What They Can’t Deliver

by mexican sharpshooter | Jul 1, 2023 | Beer, Cocktails, Food & Drink, Markets, Musings | 149 comments

Because I phoned it in last week, and I won’t be within cell phone reception for most of the week, I promised myself I wouldn’t do it again this week.

This is my review of Paperback Czechs Who Wear Leather:

It was the “controversial philosopher” Ayn Rand, that is often credited with the idea our “betters” detest capitalism because they hate good people for being good. In other words, they hate that Michael Jordan is successful because he is the best at what he does out of envy. Even after his basketball career was over, he is still one of the most marketable athletes in the world and used that to build a successful business career after he retired from basketball. They hate him still.

In spite of the hate I might get for saying this out loud, I don’t think Rand got it quite right.

Example #1: Climate friendly cocktails are near impossible because all of those cocktails require ice. Ice takes a lot of energy to make, and thus your favorite cocktail is problematic. Yes, the dorks at Scientific American actually did publish this.

Example #2: New York pizza, while it is indeed pretty good, it was never good enough to justify continuing to live in New York City. That is no longer an issue after climate cultists in the city government decided to crack down on wood and coal fired pizza ovens.

Where Rand perhaps got it wrong is it is not a hatred for proficiency or achievement. The hatred is for joy. People find it in cocktails, pizza, and every other modern convenience that was made accessible by capitalism. Make consumers happy, and you will be rewarded with their repeated business.

These are joyless hacks, that hate you for being happy. Since they cannot give you what the pizza guy or your bartender can give you, they simply take it away.

Its hard to create a foothold in a market as obscenely watered down as beer, so if you plan to do it at least have a catchy hook, right? This is a properly made Pilsner. While that in itself should be enough of a selling point, there are an awful lot of these out there. So they lured me in with fantastic graphics. I regret nothing. Paperback Czechs Who Wear Leather: 3.1/5 4.8% ABV

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About The Author

mexican sharpshooter

WARNING: Glibertarians.com contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. https://youtu.be/qiAyX9q4GIQ?t=2m22s

149 Comments

Tundra on July 1, 2023 at 11:07 am

Sofia is exponentially hotter than Jayne.

I agree with you. The freaks hate happiness. And for some reason they won’t kill themselves and leave us alone.

Beer looks good!
- Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 11:15 am
  
  They’re being subsidized by the elites to convince us that living in poverty is preferable.
  
  I’m coming to the opinion that the only way to end it is to finally rid ourselves of the old aristocracies that prefer to hide behind organizations like the WEF.
  - R C Dean on July 1, 2023 at 3:59 pm
    
    I’m coming to the opinion that the only way to end it
    
    Will require wading through rivers of blood. I’m increasingly convinced this isn’t merely an ideological problem, it’s a people problem.
  - Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 4:11 pm
    
    I just want the correct targets when it comes to that.
- DEG on July 1, 2023 at 11:56 am
  
  Sofia is exponentially hotter than Jayne.
  
  The correct answer is threesome.
  - Chafed on July 1, 2023 at 3:43 pm
    
    DEG gets it.
- juris imprudent on July 1, 2023 at 1:31 pm
  
  And for some reason
  
  Misery just doesn’t love company, it demands it.
LCDR_Fish on July 1, 2023 at 11:07 am

Just heard on Adam Carolla’s show from a week ago (behind): “Fetterman makes Biden sound like Farrakhan”. This is great.

BTW. Been a little behind on reading/posting again between travel and [not] logging in at work. Got a few good travel-ish articles I’m putting together (in my head so far). Quick question though. For embedded vids like NA does with his dog vids every week – do I need to upload to my youtube channel and make private so I can link here or is there another format for WordPress if I don’t want to do the extra work?

Thanks
- LCDR_Fish on July 1, 2023 at 11:09 am
  
  Tundra – sorry I didn’t get a chance to meet with you. Did make it to Southern Sun brewing with my Uncle and then headed to Upslope by myself (would have been a great meet opportunity, but timing was probably tight). Will write about both places later – Upslope was excellent!
  - Tundra on July 1, 2023 at 11:13 am
    
    Next time. Glad you had fun! Upslope makes really good beer. I haven’t been to their taprooms, though. I’ll have to do that.
  - CPRM on July 1, 2023 at 3:48 pm
    
    If you go the YT route, don’t make them private, make them unlisted. Private means only your account can view them.
- Not Adahn on July 1, 2023 at 11:18 am
  
  You can embed them if you use WP’s block editor, and chose the “video” format for a block.
LCDR_Fish on July 1, 2023 at 11:13 am

NRO has an option to “share” paid articles – but unfortunately it doesn’t create a special link, it only lets you email it to someone. That said, they’ve had a lot of good content on the Supreme Court coverage this week. Thought this article was excellent. To contextualize – I have commissioned a LOT of art from folks over the years – but I’ve never thought anyone owed me their labor or that they couldn’t turn me down for a project….

https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/06/a-supreme-court-victory-for-creators-of-all-kinds/

The Court’s ruling for a Christian wedding-website designer protects dissenting artists from being compelled to deliver the government’s messages.

The freedom of Americans to practice their religious faith is sufficiently embattled these days that the “first freedom” needs to sail under the flag of free speech to secure its full protection. This morning at the Supreme Court, in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, a 6–3 Court ruled that a creator of wedding websites can practice her trade even if she refuses the government’s demand that she violate her conscience by celebrating same-sex weddings. Unless and until the Court reconsiders its jurisprudence around the free exercise of religion, we will have to settle for protecting religious faith as just another form of speech. For now, it will do.

303 Creative may not be a ruling specific to religious liberty, but it is a victory for artists and creators of all kinds. Justice Neil Gorsuch’s opinion for the Court emphasizes that “the freedom to think and speak is among our inalienable human rights,” which may not be commandeered by the government. And it frames this as a right possessed by all Americans, regardless of whether the motive for their dissent from government orthodoxy is religious in nature.

Taking the Cake

Lorie Smith wishes to get into the wedding-website business, but feared that Colorado would pursue her if she stood on her religious beliefs and declined to create websites for same-sex weddings. The deeply illiberal government of Colorado had made clear that it stood ready to do so, as it had already done to cake-baker Jack Phillips and others. Colorado vigorously defended its power to suppress dissent and chase it from the public square. Its comprehensive defeat is a victory not only for Christian conscience, but for a liberal society.

Smith might have brought her claims under the First Amendment’s guarantees of religious liberty, but the Court, since the controversial 1990 Smith opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia, has taken the position that the free exercise of religion must give way to any law that is generally applicable. The issue might have been resolved by Phillips’s case, Masterpiece Cakeshop, but the Court resolved that lawsuit in 2018 on the narrower grounds that Colorado’s Commission on Civil Rights demonstrated open religious bigotry against Phillips. Thus, this case was brought under the right against compelled speech — an aspect of the First Amendment’s free-speech guarantees that the Court has long protected.

Today’s decision should also finally end Phillips’s ongoing ordeal, in which he — like Smith — has long been represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which adds today’s outcome to a long string of Supreme Court victories.

Freedom to Create

303 Creative squarely presented a question of crucial importance to the survival of pluralism and liberal democracy: Can the government compel artists, writers, and other creators to endorse government orthodoxy on fundamental issues in their creations? Can it make adherence to that orthodoxy the price of being able to create things for a living?

The Court easily turned away the argument that Smith’s websites are not speech:

A hundred years ago, Ms. Smith might have furnished her services using pen and paper. Those services are no less protected speech today because they are conveyed with a voice that resonates farther than it could from any soapbox. . . . All manner of speech—from pictures, films, paintings, drawings, and engravings,” to “oral utterance and the printed word”—qualify for the First Amendment’s protections; no less can hold true when it comes to speechlike Ms. Smith’s conveyed over the Internet.

She will consult with clients to discuss their unique stories as source material. . . . And she will produce a final story for each couple using her own words and her own original artwork. . . . Of course, Ms. Smith’s speech may combine with the couple’s in the final product. But for purposes of the First Amendment that changes nothing. [Alterations omitted.]

It also rejected the view that Smith had no right to control her own speech because it is a unique product for which there is no substitute. The lower court had taken an especially alarming view:

Due to the unique nature of Appellants’ services, this case is more similar to a monopoly. The product at issue is not merely “custom-made wedding websites” . . . but rather “custom-made wedding websites of the same quality and nature as those made by Appellants.” In that market, only Appellants exist. [Emphasis added, citation omitted.]

As I’ve noted previously, “Under this theory, customers do not simply have a right to buy your product: They have a right to you.” Gorsuch and the majority found this as alarming as I did:

In some sense, of course, her voice is unique; so is everyone’s. But that hardly means a State may coopt an individual’s voice for its own purposes. . . . Were the rule otherwise, the better the artist, the finer the writer, the more unique his talent, the more easily his voice could be conscripted to disseminate the government’s preferred messages. That would not respect the First Amendment; more nearly, it would spell its demise.

Gorsuch was also unpersuaded by Colorado’s fallback argument that Smith and her company lost their right to control their own speech simply by getting paid for what she does, or because she uses a limited-liability company: “Many of the world’s great works of literature and art were created with an expectation of compensation,” and the right to speak through a corporate entity “underlies our cases involving everything from movie producers to book publishers to newspapers.” He quoted George Orwell: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” And, of course, to refuse to tell them what they do want to hear.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent, joined by the Court’s two other liberals, offered only cold comfort: Smith’s company “need not hold out its goods or services to the public at large. Many filmmakers, visual artists, and writers never do. (That is why the law does not require Steven Spielberg or Banksy to make films or art for anyone who asks.)” I’m sure Lorie Smith would like to trade places with Steven Spielberg, but our First Amendment rights are not limited to multimillionaires with national reputations who need not work retail. They belong to everyone.

A Matter of Identity

Gorsuch took pains to note that the Court was not overturning the vast apparatus of public-accommodation laws that prevents businesses from discriminating against customers based upon their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. But those laws, which have greatly expanded in scope, are also not themselves “immune from the demands of the Constitution.” They cross the line when they move from the sale of generic products and services to compelling Americans to sing from the government’s hymnal.

At bottom, Colorado’s argument was that Smith is really discriminating against same-sex couples because of their identity as gay people, notwithstanding the fact that the parties stipulated that Smith would gladly accept gay customers, she just wouldn’t celebrate same-sex weddings. In Colorado’s view, a same-sex couple’s conduct in getting married is inseparable from its identity — but a Christian’s conduct in adhering to the tenets of her faith is separable from her identity as a Christ-follower. That contradiction runs through many of the debates over the proper line between protecting the rights of gay individuals from discrimination and protecting the liberty of Christians from compulsion: It always ultimately rests upon the notion that religious belief and practice are voluntary choices, while every aspect of sexual behavior is a sacred form of identity.

The majority did not delve deeply into these cultural assumptions; indeed, it took pains not to turn its decision on the religious nature of Smith’s dissent. But the dissenting justices jumped into the cultural fray:

There are some public places where [LBGT people] can be themselves, and some where they cannot. Ask any LGBT person, and you will learn just how often they are forced to navigate life in this way. . . . It is an awful way to live. Freedom from this way of life is the very object of a law that declares: All members of the public are entitled to inhabit public spaces on equal terms.

But Sotomayor does not mean “all” members of the public. The whole point of her opinion is that Lorie Smith, when she goes to work every day in her own business, is not free to be herself, if being herself means being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. She must pack that up and put it away if she chooses to enter the public square. “The unattractive lesson of the majority opinion,” wrote Sotomayor, “is this: What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is yours.” That’s called a free society. Sotomayor argues that what’s yours is also mine: Smith’s customers, and the state of Colorado, have the right to force her to put her own self aside if she wants to stay in business. Be thankful that her view did not prevail.

Making Up the Facts

Where the majority and the dissent disagreed most fiercely was over the stipulated facts. The majority treated the factual record as if it was evidence, and Colorado’s stipulation as if it was an agreement to those facts — both elementary ways for courts to decide cases. Armed with those facts, it distinguished between Smith’s right to avoid crafting and speaking messages she dissents from, and the customer’s right to avoid discrimination based upon status.

Sotomayor’s dissent however, refused to accept that such a distinction is possible, claiming over and over and over that Smith’s case could not be distinguished in any way from, say, a hotel turning away black customers, even though Colorado itself stipulated that Smith would serve gay customers. Thus, she claimed, with blithe disregard for the facts in the record, that the Court was creating “a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class” — a right Smith never asked for!

Writing for the press rather than the facts and law of the case before the Court, Sotomayor waved the wholly irrelevant specter of the Matthew Shepard case and the Pulse nightclub shooting, as if subsequent evidence hadn’t undermined the myths of both cases as anti-gay hate crimes. She ranted about laws in Kentucky and Tennessee that “censor discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools . . . and ban drag shows in public” while “we are told [by the Court] that the real threat to free speech is that a commercial business open to the public might have to serve all members of the public.” Well, yes, the Court focused on the case it was asked to hear, instead of totally different cases, because that is how courts work.

Gorsuch wearied of all of this, charging that the dissent “reimagines the facts of this case from top to bottom” in order to get away from the stipulated facts that Colorado itself agreed to; he described the dissent as “pure fiction” and wrote that it is “difficult to read the dissent and conclude we are looking at the same case.” Moreover, “the dissent’s treatment of precedent parallels its handling of the facts.” “The dissent assures us that a company selling creative services ‘to the public’ does have a right ‘to decide what messages to include or not to include,’” Gorsuch noted. “If that is true, what are we even debating?”

The question assumes that the dissent wanted a debate, when in fact what the dissent wanted was to force everyone to say the same thing.
- Ted S. on July 1, 2023 at 12:08 pm
  
  The Court easily turned away the argument that Smith’s websites are not speech:
  
  The websites are the press. Freedom of the press didn’t mean freedom for journalists, or, more specifically, wasn’t limited to freedom for journalists. It meant that the people who owned the physical printing presses (since other forms of media didn’t yet exist) could print whatever they want. You couldn’t force someone to do your print job.
  - Grumbletarian on July 1, 2023 at 1:11 pm
    
    At the time of the founding there were only two ways in which to communicate; speech and the printed word. Speech was done in immediacy; only the people who could hear you would know what you said. Word of mouth could spread that, but the message could also be changed along the way. The printed word allowed people to know your thoughts as you wrote them without the need for you being present. Since the founding, new ways to do the latter have been invented, but those new methods are, for the intents of the Framers, still counted among the freedoms of the Press.
- Ownbestenemy on July 1, 2023 at 12:21 pm
  
  All members of the public are entitled to inhabit public spaces on equal terms.
  
  How she gets from inhabit a space to force speech is amazing.
- Gustave Lytton on July 1, 2023 at 1:01 pm
  
  Sotomayor is right and the majority & NR are wrong. The distinction is nonsense. The logical conclusion is hotels can discriminate against protected classes. The Jeopardy like contriving that if you phrase your objection in a convoluted manner, it’s acceptable is nonsense. “I’m happy to serve blacks/women/veterans but my sincerely held religious beliefs prohibit social mixing of non-homogenous groups so if I were to allow [ ], that would cross over to forced expression so go away”.
  - Brochettaward on July 1, 2023 at 1:13 pm
    
    There really isn’t an argument under the constitution for protected classes in the first place. It is the civil rights act that is unconstitutional. I guess if you are arguing that she do away with the mental gymnastics needed to justify its existence, then sure. But I’m not going to sign off on the expansion of protected classes, especially when there is thousands of years of religious doctrine supporting it (because religious freedom is explicitly protected in the First) to support it in the name of legal consistency.
    
    The CRA needs to go entirely.
  - R C Dean on July 1, 2023 at 4:03 pm
    
    The majority and NR are correct, if the only issue is expression of ideas. It’s not, and that’s where Sotomayor is correct – there’s no intellectually honest way to limit this to the expression of ideas.
    
    Where Sotomayor is wrong is that this means the government should be able force you to say anything and associate with anyone. The correct conclusion is the opposite.
  - UnCivilServant on July 1, 2023 at 4:32 pm
    
    Freedom of association, if it is to be treated as part of the first amendment as it is would demand the abolition of the concept of a “protected class” in it’s entirety.
    
    You may choose to associate or disassociate by whatever criteria you wish. Forcing public accommodation on private businesses is unconstitutional as it is written.
The Late P Brooks on July 1, 2023 at 11:17 am

Ice is made from groundwater, which, as we all know, should be left in the ground. Stop killing Gaia to satiate your disgusting need for pleasure.
- Nephilium on July 1, 2023 at 12:20 pm
  
  Groundwater?
  
  What kind of plebeian cocktails are you making? Everyone knows that you need glacial melt water to make the best ice.
  - Chafed on July 1, 2023 at 4:16 pm
    
    You insensitive bastard. How dare you steal Gaia’s water that feeds her children the oceans.
The Late P Brooks on July 1, 2023 at 11:21 am

Fuck “religious” freedom.
- kinnath on July 1, 2023 at 12:06 pm
  
  Gonna have to disagree with you there.
  - Spudalicious on July 1, 2023 at 2:22 pm
    
    Big time.
  - Chafed on July 1, 2023 at 4:16 pm
    
    I make three. What’s your beef Brooks?
  - The Hyperbole on July 1, 2023 at 4:33 pm
    
    Can’t answer for Brooks, but since he put “religious’ in quotes I assume his beef is similar to mine, that the problem stems from the creation of protected classes and carving out special exemptions for a new protected class, this time the “religious”, doesn’t solve the problem just creates more of it. You shouldn’t have to have a religious reason to not do business with someone. So yes fuck freedoms that only apply to one group or another.
- Spudalicious on July 1, 2023 at 2:24 pm
  
  So you’re cool with forcing people to do things against their will?
JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa) on July 1, 2023 at 11:24 am

They hate joy because they are the new Puritans who see humanity as depraved and themselves as the Elect.
- Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 11:33 am
  
  Yes, but they’re just useful idiots who have been sponsored by those with actual power. They’ll outlive their usefulness.
Common Tater on July 1, 2023 at 11:28 am

“Yes, the dorks at Scientific American actually did publish this.”

They went downhill faster than an Olympic skier.
Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 11:33 am

Randy Marsh living in libertarian NH

New Hampshire woman, 68, plans to sue her town after she was arrested when cops smelt alcohol on her breath while she was at HOME watching baseball and claimed her filthy house was hazardous
- R.J. on July 1, 2023 at 11:41 am
  
  I hope she wins enough to buy a nicer mobile home.
  - Toxteth O'Grady on July 1, 2023 at 11:44 am
    
    Regular cleaning service as well.
  - Yusef drives a Kia on July 1, 2023 at 11:47 am
    
    Heh
  - juris imprudent on July 1, 2023 at 1:36 pm
    
    Bigger TV and more beer.
- DEG on July 1, 2023 at 11:59 am
  
  Better article on the incident.
  - Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 12:03 pm
    
    Thanks.
    
    As usual, “procedures were followed”.
    
    Followed by we can’t comment followed by the case has been resolved and we have no additional comments.
  - R.J. on July 1, 2023 at 1:04 pm
    
    Asked what the officers should have done instead, Mone told investigators, “I don’t have an answer for that.”
    
    I do! I do!
    Walk the fuck away and leave the lady alone.
  - Chafed on July 1, 2023 at 4:24 pm
    
    Those cops are assholes.
The Late P Brooks on July 1, 2023 at 11:45 am

Call me a prude and a bigot, but that label guarantees I will never know if that beer is any good.
- Yusef drives a Kia on July 1, 2023 at 11:47 am
  
  He lost me at the Abv%
- Nephilium on July 1, 2023 at 12:25 pm
  
  In a crowded market, you need to get people to try your product. Something needs to catch the eye, generally that’s a label or a beer name. There’s a reason outrageous/pun beer names are common.
  
  Do you feel the same about Raging Bitch or Pearl Necklace?
  - Zwak , “There is infinite amount of hope in the universe… just not for us.” on July 1, 2023 at 4:43 pm
    
    And there’s a reason I drink beers with simple names.
  - UnCivilServant on July 1, 2023 at 4:44 pm
    
    *looks at can*
    
    “Ber”
- juris imprudent on July 1, 2023 at 1:36 pm
  
  I quite enjoy Wasatch Brewing’s Polygamy Porter (tag line, why have just one?).
  - MojeauXX on July 1, 2023 at 1:37 pm
    
    Porter Rockwell. My Bishop Albright is modeled a little after him.
  - Nephilium on July 1, 2023 at 2:09 pm
    
    The one year I went to the GABF (Great American Beer Fest), there was a Utah brewery) who had a pilsner named Provo Girl Pils.
    
    For handouts at the booth, they were handing out branded condoms .
- EvilSheldon on July 1, 2023 at 4:20 pm
  
  I call foul. Those Czechs are clearly wearing latex.
The Late P Brooks on July 1, 2023 at 11:51 am

For years the hospitality industry has seen diners clamoring for foods that prioritize climate-friendly practices, such as local and seasonal ingredients that are grown or raised with carbon footprints in mind.

Clamoring.
- Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 11:53 am
  
  I don’t know about you, but it defined my dining experience. Who cares about taste and variety? I WANT ORGANIC CARDBOARD THAT’S LOCALLY GROWN USING THE LATEST CARBON CAPTURE PROCESSES.
- Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 11:54 am
  
  It doesn’t say how many.
  
  I can imagine those that do hold this sentiment may actually clamor.
- Chafed on July 1, 2023 at 4:26 pm
  
  I don’t believe it. There is a certain charm, in some instances, for using fresh local produce. But even that is quite limited.
DEG on July 1, 2023 at 11:55 am

Its hard to create a foothold in a market as obscenely watered down as beer,

I see what you did there.
Brochettaward on July 1, 2023 at 11:55 am

I have not yet begun to First.
- Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 11:58 am
  
  Did you forget your towel?
The Late P Brooks on July 1, 2023 at 11:59 am

To mitigate its waste, Eve Bar forgoes an ice-making machine for 55-pound blocks of ice, which are delivered to the bar by a local ice company. Eve’s bartenders precut the block ice to “fit perfectly” in every type of glass used, he says, so that no ice gets wasted. For cocktails that traditionally call for the use of crushed ice, such as tiki drinks, the bar uses liquid nitrogen instead. “We don’t use crushed ice at all,” Handling says.

Those blocks of ice are air freighted in from Antarctica, I hope.
- Not Adahn on July 1, 2023 at 12:05 pm
  
  Fortunately, LN2 requires no energy at all to produce.
  - Nephilium on July 1, 2023 at 12:28 pm
    
    It comes out of a canister.
The Late P Brooks on July 1, 2023 at 12:02 pm

Saving the planet, one zero emission ice cube at a time.

Thanks, “Scientific” “American”.
The Late P Brooks on July 1, 2023 at 12:09 pm

Fortunately, LN2 requires no energy at all to produce.

You can get that stuff anywhere. It occurs naturally. It’s organic and gluten free.
rhywun on July 1, 2023 at 12:11 pm

they lured me in with fantastic graphics

I hate myself when that happens – I’m supposed to be above that.
- Chafed on July 1, 2023 at 4:28 pm
  
  Then how will you know which albums are cool?
  - Zwak , “There is infinite amount of hope in the universe… just not for us.” on July 1, 2023 at 4:52 pm
    
    Or which books to read?
Brochettaward on July 1, 2023 at 12:19 pm

I think the most disgusting aspect of the sad excuse of a piece of shit they are passing off as an Indiana Jones movie is that they are desperate to try and push Phoebe Waller-Bridge as some sort of sex symbol. She can have any man she wants in the movie. We are supposed to desire her, apparently.

For a film franchise that was based off living vicariously through Indiana Jones, a large aspect of which was wanting to sleep with the women he slept with, watching him get emasculated by a mediocre looking British “comedian”/”writer” they want us to desire, that’s a pretty big fall.
- Ownbestenemy on July 1, 2023 at 12:23 pm
  
  Just remember it’s Disney and Kennedy. She made it quite clear her goal is to gut your bigoted views and replace then with her own.
  - Nephilium on July 1, 2023 at 12:29 pm
    
    First reactions I’ve heard on the new Indiana Jones movie is that it’s actually good, and an apology for the Crystal Skulls.
    
    /still not planning on watching it
  - DEG on July 1, 2023 at 12:33 pm
    
    Kinnath linked this the other day.
    
    I don’t see how this is a good movie at all.
    
    I have no plans to see it.
  - Brochettaward on July 1, 2023 at 12:35 pm
    
    I don’t know anyone who has seen it, but every reviewer I’ve seen who watched it hates it. And the negative reviews it received tanked it.
    
    It’s going to bomb and bomb hard.
  - Brochettaward on July 1, 2023 at 12:40 pm
    
    Thursday preview numbers are in, and the thing brought in just $7 million domestically.
    
    This may actually be what does Kathleen Kennedy in. It is underperforming Crystal Skull before adjusting for inflation.
  - R.J. on July 1, 2023 at 12:37 pm
    
    See below
- R.J. on July 1, 2023 at 12:32 pm
  
  I watched it last night. It was good. It was not vile or woke. The quotes of wokeness were spouted by Indiana’s goddaughter, who was portrayed as a wretched, thieving asshole.
  - Brochettaward on July 1, 2023 at 12:37 pm
    
    You didn’t find Phoebe Waller-Bridge to be pretty much perfect? To me the movie stinks of typical Disney bait and switch where they use a popular male lead to shoehorn in a female replacement. There will be no replacement here because this is going to bomb, but they clearly seem to set Bridge up as a young Indiana Jones. And I’d wager anything that the initial rumors of her taking the fedora at the end of the movie and Indy dying were true and reshot once they saw the huge backlash online when they leaked.
  - R.J. on July 1, 2023 at 12:40 pm
    
    No way. She was portrayed in the worst light, stealing her father’s legacy to make a quick buck. She was uncaring of other’s fate and only care about making money. Indiana called her out as wretched and undeserving of her father’s legacy. Not perfect, not woke, just an absolute pile of human garbage.
  - kinnath on July 1, 2023 at 12:46 pm
    
    The critique from Drinker does not focus on “wokeness”. It states plainly that it is “just” a terribly made movie.
  - Brochettaward on July 1, 2023 at 12:47 pm
    
    You are the lone dissenting voice I’ve heard here, RJ. Does the movie really see Bridge that way, or do they view her as a role model for little girls?
    
    If I pirate this shit and waste 2.5 hours watching it, I’m going to be annoyed with you. I don’t expect good regardless, but I am curious to see how woke it is or isn’t. I think the movie is trying to portray her as a female version of a younger Indiana. From what everyone is saying, they don’t go all in on making her cut throat but back off and her character is just a mess in general. And she ends up saving the day in the end.
  - kinnath on July 1, 2023 at 12:50 pm
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_k8cDLe-Kk
    
    Start at the 9:15 mark for your answer
  - Brochettaward on July 1, 2023 at 12:56 pm
    
    I’ve seen the reviews. I fully believe RJ walked out thinking she was clearly a vile character. I think she probably is a vile character, objectively speaking. I don’t think the film tried to make her a vile character. She is supposed to be interesting, daring, smart, funny, sexy, and all that and a bag of chips. But I’m speculating because I refuse to give Disney money.
    
    I fully expect the film to be dull and lifeless regardless of whether its woke. And they definitely deconstructed Indiana Jones to the max.
  - Brochettaward on July 1, 2023 at 12:59 pm
    
    I don’t always agree with the Drinker’s taste in movies or his breakdowns. I enjoy him well enough so I watch, but our tastes don’t always intertwine.
    
    Same with RJ. He has a rather “broad” range of movies he finds enjoyable. I find most modern adventure/action films to be lifeless. This thing just looks like another blue-screened shit sandwich at a minimum. The days of live action stunts are dead, unfortunately, and CGI allowing them to do whatever their child-like minds allow them to think up as the most crazy possibility does not help modern movies.
  - R.J. on July 1, 2023 at 1:03 pm
    
    I did not praise it, but I will say to me she felt like an awful human being whose character arc resolved once she realized she cared about Indiana. I believe that was the intent of the film makers and writers. How that is interpreted in today’s hyper politicized world is another thing.
  - MojeauXX on July 1, 2023 at 1:20 pm
    
    Husband and I are going to see it tomorrow. I think my ambivalence is due to the fact that I’m so over adventure movies.
    
    In terms of “good” or not, all I usually say is, “I liked/didn’t like it.” There is a range of “objectively good” movies, but it doesn’t need to be objectively good to entertain me. I just want to be entertained.
    
    This was the next-to-last movie I saw and I was entertained. Also, this was adorable.
  - Ownbestenemy on July 1, 2023 at 1:24 pm
    
    Violent Night was just fun
  - MojeauXX on July 1, 2023 at 1:38 pm
    
    Right?!
The Late P Brooks on July 1, 2023 at 12:31 pm

Do you feel the same about Raging Bitch or Pearl Necklace?

Looks like hipster juice. Smells like desperation.
The Late P Brooks on July 1, 2023 at 12:59 pm

In a crowded market, you need to get people to try your product. Something needs to catch the eye, generally that’s a label or a beer name. There’s a reason outrageous/pun beer names are common.

Call me crazy, but I would appreciate something which gives me some sort of an indication of what’s actually in the can/bottle, and not some sort of inside industry joke.
- Nephilium on July 1, 2023 at 2:03 pm
  
  It’s got it right there “Czech style Pilsner”
  - Homple on July 1, 2023 at 8:05 pm
    
    I’ve tried a number of “Czech Style pilsners”, none of which matched Krušovice let alone Pilsner Urquell.
Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 12:59 pm

Washington Post never fails to impress.

“ Without affirmative action, how will colleges seek racial diversity?”
- rhywun on July 1, 2023 at 1:55 pm
  
  I’m still waiting for the computer models which prove racial diversity is… well… whatever they are claiming it is supposed to be.
Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 1:08 pm

Now do negro.

Elon Musk says ‘cis’ is a slur. It’s basic Latin.
- rhywun on July 1, 2023 at 1:59 pm
  
  OFFS. You could spot Pluto with that much gaslight.
  - Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 2:03 pm
    
    Next thing you will tell me is “homo” isn’t used pejoratively.
LCDR_Fish on July 1, 2023 at 1:11 pm

RJ – missed the chance to comment on your post a week or so ago – you posted that Romanian animated movie on youtube. I picked up Delta Space Mission on remastered bluray from Vinegar Syndrome a while back. It’s not bad – great example for the period and origin (although for my commie animation, I prefer Gandahar or Les Maitres Du Temps). I did pick up the follow up by the same creators “Son of the Stars” via VS as well – but haven’t watched it yet.
- R.J. on July 1, 2023 at 4:38 pm
  
  Interesting. We should talk sometime as the next season will f GlibFlicks moves on and I add more interesting films.
  
  BTW, Amazon Prime appears to have just added all four seasons of “Wild, Wild West.” Exciting. I was about to buy them.
The Late P Brooks on July 1, 2023 at 1:16 pm

“ Without affirmative action, how will colleges seek racial diversity?”

Absent government guidance and regulation, life is nothingness.
- Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 1:19 pm
  
  Now there’s no more oak oppression
  For they passed a noble law
  And the trees are all kept equal
  By hatchet, axe, and saw
  - MojeauXX on July 1, 2023 at 1:22 pm
    
    ❤️
  - Chafed on July 1, 2023 at 4:33 pm
    
    Run MikeS! Run!
Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 1:22 pm

Glock 40 YouTube cop?

Hit-and-run suspect hospitalized after shooting himself while fleeing in San Francisco
The Late P Brooks on July 1, 2023 at 1:30 pm

Speaking of movies, I watched this last night (Prime). Highly recommend.

You may notice some foreshadowing of Ruthless People (which is also an excellent movie, and not just because Helen Slater is cuter than a bug’s belly button).
- Ted S. on July 1, 2023 at 1:44 pm
  
  I have that on DVD with Make Mine Mink, which is also a hoot. Terry-Thomas was also in the original version of School for Scoundrels if you haven’t seen that one.
  
  Another movie with similar themes to yours and Ruthless People is the Anthony Quinn movie The Happening. That’s the movie that gave us the Supremes song, not the M. Night Shyamalan thing.
DEG on July 1, 2023 at 1:31 pm

New Tucker.
- hayeksplosives on July 1, 2023 at 3:23 pm
  
  I like that he continues calling the admiral Rick Levine.
Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 2:13 pm

So Mrs. Sensei is now the proud owner of a 2024 Acura MDX which is a bit of a step up from a 2014 Ford Explorer. Given Ford’s issue with quality this long term Ford Family is done with them.

However, I have no fucking idea why Honda feels compelled to make the remote out of a piece of aluminium, glass, plastic and the steel emergency key. It weighs ton. This a perfect example where plain old lightweight plastic is better, but lacks that “luxury feel and design”.

It’s not a big issue for me as I’m rarely going to drive it or carry the key. It’s just going to add another couple ounces to what Mrs. Sensei already has in the bag. However, if this was my primary ride I’d be a bit annoyed.
- Sean on July 1, 2023 at 2:54 pm
  
  Put a number on it.
  
  My GTI fob is 70 grams.
  My Trailhawk fob is 51 grams.
  
  Hope she likes her new ride. Did ya get the undercoating? 😂
  - dbleagle on July 1, 2023 at 3:00 pm
    
    I didn’t like the Truecoat.
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2LLB9CGfLs
  - Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 3:00 pm
    
    I did a quick Google and couldn’t find the weight or I would have posted it.
    
    Thanks. I specifically said no dealer options although they naturally tried to play games taking a personal check.
    
    Had to threaten to walk before they took it. They hold title to the vehicle. If it bounced I can’t do anything but part it out. Just part of the shitshow that is the mandatory dealer enforced sales process.
    
    I had to try to explain the dealership system to my Japanese friend last night and mostly failed…
  - Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 3:03 pm
    
    Generic Acura query yields
    
    78 grams or 2.7 ounces
  - Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 4:49 pm
    
    Hell, I just bought a truck and they wouldn’t accept a business check. I had to go pull a cashier’s check to complete it.
    
    Annoying to say the least.
  - Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 4:59 pm
    
    Yup. Last two vehicles I bought they took the check after checking my credit.
    
    These assholes wanted to do a a “hard” hit and thanks to Equifax my credit is frozen.
    
    When I bought the Ridgeline they did a soft hit and I had no issues.
  - Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 5:11 pm
    
    My credit is at 845. I bought a used Genesis for the wife and financed half of it. I just got a letter from some bank on why they wouldn’t underwrite the loan because of various marks on my credit history. I was tempted to call them and ask what marks those were and whether they dated to the 1990’s.
    
    Credit is definitely tightening.
  - Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 5:03 pm
    
    You are a business for crying out loud.
    
    I can pull a D&B on you right now and see your trade payments and who you have pissed off.
    
    I told them give me a loaner or my trade back for two days and I I’ll pick up the car after the check clears. It’s all a fucking game. They initially wanted to charge me 3% claiming they were providing me credit for me paying cash.
  - Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 5:07 pm
    
    3% hit for cash?
    
    Now that would have pissed me off. Cash gets a discount.
  - Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 5:10 pm
    
    These assholes get a piece of the financing, so with the exact same price they make more money financed.
    
    Part of the reason they tell people to negotiate the price and financing separately.
- Tundra on July 1, 2023 at 4:24 pm
  
  Super nice vehicle! Congrats to the missus!
  - Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 4:30 pm
    
    We just bought my son a Ridgeline for graduation from college and I was impressed with it as well.
    
    Perfect for his light duty use and it rides amazing.
Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 2:42 pm

That’s not kosher.

Controversial regulations on coal ovens could hit Brooklyn’s matzah bakeries
- hayeksplosives on July 1, 2023 at 3:31 pm
  
  Sooo many terrible puns in there.
  
  But an informative article nonetheless.
  - Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 3:36 pm
    
    You are suggesting that people could be burned with jokes about Jews and ovens?
  - juris imprudent on July 1, 2023 at 3:38 pm
    
    She walked right into that one.
- juris imprudent on July 1, 2023 at 3:39 pm
  
  Get a rabbi to declare the CO2 kosher, that’s how it is usually done.
  - Gender Traitor on July 1, 2023 at 3:50 pm
    
    ji, do you have the author of the Ben Franklin bio you mentioned earlier?
  - juris imprudent on July 1, 2023 at 5:02 pm
    
    Bernard Fay
  - Gender Traitor on July 1, 2023 at 5:08 pm
    
    👍🏼 Thanks!
hayeksplosives on July 1, 2023 at 3:30 pm

The Bee on getting around affirmative action ban for admissions:

https://babylonbee.com/news/harvard-to-get-around-affirmative-action-ban-by-asking-you-whether-you-prefer-bbq-ranch-or-soy-sauce
rhywun on July 1, 2023 at 3:40 pm

we don’t want to hurt the environment

Oh fuck off. Chasing away all the pizzerias and matzah bakeries isn’t going to have the slightest detectable effect on Gaia.
- Sean on July 1, 2023 at 3:42 pm
  
  Canadian wild fires say hi.
- hayeksplosives on July 1, 2023 at 3:45 pm
  
  Environment is a cudgel used to best people into doing eat you want them to or not doing what you don’t want them to. Or for making bucks.
  
  Why this isn’t more obvious to more people I cannot understand. I suppose that’s why they have to have it indoctrinated like a religion from an early age.
- creech on July 1, 2023 at 4:05 pm
  
  Kids think not using a straw at lunch in the cafeteria is making a meaningful contribution. I’d like to see how many will be willing to give up driving until they are 21 or going on vacation in order to really reduce their carbon footprint.
  - Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 4:56 pm
    
    I think a lot of them would absolutely give up driving. The kids are not what they used to be.
- Chafed on July 1, 2023 at 4:39 pm
  
  But it does punish wrong thinkers.
- Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 4:45 pm
  
  This shit is meant to divide and sow chaos and resentment.
hayeksplosives on July 1, 2023 at 3:56 pm

This has been on the Babylon Bee’s sidebar for at least a week but I only just watched it today.

Funny shit.

https://youtu.be/bmlPM2GVtik
Zwak , “There is infinite amount of hope in the universe… just not for us.” on July 1, 2023 at 4:11 pm

I don’t think you have it quite right. They don’t hate joy, they hate unapproved joy. The idea of people doing things that they think are “bad” drives them to rage.
- Chafed on July 1, 2023 at 4:43 pm
  
  It seems like their only joy is destroying other people’s joy.
Tundra on July 1, 2023 at 4:29 pm

https://youtu.be/WQU2ff3d5Nk

Relevant
Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 4:51 pm

There is a particular class of pipe organ music that is distonal with weird chord progressions. Add the English Horn pipes to the mix and I want to strangle someone.
Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 4:59 pm

I thought everyone already knew long term usage of benzos was bad.

https://zerohedge.com/medical/study-finds-xanax-valium-associated-brain-injury-suicide
The Late P Brooks on July 1, 2023 at 5:02 pm

I think a lot of them would absolutely give up driving. The kids are not what they used to be.

Once upon a time, driving meant freedom. Freedom does not seem as precious as it used to be.
- Timeloose on July 1, 2023 at 5:12 pm
  
  A love of freedom and a desire for independence are still things some kid’s desire. They are increasingly rare however.
- Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 5:13 pm
  
  It’s strange. I know multiple parents whose kids have little interest in driving. My own are slow to take to it.
  
  I was on the asphalt on my sixteenth birthday.
  - Zwak , “There is infinite amount of hope in the universe… just not for us.” on July 1, 2023 at 5:14 pm
    
    My kid wanted to drive so bad. And then he moved to NYC.
  - Nerfherder (Non-Non-Man) on July 1, 2023 at 5:17 pm
    
    Well that would dissuade most.
  - Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 5:19 pm
    
    I won’t drive in NYC.
    
    I’ve been driving since I was 16.5.
    
    It’s awful.
  - rhywun on July 1, 2023 at 5:34 pm
    
    I won’t ride a bicycle in NYC, either.
  - Sensei on July 1, 2023 at 5:36 pm
    
    Smart move.
  - MojeauXX on July 1, 2023 at 5:47 pm
    
    I FLUVE driving. Won’t do it in NYC.
The Late P Brooks on July 1, 2023 at 5:10 pm

“Czech style Pilsner”

That could mean anything, these days. The beer business seems to have gone all in for obscurantist jargon when they are not randomly redefining previously comprehensible terms. I bought something a while back labeled as “ale”. It was a revolting syrupy brown goo.