Saturday Morning Heated Links

by | Jun 26, 2021 | Daily Links | 216 comments

 

SP is out of town, it’s ungodly warm, I have to do yard work and pick up two weeks worth of dog shit. Did I mention the heat? Well, at least it dries up the dog shit relatively quickly. Not much to be done about SP’s absence.

Birthdays today include a guy who had an STD named after him; a guy who, despite his name, actually organized the stars; the guy you can blame for the existence of George Steinbrenner; a woman you can blame for Panda Express; a guy who killed a lot of Brits; one of the elite of Baltiomre and cousin of the most interesting man alive; the most creepy and delightful actor in Hollywood; a talented woman who would be pushed aside in today’s sports world; a non-entity who made a career from marrying well;  a hilarious and under-utilized actor (who according to one of our actor friends is an absolutely delightful guy); a guy about whom I don’t give a shit because he was a Yankee; and a piece of shit who did one great thing– caused SP to drop her lifelong fandom of the Steelers.

That said, let’s Link.

 

Team Red got their asses handed to them. And we pay.

 

This is… intriguing.

 

And the locals will still call it LSD.

 

“I really, really want to be swinging from a lamppost.” These people are just absolutely terrified of losing power.

 

Now we can see if it’s as tacky on the inside as it is on the outside. The Khashoggis would be proud.

 

Could this be the worst human being on Earth?

When I saw Thursday morning that a condominium building had partially collapsed near Miami Beach, the first question I had wasn’t if anyone had died (that was second), but to wonder why the building had collapsed in the first place. Really, it was to wonder if a building collapsing in Miami would be investigated as a potentially climate change–related disaster.

 

Elliot might be in the running. “It’s all about ME.”

 

Old Guy Music is a wonderful song from a delightful collaboration with an… odd theme. Death Row.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

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

216 Comments

  1. Yusef drives a Kia

    nothing built by man will survive the Ages, even the pyramids wear down.
    /Water, the Universal solvent

  2. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Fun fact about Chuck Robb, he is or at least was a total coke fiend.

    My ne’er-do-well cousin went on a bender with him back in the 90’s.

    • Old Man With Candy

      I suddenly like him more.

  3. I. B. McGinty

    “Zaharias was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald J. Trump”

    Sexist!

  4. The Late P Brooks

    In the U.S., President Joe Biden said Covid deaths nationwide will continue to rise due to the spread of the “dangerous” delta variant, calling it a “serious concern.”

    He warned that Americans who are still unvaccinated are especially at risk.

    “Six hundred thousand-plus Americans have died, and with this delta variant you know there’s going to be others as well. You know it’s going to happen. We’ve got to get young people vaccinated,” Biden said Thursday at a community center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

    It’s coming for you! Pray to the Doom Gods. Make offerings. Take the Holy Sacrament. Wear the ornamental regalia.

    • Tres Cool

      Gee, and only a bit over a year ago, the CDC was predicting something around 3 million deaths.

      • Suthenboy

        The fuckers haven’t told the truth yet, why would they start now?

      • Rat on a train

        Their actions saved 2.4 million American lives! They could have saved more if not for the kulaks and wreckers.

    • Lackadaisical

      Eh, isn’t the whole problem with the delta variant that vaccines don’t seem as effective against it?

      • Suthenboy

        Who knows? They have done nothing but tell us lies and cook the numbers.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      Numbers will continue to rise? No shit. That’s what cumulative numbers do

  5. Tres Cool

    Id think that in the dry, oven-like, Arizona heat, dog shit would rapidly desiccate into something like a biscuit.

    • mexican sharpshooter

      Yes. Right up until it finally rains.

    • Tres Cool

      I was wondering if you were gonna link it. Since I was just reading it.
      You made it my Saturday morning ritual, Yufus.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Great minds and Tall Cans Tres,

    • TARDis

      I always save these for Monday mornings at work. They’re good for my morale.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Always a nice read to some morning coffee. Thanks Yusef for bringing light into the world

  6. The Late P Brooks

    Really, it was to wonder if a building collapsing in Miami would be investigated as a potentially climate change–related disaster.

    Everything is a nail global warming.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    But I don’t feel any more resolved than I did a day ago. In saying in their sentencing memo that “no sentence can undo the damage” of Chauvin’s actions, prosecutors could also have been describing our collective, grim knowledge that no criminal trial can absolve an entire nation’s sins around race.

    Blood guilt. It never goes out of style.

    • rhywun

      Wow. What a POS.

    • Lackadaisical

      “our collective, grim knowledge that no criminal trial can absolve an entire nation’s sins around race.”

      ‘This will never stop, no matter what.’

      • Chafed

        His comments give away the game. All whites are guilty and nothing will make things right.

  8. ruodberht

    Good news, though, the guy who killed George Floyd already died!

  9. Sean

    Mornin y’all.

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, Sean! I’m doing my iced mocha lattes today & tomorrow. Finished up the “Mocha Light” and had to top it off with the less light/more sugar Mocha the curbside pickup people gave me by accident. Oh, well! If that’s the least of my dietary sins this weekend, that won’t be too bad. 😀

      • Tres Cool

        Im working towards beer #4

        Miller Lite, since the bastards are ending production of my Diet Beast.

      • Gender Traitor

        Oh noes! No DB???

        I had a Mich Ultra at Taffy’s in Eaton the other night. Very low-carb, and pretty tame, but tasted OK to me. Granted, I’m not much of a beer drinker, but if it’s low-carb you’re after…

      • Tres Cool

        I like it, but its not cheap. Given the ridiculous and un-healthy amount of beer I go through, a quick cost-benefit-analysis has me sticking with my bottom-shelf brew.

        I may go full-Briar and see if I can handle the ‘Natti Light.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Lite Ice, keep the ABV up young Man!

      • The Gunslinger

        Natty Daddy is always a good choice.

      • Tres Cool

        Eaton used to have “The 230 Club” right downtown, and we affectionately referred to it as “The 230 Pound Club”.
        I spent a lot of money in that place.

        /off to mow- fuck the neighbors

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        We still have some up here, should I ship you some?

      • Sean

        I keep looking at that knife I suggested to you. I haven’t ordered it yet…but it’s probably gonna happen.

      • Gender Traitor

        Ooh! Could you link that again, please? I ended up putting all the “free money” from my work rewards program toward my friend’s cancer treatment GoFundMe, but I DID like that knife!

      • Gender Traitor

        Machos Garcias!

      • Tres Cool

        I have a couple of these laying around.

        Akshually, Im shopping for an EDC boot knife if anyone has recommendations for such a thing.

      • EvilSheldon

        Whoa, Tekna is still around? I had one of their diving knives when I was like 8. Broke it in half using it as a throwing knife.

        My recommendation for an EDC boot knife is to not carry knives in your boot. Seriously. It’s uncomfortable, and also the least accessible place to carry something you might need in a hurry.

        For a defensive knife, my recommendation depends on your style. Do you prefer edge-in, reverse-grip styles? You should have a Shivworks Clinch Pick. If you come from a boxing background and prefer a forward grip, get a Ka-Bar TDI Investigator. If you don’t know or care and just need a cutter, try the ESEE Izula.

      • Tres Cool

        Im a shirt-tucker @ work, so wearing anything belt-hip related will likely startle the employees.
        They already dont like my “flip-open” boxcutter. But to be fair, Im pretty sure many of them have a robust criminal history and have spent time in a place where they could get “shanked”. Ask me about the guy that wears pants with 1 leg shortened to the knee, and “crip walks” when he’s in front of people.
        I have to bite my tongue cause it only reminds me of Groucho Marx, or Bugs Bunny doing Groucho Marx.

      • EvilSheldon

        There are tuckable knife sheaths that will work with a fixed-blade knife.
        https://www.bladehq.com/cat–Architect-Sheaths–2308

        Or, maybe a pocket sheath?

        Or a slip sheath? I’ve used a slip sheath and dummy cord to walk a ceramic knife right through a metal detector.
        https://jerkingthetrigger.com/2016/06/08/simple-knife-carry-hack-the-static-cord/
        https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/deep-concealment-options-for-the-non-permissive-environment

        But I’d try to get in the habit of wearing my shirt untucked. It looks a lot better for most guys.

  10. Sean

    “Vaccine alone won’t stop community transmission,”

    Honk honk.

    Fuck these people, with an AK bayonet.

    • ruodberht

      Yeah, they’re prepping to close shit down again, or so it seems, doesn’t it?

      • rhywun

        Been assuming it for months.

      • Sean

        I’ve stockpiled excess liquor in preparation.

      • Gender Traitor

        That reminds me – I’m working on the last bottle from the case I bought a year ago April from our favorite local winery. Time to lay in another, I suppose. Happily, we’ll be there next weekend for a benefit.

      • DEG

        I have noticed empty shelves again at my grocery store.

      • Gender Traitor

        When I ordered some BBQ for company this weekend, the gal who took my order warned me that they’d sometimes had trouble getting burnt end/tips. (Beef shortage?) She didn’t call me yet to warn me and adjust my order, so fingers crossed that it’ll be there with the pulled pork and brisket when I go to pick it up later today.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Honestly, they know they can’t. So they’re trying to use intimidation tactics to cow the population into obeisance.

      • EvilSheldon

        I really hope you’re right, but I’m going to assume that you’re wrong.

        I’m not quite ready for society to collapse completely yet.

      • Sean

        “but I’m going to assume that you’re wrong.”

        Anti-semite!

  11. The Late P Brooks

    Unity

    Reveling in his bipartisan win on infrastructure Thursday, the president declared that he would not sign the deal he’d just endorsed unless a separate bill including his other domestic priorities arrived on his desk, too. Whether deliberate or not, the comment set off a cascade of events in and out of the Oval Office that had aides putting out fires the next day and raised questions about the future of their prized $1 trillion bipartisan deal.

    ——-

    By mid-afternoon, the fury over the president’s remarks had subsided for some after an afternoon phone call between the key Senate negotiators on the package. But others remain frustrated, and the episode underscores the delicate nature of both the deal itself and the relationships among the principals involved. Even for Biden — who proudly touts his capacity to glad-hand — it has proven difficult to maintain consensus among a small group of moderate senators from both parties.

    That may be because the path to passing either of these plans is painfully thin. While Republicans scoffed at Biden for pledging that he would only sign the infrastructure bill “in tandem” with another reconciliation package that Democrats expect to pass on their own, liberals cheered him on. After months of fears that they would lose out on some of their top priorities if the White House worked with Republicans, the president had provided them with a clear path forward for moving climate change legislation, Medicare expansion and many more progressive priorities.

    Inside the White House, there is a belief that Senate Republicans outside the group of negotiators are keen on finding any means they can to kill the deal. And senior Democrats portrayed Republicans as feigning outrage over something they should have known to be the case all along.

    “Some of this is performative – those Republicans presumably read the occasional newspaper and knew that the 2-bill thing was the only ticket,” Third Way’s Matt Bennett wrote in a text. “So I think they’ll get over their shock (SHOCK) at Biden’s making it plain.”

    They have a mandate. When will those dopey Republicans stop squealing and knuckle under?

    The Democrats have a wish list.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      “The Democrats have a wish list.” Maybe so, but they can’t kill us all, they still need wage slaves,

    • Brochettaward

      There’s never a shortage of Republicans willing to turn coat and negotiate with the Dems in the spirit of bipartisanship. Even after they get humiliated time and time again, they just sit there on their knees lapping it up and begging for more.

  12. rhywun

    Could this be the worst human being on Earth?

    I was expecting Kamala but OK.

    • Chafed

      I was expecting her or Fauci.

  13. Tres Cool

    “This month a car bomb was detonated at a military base used by the 30th Army Brigade in Cucuta, injuring Colombian troops and U.S. military advisers.”

    Of course we have people down there, still.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      We have people everywhere.

  14. Suthenboy

    “Miami is particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise—some estimates in Miami suggest it’s seen a foot of rise in the past century, half of that coming since the 1990s” <—–Horseshit

    • Tres Cool

      “Six Inches from the 90s”

      Band name, album name, or Gay Pride float theme ?

      • DrOtto

        +12 inches of Snow

    • Suthenboy

      More horseshit: Floyd killed himself with a drug overdose. Dead man walking before the cops arrived.

    • EvilSheldon

      Why is sea level rise since the ’90s something that needs to be estimated? I would think that it could easily be measured, if one actually wanted accurate numbers…

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The only rational reason is that the actual numbers don’t further the narrative.

      • Suthenboy

        Or one could watch old episodes of ‘Flipper’, note the shorelines and compare them to photos from the same spots today.
        I bet you cant tell the difference.

        Greenies or Gun Grabbers, who are the biggest liars?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Didnt someone do that with the G7 photo of today to one from the 50s or 60s? And nothing was noticeable

      • Suthenboy

        I dunno. I remember seeing a comparison of two from MA that were 100 years apart. They were identical.

      • l0b0t

        You are spot on, it’s horseshit. Stiltsville was a regular childhood haunt for my parents and ,later, me. There are structures there – stilt houses in the water, that have been there for over a hundred years.

      • Urthona

        Wattsupwiththat.com actually had a nice analysis on this some years back.

        https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/12/07/miamis-vice/

        Essentially, a large part of Miami was built below high tide sea level and parts are sinking as well. Even so, nothing has really been taken by the ocean. It’s just a money waster.

    • Urthona

      Miami was supposed to have been destroyed by Climate Change 20 years ago.

      • BakedPenguin

        Instead, Miami had to wait for Chinese construction to take it down, condo by condo.

        Obama bought a house in Martha’s Vineyard that’s on the ocean, maybe 6 ft. above sea level. I’m sure he believes in global warming as much as Greta.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Finally, along those lines, the entire saga reminded me that success in two worlds I inhabit — media and the law — requires a level of personal separation from the underlying subject matter of the work. That distance, on stories like this one, comes at a cost. While, as an analyst, I have more latitude than my journalist colleagues to bring my personal perspectives to the work, maintaining any level of distance from material that is so deeply personal and intense has been, to make a bit of an understatement, a challenge. Today, as ever, I am grateful for the platform, endlessly saddened by the subject matter, and concerned about the future we must all share.

    Sure. Those guys on the news desk keep things strictly on the up and up. No bias whatsoever. They would never dream of letting their personal opinions sneak into the coverage.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      what the Hell was that? High school talent show? for slow Children?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Way Cool! hot chicks and Surf music, thanks!

      • Grummun

        The Surfrajettes are solid.

        This was in the sidebar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8tO3kIfF1U

        I didn’t figure out until about half way through that it’s all the same girl and video tricknology.

      • The Last American Hero

        I love how they use a retaining wall block to hold the bass drum in place. Buy a decent set of spurs for your kit.

      • Rat on a train

        Somehow appropriate for SNL.

  16. Lackadaisical

    @EvilSheldon

    Okay, I’m gonna do some victim blaming here.

    If Hurley was actually holding the bad guy’s AR when the responding cops showed up? Then he done fucked up fatally. It’s still not a good shoot, but I’m not sure what else the cops could be expected to do.

    *sigh* Come at me, line forms to the right.

    I don’t disagree that Hurley probably shouldn’t have been holding the AR, but if just being a guy holding an AR is a death sentence that is kinda fucked. As far as what I would expect the cops to do? If he wasn’t brandishing the gun, and just holding it, I would think they’d tell him to drop it, rather than just pump him full of lead. Presumably Hurley wasn’t pointing the AR at the cop who killed him.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The cops fucked up royally.

      That said, this is like the wearing a miniskirt, tank top, and no panties to the prison block party. If you’re openly holding a gun when the cops roll up on an officer down situation, the odds are not in your favor.

      • EvilSheldon

        As I sometimes like to say on first dates, “We avoid victim blaming because it’s the nice and kind thing to do, not because the victim isn’t usually responsible for their situation.”

        This saves me a lot of time on second dates.

    • Tundra

      I would think they’d tell him to drop it, rather than just pump him full of lead.

      Tamir Rice says hi.

      Bad shoot. As usual.

      • kbolino

        At this point, I assume 99% of the time, no one in a group of cops is willing to put their life on the line to save a non-cop. I don’t especially have a problem with that, on its face, since most other jobs don’t demand self-sacrifice.

        But that means they’re hired security, doing the bidding of their paymasters, and not the “thin blue line” between civilization and chaos. They’re not noble servants, they’re not conscripts, they’re not apart from us mere civilians, they’re just mercenaries. Mercenaries have a place and a use, but it’s not one of honor. It’s just a job.

      • EvilSheldon

        ‘Hired security’ is the direction that the police are moving towards, without question.

        To my mind, that means they should have the pay and social standing of security guards as well, but my opinion doesn’t seem to count for much these days.

      • kbolino

        After reading Ozy’s piece on the PRC, I think all else being equal I understand where he’s coming from and agree insofar as an honest populace is better as neighbors and countrymen than a head-in-the-sand populace. Though I think the Mainlanders may have been a bit more cynical than honest, and that played its own part in Xi’s rise through “fighting corruption”. A black-pilled cynic can be manipulated almost as easily as a pollyanna. If everybody thinks the government is totally corrupt, they might latch on to a strongman who promises to clean it up, and look past the part where, sure, a corrupt official is ousted, but an equally corrupt crony is put in his place.

        To the point at hand, what used to infuriate me about most Americans is that they have mastered the ability to write off any time a government employee nakedly shows what they’re actually doing or motivated by as an “isolated incident” and then return, in a Gell-Mann sort of way, to believing the rest are pure as the driven snow. The basest of them chalk it up to party politics, where “our” people are good, and “their” people are bad, as though God Himself sorted all the good and bad people according to party affiliation.

        Everybody who works for the government does it for a paycheck, one way or another. Some get paid directly from the treasury, some get paid through an intermediary like a contracting company, and some get paid via kickbacks. Nobody survives an internship, never mind a decades-long career, without some notion of what the game is all about. You have a boss or ten, your bosses have bosses, and you’re all responding to incentives. The government is a tool, democracy is a force, and a force cannot wield a tool. If you don’t know who’s actually calling the shots in a government, and it’s always a person or committee of select people not the whole body of “the people”, then you have no reason to claim to know the direction towards which the tool is being pointed.

        But say things like this and you’re labeled a “conspiracy theorist” even though this explanation is far more accurate than the fairy tale version of government.

    • EvilSheldon

      Not holding an AR, per se, but holding an AR at the scene of a multiple shooting where the shooter was (probably, but it’s reasonable speculation) reported as having a shoulder weapon.

      To continue the speculation, the cop probably did order Hurley to drop the gun. No way to be certain, but I’ll bet it went down something like this – Hurley just shot the asshole five or six times with his own pistol. Asshole is down, Hurley goes in for some reason to secure his weapon. He’s amped up on adrenaline, and since he’s just fired a gun with no hearing protection his ears are ringing like hell. Still focused in on the dead asshole, but now he starts to hear someone yelling at him? He turns around to see what’s going on, and…bang.

      Bad outcome, but all the elements of a justified shooting are present. The whole ‘Ability, Opportunity, Jeopardy’ trifecta doesn’t have to be objectively true, it just has to be reasonable at the time.

      I will say that this bad outcome probably wouldn’t have happened if either Mr. Hurley or the cops had taken adequate force management training.

      • Lackadaisical

        We’re both just engaging in conjecture at this point. It could have happened this way, but it seems at least as likely to be a bad shoot too. There’s too many instances of mistakes to take the police at their word, and their delay in releasing details makes them look worse.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    It’s still not a good shoot, but I’m not sure what else the cops could be expected to do.

    Take a breath, let it out, assess the situation? Did Hurley even see the cop, or did he get drygulched?

    • Lackadaisical

      I didn’t see any video of the event, but since they seemed to downplay the language about how he was holding the AR, rather than any other descriptor, I am guessing it doesn’t look good.

    • EvilSheldon

      If I’m responding to a situation described to me as, “White male with a rifle is shooting people,” and I come upon a white male with a rifle standing over two dead bodies? I would say that my assessment that, “This guy with the rifle is the bad guy,” is a pretty reasonable one.

  18. Scruffy Nerfherder

    I was going to chip up a tree and mow the grass today, but it’s frikkin’ pouring.

    • DEG

      I read the opener as “Full eyes, clear tops”.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Collateral damage

    The one-month extension of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium was welcome news for tenants but another nail in the coffin for some struggling landlords.

    Groups representing landlords had been lobbying hard to end the moratorium and now warn even another month will put some of those landlords out of business.

    “Each passing month further escalates the risk of losing an ever-increasing amount of rental housing, ultimately jeopardizing the availability of safe, sustainable and affordable housing for all Americans,” wrote Bob Pinnegar, CEO of the National Apartment Association, in a release. “Flawed eviction moratoriums leave renters with insurmountable debt and housing providers holding the bag as our nation’s housing affordability crisis spirals into a housing affordability disaster.”

    The majority of the nation’s landlords are individual investors. They own about 23 million units in 17 million properties, according to the U.S. Census. More than 6 million renter households are behind on rent, also according to the Census. Landlords have next to no recourse.

    Tough luck, Shirley.

    The Democrats need votes, but they don’t need yours.

    • Suthenboy

      Is it really collateral?

  20. Tundra

    Good morning, Old Man!

    Excellent Old Guy music, today. I was supposed to see Foucault at one of my favorite venues until the ‘rona and the riots fucked that up. Hopefully I’ll get to see him someday.

    I hope you all have a fantastic Saturday!

    • Old Man With Candy

      He puts on a great show and seems to be a stand-up sort of guy. One of our friends sent him (at the time) his latest album for an opinion. He got back a note from Jeffrey saying, “I’m rolling up a joint on the CD case while listening. This is very very good.” And Foucault ended up producing his next album. This story permanently endeared him to me.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    The one time it might have been better if the cop had just huddled down behind his cruiser…

  22. The Late P Brooks

    “This is the most excessively and overly broad taking of private property in my lifetime,” said Hunter. “The eviction moratorium is killing small landlords, not the pandemic.

    The end justifies the means, Scrooge McDuck.

    Equity! Justice! Votes!

    • Suthenboy

      They are trying to recreate the USSR. Hunter just thinks he is seeing the most excessively and overly broad taking of private property in his lifetime. If we dont put the brakes on this he is in for a big surprise.

      • kbolino

        They don’t have the vision to create the USSR. There’s no Lenin, there’s no Stalin. You can’t rule-by-committee your way into that. You can rule-by-committee your way into a similar or worse degree of general immiseration, though.

      • Suthenboy

        A Stalin always appears. Look at Venezuela. Theirs was a former bus driver.
        Set the dominoes up and they will fall.

      • kbolino

        I won’t say it’s impossible for somebody to come along at the 11th hour with a plan, but Venezuela had Chavez as their Lenin to Maduro’s Stalin. There was a vision from very early on and a single person to carry it out, poor health notwithstanding.

  23. zwak

    Army street in south San Fransisco it will always be. Not Cesar Chavez.

    And you can really tell who is from there just from that. Same thing in Sacramento with MLK, which of course runs through which part of town? Chirs Rock really nailed that one.

    • Rat on a train

      Jean Baptiste Point DuSable Lake Shore Drive? WTF?

      • rhywun

        Rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?

      • Surly Knott

        Much like a boomerang curry after hours of excessive drinking.

    • KSuellington

      Heheh, I still refer to it as Army Street most of the time, especially if I am talking to native SFers or old timers.

    • slumbrew

      Locally, it will always be Dudley Square to me – “Nubian Square” is just cringey.

      • rhywun

        OMG you’re kidding.

        *googles*

        I can’t even.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    They don’t have the vision to create the USSR. There’s no Lenin, there’s no Stalin. You can’t rule-by-committee your way into that. You can rule-by-committee your way into a similar or worse degree of general immiseration, though.

    Harris is our Chavez-in-waiting.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      She’s more of a Maduro, an incompetent that weaseled their way into power.

      I’ll give Chavez credit for making himself popular enough to take over.

      • Chafed

        Comparing Harris to Maduro seems unfair to Maduro.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Those things pale in comparison to the shit they’re forcing down the throats of the school districts. Boys are to be allowed into the girl’s locker rooms based solely on their affirmation that they are actually female.

      • rhywun

        One wonders if any of those clowns actually support this stuff, or are just terrified of the woke mobs.

        Hmmm ?

      • kbolino

        I don’t think they’re terrified of the woke mobs, I think they’re unable to articulate a reason (that they can accept, believe, and say out loud) why the woke mobs are wrong. Whether it be the Twitter mobs or the literal mobs of Antifa, the average blue-pilled blue-stater has been programmed to be susceptible to their arguments and accusations. Obviously, this programming was put in place to serve the elite rather than the mob, but like Mao and the Red Guards, sometimes things get a little out of hand, and even a fool can figure out how to push a programmable button.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The only positive thing about this is that the electoral backlash in November for Virginia is liable to be massive.

      • Chafed

        It won’t be long before some members of a boys team declare they are female and use the girls shower. Because that’s how teenage boys shitlord.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    She’s more of a Maduro, an incompetent that weaseled their way into power.

    I’ll give you that. She’s definitely a coattail-rider. Left to her her own devices back in the day, she’d probably be eking out a living doing small claims court work.

    • Suthenboy

      I see her as a hooker with a straight razor in her garter belt.

  26. mexican sharpshooter

    and a piece of shit who did one great thing– caused SP to drop her lifelong fandom of the Steelers.

    Huh. Its not Ben Rothesberger.

    • Brochettaward

      SP was Steelers fan who married a Ravens fan. She was never that serious.

      Roethlisberger did nothing wrong. I’d expect libertarians to look past the headlines and look at the substance of the accusations.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        I can look past unsubstantiated claims. But given his other activities off the field suggest he’s incapable of controlling impulsive behavior, I’ll consider the claims against him are probably substantive.

        I’ll give him points for not spending the next ten years doing the Jesus thing like Ray Lewis following murder charges.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        *substantive but unprovable.

      • Brochettaward

        What other off the field behavior? Riding a motorcycle without helmet and getting hit by a Buick? That means someone is a rapist or likely rapist?

        The first claim in Nevada – the woman in question spent months bragging to coworkers and friends that she had sex with Ben Roethlisberger and even talked about moving to Pittsburgh to start a relationship with him. The most embarrassing thing for Roethlisberger was that he slept with an ugly, and crazy hotel worker.

        The one in Georgia? There was no proof that any sexual contact occurred. The girl in question told her friends for hours that nothing happened and did not want to call the cops. Her friends spent hours encouraging their very drunk friend to do so. She initially told the police that nothing happened. No charges were filed because there was never any evidence of rape. And what the DA did with his grandstanding press conference announcing no charges would be filed but in which he castrated Roethlisberger for his behavior was utter bullshit.

        Despite media speculation, there is zero evidence Roethlisberger ever paid either a dime.

        Yea, it’s a bit creepy following a drunk 19 year old girl or whatever she was into the bathroom. I’d expect a star NFL QB to be going after a higher quality of pussy. But the story that she was too drunk and hit her head, so he called it off matches the actual evidence and the decision not to even press charges.

      • Old Man With Candy

        She was never that serious.

        Are you fucking kidding?

      • Chafed

        He wasn’t first this morning so shit stirring will have to do.

      • Brochettaward

        I don’t know SP or how serious she is about her sports fandom. So yes, I am kidding.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Must propaganda harder

    Reuters interviewed 14 unvaccinated people aged 36 and younger in Cochran County and neighboring Hockley County this week. Concerns about the speed with which vaccines were developed and a general view that younger people were less likely to fall ill were the most cited reasons for not taking the shot.

    “COVID is not a hoax, I’m not one of those people, I’m not an anti-vaxxer,” said Michelle Martinez, a 27-year-old working at the R&H Grill in Morton. “But these vaccines were just developed extremely quickly. I’m not going to take it.”

    Getting younger adults vaccinated is an important tool in eradicating the coronavirus in the United States, said infectious disease official Anthony Fauci, especially with the impact of the more transmissible Delta variant.

    Natural immunity is a hoax. This is the most communicable and lethalest virus ever. Unique in the annals of medicine. If you don’t take the doomsday cult sacrament, you will die.

    • Suthenboy

      Despite what we know about pathogens this one will keep getting more and more communicablest, deadliester, and lethalister than ever.
      Hide under the bed until any remnant of a free market and private ownership is crushed.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Well when it has been manipulated or engineered we can safely say we do need to throw out what we once knew about pathogens.

        I’m digging my dive into being a conspiracy theorist

      • Suthenboy

        Nature always wins. Whatever has been manipulated or engineered into will be undone. No matter the starting point it will evolve to be less dangerous, not more.

      • Lackadaisical

        You’re right about it being engineered, I’m convinced of that. I also think SB is correct that it should become less lethal with time.

    • creech

      DOJ has offices in buildings all around the country. If anyone really cared, there would be demonstrations outside all of them with “Who Murdered Ashli Babbitt?” signs. Except for Jan. 6th, it is pretty evident that great numbers of libertarians and conservatives just don’t have the moxie and organization to put their lives on hold for a few hours and challenge the injustice of her murder.

    • TARDis

      I sincerely hope the person holding that sign either has a come to Jesus moment, or dies slowly, painfully, and alone in a ditch. I’d prefer the former, but the latter is acceptable. If I was suffering from terminal illness [REDACTED]

      The cop who shot her is a chickenshit murderer. That is all.

      • Suthenboy

        Astroturf.

        It’s almost as if the ‘insurrection’ is an invention designed to turn protesting serfs into villains then use it as a pretense to crack down.

      • Tres Cool

        I dont know about down there in hurricane country, but I mentioned a couple weeks ago that each time I look at my local news, anyone getting shot by anything is a headline. Hell, they’re even linking shooting articles to other cities (Chicago, DC, Baltimore).
        This is the set-up for “see all this? Something must be done!”

    • Tonio

      It’s like hell freezing over.

      Also a bellwether that we are well and truly fucked if even Mr. Totality-of-Circs went out of his way to say that.

    • kbolino

      Biden’s old enough that he ought to have to fall on his sword for the apparent failure of the original version of this, EEO, from working.

      But as I think Viking once pointed out here, it’s perpetually the late 19th century to a modern progressive, so the fact that this has all been done (repeatedly) before doesn’t even register.

      • Akira

        it’s perpetually the late 19th century to a modern progressive, so the fact that this has all been done (repeatedly) before doesn’t even register.

        Exactly. You see this in countless areas.

        1. “Our government does nothing to address X! We’re the only developed nation that still struggles with this! If only our government would take some action, this would be over tomorrow.”
        2. Enact giant program that fails to solve the problem and probably makes it worse
        3. Go back to Step 1

      • Tonio

        2a. Finally admit program is a failure, but blame it on Republicans who didn’t fund it enough.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    That’s not how any of this works

    Michael Fanone, a D.C. Metropolitan Police officer who was attacked and injured by insurrectionists during the January 6 Capitol riots, said “I need a drink” after his Friday meeting with Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

    Fanone requested the meeting last month. In the meeting, he reportedly asked McCarthy to denounce the 21 Republican members of Congress who voted against awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to police officers who defended the Capitol during the riots.

    Fanone also asked McCarthy to reprimand Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde for saying that the Capitol riots looked like a “normal tourist visit.” Lastly, Fanone requested that McCarthy disavow Republican conspiracy theories that the FBI was involved in causing the riots, CNN congressional correspondent Ryan Nobles reported.

    “I asked [McCarthy] specifically for a commitment to denounce [those comments] publicly, and he said that he would address it at a personal level with some of those members,” Fanone told reporters after the meeting. “But again, I think that as a leader of the House Republican Party, it’s important to hear those denouncements publicly.”

    Fanone said that, in his mind, McCarthy didn’t agree to any of his requests. When asked why Fanone said, “I need a drink” after his meeting. The officer explained, “This experience for me is not something that I enjoy doing. I don’t want to be up here on Capitol Hill. I want to be with my daughters.”

    “Here is my list of demands.”

    “That’s nice. I’ll put it in the fire- I mean file- with the others.”

    • kbolino

      Liberal democracy is an unelected, unappointed, unaccountable bureaucrat with a badge telling an elected representative what to do, with the full backing of the free press.

    • Tres Cool

      So some cop shows up to a meeting demanding “denouncements” and “reprimands” ?
      Surely, he wasnt put up to that. I mean, with that beard and those neck tattoos? I hate to pre-judge, but I wonder if he can spell reprimand.

      • Lackadaisical

        The nation is just a few steps away from Salem witch trials level craziness.

      • Suthenboy

        A few?

      • Gustave Lytton

        He should be fired on the spot for those unprofessional tatts. And then fired again for insubordination (Congress is the paymaster and ultimate authority where he’s a DC or fed agency cop), attempted intimidation, strongarm robbery, and whatever else.

    • slumbrew

      “This experience for me is not something that I enjoy doing. I don’t want to be up here on Capitol Hill. I want to be with my daughters.”

      Then stay the fuck home and stop talking to reporters, you narcissist.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    And we were so close

    President Biden vowed Friday that the US and Afghanistan would have a “sustained” partnership after American combat forces leave the country — but warned Kabul’s top two leaders that “Afghans are going to have to decide their future.”

    Biden made the statements during a meeting at the White House with Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, chair of the High Council for National Reconciliation.

    “The partnership between Afghanistan and the United States is not ending,” Biden insisted.

    He later added: “Our troops may be leaving, but support for Afghanistan is not ending, in terms of … helping maintain their military, as well as economic and political support.”

    The visit to Washington came at a crucial moment for Ghani and Abdullah. Peace talks with the Taliban have stalled, while battlefield gains by the Islamic fundamentalists have raised fears that the US-backed government could collapse within months without American military support.

    A few trillion dollars more, and Afghanistan would be a happy, peaceful prosperous democracy.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Face shocked.

    • Suthenboy

      So they have figured out that we have had our fill of the war pretense and they are transitioning to ‘aid’ in order to loot the taxpayer. Ownbestenemy and I share a shocked face. Where is my fainting couch?

      • Tres Cool

        All they need to some “advisors” to give them Levi denim jeans, and rock & roll, and they’ll stop that tribal BS and have free, open, elections.

        Duh.

      • Suthenboy

        The Levi jeans program will look just like the Clinton Foundation’s aid to Haiti. They will be lucky if they get more than 3 cents on the dollar of the money allotted to it.

      • Grummun

        Which is pretty much the point. We give foreign aid to other countries so they can spend it on politically connected American contractors, consultants, suppliers, etc.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    Ghani also met Friday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as well as House Republican lawmakers, one day after sitting down with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Following their meeting, McConnell claimed Biden had “chosen to abandon the fight and invite even greater terrorist threats.”

    Shut the fuck up, Mitch.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Bless her heart

    McHugh has been charged with eight federal crimes. He has not yet been formally indicted or entered a plea.
    On Friday, a federal judge decided he would be too dangerous to release from jail as he awaits trial.
    Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the DC District Court railed against McHugh during his detention hearing. She said actions like his have blemished the reputation of American democracy.
    She said the siege has given “fodder to unfriendly nations to criticize this democracy.”
    She also noted that McHugh was strategic in leading the pro-Trump mob at the police line and toward the Capitol.
    His attorneys had argued he wasn’t a threat to the community, lived a stable life with his family and didn’t intend to hurt anyone at the Capitol. His attorneys say he is not part of any organized right-wing extremist group, either.
    Howell has repeatedly commented on the broader national implications of pro-Trump rioters violently attempting to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote.
    “This is not an incident that happened even a year ago, and this is fresh in the mind of the American people,” Howell said on Friday, noting that the consequences of the attack have far from subsided. “January 6, 2021, was not that long ago.”

    It’s good to know the Bill of Rights takes a back seat to her personal political outrage.

    That’s what “nation of laws” means.

    • Akira

      She said the siege has given “fodder to unfriendly nations to criticize this democracy.”

      Oh no! Other nations previously had no reason to criticize the United States before this!

    • Brochettaward

      The pearl clutching of the left and hysteria pushed by the media in response to what was an almost entirely peaceful protest is what has given fodder to our enemies.

      Sort of like how after 2016 when the left started labeling dissenting opinions from their own as hate speech and fake news was emulated by dictatorships and strongmen the world over.

    • Gustave Lytton

      So much for the pretense of impartial judiciary.

  32. CPRM

    Since SP is on the road, to any other PTB, New cartoon submitted to be scheduled.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    CPRM (and any other students/aficionados of film)-

    Have you ever seen the movie “Red Garters”?

    It’s… innovative and interesting. In a good way.

  34. DEG

    The World Health Organization on Friday urged fully vaccinated people to continue to wear masks, social distance and practice other Covid-19 pandemic safety measures as the highly contagious delta variant spreads rapidly across the globe.

    How about “NO” and “Go Fuck Yourself!”.

    I know that as traumatizing as it was to watch the video of Derek Chauvin’s actions in George Floyd’s final moments, I certainly wasn’t prepared for what was coming. That feeling of having to live with this story, some days around the clock, continued on through the state’s decision to bring charges, and on to jury selection, trial and Friday’s sentencing.

    This was written by an adult male? WTF?

    • Urthona

      I keep looking at the covid tracker and laughing at these pronouncements. I don’t think you could get covid if you tried right now.

    • EvilSheldon

      Gender is a construct, but being a giant pussy is etched in the bone.

      • Suthenboy

        ^This^ is going in my saved comments file.

    • Hyperion

      Look, we can’t be letting people get used to not wearing masks. They might get all uppity and start believing they are safe and that they don’t have to obey the governments every tyrannical edict at all times.

      People can’t just do whatever they want, that’s anarchy!

  35. Urthona

    I’m breathing a little easier today knowing that we’re all just a bit safer from unarmed grandmothers wandering around public places taking selfies.

    • Urthona

      Just too painful for me.

  36. rhywun

    Interesting. About 3/4 of folks outside are still diapered (except people sitting or standing next to each other and talking), but I just did some full-frontal grocery shopping and nobody batted an eye.

    • Gender Traitor

      Met up yesterday with a couple of old friends we hadn’t seen in years. Went to a tiny coffee shop. The only masked person I saw was a YOUNG, waifish woman who came in briefly just to pick something up. I certainly hope she had some pre-existing condition other than mental illness that provoked her to wear a mask well after the mandate has expired here.

      • egould310

        The mask mandate in WA state ends on the 30th.

        90% of the doofuses in my neighborhood still wear masks outdoors. I don’t understand why. I don’t really understand what is going on. I’ve got a paranoid notion, and I don’t like it.

      • Suthenboy

        Being paranoid doesn’t mean people arent after you.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They’re wearing them because the state has neutered their brains. They are incapable of getting past the fear of either the virus or the social stigma associated with defying the social norm.

        Ponder that and what it means about your neighbors when the state comes for you or any other wrongthinker while you’re on the Tree of Woe.

      • Hyperion

        By the millennials get a couple of decades older and many of them are running everything, we are truly fucked. They’re sheep, nothing more. The government will be able to do whatever they want with no questions asked. If they tell them to wear three masks even when they sleep and eat, they’ll do it. The biggest national pastime will be spying on your neighbors 24/7 waiting to find something for which you can report them to the government. They’ll receive badges for it and the ones with the most snitch bling will be the most popular pop heroes. They’ll have their own primetime shows and will give advice on how best to rat out neighbors, friends, and family.

      • rhywun

        This grocery store is the solitary business I have seen in two states that allows it.

      • DEG

        I was at a bar for lunch last weekend. I saw a family where the adults weren’t wearing masks, but the kids were.

        Yesterday I stopped by Whatabagel in Nashua for some bagels and to congratulate the staff. The state dropped the fine against them for violating the Clown Prince’s emergency orders. There was a woman with her kids waiting for their order. The woman and her kids were all wearing masks. I made sure she heard my congratulating the staff on their win against the state because I’m that type of asshole.

  37. egould310

    I was debating on whether to run or not. It’s maximum sunshine and already pretty warm. But I decided to run anyway. Went to put in earbuds; both sets of earbuds were dead. It’s a sign that I’m not supposed to run today.

    Guess I’ll go round up some donuts and coffee instead.

    Morning, Glibs!

  38. The Late P Brooks

    I just did some full-frontal grocery shopping and nobody batted an eye.

    Nice.

    • rhywun

      I was also one of two freedom-fighters. Well, three if you count the other guy’s toddler.

      • Chafed

        Kudos to the toddler.

  39. straffinrun

    Just got off a call with a couple Japanese friends that I’ve known for 28 years. Hadn’t seen them in ten or so years. One of them tries to tell me that white people in Japan are treated “amai” (liked, or with kid gloves). He basically goes on and on about white privilege how I personally have benefitted from my skin color. Finally, I exploded on the motherfucker. Blah, Blah, how would he know what I’ve been through and how would he know the supposed advantages I’ve had? I’m about ready to pop a blood vessel as I’m dropping F bombs on a guy that I considered a friend for a quarter century. The wife overhears the conversation and takes me in the hallway and tells me that she has heard the same racist stuff from her co workers and friends for years.

    So, I’ve lost what I considered a life long friend and have a new found respect for my wife. Do these people even think about the implications their ideology has on people that aren’t the target of their ire? I wouldn’t have been nearly pissed off as much if it weren’t for the implications of what he was saying about my wife and kid. Fuck these people.

    • Suthenboy

      I am a bit surprised to hear accounts of the Japs falling into the politically correct trap. This is about a dozen times I have heard it.
      Everyone should go back and read Boberson’s article on envy.

      • Gustave Lytton

        PC on the surface appears to be about being polite and considerate of others. I can see how that’s appealing. The grievance mongering and systemic privilege is far beyond that, but at the same time, even more appealing. It gives a justification for fairly common racist beliefs and actions. You’re not feeling that way because you’re a jerk, it’s because they deserve it.

      • Gustave Lytton

        See the cartoon at the top of the page for another example of that.

        People are people. And not just the nice parts.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Sorry man.

      I’ve cut a few people off in the last couple of years. I’ve also found that I have more common ground with others that I did not know about.

    • slumbrew

      What, you’re enraged by someone claiming “you’re going through life on ‘Easy’ mode”?

      That’s not insulting at all…

      • straffinrun

        You guys (Scruffy, Suthen and Bro) all have good points. It’s all so insane to me given I spend every day taking care of and making money for a wife and kid that aren’t white. It’s infuriating.

    • Brochettaward

      Curious. Is any of that mindset based on some cultural influence? Or is a homegrown viewpoint?

      And what are the implications exactly for the wife and kids? That they are privileged as a result of being married, or is it something about race mixing?

    • l0b0t

      That’s a shame; I had a somewhat similar experience, but it lead me to leave Derpbook so that’s a plus. I was under the impression that the giant-nosed round-eye was treated, at best, to eye-rolling exasperation (just point to the picture on the menu and stop holding up the line) to, at worst, open disgust (US military in Okinawa).

    • DEG

      Sorry.

    • Sensei

      Sorry man.

    • BakedPenguin

      I’ve lost what I considered a life long friend and have a new found respect for my wife.

      Sorry for what you’ve lost, happy for what you’ve gained. It’ll be more important to you in the long term.

      FWIW – I don’t blame you at all for getting pissed.

  40. Scruffy Nerfherder

    I’m confused.

    In a FB LP group, I’m complaining about how the NIH pushed expensive on-patent drugs to treat COVID (remdesivir) with almost no evidence and how they also are setting an impossibly high standard for off-patent drugs (ivermectin) to be approved for use and how it’s harming patients.

    Supposed LP member responds: How is it harming you?

    Somebody help me out here, is legal standing required to observe and comment on illogical and harmful behavior?

    • Akira

      Supposed LP member responds: How is it harming you?

      Goddamn dude. Is this one of those “libertarian socialists”? Or is it a Tony/AmSoc type who shows up just to stir up shit?

      “How is it harming you” is a perfectly good objection to proposals to crack down on private, personal behavior, but not to government denying people the right to obtain medication while subsidizing others with tax dollars.

  41. DEG

    Report from last Thursday’s NH House session

    Two parts made me laugh:

    We learned that just before the vote on HB2, House Majority Leader Jason Osborne took a moment to thank the Democrats who spoke in opposition. In a kind gesture of recognition for those Democrat speakers who lamented for the past hour about the budget, Majority Leader Osborne said, “I’d like to thank the last 20 speakers for so thoroughly selling me on House Bill 2, they kept impressing on me how many taxes we were cutting and all the businesses we were helping. Who could vote No?”

    and

    We learned that bill HB542, regarding the protection of religious liberty during a state of emergency, passed 205-158. During the debate, Rep Tim Horrigan (D -Durham) decided to ramble on for quite some time giving us a history of the Grateful Dead and some other unrelated verbalization of his stream of consciousness. Thank goodness it will all be printed in the House Permanent Journal by a vote of 254-104. A Grateful Dead album and pussy hat may be a prize to the winner who can figure out what it was that he was trying to convey.

    • slumbrew

      [T]hey kept impressing on me how many taxes we were cutting and all the businesses we were helping. Who could vote No?”

      That’s some quality shit-lording.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    So, I’ve lost what I considered a life long friend

    That sucks.

    I dread to think of what sort of stupid shit I might hear if I went to a college reunion.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      You have no idea. The one encounter I remember most clearly.

      Jewish woman bragging about her teenage kid wearing a pussy hat and attending marches led by Linda Sarsour and other notable pro-Semitic persons. Complete with spittle-flecked denunciations of anybody who doesn’t hate Trump.

  43. The Late P Brooks

    I can barely even talk to my brother. I made the mistake, last time, of saying something about how much it bugged me to see young (20s) healthy people wearing masks for no reason. He said they’re probably just afraid “you conservatives” are putting them at risk with your anti-vaxxer-ism.

    Yeah, okay. So how’s Mom doing?

    • straffinrun

      Honestly, I don’t get it and never will. Family and friends before politics. To have that backwards is anti human.

      • Akira

        It can get difficult when a family member or friend starts accusing you of being a bad person for saying that a policy is a bad idea.

        I’m the political black sheep in my NYT-reading, NPR-listening, Democrat-voting family. I think we all have an unspoken rule that if the conversation starts to get even remotely heated, change the subject.

        I try to be very subtle about selling them on libertarian ideas. That’s probably the only way to get through to a hardcore believer anyway. If you criticize someone’s closely held beliefs too bluntly, they just feel attacked and go on the defensive.

      • Hyperion

        I get it. They’re sheep. They’ve been programmed to be afraid and to obey.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    How is it harming you?

    It’s pissing me off.

  45. rhywun

    I just heard that Wales fans aren’t allowed to enter Europe to watch their team play Denmark, because spite I guess.

    • R C Dean

      I thought the Welsh could go to Europe if they were current on their rabies shots.

      *ducks, runs*

      • rhywun

        Yeah, I don’t know if rabies has the same respect for the EU border that the coof apparently does.