¡Desayuno con enlaces mexicanos, martes por la mañana!

by | Feb 11, 2020 | Daily Links | 435 comments

¡Buenos dias Gliberinos!  Its time for some links from around the world!

If you’re up for it of course.  There’s nothing here making you read my links.

¡Aye que locos!  All of you freaking out over this…wash your goddamn hands.  There.  We just cured coronavirus.

They can really party in Panama,

There’s a tasteless joke about a certain ethnic group running the world in there somewhere.

To be fair, modern art is often a bunch of trash welded together.

Hopefully, police unions here don’t get any ideas.

We’re paying for it one way or another.

I guess thats one way to cut the budget.

Tunes…lets see.  I’m in the mood for this.  Now get out and kick Tuesday’s ass!

About The Author

mexican sharpshooter

mexican sharpshooter

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

435 Comments

  1. PieInTheSky

    We’re paying for it one way or another. – serves you right, to be fair

    • Florida Man

      We’re paying for it one way or another-

      I say we forgive the debt and grant them independence. Buhbye PR.

      • PieInTheSky

        They can join the EU and be better off!

      • UnCivilServant

        You really hate the Puerto Ricans, don’t you?

      • Not Adahn

        Back in the Reagan administration, I was part of a touring orchestra. When we were in Coventry (UK) the congregation of the church that we were using as a performance venue gave a concert in appreciation. So I got to witness a bunch of English church ladies singing “America” from West Side Story putting on their best Puerto Rican accents accompanied by pipe organ.

        The 1980s were a more surreal time.

    • mexican sharpshooter

      When he’s right, he’s right.

  2. PieInTheSky

    To be fair, modern art is often a bunch of trash welded together. – I have read on the internet that liking old art is racist and sexist

    • UnCivilServant

      So is everything else, so those comments can be safely ignored.

      • JD is Unemployed

        It is problematic that you are demanding that these comments be ignored. It is violence against marginalized identity groups that you should speak.

      • JD is Unemployed

        *horrified expression*

        I

        CAN’T

        EVEN

        *head explodes*

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Worthwhile reading

      https://atlassociety.org/objectivism/students/students-blog/3671-why-art-became-ugly/

      He skewers the modern and postmodern movements in art pretty well. His objection is not that they existed, but that they have become tired, worn out, and trite. Much like the broader leftist ideology that underpins them, their proponents ignore the atrocities of the socialist agenda and the vast improvements in the human condition from free markets and capitalism.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Artists and the art world should be at the edge. The art world is now marginalized, in-bred, and conservative. It is being left behind, and for any self-respecting artist there should be nothing more demeaning than being left behind.
        There are few more important cultural purposes than genuinely advancing art. We all intensely and personally know what art means to us. We surround ourselves with it. Art books and videos. Films at the theatre and on DVD. Stereos at home, music on our Walkmans, and CD players in our cars. Novels at the beach and as bedtime reading. Trips to galleries and museums. Art on the walls of our living space. We are each creating the artistic world we want to be in. From the art in our individual lives to the art that is cultural and national symbols, from the $10 poster to the $10 million painting acquired by a museum—we all have a major investment in art.
        The world is ready for the bold new artistic move. That can come only from those not content with spotting the latest trivial variation on current themes. It can come only from those whose idea of boldness is not—waiting to see what can be done with waste products that has never been done before.
        The point is not that there are no negatives out there in the world for art to confront, or that art cannot be a means of criticism. There are negatives and art should never shrink from them. My argument is with the uniform negativity and destructiveness of the art world. When has art in the twentieth century said anything encouraging about human relations, about mankind’s potential for dignity, and courage, about the sheer positive passion of being in the world? Artistic revolutions are made by a few key individuals. At the heart of every revolution is an artist who achieves originality. A novel theme, a fresh subject, or the inventive use of composition, figure, or color marks the beginning of a new era. Artists truly are gods: they create a world in their work, and they contribute to the creation of our cultural world.

        Yet for revolutionary artists to reach the rest of the world, others play a crucial role. Collectors, gallery owners, curators, and critics make decisions about which artists are genuinely creating—and, accordingly, about which artists are most deserving of their money, gallery space, and recommendations. Those individuals also make the revolutions. In the broader art world, a revolution depends on those who are capable of recognizing the original artist’s achievement and who have the entrepreneurial courage to promote that work.
        The point is not to return to the 1800s or to turn art into the making of pretty postcards. The point is about being a human being who looks at the world afresh. In each generation there are only a few who do that at the highest level. That is always the challenge of art and its highest calling.
        The world of postmodern art is a run-down hall of mirrors reflecting tiredly some innovations introduced a century ago. It is time to move on.

      • invisible finger

        ” Artists truly are gods”

        I think this is part of the problem. Is there anything more overdone than “Artist With God Complex?”

      • Not Adahn

        Doctors with a god complex?

      • Rhywun

        Politicians with a god complex.

      • straffinrun

        God with an inferiority complex.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        PhD Md university researchers are like doctors with a god complex turned up to 11.

      • R C Dean

        I’m glad I dodged the academic medical center bullet. The unending, passive-aggressive, multi-front guerrilla war between the university, the medical center, the faculty, and the non-faculty professional staff must be the tenth level of hell.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder
      • invisible finger

        RC, based on what a friend told me at my brother’s wake, you are not exaggerating. He’s a doc at an academic med center. He said the first 20 years were awesome and everything he was hoping for when he decided to become a doc. And slowly it’s become nothing but bureaucracy.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        Artists and the art world should be at the edge.

        Meh. I don’t disagree that art should be evocative, but being “at the edge” is a hallmark of the modern/post-modern movement. The great art of antiquity isn’t heralded because it was that different from its forebearers, but because it was so much better than its forebearers.

    • Mainer

      My rule on what constitutes art is simple. If I can do it, it’s not art.

  3. Plisade

    Good morning. Just popping in to say sorry I missed commenting on my post last night – I actually got a bunch of new songs dumped on me that I need to learn by Thursday night. Glad some of you liked the submission and thanks for the kind words. I hope to start working on a sequel soon.

    • Fourscore

      Thanks, Plisade. I totally did not understand anything that you posted. In fact, it was the first explanation of those things I’d ever seen. I am grateful for your work, at least now I know what someone means when they say “key of G” or some such. Never, not once, was something like that taught in public (government) school in my days. My education is still improving. Appreciate your work.

    • Tundra

      It was great! I even dragged my guitar out. Also, I have somehow acquired an acoustic bass.

      So there’s that…

      Looking forward to part two!

      • Count Potato

        “Also, I have somehow acquired an acoustic bass.”

        That usually takes some effort.

  4. Rebel Scum

    We just cured coronavirus.

    Drink the water in Mexico.

    • UnCivilServant

      The other diseases will kill the virus?

      • Rebel Scum

        That’s the plan!

      • Not Adahn

        I can’t remember which Gibson novel had that as the backstory. Idoru?

    • mexican sharpshooter

      I have.

      • Swiss Servator

        Have you also felt the rains down in Africa?

      • leon

        Never realized that was a euphemism

      • mexican sharpshooter

        Nor did I.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    Something weird jut happened when I tried to log in. (my saved login was nowhere to be seen)

    My end, or website? Any guesses? Anybody else?

    • Nephilium

      If it was a saved login, that would most likely be a local issue. Either browser update, add on update, or cookie expired.

    • PieInTheSky

      no

    • leon

      Everyone is right, but they are missing that this is a local browser issue.

    • R C Dean

      Russian hackers. Duh.

  6. Pat

    Rico, who is based in Guadalajara, Mexico, “creates pieces that fragment the composition of the contemporary human and evidence the geometric imperfection in nature

    Oh blow it out your ass, Rico

    • UnCivilServant

      Where are the artists who create or capture beauty?

      The “art” we’re creating these days will just baffle future generations.

      • leon

        We? You got a mouse in your pocket?

      • UnCivilServant

        I am the representative of a colony of several million microorganisms that are better adapted to the digestion of plant matter.

      • leon

        Oh so your think just because you host them you can speak for them. Oppressor

      • Atanarjuat

        Please continue flushing the art y’all create, in lieu of sharing with us.

      • UnCivilServant

        Some places seem willing to pay six figures for that ‘art’.

      • Not Adahn

        This is why I’d like to live forever — to see what professional anthropologists and conspiracy theorists would have to say.

      • invisible finger

        What do the current ones say? I’d guess 5% fact/accurate guesses and 95% bullshit.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        Where are the artists who create or capture beauty?

        The culinary arts have pulled their head out of their ass in the last decade and are doing a good job, generally.

        Fine art still has a large number of people doing the Truth and Beauty thing, but they aren’t being signal boosted by the gatekeepers. I used to subscribe to a fair number of blogs and aggressors, but I can’t for the life of me remember their names. You have to go looking for them though. Try starting with “contemporary realism” as a search term.

      • Mojeaux

        They are in Paris, drawing Mona Lisa in oil pastels on sidewalks for tourists, and in art galleries practicing.

        They are on street corners busking and small, packed venues.

        They are hunched down in their closets with noise-canceling headphones singing a track or reading an audiobook or podcast.

        They are out with their iPhones making videos they will put on YouTube.

        They are everywhere with their laptops, pounding out words all alone and struggling to market said words.

        They are in craft fairs and Renfests and flea markets and homey amusement parks like Silver Dollar City.

      • The Hyperbole

        I don’t know if you intended it but that if terrifying, sounds like a horror movie trailer voice over.

      • UnCivilServant

        “The Good Artist” in theaters near you.

  7. Fourscore

    Art, like beauty, eye of the beholder.

    There’s someone/thing for everyone.

    Now leave me alone

  8. Rebel Scum

    The cult, which had operated in the village for about three months, changed after a member had a vision, telling the lay preachers they had been “annointed” to exterminate unbelievers.

    I, too, have had a vision. Luckily mine just requires all of you to send me 20 dollars.

    • UnCivilServant

      If you send me your banking information, I can get that transfer started.

    • Fourscore

      I used to get double vision as the vodka bottle got less and less full.

    • Drake

      Somebody slipped him a copy of Zardoz?

  9. leon

    I think it’s safe to say I hate everyone in the art article

  10. The Late P Brooks

    liking old art is racist and sexist

    Western Civ porn.

    • JD is Unemployed

      From an episode of Highlander:

      Richie – “No wonder [the Incans] became extinct.”

      Duncan – “Not extinct; their empire fell apart because they couldn’t feed themselves. On a modern level, I don’t think we’re far behind.”

      It goes from the outrageous notion that one might suggest anything other than white Spaniards massacring gleefully with swords, to saving a little progressive face with the Malthusian afterthought.

      • JD is Unemployed
  11. Pat

    We’re paying for it one way or another.

    Anyone who thinks Spain lost the Spanish-American war is delusional.

    • leon

      Maybe we can ask for our 20 Million back

      • UnCivilServant

        They can keep the $20million if they take Puerto Rico back.

      • WTF

        Independence – cut ’em loose. Sink or swim on your own, muthafuckas!

      • UnCivilServant

        You know they’re going to sink. Look at the hole they’re in.

      • WTF

        And would no longer be the problem of American tax payers.

  12. Not Adahn

    Latkes are better with bacon and cheese.

    • ChipsnSalsa

      Lots of things are.

    • Nephilium

      But really, what isn’t?

      • Shirley Knott

        Chocolate chip ice cream?

      • Nephilium

        Bacon and a sweet mascarpone could add to salt, flavor and richness.

      • WTF

        I like the way you think.

      • WTF

        I may have to make a batch of chocolate chip, bacon and mascarpone ice cream just to try it out.

      • Nephilium

        I’d be curious as to the results. It was an off the top of the head suggestion, but the flavors should all work together. You could also go with some cream cheese (flavored or plain) to mix into the base as well.

        Of course, the two true flavors that make everything better are chocolate or garlic. Everything can be made better by the addition of one of those things (with the exception of chocolate and garlic).

      • WTF

        I think key will be the proportions, so one flavor doesn’t overwhelm the others. It will probably take some experimentation to get it right.

      • UnCivilServant

        Everything can be made better by the addition of one of those things (with the exception of chocolate and garlic).

        “Chocogarlic – garlic coated in chocolate coated in garlic chocolate!”

    • PieInTheSky

      that us not kosher Not Adahn

  13. The Late P Brooks

    Following the collapse, Lésper met with someone from the gallery and offered to replace the glass. The gallerist then informed her that Rico’s piece is worth $20,000.

    Yeah, right. I’ll just run down to Home Depot and get another piece.

    Another example of “artists” whose sense of craft is sorely deficient.

    • WTF

      The gallerist then informed her that Rico’s piece is worth $20,000.

      And was met with uproarious laughter?

      • Grumbletarian

        Or at least the simple question “To whom?”

      • Fourscore

        Mother Teresa’s estate

    • We're not saying BEAM's an alien, but . . .

      Another example of “artists” whose sense of craft their works’ worth is sorely deficient.

      FTFY.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Local browser issue.

    Entirely possible. Firefox speed wobble is not out of the question. I did, after all, accept an “update” not long ago.

    • R C Dean

      It’s apparently also causing your comments to be all italics.

      • Nephilium

        He did say it was a wobble.

  15. Rebel Scum

    An Art Critic Was Mocking A $20,000 Work She Didn’t Like — Then It Shattered

    It clearly represents the fall of western civ.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Fucking typos and dropped tags are still my responsibility, unfortunately.

  17. Rebel Scum

    Spanish survived for so many generations while other languages like Italian, French, German, Swedish and Danish have declined and almost vanished in the United States.

    Because this is American and we speak American. Plus our Jews are the best Jews. Big league.

    • WTF

      Plus we get a constant uncontrolled flood of Spanish speakers coming in across the southern border, while mass immigration of Italian, French, German, Swedish and Danish speakers no longer takes place.

    • Gadfly

      Spanish hasn’t really survived in the US so much as it has gotten reinforcements. In a couple generations I expect it to be similar to French.

  18. robc

    Sloopy,

    If you are around, you want to double down and try another round of predicting Everton? You did good on the last group, even if you didnt hit is exact. Next 4 are:

    @Arsenal
    ManU
    @Chelsea
    Liverpool

    I think we will have a good feel for where Everton might finish after those four.

    • PieInTheSky

      All draws

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Never count on Everton to do anything good against Liverpool.

    • R C Dean

      Even if it’s only watched by black people, they will probably beat CNN.

    • invisible finger

      Will they have a token white anchor?

      • Not Adahn

        Not if Ebony is their model.

      • leon

        Obama is busy with his Netflix gig

    • DrOtto

      Founded by a republican and they have at least one libertarian anchor. This may not be a bad thing. Certainly better than rich white liberals telling them how to think.

      • WTF

        Founded by a republican and they have at least one libertarian anchor.

        So, they’re white supremacists?

  19. The Late P Brooks

    I see the Serious News Agents are all over this “Missile Attacks Cause Brain Damage” story. Not because they care, but because they can hang it around President Cartoon Villain’s neck and show the world what a cruel psychopath he is. They couldn’t seem to give much of a shit about the guys getting their balls blown off when Obama was manning the switch.

    • WTF

      So then they do want Trump to engage in massive retaliation?

    • JaimeRoberto Delecto

      I don’t have a problem with studying the brain damage caused by this stuff or even with counting them as casualties. It should be taken more seriously. But the only reason it’s reported on now is so they can criticize the bad orange man. It’s like when they measure “excess deaths” caused by Hurricane Maria. I don’t think it’s an illegitimate way to look at the data, but it’s only used as a cudgel. Next time a Dem is president, the old methodologies will be used to measure these things.

    • UnCivilServant

      Animal writes fiction, my stories of superheroing and exploration are autobiographical.

    • leon

      David J. Ley PhD
      @DrDavidLey
      ·
      12h
      Replying to
      @primalpoly
      and
      @guardian
      I feel, umm, rather discriminated against. Especially given how much of my writing has focused on support of female sexual self determination

      Thats because you’re a cuck David.

      • ChipsnSalsa

        They won’t love you because you write that stuff David. Your a horrible person because you have a penis.

      • Rasilio

        No, he is a horrible person because he has a male penis.

        If he had a female penis he would be fine

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      This ties in with the postmodern trend in art. Unless it’s a hyphenated creator, the art has no value.

    • WTF

      Not only is she astonishingly ignorant, she is proud to proclaim it to the world.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The academic world agrees with her.

      • WTF

        Of course they do.

    • Gadfly

      Most authors (like most people) have a limited and narrow experience. Which is why autobiographies are not as popular as fiction or even histories.

      • UnCivilServant

        Issac Asimov wrote an entertaining autobiography.

        He didn’t even lead a terribly interesting life in terms of events.

    • The Hyperbole

      Is it possible that this is satire? I don’t have time to read it right now, actually, I’m very busy. But an Author I follow on Twitter, who knows her, remarked right after this came out that she was parroting all the same rationalizations men make about why they don’t/won’t read women.

      • UnCivilServant

        ? I read works from women authores quite frequently. They seem to be relatively common in the mystery genre. And one of the authors I ran out of material from is Agatha Cristie.

        I suspect there are a lot of authors in genres I don’t read who happen to be women, just as there are authors in genres I don’t read that happen to be men.

        Who are these people who are picking books based on the genetals of the author?

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        JFC WE AREN’T TALKING ABOUT GUTTER TRASH LIKE GENRE FICTION YOU HUMAN FILTH WE ARE TALKING ABOUT SMART BOOKS FOR INTELECTUALS GAWD SHUT UP I CANT EVEN QITH THIS

      • Mojeaux

        inorite?! Srsly.

      • Mojeaux

        Lots of people, especially in romance. Men wrote/write romance but they do it under a woman’s name and most often the copyright is owned by a trust.

      • Akira

        My friend and I once had a scheme to read a few supermarket romance novels, get the formula down, and start cranking them out and sending them to publishers. We each agreed to buy two, read them, then get together again to map the formula. I read mine, then I found out that he skipped out on his end of the plan. He confessed that he couldn’t make it past the first page.

        I spent $4 and read a couple of crappy novels for nothing.

      • leon

        It’s a stupid idea no matter what gender you are talking about. I get that this could be the point of the “Parody” but seeing as it makes no reference to indicate it is parody, i’m going for earnestness.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Also, some dumb bint on CNNPC was yapping about how we need to update and upgrade our fortifications in Iraq.

    Fuck that let’s just leave, and blow all that shit up on the way out the door.

    • Shirley Knott

      Yes, please.

    • Atanarjuat

      Another great example of people who pretend to care about the troops, when their actual agenda is probably closer to salesbint for war profiteers.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    No “Did you check the thermostat?”

    Another hallowed tradition, crumbled away to nothing.

    This culture is zooming to Hell in a chromium handbasket.

    • Not Adahn

      It’s been on that trend ever since The Golden Girls turned a generation of young men gay.

  22. Shirley Knott

    So, special K won Dixville Notch, with double the votes of Warren or Sanders, and 4x Mayor Pete or Biden.

    • JD is Unemployed

      So I guess she'll have some happy memories for her scrapbook.

    • robc

      Yang beat the B boys.

  23. PieInTheSky

    Harsh peer reviewer comments disproportionately affect minorities

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/2231559-harsh-peer-reviewer-comments-disproportionately-affect-minorities/

    The survey found that white men were just as likely as any other scientist to report receiving unprofessional peer review comments.

    Silbiger and Stubler then asked respondents who had received such comments to rate how much these had made them question their own scientific aptitude, and the extent to which it had affected their later productivity.

    Women were 2.3 times as likely as white men to say they fully doubted their scientific abilities after receiving unprofessional peer review comments.

    Others reported comments that were overtly sexist, such as “the first author is a woman. She should be in the kitchen, not writing papers.” – for some reason I find this exact wording unlikely.

    • Pat

      “Neurotic women can’t handle harsh criticism, even though men and women are exactly identical and interchangeable in every field. How can science be modified to accommodate this?”

    • leon

      ” – for some reason I find this exact wording unlikely”

      Those words are to harsh and making the scientists who ran this study doubt their scientific capabilities

    • Not Adahn

      Those women need to grow a pair.

      • JD is Unemployed

        Q will be here shortly with all of the pairs you can handle.

    • JD is Unemployed

      New Scientician

  24. The Late P Brooks

    While in transit following an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in 1926-1927, the piece shattered. Duchamp glued it back together, then set it between new panes and placed it within an aluminum frame. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, which houses the piece, says the work has subsequently “become the subject of extensive scholarship, and the object of pilgrimages for countless visitors drawn to its witty, intelligent, and vastly liberating redefinition of what a work of art can be.”

    R Mutt strikes again. The greatest artist ever to bestride the earth.

    *He should have pissed on it at the Grand (re)Opening.

  25. Tonio

    Navy Hill stadium boondoggle is dead. While this may be very local (Richmond, VA) news, it is a rare victory for taxpayers against crony capitalism and bigger government. Unfortunately, the biggest opposition came from various Virginia Education Association front groups who weren’t getting as much of a rake-off as they wanted.

  26. Rufus the Monocled

    “We do not understand how an alleged professional art critic destroyed a work by one of the most outstanding artists of the moment,” it said.”

    Artist: Ta-da!
    Critic: What is it?
    Artist: It’s squished avocado.
    Critic:
    Artist: It’s to show the squishiness of life.
    Critic:
    Artist: It’s a commentary on excessive materialism as the avocado lays squished in despair and without dressing to bring it to life.
    Critic:
    Artist: It demonstrates how nature is negatively transformed by man. One minute it is whole. The next it is squished. All to please man’s foolish desires and vices. We should leave the avocado whole!
    Critic: What did you do with the nut?
    Artist: Wha?
    Critic: The nut. Where is it?

    Artist take it out of his pocket and hands it to the critic. Critic takes it. Places it on a plastic dish with a note and an arrow pointing to the artist. Rousing applause ensues.

    • ChipsnSalsa

      ??

      I’m a nut, I’m a nut
      Imma nut, imma nut, Imma nut

      I’m an acorn, small and round
      Lying on the cold, cold ground
      Everyone walks over me
      That is why I’m cracked you see

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Pffftttt… the critics are completely on board with postmodernism because it elevates them above the artist.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        What if I’m or anyone else here is the critic in that scenario?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Be dramatic, add some hyphens to your identity, be a victim, and remember to draw sweeping conclusions about the broader world.

        “relieves me of the obligation to be right . . . and demands only that I be interesting”

        – Stanley Fish, speaking of postmodernism

        He has since disowned that statement but it pretty succinctly describes the movement that puts the critic on the same level with the artist (or above it).

      • UnCivilServant

        A good artist should be able to be anonymous, and have their work speak for itself even without title or description of intent.

  27. Rebel Scum

    I have an idea, let’s price nearly everyone out of the labor market.

    Democrat presidential hopeful and billionaire Tom Steyer has vowed to raise the federal minimum wage to $22 per hour should he defeat other Democrat hopefuls and President Donald Trump in November.

    According to a report from Fox News, Steyer made the announcement during a campaign block party on Sunday while campaigning in South Carolina. Both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have also released plans to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

    While many states have independently raised the minimum wage to compete with the cost of living, the current minimum wage sits at $7.25 per hour at a federal level.

    I started at around $15/hr as an project engineer out of college. I make more now but that is a result of getting the necessary experience because, despite all the schooling, you really don’t know anything until you learn on the job.

    • PieInTheSky

      If a job does not pay enough for a family of four to live out of poverty, it should not exists. Those people are better off on welfare than having shitty jobs. What is needed is higher minimum wage (~30) and a much more generous welfare system for people who cannot find jobs.

    • leon

      I do not believe that someone can be that stupid, to think that raising the minimum wage across the entire country to 22 dollars will have no major adverse effects. That being the case I would say that this is borne of malice towards the poor in middle America.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        Stupid AND evil. Stupevil.

        Steyer is a stupid and evil fuckhead just like his billionaire pal-tyrant L’il Napoleon Michael ‘Nappy’ Bloomberg.

        And may as well throw Grandpa Gulag and Sister Slutsocialist AOC into the mix.

        I’ve just about enough. These people are incredible with their hyper-illiberal instincts.

    • Atanarjuat

      Wow, that’s more than an apprentice starts out in my trade ($14/hr). In fact, 2 years of experience gets you $22/hr.

      • PieInTheSky

        If minimum wage goes to 22, 2 years experience will go to at least 40. Everyone wins

    • Rebel Scum

      a* project…

      *sigh*

    • WTF

      Shit, raise it to $50/hour, then everyone can be making 6 figures and everyone will be financially comfortable!

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t want to be dropped down to minimum wage!

  28. Count Potato

    “Why I Quit Being a Climate Activist

    The climate movement is overwhelmingly white. So I walked away.

    As a climate activist in Berlin, I felt required to tell my Filipino family’s experience during speeches and rallies because this form of “storytelling” was the only thing that would move a mostly white European audience to an emotional response of climate urgency—even though it was exhausting telling the story, especially since any mention of hurricanes in the news gives me anxiety.

    I would hear “great speech,” “so emotional when your voice cracked.”

    But after a while I realized I would only be called upon when climate organizations needed an inspiring story or a “diverse” voice, contacts for a campaign, or to participate in a workshop for “fun” when everyone else on the (all-white) project was getting paid.

    Whenever I would question the whiteness of these spaces and how strategies didn’t take race into account, I would be met with uncomfortable silences. The last time, at a nationwide movement-building workshop last April, I was asked, “Well then, why are you even here?””

    https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/g5x5ny/why-i-quit-being-a-climate-activist

    https://twitter.com/VICE/status/1225459139633086468

    • UnCivilServant

      I see a lot of blather about race, but none about the science and lies of the movement, or how it’s just an anti-human hate group.

    • Pat

      Just wait until the sunblock that turns your skin black from Islands In The Net becomes a reality…

      • UnCivilServant

        That’s a terrible product defect.

      • Pat

        In the book it’s a feature. The ozone layer is gone (natch, written in 1988) so black skin with all of its protective melanin is desirable.

      • UnCivilServant

        Or, you could just use transparent UV blocking structures in more places.

      • Pat

        But that wouldn’t have served the point of the story, which was to invert the racial biases that have kept the black man oppressed for centuries.

        The future imagined in the book (set in 2023) got so many things eerily right, but the author’s politics guided a lot of it as well.

      • UnCivilServant

        And?

        The problem could also be addressed via attire. Which is likely to be an early solution since it takes less time for adoption.

      • Nephilium

        Heinein did it earlier (1964), but with a nuclear war and time travel. It also contains the intergenerational romance that’s used more frequently in later books.

    • leon

      “But after a while I realized I would only be called upon when climate organizations needed an inspiring story or a “diverse” voice,”

      I mean weren’t you the one making your activism all about you race?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      even though it was exhausting telling the story

      Truly a first world problem

    • Rebel Scum

      Climate activism so white.

    • Pat

      Since the 2016 election of Donald Trump, a growing number of educators and policymakers have brought their attention to the next generation of this noncollege population. These are the students whom Chris Arnade calls “back row kids” in his moving new book, Dignity.

      The title “Irony” must have already been in use.

      • Viking1865

        He’s actually a pretty thoughtful dude. “Back row kids” isn’t a pejorative in his formulation. The front row kids are the kids who sit straight, listen to teacher, do as their told, get into good colleges, etc. The back row kids are the kids that don’t fit into the government education model.

    • Tundra

      He really needs a lift.

    • pistoffnick

      “It has been all awkwarded together..”

      “We’re gonna remove some of the death…and see if we can burn the back tires off it.”

      I like the way he talks as well.

      It looks like he is based out of an Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb

      • Tundra

        Blaine. I thought I recognized a couple landmarks.

  29. invisible finger

    Anybody watch The Pharmacist on Netlflix?

    • Jerms

      No-always looking for stuff to watch tho-any good?

      • invisible finger

        It’s a 4-part doc. My first reaction was The Wire meets Treme. David Simon would have got 36 episodes out of it for sure. But he would have at least made it the Greek tragedy it is instead of the Shakespearean moralism the doc makers wanted.

        I think 95% of the people (aka half-wits) will come away thinking the DEA is good. But there’s really no way a thinking person could come away thinking the DEA is anything but a bloated, ego-centric waste of money.

        Essentially a pharmacist deduces that a licensed doctor is running an opiate prescription business. I mean, its pretty egregious – her office is only open in the late evening, for example and there are literally people waiting outside like you’d see smokers puffing away outside a bar. The police were actively running security rather than looking at it as a scam – it’s a cash only business! Pharmacist goes to local cops, state cops, FBI, DEA… nobody tells him anything. Because they’ve been “investigating for over a year” and don’t want to give any information. Over the next year overdose deaths increase, still the doctor is operating.

        Eventually the pharmacist learns that the state medical board will actually do something.

        I don’t want to give away much more. But for fuck’s sake, the DEA et al are not interested in reducing OD deaths at all. They’re only interested in making a big bust and the more deaths the bigger the bust will be.

        My late brother was a pharmacist and we would talk about controlled substance abuse all the time and the complete uselessness of the law and how it makes it so that the people who need the medication are treated like drug-seeking addicts and the actual addicts are ignored.

        I got caught up in a state regulatory thing (financial) that was similar in that the regulatory agency was purposely letting the financial fraud of a company continue just so more innocent people would lose money – that way the eventual bust/closure/lawsuit would be bigger. Instead of trying to prevent people from getting ripped off, the regulatory agency wanted more people to get ripped off so they busted some huge operation to make themselves look better – when in fact they could have stopped shit quickly and saved everybody shitloads of money and hassle. But where’s the ego-stroke and budget increase in that? This is what I came away with, despite the tone the filmmakers were going for.

    • WTF

      Dan’s investigation into a corrupt doctor reveals some of big pharma’s worst sins.

      Oh, FFS.

      • invisible finger

        Yeah, the “big pharma” thing is actually a minor part of it, but marketing is going to do what marketing does. Believe me, that line you quoted nearly kept me from watching it. I think most glibs would see through the bullshit. I wouldn’t give it 5 stars, but 3.5 – 4 because despite it’s tone it really can’t hide the obvious government uselessness.

      • R C Dean

        I think big pharma’s opioid sins are more than minor (the rollout of time-release opioids was almost entirely fraudulent and there’s no question in my mind it led to all kinds of well-intentioned but terrible prescribing practices), but when it comes to actual pill mills, the dynamic described where investigations take farging forever, no matter the agency, is absolutely true. While big pharma is supposed to have all kinds of monitoring and oversight that would effectively shut down many pill mills from their end, the conflict of interest is so huge that its no wonder they never even try. When you have actually seen the numbers for pill mills, there is no question that everybody, but everybody, knew what was going on.

      • WTF

        As a libertarian, I don’t think there should be any “controlled substances”, so “pill mils” don’t bother me at all. Anyone should be able to buy whatever the hell they want.

      • Shirley Knott

        I agree, except…
        Is there a good libertarian solution to antibiotic resistance caused by improper use (unnecessary or stop too soon) of antibiotics?
        I don’t have an answer, and it may be a worse problem than addressing vaccinations.

      • invisible finger

        RC, that’s the annoying part of the whole thing. The “drug warriors” seemed to sorta like bodies piling up. The only effective approach was getting the medical board involved and then things moved quickly. Which the DEA could have done in a matter of weeks, but their incentive was “BIG CRIMINNAL INVESTIGATIONS AND BUDGET INCREASES” instead of saving lives so going to the state medical board never crossed their closed minds.

        When I was going through my brother’s effects, he had this book in his library.

        https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Chemical-Dependency-Howard-Smith-ebook/dp/B005OL9GP0/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=passik&qid=1581447745&sr=8-2

        I started reading it. It’s academic dryness, but you can really get a sense that the road to hell is paved with good-but-hasty intentions.

      • Fatty Bolger

        I haven’t seen it, but I’ve seen the previews. His kid is murdered during a drug deal, right? And then he goes on a mission to get the authorities to crack down on pill mills. Which makes me wonder, does it ever strike him that it’s the war on drugs that he obviously wants so badly that made his son’s drug buy so dangerous to begin with? That shutting down pill mills won’t do shit to stop OD’s (probably will increase them, because the replacement drugs will be even less safe) and will make it even more dangerous for buyers than it already is?

      • invisible finger

        I agree with you, and the doc makers don’t seem to understand that. Yet the show does bring that up – once the pill mill is shut down OD’s really shot up from the replacement of choice.

        To me it goes back to WTF’s point. The pill mills wouldn’t exist if people could buy low-dose versions of the “-ine”s. But the “low-dose could lead to abuse” approach is the incentive that creates the pill mills. The idea that you can’t get a low dose OTC because people might abuse it doesn’t curtail abuse at all – it just forces the abusers to go to the higher-dose market because that’s the only market that can exist when government regulation and economics prevent a low-dose market from existing. We saw it with alcohol – 95% of the people wanted a beer or two but the fear of alcoholism just meant people got high doses of poison and died. Once it was legalized, the OD’s ended and the lesser-problem of alcoholism returned.

        It just bugs the shit out of me that government can only ever choose extremes and getting them to just accept minor problems as facts of life takes piles of bodies before an insignificant few learn.

        There’s no heroes in this, though the doc makers would probably argue otherwise.

  30. PieInTheSky

    Why is not one talking of the democratic primary thingy?

    • UnCivilServant

      What’s there to talk about? Whoever wins, it’ll be an awful person.

      • PieInTheSky

        UCS, just think about what you could do with 1000 a month !

    • AlmightyJB

      Because the votes don’t matter.

    • Atanarjuat

      The media silence is deafening. Same for the gilet jaunes protests in France.

    • Count Potato

      It’s not even 9 AM in New Hampshire yet.

    • Atanarjuat

      Presumably because any scrutiny leads one to suspect malice over incompetence, and that impression will certainly make the Bernie Bros stay home on voting day whenever he is inevitably cheated out of the nomination again.

      • leon

        If you aren’t winning enough that the establishment can’t cheat you then are you really being cheated?

      • Atanarjuat

        What happened in Iowa was almost certainly voter fraud shenanigans on a grand scale, no? To answer your question, no, but they might still feel that way. Let’s say after the primaries Bernie doesn’t lead, they can still say the uneven media coverage, gotcha accusations of sexism, etc constitute Bernie having been cheated by the system and the result was a poorer showing.

      • leon

        I wast mostly being silly. My only real point is that Bernie should know that the DNC will do anything to stop his nomination, and yet he seems intent on not running to decisively win.

    • Not Adahn

      It seemed like the Oscar hype was way down too. You’d think a furriner of color winning would be wall-to-wall celebration.

      • WTF

        Asians don’t count in the game of intersectional Bingo.

    • invisible finger

      “Why is not one talking of the democratic primary thingy?”

      Nihilism exhaustion.

      • Rhywun

        Only took two sentences to turn racist. Great work, CNN!

  31. Drake

    More right-wing violence everyone keeps warning about.

    • Pat

      “We don’t know if this is politically motivated,” Gayle said.

      The world may never know.

    • Not Adahn

      All violence is right wing. That’s what right wing means. It’s like you don’t even Humpty Dumpty or something.

    • Atanarjuat

      The International Stage Employees Alliance Local Union 115 said Timm was not an employee of but was referred for job placement through the local union.

      Funny. I’ve done some work for Local 115. Don’t recognize the kid. I hope someone is combing through his social media stuff to assign blame to whoever he agrees with politically.

      • The Last American Hero

        Like they did for Jared Loughner?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      He looks stable

  32. AlmightyJB

    You put sour cream and scallions on Latkes.

    • Not Adahn

      And bacon.

      Sausage gravy is good too.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    If you’ve seen one bowl of fruit, you’ve seen them all.

    Disprove my hypothesis.

      • Count Potato

        I never thought of that.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        That’s definitely a pothead invention

      • R C Dean

        We did it with apples in emergencies. Like the banana, though.

    • robc

      Some have canteloupe and honeydew. Others are good.

      • UnCivilServant

        Provide a no bullshit justification for your claim that it isn’t a simple drawing.

      • UnCivilServant

        Failure to follow tasks as described means I have to let you go.

      • straffinrun

        In case you can’t watch YT at work, if you put planes over the apples and make them into cubes, you can see how they are moving. I thought it was pretty cool.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m sitting here doing computer based supervisor training, so youtube isn’t an option.

  34. Rebel Scum

    Bootyjudge: The drug war has been such a failure. Let’s start a war on guns!

    “I think the weapons of war can do no good in American neighborhoods,” Buttigieg, an Afghanistan War veteran, said on “New Day.” “I trained on weapons that are similar to these, and they have one purpose, which is to destroy as much as possible as quickly as possible. They have tactical uses in war zones. Since when are American cities and neighborhoods supposed to be war zones?”

    No army on the planet has been issued the type of firearms you want to unconstitutionally (and impractically, at this point) ban.

    Institute universal background checks

    Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines

    Enact red flag laws (also known as extreme risk laws) that disarm at-risk individuals and allow friends and family to intervene when they observe warning signs

    Hold the gun industry accountable by repealing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) to end gun industry immunity

    Establish a nationwide gun licensing system

    Invest in evidence-based urban gun violence intervention programs proven to work

    It’s like they are playing a game to see how many constitutional provisions they can violate at once.

    • Sean

      It’s like they are playing a game to see how many constitutional provisions they can violate at once.

      But, they want to guarantee us a Utopian society. Who are we to stand in their way?

    • leon

      Invest in evidence-based urban gun violence intervention programs proven to work

      Maj Toure of “Black Guns Matter” has done more to curb urban violence than any government program

      • Rebel Scum

        He said he will “make certain that we end the sale and distribution of ‘assault weapons’ in this country.’”

        There are tens of millions of “assault-weapons” in private hands. Good luck.

      • Shirley Knott

        Is there any weapon at all that is not intended for assault?
        Break off a table leg and wail on somebody, it’s assault. Withv a weapon. How is that not an assault weapon?

      • R C Dean

        *downloads files from darknet, fires up 3d printer and arduino boards for AA missiles*

        If they think a bunch of goatherders can put together improvised weapons, I suspect they haven’t seen anything yet.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Whenever I would question the whiteness of these spaces and how strategies didn’t take race into account, I would be met with uncomfortable silences. The last time, at a nationwide movement-building workshop last April, I was asked, “Well then, why are you even here?””

    Go back to Mexico.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Democrat presidential hopeful and billionaire Tom Steyer has vowed to raise the federal minimum wage to $22 per hour should he defeat other Democrat hopefuls and President Donald Trump in November.

    Will he also issue a decree mandating underwear to be worn on the outside?

    • Sean

      No one will be able to afford luxuries like underwear.

      • Not Adahn

        Underwear is an unnecessary use of resources and a major contributor to Global Climate Change Crisis Chaos Emergency.

        Underwear should be banned, and a $0.05/sock tax implemented immediately.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Challenge accepted.

    *waves white flag*

    • Atanarjuat

      I’ve set up a budget and left a small bit of money for “fun” every month – whether that’s going out, buying something nice or whatever, so I don’t get really depressed. By my calculation, it’s going to take at least a year of shit living, if not more, until I’m near to being debt free.

      It’s always enjoyable when people unintentionally tell you the actual source of their problems is themself. It’s like some guy I used to know who said “I’m not sure why they fired me [job was for state lotto making the tv announcement for the day’s drawing], all I did was show up late a lot and make a bunch of typos that went out to tv stations”.

      • UnCivilServant

        A year isn’t that bad at all.

      • Atanarjuat

        Exactly. And it would be even quicker if xe would stop going out and buying nice things to stimulate xer brain’s reward center.

      • ChipsnSalsa

        Then the advice of “It takes longer to get out of debt than into. You have a plan of 1 to 1 1/2 years to debt free, that’s pretty good. If you want to be more aggressive with your pay off look for more opportunities to save on expenses or produce more income.” is never given.

        Just goes into a long diatribe about how their generation has been screwed.

      • Akira

        The overwhelming majority of poor people I’ve met are poor because of some glaringly obvious problem of their own making:

        – The woman who made decent money but had a self-admitted “shopping addiction”
        – The professional chef who blew all his money on drugs, alcohol, and late fees (since he went weeks without checking his mailbox and never paid a bill until his utilities got turned off or the landlord told him he was about to get evicted)
        – The guy who got a high-paying job at a factory but walked out after 3 days because his back hurt
        – The guy who bought every single thing from Rent-a-Center and ended up paying several times the market price for those items (seriously, his fucking cups and dinnerware came from there)
        – The guy who won’t stop smoking weed long enough to pass a piss test for his job, so he’s just been stuck at temp wages for years

        I’ve known some people who just go through a bad time that really isn’t their fault, but they developed a strict budget and pulled themselves out very quickly.

        This is why it grates on me so much when I hear assertions that wealth is just “unfairly distributed”, like all these people would be living a cozy middle-class life if not for the capricious, cruel hand of capitalism.

    • The Hyperbole

      I don’t get it.

      • Not Adahn

        Everybody hates Trump, and everybody hates everybody who likes Trump.

      • leon

        Only tough guys get it….

      • The Hyperbole

        Oh, yeah, I was just kidding , I totally get it. It’s really funny how the guy did the thing and then Trump tweeted ALOL!.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      that was great, Motherfucker!

  38. Tundra

    Good morning, Señor Sharpshooter!

    Thanks for your contributions, particularly the one about the ‘art’. Priceless.

    I prefer the remodernists, anyway. (For you, Q)

    NSFW, probably.

    I hope you all have a fantastic day!

  39. Not Adahn

    Anyone active with USPSA, and specifically NROI?

    I’ve enrolled in a course to become a USPSA RO that is in March, but I’ve just been notified that there’s a four-hour live fire component also scheduled for this weekend. The only thing that I can figure is that we provide shooters for each other to practice ROing? Not that I’m complaining about an opportunity to go shooting, it just seemed like an odd requirement for a job that mainly involves running a timer and staring at a gun.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Invest in evidence-based urban gun violence intervention programs proven to work

    More likely: “Investigate roots of urban violence and social dysfunction and then bury the findings”.

    • Drake

      As soon as it takes on an unpleasant racial component, go after some white guys.

  41. Rebel Scum

    The real problem is NY’s lax gun laws.

    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
    @AOC
    Feb 9
    Replying to
    @davidwebbshow

    @RepAOC
    and 3 others

    This is not my district, but our thoughts are with all officers & people impacted by this shooting & the epidemic of gun violence in this country.

    Perhaps you would get less mixed up if McConnell stood up to the NRA & passed common-sense gun safety measures to reduce shootings.

    • UnCivilServant

      Common sense measure – repeal of the NFA and penalize states who continue to violate the consitutional rights of its citizens so that the citizens can properly defend themselves.

    • Rhywun

      The proposed Amazon site was also “not. in. her. district.” but that didn’t stop her from yammering about it.

  42. Atanarjuat

    https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2020/02/06/preach-it-sister-why-the-trump-base-loves-betsy-devos-111535

    DeVos is being deployed like a rock star at Trump events as he makes a concerted push on education issues. The campaign is using DeVos, a devout Christian, to beef up ties with voters who see her as the fiercest defender of conservative education policies like vouchers and free speech on college campuses.

    DeVos echoed those comments on Wednesday in Pennsylvania. To huge applause, she ticked through the Trump administration’s accomplishments: rolling back regulations, signing new trade deals, overhauling the tax code and installing conservative judges on the federal bench, including two Supreme Court justices.

    She also touted what her Education Department is doing, highlighting religious freedom and free speech issues on college campuses, as well as her overhaul of Title IX campus sexual assault rules.

    Ok, fixing campus sexual assault rules is a great thing, if it’s really been fixed. Does anyone know what else she has actually done? “Highlighting” religious freedom? She should be placing barrels of flammable liquid in the Dept of Ed building.

    • leon

      conservative education policies like vouchers and free speech on college campuses.

      what a world we live in…

    • ChipsnSalsa

      Does anyone know what else she has actually done?

      Made the libs go bananas.

      You are correct that If she was who she claimed to be, she would be burning down the Dept. of Ed.

    • The Other Kevin

      She got rid of Common Core.

      • Mojeaux

        ^^^ That.

      • The Last American Hero

        Since when? It’s still being applied to my kids. Generously.

  43. The Late P Brooks

    As soon as it takes on an unpleasant racial component, go after some white guys.

    I don’t think it’s even intrinsically racial. If you destroy incentives to work and strive, and thereby cripple people’s feelings of self-worth (and self-ownership), you’re setting the stage for bad things to start happening.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    The proposed Amazon site was also “not. in. her. district.” but that didn’t stop her from yammering about it.

    I’m pretty sure California is not in her district, as well, but…

    • leon

      Don’t we all just want Liz to leave us alone?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I think she’s at least mildly autistic/Aspergers.

      • straffinrun

        She gives me the manic depressive vibe. Maybe bi polar. I could easily picture her crying to herself in the closet three or four nights a week.

      • Drake

        And going crazy yelling at staffers a few minutes later.

      • R C Dean

        Could just be that she is deeply uncomfortable with people outside her circle of upper-class hard-left academics, politicos, and hangers-on. Assuming she believes the constant chatter in her bubble about how ignorant, bigoted, and prone to violence the deplorables are, its pretty understandable. I expect if I was strolling through the cafeteria in a jail or prison I’d be pretty uncomfortable, too.

  45. Gadfly

    ¡Aye que locos! All of you freaking out over this…wash your goddamn hands. There. We just cured coronavirus.

    An interesting aside from the article:

    Some are speculating that there may be a positive effect for Latin America if a slowdown in world trade caused by the coronavirus crisis drives the United States to reduce its interest rates to stimulate economic growth. Argentina and other debt-ridden countries would benefit, for instance, because their foreign debt payments are tied to U.S. interest rates.

    I never thought about American interest rates being able to affect other nations sovereign debt. America has an even bigger influence on the world economy than I previously assumed.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Petrodollars rule the day.

      If oil ever ceased to be nominally priced in US dollars across the world, it would seriously change the economic balance of power.

    • leon

      I never thought about American interest rates being able to affect other nations sovereign debt. America has an even bigger influence on the world economy than I previously assumed.

      America is big enough that the Federal Reserve can put some downward pressure on interest rates globally. However In Argentina’s case, they can’t get debt that isn’t a) denominated in US Dollars, and b) subject to US jurisdiction, because they are perhaps the least trustworthy government to lend money to in the world.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    Speed merchants on the highway to Hell road to woke

    Last year, F1 announced plans to go carbon neutral by 2030 by reducing emissions of the cars as well as switching to more efficient logistics and travel for the grand prix circus.

    While its plans are ambitious, F1 chiefs are optimistic that it is a realistic target and work has already begun on working out how it can best be achieved.

    F1 managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn says that the sport is considering using different forms of transport – including more trains or sea freight – and that the days of excessive ‘gin palace’ motorhomes being driven around Europe could be numbered.

    “We are looking at transportation and all the equipment that we use,” said Brawn. “So my guys at the moment are looking at all the alternative forms of transport, and train is actually a very efficient way of moving stuff around. Sea freight is also a very efficient way of moving things around in terms of the impact it has. So we’re looking at all the logistics and see how we can minimise our impact.

    It’s like they’re desperately begging me to not give a shit about F1.

    Put them all on solar-boosted tricycles.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      What about all the Carbon fiber they use in the Chassis and bodies?
      A large kiln isn’t very eco,

      • pistoffnick

        But all that carbon fiber sequesters carbon. Sequestering carbon is good for Mother Earth, right?

      • UnCivilServant

        Nooo! The plants need that carbon! Free it with fire!

  47. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Tard Tuesday:

    What type of household was Trump raised in that he turned out so damaged?Armchair Psychiatrists Unite
    The man is an emotionally immature mass of anger and hate. He directs that anger against anyone who does not blindly support him.

    He directs his hate against women, persons of color, the disabled, the military, and people in general.

    And we all know that he is completely unfiltered. What he thinks, no matter the consequences, he says.

    And because he is from a rich, white family, so far in his life the legal consequences have been negligible. If he were a brown man stealing some food, he would be arrested and charged with theft. But because the rich enjoy a different standard, his lawyers make things go away.

    But what happened in the Trump family that caused this fortunate son to have such hate for everyone? And, does anyone here think Trump has ever been happy, or in love? Is he even capable of experiencing these emotions?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      oops, I tarded that link

    • Rebel Scum

      the military

      He does nothing but fellate the military.

    • leon

      He directs his hate against women, persons of color, the disabled, the military, and people in general.

      Ahhh. that is why i find him so sympathetic….

    • Drake

      Could we have a few examples of this mass of anger and hate? There must be hundreds to chose from.

    • WTF

      He directs that anger against anyone who does not blindly support him.

      If you pay attention, Trump’s hits are almost always retaliation against people who took a shot at him first.

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        Like Bugs Bunny.

        Ol’ Fred does sound like a piece of work.

  48. Scruffy Nerfherder

    It appears the T-Mobile/Sprint merger is finally going to go thru. About time.

    I was tired of the state AG’s trying to pull settlement money out of the companies for their stamps of approval. That was an attempt at pure extortion on their part.

    • leon

      Look if you can’t pay the extortion fees then you have not business being in business.

    • Pat

      Meh. On the other hand, we seem to be hurtling toward ma bell 2.0 with the regulation/laissez faire sides reversed. What a time to be alive.

      • R C Dean

        With the extra added bonus of massive databases consolidated in one, easy to datamine place!

      • leon

        massive databases consolidated in one, easy to datamine place!

        Hahaha. Jokes on you. That data needs to be piped from the various and sundry applications so that it can be put into a data lake, where it then will be sifted and sorted into different “Data Warehouses” so that every C suite executive can put in 1000+ requests for various “data marts” so that some analyst can furiously type SQL queries to get a graph to show up an a dashboard that the Director of Marketing can take a screenshot of and post on her power point slide. That is how you do data driven management.

  49. Rebel Scum

    I guess he finally found the right girl.

    Way to kick a guy when he is down Clay. Even though Aiken is from North Carolina and Joe Bidens FIREWALL is in the southern one, this is a hurtful move.

    Clay explains his excruciating decision in an opinion piece he wrote today for a national paper.

    “Let me be clear: I love Joe Biden. My support for the former vice president has been genuine. I remain grateful for the years of leadership and the scores of accomplishments that he has given to our country. My prior support for him in this year’s primary was based on my belief that he would be the candidate best suited to take on President Donald Trump in November. I have not been alone in feeling that way.

    However, as the voters in early states have begun to have their say, like so many of my fellow Democrats, I found myself grappling with the options and realized that the Democratic Party of 2020 is ready for a fresher voice. Klobuchar is that voice.”

    • leon

      However, as the voters in early states have begun to have their say, like so many of my fellow Democrats, I found myself grappling with the options and realized that the Democratic Party of 2020 is ready for a fresher voice.

      The desire to be on the winning team is so strong. This is why winning the early states is so important, because no one wants to vote for a loser. Except libertarians. They seem to get a sexual pleasure from voting for losers.

      • robc

        I have never voted for someone who finished 2nd in either the popular or electoral college vote. And havent voted for 1st since 1988*.

        *I regret that vote for more than voting for Barr.

    • Viking1865

      “I found myself grappling with the options and realized that the Democratic Party of 2020 is ready for a fresher voice. Klobuchar is that voice.”

      First elected to Senate in 2006.

      • R C Dean

        Biden – first elected to Senate in 1972(!)

        Sanders – first elected to the House in 1990

        Why, 14 years in the Senate is practically nothing!

    • Fourscore

      “… I found myself grappling with Klobuchar”… and realized I’d crossed the thresh hold of sanity

  50. The Late P Brooks

    However, as the voters in early states have begun to have their say, like so many of my fellow Democrats, I found myself grappling with the options and realized that the Democratic Party of 2020 is ready for a fresher voice. Klobuchar is that voice.

    Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, and I’ll love you forever.

    • R C Dean

      Klobuchar, fresh voice?

      Ay, caramba.

      • Mainer

        Don’t discount her Midwestern charisma.

      • pistoffnick

        “charisma”

        {snort} she has the charisma of bland hotdish

      • Tundra

        Lutefisk.

  51. Drake

    Drastic changes coming to Marine Corps rifle qualification

    Some of it sounds good, some sounds like an excuse to spend less time on the range. Sounds like they’ll still have 10 shots at 500 yards in 10 minutes like they did in my day. But, you use your issue weapon, which sucks for you if it’s an M4.

    • R C Dean

      10 shots at 500 yards in 10 minutes

      I’m out. Off a rest with the .300 Deerminator (sub-MOA at 100 yards), I wouldn’t like my chances at that range.

      Although if somebody gave me a pile of tax-payer funded ammo and days to practice, maybe.

      • Drake

        If you have you M16A2/4 dialed in nicely, it’s the easiest 10 shots of the day even with iron sights. Bigger target (full size silhouette), prone position, each shot marked in real time, 10 minutes. On pre-qual day at Parris Island, I was bored and knew it didn’t count so I made 3 headshots in a row – then got yelled at a went back to aiming center-mass.

      • R C Dean

        Pater Dean can (well, could) shoot that well. It would take a hell of a lot of training and practice for me, and at my age I doubt I could do it over iron sights, no matter what.

      • Jarflax

        At your age I suspect the rifle range would be the least of your worries in Boot Camp.

      • Chipwooder

        Yep. I was a mere pizza box but I always shot well from 500 in the prone. It’s completely stable and all you have to do is center the top edge of the front sight post halfway up on the the dog target.

        200 and 300 slow fire was always my weak point because of my hands. I’ve always had twitchy hands.

      • Drake

        The kneeling and standing are what got me on days I didn’t make expert.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Why do they even bother? Rifles are irrelevant when you have jets with guided missiles, according to legendary military expert Joe Biden.

    • Dakotain

      I wouldn’t call it easy. I shot expert every year but I think I only went 10 for 10 at the 500yrd line my last qual in 2003.

      • Drake

        I like the picture of him rooting for Ivan Drago.

      • JD is Unemployed

        Imagine Bern’s disappointment when even Gorbachev stands to applause Rocky. “Gorby, nooooo!!!”

      • Gustave Lytton

        Not real communist.

    • Charles Easterly

      “The Bee rocks.”

      I have found many of their contributions humorous, including this one.

      “Having apparently received a memo from top mainstream media outlets, all liberals around the country dutifully stood up, walked outside, tilted their heads toward the sky, and shouted the slogan for a full minute. ‘We are not mindless NPCs, we are not mindless NPCs, we are not mindless NPCS’ could be heard echoing through the streets of every major metropolitan area in the nation.

      Finally, their duty to defend themselves as being freethinkers having been completed, all progressives wandered back inside and awaited instruction from CNN, the Huffington Post, and clips of Saturday Night Live and Last Week Tonight.

      At publishing time, a new directive had been issued for all liberals to chant, ‘Republicans are mindless Russian bots’ for several minutes at the same time.”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Petey will use it as an opportunity to grovel and promise giveaways.

    • JD is Unemployed

      Well this is a double standard and a half. Oppose Buttejudge on his absurd policies and the content of his character, not the crimes of his ancestors. Going down the ancestral crimes route to score points is a stupid game, with horrible prizes. Next they’ll be featuring an article in favor of reparations payments.

      • JD is Unemployed

        Okay well, now that my hot take is out of the way, the article does make the case against HR40 in this context.

      • R C Dean

        Oppose Buttejudge on his absurd policies and the content of his character, not the crimes of his ancestors.

        Or, hold your opponents to their own standards?

        If elections really are 90% a turn-out game, I can see going with that.

      • UnCivilServant

        And let them define the rules of engagement?

      • R C Dean

        They already have, at least their rules for engaging you. The question is whether you are going to show up to a gun fight with bare hands.

      • JD is Unemployed

        Eh. The problem with that is the entrenched whataboutism that proves such an effective defense against reason and constructive discourse. Its all a horrible, cynical zero sum game.

        However, I still feel very strongly about holding pols to their own standards, so, you make a very good point, Pete is a big pusher for “muh reparations!”. Of course it won’t be him sacrificing a pound of flesh for it.

    • R C Dean

      Do the oppo attacks on during the primaries, and risk that its “old news” by the election, or hold your fire until the general, and risk the strongest opponent for you winning the primary?

      • Pat

        If Buttman is the strongest opponent to emerge then it probably doesn’t matter either way.

    • JD is Unemployed

      A glimpse of the real Mike Bloomberg. I think the Mikey that does the public appearances now is actually an LMD, with all NSFC (not safe for caucusing) sub-routines deleted, or so they think. The real Bloomberg is hiding in his secret lair, and by this point is probably just a head in a jar.

    • WTF

      I know this will give leftists the vapors, but he’s not wrong.

      • Sensei

        Mike Bloomberg’s NYC was better than de Blasio’s.

        de Blasio is currently feuding with the police and the crazies and homeless remind of the Dinkins’ years. Police have been instructed to essentially leave the homeless alone. Penn Station is filled with people sleeping on the floors and stairs. Something I haven’t seen in decades.

      • invisible finger

        “Police have been instructed to essentially leave the homeless alone.” – in order to make Trump look bad.

        Because the media won’t bother to ask why NY, LA, and SF have the problem of this magnitude but Dallas and Phoenix don’t.

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, for one, if you try to sleep outside in Dallas or Phoenix, the weather kills you instantly.

      • Drake

        So does this time of year in NY – which is why they are camped in the subways.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Same here. The public camping BS started around here from Occupy Wall Street when the encampments started and grew without any pushback. That and homeless activistsenablers.

        SCOTUS really fucked up by not taking the Boise case and curb stomping the 9th Circuit hard on that one. The reasoning is a perfect encapsulation of idiotic judicial “reasoning” and lays the foundations for its nonsense that will be applied to the rest of the criminal code.

      • Drake

        You aren’t supposed to say that stuff aloud near a microphone.

        And even though Mikey knows it’s true, he wants to take everyone else’s guns.

  52. RAHeinlein

    The House Financial Services Committee is grilling Powell – the Dems are in full shakedown mode. Community Reinvestment Act!

  53. Rebel Scum

    Brian Stelter✔
    @brianstelter

    This is what a president playing to his Fox base looks like:

    Tonight Trump is sitting down with Fox Biz host Trish Regan, who averages 250,000 viewers a night.

    How DARE the president interview with someone that is not a serious journalist that does serious news at a serious network like CNN.

    • leon

      This is what a president playing to his Fox base looks like:

      Tonight Trump is sitting down with Fox Biz host Trish Regan, who averages 250,000 viewers a night.

      How dare he talk to some little known host. He needs to get on Joe Rogan.

    • Gustave Lytton

      I think I liked it better when talking heads bitched about that sort of thing to their agent or makeup gal.

    • JaimeRoberto Delecto

      So much of politics and media is just high school. “Ugh, I can’t believe he’s going out with Trish. She only has 250,000 viewers a night.”

  54. Not Adahn

    I can only imagine the controversy that required this rule be created:

    5.2.3.1 Lady competitors are permitted to wear a belt, holster and allied
    equipment at hip level, however, the top of the belt must not be
    positioned below the furthest lateral point of the top of the
    femur (tuberosity major).

    • leon

      Every obscure rule is made because someone did it before it wasn’t a rule.

      • Not Adahn

        I also want one of our doc glibs to confirm that part of the femur is called a “big potato.”

      • robc

        If you catch a fly ball in your hat, the batter gets a triple.

      • robc

        Another weird baseball example.

        In 1908 Germany Schaeffer stole first base from second base.

        This so outraged the powers that be, that they made it illegal in 1919 after his death.

        Yeah, no one knows if the rule was put in because of him or not, but the timing is weird as there are no other known examples of anyone doing it.

      • Gadfly

        In 1908 Germany Schaeffer stole first base from second base.

        Why? What could possibly be accomplished by that?

      • Private Chipperbot

        Get a cigarette from the first base coach.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        When I was a kid, you knew you did summer camp right when you hear that the next week’s crew began orientation with “And we want to let you know about a new rule we’ve instituted…”

        “Capture the flag needs to be two hand tag only. And during daylight. And no mechanical restraints”
        “During buddy check, you need to be ON the floating dock, not hidden under it”
        “Glow sticks will no longer be sold at the trading post”

        I forget what else they had to do after we came through. Probably because of all the concussions I got playing sundown-to-sunup, full contact capture the flag all those times.

      • peachy rex

        Mechanical restraints? That’s called “playing to win”, son.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        We used our new lashing skills to tie captives to trees. I feel like they should acknowledge what good students we were.

    • Q Continuum

      No vagina guns.

      • Not Adahn

        Hmm… “major power factor” joke or “PCC” joke?

  55. Rebel Scum

    Interesting suggestion. I think the Chinese own Mickey Mouse as well.

    MSNBC’s Willie Geist asked the former vice president as part of the network’s New Hampshire primary coverage if he agreed with Democratic strategist James Carville’s assertion that the Democrats will give Trump four more years if they nominate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

    “I refuse to suggest any Democrat can lose,” Biden replied. “I think we could run Mickey Mouse against this president and have a shot.”

    • invisible finger

      And they’re still going to run Goofy instead.

      • pan fried wylie

        That’s the one that talks, you mean Pluto.

    • leon

      “I refuse to suggest any Democrat can lose,” Biden replied. “I think we could run Mickey Mouse against this president and have a shot.”

      If you think victory is inevitable, you will not be able to handle the problems that arise when your inevitability is challenged. See 2016 Election.

  56. The Late P Brooks

    Penn Station is filled with people sleeping on the floors and stairs. Something I haven’t seen in decades.

    Justice!

  57. The Late P Brooks

    This is what a president playing to his Fox base looks like:

    Tonight Trump is sitting down with Fox Biz host Trish Regan, who averages 250,000 viewers a night.

    Brian Stelter sounds envious.

    • Rebel Scum

      She’s hot. But his tits are bigger.

      • Q Continuum

        Chucky Moobs haz sadz.

    • Tundra

      On our last beach vacation, there were photo shoots every day. I think it’s a thing now. Watching some of the young ladies try to achieve sultry poses was painful. The best pose is no pose at all.

      39 shows how it’s done.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        Ride the 14 and you’ll see some disaffected young ladies trying to look disaffected and sultry amid the urban decay of NOMI. Often doing a very poor job of it. Sometimes you get to see 155 lb young men trying to look hard in the same locations (but never during school hours!)

    • Charles Easterly

      Hello QC,

      A buddy of mine suggests that you visit Femalejoy dot com. She thinks that the website will appeal to you.

      Naturally, I had hopes that she would benefit from the other commentary and links to (L/l)ibertarian ideas often presented here. For an example, here is a video less than ten minutes in length which I can suggest to all commentators/readers of this website.

      • Charles Easterly

        Oops – Evidently it is Femjoy.

        However, this provides me the opportunity to add another link to an audio book “The Failure of the ‘New Economics'” , which I am obviously recommending. I have listened to it while driving.

      • Charles Easterly

        My suggestions are safe for work and polite company whereas the website for QC is is definitely not. I apologize for not mentioning this in the original comment.

      • Q Continuum

        No apology necessary. I am familiar with Femjoy and it is indeed a treasure trove of attractive jiggly bits; thanks for the videos.

      • Pat

        MetArt > Femjoy. Uh, you know, from what I’ve heard…

  58. Mojeaux

    I would say that the art piece was craftsmanship, not art. As for putting it back together:

    Kintsukuroi, is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique.

    Art or craftsmanship? I say craftsmanship. The bowl breaks how it breaks. You put it together Gain with skill and talent, but it’s not the talent of origin.

    I like lots of the modern pieces in the art gallery but many of them are craftsmanship even when the pieces are arranged in a certain way to “say something.” Some is bricolage, which children can do, albeit clumsily. And some is both. I consider Harlequins and pulp fiction as art AND craft (because I do not have the skill to write a Hatlequin).

    Lots and lots of YouTubers doing things like art journals and travel journals with art are every bit as skilled as some of the things I see at the gallery. The only difference between this “artist” and some of the extraordinary people on YouTube is access to a glass oven.

    • robc

      I dont know if this helps, but as I said on a beer subthread the other day:

      Craft is the synthesis of art and engineering.

    • Sensei

      If you’re interested… Wabi-sabi

      In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection.[2] The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”.[3] It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (三法印, sanbōin), specifically impermanence (無常, mujō), suffering (苦, ku) and emptiness or absence of self-nature (空, kū).

    • A Leap at the Wheel

      Hard disagree on the kintsukoroi.

    • hayeksplosives

      Mojeaux, this is not exactly in response to your statements about art vs craft, but to the first part about repairing broken pottery.

      There is a great show on Netflix called “The Repair Shop”, a bunch of British craftsmen with various skills (clock repair, furniture restoration, etc). The lady who does the ceramic and pottery repair is AMAZING. She has skillfully made up for missing chunks and chips with the layered on technique, perfectly matching colors and even the translucence of items.

      I don’t know if it’s art, but she is phenomenally skilled.

      • UnCivilServant

        It is art.

        And it will be woefully underapreciated since the goal is invisibility.

      • Mojeaux

        Invisibility is a good point.

      • Mojeaux

        I love restoration shows. I used to watch The Furniture Guys. They repaired wooden furniture all the time, not just demonstrate upholstery.

    • leon

      Art or craftsmanship? I say craftsmanship. The bowl breaks how it breaks. You put it together Gain with skill and talent, but it’s not the talent of origin.

      I’m going to counter here. Where do you end this? The artist didn’t craft his paints himself, or make her own paper? All artists have materials, why is it that some materials make something not Art?

      • UnCivilServant

        Artists used to make their own paints.

      • Mojeaux

        Or had their assistants do it.

        You follow a recipe. Maybe you experiment with recipes.

      • Mojeaux

        Goldsmithing is IMO a craft. The bowls are goldsmithing.

      • UnCivilServant

        So, where do you draw the line between craft and art?

      • Mojeaux

        Mostly I can’t. It’s long been a conundrum for me. I do not value one over the other, even if it sounds like I do.

        The trades (carpentry, sewing [which are pretty much the same thing], leatherworking, armory) I immediately say “craft,” even if it isn’t.

        There are two pieces at the gallery that I can’t decide because they are so lifelike. One is a backpack on the floor in a corner. Looks like someone dropped it and everyone wants to pick it up and take it to lost’n’found. There’s a tiny card that says DO NOT TOUCH.

        Then there’s a lifesize security guard. I don’t know what to make of that. Madame Tussaud does that. Why is that piece worthy of inclusion in am art gallery but Madame Tussaud does it all day every day?

      • Jarflax

        Does this line need to be drawn? I tend to think the distinction is usually something like snobbery, with ‘art’ being the more pretentious side of the divide. I have seen furniture that is as much art as any Rembrandt, and we all know of ‘art’ that is created randomly, which to my mind cannot be art. Skilled people creating using those skills is both art and craftsmanship.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      Art or craftsmanship? I say craftsmanship. The bowl breaks how it breaks. You put it together Gain with skill and talent, but it’s not the talent of origin.

      Craftsman produce something that has intrinsic value. Artists do not. If the bowl has a function, then craftsmanship. If it’s decorative without use, then “art”.

      • Mojeaux

        I cam get behind that definition.

      • leon

        I’m going to push back again. “intrinsic value” does not exist. If you mean it has a function, i don’t think that meets the colloquial meaning of “craftsmanship”. You can make plenty of things that have a function, but display no craftsmanship. In fact It seems that when people talk about craftsmanship they are often talking about non functional improvements to make something functional beautiful.

      • UnCivilServant

        I typically hear craftsmanship in terms of things like durability and improved suitability to the intended task, not necessarily appearance.

    • Pat

      If the primary function of the object is aesthetic, it’s art. If the primary function of the object is function, it’s craft (or engineering, or whatever). Of course the definition breaks down on its own subjectivity. Somebody can make an utterly repulsive object for purely aesthetic reasons and it’s art, or somebody can make a fantastically beautiful object intended purely for function and it’s craft. Ultimately the distinction really doesn’t matter.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        More to the point, they are neither mutually exclusive nor even at odds.

    • R C Dean

      Gluing a pot together so it doesn’t leak – craftsmanship.

      Repairing a broken pot so it is as (or more) beautiful than the original – art.

  59. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of using Mike!’s words against him, Maj Toure or Colion Noir should definitely find that clip from Mike! at the Aspen Institute saying it should be illegal for a black man to own a gun.

  60. The Late P Brooks

    Watching some of the young ladies try to achieve sultry poses was painful. The best pose is no pose at all.

    Most of that sultry stuff just looks ridiculous. Duck lips is an improvement.

    And I’ll say it again: A big happy smile is the sexiest thing ever.

    • A Leap at the Wheel

      Only attractive to the very, very stupid. For better or worse, that does accurately describe the median 19 year old male that is the intended audience.

      My observation is that the old the audience gets, the more a happy smile (that communicates I”M NOT A HEAD CASE) works.

  61. Scruffy Nerfherder

    A big happy smile is the sexiest thing ever.

    Here you go.

    • Drake

      I assume a large cock is night next to the camera?

    • RAHeinlein

      IDK, but she looks like Dakota Fanning.

    • Tundra

      Sadly, everyone had left the room when she finished and the automatic lights turned off, forcing Ocasio-Cortez to wave her hands to get them to turn back on.

      It’s touches like this that really make the Bee special.

  62. The Late P Brooks

    And this-

    SCOTUS really fucked up by not taking the Boise case and curb stomping the 9th Circuit hard on that one. The reasoning is a perfect encapsulation of idiotic judicial “reasoning” and lays the foundations for its nonsense that will be applied to the rest of the criminal code.

    I can think of no reasonable explanation of SCOTUS’ refusal to hear that. Unless they are hoping the homeless will colonize every Trump Resort in America.

  63. We're not saying BEAM's an alien, but . . .

    Apropos of nothing in particular, if this a capella rendition of Cohen’s “Hallelujah” doesn’t affect you, you’re dead inside:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzmKauNfYAo

    • Mojeaux

      I absolutely despise that song no matter who sings it (but especially Cohen). If that makes me dead inside, I claim it with pride.

      • We're not saying BEAM's an alien, but . . .

        I haz a sad.

      • ChipsnSalsa

        It’s a pretty sounding song but the lyrics are terrible.

      • WTF

        I think that might be a function of it being so overdone. Whenever I hear it my reaction is “Oh Christ, not this again”.

      • Mojeaux

        No. I hated it the first time I heard it.

        A tiny part of my hatred is because it is not the Hallelujah Chorus.

      • Pat

        same

    • Charles Easterly

      “Apropos of nothing in particular, if this a capella rendition of Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ doesn’t affect you, you’re dead inside….”
      I am quite impressed. Thank you for introducing us to Julia Westlin.

      I like this version as well.

  64. RAHeinlein

    Tlaib is yelling at Powell, telling him the Fed should bail-out cities when they fail (specifically Detroit).

    • leon

      When did the Fed become the “Bailout Organ” of the united states? I mean it was bad enough when they bailed out the banks.

      • Pat

        When did the Fed become the “Bailout Organ” of the united states?

        1913/12/23

    • Chipwooder

      That cunt is no good.

      • WTF

        “Cunte” That cunte is no good.

  65. The Late P Brooks

    Tlaib is yelling at Powell, telling him the Fed should bail-out cities when they fail (specifically Detroit).

    Where’s the money, you honky motherfucker?

    • RAHeinlein

      I want a Detroit debate with Tlaib and Dan Gilbert.

      • UnCivilServant

        A “Detroit Debate” is just a shootout, right?

  66. creech

    Speaking of tolerance and civility. I went to an art museum on Sunday and they had an exhibit on the Women’s Suffrage movement. Included was a corkboard where attendees were encouraged to put up Post Its with the name of a woman who influenced America. Dozens about “Mom” or some 4th grade teacher, but of course also represented were Michelle,
    Hillary, AOC, RBG and the like. So I wrote “Ayn Rand” and posted it. Come by about 45 minutes later and one guess as to which post it had been removed?

      • creech

        Winston’s Mom.

    • Sensei

      That’s because there are no female libertarians.

  67. The Late P Brooks

    I’m with Mojeaux. That song sucks.

  68. The Late P Brooks

    re- art vs craft

    I have a very hard time thinking anything which is not finely and meticulously crafted as art. It might be decorative, and it might please my eye, but it will fall in the fuzzy border, at best, of art if it is not well made.

    The best Japanese joinery is art, to me, even if it’s a gardening stool.

    • Mojeaux

      No. Japanese joinery is sorcery.

    • ChipsnSalsa

      Then you know who comes into unify the party.

      • UnCivilServant

        The Ghost of Old Hickory shoots them all in duels?

  69. The Late P Brooks

    Nate Silver has No one winning the Democratic Primary (i.e contested convention) as the second most likely outcome right now

    If I seriously thought that meant None of the Above (including a certain previous candidate, who shall remain nameless), I’d consider getting out of my chair and dancing around the room.

  70. The Late P Brooks

    I wrote “Ayn Rand” and posted it. Come by about 45 minutes later and one guess as to which post it had been removed?

    Try Catherine the Great, next time.

    • peachy rex

      Margaret Thatcher.

    • pan fried wylie

      Aunt Jemima.