Corrector Novus Occidentis – 1

by | Jan 4, 2022 | Fiction | 220 comments

An isolated incident – Part I

The two state law enforcement officers pulled over the dark blue Suburban with deeply tinted windows and out of state tags. The stop of course was just a pretext for a search, with the hope of at least seizing some cash and with any luck the vehicle. If they were ridiculously lucky they would actually find some narcotics and get a felony arrest out of it. What of course was most important was the supplement to departmental funds. Running the plate it came back as a rental, their hopes were running high.

The officers, Bladen and McGee, asked the driver to step out of the vehicle, claiming he had been weaving and crossed the white line of the road. They asked if perhaps he had been texting while driving? The driver introduced himself as Conor and denied that he had been texting, though in truth he had been in communication with someone. McGee chatted cordially, inquiring about what brought Conor to this part of the country and whether or not there was anything in the vehicle the officers should know about. This was all part of the standard approach to getting permission to search the vehicle. Conor said he didn’t have anything illegal in his rig and if they wanted, they could see for themselves.

Bladen, who was closer to the state police SUV, walked back to it and opened the back door and leashed up the German Shepard inside. The dog would have a say in what was about to happen. Conor watched with bemusement as the Suburban doors were opened and the dog was set to work. A small dufflebag with $75,000 was on the back seat, Bladen opened it and saw the cash. A second later the dog sat, alertly focused on the bag and it’s contents. Bladen retrieved the bag and handed it to McGee, who whistled as he felt the heft. It had been a few stops since they had scored like this.

McGee asked “do you have an explanation for that cash”?

Conor replied “it’s perfectly legal for me to have it, what more explanation do you need? Is it your intention to take it from me”?

McGee said “well, the dog alerted to it, which means it must have traces of narcotics on it”.

Conor countered “that cash came from a bank, do you think you could take it from them just because of the dog? I’m on my way to Reno to purchase a muscle car that I plan on restoring, and to have a little of the fun that town can offer, so it’s not like I don’t have a legit reason to be carrying that cash”.

McGee asked about the rental and Conor replied “yeah, I would’ve been in my own truck, but with all the crazy shit, it’s sitting in the shop waiting on parts”.

Bladen now spoke up “that may be true, but we have grounds and circumstances to seize the money until you can prove all of that in court”.

Conor softly asked “is that any way to treat an honest citizen”?

It was a fairly quiet stretch of highway and Bladen and McGee didn’t really notice that during the course of the stop how few cars had passed. Traffic had in fact entirely disappeared.

About The Author

juris imprudent

juris imprudent

“He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." --Winston Churchill

220 Comments

  1. ron73440

    Scary part, this doesn’t sound made up at all.

    • rhywun

      I hope it has a happier ending.

      • db

        I’m thinking this could be a side story in the “El Unico” universe.

      • juris imprudent

        Yeah, I was wondering – having tipped The Spark as inspiration – how he could think this was headed for a happier ending.

      • rhywun

        I just meant a happier ending from the point of view of our hero who seems to be being entrapped here – not an overall happier.

  2. db

    Traffic had in fact entirely disappeared.

    Gorram Glenn Youngkin and his shitty highway maintenance!

  3. DEG

    I was going to say, “Never talk to the police”, but I think this is the set-up.

    • juris imprudent

      Maaaayyybe

  4. Don escaped Cancun

    Who can we vote to who doesn’t love the Blue? Is there a party or an individual that has shown a willingness to reduce policing victimless crimes, suggested reduction in the size of state, demonstrated any interest in more privacy for the citizen, advocated for the repeal of a single law or the dissolution of a single bureaucracy?

    • pistoffnick

      You can’t vote your out of it.
      You can’t comply your way out of it.
      You can only refuse to play along and live your life as best you can.

      • Tundra

        This x 1000

        I don’t give a flying fuck who sits in the big chair

    • creech

      There is, but they don’t know what A Leppo is, so they keep getting about 1-2% of the vote. If they knew what A Leppo is, they could massively increase their vote to about 1-2%.

  5. Penguin

    well, the dog alerted to it, which means it must have traces of narcotics on it”>

    Right, it’s not like cash has a fair amount of cocaine residue on it that dogs could smell.

    • pistoffnick

      My mom was (since retired) was an accountant for a Minnesoda county. She was usually tasked with counting any seized money. The first step was to put on gloves. The second step was to put on a mask so you didn’t touch your nose and get high while counting.

      Curiously, the fella in charge of the drug task force had a 44 foot yacht, a waterfront condo, and a flashy girlfriend in the next county over; in addition to his house and wife in his own county.

    • Penguin

      Sorry if everyone here knows this, but damn it annoys the hell out of me.

      • rhywun

        I have a coke $1 straw and a coke $50 straw in my desk drawer (I just confirmed they’re still there) and I don’t touch the stuff any more. I just like to keep them as souvenirs.

      • DrOtto

        The $1 straw is actually for meth…

      • slumbrew

        $20, same as downtown?

      • slumbrew

        “How to make a coke straw from a bill” is on my list of “skills from my misspent youth that I haven’t needed in years”.

      • Fourscore

        I’m more of a root beer guy but most often right from the can

      • pistoffnick

        1919? Barq’s? A&W?

        My paternal grandma used to make her own root beer. I remember having to brave the bitey ants to dig up sassafras roots for her (she had polio).

      • MikeS

        Dad’s, of course.

      • Not Adahn
      • Fourscore

        My son and I have been talking about as a result of seizure in TX. He’s beginning to understand about how law enforcement works

  6. DrOtto

    Our Uber driver on New Year’s Eve was a former trainer of drug dogs. While my wife and friends were congratulating the driver on having had such an “awesome job”, I was grinding my teeth. Later, I texted one of the people we went out with something one of you people posted from IJ of the veteran who had his nearly $100k stolen by the Nevada Highway Thieves due to the dog hitting on the $ due to the presence of drugs. He agreed it was an awful practice. At least he did to me to get me off the subject.

    • Fourscore

      Years ago,I heard tales of local cops collecting a fee in kind from the young women looking at a DWI or other such transgression. No idea if it was true or just teenage BS

    • juris imprudent

      I was a primary source for Doherty’s Reason article on the U.S. mail seizures at Burning Man, back in 15 or 16. They claimed the dog alerted on 17 parcels, 3 of which were tied to our camp, and not a one of them contained any controlled substance.

      I watched cops claim the dog alerted on car searches – from upwind, or in howling dust storms. The dog’s nose isn’t doing a damn thing (not even as accurate as a coin flip), it is all fucking theater. Those who are holding, know they’re holding, and just figure they got unlucky (to have the dog alert). No dude (or dudette), the cop just played you with the dog as a walking prop and let you impeach yourself. The grossest part of this whole thing is that sick fuck Scalia’s bullshit opinion that dogs are objective players.

  7. The Hyperbole

    My Latin is a bit rusty* any nerds want to translate the title for me? **

    * I have no actual Latin

    ** I get that authors don’t want to talk down to their readers and at one time knowing at least the basics of three or four languages was expected of the intended audience, but one of my pet peeves is authors throwing foreign phrases around and not even putting what they means in a footnote.

    • kinnath

      Google says:

      the new western reformer

    • juris imprudent

      So that particular inspiration was a Roman citizen who was appointed to rule the eastern provinces over and above the governors already in place. Nice gig, didn’t last long – as political intrigues tend to go.

    • Mojeaux

      They’re all made up. Like everything in the story. You don’t have to know.

      • The Hyperbole

        Was waiting for that.

    • db

      Wait, so, now The Hyperbole is expecting realism in fiction?

  8. Penguin

    JI, I hope I didn’t throw knots into your story, but it was too close to reality for me not to comment.

    • juris imprudent

      Not a worry, the first three chapters are in queue, and I’m working on the fourth. I haven’t entirely decided where it will all go, so I may incorporate input from the peanut gallery.

      • juris imprudent

        Duh, the first chapter is out the chute, the next two are in queue.

  9. Tulip

    I really love that this site is providing gentle readers to people trying their hand at fiction.

    • juris imprudent

      An experiment for me, to see if I can be reasonably disciplined as a writer to churn out some engaging prose on a not too demanding schedule/audience. If it works, writing may become a bigger part of my retirement plans.

  10. Mojeaux

    I’m sensing the supernatural coming into play here, or at least magical realism.

    Nice start.

    • juris imprudent

      I do love Helprin’s writing and Garcia-Marquez and Rushdie, and I have absolutely no belief that I could do anything at all like that.

  11. EvilSheldon

    Hmm.

    He was in communication with someone?

    Like maybe the blacked-out follow car with the shoulder weapons?

  12. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    pistoffnick, I see it’s getting a little nautical down at the harbor

      • mikey

        Cool. Looks like something big is coming in.

      • pistoffnick

        Well, I don’t like to brag…

      • slumbrew

        Dang, those are some good rollers going through the canal.

        Really though the were too far over to port and the wind was going to push that ship to the right into the side but, nope, total pro.

      • The Hyperbole

        Are those idiots standing out there in 26° plus wind and ocean spray just to take pictures of a boat?

      • pistoffnick

        Yes

      • pistoffnick

        I may have been just this sort of idiot.

      • The Hyperbole

        I’d like to say that I admire their dedication, but nope, ‘Look at these crazy fuckers!’ is about the best I can do..

      • MikeS

        Yes. And I’ll do it again.

    • rhywun

      These euphemisms are getting weird.

      • Sensei

        Any port in a storm.

  13. kinnath

    Great story. I am hooked.

  14. grrizzly

    Wouldn’t it be more convenient to have a bank check rather than cash if you wanted to pay for your new car?

    • pistoffnick

      Crypto, dude.

  15. Chipping Pioneer

    Conor shoulda used crypto.

  16. creech

    Nice start to a novel. Maybe Conor can be like a Reacher type, but less off the grid. Gotta be ex-SEAL or The Company or some secret unit that reports only to POTUS. Then you need five or six pages describing his firearm, the cartridges he uses, his holster, etc. and why six or seven other firearms are inadequate.
    He’ll need to render the two cops unconscious with some fancy martial art stuff. Then you’ll have to invent some villains: ex-KGB or Spetnaz, Muslim terrorists,
    South American drug dealers, or a greedy capitalist environmental raper – you get the idea. Toss in some colorful venue where you can describe what’s on every corner, no matter how remote the place. Moscow, backwoods of Minnesoda, whorehouse in Pahrump run by sadistic county sheriff, secluded cove on the shore in Maine. Toss in some pretty but cynical woman whose almost Conor’s combat equal and get them in bed before the end of the story. Hey, I’ve half written it for you already!

    • Mojeaux

      Hey, that’s totally original, too!

    • slumbrew

      Not gonna lie, looking for to the Reacher series on Amazon next month.

      • slumbrew

        s/for/forward/

    • rhywun

      Can’t miss!

      /Hollywood

    • The Hyperbole

      Make sure that his ‘handler’ who is also the closest thing he has ever had to a father figure turns out to have been working for the bad guys all along.

      • slumbrew

        *slides Brotherhood Of The Rose back on the shelf*

  17. slumbrew

    Someone is passed the ‘f out after running with mom in 25 degree weather:

    https://ibb.co/LxQPLNg

    • Chafed

      How sweet. Your new dog?

      • slumbrew

        Not so new at this point – Aug 2020 (last hound passed unexpectedly in March 2020).

        She’ll be 2 in about a month.

      • slumbrew

        She’d definitely be happier if we moved south – she does not care for the cold.

      • Chafed

        I remember your last dog dying. I didn’t realize it was 2 years ago.

        Kudos to your wife for taking doggo on a run in 25 degree weather. She, the dog, is adorable. Pit bull?

      • slumbrew

        Staffie / catahoula mix.

      • Chafed

        My dog’s late girlfriend was a Staffordshire Terrier. Or, as my dog in-laws used to say, she’s a pit bull.

      • slumbrew

        She’s an American Staffordshire Terrier mix – my understanding is that they are a distinct breed, but closely related to pit bulls.

      • The Hyperbole

        The break isn’t entirely complete, however: Some non-AKC registries that register American Pit Bull Terriers still consider American Staffordshire Terriers to be part of the family, and will register them as pit bulls. But in the 1970s, the AKC permanently closed the studbook for the American Staffordshire Terrier, meaning that today only dogs whose parents are AmStaffs can be considered part of the breed. So while every American Staffordshire Terrier can technically be called an American Pit Bull Terrier, not every American Pit Bull Terrier is an American Staffordshire Terrier.

        Dog Nerdz be trippin’ yo.

      • slumbrew

        Agreed. She’s a mutt, I’m not too hung up on what she is, exactly.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Those assfuckers at AKC are doing the same breed destruction of mini-Aussies.

      • MikeS

        My guess is American Bulldog.

      • MikeS

        I mean, I’m gonna guess cathoula/staffie mix

      • Chafed

        Well played.

  18. Brochettaward

    I missed The Hall Monitor starting in with me again today. Rats. Highlight of my time at Glibs – Swiss going on a 10 minute drunken rant on the Zoom about what an awful person he thinks The Bro is.

    • kinnath

      Doesn’t make him wrong.

      • The Hyperbole

        Bro does have a point. Ten minutes is an exceptionally long time just to say “He’s an asshole.”

      • MikeS

        Listen to him. If anyone should know how long it takes to be called an asshole, it’s The Hyperbole.

      • MikeS

        Oh, I don’t know about that.

    • The Bearded Hobbit

      No one ever says how bad a person I am. (kicks pebble, sulks).

      • slumbrew

        Hobbit is like Nikki – the worst.

      • Chafed

        Such a people pleaser.

    • MikeS

      He, and others, ?? will get over it soon enough and unfurl their righteous outrage on someone else. In the olden days the Glib Prudes used to rag on Q for putting up his tittie pics before the magical 30 (60?) minutes after post time. I haven’t seen our culture warriors say a word to him in a long time. It’s OK to throw up pics of naked women on Christmas, but don’t dare keep a stupid running gag going. ?

      • Chafed

        You’re comparing doing the Lord’s work with a long exhausted pregnancy joke. For shame.

      • MikeS

        And both pale in comparison to some of the shit that has graced these pages. Everyone who has a problem with Bro’s schtick should maybe grow the fuck up and just ignore it.

      • Chafed

        I hear you. I think it’s played out. But I don’t say anything because he must be getting something out of it.

      • MikeS

        I think it’s occasionally mildly humorous. If a couple people can get a sensible chuckle from his comments, isn’t that a positive?

        He obviously puts a lot of energy and creativity into many of these comments. Why do some here praise people who wrote something -regardless of quality- and submitted it officially, but feel it’s open season to attack and criticize someone keeping a performance art piece going in the comment section?

      • slumbrew

        It’s tiresome, but ignorable, so I ignore it.

      • The Hyperbole

        Why do some here praise people who wrote something -regardless of quality- and submitted it officially, but feel it’s open season to attack and criticize someone keeping a performance art piece going in the comment section?

        Pre internet sensibilities lingering on? the ‘official’ post is the movie or the band or the comedian, the commenters are the audience, Bro is the internet version of a heckler at the comedy club or loud talker at the cinema or worse yet the dude who brings his harmonica to a blues show and tries to play along.

      • MikeS

        Nah. Bad analogy. The movie producer, or lead singer, or stand up comedian, doesn’t spend every moment of their life in the audience. And your blues show analogy is especially terrible. Bro isn’t trying to compete with the post any more than Q is with his titties, or Rufus was with his labor admonishments, or Swiss is with his narrowed gazes, or you are with your contrarianism. We’re told repeatedly how wonderful of a community we made here, and then some people decide it’s OK to single out some for ridicule.

      • Gustave Lytton

        New character: MikeS’ mom…

      • MikeS

        When she gets out of the ICU I’ll sign off on it.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Ah geez, I missed that. I’m sorry MikeS, I’m an ass. I hope she recovers quickly and back to full health.

      • The Hyperbole

        Nah. Bad analogy.

        Agreed, It was more a theory as to why some people get snippy with Q or Bro than an accurate representation of the elements involved. it doesn’t make sense to treat the intertubes like real life for the reasons you mention but people behave in ways that don’t make sense all the time.

      • MikeS

        Gustave; no, don’t worry about it. That wasn’t fair of me. Just stressed out and lashing out at the wrong people. Sorry

        Hyberbole: sorry, I missed your point. Yes, I agree with what you’re saying.

      • Brochettaward

        I think it’s funny because I have, outside calling The Hyperbole a cunt, never insulted a poster here and actually been serious. Outside calling Straf gay . And I would think to most people, that would be pretty apparent. The Hall Monitor Swiss will get his panties in a bunch over the littlest, stupidest things and genuinely attack people. Strongman Warty when he used to pop in would hurl the most personal insults at people for no real reason at all and no one would bat an eye and I’m sure Swiss would tell you he’s a swell guy. And maybe he is, I wouldn’t know. Never met him and don’t particularly care to.

        People who fancy themselves as the arbiters of who are and aren’t moral are bad enough in real life. On the internet, on a site where people fuck around and you yourself post under the alias of STEVE SMITH aka a rapist sasquatch named after a guy who posted on Reason.com and you mocked simply for disagreeing with you on politics? Yea, maybe you need to take a step back and look at yourself before getting worked up because some guy said he challenged a poster who no longer posts here to a First-of.

        I’m 90+% sure that if Digby saw my post, even if he didn’t think it was funny, he wouldn’t have given a shit or taken it seriously at all. I’m pretty sure 75% of the people who read this site know this. But there’s Swiss interjecting himself when most people simply don’t give a shit. Really believing that he’s somehow making this site a better place for people to come and vent and shoot the shit.

        I guess Kinnath appreciates it. There’s that.

      • MikeS

        ?? ??

      • slumbrew

        TL;DR

      • Mojeaux

        Dude, I got viciously attacked out of the blue one night and you came to my defense. It may seem small to you or most people, maybe you don’t even remember, but it was huge to me and I appreciate it.

      • MikeS

        Shit. It wasn’t me who attacked you was it?

      • Mojeaux

        No, goodness no.

      • slumbrew

        Damn that Hobbit! Has he no shame?!

      • Mojeaux

        *mwah*

      • Brochettaward

        I do remember it. And I remember one of the people posting here tonight who is fond of calling me an asshole being involved, and I always get a little bit of a kick out of it when he tries to criticize me. But no names here.

        It’s cool that you’ve always remembered that, but really those people were just completely out of line with what they were saying and pretending to know about you.

      • grrizzly

        I’m with Bro.

    • rhywun

      Seriously. It’s within living memory, people. Some wit I read today had the idea that mayors who see their DA’s refusing to do their fucking jobs could just cut their funding accordingly.

      • Chafed

        I almost feel bad for Eric Adams. Those businesses that left for Florida are not coming back. When the wife of a bank or brokerage CEO gets mugged, you will be able to watch in real time as midtown empties out.

        I will predict right now a good chunk of the retail left on Madison and Fifth Avenue will close. They won’t employ armed guards due to the liability. Mom and pops will survive only because they will arm themselves because they have no choice. Those that don’t will close.

      • Sensei

        And since three links is forbidden – Daily News is mixed

        https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-manhattan-da-alvin-bragg-crimes-not-prosecuted-changes-20220104-lmu23fwjc5dyvmdthv35tjot5e-story.html

        One of Bragg’s instructions tells his prosecutors to pursue petit larceny charges, a misdemeanor, against suspects initially charged with armed robbery in a commercial setting, provided they didn’t “create a genuine risk of physical harm.”

        So I assuming this means that having a pocket knife in my pocket while committing the robbery doesn’t get me the typical NYC “armed robbery” charge.

      • Chafed

        Based on Gascon in LA and Boudin in SF, I think that’s right. Smash and grab robberies will soar. Same for muggings. Watch how much stuff the cops stop writing up. The safe neighborhoods will be the ones with mob or gang protection.

        I give it 3 years before the upper eastside erects a statue of Bernie Goetz.

        I think it is wonderful these limousine liberals are about to get what they voted for good and hard.

      • Sensei

        My initial read is like 90% bad. Most certainly not worth it for the 10% good. Unfortunately I’m going to have to (eventually) commute through it.

      • Chafed

        My condolences to you. May I suggest you look for alternate employment?

      • rhywun

        Fare evasion is an actual crime that needs… some punishment, more than just being ignored. IMHO.

        It ain’t right. Why should chumps like me pay and they don’t have to? And those types are usually “up to no good” as they used to say.

      • Chafed

        Charging a subway fare is literally violence. Why won’t you join the revolution?

      • Gustave Lytton

        Won’t Prosecute Fare Evasion, Resisting Arrest, Prostitution

        I’m going to guess that the last won’t extend to soliciting charges for johns.

      • slumbrew

        It will depend on skin color of the john.

    • Penguin

      The 70s are coming back to Manhattan.

      Doesn’t sound like my problem.

  19. rhywun

    Today in I literally hate everyone in this story.

    TL;DR – critical tennis darling gets covid theater exception to play in Australia – everyone goes apeshit.

    • Chafed

      I hope the residents of Victoria enjoy watching his matches from their cells… erm, homes.

    • Sensei

      Same as athletes in NYC. They also are exempt.

      • Chafed

        That’s just SCIENCE ™️.

    • grrizzly

      I don’t hate Novak. I love him and root for him every time as long as he doesn’t face a Russian.

      We would have been better off if more smart healthy successful people had announced that they’re not “vaccinated” because the “vaccine” is nothing but a quackery.

      Also, fuck the Aussies. The vast majority of them are cowards and idiots. They deserve to be treated like the sheep they are. They accepted subjugation by their own government. It’s awesome to rub it in.

      • rhywun

        I don’t like Novak. I loathe Medvedev (sorry). I like Rublev, though.

        While I appreciate Novak’s I-don’t-give-a–shit attitude, it pisses me off that you have to be Novak to get away with it.

      • grrizzly

        Everybody but Novak has complied. Only a prince can express dissent. We’re in the middle ages. The human and civil rights applied only to the elite at the time of the Magna Carta. It was better this way than if they didn’t apply to anyone at all. We’re closer to this point in history than to the “freedom and all people are equal” idea used to be popular lately.

      • Ted S.

        We would have been better off if more smart healthy successful people had announced that they’re not “vaccinated” because the “vaccine” is nothing but a quackery.

        I don’t know about that; look how quickly all of the goodthinkful people turned on Aaron Rodgers.

  20. slumbrew

    Washington Football Team to announce new name soon. I, for one, would run out and buy some merch if they just doubled-down and went with something like the Shitlords.

    • Chafed

      Snyder doesn’t have the balls. If he named the team leeches, blood suckers, vampires, or anything in that vein (drink!), then I would spend every dollar I have on their merch.

      • dbleagle

        If he named the team the Redskins and use potatoes as the emblems on the helmet, I would buy the overpriced merch.

      • slumbrew

        Washington Whiteskins

      • Chafed

        That would be hilarious.

  21. Tundra

    Boom.

    Love it. Thanks!

  22. MikeS

    I like the suspenseful closing, but am I gonna have to wait a week for part deux?!?!

    • Chafed

      Very cool.

    • slumbrew

      Excellent.

      I love a low pass.

      Highlight of my trip to Hawaii may have been the C-17 doing a low pass and wing waggle over our boat in the Maui Channel, while we were headed to Lanai.

      • dbleagle

        They like doing that. It is always fun to see. I hate it when helos come by to give us a look over for their customers. I loath it when the popo or Coastie helos do it.

        Military aircraft don’t bother me the least.

      • mikey

        My favorite was getting passed on the right by a B-52 in the middle of nowhere Arizona.

    • hayeksplosives

      That is indeed some cool footage.

    • PieInTheSky

      those swing from grainy photos taken with a potato to excessively photoshopped

    • slumbrew

      That got a little weird near the end.

      • Chafed

        It sure did.

      • robodruid

        agreed.
        really odd

      • Trigger Hippie

        *gives in and scrolls to the end*

        What in the ever loving fuck was that?

        Look, tall Nordic broads and Nepali midgets are one thing but the kiddie pool pic was fucked up.

    • Festus

      I liked the cat and mirror one almost as much as the tiny person ones.

    • MikeS

      He has a record high! Let’s go Brandon!

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        My fear is that he’ll try to run up the score.

  23. PieInTheSky

    looking at some morning tweeter wtf is a I-95?

    Good morning glibbies

  24. hayeksplosives

    I’m digging the story, man. Keep ‘em coming!

  25. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Morning all. Thought I might have OMGon. Looks like it’s a standard cold.

    And I thought I was going to join the club this time.

  26. UnCivilServant

    Morning, Glibs. I don’t hurt as much as I feared I would. There are minor pains in my hands because I’m unaccustomed to holding hammer and tongs all day, but that’s not enough to deter me.

    I really need to figure out where I can establish my home shop.

    • robodruid

      Is this traditional black-smithing?

      • UnCivilServant

        For beginners.

        But what is nontraditional blacksmithing?

      • robodruid

        I think i have seen people use car wheels as part of the forge setup. Cant remember.

        Something that i have a book on, and would like to try with my copious free time. Glad you have the opportunity to try this. Sort of Jealous.
        When you recover, please tell us about it.

      • UnCivilServant

        Nope, we have regular old forges and anvils, and we heat and hammer the metal.

        Though I do get stuck with a great view of a perfectly good power hammer we’re not using for this course.

        Not that we’d have any hope of controlling that thing…

      • Gender Traitor

        If anyone can handle Big Blue, it’s you!

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Quite a sleepless crowd here. Macbeth doth murder sleep.

      • Gender Traitor

        Or is it Toxteth doth murder sleep, hm??

        Good morning, TO’G, ‘bodru, U, & Scruffy (if you’re still awake. Please feel better!)

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Morning. Can’t sleep. Body and head aches with fever/chills

        I guess it could be the flu. Yay.

        Into the shower again to warm up

      • DEG

        Sorry. Get well soon!

      • Ghostpatzer

        Lovely. Take care of yourself, healthy young lad like you will recover quickly. LMK where to send flowers just in case.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        In lieu of flowers, the family will be accepting orphans.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        “?…we want you to get well!”

        (Mornin’, Red.) ? ? ? ?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        And thanks

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Floofy cat!

    • Gender Traitor

      Some people just can’t keep their mouths shut. Now’s a little late to be revealing this, if he didn’t do so during voir dire.

      • robodruid

        Yep

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        ?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        If he had revealed sexual abuse prior I assume he would have been struck from the jury and he seemed to do a lot of mind reading as well. If her lawyer isn’t a moron he’ll absolutely try to get a fresh trial out of this, don’t know if he’ll manage but he’ll try.

      • Gender Traitor

        Reminds me of whoever wrote the article crowing about how the Dems “fortified” the election. In that person’s mind, he’s convinced he’s a hero, and he just can’t stand for everyone else not to know how heroic he was.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        It brings to mind the supervillain in movies bragging about how he’s going to carry out his plan only after the fact. If you’re going to try to pull something like that keep your mouth shut.

      • robodruid

        While I admit I have not paid much attention to the trial, this sort of shenanigans stinks. Everyone should have a fair trial.

      • The Hyperbole

        He said it didn’t affect how he viewed the trial, what more do you people want?

  27. DEG

    Mornin’.

    Up early for the gym. I had to check on some stuff that ran overnight at work, and… I made a minor mistake. Fixed, re-running.

    Off to the gym.

  28. Sean

    https://www.fox5dc.com/news/why-some-medical-experts-suggest-new-testing-method-for-covid-19-omicron-variant

    Many people say they are developing symptoms of what may be a cold or what could be COVID, but they’re testing negative on rapid antigen tests.

    Some medical experts say that with the increase in sore throat symptoms associated with the omicron variant, doing a nasal swab may not catch it, but doing a throat swab can lead to a more accurate test result.

    Seems odd for a virus that’s being passed on at such a high rate, but I’m just some dumb rube.

  29. Festus

    Hey folks! JI, enjoyed the first chapter just because I’m feeling pretty cantankerous lately and would love to read some revenge porn. FWIW I’ve always found Bro’s schtick amusing and have to agree regarding the sometime double standard about who gets railed and who does not. Met a new hire last night that must have been talking to one of my buds last night. She is a definite “free-thinker”. Seemed like she hadn’t spoken with one of the unclean for some time.

    • Festus

      I mean, she sought me out and just wanted to go on and on. I have little doubt that she was amongst the last hold-outs carrying signs and shouting slogans. We both had to cave. She because of her retirement package and health issues, me because I was a grasshopper.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      And nothing else happened

    • Festus

      I read about that on substack over the weekend.

    • Ghostpatzer

      Thanks. Stories like this force me to consider whether dogs > people.

      • limey

        Some dogs. Other dogs are just asshoe.

    • Festus

      “What’s that Lassie? Jimmy fell into the well?” Woof! Good doge, indeed!

    • Festus

      I got a half-chub just watching that.

    • Ghostpatzer

      Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan!

      • Festus

        Trigger hippie, Chuck Jones and Dr Suess walk into a bar one day…

    • db

      Not seeing any weapons on those soldiers…