Wednesday Afternoon SugarLinks – Cannibalism Perk

by | Jun 16, 2021 | Daily Links | 273 comments

In the Heights’ Light-Skinned Cast Fails to Do Latinx Communities Justice

In the Heights, director Jon M. Chu’s cinematic adaptation of the 2008 Broadway smash hit, has received praise for its refreshing and multidimensional representations of the Latinx diaspora. But ever since the first trailer premiered in 2019, the film has cultivated some backlash, even prompting a public apology from its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. The problem: the film’s lack of dark-skinned Afro-Latinx folks in lead roles, which critics have since called out as a product of colorism and anti-Blackness in Hollywood—and in Latinx communities as a whole.

The clip from the film’s initial trailer features protagonist Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) narrating the barrio’s gentrification while shots from the movie’s bigger dance scenes play in the background. All the Latinx leads featured in the trailer are white or light-skinned, where dark-skinned Afro-Latinx people are seen in the background of the hair salon or in the many ensemble dance groups.

Though critiques of the trailer circulated on social media at the time, the pandemic ended up delaying the release of In the Heights a full year after that initial trailer. But with the renewed press cycle, the criticism once again came to the fore.

“Where are all of the leading dark-skinned Afro-Latinx folks?” wrote The Root’s Felice León, just ahead of the film’s June 11 release, in reference to both the original trailer and more recent, updated ones, including an early look at the film’s first eight minutes. “Granted, the trailer (and film) showcased Black dancers and there were certainly Black women in the hair salon, but where are the dark-skinned Black Latinx folks with a storyline?”

 

Having pried through the strata, analyzed to a hair, counsel’d with doctors and calculated close,
I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones.

-Walt Whitman

Did you think this would just end with those dumb old white people? The cannibalism never ends, Mr. Hamilton. Eat, eat, eat, shit and eat more. Hahahahaha.


 

Progressive Wash state politician threatened to blow up school bus, called children ‘cowards’ as they fled

An employee of Seattle, who has been called a “social justice warrior” and is now a progressive candidate for the King County Council threatened to blow up a school bus, then called middle school students cowards as they fled.

According to court documents obtained by The Post Millennial, Ubax Gardheere boarded the Highline School District bus on Jan. 12, 2010 as it travelled on its morning route. Once aboard the bus, which was heading to Chinook Middle School, Gardheere demanded the driver tell his dispatcher “that a national security incident was going on.”

Gardheere then began yelling at the children about America’s relationship with Somalia, according to police reports. An audio recording of the incident demonstrated that when the driver told Gardheere to leave the bus she said, “You need to calm yourselves down ’cause I could have a bomb. Look how loose my clothes are.”

Deputy Prosecutor Gretchen Holmgren said students were afraid for their safety and as students fled through the rear emergency exit of the bus, Gardheere began screaming that they were “cowards” for abandoning their classmates.

Holmgren wrote the court, “While speaking with the middle school students, the defendant stated that she might have a bomb and might have a gun. When students attempted to escape out the back of the bus, she called them cowards and told them they would be responsible if something happened to their classmates. Several students believed she had a weapon of some kind and many feared for their lives.”

According to a detective with the King County, Gardheere told the arresting officer she was “prepared to die.” However, no weapons were found in her possession. She eventually pled the felony charges down to a gross medemeanor [sic] before trial.


 

New Rick James doc reveals how penis-wielding coke binge helped Lionel Richie

 

 

He’s Rick James, bitch — and don’t you ever forget it.

That classic Dave Chappelle catchphrase is exactly the kind of emphatic statement that the late “Super Freak” funkster made in one encounter revealed by his former manager Kerry Gordy in the new documentary “Bitchin: The Sound and Fury of Rick James,” which premiered Tuesday night at the TriBeCa Film Festival and will be available to stream on TriBeCa at Home beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Gordy — eldest son of legendary Motown Records founder Berry Gordy — vividly describes how James, frustrated by disappointing sales for his 1982 album “Throwin’ Down” and its accompanying tour, marched into the office of then Motown President Jay Lasker to deliver his next LP. Then he proceeded to pour coke onto Lasker’s desk, snort it, jump on top of said desk, take out his penis — and shove it in Lasker’s face while yelling “Sell my goddamn record!”

The album was Cold Blooded (1983). The title track is about Rick James’ relationship with the actress Linda Blair.

Cold_Blooded_(song)

Rick James began dating Linda Blair in the fall of 1982. In early 1983, she aborted their baby then informed him she had been pregnant after the procedure. James was hurt by her decision.[1] He wrote “Cold Blooded” about Blair. “It was about how Linda could freeze my blood,” he wrote in his memoir.[2]

During one of Blair’s visits to James’ home in Buffalo, he took her to his recording studio.[1] She was interested in learning how to write music so he fired up his synthesizer and absentmindedly began noodling with the keys and came up with the bass line. Running with the idea, he played all the instruments on the track.


Vince Neil leaves stage, says voice is ‘gone’ during festival

Maybe he ate it.


One of the few Pearl Jam songs I like and the video is fantastic.

About The Author

SugarFree

SugarFree

Your Resident Narcissistic Misogynist Rape-Culture Apologist

273 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    “She eventually pled the felony charges down to a gross medemeanor [sic] before trial.”

    WTF?

    • SDF-7

      That response works to pretty much all the links. Especially the Rick James one.

      Ok.. maybe not for Vince Neil… but the rest, yes.

    • Count Potato

      On a related note, that crazy black guy who shot people for being white men (but also shot a black woman) isn’t being charged with attempted murder.

    • Not Adahn

      She claimed post-partum depression.

    • Chafed

      My thoughts exactly. Either she had a psychotic break which may mean she isn’t responsible or she is a felon.

      • slumbrew

        Serious question – can psychotic breaks be a one-off? Assuming it’s not substance-abuse related?

      • C. Anacreon

        If it’s from bipolar mania, it can be controlled and kept rare. Many successful people have been able to live full lives despite bipolar disorder by keeping on meds and recognizing impending episodes; there can be long intervals of remission. Schizophrenia, however, is much more difficult and would be more persistent. But yes, many substance intoxications can cause one-off psychotic episodes, especially meth and hallucinogenics.

  2. Ted S.

    Linda Blair’s a very freaky girl….

    • Count Potato

      Well, she was possessed.

    • Tonio

      The original chick who sleeps above her covers. Three feet above her covers.

    • PBRstreetgang

      She also dated Rick Springfield (when she was only 15!) as well as Tommy Shaw. Man, the 70’s were WILD.

      • C. Anacreon

        She dated Tommy Shaw?
        You’re foolin’ yourself if you don’t believe it.

      • The Hyperbole

        She must have had too much time on her hands.

  3. DEG

    Gardheere then began yelling at the children about America’s relationship with Somalia, according to police reports. An audio recording of the incident demonstrated that when the driver told Gardheere to leave the bus she said, “You need to calm yourselves down ’cause I could have a bomb. Look how loose my clothes are.”

    Deputy Prosecutor Gretchen Holmgren said students were afraid for their safety and as students fled through the rear emergency exit of the bus, Gardheere began screaming that they were “cowards” for abandoning their classmates.

    Gardheere sounds nice.

    • Tonio

      Click through to the link and watch the video of her 2017 Inauguration Address. It’s the voice of crazy.

      • Tres Cool

        Imagine her + coked-up Carrie Fisher in a tawdry lesbian tryst, a la “Girls Gone Wild”.

        /I may retire to my bunk

      • Chafed

        Are either of them big enough for you?

  4. Mojeaux

    Well, Vince isn’t the important part of that band anyway.

    My ulcers and I say good afternoon to Glibertopia! Propofol is a helluva drug.

    • Count Potato

      Are you OK?

      • Mojeaux

        Yes, thanks. But I now have a medication regimen that was described to me as my “new second job” for the next couple of months.

      • Count Potato

        Glad you’re OK. Sorry about the drug regimen.

      • Animal

        Sorry to read that, Mojeaux. Hope everything works out.

      • DEG

        Sorry Mojeaux.

      • Sean

        Oof. Sorry to hear.

      • Agent Cooper

        Sorry. Hope everything works out quickly.

      • db

        I hope that goes well! Sorry you have to go through that.

    • Tonio

      Ugh, sorry Mojeaux.

    • Not Adahn

      That’s what they murdered Michael Jackson with, isn’t it?

      • Mojeaux

        Don’t know, but it’s so funny that when you sleep, you are still aware of time passing. Getting put under is a trip when you’re waking up with no sense of time passing.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I enjoyed the 10 seconds before I went under for my recent endoscope.

      • Sensei

        Yes.

        From my minimal reading about it, it was quite the accomplishment as therapeutic and fatal dosages differ by some order of magnitude.

      • Bobarian LMD

        In a normal person, but I believe Jackson had built up such a tolerance that the therapeutic dose was not too far off.

    • Agent Cooper

      We had a client who made a machine to administer Propofol. We were coming up with campaigns to sell it.

      Then Michael Jackson died.

      • Mojeaux

        Yikes.

      • Sensei

        So your client just beat it?

      • Agent Cooper

        Yeah, they didn’t want to be startin’ something.

      • Swiss Servator

        None of that!

        *narrows gaze*

      • Bobarian LMD

        Swissie Jean is no pun lover…

      • Not Adahn

        Dammit, that doggone pun is mine!

      • db

        He’s just a dude that says we can’t write a pun
        But we’re just havin’ fun.

      • Bobarian LMD

        And a cat-butt ain’t much fun.

      • Tres Cool

        She’s livin’ off the wall

      • Animal

        Sounds like a thriller.

      • Grumbletarian

        You all are bad.

      • blackjack

        They are. Because it should be alphabetical, or at least, numbered. It’s as easy as ABC, 1,2,3!

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Is the most important member Tommy’s?

      • Mojeaux

        Let’s ask Pamela…

    • Ask your doctor if BEAM is right for you

      Be well, Moje.

      • Mojeaux

        Thanks. It’s all good. That time of life where your body nickles and dimes you. It’s just going to be inconvenient for a while.

    • blackjack

      At least Vince has never had that problem before, amirite?

      • blackjack

        For contrast here’s Triumph, same day, same stage.

  5. Stinky Wizzleteats

    My favorite Rick James story is he was in a band with Neil Young for years (I was unaware until recently). I expect crazy coke fueled Rick James stories but I didn’t expect that.

    • PBRstreetgang

      The Mynah Birds. Rick James had a crazy ass life.

      • Bobarian LMD

        It’s in the article. Apparently the manager of the band reported Rick for desertion (from the Navy) and ended the relationship.

  6. trshmnstr the terrible

    OT: Buying a car sucks. If one more salesape tells me “come on down for a test drive and we’ll talk about it” when I ask for a price, I’m going to buy the damn thing from carmax just to spite them.

    • Sean

      I enjoy car shopping. *shrug*

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I’d enjoy it more if I could get a dadgum all-inclusive quote from somebody. I don’t want to drive 4 hours to end up getting nickle and dimed for another $5k when I could get the same final price at the place down the street.

        I don’t know how many times I’ve said “out the door price” today, not to receive a single damn out the door price.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        If you have a Costco membership or Geico insurance, both have a no hassle quote service. We’ve bought a car with one of each. You’ll get a bunch of OTD quotes back from participating dealers, no games, and a set price for any add-ons.

        The pricing is very good. It costs the dealerships little to sell the cars this way, and they usually have a non-commission or fixed price commission internet person that handles the actual sale. I’m assuming the advantage is it bumps up the dealerships’ monthly/quarterly total vehicles sales to hit goals and get manufacturer incentives. The finance manager will of course try to fleece you though, even if paying cash. One Toyota FM actually told me I was taking food from his kids’ mouths when I wouldn’t fall for any of their scams.

        I could have shaved off another few hundred dollars to get absolute rock bottom pricing by emailing ten dealerships, selecting the top 5 for a new round of quotes, and then playing the final 3 against each other. Not worth it though.

      • Fourscore

        “One Toyota FM actually told me I was taking food from his kids’ mouths”

        Heard that from a real estate sales guy

        “My kids have to eat too”

        He had the contract all ready with a 6% commission, I said 2, we settled at 4 but he didn’t sell the property anyway, I still have it and its appreciating

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I loved it when I would contact the selling agent directly and they’d try to take the entire 6% commission. Lol, no.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        If you pay more that what car dealerships pay for the vehicle, youre doing it wrong.

        The Double walk out helps. Candy line up not help so much.

        Even in kungfu hysteria times, there are still vehicles that sit on a lot that the dealership wants to move.

    • Tonio

      I’ve had consistently good experiences with them. Not great, but also never a bad experience.

    • Drake

      I gave it up long ago and refuse to shown up or even speak to them until they give me a price through Edmunds, Carmax or the like.

    • Agent Cooper

      Walk out. That’s the best tactic to getting a better deal.

      • Ownbestenemy

        It can be. We walked out when my wife was buying her work truck and as I was backing out of the spot the guy ran out and said “they got creative and found that $4000 they can strip off the price.”

      • Fourscore

        He talked to the sales manager, right? I once stood up and offered my hand and said I was going to the next town over. Then he made a trip, bathroom/coffee shop and got the the OK from the sales manager…

      • Pope Jimbo

        A coworker just bought a new car and he said that inventory is so low now that they are charging msrp and getting it.

        But as far as walking out, that is your only leverage. Everything else is tilted in favor of the dealership. Walk out. If you can’t get a better deal somewhere else, you can always go back.

        The other tip I got from an old web site that was built by an ex-salesman was to bring a kitchen timer with you. Tell the guy that you think you should be able to wrap up the deal in an hour. Then set the timer for an hour and let him know that if the deal isn’t done, you are leaving. So if he wants to go back and talk with his manager, that is fine, but he’s on the clock.

    • Mojeaux

      If you are okay with used, I recommend getting a former rental car. Enterprise has a website and I’ve never had bad luck with buying a rental.

      • Agent Cooper

        Auctions also work. Find yourself someone with a license to buy and give them an idea of what you’re looking for.

      • Old Man With Candy

        We’ve done great buying Hertz cars.

      • C. Anacreon

        Carmax has a lot of nice fleet cars. We bought my wife a two year old BMW 528 with 20K miles there a couple of years ago for just $21K. But as a fleet car it had no extras; she almost didn’t want it because it didn’t have heated seats. I reminded her we live in California, and any comparable model with seat heats would be several thousand more and out of her price range. So she finally moved forward, thankfully she’s loved it ever since.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Never buy a rental.

        I almost always practice my J turns in every rental I get.

    • Agent Cooper

      It’s snobbish, but there’s a big difference between buying a run-of-the-mill car and a luxury vehicle in how you are treated.

      • Tonio

        So, a nice prosecco and name brand xanax and lube vs a shot of moonshine and a mexican roofie and a dab of axle grease.

      • Agent Cooper

        Uh, sure!

        Let’s just say Hyundai dealers work on volume. BMW dealers, less so.

      • Mojeaux

        Between me, my husband, XX TD, and my mom, we have four Hyundais (and one Dodge Ram). My little Zippicar that got crunched was an Enterprise castoff and is a trouper little car. I bought it from my mom, who said it was the best car she’d ever owned, so she bought another Hyundai.

      • UnCivilServant

        Last time I drove a hyundai, I felt like I couldn’t see anything around me. The frame just intruded too much into my line of sight, especially around the edges of the rear view mirror’s field of vision.

      • Mojeaux

        Funny. I went from having a motorcycle as my only vehicle to a car as my only vehicle and for MONTHS I felt my line of sight was severely restricted. My entire car was a blind spot. Nerve wracking.

      • UnCivilServant

        In my case it was the rental car between the time my Focus was totalled and when I took posession of my CMax. Going from one regular passenger car to another shouldn’t have had such a big effect.

      • Not Adahn

        rules like the one requiring the car’s roof to support the weight of the car.

        SLD: It shouldn’t be a government mandate, but after watching rollover accidents, I’ll always buy a car that had that feature.

      • Agent Cooper

        Nothing wrong with the cars, but the margins are thinner.

        I don’t own a BMW. I have a Honda. But my wife has an Acura, and we tested out a Volvo. The experiences were different than buying our Jeeps or Mitsubishi.

      • Sensei

        Hyundai has some of the worst dealer satisfaction scores in the industry.

        I believe it is a leftover from when they first came here in the 80s are were absolutely terrible.

        Now can we get a Glib consensus on the NADA and state franchise laws? Talk about a protection racket.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        The Rodney King Excel: now there’s a model you never see on the road anymore.

      • Not Adahn

        Ayup.

        The BMW salesweasel didn’t take me for a test drive. He gave me a car for the weekend.

      • Bobarian LMD

        When I bought my Wife’s Focus (Certified Pre-Owned), they handed me the keys and sad ‘Come back tomorrow’.

      • Tonio

        Apparently CarMax is offering 24-hour test drives now.

      • Sensei

        Quite true,

        Although my best sales experience was for a Ford Taurus station wagon. I was utterly shocked.

    • Animal

      We’re actually toying with the idea of having a new F-450 made to order, for a couple of reasons:

      1) For once, get the exact vehicle we want.
      2) If we get a brand-new one, it may well be the last pickup I ever need to buy.

      I know about the “lose 20% when you drive it off the lot” deal on new vehicles, but I reckon that doesn’t matter much when you’re planning to drive it until the wheels come off of either 1) the truck, b) me, or II) the rest of the world.

      Complication: A built-out F-450 like we want is somewhere in the neighborhood of $75 – 90k.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I know about the “lose 20% when you drive it off the lot” deal on new vehicles,

        Because of the weird market, this is not true right now. Late model used is closer to 90% of new prices. Hell, I just got off the phone with a guy who has a used current year van at the same price as new (despite new having a $7500 tax credit associated with it). Some idiot is gonna get a garbage deal on that one.

      • Animal

        That doesn’t surprise me right now, although I read that some of this is due to supply-chain problems with a certain type of computer chip, which issue doesn’t apply to Ford Super-Duty trucks for whatever reason. But either way, since the plan would be to keep the truck basically forever (from my point of view anyway) it’s not an issue either way.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I was looking at Genisis G70s and 2019s with 30K miles were just couple grand cheaper than the new 2021s.

      • Ted S.

        Yeah, the cheap cell phone I wanted to get to replace my 6-year-old LG is out of stock thanks to the chip shortage.

        Fuck the coronavirus panic from governors that engineered the shortage.

      • The Hyperbole

        Yep, used trucks are a shit market right now, they either have 180,000 miles on them, or they’re only a few years old and just a tad cheaper than brand new. May as well bite the bullet pay a little more and have the exact truck you want for the piddly savings you’ll get.

      • db

        I bought a used Tacoma a few years ago for about $21k. Kelley Blue Book estimates the trade-in value today as exactly what I paid for it in 2018.

      • Tres Cool

        Pennies.
        A Denali-trim pickup or Escalade will be in the same ballpark or more, and its not your design.

      • westernsloper

        I saw one of those of the 2021 vintage in the wild today.

    • ignoreLander

      I hate that crap. Do as much of it via email as possible and just ignore their pleas to get you captive for a sales pitch.

      Last car I bought, I never stepped foot into a dealership until it was to sign the papers. Also have your financing lined up before you go to buy.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Yep, almost 100% by email. I’ll happily get on the phone with them if they are playing ball, but I’m not lifting a finger until I get an all-in quote.

        What I have in my back pocket is a few guaranteed offers on the trade in, enough cash to pay 100% no matter the final price, and a couple all-in offers from TrueCar on the same model, just with trim packages that don’t quite check all the boxes.

      • Pope Jimbo

        My wife is the one you want doing your car buying for you. She is merciless and is willing to spend a lot of time calling/emailing dealerships to get the best price.

        When we bought our swagger wagon, it was just like you said, we showed up signed the paperwork and cut them a check for it. Done in about 20 minutes.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Back when the dealers first started getting squeezed by the internet, I sent out a ton of emails to local dealerships asking them for prices for a Ford Ranger (with specific options). About 40% of them sent me a price. Others were all “come on down” responses.

      A month later my wife’s car was in for some service (factory recall thing) and one of the salesmen came up and said he noticed that I had sent them an email about Ford Rangers and since I was there, did I want to do the test drive.

      I told him I had already bought one from a nearby dealership that sent me the lowest price. They guy (older) went nuts. Actually started yelling at me for not giving him a chance to match the price. Went on and on about how you can’t just ask for a price via email. No, you have to come down and see the car and talk about the price.

      Got so bad, I asked to see the manager and tried to lodge a complaint. I say tried because the manager basically said the same thing. Can’t just tell you a price. Have to come down and dicker. He did it with a much better tone, but still.

      The internet really broke a lot of business models. Not unhappy to see the car salesmen take it in the shorts.

      • UnCivilServant

        “And that, Mr. Salesman, is why you don’t get any sales anymore.”

      • UnCivilServant

        As in, that sort of behaviour would mean I’d never return to that place and warn all my associates away.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I’ve been very free about bad mouthing that dealership to anyone I run into. (Except for Tundra, I told him that the place was great)

      • zwak

        He paid half of what you did, didn’t he?

      • Animal

        In Denver, for about the last fifteen years our family bought all our vehicles not only from the same dealership, but through the same sales guy. He always listened to us, strove to get us in the vehicle we wanted, never gave us a song-or-dance or tried to move something we didn’t want just to get a sale. Relationships like that are great when you find them.

        Now, of course, we have to see what things are like here. Kendall Ford has dealerships in Wasilla and Anchorage, so I suppose we’ll go through them.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        John Elway’s?

      • Animal

        Barbee’s Freeway Ford.

      • Old Man With Candy

        “Like usual, list price, not a penny more!”

    • mexican sharpshooter

      Just wait until 6 months after you buy, the dealer is going to cold call you about selling it back to them.

      • UnCivilServant

        My house was more absurd on that front. Just after closing, before my first payment was due, I got notice they’d sold the loan to one of the clearinghouses (Freddie Mac?) and the credit union turned around and asked if I was interested in refinancing.

        Mind you, there was no change in interest rates, and I’d get nothing out of the deal save a hit against my credit rating.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        I’m a veteran. I have a mailbox full of refinance offers.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        So, after dealing with frequent calls after buying the last car, I decided to use Abine Blur to mask my email address and my phone number. Errything is getting toggled off once I sign on the dotted line.

    • zwak

      Carmax. I have used them and loved it. So easy, no bullshit.

  7. Not Adahn

    In the Heights’ Light-Skinned Cast Fails to Do Latinx Communities Justice

    Does it though? Aren’t most “latinx” supporters awfully pale in proportion to the latino?

    • zwak

      Yeah, but la-twinks pay extra for “diversity”

    • DEG

      Face diapers. Blech.

      • Chafed

        Are we looking at the same photos?

      • DEG

        There is a woman wearing a face diaper in a gym picture about 2/3rds the way through.

        Just say no to face diapers.

  8. Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

    If I ever return to the office I’ll have to try the Rick James method to get more budget. Doing it over Webex just seems pathetic.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      I mean, sometimes you just need to go crazy to let them know what you’re capable of.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Jeffery Toobin was able to negotiate a vacation with this method.

    • zwak

      Zoom might make the threat appear greater.

    • Chafed

      I admire your dedication. Tell us how it goes.

    • Translucent Chum

      Is Caroline one of the relatives he was banging?

      • Tres Cool

        +1 Changstein

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      Maybe he didn’t want to be Swalwelled.

    • The Gunslinger

      Nope. Hardly a shrinking violet.

    • Tres Cool

      Jugsy gets home Friday. Having been a few weeks since Ive seen her, I may take I night off work and get in on the ZoomCall.
      Then Ill show ya thicc, hoss

      #ThiccThighsSaveLives

  9. DEG

    Parents send their kids’ masks for testing

    It only stands to reason that one of those health ramifications would be the fact that millions of people, particularly children, have been forced to wear and carry around pieces of cloth they’ve continually breathed through for hours on end. What lurking pathogens might be found on these disgusting contraptions being incessantly handled, stuck in pockets, and mindlessly tossed on books, tables, and desks? Well, one group of Florida parents sent a batch of masks worn by their children to a lab to find out. And yeah, you’ll probably need to make sure you aren’t eating dinner anytime soon before you digest THESE results.

    Via press release:

    Gainesville, FL (June 16, 2021) – A group of parents in Gainesville, FL, concerned about potential harms from masks, submitted six face masks to a lab for analysis. The resulting report found that five masks were contaminated with bacteria, parasites, and fungi, including three with dangerous pathogenic and pneumonia-causing bacteria. No viruses were detected on the masks, although the test is capable of detecting viruses.

    The analysis detected the following 11 alarmingly dangerous pathogens on the masks:

    • Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumonia)

    • Mycobacterium tuberculosis (tuberculosis)

    • Neisseria meningitidis (meningitis, sepsis)

    • Acanthamoeba polyphaga (keratitis and granulomatous amebic encephalitis)

    • Acinetobacter baumanni (pneumonia, blood stream infections, meningitis, UTIs— resistant to antibiotics)

    • Escherichia coli (food poisoning)

    • Borrelia burgdorferi (causes Lyme disease)

    • Corynebacterium diphtheriae (diphtheria)

    • Legionella pneumophila (Legionnaires’ disease)

    • Staphylococcus pyogenes serotype M3 (severe infections—high morbidity rates)

    • Staphylococcus aureus (meningitis, sepsis)

    • Sean

      Kids are the worst. Dirty lil germ factories.

    • Count Potato

      That’s just from six masks?

    • C. Anacreon

      Staph aureus is all over your skin, so that’s no surprise. But some of those others are pretty scary. Remind me again why we’re forcing children, who have close to zero risk from covid and don’t spread it either, are being forced to wear masks everywhere, including outside at summer camps.

      • slumbrew

        Remind me again

        “Solidarity! With, uh, someone…”

      • slumbrew

        Wait, I’ve got it:

        “Equity!”

      • Suthenboy

        It is the forcing part that is necessary. That is what it has been all about since the beginning.

      • grrizzly

        So that the rulers and a large part of the society don’t have to admit that they were very wrong in the last 15 months.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        Obviously if the kids weren’t wearing masks they could spread *checks list* Legionnaires Disease. //sarc

      • Mojeaux

        The contrast between the response of Kansas versus Missouri was stark. Today I was in KS for my procedure and the nurse was saying, “Yeah, Missouri’s kids are in school and ours aren’t? So stupid.”

        I guess KungFlu knew not to cross the state line.

      • Chafed

        Because SCIENCE!

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s a plot by the International Order of ENTs to drum up more business.

  10. DEG

    Emergency powers reform might be dead in NH

    But Senate President Chuck Morse, R-Salem, spoke out about the ongoing dispute about competing versions of a second bill (HB 417) to change the process for dealing with states of emergency.
    Morse said he wanted to put the emergency language compromise into this budget bill, but vowed to oppose any amendment that lacks the support of Gov. Chris Sununu.
    “I will not put tomorrow into the budget something the governor will not accept,” Morse said at the close of the budget talks Tuesday.
    The seven-person conference committee dealing with the emergency powers bill is set to meet Wednesday at noon, an hour before the budget negotiators are to return.
    “They are now facing two amendments, one that is acceptable to the governor, and one that is not acceptable,” Morse said.

    Update.

    Remaining sticking point on the budget talks is the Governor’s proposed family leave benefit. It’s a back-door to a broad-based income tax. The Senate and the Governor want it, the House doesn’t.

    • Not Adahn

      broad-based income tax.

      Wouldn’t taxing only women violate title IX?

      • UnCivilServant

        Oh, you misunderstand. They tax everybody, but you have to pay your taxes in women.

      • Ownbestenemy

        A year or so ago that would have immediately triggered the ol’ snark-o-meter.

        Today? Thecthought that a government is willing to tax a woman AND use the word “broad” to describe it barely moves the needle on the snark-o-meter.

      • DEG

        Snark aside, here’s my understanding of the proposal:

        – Employers decide whether or not they opt-in to the state-run benefit system
        – If the employer does, the employer receives a bunch of tax breaks from the state. Employees at that employer have money withheld from their paycheck to go to the state government’s coffers to fund the benefit
        – If an employee at an employer that opted into the program uses the family leave benefits, benefits are subsidized by the state government

        Prediction: If the program passes into law, damn near all NH employers will opt-in to the program.

      • DEG

        I used “broad-based” because NH current income tax is the Interest and Dividends tax. Phasing it out over five years is the one of the things the Senate and House budget negotiators agree on. Taxing salary and wages, which the family leave benefit will effectively do, covers a larger base of money, hence “broad-based”.

  11. DEG

    Emergency powers reforms do better in PA than NH

    Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s administration has certified the results of the May primary election, bringing a formal end to the disaster emergency declaration that the Democrat first issued at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Tuesday’s certification formalizes the results of the May 18 primary election. That’s when voters approved Republican-backed constitutional amendments giving lawmakers broad new power over extending and ending disaster emergency declarations.

    The Republican-controlled Legislature voted last week to end the disaster emergency declaration. But it also extended hundreds of regulatory waivers that Wolf’s administration approved under the authority of the declaration.

    So… maybe I should more back to PA?

  12. Not Adahn

    Surely this has already been linked here, but LOL at 3:54

    • slumbrew

      Hail Lobster Hydra!

    • Tonio

      It’s Reasontown, NA.

  13. mexican sharpshooter

    Then he proceeded to pour coke onto Lasker’s desk, snort it, jump on top of said desk, take out his penis — and shove it in Lasker’s face while yelling “Sell my goddamn record!”

    Cocaines one hell of a drug.

  14. UnCivilServant

    I really hate proprietay charging cables, because those are the ones you invariably misplace.

    *gives Sony the finger*

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      It’s probably in the same place you left the other sock.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Are you calling his cables crusty?

      • UnCivilServant

        Sorry we only have crusty jugglers.

      • UnCivilServant

        At the very least with the various USB variants, the odds are I’ve got another cable that works.

      • Tres Cool

        Im still not clear on what a USB-C is vs. DisplayPort or Thunderbolt

      • Agent Cooper

        Isn’t Thunderbolt just an Apple brand name for USB-C?

  15. Gadfly

    “Where are all of the leading dark-skinned Afro-Latinx folks?” wrote The Root’s Felice León

    Not that it’s quite the same, but this reminds me of a time I was in high-school in German class and we were watching a German movie and one of the other students commented about the movie “where are all the black people?”

    • Mojeaux

      I saw a Tumblr post complaining about the lack of POCs in Disney animated movies. Someone retorted that they were German/Scandinavian/European fairy tales and what the hell did they expect?

      • Urthona

        Also Disney has painstakingly gone through every ethnic group any way to avoid this criticism. There’s no winning.

      • Mojeaux

        The specific complaint was that the *European fairy tales* don’t have POCs in them, not that Disney hadn’t done its due diligence in diversity.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      They are in camp.

    • grrizzly

      A former coworker of mine vacationed in Russia several years ago. He found it so unusual that all menial jobs were done by white people.

    • rhywun

      Where are all the leading blond-haired Euro-Latinx Volks?

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Argentina

      • Mojeaux

        All the blondes in Andalucia haz a sad.

  16. Gadfly

    An audio recording of the incident demonstrated that when the driver told Gardheere to leave the bus she said, “You need to calm yourselves down ’cause I could have a bomb. Look how loose my clothes are.”

    That’s not how you deescalate a situation. I can imagine no incident in which one party says they might have a bomb would cause the other party to calm down.

    • Suthenboy

      The woman is a lunatic.

    • Not Adahn

      Cray-cray gonna cray.

    • Tres Cool

      I know she’s Somali, but I read that in the voice of Miss Cleo for some reason.

    • EvilSheldon

      I’m amazed that the white supremacist pigs didn’t summarily execute her on the spot. Must have been a coupon day at Dunkin Donuts…

      • R C Dean

        If I had the sight picture, I might pull the trigger when I heard the crazy woman with the loose overcoat say “bomb” on a bus full of children.

  17. Necron 99

    Thanks for the tune, I’ve been on a PJ kick for the last few weeks but haven’t come across that one. I like their early stuff.

    • LCDR_Fish

      IIRC that vid was 100% Todd MacFarlane (Spawn). Remember my freshman college roommate getting hyped for the premiere. Pretty sure it came out before that Korn freak on a leash vid.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Never could stand Pearl Jam

  18. Bobarian LMD

    Vince Neil is on the Axl Rose diet.

    • SugarFree

      He limits himself to eating one Axl Rose per day.

    • rhywun

      LOL I see the internet is way ahead of me again.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    In preparation for my (presumed) impending homelessness, I worked on the Airstream today, to get it ready for the road. The trailer brake controller on the truck died while i wasn’t looking. A hunnert bucks here, a hunnert bucks there…

    • Mojeaux

      Are you going to nomadhood for a while?

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Are you going to nomadhood for a while?

    That’s not the plan. It depends what’s available once I have the money in hand. There are a couple of places I’d seriously think about writing a check for if they’re still on the market in six weeks, even/especially if I didn’t plan to be there forever.

    • Mojeaux

      You should log your reno with pix and write an article.

      • UnCivilServant

        He’d have to figure out how to make it appear at the bottom of the front page. 😛

      • Mojeaux

        LOL

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      Or they could just do away with state owned liquor stores. Just sayin’.

      • slumbrew

        I think of New Hampshire as a generally pro-liberty state but I’m always somewhat thrown by their state liquor store monopoly. I assume the answer is “Puritans”.

      • DEG

        Have you been following my “Too Local News” posts and comments? That might help enlighten you into why “Live Free or Die” is a bit of a joke.

        See also the attempts to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Just for laughs, i checked realtor.com. Two of the places I had my eye on are now “pending”.

    The kind of stuff I’m looking at is going to require being right there with ready money.

  22. grrizzly

    The grocery store chain website has been down all day. Outrageous.

  23. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Just got around to Joemala

    “exposed security flesh” is probably going to hang with me for a while.

  24. The Hyperbole

    Saw this headline “Four-time PGA champ Rory McIlroy says green-reading books should be banned” and spent a few seconds wondering if he was talking about climate change focused children books or Nooks and Kindles. I think I need to take a break from politics/culture wars for a while.

  25. trshmnstr the terrible

    I can’t even parse that. Green-reading like reading a book on the green while playing golf?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I’m guessing a book that tells you how to read greens for putting.

      • blackjack

        I thought it was a book that’s envious of all the better books.

    • SugarFree

      I had to look it up:

      Green-reading books have grown in popularity in recent years with almost every elite Tour player using them, even some who have advocated banning the aid. Critics say the books offer too much assistance, effectively negating the skill of reading putts. The books feature highly detailed illustrations that note the direction and degree of slope from anywhere on the putting surface.

      • R C Dean

        Err, greens can be and are periodically changed.

    • Spudalicious

      It’s the dictionary they carry in their back pockets.

  26. LCDR_Fish

    Holy Crap. Talk about cannibalism. This is gonna take “Get Woke Go Broke” to a whole new level.

    https://twitter.com/exjon/status/1405272840195100673 (also feat Iowahawk)

    Seriously…to paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy – “Victoria doesn’t have any secrets left.”

    Does not seem like any attempt to expand market share or increase shareholder value. Maybe time for a hostile takeover or other action?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Yet another nail in the coffin of the American male.

      Pretty soon testosterone will be outlawed.

    • Sean

      LOL. Good luck with that.

    • rhywun

      I got nuthin’. ?‍♂️

    • LJW

      Best reply “Spirit Halloween ready to pounce”

  27. Tundra

    I love Rick James.

    So absolutely over the top, but he was so damn good. I will likely watch that documentary.

    “We were f–king standing on the verge of insanity in those days. Everybody was snorting cocaine. Everybody was taking quaaludes, drinking Cristal and Dom Perignon champagne, and getting butt naked and doing it in the bathroom.”

    Yeah, definitely will watch.

    I used to like Pearl Jam, but for the life of me I can’t remember why.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      “I can’t remember why.”

      Chalk it up to youthful ignorance.

      • The Hyperbole

        Meh, they’ve got a couple bangers, I mean they’re no STP or Soundgarden but they earned their place in the 90’s rock pantheon. Oh, and while I’m here REM sucks.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        *hides Debbie Gibson anthology*

      • The Hyperbole

        She was more late 80’s pop, One of my good buddies was a huge DG fan in high school, the rest of us were classic rock types, so we teased him mercilessly. He never backed down, a few years out of High School three of us shared an apartment, and Miss Gibson was trying to make a come back, Jamie (the Uber fan) got tickets to her Cleveland show and on the fateful night he got all gussied up and headed up to the show only to return thirty minutes later, he heard on the radio that the concert was cancelled due to lack of ticket sales. I’d like to tell you that me and our other roommate were understanding of Jamie’s disappointment and didn’t spend hours mocking the poor sap but I can’t.

      • rhywun

        I love old REM but I have to admit they went off the rails sometime in the mid-90s.

      • blackjack

        I agree REM sucks. Everybody might cry, but mostly they do it alone so we don’t have to hear it.

      • EvilSheldon

        REM and Pearl Jam suck in exactly the same way. A few bangers, shining like diamonds in a cesspool of mediocre navel-gazing donkey shit.

      • blackjack

        Ayup. I’m not all that enthralled with the whole grunge movement. It has a certain whininess that just should not have ever been introduced to rock and roll. The 70’s and 80’s both had some self respect that the nineties was mostly lacking, at least as far as mainstream rock went. Ya can’t fucking whine about your parents not raising you right and expect to be taken seriously.

      • blackjack

        Btw, having listened to most of the US festival “Heavy Metal” day, I think Triumph won the whole thing, followed by the Scorpions. I didn’t listen to Ozzy, because I just don’t really do that.

      • The Hyperbole

        Ya can’t fucking whine about your parents not raising you right and expect to be taken seriously

        Have you heard of The Who?

      • The Hyperbole

        Btw, having listened to most of the US festival “Heavy Metal” day, I think Triumph won the whole thing

        Unless April Wine was included the entire thing can be considered a farce.

      • blackjack

        I have heard the Who and after maybe 1970, I don’t care much for them. Thanks for pointing out the likely reason.

        As for April Wine, they should have been there. their music was all over town!

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        All I wanted was a Pepsi…

      • EvilSheldon

        I love grunge, and am an uncloseted emo kid. Whininess is not the problem, not from my view anyway.
        Repetitiveness and lame musicianship is the problem…

      • blackjack

        Man, TOG had to find an exception! That’s more like get the fuck off my back, than whining, I think. I mean, putting you into a funny farm is pretty legit gripe. Not like them not mentioning that you’re adopted ( which, btw, I don’t have to worry much about, LOL!)

      • zwak

        I saw REM on the Green tour.

        Between them and Rush, I learned rock and roll really could be boring.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Lol

    • blackjack

      By snags, you mean…

    • Cy Esquire

      Glorious!

  28. Ownbestenemy

    I see Colorado is succumbing to the stalkers of Masterpiece Cakeshop and are compelling him to bake the cake..well it isnt the cake he is refusing to make, he is being compelled to write something.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Vindictive, small minded, bureaucratic pieces of shit

      • LCDR_Fish

        hopefully gets back up to the supremes and they release a real decision and not that mess of hash they crapped out last time (Roberts!)

  29. SP

    I’m unfortunately not going to be around to host Zoom tonight. If Tulip or anyone else wants to do so, have at it!

    Sorry, kids. Life has gotten increasingly busy and stressful the last few weeks. I just need to make it to the end of August and all will be well. I think.

    • westernsloper

      That is a great Pearl Jam video.

      • westernsloper

        FFS, not meant as a reply, but the comment still stands.

  30. The Bearded Hobbit

    Question of protocol for the Glibs:

    My aunt died on Monday (she was 91 and it wasn’t unexpected) and I have been tasked with writing her obit and eulogy. My question is about the former. She never had children so I wrote, “She was predeceased by her parents, brothers, and husband”. With no children is it expected to include nieces and nephews (and great- and grand-)? I don’t want to get too carried away, especially since the newspaper charges by the word.

    Thanks in advance for any advice.

    • SP

      “She is survived by many nieces and nephews.”

    • Unreconstructed

      My take (worth what you paid for it, likely): Unless a niece or nephew was particularly close, I’d lump them in a group – “n beloved nieces and nephews”, and I wouldn’t go further down the chain than that.

      • The Bearded Hobbit

        Well, we are all pretty close and she was like a surrogate mother to all of us in the family. Complicating it slightly, my sister passed away a year ago.

        Might be a little wordy but I will try,

        “She was predeceased by her parents, her brothers, her husband, and her niece. She is survived by her nephews and many great- and grand-nieces and -nephews.”

        Does that work?

        Thank you for your replies.

      • DEG

        I think that’s the way you should go. Sorry about your aunt.

      • SP

        Yes, that sounds fine.

      • The Bearded Hobbit

        Thank you.

    • The Hyperbole

      Go for brutal honesty, “She had many nieces and nephews but only really liked Bob, Malcolm, and Helen.”

      • westernsloper

        “But Hobbit was her favorite, and she only really pretended to like the others.”

      • The Bearded Hobbit

        This is why I lurve you guys so much!

        /staggers away drunkedly

    • Loveconstitution1789

      You know her best evidently and obits are forever. If y’all liked her, pay for more words. If not, maybe one sentence.

      I have changed my outlook on my own death to inconvenience others since so many have inconvenienced me with kungflu hysteria and the near destruction of America.

      My obit will be two pages long.

      I am also debating having 500 lbs of cremated animals added to my ashes to really shake things up.

  31. Toxteth O'Grady

    “; survived by x nieces and y nephews”? I usually see immediate relatives listed by name, even if deceased.

    • SP

      Thank you for hosting.

      (Today’s baking is up in the Forum.)

  32. Tulip

    I’ll keep the link open until 8:45pm Eastern

    • westernsloper

      I am planning on showing up at 8:57 Eastern so hang in there…………..I am kidding, I am going to eat dinner and go to bed but thanks for hosting. Today kicked my ass and tomorrow is going to be worse.

      • The Hyperbole

        Did you have to make a pizza?

  33. DEG

    First pro-recall ad from the folks behind the effort to recall Newsom. It’s short. It’s OK.

  34. one true athena

    I know all of you who live in freer states have had this forever, but today I went to my first place and didn’t wear a mask inside! Got my hair cut, and every single person there was like “NOPE WE’RE DONE”. This is the same place that was doing speakeasy cuts on the patio even when haircuts were verboten, so not a surprise really, but it was so nice to be able to chat without that damn thing. Hopefully this snowballs (though tbh I didn’t go anywhere else today to check if other stores were loosening as well).