Friday Afternoon Links

by | Apr 2, 2021 | Daily Links | 271 comments

Heeyyy guys. How’s things? I am pinch hitting for Riven today. She had real life things to do. Lemme see if I can remember how this all goes… I’ve been busy not sleeping, changing diapers, and generally regretting that particular orgasm. Number 3 son is just about half-spoiled from both ends.

Here is a solution in search of a problem. Who doesn’t drink the ramen broth? That’s where all the salt is.

Can’t decide my favorite home run blooper from opening day: Bellinger or Miggy.

Important health announcement for other Florida Men.

Sanity in a lawsuit decision? Where is bearded Spock?

 

 

 

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.

271 Comments

  1. Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

    Second.

    • juris imprudent

      Bro is going to be so shamed he won’t show his face under this.

    • Chafed

      Brochettaward hardest hit

  2. Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

    That coke, meth and opiods article belongs in the previous cocktail post.

    • Nephilium

      What ingredients are you using in your drinks?

    • Count Potato

      None of those things taste good. Or like, so I’ve heard.

  3. LJW

    MLB pulled the All Star game from Atlanta in response to “racist” the voting laws.Local businesses benefit most from all star games, while cities/states typically lose money. 54% of the population of Atlanta is black. So who do you think pulling the All Star game hurts most? The MLB is racist.

    • Urthona

      Fuck those assholes.

    • Rat on a train

      Another reason in the long list of why I don’t watch sports.

    • Charlie Suet

      I just don’t understand how corporates can keep on alienating customers like this. The people they’re trying to pander to won’t ever be loyal to them. The people they’re spurning aren’t ever coming back. Surely this is just bad business?

      There’s a lot of talk about ESG and activist investors, but there has traditionally been a reason for companies being quite cautious about politics.

      • Urthona

        I think they’ll be absolutely fine.

      • grrizzly

        Yep. I cannot think of any real example when a large company suffered for going all woke.

      • Charlie Suet

        Depends what you mean by fine. P&G wrote down the value of the Gillette brand by $8bn. That’s not going to break the bank for them but it’s not what anyone with any sense wants. I wouldn’t say I was wildly offended by their woke advert, but it’s very easy for me not to buy their product ever again.

      • juris imprudent

        How much in tax savings did that write-down buy them?

      • Charlie Suet

        God knows. I’d be surprised if an impairment loss is wholly allowable but I’m not a tax guy.

      • R C Dean

        Not a tax lawyer, but I’m thinking “not a frickin’ penny”. That would likely be a loss of “goodwill”, which is not a deductible loss.

      • Suthenboy

        I vaguely remember reading about the businesses and local officials who cooperated with the bolsheviks before and during their revolution. Afterwards they were all dragged out of their beds at night along with their families and shot. The author, who was a witness to all of this said “Somehow, they never saw it coming.”

      • Urthona

        Well they won’t be then. But they’ll be fine this year. The history of political and socially conscious boycotts is mostly one of abject failure.

      • rhywun

        Every organization in America is scared shitless of the woke mobs. It’s understandable that they are not thinking these things through right now.

      • B.P.

        And the woke mob can now successfully label anything it wants as racist, to the benefit of the Democratic Party. State voting laws? Sure, those were really getting all of the robots excited before whoever runs the narrative told the robots what to be outraged about.

        A lot of people naturally recoil from these moves because every major cultural institution in America shits all over them. For their efforts they are accused of living in a bubble, cloistering, etc.

    • Drake

      Baseball season just ended real early.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I was seriously thinking about throwing some cash at Rangers partial season tickets after they were getting shit about opening at full capacity. Now, not so much. Maybe I’ll get tickets for the local AA team, maybe not. *shrugs*

        Nothing makes me lose interest faster than sports people/teams/organizations going all activist.

      • Urthona

        I thought about “unliking” and then not following the Rangers but I honestly think they have nothing to do with this and I approve of opening the stadium to all.

        I need to go like MLB and then angrily unlike it in a huff.

        If you want some tickets let me know as I’m in on season seats with bunch of people.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Thanks for the offer! My wife’s grandfather has season tickets that we get to use a few times each year.

        Glibs meetup at a Rangers game? That would be a ton of fun!

        I used to get access to cheap ticket voucher plans through work. We’d go to 25 or 30 games a season for a couple hundred bucks, and we’d bring a picnic dinner to the games. I think that went away (the ticket vouchers AND letting picnic bags in) a few years ago.

        I looked a few weeks back, and Frisco Roughriders season tickets aren’t too bad. I’m just not sure if we’d make it to enough games to justify the money.

  4. trshmnstr the terrible

    Who doesn’t drink the ramen broth?

    Heathens and nincompoops.

    • Rat on a train

      My wife gets the Filipino ramen and serves it pancit style. After boiling, you drain most of the water. Then you mix in the coconut oil, powder and other packets.

      • Rockabilly Gal

        There are a number of Korean ramens served stirfry style, where you drain the water off as well.

      • Ted S.

        You mean I’m in the minority in draining off the water?

      • UnCivilServant

        The noodles don’t carry the flavor, the broth does.

    • Agent Cooper

      For the cheap Instant Lunch stuff, I dump most of it out before I eat. I like the noodles but I don’t want a soup.

  5. Pope Jimbo

    I’ve been busy not sleeping, changing diapers,

    When did you get hired onto the White House staff?

  6. BakedPenguin

    I seldom make ramen. When I do, I add the salt after I’ve already drained the noodles. (Leaving enough moisture on them to capture the salt and MSG, of course).

  7. Urthona

    The capital attacker was both black and Muslim.

    So that ends the story.

    • juris imprudent

      Wonder if he killed a white cop? There might be an angle to milk there.

      • Urthona

        Anti white hate crime

    • Suthenboy

      So my first guess was correct. A nut job unhappy that the wrong tyrant is in power…or something.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Figured that was the reason they didn’t show a pic of him on the news while I was at the gym.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      I was guessing that it was Matt Gaetz going full Florida Man.

      • juris imprudent

        “You’ll never take me alive COPPERS! Top of the world, MA, top of the world!”

      • rhywun

        As if that story could get even more ridiculous.

    • Drake

      Cops deployed to protect the capital from white nationalists attacked by black nationalist. That guy is ruining the narrative.

  8. Shpip

    Important health announcement for other Florida Men.

    Overdose deaths resulting from a dangerous combination of cocaine and opioids are outpacing fatalities linked to cocaine abuse alone, a new U.S. government report warns.

    Only 27 years after Florida Man River Phoenix found this out firsthand.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Ruling in favor of BP Plc, Chevron Corp, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions should be addressed under federal law and international treaties.

    It rejected the city’s efforts to sue under state nuisance law for damages caused by the companies’ “admittedly legal” production and sale of fossil fuels, and said the city’s federal common law claims were displaced by the federal Clean Air Act.

    “Global warming presents a uniquely international problem of national concern,” Circuit Judge Richard Sullivan wrote for a three-judge panel. “It is therefore not well-suited to the application of state law.”

    That’s just crazy.

    Bought and paid for justice! Bought and paid for by the wrong people.

    • Suthenboy

      “Global warming presents a uniquely international problem of national concern”

      The fuck it does.

      I suppose the end of the world has been used as a pretense for control and theft since the beginning of time, but now?

    • rhywun

      Aw, the city will have to find another source of graft.

      Back to attacking Donald and Wall Street.

    • R C Dean

      Its amazing to me how often I see articles and whatnot that are purportedly bucking the Narrative, that include the premises the Narrative as if they are just unquestionably true.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    The capital attacker was both black and Muslim.

    Striking a blow against white colonialism!

    • Urthona

      Suicide by cop maybe?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Not maybe, probably

      • Urthona

        Not probably, most likely.

      • B.P.

        Not most likely, almost certainly.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Black, Muslim, using a knife instead of a gun?

      That dude really was a core member of Team Progressive wasn’t he? (More points may still need to be added if it turns out that the perp was a woman->man transitioner).

      • juris imprudent

        Testosterone poisoning!

      • DEG

        It’s been a while since I’ve heard someone use that.

      • limey

        Hahahahaha. Hoo boy.

      • limey

        And now I feel terrible for laughing because the policemen died.

      • limey

        *And now I feel terrible for laughing, because the policemen died.

        That’s an important comma.

      • db

        Every comma’s sacred.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Even Commala Harris?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Yup, completely solved. You can close the case and all wrapped up with a neat little bow tie.

      • juris imprudent

        Seen, what was done there, by you.

  11. Pope Jimbo

    A very important PSA for those of you who have kids and are super anxious about them not being able to get The Cure

    This week, as Minnesota expanded COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to everyone over at 16, parents with younger kids find themselves in a predicament: suddenly a vaccination is in sight — for them. But with no vaccine yet approved for those under age 16, it’s likely to be a while before their whole family has the protective immunities conferred by COVID-19 vaccines.

    That makes the prospect of going out to eat, going on vacation or spending time with other families a little more complex. We talked to experts about what families with kids under 16 need to know.

    Uffda. People who write this shit should be horsewhipped. This article should have been a one liner: “Your kid won’t die from Covid. They don’t need a vaccine. Don’t sweat it.”

    • LJW

      I’d argue that anyone under 35 doesn’t need it. Probably could convince to go higher.

    • Suthenboy

      “Your kid won’t die from Covid. They don’t need a vaccine. Don’t sweat it.”
      How does that service the narrative of “Ooooga boooga boooga, be afraid, be very afraid!”

      LJW: I am well over 55 and have no intention of taking it. I finally found a doc I trust but I dont think the people giving him info can be trusted as far as I can spit.

      • Pope Jimbo

        What do you know Suthen? A 14 year-old kid in Milwaukee DIED!!!!!

        MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office says a 14-year-old Milwaukee boy has died of complications caused by the coronavirus.

        It’s the first reported pediatric death caused by the virus in Milwaukee. The Medical Examiner’s Office said the boy also had leukemia and had undergone a bone marrow transplant in 2019. The boy tested positive for the virus last November.

        Are you ready to concede that you were 100% wrong and now is the time to panic?

      • Grosspatzer

        Ban automobiles.

      • slumbrew

        It’s the first reported pediatric death caused by the virus in Milwaukee. The Medical Examiner’s Office said the boy also had leukemia and had undergone a bone marrow transplant in 2019

        Obviously, it was the super-deadly covid! Nothing else explains it.

      • Suthenboy

        My doctor was not happy when I told him the best way to avoid the cootie bugs is to set. your hair on fire and run around in little circles.

      • R C Dean

        the boy also had leukemia and had undergone a bone marrow transplant in 2019

        So, seriously impaired immune system and likely general systemic weakness.

    • grrizzly

      The goal of the media is to reinforce the psychosis and peddle vaccines as the only way out–to the new normal. That’s what they do.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Fuck no. Families with children under 16 should never take them out in public again. No restaurants, no hotels, and definitely no airplane trips. Do it for the community!

      • Pope Jimbo

        Hah! My 20-something kids are all getting The Cure so that they can fly to Japan.

        We are hoping to go visit relatives next winter so the family is getting the shot in hopes that we will be able to slip in an visit.

        (And my kids are nearly as bad as toddlers when it comes to traveling)

      • Gustave Lytton

        Good luck! With the Olympics closed to foreigners and the glacial pace of domestic vaccination there, I’m not expecting non business travel to open before Summer 2022. I hope to be proven wrong. Again.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      At my online happy hour for work yesterday people were talking about hoping to get their kids vaccinated. I told them that they are nuts. I really don’t understand people’s fears.

      There are some in the group with some conditions that put them at risk, so in their shoes maybe I’d get the vaccine. My mom is 90, and I’m glad she got the vaccine. But I’m a little over 50, not overweight, no health conditions. I’ll wait. And my kids? They are adults now so they can decide for themselves, but I’m not going to push it.

      My wife’s brother’s family all got it, and they are all fine. Many of her cousins got it too, and they are fine. My colleagues seem genuinely shocked that these people recovered. Her mom’s cousin did pass away from it, but she was 80 and the socialized healthcare system wouldn’t take her into the hospital. So sure, there’s a risk of getting the virus and having a bad outcome, and the risk for some is far worse, but there’s a risk from everything.

      • Urthona

        I wouldn’t bother giving anyone under 16 a vaccine.

      • Brett L

        I got my first shot today. Mostly, because I’m applying for jobs and will need to travel for them… if and when.

    • Grosspatzer

      Well, the youngest patzer won’t need it, after testing positive and put in prison isolation for 10 days at his uni. Here in Scranton to pick him up (tomorrow, can’t be too careful!). He had not so much as a sniffle. His roommate was sick for a week (basic flu stuff). Me? 67 years old, don’t plan on getting the vaccine – should be fun when the powers that be institute a “green passport” policy wherein you are granted permission to travel and do other normal things only if you have the proper documentation. They are already doing this at Rutgers, which apparently will require a vaccination to attend classes; I’m sure they were not influenced at all by Johnson and Johnson. Must be nice to have the ability to compel purchase of your product (where have I seen this before?)

      • Count Potato

        Sounds like it could have been a false positive.

      • Grosspatzer

        Could be. Could also be that his immune system handled it – rumor has it that not everyone who gets the ‘vid becomes deathly ill.

      • Urthona

        My sister’s family got it. 7 kids. Many of the kids also had it but developed no symptoms. The only kid who had a high fever is actually 18 now and not really a kid.

      • juris imprudent

        Speaking of, didn’t Mrs. Kinnath contract the dang bug?

      • kinnath

        Yes. Tested positive on Tuesday March 16th. Fever spiked overnight to 102, then went back to normal the next day.

        All symptoms gone by the following Sunday.

        We have both been taking vitamin C, D3, and zinc since last year. When her friends started testing positive, we both doubled the zinc. The day after she tested positive, she started drinking tonic water. The next day, quinine supplements arrived from Amazon (ordered as soon as she got the positive test results).

        All her friends started taking zinc and drinking tonic water after my wife told them she was getting better. They all cleared up quickly.

        Stuff works.

      • juris imprudent

        Very glad to hear she is back to normal, and that you avoided it!

      • westernsloper

        ?

      • kinnath

        I took quinine and zinc in the same dosage. I had no symptoms at all.

      • Drake

        Most people really can’t understand what it means to have a 95% accurate test. 5 out of every 100 healthy people will be quarantined. And 5 out of every 100 infected people will be sent out to mingle.

      • slumbrew

        – 50 year old cousin, who has had a double-bypass & is overweight, got it and is doing fine (some tiredness)
        – 47 year old brother & SIL, plus their teenage boys all got it
        – 55 year old brother got it, along with his 20 year old son

        Yes, people die from it, yes it’s worse than just seasonal flu, but it is not wildly different than the Hong Kong flu – yes, more deaths, but we’re 50% larger plus significantly older.

        https://www.populationpyramid.net/united-states-of-america/1968/

        https://www.populationpyramid.net/united-states-of-america/2020/

        Somehow, we managed to get through earlier pandemics without leaping into fascism, yet here we are.

    • rhywun

      But your kid can still give it to Grandma. It is not safe to leave the house until every human on earth has been Cured.

  12. Nephilium

    Well, it’s here at last. The two week one year anniversary of Zoom/Happy Hour/Variety shows. I’ll kick it off at 20:00 Eastern.

    • juris imprudent

      Reminds me of Joe Walsh’s quip about drinking – I was only drunk once, for 17 years.

      • Grosspatzer

        For the record, I am NOT Joe Walsh. Although that quip is eerily accurate…

    • Nephilium

      And my general schedule has been changed, so I may be starting a couple minutes late tonight. It’s entirely my fault.

      • Tulip

        What?! Noooooo!

        Just kidding, sorry you have to work late.

      • Nephilium

        Nah. They pushed the time of my spin class back 30 minutes.

      • Nephilium

        /looks around at fit young women in spandex

        Yep. Stay away. Stay far away.

        /preps his cycling kit for a long ride tomorrow

      • westernsloper

        Point taken.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    You guys lucked out. I saw a wealth envy screed about inheritance taxes (tl;dr- should be at least 125%). CNN, probably.

    I can’t find it now, so you’ll just have to get your we-hates-the-rich blood pressure boost somewhere else.

    • Pope Jimbo

      It really is amazing that there is such a large group of people out there that think that Congress could pass an inheritance law that would confiscate the money of the uber rich estates.

      They never seem to grasp that the very wealthy will hire lawyers and accountants to shelter their estates and avoid any new laws. The only people who get fucked over by the new laws are the kids of small business owners, farmers and others squarely in the middle class.

      Mark “Gov. Mumbles” Dayton, as progressive as you can get, lives off a trust fund set up in evil, tax avoiding, South Dakota. His ancestors were smart enough to set it up so that he is paying negligible taxes while he lives the live of a millionaire.

      Too bad. I’m sure if they would have left the money to him in a checking account it would be gone by now.

      I’d almost be for that law. Zero estate taxes on any money that was placed into a checking account for 90 days that was solely under the power of the inheritee (or whatever they are called).

      How many of the kids would make it through the 90 day period without squandering gobs and gobs of that money?

      • J. Frank Parnell

        The only people who get fucked over by the new laws are the kids of small business owners, farmers and others squarely in the middle class.

        But that would be an unintended and totally unexpected consequence!

    • Brett L

      I did the math today, for calculating estimated taxes. The first $82k of income (still have to pay 15.2% Medicare and SS tax) is covered by my kid credit. Laugh at my breeding now!

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Suicide by cop maybe?

    Maybe one of those cops was fucking his wife goat.

  15. Count Potato

    “Developed alongside Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, the Cup Noodle Remaining Soup Hardening Powder is as easy to use as dumping the powder into the broth, stirring it around, and waiting a few moments for the liquid to thicken into a gel that looks like it has the consistency of a watered-down Slurpee. Nissin doesn’t appear to reveal what the actual white powder is, but more than likely it’s a superabsorbent material like sodium polyacrylate that’s often used in products like baby diapers to contain other messes. Nissin does, however, warn users not to consume the gelatinous broth once it’s solidified.”

    Soup Hardening Powder is the name of my new mathcore project.

    Anyway, why not make the broth gelatinous with gelatin, or go eat somewhere that has indoor plumbing?

    • Suthenboy

      Kitchen sinks invented, sales plummet.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Might also have application in the feminine product market. Don’t give up so easily.

    • pistoffnick

      You know who else what other Asians like to use a “hardening” powder?

      • Nephilium

        Human horn?

    • B.P.

      This’ll be the Tide pods-type eating craze.

      • B.P.

        Er…*next*

    • blackjack

      Soup Hardening Powder

      So, hot young female soup?

  16. Aloysious

    Dragged over from Neph’s fine article (because I’m so damn late):

    I rarely drink vodka, but when I do I like to pair it with the freshly squeezed juice from the following, in no particular order:

    1. Honey tangerines, from Florida

    2. White grapefruit, from Florida

    3. Sumo mandarin oranges

    4. Clementine mandarin oranges

    5. Cara Cara (also known as Rose) navel oranges

    6. Pink grapefruit, from Florida

    Now I’m thirsty

    • Sean

      Sounds fruity.

    • Suthenboy

      Not sure if #5 is the same as blood orange but if it is not….trust me….you want to try that. I squeeze mine and freeze the juice in ice trays. Use those for ice cubes in your other juice mixers. Yum.

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

      • Count Potato

        It isn’t. It’s a mutated Valencia.

      • Aloysious

        ^Trust the potato.

        Suthen: that is a damn fine idea. Usually, the Blood (Moro) orange is one I frequently find in the produce markdown bin, so I can buy them cheap.

      • R C Dean

        Blood oranges are my preferred mixer from the orange clan. Aside from the awesome color, they aren’t as sugary sweet as regular oranges. Why, I even make Blood Orange Old-Fashioneds from time to time.

      • Brett L

        I made a bunch of those in the last quarter. Good recipe

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      He was from Indiana. Why didn’t he have a gun?

      • Urthona

        I’m starting to think his coup attempt had some flaws.

      • Drake

        Most people really can’t understand what it means to have a 95% accurate test. 5 out of every 100 healthy people will be quarantined. And 5 out of every 100 infected people will be sent out to mingle.

      • Drake

        Coupe attempt?

      • db

        All the guns from Indiana sneak out to Illinois, New York, and New Jersey on weekends to get their crime on. They’ll be back Monday.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    SCANDALOUS!

    At least 55 major profitable companies didn’t pay any federal corporate income taxes last year, according a report by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).

    The group faulted the GOP tax cuts passed in 2017 as well as tax breaks enacted in the first major coronavirus relief bill passed early last year as contributing factors.

    “This continues a decades-long trend of corporate tax avoidance by the biggest U.S. corporations, and it appears to be the product of long-standing tax breaks preserved or expanded by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) as well as the CARES Act tax breaks enacted in the spring of 2020,” the group wrote in its report on the findings.

    The report follows President Biden’s proposal to pay for a more than $2 trillion infrastructure plan by raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent. Prior to the 2017 GOP tax cut, the rate was 35 percent.

    In remarks laying out his plan Wednesday, Biden pointed to a previous year’s report showing that 91 companies paid no federal income taxes.

    “That’s just wrong,” he said. “A fireman and a teacher paying 22 percent? Amazon and 90 other major corporations are paying zero in federal taxes? I’m going to put an end to that.”

    If A, then rhinoceros.

    • Ted S.

      If reinstating the Trump tax cuts would so obviously bring in that much revenue, then it should be obvious to show that they cut that much revenue in the first place.

      The first year of the new tax regime, I did a back of the envelope calculation and found that I saved somewhere between $400 and $500 with the Trump tax rates. And I’m not rich by any stretch of the imagination.

      • R C Dean

        Federal Tax Receipts By Year.

        FY 2021 $3.86 (estimated)
        FY 2020 $3.71 trillion (estimated)
        FY 2019 $3.46 trillion (actual)
        FY 2018 $3.33 trillion
        FY 2017 $3.32 trillion
        FY 2016 $3.27 trillion

        Its plain as day that the Trump tax cut stripped out hundreds of billions of tax revenue.

      • Count Potato

        I’m surprised 2020 was that much higher than 2019.

    • rhywun

      Translation: Biden wants a regressive tax on the middle and lower classes. Either that or he is actually brain-damaged enough to believe that corporate taxes on Amazon are going to come straight out of Jeff’s pocket.

    • creech

      “teacher paying 22 percent?”
      Joe is a lying, dog-faced pony soldier. A single teacher making $80,000, taking the standard deduction, would pay $10,860 (still too g.d. much) or 13.6% of her income. Maybe those firefighters in Cal. who were making close to $400K with overtime and 26 hour days would average 22% but I doubt those were the folks Joe was alluding to.

      • Tulip

        Marginal rate? Still dishonest, but that’s probably what was being referenced.

      • Old Man With Candy

        The key is conflating taxes and tax rates, which is almost universal among politicians and the press. “Reagan cut taxes.” No, he fucking didn’t, taxes went UP. Tax RATES went down.

        People are innumerate and politicians rely on that.

  18. Gustave Lytton

    The “miracle” powder is psyllium, right?

    • Rat on a train

      Glucomannan, at least if you believe the advertisements.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Oops. clicked too soon.

    If anybody should know the history of the last fifty years’ unending attempts at social engineering via the tax code, it’s Joe.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    I’d almost be for that law. Zero estate taxes on any money that was placed into a checking account for 90 days that was solely under the power of the inheritee (or whatever they are called).

    How many of the kids would make it through the 90 day period without squandering gobs and gobs of that money?

    Yessss! Paris Hilton’s Law. Hunter Biden Inheritance Fairness Act. Talk about your economic stimulus.

    • slumbrew

      Hunter Biden Inheritance Fairness Act.

      Stimulus for the Hookers and Blow economy.

    • Suthenboy

      Any inheritance tax is a direct attack on property rights and a soviet style seizure of said property. It is driven by envy and greed of the unproductive class.

      I say zero inheritance tax. Period.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        ???

      • R C Dean

        Suthen for God-Emperor!

      • slumbrew

        Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!

      • UnCivilServant

        You can’t give him my title.

        BURN, HERETIC!

  21. The Late P Brooks

    North Dakota tourist town evacuated because of wildfire

    There’s a tourist town in North Dakota?

    • Grosspatzer

      They do have some interesting fireworks

      • Homple

        Interesting history there. This guy named the town of Medora after his wife.

        “Antoine-Amédée-Marie-Vincent Manca Amat de Vallombrosa, Marquis de Morès et de Montemaggiore (14 June 1858 – 9 June 1896), commonly known as the Marquis de Morès, was a French duelist, frontier ranchman in the Badlands of Dakota Territory during the final years of the American Old West era, a railroad pioneer in Vietnam, and a politician in his native France.”

        “He resigned from the cavalry in 1882 and married Medora von Hoffman, sometimes called the Marquise. Soon thereafter, he would move to the North Dakota badlands to begin ranching, purchasing 44,500 acres (180 km2) for that purpose. He also opened a stagecoach business. He named his simple vernacular house in Medora, North Dakota, the “Chateau de Mores”; it is preserved as a historic house there.”

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_de_Mor%C3%A8s

  22. LCDR_Fish

    re the ACFT post Tejicano made this morning – those run times are definitely higher than they used to be – but before the run came right after push-ups and situps, now they have a lot more exercises prior.

    The Navy on the other hand got rid of Situps/crunches completely in favor of a 2 min plank and added rowing as an alternate cardio (obviously they try and make all the cardio options – with the exception of swimming – something you can actually do on a ship). In reality, it’s encouraged to try and get it done while you’re in port. Still pushups and a run (think it’s still 1.5 miles). Our PFT got pushed out so that fall 2021 is the first one in about 1.5 years. Guessing a lot of folks will be hurting – but we’ll see.

    • Plinker762

      Bring back galley ships. Then the sailors can get all the rowing aerobics they would ever need.

  23. LCDR_Fish

    This looks to be a great weekend. Other than Easter (seeing my folks for lunch after church and hopefully my brother and my new[ish] nephew) – looking forward to going to see Kong vs Godzilla tomorrow for “Lunch and a movie” at the Paragon in Fredericksburg and Park Lane Tavern. Some nice high ABV brews (not to mention great food) and a movie theater I can walk across the parking lot to is the perfect combo.

  24. grrizzly

    While many Americans might not have realized it, the CDC has officially discouraged Americans from traveling – until now.

    Put another way, while this latest message is couched as the CDC loosening restrictions on travel, what’s really happening is the government is giving private industry the green light to start barring travelers and customers who can’t prove their vaccination status. So instead of granting more freedom, they’re preparing to take freedoms away.

    We’ll see soon enough.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      This is not going to go well.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Muh MANDATE

    White House chief of staff Ron Klain told Politico in an interview Thursday morning that Biden will invite lawmakers from both parties to the White House in the coming weeks to build bipartisan support.

    “We want to move forward, if it’s at all possible, on a bipartisan basis, and I think there’s some hope for that,” he said.

    Klain said Biden is ready to listen to Republican proposals to pay for infrastructure but at the end of the day the president believes he has a political mandate to get a bold proposal passed through Congress.

    “In the end — let me be clear — the president was elected to do a job and part of that job is to get this country ready to win the future. That’s what he’s going to do. We know it has bipartisan support in the country and so we’re going to try our best to get bipartisan support here in Washington,” he said.

    Republicans have seized on such remarks, saying they show Democrats are more than willing to freeze out Republicans.

    “This is about as partisan as it gets. It’s the opposite of bipartisan, especially if you move it through reconciliation,” the Senate GOP aide said.

    One Republican moderate, Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah), blasted Biden on Thursday afternoon over talk of moving the infrastructure package under the special budgetary rules that would enable them to pass the measure with only a simple majority in the 50-50 Senate, where Vice President Harris can cast a tie-breaking vote.

    “A Senate evenly split between both parties and a bare Democratic House majority are hardly a mandate to ‘go it alone.’ The President should live up to the bipartisanship he preached in his inaugural address,” Romney tweeted.

    You’re with us, or you’re roadkill.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Poor Mitt must be so confused. He did all the right things. He denigrated the deplorables and neanderthals. He threw his own party under the bus.

      And now they still won’t let him into the clubhouse?

  26. commodious spittoon

    SCHIEßE

    • rhywun

      Shoot what?

      • db

        That reminds me of a funny story from the first day of my college German class.

      • Rat on a train

        Er schießt die Scheiße.

      • commodious spittoon

        SO EIN MIST

  27. Sean

    Case of ammo on my front porch when I got home. ????

    • slumbrew

      Beats a horse’s head.

    • kinnath

      No ammo, but I did get all my magazines last week.

      • Sean

        I went a lil overboard on mags the past couple months. I’m still waiting on a couple back in stock email notices.

    • DEG

      I have some arriving tomorrow. A case of GP-11. I got it for about $1.50/round. I felt like I got a steal given GP-11 usually goes for about $2/round now-a-days.

      Remember a while back you asked about whether or not a Schmidt-Rubin was insane? I can top it.

      Private sale 1911 rifle

      I think the seller is correct about his research for the origin of the gun. Swiss gun retailers would sometimes stamp private sale Schmidt-Rubins with their names. One of my private sale Schmidt-Rubins has such a marking.

      I am a little concerned about what is going on with the mucked up finish around the barrel serial number. The P stamp for the serial number looks a little off. It is a valid serial number for a private sale 1911 rifle. According to Swiss Waffen, the seller is way off on the number of private sale 1911 rifles made.

      A couple of times in the seller’s listing he calls the rifle a K11. It’s not a carbine, it’s a rifle.

      Note the horrendous import mark.

      The rifle has been re-blued at some point in its life. Note the bluing on the rear sight. That’s not how the Swiss blued rear sights for these rifles.

      Asking price $14,500. Insane.

      • Sean

        Looney toons.

      • DEG

        Insane.

      • juris imprudent

        Friend of mine told me I’ve met the guy that owns these. Cool, but…

      • db

        Just beautiful.

  28. Count Potato

    “If you or anyone in your household identifies as Black, Indigenous, or a person of color (BIPOC), including anyone with Abenaki or other First Nations heritage, all household members who are 16 years or older can sign up to get a vaccine! ”

    https://twitter.com/GovPhilScott/status/1377605174320099335

    I identify as the Governor Of Vermont, so you can just ignore that.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      They’re flirting with revolt.

  29. DEG

    “Global warming presents a uniquely international problem of national concern,” Circuit Judge Richard Sullivan wrote for a three-judge panel. “It is therefore not well-suited to the application of state law.”

    This has me concerned that there might be a turd in the ruling.

  30. Animal

    Question for tech-minded Glibs:

    Our new house has a building, across the driveway from the house, separated by perhaps fifty feet. We are using it as an office and have set up our computer hardware there.

    Here’s the problem: The wireless access point is in the house, and it gives a very weak signal in the office building. Weak enough that computers are recalcitrant about even connecting.

    Is there some kind of booster that will help with this? I have seen some on Amazon but am reluctant to try something about which I have little knowledge.

    • kinnath

      Directional antenna.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        ???

    • Count Potato

      You can use an antenna, the problem with that is almost all devices that have wifi don’t have antenna connectors. So they make wifi repeaters. You can also try replacing the device in the house with one with more gain.

    • Ask your doctor if BEAM is right for you

      Boosters work fine, but try to place them on an inside wall of your house closest to the office building, with nothing more substantial than drywall and insulation in the way of their signal.

      You could also use a booster on the other end (inside the office building).

      Or, Heaven forfend, you could run some burial-grade CAT5 or higher cable from your main house to the office building. (This has been my preferred solution for hooking up the Spousal Unit’s and my office’s rigs.)

      • Ask your doctor if BEAM is right for you

        But remember: I’m a physical cable bigot. Wireless is fine as long as you can live with lower throughput and higher latency, more missed/resent data, etc.

      • slumbrew

        Running the cable would be my choice – it’ll make a huge difference in the long run.

        Good time to make friends with your neighbor who owns a DitchWitch.

      • Ask your doctor if BEAM is right for you

        And to amplify on my shocking bigotry: the Spousal Unit is less than twenty feet from our Wifi router, one floor down, with no metal in-between to block the signal. When I first plugged in the cable run I made for her, her benchmark speed tripled and latency dropped by 80% or thereabouts. She no longer has visible lag issues with her VPN and her video conferencing. And this is on a laptop that is less than a year old and has every Wifi gewgaw known to humanity built into it.

        I don’t know how good/bad your Internet service speed is in your neck of the woods in Alaska, but going physical to your outbuilding is probably gonna be a lot less frustrating for you than wireless.

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s not bigotry, just the cold facts, a good cable is better than the best radio waves.

      • commodious spittoon

        It’s not bigotry, just the cold facts

        AKA bigotry

    • Gustave Lytton

      You can possible go a couple of directions.

      Directional antenna and a point to point link between the two buildings

      Run Cat5 between your house and the outbuilding. 50ft is well within the 100M limitation of Cat5. Make sure to use outdoor rated (UV stabilized) cable or run in conduit.

      Change placement/type of AP in your house to cover the outbuilding

    • db

      My opinion is that it’s better to bury a cable between the buildings. If you search Amazon, you’ll come up with some wifi boosters and directional antennas, but the buried cable will probably work better overall. How far a run is it?

      • db

        I missed that you said it was 50 feet. The cable is the way to go. While you’re at it, bury two just in case, and take the opportunity to pull any other utilities across that you think you’ll need. If you dig a trench, lay in some PVC conduit and leave a spare 2 or 3″ conduit and cap the ends, and leave a pull string in it for future use.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      There are a few options.

      1) a repeater/booster inside as close to the outbuilding as possible. Cheapest, but least reliable way.

      2) access point/repeater outside on your house. More expensive, but will more reliably get signal out to the outbuilding and may improve throughput.

      3) trench a cable to the outbuilding. If it’s the kind of project you’re willing to take on, it can be cheap, and you can then put any cheap old access point out there and have strong signal.

      • slumbrew

        2.9) go straight redneck and just leave the outdoor rated cable snaking across the lawn instead of burying it.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        2.99) put a piece of astroturf over top so you don’t forget and mow over it.

    • db

      Is there a telephone line between the house and the barn? If so, you can use a VDSL modem to extend your wired connection across the phone line. I do that to my barn which is about 200 feet from my house. It’s limited to 100Mbps but I haven’t had any problems. I can stream a few youtube windows at once with no noticeable issues.

      • Ask your doctor if BEAM is right for you

        100Mbps is far more than most people (excluding teenagers, who aren’t fully-human yet*) need.

        *BIGOT! I’m a BIGOT! Teen-hostile!

        (Hey! Some of my best friends are teenagers.)

    • Sensei

      Is the building’s electricity from the main house?

      I’ve had good luck with Ethernet over power line to my detached garage.

      Real world I get consistent 25 mb/s. Ignore the higher hyped specs.

      • Animal

        It’s actually on completely separate power. It’s on its own meter and junction, probably because it’s on the adjacent lot and technically has a different address.

        I did some digging and discovered one part of the problem. In the old house we had both desktops connected by ethernet cable, which isn’t really an option right now as I need to be up and running ASAP and can’t take time to dig up the driveway and bury cable. We could have a whole separate install for the office, but that would add a lot to the monthly bill.

        But, I’ve looked at the backs of the PC cases, and realized there are no wireless antennae attached to the cards, just the threaded nubs. I took out my cell phone and checked the signal strength and it was all the way up, four bars. So I walked away from the house, all the way over to the back of our big storage building, and the signal strength didn’t seem to budge.

        So we’re going to Anchorage tomorrow anyway to buy office chairs, so we’ll get a wireless signal booster and put it in our front room where it’s only a pane of glass facing the office building, and put antennae on those nubs. Hopefully that will get us where we need to be.

        Thanks, one and all, for the advice. I may seek a more permanent and solid (wired) solution later, but right now I just need to be in operation.

    • limey

      I don’t understand what her game is here. Am I overthinking it? Everything I know about her, and every instance of her speaking I have witnessed indicates that she may be one of the apparently least intelligent people I have ever been aware of.

    • R C Dean

      [AOC’s] political brand is poisoned thanks to years of unrelenting Republican attacks.

      Republicans pounce!

      Journos just can’t help themselves.

      • Ownbestenemy

        That is spectacular writing. Goebbels must be looking up and thinking, Jesus…I was a fucking amateur.

    • Agent Cooper

      “years of unrelenting Republican attacks.”

  31. Pope Jimbo

    Just had a nice phone call with Fourscore and thought I’d give the 2 minute update.

    1) He came back from the hospital today
    2) He’s loaded for bear when it comes to medical accoutrements (walker, wheelchair, etc)
    3) His xray today looked good according to the doc. Everything is healing the way it is supposed to

    Now that he is home, he should be back on his own computer and commenting himself very soon.

    • Count Potato

      Excellent!

    • rhywun

      ?

    • slumbrew

      Excellent news.

    • db

      Super!

    • Hank

      🙂

    • DEG

      Excellent!

    • Sean

      Great news!

    • Surly Knott

      Excellent news!

    • limey

      ?

    • Ted S.

      And he’s got his own porn again!

    • Brett L

      Awesome!

    • westernsloper

      ?

    • Sensei

      Nice.

    • Tulip

      Really good to hear?

  32. The Late P Brooks

    *waves to fourscore*

  33. Count Potato

    “Months after it was alleged that a laptop revealed Hunter Biden’s business interests in China and Ukraine, the president’s son tells Tracy Smith that the laptop “could be” his”

    https://twitter.com/CBSSunday/status/1377949486329237512

    CWAA

    • Hank

      “Or it might some totally different guy’s laptop, I haven’t quite figured it out yet.”

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        His evil identical twin who also happens to have the same name, travel itinerary, acquaintances, friends, business contacts, and drug habit.

      • Count Potato

        Cocaine is a helluva drug.

  34. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Kinnath, are you still around? What dose of the quinine supplement was your wife taking? I didn’t realize those existed (you’re talking about the powdered bark supplement, right?) and I just ordered some to squirrel away.

  35. DEG

    More Lehigh Valley bars cited for Covid violations

    Pennsylvania State Police this week announced citations issued in March against liquor-license holders for alleged violations of state measures aimed at stemming the spread of COVID -19.

    Seven Sirens Brewing is on the list. Judging by the posts on the business’ facebook page, this is a place high up on my list of places to support when I am next in PA.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      “Pennsylvania State Police this week announced citations issued in March”

      Hey Republicans, don’t forget to back the blue.

  36. Mojeaux

    Hayeksplosives and I are FB friends. Not knowing how much she would want to share here, because she has not asked me to do this, I would just like to say her hubster could use some good vibes.

    • slumbrew

      Boo. I had been wondering how he was doing.

      Good vibes going his way, since I’m not the praying type. They could both use a break.

    • DEG

      Oh no. This is not good. I hope he pulls through.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Thank you for letting us know

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Merde. Again, my phone number is on the forum if she could use local help.

  37. LCDR_Fish

    Glad you guys liked the GKC stuff yesterday. Found some more good passages in my reading today – again from Eugenics and Other Evils.

    Now it is perfectly plain that government ought to have, and must have, the same sort of right to use exceptional methods occasionally that the private householder has to have a picnic or to sit up all night on New Year’s Eve. The State, like the householder, is sane if it can treat such exceptions as exceptions. Such desperate remedies may not even be right; but such remedies are endurable as long as they are admittedly desperate. Such cases, of course, are the communism of food in a besieged city; the official disavowal of an arrested spy; the subjection of a patch of civil life to martial law; the cutting of communication in a plague; or that deepest degradation of the commonwealth, the use of national soldiers not against foreign soldiers, but against their own brethren in revolt. Of these exceptions some are right and some wrong; but all are right in so far as they are taken as exceptions. The modern world is insane, not so much because it admits the abnormal as because it cannot recover the normal.

    …..

    Another case out of hundreds is the loose extension of the idea of libel. Libel cases bear no more trace of the old and just anger against the man who bore false witness against his neighbour than “cruelty” cases do of the old and just horror of the parents that hated their own flesh. A libel case has become one of the sports of the less athletic rich—a variation on baccarat, a game of chance. A music-hall actress got damages for a song that was called “vulgar,” which is as if I could fine or imprison my neighbour for calling my handwriting “rococo.” A politician got huge damages because he was said to have spoken to children about Tariff Reform; as if that seductive topic would corrupt their virtue, like an indecent story. Sometimes libel is defined as anything calculated to hurt a man in his business; in which case any new tradesman calling himself a grocer slanders the grocer opposite. All this, I say, is Anarchy; for it is clear that its exponents possess no power of distinction, or sense of proportion, by which they can draw the line between calling a woman a popular singer and calling her a bad lot; or between charging a man with leading infants to Protection and leading them to sin and shame. But the vital point to which to return is this. That it is not necessarily, nor even specially, an anarchy in the populace. It is an anarchy in the organ of government. It is the magistrates—voices of the governing class—who cannot distinguish between cruelty and carelessness. It is the judges (and their very submissive special juries) who cannot see the difference between opinion and slander. And it is the highly placed and highly paid experts who have brought in the first Eugenic Law, the Feeble-Minded Bill—thus showing that they can see no difference between a mad and a sane man.

    ……

    Now, that specialists are valuable for this particular and practical purpose, of predicting the approach of enormous and admitted human calamities, nobody but a fool would deny. But that does not bring us one inch nearer to allowing them the right to define what is a calamity; or to call things calamities which common sense does not call calamities. We call in the doctor to save us from death; and, death being admittedly an evil, he has the right to administer the queerest and most recondite pill which he may think is a cure for all such menaces of death. He has not the right to administer death, as the cure for all human ills. And as he has no moral authority to enforce a new conception of happiness, so he has no moral authority to enforce a new conception of sanity. He may know I am going mad; for madness is an isolated thing like leprosy; and I know nothing about leprosy. But if he merely thinks my mind is weak, I may happen to think the same of his. I often do.

    In short, unless pilots are to be permitted to ram ships on to the rocks and then say that heaven is the only true harbour; unless judges are to be allowed to let murderers loose, and explain afterwards that the murder had done good on the whole; unless soldiers are to be allowed to lose battles and then point out that true glory is to be found in the valley of humiliation; unless cashiers are to rob a bank in order to give it an advertisement; or dentists to torture people to give them a contrast to their comforts; unless we are prepared to let loose all these private fancies against the public and accepted meaning of life or safety or prosperity or pleasure—then it is as plain as Punch’s nose that no scientific man must be allowed to meddle with the public definition of madness. We call him in to tell us where it is or when it is. We could not do so, if we had not ourselves settled what it is.

    …..

    Lastly, the literal maniac is different from all other persons in dispute in this vital respect: that he is the only person whom we can, with a final lucidity, declare that we do not want. He is almost always miserable himself, and he always makes others miserable. But this is not so with the mere invalid. The Eugenists would probably answer all my examples by taking the case of marrying into a family with consumption (or some such disease which they are fairly sure is hereditary) and asking whether such cases at least are not clear cases for a Eugenic intervention. Permit me to point out to them that they once more make a confusion of thought. The sickness or soundness of a consumptive may be a clear and calculable matter. The happiness or unhappiness of a consumptive is quite another matter, and is not calculable at all. What is the good of telling people that if they marry for love, they may be punished by being the parents of Keats or the parents of Stevenson? Keats died young; but he had more pleasure in a minute than a Eugenist gets in a month. Stevenson had lung-trouble; and it may, for all I know, have been perceptible to the Eugenic eye even a generation before. But who would perform that illegal operation: the stopping of Stevenson? Intercepting a letter bursting with good news, confiscating a hamper full of presents and prizes, pouring torrents of intoxicating wine into the sea, all this is a faint approximation for the Eugenic inaction of the ancestors of Stevenson. This, however, is not the essential point; with Stevenson it is not merely a case of the pleasure we get, but of the pleasure he got. If he had died without writing a line, he would have had more red-hot joy than is given to most men. Shall I say of him, to whom I owe so much, let the day perish wherein he was born? Shall I pray that the stars of the twilight thereof be dark and it be not numbered among the days of the year, because it shut not up the doors of his mother’s womb? I respectfully decline; like Job, I will put my hand upon my mouth.

    …..

    It was best presented perhaps by the distinguished doctor who wrote the article on these matters in that composite book which Mr. Wells edited, and called “The Great State.” He said the doctor should no longer be a mere plasterer of paltry maladies, but should be, in his own words, “the health adviser of the community.” The same can be expressed with even more point and simplicity in the proverb that prevention is better than cure. Commenting on this, I said that it amounted to treating all people who are well as if they were ill. This the writer admitted to be true, only adding that everyone is ill. To which I rejoin that if everyone is ill the health adviser is ill too, and therefore cannot know how to cure that minimum of illness. This is the fundamental fallacy in the whole business of preventive medicine. Prevention is not better than cure. Cutting off a man’s head is not better than curing his headache; it is not even better than failing to cure it. And it is the same if a man is in revolt, even a morbid revolt. Taking the heart out of him by slavery is not better than leaving the heart in him, even if you leave it a broken heart. Prevention is not only not better than cure; prevention is even worse than disease. Prevention means being an invalid for life, with the extra exasperation of being quite well. I will ask God, but certainly not man, to prevent me in all my doings. But the decisive and discussable form of this is well summed up in that phrase about the health adviser of society. I am sure that those who speak thus have something in their minds larger and more illuminating than the other two propositions we have considered. They do not mean that all citizens should decide, which would mean merely the present vague and dubious balance. They do not mean that all medical men should decide, which would mean a much more unbalanced balance. They mean that a few men might be found who had a consistent scheme and vision of a healthy nation, as Napoleon had a consistent scheme and vision of an army. It is cold anarchy to say that all men are to meddle in all men’s marriages. It is cold anarchy to say that any doctor may seize and segregate anyone he likes. But it is not anarchy to say that a few great hygienists might enclose or limit the life of all citizens, as nurses do with a family of children. It is not anarchy, it is tyranny; but tyranny is a workable thing. When we ask by what process such men could be certainly chosen, we are back again on the old dilemma of despotism, which means a man, or democracy which means men, or aristocracy which means favouritism. But as a vision the thing is plausible and even rational. It is rational, and it is wrong.

    It is wrong, quite apart from the suggestion that an expert on health cannot be chosen. It is wrong because an expert on health cannot exist. An expert on disease can exist, for the very reason we have already considered in the case of madness, because experts can only arise out of exceptional things. A parallel with any of the other learned professions will make the point plain. If I am prosecuted for trespass, I will ask my solicitor which of the local lanes I am forbidden to walk in. But if my solicitor, having gained my case, were so elated that he insisted on settling what lanes I should walk in; if he asked me to let him map out all my country walks, because he was the perambulatory adviser of the community—then that solicitor would solicit in vain. If he will insist on walking behind me through woodland ways, pointing out with his walking-stick likely avenues and attractive short-cuts, I shall turn on him with passion, saying: “Sir, I pay you to know one particular puzzle in Latin and Norman-French, which they call the law of England; and you do know the law of England. I have never had any earthly reason to suppose that you know England. If you did, you would leave a man alone when he was looking at it.” As are the limits of the lawyer’s special knowledge about walking, so are the limits of the doctor’s. If I fall over the stump of a tree and break my leg, as is likely enough, I shall say to the lawyer, “Please go and fetch the doctor.” I shall do it because the doctor really has a larger knowledge of a narrower area. There are only a certain number of ways in which a leg can be broken; I know none of them, and he knows all of them. There is such a thing as being a specialist in broken legs. There is no such thing as being a specialist in legs. When unbroken, legs are a matter of taste. If the doctor has really mended my leg, he may merit a colossal equestrian statue on the top of an eternal tower of brass. But if the doctor has really mended my leg he has no more rights over it. He must not come and teach me how to walk; because he and I learnt that in the same school, the nursery. And there is no more abstract likelihood of the doctor walking more elegantly than I do than there is of the barber or the bishop or the burglar walking more elegantly than I do. There cannot be a general specialist; the specialist can have no kind of authority, unless he has avowedly limited his range. There cannot be such a thing as the health adviser of the community, because there cannot be such a thing as one who specialises in the universe.

    • westernsloper

      Get #1 a cheeseburger stat!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I knew it was bad, but holy shit…

    • Urthona

      I agree that I’m evil but I disagree that others are not.

      • Mojeaux

        Braggart.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Further, many professors, most notably the emerita professor, Mary McClintock Fulkerson, are huge Foucault fans

      Stephen Hicks postulates that the postmodern movement was an attempt to replace the Church because the early Enlightenment had severely diminished it and there were many who severely resented that.

      That Foucault is popular in a modern divinity school would seem to be ultimate expression of that trend.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        blockquote fail

        First sentence is quoted, the rest is not.

        Hey there Scruffy…
        Edit faerie

      • commodious spittoon

        Top drawer? I don’t see any drawers.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I guess that at Duke Divinity the trend towards postmodernist bullshit filtered over from the absolute fucking abomination of the English department where Stanley Fish upended everything.

      Postmodernist thinking is incredibly attractive to these professors because it elevates them over their subject matter. As Fish said “I no longer have to be right, I only have to be interesting.”

      It’s a massive exercise in narcissism that is only made even more explicit because it’s theology studies. I’m surprised they’re not openly denying the existence of God.

      It raises the question of why they’re even in divinity school.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Evangelism, just not in the way one would expect from a divinity program. These are missionaries being trained to convert mainline Christians into something akin to reform Judaism. Another flavor of mystical Marxism.

  38. westernsloper

    Damnit. I just wrote the best comment of all my great comments and then it said I had to be logged in to post when it said I was logged in but had to log in again. Your loss people.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I shall shed a single tear for myself.

    • The Hyperbole

      Don’t feel bad, that still may be your best comment.

      • westernsloper

        ?

    • commodious spittoon

      Earlier I made a tweet, in my misjudgement claiming today’s attack on the Capitol was done by Trump supporting insurrectionists. This wasn’t the case, however Trump and his supporters have denigrated the sanctity of the Capitol building and laid the ground work for future attacks

      If Trump supporters didn’t storm the Capitol on January 6th, today’s attack would have never happened. Trump is responsible. Republicans are responsible.

      CCP stooge or CCP agent, take your pick.

      • Urthona

        absolutely a chinese communist who suspiciously has a check mark.

      • commodious spittoon

        Remember that chunky chica who somehow got her green card fast-tracked so she could testify against Trump?

        I expect the CCP has a hotline for getting their people checkmarked.

  39. Muzzled Woodchipper

    Goddammit! Motherfucker!!

    Fuck!!

    Fuck you, Manfred!

    The MLB heretofore had been reasonably good with staying out of the culture war. They had a couple of teams protest last summer, but once players realized they had to then go out of their way to make that game up, teams shut it down pretty quickly.

    But now Manfred has jumped headfirst in the the pool of wokeness.

    Major League Baseball announces it will be moving the All-Star Game from Atlanta in response to the new voting laws passed by Georgia.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1378059367900139525

    • rhywun

      Tennis is one of the least woke sports at the moment. Perhaps because it’s dominated by non-Americans and they don’t have patience for this stupid bullshit.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I haven’t been able to watch any tourneys this year, but I was under the impression they had fallen off the woke cliff based on some newsletters I get.

      • Ted S.

        Naomi Osaka did at the US Open, but since then, not so much.

      • rhywun

        Been watching every tournament, and there’s very little woke shit at all.

        FWIW I don’t watch the “human interest” crap or any interviews.

      • B.P.

        I like that, last week, France was making noises about woke culture migrating over to their shores. Yeah, you can have your stupid mind virus back.

  40. Hank

    “A Miami Catholic school confronted racism after George Floyd died. Parents complained….

    “Ahead of the current school year, [Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, an independent Catholic girls school in Miami’s Coconut Grove] took note of complaints about its culture, adopting an inclusion policy and an amended mission statement to include a commitment to denouncing discrimination and tackling structures that perpetuate racism….

    “The tension between the school’s response to the Black Lives Matter movement and the pushback from parents comes as Miami grapples with issues of racism, religion and a deep-seated belief among a wide swath of Miami that the ongoing movement for racial equity is rooted in socialist teachings.”

    How did they find out – I mean, where did they get such a silly idea?

    “Goal III, titled “Schools of the Sacred Heart commit themselves to educate a social awareness which impels to action,” now includes: “The school, drawing from Catholic Social Teaching, educates students to analyze and work to eradicate social structures, practices, systems, and values that perpetuate racism and other injustices….

    “…On some Spanish-language radio programs, hosts said the racial equity movement was based in Marxist philosophies. One host whose comments were picked up nationally accused one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement of being a witch.”

    https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article250347191.html

    • Ted S.

      include a commitment to denouncing discrimination and tackling structures that perpetuate racism….

      So they’re tackling affirmative action then.

    • rhywun

      Narrator: “Racial equity” literally means taking from one “race” and giving it to another, is rooted in Marxist principles, and is pushed by the openly Marxist founders of BLM.

      • commodious spittoon

        James Lindsey on Your Welcome.

        These people don’t believe in hypocrisy. Or rather, they believe hypocrisy is a necessary facet of their ideology. Hypocrisy proves their dedication to the cause. They literally cannot be reasoned with. They are cultural suicide bombers.