Wednesday after links of substitution

by | Apr 12, 2023 | Daily Links | 229 comments

You feelin’ me?

 

Alas, no SugarFree twofer today. You get lazy Spud instead.

Most people don’t realize that SugarFree writes with his eyes closed. It’s the only way he’s immune to his own perversion. Poor bastard sneezed this morning and briefly opened his eyes after.

He should be right as rain by next Wednesday.

 

Links?

 

What the story leaves out, is who knocked her up. It certainly wasn’t her gay husband.

 

Posted for obvious reasons.

 

That’s a different take.

 

Don’t fuck with a man’s egg supply.

 

No proof to the rumor they were found outside a pub.

 

In the battle of robots versus NYC homeless, I’m going with the homeless.

 

Okay, that’s it for today. SF is peacefully dozing away, zonked out on Xanax and Thorazine.

About The Author

Spudalicious

Spudalicious

Survey says I’m a Paleolibertarian bitches. That means I eat “L”ibertarians for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Soave tastes a little fruity. Wait a minute, that doesn’t sound quite right…

229 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    You’ll get over it.

  2. Count Potato

    Hey, that’s not Goldilocks.

    • Tonio

      • Count Potato

        Tonio, I have a glibs publishing question. Is it possible to have an article that links to a separate text, that are both hosted here, without posting the text as an article?

      • R.J.

        I believe it is. It would be posted, just not in the daily feed. And when you link to it go back and edit the link to open a new tab, otherwise it will open in the same place as your article.

  3. pistoffnick

    I’d let her drive my Peterbuilt.

    • The Other Kevin

      She’d only be semi interested.

      • Animal

        You articulated that very well.

      • Spudalicious

        This king would pin her in a second.

      • juris imprudent

        Give it a break jake.

  4. Rebel Scum

    You feelin’ me?

    Not really, A-A-Ron.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Yo teach, I gotta go pick up my baby mama.

  5. DEG

    The 25-year-old’s burgeoning career as a gymnast was cut short after she was “rear ended by a drunk driver” in 2016.

    These euphemisms.

  6. rhywun

    We had to be in public in Colorado and, like, go to get food. We were in a hotel.

    Oh. My. God.

  7. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    LGBT official at one of Canada’s largest school boards peddles claim that Jesus was ‘a drag queen’ on Good Friday

    Bullshit, Jesus was obviously a bi-leaning aromantic with greysexual tendencies.

    It’s like these people don’t even science.

    • Count Potato

      “”If that religion cannot change its practice of teaching children that there is something wrong with them because of their sexual orientation … then we should stop that religion from having a separate education system,” wrote Savoia.”

      But teaching them they are the wrong gender is OK?

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        They’re telling us what they will do.

        The time for tolerance is over.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        we should stop that religion from having a separate education system

        That shit’s not gonna fly when it migrates south of the border.

      • The Last American Hero

        Nah, commie pope will green light it in his next encyclical.

      • R C Dean

        Wait until the Muslims hear about this.

        “Oh, we didn’t mean that religion. We meant the one that isn’t so shabby.”

      • Zwak tastes the soup, but never counts the beans.

        No, it’s “we meant the one we can bully, not the one that scares us.”

  8. Shpip

    Dr. Aaron Rock, a pastor at Harvest Bible Church, told the conservative Canadian publication True North that “the very notion that (Jesus) dressed as a woman so he could entertain children is offensive to all Christians and unbecoming a public official.”

    Fortunately for the school board gender consultant, nothing will come of this. Christians just tend to scowl at the insult, shake their heads at the false equivalency fallacy, then go about their business.

    But try that with a different “religion of peace.” I dare you.

    • Shirley Knott

      It’s also ahistorical as f*ck. The very notion of drag would have been meaningless in that time, place, and [claimed] social stratum.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I wonder what all our Somali neighbors who are wearing robes for Ramadan would think of the fact that they are now “women” because they are wearing dresses. Just like Jesus.

  9. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    The robot — a police source likened it to R2D2 — is manufactured by Knightscope, whose website notes the need for “superhuman abilities to fight crime.”

    I’ve got a crazy idea. After you catch a violent criminal, maybe you could keep them locked up for a while.

    • rhywun

      Council Speaker Adrienne Adams questioned spending money on robots at a time when social service agencies are having their budgets cut.

      Oh, fuck off.

    • Tundra

      Yeah, robot prosecutors are probably a better idea.

    • Sean

      Ray Charles could have seen it coming.

      • Tres Cool

        Stevie Wonder, too

      • Spudalicious

        Ronnie Milsap and Jose Feliciano have a sad.

      • cavalier973

        And he doesn’t even know a thing about the fast food business.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Cohen’s attorney, Lanny J. Davis, responded to the lawsuit by saying Trump “appears once again to be using and abusing the judicial system as a form of harassment and intimidation.”

      Now that’s how you spin.

  10. Rebel Scum

    Man in China jailed for scaring neighbor’s 1,100 chickens to death amid feud

    That’s what happens when you go at each other full throttle.

    • Shpip

      Eleven hundred birds — just, wow. They must not have been basketball players. Everyone knows that you’re only allowed five personal fowls.

    • Bobarian LMD

      Throttle?
      He said he scared em; nobody can choke a chicken 1100 times in a row without at least a little breather.

  11. Rebel Scum

    “No, I said Jack and coke.”

    The whiskey giant Jack Daniels now faces calls for boycotts over a 2021 ad campaign that featured drag queens from Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

    The “small town, big pride” campaign enlisted drag queens from the TV show to “produce a series of videos called Drag Queen Summer Glamp, which was released during pride month,” according to Newsweek.

    • The Other Kevin

      That’s where the backlash goes too far. That’s entertainment by and for adults. Not on TikTok or story hour pushing it on kids, not assaulting people who disagree, not attempting to replace women in sports or society. I guess this is what some of you mean by “skinsuiting”?

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        As with anything, the initial push is bad enough, but the reaction is always violent and overbearing.

        That said, I’m happy that some of these companies are finally getting measurable backlash for taking sides on all this culture war shit. Make product, market to consumer, shut the hell up. If the right can make a few companies issue mewling apologies and drop the virtue signaling, we may reestablish some semblance of a set of rules of engagement for this stuff.

      • The Other Kevin

        I agree, it is good to see people drawing the line somewhere. It’s fine if a company wants to be “inclusive” or “environmentally responsible” or whatever, but when they shit all over their customers just to get a higher ESG score, they should face consequences.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        It’s fine if a company wants to be “inclusive” or “environmentally responsible” or whatever

        To an extent, yes. I’m still not looking forward to our inaugural climate training scheduled for next week at work.

        I don’t mind companies having values. I struggle more with the idea of publicly held corporations having values that aren’t aligned with making more money and spending less money.

      • R.J.

        We must talk. The environmental drive at my work is costing a fortune. Learn from my lessons how to frame any argument.

      • Ted S.

        Women have to stop adjusting the thermostat to be too cold for men in the summer and too hot for men in the winter. What they’re doing is anti-green.

        /TIWTANFL

      • Zwak tastes the soup, but never counts the beans.

        RJ. that could work as an article, hint, hint.

      • Fourscore

        Bottom line.

        Save your feelings for your private life. I gave you money in good faith, now I want some received value that I can measure.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Cosigned. You and I can go hang out in the corner and trade goods and services at arms length while the world engages in economics by virtue signal.

        Tangentially, my wife polished off the last of the honey you sent our way last fall. She swears by your stuff, and curses me whenever she has to use store bought honey. Can I buy a jar from you?

      • Tres Cool

        Are you sure you mean honey?

      • Count Potato

        I read the article. It doesn’t mention anything about kids. So I don’t have a problem with it.

    • Zwak tastes the soup, but never counts the beans.

      JD is one step above well booze, but it has a name. And if that name gets trashed by stupid ad campaigns, well, live by the sword, die by the sword.

      Let it be a lesson to others. An advertising head on a pike, so to speak.

  12. The Other Kevin

    I think “Jesus was a Drag Queen” was an old country song.

    • juris imprudent

      Probably Wylie Ray Hubbard.

  13. SugarFree

    Pink isn’t well, he went back to the hotel
    But he sent Spud along as surrogate links
    We gonna find out where you glibbers really stand

    • Bobarian LMD

      That Tulpa in the spot light, he don’t look right to me…

      • pistoffnick

        Up against the wall!

      • Shirley Knott

        And that one’s a goon! Who let all this riff-raff into the room?

    • Aloysious

      Pooh. I can’t wait to hear Delicate Sound of Spud, and Careful with that Axe, Spud.

      • Aloysious

        *sigh*

        Delete Pooh.

  14. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/macron-makes-no-apology-china-trip-comments-eu-leadership-warms-anti-us-message

    Of note is the predictable reaction from the Bannon/Trump anti-China wing which is no more rational than the neocon anti-Russia wing.

    Trump slams Macron for giving China soft greenlight to invade Taiwan: “Macron, who’s a friend of mine, is over with China kissing [Xi Jinping’s] ass in China.”

    Anybody with half a brain should have seen this coming, but apparently we’re surrounded by retards.

  15. Sensei

    Not exactly the best bodyguard.

    A Mexican tourist has been shot to death in the Caribbean coast resort of Tulum in a dramatic robbery at a U.S. chain coffee shop, prosecutors and police said Tuesday.

    The tourist apparently refused to hand over an expensive watch he was wearing, and was shot by the robbers.

    Video of the killing posted on social media Tuesday showed men with motorcycle helmets bursting into the coffee shop with guns Monday.

    Another man in the video, reportedly the victim’s bodyguard, then took out a pistol and opened fire on the robbers, who fled.

    The bodyguard chased the robbers toward the street and kept firing at them through the store’s door.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      I’d be interested in hearing more of the story. It’s not real smart flashing expensive jewelry in a place like that, and who has a body guard? What was the guy’s deal?

    • Sean

      Ya know, if he’d have tagged the bad guys after they got the tourist, he’d still have some credibility.

    • The Last American Hero

      Time was the federales didn’t tolerate that shit in the tourist areas, lest the golden goose vacation in another Caribbean locale.

  16. Rebel Scum

    Double down.

    The Biden administration is launching Operation Warp Speed 2.0. The original Operation Warp Speed is the biggest disaster in the history of medicine. So of course Brandon wants to do it again, but more enthusiastically. How did HHS have $5 billion on hand?

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      No

    • Sean

      Sequels suck.

    • rhywun

      Jeez, wouldn’t it be more efficient to just funnel the money straight into Pfizer execs’ bank accounts?

      • kinnath

        Isn’t that what they are doing now?

      • rhywun

        Well, presumably they’re delivering some product now – which does put a drag on profits.

    • The Other Kevin

      To be fair, the money is dwindling down for big pharma, so they could use another infusion of cash for research, new patents they get to keep, and government mandates.

    • The Last American Hero

      Please just stop selling food there.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      The California state rock is serpentine, which contains asbestos. We need to slap a label on it.

      • Zwak tastes the soup, but never counts the beans.

        Well, the state flower is a poppy, And we know that is trafficked.

      • Spudalicious

        Lot’s of cinnibar too. The source of mercury.

  17. Count Potato

    “It all goes up in smoke for Juul: Vape maker agrees to pay $460million to seven MORE states over claims it got children hooked on e-cigs — bringing total payouts to more than $1billion

    ‘JUUL appears to be violating FDA regulations against making unapproved express and implied claims that its product helps users stop smoking cigarettes and is safer than cigarettes,’ Rep Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat, wrote at the time.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11965661/Juul-pay-462-million-six-states-youth-addiction-claims.html

    Telling the truth is illegal.

    • rhywun

      something something mafia is more upfront

      • Count Potato

        They are just making up shit to make up for getting less tobacco money.

  18. Sensei

    While the government’s commitment, made using emergency law, cannot be overturned, the vote marks a symbolic rebuke for the authorities, whose decision to largely bypass the nation’s legislative has angered many politicians.

    Credit Suisse rescue package rejected by Swiss parliament

    I’m sure the Swiss taxpayers are symbolically happy too.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Davos and the ECB are pissed off over the wipeout of the AT1 bonds. Since they have political control in SwisserLand, this would be their way of expressing dissatisfaction.

      Too bad, so sad.

    • Rat on a train

      While the government’s commitment, made using emergency law, cannot be overturned, the vote marks a symbolic rebuke for the authorities, whose decision to largely bypass the nation’s legislative has angered many politicians.

      “This decision has no impact on the takeover of Credit Suisse decided on March 19,” the Swiss Finance Ministry said after the vote.

      The support package had already been given binding approval by the parliament’s finance delegation, due to the urgency of the matter, it said.

      “The funds have already been fully committed,” it added.

      Enabling acts for all.

  19. Animal

    No proof to the rumor they were found outside a pub.

    But were they wrapped around three cigars?

    • SDF-7

      Historically good joke there, Animal.

      Off topic — you know why I hate picnic dishes? Because no matter what I make, the ant eat ’em.

  20. Count Potato

    “EXCLUSIVE: New Covid variant Arcturus is already in more than HALF of US states with California, New Jersey and Virginia emerging as hotspots — after strain sent infection rates skyrocketing in India”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11965329/New-ultra-infectious-Covid-variant-Arcturus-wreaking-havoc-India-America.html

    “Experts sound alarm over rare tick-borne infection dubbed ‘Lyme disease’s deadly cousin’ that is now spreading in several US states and kills one in 10 sufferers”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11965089/Experts-sound-alarm-tick-borne-infection-Powassan-virus.html

    No.

    • juris imprudent

      Look goddammit, if we in the media can’t keep you constantly in fear, how will Big Pharma make their billions? Huh?

    • Rat on a train

      emergency powers activate: form of dictator

    • The Last American Hero

      Three states with the highest vax rates…hmmm.

    • R.J.

      Yeah. Some of my bros in India got it, got over it. It did interrupt some projects. Nobody suffered significantly.

  21. Rebel Scum

    What we need is more coal powered cars…

    Biden EPA Administrator Michael Regan also announces the Biden administration is forcing Green New Deal-style mandates on “vocational vehicles, such as delivery trucks, dump trucks, public utility trucks, transit, school buses, and more.”

    …Except they powers that be intend to not allow you to have enough electricity.

    • Sean

      I look forward to multi car fires, and the ensuing building/road/infrastructure damage. CAN’T WAIT.

    • Sensei

      The “good” news is that we all will get a front row seat to see how CA does with its electric utopia first.

    • Count Potato

      That’s a great idea for police, fire, and ambulance during a blackout.

      • Sean

        It’s perfect. I CAN’T WAIT.

      • Fourscore

        Lithium batteries will be rationed and individuals will have to chose between a car/TV/cell phone unless your woke point score is sufficiently high and you qualify as a Person of Importance which automatically raises your score.

      • Spudalicious

        Let’s see batteries run the first in engine on a structure fire for three hours.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      The eyes are anime-esque

      As are the tits and the hair. I can see your average redditor falling for that hook, line, and sinker.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I can see your average redditor being disappointed to find out she was actually real.

    • Count Potato

      She’s pretty and looks real enough. Almost everyone uses filters now.

    • R.J.

      If any girl comes on to me at all, I know it’s a scam. Sadly.

  22. Rebel Scum

    Is it made out of panda?

    A world record-winning restaurant in New York City is rolling out its famous “world’s most expensive sandwich” — a decadent grilled cheese that costs a whopping $214 — for a limited time in honor of National Grilled Cheese Day.

    The restaurant announced the revival of the famous sandwich in an Instagram post.

    “We are bringing back yet another Guinness World Record[s]-winning dish for a limited time only. This National Grilled Cheese Day (April 12th), S3 in New York will be offering ‘The Quintessential Grilled Cheese Sandwich,’ which achieved the Guinness World Record[s] for the most expensive sandwich in the world, priced at $214.”

    Since 2014, New York City’s Serendipity3 has laid claim to the Guinness World Records for the most expensive sandwich. The opulent sandwich must be ordered 48 hours in advance for chef’s to begin the involved process of making the over-the-top sandwich.

    • Sean

      Gay.

    • Sensei

      Dude it’s Serendiptiy3.

      I will confess to having eaten there.

    • The Other Kevin

      This story won’t age well, when next year making a grilled cheese at home costs that much.

    • Count Potato

      “Guinness World Records for the most expensive sandwich”

      Pretty sure I’ve read about hamburgers that cost way more than that.

    • Rat on a train

      which achieved the Guinness World Record[s] for the most expensive sandwich in the world, priced at $214
      Seems like an easy record to break.

      • The Other Kevin

        Come to my house, I’ll charge you $215 for my “special” PB&J.

      • pistoffnick

        Ewwww!

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        DON’T DO IT!

        TOK’s special sauce is a little too “special.”

      • The Other Kevin

        No that’s the Peanut Butter and Fluff.

    • R.J.

      …And to buy the ingredients. Nobody is going to just have those in stock.

  23. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    SJWednesday: We’re Not The New Segregationists, You’re The New Segregationists

    The Columbia University and UCLA law professor and co-founder of the African American Policy Forum thinktank, believes that the escalations against racial history teaching, in Florida and elsewhere represent “the tip of the iceberg” of rightwing efforts to retract the progress since the civil rights era and push America towards authoritarianism.

    “Are [schools] on the side of the neo-segregationist faction? Or are [they] going to stick with the commitments that we’ve all celebrated for the last 50, 60 years?” Crenshaw asked, referring to headway made on equal opportunities since the 1960s.

    • The Other Kevin

      This is so tiresome. Start with something respectable, hitch your crazy ass wagon to it, and if anyone opposes you, cry that they’re opposing the respectable thing.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        These are the people who want to dictate all human interactions be based on race per government diktat and they say their opponents are authoritarian.

      • R C Dean

        + 1 bailey

    • Drake

      “neo-segregationist”?

      Is that a thing? Other than the Ivy League schools that make minority-only dorms.

  24. Tundra

    Thanks, Spud!

    Spring make its way to Idaho yet?

    Posted for obvious reasons.

    Gordilocks hardest.

    That’s a different take.

    Some people may be in for a rude surprise.

    In the battle of robots versus NYC homeless, I’m going with the homeless.

    Maybe, bit those things are gonna be hacked and commandeered in no time.

    • slumbrew

      How do we know that’s _not_ Gordilocks?

  25. R.J.

    I am at a local pizza place that has $5 old fashioneds until 7. Ordering hipster pizza. Delicious.

    • Spudalicious

      I would need and Uber home.

    • R.J.

      First they threw burritos, and I said nothing, because I don’t eat burritos.
      Then they threw chicken wings, and I said nothing, because I eat sandwiches…

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Spring make its way to Idaho yet?

    It has been nice here for a few days, but it’s supposed to snow tomorrow.

    • Tundra

      Last couple days were 80s and sunny. I’m ready.

    • R C Dean

      90 here. Good news: the home air conditioners are working fine. Bad news: the FJ Cruiser air conditioner is not.

      • Count Potato

        Is the compressor turning on?

      • R C Dean

        Yeah. Just very little cooling. Needs juice.

      • slumbrew

        Dunno why I’m reminded of Snow Crash and the dude rolling in his giant truck with illegal, black-market freon providing that sweet, sweet cooling.

      • Count Potato

        That’s good, you can do that yourself.

      • Ted S.

        Did you check the thermostat?

      • Tres Cool

        Damn you.
        Glad I refreshed before typing that.

    • Zwak tastes the soup, but never counts the beans.

      Here in Orygun, we are in the beginning of Mud. Which come before summer.

      • slumbrew

        We went to a nice inn in Maine in February and it was clearly the Spring Of Deception. We had a nice laugh with the staff over the other guests’ reaction to a couple of warmer days.

      • rhywun

        We seem to be in “False Summer” here. 80s in April are kind of rare.

        It hearkens back to my week in NYC, also in April – which became the most hellishly hot summer I have ever experienced please let’s not have another one of those thanks.

      • rhywun

        my “first” week

  27. The Late P Brooks

    80s? I’m talking 50s. But at least the snow is 98% gone for now.

    • R.J.

      It’s 78 here. Almost time to go to the pool. It does hit 105 later in the summer though.

    • Tundra

      Haha! Yeah, we’ve got a couple days in the 50s coming up. Still, it’s nice to have all the windows open

    • Tundra

      Those four hippos, one male and three females, have now spread to about 150 horny, three-ton herbivores in the area as they have no natural predators and have often been seen blocking roadways.

      Time for a hunt. I wonder if they taste good?

    • R.J.

      I expected a giant bullet proof Russian SUV! A little poopy GM product took our a hippo! That hippo must have had heart problems or something.

      • Shirley Knott

        Or it died laughing. Although hippos are mean , so maybe you’re right.

    • Spudalicious

      Cocaine hippo will seriously fuck your shit up. Hippos kill more people than any other wild animal.

      • rhywun

        I’ve seen them go at each other on the nature shows – they are terrifying.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    the escalations against racial history teaching, in Florida and elsewhere represent “the tip of the iceberg” of rightwing efforts to retract the progress since the civil rights era and push America towards authoritarianism.

    Pay no attention to that Obama behind the curtain. That “post racial” business might not have been accurate.

  29. Count Potato

    “Anheuser-Busch loses more than $5 billion in value amid Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light controversy

    Since March 31, shares of Bud Light’s parent company have fallen by nearly 4% — knocking down the company’s market capitalization from $132.38 billion to $127.13 billion on Wednesday…

    The company is dealing with the fallout from conservatives over its deal with Mulvaney, the 26-year-old transgender influencer with more than 10 million followers on social media.”

    https://nypost.com/2023/04/12/anheuser-busch-down-5b-in-value-amid-dylan-mulvaney-bud-light-controversy/

    https://nypost.com/2023/04/12/bud-light-exec-who-wants-to-update-fratty-culture-enjoyed-fratty-party/

    I don’t see Bud Light drinkers caring that much. They drink Bud Light.

    • R C Dean

      The anecdotal info I have seen is that sales of Bud Light have crashed. Apparently, they don’t care about beer as such, but they do care about drinking a beer associated with a shemale attention whore.

      • Rat on a train

        It’s not like there aren’t plenty of other crap beers out there.

      • Count Potato

        Almost all of which are owned by the same company.

      • R C Dean

        Yeah, I suspect most of those rejecting Bud Light over this are just picking up another AB InBev product.

      • R.J.

        Unless they are very informed, most likely yes. Especially in a bar which might only have one distributor.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Nobody in AB Inbev is going to hail it a success if a marketing campaign drives 30% of sales off of a flagship brand and 80% of that lands on a variety of their other brands. That’s still getting a ton of executives and at least one marketing firm fired.

  30. Shpip

    Forty-seven years after some singer-songwriter got stuck in traffic on the Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys and finished writing a catchy little ditty, our favorite tune has been added to the National Registry, a list of sound recordings deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress.

    • Tundra

      Today, Margaritaville Holdings includes four booming divisions: lodging, alcohol, licensing and
      media. The company’s specialty is licensing the Margaritaville name, guaranteeing revenue
      without taking on a financial risk. For franchisees, use of the brand appears to be worth the hefty
      fee. “Variety,” in 2018, reported the Margaritaville name was bringing in upwards of $2 billion
      annually. Buffett biographer Ryan White can summon only one analogy when describing the
      reach of the franchise: It’s as big as “Star Wars.”

      I’m not a fan, but holy shit!

  31. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    So the Lama is a pedo in addition to a bad tipper?

    • R.J.

      Creepiest thing I read in a while. Including Suger Free.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Is what he did really bad. Like Catholic priest bad? I’m not saying that tongue in (altar boy) cheek either.

      • KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

        What

    • Tres Cool

      “Man, them buddhists are a surly bunch”

  32. Pope Jimbo

    This sounds good on paper, but I know it will end up being a disaster.

    He was thrilled to pursue his dream, but worried about what it would cost. Four years of undergrad at Hamline came with a $40,000 price tag.

    “Even with a 90 percent scholarship, I still had to pay $10,000 out of pocket,” Matthews said. “That wasn’t including if they up tuition, or cost of inflation. I was just planning on pulling loans every year for that because I didn’t have the money. Other people my age can go to mom and dad and tell them they need help with money. I don’t have that same benefit. My safety net is my savings account.”

    Minnesota is now helping him create a safety net with a new program called Fostering Independence Grants. It’s the first of its kind in the nation to use state funds to pay for full cost of attendance at college for people who have been in foster care, according to Foster Advocates.

    To be eligible for FIG, a foster must have completed high school, be under the age of 27 and have been in the Minnesota foster-care system at any point after turning 13. Fosters don’t need to go through extra hoops to get FIG — it’s as easy as checking a box on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, or FAFSA.

    Maybe just start a charity? Instead of expecting the tax payers to pay for all the bureaucrats who will administer this program.

    • R.J.

      I didn’t see what his major was. $40,000 is chump change if it gets him a job. He was only on the hook for $10K too! Unless he trained to be a sanitation engineer he should have no problem paying that off.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Yeah, if you get $15/hr and work 2 shifts a week that gets you $12K a year. That isn’t too bad at all.

      • slumbrew

        “$40,000?! They should pay me to go to school!”

      • Zwak tastes the soup, but never counts the beans.

        Sanitation Engineers make a whole lot more than that.

      • R.J.

        Yes, he would have to be a burger flipper to have issues paying that back.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Even then, a burger flipper who showed up and worked 40 hours per week could make a substantial dent in $10k if they have a couple roommates.

    • R C Dean

      Tick a box, get free money? There’s nothing to it!

      Yeah, I don’t see any issues with that.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Not sure what I just watched.

  33. Pope Jimbo

    My predictions are coming true!!!

    That hustle and bustle in the heart of downtown Minneapolis is mostly left to memory. 64% of office employees have returned to downtown offices at least one day a week from pandemic-prompted remote work, Cramer said.

    The City, as a result, is grappling with how to reimagine the space as businesses continue to downsize their offices or move to the suburbs.

    “This was something that was probably inevitable,” Mayor Jacob Frey said Tuesday. “But it got expedited by about five to eight years by COVID-19.”

    The reality is downtown will never be what it once was, but it can be re-imagined, Mayor Frey said, starting with the roughly $92 million conversion of the former commercial Northstar Center East building into housing.

    Like several towers near it, the 13-story Art Deco-style building built in 1916 is largely empty office space, and according to the Mayor, it’s about to undergo what is arguably the biggest transition downtown has seen in a century.

    “When you have a gap in between the office space that is being filled and the capacity that we presently have, it makes sense to fully utilize the space. How do you fully utilize that space? One option is housing,” he said. “We need housing. We have a housing crisis.”

    Actually that isn’t my prediction, it was the prediction of a buddy who does a lot of local commercial real estate. He said that the city is going to end up buying all these empty office buildings (aka bailing out the owners) and converting them into section 8 housing.

    I’m sure putting a high rise ghetto near the few remaining office workers downtown will work out great.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      I hate the word “reimagine”. It’s mostly synonymous with “come up with a bad idea”.

      • Zwak tastes the soup, but never counts the beans.

        It gets used a lot in the reimaginarium fun play park.

    • R C Dean

      Let’s not forget the Mostly Peaceful Summer of Floyd, either.

      “64% of office employees have returned to downtown offices at least one day a week”

      What an evasive statement. The number that matters is the total per week or per day. 64% one day a week is the equivalent of 1/8th of a 100% five days a week.

      So what’s the real number that matters. I follow James Lileks blog, and he makes it sound like downtown Minneapolis is still very much a ghost town.

      How much Section 8 housing do they need, anyway?

      • Pope Jimbo

        I know tons and tons of suburban women who used to work downtown who will no longer step foot there because of the crime. The fact that they can also work remotely gives them a lot of leverage. HR knows that if they insist on them showing up and one of them gets robbed or assaulted that it will be a nightmare, so they let them work remote or in some satellite office building that is way out in the burbs.

        It is also a vicious cycle. Because all those workers are no longer coming downtown, the small shops that used to cater to them are all closing. Coffee shops, fast food joints and dry cleaners etc are all leaving.

      • Rat on a train

        It is also a vicious cycle. Because all those workers are no longer coming downtown, the small shops that used to cater to them are all closing. Coffee shops, fast food joints and dry cleaners etc are all leaving.
        Sad, but I like the $600+ per month I am saving by not commuting and buying lunch.

    • slumbrew

      I feel badly for the local businesses that depended on commuter traffic, but we can’t hold back the tide.

      Things have changed and aren’t going back.

      I have to assume dry-cleaners are getting killed, in general. I still love a suit, but it’s not even a weekly thing.

      • Zwak tastes the soup, but never counts the beans.

        They will change back, but it isn’t going to happen overnight. It will be a decades long, gradual shift back to the cities. Just like after the sixties.

      • invisible finger

        And like the sixties they will go through forty years of public housing project disasters.

      • rhywun

        My company isn’t even trying to get us back in the office. As long as WFH exists for paper-pushing (or bit-fliddling) jobs, I don’t see a comeback this time.

        Which I find sad as I am a city rat, but I’m also mid-middle age so it’s not like that daily grind would be anything too enjoyable anymore.

        If this phenomenon had struck in my thirties or forties I’d be pissed.

      • Rat on a train

        I don’t expect my company to force us back. They are saving money by consolidating office space.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Ours is heavy on getting back to the office. “More often than not” said our HR officer. What benefit is there to us? “Collaboration, Culture, togetherness” Of course, productivity isn’t on the list of benefits.

        I applied for telework, but now I’m less confident I’ll get it. I also have been interviewing for remote jobs again just in case.

    • R C Dean

      “Northstar Center is now being reborn as an experiential, hospitality-forward, mixed-use ecosystem”

      https://www.northstarcenterminneapolis.com/

      Is there any way to short an office building? Because that has failure tattooed on its ass.

      • R.J.

        Wow. Don’t get more than a 1 year apartment lease. That place will go down faster than a parking lot prostitute.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        I’m repelled just by the buzzwords.

      • slumbrew

        Agreed.

        “A newly reflagged and completely renovated 218-key Hotel Indigo ”

        Because “218-room hotel” just isn’t hip enough.

      • Sean

        Ok, boomer.

      • slumbrew

        Gen-X, man, Gen-X.

        The youngs haven’t even come up with an “OK, boomer” equivalent for us, since there aren’t enough of us to be an issue.

        *sighs and cracks open the wine*

      • Sean

        😉

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Ok slacker…

      • rhywun

        Ignored generation hath its privileges, finally.

      • Rat on a train

        I believe we are right in the middle as the 4th largest extant generation.

      • Mojeaux

        Ok slacker …

        You say that like it’s a bad thing.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        I’m too busy slacking to respond to that.

      • R.J.

        OK Xer.

      • Ted S.

        You mean Xim.

      • slumbrew

        (that’s movie is much better than I expected it to be)

      • Shpip

        It sounds like they’re trying to copy this place in Nashville.

        But the Tennessee joint has the advantage of being a) in the middle of the tourist sector, and b) across the street from both Ryman Auditorium (big concerts) and Bridgestone Arena (NHL games and even bigger concerts) for enticing the locals.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Completing it right as the CRE bubble pops.

        The developers probably have some very puckered assholes right now.

    • Tundra

      The Northstar East plan, developed by Sherman Associates, includes turning 20% of the space into affordable housing with dormitory-style shared bathrooms, alleviating some of the cost that comes with reworking plumbing to accommodate every unit.

      Lol.

      Minneapolis is toast. Once it all burns to the ground we can go back and rebuild.

  34. cavalier973

    Cross dressing was a capital offense, according to the Law. Had Jesus been a cross-dresser (or gay, or any sort of sexual deviant), then he wouldn’t have been executed for the crime of insurrection against Rome.

    His whole schtick about being more righteous than the Pharisees would have been completely discredited.

  35. cavalier973

    “How can we have a happy family if we are forced to cross state lines in order to murder our unborn children?”

    • R C Dean

      I have some sympathy for their situation. Arguably (likely?) nonviable fetuses due to birth defects are kind of an edge case. I’m still a pre-viability guy for elective abortions, so . . . .

      • robc

        The problem I have with that is what does viable even mean?

        If you leave a newborn in the forest, it aint going to survive on its own, is it viable?

        See also, PKD and algebra.

    • R C Dean

      No, don’t really care.

  36. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    Stupid is asstupid does

    “ “They’ve already done enough damage in one week to disrupt year-long sales projections,” one beer-sales representative told the outlet. “You don’t just make up those sales. People aren’t going to drink twice as much Bud Light the following weekend to recover the lost business.”

      • Sensei

        Yeah, but I’d bet at least half these people are buying another AB InBev brand.

        They are too big to fully boycott unless you are incredibly brand aware or bring a list of the like 50 brands they own.

        I’ll settle for just not drinking any Bud. Something I did before the asinine campaign.

        OTH, I haven’t bought a Gillette product since their asinine ad campaign either.

      • R.J.

        The bars, who must have income from the beer they buy, will switch contracts to non-inBev distributors. That is where the real hurt will start.

      • Ted S.

        Some of us don’t drink beer at all.

        (I don’t know what if any non-alcoholic, or hard alcohol brands they own.)

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        I live near one of the breweries. I’m dying to talk to someone I know who works there. Maybe this weekend.

    • Old Man With Candy

      If something reduces sales of that weak urine, I’m in favor of it.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Hey, it takes real skill to make urine which is that consistent in its weakness and flavorlessness.

      • Tres Cool

        I may like a word with you outside…..

        /opens Milwaukee’s Best Light

    • cavalier973

      It’s a shame that companies that survived Prohibition cannot figure out how to survive the current environment.

  37. Tundra
    • R C Dean

      Did you go out for dinner?