Wednesday Afternoon SugarLinks – Situation: No Win

by | Dec 7, 2022 | Daily Links | 282 comments

I was trying to see if I could out-source the Joemala to an AI, but trying to get the details right over-taxed it, so I tried to keep it simple. Some grammar issues aside, this is pretty well done.  No clue why it wrote it as a poem.


 


 

World Cup fans find booze at hotels, Qatar’s 1 liquor store

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — In a dusty neighborhood on the outskirts of Qatar’s capital, guards stand duty at a gated compound ringed with razor wire, carefully checking passports and permits before allowing anyone inside. But this isn’t a prison or a high-security area associated with the ongoing World Cup.

It’s the liquor store.

Rigid limits on alcohol are a fact of life in this conservative Muslim nation on the Arabian Peninsula, which follows the same strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam as its neighbor Saudi Arabia. Soccer fans coming to Qatar for the World Cup got a taste of that just before the tournament as authorities cancelled beer sales at stadiums.

Yet corks continue to be popped in luxury boxes at games. Fans are filling pints from beer towers at dozens of hotel bars, lounges and nightclubs with liquor licenses. Sales of $14 Budweisers at Doha’s FIFA Fan Zone continue unabated.

“Not to say that you need alcohol to fuel your life, but it’s a good time,” said Ed Ball, an American who created an online map for imbibers in Doha to find bars. “The idea being passed around that you can’t drink in Qatar is wrong. There are places.”

In addition to the bars, there’s the liquor store where non-Muslim residents and visitors can shop after applying for a government-issued license. Located next to an Indian school in Doha’s dusty Abu Hamour neighborhood, it is run by the Qatar Distribution Co., a state-owned enterprise under the umbrella of Qatar Airways, which holds exclusive rights to distribute alcohol and pork in the country.

Passing out drunk at a soccer game is often the only way to survive the experience. Qatar is trying to kill fans.


 


 

About The Author

SugarFree

SugarFree

Your Resident Narcissistic Misogynist Rape-Culture Apologist

282 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    “No clue why it wrote it as a poem.”

    Weird.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      It’s already sentient.

      • kinnath

        Just a sly wink

    • Bobarian LMD

      It didn’t even rape a grapefruit.

      Totally unbelievable.

  2. Yusef drives a Kia

    Soccer without beer?
    Sad

    • Bobarian LMD

      Soccer with beer?

      Also sad.

  3. Rebel Scum

    Carousel

    What a dizzying display.

    • juris imprudent

      I have to give credit to the Dr. Pepper ad agency with the coaching carousel bit – that was inspired.

  4. Count Potato

    “a state-owned enterprise under the umbrella of Qatar Airways, which holds exclusive rights to distribute alcohol and pork in the country”

    Weird.

    • pistoffnick

      One of the guys I work with barbequed pork belly today and shared it. Mmmmm, BBQ pork belly.
      No beer though.

      • Sean

        No beer though.

        That’s gayer than the pup Twitter link.

  5. Fatty Bolger

    And then he bombed Iran. The End.

    • kinnath

      I cannot listen to that dude for more than a couple of minutes.

      • kinnath

        JP’s red pilling has been far more entertaining.

      • Count Potato

        Wasn’t he always red pilled?

      • DEG

        No, he wasn’t. Consider how he changed on guns.

      • Count Potato

        Well, he is Canadian.

      • kinnath

        His early videos were focussed on making fun of the California lifestyle (which involved lampooning the granola left alot). But he swallowed the red pill very, very early in the COVID lockdowns.

        I don’t know if he was always a conservative underneath the giddy humor. But he moved to Texas and went all in a guns, liberty, and freedom.

      • Count Potato

        You mean that red-haired guy? I thought you were talking about Jordan Peterson.

      • kinnath

        Yes. Sorry about the confusion.

        I assumed it would be obvious since the context was youtube rants.

        DEG got it.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Just his hair.

    • Michael Malaise

      In a way, I accidentally read his self-help book on addiction. (I thought it was more of a biography, and yes, in a way, it was.)

      It was very good.

      One of his last standup shows on Netflix was interesting — it was basically live stand-up therapy. He would show pictures and news articles of his past and then make fun of himself for what he did.

  6. DEG

    In a dusty neighborhood on the outskirts of Qatar’s capital, guards stand duty at a gated compound ringed with razor wire, carefully checking passports and permits before allowing anyone inside. But this isn’t a prison or a high-security area associated with the ongoing World Cup.

    It’s the liquor store.

    I mean… people rob liquor stores.

    • Nephilium

      They do, and this isn’t just a liquor store. It’s the only liquor (and pork) store in the country.

      • Count Potato

        A pork store should have mafia guys hanging out front playing pinochle.

      • Bobarian LMD

        The best pork is sold from a panel van that has a big smoker grill trailer behind it.

        The owner weighs at least 350 lbs.

        And she don’t take no shit.

      • Fourscore

        An American flag out front with Senators and Congress persons hawking their wares, the real pork store

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Sounds like a Pennsylvania beer distributor.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    Get the slave catchers. That nigger done R-U-N-N-O-F-T

    Walker’s candidacy is a fundamental assault by the Republican Party on the dignity of Black Americans. How dare they so cynically use this buffoon as a shield for their obvious failings to meet the needs and expectations of Black voters? They hold him up and say, “See, our voters don’t mind his race. We’re not a racist party. We have Black people on our side too.” Parading Walker at rallies like some kind of blue-ribbon livestock does not mean you have Black people on your side. What it means is that you are promoting a charlatan—a man morally and intellectually bereft enough, blithely egomaniacal enough, to sing and dance on the world stage against his own best interest. Is he in on the joke? Does he know they picked him to save money on boot black and burnt cork, this man who made his name by bringing the master glory on the master’s field, who got comfortable eating from the master’s table?

    ——-

    From where I sit, the election looks like a kind of grotesque minstrelsy. The Republican Party is saying that it wants power more than decency. It’s saying that race is a joke. We must all take note—it is willing to destroy a man to advance its cause. The party thinks he won’t break. And if he does, well, he wasn’t really one of them, anyway, was he?

    Utterly enraging; what a contemptible condescending cunt. I guess they taught her real good at Harvard.

    • Rebel Scum

      Parading Walker at rallies like some kind of blue-ribbon livestock does not mean you have Black people on your side…a man morally and intellectually bereft enough, blithely egomaniacal enough, to sing and dance on the world stage against his own best interest.

      It’s a motherfucking minstrel show! But seriously, tell me you are racist without telling me you are racist. Also, are you aware of who Dems elected in PA?

      The Republican Party is saying that it wants power more than decency.

      Darth Brandon could not be reached for comment.

      I guess they taught her real good at Harvard.

      They taught her that Dems own black people.

      • R C Dean

        They taught her that Dems own black people.

        To be fair, that does reflect the historical record.

      • Rat on a train

        SoUtHeRn StRaTeGy

      • juris imprudent

        You can take ’em out of the South, but you can’t take ’em away from us. /Dems

    • kinnath

      The same old question — stupid or dishonest? And as always — why not both!

    • Count Potato

      “Does he know they picked him to save money on boot black and burnt cork, this man who made his name by bringing the master glory on the master’s field, who got comfortable eating from the master’s table?”

      WTF??

      • Lackadaisical

        Pretty fucking condescending of sports stars…

      • R C Dean

        I’d love to see an NFL or NBA player ask her, to her face, if he is justing the master glory on the master’s field, so he can eat from the master’s table.

      • rhywun

        Pretty fucking condescending of black people, assuming they need Dems to take care of them.

      • juris imprudent

        Yeah, let’s see you say that to LeBron’s face.

    • whiz

      So when the Dems parade LGBQT+ people at rallies, is that also degrading?

      • juris imprudent

        Look at that the livestock!

      • Not Adahn

        The degradation is part of the kink.

  8. Rebel Scum

    Penaltax 2.0.

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) changed his plan for a windfall tax on oil company profits to describe the tax as a “penalty” to avoid a requirement that new taxes be passed by a two-thirds vote in the state legislature.

    As Breitbart News reported Monday, Newsom has called the legislature into a special session to consider a new law that would create a “price gouging penalty” on oil companies, blaming them for high prices at the pump.

    (The legislature is not considering a revision to the state’s high gas taxes, nor to regulations that make oil more expensive and difficult to refine in California than in other states, which are major contributors to high prices.)

    Ironically the penaltax will be a cost factored into business that will be transferred to customers…

    • Drake

      As long as it’s only passed to CA customers.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Only an idiot would think this will reduce prices, which means California will do it.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Only an idiot would assume that the genuine aim is to reduce prices. Once you begin to understand the complete lack of overlap between stated and real intentions, you can actually begin to understand how politics works.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Yeah, I suspect they don’t care if gas prices go up since they are trying to push everyone into electric cars and trains.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Which, as everyone knows, run on carbon free unicorn farts. When are they planning on getting all-electric personal luxury jets to take themselves to the meetings where they decide that the people they “represent” need to freeze and starve to death for their enlightened beliefs?

      • Penguin

        They should just put smaller windmills on cars. When those cars get up to speed, think how much wind power they’ll generate!

      • Spudalicious

        And given the upper wind limit for the windmill will probably be about 40mph, you’ve also solved the traffic fatality issue.

      • rhywun

        The carbon got left in China, where it might as well not exist.

        Progress!

    • Rat on a train

      The law will specifically say they can’t pass the cost to customers or there will be more penalties … yeah that will work.

    • Raven Nation

      That was one of the more irritating ways the movie differed from the book.

      • Sensei

        It’s really an uneven film.

        It makes it hard for me to recommend, but it does have parts that I enjoyed.

        Plus I had the Farrah Fawcett poster from the film…

      • Raven Nation

        Forgot about FF. I remember Jenny Agutter’s legs.

  9. DEG

    NH Dems no longer silent about trainwreck

    Leaders of the New Hampshire Democratic Party are calling on one of their own new representatives to resign.

    Rep.-elect Stacie Laughton was not at Wednesday’s swearing-in for the new legislature because she is in jail on a charge of stalking.

    Democratic leader Matt Wilhelm, D-Manchester, and Party Chair Ray Buckley called on Laughton to resign, calling the allegations “serious” and “troubling.”

    • Rat on a train

      Stalking? Do they give out awards for attempted acting?

  10. DEG

    Tied NH House Race to be decided by special election

    House Maj. Leader Jason Osborne, R-Auburn, urges House to hold special election. By a loud voice vote, House endorses letting voters of Rochester Ward 4 to settle the tie vote there.

    • Rat on a train

      Feats of strength. Tis the season.

  11. Tonio

    The whole puppy play thing weirds me out. It’s the latest fashionable fetish in the gay world. In addition to masks, they generally wear an artificial tail which is secured in a fashion I’ll leave to your imagination. Leaving aside the obvious creepy aspects, it’s basically taking a vacation from your humanity. You abandon language, upright posture, and the use of your digits.

    • Michael Malaise

      But you do protect your most vital organs. Well, all but a couple of them.

    • Count Potato

      There is this woman on the internets who makes a fortune at it.

    • EvilSheldon

      A lot of dedicated petplay enthusiasts go for harness-mounted rather than plug-mounted tails. The plug ones…tend not to stay in place.

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

        Kiki Make? Kiki Make?

  12. Pine_Tree

    The OCD spelling geek in me never liked the word Carousel. I’m quite willing to accept and explain to others how arcane spellings are perfectly fine/right. But that one’s never set right. By all rights it should be kuh-row(rhymes with “now”)-sull, with the emphasis on the middle syllable.

    “It’s French” is the best explanation, which doesn’t help with my acceptance of that spelling.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    I don’t particularly care that Herschel Walker doesn’t seem to know he’s being used. I care that America let it get this far, that this country has been wildly careless with Black bodies, Black stories, Black truths. I care that I’m watching the news every day with the foot of bigotry on my back and the noose of regression tightening around my throat.

    Whoever wins today, Walker’s candidacy is an American tragedy.

    Seek professional help.

    • Drake

      Now do the other guy.

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

        Obama?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      She’s a real peach.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    House Maj. Leader Jason Osborne, R-Auburn, urges House to hold special election. By a loud voice vote, House endorses letting voters of Rochester Ward 4 to settle the tie vote there.

    Let them cut cards for it, or do rock paper scissors.

  15. Rebel Scum

    JEW-Anon.

    Special Forces in Germany have arrested 25 people suspected of supporting a domestic terrorism organization that planned to overthrow the government and form its own state, the federal prosecutor said on Wednesday.

    In early-morning raids carried out across the country, Special Forces officers detained people believed to be members and supporters of the group, which prosecutors said had been formed in the past year and was operating on the conviction that “Germany is currently ruled by members of a so-called deep state” that needed to be overthrown. Prosecutors said two other people had been arrested outside Germany, one in Austria and another in Italy.

    I swear I have seen this movie before.

    The prosecutors described the group, which they did not identify, as being influenced by the ideologies of the conspiracy group QAnon and a right-wing German conspiracy group called the Reichsbürger, or Citizens of the Reich, which believes that Germany’s post-World War II republic is not a sovereign country but a corporation set up by the Allies who won the war.

    Many of those arrested had military training and included former German soldiers, including from the army of the former East Germany, and were known to have been heavily armed with weapons acquired illegally. The group was most likely formed in late 2021, the prosecutors said.

    But are they wrong?

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      “which believes that Germany’s post-World War II republic is not a sovereign country but a corporation set up by the Allies who won the war”

      Isn’t that what the Baader-Meinhof Gang and others like them thought too?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      a so-called deep state

      Seems to be going around.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        I first heard the phrase in the 90s in relation to Turkey. It referred to the idea that if the government got too Islamic the army would overthrow him. It was kind of considered a necessary evil. It’s also why Erdogan replaced the generals.

    • Ted S.

      And then drugs fell out of their asses, because they, being German, are into Scheißeporn.

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

        Ted, being German, is into the eszett,

      • Ted S.

        It *is* real German, as opposed to Swiss orthography.

    • Compelled Speechless

      Why do I get the feeling that the evidence will never be shown to the public and the trial, if they actually hold one, will be heavily scripted?

    • Not Adahn

      It takes 25 Germans to overthrow the country? We nearly did it with one guy in a buffalo hat.

  16. Tundra

    The only important thing these days is rhythm and melody.

    Thanks, Sug!

    Not the biggest BAD fan, but that one’s brilliant!

    And so are the kids on the carousel. You don’t know until you try, right?

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

      Boys. I always have to explain this to the wife.

  17. Sensei

    As usual The Atlantic buries the leade.

    Pharmaceutical companies don’t have much incentive to sort this out, given that their treatments are widely available and reaping record profits. “I don’t think they want more data because more data might show the drugs don’t work,” David Boulware, an infectious-disease physician at the University of Minnesota, told me. I asked Pfizer and Moderna whether the companies had plans to run new, large-scale clinical studies of their COVID shots and drugs in vaccinated and previously infected individuals, but neither responded to my inquiry.

    COVID Science Is Moving Backwards

    • Compelled Speechless

      You could have published an article with that exact headline in March ’20 and it would have been even more true.

  18. Rebel Scum

    I didn’t know Kiwis could swim.

    Three of New Zealand’s nine naval ships are sitting idle in port as higher civilian salaries lure personnel out of the military – even as tensions in the Pacific rise between China and the United States and its allies.

    The HMNZS Wellington, an offshore patrol vessel, headed back to New Zealand early from what was meant to be a three-month deployment in the Pacific and was taken out of operation in November because of shortages, the New Zealand Defence Force said.

    They basically have no navy.

    • Bobarian LMD

      That is a Coast Guard.

    • Rat on a train

      They’ve already declared a nuclear free zone. Now then can declare a navy free zone.

    • juris imprudent

      Hell, with the govt they have I’d expect impressment gangs to be roaming Auckland.

      • Ted S.

        The gangs are all ram-raiding convenience stores.

      • Raven Nation

        Damn! It is surreal listening to the stories about ram raids and how the media and/or the cops think things should be dealt with. The disconnect is as wide as possible.

        There was a convenience store owner killed a couple of weeks ago. The media reported that some owners were thinking of arming themselves and asked one of the top cops what he thought about this. He said, no kidding, that people shouldn’t take matters into their own hands because a tragedy would result.

        This is the same police force that were extremely efficient about tracking covid mavericks.

  19. Shpip

    Until yesterday, I had never heard of Joe George.

    I’m glad that I learned of him and his deeds, and happy that he received recognition for them, albeit posthumously.

    • Tundra

      Wonderful. Thank you Shpip.

    • DEG

      I met Ron at Gourmeltz while passing through. It’s a good place and he’s a good guy. I second the recommendation.

    • EvilSheldon

      I’ve been taking friends there. Politics aside, and they shouldn’t be, they’re a great restaurant and bar with a fun 90’s music style.

      • Tonio

        I’m thinking about another Glibs meetup there in early 2023.

      • EvilSheldon

        I’m down for any time.

    • Bobarian LMD

      Blood Seat?

      Reminds me to get my hemorrhoids checked.

  20. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    I’m a little desperate for a Christmas gift for my dad. I want to get him ~3 books on Kindle for his upcoming 2.5 month cruise around Cape Horn.

    Recommendations, please?

    Prerequisites:
    1) Kindle version
    2) Fiction should be along the lines of Master & Commander-type. Maybe something about Antarctica?
    3) Non fiction on history (maybe something on Antarctica?); advanced science/math topics (not like NDT or Michio Kaku); or libertarian/conservative thought. He loves Thomas Sowell, for example. I have given him a shitton of libertarian reading in the past (Mary Ruwart, Gad Saad, Sowell, etc.), so dig deep.

    Thanks in advance!

    • Hyperion

      “2.5 month cruise around Cape Horn”

      Looks like he already got the Christmas gift.

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        Not from me! I ain’t got dat kinda scratch

      • Hyperion

        Well, he ain’t gonna have time for books, he’ll be scopin dat Cruz Milf! Well, I mean unless he’s with yer mum…

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        Well he’ll be with his wife, but not my mom (she died in 2013)

      • Hyperion

        Sorry, I didn’t know.

        I guess the Cruz Milfs is out then. I don’t read much anymore, so don’t have any suggestions… MILF Weekly? Lol, JK.

    • Tundra

      Storm of Steel – Ernst Junger

    • Michael Malaise

      Mutiny on the Bounty?

      Maybe not.

    • one true athena

      I haven’t read it, but the series “the Terror” was based on the Dan Simmons novel about the Franklin expedition to the Arctic. So if your dad hasn’t already read it…?

    • R C Dean

      For history, I’ve enjoyed John Keegan’s books on military history. With the exception of the one on the Iraq War, where he spends way too much time on the internal politics of Iraq pre-invasion. He has that wonderful British gift for prose.

      • Rat on a train

        I have his two world wars books.

      • juris imprudent

        His account of WWI is far too deferential to the Imperial General Staff. It’s as though he wanted to rebuff the German description of the British Army – lions led by donkeys.

        I did really like The Face of Battle.

      • Spudalicious

        Try “Human Smoke”.

      • juris imprudent

        I don’t know, if the author is an avowed pacifist, I’m not sure his perspective isn’t fatally skewed on that topic.

      • Spudalicious

        It starts with the Treaty of Versailles, and ends in 1942. The bibliography is thick.

        If someone who is thoroughly pro USA on WWII and wrote a book, that should raise the same amount of skepticism.

      • Rat on a train

        I also have Martin Gilbert’s histories of the wars, Matthew Cooper’s history of the German Army, Cornelius Ryan’s trilogy, the memoirs of Pershing and Bradley, others

    • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

      Great suggestions so far! Thank you!

    • juris imprudent

      If he is keen for geology, I heartily recommend The Annals of the Former World – and you won’t need another book, that will keep him occupied the whole time.

    • CPRM

      All my kindle recommendations that Amazon gives me are for Amish Romance, because I put the books on my aunt’s kindle for her. Is your dad into Amish Romance?

  21. Hyperion

    Muh Woke, Wut?

    Looks like this dude is next on the dem hit list. Must’ve joined the Axis of Evul. Or maybe it’s just BS, not sure.

  22. Rebel Scum

    A picture is worth a thousand sniffs.

    Democrat Rep. Debbie Dingell says Joe Biden doesn’t need to visit the border because “he’s seen the photos.”

    • Hyperion

      Look at that vid without sound. She sure looks like a Dingell, bell.

      • Rebel Scum

        One of Dr. Jill’s sofa pattern dresses?

      • Hyperion

        She raped the Grinch.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    “I don’t think they want more data because more data might show the drugs don’t work,”

    Wait, what? If I climb into the tiger cage I might find out my rock doesn’t really have any effect on tigers?

  24. Count Potato

    “Woke Loudoun County superintendent is FIRED after grand jury found school lied to parents about kilt-wearing boy, 15, raping girl in girls’ bathroom and ‘looked out for their own interests’: Her furious father says ‘they just lie, lie, lie'”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11512735/Father-girl-raped-trans-friendly-toilet-slams-grand-jury-not-finding-school-responsible.html

    Who knows what happened? There are so many conflicting accounts.

    • R C Dean

      kilt-wearing boy, 15, raping girl in girls’ bathroom

      Hold on there, hoss. I thought the perp identified as a girl, and was wearing a skirt. Which is why he was in the girl’s bathroom. Well, I mean, other than for the raping.

      • Count Potato

        Who knows? I read that the couple were using school bathrooms to hook up. I also read the school didn’t have a transgender bathroom policy at the time the alleged event occurred.

        That article says a teacher saw two pairs of legs in the bathroom stall and said nothing, the mother of the accused (granted, not reliable) said it was consensual, and the charge was “forcible sodomy “.

        So I’m guessing they were having an ongoing sexual relationship, then he put it in her butt.

    • R.J.

      I agree with the dad. Even worse, they are empowered liars. That makes them almost impossible to get rid of, except after a long drawn out trial.

  25. Rebel Scum

    ‘Member that stuff that Alex Jones has been talking about foe the past several years?

    Oxfordshire County Council yesterday approved plans to lock residents into one of six zones to ‘save the planet’ from global warming. The latest stage in the ’15 minute city’ agenda is to place electronic gates on key roads in and out of the city, confining residents to their own neighbourhoods.

    Under the new scheme if residents want to leave their zone they will need permission from the Council who gets to decide who is worthy of freedom and who isn’t. Under the new scheme residents will be allowed to leave their zone a maximum of 100 days per year, but in order to even gain this every resident will have to register their car details with the council who will then track their movements via smart cameras round the city.

    • R C Dean

      smart cameras

      What do you suppose the average life of those cameras will be?

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        If the yobs in Oxford county are anything like the ones in Cambridge, I wouldn’t be surprised if the people installing the cameras get the Hell beaten out of them before the installations are complete.

    • Nephilium

      <‘blockquote>Member that stuff that Alex Jones has been talking about foe the past several years?

      Making frogs gay? Isn’t this taking place in England?

      • Rebel Scum

        The Great Reset is for the world, not just England.

    • rhywun

      Stop giving Democrats ideas, England.

    • juris imprudent

      My nearest grocery store is a 15 minute drive.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    It’s December 7. Holy shit.

    Remember the Maine!

    • db

      Gawddemmit Roosevelts!

    • Rebel Scum

      You must drive a Mitsubishi because this comment is a Zero.

    • Not Adahn

      NPR had a story commemorating the Apollo 17 mission.

  27. db

    I’m part of a Secret Santa thing this year for the first time. I’m notoriously bad ad selecting gifts for others. Any suggestions?

    • Tundra

      Liquor.

      • rhywun

        Right? You could put everyone in the hospital from all the liquor that gets passed around at our Secret Santas.

      • Tundra

        It’s safe. Even if the person doesn’t drink it’s nice to have something to bring to gatherings.

      • Rat on a train

        One year my government lead gave my team mini liquor bottles.

    • one true athena

      Gift card to Target or a local grocery store.

    • Nephilium

      A thoughtful gift that shows you have a deep understanding of the person.

      Or something that will embarrass them.

      • Tundra

        Fleshlight.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Gifting yourself?

      • Tundra

        Self-care is important.

    • R C Dean

      We just took delivery of a Missile Toad.

      • EvilSheldon

        I hope I can get one of those before Christmas…

    • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

      Our office rules were booze or gift cards. No mugs. No candles.

      • Nephilium

        On the gift card route, Kiva offers gift cards that if not redeemed to be used for microlending, roll over into a donation to the organization (after a year).

      • Rat on a train

        Give a mug, get a mug thrown at you. My wife is a teacher. She has brought home enough mugs to last a lifetime.

      • Penguin

        “You see, Rachel, I bought the gift before we picked names out of the hat…”

      • Sean

        Rachel enjoys getting meat. Don’t worry.

      • Rat on a train

        We had a shelf of bacon on one project. It included bacon candy, gum and soda.

      • CPRM

        Hat says: Nueske’s is Thaaaaaa Beeeeeethhhhhht!

      • Sean

        😃

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

      A stuffed white elephant.

      • R C Dean

        Life size.

    • Rebel Scum

      Real Doll?

      • Rat on a train

        customized to look like someone in the office?

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Words matter. That’s why we must criminalize them whenever possible.

    The second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, hosted a roundtable at the White House Wednesday on the rise of antisemitism in the United States, saying there is an “epidemic of hate facing our country.”

    “Words matter,” Emhoff said. “People are no longer saying the quiet parts out loud, they are screaming them.”

    The husband of Vice President Harris was joined by a dozen leaders from the Jewish community, including representatives of Hillel, the Anti-Defamation League and Orthodox Union.

    The meeting comes amid a surge of anti-Jewish comments and actions from prominent people.

    We should just round up everybody we don’t like and put them in isolation centers so they can’t contaminate the thoughts of the rest of us.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      “epidemic of hate facing our country”

      Stated without evidence.

      • DEG

        I read your quote of Brooks’ comment as:

        “epidemic of face fucking in our country.”

      • R.J.

        Ye does not an epidemic make, Also if they were talking to the Democrats….

      • rhywun

        “Look in the mirror.”

        The only response needed.

      • Rat on a train

        THIS

    • R C Dean

      I suppose Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton, and the Squad were name-checked during the anti-semitic discussion?

      • Hyperion

        Lefties are the biggest anti-Semites since Hitler, every last one of them. Fuck em.

    • The Other Kevin

      Slippery slopes don’t exist. There’s no way they would declare that words are violence, send the FBI after people for “hate”, and then subtly change the definition of said “hate” so it covers all political dissent.

      • juris imprudent

        Have we hit the French point yet?

    • Rebel Scum

      Work Censorship will set you free.

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

        “speaklehead.”

    • The Other Kevin

      Good luck with that, Mattel. With the price of everything going up, people are already going to cut back on expensive dolls this year. How about a boycott on top of that?

    • R C Dean

      They are certainly crawling out of the woodwork. Many more than I would have expected.

      Inevitable, I suppose, once you get into the bizarro world Reverse Purity Spiral that seems to have infected Our Masters. The only way to stay on top of the ever-collapsing social slag heap is to prove you are the Most Tolerant EVAR by jumping on the bandwagon to “celebrate” ever-more vile perversions.

      • Hyperion

        I spect that after the midterms, they fully expect the dems to legalize pedo, and probably not only legalize, but glorify.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Celebrate Perversity!

      • Tundra

        I don’t even want to think about what that bumper sticker would look like.

        🤮

      • rhywun

        Pick an image of any one of those pedo dolls that Salma Hayek’s husband has been hawking.

      • Tundra

        OK, enough already.

        Salma, the most beautiful woman in the world, married a freak. Hell, she might be in on it.

        Adios, Salma. Looks like the threesome with Liz Hurley will never come to pass.

        /sad Tundra

      • Ownbestenemy

        Just swap out Salma and insert Beckinsale.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Porque no las tres?

      • Hyperion

        Anyone who has kids is going to need guns and be willing to use them, to protect them, because the law is going to protect the predators.

      • Tundra

        Weimar what?

    • Hyperion

      WTF? Is there anyone left in American biz, entertainment, politics, or I dunno, anything, who’s not a freaking pedo?

      • R C Dean

        One large cheese pizza to go, then?

      • Penguin

        Funny, I was about to comment that QAnon looks less and less crazy every day. Alex Jones, too.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        As St. Katherine of Tiny Deceased Mammals frequently writes, “Come back, Pizzagate! All is forgiven.”

      • juris imprudent

        The South Park episode with the priest against pedophilia?

  29. Tundra

    LOL

    Just buy a snubbie, FFS.

    • R C Dean

      Two questions:

      Minimal mass, so how much striking power, really?

      The walls must be really thin. How strong is it?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Oh you expect them to actually use it? Its for them to make TikTok videos

      • Tundra

        THIS!

    • R.J.

      Something tells me that would snap like an old radio antenna if you used it.

      • R.J.

        What RC Dean said.

    • Sean

      Lol, no.

      • R.J.

        I know. I’ll stick with Mr. Stabby and Mrs. Shooty. That thing would fall to pieces.

      • Hyperion

        I think my wakizashi is probably a lot more effective, but it’s still not first line home defense.

      • R.J.

        My war cry of “I’m gonna whip out Mr. Stabby!” most likely will take the wind out of most aggressors’ sails.

      • Hyperion

        If you wear that mask and it’s not too dark, it just might work.

        Unless you live in Londonistan. Then I think you have to invite them in for tea and cookies and give them most of you stuff, and then YOU don’t go to jail.

      • R.J.

        What mask?

      • Hyperion

        Umm, Doodad

      • R.J.

        Ahh! Bad link.

      • Hyperion

        The 2nd one, R.J.

      • R C Dean

        The order of battle at the Casa Dean is:

        (1) The pit bulls go in first, to disrupt enemy lines.
        (2) Shotgun, until available ammo runs out (13 rounds – 7 loaded, 6 on the sidesaddle).
        (3) Handgun, until availabe ammo runs out (28 rounds, 2 mags of sweet, sweet .45).
        (4) Katana and wakizashi, until targets run out.

        The rifles are in the safe. Not my preference for (very) CQB, anyway.

      • Hyperion

        Katana is probably too long, you risk hiting the wall instead of one of the last 100 not yet fallen.

      • R C Dean

        Good, err, point. Stick with the classics for indoor work.

      • juris imprudent

        Planning on taking on the Crazy 88s?

      • R C Dean

        If they show up, yes, I have a plan.

      • juris imprudent

        I think all the motorcycle noise will give you plenty of advance warning.

      • Tundra

        Exactly.

    • EvilSheldon

      Between the gun, knives, pepper spray, and BJJ, I think I’m covered, thanks.

    • Not Adahn

      Hey! Don’t you badmouth the Anla’Shok!

  30. Tonio

    Here is a reminder and link for the Glibs Humpday Zoom which will kick off at 20:00 Eastern tonight. This zoom runs itself and admits people automatically; some people have reported that they had to login to their Zoom accounts to get the link to work.

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

      Tonio, what is a good email to reach you at? I have a column idea…

      • Tonio

        My name at this domain.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Just buy a snubbie, FFS.

    Indiana Jones, FTW!

  32. Hyperion

    Who could’ve guessed when a hair sniffing pedo ran for president and got 80 million votes, that we were going to see this explosion in public pedophilia.

    • MikeS

      AT THAT TIME it seemed like a good idea.

      • R C Dean

        And, really, what difference, at this point, does it make?

  33. Mojeaux

    For those following along with Friday evening posts, I made a thing.

    • R.J.

      I like it! Very nice.

    • R C Dean

      Brilliant.

    • Tundra

      Oh hey, look at that!

      • Mojeaux

        Hey, Boss!

      • Tundra

        Oh, yeah!

    • rhywun

      Heh

    • DEG

      Marina is cute… better looking than Dot in my mind.

      • Mojeaux

        That’s after she gets all gussied up and has a reason to smile more.

    • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

      Marina’s pic kinda makes me tingly in my no-no place.

      • Mojeaux

        😂

    • juris imprudent

      So in the Dunham family tree – who is/are the character(s) of the Civil War era you were stuck in NY with?

      • Mojeaux

        They are nowhere yet because I haven’t gone very far with it. His name is Henry but I don’t even have the heroine’s name yet. I have the Wilder family, the situation that brings Hank to NY, and that’s it.

    • R.J.

      Holy moly! That is horrible.

    • Spudalicious

      I picked up an eleven year old whose dad had let him pour some gas on the charcoal. Burned the skin off the front of him from the thighs up. Don’t use gasoline on fires.

      • R.J.

        Never ever! I use kindling or tinder. A couple of paper towels crumpled up will relight a fire without incident. Or a block of sawdust and wax, if you have it.

      • Hyperion

        Yeah, I think one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen is that one of my cousins just had put some gas in his truck and sat the gas can down and walked back over to where I was standing near the front porch. And I said ‘hey man, that gas can is leaking’. There was a trail of gas down the drive way right to it, probably about 50ft away.

        The idiot was smoking a cigarette and throws it down right on that line of gas, I guess just to be an idiot, which he was. It lit and ran straight to the gas can, which then caught on fire and exploded seconds later, just a few ft from the dummies truck. When the gas can exploded, not making this up, it blew the gas can like 50 ft. straight up in the air at an angle to the left and landed on top of the garage and set the garage on fire. No shit, the fucking garage was on fire, so we’re now scrambling to put it out. It left a big ole burnt spot in the shingles right where you could see it (my grandparent’s garage). I said dude, your grandpa is going to fucking kill you and you’re lucky you didn’t blow your fucking truck up. He was like ‘hey man, we have to make up something, we can’t tell him, he’ll kill me!’. That was the dumbest boy I ever was around.

      • R.J.

        I agree with that assessment. Thank God he wasn’t holding lithium batteries!

      • Hyperion

        It was 30 years ago, they probably didn’t exist. If they did, he was so dumb we’d have to worry he’d eat them.

      • R.J.

        That’ll be the new death trap. Kids doing meth and setting themselves on fire in Teslas. Only they won’t live to be scared of what grandpa might think.

    • Tundra

      Ugh. Really sad.

  34. straffinrun

    That pic reminds me of a line I read:

    When he met other dogs, he sniffed them with remarkable zeal, according to all canine rules.

    • Gender Traitor

      A variation on this cartoon is on my favorite t-shirt.

    • Sensei

      Why romaji sucks and so does the NYT.

      Make Japanese Kare Rice Your Go-To Meal

      WTF is care rice? Oh, his rice? Oh, curry rice. There is perfectly acceptable English here. Use it b

    • rhywun

      I didn’t bother reading far enough to see where the FBI fit in.

  35. Sensei

    Welcome to my regulatory world Doc.

    “All we’re asking for is balance,” said Dr. Vance Thompson, incoming vice president of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. “This document mainly emphasizes the dangers and complications of Lasik, with no mention of the advantages, and the tone is negative enough that it will scare patients.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/health/lasik-injuries-fda.html

  36. Count Potato

    “What’s next for our foundation? I’m particularly excited about what the next year could mean for one of the best buys in global health: vaccines.”

    10:20 AM · Dec 19, 2019

    https://twitter.com/BillGates/status/1207681997612748801

    You don’t say?

  37. R.J.

    I had just enough time to run outside and slow grill some chicken drumsticks. Delicious!
    My mom sent me a big box of chipotle pecans. I will have some for dessert on the Zoom.