightly altered. “That was one thing he was proud of! That’s all him,” she said.

    At least some things are real, unlike the virus!

      • JD is Unemployed

        Right on. I love that album.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    “Joe Biden will not be the Democratic nominee on Election Day”

    “You know, in retrospect, maybe the smoke filled room method of choosing candidates has some advantages.”

    • JD is Unemployed

      such meta, very humor

  23. PieInTheSky

    There are MASSIVE protests developing right now on the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge that joins the Hubei and Jiangxi provinces in Eastern China.

    The situation is rapidly evolving.

    THREAD
    Down pointing backhand index

    https://twitter.com/TruthAbtChina/status/1243486956455002114

    Rumor has it that the protests were triggered by a fight between the Hubei and Jiangxi police!

    Hubei police arrested a Jiangxi cop after a fight and in response Jiangxi sent police to arrest people in Hubei!

    • JD is Unemployed

      Haha! I can’t see how this doesn’t end with many ordinary citizens being killed, imprisoned, or disappeared, but it’s progress. The CCP’s hold is finally showing some cracks.

      • Suthenboy

        Oh,, they have always been there but like the old USSR they rarely let anyone see them.

    • JD is Unemployed

      Nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure?

    • The Hyperbole

      Who is dumb enough to get on a cruise ship right now?

      FTFY

      I kid, I kid, I would never call people stupid just because they enjoy doing things I don’t.

      • MikeS

        You’d be stupid not too.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    From the headlines:

    Dyson (he of the extremely powerful electric motor and air flow/filtration technology) has developed a small, efficient ventilator. Central planning works!

    • Suthenboy

      The CDC will probably step ini and squash it.

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        He’s a Brit, and the company’s British. It’ll probably be the NHS. For the greater good. Of course.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    From an actual link:

    Later, ignoring traditional codes of the presidency at a time of trial, the President lashed out in a TV interview at Democratic governors channeling appeals from overwhelmed health care workers in their home states as Covid-19 exacts an increasing toll.

    What the everloving fuck, CNN?

    • Suthenboy

      Code of the presidency: The president is the Commander in Chief of the military and he signs bills into law. He also appoints officers to various positions who are then confirmed or not by the senate.

      That is about it.

      Ever notice that 99% of the shit candidates for president promise are things they have no power to do as president?

    • kbolino

      Something, something, two-way street.

  26. Crusty Juggler

    Ford to 3D-print face shields, help create respirators and ventilators

    The Arsenal of Democracy is becoming the Arsenal of Innovation as Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles step in to assist in the fight against the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19.

    On Tuesday, Ford detailed extraordinary measures it’s undertaking as the automaker ramps up efforts to support health care workers on the frontlines. The Blue Oval said it’s already started 3D-printing face shields — a critical piece of personal protective gear — for health care workers to help protect them from the virus as they treat patients. The first 1,000 shields already shipped out to local Michigan hospitals for use. By the end of this week, Ford says it will have 75,000 shields complete, and 100,000 shields will roll out of two Ford facilities weekly thereafter.
    In the short term, Ford also has over 200,000 N95 masks it will soon donate to the medical community as it reacquires them from Chinese facilities and other areas of its business.

    While work continues on face shields, Ford said it’s teamed up with 3M and GE to support the design and manufacturing of respirator masks and life-saving ventilators. With 3M, Ford told its engineers to get scrappy and creative, and they delivered.

    lol keep driving your gay commie homo Teslames!

    • JD is Unemployed

      Isn’t 3D printing one of the least efficient methods of manufacturing evvvaaaaahhh? I thought it was mostly just for prototyping. Like, at the consumer level you leave something printing for 8 hours, only to find that your $3000 printer missed a bunch of steps and scrapped your part, leaving you with melted plastic blobs to clean up, so then you spend 4 hours looking at the g-code scratching your head only to try the same thing again until the planets align and your finally manage to print your prototype, then spending at least 2 hours with a boxcutter or something cutting off all the supports from your part, then dousing it in acetone or sanding it smooth, only to realise your fucked up in CAD somewhere and you have to do it all again.

      Presumably the industrial machines are faster, more reliable, and geared toward mass production. I really just wanted to shit on janky consumer grade 3D printers. Even the “top of the range” ones are a steaming pile of virus-infested dog shit as far as I can tell. I like to make things the old-fashioned way.

      • Suthenboy

        Yeah. A face shield? Shouldn’t that be cookie cuttered out of a 4×8 sheet of clear plastic, 50 at a time?

      • JD is Unemployed

        My guess is that it’s the only part of the production line they could actually use without spending many millions to retool only for a few weeks of production.

      • R C Dean

        Maybe the head band?

        Still seems stupid easy to make the old fashioned way.

      • RAHeinlein

        That’s my thought – a specific part of the mask. Companies love to show off their use tof echnology and the press eats it up; plus the fire and motion strategy – “we’re using nanotechnology!”

      • MikeS

        But all of the issues you list pale in comparison to the costs of designing and machining the molds to do it the “traditional” way.

        As you presumed, industrial 3D printing technology has made huge strides and it is fast becoming a a preferred method of manufacture in the right situations.

      • Pine_Tree

        It also lets you answer the question with “oh, we started production TODAY” instead of something about getting molds made, etc.

        So when all the questions are about response time, it’s your go-to method, even though it’s not what you’ll use for long-term throughput.

      • MikeS

        +1 “When seconds count…”

  27. The Late P Brooks

    But Trump sought to minimize the lethality of the virus.
    “A lot of good things are happening. The mortality rate is, in my opinion … way, way down,” the President said. “That takes a lot of fear out. It’s one thing to have it. It’s another thing to die. When I first got involved, I was told numbers much higher than the number that seems to be.”
    The President’s comments, on a day when more than 200 Americans were reported to have died, risked coming across as callous.
    They also minimized the impact of the crisis. The coronavirus is so problematic because even if it kills only 1.5% of the people who get infected it is highly contagious, has no vaccine and humans have no immunity to it. That means rising cases risk crashing the US hospital system, overwhelming available equipment and forcing doctors — who are risking their own health and lives to treat patients — to choose who lives and dies.

    That bastard is throwing water on the fire we’re building! Not fair!

    Why focus on solutions, when you can run around with your hair on fire, shrieking about the problem?

    • PieInTheSky

      18 32 50

      • prolefeed

        15 or 36 have the right amount of melanin for my tastes.

    • egould310

      Playa is Español for “beach”. Do the math.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I’m still going with Playa is still a Tinder user in NYC and jesse is from Manitoba.

      • Gustave Lytton

        And Sloopy is an Inca.

      • Atanarjuat

        Yes, I know. I was going for a Tonio-esque play on his username. The funniest of which was calling Swiss Servator…”Swedish Waiter”. I still chuckle about that one.

  28. PieInTheSky

    This is GAME CHANGER. Abbott to market, starting next week, a fast point-of-care #coronavirus test, delivering positive results in 5min and negative results in 13min. Will deliver 50K tests/day to start. Kudos to Abbott and FDA’s Jeff Shuren and team at CDRH who are in the fight.

    https://twitter.com/ScottGottliebMD/status/1243696001958981632

    from the replies :

    There must be no way for these tests to be intercepted by Trump to withhold them from us! Abbott should go directly to the governors and state health departments. Keep Trump out of this.

    • Rhywun

      How about directly to consumers?

      “Nooo!!!”

      • R C Dean

        They are literally blind to anything but the state. Not labs, not provides, not consumers. Only the Almighty State.

    • Atanarjuat

      Strikethrough “Trump”, replace with “FDA bureaucrats”.

    • creech

      No, only to New York because it is the greatest ever and the fly over country yokels can just marinate in their own CCPvirus.

    • Ted S.

      Technically, doesn’t it deliver negative results in 5:01, since you can rule out a positive result if it doesn’t come back in five minutes?

  29. Crusty Juggler

    TRX All-in-One

    Thoughts? Opinions? Experiences?

    • PieInTheSky

      meh. get a squat rack and barbell.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      I have one. My experience is that my body weight outstrips my strength (embarrassing but true), so I was having to heavily modify the exercises. I stopped using it. Wife doesn’t have that issue, and she used it on a regular basis.

      $150 is really expensive. It occasionally pops up on woot for under $100

    • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

      The spousal unit incorporates it into all her workouts. Let’s just say the results are pleasing to the eye, ‘specially when she gets NEKKID. /where my woman at?

      • Crusty Juggler

        Pics k thanks.

        My concern is that I weigh too much and will destroy a door/wall.

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        I screwed the X-mount (I think that’s what they call it, it’s an optional extra) into the downstairs ceiling just where two 2×10 joists are, using 4-inch lag bolts. No worries ’bout that failing.
        And I have asked permission to post some pics, which received a “don’t you dare” from her. It’s a shame, a couple are very artistic, and all are tasteful. One’s even my screen saver (she really likes that one, but is still uncomfortable sharing with the world).

    • Tejicano

      My opinion – possibly worth every penny it cost you – is that you can do as much or more with a pull-up bar and some kettlebells. Even if you can’t yet do one pull-up the path there is not as hard as you might think. Hey, if one female Marine Major can change the entire Marine Corps’ mind about women doing pull-ups there is nothing about them that any person with two functioning arms can’t do.

      But there are some things to learn and know about it. I’ve been doing the all my life and just three weeks ago figured out a bunch of stuff I was doing wrong for a guy my age. Let me know if you’re interested.

      • Tejicano

        “…I’ve been doing the all my life…” =} “..I’ve been doing them all my life…”

      • Tundra

        Interested.

        Fixed my form after 50 years of pushups. Who knew they weren’t supposed to hurt?!?

  30. The Late P Brooks

    Isn’t 3D printing one of the least efficient methods of manufacturing evvvaaaaahhh?

    That was my reaction. Why would you do 3D printing instead of injection molding, or some other well established high volume production method?

    Maybe Ford wants Uncle Sam to buy them some shiny new toys for prototyping car stuff when the hysteria dies down.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      Due to the alleged multiple acts, Pastoor has been charged as a sexually delinquent person. If convicted, he could remain locked up until he is deemed to no longer be a threat, even if it takes the rest of his life.

      Ermmmm, I think this guy should be punished, but a potential life sentence? Really?

      • Oy the Billy-Bumbler

        Maybe he’s really really really offensive to look at with no pants on.

      • Suthenboy

        Yikes. The guy needs to be in a hospital, not a prison.

      • Rhywun

        “I’m homeless.”

        “Case dismissed!”

    • Fourscore

      …and he’s a Pastoor, too…

      • Shirley Knott

        Of The First Church of the Dangly Bits, Unreformed.

    • robc

      Did the virus fall out of their ass?

      • Grumbletarian

        It may have. Dammit.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Ever notice that 99% of the shit candidates for president promise are things they have no power to do as president?

    How would they ever get elected by saying, “Take responsibility for yourself. Want a better life, make your life better.”?

    • Suthenboy

      That isn’t too far off from Trump’s message and he got elected.
      Nixon’s silent majority is still out there.

    • creech

      The LP has been conducting that little experiment for 40 years.

    • Shpip

      I remember that ponytailed twit bleating “meet our needs” at H.W., Clinton, and Perot back in ’92.

      I was rooting for Bush to say something like “Tell you what. I’ll get the government off your back, and you go meet your own goddamn needs.”

      Probably would’ve been electoral suicide even then, though.

  32. Tundra

    Good morning, Old Man!

    And good morning to all you whacky Glibs!

    Lotsa lynx this morning, but the first one’s the best one. I know, I know – testing, blah blah blah. We suck at a lot of stuff here but medicine ain’t one of them.

    I am frankly shocked you didn’t already trot out that beautiful Zappa weirdness. Awesome!

    XTC for me this morning. How about some euphemisms?

    Make it a great day, people!

  33. Crusty Juggler

    Is Eating Ass a Good Way to Boost Your Immune System During COVID-19?

    Interestingly, beyond the problem of pandemics, ass-eating and other sexual activities do a lot to your immune system. As clean as you might be, there’s a solid chance some fecal matter will be passed around during sex, even when assplay isn’t involved. This is what typically causes urinary tract infections in people with vaginas after intercourse. But studies have also found that couples often share a similar gut microbiome, a phenomenon that can be the result of inadvertent fecal-oral transmission — like it or not, you’re probably being exposed to your partner’s invisible poop particles. While fecal-oral transmission could share bad bacteria and viruses like gastroenteritis or hepatitis A, it’s also possible that it could share good bacteria as well.

    Bacterial diversity is beneficial to our immune system, making us less susceptible to severe illness. Going outside, playing with animals and interacting with people are all generally beneficial to our immune system, as this exposes us to more bacteria.

    Facts people. Show this to your wives. You’re welcome.

    • Suthenboy

      So, eat shit and dont die?

      All of these years I had it wrong.

    • Gender Traitor

      people with vaginas

      ***SIGH!!!*** ::headdesk::

      Likewise, there’s a commercial for some anti-AIDS drug that includes the disclaimer “[Drug X] has not been studied with people assigned female at birth.”

      THIS is why there are no libertarian women – apparently there are no more “women” at all!

      • Rhywun

        I must not be “with it” because that jumped out at me too.

      • Nephilium

        Count me in with this silent minority. Once I hit that line my brain just faulted out.

    • Tres Cool

      So HM writes for Mel Magazine ?

    • Tundra

      Nice!

      I still prefer the GT6, though.

    • Tejicano

      “rip out the automatic” and “stab a five speed in it”

      I’ve actually done this to a Datsun 510. It’s more work than you imagine when you realize that you’ll need somewhere to hang that clutch pedal so it connects to the bell housing behind the engine. Even knowing everything I was going to have to do (fabricate tranny mount, shorten drive shaft, etc) it was quite a project.

      • UnCivilServant

        And then you realize you’ve attached something backwards so it’s got one forward and four reverse gears…

      • Tundra

        Standard setup for the Italians.

      • Tejicano

        Actually, that’s how French tanks are designed to run!

  34. The Late P Brooks

    seed, speed… whatever

  35. Crusty Juggler

    New Yorkers are throwing ‘corona potlucks’ and visiting ‘speakeasies’

    About 20 people jammed his artfully-decorated apartment, drinking and socializing under Wintrich’s massive erotic oil painting depicting the murder of Abel, encased in a gilded baroque frame.

    “I went because Lucian is my friend and he texted me,” said Brian Alacorn, 24. “I thought I shouldn’t, because of the social distancing — but my friends were already outside and I just kinda went.”
    Other pals had fewer reservations.

    “When Britain was being bombed by Nazi Germany during the blitz, they kept the f–king stores open. People went about their lives,” said another partygoer, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of workplace reprisals. “We get a flu … and we shut everything down. … We have completely handed over our civil liberties … and anyone who wants to go out and live a normal life is semi-ostracized.”

    Rock flag and eagle!

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Yard art

    If you’re making a movie and need a car to throw over a cliff… A little paint, and you’re good to go.

    • Fatty Bolger

      I was watching a TV show the other day, and my son was sitting watching with me. I told him, “that guy is going to crash his car”, and sure enough he did.

      “How did you know?”

      “He was driving a 20 year old Taurus with a fresh paint job.”

  37. Crusty Juggler

    Everything You Never Knew About The Making Of Escape From New York

    Working behind the scenes was a young man that would go on to make a bit of name for himself. James Cameron worked backstage as the director of special effects photography as well as the matte painter. Cameron tried to make the practical effects in the glider scene look as much like the then-new field of CGI as possible.

    Legend.

    • Sensei

      Nice find! Thanks.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    That tii is much too nice for me.

    • Tundra

      Lol. Who cares? It’s like checking out hotties.

      SPeaking of hotties, I’m watching this one.

      I suspect it will go for more than I paid for my house.

    • Tundra

      Innumeracy is the order of the day for the media. Many don’t seem to understand that the mortality rate drops as more people are diagnosed but don’t die. They don’t seem to understand that the US having the most diagnosed cases isn’t because we’re the worst place for the virus but because we’ve just tested the most people. They don’t understand that population size matters in terms of testing and in terms of mortality rates.

      Just as the Mises piece describes.

      Terrific essay.

      Thanks for linking.

      • Sensei

        +1. Thanks

      • peachy rex

        One of many flaws this situation has exposed is the shockingly poor state of science education in the US. (And perhaps West generally.) If we administered the ACT Science Reasoning test to all of the “highly educated” politicians/talking heads/columnists etc, how many would score well enough to get into Podunk Valley State?

      • kbolino

        Science today = believing in evolution and global warming (even if you don’t understand either of them)

      • kbolino

        The scary thing is that, when Chrichton identified and named the Gell-Mann amnesia effect in 2002, the members of the media were more intelligent than they are today.

    • PieInTheSky

      why we’re going more crazy about coronavirus than we did about AIDS (when we knew very little about it), MERS, SARS, Bird Flu, Swine Flu/H1N1, the ordinary flu (30,000-70,000 deaths annually), and MRSA, just to name a few? – thoses things are not all the same

      Socialized medicine is awful. Even in the good times, it operates by rationing care, so the slightest uptick in demand puts unbearable strain on it. – all medicine is rationed one way or the other

      Innumeracy is the order of the day for the media. Many don’t seem to understand that the mortality rate drops as more people are diagnosed but don’t die – many do but do not know where the rate will stabilize

      However, I can’t get past the fact that people will always die. We’re all headed down the same road and something is eventually going to get all of us.- this is silly and pointless.

      • kbolino

        all medicine is rationed one way or the other

        Not having enough money to pay is not rationing. Rationing is an allowance or allotment up to a fixed amount. If the government says you can buy 1 pound of butter a day but no more, then butter is rationed. If you can buy as much butter as you can afford, then butter is not rationed. Medicine is no different.

      • PieInTheSky

        ok. all medicine is limited and it takes some time to scale up for a significant and unexpected uptick

      • kbolino

        Yes, and that’s true of everything else, too. Scarcity is not the same thing as rationing. Rationing is one of many non-exclusive solutions to the allotment of scarce resources.

    • SandMan

      Good summary.

  39. Sensei

    One of my favorite J-Pop artists just had her tour shitcanned thanks to the CCP Virus. I was a bit surprised this morning to see this pop up in my YouTube feed:

    水樹奈々【LIVE RUNNERリハーサルスタジオミニライブ】

    Looks like they grabbed a recording hall and decided to have some fun and make the best of things. At first I thought it was a practice for the tour, but after the first song in the video she explains what is going on.

    What I found really fun was that this video is two songs and the second is enka. I’m not sure if this was supposed to be on the tour or she just did it for the hell of it. Nana Mizuki actually trained as a singer and that included this style. She is amazingly fit and regularly works out. Not bad for 40! I’ve seen videos of her running and singing from one side of a stadium to another and you can barely tell the difference in her voice. Bonus points is that she is well under 5 feet tall.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Nice!

      Speaking of singers not in their teens/twenties:

      https://youtu.be/68H9_NEYgus

      Shizuka Kudo, with a little help from some friends, doing one of her past hits.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    SPeaking of hotties, I’m watching this one.

    SWEET

    • Tundra

      It was originally orange. Looks way better now.

      Dead sexy from every angle.

      Sort of like this!

      • TARDIS

        To (poorly) paraphrase a comedian, who once said to him while he was ogling another woman:

        “You’d leave me for that woman, wouldn’t you?”

        “Honey, I’d kill you for that woman!”

        I can picture his face, but I can’t remember his name.

      • Crusty Juggler

        Andrew Dice Clay?

      • Plinker762

        Unrelated, but why is a flying shitter so spellbinding?

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        And how’d the damn thing get airborne in the first place?

  41. Mojeaux

    a Mormon president whom I actually knew [Spencer W Kimball]

    Yes, well, I’m sure quite a few people around these here parts know how I feel about him. ????

  42. The Late P Brooks

    It’s more work than you imagine when you realize that you’ll need somewhere to hang that clutch pedal so it connects to the bell housing behind the engine. Even knowing everything I was going to have to do (fabricate tranny mount, shorten drive shaft, etc) it was quite a project.

    If you’re lucky, you might get away without having to modify the tunnel. I didn’t say it would be easy.

    • Tejicano

      I was lucky that manual transmission versions were common and both auto and manual versions of the car had all brackets in place for the pedals. And the clutch was hydraulic.

      I only had to fabricate about a half dozen parts and the rest I picked up at a junk yard for a pittance.

      • Plinker762

        Yes, the trick for converting to manual is doing it to a model which was made with both types.

        It’s easy to do with old Chevy trucks

  43. Gustave Lytton

    I’m off to the corona improvement warehouse. Need some more trim moulding.

    • Tejicano

      I’ve heard some people believe you can to improve a corona with a slice of Lyme.

    • Sean

      Essential trim moulding.

      • Grosspatzer

        A little trim is always essential.

    • leon

      By avoid you mean publish their names as the gestapo collaborators they are.

      • Tres Cool

        “wir nehmen das schicksal der nation in die hande!”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Sounds like it’s employees of those businesses calling in. Sitting at home and collecting unemployment benefits after the place you work gets shut down probably isn’t as fun as they think it is. It’ll be enjoyable for a week, tops.

    • AlmightyJB

      I’m not surprised. People are assholes.

    • Suthenboy

      “…businesses may be in violation of a state order…”

      Orders? I dont take orders from you. You are just the hired help.

  44. Crusty Juggler
  45. The Late P Brooks

    However, I can’t get past the fact that people will always die. We’re all headed down the same road and something is eventually going to get all of us.- this is silly and pointless.

    Why, Pie? why is it silly and pointless to openly recognize a simple ineluctable truth? The mortality rate, in the aggregate, is 100%. Always has been, always will be.

    • PieInTheSky

      Yes. randomly recognizing this truth in an article about contagious disease is stupid. Were all gonna die sometime so why be careful?

      • peachy rex

        That is not at all what the article said.

      • PieInTheSky

        what I am saying is there was no point to have that line in the article at all.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      In the 10 days between March 15 and 25, the number of cases in New York City jumped from 269 to 20,011: an increase of almost 75 times.

      More than 2,400 new cases were reported on Wednesday morning,

      That’s functionally impossible so what we’re seeing is the result of testing implementation.

      • AlmightyJB

        Yes, I also wonder if the initial surge included late reporting as well. Unless maybe HM orchestrated a giant ass eating festival the week before.

  46. Donation Not Taxation

    ‘$2 trillion of money forcibly extracted from us is being hurriedly flushed down the national toilet by the various chimps in suits whom we refer to as “congressmen and senators.” ‘

    Elton John to host a benefit concert with the entertainers performing from home. Maybe the cause is to get US$2,200,000,000,000?

    https%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F2020%2Ftv%2Fnews%2Fcoronavirus-concert-special-fox-elton-john-1203544741%2F

  47. Scruffy Nerfherder

    I was glancing thru a photo essay of Northern Italy this morning. The one thing that stuck out to me is almost everyone in the photos who’s afflicted is old and/or fat.

    Their hospitals have to be total hot zones now, infecting everyone who comes in.

    • Nephilium

      In comparison. From Cuyahoga county, which has Cleveland and three large hospital chains: Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and MetroHealth. Is it wrong of me to read that, and get even more annoyed at this stay at home order?

      • AlmightyJB

        Even if the cases and deaths drop to zero, that just means what we’re doing is working. So we must forever shelter in place so that the monster never (re-)awakens.

      • Nephilium

        I’ve got some coworkers who are terrified to leave their house, and are buying into all the terror and hype. I can’t wrap my head around that. One of them was complaining that their house was too hot because he didn’t want to turn on the A/C, because he didn’t want to catch a cold. No high risk factor in his family here at all.

        Too many people seem happy with these shutdown orders for my comfort.

      • RAHeinlein

        I’ve noticed this attitude among our clients – many of my conference calls this week started with “what the heck is Trump thinking trying to open up the country?”

      • kbolino

        One of them was complaining that their house was too hot because he didn’t want to turn on the A/C, because he didn’t want to catch a cold

        … what?

      • Nephilium

        It appears he holds to the belief that cold air causes colds. One of my other coworkers continued the discussion, I tapped out.

      • kbolino

        I don’t think 65% is that reassuring of a number. Sure, it means there’s 35% capacity left, but that has to be weighed against the (potentially) exponential growth of people requiring treatment.

        That having been said, nobody can really measure the effectiveness of the stay-at-home and close non-essential business orders because there is no control group.

      • grrizzly

        Belarus!

  48. Yusef drives a Kia

    We finally got it! Mohave County has 4 cases,
    /Must. Remain. Calm.

  49. KSuellington

    RC Dean said:
    “ The high level of doctor visits for influenza like illness is consistent with my belief that the CCP Virus has been here since the beginning of the flu season.”

    I very much agree, it has been here in SF since at least early January. I hope this antibody test comes out soon as we will find out that hundreds of thousands already have had this thing. At least then maybe we can have a slight bit of sense in regards to the proportion of deaths this thing causes. It is being massively overhyped (as I think most here agree).