Wednesday Afternoon SugarLinks – KEEV

by | Mar 16, 2022 | Daily Links | 317 comments

It’s weird to look back at what were sideshow freaks in the past. I spent an enraging amount of time in a small town Walmart this past week and I saw at least 30 people that fat or far fatter.

Bearded lady? Dipshit dude in a dress. Alligator boy? Eczema. Little people? There are Mexicans all over the place now.


 

Cracked manages to write an article that doesn’t suck and isn’t wholly retarded. This is straight-up amazing.

5 Reasons Why ‘Batman Beyond’ Has Endured All These Years

3

Batman Beyond Has the Best Mr. Freeze Story Ever Told

Mr. Freeze is the story of an unfunny joke being continuously improved upon on TV, not unlike Friends in reverse. In the comics, the character started out as your run-of-the-mill mad scientist named Mr. Zero, which alluded to how many craps people gave about him back then. He was later renamed “Mr. Freeze” in the Adam West Batman show and given a tragic backstory featuring his terminally ill wife in Batman: The Animated Series. But the McGinnis Batman show took Mr. Freeze even further. I mean completely above the super high standard set by B:TAS. Just totally outside the scope of what we already considered a great character. Yonder? (SYNONYM DEPT. NOTE: Stop …)

In the Season 1 episode “Meltdown,” we find out that Mr. Freeze is one of the last surviving original Batman villains because, thanks to his Elsa biology, his cells are incapable of letting go, making him effectively immortal. Although, by 2039, he’s been reduced to just a talking head inside a glass jar. In a weird coincidence, “Meltdown” premiered a month before the first episode of Futurama.


 

Even I can’t follow this and I have a Masters in Retard and 100s of hours of post-bacc research in Drunk Studies.

 


 

“Why do they always send the poor?”

About The Author

SugarFree

SugarFree

Your Resident Narcissistic Misogynist Rape-Culture Apologist

317 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    KEEV SMITH??

    • The Other Kevin

      The Other Keev

  2. Count Potato

    “Little people? There are Mexicans all over the place now.”

    I never considered Mexicans little.

    • slumbrew

      Now, Guatemalans on the other hand…

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        Heh! My niece was adopted from Guatemala. She needs a booster seat to see over the steering wheel.

      • rhywun

        We have a LOT of little guys running around here doing all the shit work and yeah, I don’t think a lot of them are from Mexico any more.

      • Fourscore

        El Salvadoreans did my roofing, not real big size but do a real man’s day’s work

      • R C Dean

        – any safety equipment whatsoever

      • Fourscore

        Tennis shoes/sneakers. Leather gloves for handling the steel.

      • Don escaped Texas

        around here

        I don’t look up to many men, but these places struck me as being full of tall folk:

        Allentown: Hessisch? not that anyplace in Germany seems tall
        Gadsden, AL: very much like my mother’s clan
        Buffalo: but Rochester seems short (Italian?)
        Dallas: the children of successful folk….North Park but not Park Cities (oy!)
        Rouen: the only place overseas that seems above average…not tall, but at least above average

      • rhywun

        Buffalo: but Rochester seems short (Italian?)

        Could be. Rochester is thicker with Italians, Buffalo with Polish.

    • Loveconstitution1789

      Best President in US history is impeached by traitor Democrats two times AND gets more election wins (3 wins) than any president since FDR.

      Cofefe!

      • MikeS

        It’s “covfefe”. There goes your super-fan status.

      • Hyperion

        Yes, that is a serious Glib infraction, his card may be revoked.

      • Rat on a train

        I actually have a MAGA card. I don’t know why they sent it, but I’ve kept it as a curiosity.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Dang. Its been so long since it upset people, I forgot how Websters spelled it.

        🙂

    • DEG

      He gave Pence an unusual amount of autonomy to operate politically and shape his administration’s agenda. In return, Pence gave Trump near-unquestioned loyalty, at least publicly.

      Atlas mentions Pence in Atlas’ book. From what I remember of Atlas’ description of Pence, Pence wasn’t loyal at all.

  3. Fourscore

    I don’t know the fat lady’s name but Tres Cool has a pin up picture of her in his bedroom

    • Pope Jimbo

      Size of her? I think you will need railroad spikes to hold her pic up. No sissy ass pins gonna do the job.

  4. Count Potato

    “How the fuck is this real life?”

    Well, at least she’s right about not being an expert in military strategy.

    • Timeloose

      WTF kind of Benzo and Meth cocktail is that mummy taking.

      I’m Pretty sure she said they like to finger MIGs at some point near the end.

      • rhywun

        You can actually hear the effect of the skin being unable to stretch wide enough to emit certain sounds.

        I’d feel sorry for the old bat except, you know, she’s doing this by choice and is evil.

  5. Rebel Scum

    Bearded lady? Dipshit dude in a dress. Alligator boy? Eczema. Little people? There are Mexicans all over the place now.

    What about the Geek?

    • SugarFree

      Freegans.

    • Compelled Speechless

      I loved Nightmare Alley. Best movie of the Oscar nominees I’ve seen (only at 4/10 though). Power of the Dog was a technically well made piece of shit. That may be my front runner for most overrated movie of the decade.

      • Ted S.

        Watch the Tyrone Power version.

      • Compelled Speechless

        I plan to. I keep hoping it shows up on HBO under their TCM selections. I can’t seem to find it on streaming anywhere even if you’re willing to buy/rent it.

        I read they changed the ending for the new version, but they nailed it. The ending was probably the best part for me. I can’t remember the last time an ending stuck with me like that.

      • Ted S.

        Unfortunately, the Power Nightmare Alley was a Fox film, and I think Disney has the rights to the library now. Fox films do show up on TCM, but somewhat less often. (Universal is probably the worst in that regard.)

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        I am pretty sure it’s on Criterion now. It was a little while ago.

    • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

      Sad. He’s no Arturo the Aqua Boy.

  6. Ownbestenemy

    Some annoyances today.

    Any presumed COVID case gets 10-days isolation, regardless if they test negative. One would ask why would you report your symptoms then? Well, its a free 10 days off. I bet no one is wondering how John Q Private has somehow been presumed to have COVID 10 times in the past two years.

    With presumed, we don’t contact trace. Which I am okay with until I have the 10-man team that was just here and my own techs asking if they were around the person. I just get to shrug and point to FAA policy.

    We had our bi-weekly all managers meeting and it was ran by a panel of just women. I really don’t care who gives me the information I need regarding COVID, testing, etc, I just need the information. We didn’t get any of the information.

    Speaking of…the unvaccinated will be weekly tested while the vaccinated continue to come down with covid and get 10-days off…day one when they ask, I will be refusing and when they move to remove me, I will file the EEO complaint.

    • db

      I think I mentioned before that we have some employees at one of our union facilities that have “had COVID” 4 or 5 times. Needless to say our company has a generous COVID leave policy.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Additional inflationary costs on products passed on to consumers by business not lost on all consumers.

      • R C Dean

        You get more of what you reward . . . .

    • DEG

      I bet no one is wondering how John Q Private has somehow been presumed to have COVID 10 times in the past two years.

      What could possibly go wrong?

      • Ownbestenemy

        If someone takes too many days off in a pattern, I can start an investigation; likewise even if there is no pattern, I can. With the covid protocol? We somehow apply medical privacy to it while ignoring medical privacy.

    • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

      The local uni is having a similar problem. As they go back to in-person classes, all of the students, especially the ones just out of high school, will leave in the middle of a test to go “get covid testing” with zero recourse to their grades. It’s driving prof’s nuts, but these kids haven’t known any other way. Feel stressed? Covid test. Didn’t prepare? Covid test.

  7. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. Some gals are A cups, some are B cups, but that fat lady has T cups.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I just saw that joke on the internet…and now you bring that trash here? Who do you think you are?

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Speaking of trash jokes…

        Why didn’t the cat pick up his trash?
        Because kitty litter!

      • Ted S.

        He obviously thinks he’s Swissy.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I’m rebelling because Swissy totes ignored my awesome “2 b or not to 2 b” joke this morning!

        I will not be ignored.

      • MikeS

        Yes you will.

        Dammit!

      • Nephilium

        I’ve got a shirt with

        /(bb|[^b]{2})/

        on it.

        /double checks and thinks there’s no characters that’ll get confused for HTML.

      • rhywun

        You’re a regular expressionist.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I don’t get it. There must be some back reference I’m not aware of

      • rhywun

        Psych!

      • Mojeaux

        You’re a case, and you need to change.

  8. Rebel Scum

    “Why do they always send the poor?”

    Poor men fight rich men’s wars.

    • R C Dean

      Because the Soviets were such absolute shits to Ukraine, killing millions of Ukrainians, that the Nazis actually looked like liberators, and many Ukrainians (initially) supported them.

      The bad blood runs bone deep – the Ukrainians hate the Russians for the Holodomor, and the Russians hate the Ukrainians for supporting the Nazis. All that bafflegab from Putin about one people blah blah is just horseshit.

      • grrizzly

        Plenty of Ukrainians and Russians consider each other close friends and relatives. Holodomor and Bandera’s Nazis are far from the only things that people in these countries think about each other. Dismissing it as horseshit is too simplistic. Russians and Ukrainians are much closer to each other than Americans and Canadians. Can this war drastically worsen the relations between the two peoples? Maybe. But we have to wait and see.

      • R C Dean

        Fair point. Its been awhile since Holodomor and WWII.

        However, the breakaway provinces would seem to indicate that there is still some bad blood. I can’t imagine the Russian aggression before this war did much for good relations, either.

        On the grippng hand, if reports are true that the Russians are using foreign mercenaries (and the Chechens certainly seem to be there), then maybe the Russians don’t trust Russian troops to do the needful in pacifying Ukraine.

  9. Rebel Scum

    We can’t allow the constitution to stop progress.

    Democratic leaders like Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, want Ferriero to simply publish the ERA in the Federal Register as a ratified amendment. It isn’t, of course. However, these Democrats insist that a unilateral decision from Ferriero declaring it ratified would mean it is ratified … at least until some courts say otherwise. And they are calling on President Biden to support this dubious move toward amendments by archival acclamation.

    Such muscle plays have become common in the last two years. Democratic members and advocacy groups have pushed to pack the Supreme Court with an instant liberal majority. They have sought to negate state election laws and impose their own federal election standards on states.

    These efforts have one thing in common: They avoid having the issues addressed by the voters directly or by the states.

    • Loveconstitution1789

      When are Americans going to call these Democrats what they are- Constitution haters.

      They literally cant stand the restrictions the Constitution places on them or follow the Supreme Law of the United States.

      • Hyperion

        I just call them commies. Works for me.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I don’t think that there are any practical restrictions on them anymore.

        They do seem irritated that they need to even pretend that they are restricted.

      • Winston

        Just vot them our or hope we get a nice enlightened despotic centrist…

    • Hyperion

      Yeah, no doubt we need to get rid of that old racist shit. Let’s do away with elections too, I mean unless we can permanently fix them so that the preferred candidate always wins. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Democrats be try’n.

      • R C Dean

        Elections are racist. Sometimes the black candidate loses, thus, the result is not “equitable”.

  10. Hyperion

    Needz moar photos. Here we see that she can qualify for thicc by being able to balance two cups of tea on her boobs, but on to the 2nd test, can she balance 2 beer bottles on top of her ass cheeks?

  11. Rebel Scum

    What does your husband think about this?

    The headline speaker at the Bringing America Back to Life Convention last Friday was Milo Yiannopoulos, an author and former Breitbart columnist who renounced his homosexual lifestyle, repented, and returned to the Catholic Church last year. …

    The conservative provocateur specifically raised his struggles with anhedonia, defined as the inability to feel pleasure, and implied that it is much more difficult to deal with than celibacy.

    “When I was unknowingly choosing to live that [homosexual] life, I was condemned to loneliness, addictions, and a variety of other things,” Milo said in reference to the “endless pursuit of dopamine and pleasure” which colored that life.

    “I have permanently fried the reward circuits in my brain … Once you fry those circuits, they don’t come back without decades of recalibration,” he added.

    “I’ve never changed on the gay thing, but I guess I’ve stopped being a hypocrite,” he said. “Without Christ, I am fairly sure that I would be dead.”

    • Lackadaisical

      …what?

    • Compelled Speechless

      You see Milo, the problem is that once you admit that you’re full of shit and you’re just a performer that will do and say anything to get attention, it makes it very difficult to believe that your “rehabilitation” is any more sincere. Plus, I don’t think ultra culturally conservative is going to suit you. The over the top provocateur thing was kind of the only thing that made you remotely interesting.

      • Rebel Scum

        The over the top provocateur thing was kind of the only thing that made you remotely interesting.

        I found it entertaining.

    • rhywun

      LOL he’s running in those circles now? SMDH. He is walking, talking 4chan meme.

  12. JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

    Yesterday’s sideshow freaks are today’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit models.

    • Fourscore

      It all began when fat women became full figured. Damn that George Orwell.

      • Ted S.

        What do you have against zaftig?

      • Fourscore

        They eat too much on a date?

      • Homple

        Eat too much on a date? I doubt it. Ever see a woman eat in public? The fatter they are the more the pretend that they hardly eat at all.

    • Compelled Speechless

      Weirdly, yesterday’s Sideshow Sluts Weekly magazine subscription numbers are today’s Sports Illustrated subscription numbers. Correlation?

  13. Animal

    Mr. Freeze is the story of an unfunny joke being continuously improved upon on TV…

    And in the movies.

    “A laundry service that delivers! Wow!”

    • Nephilium

      We don’t talk about Mr. Freeze in the Batman films…

      Pretty solid villain in the Harley Quinn animated series and Arkham series of games as well.

      • Animal

        I talk about him. That movie was pure bloody awful, but I got kind of a kick out of watching Schwarzenegger so obviously not giving a single fuck. You could almost hear him, after reading the script, telling the producers, “Screw you guys. You aren’t paying me enough to make this turd look like a real movie, so I’m just going to screw around in front of the camera and call it good enough.”

    • C. Anacreon

      When I was a kid there was a sort of slushy popsicle in a plastic tube called a Mr Freeze that I loved. The blue ones were my favorite, and a nice reward for mowing the lawn.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    I spent an enraging amount of time in a small town Walmart this past week and I saw at least 30 people that fat or far fatter.

    Speaking of which-

    Was yesterday “food stamp day”? There seemed to be a lot of people buying a lot of groceries when I went to Walmart to buy a gallon of milk and a box of triscuits.

    • EvilSheldon

      Yesterday was ‘International Stock Up While You Can’ day.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      Back when my wife and I were dating I brought her to the US to show her around, meet the family, etc. We stopped in a Walmart near Sacramento. She wandered into the plus-size clothing section unwittingly. She didn’t speak much English at the time, so didn’t notice the big overhead sign. The look of puzzlement on her face as she was holding up the clothes was priceless.

      • Pope Jimbo

        My mother-in-law visited us one winter and her favorite thing to do was to go to stores and look at the land whales. She just couldn’t get over how many super obese people there were.

        On the plus side of the ledger, she was also impressed by how few old geezer we had who looked like dried up husks from working their fingers to the bone their entire lives.

        When we visit the wife’s small farming village where she grew up, everyone over the age of 50 looks like they are 100 because they spend every day, all day out side farming.

      • Tonio

        So are you saying they’re outstanding in their field?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Exactly. And my wife’s mispronunciation of “I grew up as a hoer” when we met, was completely misleading.

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        I find the most fascinating animals at the San Diego Zoo to be the fat people. I don’t mean the run of the mill overweight person. After all, I’d probably fall into that bucket. I mean the people so large that they need a scooter to get around yet they are still sucking down a super sized soda.

      • Ownbestenemy

        But they atvleast ordered a salad

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I fear the mobility issues. Watching enormous people in their 40s struggle to move around seems pretty dang unpleasant. Not that I’m that size, but I never want to get to the point where I’m that level of mobility restricted.

      • rhywun

        Me neither. I already have lingering “issues” from a recent surgery down there; I don’t need to pack on any more weight than I already have to make it worse.

      • Fourscore

        I was in the big city (for me) today, absolutely amazed at the lack of both new and used cars/trucks at the dealers. Is that a national phenomena?
        Are new vehicles in demand big time or hard for the dealer to get?

      • R C Dean

        Yes. Last fall as we were driving to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving, we drove past several dealerships. The lots were nearly bare. I think its mostly supply-side.

      • Rat on a train

        I noticed the local dealers are no longer using the front lots for overflow storage.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Mostly national… I understand there are a small number of cars that are readily available because of low demand.

        Also heard the Ford is going to start selling Explorers with chip sets not installed; for example, no climate controls in the back seat

      • mikey

        I’ve been looking at trucks on mfg web sites. Seems seat controls are hard to come by – some options are listed and priced with caveats that they won’t be available for awhile.

        Dealer lots around here are pretty bare.

      • hoof_in_mouth

        They’ve got amazing amounts of cars and trucks stacked up in lots and fields around here but they apparently are missing parts. I’ll try to take a pic tomorrow.

      • Tundra

        I remember in Kentucky, Ford had a shit-ton of trucks stored all over the place, waiting for chipsets.

        Hey! I have an idea!

        How about building cars with no fucking tech?!?

  15. EvilSheldon

    The Cracked article was pretty okay by Cracked standards, but it still had that feeling of Reddit being upended over a Batman Beyond filter…

    • Pope Jimbo

      I think the last time Cracked.com was good was back when Sean Baby was still writing stuff for them.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    That Pelosi thing… Maybe the people who created this simulation all died, and there’s nobody left who knows how to keep it running properly.

    • The Other Kevin

      That part of the disk is degrading.

      • Bobarian LMD

        It was written in COBAL.

    • Compelled Speechless

      Yet another prophecy from Idiocracy coming to pass. About 400 years ahead of schedule.

  17. DEG

    Cracked manages to write an article that doesn’t suck and isn’t wholly retarded. This is straight-up amazing.

    ??!?!?!?!

    Diving in to see if this is true…

    Huh. I’ve never seen the series they’re talking about but I still managed to read the whole article. Weird. Maybe it is true.

    • Nephilium

      Batman Beyond was a well done spin off to Batman the Animated Series (same show runner). One movie was set in the universe, and was released in a PG-13 and unrated version. The final wrap up of the series was done in a Justice League Unlimited episode.

    • Hyperion

      This stuff is easy for me, I just listen to what CNN and the other TMITE assholes say and decide that the exact opposite is true.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Yep. CNN is actually correct that they’re useful in helping to sort out and determine truth. Just not in the way they think they are.

  18. Winston

    https://lawliberty.org/book-review/does-classical-liberalism-have-a-future/

    However, Boettke develops from this his case for a “liberal cosmopolitanism,” which “espouses virtues of openness, of acceptance, of above all else toleration.” As he fleshes out what that means, it sounds alarmingly close to the “liberalism” that can be heard in political legislatures, college campuses, and pop culture. Boettke’s liberalism is inherently “emancipatory.” The classical liberal ideal world is “a system absent of all privileges,” and presumes an agreement in society that whatever an individual believes, and regardless of the “lifestyle choices” he follows, others will tolerate it. Everyone, one might say, defines his own freedom.

    As we see in the West today, this kind of thinking can give rise to a ferocious hostility against tradition, and even history itself. There is no point in looking back at history: “There is no ‘great’ to go back to; there is only a ‘great’ to move forward to as a truly humane liberal democratic project is refined and perfected.” Indeed, history needs to be, at least to a certain extent, forgotten: “Liberalism must be offered as a promise to future generations to eradicate the shameful sins of the past.”

    Will this line of thinking really preserve the freedom and prosperity that Boettke wants? We see in our culture today that the insatiable demand for openness and toleration has led to sentiments that have become quite repressive and intolerant. Calls for liberation morph into attempts to kill any notion of objective truth and morality. We now live within a leveling movement that argues that some need to be actively put down, and others actively advantaged, to finally put everyone in the same spot.

    It seems clear that our cosmopolitan societies are not simply tolerant of all lifestyle choices and sacred beliefs: they only accept those which are en vogue (and what is en vogue changes dramatically), while canceling those that are not. Any views that run contrary to this mainstream perspective need to make way, since they are inherently dangerous to the vulnerable ‘liberal’ consensus. Finally, disrespect for history has rather led to attempts to eliminate Western history. Who still needs to read the classics? Who still needs those Adam Smith statues and David Hume buildings, those Friedrich Hayek events, when those men were all just part of this disreputable heritage, and even tried to defend it?

    Perhaps Boettke’s liberalism can adhere to firmer principles, and yet, reading the book, it is often unclear how his liberalism truly differs from that of the “woke” elite. Won’t his cosmopolitan liberalism naturally lead to the modern version? Surely any liberalism that decries any privilege or authority will easily lead to a Tocquevillian nightmare of excessive equality, where everyone would be equal, and thus equally weak against the omnipotent state. Men would become (or have become) a “flock of timid and industrious animals,” bowling alone haplessly while the state directs their lives.

    • Hyperion

      Well, they wouldn’t have to steal gas if not for your privilege and racism.

    • The Other Kevin

      LOL just get a Tesla and they can’t steal your gas! /prog

      • Ownbestenemy

        Until they realize the black market value of the battery and/or charging system when there is no more fuel to steal.

      • Homple

        Here in Sodom-on-the-Sound there’s an epidemic of catalytic converters being sawn* off cars and sold for the Palladium in them. It should get worse, Russia being the world’s largest producer of Palladium.

        *Grammar check welcome.

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        An old boss of mine had one stolen, so he made a cut out for his exhaust system and now only puts one on when it is time to smog it. In fact, he will sit there in the driveway waiting for the thing to cool off and then take it off.

      • Nephilium

        /looks for the article about asking about plugging in your Tesla at someone else’s house when you’re visiting

    • db

      Welcome back! The 1970s missed us so.

    • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

      Sean, totally OT, but do you know a good Keto intro website? Every time I start looking around one they want my email and money. F that.

      • Tundra

        Not Sean, but Robb Wolf, Mark Sisson and Brad Kearnes all have websites with a ton of information.

        Are you looking to lose weight or cure a condition?

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        Both. I get updates on MS research, and there are some promising studies on Keto.

        So, at the least what will it hurt? Well, Beer, but I am down to around two a week anyway.

      • Tundra

        Yeah, MS is one of those conditions for which keto seems to kick ass. You may need even need to explore carnivore.

        Lots of stuff to dig through, though. I’d start with the Bible and work from there.

        If I can help, hit me up at minnetundra AT the guys that steal all your data.

      • Sean

        I fell into it without really not knowing about it. I spent much more time on websites at the beginning, now I just kind of do my own thing. These days, I don’t really go looking for new info. It’s crazy how much more mainstream it’s become though.

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        Cool, thanks Sean!

  19. Rebel Scum

    Don’t be emotionally manipulated into WWIII.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the full Congress of the United States on Wednesday in a virtual address.

    During his speech, President Zelensky called for more US military support and to close the skies over Ukraine. Zelensky also called on America to close its ports to Russian shipments.

    Then at one point, the Ukrainian president played a heart-wrenching video for the US Congress of the horrors of the Russian military assault on Ukraine. Then he spoke in English to plead for US military assistance.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Emotional appeals to Pearl Harbor, 9/11 and I have a dream were nice touches but the moment of pure propaganda was showing pictures of dead kids and babies to the congresscritters.

    • Hyperion

      Yes, please risk nuclear war for us, because…. remember… ugh, yeah, we’re your closest allies because… well, Hunter Biden has some business affairs here and so…

      • db

        You know what? fuck it, nuclear war will at least be an exciting way to go out, in contrast to just having everything fall apart into ruins out of neglect and cultural decay

      • Ownbestenemy

        I just don’t want to deal with 40 year old nerds who actually try to trade bottle caps for weapons.

      • db

        I have a shitton of caps saved up

      • Nephilium

        I think I’d have better luck trading full bottles instead. Swingtop bottles that can hold pressure will be gold in the future.

      • db

        bingo

      • Ownbestenemy

        I may or may not have an excesses of canning supplies and swing top bottles

      • Tonio

        And bicycles.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Don’t get me started!

        * More good thoughts sent SP’s way *

      • Nephilium

        Hopefully the end times hold off until I pick up another. Although, I should probably get better at doing my own maintenance (beyond road repairs).

      • Sean

        I already have my weapons.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Are your weapons fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency…and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope?

      • Sean

        And some ninja throwing stars!

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        Wait, are you saying pogs aren’t worth anything?

      • Hyperion

        Giant Meteor is like liquor, it’s quicker.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      Let me guess, were there images of babies removed from incubators?

    • Drake

      Nobody in the world with any standing has offered to broker a peace deal. Not the U.S., UN, the Swiss, Finns, nobody. What the hell is wrong with people?

      • Ownbestenemy

        You should have heard the press briefing where the reporters all but demanded we bomb the shit out of them.

      • Winston

        War will be good for the Great Reset, censorship and Biden’s approval ratings?

      • Compelled Speechless

        How would killing off all the people in urban population centers that the bombs would be aimed at help Biden’s approval ratings?

      • Winston

        Eirher they think nuclear war won’t happen or the elites think they will survive and it will be easier to manipulate the survivors? Putin did it after all…

      • db

        That’s a really interesting point. Even the frequently-neutral Swedes are sending weapons. Initially, I wrote that up to them mistaking the flags. But maybe there’s something more nefarious going on.

      • The Other Kevin

        I noticed that. I keep telling people we have a huge failure in leadership across the world lately.

      • Winston

        Unpossible. In current year our elites are always good.

      • db

        “lately”

      • Tundra

        China weighs in.

      • Grummun

        “Please please pleasepleaseplease America get into a shooting war with Russia that weakens both of you to the point that we can just clean up the scraps and own everything.”

      • R C Dean

        Assuming China isn’t just doing a “why don’t you and him fight” thing, that doesn’t bode well for its freshly minted strategic partnership with Russia.

        I’m guessing its the former. So far, China is coming out ahead on all this.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The Israelis have been trying.

  20. Winston

    This is what is en vogue among our elites:

    https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/paternalists-plan-a-new-international-political-consensus/

    In the face of the coronavirus crisis and the global warming threat, Dr. Mazzucato insists that the previous global consensus among the leading Western governments that, all things considered, freer markets, fiscal restraint, and limited government intervention were the best policies to ensure greater freedom and wide prosperity for all has been shown to be irrelevant and detrimental to the well-being of humanity.

    Such a rejection of a free-market order accompanied by a blind confidence in the possibilities of political paternalism have been seen already in the 20th century experiments in communism, fascism, and Nazism. Just give “us” the governmental decision-making power and “we” will set all things right in terms of some vision of a bright and beautiful future. One may only hope that the human cost and brutality of this latest variation on the central planning theme comes nowhere near its predecessors.

    We can only hope that mass murder and brutal tyranny is somehow avoided this time around. But with the resulting subordination of individual freedom, market competition, and the price system to a Global Green Plan, this new green world will lack the essential ingredients for determining whether or not what is produced is really wanted by the consuming members of society, or whether the scarce resources of the society are in any manner bring allocated and utilized in a way reflecting the actual opportunity costs of their use in serving preferred consumer ends.

    Note how our coming tyranny is wrapped with language about change, modernity and liberation…

    • Hyperion

      You know, in the end, the funny part is that not only are they going to get billions of us peons killed, they’re going to get themselves killed too. I’d pay pay-per-view prices to live to see that part.

      • Compelled Speechless

        I don’t know, I’ll bet they’ve built up some pretty impressive lead bunkers stocked with food and drinks to last decades with all the money they’ve stolen from the peons. I wonder where they got the idea?

        https://youtu.be/zZct-itCwPE

        10 females to each male would do nicely. As usual, what the rest of us see as a cautionary tail, they see as a how to manual. Also, I know what I’m going to watch tonight.

      • Animal

        10 females to each male would do nicely. As usual, what the rest of us see as a cautionary tail

        Best typo of the day.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Thanks for pointing that out. I just figured out the title for my fan-fiction sequel to Fatal Attraction.

      • R C Dean

        I dunno. “deja ju” was pretty awesome.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Mr. President, we cannot have a mineshaft gap!

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Watched that with my son about two months ago.

        The timing was good on that choice.

    • kbolino

      Free markets are great at allocating scarce resources to worthwhile ends. They are not, in and of themselves, capable of deciding which ends are worthwhile. The left, having selectively wielded capitalism as a destructive force where they can, now see the need in many cases to move “beyond” the destruction to the desired end.

      And so governmental and non-governmental power will be wielded in ways capitalists will find appalling. Seize it first and use it against them, or be their victims instead.

  21. JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

    Pelosi: “I’d like to take out those tanks.”

    Can we make a deal with Putin whereby we send her over with a Javelin? For the LOLs if for no other reason.

    • db

      “here, Nancy, try this rifle. It’s “recoilless.”

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        Shit, a .22 would probably break her wrists.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    Emotional appeals to Pearl Harbor, 9/11 and I have a dream were nice touches but the moment of pure propaganda was showing pictures of dead kids and babies to the congresscritters.

    REMEMBER THE MAINE!

  23. Rebel Scum

    I was just thinking that energy prices are too low.

    House progressives are planning to call on President Joe Biden this week to use his executive power to declare climate change a national emergency and to ban fossil fuel drilling on public lands.

    The request from the Congressional Progressive Caucus comes as many Democratic clean energy priorities have stalled in Congress. The push for the sweeping use of the executive powers expected from the group of nearly 100 lawmakers on Thursday will also touch issues such as student loan debt, voting rights and immigration.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Excessive profits dude

    • The Other Kevin

      Do it. Please do it. And then wonder why you can’t win an election for the next 20 years.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Everyone knows that a huge component of global warming is student loans.

    • Pope Jimbo

      But, but, but Psaki was just scoffing at the idea that there was any red tape (or other govt impediments) preventing Big Oil from drilling on Federal land.

      Why wouldn’t these companies spend millions of dollars in capital improvements? I mean it isn’t like some senile puppet would wipe it all out unilaterally?

      • Tundra

        The silly twat also proclaimed that if oil prices go down, so should gas.

        Excellent grasp of production and markets, that one.

      • Compelled Speechless

        She’s got the exact understanding of economics that public education wants her to have.

    • Don escaped Texas

      drilling on public lands

      step one: auction off lands USG has no charter to hold in the first place
      step two: problem solved, have a beer

  24. Fourscore

    We had a lot of snow this winter, yesterday I noticed that one section of the snow barrier on the roof looked askew. As I was eating my lunch a big bang and I saw the snow barrier had fallen off. Just now all the snow on that section of the roof came shooting down, glad I wasn’t under it. I don’t think there is any roof damage, just tore the barrier metal where it was bolted on to the steel roof.

    It’s always something, if it isn’t one….

    • Pope Jimbo

      Mrs. Fourscore has to work on her triggering mechanism for next spring. The rest of her ACME “Make it look like an accident” Home Divorce Kit seems to be working fine.

      • Fourscore

        She had it timed perfectly, out of town for a week, my remains will be preserved under the snow until she gets home and can make a positive ID. If only she’d majored in Minnesoda instead of won-ton.

      • Pope Jimbo

        won-ton

        What? Mrs. Fourscore is a delightful tiny lady. Don’t body shame her.

      • Fourscore

        Today is the one year anniversary of my mishap. At least I got several books and some tech gear out of the deal.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I’m so happy you have done so well in your recovery. Even when you fuck up in a major way you end up being a pretty inspirational person Fourscore.

        Hopefully I will learn from your mistakes and never have to find out if I could bounce back from an injury that bad as well as you did. I know that one thing I learned is to give up on snow blowing. Mrs. Holiness is in charge of that now. She isn’t very tall so a fall is far less dangerous for her.

      • MikeS

        That snow shooting off the roof while you lunched was as subtle reminder to be careful out there.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Now that you mention it, Fourscore must have pissed someone off. To the point that he makes an attempt on Fourscore’s life every year on this date.

        Tundra, you want to tell us where you were? And can anyone corroborate your story?

      • MikeS

        I Know What You Did Last Honey Harvest: Tundra Two

      • Tundra

        No comment.

        Except I suggest you both keep your heads on a swivel.

      • Tundra

        I remember that phone call.

        And my prediction that you would bounce back. You’re still my hero!

      • Old Man With Candy

        You are a real inspiration to us.

        Ditto C. Anacreon.

  25. Winston

    https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/beware-of-the-governments-push-for-a-digital-currency/

    Despite all of the advantages that go along with living in a digital age—namely, convenience—it’s hard to imagine how a cashless world navigated by way of a digital wallet doesn’t signal the beginning of the end for what little privacy we have left and leave us vulnerable to the likes of government thieves, data hackers and an all-knowing, all-seeing Orwellian corpo-governmental state.


    Short of returning to a pre-technological, Luddite age, there’s really no way to pull this horse back now that it’s left the gate. To our detriment, we have virtually no control over who accesses our private information, how it is stored, or how it is used. And in terms of our bargaining power over digital privacy rights, we have been reduced to a pitiful, unenviable position in which we can only hope and trust that those in power will treat our information with respect.

    At a minimum, before any kind of digital currency is adopted, we need stricter laws on data privacy and an Electronic Bill of Rights that protects “we the people” from predatory surveillance and data-mining business practices by the government and its corporate partners.

    Nice blackpill…

    • R C Dean

      Short of returning to a pre-technological, Luddite age, there’s really no way to pull this horse back now that it’s left the gate.

      Rebuilding the internet so it has strong encryption throughout would be a running start. But, like they say, not gonna happen now.

      • Winston

        So much for the inherent emancipatory nature of new technology…

      • kbolino

        You can’t emancipate people who enjoy serfdom.

      • Winston

        Public schools, free trade, moving into cities, new tech and rejecting Catholicism were all supposed to do that though…

        Also the notion that certain people don’t want to be free is not something liberals usually believed.

        And who would you describe as the sort of person who enjoys serfdom?

      • Compelled Speechless

        And who would you describe as the sort of person who enjoys serfdom?

        Who did you see enthusiastically wearing masks for the last two years? There, I found them for you.

      • Winston

        That is a very good example…

      • kbolino

        Also the notion that certain people don’t want to be free is not something liberals usually believed.

        The problem with liberals is their parochialism. They get to define what “freedom” means and then they assume everyone else must want it too. Many people want to be comfortably kept without major disruptions to their day-to-day lives. Freedom enables growth and innovation but also destruction and degeneracy. Yes, you can call the wannabe serfs hypocrites, because they will reap some of the benefits while still decrying the parts they don’t like. They won’t care because it’s hypocrisy only according to your definition of what their values actually are. As far as they are concerned, good things are good, and bad things are bad. Consistently applying that ethos is not hypocritical. A liberal may find it lacking in depth or nuance but, like I said, liberals are parochial.

        A society with general membership will never see more than a small percentage of people who are “true” liberals, possessing the temperament, intelligence, self-reflection, drive, etc. necessary to both sincerely believe in liberalism and yet not slide into wasteful conditions like hedonism, narcissism, addiction, etc. These are the people who innovate, or who at least keep the very complex machines running, but they don’t make good foot soldiers, good middle managers, or good line workers. Conversely, the people who do well at those latter tasks prefer structure and order. They like some freedom, freedom to do things they enjoy, but that’s about it. They will not write sonnets, they will not compose the next Illiad, they will not likely invent anything that will be remembered, and so on. But so what? Their lives are full of meaning and purpose, or at least can be. It is only the soi-disant intellectual, the idle rich, the self-appointed cultural gatekeepers, etc. who seem to think their lives dull, demeaning, and worthy of reform. Passing down elite values to the masses corrupts the masses. This is not to say the elites, whoever they are, are worthy of praise, mind you. Just that their way of living isn’t suited to the average person.

        And so the liberal struggles between appeasing the masses with democracy and populism (nasty business in the eyes of the elite!) and appeasing (and aspiring to be part of) the elite with technocracy and wealth generation. But the two groups keep spinning out of sync and resenting each other.

      • kbolino

        What I think you are after is decentralized encryption. Most Internet traffic today is already encrypted. But it’s also heavily centralized. Netflix at one point was something like 30% of all Internet traffic (competition has brought that down, but “streaming video” is still the lion’s share).

        The problem with decentralized encryption is that it is not idiot-proof. The decentralized, peer-to-peer model that frustrates government and corporate control of the Internet is impossible when the Internet is dominated by tech-illiterate average people. Eternal September was not actually in 1993, it was in 2006 when social media began to take off and brought all the normies with it.

      • robc

        The big mistake was not switching to encrypted emails back when it was still small enough to do.

        If every email was public/private encrypted (with, say PGP or GPG), then people would have a different standard.

      • kbolino

        The government made sure that didn’t happen by hobbling private encryption with “export controls” and directing research and development towards complex and confusing standards.

      • robc

        Yes, but that ended in the mid 90s and there was still time before the big internet boom.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Bold decisive action

    The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates for the first time since 2018, the central bank announced Wednesday at the conclusion of its highly anticipated two-day monetary policy meeting.

    The move marks the end of the Fed’s pandemic-era easy money policy and comes amid soaring inflation across America. The federal funds rate now stands at 0.25-0.5%.
    “We feel the economy is very strong and will be able to withstand tighter monetary policy,” Fed Chair Pro Tempore Jerome Powell told journalists during Wednesday’s post-meeting press conference.

    That should fix it. We don’t want to hinder the government’s ability to borrow.

    • The Other Kevin

      Maybe Lou Reed can talks some sense into him.

    • Fourscore

      “Biden Gets Quite Confused” when he wakes up in the morning and the teleprompter is gone

  27. Tres Cool

    “This is a publicity shot for a circus fat lady in the 19th century. I’ve never been able to find out who she was! Does anyone out there have any information? I’d love to know her name.”

    Bunk, Ill be in it.

    • Hyperion

      That one will break yet another futon, Tres, you know?

    • Hyperion

      Anyway, her name is Belle Gunness.

      • Tulip

        The murderess?

  28. Count Potato

    “Over One-Third of Americans Say They Would Risk Nuclear War With Russia Over Ukraine

    A new poll has found that 35 percent of Americans support U.S. military action supporting Ukraine, even if it risks nuclear conflict with Russia.

    The Pew Research Center survey found comparable numbers of people in both parties (36 percent of Republicans, 35 percent of Democrats) who favor risking a nuclear war.

    “However, most Americans (62%) say they would oppose the U.S. ‘taking military action even if it risks a nuclear conflict with Russia.’ About a third (35%) of Americans say they would favor military action in this scenario,” the Pew pollsters report.

    Large majorities of both parties reported that they favor keeping large numbers of U.S. military forces in NATO countries near Ukraine in response to the conflict — a view held by 75 percent of Republicans and 81 percent of Democrats.

    The survey additionally found that nearly half of Americans (47 percent) approve of the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict, while about four in ten (39 percent) disapprove, and 13 percent say they are not sure.”

    https://timcast.com/news/over-one-third-of-americans-say-they-would-risk-nuclear-war-with-russia-over-ukraine/

    • Hyperion

      I’m pretty sure I’d sacrifice those people to the sphagetti monster right now.

      • db

        Yeah, I’d be happy to let those people sacrifice themselves for Ukraine.

      • Hyperion

        Fly them right in on the front lines, with Pelosi and Joe leading the charge.

      • Compelled Speechless

        I’d put Lindsey Graham out in front of all of them. Give him his lifetime achievement award for being a mass-murder orchestrating nutbag.

      • C. Anacreon

        Pelosi could be in the role of the lady carrying the French flag into battle while popping out a boob in that famous painting.

        Yes, I know, gross, but it is SugarFree links after all.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Dude….

        *hurk*

    • Ownbestenemy

      That is who Joe and the DNC are hoping to leech off in the mid-terms and next presidential election

    • Rebel Scum

      1/3 of Americans think they do not live near a target.

      • Hyperion

        Most people that stupid live in NYC or Washington DC. Go figure…

      • Drake

        The Russians might be evil enough to nuke everything except DC, NYC, and Seattle.

      • Sensei

        Well, what if it was DC and a full session of Congress?

      • Rebel Scum

        *raises eyebrow*

        I hadn’t considered that…

      • Pope Jimbo

        Sure all the cockroaches in DC would be killed by a nuke, but I’m pretty sure Congress people would all survive.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        If they survived, I imagine there would a large contingent of people looking to kill them. I would sign up.

      • kbolino

        Oddly enough, it’s almost exactly the same 1/3 who live in the bullseyes.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        *looks toward Raytheon satellite communication campus a few miles down the road*

        *gulp*

      • R C Dean

        Hell, I’ve got a big airbase, the Boneyard, and a huge Raytheon factory nearby. According to the nuke blast website, my odds of surviving the initial detonation aren’t bad.

      • kbolino

        After decades of drone bombing weddings and hospitals, if we’re getting our comeuppance, it’s going to hit civilian population centers.

    • rhywun

      Wheee – we’re through the looking glass now.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Wait until you scroll down and find out that Elon Musk’s baby momma is now dating former Senatorial candidate “Chelsea” Manning. They need to take the servers down to perform some maintenance or the simulation is just going to crash.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Unfuckingreal

      These people are disconnected from reality. They have no concept of actual danger anymore.

    • J. Frank Parnell

      Yeah right. These are the same people who are unwilling to risk going to a restaurant unless everyone there is triple-vaxxed and double-masked.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Exactly. Their ability to evaluate risk isn’t impaired, it’s nonexistent.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Proof positive that a life motto of “Drill Baby Drill” only leads to trouble.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Broken window dentistry?

    • Hyperion

      I have to tell you, I don’t even have any idea what the fuck that is.

      • Count Potato

        I believe it’s in response to Grimes dating Chelsea Manning.

  29. Winston

    https://brownstone.org/articles/the-vindication-of-d-h-henderson/

    “We want to use all instruments of national power to confront this threat,” Venkayya told colleagues in the administration, as reported by Michael Lewis in his book The Premonition.

    I asked myself, “Why didn’t these epidemiologists figure it out?” They didn’t figure it out because they didn’t have tools that were focused on the problem. They had tools to understand the movement of infectious diseases without the purpose of trying to stop them.

    Lockdowns were promoted as a Bold New Scientific Idea to Make Us Safe and supported by The Experts. What could go wrong?

    What are the lessons here? When someone with power proclaims to have a new theory and practice to eradicate something undesirable, and it only requires the temporary suspension of all rights and liberties, look out. If they get their way and the damage is done, they will very likely not be found anywhere to accept responsibility. And the rest of us will be left with the carnage, plus living under a planning machinery looking for another mission to distract the public from its failures.

    Unpossible! New theories and practices are always good..

    • Pope Jimbo

      What has been triggering the rash of war boners lately?

      Yesterday without half trying I saw The Turtle and Tom Cotton (ok, he doesn’t surprise me) calling for us to immediately stick our dick into Ukraine.

      • Fourscore

        “There’s a time for planting and a time for harvesting”

    • Hyperion

      This sort of shit has been going on for a long time, and one day they’ll get themselves into a sistuation they won’t live through.

    • rhywun

      Surprised Rubio is talking sense.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      “ “What we seek is the deployment of American and NATO aircraft not in search of confrontation with Russia but to avert and deter Russian bombardment that would result in massive loss of Ukrainian lives,” the letter states.”

      Yes, yes, it could be a limited engagement for all of of about fifteen minutes before somebody gets shot down and then it all goes to hell.

      These ideas are beyond stupid.

  30. robc

    TPTB,

    Friday at 7 is possibly the worst time for my submission, I won’t be able to comment on it. I was really hoping for an 11 AM slot. I know many of those are filled with regulars, but I would prefer to wait for an opening. Or at worst, a 7 PM Mon-Thurs slot. This Friday is really bad for me.

    • robc

      Also, thanks for all you do, I have to imagine scheduling our shit is a pain.

    • robc

      But then again, if you really need that slot filled, I am cool with it. I can read others comments with zero chance of me spoilering future parts. So whatever.

      • robc

        The more I think about it, ignore everything I said and just leave it where it is scheduled.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Eventually you’ll talk yourself into paying them to run the article.

      • robc

        I am too much of a cheap bastard for that to happen.

      • Ted S.

        Eh, the single land tax will more than pay for it.

      • Pope Jimbo

        if you really need that slot filled
        Dude! This is a family friendly site! If you gotta dirty talk, at least use some euphemisms or something.

      • Q Continuum

        Or at least wait until my Glibs After Dark posts.

      • robc

        I thought we finally lost our family friendly label.

    • Tonio

      robc, we got this. Thanks.

      Sorry for the late reply. Swiss is manager of the calendar and it’s his night off for yodeling practice.

      • Tundra

        I thought it was Alphorn.

  31. Winston

    https://www.aier.org/article/the-courage-to-be-utopian/

    Liberalism is a social philosophy that is grounded in the recognition of its constant need for renewal and reconstruction. It is never a fixed doctrine standing still and telling the context of history — STOP. It is, instead, a welcoming of the new and novel, of the fulfillment of its ideals, and the greater recognition that we are one another’s dignified equals.

    ….

    change is ceaseless, and the effort to improve institutions is constant.

    Aren’t nuclear war, the Green New Deal or lockdowns examples of History Marching on, new and novel ideas and change that will require renewal and reconstruction?

    • kbolino

      the effort to improve institutions is constant

      What happens when the lessons of yesterday are forgotten and the reformers of today march forward in ignorance?

      • Winston

        The liberals just assumed that would never happen…

      • robc

        Jefferson didnt.

      • kbolino

        The problem with Jefferson’s formulation, maybe not in his own day but certainly in ours, is that it is trying to transpose the ancient notion of constant warfare atop the modern environment of avoiding conflict at all costs. Just like at the conflict in Ukraine; many people, sane people, rational people, even people who had nothing against Putin before, are staunchly opposed to the invasion. But this is how regimes change. It is how the U.S. changes regimes and it is how foreign adventurers change regimes. Oftentimes the regime changers are self-interested. War is just an extension of politics, after all.

        To put it another way, there is not enough potential energy left in the population to effect Jefferson’s solution to the problem.

      • Don escaped Texas

        Santayana just keeps a spinning in the cold ground

    • Raven Nation

      You know, Winston, instead of posting long excerpts, why not think through several pieces you read and write an article for Glibs?

      TPTB have noted lately that they’re short of material.

    • J. Frank Parnell

      (archive outages becoming more frequent…)

      I blame Putin.

  32. Pope Jimbo

    You know how everyone is laughing about how happy Jimmy Carter must be now that he isn’t The Worst President Ever?

    What about Dan Quayle? Surely he has to be on the Rehabilitation Trail.

    Has anyone even asked Kamala to spell potato?

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      “Well, there’s a ‘p’, and it’s a big letter. And there’s an ‘o’, but it’s a little letter. Sometimes the p invades the o, and that’s wrong. The p belongs in the mouth. That’s how you become Vice President.”

      • Sean

        *upvote*

      • Compelled Speechless

        My pick for internet win of the day.

      • DEG

        Beautiful.

    • Fourscore

      Ole and Sven

      Yust ven I learn to say yam they change it to yelly.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      “A potato is a vegetable. We must, and we shall, imagine every day, together, that it is not a vegetable, like the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and I, Vice President Harris, as we stand here together, uh, cackle, cackle…”

    • Ted S.

      Never forget that it was the teachers who put the wrong spelling on the card.

  33. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    I’m on a boat.

    • Animal

      Green eggs and ham for dinner?

    • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

      Y’all I’m so afraid of the ocean. I’m tryna desenitize myself by standing on the balcony.

      Everyone said “you won’t even feel the motion of the boat” WRONG, MOTHERFUCKERS. I felt the motion even in port.

      Glad I got them beh8nd-the-ear patches.

      • Ted S.

        If they have karaoke night, request this.

    • creech

      Be careful your prized gun collection doesn’t fall overboard.

  34. Sean

    Yes, I came home and turned on the ac.

    • TARDis

      Global Warming again?

      We cooled off down here. Climate change for the win.

      • Sean

        Yup. Quite close.

      • DEG

        Driving east on Pennsylvania’s I-78, bound for the highway’s terminus at lower Manhattan’s Holland Tunnel, you’ll pass miles of vast farmland, spot billboards for God and sheepskin coats

        Sounds like this place.

        As you advance toward Allentown, trucks soon outnumber cars

        I-78 is jammed with trucks along just about all of its length.

        the Valley transformed into prime territory for retailers like Amazon and Walmart but also for third-party logistics: the outsourced assembly and storage of companies’ products in warehouses, often called “fulfillment” centers, and their distribution through freight services.

        I’ve noted every time I go to PA the Lehigh Valley is more and more built-up.

        Overall, the cultural mood reflected the region’s predominant group: the Pennsylvania Dutch, described by one historian as “the most conservative people in America.”

        Pennsylvania Dutch also generally don’t like being told what to do.

        residents worry about how warehousing disrupts their communities’ quality of life and imperils the region’s agricultural heritage.

        If residents aren’t raising money to privately (i.e. not through the government) buy up and preserve land, I wonder how much they actually worry about warehouses taking over.

        Allentown, for example, is now a majority-Hispanic city.

        I buy that.

  35. R C Dean

    Nice overview of *spit* Woodrow Wilson. Can recommend.

    • Compelled Speechless

      Whoever has Twitter, get this in front of Michael Malice as quickly as possible. I smell a hilarious live stream.

  36. Semi-Spartan Dad

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60506682

    New updates in Ukraine. Russia has begun heavy aerial bombardment of Kyviv and advancing troops into the northern section of the city. From updates on the past few days of maps, it looks like they’ve swept through the southern third of Ukraine with minimal resistance and are choosing to encircle and siege cities without waiting for each to fall while moving to the next.

    It’s unclear to me how Russia seems to have no logistics issue going 3x the distance out from Crimea in several different directions but runs out of gas going to Kyviv from Belarus, an area that had been staged for the invasion. I’m thinking now that the whole logistics thing was overhyped at best if not outright propaganda…. much like the whole “Russia doesn’t have air superiority” thing turned out to be clips from a video game.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      I’m thinking now that the whole logistics thing was overhyped at best if not outright propaganda

      *touches nose twice*

    • R C Dean

      My suspicion on the logistics:

      I’ve heard Russia is very dependent on rail lines for logistics, and the ones in the north got effed up by the Ukrainians. In the south, they may have resupply from ships, or the rail lines are in better shape.

      The aerial bombardment surprises me some. Maybe the Russians were pulling that punch hoping this would be settled without needing it.

      Apply grains of salt to taste.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        It’s difficult to find any truthful information about intentions or reasons for anything. I like this BBC site because they provide actual maps and objective updates like “heavy aerial bombardment”, but the editorial content flip flops constantly. For the past several days, this same page has been saying that Odessa is being shelled and the invasion force will most likely include an amphibious landing. Just today, this language has been updated to:

        Russian naval forces off the coast of Odesa have conducted some shelling of the city in recent days but an amphibious landing would be very difficult and a sign of Russian desperation, according to Mr Bronk.

        And we’re back to the most likely approach for Russian forces becomes yet another sign of Russian desperation.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Almost everything is editorial content now. You can’t trust anything.

        Like I say below, the markets would seem to be the best forecaster we have.

    • kbolino

      It’s possible the Russian Army stepped over its own toes a bit while getting mobilized, but it’s kinda hard to believe they couldn’t support logistics for invading a country 1/28th the size of their own.

    • Rebel Scum

      “Russia doesn’t have air superiority” thing turned out to be clips from a video game.

      I was skeptical when the Ukrainian pilot exited his plane mid flight, shot an RPG at the Russian plane and re-entered his plane.

  37. J. Frank Parnell
  38. Scruffy Nerfherder

    From RT, so adjust accordingly, but the scuttlebutt is that negotiations are proceeding for a ceasefire.

    I can’t take anything in the West at face value. Markets haven’t gone completely berserk so I’m using that as my SHTF indicator.

    • Tundra

      Seen that in a number of places. I wonder how they will handle the arms to Ukraine stuff.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        If I take the cynically optimistic view, what we’re seeing in the US now is just political grandstanding and maneuvering for narrative control during the midterms. The Ukraine war has already been settled by the powers that be and we’re getting the kayfabe treatment. They pretend to be outraged in order to peel votes off. Meanwhile, average Ukrainians get screwed over and the corrupt governments get paid.

        In which case, arms shipments will massively increase to NATO countries and the MIC will be happy. The EU will remain under the American thumb and State neocons will be thrilled by that.

        My cynicism is reaching a peak I never thought I’d get to.

      • Tundra

        My cynicism is reaching a peak I never thought I’d get to.

        I think that’s reasonable. The whole NATO expansion was driven by sales people who realized that standardizing military platforms across a shit-ton of countries might make for a decent year-end bonus.

      • Surly Knott

        Remember the words of wisdom guided by experience:
        No matter how cynical I get, it’s just never enough.

      • Tundra

        One of my favorite quotes from Sam Vimes:

        “If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn’t as cynical as real life.”

        Truth.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    It’s unclear to me how Russia seems to have no logistics issue going 3x the distance out from Crimea in several different directions but runs out of gas going to Kyviv from Belarus, an area that had been staged for the invasion. I’m thinking now that the whole logistics thing was overhyped at best if not outright propaganda

    Given the amount of time devoted to prepositioning their troops and equipment, a major supply fuckup seems awfully unlikely. Unless they did not actually intend to enter Ukraine but changed their minds.

    • TARDis

      8pm is past my bedtime. 🙁

    • Old Man With Candy

      Paywalled.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        “ There is a lawsuit with a major medical center. If the judge rules in our favor, which we believe he will, then we’ll be able to immediately depose anyone involved in making the decisions to impose vaccine mandates. This includes top infectious disease doctors.

        We should know shortly (within a couple of weeks). I can’t wait.

        I’m not allowed to say more at this time because we don’t want to jeopardize things.

        Also, some of the doctors who work there (including a very respected 40 year veteran) are pissed and are willing to go public with their complaints and accusations, jeopardizing their employment.”

      • Tundra

        Was there any mention of Scaphism, lamp posts or woodchippers?