It’s a big day here in Glibs Gulch- our little cafe got its first deep fryer. Now we can supply drunk and stoned college kids with far less healthy food than we previously offered. Everyone asked for salads and wraps, nobody bought them. Economics being the effect of revealed preferences, we happily sacrificed our urge to do good. French fries (twice fried, thank you very much), onion rings, corn nuggets, ravioli, and (soon we hope) artichokes will all be contributing to the Freshman Twenty Five.
On a personal note, Prime and I attended a tasting of high end brown spirits which included the legendary Pappy Van Winkle. To my uneducated palate, it was OK but nothing special. We both preferred the Diplomatico rum. OK, we’re peasants.
Birthdays today include a drop in the bucket; a non-typical pianist; Mr. Notary Sojac himself (and someone who should be much better known, but foo); a Jew and a Nazi all at once; an actor whose nose inspired Mr. Potatohead; a guy about whom the less said the better; a grinning shithead uber-grifter who cursed us by getting Reagan elected; a guy who wasted the best name in TV news; a guy who challenged Joe Buck as the worst announcer in TV sports; proof that ham can be Kosher; and a phenomenally hot airhead.
And next, comme m’habitude, Links.
I guess this means the warranty on my grill is no longer valid.
“This law saves lives.” OK, name one. Not all judges are crazy.
“Americans will do the right thing once all other options are exhausted.”
My solution: cede the Bekaa Valley to Israel, and that way we’ll get more and better wine.
I realized that it had been a while since I spun up any Richie Cole, so herewith the Old Guy pulls one out. The pianist, Bobby Enriquez, was always a fifth force of Nature.
Offer deep fried zucchini and deep fried chicken wraps. And make sure to include the diet sodas, of course.
Too many seasons of The Great Food Truck Race with nutty Californian / Vegan teams… but “fish tacos… fried avos!” runs through my head every. bloody. time. someone talks about frying “healthy”.
Fried food done properly isnt really all that unhealthy anyway.
Eating healthy only gets a person old. Old ain’t no damned fun either.
Monte Cristos and deep fried mashed potatoes (served with a side of gravy).
That is a problem: making gravy a side dish.
Obviously, they all want cake.
Don’t forget deep fried mushrooms. They make a great side for an omelette. Or even just scrambled eggs and toast.
Happy birthday Adrien Brody?
Happy birthday Benjamin Netanyahu (according to Queers for Palestine, at least)?
Happy Birthday George Soros!
Happy birthday James Earl Carter?
Yeah — I get that Reagan isn’t terribly popular with some in these parts.. but from what I recall, he was far and away the better candidate out of what was offered in ’80 and ’84. And I still think we could have done much much worse… like oh, HW.
That was my thought too. Or maybe John Anderson.
Ed Clark.
a non-typical pianist
Happy birthday Victor Borge?
Victor Borte.
Fucking tablet keyboard.
I’ll bet the food is awful slop now.
“Denny’s! What is zis…. Denny’s you say we compete with now?!?”
There’s another way that can go, too…
No hush puppies? 😟
They’re just keeping them quiet.
Y tho?
Are you suggesting the outstanding loans be wiped from the books?
Nah, just a weird agency for it. I’d have thought maybe treasury or something.
(especially in light of the fact the SBA belongs on the chopping block just as much as the DofE)
Loan servicing is loan servicing. If the government is making loans it makes sense to me to consolidate the servicing in one place. Of course that ‘if’ is doing yeoman work here and I’d very much like the government to stop making loans.
I’m sorry… but he’d better be either just making diplomatic nice-nice here or trolling his base. Because “special relationship” or not (and frankly, I think the London Caliphate has been damaging that for some time, especially with his base) — that’s the absolute last thing we should do.
Has to be a troll….
He’s just spouting meaningless platitudes but he shouldn’t even be doing that on this issue IMHO.
Sucking up to King Charles doesn’t make any sense.
Perhaps he thought joining would put him in line to the throne?
I can’t think of anything more likely to bring back actual Tea Parties… hence why I’m banking on “troll”.
Trump despises Starmer. Might be his way of trying to drive a wedge between him and the royals.
This, what Drake said.
As long as we rename it “the American Commonwealth.”
Maybe. A lot of the tech industry remains ultra-liberal college snobs and I don’t think the HR departments have gone anywhere. They may go into the “lay low” section of the assault for a while and be less overt — but I don’t think their actual mood or motivations have changed.
Same on Wall St. They will rebrand and lay low.
I think the point is that for the first time in many years it’s not 100% unopposed leftist drivel.
Associate member of the Commonwealth? He can fuck right the fuck off with one. The British royals are a bunch of inbred entitled debauched leeches. I’d rather pledge my allegiance to the Sultan of Brunei or the House of Saud than that bunch.
Given London about 10 years… then they can pull the rest of the Commonwealth along.
Genuinely curious to see if the locals finally rebel or allow it to slide.
There are quite a few republics in the Commonwealth.
Just an associate? Make us a partner or no deal.
It is also common sense to me. The Hildabeast hasn’t held a government post in what… 8 or 9 years at least now? Harris is a moron and was part of one of the most compromised administrations ever so likely has something out there so she can be “managed”…. and as with all security — no one should have access for a moment longer than truly needed. If something comes up where (God forbid) you do need one of these moron’s opinions on a secure matter, you can issue them a new one and then take it away when you’re done.
Perpetual licenses to farm yourself out to think tanks and “security firms” and whatnot just because you had clearances need to end.
Ding ding ding!
Security clearances, at least for normies, is compartmentalized and limited in time and scope.
“The Hildabeast hasn’t held a government post in what… 8 or 9 years at least now?”
More like 12.
What a travesty. It’s vitally important that private citizens holding no elected office and not being employed in security have access to secret government information.
WP really should have a way to group similar comments into a thread. We’re talking past each other a good bit this morning, Pat… not that I at all disagree with you.
If only there was a WordPress plugin that automatically refreshed the page for me before I post redundant comments…
Get AI to review comments for redundancy before publishing.
Trump stunningly agrees U.S. will become ‘associate member’ of the Commonwealth: ‘I love King Charles’
What the heck
People on Gab: “At least it’s not Israel!”
a) It got us talking, didn’t it? What’s it going to do with the MAGA base and/or the libs?
b) So what is he doing that distracting everyone with this is useful?
The first thought I had was that it was part of Trump’s plan to absorb Canada
Controlling the news cycle. The MSM NPCs now have to pivot off of the DOE issue and onto this.
I guess my first question should be, “what does this actually mean?”
Fortunately for all of it doesn’t mean shit.
Charles and his whole family are sons of a Bastard, and illegitimate usurpers. Bring back the House of Godwinson, I say.
It would just be sad… Harold and Maudlin.
That’s a long reach back just to get a claim on Greenland.
Reinstall a Roman Empreror.
Georgia Melonius!
So… was the little sprout just half-awake and dreaming of nursing… or has he already developed an opinion on Dad / Granddad jokes?
(Cute either way, of course… always great to see the little guy and remember similar tiny tot days. Thanks and good morning since I don’t think I said it explicitly).
I have a video of him actually motorboating WebDom. That’s MY grandson!
Hawt
It has been 50 years since the Church Committee began it’s investigation of U.S. post WWII federal abuses. Considering the volumes uncovered by the Committee, can you imagine what an investigation of the last 50 years would be vice the mere 30 years back then? It was the Committee that officially exposed the NSA, which was not admitted to even exist prior.
Now they just piss on our back and don’t even bother trying to claim it’s raining. It’s happening and
that’s a good thingfuck you, do something about it!No, I suspect there is shit that is still being concealed from us – with the “you aren’t allowed to know about it” variant of fuck you.
It’s in the nature of intelligence agencies to engage in abuses. It’s always going to be an issue. There are legitimate reasons to keep intelligence activities secret, so an intelligence agency will need the ability to hide at least some of what it does, and Pournelle’s Iron Law makes it very clear that over time that ability will be used less and less to pursue the original purposes of the agency, and more and more to promote the power and status of the agency.
I’m less convinced of that than ever. Outside of a declared war with declared enemies, maybe we don’t really need to have spies all over the world doing illegal, secretive shit. And to the extent we do, maybe their missions should be limited in time and scope, such that a mandatory 5-10 year sunshine law wouldn’t jEoParDizE tHe LiVEs oF aGeNtS iN tHE FieLD, which is the go-to excuse for keeping their bullshit covered up for 50, 60, 70 years at a time, as if the recently-declassified JFK files exposed some CIA spook who’s been posted up in a Moscow hotel room since 1963.
Our “civilian” intelligence apparatus only dates to WWI (to a lesser extent) and WWII, and after, (the vast majority) and presumably justified by the Cold War. It is not a necessary component of our nation-state, since such was certainly not imagined when the Constitution was drawn up.
Pat:
I’ve seen headlines complaining that the Trump administration doxxed people by releasing the JFK files.
doxxed people by releasing the JFK files
There’s the person I want to punch. What kind of shithead is that?
juris:
Trump Releases The JFK Files, Accomplishing Nearly Nothing Beyond Doxxing Lots Of Folks
At this point – I wouldn’t expect anything from Boeing.
I also think that when it comes to next-gen fighters… don’t announce anything until you have a prototype in the air. Of course — I’m also old school… let the military announce its requirements, then let companies build and pitch what they think merits it on their own dime and only award a purchase contract when you have a demonstrated model and manufacturing ready to go. None of this “20 billion up front to start the design” crap that always leads to cost overruns and redesigns and whatnot.
If we follow previous development cycle, those companies already have a prototype.
If we reach back to WWII for a development cycle time, we should be on about our 80th generation of warplanes.
Next-gen fighters should be drone swarms anyway, but the fighter mafia won’t allow it.
let the military announce its requirements
That’s your first mistake. It is military requirements that are the biggest part of the problem. “We require you to suspend the laws of physics”.
Military requirements in weapon procurement? Aren’t those all in the form “We need $x billion dollars in contracts to each of the following 8 companies, and the work needs to be done in these 17 influential congressional districts, and I’m going to work at Lockheed next year so make sure they get the biggest cut”
No the requirements aren’t drawn up that way, but the acquisition strategy (yes, that’s an actual document) sure does!
The story of the Omega Speedmaster becoming the official “moon watch” is an interesting case study in government procurement, detached from much political baggage. NASA had more or less no idea what requirements would be necessary for a watch to properly function in space, so they threw together a laundry list of requirements based on the proverbial scientific wild-ass guess and sent out requisition letters and a spec sheet to some of the more prominent manufacturers of that era. They got replies back from Longines, Hamilton, Rolex, and Omega. The Speedmaster was the only one of the bunch to end up passing NASA’s testing, got the “space flight certified” designation, and the rest, as they say, was history.
The article asserts that there has been an experimental version flying for almost 5 years.
Lies. I lived 150 miles from Groom Lake during that period. We’d have seen it hovering over Area 51.
proof that ham can be Kosher
Happy birthday Mel Brooks?
Cham Potok.
So Kid Rock brokered a sit-down interview between Trump and Maher…we seem to be back onto the greatest timeline in some aspects.
The rabid lefties are already declaring Maher a sellout for even sharing the same air that the Nazi Trumpler breathes.
They are so goddamn broken
They’d probably lynch Daryl Davis at this point.
Was it on Real Time?
Government backed extortion. The right wants in!
The Memo: Democrats, lawyers left reeling from Paul, Weiss firm’s Trump deal
Politico “it’s not ok when they do it!”
Gee sound similar to “take to cootie shot if you wanna do business with the Federal Government”.
Usually regulated “big cos” does something CFPB doesn’t like. To make the problem go away you make some token change in your business process and give seven figures to some lefty group quasi related to the issue which will also employ Team Blue and assist in their elections to office.
Trump, in classic Republican style, seizes defeat from the jaws of victory.
Cut off their clearances and deny them the work. If that costs them money (and surely more than $40M worth), then the lesson will take.
Big George had the greatest comeback story in sports. He went from a scary monster to a friendly fat guy who still knocked people unconscious. He was always entertaining.
https://youtu.be/PiMLt2oSRaQ
Interesting, if true.
Seemed to be an affable fellow and he was on Sanford and Son. A life well lived.
AstraZeneca to build $2.5B research hub in Beijing
They can’t allow a Chinese biolab gap.
All the political dissidents you want for human trials.
JFC why not just hand over all your IP to the CCP without bothering to go through the work of hiring people for show – it would save everyone time.
An interesting vid on the state of the (arguably) British nuclear deterrent:
https://youtu.be/O2Z0Y-mFMBk
TLDR: It in’t good, guv’nuh.
To be fair, it’s not like anybody would want to take over the current British state anyway.
I thought everyone was envious of their dreary weather and unusual organ meat dishes.
Why risk perfectly good military hardware when you can accomplish takeover easily via
infiltrationimmigration?The takeover is already well underway and almost complete.
From the deepest recesses of the fever swamp.
It’s sleazy double dealing BS from all sides and it’s hard to sort out. The only way to remedy the problem is to remedy the agency by throwing it on the ash heap of history which, of course, won’t be done.
Deep fried ravioli?
Its delicious
Can confirm.
Almost as good as deep fried pierogi.
They’re incredible. I think midwestern in origin.
Toasted ravs are huge in St. L. We buy frozen and bake them, with marinara to dip ’em in. Delicious!
T-Ravs are big in St. Louis, the trick is to find a place that makes the ravioli in-house.
“But 16 years later questions arose about Muckey’s relationship with the woman, identified in court papers only as C.S.”
https://nypost.com/2025/03/22/us-news/new-york-philharmonic-trumpeter-accused-of-sexual-misconduct-says-accuser-lied/
Enough already.
TRUMPeter. Coincidence? I think not.
I dont know what to make of the commonwealth thing. My suggestion is that if they can pull their heads out of their asses, become civilized and ask very nicely we might let them become a territory. That is a big if and extremely unlikely.
Anyone else having server issues?
Yes. Slow as molasses.
Agreed.
Well they are stuck behind moles, who ahve to dig their way forward.
Silicone Saturday titties at your service!
https://archive.is/67V9C
To the barricades, comrades!
On Thursday, the powerful law firm Paul Weiss caved.
——-
The agreement shocked many in the legal community, and for Rachel Cohen, an associate at another large firm — Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP — it was the final straw.
On Thursday night, Cohen fired off an email to her firm that said she was giving her two-weeks’ notice, unless leaders there agreed to a number of conditions that would, in effect, stand up to the Trump administration — including by refusing to cooperate with the targeting of DEI programs.
——-
Cohen told NBC News on Friday that her calculus wasn’t whether her letter was going to backfire, nor was it whether she was going to be fired. (Cohen said her email access was suspended soon after she sent her letter.)
Her key question was: “Is this going to be unhelpful to the aim that I am working towards, which is the protection of not just my colleagues, but the rule of law in the United States of America? Because the stakes really are that high.”
Sanctimonious twat ties herself to the railroad tracks and screams for help. Save her, Dudley Do-Right!
The whole article is hilarious.
Asked by NBC News what message she had for those in positions of power who are staying quiet, Cohen said: “Their silence is not only not going to protect them, it is going to kill people.”
Cohen fired off an email to her firm that said she was giving her two-weeks’ notice, unless leaders there agreed to a number of conditions
*insert Curly Bill gif here
Nobody move or the lawyer gets it!
Um… DEI is blatantly unconstitutional, hon.
Since you’re so in favor of “rule of law” and stuff.
Try to read the room.
…and the lamentations of their bureaucrats
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s sweeping federal layoffs aren’t just wreaking havoc on tens of thousands of employees across the country.
Lawmakers in both parties are warning the cuts will harm the government’s ability to recruit young people out of college — as well as highly skilled candidates from the private sector — causing a ripple effect that could be felt for years or even decades.
“The recruiting challenge they’re creating for themselves is enormous,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., whose state is home to hundreds of thousands of federal workers, said of the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts. “I don’t think that’s an accidental byproduct. I think that’s a known consequence — and they don’t care.”
——-
Both Kaine and Van Hollen pointed to a 2023 speech by Russ Vought, now the head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where he said of federal bureaucrats that the goal of a second Trump administration would be to “put them in trauma.”
“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” Vought said in a video of the speech obtained by ProPublica. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.”
“Russ Vought was quite open about it,” said Van Hollen, who added: “Unfortunately, this will have a huge dampening effect on the ability to recruit.”
We need those thousands of overpaid clockwatchers to keep our economies humming.
We’re drowning in “But that’s how we’ve always done it” stories.
…and the lamentations of their bureaucrats
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s sweeping federal layoffs aren’t just wreaking havoc on tens of thousands of employees across the country.
Lawmakers in both parties are warning the cuts will harm the government’s ability to recruit young people out of college — as well as highly skilled candidates from the private sector — causing a ripple effect that could be felt for years or even decades.
“The recruiting challenge they’re creating for themselves is enormous,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., whose state is home to hundreds of thousands of federal workers, said of the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts. “I don’t think that’s an accidental byproduct. I think that’s a known consequence — and they don’t care.”
——-
Both Kaine and Van Hollen pointed to a 2023 speech by Russ Vought, now the head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where he said of federal bureaucrats that the goal of a second Trump administration would be to “put them in trauma.”
“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” Vought said in a video of the speech obtained by ProPublica. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.”
“Russ Vought was quite open about it,” said Van Hollen, who added: “Unfortunately, this will have a huge dampening effect on the ability to recruit.”
We need those thousands of overpaid clockwatchers to keep our economies humming.
We’re drowning in “But that’s how we’ve always done it” stories.
Apropos of nothing, my flatware pattern from 20 years ago was discontinued quite some time ago and a single fork is $10, and I need many. That, and spoons. This is what I get for using my “good” stainless when I had young kids.