Sunday Morning (((Playboy))) Links

by | Aug 7, 2022 | Daily Links | 179 comments

So I attended two very different social events yesterday. At both of them, I got into conversations with women of… “a certain age.” After the first conversation, WebDom helpfully observed, “Ummm, Dad, are you oblivious? She was hitting on you.”

“Really?” which got me a disbelieving head shake and eye roll.

Thus sensitized, the second conversation with another woman seemed quite a bit more blatant. But still, I had to check, having been away from the dating and mating scene for about 30 years. I related the conversation to WebDom, who responded, “Dad, as a fresh widower who has a job, a  business, and a house, you are hot man-meat on the market.”

You haven’t lived until you hear your daughter call you “hot man-meat.”

In any case, this has inspired me to pursue a new avocation as a himbo. Bring it on, ladies, there’s enough Old Man for everyone!

Players are not made, they’re born, and the ones born on this date include a rather complicated woman who was easy on the eyes and hard on the Allies; a woman famous for her remarkably annoying voice; a guy who went totally ape; Ida Lupino’s co-aquarium parent; a performance artist extraordinaire; baseball’s FAR better quote machine than Yogi Berra; one of my personal heroes; the only guy who could rein in Larry Niven; an annoying mediocrity who at least had the manners to get canceled; the black Harold Stassen; the reason my security clearance interview was particularly stringent; my spirit animal; and the Nick Gillespie of libertarian columnists.

Bad jokes out of the way, we can proceed to Links.

 

Throw another log on the fire.

 

“This time we’ve got him for sure!”

 

Meh, my  first wife used to do this routinely.

 

Somehow, I don’t quite believe this…

 

I’m not sure that this is better than the traditional method.

 

Totally not a politically motivated vendetta. In California, they care about the environment.

 

Totally not a politically motivated vendetta. In our Team Blue federal government, they care about the environment.

 

I recognized several of you in the photos.

 

I know, I know, Old Guy likes to put up bluegrass. And I’ll be happy to put up this pair of songs from a staggeringly all star band. When Jerry Douglas doesn’t even get mentioned, it’s an amazing ensemble. And Douglas kills it. When I take over the universe, Sierra Hull will be MINE.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me. Wait, wrong book, I'll find something else.

179 Comments

    • Old Man With Candy

      Great song which hits so very close to home.

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, 4(20)!

    • Grosspatzer

      Mornin’. Great tune, I had way too many Sunday mornings like that back in the day.

  1. Count Potato

    Spending on climate change makes no sense.

    • Count Potato

      Look at it this way, if they spend $370B on climate change, that’s the same as burning $370B worth of energy.

      • juris imprudent

        Ehem, federal spending has a multiplier effect!

    • rhywun

      It makes perfect sense when you follow the money.

  2. Ted S.

    So I attended two very different social events yesterday. At both of them, I got into conversations with women of… “a certain age.”

    Pre-bat mitzvah?

  3. Scruffy Nerfherder

    “Dad, as a fresh widower who has a job, a business, and a house, you are hot man-meat on the market.”

    Time to move to the Villages.

    • Grosspatzer

      “Time to move to the Villages.”

      Village People do like their hot man-meat.

  4. Sean

    “hot man-meat.”

    I guess we know what SF will be up to this week.

    • Gender Traitor

      I’d have used the term “catnip” – same idea.

  5. Count Potato

    That they hate Elon so much doesn’t make sense if they honestly believed in climate change, and that electric cars were a large part of the solution.

    • rhywun

      Narrator: They don’t honestly believe in climate change.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They believe in adherence to the one, true faith.

        Heretics are to be shunned.

      • Zwak doesn't know what to ignite and what to extinguish

        This. Worshipping the Mudd God is the true faith, and all deniers must be eliminated. Heretics must be killed.

    • Not an Economist

      Elon doesn’t blindly follow their commands. That is a problem for them.

      • juris imprudent

        He is not of the body.

  6. Ted S.

    the reason my security clearance interview was particularly stringent;

    He never should have been pardoned either.

  7. juris imprudent

    Damn, when did Bela get all old and gray?

  8. Scruffy Nerfherder

    “ According to Daran-Lapujade, there are a lot of similarities between yeast and a human being: ”

    I don’t know if I should feel insulted for myself or the yeast.

    • juris imprudent

      Describing my life is not funny.

  9. Ted S.

    a woman famous for her remarkably annoying voice;

    I love this scene, from a movie filled with great scenes.

  10. Scruffy Nerfherder

    “ For the first time, scientists have created mouse embryos in the lab without using any eggs or sperm and watched them grow outside the womb. To achieve this feat, the researchers used only stem cells and a spinning device filled with shiny glass vials. ”

    Ooooooo… shiny!

    Someone wasn’t paying attention in science class.

  11. Sean

    “And the Faygo spraying continued with boxes of the soda lined up in front of the stage.”

    Do you want ants?

    /Archer

  12. Ted S.

    Meh, my first wife used to do this routinely.

    This should have been Old Guy Music.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    A “himbo” you say.

    Maybe I should get out more.

    Probably not.

  14. Pat

    I recognized several of you in the photos.

    Juggalos seem boringly tame after the last 10 years tbh.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      They only shove hot peppers into their privates, that’s old and busted. Chopping your junk off is the new hotness.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        “I might have made the biggest mistake ever but I’m proud of that.”

        Uh… yeah… okay…

      • Gender Traitor

        Hey, Pat – just FYI, the psycho shooter in the incident w/in 5 miles of my house was finally taken into custody in Kansas. Obviously just hopped onto I-70. More relaxed out here at Tranq Base this morning.

      • Pat

        That’s good news, at least. I was trying to think of an abortion joke or a What’s The Matter With Kansas joke, but I couldn’t land anything.

      • Gender Traitor

        I’d play off Billie Burke’s birthday and make some crack about “not in Kansas anymore,” but I don’t know if he’ll have to be formally extradited.

      • Tres Cool

        I listen to WHIO most of the night at work. (Coast-to-Coast AM is still great)
        Every 30 minutes they have a news update, and kept calling the guy “a person of interest” that police “want to interview” about the shooting. However they closed with “do not approach him because he’s considered armed and dangerous”.

        I kept thinking, “yeah….they’re really going to interview the guy”

      • Grosspatzer

        Good news, tranquility is restored.

    • Nephilium

      There was an epic “Juggalos in the mist” article several years back in the AVClub. The guy who went to the event became a Juggalo afterwards. He was surprised that they managed conflicts, had their own culture, had their own rules, and looked out for each other.

    • DrOtto

      Are the FBI still tracking Juggalos as a gang or have patriots knocked them off the radar?

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Time to move to the Villages.

    And buy a hopped-up golf cart.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Will a small block Chevy fit in an EZ-GO cart? Hmmmm

  16. The Late P Brooks

    While select committee lawmakers had little recourse when Cipollone and others declined to answer questions about their conversations with Trump, legal experts say federal prosecutors have more tools at their disposal and any assertion of executive privilege in a grand jury context would face an uphill battle in the courts.

    “Don’t make us play rough. Sing.”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Stupid

    • rhywun

      Classy. Peak “look at me!”

    • Tres Cool

      “It’s quite embarrassing having a tattoo artist between your legs but it needed to be finished as I want my body suit to be fully complete,” the mom-of-one added.

      She seems nice.

      • Gender Traitor

        Jeeminy criminy! I hadn’t clicked through. It’s a CHICK who got her genitals inked??? That IS insane! Not only do I have no intention of getting ink anywhere on my body, I refuse even to shave down there! (Deal with it guys – grown-ass women grow hair there. I’ll shave my legs all the way up, but I won’t Do That!)

      • Tres Cool

        I’ve managed to make it to this station in my life w/o ink. But if I ever do Im getting a W on either ass-cheek, so when I bend over it says WOW.
        Upside down its MOM.

      • Fourscore

        I always said I would have my stripes tattooed on a particular place so I could pull rank

    • Timeloose

      The illustrative Mam

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Jonathan David Shaub, a law professor at the University of Kentucky and a former attorney with the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, said he believes any assertions of privilege from Trump or Cipollone before the grand jury would be “frivolous” and federal prosecutors would be able to move quickly to force compliance.

    What does he say about banana republic show trials? Did you ask him about that?

  18. Zwak doesn't know what to ignite and what to extinguish

    Hot Man Meat?

    See, this is what you get when you call up a Tomato Tart.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      There’s a lot of tomato tarts in that top photo.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    The bill — named the Inflation Reduction Act — would represent the largest climate investment in US history

    They keep using that word…

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      We’re investing in the Money Hole

      • Grosspatzer

        Glorious.

      • Spudalicious

        What was done there, was noticed.

      • Gender Traitor

        Too hot for the Money FIres at the moment. Give us a few weeks.

    • Gender Traitor

      many of them had no headlights while hiking in the dark

      “But there’s plenty of light from the molten lava!”

  20. The Late P Brooks

    For a party that failed to pass major climate legislation over 10 years ago, the reconciliation bill represents a major, long-fought victory for Democrats.
    The nearly $370 billion clean energy and climate package is the largest climate investment in US history, and the biggest victory for the environmental movement since the landmark Clean Air Act. It also comes at a critical time; this summer has seen punishing heat waves and deadly floods across the country, which scientists say are both linked to a warming planet.
    Analysis from Schumer’s office — as well as multiple independent analyses — suggests the measures would reduce US carbon emissions by up to 40% by 2030. Strong climate regulations from the Biden administration and action from states would be needed to get to Biden’s goal of cutting emissions 50% by 2030.
    The bill also contains many tax incentives meant to bring down the cost of electricity with more renewables, and spur more American consumers to switch to electricity to power their homes and vehicles.
    Lawmakers said the bill represents a monumental victory and is also just the start of what’s needed to combat the climate crisis.
    “This isn’t about the laws of politics, this is about the laws of physics,” Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii told CNN. “We all knew coming into this effort that we had to do what the science tells us what we need to do.”

    Our salvation is at hand.

    • juris imprudent

      Did this act authorize the EPA to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant, or does West Virginia v. EPA still hold?

    • Fourscore

      “we had to do what the science tells us what we need to do.”

      …and now 2 1/2 years later we learn that there was really no science. Government science is akin to free education.

    • rhywun

      bring down the cost of electricity with more renewables

      Pay no attention to the Germany and its tripled electric bills behind the curtain.

      This is such transparent bullshit, I… can’t even. Just shameless.

  21. PieInTheSky

    Ao i scrolled a vit though this twitter account and i did not realize before that the concept of germs is being questioned these days.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/GarretKramer

    • Pat

      Septic shock is just weakness leaving the body.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    To boost revenue, the bill would impose a 15% minimum tax on the income large corporations report to shareholders, known as book income, as opposed to the Internal Revenue Service. The measure, which would raise $258 billion over a decade, would apply to companies with profits over $1 billion.

    That seems fair. What could possibly go wrong?

    • juris imprudent

      Maybe they should have canceled the million or so special tax breaks Congress has created in the past?

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Did this act authorize the EPA to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant, or does West Virginia v. EPA still hold?

    Stop asking silly questions. The planet is dying.

    • juris imprudent

      Congress ain’t got time for that shit.

      • Fourscore

        Add science reform onto the list of governmental changes. May need a little tweeking, in the future, is all

      • juris imprudent

        Stop dumping political money into science, that’s all.

    • Pat

      Like flaming globes, Sigmund!

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Anomalous

    Photographer John Sirlin was in a canyon in the northeast part of Death Valley National Park late Thursday to shoot lightning in an expected thunderstorm.

    Then the lightning petered out and the storm became a nonstop torrential downpour that lasted for hours, bringing near-record rainfall to one of the hottest, driest places on Earth.

    “It seemed serious,” said the 46-year-old from Chandler, Ariz., who also leads storm-chasing workshops. “It was a magnitude of flooding I had not experienced before.”

    More analysis will be needed to determine whether climate change helped drive the storm’s intensity. But its extreme nature is consistent with what can be expected as global temperatures rise, experts said, drawing parallels with the historic flooding that damaged Yellowstone National Park in June.

    The suspense is killing me.

    • juris imprudent

      Weather has never been unusual. Ever.

    • Gender Traitor

      More analysis funding will be needed

  25. Tres Cool

    whaddup doh’
    yo whats goody yo

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, homey! Our fair township is safe from the psycho in the adjacent township! Now we just have to stay out of bars in Cincy.

      • Fourscore

        Township board resigned? That is good news but unfortunately there are always more grifters available. The people have spoken

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Death Valley has averaged about 1.96 inches of precipitation per year since record keeping began in 1911, according to the Western Regional Climate Center. Nearly 75% of that amount fell in the space of a few hours on Friday.

    How much is that in Big Gulps? Give me something I can relate to.

    • rhywun

      Thank God Congress is finally doing something to stop this madness.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Now that Earth has warmed 1 degree Celsius above preindustrial levels, the odds are elevated that when factors known to produce intense storms do align, their effects will be even more extreme, Diffenbaugh said.

    Amen.

  28. westernsloper

    Juggalos in Ohio? Now we know what Neph was doing yesterday.

    • Nephilium

      Nope. Wrong subculture for me.

      I was at the Barnyard Beer Bash, which had some disappointing turn out. 37 different beers being poured, under 100 ticketed guests showing up. Mid 80’s outside with 80%+ humidity caused it to be a bit… swampy. Got to try some new (to me) fruited sours, ran into some old acquaintances in the local beer scene, and acquired some brewery swag.

    • Zwak. And once again, the mall is his Waterloo

      A Fago themed IPA?

  29. The Late P Brooks

    “While it might appear to be paradoxical that we’re getting both extreme hot and dry and extreme wet in the region simultaneously, it’s very consistent with both the baseline climate dynamics of the region and with the multiple ways in which global warming is increasing the odds of extreme events,” he said.

    Look closely at these chicken entrails. Note the relative positions of the heart and liver. Over here, the lungs.

    See? Conclusive proof. The gods are angry. That’ll be two sheep and a jack ass.

  30. The Late P Brooks
    • Gender Traitor

      We may have to redefine “Brooksing” a comment to include the inclusion of … thorough hypertext.

    • MikeS

      And then Bernie said he’d vote against it, right? RIGHT?!

  31. hayeksplosives

    Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

    Last night my dumb-ass spouse decided it’d be a good idea to open the guest bedroom door where “NuKitty” has his food, water, and litter box. So this morning NuKitty is nowhere to be seen. He could be just about anywhere in 2200 sq feet of house.

    Did resident kitty chase him all night? No idea. He’s just nowhere to be seen. I’m not pleased.

    • robodruid

      I am sorry, that is going to be stressful. Hope NuKitty shows up quickly.

    • Gender Traitor

      When Little Black Kitty first came home, he was an only-kitty, so he didn’t have to be isolated. He marched calmly and methodically through the (much smaller) house, then picked out a satisfactory-to-him hidey-hole on a low bookshelf and parked himself contentedly therein. I’d be willing to bet NuKitty has done likewise. (Would you have heard if there had been a chase scene going on?) He’ll come out when he’s hungry.

      • R.J.

        My kitties figured out how to hide in the spaces on the side of the dishwasher. One even hid in the actual gap in the dishwasher door. I only knew because I saw a little arm stick out to bat at some detritus on the floor.

    • rhywun

      He’ll show up eventually.

      When I first got Maggie and Betty, they hid under the stove for four days.

      • hayeksplosives

        Thanks for the encouragement. I do see that he ate some of his kibble.

        I let other kitty (the 2 year old) outside for the morning. Maybe that will help.

    • Pat

      Sounds like kitty is still confined to the house at least? That’s not quite as bad as a full prison break.

      Lost cats have probably taken years off my life. One particularly adventurous little shit had probably a dozen or so escapes over the years, but the two most legendary being during a family vacation. Despite being lectured about not letting the cat into the utility closet at the vacation house we were renting, my mom decided that it couldn’t hurt to let him to look around… he slipped into a gap in the wall, which as it turns out led into the garage and crawlspace, where I found out some rather… interesting things about the guy who owned place. Then over the stucco block wall at the same house, in the middle of the night, whereupon I gave chase, jumping over the wall directly into the neighbor’s beautifully manicured brier patch rose bushes to the apparent amusement of a cherubic looking little Chinese boy who was playing video games on the other side of the window I found myself staring into after I extricated myself from the thorns. Good thing it was California or I probably would have been shot.

      • rhywun

        I had one escape and she came back a couple weeks later pregnant.

        “Coulda sprung for a spaying, mom.”

      • Gender Traitor

        “You’re not for the streets, Priscilla!”

        Isn’t there a country song about that?

      • Gender Traitor

        …where I found out some rather… interesting things about the guy who owned place.

        Did he have …. ummm… “friends” there?

      • Pat

        Damn, that brings back memories. I think I may still have a couple of bootleg episodes of the show from back when the Don Imus kerfuffle was going on.

        Suffice to say it became quite obvious after a cursory investigation that the garage – which was not normally accessible to guests renting the house – was being used as living quarters by at least one graduate of the Abu Ghraib school of interior design with a penchant for what to my non-expert eye appeared to be crack or meth.

    • whiz

      I know your pain, HE. We just introduced a new shelter cat to our house, to replace one who had to be put down. We already have another cat who’s been here for 12 years. We put the new cat in the spare bathroom to acclimate. We then let her out into the bedroom hall to expand her territory. Then the old cat used her paw to open up the pocket door to the rest of the house, and BOOM, new kitty was gone in a flash. We did find her under the living room couch and shooed her back into her bathroom.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    He pointed to the lower standard of living many younger people know expect compared to their parents’ generation, the daunting cost of housing for people starting out in the work world and the stagnation of wages.

    “This legislation does not address any of their needs,” Sanders said. “This legislation does not address the reality that we have more income and wealth inequality today than at any time in the last hundred years.”

    He complained the bill doesn’t address the fact that CEOs of major corporations make 350 times as much as their workers, or do more to improve a health care system

    Confiscatory taxation worked for Eisenhower!

    • juris imprudent

      I’d consider the taxation we had under Ike, if we could get the same healthcare system again.

  33. robodruid

    Soooooo

    I am thinking.

    With the money printing press going brrrrr…..
    Where does one “stove value”?
    It seems that precious metals prices are always stable in an inflationary market. Looks manipulated to me.

    • Gender Traitor

      I haven’t been following silver prices closely lately, but my limited understanding includes the fact that at least Big Bank Player routinely slams the spot price if it starts to get uncomfortably (for them) high. Even so, precious metals appeal to me, mainly because they have a long history.

    • Sean

      Guns. Good, all metal hanguns.

      Classic Sigs, classic S&W, etc.

      Get your AR yet?

      • robodruid

        I did. S&W brand.
        I’m happy with it.

      • Sean

  34. The Late P Brooks

    So this morning NuKitty is nowhere to be seen.

    Cats are masters at hide and seek.

  35. Grummun

    Legend Valley is just up the road from me. It’s on Ohio SR-13 right at the interchange with I-70. The venue is south of the freeway, but some of the parking is north, so sometimes you see some … interesting sartorial choices on the kiddies walking along 13.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    He also noted the bill “as currently written does nothing” to address the nation’s rate of childhood poverty, a pointed reference to Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) opposition to including an extension of the expanded child tax credit — which expired at the end of last year — in the bill.

    He said the bill also fails to address the nation’s affordable housing crisis.

    “Yep, you guessed it. This bill does nothing to address the major housing crisis that we face or build one unit of safe and affordable housing. Just another issue that we push aside,” he grumbled.

    Save us, Comrade Sanders.

    • juris imprudent

      There’s only one thing Sanders is truly good at – running his mouth.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    We may have to redefine “Brooksing” a comment to include the inclusion of … thorough hypertext.

    Say what you will about the sloppy tagging… at least the links (mostly) work.

    • Gender Traitor

      …and they’re hard to miss with your cursor. 😉

      • Pat

        The real meta is to make each individual character in the entire post a separate link to the same URL.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    News blackout

    [Anecdotal examples of Republicans being mean]

    As standalone anecdotes, these might not be a huge deal. However, they are also a part of a trend of Republican candidates ignoring or actively avoiding legacy media — particularly national outlets.

    The phenomenon is impossible to quantify, but many Republican candidates are showing that they don’t want – or need – to get their messages out via legacy media outlets. That can reduce the scrutiny they face while running for public office, hampering voters’ ability to make informed choices.

    *guffaws, slaps knee*

    • rhywun

      Peak lack of self-awareness.

    • Grumbletarian

      Republicans wanting nothin to do with a press corps that will only write hit pieces on them anyway is long overdue.

      • hayeksplosives

        They should give the finger to “neutral” debate moderates too.

  39. Brawndo

    Anyone watching the Netflix adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman? I’m about halfway through the season and liking it so far. It’s been a long time since I read the comics so I can’t recall if there’s supposed to be this many gay characters. The pacing seems off at points. The protagonist doesn’t get hardly any development until the 2nd episode or so, but then later the pacing seems too fast in that there is some world building or pre existing relationships that I wish got more explanation.

    Despite that, the story is compelling enough for me to keep watching at least

    • Nephilium

      I finished it yesterday. There were quite a few trans, gay, lesbian, and non-binary characters (to be fair, most of the non-binary characters were angels, demons, and the Endless). First season of the show went through the first two graphic novels. Overall, I enjoyed it, and thought it was a faithful adaptation. I dislike some of the casting choices, Despair and Matthew stood out the most as not really fitting for me. Matthew I may come around on if they change his origin.

      I’m not sure why they left the first couple of episodes the gathering of the equipment again, and half keeping in the DC comics lore hints.

      • Brawndo

        Patton Oswalt is grating to me. It didn’t make sense for Dream to be explaining so much world building for the viewers benefit to him when he clearly doesn’t appreciate his company. I do like the casting choice for Dream though. He pulls off the emaciated goth look but still has a powerful voice.

      • Nephilium

        Been a while since I read the comics, but I believe they brought Matthew’s character forward several volumes to allow for exposition. Most of the worldbuilding in the comics was in notes, thoughts, and the like, which would be difficult to do in a show.

      • Brawndo

        I’ve only finished the diner episode. Maybe everyone in Buffalo Is just gay?

      • Nephilium

        There’s also the question of how much of that was due to John Dee’s influence.

        I’m mildly entertained that in the Sandman world, Gotham is apparently Buffalo. The character of John Dee in the comics was a supervillain named Dr. Destiny, and was locked up in Arkham.

      • Brawndo

        I don’t know if I’d call it influence. If the ruby makes dreams and nightmares come true, it’s implied that Garry and Bette have dreamed of being gay/bi.

        I remember reading a Lucifer graphic novel that was a spin off from the Lucifer depicted in Sandman. But didn’t someone already make a Lucifer TV adaptation? If they decided to make one later, I’m not sure if that actress they chose could carry the role. Not charismatic enough.

      • Nephilium

        The dreamstone let John control them as well, which is why they weren’t able to leave. And there was already a Lucifer adaptation “based” on the comics. Lucifer helps the local police, once I heard that description, I noped the hell out of it.

      • Brawndo

        Helps them do what? Flash bang a baby in it’s crib?

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Recently, the Florida GOP allowed conservative outlets into the party’s Sunshine Summit, but barred many mainstream reporters, including Dave Weigel, author of the Washington Post’s campaign newsletter, “The Trailer.”

    “You have one person from the campaign tweeting a photo from inside the room and talking about how great the view is that the journalists can’t see,” he said. “Spokespeople who are not answering my basic questions, like, ‘Is there a recording of this event?’ are taking the time to make fun of reporters for going there.”

    Indeed, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ spokeswoman Christina Pushaw taunted reporters on Twitter afterward.

    “It has come to my attention that some liberal media activists are mad because they aren’t allowed into #SunshineSummit this weekend,” she wrote. “My message to them is to try crying about it.”

    C’mon, Weigel. Just tell them you’re buddies with those fire breathing libertarians at Reason. That should get you in.

    • Pat

      Interesting to see them rushing to the defense of Weigel after he was unpersoned.

      • Gender Traitor

        Ah, but now he’s the tragic victim of Evul Rethuglicans, so all is forgiven.

      • westernsloper

        Ha! Ya, that was a funny joke though.

  41. Count Potato

    “Tragic family history of Anne Heche: Her father raped her as a kid and then died of AIDS triggering her brother to commit suicide by driving into tree – before her sister died of cancer… and her mother says she’s going to hell for being a lesbian”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11088315/Anne-Heches-father-raped-brother-committed-suicide-mom-disowned-her.html

    *takes notes*

    “EXCLUSIVE: Anne Heche’s son, 20, is comforted by two female friends at his LA home as his mother recovers in hospital from horrific burns in fiery car crash”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11088691/Anne-Heches-son-Homer-Laffoon-spends-day-two-pretty-girls.html

    Classy.

    • rhywun

      Impression I got from a different article is maybe she made up the rape allegations. She “doesn’t remember” it happening, the mom vehemently denies it, etc. Who knows.

    • Pat

      No accounting for taste I guess, but you’d think the kid could afford a better class of call girl. Yikes.

      • Tres Cool

        Ukrainian refugees.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    The relationship between conservatives and mainstream press has been fraying for a long time

    It’s baffling. Inexplicable.

  43. Don escaped Texas

    Nick Gillespie got on my nerves ten years ago, but now he just seems like a slightly weird but welcome neighbor. And, compared to the fellow travelers I’ve acquired in the widest of libertarian circles, he seems close to right, curious, and decent, and therefore oddly reasonable.

    • Pat

      Everything else has moved so far into the twilight zone since the orange holocaust that Gillespie, merely by maintaining the same level of inane moderate-left quirkiness, seems sane by comparison.

      • Don escaped Texas

        I’m probably comparing him to Welch, whose beta vibes are a complete turnoff: he seems the salaryman-on-leash, a little bitch and whiner, subjecting his family to a garbage environment, government, and school system, and completely forgetting where he left his testicles so he can’t do the simplest thing like, oh, I don’t know, move somewhere reasonable and get on with his life. And of course he dodges the gun issue, the less said the better.

        Most libertarians are at least independent and busy…or fighting or trying….or a bit ashamed and casting about to get going again. Welch doesn’t seem to have any of those gears.

      • Pat

        he seems the salaryman-on-leash, a little bitch and whiner, subjecting his family to a garbage environment, government, and school system, and completely forgetting where he left his testicles so he can’t do the simplest thing like, oh, I don’t know, move somewhere reasonable and get on with his life.

        Often effete, rarely effective. To be fair, the same could be said for a lot of libertarianism’s intellectual fathers. Welch just doesn’t make up for it by actually being an intellectual. It’s like the old Carl Sagan quip: The fact that geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all of those who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Christopher Columbus, they laughed at the Wright brothers, but they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.

      • Tres Cool

        I wonder if, after all the shit he caught, Robbie ever learned how to change a tire on his (or xer) own.

      • DEG

        I offered to teach him at FreedomFest 2021.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    Which leads to one more factor contributing to hostility toward reporters: Donald Trump, who infamously called the press “the enemy of the people.”

    And now, that hostility is an overt part of other Republicans’ identities.

    “In the old days, your assumption would be, if a national newspaper is putting a negative story out there, we have to engage with it because we’ve got to get our side of the story in and make sure it’s not a one-sided deal,” said Jennings. “Now, I think it’s actually different in that you might engage, but you might also make the determination that if you’re a Republican, well, if The New York Times runs a hit piece on me, that’s a badge of honor.”

    Mainstream news also doesn’t have the broad reach it once did. If, say, the national evening news is losing eyes and ears to right-wing outlets, there’s less reason for candidates to respond.

    “Mainstream news also doesn’t have the broad reach it once did.”

    No one knows why. It must be all those illiterate hillbillies out there in godforsaken Flyoverlandia.

  45. KK the Ignorant Slut

    Everyone said RV fridges aren’t very effective. Meanwhile, my 1/2 gallon of half & half is slushy.

    • Pat

      my 1/2 gallon of half & half is slushy

      That’s why it’s called half & half. Half of the gallon is slushy, and the other half isn’t.

    • DrOtto

      That isn’t slush, it’s curdling.

    • Grummun

      1/2 gallon

      Jeebus woman, how much do you go through?

      • KK the Ignorant Slut

        Hell’s bells – it lasts for 2+ months, man! It’s way cheaper to buy the larger size of just about any product

  46. The Late P Brooks

    And those kinds of questions are important to ask, says Khadijah Costley White, a professor of media studies at Rutgers University. Rather than scrambling for access to events, she said, reporters need to think harder — in an atmosphere of constant disinformation — about what access will achieve.

    “Is it important to have voices regardless of what they say, regardless of whether or not they’re using that opportunity as a way to distribute disinformation or misinformation?” she asked. “Is that valuable to democracy?”

    The very admission that voters might have a substantive policy and philosophical choice is enough to destroy DEMOCRACY!

  47. Pat

    This was pretty good:

    Meghan Markle and the aristocracy of victimhood

    Something extraordinary is happening in a Florida courtroom right now: Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, seems to be trying to redefine reality itself. She is being sued by her estranged half-sister Samantha Markle for defamation. One of Samantha’s claims is that Meghan was fibbing when she told Oprah Winfrey in that volcanic interview last year that she ‘grew up as an only child’. What about me, and your half-brother, Thomas Jr, Samantha is asking? Do we not exist?

    The response of Meghan’s legal team to the ‘only child’ controversy has been astonishing. Meghan’s comment ‘was obviously not meant to be a statement of objective fact that she had no genetic siblings or half-siblings’, her lawyers say. Rather, it was a ‘textbook example of a subjective statement of how a person feels about their childhood’ (my emphasis). In short, Meghan’s feelings trump pesky facts. Meghan’s ‘truth’ – that she grew up all alone – takes precedence over the truth: namely, that she had a half-sister and a half-brother. Actual siblings. Real living and breathing kin.

    […]

    That Meghan seems to be reimagining her life as a victimised one is not surprising. Victimhood is the most prized cultural asset in the new aristocracy of celebrities, influencers and activists. Having experienced suffering – especially of the racist variety – grants one access to the global media stage to tell the world one’s truth. Incongruously, pain is power; claims of adversity are the most important moral currency for the new elites. This is why Harry and Meghan seem to devote so much time to searching for proof of racial animus against them. So when a UKIP dimwit made racist remarks about the couple on Instagram, ‘that single post would be repeatedly cited by the couple to suggest “palace officials were overwhelmed by threats made from multiple sources”’, says Bower. In fact, replied palace officials, we are ‘overwhelmed by demands from Harry and Meghan to remove any criticism [from social media], rather than a few threats’ (my emphasis).

    So what’s the truth? Are Harry and Meghan victims of a ‘monster machine’ of racial hatred, as they have described it, or are they exaggerating the problem in order to enjoy greater cultural clout in the Black Lives Matter era? Is it true that they were overwhelmed by racist threats, or is it true that they overwhelmed the palace with demands to take down critical commentary? Is it true that Hillary Clinton responded to 11-year-old Meghan’s letter, or isn’t it? Is it true that Meghan was in LA during the riots, or isn’t it? Did Meghan get married three days before the wedding, or didn’t she? Does truth matter?

    • hayeksplosives

      Very well stated.

      Markle has completely lost the plot and believes she has a future in US and world politics.

      • hayeksplosives

        Just like Gerald Bull.

        (Fun fact: Years before his “suicide”, Bull tried recruiting one of my former colleagues in Minnesota to join him on Project Babylon.)

  48. DrOtto

    I recognize James Hunt on the cover photo, who’s the old guy next to him?

    • Don escaped Texas

      I would bet on Roman Polanski and Barbi Benton

  49. The Late P Brooks

    Peak Criminologist

    “Anytime you have a body in a barrel, clearly there was somebody else involved,” he said.

    *outright prolonged laughter*

    • Pat

      Anytime you have a body in a barrel, clearly there was somebody else involved

      Unless they were Clinton associates, of course.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Obvious suicide

      • hayeksplosives

        Huh. My comment disappeared.

        What I tried to say in response to “obvious suicide” was “Just like Gerald Bull.”

        And: fun fact Gerald Bull tried—unsuccessfully—to recruit a former colleague of mine in Minnesota to help him on Project Babylon.

    • Nephilium

      /starts writing a series of sealed barrel mysteries

  50. Count Potato

    “I’m not just pulling the term “fascism” out of my ass. Fascism and fatphobia are directly linked because fat people are seen as weak inferior members of society that need to be eradicated. I’m not saying every fatphobic person is fascist, but they absolutely are linked.”

    https://twitter.com/mrbeardofficial/status/1556023724238729216

    • Tres Cool

      /adds “fatcism” to urban dictionary

    • Nephilium

      The overuse of -phobic/-phobia and the like irritates me. I’m not afraid of fat people, I’m afraid of becoming a fatter person.

  51. Grumbletarian

    Daily Quordle 195
    2️⃣9️⃣
    5️⃣6️⃣

    • JG43

      Daily Quordle 195
      5️⃣8️⃣
      4️⃣2️⃣
      quordle.com

    • whiz

      Daily Quordle 195
      3️⃣6️⃣
      5️⃣4️⃣

    • Grosspatzer

      Daily Quordle 195
      7️⃣4️⃣
      8️⃣6️⃣
      quordle.com

    • rhywun

      Randi lives on another planet. She needs to unleash the voices in her head to stay somewhat grounded.

  52. R C Dean

    “Soros is a Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust.”

    Indeed he did. What is interesting is how he did so.

    • hayeksplosives

      No shit!

      How do people like Soros still walk among us? Is hell too full to take him?

    • DrOtto

      He had that plucky “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” attitude.

  53. DEG

    You haven’t lived until you hear your daughter call you “hot man-meat.”

    Beautiful.

    Bluegrass for Old Guy Music. Excellent.

  54. hayeksplosives

    Todays random bit of human prehistory: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucuteni–Trypillia_culture

    The Neolithic Eastern European culture called the Cucuteri-Trypillia culture. Very cool.

    I learned about them from “The Horse, the Wheel, and Language.”

    These are Pie’s people.