Wednesday Afternoon SugarLinks – The Lez Blade

by | Jan 12, 2022 | Daily Links | 298 comments

‘Zorro’ Drama With Female Lead From Robert & Rebecca Rodriguez, Sean Tretta & Propagate In Works At The CW

Zorro is headed to the CW. The young-skewing network has put in development a gender-swapped reimagining of the classic masked vigilante character, from filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, writer-director Rebecca Rodriguez, Sean Tretta (Mayans M.C.) and Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens’ Propagate. CBS Studios, where Propagate has a deal, is the studio.

This is a new incarnation of the project, which was in development at NBC during the 2020-21 cycle, with Tretta as a new addition to the brother-and-sister writing team of Robert and Rebecca Rodriguez.

Co-penned by the trio and to be directed by Rebecca Rodriguez, in Zorro, a young Latinx woman seeking vengeance for her father’s murder joins a secret society and adopts the outlaw persona of Zorro. I hear the story by Robert and Rebecca Rodriguez was already in place when Tretta, who has an overall deal at CBS Studios, came on board earlier this cycle to write the script.

Where have you gone Joe DeBarfman? The comment section turns its lonely eyes to you.


 

The Agony of Parents With Kids Under 5

Sometimes I wake up to texts sent at 2 a.m. Sometimes they’re from Meg, who lives in Scotland and is several time zones ahead, telling us her 4-year-old woke up with a fever. Sometimes Kea, who lives in Maine, was up overnight with her 2-year-old. More texts come through the day in trickles and floods, in the group chat that’s been our support group since we were all pregnant at the same time. How’s your back? How’s your kid’s earache? How long did they tantrum for today? Make sure to swab their throat!

I get up, I make my own toddler breakfast. My husband drives him to day care. I text my friends back, I try to get to work. And I wait.

There is a knife hanging over our heads, as there is for every parent of a kid under 5. The text alert will come, or the phone will ring with a call from school. An exposure. A symptom. Come get them. Come get them and stay home.

AGONY!

Seriously, just blow up the sun already. Blackpill max.


Finally, SCIENCE I can believe in…

Cannabis Compounds Prevented Covid Infection in Laboratory Study

Cannabis compounds prevented the virus that causes Covid-19 from penetrating healthy human cells, according to a laboratory study published in the Journal of Nature Products.

The two compounds commonly found in hemp — called cannabigerolic acid, or CBGA, and cannabidiolic acid, or CBDA — were identified during a chemical screening effort as having potential to combat coronavirus, researchers from Oregon State University said. In the study, they bound to spike proteins found on the virus and blocked a step the pathogen uses to infect people.

The researchers tested the compounds’ effect against alpha and beta variants of the virus in a laboratory. The study didn’t involve giving the supplements to people or comparing infection rates in those who use the compounds to those who don’t.


RCA was not interested in including this on Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, too provocative, too oral sexy. But that guitar riff. Oh, my.

Look south the way your mother dwells
If she knew what’s going down, she’d give you hell
I’m the kind of man she warned me of
Till there was rock, you only had God

 

About The Author

SugarFree

SugarFree

Your Resident Narcissistic Misogynist Rape-Culture Apologist

298 Comments

  1. Rebel Scum

    Sometimes I wake up to texts sent at 2 a.m.

    There is this notification setting known as “alarm only”.

    • Nephilium

      But these are high priority COVID NOTIFICATIONS!

      They’re working on their contact tracing as quickly as possible.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      I want to scream. If I can scream, for a second? The pandemic is not fucking over, because children under 5 cannot get fucking vaccinated.

      One more time, kids under 5 are at lower risk to covid than a vaccinated over 50 year old.

      • SugarFree

        Also, that’s not why the pandemic is over. And you might have to be deranged to think under-5 vaccines will somehow be the end of it.

    • R C Dean

      the group chat that’s been our support group

      If your support group is blowing up your phone at 2 a.m to whinge, they’re doin’ it wrong.

      • EvilSheldon

        If my support group blows my phone up at 2am, it had better involve either one dead hooker, or many live ones…

      • Ownbestenemy

        Right? If the text isn’t “bring the rope and some blow” then I don’t answer.

      • Swiss Servator

        What about Blackjack, and Scotch?!

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      1) your fear is what’s driving your insanity. It’s not covid. It’s not some altruistic care you have for your children. It’s your fear of death and the little confrontation your subconscience is forced to have with your meaningless, vapid existence that is motivating your nuttiness.

      2) it’s an illness. When your child has an illness, whether that be covid or the flu or a cold or strep, the next week sucks. They wake up at weird hours screaming because the Tylenol wore off and their throats hurt. They are lethargic and whiny and finicky. That’s not a covid thing. That’s a kid thing.

      3) There’s a thread of overdramatics that has really been growing and self-amplifying over the past 10-15 years. I first noticed it with the Great Recession, and it seems to have gotten worse ever since. You have the sword of damocles hanging over your head because of covid? Get the fuck out. Even if you lap up everything TMITE is serving, it’s still blatantly clear that little kids are not threatened by this illness beyond having to stay home from daycare for a week, God forbid! (the horror! Having to spend one moment longer with your spawn than absolutely necessary, how uncivilized!).

  2. Count Potato

    “a young Latinx woman”

    OFFS!

    • The Other Kevin

      They must be part of the 10% of Hispanics who actually like that term.

      • SugarFree

        2%

      • The Other Kevin

        I stand corrected. Which between you and me is saying something.

      • SugarFree

        I just read a thing about the polling data.

        And the movement to define “latinx” as a racial slur.

      • Count Potato

        The extra ridiculousness here is that it’s describing someone they know is woman.

      • Bobarian LMD

        They know the character is a woman, or that the actor is a woman?

        Somebody’s gonna be in trouble for presuming pronouns!

      • R C Dean

        I’m not clear on whether Latinks is supposed to be used for all them funny-talking brown people from south of the border, or only the ones that are deeply confused.

      • Nephilium

        I think I saw the LA Tinks open up for the Toasters once.

      • Count Potato

        As far as I can tell, some people willfully ignorant of Spanish decided it should be the gender-neutral form of “Latino” when “Latino” is already gender-neutral in English.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Oh how far Robert has fallen.

      • Not Adahn

        He gave us naked Salma Hayek.

        I still believe.

    • Animal

      George Hamilton was the best Zorro. Twice. In one movie.

      • robc

        Yes. This right here.

      • hayeksplosives

        I too am a big fan of that movie. I was a kid when it was on heavy rotation on HBO and must have seen it a hundred times.

        To this day I occasionally find myself quoting a bit of it…

  3. Shpip

    Sometimes Kea, who lives in Maine, was up overnight with her 2-year-old.

    Keeping a 2-year-old up all night seems like a bad idea. Kids need their sleep.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Yeah, infants will keep you up at night.

      If a 2-year old isn’t sleeping through the night, something is wrong.

    • Bobarian LMD

      Sleep deprivation is the best way to fight off the Wuhan; it is known.

      • Ownbestenemy

        There were times were a fleeting moment whipped across my mind that said “now I understand why people shake their babies”.

      • waffles

        They should try some pot. I heard smokers were also coof resistant.

      • hayeksplosives

        But the Covid stalks at Midnight!! That’s the scientific basis for curfews, right?

      • Bobarian LMD

        The Evil Mad Covid What Bombs at Midnight!

        “And so he says to me, you want to be a bad guy? and I say Yeah Baby! I want to be bad!”

  4. Count Potato

    “There is a knife hanging over our heads, as there is for every parent of a kid under 5. The text alert will come, or the phone will ring with a call from school. An exposure. A symptom. Come get them. Come get them and stay home.”

    It wouldn’t be any different if they were vaccinated.

    • Drake

      Being a parent can be a nerve-racking hassle. Not for everyone.

      • EvilSheldon

        It’s worse if you have no coping skills.

      • Fourscore

        Coping skills come in bottles

    • Sean

      She’s bat shit crazy.

    • R.J.

      So I get one of those COVID exposure letters almost daily. Had to get my daughter tested three tomes to keep her in school. You don’t see me shitting a brick over it. Maybe she should take Bloomberg’s advice and dose up with some gummies? Chill and fight the virus?

  5. Rebel Scum

    the phone will ring with a call from school. An exposure. A symptom.

    Viruses and exposure and symptoms, oh my!

    • hayeksplosives

      I sympathize with the fact that it must be darned difficult for parents to adjust to changing guidance and to have to babysit their own offspring when the day care or govt school can’t.

      But in reading the article, it’s clear that she thinks the virus is truly dangerous. She’s part of the problem. She trusts Fauci.

      HEY BITCH! THE VIRUS ISNT INCONVENIENCING YOU; THE GOVERNMENT AND TEACHER UNIONS ARE!!

  6. Shpip

    A young Latinx woman seeking vengeance for her father’s murder joins a secret society and adopts the outlaw persona of Zorro.

    I certainly hope that the actress that they cast as Zorro is in great physical condition, with well-defined muscles. I want my sword-wielding chick to be a cut lass.

    • SugarFree

      Why can’t you be body-positive?

    • The Other Kevin

      Can’t wait to see who gets a stab at it.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I predict it will be a slice of horrible.

      • SDF-7

        But they’ll sign their contract with an epee-pen.

      • Shpip

        STEVE SMITH should be along any time now to entertain us with his rapey-er wit.

      • Bobarian LMD

        PENIS MIGHTIER THAN SWORD.

    • B.P.

      She’s sure to carry a broad’s sword.

      • SDF-7

        :opera clap:

        But with such rapier wit, I’m sure Swiss will be along soon to foil our fun.

      • Shpip

        I heard the actress was an immigrant from Mexico whose mom was born in Los Angeles.

        For Zorro, they needed someone with duel citizenship.

      • SDF-7

        Or at least someone with experience in handling fencing, I take it?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        ???

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        STEVE SMITH LIKE RAPIER WIT!

    • Drake

      Not enjoying The Equalizer with Queen Latifa?

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      Swissy is going to be shooting daggers at you through his narrowed gaze for that one.

      • Ownbestenemy

        He may very well pommel us instead.

      • Shpip

        I think he sabres the thought of running us through with his steely gaze on a daily basis.

    • Spudalicious

      Great way to slash through predefined roles.

      • Ownbestenemy

        They have to be en garde to ensure diversity

      • Fourscore

        UCS can iron this out for us, I’m sure

    • rhywun

      *ahem* Zorrx

      • Swiss Servator

        Ok, cheers for Rhywun. *narrows gaze* for the rest of ye.

  7. Count Potato

    “Richard van Breemen, a researcher with Oregon State’s Global Hemp Innovation Center and study lead, said in a statement: ‘These cannabinoid acids are abundant in hemp and in many hemp extracts.

    ‘They are not controlled substances like THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and have a good safety profile in humans.”

    So how long before they are banned?

  8. Tundra

    Malice tweeted the other day that Bowie is the best musician who ever lived.

    He may be right.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Best musical performer, not musician

    • SugarFree

      Listening to Aladdin Sane for the hundredth time the other night and realized I’m just never ready for the “Let’s Spend The Night Together” cover, which is a throwback and a throwforward, Bowie managing to blend honky-tonk and laser beam pew-pews. It’s just amazing.

      • Tundra

        I enjoy that record the older I get. I don’t think I understood it when I was a yute.

      • SugarFree

        I know I didn’t.

      • Bobarian LMD

        How is it that Bowie and Jagger combined to make the worst music video ever created?

      • SugarFree

        I assume cocaine. But yeah, that was a dark time.

      • Spudalicious

        And multiple blowies.

      • Rat on a train

        As bad as Billy Squier’s career damaging video.

    • SDF-7

      Hmmm… we’ll need to ask Mojeaux who inspired a generation of teenaged girls better — Elvis and the Demon Hips, or Bowie in Labyrinth….

      • Rat on a train

        Labyrinth … a young Jennifer Connelly.

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        Bowie. Labyrinth. (if comparing the two)

        But for me personally is was Simon Lebon in a Speedo

  9. Yusef drives a Kia

    Weed, the Wonder drug,
    Who knew?

  10. grrizzly

    The Agony of Parents With Kids Under 5
    I severely underestimated how retarded and mentally ill the public is.

  11. Count Potato

    “Gigi Sohn, Biden’s FCC Nominee Has Publicly Stated On Numerous Occasions Her Desire To Censor And De-Platform Conservative Media

    Sohn Called Fox News “State-Sponsored Propaganda”

    A Senate Committee May Take Up Her Nomination This Month.”

    https://twitter.com/ColumbiaBugle/status/1480956790204518406

    “Stop Gigi Sohn Now: The Dangerous Radical Trying to Undo Free Speech for All Americans”

    https://www.revolver.news/2022/01/gigi-sohn-fcc-the-end-of-free-speech/

    Ignore the “zerohedge” comments.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      She worked for the Ford Foundation, of course.

      I think the leftists control almost all the large philanthropic organizations and milk them for every cent.

      • kbolino

        If all they cared about was getting money, we’d be a lot better off.

      • EvilSheldon

        All they care about is making us better off.

  12. Rebel Scum

    Saying the quiet part out loud.

    “I’ve been telling people for some time now that I believe very strongly that the filibuster is on its last leg. Now, either we get rid of that filibuster business now or we will lose the House and they will get rid of it, the Republicans will get rid of it in the next Congress. Because if we do not pass these bills, I don’t see how we can have unfettered elections in November where every vote will be counted, where the nullification efforts down in Georgia and other places — this is not about suppressing the vote. This is about nullifying the votes that have been cast. That’s what’s in this law that just passed down in Georgia. This is about criminalizing giving people convenience, people standing in line for four and five hours, if you give them a bottle of water, that is considered a criminal offense. That’s what’s going on here. This is a throwback to centuries that we thought were behind

    And then the rest of this gibberish…

    • Urthona

      They’ll keep the house if they pass an unpopular voting rights bill? oh wait. I get it.

      • Compelled Speechless

        You forgot to put voting rights in quotes.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I thought the line about water at the polls was bogus anyway. Not that it matters to these people.

      • SDF-7

        Yeah, it is. The law specifically allows poll workers or non-electioneering people to hand out water.

  13. Gadfly

    There is a knife hanging over our heads

    I am unreasonably bothered by the fact that this allusion cuts out explicit reference to its source. Kind of undermines it IMO. Just say “sword of Damocles” and let your reader look it up if they don’t already know.

    • SugarFree

      She writes for Slate, she might honestly not know that as a reference. Classical allusions are white supremacy. (And she thinks it’s spelled “illusion.”)

      • Bobarian LMD

        She also may have an actual knife knife hanging over her head, because the sperm donor recommended it to her.

        A literal illusion.

        “Like, I literally can’t even…”

    • SDF-7

      Yeah, but for this toddler mother it is more like the Spork of Damocles than anything else. Psycho….

      • Nephilium

        The Nerfbat of Damocles hung lightly over my head…

    • db

      Allusion, Michael.

  14. DEG

    Cannabis compounds prevented the virus that causes Covid-19 from penetrating healthy human cells, according to a laboratory study published in the Journal of Nature Products.

    Nice.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      It works my making the virus sleepy.

    • Urthona

      I heard it’s indirect and what actually prevents covid is junk food.

  15. Rebel Scum

    Third time’s a charm.

    In a Tuesday Wall Street Journal op-ed, Schoen Cooperman, former pollster for Bill Clinton, and Andrew Stein, a former New York City council member, wrote Hillary Clinton is the Democrats’ “best option” to defeat the Republican nominee for president in 2024.

    “Hillary Clinton remains ambitious, outspoken and convinced that if not for Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey’s intervention and Russian interference that she would have won the 2016 election,” the men wrote about Hillary’s 2016 election loss, “and she may be right.”

    The report dismisses Vice President Kamala Harris or President Joe Biden as legitimate 2024 contenders.

    • SDF-7

      I can see the primary campaign slogan now — “Hillary 2024 — Screw the LESSER of two evils!”

    • Urthona

      bwahaha.

      Ok i’m in.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      “Russian interference”. I thought we weren’t supposed to cast doubt on elections.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Were not supposed to cast doubt on “legitimate” elections, shitlord.

  16. Count Potato

    “Ronald MacDonald House in Vancouver is evicting every unvaccinated visitor and resident, 5-years-old and up, including cancer patients, by the end of the month, despite the fact that the vaccine does not prevent infection or transmission. This is more than psychosis, it’s evil”

    https://twitter.com/conservmillen/status/1481354388065198090

    “Imagine defending a $21 billion dollar megacorp evicting a 4-year-old with leukemia”

    https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1481325184699281408

    Mayor McCheese can suck my dick.

    • Urthona

      saw that.

      fucking sick.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Come on, if you have cancer what’s a little vaccine gonna do? Just take it.

    • Ownbestenemy

      They will get their hooks into the children one way or the other. Just wait for the “they whisked my newborn away and administered the shots before I could even hold him/her”

    • SDF-7

      The cynical yet generous side of me wants to think “They probably *have* to do this to comply with health regs in British Columbia or some lunacy”.

      The rest of me just marvels at the mass freaking insanity that is more endemic than Omicron, wonders if this is how the West suicides and just what the hell things are going to look like in a decade if all these people are screwing with their immune system as it appears.

      The snarky side of me thinks “Well sure — you’d be more into the Fry Guys, Count…”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Out of their minds

    • R C Dean

      Its horrifying.

      But I can’t help noticing Posobied screwed up his reply. Its 5 and up they will evict, not 4 year olds.

      As far as whether its “required” by some state agency, what are they gonna do? Shut it down? If anyone can bump uglies with the state in a public dispute, it should be Ronald McDonald House.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Gesundheit! Institute should seize this opportunity.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        But I can’t help noticing Posobied screwed up his reply. Its 5 and up they will evict, not 4 year olds.

        What is the big difference between a 4 and 5 year old? Why is it 5-12? Why is it12-17? Are 18 year olds really the same as a 45 year old?

      • R C Dean

        The vax isn’t approved for under 5, would be my guess.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I know, I was trying to point out that a 4 year old doesn’t suddenly become more dangerous by turning 5. Broader question was really how does a vaccine get approved for 5 to 11 year olds? A 5 year old is more similar to a 4 year old than an 11 year old.

      • R C Dean

        Broader question was really how does a vaccine get approved for 5 to 11 year olds?

        Somebody at the FDA gets a phat job offer from Pharma?

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        At present, it’s up to approx. $95,000.00 CDN of their $5,000.00 goal.

        RMHC is asshoe.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        Now it’s up to over $120K CDN.

        RMHC is *super* asshoe.

  17. Count Potato

    “Sen. @marcorubio: “I don’t care how many candlelight vigils and musical performances you have from the cast of Hamilton, you’re not going to convince most normal and sane people that our government last year was almost overthrown by a guy wearing a Viking hat and speedos.”

    https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1481355551078502404

    LOLOLOL

    • SDF-7

      Dear lord — Marco and Ted Cruz are both going to try showing they’re *real* Republicans for 9 months now, aren’t they. :eyeroll:

      Not that it wasn’t a good line — just tired of the “talk tough only when election looms” flavor of swamp creature. I know, I know.. how is that different from any other politician…. sigh.

      • Ownbestenemy

        It was telling that they started laying the foundations of what they will do if we vote them into power…impeach Biden and investigate the mandates. Whooopty fucking do.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Theatre of the Absurd.

      • wdalasio

        Yeah, I don’t think you can take Rubio as exactly a principled defender of good sense. But, I think it makes sense to try to level-set the absurdity of the melodramatic claims about “a threat to our democracy”. And, if guys like Rubio are willing to get on board, fine.

    • wdalasio

      LOL! That’s what I’ve been saying for the last year. Nice to see even a neocon like Rubio wake up to the obvious.

    • kbolino

      Witty remark or no, he won’t do anything worth a damn, and he’ll probably vote for bills in the future (and already has in the past) that give the FBI more money and power.

    • R C Dean

      One tweet (or even a million) does not make him anything other than a tool of our ruling class.

    • Urthona

      It’s all relative. He’s currently way ahead of Schiff.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I’ve got a bleeding hemorrhoid that is way ahead of Schiff.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Can we put that up against him on the next ballot? It would at least be hilarious to see how close of a race it would be.

    • kbolino

      There aren’t enough trees on the planet to build all the crosses those martyrs need.

      • kbolino

        Fuck me, it’s like a dumping ground of NPC self-aggrandizement scripts.

        “I’m a veteran”
        “I have multiple degrees”
        “I worked at NASA”
        “Educate yourself”
        “Say that to my face”
        “I stay up all night preparing”
        “You went to public school”
        “You’re an embarrassment to your education”
        “My students praise me”
        “You couldn’t even read without teachers”

        There’s not one original thought in the entire thread.

      • Mad Scientist

        It’s twitter. What did you expect?

      • kbolino

        There’s a number of pockets in Twitter that have interesting threads. Avoiding normie Twitter isn’t that hard, but when I do encounter it, the difference is jarring. No organic discussion, no meaningful dialogue, just script dumps and “ratios” administered by living bots.

      • grrizzly

        I could read before I went to school.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Impossible. It had to have been a teacher that took 8 months to get you to learn your alphabet and how to form words. There is no one else qualified to do so.

      • kbolino

        The primary justification for so many teachers is economic: it sustains the two-income and single-parent households. The average parent can teach the average child to read, write, and do arithmetic as well as the average teacher can. They just aren’t home enough to do it anymore.

      • hayeksplosives

        I have some hope that some parents who were forced home due to Covid hysteria are going to continue staying home and doing homeschooling until the kids are grown.

        I know personally know of 3 families who made that decision.

        Too bad they still have to pay for public schools.

      • Fourscore

        If you can read this thank your parents

      • grrizzly

        Yep. They gave me a primer when I was 4 or 5. That was enough.

      • Penguin

        I bet a lot of us here could. We had parents who actually gave a crap.

        I’d also bet that for those who later became parents themselves, this ensured they gave a crap, too.

      • Penguin

        BTW, that was not meant as derogatory to you, grrizzly

      • C. Anacreon

        You forgot “teacher have to spend their own meager income for their students’ school supplies’.

        What a scam and everyone falls for it every bond issue or other educational boondoggle. Here’s an idea, we’ll give each of you $1,000 a year that must be spent on school supplies, give detailed receipts, please. No, you’d prefer a raise instead? Because you don’t want to give up being able to whinge about having to spend your own money on supplies every goddam time? Well then fuck off.

        /son of a former school teacher who never bitched and loved her job and hated the union

      • kbolino

        Yeah I missed a few. Another gem is, “my students became doctors, lawyers, etc.” which is a wonderful own-goal but you’d have to have an IQ above human body temperature to understand why, and teacher’s mostly don’t.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Not to mention the discounts offered for teachers.

    • Hyperion

      Well, like they say, those that can, do. those that can’t are members of the teacher’s union.

      You don’t see Elon Musk in a classroom do you?

  18. Hyperion

    I have a non-hipster juice review.

    One of my local stores just got in some of this Einbecker Brauherren Premium Pils. And it comes in cans.

    One thing the Germans do better. NOT making hipser juice.

    My Review = pretty tasty

    I should order more for later.

  19. SugarFree

    I meant to post this in the last thread, but I got busy…

    Joemala: Behind the Scenes

    This is a real quote from Joe Biden from 1973 and only lightly decontextualized:

    “I know what’s good for the South, and good for the Negro and good for the Black in the South,” Joe said.

    What was good for them? The two-party system, or, really voting Democrat.

    • Hyperion

      Fuck, it was sloJo, he probably said that what is good for them is getting back to pickin that cotton.

  20. Hyperion

    Someone just gave me a book by Alexis de Tocqueville. I guess it’s supposed to learn me about American Democracy. He’s not a commie, is he? Or God forbid, even worse, a democrat.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Good book.

      • Hyperion

        Cool, I’ll read it.

      • C. Anacreon

        Didn’t he warn about democracy only lasting until the majority figured out they could vote themselves the public treasury? It’s like he inspired the DNC.

      • Fourscore

        “This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper.”

      • Hyperion

        I think that was Bastiat, but could be wrong.

    • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

      Second OBE

      • Hyperion

        It’s just that every time I hear that word now ‘Democracy’, it makes me cringe. God, the left in this country ruin evertyhing the touch, even words.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yeah get past that word. Remember when it was written.

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        I did!! Mike Rowe has been raising his profile as of late

      • Penguin

        He kind of reminds me of Longshoreman/Philosopher Eric Hoffer, author of The True Believer. A guy who is not averse to a hard day’s work, but who still has an intellectual side.

        Anyway, glad you caught it. He’s a much better guest than Jack Murphy.

      • db

        Could we get so lucky as to see him seek national office?

      • Ownbestenemy

        He reminds me of a cross between my dad and Harrison Ford.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      “He’s not a commie, is he? Or God forbid, even worse, a democrat”

      Worse than that. He’s French.

      But yes, insightful book.

      • Hyperion

        Oh, thank God that at leaset he’s not Canadian!

      • SDF-7

        With their beady little eyes, their flapping heads so full of lies?

    • Spudalicious

      Read it.

      • Fourscore

        I read it about 3-4 years ago, he saw what Americans couldn’t see.

      • Spudalicious

        And would outright reject today.

      • Penguin

        To be fair, so would the French. Although after Macron, more would give it a hearing.

    • juris imprudent

      Surely you jest.

  21. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    Tomorrow’s BattleBots fight card

    I like Shatter. Tantrum is one of my favorite bots. I love the little punchy spinny weapon.

    • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

      OFFS facebook.com/battlebots/photos/a.10150179252701406/10158284200211406/

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        OFFS part 2 – could an edit faery maybe make that link clicky?

    • The Other Kevin

      I have the first episode recorded but I haven’t gotten to it yet. Looks like a few new teams?

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        First episode is good…some surprises

    • Shpip

      I love the little punchy spinny weapon.

      So you’ve seen OMWC with his trousers off…

    • Tundra

      I think Thomas Massie’s kid is on one of the teams.

  22. Ownbestenemy

    Rendered down the trimmed brisket fat for some beef tallow. Brisket is on the smoker late in the day…oh well. I decided not to wrap it and went straight for salt/pepper/garlic rub. Pecan wood for the smoke. 9ish lbs, so late night for me.

    • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

      Are you gonna show us the tiki bar on Zoom one of these days?

      • Ownbestenemy

        If you weren’t drunk, you’d already have seen it! JK. One of these days. Backyard is a mess so maybe when spring starts rolling around.

  23. Pope Jimbo

    Minnesoda’s invention – the Juicy Lucy – is proclaimed the best burger in the world. That honor is immediately nullified by the reviewer.

    The Jucy Lucy may be the best burger in America. Also known as the Juicy Lucy, the cheese-stuffed burger was invented in Minneapolis nearly 70 years ago.

    It’s an ideal convergence of beef and cheese. Yet the iconic cheeseburger remains relatively unknown. Untouched, the burger appears modest by modern standards, no toppings stacked sky high. Yet it belongs in the culinary realm of Chinese xiaolongbao soup dumplings and even the Chicago-style stuffed pizza (on the rare occasions when the latter is done right). They’re technical marvels, barely containing their deliciousness within.

    I can’t believe he didn’t also claim to love pineapple on pizza and circumcisions.

    • Bobarian LMD

      I thought the Minnesoda pinnacle (pinochle?) of culinary invention was the hot-dish.

    • pistoffnick

      I prefer the 5-8 Club’s Lucy to Matt’s.

      They are both good ways to burn your lips.

    • Enough About Palin

      “Yet the iconic cheeseburger remains relatively unknown.”

      As does scrapple.

    • R C Dean

      the culinary realm of Chinese xiaolongbao soup dumplings and even the Chicago-style stuffed pizza (on the rare occasions when the latter is done right)

      Pretentious douchenozzle is pretentious.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Shouldn’t it be Zorra?

    • Spartacus

      ZorrX, shitlord.

      • The Other Kevin

        I used to have that game for my Commodore 64.

      • Enough About Palin

        Commodore 64? Wow! I was just thinking abut the game Parsec. I wonder if it still exists.

      • Seguin

        https://js99er.net/#/

        Load from the blue software button. Even has the voice.

      • R C Dean

        I thought that was a character in Zardoz.

    • KSuellington

      Zorra is colloquial for “slut” in Spanish.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      As an Oakland native, I’m offended.

    • Sean

      Performance art (I hope).

  25. Enough About Palin

    “The text alert will come, or the phone will ring with a call from school. An exposure. A symptom. Come get them. Come get them and stay home.”

    Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

    “Minneapolis, St. Paul to require vaccine proof to get into bars, restaurants — The moves comes as an increasing number of large, Democrat-led cities across the country are adopting similar rules.”

    https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-st-paul-to-require-covid-vaccine-proof-to-get-into-bars-restaurants/600135178/

    If a number of large, Democrat-led cities jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?

    “Why of course!” Minneapolis and St. Paul exclaimed.

    • The Other Kevin

      This trend puzzles me. I think a majority of people are resigned to COVID being a seasonal thing now. These cities are just destroying their own economies at this point.

      • Ownbestenemy

        See it as a power grab and it no longer puzzles. If they have to wreck a few small businesses that cannot enforce, then so be it.

      • Enough About Palin

        ^^Exactly this^^

      • kbolino

        This, plus more or less every government (city, state, federal) is a massive infernal machine that has been running for decades if not centuries uninterrupted and almost entirely on its own inertia. Politicians twiddle at the edges with mostly inconsequential knobs. Sometimes they build new contraptions, but these are tiny compared to the great machine they sit beside, and inevitably get devoured by it in the end. The point of the various iterations of the COVID regime is to create some of these new mini-machines, to reward some new friends and punish some new enemies (the ultimate goal of all politics in practice).

      • hayeksplosives

        2020 Covid hysteria saw the shuttering of many of my favorite Minneapolis & St Paul joints: The Happy Gnome, Psycho Suzie’s, the Sample Room, etc.

        Turns out that having outdoor seating only doesn’t work well in -20 degree weather.

    • Bobarian LMD

      I thought MSP jumped off the cliff some time ago.

      They just haven’t hit the bottom yet.

  26. Pope Jimbo

    Well I’m so relieved! Minneapolis and St. Paul will require vax passports for bars and restaurants

    At a news conference, Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis said that the new policy will cover all places where people can eat and drink, including stadiums. The policy doesn’t include schools, hospitals, nursing homes or public places, such as the Minneapolis Skyway.

    The policy will apply to anyone who can be vaccinated, meaning anyone 5 and older. Children between the ages of 2 and 5 will need to show proof of a negative test. Children under 2 will be exempt.

    Oh, and these regulations won’t go into effect until the 19th. Because when deadly diseases are totes surging, it is fine to take a week before implementing a completely unconstitutional law.

    I also know that I’d tell any busy body that my kid was 1.5 years-old. Sure it looks like he needs to shave and is 5′ 8″ tall. He’s just precocious.

    • rhywun

      won’t go into effect until the 19th

      At the rate things are going, they will have egg on their face because the whole narrative is falling apart.

      • Ownbestenemy

        In a proper world, in this world? They will roll it out and not worry about some silly narrative.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Stop thinking for yourself and go get your booster.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Why would you say that. It goes into effect on the 19th by the end of next month Omicron would have burned through the population. The rates go down to the level they were last summer. Take all of the credit saying it was all due to your leadership.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Ah, the good old “look at the workplace injury rate since OSHA came into being” method for unwarranted credit.

      • rhywun

        Because even CNN and MSDNC are walking back the doompanic. The authoritarians will get massive resistance as large majorities refuse to follow their stupid bullshit.

        Let me have my fantasies.

    • rhywun

      Perhaps they’re reasoning that if they drag this thing on long enough, the vaccine refuseniks will shut up and finally do what they’re told.

      No.

      Also, hell no.

      • KSuellington

        The CEO of Pfizer just said the vaccines are pretty ineffective so maybe they are waiting for the narrative shift to move over to the politicos.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    The study didn’t involve giving the supplements to people or comparing infection rates in those who use the compounds to those who don’t.

    SCIENCE!

    • Fourscore

      We keep hearing of the 880K dead or whatever the number is today. Not mentioned is that is for 2 years. Last fall a friend kept telling me that 600K was a “Big Number”. He is right but I pointed out that 330 M is a much bigger number. 440 K is a pretty insignificant number in comparison. Take out the old and other serious medical problems it is a ho hum statistically.

    • rhywun

      No way could I read all that. I’d rather shove a fork in my eye.

    • juris imprudent

      Oakland based journalist. Yeah, I’m tapping out right there.

  28. Gustave Lytton

    Case closed!

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/exclusive-ray-epps-attorney-a-former-fbi-agent-says-his-client-is-no-fed_4208214.html

    “He was interviewed by the FBI in Arizona,” he said. “I was present during that interview, and unequivocally he is not an FBI informant.”

    Asked whether Epps is an asset for any government agency—law enforcement, intelligence, or otherwise—Blischak said, “Not to my knowledge.”

    Nice difference in those denials. Also left off, Epps as an employee, or employee of a federal contractor, or similar.

    • juris imprudent

      Then why isn’t he being treated like all the other folks around the Capitol last Jan. 6th?

      • B.P.

        You know the FBI. If they ask nicely and receive ‘no’ for an answer, they just shrug their shoulders and move on.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Because sources and methods and FYTW

      • rhywun

        totality of the circs

        hth

      • Ownbestenemy

        We know there is video evidence of him actively directing crowds and people but ultimately he didn’t do anything. Now that grandma we nabbed? We have evidence she once said “Biden is a bad man”

  29. Zwak, All dressed up in his ridiculous seersucker suit

    You just know a revamped Zorro for the CW gender swap would be all about pegging.

  30. JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

    “The Associated Press has recently told its editors and reporters to avoid emphasizing case counts in stories about the disease. That means, for example, no more stories focused solely on a particular country or state setting a one-day record for number of cases, because that claim has become unreliable.”

    https://apnews.com/article/omicron-changing-news-outlets-covid-data-da9272f7c4c8a109c3bfb56bed9e9c76

    Single day records were always unreliable. This has been obvious for two years now. It’s a real mystery why they are changing that now.

    • Urthona

      Because now it hurts democrats.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Gotta swing that narrative.

      • Urthona

        Sometimes I say the rhetorical part out loud.

    • Raven Nation

      I’ve noticed that, in the last week or so, Australian news has now started referring to “covid-related deaths” rather than “covid deaths” or “death from covid.” I’ll be interested to see exactly what the new narrative and/or government policies are going to be.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Depends on the focus group testing.

  31. Surly Knott

    And now Ronnie Spector, of the Ronettes, has gone to sing with Bowie and Lou Reed.
    Sic simper gloria mundi.

    • B.P.

      Wait, what’s this about Lou Reed!?

    • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

      I think you meant “sic transit glori mundi (Thus passes the glory of the world).”

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        **SIGH**

        My kingdom for an edit button.

        “. . . sic transit gloria mundi (Thus passes the glory of the world).”

      • Surly Knott

        Sic semper… works, or would have if autocorrect had left it alone 🙁
        Thus always the glory of the world.

    • Gustave Lytton

      RIP. Outlived Phil by a year and Eddie by three.

      • Gender Traitor

        …and speaking of proper N’Awlins, here they are with the Neville Brothers doing one of my favorite medleys ever.

      • Gustave Lytton

        That was awesome. Brought a big smile to my face.

      • Tundra

        Seconded!

        Holy shit, was that wonderful!

  32. B.P.

    A local news outlet just ran a story about Gov. Ron DeSantis getting flak for not doling out a bunch of COVID tests that subsequently reached their expiration date. I live 1,500 miles away from Florida, so I’m not sure what the hell that’s doing on local news. I guess it’s never too early to make the case against an emerging national candidate.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Look he can’t even control his state, what makes you think he will do any better at the national level? #vote4Hilldog not paid for by any candidate but these reports totally are.

  33. KSuellington

    | Cannabis compounds prevented the virus that causes Covid-19 from penetrating healthy human cells, according to a laboratory study published in the Journal of Nature Products.

    My unvaxxed brother was just telling me the other day that he caught the Vid last summer suspiciously close to the time he stopped smoking weed because he was changing jobs and thought he may get an entry test at his new job. “I’m not saying it was the weed that protected me from the Vid, but it was the weed that protected me from the Vid.”

    • Urthona

      “The Journal of Nature Products”, eh?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Isn’t that the thing with die hard cannabis users? It cures everything?

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        Well, actually it doesn’t, but you no longer really care.

      • Urthona

        yup. It’s like when I read in some wypipo magazine that red wine and chocolate prevents cancer.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I mean, I swear by my aspirin a day habit and it cures everything also.

      • KSuellington

        I was gonna go out and catch the Vid, but then I got high.

      • Urthona

        You just nailed another correlation I think. I’m less likely to get covid if I stay home and bake.

      • KSuellington

        Wait a second? It’s 3 o’clock!? No way, damn I was supposed to get a COVID test today at 2. Fuck it man, I’ll just go tomorrow, it’s free anyway.

    • Tundra

      My kids both got it recently, but I didn’t. I do take plenty of the proper supplements but also fortify. I think your brother is correct.

      • C. Anacreon

        I do take plenty of the proper supplements but also fortify.

        So you take supplements, but you’re mostly healthy because you’re only fortify years old?

      • Urthona

        Wasn’t there some days early on that suggests smoking (tobacco as well) was actually somewhat protective? Seemed counterintuitive but it was floating around.

      • Urthona

        some data

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Nicotine supposedly, not smoking.

      • Trigger Hippie

        *hits bowl, lights smoke*

        I’m invincible!

    • Ownbestenemy

      Parents who hesitate “are taking an enormous risk and continuing to fuel the pandemic,’’ Murphy said

      You fucking liar.

      • Urthona

        0 for 2

    • rhywun

      Nelson laugh. You’re losing the narrative, assholes.

    • KSuellington

      My kids (Catholic) school just sent an email on Monday night saying that a classmate of my oldest got the Vid. Thankfully he was still able to go to school this week.

      • Urthona

        i’ve had about 7 of those from our catholic school.

        My kids just had covid 3 weeks ago though so I’m golden. I think I’m rooting for covid right now. .

      • KSuellington

        Heheh, War on COVID!

        I will hand it to the school, they were in session almost all year full time last year, one of the only schools in our area to do so. I’m fucking pissed my kids have to wear masks at school, but they have to follow city/state rules on that. Although they have made suggestions that everyone get vaxxed, the archdiocese basically said we are not going to require it unless the state forces us to. I’m hoping the vax narrative falls apart before then as we have no plans to get our kids jabbed.

    • Urthona

      I pretty much got covid at a covid party. Although that wasn’t the stated goal of the party.

    • Urthona

      If anyone wants to have a covid party in North Texas I’m in.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        The problem with all those parties is that you have to find at least one person who has a known, active COVID infection (which doesn’t last very long).

        Scheduling’s a bitch.

      • Urthona

        Well the Christmas party I went to managed to pull it off just fine.

        Every single person got it’.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        “You got lucky, d00d!”

      • Ownbestenemy

        Shit, my house last week would have been perfect, especially if relatively healthy. More like sinusitis and honestly, it could be all that it was since we didn’t test. I was down and out for a day with the effects a day before and two days after. The wife symptoms ligered but we attribute that to her working environment. Dog nail clippings/shavings. Dander, hair…humid environment with the dog washing.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Oh and daily routine of vitamin d3, b12, zinc and quinine. We did have to drop some Sudafed for the extreme sinus pressure. My wife did take some nighttime normal flu/cold medicine. Which is nearly non-existiant at the store.

  34. Ownbestenemy

    I really need to get on to answering my questions for my exemption…er…accommodation. I have until Feb 3. Which, as I posted last thread, our COO set that as her retire date but just to quell rumors it is purely coincidental and not at all vaccine/covid related she is retiring.

    • db

      Yeah, because people choose a Thursday as their last day before retirement all the time, rather than getting paid for the Friday of that week.

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, at my workplace, they tend to set their last day as a wednesday.

        Guess when the pay period ends.

    • Tundra

      I’m sure you shared before, but what smoker do you use?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Oklahoma Joe offset. It does okay. Had to do some modifications to it but didn’t go insane. Sealed a lot of it, sealed the doors, etc. I need a basket in the firebox though and I haven’t done that yet. It would extend my fuel. Right now, once it is about 4 hours into it, I need to replenish every hour or so of fuel.

      • Tundra

        Thanks!

        I’m constantly thinking about getting something for long cooks.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    People are just tuning out the nonstop bleating of public health experts? How could this be?

    Access Health CEO Jeff Fortenbacher’s nonprofit tries to provide better health care by offering l0wer-cost health insurance and offering counseling and care to low-income and minority patients around Muskegon, Mich., where the rate of full vaccination in that population is at a mere 14%.

    He says the challenges of reaching these communities has gotten even harder lately. “It just cuts across that whole issue of trust and suspicion and not getting the information,” he says. After two years of recommendations on masking, isolation, travel and vaccines, many are just checked out. “I mean, it’s almost like white noise.”

    Even as the omicron variant of the coronavirus wreaks havoc on hospitals and COVID-19 kills over 1,500 Americans every day, public health leaders are struggling to get people to tune in to guidance that could help stem the contagion.

    ——-

    Among patients and even for himself, Fortenbacher says the fatigue is palpable. “It’s just becoming very draining, emotionally draining, and it’s very politicized — and people are just getting tired,” he says.

    The problem with COVID-19 messaging, of course, is that the pandemic is not simple to understand. And public health recommendations are based on an evolving understanding of new science, so messages are necessarily complex and they change frequently.

    ——-

    There are other ways messaging needs to adapt, Fortenbacher says. For instance, in his experience, policies have had to shift to accommodate what is realistic. That means recommending — but not mandating — masks, even in clinics, for example, because requiring them would likely just undercut their health goals by alienating some patients.

    “If you require them to mask up, you aren’t going to accomplish what you’re trying to accomplish, because you aren’t going to engage them, because they’re going to be so pissed off,” he says. “It’s really kind of just walking that line.”

    The U.S. is fielding the consequences of decades of divestment in public health infrastructure, including expertise in messaging, says Deborah Burger, president of National Nurses United. “If we had had the foresight to truly fund the public health system … this would have rolled out a lot smoother, because people would be used to listening for the alerts, the updates, and actually know that they could trust it and believe it,” she says.

    Yeah, that’s it. They just need more money. That would make people trust them.

    • rhywun

      All I’m getting out of that is that black people are too stupid to know what’s good for them.

      • UnCivilServant

        The Democrat party platform since 1829?

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Casalotti agrees that communications is an underfunded function at most state and local public health agencies, which are now struggling with public outreach; in fact, she says, many people have stopped taking their calls.

    “They’re not picking up their phone when the contact tracers call them. They are not giving information about who they’ve been in contact with or where they’ve been,” she says, and that hampers health agencies’ abilities to follow up and stop the spread.

    Tragic.

    • db

      I don’t answer my phone unless caller id shows someone from my contacts list. Leave a message and I’ll see whether it’s important enough to respond to.

      Also, my voice mail greeting doesn’t even say my name, just “Please leave a message.”

      • rhywun

        I don’t answer my phone unless caller id shows someone from my contacts list.

        So, like a normal person.

        Also, my voice mail greeting doesn’t even say my name, just “Please leave a message.”

        Oo, good idea. I should do that.

      • rhywun

        LOL looks like I don’t even have a greeting. I guess that’s per phone? I just got this one about eight months ago.

    • Ted S.

      There’s a new post.

      Also, I think somebody set up another Zoomshit meeting or somesuch.

      • UnCivilServant

        When I asked, I was the only commenter in the new post.