Saturday Morning Flaming Links

by | Nov 12, 2022 | Daily Links | 184 comments

We had some excitement this week- a lab fire. Something started a box burning, and as I walked by the lab, I noticed that there were flames and smoke. Being a sharp fellow, I thought, “Well, that doesn’t seem right.” I saw the box on fire, saw a fire extinguisher on the wall, and put 2 and 2 together. As I finished putting out the fire, a new assistant professor (a theorist with seemingly zero experience in a lab) came by and demanded to know what was happening. “I’m a bit busy putting out a fire.” He gasped, ran down the hall, pulled the fire alarm, and ran out of the building to the Designated Fire Evacuation Area. Sirens, flashing lights. Eventually, the cops, campus safety, and two fire departments arrived. To a cardboard box fire that had been extinguished fifteen minutes earlier with no damage.

So the panicking idiot turned a minor incident into a major campus event. Which allowed him to scream at the graduate students (who had nothing to do with this and were off at a seminar when this happened) in order to assert his dominance.

I was thanked profusely for my quick thinking and prompt effective action. Apparently in academia, it is a major achievement to realize that a fire extinguisher can be used to put out a fire and that it works by squeezing a handle. So I’m a hero, and the grad students hate the assistant prof even more than they already did.

Good times. And now good birthdays, and there’s a fuck ton of them today,, including a local chick who couldn’t make decent sandwiches; a guy apparently feared by the mullahs of Iran; a specialist in nucleophilic substitution and Romantic symphonies; a guy whose advertisement for toilet paper got a bit out of hand; the guy who gave the incredibly corrupt Soongs their start; a guy whose name should have been Woof Blugel Gick; Nixon’s “gift” to us, who just got bitch-slapped into oblivion; the fabulous Darlene Edwards; a damn dirty ape; someone who had what Natalie Wood could have used; a total party animal; a guy who was inconceivable; an empty-headed guy in a profession known for empty-headed guys; a hot Jewess banned from the Twatters; one of many baseball cheaters, but cheating on several levels; and WebDom’s spirit animal.

Let’s set the Links on fire.

 

“Team Blue has been politicizing science for the past several years. Now it’s our turn.”

 

One step closer to my election predictions being 100% correct.

 

Just to piss off Pie, here’s Professor Curry’s analysis of Montana glaciation.

 

“That trick never works. ” “This time, for sure!”

 

Horrific anti-Semitic incident in that notoriously racist Trump-loving city of Chicago. OUTRAGE! Oops. Never mind.

 

It really is exactly like watching professional wrestling.

 

I’m sure this is totes legit.

 

Old Guy Music is my favorite Fleetwood Mac song ever, and with Pete Fucking Townsend rocking the guitar and vocals.

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.

184 Comments

  1. Hyperion

    Where’s the links!? Oh, that was fast…

    • Trigger Hippie

      Under the pickle.

  2. Count Potato

    “So I’m a hero, and the grad students hate the assistant prof even more than they already did.”

    Nozzletov?

    • Surly Knott

      Oh, very nice.

    • Chafed

      *golf clap*

  3. Hyperion

    “Team Blue has been politicizing science for the past several years. Now it’s our turn.”

    So, the red wave would have been meaningless anyway because all you’re getting is fluff? Of course.

    • Tonio

      They mentioned funding nuclear. I may yet live to see MST reactors come online for power generation.

      • Hyperion

        No, cut spending. If it works, no need to steal tax payer money for it.

    • rhywun

      “Drill, baby, drill. Kthxbai.”

  4. Pat

    Apparently in academia, it is a major achievement to realize that a fire extinguisher can be used to put out a fire and that it works by squeezing a handle.

    Where would those ignorant flyover country rubes be without the true John Galts of our time.

    • Shiny Nerfherder

      My experiences confirm this observation.

      Practical knowledge isn’t of much value to professors. They deal in theory and theory only.

      • Rat on a train

        as with second lieutenants

  5. Hyperion

    Doesn’t Mark Kelly play some weird critter thingy on one of those Hobbit movies? Why couldn’t he just say in films?

  6. The Late P Brooks

    No toxic fumes? No six month investigation of this plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face right wing domestic terror plot?

  7. Count Potato

    “I’m sure this is totes legit.”

    I starting to think some of these women are just bragging they fucked Warren Beatty.

  8. Pat

    “Team Blue has been politicizing science for the past several years. Now it’s our turn.”

    This is kind of the catch-22 of being a Republican: If you don’t put forward a comprehensive “plan”, you’re an unserious charlatan with no ideas. If you put forward a comprehensive plan you’re a meddling totalitarian. If they “politicize science” by not using the government to shut down 80% of the energy sector to placate their vengeful gods, then I’m good with politicizing science.

    • Tonio

      “Rational environmentalism.” Gotta love the name as it’s a slap in the face to the Gretans.

  9. Hyperion

    “That trick never works. ” “This time, for sure!”

    I mean, look at them geezers. Shouldn’t they opt for the Love Boat Senior cruise instead? A little bit too much blue hair there for a group of commie activists.

    • dbleagle

      The only reason the IDF naval blockade is effective is because the Egyptians have a land blockade imposed over their border with Gaza. Wouldn’t it be more effective to speak with them? You know, work that whole muslim solidarity angle.

      Narrator: It won’t work because the Egyptians don’t want Hamas destabilizing their state.

  10. Count Potato

    “Instead, they cited Trump’s statement in a motion filed Friday in federal court saying it further supported their request for a hearing on whether the federal government selectively prosecuted Gillum because of his race. His lawyers asked for the hearing on Election Day motions that also sought dismissals on all counts.

    “Former President Trump’s posts raise serious questions about how exactly Trump ‘fixed’ DeSantis’ campaign and what Trump directed the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to do, and whether there is any connection to the FBI’s investigation and later prosecution of Gillum,” Gillum’s lawyers wrote.”

    Yeah sure, that makes sense.

  11. Pat

    a hot Jewess banned from the Twatters

    Because of course she was…

  12. The Late P Brooks

    Lots of scare quotes in that environmentalism article.

    • Shiny Nerfherder

      Satan has possessed the Republican Party and is making them deny the one true faith.

  13. Shiny Nerfherder

    Parting words to my wife this morning after she told me to go the restaurant and hold a table for six as her in-laws are in town.

    “Don’t be late and make me the asshole who’s tying up a table for six in a busy, yet small restaurant.”

    Guess who’s an asshole?

    • Ted S.

      This is why you’re sleeping on the couch tonight?

    • Chafed

      I need more information to know if it’s your wife or your in laws.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I’m surprised a small busy restaurant will even allow you to hold up a 6-spot fir more than 5-10 minutes

    • Zwak, who taser's the chimp with the razor.

      God, that shit drives me crazy. I refuse to be late for anything, and would rather sit, outside, for a half hour than hold other people up. My mother was always late, and it drove me crazy as a kid, sitting and waiting in the lobbies of restaurants.

      And, of course, my wife has never been on time to anything in her life.

      • Mojeaux

        I was always late to stuff. I had a friend who told me once that being late is a control/manipulation tactic, which I didn’t like because I don’t like to think of myself as controlling or especially manipulative. So I kind of started to try to not be late to things. Then I got married and my husband trained me out of that VERY early in our marriage. Of course, I wasn’t INVESTED in being late, and I was already trying NOT to be. But his idea of “late” is actually “on time.” I do not like being 15 minutes early to everything, so I’ve kind of gotten him out of the “hurry up and wait to leave” bullshit.

      • Ownbestenemy

        My teens are late to everything. The only thing I tell them is “you aren’t special and the world will not standby for you”.

        My dad was a “we need to be there 30 mins before” type of person. My mom “when we get there is when we get there”. I have both habits and it drives my wife nuts…just pick one!

      • Pat

        My dad was a “we need to be there 30 mins before” type of person.

        Both my parents were like that. My dad because he was anal, and my mom because of her paralyzing social anxiety, not wanting to be the person walking in late that everybody stares at.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Memories from Basic Training.

        We’re complaining about sitting waiting for the bus to pick us up from the range.

        Drill SGT. “They don’t wait for us, we wait for them.” – welcome to the world of “Hurry up and wait.”

        Which of course transitions to “Early is on time, on time is late.”

        It sounds dumb, and it’s really dumb to hem folks up for being there on time. But with mass formations, and other group events, it’s not a bad principle for planning. Heck…my watch is set 7 minutes fast – partly at least for that reason too – even though I still recalculate in my head constantly.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    a fire extinguisher can be used to put out a fire and that it works by squeezing a handle.

    Not everybody is qualified. Training and certification are necessary.

    • Zwak, who taser's the chimp with the razor.

      And a $65 licensing fee!

    • DrOtto

      I was impressed the professor didn’t pull out a cell phone and start filming. His actions, while not the best, at least may have eventually lead to the fire being put out if a real man hadn’t already been present.

  15. Ted S.

    The following day, the engineer and mathematician walked by the same room, where there was a cardboard box not on fire. The engineer did nothing as there was no fire. The mathematician set the box on fire, thereby reducing the situation to a case previously solved.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Guess who’s an asshole?

    It’s assholes, all the way down.

    • Ted S.

      Especially people who can’t thread properly. :-p

  17. Shiny Nerfherder

    Attractive Asian chick with some really ugly tats just walked into the restaurant.

    Why people, why?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Hot Asian chicks with ugly tattoos are somehow hotter in a way that doesn’t work with white broads for some reason.

    • Nephilium

      Ugly as in bad, or ugly as in you don’t like tats?

      • Shiny Nerfherder

        Just bad

      • Zwak, who taser's the chimp with the razor.

        Like, not pieces of art, but more like random graffiti?

        I hate that look.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I was wagering shitty calf or chest/back of neck tattoo

      • Pat

        Not into tats, but I can tolerate them just about anywhere except fingers and face. Finger tats in particular just kind of gross me out for some reason.

      • Shiny Nerfherder

        Calf, elbow, other scattered spots

  18. Ted S.

    someone who had what Natalie Wood could have used

    Happy birthday Mae West!

    • Gustave Lytton

      Dammit. What I was thinking too.

    • Pat

      I’d like to think there will be a whole generation of people who bought into this retardation who will have the same reaction eventually. But by then their purpose will have been served anyway.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Transitioning will be looked upon in twenty years similar to how lobotomies are viewed today, an enormous mistake sanctioned by a ghoulish medical cabal and forwarded by an irrational public hysteria. In the vast majority of cases it’s simply the facilitation of mental illness with the gathering weight of the force of law behind it.

      • rhywun

        You have to break the phenomenon where people seek approval for being seen to support the latest “thing” first. I don’t know how that happens.

      • Pat

        It’s interesting, because the “thing” from the ’50s up until my generation was the whole counter-culture, anti-establishment ethos. Even if you didn’t personally live your life that way, that was the hep cat ideal. It even became the way that stodgy old corporations marketed the same products they’d been selling for 200 years to the young and hip. You seen it even in mass media entertainment, like The X-Files. No more Joe Friday shit, even the straight-laced, brilliant criminal profiler FBI special agent was a renegade conspiracy theorist who bucked authority. Even within the church kid bubble I grew up in, who were the cool guys in youth group? The pranksters with the irreverent slogan t-shirts who would make “zombie Jesus” jokes on Easter and listened to music with naughty words. We went from that to 2 generations of moralistic, humorless woke scolds who will unperson you for failing to sufficiently support the government and major corporations almost overnight.

      • Nephilium

        /looks at the “punk” bands who supported lockdowns and mandatory masking

      • Zwak, who taser's the chimp with the razor.

        Punk is dead.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        At least we still have Johnny Rotten.

      • Chafed

        I think the stories of detransioners are powerful. Particularly when told by average people and not some attention whore influencer. At some point, those can’t be ignored.

    • rhywun

      weak men like Harry Styles

      LOL

  19. Pat

    Instead, they cited Trump’s statement in a motion filed Friday in federal court saying it further supported their request for a hearing on whether the federal government selectively prosecuted Gillum because of his race.

    Obviously the same DOJ that raided Trump’s personal residence in the same state is just out to get the darkies.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Did you and NPR Liberal Lady celebrate America’s narrow escape from totalitarianism?

    • Old Man With Candy

      When we talked the next day, my dancing put Fred Astaire to shame.

      • Ted S.

        Ruby Keeler would be ashamed of how you dance, too.

    • Pat

      The best defense is a good offense. I just wonder if he wasn’t a bit too quick on the trigger with these lawsuits.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yeah, seems like a good strategy actually. If they try to hold him either civilly or criminally liable a judgement against the people who were in charge of the weapons on set would be invaluable.

      • Gender Traitor

        If the family of the deceased hasn’t already sued him (I haven’t been following the case closely,) I’d be shocked if they didn’t, since he’s almost certainly loaded.

      • hayeksplosives

        The fact that he’s also the film’s producer is his real problem here. His alleged cost-cutting and hiring of unqualified individuals is what he’s getting sued for, not so much the fact that he literally did pull the trigger.

        If he were just the actor who received the “prop” from the armorer, it’d be a tougher case to bring against him, even though he should have checked for himself.

      • Pat

        The husband of the woman he killed filed suit and they settled. They’re still working together and will resume filming next year.

        The filming of ‘Rust,’ which I will now executive produce, will resume with all the original principal players on board in January 2023. I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame (to the producers or Mr. Baldwin). All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident. I am grateful that the producers and the entertainment community have come together to pay tribute to Halyna’s final work.

      • Zwak, who taser's the chimp with the razor.

        That is a searing conclusion!

    • Pat

      The judge should jail them both so they can eat all the rest of their meals together.

    • Drake

      Wait – she’s not already in jail?

      Intentionally defrauding investors of $billions < peacefully walking through a public building.

      • Pat

        Skilling got 24 years in the hoosegow for the Enron scandal. Although they reduced it to 14, and released him a couple years ago. I guess the pussy privilege extends further than the VC “female founder” circle jerk.

      • Chafed

        The delay in sentencing and reporting to prison is common in white collar federal cases. She very likely going to spend years in prison.

  21. DEG

    I think “ass” being the beginning of “assistant” is apropos in this case.

    He added, “So one of the things we ought to be doing is not attacking oil and gas but be attacking the emissions associated with it to where it can be indistinguishable from other renewable energy technologies to where it can be an arrow in the quiver as we try to address our objectives of energy, affordability, reliability, cleanliness, exportability, and securing the supply chain.”

    “Attacking the emissions” – somehow I think that won’t meet the objective of affordability.

    Just tell the climate cultists to fuck off.

    Oh, and I see Crenshaw is there. Fuck him.

  22. Pat

    Looks like they’re calling the governor’s race here in NV for Sheriff Fife. I guess I can throw away my “FUCK SISOLAK” particle mask. God knows he can’t possibly be any worse.

    • Chafed

      Never say never.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    “Environmental” voter

    Apple Gibson, 69, of Pueblo County, who is registered as independent, said she usually votes Republican but not this time around.

    “Her loud mouth; she’s a mini Trump. That was a turnoff,” Gibson said when asked why she switched her vote this time. Gibson said she believed Boebert wanted to create jobs at the expense of the Rocky Mountain region’s natural beauty and landscape.

    That pushy loudmouth bitch Boebert wants to strip mine muh landscape!

  24. Stinky Wizzleteats

    “Issue of the day: Trans teen Brian wins a Miss America pageant”
    https://uk.news.yahoo.com/issue-day-trans-teen-brian-053000695.html

    Just when I thought beauty pageants couldn’t get any stupider. There’s absolutely no way the judges set their eyes upon this person and recognized their beauty to be superior to the other girls. The guy ain’t even trying…

    • Sean

      😵

    • rhywun

      Is there a non-Yahoo source? I’m not accepting their “we will hoover up your data” promise.

    • Gender Traitor

      Many years ago, there was some beauty pageant or another on TV, and I became suspicious of the results after they featured some music from the Broadway version of La Cage aux Folles and, over the closing credits, the in-studio orchestra was playing this song.

    • Pat

      Remember the “Inner Beauty Pageant” episode of Arrested Development?

    • Trigger Hippie

      I look forward to the day when women and girls refuse to put up with this shit and we see the all girls/trans beauty pageant with the crowd and judges squirming in their seats pretending this is all perfectly normal and good.

    • whiz

      TBF, the qualities the pageant was supposed to judge on are (according to the article) “their achievements in scholastic aptitude, talent, character, community service and poise.” No mention of beauty (not that the judges often don’t — or at least didn’t used to — include beauty in their assessment).

  25. The Late P Brooks

    “Attacking the emissions” – somehow I think that won’t meet the objective of affordability.

    If you accept the assertion that carbon dioxide is a pollutant you have ceded the field and accepted defeat.

    • Grosspatzer

      “You’ve had two years to fund your chosen grifters. We intend to fund our own for the next two.”

      Levelling the playing field.

    • rhywun

      Yeah, something is clearly not right there. The chick who seems to be on track for gov promised to clean it up. We’ll see.

      • Pat

        The chick who seems to be on track for gov promised to clean it up.

        “I promise that after I get done overseeing my own coronation this will never happen again.”

      • Homple

        Clearly not right, you say?

        Ha! Not enough to affect the result! Rejected in every court case filed! Conspiracy theory! Election-denying Trump cultist!

  26. Timeloose

    “ I saw the box on fire, saw a fire extinguisher on the wall, and put 2 and 2 together. As I finished putting out the fire, a new assistant professor (a theorist with seemingly zero experience in a lab) came by and demanded to know what was happening. “I’m a bit busy putting out a fire.”

    Are you trained in using that extinguisher?? You should have found a employee with the proper training and certification. That way the fire could be put out with the proper approach.

    • Old Man With Candy

      I swear to god, this was brought up the next day in the rapidly-convened Safety Meeting. “We need to have fire extinguisher training. Can we get someone from the fire department to teach that course?”

      • Pat

        I know I’m pretty outside the mainstream and all, but FFS, does nobody have a kitchen in their house? Anyone go to elementary school? They taught us “stop, drop and roll” and how to use a fire extinguisher in 2nd grade, which was superfluous, as my dad told me how to use the fire extinguisher mounted to the wall in the kitchen at least 2 or 3 years prior.

      • Homple

        Might be worth reminding intellectuals not to pour water on a grease or electrical fire.

      • DrOtto

        *reads articles about how much water it takes to put out a burning Tesla* has anyone told the fire department this info? Also, has someone ever demonstrated for the fire department what happens when lithium is submerged in water.

      • Homple

        Some friends of mine in high school* nicked the chemistry lab’s supply of sodium one night and tossed it in the big puddle of water in front of the feed store. There was much excitement.

        *I am very old. There was a time when a high school lab kept sodium metal in an oil-filled jar. These days, my Gilbert Chemistry Set would get my parents jailed for child endangerment and illegal storage of hazardous material.

      • tripacer

        My dad put mercury in my pinewood derby cars. That’ s normal, right?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Better yet, even of said training has been conducted, according to OSHA and NFPA you are under no obligation to utilize the extinguisher unless you are on a trained fire brigade.

        “This standard exempts from coverage employers whose employees are not required to use portable fire extinguishers, and have been instructed, through a written fire safety policy, to evacuate the work site upon the sounding of a fire alarm system. ”

        You see OMWC…you were in the wrong here.

      • Pat

        We had to burn the lab to save the lab.

      • Chafed

        Let us know how they roll diversity training into it.

      • Zwak, who taser's the chimp with the razor.

        Do you guys have a grad student union yet?

        ‘Cause they should be the only ones allowed to handle the extinguishers!

  27. hayeksplosives

    Nevada “counting” of ballots has brought loathsome incumbent D within winning distance over R candidate Laxalt who had a comfy 4% lead on Election Day.

    They are gonna keep counting till the donkey count “wins.”

    • Ted S.

      Boards of elections really should be required to state sometime like by the morning of election day how many mail-in ballots are out there.

      Of course, they don’t want to.

      • Ted S.

        As an example, when Israel held its general election back on Nov. 1, the Israeli election commission had a link to the following page, in addition to one with the running results:

        https://www.gov.il/he/Departments/General/voting-by-hour

        Thankfully, you don’t need to be able to read Hebrew to know what that link does, but if you go there (it’s still up), it gives you a running tally of how many votes had been cast by a certain hour. There’s also a link just above the chart that leads to a historical comparison of voter turnout going all the way back to 1973.

        But the bigger point is that even if hand-counting were to take 24 hours, it ought to be known by the close of voting how many ballots are out there to be counted, and numbers ought to match up.

        The fact that by design we seem to be unable to audit this ought to set off alarm bells, but again, there’s one side that wants the impossibility of an accurate audit.

      • Ted S.

        And as an amusing aside, Google translate translates what we would call valid votes as “kosher votes”.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I can only think it’s designed to be intentionality obscure. Nevada mails out a ballot to every registered voter on the rolls. I doubt they did a voter cleanup before too.

        Then they trust that people will believe them that they are serious with the warning “it is illegal to vote twice!” I am guessing people, even stupid people, realize that our country is still in denial mode that we punish voting fraud or even really go looking for it.

        Drop off ballots on same day get no questions asked if you have a bundle of them other than yours. Just dump in the bin.

      • Urthona

        This is never going away so Republicans are going to need to learn to cheat the same way.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yep. Especially when you can’t win downticket and take the legislature.

    • Pat

      Called that a couple days ago. I’m actually kind of surprised the same didn’t happen with the governors race.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Luckily I think we were the one state that actually was pissed at the Governor and even the culinary unions were pissed at him. However, that union is in full force “curing” ballots for CCM

      • Pat

        I think I’ve told this story before, but when my mom had her hysterectomy at Sunrise Hospital, I was rather taken aback at the SEIU propaganda all over the place. You couldn’t go more than 50 yards without running into a huge fucking pegboard full of their flyers. Some of the elevator doors had full height SEIU vinyl wraps on them. I knew the casinos were union central, but fuck.

      • rhywun

        Them and the teachers’ unions basically call all the shot in blue America.

      • Ownbestenemy

        And both showed their true colors and sadly their members were all for it in the quest for more political influence, damn your job or being locked down and out of work!

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Office politics

    Customs and Border Protection (CBP) chief Christopher Magnus told multiple outlets Friday that he has no plans to step down despite being told by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that he should resign or expect to be fired shortly.

    “I want to make this clear: I have no plans to resign as CBP Commissioner,” Magnus said in a written statement to The Washington Post. “I didn’t take this job as a resume builder. I came to Washington, DC — moved my family here — because I care about this agency, its mission, and the goals of this Administration.”

    ——-

    Magnus was chosen by Biden in part because he spoke out against the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants and its negative effect on relations between law enforcement and immigrant communities.

    Still, Magnus’s background in policing rather than immigration and border enforcement raised some questions about his ability to take on a complex agency amid historically high border crossings.

    “More than ever, we need a commissioner who understands the complexity of border policy and the innerworkings of the CBP agency. Commissioner Magnus has admitted that during his first ten months in office he spent more time learning the ‘many complex areas of CBP’ rather than leading on the massive issues at the border,’” the lawmakers wrote.

    It sounds like maybe he has some crazy notion about keeping people from swarming over the border.

  29. Count Potato

    Covid hospitalizations are rising among babies under 6 months, @CDCDirector told @rileyraygriffin in an exclusive interview. They’ve “faced the second-highest rate of hospitalization across all age groups, trailing only behind those ages 65 and up.”

    https://twitter.com/annaedney/status/1590708820225187840

    Bullshit.

    • Pat

      They probably doubled from 20 to 40 nationwide.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Again…hospitalized cause of a true medical need or over fearful parents dropping kids at ERs cause of sniffles and doctors being doctors saying they need to stay for observation?

    • Pat

      What’s that come to in bald eagles per “been to the moon”?

      • PieInTheSky

        235 pennies ler gill

      • Homple

        What’s that in MegaLeu per kilderkin?

  30. Grosspatzer

    Something started a box burning,

    These euphemisms…

  31. The Late P Brooks

    And now a word from a sane, rational Republican

    New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) cost the GOP in the midterm elections with their respective comments on abortion and Social Security.

    Sununu said on “Julie Mason Mornings” on SiriusXM’s POTUS channel in an interview that aired on Friday that Graham “didn’t do anybody any favors” when he proposed a 15-week national abortion ban, nor did Scott with his comments in support of requiring Congress to renew Social Security every five years instead of it being automatically renewed.

    Sununu said Scott is a “great senator” but scared people about the future of Social Security and Medicare.

    Democrats seized on Scott’s comments and accused Republicans of planning to make major cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

    “He didn’t discuss it properly, and all of a sudden, there’s a tone out of Washington that we’re going to get rid of Social Security and Medicare, which of course is not going to happen,” Sununu said.

    ——-

    Sununu said Graham and Scott put unnecessary “bits of gasoline on the fire,” causing voters to want to “push back on extremism” and worry about fixing policy issues like inflation later.

    “I’m one of the good guys. Not like those radical boat-rockers who want to tear down the Nanny State and leave poor helpless womynz in the gutter to fend for themselves.

    • Pat

      My grandparents on both sides were straight-ticket Democratic voters, while my parents were both Republican supporters (sometimes reluctantly). Occasionally they’d discuss politics. The oldsters on both sides were more or less single-issue on social security and insisted that any Republican in office was going to take away their “retirement.” I’m in my mid 30s now, and all but one of the grandparents is long dead. There hasn’t been a meaningful reform or cut to social security in my lifetime. But every election cycle I hear a bunch of panicked old people whinging that the Republicans are going to take away their social security.

      • Shiny Nerfherder

        I despise that issue.

        I have always assumed from my teenage years on that I wasn’t going to get a single penny back out of social security. Just end it already.

    • Hyperion

      “Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.)”

      You ruined the entire sane rational narrative right there.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        To be fair, Sununu, a sack of shit himself, is right about what Graham did. It approached straight up sabotage with a smidge of plausible deniability built in.

      • Hyperion

        Of course dems love Graham, just like Lizzykins Warboner, they’re fellow war mongers.

  32. Grosspatzer

    Baháʼu’lláh was raised with no formal education but was well read and devoutly religious. His family was considerably wealthy, and at the age of 22 he turned down a position in the government, instead managing family properties and donating considerable time and money to charities.

    And this is why homeschooling must be outlawed. Properly educated indoctrinated citizens know that a government position is the highest calling and charity is best left to the state.

  33. Tundra

    Good morning!

    Daily Quordle 292
    6️⃣9️⃣
    7️⃣5️⃣

    Yikes.

    • rhywun

      BL can kiss my ass.

      Daily Quordle 292
      5️⃣4️⃣
      8️⃣3️⃣

      • Grosspatzer

        Agreed.

        Daily Quordle 292
        5️⃣4️⃣
        7️⃣3️⃣
        quordle.com

      • Pat

        Amen

    • Pat

      Daily Quordle 292
      3️⃣5️⃣
      7️⃣4️⃣

    • kinnath

      Daily Quordle 292
      7️⃣6️⃣
      8️⃣4️⃣

    • Grummun

      5 4
      6 3

      Lucky guesses on a couple unusual words.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    What the fuck do voters know?

    Voters sent a variety of mixed signals in the 2022 midterm elections, but one thing came through quite clearly: they don’t want President Joe Biden to run for a second term.

    According to national exit polling, 67% of midterm voters don’t want Biden to run for president in 2024, compared to 30% who want him to run. The current numbers show that, unsurprisingly, 90% of self-identified Republicans who voted in the midterm don’t want to see Biden run again, but 38% of self-identified Democrats also don’t want to see him run again.

    Those numbers are consistent with polling conducted in the run-up to this year’s election. In a Marquette Law School poll from September, 72% of Americans said they didn’t want Biden to run for reelection. Democrats in that poll were sharply divided on the question: 52% said he should run again while 48% said he shouldn’t.

    Biden was asked about those sobering exit poll numbers during a post-election press conference on Wednesday. He said that the number of people who don’t want him to run will not impact his decision. To those with doubts, Biden offered only this: “Watch me.”

    Which is a fine line for a press conference. And similar to one Biden has used before when asked about his capacity to continue to serve.

    The man saved us from capricious authoritarianism, and he deserves a second term. That decision is Doktor Grandma’s to make.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I mean, that is an okay statement and a gamble that political partisans will pick a name on a primary ballot they already know of.

    • R.J.

      “Watch me steal it again”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Watch me is just a nicer way of saying eat a dick. Screw that old fool.

    • rhywun

      Maybe it’s time for the GOP to dump a bunch of cash into Joe’s war chest.

      • Hyperion

        No way, it’s FetterSquatch 2024 all the way, baby!

      • Grosspatzer

        Ooh, I like this! Think I’ll register as a Democrat.

      • Hyperion

        They just thought the crowd was chanting ‘fuck Joe Biden’, it was ‘good luck Joe Biden!’.

  35. Tundra

    Grace Kelly is imo the most beautiful actress of all time.

    One step closer to my election predictions being 100% correct.

    Still disappointing. But at least we don’t have to hear the repubs whine about the dastardly libertarians costing them the election.

    Old guy music is great! That looks like it would have been a hell of a show.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Oh the complaints are flying that the libertarian in AZ cost Masters and the one in GA cost Walker.

      • Homple

        Isn’t that what libertarians are for? They will never advance fiscal conservatism but they can help push along social liberalism. “Half a loaf is better than no bread at all.”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      If we do cost them elections that’s a good thing anyway. Nothing works better to get political scumbags to address your issues than knowing that they actually do need your vote.

    • Ted S.

      But it’s an icy beauty that leaves me cold.

      Katy Jurado wasn’t as classically beautiful, but in High Noon she has a smoldering earthiness that blows Grace out of the water.

      • Tundra

        Grace driving the Sunbeam Alpine along the Riviera is seared into my soul.

  36. Hyperion

    If the lump keeps growing on dem rising star Fetterman, will he take off the hoody and blame his deformity on climate change? What better way to ensure he gains the needed to support to make him King Lumpy?

    • R.J.

      DON’T GIVE THEM IDEAS

      • Hyperion

        King Lumpy appears with Queen Frumpy at his side to give his acceptance speech ‘I support fracking!’. Crowd goes wild.

      • Hyperion

        LOL!

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Unjustified pessimism

    Consumers were feeling slightly worse about the US economy in November, amid punishing rate hikes and decades-high inflation, according to a closely followed University of Michigan survey released Friday.

    The preliminary index reading from the monthly Surveys of Consumers showed sentiment fell to 54.7, from 59.9 in October. Economists were expecting sentiment levels to tick down to 59.5, according to estimates on Refinitiv.

    It’s the lowest reading since this summer when sentiment bottomed out after gas prices hit a record high in June.

    The survey showed that sentiment slumped both for current economic conditions as well as for those in the near future.

    Sustained high levels of inflation as well as rising interest rates are weighing on consumers, who are also expecting the currently robust labor market to weaken in the year ahead, Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu told Bloomberg in an interview following the report’s release.

    “Consumers don’t think we’re out of the woods yet,” she said.

    But the White House says the economy is booming. They wouldn’t lie to me, would they, Shirley?

  38. Ownbestenemy

    NV is one step closer to move to rank choice voting. The gains by Republicans will be the last if in next ele turn cycle voters once again approve of the ballot measure. In NV any constitutional provision must pass twice in consecutive years.

    • Pat

      In NV any constitutional provision must pass twice in consecutive years.

      IIRC, didn’t we back out of the retarded “50% renewables by 2025” amendment that way?

      I’ve noticed the Niskanen/Cato libertarians seem to have become enamored of RCV ever since Koch cozied up to Soros.

      • Gustave Lytton

        It’s this flashing lure that thinks if voters can just show their real desire, they’ll vote for third party small government pro liberty candidates.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Grace Kelly is imo the most beautiful actress of all time.

    It probably has a lot to do with the roles they played, but I’m gonna hafta go with Myrna Loy.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    To be fair, Sununu, a sack of shit himself, is right about what Graham did. It approached straight up sabotage with a smidge of plausible deniability built in.

    Petulant thinskinned bitch is a role Lindsay Graham can really sink his teeth into.

    • Pat

      There was no rainfall, heat waves or snow before the industrial revolution.

    • Shiny Nerfherder

      What a douche

    • Pat

      Any time I meet a new partner, I feel embarrassed for her to see my penis.

      Amusingly, it’s just the opposite here in the states where we have circumcision rates rivaling Islamic countries for some reason.

    • Shiny Nerfherder

      I didn’t know I was supposed to be mad about it.

      • Q Continuum

        You’re always supposed to be OUTRAGED! about something; if you’re not then you’re just suffering from false consciousness.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    The Fed is closely watching for shifts in consumer expectations to determine if inflation is becoming entrenched in the United States: If consumers believe prices will remain high, that could factor in to increased wage demands which, in turn, could cause businesses to raise prices.

    Very few consumers are front-loading purchases to avoid higher interest rates in the future, indicating that inflation expectations aren’t worsening, Hsu said.

    “Consumers are not really showing strong signs of inflationary psychology or entrenched expectations,” she said during the interview.

    Is there anybody who is pretending prices (with the possible exception of real estate) will go back down?

    • Shiny Nerfherder

      That is interesting.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Trouble at the casino

    Eli Lilly (real handle @LillyPad) can thank changes at Twitter introduced since Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover for the confusion. The pranksters were able to easily make an official-looking Twitter account—with a blue checkmark for the fake user name “EliLillyandCo”—by paying $8 monthly for Twitter Blue. The new subscription service, introduced under Musk, comes with a blue check that previously signified that accounts were legitimate.

    Hours after the fake post, Eli Lilly’s stock fell sharply. How much the drop was related to the post isn’t entirely clear. But similarly, Lockheed Martin shares fell after a fake account—again using Twitter Blue—said the company was stopping weapons sales in some countries.

    More of that panicky bird-flocking behavior.

  43. The Late P Brooks

    Before Musk took control of the platform, blue checks served to mark legitimate accounts and were given out freely to sources Twitter deemed notable and trustworthy.

    There’s your trouble.

    • R C Dean

      “blue checks served to mark legitimate accounts and were given out freely”

      Just ignore the side hustle of Twitter employees refusing to issue a blue check unless they got paid.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    Muh reputation!

    “Safeguards such as Twitter’s blue checkmark once allowed users to be smart, critical consumers of news and information in Twitter’s global town square,” Markey wrote in his letter to Musk. “But your Twitter takeover, rapid and haphazard imposition of platform changes, removal of safeguards against disinformation, and firing of large numbers of Twitter employees have accelerated Twitter’s descent into the Wild West of social media.”

    Markey asked Musk to respond by November 25 about Twitter’s process for issuing the blue checkmarks, how his impersonation was allowed by Twitter and how any new planned verification will work in the future.

    “Allowing an imposter to impersonate a U.S. Senator on Twitter is a serious matter that you need to address promptly,” Markey wrote.

    Oh, the HORROR.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Allowing an imposter to impersonate a U.S. Senator

      Like 90% of the current officeholders?

  45. LCDR_Fish

    Picked up a Samsung S22 Ultra last night – my S9 is about 4 years old and battery isn’t doing as good as it used to – the usual growing pains with a new phone, but I figure once I get it in it’s otter case with a nice screen protector, I’ll feel a little more normal.

    Needing to add another device to my Malwarebytes subscription since I apparently can’t drop/add devices. Had to uninstall a lot of junk that also preloaded – but the main data transfer between my last phone appeared to work almost perfectly (need to fix a few work chat groups). Also no SD card slot on this one – but I haven’t been watching music videos much on the phone recently so not a big deal.

    Any tips for other security settings I should [re]check on a new phone – stuff to delete/block or recommended adds? I’m still using NordVPN like usual.

    Thanks.

    • Pat

      I have a piece going up Monday evening that may interest you, but can’t really recommend anything specific to that handset other than: Mull is a good mobile browser and supports uBlock Origin; disable as many Google services as you can; Pi-Hole is good for blocking ads on other browsers, and in apps where they can’t otherwise be blocked.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Thanks. Replied on new thread.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    That job sucks; I’d rather see you starve. Oh, noes, muh jobz!

    One day soon the robot, called Sparrow, could do the work of the hundreds of thousands of people that Amazon now employs to sort the 13m packages it delivers each year. Using computer vision and artificial intelligence Amazon says Sparrow can already identify about 65% of its product inventory, tell if an item is damaged and discard it, and adjust its suction cup “hand” to handle different objects – all jobs currently done by human hands. As it learns, it gets better by the day.

    ——-

    In recent years Amazon has become one of the world’s largest private employers, with a payroll of more than 1.6 million as of 2021. That growth has not come without pain. Amazon is fighting tooth and nail to stop US warehouse workers angered by low wages and relentless pressure from forming unions and Wall Street has been critical of its perceived over-hiring. Robot packers, robot movers and robot deliveries could be an answer to those issues.

    Brady disagrees. People have predicted that robots will destroy the labour market for decades. As far back as 1933 the economist John Maynard Keynes prophesied widespread technological unemployment was coming “due to our discovery of means of economizing the use of labour outrunning the pace at which we can find new uses for labour”.

    “I just don’t see that at all,” said Brady. “We made our first serious investment in robotics over 10 years ago and in those 10 years we created more than a million jobs.” More robots will boost the efficiency of warehouses meaning they can store more goods, Amazon will sell more stuff and more people will be needed to make sure everything runs smoothly, he said.

    “The need for people to solve problems and use common sense will always be there,” he said. “We are nowhere near that with robotics. It’s not even close. We have millions of years of evolution for the human brain that’s powered off 20 watts and a banana, that’s incredible.”

    20 watts and a BANANA?!

    *faints*