Tuesday Morning Links

by | Jun 1, 2021 | Daily Links | 267 comments

Good morning my Glibs and Gliberinas!  And what a lovely day it always is! Except for all the fucking rain. I feel like I was secretly moved to Seattle.

 

I hate doing links off of holiday weekends. It’s not that news is not happening, fewer news articles have been written to link to.

 

Republican states and Vermont had lowest unemployment rates, Democrat states had highest.

 

AZ county audit up to the half way point at 1 million votes counted and examined.

 

Texas Democrats walk out to stop voting reform bill.

 

Mark Meadows is claiming that there is “more to come” with Hunter Biden.

 

Florida State University pays student $100,000 for anti-Catholic discrimination.

 

That’s all I got for today. I’ll leave you with a song and move along with my day.

About The Author

Banjos

Banjos

Wife of sloopy, mother to three bright, curious, and highly active young girls. Perpetually exhausted.

267 Comments

    • Banjos

      Mornin’

  1. Tres Cool

    mornin’ banjos

    whaddup doh ?

    • Banjos

      Mornin’

  2. db

    Florida State University pays student $100,000 for anti-Catholic discrimination.

    Well, he stood up for what he believed in, and his lawyers got a payday. Good times all around.

    …a legal settlement with Jack Denton, former president of the student senate, under which he’ll receive $1,050 in back pay, $10,000 for his removal from office and $83,950 for his legal bills.

    • UnCivilServant

      We need to do something about these lawyers. They sponge up too much of the judgements.

      • juris imprudent

        There was little injury suffered by the aggrieved party, so a large payday to him doesn’t make sense. He won the case and made his point.

      • UnCivilServant

        All the more reason to do something about the lawyers who drove up the cost of litigation.

      • Fourscore

        Two outcomes

        Winning costs more

      • Swiss Servator

        Price controls. Outlaw representation by counsel. I am sure some government response will work out best.

      • UnCivilServant

        Who said government response?

        We need more court options beyond the current arbitration system, which has already been captured by one set of customers.

      • Swiss Servator

        More court options won’t involve government? Good luck enforcing your judgments.

      • UnCivilServant

        Sometimes I think you take me too seriously.

      • UnCivilServant

        I honestly don’t know what that even means.

        Sweeping pronouncements of an utterly impractical nature are pretty much never serious.

      • db

        I don’t begrudge lawyers charging what they can to navigate the Byzantine structures of our law, but I do harbor great concern that those structures are written in the first place as a “government response.”

        And also that the legal profession as a whole (*not* individual lawyers) has an incentive to encourage these structures to be as complicated as possible, so as to make it nearly impossible for a layman to navigate.

        I understand that the same could potentially be said about engineers or doctors, but the complications we deal with are natural in origin. Law is a construct of Man, and can be as complicated or as simple as its authors need it to be.

        Consider the thriving industries surrounding various government entitlement programs, environmental regulations, and safety requirements that keep large numbers of people employed pushing paper and advising organizations on how to navigate these complicated constructs.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        *not* individual lawyers

        caveat not needed. Just like many psychologists go into the field to diagnose themselves, many lawyers go into the profession to prove to themselves that they are smart. The result is overcomplicated, ineffective legislation and regulation.

      • db

        I don’t think it’s necessary to insult the individual practitioners in the process of calling out the systemic problem.

        Except for software engineers. “Software Engineering” should be called “Software Lawyering.”

        *ducks, scuttles away*

      • Sensei

        Change the guild requirements or allow competing guilds?

      • juris imprudent

        Since the costs were born by the offending party, what the fuck do you care? I could understand your point if the loser wasn’t paying.

      • Rat on a train

        It’s time for a class action suit against lawyers. I look forward to a large award that includes coupons sent to class members for $10 off legal services.

      • invisible finger

        You’re drawing the exact conclusion the writer of the poorly written, loaded article wants to you take.

        It was a settlement – the legal fees were going to be the “fixed cost” part of any settlement. The variable part would be whatever Denton was satisfied with. Denton wasn’t seeking piles of cash, he was seeking to make a legal point.

        It was really BLM et al that were using government-run FSU to enforce their dogma by going after Denton. He may have been happy to see ADF compensated so they can continue defending others like himself.

      • UnCivilServant

        Not really, because it would have also taken away FSU’s lawyers, and let more people beat them up in wholly unbalanced ways that would render the system impracticable in the long run.

  3. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Good morning. Any of the Arizona glibs want to expound on the Doug Doucey/GOP legislature spat? Seems interesting.

  4. Scruffy Nerfherder

    I can only assume that “more to come” with Hunter Biden means he’s now sacrificing kittens or something like that. What social and legal norms hasn’t he violated already?

    • Banjos

      I heard a rumor months back that he was banging his niece.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        So the Bidens are the Kennedys redux, only with less class.

      • Ted S.

        The Kennedys had class?

      • leon

        I think they are still considered new wealth

      • UnCivilServant

        I think it was ‘Smuggler’

      • straffinrun

        “Honey, could you do uncle a favor and pick up that crack I spilled on the carpet?”

      • DEG

        And videos that used to be up on his PornHub account.

        Though I thought it was a different relative?

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I can’t keep track of all his familial fornication these days.

    • leon

      The one where a corrupt politicians son gets off Scot free. I hope he breaks that norm.

    • DEG

      “More to come”

      That’s believable. I expect nothing else will ahppen.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    Analysis

    “There is a lost generation of conservatives and I think it’s because they’re forced to tie themselves to Trump,” one Republican operative said. “There was an anti-Romney backlash, anti-Bush backlash… When you lose the presidency — whether an incumbent or challenger — the party distances themselves and that is absolutely not the case here.”

    Political parties have gone through concerns about talent drains before. At the end of Barack Obama’s presidency, Democrats warned that the bench of up-and-coming lawmakers he left behind was painfully thin as the party suffered tremendous setbacks in Congress and the statehouses. Trump, too, oversaw the loss of seats down-ballot. But unlike Obama, he has not receded from public view after leaving office. And his continued presence has sparked fears — mainly, but not exclusively, from the GOP diaspora — about the narrowing of the party.

    Wot? Republicans did pretty well down ballot.

    Another thumbsucker from the geniuses at Politico who are deeply concerned about the future of the Republican Party.

    No mention of the people who might look at the power mad geriatrics clinging desperately to control of the Democratic party leadership and say, “Fuck it, I might as well go sell dog food for a living.”

    • leon

      “Politico who are deeply concerned about the future of the Republican Party.”

      Democrats are perpetually concerned about Republicans not being respectably, mostly because they define what respectable is.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Who here remembers the Paul Ryan pushing grandma off a cliff ads? Pepperidge Farm does.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Trump did very well down ballot, which makes no sense in light of his loss. But there’s nothing to see here, move along.

      • DEG

        In New Hampshire, the Republican candidates for Congress (Senate and two Representatives) did very little work. They did not go out and meet voters because of Lil Rona. They had no people canvassing for them because of Lil Rona. Republican candidates for the state legislature went out and met voters. Those folks had people canvassing for them. I know some folks that canvassed for Republican candidates for the state legislature. The canvassers said the people they talked to all liked the fact that there were people out canvassing. It was a sign of a return to normal.

        The Republican candidates for Congress lost. The Republicans did well in the state legislature, reclaiming the majority that they lost during the 2018-2020 session.

        Of course, the Republicans loss at the Federal level in NH is all due to voter fraud. The Republican US Congress and US Senate candidates’ lack of action have nothing to do with it.

        Trump, on the other hand, who knows what really happened there. I doubt fraud was a part of his loss in NH, and I thought he was going to win in NH. I know a former legislator who used to be on the election law commission who is very interested in vote integrity. He spends his vacations as an election observer in countries not known for sound elections. He doubts there were shenanigans in NH.

        The usual suspects are claiming that the Windham audit shows shenanigans. I am skeptical. The Windham audit shows that the optical scanning counting machines were thrown off by folded ballots. Absentee ballots have to folded to fit into the return envelope, and the folds were in a place such that it threw off the scanner.

      • UnCivilServant

        Did no one test these machines? Or did they regard it as a feature?

      • DEG

        My understanding of the coverage of the audit is that very few people thought to test the machines with a folded ballot where the fold lines up with one of the candidates’ circles. The folks in Windham probably didn’t know about the problem.

        For in-person voting, you don’t fold the ballot. So no one could have noticed the problem with in-person voting.

        Until this year, there just wasn’t enough absentee voting to make enough of a difference for anyone to notice.

      • Agent Cooper

        The fold benefitted that particular D candidate but it could have easily been the other way around.

      • DEG

        Yep. Which is something some of the usual suspects who think this is evidence of shenanigans don’t ever mention.

    • Banjos

      They’ve been writing these concern troll pieces for at least over a decade now going at least all the way back to the Tea Party. I can never tell if they actually believe it or not.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The useful idiots upper middle class white college grads believe it.

    • Ted S.

      Obama has receded from public view?

    • Agent Cooper

      “power mad geriatrics clinging desperately”

      Do you not Chuck Grassley, bro?

    • Bobarian LMD

      But unlike Obama, he has not receded from public view after leaving office.

      What fucking color is the sky in that guy’s world?

  6. rhywun

    I just got some malware alert on my phone here. I seem to remember others had that. It’s BS, right?

    Uberin’ to Joisey ugh

    • UnCivilServant

      Shred the phone – it’s the only way to be sure.

    • Tres Cool

      For the few times I use my phone to visit, Ive seen it too. I just ignore it.
      Cant recall if the iPad had that issue or not.

    • Sean

      Uberin’ to Joisey ugh

      Eeeeeewwwwww.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    When those GOP lawmakers not toeing the MAGA line have decided to take the plunge into electoral politics, they’ve been drubbed. Earlier this month, Michael Wood, a combat veteran and small business owner who ran on an anti-Trump platform in a special election to fill the seat of the late Rep. Ron Wright (R-Texas) that he called “the first battle in this war to take back our party.”

    But it wasn’t much of a battle. Wood barely registered with about three percent of the vote.

    The voters are just not worthy of you, you pompous nitwit. It couldn’t be that you and your “message” suck.

    • The Other Kevin

      You could see this a few ways. One is that Trump is saying things that resonate with voters. The other is that Trump has people under a magic spell. Guess which one they chose.

      • juris imprudent

        Concise and spot on.

  8. The Late P Brooks

    Uberin’ to Joisey ugh

    Ewwww.

    • rhywun

      I didn’t say Tubin’

      • Bobarian LMD

        It’s spelt Toobin.

    • Sean

      Heh. Same thought I had.

  9. Festus

    That’s a good boy! Mornin’ Banjos.

    • Banjos

      Mornin’

  10. The Late P Brooks

    If you ignore everything but that amazing clusterfuck in Georgia, I guess you can pretend Trumpism got the massive shellacking it so richly deserved.

    TMITE

    • juris imprudent

      Remember there is a narrative that since Dems stole that, they will steal everything (forever) even if they didn’t when they stole that.

      • mrfamous

        Is the a b-sharp or c-flat?

      • mrfamous

        Is that a b-sharp or c-flat?

  11. robc

    Baseball birthdays:

    Theodore Breitenstein – who is probably the best 19th century and Cincinnati Red’s player that I know nothing about.
    Carlos Zambrano, Derek Lowe.
    Ken McMullen – didnt he run for president?

    None are bad, but still boring.

    • Festus

      Meh. It’s okay to be good at what you do and still be less than outstanding in your field. Not everybody gets to be Ted Williams. Everyone here understands this.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Zambrano was one of the best batting pitchers in recent memory.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    upper middle class white college grads believe it.

    Marketing majors.

    • Festus

      *Bart’s voice* “One PM, still just a potato!”

    • leon

      Do you want to re-enter a society that had decided it had a right to know every bit of your medical decisions and extract punishment on you if you don’t make the right ones?

    • Sean

      I tapped out early.

      • Festus

        What was the root cause of your discomfort?

      • Sean

        None of it lined up with my lived truths. ‘Cept maybe the drinking more…

  13. Festus

    At least 90% of the younger women that I know are Progs. How the heck did you luck out like that, Sloopy?

    • DEG

      They met through H&R.

      I feel your pain about younger women being Proglodyte. In the Before Times, my main social outlet was going to Swing dances in the Boston area. Proglodyte central.

      • robc

        Wasnt it even more specifically the fantasy football league?

      • DEG

        Could be. I just remember them posting music links to each other in H&R.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Take up the White Man’s Burden, Joe Biden

    The President will announce that he will use federal purchasing power to grow federal contracting with small, disadvantaged businesses — many of them minority owned — by 50%. The White House said this will translate to an additional $100 billion over five years.

    He will also announce new specifics on the $10 billion community revitalization fund included in his infrastructure proposal. The fund will be targeted to economically underserved and underdeveloped communities like Greenwood, where the massacre took place a century ago.

    The fund will support adapting vacant buildings and storefronts to provide low-cost space for services and community entrepreneurs, including health centers, arts and cultural spaces, job training programs, business incubators and community marketplaces. It will also support removing toxic waste to create new parks and community gardens.

    New competitive grants totaling $15 billion will target neighborhoods where people have been cut off from jobs, schools and businesses because of previous transportation investments, Biden is expected to announce. And the American Jobs Plan will also invest $31 billion to support minority-owned small businesses.

    Yes, yes, of course. Cultural Space Deserts are what keeps the black man down.

    So

    fucking

    tedious.

    • Fourscore

      There’s a reason why I take my car to the dealership for service. Maybe costs more but I believe I’ll get satisfaction in the event of a problem.

      • Festus

        There’s also a reason that when I have to drive through certain areas of my city I keep the windows up and the doors locked. Almost every business here in the downtown area blares opera music on a loop. I saw one poor soul last evening with a clear plastic bag over his entire body, shopping cart and all. It’s become a real problem, even for hicks like us.

    • Agent Cooper

      “cut off from jobs, schools and businesses”

      Crime and rioting tend to have negative consequences.

  15. juris imprudent

    Paging SugarFree, SugarFree to the white courtesy phone

    After the announcement, Harris’ aides appeared to “panic,” according to one of the officials, out of concern that her assignment was being mischaracterized and could be politically damaging if she were linked to the border, which at the time was facing a growing number of arrivals. But another White House official pushed back on the sentiment, saying the vice president’s team wasn’t panicked.

    • Festus

      We’d ask Astra but she’s hiding in her safe space.

      • Agent Cooper

        I can’t wait for the inevitable “? It was Astra all along ?” reveal.

    • db

      Harris’ role — which mimics that of Biden under President Barack Obama — is intended to target what’s driving people to the US.

      Destroy the incentive to travel long distances on foot to enter a highly prosperous country with a mostly friendly population that has enough aggregate excess income to pay immigrants cash to do various labor? Easy peasy. Already in work.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Price controls. Outlaw representation by counsel. I am sure some government response will work out best.

    Trial by Ordeal.

    • Festus

      Sometimes I think this place is like an Appalachian Holler… 🙂

      • Sean

        *passes jug of moonshine*

      • DEG

        I have some jars of Sugarlands Shine in my booze cabinet.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Needs more incest and meth for that.

      • Surly Knott

        I don’t see incest as even being possible here. Do we really have any siblings or parent/child posters? Oh, aside from WebDom, of course. Oops.
        I’m actually curious. It seems odd not to have sibs and parent/child relationships more present.

      • Rat on a train

        If this was truly the Appalachia of the internet, you would have people who are there own parent/sibling.

      • Surly Knott

        If a man and a woman get married in Appalachia, move to Oregon, and get divorced, are they still brother and sister?

      • db

        “I never thought this would happen to me, and I know it sounds crazy, but it all started when I met a woman and her daughter on a libertarian web site…”

      • UnCivilServant

        On the Internet? Man, you’re on the internet, it’s probably a vole.

      • Fourscore

        Son of Fourscore but mostly a lurker, seldom a poster.

      • Mojeaux

        I tell my daughter whenever the Glibs say congratulations to her or sommat. I also send her relevant discussions occasionally that I don’t think she reads.

      • juris imprudent

        There are times we are just that insular.

      • Festus

        Drop them trousers! Panties, too!

      • UnCivilServant

        Why are you robbing a laundry service?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        We’re not shooting at unwelcome guests yet.

        Yet.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I am not ruling it out when the Revenuers come ’round.

  17. straffinrun

    … and refused to appoint a quorum of student supreme court justices

    Is that a lifetime appointment?

    • UnCivilServant

      Then change it back – remove the crap that was done to break it. Isn’t that shouldn’t that be the simpler fix?

      I known should be versus is.

      • Nephilium

        But then there wouldn’t be $20/hour jobs for low skilled people (with a signing bonus).

      • Rat on a train

        It needs to be $24 according to the union.

      • zwak

        Prevailing wage.

    • straffinrun

      Employers should raise wages because society is going through a pandemic, eh? Pretty sure the Vox crowd’s answer to everything is for employers to raise wages. Hard to take them seriously.

      • UnCivilServant

        That’s not their solution to everything.

        You left out “Raise taxes” and “give up your liberties”.

      • straffinrun

        Those go hand in hand. Just saying that when times are good, they say employers should share the wealth and when times are tough, employers should take the hit (as if they already weren’t if they aren’t Amazon et al).

      • UnCivilServant

        From the tone of that, they appear to be having trouble getting their heads around it.

        wait… weren’t these the guys who were mad at Israel for destroying a nonexistant bridge between Gaza and the West Bank?

        Or am I thinking of some other ill-informed online outlet.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Who knows? The midwit trash that comes out of the “New Media” click-bait publications all bleeds together after awhile.

      • Not Adahn
    • Festus

      Well they just did that here. My wage is about two bucks more per hour than the little girl that I order my bi-weekly double cheeseburger from. Judi keeps telling me to retire when the car gets paid off but I can’t. I’d wither and die. I put myself in this situation, I need to pay the price.

    • Brawndo

      The fact that your offered wages can’t compete with a money printer means your business model sucks and you shouldn’t be in business at all.

  18. straffinrun

    Do North Korea and Hamas intentionally alternate between launching missiles or is it just a coincidence?

    • db

      Those poor container ship captains that can’t decide which country to smuggle to…

    • Festus

      It’s like a higher stakes game of back yard “Jarts”. Nobody knows whether the missile will land in your little brother’s eye! It was all in good fun and besides, he walked across the course!

    • creech

      It’s positively striking how many nubile young women do not know how to pick clothes that fit them. Can we “Go Fund” an new Glibs non profit – “Finding Ladies Better-fittingap Parel” FLBP.

    • zwak

      Number three is a clown.

    • juris imprudent

      June is busting out all over.

  19. Ownbestenemy

    So how is the media stacking up with say Oregon Republicans that walked out a couple of years ago vs. Texas Democrats walking out yesterday.

    Even handed reporting? Haven’t looked, just kinda crossed my mind.

    I am torn on the practice.

    • db

      I think it happened in Wisconsin a few years ago (forget which side) too…

      • straffinrun

        It was the Dems reacting to Scott Walker.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Which one had the Team Asshole send the sergeant-at-arms track Team Bitch down?

      • Rat on a train

        I believe it was Texas in 2013. That is why the Democrats fled to Oklahoma.

      • DEG

        Democrats tried staging a walk-out during a voting session of the NH House last April.

        The Speaker ordered the doors locked as the Democrat legislators started leaving. Some managed to leave before the doors were locked, some were locked in.

        When asked if the Speaker had the authority to send the State Police out to round up legislators so that they had a quorum, the Speaker said, “Yes, I do have that authority.”

        There were enough in the room to have a quorum, but it triggered a rule that the House needed a 2/3rds vote in order to pass anything.

        Since there was a quorum, the Speaker decided that those Democrat legislators locked out would stay locked out.

        There were enough Republicans in the room that they had a 2/3rds vote to pass everything they wanted over the Democrats’ objections.

      • Sensei

        Love it when a plan backfires like that.

      • Festus

        Wasn’t that Walker telling the teacher’s Union to go fuck itself?

      • straffinrun

        Go fuck itself by doing something like blocking collective bargaining IIRC.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yeah you don’t come to the table and negotiate in good faith, even if its shitty, you deserve to be told to fuck off.

        Unions have turned into petulant children where they feel their demands must be met and any push-back is just mommy and daddy controlling their lives.

      • Agent Cooper

        Those Dems actually fled the state.

    • UnCivilServant

      On the practice of denying a quorum, I have to say I’m biased. Upon reflection I realized my entire reaction boiled down to “It depended upon whether I agreed with the legislation being blocked”.

      So, yeah, I haven’t got an objective reaction to the matter of deserting the legislative floor to interrupt proceedings.

    • Rat on a train

      I can’t find coverage from then, but I recall Texas Democrats were cheered when they fled to Oklahoma in 2013.

    • DrOtto

      I’m of the mind that any time government can’t work, it’s a win. They’ll have to take it up eventually and that means it slows everything down, which is always a good thing.

      • Not Adahn

        ^This

      • Ownbestenemy

        Agreed. Why I was torn. I want a dysfunctional government in terms of lawmaking and rule making.

  20. The Other Kevin

    Good morning Glibs. Hope you are all managing your hangovers well.

    This weekend we hosted our 8th annual (except last year) superspreader event. It started as a party for my wife’s roller derby team, and now it’s anyone who has ever played roller derby or sled hockey or lifted weights with one of us. This was a banner year, about 75 people in my yard. Food and drink were plentiful, the kids had a bounce house, the adults had volleyball, and the weather was perfect. And not one single mask was seen. It was the perfect way to kick off summer.

    • UnCivilServant

      I’m glad you and everyone there had fun and enjoyed yourselves.

      I was going to say it sounded like fun, but 75 people is beyond my threshold for gatherings.

      Keep on having fun.

      • The Other Kevin

        We’ve known everyone for years, so it didn’t at all seem like an impersonal crowd. Plus there were several that we hadn’t seen in quite some time.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m trying to keep separate the encouragement of normalcy from my own hangups.

        Even if I knew all seventy five people well, it’s too big a crowd. One of the reasons I don’t often go on the glib zooms is because it’s too big of a crowd there.

        I recognize that I am strange, possibly borderline mental.

      • Agent Cooper

        I don’t mind large gatherings but I do mind large gatherings where I am the host.

      • The Other Kevin

        I don’t think you’re that strange. I can get that way too. My middle daughter knew everyone this weekend, but she got overwhelmed and had to take a break.

    • Festus

      Knowing a few roller girls from a previous life, I would be nervous about “Death By Snu-Snu”

      • Bobarian LMD

        “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised!”

        One of the funniest lines ever written.

    • DEG

      Excellent

  21. straffinrun

    World’s First ‘Immaterial’ Sculpture Sells for 15,000 Euros

    How does buying the invisible sculpture actually work? Italy 24 News reported that the work must be placed in a space that allows the dimensions of approximately 4.9 x 4.9 ft (150 x 150 cm) to be free of any obstructions. The owner of the invisible sculpture also gets a certificate of guarantee of the sculpture’s authenticity.

    We call that a Dutch Oven.

    • db

      dimensions of approximately 4.9 x 4.9 ft (150 x 150 cm)

      It’s a two-dimensional sculpture? I think they got ripped off; they paid for an invisible sculpture and got an invisible painting.

    • UnCivilServant

      *sigh*

      I’ve before used the comparison to the tailors from the emperor’s new clothes to reflect my views on these ‘sophisticates’ in various reaches of the art world.

      Now they’ve gone and made it literal.

      • Not Adahn

        They’re doing it in IDPA too.

        “But I’m exposing myself to those targets!”
        “No you’re not.”
        “But look! They’re right there!”
        “We’re designating this position as being under cover with respect to those targets.”

    • Festus

      You know what? I’m a little drunk and I can’t manage a piquant riposte to that idiocy. I’m sick and tired of dredging my brain for responses. I also want the masks gone, NOW.

    • The Other Kevin

      I really need to get an agent.

    • Rat on a train

      The owner of the invisible sculpture also gets a certificate of guarantee of the sculpture’s authenticity.
      You only have a cheap knockoff. The original is in the woods behind my house.

    • creech

      Starting with Picasso, all modern art is crap. Yes, your mileage may vary.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Anything that requires professional examination to differentiate from a 6th grader’s art fair entry is garbage.

      • The Other Kevin

        Agreed. If you have to have some sort of lecture in order to “appreciate” a work of art, the art is probably crap.

      • Brawndo

        It’s not crap, it’s money laundering.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’ve heard this theory before. But I can’t seem to figure out how it’s supposed to work.

      • Not Adahn

        Same way as in Breaking Bad, only with art instead of a car wash.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Most will get away with it as long as you don’t tell the fake crack head selling magazines door to door

      • UnCivilServant

        I didn’t watch that show.

      • db

        The girls would turn the color of an avocado
        When he’d drive down the street in his El Dorado

  22. The Late P Brooks

    Baffling! Inexplicable!

    To the surprise of many students and parents, public colleges in every state except Louisiana use for-profit debt collection agencies to recover overdue tuition, library fees and even parking ticket fines. Many universities add late fees to students’ bills, and when debt collectors add another 40 percent, students can end up owing thousands of dollars more than they did originally.

    As tuition has risen astronomically, one child care or medical crisis can push students over the edge and force them to choose between household bills and tuition payments. The extra fees and interest can make it impossible for them to get back on track, ruining their credit and imperiling their financial futures.

    Public colleges have sent hundreds of thousands of students to private debt collection agencies, and the spiraling debt held there totals more than half a billion dollars, a Hechinger Report investigation has found through more than 60 inquiries with agencies in every state and more than 120 inquiries with individual institutions.

    The financial burden makes it impossible for many students to return to college and earn degrees that could get them good jobs. State officials often bemoan a lack of college-educated workers for their economies, yet very few states track the problem. Most can’t provide figures about how often they use the companies, how many students are affected or how much in additional fees and interest is being charged.

    What could have caused this completely unanticipated rise in tuition and fees?

    I blame for-profit schools.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Organizing as a non-profit makes you a better company

      /TMITE… definitely not driving any agenda

  23. EvilSheldon

    Good morning!

    No one at the dry cleaners, or Dunkin Donuts, said a word when I strolled in barefaced today. Folks seem to be finally dispensing with the bullshit.

    • db

      They’re just terrified to confront you. You’re guilty of aggressive heresy against the consensus.

      • EvilSheldon

        “Oderint dum metuant.”

        Not that I’m a particular fan of Caligula, but fiddling while Rome burns does seem quite on point, these days…

      • UnCivilServant

        Little Boots was not the one accused of doing that.

        And now I wonder when the instrument in the story became a fiddle, since those are far more modern.

      • EvilSheldon

        Ah, right, that was Nero. Caligula was the one with the healthy and active sex life.

        And upon further research, that quote may have really come from Tiberius, or it may have been made up wholesale.

      • UnCivilServant

        “I didn’t say half the things I said” – Yogi Bera

      • Festus

        He was playing a lyre (apparently). It’s all a fucking lie, anyways.

      • UnCivilServant

        I was starting to contemplate the idiom and wondering when and how it became a fiddle. But I’m pretty sure my rambling isn’t all that clear when typing parallel to a train of thought.

      • Festus

        He was nowhere near Rome. As stated above, who fucking knows? Myths and truth.

      • Rat on a train

        Drunk Irish time travelers?

    • Festus

      I dare you to do it bare-assed. That’s the real test.

      • zwak

        No. Chaps. Make them work for it.

    • banginglc1

      I can report that at the INdy 500 this weekend. Folks wore a mask all the way through the gate before taking it off for the rest of the day. 135,000 people, all unmasked everywhere i went.

    • Festus

      Pleasent

      • straffinrun

        I believe it’s Soviet Russia somewhere.

    • Surly Knott

      I didn’t realize Pyongyang had that many trees.

    • Agent Cooper

      Looks like low-imagination Minecraft.

      • Swiss Servator

        You just described Socialist Housing to a T.

      • Mojeaux

        Brutalist architecture #FTW!

  24. The Late P Brooks

    More than 36 million adults in the U.S. have earned some college credits but haven’t finished their degrees, and experts say the barrier is often financial.

    And?

    Do these individual courses impart useful information, or not? Why wouldn’t people just pick and choose based on specific interests or needs? Do the students only derive value from the piece of paper at the end, and nothing from the course material along the way? Why doesn’t anybody at NBC ask that question?

    • Ownbestenemy

      They don’t want to account for people that have taken those credits not to gain a piece of paper, but for gain in their jobs, like me. Or weekenders that are bored and take a few classes to just take them. Which is what you were saying now that I am done typing it.

      • UnCivilServant

        I thought about taking additional classes for personal edification.

        But the price tag per credit hour put me off.

        I already have my piece of paper.

        I think it may have been less the absolute dollar value than the realization of how much of it was subsidizing activity I’m opposed to.

      • Festus

        I have the same idea about taking some yoga classes…

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I have always loved how I felt after doing yoga. I am probably one of the least flexible humans in history, but it was great when I was lifting all the time.

        The scenery wasn’t bad either.

      • Festus

        They’d probably place me in the “Granny” class so I’d need to invest in a fly swatter.

      • Mojeaux

        I have a degree but I am going to take art classes in the fall. Will I go beyond “classes to teach me what I want to know” to a full-blown degree? Probably not. I’m in the “get me to where I want to go” stage of life, not “another lambskin please!”

    • db

      Asking that question might lead to some other uncomfortable questions. Or perhaps they skipped that day in J school where asking questions was discussed.

    • The Other Kevin

      Financial, as in, “This shit isn’t worth all the money I’m paying for it?”

    • Q Continuum

      Asking questions implies that there is information they require in order to complete the story. When you are a propagandist, you know what you’re going to write before you start, it’s just a matter of framing to fit the narrative. Ergo: no need to seek out any additional information since it’s unnecessary.

    • robc

      This was part of the major thesis of Bryan Caplan’s “The Case Against Education.” It is part of his proof that higher ed is basically about credentialism and not learning. Someone who comes up one class short of graduating should earn very close to someone who finished. But they don’t.

      How much value should an employer grant to someone who hypothetically audited 4 years worth of classes at an ivy for free but got no degree, versus someone who did the same but paid tuition and has a degree?

      His argument to me is pretty damn solid.

      • Pine_Tree

        Except that in lots of cases (not all, of course), the employer is actually using the degree requirement to launder the “testing” hurdle. That’s gonna stay a thing. So some of it’s credentialism-as-credentialism, and some is this.

      • robc

        Yeah, he puts that in to the same category.

        And some of it is actually valid. It proves you can finish things.

        Obviously, allowing testing would be a lot saner.

      • Mojeaux

        It proves you can finish things.

        That’s what my dad continually reminded me of.

  25. DEG

    Mornin’.

    “I declared Election Integrity and Bail Reform to be must-pass emergency items for this legislative session. It is deeply disappointing and concerning for Texans that neither will reach my desk,” he said. “Ensuring the integrity of our elections and reforming a broken bail system remain emergencies in Texas. They will be added to the special session agenda. Legislators will be expected to have worked out the details when they arrive at the Capitol for the special session.”

    Are we going to see Texas legislators run to Oklahoma again?

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Didn’t the Oregon Dems seek bench warrants or some such for Team Red representatives when they fled the state?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        That’s different because reasons.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I don’t think they fled the state last time. The state Dems threatened to send the state police after them and one of the R’s (the little shit that supported red flag law incidrntally) said send single men if they go after him. The establishment got up in arms about his threats of violence, but not the threat of violence implied with using the state police. And using the state police for political ends.

        This session, the R’s caved and allowed fines for such actions to be added to the rules for the House. The Senate rolled over for the D’s and quit their delaying tactics in exchange for a payoff.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Not that I’m a particular fan of Caligula, but fiddling while Rome burns does seem quite on point, these days…

    As a euphemism, it’s perfect for Caligula.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Isn’t that particular tall tale attributed to Nero?

  27. Agent Cooper

    Caligs made his horse a Swamp Dweller.

    • UnCivilServant

      If I understand correctly, he didn’t actually, but the story was circulated after he made a comparsion that his horse could do a better job than someone. It was a tale told by his political enemies.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        As with Nero and the fiddle, a lot of these tales are written by their political enemies as an after-the-fact justification for removing them from power. Wait that sounds kinda familiar. Weird.

      • Ownbestenemy

        As if political discourse is new! Unprecedented! People saying this is the ugliest they have heard of choose not to learn history on purpose so they can make their points as if they have something important to say. Imagine that.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        At least we have dialed back on the assassination by Praetorian Guard bit… so far.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Its been a few decades.

      • juris imprudent

        Gawds, can you imagine how Trump could’ve trolled the resistance with “they said bad shit about Nero and Caligula too”.

      • UnCivilServant

        I expect future folktales will include how he got away with shooting random people on 5th avenue and said ‘let them eat fish cleaner’

    • OBJ FRANKELSON
  28. The Late P Brooks

    But muh public health experts!

    More than 60% of Nestlé’s traditional packaged consumer food and beverage products do not meet an internationally recognized health standard, according to internal company documents seen by the Financial Times.

    “Some of our categories and products will never be ‘healthy’ no matter how much we renovate,” the company said in a presentation seen by top executives at the world’s largest food conglomerate.

    CEO Mark Schneider told Bloomberg in September that the company is making continued investments in the healthiness of its products, but “confectionary and chocolate address a deep human need and are going to be here to stay.”

    The definition of “healthy” comes from the Australian health star rating system, which scores products on a five-star scale and is used by international researchers including the Access to Nutrition Foundation. A product must score at least 3.5 stars to be considered healthy.

    Metrics like the health star system “enable consumers to make informed choices. However, they don’t capture everything,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to Insider. “About half of our sales are not covered by these systems. That includes categories such as infant nutrition, specialized health products and pet food, which follow regulated nutrition standards.”

    People buy stuff that’s not good for them?

    We must find a way to put a stop to it.

    • Akira

      People buy stuff that’s not good for them? We must find a way to put a stop to it.

      The government has already interfered in a lot of personal choices with the reasoning that it increases costs for “public health” programs (e.g. seatbelt and helmet laws). That mentality has only grown with the COVID fiasco. Many people really do believe that your body belongs to the government (except when it comes to abortion) so I don’t think outlawing junk food is too far off.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Robert’s readies his broccoli defense once again! Tune in this Saturday night, same time, same place!

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s a penalveg

  29. Festus

    Thanks for all the fish and the laughs, Glibs! I need sleep and vittles. Until next time.

    • DEG

      Bye Festus!

  30. The Late P Brooks

    Professor Marion Nestle (no relation), who researches nutritional science at Cornell, told the FT that a healthy portfolio is likely out of reach for large publicly traded companies like Nestlé.

    “Food companies’ job is to generate money for stockholders, and to generate it as quickly and in as large an amount as possible,” she said. “They are going to sell products that reach a mass audience and are bought by as many people as possible, that people want to buy, and that’s junk food.”

    “Nestlé is a very smart company, at least from my meetings with people who are in their science [departments] … but they have a real problem,” she added. “Scientists have been working for years to try to figure out how to reduce the salt and sugar content without changing the flavor profile and guess what, it’s hard to do.”

    Michelle Obama can fix this, if we just put her in charge of America’s diet. She knows what good little boys and girls should eat.

    • UnCivilServant

      Salt and sugar ARE the flavor in their products. You can’t reduce both without changing the flavor profile.

      • Rat on a train

        You can still make sour and bitter products. Anyone care for ampalaya candy?

      • Gender Traitor

        Weren’t those the little orange guys in Willy Wonka’s factory? (In the movie, that is. In the book they were pygmies.)

      • UnCivilServant

        Those were Oompa Loompas. Different flavor entirely.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Professor Marion Nestle (no relation), who researches nutritional science at Cornell

      Why should I give a shit what you have to say?

      #TMITEthings

    • creech

      Pray tell, what does Michelle like to eat???

      • Fourscore

        Now do Kamala

    • Agent Cooper

      My son has never forgiven her for the school lunch thing. He was 8 at the time.

    • Rat on a train

      That’s crazy. Normal people only take off their shirt when they use the bathroom.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I guess that screen shot was his first offense, I didn’t read through the captions before I posted. That excuse was he was changing after working out. Apparently searching for Canadians pee on zoom shows Canadians like pee.

      • banginglc1

        I worked with an exceptionally fat kid when I was in college. One day our boss comes back to the stock room and tells us to look in the bathroom. The fat kid took off his pants to take a shit. And after checking in subsequent days, this was a regular occurrence. And he mustve not known where his asshole was, because he always got shit everywhere.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        he mustve not known where his asshole was

        STEVE SMITH VOLUNTEER FOR SEARCH PARTY!

      • Rat on a train

        Long ago when I worked in a government building, there was a guy who dropped pants and underwear at urinals. There was another who always crossed his arms and leaned his head against the wall. I also encountered a few wall huggers in the hallways.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Removing your socks relaxes the bowels, this is known.

      • Agent Cooper

        He was just Costanzaing.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Ahh.. Québécois, makes perfect sense now.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Seriously, those crazy northerners really like their pee. Some politician peed in a woman’s coffee mug, some viral video about pee drinking. It was quite the revelation.

      • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

        Oui, oui.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        ?

  31. limey

    Now sue the Pope for anti-Catholic discrimination!

    I’m day-drinkin’. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Cheers mate! Im ‘working’ so its only a nip in the coffee….which looking that up…is 6oz…oh my

  32. Animal

    Hey folks – I’m normally not one to toot my own horn, but I’m just gonna power through it. Nova Roma I (I gave an excerpt some time back) is now on the market.

    • robc

      There are no fake reviews, so how will I know if I am going to like it?

      • UnCivilServant

        ***** – Bets book evre!!!@!!!

        * – Worst travesty against language ever created.

      • db

        I’m reading one of your books now, so I can confirm you are an expert in this field.

        TOTALLY KIDDING; I’m ENJOYING the book so far!

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

        How far along are you?

      • db

        Honestly, only a few pages in; I violated my recent rule to never try to read more than two books at a time when I bought yours, so I started it and then went back to the other two I haven’t finished yet. But I’ll continue and finish, for sure. It’s off to a good start.

    • Mojeaux

      w00t! Congrats!