308 Comments

  1. UnCivilServant

    Morning, Banjos.

    I’m surprised the Argentine Elections were not more heavily fortified.

    • Not Adahn

      There were obviously traitors, wreckers and saboteurs among the fortifiers.

      • AlexinCT

        He won despite the fortification..

        Which is why they will have to kill him.

      • juris imprudent

        They don’t have to kill him, his proposals will go nowhere in their legislative chambers.

  2. SDF-7

    First Libertarian President

    Good luck to him — South America seems to have an unfortunate tendency to resist economic reform, so he’s got a tough hill to climb. But some country moving towards liberty would be a nice change of pace.

    • UnCivilServant

      People accustomed to living on the fruits of others’ labors are loath to give that up before the guillotine starts falling.

    • Bob Boberson

      At least I won’t have to move to Somalia now

      • waffles

        Argentina is an amazing, blessed country. Not quite on par with USA but by far the best in South America.

      • juris imprudent

        The crazy thing is they were more prosperous (per capita) than the U.S. in the early 20th century.

      • waffles

        I spent a week in a mountain town there and hitchhiked to the ski area every day. Inflation was wild and that was before the recent hyperinflation. The people were so nice, I hope they’re doing well. That area overwhelmingly went for Milei.

      • robc

        Not really. There was a fluke rise in commodity prices that made them look super rich for a short while ( during WW1 maybe?).

        That said, it was much closer to the US than today.

    • PieInTheSky

      A libertarian Argentina would be a fantastic country. Climate a bit warm, but what can you do…

      • SDF-7

        I hear the food is interesting as well — too bad they keep being hostile to good chile.

      • Not Adahn

        Usually immigrants improve your cuisine. Unfortunately, those that went to Argentina were just the wurst.

      • SDF-7

        I did nazi that coming.

      • juris imprudent

        I see you’ve never heard of Patagonia – half or more of which is Argentine. Great skiing in the mountains too. As for Buenos Aires, just another big dirty city.

      • Not Adahn

        Patagonia is too overrun with pirates for my taste. And they’re all named Roberts for some reason.

      • juris imprudent

        Just the original Roberts.

      • Not Adahn

        What about “Famous Roberts,” “Authentic Roberts,” and “Famous Original Roberts?”

      • Ownbestenemy

        Beautiful country. Cordoba was a fun city, was there for St. Patrick’s Day, just before my brother’s wedding. Stayed at this hotel https://puebloestancialapaz.com/ and was an awesome experience. Buenos Aires was as JI said, just another big dirty city…with awesome cemeteries though.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Which that hotel was the former estate of twice president Julio Argentino Roca of Argentina. Some may even call him a genocidal maniac, but by God was a beautiful property.

      • robc

        Um..go further south in Argentina if you find it too warm. They have a wide range of climates.

      • AlexinCT

        I loved the steaks down there… And the ladies as well… One of the few countries in the Americas where the Spanish lisp was kind of persistent.

        Una maja con legua dulce….

      • Urthona

        It’s warm there? As a Texan I find this hard to believe.

      • R.J.

        I checked a suburb of Buenos Ares. It’s about 5 degrees warmer there than DFW right now. I do not know if they hit 106 like we do.

    • waffles

      we now know exactly how bad things need to get for us to elect a full ancap libertarian.

      • AlexinCT

        First we would have to get rid of the system that allows the powerful and the government bureaucracy to screen candidates they would approve of for the serfs to think their voting matters..

    • Grummun

      he’s got a tough hill to climb

      Hopefully he has learned something from the Trump presidency, that winning the election is the least of his challenges. Overcoming the institutional inertia, and the outright sabotage, will be a Herculean effort. He basically can’t trust anyone that is, or ever has been, in government to not be subverting his agenda.

      • slumbrew

        I’m skeptical about his chances to make an impact.

        Maybe I’ve become cynical, but electing a libertarian doesn’t make the rest of the country libertarian and they’ll balk at the “responsibility” side of liberty – the people will still want the Argentinian-equivalent of Uncle Sugar to take care of them. The necessary cuts won’t be welcomed.

        I’d love to be wrong.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Every journey begins with a single step.

        Or, you can’t find if you don’t look.

      • robc

        Converting to US dollar would be a big win and also doable. Anything else will be a tough fight.

      • juris imprudent

        I’d love to be wrong about things I know I am right about too.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        He seems to be intellectually curious and smart enough to learn from the mistakes of others unlike most pols.

      • Urthona

        Still he has about 80 iq points on Trump at least. And an actual desire to fix things rather than be liked.

  3. SDF-7

    White House Denies Reports of Tentative Deal for Five-Day Pause in Fighting in Gaza in Exchange for Release of at Least 50 Hostages

    I sincerely hope Israel is ignoring the White House on just about every front.

    My advice to the White House and State Department at this point: Don’t give up the country.

    • Urthona

      This feels like it would be a stupid move. The west keeps doing this only to incentive more hostage taking.

      • Urthona

        incentivize

  4. PieInTheSky

    First Libertarian President

    “Far-right outsider Javier Milei wins Argentina presidential run-off election” BBC
    “Far-right outsider Javier Milei wins Argentina’s presidency ” CNN

    It’s like they get their headlines in the same place. But BBC did not call Hamas terrorists because they wanted to keep a neutral tone.

    • UnCivilServant

      The guy sounds like a center-leftist to me.

      • PieInTheSky

        but he is against abortion. don’t get more far right extremist than that

      • AlexinCT

        Everybody in South America, being heavily catholic, would be against abortion…

      • R.J.

        The Overton window shifted so much that centrist sounds like far-right to useless journalist school dropouts who failed history class.

      • Bob Boberson

        “Far-right” is opposing anything the ruling class wants according to your average journalist these days.

        I’m not saying that that profession is overrun with spooks but if it was, would it look any different?

      • R.J.

        No. As it stands journalism is overrun by people who failed cosmetology school.

      • SDF-7

        So this is the Columbia School of Journalism?

      • R.J.

        PERFECT

    • R.J.

      I just hope his hair appears as a guest on Hat & Hair.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        It is a stunning mop.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The pork chops are the icing on the cake.

  5. SDF-7

    There’s A Powder Keg Inside The American Economy

    Oh noes! Economic and market forces might change and the market might shift! Quick… put pressure on all the companies to force their workers to come in and tax the shit out of them to try to prop up dying downtowns! Cities are forever — we must prop up the banks our urban centers!

    Yeah, I’m predisposed to not give a shit about cities if people don’t want to live there (if they do, that’s fine as long as they don’t force others to live their way) — but I’m much more sick and tired of people attempting to fight the tide of economic changes like King Canute is their patron saint. Let old things die and fade away and clear ground for new growth, assholes. I know, I know… harder to leech when new companies that need to pay attention to where the money is going are formed.

    • UnCivilServant

      I’m sick of people misconstruing Canute’s message. He was intentionally demonstrating the limits of his power, and that’s been bastardized into a foolish madman.

      • slumbrew

        HEAR! HEAR!

      • SDF-7

        Fair point — but as a cultural touchstone it is too useful not to toss out without the community footnote equivalent.

        Sokath, his eyes open.

  6. PieInTheSky

    First US state to decriminalise hard drugs may be set for swift U-turn

    I doubt drug decrim is the main cause of their problems.

    • R.J.

      Agreed. It’s the whole stealing/vagracy issue left unenforced that is the problem. What I can’t quantify is how many of those addicts would have been law-abiding, contributing citizens without their addictions. My gut feeling is maybe 3% were productive people prior. Would like other’s thoughts.

      • Bob Boberson

        I tend to think this is the case as well. I’m sure almost every one of them has a sad story to tell but very few could not escape those circumstances if they truly wanted to; exempting those with mental illness.

        Those that would in former days have been institutionalized are the ones I feel bad for. I’m not so sure insane asylums and poor houses were good things and I am very dubious that they should come back. That being said I don’t see a better alternative beyond fixing our family structures which goes way beyond the realm of politics.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, I remember an article out of Italy hinting that what works is families taking in and caring for them.

        That ship has long since sailed here.

      • Suthenboy

        Substance abusers are self-medicating. They are trying to kill pain: emotional, physical or psychological.
        Huge societal problems arise when jurisdictions create incentives and toss out disincentives. It isn’t hard to forecast how that is going to turn out.
        I distinctly remember when this shit got started back in the early ’80s. The warnings were loud and clear. The proggies said no, it won’t be like that.
        It turned out just as we all knew it would, including the lying proggies. The evil fucks did this shit on purpose.

      • prolefeed

        The question is whether the law, at the margins, resulted in a significant increases in formerly sober people becoming addicts.

        My gut feeling is, the law didn’t cause a huge wave of new addictions, but it likely meant people who used to hide their behavior from law enforcement now do it out in the open, and addicts from other states moved to Oregon to get the less onerous law enforcement regime. All aided and abetted by Oregon’s lawlessness, i.e. a lack of enforcement against crime allowing addicts to steal to pay for their habits.

        I could be totally wrong about this, of course.

      • rhywun

        addicts from other states moved to Oregon

        ^^^this^^^

        You get more of what you encourage – it really is that simple.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        It’s tough being a libertarian these days. With weed being legalized everywhere, it’s demoralizing that everywhere you go stinks.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        One of the bigger issues is that it allowed the occasional user to use more frequently, and gave addicts freedom to use out in the open. Combine that with Portland’s compete hatred and lack of funding to its police bureau, along with the allowance of camping on the street and it was a perfect storm for the shit situation we have today.

        Yes, it has attracted addicts from all over the west. Yes, it allowed them to push the boundaries of what the community would accept. And, yes, it was made possible by the left and it’s belief in The Noble Savage.

      • DrOtto

        My nephew has been going down this road for the last couple of years. He is now a full time panhandler/drug addict and proclaims to be free. He says he prefers it because he doesn’t have to work, pay rent/mortgage or deal with a car/car insurance. He says he used to dream of committing suicide while working because working was just so terrible and that he prefers living in a tent and smoking fentanyl to work. He has an outstanding offer from his mother (my sister), for a first class rehab facility if he wants to try again, but he has to be serious. If there’s a family member/friend he hasn’t stolen from, I haven’t met them. While he hasn’t had a hard life, his dad abandoned him and his brother while he was a tween. My dad/his grandfather picked up the slack after that. The funny thing is, his younger brother has enough work ethic for the both of them and is doing quite well. The older brother is clearly jealous of the younger brother last I saw them together. The long and short of is, I don’t know the answer, but until an addict wants help, good luck turning that around.

      • rhywun

        They are incredibly destructive, aren’t they? And yes, you can only go so far with blaming “nurture”.

      • Grummun

        A little devil’s advocate action here:

        Real communism (drug legalization) has never had a chance to work because wreckers and kulaks (crazy and homeless). Discuss.

      • Suthenboy

        *Walks around dead horse looking carefully*
        There is no skin left on it.

      • juris imprudent

        Never tried real legalization – not like there has never been real communism.

        Legalization would allow legitimate markets with access to legal and banking systems. Quality would matter, adulteration would be punished. Of course we haven’t solved the problem of drunks with legal alcohol, but we understand the limits to that problem.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        JI gets it. We legalized one aspect, but retain criminalization of all the other aspects. This is a recipe for disaster, which we are seeing.

        Again, it is that Noble Savage BS that gets us every time.

    • kinnath

      I don’t care if people destroy their lives with drugs, alcohol, or any number of vices.

      The issue is letting these addicts ruin the lives of other people.

      • juris imprudent

        So cold-hearted, you must take responsibility for those who won’t be responsible for themselves! /way too many Americans

      • kinnath

        Anyone that knows me will confirm that I am a total asshole — unfeeling and uncaring.

        The only truth is that you cannot help someone that does not want to get better.

      • juris imprudent

        You must help them, it is your [godly|civic] duty! Even if they refuse, you can’t give up on them!!! /Americans, religious or not

      • kinnath

        Most people don’t recover until they crash and burn then have to start over.

        Your only obligation is to help them hit bottom as quickly as possible.

      • juris imprudent

        You’re not arguing with me, you’re arguing with all of those other people.

      • kinnath

        Screaming at the sky today

      • Tres Cool

        Took me a couple times. Some great relationships, a couple of jobs, a few houses.
        Then I got it.

      • kinnath

        I’m glad to hear you got it.

        I know several people that were unable to get up off the deck after hitting bottom.

    • Not Adahn

      The problem with using 2nd order effects of drug abuse to justify banning drugs (as the root cause) is that’s a fully generalizable argument for banning anything (i.e. gunz).

    • Fatty Bolger

      Other states that haven’t decriminalized hard drugs are having the same problem. The common denominator is that they don’t enforce laws against vagrancy, squatting, and public intoxication.

      • rhywun

        It’s all down to the same postmodern “oppressor/oppressed” bullshit we’re seeing everywhere now.

        Bums are the “oppressed”, therefore it is only fair to let them shit all over the sidewalk and scream at passersby. And pretend that that is the “caring” thing to do.

      • juris imprudent

        Ironically, it is an attempt to erase their existence by ignoring them. Let the woke suck on that.

  7. PieInTheSky

    Elon Musk Threatens “Thermonuclear Lawsuit” Against Media Matters

    Sounds like what Putin would do. I am on to Musk.

  8. SDF-7

    GOP Secures All Elected Statewide Offices in Louisiana, After Republican Victories Saturday

    Hopefully the voters will keep them from going as one-party corrupt as the flip side states (looking at you, f’ing Sacramento)… but Louisiana has rather the opposite history of machine politics, so not holding my breath. Good luck to them, in any event.

    • R.J.

      Indeed. May Louisiana finally escape the curse of Huey Long. Imagine if it finally attracted big businesses and was able to address infrastructure problems. I know, I have a big imagination.

      • Suthenboy

        Fuck that. We have enough people here. I like things the way they are. I dont want collectivist shit piling up around here. We have enough problems as it is.

      • juris imprudent

        What may I ask convinces you that Louisiana Republicans are all cut from clean cloth?

      • R.J.

        Like I said, I have a big imagination.

  9. SDF-7

    Elon Musk Threatens “Thermonuclear Lawsuit” Against Media Matters

    At least it isn’t a Kraken. Given the stupid decisions from the courts over the years — well, good luck Elon. Doesn’t help that the PPP admin hates you.

    • Tres Cool

      Not really. Eyeballing it I see 2750ml/week. 2.75L/week isnt even a gallon,
      Clearly not a house with teenaged boys.

  10. Tonio

    I love the whining in the Daily Mail article on Milei. No experience, tantric sex, blah, blah… You have to get halfway through to find out he has credentials as an economist. The claimed seances with his dead dog are somewhat off-putting, but no more so than certain more mainstream beliefs and practices.

    • Bob Boberson

      Dead dog seances are still preferable to the satanists and pedo’s haunting the halls of our institutions

    • bacon-magic

      Tantric sex is obviously a great qualifier for a politician…they know how to f you.

      • Grummun

        But the fucking will be truly transcendent.

  11. Suthenboy

    A. Libertarianism in Argentina. Now pull the other one.
    B. Don’t stop shooting. When you have the upper hand, keep it.
    C. Most corrupt and inccompetent president in history. What to do? It is a real head scratcher. Seriously though, Harris? WTF.
    D. Cockroaches crying about the lights being turned on. News at 11
    E. What does SCOTUS have to do with Jan. 6? This is one for Siskel and Ebert.
    F. Bidenomics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWBiLeVy45k
    G. Bad idea is bad.
    H. Proof that only the good die young
    I. No. Dont believe it. Louisiana is the shittiest state, hands down. You dont want to move here. Hell, dont even drive through it, go around.
    J. MM is way overdue for a good nut-cuttin’

    Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxVlUxr4g3s

    • SDF-7

      No. Dont believe it. Louisiana is the shittiest state, hands down. You dont want to move here. Hell, dont even drive through it, go around.

      That sounds awfully like the Texan attempts to stave off Californians… Methinks you protest too much.

      As if the cooking won’t draw people in anyway….

      • Suthenboy

        I love that man. His death was a great loss to us all.
        Jr. HS…I had a friend whose father was buddies with Wilson. A few times when I ate with them Wilson would cook.
        The man taught me how to make crawfish bisque. I still cook it to this day and there are never any leftovers.

      • WTF

        I have one of his cookbooks, never been disappointed in a recipe.

      • mindyourbusiness

        Suthen, I gotta agree with you. I miss Justin’s show.

        Far as Louisiana cooking is concerned, one of the items on my bucket list is to eat my way across New Orleans.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Didn’t he endorse Cajun Spice Ruffles? I miss those.

      • UnCivilServant

        Let me guess, there are no Cajuns in those.

      • Pope Jimbo

        When I was at NAS Memphis, I was buddies with a guy from Louisiana. One time he was going to school at night (to get more people trained on the equipment they had two shifts of students) and his family showed up from some bayou. Since he was at school, me and another guy went out to talk with them and explain when their son would be available. Momma had brought a big pot of gumbo. She gave it to us and asked us to give it to him when he was done with school.

        My buddy and I took the pot back to our room. Then we decided it wouldn’t hurt to have just a little bit. Holy cow was it good. You can guess the rest of the story. We ended up eating all of it before he got back. All he got was a pot that was licked clean. Our only defense was that we had been eating at the chow hall for months and home cooked food was just too good.

      • slumbrew

        Jay-sus. How long did it take you to recover from the ass-kicking he gave you?

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t think Jimbo has.

    • Fourscore

      “Proof that only the good die young”

      Hey, how on here, I resemble that remark!

      • Suthenboy

        *counts on fingers*
        Dont worry, I am catching up.

  12. PieInTheSky

    THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF ARGENTINA, JAVIER MILEI:

    REPORTER: “Why do you call Leftists shit?”

    MILEI: “BECAUSE THEY ARE SHIT!”

    REPORTER: 😧

    MILEI: “If you think differently they will kill you!”

    https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1726379975761093091

    • creech

      Apparently Milei was once a favorite student of one of the Board members of the International Society for Individual Liberty.
      Maybe he is a “true libertarian?” Then, on the other hand, Ted Turner used to be a Rand fan, giving out “Atlas Shrugged” to his executives; Jane’s magic hoohah must have cured him of his Objectivist leanings.

  13. Brawndo

    Plans for Glib Gulch moved to Argentina?

    • slumbrew

      Yep

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Eh, unless Israel and Palestine actually stop fighting people will forget about Argentina pretty quickly.

      • juris imprudent

        People will REALLY forget about Argentina if Milei has any success at all.

  14. PieInTheSky

    A surge in gang-related killings has catapulted Sweden to top of Europe’s murder league & launched national moral panic
    For perspective, it remains at < 1/10th of the gun murder rate in the US.

    https://twitter.com/adam_tooze/status/1726228833177874786

    stupid Swedes

    • Not Adahn

      Fascinating. I can’t help but notice that they are looking only at murders committed with a gun. Because those murders make someone more deader and gives their souls extra torment.

      Their total murder rate might also be 0.1x the US’s, but then again it might not be.

      • Not Adahn

        Also 5.5 is not 1/10th of 6.7.

      • SDF-7

        The charts aren’t using the same axes. I think the Euro chart is per million – all deaths, so 5.5-ish per million. US chart splits suicide and murder and is per 100,000… so they must be going with just murder, and 5.5 is below 1/10th of 67 per million.

      • SDF-7

        Yup… no mention of cars, knives, poison, intentionally bad lutefisk or anything. That stuck out to me as well.

        Also not mentioned – US urban culture versus the rest of the country (isn’t most of our gun violence within like 5 cities/counties historically?), that we have a neighboring drug warlord society spilling into us with gang violence, etc. They have an immigration problem, I believe – our problems are quite different. So the comparison just doesn’t mean all that much to me.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, the reason Sweden and other similar countries don’t have America’s crime is because they’re not full of Americans.

      • UnCivilServant

        Another thing that skews numbers is the manner in which the statistics are collected.

        While it’s not sweden, I do know that at one point (it may still be the case) that the UK murder rate was reported based upon convictions for homicide. Unsolved cases and acquittals were not included. While the US number was any corpse suspected of being killed by someone else, even accidentally, was recorded as a homicide.

        Not sure what the swedesh methodology is, but I believe most countries report something in between those extremes.

      • prolefeed

        I’d go by, Sweden doesn’t have as many problematic big cities, and the attending gang culture. You live in Boise Idaho amongst a bunch of Mormons, your homicide rate is under 1 per 100,000. Live in Baltimore or St. Louis, it’s over 50 per 100,000:

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate

        My brother-in-law used to live a one of the better areas of Baltimore, and if you drove directly from there to the harbor, you passed through an area straight outta The Wire, where the homicide rate for those neighborhoods was likely well over 100 per 100,000.

      • UnCivilServant

        I believe when someone ran the numbers, removing just the top five cities made the US a shockingly safe place.

      • rhywun

        They note, and I agree, you have to take such data with a huge grain of salt.

        Official definitions of “cities” are not really comparable across states, especially north/east versus west/south.

        To some extent, what that table is really measuring is “to what degree did this city expand to include its suburbs”? Cities that didn’t, like Buffalo, appear much worse than many cities which did.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Shared culture also plays a huge part in it. When most people agree on the best way of living, then there are few opportunities for gangs to assert control. When two or more cultures rub up against each other with corresponding legal aspects, then there are lots of areas for gangs to have influence.

    • Suthenboy

      They cant have my guns. Keep flapping their jaws until they fall off. They still cant have my guns.

    • Suthenboy

      Dont be fooled. Gun grabbers lie. Every fucking word they say is a lie. I no longer bother reading their numbers or hear their arguments. it is all lies.
      No one ever wanted you to be helpless for your own good.

      Grant Parish, where I live: Most heavily armed jurisdiction in the US. We have had 6 shootings in the last 100 years if you discount the two suicides.
      Sadly that may change. People are emptying out of the urban areas and many formerly near-wilderness areas are beginning to fill up. Dammit.
      The spot where I killed my first deer is now a subdivision on a golf course.

    • Pope Jimbo

      stupid Swedes

      Lots of Norwegians I grew up with nod furiously.

      • Fourscore

        Insert Hand grenade joke/pulling the pin

    • Pope Jimbo

      I notice that they didn’t mention anything about those gangs and who might be joining them. Could it be the new immigrants that the Swedes let in?

      • slumbrew

        Pish tosh – it’s a bunch of blond Svens and Ollies shooting it out over control of the meatball trade.

        Definitely not a bunch of guys named Mohammed and Mohammed and… Muhammad.

  15. blighted_non_millenial

    2nd Monday back in the office and I make it to the parking deck before realizing I don’t have my laptop….

    • Bob Boberson

      One of the best nights sleep I ever had was in a sleeper car as a teenager. That being said they aren’t worth the money, the cost of a sleeper car is crazy.

    • rhywun

      Again? I remember they tried to resurrect the concept in the 80s.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Try to book a spot on Amtrak. Be prepared for a totes confusing experience.

      When I was working in Chicago a coworker and I decided to take the train back to Minneapolis as a lark. Booking the tickets was a nightmare. Their website sucks so bad.

      Everything on the train was analog. It was like going back to the ’70s. No wifi on the train.

      We had a case of beer and a bottle with us, so we had a blast.

      Still think that the St. Paul/Chicago route could compete (a bit) with air travel, but the train would have to be responsive and try catering to business travelers. Wifi, cabins where you could work remotely, cut out a ton of stops, etc.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, Amtrak goes down a lot easier when you’re drunk.

  16. Not Adahn

    NPR was aping their better’s characterizations of “far right” this morning, but also tossed Tomb Raider some juicer tidbits such as:

    Owns FIVE CLONED DOGS!

    Is going to make HIS SISTER the FIRST LADY!

    • Urthona

      I don’t get exactly what they are worried about. Argentina’s economy has been well and thoroughly destroyed for quite some time.

      They should rejoice that this is what it takes to elect a true economic liberal.

    • prolefeed

      At least it allows people who left to get their discharges upgraded to an honorable discharge, since that would help them get better jobs.

      This guy ain’t coming back:

      Brad Miller, a former soldier who was punished over the mandate and resigned from the Army, also said he received a letter and called on the Army to compensate soldiers who were punished and kicked out or otherwise resigned due to the mandate.

      He wrote:

      Many have seen this letter. I just got mine. When I resigned from the Army, it was clear DoD was breaking the law (and senior leaders were likely engaged in treason).

      Why doesn’t the Army ask me if I want my resignation converted into a retirement dated with the release date of this new policy, and along with it offer compensation for the command I was wrongly relieved of, compensation for the remainder of whatever my career might have been, and then offer me my adjusted pension from this month forward? Then offer the same to all others similarly wronged.

      DoD can’t fix itself. It’s run by officers whose loyalty is in question, and they’re in turned [sic] led by Cabinet & Administration level officials whose loyalty is assuredly un-American.

    • R.J.

      Heh. 43 out of 8,000 have returned. That’s pretty damning numbers. Enough time has passed that those individuals got decent jobs and now have a hardened hate for the government.

      • prolefeed

        Wow. Half of a percent?

        Good luck fixing that recruiting “crisis”, also known as “bad luck”.

    • Bob Boberson

      “Why doesn’t the Army ask me if I want my resignation converted into a retirement dated with the release date of this new policy, and along with it offer compensation for the command I was wrongly relieved of, compensation for the remainder of whatever my career might have been, and then offer me my adjusted pension from this month forward? Then offer the same to all others similarly wronged.

      DoD can’t fix itself. It’s run by officers whose loyalty is in question, and they’re in turned [sic] led by Cabinet & Administration level officials whose loyalty is assuredly un-American.”

      That pretty much sums it up. The way everyone in my chain got right in line with the mandate (with individual reactions ranging from “ I know it’s bullshit but, ya know, what are you gonna do?” To “I don’t want to serve with a traitor who cares more about their freeDUMB than their fellow soldiers!”) informed me how things like the holocaust and the Mai Li massacre happen.

      • Fourscore

        “Sarge says we gotta do it”

        The history of all wars

    • Ozymandias

      Every single member of our class that we talk to I tell the same thing (I tell it to reporters too when they ask, but they never print this part):

      1 – Do NOT go back. Let it (the volunteer military) collapse.
      Let Hunter Biden, Pelosi’s, Schumer’s, McConnell’s, Cuomo’s, etc. kids – and all of the elites and Progs – let their Prog kids die for McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, and Pfizer. THEN we’ll see some “systemic change” a la Vietnam when the draft came. It wasn’t until judge’s and Senators kids started occasionally getting caught up in the meat-grinder that we had the creation of the AVF.
      2 – The military, and your government, are at war with the American people; the country (unfortunately) hasn’t realized it yet.
      3 – You can get your backpay without having to go back or go to the BCMR (2 year backlog right now).
      Just go here and see our complaints in the Court of Federal Claims.

      I’ve never had a better case than the ones we have right now. This whole vaxx fiasco was wrong at so many different levels it’s impossible to plead them all within the page limitations.
      The cases only get stronger as time moves along, too. More criminality continues to leak out and we haven’t even gotten to discovery yet.

      • Ownbestenemy

        You do good work Ozzy, really damn fine work.

  17. SDF-7

    Nothing special today — though I stared at the main event longer than I should have for the difficulty rating. C’est la vie.

    I played https://squaredle.com/xp 11/20:
    *22/22 words (+2 bonus words)
    🎯 Perfect accuracy

    I played https://squaredle.com 11/20:
    *25/25 words (+3 bonus words)
    🎯 Perfect accuracy
    🔥 Solve streak: 113

    • Sean

      I played https://squaredle.com 11/20:
      *25/25 words (+16 bonus words)
      📖 In the top 3% by bonus words

      I played https://squaredle.com/xp 11/20:
      *22/22 words (+7 bonus words)
      📖 In the top 1% by bonus words

    • rhywun

      Dittoes.

      I played https://squaredle.com/xp 11/20:
      *22/22 words (+3 bonus words)
      🎯 In the top 11% by accuracy

      I played https://squaredle.com 11/20:
      *25/25 words (+7 bonus words)
      🎯 In the top 34% by accuracy
      🔥 Solve streak: 81

  18. Pope Jimbo

    Reading about how the Left is now using “colonizer” as a pejorative made me think about something I read/heard/learned a long time ago. The assertion was that the reason the US was better than Central America was primarily because the US was colonized by people who came to stay. The English, French and Dutch settlers all came for the long haul and made decisions based on that.

    Central America was where the Spanish went. They would go there to extract a bunch of wealth and then return to Spain to live. Their outlook was short term. Get the money and run. So things were done that were disastrous in the long haul, but financially beneficial in the short term.

    Maybe colonizers aren’t that bad?

    • Suthenboy

      How are things going down in South Africa? Zambia?

      • UnCivilServant

        They were stable until the decolonizers took over and started genociding the productive.

        Now they’ve got shitholes worse than ever known.

      • Drake

        Mark Steyn (I think) said that demographics is destiny.

      • UnCivilServant

        There is no such thing as destiny, just defeatism.

    • Drake

      Yep. The Spanish and Portuguese often did not bring their women with them and bred with the locals instead. The northern Europeans who colonized the far less populated areas of northern North America, brought families and settled permanently.

  19. Not Adahn

    Dear carnivorous Glibs:

    Oscars has resumed shipping nationwide.

    https://oscarsadksmokehouse.com/

    They make what is possibly the best ham I have ever eaten. I find their cheeses much less impressive but de gustibus etc. I have already sent my parents a ham for their Christmas dinner.

    • UnCivilServant

      Why did they stop? Was there an issue, or was it just the typical “Summer shipping moratorum to avoid spoilage risk”?

      • Not Adahn

        They had “issues” during the supply chain clusterfuck/general covid nonsense. It took them a while to decide it was worth it/necessary. Even during the winter they were only shipping to neighboring states.

    • Sean

      They make what is possibly the best ham I have ever eaten.

      it is quite tempting.

      • Not Adahn

        You just had their boneless one. I would think their bone-in would be better — that’s the one I always get.

        I’m trying to decide if shipping is cheaper than the gas/tires/wear form driving to Warrensburg or not.

      • UnCivilServant

        I drive up there just to get out of the house.

      • Not Adahn

        Speaking of: One of their guys just called me to ask when I wanted things shipped — they noticed I had written “merry Christmass” on my parent’s order and then asked if my personal order was for Thanksgiving since I had put a smoked turkey (and This )on mine too.

      • UnCivilServant

        How kind of them.

        I’ve still got fifteen homemade sausages in the fridge, and about a mile of pig intestine to go through before I order professional again.

        Is your turkey for thanksgiving? Will it arrive in time?

      • Not Adahn

        No, but I’ve already accounted for Thanksgiving dinner. I’m just loading up the cart since the shipping charge seems to be a flat $33.80.

        I’m planning on delicious smoked turkey sammiches for work lunches.

      • Not Adahn

        Also: if you want a shorter Meat Drive, try These guys.

        They use a MUCH heavier smoke if you like that, their pork chops and jowl bacon are particularly faboo. Sometimes they have shoulder bacon too.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Rachel Ray does not mention the ham.

    • R.J.

      I saw that and though “Oscar Mayer.”

  20. Pope Jimbo

    A complete mystery. Why are so many Spanish-speaking workers being robbed?

    A string of thefts and robberies mainly targeting Spanish-speaking construction workers isn’t just happening in Minneapolis.

    It’s a nationwide trend and the number of cases is “drastic,” HACER-MN Executive Director Rodolfo Gutierrez reported back following conversations with representatives for consulates of Spanish-speaking countries in other major U.S. cities last week.

    Although Spanish-speaking workers have been targeted for decades, he said, this was the first time that Gutierrez could recall a group of Hispanic advocacy organizations from across the country sitting down to tally it up.

    “There are so many people who are listening that immigration is bad, that they are taking out their jobs…and they are just reacting to that…attacking or targeting immigrants, or people who look like immigrants,” Gutierrez mused.

    Or maybe, the criminals know that the “Spanish-speaking” workers are illegal and won’t go to the cops?

    • slumbrew

      Plus tend to have cash since they don’t have accounts / trust banks.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        That’s the big one, a wallet full of credit cards is worthless to a robber.

      • AlexinCT

        It’s all part of the new socialist man’s path to utopia?

    • rhywun

      Is there anyone at all sending the “took r jerbz” message these days? Both teams – minus Donald’s fans – seem fully on board with the current situation, for different reasons.

      • Homple

        Both teams have been fully on board with free admission of illegal aliens, each team with its own reasons, for years.

  21. kinnath

    I know that no one posts these anymore.

    But I had this two days in a row. So, I am celebrating.

    Daily Quordle 665

    4️⃣5️⃣
    6️⃣3️⃣

    • rhywun

      Which one is even the official one now? I’m seeing some version at three different sites.

  22. Pope Jimbo

    Library cops everywhere weep

    “Famous Composers” by Nathan Haskell Dole, the 1902 edition, explores the lives of 33 composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. It was last checked out of the St. Paul Public Library in 1919, but it was never returned, lost to the ages — until this week.

    A Hennepin County resident found the book while sorting through their mother’s belongings. Library officials confirmed it was their book.

    The check-out slip on the back of the book concludes that it was last checked out in 1919.

    The St. Paul library system did away with late fees in 2019. At the time, it had $2.5 million in uncollected debt that when eliminated unblocked 42,000 library cards, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

    During the time period the book was checked out, Larson believes a late fee would have been a penny a day. According to his math, that would amount to a $36,000 fine.

    • UnCivilServant

      When I still dealt with libraries, the late fees would to up to the replacement cost of the book, and stop there. That might have been just the library system I was dealing with at the time, however.

      • The Last American Hero

        I worked for a library in high school. Fees did not exceed replacement value. In addition, there was amnesty weekend once a year, where if you brought the book back that weekend, fees were waived.

        The fees are not a profit center, and in some ways more trouble than they are worth. However, there had been a failed experiment before my time there with no fees. With no fines, people tend to just keep the books. But the threat of even a small fee results in a huge amount of compliance, at least according to the librarians.

        Also, don’t believe what you see in the librarian documentaries on the internet. Those are actors, and the stories they re-enact are not consistent with what happens after hours.

    • rhywun

      St. Paul library system did away with late fees in 2019

      It took less than two minutes to arrive at the fact that St. Paul bills you for the book if it’s 35 days or more overdue. And eventually sends it to a collection agency if it’s more than 30 dollars.

      • creech

        What if it was “Tropic of Capricorn?”

    • slumbrew

      How big of a commie symp do you have to be to think, “Man, North Korea really has got it all figured out”?

      • juris imprudent

        Not a big enough simp to actually live there!

      • Not Adahn

        He’s way too fat — he’s be killed and eaten immediately if he went.

      • Suthenboy

        Tankies are insane. It is as simple as that. Talk to one about any subject for 10 seconds and it becomes obvious that they are nuttier than a squirrel turd.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Don’t sell him short Suthen, maybe he’s just a douchebag.

    • Suthenboy

      They always call it paradise.
      The commies tried hard to sell the Soviet Paradise in Germany. When the Nazis marched on Russia they were horrified by what they saw. Mind you, Germany was no peach at the time but in comparison to Russia and Ukraine Nazi Germany was the paradise.
      The Nazis are often thought of as efficient killers. Horseshit. If they were so good at it there would be no commies now.

    • AlexinCT

      Marxists making money through capitalism? That guy needs to be sent to a camp, yo..

    • Grummun

      Isn’t that raised fist either Black Power or Polish Solidarity?

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Kill the Rich

    When you talk about the climate crisis, sooner or later someone is going to say that population is the issue and fret about the sheer number of humans now living on Earth. But population per se is not the problem, because the farmer in Bangladesh or the street vendor in Brazil doesn’t have nearly the impact of the venture capitalist in California or the petroleum oligarchs of Russia and the Middle East. The richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%. The rich are bad for the Earth, and the richer they are the bigger their adverse impact (including the impact of money invested in banks, and stocks financing fossil fuels and other forms of climate destruction).

    In other words, we are not all the same size. Billionaires loom large over our politics and environment in ways that are hard to understand without taking on the shocking scale of their wealth. That impact, both through their climate emissions and their manipulations of politics and public life means they are not at all like the rest of humanity. They are behemoths, and they mostly use their outsize power in ugly ways – both in how much they consume and how much they influence the world’s climate response.

    ——-

    But billionaires are a menace to the rest of us: their sheer political size warps our public life. Disproportionately older, white and male, they function as unelected powers, a sort of freelance global aristocracy who are too often trying to reign over the rest of us. Some critics think that the supergiant tech corporations that have spawned so many modern billionaires operate in ways that resemble feudalism more than capitalism, and, certainly, plenty of billionaires operate like the lords of the Earth while campaigning to protect the economic inequality that made them so rich and makes so many others so poor. They use their power in arbitrary, reckless and often environmentally destructive ways.

    Look at how Musk bought Twitter – a crucial news source for millions of people in disasters and journalists and scientists everywhere – and turned it into X, a haven for antisemitism and unfiltered lies, including climate denial and disinformation, or how he wields huge political power with his satellite network and other assets. As the New Yorker put it: “There is little precedent for a civilian’s becoming the arbiter of a war between nations in such a granular way, or for the degree of dependency that the US now has on Musk in a variety of fields, from the future of energy and transportation to the exploration of space.”

    Prepare the guillotine!

    • PieInTheSky

      Look at how Musk bought Twitter – a crucial news source for millions of people in disasters and journalists and scientists everywhere – and turned it into X, a haven for antisemitism and unfiltered lies, including climate denial and disinformation, or how he wields huge political power with his satellite network and other assets – look who is angry they no longer decide what the people read

      • rhywun

        a haven for antisemitism

        literal LOL and pretty rich coming from the Grauniad

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      “ The richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%.”
      They’re also largely responsible for the infrastructure, innovation, and production that allows everyone else their standard of living. Crazy cat lady needs to shut the hell up.

      • rhywun

        And horror of horrors, those 66% want desperately to join the 1%.

    • juris imprudent

      The richest 1% of humanity

      So 80 million or so people? Including people that author probably knows personally.

      • PieInTheSky

        just focus on the word billionaires

      • The Last American Hero

        It used to be millionaires, but then Bernie had to go and write that book.

      • UnCivilServant

        A million dollars isn’t what it used to be.

    • Suthenboy

      That is odd. Widespread prosperity invariably results in improved environments.
      Poor farmers in the third world turn the environment. into shit. So do street urchins.
      As always the goal here is to end the availability of cheap energy. Cheap energy empowers individuals. Such people cannot be easily ground under the heel. That cannot be allowed to stand.

      • juris imprudent

        Look at the environmental records of the those former workers’ paradises.

      • Suthenboy

        I wish I could find it again….a photo of Kazan USSR and the Volga river. The water’s surface was not visible. There was brown foamy scum 10 feet thick on the whole river.
        The photo showed where the foam had piled up at a bridge and was spilling over onto the roadway.

    • creech

      “Throughout the centuries, there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision (A.Rand)”…and then we smashed in their heads under our boots.

    • juris imprudent

      The Post article was real. What isn’t real is the stupidity of the editors in running that bit.

  24. PieInTheSky

    The important bit here is there are many countries with height limits above 18 metres for single staircase buildings. Many countries incl Japan with height limits below 18m have more fire deaths than us. Countries with higher limits often have few deaths eg Germany.

    Single staircase height limits that are too low aren’t an abstract problem – they are a huge barrier to affordable housing (and nice apartments with comfortable layouts) in the US and Canada, which is why they are starting to increase their height limits.

    https://twitter.com/AntBreach/status/1726528769698214094

    I did not know staircase limits were a thing

    • Not Adahn

      He likes to contrast the boxy North American multifamily building with nimbler designs from South Korea, China, Sweden, Italy, or Germany.

      Nimble buildings?

      • Suthenboy

        They are effortlessly nimble.

        What ever happened to Gilmore? He was gonna write a bit about words being used that way to sell shit. Meaningless but conjures up impressions in the mind to sway people.
        I was looking forward to that.

    • Suthenboy

      Neither did the Aztecs or the Incas.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    A few good billionaires among the saboteurs don’t justify the existence of the species. That’s why in Kim Stanley Robinson’s climate-fiction novel The Ministry for the Future, billionaires are eliminated as a climate hazard, their fortunes whittled down to $50m if they comply. Robinson writes: “There was scientifically supported evidence to show that if the Earth’s available resources were divided up equally among all 8 billion humans, everyone would be fine. They would all be at adequacy, and the scientific evidence very robustly supported that people living at adequacy, and confident they would stay there (a crucial point), were healthier and happier than rich people.” On a thriving planet, human beings should be human scale, but the super-rich are on another scale altogether, giants trampling underfoot both nature and our efforts to protect it.

    These are the people who should wield power over the rest of us; delusional two year olds.

    • Not Adahn

      Looking to fiction as a model for the real world is such a sign on intellectual depth.

      Also the rich are “too big,” but government officials are just fine and dandy being Deity-size.

    • juris imprudent

      They would all be at adequacy

      The aspiration to adequacy! Up from mediocrity, down with anything that rises above!!! The handicapper-general will deal with the troublesome ones.

    • Raven Nation

      BBC has a new podcast called Good Billionaire, Bad Billionaire: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0g7xj36

      The promo line is: “Simon Jack and Zing Tsjeng find out how the richest people on the planet made their billions, and then they judge them. Are they good, bad, or just another billionaire?”

      I’m just awestruck by the arrogance behind the concept.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Their formula will surely be agrees with me politically=good billionaire. A couple of judgmental twats appealing to a sympathetic audience of judgmental twats is actually good marketing.

    • Suthenboy

      She’s trolling, right? It’s gotta be trolling.

    • Fatty Bolger

      KSR has always been a marxist dipshit.

    • creech

      Future Robinson: “Why did you bring me to this ditch with all the dead people in it?”

    • Suthenboy

      Given the unbelievable corruption and incompetence of the Chinese culture there is no way in hell I would want to have anything to do with their space program.
      I remember back in the 80’s listening to Russian cosmonauts on shortwave screaming as they died. Fuuuuuuuuck that.

      • creech

        A former boss, a metallurgical engineer, never flew Aeroflot again after touring the factory where their Russkie planes were manufactured.

  26. Sensei

    The clown show at the real life HBO Silicon Valley TV series continues.

    OpenAI Employees Threaten to Quit Unless Board Resigns

    OpenAI currently has about 770 workers. Included in the list of names of signers was Ilya Sutskever, the company’s chief scientist and one of members of the four-person board that voted to oust Altman.

    • UnCivilServant

      “The board has decided that we shall see how many of you can be replaced by AI.”

    • R C Dean

      Wait, the tie-breaking vote on the board just submitted his resignation over what he just voted for?

      What a fucking clown show. El Gato had some scoop yesterday, that the four board members who voted out the founder and CEO, and the president and former board chair, had offered to resign. His take is that Altman can start his own company and have investors throwing money at him in pallet lots.

      I can’t even comprehend the level of dysfunction that would lead a board to do this in the absence of gross wrongdoing, which nobody has even claimed. And then to turn around within a day or so and try to get the guy they just fired to come back.

      • Sensei

        Wait, the tie-breaking vote on the board just submitted his resignation over what he just voted for?

        Winner!

        If you haven’t seen the HBO show above, I highly recommend it.

      • juris imprudent

        This is basically a MS subsidiary anyway, so what is all the hullabaloo?

      • Sensei

        They must not have had the enough board control.

        Bonus:

        SAN FRANCISCO—Microsoft MSFT 1.32%increase; green up pointing triangle said it is hiring Sam Altman to helm a new advanced artificial-intelligence research team, after his bid to return to OpenAI fell apart Sunday with the board that fired him declining to agree to the proposed terms of his reinstatement.

        Sam Altman to Join Microsoft Following OpenAI Ouster

      • juris imprudent

        At the cost of a $13B investment? That’s a bold strategy Cotton.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Turn this thing around

    Kyle Vogt has resigned as CEO of Cruise, General Motors’ autonomous vehicle unit, as questions build about the safety of self-driving cars.

    Vogt’s decision to step down, announced late Sunday, follows a recent recall of all 950 Cruise vehicles to update software after one of them dragged a pedestrian to the side of a San Francisco street in early October. The California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the license for Cruise.

    The company earlier announced it had paused operations for a review by independent experts.

    “The results of our ongoing reviews will inform additional next steps as we work to build a better Cruise centered around safety, transparency and trust,” the company said in a statement. “We will continue to advance AV technology in service of our mission to make transportation safer, cleaner and more accessible.”

    Needs more minority sociologist.

    • creech

      Pedestrians need to put down their frigging electronics and stop stepping in front of on-coming cars. It is shocking how many pedestrians are hit in Philly at 3am when they fail to notice a car coming down the street. Granted, most of the drivers are inebriated, but what does it take to notice headlights bearing down on you while jaywalking?

  28. PieInTheSky

    Inside the American Redoubt
    Christian conservatives are building a fortress — and preparing for anarchy

    https://unherd.com/2023/11/inside-the-american-redoubt/

    North Idaho has long been home to those seeking to escape the looming collapse of America. This is a region doused in frontier spirit; a land where people openly carry guns, and where bounty hunters still operate, tracking down fugitives hoping to bolt into Canada. It is here, on rugged fringes stalked by mountain lions, bears and wolves, that the American Redoubt was born.

    The Redoubt is both a prophecy and a movement: a pre-emptive response to the anarchy on the horizon. Economic meltdown, nuclear war, the lawlessness that will follow the total defunding of the police — all, its followers warn, could bring an end to American civilisation. And so they have started to prepare. First, by relocating to easily defensible ranches in the wilderness; and second, by stocking up on food, firearms and fuel. While their country teeters on the brink of bedlam, they are building a fortress.

    If the Redoubt has a Messiah, it is James Wesley, Rawles. (The comma is an affectation.) A former US Army intelligence officer, Rawles has spent decades preaching about America’s imminent implosion to thousands of Christian conservatives, and the importance of them retreating to the mountains. They first flocked to him in 1998, after his book Patriots, both a survivalist manifesto and a novel about the country’s descent into disorder, became a surprise bestseller. The Daily Beast called it “the most dangerous novel in America”; others claimed it “could one day mean the difference between life and death”. Such hyperbole only widened his appeal.

    • Ownbestenemy

      and where bounty hunters still operate..

      Um, its practiced in a lot of states.

      Sounds like prep work for the FBI/ATF to make a visit

    • The Last American Hero

      They didn’t seem so scary when I visited the amusement park. In fact, they seemed just like everybody else. There were even non-whites at the park, and they didn’t get lynched or anything, and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

      https://www.silverwoodthemepark.com/

    • creech

      “mountain lions, bears and wolves”
      Cats and dogs living together? I don’t think that will be permitted.

  29. R C Dean

    An epic clusterfuck at the airport this morning. I get there an hour and half before my flight. No problem – Tucson isn’t a very big airport, plenty of time. That’s pretty much my usual timing.

    Hah. All the check in kiosks were down, so there was a looong line for check-in. I had a bag which I had to check, so even though I had checked in the day before, I was stuck. I finally get to the front of the line after more than half an hour waiting, and am informed that they can’t check my bag because it’s less than 45 minutes until the plan leaves. I checked my watch – it was just under 40 minutes until the flight was scheduled to leave. No flexibility, even though it was their screwup. Standby-bay? Nope, not for me because your checked bag leaves even if you don’t, and my CPAP machine is in my checked bag (it’s why I check a bag at all). Rebooked me for tomorrow, but it’s a later flight, so I get to drive in the dark. Yay.

    As I was making my calls after this, I look out, and they have curbside check-in outside the door to the departures area (although not really visible from the check-in area). It’s a different level than where you come in after you park, it’s really set up for people who are being dropped off. Did anybody from American tell all the people waiting in line and missing flights that they could check in, and check their bags, right out there? Of fucking course not. So, if anybody had just said to us “you can check in right out there”, I would have made my flight.

    And, the second cherry on the shit sundae was that, as I was leaving I went to prepay my parking pass. The kiosk for that was out of service also.

    When did things just stop fucking working in this country, anyway?

    • Ownbestenemy

      Around spring of 2020 was the catalyst for widespread DGAF-ery

    • UnCivilServant

      Flying just isn’t worth the hassle.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Even PreCheck is just trash now, except I get to skip the E-Rape machine. Mrs OBE on the other hand has been flagged 4 out of 5 times as ‘random’ inspection and had to go through the E-Rape machine. Since credit card companies are offering free TSA PreCheck rewards, it has grown to where it is quicker and less of a hassle to go through normal security.

      • juris imprudent

        Yep. Just about anywhere on the North American continent and I’ll take the time to drive.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Yep. This is why I drove two days there and two days back for one night of visiting family. It is just better.

    • kinnath

      I had to travel to Wichita on business a year ago. I drove rather than fly.

    • Sensei

      That would be a day that ends in “y” in the metro NYC area for the past decade.

    • creech

      July 5, 1776?

    • kinnath

      I never check the CPAP. That is always in a carry-on.

      • Not Adahn

        Yup.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    “Investment”

    The signature broad, black hat — one of a handful still in existence that Napoléon wore when he ruled 19th-century France and waged war in Europe — was initially valued at 600,000 to 800,000 euros ($650,000-870,000). It was the centerpiece of Sunday’s auction in Fontainebleau of memorabilia collected by a French industrialist who died last year.

    But the bidding quickly jumped higher and higher until Jean Pierre Osenat, president of the Osenat auction house, designated the winner.

    ‘’We are at 1.5 million (euros) for Napoleon’s hat … for this major symbol of the Napoleonic epoch,’’ he said, as applause rang out in the auction hall. The buyer, whose identity was not released, must pay 28.8% in commissions according to Osenat, bringing the overall cost to 1.9 million euros ($2.1 million).

    While other officers customarily wore their bicorne hats with the wings facing front to back, Napoleon wore his with the ends pointing toward his shoulders. The style — known as “en bataille,” or in battle — made it easier for his troops to spot their leader in combat.

    It won’t even keep the rain off your neck.

    • PieInTheSky

      Man walks down the street wearing a hat like that, you know he’s not afraid of anything.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Are you saying he stands tall?

    • Suthenboy

      It is just a fucking hat.

      • Sensei

        If you have a free hat you have to have punch and pie!

      • Not Adahn

        They’re going to extract the DNA, clone Napoleon, and take over the world!

    • creech

      Nevertheless, there are more mentally ill people walking around believing they are a different gender than “the one assigned at birth” than there are folks who think they are Napoleon, Emperor of France.

    • Urthona

      True fact.

      The “pumpkin spice” that Starbucks uses contains no natural OR ARTIFICIAL pumpkin flavor.

      why?

      It turns out that people don’t care for it in drinks.

      So they use a combination of slices common in winter — coriander and what not.

      So when you drink a “winter ale” style you’re actually drinking “pumpkin spice” beer.

      • Urthona

        *spices

      • UnCivilServant

        Fun fact – “Pumpkin Spice” was Never about tasting like pumpkin, hense the word “spice” used in the term.

      • R.J.

        Look at all this triggering.
        Proud I am.

      • UnCivilServant

        What are you mistaking for triggering?

        Or are you unfamiliar with the psuedo-autist joy at sharing pointless little facts that permiates so many commenters at this site?

      • slumbrew

        Aktually, it’s “permeates”

      • UnCivilServant

        I lernd to spel from New York public scul.

      • juris imprudent

        I was going to go pedant-ape-shit over incentivize, but I refrained.

      • Urthona

        *refraned

      • R.J.

        This is all great. Now do it on Thursday evenings.

      • slumbrew

        I feel badly, R.J., but I don’t get paid to slack-off and comment here on Thursday nights 😀

      • Fatty Bolger

        I thought this was widely understood.

      • Urthona

        Just admit that I edumacated you.

      • UnCivilServant

        You’d have to come up with something not already known for that.

      • Urthona

        MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THIS.

        I’M AMAZINGLY POPULAR AT COCKTAIL PARTIES.

      • Suthenboy

        Pumpkin spice is to mask the flavor of the pumpkin. It makes eating pumpkin marginally palatable.

      • Urthona

        There is no pumpkin flavor. Read above.

      • UnCivilServant

        Suthen is talking about when the formulation was originally created, not the current overuse.

      • Urthona

        You’re talking about the before times long forgotten.

      • Urthona

        “pumpkin” is sort of a vague marketing term.

  31. Sensei

    Wall Street’s ESG Craze Is Fading

    Looks at those outflows. Now we can move onto the next progressive shiny thing.

    Aside from actually realizing this is bullshit and pushing back a big part of this is that there was starting to be some regulatory and industry pressure to actually have concrete investment criteria for being labeled as an ESG fund.

    • Urthona

      Very cool if true.

      • R C Dean

        It was always a luxury good. With investment models everywhere collapsing under 5% fed rates, ESG was bound to be kicked to the curb.

    • rhywun

      The true ray of sunshine

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      Dude should have bought a Miata, as opposed to ruining a classic.

      Fuel injection. Computers. Blech.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    The about-face comes after tightened regulatory oversight, higher interest rates that have slammed clean-energy stocks and a backlash that has made environmental, social and corporate-governance investing a political target.

    “This really is the result of too many managers looking to cash in on increased awareness and demand for ESG investments,” said Tony Turisch, senior vice president at Calamos Investments.

    Standard Wall Street bird-flocking behavior. They all fly in formation.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    “We found that the demand for ESG investing, by financial professionals working with retirement-plan participants, was more limited than we anticipated,” he said.

    Fucking billionaires, they only care about returns.

    • Sensei

      Dr. Raymond Stantz : Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money and facilities, we didn’t have to produce anything! You’ve never been out of college! You don’t know what it’s like out there! I’ve WORKED in the private sector. They expect *results*.

      • kinnath

        This one is up there with People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals . . as deep truths presented as humor.

      • R C Dean

        Let me throw in Loki’s speech:

        “KNEEL! Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.”

        Especially after the plague, it’s hard to argue.

      • kinnath

        I would agree that is true for a substantial majority of the population. But not all.

      • juris imprudent

        Not humor, but Nobody panics when things go “according to plan.” Even if the plan is horrifying! is another.

      • kinnath

        That is another brilliant line from a brilliant performance.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    After I retired, I needed a project car. The last car I’d built was a Factory Five Cobra, in 2003. It was so loud! I thought: Do I need to be driving a car that makes this much noise? The answer was no. So, I sold the Cobra, put the money in an account I called the Cobra fund, and, in 2021, I used that money to buy a Triumph GT6+ I found on the website Bring a Trailer for $7,900.

    Nice. And he wasn’t afraid to update/upgrade it.

    • R C Dean

      Concur. I got no beef with resto-mods, unless the car is vanishingly rare or historically significant in some way.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    When did things just stop fucking working in this country, anyway?

    I blame Nixon.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      HaHa!

    • slumbrew

      All that’s going through my head is “and Hamilton tries to go around the outside on Turn 1…!”

    • R C Dean

      Ya gotta admit, though. That bush got wrecked.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Nice bush!

    Needs more front grip.

    • Sensei

      And maybe just a bit too wet!

    • kinnath

      The 70s say hello

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Hotbed of hate

    Elon Musk railed against “bogus” media reports accusing him of antisemitism, issuing his strongest response yet after endorsing antisemitic content in a post on X that provoked outrage and alienated advertisers like Apple Inc.

    The backlash erupted last week after the billionaire Tesla Inc. chief and X-owner agreed with a post that said Jewish people hold a “dialectical hatred” of white people. That message has since drawn criticism from the White House as well as several Tesla investors. Walt Disney Co. was among the big corporate names that have distanced themselves from the platform formerly known as Twitter.

    ——-

    Musk has long drawn fire for promoting hate speech. His latest post prompted criticism from both politicians and some of the world’s biggest companies, who have urged the billionaire to better control content on his platform. A range of advertisers also halted spending on X after a Media Matters report found that several companies ran ads on the social media platform next to pro-Nazi content.

    Several advertising executives privately urged X CEO Linda Yaccarino over the weekend to resign in order to save her reputation, the Financial Times reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. But she has refused to quit, saying she believes in the company’s mission, the FT reported.

    Musk took a giant shit in their sandbox, and they’ll never forgive him.

    • R.J.

      Mark well the advertisers who are playing this fake game of leveling anti-semite charges to Elon. Don’t give them money.

      • kinnath

        The high-profile advertiser revolt includes some of the world’s largest media companies, such as Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Comcast, Lionsgate and Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent of CNN.

        Should be easier enough to avoid these groups. I already ignore all things Disney.

        What is Lionsgate known for?
        The home of such beloved franchises as John Wick, The Hunger Games, Twilight, Saw, The Expendables and Now You See Me, Lionsgate regularly releases 10-15 wide theatrical films each year, complemented by a slate of 40-50 multi-platform and direct-to-streaming titles.

        Fuck it. I may need to partially boycott a few of them.

    • Raven Nation

      “said Jewish people hold a “dialectical hatred” of white people.”

      He should just identify as a member of Congress from Michigan.

  38. Tres Cool

    What kind of turkey requires an ID ?

    Wild Turkey.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Fuel injection. Computers. Blech.

    Nothing wrong with a clean standalone engine management system. With the shit fuel we have now, it’s practically mandatory, especially for something which doesn’t get driven regularly.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Dude should have bought a Miata, as opposed to ruining a classic.

    He should have just let it go to the crusher.