Today I’m going to focus on catch-up links since I was off last Thursday. Also, today is couch swapout day here at Castello di Ursi. Must remember to verify the whereabouts of the cat before taking the old couch to the dump. Here’s some fluff and fun for you:
BREAKING: US appeals court blocks Biden administration effort to restore net-neutrality rules.
THE KGB WOULD HAVE GOTTEN THIS RIGHT: POS former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, living in exile in Moscow, is said to have been the target of an unsuccessful poisoning attempt.
KOREAN KERFUFFLE: Sounds like they’re having their own J7 moment.
HATE SPEECH MATTERS: “Without the right to hate, there is no free speech.” Over at Spiked, editor Tom Slater reminds us how that works.
NOW, THIS, IS A KNIFE: A sixth-century sword described as “astonishing” has been discovered at an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in rural England… [T]he sword, boasting a silver-and-gilt hilt and runic inscriptions, is considered among the “top echelons” of such artifacts. Unfortunately, the actual sword is not pictured in the article. Can’t wait for them to get her all polished up and purtified.
DANGEROUS, DO NOT TOUCH: Brad Spafford was arrested earlier this month at his farm outside Norfolk on charges related to failing to register a short barrel rifle, but court documents posted Monday seeking to prevent his release outline broader concerns, including that he had more than 150 explosive devices stored at his home.
HISTORIANS WEREN’T ROUGH ENOUGH ON CARTER: There is this thing in writing called hagiography, which is the biographies of saints. Broadly, it has also come to refer to laudatory posthumous apologetics for the deceased. But sometimes the truth, or at least an opposing viewpoint (link to archived version of a National Review article), does squeak out. Perhaps this is also a harbinger for the epitaph of the Biden administration. I hope to live long enough to see a Gibbon-grade takedown of the failures of Progressivism.
EMBRACE THE SUCK: You knew it was going to happen. If not this, exactly, but something oozing just as much smegma.
FOTO FUNNY CAPTION CONTEST: Pictured above is NASA astronaut Suni Williams and her big zero-g hair posing with cute, tentacled Astrobee robot on the ISS.
NASA SPACECRAFT SETS NEW SPEED RECORD: Also, got closer to the Sun than any other human spacecraft, and lived to tell the tale.
NASA PUSHES MOON LANDING BACK ONCE AGAIN: Artemis 3, the first human crewed Lunar landing mission since Apollo 17 in 1972 (STFU, Sloper) has been rescheduled from late 2026 to mid 2027. The delay is due to problems with Lockheed-Martin’s Orion crew capsule. NASA’s manned spaceflight program is in disarray and the dinosaur launch companies no longer have the right stuff. Time to cancel the contracts and cut our losses. Let private industry handle this.
AXIOM COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION COMING SOON: In a refreshing contrast to NASA news about delays and failure of their human spaceflight programs, Axiom Space just announced that they are accelerating plans for their commercial space station. Axiom will initially attach two modules to the existing ISS, and when time comes to deorbit the ISS, Axiom’s two modules will detach and become their own space station.
THE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGG, 2025 EDITION: Let’s say you do something really, really cool that also has tremendous economic benefit for a community. Like owning a company that for the first time develops reusable rockets that come back and precision land someplace. Over and above the complete engineering coolness of this there is also the thing about reducing the per-pound cost of putting payloads in orbit. You’d think that humanity would laud you, but no. Even the increasingly worthless space press turns against you. And over what? Noise complaints. And it’s not like they can just pick up and move to some theoretical uninhabited place. There are billions of dollars worth of launch infrastructure there. And given the migration stats for Florida, Cape Canaveral Spaceport was already a thing when most people moved there.
We all know what happened over the holiday and you don’t need me to serve you headlines. But feel free to link and discuss that if you want; the comments are all yours.
Firsting made easy.
Is this an add for KY?
It sells itself, really.
Thanks for the good links, those were refreshing. I was only familiar with one or two of the stories.
It appears that enough people now remember ol’ Jimmuh as the kindly retiree who banged away on house frames the way he used to bang away on the economy that reminders (such as Klein’s in National Review, KDW’s in The Dispatch (link archived to avoid paywall), or George Will’s in the WaPo) of the former President’s ego and malevolence are met with shrieks of “TOO SOON!”
Didn’t Bill Clinton call Jimmy a treasonous prick for what he did in North Korea?
Australian news covered this and always described him as a “humanitarian.”
I remember when Margaret Thatcher died, British lefties started playing “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead”. Nobody said that was too soon.
Clever! 10/10 would chuckle again.
I don’t believe in “don’t speak ill of the dead.” They were reviled in life for a reason and should not be less reviled in death for the damage they left behind. However, I mostly don’t say them AT the funeral. Mostly.
I finally saw the Richmond Mormon Temple today, on the way to drop off the old couch. Swanky and classy.
Very Georgian. Lovely.
I got married in this one in Nauvoo, Illinois just after it opened. The new one, that is. Hateful people burned down the old one. The Kansas City one wasn’t even a gleam in anybody’s eye because [[[reasons]]].
They do try to capture the cultural spirit of a locale. The Nauvoo temple is very Victorian. This is where I got ready for my wedding.
HOWEVER, that said, if the area doesn’t have a strong unique cultural/architectural/historical touchstone (like mine), they are a bit bland. While they are all equally (or more) elegant on the inside, many an interior elegance is defined by white, off white, light beige, cream, ivory, and a little sage green. I really would appreciate more color, especially the one by my house.
I’m not going to pretend Benedict Arnold, Vidkun Quisling, or James Earl Carter were patriots just because they are dead.
I had my grandmothers in mind, but carry on.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe that the admonition against speaking ill of the dead was a superstition to prevent the deceased from haunting the offender.
If you wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of peanuts crunching and a can of Billy Beer opening, you know you’ve gone too far.
I couldn’t swing a cat yesterday without hearing how wonderful Carter was – even from people who should know better.
The linked article is a refreshing reminder of what a treasonous prick he was.
Does anyone actually say what Jimmy did that was so wonderful? I will give him the Camp David thingy, but aside from that…what?
He listened to Milton Friedman a little bit and got Congress to go along with some deregulation of the trucking and airline industries. Congress lifted the federal prohibition on homebrewing under his watch, too.
He also was hanging out in Nicaragua back in ’90 and gave Danny Ortega the news that Ortega’s margin of defeat in the presidential election was beyond the margin of fraud and that the jig was up (Ortega clawed his way back to the big chair in 2006 and hasn’t left).
“Must remember to verify the whereabouts of the cat before taking the old couch to the dump.”
Hmm. Ambiguous.
and lived to tell the tale.
I thought maybe they were going to just let it send data until it melted.
That’s an option with missions to (most) planets and moons, but the Sun is a huge emitter of EMF radiation so it’s impossible to punch through that. The probe had to move far enough away from the Sun for us to be able to get signal over the noise. We have the same issue every year when Mars passes behind the Sun (from our POV) and they put the Mars probes in sleep mode during the radio blackout.
Cat Lady died. They won’t have to embalm her.
Meow.
‘CATWOMAN’ JOCELYN WILDENSTEIN DENIES HAVING ANY PLASTIC SURGERY, CITES HER SWISS HERITAGE
well she had definitely narrowed her gaze…
[golf clap]
Are those astronauts still stuck up there? They are gonna be pretty fucked up by the time they get back, no?
The guy you don’t want to be cornered by at the party.
Don’t cry for them. They are doing what astronauts become astronauts for, to be in space. They are getting paid. NASA is having to find things for them to do so basically make-work. AND they are both close to retirement so don’t have to worry about never getting another mission, performance reviews, etc.
Extended zero-g is hard on the human body, and they are both older. But, again, astronauts, and they have workout facilities on ISS. Bungees, since zero-g. They will receive top-notch medical care when they return because the docs will want to study the effect of long-term zero-g on older people.
I haven’t been able to find out if they get hazard/flight pay for that on top of regular astronaut salary.
Brad Spafford was arrested earlier this month at his farm outside Norfolk on charges related to failing to register a short barrel rifle, but court documents posted Monday seeking to prevent his release outline broader concerns, including that he had more than 150 explosive devices stored at his home.
Sounds like the beginnings of a pretty good party.
All it needs is your dick in the mashed potatoes.
Spafford – There’s going to be drinking, dancing, fighting and fucking. Neighbor – sounds fun, who all is going to be there? Spafford – just you and me.
He lost 3 fingers on one hand, I think you can out-wrestle him.
Now count each round of ammo as an explosive device, even has it’s own detonator
And I’m sorry to say, Spiked, that is why your country is doomed. Because you have nothing whatsoever in place to stop this.
I was watching a video with Konstantin Kisin. He said the British Empire is gone. England is merely the European outpost of American Culture now (at least that is their only viable future).
Airstrip One or Minaret One.
And boy, do they hate that.
ZWAK . . . . correct. It takes a Russian immigrant that is proud of England to state publicly that England’s only future is as a vasal state of the US>
They just can’t rid themselves of the communist cockroaches. Maybe Farange can make a little difference, like stop throwing people in jail for mean tweets. As a whole the society is drained of vigor.
I put England in the same category as Puerto Rico. Not interested.
Then do something about it, instead of throwing out what’s left of your own culture.
“Airstrip One or Minaret One.”
Good, good. Let the hate flow through you.
Just for you I’m going to recommend The Wanting Seed by Anthony Burgess (yes, that Anthony fucking Burgess, who was a second string CS Lewis in regards to morality).
I’ll give it a read.
Two world wars took care of them. No real breeding stock left.
It really is remarkable that it took such a short period of time to devastate the biggest empire in the world. I wonder if there is a lesson there?
Nah.
What Spud says. We dont want ’em. Not a chance.
Two world wars took care of them.
Not really, it was the first WW that did it. An empty shell remained. That Churchill got as much out of those people as he did from 1939 to 1945 – when they unceremoniously dumped his ass – it is testament to statesmanship that is unlikely to ever be matched.
If you think the Viet Nam war was tectonic here, you really have never read what WWI did to the Brits and the French. It was an absolutely Pyrrhic victory.
Wilson personally saw to that.
An empty shell remained.
That empty shell was still the largest empire in the world. In 1920 they still ruled like 25% of the earth!
But yeah, WWI fucked them and WWII sealed the deal.
As much as I detest Wilson, he was nothing but a naive doofus up against guys (Clemenceau and Lloyd) who were real pros. He was a total patsy.
That empty shell was still the largest empire in the world.
Exactly, it was the core that was gutted. And that empire would fall apart because of that.
Like every president ever?
Hell, Churchill himself was second string to David Lloyd George.
European leaders since WWII (save de Gaulle) have become subservient to the U.S. and just as our elite has degenerated, so has theirs. Tough to say which is worse.
I love this thread
Are we quite sure that Boeing is not somehow involved with the Artemis 3? (Which gives me a cheap, tawdry excuse to recommend to all of you Dave Barry’s Year in Review for 2024 if you haven’t already enjoyed it.)
pay wall. I used to read is year end reviews religiously. Then it became to hard to find a copy that wasn’t behind a paywall.
Huh. No paywall for me, and I sure as hell don’t subscribe to the Miami Herald. 🤷🏼♀️
I will look for it from my home computer later. Thanks for the link anyway.
Dave Barry? I haven’t heard that name in a long time. What’s Lewis Grizzard think?
“Are we quite sure that Boeing is not somehow involved with the Artemis 3?”
Ah, GT, ever the Margaret Dumont to my Groucho Marx.
Of course Boeing has their finger in the pie.
Fun fact: back in the day, Dave Barry and Sheldon Richman were reporters for suburban Philly newspapers. Shel apparently helped Dave discover and hone his libertarian proclivities.
Without the right to hate, there is no free speech
This should be self evident, but, sadly…
It is. That is why the ‘hate speech isn’t free speech!’ people are pushing the narrative so hard.
Sure, when you have the wrong politics duh.
“Hey let’s buy this house that has a great view of the NOISY SPACE LAUNCHPAD. Then we can complain.” – douche canoes
… every airport …
…and shooting range.
https://fredericksburg.com/news/local/spotsylvania-board-oks-housing-proposal-near-gun-club/article_c3f3bf6a-7ff9-11e4-987c-671c7e8a1629.html
Some woman bought a home next to the kennel where we board out dogs when we are on vacation. The kennel is on a multi-acre lot with multiple fenced areas for the dogs. It’s a great place.
The new neighbor immediately began to complain about all the dogs barking.
Collect up all of the dogshit…..well, you know what comes next.
Space launch noise is not merely an environmental issue; it is a community relations issue, an economic issue and a national security issue.
… the author claims, without evidence.
When residents near launch sites experience unrelenting noise pollution, it sours public perception of private space enterprises.
We call this “moving to the nuisance” in legal circles. Hey n00bs… Florida has lots of sand. Go pound some.
Sharpshooter, Here’s What Trump’s Mexico Invasion Plan Could Look Like
Punitive Expedition, Part Dos. This time it’s personal.
“The racist riots that ripped through England in the summer…”
The people protesting against foreigners raping and killing their daughters? Those racists? How many of them went to jail while foreign rapists and murderers were released to make room?
Theodore Dalrymple’s take: Britain’s Long Hot Summer.
There was a specific incident I don’t even recall over the summer where someone got “mis-raced” and a lot of people on both sides went ape-shit.
But yes, happenings like that are not exactly surprising after the decades of submission to the rape gangs.
Ah yes, details of the incident are in the Dalrymple link above.
So much to unpack in that but the bits about “only what is of lower social class is authentic; and presumably, what is of the lowest is most authentic of all” are descriptive of a phenomenon that is hardly unique to England.
An African kid stabbed some English girls to death. The fact that he was born in the UK supposedly makes him English.
Best part of South Korean politics: They take shit seriously. (Kinda.) Every president but one has been imprisoned, assassinated or exiled. Seems culturally strange for them (Confucian honor/reverence) to have ‘no problem’ telling their rulers to go fuck themselves. Having an insane, but impotent lil bro in the top bunk may be key to their continued vigilance.
Must remember to verify the whereabouts of the cat before taking the old couch to the dump.
Don’t forget to check for loose change and car keys.
More Limey hate speech
“Musk’s support not just for Tommy Robinson, but also the AfD in Germany, shows just how big a problem he is for democracy as well as the reputation of those who cosy up to him like Nigel Farage and Liz Truss,” Labour MP Stella Creasy — whose constituency saw a major counter-demonstration against the far right amid riots last summer — told POLITICO.
Truss, the former British prime minister, has previously expressed support for Musk and said his proposed Department for Government Efficiency, set to feature in Trump’s second presidency, was “needed in Britain.”
Reform UK Leader Farage meanwhile met Musk at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in December and has talked up the prospect of receiving a donation from him. Reform — which has been at pains to distance itself from the far right as it takes on Labour and the Conservatives — declined to comment on Musk’s latest statements Thursday.
Robinson was imprisoned last year after he admitted to breaching a court order relating to false claims about a Syrian schoolboy he had made in a documentary. Musk on Thursday approvingly shared the documentary to his hundreds of millions of followers on X.
A second Labour MP, granted anonymity to speak candidly, called Musk’s language “dangerous,” warning that “at a time when communities need to come and work together, we have someone with a lot of influence sowing divisions and spreading hate.”
Elon had better stay away.
“Sowing divisions and spreading hate is our job.”
It is pointless to try and talk to these people. Deterrence is the only viable strategy. Otherwise, ignore them.
Even the increasingly worthless space press turns against you. And over what? Noise complaints.
That’s the putative complaint. Everyone knows it’s really because Musk started engaging in thoughtcrime.
Yeah, if he’d come up with a new and more efficient method to trans kids all of these people’d be polishing his knob.
So, cutting of the knob to spite his space?
Vermin tend to bite the pest removal guy.
Biden Announces Liz Cheney to Receive Presidential Citizens Medal
What is left to gain at this point in pretending to like Liz Cheney?
So Jilly and Lizzy can play together?
To jam the metaphorical sharp stick into MAGA’s eye.
The questions about the Vegas Cybertruck explosion are multiplying. Supposedly shot himself in the head with a .50 Cal Desert Eagle before the explosion.
https://x.com/Mrgunsngear/status/1874938704185500025
There are some speculating he was shot first, and someone had the car autopilot to the hotel. That seems unlikely, a Tesla would detect he was “asleep” and pull over.
For a supposedly highly trained Green Beret that guy in Vegas sucked at terrorbombing. Did he even rattle any windows?
I’d say that the chances that he was a badged GB are slim, and getting slimmer.
News reports that he was an SF Commo SGT (18E), graduate of Ops & Intel (18F) and an MSG (18Z). He damn well knew how to set up electric and non-electric systems and how to make improvised explosive devices. The fact he didn’t set up such a system, with backup ignition methods, seems to indicate to me that he did not intend to kill others.
Why he chose to kill himself in such a manner is a question to me. He left his proudly leftie wife in Germany and came back to Colorado Springs on an authorized leave. That sounds like he is or was a member of 10th SFG(A). (He also could be assigned to SOCEUR(A) in Stuttgart.) Whatever his demons it doesn’t sound like he was a Musi fundamentalist like the NOLA terrorist was.
Just because both of the 01Jan25 killers were assigned to Ft Bragg (Fuck you biden. It is Ft Bragg not Ft Liberty.) means almost nothing. It and Ft Hood (Another FU biden.) compete for being the two Army bases with the largest populations of Soldiers assigned. Unless the NOLA killer was assigned to the same battalion as the LV whackadoodle then they likely never crossed paths and if they were in the same battalion then a REMF and a “Team Guy” still aren’t going to be drinking beer together.
Oh noes! My niece’s husband was at Bragg – was he in on it too?!
So stupid. That’s a huge base.
(Niece’s husband is now a sniper instructor so he maybe did run across the Vegas guy)
Glad I worked at home today.
https://www.wspa.com/news/local-news/traffic-alert-all-lanes-closed-on-interstate-85-in-greenville-co/
Might be a bomb according to X. Another news channel says chemical spill.
In the sidebar:
“How concerned are you, if at all, about the extent of Elon Musk’s political influence in the US?”
lol I didn’t think it was possible for one man not named Donald to inhabit the heads of all the right people for the next four years but here we are.
Now the news says it is a bomb threat. My wife went shopping, hopefully stayed away from 85.
The internet never disappoints:
https://x.com/MemersMark/status/1874928869159174406
https://x.com/WeatherPeens
Noice.
Looks like we’re going to be on the rain side of this upcoming stormpocalypse. I’d rather have snow, but I definitely don’t want ice. At any rate, I got myself an indoor propane heater, since I don’t want to run the generator 24/7 in the event of an extended power outage.
Is the gen just gas?
Yeah – it uses the gas tank for the engine. It’s loud and makes a lot of exhaust under my bedroom window. I could pick up a gas can and fill as needed. But I don’t think I’ll be needing it. 🤞
Ah, gotcha. I hope it turns out to be nothing.
This is really cool!
https://x.com/PulpLibrarian/status/1874933183923257630/photo/1
I like her but John Foxx there is more criminally forgotten.
Yes. She hooked up with Peter Gabriel, didn’t she?
The court cited the Supreme Court’s June decision in a case known as Loper Bright to overturn a 1984 precedent that had given deference to government agencies in interpreting laws they administer, in the latest decision to curb the authority of federal agencies. “Applying Loper Bright means we can end the FCC’s vacillations,” the court ruled.
The decision leaves in place state neutrality rules adopted by California and others but may end more than 20 years of efforts to give federal regulators sweeping oversight over the internet.
Ending Chevron ends Net Neutrality. The best thing Trump did was reshape the Supreme Court. Hopefully he’ll be able to nominate at least two more in his second term, maybe three. Thomas, Alito, and Sotomayor are all over 70, and Roberts will turn 70 this month.
I cant wait to see the sword, likely it is a ceremonial piece.
Failed poisoning attempt….CIA?
I know next to nothing about SK’s politics. I never paid much attention thinking a prosperous nation like that wouldn’t rock the boat.
Carter, Obama and Biden. They and all of their fellow travelers are counting on people forgetting just how completely awful they were. That is true for the vast majority of presidents. As for progressivism, it is undiluted evil. It has no redeeming quality whatsoever. It will be remembered for the poison that it is.
I think someone this morning linked to an article about how “Well, Biden thinks they are great so they cant be the steaming piles of shit they clearly are. C’mon, Biden says so!”
Talk about lack of self awareness.
It is as bad as: “Why did we lose?” – “Because you called half of the people garbage.”
“Well they are garbage! That’s why we lost!”
Pro-tip: Dont make bombs. They are easy to make and it is equally as easy…very likely even…that you are going to have a bad experience.
I understand Mr. Sparky from the article already blew off a hand a little while back. The guy is nuts and dangerous. That is from the info I have seen but one has to consider the source.
Hate speech: What happens when the old men sitting around the campfire stop referring to jokes by number?
Musk: If Jesus came back today how long before he was crucified again?
This is slightly long form, but it has the reference of Bill Clinton calling Carter a “treasonous prick.”
I don’t think it came from here, but you never know. Thanks if somebody else posted it.
https://archive.is/0ZEt9
Yeah, the wailing and gnashing of teeth from NR’s resident lefty trolls reached epic proportions on that one.
I think it was linked to yesterday. I mentioned it, but didn’t link — though I provided an archive link to Kevin D. Williamson’s piece on Carter from The Dispatch that elicited a similar reaction upthread.
If you *really* want to see unhinged, check out the comment section from George Will’s WaPo piece on Carter.
Wayne Osmond, RIP.
https://justthenews.com/accountability/media/famed-singer-and-guitarist-wayne-osmond-dies-age-73
The fight over his estate is going to be a real Donnybrook.
Oh, bravo!
This is really cool:
https://x.com/froggyups/status/1816354494155731003
Audi took the drawings from a 1930s supercar that was never built, and built it.
That is awesome! Reminds me of a Tatra, with that rear engine and zero visibility.
I wanna hear it run.
Same same. Fire that puppy up!
Still funny. https://youtu.be/2ArIj236UHs?si=UAs-SoI6TFv0t6n9