Sunday Morning Guess Who’s Birthday It Is? Links

by | Dec 25, 2022 | Daily Links | 192 comments

The one day a year when (((I))) can point and make fun without fear of being thrown down a well. Until tomorrow. It’s actually been pretty quiet here, between the students being gone and the weather being unfriendly, unless you like windy, bitter cold and whiteout conditions. The dog I’m sitting has refused to go out for almost three days, and his bladder has to be as distended as Lizzo’s gunt. No matter, I acknowledge that it’s December 25, and wish all of you a Merry Chilly Goy Day.

But despite the supposed holiday, (((we))) at least have to acknowledge birthdays, which today include a guy with some gravity; the star of Naughty Nurses: The Original, whose career arc was typical of “non-profit” leaders, and had a country estate almost next door to us; a woman who was made up; the progenitor of many generations of shitty cars; an actor who was typecast and did great with it; another guy I’d be happy to do some lines with; a guy who did great and was rewarded for it as expected; a short guy with an outsized impact; a quarterback who was always amazing fun to watch; a Team Red piece of shit who still plagues us; a contender for the best all-around baseball player since Ruth; and a bearded Zoolander, who got his father’s ethics and his mother’s intellect.

Let’s get a-linkin’.

 

Wait, didn’t we do this story last week?

 

I’m still not sure if anyone is bothering to follow this sideshow anymore.

 

My predictions are going mainstream.

 

Build that wall!

 

How about let anybody have a beard? Why does it have to only be an option because of religion?

 

Putting aside the now-obligatory affirmation that sex isn’t binary but a “spectrum,” this is actually pretty cool research.

 

This is my favorite Christmas song ever. It’s the only one I’m aware of with Joseph’s POV and dealing with the practicalities of actually having the baby Jesus. And don’t let the pic fool you- Maggie doesn’t sing this, she’s just the eye candy Southpaw uses to sell albums.

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.

192 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

    • SDF-7

      Merry Christmas all — something I can share with the rest of you curmudgeons, especially since I’m still on the younger side of this group.

      Don’t know if it was because the last two weeks of work (after I did the online shopping) was fairly busy or a sign of impending cognitive decline (hope not! 😉 ) — but when unboxing my lazy-enough-to-select-gift-options-ordering presents for the family… I realized I didn’t remember most of what I got them. ;P At least I’ll share in their surprise later today….

      Since most of y’all are over in the gelid side of the country, stay safe – stay warm – enjoy your loved ones, whoever / whatever / from whatever warped space-time dimension they are. Thanks for the snark this past year. Renew my request for a non-Paypal / check address or something… still don’t want to do any business with them again.

      • Pat

        It would only take one string of text inside an HTML paragraph block to implement Monero or Bitcoin donations… just sayin’

      • R.J.

        Call Swiss, then get crackin.’ That would be a great Christmas present for Glibs.

      • Ted S.

        The best way to get Swiss’ attention is with a pun thread.

      • Swiss Servator

        The Glib Foundation treasurer must be consulted. I am the General Counsel.
        We have the bank end of this to consider as well.

      • Pat

        A wallet address controlled by the members of the Glibs legal structure is all the backend you need to do crypto donations (you could host the wallet anywhere). Copy the address in a p block on the donations page, and people can send any amount they desire (stroll to the bottom of the DistroWatch page for an example). Of course, to convert that to fiat you’d need a Glibs corporate account on an exchange. Unless our host accepts crypto – few do. e

  2. Rat on a train

    Maligayang Pasko

  3. Pat

    a short guy with an outsized impact;

    I’ve been meaning to watch Night Gallery since I downloaded it 2 years ago…

  4. Pat

    I’m still not sure if anyone is bothering to follow this sideshow anymore.

    WDATPDIM?

    • SDF-7

      Well, it let JI gloat some yesterday from what I saw on a quick links perusal. Other than that, not much it seems.

      • juris imprudent

        Not gloating my friend, more despairing about how desperate people can be to believe in some thing. And alternately frustrated by the cynicism of the uni-party (and this I can partake in) mixed with the expectation that Republicans are somehow supposed to make things right. It’s a big stew of stupid if you ask me, and I don’t like the taste of it, not even the smell coming from the kitchen.

      • Pat

        despairing about how desperate people can be to believe in some thing

        I haven’t really followed this particular lawsuit, but I do believe elections in the United States are a complete and utter joke. I think to place any faith in the results of elections run by the people who brought you the DMV and the Post Office requires a lot more desperation than skepticism. And I’ve held that view ever since I lived through the Gregoire v. Rossi election in WA that set the template for the entire nation going forward. It’s not a Trump bugaboo.

      • juris imprudent

        Incompetence in the performance of governmental duties? Heaven forbid! Yeah, I’m totally with you on that – so sure, you could mix in some corruption (soft or hard), and it could be all but impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins. And as long as enough people are satisfied with the results, guess what – we’re the crackpots.

      • Pat

        And as long as enough people are satisfied with the results, guess what – we’re the crackpots.

        Well we’re used to that

      • Gender Traitor

        🎵 Weeee’re on the island of misfit toooooooys… 🎶

      • Homple

        Satisfied, or resigned to being unable to do anything about it? Making a fuss over rigged elections is a good way to get yourself cast into outer darkness.

  5. Pat

    How about let anybody have a beard? Why does it have to only be an option because of religion?

    Because the military is about discipline and conformity. Some things just don’t align well with our individualist liberty maximalism.

    • SDF-7

      I thought it also made gas masks almost impossible to seal properly.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        That’s definitely the case, it’s also a convenient thing to grab in a hand to hand fight.

      • Pat

        The evidence is inconclusive. Prohibitions on facial hair date back to the revolution though – gas masks certainly weren’t the reason then. It’s more about uniformity.

      • juris imprudent

        Lack of shaving didn’t seem to impede the Civil War.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Or the Israeli army.

      • juris imprudent

        I have the distinct impression that a fair portion of the IDF shaves, at least their legs. 😉

      • Drake

        This – that guy is dead in a gas attack. He won’t enjoy training sessions in the gas chamber either.

        A certain German WWI vet started a trend of even trimming his mustache really close to make sure he got a good seal on his mask.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Always thought that practice was a remnant of the old Roman policy of short hair and shaved faces for their troops in order to reduce body lice. Doesn’t seem necessary in today’s world. Maybe out in the shit it might still be a practical practice, I don’t know.

    • Lackadaisical

      Just putting it out there that our military might benefit from Sikh soldiers, their whole religion seems based (or at least strongly encourages) on armed resistance.

  6. Pat

    Merry Christmas to the collective gliberati. Continuing an annual tradition begun during my hiatus, I will quote from the gospel of Luke, reminding us that this is, after all, a religious holiday. Today we venerate the birth, paraphrasing C.S. Lewis, of either the son of God and savior of humanity, or the most influential and important lunatic who ever lived.

    In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

    And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

    1“Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

    When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

    And a happy 7th night of Chanukah to those so celebrating. 2,186 years later Jerusalem remains free of Seleucids, but that’s all the more reason to remain vigilant.

    • SDF-7

      Thank you for sparing us Matthew and the begats. That’s one that always tries to put me to sleep if they’re crazy enough to read it at Midnight Mass. Merry Christmas, Pat.

      • Pat

        The lineage was important in that time since they were pitching the Messiah to fellow Jews, but there’s no reason to include it in a Christmas service in the current year. Luke is my favorite gospel in any case. Mark is a pale imitation of Luke, and John is shot through with historical inaccuracies and bizarre embellishments of events better recorded in the rest of the gospels. Of course, being the latest chronologically, Luke had a chance to synthesize the extant texts and oral histories more cohesively.

      • juris imprudent

        John is the most hellenistic of the gospels, from the very first sentence.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Thank you, Linus Van Pelt. 😉

    • Tundra

      Thanks, Pat! Just got done reading Luke, my favorite. We seem to have a similar translation.

      Merry Christmas!

      • Pat

        That’s from the ESV. I grew up with the NIV, but prefer the more literalist NASB and ESV nowadays.

      • Tundra

        I believe my NT translation is from the NKJ.

    • Lackadaisical

      ‘Jerusalem remains free of Seleucids, but that’s all the more reason to remain vigilant.’

      I wouldn’t put it past the Greeks.

    • Chafed

      The IDF waves hello.

  7. Count Potato

    “I’m still not sure if anyone is bothering to follow this sideshow anymore.”

    I don’t know who is still following it, but electing someone who can’t run an election to run an entire state is still stupid.

    • R C Dean

      She has run the last two elections exactly as she was supposed to.

      It is a sideshow. The courts are completely unsuited to unscrewing a stolen election (if any). The idiot Repubs in AZ refused to fix the elections after 2020 because they didn’t want to get any Trumpist election denier stink on themselves, and now they can kiss major statewide offices goodbye for the foreseeable future.

      • Zwak, who has his own double cross to bear.

        Best laid plans of mice and men.

        The ballot counts, which “surprisingly” didn’t happen, along with the SOS’s conflict of interest should, in any lawful society, be enough to prove Lakes case, but the powers that be are going to push this as far as they can, not realizing that Pandora’s box is wide open.

      • juris imprudent

        Sloppy election processes may be the lesser of our real worries these days. And as far as partisan consideration, the Dems have denied election results themselves, cough 2000 cough.

      • Lackadaisical

        Even 16…

        Russia stole the election after all.

      • Zwak, who has his own double cross to bear.

        Nuh uh!! /Dem partisan.

        But, all joking aside, we all know they have, see HRC, Stacy Abrams Tank, algore, and so on. Every close election spurs denial by the loser, no matter the party affiliation. And we know how to get out of this: voter ID, no mail in voting, and so on. There are people who are in positions of power who want to keep the ability to put their thumbs on the scale. We see this with the FBI and Twitter (as show explicitly by Taibbi), and that is leading to all social and mainstream media, as pointed out by Pat in other parts of this mornings thread. But far too many people do not want to take these issues seriously, or even allow mention that there is a problem. But, as I said, Pandora’s box is wide open at this point, and they need something to either pull us back from more and more people looking sideways at any election results or suffer the complete loss of credibility that they rely on to keep the masses docile.

  8. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Trump third party: I think Trump would cut a deal with DeSantis to leave the race and endorse in a behind the scenes deal for a blanket pardon and ending the harassment he gets. Even that bonehead has to realize that alienating everyone is a losing proposition and he could pretend to be a kingmaker.

    • juris imprudent

      I suspect you give Trump too much credit.

      Just as I gave too much to Trump supporters – chatted last night with a neighbor who is still convinced that Trump is fabulously wealthy and that’s why he doesn’t pay income taxes.

      • R.J.

        Trump will get pissed if he is not the republican candidate, and he will go third party. And his chances of being the republican candidate are slim to none. No major republican wants him there.

      • R C Dean

        No major Repub wanted him the first time, either. They hate him so much they will throw away anything – legislative majorities, state offices, you name it – just to thwart him.

      • juris imprudent

        Or, do as Florida has done, and Virginia too. They won before without him, they can win again.

      • juris imprudent

        Georgia too I should add – where only the poor candidate who had Trump’s favor was the loser. Hmm, what could that possibly say?

      • Chafed

        It seems to me there is a growing portion of Republican voters who are done with him.

      • juris imprudent

        He won not by drawing in the Republican base, but by pulling in people that don’t normally vote (or vote Republican – he did after all collect some former Obama voters).

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The key would be to include non harassment of his kids. For all his faults he does seem to care for them.

      • Pat

        Perhaps my modest means inspire a provincial conception of “fabulously,” but by my standard I’d consider Trump fabulously wealthy, even in his current depleted condition. What that has to do with his income taxes, I know not.

      • juris imprudent

        Wealth usually gets reflected somewhat in income – unless you are land rich and dirt poor.

      • Pat

        I mean, his deal was branding and real estate. He can’t do branding anymore, so that probably puts him in the land rich cash poor category, for tax purposes anyway. In any case, I’d be ecstatic to be that broke some day.

      • juris imprudent

        Haven’t given it that much attention, but apparently he had something like a $700M loss some years back that he’s been carrying forward to offset then-current year taxable income. Just as the tax code allows – which is what makes all of the political carping (from the people responsible for tax law) all the more galling.

      • Atanarjuat

        I think he deducted some business losses to have a low overall rate and is highly leveraged like everyone in real estate. It became the basis of various attacks on Trump’s net worth and business acumen.

    • Drake

      Doesn’t matter one bit in national elections for the foreseeable future. There is no way anyone but a Dem wins with our current corrupt system.

      On the other hand, the sooner the Republican Party dies, the better.

  9. Ted S.

    an actor who was typecast and did great with it;

    I’ve never understood why the Betty Persky/Humphrey Methot relationship is supposed to be *the* Hollywood romance to end all Hollywood romances.

  10. Pat

    This is my favorite Christmas song ever. It’s the only one I’m aware of with Joseph’s POV and dealing with the practicalities of actually having the baby Jesus.

    An unique perspective. I hate that vocal styling though. Interestingly, the historical evidence suggests Joseph and Jesus would probably have been stone masons or builders. Tekton can refer to a whole host of different craftsmen, and Nazareth was geographically much more suited to a mason than a woodworker.

  11. R.J.

    Merry Christmas whippersnappers!

    OMWC, I see some towns are banning driving due to the storms. Hope you are not being detained.

      • R.J.

        A classic.

      • SDF-7

        Audit the Audit gives that chicken an A+. 😉

    • Old Man With Candy

      Only voluntarily. I just don’t want to leave the house. Fortunately, I’m well-stocked.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      And then nothing happened because half of the country is fine with all of this as long as it isn’t targeting them and reform is viewed by those who would be doing the reforming as a diminution of their power and influence. We’re in trouble.

    • Count Potato

      More here:

      “Didn’t they have anything better to do?! Latest Twitter Files show how FBI inundated social media network with so many requests to tackle obscure accounts posting ‘misinformation’ that staffers had to triage Bureau’s emails”

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11572377/Latest-Twitter-Files-FBI-inundated-social-media-site-requests-tackle-obscure-accounts.html

      At least I hope it means I won’t have to hear any more “it’s a private company” nonsense, which was always flat out retarded.

      • Atanarjuat

        I’m not convinced they’ve stopped, either.

      • juris imprudent

        Oh they’ve flipped the “private company” narrative completely – now it’s all about how it is a public platform and Musk is destroying it’s credibility as one. The fuckers never stick to a losing message – they move right on regardless of how illogical or idiotic the messages are (old or new). The hobgoblin of small minds these days is mercurial belief, not any kind of consistency.

    • Atanarjuat

      Not only were they furiously censoring true information at home, the Pentagon was aggressively disseminating lies abroad. Twitter did not stop them as it claims to do or attach the “government-affiliated account” label that it gives to Russian and Chinese media.

      https://theintercept.com/2022/12/20/twitter-dod-us-military-accounts/

    • Atanarjuat

      Funny, if you look at the Twitter accounts blamed for associating Ukraine with Nazis (point #42), it’s a bunch of high profile anti-war activists and journalists, but also “JoeBiden” and “POTUS”.

  12. Tundra

    Merry Christmas!

    Sorry it’s still brutal there. Tell King to man up and drag his three-legged carcass outside.

    Then give him some steak because he’s a good boy!

    I have no idea why I woke up so early today. It’s like a ghost of Christmas past.

    What’s everyone got on the schedule today?

    • Pat

      What’s everyone got on the schedule today?

      I’m actually up late, not early, so I’ll be in bed soon, up in the afternoon, drinking Woodford Reserve, watching the last of my Christmas movies, and eating some nice ham to celebrate the birth of the world’s most famous Jew…

    • juris imprudent

      Got the bacon cooked for breakfast, pancakes going on once Mrs. JI awakens (she’s a sleepyhead). Nothing in particular for the two of us to do, but there is a nice small prime rib roast to be cooked for the evening feast.

      • Tundra

        Nice.

        Got some bacon-wrapped filets in the fridge for later. Looks like a lazy day on tap for us too.

      • Swiss Servator

        “bacon-wrapped filets”

        What time shall I be there?

    • Zwak, who has his own double cross to bear.

      Well, I get up at my usual time, 5am, sitting around until the wife gets up, 8am. Then she has to finish waking up, 10am. After that it’s stockings, which is all we are doing, as we are adults who buy ourselves what we want and need during the year. Then its dog park, cutting some wood for a machine base, calling my son, dinner and beer.

      Oh, I need to reinstall a toilet somewhere in there too.

    • Chafed

      Take my old boy to the dog park, make him (and me) some pancakes, then football mixed with a nap.

  13. Gender Traitor

    Good morning, Merry Christmas, and happy Last Night of Hanukkah (if I’m doing the math right) Old Man, Count, SDF-F, Roat, Pat, Stinky, RCD, JI, R.J., Ted’S, and Tundra!

    who got his father’s ethics and his mother’s intellect.

    Which father?

    • juris imprudent

      Morning and Merry Christmas GT.

      You could kick off quite a debate on nature versus nurture with that question.

    • Pat

      Last Night of Hanukkah (if I’m doing the math right)

      The festivities end tomorrow at sunset, but Jewish days start at sunset, so now I’m not sure.

      • Chafed

        Tonight is the last night.

  14. robodruid

    Merry Christmas to ever Glib and non-glib.
    May you be warm and well fed today.

    • Gender Traitor

      Merry Christmas, ‘bodru, you good shepherd you! 🐏🐑

  15. Yusef drives a Kia

    Im just gonna daydrink in my room,
    Lonely sucks

    • Tundra

      We’re a click away, brother.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Thanks Tundra,

    • R.J.

      Indeed. Later tonight I’ll be on Zoom. Come say hi.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        That would be interesting

    • Sean

      *waves*

      🎄🎀⛄

      🍻

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Ho ho ho.

    • Tundra

      Next, on the Hallmark Channel: “Brooksie and His Three Hos”

  17. Pat

    The truth about Covid McCarthyism

    There were two viruses that the authorities wanted to control in 2020 and 2021. The first was the virus of Covid-19. The second was the virus of dissent. Throughout the pandemic, experts referred to lockdown scepticism and Covid misinformation as their own kind of disease, as a contagious malady that might sicken the masses’ minds as surely as Covid sickened their bodies. British politicians referred to a ‘pandemic of misinformation’. We must protect people both from ‘physical disease and the “disease of misinformation”’, scientists insisted. ‘False information has plagued the Covid response’, said one academic. Plagued – what a striking choice of verb. And if contrary ideas are an infection in the body politic, then it’s clear what the cure must be: censorship.

    Nearly three years on from the start of the pandemic, it’s apparent that censorship was central to lockdown. It wasn’t only our everyday lives that were forcibly put on hold – so was our right to say certain things and even think certain things. In the US, Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who was fawned over by the liberal media for his handling of Covid, has been deposed in a lawsuit that accuses him and the Biden administration more broadly of colluding with Big Tech to undermine the American people’s speech rights during the pandemic. The lawsuit is brought by the attorney general of Missouri, Eric Schmitt. The transcript of the questioning of Fauci was released earlier this month. It’s a frustrating read. Fauci continually says he doesn’t recall or doesn’t know in response to questions about his alleged role in suppressing speech in the Covid era. But it seems clear that, informally at least, he helped to devise and enforce the parameters of acceptable thought during the pandemic.

    Consider the Great Barrington Declaration. Fauci had high-ranking discussions about how to counteract this open letter that raised ‘grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental-health impacts of the prevailing Covid-19 policies’. Freedom-of-information requests show that Fauci was asked by officials to engage in a ‘quick and devastating takedown’ of the GBD. He hopped to it. He ‘jumped into action to smear and discredit the GBD in the media’, as one account describes it. This included writing off the GBD’s authors – Martin Kulldorff, Sunetra Gupta and Jay Bhattacharya – as ‘fringe epidemiologists’ who were peddling ‘nonsense’. We know now that Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford, was subsequently shadow-banned on Twitter and even added to its McCarthyite ‘Trends Blacklist’, meaning his tweets would never make it into ‘trending topics’. The algorithm weaponised against a heretical professor who had been publicly denounced by Fauci.

    Was Fauci directly responsible for Twitter’s blacklisting of Bhattacharya? It’s not clear. There’s certainly no proof of Fauci putting in a phone call to Vijaya Gadde or any of the other authoritarians who were in charge of the censorious hellscape that was pre-Musk Twitter and demanding they silence this thoughtcriminal. But there does seem to have been a political trickle-down effect, as one writer describes it. Fauci issues a decree about what is true and what is false in relation to Covid and it swiftly becomes gospel among Big Tech overlords – that was the pattern. In this instance, Fauci engaged in a ‘systematic discrediting’ of expert dissenters on lockdown and it ‘trickled down to social media’ so that these people’s ideas were ‘labelled “Covid misinformation” and censored by content moderators’.

    […]

    We need to talk about this. We live in supposedly free societies and yet anyone who dissented from the state view on Covid faced being blacklisted and silenced. It kind of doesn’t matter whether Fauci ‘colluded’ with Big Tech. It’s still the case that it was very difficult indeed for citizens in one of the few public spaces they could freely access during the pandemic – the internet – to dissent from the state’s view. Worse, there was a neo-imperial element to this online redaction of deviation from Fauci’s diktats. Social-media companies globalised the official US view on Covid so that even poor souls in London or Paris or Melbourne found themselves suspended – banished from the public square – for making a comment that holy Anthony Fauci might disapprove of.

    In the UK, where we have no First Amendment, the link between the state and social-media censure was far clearer. It’s now known that Matt Hancock, health secretary during the pandemic, directly contacted chiefs of Big Tech and pressured them to shut down ‘misinformation’. As early as January 2020 his special adviser was speaking with Twitter about ‘tweaking their algorithms’. Hancock also ‘personally texted’ Nick Clegg, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats who was then vice-president of global affairs at Facebook, to encourage him to control online discussion. Clegg, in the words of Isabel Oakeshott, was ‘happy to oblige’. Hancock wanted Clegg to clamp down on anti-vax comments in particular. One MP, in July 2020, hysterically referred to vax-bashing as an ‘ideological dirty bomb waiting to go off’. That’s how our rulers view the free flow of ideas – as a nuclear-level danger, liable to kill or infect thousands.

    The Hancock-Clegg love-in over suppressing certain Covid ideas shows how incestuous the new oligarchy is. Here we had a serving politician gabbing with a former politician about using his extraordinary power as an overseer of the global conversation to sideline certain voices. It all took place beyond the realm of democratic accountability, even beyond the realm of the state. Instead a public official conspired with the employee of a private company to curb what millions could see and hear online. There was no need for a law to suppress dissent: the state view on all things Covid was just casually, informally enforced on every gadget we own, thanks to a politician we voted out of office five years ago. Sinister stuff.

    • rhywun

      it swiftly becomes gospel

      The beauty of having completed the march through the institutions is that everybody knows their role without having to be directed from above anymore. There is no need for any smoking guns and therefore none will be found.

    • Chafed

      I really enjoy that limey. He will say what’s on his mind come hell or high-water.

  18. Tundra

    Daily Quordle 335
    6️⃣4️⃣
    5️⃣7️⃣

    • Pat

      Daily Quordle 335
      8️⃣4️⃣
      5️⃣7️⃣

    • rhywun

      BR can DIAF. Humbug.

      Daily Quordle 335
      🟥4️⃣
      5️⃣9️⃣

      • kinnath

        agreed

      • Grummun

        Also chumped on BR. Who cares about the rest.

      • Grosspatzer

        Merry Christmas, BR. Bah.

        Daily Quordle 335
        5️⃣3️⃣
        6️⃣🟥
        quordle.com

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Peace and goodwill to all men

    A leading member of the Jan. 6 select committee said Friday he “really would be surprised” if Attorney General Merrick Garland doesn’t act on the panel’s criminal referrals and indict former President Donald Trump for his conduct relating to the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

    “I do think it’s very important that we establish that it’s not just foot soldiers but kingpins who are prosecuted,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who announced criminal referrals against Trump and others for possible violations of four federal statutes at the committee’s last hearing. “And it’s just wrong to send hundreds of foot soldiers to jail and leave the very clear kingpins unprosecuted.”

    Speaking on the final episode of Yahoo News’ “Skullduggery” podcast, Raskin added that Trump “conspired to defraud the government [and] American people. He traded an honest election for a profoundly corrupt and fraudulent election with counterfeit electors. … And he aided and assisted and gave aid and comfort to insurrectionists at multiple points. … I’m very serious about him facing the consequences and paying for the cost of his actions.”

    So serious, Raskin said, that Trump could spend “the remaining days of his misanthropic life behind bars, presumably with Secret Service agents. … I mean, would [the Secret Service agents] be standing outside the bars, or would they be inside the bars? Who knows?”

    Oh, how we hates him.

    • Tundra

      I’m reading Malice’s White Pill right now. Funny how this shit mirror almost exactly the ’30s Soviet Union.

      • juris imprudent

        Both are essentially identical to that other political form of the 30s.

      • Count Potato

        I wonder if there will be a softcover version.

      • Tundra

        Not sure. His others did.

        I just got the Kindle version.

    • rhywun

      Who’s going to tell them that he can still run for Pres even from behind bars?

  20. AlexinCT

    Merry Christmas Glibronis!

  21. Tonio

    Also, since today is Christmas Day, Glibs will be running an atypical Sunday schedule. Apologies in advance to authors and readers for the lack of prior notice. All times are server (US Central) times.

    11:00 AM – TOK brings us a very special Christmas story, his first foray into fiction.

    1:00 PM – IFLA

    3:00 PM – A very special edition of GlibFit.

    • R C Dean

      Many thanks to TPTB and the contributors. This little community means a lot to me.

      • Tundra

        Yes.

        I’m very grateful to all of you.

  22. Pat

    Scientists find secret to how glass frogs turn transparent

    A frog that turns itself mostly transparent while sleeping may hold clues for understanding blood clotting in humans.

    Scientists have long known about the glass frog but did not understand how it made itself see-through.

    Now research has discovered that it is able to pool blood in its body without being negatively affected by clots.

    The findings could advance medical understanding of dangerous blood clotting – a common serious condition.

    The glass frog – which is about the size of a marshmallow – spends its days sleeping on bright green leaves in the Tropics.

    In order to escape the attention of predators, the creature turns itself up to 61% transparent, disguising itself on the leaf.

    Now findings by Mr Delia and Carlos Taboada at Duke University, US have uncovered how the glass frogs perform this very unusual function.

    By shining different wavelengths of light through the animals while active and sleeping, the scientists measured their opacity. They discovered that the creatures pool blood into their liver.

    “They somehow pack most of the red blood cells in the liver, so they’re removed from the blood plasma. They’re still circulating plasma… but they do it somehow without triggering a massive clot,” Mr Delia explains.
    The frog has different levels of red blood cells circulating when asleep and when active

    Up to 89% of the animal’s blood cells become packed together, almost doubling the size of the liver, and allowing the frog to become transparent.

    Invisibility cloaks soon.

    • Tundra

      Neat!

    • Atanarjuat

      The glass frog – which is about the size of a marshmallow –

      Americans will do anything to avoid using the metric system*.

      *Which is a good thing.

      • Count Potato

        “which is about the size of a marshmallow”

        Because there is a standard size for marshmallows?

      • Pat

        While there is no international standard, “regular” (s’mores) “mini” (hot cocoa) and “jumbo” (type II diabetes) seem to be the main designations, and the brands are all fairly close. If no “mini” or “jumbo” is specified, I presume the size to be “regular” s’mores size. Banana for scale.

  23. EvilSheldon

    The lake is half frozen over. My parents are arguing over Wordle in the kitchen. I’m full of coffee and eggs Benedict. All is right with the world.

    Merry Christmas, everyone!

    • Tundra

      Merry Christmas, ES!

      46 degrees here already. Crazy.

  24. Atanarjuat

    The expatriation article has a graph of searches for “move to Canada”. All when you would expect – the election of Bush and Trump – but also a small bump when Biden was elected. Lefties? I can’t imagine Republicans seeing the Covid tyranny and considering that for a second.

    • Chafed

      That and their new restrictions on guns.

  25. PieInTheSky

    Merry Christmas glibbies

    • Tundra

      Merry Christmas, Pie!

      You at the lake?

      • PieInTheSky

        I am at my moms place there is a small lake

  26. Mojeaux

    “It Wasn’t His Child” by Trisha Yearwood.

    • Chafed

      I’m no fan of conspiracy theories but that is damn suspicious.

  27. Count Potato

    “After extensive research, I’ve concluded that for Santa to deliver presents to the billions of homes that celebrate Christmas, and to do so in one continuous night across 24 time zones, he & his reindeer must open wormholes through the fabric of spacetime between each delivery.”

    https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1606786528407158784

    SCIENCE!!!!

    • UnCivilServant

      Look, I know the impulse to try to feel like the smartest person in the room, but the end result is usually being a smartass. Nobody likes a smartass.

      • Zwak, who has his own double cross to bear.

        Nailed it.

        NDT is an ass.

      • Gender Traitor

        Yeah – screw NDT and that Asian guy whose name escapes me at the moment. Michelle Thaller is da bomb!

      • Not Adahn

        Michio Kaku?

      • Gender Traitor

        Yeah, that guy. All I could think of was Seiji Ozawa, and I knew THAT wasn’t right.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Productive

    On Friday, Congress wrapped a bow on two impressive achievements that make this one of the most consequential legislative sessions in recent memory. And it was all done without nuking the filibuster or attaining a 60-vote Senate majority, which many observers believed was the only way to jumpstart Congress.

    AP’s Lisa Mascaro wraps up the last two years with a nice look at what was achieved:

    “In many ways, the chaos of the Capitol attack created a new coalition in Congress — lawmakers who want to show America can govern. With President JOE BIDEN in the White House, the Democrats who controlled Washington found new partners in a wing of the Republican Party eager to push past the [DONALD] TRUMP years and the former president’s repeated lies about a stolen election that led to the Capitol siege.”

    Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER, for one, is giddy about the results: “These two years in the Senate and House — in the Congress — were either the most productive in 50 years [since the] Great Society, or most productive in 100 years since the New Deal.”

    We’re all giddy, now.

    • rhywun

      “Pray we don’t alter the Deal further.”

  29. UnCivilServant

    Minor game frustration – Devs put “Stealth takedown” and “ranged attack” on same button with two other features. Game decides based on context which to use. So if your target wanders one pixel out of stealth takedown range, you make a noisy, attention-grabbing ranged attack instead. The keymapping does not allow for separating these actions to different keys to that a failed stealth takedown does nothing instead.

    Why would you overload keyboard controls with ‘context actions’ so dramatically different which can screw over the player for such pointless errors. I know, I know, it’s the result of a lazy port from console code.

  30. Shpip

    Three-quarters of a lifetime ago, I was an aspiring classical organist. Going into a winter recital one year, my instructor decided that I needed a technical challenge — and found it in “For Unto Us A Child is Born,” from Messiah. The piece took me months to play semi-competently, and to my thinking, I never did master it. Maybe that’s the reason that it has remained one of my favorites through the succeeding decades.

    Bonus link of the same piece played on solo organ. It really makes for a great recessional during a Christmas Eve or Day service. Amazing how you can (almost) replace an entire orchestra and choir with ten fingers and two feet.

    • Pat

      Amazing how you can (almost) replace an entire orchestra and choir with ten fingers and two feet.

      These euphemisms, and on Christmas no less!

    • rhywun

      Nice. I’ve long assumed that organ playing involves some kind of sorcery not available to mere mortals.

      • Gender Traitor

        TT’s piano/organ teacher – who built a pipe organ in an addition onto his house – said you could play any darn thing you wanted during communion as long as you played it at about a quarter of the original tempo and in a minor key.

    • Mojeaux

      I absolutely flooooove that piece. I love the entire thing, but that one is special.

    • Timeloose

      I love pipe organs. They were the Marshal stack of the time. Powerful, awe inspiring music you could feel as well as hear.

      I worked for a eccentric wacko that built his house around two pipe organs he bought from old churches. He would play them like a hick Phantom of the Opera.

      I was fascinated by the mechanics of them. I could imagine the old one used tens of people to power them during a performance.

      • Shirley Knott

        The mechanics/mechanisms of old pipe organs are absolutely fascinating. Each key connected to a valve of sorts, each pipe of that pitch on that keyboard sharing a wind source. Stop knobs to open or close the wind to specific voices. A giant crossbar switch, if you will, built of wood, leather, and metal. All under the control of two hands/ten fingers, and two feet, in a console that engulfed the performer.

    • Grosspatzer

      Most excellent!

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Meanwhile, Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-N.Y.) voted against the bill and Rep. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-Mich.) voted “present”— by proxy! (Also: RIP proxy voting.) More from Sarah Ferris, Nick Wu and Olivia Beavers

    Not commie enough!

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      This and if it’d been a more narrow margin they’d have voted for it.

    • rhywun

      To be fair, she did state that she didn’t like the increased military funding or something. And supposedly the Dems “caved” in some manner regarding the southern border but I’ll believe that when I see it.

  32. westernsloper

    Build that wall!

    Searches for “move to Canada”. What kind of moron would think moving to Canada would be the best move to get away from perceived US tyranny?

    Merry Christmas!!!!

  33. The Late P Brooks

    According to the weather service, it’s 40 degrees outside. If the sun would just come out…

  34. Grosspatzer

    Mornin’, and a Merry Christmas to all!

    St. Nick and I have something in common – we are both avid pipe smokers. Well, I am; apparently the jolly old elf stopped smoking in 2012.

    Is nothing sacred?

    Santa’s pipe was an integral part of his identity until Canadian author Pamela McColl republished Clement Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (1823) and removed its mention of Santa’s pipe. She spent $200,000 to print 55,000 copies and declared to the New York Post, “Santa has stopped smoking, and 2012 is the year he quit, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.”

    There seems to be some hostility in that statement, perhaps because McColl knew there would be criticism. Her version removed the lines, “The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, / And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath.” She also removed the pipe and its smoke from illustrations. She did it for the children, but I’m not convinced that they care. I’ve not noticed thousands of school children smoking pipes or hoarding tobacco because Santa smokes a pipe in a poem.

    Thomas Bowdler lives, and identifies as female.

    • rhywun

      Santa shot first.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Headline:

    Don’t call 911 if your pipes are frozen.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Clement Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas”

    I read that as “Clayton Moore” at first, and wondered if Tonto was up on the roof holding the horses.

  37. Mojeaux

    WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY do I have to wait for my daughter to get up?!?!?!

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      What, you don’t own an airhorn?

    • Timeloose

      Firecrackers in a coffee can. You might need to clean some sheets and underwear afterwards.

    • Fourscore

      Hope she’s feeling better and can go back to work tomorrow.

    • PieInTheSky

      you don’t

  38. Timeloose

    Merry Christmas 🎁 Glibs!!!

    I hope you all enjoy your selves today, make others happy, and allow others to do the same for you!

    My MIL and Mrs. Time will be celebrating the early afternoon together, then we will be feasting with two California transplants who are new friends who would be eating Chinese normally this time of year.

    • Chafed

      +1 My people

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Tall Cans!
      Cheers pie🍻

      • PieInTheSky

        you cant drink beer for Christmas what would Jesus say/.

    • Timeloose

      I’m only drinking Kahlua and coffee right now. I’ll be drinking a super Tuscan and a few gin martinis later.

      • PieInTheSky

        super Tuscan – how untraditional . drink a Brunello like a proper person.

      • kinnath

        They both have their place in the world.

    • Not Adahn

      Tea. It was a Christmas present!

      • PieInTheSky

        what kind of tea

      • Not Adahn

        Congu (black). It’s apparently from Keemun province. Really quite good. Heavily fermented. Cocoa and gamey notes.

      • PieInTheSky

        at least put some rum in it

      • Not Adahn

        I was thinking brandy, but you’re right — rum would be better in this.

    • Tundra

      French roast.

      Straight up.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Same. A handful of snickerdoodles for a chaser.

  39. Not Adahn

    MERRY GLIBMAS EVERYONE!

    I am in such a good mood and I haven’t even begun drinking yet!

    Up at normal time, light breakfast of toast and coffee, watch the sun rise. Play with Lily. Give her a Christmas present early, because if she decides to consume the entire bone, we’ll want her digestive system to respond before bedtime.

    Take Lily to the dog park. Rejoice in how much warmer 16 degrees is than 6. Seriously.

    Home again. Catch up on Glibs. Make brunch of duck fat rosti and fried eggs. Close out the meal with tea and cookies.

    • PieInTheSky

      I am in such a good mood – well you are wrong

      • PieInTheSky

        about being in a good mood with no booze i mean

      • Not Adahn

        Delicious food makes me happy. Potatoes fried in smoked duck fat are delicious.

    • Timeloose

      It’s amazing how ten degrees makes a huge difference. You also get used to the bitter cold quick in the North East, since it will usually be back to 50 a week later.

      • Not Adahn

        Yup. This fall, 40 was cold, but now above 25 is “no gloves or hat required.”

      • kinnath

        I tried to explain to some Arizona natives once what 45 degrees felt like in the spring after a long Iowa winter.

        The sun comes out and you are ready to strip and run naked through the streets because the air doesn’t hurt anymore.

  40. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    You know what’s weird? Telling your boss you love her (because you met her your junior year of college and it’s a group text between college pals)

    • Tundra

      “Yep! Solid gold shit, maestro!”

      He was the best part of that movie.

      Well, him and the Sconnie girls.

  41. Mojeaux

    Ooooh, I cleaned up!

    Santa Husband got me a micro portable printer (the paper is 2×3 sticker paper). Christmas from XY involved the word “Craftsman.” XX and my mom got us cash, which is always the right shape, size, and color. And in our stockings, as per recent tradition, was a pound of homemade kielbasa from “the sausage store” for each of us. The cats got to play with ribbons. I managed to make my mom a thing that she loves instead of an insipid gift card. I overheard her telling my aunt that buying something like that is unaffordable for what it’s worth.

    Of course we know that Christmas isn’t about gifts. I was telling XX we could have Christmas dinner or graze on last night’s party leftovers, and I would make her cheese Christmas danish, and we have cinnamon rolls my aunt made for us. Then I realized that for all the crap we’ve been through, we’ve never gone hungry. We are in a good place. XX is happy with her job (except full time is still a pipe dream for her). XY is in a position to get the help he needs.

    Anyway, the point is that the year started out sucking big fat donkey balls, but has ended up quite lovely.

    And of course I have you all, with whom I’ve formed meaningful relationships, which could not have happened at TOS, so I’m grateful this place exists.

    Merry Christmas!

    • Ted S.

      “the sausage store”

      Nice euphemism.

      • Mojeaux

        You never disappoint. 😉

  42. Lazer

    Merry Christmas! Thanks to the PTB and all the commentators for giving me another year of time killing laughs and WTF’s.

    • Lazer

      Oh, and going to my sisters and BIL, for mom’s side. Taking homemade egg nog, thanks to the glib site, and homemade mead.

  43. Yusef drives a Kia

    I have nice weather tech stuff on my floorboards, totally frozen.
    This weather is ridiculous
    I am fucking out of here
    12/28