Friday Morning Back Again Links

by | Jul 9, 2021 | Daily Links | 307 comments

You just can’t get rid of me. I do weekends, but suddenly, here I am during the week- again. Yes, and still doing shitty birthday jokes, posting music that is lost on everyone, and making cynical comments. OK, the cynical comments seem to fit into this cultural milieu.

Birthdays today include a guy who was creative but not a singer; a physicist who had his own ideas about relativity; a cartoonist whose portraiture is… classic; a guy whose roster of PhD students pretty much defined modern physics; a famous hatchet man; a now-dead warmonger; a guy who may have accidentally impregnated a hat; an impish fellow who was a real cut-up; the first female senator from South Carolina; an actor whose presence in a film is a slam-dunk guarantee that it will suck; proof that Amish chicks have amazing breasts; proof that fucking your way to the top is a viable strategy; and the star of the best cartoon show ever made.

Now we return to Links.

 

Cough, cough, CIA, cough, cough.

 

Look, good on you for getting out, but don’t make stupid predictions like this.

 

California, please don’t ever change.

 

Virus? We surrender!

 

It’s always a delight to read real scientists talking about climate.

 

Apartheid. But a beautiful example of how propaganda has perfectly reversed the roles.

 

Old Guy Music is a sad one for me: I found out that Rick Laird died last weekend. Here’s a brilliant performance, his usual non-flashy but absolutely perfect playing.

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.

307 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    So it’s like a Jew coming back from the dead?

    • Cy Esquire

      Zombie Jeebus?

      • Not Adahn

        Newsreader this morning was talking about a Mexican guy named Jesus, and they pronounced his name the anglo way.

      • Count Potato

        Some Latinequis do pronounce the name that way though.

    • Old Man With Candy

      And what of Lazarus?

      • Nephilium

        Who?

      • Rat on a train

        Is he still around?

      • Old Man With Candy

        He will be fighting the other Lazarus for all eternity to save two universes.

      • Chafed

        That episode freaked me out as a kid.

      • PieInTheSky

        Lazarus Long?

      • juris imprudent

        Po?

      • zwak

        Dig, Lazarus, Dig!

        13605 Corvallia Rd

      • Agent Cooper

        He became Macy’s.

  2. Count Potato

    ” an actor whose presence in a film is a slam-dunk guarantee that it will suck”

    Oh come on, Bachelor Party was the best movie since Jaws.

    • Nephilium

      No love for the Burbs?

      • Nephilium

        I don’t want to be Elfstar!

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        I think she left one cult to join another cult.

      • Bobarian LMD

        It’s cults all the way down.

    • dontreadonme

      Volunteers, that is all. So many good lines in that movie. And John Candy was hilarious.

      • zwak

        This is the correct answer.

        First I’m gonna kill ya, then I’m gonna skin ya, and then use your shin bone for a pencil box!

      • dontreadonme

        I’m obviously not of Peace Corps fiber. It’s not that I can’t help these people, I just don’t want to.

    • Grumbletarian

      Hanks couldn’t do anything to diminish Darryl Hannah’s magnificent posterior in Splash.

    • juris imprudent

      I’m going with Old Man on this one, particularly because of this.

      The unredeemable result of Hollywood’s total capitulation to the Spielberg/Lucas aesthetic of the 80s.

  3. banginglc1

    posting music that is lost on everyone

    I’m torn. While I’ll always love listening to Billy Cobham play drums, I just can’t enjoy jazz/fusion overall. I’m a drummer and love it live, but can’t just put on an album to relax. It has to be a very specific mood.

    • Old Man With Candy

      To be fair, I don’t post fusion that often. MO was the best of the best, so…

  4. CPRM

    and the star of the best cartoon show ever made.

    It’s not my birthday!

    And Digby says hello to all you freaks out there.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    “What they need is genetic connectivity, and so Liberty Canyon will provide more opportunities for outside mountain lions to come in and really give that gene pool a boost and diversity,” Tiffany Yap, senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity in San Francisco, told CalMatters. “Not only is that crossing really key for mountain lions, but it would help an incredible amount of biodiversity in the area.”

    Infrastructure! Shovel ready!

    Also- “Tiffany Yap”?

    • Tres Cool

      “Center for Biological Diversity” ?

      Is Ms. Yap the nemesis of Margaret Sanger ?

    • Rat on a train

      Cougars will have access to more young males.

    • Count Potato

      ““Tiffany Yap”?”

      She’s an asian shadchan for mountain lions?

    • waffles

      A mountain lion attacked a jogger on the bike path in Sacramento on two occasions when I lived nearby. I support this.

      • zwak

        When and where in the area did you live? I was there between 2000 and 2012, lived in midtown, East Sac, and the Pocket.

      • waffles

        Between 2012 and 2019 I lived in Midtown right near the bike bridge that crossed into the American River Parkway. By the time I left the space between the levee and the bridge had become a semipermanent encampment.

      • zwak

        Alkali Flats. Nice. I lived on the south side of midtown, a couple of blocks from the Round Corner bar. 25th and U. I had a lot of fun there, back in the day, met my 2nd wife, my kid grew up there and when to McClatchy.

        But I hear you about the encampment. It was getting bad in ’06 to ‘012 when I left, can’t even imagine how it got after that. Oh, yes I can, it probably looks like Eugene or Portland.

    • invisible finger

      “Center for Biological Diversity ”

      I take it they’re all in favor of lots and lots of genetic engineering.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      I don’t have a problem with these crossings, at least as a pilot project. But the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) is a scam. They’ve helped block a housing development near me based on the presence of fairy shrimp, which is a real animal. However, the shrimp need water, which doesn’t accumulate anywhere in the planned development. I doubt they even came out to look at the site before issuing their report.

  6. banginglc1

    Highway 101 in Agoura Hills that would provide animals such as mountain lions, coyotes, deer and elk with a safe way to travel across the freeways cutting through their natural habitats. Costing $7 million, with another $54.5 million allotted for even more animal-friendly overpasses and underpasses across the state, the corridor would also help bolster populations of at-risk species by helping them to find mates,

    Which of those species are “at-risk” All have healthy populations except maybe elk. And as much as people fantasize about it, We DO NOT want a substantial elk population in populated areas of North America. We’ve killed their natural predators. They would destroy the environment and kill lots of people in vehicle collisions.

    • Count Potato

      Elk hunting is popular. Although hauling out a dead elk doesn’t seem worth it. Then again I’m not jacked up on 37 different supplements like Joe Rogan.

      • banginglc1

        If they keep them in sparsely populated states, that’s fine. But If they have them across the entire US, it would be terrible for everyone.

      • Animal

        Although hauling out a dead elk doesn’t seem worth it.

        Well, you know, you don’t haul it out all at once. Generally a quarter at a time.

        That said: Elk hunting is great right up until the moment you squeeze the trigger. Then it’s a lot of work, possibly over several days, that will have you questioning your sanity. Then, when the animal is processed, in the freezer, and you’re sitting down to an elk steak done up on the grill, it’s suddenly great again.

  7. Certified Public Asshat

    Well, starting Monday my employer will be handing out “COVID Vaccinated” wristbands to those associates who have dutifully reported their vaccination status to the on-site nurse. This means they can shed their masks and walk around freely. The rest of us, without an approved wristband, must still wear a mask when walking around but not when sitting at our desks.

    • banginglc1

      Is it in the shape of a star?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        An easily duplicated “livestrong” type wristband. I am tempted to get a duplicate but then change what it says.

      • Nephilium

        Only a wrist band? Shouldn’t it be worn higher up on the arm?

      • juris imprudent

        I was thinking they need something that can’t be easily removed, like a tattoo.

      • Swiss Servator

        Maybe they could put the employee ID number?

      • Old Man With Candy

        I have proposed this, but insisted our company use Comic Sans.

    • CPRM

      At least they aren’t making the unvaxxed wear armbands.

      • Tres Cool

        Yet

    • PieInTheSky

      We must wear a mask walking around even vaccinated

      • Not Adahn

        Everyone, not just the uggos?

      • PieInTheSky

        I work in engineering. Uggos are in the majority

      • Lackadaisical

        For real, I’ve forgotten what ugly people look like during this time. Butter faces hardest hit by the unmasking.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      It’s the best way to determine who is unclean.

    • Sean

      Shit. I haven’t worn a mask anywhere in over a month now. I’m not going back.

      Time to start looking for a new job. That’s a hostile work environment they’re creating.

    • rhywun

      It makes no fucking sense. If you take them at their word, it’s only the unclean who are at any risk.

      What they are saying with this is that the vaccines don’t work.

      • Sean

        Science deniers.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Actual conversation I had several times during the pan(dem)ic:

        Moron: You have to trust the scientists.
        OMWC: At the place where I work, you see people wearing masks in Accounting. In Marketing. In Production. In Sales. In Shipping & Receiving. Do you know the one place you never see anyone wearing a mask?
        Moron: Where?
        OMWC: IN R&D! WHERE THE FUCKING SCIENTISTS ARE!

      • Sean

        Perfect.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The unpersoning of Robert Malone, the co-inventor of mRNA vaccines, is an astonishing development in the new glorious age of SCIENCE.

      • EvilSheldon

        Science shouldn’t require faith.

      • zwak

        We are back in the demon haunted world.

      • waffles

        Sagan save us! *Prays rosary* *Lights candles* *Consults Horoscope*

      • zwak

        You forgot to put on your facemask of divination!

    • Timeloose

      Sounds familiar. Looks like the company lawyers agreed on the way to keep their people in line without facing legal repercussions by forcing compliance,

    • waffles

      This is terrible. Why do people fail to understand just how bad this all is? It’s not even Godwinning at this point, we are fucking there. The authoritarians have us by the balls and half the people fucking love it.

      • Lackadaisical

        Ball torture is very popular, based on my accidental stumbling across it more times than I wanted to.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      Any reason you can’t just report you received the vax and then go on with your life? Especially if you got yours at one of the mass gov vax sites with no appointment.

      Based on the incompetency I’ve observed so far from every govt entity, I can’t believe they have perfect records of those vaxxed at the mass sites.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I am conflicted (and not vaccinated). Even if I were to flash a card to get a wristband, I don’t want to wear that either.

      • rhywun

        Right?! Only the impure should be ostracized marked.

      • EvilSheldon

        Not that I would have any firsthand knowledge of such shenanigans…

        But yes.

  8. Not Adahn

    NPR stories this morning:

    -Our noble police officers (whom we NEVER suggested should be defunded) can’t buy bullets because the icky deplorables are buying all the ammo! How to remedy this problem is an exercise left to the listener — but be sure to call your congressman about this!

    -Because of the DELTA VARIANT! Pfizer is petitioning the FDA to add a third shot to the protocol to keep y’all’s antibody levels up. In completely unrelated news, Pfizer expects their vaccine sales to increase by 50%.

    • Q Continuum

      National Propaganda Radio.

      • CPRM

        Sounds like the FDA and CDC are Right Wing Science Deniers!

    • SugarFree

      I guess people like me just go back under the mask, purdah, a pariah to the good and clean folx.

    • EvilSheldon

      NPR trying to pretend to have a brain about gun stories is hilarious.

      Law enforcement and military contracts for ammo are sourced by a completely different supply chain than civilian production. The only ammo shortage in government circles has been among the handful of cops who buy ammo to practice with on their own time, with their own money.

      • zwak

        I once heard them do a story on Zoot shoots. It was just pathetic.

        But, yeah on the ammo, it’s a lot like the TP shortage thing. Logistics uber alles.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      “This hour of NPR is brought to you by Pfizer.”

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Central planning will make everything better

    Just don’t call it a labor shortage, economists caution.

    “There’s simply no labor shortage when you’re talking about finding house cleaners for a hotel — there is a shortage of workers who want to work at what you’re offering,” said Sylvia Allegretto, a UC Berkeley labor economist. She said the country is experiencing a “wage and benefits shortage.”

    A labor shortage implies there aren’t enough available workers to fill open jobs, but this is not the case nationally, or in California. National unemployment in June was 5.9%, up from 5.8% in May, in part because the number of people looking for jobs grew, according to data from the Labor Department on Friday. California’s unemployment is tracking higher, at 7.9% in May.

    ——-

    Economists say it’s only a matter of time before open roles are filled, and the least desirable jobs with the lowest pay and benefits will be the last to go. They don’t see the job market as a sign of shifting economic forces unleashed by the pandemic, or of a workforce made comfortable or lazy by stimulus payments.

    “Nothing about this is going to be permanent,” said Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

    Yet some trends are emerging clearly. The struggle to fill jobs is hitting smaller businesses disproportionately. Workers may be in a prime position to secure better conditions and pay, but without changes at the federal level, economists said the gains will be short-lived — and white-collar workers may gain the most, entrenching inequality.

    Those dopey old Scrooge McDuck business owners don’t know anything about price elasticity of demand. They just want to steal the labor of poor people.

    We must help the poors.

    • EvilSheldon

      Yes, those Scottish farmers just wanted to help those sheep…

    • Agent Cooper

      “there is a shortage of workers who want to work at what you’re offering”

      This is absolute gaslighting. I’ve seen the signs — the wages are printed on them and are often 2x the minimum hourly wage in the state.

  10. PieInTheSky

    I went back to the office for a day yesterday and hated it. I hate walking around in a mask. Out of like 10 eating places in the area – there are lots of office buildings and before to cov they were all crowded at lunch – only 3 are open now. After a year of work from home now the office looks unpleasant. My company is, to be fair, in the oldest office building in the area and most others have much better looking offices. But ours is dark, crowded and very gray.

    • PieInTheSky

      Before in the open space there were islands of 4 desks not they separated with some paneling I think that for the first time I get how a cubicle must feel like.

      • Not Adahn

        They removed the pliexishields around the cashiers and the wipedown stations this week. They had already removed the ones isolating individual seats in the cafeteria. And they’re allowing refills again.

    • rhywun

      Yeah, many of my old lunch options – already pretty barren on the left coast of the Hudson – are now permanently closed.

      I haven’t been to the office in two weeks and I’m not going in today (nobody does – the last time I went in on a Friday I was literally the only person in the office other than the receptionist for most of the day).

      • Count Potato

        “are now permanently closed”

        That is really tragic.

  11. Q Continuum

    Commonly reported side effects of Friday Funbags include: asthenia, constipation, dizziness, drowsiness, nausea, visual disturbance, and xerostomia. Other side effects include: blurred vision, confusion, and systolic hypotension.

    https://archive.is/dWi5P

  12. PieInTheSky

    Left-wing extremist group stormed the offices of the Austrian news site “oe24” because it named the Afghan nationality of the four perpetrators in the murder and rape case of 13-year-old Leonie (BILD)

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1413248265093623815

    anti racism is dope

  13. Not Adahn

    Sandy Hooker’s claim Remmington is attempting to slow discovery by document dumping. Remmington claims they are complying with

    Court documents show the plaintiffs requested that Remington produce any documents related to the company’s marketing and advertising of its AR-type rifles, including “a complete history of their presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.”

    Additionally, plaintiffs requested the files be provided in a way that allowed for full access to user comments, video playback and image metadata. In other words, instead of providing a screenshot of a Facebook video post, plaintiffs asked Remington to instead send the video file itself.

    “We request that you produce native versions of all embedded images and videos posted to Defendants’ social media accounts during the relevant period,” the plaintiffs’ legal team requested in a letter last year which was included as an exhibit in a court filing made last week.

    The fact that NPR is even including this information makes me wonder.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      I seriously doubt any of their advertising and marketing implied or stated that their product would be ideal for a mass shooting.

      • Rat on a train

        Did they include warnings to not use their products in mass shootings? It’s like reverse qualified immunity. If they didn’t explicitly warn against every possible bad use, they are liable.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Do not posses this gun if you have dirt on the Clinton’s. You may shoot yourself in the back of the head. Twice.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I am sure it was that they were disinclined to go through all of their social media and were telling these assholes to go piss up a rope.

      • EvilSheldon

        Hah. I remember that ‘Filet Minon’ picture floating around the gun-o-sphere.

        Much like money and power, tiresome assholes and screeching outrage will always find each other.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      A party involved in an adversarial lawsuit where they stand to lose millions is engaging in procedural and technical shenanigans to stymie their opposition?!

      Unprecedented.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      In other words, the plaintiffs are asking the defendants to do their work for them and sort thru everything for the juicy stuff.

      Fuck ’em.

    • Suthenboy

      Isn’t that stuff publicly available? Go get it yourself.

    • blackjack

      Funky these rat Fuckers. They’re basically saying, we want everything and then when they get it, they’re saying, no just the stuff that shows your guilt. All Remington did was make and sell guns that are 99.9999 percent used legally.

  14. blackjack

    It’s actually quite pleasant in north FLA, today. I though I slept in until 8 am, but there no links up yet. Apparently, when you’re older, jetlag is an actual thing.

    • rhywun

      The remnants of that hurricane they sent our way just floated over us.

      I heard the subways are flooded this morning. Another reason to stay home.

      • blackjack

        Yeah, that’s what I figure. It was even slightly chilly when we got here around midnight way-too-far-eastern time.

  15. PieInTheSky

    The absolute hilarity that ensues when you suggest to people

    “Be the change you wish to see and practice what you preach”

    As they then begin frothing at the mouth that they don’t have any responsibility and its someone elses problem to fix

    https://twitter.com/ArchonOf/status/1413421164429553664

    I never got the whole corporations are responsible for everything. I would say the end user of the product is responsible for the associated whatever

    • Not Adahn

      Anita’s patreonbux must be slowing down.

      • Count Potato

        Everything is Gamergate.

    • EvilSheldon

      Holy shit, I agree with Anita about something!

      starts frantically scrubbing self with bleach

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Many economists argue that unemployment stimulus is getting an outsized portion of the blame for hiring difficulties, mainly from Republican governors who have moved to end or limit supplemental income in their states.

    Valletta’s research found that unemployment benefits alone aren’t keeping people from working. It identified challenges to working born out of the pandemic, including child care and safety concerns, as primary hurdles.

    The added unemployment benefits have the biggest effect for the lowest-wage workers, since a higher percentage of their paychecks comes from this supplement. Those out of work often see their weekly unemployment income double with the pandemic stipend.

    ——-

    Economists note this isn’t simply a recession. Other factors are affecting people’s willingness to work.

    Child care has thrown the workforce into a tailspin at all income levels. Since March 2020, millions, most of them women, have left their jobs to cope with child care and other family demands.

    Pandemic layoffs have pushed some workers to get out of underpaying jobs, while unemployment benefits offered them flexibility to do so.

    They’re being offered flexibility, not being paid to not work.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Free nationalized child care will make this a truly civilized society.

    • PieInTheSky

      Only if the CRT studies begin at 2. And black kids get bigger crates than white kids.

    • Sean

      Grooming studios, funded by your tax dollars.

  18. Shpip

    Mrs. Shpip is having a bad day. From her social media post:

    On June 26, I found out the one of my former neurology residents was living in Champlain South Tower condo in Surfside, FL. Both he and his wife were unaccounted for after the collapse.
    We got the news this morning that his body had been recovered. His wife has not been found at this point, but the team is still searching.
    We were ever hopeful for a miracle, but as the days went on, we knew that hope diminished by the hour.
    Rus was a super sweet person with a big heart and a generous demeanor. He was kind. He was always the first person to volunteer to help his colleagues.
    I’m completely devastated by this turn of events. I care deeply for all of my residents. These folks are like my kids. I celebrate their accomplishments and milestones, and I sympathize with them when they are faced with a loss. This is the first resident that I’ve lost. I’m heartbroken. Thoughts and prayers to his family.

    Her former colleague and his wife had been married for fifty-three days when they died.

    • Sensei

      It’s a small world. Sorry to read.

  19. PieInTheSky

    Cyberpunk once stood out as a vital genre of anti-capitalist fiction. Today, it’s been reduced to a cool retro aesthetic easily appropriated by the world’s second-richest man to market ugly Blade Runner–inspired trucks to nostalgia-driven Gen Xers.

    https://twitter.com/jacobin/status/1413452877142663168

    if there is one strength of capitalism…

    • Not Adahn

      Yeah, the State was a hero in those stories…

      • juris imprudent

        The true equality of The Matrix!

      • Nephilium

        Wait… there was a State in most cyberpunk stories?

    • rhywun

      Cyberpunk once stood out as a vital genre of anti-capitalist fiction.

      OFFS.

      Never change, Jacobin.

    • Agent Cooper

      Too Jacobin; Didn’t Read.

  20. Count Potato

    “Christina Haack claims psychedelic experience smoking TOAD venom ‘reset’ her brain before meeting her new boyfriend… as she enjoys romantic bikini break in Tulum

    ‘Bufo toad’ is commonly known as Colorado river toad or the Sonoran desert toad and is found across northern Mexico and the southwestern United States.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9770635/Christina-Haack-says-psychedelic-experience-smoking-TOAD-reset-brain-meeting-new-beau.html

    Pretty sure bufo is just Latin for toad.

    • Not Adahn

      Nah, everyone told me during the Kavanaugh hearings that “bufo” meant “gang rape.”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Did the psychedelics come free with her bad boob job?

      • Tres Cool

        You’re asking me to assume facts not currently in evidence.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Lock it all down!

    Seoul will raise its distancing measures to its highest level ever to counter surging Covid-19 numbers, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said in a briefing on Friday, with the Seoul Metropolitan Area to enter distancing level 4 for two weeks starting on Monday.

    ——-

    The new measure will ban private gatherings of more than two people after 6 p.m., including in restaurants, in addition to current restrictions. Most public events, including exhibitions and rallies will be banned and weddings and funerals may only be attended by family members.

    “Because this is the highest distancing measure, we have no place left to go,” Kim said, urging the public to refrain from gathering from Friday.

    ——-

    South Korea reported 1,316 Covid-19 cases on Thursday, its largest single day increase yet, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Out of those, 1,236 of the cases were locally transmitted and 78% of them were found in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, KDCA said. In total, South Korea has reported 165,344 total cases and 2,036 deaths since the pandemic began.
    KDCA Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said on Thursday that the number of Delta variant infections is steadily increasing and there is a possibility that it will become the dominant strain in August.

    “The cases are rising among people in their 20s and 30s who are more active, and tends to be asymptomatic or has only light symptoms,” Jeong said.

    Lunacy.

    • Raven Nation

      The other day, a lot of news outlets soberly reported 4 million deaths from COVID. Sad, yes, but it’s .05% of the global population.

      • Sean

        From/with/assumed.

        It’s all lies. Covid is real, but everything they tell us about it is a fucking lie.

      • Raven Nation

        Don’t disagree. My point is that, even taking the numbers at face value, it’s hard to argue this is catastrophic.

      • juris imprudent

        We must all be made to suffer equally so that one preventable death is prevented! You heartless monster.

      • Nephilium

        Numbers are hard. Especially big numbers.

      • prolefeed

        “even taking the numbers at face value”

        If one were to take them at face value, you’d expect the rise in the world population to be over 4 million less than the previous year’s rise. Instead, the trend line is unchanged, at a bit over 80 million more people on the planet year over year post-plague. Essentially, little to no excess deaths.

      • Suthenboy

        What Sean said. Lies, every word.

      • TARDis

        You just need to learn the new woke math. 4 million is huge scary number while $28,500,000,000,000 is just wee little number.

    • Sean

      “essential”

      That word really grates on me from the whole “essential job” shutdown related shitshow.

    • Not Adahn

      Federally-backed student loans shouldn’t pay for art degrees exist.

      Private lenders should be allowed to subsidize whatever degree they wish at whatever rates they wish.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Beat me to it.

        Universities could help facilitate the loans by guaranteeing a percentage. This would require them to be more selective in their admissions and degrees offered.

    • blackjack

      These kids were told that any degree is basically a money tree. The were TOLD this.

      • juris imprudent

        The tongues of those that told them that should be surgically removed so they don’t tell any more lies.

      • blackjack

        Yes, but as we have seen increasingly, the problem is this generation seems willing to believe just about anything.

      • Lackadaisical

        ^this.

        I am a few years to a decade older than these idiots. It wasn’t a secret then that engineering and science paid more than liberal arts.

        They were willing to be deceived, assuming they were. How can you be this dumb and still get into an ivy?

      • Rat on a train

        Getting into an ivy is the difficult part, but it doesn’t require intelligence.

      • Rat on a train

        Have you not seen how much people can make in the arts? Hollywood will be drowning them in high-paying job offers.

      • Akira

        These kids were told that any degree is basically a money tree. The were TOLD this.

        For a good couple generations, K-12 has been drilling “college, college, college” into their heads every single day.

        Add to that the prevalence of the bad advice “do what you love and the money will follow”. Sure, it’s great if you genuinely love the work you do, but that’s not realistic for the majority of people. Maybe the line should be “make a list of lucrative careers that you think you could do, then select the one that you would probably like the most”.

        These two things together result in kids taking out gigantic loans to pursue fine arts degrees and ending up with more debt than they’ll ever be able to pay off, then they whine about how unfair “the system” is. And yes, the education system and the federal student loan program bear a lot of the blame for this. It’s the classic case of a problem existing because government “solved” the last one (federal student loans were supposed to make college “more affordable” for everyone).

      • kinnath

        I spent every fucking day I was in school worrying about how I was going pay back the money I was borrowing to go to school.

        And I definitely limited my career choices to careers that would let me pay back that money.

    • Urthona

      15 years ago my company was paying starting salary for artists of at least 130k who had a knowledge or basic tools like 3ds max and photoshop. we had trouble getting people, as they were looking at the bigger video game company gigs.

      An artist who knows basic shit will have no problem whatsoever getting a job in video games. it’s practically 100% employment.

      • UnCivilServant

        Every title needs art assets.

        But the output needs to be quality and they have to meet the visual style of the product, since the beginners are often not the lead designers.

      • Urthona

        I guess what I’m saying is that it’s actually difficult to find good — even decent — artists. If that’s what you’re good at, it’s a good career.

        I’m not supporting the half million dollar choice when learning tools for a particular trade (video games, advertising, etc) would be way more useful.

        You’re much better off spending two years at the art institute or a video game school like the Guildhall.

        But on the other hand, if you are talented I don’t think you have an excuse for being unemployed. You can tweak that shit and work your way into a job.

        I don’t know if these kids think that they can piss in a jar to make money or that they’ll be running their own fancy art studio in Manhattan. A dose of realism would do them well.

        But, I just don’t want people thinking that making art is a joke career. It’s definitely real and there’re thousands of jobs in it.

      • Agent Cooper

        If a person has any ability at all to think conceptually and solve marketing problems via creativity, I will hire them.

        It’s so rare to find those people. Anyone can do layouts or design. It’s the creative problem solving that’s the issue.

      • Mojeaux

        An artist who knows basic shit will have no problem whatsoever getting a job in video games. it’s practically 100% employment.

        I did not know this. I’m wondering how many other artists out there don’t know this.

        BTW, I’m going back to school this fall for art. I want to illustrate my books and maybe, some day, do a graphic novel version of one of them. Actually, my goal is to make a graphic novel without words.

    • EvilSheldon

      Austin is pretty much California.

      • rhywun

        So a slice of Utopia in Texas?

        *packs bags*

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Yep Austin seems to be the next city to be left desiccated by the locust swarm from CA.

    • Swiss Servator

      Austin isn’t really Texas anymore.

    • Agent Cooper

      Disappointed, Texas is just south of Paris, Texas.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    And as countries look to move past the pandemic, new figures spell out the ongoing human cost, with the global death toll passing 4 million.

    And that completely reliable and unquestionably accurate number is the only thing we need to concern ourselves with.

    • Raven Nation

      On the 4 million, see my response to you above.

    • Grumbletarian

      Are you suggesting that North Korea may have more than zero Covid deaths?!

      • prolefeed

        Funny how the New Black Plague Causing 4 Million to Die doesn’t seem to have even budged the trend line on world population:

        https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-by-year/

        World Population Percent Change Yearly Change

        2020 7,794,798,739 1.05 % 81,330,639
        2019 7,713,468,100 1.08 % 82,377,060
        2018 7,631,091,040 1.10 % 83,232,115
        2017 7,547,858,925 1.12 % 83,836,876
        2016 7,464,022,049 1.14 % 84,224,910

    • blackjack

      Food deserts. That totally explains why there’s so many fat people in the hood. They can’t get enough food.

      • banginglc1

        I remember when a local grocery chain around here closed. They called my former area of town a food desert. I now had to walk two blocks to the store instead of one.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Dollar General is awesome and cheap and they do business mostly in underserved areas. The effete intellectual cocksuckers continue with their war on the poor it seems.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s never good enough. It doesn’t even matter that the locals in those areas don’t really want Whole Foods.

      • invisible finger

        So true. $950 in theft goes a lot farther at Dollar General than it does at Whole Foods.

    • Lackadaisical

      Let’s try to Bernie this up:

      No one needs more than 1 food choice.

      • TARDis

        Here’s your Soylent Green. Enjoy!

    • Fatty Bolger

      Dollar Generals are all over the place, not just small towns and poor areas. They seem to do just fine even when surrounded on all sides by other grocery stores.

  23. Tundra

    Good morning, Old Man!

    And a good morning to all of you weirdos.

    Stunning day here in the People’s Republic – 63 and sunny. I’ll take it.

    • Not Adahn

      75 and way too humid.

      • Rat on a train

        Summer suck here. It’s July.

    • PieInTheSky

      32 °C
      Precipitation: 0%
      Humidity: 38%
      Wind: 6 km/h

      To hot for my liking.

    • Animal

      46 and raining at the moment here in the Great Land.

  24. Stinky Wizzleteats

    “Taliban takeover highly unlikely”

    Not that we ought to stay regardless of what happens but bullshit. I give it three months for the rest of the country followed by a maybe protracted maybe not siege of Kabul.

    • Lackadaisical

      They’ll take Kabul on 9/11 for the luls, and as a message to Biden.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    The other day, a lot of news outlets soberly reported 4 million deaths from COVID. Sad, yes, but it’s .05% of the global population.

    They also like to trot out some number which highlights the somehow horrific disparity between America’s population relative to the world, and the “disproportionate” number of plague deaths.

    All that shows me is we are better at keeping old sick people alive than the rest of the world.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    These kids were told that any degree is basically a money tree. The were TOLD this.

    “Hey! I’ve been SWINDLED!”

    • creech

      Nothing new. Twenty five years ago, a local GOP congressman got a street underpass built to eliminate a railroad crossing that saw one freight train per day.

      • Rat on a train

        The fun at this location is all the wailing about 295 dividing a neighborhood. The East side of 295 is a single street with a towing company and a housing authority motor pool. You then have a rail line dating back to the 1800s and then Metro rail.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      “I’ll be fine, I put bleach in my coffee.”

      I’m so using this.

      • Nephilium

        You laugh. I was doing some searches yesterday for cleaners and landed on the Pine Sol page. They have a splash warning:

        An Important Safety Message
        Pine-Sol and other disinfectants are not suitable for consumption or injection under any circumstances. People should always read the label for proper usage instructions. Our products are safe when used as directed. It’s critical that everyone understands the facts in order to keep themselves safe and healthy, which is why we continue to educate people about how to use disinfectants safely.

        Emphasis added by me.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Is mainlining PineSol a thing?

  27. ignoreLander

    proof that fucking your way to the top is a viable strategy

    I could have sworn it was going to be “Cacklin’ Kammy” Harris. With about half an ounce of her own talent, I truly believe Courtney Love is more entitled to her success than our current VP.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Hey, Love did have one pretty damn good album and who knows, maybe Harris gives the BJ to end all BJs. That’s a talent I respect to be honest.

    • Tulip

      Violet is a damn good song.

  28. Festus

    I feel so very tired. Hang in there Glibs if you can!

    • creech

      Parents who spend $55K per year on their kid’s education probably deserve the raft of shit that will someday be theirs when their little woke darlings turn them in to the thought police. Oh, and did the U.S. media make some kind of deal with the Daily Mail U.K. to let them cover outrages by U.S. personages while U.S. “journalists” cover the doings of the royal twits?

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Joe Biden, Trust-Buster-in-Chief

    President Joe Biden on Friday will sign a new executive order aimed at cracking down on anticompetitive practices in Big Tech, labor and numerous other sectors.

    The sweeping order, which includes 72 actions and recommendations that involve more than a dozen federal agencies, is intended to re-shape the thinking around corporate consolidation and antitrust laws, according to a White House fact sheet.

    Those wide-ranging goals and initiatives include:

    Urging the Federal Trade Commission to “challenge prior bad mergers” that previous administrations let slide
    Pushing the FTC to ban occupational licensing restrictions, arguing they “impede economic mobility”
    Encouraging the FTC to ban or limit non-compete agreements
    Encouraging the Federal Communications Commission to restore “net neutrality” rules that were undone during the Trump administration
    Asking the FCC to block exclusivity deals between landlords and broadband providers
    Lowering prescription drug prices by supporting state and tribal efforts to import cheaper drugs from Canada
    Allowing hearing aids to be sold over the counter
    Establishing a “White House Competition Council” to lead federal responses to large corporations’ growing economic power

    “The impulse for this executive order is really around where can we encourage greater competition across the board,” White House chief economic advisor Brian Deese told CNBC’s Ylan Mui in an exclusive interview that aired earlier Friday morning.

    All of these actions will result in exactly the stated intent, and nothing more.

    • Ownbestenemy

      All I read there is ‘central planning’

      • Sensei

        Hearing aids OTC is actually a good thing. I’m guessing the audiologist lobby couldn’t pony up enough cash. I’ve remarked on this one earlier.

        I believe it is a happy accident or more likely a demonstration to other industries what happens if you don’t pay up to DC.

      • Akira

        Well hopefully, maybe Lefties won’t look at me like I’m insane when I say that healthcare costs could be reduced if more things were available over the counter. “But look, even your hero Biden did it!”

      • R C Dean

        I read that and thought “shakedown”.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Pushing the FTC to ban occupational licensing restrictions, arguing they “impede economic mobility”
      Encouraging the FTC to ban or limit non-compete agreements

      These seem like good things.

      • Ownbestenemy

        On paper, I just dont trust our government to mean what it says

      • R C Dean

        Of course, the biggest anti-competitive contracts are union contracts, especially in closed shops.

        Why do I doubt they will go after those?

      • Lackadaisical

        Also allowing imports of drugs from Canada. I thought trump was going to do that, and then Biden cancelled it, as part of his info everything trump did stage.

        The challenge part mergers thing seems dystopian of course.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        And people wonder why the pharma companies could possibly have wanted Trump out of office and might have done some unethical things to assist the process.

  30. robc

    Good news: I accepted a job offer this week, so I have improved to funemployed for another few weeks. Still homeless though. Been traveling like crazy.

    • PieInTheSky

      The government should give you a free house. Then you would no longer need to give up your freedom for so called work.

    • egould310

      Congratulations on the job.

      Enjoy the homeless travelling lifestyle. There will be plenty of time innthe future to paint the guest bedroom, fix the garbage disposal, mow the lawn, etc.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Biden’s executive order doesn’t impose its will on Big Tech companies unilaterally, and instead frequently calls on independent agencies to take action.

    But new FTC chair Lina Khan, a Biden appointee who at 32 became the youngest person ever to hold the role when she was sworn in last month, has already carved out a reputation as a vocal advocate for reforming and beefing up regulations on tech giants.

    Amazon is calling for Khan to be recused from ongoing probes of its business, arguing she lacks impartiality and accusing her of repeatedly saying the company is “guilty of antitrust violations and should be broken up.”

    It’s utterly absurd to think she cannot be impartial. She works for the government. She wants what’s best.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Good government people are immune from the petty squabbles and vendettas that are so common in the private sphere, it is known. Looks like Bezos’ sucking of the government cock isn’t going to pay off this time.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      If Alex Jones did not exist we would need to invent him.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        He was invented by the Pentaverate to distract us from the real conspiracies.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Goddamn you Col. Sanders with your wee beady eyes!

      • slumbrew

        They run everything in the world, including the newspapers, and meet tri-annually at a secret country mansion in Colorado, known as The Meadows

  32. juris imprudent

    We can do more to alienate the American people!

    So when do we dump state names and go to district numbers?

    • ignoreLander

      Following the Capitol Breach

      I’ll say it again: the Capitol is the property of the People. Not the sovereign Castle of the Lords.

      Let’s really distill down what this is: Uncle Sugar is using our own money, wealth stolen from us under threat of violence, to imprison and punish those who came to their own property to petition for redress of a legitimate grievance.

      It’s a true violent warning to those who would dare disrupt Business-as-Usual. It would truly make my blood boil if I wasn’t numb by now.

    • TARDis

      No can do. That’s a French bastardization of Latin word. The French are white colonizers and therefore evil. We need something woke.

      • juris imprudent

        Collective zones?

  33. Nephilium

    Hooray! Outage call when I was just checking my e-mail before officially starting. Two hours later, on the same call, with people tearing up carpeting, and putting down hardwood flooring. If it was just an internal call, I’d be tempted to leave it off mute.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      They intend to teach us our place.

      I think I’m getting the message about what they think it is.

    • blackjack

      Had to? And this is proof that it’s their business?

    • Ownbestenemy

      Next leap will be “we spent trillions on so it is our right to control your speech/internet access/health choices/food you buy/home/car you drive”

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yep, it sets a bad precedent and even if you take the necessity of spending that money at face value, which I do not, it’s none of their frigging business.

      • prolefeed

        Whattaya mean next leap? She explicitly said several of those controls are justified in the next couple of sentences out of her piehole:

        “It is the taxpayer’s business if we have to continue to spend money to try to keep people from contracting COVID and helping reopen the economy. And so, it is our business to try to make sure Americans can prosper to make sure Americans can freely associate, and knocking on a door has never been against the law.”

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        *buys NO TRESPASSING sign*

      • pistoffnick

        *Buys “Come Back With a Warrant” welcome mat*

      • blackjack

        Becerra is a dude. A horrible one at that. He’s a graphic illustration of why we need to recall Newsom. These types spread out and do lasting damage to other places too.

      • kbolino

        What happened to the fugly tranny? I could’ve sworn there was some fat ex-dude involved in this process somewhere.

    • EvilSheldon

      I’m gonna repeat myself here, just because I like the sound of my posting. *ahem*

      “Your unwanted gifts don’t make up for your past abuse, nor do they oblige me to put up with your abuse in the future.

      Also, fuck you.”

      Progressives are Abusers, episode 207

  34. wdalasio

    the last time I went in on a Friday I was literally the only person in the office other than the receptionist for most of the day

    I think a lot of people learned during the lockdowns that the centralized corporate office adds relatively little value, given modern technology, for a large portion of information workers. Little if any of their productive work output stems from direct physical interaction and direct interaction is often either a distraction or interruption of their productive work. At risk of sounding cynical and bitter, about the only elements of corporate America that really seem eager to return to the centralized workplace are those whose value derives less from productive work than their ability to hold employees hostage (e.g. bad managers, corporate HR). And the common mantra they seem most eager to recite in justification for it is “corporate culture”, which mostly seems to consist of socializing while other people are doing the work, holding mandatory meetings that nobody really wants to be in and sending out e-mails nobody really has time to read.

    • R C Dean

      OTOH, the office is a civil institution, and WFH shares the atomizing/isolating aspects of the lockdowns.

  35. Suthenboy

    “posting music that is lost on everyone”
    Dont be so sure.

    I heard the Haitian pres was killed by Columbians. So….dope. It doesn’t really matter who pulled the trigger…it was dope.

    There seems to be a lot of gnashing of teeth over Afghanistan. I don’t give a fuck. Everyone who made one penny off of that farce should be made to pay it back. Dont have it now? Tough shit, pimp your wife out. Whatever. Pay it back…and not to the Fed Gov, directly to tax payers. Either that or stretch a rope.

    Delta variant. uh huh. No one is pointing out that this variant is a dud, essentially harmless.

    On climate….booger eaters need jobs too.

    Palestinian culture is savagery and shit. There will never be peace there until that is wiped out.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      On Afghanistan, what was guaranteed to happen, has happened.

      The unfortunate and unforgiveable aspect of this is leaving those who helped us to be tortured and murdered.

      Let it be a lesson to anyone who believes the US government gives a shit about people and honor.

      • prolefeed

        So, the unforgiveable aspect of this is that President Porous Borders didn’t order that our troops evacuate potential immigrants who actually are refugees facing likely death?

        Bets on this narrative getting even a mention from TMITE?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m not taking that bet.

  36. juris imprudent

    Interesting comparison.

    Because both are idiosyncratic populists, many have argued that Bryan and Trump are similar figures. Bryan and Trump are alike, but not for the policy reasons that some suggest. Bryan and Trump have little in common religiously or economically. However, Bryan and Trump are stylistic and electoral twins.

    Stylistically, both are known for their speechmaking rather than policy acumen. Both were lambasted by urban media outlets that branded them dangerous to the future of the country. Bryan and Trump also both positioned themselves as spokesmen for the common people’s interest against an established political system.

    Electorally, the two have devoted rural bases that do not constitute the majority of the electorate. From 1896 to 1908, many Democrats would vote for nobody except Bryan. In 1904, Democrats nominated Alton B. Parker, and the party was thoroughly crushed, losing to Teddy Roosevelt. Similarly, current polling indicates that two-thirds of the GOP still want Trump at the top of the ticket. There is a fear that without him, many Trump voters will stay home and Republicans will lose badly.

    • prolefeed

      “These two people who have almost nothing in common, other than being motormouth arseholes, are proof that something that happened over a century ago, in a vastly different world, is gonna happen again!”

      • juris imprudent

        I think the parties re-alignment is noteworthy.

  37. PieInTheSky

    Your silly American bourbon is going up in price for no apparent reason. I decided to purchase a more expensive bottle for my birthday to try and it was 430 lei a few months ago it is 550 now 🙁

    • PieInTheSky

      I… I don’t think I want to spend over 500 lei

      • blighted_non_millenial

        So like $120 US? What bourbon?

      • PieInTheSky

        Elijah Craig Small Batch Barrel Proof

      • blighted_non_millenial

        I haven’t tried that. Not sure what local price is here in GA.

      • Sean

        $64.99 in PA

    • Agent Cooper

      That’s what happens in shithole countries.

      • PieInTheSky

        Hey screw you buddy i heard there are bourbouns for which msep is like 60 and you get them for 300+ in your shitole country. Unless the bourbon junkies are lying to me.

      • B.P.

        The bourbon secondary market (that is, post-retail) used to be for the blueblood stuff like the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection and has crept down into stuff that used to be $11 a bottle in Kentucky (such as the Heaven Hill 6-year bottled-in-bond, which is no longer available). A person can pay a whoooole bunch of money for a bottle of bourbon these days.

    • PieInTheSky

      Eh single malt is better anyways

  38. B.P.

    “But a new budget approved by state lawmakers last week aims to support the construction of the Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing, a tunnel stretching above Highway 101 in Agoura Hills that would provide animals such as mountain lions, coyotes, deer and elk with a safe way to travel across the freeways cutting through their natural habitats.”

    Isn’t a tunnel stretching above a highway a bridge? Maybe a covered one?

    • creech

      Think of all the jobs created when they hire people to go door to door in the animal kingdom handing out little maps so the critters know where the tunnels/bridges are.

    • R C Dean

      What with the mountain lions and coyotes, doesn’t sound very safe for the deer and elk.

      • B.P.

        This sounds like a setup for a Far Side cartoon.

    • Rat on a train

      They cover US-101 to create a highway tunnel, then they tunnel through the cover to create an animal crossing.

  39. R C Dean

    Just saw this in an article about the new B-21 bomber.

    “The B-21 will have a crew of two, but will also be capable of uncrewed operation.”

    It’s a giant drone. Huh.

    • PieInTheSky

      Can i have one?

    • Urthona

      Shooting them out of the sky just got a lot more guilt free.

    • Rat on a train

      will also be capable of uncrewed operation
      For when the pilots refuse to drop bombs on a wedding.

      • Urthona

        Except I assume they’ll still be person controlled… remotely.

        I really really hope they’re not using Tesla autopilot technology.

  40. slumbrew

    Aeron update:

    Victory.

    Piston still didn’t come out with the rubber mallet after an overnight soaking with WD-40, so I switched to the engineers’ hammer and, thus, learned the eternal lesson: “when in doubt, use a bigger hammer”.

    • UnCivilServant

      Well, you did say it was there for twenty years, that’s going to be a tight pressure fit.

    • Stillhunter

      For future reference WD-40 is not a penetrating oil, it is a water displacing (WD) lubricant. Get some PB Blaster or similar for jobs as you described.

      And yes I’m fully aware of the euphemisms…

      • slumbrew

        Good to know – WD-40 was explicitly mentioned in their video

  41. Nephilium

    Quick heads up for those who care. I will not be around tonight to host. Instead I will be out and about enjoying an event that has finally started back up again after ~16 month with the girlfriend.

    I do promise to drink while out though.

    • Old Man With Candy

      enjoying an event that has finally started back up again after ~16 month with the girlfriend.

      Anal?

      • juris imprudent

        Depends on how drunk she gets him?

      • Nephilium

        Walkabout Tremont. Pop up artist galleries and sales in the bars/shops. Drink and food specials, live music, and entertainers. I’m torn between which of the places I’m going to push for dinner at… the new BBQ place, or the solid cajun place.

      • Surly Knott

        I miss Fat Cats and the VTR. The Tremont was probably my second favorite place to live over my peripatetic career. The first might as well have been nuked; I’m glad Tremont is thriving.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That website is poison.

      And what shovel costs $300?

      • UnCivilServant

        A shovel from an approved vendor on the pre-approved vendor list.

      • Sensei

        Typical crap local reporting. He wants a large quantity of shovels. Not just one.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I imagine he walked in and demanded it from a powerless assistant manager.

        Asshole.

      • Urthona

        All store employees are empowered to give away free shit if it seems like a worthy cause.

      • Rat on a train

        Let me throw on a FEMA jacket and stock up.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Once upon a time, my father told FEMA to fuck off (using those words) in front of customers who were waiting to buy generators. They had come to the front of the line of dozens and demanded to be served immediately and with a government discount.

      • Urthona

        As he should.

      • slumbrew

        I like the cut of your dad’s jib.

      • Rat on a train

        A man of few, good words.

      • Sensei

        Also – I guess this mean you’re not going to give me a free excavator?

    • Urthona

      I shovel. I shovel well.

      • Rat on a train

        When you doubt your powers, you give power to your doubts.

      • waffles

        I, needed that.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      I’m doing a soft search for an AK. Im not sure if I want to go with an imported Romanian one or a milled US one, or what. I kinda like the idea of having a cheap eastern European AK with that laminated wood all over and hastily stamped metal.

      • Sean

        cheap eastern European AK

        They ain’t cheap no more.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I’m seeing the cheapest US ones in the $400-500 range and the European ones starting around $800-1200 range. At $1200, I may as well save a couple hundred more and get a milled receiver and buy the authentic furniture separately. I’m not after a perfectly authentic, fell off a truck with a red star, AK. Close enough is good enough.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Sorry, I’m off by a couple hundred across the board… the cheap US ones seem to be in the $700 range. Imported start closer to $1000 and milled US is $1700 or so.

      • EvilSheldon

        Ditto this. I have the feeling that AKs *should* be and look cheap.

        OTOH, I’m told that making a reliable AK isn’t as trivial as Vietnam-era gun lore might have one believe…

      • Animal

        I was thinking of looking for an AK.

        But I already have a boat anchor.

      • EvilSheldon

        If all you have (or can pick up) is a boat anchor, it might be good to know how to use it, eh?

      • Animal

        No argument there. I’m actually plenty familiar with the platform, having handled and fired both civilian and full-bull military versions. It’s just not my cup of tea.

      • EvilSheldon

        Nor mine. But every time I go overseas, I put in some practice time with the AK, PGO Mossberg 500, and 4″ .38 S&W M10. Those are the guns I’ll be most likely to procure outside the US, if I really desperately need one.

      • Animal

        Yeah, that’s likely so.