Thursday Afternoon Links

by | Nov 17, 2022 | Daily Links | 216 comments

Appropriate music.

INSIDE JOB, SEASON TWO, DROPPING NOV 18!!1! Break out your tinfoil, kids! Inside Job is a Netflix animated series about the employees of a shadowy government contractor in a world in which every conspiracy theory you’ve ever heard is real. The comedy is hilarious, the characters endearing, and the writers do their homework. Fans of Archer will appreciate this show.

ALL YOUR CHILDREN ARE BELONG TO US: An 18-state coalition… has filed a brief in support of parental rights in a lawsuit against an Iowa school district’s policy that withholds information on a child’s gender identity from their parents.

CONGRESSCRITTER MAXINE WATERS DODGES HARD QUESTION (AGAIN): Waters avoided reporter Hillary Vaughn’s question when asked if Democrats who received campaign cash from FTX should give it back, saying, “Well, I don’t want to get into that. As a matter of fact, both sides, Democrats and Republicans, have received donations. So thank you.”

CRYPTO-BRO SAM BANKMAN-FRIED IN A HEAP OF TROUBLE: John Ray III, a veteran insolvency professional who oversaw the liquidation of Enron, said in a court filing on Thursday that FTX was the worst case of corporate failure that he had seen in his more than 40-year career. And SBF keeps running his mouth when he should be STFU.

FREE LUNCH: Feast your eyes upon the Guaranteed Income for Trans People (GIFT) Program Application. Now make a -4 saving throw against sanity.

EYES WIDE SHUT: Obligatory, gratuitous link to tabloid celebrity sex party exposé. Because I had to imagine a naked Bill Maher, now you have to as well.

NOT SURE IF THIS IS REAL: Like everything else coming out of the Russia-Ukraine war, take it with a big pinch of salt. Video appears to show Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy taking time out from defending his country from Russian invasion to make a music video. Sick AT4 solo, Volodya (or actor playing him).

About The Author

Tonio

Tonio

Tonio is a Glibs shitposter, linkstar (Thursday PM, yo), author, and editor. He is also a GlibZoom personality and prankster. Tonio is a big fan of pic-a-nic baskets. His hobbies include salmon fishing, territorial displays, dumpster diving, and posing for wildlife photographers.

216 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    “An 18-state coalition… has filed a brief in support of parental rights in a lawsuit against an Iowa school district’s policy that withholds information on a child’s gender identity from their parents.”

    Good.

    • Tonio

      TL;DR: The suit was brought in federal court by the advocacy group Parents Defending Education on behalf of several parents (because the parents have “standing.”) They requested a stay of the school system policy from the court pending the outcome of the suit. The court refused. The brief was filed in the federal Eighth Circuit, so I assume that PDE appealed the stay to the circuit court. That’s some high-powered, free, legal help they are getting. Definitely a case to watch.

      • DEG

        That’s more help than a Manchester, NH parent received in a recent case in NH court over a similar issue.

      • Tonio

        The Iowa case could potentially to have more impact (affect more people), particularly if it goes to the Eighth circuit. An Eighth Circuit ruling would establish a binding precedent in AR, IA, MN, MO, NE, SD, and ND.

        Sometimes you have to pick and choose your battles.

      • DEG

        True, this is also in Federal court. That case was in state court.

      • Ted S.

        I’m surprised a court said the parents have standing.

      • Tonio

        Me, too, since nobody was actually injured by this AFAIK. But let’s take the W, such as it is.

      • Ted S.

        I was more making a joke about how everyone seemed to have standing against the Trump EOs because Trump, but people who really should have standing can’t get it.

      • Tonio

        I know. And not just in the cases you mention.

      • R C Dean

        But let’s take the W, such as it is.

        Not seeing a W, yet. The policy is still in effect.

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

        The children are injured by this, and the parents, as the legal guardians, should always have standing in anything involving their children.

        That said, standing is the greatest legal disgrace in this country. That shit needs to be knocked down a peg or three.

      • juris imprudent

        Can you imagine the litigious load without standing – terrifying.

    • whiz

      Conspicuously absent from the list of state AGs is the one from Iowa — perhaps one reason he was ousted in the recent election after 7 terms as AG.

      • DEG

        I noticed NH’s was not on the list.

        Sununu vetoed a bill prohibiting public school officials from taking actions like this.

  2. Count Potato

    It’s possible that “MAGA” Republicans got money because part of them Dem’s strategy was to boost candidates in the primaries that were more likely to lose.

    • SDF-7

      I’d rate that more as “probable” than “possible”, Herzog Kartoffel.

      • Ted S.

        I didn’t know Graf Kartoffel got a promotion to Herzog.

      • SDF-7

        Gott im himmel… got my German title equivalents messed up in my head… well, he can be a Herzog as far as I’m concerned… ;P

      • Ted S.

        I had to look it up to see whether it was a promotion or a demotion.

  3. SDF-7

    Because I had to imagine a naked Bill Maher, now you have to as well.

    GAH!

    • Count Potato

      Isn’t he a health nut? He might not look that bad.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Uh, he’s almost 70.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        and you know, a dude.

      • SDF-7

        Since I’m straight — that’s pretty much my default for “imagine any naked man”, sorry.

  4. Warty

    in a world in which every conspiracy theory you’ve ever heard is real

    So, the real world?

    • SDF-7

      Didn’t Pizzagate include cannibalism beyond the child sex ring stuff? If so — rather hoping that particular one isn’t…

      • Warty

        Imagine not knowing that the child molesting lizard people are cannibals too, bro.

      • R.J.

        Long pork! It’s good. Lots of fat to render on those millenials. Low and slow, I always say.

      • Tundra

        Kind of. Go listen to Martyr Made’s Epstein series and check out the support materials.

        As insane as you think it could be? It’s worse.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Pizzagate got the location wrong. Shame on them.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        It sounds crazy, and hopefully it is. But then Marc Dutroux seemed to have some pretty high level connections. And if you’re an intelligence service the compromising material could come in handy.

    • Tonio

      Both flat earth AND hollow earth, simultaneously. Although those are not actually conspiracy theories, so much as crackpot ideas.

      • SDF-7

        It’s hollowed out roadkill turtles all the way down now?

      • Compelled Speechless

        Conspiracy theory:

        Flat earthers are an FBI Psyop designed to create an idea so stupid and crazy that no one could believe it, which is then labeled a “conspiracy theory” despite the fact that it’s nothing of the sort, and then lump “flatearthers” in with the people that think that obviously true conspiracies like Epstein didn’t kill himself or the Hunter laptop cover up.

      • Tonio

        IOW, poisoning the well.

      • juris imprudent

        I’ve spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocaine.

      • Compelled Speechless

        So you’re prepared to go up against a Sicilian, even with death on the line? I heard that iocaine immunity is a psyop to get MAGA people to start consuming large quantities of it.

      • juris imprudent

        But no land wars in Asia, it’s a big place.

  5. Count Potato

    Also, the worst-looking billionaire girlfriend ever. Melinda Gates is better looking.

    • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

      50 Shades of Grey lied to us.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Seriously. But maybe she can suck the chrome off a trailer hitch.

      • Drake

        Is that what happened to her mouth?

  6. SDF-7

    Song choice is one of those “catchier than it should be” ones… which is how I feel about most Manson stuff. And if it applies to the topics of the links, it works… but given the news and my general reaction to it, this is still the only appropriate music for me these days.

  7. DEG

    Waters avoided reporter Hillary Vaughn’s question when asked if Democrats who received campaign cash from FTX should give it back, saying, “Well, I don’t want to get into that. As a matter of fact, both sides, Democrats and Republicans, have received donations. So thank you.”

    As long as none of those folks were in the rumored FTX sex tape.

    • Rat on a train

      Yikes.

    • Count Potato

      I’m glad that link doesn’t work.

      • Tonio

        Works for me, but leads to an article about the alleged tape.

      • Compelled Speechless

        🤢🤢🤮. I’ll pay the ransom myself to make sure that never sees the light of day.

    • Rat on a train

      According to SF FTX is a gender.

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

        Female to Xylophone?

      • Compelled Speechless

        Works for me. I use the same mallet for both.

    • rhywun

      Of course there had to be a sex tape. This saga would be incomplete without one.

  8. SDF-7

    Re: The GIFT (I suppose throwing in an ‘R’ to make it GRIFT would have been too obvious) application — love that they’re throwing in “Tomboy” as a Trans identity.

    Farging iceholes… let tomboys be tomboys — they’re still women, you farging bastiches. And the pronoun section is, of course, its own circle of Hell.

    • Nephilium

      That’s just one of over 90 different gender identifications.

      Over. Ninety.

      And of course there’s an Other option at the end.

      • Compelled Speechless

        I only recognize three “genders”. Male, female and attention-whore narcissist.

      • SDF-7

        I’ll make an exemption for “attack helicopter”. Just for style points alone.

      • Nephilium

        You know… thinking about it, wouldn’t it be Othering someone to make them select Other as part of who they are?

      • Compelled Speechless

        They want nothing more than to be treated like a unique and beautiful snowflake. The problem is being either ignored or mistreated because of it. Their new mission is to force everyone to bend the knee and worship at their altar of uniqueness. Anything less than total reverence and your full attention is oppression which absolutely will not be tolerated. Second highest priority: advocating communism. Makes total sense.

      • Rat on a train

        I’ll accept neuter when appropriate.

    • Rat on a train

      Filipinos are not Asian.

      • rhywun

        They are if they identify that way, bigot.

    • rhywun

      I like how the races are listed in order the attention you’re going to get from the folks running this scheme.

  9. Count Potato

    JFC, that pronoun list. Also, Non-Binary or Gender Non-Conforming isn’t trans.

    • Sean

      JFC, that pronoun list.

      The gender identity section is more nuts.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I’m switching to Genderfuck. Please respect my new identity.

      • Gadfly

        That seems like more of a verb than a noun.

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

        Are you trying to cringe him?

        Bigot!

      • Gadfly

        My bad. I will take this as a learning experience, go to rehab, and do better in future.

    • Count Potato

      Then the gender list goes on for over two pages.

      What is “Skoliosexual”? You through you back out fucking?

      • Sean

        I think it involves olive oil…

      • SDF-7

        In SF? It probably means they want to boff whole schools.

      • Rat on a train

        Like to bend someone over?

      • Count Potato

        “threw your”

        I was so flabbergasted I forgot how to English.

      • Tundra

        Vikings fans

      • Bobarian LMD

        Now you’ve gone too far!

        Nobody. But Nobody! want to fuck one of those.

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        Gee, thanks

      • Tundra

        No kidding.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Please, this is a family friendly site. It’s humping.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Well shit. Who’s going to break this news to Sugarfree?

      • Bobarian LMD

        Fettering?

  10. Shpip

    GIFT is a financial assistance program for low-income Transgender, NonBinary, Gender Non-Conforming, and Intersex (TGI) people who reside in the City and County of
    San Francisco, CA

    Well, due to me being retired and living off capital gains, my income this year is negative six figures. Is that “low-income” enough?
    I also am male-to-female-to-male trans, which is just being a dude with extra steps, but I think I can fool whatever social worker they have screening me.
    Additionally, while my physical body is in Florida, I identify as a San Francisco resident. Who are you to question my lived experience?
    Now give me free munniez.

  11. B.P.

    As long as we’re on conspiracy theories, I assume this crypto-genius guy is totally not going to end up killing himself in custody.

    • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

      I don’t think he ever knew Jeffery Epstein.

    • Drake

      I often wonder if Zelensky is even in the Ukraine. Or is he just making videos in front of a green screen from his Italian villa?

  12. Shiny Nerfherder

    SBF probably has his name on a few hit lists by now.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      If he’s the tech genius he’s alleged to be, he’s got a dead man switch.

      • Shiny Nerfherder

        Not going to help him. He stole customer deposits and I’ll bet that some of those deposits came from people who really don’t take that well.

  13. DEG

    NH Recount News: Keith Ammon’s race had a recount this morning. Ammon was third in a three person district. He was ahead of the fourth place finisher by three votes. During the recount, Ammon stayed in 3rd place and his lead over the fourth place finisher widened to eight votes. Ammon is both NHLA and ReopenNH endorsed. If I remember correctly, Ammon wrote the anti-CRT bill during the 2020 legislative term.

    • SDF-7

      Yeah, the race is still freaking on for my Congresscritter…

      Love the CA SOS website:

      It typically takes weeks for counties to process and count all of the ballots.

      It never used to before you jokers screwed up the whole system…. https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/statewide-elections/2022-general/unprocessed-ballots-report.pdf shows that as of 2 days ago, they were probably at 50%. A week after the election. 50%. I hate this stupid state so much.

      • rhywun

        I can’t imagine the brain trust working on that. Must make the crowd in charge at the post office or DMV look like geniuses.

      • DEG

        Wow.

        There are still more recounts to go in NH. I’ll be a volunteer to watch the counting for one on Saturday.

        Organization Day is early in December. Organization Day is when the NH Legislature meets for its first session of the new term. There’s a little time left for recounts and challenges.

      • R.J.

        Do I need to buy you some luggage? What is keeping you there?

      • juris imprudent

        Hurr hurr, we’re not some backward hick state like Florida!!!

  14. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    Gotta go find some Zelensky simps in that Tweet

    • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

      OK cool…it’s not him.

  15. DEG

    NH Man

    A man from Cheshire County is facing multiple charges after New Hampshire Fish and Game officials said he shot a turkey from a car window.

    Officials said the man, who was not identified, used a 9mm handgun to shoot the turkey.

    • SDF-7

      “…. since the turkey was in a grocery store shopping cart at the time, it seemed rather odd to everyone else in the parking lot…”

    • Ted S.

      As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could drive!

    • Michael Malaise

      I fail to see the problem.

  16. Gadfly

    NOT SURE IF THIS IS REAL

    Appears to be a look-alike to me. Has similar features, but doesn’t look to have the right proportions, IMO.

    • SDF-7

      I’m sure they’d appreciate going automatic and getting several rounds off in one sitting….

    • Shpip

      If women had the same rights as guns

      To be fair, I’d be alright with keeping women away from polling places, courthouses, and state houses. I’m torn about prohibiting them in bars, though.

    • Count Potato

      Ever think of getting a cassette toilet?

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        Nah – this one is fine for now. The big change I want to make is to get rid of the sofa and put a useful sitting/napping/sleeping area there. I’d like to actually build my own sofa/daybed. Maybe since I’m near my dad and his full workshop, I could accomplish that.

      • Tundra

        Dads like to do things for their daughters, just sayin’. A couple of well-placed hints might pay big dividends!

      • Tundra

        That’s the shit!

      • Count Potato

        You can still buy incinerating toilets. Also composting toilets.

  17. Animal

    I know nothing of Inside Job, but I’m looking forward to Season 11 of Letterkenny on Dec 26th.

    • SDF-7

      I’m probably being dramatically over-optimistic, but I’m probably going to give Wednesday a shot next week. Even if it does scream “Tim Burton really wants to have his own version of Harry Potter!”.

      • Michael Malaise

        The previews are far better than I had expected.

    • Fatty Bolger

      I watched a season and a half of LK, but just couldn’t get into it for some reason.

    • Compelled Speechless

      Shoresy was also pretty great. It was like Letterkenny with a plot that went through multiple episodes. I’m with people who think either of those are hard to get into, but once you do, they’re some of the funniest shows on TV.

    • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

      Dang – not in time for Xmas or my dad’s birthday

  18. DEG

    SoHo forum debate: Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and Sten Vermund debate whether the COVID lockdowns were a deadly mistake.

    • SDF-7

      Heh… yeah, that was a pretty good one.

    • B.P.

      I assume Ocasio Cortez is just catering to her voter base: Tweenagers spending their parents’ money on concert tickets.

    • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

      Political expediency?

      • Shiny Nerfherder

        *golf clap*

      • Fatty Bolger

        No, she’s a straight shooter.

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        That quote you posted below is not new information. She had been aware of the idea of arms being a check on government for years.

        I’m just still not on board with her.

      • R C Dean

        Me neither. There’s some “both sides” stuff in there (“it was just a political football”). There’s some stuff I just don’t believe (“the Dems used to support gun rights”). And I’m just not see much of a basis for a real change of heart from signing onto every Dem gun control proposal to where she says she is now. She tries to portray the Dems as only recently becoming extreme on gun rights, but I’m pretty sure that’s BS. She can recite the 2A talking points, which is trivially easy, but you don’t do a 180 on an issue like that for really not much a reason.

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        She can recite the 2A talking points

        Yeah, it comes across as someone feeding her the ideas because she doesn’t quite (yet?) understand the core principle.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Our rights shall not be infringed.

        Like 86 FOPA restrictions, Brady Act background checks, 68 GCA, the NFA? Those infringements, Tulsi? How about red flag laws.

        Note also she repeats the muskets only and sidesteps that too is a lie.

      • prolefeed

        “Our rights shall not be infringed …

        … more than is politically expedient.”

        When she starts talking about how banning machine guns is an intolerable infringement, then I’ll be convinced she understands the meaning of infringment.

      • robc

        –There’s some stuff I just don’t believe (“the Dems used to support gun rights”).

        Some did. The Blue Dogs and etc. Wasn’t there a pretty liberal WI senator with a strong NRA rating for years? I forget his name.

        Even back in 2002, there was an interesting fight overheard from the Senate campaign located in the office next to mine. The son of the candidate running about McConnell was a pro-gun, redneck Dem and he got in a loud argument with the DC consultant who was helping them out. The son, rightly, pointed out that if the candidate took a anti-gun position, she had no chance. Of course, she had no chance against McConnell anyway, but whatever.

        The son was an idiot, but was right on this one issue. The consultant was a pretty cool guy, had some conversations with him, but he was far left.

      • DEG

        Bernie Sanders used to oppose gun control before he decided to move onto the national stage. Before he moved onto the national stage, he opposed gun control because he knew Vermont voters at the time would kick him out. About when he moved onto the national stage is when things started to change with respect to guns in Vermont, so you combine the two to have Bernie “evolve” on guns to turn into a supporter of gun control.

      • Unreconstructed

        I can definitely understand the hesitancy, but it sure seems nice to me to see a former advocate of Bad Things ™ publicly supporting a freedom-friendly position. While there are certainly hardcore partisans that will dismiss her output because she’s renounced their team, but if she continues to write effectively and persuasively, she could actually sway some peoples’ opinions, and that can’t hurt.

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        I’m all for people actually changing their minds. My spidey sense is telling me this is a wolf in sheep’s clothing or, like I said, expediency. It’ll take a lot of real actions on her part to convince me, but since she doesn’t actually hold office at this time, there’s no way for her to prove herself, so I’ll just wait and see.

      • Unreconstructed

        I certainly understand that position, and feel the same way. Just looking at it from a holistic perspective, there are some positives that we shouldn’t overlook.

      • juris imprudent

        It’s a nasty dilemma – is this sincere or a skin-suiting? Obviously the former you don’t want to chill because it might be imperfect, and the latter you have to constantly guard against the inevitable subversion.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Definitely political expediency. It’s copypasta 2nd A talking points.

        She very briefly blames her previous anti-2nd A on her childhood upbringing and the big bad Democrats in DC. No accountability taken.

        This isn’t some joe-schmoe in a bar that thought guns were icky but went shooting with a buddy and is now on board. This is a Congressional leader who proudly boasted for years about an F rating from the NRA. Where is her apology to all of her constituents during all of those years who couldn’t buy firearms. The women who were raped without defense. The innocents assaulted and mugged without a way to fight back. Because of her.

        Instead of taking accountability, she does staged “look at me, guns are cool now” photo-ops at the gun range. She’s a snake. Just a marginally better looking one than the others in DC.

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        Tulsi: Hey, I wanna be a Republican now

        RNC: YAS KWEEN

        RNC: You kinda have to give lip service to the 2nd Amendment if you want to be a success, tho

        Tulsi: * sighs * OK what do I need to say

      • R.J.

        *Frankenstein voice
        “GUNS GOOD! PENIS BAD! GRIFTERS ALSO BAD! RAAAAGH!”

      • Tundra

        Spot on.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Second, our founders had a profound understanding of human nature – and the ease with which power could corrupt. To safeguard the very freedoms they had fought so valiantly to obtain, they realized the American people would need to be well-armed; as this would be the single most effective deterrent against government tyranny. President Biden recently mocked this notion, claiming that Americans would need F-15 fighter jets to successfully fend off our government. The bone chilling casualness with which our President quips about deploying the military against American citizens aside, Biden is misreading the intent of the second amendment. It exists to serve as a check on the power of a tyrannical government. With more than 81 million gun owners in America, any path to dictatorship would be met with armed resistance and unimaginable bloodshed, and so, our government will be very reluctant to cross that line. That is the very definition of a deterrent. When you disarm the people, that deterrent no longer exists and it becomes much easier to succumb to the temptations of tyranny.

      Hear, hear!

      • tarran

        With more than 81 million gun owners in America, any path to dictatorship would be met with armed resistance and unimaginable bloodshed, and so, our government will be very reluctant to cross that line

        ROFL. After the success of the COVID lockdowns, the notion that American gun-owners will prevent dictatorship in America really needs to be thrown on the ash-heap of history. If this fantasy regarding the 2nd amendment were true, Dr Birx, Dr Fauci, Mrs. Dr Fauci, and Trump’s bullet ridden corpses would have been displayed hanging from their feet at a BP station in Washington DC over a year ago.

  19. R.J.

    Thank you for these links, dearest Tonio.
    I may have had a martini already. Might be fun tonight for the movie.

    • Shiny Nerfherder

      Unavailable

      • Tundra

        Reload. It’s there.

      • Shiny Nerfherder

        Ah, there it is.

        Fink, I hope he lost his ass on FTX, that would amuse me to no end.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Unreal.

    • Shiny Nerfherder

      I’ve been listening to Tom Luongo and another podcast, Hidden Forces, about FTX.

      What an incredible shitshow. With any luck it will take down some politicians along with it.

      • juris imprudent

        Those politicians will assemble phalanxes of fall-guys all as human shields.

    • rhywun

      Is there an underground villain lair big enough to hold all those egos while they plot to put the rest of us in the poorhouse?

    • R.J.

      Fuck ’em FUCK ‘EM FUUUUUUUUUUCK!
      Hmm! A couple martinis and I am ready to wring some pencil necks! How about that?

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Tomboys are awesome.

    -end of message-

    • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

      Yes, we are

    • R.J.

      My daughter is a tomboy. She is not a tranny, Leftists can fuck right off.

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        I was telling my dad – if I were in school these days, some teacher or guidance counselor would be telling me I was a boy in a girl’s body.

      • B.P.

        And probably doing so relentlessly.

  21. Count Potato

    “EXCLUSIVE: Ex-girlfriend blamed by Sam Bankman-Fried for failed FTX wrote about her ‘foray into poly,’ being in a ‘Chinese harem,’ thinks men are ‘cute’ if they ‘controlled most major world governments’ – AND admits crypto is ‘mostly scams and memes'”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11439589/Sam-Bankman-Frieds-ex-girlfriend-wrote-polyamorous-said-crypto-scam.html

    “Bombshell court filing claims Bahamas GOVERNMENT ordered fallen crypto CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to hack FTX systems and transfer assets to the island nation AFTER he filed for bankruptcy”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11441311/Bombshell-court-filing-suggests-Sam-Bankman-Fried-transferred-digital-assets-Bahamas-government.html

    I’m getting tired of this story.

    • Shiny Nerfherder

      Don’t get tired of this one. It’s epic. And it is far from over. The contagion of the run on FTX is still spreading.

      • Count Potato

        It just seems too much not to be manufactured.

    • Shiny Nerfherder

      I’ve got to find it, but apparently there’s an interview out there where SBF described crypto as a black box yield generator, which is not much more than a description of a Ponzi scheme.

      His idea was to grab enough capital to overhaul the market, but he obviously didn’t care about investors. It was all about him. Pure narcissistic psychopath.

      • rhywun

        But he cared so much about solving the world’s problems!

    • B.P.

      “…being in a ‘Chinese harem,’ ”

      You go now.

      • B.P.

        Also, I’m beginning to wonder which is more fake: The crypto Ponzi scheme itself, or the sexual escapades these two fuglies are constantly going on about.

    • tarran

      The enemy classes are not composed of impressive people.

      • Shiny Nerfherder

        Impressively brazen. I wasn’t familiar with SBF, but as I’m learning about him I fail to see how you could possibly think his operation was legit.

      • Compelled Speechless

        I assumed the NFL had vetted him when they let him buy ad space during the Superbowl. Is that not something they do?

      • B.P.

        Weren’t half the NFL stadiums named after defunct companies when the dot-com bubble burst?

      • rhywun

        And they are again.

      • juris imprudent

        The guy behind We-work is back in the market raising funds for some new business.

        Do not underestimate the power of stupid money to find hucksters.

    • R.J.

      I’m not! Please to take down our overlords!

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

      I am just going to say it; Bankman-Fraud had zero control over the “company”, which was solely a means of money laundering for the D’s. He is a fall guy, plain and simple. And he was completely controlled by whats-her-name. She was his handler.

      • R.J.

        Yep. Money stolen from good people to fund the democrats. To hell with them all.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    If women had the same rights as guns

    Keep them locked in a closet when you’re not using them?

    Dude…

    • SDF-7

      Nobody puts Baby AR-15 in a closet!

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Individualists not wanted

    “You cannot be pro-LGTBQ, pro-BLM, pro-sustainability, and anti-union,” Michelle Eisen, a barista at a Starbucks store in Buffalo who participated in one of those sessions, said in a statement from the union. “This Red Cup Day, we’re organizing for a voice on the job and a true seat at the table.”

    At least 111 stores are participating in the strike, the union representing Starbucks workers said, and the union is even handing out their own branded red cups on the picket line.

    No justice, no liquid candy.

    • Shiny Nerfherder

      Everybody knows the union members are pro-bestiality

    • Nephilium

      Local news picked up on the strike since two CLE area stores were striking.

      In other news, Caribou coffee has re-entered the outskirts of Cleveland by opening a new location in Warren.

    • rhywun

      Oh no. Please don’t close.

    • R.J.

      Of course the cups are red. Commies.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Maybe she’s right. I’m anti all those things, at least as she probably interprets it.

      • R.J.

        Me too.
        “Hey everybody! Free helicopter rides for everyone!”

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Impressively brazen. I wasn’t familiar with SBF, but as I’m learning about him I fail to see how you could possibly think his operation was legit.

    Like that WeWork idiot (who now has a new gig, apparently). Why wold anybody fund that buffoon?

    • Shiny Nerfherder

      You’re shitting me.

      I must be subconsciously Amish or something because all of those guys set off my alarms.

      • B.P.

        Knock on wood, but I seem to be immune from these slick investment products. A lot of them have me tilting my head and thinking, “Now how is that supposed to generate revenue again?”

      • B.P.

        Also, I suppose I don’t run with a bunch of high-rolling “friends” who graciously invite me to invest heavily in their crooked schemes.

      • R.J.

        When I grew up, my mother told me the safest investment was a savings account. Keep in mind, this was the 70s and 80s so those actually paid interest. There is not a goddamn thing you can invest in nowadays that is safe. Other than your self. So I work hard to make my own goddamn money, and screw anyone’s investment ideas.

      • Nephilium

        You know… I’ve got this idea that will guarantee returns, but you need to act quickly before the opportunity window closes…

        Seriously, I’ve been trying to figure out where to park extra cash for the past two years. So far, the leading options seem to be metals, land, and experiences (since the memories remain, and the inflation will eat the money bit by bit).

      • R.J.

        We need to start a brewery.

      • Count Potato

        The real money is going to be in quaaludes.

      • robc

        Yeah…no.

      • Mojeaux

        Food and medical supplies.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      I’m guessing these VCs don’t want to look stupid and ask, “Hold on. I don’t understand WTF you are doing. Explain it to me again.”

      • juris imprudent

        You dig the Emperors new coat, don’t you?

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Reading that article about how understaffed and poorly managed all those Starbucks stores are, my reaction is it’s time to consolidate. Shut down about a third of them.

    • R.J.

      Oh yeah. It’s like Allstate offices. There are ones every other block. Serious over saturation.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    It’s a goose, and it lays golden eggs; let’s eat it!

    The UK government is hiking a windfall tax on oil and gas companies and extending the levy to electricity generators, as it scrambles to balance its budget amid an economic downturn. It is also investing in nuclear power for the first time in decades.

    UK finance minister Jeremy Hunt announced the measures on Thursday while delivering the government’s medium-term budget, which laid out plans for higher taxes and cuts to public spending.

    Beginning January 1, the Energy Profits Levy on oil and gas companies will increase from 25% to 35% and remain in place until the end of March 2028. That takes the total tax on the sector to 75%, according to the Treasury.

    Fucking incentives- how do they work?

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      And those are the Conservatives?

    • rhywun

      Yeah, stick it to the kkkorporations!

    • Gustave Lytton

      Tax exiles leaving the UK have been memory holes. History begins today.

      • Michael Malaise

        Paging U2, The Rolling Stones, The Who …

  27. robc

    From the EA article someone linked to this morning, I thought this was the best bit:

    1. Genius creators make a discovery. Their fans get them. Together, they become something.

    2. Normies realize something exciting is happening and join for the party, even if they don’t quite understand what’s going on.

    3. Sociopaths smell opportunity, swoop to exploit it, and outcompete the natives.

    • R.J.

      That seems to be a universal lesson for the world.

    • slumbrew

      That was a great read.

    • Michael Malaise

      I am not a gun guy but this was pretty fascinating to watch.