WDBH: Uh? Stuff? And things?

by | May 26, 2021 | WebDom’s Browser History | 254 comments

Hey hey there Gliberati. Long time no see. My life has been in turmoil lately, so my apologies for the lack of links lately. I can’t guarantee there will be any next week, but there are some for this week. Woohoo!

Merab Piranishvili, an artist from Tbilisi, Georgia, has created his own version of Easter Island, but these sculptures immortalise artists and poets.

I just bought a new (to me) car, and stumbled upon this gem while browsing bumper stickers.

Restaurants are being clever and coming up with ghost restaurants in delivery apps to drive more sales. From what I can tell, it’s actually a good idea.

Someone at KQED is bitching about the ending to Thelma & Louise. I can’t figure out why this is trending among my (non-glib) friend group. <shrug emoji>

I really want to try dalgona coffee.

Finally, the debate about over or under for the toilet paper roll is at an end.

Best phrase I’ve seen online this week is, “an accommodating hernia.”

I am going to make these cards.

We could all use these.

C'est la vie

Fuck the wind

Poor Eagles.

Yep. It's true.

Lolz

This is just one of the random things I have on my phone

Years of living with men is clearly what drove this woman over the edge. Just one more mess to clean up and she’s finally done. Slightly unrelated, I want to know where the flying submarines are going.

About The Author

WebDom

WebDom

WebDom grows Peyote buttons in the vast desert of her mind.

254 Comments

  1. westernsloper

    Restaurants are being clever and coming up with ghost restaurants in delivery apps to drive more sales.

    False advertising!!!!

    Thanks for the links WebDom.

  2. Surly Knott

    The tp roll debate rages on, not having been mollified by Dalgona coffee repeats.
    Good pictures, but I think the eagle was shocked by the bawdy tiles.

    • Gender Traitor

      We used to hang our TP the ONLY CORRECT WAY – i.e., with the end hanging in front – until we got a cat who discovered he could unroll it.

      Reluctantly, we were forced to hang it the COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE WRONG WAY (end hanging in back.) The cat shredded it.

      Now the roll sits on the lid of the toilet tank.

      • blackjack

        Cats dictating the world around them once again. They are scary smart.

      • UnCivilServant

        I can’t hang my TP because the roll holder is positioned right where my elbow goes when I sit. So I had to pull it off the wall to avoid the pain from striking the damn thing. (not that it could be used while seated positioned there anyway).

        I keep it on the corner of the sink.

      • Brochettaward

        the ONLY CORRECT WAY – i.e., with the end hanging in front

        You people aren’t fit to use toilet paper.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Beard vs. mullet. You must be the mullet guy.

  3. UnCivilServant

    In Re Ghost Restaurants – as long as they deliver what I paid for, and keep the ectoplasm out of the food, haunted kitchens are not an issue.

    • westernsloper

      Naaa, I am not cool with that. What if you ordered from Franks Taco stand and it sucked. But then the next week you want tacos but you know you don’t want Franks because his food sucks so you try the other taco stands on the app and they are just fake places made up by Frank and you get more of his shitty tacos? Ya I want to beat Franks ass for that. Fuck Frank, his fake stores and his shitty tacos.

      • UnCivilServant

        Why would you pay someone else for tacos? More seriously, a lot of them are not used for abetting deception. They tend to be a different menu using the slack kitchen capacity of the brick and mortar site.

      • westernsloper

        I pay for carnitas sometimes because I don’t make it all the time and I want it some times. Good carnitas is hard to find if you know what good carnitas is. Frank makes shitty carnitas. And I did not get that they are using the slack kitchen for a different menu at all from that article but I skimmed.

      • UnCivilServant

        And how would running more than one restaurant from the same kitchen be any different from Frank running more than one restaurant from more than one kitchen? If he just kept juggling names on the extra storefronts would you be able to tell from the delivery app?

      • blackjack

        If Frank tries some different recipes with his ghost kitchen and then sells both OG frank’s crappy tacos and the new varieties through Casper’s tacos, eventually, frank will find out that Casper’s is better and Franks sucks. He’ll change his ways so he can chase more bucks. If Casper’s just sells the Crappy Frank’s shit, they’ll end up being avoided just the same. Business owners will be more apt to take chances with a ghost kitchen and therefore more likely to improve quality.

      • blackjack

        This reminds me, I recently read some article about the best Tacos in L.A. It was a list of 15 places deemed best. I have eaten at about three of them and they aren’t the best even in another city. Then, they skipped the actual best places. “Best” is subjective. I’ve known people who’ve said some taqueria was the greatest, then took me there and it was absolute garbage. There’s probably a slew of folks who love Frank’s shitty tacos.

      • Tejicano

        I stake my claim for making great Carnitas not on my opinion but on the fact that when I made them for my classroom when I was at an advanced MOS school in the Army the two guys who came back asking for leftovers where both born and raised in Mexico. They said they wanted to show their wives how good my cooking was because nobody else would ever believe them.

      • pistoffnick

        Long Beach, down by the docks. Look for the crappiest food truck you have ever seen. Best tongue tacos I have ever had.

        Mmmmm, cow’s tongue!

      • Chafed

        This is so true. I have had a few favorites for Mexican food. All of them were small, out of the way places. They were never going to be in a magazine but I went back time after time.

      • Brochettaward

        They tend to be a different menu using the slack kitchen capacity of the brick and mortar site.

        It’s fraud regardless. As stated, if I didn’t like the burger I got from your kitchen, I’m not going to want to try your pizza or care about your separate menu. There’d be no benefit to using a different name if it wasn’t to trick people into ordering either something you don’t specialize in or from a restaurant that has a bad reputation.

      • UnCivilServant

        Here’s something you may have ignored – a lot of ghost restaurants are not being funded or run by the guy whose kitchen they’re making use of. They’re separate business in a resource sharing agreement, and abetting fraud is not the primary function of most of them.

        Because some people abuse something does not mean all or even most deserve condemnation.

      • UnCivilServant

        *Because some people MIGHT abuse something…

      • Brochettaward

        Except that’s not what the article actually describes.

        Restaurants that use the strategy say it helps them show up more frequently in online search results, and increases their chances of making a sale.

        In some cases, virtual restaurants rebrand sections of a restaurant’s menu to highlight food the establishment may not be known for. Other times they attempt to target a different customer base with a fresh name and different menu images.

        Scorpion Bar, in the Seaport District, is known for being an upscale destination for a night out — the type of place that might not appeal to someone ordering delivery so they can watch Netflix at home. So during the pandemic, which pummeled the nightlife scene, Scorpion launched Wicked Wings and Wicked Big Burritos out of its kitchen at 58 Seaport Blvd.

        So, most of the article talks about exactly what I’m talking about. Selling shit under a different name. It’s about branding. It’s only at the end of the article that they talk about restaurants sharing kitchen space, which is largely being done by third parties and which is completely different from what most of the articles are discussing.

        In other cities, CloudKitchens has turned warehouses into delivery-only kitchen hubs to house its virtual restaurants, while also leasing spaces to existing restaurants who want more space to prepare orders.

      • UnCivilServant

        So, because the article ignores a significant element of the business model, we should?

        And even among the example cited, what part of spinning up a secondary brand for delivery is fraudulent? Your sit-down nightlife bar has its niche. Your delivery wing restaurant has its niche. It’s called business.

      • Brochettaward

        So, because the article ignores a significant element of the business model, we should?

        You seem hellbent on discussing something the opposite of what the article and what people discussing the article are referring to. And ignoring multiple examples in said article.

        They’re free to brand themselves however they want. It’s incredibly naive to ignore how easy it is to use online ordering to obscure the origins of food for shady purposes.

      • UnCivilServant

        So we go back to the question – “Do we have to go out of our way to prevent someone from potentially abusing a business model? How many innocent experimental restaurants are acceptable to burn to prevent one possible fraud?”

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m surprised at how many here are in a “guilty until proven innocent” mindset.

      • UnCivilServant

        If shady purposes become prevalent or the norm, people will move away from the delivery apps, they will either find a way to ensure confidence, or fold.

        It’s how the market works.

      • blackjack

        Not me. I even think this model will improve the offerings, given the chance.

      • Brochettaward

        “Do we have to go out of our way to prevent someone from potentially abusing a business model? How many innocent experimental restaurants are acceptable to burn to prevent one possible fraud?

        I missed it where I called for a law or regulation. I simply stated my own preference for knowing exactly who I’m getting my food from and not wanting to order from the same place that disappointed me because they “rebranded.”

      • UnCivilServant

        You run that same risk with all business transactions.

        Either wait for others to try it, or stick to those places you already know.

      • rhywun

        Right there with you. This is a “trend” that can die.

      • The Hyperbole

        Don’t these places have physical addresses associated with their “Doordash/Grubhub” entities? If you are too lazy to check and see if the restaurant actually exists and isn’t the same place as that shitty taco you got yesterday then that’s on you.

      • westernsloper

        Whatever, like drunk food ordering should require being Kojak and opening an investigation and comparing business addresses of the stores on the app. You have a store name so stick with it!

      • The Hyperbole

        Drunk food ordering shouldn’t involve taco judgment. You’re drunk you get whatever taco you can.

      • blackjack

        Which is why Denny’s stays open all night.

      • hayeksplosives

        Fried chicken and waffles or GTFH.*

        *Get the fuck hungover

      • blackjack

        No, I go to Roscoe’s for that.

      • Not Adahn

        When I worked at the Ed Bluestein Fab in Austin, we also did the analyses for the Oak Hill location. For some reason, Oak Hill didn’t trust my results and sent some wafers to EAG to verify. They were unaware that EAG was subcontracting out that particular analysis… to us.

        Every fab has their own system for scribing their wafers, so it was pretty obvious what arrived in the EAG box. I did email Oak Hill to recommend a different contract lab.

      • Brochettaward

        This. And if I didn’t like his tacos, I also don’t want to try the other crap on his menu. What we are describing here is fraud.

      • TARDis

        Well, it won’t be the first time we’ve been lied to.

      • commodious spittoon

        *Family Guy cutaway gag*

      • J. Frank Parnell

        I’m not eating someplace called “Frank’s Tacos”.

        Pepe’s Taqueria #5 or gtfo.

      • blackjack

        Las Fuentes is far and away the best carne con queso taco in los Angeles, periodo. I’ve taken people there who desperately wanted to go to In-N-Out and they have always wanted to return there. Every one of them. It’s a little dump in Reseda.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Mannys El Loco in East LA was my goto. They had one out in both West Covina and Covina and the owner was probably a pedophile but damn could they make some bomb ass carne asada and sopas

    • TARDis

      I’m okay with it, unless it’s a big chain scam. When you order wings from a “small business” to support them though the plandemic, and you find out the food is really from Chili’s, Applebees, or some other conglomerate, FUCK.THEM.

      • UnCivilServant

        Wouldn’t you want to research a business you want to do business with for the sake of simple support?

      • TARDis

        We do now. I’m even more averse to the big chains because I know they benefited from the Covid bullshit. My wife demands to see a storefront. But does that even prevent what western is talking about? Do we have to visit the store first? Damn, people are scum.

      • UnCivilServant

        I have had no evidence that what western fears is even prevalent, or a significant minority. So far it sounds like fearmongering.

        Do we have to go out of our way to prevent someone from potentially abusing a business model? How many innocent experimental restaurants are acceptable to burn to prevent one possible fraud?

      • blackjack

        6.2, it’s a big country.

      • Gustave Lytton

        and you find out the food is really from Chili’s, Applebees,Sysco, US Foods, UNFI or some other conglomerate, FUCK.THEM.

        Fify

    • kinnath

      There have been a lot of new ghost restaurants locally.

      In our case, it is generally chain restaurants, that are not already operating locally, renting capacity out of existing restaurants that have been hurt by the pandemic.

      They have been welcomed from what I can tell.

  4. commodious spittoon

    LOL @ Sarudog.

    • UnCivilServant

      Shouldn’t the second dog have a paint pawprint instead?

  5. blackjack

    Say what you will about the pink family, but they sure know how to break wind!

    • Tejicano

      Sometimes I think back to how people dressed in the early/mid 1980’s – trying to anticipate/mimic how people would dress in the future – if they could have been shown how people would really dress 30-40 years later they would feel doubly foolish. I remember it kinda felt stupid back then but we just thought that’s how it was going to look. If they had known how wrong that was they would be as embarrassed as they should have been.

      I mostly stuck to my Levi’s and leather jacket – but I’m man enough to admit that I did have a pair of red “parachute pants”.

      • blackjack

        I wore corduroy bell bottoms and pirate shirts in the late seventies, but by the eighties it was jeans, t-shirts and pendeltons. I pretty much still wear exactly that. Although, I gotta admit I did have a bunch of army green stuff.

      • Tejicano

        “…a bunch of army green stuff.”

        I have a tiger-stripe camo shirt/jacket that I had made while I was in Olongapo in 1979. Afterwards I kinda regretted it, wondering where I was ever going to wear that again. Little did I know at the time that camo was becoming fashionable (funny how it still is) and I would be rocking that shirt on campus after I got out of the service.

        Some girl in one of my classes asked me where I got it, probably expecting it was from some mall. She was slightly gobsmaked when I replied “The Philippines”.

      • rhywun

        I don’t know what a “pendleton” is but yeah outside of work or formal occasions it’s been nothing but jeans and T-shirts pretty much my entire life.

      • UnCivilServant

        So, too late to adopt this newfangled ‘shoes’ thing?

      • blackjack

        Pendelton was (is) a brand of flannel shirt. They were the best and most common so the name became generic for flannel shirt around here. The vatos wore them every day. I wore them quite a bit too.

      • Tejicano

        Yeah, but did you button the top button?

      • blackjack

        No, we usually didn’t button any of them, until the sea breeze picked up. I had to describe the old school vato look to one of the youngsters at work and he just wasn’t getting it. The certain web belt, the pants just below the nipples, the wifebeater, the top button only pendelton and either a vato hat or a bandana folded thick and way down low over the eyes. And don’t forget the rosary.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Old school? I’m feeling old now. I remember when that was fashionable.

      • slumbrew

        The certain web belt, the pants just below the nipples, the wifebeater, the top button only pendelton and either a vato hat or a bandana folded thick and way down low over the eyes. And don’t forget the rosary.

        ¡Órale vato!

        Plus the slippers and white socks.

        That was quite the look.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Look at a Beach Boys album cover.

        Aside, I love Pendleton’s wool fabrics and wish they didn’t offshore so much of the finish construction. I use a Pendleton blanket (one of their few USA made lines) for sleeping under year round.

      • blackjack

        I bought a dark green/black shirt recently. Hundred bucks a pop, but still very nice. Worth it. I don’t care much who sews the thing together.

      • hayeksplosives

        In retrospect, the 80s might have been even worse than the 70s for fashion.

        Neon lace, blue mascara. Skinny “Alex Keaton” ties. Hammer pants and shiny track suits.

        Huuuuge linebacker shoulder pads for WOMEN!!

      • blackjack

        You seem to be insinuating that that other stuff was for guys…

      • hayeksplosives

        All but the neon lace and blue mascara.

        Not that there would have been anything wrong with that.

        I forgot to include stone washed jeans. And Bill Cosby sweaters.

      • blackjack

        No, I was there. It was hard to differentiate the boys from the girls in certain crowds.

      • blackjack

        I had a girlfriend in the early eighties and she wore the tightest jeans I’ve ever seen. They had the zipper that went all the from front belt line to back belt line. She would have to lay flat on her bed and use a straightened out coat hanger to pull the zipper. I used to wonder why she was reluctant to mess around while wearing those pants, until I saw her put them on one day.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Hey, I liked aspects of it, especially the Lacroix look (gustibus, yeah yeah).

        YouTube keeps suggesting Diana videos for me.

      • Tejicano

        I would definitely say that 80’s fashion was worse than 70’s fashion. Look which one they are trying to mimic these days? Bellbottoms, platform shoes, a lot of the feel is a mish-mash of 60’s & 70’s. Look at the clothes and hair (yikes!!!) in videos from the late 80’s! Ha ha ha! Then re-watch Back to the Future 2.

      • rhywun

        I get a kick out of the shoulder pads. Very Falcon Crest.

      • Gender Traitor

        Shoulder pads are of the devil. I exorcise them immediately. If I want extra padding in my clothes, it sure as hell isn’t at my shoulders.

      • Tejicano

        One thing from the 70’s which has completely fallen off the screen are waffle-stompers. I doubt many people know/remember what those were.

        And the pleated, baggy trousers with cuffs. Those were a flash in the pan from 73 or 74.

  6. DEG

    The dalgona coffee looks good.

    • rhywun

      All I saw was “two tablespoons of sugar” and passed out. How many servings is that?!

  7. hayeksplosives

    I survived my rigorous phone screening by the San Diego Humane Society.

    I’m trying to adopt a cat, but somehow the COVID-19 rules prevented the humane society from just being open for anyone to browse and observe the animals to choose one (or be chosen by one). Maybe that early story that cats could catch Covid never was debunked. Or maybe saving animals is non essential.

    I had picked one out tentatively based on her photo and she. But the screener said she is very shy and still hasn’t let her foster home people touch her after weeks of living with them. Uh, no thanks.

    So she suggested a young male black and white kitty who was just left in an apartment building corridor by the previous owners when they moved, and a neighbor brought him and another cat to the humane society. Po kitty. He’s apparently very friendly and likes being petted. 1.5 years old.

    I’m going to pick him up tomorrow. Still can’t go in; they will bring the cat out to put him in the carrier. I thought that was a bit lame but they said I could bring him back if it is a bad fit. Another lady tried to adopt him last week but turned out to be allergic so she brought him back. Again, po’ kitty.

    I hope this works out for us both.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Aw!

      ?

    • blackjack

      If you spring a cat out of cat prison and love it like you mean it, it always works out.

    • Brochettaward

      But the screener said she is very shy and still hasn’t let her foster home people touch her after weeks of living with them. Uh, no thanks.

      She’s making them work for it. She aint no $2 whore.

      • blackjack

        Of course, she’s a cat, not a dog.

      • hayeksplosives

        Lol. Hopefully.

        My mom had a cat for 15 years that no one ever saw but my mother, and then only late at night when everyone else was in bed.

        So not a social cat at all.

        I don’t want a head case. The abandoned-in-hall cat with a heart of gold sounds promising.

        My beloved Molly cat (who ran off last month amid the turmoil of my husband’s stint in the hospital and my frequent absence from home, plus loud construction, plus a new dog next door) was super social. She even came up to greet and observe workmen in the house. I watched the cable guy absent-mindedly petting her with one hand while he was on the test phone to HQ with the other. She had crawled onto his lap when he sat on the floor after he’d been in the house 5 minutes. Crazy kitteh.

    • commodious spittoon

      Does one not simply pick one out of a cardboard box that your neighbor or Facebook friend advertised?

      The LOS boys had a bit about Jay trying to adopt a cat, and the wringer of a vetting process the adoption agency put him through, during which he felt he had to lie about his circumstances and prospects because the flunkies at the agency seemed really keen on keeping an adoption from actually happening. I’m not invoking Robert Conquest’s third law but it seems like these people aren’t actually interested in adopting out their animals

    • zwak

      We adopted a couple of boy cats who were littermates a few months ago, mostly because we have room, like animals and people tend to split them up. It has been a bit of a challenge getting them to settle down. They are in no way cuddly yet, but they are starting to come out and trust us.

    • Chafed

      Enjoy your new cat. I have a feeling you will make each other very happy.

    • Q Continuum

      “male black and white kitty”

      Racist?

    • KSuellington

      Right on, the tuxedo cat sounds like it will be a good kitty.

      Thanks for the Tal Bachman article link a few weeks back. He also wrote an awesome paean to Eddie Van Halen right after his death that was very good.

      • hayeksplosives

        I will have to look up the Van Halen piece!

    • rhywun

      Awww. Mine were extremely skittish for a long time but they broke down after a while. Like, a couple years. Unfortunately, turf issues grew worse over the years. It didn’t help that the agency were obviously lying when they claimed they were litter-mates.

      • Not Adahn

        Interestingly enough, adopting puppy littermates is considered a bad idea.

      • UnCivilServant

        Speaking of puppies, how’s Lily?

      • Not Adahn

        Adorable, not yet housebroken, less bitey, capable of turning on the stove, willing to perform tricks but only for food rewards.

    • Festus

      You are doing God’s work, Lady Hayek! Save the Kittehs! Sksksksk!

  8. hayeksplosives

    I just looked up one of my favorite local “fancy” restaurants.

    On the website it says “ A 4% surcharge will be added to all Guest checks to help cover increasing costs and in support of the recent increases to minimum wage and benefits for our dedicated Team Members.”

    Why don’t they just raise the prices? It would be less annoying.

    • blackjack

      They want you to know why. I think it’s a good idea to make us aware of the BS they get saddled with.

    • UnCivilServant

      I’m more put-off by random surcharges appearing at the time of billing than by prices I might not be fully comfortable with. I’ve noped out of transactions when that’s happened where I’d have accepted it as part of the base price.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Name the place?

      • Chafed

        Inquiring minds want to know.

      • hayeksplosives

        I can’t be having my favorite place sullied by you lot!!

        ?

    • blackjack

      BTW, many places up here are reducing hours or just closing down for blocks of time. The government really put the screws to that industry. We lost our favorite dive bar early on. Who can pay rent and not make money for whole fucking year?

      • hayeksplosives

        Staffing was the biggest issue, I hear. The restaurants would move heaven and earth to comply with ever changing guidelines, and call their cooks and waitstaff to come back to work.

        And then the state would change rules or shut them down again.

        Pretty soon the employees had to find other jobs.

        No win.

    • Chafed

      I’ve seen that. It’s bullshit. If the price went up then make it clear. This is unintentionally deceptive.

      • commodious spittoon

        Pizza places have been doing that for years. That delivery fee is bullshit. It’s how they keep the menu price down while raising prices generally, because delivery is a huge part of their business

    • creech

      The fees I resent most are those tacked on to everyone even if they don’t use it. Like a hotel “resort fee” even if you don’t go near the pool or spa, or the room safe that you didn’t use or even know was there. I don’t mind fees like “checked baggage:” the overnight business traveler with her carryon shouldn’t have her basic ticket include baggage costs of the guy who is traveling with three roll-ons filled with sales samples and welcome home Daddy toys for his kids.

    • blackjack

      It’s like they say at rehab, once you get past the crack you’ve got it licked!

    • KSuellington

      I’m just holding out hope that all this means that we may actually get to see the downfall of Fauxchi. The guy has some stiff competition for biggest government asshole and yet he is right there at the top.

      • hayeksplosives

        I’m glad Rand is raising money to get him fired.

        As little as I like rules on business, the Germans are onto something with enforced retirement at the age of 65.

        Some of these people are way past their sell-by date, and retirement at 65 would send them packing.

        Pelosi, Fauci, Bernie…

        Come to think of it, it would help my workplace too. The old guard need to go make room for new ideas from the 40-59 year old whippersnappers.

      • KSuellington

        I haven’t heard about Rand doing that. I liked him before this year, but he has proven himself solidly with his actions since Vid panic. The truth will eventually come out, I just hope it is sooner rather than later. And fuck Richard Marx, he was a shitty 80’s pop star and he is a shitty human being as well.

      • Gender Traitor

        We have several folks at my workplace who are working well past (both in the sense of “working well” and of “well past”) the usual retirement age. If an employee isn’t performing up to expectations, you should get rid of them for some reason other than their age. Unless you’re just trying to hire someone cheaper.

      • hayeksplosives

        Problem is, it’s the senior leadership team that needs to be replaced, and they will never fire themselves.

      • Gender Traitor

        Maybe the whippersnappers need to start their own company. 🙂

      • Gustave Lytton

        My boss turns 76 this year and is signaling his departure. He’s definitely showing signs of cognitive decline but I’m going to miss him. He’s forgotten more about the business than many ever learned. The young whippersnappers are fucking idiots who think every industry in an interchangeable widget factory and have developed no expertise because they’re too busy jumping to the next position.

      • blackjack

        How come it can’t lead to us getting rid of Facebook too? They’ve literally banned the truth for a year and a half and are now admitting it. For reasons.

      • creech

        Downfall of Fauci? TMITE will paint it as something “courageous that Biden had to do; something that the weak and ineffectual Trump administration failed to do because of, with the 2020 election looming, selfish political considerations.”

    • commodious spittoon

      Fauci really fucked up.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Are they lifting the ban on posts about Zuck polishing Pooh Bear’s knob on a monthly basis?

  9. Hank

    “In London’s Royal Exchange, Voltaire famously wrote, it made no difference whether one was a Jew, a Muslim, or a Christian, so long as one’s credit was good. Everyone traded on equal terms and only “bankrupts” were considered “Infidels.” Commerce trained people to think of religious commitments—later liberals would refer to them as “comprehensive doctrines”—as incidental concerns that should not be allowed to impede mutually profitable exchanges. The market encouraged a benign indifference that, over time, would lead to greater tolerance of opposing viewpoints and social peace.

    “…Burke, for example, believed that the doux commerce thesis got cause and effect backward….it was not the market Voltaire admired that had led to liberal tolerance. It was liberal tolerance that had led to the market Voltaire admired.

    “Today’s corporate activism demonstrates the truth of Burke’s criticism. In the twenty-first century, American business does not avoid political and social controversies; it seeks them out….

    “…in a society as evenly divided and politically saturated as ours, it’s only natural that many people will want the firms for which they work or with which they do business to reflect their side in public debates….

    “Until America reaches a new social equilibrium, our market is likely to be as contentious as everything else.”

    https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2021/05/the-myth-of-the-value-neutral-market

    • blackjack

      To paraphrase Tres, order up some liberal tolerance and a market from Amazon and then we’ll finally know which one got there first.

    • Brochettaward

      In chicken or the egg debates, I’m always on the side of aliens.

      Corporations are going woke because they believe it is the best way to attract the key demographics they covet. The people making these decisions also live in a bubble, mostly grew up in such a bubble. They come mostly from the same institutions, consume the same media, come from the same background, live in the same geographical areas. So, they are out of touch with large swathes of the market. But large swathes of the market don’t care enough to actually make them suffer for it.

      Every time I see a libertarian bemoaning boycotts or any collective action against the woke left to make them feel a bit of the pain they inflict on everyone else, I cringe because shit aint going to change when you let them keep getting away with this shit. Make some of these corporations feel it in the pocket book for real and it will make a world of difference.

      • blackjack

        Let me be the first to agree with this sentiment.

    • KSuellington

      Wow, I didn’t know he was still alive. I’ve read that one to my boys well over a couple hundred times. Maybe it will be in the rotation tonite for the six year old.

    • Chafed

      That’s a shame. I owe him for many wonderful story times with my daughters.

    • Brochettaward

      Wasn’t this already proven months ago?

      • dbleagle

        Most likely. But like the spooky ghost in “Scooby Doo” it is now coming back to life. I am fairly certain it is not coincidence. The Dems need to turn the ship before it enters the ice berg field. They probably thought biden could make it through Nov 2022 before having to XXVA or resign him. I can see Harris’s people telling the powers behind the curtain that this shit needs to dealt with now.

        If I were biden or Justice Breyer I would not attend any event together.

      • Chafed

        No. Biden claimed he never went to bat for Hunter. There has been good circumstantial evidence he did but this is the first direct evidence. Now let’s see who in the press pursues it and who ignores it.

    • blackjack

      You know what else? Hunter is a crack addict who hires whores and sells his dad’s influence. SHHHH! don’t tell anybody.

      • dbleagle

        You know why America is a great country? Because only in America in 2021 can a 2 year old and her stripper mother be abandoned by their crack addict father and honestly wear a onesie that says “My Grandpa is President of the United States”.

        I feel for that poor kid. She has a hard life ahead of her.

    • Q Continuum

      I notice there’s an awful lot of non-bootlicking coverage of Senile Joe coming out lately. They must be doing battlespace preparation to 25th him.

      • Ownbestenemy

        A little early for it unless there is some truly dirty shit about to be leaked out

      • Tejicano

        Maybe in his senility he has forgotten what the deal was and has started pushing back on some of the instructions he’s been given? If he can’t be controlled what good is he to the machine?

    • blackjack

      Dude’s a fucking pussy. She ain’t married to the dude who’s probably smaller than me anyway, so shut up and enjoy the luck you and your needle dick managed to wrest out of life asshole.

    • Brochettaward

      I’m sending you my support pack Raising Self-esteem which will help.

      Deirdre obviously isn’t lacking in self-confidence.

      • blackjack

        I doubt she raises much any more, Deidre.

      • blackjack

        Go ahead, but I’d rather not have to hear about the details, thanks.

      • blackjack

        I mean, she looks like she’s been all over town!

    • PieInTheSky

      Who cares if he had a bigger dick – she does. deep down

  10. grrizzly

    Finally, I found a museum that doesn’t care about face masks at all: Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library. The guided tour was terrific. Though, the place was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. It’s probably not a coincidence that social justice anti-racism museums in Montgomery didn’t let me visit them without a mask.

  11. PieInTheSky

    I really want to try dalgona coffee. – sounds pointlessly gimmicky. Standard coffee was good enough for my ancestors.

    Good morning glibs.

    • Gender Traitor

      Good night, Pie! ::wanders off to bed::

  12. PieInTheSky

    So who’s watching the Jazz Grizzlies game?

    • PieInTheSky

      Apparently they encourage fans to snitch on other fans who are not fully covid compliant

    • slumbrew

      I’m watching playoff hockey, as is right and proper.

      • PieInTheSky

        hockey is to soft I like the more physical game of basketball

      • slumbrew

        JFC, LeBron is a flopping POS.

      • PieInTheSky

        always has been a littler bitch

  13. trshmnstr the terrible

    Ugh, of course I had to be an overachiever and get a slide deck done a week early. Now I got invited to a meeting right in the middle of my range time tomorrow.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I get to play boss all week for a 10% bump in pay with 99% less the responsibility but I just don’t Fed enough to be a lazy slack off. I have two project meeting I roped myself into.

      On top of that, unless Biden did another EO regarding masks at a Federal facility, Air Traffic Controllers are ditching them this week in defiance it would seem.

  14. Gustave Lytton

    Mark Felton is a joy to listen to.

    • Festus

      Longtime subscriber. I’m a WWII history geek.

      • Gender Traitor

        Good morning, Fes! Having cable and gravitating toward the channels that actually feature history from time to time, I could be as much of an expert on WWII as I cared to be. I’m more curious about WWI, but of course that one didn’t get nearly as much film footage.

      • Festus

        The written accounts are much more gripping, seeing as the flower of Europe died in Flanders and Verdun.

  15. grrizzly

    This is new stuff. Even if it seems you read it multiple times before.

    Victoria COVID lockdown leaves Australian sports scrambling

    Australia’s major sports leagues and Olympic hopefuls scrambled to make contingency plans on Thursday after authorities announced a seven-day lockdown in the southern state of Victoria to contain an outbreak of COVID-19 in Melbourne.

    Australia’s second most populous state will be locked down from 11:59 pm (1359 GMT) on Thursday after authorities reported 12 new cases, bringing the Melbourne outbreak to 26.

    Crowds have been banned from sporting events and people ordered to stay home except for work, exercise, shopping for essentials, providing care and getting vaccinated.

    • Ownbestenemy

      12 cases and a total outbreak of 26! DOOM!

      • hayeksplosives

        Hard to believe the Aussies have bought into this so hard on their eastern states (with the exception of Queensland where defiance seems to be a local pastime).

        In a nation where the flora and fauna really are trying to kill you, you’d think a little sniffles wouldn’t faze them.

    • rhywun

      Top female tennis player and Australian Ash Barty’s decision to couch surf through the tennis calendar this year totally vindicated.

      What a joke.

    • rhywun

      Victoria’s Acting Premier James Merlino told reporters in Melbourne they were dealing with a highly infectious variant that was “running faster than we have ever recorded”.

      “Unless something drastic happens, this will become increasingly uncontrollable.”

      Sokath, his eyes open!

      If I were a cruder person I would insert “lamppost” somewhere in my commentary but I’m not so I won’t.

      • Festus

        He IS almost named after a type of sheep.

  16. hayeksplosives

    Rand Paul trying to bring to light Dr Fauci’s involvement with the Wuhan lab experiments aiming toward seeing when viruses go through a “gain of function” such as jumping to a new species, becoming more deadly, becoming more virulent, etc.

    https://winred.randpaul.com/randpaul/may-investigate-fauci-2/

  17. Tres Cool

    suh’ fam ?

    They really need to stop giving me d̶a̶y̶s̶ nights off. I don’t behave well in an unsupervised capacity, in Jugsy’s absence.

    • Festus

      Bubble-wrap the TV and yourself. Good to go!

  18. Brochettaward

    Where the white bitches at?

    • Tres Cool

      It’s “where are the white WOMEN at. You uncultured, festering, chancre.

      • Brochettaward

        Shut up honky.

      • Tres Cool

        At least you were smart enough to not use the b-word. Then we’d have to fight.

      • Tres Cool

        Then again, I dont expect a mongoloid like you to possess understanding, let alone the breadth & depth of what the “b-word” means to my people.

      • Brochettaward

        Boys have penises and girls have vaginas, but you just have one big asshole. It’s just one big crack oozing with cum from your top.

      • Tres Cool

        The smartest thing that ever came out of your mouth was my dick.

        #FullHomo

      • Brochettaward

        You are a disappointment to your father. Not because you’re so gay, though. Just because you are such a failure.

    • Festus

      Right here.

    • Brochettaward

      I’ll never understand the attraction to children. They’re stupid, loud, sticky and in general dirty little incubators of disease.

      • Tres Cool

        They likely feel the same about you.

      • Tres Cool

        Kinda explains your sexless life.

      • Brochettaward

        Are you suggesting that I should be attracted to children?

      • Tres Cool

        Do you want to tangle with me in the next comment ?

      • Tres Cool

        Im suggesting that even children, like most people, find you objectionable and repellant.
        Hell, even your step-Dad got tired of buggering you. Which explains your failed career as a pole-dancer.

  19. Yusef drives a Kia

    Is this the right room for an argument?
    What a way to wake up, watching a cripple fight….

    • Brochettaward

      We all know who the Timmy is here.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Ain’t gonna work with me, now Go Fuck Yourself like a good little Troll,

      • Tres Cool

        You project so much you need POLAROID stamped on that giant forehead.
        Its giant, too. Ive seen you. I could iron a suit on your frontal lobe.

      • Brochettaward

        That’s because I have the superior brain of a Firster.

      • Tres Cool

        You have the gaping canal of a fister. Fag.

      • Brochettaward

        Your envy is showing. It’s very small.

        I’m not responsible for the fact that you’ll never be me.

      • Tres Cool

        You’re a pseudo-commie that is likely a very angry power-bottom. Im sure it comes from your upbringing.

        (As if you ever had any upbringing- Father’s Day is coming up. At least you’re off the hook for that.)

    • Tres Cool

      Im Handi-Capable! Douchettawad was trolling for attention to feed his constant feelings of inadequacy, which only feeds into his depression. I decided to mess with him. I rule the night.

      HEY YUFUS! Let The Day Begin

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I have been seen feeding the trolls I admit, it usually ends up with screaming, at me, not pleasant at all,
        Covfefe!

      • Festus

        I love that fucking tune!

  20. Gender Traitor

    ::sips coffee, enters room. Catches drift of most recent comments. Opens e-mail in search of civilized conversation::

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Well hello just the same GT,

    • rhywun

      Yeah, I’m staying out of that silliness.

      • Festus

        Two months ago I might have joined the fray just to score comedic points. Can’t stomach it any more. Why don’t you boys get together and paint-ball it out like civilized gents?

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, Yu & rhy! 🙂

    • UnCivilServant

      Oh dear, I hope you have some other e-pals, since I’m not civilized.

      • Gender Traitor

        I’d say you’re at least as civilized as I am – albeit a low bar, to be sure. 😉

      • Gender Traitor

        Are you at least housebroken?

    • Tres Cool

      Oh, come on. It’s just banter. Well, would be except Brochetta is a mental defective.
      And Ive been up all night.

      • Gender Traitor

        I understand. I’m just here to TRY to make sure y’all don’t get carried away and whip out the flamethrowers. 😉 (Euphemism? You decide!)

      • Tres Cool

        Does that mean I should send you a dick pic ?

      • Gender Traitor

        No.

      • Festus

        So have I and I’m still putting you in my dust you lily-livered soy-latte boy! ;-).

  21. Gender Traitor

    We have some real pea soup goin’ on outside here in the Miami Valley. Luckily, I don’t have to drive through the usual construction zone this morning – finally getting my beloved Subie to the dealer to get the A/C recharged. The commute home has been pretty brutal lately.

    • Festus

      Pea soup was always one of my favorite recipes to prepare. I love you just a little more today, Red!

      • Festus

        Eldest Step-daughter upon tasting the results for the first time – “Looks so gross but tastes soooooo gooooood!” I use a blender for consistency. Yellow-green goo but sticks to yer ribs, especially with fresh baking powder biscuits. Grandma’s recipe, tweaked.

      • PieInTheSky

        legumes have no business being in soups.

      • Gender Traitor

        Those, sir, are fighting words! My dearly departed grandfather LOVED bean soup, and my mother made him some every time we went to visit him. I had no interest as a kid, since my dislike of green beans was generalized into an overall prejudice against beans. I finally got wise and discovered how wonderful it can be!

      • UnCivilServant

        Just remember that Pie is almost always wrong and it becomes easier to deal with his odd ideas.

      • Festus

        That’s why you blend it. I put almost everything into mine. The Three, carrots, corn, Ham, rendered bacon and the bits, molasses, garlic, chicken stock, potatoes, and some mustard and black pepper for some bite. When I cook the ham hock I chuck everything in there to simmer. The dried split peas have been sitting over night. I strain the broth and retain the good stuff to add to the pot. In go the peas and simmer again until they get properly mushy. Take portions out and use a food processor to blend into a smooth texture. Serve with the biscuits straight out of the oven and lots of real butter. This is a stripped down recipe but I’m telling you, it is really good stuff, especially on a cold winter’s night.

      • Gender Traitor

        Sadly, my oldest sister is allergic to green peas, so she can’t partake of our usual New Year’s Day “Hopping John,” which we make from our favorite 10-bean soup mix. (We have tortellini soup instead when they come over for the holidays.)

      • Festus

        I’ve mentioned before on here that my love of cookery went south when i underwent some oral surgery a few years back. They must have clipped a nerve or two and my sense of taste and smell were compromised. I used to earn my living cooking for others and it was always a joy to me to cook for my friends and family. Now I have the palate of a ten year-old.

      • Festus

        Yellow peas too? I used them both in equal proportions.

    • Tres Cool

      You know I can do that a/c service for you here in Tha Hood, right ?
      Unless that jalopy is under warranty. Say, if you call AAA for a broke-down Subaru, do they send some Indigo Girls to save you?

      (I hate myself that I dont mind that cover)

      • Gender Traitor

        I can’t recall if the warranty is still in effect, so I’m playing it safe. Besides – it gives me an excuse to take off work and hang out with you guys while I sit around the waiting room at the dealer.

        I like that cover, too! (“…wondering if her hair was still red.” As it happens, I’m also getting MY hair re-redded this afternoon!)

        And since we’re going there, let’s have a full-fledged IG dancefest! ::dances with abandon ‘cuz no one is watching::

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The Indigo Girls aren’t that bad or weren’t at least.

      • Festus

        Patchouli and fish. That’s an acquired taste (smell)!

    • Gender Traitor

      Are all the Americans who fled up north when Trump was elected likewise forbidden from leaving?

      • UnCivilServant

        Canadian immigration law didn’t let them stay, so they ended up back here years ago.

      • Gender Traitor

        Rats.

    • rhywun

      The ‘rona taps its foot, biding its time.

      • Festus

        The overwhelming majority of the Canadians that answered that poll are Asshoe! Lotsa Karens but in the frontier country we are so done with this bullshit.

  22. Sean

    @ GT

    Did you spend your work bonus bucks yet?

    • Gender Traitor

      Yes, I did. Every penny went here.

      As they say in the commercial real estate appraisal biz (Tom T’s former day job,) highest and best use.

      • Gender Traitor

        (That WAS a really cool knife you recommended, though. Maybe I’ll get it anyway…)

      • Gender Traitor

        Sean, any chance you could link it again? It was the one designed so you could hang it around your neck, I believe.

      • Sean

        This one.

        They make a cheaper version, but it doesn’t look as nice.

      • UnCivilServant

        :/

        The lack of a handle puts me off.

      • Sean

        You can always wrap paracord around it.

      • Sean

        Do you know her?

      • Gender Traitor

        Yes, she’s a close friend. We just had her over Monday evening to join us for dinner and hang out at Tranquility Base.

      • Festus

        Stop making me ride to Ohio to carry you off for my own!

      • Sean

        *ponders things*

        I could use some good karma. I’m in for a couple bucks.

        I hope she beats it.

      • Gender Traitor

        Thank you so much! ::gives Sean a big hug and a kiss on the (facial) cheek::

      • Festus

        I like you, Sean. You’re a good person.