Sunday Morning Hung Over Again Links

by | Aug 11, 2024 | Daily Links | 162 comments

It was a beautiful day in the Finger Lakes after a week of shit weather. One of the NPR Ladies of my acquaintance wanted to do some drinking, so I sez, “Why not?” I picked up a couple bottles from my favorite winery, then went to a new one which was having a grand opening party and got a few more glasses. And we had a few more from the first winery. And… I’m not feeling so great this morning.

Birthdays today are great, however, and include a guy with an IQ of 0.707; a guy who, by virtue of genetics, ruled; a guy whose name was definitely not Toby; a guy who convinced me to never be a Republican; the master of the Monte Hall Problem; one of the few people who got fabulously wealthy and… then just had fun; a very misunderstood leftist; and a chick with money in the ceiling.

OK, before I go down a few more Tylenol, let’s Link.

If Hamas says it, it must be true.” And of course, Harris swallows it whole, comme s’habitude.

Love him or hate him, but people pay attention. (Personally, I think he’s an idiot but a great artist)

I’m shocked that a woman with her track record would send out the jackbooted thugs.

Trump says something stupid, Leftists tut tut. And dog bites man.

NPR carefully avoids mentioning that the entire narrative turned out to be bullshit. And the crowds honored his legacy in an appropriate way.

“The government will teach you how to think, Comrade.” Britain is fucked.

I am having trouble being sympathetic here.

When great pianists’ names are tossed around, Toshiko Akioshi’s should come up more often. The Old Guy has seen her with her husband (Lew Tabackin) and her big band several times and always walked away happy. This one ought to make you smile unless you’re dead. And even then.

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.

162 Comments

  1. Gender Traitor

    Today I learned what an “advertising hoarding” or, more generally I gather, “hoarding advertising” is. Glad I got that over with early and don’t have to learn anything else the rest of the day! 😃

  2. juris imprudent

    This is either the end of Burning Man, or the beginning of a great new era of Burning Man.

    I’ll be on my way out there in a week either way.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.

    • Gustave Lytton

      What’s the weather forecast? Will it be sloppy seconds?

  3. Ted S.

    and include a guy with an IQ of 0.707;

    He used his wife to market breakfast syrup, too.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Until she was fired for being black.

  4. Rebel Scum

    Hung Over Again

    Hydration is key.

    • Grumbletarian

      Yes. Jack Daniels Tennessee Fire over crushed ice was my tipple last night.

      • Nephilium

        Copious amounts of beer while watching pre-season football for me. Turns out at least two of the people from last year kept their season tickets in the same place this year. Chatted with them a bit yesterday.

  5. Rebel Scum

    “Yet again, far too many civilians have been killed,” Harris tells reporters, while also reiterating calls for a Gaza ceasefire.

    Hamas should surrender.

    • Rebel Scum

      with some warning he could be laying the groundwork to contest an electoral defeat as he did in 2020.

      Knock me down with a feather.

    • Chafed

      It’s odd how all the supposed peaceniks never mention that.

  6. Don escaped Texas

    “legal but harmful” content

    Think before sending your sons to die defending foreign countries

  7. Rebel Scum

    Biden and other Democrats, as well as some Republican Trump critics, have suggested the former president’s rhetoric is intended to cast doubt on November’s results should Harris prevail.

    Because there is zero chance she wins a legit election.

    • Fourscore

      Where’s my “I voted None of the Above” button?

    • Suthenboy

      “Because there is zero chance she wins a legit election.”
      I think most people know this. There is little to any trust in the integrity of our elections after all of the shenanigans lately. If she is announced the winner things could get interesting.

      • The Last American Hero

        They could, but they won’t*

        *source, Earth Seasons 2020 and 2022.

    • rhywun

      Sounds to me like The Hill and other hacks are “stoking fears” of their own. “Laying the groundwork”, you might say.

      • The Other Kevin

        They’re priming us (to use a term from persuasion). You hear it now, then when it happens you’re not surprised and think it’s normal.

  8. Rebel Scum

    Trump says something stupid

    Not really though. Some glibs still need to learn that you have no other/better option. So take your three percent and be a loser and lose your country, or vote to move the needle in the correct direction.

    • juris imprudent

      And some Glibs think Trump is going to single-handedly wrench the national rudder into a new direction – with all of the same old faces in Congress, and despite what we observed during his four years in office.

      • juris imprudent

        I’ll add something here. If he does win, he will make more bonehead hires just like the first time around. Even a John Bolton like one, because he isn’t half as smart as any of us.

      • Drake

        I hope he learned some lessons and keeps his son in law far away from decision making. But you are correct – Trump is like the snooze button on the globalist commie take over.

      • Rebel Scum

        And some Glibs think Trump is going to single-handedly

        No. And some glibs are not black pilled. Again, you have no other or better option right now.

      • Homple

        “…because he isn’t half as smart as any of us.”

        There is always a chance that we are not are not as smart as we think we are.

      • slumbrew

        “There is always a chance that we are not are not as smart as we think we are.”

        Unpossible, Homple!

      • EvilSheldon

        Yep. Trump had his shot, and he blew it. He won’t have learned.

      • juris imprudent

        we are not are not as smart as we think we are

        I really don’t assume we are. I do think we are much more principled than almost all of the political characters on the national scene. The fact that principles don’t lead to office is maybe one of the big drawbacks to democracy?

      • Old Man With Candy

        Quote from the late, great SP: “Wanting elective office should be a disqualifier.”

      • The Wrath of ZWAAAAAAKKKK!!!

        No, Trump isn’t going to single handedly wrench the country back into shape. But, if enough people start to think about liberties as opposed to freebies, then the world starts to move. Yes, you have to do something, vote, talk to people, engage. But sitting and bitching does not do squat.

    • Don escaped Texas
      • Rebel Scum

        What became of that?
        That’s right. Nothing.

      • DrOtto

        What would be hilarious to me is if the left, in an ultimate act of TDS, mandated gun ownership based on this statement.

    • The Wrath of ZWAAAAAAKKKK!!!

      Goddamn, so much fucking this.

      People constantly bitch about losing their rights, gradually and then suddenly, yet refuse to actually take the ten minutes out of their day once every year or so, and make their voice heard. “Oh, but my vote won’t make a difference…” Bullshit. How do you think the left got to make their long march? By realizing that Every Election IS The most Important Election Of Their Lifetimes!

      Every black pill you swallow is a victory for the forces you hate.

    • The Last American Hero

      And some Glibs (and a lot of folks on X) seem to think that there is no such thing as an electoral college – rendering the votes in all but about 5 states moot.

  9. Don escaped Texas

    When Subsidies Aren’t Enough

    Many stores that receive subsidies shutter their doors soon after opening or fail to open at all. Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica examined 24 stores across 18 states, each of them either newly established, preparing to open or less than five years old when they received funding through the federal USDA Healthy Food Financing Initiative in 2020 and 2021. As of June, five of these stores had already ceased operations; another six have yet to open, citing a variety of challenges including difficulties finding a suitable location and limited access to capital.

    Illinois’ record is similarly disappointing. In 2018, Illinois officials highlighted the opening of six grocery stores that had received startup funds over several years from a $13.5 million grocery initiative of former Gov. Pat Quinn’s. Four of them have closed.

    Despite the expansion of USDA’s program, the federal agency has not studied how long the grocery stores it helps to open actually stay in business or why some of them close. Illinois never did a comprehensive review of its prior program either but as part of its new effort has funded a study of what’s causing food deserts, including the challenges facing independent grocers.

    hey kids: be sure to vote this fall for the presidential candidate who has cancelled the most stupid federal programs!

    • juris imprudent

      Thanks Don, perfect illustration of why the presidential election this year matters so little in the grand scheme of things.

      • Don escaped Texas

        matters so little

        pass the Lagavulin….then the hemlock

      • Homple

        For something that doesn’t matter, people talk about the election–a lot.

      • juris imprudent

        We do that with the weather – a lot of talk, but no one does anything about it! [stealing from Twain as I recall]

      • Homple

        These days, people are doing something about the weather. They believe disassembling the entire energy industry–and the western world’s economy–is doing something.

    • Suthenboy

      Subsidies = stupid idea that will not work. If it was a good idea and works, it wouldn’t need subsidies. Also, money laundering tax-payer money.

      • Don escaped Texas

        needz moar subsidies

    • Fourscore

      When the grant money is gone and the rent continues stores close. We’re in our 3rd or 4th re-awakening here. A SportsCard store has opened, the last one about 30 years ago, lasted a few months. The game rooms, gone. The ‘antique stores’, aka Garage Sale Remnants, gone. Real Estate offices, gone. Many of the old buildings have been torn down.

      In the ’50s there were 6-7 car dealerships in Podunkville, all are gone as have the brands.

      The current fad is bicycle oriented. Bike trails, sandwich shops, restaurants, sleeping lofts, an upscale clothing store and now a doggie shop.

      We never learn. Snow cover about 7 months of the years but yet…

      • Sean

        Mattress stores, tattoo parlors, and vape shops are way over represented around here. And we seem to have an over abundance of fast food options for a small(ish) town.

      • DrOtto

        My accountant insists mattress stores have got to be CIA fronts, because there is no way they stand on their own with the market saturation.

      • Fourscore

        My friends and I think the money losers are drug money laundering set ups. Your explanation is better. Maybe it’s both.

      • Tundra

        My friends and I think the money losers are drug money laundering set ups.

        Car washes. There are several by my house that never seem to have many customers but sit on some pricy real estate.

  10. Suthenboy

    “a guy who convinced me to never be a Republican”
    I just said that very thing to my wife last night when she asked me why am registered as an independent. She postulated that I get so many more texts than she does from Trump and Co. because I am considered up-for-grabs. I also included Swaggart and Pat Robertson in the list.

    I dont hear many people pointing out that our esteemed leftist elites in the US always seem to tacitly side with totalitarians. Envy?

    Of late (last 100 yrs) an awful lot of art, modern art if you will, is criticized as crap. I agree. The timeless classics portray universalities but the new stuff is myopic subjective views. Old Classics: see the condition of man. New Crap: I have an opinion.

    I have had more than a few cops tell me they are above the law.

    I am no t sure about the legality of what they did, completely disenfranchising their voters – especially one so reviled by them, but I dont think the constitution has much to say about it.

    All of their narratives are complete bullshit, all of them. Yet huge numbers of people still believe despite them being exposed as such.

    Yeah….extraditing US citizens under such circumstances would be a complete surrender of our sovereignty. That’s a no-go.

    Whatever happened about the scam of having such a gathering on some caribbean island? Wasn’t that dude setting up another one?

  11. juris imprudent

    Tell me you weren’t around for the ’84 L.A. Olympics, without telling me. The traffic then was nothing, because everyone planned around it.

    • rhywun

      So now remote work is good because Gaia?

      I can’t keep up.

    • The Other Kevin

      Car free? Maybe go for care free first.

    • Annoyed Nomad

      I was in LA for the ’84 Olympics. I also attended a few events and went to Disneyland. It was a great time to be in the area: light traffic, no smog and no lines at Disneyland. As I understand, everyone was absolutely frightened that the highways would turn into parking lots, so companies shut down and have their employees 2 weeks of leave – most of them leaving town. I’m not sure if work-from-home will accomplish the same thing.
      I also attended the ’96 Atlanta Olympics and traffic was a nightmare despite the emphasis on buses and public transportation.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      I hope they aren’t expecting people to walk. Nobody walks in LA.

      • Tundra

        Well, when it’s destination unknown can you blame them?

      • DrOtto

        No more words on this subject.

      • DrOtto

        Goddammit, wrong band.

  12. CatchTheCarp

    From the crazy story of the salon getting broken into during the Harris event:

    Secret Service: “We hold these relationships in the highest regard and our personnel would not enter, or instruct our partners to enter, a business without the owner’s permission,” she added.

    But they did… there is video evidence.

    “The Secret Service has since communicated with the affected business owner.”

    I’m guessing they told her to fuck off.

    • The Other Kevin

      Sadly the Secret Service has become just as garbage as the rest of the government.

  13. R C Dean

    “Burning Man ticket sales dry up after sloppy year”

    The fact that there is such a thing as “Burning Man ticket sales” tells you that the original Burning Man thing is long gone.

    • juris imprudent

      Unlike the Rainbow Gathering (dirty hippie fest), Burning Man has always had tickets. Way, way back it was a shack just off the highway and you were given a set of directions. One year the local sheriff confiscated all the proceeds, and the organizers stood hat in hand to collect from people on their way off playa. In 2012 the event sold out, and for every year after (until last year) tickets were a hot and precious commodity. Last year there were “scalpers” on the side of the road waving fans of tickets and I imagine they got burned badly on them, so they didn’t scoop them up this year.

      • R C Dean

        I had no idea. The impression I had was that it was originally basically a temporary autonomous zone that you could just show up to.

      • juris imprudent

        The first couple of them might have been more like that, but that era was over before they even got the official permission of BLM to hold the event. The squabbles in ’96 pushed them out onto private property in ’97 but they reconciled with BLM (who collects a nice chunk of money) for ’98 and ever since (though there were a couple of recent years that they talked about alternative locations again).

    • Suthenboy

      This. Also RenFairs.

    • slumbrew

      When I read about Burning Man in, I think, an issue of Mondo 2000m it sounded like the coolest thing ever. Also, I was probably 19 at the time.

      Now you’d have to pay me to go.

      De gustibus and all that – glad you’re still enjoying it, JI.

      • juris imprudent

        I’m pretty much at the end of my road with it – I expect this is my last year. With all of the growth came the inevitable bureaucracy. Rangers used to have the motto of “riding the edge of chaos” and it was a fair description – back then. Nowadays they should be known as the GOP – Guardians of an Orderly Playa.

  14. Stinky Wizzleteats

    “Children will be taught how to spot extremist content and fake news online in a revamp of the curriculum following last week’s riots.”

    We’ll let them kill your kids and then when you get pissed we’ll throw you in jail and brainwash your kids in the schools. I’d rather live in China I think, sure they’re authoritarian but at least they’re quasi competent.

    • Rebel Scum

      The powers that be in China seem to care about keeping China Chinese. So there’s that. And it’s more than I can say for the globalist cuntes destroying the US.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        They do at least seem to care about the country in some sense. Britain’s rulers, not so much…sort of goes for us too unfortunately.

    • The Other Kevin

      That whole thing is terrifying.

  15. Suthenboy

    Chances of another Jan.6 style false flag? You know they are planning one.

    • juris imprudent

      They may also be planning the Democratic obstruction of a Trump EC win.

      • Rebel Scum

        That rat Raskin said exactly that.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        That’d be the thing that’d finally shatter any illusions of “democracy” and patriotic love of country. If anyone’s an accelerationist they should be rooting for that because things would get very ugly very fast.

    • The Other Kevin

      It’s pretty obvious they’ve done a lot of dirty and illegal things in the name of “getting Trump”. I have no doubt a lot of people high on the food chain have something to worry about if they lose power. To me it feels like they’re fighting for their lives.

  16. juris imprudent

    We have to do something, this is something. Something that wouldn’t have mattered one bit to the incident that motivated it.

    On the one hand, she understands opponents’ arguments that the bill would restrict Second Amendment rights and would not have prevented the Lewiston tragedy from occurring anyway. On the other, the governor sees how the bill could prevent suicides in a state that sees more than half of suicides being caused by firearms. Taking both positions into account, Mills did not sign the legislation.

    • Suthenboy

      “…half of suicides being caused by firearms.”
      No, they dont. They caused exactly zero suicides.
      More gun grabber mendacity. None of their measures are intended to reduce crime, exactly the opposite in fact.
      These are evil people.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Half of suicides utilize firearms but being caused by them is silly. The Japanese manage to finish themselves off at a higher rate than us with nary a firearm in sight.

      • Don escaped Texas

        Japan

        they’re 49th! they’re 49th!

    • slumbrew

      Nobody kills themselves in countries with strict gun laws. It is known.

      • Don escaped Texas

        We’re number 31! We’re number 31!

    • Fourscore

      Now we have to do something about the other half.

      “100% of suicides not gun related”.

      • DrOtto

        That’s a brag you can hang (your hat) on!

  17. Suthenboy

    Options: Go to burning man or stay home and have a day like today – peace and quiet, read, doodle around yard, work with some wood, talk to family, snooze on the couch with Wife watching her TV shows all at my leisure.
    Hmmmmm….decisions, decisions.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    “This is why people need to start thinking more now about how to deny Trump the ability the day after the election, if he loses, to try and throw the process into chaos again,” Bolton added.

    Or you could do everything you possibly can to make certain the process is legal, above board, and transparent.

    • Don escaped Texas

      the process

      there ain’t no “the process”

      you married up to 49 other places who will do whateverthefuck crazy thing they want to pick their electors

    • Chafed

      That’s crazy talk.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Who wouldn’t want to go bake in a desert with a bunch of pantomime hippies?

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Just go to Slab City, the Real Burning man. The folks there live it, as opposed to the hipsters playing fantasy.

  20. Shpip

    Bridget Phillipson told The Telegraph that pupils as young as five would be given the critical thinking skills to identify misinformation online under the new plans.

    Be careful what you wish for, lady.

    Of course, being leftists, they never, ever consider that the misinformation that the kids might identify is the codswallop that the government dishes out on a daily basis.

    • Old Man With Candy

      There is exactly ZERO chance that actual critical thinking skills will be taught, and for exactly that reason.

    • The Other Kevin

      Scott Adams tried to come up with a course to combat disinformation. He gave up really quickly when he figured out the main points had to be “the news is all fake and everyone is lying to you.”

      • juris imprudent

        Is this fear-mongering? If yes, then who is pushing it and what do they want from me?

        I had a couple of substacks I subscribed to recently that on first glance looked interesting, and with deeper reading are extremely guilty of shameless fear-mongering.

      • The Other Kevin

        Humans have gotten really, really good at persuasion, propaganda, brainwashing, etc. The CIA studied it at great length. The brainwashing right now is literally making some people crazy. That’s the biggest fight we’re in right now.

      • The Last American Hero

        The book Once Upon a Number does an excellent job or showing how full of shit the news is, and that was way before stuff got cranked to 11.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    there ain’t no “the process”

    Like a tenth grade science fair project, the results should be verifiable and reproducible.

    I crack myself up.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    Survey shows…

    New poll results that should surprise absolutely no one show Minnesota governor Tim Walz’s approval ratings surging while Ohio senator JD Vance’s have plummeted.

    A YouGov survey from August 8, two days after Walz was announced as Kamala Harris’s running mate, shows the governor scoring a net favorability rating of +11, up 10 points from a YouGov survey conducted last month. Meanwhile, Vance’s net favorability from an August poll conducted by Marist came in at -9; a week prior, a YouGov survey put him at -6.

    It’s not hard to see why people have positive views of Walz and are increasingly repelled by Vance. The former gives off serious Big Dad Energy, believes in stuff like abortion access, workers rights, paid family leave, and affordable housing; as governor, he ensured school children would not go hungry. Then there’s Vance, who has suggested people should stay in violent marriages for the sake of their kids, and that not having kids means a person has no “direct stake” in the country and is more likely to be a sociopath.

    Propaganda works.

    • DrOtto

      Vance = Weird
      Walz = Big Dad Energy

      Run with it legacy media!

      • Suthenboy

        I’d bed my left nut that if Waltz was not a pol, just some dude, he would be a summer camp for teens director being investigated by the cops. That is the ‘big dad’ energy I get off of him. He is Tim Kaine all over again.

      • Suthenboy

        Dont forget, it is all projection all of the time with these slimy fucks. That is why they are going with ‘weird’…which they never specify btw.

    • The Other Kevin

      I don’t believe that for one second.

      • Chafed

        Neither do I. They are both bad choices.

    • rhywun

      I believe it if only because yay abortion access!

      It is literally going to be the single issue of this election.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Bull fucking shit. According to the MSM (see above). They want their opponents to think this is the cause.

    • Suthenboy

      Which propaganda? The poll results?

      Levin starts with fake numbers showing a preferred result then works backwards with complete horseshit to explain and arrive at them. It doesnt get more ‘propaganda’ than that.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    This is interesting

    Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday pledged to eliminate taxes on tipped wages for service workers, matching a proposal from former President Donald Trump.

    During a rally in Las Vegas she held alongside her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris praised the work of the Culinary Workers Union, which endorsed her on Friday, and vowed to continue to support policies that would benefit the union’s workers.

    “When I am president, we will continue our fight for working families of America, including to raise the minimum wage, and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said.

    I guess she’ll make it up by putting the screws to all those Etsy and Ebay millionaires.

    • The Other Kevin

      Many on X are pointing out that she was the deciding vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which gave the IRS expanded powers to go after taxes on tips.

      • The Last American Hero

        Unfortunately Many on X are not Most Major Papers in the Country.

    • Urthona

      Two socialists promising some pandering that doesn’t sound socialist for the masses.

      Zero chance it’s a priority for either when elected.

      • The Other Kevin

        Based on everything they’ve said and done in the past, there is no way they will ever do anything to lower anyone’s taxes.

      • Urthona

        I have mixed feelings because although I like less taxes, how in particular is this fair? It seems kind of random actually.

      • slumbrew

        How is the mortgage interest deduction fair?

        Eighty percent of the tax code is some sort of pandering.

      • DrOtto

        Tips weren’t reported/taxed prior to ’93 or ’94. Unless you took it upon yourself to report them. The IRS just started making employers report tips as wages. And if you “under report” as deemed by the IRS, they just make a number up and tax you on that.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      She’s going to adopt Project 2025 as her platform.

    • Suthenboy

      They really have nothing. It is funny to me that they are changing their professed policies to mirror Trump’s. Only an idiot would believe they are going to be the revealed preferences…we have those already: see Biden policies.

  24. Common Tater

    “‘The young man doesn’t have any fricking felonies. And I know the DA probably wants every young black man in prison, but I don’t,’ Rose, who is black, said at an April 29 sidebar, according to the report.

    ‘And this case is goddamn four years old now. And that’s the best that y’all can come up with? You’re just going to what, stick every n***** in jail?’

    The Louisiana Judiciary Commission has also said it was ‘deeply concerned that Judge Rose’s succession of clear legal errors in criminal cases, as well as her wholly inappropriate use of a contemptible racial slur in court… mean that Judge Rose may pose a substantial threat of serious harm to the public or the administration of justice if she remains in office.'”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13732149/Woke-female-judge-SUSPENDED-prosecutor-black-men-changed-jurys-verdict-convicted-defendant-non-existent-crime.html

    They took away her n-word pass.

    • DrOtto

      Jebus, in one case a jury found a defendant not guilty and she reversed the verdict to guilty resulting in a mistrial and reversal of her rendered verdict. “…she always meant well.” Is also referenced in the article. Sound like more of what you get with DEI hiring to me.

      • DrOtto

        Even better, you get what you vote for.

      • DrOtto

        Also: What do you call someone with the lowest passing grade in law school?
        A: Your honor

  25. The Late P Brooks

    The peasants are revolting

    The demonstration came after weeks of protests in dozens of cities throughout Serbia against a government plan to allow lithium mining in a lush farming valley in the west of the country.

    This plan had been scrapped in 2022 after large demonstrations were held that included the blocking of key bridges and roads. But it was revived last month and received a boost in a tentative deal on “critical raw materials” signed by Vučić’s government with the European Union.

    The Balkan nation is formally seeking EU membership while maintaining very close ties with both Russia and China. The EU memorandum on the mining of lithium and other key materials needed for green transition would bring Serbia closer to the bloc, and would reduce Europe’s lithium battery and electric car imports from China.

    Lithium mining seems to be an extremely crude and dirty process. But as long as it’s kept out of sight it’s okay. Batteries are green tech.

    • The Other Kevin

      That always bothers the shit out of me. As long as libs in the US can feel smug, nobody cares about those poor people on the other side of the world.

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      I wonder if Serbia joins the EU, if we’ll stop laundering money through them via USAID.

      LOL never mind – Greenland, owned by Denmark, with one of the highest GDPs in the world, gets USAID taxpayer money.

  26. Common Tater

    “NPR carefully avoids mentioning that the entire narrative turned out to be bullshit.”

    They create bullshit narratives on purpose — if it were cut and dry there would be no controversy.

  27. Sensei

    Do you want to take a simple proven device that has already been cost engineered down to lower reliability and make it even worse? If so this can be yours for $80!

    AUTOMATIC WAVE SENSOR FLUSH KIT

    • The Gunslinger

      Why does every damn thing need to have a battery these days? A simple mechanical mechanism that does the job reliably is so much nicer.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Fuck yes. Next toilet is getting the auto flush option installed. Auto raise/close lid is a marriage saver. So is the heated seat.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Brazen and shameless

    Jacob Reitan said he told Gwen Walz he was gay before he told his parents.

    Reitan was a student in 1999 at Mankato West High School in Minnesota, where Walz and her husband, Tim, were teachers. In her classroom, Gwen Walz had announced at the start of his sophomore year that her class was a safe place for gay students.

    “I’d never heard a teacher ever talk about gay issues from the front of the classroom,” recalled Reitan, now a 42-year-old lawyer in Minneapolis. “That act meant the world to me. It made me feel welcome in the place where I’m supposed to learn.”

    Gwen Walz’s unwavering support was shared by her husband, who moved to Minnesota from rural Nebraska long before the Democrat became a congressman, governor and Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice to be her running mate in her 2024 presidential campaign.

    It doesn’t matter who the DNC pukes up. The press will beatify and promote them.

    • DrOtto

      She was a groomer before it was cool.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Why does every damn thing need to have a battery these days? A simple mechanical mechanism that does the job reliably is so much nicer.

    You luddite. Everybody NEEDS a programmable bathroom air freshener with a microprocessor and AI motion detection which plugs into the wall socket. That’s what separates us from the lower primates.

    • Suthenboy

      Hey wait a minute…you forgot to mention the Big Brother spying these things are tasked with.

    • The Gunslinger

      – “This is the Kamala crowd. And they say President Trump’s supporters are weird? They will never win the election if this is their base.”

      In my opinion, it’s time to mentally prepare for the fact that Harris is likely to be the next president.

      • Old Man With Candy

        It’s a bet I made more than a year ago. I’ll be collecting from Spud, Sloopy, and Heroic Mulatto. Nice, crisp new bills.

      • juris imprudent

        Notice how money clears up the hangover?

    • The Other Kevin

      As usual we are the most informed group on the Internet. We’ve got an AI expert telling us how the sausage is made.

  30. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Helluva time for Banksy to choose NOT to be political

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of old teevee shows-

    I watched the pilot for Moonlighting last not night. Not bad. I might watch some more.

    I remember watching it now and then when it was new.

    • slumbrew

      I remember it as being quite charming, especially early on.

    • Gdragon

      I was at the age where I would watch “Who’s the Boss” and “Growing Pains” and then I could stay up for maybe half of “Oh my god who is this hot blonde detective woman?!?!?!”

    • Tundra

      I really liked it. Where is it streaming?

      • Chafed

        Respect my authority?

      • DrOtto

        That’s not unlike an episode I had with a park ranger in a park in CA 20 some years ago. Apparently, it’s illegal to picnic in their parks as well. I didn’t argue beyond “you’ve got to be kidding” so no arrest, but she followed us to the car to make sure we didn’t just relocate our nefarious picnic shenanigans.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Free to disassociate

    Elon Musk, self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” is demanding the government infringe on free speech rights. Again.

    Despite his posturing as a defender of free expression, Musk is one of the nation’s most vexatious litigants against anybody who exercises their First Amendment rights in a way he doesn’t like. His latest target is GARM, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, an industry association of advertisers on online platforms of which X, formerly known as Twitter, is still a member. The lawsuit also targets several of GARM’s members for the supposed crime of declining to purchase ads on Musk’s website.

    X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, posted a video on Tuesday explaining that the suit is part of the company’s noble pursuit of preserving “the global town square … the one place that you can express yourself freely and openly.” Yaccarino wore a pendant around her neck that read “FREE SPEECH.”

    On Thursday, GARM, citing its inability to handle legal fees that would likely run into the seven figures, simply shut its doors, ending all operations. Musk’s censorial bullying worked — abusing the legal system to shut down his critics.

    Musk’s argument against GARM fits a long-running pattern for him: attacks on free speech wrapped in the rhetoric of defending free speech.

    Apostasy is the most heinous crime. Ever since Musk bought their sandbox out from under them their outrage has been unconstrained.

    • juris imprudent

      I wondered what bullshit factory this was out of, and a quick hover confirmed.

  33. Gdragon

    It will be interesting to see how many registered Republicans out there will be agin the Tax Free Tips Act now that Kamala says she is fer it.

    • Suthenboy

      Kamala wins. Taxes on tips double. People ask “Hey you said you were going to end taxes on tips!”
      Kamala replies “That wasn’t as shovel ready as we thought it was.”

  34. The Late P Brooks

    Major corporations generally do not want to pay for ads running next to posts praising Adolf Hitler, among other noxious content that has flourished on X under Musk’s ownership. It’s hardly an unreasonable position, and GARM worked to promulgate shared standards companies can adopt for this type of brand safety. This, Musk alleges, amounted to a violation of antitrust laws.

    Nazis buy diapers, too.

    • The Other Kevin

      Who the hell is praising Hitler? They’ve already proven the ONE example couldn’t happen on Twitter unless someone forced it to happen. Ugh.

      • Ted S.

        You *must* be made to associate with our preferences. We *must not* be made to associate with your preferences. (Well, really, it’s our caricature of your preferences.)

      • Chafed

        Shhhh. You’ll undermine their made up claim.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    It’s the latest in a long line of Musk lawsuits seeking to silence his critics, a tactic known as a strategic lawsuit against public participation, or SLAPP.

    ——-

    For many years, actual free speech advocates have been pushing for anti-SLAPP laws, which make it easier to promptly dismiss and receive legal fees for litigation targeting constitutionally protected speech. Texas and California among other states have adopted these robust protections. Unfortunately, there is no national anti-SLAPP law for lawsuits based on federal law claims, such as Musk’s antitrust theory. Federal circuit courts are also divided on whether state anti-SLAPP laws can apply even to state law claims, such as defamation, being heard in federal court under interstate diversity jurisdiction.

    *adjusts glasses, clears throat*

    Ahh, here it is: “Congress shall make no law”.

    Tell us all again about how you are on the side of the free speech angels.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Tundra- it’s on tubi.

    • The Gunslinger

      What else goes on in Pennsylvania?

      Jerry Sandusky
      Joe Paterno
      Joe Biden
      Michael Mann
      Butler

      Maybe it’s typical but wtf Pennsylvania?

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Yikes

    Pennsylvania car. Probably a rustbucket. But still…

  38. Evan from Evansville

    I awake without the mental epi-fog I’ve been stuck in the last couple days. I hope that keeps up. Certainly starting brighter. This week I have two phlebotomy practice seshs to get my eye in again, along w several dr/therapy appts, and a haircut on Friday. Then, next week I begin my full-time gig as Octapharma Plasma Phlebotomist. (FUCK, I WILL be getting a business card that says that. Fuck. Yes.)

    I…can’t find any training videos. Apparently this shit is *easy,* even for non-trained needle stickers. I still haven’t found a vid of someone donating plasma that kinda focuses on the needle/vein. I’ve never donated (I HIGHLY doubt my blood is good for anyone) but can easily imagine, but I’d still like to kinda know what I’m walking into. The first few days are apparently just vids, so that’s good. I don’t know if I’ll be doing vitals, blood pressure etc. Never have before.

    Hrm. Keeping fog-free is fairly easy, but I am concerned I semi-pissed off Lady in MN who’s my only American ‘friend.’ She came back Stateside from Korea ’bout the same time I did, known each other for nearly a decade. Would love to be legit teammates, roommates w her to reconquer America.

    Hrm. I tried zoomin’ last night but being mostly foggy I didn’t think I’d be much company w/o everything turning into a therapy session, which would be remarkably rude. Would be nice to chat with Hayeksposives about epileptic ‘fogginess’ or mental congestion. Many quasi absence-moments last eve.

    Hope y’all are kickin’ ass and takin’ names. Hilariously, I’m going to (once again) be magically good at his new gig once he sorts it out. They are “excited” to have a male presence on the floor, making me the only dude working up front and not in-office. This bodes very well, though I haven’t seen much Talent yet. That mission sorts itself rather swiftly.