Friday afternoon pre-Christmas in July links

by | Jul 19, 2024 | Cocktails, Daily Links | 177 comments

Look all, I told you about Christmas in July being a thing here. The Christmas Ale is already available at the local breweries, special dinners and meals are being done by restaurants, festivities are going on, and leg lamps Major Awards will be put out. Thankfully, I’ll save you from Christmas music for the links (it’s only really done here the day of).

I think I heard a bit about this outage.

Well, it’s about time that part of my secret got out.

The fact that this story came out after this one is an interesting bit of timing. I gained some respect for Worldcon for sticking to their process.

My local rag thinks saying that someone smaller than the person they’re defending may not be the best choice is “body shaming”.

In other local news, monsters are real. If I did something like this while out of my mind, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.

Well, it’s cheaper than lottery tickets? I don’t always grok modern yute gaming culture (I hate Let’s Plays as an example). Speaking of, wrapped up Unicorn Overlord, so back to BG3. Companions, why are you so special to walk into a trap, and STAND IN THE AREA THAT HURTS YOU EVERY ROUND? All of them have a WIS and INT score above 9…

I’d take Hattie’s (or In-N-Out) over the winner every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Hell, I’d take Piada, Choolaah, Culvers, Swansons, Barrio, Dave’s Hot Chicken, or Condado over the winner.

I… I don’t know who the target audience for this is, but it sold out already.

If this is the best they have after his Senate run, they don’t have much.

I wasn’t aware that “President’s Son” had official duties.

For a cocktail recipe for today, it was National Hot Dog Day earlier this week, and one of the local restaurants made a Hot Dog Water Martini Cocktail. Which didn’t sound terrible, but I reject the naming of every cocktail a “Martini”, and prefer to not go with vodka based drinks (as they generally just add alcohol and not much flavor). So instead of that, I’ll be giving you a drink I just recently managed to make much closer to the original recipe.

The Martinez

  • 6 parts gin (1.5 ounces), while any gin will work, this was originally made with Old Tom gin.
  • 6 parts sweet vermouth (1.5 ounces)
  • 1 part maraschino liquor (0.25 ounces)
  • 2 dashes aromatic bitters

As we’re dealing with all spirits here, stirring is the preferred method of chilling this instead of shaking. Pour it into a chilled coup glass, and garnish with an orange twist (if you wish).

Before you either start searching the interwebs, or asking in the comments (or ignoring it all together)… Old Tom gin was the attempts to make a cheaper drink in England rather than importing the expensive Dutch Genever. They didn’t use the best ingredients (some original ones included turpentine), were amber to brown, and had a slight malt sweetness (as they didn’t distill as cleanly). The name came from the grey market method that it was sold, in part to avoid the high tax rates for gin. There are a couple modern distilleries that have brought the style back (without the turpentine) as a counterpoint to the modern English dry gins.

Told you I’d be hanging out in nostalgia for a while. Damn… we all got old. I’ve confirmed that young me is in this video, as well as several friends. The girlfriend didn’t recognize me until I got a clear shot, paused it, and showed her that I still have the shirt that I was wearing at that show.

About The Author

Nephilium

Nephilium

Nephilium is a geek of multiple types living in the vast suburban forests of Cleveland.

177 Comments

  1. The Other Kevin

    Schoop’s is #10! We have one right here in town. In fact there’s been one in every town I’ve lived in. Mrs. TOK and I regard it as the best burger money can buy. It’s a “smash” burger, so thinner and crispy on the edges, and so damn good. Should be ranked higher.

    • The Other Kevin

      And now I really want Schoop’s tonight.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      I’ve never been to Schoop’s, but I switched over to smash burgers from pub style. Agree there’s no comparison. I have a propane flat-top outside that will let me cook 20 at once.

      A commercial flat-top inside the kitchen is on my wish list if we ever renovate again.

      • R C Dean

        Same here, Dad.* We got a flattop that sits on our grill. We use it mostly for smash burgers. Since we tried it once, we’ve never done burgers any other way.

        *As far as preferring smash burgers goes. I don’t want a flattop in the house, and the one we have that just sits on our grill works fine, so I don’t feel the need for a dedicated one.

    • Drake

      There’s a Whataburger near my work. But they can’t seem to keep the place open and staffed, so I’ve never had one.

    • bacon-magic

      Lion’s Choice rocks and should be #1.

  2. The Late P Brooks

    I had no idea xkcd is an ongoing current thing.

    *shrugs*

    • SDF-7

      I don’t feel like looking — but I bet Kevin & Kell is still plugging along. As is Sluggy and GPF (though GPF looks to be close to wrapping up. Pete says Sluggy is in the last set of stories… but Pete can stretch one story into at least 2 years, so figure that isn’t done until it is done… )

      I wasn’t aware that “President’s Son” had official duties.

      Kind of like how FLOTUS is now supposedly a thing besides “Be a good hostess and maybe arm candy if you’re young enough.” FRAU DOKTOR should have been told “You aren’t the candidate – if you start doing campaign stuff, you’re not getting full Secret Service…”

      Then again, that substack linked this morning on the scheduling process was depressing for other reasons. The President can’t override the Secret Service on what’s “safe”? Really? Who runs the Executive Branch again? And who should be able to say “No, we’re doing this now.” if he sees fit? That whole thing made me think the Staff (with a capital S) has gotten way too full of themselves and we’ve had nothing but weak puppet executives for some time. Another area to clean house on.

  3. Gender Traitor

    So why don’t you do Christmas in June when it’s really halfway in between?

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Details……

    • SDF-7

      And move Junesgiving? Heresy!

    • Tundra

      Junteenth.

    • Nephilium

      Originally it was started in July as it was half way through summer, and became big here due to spill over from Put-In-Bay (and an excuse to drink). Put-In-Bay, after many years of debauchery and trouble officially banned any celebration of Christmas in July.

    • Chipping Pioneer

      Because of the gays.

  4. JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

    What’s the recipe for a Dirty Martinez?

    • Nephilium

      Do a regular Martinez, and add a splash of olive brine.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    As I recall, Taco Cabana is muy bueno.

    • SDF-7

      :hums ‘At the Taco…. Taco Cabana…. the hottest spot north of Havana…’:

    • DrOtto

      Taco Cabana was really good, but since the plandemic and possibly before the plandemic, seem to have really lost their way. They’ve gotten expensive, portions & quality have dropped off and they don’t seem to give a shit about if the restaurants are clean or not anymore.

  6. rhywun

    I hate Let’s Plays as an example

    Let’s Plays are invaluable (a) when there’s no demo and (b) when I get stuck somewhere.

    • SDF-7

      That’s what walkthroughs were for. And it is faster to search text (granted, if there’s a visual element it gets messy and video might be better). But at least I don’t have to hear some insane person yammering for 2 hours.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, walkthroughs are often easier for that reason. But they require more work that people aren’t willing to do much of anymore.

      • SDF-7

        Point.

        (narf… zort)

  7. ron73440

    I don’t know about Christmas beer now, but at the distributor in Washington PA in November we saw a six pack of this Christmas beer.

    It was large bottles with the wired corks. My son tells me that it is excellent beer, so I grab a box.

    No price tag,, but I didn’t think too much about it.

    At the register my total is $230. I think there must be a mistake, but I didn’t want to make my wife notice so I checked the receipt.

    No mistake, that six pack cost $120.

    Not gonna lie, it is amazingly good. I have one left I am saving for my birthday this weekend.

    My wife never found out what it cost and I’m not stupid enough to tell her.

    • Nephilium

      I hope those are the 750 mL bottles. Those are usually ~$20 or so IIRC, I usually go for the 4 packs of smaller bottles.

      • ron73440

        It was the 750 ones.

        Great beer, but I probably won’t buy that again.

        A four pack of 12 oz ones sounds much more reasonable.

      • Nephilium

        St. Bernardus Abt 12 is amazingly good, if you see it (and like Belgian Quads), I highly recommend it. There are some rumors floating around in the beer geek world that they use the same recipe as the Westy 12 (routinely listed among the best beers in the world). A bit smaller than 12 ounces for their small bottles though.

  8. The Late P Brooks

    Never been to Schoop’s, but I was abig fan of Steak n Shake. There’s a Freddy’s here, which is my go-to burger these days.

    • The Other Kevin

      We have Steak n Shake about 1.5 miles away. Also a favorite.

    • ron73440

      I love Freddy’s.

    • Nephilium

      Steak n Shake has been slowly closing around here, Freddy’s recently started to move in, but I’ve not gone there.

    • bacon-magic

      Freddy’s improved upon the Steak N Shake business model. Their fries are superior to Sns’.

      • Nephilium

        Nearly everyone’s fries are better than SnS’s.

      • creech

        Been twice to Freddy’s. Didn’t see the value for money.

      • Grummun

        Nearly everyone’s fries are better than SnS’s.

        Ug. No kiddin, the skinny fries go cold in like three minutes, and are subsequently inedible. Hmm, maybe if you heaped them into the burger immediately, that might work.

  9. EvilSheldon

    Skyline Chili is weak. Z-Burger is so massively overrated that only USA Today could have included it on a top-10 list. Greasy smashed overcooked burgers, the cheapest possible condiments, and 8-oz. shakes are not a winning combination.

    Now as for the Martinez…I have all those things! Even the Old Tom gin, thanks to the cute liquor sales rep at my local ABC. I’ll report back in a couple hours!

    • Nephilium

      Hope you enjoy it. From what I’ve read, the first printed reference to the Martinez said “Like a Manhattan, but with gin” as the totality of the recipe. The drying out came over time as it switched to dry vermouth and London dry gin.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    The President can’t override the Secret Service on what’s “safe”? Really? Who runs the Executive Branch again?

    Seriously. “I don’t work for you. You work for me. And I’m going down the the Lincoln memorial and talk to those hippies. Are you coming or not?”

  11. R.J.

    OMG. Skyline Chili is #1? How much drugs does it take to print that?

    • Ownbestenemy

      We are running this feature because Sloopy isn’t around. He would burn us to the ground for not celebrating this

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        Yeah, doesn’t Sloopy also thing that In-and-Out (urge) is good?

        Seriously, you have never been to LA if you think that

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        is better than Fatburger!

        (seriously, this has to be the worlds most sensitive keyboard.

      • DrOtto

        I’ve had In-and-Out and I’ve had Fatburger. Not sure why In-and -Out is as popular as it is. I love Fatburger. And don’t even get me started on the shakes.

  12. EvilSheldon

    How did California Tortilla not make that list? Or Jetties?

  13. Gustave Lytton

    The Martinez, for when you need to get hammered?

    • Nephilium

      There are many more potent cocktails than this one.

      • R C Dean

        3 oz of booze is a start, but hammered? Maybe, if your panties are lacy enough.

      • Nephilium

        Gustave:

        I accept the correction, and will feel the appropriate amount of shame for missing it.

  14. Sensei

    “Whistleblower allegations suggest the majority of DHS officials were not in fact USSS agents but instead drawn from the department’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI),” Hawley wrote. “This is especially concerning given that HSI agents were unfamiliar with standard protocols typically used at these types of events, according to the allegations.”

    Interesting. I assume this is featherbedding, but it doesn’t mean that the lack of knowledge isn’t on point.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/majority-trump-security-detail-were-not-secret-service-whistleblowers-tell-sen-hawley

    • Ownbestenemy

      I believe we are in the stage of throwing so much shit at this and wak away

    • Gustave Lytton

      A couple of senators buttonholed Cheatle at the RNC. At a hospitality suite operated by the USSS to “thank their partners”. Wtf on so many levels.

    • R C Dean

      That would explain the abysmal performance of the female “agents”. They seriously looked almost completely untrained.

    • Homple

      Who had “stumpy, overweight grannies working for SS guarding a presidential candidate” on their bingo card?

  15. Tundra

    My local rag thinks saying that someone smaller than the person they’re defending may not be the best choice is “body shaming”.

    Their terms are acceptable. I still think having short overweight lesbians guarding a big dude is retarded.

    • EvilSheldon

      It’s not body-shaming. It’s incompetence-shaming.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Physical requirements for the job are just social constructs, man.

      • juris imprudent

        White male supremacist social constructs at that.

  16. The Other Kevin

    3:30pm, and no Friday news dump. Guess we’ll all have to spend the weekend with bated breath waiting to see if the adults in the room can talk an old man with dementia into moving out of his house.

    • SDF-7

      They’re still trying to get him to boot to Safe Mode to delete the Crowdstrike file before they trust him to operate in public.

  17. Sensei

    Democrat godfathers make Biden offer they hope he can’t refuse

    The threats from the editorial boards of The New York Times and Chicago Tribune, the consiglieres of the Democratic Party, have been ignored by an obstinate sitting president who for some reason, thinks he’s in charge.

    Now Biden seems poised to wake up with a bloody equine head in his bed, and the Democrats have no shortage of horses to choose from.

    https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/democrat-godfathers-make-biden-offer-hope-he-cant-refuse

    • SDF-7

      If they sincerely want him out — there’s always the foreign entanglements and bribery via Hunter and Jim. They could just impeach him (I know, I know… it would reflect badly on the Jackass Party, so there’s no way… but a man can dream!)

    • The Other Kevin

      Remember that word they kept using the last few months? Trump would bring “chaos”?

    • Suthenboy

      “…an obstinate sitting president who for some reason, thinks he’s in charge.”

      Wife was just complaining about ‘lies’ on the news. I pointed out that the biggest lie of all is the premise for everything in the news: That all of the court intrigue you see going on in govt. means something…that those people are actually running anything at all. Every bit of it is theater.

    • Tundra

      The concrete guys repaired a section of the walk near my place. Within 10 minutes of them putting up the cones around it someone walked their dog through it.

      People, man.

      • Sensei

        On the plus side her tires and the underside of her car are going to be wrecked.

        Although there are good odds that’s going to be her husband’s problem if she is married.

      • Tundra

        Yes, definitely a ray of sunshine.

        Fuck you so much for introducing me to that site, btw. I quit Twitter because it was too addictive. I just swapped coke for meth.

      • Sean

        LOL@Tundra

      • SDF-7

        Heh… Tundra’s comment makes me remember back when TVTropes was actually interesting… you could really blow a day there if you weren’t careful.

      • Sensei

        LOL. My issue is I feel bad for the innocent bystanders. I love the single vehicle escapades because only the idiot is impacted.

      • Sensei

        Gustave:

        I sat right here and said I didn’t want any TruCoat.
        Jerry Lundegaard : Yeah, but I’m saying that TruCoat. You don’t get it, you get oxidation problems. It’ll cost you a heck of a lot more than $500.

      • Suthenboy

        Wait until she gets out on the highway for half of an hour…exhaust pipes and muffler will catch fire.

  18. Tundra

    Fast food sucks.

    If I’m gonna eat garbage give me an interesting food truck every time.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Ship has sailed around here. Crap food at higher than sit down restaurants. Fuck roach coaches.

      • Tundra

        The tap house in my neighborhood always has a couple on weekend nights. I’ve had some truly good food from them. There was a sandwich one that made one of the best Reuben’s I’ve ever had. I’ve noticed that oddly enough, the mex stuff is often pretty meh. With the heavy concentration here that surprised me.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Yepper. I have been designated ‘pork’ master for family and work. Bacon, pulled pork, ribs.

    • DrOtto

      I will say, Taco Cabana, even with it’s current shortcomings, doesn’t really strike me as fast food. I see them chopping actual vegetables and cooking actual chicken and flank steak on a grill. They even make the tortillas in-house.

      • DrOtto

        And they have sacks of beans and rice stacked against their walls.

  19. Gustave Lytton

    Hattie Bs is pretty good.

    In N Out, on the other hand, is utter crap other than their milkshakes. Wtf is wrong with fast food chains serving milkshakes in basically bowl cups with whipped cream? Soda cup (preferably styrofoam but paper is ok) with soda lid and straw. It’s not a fucking Italian soda.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I can see not growing up with In n Out being crap. It wasn’t always about the food but their atmosphere. Clean, workers clean, fast if during rushes and you can order the burger however you wish. Want a 4×4? No problem…wrapped in lettuce? Gotcha! Which was way before the low carb revolution.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Put it that way, I can see it. I do like that part, and their milkshakes. So they sucker me into getting a plain burger from time to time.

      • SDF-7

        Damn, dude… what are you — Paul Bunyan using a 4×4 as a toothpick? And not sure how the lettuce helps with a beam that size….

    • Ownbestenemy

      Eerie…..wait. have they never been seen in the same room together?!

    • Sensei

      Staff: can we at least have your Corvette keys

    • SDF-7

      Needs more Dark Cracky!

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Muh narrative!

    Democrats who played prominent roles on the House Jan. 6 committee — which concluded that Donald Trump poses a unique danger to democracy — are at the forefront of the latest push by members of Congress to call on President Joe Biden to consider dropping his reelection bid.

    It’s an effort driven by their fears of a resurgent Trump.

    On consecutive days this week, Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) — three of the Jan. 6 panel’s seven Democrats — urged Biden to reconsider his candidacy in light of the party’s eroding confidence in his ability to stave off another Trump presidency. Their statements echoed their assessment of Trump drawn from their work on the select committee.

    “As a member of the [Jan. 6 committee], I know, perhaps as well as anyone, how unsuitable Donald Trump is to be president,” Lofgren wrote in a letter to Biden made public Friday. “He remains as grave a threat to the Constitutional order and rule of law as he was on January 6, 2021.”

    Still, the growing outcry among those who investigated Trump’s effort to subvert the election carries more a different weight than the rank-and-file calls for Biden to step aside.

    They are so invested in this idiotic nonsense.

    The “nobody I know doesn’t think Trump is the anti-Christ” consensus is unshakeable. They evidently really don’t believe it matters who is on the Democrat ticket, only that Trump must be stopped.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Latest I heard is if Biden gets dump, Democrat power brokers are saying Kamala needs to go also. 🍿 🍿 🍿

      • Ownbestenemy

        I think now the boom was lowered on how can you drop out cause you are losing it while still remaining president.

        They are in a corner so my guess…open convention

      • Gustave Lytton

        What the hippies outside wanted 68 to be…

      • ron73440

        They don’t need Biden to drop out, so many people will vote “blue no matter who”.

        Just let Edith Biden handle it.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Oh, it’s not about the horse. It’s the people jockeying to ride it.

    • R C Dean

      “It’s an effort driven by their fears of a resurgent Trump.”

      Bullshit. It’s driven by their fears of an anchor at the top of the ticket costing them their seats, or at a minimum costing them any chance at being in the majority.

    • Urthona

      6 weeks till early voting and a shitload of ballots to change.

      They are running out of time on this.

  21. Gustave Lytton

    Amazing how a piece of shit company confounded by a Russian sleeper agent with a track record of incompetence and political interference somehow becomes critical to a wide range of companies. And by amazing, mean not surprising at all.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    Not only are all three members top allies of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who last week told Biden that some Democrats’ grumbling would grow louder, they spent 18 months amassing evidence and attempting to convince the public of the danger Trump posed if he were again in a position of power. The select committee deposed hundreds of witnesses and held widely watched public hearings that portrayed Trump as the leader of a sprawling effort to upend the transfer of power — who then fomented violence at the Capitol when his other efforts failed.

    How did that pan out?

  23. R C Dean

    “all of those players weren’t necessarily actively clicking their respective bananas”

    Good to know?

    • The Other Kevin

      I plan on being there tonight, what time do people usually show up on Fridays?

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        After 9pm ET seems to be the norm, though I’m sure the early birds would like some company (disclaimer: sometimes there are no early birds)

      • Mojeaux

        Yeah, I generally pop in between 7-8 central, later if I’m really in the weeds, work-wise.

    • R.J.

      I am babysitting, but if I get done at 8:00 I will show up.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Inching toward the lifeboats?

    Members of President Joe Biden’s family have discussed what an exit from his campaign might look like, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

    The overall tone of the conversations has been that any exit plan — should Biden decide to take that step, as some of his closest allies increasingly believe he will — should put the party in the best position to beat former President Donald Trump while also being worthy of the more than five decades he has served the country in elected office, these people said.

    Biden’s family members have specifically discussed how he would want to end his re-election bid on his own timing and with a carefully calculated plan in place. Considerations about the impact of the campaign on his health, his family and the stability of the country are among those at the forefront of the discussions, the people familiar with those discussions said.

    The prospect of Biden’s considering stepping aside, much less that his family is gaming out a possible exit plan, is an extraordinary development that comes after he has repeatedly said he would not relinquish his position as the presumptive nominee of the party.

    The ship is taking on water faster than the pumps can handle. Grab the cash and negotiable securities from the purser’s safe.

    • Suthenboy

      I keep hearing people talk about ‘the campaign’. In my mind the campaign is over.

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      Yet they keep aggressively advertising

  25. The Late P Brooks

    White House spokesman Andrew Bates denied that any such exit discussions are happening among the family.

    “That is not happening, period,” he said. “The individuals making those claims are not speaking for his family or his team — and they will be proven wrong. Keep the faith.”

    On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Friday, Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon acknowledged that the campaign has seen some “slippage,” but she said it’s been “a small movement” and insisted Biden is “absolutely” still in the race.

    Why do I suddenly have a vision of the Biden family and their closest friends and political advisors’ lifeless bodies scattered around a punchbowl in the Oval Office?

  26. Aloysious

    That’s… sadly not the monster I was hoping to see. She’s grotesque.

  27. Suthenboy

    Does anyone know how to get a quality print of the Trump shot fist pumping image? I see it was shot by Evan Vucci working for AP….I am guessing they will try like hell to suppress the image.
    Wife wants to frame it for the wall…16×20 at least.

    • R.J.

      Amazon has to have it by now. They already had a t shirt.

      • R.J.

        Boom. There is a lot of them. This one is on canvas.

        https://a.co/d/5yz70CP

      • Nephilium

        R.J.

        You forgot an appropriate music link.

  28. Aloysious

    On the subject of cocktails, if I could have just one right this moment, I’d have a Sidecar. Followed by a nap.

    • Tres Cool

      “Can you make a bull shark?”
      “Can you make a shoe smell?”

      • DrOtto

        I heard for Italians, this is skilled labor.

  29. DEG

    Most importantly, what food will be available at The Cantinas?
    All of your Taco Bell favorites with some surprise treats sprinkled in.

    No thanks.

    Among them is Amalia Halikias, government relations director at the Heritage Foundation—the conservative think tank coordinating the controversial Project 2025.

    Gotta pump up the Project 2025 reference count!

    • Suthenboy

      Y’know, at one time Taco Bell was actually pretty good stuff. Govt has turned their food into something I wouldn’t feed my dog these days.

      • Tres Cool

        What if your dog was a chihuahua?

      • juris imprudent

        Then you don’t actually have a dog.

      • Tres Cool

        “Any dog under 50 lbs is a cat. And cats are useless.”

        -Ron Swanson

  30. The Late P Brooks

    Biden and the people closest to him have felt burned by efforts to push him out that they see as backhanded and disrespectful. The family is distraught and moving through the stages of anger and grief over how people they perceived to be friends have treated the president.

    “There was a much more dignified way to do this if this is what they wanted,” a Biden ally said. “This is no way to treat a public servant who has done a lot for this country.”

    Stop it. You’re killing me.

    That sleazy disgusting homunculus deserves to be tossed out onto the sidewalk in his slippers and filthy pajamas.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      They, or at least he, really believes his own BS about how wonderful things are under his presidency and is genuinely confused about why they would want him out.

    • Sensei

      Put Biden on the street with $10k in cash in mid town Manhattan. Pretend nobody will recognize him.

      I bet he winds up dead in a week. He is incapable of living on his own.

  31. Gustave Lytton

    I’m just happy to see Burgerville not on the list.

  32. mikey

    The Holster/hiding chick deserves all the mocking she gets. The short chick did what she was supposed to: get between Donnie and the threat and stick there. IOW take bullet for Trump. It’s not her fault she’s two heads shorter than Two Scoops. That’s on the dummy in charge.

    • Sensei

      Somebody needed to protect his testacles!

      • Sensei

        Err, testicles.

      • Suthenboy

        Yes, leave badass greek philosophers out of this.

      • R.J.

        Testacles was the lesser known brother of Hercules.

    • Suthenboy

      Agreed. Just said the same thing to Mrs. Suthenboy.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    To be honest, I thought the SS agents on stage did a pretty good job of physically shielding him and getting him out. The one chick who barely comes up to his collarbone is not a good fit.

    As for the planning and organization…

    *And there was that one chick at the Suburban who looked like she had never touched a pistol until then and there.

    • R C Dean

      And the other one saying “Where do we go?” Or somesuch. That may have happened on stage, but I think it was after they got him off the stage.

      And the one at the Suburban who decided that, in a critical moment, what she really needed to do was put her sunglasses back on.

      Before the shot was horrendously bad. The snipers watched the shooter on the roof for over 20 minutes, until he shot? But after the shot was embarrassingly bad. Yeah, they kind of got around him to shield him, but other than that?

  34. The Late P Brooks

    Yeah, they kind of got around him to shield him, but other than that?

    I just watched it once. I assumed the people closest to him were his regular crew. Maybe that’s completely wrong.

    • DrOtto

      Same 2 racists as Newsweek found and wrote up in another article by Ewan Palmer just yesterday that reads so similar (both articles even reference Fuentes visiting Trump along with Big Daddy Kanye at Mar a Lago) that I would suggest either plagiarism or a coordinated hit piece, but that couldn’t be, probably just great minds think alike.

      • DrOtto

        The Newsweek article was in Tonio’s links yesterday afternoon.

      • Sensei

        Funny that.

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      Oh, that’s fun! Now let’s do liberals at a Free Palestine protest.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    By prog logic this means Trump is a racist, right?

    One holocaust, coming up.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    What if the tiger figures out the rock is a hoax


    The US Secret Service is scrambling to increase security ahead of former President Donald Trump’s first campaign rally since the failed assassination attempt on his life last week, sources familiar with the planning told CNN.

    The security around Trump’s future rallies and events is being entirely rethought, including where they should be held – whether indoors or in more secure outdoor locations. Outdoor events for Trump like the one in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was nearly assassinated, will likely be severely limited, sources said, if not entirely done away with.

    The ramp up in security reflects several new assessments by law enforcement since Saturday’s shooting, officials familiar with the assessments told CNN, including concern about a possible copycat incident and others who may be inspired to carry out another attack after seeing the previous one narrowly fail.

    I don’t know what they’re worried about. We don’t even have any real evidence Trump was the target.

    • Tres Cool

      “Initial attempts to bust into the Android device at the Pittsburgh field office failed, and the phone had to be flown to Quantico for agents to take a look at it, the source explained. The only other recent activity the FBI found on the phone was texts from Crooks’ parents asking where he was.”

      I thought some asshole FBI agent was telling people that the kid was using the scary “encrypted comms” ?

      To his parents?

      • R.J.

        I wonder if he was using straight-up Android or a custom operating system. Probably just Android at that age.

      • Sensei

        Another article I read said straight up Samsung.

        They had to use Cellebrite directly and what I assume is a yet to be disclosed exploit.

  37. Tres Cool

    ‘Whats a dirty martinez?”

    I think its the same drink but with hershey’s syrup.
    Then you smear it under her nose.

  38. DrOtto

    Just realized we have a Hattie B’s in Austin. I’ll have to give it a try. I love fried chicken. So far, Gus’s is my favorite.

    • Nephilium

      Gus’s was pretty good when I had it down in the Memphis area. There were rumors of one opening up here, but those appear to not be happening. Hattie B’s is Nashville Hot, so know that going in.

      • DrOtto

        I can do either Nashville Hot or traditional. Just has to be bone-in chicken to make the cut.

  39. creech

    The Trump campaign would be wise to not start taking victory laps. He and Vance should run as if they are 5 point underdogs in the polls.
    They need to crush the Dems in the “voted in person” results because you know the early, and any manufactured, ballots will go at least 2 to 1 for candidate Harris. Complacency has no place in this campaign.

    • Urthona

      He’s not really leading by that much anyway. Don’t know why Democrats are so hysterical. Maybe internal polling is worse.

  40. Tres Cool

    7 months old and 85 lbs. I give to you the Archie

    • R.J.

      Archie looks like his post meal gas could blow out an entire double wide.

    • ron73440

      Gorgeous

      I miss my rottie, his name was Ryuma.

      We got him at 8 weeks old and he died at 9 1/2, such a great dog.

      • Tres Cool

        Fuckin’ head like a cinder block just like Archie.

      • ron73440

        He was 110 pounds until his hips started acting up and he went up to 120.

        My wife could walk him and she weighs about 90.

  41. R.J.

    Whataburger. Hmm…
    They are OK, but to me they aren’t on a top ten list.

    • Tres Cool

      Having just been in Houston, I didnt get a chance. To me they’re nostalgia from when I was at Ft Hood.
      I’d call them above-average. Just a novelty since we dont have them in Ohio.

      I did manage to rock some Schlotzky’s deli while I was waiting in Bush Internation for….4 hours

      • R.J.

        Definitely preferred over McD’s. Maybe Sonic. To your point they are above average. Just not top ten list material.
        Four hours…
        I have a friend that’s in MN still, flight is at 7:00 tonight. One whole day waiting. Total balls.

      • Tres Cool

        I missed the CrowdStrike fuck-up. Mine was weather related that set the whole chain of events back.
        Leaving late from IAH, I missed my connect in Chicago. Then the next(last) flight was booked. They put me on stand-by but I missed the cut.
        So I opted for Cincinnati, then that plane was delayed 2 hours due to a mechanical issue. So I get to an airport 2 hours away at midnight.
        It was a long travel day.

      • R.J.

        Ugh.

    • Mojeaux

      Mahomes is from Texas and he single-handedly got Whataburger here. I think he owns part of the franchise(s). I think we have 4 stores around the metro.

      ANYWAY.

      A burger’s a burger’s a burger’s a burger.

      • Tres Cool

        Did you see the shout-out to Lion’s choice earlier?

  42. R.J.

    OMG.
    Forgot it was Friday. Could not remember the day for a moment.

    • Nephilium

      Forgetting it’s a Friday? Unless you don’t have a Mon-Fri job, that’s a real sign the B movies are rotting your brain.

      • R.J.

        I have a Mon-Fri job. Brain is rotting. Too much going on lately.

      • The Hyperbole

        I find it helpful to listen to a different Sirius station every day, hard to confuse “Miles, Monk, and Mingus Monday”, with “Hillblly Humpday”, or “Funk and Soul Friday”

      • Tres Cool

        Isnt Mingus the day after Easter that Pollacks in Cleveland celebrate by getting drunk and pouring water on everyone?

  43. Gdragon

    It’s quite unbelievable to me how many “educated” people it seems there are that appear to be completely unfamiliar with Freddy Bastiat. At least you guys know better. A lot of the economic arguments that I hear and read these days are just so goddamned foolish.

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      That’s what happens when you dismiss centuries worth of knowledge in favor of New Ideas™️.

      • Gdragon

        It seems like they want the thing to happen so they just throw anything and everything that they can think of at you to convince you that the thing should be done and they address none of your counterpoints in the process. It’s no way to argue and it’s no way to get to the best answer. I suppose that some people have always argued like this but it seems far more prevalent these days. Drives me bananas.