Saturday Morning Still Recovering Links

by | Aug 5, 2023 | Daily Links | 164 comments

So on the first anniversary of the largest Glibs meet-up in our short-ish history, a few friends came into our little town. Mostly carrying large quantities of alcohol which we could not permit to go to waste. NPR Lady said, “Oh, I’d like to meet your friends!” not understanding that, really, she would not like to meet my friends. Spud was in town, and she was exposed to him first. Sadly, he decided to behave rather than provoke. But I figured, oh wait until she gets the full treatment from Tulip. Surprise, surprise, they really hit it off, and when Tulip left and I was giving her a goodbye hug, she whispered, “She’s great, don’t fuck it up.” I guess that’s a good thing? Riven came to visit as well, and NPR Lady looked her up and down and observed, “I see why you like her.” Nonetheless, we went hiking with her and Mr. Riven and no-one got thrown off the cliffs.

But let’s talk more about birthdays rather than anniversaries, and today’s include a guy who was set in his ways; the weakest Holmes; a guy who directed the best sprawling blockbuster adventure film ever made (featuring his father!); a guy who only had one line to get right and still fucked it up; a guy I used to share a building with, who was light as a feather; and the less hot chick at WKRP.

Let’s crawl over to the Links section.

 

Geek riot. If anyone called an “influencer” was taken out back and woodchippered, society would be greatly improved.

 

This is totally not a government-driven distraction. Unpossible.

 

A long piece, but worth the time.

 

Cute pet video.

 

Let’s be honest, it’s all going to be written by AI anyway.

 

“In light of the current Commissioner being relieved of her duties and escorted from her office, it worries me that the issues I experienced go much deeper than just my case.”

 

Old Guy Music is a classic, and has Chick and Flora in front, but it’s a great showcase for one of the birthday boys.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me. Wait, wrong book, I'll find something else.

164 Comments

  1. Common Tater

    “Either the U.S. government has mounted an extraordinary, decades-long coverup of UFO retrieval and reverse-engineering activities, or elements of the defense and intelligence establishment are engaging in a staggeringly brazen psychological disinformation campaign.”

    Why not both?

  2. Sean

    I hope Marshall Green burns it all down and salts the ground.

  3. Gender Traitor

    Cute pet video.

    Cat chases bear in Thornton, New Hampshire

    I’d love to see that, but the video won’t play for me. 😿

    • TARDis

      It didn’t work for me either.

      This one?

      • Gender Traitor

        Thanks, TARDy! That’s a badass cat! 🐈

      • TARDis

        I don’t think that’s the first time I’ve seen a Maine Coon run off a bear.

      • slumbrew

        I’m really not up to date on all this gay slang.

    • Drake

      Work for me in Brave.

  4. Stinky Wizzleteats

    War, hyperinflation, unchecked immigration, currency manipulation, groomers in positions of power, societal breakdown, a page worth of etc.
    “Hey everyone look, UFOs.”
    BULLSHIT!

    • Drake

      ☝️

    • Nephilium

      I just had a headline in my newsfeed talking about how “greedflation” is on the rise, even as inflation is going down.

      After the language is destroyed completely, will it be more 1984 or Idiocracy?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Governmentally it will be Idiocracy; socially, 1984

      • juris imprudent

        A classic bi-partisan compromise then?

      • Ownbestenemy

        I can only laugh cause it isn’t a ‘it will be’ it just is. Now back to tracing out 3 100ft cat 5 cables through tower shafts and floor boards.

      • TARDis

        Don’t ask who the stupid-evil/evil-stupid pendulum swings for. It swings for thee.

      • R C Dean

        “Greedflation” is battespace prep for price controls.

        “If only those evil corporations weren’t raising prices just because they are so greedy, everything would be fine. We must stop them. With price controls!”

      • Ted S.

        I think it’s just hate-mongering.

      • Animal

        After the language is destroyed completely, will it be more 1984 or Idiocracy?

        Yes.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        The proles in 1984 didn’t seem particularly bright, so you may be onto something.

  5. Drake

    Black bears are cowards – until they aren’t. Used to get youngsters like that walking between houses in NJ next to the state forest. Medium sized dogs would chase them away. Then a 500lb+ male came strolling through. Our neighbors’ weimaraner ran right up to it barking like the chase was on. The bear just turned around and looked down at her – she realized she had made a terrible mistake and exited the scene faster than she got there.

    My neighbors were all upset so I tried not to laugh too hard from my deck where we had watched the whole thing.

    • Sean

      Silly doggie.

  6. R C Dean

    “While driving drunk, with Johann as passenger, [Huston] hit a parked car sending Johann through the glass windshield. She suffered head trauma and Huston was charged with driving while intoxicated. His brief career as a Hollywood writer ended suddenly when he killed actress Tosca Roulien, wife of actor Raul Roulien, while driving drunk.”

    Learn from the first time you nearly kill somebody driving drunk, already.

  7. R C Dean

    “As a human being who was sentient for long stretches of time between 2008 and 2017, I was, in general, a fan of Barack Obama and his presidency. “

    Oh, fuck off. Trust me, just because you weren’t a big fan of Obama didn’t mean you weren’t sentient.

    • Rat on a train

      So non-sentient before 2008, after 2017, and at times in between?

    • rhywun

      the inner life of a young man whose election was accompanied by hopes of sweeping, peaceful social change in America—a hope that ended with the election of Donald Trump, or perhaps midway through Obama’s second term, as the president focused on the Iran deal while failing to address the concerns about rampant income inequality, racial inequality, and the growth of a monopoly tech complex that happened on his watch

      Oh fuck off. I gave it the college try but I can’t stomach any more of the drivel.

      • R C Dean

        How you can give a tongue bath to somebody while describing them as hollow, narcissistic, etc., I just don’t understand.

      • rhywun

        That “hope and change” nonsense broke a lot of brains. They wanted it so badly… not that any of them could say exactly what they wanted.

      • Gender Traitor

        Maybe he considers these admirable qualities?

  8. John Nerfherder

    I read that Tablet piece yesterday. It confirms my bias that Barack is mostly just a pompous ass.

    • John Nerfherder

      Oh, and that David Samuels is incapable of conducting an interview without injecting his own politics.

  9. KK, Non-Man

    This NPR Lady seems to be a very good judge of character

    • Old Man With Candy

      “You just got the approval of a gun-totin’ white woman in a trailer…”

      • KK, Non-Man

        Excuse me???

        It’s a motorhome!!

  10. Not Adahn

    Oh please, Riven’s not that young.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    Universities must find new ways to create diverse student bodies and avoid the precipitous declines in admissions of Black and Latino students seen after prior bans on affirmative action in states including California and Michigan.

    Precipitous. sure.

    There are no adverse effects of admitting unqualified students to college.

    • rhywun

      It is a religious belief at this point. You can point at facts and figures all you want but minds will not change. And meanwhile don’t even think of questioning why this is “needed” in the first place.

  12. Common Tater

    “Bully DEI trainer paid $7,500 an hour is heard LAUGHING as she taunts beloved gay school principal driven to suicide for questioning her woke diktats – as crony who held no-whites school meetings is also identified”

    https://www.thefp.com/p/a-racist-smear-a-tarnished-career-suicide

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12375427/Bully-DEI-trainer-paid-7-500-hour-heard-LAUGHING-taunts-beloved-gay-school-principal-driven-suicide-questioning-woke-diktats-crony-held-no-whites-school-meetings-identified.html

    The struggle sessions continue…

    • Common Tater

      “Doctors sue California over training that whites are naturally racist

      Law requires all continuing medical education (CME) courses to include implicit bias training

      A coalition of California doctors, including the anti-discrimination group Do No Harm, filed a lawsuit against California’s mandated implicit bias training for physicians, noting the training promotes the belief that “white individuals are naturally racist.”

      AB 241, passed by California lawmakers in 2019, requires all continuing medical education (CME) courses to include implicit bias training. Because 50 CME hours are required each year to maintain one’s medical license, the law essentially mandates that practitioners consume these lessons or lose their ability to earn their livelihoods, while also replacing limited course time with unnecessary or counterproductive information.”

      https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/doctors-sue-california-over-training-whites-are-naturally-racist

    • rhywun

      That woman is pure evil.

      Doctors sue California

      More of this, please. This evil must stop.

    • slumbrew

      I started to read the Free Press piece but punched out early – the guy was 100% on-board with that DEI bullshit, he just didn’t think it’d be turned on _him_ – he was one of the good guys!

      • juris imprudent

        Yep. The classic reaction of if only comrade Stalin knew!

  13. juris imprudent

    How many votes have been cast to date?

    The Primary is Over: It’s Time for Republicans to Unite Behind Trump

    • Ownbestenemy

      Huh, guess the Stupid party is catching onto the game then.

  14. Ted S.

    I didn’t know Steven Spielberg cast his father in Jaws.

  15. Common Tater

    “EXCLUSIVE: Oregon medical group blames Libs of TikTok after being exposed for denying woman breast cancer treatment over her gender critical views

    Marlene Barbera, who was set to receive a mastectomy later this month due to her breast cancer, took issue with a trans flag displayed in the office and had asked if she could be treated in a place that did not have a trans flag. In response, she was banned from the practice. Barbera has also had trouble seeking treatment elsewhere, due to her objection to trans ideology.”

    https://thepostmillennial.com/exclusive-oregon-medical-group-blames-libs-of-tiktok-after-being-exposed-for-denying-woman-breast-cancer-treatment-over-her-gender-critical-views

    • juris imprudent

      Signal your virtue, reap the rewards. Oh, you don’t like finding out that your church is tiny and ridiculous?

    • R C Dean

      Too bad freedom of association only seems to run one way.

    • UnCivilServant

      What? They only cut off healthy breasts?

  16. rhywun

    Things spiraled out of control at around 3 p.m., when some in the crowd could be seen tearing down construction barricades and hurling objects, including throwing some objects at responding police officers.

    I don’t understand a single part of this story. But I get chaos and mayhem – these seem to be the new normal now.

    • Sean

      I want no part of any of it. I’ll be very far away from any of that nonsense.

  17. Brawndo

    “Riven came to visit as well, and NPR Lady looked her up and down and observed, “I see why you like her.””

    Riven is a child?

  18. rhywun

    This is totally not a government-driven distraction. Unpossible.

    I guess the shock value of indicting Donald yet again has worn off. Time to reach for an old stand-by.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    First, do no harm? Fuck that.

  20. Q Continuum

    “Dreams from My Father, as Garrow shows throughout Rising Star, is as much a work of dreamy literary fiction as it is an attempt to document Obama’s early life.”

    A politician fictionalizing his own life in a cynical attempt to leverage political capital? SAY IT AIN’T SO!

  21. The Late P Brooks

    The Primary is Over: It’s Time for Republicans to Unite Behind Trump

    Sure it is.

  22. PieInTheSky

    A long piece, but worth the time. – I linked that yesterday

    • Sean

      I didn’t read it then either.

      • PieInTheSky

        antisemite

  23. PieInTheSky

    Old Guy Music is a classic, – not bad

  24. The Late P Brooks

    I didn’t read it then either.

    #METOO

    • hayeksplosives

      I slogged through it.

      It was indeed worth the read. The criticisms from the Glibs of the interviewer and interviewee are also valid, but they can be easily dismissed by a discerning reader.

      Article did validate some of my observations and intuitions about Obama.

      Back when he was running in 2008, I read a piece about a black Chicago pastor—NOT Jeremiah Wright—who had advised Obama even more years ago that if he wanted to get the backing of the Chicago Black community, he couldn’t prevaricate about religion anymore. He’d have to choose to be Muslim (either regular or NOI), or go all-in on social justice Christianity. Obama had acknowledged that and said he was trying to decide. The pastor being interviewed about that early career advice to Obama didn’t come across as a big fan of Obama, mainly because he knew he was not genuine.

      Try as I might, I cannot now find that anecdote online.

  25. PieInTheSky

    “A father who battered his 15-year-old daughter with an iron bar after accusing her of secretly planning to meet a boy on the morning of her GCSE English exam has been spared jail.”

    “The prosecutor explained: “She admitted the attacks had been going on for two years and that this was the first time she has chosen to speak up about it.””

    “But the judge said his daughter’s statement suggested there was the prospect of reconciliation between the pair and suspended his eight-month prison sentence for 18 months.”
    Image

    https://twitter.com/TonyDowson5/status/1687535620850122769

    desert fanatic privilege?

    • Q Continuum

      That’s guys an amateur.

      Doesn’t he know that with his skin tone and surname he could’ve run a child sex trafficking ring with dozens of co-conspirators for years and been ignored with a wink and a nod? What an opportunity wasted.

  26. PieInTheSky

    it
    is
    too
    fucking
    hot

      • Ted S.

        Pie thinks 65 is hot.

    • Animal

      54 in the Great Land this morning.

      • 61North (Dunphy's sockpuppet)

        55 here

  27. rhywun

    At Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, a new question will ask students how the Supreme Court ruling might affect their lives personally.

    LOL. “Tell us you are a minority without telling us you are a minority.”

    • MikeS

      Megadeth’s Peace Sells… but Who’s Buying?

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Bully

    The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former President Donald Trump in Washington to step in after he released a post online that appeared to promise revenge on anyone who goes after him.

    Prosecutors asked U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan to issue a protective order in the case a day after Trump pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss and block the peaceful transition of power. The order — which is different from a so-called “gag order” — would limit what information Trump and his legal team could share publicly about the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

    Such protective orders are common in criminal cases, but prosecutors said it’s “particularly important in this case” because Trump has posted on social media about “witnesses, judges, attorneys, and others associated with legal matters pending against him.”

    ——-

    They told the judge that if Trump were to begin posting about grand jury transcripts or other evidence provided by the Justice Department, it could have a “harmful chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect the fair administration of justice in this case.”

    Anything which might reduce the likelihood of a crushing victory for the government is improper and must be verboten. After all, the prosecution would never seek to promote their case outside the courtroom.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Shorter “Only the DOJ can leak information that benefits our case”

    • Rebel Scum

      appeared to promise revenge on anyone who goes after him.

      How dare he want justice against apparent injustice.

  29. Common Tater

    “De-transitioner Launches Boycott of Etsy After Platform Bans Her “100% Woman” Designs

    E-commerce platform Etsy is under fire after it cracked down on designs critical of gender ideology, including some made by a de-transitioner. The #BoycottEtsy campaign began after Laura Becker, who formerly identified as transgender, posted a copy of the warning she had received from Etsy threatening her for selling pro-woman and de-transitioner designs…

    On June 27, Becker shared that she had received hateful messages through Etsy’s message center, purportedly from trans activists, just before several of her listings on Etsy were forcibly deactivated.

    Some of the disturbing messages she received included one which read “don’t blame doctor for your foolish choices,” and “de-transitioners are misguided fools. It’s their fault they ruined their bodies. Trans people have nothing to do with them… be better nazi scum.”

    Becker received the hate mail one day before Etsy contacted her to inform her that some of her items were deactivated. The targeted products featured catchphrases such as “100% Groovy, 100% Woman,” and “Funky Human Female.”

    Interestingly, Becker noted that her merchandise featuring the phrase “Funky Human Male” did not face the same penalization from Etsy…”

    https://www.thepublica.com/de-transitioner-launches-boycott-of-etsy-after-platform-bans-her-100-woman-designs/

    • Common Tater

      “Last year, pro-woman outlet Reduxx reported that multiple Etsy stores were selling “tucking underwear” marketed towards the parents of so-called “trans kids.” The extremely constrictive garments are intended “flatten” a male child’s genital area for the purposes of giving it a more “feminine” aesthetic under clothes.

      One of the shops, FGCostumeDesign on Etsy, sold the underwear as small as a toddler size 3 according to a Facebook review.

      In one review listed on the product’s page, a customer says they purchased a pair of underwear for a child who has just started potty training. According to the Mayo Clinic, children are usually ready to begin potty training between the ages of 18 to 24 months.

      Etsy was also the subject of investigation by child safeguarding group Collective Shout, which revealed that multiple storefronts on the platform were producing child sex abuse dolls customized to look like actual children.”

    • Ownbestenemy

      Some of the disturbing messages she received included one which read “don’t blame doctor for your foolish choices,” and “de-transitioners are misguided fools. It’s their fault they ruined their bodies. Trans people have nothing to do with them… be better nazi scum.”

      Fits nicely into the piece that JI linked I think a week ago? De-transitioners are apostates and the Trans Chruch or their faithful will burn them at the stake.

    • Mojeaux

      So many men hate women so much that they simply want to erase their existence.

      • Common Tater

        Isn’t Etsy mostly women?

      • Mojeaux

        Yes. And…? Men who want to cosplay women are doing everything they can to upstage and push women out from women’s spaces. They want that territory and by God, they’re going to get it.

      • Common Tater

        This doesn’t seem to be an example of men pushing women out from women’s spaces. It seems another example of women pushing women whose politics they don’t like out of mostly women’s spaces. I read plenty of examples of “arts and women” women attacking other women for not being woke enough.

      • Mojeaux

        Okay, maybe I should have added…

        Aided by women who want to welcome these cosplayers into the fold as if they’re allies, never understanding that they invited the fox into the hen house.

  30. Mojeaux

    @NA, the more interesting point is how Trey sees sex, not how Marina sees it, because of course she thinks it’s grody and something “good wives do.” Trey has a hangup about it and he knows how to make women feel good, but he thinks that if they feel good, they’re loose. He doesn’t want to be married to a loose woman. He wants to be married to a virtuous woman, which is what Marina is. It’s not about Marina. It’s about loose vs virtuous. The biggest problem with this outlook is that he ALSO loves having sex with Marina. It’s his issue, not Marina’s—and she is fully aware of this. There’s a reason for that, which we will get to.

  31. PieInTheSky

    Tapes of same-sex acts among prominent muslim clerics and Islamic Republic officials have gone viral in Iran. A scandal that exposes deep hypocrisy of regime officials who promote strict sharia laws

    1.Mehdi Haghshenas, a firebrand cleric who promoted strict hijab for women, was caught engaging in a sexual relationship with his brother-in-law.

    2.Reza Saghafi, responsible for enforcing draconian hijab laws in Gilan province, has been implicated in sexual activities with other men.
    These revelations have gone viral on social media. Islamic Republic denies the existence of LGBTQ community and imposes severe punishment on same sex relationships. But when public officials engage in same sex acts, the regime covers them up.

    https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1687473743440805889

    did they say no homo at the beginning ?

    • Mojeaux

      promoted strict hijab

      responsible for enforcing draconian hijab laws

      So many men hate women so much that they simply want to erase their existence.

    • rhywun

      Least surprising news I will read today.

    • juris imprudent

      They don’t even have the celibacy excuse that Catholic priests do.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    The indictment unsealed this week accuses Trump of brazenly conspiring with allies to spread falsehoods and concoct schemes intended to overturn his election loss to President Joe Biden as his legal challenges floundered in court.

    Hoe dare he question the pronouncements of the mandarinate?

    • Rebel Scum

      spread falsehoods and concoct schemes intended to overturn his election loss

      Democrats would never engage in such behavior.

  33. DEG

    In evaluating the truthfulness of these two competing accounts, it seems worth noting that Jager is something more than a woman scorned by a man who would later become president of the United States. Obama asked her to marry him twice; she refused him both times, before going on to achieve her own high-level professional successes.

    So Jager is smart.

    • DEG

      Jager is a professor of East Asian Studies at Oberlin College

      Oh. Oberlin. I fucked up. She’s not smart.

      • DEG

        OK, I got sucked into that Obama article.

        I chuckled here:

        Yet as totally pro-choice as I am, there’s no getting around the fact that Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Barrett are intellectually superior justices to what the Supreme Court had in 1973.

      • DEG

        Another chuckle:

        Can you imagine Obama joining them on the court?

        He’d be terrible because he’s too lazy. This is in the book. It goes back to him being Hawaiian. At one point, he says, “I’m fundamentally lazy and it’s because I’m from Hawaii.” That’s close to the actual quote.

      • Nephilium

        So… I’m from L.A. but told seriously instead of a joke?

      • 61North (Dunphy's sockpuppet)

        If you ever spent time in Hawaii or working with them then you’d know it’s 100% not a joke.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    What’s the point of a show trial if nobody sees it?

    The trial of former President Donald Trump on charges related to his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election would likely prove among the biggest television events in history.

    But a federal rule forbids “the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom.”

    House Democrats, led by Rep. Adam Schiff of California, are hoping to change that.

    A letter on Thursday signed by Schiff and 37 other congressional Democrats, calls on the Judicial Conference — the national policymaking body for the federal courts, which is led by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts — to “explicitly authorize the broadcasting of court proceedings in the cases of United States of America v. Donald J. Trump.”

    How better to convince the plebs to abandon their foolish delusions of freedom and rights than an ostentatious public defrocking and shaming of their spiritual leader?

    Maybe there should be a mass “thumbs down” telephone vote at the end, after which he can be marched directly to the guillotine.

    • Ownbestenemy

      It should be open to cameras, but not just for this. I can see them opening it up just for this trial, massive censorship on the LawTube corner of the internet and only approved media narratives allowed.

      • Common Tater

        Any video they don’t like will be censored.

      • juris imprudent

        Can’t have live coverage – this will require judicious editing to get the narrative right. Much as was done with all of the J6 footage.

      • slumbrew

        There will be carefully edited curated video released after the fact.

      • R C Dean

        +1 deepfake

        Or as many as it takes.

    • R C Dean

      I guess they didn’t learn from the Rittenhouse trial.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Schiff and his fellow Democratic lawmakers argued in their letter to the Judicial Conference that, “If the public is to fully accept the outcome, it will be vitally important for it to witness, as directly as possible, how the trials are conducted, the strength of the evidence adduced and the credibility of witnesses.”

    Singer says there’s some evidence to back up the Democrats’ claim. When people are able to sit down and watch court proceedings, it builds public confidence in the process and the final outcome, he says.

    Misinformation surrounding the case is already rife, says Fix the Court’s Roth. “So you know if that’s happening before the trial is even started, you can only imagine a lot more of that will happen when you’re only getting snippets” from a trial that isn’t being televised, he says.

    For some strange reason, I doubt many minds will be changed, no matter what happens. If you start from a bullshit premise, the outcome is pretty much guaranteed to be bullshit.

    • rhywun

      He expressed doubts, FFS. How much more guilty can you get.

    • Rebel Scum

      I want it to be broadcast live as well. I expect it to blow up in Dems faces.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    “Let’s be realistic,” she says. “When the judge is instructing the real jurors … about what a conspiracy is and here’s how you have to prove it, I suspect that’s exactly when our armchair jurors are going to go get a snack.”

    “Now listen carefully. A conspiracy is whatever the prosecutors say it is. Have you got that?”

    • rhywun

      “*wink, wink*”

  37. The Late P Brooks

    I see the NYT is beating the drum about Trump’s legal team and their “tangle of possible conflicts”, whatever that means. Obviously, Trump should only be allowed representation by a single randomly selected public defender.

    • Rebel Scum

      The conflict is that clearly OMB should not be allowed legal representation. I believe that cunte Bill Bar recently stated that he hopes Trump’s legal team has insurance, whatever that means.

  38. westernsloper

    A long piece, but worth the time.

    Unless they finally come clean that he is a lizard person it is not worth my time.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Oh, no, not the briar patch!

    In an interview with the Hill on Thursday, Bolton criticized the former president’s foreign policy after an op-ed he wrote earlier this week called Trump’s behavior “erratic, irrational and unconstrained”.

    “Donald Trump doesn’t really have a philosophy, as we understand it in political terms,” Bolton said. “He doesn’t think in policy directions when he makes decisions, certainly in the national security space.”

    Bolton, who was Trump’s national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019, also lambasted Trump for his foreign policy legacy with regard to the alliance, saying in the interview: “He threatened the existence of Nato, and I think in a second Trump term, we’d almost certainly withdraw from Nato.”

    The organization which ceased to have a reason to exist 35 years ago? Oh horror.

    • westernsloper

      ………I think in a second Trump term, we’d almost certainly withdraw from Nato.

      Stop giving me reasons to possibly vote for the asshole.

      • KK, Non-Man

        Right??

    • juris imprudent

      erratic, irrational and unconstrained

      Are you sure Bolton wasn’t having a moment of clarity and speaking about himself?

  40. The Late P Brooks

    In Bolton’s op-ed published on Tuesday, he said Trump “disdains knowledge” and accused him of “seeing relations between the United States and foreign lands, especially our adversaries, predominantly as matters of personality”.

    “Foreign leaders, friend or foe, are far more likely see him as ignorant, inexperienced, braggadocious, longing to be one of the big boys and eminently susceptible to flattery,” Bolton wrote. “These characteristics were a constant source of risk in Trump’s first term, and would be again in a second term.”

    Bizarrely, we never seemed to be minutes away from global warfare when Trump was President. And I’m certain those world leaders have nothing but the utmost respect for Joe Biden. They tremble when he speaks.

    • Gender Traitor

      They tremble when he speaks.

      Suppressed giggles.

    • cyto

      Brilliant comment.

      For the uninitiated, what this means is that either the polygraph operator believed Yablonski or couldn’t get him to admit to lying… or someone wanted to report out that he passed the polygraph. What it does not mean is that we know scientifically that he isn’t lying.

  41. cyto

    The interesting bit about the UFO story is the “third way” they describe – that this is an elaborate and brazen disinformation campaign by the intelligence community.

    Which is the giant elephant in the room that we have been describing as “a tree”, “A snake”, “a big fan”, “a pillar”, “a wall”, “a rope”…… it is all actually the intelligence community using their 3rd world tactics here at home.

    We all know about the big one – taking down Trump with Russia Collusion.

    But there are a bunch more that are pretty brazen and public – including Jan 6 and perhaps most directly related to the UFO “scandal”, the rigged election machines. Robert Barnes called this out directly to Sydney Powell before they started filing their cases. She had a guy from the military who sounded just like this UFO guy – high security clearance, stories of direct knowledge of the CIA using these machines to rig elections in South America….. until she started filing lawsuits. Then he magically turned into a pumpkin, having nothing.

    I’m not sure what the game is with these UFO stories. The base assumption has to be that they are bullshit and that they are being pushed for a reason. Probably the guy is not in on it. Probably he is the patsy who was fed the stories, jaust like the Australian ambassador and Papadopoulos and Carter Page. Everything public is 2 or 3 steps removed from the agency. So why would they run a gambit that has such a high probability of being distrusted? I mean, sure, lots of people believe in UFOs… but most reasonable people don’t think it is at all plausible to have a bunch of alien ships landing and alien bodies recovered without people finding out and posting the video on the internet.

    I suppose in a world where Ray Epps exists and is a hero in the NYT, they have reason to believe they can get away with anything. But what is the point? To discredit congress for even having the hearings? To just generally sow distrust among the masses (regardless of which direction that distrust flows? I don’t get it.

    • DEG

      it is all actually the intelligence community using their 3rd world tactics here at home.

      See also: Antifa/BLM.

      • cyto

        If you read the stuff they were bragging about in Ukraine before the coup, it sure does read exactly like what has been happening here.

    • John Nerfherder

      The point is simple, to maintain power in the agencies by distraction or subversion of the elected government.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Elder abuse

    At some point every one of us will age out. It is the natural progression of life. That said, shifting back to the greater world of politics and government, while some try to hang on to the bitter end, others could be seen as staying in power only to satisfy the personal, partisan or selfish needs of others around them.

    With the four examples of Feinstein, McConnell, Biden and Ginsburg — out of many more who could be listed, such as 83-year-old former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 89-year-old Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley — we have enough background to at least ask some necessary if uncomfortable questions.

    First: At what point does cruelty enter the equation? It is clear that Joe Biden, like Ruth Bader Ginsburg before him, decided that he wants to stay in office. Fine.

    But should he stay in office? Is that the best option for him and his health? Is that the best thing for our nation?

    I have heard multiple Democrats say that Biden has to stay in office for as long as humanly possible so that, first, Vice President Kamala Harris does not succeed him, and second, the Democratic National Committee has time to open the primary to candidates such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

    While some might be offended by the very idea of such a calculation, those conversations are taking place. Again, is any of that in the best interests of the physical and mental wellbeing of President Biden? Of course not.

    Next, we go back to the examples of Feinstein and McConnell. No one I have spoken with from either party believes Feinstein is fit for office. That said, before she can be replaced, more political and personal calculations have to be made. Is such a delay in the best interest of Feinstein’s physical and mental wellbeing? Of course not.

    /em>

    Put them where they belong. In a home for the criminally insane.

    • cyto

      That entire analysis is crazy.

      The CEO of Ford becomes senile…. should we leave him on the job for his physical and mental well-being? Or do they go out and find a new CEO?

      It is all part and parcel of the newly admittable paradigm that politicians and elected officials are in charge of two things… jack and shit. And jack left town.

      It used to be important to pretend that the President presides over things, and that the congress votes and passes laws and such, following their conscience. It is increasingly apparent that they say what they are told to say, vote how they are told to vote. It seems that #resist and just not following Trump’s orders opened the floodgates, and now they don’t really pretend that biden is in charge of anything.

    • cyto

      2023 Normal People: Aliens are here!

      2023 Conspiracy Theorists: No they are not!

      Absolutely brilliant.

      • DEG

        The “books I want to read one” hit home for me.

      • Gender Traitor

        I laughed at “Klimt Eastwood.”

    • westernsloper

      A few LOL’s in there. Thanks

  43. cyto

    I watched the Tucker Carleson interview with Devon Archer.

    Dude seems like a typical investment deal broker sales guy. I dealt with a lot of those guys working in the specialty finance industry – the same industry he worked in before becoming a board member and influence peddler. Relatively sharp, but really salesy.

    The takeaway? Influence peddling is the main industry in Washington and it goes by many names. “consulting”. “Lobbying” etc.

    He also explained that nobody says overtly that they are buying access and influence. Everything is done with a veneer of legitimacy. “The fact that you can get the powerful guy on the phone at a moment’s notice without an appointment is the power play”. You don’t need anything else.

    So not really anything we didn’t know in 2020. “trading on his family name” == “selling access” == bribery.

    • 61North (Dunphy's sockpuppet)

      K Street aint skid row for a reason.

    • PieInTheSky

      Dude seems like a typical investment deal broker sales guy. – Tucker or Devon ?

      • cyto

        Fair point.

  44. Common Tater

    “A college student was given three years probation for stabbing her blind date at a Las Vegas-area hotel in retaliation for a deadly US drone strike that targeted an Iranian commander.

    Nika Nikoubin, 23, was indicted on attempted murder and other charges for stabbing her Plenty of Fish dating app partner, Daniel Trevino, in the neck while they had sex in a hotel room in March 2022….

    Nikoubin and Trevino met on the dating app and decided to get a room at the hotel together. While having sex, the Texas student blinded Trevino before stabbing him in the neck.

    Nikoubin, who came to the US from Iran at the age of 12, told law enforcement officials she’d stabbed her date with a pink kitchen knife for revenge over the death of Qasem Soleimani in 2020, adding she stabbed Trevino out of “spite and revenge.”

    “I mean the U.S. killed Soleimani. Lots of blood spilled, so, I feel like, it’s fair that American blood be spilled,” she said at the time.”

    https://nypost.com/2023/08/04/college-student-nika-nikoubin-who-stabbed-her-blind-date-in-revenge-for-us-killing-of-iranian-commander-gets-probation/

    She seems nice.

    • PieInTheSky

      nowhere near hot enough

      • juris imprudent

        She maxxed the crazy side without moving the needle on hot at all.

    • cyto

      Remember that thing about sticking it in crazy…. yeah, sometimes the feedback is immediate.

      • cyto

        On that topic – here is a lady who has managed to craft her particular mental illness into a reasonable youtube business.

        Backstory: I watched the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie on Disney+ the other day, and magically the YouTube algorithm decided I needed to watch this video. And for some reason, I stayed around for about 10 minutes. It was like watching a slow motion wreck at a nascar race. I just couldn’t look away. Skip ahead to the part where she starts reviewing the movie – that’s what I did. The whole thing is bizarre. This is peak internet, attractive mom aged woman with serious mental issues watching movies for clicks.

        I think some of you dated her twin.

      • juris imprudent

        So, Critical Drinker but bitchy?

      • cyto

        More weepy than bitchy. Literally bawling her eyes out watching Guardians of the Galaxy. During the opening credits. (not an exaggeration)

      • 61North (Dunphy's sockpuppet)

        No comment.

      • KK, Non-Man

        What’s the channel???

    • 61North (Dunphy's sockpuppet)

      So you’re saying she’s single….

    • John Nerfherder

      That’s a new one.

      • cyto

        You know that South Park bit where they all say “nice”?

        Yeah… the rare exception.

    • juris imprudent

      Re-enacting Harold and Maude?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Still would but only if she’s wearing a straightjacket.

      • cyto

        We all have our kinks…. #don’tJudgeMe

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Holy shit, what a misthread (meant for the Iranian who stabbed the guy). I blame myself.

  45. PieInTheSky

    Two of my grandparents survived concentration camps. The other two narrowly escaped Europe, but lost their families.

    Trusting today’s regime doesn’t prevent tomorrow’s from using your information against you. And I plan to live a few decades still.

    Privacy is a human right.

    https://twitter.com/CryptoTaxGuyETH/status/1687248231753781248

  46. PieInTheSky

    “I don’t know precisely how to negotiate the trade-offs between profitability and compassion. What if pigs were given twice the space and treated with more humanity? How much should we be willing to raise food costs to improve animal well-being?”

    https://twitter.com/robinhanson/status/1687794771023081472

    pigs should free range in a forest and eat acorns.

  47. 61North (Dunphy's sockpuppet)

    Got a mortgage payment’s worth back in overpaid escrow for the last year. I’m rich as hell.

    I’ll just throw it back at the mortgage.

    Mortgage comes french meaning ‘death pledge’. Hmmmm…..

  48. The Late P Brooks

    pigs should free range in a forest and eat acorns.

    And die of old age.

    • westernsloper

      That’s nuts.

      • R C Dean

        Takes balls to go public with something like that, though.