Thursday Afternoon Links

by | Mar 2, 2023 | Daily Links | 228 comments

 

 

HEINLEIN GOT IT RIGHT, YET AGAIN: Ford has filed a patent application for a system which will facilitate repossession. And you can be damn sure that government will ask companies to “cooperate” by using this system on vehicles and persons of interest to law enforcement.

MOST BIZARRE NEWS STORY YOU’LL READ TODAY: Police and/or prosecutorial incompetence on a grand scale. A suspect who used the TV show The Wire as a textbook. A sweet potato used as a silencer.

WATERMELONS LET THE MASK SLIP: Greta Thunberg is in the news again. This time the chipper nordic maiden, and international happiness ambassador, reminds us that windmill farms are totally not okay in areas with low population density and high generative potential. Because indigenous people live there and the windmills might disturb the reindeer, or something.

ANOTHER SECESSION PIECE: Via the Mises Institute. Money quote: The emotional nature of this opposition to secession can be seen in the fact that the opposition grants no middle ground in the debate. The only allowable options are the status quo or war. Classic false choice. (This article was also republished by Zero Hedge).

THE DAY HELL FROZE OVER: NYC Democrat mayor bemoans lack of prayer in public schools.

 

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.

228 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    “(This article was also republished by Zero Hedge).”

    So you are saying it was the Jews?

    • Mojeaux

      LOL

    • juris imprudent

      *golf claps*

    • Chafed

      In the zerohedge comments, that’s the only possible reason.

  2. Mojeaux

    I guess Greta just wants us all to die from exposure, starvation, or wild animals.

    • The Other Kevin

      All of us, yes. Her, not so much.

    • KSuellington

      She would happily get her hygge on while the lessers froze to death.

      • Mojeaux

        Right?!

      • Tonio

        Word for the day! Thanks, KS.

      • Mojeaux

        I bought some hygge cross stitch patterns. They’re cute as a bug’s ear.

      • Count Potato

        That always struck me as an odd expression. Is there some American bug with cute ears I don’t know about?

      • Aloysious

        Crabs?

      • KSuellington

        Cheers guys. The Dutch have a very similar concept they call gezellig. It really describes a part of their national character and I’d say they are certainly Scandinavian adjacent in many ways.

  3. SDF-7

    Are ye saying that her grip will make her say arrrrrrrr soon, matey?

    • The Other Kevin

      I see she’s got piercings, she paid a buck an ear.

    • Sean

      I’d still plunder her booty.
      Just saying.

    • kinnath

      Finger on the trigger no less.

      • Ownbestenemy

        And leg, weight, and forehand placement….Besides the loss of an eye, I am guessing a concussion as the firearm swings upwards and around to her head as she falls backwards.

    • Zwak, my pronouns are Ass/Asshole

      It is an H&K .22mag, I don’t think she will die of anything other than embarrassment.

      • R C Dean

        + 1 scope bite

  4. The Other Kevin

    How long before that Ford thing is required for all new vehicles? You know, for “safety”.

    • Tonio

      Oh, the government wants that so badly.

    • Compelled Speechless

      I’ve been saying for a while that self-driving cars are going to go from being suspect to human driving being outlawed in the next 20 years once politicians realize the potential of being able to control your every movement. For safety of course.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        I’m not giving up control over my mobility. Period. End of discussion.

        Imagine a situation where a hurricane is coming in and the governor decides that the interstate can only handle so much traffic so they start disabling vehicles for temporary periods to scale the traffic.

        The temptations for the utilitarians are endless.

      • Compelled Speechless

        You’re imagining the exact same scenarios they are. You’re just too much of a deplorable to understand why it’s a good thing. Highest social credit scores get to flee first! People who dead-name trannies have to stay put. Better board up those windows. I hope you haven’t exceeded your digital dollar’s lumber allotment for the quarter!

  5. Certified Public Asshat

    Today the nomadic people live mostly modern lifestyles but still tend reindeer.

    And thus, also hate windmills.

    • hayeksplosives

      I hate the windmills too.

      Put in a hydro plant or a nuke plant. They’ll last longer, be more reliable, and won’t look ugly and shred birds.
      .

      • Certified Public Asshat

        We apparently have to worry about them shredding reindeer.

      • Zwak, my pronouns are Ass/Asshole

        I have heard shredded reindeer in lingenberry sauce is quite good.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I think they are beautiful machines,
        in the right spot they can be useful.
        /farmland in the midwest

      • kinnath

        They are a disaster even here in the midwest.

        There are document adverse effects on people living near them. The constant sub-frequencies and flicker from the shadows hurts people.

      • Tundra

        Nope. They are insanely expensive, damaging and a disposal nightmare. MikeS has shared pics of a huge pile of blades near his place that have been there for years waiting to be “recycled.” Other than burning dung, they are probably the worst way to generate energy on the planet.

      • Tonio

        Apparently she softened on nuclear energy a while back, but hasn’t gone out of her way to promote that as an alternative.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        It does seem absent in her protest that she meant to say we should give the reindeer nuclear energy.

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        And Sweden has how many miles of coastline and rivers and lakes upon which to situate nuke plants? Like, a brazillion.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Anybody who is a climate change true believer should be pushing nuclear 24/7. But she won’t do that, because it wouldn’t go over well with many of her supporters.

      • Tonio

        Which begs the question — does she control them, or do they control her?

      • Animal

        Yes.

    • SDF-7

      Well, if Rudolph isn’t taking the lead and the fog comes in, those blades can really mess up your landing!

  6. SDF-7

    Re: Ford — every single time I contemplate a new car, two things stop me… My ’03 is fully paid for and still works (and is not a maintenance problem contrary to all the Chevy hate on the ‘Net), and it is modern enough to have fuel injection and all… but without all the tracking and this sort of crap. Approaching “cold dead hands or its cold dead engine” territory, and I’m a techie.

    Re: Greta — “They hate you and they want you to die” seems the pretty consistent message from all the globalists, which she either is or is happily a puppet of.

    Re: Hell freezing over… I think there are a lot of leftists that are all for prayer in schools. Problem is it is for Moloch.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Thunberg is an autistic woman-child who received massive amounts of adoration for being a useful idiot. Her personality is probably well into psychopathic territory by now.

      • Mojeaux

        I know autism is a thing and it’s a soectrum, but there are super intelligent autists out there who can and should be taught how to read a room.

      • EvilSheldon

        Flattery will get you everywhere…

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I still don’t get an autist vibe from her.

      • EvilSheldon

        Both Greta and David Hogg have that same dead-eyed, flat lack of affect, that makes me think Narcissistic Personality Disorder…

      • Compelled Speechless

        So you’re saying you see why they’re being groomed as future politicians?

      • SDF-7

        The thing about a progressive, it’s got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eyes. When it comes at you it doesn’t seem to be livin’… until he or she bites you, and those black eyes roll over white.

      • Mojeaux

        Same.

      • R C Dean

        I think her parents claimed she was on the spectrum, for what that’s worth.

        I’m convinced there are some congenital issues with her, but have no clue what they could be.

      • Mojeaux

        Reddit has taught me that everyone’s on the spectrum.

      • Ownbestenemy

        The very parents that wanted her in the spot light. Don’t want to dimish if she is, but don’t put past parents to make it up for social points

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        I can so read a room!

      • Compelled Speechless

        Sure you can. For the last time, will you please put your pants on?

      • Zwak, my pronouns are Ass/Asshole

        She isn’t psychopathic, she is just monumentally uneducated, while given unlimited adulation and a massive microphone.

    • mock-star

      Late 90s/early aughts GMC/Chevies are darn near indestructible. I really miss the old S-10 compact trucks. CAFE standards killed them.

  7. Stinky Wizzleteats

    The repossession of the auto on its own is bad enough but you just know hackers and the occasional fed will be using the system to drive people into trees and off of cliffs.

    • B.P.

      Car thieves with tech skills can just stay where they are and the cars come to them. Lyfted.

      • R C Dean

        Can we get a narrow gaze over here?

    • Compelled Speechless

      Wouldn’t that put some of Hilary’s best people out of work? I’ll bet she gives them a hackable car as a “parting gift.”

    • Chafed

      I didn’t think of the hacker problem but you’re right. That should make for some interesting lawsuits. So will the ones from the billing system errors.

  8. The Other Kevin

    Up until this week I thought her name was Greta Thurnberg. Now I’m freaked out because I don’t know what else I have wrong.

    • R.J.

      Greta Thumbdrive

    • Gustave Lytton

      Let me tell you about the Bernstein Bears…

  9. Yusef drives a Kia

    I would say fuck her but Old Man has it covered

    • Ownbestenemy

      He is only interested in one aspect of that, so other areas are free to claim.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Hmmm….

      • R.J.

        purty mouth…

  10. Count Potato

    “The first thing to know is that if your vehicle is connected to the internet in any way, this system could theoretically work on it.”

    Do not connect your vehicle to the internet in any way. Although I see this shit getting all 1984 very soon. You’re smart refrigerator won’t open if you misgender someone on Facebook.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      You have exceeded your beer ration…….

      • EvilSheldon

        Is my smart fridge gonna be smarter than my dumb crowbar?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      That’s what I was thinking, will my car refuse to drive me to work if I ignore someone’s preferred pronouns in public? The idiot corporations have become so stupidly woke I could see that happening one day.

      • R C Dean

        I remain convinced the wokism at corporations will burn off when the economy crashes.

        So we’ve got that going for us.

  11. Certified Public Asshat

    The emotional nature of this opposition to secession can be seen in the fact that the opposition grants no middle ground in the debate. The only allowable options are the status quo or war. Classic false choice.

    It seems increasingly clear to me the objective of Marjorie Taylor Greene and the modern Republican Party to not just shrink the size of the government but to abolish the federal government entirely.— David Hogg â˜źïž (@davidhogg111) March 1, 2023

    Adorable.

    • Chafed

      Kids in college aren’t learning anything it appears.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Not seeing what exactly is wrong with this…

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I don’t think the Republican party wants to abolosh the federal government, but it is still a nice idea.

    • Rat on a train

      It would be an accomplishment if Republicans could stop the government from increasing in size.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Malice asked what is more likely, the government going back to spending only $4 trillion a year (2019 levels) or Texas seceding.

      • Tundra

        Put like that the answer is obvious.

      • Rat on a train

        Increase federal spending ~50% in one year. Reduce it to only ~30% of the original. Claim fiscal responsibility!

    • Fatty Bolger

      lol. If only.

    • Michael Malaise

      *puts finger to nose and points other finger in Hogg’s direction*

    • R C Dean

      Not abolish it, so much as evict it from part of its current jurisdiction.

  12. KSuellington

    Of all the shitty ways to generate energy (aside from some boutique applications) wind has got to be the worst. It kills a fuckton of birds on land and seems like it may be doing the same on the sea. Aside from the fact that it isn’t particularly effective and is fugly as hell. In Maui they put a massive amount on a mountain that is a complete eyesore and generates fuck all electricity.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/12-nj-mayors-raise-alarm-offshore-wind-unprecedented-number-whale-deaths

    • Chafed

      I think wind is going to have a shorter shelf life than it’s proponents think for the reasons you stated. Of course, the rising price of electricity and coming shortages will also play a role.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Economic reality is rapidly approaching. It has a tendency to solve a lot of problems while creating a bunch more.

  13. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    Excellent article on some of the current fighting in Ukraine and the Transnitria shenanigans.

    Includes this money quote: Moldova is one of those little states that was predestined to be a piece of geopolitical shrapnel.

      • Drake

        Long long way to say Russia has no reason to hurry.

        I’ve heard Balkmut compared to Điện BiĂȘn Phủ and Stalingrad. The “no retreat” orders are remarkably similar to Hitler’s. Unlike Hitler, Zelensky doesn’t occasionally lose interest and retire to the Alps – then a Prussian Field Marshal is free to make a strategic retreat, then turn it into a vicious counter attack that annihilates a Russian Army corps.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        I think the interesting part was his explanation of why the Russians are fortunate they have no reason to hurry right now.

        The Ukrainians are just piling bodies up in a desperate attempt to get a win they can use to garner more support.

      • kinnath

        I said a year ago that neither Ukraine nor Russia could win, but that Russia would lose slower.

    • Count Potato

      Is that someone who identifies as a water rat?

      • Tonio

        [golf clap]

    • Warty

      Eventually, you realize that the construction of units and other organizational factors are, within reason, far more important than the minutia of the equipment and armaments, and you should have been contemplating the bureaucratic aspects the whole time, and that (tragically) the size of the cannon on the Sherman Firefly tank was not actually a particularly decisive factor in world history.

      THIS IS A BLATANT LIE

      HAS THIS GUY NOT SEEN HOW LONG THE BARREL WAS AND HOW COOL IT LOOKED???

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        It still looks cool, for the record.

        Apparently he has.

    • R C Dean

      I’ve been hearing for over a month now that the Russians will encircle Bakhmut any day now, and that they are firing a hundred thousand artillery rounds a day. I’ve also been hearing that tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have been killed at Bakhmut. I think both sides have their propaganda ops in full swing.

      I think the Ukrainians are making a strategic error. The Russians’ weakness is their crap mobility and logistics. If the Ukrainians were willing to trade land for time, I think they could carve up a lot of overextended Russian units. But they have elected a static defense. Perfect for Russian artillery.

      I’ve always thought the Russians could win, eventually, if they were willing to pay the price. Which has been much higher than they anticipated.

      • UnCivilServant

        The Ukrainians don’t have the ability to fight the maneuver war needed to trade land for time and not just be giving up the land. They can’t move fast enough to strike overextended Russian formations because their army is worse in terms of skill and training even compared to the Russians.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        The article goes into a bit more depth. Functionally, the Russian army wasn’t organized for a full invasion. It had resized its base units over a decade ago and oriented everything towards support of its mercenary outfits like Wagner. That left it thin on the front lines and unable to overwhelm. But they’re apparently reorganizing and mobilizing everything now. The Ukrainians made it possible by wasting time and blood by throwing men at fortified artillery lines in the hopes of whipping more Western support and getting NATO involved.

        My opinion was and is that Russia cannot afford to lose this war, and as such they will do anything and everything to secure their objectives. Instigating, or if I’m being charitable, failing to prevent the conflict, is probably the worst foreign policy mistake the US has made in decades.

  14. Tundra

    Thanks, Tonio!

    Good lynx today. Ford can fuck off. If I can, I plan to replace my F150 with an old, updated Land Cruiser or the like.

    The secession article is good, but watching how the Empire has reacted around the world, combined with the IC turning inward, doesn’t fill me with hope.

    • B.P.

      The old Lexus GX and LX models are the hot things for turning into overlanders around these parts. I sorta want one.

      • Tundra

        Yeah, there is an overland builder down the street and I see them quite often. It is amusing to me that the Lexus versions are so much cheaper than the Toyotas.

        I would really like an updated (disc brakes, etc.) J40 series. They always give me tingles.

      • B.P.

        Now you’re talking real money.

      • Tundra

        I’ve been watching them. Expensive, yes, but nowhere near Scouts or Broncos.

      • R.J.

        Dodge ramcharger for me. 4×4 with light engine modifications. And possibly a new tremec manual.

      • Tonio

        Oh, yeah…

    • Mojeaux

      I’m keeping my 2006 Sonata and Azera till I die.

  15. juris imprudent

    OK, speaking of religion, the Bee nails a pair…

    Museum of Protestant Art, and

    Well, how can you not expect this?

    At publishing time, progressive Christian feminist groups were reportedly launching a campaign to shift the blame from Eve to Adam, arguing that Adam’s patriarchal tendencies led him to force Eve into getting him something to eat.

    • Michael Malaise

      Now, wait a minute. I went to a Methodist church when I was young and I swear there was a Picasso of Jesus on the wall. Oh, not a Pablo Picasso painting. A Petey Picasso. Apparently putting the eyes on the same side of the head and making skin blue runs in the fam.

  16. Chafed

    The home page photo is fantastic.

  17. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    Motherfucking UPS

    /eom

    • Rat on a train

      beep, beep, beep, …

  18. Certified Public Asshat

    Holy shit. Texas republicans introduced a bill to give huge tax cuts to *straight* couples having children—with up to 100% cut in property taxes for TEN kids.The bill’s author said “Get married, stay married, and be fruitful and multiply.”This is handmaid’s tale shit. pic.twitter.com/HQROWJTj8R— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) March 2, 2023

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Progressives prefer children to be bought by two men from their mothers who are treated like fungible breeding stockThat, of course, isn't "handmaid's tale shit" https://t.co/aXkaYFTMB4— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) March 2, 2023

      Unfortunately, I have seen the Handmaid’s Tale and I see how progressives continue to misinterpret it (including the author of the books).

    • Rat on a train

      OMG, they are forcing women to marry and have kids!

    • Tundra

      Haha. I love it.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Unpossible. I was assured that a reactionary wave was impossible and that we would progress into a glorious future of God knows what comes next…

    • Fatty Bolger

      Not really “Handmaid’s tale shit”, but definitely a stupid idea that would never get through the courts.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Hey if I am going to have to pay reparations I need an offset.

    • Tonio

      There are some nasty restrictions in the bill according to a downthread screenshot. “Qualifying married couple” is explicitly defined as a man+woman couple. And there are some exclusions for couples where at least one spouse has been divorced.

      • R.J.

        Hmmm… Something to look at. School taxes in Texas are a major ass reaming. They do need reigning in. Don’t know if that helps me with my one kid and the wife and I previous divorcees. Our governor did promise to address the high school taxes. Hopefully he does better than just that.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Oh for sure it’s a dumb bill. Hysterical comparison to the Handmaid’s Tale though is dumber.

    • rhywun

      Fuck off.

      “Democratic strategist”

      Classy.

    • Michael Malaise

      Using the tax code for societal engineering should be a sin.

    • rhywun

      To be fair… this sort of thing is going to crop up more and more and not because social engineering but because population collapse.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        It’ll be reactionary to woke bullshit before anything else.

    • R C Dean

      I would say if I’m cutting social engineering in the tax code, supporting the kind of family unit that is the core of any functional society, and an incentive to have children, are low on my list.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    WATERMELONS LET THE MASK SLIP: Greta Thunberg is in the news again. This time the chipper nordic maiden, and international happiness ambassador, reminds us that windmill farms are totally not okay in areas with low population density and high generative potential. Because indigenous people live there and the windmills might disturb the reindeer, or something.

    Kkkapitalism must DIE!

    • Mojeaux

      *sigh*

  20. Rat on a train

    From my gas company:

    It takes 25 trees to balance your CO2 impact based on 72 therms used in the last period*

    Good thing I live where there are plenty of trees and not in a 15-minute city.

    • kinnath

      Good thing I have more that 25 trees on my lot.

    • rhywun

      *tap tap tap*

      There are an estimated 228 billion trees in the US, or about 680 per person. I think we’re good.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Unless you live in a tree desert

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        rhywun is a dirty, rotten treeblist

    • UnCivilServant

      “You’re just trying to make me burn more gas, aren’t you?”

  21. The Late P Brooks

    the opposition grants no middle ground in the debate

    You’re with us or you’re a NAZI WHO MUST DIE!

  22. The Late P Brooks

    I want to cut pirate girl some slack and say maybe she’s just using that rifle as a spotting scope.

    But she has her finger on the trigger.

    • Ownbestenemy

      And binos around her neck…

    • kinnath

      Paywall. Please summarize.

      • kinnath

        that worked. thanks

      • rhywun

        You need to diversify your bonds, nigga.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Absolutely. Long overdue.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      German finance minister Christian Lindner warned this week that the annual interest the country pays on its debt had risen tenfold in two years — from €4bn to €40bn — following the ECB’s decision to stop buying extra bonds and to raise interest rates by 3 percentage points. “That is money that cannot be spent elsewhere,” he told Bild Zeitung, the German tabloid.

      And guess what, assholes? Jerome Powell is going to force you higher. Suck it.

      • Compelled Speechless

        It’s almost like funding a government with a credit card is an obviously stupid idea that never should have been done in the first place.

    • Animal

      I read that as “…will wipe out buffets,” and was thinking, “OMG no, not all my favorite cheap Chinese restaurants!”

      • Compelled Speechless

        Didn’t the COVID response already do that?

      • Animal

        The ones I occasionally visit are all still open.

    • The Other Kevin

      “Read my lips, fat.”

    • Rat on a train

      PayPal was already out for their free speech penalty.

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      They halted it for the 2022 tax year, which is a good thing.

      I buy and sell a lot of music gear on Reverb. I don’t make a dime off if any of it. But I still wound have had to account for all ~160 items I sold. Dates bought and sold, cost basis, etc. I mean, some of this shit I bought years ago in a Walmart parking lot. I don’t have any of that info, and I shouldn’t have to account for everything I’ve sold at a goddamn loss. It would have taken me days to do that, all to not have to pay a tax on it.

      It’s a fucking shit show.

    • Ted S.

      What if his expression is that he doesn’t want rainbow-colored hair?

      • Rat on a train

        I’m not going to get the attention I desire with a normal child.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Face tattoo, how unexpected.

    • Ownbestenemy

      You did it because you think your child is a Barbie doll. Stop lying.

      • Mojeaux

        This.

    • juris imprudent

      You will express yourself exactly how I tell you to! /modern parent

  23. The Late P Brooks

    The comments about wind mills above remind me of a little thing from way back when:

    Q- Who killed the electric car?

    A- Physics.

      • SDF-7

        “Assume a spherical physics instructor….”

  24. The Late P Brooks

    It explicitly says the system, which could be installed on any future vehicle in the automaker’s lineup with a data connection would be capable of “[disabling] a functionality of one or more components of the vehicle.” Everything from the engine to the air conditioning. For vehicles with autonomous or semi-autonomous driving capability, the system could “move the vehicle from a first spot to a second spot that is more convenient for a tow truck to tow the vehicle… move the vehicle from the premises of the owner to a location such as, for example, the premises of the repossession agency,” or, if the lending institution considers the “financial viability of executing a repossession procedure” to be unjustifiable, the vehicle could drive itself to the junkyard.

    It should just set itself on fire in the customer’s garage. That’ll learn ’em.

    • The Other Kevin

      Who knew when we finally got KITT, he’d be a complete asshole.

      • SDF-7

        KARR knew. He always viewed KITT as just naive.

      • The Last American Hero

        Kitt was kind of an asshole. He didn’t want to speed or let Michael play his music.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      To start your car, please tap your credit card on the screen.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    You did it because you think your child is a Barbie doll. Stop lying.

    The my-child-is-a-lifestyle-accessory parent. I have been around a few of those.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    German finance minister Christian Lindner warned this week that the annual interest the country pays on its debt had risen tenfold in two years — from €4bn to €40bn — following the ECB’s decision to stop buying extra bonds and to raise interest rates by 3 percentage points.

    Who could possibly have foreseen this? Nobody, that’s who.

  27. Mojeaux

    Speaking of driving, my daughter has decided that driving a forklift is not enough. She wants to “run lanes,” which, she informs me, is like playing giant Tetris with semis and freight. Apparently, she’s really good at it and the 2nd in charge at her dock is down with her bid for upward mobility. He calls her the “Queen of Tnemec” (handling their freight, that is).

    I must tell you. Watching my daughter blossom this way is lovely.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Awesome!

    • Tundra

      I love that!

    • Sean

      😃👍

    • mikey

      Great. Driving a fork lift was my favorite job.

    • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

      Go girl!

    • rhywun

      đŸ€˜đŸ»đŸ€˜đŸ»

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Excellent. It’s definitely gratifying as a parent to see your kids succeeding at something and earning their self-esteem the right way.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    It’s almost like funding a government with a credit card is an obviously stupid idea that never should have been done in the first place.

    More like funding the government with IOUs written on toilet paper with a crayon.

  29. Not Adahn

    I just spent $90 on a box with no lid, because I am paranoid.

    • R.J.

      Boy that is government pricing! Can I sell you some cigar boxes with “Pistol Check Here” written on them for ten bucks?

    • Rat on a train

      empty box scam!

    • R C Dean

      Why does it say “Check depth with box lid” if there’s no lid?

      • Not Adahn

        There used to be a lid, but people were mashing down on it trying to make the gun fit.

    • Tundra

      This fills me with rage.

      Thanks, mikey!

      Have you visited you AH lately? Any winter projects?

      • mikey

        Not this winter. Waiting for the thaw. Chasing oil leaks (whoda thunk?) and an uncooperative O’drive.

      • Tundra

        Those aren’t leaks, they are body integrity protection!

        Which OD is it? I replaced the switch and rewired and voila!

  30. Count Potato

    “Three charts from the Council on Foreign Relations illustrate just how absurd U.S. aid to Ukraine has been since its conflict with Russia began.

    This is unsustainable.”

    https://twitter.com/AdrianNormanDC/status/1631319813812527104

    We could have conquered Greenland for less.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Grade AAA pervert that should probably be locked up.

    • rhywun

      “The little community”

      Celebrate my kink!

    • Animal

      Of course not. You push your faster friend down.

      People just don’t think strategically.

      • SDF-7

        One for the bear and one as a spare?

  31. Brochettaward

    Greta looks like she is into anal and water sports.

    • Ted S.

      Who isn’t?

  32. LCDR_Fish

    Well nuts…wasn’t feeling great last night – having trouble sleeping and definitely seemed like minor food poisoning. Felt decent this morning and went to get mandatory covid test for flying to Japan (since I’m not boosted). Tested positive….

    Since then I’ve picked up more body aches and abdominal issues (phrasing) – pretty much the same as my New Years covid case – but still no cough or temp.

    So much for 3 weeks on orders in Japan – and the first “successful” iteration of our reserve unit sending someone overseas. Really frustrating. On the other hand, I’ve been feeling a little burnt out from all the travel the last few weeks – and I need to get back to my solid daily gym workout, etc. Also, plenty of blu-rays to catch up on – and clean the house, start yard prep for this year, etc. Missing that travel pay, per diem and active duty pay though….

    Ces’t la vie.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    Innovation leader?

    During its recently-held Investor Day event, Tesla VP for Powertrain Engineering Colin Campbell announced that the electric vehicle maker’s next-generation powertrain would use a permanent magnet motor that uses zero rare earths. The comments appear to have resulted in a plunge in the stock of rare earth miners from China.

    In his presentation, Campbell noted that Tesla is known for speed, not just in its vehicles’ performance but also in the company’s innovations. With this in mind, the company’s next drive unit, which will be used in its next-generation vehicle, will have 75% less silicon carbide. It will also be compatible with any battery chemistry, and its production will feature a 50% reduction in factory footprint.

    Campbell further explained that Tesla is steadily reducing its use of rare earths, partly due to the materials’ health and environmental risks. In the Model Y, for example, three types of rare earths are used — the first being about 500 grams, and the other two being 10 grams each. But in the company’s next-generation permanent magnet motor, Campbell noted that Tesla would use zero grams of rare earths.

    No details, but interesting if true. Depending on the process, it sounds like it would bring costs down.

  34. R.J.

    We have some fairly substantial tornadoes heading right at me. I may lose internet tonight, heads’ up.

    Also tonight’s movie is Dead Ant.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DiEhWDt_bWU

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Heads you lose, tails you lose

    Starbucks committed “egregious and widespread” violations of federal law in its campaign to halt unions, a federal administrative judge ruled Wednesday, ordering the company to give back pay and damages to workers who launched national organizing efforts.

    The decision from Judge Michael A. Rosas, an administrative law judge at the National Labor Relations Board, comes as the coffee giant faces growing unionization efforts at its stores nationwide. The company’s efforts to squash them has put it in the crosshairs of progressive lawmakers.

    The more than 200-page ruling from Rosas concluded that Starbucks showed “a general disregard for the employees’ fundamental rights,” resolving a case that included 33 labor complaints from 21 New York Starbucks locations. Rosas also ordered the company to post a “Notice to Employees” at all of its facilities in the U.S. notifying workers that “the National Labor Relations Board has found that we violated Federal labor law.”

    Rosas further ordered that the company reopen a Buffalo, N.Y., area store and reinstate a number of workers who the board concluded were fired for their union activities.

    Additionally, he ordered Starbucks to cease and desist from a number of unlawful actions, including promising employees increased benefits if they did not join a union, engaging in surveillance by photographing employees wearing union pins and prohibiting employees from talking about their wages.

    Stop acting like you own the place.

    • rhywun

      Rosas further ordered that the company reopen a Buffalo, N.Y., area store and reinstate a number of workers who the board concluded were fired for their union activities.

      lolwut

      Private-sector unions are dying do so why not put the government’s thumb on that scale.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Is it on tubi?

  37. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    Huh, that is interesting. I wonder if they conquered the cobalt-iron-germanium chemistry.

    If true, they’re going to be way ahead of the competition. Good for them.

    • NoDakMat

      Ah, yes. The, uh, cobalt geranium chemistry problem…

      *Attempts to appear to be in deep thought as he slowly wonders out of the room*

  38. The Late P Brooks

    All that article said was they are talking about non-rare-earth permanent magnet motors.

    • R.J.

      Yes, not batteries

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      All the non-rare earth options I know of involve cobalt, but none have been mass-produced. And I don’t have a clue as to their physical characteristics like brittleness.

  39. Tundra

    This is interesting:

    https://archive.fo/g5MN2

    “Blackstone Defaults on €531 Million Nordic Property-Backed CMBS”

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      It’s just the beginning.

      • Tundra

        I was surprised they defaulted, simply for the optics. How do you read it? Prepping for more and worse?

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        They figured they would get a better (lower) revaluation of the debt in the courts. Obviously the negotiations with the lendor weren’t going well.

        But interest rates aren’t stopping for a while as the Fed pushes to kill the offshore dollar market. The incoming defaults on bonds are going to be massive, huge, tremendous, the best defaults ever.

  40. DrOtto

    Austin is a shithole – went to get lunch and they were chasing a homeless dude out for jacking it under the table when I got to the Taco Cabana. Finished lunch, gassed up my truck and headed to next customer only to see a different homeless guy, pants around ankles, jerking it facing the street. It’s almost like if you don’t enforce the law, people act like there are no laws.

    • R.J.

      It is a big shithole. An embarrassment.

  41. LCDR_Fish

    Getting caught up on glibs reading – did anyone post this after the Joemala Fetterlump episode?

    https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1631187636189790209?cxt=HHwWgoDQkeigkqMtAAAA

    John Fetterman is currently incapacitated and under hospitalized observation and also introducing congressional legislation.

    Also, if you ask his office about it, they will block you on Twitter.

    Seems like something worth looking into.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Fetterman didn’t even have to wait fifty years to be a vegetable that votes on legislation like Strom Thurmond did,

      These damn kids, they want everything now now now…

    • Count Potato

      I didn’t post about it, but I did read it. Whole thing is sus af.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      It sounds about like what I expected. NS decided the course of action because the pols and the regulators either didn’t have a clue or they didn’t want to stick their necks out on a decision.

      Once they acquiesced to NS’s leadership on the issue, they circled the wagons to protect each others’ asses and leave EP to die.

      • Tundra

        Yup. I linked that article yesterday that showed rail freight is way safer than it was, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t government and corporate fuckery afoot.

  42. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    You want to see a uber-cynical piece of shit that deserves to burn in Hell?

    Here you go: https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1631390869487067136

    Ret. Gen. Keith Kellogg, ex-advisor to Mike Pence, says it’s the “acme of professionalism” to use Ukraine to fight Russia because that “takes a strategic adversary off the table” without “using any US troops.” And then “we can focus” on “our primary adversary, which is China.”