Wednesday Afternoon SugarLinks – Dry your eyes, you poor devil

by | Aug 24, 2022 | Daily Links | 307 comments

Biden cancels up to $20K in student loans for Pell Grant recipients, $10K for millions of others

The Biden administration is cancelling up to $20,000 in student debt for Pell Grant recipients, up to $10,000 for individual borrowers who make under $125,000 per year and extending the pause on repayments by four months, the White House announced on Wednesday.

Why it matters: The decision — which comes days before the Aug. 31 deadline, when loan repayments were set to resume after a series of pandemic pauses—is expected to alleviate some of the debt burdens of 43 million Americans while also fulfilling a key campaign promise.

Driving the news: Approximately 20 million Americans could have their debt completely cancelled under Biden’s announcement.

The debt forgiveness for Pell recipients is in addition to the cancellation of up to $10,000 in student debt for other borrowers.

Critically, the Biden administration is taking steps to make the student loan system more manageable for future borrowers.

It will cut monthly payments in half for future borrowers taking out undergraduate loans and hold schools accountable when they hike prices, according to congressional guidance reviewed by Axios.

The $10,000 in debt relief also applies to households that earn $250,000 a year or less.

Hey, responsible people… GO FUCK YOURSELF. You paid off you student loan? SUCKER! Now pay off everyone else’s as well. Joe is buying votes with your money, votes he didn’t have to pay for in the first place. And those academics that hate you so much? Why, they’re laughing their fucking fat asses off at you.

More go fuck yourself:


 


 

Women Are Warning Each Other That Brock Turner Is Out and About in Ohio

Brock Turner, the former Stanford student who was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in 2016, seems to be leading a fairly average life for a 27-year-old Ohio resident. He’s gainfully employed, appears to maintain a home in Dayton, and according to social media posts, enjoys an active social life. However, those posts aren’t innocent accounts of a night out. They’re warnings that are currently reverberating even beyond the state Turner has lived in since he was released from prison.

“Brock Turner has apparently moved back to OH, specifically the Kettering/Oakwood area & has been frequenting local bars,” reads a Facebook post from Casey Laroo, who does not live in Ohio but received the information from a friend who does, and did some Googling to confirm whether how likely it was. “If you see him out, inform the bartenders who he is, inform the women in the bar who he is, do not let anyone intoxicated walk away with him alone.”

“The criminal justice system has proven that crimes against women don’t matter, therefore we don’t matter,” Laroo wrote. “Women are forced to stick together and help each other out because if we don’t do it, no one else will.”

Her post has been shared over 18,000 times and amassed over a thousand comments, but Laroo isn’t the only woman sounding the alarm about Turner’s whereabouts in the Dayton area. Vice reported on scores of similarly worded disclaimers emerging on Facebook and TikTok.

“He has allegedly been stopped from leaving bars…with heavily intoxicated young ladies. He is also [allegedly living] 10 minutes from [University of Dayton] student housing,” reads another Facebook post, “so UD ladies you especially need to stay vigilant especially since we know has assaulted college aged women before and he views intoxication and loss of consciousness as an invitation for sexual assault.”

I’m pretty OK with this sort of shunning. By the way, referring to the last post, one of Brock Turner’s defenses was that he wasn’t attempting to rape his victim, but only attempting to have “outercourse” with her. “I didn’t mean to rape her, I was just going to frottage her unconscious body as it lay behind that dumpster.” You’re a prince, Brock.


 

“With GAWD as my witness, I will shit myself on the floor of Congress again!”


 

Artist: Wilco
Song: “She’s A Jar”
Album: Summerteeth (1999)

She’s a jar
With a heavy lid
My pop quiz kid
A sleepy kisser
A pretty war
With feelings hid
She begs me not to miss her

She says forever
To light a fuse
We could use
A hand full of wheel
And a day off
On a bruised road
However you might feel
Tonight is real
When I forget how to talk I sing
Won’t you please
Bring that flash to shine
And turn my eyes red
Unless they close
When you click
And my face gets sick
Stuck
Like a question unposed

Just climb aboard
The tracks of a train’s arm
In my fragile family tree
And watch me floating inches above
The people underneath

Please beware the quiet front yard
I warned you
Before there were water skies
I warned you not to drive
Dry your eyes, you poor devil

Are there really ones like these
The ones I dream
Float like leaves
And freeze to spread skeleton wings
I passed through before I knew you
I believe it’s just because
Daddy’s payday is not enough
Oh, I believe it’s all because
Daddy’s payday is not enough

Just climb aboard
The tracks of a train’s arm
In my fragile family tree
And watch me floating inches above
The people under me

She’s a jar
With a heavy lid
My pop quiz kid
A sleepy kisser
A pretty war
With feelings hid
You know she begs me not to hit her

About The Author

SugarFree

SugarFree

Your Resident Narcissistic Misogynist Rape-Culture Apologist

307 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    ” “Is it fair to people who in fact do not own multi-billion dollar businesses? See how these guys give them all a tax break. Is that fair? What do you think?””

    CWAA

    • Sean

      Seems legit. Biden is only a multi-multi-millionaire, right?

    • The Other Kevin

      Funny, there’s all this trash talk about billionaires, but most of the billionaires I know about are the WEF crowd. No way anyone in the US government is “going after” those guys. Unless it’s to give them another fat check.

    • Plisade

      No matter how many times I read that quote I still don’t understand his point. I can’t make sense of it at all. What “people”, who are “these guys” and “them”? Despite that, agreed on the CWAA.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Is it fair, that congress creates tax laws while I only get to waive my hand and cancel student debt?

      • SugarFree

        The talking point that has gone out is that bailing out the banks means that no one can object to student loan debt forgiveness.

        Because everyone that doesn’t have a student loan is a high-flying investment banker.

      • The Other Kevin

        Are these loans from the federal government, or from banks? Because if they are from banks, they’re bailing out the banks again.

      • R C Dean

        They’re guaranteed, or just owned, by the government.

      • Stillhunter

        I don’t know details, but my loans were taken over back then and just this year were transferred from fedloan to something called Nelnet.

      • kinnath

        Under Obamacare, the Feds took over the Student Loan Program. They did this so that the “profits” from the Student Loan program would offset the “costs” of Obamacare to satisfy the rules for avoiding CBO oversight. To the best of my recollection.

      • Count Potato

        That’s some instapot accounting.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Interesting. Last I checked, it takes a college degree to become an investment banker. In fact, I’m pretty sure that almost every single banking and financial executive in the country has one.

      • SugarFree

        Dude. I can translate from moron but I can’t make it make sense.

      • Fatty Bolger

        True. Though we appreciate you for somehow making it entertaining.

      • Plisade

        Yikes.

      • SDF-7

        Oh, because everyone was just peachy keen hunky dory about the bank, auto manufacturer, etc. bailouts… *cough* Tea Party! *cough*

        Not that I think it is relevant… but that’s a pretty crappy talking point anyway.

        And my favorite talking point I saw today was that they’re claiming they can do this because of some post-9/11 bill that talked about student loan modification in “time of war or national emergency” (presumably to either help NYC college students disrupted in the attack or ones that went into the Guard or something). And of course, they’re saying COVID == “national emergency!”. Assholes.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      I can’t wait for his answer on how this reconciles with the Inflation Reduction Act.

      • Chafed

        Narrator: It doesn’t.

      • Not an Economist

        You know that incredible Inflation Reduction Act debt reduction which will absolutely happen because reasons? Well that is gone.

    • rhywun

      He really is a gigantic asshole, isn’t he? Like not just in the conventional sense, but like world-historical levels of douchebaggery.

      • Pope Jimbo

        It is too bad he isn’t lucid enough to realize how badly his administration is/will be viewed by people.

      • Chafed

        So the question with moderates is which motivates you more, Roe being rescinded or Biden shitting on you?

  2. Nephilium

    I’m so glad that since I didn’t go to college I apparently have a multi-million dollar business.

    /looks around for a banana stand

    • The Other Kevin

      That’s multi-BILLION. What kind of riff-raff do you think we allow here? /adjusts monocle

    • Tonio

      Don’t worry, big guy, you’ll be a millionaire before this regime ends. Why, I’ll have to push over a wheelbarrow full of Zimbabwean dollars near-worthless greenbacks, just to buy the speckliest ‘nanner from your half-price basket. [money-printing machine whirs portentously in background]

    • Pat

      There’s always money IN THE BANANA STAND!

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        John Cena was due to visit my local supermarket the other day to promote a hooch that he and Sarah Jessica Parker endorse. I honestly was more intrigued at first, thinking of Michael Cera.

      • Penguin

        You’re thinking of Buster. He went to that school to not be seen.

      • Pat

        Buster so excelled at being neither seen nor heard that he remained at the school undetected for a full semester after graduation.

  3. Count Potato

    “I’m pretty OK with this sort of shunning.”

    Who knows what really happened?

    • C. Anacreon

      A friend of mine was involved with Turner’s defense case. Per his perspective, the public perception of what happened and what actually happened were incredibly different. The kid wasn’t blameless, but he also wasn’t a modern day Jack the Ripper. My friend thought the sentence was appropriate given the facts, but the mob will never be appeased,and this guy will be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his days, no doubt. As will the judge who gave the “light” sentence, then as a result losing his bench, and is still harassed regularly, including being prevented from coaching his granddaughter’s sports team by still-angry folks from miles away.

      • Count Potato

        Yet, those same people will say we live in a “rape culture”.

      • Homple

        Turner is a white guy with a WASP-sounding name involved in a much publicized trial. Hence the shunning.

  4. Rebel Scum

    You paid off you student loan? SUCKER!

    That’s right losers!

    But seriously I see no reason to take advantage of a policy even if I disagree with it.

    • SugarFree

      I would too. But the smugness of the laptop class makes me want to see them drowning in debt forever.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        *sobs into laptop keys*

        Seriously though, I have to work with those people, and I couldn’t agree more.

      • Bob Boberson

        Sir, might I press you for an anecdote?

      • Tonio

        There will be no frotting on the links.

      • R.J.

        *sighs
        *walks away

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

        Frots away, RJ.

        Frots. Like a horse.

      • Plisade

        +1 Lesser of 2 Weevils

      • grrizzly

        I’ve never had student loans. But I have a mortgage. Can it be reduced by $10k?

      • Sean

        That would probably erase all of my non mortgage debts.

      • EvilSheldon

        You’re a lot nicer than I am.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        “But my education benefits society therefore society should pay. Sure, 99.9% of the benefit is to me personally, but society should still pay! Oh, would you like whipped cream on that?”

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Is that like trickle down economics?

      • Bob Boberson

        I’ve no doubt that exact argument is being offered sincerely on twitter at this very moment.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        Well, for some values of “sincerely,” I guess.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Where do you think I got the idea from?

    • Rebel Scum

      *not to take advantage…

      As in I will continue not paying until I have to and will accept the $10k.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      A few years ago I was grousing to my mom that I wish I had my tuition back to spend differently (travel? down payment?). Wiseacre that she can be, she replied, “I don’t think they’ll give it to you.”

      Give me back half of it and I will accept an AA?

      • Ted S.

        I will accept an AA?

        So you were going to spend the money on booze?

      • Rat on a train

        I would trade my degree for half what it cost. I have “or X years experience” now.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I told the story about Altar Boy and his buddies sitting around my house bullshitting before. 4 of them were talking about how great loan foregiveness would be. Then their other buddy – who is a mechanic – asked why he should pay for their fun at college.

      It actually made the others think about it. Even better, the mechanic already had a nice car and a nice apartment. Since all the others had (or would have) technical degrees, they will probably catch up economically with the mechanic. But not anytime soon.

  5. Pat

    On paper I should like Wilco, but I don’t.

    • Tonio

      Roger.

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

        And he’s out.

      • Sensei

        Over.

        What’s our vector Victor?

      • Ted S.

        Do you like gladiator movies?

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      So for you it’s Wontco?

    • MikeS

      That’s me and Rush.

      • Pat

        That’s also me and Rush. The music is good. They’ve got some libertarian-ish lyrics (although they’ve distanced themselves from them). But fuck me, 30 seconds of Geddy Lee’s feline mating call and I’m out.

      • MikeS

        ☝🏻

    • Cowboy

      Im not a big Wilco fan, but I have a soft spot for Sky Blue Sky.

    • Tundra

      On paper, I shouldn’t. But I love their first handful of records.

  6. The Other Kevin

    As expected, I talked to my forever-Democrat mom, and she’s excited that my two sisters, one with a masters in nursing and one with a doctorate in nursing, are getting some of their loans paid off. No word from my brother, who like me did not take out loans. (Spoiler alert, he will be pissed). Most of the people I know who would qualify are making more money than I am.

    • Spartacus

      If they have graduate degrees in nursing they may not be under the 125K cap.

    • rhywun

      Did I read correctly that this is only a one-time gift?

      And, therefore, an even more obvious ploy to buy votes than it would have been otherwise?

      • SugarFree

        **Did I read correctly that this is only a one-time gift?**

        Well, until they need to bribe them again, of course.

      • The Other Kevin

        Don’t forget about the toothless “reforms”!

      • Pope Jimbo

        It is also nice that they extended the moratorium on repayments until just after the election.

      • Chafed

        A mere coincidence.

  7. Rebel Scum

    A potent war measure to be sure.

    In July, members of the Ukrainian parliament decided to increase their salaries by 70 percent. It is unclear whether these additional government expenditures will be covered by international financial aid for the military.

    On July 21, members of the Ukrainian parliament decided to increase their salaries by 70 percent raise. After the bill for this decision had only been submitted on July 18, the parliamentarians were able to carry out the vote unusually quickly, reported the Overton magazine. According to the magazine, this decision, which was unanimously approved by all the remaining parties, would have been possible so quickly in the absence of a lack of opposition.

    • grrizzly

      You and I are paying their (now increased) salaries.

    • The Other Kevin

      I’m sure we’re paying for that. Wasn’t one of the most recent payments for “support” or something vague like that?

      • ron73440

        I believe it was to help with “budget shortfalls” or similar.

    • Pat

      Man, remember when the left had websites with daily body counts and a debt clock for Iraq?

      • Nephilium

        Look Pat, people have MovedOn from that.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Back when they were opposed to TLAs

    • rhywun

      And because it’s Ukraine, they can openly and shamelessly talk about the graft. What are we gonna do, stop paying for it?

  8. UnCivilServant

    Evening, Glibs.

    I hate all day meetings. Even if lunch is provided.

    • Gender Traitor

      When lunch is provided, that means you get no break at all.

      • UnCivilServant

        I didn’t even get to go back to my desk and browse Glibs.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Non smoker here. I take smoke breaks.

      • rhywun

        ding ding ding

        “No, I just want to get away from you people for a few minutes!”

      • Pat

        Just say you need to go dilate and you’ll never be questioned about it again.

    • Spartacus

      The best part of not being dean anymore is that my calendar is gloriously empty.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m the only one left 🙁 My new supervisor doesn’t even give 25% of his time to the group, my direct reports are still being trained on the technology, and I have no peers in the infrastructure side of things.

      • Pat

        Well, we’ve always considered you peerless around here.

  9. Count Potato

    “Black pastor is set to file a discrimination lawsuit against the police after he was handcuffed for watering his neighbor’s flowers while they were out of town – despite a white woman stepping in and coming to his defense.

    Pastor Michael Jennings was arrested in May outside his neighbor’s yard in Childersburg, Alabama, after police received a complaint about a strange man and vehicle on the property.

    Jennings, who was seen in the clip watering the flowers with a hose, had just returned from Sunday service. He told police his long-term neighbor asked him to look after his shrubbery while he was out of town.

    But despite his good intentions and other residents vouching for him, Jennings was taken to jail and later charged with obstruction of government operation.

    After insisting that he was just calmly gardening in the front yard, police asked Jennings: ‘How do we know that’s the truth?’

    The baffled pastor, who lives in the house across the street, responded: ‘I had the water hose in my hand! I was watering the flowers.'”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11141851/Black-pastor-files-lawsuit-handcuffed-watering-neighbors-flowers.html

    • Grosspatzer

      ‘I had the water hose in my hand! I was watering the flowers.’

      These euphemisms… No wonder he got arrested, he’s lucky he wasn’t hung.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        They said you was hung.

      • Gender Traitor

        These euphemisms…he’s lucky he wasn’t hung.

        ::summons all her strength to resist making obvious joke::

      • SDF-7

        Too much to tackle there, GT?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Sounds like a cock and bull story to me.

      • Tres Cool

        “and they was right!”

    • EvilSheldon

      If the Left confined their whining about ‘structural racism’ to rural southern law enforcement, I’d be right there with ’em.

    • CPRM

      Did he have proper license to use that hose? Was the serial number clearly visible of was it a dangerous Ghost Hose?

  10. Lackadaisical

    Is it wrong that I wanted nadler to win? He had 2 good votes like 30 years ago.

    • MikeS

      Did you want Nadler to win or Maloney to lose?

    • Old Man With Candy

      Yes. Yes, it is.

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

      We all know who swims in the shart infested waters of congress.

    • Sean

      “Antifa is just an idea. It’s not real.”

    • Lackadaisical

      Now I feel bad. Thanks, maybe they’ll both lose of there is some sort of miracle.

      • rhywun

        You should feel bad. Nadler is one of the worst creatures of the lot of them.

        And no, there won’t be a miracle arriving from the other side.

  11. Warty

    Fuck it, money is fake and has been for generations. Give more away, cancel taxes, fuck it, who gives a shit, make it more fake. I have a fixed-rate mortgage, I’m invincible to hyperinflation.

    • Nephilium

      Just wait until the government redefines fixed-rate mortgages…

      • Rat on a train

        The bigger risk is the government will redefine 401k, annuities and the like.

      • rhywun

        That’s one day to cause the massive die-off they seem to be looking for.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Once the automatic enrollments become mandatory contribution amounts, that won’t matter.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      *insert “To the moon” meme here along with glittery bitcoin gifs*

  12. The Other Kevin

    It seems the theme of the Biden administration is “Rob from the poor, give to the rich”. But any Robin Hood that shows up will end up arrested for domestic terrorism.

    • EvilSheldon

      Check that address on a map. That’s a fairly nice part of town. DC has that problem, same as Baltimore.

      Also, this is the first time I’ve heard the term ‘open-air drug market’ since the 90’s…

      • rhywun

        You don’t live in a big city, do you. The “open-air drug market” has made a big comeback since woke, pro-crime DAs were elected in most of them.

      • R.J.

        So does that mean I can go there and get discount blood pressure medicine and penicillin? Cool!

      • Chafed

        The Wire taught us Hamsterdam is the solution.

    • Rat on a train

      Would you prefer they were stabbed?

    • Timeloose

      So you could defeat your range anxiety while eating a Walker Breakfast Ranger

      • Sensei

        I don’t really worry about range for most uses. And since they added an actual charger at Gettysburg proper it adds flexibility.

        There is also public parking in Gettysburg that has low speed AC charging so if we stay overnight it adds even more options.

        That said I’m happy we have an ICE SUV for real road trips.

  13. Old Man With Candy

    If I had taken out student loans, I wouldn’t have had to spend my college years playing in a band and getting lots of drugs and girls.

    • Animal

      If I had taken out student loans, I wouldn’t have had to been lukcy enough to spend my college years playing in a band and getting lots of drugs and girls.

      Fixed.

      • Animal

        And I typo-ed. Edit fairy?

    • Rat on a train

      I could have started at 18 instead of 22.

  14. Pat

    Crist just had his basket of deplorables moment

    Charlie Crist, the Democratic nominee for Florida governor, made an odd request of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) voters this week, telling them that instead of flipping their vote, they should just stick with DeSantis.

    Speaking to reports this week, Crist said he had no interest in wooing DeSantis supporters, accusing them of having “hate” in their hearts.

    “Those who support the governor should stay with him and vote for him. I don’t want your vote. If you have that hate in your heart, keep it there,” Crist said.

    Crist previously served as Florida’s governor from 2007-2011, and despite his words about DeSantis voters, he said he wants Floridians to “unify” around his ticket.

    “I want the vote of the people of Florida who care about our state. Good Democrats. Good Independents. Good Republicans. Unify with this ticket,” he said.

    Also am I wrong, or is Crist looking like a dehydrated Art Alexakis? I hadn’t seen a picture of him since the last time he was governor of Florida.

    • B.P.

      I assume “having hate in your heart” is defined as disagreeing with Charlie Crist.

      • WTF

        Failing to completely kow-tow to the far left woke agenda is hate.

    • Grosspatzer

      Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a new definition for the acronym CWAA.

    • Penguin

      1) As a Florida voter, I have ‘hate’ in my heart for Crist. My days of not liking that greasy fuck are definitely coming to a middle.

      2) He may well be a desiccated Alexakis. He’s certainly telling people everything will be wonderful again.

      He’s always been a less smooth Gavin Newsome, fooling those who want to be fooled or else working in a good environment by having opponents like Dracula von Martinez.

      • Penguin

        Oops. Crist never ran against Martinez. He ran against Marco Rubio, and people found Rubio to be more honest.

      • R.J.

        Make everything wonderful again? Florida is pretty damned wonderful now under DeSantis. Is he perfect? No. Nobody is. But the state is booming and he owns his critics in a most amusing way.

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

      Wasn’t Crist gov. when the D’s had full cheating power in that state?

    • mock-star

      I just saw Everclear live this past Sunday. Art Alexakis looks like a dehydrated Art Alexakis. I didnt know that he had MS.

      • Pat

        Shit, I didn’t know that either. He seems like kind of a dick in real life, but I wouldn’t wish that on him.

        Sparkle and Fade and So Much for the Afterglow are supremely nostalgic for me, but I gave up after Songs From An American Movie.

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

        As someone who has MS, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone either.

  15. Rebel Scum

    But the dragon is made of paper. Maybe.

    The People’s Republic of China is preparing to go to war, and it is not trying to hide its efforts. Amendments to the National Defense Law, effective the first day of last year, transfer powers from civilian to military officials.

    In general, the amendments reduce the role of the central government’s State Council by shifting power to the CMC, the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission. Specifically, the State Council will no longer supervise the mobilization of the People’s Liberation Army.

    As Zeng Zhiping of Soochow University told Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post,

    “The CMC is now formally in charge of making national defense policy and principles, while the State Council becomes a mere implementing agency to provide support for the military.”

    • Pat

      Unpossible. Everybody knows that economic interdependence with totalitarian commies produces peace. Trading partners don’t go to war.

      • EvilSheldon

        We aren’t a trading partner with China.

      • R.J.

        Correct. We are a giving partner. They are a taking partner.

  16. Sean

    I hired another employee today.
    Yay me.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Yay you! What, unconfident?

  17. Gender Traitor

    “Brock Turner has apparently moved back to OH, specifically the Kettering/Oakwood area…”

    Ermahgerd! I’m gonna be driving right through there on my way home from the salon tonight! And I’ll be driving right through the UD ghetto too! Someone please get me an armed escort! 😱

    ***YAWWWN***

    • EvilSheldon

      What, is your trigger finger broken all the sudden? 😉

    • Lackadaisical

      Isn’t he fairly attractive? Maybe you’ll get lucky.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Thoughts and prayers.

  18. Rebel Scum

    Let them eat snails.

    Emmanuel #Macron warned of sacrifices ahead and foreshadowed the “end of abundance” at his first cabinet meeting following the summer break.

    “What we are living through is a time of great upheaval.”

    The #French president also emphasised the importance of unity ahead of these trying times during Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.

    He called again for energy sobriety ahead of what looks to be a difficult winter, reports FRANCE 24’s reporter @LukeShrago

    • Sean

      *points and laughs*

    • Grosspatzer

      Ah, yes “we” must sacrifice for the common good.What will Emmanuel be sacrificing?

      • grrizzly

        He’s sacrificed enough. Married to a woman older than my mom when he’s younger than me.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Elle est une petite ortolan…

      • grrizzly

        Hah! I didn’t know this expression.

      • Tres Cool

        Its up there with “petit mort”

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        The French people, apparently.

  19. B.P.

    Watch as Robby “law-n-order” Soave receives a stern womansplaining about crime and punishment. Trigger warning: Video of a violent serial offender cold-cocking an elderly passerby kicks off the clip.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYNlC25OmoQ

    Maybe Soave’s debate counterparts aren’t the best spokespeople for criminal justice reform.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      I skipped around but at the 12 minute mark she says if mental health facilities were nice places we wouldn’t have to force people to go in them.

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

      Fuck, when you have lost Kasparian, the liberal position is toast.

      • B.P.

        Soave’s looks of exasperation are priceless. Claiming that there’s a credible movement to dismantle Western Civilization sounds goofy to some, but there it is.

    • B.P.

      I remember this one. It bears repeating.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      It’s a goto for me when people express indignation at the wealth distribution largesse.

    • rhywun

      Yup, good article.

      And it’s gotten much worse since just two years ago.

  20. Certified Public Asshat

    There Is No National Teacher Shortage

    When I spoke with education researchers and writers to figure out what was really going on, a more complex narrative emerged. In parts of the country, schools are struggling to hire staff. But they are mostly the same districts that have been struggling for years to fill the same positions, such as substitute and special-ed roles. In the big picture, the new and catastrophic national teacher shortage is neither newly catastrophic nor, in any meaningful sense, national. Under one interpretation of the murky data, the country might even have a teacher surplus on its hands, because so many parents have pulled their children out of public schools since the pandemic began.

    • Fatty Bolger

      I’m sure there’s a shortage of qualified STEM teachers. Regular education degree teachers, not so much.

    • Rat on a train

      Thank you Canada.

    • Tundra

      Sam Panopoulos should have a statue.

      Godspeed, visionary!

    • Certified Public Asshat

      My daughters love pineapple on pizza, so it has been a Friday night staple now for about a year now. My anti-pineapple on pizza stance has waned and I now approve. /I must be soft.

      I prefer it to have pineapple, ham, bacon, and jalapeno though.

      • Tundra

        I prefer it to have pineapple, ham, bacon, and jalapeno though.

        Yes.

      • EvilSheldon

        My local does a pineapple, bacon, red onions, and prosciutto pizza. It is transcendental.

      • Pat

        If you like the jalapeno and pineapple combo, I have a pineapple/serrano/jalapeno sauce that’s killer on chicken, if that might interest you. You can freeze it into a wonderful sorbet/Italian ice kind of thing that’s wonderfully refreshing in the summers.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        Try pineapple and prosciutto.

        Changed my life. ’Specially if the prosciutto’s thin and gets all brown and crispy around the edges. If the pineapple partially caramelizes, bonus!

  21. Tundra

    I can’t believe that album is 23 years old. So damn good, though.

    This is another good one.

    Thanks, Sug!

    • SugarFree

      It has a sort of timeless Americana feel that I just can’t resist. Just like The Hold Steady does, but with the fake-sloppy bar band aesthetic.

      • Tundra

        Love the HS, too. They had their start as Lifter Puller in the Twin Cities.

        Another band I can’t resist.

        fake-sloppy bar band aesthetic

        This, exactly.

      • Tundra

        Excellent.

        Thank you, BP!

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

        Didn’t he die of alcohol poisoning?

        Sucks if so.

      • B.P.

        Something like that. Jason Molina had a tough go of it.

  22. Pat

    International Strange Music Day promotes expanding musical horizons

    Aug. 24 (UPI) — International Strange Music Day, an annual Aug. 24 holiday aimed at broadening musical horizons, was founded by a New York-based musician in 1998.

    Patrick Grant, a musician and composer born in Detroit and now based in New York, said he founded Strange Music Day in 1998 to encourage audiophiles to listen to music they might consider to be “strange.”

    “It is always good to listen [to] and play music that we are unfamiliar with,” Grant told the Exploring the Metropolis blog in a 2012 interview, “It keeps our ears and outlook fresh.”

    The date Aug. 24 was chosen in honor of Grant’s then-girlfriend’s father, who had his birthday on that date. He said the older man served as an important mentor to him.

    Don’t let this occasion go to waste. Post some weird shit.

  23. DEG

    The criminal justice system has proven that crimes against women don’t matter

    I smell horseshit.

  24. Drake

    Remember when it took an act of Congress to waste $300 billion?

  25. The Other Kevin

    Biden To Forgive $10k In Student Loans — In Unrelated News, Nation’s Colleges Raise Tuition By $10k

    • CPRM

      oops. Meant for the weird music thread.

  26. Pine_Tree

    Unless it’s just my immediate family sitting there, I can’t say ANYTHING about student loans without pissing someone off. So I’m sure the bullets below will as well, but I’m in the mood to just throw them out there today:
    – Unless you’re on a very definite path of a degree in a professional trade (real Engineer or Doctor or Welder or something), then student loans are and always have been STOOPID.
    – Even for those situations, they should be last resort.
    – If you’re a young lady, a student loan probably makes you un-marriageable. One of the “rules of life” is to make yourself an asset, not a liability.
    – Accepting Brandon’s “forgiveness” makes you a thief, every bit as much as if you’d run off with the cash drawer from the local store.

  27. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    deadhead – this may interest you as a participant in weird foot races

    https://youtu.be/BzNsfDwhZLM

    • Pat

      Isn’t he the right to repair guy who also shits all over Apple routinely? Moderately based.

  28. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    Just had a memory from high school. There was an end-of-year art show for seniors.

    This one guy stood there the entire time – like, over an hour – only looking at his own work.

  29. Pope Jimbo

    Evil outsiders descend on Minneapolis to wreck our schools!

    An education foundation based in Washington, D.C., has brought a lawsuit against Minneapolis Public Schools, alleging that the district’s latest teacher contract provides discriminatory protections to racial minorities.

    The lawsuit, filed Monday by the conservative Judicial Watch, names interim Superintendent Rochelle Cox, the district and the Minneapolis board of education as defendants. Deborah Jane Clapp, identified as a Minneapolis taxpayer, is the plaintiff.

    The agreement that ended the three-week teachers strike in March includes contract language that upends last-in, first-out hiring practices as a way to retain “members of populations underrepresented among licensed teachers.” Those protections go into effect this spring and aim to help the district diversify its teaching staff to more closely match the demographics of the students it serves.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Learning from a teacher of color can lead to higher academic performance, better attendance and higher graduation rates among students in that demographic, according to a report by the national education research nonprofit, the Learning Policy Institute.

      The fun way to fuck with these shitheads would be to make them enforce that contract. But point out that the SCIENCE says the teacher of color has to match the students. That would result in a lot more Hmong teachers being kept on. I would think that Mpls/St. Paul has more asian kids counting as minorities than black kids.

      Also, you would need to bus all kids around to make things more efficient. I mean, you couldn’t expect a white school nurse to tend to black kids could you? Nope. You need a separate school for black kids (and to be safe, you better have one for the Somalis and one for the other black kids). Another school for the Hmong.

      The real problem will be gay kids of color. I don’t know if you can scrape up enough of them to justify a school.

      • Pat

        Asians are ceremonially white for affirmative action purposes.

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

        Not Hmong.

        Jungle Asian, not fancy Asian.

      • rhywun

        Nah, all colors except white are interchangeable.

  30. Mustang

    I’m just about a month away from no longer being in the military…why am I still being tasked with anything like I’m going to be here to accomplish it? I just want to tell everyone to please don’t call me, email me, or even talk to me. I guess that’s too much to ask when no one else actually works around here.

    • Rat on a train

      I had to wait until my two week outprocessing, which only took a few days, before I only had to show up for formations.

      • Mustang

        I’m fine with showing up but “hey, MAJCOM leadership is going to be here in two weeks and we need you to put together and lead a decision brief on XYZ” is a tall order when my final out is shortly after that.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I was 10 days out and they demanded I was due for PT test….I skipped it and skipped reporting to the captain that was scheduled for the day after I flipped off the base gate guards as I left.

      • Rat on a train

        My last year in the reserves my first sergeant asked me if I intended to reenlist. When I gave an emphatic no he said when they did PT or other testing I would be a grader. I ended up getting a bar to reenlistment because I didn’t have a valid PT test. Didn’t stop the Army from involuntarily mobilizing me with only a couple months left. It was just a circle-X by the commander.

    • Animal

      Does “fuck off, I’m so short I can limbo-dance under a door” not work any more?

    • Mustang

      I always forget how many vets we have here, but it makes sense. Seen the rot from the inside and being glib is basically required OJT.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    I guess it’s time to start shopping for an attorney who specializes in real estate. The skeevy fuck seller’s agent is now trying to extort me. Oddly enough, the skeevy fuck just so happens to be the new owner of the parcel on the other side of the line in question.

    Subdivision line on the property was drawn so that the existing drain field is cut off. He assured me it was no big deal to slap a drain field together on my side of the line. Two septic system installers have now told me that is complete bullshit, and the system will require a total replacement to be brought inside the property lines, and may even end up being unacceptably close to the well, meaning the well (which he DESPERATELY wants a part of- We HAFTA have a shared well agreement!)would be condemned (house is currently on municipal water).

    *extort= he has graciously offered to sell me the drain field for $45k, which will go into HIS pocket instead of the old widder lady’s. Neat, huh?

    What a clusterfuck. Asshole

    • Pat

      That’s shady as fuck. Aren’t brokers legally obligated to disclose a conflict of interest like that?

  32. Animal

    I’m gonna have to see the math on that whole obsidian sphere thing.

  33. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    Holy shit – Heaven 17 is playing at The Birchmere. That’s a name I’ve not heard since…

    https://youtu.be/iaPFBADjTw4

    • slumbrew

      Let me you should go!

  34. ron73440

    Just got an email from the VA, the upcoming event schedule looks AWESOME.

    Aug. 26, 2-3 p.m. – Women’s Equality Day Women Veteran Discussion
    Aug. 30, 7-9 p.m. – VETtoCEO Program
    Aug. 31, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. – Virtual Franchise Conference
    Aug. 31, 12-4 p.m. – Virtual Job Fair
    Aug. 31, 12-1 p.m. – The Diverse Experience of Military & Veteran Families of Color
    Aug. 31, 3-4 p.m. – Heroes MAKE America – Heroes Connect

    • Rat on a train

      I auto-delete emails from our diversity team and avoid their slack channel.

    • Pat

      With veteran homelessness, suicide, and sub-veterinary healthcare having been fixed, we have to spend that budget on *something*

      • Rat on a train

        They crossed out all the names on the waiting lists so they had nothing scheduled on their calendar.

  35. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. Air quality seems to be the proggies’ new hobby horse.

    Wildfire smoke kills more Indians than Custer

    n July 29, 2021, Li Boyd woke up to the smell of smoke. It was her birthday — she was turning 38 — and she had rented a boat to take her parents and aunts out on the lake near her home in central Minnesota, about 90 minutes north of the Twin Cities. But that morning, when she looked outside her window and found a thick, yellow-gray haze, she figured it was best to avoid going outside. Her older family members all had respiratory issues, and as the day went on and the smoke grew thicker, she worried about how it would affect them.

    It was Canada, they told her; wildfires burning in nearby Alberta had sent a column of smoke south into Minnesota, where it reached Mille Lacs and settled on the reservation like a blanket.
    Smoke from megafires in the West has blocked out the sun as far as Washington, D.C.; asthma cases and deaths from wildfire smoke now affect more people in the Eastern U.S. than in the West.

    But these impacts are not distributed equally. Communities of color and low-income residents in urban areas already shoulder disproportionate air pollution burdens from sources like truck traffic and industrial waste sites. But Indigenous communities, which tend to be located in rural areas closest to blazes and often have difficulties accessing air filters and upgrading homes to keep out the smallest particles, can be more vulnerable to the impacts of intensifying pollution from wildfires than other groups.

    • Pope Jimbo

      But it ain’t just the Indians out in the woods (which is right next to Fourscore’s compound)! Urban city slickers are also all going to croak!!!!

      Twin Cities residents far more likely to die of air pollution than homicide, study finds

      Air pollution from car exhaust, wildfires and other sources kills over 300 Minneapolis and St. Paul residents annually, according to new estimates from a leading team of air quality researchers. That number has risen in recent years as air quality has slightly deteriorated in the upper Midwest.

      The figure is almost certainly an underestimate of the true burden of air pollution in the Twin Cities: It does not reflect the effects of fine particle pollution on infants, which are known to be especially severe. It also doesn’t include mortality from other pollutants, like nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, whose health effects are less studied but thought to be smaller.

      “Air pollution is responsible for 1 in 9 deaths worldwide and accounts for 6.7 million deaths in 2019 alone,” the study’s authors write. Fine particles from fuel combustion and wildfires are the most harmful pollutants because their size allows them to easily enter the bloodstream, where they play havoc on a variety of bodily systems.

    • rhywun

      Air quality seems to be the proggies’ new hobby horse.

      No kidding.

      They’re using it to push the Manhattan “congestion pricing” economy-killer.

      They couldn’t get it done for decades but all of a sudden it’s going to cure all the poor people’s asthma so now it’s full-steam ahead. And if you reply that there aren’t any poor people living in the targeted area you’re racist or something.

    • Tres Cool

      I wonder if they figured smoking cigarettes (or anything else) into that equation.

      • mock-star

        So why are they pursuing policies that will see more people use things like wood to heat their homes?

      • mock-star

        Should have been a reply to Pope Jimbo, but whateva

    • Pope Jimbo

      You need a trigger warning with that! Us Viking fans are all curled up fetal style thinking of the Purple’s first Super Bowl choke job

      • Mojeaux

        Why, I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. 😎

      • Grosspatzer

        That was a good Viking team. Could have used a real QB, though. Joe Kapp??

      • Shpip

        Curiously, Kapp is the only quarterback to start in a Rose Bowl, a Grey Cup, and a Super Bowl (Warren Moon has the first two, but never played in the SB).

        In an era where quarterbacks were judged on “toughness” and “leadership” instead of arm strength and accuracy, he was considered top-notch.

    • Pat
      • Mojeaux

        Sadly, I am not that lucky. Not even my winning husband has managed a lottery win over $1,000.

      • Pat

        Still better than a kick in the knees.

  36. Raven Nation

    Overheard at the gym today:

    “Joe Biden is a decent man who’s spent his life trying to craft legislation to help people.”

    Said with sincerity not sarcasm.

    • Grosspatzer

      I think he meant “Joe Biden is a decadent man who’s spent his life legislating graft to help his people.” Dyslexia is tough.

      • Rat on a train

        I read it similarly. The brain autocorrects.

      • Raven Nation

        Nope. These two older women who swim and use the hot tub about the same time I do in the afternoon (I need to adjust my schedule). They’re like the central casting for white, upper-middle class women who know they are so much smarter than a lot of other people. They’re horrified, just horrified, by everything Trump has done.

        I find it mildly informative as I figure hearing them for 5-10 minutes gives me a pretty good summary of NPR’s take on things.

    • Pat

      Was this near the weight room, the cardio machines, or the yoga classes?

      • Raven Nation

        Hot tub actually.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Heat induced stroke

    • Tundra

      Did you punch the fucker?

      Not a violation of NAP.

    • invisible finger

      I was a decent man that gave 10k of my own money for college tuition to two nieces whose deadbeat dad ran out on them before they were even in kindergarten.

      Now I’m a chump. But that is still infinitely more decent than anything joe Biden has ever done in his lifetime.

      • Sean

        Biden is a corrupt liar with dementia, and a likely pedophile.

      • Raven Nation

        There is a weird part of me that want to put the “Biden is a nice guy” people in the same room as the “Trump is a family values guy” in the same room as see what happens.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    “Joe Biden is a decent man who’s spent his life trying to craft legislation to help people.”

    He’s helping people. alright.

    • Rat on a train

      I will be generous and call his family and friend people.

  38. Urthona

    Is there some legal recourse here? , because Biden’s student loan forgiveness seems very illegal.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Recourse is right next to FY and TW

  39. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    Pug rescue is coming to do a home visit next Wednesday!!

    • Tundra

      Sweet!

      I’m really excited for you!

      • Tundra

        No Frenchie, though?

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        Frenchies don’t often come up in rescue because you don’t get the volume of backyard breeding that you see with other breeds.

    • Mustang

      Pugs are the best.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Biden: “Is it fair to people who in fact do not own multi-billion dollar businesses? See how these guys give them all a tax break. Is that fair? What do you think?”

    My pidgin English to space alien translator must be on the fritz again. I can make neither heads nor tails of that.

    • Tundra

      Biden is a dementia-ridden stupid cunt who is already being sized up my Satan and Saddam Hussein for a threesome.

      So be happy you can’t understand.

    • Grosspatzer

      Here’s an uplifting story about a successful small businessman, in the original pidgin

    • creech

      Yeah, but you got to balance this gibberish against the fact this president doesn’t send out mean tweets.

    • Spartacus

      This sounds like the kind of thing you would hear at an AA meeting.

  41. slumbrew

    On top of this federal bullshit, I’ve had multiple people knock on my door who want to talk about this envious bullshit.

    One of the few good things about MA is the flat income tax. Let’s fuck that up by picking an arbitrary figure and really putting the screws to those people.

    The morality of that aside, people seem to think that high-earners don’t have other options. Also, they’re so fucking retarded that they think “it’s for education and transportation!!!11!!”, as if budget money isn’t fungible.

    I’m sure it’ll pass.

    *grumble*

    • rhywun

      Guessing the pubsec unions were extra-generous in their Dem campaign donations this year. The beach parties next summer are gonna be lit.

    • Rat on a train

      The revenue would come from an additional tax on households with very high incomes—that’s why it’s also known as a “millionaire’s tax.”
      The original federal income tax only applied to couples making more than $120,000 (2022) starting at 1%. Thresholds and rates move to chase the money.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    There are a million flies in here today. I guess it could have something to do with windows with no screens (and living in a neighborhood with more horses and cows than people).

    • rhywun

      no screens

      Gah!

      No bueno.

      I remember the one year I lived in California, they were similarly backwards.

      • Rat on a train

        Must be a NoCal thing. We always had screens in SoCal.

      • Raven Nation

        “Not in Utica no. It’s an Albany expression.”

      • rhywun

        Yes, NoCal.

        The house I lived in in Germany – also no screens. I did not want to open a window.

        They are a must everywhere else I have lived.

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

        We had screens in Norcal.

    • Sean

      Sounds shitty.

  43. Count Potato

    “Everything starts with the rainbow.

    When kids see a rainbow it makes them feel happy and safe.

    When kids see the rainbow flag they associate those feelings.

    When predators and sex maniacs use the rainbow flag, then kids will also think those people are safe.

    Psyop completed.”

    https://twitter.com/againstrainbows/status/1562442661461577728

    • creech

      Sort of like back when we were told “The Policeman is Your Friend”???

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The suspects eventually released the man after approximately three hours but told the victim that they would send the nude photos they took of him to everybody in his contact list if he informed authorities or told anybody what happened.

      Oh no, don’t throw me in that briar patch.

    • Sean

      That’s a fun story.

  44. Brochettaward

    FIRST-O-MYTE!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Dealerships have also stopped selling the recalled vehicles until the carmakers release a fix to the problem.

      LOL. Big deal. They don’t have any to sell anyway.

    • Ted S.

      As opposed to a frivolous malfunction.

    • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

      Just over 1/2 of Americans have no fucking clue how much $ we’ve sent there.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Don’t you disrespect the new and improved Money Hole.

  45. Tonio

    For those looking for the elusive Glibs HumpDay Zoom Link thingy, it’s here.