Saturday Morning Return to “Normalcy” Links

by | Aug 14, 2021 | Daily Links | 220 comments

Last time I was here, I was not a New Yorker. Now I am, so feel free to resume saying, “Christ, what an asshole!” My thanks for other staffers for stepping in while SP and I upended our lives and hauled them East.

Our new home is quite a contrast. For example, we actually got rid of our governor, although his replacement doesn’t seem like much of a step up. Less handsy, and less likely to kill a few thousand of my cohort, maybe. This is a VERY isolated area, of which I heartily approve. Anyway, more later, we need to consider…

Birthdays. And today’s include… wait, this is another of those rare days where one birthday overwhelms the rest. And that is the Greatest Manager in Baseball History. Wanna argue? Go ahead. I’ll pull out moments like this and like this. Well, there were some minor individuals like SugarFree’s inspiration; a dentist who didn’t ask if it was safe; a guy whose name should get an asterisk; reputedly the biggest asshole in music (as opposed to Liberace who HAD the biggest asshole in music); someone who used to be funny; another guy who used to be funny; a guy who did much to wreck the Arizona Cardinals; a guy who made basketball fun when it was… fun; and a guy who made a name for himself in football.

Let’s get the the Real Links.

 

We all gonna die!!! Unfortunately, this bit of statistical legerdemain isn’t supported by the actual data.

 

No Joni, it’s on all the people who kept us there after 2002 for a useless mission.

 

Hmmm. On the one hand, the child abuse will continue. On the other hand, this accelerates the demise of government indoctrination centers.

 

Awwwww. C’mon guys. I do like the Mondrian illustration, though.

 

Wait, why is a judge used as the source here? And a drama queen one at that? My bullshit meter is pegged.

 

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. 

 

Jaki Byard. There’s a story waiting for a movie. In the meantime, his song is Old Guy Music, with the incomparable Rahsaan on sax.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

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

220 Comments

  1. Tres Cool

    Welcome back.

    whaddup doh ?

  2. Sean

    I trust no wine was damaged in the move.

    • Old Man With Candy

      The wine is still in storage. I’ll move it in November when the temperature is a bit more reasonable.

  3. Count Potato

    “Some feature actors dressed as Nazi officers acting out rape scenes of actresses portraying Jewish women.”

    That’s not antisemitic, that’s race play.

    “The number of videos involving Jews on porn sites has proliferated in recent years, according to the article.”

    That’s not antisemitic, either.

    • PieInTheSky

      you know suspiciously much about racial porn

    • EvilSheldon

      “Some feature actors dressed as Nazi officers acting out rape scenes of actresses portraying Jewish women.”

      The 70’s called, they want their porn back…

      • Zwak, jack off, all trades

        The ’70s called and they want Charlotte Rampling and Dirk Bogard back.

  4. The Late P Brooks

    “I am frightened by what is coming,” Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, the CEO for the Harris County hospital district said Tuesday to the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services. He mentioned that if COVID-19 cases continue to increase at the rate of which they are going, “There is no way my hospital is going to be able to handle this. There is no way the region is going to handle this.”

    Dallas Parkland Hospital — one of the nation’s largest — said it needs 500 more nurses and that some pregnant patients have been sent to other hospitals in order to receive care as a result of staffing shortages.

    “I am faced with a workforce who is tired, overworked, and constantly under siege,” Porsa told the committee.

    Maybe you should have focused more of your efforts on methods of treatment, instead of betting the ranch on a magic bullet vaccine.

    And stop scapegoating people who aren’t even sick.

    • Tonio

      “constantly under siege”

      Bullshit.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      92.4% ICU occupancy and 90.1% inpatient bed occupancy in Dallas at the moment

      • Chafed

        I didn’t learn New Math but that doesn’t look like 100%.

    • J. Frank Parnell

      it needs 500 more nurses

      Oh man, their TikTok videos are going to be lit.

    • Chafed

      OMWC likes getting pegged. Stop interfering.

  5. PieInTheSky

    to celebrate the return of the Old Man I have to say I signed up for a very financially irresponsible wine tasting. I am angry at both the fact that I spent the money and that I don’t make enough for the money to be of no consequence

    • PieInTheSky

      I’m not even sure I like Riesling that much

      • rhywun

        I thought you hated sugar.

      • PieInTheSky

        Only one is sweet i believe. Or hope

      • PieInTheSky

        Peter Lauer RÉSERVE 1984 – Brut Nature (Vintage 1984 – recently disgorged in December 2020)
        2016 Kastelberg Grand Cru Marc Kreydenweiss
        2016 Berg Roseneck Georg Breuer
        1994 Hattenheimer Nussbrunnen Langwerth von Simmern
        2011 vom Stein Federspiel Nikolaihof
        2012 Steiner Hund Nikolaihof
        2010 Bremmer Calmont Laurentiushof
        2017 Marienburg Raffes Clemens Busch

      • PieInTheSky

        I am not for bubbly but on kept 36 years sur lie is interesting

      • rhywun

        They have fancy names and numbers – you should be good.

      • Old Man With Candy

        You are invited over.

      • MikeS

        Mmmm…Busch. You have my attention.

      • ignoreLander

        Nice…. I’ll celebrate right now with a 2021 Ŕ€dƝĔĶ Ma§§ Bruere ĜrÖ§§ Sw¥ll.

  6. Not Adahn

    You are welcome to come down and visit. I think track season runs until Labor Day. And there are still Kayaderoserras shoots until October if your county judge isn’t a petty tyrant.

    • Not Adahn

      Oh, and Wonder Dog is welcome of course.

      And Mouzon House has excellent vegetarian food. The gumbo des herbs has my highest recommendation.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Soon as we get unpacked, we will likely inflict ourselves on you.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    “[It’s] not asking that much of people to wear a mask,” Jenkins said Friday.

    Is it really asking that much to want some fucking evidence of masks’ effectiveness? Fuck you and your feelings.

    • Tonio

      It actually is asking a lot. Because once they are allowed to get away with this then our rights will forever be subject to being denied because some expert says something. Remember “just two weeks to flatten the curve?”

    • Ghostpatzer

      “[It’s] not asking that much of people to wear a mask,” Jenkins said Friday.

      Ask away, no problem. Compulsion? Eat a bag of dicks.

      • 61North (south of Animal, though)

        The notorious ‘voluntold’ strikes again.

    • Lord Humungus

      Can I pleeeeze wear a mask when it’s humid as fuck outside and it already feels like I’m breathing through a wet towel.

      Every year I forget how miserable Michigan summers can be – that and the skeeters.

  8. The Gunslinger

    Welcome back old man. And welcome to a normal time zone.

  9. blackjack

    Wait, why is a judge used as the source here?

    Earlier this week, Jenkins also sued Abbott over the executive order banning mask mandates, and a district judge issued a temporary injunction to halt it. A hearing on the temporary injunction against the ban on mask mandates scheduled for August 24.

    “[It’s] not asking that much of people to wear a mask,” Jenkins said Friday.

    It’s not just any judge. It’s the perfect lefty caricature of a judge. Wise and all knowing as he props up the party line.

    • Not Adahn

      When you know you can get the quote you want from a particular person, why would you ever go to a different source?

      • Ted S.

        Yeah. I don’t know if you ever watch the local news, but Alice Green has been at the top of the media’s rolodex here since I was in high school back in the 80s.

      • Ted S.

        I should have included a link.

      • rhywun

        Dr. Green writes and lectures on racism

        Where do I sign up?!

      • blackjack

        Whole lotta lecturin’ going on lately.

      • TARDis

        Obviously a true expert on racism.

        She is also a founder of one of Albany’s longest running black newspapers, The South End Scene.

        Two decades into the 21st century, and we still have racist media. That tells me all I need to know about her. Also, she is what I would call a quintessential educated idiot.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    War

    Additional Australian military personnel will be deployed to enforce tighter Covid-19 restrictions in the greater Sydney area next week, authorities announced Saturday, as the entire state of New South Wales (NSW) prepares to go under lockdown.

    It comes as the country continues to battle the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant. On Saturday, NSW reported 466 new locally transmitted cases — a record — to take its total number of infections this year to 12,903.
    NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian called it the “most concerning day” of the pandemic, adding the state was “throwing everything at it.”
    “This is literally a war,” she said at a news conference, shortly before the state’s deputy premier announced NSW would enter a snap seven-day lockdown starting 5 p.m. Saturday.
    Stay at home orders will be applied across the country’s most populous state, with people only permitted to leave home to shop for essentials, receive medical care, outdoor exercise with one other person, and work if residents cannot work from home. Schooling will also be moved back online.

    How long ’til we see blood in the streets?

    • rhywun

      They’re locked up so tight I wonder how DELTA!!1! ☠ got there.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      I was the idiot predicting memorial day 2020. Granted, there were riots, just not the kind that I expected.

      I’m pessimistic on any organized response happening anywhere.

    • Lord Humungus

      So now the soldiers can spread the most infectious disease since the bubonic plague? 😉

  11. Not Adahn

    I’m pretty sure (((Perry Ferrell))) is the biggest asshole in music. He demanded 5/8 of all Jane’s Addiction income.

    • Zwak, jack off, all trades

      Which is too bad as Eric Avery is who really defined the sound. Those bass lines were the shit.

    • Chafed

      There are lots of contenders. Morrissey and Axl Rose are just two examples.

      • R.J.

        Agreed. Morrissey should easily win biggest asshole in any contest.

  12. rhywun

    My bullshit meter is pegged.

    #minetoo

  13. PieInTheSky

    The Quest to Recreate a Lost and ‘Terrifying’ Medieval Mead
    Bochet vanished for centuries, but meadmakers are bringing it back—at least in spirit.

    https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-make-medieval-mead-bochet

    It starts with a cauldron, an open flame, and a good measure of raw honey. Then—double, double, toil and trouble—stir constantly until the honey spits black steam at you. Add water and stand back as it erupts, volcano-like. Throw in some yeast and spices and, after it ages a bit, behold: bochet, a mysterious and lost style of mead.

    My path to recreate this ancient and mysterious beverage would take me on a deep dive into the nitty-gritty of medieval yeast strains, and turn my tiny kitchen into a mad scientist’s lab. It would have me digging through scant archival records about obscure systems of measurement in 14th century France. This experiment would require my biggest stockpot—and nerves of steel.

    “Caramelizing honey is kind of terrifying,” says Ontario microbiologist Bryan Heit, the brains behind popular homebrewing reference site Sui Generis Brewing. While Heit experiments mostly with beer, particularly traditional styles, he’s been intrigued by bochet for years.

    “It truly is a lost style. It’s not a historical style that has survived into the modern era,” says Heit. “It’s literally something that disappeared.”

    • Old Man With Candy

      I could drink that.

    • Not Adahn

      I’ve had bochet. It was yummy. But I can understand some rube in the hinterlands of Canada thinking it wasn’t made anymore.

    • Tonio

      Paging Nephilium…

      • Gender Traitor

        …and kinnath, IIRC.

      • kinnath

        If I remember, I will bring a bottle of Bochet to the Honey Harvest.

      • PieInTheSky

        and everyone going to honey harvest

    • LCDR_Fish

      I’ve tried some of the local area meads (Richmond, Maryland, etc…) but they all leave me cold – bland, not particularly flavorful.

      on the other hand, everything I try from https://www.bnektar.com/ over the years has been amazing. Unfortunately….the last time I looked, I think it was almost $15 for a bottle (500ml).

      Not sure I even saw them in Total Wine the last time I was there. Since it’s not beer…maybe they’ll ship to VA.

    • Lord Humungus

      The worst food poisoning/hangover combo I had was with a bottle of mead. I haven’t had any since.

      Store bought mead, big punk rock party, LH passing out in the bathroom; along with EH, who was apparently topless for some of the night.

      …now those are golden memories…

      • Zwak, jack off, all trades

        And showers!

    • Ted S.

      Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.

    • blackjack

      Dafuq these got tested 10 minutes after the party ends? Why are they suddenly testing everyone all the time? To pump up the numbers quickly before the PCR tests get shut down. I get the inclination to prove Obama is an asshole, and he is an asshole. It’s just not because he had a party. It’s because he is wholeheartedly behind preventing everyone else in the world from having a party. It’s because he knows this is all bullshit and he knows it’s all just to shore up Biden’s tanking approval rate. Literally forcing people to take drugs they don’t need or want, just to improve poll numbers. Serious Dr. Evil shit right there, but that’s where we are.

    • Chafed

      I feel like I’ve seen that somewhere before.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Panicmongering in service to the narrative

    Early versions of COVID-19 largely spared children but the delta variant proved to be much less discriminating, and has led to more child hospitalizations. Now, health care workers on the front lines say there is another frightening prospect looming: a surge in children diagnosed with a combination of COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus.

    Pediatric hospitals in Texas — and around the country — are reporting unseasonably early outbreaks of RSV, a respiratory virus that mostly manifests as a mild illness with cold-like symptoms in adults but that can cause pneumonia and bronchiolitis in very young children. The CDC reports it can be life-threatening in infants and young adults.

    At Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston on Thursday, 25 of 45 hospitalized pediatric patients were diagnosed with RSV as well as COVID-19. “A hospitalization rate much higher than for either virus alone,” according to officials.

    ——-

    It’s likely officials will see a decline in RSV infections in places that are renewing indoor masking mandates and social distancing, she said.

    So far Southern California has not seen many co-infections — meaning a person has both COVID-19 and RSV, according to Pannaraj.

    “But that doesn’t mean that it won’t happen,” she remarked. “In fact, we probably have to assume that it will happen.”

    It’s likely a matter of a few months, she said.

    It’s only going to get worse. We’re all gonna die.

    • blackjack

      Seems like she’s saying that one you do masks for a while, you can never undo them. Hiding indoors keeps the germs away, until you finally step outside again, it seems.

  15. Ghostpatzer

    Welcome back, OMWC. Old Man Music FTW!

  16. PieInTheSky

    Four ANU residential halls have been placed under an “enhanced lockdown” after close contacts emerged from Canberra’s COVID-19 outbreak.

    Hundreds of students in four residential halls at ANU have been locked in their rooms after a dozen people were identified as close COVID-19 contacts.

    The ACT recorded two cases overnight taking the territory’s total infections to six with more than 2,000 tests conducted in the previous 24 hours.

    It comes as Territorians woke on Friday to their first day of a seven-day lockdown.

    Eight halls were initially plunged into lockdown on Thursday night after the ACT recorded its first cases of COVID-19 in more than 12 months, but five came out of hard restrictions on Friday afternoon.

    https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/coronavirus/hundreds-of-anu-students-locked-down-after-close-contacts-emerge-from-act-covid-cluster/news-story/68fdb33a12073a6373ac84b1f886a793

    I mean if you don’t want to be locked in your room for no reason do not attend Australian universities. This is on the students tbh

    • rhywun

      I will never set foot in Australia, that’s for fucking sure.

    • 61North (south of Animal, though)

      So 6 people out of 2,000! tested in a population of 296,000 tested positive. And there’s no mention of the any of the 6 cases having severe symptoms. Well, okay. Bend over and take it. But it’s only 1 week to flatten the curve this time.

      • PieInTheSky

        I mean Australians are the lazy descendants of criminals so lockdown is to good for the like of em

    • blackjack

      Further proof that when you put people in front of cameras, most of them go full retard.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    According to my model, you people need to surrender all your rights and freedoms

    “It is still possible to forestall most of the dire impacts, but it really requires unprecedented, transformational change,” said Ko Barrett, vice chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “The idea that there still is a pathway forward, I think, is a point that should give us some hope.”

    That hopeful pathway, in which dangerous changes to the world’s climate eventually stop, is the product of giant computer simulations of the world economy. They’re called integrated assessment models. There are half a dozen major versions of them: four developed in Europe, one in Japan, and one in the U.S., at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

    “What we mostly are doing, is trying to explore what is needed to meet the Paris goals.” says Detlef van Vuuren, at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, which developed one of the models.

    ——-

    Each of these models starts with data about current sources of greenhouse emissions. They include cars and buses, auto rickshaws, airplanes, power plants, home furnaces and rice paddies. The models also include assumptions about international trade, prices, and the costs of new technologies.

    Then the scientists force their virtual worlds to change course, by introducing limits on greenhouse emissions. The models then try to satisfy that requirement in the most cost-effective way, as long as it’s technologically feasible and doesn’t run up against limits like the supply of land or other natural resources.

    The good news is that the models found a way to meet that target, at least in scenarios where world governments were inclined to cooperate in meeting their Paris commitments. In fact, according to Keywan Riahi, at the International Institute for Applied Systems, in Austria, they found multiple paths to zero carbon.

    A global communist dictatorship of the technocrats is our best hope. They know everything. They will tune the world like a fiddle. If only we would let them.

    There is no such thing as Peak Hubris.

    • rhywun

      I wonder what is the most Earth-friendly way to manage the titanic piles of corpses their “models” are sweeping under the rug.

      • Sean

        My HOA does funeral pyre Fridays. It’s been a big hit. ?

      • Gender Traitor

        Do they throw the widows & widowers up there too?

      • blackjack

        The unvaxxed. It’s the only way to be sure they don’t infect the vaxxed. Call it “the final solution.”

    • Suthenboy

      Good grief, what a steaming pile of horseshit that is.

  18. Ghostpatzer

    https://www.nj.com/politics/2021/08/nj-businesses-to-get-socked-with-250m-unemployment-insurance-tax-hike.html

    “More than 2 million New Jersey workers have sought unemployment benefits since March 2020, when the governor effectively shut down the state to slow the spread of the coronavirus.”

    How’s that working out, Phil? Since you pretty much caused this, maybe you can help out by selling a few of your assets, starting with that Umbrian villa you’re currently staying at. After all, we’re all in this together, right?

    • PieInTheSky

      After all, we’re all in this together, right? – yes but on different sides of the dick to paraphrase an old joke

    • rhywun

      It’s a good thing businesses don’t pass on increased costs to their customers.

      • 61North (south of Animal, though)

        Assuming they don’t go under first.

      • Ted S.

        And the increased payroll taxes on employees. I didn’t get a pay raise from October 2019 to January 2021, so I was able to see the change in how much New York’s “Paid family leave” scheme costs us. It was sold as costing less than $2 a bi-weekly paycheck, and in 2019 it was $1.60; in 2020 $2.85; and in 2021 $5.30, all with the same hourly pay rate.

      • rhywun

        Why do you hate families?

      • Ted S.

        Because the ingrateful shits expect the rest of us to pick up their slack?

    • Ted S.

      After all, we’re all in this together, right?

      Yes we are

    • Sean

      NJ sucks. News at eleven.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Some models show people responding to higher energy prices or government regulations by changing their lifestyle. They move to more energy-saving houses, and give up their cars in favor of a new and better kind of public transit. In addition to traditional bus lines, autonomous vehicles respond like Uber — taking people where they need to go.

    Riahi likes this version best. “I’m convinced that a fundamental demand-side restructuring would also lead to a better quality of life,” he says.

    If only the hicks and deplorables would listen to us, we could make this world a Paradise. New Soviet Man is always just over the horizon. Stop resisting.

    • Ted S.

      Riahi likes this version best. “I’m convinced that a fundamental demand-side restructuring would also lead to a better quality of life,” he says.

      Start by moving all government-sector employees into dormitories and making them walk everywhere they go.

    • EvilSheldon

      I’m curious how we’re making the jump from public transit and condo beehives to “…a better quality of life.” Being forced to ride the bus and live in a cramped urban apartment would make my quality of life worse, not better.

      Oh, what’s that? He meant, ‘a better quality of life, for himself and his friends’? Right, gotcha. Makes perfect sense.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        It’s the opposite of what makes a good quality of life to me but I’m perfectly fine with it for them if that’s what they want. I just wish they’d stop trying to force it on people who aren’t really interested.

  20. 61North (south of Animal, though)

    I’m out of town right now and my houseguest has managed to flip my car’s check engine light, get a flat tire and somehow manage to cause my boiler to stop working. I cannot wait to get home today.

    • blackjack

      I thought your state naturally selected out those types of people?

    • Suthenboy

      Perhaps you should un-invite this houseguest. Yikes.

      • 61North (south of Animal, though)

        I’m not thinking with my big head on this one, IYKWIM.

      • Suthenboy

        Gotcha. Pablo Picasso was asked what he thought when he turned 90 or so.

        “I am no longer interested in women. It is like a mill stone has been lifted off of my neck.”

      • 61North (south of Animal, though)

        Smart man.

      • Ted S.

        I don’t remember who said it, but a funny quote I heard is “One good thing about turning 90 is that you don’t have to worry about peer pressure any more because all of your peers are dead.”

      • blackjack

        The good thing about turning 90 is, a lot of cops will stop chasing you at that speed.

      • PieInTheSky

        simp

    • Sean

      Keep them away from the kitchen.

    • Fourscore

      Kinnath visited cabin chez moi. He brought nice things and left them for the next visitors. His next visit will be even better. Glibs make better visitors.

      • 61North (south of Animal, though)

        I still haven’t made the trek up north to visit Mr. and Mrs. Animal, who are lovely people.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    “Delta” allegedly originated in India, correct?

    Was it actually spread around the world through physical contact, or are we seeing some sort of parallel evolutionary tracks, in which the virus mutates along similar lines, in geographically separate populations?

    The screeching in the media obscures the reality.

    • blackjack

      “Delta” allegedly originated in India, correct?

      If it’s transmissible by phone lines, we’re all fucked.

      • rhywun

        LOL

      • Lord Humungus

        “Sir, I would like you to login into your bank account.”

  22. The Late P Brooks

    I’m curious how we’re making the jump from public transit and condo beehives to “…a better quality of life.” Being forced to ride the bus and live in a cramped urban apartment would make my quality of life worse, not better.

    Oh, what’s that? He meant, ‘a better quality of life, for himself and his friends’? Right, gotcha. Makes perfect sense.

    After the proles have all been killed off by highly transmissible bioengineered diseases in their crowded communal living and working and commuting spaces, the world will be a much more pleasant place.

    • Suthenboy

      When the people who collect garbage, grow food, keep the water running and electricity on are gone his life will be better? I have some bad news for that half-wit.

    • rhywun

      “I guess I said the quiet part out loud again.”

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Potholes on the road to Utopia

    The letter from moderate lawmakers highlights the difficulties Pelosi faces in keeping her broad coalition united in achieving policy priorities. Progressive members fear their more moderate colleagues will pull their support for the $3.5 trillion social policy package if the infrastructure bill is already signed, and have warned they won’t support the infrastructure bill until the Senate passes the reconciliation package.

    But some moderate members argue the social policy package isn’t even guaranteed passage in the Senate, where all Democratic senators have to be on board for it to advance.

    Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., told NPR’s Ailsa Chang on Thursday that she’s called for an immediate vote on the Senate-passed infrastructure bill.

    “The investment into our infrastructure is so critically important — it needs to happen now,” she said. “And I am open to having a conversation about the reconciliation bill and what the contents of that will be. But it’s really wrong to tie a bill that has been completed and passed in a bipartisan way out of the Senate with a bill that has just top-line numbers and no details.”

    How can we remake America if you won’t tow the socialist lion?

    • Lord Humungus

      Oh come on – the Democrats will take their marching orders (and possibly lose bigly in the next election).

  24. Zwak, jack off, all trades

    I never thought I would say this, but thank god the Old Man is back.

    Welcome home.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Suck up!

  25. blackjack

    In general, QAnon believes Trump is in the middle of a biblical war against a “deep state,” satanic cabal of baby-eating, child sex-traffickers led by prominent members of the Democratic party, entertainers who espouse liberal opinions, anybody who mentions “pizza,” and authoritative sources who relay credible information that may cast a negative light on the president. Proponents of this theory believe that one day soon the “storm” will come and Trump, with the help of an anonymous high-ranking military official known as “Q,” will round up members of the deep state, arrest them, and possibly have them executed.

    Finally! A totally reasonable and accurate description of what all this Qanon bullshit is. Makes perfect sense, now. BTW, this is from Snopes and they are always hella accurate.

    • Suthenboy

      Somewhere a bunch of pimple-faced adolescent boys are snickering uncontrollably.

      • blackjack

        I particularly like, ” anybody who mentions ‘pizza'”

      • blackjack

        Personally, I would have added, ” in the same sentence as pineapple” but that’s just me.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        They were using a code in their communications though and that’s obvious. I think it was various drugs they were discussing but what do I know?

      • blackjack

        I don’t think there is any such people as described above. It’s all Reichstag fires all down the line.

      • rhywun

        Alternatively, this junk could have just as easily been cooked up by leftists in order to discredit the belief in the “deep state”.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      It’s a ridiculous belief BUT with the likes of Weinstein (not a pedo that I know of but still a perv and in full view for decades), Epstein, various Catholic and other clergy, and etc. as far as the eye can see, I can see how these kind of things take hold. If you had told me about a rich guy owning a Caribbean island who flew young girls down there for orgies with the likes of Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew (allegedly of course for both) ten years ago I would have said you were fucking nuts.

      • blackjack

        I would have said, “of course! What do you think they do with all that power and wealth?”

      • Suthenboy

        We would all like to think our morals would stay intact if all disincentives were removed, and for the majority of us that is probably true, but for many people it is not. For some nothing is beyond the pale.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        That and the shift that occurs when regular debauchery becomes passé and the breaking of the ultimate taboo in full view of powerful people must be quite a heady experience for some, the honeypot aspect aside.

      • Suthenboy

        I always thought ’14 year old niece’. That guy is some kind of creepy. His wife is even worse.

      • PutridMeat

        I’d postulate that for a large fraction of most people, the morals would stay intact. Those who seek out and pursue positions of power are exactly the people for whom, assuming they had decent morals to start with, they would not. Perhaps another one of those chicken and egg problems.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        for the majority of us that is probably true

        Look at the optimist over here!

      • 61North (south of Animal, though)

        Clinton always struck me as the kind of guy who would hit on 18 and 19 year olds working as a gas station cashier or low-rent diner waitress.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I’d agree with that, Clinton’s probably more young but not that young attracted.

    • Suthenboy

      Snopes needs to go back to fact checking The Babylon Bee. They would look slightly less ridiculous.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s disinformation.

      Poison the truth with crazy shit.

    • Chafed

      Nice!

  26. Lord Humungus

    Comment seen re: the Afghan War:

    So basically, we could have gotten the same results if we had burned a few trillion dollars in a large bonfire, air-dropped weapons to the Taliban for them to keep, and had a lottery where we killed and maimed a bunch of young men in the US.

    Outstanding work there.

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/467532/#respond

    • PieInTheSky

      Just go back to throwing money in the money hole

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Pretty good summary…

    • kbolino

      There’s a massive surveillance and submission apparatus, a bunch of luxury townhomes and McMansions on the Potomac, a lot of well funded 401(k)s, and some quadrupled defense contractor stock prices to account for as well.

      • Suthenboy

        ^This^

        The war in Afghanistan was never about Afghanistan. It was supposed to be a forever war on American tax payers. I am a bit puzzled as to why Biden is ending it.

      • kbolino

        I am a bit puzzled as to why Biden is ending it

        I have wondered this as well. Nothing compelling, but:

        1. It has served its purpose; the system originally justified by our presence there is now entrenched and none of it is at any risk of getting defunded anymore, so Afghanistan is all cost no benefit to the MIC
        2. Poisoning the well; Obama was fond of this, do the thing the plebs claim to want but in the most spiteful way possible, in order to leave a bad taste for it in everyone’s mouth
        3. Libya redux; it’s not like the U.S. is categorically abandoning overseas interventions, so when the fire starts to die down, start a new one
        4. Strategic shift inward; they’ve wanted to turn the security apparatus against their own people for a long time now, but having an external enemy drains resources and distracts from this goal

      • blackjack

        Personally, I think it’s to show how the generals obey him, not like that dastardly Trump. Of course the generals are so addicted to their war games, they poisoned the process to show what a bad idea it is, but at least they actually removed the troops as ordered this time.

      • Mustang

        He needs people back here for the domestic war on terror.

      • mock-star

        “I am a bit puzzled as to why Biden is ending it.”

        What makes you think he is going to end it? He merely needs to give the appearance of ending it. Last I checked, we were sending 3 battalions of marines there.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Unquestioning submissive obedience is what made America great

    I know that masking is a burden—I do not like wearing several layers of cloth over my mouth, and I resent the sentiment that it should be “no problem” to mask up, particularly in situations where it makes little sense, like outdoors. It’s even more of a burden to be masking up when other people aren’t, to be trying to contribute to a collective effort that is falling far short. And it feels like it doesn’t help anyone very much at all to be one of the only people masking in a room with lots of bare faces. The pandemic doesn’t end with some of us being super careful and others continuing on as though the CDC has not issued new guidance. Even mask mandates don’t work unless they are enforced on the micro level. In Las Vegas, where there is a mandate in place, a reporter found that clubgoers wore them in line to get in, but simply took them off once they were inside.

    One more story: After we had breakfast at the motel, my boyfriend and I went to the national park we’d come to visit. Everyone on the park shuttle wore a mask. That was also the case in the visitors centers and gift shops.

    The motel and the park were of course in the same area, in counties with similar COVID transmission levels that are “substantial” or “high.” Being in one space or another posed roughly similar risks (the bus was more crowded than the gift shop or lobby). But at the park, there was a rule: Wear a mask. An employee even stood next to the bus entrance and handed out disposable masks to anyone who didn’t have one.

    The shuttle bus felt like a glimpse of how things could be. People came to the national park from all over the country, and yet there they were, wearing masks. Because they had to.

    Fucking snake handlers is what they are. And anybody who won’t convert to their religion should be put to the sword.

    • PieInTheSky

      The pandemic doesn’t end – should have left ot at that

    • rhywun

      The shuttle bus felt like a glimpse of how things could be.

      JFC! What a pathetic waste of space.

    • ignoreLander

      According to sources, dozens of people around the country sat down last night to hear late-night talk show hosts tell them what to think about everything.

      lol

    • ignoreLander

      Experts also agreed that you should agree with them or you’re failing to trust the experts, which is bad.

      Also lol

  28. DrOtto

    The judge can’t read the chart. Dallas has had a cumulative total of 573 hospitalizations of the 0-17 age group from March 2020-August 2021. They have only had 320 cases in the 0-17 group in August 2021 so far, which is already significantly down from July cases at the same time. It looks like the delta farce caused a small blip compared to several months back, but nothing like how it’s being reported. I’m sure it’s an honest mistake. Everything I’ve seen suggests RSV is what we’re seeing now and that is from keeping the kids apart.

  29. Lord Humungus

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/documents-fdr-pressured-hitler-to-meet-with-his-oil-buddies

    Newly unveiled memos from Adolf Hitler’s chancellery and Foreign Ministry portray a cozy pre-World War II relationship between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the German madman.

    Several going up for auction Aug. 24-27 at Alexander Historical Auctions show that FDR pressured Hitler’s aides to have the fuhrer grant a meeting with three pals, top officials from Standard Oil and Texaco, around the time of the 1936 Nazi Party rally at Nuremberg.

    In one, an aide wrote to Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop that “in view of Roosevelt’s personal interest … I recommend very strongly that his request should be granted.”

    Hitler eventually blew them off, but the memos show the president’s efforts to help his personal friends in their businesses, something that today would be impeachable at the least.

    • blackjack

      FDR is the grift that keeps giving.

    • PutridMeat

      “something that today would be impeachable at the least.”

      Would it really? Maybe if you were Trump or the wrong kind of [R]. Pretty clearly not impeachable in any other situation. More like standard practice of the ruling class. You don’t come out of ‘civil’ service jobs with millions in your bank accounts otherwise.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        FDR was basically Mussolini with one of those blueblood cigarette holders. Of course he wasn’t put off too much by doing business with der Fuhrer.

      • PutridMeat

        Those were my thoughts almost exactly as I was reading the excerpt. “Huh, one fascist talking to another fascist and trying to make deals, surprise, surprise.”

        I have a half written article from a couple of months ago tentatively titled “Yes, it can”, with the question being “Can it happen here?” But seems sort of pointless to clean it up and throw it at this crowd. It’s just self evident currently and historically, and better arguments are made every day in the comments demonstrating the postulate.

    • Suthenboy

      This is supposed to be news? Old news. A lot of people in positions of power adored and sucked up to Hitler. After the war they all denied it. We are seeing the same thing now with the radical left.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    You don’t come out of ‘civil’ service jobs with millions in your bank accounts otherwise.

    Poor old Bill and Hillary barely had two nickels to rub together when they left the White House. They only narrowly escaped going on food stamps. That’s what I heard.

    • blackjack

      That’s why they stole all of that shit upon leaving the WH and had to give some of it back. Poor dears.

  31. limey

    I accidentally skipped over to the last night post and put comments in there. Lol. Send me back to internet browser 101.

    • blackjack

      I like to sometimes go check what we were posting in Jan. of 2020. We were all worked up about some silly shit. I had zero fear about jackbooted thugs holding me down and forcibly injecting secret sauce into me, back then. There was zero possibility of a wall being built through the middle of Los Angeles, separating the vaxxed and the unvaxxed. Nobody had to show anyone any papers to be allowed to live life out in the open. It was an innocent time.

      • limey

        Snake Plisken ain’t comin’ to rescue nobody.

      • blackjack

        There’s no way out of here!

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Hiccup

    The security situation in Afghanistan has quickly deteriorated in recent days as the Taliban made major gains, with administration officials taken aback by the pace of the offensive.

    Our best. Our brightest.

    Those people need understanding and support. They should not have to fear losing their jobs just because they are incompetent and completely fucked up the mission.

    • Sean

      Situation dire – send moar trannies and ? flags.

    • Lord Humungus

      I’m sure we can launch yet another offensive – Bush the 3rd – surge and take care of those pesky Talibanskis.

    • blackjack

      Whatever didn’t work, only didn’t work because we didn’t do enough of it.

      • PutridMeat

        Wait I thought we were talking about Afghanistan, not masks?

      • blackjack

        It applies to all of the “things we choose to do together”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Twenty years of generals being too afraid or incompetent to give realistic assessments can give a skewed picture of readiness. The Afghan government and the Afghan army are marionettes that just had their strings cut and that’s just the long and short of it.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    That’s why they stole all of that shit upon leaving the WH and had to give some of it back. Poor dears.

    They did manage to hang on to the rolodex. That helped, a little.

  34. Lord Humungus

    The CDC recommended more masking for our county because of the increased COVID cases.

    But, so far, I’m happy to report that every business seems to be ignoring them.

    I also had a conversation with the owner of my local watering hole – he said he would be ignoring any “proof of vaccination for admittance” plans. Why is he burdened with the responsibility of turning away potential customers?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Because the government can’t legally do it but they can force private businesses to require it through the threat of revoked licensure and fines and fees. If you live in an unsympathetic area you’ll be shut down if you ignore the (moronic) rules.

      • blackjack

        Correct. I live in an extremely unsympathetic area.

      • Q Continuum

        This is what I’ve been saying for a while: just leverage the power and water companies to turn off service to all wrongthinkers. That’s where they’re ultimately going.

      • blackjack

        They have absolutely done just that here. They built a tall chain link fence around Tin Horn Flats when they tried using generators to keep serving customers after getting utilities shut down.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Mark Geragos is gonna hand them their asses.

      • kbolino

        the government can’t legally do it

        I’m sure the courts would find a way.

        The reason they offload enforcement is simple: it’s easier. Business owners want to stay in business, there are a lot fewer of them than there are regular plebs, targeting them and their revenue gets to the desired end result with the minimal amount of effort.

  35. Lord Humungus

    It’s an ancient game, but would anyone here be interested in a Left 4 Dead team game play?

    Why? It’s a game that requires teamwork and can also run on just about any machine that is still chugging along.

    I go under the username: Div250

    • PieInTheSky

      nerd

    • TARDis

      I have not played L4D/L4D2 in awhile. We sometimes played as family, but my wife hates 1st person because she gets all pukey. I’ll do it if we can get four nerds.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Is that on the Steams or through their matchmaking?

      • TARDis

        Steam.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I think teen#2 has it so I’ll just steal his. Maybe up for something later tonight or tomorrow

    • Grummun

      I’d love to. Steam friend request sent.

      My availability is generally not great, but if I see you on when I’ve got a hour to kill, I’ll hit you up.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Get out of Oregon.

    • Chafed

      I don’t want to be cured.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    NPR is worried Afghanistan might become a center for extremist activity. Are the Proud Boys going to establish training centers there?

    We cannot afford to take our eye off the ball of the vast domestic terrorist threat!

    • blackjack

      It’s not just the Proud Boys, anymore.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They’re resisting our totalitarian public health measures!

  37. blackjack

    I can’t say for certain when I decided I really don’t want the vaccine. I’ve been especially scared of covid, but I’m not all that afraid of the vax, either. I know for sure that one thing had a large impact on me, and that’s when my supervisor came in bragging about how he cheated and lied to snake his way to the front of the line and get vaxxed before the old and fat people could. Then, the next day, he announced the cheating plan to everyone in the morning meeting as if to suggest it’s what we all should do. That may have been when I solidly decided I ain’t getting it, right there.

    • blackjack

      * Never been especially scared of covid. Dammit.

    • Suthenboy

      I am scared of tornados and house fires. That is my list. Cootie bugs? Not so much.

      • blackjack

        Would have guessed, “Women and the police.”

      • Suthenboy

        Those are easy to avoid. The others happen fast and not much you can do about them.

      • blackjack

        Gator Mcklusky. “There’s only two things in life I’m afraid of and that’s women and the Poh-lice!”

  38. mexican sharpshooter

    a guy who did much to wreck the Arizona Cardinals;

    Disagree. Tillman as a NFL player was average. He was too slow to play in the secondary, and too small to play linebacker in the NFL. He was drafted by the Cardinals in late rounds primarily due to being in perpetual rebuild, and needing a half dozen parts that wouldn’t be available in the late rounds. Tillman happened to be a fan favorite at Arizona State so it was good PR for the Cardinals at the time.

    • Chafed

      Thanks for this MS. I couldn’t connect dots on McChrystal’s connection to the Cardinals.

    • blackjack

      Why would the government say that?

  39. The Late P Brooks

    I was perusing my latest college alumni mag. The death notices are almost exclusively cancer.

    I want mine to say, “Died in a shootout with police and FBI anti-terror strike team.”

    • Gender Traitor

      Not “Shot by a jealous husband”?

      • kinnath

        Bingo

      • blackjack

        Of a girl named Linda Lou?

      • Homple

        Once upon a time I wanted to die assassinated by a mob of jealous husbands.

        Then I realized that it would happen, but I would be the wrong guy.

    • kinnath

      My 86yo father says he wants his to say “Shot in the back by a jealous husband”.

  40. hayeksplosives

    From the “No pediatric ICU beds left in Dallas” article:

    “…[if your child is injured or ill] or more likely if they have COVID and need an ICU bed, we don’t have one. Your child will wait for another child to die.”

    So the only way a child leaves the ICU is to die? Recovery is not an option?

    Then why put a child in there to begin with? Seems like running out of ICU beds would be a blessing if it’s a one-way ticket.

    • Chafed

      I thought the same thing. It’s so nakedly partisan. If Covid 19 is a death sentence for children then you would expect hospice services to be overrun.

    • blackjack

      It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic. They are saying that children are dying like flies because governor Abbot won’t mandate masks. And Biden needs more people vaccinated (with the vaccine that doesn’t really work all that well) just to shore up his lagging poll numbers. That’s what they are saying.

    • R C Dean

      So the only way a child leaves the ICU is to die? Recovery is not an option?

      Well, there’s also the organ harvesting. And sale at the “orphan” auctions.

      Dirty little secret: The main difference between a regular peds bed and a PICU bed is (a) the speciality of the attending physician and (b) the number nurses per bed. You will also want some of your PICU rooms to be negative pressure rooms. That’s really it. You can set up an entire peds ICU by shifting the staffing and (for COVID patients) setting up a HEPA exhaust fan and some ducting for negative pressure. We’ve been dialing up and dialing down the number of ICU rooms for the last year and change.

      We haven’t had to do it for peds, BTW.

    • Suthenboy

      The truth hasn’t passed the lips of the ‘experts’ yet. Why would it start now?

  41. Homple

    Have any of the wine folks here participated in a double blind test, rating samples of prestigious and mediocre stuff?

    If so, how did it work out?