Wednesday Afternoon SugarLinks – Double Whiskey, Coke, No Ice

by | Nov 3, 2021 | Daily Links | 291 comments

I’m Just Coughing Here!

For more than a year and a half, the public expulsion of various irritants from our airways has engendered a heightened degree of suspicion. Every clearing of the throat could be the calling card of a superspreader, and every cough—particularly coughs, the most universal COVID symptom—could be the reckless spewing of disease. This isn’t entirely new: The sound of a nearby person’s mucus has always been unpleasant to hear—and for some, including the immunocompromised, a worrying sign of possible infection. But today, even as vaccinated people face an extraordinarily low risk of severe illness from COVID-19, coughs still prompt hostile looks from bystanders and defensive pleas from those with ticklish throats. When my iced tea went down the wrong pipe outside a coffee shop on a recent afternoon, the whole patio turned to stare in horror as I coughed it up.

I resisted the reflex to assure everyone that I was merely a klutz, not contagious. For one thing, the two are not mutually exclusive; no one can ever be 100 percent sure they’re not spreading a germ or two. But more importantly, I was covering my mouth with all due diligence, and the goings-on south of my uvula are nobody’s business but my own.

In other words, I think it’s long past time for us to stop feeling ashamed—or making others feel ashamed—of the everyday cough. We’ve already endured two spring allergy seasons and two autumn ragweed seasons since the beginning of the pandemic. Each time a new one starts, there’s an onslaught of service journalism advising readers on the difference between COVID symptoms and everything else. (TL;DR: Allergies don’t cause fevers, and COVID doesn’t make the eyes itch.) Though these pieces are usually written as guides for people looking to assess their own symptoms, they could also be read as entreaties for the rest of us to chill out a bit. There are a limited number of ways for the respiratory system to signal distress, which means that people cough for all sorts of reasons.

Create or exacerbate a problem (1-3 articles,) whip up a hysteria (4 articles minimum,) write about what people are saying about the hysteria and/or making fun of the people making fun of said hysteria (3 articles) and then write about how everyone needs to calm down (1 article so far.)

A perfect fear-outrage-admonishment cycle that can be applied to anything. It’s like one of those time-lapse films of some poor dead possum bloating with maggots and then they all spill out and the skin and bones quiver and rustle.


If this reality is a simulation, why did they cut so many corners when programming the skin for this NPC? Did the high school intern make this one? Was it a stock skin from a programming library for a failed Taiwanese gaming start-up?


 

Truck Driver Leads NJ Senate President After Spending $153 on Campaign

New Jersey’s longest-running state senate president seems set to lose his seat his seat to a truck driver who spent only $153 on Dunkin and paper fliers over the course of his campaign.

Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney trailed Republican challenger Edward Durr, a commercial truck driver, by more than 2,000 votes as of Wednesday afternoon, with more than 99% of precincts reporting. The Associated Press has not yet called a winner.

The potential loss by one of New Jersey’s most powerful politicians would result in upheaval of political power in the state, forcing the Senate to find a new president. Sweeney has been the chamber’s leader since 2010.

Durr said he entered the race after being denied a concealed carry permit despite having a clean record. State campaign finance records show a slate of candidates including Durr raised more than $10,000 during their campaign but spent only $153: $66.64 at Dunkin to buy food and drinks for staff and $86.67 for paper flyers and business cards.

womp womp


 

 


 

About The Author

SugarFree

SugarFree

Your Resident Narcissistic Misogynist Rape-Culture Apologist

291 Comments

  1. Fourscore

    I sneeze a lot, does that count, in lieu of a cough. I feel like life is passing me by because I’m too lazy to the ‘vid.

    • Sean

      That’s even worser!

      Droplets, dude. Droplets!

  2. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    Nobody on the Zoom understood my Sweet Baby Ray’s reference the other night. I think the BB sauce meme would have gone further if it wasn’t for those meddling Lincoln Project kids and their tiki torches and fedboi outfits!

    https://twitter.com/subtoconnorpls/status/1453816060319305737

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      I’m marinading Chicken in SBR’s Teriyaki now, hmmm

      • Count Potato

        I’m marinading salmon in homemade teriyaki.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Salsa is as far as I go with homemade sauces and such, I’ll have to learn…..

      • db

        This is an outrage! I was going to eat that mummy!

    • Gustave Lytton

      Is there any doubt because it’s a nutrient source for the alien?

    • db

      I still don’t get it. Was Zuckerberg making a joke or something?

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        I’m not sure, but who the hell puts BBQ sauce on a decorative living room shelf?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        It’s a sauce, and a furnature polish!

      • db

        Weirdos. Or people who are quickly tidying up before a video conference and need a place to stash it?

        Either that or it’s some running joke between him and his friends (assuming he has any).

      • Zwak, sensual panzer

        I sure he has set dressers, and it might be a joke in that circle.

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        There were some fun memes out of it before it died. Someone had a bottle of it in their shower caddy with their shampoo. Shit like that makes Twitter less of a cesspool.

    • Bobarian LMD

      THe book on the shelf next to it?

      “To Serve Man”

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Winner!

  3. The Other Kevin

    $153? I’m sure there’s some kind of campaign finance laws they can get him on. I don’t even see “exorbitant lawyer fees to verify compliance with reporting requirements” on that list.

    • Lackadaisical

      Yeah, the focus on that keeps making me think they’ll get him for it somehow.

      • Bobarian LMD

        “Not greasing the right palms” is punishable by death in the Garden State.

  4. Rebel Scum

    I think it’s long past time for us to stop feeling ashamed—or making others feel ashamed—of the everyday cough.

    I never was.

    • SDF-7

      I have to confess that I’ve kept a cough in while at the grocery store (the only place I go these days that has a mask requirement) just to avoid the discussion if any Nervous Nellie is around.

  5. WTF

    Sweeney losing his seat would be YUUUUGE!!!! In deep blue NJ.

    • Suthenboy

      I dont understand why the D’s are doing so poorly. I mean, they already explained that our children belong to the state and parents have no parental rights. With a winning message like that…

      • WTF

        Of course the lesson they’ll learn is to double down and prog harder.

      • Ed Wuncler

        Racism. Everyone is a goddamn racist.

      • Nephilium

        There’s white supremacists everywhere! They’re crafty too… even voting in a black Lieutenant Governor to hide their true beliefs!

      • db

        “Some of my best government officials are minorities!”

      • Ed Wuncler

        Neph, she’s not a true black woman because she’s totally embraced white supremacy.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Did you even see the picture of her holding an AR?

        Dems: “We can ignore her because she’s an Auntie Tom.”

      • Nephilium

        So does this mean like we have White Hispanics, we’re going to have White Blacks?

      • Bobarian LMD

        The greatest QB to ever play the game agrees with this sentiment.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        What’s Joe Montana got to do with this?

      • Trigger Hippie

        *fist bumps SW*

        /not a 49ers fan

    • Sensei

      We know Murphy is going to find enough votes to win so his victory doesn’t particularly surprise me. Disappointing, but not unexpected.

      OTH, this should be lots of fun as Team Blue craps all over each other with the power vacuum created as they try to fill his presidency.

      • Sean

        Fortified.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Shocking. Who could have seen that coming.

      • db

        It’s New Jersey. It’s absolutely amazing it even got this close.

      • DEG

        True, it should never have been this close.

        But close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, nuclear weapons, and dancing.

  6. Shpip

    New Jersey’s longest-running state senate president seems set to lose his seat his seat to a truck driver who spent only $153 on Dunkin and paper fliers over the course of his campaign.

    Every once in a while, a politician thinks that a primary or general election is a foregone conclusion and gets pantsed by a newcomer.

    See: Crowley, Joe

    • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

      Cantor, Eric

      • Rat on a train

        +1 Brat voter

      • Homple

        He was one of the amnesty Gang of Eight and when news of that got out, his constituency gave him the boot.

  7. EvilSheldon

    Zuck would probably throw a huge screeching ASD-style meltdown, if they tried to slather him in the amount of makeup needed to look normal on TV…

  8. DEG

    If this reality is a simulation, why did they cut so many corners when programming the skin for this NPC? Did the high school intern make this one? Was it a stock skin from a programming library for a failed Taiwanese gaming start-up?

    The Lizard People need to get better help for creating their skinsuits.

    New Jersey’s longest-running state senate president seems set to lose his seat his seat to a truck driver who spent only $153 on Dunkin and paper fliers over the course of his campaign.

    🙂

    Music link is good.

  9. Yusef drives a Kia

    I have Smokers cough, hilarity ensues, Heh
    My Daughter works at a Dispensary and they all have Canna Cough, Heh

  10. Rebel Scum

    Heh…

    BREAKING: Virginia Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin sends a fruit basket with a ‘thank you’ card to the Lincoln Project.

    “It’s the least we can do. After all, they were instrumental in helping us defeat Terry McAuliffe,” said a Youngkin aide.

    • Surly Knott

      ALOL

    • Tulip

      Please let that be true! Please let that be true!

    • Shpip

      My favorite bit of analysis from last night (TW: Twatter)

      • slumbrew

        I LOL’d when I read that last night and again right now. He’s often quite funny.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      The Lincoln Project has managed to turn Charlottesville into a way to get people to vote Republican— Michael Malice (@michaelmalice) November 3, 2021

    • The coolest vaccine-free BEAM in the world™

      “It’s the least we can do, and that’s why we did it.”  ;-)

    • Trigger Hippie

      Now that’s class.

  11. B.P.

    “It’s like one of those time-lapse films of some poor dead possum bloating with maggots and then they all spill out and the skin and bones quiver and rustle.”

    Oh yeah, one of those.

    *slaps youtube algorithm upside the head*

  12. wdalasio

    The story about the NJ Senate President losing his seat to Durr is hilarious. The best part?

    Durr said he entered the race after being denied a concealed carry permit despite having a clean record.

    Bet Sweeney wishes Durr had been issued the permit now.

    • WTF

      NOBODY gets a carry permit in NJ unless they are politically connected.

      • Sensei

        And as I noted below at roughly the same time that doesn’t even usually work.

      • B.P.

        Icing on the cake would be he reapplies and gets one now that he is in the Senate.

      • Gender Traitor

        Guess Durr will be politically connected now.

      • Drake

        He’s politically connected now!

      • WTF

        But likely not enough pull to get a carry permit.

    • Sensei

      Nobody in NJ gets a concealed carry permit unless you are highly, highly connected. Not even run of the mill politicians and connected people on Team Blue qualify.

      Pretty much restricted to law enforcement / security. NJ make NYS seem like they practically give them away.

    • The Other Kevin

      That is some delicious irony.

    • EvilSheldon

      Interesting aside – a friend of mine called me up today, in extremely high spirits because his MD Handgun Permit had been approved (there’s no such thing as a ‘concealed’ handgun permit in MD, you need the permit to carry concealed or open.)

      He’s not wealthy or politically connected, nor does he have anything that a bureaucrat would consider ‘good cause’.

      If you’re stuck in MD, applying for your permit might not be a complete waste of time…

  13. Certified Public Asshat

    An acquaintance is being vocal about being pro-mandate. He got J&J back in March.

    I don’t want to do him any favors by telling him even CNN says his efficacy is hovering around 3% at the moment.

    • Nephilium

      And he hasn’t gone and gotten his boosters yet? He’s already behind.

      • The Other Kevin

        Hell, he can mix and match and get ALL the vaccines now.

      • Rat on a train

        You get a free shot with a full card.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        He has vaccine smugness though, the ultimate protection.

  14. Rebel Scum

    Pwnd.

    “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job; a depression is when you lose yours; a recovery is when Dr. Fauci loses his.”

  15. db

    Someone, somewhere, has to have pointed out before me the resemblance between Zuckerberg and H. P. Lovecraft.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      QED he does huh?

      • waffles

        What’s Zuck’s cat’s name?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Cthulu?

      • B.P.

        Mr. Bigglesworth.

      • rhywun

        LOL

  16. Mojeaux

    Went to Walmart for the first time in forever. The greeter said good morning. I said good morning. She asked me if I was going to wear a mask. I said, “I am not,” and that was the end of the conversation. There is a sign outside that says masks are mandatory. I’ll admit I don’t remember if KC’s mask mandate is still in effect, but it didn’t bleed over to my county.

    ANYway, mask:maskless 1:1.

    • db

      Around here, masking is dead. Maybe 10% of people in stores wear a mask; no one asks you to put one on anywhere; staff in major chain restaurants will wear them, but in local establishments, it’s like it never even happened.

      • waffles

        Same, but we’re in the same location (90% sure).

      • db

        possibly

      • Lord Humungus

        Even in purple Michigan mask wearing is dead. There are a few I see at the stores; but nothing like last year.

        Gretchen, the “beloved” governor, has stopped issuing edicts like the little nazi she was.

        ::adjusting tinfoil hat:: It’s almost like some blue state governors purposefully tried to destroy the economy to bring down Trump.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I laugh to myself when I see Young people wearing them everywhere, while my cohort ignores it, and they aren’t Mandatory,
        /Scared Children

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Reporting from the Red part of MI

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        I live in the Final Boss Karen Suburbs. Masking is still very common around here.

      • Lackadaisical

        Final Boss Karen Suburbs.

        *crying laughing*

        In my (60-40 D-R )neighborhood masking is rare, but you see it, maybe 10% at grocery stores, was almost 0% a few months ago (besides staff, who must be masked, I believe).

      • rhywun

        In my immediate area you can predict compliance with pretty decent accuracy based on membership in one of the pigeonholes that the census bureau likes to put people in.

        But overall it’s higher now that it was a year ago at this time.

        *SMDH*

      • slumbrew

        Morons still wearing them walking around outside by themselves here. And still required inside by city diktat.

    • prolefeed

      When I was in a BBQ joint in KC recently, the only people wearing a mask were employees. Despite a weather beaten sign on the door saying masks were mandatory. Granted, NASCAR was in town, but still. My wife tentatively put hers on, because signage, then reluctantly took it off when (I’m guessing) she realized she was literally the only customer wearing the face burka.

      • Mojeaux

        IIRC, you went to Jack Stack but didn’t eat there, then went to Joe’s, right? One’s in KCMO, one’s in Kansas City, Kansas.

      • Mojeaux

        Correction: The Jack Stack WE go to is in KCMO. The flagship and others are in Kansas.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Yeah. In the working class areas in KC mask compliance is nearly non existent with anyone not on the job and around half the managers and employees on the job don’t comply with the company’s mandate for themselves, much less the customers. Even at work I haven’t had a homeowner at my job sites ask me to mask up in at least six months. Many of these homes are in wealthy neighborhoods. And it seems the more affluent the area, the more likely to comply. Service industry business? Forget about it. Small business ain’t saying shit and even the big boys turn a blind eye.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Upheaval, I tell you!

    • Jerms

      Berenson has been reporting on the increase in healthy professional athletes suddenly having mystery ailments and heart problems. Scary stuff. Well not to me but to some people.

  18. waffles

    As a sufferer of man-cold all week this hits home. The cold is now residing in my upper respiratory track which is less painful than the nose and throat stuff from earlier in the week. However it does bring with it a persistent cough. Really sets the coworkers on edge. Not sure what I’m going to do with this newfound power.

    • Lord Humungus

      get in peoples faces and cough a lot?

      • rhywun

        This seems the best course of action. Same as in the Before Times.

    • db

      Read “Final Blackout” by L. Ron Hubbard. There’s a pertinent scene.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Oh well, so much for the Lowes job,

      • Gustave Lytton

        I wouldn’t give up so soon. Get the job first, then worry about the future. It hasn’t even been issued yet.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I never give up, and it may be working in my favor on the Not losing my Home front,

      • Trigger Hippie

        Housing is a human right!

        The Unclean should be denied housing until compliance!

        You are subhuman.

        I jest, but don’t be surprised to see this attitude by many within the populace in the near future.

      • Lackadaisical

        ‘near future’? Sounds like yesterday. By far not the majority, but a significant minority.

      • Trigger Hippie

        I get that it has been implemented in a round about way. I’m just waiting for the “Anyone living in a public housing project must be vaccinated in the name of Public Health” mandate. Followed by the “Everyone living in a privately owned apartment complex must be vaccinated in the name of Public Health” mandate. And so on, and so forth till the only people left unvaccinated are the wack job backwoods conspiracy nuts living off the land who can take solace in the fact that they were right along before being quietly executed.

      • Zwak, sensual panzer

        Just like smoking laws.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Yep. Soon we’ll be suffering the indignity of the blind fold without so much as a last smoke out of the concern born for public health.

      • rhywun

        They already banned smoking in the projects here.

      • Count Potato

        “They already banned smoking in the projects here.”

        That’s just hateful.

    • Rebel Scum

      Friday afternoon news dump, prolly. I will not comply.

      • Plisade

        Word. I think I’ve made up my mind: I’m going to refuse to comply and to enforce it, not resign, and see what happens.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Make them work for it, your Fucked either way,
        /Stand Firm

      • Plisade

        Thanks. My dilemma: Bonus checks (a significant part of my compensation) are to run 11/22 for 11/26 deposit. I must delay action until mine clears.

    • The Gunslinger

      I finally got called into my boss’s office this morning to talk about vaccination status. They are surveying everyone right now to be ready. This information will go across the big lake to corporate and the owner will have final say on what happens. I was completely honest. Not vaccinated, not going to get vaccinated, don’t have a medical exemption, won’t be claiming a religious exemption, weekly testing is not something I will do. I’m prepared to walk away.

      • ignoreLander

        Hoping it goes well for you. For all of us, really.

      • The Gunslinger

        Thanks iL

      • Drake

        Yep.

      • rhywun

        Dittoes.

        I’ll use the time off to brush up my resume and wait for sanity to return.

    • Rebel Scum

      Also, “boosters” every six months. ///AlexJonesWasRight

    • Lackadaisical

      Heh, 50% of comments in chat: “Lets go Brandon!”

      The cough at 13:00 is hilarious. Clown world.

      • Lackadaisical

        The question I guess was obvious, but he’s reading his remarks in response to the one about Virginia, kinda strange to see.

    • Ed Wuncler

      I took the vaccine to get my wife and family off my back but I’ll be damn if I get a booster every six months for this shit. They can all go get fucked.

      • Nephilium

        From the vaccine FAQ that my company finally sent out:

        Q. Is this a one-time mandate or will I be required to get boosters or annual shots?
        A. This is a permanent policy. Infectious disease experts anticipate that annual or more frequent boosters will be necessary, and receipt of boosters will be required, consistent with product labeling, in the same way that the initial vaccination is required by this policy and subject to the same exceptions and deferrals.

        Emphasis mine.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Print out, document, and save everything. Maybe you’ll be able to sue the piss out of them one day.

      • ignoreLander

        Well they’re sure going in there with quite a bit of gusto, aren’t they?

      • Nephilium

        Hell… at least they’re making it clear that it’s not going to be a one and done. Curious what’ll happen when I submit my exemption request.

      • juris imprudent

        Since I was informed that my vaccination was one-time – BY THE MANUFACTURER OF THE VACCINE – and since you are not a medical professional, least of all MY physician, I will proceed based on the assumption I was told the truth then. If I was lied to then, as you seem to be asserting, then I can assume I’m being lied to now.

        Good day.

      • rhywun

        “I will not mandate vaccines.”

        –Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.

        It’s been lies the whole time.

      • db

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9976067/Biden-flip-flops-reversing-vow-NOT-mandate-vaccines.html

        In December, Biden said at a press conference in Wilmington, Delaware when asked asked about a federal vaccine mandate: ‘I don’t think it should be mandatory, I wouldn’t demand it to be mandatory, but I would do everything in my power…as president of the United States to convince people to do the right thing.’

        The White House doubled down on this stance as recently as July, when Press Secretary Jen Psaki said it was ‘not the role of the federal government’ to require vaccines.

      • ignoreLander

        That Nut-Psaki quite is correct, however it’s what he said right after:

        ‘That is the role that institutions, private-sector entities, and others may take

        The hell it is bitch. That’s a personal choice. She gave away their game plan with that: “Oh don’t blame us!!!! It’s private entities making you get the jab!”

      • slumbrew

        Preach.

  19. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    How long does it take to get a ship from LA to FL? I’m seeing massive container movements in the Port of Miami, but not many cargo ships (this cam mainly focuses on cruise ship movements, but you can get a glimpse of the cargo area occasionally)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQHTAXC4tUk

    • Lord Humungus

      >>massive container movements i

      ::flushes toilet::

    • db

      How awesome would it be to have the title “Master of Unlimited Tonnage?”

      • db

        Also works as a reply to LH’s comment…

      • The coolest vaccine-free BEAM in the world™

        It is awesome.  /buffs fingernails on shirt

      • db

        Seriously? Respect, yo.

      • juris imprudent

        He said tonnage, not tongueage.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Printed on the band of your underwear.

      • Zwak, sensual panzer

        A friend of mine has that title. Capitan in the US Merchant Marine. Makes fucking bank, insane bank, but he is at sea two out of every three months. It’s hard on a marriage. But, he has to qualify with a Baretta, M14, and 870 to repel boarders. It’s kinda funny, but he is probably the most liberal guy I know.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      About 7ish day to Panama from LA and about 6ish day from Panama to Miami. Not sure how long the waiting time would be to outside of the canal if you have everyone trying to use it or if the cargo ships waiting outside of LA are even capable of navigating the canal. So if no delays about 2 weeks.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Also I don’t know their fuel situation.

  20. Lackadaisical

    In other words, I think it’s long past time for us to stop feeling ashamed—or making others feel ashamed—of the everyday cough.

    Wrong!

    This was the only good thing to come out of the Coof hysteria. Stay away form me you germ-bag coughing machines!

    • rhywun

      People are terrified of fucking handshakes.

      I don’t think coughing will be acceptable any time soon.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    When my iced tea went down the wrong pipe outside a coffee shop on a recent afternoon, the whole patio turned to stare in horror as I coughed it up.

    I have a little trouble with that simultaneous eating/drinking and breathing, myself, now and then.

  22. Trigger Hippie

    ‘Durr raised more than $10,000 during their campaign but spent only $153’

    Tomorrow’s headlines: Durr shamefully caught hoarding thousands of dollars in campaign contributions!

    • Trigger Hippie

      Also, I regularly butcher the English language but shouldn’t it be “his”, not “their”?

      Or was it supposed to read as The Durr Campaign and the writer and editor are just fucking lazy?

      • Fatty Bolger

        There you go, assuming pronouns again.

        It said “a slate of candidates including Durr”, so the “their” refers to the “slate of candidates”.

      • db

        I had the same question but decided that they meant it in the sense of “the campaign between the opponents.”

      • Ted S.

        State campaign finance records show a slate of candidates including Durr raised more than $10,000 during their campaign but spent only $153:

        I read it as multiple candidates put together raised $10K but only spent $153 of it.

        It shouldn’t be illegal, considering that other campaigns have finished the election with cash on hand.

      • whiz

        This.

        My wife had $2000 left over after her last campaign. She ended up not running again, and because we had donated way more than that previously, we got it back.

      • Trigger Hippie

        *Gary Johnson nods in agreement*

      • Ted S.

        I was thinking of him and laughing because “What is Aleppo” was the correct response to one of the clues on Jeopardy last night.

      • Zwak, sensual panzer

        Gay Jay had something else in hand.

      • slumbrew

        A 6′ Graphix

      • Trigger Hippie

        Fair point.

      • Trigger Hippie

        That was in response to you all, not myself. Ha!

        Also, you may be shocked to learn that I often only quickly skim articles and respond to quoted text without context.

        Grab your fainting couch.

    • Rebel Scum

      vow to fight GOP’s ‘race-baiting BS’

      Because they are the race-baiters…

      All progjection. All the time.

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        The Dems are master race baiters.

      • juris imprudent

        There’s a Rule 34 just sorta hanging there.

      • Spudalicious

        Dangling, if you will.

    • Ozymandias

      The blame game kicked off Tuesday night, as members of the party’s progressive wing, which has been battling a pair of Senate centrists over President Joe Biden’s Built Back Better plan, tried to tag McAuliffe’s defeat on establishment Democrats. (McAuliffe is a longtime fundraising powerhouse for Bill and Hillary Clinton).

      Poor McAuliffe. All of his loyal service ends like this…
      It is fun watching the various cabals fighting for power in Team Blue’s hit garbage truck of a political party, along with the entrenched MIC (include the Intel traitors in there, too). Everyone fighting for power because of the weak executive. Then there’s Jill’s group, Kamala’s crew, it’s all so wonderfully shitty.

      • EvilSheldon

        I know right? Couldn’t happen to a ranker asshole.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Terry is easily one of the most weaselly characters in modern politics.

      • juris imprudent

        He’s the ever so slightly more respectable version of Sid Blumenthal.

      • juris imprudent

        Which makes me wonder, what did the Clintons offer Obama to pimp for Terry? He wouldn’t have much personal use for such a Clintonista, and he has NEVER given a shit about the Dem party beneath him.

      • Zwak, sensual panzer

        His star is fading. If he doesn’t stay in the ring, he doesn’t get to play kingmaker.

        He wants to be kingmaker.

  23. Count Potato

    “Private messages from users of an Israeli gay dating app are LEAKED by Iranian-linked hackers after a $1 million dollar ransom isn’t met”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10161785/Iran-linked-hackers-leak-Israeli-gay-dating-app-chats-million-dollar-ransom-isnt-met.html

    “Iran releases video of their soldiers seizing an oil tanker and training machine guns on two US destroyers that came to the scene but didn’t intervene: Another US warship is swarmed by Iranian drones”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10161471/Iranian-drones-swarm-warship-Tehran-claims-blocked-American-attempt-detain-tanker.html

    Iran is asshoe.

    • Fatty Bolger

      We shouldn’t let them seize our training machine guns from our destroyers like that. ?

      • Lackadaisical

        I think the Navy should reflect on the white rage they showed trying to stop that hijacking peaceful appropriation of oil stolen from indigenous people.

      • Rat on a train

        It’s not that bad. The Navy is better than Hollywood at keeping training and live ammunition separate.

    • Ted S.

      “Private messages from users of an Israeli gay dating app are LEAKED by Iranian-linked hackers after a $1 million dollar ransom isn’t met”

      (((torsos))) for anyone into that.

    • Gustave Lytton

      When they’re no longer receiving hourly antibody infusions, the antibody levels decrease? Where’s my shocked face at?

      • Lackadaisical

        Yup, well known benefit of breastfeeding.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    How awesome would it be to have the title “Master of Unlimited Tonnage?”

    Ask Tres Cool.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      HA!

    • Sean

      *golf clap*

    • slumbrew

      If Tres doesn’t incorporate that into his handle, I will be disappoint.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Good call,

    • db

      It took me a while, but now the waves of laughter are rolling.

      • The Hyperbole

        Ugh. or should that be ick?

      • juris imprudent

        Well the wake usually does follow the ship.

  25. Stillhunter

    Good discussion on the NFL player killing someone with his car last thread. I’ll add that I’d prefer something besides prison. Putting generally good people with seriously bad actors is a recipe for bad outcomes. I don’t know the answer, but there’s a non zero chance he comes out worse than he went in and someone else will pay the price.

    • The Hyperbole

      I haven’t gone back through the comments to see if I’m right but my impression is that this dude is getting far more leeway from Glibs than Alec Baldwin did. If so, I’m wondering if it is because of some perceived difference between negligence with a gun and negligence with a car/alcohol, or is it just that Alec is a giant asshole and most people don’t know anything about the NFL player.

      • Sean

        The last thing.

      • SDF-7

        Yup — I haven’t chimed in because I don’t know or care about NFL players.

        That said — if you want a blanket “Idiots who get drunk and then speed and kill people with their cars” are assholes? There ya go. Doesn’t mean I’m joining MADD and you can’t even have cough syrup — but “Don’t Be A Moron” applies in many situations.

      • Mojeaux

        I think it’s because it’s a kid with a benign history making stupid decisions because he just got blasted with fame and fortune before he could deal with it. However, he drank, got behind the wheel drunk, and did 157 mph in a 45 mph zone.

        I am of two minds on that and the Baldwin thing, too. Baldwin was depending on other people to do their jobs. Should he have checked himself? Sure, but he’s admittedly ignorant of firearms, so he had to depend on others to do their jobs, which was a reasonable expectation. However, he pointed the gun and pulled the trigger.

      • kinnath

        Alec is a giant asshole

        Baldwin is not just an asshole. He has vigorously campaigned against gun ownership and gun rights. Baldwin then broke every fucking rule for handling guns and killed someone. Being onset and having “expert” support doesn’t change the fact that Baldwin pointed a loaded gun at someone and pulled the trigger.

        If NFL kid had filmed anti-drunk driving videos for MADD before killing someone in a car, then he would get the same vitriol. Instead, he’s should get exactly the same treatment that a 22 yo laborer would get for killing someone when drunk. No more, no less.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        ?

      • The Hyperbole

        Fair points, though I still doubt the vitriol would be exactly the same for the kid, Baldwin’s sins (in some people’s minds) go beyond hoplophobia.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Fine, LWOP, period, no excuse for drunk driving, ever.

      • Not Adahn

        I’m not.

      • Stillhunter

        I don’t think Baldwin should go to prison either.

      • Stillhunter

        It’s not necessarily about this guy, even though it’s the topic. Anyone that makes a grave mistake but has no real history of doing so, shouldn’t be shoulder to shoulder with repeat violent offenders.

        I was going to bring up Baldwin as an example of someone who will likely get minimal time, if any, for the same result, a human death. Whereas this guy will probably serve serious time. Of course you could argue that circumstances are different in the two cases, warranting different sentences. My point is there should be something else for both of them.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        5 years hard labor? Exile? Removal of an appendage? Indentured servitude to the victim’s family?

        There are historical options, but they’re all rather distasteful.

      • rhywun

        There are minimum-security prisons for this sort of thing.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        my impression is that this dude is getting far more leeway from Glibs than Alec Baldwin did.

        And male teachers who molest their students are treated differently here than female teachers who molest their students. ?

        I’ll poke the bear yet again by making the point I make every time drunk driving comes up. I’m fine with throwing the book at this asshole and every other drunk driver. The one stipulation being that the trivial bullshit like speeding 5 over and turning without signalling should be ignored and the checkpoints should go away, but if you’re driving outside of the rules of the road while drunk, your life trajectory should be forcibly changed, and substantially so. You’re driving a multi-ton hunk of steel at high speed. Least you can do is not be a fucking menace.

        I’ll toss distracted texters into that bonfire, too.

        Baldwin’s deal was so easy to jump on because of the top shelf irony. Dude is an arrogant prick, especially about guns. Then off he goes shooting somebody because he doesn’t handle the gun properly. OTOH, there’s nothing ironic about some plastered asshole blasting through an innocent driver at 115 over the speed limit. That’s just the kind of assholery where you wish the victim was the one walking away with a couple scratches and the asshole was the one scattered across the pavement in little puddles.

  26. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    Seriously leaning into the idea of moving to Cheyenne instead of Rapid City. I think it would work out better for me, lifestyle-wise.

    Anyone familiar with the area?

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      It sounds cooler,
      /never been

    • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

      Also Laramie

      • Mojeaux

        My experience with Laramie is that I couldn’t get a motel room one night because of the college sportsball finals or something magnificent. And my experience in Cheyenne involves an early-morning pay phone call to my employer to call out sick.

        I dunno. I really don’t like driving through Wyoming because it’s so desolate, but Cheyenne is at least green in the summer, coming out on the edge of Nebraska. I am wary of places that don’t grow things to eat. Like, if I WANTED to have a garden, could I? In most of WY, that’s a big fat NO.

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        I do enjoy the desolation. And lack of income tax. And proximity to Denver airport. And 3 hours to my favorite ski resort.

        I think you could make a small garden work. A greenhouse would be ideal, though.

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        Copper

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Monarch, But I was from Canon City, so easy drive,

      • The Hyperbole

        I’ve only skied one day there (20 plus years ago), can’t say I remember much about it either good or bad.

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        It’s got all the ski resort amenities (except a hotel on site), but is a more local crowd. LOTS of groomers & greens. Good deals on lift tix (I paid $40/day when I got a 4-pack last time I was there ~3 years ago). Decent bloody marys.

    • db

      I have been in Wyoming a few times over the years. My favorite state. I have only been *through* Cheyenne before, though.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Cheyenne looks nicer in the pictures on Wikipedia, so there ya go.

    • SandMan

      Not sure about Cheyenne but I considered moving to Laramie at one time. From what I gather the winters are brutal, with wind being the major suck (look up ground blizzards). But that is true for most of Wyoming, and probably Cheyenne. Old joke; when the wind stops blowing half the cowboys in Wyoming fall over. Anyway, I might have learned to live with it but my wife would have hated it. Just fwiw a friend of mine did move to Wyoming and thought of Cheyenne as a shithole.

    • mikey

      Whenever I drive through Cheyenne going from CO to MT I get the feeling the Cheyenne is becoming North Denver.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Put them right over there, next to the couple of dozen clinical trials showing that masks don’t stop virus transmission.

      • Rat on a train

        We don’t need clinical trials when we have models to tell us what we want.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yep, doesn’t matter. This ain’t about the facts anymore.

    • Hyperion

      Those studies were not conducted by ‘experts’ and so have to be moved to the ‘NOT SCIENCE’ bin.

    • Jerms

      Just looking at those quickly it looks like natural immunity wins. How can the CDC be saying the opposite? Do they just not care at all anymore?
      I wrote about this here before. 7 of my moms friends in their 70s went to Florida on a trip. All vaccinated. 6 of 7 got covid, one hospitalization. Only person not to get it had the virus already. That one anecdote was all I needed.

    • Pope Jimbo

      DUDE!

      SCIENCE and Jan Malcom (Minnesoda’s Dept of Health Commissioner) says that natural immunity ain’t shit. Some people have had the Rona THREE times!

      Health officials have known of the potential for reinfections — after hopes of COVID-19 being a one-and-done illness were dashed early in the pandemic — but Minnesota for the first time on Monday quantified the problem. The state Department of Health reported a total of 8,184 reinfections, including a few people who had COVID-19 three or more times.

      While reinfections make up only 1% of the 797,984 coronavirus infections reported in Minnesota, state Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said they are proof that previous illness isn’t a free pass and that vaccination is important.

      “Unlike some other things, you get COVID once it doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t going to get it again,” she said.

  27. slumbrew

    Double Whiskey, Coke, No Ice

    Coke is surely a no-no for SugarFree.

    • Trigger Hippie

      I dunno. We talking cain or cane?

    • SugarFree

      I go for that Zero drank.

      But it is just a lyric from the song of the afternoon.

  28. Pope Jimbo

    OK, I’m fairly proud of myself.

    We just finished a code deploy tonight. Normally the QA and devs who have skin in the game get on a zoom call and do the deploy. The rest of the team joins and has a few drinks and bullshits. It is a good way to make sure everyone has a bit of skin in the game. Even if you are just drinking and bs-ing, you have to show up.

    We have a new manager who joined tonight and he seems like a decent person. But he is new and is trying to figure things out.

    As we were talking I started making fun of one of our QA testers who immigrated from Syria. I teased him about a simple mistake he made testing. Then I followed up with “yeah, but you can’t expect much from Mohamad. He rode the one humped camel to school, not the full sized two-humper”. Mo laughed and so did everyone else. The new guy got a horrible look on his face for five seconds – thinking I had just gotten everybody fired – before he figured out that Mo was cool with the teasing.

    • Ghostpatzer

      Lol, sounds like an old school team. It’s a stressful job, gotta have a way to blow off steam.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Everyone is older (45+). There is one youngster (20/30?) who is the one we all worry about dropping the dime on us.

        One of the other guys on the team is a small pudgy guy who always jokes about running his house with an iron hand and how his wife better have food on the table when he gets home.

        Today he was making those jokes and someone asked me about why I don’t make similar jokes. I said that I didn’t need to threaten my immigrant wife. I just got out the horse reins and she fell into line.

      • Ghostpatzer

        Heh. I got in a good one last week. One of our guys was on loan to another team for a coupla months, working on a new data pipeline using a cloud technology called snowflake. Came back to the fold last week, and got a bunch of tasks assigned to him an the sprint planning zoomer. When he objected to the new workload, I told him he was no longer allowed to be a snowflake. I think I got away with that one…

    • Hyperion

      Doing a push to prod tonight for 5 mods/fixes. I can’t do it until 8pm, that’s our maintenance window.

      I need to stop watching the foozball period, I actually feel physically ill from the shit now. I’ve hated the NFL for years now as it is, not sure what’s keeping me in that trap.

      Emotional investment in that is just pure poison.

      • slumbrew

        I confess I’m enjoying watching the Patriots attempt to rebuild after losing their franchise QB. I had 20 years of dominance as a fan, now it’s interesting to see them try to fit the pieces together.

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        I enjoyed watching the Bulls back when Jordan was trying his hand at baseball. They were still winning a lot of games, but they had to lean on players that otherwise didn’t get much attention. Like you said, it was interesting to see how the pieces fit together.

      • Hyperion

        The 2021 Bucs were actually the greatest NFL defense of all time. I think they are starting to gel again, just at the right time. Scary for the rest of the league, especially when Brady is starting to fire on all cylinders.

      • Hyperion

        Yeah, they were the last dynasty. Maybe. Now Brady has his own dynasty. And it’s actually interesting to see the NFL now turn on Brady, it’s back to the way it started when all they did was criticize him as a rookie. Of course it now has nothing to do with talent. It’s all about race. They need a ‘black’ guy to be the GOAT. Too bad for them, they picked Kermie, because he’s never going to be a Brady, mostly because he sucks. And wait… that’s a black guy? Wut? LOL, I’m a black guy! Kamal Harris is black! And Asian! Everyone is black and Asian! Give me my reparations!

    • Trigger Hippie

      Heh. Reminds me of the good old days during the Obama era when a Lebanese friend of mine and I would let each other know when the other was about to arrive at a party so the one of us could meet/confront the other at the front door then proceeded to call each other terms like “Skin Headed White Trash Nazi Puke” or “Filthy Fucking Dune Coon” then threaten to kill each other after a few chest bumps. The unaware freaked out, our friends rolled their eyes, we would then stare each other down until one of us broke character and started laughing.

  29. Pope Jimbo

    Since about 45? or so, a part of the Morning Ritual is to hack up phlem and let fly with about a pound of snot rockets. All crystal clear.

    But yeah, if coughing scares you, don’t hang out with me until at least 7:30.

    • slumbrew

      the Morning Ritual is to hack up phlem and let fly with about a pound of snot rockets

      Uh, wut? You should probably see a doctor.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Can’t remember where you are from Slummy. I think up here in the north where you regularly deal with air that is way too cold for what the human lungs are supposed to deal with, we get used to runny noses, snot rockets and hawking loogies.

        I’d be worried, if a) it wasn’t clear and b) all my friends in the same age bracket weren’t doing the same thing.

      • slumbrew

        Ah; I’m in the Boston area – didn’t realize you were referring to cold-related loogies. Yeah, I get those too.

      • The coolest vaccine-free BEAM in the world™

        Make sure the doc you see does much the same thing in the morning — much more likely to be sympathetic and all.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      That’s me daily, at least 90 minutes of hacking up a lung, cllearing sinuses, Good times with Tobacco…………….

      • Ghostpatzer

        Be like Billy C., don’t inhale!

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Where’s the fun in that? Besides He looks terrible, me? not so bad…..

      • Trigger Hippie

        Pretty sure Billy Corgan inhaled…wait…

  30. slumbrew

    Anyone have a favorite recipe for hakurei turnips?

    • Pope Jimbo

      Dude if you are going to commit harurei, use a katana.

      Only a masochist would try to disembowel themselves ritually with a turnip.

    • straffinrun

      Put them back in the ground where you found them?

    • Hyperion

      Turnips, like pears and beets, are a crime against humanity.

      • Tulip

        Ok, I understand turnips and beets (I don’t agree, but I understand). But why pears?

      • Trigger Hippie

        Yeah, pears are right near the top of my list for “My Least Favorite Fruits” but given the option, I’ll take them over beets everytime unless I’m suffering from sort of vitamin deficiency that only beets can cover.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        *shrug*

        I’m picky about pears because the texture goes off pretty fast when overripe, but they’re a good fruit when ripe.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Something something bacon?

      No idea, but bacon improves all veggies.

      • Hyperion

        Despite common belief, it has been confirmed that bacon is not actually a veggie.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Fucking liar

  31. straffinrun

    Apparently, your comment won’t go through if you type it into the log in user name box. Need moar coffee.

    • Gender Traitor

      Isn’t that how KK got her current handle?

      • straffinrun

        Great minds.

    • Hyperion

      “laying it down re cancel culture.”

      Because he’s saw this all before in Soviet Russia. He said as much.

      • Mojeaux

        Yes. That is why I linked the video.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Best part is when YouTube inserted a therapy website for a youngster feeling down.

  32. Ownbestenemy

    I have a special young tonato. I took it to a nursery to help raise it but they said I would need to find a specialized place that has the skills with dealing such, abnormalities.

    https://pasteboard.co/k6breEtjeJEp.jpg

    • Hyperion

      Looks like some sort of deformity inflicted with blight and mold. Don’t eat that thing

      • Ownbestenemy

        Why you hate sick tomatoes? Tomatist!

      • db

        Let it ferment a bit first.

      • Ghostpatzer

        Tomato wine?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Bloody Moscato?

      • Nephilium

        It is technically a fruit…

      • Ownbestenemy

        Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit and wisdom is knowing it doesn’t belong in a fruit salad.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        It’s fallout from one of HE’s experiments up north of you OBE!

      • Ownbestenemy

        The area she works in regularly interferes with our surface radar…so…possible

    • Ownbestenemy

      When you forgot you planted 3 different varieties of tomatoes…

      https://pasteboard.co/TYmsVgIFG7eA.jpg

      I’m guessing these are Roma or San Marzano’