Saturday Morning It’s All the Same Links

by | Jan 2, 2021 | Daily Links | 224 comments

The sun comes up as usual. I wake up having to pee. The coffeemaker takes its usual seeming forever to warm up. I look at the news and am repelled and fascinated. In other words… nothing has changed beyond the number on our time odometer.

Birthdays never stop, either, and today’s include a guy who didn’t get there in time for the first law; a Jew who went to London; a guy who certainly convinced me of constitutonalism; the author of the most over-rated trilogy in science fiction history; a guy whom everybody went to; the essential Chicago politician; well, except for maybe this guy; a guy who’s just as famous for who he fucked as well as who he fucked over; and the inspiration for the “schwing” neologism.

Now I’ll show you how nothing has changed.

 

Schadenfreude, entitlement, and ignorance. I guess this is the intersectionality I keep hearing about.

 

I have an idea for a new TV show: The Grifters. There’s a few embarrassing lines in this story which tell the truth about the participants.

 

Some good news, rare as that is. Of course, the cynic in me looks at what put those there in the first place. “Be grateful when we stop something horrible we’ve been doing.”

 

Mittens is nothing but predictable.

 

“A few hundred grams.” Whoa, good thinkin’ there, Shmuley.

 

Wait until he finds out where French toast comes from.

 

Old Guy Music is a delightful cover of what I *think* is a Charlie Monroe tune, though associated more with Jerry Garcia. Whatever, it’s a delight.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

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

224 Comments

  1. Festus

    Yay! I know it must be Saturday because awesome OMWC links are here!

    • Festus

      Outstanding music too! Where the fuck is that ass-slap GIF, Swizzy? I know you keep it in yer pocket for special occasions such as this.

    • Ted S.

      My music links are awesome, too, every day of the week!

  2. Cy

    Asimov hate? It’s 2021 man…. let it go.

    • Sensei

      Prototypical Top. Man.

    • straffinrun

      Why hate a trilogy that gave me pleasure when I was 20?

      • Sensei

        To be clear I think he wrote some great stories. That said Foundation series isn’t my favorite.

      • Cy

        Asimov was WAY ahead of his time. I think too many people judge him from more modern standards. The first foundation book was printed in 1951. That’s 18 years before we landed on the moon. That’s only 6 years after WW2 ended.

      • juris imprudent

        If only people would come to realize that Top.Men is itself pure science fiction.

      • Tres Cool

        You know who else had a pleasurable trilogy around age 20 ?

      • Trigger Hippie

        Sasha Grey?

    • robc

      Isnt necessarily hate. I think I coukd legitimately claim that The Beatles are the most overrated and the greatest rock band of all time simultaneously.

    • Hyperion

      Because he promoted capitalism, which is bad. You deplorables don’t even edumencate.

  3. The Late P Brooks

    I read that as “It’s all a sham” links.

    Works either way.

    • ElspethFlashman

      Either a Joe Jackson song or The Who goes well with it. . .

      You’re all the same (Joe Jackson)

      Won’t get Fooled Again (the Who)

      That being said I still do get a little excitement on New Year’s day.

  4. Trigger Hippie

    ‘$2k Cancel RENT! We want everything!’

    An entire ideology, distilled.

    • Festus

      It’s a false flag but what the fuck are they up to?

      • Trigger Hippie

        You sure about that? I can see people there giving Nancy shit for not progging hard enough. Or are you saying she hired the “workers” on that?

    • Not Adahn

      …why did they mask off the brick before painting?

      • Cy

        In most situations, painting brick is a bad idea.

      • Not Adahn

        So the vandal is a professional painter who takes pride in their work.

      • Cy

        I should hope so! The quality of commies being produced in America is just too low as of late.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    The graffiti also reads ‘cancel rent’ and ‘we want everything’

    Now we’re getting somewhere.

  6. robc

    I think omwc is wrong, Kim Stanley Robinson has the most overrated trilogy.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Never trust anyone who uses three names. They end up being assassins and mass murderers.

      • rhywun

        I think I know exactly what happened here.

        He doesn’t like his first name, goes by his middle name, and eventually said fuckit after fighting various government agencies over the years who couldn’t accommodate such a situation.

      • AlexinCT

        Strippers?

      • hayeksplosives

        Does L. Ron Hubbard count as three names, since it’s always “El Ron Hubbard?”

        He certainly wrote an overrated sci-if trilogy.

      • rhywun

        To be fair, nobody outside a few weirdos like Travolta think they’re any good.

      • Hyperion

        Wasn’t Tom Cruise into that scientology stuff also? I seem to remember a few celebrities. And I mean it isn’t a cult, it’s SCIENCE!

      • rhywun

        Wasn’t Tom Cruise into that scientology stuff also?

        Yes, a bit.

      • Hyperion

        This is why Hollywood celebrities should be put in charge of public policy. Because they spend all day making believe they are something they’re not and they totally believe in SCIENCE.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    They’re not even made of real Hawaiians.

    • Tejicano

      …and they don’t really roll worth a damn.

  8. Annoyed Nomad

    I am now temporarily a Florida Man – for the next three months.

    First observation when driving down here: many Florida drivers on the highway are asshoe.

    • Atanarjuat

      Florida is full of assholes, including on the roads. What part are you in?

    • Tejicano

      As I understand it they are each required to drive according to the rules and customs of their nation and city of birth.

  9. Fourscore

    Some good news in there, OM.

    Who do I sue over the Spanish rice brouhaha? Swedish meatballs?

    Someone’s gotta pay for misleading me all these years. I may be the only one that actually voted for Barry G. After LBJ won, he followed Goldwater’s advice and bombed, bombed Viet Nam but that didn’t work so Goldwater at least got away guilt free.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Yeah, you remember the old joke. “They told me that if I voted for Goldwater, we’d be in a war in Viet Nam. I voted for Goldwater… and they were right.”

      You made me feel better- my first vote was for Jimmy Carter. That taught me a lot.

      • Fourscore

        “They told me that if I voted for Goldwater, we’d be in a war in Viet Nam. I voted for Goldwater… and they were right.”

        But they didn’t tell me that I’d be there. Damn.

  10. straffinrun

    Love that Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. Pretty sure I know which of those two I am.

    • Festus

      #metoo That’s what disturbs me.

    • Sensei

      Good evening to you sir. This cracks me up.

      https://youtu.be/4aS9AtMAedQ

      Sally has the good fortune to have lived in the US and is bilingual. The beauty here is the disparity of her self generated subtitles in both languages. I can’t explain English sarcasm to my Japanese friends. Sally might be able to pull it off.

      And I thank my lucky stars I can play the gaijin card and pretend not to understand shop assistants.

      • Sensei

        Make sure you flip the English subs on for YouTube to compare.

      • straffinrun

        You’re gonna give me a stroke trying to read two layers of jimaku and listening to her talk.

      • Sensei

        That’s the beauty!

  11. Not Adahn

    The following is not intended to be mean spirited or depressing, I just thought it was funny:

    http://twolumps.net

    • Sean

      I was expecting some tits. ?

      • Tejicano

        So… was that your first time in Tijuana?

    • robodruid

      That’s good.

  12. Not Adahn

    the “schwing” neologism.

    And it’s also an onamonapia. But it’s not onamonapoetic as to the action described, but to the sound effect of a sword being drawn from a scabbard, which makes it a metaphor.

    However, since scabbard or sheath in Latin is “vagina,” it’s also a pun. But a rather maladroit one, since it’s referencing preparation of being inserted into, not drawn from a vagina.

  13. rhywun

    the most over-rated trilogy in science fiction history

    Them’s fightin’ words.

    Or they would be, if you weren’t correct.

    • Not Adahn

      Yeah. It really doesn’t hold up well.

    • straffinrun

      He’s no Stephen R. Donaldson. I’ll give ya that.

      • Sensei

        L Ron Hubbard?

      • Hyperion

        I can’t read Koontz, it’s just not good.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I find it fitting that Apple has chosen that particular series of books to render into film. It’s so incredibly upper middle class white bread.

      • zwak

        Gotta get the Top. Men. as much representation as possible these days, there is too much populism, er Covid to fight!

  14. straffinrun

    Pols wanna stick something in us and are fighting over how much cash we need. I’ve seen this transaction before.

    • Sensei

      I believe the price that we are haggling over is $2k.

      • AlexinCT

        So you are saying we already confirmed to them we are prostitutes and ready to get fucked and now we are just haggling?

      • Mojeaux

        30 pieces of silver.

    • Trigger Hippie

      The whole: “And wear this mask, butterface” is a nice touch.

      They really know how to degrade a girl.

  15. rhywun

    Mittens is nothing but predictable.

    I assume he’s complaining about his colleagues placing themselves at the front of the line?

    LOL, I slay me.

  16. Atanarjuat

    Housing is a human right,” said Courtney N. Love, another Fife resident, who was supporting the cause of the housing advocates.

    I see why she insists upon getting that middle initial in there.

    • Tres Cool

      May as well just change her name to Cobain.

  17. rhywun

    others took the opportunity to travel to Dubai

    I think I’ve spotted where this plan went awry.

    Just because they’re “friendly” now doesn’t mean it still isn’t a shithole, morans.

    • Sensei

      Look, most young people now don’t know about “Midnight Express”.

    • Atanarjuat

      I can’t imagine what the draw would be. Vegas with less debauchery?

    • Hyperion

      They may get lucky and get away with only a hundred lashes.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Lies, damned lies, and public health SCIENCE

    One “disturbing” characteristic of COVID-19 made it clear the battle against coronavirus would be unlike any other disease-prevention effort, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert: The fact that so many cases were passed along by people who had no symptoms. “We’re seeing that even people without symptoms of transmitting it, and that to me is something that was the game-changer,” said Fauci in an interview on Wednesday with California Gov. Gavin Newsom. “It was the game-changer in everything we did.” It changed testing, because only testing symptomatic people would miss those who were asymptomatic, he explained.

    This asymptomatic spread is one reason why masks are so important

    Additionally, “Mask wearing became much more important, because if you’re only worried about somebody who’s symptomatic, then you’ll know who you’re dealing with,” said Fauci. “But if you don’t know who’s infected, then everybody should be wearing a mask, which is the real fundamental rationale for saying we need universal and uniform wearing of masks.”

    The stealthy nature of the disease took even Fauci—who has served six presidential administrations over four decades—aback. “I guess you could use the word surprising. It was a combination of surprising and disturbing,” he said.

    It was surprising anybody took his self-promoting Chicken Little bullshit seriously.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Wait, I thought they had gone back to admitting that asymptomatic spread wasn’t a thing?

      Or is Fauci using one outlier of a case to continue his asymptomatic boogeyman fear mongering again?

      • Tejicano

        It’s been shown to be highly unlikely – but it COULD happen if you believe hard enough.

      • juris imprudent

        Believe in asymptomatic spread or Tinkerbell dies!

      • beer league keeper

        Full text of a meta-analysis study on asymptomatic spread, published Dec. 11.

        Their results:

        We screened 2,454 articles and included 13 low risk-of-bias studies from seven countries that tested 21,708 at-risk people, of which 663 were positive and 111 asymptomatic. Diagnosis in all studies was confirmed using a real-time reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction test. The asymptomatic proportion ranged from 4% to 41%. Meta-analysis (fixed effects) found that the proportion of asymptomatic cases was 17% (95% CI 14% to 20%) overall and higher in aged care (20%; 95% CI 14% to 27%) than in non-aged care (16%; 95% CI 13% to 20%). The relative risk (RR) of asymptomatic transmission was 42% lower than that for symptomatic transmission (combined RR 0.58; 95% CI 0.34 to 0.99, p = 0.047).

  19. The Late P Brooks

    “The other thing that has really been an issue is that I’ve never seen a virus like this—and I’ve been dealing with viral outbreaks for the last, you know, 40 years—where you have such a range of involvement of seriousness, from 40% of the people who get infected and have absolutely no symptoms at all, to those who have symptoms,” added Fauci. “About 80% have mild to moderate symptoms that generally require staying at home for a few days, maybe sometimes a couple of weeks.”

    And then about 20% to 25% of COVID patients get severe enough symptoms that they require hospitalization and intensive care, “and then they die,” said Fauci. “Hence the 335,000 deaths that we’ve had so far. Usually when you have a disease that is so very real, it can kill people, not just old people and not just people with underlying conditions. But now we’re starting to see more younger, relatively healthy people can get involved.”

    That’s what Fauci considers “the mystery” of COVID-19—how differently it can behave in different people. It is “one of the reasons why we have a messaging difficulty, because most of the people who do well are young people,” he said.

    Messaging difficulty.

    Fuck you, you senile quack.

    • Dr. Chipping Pioneer

      I don’t think he understands how percentages work.

      • Fourscore

        Already my county is suffering 1/10 of 1 % of the total population, DEAD from the CV! Mask up, citizens, we’re all in this together! Even if it kills us.

    • Dr. Chipping Pioneer

      how differently it can behave in different people

      You mean, like, every other virus in history?

    • juris imprudent

      and I’ve been dealing with viral outbreaks for the last, you know, 40 years

      In other words, he’s been dealing with public health in the ABSENCE of a major flu outbreak (a la the ’58 and ’68 epidemics). So no shit Sherlock, you’ve never seen the like of it.

    • Hyperion

      “Messaging difficulty.”

      That’s always the issue with lefties. Everyone would want communism if only they could explain it better.

      • AlexinCT

        Sounds like what Bubba would tell the cell mate he plans to make his prison bitch. You know, the prison bitch to be would not be so resistant if he knew how good it would be….

      • Tejicano

        “It’s not like EVERYBODY was sent to Gulags and killing fields. It would have been glorious if they had only been given more time to work out the kinks.”

      • Hyperion

        Don’t worry, that wasn’t real commumism, it’s never been tried. This time we’ll get it right.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Messaging

    More people have died across the US than anywhere else: nearly 348,000 Americans since the pandemic’s start. Another 115,000 could die over the next month, according to projections from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

    Oooogabooogah!

  21. The Late P Brooks

    But the worst may not be over. Experts fear that in the coming weeks — following holiday travel and gatherings — the US could see another surge of cases that could drive hospitalizations and deaths even higher.
    Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN earlier this week the country has seen a surge that has “just gotten… out of control,” and that the coming weeks could be even worse.
    “Once you get to large numbers of people at a dinner inside, poor air ventilation and circulation, that’s when you get in trouble,” he said. “That’s what we’re concerned about– that in addition to the surge, we’re going to have an increase superimposed upon that surge which could make January even worse than December.”

    “We just have to assume that it’s going to get worse,” Fauci added.

    Of course we do.

    • Dr. Chipping Pioneer

      I’ve yet to hear a journalist challenge any of these people on how wrong their previous dire predictions were. Often by an order of magnitude or two.

      • Enough About Palin

        What does that stand for?

      • Tejicano

        The Media Is The Enemy

      • Enough About Palin

        Thanks.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        The lockdowns stopped being about the the virus a long time ago. The predictions are similar to the propaganda in 1984 about good news when the chocolate ration is raised/lowered. The journalists are just another arm of the political class. I’d have said the DNC this time last year, but the election and Project Veritas’s tapes of CNN revealed it’s just one ruling swamp party that gives marching orders to the media.

      • Fourscore

        Miss behave?

      • But Enough About My "Essential Retiree" Status

        I think many people misunderstand the general knowledge/intelligence level of most people in the media. I’ve had discussions with a number of journalists over the years, and a cousin of mine is a talking head for a local CBC newscast. They are, to the last man and woman, really impressed by experts, particularly if those experts have a computer model that forecasts something (it involves doing something that looks like math, doncha know, and math is hard). And they don’t understand that a computer model is often nothing more than an instantiation of the modeler’s assumptions/biases and also suffers from the map/territory problem. To them, it’s Godlike, and they totally buy into the alternate history of “if we hadn’t done X, Y would have been so much worse.”

        If they’ve got a journalism degree, it’s even worse, because they think that they themselves are experts in truth-telling. And don’t get me started on the ones who believe “I’m not a journalist, I’m a social engineer!”

      • Sensei

        So much this.

        Also, form over substance wins them over every time.

        Lastly, the whole thing with experts is that to get noticed you have to go big or completely against consensus. If you hold a conventional and consensus view nobody will talk to you.

        Mind you many times consensus is correct…

      • AlexinCT

        When you explain to these media squares that their love of scientists – because they think scientists are somehow magic – is misplaced, they never get that these scientists are people and since they are people have biases. To them science – as long as it peddles their agenda – is magical. Note that the same idiots have a problem understanding that socialist government can never deliver their promise of heaven on earth either because it is comprised of people with biases and agendas (and some of the most despicable personality traits to boot) that will always put themselves & their own personal ambitions ahead of the promises they should keep to the morons they convinced to vote for them.

    • Enough About Palin

      Minnesota and Wisconsin are remarkably similar demographically.

      Minnesota has been locked down since March and reports 5,382 Covid-19 deaths.

      Wisconsin has been not been locked down and reports 4,619 Covid-19 deaths.

      You do the math.

      • juris imprudent

        You, you monster! You would deny people the hope that govt is there to save them?

      • Hyperion

        “You do the math”

        Easy peasy. They go to church more in Minnesoda.

      • Hyperion

        Anyone remember the hysterical foaming at the mouth predictions on CNN and all the aphabet news outlets about how people were going to drop dead in FL like flies and all the hospitals would be overwhelmed? Did that happen yet?

  22. sloopyinca

    Happy New Year, friends. Even those who are fans of Clemson, who got their asses curb-stomped last night.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Speaking of college football, when did 90% of the bowls get moved to ESPN?

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        And why is a 1 loss Indiana playing a sub-500 ole miss?

        This bowl season is a joke.

      • R C Dean

        Same reason a 6-win Ohio State played a 10-win Clemson?

      • sloopyinca

        7-win Ohio State. 7.

      • R C Dean

        Not when they scheduled the bowl game.

        Just bustin’ balls, sloop. They showed they belonged last night.

      • robc

        Indiana should have been in B1G championship game. They won by the rules.

      • robc

        Congrats on your 1st win vs the state of south carolina. Took fucking long enough.

      • sloopyinca

        It was worth the wait.

        Also, we was robbed last year.

      • Tres Cool

        Even Jugsy commented “seems the refs arent on Clemson’s payroll this time”

    • juris imprudent

      Now I have no interest in watching the national championship game – since both teams can’t lose.

  23. Pi Guy

    Mrs. Pi _hated_ thermo (civil engineering), I loved it (Physics).

    1st Law: You lose.

    2nd Law: Even if you don’t lose, you can’t win.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I don’t like this losing stuff. Just print some more money, eventuality we’ll get something for nothing.

      • Cy

        Chicks for free?

      • ElspethFlashman

        One of the worst Dire Straits albums out there. And I like the Dire Straits.

      • Pi Guy

        perpetual printing machine

      • Hyperion

        No. It’s worse. We’ll transition to a cashless society using blockchain. Part our personal blockchain code will be our DNA, so that they know who we are and then we’ll all get an implanted chip, complete with all the desired features, like GPS location. We won’t need money, problems solved, no more printers and no more troublesome freedoms.

    • Surly Knott

      3rd Law: Even if you hate the game, you can’t not play.

      • Mojeaux

        aka “You can beat the rap, but you can’t beat the ride.”

    • robc

      I loved thermo. Even took a grad level thermo class.

      The take home portion of the final was to critique a paper the prof had recently received to peer review.

      It was crap. I think my essay was a bit longer and had detail, but that was the gist of it.

      • AlexinCT

        Was the paper one of those claiming thermodynamics was racist/misogynism cause it ignored the teachings of Marx?

      • robc

        Nah, this was early 90s. It more veered into perpetual motion regimes.

      • AlexinCT

        Ah, that old time fantasy…. Kind of like government spending being an economic stimulant….

    • Old Man With Candy

      First Law: You can’t win, you can only lose or break even.
      Second Law: You can only break even at absolute zero.
      Third Law: You can’t achieve absolute zero.

    • AlexinCT

      Wut?

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Last night, I stumbled into “Pennyworth” on Amazon. I found it to be highly entertaining, and burned through the first three episodes, only to hit a “Please deposit $xxx for the next episode, $xxx for season” message.

    Goddammit. The hook is pretty well set. It’s escapist nonsense, full of the sort of weird anachronistic quirks i find entertaining. Is it worth it?

    • Gender Traitor

      Well, the title tells you what it’s worth! Duh!

    • Enough About Palin

      Since retiring, I cut the cable and watch a lot of Amazon Prime. Last night I watched the film Love, Rosie. It’s a RomCom (yeah, I know), but it stars Lily Collins, who is Phil Collin’s daughter. My G-d is she hot!

      • Ted S.

        Who is Phil Collin?

    • slumbrew

      Wife and I are enjoying it – on episode 6 or so. It’s pretty dark, so wife may punch out – it’s a plus for me.

      We still have cable so we’re watching via the Epix Roku app.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    I think many people misunderstand the general knowledge/intelligence level of most people in the media. 

    I suspect it boils down to “I’m too pretty to be an education major” for most of them.

    • R C Dean

      I find it depressing that the two schools historically populated by the dumbest people in college produce the people who control the official information channels.

    • But Enough About My "Essential Retiree" Status

      I knew a number of education majors that were straight-on gorgeous babes. There was also a 100% correlation between being gorgeous, being an Ed major, and not liking to read anything. I remember having a convo with one who complained that she had to read this whole 50-page paperback for a class. How was she supposed to do that?

      Poor thing.

      • Gender Traitor

        Favorite quote from a dorm-mate (don’t know her major) during finals week: “When I get home, I’m not even going to read stop signs.”

      • robc

        I think that shows a good sense of humor.

      • AlexinCT

        That’s probably why these leftists are so hell bent on getting rid of Darwinism and the whole concept of survival of the fittest with their crazy government programs… They would all be dead if people actually had to deal with the consequences of their actions.

      • Q Continuum

        There is an unfortunate truism that gorgeous babes are often as dull as soup and have no personality because they’ve never had to develop one. They’ve always just had things handed to them and people found them fascinating simply because of their looks. They also often don’t know how to put forth a lot of effort on a task because they’ve usually had someone else do it for them.

        Thankfully, there are exceptions.

      • robc

        Bit of a binormal distribution, in my opinion.

        Double entendre intended.

      • AlexinCT

        Double Ds?

      • Gdragon

        I find that the same is often true in the sack as well. Once again as you said there are exceptions, thank god.

      • robc

        “You cant understand the problems with the education system until you have fucked an El Ed major.” — P J O’Rourke

      • AlexinCT

        Payback for them fucking our kids?

      • Hyperion

        Who needs to read or learn anything when you have people to tell you what to think and what to say and pay you for it?

    • AlexinCT

      It boils down to some of the dumbest people that bought into the participation trophy and self esteem culture’s teachings to the max. It has been rare for me to find any of these people accurately reporting on anything, especially politics and complex science, ever. No matter how well you explain things to them, they have a story they want to write, and the facts be damned. And they all believe their job is to change the world. Hence the constant lying to shill for the new fascist or marxist movements.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Trashy’s philosophy for kids:

        You are nothing, but that’s okay
        Find joy in the day to day
        You may be tempted to meddle with others
        Instead respect their dignity as your sisters and brothers

    • robc

      Gell-Mann Amnesia too.

  26. AlexinCT

    Schadenfreude, entitlement, and ignorance. I guess this is the intersectionality I keep hearing about.

    If I was a betting man, I would not bet against someone that speculated this was just another fake attack to help these scumbags divert attention. When 9 out 0f 10 cases of “Hate crime” turned out to be made up, in the last few years, one should be forgiven for being this cynical, right?

    And Happy Belated New Year Glibs!

    • Cy

      It has to be less than 10%. The only real hate crimes I can think of that have been legitimate lately involve the tearing down of statues.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    The cash register says, “Cha-ching!”

    Starting January 1, a new state law is in effect making it illegal now to even have your cell phone in your hand if you are behind the wheel.

    Police say they plan to be aggressive with enforcing this one. First time caught it’s a $125 fine. If you are caught a second time or in a work zone and your forking out $250.

    The hands free law, passed by the Virginia General Assembly, bans holding your cell phone while driving.

    Those poor municipalities are starving for revenue. They have to do something.

    • AlexinCT

      Send in the ticket with a not guilty plea, then go to court….

      Once it costs the state several thousand dollars to collect on those fines, they will realize you are not one of the sheep they can easily fleece. Then again, this particular ticket is one we all should avoid getting because driving distracted – especially because of the phone – is a dumb thing to do. It is better that you are driving distracted cause an ed major is giving you a hummer…

      • AlexinCT

        I got nothing….

      • westernsloper

        Bumper sticker I saw on a tricked out jeep: Yes this is a jeep. If I wanted a hummer I would call your sister.

      • Mojeaux

        Yesterday, during my snow wanderings, my observation of two different models of Jeep handling the snow is, “Pussies.”

        One Jeep was fishtailing on the interstate like crazy, which explains why I always see them in ditches after a good snowstorm.

      • westernsloper

        Depending on the model, ya they suck in the snow. Short wheel base is good in the rocks, not so much on slick roads. Back in the day I had a cj5 with an oversized engine. I couldn’t keep it out of the ditch in the winter.

    • Threedoor

      Idaho followed with this foolishness too.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    WTF?

    The union representing Los Angeles County prosecutors has sued their boss, newly elected District Attorney George Gascón, over his attempt to impose justice reforms.

    Prosecutors have a fucking UNION?

    • R C Dean

      Pubsecs gonna pubsec, yo.

      Imagine having to deal with that local. Oy.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Sure prosecutors have absolute immunity, but they still need a union to protect their workplace rights!

  29. juris imprudent

    This was interesting, if a bit depressing. On the other hand, it might prove worthwhile to shed the use of socialist as an epitaph much as the woke use racist.

    Trump was humming from the socialist playbook well before his government was inspired by the coronavirus to take a hard socialist turn that would make even President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (the father of Social Security) blush in his grave. For example, the Trump government’s massive bailouts of American farmers – which followed a collapse in foreign demand for American agricultural products because of Trump’s ill-conceived trade wars – are undeniably socialist.

  30. Trigger Hippie

    Who needs TV?

    I have bread crumbs and some grateful wrens and cardinals outside the slider door to entertain me.

  31. Hyperion

    ““A few hundred grams.” Whoa, good thinkin’ there, Shmuley.”

    This is all Trump’s fault. Only China Joe can fix this.

    • R C Dean

      What is that, a quarter pound of hash? Quite a party.

      • Hyperion

        They could have drank as much as they wanted and not got into any trouble if they don’t attract attention, furriners can drink there.

  32. westernsloper

    The coffeemaker takes its usual seeming forever to warm up.

    Get a Bunn. Best 100 bucks a person can spend.

    Old guy music today………..?

    • Hyperion

      Yeah, I have a Bunn. Stays hot, takes 2 minutes to make coffee.

      • R C Dean

        Technivorm FTW. Insulated carafe means the coffee doesn’t get nasty after a half hour. Ours is probably 15 years old, works like new. We’ve had to replace the filter cone holder, the little spring that shuts it off/opens it up gets weak after several years.

        https://www.sweetmarias.com/technivorm-kbt-741-10-cup-thermal-brewer.html

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I looked at a Technivorm, but settled on the cheaper OXO 9-cup. (I didn’t pay nearly that much for it. IIRC, it was sub-$150)

        I’ve brewed coffee at 9am, forgotten about it, and had a decently warm cup of coffee at 1pm.

      • Hyperion

        I only drink one cup a day and my wife has about 1/2 cup, so I couldn’t really justify a pricey coffee maker. My Bunn was around $160 I think. I’m only having a 2nd cup now because of the eggnog.

        The one thing I don’t like about the Bunn is, it’s on the counter between the gas range and the fridge and this sometimes results in it getting turned off when my wife is cleaning because the on/off switch is towards the bottom and if it gets bumped against the fridge, it turns it off. Then you don’t know until the next day when you put the coffee and water in and flip on the bottom warmer and it doesn’t come on. So then you have to turn it back on and wait 20 minutes for coffee. I keep saying maybe we should put this on the island so that can’t happen and move something else to that space. But it just never happens. Things can only be moved around when wifey decides to do it, and then I can’t find anything for a day.

      • Enough About Palin

        The best way to make coffee is the Turkish méthode.

  33. Mojeaux

    Just saw a PSA on the teevee, “Mask Up, America.” The propaganda comes with a heaping helping of flattery and rah-rah-sis-boom-bah fuckyeahmurka! bullshit. If youdon’t mask up you are worse than Satan.

    • rhywun

      I keep getting “Staying Home Saves Lives”.

      I don’t like watching the world swirl down the drain.

    • mrfamous

      The electronic highway signs here in Arizona are straight out of “They Live.” Every three miles: “Stop the spread of COVID-19. Mask up AZ!”

    • leon

      If you don’t wear a mask then the Terrorists win.

      • Mojeaux

        The terrorists won the day the Patriot Act was passed.

    • creech

      Weirder yet, I just saw a public service ad that wants you to stop harassing Asian-Americans because of Chicomvirus. Maybe there were a few instances of this back in March or April when Trump was (rightly) denouncing the ‘China Flu” but today??

      • rhywun

        I don’t think there were any instances back in March or April, either.

      • Hyperion

        Commie virus?

        CCP virus?

        Wuhan Flu?

        That’s harassment, mister!

        Chingy Lingy Flu? /from Brazilian friends and family

        The best one I’ve heard was from a Korean friend – ‘Don’t worry, it won’t last long, it was made in China!’. LOL

        This systemic racism must end! Oh wait… you’re right the yellow folk are the white people of people of color. Never mind.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    What could go wrong?

    Starting New Year’s Day, if you take an Uber ride in Seattle, you will have to shell out 25% more.

    The rideshare company is increasing its prices — because of a new minimum wage law in the Emerald City.

    Alex Nachman typically drives 4 to 5 hours a day for Uber. He’s one of 33,000 licensed rideshare drivers in King County.

    Friday, Jan. 1, a new law takes effect in the City of Seattle raising the minimum wage up to $16.69 an hour for big companies like Uber.

    ——-

    In response to the higher minimum wage law, Uber increased fares 25% in the City of Seattle. And by April, rates may be as much as 50% more.

    “For the average rider, that means your $4 to $5 ride within the Downtown area or Downtown to South Lake Union, is now going to be $7, $8, $9,” said Michael Wolfe, Executive Director of Drive Forward Seattle, an advocacy group for drivers.

    ——-

    Wolfe and others say the price increases are dramatic and will lead to a drop in demand for Uber rides.

    “With fewer rides, even with a higher pay rates, you are not going to necessarily make any more money once you look at bottom line,” said Wolfe.

    More of those unintended consequences which are surprising to absolutely no one except politicians, activists and journalists.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      “With fewer rides, even with a higher pay rates, you are not going to necessarily make any more money once you look at bottom line,” said Wolfe.

      You mean there are second order effects to government dictates? Say it isn’t so!

    • AlexinCT

      You only worry about stuff like this if you have a hard time making your woman make weird noises in bed….

    • Hyperion

      “The US isn’t an option anymore’: why California’s immigrants are heading back to Mexico”

      Sure it is, just go to Alabama. Don’t forget to vote democrat when you get there, so we can turn that state into CA. Then you can go back. Thanks. /democrats

    • rhywun

      Maybe it isn’t all Trumps fault.

      LOL. Good one.

      Years of anti-immigrant policies from the Trump administration

      Never mind that they were popular with the majority of the American people or anything.

      • Hyperion

        Dems will now probably build a wall to keep them in.

  35. Enough About Palin

    “”Housing is a human right,” said Courtney N. Love”

    No, it’s something to strive for.

    “At this time, they have robbed me,” Randhawa said.

    Defrauding an innkeeper is a crime. It’s even called that. Prison is housing, so…

    • AlexinCT

      If housing is a human right, why isn’t sex? Hawt chix should be forced to put out…

      • Pope Jimbo

        Sure, but you are still going to be 10th in line at best comrade.

      • AlexinCT

        Some people like sloppy seconds…

        Not me, mind you..

      • Tejicano

        Not forced, they should understand that it isn’t right to not share. Learn to be more accommodating to others’ needs.

      • AlexinCT

        Bullshit! If they can forcibly take my money, I should forcibly be able to get me some of that!

        /some dude

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        If housing is a human right, why isn’t sex? Hawt chix should be forced to put out…

        That’s part of the socialism utopia for sure, at least for members of the ruling class. I’m not finding much now but I remember reading Soviet ballerinas, singers, and athletes were essentially the sexual chattel of the politicians.

      • Hyperion

        So, you’re saying that Epstein will magically come back to life after we’ve ushered in Socialism?

    • Hyperion

      “Housing is a human right”

      It will be, but right now we have to solve the problem of too many humans. An 85% kill off, then everyone can have that right. / their words, not mine

  36. Hyperion

    Looks like the dems will take the Senate. The media are already puffing up some big poll leads for Warnock. And why wouldn’t they? The cheating mechanisms are already in place, they worked last time and no one did anything about it. Why wouldn’t it work this time?

    • leon

      Are we going to just ignore the bad polling that the media puffed up in the other elections?

      • Hyperion

        We can, but we’d be missing the fact that they now have the ability to make the results match the polls, by cheating.

    • creech

      Because the GOP is being extra vigilant this time? [Stop rolling on the floor laughing your ass off.]

      • Hyperion

        “Because the GOP is being extra vigilant this time?”

        “they worked last time and no one did anything about it”

        One of these things is not like the other.

    • Homple

      The Best Minds tell me that election rigging is a fever dream of the Trumpistas and there is nothing to see here, please disperse

  37. juris imprudent

    The Bee lays out the year ahead.

    [Insert “this is fine” gif.]

    • Hyperion

      “This site can’t be reached”

      Sounds legit.

  38. Enough About Palin

    Had my knee replaced three years ago today. In honor of that event, I am making a chicken and sausage filé gumbo recipe out of New Orleans that’s more than a half century old. The best thing about retirement is that there’s really no stress. The second bet thing is that I can cook anything I want to any time I want. I highly recommend it.

    • westernsloper

      Well, what’s the recipe? *taps foot impatiently*

      • Enough About Palin

        It’s pretty long to write out, but at some point in the near future, I will type it into a word document and then cut and past the text on a Glib’s thread. Or should I maybe submit it a an article for posting. It’s damn authentic; the bones are left in the chicken.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    We still have cable so we’re watching via the Epix Roku app.

    I’d probably just do it through Amazon Prime (one stop shopping, FTW). Is the rest of Epix’ content any good?

    • slumbrew

      I haven’t really dug into the other content.

  40. Hyperion

    2nd cup of coffee. This time, with eggnog.

    • Threedoor

      Who does that? Sounds like a dirty chai.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    Thx, Slumbrew