Monday Afternoon Links

by | Jun 21, 2021 | Daily Links | 248 comments

 

Grüezi mitenand! I am working on my Swiss dialect. I get the initial phone screen for an AVP job tomorrow… reports directly to Switzerland, no meddling North American intermediaries. Well, a man can dream (since the job spends 75% of the time working with Swiss lawyers, and I also can read German, I am assuming I will NOT get the job).

But living the dream, in the Glibs context, is a set of links delivered timely. So let us get to it.

  • Is this a correct prediction, or wishcasting? NYC Glibs, sound off!
  • Is the sternly worded letter being prepared as we speak? That, or the CCP will allow in only pre-paid/see-nothing “observers”.
  • North Korean shitlording. Is Kim Jong Un some sort of red-pill OD’ing MRA?
  • Grifters angry they have been outgrifted?

Oh, music link? Sure. Here you go.

About The Author

Swiss Servator

Swiss Servator

Currently serving at the pleasure of a Swiss multinational. Previously a Soldier, rugby player, lawyer, bouncer, bartender, substitute teacher, risk manager, and cubicle mushroom. Will work for raclette.

248 Comments

  1. Ownbestenemy

    Is that the first time that NK has admitted it has a food problem?

    • Sensei

      This officially was noted at least a few weeks ago.

      I thought some of the other times were also officially noted too.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Probably and I just didn’t take notice. I always thought it was spun as “We are all fat and happy and look at all these goods!”

      • Ownbestenemy

        I know the world has seen they need food and stated it for decades. Has any of the Uns ever publicly stated it prior is what I meant..

      • Tonio

        At least as far back as 2015.

        But remember that what they say internationally, and what they say domestically, are very different.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Gotcha.

      • DEG

        North Korea started importing giant rabbits for food in 2007.

      • rhywun

        Surprisingly not the Bee.

    • Fourscore

      If food shortages are ongoing (continuous) then it’s just business as usual. We’ve seen the pictures out of Africa of the malnutritioned youngsters and can’t help but feeling empathy.

      A kleptocracy always has the same problems. OTOH those crossing the US-Mexican border generally look robust, well-dressed and healthy.

      • rhywun

        But they always claim “natural disasters”. North Korea sure seems to have a lot of those.

      • db

        “Bad Luck”

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yeah looking at Tonio’s links above its always ‘drought’, ‘natural disaster’ and now ‘covid’, and never “I hoard all the food at my palace for Top Men”

    • Mojeaux

      Sooooooo way back in ’98-’01 I had been corresponding with an AF captain who claimed to have done some work for the NSA*. He told me he’d somehow gotten to NK. He had gone to Korea on his LDS mission and spoke the language. Now, I did some snooping on this dude, and was satisfied that I had no reason to disbelieve his claim.

      I also finally met him, which was an abject DISASTER, proving that just because you get along like gangbusters in email for 3 years doesn’t mean it’s gonna work in person. Also, he was pissy about my snooping. Also, I accidentally snubbed a perfectly nice guy on my flight because I was so nervous about meeting the dude I didn’t notice he was flirting with me; took me 3 days to realize it.

      All that prefacing was to say that my 3-year pen pal observed the NKs he met were all starving and he had a sad.

      *On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog. Except, he was a dog, and I had indicators, most notably his statement that he was, in fact, a dog.

      • grrizzly

        I thought you didn’t fly anywhere since the Bush Sr. Administration.

      • Mojeaux

        Never said that. The last two times I flew, my flights were paid for and I didn’t have time to drive. That was in 2011.

        That particular flight (poor fella who tried to flirt with me) was in August 2000.

      • grrizzly

        Sorry, must have confused you with someone else.

      • Mojeaux

        The one in 2010 was when Mr. Mojeaux won a trip to New York to see The Last Airbender at its NY premiere. M. Night Shyamalan is a very nice person.

        The one in 2011 was when I was invited to speak on self-publishing at the Writer’s Digest conference.

        When Mr. Mojeaux won his trip to Kentucky (to tour a bunch of distilleries) (I didn’t make it past Buffalo Trace’s cornmeal mash house), we were able to rent a car and drive.

        The last two road trips I’ve taken after THAT have been with my mom. My mom likes to look at stuff when she’s driving, like she’s never seen a dogwood before. So I do the driving.

      • grrizzly

        Somebody here mentioned that he or she didn’t fly commercial since 1989 or 87. I remember the claim because it’s so much the opposite of my travel history: flying more than 100k miles per year was totally normal for me before 2020. But who made this claim is now a mystery.

      • rhywun

        Wasn’t me but I’ve flown maybe 15 times in my life.

      • Mojeaux

        Naw, not me. 1986-1989 I was regularly flying back and forth from KC/BYU.

      • Sean

        Possibly me.

      • TARDis

        The TSA ruined flying for me. Fuck them and their job program theatrics. You have a 90 IQ and like fucking with people while doing mundane tasks? We have the job for you. They probably have a better retirement plan too.

      • Ted S.

        Someone from the NSA was bitchy that *you* were snooping?

      • Mojeaux

        Right?!

        I may or may not have tracked down an ex-girlfriend and gotten the scoop.

  2. Homple

    “NYC progressives are going to lose the Dem primary to soaring crime”

    Soaring Crime won the last election, I assume it will win the primary this time.

  3. Stinky Wizzleteats

    The U.N. is as likely to cover for the CCP in Xinjiang as not. I have zero confidence in them no matter who they send.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The odds that the UN will chide the CCP over Hong Kong are effectively nil.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      Cover for the CCP? Heck, the UN will probably put China on the Human Rights Council. Oh wait, they already did.

  4. juris imprudent

    That music link is a direct response to OMWC‘s Zappa link, isn’t it?

  5. TARDis

    AVP job? Well alright, you go kick those extraterrestrials asses, but good.

  6. Count Potato

    “The progressives, of course, are despondent. All over lefty urban Twitter — mostly affluent, young and white — the cries are the same: Why weren’t there questions about bike lanes at the debates? Why doesn’t anyone care about climate change?

    They don’t quite blame the voters. Rather, the implication is that the voters are dumb: People are afraid to ride the subway not because entirely random slashings, stabbings and pushings drove the number of violent felonies on the subways from 64 in April to 116 in May, more than three times higher than in 2019, when adjusted for ridership. Rather, progs think, they’re afraid because the ­media, by reporting on the news, have tricked them.”

    The media they control?

    • Count Potato

      “Once murders edge down closer to 300 a year, rather than 500, progressives can merrily go back to advancing their causes, some good (more bus and bike lanes) and some bad (legalizing prostitution). ”

      I think you have that backwards.

      • Ted S.

        It’s the Post.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yeah, a pretty good illustration of the diffs between the preferences of leftists, conservatives, and libertarians.

      • rhywun

        Partial credit.

        NYC desperately needs more bus lanes, especially in packed areas where the subway doesn’t go. Otherwise sound.

      • Count Potato

        But “more bus and bike lanes” usually ends up being more money for more bus and bike lanes that never get built.

        There is shit from 9/11 that still hasn’t been fixed.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s effectively a religion, complete with a Devil but not a Savior.

      • juris imprudent

        Conforms to Hoffer’s thesis.

      • Pine_Tree

        Oh they’ve identified a Savior alright – and it’s them.

    • TARDis

      Violent felonies? So how are things going in Chicago so far in 2021? Oh look, they are about break 2020’s count during the first half of the year.

      But wait, what’s this, you say?

      • TARDis

        Oh piffle, that nary a difference.

        2021 belongs to Shitlanta.

        Atlanta – 2021

        Murder, 9 per 100,000
        Aggravated Assault, 166 per 100,000
        Shootings, 48 per 100,000
        Rape, 11 per 100,000
        Robbery, 51 per 100,000

        Chicago – 2021

        Murder, 7 per 100,000
        Aggravated Assault, 59 per 100,000
        Shootings, 32 per 100,000
        Rape, 24 per 100,000
        Robbery, 82 per 100,000

      • Animal

        Chicago’s really running away with the rape stat, though. Has anyone seen STEVE SMITH lately?

      • Gustave Lytton

        STEVE SMITH INTRODUCE CASCADIA BEEF TO SECOND CITY, AND BY INTRODUCE, MEAN…

      • PBRstreetgang

        We’re on pace for 553 murders this year in Philly! But Krasner has effectively already won re-election, so I guess enough people are cool with how things are going.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Jesus, Krasner’s going to survive this?

      • juris imprudent

        Everyone with the brains to notice has already left Philly behind?

      • PBRstreetgang

        Crazy right? But, he won the Dem primary about a month ago with something like 2/3 of the vote. Wasn’t even close.

      • rhywun

        That’s more than NYC and with 1/5 the population.

        Impressive.

      • db

        But, when we adjust for population and look at how likely you are to be a victim per 100,000 people, things change dramatically. The likelihood of being murdered in both cities is the same, 6 per 100,000 people. In Atlanta, you’re more likely to be a victim of aggravated assault {124 per 100,000} than in Chicago {21 per 100,000.} The same is true for shootings. The shooting rate is 34 per 100,000 in Atlanta and 24 per 100,000 in Chicago.

        Those numbers have nothing to do with the likelihood of an individual being the victim of one of those crimes. It’s not even interesting to note anymore, that they don’t drill down into the data any further than these kinds of aggregate stats. If they were to whittle it down to areas where the violent crimes happen, they’d probably find the rates are even higher than they’d like to think in both cities, while the majority of the residents are at low risk.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Because if they did that, they’d be lambasted as racists.

    • Akira

      “The media they control?”

      Some people have told me with a straight face that the media was unfairly hard on Obama and Hillary, so there’s that.

  7. juris imprudent

    Wonder if the Chinese will offer Bachelet a helicopter tour of Xinjiang?

    • Tonio

      [exaggerated mimed clap since you can’t hear anything over the “wukka-wukka” noise]

  8. Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

    AVP? Adult Video Production?

    • Ted S.

      Association of Volleyball Professionals.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Cue the ass-slap gif!

      • Ownbestenemy

        I will admit…I scrolled back a couple of days to remind me just now

    • Tonio

      Audio-Visual Poobah?

      • Trigger Hippie

        Aeronautical Viper Pony

    • db

      Articulate Veteran Pun-isher.

    • The Gunslinger

      American Virus Police?

  9. Trigger Hippie

    ‘Bachelet is under growing pressure from Western states to secure unfettered access to Xinjiang, where activists say more than 1 million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims have been held in camps, some of them mistreated or subject to forced labour.

    Beijing denies the accusations and describes the camps as vocational training facilities to combat religious extremism.’

    The best way to combat religious extremism is to arbitrarily round up an ethnic group, give them vocational training via unpaid forced labor and when they look ready to kick the bucket, strap them to a table and harvest whatever organs they have that still function.

    No biggie, move along.

    • Tonio

      Yeah, like she can just waltz in with her UN Diplomat (or whatever) Passport and as UNHCHR demand that. LOL

      I mean she could, but that an a yuan will get her a cup of hot tea.

    • The Other Kevin

      Wonder how far they are from having them all killed off, bulldozing everything, then letting observers in. “Camps? What camps?”

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      How do you say Arbeit Macht Frei in Cantonese or Mandarin?

      • TARDis

        死圆眼

      • TARDis

        Google failed me.

        圆眼

    • Suthenboy

      Soaring crime…by design.

      Keeping the food supply dangerously low is a fine line.

      “…finding that many funds in this category are failing to deliver on their promises.”
      Ya’ think? Turns out that a scam is a scam.

      So we are still drowning in an ocean of stupid.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      And I complain about having to get up once a night to pee…

      • Count Potato

        diabeetus?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Kidney stones. I drink a lot of water.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Ah, bummer. My best friend had them a few years ago so bad that they put stints in his pee hole and used some ultra sonic something or the other to bust them up after weeks of not passing them. He was a freaking mess.

        Good luck to you, sir.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        For me they’re avoidable if I stay well hydrated and don’t take a lot of Vitamin C.

        Things you learn the hard way.

      • Ted S.

        My dad had a 27mm stone in his bladder several years back. They had to do ultrasound to break it up before putting in the catheter to remove the smaller pieces.

      • TARDis

        I drink a lot of water

        #metoo

        And by that, I mean I use a lot of ice in my beverages.

      • Count Potato

        Oh, OK, sorry, I forgot.

      • Trigger Hippie

        I’m guessing middle-age. I suffer from the same condition.

      • juris imprudent

        Yeah I have high performance kidneys and a low volume bladder. Bad combo.

      • Fourscore

        Age related, make that 3-4-5-6, pick a number. OTOH. I need the exercise

  10. leon

    sscrew links, all my homies use mailers!

    Good afternoon Glibs!

    • db

      Wait, a grown woman needed another woman to show her how to perform oral sex?

      • db

        I mean, it’s not like it’s love rocket science.

      • Ownbestenemy

        The British aristocrat and former girlfriend of Prince Andrew claims Maxwell would ‘demonstrate how to give a blowjob’ and enjoyed telling dirty jokes…

        Demonstrating and teaching are two different acts. I am guessing Daily Fail is doing what it does best here.

      • Tonio

        I use demonstration as part of the teaching process whenever possible.

      • Tonio

        Generally, it’s lack of engagement with the process that’s the problem.

      • db

        Truth, yo.

      • Fourscore

        I laughed too

      • juris imprudent

        No sex please, we’re English.

      • Trigger Hippie

        I imagine the Brits notoriously stiff upper lips can cause a bit of damage to a fella if it’s not properly trained.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I just figured it was taught in etiquette school or when they went off to the monastery for a season to obtain their god-cred.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Remember to extend the pinky while cupping the scrotum, it’s classier that way.

      • Tonio

        [shakes head slowly] It’s not a classy act.

      • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

        And those teeth!

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      At least she still has her pride.

    • Mojeaux

      That’s a big nothingburger.

  11. rhywun

    Is this a correct prediction, or wishcasting? NYC Glibs, sound off!

    Depends on who goes out to vote. The primaries are notoriously low voting and the most eager voters are the ones furthest to the left.

    My scientistic prediction is that a bare majority of primary voters will have had enough of Deblasioism and will not select one of the several even crazier options that are on offer.

    My other prediction is that one of the less-crazy options – Adams or Yang – will win, and whichever one it is, they will cave to the far left in a New York minute. Adams is a bit a racist, and will probably prove eager to please that crowd, while Yang is just a loon who wilts at any controversy.

    • Sensei

      Concur with both.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Yang has never held elective office. He’s an amateur that would get steamrolled by the professionals and led around by the nose by his staff.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I made the mistake of reading his wiki bio. The guy couldn’t make six months as a new attorney bitch boy. His entire track record is pretty much quitting and giving up.

    • Drake

      When I go to the gym, I see the NYC news and ads. Are there any non-progressives running for Mayor. Each one seems more left-wing and batshit crazier than the next.

    • The Gunslinger

      Nope. Organic.

    • UnCivilServant

      60%?

      Does that mean 7% will have to start paying taxes?

    • leon

      Yeah. Anyone surprised that the guy who promised to raise taxes is going to raise taxes.

      If this guess through, along with the inflation, I’ll be making less money despite my raise from switching jobs this year.

    • Chafed

      The only outlets I have seen cover this are the Daily Mail and WSJ. I suspect most people have no idea what’s going on.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Kinda depressing that a British rag gives us better coverage on what our government is up to than our own media, ain’t it?

  12. juris imprudent

    You know who else mixed sports with politics?

    Hungary’s foreign minister has hit out at calls for the stadium in Munich to be lit up in rainbow colours for the Euro 2020 match between Germany and Hungary on Wednesday, saying politics should be kept out of sport.

    • Tonio

      Jack Kemp?

    • The Gunslinger

      Heath Shuler?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Jesse Ventura?
        /close enough

    • Rat on a train

      Manny Pacquiao?

  13. Pope Jimbo

    Minnesoda cripple fight!

    A story about how HOA’s are not allowing people to put solar panels on their houses and the heroic efforts of legislators to pass a law forcing the HOA’s to allow them. The item that caught my eye:

    Peter Teigland, who helped author the bill as a policy associate for the Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association (MnSEIA), a 501(c)(6) trade organization that represents more than 100 solar companies throughout the state, says that many HOAs were formed prior to the popularization of solar energy and often don’t know how to address installation questions.

    Nothing wrong at all with letting a guy from the solar industry write a law. RIght? At least the oil industry flacks keep their involvement hidden in the back rooms.

    • Tonio

      many HOAs were formed prior to the popularization of solar energy and often don’t know how to address installation questions

      Or maybe they just don’t want your damn solar panels, for whatever reason.

      As much as I hate HOAs, and the type of petty tyrants who are attracted to their leadership positions, cram-downs are not the answer.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      JHTFC

      Somebody turn their lights off on the way out.

      • Fourscore

        Playing Catch up with the Navy? Inquiring minds and all

    • Plinker762

      We used to have drag races on the runway. Oh, you mean the other “drag”.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Sure thing, they’re FUCK YOU and GO FUCK YOURSELF

    • TARDis

      “My kid is unsure of HIS orientation, and would like to spend some time with a female who is very young and looks nothing like HIS mother. He prefers a full sweater and the scent of applesauce. Thank you.”

      Damn, these people are fucked up.

    • Rat on a train

      How many transgendered, homosexual tomboys are in the district?

  14. Count Potato

    “Seattle Pride Event to Charge ‘Reparations Fee’ to ‘White Allies’

    “All are free to attend HOWEVER this is a BLACK AND BROWN QUEER TRANS CENTERED, PRIORITIZED, VALUED, EVENT. White allies and accomplices are welcome to attend but will be charged a $10 to $50 reparations fee that will be used to keep this event free of cost for BLACK AND BROWN Trans and Queer COMMUNITY,” the Facebook page for the event states.

    “Black trans and queer peoples are among the most marginalized and persecuted peoples within the LGBTQIA2S+ community,” the Commission wrote. “They often face shame not only from the cis-heteronormative community, but within the queer community at large as well. In making the event free for the Black Queer community, the organizers of this event are extending a courtesy so rarely extended; by providing a free and safe space to express joy, share story, and be in community.””

    https://timcast.com/seattle-pride-event-to-charge-reparations-fee-to-white-allies/

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Somebody’s got to pay for those CAPS

      • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

        STEVE SMITH BLACK AND BROWN! HE PRIORITIZE YOUR TRANS CENTER! AND BY PRIORITIZE HE MEAN RAPE!

      • Ownbestenemy

        We live in such a messed up world that I have been racking my brain on what CAPS were or I am tired.

      • Tonio

        Tired AND lame.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Lol

    • Ownbestenemy

      Well which one is it? $10 or $50? Or is there going to be a intersectionality pay schedule sheet to determine how much you must pay for your sad guilt.

      • juris imprudent

        $10 or $50?

        Same as downtown, right?

    • kinnath

      Not even the Bee can keep up with this shit.

    • Trigger Hippie

      I’d respect the organizers a helluva lot more if they just came out and said: “Keep your white asses at home. You’re not welcome.”

      Then again, I suppose they probably get off on guilt ridden white progs committing flagellation while paying for the honor.

      • juris imprudent

        That’s a lot of dommes in such a small part of the world.

      • Tonio

        You nailed it with your second paragraph, Hippie.

      • rhywun

        You’re not welcome.

        Message received loud and clear anyway.

    • leon

      Gee is nice how some groups can skirt public accommodation laws.

      • Tonio

        I’d love to see someone bring a civil rights lawsuit against them.

      • prolefeed

        Or, “I identify as a person of color.”

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      What’s the over-under on how many years this will last?

      How much do you wanna bet that your average white gay dude isn’t going to pay a goddamn dime so that a black gay dude can go for free?

      These people are a special class of idiot.

      • rhywun

        You’d be surprised. “Pride” was taken over by leftists a couple decades ago. Average white gay dudes don’t attend that junk any more.

  15. Shpip

    Apologies if drugs, ass, etc., — but federal bureaucrats are having a spat!

    Executive vs Judicial. Get your money down. This should be fun to watch.

    (MichaelJacksonEatingPopcorn.gif)

    • Ownbestenemy

      Hmm. That will be interesting. If the FedGov, especially the Executive, has already come out and said we will not ask your vax status, does a judge get to demand it from persons in their court room?

      Can a judge ask the USM if she was wearing proper panties that day so she can execute her job without them getting bunched in a wad?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Proof that men can be whiny bitches too

    • Tonio

      Yeah. This is going to be fun. Because USMS does basically three things. Federal prisoner transport and housing (often contracted out). Federal judicial security. Fugitive apprehension.

      Sure, Judge, fuck with the people that protect you.

    • rhywun

      U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann needs to grow a pair.

    • Ted S.

      Only three of them?

  16. UnCivilServant

    I don’t know if it’s fair to compare a seasoned actor against one at the start of their career, but Telly Sevalas demolished Sylvester Stalone in every scene they shared when the latter got a guest spot on Kojak. Even in the big emotive scene at the end Stalone gave off more hammy “I’m Acting!” vibes than “I’m really feeling these emotions.” While subdued in contrast, Sevalas make it seem more real.

    Poor kid (who’s older than I am)

    • Animal

      Telly Sevalas was one of the greats. Last Saturday Mrs. Animal and I re-watched Kelly’s Heroes again, and Sevalas really shone even in that great cast – a classic Telly Sevalas tough-guy part.

      “Big Joe, would you please stop callin’ me Barbara?”
      “That’s your name, isn’t it?”
      “But my name’s Babera!”
      “Shut up!”

      • UnCivilServant

        I haven’t seen that movie in a long time.

    • Agent Cooper

      First Blood, however, is a wholly underrated movie.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Maybe you should be asking why those people have been hectored into participating in the Great College Swindle in the first place

    On Monday, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Tina Smith and Edward J. Markey sent letters to the CEOs of all federal student loan servicers requesting information about the steps the companies are taking to transition millions of federal student loan borrowers back into repayments once the moratorium ends.

    “Millions of borrowers have had relief from their student loan payments and interest for more than a year during the Covid-19 pandemic – but they now risk being thrown into extraordinary financial hardship when their payments resume,” reads the letter, sent to CNBC Make It. “We support canceling $50,000 of debt for each borrower to relieve this burden on our economy, but in the interim, we are requesting information on how your company is preparing for this transition to repayment and the steps it is taking to ensure that it adequately supports borrowers.”

    What does that even mean?

    • Ownbestenemy

      It means, do what we want or we will kill your goose that laid the golden egg.

    • Gustave Lytton

      how your company is preparing for this transition to repayment

      Ramping up hiring in the nag calling and collections department.

      It’s the same with rental moratoriums. These people have gotten used to not paying rent for over a year. Are they going to suddenly tighten their belts and happily start paying again? Or were they socking away the rental payment equivalents for the past year to pay it back?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Both my teens got a tiny lesson in this. For two weeks, they both were working Sunday and their employer pays double for Sunday pay. They were gleeful and carefree with all this cash and I said, don’t get used to it. Now that they have had straight pay for a month they sorta figured out what I meant. Sorta. They are teens and little asshoes

      • Mojeaux

        My kid’s pretty good about saving money. She has goals to save for, however, and isn’t socking money away just because (yet).

        She bought a high-end computer (that she will need).

        She bought a car.

        Now she is saving to be able to move out.

        And oh, she got recruited to a different position at Walmart, which comes with a $3/hour raise.

        Socking money away for a rainy day is different from having goals, so I hope she can do so once she moves out.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Thats great! Yes we are teaching them both those…one for rainy day and other for things you want/need. One has a goal of $1500 bucks to fix up the Explorer and the other, I don’t know what he is saving for. I think for a mystery trip to AZ for some girl that is pushing all the right buttons.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Kids? I have been paying my bills bi weekly all year, and on August 9th, that paycheck is essentially free money, I have never done that before in my life.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Just make them dismissible in bankruptcy and the universities liable for a portion.

  18. Winston

    https://mises.org/library/origins-nazism

    But the number of these backward people was steadily decreasing. Economic prosperity and education spread from year to year. More and more people reached a standard of living which allowed them to care for other things besides food and shelter, and to employ their leisure in something more than drinking. Whoever rose from misery and joined the community of civilized men became a liberal. Except for the small group of princes and their aristocratic retainers practically everyone interested in political issues was liberal. There were in Germany in those days only liberal men and indifferent men; but the ranks of the indifferent continually shrank, while the ranks of the liberals swelled.

    ….

    They were forced to wait until the progress of prosperity and education could bring these backward people into the ranks of liberalism. Then, they were convinced, the victory of liberalism was bound to come.

    ….

    They knew that they could not establish popular government within a nation where many millions were still caught in the bonds of superstition, boorishness, and illiteracy. The political problem was essentially a problem of education. The final success of liberalism and democracy was beyond doubt.

    I find this article written by Mises fascinating as it does sum up why classical liberalism collapsed so quickly at the end of the 19th Century: they noticed some beneficial trends at the time and extrapolated them into the end of history.

    Basically their attitude was once the peasants move into the city, buy commercial goods and learn how to read then they will become liberals and eventually the liberals will have such a huge overwhelming majority that the aristocracy will have no choice but to surrender. This is why many classical liberals were so obsessed with public schools since it was assumed that public schools would produce liberals. This is why the universities were so beloved even by libertarians until recently: universities produced intellectuals and in the 19th century the intellectuals were liberal so it was assumed that the intellectuals will always be liberal do therefore everyone must go to university to be make everyone liberal. Surely there is no way a rich educated urbanite would embrace a totalitarian ideology, right?

    • Winston

      Modern libertarianism suffers from this exact mindset even today: the “free trade will liberate China” argument is pretty much literally exactly as Mises is quoted above.

      And many of the libertarian arguments about urbanization, trade and innovation seemed to be based on the assumption of the inherent libertarianism of the rich educated urbanite.

      Oh and Weed, Mexicans and Ass-Sex was predicated on the fact that back in 1960s these were very controversial opinions opposed by people libertarians didn’t like so it was assumed that if people supported these things then libertarianism will result. I mean Toronto has plenty of weed, gays and immigrants so it must libertarianism right?

      • Winston

        To phrase it another way: If Rothbard was told in the 1960s that in 50 years there would a large North American City with plenty of immigrants, gay marriage and pot stores yet you getting haircuts and eating indoors was illegal he would thought that impossible yet that is exactly what happened…

      • Suthenboy

        Those arguments are based on ignoring culture.

      • Winston

        Yes the big problem was that cultural values were ignored. Urban culture was liberal in 19th century so it was assumed it would stay that way permanently. Weed, Mexicans and Ass-Sex were quite progressive opinions 50 years ago so anyway who holds those views would always be a libertarian.

    • Suthenboy

      The battle in Germany was between communists and national socialists. Collectivist shitbirds all. The problem was that they both did not lose.

  19. BakedPenguin
    • Trigger Hippie

      Still, driving around in L.A. with an uzi? What a dipshit.

      • Mojeaux

        Felony stupidity, is what.

      • db

        Yeah, clearly the man could afford an MP5K.

    • BakedPenguin

      Chargers fans.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Heh.

  20. DEG

    Good luck on the phone screen.

    Gotham’s self-styled progressives are going to lose Tuesday’s Democratic mayoral primary, and they should be glad.

    I’ll believe they will lose that primary when I see it.

    The top United Nations human rights official said on Monday she hoped to agree on terms for a visit this year to China, including its Xinjiang region, to look into reports of serious violations against Muslim Uyghurs.

    I immediately thought of this.

    The South Korean politician said the ordinance, which has not been disclosed in North Korean state media, is a sign the food situation is dire in North Korea.

    Dire food situation in North Korea. Or, in other words, a day that ends in “y”.

    • creech

      Kind of gives a different slant on “a boat is a hole in the water into which you throw money.”

  21. DEG

    State withdraws fine against Bedford, NH bakery owner

    This is not your average overnight thread (ONT). We just received some great news that we need to share. The State of NH has dropped its fine against the Simply Delicious Baking Co. in Bedford. The business had been cited for failing to follow the state’s mask mandate.

  22. DEG

    Report from the NH State House

    This week, the House and Senate worked together to finalize bills amended by each other. I was assigned to four of these committees of conference, and three went very smoothly. For SB 133 and SB 104, omnibus bills on professional licensing and state employees respectively, we merely explained our amendment to the Senate and they agreed with us.

    HB 533, on how the lottery commission investigates gaming applicants, was a bit more complex: the Senate had (helpfully) expanded our language to charitable gaming operators, but inadvertently used the expired statute as a base rather than the current one. So we met to fix the reference and added some clarifying language on cost reimbursements as well. All very amicable.

    HB 417, on the governor’s emergency powers, was also amicable but not as productive. We met three times, agreeing on the Senate language for fiscal oversight and notifications, with a few tweaks. It soon became evident that we disagreed on whether or not the legislature needed to vote to continue a state of emergency.

  23. Brochettaward

    So today the Supreme Court unanimously whacked the NCAA in an antitrust case about capping benefits schools can offer student athletes. Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion in which he eviscerated the NCAA’s business model:

    On Monday, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court (when is the Supreme Court ever unanimous on anything?) ruled against the NCAA on the question of whether the antitrust laws apply to rules restricting the benefits that any school may offer to student-athletes.

    The outcome is narrow but the future implications could be very broad. For now, schools must be permitted to compete for student-athletes by offering educational benefits beyond undergraduate tuition, room, board, fees, and books. Enhanced education-related benefits from a given school no longer can be regarded as prohibited by the NCAA, a rule that in the opinion of the Supreme Court violates the antitrust laws.

    Justice Gorsuch delivered the opinion for the nine-member Court. A concurring opinion (basically, an agreement but an articulation of different reasons) from Justice Kavanaugh has gotten and will continue to get more attention than the primary submission.

    In his concurring opinion, Justice Kavanaugh essentially calls the NCAA what it is, and what it has been for decades: A golden-egg factory that refuses to properly compensate the geese.

    “The NCAA has long restricted the compensation and benefits that student athletes may receive,” Justice Kavanaugh writes. “And with surprising success, the NCAA has long shielded its compensation rules from ordinary antitrust scrutiny. Today, however, the Court holds that the NCAA has violated the antitrust laws. The Court’s decision marks an important and overdue course correction, and I join the Court’s excellent opinion in full.”

    https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/06/21/supreme-court-rules-against-ncaa-in-landmark-antitrust-case/

    What’s funny to me about all this is that there are a number of people on the left who will cheer this decision on, but who haven’t even begun to think about about the ramifications for Title IX and female sports which are completely subsidized by their male counterparts. Particularly football and basketball.

    • TARDis

      Does this mean college fees will soon double? Or maybe triple to cover the girls?

    • ruodberht

      That’s an odd article. SCOTUS is unanimous pretty frequently, and why would a concurrence (thus, all dicta) receive more attention than the majority opinion (you know, the…actual holding)?

      Some 1L write that?

    • rhywun

      (when is the Supreme Court ever unanimous on anything?)

      Um, often; including several times in the past couple weeks.

      Those cases don’t often make it into TMITE, though.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Usually a unanimous decision indicates a narrow one without sweeping consequences.

      • rhywun

        And most of the ones I read about are inside-baseball stuff that makes my eyes glaze over.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Or a terribly shitty decision but it comports with legal establishment’s view of the world.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Once again, circling the drain and SCOTUS is there flush it some more. Add “college” “sports” to the list of things I used to enjoy but am happier without.

    • Grummun

      I’ve thought for a long time that the big money college sports (football and basketball) cannot continue to exist in their current form. Eventually, those athletes will get paid actual salaries, with contracts and benefits (and probably a union). There’s just too much money in it, and the bulwark of “amateur athletics” and “student athletes” excuses that the ADs and coaches are hiding behind is slowing being chipped away. I think there is a fair chance that when universities have to actually absorb all the costs and liability of operating a sports league, they’ll have to give it up, and you’ll see a private league that licenses the college name and logos.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        It’s deceptively close to that already. Besides a variable amount of cost sharing and benefit sharing between them, the athletic department and the school aren’t all that connected. There is oversight, but that would exist to some extent even with a pure licensing agreement.

  24. DEG

    The Clown Prince doesn’t like libertarians parts one and two.

    • Suthenboy

      ….aaaaannd that’s why I dont like labels.

  25. DEG

    It was a good Bike Week

    Bike Week 2021 was great “public safety-wise,” Laconia Police Chief Matt Canfield said Sunday, “but it’s probably the busiest one I’ve seen attendance-wise in the last three to four years.”

    Canfield has worked the rally as a law enforcement officer since 1993.

    “We had 17 accidents the first weekend and I’d probably guess that was double for the week, but the good news is very few of those had injuries and we had zero fatalities,” Canfield said of the event, which ran June 12-20.

    As their final Bike Week lodgers cleared out Sunday, Ava and David Doyle began getting ready to welcome the largest number of post-rally guests in their 28 years of owning and operating the Sun Valley Resort.

    Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Doyles said they have been non-stop busy for nearly a year.

    The couple’s business on the corner of Roller Coaster Road and Route 3 in The Weirs was filled for Bike Week and is booked solid for the summer.

  26. trshmnstr the terrible

    *checks out employer provided health insurance portal*

    Sure enough, they’re tracking my vaccination stafus…

    • TARDis

      Mine’s not even using my health insurance. I have not admitted to taking the jab, so I must get daily harangues via email. I could lie, but I’m too stubborn.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        It’s not a lie, it’s a fib, because it’s none of their damn business. Don’t let them use use your honesty to string you up.

      • Mojeaux

        Or, as Agent Sloper put it, lying to tyrants is a moral imperative.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Whatever works as a motivator but the truth isn’t owed.

      • TARDis

        Was told today that if just 10 more people would get stuck, we will be mask free. sCiEnCe!

      • blackjack

        I am vaccinated. I will not be telling anyone what I’m vaccinated against.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m guessing stupidity.

      • Sean

        I need a booster.

    • DEG

      Countdown until the vaccine is required to receive health insurance….

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s a penalvax!

    • westernsloper

      Being a lawyer, how do you feel about this sort of intrusion? Apparently the state of CO is tracking all of us here. As I have mentioned before, I wish I was not such a lame ass and had became a lawyer because the lawsuits thrown at the Government, state and fed, are not near enough.

    • rhywun

      “Sometimes your testicles get in the way,” Hubbard said. “That’s just something we gals have to deal with.”

      *snort*

  27. rhywun

    The South African woman who claims she gave birth to 10 babies at once has been admitted to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation amid growing speculation over whether she was ever actually pregnant with decuplets.

    Hoo-boy.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Higher intelligence has some caveats.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Wouldn’t a belly with that many people in it sag a bit?

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      OctoMom +2!!!!!

      • rhywun

        Or -8

      • blackjack

        Childhood TV taught me that 8 is enough.

      • Ted S.

        How quickly you forget adding Jeremy in the final season.

        I didn’t realize Jeremy was played by Ralph Macchio, who turns 60 in November.

  28. Gustave Lytton

    Jeremy Andrus is a piece of shit of the worst sort. And that shit for brains thinks after torching and trashing the company, I’m going to buy one of his China grills if he just ramps up the advertising? Not in this lifetime. Someone should do the world a favor by chopping him up and throwing him into one of his products for 10-18 hours.

    • TARDis

      Ms. Sithole.

      No comment needed.

      • TARDis

        #38 ^

    • The Hyperbole

      Google was no help, what did he do?

      • westernsloper

        DDG says he is CEO of Treager grills. No idea what he did but I would never buy one of those overpriced contraptions.

      • The Hyperbole

        Yeah, I was wondering exactly how he “trashed and torched” it, also I agree with your assessment of the overpriced contraptions, for that kind of money you could buy two proper pizza ovens.

      • westernsloper

        Not me. I bought a $700 welder to make mine and that is not even getting into the price of the steel that went into it. And then the electric one I bought for the bug out food truck operation so I have a bunch of money into pizza ovens. Still a better investment than a Traeger grill.

  29. westernsloper

    “Most of the so-called sustainable investments that are currently being offered are actually damaging the climate,” complains Greenpeace.

    Kind of like flying private jets to climate conferences?….?’s

    Thanks for the links Swiss!

    • Ted S.

      Unsustainable government is killing the planet, yet these people never call for less state.

      • westernsloper

        This here may be the only good comment you have ever made Ted. This moment should be marked down in the Glib history book.

      • Ted S.

        Hateful. Every comment I make is outstanding!

      • westernsloper

        Ok ok, you make some good ones, the music links though………….

      • blackjack

        Yeah, Ted’s’s comment’s are mostly pretty good.

    • Suthenboy

      Watermelons are solid gold assholes? Who knew?

    • blackjack

      It’s all a scam. For these people to succeed, we all gotta hate one another and fear for our future. Greenpeace is just one move in that direction. The best way to double down is to make such a claim. Racism, climate change, insurrection, ad infinitum. These are all just means of sowing fear and distrust. The more of that we have, the more apt the bold plans of the commies are to come to fruition.

      • westernsloper

        Having restarted my audible subscription, to make Jeff Bezos a bit more money, (if anyone knows a better audio book app I am all ears) and so I could finish David Goggins book while doing mindless things, once I finished his book I started dipping into the unheard library I have. The Road to Serfdom is on now and things have not changed since the 40’s is my take so far.

      • Suthenboy

        1840’s? 1740’s? Those shitbirds have always been with us.

      • Agent Cooper

        I still have 13 hours on the Gulag Archipelago. Fun stuff!

        Should be required reading for all with a pulse.