STEVE SMITH TAKE OVER MONDAY AFTERNOON LINKS!

by | Mar 11, 2024 | Cryptids, Daily Links | 121 comments

HI FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN HOOMANS!

MANY GLIBERTARIAN HOOMAN TBTB NOT DO LINKS THIS WEEK. STEVE SMITH HALP! HIM REPLACE CHEESE PERSON. FOR TODAY. STEVE SMITH TOO BUSY MAKE CASCADIA FREE, AND VISIT HIKER AND CAMPER TO DO LINKS ALL TIME. BY VISIT MEAN…

SO HERE LINKS.

FROM STEVE SMITH.

  1. SOMETIME THIS HAPPEN WHEN COUSIN SEA SMITH COME VISIT. SORRY HOOMANS!
  2. WHYCOME THEM GET NOSY AND MAKE SILLY RULE? HOOMANS GOING TO THING SHOULD SAY “OH, BOTTLE HAS HEROIN” THEN IT OK!
  3. FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN HOOMANS, MAKE TRAVEL PLAN TO CASCADIA NOW!

STEVE SMITH MUSIC!

FREE CASCADIA!

About The Author

STEVE SMITH

STEVE SMITH

STEVE SMITH PROMINENT FOREST LAWYER. AND RAPESQUATCH OF IMPORTANCE. ONE TIME GRAND MUFTI OF CASCADIA. FREE CASCADIA!

121 Comments

  1. Tres Cool

    whaddup doh’

    FREE CASCADIA!

  2. Rat on a train

    I saw what looked like Steve Smith dressed as a leprechaun this weekend on the way to my sister’s house. Visiting or relative?

    • Gender Traitor

      Did your sister survive STEVE SMITH’S (or his relative’s) visit unscathed?

    • Bobarian LMD

      His hair was perfect?

  3. The Late P Brooks

    Where, exactly, is this so called blues festival being held? Wouldn’t it be helpful to include that?

    Fucking “journalists”.

    Same thing when you see n ad for some place with nothing but a street address. Blackfoot? Idaho Falls? Pocatello? Coeur d’alene? Poughkeepsie?

    • bacon-magic

      Timbuktu

    • juris imprudent

      Three guesses which Willamette waterfront is the reference for Willamette Weekly.

      • bacon-magic

        Even my shitty local paper puts the location at the top of the article.

      • juris imprudent

        Granted, I lived in Portlandia – before it was Portlandia.

      • rhywun

        Yeah if I wasn’t a map nerd and if Ursula K. LeGuin hadn’t written one or more books set there, I would have no idea.

    • B.P.

      I appreciate that both sides of that article claim that restricting outside food at the festival is a safety issue. How about just be honest, since everyone already knows. “We have an agreement with the food vendors to fleece festival-goers”/”I don’t want to pay 25 bucks for a mediocre burger”.

      • juris imprudent

        Everyone politely maintains the fiction.

      • prolefeed

        I’m not the least bit polite about getting ripped off like that. Quit going to ACL Fest after they kept tightening up checking everyone for food at the gate, tossing everything they found, then doubling ticket prices to boot.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Fine. But the whingers attending the festival have to be just as honest.

        No pretending you care about diabetic people getting healthy food. “We want to sneak in drugs and cheap beer.”

    • Animal

      Fucking “journalists”.

      Seriously. What a bunch of assholes.

  4. Sensei

    Automakers Are Sharing Consumers’ Driving Behavior With Insurance Companies
    LexisNexis, which generates consumer risk profiles for the insurers, knew about every trip G.M. drivers had taken in their cars, including when they sped, braked too hard or accelerated rapidly.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/technology/carmakers-driver-tracking-insurance.html

    TW – BI – why do any real work – summation of the NYT piece.
    https://www.businessinsider.com/cars-recording-data-onstar-gm-lexisnexis-insurance-rates-increase-report-2024-3

    Especially troubling is that some drivers with vehicles made by G.M. say they were tracked even when they did not turn on the feature — called OnStar Smart Driver — and that their insurance rates went up as a result.

    “GM’s OnStar Smart Driver service is optional to customers,” a G.M. spokeswoman, Malorie Lucich, said. “Customer benefits include learning more about their safe driving behaviors or vehicle performance that, with their consent, may be used to obtain insurance quotes. Customers can also unenroll from Smart Driver at any time.”

    Even for those who opt in, the risks are far from clear. I have a G.M. car, a Chevrolet. I went through the enrollment process for Smart Driver; there was no warning or prominent disclosure that any third party would get access to my driving data.

    Two thoughts. 1. People didn’t read the fine print. 2. Dealer folk who get comped on these turned them on.

    Oddly because Tesla has such connected cars they have pretty good explanations for data privacy and what they do and don’t keep and the limited third parties they use. My expectation is GM goes into damage control mode.

    LexisNexis is a New York-based global data broker with a “Risk Solutions” division that caters to the auto insurance industry and has traditionally kept tabs on car accidents and tickets. Upon Mr. Dahl’s request, LexisNexis sent him a 258-page “consumer disclosure report,” which it must provide per the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

    What it contained stunned him: more than 130 pages detailing each time he or his wife had driven the Bolt over the previous six months. It included the dates of 640 trips, their start and end times, the distance driven and an accounting of any speeding, hard braking or sharp accelerations. The only thing it didn’t have is where they had driven the car.

    • Sean

      The Times cites a GM company manual that suggests dealer salespeople could receive a bonus for enrolling people into the service.

      There it is.

    • juris imprudent

      …that any third party would get access to my driving data.

      Per third party doctrine, it was never your data to begin with and therefore you have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding it.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Interesting…anyone got a 1971 Dodge Dart for sale because an old car is going to be the only way to avoid this shit.

      • UnCivilServant

        “No cars without tracking may not be sold, and no classic car without a tracker installed may be registered for road use.”

      • B.P.

        I’d think it would be EMP attack-proof, too. Although getting gasoline out of a pump would be a problem.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Rotary hand- pump. Have to be a good one to pull up that much gravity.

    • Sensei

      BTW – these are other likely manufacturers you might want to check.

      General Motors is not the only automaker sharing driving behavior. Kia, Subaru and Mitsubishi also contribute to the LexisNexis “Telematics Exchange,” a “portal for sharing consumer-approved connected car data with insurers.”

    • Suthenboy

      I buy a car, it is mine. Everyone that doesnt own the car can kindly fuck right off.

      • rhywun

        LOL that’s cute.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      “braked too hard”. If my wife’s car starts tracking this and sending it to our insurance company, we are in trouble. For some reason she waits to the last minute to brake at stop signs and traffic lights. She’ll even keep accelerating when cars in front of her are slowing down or stopped. I have no idea why she drives like that. Telling her to knock it off because I’m the one who has to replace the brakes more often doesn’t work. Even our kids complain. It’s a miracle she hasn’t had an accident.

      • Sensei

        She must be related to mine. Same issue. Screams up to red lights and stopped traffic.

      • Fourscore

        Often new drivers do that. They are convinced that their reactions are so good that they can stop. Both my kids learned the hard way, a couple times each.

      • Mojeaux

        I explained to my daughterthat when I come up on a line of cars at a stop light, I pretend I’m a plane coming in for a landing and the game is to do it as smoothly as possible, and with absolutely no jerks.

      • Mojeaux

        Also, my mother tailgates. I don’t let her drive me anywhere. If we go somewhere I do the driving.

        Yeah, I drive fast. But it’s smooth, I don’t tailgate and keep a respectful distance, and I smoothly brake well ahead of time.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Ummmmmm……. This is news?

      How do they think GM turned OnStar from a cost center into a profit center? They’ve been selling user data for decades now. The best is that they collect data from you to sell even if you aren’t paying your subscription. You don’t get any of the benefits, but OnStar still rats you out.

      You need to disconnect the OnStar module if you want to “opt out”.

      Once you are in touch with one of their agents, simply let them know you want to cancel your subscription, and they should help you with the process. Problem solved, right? Well, not quite.

      You see, Onstar can still track your vehicle and collect private data even after you have halted its services. Corporations often read user data to study and utilize them for their marketing strategies. The only way to stop them from accessing your private data is to physically disconnect the Onstar module installed in your vehicle’s hardware

      • rhywun

        I would get my ass canned at the speed of light if they caught me practicing any of that.

    • rhywun

      I’d like to know why I get in trouble if I keep someone’s data seven years plus one day while these folks apparently get to rape your data six ways to Sunday and nothing else happened.

      • prolefeed

        I’m guessing you have fewer lobbyists than GM, and have bribed fewer politicians with campaign contributions.

    • Suthenboy

      Dude, if you haven’t noticed there is a lot of low-T going on these days. A lot.

      • rhywun

        “And your wife will like it too.”
        *winks, cocks gun sound*

  5. The Late P Brooks

    braked too hard

    Not braking hard enough is where the real problems start.

  6. The Other Kevin

    I didn’t realize STEVE SMITH was a power lifter. I should ask him to do an ad for our gym.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    Customer benefits include learning more about their safe driving behaviors or vehicle performance

    But will it help you lower your times on track days?

    • Suthenboy

      If they are selling my info, I want a cut. No? Fuck off then.

  8. juris imprudent

    The Bee understands words had meanings.

    Alleged January 6 protesters have reportedly reached out to the White House, asking to no longer be called rioters or insurrectionists but rather “undocumented tourists.”

    • Sensei

      That’s a win!

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Unanticipated

    As businesses nationwide grapple with rising borrowing costs and tighter credit, leading to strain in sectors like technology and retail, California stands out as one of only two states with an increasing unemployment rate over the past year, according to economic data issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The data suggests a weakening labor market compared to the rest of the country, where jobless rates remained flat or decreased.

    ——-

    In recent months, major players in the tech, retail and health care sectors have announced layoffs, signaling a broad-based shift in the state’s employment landscape. Companies like Sony Interactive Entertainment, Levi Strauss & Co. and Google have issued WARN notices, collectively impacting thousands of workers.

    “The labor market appears increasingly likely to see both slower gross hiring and increased layoffs, for the first time in this cycle, pushing down job growth in the spring,” Pantheon Macroeconomics chief economist Ian Shepherdson shared with Newsweek.

    California, the land of milk and honey- hemorrhaging jobs? Baffling.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Sounds like Newsom will be the perfect replacement for Biden.

    • Suthenboy

      Stupid doesnt really cover it. That doddering dunce has never had the truth pass his lips. Why would anything think it would start now?
      Answered twice to people defending Biden as being sharp as ever: “I know, that is the problem.” that tends to shut them up.
      I say stupid doesnt cover it because the truth is most of his support is grounded in TDS. The T isn’t there for no reason.

      • The Other Kevin

        Go back about 10 years, before industrialized propaganda, and he’d be polling at 10%. Presidencies are often sunk due to one issue, this guy has no less than six utter disasters. He can’t run on his record, so all they have is convincing people the can see into the future and know that Trump will be some kind of dictator.

      • prolefeed

        … despite Trump having been president already, and being significantly less dictatorial than the current Arsehole-In-Chief.

        Still exasperated that people actually buy such obviously bullshit narratives.

    • Drake

      Why can’t I carry in PA?

      • Sensei

        They are here to help!

      • Fourscore

        You can carry if you want to. Never stopped anyone with evil intents.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    I appreciate that both sides of that article claim that restricting outside food at the festival is a safety issue.

    My comment regarding the “safety” claim was server errored into oblivion. Safety, my eye.

    • Drake

      Outside food and drink is a danger to profits.

      • Shpip

        “There’s a whole festival ecosystem that goes into producing a festival,” Fuller says. “Food vendors are a critical part of our ecosystem. It becomes increasingly hard to recruit food vendors and support these local independent businesses that need festivals to sell when people are walking in with their picnic.”

        Nailed it on the first try.

  11. Shpip

    The Ballard Bridge in Seattle was temporarily stuck in its open position Sunday, and investigators continue to work to determine the root of the issue.

    Someone will write a song telling the tale of this event for generations to come. You know… a Ballard ballad.

    • UnCivilServant

      Will the Ballard Ballad mention the barriers set up to keep people from driving on the bridge? You know, a Ballard Ballad Bollard.

      • The Other Kevin

        There is a pool tournament organized to raise money for the bridge. It’s a Bollard Ballad Bollard Billiard.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        This is bad. Bad Ballard Ballad Bollard Billiard.

      • Tres Cool

        Make it british and work “bollocks” in there somewhere.

    • Sensei

      Will there be temporary bollards sung about within the Ballad of Ballard?

    • Suthenboy

      We are drowning in an ocean of idiocy, cowardice and gullibility.
      It feels to me like we are on the brink of the republic collapsing.

    • rhywun

      Yes, and I clearly remember the left being in anti-handshake lockstep.

      Because how much more anti-human nature can you get?

  12. Suthenboy

    Links:

    DEI is out strength!

    We had a festival here like that…long ago. It was great and very popular. Then Govt smelled money, roped it off, charged admission, heavily patrolled by uniformed goons and forbade food and drink not sold by chosen vendors. About three years after that, no festival. No one bothered to show up.

    Who?

    • Cunctator

      —“We had a festival here like that…long ago.”—

      Same when I lived in Long Beach, CA. Blues festival every year, bring your own refreshments or buy. They moved it to another (inferior in my opinion) location, lots of controls, no outside food. I think they made three before it collapsed from non-interest.

  13. Shpip

    When Congress printed up a bunch of money and gave it to the states during the WuFlu, what did the states do with it? Exactly what we thought, it turns out.

    Using variation in federal pandemic-era fiscal aid to states driven by the strength of political representation, we find that incremental pandemic-era fiscal aid to states was most likely to end up in the categories of general administrative service spending and employee pension benefit funding.

    Fiscally illiterate states got to shore up their underfunded pension programs, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer.

    • The Other Kevin

      I thought the skeptics would get at least some things right, but everything tagged as “disinformation” turned out to be right. Every. Fucking. Thing.

      • Suthenboy

        That is why they are so desperate to censor it.
        It seemed obvious to me from day one.

  14. Shpip

    In news that will surprise no one, Florida Man can’t keep out of the gutter(s).

    Coppers had this one handed to them on a (well… not silver) platter.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Hardest hit

    Milei warned Argentines that his “shock therapy” would make economic situations worse before they got better, and his government has increased the amount of funding for state-provided food welfare cards to compensate for expected price hikes. But other components of Milei’s reforms have included slashing federal agencies and gutting the Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity, which had special food welfare programs for trans Argentines. Payments for that welfare program have now also been suspended, multiple Argentine outlets reported Tuesday. Other social subsidy funds for LGBTQ+ communities are also emptying as a result of Milei’s budget cuts. “If it is not a lack of food, it’s a lack of rent and medicine,” one economist told Agencia Presentes, a Latin America LGBTQ+-focused website.

    Of course.

    • Suthenboy

      when the economy begins to improve the screeching will only increase and the lies doubled down on.

      • The Other Kevin

        Well yes, because while things will improve for everyone, some people will get rich, and we can’t have that.

    • Shpip

      gutting the Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity, which had special food welfare programs for trans Argentines.

      Government stops giving away free shit. Women and children zippertits hardest hit.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Wouldn’t trans-Argentinians be Chileans?

      • Tres Cool

        “zippertits”?

        What the…..

        You have my attention.

      • Tonio

        Why to trans ppl need “special” food welfare programs? Srsly? Everyone needs to eat.

        I believe that “zippertits” refers to the mastectomy scars which F2M transgender people love to show off. Once they become “men” they can go topless in public.

      • Tres Cool

        Today I learned……

  16. Aloysious

    Alt music for STEVE SMITH personalized struggle session.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    aka “price discovery”

    Armed with a libertarian ideology and a shock-and-awe economic doctrine, Milei has declared total war against the scourge of runaway prices. But his scorched-earth campaign risks leaving a trail of devastation that could haunt Argentina for years to come.

    Milei’s meteoric rise to power in November 2023 was fueled by a tidal wave of public frustration over the country’s chronic inflation crises. His radical free-market platform and uncompromising rhetoric resonated with millions of Argentines desperate for respite from the economic carnage.

    ——-

    Upon taking office in December, the controversial economist wasted no time in detonating a financial shock wave aimed at the heart of the inflation monster. In a gutsy opening salvo, Milei devalued the Argentine peso by over 50%, instantly shattering a decade of stringent currency controls. This body blow was swiftly followed by the explosive elimination of price caps and generous subsidies for vital sectors like transport and energy.

    The fiscal shrapnel from these policies embedded itself deep in the economic fabric of the nation, with public transportation fares projected to skyrocket by up to 360% and businesses bracing for their energy bills to quadruple.

    The collateral damage has been severe, threatening to plunge millions more Argentines into the depths of poverty. Yet, like a battle-hardened general surveying the smouldering ruins, Milei remains unfazed and steadfastly convinced that this path of creative destruction is Argentina’s only salvation.

    After decades of economic legerdemain, you can’t expect this stuff to shake itself out painlessly.

    • Fourscore

      No more checks in the check book?

      He needs to start a war and appeal to Joe B for assistance (in cash).

      Draw some red lines, that seems to work.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        A variation of the Mouse that Roared strategy.

    • Suthenboy

      Pols everywhere accustomed to generations of pandering to the masses’ greed, envy, laziness and cowardice are all shitting their pants. How long and by what means will they attempt to sabotage Melei’s efforts? They will because they cannot afford not to.

    • Tres Cool

      Some folks call it a Kaiser blade…mmmmhmmmm

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Indeed, the International Monetary Fund projects Argentina’s GDP to contract by a staggering 2.8% in 2024, a brutal economic sacrifice on the altar of disinflation. This deflationary tailspin risks trading one catastrophe for another, as a prolonged recession could cripple entire industries and obliterate the livelihoods of countless Argentines.

    A “staggering” 2.8%?

    As for the rest of that huffing and puffing, that’s where the idea of freeing the real economy comes in. Eliminate subsidies and price controls, and production will adjust.

    • prolefeed

      Does that GDP include government spending? If so, even this hostile source is inadvertently “projecting” that the private sector is taking off, since Milei has cut government spending by a crapload more than that 2.8% number, which is likely a junk projection anyway.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      I’m surprised they didn’t work climate change into that article. Do better, Daily Mail.

      • Tres Cool

        WaPo would have made Trump part of the problem.

    • Suthenboy

      Stay away from prairie dogs. I understand some keep them as pets…and they make great pets. Still, I will pass.

      • robc

        I see them all the time driving down the road. They are cute, but pass.

        Locals think they are vermin, so I will side with them.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    He needs to start a war and appeal to Joe B for assistance (in cash).

    Declare war on us?

    • Suthenboy

      That would assure the Biden admin would give them aid.

  20. Tres Cool

    Tres Ver 2.0 got his hearing aids today.
    Every year since 1st grade all students get a hearing test. It took until he’s a junior for anyone to notice he has approx. 30% loss in one, 35% in the other.
    After trips to audiologists, and MRI and x-ray (just to be sure) and picking out a set. He got them installed.
    Its 2024 and technology is great. Hearing aids can be tiny and unnoticeable, almost recessed as to be invisible.

    Not my kid. He picked out the 1950’s over the ear doodads that could very well hold vacuum tubes, He has the Forrest Gump equivalent of aural enhancers.

    • Tonio

      The 1950s version were a box the size of a compact transistor radio (ie, slightly larger than a deck of playing cards) and were worn in front shirt pocket with a wired earphone.

      • Tres Cool

        Like Diane Ladd in “Rambling Rose”.

    • Ted S.

      My dad got his a few months back, but has been back to the audiologist several times, claiming the hearing aids are distorting everything.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Not my kid. He picked out the 1950’s over the ear doodads that could very well hold vacuum tubes, He has the Forrest Gump equivalent of aural enhancers.

    Does it have the transistor radio sized receiver that goes in his shirt pocket?

    • Tonio

      Dammit.

      • Ted S.

        You threaded properly.

    • Suthenboy

      Suicide by rolling up in a rug after shooting himself 2X in the back of the head? Turning on Boeing must have been too much for the poor soul.

      • juris imprudent

        When did the Clintons become major Boeing shareholders?

      • Tres Cool

        …victim fell 7 stories down an elevator shaft onto 12 bullets…”

  22. creech

    Anyone hear about a new SAT test (taken on a tablet, not with #2 pencil and paper)where getting questions wrong leads to easier questions on subsequent questions, and where getting questions right leads to tougher questions? How much more “equity” can we stand before being a maroon means you’ll be in charge?

    • Suthenboy

      “How much more “equity” can we stand before being a maroon means you’ll be in charge?”
      Just look at a clock and you will know how long.

      • Tres Cool

        I mean, I’m dumb as a post. Yet people still hire me as a project manager….

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Meanwhile, down on the ol’ plantation

    Black activists, political leaders and supporters of diversity, equity and inclusion programs are urging Black student athletes to boycott colleges and universities in states that have promoted or passed anti-DEI policies.

    Their calls come as 81 anti-DEI bills that target programs at colleges have been introduced in 28 states and in Congress since the start of 2023, according to a tally by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Eight have been signed into law, in states, including Texas and Florida.

    After the Florida Board of Governors banned public colleges from spending state funding on all DEI programs in January, the University of Florida made sweeping changes.

    Earlier this month, the state’s flagship university announced that it had closed the office of its Chief Diversity Officer to comply with the Board of Governors’ directive.

    In response, the NAACP sent a letter Monday to the attention of Charlie Baker, the President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, imploring current and prospective student athletes “to reconsider any decision to attend, and compete at a predominantly White institution” in Florida.

    The letter emphasized the value Black athletes often bring to collegiate sports programs.

    “Florida’s dismantling of core representation and curricula is even more egregious when considering the all-too-often unseen business behind college sports,” the letter reads.

    “Football, in particular, is more than a game — it’s a multi-billion-dollar industry, with most revenue earned off the backs of Black student-athletes.”

    That job sucks. ‘d rather see you starve.

    • Shpip

      “Football, in particular, is more than a game — it’s a multi-billion-dollar industry, with most revenue earned off the backs of Black student-athletes.”

      Meh. As long as he gets playing time and his NIL check clears, I don’t think Qwan’Tavious is going to care about whether the Assistant Associate Dean of Inclusion and Belonging has her phony-baloney job or not.

    • Grumbletarian

      So the NAACP is openly advocating for minority athletes to stay away from icky wypipo, but it’s the institutions that are dismantling core representation?

    • rhywun

      That “segregation now, segregation forever!” guy is smiling from the grave.

  24. Grumbletarian

    I missed the noonish thread, so I’ll say it here: Thanks for the story, Animal. I really enjoyed it.