Saturday Morning Detox Links

by | Apr 6, 2024 | Daily Links | 149 comments

Spud is back in town and you know what that means… yes, wretched excess, and excessive excess, for that matter. Spoiled grape juice can really play havoc on one’s body at my age. It’s compounded by the fact that I really don’t drink much when he’s not here, so I lost the callus layer surrounding my liver. Tomb Raider is spending the weekend remotely (her kids are in town) so she’s missing the spectacle and much opportunity for mockery.

Speaking of age, there are birthdays today, but a deficit of ones I find Notable. Nonetheless, we can mention a guy whose birthday was also last week (how that happens is beyond me…); proof that the Irish can swing; a brilliant scientist who stepped on the third rail of honesty; a rancher who supplied Woody Allen; a guy who taught me that if you speak English with a German accent, you’ll make Germans think you’re speaking German; one of our better outlaws; one fourth of the funniest and cleverest quartet this side of Monty Python; the real secret identity of Pie; a cousin of mine who has made some of the best and worst films ever; a guy who knew everything; my dad’s fantasy woman (and she did have some spectacular assets); and the model for Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Let us Link.

 

“Right after Hamas publishes a report on an independent investigation of October 7. Now go fuck yourself.”

 

Let a thousand diplomas bloom.

 

“Go ahead, prove us wrong.” 

 

I’m sure this research was rigorous.

 

For all those people who made election bets with me, I like my money in crisp, clean new bills.

 

So much for the “Remain in Mexico” policy.

 

I would favor changing our constitution to let him be our president.

 

I often like to listen to music on a birthday, and I had a rotation of Gerry Mulligan playing in my office. This one came up and given that it’s one of the Old Man’s favorite songs…

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me. Wait, wrong book, I'll find something else.

149 Comments

  1. Ted S.

    the real secret identity of Pie;

    A man whose music is universally panned….

    • SDF-7

      Until the Mass Effect players who didn’t go with the romance option adopted him for their theme music, I suppose.

      • SDF-7

        Oh no, I got it — that was as close as I could come to a counter-pun, sorry. (I mean, I could have tried some convoluted way of saying it was all Greek to me or that people made such fun of his music he’s only remembered for the satyr-izing… but honestly, those are really reaching…)

      • Evan from Evansville

        I don’t have the spirit to continue that. I don’t have enough chest hair to compensate.

  2. SDF-7

    The conference, titled “Palestine is a Queer Feminist Struggle Against Imperialism,” took place at Rutgers University in New Jersey

    In more enlightened times that in and of itself would be enough for the nice young men in the clean white coats to take an interest.

    Morning, OMWC. One would think with Spud and alcohol it would be vodka (or wodka as my inner Pavel Chekov wants to insist… all such imbibing being invented in Mother Russia, of course), but I suppose you’re just too much a fan of the spoiled grape for that. (Funnily enough watched this last night…

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      They should try holding that conference in Palestine. I don’t even think that’d fly on the West Bank.

    • juris imprudent

      With allies like that, who needs enemies?

    • Spartacus

      I was gonna reply to this earlier but I couldn’t stop laughing long enough.

  3. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Israel should publish the review as they’ve already admitted they fucked up. Like it or not, public perception is important in a conflict like this and anything that can be perceived as pro killing food kitchen aid workers is a losing hand.

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

      I would say that public perception is more important that bodies in this conflict.

      And Israel is losing on that front.

      • SDF-7

        Are they really — or are they just amongst the “decolonizer” programmed AWFLs and our imported Islamic brethren who are, to put it mildly, a bit biased?

        I know that it doesn’t matter all that much because it seems those two unified are sufficient to cow the PPP Admin and all — but I’m curious whether the folks that already supported Israel post October 7th feel differently. (And here’s where JI leaps in to point out I’m in a bubble… which I probably am, being anti-social and all…)

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

        I would say that Israel is losing just as much as Trump is.

        Make of that what you will.

        (As an aside, it is telling that, until this aid worker kerfuffle, the pro-pali side was doing everything they can to erase the rapes that took place on 10/7, as they know that is what can push the AWFL to support the Israeli’s more than anything.)

      • SDF-7

        After 2022’s red fizzle — I’ve given up having any idea of what the American electorate will swing towards or tolerate.

        That an administration that makes the Carter one look talented both foreign and domestic, especially with the hit to the economy outside of the laptop class even has a supposed shot at reelection depresses the hell out of me. But I didn’t want OMB at this point so maybe, just maybe it wouldn’t be an emotional gut reaction vote from way too many people.

        And here we are. Shrug.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        We’ll see but at this point a Newsweek poll breakdown means about as much as a Breitbart poll breakdown.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Not just the 10/7 rapes, also the ones (and still ongoing) of the hostages.

      • juris imprudent

        [saunters by, looks, doesn’t leap]

      • rhywun

        They were always going to lose that front. It looked like it might go differently this time but no, instead we will be here in five or ten years watching the same thing play out again. Whee.

      • Drake

        They are losing all the diplomatic progress they’ve made with the Arabs and Turks. They have tied themselves to our dying empire, which seems short-sighted.

      • R C Dean

        I dunno. Nobody likes the Palis or Hamas except Iran. If the Arabs and Turks are pulling back from Israel, I suspect this war is a pretext. The U.S. government turning is probably a bigger factor.

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

        The split in the Muslim political world has always been Saudi Arabia vs. Iran/Iraq. And the US giving pallets of cash to Iran was never going to sit well with the Saudi’s.

      • Gustave Lytton

        They already lost on that front.

      • R C Dean

        Yeah, the Dominant Culture has hated Jews and Israel a long time, and cheered for the murder, torture, rape, and kidnapping on October 7. The conduct of the war by Israel has really changed nothing on that front.

      • Gustave Lytton

        The false distinction between Hamas and Gaza while keeping Israel unitary, allows groups like WCK to provide aid to one side while claiming the noble cloak of humanitarian.

  4. Ted S.

    a guy whose birthday was also last week (how that happens is beyond me…);

    One birthday in the Christian calendar, one in the Jewish calendar?

    • Grumbletarian

      He was born on a planet that orbits its sun once every seven days?

      • SDF-7

        Rocketed to Earth from his dying planet, he was raised by loving adopted parents and is now known to the world as…. WeekMan!

        Nah… probably won’t sell any issues or movies.

  5. SDF-7

    I would favor changing our constitution to let him be our president.

    I like your thinking and would subscribe to your website (looks around once again)… Heeeeyyyy!

    • Gender Traitor

      Or we could just surrender to Argentina and let them annex us. What could possibly go wrong??

      • UnCivilServant

        Everything.

        The next election they could go back to form.

      • Fourscore

        What color is the ribbon for 1st Place Loser?

      • R C Dean

        Hemp, I believe. And you get a very special note for it, as well.

      • R C Dean

        Note, knot, whatever.

  6. EvilSheldon

    Yup. I said that Trump’s polling was mostly battlespace prep by the left, and I was right.

    Oh, and good morning everyone!

    • R C Dean

      If polls are battlespace prep (and I think that is a safe assumption), then I wonder what these polls, released now, are supposed to accomplish. Seems a little early for the Fightin’ Joe from Scranton comeback narrative.

      But, yeah, as an indication of who will win in November, April polls are pretty much useless.

      • rhywun

        I guess they felt the troops needed rallying after weeks of doom and gloom.

        And it works – the left is out there crowing about Joe’s amazing polls, stunning economy, the works. They’re in full delusion mode that will probably last a good week.

      • prolefeed

        The article seems to be about “Biden’s winning the popular vote!!!”

        Which is … unserious.

      • R C Dean

        They handwave at the polling in the traditional swing states, as well.

        The unserious part starts with “April polling . . . “ and goes on from there.

      • prolefeed

        The election may boil down to whether the “they took away my right to kill my fetus” voters outnumber the “they fucked up the economy and took away my ability to pay my bills” voters.

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

        Yeah, the red fizzle in ’22 was definitely a referendum on abortion, and we will see what kind of legs that has.

      • CPRM

        Tiny mutilated ones?

  7. cavalier973

    Several musicians’ birthdays today.

    Rain Man has one of my favorite soundtracks.

  8. SDF-7

    “Right after Hamas publishes a report on an independent investigation of October 7. Now go fuck yourself.”

    “We shall bring in the unbiased academics of Harvard, Vanderbilt and other great American Universities to analyze October 7th and point out inefficiencies and how we can do better!

    But not Rutgers… those weirdos are just nuts!”

  9. UnCivilServant

    Arg!

    I got new glasses last night, and now everything’s sharp except the computer monitor. I can’t comfortably read anything on it at any sane distance. It kinda gets decent with me so far back I can’t reach the keyboard.

    • SDF-7

      I think Ben Franklin had some ideas in that space.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m sure he had plenty of experience with computer ergonomics.

      • SDF-7

        No, but he invented bifocals. I didn’t think I had to spell it out.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m already wearing progressive lenses, why would I go backwards?

      • SDF-7

        Well, the progressives love going backwards — why should your glasses be different?

        (Snark off — 1) Didn’t know and 2) Have been spared needing glasses so far in my life so don’t appreciate the difference…. I’ll assume they’re supposed to handle things and leave it at that.)

      • UnCivilServant

        I’ve had glasses my entire adult life. When you change prescriptions your brain has to adapt from the previously blurry world to the new focus. This takes a few days of headache and eye strain until you adjust.

        I’m already back to having the ability to respond to Glibness, albeit with some effort.

        By the eclipse I’ll be back to normal.

      • rhywun

        I left my “progressives” in a cubicle desk drawer in Jersey City where I haven’t visited in years. I *hated* those fucking things.

    • UnCivilServant

      And no, moving the keyboard is not a viable option.

      • Gender Traitor

        Does it help to Zoom in? I have the folding table holding my laptop pushed away from my chair to make room for a little pedal exerciser, so I have the screen view zoomed in to 120%. But yes, I do have to lean forward to type.

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

      There is a reason I have a pair of bifocals for outside and a pair of (perscription) reading glasses for inside.

      • UnCivilServant

        I tried changing glasses for comptuer use, but that was way too much hassle.

        Mostly I’m just griping because I haven’t adjusted to the updated perscription

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

        Like I said, one pair for inside the house, the other for outside.

      • UnCivilServant

        That works so long as they are the same pair.

        I will invariably lose the other

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

        Dude, what have you lost in your life that was important to you? You always struck me as being tres anal.

      • SDF-7

        I thought Tres’s thing was chubby chasing, not anal…. But hey, if that’s what he and UCS get up to, I’m not judging.

      • slumbrew

        The computer pair just live on your desk (with another pair at work). Risk of loss should be low.

        You can handle that.

      • Fourscore

        Trifocals may well be your solution. Works for me.

      • Ted S.

        Or progressive lenses.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Progressives work great unless you’re one of the people that can’t accomodate to the fishbowl effect.

      • rhywun

        Mine were seemingly built specifically to hinder my eyesight during the one activity where I spend most of my time – sitting in front of a computer.

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

        This is why I have a second pair just for close in things like the computer, cooking, using my lathe, etc.

      • UnCivilServant

        Other than my habit of misplacing them, I recalled the other problem I had with “different glasses for different places” My brain really hates adjusting to changes in perscription. Changing between everyday wear and computer glasses would just lead to new headache and eye strain, it was “pick one or the other you dolt” from my brain.

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

        Not to beat a dead horse, but the computer glasses are just the close-in part of my bifocals, so the change in prescription is one I made all the time with my other pair.

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

        That would be me. I love having the hard line between the near and the far.

    • Drake

      Welcome to the party. My progressives drove me nuts so I got PRK surgery (too old for Lasik). My distance vision is great now, and near vision is a lost cause without reading glasses.

      • UnCivilServant

        My last pair were also progressives.

        I’m just in the adjustment phase from new perscription. It’s getting better the longer I sit through it.

      • prolefeed

        I was told progressive lenses would click in and work after a couple days, once your brain got used to them.

        After a week of things constantly shifting in and out of focus, no adjustment at all, I said fuck it and tossed them.

    • That Guy

      Progressive lenses are meant for reading books or checking your cell phone. Looking strait ahead at your monitor puts your eye in the distance part of the lens. They just don’t work for normal computer use. I finally gave up and got a pair just for computer use. Holy crap! What a difference they made. Plus, now my “normal” glasses are distance only which made shooting much easier since now the sight picture was completely in focus.

      You really should try it.

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

    This mornings music is Medeski, Martin, and Wood’s Combustication REMIX
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qWk4xo36Jo

    Taking The Old Man’s Jazz, and putting a little top spin on it. If nothing else, check out the last track, Satan’s Church of Hypnotized Logic, as you just can’t beat some Bill Laswell dub.

  11. Suthenboy

    Good….evil *both palms up and down weighing style* good….evil…
    Ice cream….dogshit……ice cream…dogshit…

    Which to choose, which to choose?
    Hamas and their supporters can all go fuck themselves.

  12. Gender Traitor

    Is anyone else sick unto death of all the eclipse hype? We’re in the totality path here in SW/W Central OH, and all manner of chaos is predicted. I’m going to have to work that day, and I’d just as soon be able to do it without interruption, as somehow my coworkers will unreasonably be expecting to get paid on schedule. 😒

    • SDF-7

      Nope… I haven’t heard a thing about it (other than one article heckling the NY governor for having those highway signs say something like “Eclipse coming — use mass transit!” or something stupid). The benefits of the bubble I’m in, I guess. 😉

    • slumbrew

      Apparently we’re going to visit friends in NH tomorrow, which was news to me.

      I’d be fine missing it.

    • rhywun

      Does anybody remember an eclipse hitting the northeast around 2015 or so? I was in NYC, I remember the glasses, watching it at work, the whole deal. There was no hype at all. Maybe it wasn’t tOtAl?

      I’m about 50 miles outside the path now. Still lots of hype.

      • slumbrew

        I have a vague memory of an eclipse around then. It was cloudy, as I recall.

      • rhywun

        It was bright and sunny in Jersey City (opposite Manhattan).

        Probably wasn’t total now that I think of it. We were in the center of the path but the sun was not completely covered. Still very cool.

      • prolefeed

        We seem to be on track in central Texas to have overcast skies and then rain for the eclipse. Maybe we’ll get lucky.

      • Ted S.

        August 21, 2017. The Monday after my niece’s wedding. Her marriage lasted about as long as the eclipse. 😐

        Southern Illinois University in Carbondale was in the path of totality for that one as well as the one on Monday. A look at the maps says Carbondale had 2:39 of totality in 2017 and gets 4:09 on Monday.

      • rhywun

        Ah, that’s the one. OK… NYC was a few hundred miles north of totality. That means I only saw a bite taken out, IIRC.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Listen, when the giant serpant that’s wrapped around the earth swallows the sun it’s a big deal no matter what you say.

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

        So, you are saying Trumps rape squad is going to capture the entire planet?

    • Grumbletarian

      Austin area here. I really hope it’s cloudy on Monday. Weather seems to indicate it will be, which makes my eclipse Grinch happy.

    • creech

      Hope you guys survive the total eclipse carnage. Here in the mid Atlantic region, we are still dealing with all the corpses from the earthquake and starvation from the cataclysmic collapse of the Baltimore train bridge on the supply chain. At least it has temporarily driven the daily yoot murders off the evening news.

      • SDF-7

        Hope you guys survive the total eclipse carnage.

        Every now and then I fall apart.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Nova Scotia appears to be slightly off the path this time.

      • Gender Traitor

        Just as well – the Lear jet’s in for maintenance.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        David Cassidy is bummed…..

    • Nephilium

      I’ve been laughing at most of it. I got a pair of beer glasses and eclipse glasses, and the girlfriend and I are going to be heading downtown to watch it.

    • Shpip

      I took the missus to Nashville back in ’17 for the eclipse. She was kinda “meh” about the whole thing, until the sun disappeared. Then it was “WOW!

      So we’re about to board a plane en route to San Antonio, heading to Fredericksburg, TX for Monday’s show. I’ve only been planning this trip for three years. I chose Texas because the odds of clear weather were the best along the path of totality. So of course, the weather forecast calls for the entire state to be socked in my clouds.

      That’s how it goes, I guess. You play the odds and take your chances. At the very least, I’ll get a fun few days along the Riverwalk before heading to Denver for a conference.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    Supporters view them as liberating. Skeptics, however, worry over their educational quality.

    Skeptics, like Randi Weingarten? You could knock me down with a feather.

  14. SDF-7

    I played https://squaredle.com/xp 04/06:
    *20/20 words (+1 bonus word)
    🎯 In the top 22% by accuracy

    I played https://squaredle.com 04/06:
    *50/50 words (+7 bonus words)
    🎯 Perfect accuracy
    🔥 Solve streak: 316

  15. The Late P Brooks

    There is no single regulatory body monitoring microschools, which experts fear means there are no quality backstops to ensure kids are receiving an adequate education.

    *gasps, falls out of chair*

    • prolefeed

      U like, say, Baltimore or other inner city schools, which have excellent education from all that expert monitoring.

    • CPRM

      BURNED DOWN

      ‘The door to the Senator’s office sustained moderate fire damage, and the third floor and floors below sustained significant water damage,’ said the Burlington Fire Department.

  16. Common Tater

    “Middle school in ultra-liberal Massachusetts town is convulsed by chaos after white parents accuse black and Hispanic Christian staffers of transphobia… only for their targets to hit back and call them racist

    Transgender audience members and their supporters could be seen rolling their eyes and grimacing. They also clicked their fingers instead of applauding over fears clapping hands causes distress to anyone with sensory issues.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13278081/Liberal-massachusetts-amherst-school-transphobia-racism.html

    This is like South Park.

    • rhywun

      They nailed this shit ten or twelve years ago. It is exactly like living in one of those episodes.

      This shit stops when something more serious comes along. I hate to think it but we are in need of something that will smack the stupid out of us.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        War is coming soon enough,

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

      This is the elite eight of the progressive stack. Which grievances make it to the final four is gonna be lit!

  17. Common Tater

    “A 23-year-old Florida woman who posed online as a 14-year-old girl to meet and molest a teenage boy has been hit with additional charges, officials said.

    Alyssa Ann Zinger, of Tampa, was arrested for the second time on Thursday and charged with additional sex crimes with minors after four more victims came forward, WFLA reported.

    She was first arrested in November for allegedly engaging in at least 30 sexual acts with at least one middle school student between the ages of 12 and 15 and sending explicit videos to several more, according to an arrest report.
    Alyssa Ann Zinger,”

    https://nypost.com/2024/04/06/us-news/florida-woman-who-posed-as-14-year-old-to-molest-middle-schoolers-faces-additional-child-sex-charges/

    So more like a hobby?

    • Timeloose

      Why do most of these types of women we see in the news look similar to blonde short eyes. They might be choosing the semi to very attractive types to push out to the national news wires. I’m curious if there is a bias at play?

      • Common Tater

        Look similar to blonde short eyes?

        From what I can tell they aren’t burying such stories about less attractive teachers. They tend to be in their 20’s. No idea why almost all of them are white.

  18. Nephilium

    The one mission I had for today has been accomplished. I have two each of the eclipse paczki.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Another victim of MAGA mind control

    Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign has been “hijacked by MAGA” Friday.

    Kennedy referred to rioters in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol as “activists” and suggested they were victims of an “outrageous miscarriage of justice,” in a Thursday statement.

    “His campaign has been hijacked by MAGA,” Kinzinger told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during a Friday interview.

    “Maybe not ‘hijacked,’ maybe voluntarily. And so, you’re gonna start seeing more and more of this kind of [former President Trump] conspiracies, and he’s either going along with it, because that’s gonna help him raise money and get notoriety, or he truly believes it. Regardless, he’s absolutely wrong, and this is a frightening thing,” Kinzinger added.

    I don’t know why Kinzinger is squawking about stuff more likely to siphon voters from Trump than from Biden. Except he’s a fanatical moron.

    • prolefeed

      He’s trying to convince Dems to not jump ship by portraying RFK Jr as (some kind of color) Man Bad, because he says a few sensible things. His target audience for these remarks usn’t likely Trump voters.

    • R C Dean

      Yeah, a little weak. The comments can be worth a scroll, though.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Kinzinger also responded Friday to comments Kennedy recently made on CNN, in which he claimed President Biden was a larger threat to democracy than former President Trump.

    “You can dislike Joe Biden, like, but you can’t with a straight face — this isn’t even… I mean, it’s not even subjective, this is like fact,” Kinzinger said.

    “You can’t with a straight face say that Joe Biden’s a bigger danger to democracy. Joe Biden has gone along with democracy as he’s president, he’s gone along with the rules of democracy. He’s not trying to overthrow any election results,” Kinzinger continued.

    Not yet, anyway.

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

      Yes, violating the first, second, forth and fifth amendments on a daily basis is a sure sign of “going along with the rules of democracy.”

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Honest Joe wants your vote

    Biden is planning to provide details of his new debt forgiveness plan during a speech Monday in Madison, Wisconsin, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

    The president likely wants to start forgiving debt for many student borrowers ahead of the election in November.

    Almost half of all voters, or 48%, say canceling student loan debt is an important issue to them in the 2024 presidential and congressional elections, a recent survey found.

    Forgiving student debt could especially help Biden with young voters, a demographic he’s been struggling with. Around 70% of Gen Z respondents said student debt cancelation was important to them in the election.

    Come on, now. What’s it gonna take?

    • CPRM

      I’m waiting for my bit to be be-goned. But I’ll still either right in Kanye or Milei come November.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    Prepare to be outraged

    Melania Trump is set to hold her first major political event of the year at Mar-a-Lago later this month: a fundraiser for Log Cabin Republicans, an LGBT Republican organization.

    According to Politico, which obtained a copy of the invitation, at the April 20 event the Log Cabin Republicans will launch a program to target voters in swing states.

    ——-

    The Trumps have had ties with the Log Cabin Republicans for years. Melania Trump was the guest of honor at its Spirit of Lincoln gala in 2021, where she received an award. Donald Trump also spoke at the same event in 2022.

    Evil Orange Jumpsuit Man just wants to manipulate those sad misguided gays who are so deluded about their own best interests as to think they are Republicans, for his own political advantage.

  23. robc

    After a first day with 4 draws, yesterday all 4 matches were decisive in the Candidates Chess Tournament.

    Nepo beat Firouzja
    Caruana beat Abasov
    Gukesh beat Pragg
    Vidit beat Nakamura

    • cyto

      After following one of your chess links, I started getting that cute Swedish girl in my YouTube feed. Scary how close they are watching me, but the algorithm did provide me with a couple of hours of entertainment I would have otherwise missed over the last few weeks.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    The Log Cabin Republicans, which bills itself as “the nation’s largest Republican organization dedicated to representing LGBT conservatives and allies,” occupies an awkward position in the conservative movement. The organization has publicly clashed with the anti-LGBTQ stances of various factions of the GOP and prominent Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Yet it has also, at times, avoided discussing the GOP’s assault on trans rights and tried to align itself with anti-trans outrage, as it did when it objected to the coincidence of Easter and the Transgender Day of Visibility.

    The April fundraiser will take place amid some of the GOP’s fiercest attacks on LGBTQ rights — including from Donald Trump — as Republican lawmakers enact anti-LGBTQ book bans, push anti-trans legislation in their states and escalate transphobic rhetoric.

    Stupid homos, either you’re with us or you’re against us.

    • rhywun

      anti-LGBTQ stances of various factions of the GOP and prominent Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

      Oh fuck off with that bullshit.

      Another way this shit never ends is if the gays don’t kick the trannies out of the club.

      • Common Tater

        Except it’s the gay orgs — HRC, GLAAD, GLSEN, Trevor Project, etc. — that are pushing the trans stuff.

        Donald Trump was for gay marriage back in the 90’s. Biden voted for the Defense of Marriage Act.

      • rhywun

        Those gay orgs were all skin suited by radicals years ago.

        There is a long explainer out there about how “trained Marxists” came up with the idea of latching trans onto gay, and they weren’t doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.

      • Common Tater

        They were always left wing. LGBT was already a thing. So they moved on to the T after they ran out of LG issues.

      • cyto

        They were adding the T when I was in college in the early 80s. Our campus group was the lesbian – gay alliance. They changed it to the LGB alliance right before I got there, and there was debate about adding a T. They finally added it with a hyphen. LGB-T. Dropping the B was still on the table. Many of my gay friends insisting that bi doesn’t exist.

        The T was definitely a subset of the G group culturally in that time. Butch lesbians were emphatically not trans, at least in my area. Angrily so. T-girls were taking estrogen and showing off their tucks. They were flamboyant and not really interested in being women. They were their own thing. “trans women are women” was definitely not a thing.

    • SDF-7

      “But right now I’ve seeing this guy that I met at like a sex party.”

      A porn star and the type of guy hanging out at a sex party… sounds like the recipe for a long term stable relationship…. surely you won’t be unlucky in love this time…

      Honestly, I wish the kids well — everyone deserves a shot at a stable relationship… but damn, way to stack the odds against you there woman.

      “If I do I want a surrogate it because I I don’t like the idea of carrying a child. I want it to be my child though. I do like the idea of like having someone and like creating a baby together, I think that’s really nice

      Wow… she really takes “let the little people suffer” to a whole new level there….

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        She used “like” correctly half the time in that sentence.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Hostage negotiation

    The House Freedom Caucus signaled Friday that they’re open to giving federal funds to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, but they have a few significant conditions.

    The conservative hardliners’ caveats include: They want the Biden administration to reverse course on its pause on new export terminal permits for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and for any spending to be fully offset by cuts elsewhere. Notably, Speaker Mike Johnson had recently floated a proposal to link long-stalled Ukraine aid with easing that same energy policy.

    Meanwhile, Biden is preparing to visit the site of the collapsed bridge on Friday, and Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young asked congressional leaders to authorize “a 100 percent Federal cost share” in a Friday letter.

    While federal funding to help rebuild the bridge has gotten bipartisan backing, the Freedom Caucus’ position shows the challenges ahead as Congress mulls its response. Johnson wouldn’t necessarily need those votes to pass a spending bill, assuming widespread Democratic support, but he could be wary of further angering his right flank, particularly with a pending effort to boot him from the speakership.

    And it’s not just Freedom Caucus Republicans who’ve cautioned against a hasty federal response to the Baltimore tragedy. Many GOP lawmakers have urged that officials exhaust existing federal pots of money before considering new spending.

    Priority based budgeting? That’s just crazy. That bridge has to be fully funded immediately, or the MAGA-tards win.

    • rhywun

      Tossing more billions into the maw of Ukraine is certainly an appealing part of the deal.

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

        You misspelled appalling

  26. The Late P Brooks

    “If it proves necessary to appropriate taxpayer money to get one of America’s busiest ports back online, Congress should ensure it is fully offset and that burdensome regulations … are waived,” the Freedom Caucus position reads, pointing to various environmental and labor rules.

    We should hire a bunch of Mexicans to rebuild it.

    Non-union Mexicans, using Korean steel.

    • creech

      Get rid of “prevailing wage” rules which increase a project’s cost significantly.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Expert analysis

    An analysis of financial data over the past decade by researchers at the Roosevelt Institute found the fast food industry has more than enough profits to raise wages without impacting prices and employment and have been hiking prices far beyond their operating costs for years.

    “In 2023 alone, the 10 largest publicly traded fast-food companies spent $6.1bn on share repurchases,” noted the report. “As with most industries, the fast-food industry has historically charged higher prices than their marginal costs. However, between 2014 and 2023, markups increased at an annual rate of 2.2%, faster than at any period since 1978.”

    Ali Bustamante, author of the report and deputy director of Worker Power and Economic Security at the Roosevelt Institute, added: “There’s really an opportunity here to revert profits back into workers back into the source of productivity for these businesses in a way that is going to be beneficial, not just for the overall economy, but certainly for these businesses in the long term.”

    There you are. Case closed.

    • rhywun

      So bizarre the boner the left has with “fast food”.

      • cyto

        And really weird accounting. I think a large chunk of the industry, if not most of it, is franchises. So some dude who poured his savings into buying a restaurant and running a small business. maybe he pulls down 6 figures. Maybe even $200k. But he works 6 days a week and he could lose his shirt any minute. And that is they cut that they want to eliminate. “charge prices higher than their marginal cost”. That is how those guys get paid. Why would anyone run a business at cost? Invest all your money and work for free for the rest of your life? Sounds insane, but that is what they are demanding.

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

    I finally got an estimate to fix the fence on my rental, the one part that got screwed up during the ice storm here two months ago. Just one estimate, as we can barely get contractors to look at things right now. $3800 to replace 30′ of privacy fence.

    So, I might not be making it to Honey Harvest this year. Just sayin’.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Surprise

    The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.40% on Friday, the highest since November 27. During rate-cut mania in December, the yield had dropped below 3.80%.

    Those moves in recent days and weeks added up, and they point to a gradual recognition in the bond market that inflation rates will be higher than what they’d been before the pandemic, that 2% inflation isn’t going to happen, and that the super-low interest-rate environment over the past 15 years – culminating in August 2020 when the 10-year yield was down to 0.5% – is over.

    No shit, Shirley?

  30. Evan from Evansville

    Marilu Henner is In my favorite comedy, “Noises Off,” in a film version of the play. Michael Caine, Carroll Burnett, John Ritter, Christopher Reeves, Denholm Elliot, Julie Hagerty and Mark Linn-Baker. It’s of a play’s rehearsal, it’s backstage-bomb, and the bomb for the audience in Act III. I also saw it off-Broadway with a couple of well-known actors as well.

    The hilarity of a play gone horribly wrong. Ingenious in every way, gloriously done with the pitfalls of performing both on and off-stage. It’s odd the film isn’t more well known. Perhaps I just know all the Wrong Sorts o’ folk. Or I should get out more. (<– Likely that last one.)

    • cyto

      Mildly rotten on the tomato meter. Not included with any streaming service, but available to rent or buy on 3.

      I really thought that once they had subscription streaming, the studios would include their entire back catalog. After all, it had been sitting around earning nothing for years. How naive.

      • Evan from Evansville

        It didn’t make any money and many apparently don’t care for it. Mesense its detractors are Brits: “The film’s problem is more basic: the attempt to Americanize a fine English farce about provincial seediness. It can’t be done.”[11]”

        Sure. Blue Collar seediness has never been done? Sure, cupcake. Get out more. And the film and American versions of the play don’t even attempt to be Working Class. A legit ‘complaint’ could be the difficulty getting film to work like the stage, but I never once got that sense. It’s…fucking perfect. That cast alone should’ve won critics’ hearts. Rightfully so. No accounting for taste. Especially for a US adaptation, especially if American reviewers are trying to fawn over themselves+ for ‘trying’ to be British, and therefore, smugly superior to other lesser mortals.

        No shit: Carroll Burnett, Michael Caine, John Ritter, Christopher Reeves, Denholm Eliot+ in the early 90s? Um. Sorry, bunches. I’m not the one missing out.

  31. Common Tater

    “She insisted that Israel is guilty of sexual assault based on its “colonialist founding,” saying, “[I]ndeed the practices of rape and sexual assault that have been well-documented during the founding of Israel and continued today are not an exception or a secondary impact of colonial violence but are part of the settler colonial White supremacist logics and practices of Israel that conflate colonized women with the land and nature and assume that therefore to dominate the land necessitates dominating Palestinian women’s bodies and their reproductive capacities from 1948 until today.””

    If you don’t have Russian, can I get Thousand Island?

    • cyto

      Why does no one ever call them out on this word salad.

      Corollary question – why does a reporter listen to Veep Harris talk about the brave women’s rights movement that only recently attained basketball tournaments and just nod along?