This may be our last Monday Links…we are all going to die in a frozen death-blast… or not. It seems like the first opportunity for weather panic in a while, at least here in the Chicago metro area.
Be that as it may, let us look around and see what Fimbulwinter might end;
- Sportsball heads on sticks. The best was Atlanta announcing the hapless Arthur Smith (no relation to STEVE or SEA) was fired at 12:01 AM. Ha!
- These asshats are still at it. Maybe Biden and Blinken need to send them a few billion more dollars?
- Dang…winter is a problem in this situation.
- Swiss news here. Just click “English” as a translate option, in your browser. Or read in German.
Appropriate music. The comments are open.
Wait, I thought we were all going to die because the Earth is literally on fire?
Satan always had a flair for irony, I’m sure other spiritual beings appreciate irony as well.
“These asshats are still at it.”
Funny thing those asshats wouldn’t be at it if the U.S. didn’t get involved. Iran was way more “liberal” back in the 50’s.
True — but in the shorter term I’d much rather we get back to energy independence and tell Europe and China that if they need the Middle East oil so badly, they can tell the Saudis and the Iranians what to do for a change.
And tell Israel their money is always good with Raytheon, of course. Which should placate Raytheon/Boeing/whatnot a bit. No, it isn’t WWIII — but get over it.
And then tell Ukraine the tap is shut off.
I dream big some days.
Now I have to slink off to rub one out because your comment got me so hard.
Only because the Brits propped up a corrupt western-friendly regime to keep the oil flowing. The 1979 revolution was social conservatives who had had enough.
US involvement or no, in 1979 the whole Arab/Islamic world erupted in an anti-western spasm. The Iranian situation was a result of that, not a cause. Remember, that wasn’t the only thing happening in the Islamic world, and somethings we tried (ha!) to help with, namely Afghanistan, with had also been much more liberal in the ’50s-’60s
“Or read in German.”
Do you know who else read German??
Herr Shicklegruber?
Frau Blucher?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv1Oi3K1vN0
Lili von Schtupp.
Mmmmm…. Lilli, Lilli, Lilli, legs, Lilli….
David Hasselhoff?
Hasselhoff.
Alan Turing?
Ted S.?
Most important news of the day
Hier
Sounds like a definite fon-don’t.
Hedy Lamar ?
That’s Hedley,
Tall Cans!
You can sue her!
Catherine the Great?
Marlene Dietrich?
The snow has started here in central Iowa; 6+ inches expected. First non-dusting snow of the season.
That map shows the chill front extending down into North Georgia — which gave me concern for my 4×20 class parental units. Funnily enough, according to the Apple weather app at least — it isn’t going to be too cold over the next few days (dipping into low 30s / high 20s.. but that’s usual for this time of year). But next Wed… they go down to the teens at night. If accurate, y’all should brace yourself.
Yes, in a week our high is supposed to be below zero (F).
“it isn’t going to be too cold over the next few days (dipping into low 30s / high 20s)”
In Tucson, that is Fimbulwinter.
6+ inches expected
Kinnath’s wife spotted rubbing hands in eager anticipation.
She learned her lesson and won’t ask for 6+ hard after Kinnath bonked her in the head with that snowball with a rock in it.
Tread carefully or there’s no more mead for you and your lovely wife.
ARTHUR SMITH PULLS SWORD FROM OUT OF LADY — CONSIDERS HIMSELF KING!
Fun hospital billing, if he is around, maybe RC Dean can explain it.
Had to get a prescription for my daughter last night, as it was a Sunday, all the pharmacies were closed early except at the hospital.
They charged me $2.28 for the prescription (20 pills) with insurance.
The “cash price” listed on the receipt was $406.
Out of curiousity, I checked around, and the same 20 pills run $20-$25 cash at local pharmacies (Walgreens/Walmart/Safeway).
WTF? No serious, WTF? I know no one actually pays that, but why the bullshit pricing? This is the kind of thing that causes the US healthcare system to get a bad name (there are, of course, legit problems, but that isn’t what is usually brought up).
I remember something similar when I screwed my foot up. Urgent care sent me home on a pair of crutches that insurance covered. The cost was several hundred on my bill, but while getting some pain meds, I saw the exact same pair of crutches at CVS for $25.
Related story: A buddy of mine was involved in a company that built fancy crutches. They were very nice and supposedly way better than usual ones. The company failed 99% because they could not get insurance companies to add their product to their “approved” list. My neighbor with a bum leg raved about them, when I gave him a complimentary pair. My buddy said their msrp was pretty much the same as the other crutches offered by insurance. The problem was that the process for approval was so convoluted and complicated that they couldn’t get it done.
I recently got a 30 day prescription ($14) from the hospital; that listed price was $5130…
I remember hearing/reading somewhere that that padding was to cover all of the non-billable patients that come through the system. The illegals, the medicares, and so forth.
Shitty, but apparently that is how it goes.
Most likely an artifact of the “chargemaster” days, back when hospitals would charge insurance companies at a discount off list price. The list price list, by the way, was often approved by the state; hospitals were treated like utilities in a fair number of jurisdictions. “Certificate of Need” laws are another artifact of those days, BTW.
That stopped probably 20 years ago, mostly, when Medicare and the insurance companies went to paying hospitals based on discharge diagnosis (DRG). The chargemasters hung around, with annual increases, ever since. They are the nominal cash price, which nobody ever pays.
All that said, drugs are probably a different deal. Pharma charges ridiculous amounts and then discounts the hell out of them in various ways.
Street value?
Speaking of weather; I have family that lives in McCall Idaho, and their snowpocalypse is forecast to be up to 24″ of snow with up to 50mph winds.
I’m too old and wrinkley for that crap.
In Texas, we get nothing. Dallas had snow forecast next Monday, now it is gone. It might hit 16 degrees, but it will be clear skies.
We won’t get above 60 for the next week and with the Santa Ana winds it gets brisk.
/SD
It’s going to get nasty in WA state starting Thursday.
Highs in the 20s, snow, then rain snow mix. I’m hoping to work from home later in the week; saving up the paperwork for then.
I don’t want to find out how well or poorly people up here drive in that.
Skunk Sprays Armed Suspect After After Pursuit on 210 Fwy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvYri9eCSw4
They called in a black and white unit?
Winter is
cominghere. But not for central Virginia. Supposed to rain all day tomorrow.Oh yay — they have their own Colorado bakery lawsuit. Presumably tougher since I doubt they have the First Amendment equivalent (as strongly — I’m sure there are platitudes, but Europe always seems to have ‘Yes… BUT’ clauses ready for it) and photography isn’t as clearly “art” or “self expression” — yes there’s an art to it… but capturing other people standing there versus creating something yourself from whole cloth is fuzzier.
Freedom of Association should rule — but we all know better.
Help a brother out
South Carolina catapulted Joe Biden to the top of the Democratic primary in 2020, and on Monday, the president returned hoping the state – and its Black voters – can help recharge his reelection bid.
The state’s February 3 Democratic primary is not competitive. But with many Black voters saying in polls and Democratic focus groups they feel disengaged and disenchanted with the political process, South Carolina – far from a battleground in the general election – will be the first electoral test of how deep a hole Biden is actually in.
During Monday’s speech, Biden nodded to the significance of Rep. Jim Clyburn and the Black voters of South Carolina, whom he has credited with turning the tide of the 2020 primary election in his favor.
You’ll never be authentically black until you pull the lever for a wrinkly old white guy who knows what’s best for you.
I would pay good munny for one of those voters to stand up and ask that coot why his head looks like a potato.
Because the sardine can key that some plastic surgeon installed in the back of his head has been twisted to its maximum?
Last week I posted this response to someone and I’ve gotten hundreds of likes:
“I still find it funny that the party that thinks we have too many old white men in charge keeps pushing the oldest, whitest man to continue being president.”
the state – and its Black voters – can help recharge his reelection bid.
Just say some more racist shit. That seems to work.
I find campaigning out of a church to be in very bad taste.
Why do the few dozen Democrats in South Carolina have to save Biden? I thought the DNC wasn’t allowing other names on the primary ballots in the name of Democracy™? Once they ‘save’ him, he’ll never waste a dollar on general election campaign ads here thankfully.
And technically it is supposed to kill tax exempt status. But as with all things — the magic (D) makes it all good.
That’s what she said!
Good to see the Nazgul found jobs after their boss took a fall. 😉
More seriously — an interesting song, a bit repetitive sounding, but that might just be because I don’t remember enough German so the rhyming syllables sound effectively like the same word. Nice base line, though. Thanks, Swiss.
With his campaign trailing in early polling of the general election and some even in his administration thinking he is too weak to be mounting a reelection, Biden has been trying to get the country to agree with him that the future of democracy depends on his winning. He made that argument on Friday in an impassioned speech near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where George Washington and his army survived a brutal winter and went on to win the Revolutionary War.
George Washington? Hasn’t he been unpersoned yet?
That’s going too far. Instead, they’re just rewriting history and saying he was fighting bravely on the side of government against insurrectionists.
Well, there was the Whiskey Rebellion and all… 😉
Speaking of Herr Biden and his stormy rhetoric (sort of) — I think Twitchy oversells this a bit, but it is worth a listen I think — even if most of it is stuff we’ve thought for years. If there’s actual evidence the House GOP has seen, that’d be nice.
Problem is — a House committee chairman starts talking about damning evidence he’s seen that hasn’t been / can’t be released — I start remembering Schiff-for-brains and the Russiagate damning evidence he was going to show any day now. We don’t need that from the other side — put up or shut up, man.
I just can’t stop laughing at Biden giving a speech against insurrectionists where the insurrection that founded the country arguably turned the corner.
It seems like the first opportunity for weather panic in a while, at least here in the Chicago metro area.
The first big storm here ended overnight. Snow clearing wasn’t that bad.
Though now there’s flood predictions as the storm hitting Chicago will turn to rain when it enters New England. At least, according to the current forecast.
1994 Morris Mini Cooper EFI
“I was born a poor, black man…”
BIDEN: “I’ve spent more time in the Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Delaware, than most people I know, black or white, have spent in that church because that’s where I started a civil rights movement…”
And Dr. Jill always has a bottle of hot sauce in her purse.
Should have a laugh-track on it.
It amazes me that his approval rating is as high as 40%, and he’s unchallenged in the primary. Partisan politics makes people so, so stupid.
He is unchallenged because the keep RFK out. And they will do anything to keep anybody out. They need the appearance of unity, otherwise the whole house of cards comes down. I remember when Ben Bradley challenged Bill Clinton in ’96. That did a lot of damage to the D’s, internally.
Civil Rights “Movement”?
Did it have something to do with bussing?
Or maybe pooping?
So Joe whips a black man with a pool chain and brags about his creds?
“Donald Trump named in latest Epstein documents: Sarah Ransome said he had sex with ‘many girls’ in email where she also claimed pedophile had tapes of the ex-president, Richard Branson, Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton
No such footage has ever been publicly uncovered. The FBI is now under pressure to release hundreds of items of evidence that was photographed during a raid on Epstein’s mansion in 2019 but that was never seized.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12939281/Epstein-documents-released-17-exhibits-unsealed-court.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12939923/Girls-taken-Jeffrey-Epsteins-island-gifted-Victorias-Secret-outfits-mama-bear-Ghislaine-Maxwell-ran-house-like-brothel-pedo-sex-girls-rotation-court-documents-say.html
Is it just me, or is Richard Branson turning into a caveman?
Sarah Ransome said he had sex with ‘many girls’
Are we still doing #BelieveWomen?
Wait until he’s pushing Virgin Insurance.
“According to the witness, Sarah Ransome, Hillary Clinton sent her henchmen to intimidate her friend after she went to the police in 2008 to report she was forced to have sex with Bill Clinton, Richard Branson and Prince Andrew on video.
“She was made to feel like a dirty whore and liar and wasn’t taken seriously,” Sarah Ransome said of her friend.
“A couple months later, she was then approached, by Special Agents Forces Men sent directly by Hillary Clinton herself, in order to protect her presidential campaign in 2008. The heavily intimidated her, ruffled her up (luckily she took photos as evidence) and was then forced to sign a confidentiality agreement which ensures that she can never come forward publicly implicating her husband,” the witness said.
Also according to the witness, her friend was given a “substantial payout directly from the Clinton Foundation to keep her quiet.”
“She was then given a substantial payout, directly from the Clinton Foundation to keep her quiet. She is 1000% certain that the FBI did a cover up and she has the individual names of Hillary’s Special Agent Officers involved in intimidating her. She was then forced against her will to sign a legally binding confidentially (sic) agreement on Hillary’s behalf for her eternal silence. If she breaks this agreement, she is dead,” the witness said.
The witness alleged she has footage of the Clinton, Branson, Prince Andrew sex tapes “backed up” on “several USB sticks” and said she has a kill switch just in case something happens to her.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/epstein-docs-hillary-clinton-sent-henchmen-intimidate-victim/
Sounds like bullshit. Hillary would have suicided her.
Back then, it wouldn’t have attracted an ounce of suspicion.
And if there were any Trump tapes in the FBI’s Epstein records, they’d have “accidentally” leaked them by now.
Oops.
https://nypost.com/2024/01/08/news/new-batch-of-jeffrey-epstein-court-documents-are-released/
“Let me say what others cannot: We must reject political violence in America. Always, not sometimes, always. It is never appropriate. The violence of January 6 was the extension of an old playbook from the threats of violence and intimidation,” he said.
He warned broadly that Trump’s movement – “the same movement” of January 6 – “isn’t just trying to rewrite history on January 6, they were trying to determine to erase history and your future,” he said, pointing to efforts to ban books, deny the right to vote, and “destroying diversity, equality and inclusion all across America. Harboring hate and replacing hope with anger and resentment.”
“It’s a dangerous view of America. A narrow view of America. A zero-sum view of America that says if you win I lose, if you succeed it must be I failed. If you get ahead I fall behind. May be worst of all, if I hold you down, I lift myself up,” he warned.
Isn’t that pretty much the Democrats’ platform?
So is political violence.
Isn’t that pretty much the Democrats’ platform?
Yes.
So is political violence.
Yes. The progjection is strong.
Overlooking that America was created by political violence.
And it was the solution to the slavery question.
Good point!
“Apple has begun paying the $500 million settlement to iPhone users in the US who accused the tech giant of purposely slowing down devices.
The so-called ‘batterygate’ scandal in 2017 was labeled ‘one of the largest consumer frauds in history,’ forcing users to invest in new iPhone models.
Now, three million owners of certain iPhone models who filed the complaint are set to receive around $92 for each affected model.
Apple agreed in 2020 to settle a class action lawsuit filed in 2017 that accused the company of purposely slowing phones over time – but Apple has not admitted wrongdoing…
Apple admitted in 2017 that it intentionally ‘smooths out’ the performance of its smartphones when a battery gets too old.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12939777/Apple-starts-paying-iPhone-customers.html
Nice. Where’s my money, bitches? I has a 6, 6s and still have an SE.
“New fast-spreading Covid variant may be more deadly than earlier versions, ‘worrisome’ study warns”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12938689/covid-variant-fast-spreading-deadly-vaccine.html
No.
They want you to worry some more.
*Checks schedule*
I ain’t got time for that.
New fast-spreading Covid variant may be more deadly
Probably not. But everyone seems to have forgotten everything typical about respiratory illnesses since January 2020.
From the side bar: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12938191/Pensioner-plunges-death-hole-dug-kitchen-gold-Brazil.html
Damn. Dude fell 130 feet down in his kitchen. That’s messed up.
That’s messed up
Don’t overreact. He was probably in his kitchen because his wife AND his sandwich had already fallen into the hole.
The left front tire of that Mini is really low. It’s incredibly distracting.
Where’s Jim Cantore?
Preaching to the choire?
PAGING SWISS! WE NEED A NARROWED GAZE ON AISLE 3! ESPECIALLY EGREGIOUS LATIN LANGUAGE REFERENCE!
We’ll get that winter storm here in Indiana, but at the end of the week I’m flying to Denver for some hockey games (and hopefully to hang out with Tundra) and it will be 41 and dry.
Belichick should be fired. Then replaced with a good GM and separately, a good coach. He’s been sucking at both since he arrogantly let Brady leave.
His real problem was not being able to pick an even decent QB since.
He should use another 6th round pick.
Mac Jones made the Pro Bowl in his rookie season, after Edelman had retired. Then Josh McDaniels went to Vegas and Belichick decided Matt Patricia and Joe Judge playing hot potato with the offensive playbook was good enough. Then when that failed utterly they got rid of the only receiver Jones was developing chemistry with and brought in another guy for the same money, and also brought in a new OC so he could learn a new offense … again. Meanwhile they were prioritizing defenses and special teams in the drafts and ignoring anyone who showed the ability to block rushers, catch a football or get separation.
Mammary Monday titties will keep you warm during the apocalypse.
https://archive.is/nECeT
Yanno, I don’t mind driving in snow. I like it, actually. But XX doesn’t like driving in the first place, she’s a nervous driver, it’s snowy outside in that sweet spot of slick slush, her eyes aren’t quite right (astigmatism), and she gets off at 9:00p so she’s going to have to drive in a bunch more of it at night.
I would rather take her to work and pick her up again than let her drive in this, but she’s 20, so I don’t LET her do anything. XY doesn’t drive because reasons so I take him to work and pick him up when it’s cold and snowy/wet outside. At least I know he got to work safely and will get home safely.
You must drive a snow plow. I hate driving in snow, even when I had 4WD.
Nope, just a sedan. Now, when I had my little flat-assed Honda CRX, I REALLY loved driving in the snow. It had a manual transmission, which was dope.
We need to get you and Shpip on a race track together
I have had the pleasure of carting Shpip around. I’m sure he didn’t think much of my driving. Of course, that could be because we were chatting up a storm.
Did you get Lion’s Choice ?
Good gravy. I wish I could bottle that memory of yours.
No, we went to Gates and the National WWI Memorial.
I am with you, driving in snow is a hoot.
Ice, however, sucks donkey balls.
Driving in fresh snow after the storm ends . . . . yeah that can be fun.
Driving home 20 miles in zero visibility . . . not so fun.
Update: The dock closed down an hour after she got there, so she’s home. I did tell her if there were a time the weather was such she didn’t want to drive, I would take her and pick her up, and she was greatly appreciative.
Fuck them guys too
Farmers blocked highway access roads in parts of Germany Monday and snarled traffic elsewhere with their tractors, launching a week of protests against a government plan to scrap tax breaks on diesel used in agriculture.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular three-party coalition infuriated farmers last month by drawing up plans to abolish a car tax exemption for farming vehicles and the diesel tax breaks. The proposals were part of a package to fill a 17-billion-euro ($18.6-billion) hole in the 2024 budget.
Git outta da way. Find another avenue of protest.
That’s what I was getting at in the morning linx
Find another avenue of protest.
They really should stay in their lane.
I’ve been watching the Weather Channel for ~30 minutes, and I think I’ve seen ~5 minutes of programming.
If you can read this story and not laugh you are a better person than I am.
I actually feel bad for the kids, but the adults in this story fucked up at every single opportunity.
Now the talents of the teachers/staff can be better utilized where they will be a better fit. Think of it as a challenge that will be appreciated in the future.
100% guarantee there was racism among the students even in a 100% black school. People, especially teenagers, will find any reason to find and create ingroups and outgroups.
How can they write an entire article and NEVER MENTION the people in charge of the school at the time?
“We used Common Core math to arrive at that figure. Your child, too, can learn this foolproof method!”
Read this story and weep at your own crappy lives.
I didn’t even manage to read half of this story and I keep seeing crap like this:
Sinclair Lewis > C. S. Lewis
“came from a place of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant advantage”
Somehow that advantage skipped the ‘Scores.
In a world of hand-me-downs only the smallest have enough clothes.
lolwut
To be fair, Socialists aren’t really people.
1/5 of a human?
Thread about renovating an old house built on top of a Revolutionary War fort.
Holy crap that’s cool.
+1
+ another 1
This is insane. Scrolling down to the sword at the bottom, my sixth great grandfather was a Revolutionary War soldier from Augusta County.
I enjoy seeing the old timber and plaster construction.
There’s a restaurant in Port Deposit, Maryland called “Union Hotel” because that’s what it was. They renovated it to reveal all the plaster and timber, looking very much like the house linked above.
Great food too, and the servers dress in colonial gear. The only silly bit is they have kitschy “patriotic” wreathes and ragdolls that belong in a trailer in Arkansas.
Caveat: I haven’t been there since 2010.
https://www.unionhotel-restaurant.com/m/index.php
Across the parking lot is a grungy biker bar owned by the same folks. It’s a cultural experience to visit both.
Road trip!
In Kentucky, there are houses that are old log cabins from, no shit, the late 1700s/early 1800s that have shitty siding on them and can be purchased for very little. And I mean very little.
If you find yourself near it, the town of Port Deposit is well worth the trip. All slate roofs, built on a steep hill.
Founded in 1608 or so. Some really cool pubs. Low ceilings! Several historic meetings took place there.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Deposit,_Maryland
NH AG sends cease and desist letter to DNC
New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella has issued a cease-and-desist order to the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee in response to its letter labeling the First in the Nation presidential primary “meaningless.”
“This Office recently became aware of a January 5, 2024, letter from you to New Hampshire Democratic Party (‘NHDP’) Chair Raymond Buckley,” Formella’s order reads. “In that letter, you state that the Democratic National Committee (‘DNC’) Rules and Bylaws Committee (‘RBC’) commanded NHDP to ‘educate the public’ that the New Hampshire democratic [sic] Presidential Primary Election scheduled for January 23, 2024, is ‘meaningless.’
“Falsely telling New Hampshire voters that a New Hampshire election is ‘meaningless’ violates New Hampshire voter suppression laws. See RSA 659:40, III; RSA 629:2 (prohibiting a person from commanding, soliciting, or requesting another person to engage in criminal conduct).
“Accordingly, this Office orders you, the DNC, and the RBC to immediately cease and desist from engaging in any conduct that violates RSA 659:40, III, RSA 629:2, or any other State election law,” reads the order, signed by Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell.
The primary ‘elections’ are meaningless, and the states should have nothing to do with how or whom political parties decide their candidates shall be.
Look like a hotel exploded in Fort Worth. Possible gas explosion.
I will say, I was not in Fort Worth, nor did I ask anyone to pull my finger today.
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/explosion-in-downtown-fort-worth-injures-as-many-as-10/
Ummmm…has anyone heard from sloper….?
Ma’am, I believe his field name is Dick SlashBalls
Pretty sure it was Cow Qaida.
Y’all Qaida waging yee-hahd
ha!
Fort Worth’s JFK memorial is a block away. He addressed a crowd in the rain before heading to evil Dallas.
I always thought the monument should read “he was fine after we were done with him,” but it must be acknowledged that Oswalt’s ties ran deep on the FW side, not the D side.
Oswalt was exhumed due to Warren Commission intrigues, reintered in a fresh box, and the ownership of his first coffin was subject of at least one lawsuit. I heard it sold for $80k.
That is weird about the coffin price.
Collectors can be very odd people.
Was there a Chipotle nearby ?
“B.J.’s Bean Emporium”
Time to fire up Live ATC from ORD Tower, it seems.
My internet is down. Does anyone have the Cal score?
Nice try.
Daily ray of sunshine
Holy cow. Or bull.
Glad he’s “fully healed.” His mom sounds like a tough cookie too.
Ugh. There is not enough fake wine to make this game tolerable.