Saturday Morning Return of Links

by Old Man With Candy | Jun 1, 2024 | Daily Links | 112 comments

I did a short road trip this week because Tomb Raider wanted to see Bonnie Raitt, who was playing in Baltimore. OK, road trip/booty call, it’s all good. The show was at the old Lyric Theater, a delightful mid-sized (2500 seats) venue. The last time I was there was, ummm… 1972, to see Pink Floyd when they were debuting the songs from Dark Side of the Moon. The insides haven’t changed much. Tomb Raider did score us some prime seats, row 10, right in the middle. The band was good, she did well, considering her age, but every time she started talking, I couldn’t help but think, “You ignorant tard. Good thing you have musical talent.” The best part was when she feigned sympathy for Baltimore over the Key Bridge disaster. Always the eager Prog, she pointed to the huge need to tax us harder to support the porkfest known as the Infrastructure Bill. Because that would somehow have made the bridge invulnerable to boats crashing into it. Fuck you, Bonnie.

Of course, we were urged to vote this November, “…the most important election of our lifetime,” just like all the other ones. Fuck you, Bonnie. When we were at the train platform to go home, two women who were at the show (and I should point out the white, affluent, and mostly elderly composition of the audience) echoed the sentiment, noting the “dire straits we’re in.” I assured them I would be voting, then under my breath but just loud enough for Tomb Raider to hear, I muttered, “…just to cancel out yours.”

I do, however, vote for birthdays, and today’s selection includes a guy who only wrote one thing, but certainly hit for the cycle; the guy who literally put Salt Lake City on the map; a real mixed bag on the Supremes, but I’ll forgive a lot for his views on incorporation; a real wizard of Hollywood; star of one of the funniest and under-appreciated movies ever (“Last name first, first name, middle name last, fill it out…”); an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in superb tiddies; a true punk star; a slightly less evil version of Al Sharpton; the best casting choice for God since Alanis Morrissette; the best movie sheriff ever; a rather faceless actor; one of a trio who wrote the most fearsome textbook I ever wrestled with; a guy who almost caught Robert deNiro; a fellow dog-lover; and speaking of God (non-speaking)…

Now to get to the point of this rambling… Links.

I blame Mojeaux.

It’s the (((Jews.))) Of course.

How many divisions does the ICC have?

I like how the headline implies the exact opposite of what happened.

This one is for Riven.

It was hard for Team Blue to produce a politician I like but this one really came out of left field.

When I was younger, everyone knew that the cops had the best weed. So no surprises here.

Glibs Gulch is an exciting place. Here’s an example of our thrills.

Old Guy Music is a neat bit from a band that should have been known better. I like that Jack Lancaster even gave the Roland Kirk try for multisax. No idea where Mick Abrahams (band leader, guitarist, singer) was for this song- out for a piss? Anyway, great rock and blues sax on display.

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About The Author

Old Man With Candy

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

112 Comments

SDF-7 on June 1, 2024 at 7:07 am

Because that would somehow have made the bridge invulnerable to boats crashing into it.

I’m sure no one could do fenders on the bridge support pillars for the last 60 years (at a guess, I can’t be arsed to go look up the bridge construction date) solely because there wasn’t a federal spending bill, sure.

At some point, we need to come to an agreement as a society to just chant “Dance, Monkey…. DANCE!” when performers start spouting off like this. Eventually they’d get the point (though I strongly suspect their egos and having the microphone would make them keep trying…)

Glad to see you weren’t driving the small car in the picture above… I did wonder at that lead in. Morning, all.
- Gender Traitor on June 1, 2024 at 7:22 am
  
  At some point, we need to come to an agreement as a society to just chant “Dance, Monkey…. DANCE!” when performers start spouting off like this.
  
  When musicians start blabbing or otherwise take too long between songs, we’ve been known to yell something that either the club owners or the crowds supposedly used to yell at the Beatles in their early days in Hamburg: “Mach schau!!” (“Make show!” Disclaimer: I don’t speak or write German, so accurate spelling or translation is not guaranteed.)
  - SDF-7 on June 1, 2024 at 7:32 am
    
    Heh… I would also accept that being mixed with Now is the time on Sprockets when you DANCE! then… but that’s probably just a matter of my age and when I thought SNL was funny and all.
    
    I like it though, GT.
  - Chafed on June 1, 2024 at 10:40 am
    
    I’m sure Ted’S will be along to let us know.
- Nephilium on June 1, 2024 at 10:27 am
  
  At Punk Rock Bowling, I saw a grand total of two pro-Palestinian shirts on people in attendance. One band attempted to rally support for the poor mostly peaceful Gazans, the applause stopped, and people started wandering away from the stage. The only thing that would have made it better is if a group up there decided to start singing this song to them.
  - Chafed on June 1, 2024 at 10:41 am
    
    👍
SDF-7 on June 1, 2024 at 7:10 am

the guy who literally put Salt Lake City on the map

but I’ll forgive a lot for his views on incorporation; a real wizard of Hollywood;

Whoo! Not often I get two in the same set…

the best movie sheriff ever

Happy Birthday, Billy Curtis!
SDF-7 on June 1, 2024 at 7:13 am

I blame Mojeaux.

It was the first thought — and the article kind of backs it up…. when you kill something and skinsuit the corpse, the corpse eventually falls apart. I don’t keep up at all with the SF writers stuff, but I would strongly expect they’d be looking at the same thing — the groupthink emanating from them is likewise lockstep, Landru-ish and insufferable.

I (as always) would of course welcome Mojeaux’s thoughts and insights if she cares to share.
- ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism. on June 1, 2024 at 7:52 am
  
  Mystery Writers of America is probably having the same problem. I am not in the new book business anymore, so don’t follow the gossip like I used too, but, you are right about how a hollowed out institution dies of its own accord.
- Mojeaux on June 1, 2024 at 10:33 am
  
  I shared downthread. I guess I had more to say than I thought.
  
  But I haven’t been a member since the late 90s because I followed all the advice (mostly) and didn’t get anywhere and I was starting to doubt the math. (“If you are any good, you WILL get published.”) Never mind there are X number of publishing spots and >X number of GOOD writers.
LCDR_Fish on June 1, 2024 at 7:17 am

Took me a long time, but when I finally saw “A Face in the Crowd” it gives you a completely different perspective on Andy Griffith – excellent performance. Interesting how it actually predated his TV show.

In retrospect a lot like watching Jimmy Stewart in A Wonderful Life, etc – and then reading about his WWII bombing missions – and reserve work as an AF officer post-war.

Thought this was a good piece too: https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/06/nothing-is-ever-the-palestinians-fault/ – and linked to another article I recommend even more: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/remember-deir-yassin (may need to pick up the referenced book – sounds like a lot of good history).
- SDF-7 on June 1, 2024 at 7:36 am
  
  Re: The article I can’t read all of — on some level you can’t blame the Palestinian leadership, I suppose. They read the room and realized they could lean heavily into the twisted “White Man’s Burden” racism that actually underlies a lot of the discussion — these poor benighted (lesser) souls… they’re like children, we must foster them — rebuild after their tantrums… and their lashing out isn’t really their fault…. it is always an adult to blame who is mistreating them (another white or Western Civ group)
  
  The infantilization attitude these asswipes have for so much of humanity should piss people off… but it seems a lot of folks prefer to try to bleed the system first. Both here and abroad.
SDF-7 on June 1, 2024 at 7:19 am

It’s the (((Jews.))) Of course.

And not that his Congressional actions raise a 3 alarm fire?

Also (from the article) — love that people can just throw around crap like this:

Campaign manager Gabe Tobias charged in a statement that AIPAC has spent much of their “racist, billionaire-funded donations attacking Black and brown progressives.”

One would think that would fall under the umbrella of fucking slander. But welcome to Racial Healing politics in the 21st Century — where you can relentlessly slam anyone as being racist and bigoted and hateful, as long as they’re the right skin color (and if they aren’t, well they’re an Uncle Tom… right Clarence? Right Larry Elder?) So, so glad to live in a time where these assholes want to undo 50 years of actual progress towards racial healing in this country and instead ignite sectarian conflicts so they can play power politics with tribalism.

Goddammit… I’m trying not to go into raised blood pressure ranty mode this weekend… Sigh.
- LCDR_Fish on June 1, 2024 at 7:43 am
  
  Comment *
  
  The Palestinian cause has one defining feature: the refusal of its champions to accept any responsibility for the situation they’ve made for themselves.
  
  The Palestinian cause has existed since 1948, with rarely even a half decade of quiet during that time. Oddly enough, in all of the media coverage and activism around that cause, Palestinians themselves seem to have no agency. In the pro-Palestinian narrative, things simply happen to the Palestinian people, entirely caused by outside forces. In psychology, a concept called “locus of control” describes how individuals perceive their own control over events and behavior. Those with an internal locus of control feel they have a great degree of influence, while those with an external locus of control view their fate as determined by forces outside themselves. Generally, an internal locus is psychologically healthier than its opposite, as it allows the individual to own his choices and make positive changes in his life.
  
  The Palestinian cause, its leadership, and its foreign backers fully embrace the psychologically unhealthy option — a totally external locus of control. Everyone else, but particularly Israel and the Jewish people writ large, is to blame for the woes of the Palestinian people. In reality, however, the Palestinians have a great deal of control over their situation. The self-abnegation of their agency is a tactic meant to camouflage consistently poor choices and overwhelming hatred of Jews, while garnering sympathy from useful idiots in the West.
  
  This pretending at a lack of agency has been the narrative core for the Palestinians from 1948 onward. The Palestinian narrative of the events of that year, which they call the “nakba” (more on the evolution of this word below), is the origin story for the myth of Palestinian helplessness. In their telling, the disaster of 1948 simply befell the Palestinian people, with the Jews forcibly evicting them from their land, making them into refugees, and committing war crimes against them. Nakba, meaning “catastrophe,” speaks to this lack of control. It presents the events of 1948 as fully externally driven, without Palestinian involvement. This pat story, however, could not be further from the truth.
  
  In the historical record, it is clear that these events were driven primarily by the Palestinian Arabs themselves, along with their backers among the Arab nations. The U.N. Partition Plan, which would have created a Jewish state alongside an Arab one in British Mandatory Palestine, was accepted by the Jewish population, even though it would result in a smaller state than initially promised. The Palestinian Arabs, however, refused the partition and launched a war of extermination against the nascent State of Israel. Seven Arab armies invaded alongside local Palestinian Arab forces, seeking to deny any homeland for Jews in the Levant.
  
  Palestinian Arab leaders were so confident in their eventual success that they pushed for Arab inhabitants of the area to leave their homes to simplify the military operation. Many did so. To give their people motivation to evacuate, the leadership exaggerated battles like Deir Yassin into so-called massacres and demonized the Jewish people. A glorious Arab triumph would soon allow them to return to their homes. Yet many of those who left would later come to regret it, as the Jewish forces emerged victorious. Originally, the term nakba was used to lament this defeat — it described the Arabs’ own ignominious military failure — but it morphed into its current meaning in the 1990s as part of the denial-of-agency strategy. Activists now claim that the dispossession of the Palestinian Arabs and the creation of Israel was not only a catastrophe, but one completely out of the Palestinians’ control.
  
  The next step in the abdication of agency came with the interminable perpetuation of the Palestinian refugee issue. The families that left during 1948 were made into refugees by the war. This was not at all uncommon for the period, with large-scale population transfers occurring in East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Eastern Europe — as well as the mass ethnic cleansing of Jews across the Middle East. None of those peoples were turned into permanent refugees, but the Palestinians claimed special status, seeking a bogus “right of return” to the homes they fled. This unique status earns the Palestinians a large number of extraordinary benefits. The U.N. has a special agency, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), to provide these forever refugees with significant benefits meant to entrench the idea that the Palestinians are not the authors of their own fate. Again, this is a blatant falsehood.
  
  Arab leaders deliberately chose this permanent displacement instead of taking the time-honored approach of integrating long-term refugees. For the past 75 years, Palestinians have lived in segregated ghettos around the Arab world. In Jordan, Lebanon, and elsewhere, they are not citizens and have no political rights, even after decades of residence. This clearly seems suboptimal, so why would Palestinian leaders choose this fate for their charges? The answer is simple: It allows them to garner undue international sympathy and blame Israel for the predicament they put themselves in.
  
  Insisting on a permanent refugee status for Palestinians serves several purposes for Arab leaders. It grants the Arab world a cudgel by which to attempt to force Israel into unilateral concessions. The refugees are a major topic in every round of negotiations, with maximalist demands for a full “right of return” used as leverage against the Jewish state. Another reason Arab states refuse to integrate their Palestinian refugee populations is that, after decades of radicalism, the refugee population is quite politically disruptive. In the most extreme cases, Palestinians have attempted to overthrow the governments of their host nations, including Jordan and Lebanon, to push them into existential war with Israel. Making these radical refugees into citizens would disrupt the tenuous control Arab dictators have over their polities.
  
  Paradoxically, this is a highly beneficial arrangement for the Palestinians as well. The Palestinian people, en masse, have embraced a near-religious devotion to the idea that they will be able to recapture the status quo ante bellum of 1948, returning to their homes and undoing the State of Israel. One would think that living in long-term refugee camps would be a miserable plight, but these are not the tent cities that the term conjures up in the mind’s eye. They are large-scale, concrete apartment blocks that look no different from any other residential neighborhoods of the region. And they’re paid for by international relief dollars. That enormous flow of funds through the United Nations and its NGO partners enriches the Palestinian leadership through corruption, provides jobs for large swaths of Palestinian society, and funds the terrorism meant to destroy Israel. It pays the families of terrorists, provides construction dollars for the building of tunnel networks, and funds salaries for Hamas cadres. No wonder the refugee issue hasn’t been resolved; it’s entirely within Palestinian interests to keep the scam going indefinitely.
  
  The flip side of that coin is the failure of Palestinians to achieve statehood, something that is depicted as being stymied by Israel. In the Palestinian telling, Israel refused to countenance a two-state solution, allow Palestinian self-determination, and grant Palestinians the territory they deserved. This nefarious Israeli role in “suppressing Arab democracy” is a repeat theme in pro-Palestinian activism, with no acknowledgment of any Palestinian role in the process. Once again, this flies in the face of reality. Historically, the statehood problem was driven almost entirely by Palestinian rejectionism and embrace of terroristic violence. Every time statehood has been offered to Palestinian leadership, it has been rejected. Israel has consistently made unilateral concessions — withdrawing from Gaza in 2005, allowing the Palestinian Authority to run a government in the West Bank, and offering to divide Jerusalem for a future Palestinian capital — with no commensurate response.
  
  Instead of choosing the arduous task of state-building and governance, Palestinian leadership has chosen terrorism, eliminationism, and statelessness. And that choice has been repeatedly ratified by the people they lead. The first and second intifadas were widely popular among Palestinians, being viewed as righteous resistance against Israeli oppression. The latter terror campaign, one joined by thousands of ordinary Palestinians, was a direct response to the generous offer of statehood that Yasser Arafat turned down at Camp David in 2000. Arafat himself was recognized as the leader of the Palestinian nationalist cause largely owing to his support for violent attacks on Israeli civilians. Hamas was elected by the people of Gaza precisely because it is a terror organization. It was not expected to govern but to carry out terror attacks against Israel. Indeed, the barbaric October 7 attacks are supported by the vast majority of the Palestinian public. In this, it seems as though the Palestinians care less about gaining their own state than they do about destroying someone else’s.
  
  The final, and most relevant, false denial of Palestinian responsibility is the blaming of the military conflict with Israel and the blockade of Gaza purely on external forces. This is exceedingly clear in the rhetoric and activism around the current Israel–Hamas war. The pre-war blockade of Gaza is presented as a cause of the conflict and is ascribed entirely to uncontrollable outside powers: imposed by Israel for no reason having to do with Palestinians’ own actions, an arbitrary and capricious exercise of oppressive power against a helpless people. In reality, the limitation of supplies into the Hamas enclave was imposed because of chronic terrorist rocket barrages and the importation of weapons and military components from Iran and other malign actors. And it must be remembered that Egypt, which also shares a border with Gaza, imposed its own blockade in 2013 — a cordon sanitaire intended to reduce weapons smuggling and prevent Hamas-linked terror attacks in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
  
  The war in Gaza is a case in point when it comes to the Palestinian external locus of control. The Palestinian line on the war, which is echoed by international media and NGOs, is to portray the airstrikes causing destruction in the Strip, the consequent deaths of civilians, and the ongoing dislocation of civilians as being carried out by Israel with the malicious intent of maximizing harm to Palestinian innocents. Unsurprisingly, there is no mention of the deliberate co-location of Hamas military assets within, underneath, and around civilian infrastructure. Hamas, backed by most Palestinians, sparked this war with its despicable terror massacre and kidnapping of innocent civilians, from babies to grandmothers. Hamas has continued to hold hostages, make ridiculous demands in negotiations, and steal humanitarian aid for its own use. The extension of the war is entirely Hamas’s responsibility. But it’s We blame Israel all the way down.
  
  The full-scale abdication of agency is exceedingly maladaptive for a people or a nation-state. A victimhood mentality is at odds with a society that controls its own destiny: Sovereignty entails responsibility. Palestinians need to learn that their choices are their own and have consequences that they must live with. Blaming everything on external forces outside of their control has created a version of learned helplessness among the Palestinian population, one that speaks poorly of their ability to run a successful nation-state. Combining that victimhood mentality and repudiation of control with the widespread approval of terrorist violence is hardly a recipe for peaceful self-determination. Though international voices are calling for a Palestinian state, the Palestinians themselves must adopt a new mindset and accept their own agency. Unless and until they do, the creation of a Palestinian state would be a grave mistake.
  - LCDR_Fish on June 1, 2024 at 7:44 am
    
    Didn’t leave any of my line breaks in there….sorry
  - trshmnstr on June 1, 2024 at 7:47 am
    
    I just had a thumb cramp
  - Gender Traitor on June 1, 2024 at 7:51 am
    
    So…you couldn’t just link to the article, wherever it’s from?
  - Beau Knott on June 1, 2024 at 7:54 am
    
    Most excellent analysis, thanks for posting it!
  - R C Dean on June 1, 2024 at 7:55 am
    
    Jeebus, Fish. Links are a thing, you know.
  - Yusef drives a Kia on June 1, 2024 at 8:00 am
    
    Write a fucking article already, jeez
  - LCDR_Fish on June 1, 2024 at 8:03 am
    
    I did link to the article originally, but first poster noted that it is behind the paywall…
  - Ted S. on June 1, 2024 at 8:18 am
    
    I think Fish just learned the hard way that nobody actually reads the articles….
  - DrOtto on June 1, 2024 at 8:46 am
    
    This isn’t Playboy.
  - The Last American Hero on June 1, 2024 at 10:49 am
    
    Maybe we should take up a collection and airdrop some How to Be a Stoic books.
Fourscore on June 1, 2024 at 7:23 am

“One traffic light and two institutions of higher education make for a very student-focused community”

That’s all Podunkville needs but would require both the liquor stare and the bar to relocate. If it wasn’t for the two schools Alfred looks like a nice quiet place to live.
- Old Man With Candy on June 1, 2024 at 7:31 am
  
  Despite the predominance of the student population (over 4000, compared to non-student population of under 800), it actually is very quiet and peaceful. The fact that four Glibs live here seems not to have changed that. SP knew what she was doing when she moved us here.
  - SDF-7 on June 1, 2024 at 7:37 am
    
    Is that including the orphans in the mines or have y’all got a 3/5th Compromise thing going for that census?
  - Fourscore on June 1, 2024 at 8:39 am
    
    You get a little respite in the summer. That’s when Podunkville has to make enough money to last for the rest of the year. You may have sparked a new movement, OM, with Glibs Gulch.
SDF-7 on June 1, 2024 at 7:26 am

How many divisions does the ICC have?

“Let’s play a little game, EU and ICC… it is called what would Jutland look like today… we’ll park 6 CVGs in the North Sea… and you bring out everything you’ve got and we’ll see if we decide to leave The Hague standing afterwards…”

Moving past my initial gut instinct reaction of “Fine, you want war? Let’s go” which is un-Christian and non-productive…. my second instinct is that this would be a good impetus for us to actually go neo-isolationist and pull out of every international market and organization that fucks around like this. See how well they do without the US and where that power vacuum leads them. (I honestly think it would better for us in the long run plus we’d no longer have to care what stupid shit the WEF trots out all the time)…

But I know full gorram well that will never happen. And if we had a President and Congress elected to try, I suspect JFK would be the model (or they’d allow another 9/11…. funny that GWB was elected to focus more on the US and then….)
- ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism. on June 1, 2024 at 7:57 am
  
  After Thailand has been seen nosing around the BRICS, I think we all know were this would lead.
  - The Last American Hero on June 1, 2024 at 10:50 am
    
    BJJ and Thai kickboxers forming a new MMA league?
- Chafed on June 1, 2024 at 10:49 am
  
  We don’t need to go full isolationist to make the point. All we need to do is deny visas, end funding, and go about our business. Though I agree with your point about our military power.
Sean on June 1, 2024 at 7:28 am

It’s not like the dead guy was going to object to the theft.

Also, yuck.
- robodruid on June 1, 2024 at 8:35 am
  
  Recycling good?
SDF-7 on June 1, 2024 at 7:29 am

I like how the headline implies the exact opposite of what happened.

Wow… that article is a masterclass in reporting on something without establishing the basics like: “Who was the one actually wielding the knife and why?” You know… small things. I strongly suspect reading between the lines that a knife wielding, bearded maniac attacking police at an “anti-Islamic, far-right” German speaking event might just coincidentally been looking for investments in his small food establishment on a Hawaiian island….. Way to report it accurately there, Sky — ya Limey bastards.
- LCDR_Fish on June 1, 2024 at 7:37 am
  
  Good vid – somewhat graphic
  
  https://x.com/PoMoTrickster/status/1796596235039801546?t=Nc3GkwYETkcpp40HP6fgYg&s=19
  - LCDR_Fish on June 1, 2024 at 7:49 am
    
    https://x.com/RobProvince/status/1796882234256859379?t=xqpp-Vm2EmcWV8a8jNfpXA&s=19
- rhywun on June 1, 2024 at 7:44 am
  
  Yeah, it’s pretty easy to read between the lines there. For those who actually read articles instead of just scan misleading headlines.
  
  Never change, the media.
  - Chafed on June 1, 2024 at 10:51 am
    
    I can’t understand why trust in the media is catering. 🤷
- Rat on a train on June 1, 2024 at 8:11 am
  
  The attack would not have happened if the speaking event was prohibited. Get to legislating Germany.
Gender Traitor on June 1, 2024 at 7:29 am

the best casting choice for God since Alanis Morrissette

None can top the best – and most importantly, the most accurate – film portrayal of God ever: George Burns.
- SDF-7 on June 1, 2024 at 7:40 am
  
  He had lots of practice with Amazing Gracie.
  - juris imprudent on June 1, 2024 at 8:42 am
    
    The most important aspect of God is living forever, George had a pretty good run at that.
  - Rat on a train on June 1, 2024 at 8:49 am
    
    Steven Wright is doing good so far.
Drake on June 1, 2024 at 7:34 am

ICC indicts Putin = so good and heroic

ICC indicts Netanyahu = evil traitors and antisemites

Said by the same people.
- SDF-7 on June 1, 2024 at 7:39 am
  
  ICC threatens to lock up anyone who criticizes them, including the US Government — lots of folks: CWABOC.
- R C Dean on June 1, 2024 at 7:54 am
  
  Well, one started a war by invading another country. The other had his country invaded, and counterattacked. I don’t think there’s a moral equivalency there. As to whether either of them has actually committed war crimes, I will leave everyone to their propaganda outlet of choice.
  
  SLD – the ICC can go fuck itself before shutting its doors.
  - Chafed on June 1, 2024 at 10:53 am
    
    So much this.
rhywun on June 1, 2024 at 7:35 am

Credible pushback against a NYS commie?

*faints*
Ted S. on June 1, 2024 at 7:41 am

a real mixed bag on the Supremes, but I’ll forgive a lot for his views on incorporation

Happy birthday Berry Gordy!
Ted S. on June 1, 2024 at 7:43 am

star of one of the funniest and under-appreciated movies ever

Richard Dreyfuss or Roy Scheider?
Yusef drives a Kia on June 1, 2024 at 8:04 am

Fuck Powerline
,
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/06/the-week-in-pictures-guilt-free-edition.php
- mindyourbusiness on June 1, 2024 at 9:02 am
  
  I dunno. I kinda like the idea of the claymore’d doorbell.
  - R C Dean on June 1, 2024 at 9:24 am
    
    You is just salty because they banned him from commenting there. I, too, have been banned from commenting there. They manage to combine being arbitrary dickheads and being tightass prigs when it comes to what they will ban you for.
  - R.J. on June 1, 2024 at 10:02 am
    
    Interesting.
    Since I only comment here I don’t have that problem. That does suck though.
  - mindyourbusiness on June 1, 2024 at 10:20 am
    
    RC, didn’t know you were both banned from the site. This is about the only place where I’ll comment, simply because most of the rest of ’em aren’t worth the effort (I’m a great believer in Sturgeon’s Law, and with some sites the crap percentage rises above 103%).
Sensei on June 1, 2024 at 8:08 am

Chrysler Pacifica – Start Stop System Disabled

One of my favorite YouTube channels. Somehow my wife’s Acura with its fucking start stop system can get by with one pricey AGM battery. (The car wasn’t even a month old before I disabled it from automatically starting with an aftermarket device.) OTH, Chrysler has 29 fucking modules and they were concerned about voltage drop during cranking and use an auxiliary battery to keep everything alive.

So a battery replacements now have to be at least an hour of labor and I’m sure somewhere between $300 and $500 in parts. Unreal.
- DrOtto on June 1, 2024 at 8:56 am
  
  AGMs are now $250 and the aux batteries are down to about $120 now that there is some aftermarket competition for them. I charge up to 1.5 hrs ($156) depending on where they’re mounted. (Approx $550 out the door) I used to be able to do a battery parts/tax/labor for about $100 in 2007. If it’s a BMW active hybrid model, different ballgame and the batteries have to also be registered to the car from the scanner. Those run about $1,000. It’s criminal.
  - Sensei on June 1, 2024 at 9:01 am
    
    Unreal. And as demonstrated here it’s legitimate time and you aren’t getting rich from it.
    
    My wife’s Acura needs the whole air filter assembly and air intake to come out before you can get to the battery. And that’s from Honda who prioritizes serviceability.
Common Tater on June 1, 2024 at 8:33 am

Jetpack sucks ass.
juris imprudent on June 1, 2024 at 8:36 am

just loud enough for Tomb Raider to hear

I bet you had to find some heat on the train because it was probably pretty ice next to her.
Sensei on June 1, 2024 at 8:37 am

I posted on this way earlier, but it has gone national. New to me is the cop sucking mayor resigned. .

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sturgeon-city-police-lawsuit-nicholas-hunter-dog-teddy_n_665a1763e4b08f9fa140a3e4

$1 Million Lawsuit Filed Against Cop Who Shot Blind, Deaf Dog
- juris imprudent on June 1, 2024 at 8:40 am
  
  Detroit has proved that legally, there are zero consequences for cops killing dogs. If it happened here, I wouldn’t even try to pull my wife off the guy; though if she didn’t outright kill, I might have to put him out of his misery.
  - Sensei on June 1, 2024 at 8:47 am
    
    Since this is a small town this is about as good as can be hoped. People are pissed and cops will no longer unnecessarily be shooting dogs.
    
    I’m not a dog person, but I like them just fine. But this shit enrages me too.
- Chafed on June 1, 2024 at 10:56 am
  
  CWAA
juris imprudent on June 1, 2024 at 8:38 am

RC Dean et all, I found another good substack. Not quite as black-pill as T.L. Davis, but not far.
- robodruid on June 1, 2024 at 9:34 am
  
  Thank you
  - juris imprudent on June 1, 2024 at 9:57 am
    
    Most welcome. I’ll also pitch The Liberal Patriot – a good place to check my reality against their’s (even when they go unreal, which isn’t all that often there).
  - juris imprudent on June 1, 2024 at 10:07 am
    
    Also, in a shameless pitch for my own – I have a piece that refines my thinking on Nietzsche (that you all had a hand in helping me develop) dropping today.
Sensei on June 1, 2024 at 8:50 am

It concluded “Mr. Fortson did not make any hostile, attacking movements, and therefore, the former deputy’s use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable under OSCO’s policy,” the office said on Friday.

So the state will be bringing charges, right?

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-deputy-fatally-shot-us-airman-fired-sheriffs-investigation-rcna154985
- Ted S. on June 1, 2024 at 8:52 am
  
  Was the victim White or black?
  - Sensei on June 1, 2024 at 8:52 am
    
    Black.
  - R C Dean on June 1, 2024 at 8:59 am
    
    Back in the Before Times, didn’t Dunphy used to claim that firing a cop was worse for them than getting tossed in the slammer, like a peasant?
- Chafed on June 1, 2024 at 10:58 am
  
  Hopefully this is the first step toward justice for that guy.
The Gunslinger on June 1, 2024 at 8:58 am

– “I blame Mojeaux”

Was hoping for this.

https://youtu.be/VKsUa1V7HSI?si=r03po8wceW25MXip
- juris imprudent on June 1, 2024 at 10:00 am
  
  Not this Mo-Jo?
  - Mojeaux on June 1, 2024 at 10:15 am
    
    This Mojo
Common Tater on June 1, 2024 at 9:08 am

“A former teacher has admitted filming porn clips at a Texas elementary school where a female colleague was found dead of suspected homicide this week.

The woman, whom DailyMail.com is not naming, shot at least two movies at Gray Elementary school near Houston, but claims she did so when no children were around.

She says she sent them to an ex-boyfriend who shared them after a bad breakup. The woman has since filed a report with police accusing him of revenge porn, KHOU reported.

Video posted online sees the teacher posing among children’s books and toys while lifting up her top to flash her breasts in one clip, while in a second she degrades herself in a staff bathroom pulling down her pants and underwear in front of the camera.

No attempt was made by the teacher to hide her identity with her ID card fully visible at one point.”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13482945/Texas-elementary-school-teacher-Adrienne-Harborth-blasted-filming-porn-clips-classroom.html

Another teacher with no class.
R C Dean on June 1, 2024 at 9:10 am

This is how you videogame:

https://x.com/OntWtf/status/1796658318334624164
- Fourscore on June 1, 2024 at 9:56 am
  
  Can only hope he doesn’t get a live round by mistake
- OBJ FRANKELSON on June 1, 2024 at 10:30 am
  
  The gunner and loader are the same person!?… what is this interwar France?!
Sensei on June 1, 2024 at 9:12 am

“The stories are heartbreaking,” Moelis said. “We never imagined something like this could happen. We worked with banks that are members of the FDIC. We never imagined a scenario like this could play out and that no regulator would step in and help.”

Yet somehow at my financial employer we spend weeks dealing internally and with auditors and regulators about just such occurrences and contingency plans.

Savings app CEO says 85,000 accounts locked in fintech meltdown: ‘We never imagined a scenario like this’
- juris imprudent on June 1, 2024 at 10:04 am
  
  Neither did Sam Bankman-Fried. Fucking geniuses and stupid [venture] money.
- Chafed on June 1, 2024 at 11:02 am
  
  Let’s see how much of the money turns out to be missing.
PieInTheSky on June 1, 2024 at 9:56 am

Academic publishers are never cheap. So I don’t expect you to rush to buy a copy, at $75/£59. But it IS the complete history of porter and stout, it took 5 years to write, 300,000 words, out in November and I think it’s worth every red cent. But I would…

https://x.com/zythophiliac/status/1796665970724888610
The Late P Brooks on June 1, 2024 at 10:08 am

Music for the happy couple
The Late P Brooks on June 1, 2024 at 10:17 am

Speaking of ineffectual posturing

Vermont has become the first state to enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by climate change after the state suffered catastrophic summer flooding and damage from other extreme weather.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott allowed the bill to become law without his signature late Thursday, saying he is very concerned about the costs and outcome of the small state taking on “Big Oil” alone in what will likely be a grueling legal fight. But he acknowledged that he understands something has to be done to address the toll of climate change.

——-

Last July’s flooding from torrential rains inundated Vermont’s capital city of Montpelier, the nearby city Barre, some southern Vermont communities and ripped through homes and washed away roads around the rural state. Some saw it as the state’s worst natural disaster since a 1927 flood that killed dozens of people and caused widespread destruction. It took months for businesses — from restaurants to shops — to rebuild, losing out on their summer and even fall seasons. Several have just recently reopened while scores of homeowners were left with flood-ravaged homes heading into the cold season.

Obviously Exxon’s fault.
- juris imprudent on June 1, 2024 at 10:44 am
  
  Ah yes, Vermont. The state that was going to show us how universal healthcare was done. How’d that work out for you, ya proggie assholes?
- Common Tater on June 1, 2024 at 10:49 am
  
  “Vermont has become the first state to enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by climate change after the state suffered catastrophic summer flooding and damage from other extreme weather.”
  
  Because there was no extreme weather prior to the industrial revolution?
  - Mojeaux on June 1, 2024 at 10:51 am
    
    No.
- The Last American Hero on June 1, 2024 at 10:56 am
  
  Fucking industry should immediately stop all gas and oil sales to any Vermont business or franchise. Make them crawl back on their knees.
  - Chafed on June 1, 2024 at 11:03 am
    
    That’s what I was thinking.
The Late P Brooks on June 1, 2024 at 10:21 am

Under the legislation, the Vermont state treasurer, in consultation with the Agency of Natural Resources, would provide a report by Jan. 15, 2026, on the total cost to Vermonters and the state from the emission of greenhouse gases from Jan. 1, 1995, to Dec. 31, 2024. The assessment would look at the effects on public health, natural resources, agriculture, economic development, housing and other areas. The state would use federal data to determine the amount of covered greenhouse gas emissions attributed to a fossil fuel company.

It’s a polluter-pays model affecting companies engaged in the trade or business of extracting fossil fuel or refining crude oil attributable to more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions during the time period. The funds could be used by the state for such things as upgrading stormwater drainage systems; upgrading roads, bridges and railroads; relocating, elevating or retrofitting sewage treatment plants; and making energy efficient weatherization upgrades to public and private buildings. It’s modeled after the federal Superfund pollution cleanup program.

Sounds like a scam.
- Chafed on June 1, 2024 at 11:04 am
  
  I’m looking forward to Vermont gas prices rising by two dollars per gallon.
KK, Plump & Unfiltered on June 1, 2024 at 10:23 am

ULA Atlas V Launches Starliner Crew Flight Test

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwbf56JxpcA
- KK, Plump & Unfiltered on June 1, 2024 at 10:40 am
  
  I remember when Boeing successfully designed and built the 747 at the request of Pan Am airlines. Now, look at them – 4th place in the quasi-private manned space race.
- KK, Plump & Unfiltered on June 1, 2024 at 11:23 am
  
  Aaaaannnnd nope
Mojeaux on June 1, 2024 at 10:27 am

I have very little insight about RWA except whisperings and lefty Twitter rants because they never recognized my genius and I’m mad at them.

Anyway, what I know/think is that they kept giving out awards to the same people year after year, which it MAY be because their work was that good, but I seriously doubt people who are pumping out 6 books a year are doing their best work. It started getting people up in arms.

The next thing I think is that RWA carried the water for NY publishing in that their “advice” was always propping up the same kinds of stories by the same kinds of writers. There was a time in the 90s that pubs were experimenting and it went well, so I’m not sure why they stopped experimenting. Of course, the 90s had an outsized offering of excellent movies, too, and that moviemaking went away.

The other thing I hear on Twitter is that people left because they were “not inclusive.” They weren’t recognizing/supporting brown/black bodies romance and gay romance (and other things?). This is apparently why “everybody left.” I don’t know if that’s exactly true, but…

…NY publishing DID leave a large market gap in non-white and/or non-straight romance, and ebooks capitalized on it in the early 00s, and that was pretty much where the cancer really started. Then self-publishing came along and RWA opposed that with the screams of a horror movie virgin.

I honestly think it was doomed the second ebooks boomed, so I’m not sure what they could have done. Nobody’s going to pay dues to an organization that ignores you.
- KK, Plump & Unfiltered on June 1, 2024 at 10:31 am
  
  The other thing I hear on Twitter is that people left because they were “not inclusive.” They weren’t recognizing/supporting brown/black bodies romance and gay romance (and other things?). This is apparently why “everybody left.”
  
  The lefties never stopped to think that maybe reading romance novels is not part of the black teenage girl experience? Trying to shoehorn people of other races into largely European cultural norms in the name of “inclusion” is so damn stupid. You’re telling black folks they’re required to enjoy wypipo things.
  - Mojeaux on June 1, 2024 at 10:42 am
    
    maybe reading romance novels is not part of the black teenage girl experience
    
    Well, I mean, but it is for some and can be for others. My ex-bestie (black) loved romance novels, BUT she also didn’t care for or necessarily want black characters. I’m not going to say there isn’t a market for that, because it really just hasn’t been tried.
    
    There is a very prolific black author writing historicals with black characters (Beverly Jenkins) who did well, but she was the one and only, but … WHY was she the one and only?
    
    Self-publishing has wiped all that disparity out and proved there was a market for it, specifically “thug life” “romance” (which I give the side-eye because keeping your spot as the head side piece doesn’t actually fit the definition of romance) and “black-woman-white-male” romance. Yes, really.
    
    Also, gay male romance just fucking EXPLODED. All written by straight white middle-aged women (but…why?). I see this with bemusement. But there was a market for it and RWA was actively holding it down.
    
    This is why I love self-publishing so much. Sure there’s a lot of dreck out there, but the good stuff that didn’t quite hit the bullseye wasn’t getting published anyway, and some other people are natural storytellers without an ounce of technical proficiency, and those people get their day in the sun too. People will take a good story over technical proficiency every time.
- juris imprudent on June 1, 2024 at 10:46 am
  
  I agree as to your genius. You got me reading in a genre that I would never read otherwise – no matter what tropes you respected or transgressed.
KK, Plump & Unfiltered on June 1, 2024 at 10:28 am

I sometimes wish my ex (the one that died of being a drunk) were still around. He really loved the character SR Hadden in Contact. I was just thinking how much he would have loved Elon Musk because he’s a lot like SR Hadden.

/random thought of the day
The Late P Brooks on June 1, 2024 at 10:30 am

Derailment on the gravy train

The Affordable Connectivity Program, which helped low-income Americans get online, is no more.

On Friday, the US government announced the final closure of the broadly popular federal program, which has helped tens of millions of households afford internet service, after Republicans in Congress ignored calls by consumer advocates and Democratic lawmakers to approve more funding this spring.

The program’s lapse threatens to throw nearly 60 million Americans into financial distress, CNN has reported.

My right to affordable intertubes!
- Chafed on June 1, 2024 at 11:07 am
  
  Prices are going to markedly drop. WSJ had a great piece on how prices were much lower before the law. Carriers raised prices to collect the subsidy.
Shpip on June 1, 2024 at 10:34 am

Police have shot a knifeman who injured several people in an attack at a far-right event in the German city of Mannheim.

Dude better hope he gets a sympathetic judge, or else he’ll get steamrolled.
- KK, Plump & Unfiltered on June 1, 2024 at 10:35 am
  
  Oh….oh, no. SWISS!!!!
  - juris imprudent on June 1, 2024 at 10:48 am
    
    The wheels of justice will grind slowly and inexorably.
The Late P Brooks on June 1, 2024 at 10:37 am

The 2.5-year-old ACP provided eligible low-income Americans with a monthly credit off their internet bills, worth up to $30 per month and as much as $75 per month for households on tribal lands. The pandemic-era program was a hit with members of both political parties and served tens of millions of seniors, veterans and rural and urban Americans alike.

Temporary emergency program, I tell you. Just ’til we get the economy back on its feet.
Common Tater on June 1, 2024 at 10:42 am

“Socialist, anti-car NYC pol Emily Gallagher racks up tickets totaling over $4K, blew through red light”

https://nypost.com/2024/06/01/us-news/nyc-assemblywoman-emily-gallagher-racks-up-46-traffic-tickets/

Typical, just typical.
Common Tater on June 1, 2024 at 10:43 am

https://nypost.com/2024/06/01/us-news/ex-mma-fighter-andrew-osborne-admits-to-stabbing-man-in-atlantic-city/

He’d make a good avatar.
The Late P Brooks on June 1, 2024 at 10:49 am

Also, gay male romance just fucking EXPLODED. All written by straight white middle-aged women (but…why?).

“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.”
Evan from Evansville on June 1, 2024 at 10:55 am

Off to the tracks in Shelbyville, IN! It’s gonna be in the slop. Quite excited as it’s been a while. I checked and I’m glad I still remember how to read the scorecard and how to make a semi-intelligent bet. Not being a follower, I cannot *be* an intelligent better.