Thursday Afternoon Links

by | Aug 11, 2022 | Daily Links | 290 comments

Own it baby. Dedicated to a friend.

BREAKING: US DOJ moves to unseal Mar-a-Lago search warrant, related materials, just ahead of no-questions-allowed press conference by AG (and SCOTUS wannabe) Merrick Garland. “See, we are transparent.”

UNFOLDING INCIDENT STARTED AT CINCINNATI FBI OFFICE: Armed man tries to breach FBI security, exchanges gunfire with local police, flees.

EU REALIZES AMERICAN DECLINE MIGHT BE BAD FOR THEM: Via The Atlantic.

INNOCENT PEOPLE DON’T PLEAD THE FIFTH: Law professor and political commentator Jessica Levinson helpfully explains why pleading the fifth in a criminal case might backfire on Trump in a subsequent civil trial.

THEY HATE IT WHEN YOU LAUGH AT THEM: Heckler laughs at Texas politician Beto O’Rourke as he calls for gun control. Beto then loses it and calls the heckler a motherfucker, and his trained seals clap. Remember this: they cannot stand mockery, they cannot stand not being taken seriously.

SECESSION MOVEMENT, BUT NOT WHERE YOU THINK: Voters in Southern California’s San Bernardino County will soon get to say whether they want the county to potentially secede from the state. Secession not likely to succeed, since it would require both state and federal approval. But it would be an eye-poke for progressives who can’t stand that anyone might not to live under their woke regimes. And there is the precedent of West Virginia, which is similar in size, population, and meth consumption. San Bernadino borders both Nevada and Arizona.

FLORIDA INTRODUCES GADSDEN FLAG LICENSE PLATE, LIBERALS WHINE: Gov. Ron DeSantis said a new Florida license plate featuring the Gadsden flag sends a “clear message to out-of-state cars.” Critics say it symbolizes a dangerous far-right extremist ideology. Virginia already has these, as do several other states.

GET OUT THE POPCORN: Cleveland Orchestra’s insurance refuses to pay for treatment for complications related to the employee’s gender-affirmation elective cosmetic surgery performed before the employee was hired. Not sure if this qualifies as a pre-existing condition, but its the same principle. This suit was brought in federal court. Note that the term “transsexual” is used; you don’t hear that often, anymore.

HOUSEKEEPING! [KNOCK, KNOCK]: Glibs contributing writers, this is for you. WebDom has migrated/updated/prestidigitated the Glibs website from WordPress version 5.8.x to version 6.0.1, the latest version. For you non-computer nerds, when the most significant digit changes in software version number it’s a big fucking deal. We now have access to the new WordPress Block Editor, aka Gutenberg Editor. Don’t panic, you can continue to use the WordPress Classic Editor. But now you know what to do if you are presented a choice of editors, or if the editor looks strangely different.

About The Author

Tonio

Tonio

Tonio is a Glibs shitposter, linkstar (Thursday PM, yo), author, and editor. He is also a GlibZoom personality and prankster. Tonio is a big fan of pic-a-nic baskets. His hobbies include salmon fishing, territorial displays, dumpster diving, and posing for wildlife photographers.

290 Comments

  1. Rebel Scum

    Federal officials have also been tracking an array of other concerning chatter on Gab and other platforms threatening violence against federal agents. FBI Director Christopher Wray denounced the threats as he visited another FBI office in Nebraska on Wednesday.

    Because the left never uses hyperbolic rhetoric.

    • Lord Humungus

      That’s different because…. uh reasons.

      • Rat on a train

        They use violence for good not evil.

  2. Sensei

    Note that the term “transsexual” is used; you don’t hear that often, anymore.

    How d’you do, I
    See you’ve met my
    Faithful handyman
    He’s just a little brought down because
    When you knocked
    He thought you were the candy man

    • Certified Public Asshat

      The lawsuit accuses both the orchestra and the administrator of discriminating against her on the basis of sex.

      The basis of what now?

  3. Lord Humungus

    Comments I saw on Instapundit about Garland’s press conference:

    FBI = Gestapo • 4 minutes ago
    Merrick Garland is America’s Heinrich Himmler.

    Todd Zickefoose • 4 minutes ago
    Wanna be, he lacks Himmler’s competence.

    • Tundra

      I’m curious how they thought this would be a winner.

      Although it looks a lot like they are baiting the dopes to do something violent.

      • Lord Humungus

        Even if they show proof of why this was a “good” uh raid, the optics still look bad. The trumpsters will shout “planted evidence!” and “Why no Hillary for her email server?!?!”

      • The Other Kevin

        Add to that, the place was already secured by the secret service, so why did they need 30 agents with rifles, if not to send a message?

      • Chafed

        You’re right. Trump’s comments are easy to ignore because he is so full of shit. The failure to go after Hillary is just rank hypocrisy.

      • Pat

        I’m curious how they thought this would be a winner.

        They don’t give a shit. We’re into the stage of authoritarianism where propaganda’s purpose is no longer to persuade, but to browbeat. Not only does it not matter whether you tell outright lies, or outright fabricate evidence, or outright engage in political prosecutions, it’s actually preferable. The more blatant the lie, the more extreme the injustice, the more demoralized becomes the citizenry, until eventually you force them to not only acquiesce to the authority, but to participate in the lie themselves, robbing them of any moral grounds from which to protest. The communist Rooskies had it down to an art.

      • The Other Kevin

        Agreed. Polls show that people’s trust in government institutions is very low. But not once do you hear, “We need to do something to regain our credibility.” They just don’t care.

    • juris imprudent

      What’s funny is that the DOJ had previously denied this being a matter at Garland’s level – that he didn’t approve it because the lower level was able to handle it.

      • DEG

        /fires up the memory hole.

        That never happened. Come, we have a nice place where you will learn what really happened.

      • juris imprudent

        You know, someone actually do that to my face and my fist may have an autonomic reaction.

      • Zwak. And once again, the mall is his Waterloo

        And this is a basic fuck up; anything involving an ex-president should only be approved at the highest level. I don’t care if it is Trump’s WH serving Obama, or this shit show. This is a matter of, shall we say Extreme Delicacy”

  4. Fourscore

    I was ready with my comment 45 minutes ago but didn’t move fast enough. I thought we’d gone to East Coast time and I was behind as usual.

    • Tonio

      Ha, ha…

      Your linkster’s notorious difficulty with anything date and time strikes again.

    • Swiss Servator

      Um…minor…uh, technical difficulties.

  5. Mojeaux

    WordPerfect version 5.8.x to version 6.0.1

    WordPerfect was dabomb. I didn’t think it still existed…

    *EDIT FAIRY STOMPS OFF IN A HUFF*

    • Ted S.

      I have a feeling Anthony meant “WordPress”.

      • Mojeaux

        Yes, yes he did. 😉

    • leon

      I remember word perfect. Been many years since I used it though.

    • Pat

      WordPerfect was developed at BYU, FYI.

      AbiWord is similar in its simplicity and sparse UI.

      • Mojeaux

        Yep.

        Back in the day, it was quite the status thing to be employed by WordPerfect or Novell. I tried. Didn’t have enough DOS experience.

      • Pat

        I think my dad’s 386 was NetWare Capable™ but I was far too young to know what a network even was at the time. I only became cognizant of Novell by way of SuSE Linux and their IP battles with Microsoft.

      • EvilSheldon

        God I miss NetWare…

    • Tonio

      “WordPerfect was dabomb.”

      It was. Particularly the “reveal codes” feature for when someone had really messed up a document.

      I used and supported it for many years, and have to watch myself when I talk/write about the blogging product on which this website runs.

      • Mojeaux

        reveal codes

        I still do that, or rather, a facsimile. In Word, you have reveal all characters. Nobody knows how I can stand to look at a document with all the spaces and tabs and returns and suchlike all staring me in the face.

        Well, duh. That’s how I know what that idiot over there did to this document.

      • B.P.

        My office still uses WordPerfect, and yes, reveal codes is awesome. We do some stuff in MSWord and many basic functions seem really counterintuitive.

    • Michael Bluth

      My office still uses it, but I really want to change that. Inertia is a heck of a drug. Especially in the law.

      • Zwak. And once again, the mall is his Waterloo

        Hell, back when I was an account manager, my company still used Lotus Notes.

  6. Rebel Scum

    Again and again, when I spoke with officials, diplomats, politicians, and aides in Britain and Europe over the past few weeks, the same message came back. “It’s weighing on people’s minds, big time,” one senior European Union official told me, speaking, like most of those I interviewed, on condition of anonymity to freely discuss their concerns.

    Because without us you have to fund your own defense.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Yeah, enjoy dealing with the nuclear armed Russian bear Europe. On the plus side, maybe the Rooskies will cut their gas back on after they’ve conquered them.

      • Swiss Servator

        NEVER!!! The Bundeswehr will resist and…. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

        I couldn’t type that with a straight face.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      What they mean to say is “Maybe we shouldn’t have been signing on to all these stupid ideas to keep America off our asses.”

    • Rat on a train

      Q: Why can’t we be more like Iceland? They don’t spend anything on defense.
      A: All we have to do is find somebody we trust to defend us so we don’t have to.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The conundrum facing America’s allies is how to cope with a great imperial power in decline that is still a great imperial power.

      The conundrum of every drug dealer who ever directly dealt with a major cartel.

      • Zwak. And once again, the mall is his Waterloo

        Now do Defund the Police.

  7. grrizzly

    A year ago San Bernardino County was the closest place to LA without a mask mandate.

    • Rat on a train

      The Orange Curtain fell long ago.

  8. Grosspatzer

    *peruses links*

    Nothing but bad news. I was hoping for something more uplifting; the previous post was really heavy, man.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Don’t you mean squats suspiciously?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        You’re pressing your luck

      • juris imprudent

        He’ll power through it.

    • Pat

      It was a weighty topic, but the discussion was uplifting.

    • The Other Kevin

      He really set the bar with that one.

    • R C Dean

      Keep it clean. Don’t be a jerk.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Preponderance of assumption

    Although Trump has yet to be charged or stand trial, legal experts surmise that the Justice Department must have some rock-solid evidence to have signed off on an unprecedented FBI search at the home of a former president.

    They’ve got him now.

    • Rebel Scum

      “The walls are closing in.”

    • juris imprudent

      All of those documents he ordered declassified that we didn’t get around to processing – yes, those documents.

    • Pat

      Say, didn’t a FISA court judge sign off on the warrant to spy on Carter Page, which Kevin Clinesmith admitted to fabricating and was let off with probation?

      • R C Dean

        And kept his law license. After lying to a federal court to violate someone’s rights.

      • Pat

        TOP Men.

      • juris imprudent

        This is why as the Admiral said, it will get out of hand. Accountability could’ve been had without bloodshed, but this is the way they want it.

  10. Shpip

    From the Florida Gadsden Flag license plate article:

    Politicized plates are available for other hot-button issues, as well. For example, “Trust Women/Respect Choice” is an option in Virginia, just as “Choose Life” is available on plates in Nebraska.

    Florida also has a “Choose Life” plate among its 100+ specialty license tags. Proceeds go towards adoption charities. Bosslady (who’s mom was adopted) had one, but ditched it after having her car keyed repeatedly by the loving, tolerant folks on Big College campus.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      That’s just for Wham! fans.

    • leon

      License plates are a tangled mess when it comes to government vs free speech. I think my state did away with vanity plates just to not have to deal with the concerns of censorship etc.

    • Lord Humungus

      It’s my personal rule to not have bumper stickers or political _anything_ on my car. And, as a general rule, I find people who do -especially the left- are some of the worst drivers around. Bonus dumbness if they have a COEXIST sticker.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        That’s why you have Trump and Clinton bumper stickers.

      • leon

        Hey it’s not there fault they are driving dangerously, they are driving Subarus…

      • Tres Cool

        The Volvo 240 wagon, belching smoke, the rear fender covered in oil, and the back window is covered in SAVE GAIA-esque stickers

      • Rat on a train

        Keeping a clean car reduces the risk when you enter hostile territory. Sad that people will damage your vehicle because they don’t like a bumper sticker.

      • whiz

        I have a St. Louis Cardinals magnet on the back of my car (no stickers on my vehicle) and always worry when I go into Cubs territory.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      but ditched it after having her car keyed repeatedly by the loving, tolerant folks on Big College campus

      Sounds about right.

      More people need to get their asses kicked.

      • Tres Cool

        Back in the 90s, when all the UAW guys were in a froth over Japan, I was told by contractors to our local Chrysler plant (contractors were union, too) that if they drove a work vehicle inside for a job, and it was Ford or Chevy truck or van, dont be shocked if it was keyed or tires cut.

    • Tres Cool

      I’d have to review our catalog, but Ohio used to have CHOOSE LIFE on their plates. I thought it was odd they didnt have ABORTION IS COOL as an option, too. Just for balance.
      As a veteran, I have a pick of about 6 or 7. But since our BMV doesnt have airborne wings with “beady-eyed, barrel-chested, silver-winged, sky-warrior” as an option, mine just says “truck”.

      • Swiss Servator

        Here is the closest IL has.

        I would have changed “Paratrooper” to “Obsolete Form Of Warfare”

      • Tres Cool

        Fish in a Barrel.

        Or as I was told at Ft. Benning- “PFC COOL- only 2 things fall from the sky! Fools and birdshit!”

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Not “Target Practice Volunteers”?

      • Yusef

        I love those, they tell you what you’re looking at,
        “Oh, so Thats a truck”

      • Tres Cool

        I’m modest. I have a tiny 3″ x5″ sticker in the back window for airborne and 6th US Cavalry (air combat) since I dont want attention.
        But across the back I have AIR ASSAULT.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        I read that as “REAR ASSAULT,” considered the source, and thought I’d read it correctly.

      • Rat on a train

        Virginia has options for branches, awards, conflicts, and all. Nothing for REMF.

      • Shpip

        Florida has something similar. Looking through the list of special plates (state won’t issue them to you until you prove your status, to prevent stolen valor) I found a few that I’ve never seen on the roads, probably because there are so few:

        Bronze Star – 462
        Silver Star – 213
        World War II Veteran – 29
        Pearl Harbor Survivor – 15
        Distinguished Service Cross – 11
        Medal of Honor – 10

      • Rat on a train

        Where’s the option for Army Achievement or Good Conduct Medal?

      • Necron 99

        They have that here in Texas, saw one and think I sprung a muscle rolling my eyes.

      • Rat on a train

        I didn’t see either on their site. I did see the Army Commendation Medal. Unless that is with V device it is really lame, but not as lame as Armed Forces Reserve Medal which you can get for 10 years in the reserves. I will stick with my standard plate with issued number.

    • Tonio

      Virginia also has “choose life” plates available, so both sides of the abortion issue are covered.

      Someone should troll progs my requesting a “more government, higher taxes” license plate.

      • Tres Cool

        That would be like getting gas, looking at the pump, and seeing the breakdown of FED, State, and local, taxes on your price per gallon.
        Didnt they do the same thing with air fare recently?

      • Tonio

        Or Charlottesville, or the cities and counties of Northern Virginia…

    • Pat

      They sent me new plates when I renewed my registration this year. They say “Home Means Nevada”, which heretofore unbeknownst to me is the title of our state anthem. The old ones just said “The Silver State”, which I prefer due both to its simplicity and how increasingly accurately it reflects our status as a California runner-up.

      • hayeksplosives

        I opted for the atomic testing commemorative ones.

        An image search shows that there is some demand for them on eBay.

        https://www.ebay.com/itm/363766027190

      • Pat

        I like those. I didn’t even notice the $6 “plate recovery fee” on my renewal when I paid, and had no idea I was getting new plates until they arrived in the mail with my sticker. I’d have just gone with the default anyway though. I’m not picky. At least they refrained from plastering VEGAS STRONG on the new ones. Every time I see one of those plates or bumper stickers I want to go carmageddon on the moron to whose car they are attached.

      • hayeksplosives

        Yeah, the Vegas Strong sentiment was quickly undermined by the opacity and subsequent memory-holing of the investigation.

        I see a lot of the Golden Nights plates. I wonder if they would have been as popular if the NHL expansion team rules hadn’t allowed them to poach their way into two immediate Stanley Cup wins…

      • Pat

        Yeah, the Vegas Strong sentiment was quickly undermined by the opacity and subsequent memory-holing of the investigation.

        Absolutely true, but I just find it a retarded sentiment anyway, going all the way back to the OG #BostonStrong. Individuals are strong. Cities with a population of 2 million people are… abstractions. And even if cities had anthropomorphic features, 5 dozen people getting blown away by a 3-letter agency asset while the cops wait in the hotel lobby for him to run out of ammo and kill himself wouldn’t exactly win “strong” as a descriptor if I were making the appellation.

        I think the Golden Knights shit everywhere is mostly just the massively pent up demand for a pro sports team in Vegas. Now that they’ve got football it seems to have waned a bit.

  11. DEG

    WebDom has migrated/updated/prestidigitated the Glibs website from WordPerfect version 5.8.x to version 6.0.1, the latest version. For you non-computer nerds, when the most significant digit changes in software version number it’s a big fucking deal. We now have access to the new WordPress Block Editor, aka Gutenberg Editor. Don’t panic, you can continue to use the WordPress Classic Editor. But now you know what to do if you are presented a choice of editors, or if the editor looks strangely different.

    Thanks for the warning. I’ll give the new editor a try when I write up my FreedomFest notes. I wonder if I will hate it and go back to the old one.

    • Tonio

      Looking forward to your Freedom Fest writeup.

      Good luck with the new editor. I’ll be honest, I haven’t tried it yet. I’m waiting for something where I have more lead time than daily links, something I want to make all pretty like Atanarjuat’s recent article.

      • DEG

        I’ll let you know how it goes.

      • Tonio

        Please do. You can be an inspiration to us all.

      • DEG

        No pressure, right?

      • DEG

        DIVING IN!!!

        First impressions:

        I’m not sure what the review box and summary box contents are supposed to be. I guess I should RTFM? I like that there is an option to preview in a new tab.

  12. Yusef

    If all goes well Im headed back to San Bernardino county in early September.
    The free state of Inlandia!

      • Yusef

        I think so, more opportunities there, at least for me.

      • Tres Cool

        I was expecting that and hoping for something B.I.G.-er.

    • Fourscore

      Stop by and take a rest on your way through, Yusef, though you may be farther South. RON

  13. Rat on a train

    San Bernardino County is the largest, by area, county in the lower 48. It is larger than Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts combined. If they can be states, why can’t San Bernardino?

    • Yusef

      So much this,

    • one true athena

      It’s always my reply to progs whining about how “It’s so unfair that Wyoming gets 2 senators when it has only twelve people in it!!” that they should demand Cali split if they really want “more representation”. Nobody ever seems to take me up on that though weirdly enough.

      • Pat

        You’d almost think the senate was originally devised to represent each state’s interests with senators being elected by the state legislature and not just a second, slightly smaller, popularly-elected rubberstamp for the house or something.

      • JasonAZ

        Nerd! Who has time to actually, like, study ancient history or something? – progtards

      • rhywun

        I can see them supporting California splitting in such a manner that preserves the one-party State in each of the new states.

        E.g. San Bernardino can split if it takes LA County with it.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        Then builds a 100-foot-high wall around it and fills it with seawater (don’t wanna waste that freshwater, doncha know…).

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        There was a proposal about 5 years ago that the local newspapers seemed to be excited about. It would have split the state in 3. It didn’t seem to bother the libs that the guy pushing it lived in Moscow.

      • Rat on a train

        It probably split into 3 Democrat dominated states.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        I seem to have got confused. The Russian plan was a referendum to have California secede. Nevertheless, it still got some favorable press as a counterpoint to the various suggestions that Texas should secede.

        The 3 Californias was pushed by a Silicon Valley VC. One state was the coast between Monterey and LA (Dem), one would be dominated by the Bay Area (Dem), and the third by San Diego (once kind of Republican, but not so much any more).

  14. Rebel Scum

    “The state can’t claim a lack of knowledge about what this image represents to most of the public,” says Rachel Carroll Rivas, deputy director of research and analysis for the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

    It’s anti-authoritarian. I can only conclude the pearl-clutching leftists are pro-authoritarian and they know it.

    • Grosspatzer

      Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center

      Good idea. When will they be getting some?

    • Ted S.

      And note the SPLC is still at the top of journalists’ rolodexes.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Whatever is being said out loud, it’s hard not to see how the Justice Department didn’t just do DeSantis and any other 2024 presidential hopefuls a solid by potentially sidelining Trump from federal office.

    News reports indicate that FBI agents descended on Trump’s sprawling estate, seizing roughly a dozen boxes of items pertaining to the supposedly unlawful possession of classified documents related to national security issues.

    We’ve seen how leaders in the party who publicly stood behind Trump have, at the same time, privately wished he would just go away. It may seem like ancient history, but less than six months ago, news came out that House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California said “I’ve had it with this guy,” referring to Trump in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

    O)ne haqnd washes the other.

  16. Tres Cool

    ” moves to unseal Mar-a-Lago search warrant”
    Just because they’re moving doesn’t mean anyone will see anything soon. The redactions alone could take months. Or even into December 2024.

    • Pine_Tree

      Can one of you lawyers please explain if there’s ANY good (I mean that folks like us would accept) for a secret search warrant?

      Seriously – like would the folks who just wrote all the indictments on the Declaration of Independence, or later the USC, really think that anything like that would pass muster?

  17. The Late P Brooks

    tupinh is hsrd.

  18. Certified Public Asshat

    New Poll Shows Liz Cheney Getting Absolutely Crushed

    According to the 2022 Wyoming Primary Election Survey conducted by the University of Wyoming’s Survey & Analysis Center, Cheney is now trailing by nearly 30 points with 27.8 percent compared to Hageman’s 57.4 percent among likely GOP voters.

    30 points is too close.

    • leon

      I’m surprised by how late some of these primaries are. I always thought they were over by May time.

      • DEG

        NH’s state primary is in September. There was an attempt in the last legislative session to move it up. I think the bill went to the governor’s desk. If it did, he vetoed it.

      • leon

        I mean don’t get me wrong I don’t really care about making the campaign season long, but you’d think the politicians would care.

      • DEG

        In normal years in NH, open campaigning for state offices, US Senate, and US House begins with the filing period in June.

        This isn’t a normal year. There have been ads running for and against Maggie Hassan and Chris Pappas for months. Plus lots of speculation about what Sununu would do.

      • Pat

        Death by Sununu?

      • DEG

        Ugh.

        I’d rather have death by snu-snu.

      • juris imprudent

        I want primaries to go away – figure out in some smoke-filled room who the party wants on the ballot. Stop abusing my tax dollars to get a lunatic from a single-party district.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        ^This. Allow people to sign up to run for the general without restrictions (other than age, residency) if they want to run. If a political party wants to support someone that’s fine. Also don’t put the party affiliation on the ballot. Make people work a little bit to find out who they want to vote for.

    • Rebel Scum

      That’s going to look awkward when enough votes ballots are found in the early morning hours to give Cheney a 1% lead.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        In Wyoming that may end up with bloodshed.

    • Swiss Servator

      Defense contractors gotta eat (Wagyu beef and caviar) too!

      • The Other Kevin

        How embarrassing would it be if a guy from Pfizer pulled up in a bigger yacht?

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        “Man, gun-running ain’t the license to print money I thought it was gonna be!”

  19. Chafed

    I don’t get the Dems love for Beto. He is such an obvious lightweight. Sure, popping off by cursing at a guy is something the proggies will enjoy. But that can’t be helpful with more moderate Dems.

    • Rebel Scum

      Leftists love impotent soy cuntes.

      • Tonio

        Particularly, a certain class of leftist females do. He’s cute, he has reasonable solutions to problems (ie, solutions with which they agree), he listens to them.

    • Tres Cool

      I agree.
      “Leftists love impotent soy cuntes.”

      Not one of these no-nad gaylords can act like a Lyndon Johnson, or have the family connects of a Kennedy.

    • slumbrew

      But he’s so dreamy!

      Camelot!!!111!!!

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Is he though? I’m not gay (NTTAWWT) so I can’t really judge, but to me he just looks dorky.

      • grrizzly

        He’s tall, thin and youngish looking. That’s enough.

  20. Gustave Lytton

    Fucking a. Accidentally turned my camera on during a large meeting. And didn’t have tape over it. Not Toobin but I feel like an idjit now.

    • one true athena

      “I’m not a cat!”

      • grrizzly

        The video was hilarious. I couldn’t stop laughing.

    • Pat

      My current laptop has a nice built-in slide cover for the webcam lens, but customarily I pop the bezel and physically disable both the cam and mic. If I wanted those features I’d buy a fucking webcam, thanks. Nobody will sell you a laptop computer without surveillance devices built in anymore. TVs too. Nothing like paying 2 grand for a 50″ panel with an always-on, always-connected, always-listening microphone to mine your living room for data and serve you ads to subsidize the cost of production, only for the software to become deprecated after 6 months and never see an update. It’s all so fucking tiresome…

      • Gustave Lytton

        Do you have a newsletter I can subscribe to?

      • Pat

        No, but I did recently subscribe to a newsletter you can subscribe to as well. Well, a quarterly e-magazine anyway. UNREDACTED Magazine

        I rough-drafted a write-up on all my schizo tools and tips to submit here at Glibs, but it ended up rambling to 2,000 words in length, was as boring as watching paint dry, and mostly sounded like the ravings of a schizo FOSS evangelist, and I’m already insufferable enough.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Submit! Many of us are paint curing fans.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      I’ve got the camera on my laptop heavily duct taped. And turn the microphone off in privacy settings (hopefully that does something)

      I have a USB camera and USB microphone for meetings. Plug it in right before the meeting and then unplug and take the camera off immediately afterwards. Camera goes facedown on the desk.

      Although one time I may have answered a video cell call from my female boss at my last job while I was in only boxers. And had the phone held out while trying to figure out what the hell a video call was. I think I ended the call before the video actually turned on, but am not positive. We never talked about it.

  21. Ted S.

    Own it baby. Dedicated to a friend.

    Yes you do?

  22. Rebel Scum

    Climate insurrection.

    One of the most interesting persons I interviewed for the New York Sun was Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace. …

    I recently watched him on YouTube discussing his book, “Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom,” and it is an eye opener to anyone who still believes in the global warming hoax.

    • juris imprudent

      You’ll be waiting a long time for the scales to fall from those eyes.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Committees! Timelines!

    “The best science tells us that we need to act now to adapt to California’s water future. Climate change means drought won’t just stick around for two years at a time like it historically has,” Newsom said in a statement. “Extreme weather is a permanent fixture here in the American West and California will adapt to this new reality.”

    The plan includes targets and timelines, such as expanding desalination of brackish groundwater to 84,000 acre-feet by 2040, and boosting the state’s capacity to capture storm water by 500,000 acre-feet by 2040. For comparison, the total annual water use of Los Angeles is nearly 500,000 acre-feet.

    Among other things, the state plan calls for creating a groundwater recharge coordinating committee to help implement projects that will capture water and replenish aquifers.

    They’re serious, now.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The plan includes targets and timelines, such as expanding desalination of brackish groundwater to 84,000 acre-feet by 2040

      I thought California already had a groundwater problem.

      It would seem that seawater is far more accessible, you’re just going to have to guillotine the Coastal Commission.

      • Yusef

        They already recharge the aquifiers

    • leon

      Huh. I thought the Californian government was doing a great job of working on reducing demand for water in the state.

    • one true athena

      oh this mfer – his own Coastal Commission just nixed a desal plant a month ago. But he’s going to create a committee!

      • Chafed

        We need a committee of committees to get the committee to help us out of this mess.

    • Chafed

      This is Newsom posturing for a presidential run in 2024. Nothing will happen, or even start, during his tenure. As pointed out above, the permitting for a desalination plant was recently denied. He put no time, effort, or political capital into getting it approved. He made one public statement just before the final vote. He needs deniability about the problem when he runs.

      • rhywun

        Yup. They’ve had decades to catch the water supply up to the population and their “leaders” denied it at every opportunity because Gaia or some shit.

    • juris imprudent

      capture water and replenish aquifers

      It’s called rain, assholes.

  24. Count Potato

    Does Sears still sell ponchos?

    • Rat on a train

      Does Sears still sell?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Does Sears still exist?

      • Pat

        How a company that built itself on catalog sales missed the boat on the worldwide web and put all their chips on half a million square foot retail spaces in America’s dying malls always baffled me. I wrote a paper on it in school.

      • R.J.

        It was am amazing failure. Just went totally to shit in a decade.

      • Tundra

        MBAs.

        Really impressive how much devastation they can wreak.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        Oi!

        I’ll have you know, try as I might, I’ve hardly wreaked any devastation since I got my MBA!

      • Pat

        My original career plan was to jump into a MBA program 2-3 years after undergrad and get into one of the mid-tier consultancies. My academic mentor asked me why I wanted to get into business consulting. When I explained to him that I thought it would be fascinating to get to analyze all kinds of complex business problems across multiple industries and make a living fixing things that are broken and optimizing things that can be made better, he gave me a chuckle and told me “Well, you don’t want to be a consultant.”

      • Lord Humungus

        And, at our now departed Sears, they cut off the catalog sales department.

        We, until that time, would actually go there to order a washer or dryer. Now the salesmen say: “Just go to the website”.

    • Nephilium

      People still shop at Sears?

  25. DEG

    Meet the blue collar guy in the new Chris Pappas ad

    For decades, working-class White voters were the base of the Democratic Party. So it was no surprise that U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, facing a tough re-election environment in a district rated a “toss-up” by political pros, made working-class men the stars of his first 2022 TV ad.

    Take the rugged guy rolling up the door at the auto repair shop in the first few seconds of the ad. He looks out at the city, ready for another day of honest labor and hard work in the shop.

    Now, take another look at him. That is actually Alan Raff, a white-collar attorney who works in a Concord law office and is chairman of the Manchester Democrats. He formerly worked in the offices of the New Hampshire Senate as a Democratic staffer.

    • KK the Ignorant Slut

      LOL

      Blue collar cosplay

    • The Other Kevin

      “The working man’s candidate can’t find a real working man to feature in his ads?”

      Ugh, who would want to deal with one of those icky people?

    • Lord Humungus

      It is well known that blue collar guys care about proper pronouns, transsexuals, climate change, electric cars, and IRS agent expansion.

      • Sensei

        No. But they do love themselves a big government unionized project.

      • Lord Humungus

        True – it must be a strange world to live in.

      • Sensei

        They support Team Blue the same way some libertarians support Team Red.

      • Lord Humungus

        Guilty – it is the “less of two evils”. But, to be honest, at this point I’m ready for a Monarchy. Republic death throes are the worst.

    • juris imprudent

      Yeah, for Fetterman’s posturing and talk, I’ve never heard exactly what did he do before politics?

      • DEG

        He went to UConn, Harvard. He was the mayor of Braddock, PA (and very proud). Oh, and his parents supported him. Note the author on that article.

      • juris imprudent

        Yeah, the whole blue collar is pure shtick, even more phoney than Doc Hollywood.

      • mock-star

        Chased down black guys and held them at gunpoint, on the off chance they might have committed a crime?

  26. Tundra

    Honey Harvest 2022. September 18. Emily, MN.

    Chicks, cars, bees, Fourscore.

    kinnath’s mead.

    Would you like to know more?

    (minnetundra AT the gee mail fucks)

    • Fourscore

      And food. Lots of food. Venison stick snacks.

      • Fourscore

        Bees will be gone, moved away but still a few of the wild critters flying around

    • Gustave Lytton

      This I’d turning into a Rainbow Family gathering.

    • Lord Humungus

      Can we just stop with the COVID bullshit? Seriously I don’t care if half the population dies right now, just leave me the fuck alone.

      • Sensei

        I wish. Here in metro NYC it ain’t gonna stop anytime soon.

        I’m sitting on a train now that is like 50% masked.

  27. Tundra

    Jeff Deist, perfect as usual.

    Imagine thinking federal police agents and lawyers will be “held accountable,” or that presidents are not above the law! Is this an afterschool special? “Let’s wait and see, folks, before we judge the situation. It might be perfectly on the up and up! Have faith in the rule of law and trust the process!”

    French, in keeping with the listless residue of Conservative Inc., either can’t or won’t face the reality of postgoodwill America. This starts and ends with politics. If politics is war by other means, subterfuge is part and parcel of every battle and skirmish in that war. We are not required to take a combatant’s claims at face value, blundering ahead like Lucan and Cardigan at Balaclava. The contrary, in fact. Any political statement made today, by any politician or candidate or public official, can be answered thus: “We don’t believe you.” And with this comes a corollary: “We don’t trust you.”

    • one true athena

      I assume that’s referring to the French article that Tuccille called the best explainer for what’s happening? what a disappointment he’s become in his TDS.

  28. Pat

    Today in “Questions that shouldn’t have to be asked”:

    Why did we ever let male rapists into women’s prisons?

    A decade after dismissing feminists as ‘obnoxious bigots’, UK justice secretary Dominic Raab is soon expected to come out in a pink pussy hat to ‘reclaim the night’. Well, almost. According to the Mail on Sunday, Raab is planning a change of policy to ensure that women in Britain’s prisons, some of the most vulnerable women in the country, will no longer be locked up with men. Tearing down the patriarchy might not be at the top of Raab’s agenda, but in this one move to protect female prisoners, he has done more for vulnerable women than many self-proclaimed feminist politicians ever have.

    The new rules on transgender inmates are expected to say that ministers will need to sign off any transfers of prisoners from male to female prison estates when they self-identify as women. The government will also have the power to order the removal of male prisoners who identify as women from women’s jails.

    This might all seem like common sense. But over the past few years prison officials have found themselves caught between defending the rights of male lags claiming to be ladies and protecting the actual women in their care – and they have mainly sided with the lags.

    • Lord Humungus

      SEA SMITH GLIDES THROUGH THE DEPTHS. AND BY DEPTHS MEAN…

    • Tres Cool

      Pretty sure I saw “Transparent Sea Predator” open for L7 once at Lilith Fair.

  29. R.J.

    Tonioooooo!
    Don’t let the government wreck your day. Happiness is a just a big glass of bourbon away!

    EU REALIZES AMERICAN DECLINE MIGHT BE BAD FOR THEM: I wrote… A pram.
    Take our money, turn up your nose.
    How we elected Biden, nobody knows
    Well, that’s how it goes
    When you steal the votes
    And censor your bros
    Fuck them ho’s
    Piss up their noses
    End
    LABOR ENACTING LINK

    • Pat

      Heh, Noel Fielding hosts The Great British Bake Off alongside Matt Lucas now. Interesting career transitions from The Mighty Boosh and Little Britain, respectively.

      • R.J.

        Indeed.

      • Lord Humungus

        OMG I saw Matt Lucas in Little Britain in blackface! And mocking gays. Obviously a rethuglican.

  30. Lord Humungus

    The FBI really better have something ‘pulverizing’ on Trump, because otherwise we’ve just witnessed one of the dumbest moves in the history of politics

    As of now, it’s impossible to say if Trump’s alleged offense was great, small, or in between. But this for sure is a huge story, and its hugeness extends in multiple directions, including the extraordinary political risk inherent in the decision to execute the raid. If it backfires, if underlying this action there isn’t a very substantial there there, the Biden administration just took the world’s most reputable police force and turned it into the American version of the Tonton Macoute on national television. We may be looking at simultaneously the dumbest and most inadvertently destructive political gambit in the recent history of this country.

    The top story today in the New York Times, bylined by its top White House reporter, speculates this is about “delayed returning” of “15 boxes of material requested by officials with the National Archives.” If that’s true, and it’s not tied to January 6th or some other far more serious offense, then the Justice Department just committed institutional suicide and moved the country many steps closer to once far-out eventualities like national revolt or martial law.

    • R.J.

      Well, I think the lefties decided they can get away with anything at this point. Why not raid Trump ? Mitch McConnell and the impotent whine squad will just shake their fists and ask for an investigation. Nothing will ever happen. Why even pretend McConnell and company are even opposition?

      • Lord Humungus

        >>the lefties decided they can get away with anything at this point

        Yeah and that’s what worries me. Cleverer politicians of the past were better at hiding their agenda. Now it’s full-throttle stupidity which only turns off a larger and larger percentage of the voters.

        I mean do they really want a hot war? They would lose. So what’s the trick? Or is it just stupidity dialed up to 11?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Mitch is encouraging it. He despises Trump.

      • Urthona

        Mitch failed. The thing he was trying to block basically passed anyway. He’s done.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        ^Mitch isn’t impotent. He’s playing his role quite well as controlled opposition.

        The elites may skirmish among themselves, but never make the mistake of thinking any of the GOP* is actually on your side. Trump was an outsider and there is nothing Mitch and the GOP shotcallers wanted more than to see Trump ousted in 2020.

        *Maybe Rand. Maybe a handful of Reps.

  31. R.J.

    Just realized it’s Thursday. What a week! I must go prep for the

    • Lord Humungus

      visit by STEVE SMITH?

    • Tundra

      FOR THE WHAT?!?!

    • R.J.

      arrrgh! night shift

      • Pat

        I was expecting this

      • Tundra

        I was expecting this.

      • R.J.

        I will add those to the rotation.

      • R.J.

        Although mine is so appropriate for here. Swissy, Tonio, Animal, others rule the day like Picard and then the dork with a fro and disco shirt comes in with movie time at night.

  32. Tundra

    Ok, I’m about to give in and get some cheaters. Anyone have any recommendations? I need them for reading the fucking labels on (too many) things, tying flies, etc.

    I have seen some sunglasses that have magnification for on the stream, but I’m also looking for something for around the house.

    Fuck aging.

    • Count Potato

      I’d say get your eyes checked so you know what +sph to get.

    • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

      If all you need is magnification, our local CostCo sells a 3-pack of the very thing for around 20 bucks, and they’re the bendy, you-can’t-destroy-me-by-sitting-on-me kind as well.

      Otherwise, I got nuthin’.

    • hayeksplosives

      I now carry a fresnel lens in my wallet and have a larger one stuck to the fridge for reading small font on food labels.

      I’ve always had mismatched eyes (left 20/40, right 20/20) but now I’ve got a cataract starting in my right eye (thanks, prednisone! 🙄) and my left eye can’t make up for the farsightedness anymore thanks to aging.

      After seeing how much Mr. Splosives’ life has improved since his cataract surgeries (1 month tomorrow!) I am wondering if I should just go for it now rather than waiting for it to get worse.

    • juris imprudent

      You can probably start with 125, pretty sure that’s what I had. Eventually you’ll bump up to 150. I also have prescription reading glasses now, for sitting in front of the computer screen or real book readin’.

      • hayeksplosives

        I’m wearing some +1.25 now. Perfect for a normal distance to a PC monitor.

        Still planning to schedule an optometrist visit.

      • Pat

        I’m guessing you probably have good insurance so it probably doesn’t matter as much, but I’ve not had good experiences with the Clear Vision Eye Center out here on Basin. Both the exam and their extremely limited selection of frames are comically overpriced, and both times I was in there with each of my respective parents it was rush rush rush rush. They had intended to sell my mom a pair of glasses without even bothering to measure her PD or adjust the fit until I insisted. Being a broke bitch myself, I went to Ms. Chin Hee Choi who operates out of the Walmart Supercenter. Dinky little office, but she and her staff were pleasant, and I was the only person in there during my appointment.

      • hayeksplosives

        Thanks for the tips!

        Mr Splosives went to Dr Vander Veldt on Calveda, who works as the junior partner to Dr. Leaks. Dr. Vander Veldt has done all the post op checkups, and I have gone along on some of them and found the staff to be good. Technology seems up-to-date. Website is drleaks.com.

        For the cataract ophthalmologist eval and surgeries, we went to New Eyes in Summerlin (west Las Vegas suburb, for you outsiders!) and Green Valley Surgery in Henderson for the actual procedures.

        Dr Leaks is the president of the Kiwanis Club here, and was friendly and outgoing when I met him socially once.

        I’m going to try to get an appointment with Vander Veldt myself.

      • Pat

        I think Dr. Leaks might have been the guy my dad started seeing after his unpleasant experience at Clear View. Shortly before we moved here he had cataract surgery on one eye, but Medicaid wouldn’t approve surgery on the other one until it reached whatever arbitrary level of dysfunction is statutorily required. He was scheduled to have the 2nd cataract surgery at what was then Nevada Eye and Ear in Henderson with Dr. Neibaur. He died about a week before the surgery would have taken place.

      • Tulip

        Book marked

    • DEG

      Mine are prescription. You don’t really want mine.

    • Sensei
      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I don’t think your link is long enough

      • Sensei

        Blame my iPad. I’m not editing it like I would on the PC.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Curse you, Sensei’s iPad!

      • hayeksplosives

        It’s a weird tracking thing Amazon does to figure out which members are sharing which products to friends. You can backspace over most of it if you don’t want them to know.

      • Sensei

        Yup. But on the iPad it will take 30 secs and also erase one or two necessary characters if you aren’t careful.

      • Pat

        ClearURLs is a chromium/Firefox extension that strips the tracking elements out of links that you copy, but that won’t help you either since WebKit/Safari only recent got WebExtension API support and that particular extension hasn’t been ported yet.

      • rhywun

        ClearURLs is a chromium/Firefox extension that strips the tracking elements out of links that you copy

        Thanks for this, will give it a try

    • Not an Economist

      One of the most annoying things anybody has ever said to me is when, after telling my eye doctor I was have problems reading small text, he said “Oh good, you are right on schedule”.

      Now I have bifocal contacts with each eye a little different, one aimed at long vision and the other aimed a little closer.

      • Tundra

        Thanks, y’all!

        I had LASIK, so my distance vision is awesome, but my near vision is getting shitty (as they told me it would). I only need them sporadically, so I’ll try the lightest ones and see what happens.

        I think I’ll get one of those cool magnifying lamps, though, for tying flies.

  33. The Late P Brooks
  34. Mojeaux

    TFW you find out your favorite beloved childhood amusement park ride is being rebuilt … with “safety improvements.” 😡

    • Count Potato

      Traction Park?

      • Mojeaux

        ? Worlds of Fun. The Zambezi Zinger, the original of which currently lives in Colombia.

      • rhywun

        He’s referring to New Jersey’s infamous Action Park. The authorities shut it down it was so dangerous.

      • Count Potato

        That half the attendees were drunken shore trash didn’t make it any safer.

      • rhywun

        *pictures Snooki launching through the air with an expression of horror on her face before she lands and walks away with a broken arm*

    • rhywun

      My favorite was called “Wild Mouse” or something like that, a sort-of narrow-track roller coaster with individual cars that fit only 2 people. That thing was the most terrifying ride ever conceived. I seem to recall right-angle turns that felt like you were definitely going to fly off the rails this time.

      • straffinrun

        I know that one. Makes up for lack of speed by threatening spinal injury.

      • rhywun

        I just got sucked into a Wiki- (and Coaster-) pedia vortex tracking that thing down.

        It was indeed called “Wild Mouse” and there were lots of them back in the day, before the bigger coasters became more popular.

        That amusement park was across the street from the Rochester airport and closed in 1982. Another one I remember fondly from my youth, on the shore of Canandaigua Lake, closed in 1985. Apparently, I’m old enough to have witnessed the death of all those little honky-tonk amusement parks in real time.

        Weirdly, one of the oldest in the country is still going strong just outside Rochester.

      • Pat

        During my childhood and early youth we’d usually make an annual pilgrimage into northern Idaho to visit Silverwood Theme Park. Couple of pretty good coasters there. It looks like they retired one of their old ones and built at least one new one since the last time I was there.

      • straffinrun

        They probably have a zipper and a gravitron, too?

      • Count Potato

        The Crazy Mouse at Rye Beach?

      • Nephilium

        Then this may be of interest to you.

      • rhywun

        Yaaas. One of my biggest regrets was I never made it to Cedar Point during my years living in Buffalo. Jeez, even some co-worker who was hitting on me for a while was a huge Cedar Point nerd.

    • whiz

      You can die on a “simple” water ride…

      • Mojeaux

        Well, yeah, but the whole point of amusement park rides is to give you the illusion you’re on the edge of death.

      • whiz

        Illusions are fine… 🙂

    • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

      One of the favourites in our house.

      • rhywun

        Mmmm, those are good. Getting pricey lately, I only buy them on sale now.

    • Count Potato

      I made shrimp and linguini in a red sauce.

      • R.J.

        Pretty sure that’s the base for the gore effects in tonight’s movie.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Zambezi Zinger seems problematic.

    • Mojeaux

      I’m sure someone will point that out. Meanwhile, my generation is half over the moon, so we don’t care.

  36. straffinrun

    Sorry you’re in a foul mood, Tonio.
    Here’s a few pics.
    The island: https://ibb.co/bJkTQhp
    The “beach”: https://ibb.co/wW8WDR7

    Not hot, but humid. Wouldn’t wanna live here, but a nice break from Tokyo.

    • R.J.

      Oh, NSFW if you turn up the volume.

    • Count Potato

      Most of those clips are way before covid (the Oscar clip is from 2014).

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Is it? Ah well, I should have known that Mark Crispin Miller wouldn’t screen it. That’s on me.

      • R.J.

        You could video a Zoom night and put dramatic music over the passing out too.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I think Heche qualifies as bat-shit cray-cray

    • R.J.

      Summoning Neph:
      Is there a punk version of that?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Now that’s funny

      • R.J.

        It was hilarious. And proves juat how little journalists do when a atiry comes in.

      • Ted S.

        I hate when atiries come in, too.

  37. KK the Ignorant Slut

    Good bye Stoicism. Closing on the condo has been delayed AGAIN.

    Guess who is to blame? Take a wild fucking guess.

    Anyway. I’m not an emotional person, but this has really caused an upheaval.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Hitler?

    • R.J.

      Sorry to hear it. Clearly is was Trump’s fault.

      • R.J.

        Nice call.

    • Mojeaux

      Thanks, Obama!

    • Pat

      I guarantee you Epictetus himself would have cussed out a nun if he had to deal with modern real estate transactions.

      Sorry to hear about the troubles. If it makes you feel any better, I’m probably you in 3 months.