Friday Swiss Linkings of Links

by | Feb 28, 2020 | Daily Links | 404 comments

I know at least won of you will need this…

Brett may have succeeded in his meth empire building… I found this stapled to a case of beer at our reception desk here at Glibs.

Triumph!

I believe he was simply looking for packaging for meth, combined with distinct branding. The “Methagator” is both!

But enough of piling on the absent. You are here for links. Well, for the comment section anyways.

  • Unfortunately, this number is not likely to be surpassed in TEH YEAR OF THE VIRUS!
  • Yes….”accidentally“. I think they got the message.
  • Pie, make room for a few guests. I mean, unless the Bulgarian Army can prevail.
  • This was not exactly the Titanic, people.

I am absolutely sure many of you will deserve a narrowed gaze. Lee, take it away!

About The Author

Swiss Servator

Swiss Servator

Currently serving at the pleasure of a Swiss multinational. Previously a Soldier, rugby player, lawyer, bouncer, bartender, substitute teacher, risk manager, and cubicle mushroom. Will work for raclette.

404 Comments

  1. leon

    The first incident in the ‘oops…sorry’ category happened in 1985. During a training exercise in the proper use of ground-to-air-missiles, Swiss artillery launched rockets straight into Liechtenstein, igniting a massive forest fire along with a diplomatic snafu.

    Not a happy day for some Swiss Fire Direction Officer and his Battery Commander.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      C’mon, you know Liechtenstein was just asking for it.

      • Swiss Servator

        They got the message.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Should have narrowed their fusillade.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Better than a first gif! I mean, look at the size of that image!

      • JaimeRoberto Delecto

        It’s not the size. It’s what you do with it.

      • Ted S.

        It’s the girth of the image, not the length, that matters.

    • leon

      In all fairness, it is difficult to tell Switzerland apart from Liechtenstein, even in broad daylight.

      RACIST!!!!!!

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The Leichtenstein is only printed in three colors.

      • C. Anacreon

        And their chain restaurant with a lollipop and beer mug theme, Licked ‘n’ Stein, was an abject failure.

    • Shpip

      Why doesn’t Switzerland just annex Liechtenstein? Peacefully, of course.
      I can see the diplomatic negotiations now:

      Swiss: You should totally join our country.

      Liechs: Uhh, why?

      Swiss: Well, our flag is a big plus…

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, then they lose all the class bonuses they’ve accrued from neutrality. They’ll become a shitty central european country.

  2. Gustave Lytton

    Just the tip!

    It slipped in. Twice! Thrice!

    • Mojeaux

      LOL

  3. leon

    ‘Europe is nicer’: migrants head west after Turkey opens border

    Did anyone tell them about the Nazis and white supremacists?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Still beats their home government.

    • JaimeRoberto Delecto

      Hey, they didn’t say they were coming to America.

  4. leon

    Disney World Jungle Cruise ride boat sinks with passengers on board

    I think that’s called Going out like a Dopey.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Going down on Minnie

    • Gustave Lytton

      *cue story about rising obesity*

    • PBRstreetgang

      The Natalie Wood ride

      • hayeksplosives

        Too soon!

      • Count Potato

        It’s been 84 years.

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        39, but who’s counting?

      • Ted S.

        The only kind of wood that doesn’t float.

      • hayeksplosives

        As least she’s not a witch

      • whiz

        You guys are awful (I love it).

      • Cacciatore

        Fuck off, tulpa.

      • Shirley Knott

        Well, she had thought about showering but decided to wash up on shore.

      • The Hyperbole

        Did you know that they figured out that Chrissie from Jaws had dandruff.

    • Florida Man

      Evidently the people mover crashed today as well.

      • Chafed

        Lol

    • Fourscore

      Had part of my inventory on board as well. Woe is me ! Woe is me!

  5. leon

    The Swiss hotel industry registered 39.6 million overnight stays across the country last year

    Or as Joe Biden would say: The Swiss had 39.6 Billion people stay over in one night last year.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      And they all died?

      • Swiss Servator

        Zombie tourists don’t tip very well 🙁

      • Jarflax

        Passing in the undead Franc? How unSwiss.

      • JaimeRoberto Delecto

        Like the Dutch.

      • JaimeRoberto Delecto

        The Swiss probably have Net Neutrality, so they survived.

      • leon

        And no gang rapists on the supreme court.

  6. Jarflax

    I just recieved a 53 error here and:

    Error 503 Service Unavailable
    Service Unavailable

    Guru Meditation:
    XID: 1325019934

    Varnish cache server

    I am wondering what mandala is appropriate and what type of varnish should be used?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Just pour some shellac on your keyboard, it’ll be fine.

      • Count Potato

        euphemism?

      • Mad Scientist

        Try sugar instead.

  7. Mad Scientist

    I know at least on of you will need this…

    Way to spell, Swissy! You left out the ‘w.’

      • Spudalicious

        Now add the “e” to one.

    • Bobarian LMD

      It’s there now!

  8. The Late P Brooks

    It’s K-k-k-kapitalism! It’s c-c-c-coming to k-k-k-kill us!

    The culture of the American workplace puts everyone’s health at unnecessary risk.

    For all but the independently wealthy in America, the best-case scenario for getting sick is being a person with good health insurance, paid time off, and a reasonable boss who won’t penalize you for taking a few sick days or working from home. For millions of the country’s workers, such a scenario is a nearly inconceivable luxury. “With more than a third of Americans in jobs that offer no sick leave at all, many unfortunately cannot afford to take any days off when they are feeling sick,” Robyn Gershon, an epidemiology professor at the NYU School of Global Public Health, wrote in an email. “People who do not (or cannot) stay home when ill do present a risk to others.” On this count, the United States is a global anomaly, one of only a handful of countries that doesn’t guarantee its workers paid leave of any kind. These jobs are also the kind least likely to supply workers with health insurance, making it difficult for millions of people to get medical proof that they can’t go to work.

    They’re also concentrated in the service industry or gig economy, in which workers have contact, directly or indirectly, with large numbers of people.

    ——-

    Work culture isn’t the only structure of American life that might make a COVID-19 outbreak worse than it has to be—the inaccessible, precarious, unpredictable nature of the country’s health-care system could also play an important role. But tasking the workers who make up so much of the infrastructure of daily American life, often for low wages and with few resources, with the lion’s share of prevention in an effort to save thousands of lives is bound to fail, maybe spectacularly. It will certainly exact a cost on them, both mentally and physically, that the country has given them no way to bear.

    Yes, of course. That’s why there are stacks of dead people on every corner in every American city, just waiting to be scooped up by front end loaders and hauled off to the incinerators.

    We’re all going to die.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      TLDR: Being a low-skilled worker sucks. Film at eleven.

      • Rhywun

        Only in America!

    • Jarflax

      I like the stolen base of calling freelancing gigs jobs. Yes, when you freelance you give up the guaranteed paycheck, but you mendacious Atlantic slime, you give that up for the flexibility and independence. And servers/bartenders? Yeah low guaranteed wages mean less money if you don’t work. But you still average out better.

      • Viking1865

        The biggest threat to bartenders and servers is the cashless economy.

        The reason that for the decades after the explosion in taxation, people could make a good living in food service was that you could underreport your cash income. You could report enough to stay in low tax brackets, or even defraud the system and get the EITC. But as more and more people stopped carrying cash, it’s squeezed out that. I mean, it used to be you could pocket fifty or a hundred bucks a night in tax free cash. Now it all gets added onto the CC slips, and the IRS gets to dip their beak.

      • Tonio

        I always put a cheapass tip on the card because they’ll probably have to claim a tip regardless. Then the remainder of the tip in cash, provided they earned it.

      • kinnath

        I always pay cash. I generally leave 20% to 25% for a tip.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I always tip in cash, if I have it.

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        ^^Same.

      • pistoffnick

        As a busboy during my high school years (late 80s) I would bring home $150-200 in tips on Fridee and Satdee nights. I’d usually bus for 3 waitrons, they were supposed to share 10% of their tips with me.

    • Fourscore

      Them cows ain’t gonna milk themselves, Son.

      • leon

        Why Milk the Cow if the Labor is free?

  9. Fatty Bolger

    The Jungle Cruise is being adapted to “Jungle Cruise” the movie starring Dwayne Johnson

    Of course it is.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    what type of varnish should be used?

    High gloss.

    • Bobarian LMD

      Hand whipped.

  11. Count Potato

    “Don’t buy China’s story: The coronavirus may have leaked from a lab

    What’s more, the People’s Liberation Army’s top expert in biological warfare, a Maj. Gen. Chen Wei, was dispatched to Wuhan at the end of January to help with the effort to contain the outbreak.

    According to the PLA Daily, Chen has been researching coronaviruses since the SARS outbreak of 2003, as well as Ebola and anthrax. This would not be her first trip to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, either, since it is one of only two bioweapons research labs in all of China.

    Does that suggest to you that the novel coronavirus, now known as SARS-CoV-2, may have escaped from that very lab, and that Chen’s job is to try to put the genie back in the bottle, as it were? It does to me.

    Add to this China’s history of similar incidents. Even the deadly SARS virus has escaped — twice — from the Beijing lab where it was (and probably is) being used in experiments. Both “man-made” epidemics were quickly contained, but neither would have happened at all if proper safety precautions had been taken.

    And then there is this little-known fact: Some Chinese researchers are in the habit of selling their laboratory animals to street vendors after they have finished experimenting on them.”

    https://nypost.com/2020/02/22/dont-buy-chinas-story-the-coronavirus-may-have-leaked-from-a-lab/

    • Gustave Lytton

      Even if it were true, it’s almost completely irrelevant at this point. The NY Post would better serve their reader by offering up calm and rational, ah fuck. Who am I kidding? Ratchet up the sensationalism and distraction.

      • Ted S.

        I can only imagine how the Post would respond if it turned out that police created this virus.

    • The Other Kevin

      Read an interesting take on this. Although it’s not a biological attack, our response will be as if it were. And other countries will be watching us for vulnerabilities.

    • IRBE

      Reluctant first post …felt I owed it to y’all to contribute something I know something about since I have worked with Flu virus in my past.
      My take on this Corona Virus: It was an inadvertent lab release from that BL4 in Wuhan. They were studying the virus to better understand SARs. These same scientists were at UNC and were infamous for their study of corona virus. Moved over to Wuhan since both natives and got chance to run new BL4 lab. Cultivating virus is not easy so sometimes there is some genetic engineering/selection done to help them grow better. From wild-type corona virus this one seems a bit hardier, has some surface markers (gp120) that make them unique (probably in some patent…).
      And in a rush to meet publication/poster presentation at end of last year…skimped on decontamination procedures and it got loose.
      This bad boy is a lurker (like me), which sheds and survives much longer and under conditions that typical flu virus does not. After infection, incubation times before symptoms may extend to weeks versus hours. So typical quarantine protocols are not as effective.
      As with all things, governments will not let a good crisis go without over regulation or controls, which probably won’t work for the stated purpose. Best advice…stay away from everyone and everything. If you have to go out and do anything, carefully examine your bio-control suit for pin holes and use proper decontamination protocols. Or you can wash your hands and use best sanitation practices. It could be a long ride.

      • leon

        Reluctant first post

        That’s just like adding Blood in the water.

        These same scientists were at UNC and were infamous for their study of corona virus.

        Interesting, so were they kicked out of UNC?

        Also, Fuck Off Tulpa.

      • Swiss Servator

        Ye Tulpa…fornicate off!

      • Bobarian LMD

        I have worked with Flu virus in my past.

        So you’re the asshole who got me sick!

        Fuck-off, Tulpa!

      • Florida Man

        Awful lot of people with dog avatars. Are libertarians predisposed to liking dogs?

      • Mad Scientist

        Since there are no libertarian women, dog love will have to do.

      • Bobarian LMD

        What are ewe talking a-baaa-out?

      • Animal

        Keep that up and you’ll have to go on the lamb.

      • pistoffnick

        I got mutton for this pun tangent

      • Animal

        No wonder you’re feeling sheepish.

      • UnCivilServant

        No, there are just a lot of dogs who comment.

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        On the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog.

      • Gustave Lytton

        27 years ago?

        *reaches for walker*

      • Jarflax

        That was not nice.

      • UnCivilServant

        Only if you dislike dogs.

      • Shpip

        Why, yes. Absolutely.

        Wait… you said dogs. Never mind, carry on.

      • Nephilium

        What, you thought he said dags?

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        I like dags.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Also avid consumers of peanut butter.

  12. SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

    Thoughts and prayers with you, Hayek… Hopefully everything turns out well and gets you answers.

    • Shirley Knott

      Amen!

    • blighted_non_millenial

      Dittos!

    • Ted S.

      Only 38%?

      • Gustave Lytton

        The other 62% are already avoiding it until Constellation Brands gives up their made for America recipes and starts importing the real thing from Grupo Modelo.

      • Florida Man

        I wonder how many weren’t drinking it already.

      • grrizzly

        *raises paw*

      • Florida Man

        It’s my FIL favorite beer. Thankfully after years of politely drinking it, they started to buy fat tire, so at least I have that to drink when I visit.

    • leon

      38% of Americans are dumb. That is lowballing it, because you are missing the ones who are Dumb but have some cognizance of the fact and so didn’t just make something up in their head about the Corona Virus

      • Gustave Lytton

        You’ve met my coworker who said he shouldn’t pop the bubble wrap (on a package received months ago) because it came from China.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I did fail a number of English classes over the years.

    • Animal

      Utter horseshit.

    • Urthona

      i mean it could easily just be an association thing. they don’t actually think it has the virus but don’t want to be reminded of it.

      there are like 100 beers to choose from in this country.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Corona sucking is a good reason to not drink Corona, coronavirus is not.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      The only acceptable way to drink Corona is what my SIL calls a “happy beer.” A happy beer is created by drinking the beer down a bit and topping it off with a shot of Patròn. Of course it works with Modelo as well, but Modelo is an acceptable beverage sans tequila.

  13. Count Potato

    “A drunken driver who caused a fiery Southern California crash that killed three Las Vegas teenagers on spring break was sentenced to 51 years in jail, as the devastated mother of one of the victims held up her son’s ashes in court.

    Bani Duarte, 29, of San Clemente sobbed as she was sentenced at a Huntington Beach courtroom in Orange County on Thursday.

    She was convicted of three counts of second-degree murder and one count of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury.

    After emotional testimony from family and friends of the victims, Orange County Superior Court Judge Gary S. Paer sentenced Duarte to the maximum punishment possible -51 years-to-life in prison.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8054421/California-woman-sentenced-DUI-crash-killed-3-teens.html

    IANAL, but I thought murder had to be intentional.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      Depends on the state. It’s probably a reckless murder statute (basically, you were doing something so stupidly dangerous that you should’ve foreseen killing people)

      • Count Potato

        “In the state of California, depending on the degree of recklessness and whether alcohol was involved, a person could be charged with progressively more serious offenses: vehicular manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, or second-degree murder. In any of these cases, the prosecution must prove that the driver committed some wrongful act (which could be a felony, a misdemeanor, an infraction, or a lawful act that might cause death) and that the wrongful act caused the collision and the death of the victim. Murder charges are usually reserved for the most egregious cases, such as a convicted DUI offender who drives recklessly while intoxicated and thereby causes a fatal collision.”

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_homicide#California

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        Under California Penal Code 187, second-degree murder is also willful but is not deliberate and premeditated.

    • PBRstreetgang

      She was driving 79 mph in a 45 zone, had a prior DUI arrest and had a 0.3% BAC in this accident. 51 years seems about right.

      • Mad Scientist

        0.3%!? Daaaaaaaaamn.

    • grrizzly

      Batshit crazy. No surprise that the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world.

      • leon

        We need some common sense alcohol control

      • grrizzly

        Actually, I wasn’t sarcastic. I still find enormously long sentences in the US appalling. I grew up in a country where the maximum prison sentence was 15 years–for murder. Sure, there was a death penalty. But still. Also, the relatives of the people who were sentenced to death in Stalin’s Soviet Union for political reasons were told by the NKVD that they received “10 years with no right of correspondence.” And here you have 51 years.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yeah, I agree, that’s too much time for an accident even if it was reckless as hell.

      • Lackadaisical

        I don’t see the problem. after a certain point you’ve proven that you’re a danger to everyone around you and should be segregated from society at large.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        1)We need to bring back the punishment of exile. “Hey cuntbag, since you couldn’t fucking Uber home and you killed a bunch of people, enjoy your new home in the arctic circle.”

        2) As much as my logical side keeps me from holding this opinion, my emotional side would be satisfied with shorter sentences if prison was shittier. Like, never leave the cell solitary confinement less cushy.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Depends on what the purpose of incarceration is. Is it rehabilitation or a societal vengeance/ justice. Not that it is necessarily an either or situation or that there are not good arguments for either. As I see it one of the purposes of the justice system as a whole is to deal socially acceptable punishment in order to prevent mob justice. Scaling these punishments and what to do with the individuals that are to be punished is an open question. Until very recrntly, killing the offender was the default punishment which prevents what to do with people afterwards from being a problem that needs to be addressed. With the historically recent advent of institutional imprisonment I am not sure that we have figured it out.

      • Not Adahn

        While the idea of a “penitentiary” or “reformatory” as a way of bringing a criminal into a state of productive citizenship is a nice one, it suffers from the fact that we have absolutely no idea if that goal is even possible, much less how to do it.

        It’s the “power everything with Gaia-loving renewables” conceit.

      • Rhywun

        Is it rehabilitation or a societal vengeance/justice

        Does “preventing the person from committing more crimes” count under one of those? Because that’s what I see the purpose being.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        I’m not a fan of the rehabilitation purpose. Chesterton stated the reasons many times better than me.

        That leaves deterrence, punishment/revenge/avoidance of mob violence, excommunication, and reparation. I’m not convinced on the last one, but the first three make sense to me.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Good point regarding preventing future criminality. However, I can see that logic making any crime deserving of a life sentence.

        There is also the matter of what we do with criminals after they have finished their punishment. As it stands we have what amounts to life sentances in terms of rights restrictions. Those convicted of Felonies, Sex and Domestic Violence Crimes face lifetime rights restrictions. So I suppose a decision has been made in that regard.

      • Viking1865

        Yeah I don’t really favor prison in general. I think a combination of corporal punishment and victim restitution is the best way to run a justice system. Give this stupid bitch 100 lashes and fine her the lifes earnings of the people she killed.

        She can explain to every single lover she has her life what the scars on her back are for, and look at the deduction on every paycheck until shes paid her debt, not to “society” but to the next of kin of the people she killed. But such a system would not employ enough prison guards, nor would it employ enough cops, plus theres all the companies that build the prisons, do prison laundry, the food, etc etc. So many wonderful ways to make money.

      • RAHeinlein

        I favor a Starship Troopers/Number of the Beast (Beulahland) combo justice system myself.

      • The Hyperbole

        her the lifes earnings of the people she killed.

        Does she get money from the family if the people she killed were going to have net losses in income.

      • Viking1865

        You know they calculate lost earnings in a civil suit all the time, right? It’s not some brand new legal theory.

      • The Hyperbole

        Am I aware that people pull numbers out of their asses and make unverifiable claims on what someone “would have made”? Yes, yes I am, that’s why I made my snarky comment questioning if they ever consider that while Bob might have pulled down 60k a year, he also may have had a gambling problem and been shit at investing so he was more than likely going to bankrupt the family and end up ‘borrowing’ 50 grand from his brother Frank to pay off ‘Calm’ Charlie (a bookie notorious for his temper, although he actually got the ‘calm’ nickname back when he was simple muscle because he was so calm while breaking kneecaps, but now the pressure of running things cause him to lash out and most people think the nickname is ironic, like calling a fat guy ‘Tiny’)

      • Mojeaux

        Hyp, I know you take a lot of flak for trolling, but I like the way your mind works.

      • The Hyperbole

        Thanks Mojo, I figure if you’re gonna create a hypotheticals may as well give the characters some depth.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        ^this.

      • Lackadaisical

        that only works if it is possible to give restitution to the victims. the victims are dead.

        At a certain point it is more important to protect others than squeeze blood from a stone.

    • Jarflax

      Dylan Mack, 18, and Albert ‘AJ’ Rossi, 17, were also killed when the alleged drunk driver rear-ended their car when they were stopped at a red light

      1. You are no longer the alleged drunk driver at your sentencing hearing
      2. 2nd Degree Murder frequently includes reckless or depraved indifference homocide.

    • Bobarian LMD
    • Lackadaisical

      looks like everything is starting to sag already.

  14. Count Potato

    “EXCLUSIVE: James Franco hits back at ‘false and inflammatory’ sexual misconduct claims from two former students who say he dangled TV roles in exchange for explicit sex scenes at his acting school

    Franco, 41, takes particular aim at accuser Tither-Kaplan, who is a former student of Franco’s acting school dating back to 2014.

    Tither-Kaplan was among those who publicly denounced Franco’s alleged behavior on Twitter after his Golden Globes win in January 2018.

    She tweeted: ‘Hey James Franco, nice #timesup pin at the #GoldenGlobes, remember a few weeks ago when you told me the full nudity you had me do in two of your movies for $100/day wasn’t exploitative because I signed a contract to do it? Times up on that!’

    In response to her allegations which she later laid out in the class action suit, Franco’s lawyers say: ‘Ms. Tither-Kaplan had always expressed gratitude for having been given the opportunity to work in Emmy-nominated productions with Franco, one of her teachers.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8053117/James-Franco-hits-false-inflammatory-claims-two-former-students.html

    • leon

      remember a few weeks ago when you told me the full nudity you had me do in two of your movies for $100/day wasn’t exploitative because I signed a contract to do it?

      So you admit you signed a contract to do it….

      • Below Sea Level Hell Centro

        It was under duress!!! Do you even Allred bro?

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Worried about fake news? The Ministry of Truth is here to help.

    At the Schweinhaut Senior Center in suburban Maryland, about a dozen seniors gather around iPads and laptops, investigating a suspicious meme of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

    Plastered over her image, in big, white block letters, a caption reads:

    “California will receive 13 extra seats in Congress by including 10 million illegal aliens in the 2020 U.S. Census.”

    The seniors are participating in a workshop sponsored by the nonprofit Senior Planet called “How to Spot Fake News.” As instructed, they pull up a reputable fact-checking site like Snopes or FactCheck.org and, within a few minutes, identify the meme is peddling fake news.

    “It’s right there!” 86-year-old Marlene Cianci tells the class. “Just a two-step thing and there it was!”

    Researchers say classes like this one should be more widely offered, especially with the 2020 election approaching.

    After Russia launched a massive disinformation campaign on social media during the 2016 election, many middle and high schools rushed to add digital literacy courses to their curriculums. Now, U.S. officials say Russia is again interfering in U.S. elections. But experts say older adults may struggle the most with identifying fake news, and classes designed to teach these skills to seniors aren’t yet common nationwide.

    There you have it. If you can’t believe NPR and Snopes, who can you believe?

    Be gone, pesky Russians!

    • leon

      reputable fact-checking site like Snopes

      Uhhh Huhhh…..

      After Russia launched a massive disinformation campaign on social media during the 2016 election, many middle and high schools rushed to add digital literacy courses to their curriculums. Now, U.S. officials say Russia is again interfering in U.S. elections. But experts say older adults may struggle the most with identifying fake news, and classes designed to teach these skills to seniors aren’t yet common nationwide.

      Did these courses include a section that allowed the students to see the evidence behind “Russian medeling” and realize that that story itself was fake news? Or is it just a course to tell kids “Only believe what Snopes tells you is true”?

    • Rhywun

      Schweinhaut Senior Center

      Pigskin? Really?

    • JaimeRoberto Delecto

      “Russia launched a massive disinformation campaign on social media during the 2016 election.”

      They bought $100K of Facebook ads in a multi-billion dollar election, and half of that $100K was spent after the election. Fact checker, check thyself.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Absolutely true, for exceedingly small definitions of ‘massive’.

      • UnCivilServant

        Compared to my advetising budget, it’s massive.

        But it’s not even a milibloomberg ad buy.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    And since a recent study from the AARP finds tech use is climbing among older adults, Nash says it’s important to tailor workshops to their specific needs.

    “Just because you’re online, doesn’t mean you’re ready to evaluate everything you see there,” she says.

    For example, Nash says the best way to check out a source is to open a new Internet tab and do a deeper search. But if you’re new to navigating the Web, just opening a separate tab can be a hurdle.

    ——-

    “We all know an informed democracy is the only way democracy works,” she says. “And if we don’t teach them how to evaluate what they’re seeing, then we are poisoning our electorate.”

    Old peepuls is dum.

    They shouldn’t even be allowed to vote, probably.

    • leon

      “We all know an informed democracy is the only way democracy works

      Seems to have been working in some manner for the last 250 years, and i’ve yet to see much evidence of the people being informed.

      • Mad Scientist

        If the “informed” voters are sophisticated enough to fact check via Snopes, but not sophisticated enough to fact check on Snopes, then they have exactly as much information as this group wants them to have.

      • Urthona

        Lol.

    • Bobarian LMD

      Outstanding!

    • Sensei

      The music is my favorite part!

      The lyrics are actually what is being sung. It’s also a mashup of generic shonen theme songs.

  17. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Hug a Chinese tourist to encourage them in the coronavirus fight video posted three weeks ago from Italy:

    https://youtu.be/mNMdg4morQs

    In retrospect probably not the greatest of ideas.

    • Rhywun

      ?

    • UnCivilServant

      And I figured the “Patients are treated with hugs” setting in “Plague, Inc” as a joke.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      This was as predictable as the sun rising in the morning. Of course this was the angle they’d take.

  18. RAHeinlein

    Turkey busing Syrian refugees to the Greek border:

    Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said “significant numbers” of migrants had gathered at the border but said “no illegal entries into Greece will be tolerated”. Land and sea border security was being tightened, he said.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51678462

    • Gustave Lytton

      Who could have expected that the Turks would be trying to go Greek on their illegals?

      • RAHeinlein

        Jonah Hill?

      • Unreconstructed

        Combine this with the Syria kerfuffle, and my favorite geopolitical question might get answered: If Russia attacked Turkey from the rear, would Greece help?

      • Ted S.

        Nice avatar. 😉

      • Liechtensteinian Servator

        Thanks. Given the links (and my working for a company owned by the royal family of the Grand Duchy) I felt a name/avatar change was needed today.

      • Not Adahn

        Two ruggers at odds?

      • Liechtensteinian Servator

        I identify more as a soccerhead these days, though I did hit up the Varsity/Alumni match in ’18.

      • Not Adahn

        How’s the new House? I haven’t been yet.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Erdogan is antagonizing the EU, the US, and Russia at the same time while stirring trouble in Syria and Libya. The Venetians need to get the league back together.

      • Lackadaisical

        +1 lepanto

  19. Aloysious

    Have I ever said how much I love the Lee van Cleef picture?

    I love it.

    • The Hyperbole

      I always did like Lee Van Cleef, always did like Lee.

      • leon

        You missed the discussion this morning, I finally watched Hang em High they other day.

        Pretty good l. The wife liked it more than the man with no name trilogy

  20. Viking1865

    https://www.nationalreview.com/news/federal-appeals-court-blocks-trumps-remain-in-mexico-policy/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=breaking&utm_campaign=newstrack&utm_term=19575650

    Judge Fletcher, classmate of Bill Clintons, former clerk of Brennans, Berkley Law professor.

    Rationale for his decision.

    “Plaintiffs presented evidence in the district court that they, as well as others returned to Mexico under the MPP, face targeted discrimination, physical violence, sexual assault, overwhelmed and corrupt law enforcement, lack of food and shelter, and practical obstacles to participation in court proceedings in the United States. The hardship and danger to individuals returned to Mexico under the MPP have been repeatedly confirmed by reliable news reports.”

    Bad things happen to Mexicans at the hands of their own government, therefore the emanations of the penumbras of the Constitution require the US to admit them.

    • Q Continuum

      The judiciary is absolutely out of control.

      • Gustave Lytton

        These morons have forgotten that the only power they have is the appearance of legitimacy. As they continue to throw it away, they’re just increasing the risk of an Andrew Jackson saying F U.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Bad things happen to Mexicans at the hands of their own government, therefore the emanations of the penumbras of the Constitution require the US to admit them.

    Maybe we should invade Mexico and establish a protectorate under martial law.

    • Lackadaisical

      it’s the only way to protect Mexicans, like the constitution demands.

      • Lackadaisical

        Also, I’ve they’re Americans, the cops can shoot them at will and have no duty to protect them. just like it says in the constitution.

      • Lackadaisical

        once they’re Americans**

    • AlmightyJB

      + beachfront property.

  22. Liechtensteinian Servator

    Yes….”accidentally“. I think they got the message.

    *Puts on armor, stands at end of bridge*

    We’re ready for you now!

    • Q Continuum

      *narrowed gaze*

  23. Juvenile Bluster

    Fun with qualified immunity!

    https://twitter.com/ssamcham/status/1233496313389604864

    Kid with BB gun. Cop tells kid to put gun down. Kid puts down gun and puts up hands. Cop shoots kid anyways. Court: It wasn’t established that this violates rights, so qualified immunity!

    • Juvenile Bluster

      We must therefore inquire whether, as of November 16, 2013, it was clearly established that it was unconstitutional for an officer to shoot when, over the span of two seconds, someone pulls what appears to be a gun, drops it, and raises his hands after being given a warning. We hold it was not. Rivera reasonably perceived a threat of serious physical harm when he saw N.K. reach for and grab what looked like a real gun. It was not objectively unreasonable for Rivera to decide to shoot N.K. as he saw N.K. grip and raise his gun, even if the bullet ultimately struck N.K. after he had dropped the gun.

      • Sensei

        +1 totality of the circs.

      • Lackadaisical

        yeah, right to life on Saturday 2/29/20 isn’t reasonably established by case law either. how can cops do their jobs if they’re expected to infer that serfs have rights?

      • Gustave Lytton

        Only the tortured logic of idiots in robes would say that someone complying with the orders of police could still be killed lawfully.

      • Viking1865

        The dash cam doesn’t show the kid get shot, and there is no badge cam. So no one can know for sure if he did in fact fire after the fake gun was dropped. It would be a bad shoot if he fired after the gun was dropped. But since the shooting is off camera, I don’t think you can say one way or the other.

        I think cops should be held to the same standard as the rest of us. If I am in an altercation with someone, and they pull a gun out of their waistband, I don’t need to wait until they prove its a real gun by shooting me with it. The toy gun had the orange cap on the end of the barrel removed.

        The kid didn’t pull a wallet, or a cell phone. He didn’t brush his waistband or adjust his belt. He wasn’t running away, he wasn’t standing still with his hands up. The cop rolled up, hopped out of the car, and he chose to pull the BB gun he was carrying out of his waistband for some reason. I think its reasonable that cops know the difference between guns and things that are not guns. I don’t think its reasonable to demand cops be able to instantly tell the difference between a gun and a fake gun thats had the orange tip removed from it. To me, if you pull a gun on a cop, at that point you have started a gunfight.

      • Nephilium

        I disagree with one big point in that. Cops should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us. We pay them, they’re supposed to have gone through training, and they have special privileges.

      • The Hyperbole

        ^^This^^ over and over. You want special powers take special responsibilities, or whatever Spidey says.

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        Damn straight. In Canada, they’re the only government officials I know of that are allowed to do open carry of sidearms in public. Even the military can’t get away with that, absent a regional or national emergency and an express exception from Cabinet or the DoND.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Root out badthink

    The highest-ranking officer in the US Marine Corps has ordered Confederate-related paraphernalia to be removed from all Marine installations.
    The order from Commandant Gen. David Berger was one of several initiatives he prioritized for “immediate execution” in a memo sent to senior leadership last week, Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Joseph Butterfield told CNN.

    ——-

    Despite a number of states and local governments taking down Confederate flags and statues in their cities, 10 Army bases are still named after Confederate generals, including Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia and Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
    The flag of the Confederacy, its symbols and the statues commemorating Confederate leaders have long divided the country. Critics call the flag a symbol that represents the war to uphold slavery, while supporters call it a sign of Southern pride and heritage.
    The symbols have increasingly become a rallying call for white supremacists.

    ——-

    Earlier this month, the Military Times released a poll showing 36% of troops who responded said they personally witnessed examples of white nationalism or ideological-driven racism in recent months. That was an increase from the year before, when only 22% reported the same, the Military Times reported.
    Poll participants reported witnessing not just racist language and discriminatory attitudes, but swastikas being drawn on service members’ cars, tattoos affiliated with white supremacist groups, stickers supporting the Ku Klux Klan and Nazi-style salutes between peers, according to the Military Times.

    Ban the Marines.

    • leon

      You know, a large amount of units have heritage from rebel units. We should disband them too. And we should just get rid of the states that rebelled

      • Gustave Lytton

        29th ID hit hardest.

      • Not Adahn

        *45th ID whistles nonchalantly*

      • AlmightyJB

        Burn Atlanta to the ground. Oh wait, already did that.

      • Rhywun

        Do it again.

      • Lackadaisical

        Based on how it was rebuilt, I say try burning it again.

      • C. Anacreon

        “Scarlett, Atlanta is burning, and so’s my urine.”

        /Rhett Butler

    • Gustave Lytton

      Nazi-style salutes between peers

      We used to throw Romulan salutes at each other and greet with “Happy May Day, comrade” on 5/1. I can only imagine how that would be taken today.

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        Romulan?

        I always thought the Klingon salute was the most bitchin’.

    • Rhywun

      That was an increase from the year before, when only 22% reported the same

      C’mon lads, we can pump those numbers up if you just try harder.

  25. UnCivilServant

    Well, I’ve finalized the general itenery for the road trip this year.

    It looks like I’ll be able to cover the cost and still have something left over.

    • UnCivilServant

      Dad’s House -> Family -> Mammoth Cave -> Tulsa -> Roswell -> Carlsbad Caverns -> Flagstaff -> Meteor Crater -> Grand Canyon -> Hoover Dam -> Vegas -> Cripple Creek -> Dodge City -> Meramec Caverns -> Dayton -> Dad’s house.

      • AlmightyJB

        That’s a hell of a trip.

      • UnCivilServant

        Informally it’s the “hole in the ground tour”. We’re viting caves, mines, craters, canyons, reservoirs, and vegas.

      • Not Adahn

        Were you the one that was looking for purple-all-the-way-through potatoes? My veggie bag has some. The variety is “Magic Molly.” So far there have been no psychedelic effects.

      • UnCivilServant

        Yeah, I think it was Thanksgiving I was hunting purple potatos.

        And I think you need to add mushrooms and bad rave music for the magic to come out.

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        Around these parts a variety called “Russian Blue” is fairly common.

      • Q Continuum

        No brothels in Nevada?

      • Q Continuum

        I figured since it’s a “hole tour”…

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        Checks out. Vegas does seem to act like a hole in the ground into which people pour endless amounts of money.

      • Not Adahn

        And the occasional card counter.

      • UnCivilServant

        We couldn’t find the “Shallow Graves” tour from a reputable source.

      • Shirley Knott

        But you’ve got flight waiting for you at the end.

      • UnCivilServant

        How do you figure? I’m driving to and from my Dad’s house.

      • UnCivilServant

        Or do you mean Dayton?

      • Shirley Knott

        Yeah, a Dayton. 😉
        I’m seriously jealous of that stop — the WW1 Caproni triplane bomber and the surviving XB-70. Drool.

      • Fourscore

        Ya know, we coulda went down the basement at the cabin while you were here. You coulda checked off 1 more hole in the ground.

      • UnCivilServant

        That trip was circumnavigating the great lakes, totally different theme.

      • Shirley Knott

        Well, you’ve got flight at the end of it.

      • Shirley Knott

        Never mind /Emily Litella

      • straffinrun

        Go West, young man. Sounds fun.

      • Spudalicious

        Goin’ up on Cripple Creek, are ya?

      • UnCivilServant

        There’s a gold mine there.

      • C. Anacreon

        A drunkard’s dream if I ever did see one.

      • Spudalicious

        Bessie will mend you if you spring a leak.

      • The Hyperbole

        While in Dodge city the first man you’ll want to look for is also the last man you’ll want to meet*, also he’s an Asshole.

        *Anyone have any idea what that line from the intro means? I’ve never been able to figured it out.

      • UnCivilServant

        We were going to go to the Boot Hill Museum.

        There was a need for an overnight somewhere around Kansas, and it was more interesting than a lot of the alternatives available.

      • pistoffnick

        I should warn you about the smell in the eastern part of Dodge City, KS. On a motorcycle at 60 mph it really hits you. Tons of cattle feedlots, hence several tons of cow shit. Maybe its not as bad in your fancy car.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Upon further consideration, “Fort Dicks” is rather troubling and insensitive.

    • AlmightyJB

      This is my rifle, this is my gun.

      • Rhywun

        *triggered*

      • Q Continuum

        What you did there…

  27. UnCivilServant

    I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the concept of the Ministerialis.

    The closest I can get is “Noble Serfs” because as far as I can tell they are socially noble, but legally unfree. Then I immediately begin to ask exactly how much control did their leige have over them. The only thing I have a concrete example of is the authority to approve or deny their marriages. Where else does it diverge from a normal vassal-lord relationship?

    • Rhywun

      I applied for this job at a startup

      I think I see where it went off the rails.

    • JaimeRoberto Delecto

      I have to admit that I’m shocked by the bathroom habits of some of my so called adult coworkers.

      • Rhywun

        I love entering a stall where a handwritten sign has been taped to the wall for the last couple weeks reading “please don’t put paper towels in the toilet” and the toilet is plugged with paper towels.

      • pistoffnick

        One of our leaders put up signs in the men’s room pleading with people to stop wiping their boogers on the wall above the urinal.

        The next day, the sign was covered in boogers.

      • Rhywun

        That’s gotta be one particularly nasty person doing that – I can’t imagine that is a thing.

      • Not Adahn

        Someone put some of their old dishes in the break room (where there are paper plates and disposable cutlery stocked) with a sign saying “Please use these. Rinse, Reuse, Recycle.”

        Someone wrote on that sign “save water, don’t wash.”

      • Lackadaisical

        rofl.

        y’all stories are disgusting.

      • pistoffnick

        Other people are hell.

    • AlmightyJB

      I can’t feel sorry for someone that can’t tell people to piss off.

      • AlmightyJB

        Piss off

    • Mojeaux

      I don’t fault the person for resenting their coworkers.

      What they should do is document everything and ask for a raise.

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        Or write a tell-all. Probably better money. Something à la Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential.

  28. straffinrun

    Mike Pence is gonna give Corona conversion therapy.

    • Q Continuum

      Change it to Dos Equis?

      • straffinrun

        XX , well played.

  29. Mojeaux

    ‘Splosives, please check in when you can.

  30. Gender Traitor

    It is my honor and great pleasure as a Daytonian to fulfill my civic/alumna duty by proclaiming “Go Flyers!” ::lights Tres signal::

    Watching the game with the sound off because while I very much want Dayton to win, watching basketball drives me crazy.

    • UnCivilServant

      And the squeaking gets on my nerves. All I hear is the squeak of shoes on gym floors.

      squeak squeak squeak squeak

      • Gender Traitor

        We formerly had neighbors whose back yard was diagonally across the street from our house. They had a couple of Weimaraners whose barking sounded just like that. Happily, those neighbors and their dogs are long gone.

      • AlmightyJB

        It always drives me crazy people want the sound on for games at a bar. After 2-3 beers in, everyone is talking so loud you can’t hear what the announcers are saying anyways. Plus I don’t need some idiots telling me what’s going on, I can see it. It’s just needless racket. Give me music.

      • Nephilium

        Meh… I kind of enjoy it. It gives us lunkheads at the bar something else to rant and yell about.

        /thinks back two years ago to the Browns opener against the Steelers and the announcers pointing out that Big Ben had more wins in Cleveland stadium then any QB since Kosar.

      • Not Adahn

        I have great love for Basketball, because when I was a frat boy, we used to go to basketball games and flirt with the Ruf-Neks’s girlfriends.

        Successfully.

    • Rhywun

      GO RANGERS! Oh, never mind.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Dayton, eh? Are you familiar with Hannah Wallen? She is a Daytonian as well and member of the Honey Badgers, a group of female Men’s Rights Advocates. I follow them on the YouTubes. She is probably the most libertarian leaning member of that group.

      • Gender Traitor

        Had not heard of her or them, but a quick search yielded an interview with her posted by Freedom Alternative. (Over an hour long, so will have to wait.) Do you have any other links?

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Badger Live Stream Channel

        They do mostly long form discussions on that channel but some of the individual members post shorter videos response type videos etc. Particularly DrRandomerCam aka Mike Stephenson, a English drunkard and extremely talented musician and puppeteer, and Karen Straughn a foul mouthed Kanuck and probably the most prominent of the group, she has appeared many times on Canadian TV to challenge feminist narratives and the like.

      • Gender Traitor

        Thanks! Found a link to Hannah’s channel there, so I’ll check her/them out.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Happy to spread the good word!

        She doesn’t do a whole lot on her individual channel any more bit there is some interesting stuff there.

    • Gender Traitor

      And #4 Dayton’s up 42-24 at the half! W00t!

      • C. Anacreon

        What is their team called? Are they the Dayton Na-500s?

      • Gender Traitor

        ::DDGs “Na-500.” Finds niacin supplement. Haz confuze::

        They’re the Flyers, ‘cuz Wright Brothers & stuff.

      • C. Anacreon

        Say it all out loud and don’t forget the Dayton in the front of the team name.

      • Gender Traitor

        Oh, OK! County seat of the next county to the west is Eaton, so the local joke is “Are you datin’ a girl from Eaton or eatin’ a girl from Dayton?”

      • Rhywun

        I needed the hint too.

  31. Yusef drives a Kia

    2020 Memorial challenge in Fountain Hills AZ this weekend, Phoenix area, Gorgeous Course,

  32. straffinrun

    “When Bernie types claim that “we don’t want Venezuela, we want Sweden,” realize that the Venezuelans didn’t want Venezuela; they too wanted Sweden.”

    /MMalice

      • Rhywun

        Yeah, that was a surprisingly perceptive article from Fareed. I agree that Bernie wants Scandinavia from 40 years ago i.e. socialism for reals.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Bernie is Trotsky, as can be demonstrated with the Project Veritas footage of campaign staffers and rabid Bernie Bros running amok there are a great many Stalins waiting in the wings with their ice picks at the ready.

      • Rhywun

        Stalins waiting in the wings

        I’m not sure if it’s just that Bernie attracts them, or if he intends to drop the crazy-old-man routine and put them to use.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I tend to think Grampa Gulag falls into the urue believer/useful idiot camp. I don’t think he has ever examined the second and third order effects of the policies he advocates. Perhaps I am being too charitable. Either way the end product is the same I suppose. Willful ignorance is just as evil as active malevolence, I suppose.

  33. Spudalicious

    Friggin’ cat. After being gone for three days, she thinks she’s entitled to all the attention she wants. I now am covered in a solid layer of cat hair.

    • AlmightyJB

      You love it.

    • Gender Traitor

      …she thinks she’s entitled to all the attention she wants.

      She’s a cat. That’s a given.

    • Mojeaux

      So…she’s a cat.

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        And you’re her staff. Didn’t you read the memo when you first got her?

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Dog hair and Black clothes, not a great mix….

      • Gender Traitor

        Ditto black cat/off-white carpet. Which we keep doing to ourselves.

      • Not Adahn

        It’s good for you, it encourages you to vacuum more often.

    • straffinrun

      Never let a good virus go to waste.

      • straffinrun

        If I knew how to strike out “crisis”…

    • Animal

      I’m reminded of the old story about a retired Navy guy riding the trolley in Frisco. A punker with a multicolored Mohawk noticed the old sailor staring at him. “What the hell are you looking at?” the punk demanded.

      “Well,” the sailor said, “When I was much younger, I once got shore leave in the Philippines. I got really drunk and ended up fucking a parrot. I was just wondering if maybe you were my son.”

      • AlmightyJB

        Lol

    • Below Sea Level Hell Centro

      Geddy Lee looks terrible.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Better than Neil…..

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Sup Centro? Tall Cans?

      • Below Sea Level Hell Centro

        Sup Yusef. You read my mind. Headed to the store…

    • Not Adahn

      Why is Perry Farrel repping CT?

      • The Hyperbole

        Thank you, I knew she looked like someone, I was thinking Iggy Pop but knew that wasn’t right.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I named my Son after him, then Wendy said, Perry the Fairy?
        his name is Zander Peri, after a friend……

    • Sean

      You can’t fool me, that’s a man, baby!

      • Lackadaisical

        +1

    • Rhywun

      Eek!

      Stay classy, Dems.

  34. straffinrun

    Even the skanky girls in Shibuya (not judging and bless their hearts) are rocking masks in addition to their super short miniskirts. Wonder if they caked on makeup below the mask line.

    • UnCivilServant

      The makeup acts as glue to hold the mask in place.

    • The Hyperbole

      Wonder if they caked on makeup below the mask line.

      I didn’t think we were doing euphemisms anymore.

    • Not Adahn

      Are these the ones who wear platform boots, or are those the skanky girls of Akibahara? And which ones are rocking the bagel foreheads?

      • straffinrun

        Harajuku. Basically Shibuya.

    • Q Continuum

      If the mask comes off, you know you’re going to get lucky.

    • Mojeaux

      I’m not putting together “skanky” and “Japan” in the same concept.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        agreed,slutty? maybe, Skanky, doesn’t fit

      • Mojeaux

        No, not slutty, either. Harajuku girls are adorable. They look like cute little plushies.

      • Nephilium

        You’ve never heard of something being janky before?

      • straffinrun

        Really? What’s your image of “skanky”?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Meth Whores….

      • straffinrun

        Wait, “skanky” can’t just be a fashion choice, but has to include the lifestyle, too?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Skanky is a life choice, not a fashion,

      • Mojeaux

        Well, first, in my mind, a “skank” is always a white girl/woman. Generally, they are butterfaced and trying too hard.

        The Harajuku girls look like they’re in it for the LARP and lulz.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        ^this

      • Not Adahn

        Brittney Spears has an adorable face and is totally a skank.

        But she is white. Not certain if she’s trying too hard or if that’s just her natural level of effort.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I would love me some of Her, Skank FTW!

      • Mojeaux

        Okay, to me, there is a very specific type. This is not just one person, but my observation is over many years and many MANY of these types of women:

        White.
        Very skinny.
        Tall-ish.
        Very thin lips.
        Weak chin.
        Tan (fake or otherwise).
        Thin, lanky hair that is probably blonde (bleach or otherwise).
        Looks older than she really is.
        Has a really grating redneck accent.
        Talks much louder than she needs to.

        How she dresses is up for grabs. As long as those conditions are met, she could be wearing GunneSax and she’d still register as “skank” to me.

      • straffinrun

        I’ll be in my bunk.

      • Not Adahn

        Huh. That’s not the connotation for me at all. Especially not the tan. In a Venn Diagram (for me) the “skank” circle completely encloses the “trailer trash” circle, but only overlaps with the “Jersey Girl” circle.

      • Sean

        Imo, skanks don’t have to be skinny. I’ve seen plenty of them doughy.

      • Mojeaux

        skanks don’t have to be skinny. I’ve seen plenty of them doughy.

        Yes, of course. I mean, I know it when I see it.

        When someone says “skank,” what I described is what I see in my head. If I’m out, other types of people will register as “skank” to me.

      • Not Adahn

        Google “pinsaro” sometime.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        No thanks, I’ll just stick to my Shithole town

      • Mojeaux

        Um…

        Oh.

  35. Nephilium

    So parts of the European trip are locked in now. Flights into and out of Iceland are done, with two nights stays on both sides. Everything else is still malleable, but the current plans are Belgium for a week (with day trips to Bruges, Antwerp,and Ghent), train ride into Cologne where we stay for 4 nights (with a possible day trip to Bonn), and then a train ride to Amsterdam for 2 nights.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      First World Problems, enjoy!

      • hayeksplosives

        Are we (collectively) overblowing this or have they just cried wolf so many times that we don’t recognize the real threat?

      • Nephilium

        Very much so. It’s the first couple weeks of July, and I’m definitely planning on wearing my old Dropkick Murphy’s American Pride tour shirt (shamrock done up like the American flag with the legend, “Try Burning This One” the tour was a couple months after 9/11) on the 4th of July.

        Still going to be out in Vegas the week around Easter if you can grab a pint or three.

      • Not Adahn

        Apparently Iceland has bitchin’ bakeries.

        Yeah, I had no idea either.

      • Nephilium

        Yeah. I’m more entertained that there’s a place that is apparently the best hot dog in the world there. Iceland honestly just cuts the airfare in half (but the food costs are much higher there).

    • straffinrun

      Bruges is the coolest place. Enjoy.

      • Nephilium

        I’ve told the girlfriend we’re that she’s not allowed to go to Bruges until she see’s the movie In Bruges.

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        That’s an awesome movie.

        “You hit the Canadian.” Still cracks me up.

      • straffinrun

        Saw that. Funny. I have a policy of always doing laundry at a local laundromat whenever I travel even if I don’t need to. Just a great place to get the real feel of a place. I went to one in Bruges and couldn’t read shit on the machine, so an old lady came over and shows me how to use it. She didn’t speak a word of English and I had no idea what she was saying. Still, we had a good hourlong conversation after that. At the end she motioned for me to wait and left. She came back with some homemade desert wrapped in tin foil and put it in my bag. Delicious ?

      • Heroic Mulatto

        Narrator: “The phrase ‘local laundromat’ is a direct translation of a Japanese idiom euphemistically referring to a brothel.”

      • straffinrun

        Did eat her out for that. Gratitude and all.

    • Rhywun

      Do the day trip to Bonn – it’s worth it, plus you don’t really need four days in Köln.

      • Not Adahn

        But it smells so nice!

      • Rhywun

        +4711

      • Nephilium

        Again, Kolsch is my favorite beer style. I could probably spend several days just at a couple of breweries.

    • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

      If you can, I’d highly recommend overnighting in both Bruges and Antwerp. Great restaurants, even in the “tourist trap” areas.

      For Bruges, I cannot recommend restaurant Gruuthuse Hof highly enough, particularly if you order the Carbonnade Flammande. I’ve eaten probably a dozen examples of Carbonnade in Belgium, and while most were quite good, none came close to Gruuthuse Hof’s interpretation. It haunts my dreams sometimes. I’ve been impotent to re-create it in my own kitchen after all these years. Some kind of unobtanium spice is being used, I assume . . .

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        Oh, and there’s a well-known printing museum in Antwerp that I could’ve spent several months in, if you’re into books and the history of printing. Contains lots of books on the Index of Forbidden Books of the Catholic Church, and lots of other one-of-a-kinds as well. I was drooling.

      • Nephilium

        I’ll add them to the list, the hotel we’re looking at in Brussels has a benefit of a guest laundry facility. Not a laundry service, but a location where you can do laundry (which we will need to do at some point on this trip). It doesn’t hurt that I do love me a lambic and a geuze. One real wish to make it to location is Westvleteren. I’ve had their 12 before, but I’d love to be able to lug a case of it home.

    • Mojeaux

      Bruges is wonderful.

      I sat and watched the lacemakers (bobbins) for at least an hour and I have 2 or 3 doilies from there.

    • Shirley Knott

      My first big overseas trip was a month in England and Wales. I knew where I was going to sleep every night and I knew how I was getting where I was going – train, car, both. I had a list of things I wanted to see, but it was open to serendipity.
      I wound up delighted with how well that worked. The things that can be stresses get nailed down up front, and that provides the skeleton of your trip. You get to find all kinds of cool shit 😉 I got stone circles in lamb pastures and a Raptor and Great Horse Center. That was an epic combo btw. Etc.

      • Nephilium

        That’s the way I do trips (minus business trips). Here’s the shell, everything else can be adjusted on the fly. My first time outside North America was in Dublin a couple years back. Several of my favorite days were when I walked into local pubs and chatted with the regulars. One of them was a bar where if my grandfather went there, I’d still be the FNG. Another had a girl explaining to her boyfriend exactly how large the US was with the statement, “Love, they have a separate room for the laundry. All of them!”

  36. hayeksplosives

    Still waiting for my room for overnight. I’m on this IV diuretic to help with the swelling but it makes me pee every 10 minutes. Upside it, they’re not replugging me into the SpO2 and BP cuffs since I have to keep going (which the nurse warned me would be the case).

    Wheeee!

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      God Speed Woman! those are things I never want to see again,
      God Bless You,

    • Mojeaux

      Wait, what? They’ve got you on a diuretic but haven’t given you a Foley? Are they not measuring inputs and outputs?

    • Rhywun

      What!

      …oh I went backwards and read about it. Get better, stat.

    • AlmightyJB

      Hope they get you squared away quickly.

  37. Yusef drives a Kia

    Tomorrow is 18 early, I have a play date! then the Big Dog Walk for Charity from 11-3, Bella will be attending, should be a good Day,

    • Nephilium

      Tomorrow is a performance spin class at 08:00, and then a Mac and Cheese fest downtown, and then a brewery opening after that.

      Again, a tough life, and first world problems.

      • Not Adahn

        Maybe I should look into doing this spinning thing that you do.

        Because there are constant food and restaurant festivals here that I have been forgoing in my glibfit quest.

        Then again, spinning seems boring and time-consuming.

      • Nephilium

        Only reason I do the spinning is because I’m trying to keep my road cycling skills through the winter. If you don’t like cycling (or punishing your body based on some people who go to these classes), they’re not the best option. If you’re looking for ~45-60 minutes of cardio, with at least some goals and stats, it’s decent. I’m planning on suspending my subscription for six months soon (for a $15 fee), to keep my ~$40/month for 4 rides deal going.

      • Gender Traitor

        a Mac and Cheese fest downtown

        I’ll be right up.

      • Nephilium

        It’s a throwdown. It looks like there’s still tickets available.

  38. Heroic Mulatto

    CNN is really churning up fear, uncertainty, and doubt in hopes of destroying the economy so they can blame it on Trump.

    Disgusting.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Consider the Source….

    • straffinrun

      Enemy of the people.

    • Q Continuum

      It’s a bit surreal to see people blaming the virus itself on Trump; not the response, but the virus.

      • Not Adahn

        Or even the response. WTF is the response supposed to be for a disease that isn’t actually spreading here?

    • The Hyperbole

      Meh, they churn up fear all the time (as Not Adahn points out below (Zika, Ebola, swine flu etc…) ) bringing down Trump would just be an extra benefit, they were gonna panic anyway. Fear sells, they’re giving the people what they want.

      • Heroic Mulatto

        I don’t disagree, but this seems particularly coordinated with recent DNC talking points.

  39. Q Continuum

    Am I just a cynical dickhole for thinking this whole coronavirus nonsense is the dumbest fucking thing ever?

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      I’m torn, it’s probably going to blow out as it gets warmer, but then again….

    • Not Adahn

      You don’t think it’s a serious as West Nile, Zika, Ebola, and H5N1?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        or Smallpox,Polio, Typhus, nahh, we’re good….

    • Sean

      I dunno. It seems pretty legit as a flu on steroids.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        The Generic “flu” kills more people in America than Corona and lime has Worldwide, every year….

      • Heroic Mulatto

        When H5N1 comes, you’ll wish it was as “swole” the Wuhan virus.

      • Sean

        I’m not worried about getting it. *Shrug*

    • AlmightyJB

      I’m with you Q. It’s just another media drama.

    • Shirley Knott

      I think there’s two issues. On the one hand there’s the coronavirus. That I think is probably overblown. On the other hand, there are all the knock-on effects from the various over and under then over reactions. Not to deny a severe outbreak in Wuhan, but the secrecy and the various draconian reactions to badly reported data have done more widespread harm than the coronavirus as such. This is hitting supply lines, contract and subcontract assembly, parts, subassembly and unit construction, and then the same list in terms of shipments.
      Where exactly are we on the fragile — resilient axis?

  40. straffinrun

    “Skank
    Derogatory term for a (usually younger) female, implying trashiness or tackiness, lower-class status, poor hygiene, flakiness, and a scrawny, pockmarked sort of ugliness. May also imply promiscuity, but not necessarily. Can apply to any race, but most commonly used to describe white trash.”

    The meaning has changed since I first heard it.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      accurate except for the Meth sex,

    • Mojeaux

      Yeah. That. See my very specific description above.

      Promiscuity? Not really. Again, trying too hard.

      • Jarflax

        Skank includes promiscuity. What do you mean by trying too hard? Because to me part of the trying too hard vibe is the skank being willing, almost eager, to subject herself to degradation in her quest for whatever personal grail is driving the trainwreck.

    • AlmightyJB

      To me, a shank is basically a chick too gross or disgusting to bang.

    • Not Adahn

      Where was this definition from? Because I don’t think it’s possible to be a non-promiscuous skank.

      • straffinrun

        Urban dictionary. Incelskank?

      • Mojeaux

        skank != slut

      • Not Adahn

        Of course not. A high-class prostitute is probably not skanky.

        A Houston streetwalker probably is.

      • Jarflax

        Not all sluts are skanks but all skanks are sluts. IMHO

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Agreed, they were always lowlife Meth whores willing to Sexy for Meth, nothing more than burned out trash,

      • straffinrun

        I admit I misused “skank” earlier given all this new information.

    • Not Adahn

      So here’s my definition:

      Skank (n): A slut that you might be embarrassed if people found out you fucked them.

      • Mojeaux

        Oh, no. She’s just a bless her heart.

      • AlmightyJB

        I for one, hope she finds her Prince Charming.

      • straffinrun

        Winston’s dad?

      • Rhywun

        That’s either a comedy bit or the saddest thing I’ve seen all day.

      • The Hyperbole

        I was going to go with : A skank is a slut who leaves the bar with somebody else, especially if you feel superior to the person she left with.

      • Jarflax

        Oh I know that attitude! It’s the same one that then realized it was too close to closing time to find another target and decided to pick a fight at random so his night wouldn’t be a total loss.

    • Charles Easterly

      “Disc Golf Gods in Phoenix, today….”

      Do you play?

      I was invited/encouraged to try the game yet I never took advantage of the opportunity.
      If you do play Disc Golf, what do you like most about it?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I had a post up last night, sorry you missed it,
        What do i like the most? the Peace, the Zen, the Beer, it is Golf after all…