WebDom’s Web Finds, Fire + Pride Edition

by | Jun 20, 2023 | WebDom’s Browser History | 186 comments

The sky down here has finally cleared up from the Canadian wildfires, but it was intense. The sky was orange, and the sun was muted. It was eerie.

But it worked in NYC and created unintentionally good advertising for Diablo 4.

I am living for the comments on the CIA’s Pride Month post.

 

 

 

About The Author

WebDom

WebDom

WebDom grows Peyote buttons in the vast desert of her mind.

186 Comments

  1. Brochettaward

    We live in a fucking clown world. I do believe deep in my heart that there was a time when this country was led by serious people/men. That time has long past, but it did exist, damn it!

    • Brochettaward

      I still assure you all that there are serious Firsters out there doing the work of serious Firsting. Hard Firsters for hard times.

      • MikeS

        If you First hard for more than four hours, keep going.

  2. SDF-7

    Ok.. I laughed at “Finish They/Them”.

    And the Master is transhuman more than transgender. I mean, his flesh was fused to the computer core and the walls of that Vault iirc…

    Almost feels like an early Friday with the pop culture / video game references there, WebDom!

  3. The Other Kevin

    These are fun, thank you!

  4. Drake

    Back when I was in college almost 40 years ago the GLSA (gay lesbian straight alliance) was the group most vocally supported and pushed by the administration on campus.

    At my small New England liberal arts college there was no gay bashing. Did have a friend who was matched up with a gay roommate freshman year. We’d laugh hard when he complained about the room stinking of man-ass after his roommate had a hook-up.

    Most students just didn’t care about the whole thing and ignored all the GSLA signs. Seems like this upset some of them because they wanted more attention. Now with social media and the crazy trans stuff, the true lunatics are getting the attention they so desperately crave.

    • Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man)

      Thirty years ago they were running rampant on campus with zero regard for anyone else. They already knew they were untouchable.

      I got into it with the president of GALA because he was making a massive spectacle of his relationship while pretending that he was earnestly in love just like any other couple. I told him that he was just using his boyfriend for celebrity points. He didn’t take it well.

      Of course he dumped him a couple of months later after he got bored.

      • Gustave Lytton

        In the workplace too. Ask my wife about working in a company with a large number of gays, talking explicitly about their relations and bragging about hookups at the height of the AIDS crisis but were untouchable because they were gay. Well, untouchable by anyone who objected to having it crammed down their throats and preferred a modicum of professionalism. There were a number of funerals.

    • R C Dean

      Same here. Nobody in their 20s cared as far back as the 80s.

  5. The Other Kevin

    I’m shaking my head that the CIA has an official social media accounts, when they’ve got thousands of fake ones and all the media and big tech are doing their bidding.

    • Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man)

      Don’t forget their venture capital firm.

      • The Other Kevin

        That probably has a social media presence as well.

      • Bobarian LMD

        They’ve probably got a Glibs account.

      • Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man)

        I’m going to laugh hysterically if it turns out to be Bro, as they frogmarch me off to the gulag.

  6. The Late P Brooks

    Stalkers

    A vaccine scientist said he was “stalked” after podcast host Joe Rogan called for him to debate Democratic presidential candidate and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

    “Ugh I just was stalked in front of my home by a couple of antivaxers taunting me to debate RFKJr. … What is it with people?” Peter Hotez, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, wrote on Twitter Sunday.

    He should call Gorsuch and ask him if he can provide any pointers on how to deal with them.

    • Brochettaward

      He is an official propagandist of the state and deserves to be treated with respect, god damn it!

    • The Other Kevin

      I’m sure it’s 1000x worse for him than it was for anyone on the receiving end of all the covid policies he pushed.

    • EvilSheldon

      I remember maybe ten years ago, when I was at a barbecue with a few NIH research scientists in attendance. Peter Hotez’s ne came up, and one of them immediately opined, ‘Great fundraiser, but he should be ashamed to call himself a scientist.’

  7. Tundra

    That LGBT sandwich looks delicious!

    Thanks, WebDom! Good finds.

    • Rat on a train

      Adding quark would be too much.

      • Tundra

        Queso might work.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Just put it all in-between two tortillas, toss on a hot skillet with some butter/oil and call it a LGBTQ

      • Rat on a train

        I will take that with a double portion of salsa.

      • UnCivilServant

        You have to first do something about that avocado slime that’s contaminated the sandwich.

      • Nephilium

        Perhaps some quince?

    • Mojeaux, XX

      There is everything wrong with that sandwich, namely the presence of everything but bacon.

      • robc

        I love a bacon sandwich, the addition of anything else does nothing for it.

      • Gender Traitor

        Ideally, lots of bacon between two (or more) slices of bacon. (Bread has too many carbs.)

      • Tres Cool

        Do what I do and buy low-carb bread. Aunt Millie’s has a lovely wheat.
        I dont know exactly what they put in it, but it works for me. Ideally, toasted.

      • Rat on a train

        Mmm, bacon and egg sandwich.

      • PieInTheSky

        this is probably because you Americans have no good tomatoes. A good tomato makes everything better.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Bite your vampire tongue. We have good tomatoes, just not from the store. Those are strip mined somewhere in the desert.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I just got done smoking one of my better batches of bacon. Right amounts of sweet/salty/heat.

      • Rebel Scum

        Bacon grilled cheese.

  8. The Late P Brooks

    That Obama kiss is truly something to behold. It shrieks fiery passion.

    • Drake

      Pucker up Big Mike.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Both people have their lips tucked in and that is totally normal you bigot

      • Rebel Scum

        No one. Is above. The law.

        Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son, has reached a tentative deal with the U.S. attorney in Delaware, agreeing to enter guilty pleas to two misdemeanortax charges and admitting to felony gun possession, according to a Justice Department filing.

        Hunter Biden’s plea will include an acknowledgement that drug use was a contributing factor in his gun crime and is entering into a pretrial diversion agreement, according to the filing. A source with knowledge of the agreement said it is expected to mean that for two years, Hunter Biden must remain drug-free and can’t commit additional crimes. If Hunter Biden fulfills this successfully, the gun count would be dismissed. This does not amount to a guilty plea.

        Scratch that. Some people are more equal than others.

      • Rebel Scum

        That wasn’t supposed to go there…

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        That’s what Hunter said.

      • Brochettaward

        Hunter Biden is committing more crimes right fucking now and no one is going to do a damn thing about it.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        So voters of the world keep supportin’ me
        And I promise to take you very far
        Other leaders better not upset me
        Or I’ll send a million troops to die at war
        To all you Republicans, that helped me win
        I sincerely like to thank you
        ‘Cause now I got the world swingin’ from my nuts
        And damn it feels good to be a gangsta

      • Gustave Lytton

        Damn it feels good to hear that song.

      • The Other Kevin

        According to the prosecutor, he made $1.5 million in each of two years and didn’t file taxes. Now we have the added bonus of nobody digging into that income to see if it’s legit, or if there was more than that. But hey, if any of us did that, I’m sure they’d be just as lenient.

      • Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man)

        All I can say is, if you dare raise your voice in complaint about it, you’d better have your own taxes very much in order.

      • Brochettaward

        These are the same assholes who want to look at every bank transaction you make over $600 (because fuck privacy) so they can get their cut. Just remember that while progressive heroes routinely end up owing millions in back taxes and get slaps on the wrist from the DOJ and IRS.

      • Tres Cool

        Al Shartpton ?

      • Rat on a train

        What’s the point of power if you can’t reward friends and punish enemies?

      • R C Dean

        This is the first time I can remember a plea deal front-running an actual indictment or criminal charge.

        I’m sure it’s totally normal for prosecutors to call the perp and say “Hey, we’ve got some shit on you. Before we go to the trouble of indicting you, what would you be willing to plea to?”

    • Brochettaward

      The fascists who run public transportation once denied me the First seat on the bus. It is my right as a Firster.

      • MikeS

        I was already sitting there. Punk.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        You’re a regular Rosa Parks.

    • Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man)

      Looks like two engine blocks.

      Maybe the person carrying them was exhausted.

      • Rebel Scum

        Comments like that really grind my gears.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        I thought it was pretty clutch.

      • DrOtto

        These bad puns are going to get Swiss rev’d up and he’s going to blow a gasket.

      • db

        I guess you’re not allowed to call a tranny a tranny.

    • R.J.

      Oh no. Oil on cement. How terrible.

      • Tres Cool

        Its cleaner than my garage floor.

    • Fourscore

      “So the Juneteenth celebration on Broadway Ave yesterday had 4 city blocks, blocked off. Police presence all afternoon and traffic nightmares.
      So on this morning’s commute along Broadway, it was no surprise to see a mile of trash. Not even two feet of clean gutter space. City free ride Bicycles laying everywhere. Dozens of trash piles 4′-5′ high on the sidewalks. Go to Minneapolis, throw a party, let someone else clean it up.”

      From an observer. There’s probably pix but I’m too lazy to look.

  9. Name's BEAM. James BEAM

    Sorry, WebDom, but your experience of the wildfires doesn’t look all that intense to a veteran of them (like most Albertans). I can remember years when, just a couple of klicks from downtown Calgary, I couldn’t see the office towers at all, and the sun just wasn’t there.

    Real wildfire smoke doesn’t make the place look like Hell, it makes the place look like it’s being covered over by a volcanic eruption, and you can chew the air it’s so bad.

    All that being said, glad it’s over for you and yours. We’ve had a week of heavy rains, which have extinguished the wildfires but have brought intermittent flooding.

    It’s just one damn thing after another this year. At least the NDP didn’t get elected to power on May 29th — that would’ve been a true apocalypse, and I would’ve had serious discussions with the Spousal Unit about whether we should be in any rush to come home from our European trip…

    • R C Dean

      “It’s just one damn thing after another this year.”

      KLIMATE KAOS!

    • Ownbestenemy

      Heh

    • kinnath

      brutal man, just brutal.

      but funny.

    • Sean

      🙂

    • Mojeaux, XX

      As soon as I saw that, I thought, “That ship is cursed.”

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM

        Or in an insanely-hostile-to-human-life location, which may just be the same thing.

    • Name's BEAM. James BEAM

      Yeah, but we all know it would’ve happened eventually, so might as well get it over with.

    • PieInTheSky

      stonetoss is a nazi. linking him is problematic.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    Gotta be a good story here.

    “Asshole bus driver wouldn’t let me bring my motors on the bus, so I had to leave them. How am I gonna get my core charge?”

  11. robc

    On a related bacon note to comments upthread, I ate at Bacon Social House in Denver on Saturday, early Father’s Day brunch.

    They know how to make bacon.

    • robc

      Also, I came down with a cold Saturday. I will take covid any time over this.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    According to the prosecutor, he made $1.5 million in each of two years and didn’t file taxes. Now we have the added bonus of nobody digging into that income to see if it’s legit, or if there was more than that. But hey, if any of us did that, I’m sure they’d be just as lenient.

    “No reasonable auditor…”

    • Drake

      Not like the FBI and IRS employ any forensic accountants who could do a deep search for the money. They could accidentally come across some of papa Joe’s stash.

      • The Other Kevin

        They could unravel the whole thing in three seconds. Same with any “press” that did any investigation. But they spent years not only ignoring it, but actively covering it up. It’s infuriating.

      • Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man)

        The problem with corruption is that once you’ve helped to hide it… well… now you’re complicit and also stand to get destroyed when the whole thing comes undone.

        The federal government is built just like the mafia at this point. Everyone is guilty of something and everyone has dirt on everyone else. If you squeal, you go down too if you don’t get offed first.

      • Drake

        Anyone who isn’t in on the corruption or otherwise compromised is looked upon with extreme suspicion.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    I love a bacon sandwich, the addition of anything else does nothing for it.

    Lots of floppy bacon on sourdough toast.

  14. Gender Traitor

    OT rant: Jeeminy criminy, enough with the constant mailing of Uline catalogues already! We get a big enough mountain of mail the day after a Monday holiday without THREE more Uline catalogues weighing down the bin! And we rarely ship anything larger than legal size documents. Just STAAAAHP!!! 😒/rant

    • UnCivilServant

      Their business model is getting kickbacks from the postal service?

    • Tundra

      Somehow those fuckers found me out here.

      • Ownbestenemy

        You know they are buying from the Dark Web to keep up their mailer game.

    • Sean

      I see that you’ve never been on the Northern Tool mailing list.

      • Gender Traitor

        Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure, though I HAVE known my share of northern tools.

      • R C Dean

        Yes, go on . . . .

    • Ownbestenemy

      I will see your Uline with our Grainger catalogues.

    • Rat on a train

      Speaking of junk mail: COVID must be over because I received junk mail from a funeral home.

  15. Rebel Scum

    There is an easy way to correct the indoctrination these children have suffered through, especially in Montana.

    Montana officials sought to downplay a first-of-its-kind trial taking place over the state’s obligations to protect residents from climate change, saying Monday that a victory by the young plaintiffs would not change approvals for fossil fuel projects.

    Attorneys for Montana’s Republican attorney general laid out their defense following a week of often emotional testimony in state court from young people who sued the state in 2020.

    The 16 plaintiffs, ranging in age from 5 to 22 years old, say they’re being harmed by wildfire smoke, excessive heat and other effects of climate change. They’re asking a judge to declare unconstitutional a state law that prevents agencies from considering the impacts of greenhouse gases when issuing permits for fossil fuel development.

    Final arguments were expected Tuesday — days earlier than scheduled after the state did not call one expert witness who was expected to testify and sharply limited the testimony of a second expert. Plaintiffs’ attorneys had questioned the credibility of the two witnesses, who said Montana’s greenhouse gas contributions were of little significance versus global totals.

    • rhywun

      Next on the docket, a different group of plaintiffs ranging in age from 5 to 22 years old sue the United States for lying about Santa Claus’s address.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Another reason to short Nissan?

    Auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn has filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Nissan and about a dozen individuals in Beirut over his imprisonment in Japan and what he says is misinformation spread against him, Lebanese officials said Tuesday.

    According to the officials, Ghosn’s lawsuit accuses Nissan and the individuals of defamation and of “fabricating charges” against him, which eventually put him behind bars in Japan.

    ——-

    The 69-year-old Ghosn, who for two decades was the head of Nissan and Renault, has repeatedly said he is innocent. In December 2019, he jumped bail in Japan in a daring escape by hiding in a box spirited aboard a private jet out of the country.

    Prosecutors in Japan have charged three Americans with helping Ghosn escape the country.

    He now lives in Lebanon, which has no extradition treaty with Japan and does not extradite its citizens. Ghosn has citizenship in Lebanon, France and Brazil.

    Ninjas incoming.

    • PieInTheSky

      how is Lebanon gonna enforce that?

    • kinnath

      I still like my Nissans

      • PieInTheSky

        that is because you never owned a citroen. That is a real car.

      • Nephilium

        Having a brand name that is really close to lemon is going to be a hard selling point in the US.

      • UnCivilServant

        Don’t be silly, most people here have never heard of the Citron.

      • Gender Traitor

        They may, however, be familiar with the fairy tale of Citronella, the poor girl whose wicked stepmother and wicked stepsisters forced her to sit among the mosquitoes.

      • Seguin

        The best Citroen has a Maserati engine.

    • R.J.

      New company catchphrase: If you can’t find a used Chevy Cobalt, get a Nissan!

      • R.J.

        Apologies to Kenneth

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      “and does not extradite its citizens”
      A pretty novel thought, I wonder how hard it is to get citizenship there.

      • PieInTheSky

        they are in an economic crisis and rather corrupt, if you have money it can’t be that hard

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Some enterprising Republican should point out the disparity in treatment between Hunter Biden and any black person on that gun/drug charge. Tim Scott, maybe.

    • Rebel Scum

      Rs tend to pounce on such things.

    • The Other Kevin

      That was my thought. The one time I was called for jury duty, it was for a young black guy who was caught with drugs and a gun. This was his third strike and they wanted to send him away for good. Clearly he didn’t get a plea deal in which all he had to do was pay back taxes. I wasn’t familiar with nullification at the time, so I was honest and said I thought drugs should be legal, which got me dismissed.

      • Gender Traitor

        You’ve only been called for jury duty ONE TIME??? And you got out of it???

        😒

      • Ownbestenemy

        Can confirm. I have had summons, only to be dismissed prior to show up date and once I did show up but had a conflict of interest in the case. Well, that and I said a whole bunch of icky libertarian things on the questionnaire.

      • The Other Kevin

        That was my experience too. In multiple cases I checked in the night before and they didn’t need me.

      • Nephilium

        Only received one summon for jury duty in my life, it was for the Cuyahoga county court, and there were two other people who I went to high school with in the same jury pool (graduating class of less than 100 students). Didn’t even get asked any questions nor sat on a jury, just wasted a week sitting in the room reading.

      • R.J.

        Had several. Last one I had to wait in a room full of people packed in folding chairs for several hours. I was even told we were going to a case at one point, then apparently some plea deal was cut and we were allowed to go home. Hours of my precious time wasted.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Look buddy, you signed the social contract to give up time to the state without just compensation.

      • Fatty Bolger

        I’ve had three summons, and never once had to go. Twice all jurors were dismissed for the week, meaning they had no trials those weeks.

  18. Rebel Scum

    The current government sucks, but don’t fall for an alternative.

    The AfD has resurged despite domestic intelligence classifying it a “suspected” right-wing extremist organization, allowing it to be put under surveillance. Its branch in Thuringia, where the Waldhaus gathering was held, is classified as “confirmed” extremist. A month earlier, its national youth wing was also classified confirmed extremist.

    Yet a full third of Germans now view it as a “normal democratic party,” Mr. Hillje said. “The paradox is that, at the same time, it has become more and more clear that this is really a radical party, if not an extremist party.”

    In previous years, the party seemed ready to sideline extreme figures. No longer. This April, co-leader Alice Wiedel spoke alongside Björn Höcke, party leader in Thuringia and seen as one of the AfD’s most radical politicians.

    Mr. Höcke was recently charged by state prosecutors for using the phrase “everything for Germany” at a rally — a Nazi Storm Trooper slogan.

    The Roman salute, silly mustaches and watercolors are all out.

    • Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man)

      classified as “confirmed” extremist

      Well that is all the proof I need they’re unsuitable for government.

      Seriously, I hope the AfD sweeps a few districts and makes life hell for the CDU and SPD.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    that is because you never owned a citroen. That is a real car.

    I’d take a Peugeot

    • Tundra

      Nice.

      I actually did own a Peugeot. Wasn’t great.

    • kinnath

      I have a Peugeot in the garage. I’ve had it for about 40 years. It was a top-of-the-line bicycle when I got it.

    • PieInTheSky

      I have a good friend who gets very animated discussing how he cannot understand why anyone buys citroen cars.

  20. Rebel Scum

    You better hold fast.

    Strange doings at a strange time in a strange land. Videos of widespread military vehicle maneuvers around our nation popped up on the Web at mid-weekend while the American citizenry went about its holiday weekend business (including Father’s Day revels and “Juneteenth” celebration mass shootings): Scenes of armored personnel carriers rolling down Walnut Street in downtown Philly; B2 bomber wings over Minnesota; Tank columns galumphing along an Idaho highway… leading to widespread suspicions that something untoward is up.

    • Drake

      It’s summer and the National Guard and Reserves are doing annual training?

      I know we freaked out our share of civilians rolling around with the heavy machine guns mounted. One drill our crazy Colonel had us doing a run through a city wearing boots, utes, and gas masks. People will get out of the way when a hundred Marines wearing gas masks are running towards them.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Its Social Media Contagion. Drive the 15 on drill weekends, between Barstow and Zzyzx, you are sure to see a convoy going out to train.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Sorry but there ain’t no cabal of competent and constitutionally minded US generals who are going to save us from this shit.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Marketerspeak

    “It’s tough to see the controversial and divisive debates that have been happening in the U.S. in the last couple of weeks involving lots of brands and companies, including and especially Bud Light,” he said. “It’s tough exactly because what we do is all about bringing people together.”

    Marcondes said companies and brands should be driven by their values as well as create things that bring people together.

    “In times like this, when things get divisive and controversial so easily, I think it’s an important wake-up call to all of us marketers first of all to be very humble. That’s what we’re doing, being very humble, and really reminding ourselves of what we should do best every day, which is to really understand our consumers. Which is to really celebrate and appreciate every consumer that loves our brands—but in a way that can make them be together, not apart,” Marcondes said.

    He insisted that the company would be traveling around the country, reconnecting with its customer base.

    “That’s what Bud Light stands for — it exists to make beer easy to drink and easy to enjoy. That’s what we all, as a team, will be doing moving forward as a group. That’s what leaders do. Bud Light is coming back. It’s going all around the country, reconnecting with consumers, moving forward. That’s what you can expect from Bud Light in the U.S,” he said.

    Do we get two for one vapid blather at happy hour?

    • Drake

      Never seen an issue that has so many people pissed.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Bob Uecker’s still alive apparently-hire him, some decent comedy writers, and a bevy of nontransgen broads with big tits and do it quick.

      • Brochettaward

        That’s the thing. This was such an easy fix, but they absolutely refused to do it. They were arrogant, and completely wedded to the idealism. They were ready and remain ready to sacrifice in the name of the cause.

        My favorite part of all this is the media trying to paint the lost sales as a result of pissing off both sides. No, assholes, this is purely Bud Light’s core constituency – conservative white men – telling them to fuck off.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Like CNN and airports, they took for granted things like stadiums only selling their beer as ‘domestics’ and thought that was their audience and could weather pulling this shit. Not the ranchers, local boys down at the poolhall, lake goers, etc.

      • robc

        The “domestic” term pisses me off, especially since none of Bud, Miller, Coors are American-owned any more.

      • Nephilium

        Yuengling has been hitting that hard with their advertising of late. I wouldn’t be surprised to see PBR get in on that potentially as well, in a lower key way.

    • kinnath

      InBev fucked this up.

      Brand loyalties are made when youngsters are learning to drink. They buy cheap and bland. Once those loyalties are set, then tend to last a lifetime.

      They managed to alienate a quarter of their current customers many (perhaps most) of whom will never go back.

      And they are turning off the youngsters (dude-bros) that are the future customers.

      This is a permanent fuck up.

      • Brochettaward

        I think this is far more than a quarter of their actual customers, and current sales figures are being propped up by inertia. Bud Light was the biggest brand and a lot of places will continue to buy it even as sales slump big time. It will take time for the reality to hit that maybe about half or more of their actual consumers are done with them.

        Could have simply apologized and/or done a comedy bit playing off their many popular ad campaigns of the past. The CEO should be out on his ass.

      • Pine_Tree

        I’m not even sure of the “sales figures propped up by inertia” part. I think it’s gotta be either just plain lying or only reporting certain kinds of sales (to distributors and not consumers) – hiding the real number in inventory shifts.

        Saying this because the reports are all like “down ~25%” or whatever.

        But when I see it in grocery stores or the liquor store, it looks like the real number has to be down ~100%. Like NOBODY is buying this stuff now, not even for free.

      • kinnath

        I saw a burly tradesman in a company tee shirt buying a suitcase of Bud Light in small town Iowa a week ago.

        The brand is not completely dead.

      • MikeS

        Yeah. There’s still a lot of their customers who just don’t give a shit about all the kerfuffle and are going to keep drinking the beer they’ve been drinking since high school.

      • Nephilium

        Until their friends start making fun of them for drinking “tranny fluid”.

        FFS, they even set it up with an insulting nickname for the blue collar guys.

      • Nephilium

        By backtracking, they also pissed off the QUILTBAG “allies” pushing them to go down this path.

      • Brochettaward

        That community is loud and influential, but I have serious doubts it would be able to have any measurable impact on Bud Light’s sales. So they have a small group of Twitter queers claiming they are boycotting something they never used to begin with compared to the construction worker who just said fuck Bud Light, but doesn’t have a Twitter account.

        The attempt to paint the declining sales as a result of pissing off both sides is an attempt to take the piss out of the boycott powers of the right or, as I’d call it, the silent majority.

      • Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man)

        It’s really about whether InBev is going to be responsive to customers or investors.

        The entirety of the ESG movement has been to disempower the consumer and empower the capital firms.

      • Nephilium

        While I doubt the QUILTBAG allies really were drinking a lot of Bud Light, the reports I saw had the gay bars that were dumping it dropping all AB-InBev products. I have noticed that the Target boycott has dropped out of the news, who would have thought tuck friendly bathing suits would be the trigger?

      • rhywun

        Some brave company should come out and decline to play politics. As we have seen, you can’t win that game.

      • R C Dean

        The thing is, they sell commodity beers, which the vast, vast majority of their customers couldn’t pick out of a blind test. Once they start buying other beers, they will see they aren’t missing anything, and will have no reason whatsoever to go back. I think this is pretty permanent.

    • R.J.

      When I was there, the insurance rate was half of what I paid in Texas. Was it because Texas was more hazardous to insure? No. It was because the governor and legislature capped insurance premiums artificially low. I am surprised it took this long to blow up.

    • Sensei

      Also the song that taught me what at paradiddle is.

      In old days I would have thought that word dangerous to say. Now, I suppose, it can be celebrated!

    • kinnath

      The US should have opened the gates to Cuba when the Soviet Union fell.

      • Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man)

        Pffftttt… and lose all that the moral posturing (not to mention the Florida Cuban vote)?

  22. hayeksplosives

    So I’m having lunch at a local pizza joint.

    Reading IEEE spectrum.

    “Article”:

    Discussions at chip design conferences rarely get heated. But a year ago at the International Symposium on Physical Design
    (ISPD), things got out of hand. It was described by observers as a “trainwreck” and an “ambush.” The crux of the clash was whether Google’s AI-fueled solution to one of chip design’s thornier problems was really better than those of humans and state-of-the-art algorithms. It pitted established male electronic design automation (EDA) experts against two young female Google computer scientists, and the underlying argument had already led to the firing of one Google researcher.

    • hayeksplosives

      “established male electronic design automation”

      Da fuck??

      • Sensei

        Yeah.

        It’s not your typical turf war, but some battle between the sexes.

    • Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man)

      *chuckle*

      I was wondering when that dynamic was going to blow up. AI obviously has applications in EDA, but I can also see where the AI experts would underestimate the problem which has a multitude of peculiarities to it.

    • Timeloose

      EDA systems at the highest levels use machine learning in many instances. If the Google scientists have made a better solution they would have to prove it, but in order to prove it they would have to build it in hardware. The only other way to validate the design would be to use the supposedly inferior EDA.

      Show me the silicon people.

      • R C Dean

        “Show me the silicon people.”

        Paging Q . . . .

  23. The Late P Brooks

    InBev fucked this up.

    I saw a story claiming InBev intentionally created this situation to damage Bud. Why? That part was a little fuzzy.

    I wasn’t paying attention when it all started, but I assumed they’d come out and say, “Hey. We brew beer, and we’ll sell it to anybody.” It’s not like they don’t serve Bud Light in gay bars (less than they used to, apparently). Instead, the apparent teenage girl head of marketing for the brand got her little panties in a bunch called the broad customer base a bunch of bigoted assholes. And here they are.

    • kinnath

      I saw a story claiming InBev intentionally created this situation to damage Bud.

      I saw a similar story. The gist of the claim was InBev damaged Bud Light to give them leverage to fuck over the unions (which are stronger in the US than aboard).

      • R.J.

        That’s quite a bit of damage for something like that.

      • kinnath

        The story was from an “insider” who had already left the company. The theory made no sense. I figured it was someone trying to grab his 15 minutes of fame and cash in.

      • R.J.

        I would agree. This was self-inflicted harm caused by DIE. And oh boy, is this going to have legs. Once the recessions grows deep in late 2023 you will see companies dumping all that DIE stuff in the river.

      • MikeS

        I hope they actually dump it. I recently read an article at WSJ about how it was already being discussed much less at shareholder meetings, but was still full speed ahead within the company.

      • Pine_Tree

        I saw it but I’m not buying it. Partly because it’s a little too much of a twisted argument with all sorts of implied 4th-dimensional chess that they’ve manipulated. But mostly because of the stupid crap their executives have been saying since. It’s coming off as quite thoroughly sincere in the “can’t admit we’re wrong, and it’s all those dumb rednex’ fault, and of course we’re sure the market will come back fine.”

    • Brochettaward

      The head of marketing they picked may or may not have had anything to do with the Mulvaney campaign. There are conflicting reports there, but her statements on Bud Light being fratty were before that campaign and only received attention after things blew up.

      What Bud Light’s CEO did was basically what you said – they claim they are just a beer company and beer is for everyone. They are playing the inclusive angle in their refusal to apologize to their core consumer base. That’s why their non-apology apologies have failed so miserably.

      • R.J.

        Ten years ago it might have worked. Now people are fed up and pissed. This DIE shit has cost people jobs. Everyone is having this bullshit shoved down their throats. Bud became public enemy #1, to be followed by others.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    “established male electronic design automation”

    Masters and slaves?

  25. The Late P Brooks

    taught me what at paradiddle is.

    A crippled diddle?

  26. The Late P Brooks

    I saw a similar story. The gist of the claim was InBev damaged Bud Light to give them leverage to fuck over the unions (which are stronger in the US than aboard).

    That sounds like the one I saw. Because we all know how viscerally anti-union the Euroweenies are.

    • Sensei

      Yeah, I’ve got this productive asset that I want to damage so I can send some unions a message.

  27. Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man)

    *sigh*

    Bought a used car from a brand dealer. Turns out the front wheels are bent, probably somebody took a speed bump too fast.

    Now I get to enjoy the battle over whether or not they’re going to give me some new rims (preferably with spinners).

    • Sensei

      Was it part of their “certified” program?

      • Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man)

        Nah. It was their service loaner. Slight shake at highway speeds that I figured was a balancing issue.

        Turns out the tires were on backwards and the two front wheels were bent. Needless to say, it doesn’t inspire confidence in the dealers’ service shop.

      • Sensei

        But other than that it’s a peach!

      • Sean

        Turns out the tires were on backwards and the two front wheels were bent. Needless to say, it doesn’t inspire confidence in the dealers’ service shop.

        Nope. *facepalm*

    • Sean

      Did you test drive it?

      • Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man)

        Yes and asked them to balance and align it before purchase. They deigned only to check the tire pressures, which were low. I fucked up and trusted them.

        We’ll see. There are ways to be persuasive with franchise dealers that you can’t utilize with used car lots.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Turns out the front wheels are bent

    Doing this?