You never really forget the smell of a person who has been pickling in the ocean for more than a week. They smell of live rotting flesh and feces. I had smelled that smell numerous times as we plucked Cuban nationals out of the Gulf Stream time and time again. They would depart Cuba on whatever would float in hopes of making it the 90 miles to the Florida Keys. We pulled them from truck tire inner tubes tied together, tiny leaking fishing boats and shipping pallets tied to 55 gal drums. The Gulf Stream flows at around 4 knots northward so often they ended up in the Bahamas as they were spun off on a side current.
In 1969 Kris Kristofferson wrote the lyric, Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose. Janis Joplin made the line famous singing Me and Bobby Mcgee. I was never a fan of Joplin but in 1994 I was asked to write an essay explaining that line to get into the honors program at the college I was attending. I never did finish college much like the subject of my essay who never did finish his journey. I have lost that essay over all the years and moves so I can’t share it but it was along these lines.
We got a call that there was a sick man on a boat just off the Bahamas close to where we were patrolling. We picked him up off of a Bahamian fishing boat some miles west of the Bahamas in shallow waters. I drove the RHIB across the crystal clear chop and came alongside the small trawler. The paramedic boarded and went below to find two Cuban nationals one of which was very ill. The fisherman had given them tea and some crackers when he found them. They said they had been floating for eight days. We loaded them up, one under his own power, and the other on the back board. Once on board our ship the mobile man sat on the mess deck while the paramedic and others tried to help the ill man in the athwartship passageway. The passageway was the only place inside he could lay down and be looked after. I went on watch and helped navigate our ship back to Key West. As the ill man slowly died on our ship the smell of death permeated every molecule of air on board. He lost control of all his internal organs and his body flushed. Being an E-3 at the time I had to clean it up. I was ok with that. That man may have not gotten where he wanted to be on that risky venture, but he understood freedom a hell of a lot more than I did because he had not one thing left to lose other than his life. I am content with bitching. I am weak and pathetic. I have not the balls to get on a raft and push away from a beach under nothing but moonlight. But then again where would I go? I remain angry yet comfortable. Freedom has moved from natural to subjective. Governments grow and grow and grow and all steal from the citizenry the world over. I hope for change but know it won’t. I want to visit Cuba someday.
RIP unknown Cuban man.
Speaking of commies…seconders don’t surf!
Charlie don’t first, man!
Exactly. Commies don’t First. It’s why I’m a libertarian.
Thank you for writing this.
Ditto. That was one of the more powerful pieces on here.
Thanks ws.
Our society needs more reminders of what actual desperation and privation is like.
Exactly.
Thanks for sharing.
We may well get them.
The potential is there. We can call it “progress!”
Progress or consequences of progressives?
Somehow, it will be libertarian’s fault, because no one will ever accept that they might be part of the problem.
You read too much Winston.
But, what about the Atomic individuals? It’s a real thing and here’s a link!
Me too. Thank you Agent Sloper.
(Did I miss an episode of Dick Slashballs? Feeling like it’s been more than a week)
I appreciate the story Sloper. I agree with you, the Cubans that take this kind of extreme risk to be free should be celebrated.
He was the type of risk taker that formed this country. I would like to think I’m that brave, but who knows.
Sometimes the prospect of staying in hell makes the risk of death seem less of a concern if it could also result in freedom.
One of my greatest fears is having to make this kind of decision. Like a 9/11 jumper. WTF do you do?
Inertia is a helluva drug.
He was the type of risk taker that formed this country.
Our politicians do their best to keep those kind out these days.
Have you been watching Yoel & Mari on Youtube? Very uplifting. Yoel is experiencing America for the first time after getting his K1 (fiance) visa and emigrating from Cuba. Lovely couple.
They should have WAY more subscribers
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOxGyc_Kv-fXuWllRPddpMw
Some flaming moron in your media wrote something to the effect that Black and Brown Cubans were more free than their counterparts in the U.S. Unlike the vast majority of U.S. punditry, I have actually been to Cuba and got to see (and talk to) said POC Cubans; to the last man and woman I spoke with, they all noted that they were on the bottom rung of Cuban society — they all got the crappiest, most unpleasant or physically-demanding jobs that there were in Cuba. And unlike elsewhere in the world, where such working conditions might at least be compensated for by higher wages, Cuba has a maximum wage of $25.00USD equivalent per month. Period. Only the apparatchiks get better wages in the form of “in-kind” top-ups and under-the-table payments in CUCs (Cuban convertible pesos, the money of the parallel economy).
It makes me angry that people there have to risk their lives to get away, dreaming as they do about freedom elsewhere in the world.
The blood boiling thing for me is that so many in the places they dream of escaping to are so eager to toss their friends, family and the rest of their countrymen into such pits so they can feel good with their tantrum. It is not like such things are unknowable here but they refuse to know or follow the questioning of a 2 year old…why?
Che made certain they got the shit jobs.
Kinda heavy WS, glad I read it, thanks…..
Heavy, that was the word I was looking for. But a dang good read, thanks sloper.
Reminds me of all the Russians who wrote things that got them sent to Gulags and suffered for it. I bitch, but my life has never even approached the desperation that these people live with and die with everyday. I have no excuse to not be grateful every moment of my life.
I have not the balls to get on a raft and push away from a beach under nothing but moonlight. But then again where would I go? I remain angry yet comfortable.
Hits me square in the chest.
“I am content with bitching. I am weak and pathetic. I have not the balls to get on a raft and push away from a beach under nothing but moonlight.”
You don’t know that. Incentives matter. Under the same conditions you might do the same. You dont know what you will do until the moment of reckoning arrives. Sometimes you are surprised, sometimes disappointed but that is when you know who you are.
I did not understand self-loathing until I met that moment. I was surprised at myself. I blame that on the people that reared me.
Most people are disappointed. That is when I got it. That is why I despise the self-serving power mongers so much. I know what their moral fiber is.
You don’t know that. Incentives matter. Under the same conditions you might do the same. You dont know what you will do until the moment of reckoning arrives.
True. I was really hammerd when I wrote this. *reminds self to quite submitting posts when really hammered*
I escaped my personal hell that was my life in Oklahoma by taking a job in South Sudan. I got on a plane though, not a raft.
You forgot a music link.
I like this for this post.
Perfect!
Well, I doubt that I would ever consider myself as having lived up to my own expectations, regardless of the views of others. I always know I could have done better and if a situation is serious enough for me to feel that strongly about it, I could have done better.
Poignant and pungent both have the same root, pungere, meaning to prick, or stab. To prick sharply at one’s emotions, a sudden pang of sadness, or to have an acutely strong smell pierce your awareness. A sad confluence of meaning in this piece.
I like how you were okay with cleaning up after a man who died for freedom. You could honor him that way.
Have some sports commentary from a smug asshole.
Because for an extremely fit young person the ‘vid = a death sentence, to be sure.
A lie makes it all the way around the world before the truth has time to put on it’s cletes.
I mentioned on a football board how we already had an outbreak among *vaccinated* Yankees back in May, and the response was that people basically stuck their fingers in their ears and repeated the propaganda.
Maybe those players should do something stupid on the sidelines during the national anthem. Maybe then we can have sensitivity meetings and struggle sessions about being kind to vaxx abstainers.
I saw that all – not just American – female soccer players (and I would bet males too) are kneeling in obeisance to BLM at the Olympics, snorted, and counted my blessings for completely ignoring that spectacle this year.
Do you remember when political messaging and social signaling were grounds for being booted from the Olympics? Pepperidge Farms remembers.
They caved.
*sigh*
the Olympics are gonna be unwatchable this year. They’re already annoying enough with all the human interest bullshit, now it’s gonna be this protest bullshit, too.
I’m afraid that my Olympics obsessed wife is either going to be playing that shit on repeat enough to annoy me to tears over the next month or she’ll become so disillusioned that it will likely put her into a depression.
We’ve visited Olympic trials for the hell of it. We were planning on going to Tokyo last year. Needless to say, I’m disappointed that they’re letting this protest shit happen. I enjoyed the fact that all the political bullshit got left at home 99.99% of the time.
I’m disappointed that they no longer ban professional athletes from the competition. Or hold both games in the same year every 4 years.
Yeah, both of those detract. I loved the Olympics when I was a kid.
Of course, I loved the Jerry Lewis telethon too so I guess I was pretty easily distracted by Event Television.
We had 3 channels – anything was better than nothing.
Just for you, rhy! <3
I said from the start that sports leagues should just ignore covid or let teams determine if a player is fit to play the same with any other illness.
It’s almost like it’s been all about politics all along.
*recalls countless examples of the flu making the rounds through a team and nothing else happened*
Cricket contributes to the insanity:
West Indies-Australia ODI suspended after positive Covid test emerges moments before play
So fucking tedious.
Yeah, cricket’s pretty boring. 40/40 is okay.
Viva Frei is running for Parliament
I’d rather he run for Funkadelic.
I have asked, on numerous occasions in the past, “How many people got on a raft made of inner tubes and bedsprings and left Miami for Havana in search of a better life?”
The sort of people who say they want to go see Cuba before capitalism ruins it get kind of pissy.
The capitalism would ruin Cuba types are poverty tourists. They find it romantic, regardless of the bleak realities that it inflicts on the people suffering under it. They are the worst sorts of human beings.
Was it Gwyneth Paltrow who adored the shit-covered huts in Africa some years ago? Some twit like that. I remember some of us having fun with that over at TOS.
Who doesn’t love an authentic Potemkin village setup with you on mind? You and your Firster problems
Eastern Europe isn’t as interesting to visit now as it was back in the 90s. Maybe capitalism ruined it. Maybe I’m more jaded. Or maybe the world has become more homogenous. Probably the latter. Standards of living have drastically improved, and I can’t blame the locals for wanting to live better. Yet the homogenisation has made all the cities seem the same.
“Times Square was so much better before it was cleaned up”
Hipster. 😉
Happily, NYC is returning to the good old days of random shootings in Times Square and frequent subway track shovin’s so there is that.
So… time to stop whining about “gentrification” and switch to whining about “white flight”?
On a dime.
Parnell gets it.
You should talk to Matt Welch – did you know he lived in Prague? 😀
Ireland really changed when the Celtic Tiger was unleashed. All that capitalism. People got indoor shitters.
For those old enough to remember the fall of Viet Nam and watched the exodus of refugees trying to rescue themselves and their family your story fit right in, WS. It brought back news scenes of those trying to get on any boat bigger than the one they were on. Babies were accidentally lost, old people that couldn’t climb the rope ladders fell into the ocean. The people were desperate and hoping for a better life.
My wife’s family didn’t face those conditions but their ship kept picking up anyone that they could until it was plumb full. Most of those, like the Cubans, became Americanized, though some turned towards the liberal bent.
Thanks for reminding us, now I have to worry about the Canadians that will start walking south.
Good story, ‘Sloper.
How are you doing, brother Fourscore?
Well, strides are being made. One goal was to stand up to relieve certain bodily functions after 4 months of transing. Last week I achieved that and with precautions (walker nearby) it’s become the norm this week. I forgot I was on the walker last week and picked it up and started walking. I’m going around the house carrying the walker and whistling a happy tune now (a lot). I tried climbing stairs today, one at a time, and found I could as long as there is a handrail.
Still some kinks and a lot of stiffness in the morning but after a few minutes that wears off.
Keep getting better, we’re counting on you.
Excellent.
a lot of stiffness in the morning
Happens to the best of us, IYKWIMAITYD ?
Keep on keeping on! I’m still hoping to be able to head up there for the HH, so long as I don’t get invited to attend/speak at any more conferences in late September.
Good on the HH. Ignore everything Jimbo says, he’s a good guy and all but hasn’t been out in public a lot…
Is there a date set yet? I may have fallen off the email chain.
Sep 19, always the third Sunday in Sep. Tundra’s been tied up with his house selling and moving so he may not have put much out.
Yeah, what is up with that?!
I thought sleep was supposed to be reparative or something but lately I’m hobbling around for a half hour after I wake up.
I’ve noticed it’s worse when I get five or six hours (the usual) than seven (rare).
Nah, they’re working on some kind of international minimum tyranny quotient that will prevent that. Most countries have already met the criterion.
Bonus tidbit: My wife’s grandmother was too old and frail and unable to understand what was happening. They gave her some money and said good bye.
The family has returned to VN on visits, not sure if they ever found Grandma’s grave. Life goes on…
Yikes, sad.
*side-eyes some of our Northern friends*
I wasn’t old enough to remember that, but I was old enough to go to school with a lot of Vietnamese kids who were on those boats. I remember my friend Dinh back in 8th grade having some particularly fucked up stories about the trip over.
Same. We had a ton of those kids in my classes in the 70’s/80’s.
We had more Iranians, for whatever reason.
We had more Cambodians than Vietnamese. Those long names OMG.
I only remember one Cambodian kid, we just called him Ache, which was probably the first syllable of whatever his long Cambodian name was.
OTOH I knew so many Nguyens that I can actually pronounce Nguyen.
That was a friend who lived across the street in grade school Hoa Nguyen.
My buddy dated a girl who was born in Viet Nam and came over on the boats. Settled in Mississippi. I’ve often though about what a wild risk her parents took with their infant daughter – I hope I would have been able to do the same, in their situation.
Tangential, but Vietnamese with a strong Mississippi accent is apparently one my kinks. Who knew?
(is that a kink or a fetish? I think maybe it’s really a fetish, like glasses – not intrinsically sexual, yet something I find sexy)
* gets lost down a rabbit hole of “Viet Nam” vs. “Vietnam” *
I like, The ‘Nam.
Thanks for this. It’s a good reminder
I second Tulip. That was a well written tribute to an unknown man who risked it all for freedom. The fact he lost at sea doesn’t change the fact he died free.
Please join us for a zoom this weekend
This is the same thing that pisses me off about racists. There’s not some space out there where sentient souls are shopping for a race or homeland to be born into. It just happens. You take what you got and make of it what you will. Nobody approaches preborn you and asks for your preferences. I don’t know if they are divinely ordained or just whimsical, but I know I had no input and I have no reason to think others did, either. How can we have any preference over something that was foisted upon our non-sentient preborn selves? Am I grateful for being born in America? Hell yes. Does it make me superior to anyone else? Hell no. Only what I have chosen and developed in my self makes me better or not than anyone else. No other criterion matters.
Am I grateful for being born in America? Hell yes. Does it make me superior to anyone else? Hell no.
This is why “American Exceptionalism” has always rubbed me the wrong way. The US
iswas exceptional only insofar as the principles of the founding respected individuality and freedom in a way not commonly found throughout history. The exceptionality of those principles show in how poorly they’ve been put into practice, even from the start of this country.The idea that being born here or the soil is somehow exceptional strikes me as foolish.
It’s probably naïve nowadays, but “being born here” used to be a shorthand for being raised with those principles. Postmodern bullshit is all about tearing that stuff down, of course, so here we are.
This makes me kinda sad. For all the warts this country had, even well before I was ever born, my cohort got the last taste of that collective “its a free country” mentality before the final dregs drained from the lowest corner of the country.
It’s the people that make up American Exceptionalism”. 330 M of ’em.
It sure as hell isn’t the govt.
The attitude: “I don’t care if it’s good for me or not. I’m not doing it precisely because you’re telling me to do it.”
Lose that, America, and you lose everything.
Imagine being 40 years old and living in Cuba, circa 1960.
That’s the beauty of CRT. You can’t fight it, by definition.
Very sobering. Thank you for sharing.
Most of our ancestors had the same motives in coming to the US. Their situations were likely less dire, but they were risk takers.
The rest of the world was a lot less comfortable for everyone a hundred years ago. Taking a risk and moving you and your family made a lot of sense.
I don’t say it often here but most of the people coming here across the southern border are similar desperate risk takers as well.
Most want to come here and make a better life and want to work hard to do it.
The problem is that there is not designated ports of entry and secure borders to control and vet people. There is border crossings, but there is also a huge
open border that allows nearly unrestricted crossing.
The other problem is that the illegal immigrants are given gov assistances regardless of status or intentions.
Their situations were likely less dire, but they were risk takers.
See Coffin Ships.
“mortality rates of 30% aboard the coffin ships were common”
Yikes. My people came over in one of the latter waves.
A handful of my ancestors made the trip from Ireland in the middle 1800s.
Yeah. Most illegals are coming for a better life. If I were in their situation maybe I’d do the same. But it pisses me off that politicians claim that income inequality is a terrible thing, yet they want to allow in a whole bunch of cheap labor that holds down wages at the low end. And then their solution to all that is too take more of my money.
I travelled to Moscow on business many times in the 90s. This was just after the fall of the Soviet Union and “capitalism” was just starting to take root.
There was a open field close the hotel we stayed at. It was full of shipping containers. People would sell various wares from the containers during the day. This was basically “the mall” for the Russians.
Every day when we would head into the subway to get where we needed to go, there would be an old woman or two with a handkerchief laid out with a couple of packs of smokes. They would sell the smokes to people too busy to get to the “mall”.
So the old ladies would take the money they got from selling the smokes to the morning rush hour crowd and head to the field of containers. They’d buy a couple of fresh eggs and a couple more packs of smokes.
They would eat the eggs for supper, and then stand out by the subway station the next morning to sell a couple more packs of smokes.
Repeat for ever.
Once again reminded why I hate flying.
https://www.sfgate.com/travel/amp/United-flight-SFO-deboarded-unruly-teen-passenger-16333867.php
San Francisco Strong!
PS. If you’re too stupid to block randos from spamming your phone, that’s on you.
People who block me from sending them pictures of my penis are just punishing themselves.
But it was a scary airsoft gun picture!
Do you have any idea how pissed off I’d be? Not at the kid, he’s just being a dumb-assed kid, at the airline and the authorities. How fucking stupid do you have to be to stop a flight because of airsoft pictures? The only real threat is the sheer stupidity of the people who made this decision.
These type of stories need to be told as of as possible. Short and sweet. Good stuff, WS.
OT af, I employed a consultant to get my wardobe in order, so far so good, then she proceeded to deep clean my bathroom and kitchen, 100$ out the door,
great service!
/and she’s my GF
You don’t hear me come on here sharing every time I hire a prostitute to murder.
Okay, that one got me.. Legit lol.
Same
The Bro can be funny, when he’s not firsting.
We just talked, I swear,
LOL I know the Seinfeld comparison came up yesterday, but… do be careful that she doesn’t walk out the door with the next $100 while leaving the bed unmade and the place a mess.
She my latest flame, a skinny little fireball, our friends hooked us up, we are twins, which leads to some fiery conversations,
Good times!
Small town scenario, by tomorrow, she will be pregnant, and her Dad wants to kill me, that’s how small this town is. And she and I just sit back and laugh,
I thought my clever comment was overlooked.
Taking my kid to the public pool today. At least they’re keeping it open, but limited to 25% capacity. IOW it’s virtually empty. They gave us a number and we get to wait until our turn. Half hour and counting. Kabuki.
That sucks, we have more water tham we know what to do with, kinda wierd for this here drought boy,
泳ぐ
泳がない
泳いだ
泳がなかった
…
Nik tik argle bargle qsue typnomial to you! Sir!
Pretty sure it just says: Don’t cook your fish and we’re gonna stop making knockoffs of everything because China does it so much cheaper. Sigh-ah- narah!
Just conjugating the verb “to swim” to help straff pass the time.
Japanese is far more regular than English with verbs, but that doesn’t mean they are easy. This verb belongs to a subset known as “godan” and is one of the more rare one within that classification ending in “gu”.
Take away the sansui and that’s how long we’ve been waiting.
How does sansui time convert to American time? asking for a friend….
Kabuki.
Well at least they aren’t guilty of cultural appropriation.
I’m sure China would beg to differ.
Do you have to wear a bathing cap while in line and then forced to get out of line every 50 minutes for a 10 minute break?
Yeah. I rocked that cap. My kid’s and hot pink.
Thanks, WS!
Thanks for writing this, it was a good read.
I have not the balls to get on a raft and push away from a beach under nothing but moonlight.
The idea of consigning yourself to the currents of fate is terrifying. You really would have to be brave, crazy, or desperate to do it.
They smell of live rotting flesh and feces.
So, I have to ask, why feces? Is not the entire ocean a giant toilet? Or do they get too weak from deprivation and being assailed by the elements to take care of business properly?
https://archive.li/hzzsi/fbf6afbf5357abbc394e2c6660f66da8062b6ca0.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.li/Ycc66/b0453912d796242ef261438265217069e12775b6.webp
NSFW.
https://archive.li/wULyl/26259f8bb1bbd266b73dda331d717ca8647c8b7c.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.li/WfmTl/4a207abb86d0beab969afe1650121d6bc042baa5.jpg
NSFW.
WTF KFC JFC
https://mobile.twitter.com/KFC_ES/status/1417460096188227599
They’re smoking the secret spices.
I have been remiss – this was great, ‘Sloper.
Few of us know real desperation.
You’ve never had a grand mal malox moment and the only open stall has a Japanese toilet.
OMG I just saw a Subway commercial with Serena, the pink-haired soccer chick, Tom Brady, and some other guy whom I faintly recognize but can’t name. It’s like they had an assholes-only casting call.
So, why do we hate Tom Brady?
I don’t hate-hate him but he is a fucking weirdo. Plus the whole Patriots thing.
He’s a cipher upon which you can project anything. His entire being is consumed with football or preparing to play football, leaving very little room for anything else.
I suspect he’s deadly-dull on any other subject.
He is, of course, the greatest quarterback of all time.
I say all that as a Pats fan.
I’d much rather hang out with Bill than Tom. But Jules would be my #1 choice to hang out with – he’d actually be fun to hang out with
If Gronk comes along, it will be out of control.
Late to the party, big thumbs up on the story, Sloper. I need the occasional reminder that the freedom I take for granted is, to many who are not so fortunate, worth sacrificing everything. Even now, when that freedom seems to be slipping away.
It’s been a helluva day, but somehow this is the perfect nightcap.
I want to visit Cuba someday.
I want to buy you a drink there, ‘sloper. For such a short essay, it really punched me in the gut.
Thanks.
I’ll be glad to but you a drink as long as it’s not a mojito.
“You bitch! Why didn’t you just tell me that it was a rum and Coke?!”
On a kind of tangential note, my mother’s aunt and uncle went to Cuba in ’58. To help Castro with the sugar cane harvest. He was a doctor and she, my grandfather’s sister, was a nurse. They were both communists, from Berkeley, California. When they were done with that, the US would not let them back into the country, and so they moved about in the Communist pact, finally ending up in East Berlin.
My mother always said, and my grandfather agreed, that Dan, as that was her uncle’s name, died a broken, unhappy man. Ruth just died.
So it goes…
Cycling muscles are very different than swimming muscles. Hadn’t swam in a year and a half. 1000 meters was more than enough.
I worked on a joint project with LANL and GM for a fuel cell car back in the early 90’s. The GM idea was to reform methane into hydrogen, water, and CO (if I remember right)
The idea was that you would have an electric car that you could refuel along the order of time to refuel an IC vehicle. Big problem, not a big problem in 1991, was that the process was hugely CO2 intensive.
There were a whole lot of other problems. The fuel cell stack needed to be saturated with water which would be a huge drawback in the winter. Also it needed a lot of noble metals to work, primarily platinum, but there was serious research going on to reduce the amount by a significant amount. I met a GM engineer who was cognizant of the program and had a lot of ground-breaking ideas. Never heard from him again.
I think that it is a promising field.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/proton-exchange-membrane-fuel-cells
hydrogen, water, and CO*2*
And CO was a Very Big Problem because it would poison the reaction. Much research was done to remove the CO.
OT
Bosch FGS-4000 demo
That explains the Nu Shooz video.
Nice article WS.
Seems legit.
https://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2021/07/22/byron-york-sums-up-the-white-houses-tortured-case-for-how-well-know-hunter-bidens-art-sales-are-on-the-up-and-up/
Art is subjective. Graft isn’t.
Here’s a headline I never thought I would see.
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/new-york-public-defenders-urge-supreme-court-to-invalidate-states-concealed-carry-ban/?utm_source=recirc-mobile&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=native-latest&utm_term=first
It’s not even 3 in the morning, but you homos have all gone to sleep. I am…the First man and First-last man standing.
Thanks for the reminder and the perspective, Sloper.
We should accommodate as many Cubans and Hong Kong-ites as reasonably doable.
They’re waving our flag, the American flag, as a symbol of freedom, for Pete’s sake.
We will need those immigrants to help us fight for what that flag was meant to represent.
The 2020 Olympics seem to be a big negative for Japan. It’s like it’s the gateway to introducing Western cancel culture. Once the Olympics pass and the eyes aren’t on Japan anymore, do they keep the mindset of firing people for decades old offensive jokes?
Yeah, that seemed weird, even for Japan. I mean, firing the Opening Ceremony’s artistic director because of some jokes he made as a stand-up comedian… in 1998?
To be fair, I know fuck-all about the place, and the first visit I was going to make there in April of this year was cancelled due to Japan’s
rampant xenophobiaabundance of caution regarding the global pandemic.https://6abc.com/wearing-a-mask-inside-indoor-masking-covid-19-vaccine-get-coronavirus-shot/10903781/
Fuck Philadelphia. Fuck their mask recommendations.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ytNLj1FO9ds&list=PLPS7AZEVLrRIESoy0m98Wwxi3Fu-oo1dW&index=7
?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/another-uprising-thousands-protest-italy-mandates-health-pass-will-restrict-unvaccinated-many-activities/
That’s a lot of angry hand waving.
Some jurisdiction in the US is going to try to go down this road and nothing else will happen. LA or NYC would be my top guesses.
https://www.pennlive.com/nation-world/2021/07/dont-expect-to-see-me-at-venues-that-ask-audiences-to-be-vaccinated-eric-clapton-says.html
Lines continue to be drawn.
Clapton and Van Morrison: Rock’s last rebels (I’m sure there are others I’m unaware of). Clapton’s a surprisingly brave guy.
https://www.fox29.com/news/suspect-arrested-after-fight-leads-to-deadly-shooting-at-pats-steaks-police-say
Wait, they actually have a suspect?
*falls out of chair*
Yikes! That’s why I prefer Jim’s on South Street.
Thank goodness it’s not Pittsburgh Dad.
https://youtu.be/2agF4wW80Mc
Morning, Glibs.
Morning, uncivil!
Good morning, U! And hay and l0 (Ha!!) and Sean!
How is everyone this fine day?
I won’t know how I am for another 4 hours.
But happy day, everyone!!
Good luck.
Mornin’
Almost sober!
Ok, my NuLyfe options are narrowing to Florida, Arizona, Oklahoma (I’m a native), and Livermore, CA.
Husband is dead set against Northern Cali so that’s not really an option despite it being my dream job.
Arizona I have an interview for today (phone).
I also have a phone int for a place in southern Maryland. I don’t know if I could live in southern MD. Been there many times though. Any advice from Marylanders?
Good luck with the phone interview today!
Do you have any expertise in civil engineering? OKC could use some. The roads were so bad, TT pulled over on the highway and asked me to get out & make sure we didn’t have a flat tire. I hope for a more positive experience of OK some day.
Well, Ive been to heaven…
One of the hottest damn projects I was on was in Tulsa for a small refinery named Holly. There was a “heat dome” and I think it got near 114-115º americanheit.
Inside the plant it was a requirement to wear flame-retardant clothing. It doesnt breathe well.
+never
Ugh. Sandblasting old oil rail cars from the inside in high summer. The hatch was so small that you had to lift one hand up just to squeeze in and then once inside, use alarms to communicate with the outside crew. Under the table of course and the pay was good, not great. Shitty feeling when you are in the can and your air feed fails, though. Boss always bought lunch and beer. I’d be happy doing that if the pay was right and I could physically hack it.
Yes, Im beginning to remind myself that I have certain physical limitations. In my head Im still 20 years old. The body lets me know otherwise.
I’m 35, Dammit! (plucks another grey pube)
I’ve gone to school in PA, DE and grew up and still live in NJ.
Despite being right next door MD is southern in attitude compared to its neighbors. My understanding is the cancer known as DC / NOVA has unfortunately spread to large portions of the state.
Thanks for the perspective, all!
suh’ fam
whats goody
Good morning, homey! How are the atmospheric conditions outside in the ‘hood at the moment?
Just dandy best I can tell. Jugsy makes her triumphant return for the weekend just in time for the heat.
The sweat and the flappies will abound!
Time to test my “family planning” procedures.
Who am I kidding? My couch pulls out- I dont.
Thanks for this sloper.
Yup. Sobering story.
^^ This.
I copied it and put it in a PDF for Tres Version 2.0 to read.
He’s already pretty liberty-minded, but I like to often remind him how fortunate he is to live in a country where “poor” people are obese.
https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2021/07/23/philadelphia-da-larry-krasner-suing-pennsylvania-attorney-general-over-opioid-epidemic-settlement/
Meanwhile…
https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2021/07/23/philadelphia-highest-murder-rate-per-capita-countrys-10-largest-cities/
*facepalm*
How in the hell does that commie rat fucker get to keep his job?
Yo Larry,
Your city streets are full of trash, junkies, and homeless people.
You’re a failure.
Also, what is going on at 3:02?
It looks like a zombie film.
And no, I don’t want to know what is going on at 3:02.
😛
My one site is about two blocks away from the same. Philly is a big city but we have the same thing here. It’s pathetic. We have an entertainment district that is about two hundred yards from a homeless encampment. All the shiny people drinking craft beer and pretending that those poor walking dead aren’t there.
Maybe this?
I don’t proffer any answer.
I still haven’t watched the 2nd half. The dvd is sitting downstairs unopened. One of these days…
He’s jelly of NYC where they get to spin their wheels going after Orange full time.
Orange is tolerable, but I prefer Red.
The Red Rocker! I preferred him when he played with Montrose. Don’t get me started on Sam Halen.
Yeah, so very late to the party, but this was excellent. One of the better things published here.
The lime juice really makes it stand out.