Thursday Afternoon Links

by | Sep 1, 2022 | Daily Links | 250 comments

A little tune for you.

 

LOUISIANA WOMAN: Airport worker killed when her long hair became entangled in baggage-handling equipment. No word on whether she was following the company’s policy on securing long hair.

 

 

THE HUMILIATING HISTORY OF THE TSA: The folks at The Verge remind us of something we’ve known all along. It is overly paranoid, vindictive, and unaccountable to us as citizens. In fact, it mostly brings to mind Masha Gessen’s observation that “resignation was the defining condition of Soviet life.”

 

 

TEXAS SENDS FIRST BUSLOAD OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO CHICAGO: A spokesperson from Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office said in a statement that Abbott is “without any shame or humanity.” Mayor Lightfoot’s office does have a point, just not in the way they think – her city is a violence-plagued shithole.

 

 

LOG CABIN REPUBLICAN: But not in the way you think. An interview with populist Washington state congressional candidate Joe Kent, who doesn’t like libertarians very much. The first paragraph of the article mentions he was born in a cabin. In the nineteenth century, having been born in a log cabin was a kind of litmus test of a candidate’s nativist and populist bona fides.

 

 

BECAUSE REPARATIONS WORKED SO WELL THE FIRST TIME: Polish President demands reparations from Germany for damages inflicted on Poland during World War Two. Reparations which will be paid almost entirely by, and to, people who were not even born when the war ended. I’m all for individuals paying damages to people they personally harmed, even years after the wrongful act, but this is just bullshit.

 

 

ELECTRIC UTILITY LOCKED CUSTOMERS OUT OF THEIR THERMOSTATS DURING HEAT WAVE: Xcel confirmed to Contact Denver7 that 22,000 customers who had signed up for the Colorado AC Rewards program were locked out of their smart thermostats for hours on Tuesday. Granted they could only do this for customers who voluntarily chose to participate in the program, but look forward to government getting involved and mandating everyone have “smart” thermostats with back door access for government built-in, just like they want to do with cars.

 

 

FLORIDA MAN: Arrested during polygraph exam for admitting to viewing child pornography. While we uncomfortably admit that possessing such materials should not be a crime (unlike manufacturing), he’s still a garbage human being. And an idiot. WTF did he think was going to happen? Our understanding is that they tell people ahead of time what type of questions they are going to ask.

About The Author

Tonio

Tonio

Tonio is a Glibs shitposter, linkstar (Thursday PM, yo), author, and editor. He is also a GlibZoom personality and prankster. Tonio is a big fan of pic-a-nic baskets. His hobbies include salmon fishing, territorial displays, dumpster diving, and posing for wildlife photographers.

250 Comments

  1. Rat on a train

    Thousands of Xcel customers locked out of thermostats during ‘energy emergency’
    I remember BGE offering a discount if you signed up. It wasn’t enough.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      They bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say let ’em crash!

      • Tonio

        It will be interesting to see how many people opt-out of this program after this.

      • Zwak. who's suit is as ragged as his nerves.

        About as many Californians who will still buy electric cars.

    • kinnath

      I actually have no sympathy for people that sign up for these deals.

      You got your discount. This is how you paid for it.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        But I didn’t think I’d have to hold up my end of the deal.

      • Rat on a train

        90s Army Reserve: “I signed up for the GI Bill not for war.”

      • B.P.

        “I’m for Obamacare, but I didn’t think I’d be paying for it.”

      • Rat on a train

        I wish I could find that video. The woman was shocked.

      • Chafed

        Lol. So true.

      • Swiss Servator

        Pray we don’t alter it further!

        /Xcel

      • Fourscore

        “At this point what difference does it make”?

        It’s like a detour, we are all victims and there’s no turning back

      • Tonio

        I agree about the sympathy part. But someday soon some politician will try to make this mandatory, and may well succeed in progressive hell-holes like California.

      • Rat on a train

        The first stage will be corporations flipping it. You pay extra to not be on a smart thermostat.

      • kinnath

        Demand Pricing

      • kinnath

        They won’t lock you out. They’ll triple the rate during peak hours.

      • Zwak. who's suit is as ragged as his nerves.

        They already do that. This is why large facilities install ice systems. During the night, they will make a huge water facility freeze, and use that ice to cool the hydronic system during peak hours. the system works great.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        These thermostats are in place of the demand pricing because people perceive that they are getting a discount.

      • kinnath

        When enough people opt out of the magic thermostats, they will impose demand pricing on everyone.

      • Drake

        In order for it to be mandatory, the infrastructure has to be universal.

        Right now it doesn’t look like they infrastructure very well.

      • dorvinion

        Solution is be your own grid.
        Decouple from the systems of control

        Costs more of course, but you get to decide what you power and when.

    • hayeksplosives

      “Valley Electric” serves Pahrump and, as I learned yesterday, also the Nevada National Security Site. They are very reliable compared to the other Nevada electric utilities.

      I still think it’s ridiculous NOT to plop a new Nuke plant right on the Test Site grounds. Heaven knows we already have nuke waste disposal there, and it would curtail all the solar bullshit they are destroying the Mojave ecosystem with.

      • SDF-7

        Disposal / leak considerations, sure… but my first thought would be: Where’s the coolant come from — or are you thinking molten salt (which is a whole different kettle of fish)?

        Of course, in a sane world – it would be worth it to divert enough fresh water to build a coolant reservoir just for a plant complex, then use the power to drive desal in California to make up for it….

      • Tonio

        IANAE (engineer), but my understanding is that Molten Salt Thorium reactors are the future since they are scalable and don’t require rivers or lakes for cooling. It also seems that the DOD/DOE could use their government powers to exempt themselves from (at least) state regulatory processes to fast-track construction of those.

        Aren’t Gates and Buffet trying to build a commercial MST reactor somewhere.

        Paging db, db to the Glibs courtesy phone…

      • SDF-7

        Yeah, I’m still not so sure. Molten salt sounds great in theory, but you have to keep the primary loop molten… which makes maintenance / refueling / planned down time a real pip. The designs that actually have the fuel mixed with the coolant I really can’t wrap my head around how you’d service things.

        The salts in question tend to be pretty reactive — leaks especially around the secondary loop (i.e. water) iirc can be… explosive.

        And the salts themselves tend to be highly corrosive (again, from memory and I haven’t looked over this field in years now) — which means you’re likely looking at decreased life cycle for the reactor vessel and/or primary loop.

        If they’ve addressed all this, great… I certainly like the self moderating aspect and the cooling implications you mention… but they’re in the “Believe it when I see it” category for me…

      • Cowboy

        Interestingly, DOW chemical is attempting to open a nuke up for its chemical plants:

        https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/news/dow-goes-nuclear-chemical-firm-will-install-reactors-at-us-chemicals-complex/

        This is a technology that I havent heard of, using helium as the coolant, with the reacfton mass being a pebble bed of fuel.

        What I’m really wanting to know if where theyre planning on sticking the thing. Local residents are already getting all NIMBY about a new magnesium plant being proposed in one of the ugliest parts of town, can’t imagine they’d be too excited about a nuke in the middle of a chemical plant.

        I say let them, it would be great if they can prove the technology and maybe build more to improve the local power grid.

      • SDF-7

        Yeah, pebble bed has been around as a proposal for a while….

    • Bobarian LMD

      What is more 21st century than getting cucked by the power company while the government does the fucking?

      • Ted S.

        Damn your nimble mouth!

      • Swiss Servator

        Itz FuLl Of RaInBow FeNtaNyl!!!

      • B.P.

        Next up: Fentanyl butt chugging.

    • Ted S.

      Rainbow fentanyl is a moral panic like rainbow parties.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      They always drag this crap out when the news is unsympathetic to the government.

      Got to scare the suburban women back into believing they need the government to protect the chilluns.

    • Spartacus

      That shit oughta be illegal!

  2. JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

    From the Polish Investment and Trade Agency: “Poland is the largest beneficiary of EU funding. Between 2007 and 2013 our country received over 67 billion EUR from the EU’s budget. So far were disposed over 85% of these funds for e.g.new roads, airports, motorways, modernisation of the rural areas and the country’s Eastern regions.”

    There’s your reparations.

    https://www.paih.gov.pl/why_poland/eu_funds#:~:text=Poland%20is%20the%20largest%20beneficiary,and%20the%20country's%20Eastern%20regions.

  3. kinnath

    Florida Man . . . . someone needed to watch the “don’t talk to the police” video on youtube.

    • Rat on a train

      It was a pre-employment requirement. The sad part is he could be employed if not for the test.

    • Bobarian LMD

      Even at the job interview.

    • Brett L

      Dude should have gone for State Correctional Officer. It pays less, but they’re not going to ask uncomfortable questions about that. Hell, a spelling test would disqualify a large number of COs.

  4. Rat on a train

    Our understanding is that they tell people ahead of time what type of questions they are going to ask.
    They don’t cover the specific wording of the questions before taking the test?

    • Rat on a train

      “Why Trump will soon be indicted.”
      Because they can?

    • Ted S.

      He’ll be indicted because this is political, not about the rule of law.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      As much as I like Judge “Rhetorical Question” Nap, he’s got a hard-on for Trump and seems vulnerable to confirmation bias in regards to him.

  5. Sensei

    Welcome to FedGov

    That dream ended as soon as the first paycheck came in. Transportation Security Officers start at one of the lowest salaries in the entire federal government. The average annual salary for new hires starts around $35,000 but, with adjustments for experience and cost of living, can theoretically top $42,000. After a two-year probationary period, TSOs get a 15 percent salary bump. This is the last pay raise that many will ever see. One officer in Dallas said that he made only $3,000 a year more than a brand-new hire — and he had been at the TSA since the agency’s founding. Even in the best-case scenario, experienced TSA officers earn well below the national median for full-time workers.

    No wonder TSA employees have the lowest job satisfaction of any Federal agency. It can barely recruit fast enough to keep up with attrition: for every four officers it hires, it loses three. And about one in five new hires quits in their first six months on the job.

    • hayeksplosives

      Huh. I thought they had low job satisfaction because every traveler hates them and expresses that hate openly.

      • Sensei

        The people in SS felt the same way.

      • grrizzly

        Those had better uniforms.

      • hayeksplosives

        Truth.

    • Fourscore

      Perks like a lifetime supply of fingernail clippers are not counted.

    • EvilSheldon

      When you put your job ads on Domino’s boxes, you’re gonna get a certain mean quality level of applicant…

    • Spartacus

      He should quit. And him. And her. And xe.
      In fact, they should all quit.

      PS–3,000 is 15% of 20,000, so is the Dallas officer saying that he now makes $23,000?

      • Spartacus

        So, what does “quiet quitting” look like when you’re a TSA employee? You just have a quick grope and send them along?

      • Sensei

        I assume they only make you flash the colostomy bag.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        I figured it would be more of a long, lingering grope.

    • Tonio

      I’m wondering if they deliberately keep their salaries low knowing it will cause them to be surly and uncaring. I’ve often wondered if the real purpose of the TSA is to screen for people who won’t bend the knee, and therefore are far more of a threat to the deep state than OBL ever was. /rustles tinfoil

    • Ownbestenemy

      You stand there…with no authority…be happy with a 20k job. My new techs working on equipment can come in as low as 41K and they have technical knowledge and skills.

      • UnCivilServant

        W0t?

        My Grade 18s come in at $61k. (Admittedly, I only got $45k when I started as a grade 18, but that was… so long ago)

    • Chafed

      I have a client who is a TSA agent. There is no chance we are safer because he is on the job.

      • SDF-7

        Maybe… think of it this way — he could be out driving (pizza / Uber) or being a sheriff’s deputy. Lots of ways he could probably be hazarding us more… 😉

  6. DEG

    Her colleagues checked the corpse according to the official pat-down process. With gloves on, they ran the palms of their hands over the collar, the abdomen, the inside of the waistband, and the lower legs. Then, they checked the body’s “sensitive areas” — the breasts, inner thighs, and buttocks — with “sufficient pressure to ensure detection.”

    Only then was the corpse cleared to proceed into the secure part of the terminal.

    Not even death can exempt you from TSA screening.

    Abolish the TSA.

    For a long time, most Republicans held to a more libertarian way of thinking, believing that if something was good for the market then it would benefit everyone who participated in it.

    Hmm…. kinda short on details. I suspect the “libertarian way of thinking” was very selective in what libertarian principles those Republicans followed.

  7. DEG

    Too Local News: For those in NH, the NHLA endorsements for the upcoming Sept. 13th primary are out.

    The NHLA just covers state legislative elections. For pro-liberty endorsements for other elections on the Sept. 13th primary, consider Liberty Ballot’s endorsements.

  8. DEG

    Taxation is theft

    A Billerica farm may have to close after nearly 80 years in business. The town says the operation owes $300,000 in back taxes.

    “What they want is just unsustainable,” William Griggs, owner of Griggs Farm, told WBZ-TV. “I do not have a breakdown. I just have a grand total. I’d like to see the breakdown of what they are actually charging on the business land.”

    Griggs Farm has been a staple in Billerica since the 1940’s. Griggs says the farm is under Agricultural Preservation Rights (APR). The town says the land is worth $1.2 million, but Griggs claims that number is inflated.

    “You can’t sell it for that with the APR rights,” adds Griggs. “It’s only a few hundred dollars an acre on agricultural assessment. We have filed that every year.”

    Currently the town taxes more than 16.35 acres of his land as agricultural, with the remaining acreage taxed as commercial. The commercial land is the parking lot and retail spaces on the property.

    • kinnath

      Live by Apple. Die by Apple.

    • SDF-7

      I thought AirDrop defaulted to “Contacts Only”… I can’t imagine allowing any random hoser to just dump stuff on any computing device I own. Just dig out a Windows XP disk and put your computer directly on with your cable modem too, folks… madness!

      • Sensei

        I have an iPad and turned that crap off immediately. My phone is Android.

      • Spartacus

        I still have a Windows XP installation CD that I will relinquish at a good price.

      • The Other Kevin

        We used to put felt on the back of those and use them as coasters.

      • Sensei

        Are you mixing them up with the AOL CDs?

      • The Other Kevin

        I have had both.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      McConnell is a weasel of the first order. I’ll be glad when that SOB is dead.

    • SDF-7

      “The voters are like the private sector — they expect results! Much easier to just be the loyal opposition….”

  9. Pine_Tree

    “Long hairstyles should be worn with hair pulled back off the face and neck to avoid interfering with job performance.”

    IF this is the WHOLE long-hair policy, then it’s totally inadequate. Implications of that are to keep it out of your face, and put it “back”. It could easily be interpreted to allow a lot of hair (braids, ponytail) down the back of the neck. To be satisfactory around machinery it needs some kind of length limit – not necessarily how long the hair is, but how long it may effectively be when tied up, relative to some benchmark like chin elevation or collar line.

    • Brett L

      All rotating machinery is trying to kill you. Dress
      Accordingly.

    • Tonio

      “To be satisfactory fail-safe around machinery it needs some kind of length limit…”

      Ha! You fell for my sticky trap. [Strokes white cat in lap.]

      You see, Pine_Tree, hair length limitations, even ones with a demonstrable safety purpose, are totes racist. Or sexist. Or something.

      In reality they would have been sued for such a policy, leaving them with the unpleasant option of having a weak policy and risk being sued in the case of injury or death. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.

      • R C Dean

        In reality they would have been sued for such a policy

        Especially since there is a stupid law specifically protecting black people’s hair from discrimination. I think its only state-level now, but maybe federal, too.

  10. Scruffy Nerfherder

    For a long time, most Republicans held to a more libertarian way of thinking, believing that if something was good for the market then it would benefit everyone who participated in it. So, if it was cheaper to ship our jobs overseas to access foreign labor markets, then it was seen as a net positive for the country. But we didn’t think about the catastrophic effects that would have on our people

    This kind of thinking is always because they haven’t considered the role that the Fed plays in this process.

  11. Tundra

    Thanks for the lynx , Tonio!

    Great song.

    Sorry for the dummies that didn’t realize that the 25 bucks a month doesn’t mean much when you are sweating your balls off.

    Dumb thermostats, ftw. Until, of course, they force everyone to have a connected one or face crippling fines. Man, do I love the 21st century!

    • The Other Kevin

      That’s not the kind of progress we were promised at the World’s Fair.

    • Fatty Bolger

      $25 a month? All mine offered was a one time rebate to help pay for an upgrade to a smart thermostat. In return, I let them have free access to change temps on it. I literally LOL’d reading that offer when it came in the mail.

      • Ownbestenemy

        The stupid owner before us signed up for it….it’s been trouble getting off of it…I am sure I can have some legal battle but I have been lazy

      • Tundra

        We had a similar one at the last house. It kept fucking up my system – some kind of glitch.

        So, we fixed the glitch.

    • SDF-7

      I’m considering a smart thermostat for the House I Had To Move Away From, but solely so I can monitor / change it from CA. No way I’m letting a utility at it (I believe the ones at Home Despot are of that ilk…).

    • slumbrew

      *wires up mandatory “smart” thermostat, leaves dumb thermostat actually controlling the temperature*

      • Sensei

        Until the “smart” thermostat narcs on you.

        My dad had a bit of genius where his office thermostat was controlled by a locked thermostat. He hung and old fashioned incandescent drop light in front of it to warm just it up.

      • Zwak. who's suit is as ragged as his nerves.

        How big was the building? The reason I ask is that the thermostats in big buildings don’t. do. anything. They aren’t hooked up. The temp controls are on a timer, and they will keep the building temps constant. 72 during the day, and then will have a winter/summer change over to keep the building tempered. The cooling will be determined by a hidden sensor, with a swing of +/- at most one degree.

        Those locked thermostats in high-rise buildings are just for show.

      • Sensei

        That one did work.

        I am aware about the bogus thermostats.

        I’m assuming because it worked that was why it was locked.

      • Zwak. who's suit is as ragged as his nerves.

        No, they do that to make it look like someone other than facilities can change this. But it really depends on the size of the facility and what type of HVAC system. If it is a package unit on the roof, sure, it will be in control. But that isn’t always the case.

        The secret is that even facilities can’t. The systems, again this is for large buildings with a hydronic system using boilers and chillers, are set for very specific heat loads: how many workers are in a given zone, how many computers, how close to windows, North or South facing part of the building, time of year, and so on. Having someone do what your father did can screw up things, so you don’t let people actually do something like that. But, if there is nothing for people to look at, they go a little bonkers.

        Energy costs in big buildings are a serious business.

      • Chafed

        Your town mandates smart thermostats?

      • slumbrew

        Naw, but if they did…

        How does it even work? Would I be as throttled as they guy in a 5,000 sq. ft. house?

  12. Yusef drives a Kia

    Didn’t something happen on this date?
    Some Euro problem or some such…..?

    • Ownbestenemy

      Hey buddy…looks like they did the whole bait and switch on me regarding hiring. “OH we ment you can hire internally” one more week as management monkey for me anyway.

      • Tundra
  13. Sensei

    Fucking awesome!

    Pregnant HOV lane mom gets first ticket dismissed, then gets another

    “‘You again?’” she recalled one deputy saying. He said he didn’t need to explain to her what the ticket was about because she already knew.

    “So when are you going to have this baby?” he asked.

    “Tomorrow,” she replied.

    “Oh, good luck,” he said before she received her ticket.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Why stop there? He’s literally Hitler.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        I would like to think I’m sensitive to infringements on liberty. But there is very little Trump did in actuality that infringed on liberty. Off the top of my head I can think of, raising tariffs and continuing to blow up the budget deficit. Nothing that most mainstream would consider a terrible imposition.

        What am I missing here? Or is it simply assertion without facts?

      • cyto

        Dude called CNN fake news!

        Can you even? Because I can’t even.

        He also said all Mexicans are rapists and he brags about how he walks around sexually assaulting women! What more do you need?

        So problematic.

      • grrizzly

        You mistakenly assume that the people with the TDS care about liberty. No, I don’t know myself what they care about and why they’ve been saying things like this for the last 6 years:

        We are standing at the edge of the abyss. Our political system, our society, our country itself are in greater danger than at any time in the last century and a half.

      • cyto

        Because it is true. Projection has always been their thing.

        They have just about completed the subversion of a free press and free speech. They have gotten a really good toehold on using the power of the state against political rivals. They are moving strongly toward taking control of “the person who counts the votes” all around the country.

        They have their brownshirts in place in most cities around the country, ready to bring political violence to bear when needed….

        Of course they see a threat to democracy… Just like when your wife gets all paranoid that you are cheating when you run to the store for milk.

      • Raven Nation

        Make sure you don’t ask your progressive or never-Trumper friends that.

        Had a few conversations about 18 months ago, especially after January 6 along these lines. People would say, “well, Trump committed lots of impeachable offenses and even treason.”

        Me: “Huh, really. What was one of them?”

        Them: can’t think of one right now but there were lots.

        Me: so, I’m not asking for lots, just one.

        Them: well I didn’t know I was going to subjected to an interrogation.

        Me: not interrogating. You made an assertion, I just wanted one piece of evidence.

        Them: you know, if you want to save this friendship, I think we should change the subject right now.

        I also had a conversation with someone a few months back who blamed Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on Trump. Really, he’s been out of office for over a year? Well, yes, the groundwork was laid when he was in office. Huh, how was that done? Well, I’m not sure, but he clearly caused this.

        Disclaimer: I did not vote for Trump either time and won’t if he runs again. I think he was instinctively good on a couple of things like the economy but he was basically a blowhard who squandered any chance of a non-establishment candidate every getting close to power again. But this idiocy that he was some kind of existential threat to the republic is absurd. If you’re not going to impeach Bush for spying on Americans or Obama for assassinating an American citizen, then just shut up.

      • slumbrew

        “Judges”. If nothing else, that went well w/ Trump.

      • Raven Nation

        Fair.

      • rhywun

        Elitism, nothing more.

        They’re better than him and they know it.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Nor I don’t recall him creating laws from the executive branch like DACA or the proposed student loan forgiveness. I guess maybe how he financed the wall and a lot of Covid stuff might count as such. But when courts overturned his orders, he respected the decision. Just like an authoritarian.

      • mock-star

        Well, there was the whole bump stock ban, and the ban on evictions.

    • Sensei

      If they are starving and this is such a “done deal” let me present…

      Legal financing

      Otherwise welcome to litigation in the US of A. A shitshow of epic proportions for just about everyone except the bar.

      • Fatty Bolger

        If it’s run through the state supreme court, shouldn’t that the be the end of it? It’s not a federal matter, and doesn’t involve multiple states.

      • Sensei

        Yes.

        So while they haven’t gotten cash it would seem like they have a very high probability of doing so. So for something like 20% of the settlement I’m sure I can find a group of investors willing to pay you the remainder.

        However, I don’t know all the specifics so it there is a reasonable possibility that this is going to drag on you might want even more money.

        Keep in mind of that $36m their attorney is likely taking 1/3rd AFTER expenses.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Looks like the award is $25 million to the plaintiff, the rest being legal fees.

    • slumbrew

      Oberlin _just_ was denied at the state supreme court this week (as mentioned in the article) & they had gotten a stay on the judgement until that was resolved. The school’s only recourse would be the Supremes but I read that’s exceedingly unlikely to take the case given the Ohio court passed on it.

      The bakery shouldn’t have to wait much longer for the money – they can get a bridge loan at this point.

      • Chafed

        More importantly, if the stay is lifted, they can start collection proceedings against Oberlin. In most states that means having property seized and sold. Of course, if they can seize Oberlin’s bank accounts, then it’s Oberlin who will need the bridge loan.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Like they pointed out, Oberlin has more than a billion $ just sitting around in their endowment.

        We need a modern day Henry VIII, so we can get on with the Dissolution of the Universities.

      • cyto

        How does something as seemingly inept and dysfunctional as Oberlin obtain “elite and exclusive” status? Particularly when most of us never heard of it before the students started going crazy.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Mostly because it’s been around a long time, and became a popular place for rich parents to send their midwit kids.

      • DEG

        From what I’ve heard, their music conservatory used to be quite good.

      • C. Anacreon

        I have a friend who attended Oberlin in the 1970s and had a ton of talented music classmates he’s still in touch with.
        One of them plays with Brian Wilson’s band and has gotten us free tix and backstage passes a couple times.
        Another is involved with Jethro Tull, and also connected us with tix one time, and a memorable (if momentary) meeting with Ian Anderson afterwards.
        So that olden times music Oberlin I’m fine with.
        Also, Michelle Malkin attended Oberlin, and she’s rather cool.

      • Zwak. who's suit is as ragged as his nerves.

        It was a finishing school, where you could send your daughter to get an MRs degree.

    • R C Dean

      Nah, the college has one more appeal – directly to SCOTUS from the Ohio Supreme Court, which told them to pay up. The odds that SCOTUS will take their appeal are microscopic. The odds that SCOTUS will rule their way are a fraction of microscopic.

      • Zwak. who's suit is as ragged as his nerves.

        Do they get charged interest on the amount at this point?

    • cyto

      Reason is all over this, now that their standard of “if it was the government telling them to” threshold has been met (not really).

  14. Ownbestenemy

    From my power company…apparently we are beholden to the entire west coast…

    NVE Alert: Help reduce strain on the western U.S. power grid during this heat wave by conserving energy from 5-8 p.m. See nvenergy.com for more info.

    Fuck off…turns down thermostat and opens windows

    • Sensei

      You want water don’t you?

      • Ownbestenemy

        What is funny is this has been a mild summer for Vegas. Even today at 108 that is nothing. Only thing changed was more people moved here while once again not expanding infrastructure to accommodate the increase power usage.

      • Drake

        I worked for Nevada Power Company for a couple years in the mid-90s. Back then they were expanding like crazy and building more dual-fuel peaker stations – basically turbines that could run on gas or oil depending on which was currently cheaper. We used to laugh at all the stupid things CA was doing while worrying about all the stupid people moving in from CA. Shortly after I left they merged with Sierra Pacific Resources.

  15. Fatty Bolger

    While we uncomfortably admit that possessing such materials should not be a crime (unlike manufacturing), he’s still a garbage human being

    Can’t say I agree with this. At the very least, it should be akin to knowingly trafficking in stolen property, since there is zero possibility that it was created legally.

    I think the more libertarian issue is “fake” child porn that has been digitally created. That’s often illegal as well, but there’s a much stronger argument to be made that it shouldn’t be.

    • Count Potato

      If I remember correctly, in Australia porn is illegal if someone looks underage even if they aren’t.

      • cyto

        Is that not the case here as well? It seems I remember some prosecutions for nekkid drawings of underage kids…

      • Count Potato

        I was referring to real live adult performers.

        “In Australian laws, the variety of legislative definitions of ‘child pornography’ encompass material ranging from photographs of very young children being subjected to sexual assault to drawings of, and written texts about, an adult who ‘appears to be under 18 years’ in ‘a sexual context’ or ‘an offensive or demeaning context’ etc. Also, some laws enable criminal prosecution of teenagers above (or below) the age of consent who merely possess images of themself and/or of their partner, including spouse, taken with consent.”

    • R C Dean

      At the very least, it should be akin to knowingly trafficking in stolen property, since there is zero possibility that it was created legally.

      The government should be required to prove that (a) you knew you had child porn and (b) had intent to acquire child porn. Keep in mind, one of the problems with Hunter’s laptop is that it is reportedly salted with child porn, such that having a copy of it would be hard, hard time. But possessing the contents of his laptop shouldn’t be a crime unless you got it because it had child porn on it.

      Straight possession without proof of knowledge and intent is just tailor-made for abuse. Hell, under a straight possession theory, the guy who worked on his laptop would be going away for decades.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Hell, under a straight possession theory, the guy who worked on his laptop would be going away for decades.

        Don’t give them ideas.

      • DEG

        Hell, under a straight possession theory, the guy who worked on his laptop would be going away for decades.

        US Attorneys perking up.

      • Brett L

        It does seem as if he has attempted to notify law enforcement the same as any doctor or psychologist would be required to.

      • Count Potato

        It’s also very easy to plant.

  16. Count Potato

    Apparently, the site is remembering unread comments now.

  17. grrizzly

    German Foreign Minister Says Support For Ukraine Will Continue “No Matter What Voters Think”

    Despite soaring energy prices that threaten the stability of the country, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she would continue to support Ukraine “no matter what German voters think.”
    Baerbock made the remarkable comments during an event in Prague yesterday organized by the NGO Forum 2000.

    “If I give the promise to people in Ukraine – ‘We stand with you, as long as you need us’ – then I want to deliver. No matter what my German voters think, but I want to deliver to the people of Ukraine,” she said.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Terrible attitude to have; Terrible thing to say; Not surprising at all (except that she was damn fool enough to actually say it).

    • slumbrew

      Not even pretending anymore…

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Our Democracy means ignoring the voters.

    • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

      She’s one of the Greens in the coalition government, so her attitude towards the voters doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.

  18. cyto

    I take it we already did the 2SLGBTQAI+ thing from Canada and I missed it, right?

    Someone sent me the clip of Trudeau’s speech and I thought it must be a deepfake parody.

    • cyto

      Had anyone here previously heard of 2 spirit?

      I still don’t know what that is… But then the A and the I have been given to me as

      • cyto

        Several different things over the years.

      • slumbrew

        I still don’t know what that is

        Is the answer ‘nonsense’? I’m going to go with ‘nonsense’.

      • Chafed

        You are correct sir!

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        It’s a bunch of bullshit:
        Two-Spirit Community
        “Two-spirit” refers to a person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit, and is used by some Indigenous people to describe their sexual, gender and/or spiritual identity. As an umbrella term it may encompass same-sex attraction and a wide variety of gender variance, including people who might be described in Western culture as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, gender queer, cross-dressers or who have multiple gender identities. Two-spirit can also include relationships that could be considered poly. The creation of the term “two-spirit” is attributed to Elder Myra Laramee, who proposed its use during the Third Annual Inter-tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference, held in Winnipeg in 1990. The term is a translation of the Anishinaabemowin term niizh manidoowag, two spirits.
        Two-spirit people may also use terms from their Indigenous language to describe same-sex attraction or gender variance, such as winkt (Lakota) or nàdleehé (Dinéh). Some Indigenous languages do not have terms to describe sexual identities such as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Many Indigenous languages are verb-focussed, and describe what people do rather than how they identify. For more information, please refer to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Viewing native cultures through the filter of your western (Marxist) philosophy. How colonialist.

      • cyto

        So this is a Canada only category. Nice.

        Not only do we have to memorize the alphabet list, we gotta do separate work for every jurisdiction?

      • MikeS

        So this is a Canada only category.

        Nah. I just read an article about some artist from New York moving to Minnesota to be near his paternal g’pa who called him “two spirit” when he came out to him.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Yeah, I’d seen it come up in movies and/or TV a couple of times, but for the life of me I cannot remember which ones. Every time it was a female character.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        Chixdiggit.

        (Inside joke for anyone who attended University of Alberta during the 80s…).

  19. Count Potato

    “TIME spoke to “Gender Queer” author and illustrator Maia Kobabe on about eir work, the efforts to restrict access to eir writing, and what ey make of the current cultural moment”

    https://twitter.com/TIME/status/1565173350237872129

    No.

    • Drake

      Is that Scottish or Irish?

      • The Other Kevin

        Sounds more like pirate.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Listen damnit, just use a term that tells me whether there’s a Y chromosome or not.

  20. cyto

    Oh, and my people fled Germany due to religious persecution a few centuries ago… I demand reparations, but more importantly I want the interest on that shit paid in full.

    • Rat on a train

      I want the interest
      Italy owes me big time.

    • Seguin

      Hmm, you should ask for it in bullion.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      My people were Huguenots who fled France. I want reparations from France and the Vatican.

    • The Other Kevin

      And by “majority”, she means the people in power, not a majority of just regular people.

      I wish someone had the guts to remind her that gay rights, women’s rights, and civil rights were all “extreme” for a very long time.

      • slumbrew

        Exactly. Otherwise everyone who wants to defund the police is an extremist in her eyes.

        I mean, they are extremists, but that’s not who she means.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Even when they were passed. Prop 8 in California was something like 65-35 against.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      It’s just wild what positions the Biden Administration has pivoted to. I’ve never seen a less conciliatory attitude and that includes from Trump. It’s not even close.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, I knew Biden was a jerk but I had no idea how nasty and vindictive he is. Just an awful person.

    • cyto

      Do not rule 34 that sentence.

    • DEG

      I think I have pictures of that building from the outside from one of my trips to Munich.

      /checks pictures from Munich trips.

      Huh. Yes, but I thought I had a different picture of it. I know I’ve walked in that part of the city several times.

      Look in the upper right hand corner. I took that in 2018. I was at the top of the tower on St. Peter’s Church.

      • Tundra

        I was only there for a couple days, but Munich is a really cool city.

        Too bad it’s full of Germans.

      • Zwak. who's suit is as ragged as his nerves.

        Eh, I dated a chick from Hamburg for a bit. She was cool.

      • rhywun

        was only there for a couple days, but Munich is a really cool city.

        Same.

        Hmph. Some of them, I assume, are good people.

      • DEG

        I enjoyed Munich. I’ve been there three times.

  21. Seguin

    Hey Tonio, did you get that thing I sent you?

    • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

      OMG LIMEY!!!! HI!!

    • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

      (am I the only one that can see limey???)

      • Tundra

        Nope.

        LIMEY! Where the fuck have you been?

      • Nephilium

        Nope. Looks like a long lost limey has returned.

    • Sean

      Dude!

    • slumbrew

      *waves*

    • The Bearded Hobbit

      Blimey! It’s Limey!

  22. rhywun

    Germany and Poland going at it again… 🍿

  23. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    It’s Tonio links day!! The best links of the week!

  24. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    I’m a little discouraged. I wanted to stay up here closer to my dad and a couple of friends for the winter. I can’t find a long term spot to save my life! I’ve contacted 8-10 RV parks…nobody has anything.

    So tomorrow on Zoom I will be sad-drinking. Hopefully y’all get shitfaced and provide some upliftment.

    • Tundra

      How big is Dad’s yard?

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        Big, but it’s on the side of a mountain

    • Count Potato

      Park at Walmart?

      • slumbrew

        Don’t think they’re OK with multi-month stays.

      • Count Potato

        Oh, I missed that part.

    • Mojeaux

      Farther north a bit?

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        Asheville is about as far north as I can go, and that’s really pushing it. Anyhoo…nothing between Asheville & Greenville.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Asheville is one of our places we are looking at…though a bit bohemian….

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        Downtown us full of filthy hippies begging for cash while smoking weed, but the outskirts are amazing. Check out Flat Rock, Hendersonville, Mills River, Fletcher.

  25. Ownbestenemy

    For music types. Is there software that can generate a baseline/drumbeat based on what someone is playing? Son is creating some tracks on his guitar but has been unsuccessful in finding people to play with.

  26. hayeksplosives

    The Felix is ok! They stained his eye to check for cornea scratch. He’s ok, but they did give me some antibiotic/soothing drops to apply for a week.

    He gets to keep his pretty orange eyes!!

    • Ownbestenemy

      Good news! We can all take that

    • Count Potato

      🙂

    • DEG

      Good!

    • rhywun

      😺

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      You can’t criticize us! That’s violence!

      They’re going to find out what actual violence is at this rate.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Baseless

    A federal judge on Wednesday ruled New York state can restrict citizens from concealing and carrying guns in public through a new law that was challenged by national firearm organizations.

    Judge Glenn Suddaby of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York dismissed a motion for an injunction blocking the law from taking effect on Thursday, arguing the plaintiffs, the Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the Gun Owners Foundation, did not have standing to represent their members in court.

    New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), who defended the new law on behalf of the state, released a statement Wednesday night saying she had successfully fended off “baseless attacks by the gun lobby.”

    Your rights are what we say they are.

    • Count Potato

      “New York passed the Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA) in July, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a previous state law requiring a proper cause for those who wish to conceal and carry in public.

      The CCIA requires applicants for a concealed carry permit to undergo 16 hours of classroom training and two hours of live-fire exercises. Applicants would also be subjected to a review of social media accounts for the past three years to assess character, a rule coming in the wake of deadly mass shootings.

      Additionally, carrying a firearm in amusement parks, schools, churches, subways and other places deemed sensitive by the state would be prohibited. Gun owners would also need to gain permission from property owners to bring a gun on private property.

      The CCIA also requires four character references who can attest to the applicant’s “good character,” a point the GOA challenged as subjective. The plaintiffs also challenged the sensitive locations provision determined by the state and the training requirements, as well as other aspects of the law.”

    • Ownbestenemy

      Its a narrative swing like no other and Joe is going to kick it off tonight

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s a bold strategy Cotton…

    • JasonAZ

      Just, unreal. And the media taking it. If this was Trump, EVERY new agency would be railing against this. And, they’d be correct to do it.

  28. Ownbestenemy

    Who is ready for the great healing speech of 2022? Seems a deadly drinking game is to be had…

    • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

      There’s a speech?

      • Rebel Scum

        I’m getting the impression that Brandon wants to send the “MAGAts” to camp.

      • JasonAZ

        If he could, he would. In a heartbeat.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        He’s trying to provoke an incident or at least provide a rationale for a staged one.

        Things are about to get a little bumpy.

      • Rebel Scum

        Those 2 alleged wannabe MAGA bombers in pickup trucks were immediately determined by the internet to be glowing. They are going to have to go all in if they are going to convince anyone.

        I think the president threatening the citizens with using their military against them while calling the political opposition “fascists” is a nice touch. I also like how an AR-15 is so powerful but somehow insufficient for citizens defending themselves by, say, shooting down a fighter jet rendering any of the complex weapons systems employed by the government to be multi-million dollar paperweights because their support systems have been decimated. CWAC.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I wouldn’t be surprised if the agencies offed him at this point.

        Biden probably doesn’t even realize that he’s helping them create the backdrop for his own assassination.

      • The Bearded Hobbit

        Someone here described it as a “cold civil war”. That, to me, sums it up perfectly. There is nothing that I can do to fight them, I simply will not cooperate with them any more.

    • Count Potato

      I’ll be watching RJ’s movie, but I will be drinking.

      • R.J.

        I’ll be there at 7:30. Tonight is…
        Barbie and Kendra Save the Tiger King.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) tweeted her support for the judge’s dismissal after the ruling.

    “This is a just and right decision, and our smart, sensible gun laws will go into effect as planned tomorrow to keep New Yorkers safe,” she wrote.

    Stern nanny is stern.

    • rhywun

      Because all the violent criminals you’re either not jailing or letting out early are totally going to be prevented from committing their next shoot ’em up now.

  30. DEG

    Project Veritas latest

    Prestigious NYC Private School Director Touts ‘Sneaking’ Her Political ‘Agenda’ into Classrooms: ‘Disrupt Wherever I Can’ … ‘I Felt Like a Double Agent’ … ‘Huge Contingent’ of White Boys ‘Are Just Horrible’

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      “the white boys who feel entitled to express their opposite opinions…”

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        “You will conform.”

  31. Shpip

    I heard somewhere that the president is going to give a live speech tonight. While the chance for unintended comedy is high, I’m not sure anyone will actually watch. The soys will be seeing the premier of something called The Rings of Power, while the normies get their college football fix.

    I’d give odds that they’ll just use a deepfake video of Tapioca Joe. He can quote the president’s speech from Independence Day, except changing “aliens” to “ultra-MAGAs.” Voiceover can be done by Marty Sheen or Harrison Ford, or hell, go all out and get James Earl Jones to read the script. After the performance, the usual suspects will cream themselves over how strong, smart, and brave our totally-legit president is, and any skeptics (“Hey, honey… when did Joe Biden start talking like Darth Vader?”) will be told to sit down and shut up if they know what’s good for them.

  32. Count Potato

    “Follow the money: Billionaire trans activist Jennifer Pritzker and her family have donated more than $20 million to Lurie Children’s Hospital, including direct funding for “gender and sex development” experiments. It’s how medicine gets weaponized into political activism.

    Lurie Children’s Hospital now funds a team of full-time radical gender theory activists who have created a “school-to-gender-clinic pipeline” from Chicago-area public schools into the hospital for puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and other “gender-affirming” procedures.”

    “SCOOP: Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago has created a partnership with local public school districts to promote radical gender theory, “kink,” “BDSM,” artificial penis “packers,” “trans masc pump[s],” and “trans-friendly [sex] toys” for children.”

    https://www.city-journal.org/chicago-childrens-hospital-partners-with-local-school-districts-to-promote-radical-gender-theory

  33. Count Potato

    “The Billionaire Family Pushing Synthetic Sex Identities (SSI)….

    The creation and normalization of SSI speaks much more directly to what is happening in American culture, and elsewhere, under an umbrella of human rights. With the introduction of SSI, the current incarnation of the LGBTQ+ network—as distinct from the prior movement that fought for equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans, and which ended in 2020 with Bostock v. Clayton County, finding that LGBTQ+ is a protected class for discrimination purposes—is working closely with the techno-medical complex, big banks, international law firms, pharma giants, and corporate power to solidify the idea that humans are not a sexually dimorphic species—which contradicts reality and the fundamental premises not only of “traditional” religions but of the gay and lesbian civil rights movements and much of the feminist movement, for which sexual dimorphism and resulting gender differences are foundational premises.

    Through investments in the techno-medical complex, where new highly medicalized sex identities are being conjured, Pritzkers and other elite donors are attempting to normalize the idea that human reproductive sex exists on a spectrum. These investments go toward creating new SSI using surgeries and drugs, and by instituting rapid language reforms to prop up these new identities and induce institutions and individuals to normalize them. In 2018, for example, at the Ronald Reagan Medical Center at the University of California Los Angeles (where the Pritzkers are major donors and hold various titles), the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology advertised several options for young females who think they can be men to have their reproductive organs removed, a procedure termed “gender-affirming care….””

    https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/billionaire-family-pushing-synthetic-sex-identities-ssi-pritzkers

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      “we are making God as we are implementing technology that is ever more all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful, and beneficent.”

      Fanatically evil people have a tendency to make themselves obvious.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Remember, the FBI is legally allowed to lie to you.

  34. hayeksplosives

    Ok, I am at a dive bar in Nevada, where bingo is about to start. I got a card and the pearls.

    This will be a “cultural experience”….

    • hayeksplosives

      Ok, I won one round and was able to pick up a prize from the table. I chose a “broomstick” skirt.

      Next is coverall for $50.

      That’s cool because there is no charge to enter.

      Also I won $117 in slots here an hour ago. I’m reveling in the far right of the Gaussian distribution tonight.