193 Comments

  1. Not Adahn

    *Lifts cofefe*

  2. Pat

    Kamala Harris speech from 2023 on transgender rights risks boomerang with American voters

    Team blue 100% supports every bit of that shit and constitutes 48% of the electorate. Team red 95% opposes it and constitutes 45% of the electorate. Of the remaining uncommitted 7%, 3/4 will vote blue come election day, mostly on abortion and welfare. The candidates themselves are utterly meaningless. She could go on national TV from the Rose Garden, cut the beating heart out of a just-delivered infant, and eat it after dedicating it to Moloch, and the entire election is still going to hang on half a dozen counties in Wisconsin and Michigan.

    • AlexinCT

      Programmed and in a cult.

      • WTF

        There really is no other explanation for voting for 4 more years of what we’ve we’ve just had for the last 4 years.

      • AlexinCT

        Well, there is the “I hate this country and it’s people, and I want to destroy it” reason….

      • The Other Kevin

        It’s brainwashing. The CIA perfected the use of propaganda and psychology, and they’re using it on us.

      • Pat

        I think that A) robs people of agency, and B) lets maliciousness and stupidity both off the hook too easily. If propaganda and psychology worked that well, I’m not hubristic enough to suppose I would somehow be immune to it.

      • trshmnstr

        I’m not hubristic enough to suppose I would somehow be immune to it.

        You’re not… None of us are. Compare our society to the society of 150 years ago to see where we have been propagandized. Some of that propaganda comes from a place of truth, but most doesn’t.

        Debt financed lifestyles are a big area where most people have been propagandized. Accepting a 1-2% inflation rate. Modern marriage versus what it was 150 years ago. The concept of adolescence. The distancing of extended family. The implosion of community. The growth of leisure and recreation in opposition to working hard all day.

        There are a lot of fundamental positions we hold that were propogandized into us from an early age.

    • Rat on a train

      The campaign ads so far tell me murdering offspring is the top issue this election.

      • AlexinCT

        How else are these gurl bosses going to show us they are in charge?

      • WTF

        Speaking of Gurl Bosses, I can’t believe Amazon is sinking the money into a second season of the disastrous “Rings of Power”.

      • WTF

        I mean, even Disney had the sense to shit-can The Acolyte after one terrible season.

      • SDF-7

        I think your user name suffices to sum up my thoughts on Rings of Power ever being seriously green-lit, much less extended.

      • Suthenboy

        ‘The Acolyte’. What kind of name is that anyway? Why not The Lickspittle? Ass kisser? Bootlicker? Flunky? Sycophant? Lackey?
        So many possibilities.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        The Acolyte’s showrunner’s proximity to Harvey Weinstein probably means she knows where a great many bodies are buried, hence she was able to blackmail her way into getting that turd of a show approved.

      • The Other Kevin

        See my comment above about brainwashing. Trump should be winning on this issue because by getting rid of Roe v Wade, he took the president out of the issue entirely. But you’re not going to hear about that on the “news”.

    • Suthenboy

      Harris may just be the run of the mill Machiavellian candidate but she is all on board with the Faustian agenda. This celebration of perversion and depravity business is a puzzle to me, that it could ever gain so much steam.

      • SDF-7

        The redirection of worship of the divine into worship of Self (and worship of the state where they can) would be my theory. If it at all impedes me doing what I want — it is evil. If it allows me to do what I want when I want and get what I want — it is good. Seems to cover it these days.

        The 7 Deadlies being pitched as Virtues and driving a lot of politics (especially Envy) flows from that.

      • AlexinCT

        That’s something I struggle with Suthenboy, cause I want to believe we are all good inherently. But as of late it has become unavoidable that there are really people in this country (not just abroad) that for whatever reason hate our country, our system, and our people, and want to wreck it all. And they want that regardless of what negative that means even for them personally.

      • Pat

        If it at all impedes me doing what I want — it is evil. If it allows me to do what I want when I want and get what I want — it is good.

        When JI talks of the Enlightenment setting the stage for our current affairs, this is pretty much what he’s referring to. The atomic individual unmoored from religious, civic, or social obligation is an unavoidable development from individualism as a first principle.

      • AlexinCT

        The devil’s greatest victory IMO isn’t that he got people to believe he doesn’t exist, but that God doesn’t exist….

  3. SDF-7

    The Harris-Biden Admin Made America’s Debt Bomb Worse To Win An Election

    That’s true — but graphs of Federal spending don’t quell by disdain for the part of Congress where all spending and budget bills are supposed to originate (nudges Chief Justice Roberts, the hack) that supposedly was reclaimed by the party of supposed fiscal conservatism. (Ha!)

    When the best we can hope for is slowing down to 105 instead of foot-to-the-floor 160 as we’re looking at that cliff, it isn’t like I’m only angry at the Jackass wing.

    Anyway — Morning, Banjos! I’d ask who the dope is in the main page image… but I strongly suspect the answer is “Ask not who the dope may be, for you will find the Dope is Thee!”

    Morning, all.

    • Pat

      Republicans exist to trim 2% off the new baseline that Democrats will double anyway when they regain power. Useless as tits on a shark.

      • Sensei

        Exactly. They asked for spending an additional 10% of money we don’t have. We talked ’em down to 9%! Elect us again!

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        Great whites and hammerheads produce a sort of milk.

        Just sayin’

  4. SDF-7

    American dream is fading for most Americans as only 10% polled said they can afford to buy home

    “You will own nothing…” Gee, funny how that unintended consequence of overregulation (and expense of regulatory compliance), massive illegal immigration, massive foreign and corporate investment in properties backed by the Fed itself (that was the whole Blackrock thing revealed a couple of years back, right? That it was actually Fed money being siphoned through and parlayed into investments that were snapping up real estate?) and driving up interest rates worked out, huh?

    Pure coincidence. Nothing to see here, Drone Slave 5.04e+06! Back to your TikTok memes!

    • Pat

      Housing is, it goes without saying, insane. Freaking out about interest rates is exactly the wrong reaction, since 20 years of 0% interest is the largest contributor to prices being what they are in the first place. The Fed, naturally, is preparing to cut rates again so that the grumbling masses can again ‘afford’ that $600,000 note on a 2 bedroom starter home instead of allowing prices to fall even one red penny, because we can’t allow the morons who took in the shorts during the boom years to lose any of their equity, or our entire debt-fueled prosperity goes back down the shitter like it did in 2008.

      Anyway, for the price of a gently used F-150, you can come buy a house here in Sweetwater. We’ve even got a bunch of those much ballyhooed “green” jobs everyone’s always talking about, being a few dozen miles from the state’s largest wind farm boondoggle.

      • Rat on a train

        But people cashed out their equity for consumption. If prices fall they will be underwater. We must save them from the consequences of their poor decisions.

      • EvilSheldon

        What’s a gently used F150 going for these days, 150k?

      • Suthenboy

        ES: Well, it’s right there in the name, isn’t it?

      • Pat

        What’s a gently used F150 going for these days

        In the 50-60k range. I paid 60k for my place, and probably slightly overpaid as I was an out of state buyer.

  5. SDF-7

    California Democrats Vote Down ‘No Tax on Tips’ Bill Proposed by Republicans

    Alternate Headline — Sacramento refuses to give up one way it fleeces the citizens. News at 11.

    I just can’t get too worked up on it either way — I suppose there’s a logic to it though. In the past, most tips were cash and were doubtless treated “specially” by the server (i.e. pocketed and undeclared where they could). With the rise of card payments, that’s not really an option (and I fully expect the “tips” don’t go straight to the server in a lot of cases) – so no taxing them would be implicitly returning to the status quo ante and all. But really, I would hope/expect most service jobs fall below the standard deductible where they’re unlikely to really be paying much in taxes in any event…. so I’d rather see tax rate cuts across the board than singling out one style of payment.

    • Pat

      With the rise of card payments, that’s not really an option (and I fully expect the “tips” don’t go straight to the server in a lot of cases) – so no taxing them would be implicitly returning to the status quo ante and all.

      On the rocking-horse-shit-rare occasions when I go anywhere tipping is expected, I always tip in cash. If they want to play good citizen and declare it, that’s their choice. If not, so much the better. Some people actually give out a small business card along with their cash tip noting for the server that they are being given a gift per IRS rules; if you remain under the annual threshold, which currently stands at around $16k per year, you aren’t required to report your gifts, and the recipient owes no tax.

      • SDF-7

        Nice. Hadn’t thought about it from a gift aspect… though given the various labor laws that allow underpaying tip-expecting positions assuming the tips draw them back above minimum wage laws, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s somehow overtly illegal in practice (at least in some jurisdictions).

      • Pat

        Yeah, state rules vary wildly. I’ve been fortunate to never make my residence in a state with an income tax.

    • Nephilium

      At several of the concession stands at the ballpark here, my friend was advised that the tips done on the point of sale system don’t make their way back to the volunteers working the booth. We’re waiting for someone to put together that tip theft lawsuit.

    • Suthenboy

      Any transaction between any parties no matter how large or small, no matter how important or trivial, the govt is going to make certain it gets its beak wet one way or another. I remember a few decades ago IRS agents drawing guns on a man for refusing to pay taxes on his daughter’s lemonade stand…the bill was less than 10 bucks.
      That should tell you everything you need to know.
      Harris? She is just a straight up old fashioned socialist. She doesnt just want to get the govt’s beak wet, in her mind 200% of everything belongs to the govt. See – taxes on wealth that doesnt exist.

      My very strong suspicion is that the taxes on unrealized capital gains taxes is a plan to seize all existing real estate cooked up by the Black Rock crowd.

      • AlexinCT

        My very strong suspicion is that the taxes on unrealized capital gains taxes is a plan to seize all existing real estate cooked up by the Black Rock crowd.

        Actually the real target here is all the savings people that have either bought a home (property) as the place to store their wealth or that have saved for their own retirement (401K). In the name of equity, of course. There are several trillion dollars they can steal while quickly ending the American middle class. Unless you are one of the people that can repatriate their wealth or get a deal from the people stealing the wealth, they mean to make us all beggars.

        Remember, “You will own nothing, and be happy”… Or else.

      • WTF

        And I’m sure the fact that the constitution doesn’t allow this tax, as it’s not apportioned and it’s not a tax on income, won’t even slow the fuckers down.

      • Rat on a train

        By the time it gets to SCOTUS, there will be many new Harris appointees to rubber stamp the move.

    • EvilSheldon

      F-150. $150k, 150k miles before the first engine replacement. The truck market these days makes me want to kill someone.

  6. AlexinCT

    ‘Reagan’: Rotten Tomatoes Score: Critics: 18, Audience: 98

    They absolutely despise Reagan because he was the first to openly call the left evil fucking marxist cuntes and then destroyed their evil empire to boot. Of course they are going to hate a movie that doesn’t pile on the decades of negative propaganda about the man.

    • Pat

      Tbh, I’m kind of tired of the Saint Reagan narrative myself, just for different reasons. Ultimately, his legacy ended up being capitulating to Democrats on every major domestic policy issue for the tradeoff of more than doubling the debt in service of exhausting the last of soviet Russia’s national credibility and empire a few years sooner than they were otherwise going to implode anyway.

      • AlexinCT

        Can you name me the last guy that held the office that didn’t end up having to compromise? And I disagree with the whole the USSR would fall eventually if left alone line of thinking. In fact, if it had been left alone my take would have been we would have ended with another world war, and one that went nuclear for sure (because we had no way to fight them conventionally before Reagan and stand a chance). Also, look at the CPP’s China.

        I am not arguing that the higher spending and subsequent higher debt, the program that made so many illegals legal, or any of the other things some will find questionable that were done were great, but in general, in the balance, it was the best presidency of my lifetime no doubts about it. Doesn’t make the guy a saint. Just a much better president than the others we have had, and especially, better than any of the team blue ones like sellout Clinton or Black Jesus.

      • Pat

        As ever, we can only speculate with historical counterfactuals. The sad fact of the matter is that in the places where Soviet Russia successfully expanded its empire, totalitarian communism was likely a better fit for the governance of the local populace than whatever alternative was available. But like all empires, it was doomed to fail, and it was doomed to fail economically in a manner unique to the deficiencies of Marxism-Leninism as an economic system. Had we done as we should in the post-war period and retreated to fortress America, leaving Europe to sweep up the mess it created instead of taking on Britain’s colonial burden, we wouldn’t have needed a Reagan to spend us into oblivion sinking the last vestiges of the Soviet empire in the first place.

      • Pat

        That said, I wouldn’t say Reagan was a poor president, just that his legacy is decidedly more mixed than some on the right would have it.

      • Suthenboy

        I am still facepalming over him caving on amnesty. That was a huge mistake.
        I know I know compromise to get something etc. However, the R’s problem is they always seem to play on the left’s terms. Stop doing that goddammit.

      • Gustave Lytton

        And not just caving on repealing draft registration, but his administration prosecuted kids for refusing.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        “…just that his legacy is decidedly more mixed than some on the [other team] would have it.”

        You can say that about any politician beloved by one political party but not the other. Obama, Clinton, JFK, FDR, all of them fall into this rubric. It really comes down to what you value. And a ton of people on the right value the destruction of the USSR more than they worry about the economy. That doesn’t really work with libertarians though, not that we really matter to the R’s, being uncertain allies.

    • WTF

      That really tells you all you need to know about the “critics”, doesn’t it?

    • SDF-7

      Land of Confusion: The 2 hour cut!

      • Sean

        *snicker*

  7. AlexinCT

    California Democrats Vote Down ‘No Tax on Tips’ Bill Proposed by Republicans

    During election season both parties tack towards the right, and usually promise tax cuts. Team red occasionally delivers. Team blue never does, and in fact goes out of its way to confiscate even more of other people’s money. every fucking time.

    • Rat on a train

      Team blue does want to provide a tax cut by eliminating the SALT cap.

      • AlexinCT

        That’s to stem the flow of the real rich fleeing their over taxed states for better shores. Not to help anyone keep more of the money they earned at all.

      • Not Adahn

        Team Blue wants subsidies for high-tax states.

      • Rat on a train

        That’s why they need a minimum tax domestically like they are pushing internationally.

      • Suthenboy

        This minimum tax…no doubt will be indexed. I refuse to pay any such tax.

  8. Beau Knott

    Apropos GT & FourScore’s brief discussion of the Wright Brothers achievements, consider this. 60 years after mankind achieved powered flight, we walked on the moon.
    What have we done since then?

    • Sean

      Invented 55 new genders!

    • Pat

      What have we done since then?

      Ahem

    • Ownbestenemy

      Invented Tang?

    • Rat on a train

      Teledildonics? No need to travel to other worlds for alien sex.

      • Pat

        Teledildonics? No need to travel to other worlds for alien sex.

        Hell, I’ve been getting fucked from thousands of miles away in Washington, D.C. for my entire adult life.

      • AlexinCT

        Wait until the coming world order fucks you harder and from even further away!

      • Rat on a train

        Getting fucked in metric is worse.

    • Suthenboy

      Imagination, innovation, creativity and general prosperity are serious threats to the medieval mindset of those in power.

  9. Sensei

    もうムリだ。

    Today’s WSJ. I heard about this roughly a year ago. To be completely fair crappy companies take advantage of low skilled workers and this is essentially low priced legal services. They specialize and know what quitting rights that quitting workers have. Still a bit ridiculous, however.

    Too Timid to Tell the Boss You’re Quitting? There’s a Service for That.

    https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/workplace-dissatisfied-quitting-agencies-japan-5c5586d5?st=7tlalak7nosyk8y&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

  10. Pat

    Migrants flooding NYC’s justice system

    That can’t be right. I’ve been assured by think tank libertarianism that if you carefully conflate the legal and illegal immigrant populations, illegal immigrants actually commit negative rates of crime compared to the native population.

    • Drake

      Sure. Diversity is the key to a safe and prosperous city. Smart people have told me that repeatedly.

      • AlexinCT

        What proof will people need to finally stop making that dumb as shit argument about diversity being a boon? Everywhere they have done that shit it has gone wrong.

        And they keep telling us that because America was build on controlled immigration – by people fleeing corrupt aristocratic governments, willing to take huge risks for a better life, and quickly assimilating into the culture they found instead of demanding the culture change to suit them – we now need to just let anyone and everyone in. Because diversity is strength. And the most valuable strength they bring us is more fucking welfare seeking marxists that hate America.

      • WTF

        America was build on controlled immigration

        At a time when there was a demand for large numbers of unskilled labor, and there was no welfare state, and no NGOs or government programs providing a means to avoid assimilation.

      • slumbrew

        And the food! Such interesting restaurants!

      • Drake

        America was built by pioneers and colonists who succeeded or died when they arrived.

    • rhywun

      “Police officers are prohibited from asking about the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses, or suspects and therefore the NYPD doesn’t track data pertaining to immigration statuses.”

      I can’t think of a better way to advance the cause of the chaos that the left is so fond of.

      Why are people putting up with this?

      • Gustave Lytton

        Misplaced sense of compassion, virtue signaling, or guilt.

  11. Drake

    The Brazilian left followed our 2020 vote rigging scheme step by step to get Lula installed. Now they’re jumping ahead to open censorship.

      • SDF-7

        They are directly speaking to millions of people without any oversight or regulation — and that has to stop.

        And there it is — the quintessential “I don’t believe in the First Amendment” position in a nut shell. You can speak — but only approved speech.

        In a just world with civics classes instead of “Gerald the polyamorous unicorn’s adventures with a Dominatrix! Part VIII!” that clip would be an instant disqualification and shaming from public life.

        And to quote myself quoting Alpha Centauri the other day: She one thousand percent dreams herself our master.

    • Drake

      No thanks. That kind of war with those kinds of losses would break this country. Could a Kamala Harris explain what victory even looks like and why it’s worth it? Of course not, so people will simply refuse to be part of it.

      • Pat

        Could a Kamala Harris explain what victory even looks like and why it’s worth it?

        “There is a country called America. Victory in this war will be achieved when America is able to finally live up to the promise of our values, unburdened by what has been, as a leader of the world, but in constant synergy with out international partners.”

      • AlexinCT

        No thanks. That kind of war with those kinds of losses would break this country.

        I remind you that you do not have to want a war for said war to come your way anyway. Thucydides’ writings on this conundrum makes it blatantly obvious that this war is not avoidable anymore based on the mistakes we made that armed this new enemy.

      • Drake

        Sure – if the Chinese attack Hawaii and land a few divisions on the West Coast, war is unavoidable.

        A war 2,000 miles west of Hawaii in places Americans can’t locate on a map for reasons nobody understands? Our young men aren’t going to be cannon fodder for that.

      • AlexinCT

        Sure – if the Chinese attack Hawaii and land a few divisions on the West Coast, war is unavoidable.

        What about them attacking our bases in Guam, the Marianas, Iwo Jima, Philippines, and the various bases of those allies we have defense treaties with in the region? Cause they will start with that to buy themselves time. Saying you will wait until they come for Hawaii – which they might shoot at from the get-go to hurt the US military capability anyway, with no doubt they will sooner than later come for Hawaii, as they take over the Pacific – just means you will already have lost.

        I would much prefer we never have this war. To do so the CCP must know the price will be too high and that we are willing to end the world to deny them their goals/victory. Right now they don’t fear the consequences at all, and sooner than later, they will decide the risk is worth it as they see us degenerate.

      • Drake

        Shrugs.

        Maybe. I’m doubtful that the Chinese really want to start a war. Since the Korean War, they’ve had 1 dust-up with Vietnam – and quickly decided it was no fun and went home.

        Since Korea, we… have started so many conflicts I can’t be bothered to list them..

      • Suthenboy

        Pat: real quote or made up? Not that they would be any different…just curious.

      • Pat

        To be fair, China was a client state with insufficient resources to militarily expand into an empire for a substantial portion of that period of time, and has only relatively recently become sufficiently economically developed and expansionist to make either direct or proxy warring a realistic possibility. I certainly don’t think they’re any less ideologically inclined to war than the United States; just limited by economic practicalities and self-interest. Those conditions can change, and quickly.

      • Pat

        Pat: real quote or made up?

        My stab at a parody. She answers questions like that infamous Miss Teen USA contestant. Apparently that was 17 years ago. Christ, I’m getting old.

  12. SDF-7

    Apropos of the up-page discussion about the set-in-stone demographics, and wanting to highlight this particular bit of idiocy today… just a reminder, these idiots vote. And likely will even after they get their well deserved felony convictions. Yay democracy!

    • AlexinCT

      These are not idiots: they are thieves.

      I am no fan of the banking industry, and especially the evil Chase corp, but when you do stupid shit like that you should be ready to get fucked over for doing it.

    • Pat

      The only time you should play that gambit is if the bank inadvertently placed a sufficiently life-changing balance on your account that you are able to flee the country with your haul before the jig is up.

      • AlexinCT

        Even then, understand what you are doing…

        And move somewhere without an extradition treaty or a criminal government.

    • Sensei

      Our NYT Canadian constitutional scholar:

      Jennifer Szalai is the nonfiction book critic at The New York Times. Szalai was born in Canada and attended the University of Toronto, where she studied political science and peace and conflict. She holds a master’s degree in international relations from the London School of Economics.

  13. Not Adahn

    Microreview of Battletech by Harebrained Schemes:

    1. This is as much Battletech as “Montreal Bagels,” or Chicago-style Pizza.” It has Battletech IP but completely different rules.

    2. The Battletech rules are broken, yes, so it’s not unexpected that someone who really like game theoretical optima would redo them.
    2a. For someone who has learned the Battletech rules and knows how to play within them, this is annoying.
    2b. May advice to UCS on his builds is completely wrong because these rules are completely different.
    2c. There is no goddamned manual so I’m having to unlearn things as I go along.

    3. It’s a pretty fun game.

    4. The OG Battletech, much like any game involving hordes of tiny pieces and vast amounts of dice-rolling are well suited for computer conversion. I wish this were that. I’ve heard that there actually is one out there called MegaMek or something similar.

    • Nephilium

      I know they had a full list of the rule changes and the reasons for them in their forums (or at least they did when the game was first launching). And yes, MegaMek is a full rule simulator (to my understanding), I’ve contemplated it, but don’t have a need to get it up and running at this point.

      • Not Adahn

        My biggest problem was adding two brand new stats without any way of knowing what they are fore. Also, the 2d6 syatem made bonuses/penalties so much more important than a flat % change so the one tree stat of “stack gunnery” was considerably nerfed.

        My two biggest complaints under the new rules is the fact that mechs can run around after having one leg blown off, and combining punch/kick attacks into “melee.” with the target arc being randomly (?) chosen by the computer.

      • Nephilium

        Not Adahn:

        Yeah, I understand the reasoning behind making a lost leg just a “damaged beyond repair” one that still lets you limp around. I had it with all the DLC, and I think one of them added a couple of melee weapons for mechs. On most of my play throughs, I would get a Heavy or Medium mech and make them a missile platform. Minimum armor, minimum speed, loaded with LRM’s and ammo. Hiding it back behind some terrain and launching indirect fire at anything I wanted to knock down.

    • SDF-7

      I still firmly believe their head shot probabilities against the player are screwed up. Started a game yesterday in fact — first mission, bot mech in a valley firing up at an Assault mech (:whistles innocently: Yes, after beating the game straight up I edited the career starting mech files for fun…)… and took a head injury. Really guys? It happens so, so often until you finally find some places with the head armor addons.

      I wouldn’t mind as much if you didn’t have so few crew slots in the beginning — having folks out for 20 days per injury adds up fast.

      • UnCivilServant

        Yes, the head tap auto pilot injury result was so frequent I got a mod that set up a threshold where a single point of head armor removal wasn’t going to cause pilot injury. (I think the threshold was 8 points but configurable in the mod). I actually don’t have too many mods for that game, but that was one of the things that just didn’t seem right. Gauss rifles knocks the head off? Okay. Machine gun scratches the paint on the Atlas? No.

    • EvilSheldon

      Harebrained Schemes is Jordan Weisman’s company, so I’d expect it to be pretty faithful to the Battletech IP at least. Their Shadowrun games are some of the most entertaining turn-based tactical combat games I’ve ever played.

      Right this moment I’m playing the long-awaited Tactical Breach Wizards, by defenestration experts Suspicious Developments Inc. It’s very solid. Good balance of challenge and accessibility, tons of replayability, interesting story elements, and it’s hilariously funny. They even make fun of the dumb ‘slow is smooth, smooth is fast’ trope, which I was not expecting from a bunch of limeys…

    • UnCivilServant

      I never played the tabletop BattleTech, my entry was MW4Mercs and MC2.

      As for the HBS BattleTech game – Max armor all the time. You will always be outnumbered and they get as many guns as their stock hardware comes with. Err on the side of long range weapons and focus fire to take out as many of them before they reach optimal range. Short range brawlers will take a lot of hits closing with the enemy, and since you’re often up against demicompanies or even full companies, that ends badly.

      • Not Adahn

        I have a feeling I’m going to be progressing much faster now I was 15 hours into it before I discovered you could save game mid-mission. I was trying during voiceover dead time which grayed out the save option. I cannot tell you how many times I got to the final part of the liberate icebox mission and took a lethal hit to my MC.

  14. Pat

    Along with seizing drugs, border agents continue to confiscate ammunition

    Sept. 2 (UPI) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Arizona captured more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and 285 pounds of narcotics in a series of stops at the end of August.

    The agents at the Port of San Luis area encountered a 22-year-old U.S. resident attempting to enter Mexico on Aug. 23. After being referred for a more extensive search, agents found 1,000 rounds of 5.56 mm ammunition in 50 boxes hidden throughout his vehicle, a Nissan sedan.

    That incident involving gun ammunition followed another one in El Paso in August, as well.

    That’s when border agents in El Paso set a record in seizing 92,000 rounds of large-caliber ammunition in one stop of a bus that attempted to leave Texas into Mexico.

    This is definitely our heroic and brave border patrol keeping us safe from villainous drug cartel weaponry and certainly not social pump priming for restrictions on ammo sales.

    • AlexinCT

      How much of that hardware was the ATF running another op intended to sway public opinion on gun ownership into the negative for our government but instead of doing any of that just arming the cartels instead? Anyone look at what Eric Holder has been doing?

    • Drake

      Maybe they should stop letting people cross the border (except at entry points with proper id and visas)?

    • The Other Kevin

      As usual, there’s a lot more that got through unseen. Our friend in the BP tells us the cartels run the whole border. They have drones and spotters, and can easily divert people where there the BP isn’t. I’m sure they take extra care when drugs and ammo are concerned.

  15. Suthenboy

    Rotten Tomatoes – like everything left they are the inverse of reality. That is a useful metric in its own way.

    All of the Harris links: Biden – worst admin in history. Fucked everything up worse than Obama, and that is really saying something. Harris: Worst candidate in history; worst campaign in history. Christ on a cracker, she had to have a pick and shovel to get under that bar.

    It is time to put a heavy boot down on this business of other countries attempting to impose their shitty totalitarian laws and values on Americans. I know, our govt has done that to other shitholes plenty of times but I dont much give a shit about the govt and what have done. They are just the fucking hired help and they are out of control. I care about our country (not the govt), our people and our sovereignty.

  16. UnCivilServant

    Morning, Glibs.

    After some consultation with the evening Glibs and a good night’s sleep, I checked the coolant levels in my car, and even my inexpert eye cantell it’s waay too low. This does answer the question of what was going on, and now I begin my day with a quest for antifreeze/coolant of an orange color and compatable with certain Motorcraft specifications.

    • Sensei

      If you are traveling and can’t find the appropriate coolant you can use distilled water. If you are only adding a liter or less it won’t impact (freezing prevention) performance much at all.

      Also keep in mind that if it’s a pressurized system when you open the cap frequently there is some pressure and the level will rise back up.

      • Pat

        Also keep in mind that if it’s a pressurized system when you open the cap frequently there is some pressure and the level will rise back up.

        My heap has a recovery reservoir, and different indicator levels for warm/running or cold. Modern cars probably have a 13-sensor array with a separate computer sub-system for that.

    • AlexinCT

      Was it low because of a leak?

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t know. I haven’t seen any evidence of that, I don’t have any data on how quickly it got down to where it was.

        It could be that it’s still on the factory coolant load and the dealership just ignored it whenever I took the thing in for service. It could have a pinhole leak, I just can’t tell you.

    • UnCivilServant

      Coolant secured and the car is topped up.

      Annoyingly one of the fill caps is tucked under the frame, so I had to fill it with a long funnel that couldn’t even just rest in the reservoir, I had to hold it with one hand while pouring, and making sure I didn’t flood the funnel, since it was particularly narrow.

      But that’s all done now. Hopefully the next mountain I have to climb won’t trigger ant coolant temp alarms.

      • Pat

        Godspeed, and safe travels.

      • UnCivilServant

        Thank you.

        Hopefully this was the only issue. But I’ll keep an eye on it in case I am leaking.

  17. Pat

    Asian drivers, amirite?

    Sept. 3 (UPI) — At least 11 people died and 13 others were injured when a school bus lost control Tuesday morning and hit a small crowd of students and parents outside a school in China’s eastern province of Shandong, police said.

    The driver of the school bus was taken into custody but the reason why the bus lost control and hit the students and parents remained under investigation. The incident happened in the city of Tai’an where authorities said six parents and five students were killed.

  18. Sensei

    Biden administration officials fear that if Donald Trump is elected, the office would stop making loans. The program was largely dormant while Trump was president.

    White House Races to Lend Billions in Climate Funds Before Election
    Loan office got $400 billion windfall but has been slow to complete deals

    https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/white-house-races-to-lend-billions-in-climate-funds-before-election-9c5dce7a?st=3rq17ayzjcq2jc4&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • Suthenboy

      So climate funds = graft

      NO.

  19. Sensei

    BMW is updating the model’s software to protect against fires. Customers who receive a letter or error message should take the car to Mini service centers for a free repair, the company said.

    Once again proving what a lead Tesla has on over the air updates that legacy manufacturers have yet to match.

    BMW Recalls 140,000 Electric Mini Coopers Due to Battery Fire Threat

    https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/bmw-recalls-140-000-electric-mini-coopers-due-to-battery-fire-threat-9c2ddcd2?st=nx9h1n52ntcpv81&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • Pat

      Is that US-only or international? If it’s international, work is going to fucking suck for the next few days…

      • Sensei

        Worldwide.

      • Pat

        Oy vey… we do several BMW dealerships in the UK and Singapore. And being on overnights, I’ll be the point of contact right as the dawn is breaking. Shouldn’t have any trouble hitting the conversion bonus this week.

    • kinnath

      Is there a non-firewalled link to this? It looks interesting.

      • Sensei

        Turn off JavaScript for the site.

      • slumbrew

        Reader mode also worked

    • Suthenboy

      Let me guess…in a situation where most people would simply come forward and say ‘hey, I have dash cam video of that accident/crime’
      The govt will make it so people will go through the 7 trials of Hercules to avoid having anything to do with the situation.
      *thumbs up*

      • Sensei

        No, they just saw the car and said I’m going to impound it and worry about finding the owner later if at all.

      • Drake

        The guy in the pickup seems okay. Traffic stopped on the left, no one coming up on the right…

        There are places around here where that is literally the only way you will make the turn. Unless an idiot is in the wrong lane.

      • Fourscore

        Always keep your windows covered, otherwise you might see a car might be coming

      • R C Dean

        That’s the only way gray pickup makes his left turn. I see people stopping to leave a gap for that kind of thing all the time, and do it myself. Now, should he have stopped to make sure some brain-damaged moron wasn’t going the wrong way in traffic? Yeah, I guess, but I don’t really blame him for it.

        Now, white pickup/brain damaged moron, on the other hand . . . .

      • R C Dean

        I don’t see gray pickup’s window covered. His airbag blew, but that was after white pickup smacked him.

      • Sensei

        RC – that’s very area dependent in my experience. If you do that here you will get hit by oncoming traffic with a high degree of probability.

      • Gustave Lytton

        All the more reason to turn right and loop back at a light or cross street.

      • Nephilium

        This weekend I had to drive down to the Akron area to pick up some mead. On the way back, I got stuck in an hour long traffic jam immediately upon getting on the freeway (which, it being Akron, is under construction, as it has been for my whole life). While slowly crawling home, at one point, someone decided that they had waited enough, and decided to go off an entrance ramp… in reverse… at ~25-30 MPH. I did not see the entire result of this, but I was waiting to hear a loud crunch and horn.

      • R.J.

        Gustave is correct. Go right. Left turns across traffic are dicey maneuvers to be avoided if possible.

      • kinnath

        ** wakes up **

        Mead? Did someone say Mead?

      • slumbrew

        kinnath is the Kibo of mead.

      • kinnath

        just learned a new word

      • Nephilium

        kinnath:

        I’ve got a club membership with Crafted mead that gets me 6 bottles every quarter. They go for the sweet side (and low ABV) with most of their releases, which is right up the girlfriend’s preference. Their still meads are more to my tastes.

      • Cunctator

        —“All the more reason to turn right and loop back at a light or cross street.”—

        Not sure I saw a location, but in California double-double yellow lines are treated as concrete islands for turning purposes. You cannot make any left turn over double-double lines. Obviously you can’t drive on them either. The accident occurred in a “no driving at point. Both drivers at fault. Make the right turn and work your way around.

    • slumbrew

      Awww.

      • R C Dean

        Typically here its the “near side” traffic that will leave a gap, when its stopped anyway. The “far side” traffic generally runs the way it runs. Of course, it’s pretty unusual, even in Tucson (which has some terrible drivers) to see a brain damage moron running the wrong way in traffic. Even when traffic is backed up.

      • R C Dean

        Meant for Sensei.

    • Fourscore

      She almost abandoned some of her children.

    • R C Dean

      That Harris response is just a straight-up commercial for Harris. Not even a “Her campaign says” to kick it off, just a series of statements couched as facts.

    • The Other Kevin

      Have you seen that Scott Adams video about this subject? He had a conversation with ChatGPT (?) about writing a fictional book about someone stealing an election. He asked about all the suspicious things from 2020, and the AI said yes, those would all be plausible ways to steal an election, and they could all happen in real life. Then he asked if the 2020 election was fair, and it said “yes the election was completely fair and no cheating was found.”

    • Suthenboy

      Imagine that.
      Of course the lying sack of shit spewed absurd talking points, none of which resemble truth in even the slightest way.
      That is amazon, right? Bezos?
      People keep asking who is actually running the country…

      • Suthenboy

        Oh yeah, Bezos has the WaPo, right? What a sack of shit.

    • rhywun

      To be fair, like all “AI”, Alexa is still just giving you the consensus that it has found on the internet.

      In other words, it was not necessary to program it that way.

      • R C Dean

        Except the first response is scripted. It is programmed not to give a pro-Trump response.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    The guy in the pickup seems okay. Traffic stopped on the left, no one coming up on the right…

    There are places around here where that is literally the only way you will make the turn. Unless an idiot is in the wrong lane.

    I’d put that entirely on the idiot going the wrong way to pass stopped traffic.

    • kinnath

      My guess is that someone was using the two-way left turn only lane to pass a bunch of stopped traffic. Those lanes are marked as no passing lanes for a reason.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    BMW is updating the model’s software to protect against fires. Customers who receive a letter or error message should take the car to Mini service centers for a free repair, the company said.

    Electric cars are simple and easy to maintain.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    My guess is that someone was using the two-way left turn only lane to pass a bunch of stopped traffic.

    The white car/truck was extending the left turn lane by half a mile. Because idiot asshole.

    • kinnath

      Correct

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Uh-oh

    Russian President Vladimir Putin received a red-carpet welcome to Mongolia on Tuesday, as the country ignored calls to arrest him on an international warrant for alleged war crimes stemming from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

    The trip is Putin’s first to a member nation of the International Criminal Court since it issued the warrant in March 2023. Ahead of his visit, Ukraine urged Mongolia to hand Putin over to the court in The Hague, and the European Union expressed concern that Mongolia might not execute the warrant.

    The warrant put the Mongolian government in a difficult position. After decades under communism with close ties to the Soviet Union, it transitioned to democracy in the 1990s and built relations with the United States, Japan and other new partners. But the landlocked country remains economically dependent on its two much larger and more powerful neighbors, Russia and China.

    They were supposed to black bag him to the EU. What could possibly have stopped them?

    • Sean

      For Com-bloc weaponry, the SKS is a nice looking rifle. Wish I would have picked up a couple more when the prices were right.

    • rhywun

      international warrant

      lolsnort

      Oh, they’re serious?

    • Suthenboy

      Is there a warrant for Zelenski? He shelled ethnic Russian cities in the Ukraine to drive them out. That is what started the war. Where is the plate for Zelenski’s head?

    • kinnath

      The amiable dunce was always consistent in his approach to audiences. Someone should be taking lessons.

    • rhywun

      🤦‍♂️

    • Sean

      Her accent depends on what kind of whiskey she drank that day.

      Heh.

      • Pat

        Her accent depends on what kind of whiskey she drank that day.

        Somebody give her some Glenfiddich, I want to hear that.

  24. Common Tater

    ” Harris declared in June 2023, predicting such laws would deny “life-saving gender-affirming care” to kids and “sentence medical providers to prison” if they operated on or treated children without parents’ consent.”

    Remember, a twelve-year-old girl can decide to cut her tits off, but twenty-year-old woman in college can’t consent to letting someone touch her tits after one beer.

    • R C Dean

      “sentence medical providers to prison” if they operated on or treated children without parents’ consent.”

      That’s actually been the law for a long time. Operating on someone without informed consent (outside of emergency situations) is assault, although its almost never charged. It’s typically handled with a civil payout and/or some kind of regulatory handslap.

      Children can’t give informed consent, so it has to come from their parents (technically, their legal guardian). Something of a hole was knocked in this with “reproductive rights” law allowing children to get abortions (including surgical abortions) without parental consent, although it typically required some kind of court order. Off the top of my head I can’t say for sure if this was ever extended to surgical sterilization minors, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.

    • Suthenboy

      “life-saving gender-affirming care”
      What is the suicide rate for child victims of this horrific atrocity? Oh, up to 20x higher. Look at that.
      Before you say these kids are nuts so no fair comparing them to. non-nuts kids consider that that rate only reached this level after the monstrous evil of this ‘life-saving’ care was forced on children. Prior to that the suicide rates for all children was on par with the suicide rate of normal children now.

      These people really do deserve life sentences to hard time, at the least.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Nobody goes there anymore

    New Zealand will nearly triple entry fees for tourists, the government said on Tuesday, spurring criticism from the key tourism sector the higher levy will deter visitors.
    The government said in a statement it would increase the international visitor and conservation and tourism fees starting on Oct. 1 to NZ$100 ($62.20) from NZ$35 to “ensure visitors contribute to public services and high-quality experiences while visiting New Zealand.”

    Like many popular global tourism spots, New Zealand has struggled with the impact of tourists on the natural environment, with infrastructure stretched by the large numbers. The $35 fee was introduced in July 2019, but this was not sufficient to cover the costs associated with so many visitors.
    The government said the fee was competitive and it was confident New Zealand would continue to be seen as an attractive visitor destination.

    New Zealand is the new Singapore. They should institute caning for petty crimes, while they’re at it.

    • kinnath

      I liked Singapore. Of course, I haven’t been there since 18 years ago.

    • rhywun

      cover the costs associated with so many visitors

      Imagine going abroad and just freeloading off their natural environment and infrastructure by not spending a dime there.

      🙄🙄

    • Suthenboy

      It is a tiny country with not a lot of money. I can see why they would want to do this.
      What I cant see is the totalitarian style government and complete disregard for human rights they have.
      I dont care what the place looks like, I wont be going. In fact I wont go anywhere I am not legally allowed to arm myself.

    • slumbrew

      I’m glad I never started that series.

      • R C Dean

        Ages ago, when it was new, I started the first one and kind of wandered off, which is unusual for me. Can’t really recall why.

    • Suthenboy

      The dude can do what he wants. He doesnt owe anyone anything.

    • R C Dean

      She was a government bureaucrat, so her salary wasn’t going to cover a $3.5MM home. “[Her husband] Hu owned and ran a liquor store in Flushing, Queens, as well as several other business ventures, including an LLC involved in medical equipment that popped up around the pandemic.”

      I have a suspicion about where the corruption happened.

      • Sensei

        Hu?

      • kinnath

        First Base?

  26. Common Tater

    “Meet the climate researcher who wants to take away your refrigerator

    Twilley says it’s become too easy to drive to Walmart and load up on groceries that fill our fridges — and often just sits there, forgotten about, slowly rotting as we order take-out pizza.

    ‘The abundance that refrigeration has given us has translated into a sort of lack of care, a willingness to waste,’ she says.

    ‘The food is so plentiful and so cheap that people would rather go and buy something else.'”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13808351/nicola-twilley-advocating-refrigerator-effects-climate-change.html

    Has she been to a food market lately?

    • kinnath

      My grandparents had ice boxes.

      The number of lives saved by refrigeration must be staggering.

    • R C Dean

      You want to see food wasted, especially with Current Day supply chains?

      Get rid of refrigeration.

      Although I’m betting bugs are shelf stable.

    • Sean

      Remember that poor cancer patient who needed his fridge last week?

      I do…

      • Sensei

        Different lefty’s straw man argument. Doesn’t count.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    ‘The abundance that refrigeration has given us has translated into a sort of lack of care, a willingness to waste,’ she says.

    You know what doesn’t exist in the first world, where refrigeration is ubiquitous? Wet markets.