ZARDOZ FRIDAY NIGHT LINKS

by | May 22, 2020 | Daily Links | 249 comments

DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IS OWED IN OVERDUE FINES FOR THOSE BOOKS?

 

ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES. END OF THE WEEK – THIS GIVES ZARDOZ THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO OVER A FEW THINGS. 1) THE PENIS IS EVIL, 2) THE GUN IS GOOD, 3) FOLLOW THE ORDERS OF ZARDOZ.

SIMPLE, TRUE?

IT SEEMS THAT ONLY THE CHOSEN ONES LISTEN. THEREFOR, ZARDOZ GIVES THESE LINKS AS A WARNING! GO FORTH, CHOSEN ONES, AND MOCK THE BRUTALS WHO PLAGUE THE INTERNET AS IN DAYS OF OLD.

  1. PERHAPS A SQUADRON OF THESE CREATURES IN THE BRUTAL EXTERMINATORS MIGHT BE IN ORDER.
  2. WHEN THE BRUTAL NATION OF FRANCE IS FREER THAN YOUR STATE, OH BRUTAL GOVERNORS, THEN UR DOIN’ IT WRONG. (DID ZARDOZ USE THE COLLOQUIALISM CORRECTLY?)
  3. ZARDOZ WONDERS WHAT THE BRUTALS EXPECTED. THE PAIR WOULD LIVE IN A 3 FLAT IN QUEENS AND WORK AT A COFFEE SHOP?

ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.

About The Author

ZARDOZ

ZARDOZ

SERVANT OF THE TABERNACLE, THE ETERNALS OF THE VORTEX. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, SEE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwZhKGgmoUI

249 Comments

  1. hayeksplosives

    I’d still rather be in the US than in France!

    Murica!!

    • Incentives Matter

      Right now? My second French cousin (brother of the one who died in late December 2018) just died, and I really, really want to be there, not here, Goddammit. Fuckin’ overreaction to the fuckin’ virus.

      • Sean

        Sorry to hear about your loss.

        My condolences.

      • Incentives Matter

        Thanks. Appreciate the sentiment. Found out two nights ago on Facebook, and I can’t even send a flower arrangement, fer Chrissakes, ’cause it might have the L’il ‘Rona all over it. This is really starting to piss me off.

      • westernsloper

        Flowers have the Rona now? Damn. Condolences.

      • Count Potato

        Sorry 🙁

        Hospital here still doesn’t allow visitors.

      • Chafed

        Sorry for your loss IM.

      • DEG

        My condolences.

        Fuck the government.

      • Sensei

        Sorry to read. My condolences as well.

      • Fourscore

        Sorry to hear about your loss, IM, condolences

      • Mojeaux

        Oh, I am so sorry.

    • Hyperion

      “Murica!!”

      It’s ‘Murica, fuck yeah!’.

  2. Sean

    “, 2) THE GUN IS GOOD, ”

    I got some Gunbroker bids posted.

    All hail ZARDOZ!

    • DEG

      I’m winning on a batch of GP11.

      I have a couple of bids placed on Amoskeag’s upcoming auction.

      • DEG

        I thought about bidding on this rifle but forgot it ended today. Oops.

        This I cannot explain. It’s a bad restoration job.

      • Sean

        I have enough Mosin’s.

      • DEG

        Those words are English except for “Mosin” but make no sense when arranged in that manner.

    • kinnath

      No gunbroker.

      Just drove down to the range and picked up a new rifle. A pretty new M1A with a walnut stock.

      • pistoffnick

        I’m jealous. .308 or .30?

      • kinnath

        308

      • pistoffnick

        .308 is the best caliber. Fight me!

      • DEG

        .303 British is pretty good. .30-06 is pretty good. .50 BMG is pretty good. 7.5mm Swiss is pretty good. 6.5 Swede is pretty good.

        Hmm…..

        I think the correct answer is orgy.

      • Tejicano

        Fight you? Heck, I’d reload for you. Most of my mil-type semi-autos are in 7.62X51mm.

      • kinnath

        I have four or five different hammers at home. Each one is best for the job it does.

      • pistoffnick

        Damn you and your reasonableness, kinnath!

      • Tejicano

        But if I can only bring one I bring the hammer of Thor

      • Tejicano

        Drool… Between that and your new CZ 97B you’re sounding a lot like me. Both of those would easily be in my top 3 “if you could only nave one rifle/pistol” list

      • kinnath

        CZ 97B

        Not me.

        I picked up three rifles this spring: Ruger PC9 carbine; Ruger Mini-14; and the M1A today.

      • Tejicano

        Sorry – I remember somebody here picking up one of those recently and since you obviously have exquisite taste in firearms (M1A in walnut) my mind mis-remembered.

      • kinnath

        I am into 1911s.

      • Tejicano

        #metoo

        I have a half dozen of them and have built a couple myself. But I also like other models

    • EvilSheldon

      No new guns, but I’m proud that I got back into regular dry fire this week. My motivation to practice has been absolute dogshit lately.

      I’ve been trying to retrain myself to set the safety on my AR when I reload.

  3. Rhywun

    This brutal is puzzled by #3.

    *THANK YOU CHOSEN ONE FOR NOTICING. REPAIRED.*

    • Count Potato

      #metoo

    • creech

      #3? What about #1?

  4. Gustave Lytton

    Was there supposed to be a link in #3?

    Also, could you swing by Target Sports and help me correct a shortage in the order that arrived yesterday? It’s missing ammo so would be appreciated!

  5. Gustave Lytton

    Hertz is filing for bankruptcy as soon as possibly this evening. On the plus side, they lasted longer than Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.

    • hayeksplosives

      It will always be too soon.

    • pistoffnick

      Hertz can Fuck-Off-and-Die-In-A-Fire. They wouldn’t rent a car to me at age 19 in my time of need. They have never (and will never) rented a car to me since.

      • Tres Cool

        Hertz is the Nick Gillespie of rental places.

      • Incentives Matter

        Rented from Hertz precisely once in Europe (the Netherlands). Blew out a tire on our rental, and getting it replaced and back on the road was an absolute shitshow. We ended up paying for the tire ourselves (AMEX compensated us for it later). Can’t say I’m sorry to see those expensive, low-customer-service arsewipes go into bankruptcy.

      • pistoffnick

        I’m still bitter 30 years later.

      • l0b0t

        Enterprise has gone above and beyond enough times in enough locations to have me for life.

      • westernsloper

        Never had a complaint with Enterprise.

      • Crusty Juggler

        They never employed a murderer…

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        I think most or all American car rental places won’t or wouldn’t rent to under-25s. It was once a problem for me aged 24.5.

      • pistoffnick

        But if I tell you up front that I am a college student renting 3 vans for a tour of engineering sites as part of the college ASME (American Society of Mechanickle Engineers) group, and you say no problem, but then when I come to pick up the van with 3 19-20 year old drivers, and you say “Sorry company policy- we don’t rent to under 21 year olds” maybe that might be a bait and switch?

        Rent-a-wreck had looser standards and saved my ass. They were cheaper too. Avis lost me as a customer for life. Fuck them. They can Die in a Fire.

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        “You know how to make the reservation; you just don’t know how to hold the reservation.” (Close enough anyway.)

      • Gadfly

        In general, yes, but there are exceptions. When I needed to rent a car at age 23 (in the 2010s) I was able to from a place that otherwise wouldn’t because my insurance had some sort of agreement with the company that all their policy holders could rent from it. So my guess is it hinges greatly on the level of liability coverage the potential renter comes with.

      • DEG

        Or… the company you are interviewing with rented the car and you are just the driver of the car.

        /happened to me often while interviewing while I was an undergrad.

    • Gustave Lytton

      For those too young to remember when the Juice was the rental pitchman for 15 years or so:

      https://youtu.be/A4LECXW_MQY

    • Ownbestenemy

      I think I owe Hertz money…so win for me!

    • straffinrun

      Now that right there is an unexpected twist. Well done.

    • Florida Man

      This is my fault. I picked up their stock when I thought it couldn’t go any lower. I was wrong.

    • Chafed

      Wow. You’ve got balls GL.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Hertz will always be linked to OJ in my mind thanks to commercials like the one above. And when I think OJ…that’s what comes to mind.

      • DrOtto

        National Lampoon did a satirical Hertz ad during the OJ happenings. It was a “White Bronco getaway special” if I’m recalling correctly.

  6. Ted S.

    THEN UR DOIN’ IT WRONG. (DID ZARDOZ USE THE COLLOQUIALISM CORRECTLY?)

    No; Eridu doin’ it wrong.

    • westernsloper

      ?

  7. commodious spittoon

    If Republicans have a dozen brain cells between the lot of them, they’ll come out swinging against occupational licensing and other restrictions.

    • Juvenile Bluster

      lol

      • Crusty Juggler

        This

    • Tejicano

      “If Republicans have a dozen brain cells between the lot of them”

      Then I won’t be holding my breath.

    • Chafed

      You crack me up.

  8. Aloysious

    Hail Zardoz.

    The Karen’s are loud and obnoxious tonight.

    • Sean

      Is water still wet?

      • UnCivilServant

        Nope.

        welcome to Drywater.

      • Ted S.

        Oh Drywater,
        Keep on rollin’
        Mississippi moon won’t you keep on shining for me?

      • westernsloper

        So you have moved on from posting bad music videos to reciting bad music lyrics? I am not sure what I think of this change in course.

      • Ted S.

        I can do both if you’d like.

      • Crusty Juggler

        “welcome to Drywater.”

        Things Winston’s Mom says when she opens the front door?

        You see, her vagina, much like the planet earth, is surrounded by a hard crust. To penetrate through the layer of crust demands a targeted effort, but if the drilling is successful the payoff is plentiful.

      • Aloysious

        Dehydrated water isn’t wet.

      • Ted S.

        Is ice wet?

      • Aloysious

        Vanilla Ice is all wet.

    • Sean

      Wut?

    • commodious spittoon

      They identify as lesbians but they’ll take the D.

    • Random Drunken Asshole

      Must be a lot of lesbians with penises.

  9. Crusty Juggler

    Bea Arthur was a Marine.

    • Chafed

      Huh?

    • Chafed

      That was pretty damn funny.

      • Crusty Juggler

        Yes. He is great and has a great writer. I mean it’s too good.

  10. DEG

    France is to allow the resumption of religious gatherings after a two-month hiatus caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, but worshippers will have to wear face masks, the French interior ministry announced.

    France. More sane than America. For some things.

    • Sean

      They eat snails. I reject your premise. ?

      • DEG

        I’d give snails a try.

        On the other hand, I’ve also eaten sea cucumbers and grasshoppers. I’m not sure I’d eat those again but I did try them.

      • Juvenile Bluster

        I was once on a cruise and one of the appetizers offered with dinner was escargot. My waiter offered me a free drink if I tried the escargot. It.. wasn’t terrible. I mean, it’s not something I’d eat again, but it wasn’t terrible. Then again, anything with that much butter and fat can’t be terrible.

      • Incentives Matter

        They eat snails absolutely swimming in the best butter on Earth saturated with garlic and parsley.

        I’d eat my boots if you served them to me like that.

      • Sean

        And yet HM gets dinged on eating ass…

        I’m gonna vote HM.

        ‘Murica!

      • Gustave Lytton

        I thought it was Marlon Brando that used French butter on that end.

  11. Winston

    WHEN THE BRUTAL NATION OF FRANCE IS FREER THAN YOUR STATE, OH BRUTAL GOVERNORS, THEN UR DOIN’ IT WRONG.

    Can’t help but wonder if one the problems that the US is facing is that individualism and free markets have been supposedly strong influences for so long that those Americans who oppose those things are much more opposed to those things than ever before and will be willing to be more harsher.

    In other words We Need To Teach those Deplorables an Extra Hard lesson to show them who is Boss and how American Individualism and Free-Markets are So Over.

    • Gustave Lytton

      There’s also an apples to oranges comparison. France went into lockdown earlier than the US so they’ve been in it longer. And the Euro style lockdowns generally seemed to be more drastic, more enforced, and generally more jackboot all over than here.

      • Fourscore

        I think France is a little smaller too. They may not have to deal with 50 different governors

      • Gustave Lytton

        Bunch of Napoleons, they are.

      • EvilSheldon

        I wonder a bit about the differences between the lockdown in Paris, versus the lockdowns out in the countryside.

    • AlmightyJB

      Sure why not

      • Crusty Juggler

        Right?

    • Tejicano

      He sure went to a lot of trouble to present her posing like Homer Simpson.

      • westernsloper

        You clicked that?

      • Tejicano

        Yeah. Weird, huh? I was hoping the artist did something interesting with the subject – also hoped he presented her in her younger days.

      • Crusty Juggler

        The painting sold for almost 2 mil bro.

      • Tejicano

        I hope that was in Zimbabwean dollars

      • Crusty Juggler

        More like Zimboobway, am I right?

        Folks!

      • Mojeaux

        I just read this thread to Mr. Mojeaux.

      • Tejicano

        What was his reaction?

      • Mojeaux

        He groaned and face-palmed.

      • Crusty Juggler

        He laughed his balls off!

      • Mojeaux

        He snort-laughed.

      • Tejicano

        My work here is done!

      • westernsloper

        You misspelled 2 Marlboro’s. Red I would assume.

  12. Juvenile Bluster

    So, we’re now on 18 days since most of Florida reopened and there aren’t bodies piled in the streets. Weird.

    • Crusty Juggler

      DeSantis is hiding the truth!

    • AlmightyJB

      Clearly Florida hates science.

    • Sean

      Where are you piling them?

      • Crusty Juggler

        Jacksonville. That place sucks.

      • AlmightyJB

        It can’t be worse than Detroit.

      • Florida Man

        I was born and grew up in Jacksonville. I laughed so hard when it was referenced in Deadpool.

      • Juvenile Bluster

        There’s an artificial lake that I drive past sometimes that was a quarry 35 years ago. It’s 71 feet deep at its deepest point. Enough weights and…

        …wait, bodies? What bodies? I know nothing about bodies.

      • one true athena

        The bottom 20 feet’s nothing but guns after all the boating accidents.

      • DEG

        So what you are saying is, is I should learn to SCUBA dive so I can find new guns cheap?

      • DEG

        #cathynewmanquestions

        Sorry… forgot the tag. In my defense I’m drunk.

      • AlmightyJB

        I thought the Gators took care of the bodies.

      • westernsloper

        That is what I remember heard.

      • Tejicano

        I suppose they feed them to the Burmese pythons if they are Florida-ing correctly.

      • Gadfly

        It’s a peninsula. They are literally surrounded by dumping grounds.

    • LJW

      They’re feeding them to the Gators to cover it up. Get ready for Super Covid Gators coming in July.

      • Winston

        Will they produce Covidade energy drinks?

  13. AlmightyJB

    9 days off:) Some drankin’, shootin’, and Quein’ in my immediate future:) Have family thing tomorrow, granddaughter’s spending the night, then free Sunday evening on.

  14. Winston

    France of course has its history of extremely brutal religious conflict. The Wars of Religion, the Expulsion of the Hugenots and the Dechristianization Campaign during the French Revolution for example. American hasn’t had this history.

    • AlmightyJB

      The gaul of them

      • Winston

        Why the very Vendee of it…

      • Tejicano

        But that’s no reason to go losing your head over it

      • AlmightyJB

        We just all need cake

      • Trigger Hippie

        Normandy I’d let this thread slide without comment but…

      • Mojeaux

        Cheese louise, people.

  15. Crusty Juggler

    Currently, our two best interviewers are Joe Rogan and Charlamagne tha God.

    Discuss.

    • Winston

      So Tallest Midget?

      • Crusty Juggler

        No.

    • pistoffnick

      Joe Rogan can’t pronounce “guillotine” correctly. It’s a French word. That double ll sounds like a “y”. It irks me.

      I never found him funny or interesting until he went hunting with Steven Rinella

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ-PhHFLSvs&feature=youtu.be

      • Tejicano

        I don’t find him so interesting per se but I do appreciate the wealth of knowledge his guests bring on the subjects of nutrition and health. It has literally changed my life/

      • Crusty Juggler

        I didn’t say he was interesting, even though I believe he is.

        But he is a great interviewer, mostly because he only interviews people he is curious about, which frequently leads to interesting conversations.

        He unwittingly capitalized on the lack of interesting interviews.

      • Tejicano

        I do appreciate the way Rogan allows his guests to expound on their subjects without always jumping in and challenging them where he is not the real expert.

      • straffinrun

        He is an expert on the guillotine. Mispronouncing it would be like an NHL announcer saying, “And Gay LaFlower scores!”

      • BakedPenguin

        That;s kind of the thing; it’s not about him, it’s about his guests.

    • straffinrun

      Is it ever good news for Joe Biden when Joe Biden is trending on twitter?

    • commodious spittoon

      Dave Rubin’s alright, even if he is a… homo sexual.

      • commodious spittoon

        I like Rubin quite a bit as an interviewer. He has a low-input, high output style. Contrast with Peter Robinson, who’s a proper academic and very much loves to hear himself speak, and interjects quite a bit. Different style, also someone I enjoy. Then there’s Michael Malice, who’s sharp-elbowed and confrontational. Probably my favorite lately, other than James Delingpole, who’s like Malice but English.

      • Crusty Juggler

        They are both fine! Malice is fun, and if he wasn’t so odd (which is part of what makes him a fun interviewer) he would be more popular. That was an omission.

  16. westernsloper

    Did the Seagull find the used condom he puked up on the counter in the house or the river?

    • Winston

      That is a real Chekhov’s gun…

    • westernsloper

      “I mean we’ve seen a year’s worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks.”

      Jebus, that is incredible. Nice work Top Men.

    • Drake

      21 year old guy in our town killed himself last night. Not sure what was going on with him, but it’s not like you can get help right now.

      Our supreme leader won’t even allow AA or NA meetings in person. I can only imagine the relapses and ODs happening

    • westernsloper

      I got ten bucks “Fight Island” is the one that I heard Richard Branson put on the market.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Still won’t be as good a fight island as in Enter the Dragon

  17. Crusty Juggler

    I was on call for two weeks, so Daddy pulled back on the alcohol, mostly because I want a paycheck and also because I am the boss.

    However, the last day was today. Ends at 0800. Time to get a little nutty.

    But I’m still the boss, the people still call. And my guy on call was also obviously a little tippity.

    What a fun combination. What a fun convo. Covid is turning us back into the ’50s. Fuckin MAGA.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Five martini lunches and generous expense accounts?

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Chasing the secretary around the desk?

      • Crusty Juggler

        I mean goosin’ a broad should be legal. I mean I do have a corner office.

    • Crusty Juggler

      Update:

      I made many decisions. They were all wrong. Many were angered.

      Respect…?

      • Below Sea Level Hell Centro

        “Just because I don’t know what it is doesn’t mean lying “

  18. Gustave Lytton

    Another day of fucking offburning. Did grocery shopping in the morning and Safeway appears to have reverted to their normal hours. Looking forward to shopping at 6am next week but self serve gas ends tomorrow. Fuckers.

    • Ted S.

      Our local grocery is open two hours longer than before.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      Because people would have been so understanding before the pandemic became a pandemic.

    • commodious spittoon

      What does that even mean? What’s the point of the quarantine? Nobody ever gets sick?

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        It was to flatten the curve until it became that nobody ever got sick.

      • commodious spittoon

        They’ll flatten the curve till there’s nothing to resuscitate. They’ll flatten it till it’s concave.

        We consigned ourselves to the worst of both worlds, we did nothing to prevent disease cataclysm (either because it wasn’t ever going to happen, or because it was going to happen anyway) and we gambled our figleaf economy on it.

      • straffinrun

        Good point. To me it means that just because someone hates the EU doesn’t mean they hate screwing with peaceful people.

      • Winston

        I mean there are quite a few people who hate the EU because it prevents TOP MEN like themselves from ruling.

        And English Toryism always had a paternalistic element to it…

  19. commodious spittoon

    I suspect wholesale ground beef has taken a hit in quality… not quite as trim as you’d like. Very fatty.

    • Gender Traitor

      Speaking of ground beef, I’d be willing to swear that every Wendy’s commercial I’ve seen lately has been pushing their chicken sandwiches and nuggets.

      • commodious spittoon

        I kept the drippings from frying up a pound or so of ground beef. I’m going to try pan-frying tater tots in it.

  20. Drake

    This evening I went to an establishment where you sit down with family and friends, chose your food and drinks from a list, and they bring them to you a few minutes later. It was very nice. I hope to do that again sometime.

    • Gender Traitor

      I sincerely hope you do get a chance to do so one more time before you drop dead of the Kung Flu.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      Murderer.

      • Drake

        I killed the shit out of some really good brown ale.

    • commodious spittoon

      And you weren’t arrested by the Covid sharia police?!

      • AlmightyJB

        Man, I really hope all this ends soon because otherwise, I don’t see it ending well.

      • Drake

        It is truly bizarre how some states are still in full lockdown and others have fully reopened. I’m not looking forward to going home.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Does NJ have a 14 day quarantine so you don’t infect other people with the Freedom-1776 virus?

      • Drake

        I honestly don’t know or care. Not like I can go anywhere or doing there anyhow.

  21. Winston

    https://www.patheos.com/blogs/scienceonreligion/2020/04/liberal-democracy-science-end-of-history/

    The medieval Islamic philosopher Ibn Kaldun argued that societies crumble when their elite classes become complacent, having vanquished their enemies and grown accustomed to wealth and comfort. Without the need for discipline and unified purpose that come from rallying against a shared enemy, the privileged turn to pursuing their own pleasure and competing with one another for status. From a Kaldunian perspective, Nasica was right: the destruction of Carthage deprived Romans of their shared enemy, and so their sense of common purpose. The loss of the Soviet Union might have had a similar effect on the United States, leaving the country feeling overconfident, complacent, and disinclined to make the continued sacrifices that a functioning democracy requires.

    Not sure if this is correct but it is true that the privileged elites no longer believe in America and the West and believe that the enemy is the masses and elites who disagree with them in some aspects. And internicine conflicts often the worst.

    So our very imaginations have been shaped to see the future as looking like the continual expansion of liberal-democratic norms and ideals, complemented by ever-growing technological mastery of nature. That’s what “the future” meant. But that vision was never really inevitable or universal. Instead, it stemmed in large part from the Protestant (and Enlightenment) ideals that have historically infused American society, including an emphasis on individual liberties and rights, skepticism of traditional or inherited authority, and an abiding belief in technological and economic progress.

    Interesting hypothesis here. The only reason “liberal democracy” was winning after the Cold War was because that is what the USG wanted and the only reason why the US thinks liberal democracy is good is because of a specific brand of British Protestant Nonconformism prevalent in the US.

    There is some merit to this. See how South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Latin America only democratized because the US wanted it unlike China, Vietnam and Cuba.

    And classical liberalism in Britain always had a Protestant Nonconformist streak to it. And yes even Free Trade and Free Markets had a religious aspect. The Protestant Nonconformists were the urban merchant and manufacturing class and the Anglican Aristocrats were the rural landowners. And the latter were the ones who wanted taxes, spending, wars, state churches and tariffs while the former opposed them.

    And notice too how this Protestant Nonconformism is much stronger in the US then in Britain itself along with Australia, Canada and New Zealand were the elites were Anglican.

    Cultural traditions and values can have a lot of inertia, even in the absence of formal institutions to perpetuate them.

    ….

    But without a common set of references or a shared narrative, even a very powerful society like the U.S. can quickly lose its ability to solve problems, much less disseminate its vision of the good life. The norms and values we once took for granted really can evaporate.

    And if Liberal Democracy is the product of this British Protestant Nonconformism then what happens when Americans no longer believe in this British Protestant Nonconformism?

    • Drake

      Every aging empire becomes rich and decadent then crumbles from within. Kaldun probably saw it all around him in North Africa and Spain.

      • Winston

        Coronavirus Shutdowns, Trump and Biden sure seem like evidence of this in the US.

      • Winston

        Also Western Liberalism was not supposed to suffer that same fate though it appears it may very well happen…

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        But how does one define decadence? Decadent Rome lasted 400 years of Empire plus the republic before then. Was the Eastern Roman Empire not decadent as it lasted another 1000 years after the fall of Rome? It’s such a squishy term with no way to really identify it.

      • AlmightyJB

        What’s happening right now may well end up bringing down the country. Half the people playing tyrants over the other half. We’re talking about tax on tea either. Who’s going to write our Common Sense? Who’s going to fire the shot heard around the world? We may make it through this time if things end soon. But what happens next time?

      • Trigger Hippie

        I think Japan is another good example. From roughly the beginning of the seventeenth century until what, the late nineteenth century(?) The ruling Shogunate clan who’s name escapes me at the moment had no real external threat or common enemy to unify the people as they had largely made a strained peace with the outside world and focused inwards. And as far as I understand, the ruling families where as vulnerable to decadence as any other people with money and power the world over. Yet it seemed be sustained quite well for a long time until the outside world could no longer be ignored.

      • Tejicano

        Tokugawa clan.

        The currency, basically being based on the value of the annual rice crop, was collapsing and they may just as well have run into economic catastrophe in another 50 years if it hadn’t been for the specter of China getting it’s ass handed to them by those British nobodies (nobodies as far as Japan understood things). Seeing the major power, in their view of the world, humbled so quickly was the wake-up call to the Japanese.

    • Derpetologist

      nitpick – the name is Khaldun. Interestingly enough, that name has the same root as the Arabic word for immortal, khulud.

      Maybe Khaldun got tired of wearing a sand trout suit…

      ***
      In Children of Dune, Leto II’s prescient visions illuminate his Golden Path, his plan for the continued survival of mankind and the sandworms. After consuming massive amounts of spice, he allows many sandtrout to cover his body, the concentration of spice in his blood fooling the creatures:

      The sandtrout squirmed on his hand, elongating, stretching … becoming thin, covering more and more of his hand. No sandtrout had ever before encountered a hand such as this one, every cell supersaturated with spice … Delicately Leto adjusted his enzyme balance … The knowledge from those uncounted lifetimes which blended themselves within him provided the certainty through which he chose the precise adjustments, staving off the death from an overdose which would engulf him if he relaxed his watchfulness for only a heartbeat. And at the same time he blended himself with the sandtrout, feeding on it, feeding it, learning it … He located another, placed it over the first one … Their cilia locked and they became a single membrane which enclosed him to the elbow … This was no longer sandtrout; it was tougher, stronger. And it would grow stronger and stronger … With a terrible singleness of concentration he achieved the union of his new skin with his body, preventing rejection … They were all over his body now. He could feel the pulse of his blood against the living membrane … My skin is not my own. — Children of Dune[19]

      This layer gives Leto tremendous strength, speed, and protection from mature sandworms, which mistake his sandtrout-covered body for a lethal mass of water.[19] He calls it a “living, self-repairing stillsuit of a sandtrout membrane”, and soon notes that he is “no longer human”.[19]

      Gradually over the next 3,500 years, Leto not only survives, but also is transformed into a hybrid of human and giant sandworm.[20] By the time of God Emperor of Dune, he has exterminated all other sandworms, and his own transformation has modified his component sandtrout. When Leto allows himself to be assassinated, the sandtrout release themselves to begin the sandworm lifecycle anew; subsequent offspring are tougher and more adaptable than their predecessors, allowing them to ultimately be more easily settled on other worlds, thus ensuring the survival of the sandworm species. Each one, according to Leto, carries in it a tiny pearl of his consciousness, trapped forever in an unending prescient dream.[20]

      Over the next 1500 years, Arrakis (now called Rakis) is returned to a desert by the thriving sandworm cycle. Bene Gesserit Mother Superior Taraza becomes aware in Heretics of Dune that humanity is being limited by the prescient dream of Leto, and controlled by him through his worm remnants. She engineers the destruction of Rakis by the Honored Matres to free humanity, leaving one remaining worm to start the cycle anew. Taraza is killed; her successor Darwi Odrade takes the worm to Chapterhouse. She submerges it in a spice bath to generate sandtrout, with the goal of populating Chapterhouse, and later other planets, with new worms and infinite potential for gathering spice.
      ***

      Khaldun’s main thing was the idea of ‘asabiyyah, which could be translated as togetherness or social cohesion.

      ‘asab means gang and harb al-‘asab means guerilla warfare

      • Derpetologist

        ‘asabah, that is – sorry too many beers

        friends don’t let friends decline nouns drunk

      • commodious spittoon

        Always wondered whether Herbert was secretly smitten with Muslims. Doesn’t explain the crypto-Jews who show up in the third or fifth or fourth book, or whenever. Or maybe it does? I just don’t know.

        I never played The Last of Us, but supposedly the developers originally considered having the zombie virus affect only women…. they decided it would be misogynistic. I thought it worked for The White Plague

      • Derpetologist

        The Screwfly Solution was written by a woman:

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screwfly_Solution

        That story is about aliens who infect men with a virus that makes them want to kill women. It’s based on a real program where male screwflies were irradiated to make them sterile. The sterile flies still mated, but they prevented fertile males from mating. Over time, the screwflies were wiped out in places.

      • commodious spittoon

        Thus giving rise to Screwfly, don’t bother me…

      • Winston

        That’s must be why the dad is going to be killed by a tranny with a golf club in the sequel

      • commodious spittoon

        Shushush shush shhhh you’ll get us cancelled by Sony.

    • commodious spittoon

      Isn’t the argument that men are thin-skinned, impulsive, with bruisable egos, and that’s why women would be better executives? Whitmer’s nothing but easily goaded.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      Is that part true? Did she open a
      part of Michigan, where she has a vacation home?

      • DEG

        Gauleiterin Whitmer has graciously and magnanimously deigned to allow retail by appointment.

      • commodious spittoon

        Please, please make Head Karen, Summoner of Managers your VP, Dems in charge of picking Biden’s VP while he’s being fed SpaghettiOs.

      • Gustave Lytton

        What are the odds that Frau Heydrich has or will be sending staffers to do her shopping for her so she doesn’t have to participate in her clown show?

    • Random Drunken Asshole

      I don’t understand how she has not accidentally fallen into a running woodchipper.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Sic semper tyrannis.

    • BakedPenguin

      What a fu***in horrible woman. I hope she faces unpleasant things so long as she seeks power.*trying to be moderately pleasant.*

      That said, if she trips on stone and faceplants into a stone walkway, I won’t cry.

    • AlmightyJB

      Unfortunately they’re probably going to lose their business license over it. Hopefully they can win a lawsuit but at what cost? Now if every restaurant did it (and they should), there’s nothing the state could do about it.

    • AlmightyJB

      I had to look up Gauletier. Nice:)

      • Winston

        Even better is that the Gauletiers were actually Nazi Party officials rather appointees of the government.

      • DEG

        Fuck.

        Gauleiter. I spelled it wrong.

      • Winston

        Gauleiterin was spelled right though…

    • Crusty Juggler

      Monsters all.

  22. Crusty Juggler

    Don’t you feel lucky to be alive?

  23. commodious spittoon

    Almost certain I heard Smashmouth on the grocery store muzak earlier… are they still together? This singer was dead on.

    • Winston

      You must be walking on the sun…

    • Crusty Juggler

      Hey now, you’re an all-star…

    • KSuellington

      All that glitters is gold.

  24. mikey

    This is all getting so trite and predictable.
    CONFIRMED: Governor Whitmer Begs Michiganders Not to Travel to their Summer Home — Then Her Cars Are Seen Parked Outside of HER SUMMER HOME!. https://tiny.iavian.net/10ezz

    • commodious spittoon

      It’s different when she does it. I mean, obviously. She’s just one person. At most, she’s just one family. But Michiganders aren’t just one person, they’re many, many people, perhaps thousands of people, with thousands of families. So it’s different.

    • Chafed

      It’s incredible no one has torched the place.

  25. KSuellington

    It’s nice to see the neighbors partying. Across the street they are getting rowdy and down the block I just came back from a garage gathering. People are well done with the social distancing.

    • KSuellington

      Once Joe Biden pulls your black card, you will never be black again. Don’t make him do that.

      • KSuellington

        I kinda wondered whether it was taken yet, of course the free market wins on this one.

        https://www.youaintblack.com/

    • Gustave Lytton

      Well, they could be part of the same household.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Must be Beatles fans…

      • Trigger Hippie

        What you did there was seen.