Monday Afternoon Substitute Links

by | Aug 28, 2023 | Daily Links | 245 comments

 

Don Brett is on his yearly vision quest, where he goes out into the swamps and lives with the alligators who raised him as a child. So, you get an early hit of Tonio to start your work week off right.

CLIMATE ACTIVISTS BLOCKADE BURNING MAN, ARRESTED BY TRIBAL POLICE: “The police drove straight through the barrier, at which point the activists started crying and sobbing “we’re non-violent!” The rangers ordered the activists to the ground at gunpoint, arrested them, and carted them away.”

‘JOE THE PLUMBER’ DEAD AT 49: Joseph Wurzelbacher, or “Joe the Plumber,” died on Sunday morning. Wurzelbacher confronted Barack Obama on his tax plan during the 2008 presidential election.

FINALLY, A POLITICIAN NOT ABOVE THE LAW: Brook Park (OH) Councilman Brian Poindexter pleads not guilty to misdemeanor fireworks charges. It is unclear from the article whether Poindexter voted for Brook Park to opt-out of the Ohio law that allows fireworks to be discharged on private property.

CASH FOR CLUNKERS, UK EDITION: “The Mayor of London has funded a £110m scrappage scheme, which provides financial assistance to help eligible London residents scrap their non-compliant vehicles to prepare for the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) across all London boroughs…”

LIKE RATS WITH HOOVES: Study finds deer are virus reservoirs, promoting ongoing mutation.

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.

245 Comments

  1. Common Tater

    Does that make Brett a secret aristocrat?

    • SDF-7

      I think it just means that between Animal and Tonio, the PTB decided to hit us with both bear-rels.

      • Zwak , “There is infinite amount of hope in the universe… just not for us.”

        So, you are saying that Tonio came early?

  2. Not Adahn

    Hey now!

    • SDF-7

      Don’t dream it’s over?

  3. SDF-7

    CASH FOR CLUNKERS, UK EDITION: “The Mayor of London has funded a £110m scrappage scheme, which provides financial assistance to help eligible London residents scrap their non-compliant vehicles to prepare for the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) across all London boroughs…”

    You will own nothing…. and walk everywhere!

    • Tonio

      Now you’re just being paranoid. Like those people who think the government wants to force them onto public transportation to monitor and control their travel.

      • The Other Kevin

        Nobody’s going after your gas stove!

      • Bobarian LMD

        Or your light bulbs.

        Or toilets.

      • SDF-7

        Or ceiling fans, for fuck’s sake. Talk about a stretch.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Or ceiling fans.

        (How much more efficient could they be, FFS?)

      • rhywun

        This efficient.

      • Rat on a train

        shower heads

      • MikeS

        One of the propellant bans caused the price of asthma rescue inhalers to double.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        Well that’s just corporate greed. We can fix that with a 50% tax on inhalers.

    • Shirley Knott

      They’re, uh, havin’ some problems with their ULEZ enforcement scheme.

      • Zwak , “There is infinite amount of hope in the universe… just not for us.”

        He say you Brade Runner.

      • slumbrew

        I just do eyes.

    • rhywun

      I’m a walker everywherer and even I think this is a scam.

      I assume like the upcoming “congestion pricing” in NYC it’s really just a revenue raising scheme to prop up the subway system for another few years until the pensions finally bankrupt it.

  4. Rebel Scum

    crying and sobbing “we’re non-violent!”

    Detaining people by blocking a highway is not “non-violent.”

    The rangers ordered the activists to the ground at gunpoint, arrested them, and carted them away.”

    Government agents doing something useful for once.

    • kinnath

      Tribal agents

      • Homple

        Back in Minnesoda, we always called tribal police FBI: F***ing Big Indians.

    • cyto

      Question I have is why the police did their jobs in support of a festival, but so often we see them protecting protesters blocking rush hour traffic instead of arresting them for … you know… blocking rush hour traffic?

      • kinnath

        Since it was tribal police, I assume this was on tribal land. Different country.

      • milo

        You have to admit…it was hilarious.

      • DEG

        Plus, as I understand it, lots of rich and wealthy people attend Burning Man these days. Can’t inconvenience them. But ordinary folk?

    • Zwak , “There is infinite amount of hope in the universe… just not for us.”

      They should love it; they were treated like black men.

  5. Common Tater

    “Horrible news. My good friend Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, passed away this morning at the age of 49 from pancreatic cancer.”

    Worse news, the Clintons can give people cancer.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Joe was flush with cash, but Obamas tax plan drained him (to death).

      • Fourscore

        They couldn’t paper over it?

    • J. Frank Parnell

      BuT hE WAsn”T EvEn a rEaL PluMBer!!!!!

  6. EvilSheldon

    “…we’re non-violent!”

    “We’re not.”

    *sounds of enthusiastic jackbooting*

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      They were tribal police, screw white man’s constitution

      • cyto

        Ohhh.. yeah… don’t screw with the tribal police. They are kinda like the campus police – except the exact opposite.

  7. Common Tater

    “the Ohio law allowing Ohio law that allows”

    ???

    • SDF-7

      That would be the Ohio Constitution, wouldn’t it? (The law that allows the law allowing fireworks? It is turtles ^W laws all the way down, man….)

    • Tonio

      FIXED! Sometimes I reword sentences and move things around and stuff. The life of a linkster is a tough and thankless one…

      • MikeS

        Thank you!

      • SDF-7

        I thought that was the life of Winston’s Mom….

    • rhywun

      Kamala’s doing the links again.

  8. Common Tater

    “Study finds deer are virus reservoirs, promoting ongoing mutation.”

    Totally didn’t escape from a lab.

    • Common Tater

      “Nearly 99 percent of ‘Covid deaths’ reported by the CDC each week are not primarily caused by the virus, official data shows.

      The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Covid dashboard shows just 1.7 percent of the 324 Covid deaths registered in the week ending August 19 had the coronavirus as the primary cause of death.

      The figures indicate just a handful of victims included in the weekly figure were primarily killed by Covid. For comparison, the virus was behind one in three ‘Covid deaths’ at America’s pandemic peak in 2021.”

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12453329/99-PERCENT-Covid-deaths-not-caused-virus-official-data.html

      • SDF-7

        Surprise, surprise… surprise…. said only Gomer Pyle at this point.

      • cyto

        Seriously… you couldn’t even ask that question at the time, yet we were all talking about it.

      • Fourscore

        I got lucky last year and didn’t shoot a deer, saved myself from getting deer covid.

      • MikeS

        You really dodged a bullet.

      • Zwak , “There is infinite amount of hope in the universe… just not for us.”

        Imaigine if you had shot a crow!

        Corvid-19

  9. Drake

    Scrappage scheme – sounds like some kind of horrible fired garbage from a Baltimore diner.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    It’s neofascists, all the way down

    Progressive US voters must unite behind Joe Biden rather than consider any of his Democratic primary challengers because the threat of another Donald Trump presidency is too great, Bernie Sanders has said.

    “We’re taking on the … former president, who, in fact, does not believe in democracy – he is an authoritarian, and a very, very dangerous person,” the senator and Vermont independent, who caucuses with Democrats, said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “I think at this moment there has to be unification of progressive people in general in all of this country.”

    ——-

    Sanders himself was the runner-up for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 White House race won by Trump and in 2020, with West among his supporters. But Sanders this time quickly endorsed Biden’s re-election campaign, a decision which prompted West to accuse him of only backing Biden because he is “fearful of the neo-fascism of Trump”.

    The senator responded to that criticism on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, saying, “Where I disagree with my good friend Cornel West is – I think, in these really very difficult times, there is a real question whether democracy is going to remain in the United States of America.

    “You know, Donald Trump is not somebody who believes in democracy, whether women are going to be able to continue to control their own bodies, whether we have social justice in America, [whether] we end bigotry.”

    Quack quack quack.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Donald Trump is not somebody who believes in democracy

      Yes, but what are his faults?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        He likes banging porn stars, his dick is shaped like a mushroom, and he has a weakness for flattery.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        See, that makes him less appealing.

      • cyto

        Funny coming from a democrat on Meet the Press – I wonder why nobody ever asked them about spying on Trump, framing people for crimes they didn’t commit, impeaching a president for asking about the bribery scheme of a former vice president, or anything at all of relevance about the capital police and the FBI on Jan 6? Could it be that “the press” has weekly meetings hosted by various 3 letter agencies just like the big tech companies do?

      • Sean

        I’ll bet they’re nicely catered too.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        The guy was fucked by the DNC* twice in the name of Democracy.

        *Not completely unfairly, since he claims to be independent otherwise

      • cyto

        Good point – his party *literally* rigged an election against him, and got caught red-handed doing it. Not “Oh, I think maybe” kind of caught – in their own words, caught rigging the DNC primary for president for Herself, something they fired the head of the DNC for (getting caught, one would presume, not for rigging the election).

        Yet, here he is telling the big lie, loudly and proudly. It really is indefensible… unless you note that he now has 3 big, expensive homes where before there was only 1.

    • SDF-7

      I miss society even having the idea that such statements might get a response of “Citation needed”. Just throw out slurs… they don’t need any facts, because no one will ever challenge you! (“He didn’t get elected, did he?” rules the day…)

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Sanders is such an unprincipled sack of shit.

      • SDF-7

        Ouch… as someone who does verge on the law and order side of things at times… that avatar stings man… nice shot.

    • Fatty Bolger

      We’re taking on the … former president, who, in fact, does not believe in democracy – he is an authoritarian, and a very, very dangerous person

      This from a socialist who wanted America to be more like Soviet Russia.

      • SDF-7

        Wait… past tense?

      • Fatty Bolger

        Of course, now he knows that wasn’t real socialism. Real socialism has never been tried.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      I don’t believe in democracy either so Fuck Off Bernie

      • milo

        Democracy as is defined these days…I agree.
        The democracy of my youth…I do not agree. It may be my lack of understanding of the terms.
        The little “d” democracy of the past meant we were all in this together.
        I wish we could go back to that.

      • Mojeaux

        Democracy is and always will be two wolves and a lamb deciding what’s for dinner.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        This,

      • The Bearded Hobbit

        Whenever you see the word “democracy” substitute “mob rule”. Semantically equal.

    • Rebel Scum

      “We’re taking on the … former president, who, in fact, does not believe in democracy – he is an authoritarian, and a very, very dangerous person,”

      You people like to just say things. And project. Always project.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Meanwhile, the Dems like democracy in the same way the DDR did.

    • Grumbletarian

      This guy caucuses with the party that pretty openly rigged their last two presidential primaries against Bernie in order to ensure their preferred candidate won. But they’re the ones who totally love democracy.

      • John Nerfherder

        Bernie is the greatest cuck of all.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    The rangers ordered the activists to the ground at gunpoint, arrested them, and carted them away.”

    Hopefully they staked them out over some anthills.

    • kinnath

      Hey, I said that in the last thread, and no one cheered me on.

  12. Tundra

    Thanks, Tonio!

    “Having that animal host in play creates things we need to watch out for,” he said. “If this trajectory continues for years and we have a virus that becomes deer-adapted, then does that become the pathway into other animal hosts, wildlife or domestic? We just don’t know.”

    Who the fuck cares?

    CASH FOR CLUNKERS, UK EDITION:

    They’re just gonna fuck the hell out of the poor people. Enjoy the 15 minute city, kids!

    • SDF-7

      No other virus, especially respiratory coronavirus, in the history of the world has ever mutated.

      Now bend the knee and wear the mask! And don’t forget your 50th booster… those yachts don’t grow on trees for the Pfizer execs!

      • Bobarian LMD

        Coming up next!

        N95 Masks for deer!

  13. Shpip

    Genomic analysis showed that at least 30 infections in deer had been introduced by humans – a figure that surprised the research team.

    We just need a few PSAs to tell Ohioans to stop snogging the cervids.

    • Bobarian LMD

      “That’s hostile.”

      “Sure” replied Big Chief, “hoss style, dog style, indian style…”

      “Oh Dear!”

      “No deer… Ass too high, run too fast.”

      • Homple

        “Me know how. All me want is chance.”

  14. Stinky Wizzleteats

    “deer are virus reservoirs”
    I always thought Bambi’s mom had it coming.

      • kinnath

        I knew exactly what that was.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        At the animation festivals we’d shout “Marv!” each time his name appeared.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Sanders nonetheless said he planned to push Biden to tackle “corporate greed and the massive levels of income and wealth inequality” across the US. On Meet the Press, he suggested he would urge Biden to “take on the billionaire class”.

    Those comments came about four months after Sanders called on the US government to confiscate 100% of any money that Americans make above $999m, saying people with that much wealth “can survive just fine” without becoming billionaires.

    Thank goodness we were rescued from authoritarianism.

    • Suthenboy

      Sanders should have gone to live on a farm a long time ago. Since no one has the brass to be merciful to him we are stuck with this kind of commie clap-trap.

      • Drake

        He lived on a communal farm in Israel – until they threw him out for being too lazy.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      “tackle corporate greed and the massive levels of income and wealth inequality”. So he’s going to demand that Biden stop letting a bunch of low wage labor cross the border unchecked?

  16. R.J.

    That image made me twitch. For a moment I thought it was Thursday.

    • Tonio

      Sorry, buddy. My bad.

  17. Suthenboy

    “Study finds deer are virus reservoirs, promoting ongoing mutation.”

    No shit? Knock me down with a feather. Now, replace the word ‘deer’ with that of any other species of life on the planet and it is still true.

    • cyto

      Easily the most numerous and varied “lifeform” on earth. Every cell type there is has more than 1 virus targeting it, from cyanobacteria to human nerve cells, and everything in between.

      I remember a factoid from Craig Ventner’s oceanic genome survey – they were finding some ludicrous amount of virus genome in the water. Can’t recall if it was 100 times, or thousands of times that of other life forms… but I remember saying “wow”.

    • milo

      Including us. Just sayin’

    • John Nerfherder

      The Biden staffers are clueless and malicious.

      • Zwak , “There is infinite amount of hope in the universe… just not for us.”

        Vasser grads.

        You can always tell a MRs. Degree from a finishing school.

    • MikeS

      That’s pretty funny. Almost literally giving the memesters a blank slate.

    • Suthenboy

      I hate that I missed that. I can only imagine what a bumbling, meandering, tedious collection of question begging and non-sequiturs that was. Did he wander off camera mid-way through and have to be led back? We should do a survey and find out who liked it so we will know who to ban from voting.

      I bet AOC, wherever she was, was fiddle fartin’ all they way through that.

    • The Other Kevin

      “…to move from trickle-down economics to my middle out, bottom up vision”
      Inside, outside, upside down!

      • creech

        When has the U.S. ever had a “trickle down” economy? Every billionaire is supporting hundreds of workers. Just b.s. to promote class hatred.

      • Fourscore

        Sounds like my old girl friend

    • Sensei

      “I came to office determined to change the economic direction of this country and to move from trickle-down economics to my middle out, bottom up vision: Bidenomics,” Biden slurred.

      Silicon Valley Middle Out

      Even if you are jerking 2 at time…

      • Timeloose

        That scene condensed what being a engineer is like into 10 minutes. Optimal tip to tip efficiency.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Part of Brett’s extended family?

    A new state record for the longest alligator caught in Mississippi was broken over the weekend.

    According to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, four hunters harvested a male alligator on Saturday in the West Central Alligator Hunting Zone, measuring 14 feet and 3 inches long.

    The animal weighed 802.5 pounds.

    That would put a dent in your undercarriage.

  19. R.J.

    “How the virus is transmitted from humans to white-tailed deer remains a mystery.”
    The Hell it’s a mystery. Fauci probably injected them himself in the hopes of poisoning the countryside. He failed.

    • SDF-7

      I blame Ollie North… still after Fawn.

      • R.J.

        Heyoooooo!

    • Nephilium

      Yeah. Deer don’t just hang out in human occupied areas.

      /looks at the deer currently eating my lawn.

      • Fatty Bolger

        After moving to Ohio, I remember looking out at the backyard one morning, and wondering how somebody’s big ass dog got into our yard. When it jumped the fence, I realized that it wasn’t a dog.

      • Bobarian LMD

        They like to sleep inside my chain-link fence, because I’m the only thing that bothers them back there.

        And my wife would shoot me if I shot one of them.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Hey, I said that in the last thread, and no one cheered me on.

    I didn’t see it.

    • kinnath

      Sorry, morning thread.

  21. Shpip

    This made me LOL.

    These days, it’s rare to see a comic strip of this caliber.

    • John Nerfherder

      Swiss is gonna be triggered.

      • SDF-7

        He knows we’re just a barrel of laughs.

      • Bobarian LMD

        They were suppressing his speech.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      On target as well

    • The Other Kevin

      Number one with a bullet!

      • Fourscore

        I was primed for that but decided to take a powder.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      The link didn’t work for me. My browser is just shooting blanks.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    What the fuck is it with this Utopian City obsession? This morning I read a thing about a Saudi plan to build some sort of green field “future proof” paradise (whatever the fuck that means).

    • MikeS

      As in, “move to Saudi Arabia; You’ll have no future!”

    • SDF-7

      Huge gated communities, peons all kept in their places is my reading of it.

    • Suthenboy

      ‘Future Proof’

      Wow, that is some euphemism for “We are going to stay in the Stone Age”.

      • Bobarian LMD

        “We know how to keep our women in line.”

  23. db

    “The police drove straight through the barrier, at which point the activists started crying and sobbing “we’re non-violent!”

    About fucking time. I guess the Tribal Police are higher up on the greivance food chain than environmental protestors.

    • R.J.

      Yes. Don’t fuck around with tribal police.

  24. SDF-7

    Oooh… another strongly worded letter.

    Wake me up when they actually cut Executive Branch funding until they get actual accountability or something.

  25. UnCivilServant

    MikeS – I really did plan to print the Owl as the first test of the Vyper, but the SD card that came with it was bad.

    I had to throw together some gcode it could read before I got it rolling. So I’m printing a MadCat torso. (It was the first stl I laid my hands on)

    • MikeS

      Sad!

      The more I think about it, I don’t recall now if the owl actually came pre-loaded, or if I just saw it was some kind of semi-tradition thing. 3D printing version of “Hello World”.

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, the instructions said there should be an owl.gcode on that SD card to print. So I assume it was preloaded for you.

      • MikeS

        OK. I was remembering correctly. I suppose my internet search was something along the lines of “why the hell is there an owl file on this card?”

      • UnCivilServant

        Cura estimates 10 hours for my MadCat torso.

        I should have looked for something smaller. A 75 Ton OmniMech is a bit much to start with.

      • MikeS

        Holy crap. I think the owl took like 30 minutes. haha

      • SDF-7

        So… a Locust or a Jenner?

      • Nephilium

        Urbanmech. Make the trashcan great again!

      • SDF-7

        Urbie… Urbie… Urbie goes bananas…

        Amazing what’s lodged in my memory instead of more pertinent information some days….

        And wow… watching that trailer… definitely in that “90% of whatever is crap” category…..

      • DEG
      • SDF-7

        Because you had to pass your Ordinary Wizard Level before setting up for Transfiguration of the resin.

      • cyto

        That’s funny stuff right there…. if you cain’t laugh at that, you need to get up out of here!

      • Sensei

        Funny enough my sample and first print was what is called the beckoning cat. Popular in both China and Japan. It came on my default memory card.

        https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:923097

        If I recall correctly that card also blew up. Surprise, surprise… a cheap chinese printer with an even cheaper memory card.

      • cyto

        They probably bought a 2 gig memory card on Alibaba for $3.99.

      • cyto

        2TB. The joke is 2TB these days.

        Dangit.

        Amazon is full of those. Sure buddy – 2 TB thumb drive for $15, free shipping. Stunning that the reviews say it corrupts all their files after the first 2 gigs…..

      • Sensei

        Yup. In my case the capacity was low and seemingly correct, but I doubt I got more than two dozen large writes to it.

    • kinnath

      I would seriously struggle to suppress violent urges against those assholes.

      Then I see the white haired dude and think you can’t touch him without serious risk of killing him.

      • Homple

        Someday, somebody taking his kid to the emergency room will be blocked by an outfit like this, and ….

      • kinnath

        shot gun and bird shot

      • EvilSheldon

        I saw a video of some dude in a BMW pulling a quick u-turn, backing up to within about a foot of the Extinction Rebellion drones, putting it in neutral, and revving the hell out of the engine.

        It was super effective. I’ve been saving it for later.

      • Sean

        Yeah, that was excellent

      • Tundra

        Rolling coal with a big diesel would be even better.

    • rhywun

      I would just drive very slowly between them. They will move.

      • The Bearded Hobbit

        I would prefer the “German Method” (drag them off the road by their hair) but if you touch them it’s “assault and battery” and if your car touches them it’s “assault with a deadly weapon”.

      • MikeS

        That video is great. That German gal was having none of it. Good stuff.

  26. SDF-7

    Speaking of Animal… I’d say heckling opportunity, but we don’t need our prolific writer-bear poached by the administration…

  27. MikeS

    Jesus, the Pope really stepped in it now:

    Pope Francis Praises Historical Russian Imperialism Amid War in Ukraine

    On Friday, speaking by video to a gathering of Russian Catholic youth in St. Petersburg, Pope Francis urged them to follow in the path of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, whom he called rulers of a “great, enlightened empire of great culture and great humanity.”

    The comments on Peter and Catherine, which came at the end of the pope’s speech, weren’t included in the official transcript released by the Vatican, but were released by the Catholic diocese of Moscow and later in a video from Siberian Catholic television, a church agency.

    Putin has cited Peter, who expanded Russian territory and curtailed Ukrainian autonomy, to justify the current invasion. Putin has used the term Novorossiya, or New Russia, for Russian-occupied southern Ukraine—using a term that dates back to Russia’s conquest of southern Ukraine under Catherine in 1764.

    Catherine also harbored the Jesuit order, of which Pope Francis is a member, during the order’s suppression by Rome in the late 18th and early 19th century.

    • cyto

      That dude is infallible, yo!

      • Nephilium

        Only when speaking upon certain matters.

    • grrizzly

      a term that dates back to Russia’s conquest of southern Ukraine under Catherine in 1764

      Russia didn’t conquer southern Ukraine in 1764. It conquered northern Ottoman Empire at the time. It’s preposterous to call Ukraine the areas taken from the Ottomans.

      • Brochettaward

        Preposterous basically describes everything progressives believe about history. It’s all about making history fit into their neat little narratives.

      • MikeS

        While not technically correct, it is what led to it:*

        When the Russo-Turkish War began in 1768, the Tatars who lived on the Crimea operated somewhat autonomously under a Khanate. The predominantly Muslim population descended from centuries of intermarriage between the native Turkic people and Mongol armies who had occupied the region during Genghis Khan’s time. They had a fractious relationship with the surrounding Russian and Polish-Lithuanian Empires because they raided their neighbors, engaging in human trafficking. As Russia expanded southward, these raids decreased in frequency, but continued to take place until the annexation of the Crimea.

        The 1774 Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca temporarily ended the conflict, leaving the Crimea with nominal independence but giving Russia control of key ports on the peninsula. Catherine refused all offers from Prussia, Austria and France of further mediation, determined to continue pursue her territorial ambitions in the region. Catherine’s fellow monarchs ultimately accepted the loss of the Crimea’s independence, and Russia formally annexed the Crimea in 1783.

        *I’m not a historian and can’t vouch for veracity of the Smithsonian Magazine.

      • grrizzly

        Notice that nobody claims that there were Ukrainians on the Northern coast of the Black Sea and in Crimea in 1760-70s. Here’s a nice map. Taurida and Crimea were conquered by Russia, not Ukraine.

      • MikeS

        But Crimea was recently part of Ukraine. So add “present day” to the sentence and it’s correct, no? Or, well, “present day until it wasn’t again”.

      • Brochettaward

        It’s a pretty big difference. What was written is the writer implying that Russia aggressed against Ukraine. The other let’s the reader know that Ukraine didn’t even exist as a political entity until the 20th century.

      • MikeS

        Gotcha. Yes, I see it now.

      • Ted S.

        Albania and even more so Slovakia didn’t exist as political entities until fairly recently, but nobody would even think to hold that against them. Why should it be different in the case of Ukraine?

      • Brochettaward

        No one is holding it against Ukraine. Let me state my own opinion very clearly – I believe in self-determination for any group of people. If Ukrainians want to be independent, they have every right to be so. Just like if any particular parts of modern Ukraine wish to join Russia, they have every right to do so.

        My statement was solely based on the impression I believe the writer of that article was hoping to create with the reader. It used history to support a modern narrative. and it is the progressive SOP. It exists this way today so it must have always been so is just as ridiculous a point of view as the opposite – that it existed this way once upon a time (see Chinese and Indian nationalists as examples of this school of thought) so it should be so now. Progressives will endorse this latter point of view on occasion if the magical incantation of colonialism can be used Hong Kong should be part of China because it was before the white man etc. Taiwan shouldn’t exist. In the case of others you’ll see people argue that Pakistan shouldn’t exist.

        I find attempts to use history to justify ones current geopolitical positions morally repugnant in general. And there are obviously a lot of Ukrainians who have no desire to be part of Russia and I fully support them in doing so.

        I will object to America waging a proxy war against Russia through Ukraine, though and very much object to American politicians who have profited off of Ukrainian corruption.

      • John Nerfherder

        What nobody wants to talk about is the role of the Brits in stoking Ukrainian nationalism as a hedge against other powers, primarily Russia.

        This has been going on for a century or more. Hell, MI6 had Bandera under their protection after WW2. Bandera who happily exterminated “undesirables” for Hitler until he became a liability to the Germans.

      • Ted S.

        How dare Ukrainians not want to be subjugated by Russians!

        More seriously, it always seems that people go on about how much we need to listen to Russia’s supposed historical justifications for attacking Ukraine, but suggest that Ukraine has its own valid historical justifications, and people recoil in horror.

      • Brochettaward

        Only these Glibertarians who exist in your head. There is a far more knee jerk response to anything negative towards Ukraine than there is the other way around.

        And it’s entirely possible to understand why Russia is doing what it is doing and to still not support them in doing so on some moral level. What Russia is doing in Ukraine is 100% necessary from a geopolitical position for Russia. What America did in Ukraine was always a gross and obvious move against Russia that was bound to provoke what has happened.

        and then we can add in screwball libertarian morality like it’s wrong for Russia to invade a sovereign country.

        It makes sense for some factions in Ukraine to want to get cozier to the West. If America actually cared about Ukraine’s best interests, it never would have done what it did over the past decade or so because it was completely fucking predictable how Russia would respond. And America would do no less if put in a position like Russia was.

    • MikeS

      Yeah, so anyway…up just a bit is a story about how the Pope spoke positively about the imperial history of Russia, even though he has also condemned imperialism in the past. Interesting read. For instance:

      Pope Francis has frequently decried Ukrainian suffering since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, but he has refrained from explicitly condemning Moscow for the war, while suggesting it may have been provoked by the enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Europe’s east. The pope’s stance has drawn criticism from Ukrainians including leaders of the Catholic Church there.

      The pope has repeatedly cast the war in Ukraine as a struggle between the Russian and U.S. superpowers, with Ukraine as a victim caught in the middle. “There are imperial interests at stake, not just the Russian empire, which has been around since Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, but the other empires too. There are these empires. And empires put nations in second place,” the pope said in a March interview with Swiss public television.

      • Brochettaward

        Even if I were to agree with Frances on a particular point, I’d shrug it off. I don’t see anything resembling intellectual consistency or depth in the man.

        But it would be fun to have Eddy’s crazy ass around for moments like this.

      • The Last American Hero

        This story comes a day after he came down on conservative Catholics for being too conservative and not a word about liberal Catholics that advocate for trans bs or late term abortions.

      • Brochettaward

        He is an old school commie would be my guess, and from a Latin American context. So, he’s pro-Russia in general despite Putin simply because they are opposed to America and the West at large.

        He’s a base political creature more than any sort of religious leader.

      • MikeS

        I didn’t link it because I’m super pumped that Commie Pope™ happens to agree with me on one thing. I wanted to point out his hypocrisy. Good Christ this article missed the mark. I assume because nobody actually read it. And here I am sharing my WSJ subscription with you. tsk tsk

        I’ll do better tomorrow. Or maybe some of us should just turn the fucking outrage meter down a few clicks anytime you read the words “Russia” and/or “Ukraine”.

      • Tundra

        This.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Today in made up bullshit

    State Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit Monday to stop a Southern California school district from outing transgender students to their parents, arguing that the policy violates students’ civil and constitutional rights and could cause them “mental emotional, psychological, and potential physical harm.”

    ——-

    “Our message to Chino Valley Unified and all school districts in California is loud and clear: We will never stop fighting for the civil rights of LGBTQ+ students,” Bonta said in a prepared statement.

    The policy passed last month by the Chino Valley Unified School Board requires schools to inform parents whenever a student asks to use a different name or pronoun than what’s in their official record, or if a student requests to use facilities or participate in programs that don’t align with their assigned sex. A similar statewide proposal, introduced by Republican Assemblymember Bill Essayli, stalled and has almost no chance of becoming law in the Democratic supermajority Legislature.

    Backers have characterized the policy as a “parental rights issue,” but Bonta alleges the board is unlawfully discriminating against transgender and gender-nonbinary students.

    And what criteria are used to determine the legitimacy of a student’s claim of special status? Are we strictly in Humpty Dumpty territory here?

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      “Are we strictly in Humpty Dumpty territory here?”

      Yes. It’s my truth.

      • MikeS

        Carnitas gets it.

    • cyto

      In other news, parents gathering tar and feathers …..

      (if California had any sense of connection to reality at all, that is)

    • Brochettaward

      Transitioning in secret from your parents seems like a very healthy life choice.

      • creech

        Yeah, think how pissed the parents are going to be at the school when they inevitably discover what their kid has done.

    • cyto

      Here in Florida this is an issue due to a new law from DiSantis and crew. Teachers must call kids by the name their parents sign off on.

      Now that Larry being Lisa is an issue, and everything being super offensive, this seems like a “protect the teachers” position. You start calling someone’s kid “Lisa” behind mom’s back, mom might get angry and come after you. You refuse to call Larry “Lisa” and you might get fired, or worse. So get mom to sign off, and then Ms Thompson has to call Larry “Lisa”, but mom is on board.

      It was something of an issue with the teachers at the local high school – a pretty high-end school. The teachers conveyed a bit of attitude while explaining it, per the boy. But boy, being a boy, thinks it would be hilarious if I signed off on making them call him “Professor Buttmunch” or somesuch. Better, change it up every week.

  29. Brochettaward

    Hurricanes are The Great Firster’s wrath when seconding grows to its most decadent.

    • MikeS

      Hurricanes don’t dare come to North Dakota. I will smite them with my Firsts Of Fury™.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    “In discussing the policy before its passage, board members made a number of statements describing students who are transgender or gender non-conforming as suffering from a ‘mental illness’ or ‘perversion,’ or as being a threat to the integrity of the nation and the family,” Bonta said in a statement.

    Chino Valley and other California school districts in recent years have become the targets of religious conservatives who have recruited and helped elect local candidates in a state where Democrats dominate higher offices.

    ——-

    Bonta, in his lawsuit, argues the policy infringes on several state protections, including California’s equal protection clause, the state education and government code, and California’s constitutional right to privacy.

    The tensions are likely to continue outside of the courtroom with conservative groups looking to qualify statewide ballot measures relating to schools and the Legislature’s LGBTQ+ caucus prepared to introduce a bill prohibiting such policies.

    Fuck it. Bring on the sectarian civil war.

    • rhywun

      Religious conservatives are driving “anti-trans” policy in California?!

      Pull the other one.

    • KK, Non-Man

      Religious conservatives like blacks & Latins?

      • Zwak , “There is infinite amount of hope in the universe… just not for us.”

        Don’t forget the Massa Man!

      • KK, Non-Man

        I think it’s hilarious that leftists believe there’s an army of white religious conservatives all over the country, when, in large part, their favored marginalized groups make up a huge chunk of religious conservatives outside the South. As in, places where leftists live.

      • KK, Non-Man

        And Muslims are being radicalized by white southern Baptists conservatives. Because of course.

  31. KK, Non-Man

    Be safe, Florida Man & Woman! (I miss Penguin)

    • Tundra

      Seconded.

      I have Penguin’s email. Shall I ping him?

      • KK, Non-Man

        Please do! Give him my regards and tell him I hope zoom is in the cards in the near future

      • Tundra

        Done. He is a good dude. One night y’all were MIA and the two of us had a great chat!

        He also helped me tune the action on my daughter’s guitar. Y’all are a helpful bunch.

    • Shpip

      Jim Cantore just showed up in town. Make of that what you will.

      • KK, Non-Man

        Which town are you in?

      • Shpip

        I live in Gainesville, which has the only sizable airport in the area, so that’s where Jim’s flight came in.

        Evidently he’s headed to the Cedar Keys — which should be a sign to the locals to pay heed to the evacuation orders requests.

      • KK, Non-Man

        Reynolds Wolf is also at Cedar Key. He’s an entertaining guy. I have no idea how to watch the Weather Channel because they have kind of clung to traditional cable like grim death.

      • MikeS
      • KK, Non-Man

        LOLWTF

  32. KK, Non-Man

    I was promised rain, dammit!

    Apparently a 20% chance means massive downpours, but a 90% means bright & sunny.

    • Tundra

      I wasn’t able to get video, but early it was pouring like hell and the sun was shining brightly. Mountains do weird shit.

  33. DEG

    Following the success of our last scrappage scheme, which saw the removal of more than 15,000 polluting vehicles from London’s roads,

    For some definition of “success”

    • R.J.

      More likely took 15,000 vehicles away from the working poor. And God only knows what classics were destroyed.

    • R.J.

      He talks well. I like him, and at the same time he sets off my spidey sense. I just have trust issues when it comes to anyone running for office.

      • MikeS

        I mean, you got the first mainstream Indian-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.

      • The Last American Hero

        He would be much better than Trump or Biden. Of this I am confident. That is all I need to eat this point.

      • Mojeaux

        Nikki Haley doesn’t count? Or just cuz she’s halfsies?

      • The Bearded Hobbit

        She doesn’t count for me because she’s a goddamed warmonger.

        I’ll vote for him in the primary, although it won’t matter by June (NM primary elections). In the general I will vote for whoever is running against Biden/Harris.

        And, as usual, my vote will be useless.

      • MikeS

        Good grief people. I changed like 5 letters of a Joe Biden quote.

      • kinnath

        Yes, I know. But I am just getting here.

      • MikeS

        /deep, appreciative bow

      • Zwak , “There is infinite amount of hope in the universe… just not for us.”

        I got it MikeS.

      • rhywun

        Someone posted a Youtube link the other day of some rando questioning “why is he everywhere all at once”, as if the swamp was pushing him or something.

        I wasn’t getting it. He seems genuinely anti-swamp to me.

      • R.J.

        Yes. TOO anti-swamp. I know, I am a paranoid freak.

      • rhywun

        LOL there is no such thing.

      • MikeS

        No, RJ really is a paranoid freak.

      • rhywun

        Goddammit I knew my writing was not precise enough.

      • R.J.

        MikeS is correct.

      • MikeS

        😜 X 2

      • R.J.

        This is it! No more posts. Doomed, we are.

        There is no justice, there’s just us.

      • MikeS

        A STEVE SMITH cameo!

      • R.J.

        Up this post somewhere is the Vivek FAQ that explains stuff like that. I like that he did that. I ALSO FIND IT SUSPICIOUS…

      • MikeS

        Vivek is really just a secret “Trojan Horse” for George Soros: 🤡

        This one is so funny that it feels odd to dignify, but man it comes up a lot! So here goes. When Vivek was 24 years old, he won a generic scholarship that hundreds of students win to attend graduate school. It was NOT funded by George Soros. It was sponsored by a relative of George Soros (Paul, his brother) who is long dead. There were no strings attached. Just a generic scholarship. Vivek would have been a fool to turn down that scholarship and anyone who would have shouldn’t get anywhere near the White House doing trade deals on behalf of our country.

        Vivek wasn’t born rich either. Unlike any other candidate, Vivek voluntarily released 20 years of tax returns at the start of this campaign – and challenged his competitors to do the same – in an extraordinary act of transparency. Well, no good deed goes unpunished. Opposition researchers pointed out that Vivek made over $1 million the year he won the scholarship. Well, not quite. Vivek’s first big payday at the hedge fund only came the year after he applied for the scholarship. And even if you’ve made a million dollars, you’d have to be pretty foolish to turn down a $50,000 scholarship if you win it. It’s not that complicated.

        Oh, and by the way – there’s another candidate in this race who George Soros has praised and for whom George Soros’ investment partners hosted a fundraiser in June. And another one who got a $160 million loan from George Soros himself. We’ll let you guys do your own homework on that.

      • rhywun

        A Jesuit!!1!!1

        Good gracious what an overachieving, high-caste weenie.

      • rhywun

        Gotta admit my eyes glaze over at the “business” stuff. I do not have a head for that shit at all.

  34. UnCivilServant

    I’ve been watching the printer print for too long, I have to let it work.

    It’s halfway through the estimated time (give or take). Having reached the nose of the cockpit, it won’t have to print so many supports, and the layers will start to get smaller as it goes along now.

    • R.J.

      Are you going to do a time lapse video?

      • Sean

        Are we that desperate for content?

    • MikeS

      I recommend passing the time with tequila and chicken.

      HT; Sean

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m out of chicken 🙁

      • Sean

        😁

        Bucket of chicken.

  35. DrOtto

    I saw a “Come and Take It” bumper sticker surrounded on each side by those “Thin Blue Line” bastardizations of the US flag that really annoy the shit out of me. Doesn’t bubba realize who the politicians are sending to “take it”?

  36. Mojeaux

    7:00 p.m. God Daylight Time post is up now.

    • Sean

      But, I’ve lost interest by now…

      *hic*