Friday Afternoon Links

by | Jun 26, 2020 | Daily Links | 397 comments

Happy Friday, y’all. Its nice to make it to the weekend. I am just tired and ready for a break. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, dodging the new ‘rona outbreaks that feels like Revenge of the Scolds or Karens Strike Back.

Hmm, I guess I’m glad I went to the bar last night. Looks like I won’t be able to go back for a while.

“Too bad about Hand Job, huh?” Having known several people in the American military, I would be shocked if “excessive masturbation” had any effect on passing a military physical.

Suddenly, the Democrat House Paper is rethinking Presidential debates.

You know, I hate Tom Brady a little less each day. I’m almost sorry now to think about the absolute pounding he’s going to take as a Bucs QB.

About The Author

Brett L

Brett L

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

397 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    ““Too bad about Hand Job, huh?” Having known several people in the American military, I would be shocked if “excessive masturbation” had any effect on passing a military physical.”

    It does in the waiting room.

    • Chipwooder

      “Last week in Da Nang he went to see the Navy head shrinker. Crazy fucker started jerking off right in the waiting room. Instant Section 8. He was just waiting for his paperwork to come back from division”

      • Bobarian LMD

        Yeah, define “excessive”?

        Helps with being able to do 1 arm push-ups.

      • Bobarian LMD

        It also might cause your gaze to narrow.

      • Rhywun

        I’m more concerned about the “abnormalities found in [the] scrotum from sitting too much”.

        Wut?

      • Incentives Matter

        Yeah, that one sorta stood out for me, too. I’ve spent wayyyy too much of my professional life sitting in a chair in front of a computer screen.

      • Aloysious

        I assume the cure for scrotal issues would be ‘manspreading’. I bet the boys need room to breathe.

      • Nephilium

        #ICan’tBreathe?

      • Rhywun

        LOL

      • Sean

        *applause*

      • Aloysious

        +1 larf

      • TARDIS

        ROFL

        I was once told by an “old” guy that you know your old when you sit on your nuts and they go numb, and you DGAF.

      • TARDIS

        #you’re# dammit.

      • BakedPenguin

        Forget it, Rhy. It’s Chinatown.

  2. Count Potato

    “The country as a whole on Thursday registered another single-day record of more than 39,000 new infections, with fears that hospitalizations and the nationwide death toll could soon follow.”

    But will they? The infection rate doesn’t mean much. It’s the hospitalization rate that’s important.

    • leon

      They are certainly hoping it does follow. That has been the refrain i’ve seen to people pointing out that the case rate hasn’t had any uptick in deaths or hospitalizations. “It’s just two weeks away”.

      At least with these predictions of death they can be verified.

      • C. Anacreon

        Deaths are down, hospitalizations are down, many hospitals still running mostly empty, losing money and laying off staff. But the DNC and their lickspittle in the press need people to be scared until November, so the order is out to focus on the one thing going up, cases…. despite the fact that many of these cases are asymptomatic.

      • Viking1865

        Yeah so by July 15th, we should know.

        I’ve always been down to follow the data. We didn’t know on March 5th how deadly this disease was. We honestly did not. We have a lot more information now, and on July 15th or so, we will have a lot more.

      • OneOut

        I have yet to hear of one person infected as a result of attending a protest riot.

      • Jarflax

        Righteous rage against the unequaled evil of the belief that rights are individual not collective immunizes one from infection. Gun ownership increses infection rates. This is known.

      • Tom Teriffic

        I’m f#$ked

      • dontreadonme

        LOL. Probably most of the people on this site would already be dead if this were true.

      • Sean

        You don’t even know.

        I should schedule a three hour boat sight seeing tour with a competent skipper and first mate.

      • C. Anacreon

        A San Francisco health authority said on the local news yesterday (actual number given) that he is “100% certain” that none of the new cases of Covid in the region came from any attendance at protests.

        That’s a pretty impressive amount of certitude he has. Might be a fun guy to play poker against.

    • Swiss Servator

      “fears that…”

      How about letting me know when that happens?

      • The Other Kevin

        I don’t know when, but at some point the news went from “here’s what happened” to “here’s how someone feels about something.”

  3. Count Potato

    WaPo is paywalled.

  4. Count Potato

    Is football even going to happen on time?

    • Count Potato

      Anyway, with all his money and success, I would just retire. What’s the point in still playing?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Proving Belichick wrong?

  5. Mad Scientist

    “Excessive masturbation is hurting China’s military”

    Maybe they should stop using chopsticks.

    • Plinker762

      Maybe they shouldn’t have aborted all those girls.

      • Mojeaux

        Aw, you beat me to it.

      • Incentives Matter

        ^^SO MUCH THIS.

        Stupid fuckin’ One Child Policy. What did they think the result would be?

      • TARDIS

        Stupid fuckin’ One Child any government Policy.

    • Suthenboy

      That is hilarious.
      Wanna see what real racism looks like? Go overseas.

      • Drake

        The old commie droning on about how great Russia was might be my favorite – along with South Africa not wanting Mos Def either.

      • Chipwooder

        Paul Robeson was a piece of shit. A Soviet poet, Itzik Feffer, came to the US in 1943 on a fundraising trip to raise money for the war. He met and befriended Robeson. In 1949, Robeson toured the Soviet Union and asked to meet with Feffer. Unbeknownst to Robeson, Feffer had been arrested for treason in 1948.

        Robeson traveled to Moscow in June, and tried to find Itzik Feffer. He let Soviet authorities know that he wanted to see him.[206] Reluctant to lose Robeson as a propagandist for the Soviet Union,[207] the Soviets brought Feffer from prison to him. Feffer told him that Mikhoels had been murdered, and he would be summarily executed.[208] To protect the Soviet Union’s reputation,[209] and to keep the right wing of the United States from gaining the moral high ground, Robeson denied that any persecution existed in the Soviet Union,[210] and kept the meeting secret for the rest of his life, except from his son.

        Some friend. Note that this was long before Robeson testified before HUAC, the source of that idiotic quote in the article. That happened in 1956. His friend Itzik Feffer was executed in the Lyubyanka in 1952.

    • leon

      Tiffanie Drayton knew: Her family kept getting priced out of gentrifying neighborhoods in New Jersey. She felt they were destined to be forever displaced in the USA. Then Trayvon Martin was shot and killed after buying a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea.

      And John Wilkes Booth was sentenced to death after performing at a theater.

      • Drake

        Nice! Time to make a cocktail.

      • C. Anacreon

        Purple Drank?

      • Tres Cool

        + sippin’ on sizzurp

      • Agent Cooper

        New Jersey.

        I found the problem.

    • Suthenboy

      What happened about all of the people who left the country because Trump was elected? Are they still gone?

      • The Other Kevin

        They’re still living in Canada with all the people who left when Bush was president.

    • Chipwooder

      If they’re happier somewhere else, best of luck to them.

    • peachy rex

      Ok, but no backsies.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder
      • bacon-magic

        So many great one liners from that movie.

    • WTF

      Shit, I thought was going to be the Bee.

    • Rhywun

      OFFS.

      From the “we have a narrative to promote, make it happen” files.

    • Jarflax

      Who was the 60s black radical who went to live in Africa for a few years and came back thanking God that he had been born in America becaue Africa, unsurprosinglyto anyone except a radical, is a hellhole.

      • Suthenboy

        “Thank God my grandaddy was on that boat.” – Cassius Clay on being asked what he thought of Africa.

      • Jarflax

        That is not the one I am thinking of, it was someone more radical, either a Black Panther or something of the sort. But it is the same thought. It is the least PC thing one could say (other than that men have penises and women have vaginas) but every American descended from slaves should thank their stars for their ancestor’s bad fortune in being enslaved. The slaves were horribly abused, but their heirs are immeasurably better off than their cousins who remain in Africa.

      • Drake

        Richard Prior had a bit on it although not who you are thinking of. I heard other “African Americans” who went to Africa and were seriously bummed because the Africans called them mulattoes (accurately).

  6. The Late P Brooks

    Earlier this week, the NFL Players Association Medical Director Dr Thom Mayer released a statement urging players to stop “practicing together” until training camps open in late July.

    “Please be advised that it is our consensus medical opinion that in light of the increase in COVID-19 cases in certain states that no players should be engaged in practicing together in private workouts,” he wrote.

    Go fuck an armadillo, Doc.

    • Mad Scientist

      Professional athletes are about the fittest people on the planet. Somehow I don’t think the entire team is going to succumb to coronavirus.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Shouldn’t they be getting it now instead of waiting for the season to start?

        The likelihood of them croaking from the ‘vid is about 0%, so why not have a infection party?

  7. grrizzly

    Tom Brady is the best. I never watched a Patriots game when Brady wasn’t their starting QB.

    • gbob

      Try being a fan of an AFCE team, then tell me how much you like Brady.

      • C. Anacreon

        Try being a fan of an AFCE team

        Association of Certified Fraud Examiners?

      • Agent Cooper

        I would if any of those teams remotely tried to win. They’ve all rolled over for a decade plus. The Bills seem to have life now.

    • Grumbletarian

      Are you 12? Or did you skip the entire ’08 season?

      • grrizzly

        Actually that was the only season when I attended a couple of games in person. Brady was still the starting QB–he was just injured.

  8. Certified Public Asshat

    Even under the best of circumstances, scheduling these much-watched events on the busy fall calendar is a difficult challenge for the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has been in charge of the process since the 1988 election.

    It has to find dates that are not on Friday or Saturday nights, do not conflict with sports and other events networks are committed to, or official presidential business, such as attending the U.N. General Assembly in September. Each debate generally requires the candidates to suspend public appearances for at least a few days to prepare.

    No, no, we have time this year.

    • Mad Scientist

      And even given the unopposed schedule they get about as many viewers as Hogan’s Heroes reruns.

    • leon

      It has to find dates that are not on Friday or Saturday nights,

      O geeze. That’s hard. Like… Most days are Friday or Saturday nights.

      or official presidential business,

      I see it now. Trump must be impeached because he moved presidential business in order to campaign, which is an abuse of office.

    • Nephilium

      do not conflict with sports and other events

      So this is why we’re getting sports back?

  9. Count Potato

    “The reason? It’s reportedly due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as large-scale events are postponed or canceled and in a response to customer comments on Facebook, the New York Times reports. “To help limit personal contact and create more space for social distancing, Costco has reduced service in some departments … At this time, we are not making sheet cakes for special order,” the company said.”

    https://nypost.com/2020/06/26/costco-discontinues-sales-of-its-popular-sheet-cakes/

    I am so tired of this sheet.

    • Tulip

      Hiss

      • Count Potato

        “Why are you booing me? I’m right!”

      • Tulip

        Because of the punss

  10. The Late P Brooks

    But Brady was out with the Bucs this week anyway. He was spotted on Tuesday working out with his teammates sans mask for an entire two-hour practice, which was held at a local high school, Berkeley Prep.

    There was no mask in sight in today’s post either.

    Was it suicide, or MURDER?

  11. The Late P Brooks

    Things I would like to see in the news:

    “Many so-called public health experts have claimed, without evidence, that asymptomatic people are spreading the disease.”

    • TARDIS

      Time for the Scorch Trials!

  12. The Late P Brooks

    Magic Hat School of Economics strikes again

    In another first-in-the-nation move to tackle climate change, California will require automakers to sell more electric trucks starting in 2024. The measure, approved unanimously Thursday by the California Air Resources Board, says that by 2045 all new trucks sold in the state should be zero-emissions.

    The new rule aims to improve air quality and help the state achieve its aggressive climate goals. At least seven other states and the District of Columbia may follow suit.

    Voila!

    • Mad Scientist

      “Zero emissions” is such a crock of shit. “Emissions predominantly in Arizona” would be far more accurate.

      • Suthenboy

        Nonsense. You are just a scientist, what do you know?

    • Chipwooder

      Sounds like a series of 5 Year Plans are called for!

    • Rhywun

      “environmental racism”

      To be sure.

    • Grumbletarian

      At some point automakers will just announce a string of dealerships on the non-CA side of neighboring state borders and stop selling cars in CA itself. CA residents will just buy used cars or get them across the nearest border new.

      • dontreadonme

        Arizona auto row! Palomino!

    • commodious spittoon

      by 2045

      LOL

  13. Stinky Wizzleteats

    “rethinking Presidential debates”

    Stevie Wonder could see that coming.

  14. Count Potato

    “More young people are testing positive for coronavirus in southern states where infections have resurged, with people under the age of 35 now representing nearly half of all new cases, Vice President Mike Pence noted.

    Multiple officials took to the microphone to urge younger Americans to stop unwittingly spreading the virus to at-risk loved ones by gathering in large groups as they enjoy the summer weather in the midst of a deadly pandemic.”

    https://nypost.com/2020/06/26/fauci-blames-young-americans-for-new-coronavirus-surge/

    Isn’t that how you get heard immunity?

    • Mad Scientist

      Sure, but how is herd immunity going to pay off for any special interests?

      • The Other Kevin

        It’s not going to do anything to increase paid subscriptions to the NYT site either.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      If they bring it home to grandma or grandpa it could be a problem but trying to keep young adults from socializing is like trying to keep the wind from blowing. It’s impossible.

      • dontreadonme

        How many young adults spend any time with their elders any more? That ship sailed long ago.

    • Drake

      Sounds like good news to me. When they get back to college, they can ignore the safety theater.

  15. gbob

    I’m sad to discover I wouldn’t be a good fit for the commie military.

    • leon

      That story meshes nicely with the one earlier today about the kid suing Twitch for all the chafing on his penis.

      Maybe Twitch is an US Defense program.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    “Zero emissions” is such a crock of shit. “Emissions predominantly in Arizona” would be far more accurate.

    When you can just pull enormous batteries out of the magic hat, there are no toxic byproducts to be dealt with!

    • mindyourbusiness

      The batteries and the drugs come from the same source…

  17. Count Potato

    “A “brand new” Lamborghini was totaled in a crash — just 20 minutes after being taken out of the showroom, UK police said.

    The unlucky driver behind the wheel of a black Lamborghini Huracan Spyder — which reportedly start at just under $265,000 for 2020 models — stopped due to a mechanical failure Wednesday on the M1 in West Yorkshire when it was struck from behind by an “innocent motorist,” West Yorkshire police tweeted.”

    https://nypost.com/2020/06/25/brand-new-lamborghini-huracan-spyder-totaled-in-20-minutes/

    That’s some reliability.

    • Bobarian LMD

      Not for nothing, but if your immobilized car is struck from behind, they hardly ever call the striking motorist “innocent”.

    • grrizzly

      A mechanical failure after 20 minutes of driving a brand new car? Wow!

    • Chipwooder

      Poor reliability from an Italian car???? First I’m hearing about this.

    • Mad Scientist

      …mechanical failure Wednesday on the M1 in West Yorkshire when it was struck from behind by an “innocent motorist,” West Yorkshire police tweeted…It’s also unclear where the vehicle was picked up and if it was a new or used model, according to the BBC.

      So the entire article is based on a tweet with zero follow up or information added.

    • db

      “Mechanical Failure” = “popped the clutch after flooring it and spooling the turbo up to maximum, causing excessive pressures leading to predeonation and piston failure”

      …most likely.

      I was at a Subaru dealership and in the maintenance dept, they have a collection of pistons on the counter top, all from kids whose parents bought them a brand new STi who went out and almost immediately destroyed the engines doing that.

      • Count Potato

        You figured with all the net nannies modern cars have there would be one to prevent that.

      • Drake

        I don’t think Lambos have clutches any more.

    • OneOut

      That’s also some liabilit

      To Lambo.

    • KibbledKristen

      Have I stepped back in time to a 1987 Poison concert?

      • AlmightyJB

        Lol:)

      • Drake

        Can I go too?

      • TARDIS

        Well, every rose has its thorn.

    • Bobarian LMD

      “Bitch, how is it you ain’t no hobbit?”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      She looks like her silicone is beginning to migrate.

    • Chipwooder

      Cocaine’s a helluva drug.

    • Count Potato

      Have you noticed that fat guys on coke don’t live very long?

      • Chipwooder

        Explain Artie Lange, then. Seriously, how the hell is that guy alive?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Has to be a deal with the Devil. The man can’t even kill himself.

      • AlmightyJB

        It’s certainly taken it’s toll on him though.

      • C. Anacreon

        He was the original host of The Dating Game.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Maybe if we start calling it “hive” immunity, the leftists will get on board.

    • Incentives Matter

      I’m so ripping this one off.

  19. KibbledKristen
    • AlmightyJB

      Yeah, I want to go there someday.

    • LJW

      Something tells me tax revenue is going to fall in the coming months.

    • Grumbletarian

      Goodbye Minneapolis. Hello Snowmalia.

  20. KibbledKristen

    Speaking of Italian cars, am I the only one that thinks Ferrari was entirely incidental in the movie Ford vs. Ferrari? I really thought it should have been titled Ford vs. Shelby.

    • Chipwooder

      There wouldn’t have been a movie without the actual racing rivalry between Ford and Ferrari, though.

      • KibbledKristen

        But that aspect played such a minor role. I get that the alliteration in the title is cute and all, but Ferrari was a mere background player in the overall plot.

      • Chipwooder

        I get what you’re saying – the movie is almost entirely about the Ford side. Which actually makes sense since the real life events were all about Henry Ford II and his obsession with beating Ferrari after Enzo pissed him off by torpedoing the sale of Ferrari because he refused to relinquish control of the race team. Still, everything that did take place happened only because Enzo Ferrari wouldn’t sell his company to Ford without being allowed to continue to race his own teams.

      • Chipwooder

        Incidentally, Enzo Ferrari really was kind of an asshole. He more or less was responsible for the creation of his greatest rival – Ferruccio Lamborghini was a wealthy man who had made a fortune as a tractor manufacturer. He was quite the driving enthusiast who owned a number of expensive sports cars, including Ferraris. He was unhappy with the frequent mechanical problems with his Ferraris, which the company told him required work to be done at the factory in Modena. Lamborghini, tired of his cars spending more time back at Ferrari than on the road, complained to Enzo Ferrari that his parts were often of inferior quality. Ferrari, annoyed, told him that he knew nothing about cars and that he should go drive one of his tractors. Lamborghini, his pride stung, resolved to build better cars than Ferrari.

      • Tom Teriffic

        And Feruccio has been building fatally flawed Quattroprtes ever since. Kind of a zero sum game from this perspective.

      • Mad Scientist

        The movie downplayed the Ferrari rivalry so they could spend more time making things up that never happened. Typical Hollywood.

      • TARDIS

        Anyone remember the Cosby bit about buying a Shelby?

      • Drake

        It was a super Cobra? And he was afraid to drive it. So he sold it to a guy who died in it?

      • TARDIS

        Something about giving it to George Wallace, I think.

      • TARDIS

        Holy crap. That is what happened.

        200 M.P.H

    • Don Escaped MLB

      They definitely failed to set up the history and confrontation meaningfully

      because they were too busy creating a mythos by which alcoholic mechanics can just lay their hands on a car and know what it can handle and for how long; it’s a beautiful symbiosis rivaled only by the Lakotas’ communing with nature to summon rain and forecast bison movements. All you need to know to be a genius racer is shifty shifty = car go fast. My tach read yawn x kRPM the entire viewing (big screen) though no one wanted it to be a good movie more than I did.

      • Mad Scientist

        Ah, so you’ve seen the Fast and the Furious franchise!

  21. The Other Kevin

    So going to bars is a problem, but if that same group of young people looted the bar and burned it down, they’d be safe?

    • Sean

      Science!

    • RAHeinlein

      The White House Coronavirus Task Force gave a briefing today – a reporter asked Mike Pence “why do you keep having these rallies?” – he replied, “well – the first amendment, the right of people to assemble”

  22. KibbledKristen

    I’m thinking of doing a train trip on a sleeper. Introverts’ dream.

    Except that the easiest places to get to from DC are Chicago and New Orleans. Can anyone give me a good reason to go to either of those places and spend a day? (note: I said good reason)

    • db

      Chicago? never. New Orleans? Not in the summer time.

      • dontreadonme

        A little harsh on Chicago. The Field museum dinosaur exhibit is awesome and the Art Institute of Chicago has some amazing exhibits as well. There is also some 5 star dining that is worth the trip. NOLA has amazing cuisine scene and the music on Frenchman street is phenomenal. Just stay out of the quarter. I have spent a lot of time and $$ in both. Let me know if you want any specific recs.

    • l0b0t

      To come see me after I move to NOLA? But, not in the Summer.

      • KibbledKristen

        You’re heading back to NOLA??

      • l0b0t

        Yep. August 1st for extra masochism.

      • egould310

        Awesome. Love NOLA. I’ve had some insanely fun and drunken and insane weekends there. Baton Rouge, too.

    • Pope Jimbo

      A coworker and I took the train from Chicago to St. Paul instead of flying once. We got a sleeper car and toted in a cooler of beer. It was a fun trip, so much fun that we almost didn’t recognize St. Paul.

      Things that you should know:
      * No wifi on the train.
      * All the equipment on the train has crazy old ’70s era analog controls.
      * The porter will bug the shit out of you in an attempt to get a tip
      * Our plan included a meal, but we were forced to randomly sit with some other people (even though the dining room had numerous empty seats). I feel bad for the nice people who had to put up with our drunken banter.

      • KibbledKristen

        The great thing is the cafe cars are closed and they do takeaway meal service now!

        I don’t understand why no one at Amtrak seems to understand that there are two reasons to ride the train long-distance: luxury and cheapness. Their coach prices are way too expensive, and their luxury accommodations are nowhere near luxurious enough.

        But I pretty much just want to stare out a window at scenery for hours on end.

        If I do it, I’ll tip the attendant early and tell them to leave me TF alone unless it’s time for turndown.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Wait until you try to make a reservation. The Amtrak website seems to be an exercise in keeping you from actually booking a ticket. And you are right about the prices.

        The best thing about the trip was how easy it was to walk down to the depot and get on the train. No TSA and only one guy who half ass asked us for a ticket.

        Oh, and if you are a smoker there are designated towns where you are supposed to get off and smoke. Since neither of us smoked, that wasn’t a big deal, so we didn’t know why you couldn’t get off at any stop and puff away.

      • Chipwooder

        Can confirm: the Amtrak website is a disaster.

        We live near the station and have taken the train a couple of times up to DC. It’s not cheap, but avoiding the nightmare that is DC traffic helps make it worthwhile.

      • Mad Scientist

        In my experience, most of the scenery you’ll get will be piled up junk people leave out by the train tracks.

    • LCDR_Fish

      The one I want to do someday is from Vancouver to the lake resort in Alberta outside Banff – or somewhere thereabouts (passed it on the highway) but preferably during the winter.

      • Incentives Matter

        I’m assuming you mean Lake Louise?

        Winter’s spectacular there. Try to come during the ice sculpture contest. Simply amazing.

      • LCDR_Fish

        I know the big resort at Lake Louise but theres a place a little west of there (rail ends there? – huge, old, all wood hotel – classic – need to look it up.

        But yeah, I’m all up for lake louise in the future- just drove through there and walked on the glacier a little over 20 yrs back.

      • Incentives Matter

        Hmmmm. Nearest settlement west of there would be Field, B.C., which is a rail service centre along the rail lines going west through the Rockies. I wasn’t aware of any wooden hotel, but . . .

    • Nephilium

      I may have some more information about you on this after I bike the GAP. Current plans are to take the Amtrak from CLE to Pittsburgh, and DC to CLE. They let you check bikes as luggage without taking them apart.

      • Tulip

        I look forward to it. You and the girl friend are welcome to stay with me.

    • Don Escaped MLB

      Chicago: the Chop House, Cubs/Wrigley, Field Museum, Second City

      not that any of that will necessarily be open

      • C. Anacreon

        I’d like to get a sleeping car from NYC to Chicago.
        When I go to the restaurant car, the porter seats me with 26-year-old Eva Marie Saint.
        She tipped him to seat me with her once I arrived.
        She tells me not to order dessert.
        There’s a cutaway, and an overhead shot of a train rapidly entering a tunnel.
        Now that’s rail travel.

      • dontreadonme

        I like how you think. Too bad Amtrak fails to have your imagination.

      • KibbledKristen

        Last time I was on a sleeper, all I could think about how cool it would be to get laid up in there. I’m sure I could have found some Turk to accommodate me (was Istanbul to Ankara)

    • Incentives Matter

      The spousal unit wants to do the Orient Express. I’m amenable.

      • Tulip

        That would be cool

      • KibbledKristen

        Please don’t do the Istanbul one. I hate to see people spending money in Erdogan’s regime.

      • Count Potato

        Most people are murdered by someone they know.

    • creech

      Fly to Chicago and take the California Zephyr west. Sleep the night away across Iowa and other boring flatlands. Then Denver to Salt Lake City is a spectacular daytime trip through the Rockies. Fly home from SLC or stay on another night and end up in Oakland.

      • dbleagle

        I have travelled on many overnight Amtrak runs.
        Creech has a good recommendation about the Zephyr. It also works from Cali to Denver. All the spectacular in the daytime.
        Seattle to Chi on the Empire Builder is good as well. The Glacier NP section is in the daylight and great too.
        KC to LA on the Southwest Chief is very good if you are a fan of southwestern scenery.
        Coast Starlight Seattle to LA is spectacular as well. If short on time do San Jose to LA (or reverse) since the train runs along the coast for most of the way. Just make sure to sit on the west side of the car.
        Sunset LTD from NOLA is boring scenery for the most part. Plus it is only several times a week instead of daily.

        You can save money sometimes by booking a section that runs in daylight in coach and move to a new reservation sleeper for the evening run.
        Overnights east of Chicago is on older equipment. West of Chicago most of the sleeping berths are on the upper deck in newer cars.

        Get ahold of me if you want more details.

  23. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. Statistics and damned statistics

    Kurt Nelson, who spent three decades in Minnesota law enforcement, paid for a public information request from the Minnesota Department of Health detailing the information on all the death certificates of those who died in the state this year through May 25. He sorted the spreadsheet officials sent him and found that of the 741 death certificates that listed COVID-19 at all as a contributing cause of death, on just 338 was the virus listed on “line A,” indicating that it was the primary cause of death. In other words, in only 44% of the cases was COVID-19 listed as the top and most immediate cause of death. In 287 of them, the virus was listed on line B, and in 116, the virus was listed on line C – with two other primary causes of death above it.

    And what is with the freakout over the number of new cases? As long as the deaths doesn’t spike, isn’t it a good thing that cases are spiking now? We locked the fuck down so you could be prepared for a lot of new cases. Now is the time to put up assholes.

    • WTF

      In other words, the WuFlu death totals are inflated by about 50%, meaning it’s as bad as the seasonal flu.

      • Pope Jimbo

        And that is if you take the numbers at face value. If you started adding in numbers of asymptomatic people, it probably drops even lower than the flu.

      • WTF

        Oh yeah, there was a recent study that indicated the actual number of infections in the US is possibly ten times higher than the official number.

      • Drake

        NJ added another 1900 “probable” deaths to their total this week.

    • commodious spittoon

      This just underscores how difficult it is to truly determine the cause of death for those who had numerous comorbitities and were likely on their final months of life when the virus hit.

      Not that it matters, because at no point was the justification that nobody ever die of Coronavirus.

      • C. Anacreon

        A good question that never seems to be raised is how many of these deaths would have happened around that same time period for these people without covid as a factor? I’m guessing at least a third, maybe half. Most of the deaths from what we’ve been seeing are in people who already were not given long to live.

    • Agent Cooper

      If you try to follow the link from the article to Facebook you get a “This content isn’t available right now.”

  24. The Late P Brooks

    And what is with the freakout over the number of new cases?

    Look. Everybody who comes withing a hundred yards of a single germ gets the wu flu. Every body who gets it dies.

    Why do you ignore the SCIENCE?

    • C. Anacreon

      You must be the one writing all the busybody neighbor posts on our local NextDoor!

    • Animal

      What an utter, complete and total pile of steaming, malodorous horseshit. This asshole should be horsewhipped for wasting the reader’s time.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Johnson contends white Americans built generations of wealth on the backs of slave labor, and black people will never be able to catch up in wealth unless they are paid this debt.

      Sure. Explain how Korean immigrants come here, open up shops in poor neighborhoods and start making money.

      • Ted S.

        They enslaved the blacks, obviously.

      • WTF

        Because Koreans aren’t held back by all the systemic racism. Duh!

    • Chipwooder

      Gee, Bob, if black Americans can’t build wealth, how exactly did you become a billionaire?

      • Rhywun

        Quiet, you!

    • Derpetologist

      This probably one of the dumber things I’ve ever read, and I look up dumb things as a hobby.

      ***
      Q: Would this be a special reparations new tax that would fund this program?

      Johnson: Ultimately, it’s a debt owed by the taxpayers. And reparations is a debt owed by the nation as a whole because all of the wealth that was taken from slaves. Free labor is a transfer of wealth.

      That wealth of slavery found its way throughout the creation of wealth in the United States. I’ve often said that slaves may have died but the money that they created did not die. Money doesn’t die. Money not only circulates; money multiplies. If you gave me a group of the brightest forensic accountants, I would be willing to bet you that I could trace every dollar of wealth in the United States today back to slavery.
      ***

      Really? Every single dollar? Gee, I wonder why the US became much richer *after* slavery was abolished and why countries that practiced slavery *longer* than the US are *poorer*.

      Other infuriating things recently on Fox:

      ***
      A controversial statue in Washington, D.C., and replicated in Boston, has a history that many people who currently oppose the statues might not know, according to reports.

      Both statues depict President Abraham Lincoln standing over a kneeling black man who is newly freed from slavery. Critics of the statues claim the image communicates the black man’s subservience — and have called for the statues in both cities to be removed.

      But the idea for the statue started with a formerly enslaved woman who wanted to pay homage to Lincoln after he was assassinated in 1865, according to the National Park Service.
      ***

      ***
      Wisconsin unrest: Protesters beat and rob black man on video; biracial woman burned with lighter fluid
      ***

      [head desk]

      If those guys were protesting, then so was Timothy McVeigh.

    • KibbledKristen

      DO I NEED TO MAKE MYSELF PRETTY TONIGHT OR WHAT?

      /choosing beggar

    • Tulip

      Yeah! Who’s hosting tonight?

      Also a choosing beggar

      • KibbledKristen

        Linky below

  25. The Late P Brooks

    “Mechanical Failure” = “popped the clutch after flooring it and spooling the turbo up to maximum, causing excessive pressures leading to predeonation and piston failure”

    I was thinking more along the lines of, “He let the engine revs fall below 6,000rpm and it let out a big sneeze and quit.”

    • Mad Scientist

      He’s owned it 20 minutes. I’m wondering if he simply ran out of gas. Oh, excuse me, I mean petrol.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    My review of Ford vs Ferrari: It didn’t suck as hard as I expected. I was surprised to see how much they focused on Ken Miles.

    • WTF

      I liked Ford v. Ferrari.

    • Mad Scientist

      Plenty of holes. But I thought Bale did a terrific job as Ken Miles, even if they completely overplayed his attitude. And Damon, as mush as I dislike him, did a good job as Shelby, although they completely underplayed what a con artist he could be.

    • Agent Cooper

      Ford v. Ferrari falls into that “Disneyfication” of history genre a bit, like Hidden Figures or The Best of Enemies. Good, solid storytelling about historical happenings but nothing remarkable about them.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    I liked Ford v. Ferrari.

    I liked it a lot more than I thought I would, but there were a lot of holes in it.

    • Mojeaux

      Big enough to drive a Ford AND a Ferrari through?

  28. Count Potato

    “Parler, the Twitter alternative that bills itself as a bastion of the First Amendment, explicitly tells users not to post rumors and advises against posting content that is “sexual in nature” because porn is banned.

    Nothing says “well-reasoned and unbiased indecency standard” like “clauses defined by the FCC”

    Parler has basically a reverse 230 clause in its terms of service, allowing the company to bill users for legal fees relating to their posts. @jkosseff

    I have never seen a bigger red flag in a privacy policy than this clause from Parler”

    https://twitter.com/reckless/status/1276213491372883969

    Why would they need your Social Security number?

    • Rhywun

      That doesn’t even make sense.

    • KibbledKristen

      Bitchass

    • Gustave Lytton

      Indoor gun range either has better ventilation than outdoors or you’re more at risk from lead and other not so nice dust vapor.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Fuck off, Ralphie

  29. Nephilium

    Alright all. Pound cake is in the oven for the niece’s going away cookout tomorrow.

    Let me know if you want me to start up a video chat later this evening.

    • KibbledKristen

      YES

      • Nephilium

        A’ight.

        Set one up that I’ll kick off at 20:00 Eastern tonight. I don’t know if I’ll be home tomorrow night (aforementioned cookout).

      • KibbledKristen

        Danke schon Freund

      • Mojeaux

        Thank you!

      • Tulip

        My hero! (Swoon)

    • bacon-magic

      Weird euphemism but okay.

    • commodious spittoon

      Is pound cake another term for carb-loading?

    • Tulip

      Absolutely

  30. SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

    Thought of the day: Covid lockdowns are the epidemiological version of the New Deal. A shit ton of time, money, and resources coercively thrown at an over-estimated problem, dragging the misery out many times longer than it would have originally been, without any tangible improvement in outcome.

    • Q Continuum

      “without any tangible improvement in outcome”

      I disagree. The real motivation for extended lockdowns has been to hurt the economy and, in turn, hurt Trump. In that way, it’s been a smashing success.

    • Don Escaped MLB

      I’m still waiting on the WPA to build us a new high school

    • dontreadonme

      Was going to say “One and done”, but 25 is kinda intriguing.

  31. Gustave Lytton

    Last night in stumptown

    https://www.wweek.com/news/2020/06/26/__trashed-6/

    I’m about ready to say fuck, use live ammo and start arresting the traitors in public office and the media supporting and abetting this crap.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      With any luck, one of the protesters will Molotov the mayor.

    • Gustave Lytton

      https://twitter.com/ghostmobpdx/status/1276462936941187074?s=21

      So hammer and sickle symbols are still ok, despite being as utterly immoral as a Nazi swastika? Fuck him.

      I’m going to outsource this to the Butthole Surfers:

      “Well it should’ve been a better shot and got him in the head”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Bill never gets tired of being wrong.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Kim Houchen
      @khouch
      ·
      2h
      Curious what you and the people from the Lincoln Project will do if he resigns before the end of his term. Will you jump then to support Pence?
      76
      8
      170

      Depends. Will Pence roll over for the Democrats and give a great concession speech?

      • Gustave Lytton

        Last part shouldn’t be in quotes. Ah eff it.

    • gbob

      Pretty amazing. If I was wrong about every single subject for the past two decades, I would find it a great opportunity for reexamining my personal bias.

      Or, be like Kristol and Krugman and still make a living being that wrongy wrong.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      He’s just a Trotskyite Judas who’s pissed we didn’t start a war with Iran, Syria, and Russia and is best ignored.

  32. zwak

    P. Brooks – The reason I suggested ABE as it is the best used book listing site I know of. It allows you to search by edition, w/wo dust jacket, by publisher and year. And as you had mentioned that there were firsts in the books you are trying to get rid of, this is important from a pricing prospective. $25 a month +13% commission is pretty cheap for books that have value outside the title alone. But the call is yours obviously.

  33. Count Potato

    Remember the other day I posted about someone copying Barbara 4u2c?

    Now it looks like someone is trying to be shoe0nhead?

    https://twitter.com/kiwi_sunset

    It just seems so weird.

  34. Hyperion

    Shocking I tell you!

    This is shocking. Voter fraud with mail in voting? Unpossible, it doesn’t exist!

    • Rhywun

      The board of elections disqualified another 2,300 ballots after concluding that the signatures on them did not match the signatures on voter records.

      I never understood this one. My signature varies depending on mood and which hand I am using. It is not “proof” of anything even if you never vary it.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        What mood is it when you use little hearts and capitalize every other letter?

      • Rhywun

        “Vindictive”.

      • Hyperion

        My signature is always the same, you can’t actually read it. You know those prescriptions signed by doctors? It’s like that, only worse. But that wasn’t the only reason, and I’m sure there’s even more to it. I don’t think they called in a hand writing expert and said ‘Oh look, this doesn’t match’, like this was an episode of Pawn Stars, I’m thinking it was very obvious.

      • Rhywun

        My point is that it should not be used as proof of identity under any circumstances. There are plenty of other objections to mail-in ballots without having to resort to what amounts to phrenology.

      • C. Anacreon

        The Dems have been challenging signature matching requirements for mail-in ballots in several states.

        It’s much easier to forge someone’s ballot if you don’t have to feign their actual signatures.

        What would you suggest on the outside envelopes of ballots to ensure some operative isn’t just filling out thousands of mail-in ballots for people who won’t actually be voting otherwise? The signature always seemed the easiest way to try it, just use the same signature you registered with, as long as it’s reasonably close you’ll be fine.

      • Rhywun

        I don’t know. Needs more thought.

        I am opposed to mail-in ballots in general. For genuine absentees, there has to be a better way. Online?

      • dontreadonme

        Show up to vote or give up your vote. It is really very simple.

      • quincy

        My squiggly signature varies wildly, but consistently seems to have no vowels in the squiggle. I must me one of (((them))).

  35. Nephilium

    I’m sure this will go over well. You want riots, go ahead and try that.

    • gbob

      Course, the man does indeed deserve a statue. He opened the door for the country accepting “ethnic” food, while at the same time helping the allies kick the shit out of Germany.

      Have him facing Columbus. If you hate the current statues, add to it. That’s how a free society should work.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    P. Brooks – The reason I suggested ABE as it is the best used book listing site I know of. It allows you to search by edition, w/wo dust jacket, by publisher and year. And as you had mentioned that there were firsts in the books you are trying to get rid of, this is important from a pricing prospective. $25 a month +13% commission is pretty cheap for books that have value outside the title alone. But the call is yours obviously.

    I appreciate the knowledgeable input, and I will look at it some more. The idea that people are there specifically to look for unique stuff is obviously a big plus. The possibility of paying $25 per month for selling a $100 book that takes three months or more to draw a buyer is a minus. I have a lot of books, so it could work out.

    Thanks

    • Incentives Matter

      Books? USED books?

      Erm, what subjects? Asking for a friend.

  37. Hyperion

    I’ve been doing some shopping with Costco online, and I have to tell you. It’s about a break even proposition when you consider the savings and convenience vs the delivery fee. You can save money even vs Walmart, but you have to know you have to buy a lot of stuff and you will pay out the ass to get it delivered to your door. So if you aren’t spending $500, it’s not worth it.

    And watch out for lazy fucking delivery people. I had a guy last time who called me and said he’s out in the parking lot. I said, OK, I’m here, I checked leave it at the door on the app. He says ‘But man, it’s heavy, I need some help’. So I said ‘OK, man, I’m coming down there’. So I go down there expecting some 90 year old little withered up dude to be standing down there. Nope, I go down there and it’s this huge dude, probably in his twenties. So I helped him haul all this stuff up here and then I said ‘Dude, I’m 60 years old, do you really think you should be asking me to help you bring stuff up here when I gave you a $30 delivery tip and paid $10 on top of that to get it left at my door?’. Dude looked at me all forlorn like I hurt his feelings. So I said to myself, I’m just going to let it go this time, but my wife was pissed, so I had to complain about it. I don’t like being Karen, but I also do not like being screwed over by lazy ass millennials.

    • KibbledKristen

      This is a situation that requires a little Karening. I live on the 3rd floor of a walkup. I expect my deliveries to come to my door for a reason. Amazon hears about it if that doesn’t happen.

      • Hyperion

        Same here, I have the 3rd floor flat in my building and there’s no elevator. Sometimes Amazon leaves stuff up here and sometime they’ll leave it down on the first floor landing. I don’t get too upset about that since delivery is free. But if I’m paying someone 30-40 bucks to leave it at the door, I’m not going to be happy when they don’t do it. I just told wifey that when the deliver what we just ordered, I’m not going outside and if they don’t put it at the door, they’re going to get one very pissed off phone call.

      • Tulip

        There are steps from the sidewalk to my house, but nobody complains, except me.

      • Nephilium

        I get more annoyed when the delivery people block my door opening with the package.

        /mutters while walking around the house to bring in a package

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      I’ve been doing some shopping with Costco online, and I have to tell you. It’s about a break even proposition when you consider the savings and convenience vs the delivery fee. You can save money even vs Walmart, but you have to know you have to buy a lot of stuff and you will pay out the ass to get it delivered to your door. So if you aren’t spending $500, it’s not worth it.

      I’ve been ordering off Costco online and it’s usually the same prices as in the Warehouse plus free 2 day delivery if you spend $80. It’s been great. The only thing I can’t get is perishables.

      Are you talking about Instacart?

      • Hyperion

        Yes, it’s Instacart. So you don’t need a membership, and you do get the membership prices, and get same day or next day delivery. But the delivery will cost you, so it’s not worth it for small orders.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Gotcha, that makes sense now. 2 day is restricted to members only and it looks like Instacart does have higher prices for non-members (https://www.costco.com/costco-grocery-faq.html).

        Check out a membership. Ours pays for itself several times over every year. And gives a 4 year warranty on appliances and electronics.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    I’ll have to scope out some ads on ABE, and see if there is a way to see how long they last. Same with the oddball stuff on Amazon. Amazon does seem to have some pretty decent support tools for sellers.

    There is also no reason not to split my inventory between the two sites, if it makes sense.

    • Ted S.

      The link I followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.

      • KibbledKristen

        Weird – I can see it

        Here’s the text

        Alamance County Sheriff’s Office

        INFORMATION RELEASE
        June 26, 2020
        Graham, NC-
        This is to advise that effective June 26, 2020, no permits to protest in the city of Graham, NC to include the Alamance County Courthouse have been granted, nor will be granted for the foreseeable future.
        Any group(s) attempting to protest without a permit, will be in violation and subject to arrest.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Showing up as broken or removed for me too. You using a VPN Ted?

      • Mojeaux

        He might need to be logged in to FB.

      • TARDIS

        I had to.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        That’s it I think.

      • Ted S.

        Yeah, I was thinking that might be the case. I don’t have a FB account.

      • Mojeaux

        INFORMATION RELEASE
        June 26, 2020
        Graham, NC-
        This is to advise that effective June 26, 2020, no permits to protest in the city of Graham, NC to include the Alamance County Courthouse have been granted, nor will be granted for the foreseeable future.
        Any group(s) attempting to protest without a permit, will be in violation and subject to arrest.

      • KibbledKristen

        Jinx! Buy me a Coke (or an Aviation)

      • Mojeaux

        Is the aviation the one that comes in the martini glass? You look so cool sipping on your martini.

      • Tulip

        Hey! I’ve shown my martini glass multiple times!

      • Mojeaux

        I don’t remember seeing it, but martinis are hawt, even if I don’t drink.

        Sometimes I wish I did, just to look that cool.

      • Gender Traitor

        Pour some Sprite in a martini glass and drop in an olive. Instant class! : D

        (…as long as no one notices the bubbles.)

      • Nephilium

        Mojeaux:

        You’re just tempting me to pull up my cocktail sports car glasses (it’s the bowl of a cocktail (proper term for a martini glass) glass on top of a little sports car (with working wheels!).

      • Mojeaux

        Olive in a Sprite? Eeeewwww.

        How about flat Sprite with a lemon twist. I could do that. A faux frou-frou martini.

      • Nephilium

        Mojeaux:

        Based on flavor profiles, there’s quite a few different flavor profiles that can be built with non-alcoholic drinks. If you’re willing to make your own syrups, it expands immensely. I’d argue that a martini would be the incorrect drink to try to make faux. You’d do quite well with most tiki drinks.

      • Gender Traitor

        Yeeeeeah, I’m not fond of green olives either, but I figured it would be better than a cocktail onion in Sprite.

        I like your idea! Faux frou-frou martini, followed up with ginger ale shots!

      • TARDIS
      • Hyperion

        Get off the Twatter and join the rest of us Glibs on the Parler.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Is it worth a damn or can you tell yet?

      • Hyperion

        I can’t tell you yet, only on their 2 days.

      • Hyperion

        there

      • KibbledKristen

        No way Jose. I signed up for Parler only to hold my user name. Seems their TOS is fucked.

      • Count Potato

        This.

      • Hyperion

        What bout it? And how is Twitter’s TOS better?

        Did I just sign up to get sent to the gulags if I post the wrong thing?

      • Count Potato

        See above.

      • Hyperion

        See what above?

      • Count Potato

        #34

      • Hyperion

        Where do they ask for your SS number?

        I don’t like the phone number thing, but I was able to get around that.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        You may as well go ahead and test the boundaries before you get attached.

      • Hyperion

        Oh, if they are going to ban anyone, it will be one of us shitlords, you know that. We’ll see.

        I will be banned on Twatter on day one, I’m sure.

      • db

        Yeah, no way am I giving an internet service my phone number.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s Walter Block. Nick Gillespie probably signed the petition.

      • Hyperion

        Does the Jacket have his woke badges pinned in his uniform yet?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        He’s probably still pissed after Block handed him his ass during a debate.

    • leon

      They say he should be fired for saying slavery is bad and he opposes it because it goes against being a libertarian, and so he clearly doesn’t think it’s morally wrong…

      You can’t make that up.

      • Count Potato

        That doesn’t even make sense.

      • Mad Scientist

        Not much college kids say does.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Probably an oversimplification of the NAP as a reason to be opposed.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      That’s pretty messed up: Explicit race based discrimination against whites (maybe Asians too) in hiring and the awarding of public contracts will be the outcome.

      • Jarflax

        It’s ok, it will only be the dirty unwoke whites that get screwed. The goodthinkers will get jobs just fine. And the fact that no one will trust any black person to be competant is just a libertarian lie.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Just stay away from post 2020 build Cali bridges and dams and you’ll be fine.

      • Hyperion

        That’s always the answer.

      • Rhywun

        I’d be very surprised if that wasn’t already happening anyway – like it is everywhere else.

    • Sean

      Yeah, that won’t end well.

    • Hyperion

      Flynn needs an app that will show him the proximity of any Clinton to himself.

      I don’t know what it is he has on someone or many people in the former Obama admin, but it has to be devastating, they are obviously terrified of this guy running around on the loose.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I’d be worried if I was Flynn too, there are some seriously powerful and ruthless people that want him silenced.

      • Hyperion

        The guy needs to be put into some type of witness protection immediately.

      • hayeksplosives

        20 years ago I’d be handing you the roll of Reynolds Wrap.

        Now we know for sure there are people in the US who will literally kill for more power, and they have some power already, as demonstrated by their actions.

      • Incentives Matter

        I and far too many of my friends now seriously entertain what would have been called “wacky conspiracy theories” just a few short years ago. Intervening events between then and now have changed many people’s view of the world. For the worse.

        Or as The Joker meme image put it, “Things aren’t getting worse. They’re just getting more obvious.”

      • hayeksplosives

        Flynn’s predecessor Susan Rice seems OK. She had the decency to pull her name from consideration as Sec State after Benghazi.

        If she wants distance between herself and the corrupt Obama administration, that’s a good instinct. If Dems are determined to have a WoC as Veep nominee, they could do worse than Susan Rice.

      • Hyperion

        She’s on Biden’s short list for VP, which he’s narrowed down to four. Of course, it’s that Injun looking woman in the middle who has had it all sewed up for a long time, the other wiminz of color are Joe’s token could be picks. They might not even be black, we have to ask Cornpop.

      • hayeksplosives

        Kamala Harris would be a tone deaf choice given her glee at locking up non-violent criminals.

        At least Susan Rice seems to have earned her stripes legitimately, and while I think the need for the top execs be “of color” is ludicrous, Rice did still grow up fighting an uphill battle.

      • R C Dean

        Rice was smack in the middle of the unmasking and a member of the conspiracy to frame Trump and remove him from office.

      • Hyperion

        She has a severe case of TDS and she’s a commie. I’ll just leave it at that.

  39. hayeksplosives

    In reply to the Reading thread, I’m on a webpage yesterday and tonight:

    Eschatology for the Layman by JK Sellers

    Kind of helps sort out all the terminology that Christians have made up around this surprisingly contentious topic.

    • Incentives Matter

      Back in the Elder Days, when I was young and studmuffinish, I went to Bible College for four years (the start of a long journey through various post-secondary degrees). One Fall semester, I took the Eschatology course on offer. By mid-November, I felt like I was swimming through molasses. It’s amazing how many folks there are who can torture the living shit out of the symbolism in The Book of Revelations to fit their ideas of how they think the world’s gonna end.

      • hayeksplosives

        I didn’t know how bad all the “interpreters” are about sniping at each other. None of this “some scholars think..” kind of stuff. They call other interpreters false prophets, ignorant, Antichrist etc.

        Not a pretty debate.

    • C. Anacreon

      “Covid-19, the virus that fights for social justice”

      • hayeksplosives

        Does it freshen breath and fight tartar too?

      • Mojeaux

        LOL

      • Hyperion

        It’s recommended by 5 out of 5 woke dentists.

      • Ted S.

        It’s a dessert topping AND a floor wax!

      • mindyourbusiness

        And it’s available for only three payments of $29.95…BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

      • zwak

        It slices it dices it juliennes…

        It gives you the erection that wins the election!

    • TARDIS

      Popular Communismᵀᴹ

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Popular Science and Popular Mechanics are battling in the Wokeolympics. Which one will be able to lower their standards enough to win?

      • Hyperion

        It’s getting to where it’s almost impossible to go to any so called ‘Science’ site to keep up on news without being bombarded with nothing but wokeness horseshit about climate change and how rethuglicans and bad orange man are killing science. No, you fucking dummies, it’s you who are killing science with your woketardism.

      • hayeksplosives

        I cancelled Pop Sci a few years ago when they went all woke on global warming, implying that the tornados were due to global warming.

        Only magazine I still get is IEEE Spectrum.

  40. Semi-Spartan Dad

    VA laying the groundwork for background checks for ammunition:

    AG’s in 16 States Embrace Background Checks On Ammo Purchases
    https://bearingarms.com/cam-e/2020/06/24/ags-states-checks-ammo-purchases/amp/%22./

    If you live in Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, or Washington you should know that your attorney general has given the green light for your state legislature to implement California-style ammunition control if they want.

    • Hyperion

      Background checks are unconstitutional to start with. And when people cheered that on and did nothing, this is what we should have expected as the next step. And they won’s stop there, that’s just the next step towards confiscation on a national level.

      Biden has already said Beta will be his gun control Czar. How do you think that’s going to go?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I really don’t like Mark Herring.

      • Chipwooder

        Even Northam looks good compared to that scumbag.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Virginia has officially turned into a shithole. What a shame.

      • Hyperion

        The rest of the state should secede from NOVA.

  41. Rhywun

    Question for the Glibhive: is there a modern television with a component input? All the TVs I am looking at do not have one, which means I would have to buy a Component-to-HDMI converter and plug it in (!) just to watch my DVDs.

    • Nephilium

      You can pick up a (relatively) cheap Bluray player with HDMi, which will play a DVD as well. Last thing I know of that requires components is VCR.

    • Ted S.

      Your Blu-ray player doesn’t have HDMI output?

      • Rhywun

        My Xbox plays Region 1 DVDs only. I have a lot of DVDs that are Region 2 and I have to use my Universal DVD player with them.

      • LCDR_Fish

        The region hacked bluray player I picked up requires a remote code to change the bluray region, but will play all DVD regions automatically. No link until I can get online – soon hopefully.

      • Sensei

        Looks like it’s $150 for a region free bluray player on Amazon.

        Hacked firmware and first review says don’t update the firmware or it will region lock.

        For DVD you should be fine, but bluray likes to update copyprotection so you may not be able play the latest blockbusters with bluray.

    • LCDR_Fish

      Most [good] receivers should have a lot more input options (I still need to get a new one) and then you just need HDMI from the receiver to the tv

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Books? USED books?

    Erm, what subjects? Asking for a friend.

    Various- mid 20th century fiction, business/economics, race car engineering and fabrication…

  43. The Late P Brooks

    Question for the Glibhive: is there a modern television with a component input? All the TVs I am looking at do not have one, which means I would have to buy a Component-to-HDMI converter and plug it in (!) just to watch my DVDs.

    That surprises me. My Vizio has component inputs; so does the new(er) Polaroid.

    • Rhywun

      Polaroid makes TVs?!

      • Nephilium

        The Polaroid brand is a zombie one now, licensing themselves out to those who are willing to pay.

      • Hyperion

        I didn’t even know there was such a thing now.

      • Rhywun

        Yeah, that’s out of my league. Also I think composite != component, IIRC. The one I need is 3 plugs for video (R/G/B) and 2 for audio.

    • Rhywun

      Just checked a couple Vizios on their website. They don’t have component inputs.

      • Incentives Matter

        Can you do a search on B&H Photo’s website? It’s pretty good for that kind of thing.

      • Rhywun

        Yeah, I might check them when I’m closer to buying. Assuming they ship from the store – or at least nearby – it should be quick being local and all.

      • Incentives Matter

        Just went to Samsung’s website in Canada. It seems to suggest that their TVs take component inputs still.My 5-year-old Samsung has a full slate of component inputs, but of course, that’s 5 years ago . . .

        For instance, their 32″ HD Smart TV M4500B Series 4 seems to have one component input bank.

      • Rhywun

        Ah OK, looked at one Samsung on Amazon and it’s buried but seems to have a component input. Cool.

      • Ted S.

        Fat lot of good B&H is going to do on a Friday night. 😉

    • Rhywun

      I found a “Polaroid” with Component inputs. Will keep in mind. Thanks!

      • C. Anacreon

        Artic animals with constipation often develop Polaroids.

  44. Derpetologist

    from the old place

    ***
    Much the same is true of the statue in Seattle of Vladimir Lenin, the communist dictator of the Soviet Union. While Lenin was a totalitarian and a thug, the statue is located (hilariously, given the subject’s militant socialism) on private property, leaving its fate in the hands of its owners.
    ***

    larf!

    https://reason.com/2020/06/24/all-statues-should-be-private/?utm_medium=email

    Auctioning off govt owned statues and monuments would be very unpopular- a typical libertarian solution basically.

    Where’s Old Man Waterfall to tell us more about polygamy?

  45. The Late P Brooks

    Polaroid makes TVs?!

    Let’s just say somebody who makes teevees lets Polaroid put a sticker on them, for a fee. It was the only dumb teevee I could find, at the time, in the size I wanted.

    Anything over 40″ is too big to fit where I want it to be.

    • Hyperion

      I can’t even see anything less than 65″ anymore. My main PC monitor is 34″ and it’s right in front of my face. I’m going to get a 70″ 4K TV to replace the 65″ in the living room.

      I remember back when I first got me a 19″ Zenith color TV and we were like ‘OMG that thing is so big, and my neighbors were like OMG that thing is so huge that I can see it from my house a mile down the road!’, lol.

      • TARDIS

        I remember playing Doom on 13″ CRT. When I was able to afford a 15″, I was so amazed.

      • Nephilium

        I remember finding a 19″ CRT for ~$200 at a local computer show. Damn thing weighed near 50 pounds.

      • Rhywun

        A few office moves ago we got brand new 21″ monitors that were 72 pounds each. That was just before CRTs disappeared for good.

      • TARDIS

        Damn thing weighed near 50 pounds.

        As I kept upgrading, I used to refer to them as doorstops, and then boat anchors. 15…17…19. I’m pretty sure the 17 actually weighed more than the 19. It’s also amazing how light the newer TVs and monitors are now.

      • Nephilium

        I remember the shock the first time I picked up a flat screen monitor. Where’s the weight, and the heft?

      • Hyperion

        “I remember finding a 19″ CRT for ~$200 at a local computer show. Damn thing weighed near 50 pounds.”

        I think my 21″ Sony Trinitron must have weighed 80 lbs.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of lockdowns, it’s too bad there’s no place in the state of Wyoming (or South Dakota) I actually would want to live. I don’t really trust the guy in Idaho (is it still Otter?) but that’s my default destination.

    • Hyperion

      Cali spillover. That’s going to happen nationwide now that they are making all of the big cities unlivable. People are about to flee cities en mass and then they’re going to vote in the same policies in their new places that caused them to flee their old shit holes.

      • littleruttiger

        I grew up in Spokane, Wa.

        Washington didn’t used to be so bad as I recall, but it seems like the the western/eastern split has gotten way worse, the west side voters pretty much determine the state’s direction – I think it’s pretty much the same in Oregon.

        Boise Idaho has gotten bad from what I hear.

        My parents come from Montana, I think it’s probably headed the same direction – growing up and visiting family they would sometimes complain that out of staters were buying up places in the Flathead valley where they lived.

        It’s depressing, but I guess nothing stays the same.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Montana/Wyoming still appear to be the best in terms of taxes, etc right now. May have just closed on this place but I need to start researching land options again…maybe take another drive out there next summer.

      • littleruttiger

        It’s a shame, because geography wise California is a really cool state – it’s got virtually everything. But it’s un-livable to me.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Yep. Thirty years ago, Oregon had two R senators (granted one was a liberal rino and other was an establishment big gov type) and only one congressional district was a D lock.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    Just checked a couple Vizios on their website. They don’t have component inputs.

    Left behind, you are. Out in the cold, so to speak.

    • Nephilium

      Damn it… I was trying to find the meme with a mouse showing every possible convertor hooked up to it to get it to work.

  48. Aloysious

    Cocktail of the day: homemade strawberry syrup, dark rum, club soda, lime.

    Divine.

    Next up: watermelon aqua fresca, dark rum, club soda, lime.

    • DenverJ

      So, you’ve got rum but no two liters of coke, so you’re rummaging around the fridge to find things to make drinks with?

      • westernsloper

        Right? Who doesn’t have a two litre bottle of coke.

      • Aloysious

        Don’t drink cola’s. Will drink a caramel root beer, sarsaparilla, or Huckleberry soda.

        For me, it’s fruit juice and/or nectar. Guava nectar, for example.

        The aqua fresca is the awesome.

    • Nephilium

      Going with a twist on a Tom Collins with peppermint simple syrup as a component. Peppermint and lemon are an underused pairing in my mind.

      • Aloysious

        The last bitters that I experimented with is peach bitters. Loved it. Will have to try the peppermint simple syrup. I have lots of that in the herb garden.

  49. The Late P Brooks

    For all their alleged computer programming mental firepower, Amazon’s search-within-category capability sucks. It’s pretty much nonexistent. Maybe they think I’m going to impulse-buy baby wipes while I’m tying to search for collectible book ads by author, but they are sadly mistaken. They’re just pissing me off.

    And- search author alphabetically by FIRST name? What mad genius thought that was the way to go?

    • Rhywun

      So much this. Their search sucks ass. I just looked at televisions and wanted to filter by brand name. “Samsung” was not listed (and there was no “more brands” link) even though the page I was looking at had several Samsungs right there.

      • Nephilium

        “We see you’ve purchased this once every couple of years type purchase, we’re now going to show you every other version of that for the next six months.”

        /Amazon

    • Tulip

      You should come visit. There are some rare bookstores here that I don’t think have mulch of a web presence

  50. DenverJ

    Storms a comin’

    • DenverJ

      Wow, just got a flood advisory, and I’m on the 3rd floor! I feel bad for the neighbors…

      • commodious spittoon

        It’s overcast and hot and muggy with no chance of rain.

      • DenverJ

        I was looking forward to fishing off of my deck, but the storm swept right through with no flooding.

      • Hyperion

        Someone asked me a couple of weeks ago if we were having any flooding out here. I’m on the 3rd floor and this is about 500 ft above sea level here. The harbor is at 0 ft sea level. So if I was having a flood, the water would be about 500 ft about Baltimore City. The tallest building down there, I believe is 52 stories. Please, ZOD, make it happen that it just gets up to my back deck.