Tuesday Morning Links

So apparently I had a premature ejaculation of surprise yesterday by calling it tax day, since its apparently today.  Sorry if I caused any distress. But on that note, make sure you pay your tribute today lest you want to risk being thrown in jail.  Seriously, it could happen.  Its right there in the social contract you signed in blood at birth.

Anyway, lets see if I can atone by providing you with some rock-solid, gold-standard links this morning, ok?

Korean Missile Test (about to fail).

Filthy corporate lobbyists are giving loads of dark money to Washington politicians in hopes of influencing them. Democrats are going crazy are loving it as the money pours in.  (Note a few familiar names in the story. Guess they’re ok with nepotism as long as its their side.)

A North Korean senior official has told the BBC that they will be conducting weekly missile tests.  Seems like a good idea.  In fact, and I’m just brainstorming here so bear with me, I bet they could do two things at once.  They could put anybody that has pissed Kim off somewhere in the vicinity of the launch pad and let the missile failure execute them. Perhaps an owner of a dog that barked during one of his speeches. Or a person that sneezed while he was parading by.  Or a person caught harvesting his grass to eat.

Its a touching story, really. The obituary said Elliot, a native of Charlottesville, Va., died “surrounded by people who loved him dearly and cared for him selflessly during the last months of his life.”  So get the kleenex ready (or perhaps a barf bag) when you click that link open.

“Star” of Serial, John McLemore

Writer for The Atlantic totally misses the boat on school choice. I guess all of the evidence of success is a figment of our imagination.  As is the continuing decline of public school performance in the face of ever-expanding budgets and strengthening teacher compensation packages across the country.

Want to know why restricting immigration from shitholes like Syria and Iran won’t work (even though people like me think it will, to a degree)?  Because there’s always somebody ready to make a buck on getting them here anyway.

“S-Town”: is it art or exploitation?  Can somebody please explain this whole thing to me?  Because it sounds like gibberish.  And until you do, I’m gonna keep thinking its gibberish and I won’t be able to chin-stroke and pontificate with my NPR-listening friends on how much better I am than these people.  Because all I could gather from the story is that that’s the only reason people tune in.

And in the vein of the above: this is about an S-man.

Comments

475 responses to “Tuesday Morning Links”

  1. UnCivilServant

    Not sure if odd…

    Spotted this on a menu in southern North Carolina:

    Svenska Kötbular Poutine $9

    Fresh Swedish meatballs served over our hand cut fries and covered with a Swedish brown gravy topped with a lingonberry sauce.

    Swedish-Canukistani fusion… I admit though I only stopped to look at the menu because of the name of the restaurant (Platypus and Gnome). Sadly, they’re closed Tuesdays. Luckily, I’ll be in Wilmington on a Wednesday, albeit some six weeks from now.

    *looks are more area restaurants*

    Why is everyone closed Tuesdays in Wilmington? And the “Fork and Cork” down the road serves a “Texas Poutine”, so the Swedish variant might not be so out of line for the area. Is there some historical connection, or just cultural appropriation?

    1. “You got your IKEA in my Five Guys!”

      “And you got your Five Guys in my IKEA!”

      Two great shit tastes that taste great like shit together.

      1. Furthermore, I have no idea why they’re calling that poutine. It’s just a Swedish version of chili cheese fries. Without cheese.

        1. UnCivilServant

          I have no idea. But some of the other items on the menu look far more appealing.

          1. That menu is a train wreck. Maybe I’d eat the wild boar or the venison. The rest of it…no.

            I can get a NY Strip anywhere. And mesquite tuna? It should be properly seared in a cast iron skillet. What good is the mesquite gonna do for it? Are they smoking it at a low temp ahead of time, which might be ok but deserves an explanation on the menu. Or are thy using liquid smoke, which would ruin it.

          2. Tuna is for cats and dames.

          3. UnCivilServant

            The last time I made the mistake of ordering a tuna dish at a restaurant, I discovered they were of the opinion that raw was a-okay. I don’t care if it was perfectly safe, the texture of raw fish is disgusting.

          4. Florida Man

            Tuna is for cats and dames.

            If I lived what, 6000 miles from the ocean, I probably wouldn’t like tuna either. I won’t pile on to the “things UCS hates that are actually delicious” band wagon.

          5. UnCivilServant

            Tuna’s fine, it just shouldn’t be served raw.

          6. Blasphemy. Tuna is fan-fucking-tastic. It’s so versatile. It’s like the cow of the sea (apologies to Chicken Of The Sea brand) with so many different varieties and cuts. And it can be done properly so many ways.

          7. excellent snake

            I’ll admit that the texture of raw fish takes some getting used to, but my life would feel incomplete without sushi and nigiri. You could try ahi tuna where they sear the filet, it’s basically like eating steak.

          8. robc

            Tuna should only be served raw…on a bullet of rice with just a bit of wasabi.

          9. UnCivilServant

            robc clearly has never had a tuna melt.

          10. Gilmore

            Tuna is for cats and dames.

            what sloopy said.

            if anyone happens to be in jamaica anytime soon, i recommend this place

            I had a tuna-melt (*really, just a seared ahi steak with paper-thin slice of swiss) there in 1992 that i can still taste. One of the best seafood experiences i’ve ever had.

          11. bacon-magic

            Tuna is best raw.

        2. Negroni Please

          I’d eat it. Especially if they don’t over sweeten the lingonberry sauce.

        3. Agent Cooper

          Probably because it has:

          Fries
          Meat
          Gravy

      2. Count Potato

        Five Guys is Canadian?

        1. Mike Schmidt

          I’m not your 5 Guys, 5 Buddies!

        2. Shit, no! It’s from the DC metro. I think the first one was in Virginia.

      3. Pomp

        I’m a sucker for a cheap lunch at IKEA. Of course, Berkely & Jensen (Wellesley Farms?) frozen Swedish meatballs are almost parity taste at a fraction of the price.

        Hong Kong IKEA cafeterias sometimes run deep fried chicken wings and those are delicious.

        1. straffinrun

          Had a hot dog and cola for 170 yen there today. The rest of the food there is pretty bad the times I’ve tried it.

          1. UnCivilServant

            Is that still about $1.70?

          2. straffinrun

            Haven’t checked recently. The yen has been pretty strong against the dollar recently.

          3. UnCivilServant

            Todays exchange rate: $1 = 108¥ From a december peak of 120¥/US$ Last august the Yen was at its most valuable relative to the dollar at about 100¥/US$ (source xe.com )

          4. straffinrun

            I stopped checking when Abenomics went into full overdrive. Fucking yen went from 80 to over 120.

          5. UnCivilServant

            But still, that was less than $2 for that hot dog and cola. Not bad for a vendor price.

          6. straffinrun

            Of course, they just handed me a hunk of bloody pig meat and some wheat. I had a few screws left when I finished assembling it.

          7. Trolleric the Goth

            Trump reflation momentum pushed it back up to 118 and 120 looked in striking distance again, but it’s cooled off down to 108 and seems to be headed back towards 100.

            it was great at usd/jpy=120 at the end of 2015, perfect time to import a car for me

          8. Gustave Lytton

            Or visit. 100JPY is fine for the summer. Let it slide come fall.

          9. Pomp

            In Hong Kong, restaurant competition is extremely keen. Price and taste always work in tandem there. Even shitty places need to perform on taste/bang for the buck, otherwise bad reviews on openrice will fuck you up.

        2. jesse.in.mb

          Pomp, I’ve seen tonic syrup recipes and I know I made a joke about not wanting another bag of bark (cinchona this time) in my drawer after HM had me making cherry phosphate (which I should do again).

          1. Pomp

            Thanks Jesse

      4. Hyperion

        You don’t like Five Guys? Seriously? You a secret commie?

        1. Pomp

          The only issue with Five Guys that I have is price, especially the new $5 milkshake. Taste has been uniformly good-to-great.

        2. No problem with their burgers. But their french fries are often a greasy mess.

          1. SugarFree

            They really need to twice fry if they are going to commit to the fresh cut template.

          2. KibbledKristen

            Agreed. Those things are limp, like I imagine Steve Bannon’s dick to be.

          3. jesse.in.mb

            like I imagine Steve Bannon’s dick to be

            WHY WOULD YOU ENGAGE IN THIS LEVEL OF SELF HARM, KK?

            There are people here who care about you. Seek help.

          4. Hyperion

            But they give you enough greasy mess for 5 people. Take those home and feed to the first toddlers you see.

          5. Yeah, I can see where the fries are a divisive topic. I personally like them, but you’ve got to get a good fryer or else it’s just like you say. Problem is that they’re just cuttin’ potatoes and frying them to temp. You’ve got to double-fry, as SF says below, and/or soak in water (poss. with some sugar) for a few hours to get the starch out.

        3. Agent Cooper

          There are probably better non-chain burger joints almost everywhere.

          But they’re not terrible.

          1. Five Guys is, for my money, the best chain burger joint. They have a niche, and it’s the “diner style” burger, which is thin, crispy, and well-done.

            Restaurant burgers, or grill burgers, i.e. 1/2 pound or larger patties, cooked to temp, are a different animal. I haven’t found a chain that does those better than the local’s pub down the street.

    2. And don’t yourself a favor and stay out of those hipster shitholes. Go to Cape Fear Seafood and the Dixie Grill if you want good local fare without gimmicky names or retarded fusions that anybody with a brain can see won’t work due to the conflicting textures and proper cooking temperatures of the food.

      1. UnCivilServant

        The Dixie Grill is right between those two and closes at 3pm. How can they claim to have a dinner menu if they’re closed come dinner time?

        1. Easy: they don’t have a supper menu. Dinner is before 3 pm.

          -southerner.

          1. Lunch menu is for a light meal. A dinner menu is for a larger meal, which some people that work hard still eat during the middle of the day but some eat in the evening.

            Therefore a dinner menu would be appropriate any time of the day for laborers, especially farm workers. A fine example would be the basque restaurants in the Bakersfield, CA area. Their dinner service at noon is a belt-buster.

          2. Negroni Please

            And being in Bakersfield is a soul-killer. That place is where dreams go to die.

          3. “Bust your belt and break your soul”

          4. Agent Cooper

            I’ve spent a thousand miles of thumbin’
            Yes I’ve worn blisters on my heels
            Trying to find me something better
            Here on the streets of Bakersfield

      2. Hipster name aside – I think Swedish meatballs on top of fries sounds good.

        1. The variance in correct food temps between the two and the consistency of the fries, gravy, sauce and meatballs just seems like too much of a clash for me. Two variances are ok, but four that drastic seem like a stretch.

          But that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

          1. My problem is that I quite often eat like a starving shark – I wouldn’t be able to tell if things were right temps or such. It would just be a piquant aftertaste in about 2 minutes or less.

  2. Rick C-137

    I watched the BBC interview with the vice whatever of for north korea. These people have some serious koolaid running in their veins. The scary part for me, is the object lesson it provides. Even if they don’t believe the hype they act like they do. Functionally acting like you support the Kims has become the same as supporting them. Its very orwellian

    1. Drake

      Too a point.

      I think the North Korean military would shatter like a crystal glass if they engaged the South Korean or U.S. forces in ground combat. But by then 100,000 civilians in Seoul would be dead.

      1. BakedPenguin

        I heard a line from a former Army guy who served in Korea. Something like “I wouldn’t like to face ROK marines in combat. I’d rather face the Norks.”

      2. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

        The North would not shatter, willingness to fight is not a strategic weakness for them. They have fires supercity around Seoul. Logistics is their weakness. The grand strategy is defense in depth against a North Korean invasion. USFK is designed as a speed bump in the way of a Northern advance, they’ve got to delay the North by about 30~40 days. By that point the North will have expended its stockpile of supplies and we will have shipped in enough to begin a proper counteroffensive.

  3. Jefe Hayek

    Man gets life term for selling fatal mix of fentanyl and heroin to father of 2

    “Joshua, you can’t fathom the pain you have caused,” Chris Deaton said. “I will say that my brother’s life was worth a lot more than $170 that night.”

    Not questioning the grief of losing a brother, but this verdict and that statement seem like a lot of misplaced blame.

    1. Lachowsky

      That’s how prohibition works. Create a giant black market with no way for consumers to discriminate between reliable and no unreliable manufacturers, and you get fentanyl laced herion.

    2. WTF

      Perhaps if people could just legally buy whatever they wanted from reliable suppliers, these sorts of things wouldn’t happen so often. And the responsibility for any deliberate abuse would be squarely on the individual using whatever their substance of choice was. Not that the federal government has any actual constitutional authority to ban any substances anyway.

    3. Count Potato

      Another retarded thing is that fentanyl is schedule 2 and heroin in schedule 1, so the less dangerous drug is more illegal.

      Then again, according to that same list, marijuana is more dangerous than meth, GHB is simultaneously both schedule 1 and schedule 3, etc.

  4. Glitterstorm

    Lol North Korea

    1. Slammer

      Looney Tunes with Wily E. Coyote as Head of R&D.

      That would be hilarious.

      Rooney Tunes and Mellie Merodies.

      1. UnCivilServant

        Wile E Coyote was a Product Tester at Acme for many years. It’s about time he got a promotion.

  5. Rufus the Monocled

    The world is finally ready for North Korea.

  6. Clinton: ‘That was my last race’

    Hillary Clinton said that the 2016 presidential election was her “last race” after it became apparent she lost, a new book reveals.

    The Hill’s Amie Parnes and Sidewire’s Jonathan Allen write in “Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign” that on the night of the 2016 election, the former Democratic presidential nominee looked through the draft of her concession speech.

    “Look, I really just want to concede gracefully, wish him the best, thank everybody, and get off the stage,” she said.

    “This is not a moment for me to do more than that.”

    1. UnCivilServant

      “Look, I really just want to concede gracefully, wish him the best, thank everybody, and get off the stage,” she said.

      Yet you sent someone else out on stage come election night…

      1. That was the bourbon talking.

      2. The Last American Hero

        So she’s not going to persist?

    2. Slammer

      You know who else was obsessed with Races?

      1. Steve Prefontaine?

      2. Haybob

        Charles Pickering?

      3. UnCivilServant

        The Byzantine Masses?

      4. Count Potato

        Jesse Owens?

      5. Mike Schmidt

        Bill France?

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          heh…

      6. Rasilio

        Rachel Dolezal

      7. Agent Cooper

        I’d just like to thank everyone here for coming through in my absence.

        Well done Glibs!

    3. Rick C-137

      Concede gracefully? IIRC she didn’t even come out and address the crowd that night, after promising to keep fighting. Also even odds she starts jonesing for a sweet taste of political power and makes another go of it, either in person or vicariously through another host, erm, family member

      1. Just Say’n

        Her campaign supported the recount efforts, too. Grace is not her strong suit

        1. Holger-da-Dane

          Grace is not her strong PANTsuit.

          FIFY.

    4. Juvenile Bluster

      “I’ll push my daughter there instead”

      (Today in the times of JB’s life: I’ve known Amie Parnes since forever. She was the first girl I ever had a crush on, back in first grade. She was initially going to write a book about Hillary’s victory, but probably found a better book in her defeat. Will let y’all know how it is once I read it, but the excerpts have been damn interesting.)

    5. something stake something heart

      1. *hands wooden mallet to LH*

      2. straffinrun

        Not in the heart. You know where it has to go.

        1. Bobarian LMD

          Not like you could ever find her heart, anyway.

        2. JW

          Right in the pantsuit.

    6. Scruffy Nerfherder

      The DU response

      HRC is a mirror. It is themselves people see in her. If someone hates HRC and sees her as the horrible person she is described her as so frequently on DU and elsewhere, that says a lot more about them than it does about her.

      1. Just Say’n

        “that says a lot more about them than it does about her”

        It says that you haven’t been asleep for the past twenty years

      2. westernsloper

        CousinIT (1,192 posts)
        10. Sad thing is, she didn’t lose. n/t

        Ya. OK.

        1. Pomp

          Pure democracy or nothing.

        2. The American electoral system begs to differ.

      3. Suthenboy

        That’s DU’s defense of Hillary? “I know you are but what am I !”

        Really.

      4. Pomp

        Chortlr

      5. WTF

        This would make a good reply:
        Donald Trump is a mirror. It is themselves people see in him. If someone hates Trump and sees him as the horrible person he is described him as so frequently on DU and elsewhere, that says a lot more about them than it does about him.
        Because it really is all projection with the left.

        1. thom

          It doesn’t work that way though because Donald Trump is evil.

      6. Count Potato

        Yeah, it was me who recklessly kept top secret information on a private server as part of a massive influence peddling scheme, then repeatedly lied about it. I’m just seeing myself there, remembering the four years I served as Secretary of State. And I’m just looking in the mirror to see if this pantsuit makes me look fat.

    7. Suthenboy

      I heard she threw a screaming shit-fit and even struck some of her campaign staff. Somehow I didn’t find that hard to believe.

      ““Look, I really just want to concede gracefully, wish him the best, thank everybody, and get off the stage,” she said.

      ^This^ I find hard to believe.

      1. UnCivilServant

        I think it was she said something along the lines of “Fuck it and Fuck him” and the PR people spun and spun and spun until it was something printable.

        1. Colonel Slanders

          I’d imagine that her response was eerily similar to that of Hitler (when he finally realized that the war was lost) as portrayed in the brilliant “Downfall”

          1. Number.6

            Not that I’m advocating it, but if she hewed closely to Hitler’s line of reasoning, we could be QUITE sure she wouldn’t be running in 2020.

          2. Colonel Slanders

            if only, eh?

    8. Hyperion

      Bullshit. She’ll run in 2020. She cannot help herself.

      1. Agent Cooper

        Not sure she will be healthy enough.

  7. Haybob

    “As is the continuing decline of public school performance in the face of ever-expanding budgets and strengthening teacher compensation packages across the country.”

    You forgot to add the ever growing amount of hot teachers sleeping with students.

    1. WHERE WAS THAT WHEN I WAS IN SCHOOL?

      1. Bobarian LMD

        Ms. Gilcrest just wasn’t into you.

    2. Pomp

      Same as it ever was, but more documentation of transgressions.

  8. Royal Navy ‘detects’ & ‘marks’ Russian warships in English Channel

    British Type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland “located” and escorted two Russian corvettes, ‘Soobrazitelny’ and ‘Boiky’, while the vessels were passing through English Channel during a naval exercise.

    The two Russian ships were “spotted” by the Royal Navy on Friday, and subsequently escorted while passing through the English Channel in international waters.

    The corvettes (frigates in NATO classification), accompanied by a fuel tanker and an ocean-going tug, were performing naval exercises, according to Russian Navy officials.

    You know else had their ships spotted in the English Channel…

    1. *who

      No coffee in my veins yet.

    2. UnCivilServant

      The Duke of Medina Sidonia?

    3. Slammer

      A-1, B-1, C-1, D-1

      1. You sunk my battleship!

        1. UnCivilServant

          Why did you park it in a corner?

    4. Juvenile Bluster

      My favorite historical pirate name, Eustace the Monk?

    5. Numerous defeated French Admirals?

    6. UnCivilServant

      William the Bastard?

    7. Rick C-137

      The Spanish crown?

      1. UnCivilServant
        1. Rick C-137

          Ah, forgive my ignorance good sir. As much as I like to study history I’ve never been good with historical names and titles

          1. UnCivilServant

            I didn’t remember either… I just looked it up faster.

          2. Rick C-137

            Fair enough.

    8. straffinrun

      Most of them when scurvy was a problem.

    9. commodious spittoon

      Something something spotted dick.

  9. Bewildered Beaver Becomes Accidental Leader Of 150 Curious Cows
    “It’s the most Canadian thing ever!”

    “How do we move 150 heifers in Canada?” wrote rancher Adrienne Ivey, who filmed the unusual encounter in Saskatchewan, in a Facebook post that’s attracted over 100,000 views. “Now I just need a better trained beaver…”

    She told local radio station 980 CJME Monday that the young cows are curious “kind of like teenagers.”

    The video shows the cows carefully following the beaver. When the rodent moves, they move with it. And when it stops, they stop too ― gathering around, but also keeping a respectful distance.

    1. Juvenile Bluster

      No, the most Canadian thing ever would be if it was Moose following the beaver.

      1. If you give a Moose a Beaver?

        1. Florida Man

          If you give a Moose a Beaver?

          It will politely ask for a plate of poutine?

      2. JW

        It is moose and squirrel! Moose and squirrel!

    2. Slammer

      Bewildered Beaver.

      Good porn title

  10. commodious spittoon

    Peak Canada reached.

    Are Saskatchewans susceptible to the “aboot” inflection? Because that makes the first quote glorious.

      1. commodious spittoon

        I knew I’d regret adding color commentary.

    1. Sooooo close. YA KNOW, SLOOPY DID PROVIDE LINKS!!!!!

      1. commodious spittoon

        If I wanted links I’d order the sausage plate!

        1. Euphemisms alert!

  11. Mustang

    Any mention of the fact that the EPA is going after shops for selling aftermarket car parts? I know it was discussed a bit on the other site, but they’ve started it back up. Basically, they’re raiding and fining (on the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars) shop owners who sell parts that may defeat emissions standards. Instead of going after the companies that create the parts they’re going after the people who I sell them since they typically don’t have the backing of SEMA. I’m familiar with at least one shop that’s already been subject to it.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Jalopnik approves.

    2. Bypassing emissions is a Michigan pastime – especially with no tailpipe testing. It was _really_ popular in the 70s and 80s when the engines were underpowered and choked with emissions spaghetti.

      1. Lachowsky

        There Is no vehicle inspection in arkansas. Something happened to the cat in my truck and I can’t seem to locate it. It’s been that way since about 2011.

        1. Agent Cooper

          Ohio has no inspection, either, thank goodness. State police are enlisted to do so on the spot if they see an ‘unsafe’ vehicle.

    3. I hadn’t heard that. Interesting.

      Is it just makers of new parts? What about pick-n-pull yards with older cars there? You can use those to bypass some of the exhaust rules.

      1. Mustang

        So far I’m only aware of aftermarket tuning shops that are being hit, the guys who turn street cars into track or show cars and the like. I’d link but not here often enough to know how.

      2. straffinrun

        I used to play pool with this old black guy at the jazz bar I hung out at when I was in my early 20’s. He said he was a mechanic, so I asked him how much it would cost to replace the starter in my 1980 Cadillac Sedan de Ville. He told me to swing by his shop the next day and he’d hook me up for $20. Took me a while but I finally found the place. Luckily it was morning because it wasn’t a place for a white boy to be after dark. He was already there waiting in his car parked in front of the shop. He pointed to another caddy parked down the street, handed me a screw driver and told me to pull the starter out of it. I thought it was one of his cars. It wasn’t. The shop wasn’t his either.

        1. *begins dialing CrimeStoppers*

        2. commodious spittoon

          Wow, that is… I mean, felonious, sure, but hilarious too.

          1. straffinrun

            It was rush hour, so the streets were empty. *Ducks*

    4. Michael

      Got a link to this? Excuse my ignorance, but I always thought the “FOR OFF-ROAD USE ONLY” disclaimer on most performance parts sold would protect the sellers in these cases. This sounds like massive overreach by the EPA and makes me hope that Trump absolutely decimates them before this term is up.

      1. Michael

        I’ve also never heard a plausible explanation from anyone for why the EPA seems to be fixated on the hot rod and custom builders, considering that they likely account for less than a thousandth of one percent of all emissions.

        1. UnCivilServant

          Noise pollution

        2. Mike Schmidt

          Because that is the last frontier for them. They’ve already ruined every other internal combustion engine in the country. Now it’s time to get those damn hot-rodders in line!

        3. Yeah. They’re like the tranny bathrooms of the automotive industry.

          1. Count Potato

            Because of the aftermarket parts?

          2. ::ROUSING APPLAUSE::

          3. Michael

            GODDAMMIT.

          4. WTF

            WINNAH!

        4. Scruffy Nerfherder

          Easy targets, pure and simple.

  12. Scruffy Nerfherder

    That dude’s nipples are abominations.

    *shudder*

    1. Hyperion

      It’s like something out of a SF novel.

    2. At least somebody reads the damn alt-text.

  13. ChipsnSalsa

    “Star” of Serial, John McLemore

    Is that the musician I hear about? Kind of surprised he is the star of some redneck voyeur thing.

    1. commodious spittoon

      He’s a cold-ass honkey.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Truth? Bah!

    Trump and Stephen K. Bannon probably don’t spend evenings poring over Jean Baudrillard’s “Simulacra and Simulation” or Michel Foucault’s “The Archaeology of Knowledge” (although Bannon’s adviser, Julia Hahn, did write her undergraduate thesis on the psychoanalytic theorist Leo Bersani). But the parallels between Trump’s attacks on accepted knowledge and critical philosophy’s insistence that we interrogate truth claims suggest that not all assaults on the authority of facts are revolutionary.

    Indeed, the social theorist Bruno Latour saw Trump coming back in 2004. In his essay “Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam?” Latour observed that conservatives had begun using methods similar to those of critical theory to muddy debates around issues, like climate change, that required immediate and decisive action. Conservatives were casting doubt on the reality of planetary warming by pointing to “the lack of scientific certainty” around the issue. Latour had made a career questioning “scientific certainty” and worried that his critical “weapons” had been “smuggled” to the other side:

    Entire Ph.D. programs are still running to make sure that good American kids are learning the hard way that facts are made up, that there is no such thing as natural, unmediated, unbiased access to truth, that we are always prisoners of language, that we always speak from a particular standpoint, and so on, while dangerous extremists are using the very same argument of social construction to destroy hard-won evidence that could save our lives.

    Trump be stealing our critical tools, yo.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Critical theory is a stain on philosophy.

      1. Just Say’n

        Michel Foucault is a shit stain on historical analysis.

    2. Count Potato

      “Casey Williams is a Ph.D. student in literature”

      1. UnCivilServant

        So, a deadweight loss who will never produce any literature, nor contribute to society.

        1. He may end up a fine barista someday?

          1. UnCivilServant

            Everytime I saw the term “Barista” I thought “that sounds like one of those foreign gendered nouns.” Turns out, I was right – but the singular is the same for both.

            barista m (plural baristi) barista f (plural bariste)

    3. Negroni Please

      There are no facts, only contexts. All knowledge is mediated through a biased perceptive framework and should be closely critiqued and interrogated. Scientific paradigms are often nothing more than a collective aesthetic preference that will be overturned when the current personality cults fade away. Also GLOBAL WARMING IS ABSOLUTE TRUTH AND IF YOU DON’T ACCEPT SOCIALISM AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR NOW THEN EVERYONE WILL DIE.

      1. UnCivilServant

        The party said two and two is five, I suppose.

      2. leonadasiv

        As I said yesterday regarding these folks. Did someone who just lectured me about truth being non-existent, also get to claim to be using logic? Those seem pretty exclusive.

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          Critical theory is all about reconciling this particular instance of cognitive dissonance.

    4. Suthenboy

      I find it very troubling that the left has come to see those that disagree with them as enemies rather than fellow countrymen that see things differently. They see disagreement as equal to a threat of violence. This will not go anywhere good.

      Fuck critical theory and anyone that pushes that horseshit. It is deliberately constructed in an attempt to destroy the enlightenment.

      1. Hyperion

        I find it very troubling that the left has come to see those that disagree with them as enemies rather than fellow countrymen

        Kulaks, hoarders, and wreckers you know.

      2. Count Potato

        To be fair, it’s not just the Left. There are people on the Right who have come to see those that disagree with them as enemies rather than fellow countrymen that see things differently.

        1. Agent Cooper

          Very true, but they seem to lack the power of media in fostering and furthering their beliefs. Their media is still largely of the fringe variety.

          They also have no root in academia, thus their power to influence is vastly diluted.

        2. Chipwooder

          So long as the left progs ever-harder, that sort of thing is sadly inevitable.

          Maybe I’m a pessimist, but I see very ugly times ahead. No matter who supposedly wins in these left-right battles, liberty will lose.

      3. Holger-da-Dane

        I’d say it succeeded in destroying the Enlightenment. At least in the part of the world I grew up in. While lip service was paid to the Enlightenment’s role in hauling us out of the dark ages where I grew up, its philosophical underpinnings were never properly revealed or explained to us. Instead we were taught to only question things through the lens of relativism.

        The result is a super-powered version of the human ability to apply one set of principles to one situation, and a completely different set of principles to another situation. All the while believing that you’re being rational.

        Critical theory is in this way culturally ingrained in Scandinavia, and probably the rest of Europe and large parts of the US as well.

        1. Suthenboy

          Fortunately I grew up in a farming community in the southern US. The people that educated us didn’t have time or patience for that kind of bullshit. They were very practical people with feet firmly on the ground. They were familiar with it because the hippy movement was going on and it contained a lot of pinkos and their arglebargle, but they had no patience for it. If anyone had tried spouting that kind of gibberish in those parts in those days they probably would end up receiving a well deserved ass whipping.

          1. Holger-da-Dane

            Looking back it seemed to be effortless, and maybe even unconscious. A few generations is enough to cement that kind of brainwashing into a culture. I’m quite resentful for having wasted most of my life on this kind of ignorance.

  15. Juice

    Democrats are going crazy as the money pours in.

    Shaka, as the walls fell?

    1. Rick C-137

      +1 Picard

    2. “Hillary, her face black, her eyes red”

    3. Left Hand of Radar

      Hillary and Huma on Jalad.

      1. Swiss, he vomits projectile-y.

      2. JW

        Carlos, his penis exposed.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    More lamentatiuons:

    Some liberals have argued that the best way to combat conservative mendacity is to insist on the existence of truth and the reliability of hard facts. But blind faith in objectivity and factual truth alone has not proven to be a promising way forward.

    Even if we felt comfortable asserting the existence of something like “truth,” there’s no going back to the days when Americans agreed on matters of fact — when debates about policy were guided by a commitment to truth and reason. Indeed, critique shows us that it’s doubtful that those days, like Trump’s “great” America, ever existed.

    Not Fair.

    NOT OKAY.

    1. Just Say’n

      Since when has the Left believed in objective ‘truth’?

      1. Negroni Please

        Since it became known that the Right is wrong.

      2. excellent snake

        Thanks to post-modernism garbage taking hold in academia, truth is entire subjective now. Now it’s starting to infect the STEM fields.

    2. kbolino

      I like the doublethink. There is no truth, but if there was, it would be in total agreement with us. Hedge your bets!

      1. WTF

        ‘How many fingers, Winston?’

        ‘Five! Five! Five!’

        ‘No, Winston, that is no use. You are lying. You still think there are four. How many fingers, please?’

        ‘Four! five! Four! Anything you like. Only stop it, stop the pain!’

      2. Suthenboy

        I wonder if anyone has pointed out to them that if there is no such thing as truth then all things are equal. One assertion is just like another. They are as much as admitting that their own philosophy is unadulterated horseshit.

        1. WTF

          I like to ask if they’d rather fly on an airplane that was built based on mathematics and engineering or on critical theory.

          1. Bobarian LMD

            Isn’t that how Peter Pan flies?

          2. UnCivilServant

            Fairy farts and happy thoughts are othering to the gravitationally-challenged (landwhales)

          3. Well, you know the joke about pi, right?

            An engineer, a mathematician, and a physicist are asked to define pi. The mathematician says, “It’s a number expressing the relationship between the diameter of a circle and its radius.” The physician says, “It’s 3.1415927 plus or minus 0.000000005.” The engineer says, “It’s about 3.”

          4. Fatty Bolger

            And then the mathematician and the engineer turned to the doctor and said, “What are you doing in our joke?”

    1. westernsloper

      atri-Archie Comics‏ @Patri_Archie 9 Nov 2016
      Replying to @omgAdamSaleh
      Nobody cares what your wife thinks. @omgAdamSaleh

      That re gave me a laugh.

      1. straffinrun

        Forgot about that when linking to twitter accounts. That’s the one I was talking about.

    2. Hyperion

      Replying to @ciaranoconnor @omgAdamSaleh @Storyful
      What kind of sick fuck u have to be to scare little kids so thoroughly that they r fearing democracy?

      Pretty fitting. Also, the dudes bleach job on the hair and his beard isn’t right. That’s most def 1000 lashes under Shariah.

  17. westernsloper

    Can somebody please explain this whole thing to me? Because it sounds like gibberish.

    I am going with gibberish too. It sounds like first rate stupid in the article. This American Life used to do some good work back in the day. They had a great episode taking apart Chris Christies terrorist take down he always bragged about. The guy arrested, and sitting in prison, is most likely crazy and delusional. It was a joke of a prosecution.

  18. Labour MP defends Black Sabbath-inspired band Dream Troll after Nazi claim
    Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon, who performed on a Dream Troll track, says they are “Black Sabbath fans, not neo-Nazis”.

    “They are ordinary, decent blokes and there’s not a racist or Nazi bone in their bodies.”

    Mr Burgon said the font was a copy of a classic heavy metal album.

    “The real story is, they made a spoof/parody of the cover of a famous Black Sabbath record from the 1970s (Black Sabbath – We Sold Our Soul For Rock ‘N’ Roll).

    “They are fans of Black Sabbath not neo-Nazis.”

    1. Just Say’n

      Any fan of Black Sabbath is OK in my book (so long as it is the first four Black Sabbath albums).

      1. Just Say’n

        “A story then appeared in The Sun stating that the band’s motto – “We Sold Our Soul For Rock ‘N Troll” – uses two “S” letters in a font similar to Hitler’s SS.”

        Christ, these people have obviously never seen the Black Sabbath album cover. Everyone is just plain stupid today. This Nazi paranoia is ruining the greatest heavy metal band in the history of time. I refuse to live in a world where trivia about Black Sabbath is not common knowledge

        1. Hyperion

          When I was a Sabbath fan, 12 years old, they were satan worshippers who were going to send your children to hell.

          1. Just Say’n

            The good old days.

            Although, I once listened to Master of Reality real closely and the whole album is more like a Christian rock album then anything.

          2. tarran

            +1 “Could it be you’re afraid of what your friends might say
            If they knew you believe in God above?
            They should realize before they criticize
            that God is the only way to love”

          3. Just Say’n

            “I think it was true it was people like you
            That crucified Christ
            I think it sad the opinion you had was the only one voiced”

            My God, Geezer Butler was a Jesus freak

          4. Agent Cooper

            That’s basically what Ozzy has stated.

        2. Suthenboy

          Oh, wait.

          “A story then appeared in The Sun stating that the band’s motto – “We Sold Our Soul For Rock ‘N Troll” – uses two “S” letters in a font similar to Hitler’s SS.”

          That really happened. I thought you were making joke by an absurd exaggeration of their tinfoil asshattery. They actually did say that.

          1. UnCivilServant

            Ze sig rune ist verboten!

      2. Crunchy Dolphin

        I’d say to the sixth album, after that no.

        1. Just Say’n

          That’s Sabotage? I can go with that.

          1. Yusef drives a Kia

            My favorite with Ozzy for sure, Mob Rules for Dio

    2. Agent Cooper

      Of course he’s a Shadow secretary.

  19. Scruffy Nerfherder

    You shouldn’t laugh at a family’s tragedy, but ‘cmon….

    Kathleen Hartney Aros Ross was born in New York State in 1947, during the term of Harry S Truman. Among the many presidential libraries she went on to visit through her lifetime, his wasn’t her favorite. (She preferred LBJ’s library.) Kathie’s life was legendary among her family, including a stint working for George Lucas on Star Wars. She kept it real, though, reminding us often that as a lifetime Democrat, she was used to losing. Recently, though, her losses began to take their toll. Although doctors were reluctant to label her cardiac issues “a broken heart deriving from Hillary’s November loss”, we know how she felt. One blow came after another, all followed eagerly and angrily by Kathie on CNN. With every foolish move made by Republicans, it became harder for her to even enjoy the little treats in life, of which she had a lengthy list. On April 6, 2016, our beloved mother, sister, grandmother, and aunt passed on in Overland Park Kansas. Thanks, Trump. She left behind her children Lisa and Donald Aros and their spouses LA and Maria, her grandchildren Sophia, Philip, Jackie, Kevin, and too many siblings, nieces, and nephews to name. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you vote democratic in the next election. Services private. – See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?n=kathleen-ross&pid=185104078#sthash.Zf8cCYv7.dpuf

    1. kbolino

      Not only did Trump’s election kill her, it killed her 7 months before it even happened.

      1. Agent Cooper

        Making America Great Again, one stupid old lady death after another.

    2. WTF

      On April 6, 2016, our beloved mother, sister, grandmother, and aunt passed on in Overland Park Kansas. Thanks, Trump.

      As if any further evidence was needed that the left is completely deranged.

      1. Agent Cooper

        What’s the matter with Kansas?

        1. UnCivilServant

          Too flat and windy.

      2. Well, my grandfather had a stroke and died under Obama’s second term, so, you know, eat a dick, flatlanders.

        Mind you, he was racist as shit so a black Democrat getting elected president was pretty much guaranteed to fuck up his golf game, but as long as we’re assigning blame to people who couldn’t possibly be culpable, I’m putting it on Barack.

    3. Hyperion

      Wait… wut? Trump killed this person?

      1. UnCivilServant

        Shot them in the middle of fifth avenue, I think.

        1. Bobarian LMD

          Just to watch her die!

      1. Bobarian LMD

        An Oregon man died “peacefully” after a friend falsely told him that President Trump had been impeached.

        That friend then placed a pillow over the otherwise healthy man’s face and shot him with a revolver, because “Meh, he was useless as tits on a boar”.

      2. You motherfuckers do realize that’s one of the links I posted, yeah?

        ::rampages down street::

        1. F. Stupidity Jr.

          The funny thing was that I looked at your link, saw Charlottesville, VA mentioned and said to myself, “My link is about a man in Oregon, so it’s got to be a different story.” DERP on me.

    4. Count Potato

      Trump is a time-traveling murderer.

      1. excellent snake

        Time travelling Trump theory confirmed!

    5. antisthenes

      Another innocent grandma killed by Trump.

  20. straffinrun

    “Mike ran out of family long ago and is survived by his ex-wife and best friend, Teresa Elliott,”

    I must be reading that wrong.

    1. He was a cannibal?

      1. Bobarian LMD

        Yes, but he kept it in the family.

    2. Pomp

      No, it’s all kinds of dysfunctional. You read it correctly.

    3. The Elite Elite

      Couldn’t stand each other enough for marriage, but somehow can be best friends?

      1. UnCivilServant

        Proximity breeds contempt. Sometimes just putting a little distance between two people improves their interactions.

        There’s nothing that says divorce need be vitriolic (except divorce attorneys)

      2. SugarFree

        I think one of them was gay.

  21. PieInTheSKy

    That school choice link is all kinds of stupid

    “What much fewer people realize is that the argument over “school of choice” is only the latest chapter in a decades-long political struggle between two models of freedom—one based on market choice and the other based on democratic participation”

    Ah yes nothing says freedom like democratic participation. Whats the point of talking if you define words however you like?

    And where does this idea that education is a “shared good” come from?

    “What happens to a community when its public schools are defunded or closed because they could not “compete” in a marketized environment?”

    What happens when a failing school keeps failing for decades?

    This competition is bad thing I find really weird about leftist. How the hell do you know which way of doing things is better without competition? Do they really believe a bureaucrat can somehow instinctively know the best way to organize education for all? Hell how bout we decide the NBA playoffs by guessing which team wins, because if we let them play there will be loosers. And we cant have loosers, can we?

    1. “And we cant have loosers, can we?”

      Tell me about it…

      /Ghost of Eric Garner

      1. WTF

        Narrow thy gaze upon thyself!

        1. Trolleric the Goth

          take physic, pomp, and expose thyself to feel what wretches feel!

      2. Bobarian LMD

        How about tighters?

    2. Just Say’n

      “one based on market choice and the other based on democratic participation”

      Sounds like someone skimmed through ‘Free to Choose’ and then regurgitated garbage. She has a bright career as a Bernie Sanders speech writer

      1. kbolino

        based on democratic participation

        Apparently, “democratic participation” consists of 50-80% of the voting public not going to polls.

        1. UnCivilServant

          By not voting they voted to proxy their vote to the part of the population that voted the way I wanted them to vote!

        2. Pomp

          That’s why voting should be compulsory and there should be criminal penalties for failure to vote, ya silly goose goose.

        3. WTF

          Apparently 50%+1 saying “slavery is good” equals true freedom.

          1. Pomp

            +1, Jonestown cyanide kool-aid

    3. Hyperion

      I thought that the left are pro-choice?

      1. Bobarian LMD

        For narrowly defined bands of choice.

    4. Count Potato

      “Just as the traditional taxi system revolted against ride sharing, so too does the education establishment feel threatened by the rise of school choice,” Ms. DeVos said. “In both cases, the entrenched status quo has resisted models that empower individuals.”

      http://ronpaulproblems.tumblr.com/post/159233896367/all-my-teacher-friends-are-mocking-this-but-no

    5. Suthenboy

      Two models of freedom, one based on choosing and the other based on obeying.

      Got it.

    6. KibbledKristen

      I’ll fuckin’ participate democratically and vote to eradicate all public schools, everywhere. I don’t have kids, so WTF do I care?

      There’s your democracy, right there.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    “What happens to a community when its public schools are defunded or closed because they could not “compete” in a marketized environment?”

    All the students die a horrible death; they fade out of existence gradually, like dim memories of long ago dreams.

    Or, they find another school.

    1. WTF

      If that school can’t compete, doesn’t that imply that the students are transferring to a better school?

      1. UnCivilServant

        School isn’t about educating children, it’s about guaranteeing Employment for teachers’ union members!

        1. WTF

          It’s true the students don’t pay union dues.

    2. Hyperion

      Well, there’s nothing like public schools to find things for aspiring busybodies to do. When my daughter was in high school, we moved and it put us out of her school district by literally on the other side of the street. The school bus stopped right across the street from us and my daughter walked over there and rode the bus to school. So, some cunt at the school somehow found this out and threw a hissy fit over it. So then she tried to get the school to ban my daughter from attending the same high school she’d been attending for nearly 2 years because we lived out of the district by being on the wrong side of the street. We lived one mile from the school. It would have meant she had to ride a bus 15 miles to another school, where she knew no one. That effort failed, but in an apparent effort to satisfy the cunt, they banned her from riding the bus.

      1. UnCivilServant

        Bus for one mile? Is your kid too good to walk?

        1. Lachowsky

          It was uphill in both directions, or so I have heard.

        2. Hyperion

          She started driving after she got her license. But no, it’s too dangerous to walk. There are no sidewalks or anything, I just took her until she got her license.

          1. Hyperion

            Ok, there are sidewalks near the school, but out where we were, no sidewalks, it’s outside the town. We’re talking about a very rural area.

    3. The Other Kevin

      A few years ago we lived in a shitty school district, so we moved 20 miles east to a better one. I don’t see how that’s different from school choice, except that poor people don’t always have that luxury. But if you’re “denying funds” to a shitty district by putting your kid in a private school, isn’t it the same result as if you just moved away? So should we ban people with children from moving, and force them to stay put until their children graduate, so those shitty districts can keep their funds?

      1. WTF

        Don’t give them any fucking ideas.

        1. Suthenboy

          He isnt. They already have it. I have heard that argument made a number of times.

      2. PieInTheSKy

        yes

      3. Our school district is one that a bunch of people are trying to get into. The property taxes are about double of what I would pay for just a few streets over. And rightly so – the school is very college-centric, and has a lot of opportunities that you don’t get from the nearby big city.

        The school wanted to make “school of choice” non-resident parents pay tuition for their kids. That didn’t go over very well but I can see why – ie, why should there be free riders from another city?

      4. Chipwooder

        It’s also a question of priorities. I’d love a newer, bigger house. Unfortunately, while there are neighborhoods around town where I could afford such a house, they are located in areas with much lower-quality schools than where I live now. We paid a major premium for our little 1300 sq ft house because of the excellent schools. Some people choose differently. That’s fine, but don’t come crying to me about how unfair it is that little Johnny goes to a shitty school.

    4. Emmerson Biggins

      Maybe they could lower my property taxes?

      Just kiddin.

    1. Florida Man

      Mean girls is a movie people bash until you say you like it, and then they admit they like it too, but were too embarrassed to say so.

      *stands tall*

      I liked Mean Girls.

      1. UnCivilServant

        I never saw it.

        1. Florida Man

          If you like attractive women and comedy, it’s got you covered. Just don’t expect anything revolutionary. Pretty standard fish out of water, teen coming of age story.

          1. Bobarian LMD

            Do you watch it naked and alone…

            in a darkened room…

            like me?

        2. WTF

          I watched it with my wife. I thought it was pretty funny.

      2. SugarFree

        It’s good to be reminded of a time when Lindsey Lohan was an attractive rising movie star and not just an R&D facility for new and exciting STDs.

      3. Count Potato

        I don’t see how he was bashing Mean Girls.

        Ironically, it was the beginning of Lindsay Lohan’s downfall when real life mean girls accused her of being fat.

        1. Chipwooder

          Sure.

          Well, that and the coke.

      4. jesse.in.mb

        So did Obama’s social media staff. And used it to entertaining effect.

      5. KibbledKristen

        I’m a Tina Fey fan, but didn’t really like that movie all that much.

      6. Fatty Bolger

        Haven’t seen it, but I think I’ll catch it some day, looks like it would be decent.

    2. Hyperion

      OMG, peoples is so mean. That horse image, lol.

    3. Vhyrus

      Dear lord that cover looks like a mask from ‘the purge’

  23. Scruffy Nerfherder

    If this shows up as a duplicate post it’s because the moderation bot tagged my previous effort.

    You shouldn’t laugh at a family’s tragedy, but ‘cmon….

    Kathleen Hartney Aros Ross was born in New York State in 1947, during the term of Harry S Truman. Among the many presidential libraries she went on to visit through her lifetime, his wasn’t her favorite. (She preferred LBJ’s library.) Kathie’s life was legendary among her family, including a stint working for George Lucas on Star Wars. She kept it real, though, reminding us often that as a lifetime Democrat, she was used to losing. Recently, though, her losses began to take their toll. Although doctors were reluctant to label her cardiac issues “a broken heart deriving from Hillary’s November loss”, we know how she felt. One blow came after another, all followed eagerly and angrily by Kathie on CNN. With every foolish move made by Republicans, it became harder for her to even enjoy the little treats in life, of which she had a lengthy list. On April 6, 2016, our beloved mother, sister, grandmother, and aunt passed on in Overland Park Kansas. Thanks, Trump. She left behind her children Lisa and Donald Aros and their spouses LA and Maria, her grandchildren Sophia, Philip, Jackie, Kevin, and too many siblings, nieces, and nephews to name. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you vote democratic in the next election. Services private.

    1. Pomp

      Dafuq

    2. Drake

      They got the year wrong in obituary or was she able to see the future?

      1. “Her melange use increased as she sought to understand the events of the next year or two…”

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          “What do you despise? By this are you truly known.”

    3. Haybob

      I’d like to think this is a joke, but seeing how the progs have gone off the deep end I don’t know any more.

    4. westernsloper

      Trump killed her? What an evil bastard.

    5. So….expect a dramatic post on this at Hit and Run?

      *ducks*

      1. WTF

        With plenty of “to be sures” about Trump’s awfulness.

        1. Fatty Bolger

          Oh, yes, even when they agree with something he does, the article has to first include many disclaimers about how awful he is.

    6. straffinrun

      LA?

  24. Drake

    It’s tax day – some examples of how your government pisses away your money with total abandon.

    1. Just Say’n

      You could have just linked to pictures of dead Arabs and that would have about summed it up. “But…but…the roads!” The roads paid for by your state and local government through other taxes? The federal government is just a giant death machine that also happens to run a couple of social programs.

      1. Gadfly

        More like, the government is just a giant social program that also happens to run a couple of death machines (59% is spent on social programs, 16% on defense, 10% on interest, and the rest on other stuff).

    2. “conferences” – more like (in my case) company sponsored mini-vacation / booze junket.

      1. UnCivilServant

        I can attend conferences – if there’s no cost to the state; and I get approval; sometimes they even require I charge the time to leave.

        I don’t attend conferences very often.

  25. Count Potato

    Universities require scholars pledge — “reflect a commitment to queer visibility,”

    https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/32136/

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      “not to thoughtlessly reproduce the standard white and Western model of legitimate knowledge.”

      Western Civilization continues to eat itself.

      And what if the queers in question don’t want to be visible? Are we outing them as a matter of course now?

      1. WTF

        The Gramscian damage continues.

    2. WTF

      Universities require loyalty oath to leftist political agenda.
      Sure, sounds legit.

    3. Hyperion

      “More than 20 colleges have a stated requirement that faculty must show their commitment to the ideals of “diversity, equity, and inclusion”

      And that diversity includes white male conservatives and libertarians, amirite?

      1. Vhyrus

        We don’t serve your kind here.

    4. Suthenboy

      …teach students “not to thoughtlessly reproduce the standard white and Western model of legitimate knowledge.”

      Teach. I dont think that word means what they think it means.

      They imagine that if they destroy the institutions of education that there will no longer be any progress, no learning, no search for knowledge. All they will do is destroy the legitimacy of certain institutions. The quest for knowledge and learning will simply migrate elsewhere and these shitbags will be left wandering mostly empty halls and spouting gibberish in classrooms full of other useful idiots. The western model of legitimate knowledge and how it is obtained is wildly successful because it works. That genie is out of the bottle and aint going back.

      1. peachy rex

        “For the chief characteristic of the religion of science is that it works.”

  26. The Late P Brooks

    This competition is bad thing I find really weird about leftist. How the hell do you know which way of doing things is better without competition? Do they really believe a bureaucrat can somehow instinctively know the best way to organize education for all?

    Funny you should ask.

    Spoiler alert- it’s a long-winded diatribe about how Alfred Khan is history’s greatest monster for deregulating (I debated using scare quotes, but decided they were unnecessary) air travel instead of rolling all the fledgling airlines up into a nationalized government run carrier, for the greater gory of god liberal paternalism.

    1. Drake

      I think most “lawmakers” are both bored and stupid. United made a mess – lost over a $billion in market value, will pay this guy millions in a settlement, and has already changed their policies regarding boarded passengers. The market has already fixed the problem, end of story.

      Yet the morons now think it is up to them to swing into action and pass some intrusive and unnecessary laws and install some worthless bureaucrats to enforce them.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s the high-profile “I DID SOMETHING ABOUT THIS THING THAT TOTALLY ANNOYED YOU, PLEASE VOTE FOR ME”

        It’s on the same level as McCain dragging baseball stars in front of the Senate purely to boost his own name recognition.

  27. Count Potato

    These sort of stories seem like a daily occurrence.

    “Female student falsely accuses ex of rape and stalking to keep him out of acting program”

    https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/32183/

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Throw her ass in jail.

      1. WTF

        Sorry, she gets the “pussy pass” get out of any consequences for your actions card.

    2. The Elite Elite

      Hey, it could have been true! That’s all that matters! Maybe if you’d teach men not to rape, women wouldn’t have to make false allegations to bring attention to the fact we live in a rape culture!

      1. Hyperion

        3 out of 4 women are raped while attending college. So there’s a 75% chance she was raped. What more proof do you need?

        1. Suthenboy

          I wish you would quit misstating those statistics. It’s 5 out of 4. Geez, why cant you remember that?

      2. Suthenboy

        You joke Elite, but I have heard that argument put forward in earnest.

        1. The Elite Elite

          I thank God I don’t know anyone that braindead. (Or if I do, they haven’t said such a stupid thing around me)

      3. excellent snake

        It started a conversation!

    3. Hyperion

      Well, how are we supposed to have a good Title IX program if we don’t use it? What if all the rapey males just start refusing to rape anyone? We have to do something!

      1. STEVE SMITH BOLDLY FILL RAPE VOID!

  28. Hyperion

    “Writer for The Atlantic”

    That’s as far as I needed to go. I followed links to Atlantic articles a few times in the last couple of years, but never again. I just have one question. Did that publication used to be halfway sane at some time in the past? The last time I went there, I don’t even remember what the article was supposed to be about, but it was just a bunch of totally incoherent screaming about Trump being worse than Hitler. It was more unhinged than anything I’ve seen in a long time. Not even Salon could match that level of hysteria.

    1. Just Say’n

      It use to be better. Connor Friedsdorf use to be good, too. He use to be real critical of foreign policy under the Bush administration. Then, under Obama, he was still critical, but less vociferous in his criticism. He also use to be critical of political correctness and the Maoism on college campuses. He stopped doing all that after Trump came on the scene. Now he just pretty much wets himself

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Although doctors were reluctant to label her cardiac issues “a broken heart deriving from Hillary’s November loss”, we know how she felt. One blow came after another, all followed eagerly and angrily by Kathie on CNN.

    It was a mercy killing.

    1. Hyperion

      Yeah, if she was watching CNN all day, then mercy killing 100%.

  30. Juvenile Bluster

    The Guarniad: Somehow, Theresa May calling for a snap general election is actually a coup… because she’s going to win? I think? I can’t tell.

    Theresa May has turned democracy against itself. She has been seduced by the siren evidence of the 20-point lead in the polls, and she will have a general election, the one she said again and again that she would not call. And it will almost certainly return her with a thumping majority that will allow her to run the Brexit negotiations just as she wants.

    There will be no obligation on her to reflect the views of the minority position. She will leave the remainers of England disempowered. She has made a Scottish referendum inevitable, and a border poll in Northern Ireland infinitely more likely. She is resetting politics in a way that will entrench division. We will all rue this day.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      We will all rue this day.

      Who talks like that?

      1. Hyperion

        Limeys.

      2. commodious spittoon
        1. excellent snake

          thank you

    2. UnCivilServant

      Oh noes, sending a vote to parliment to get the 2/3 majority needed to call early elections according to law is totally like seizing power by force…

      1. Suthenboy

        She is turning democracy against itself…by winning an election. I heard that Trump did the same thing here in the States.

    3. Isn’t this the kind of direct democracy the left always clamors for?

      Hey lefties: she’s got a mandate from the voters. Go fuck yourselves.

      1. UnCivilServant

        It’s only a mandate if the vote goes their way. Otherwise, it’s not binding and should be held again. ignored.

      2. Hyperion

        And we have to be almost shocked that Teresa May would follow through on Brexit. May be the first non-evil thing she’s ever done in her life. Then it’s back to putting 2 year olds on lists.

    4. Number.6

      May’s doing a couple of things here.Most importantly, she’s cementing her position as leader of the Tory Party, because there will be some arrogant upstarts within the party that want to surplant her. And she obviously wants to do a re-fi on the Tory Party running the country while Jeremy Corbin is fucking up so thoroughly. Lastly, she wants to capitalize on the public’s perception that she’s fighting hard to get a very good Brexit deal, and I suspect that despite my best wishes to the people I left behind, I suspect that the EU is going to steal all the “M” keys from keyboards, shit on the carpet in the dining room, and steal all the copper piping before the UK gets out of Europe,

    5. Number.6

      So, yeah, us limeys not only use “rue”, we use “surplant” too.

      1. UnCivilServant

        Your misuse of the mother tongue also ‘colours’ your perception of ‘humour’.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    She will leave the remainers of England disempowered.

    “Elections have consequences aren’t fair!”

  32. KibbledKristen

    Mom!

    You know, you get a little older, a little menopausal, and being in that many layers and layers of fur. No need to be overheating [in a furry costume]. I’m good.

      1. KibbledKristen

        I shoulda known you people would jump on this

        1. Well it was Fur Friday!

    1. Hyperion

      Did she know about the intertoobz?

  33. Volkswagen Reveals Plans for Court-ordered EV Charging Network

    A large part of Volkswagen’s emissions scandal penance involves a gargantuan investment into eco-centric technologies and the development of the United States’ electric vehicle infrastructure. The latter should come by way of its Electrify America subsidiary and four $500 million investments separated by four 30-month periods over the next 10 years.

    We now know exactly how VW intends to roll out the green carpet with its court-mandated funding.

    The money will be divided between urban and highway charging projects with plenty left over for its public education and environmental awareness campaigns. Forty percent of the total sum will be devoted to California, which will likely have the most use for charging stations, but the rest of the country will also see VW-built EV plug-in ports of up to 320 kilowatts — a number that surpasses even Tesla’s Supercharger wattage by a wide margin.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      How much were they forced to pay to DNC shell corporations a la Bank of America?

      I think it was at that point I realized the country is well and truly fucked with no chance of redemption.

      1. westernsloper

        That is one of the biggest under reported crimes committed under Obama.

        It’s a good thing his administration was scandal free, because that looks a lot like political extortion via the DOJ.

      2. Suthenboy

        Jesus fuckity fuck. I cant think of that guy without seeing red. What a fucking slimy piece of shit, tin-pot, banana republic thug Obama is and his legions of sycophants are no better.

  34. KibbledKristen

    Because there’s always somebody ready to make a buck on getting them here anyway.

    Prohibitions create lucrative black markets?!?!?! Who knew????

    1. This was happening way before Trump came on the scene.

      Also, is a government making sure people that enter it aren’t criminals really prohibition? Or is it a duty of theirs to ensure that rapists, murderers and various hardened criminals from other countries aren’t just given passports and shipped here rather than prisons?

    1. UnCivilServant

      Better than their last weight loss advice…

    2. straffinrun

      *Bites tongue to prevent self from making Cosmo joke*

      1. Juvenile Bluster

        I mean, when you’ve gone too far of the left-side deep end for Gawker commenters…

    3. Pope Jimbo

      What about Venezuela? They have to be the new #1 fat camp for progs. Right?

    4. Hyperion

      Replying to @ENBrown @MikeTront
      Socialist diet: Venezuelans lose average of 19lb in weight due to nationwide food shortages

      See, we told you that socialism works. We need this here! /progtards

    5. commodious spittoon

      “Meth chic”.

    6. Suthenboy

      The subject was touched on upthread. If you take into account that these people subscribe to critical theory then everything they do and say is predictable and makes sense. They are literally suffering from a world view that is indistinguishable from insanity.

  35. Ken Shultz

    “Its a touching story, really. The obituary said Elliot, a native of Charlottesville, Va., died “surrounded by people who loved him dearly and cared for him selflessly during the last months of his life.” So get the kleenex ready (or perhaps a barf bag) when you click that link open.”

    My grandfather was a minister, and he hoped I’d become a minister, too. When he retired, he volunteered to do visitations to shut ins, people in nursing homes, people who were dying, etc., and from the time I was about 12, or so, he used to take me with him on his rounds. By the time I was 15, I’d talked to dozens of dying people on their death beds–and I learned a few things.

    There’s practical stuff, like not praying for dying people to get better (just pray that they’ll feel better), but even more fundamental than that: the people who die peacefully were often just broken down and worn out. Once people realize that they’re never going to get better, subconsciously or otherwise, the broken down among them can feel relieved. That’s a big chunk of the people who die peacefully. Dying peacefully of a chronic illness isn’t something I want to do. If your life is still really worth living, if you still have hope for the future, you won’t go peacefully. I hope I’m kicking and screaming when i go. I hope the bastards never wear me down.

    Oh, and one of the other things I learned: when you’re on your deathbed, staring at the ceiling and thinking back on your life, you will never regret getting mixed up with crazy women when you were young. As bad as being with some of the craziest women you’ve known is while it’s happening (they sometimes made me wish I’d never been born), the alternative is so much worse. You will never look back on life from your deathbed and say, “I am so glad I never got mixed up with any crazy women when I was young”.

    You may become so delusional that you’ll feel better for believing that President Liz Warren was impeached, but you’ll never become so delusional that you’ll regret being with the women who drove you crazy. That should be a comforting thought for right now, when you’re in the midst of some terrible break up–never mind when you’re on your deathbed. It is far, far better to have loved and been screwed over by crazy women than to have never been screwed by crazy women at all. Given enough time and perspective, that is something men simply do not regret.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tph3SVKk-MQ

    1. TL/DR: always stick it in crazy.

    2. I still have fond memories of the nude art model goth chick who liked to chase ravens in the park; among some other crazy hobbies like pointing a fake gun at people. It was fun for a few weeks but a mental drain.

    3. The Elite Elite

      Even when that guy has been paying half his earnings in child support and alimony for having been involved with crazy women?

      1. Ken Shultz

        Willie Nelson toured his ass off to pay off the IRS and alimony to all his exes.

        The point was the alternative–never having gotten mixed up with crazy women. You may regret not getting a prenup–or other related mistakes you made.

        But you will not regret getting mixed up with crazy women.

        1. tarran

          Son, I know you will be reading this during your first free period today.

          Remember what I said about Ken when we last discussed his life-lessons on the subject of romance.

          1. Ken Shultz

            I learned these lessons from old dying men.

            It was as if they were looking back in time from their death beds to their 15 year-old selves–and giving themselves advice.

            And they kinda sounded like Stephen Stills.

            Don’t be angry, don’t be sad
            Don’t sit crying over good times you’ve had
            There’s a girl right next to you
            And she’s just waiting for something to do

            Turn your heartache right into joy
            ‘Cause she is a girl and you’re a boy
            Get it together, make it nice
            You ain’t gonna need any more advice

            And there’s a rose in a fisted glove
            And the eagle flies with the dove

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH3ruuml-R4

            Some people say they understand the biological imperative and evolution and how it shapes our instincts, desires, and behaviors . . . and then they turn around and wonder about the secret to happiness.

            It’s like taking those scientific observations about the biological imperative and applying some biblical logic, e.g., “Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might”. The salmon who swim hundreds of miles upstream because that’s where all the women are going, they don’t regret it.

      2. Ken Shultz

        I hope she comes back someday and apologizes for whatever she did, but that probably isn’t going to happen.

        Regardless, you won’t regret getting mixed up with her at all. She’s probably already in your Fantasy Five.

      3. commodious spittoon

        My dad’s fond memories of mom are bizarre given that she fleeced him and then took him to court for more, but at least he has a silver lining.

        1. Bobarian LMD

          Snapping cooter?

    1. Ken Shultz

      The income tax is such a fundamental injustice. It’s the injustice that made everything clear to me–set me on the road to libertarianism.

      I owe you money because I earned it?!

      Take away the redistribution and the “From each according to his ability” aspect and I’m still going to stand there with a surprised look on my face and say, What do you mean, I owe YOU money because I earned it?!

      It is the absolute worst form of taxation from a utilitarian perspective, but even more fundamentally, we cannot have a free society in which the justification for taxation is that people owe money because they earned it.

      1. Drake

        It’s just serfdom with the trappings of democracy. The feds are seizing 1/3 of my earnings every time I’m paid. (And they are now redistributing my health insurance payments to the point of making it completely worthless)

      2. Suthenboy

        “It is the absolute worst form of taxation…”

        Two words Ken; Poll. Tax.

        Make no mistake. In their eyes we are just cattle.

        1. Number.6

          Sheep. They get to shear us every year.

        2. Ken Shultz

          I can understand taxing people to vote better than I can understand taxing people to earn a living.

          1. Drake

            Yep – might make you stop and think before pulling the lever at least.

    2. PieInTheSKy

      Worse than the land tax amiright?

      1. Drake

        Both are direct confiscations of property. Imagine a federal property tax – nobody would want to own anything.

      2. robc

        Really, parts 2 and 3 are coming soon.

        I mean it.

        Im just not as disciplined as Eddie.

  36. Count Potato

    America’s Australia

    “Native to Central and South America, green iguanas that escaped or were dumped as pets have been breeding in the Miami suburbs and the Keys for at least a decade without making headlines like other voracious invasive reptiles such as Burmese pythons or black-and-white tegu lizards.”

    http://www.miamiherald.com/news/article144994384.html

    1. Suthenboy

      Is south florida full of nothing but idiots? Those freakin’ things are delicious.

    1. tarran

      Scammers like Elon Musk depend on forward momentum to keep them from getting burned by the dumpster fires they leave in their wake. I’m mildly interested in how he is going to escape the inevitable dumpster fire that results from coupling with Miss Heard.

      1. UnCivilServant

        Pull a McAfee?

        1. commodious spittoon

          Murder a guy in Belize?

          1. Suthenboy

            Bury himself in the sand, breath through a straw and have some guy put a cardboard box over him and say “Elon’s not here man!”

      2. KibbledKristen

        What I hear about Elon (and I’m not that many degrees separated from him) is that he LOVES drama in his personal life. If there’s no drama, he doesn’t know what to do with himself. I think they’re a perfect match. I give it 6 months.

    2. Drake

      Holy shit, if he marries her with the most ironclad pre-nup in history, he truly is nuts.

      1. Drake

        without

        1. Count Potato

          I think you were still right the first time.

        2. WTF

          No such thing as an iron clad pre-nup. All she has to do is claim domestic violence, etc., and the courts will happily invalidate it.

          1. egould310

            Pre nup means shit, especially in California. She buys him a corned beef sandwich one Saturday, using her bank debit card, and the courts will rule they have co-mingled funds. Community property. Pre nup goes out the window. She gets half of everything.

    3. Pomp

      Meh. Not even smoking hot. I don’t get it.

      1. Jefe Hayek

        She looks like the type that spits on it first. Does something for some guys

      2. BakedPenguin

        Second. But then, taking KK’s point, she may be the right amount of crazy for Musk.

        1. Bobarian LMD

          I think if you’re too crazy for Depp, you’re probably too crazy for a troop of baboons.

    4. Left Hand of Radar

      Don’t worry about Elon. When she leaves him I’m sure he’ll figure out a way to get the taxpayers to cover the cost of his divorce settlement.

    5. Gilmore

      is the the crazy one who drove Johnny Depp nuts?

      Im generally not hip to celebrities, but that rings a bell

      1. Drake

        Yes – she must be other-worldly in the sack.

      2. Count Potato

        Yes, and before that she was a lesbian.

  37. Pope Jimbo

    So Chicagoans, is Portillo’s any good?

    It looks like one is coming to Tundra and my neighborhood.

    1. Just Say’n

      It’s pretty good. The beef is not the best in Chicago, but it’s better than average. I like their Italian sausage

      1. Just Say’n

        Also, their hot dogs are certainly not the best in Chicago. That would be Gene and Jude’s. For Minnesota, though, it will probably be the best restaurant in the state

        1. straffinrun

          Burn.

        2. KibbledKristen

          What about Superdawg???

          1. Michael

            Superdawg is excellent, but it’s a niche in a league of its own. You can’t really compare it to traditional Chicago style.

        3. Pope Jimbo

          Uffda!

          A guy has to wonder why you would say such a thing. Obviously they can’t be the best restaurant in the state unless they have lutefisk on the menu.

          1. Just Say’n

            I’m just kidding. At no point would I ever speak ill of the good people of Minnesota and their culinary tastes. Perhaps one of the finest states in the Midwest

          2. commodious spittoon

            If layering a casserole with tater tots ain’t good eats, nothing is.

          3. KibbledKristen

            The squeeze once showed up at my house and said “I have all the ingredients to make Tot-chos”. I was like, “WTF?”

            Apparently tater tot nachos are a thing.

            (yes, he’s from MN. He and I are from the same town, though we only met in DC about 6 years ago)

          4. Agent Cooper

            Tot-chos?

            Mind. blown. This is happening in my household soon.

          5. Pope Jimbo

            What is a “casserole”?

            Is it like a hot dish?

          6. commodious spittoon

            It’s what some people call deep-dish pizza.

        4. Pomp

          All kidding aside, isn’t Eat Street supposed to be pretty great?

  38. PieInTheSKy

    An Australian model who was badly burned in an acid attack on a London nightclub has revealed she feared she was being gassed by terrorists.

    Model Isobella Fraser, 22, and her sister Prue, 20, from Sydney, suffered serious chemical burns to their arms and back after the corrosive liquid was sprayed during an argument at the club, which she compared to the recent use of Sarin gas in Syria.

    Three TOWIE stars were caught up in the acid attack at the We Are Love Juice rave, at Mangle in Dalston, east London, including Jamie Reed and his girlfriend Jade Lewis, as well as co-star Chloe Meadows.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4419382/Jamie-O-Hara-condemns-sick-acid-attack-nightclub.html#ixzz4ebpPbZ42

    Is it bad that I kinda laughed at people being burned in a club called Mangle?

    1. Drake

      I don’t think I really understood a single sentence in that article. Some kind of pseudo-actresses were burned by acid in a club because…?

      1. PieInTheSKy

        I didn’t read it all for some reason the name of the club amused me in the circumstances … And this is a dump random links ground after all

    2. F. Stupidity Jr.

      The sisters (pictured) claim they were forced to admit themselves to hospital after waiting ‘too long’ for paramedics to arrive

      i don’t understand the national health service is the envy of the world if this had happened in the greedy us they would have died for lack of care why don’t you just live in somalia you like getting chemical burned so much

    3. Count Potato

      Why did someone throw acid at them? Raves are for the other “acid”, not the kind that burns people.

    4. Agent Cooper

      The club is like the Sarin gas attack in Libya? Why would anyone go there?

      1. Number.6

        For the atmosphere?

        1. commodious spittoon

          *constricts windpipe*

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Imagine a federal property tax – nobody would want to own anything.

    And then, on that glorious day, mankind would finally be freed. Freed from the curse of property. Freed from responsibility and toil, from hardship and want.

    Free to fall into the loving embrace of Big Brother.

    Imagine no possessions……..

    1. Drake

      …sang the millionaire living in The Dakota.

    2. Agent Cooper

      I’m just moving into a condo.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of taxes, and the delusional outrage of nitwits…

    NYT (too lazy to link) has a(nother) story about how Trump’s legislative agenda is going down in flames,; this time, it tax reform.

    We cannot allow Trump to fiddle with the tax code in any way, shape or form, because…. are you ready?

    HE AND HIS FAMILY MIGHT DERIVE A BENEFIT FROM THOSE CHANGES!!!11!1!11

    I mean, seriously. These people are fucking insane.

    1. UnCivilServant

      NYT admits it would rather the poor be poorer as long as the rich were less rich?

    2. Number.6

      I got a Drudge link pushed in my face today with “See, Trump’s Lying about Tax Reform”, to which I noted “The words actually say “MNUCHIN: TAX REFORM BY AUGUST ‘NOT REALISTIC’…”‘, and the response was “Well, yeah, of course he’s lying, that’s precisely what he would say”

      Anyone would think all it’s going to take to change the tax code is some fucking millennial fairy in a tartan onesie waving his magic wand; and let’s just remind everyone, I work in a company that is knee-deep in allegedly smart investment people.

    3. Pomp

      ::facepalm::

    4. Drake

      The tax code sure won’t get any serious reform as long as Paul Ryan is writing it. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t push a VAT.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    I just saw a headline over at the NYT website about a writers’ strike looming in Hollywood.

    How would you even know if the screenwriters’ guild was on strike? Do they even have writers in Hollywood, anymore?

    I thought they had all been replaced with demolitions experts and cgi graphics technicians.

    1. Number.6

      How would you even know if the screenwriters’ guild was on strike?

      The nonstop progtard dialog in shows diminishes?

    2. UnCivilServant

      They’re picking over the dying carcass of legacy media as is begins its descent. Like many things in decline, it masks the rot with spectacle, but the procession will continue unabated.

      1. Pomp

        You done painted a durn purdy mind pitchur.

    3. Agent Cooper

      As a writer (in new media tangentially related to H-wood) I don’t know how to take this.

    4. jesse.in.mb

      God I hope there isn’t another writers strike. All the cool bars end up filled with (((homeless-looking beardos))) at all hours and then a wall of garbage reality television.

      1. Rhywun

        Maybe we’ll finally get that third season of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! we’ve been waiting for.

        1. jesse.in.mb

          Do you want a murder-suicide pact? Because this is how you get a murder-suicide pact.

          1. Bobarian LMD

            As long as it’s televised.

    5. Ken Shultz

      What should scare people is a producer’s strike, I guess.

      I was watching “It’s Always Sunny . . . ” the other day, and they’ve got a whole slew of producers.

      What do all those producers do?

      They’ve got nine (9) executive producers. One top of that, they have one producer. That’s ten producers.

      Now, the stars of the show actually write the scripts. They’ve got a director.

      90% of the show is shot on the same set (in a bar), and the cast is also writing the show. What do these producers do? What do they produce?

      How much do they get paid?

      If I write an email for them, can I be considered a producer? Ten producers, eleven producers . . . what’s another producer? What, if they added another producer, then the other ten producers wouldn’t have enough to do?

      They don’t need ten producers. They need someone to come in and fire everybody. My bet is, the producer does all the work, and the executive producers don’t do shit.

      1. Number.6

        I think that paradoxically, in general, putting executive in front of a role usually means they don’t do anything except draw a check.

        1. Ken Shultz

          I think that usually works all the way down to “executive assistant”. A lot of times, they do all the work while the executive basically works PR to the rest of the company.

          That one title needs some work. I guess people didn’t like being called secretaries. I suppose guys didn’t like being called secretaries.

          Also, “environmental services” is weird. I guess people don’t like being called “janitor”. Meanwhile, I’ve met environmental engineers who were mistaken for “environmental services” in their private lives. Either that, or their wives’ bitchy friends mess it up on purpose.

          Who can tell?

          1. Suthenboy

            I had this conversation a couple of decades ago with a co-worker that insulted a man to his face by calling him ‘the garbage man’. The garbage man was, as you would expect, not too bright and was embarrassed. I was pissed because the co-worker was a solid gold prick. I pointed out that if I were going to fire useless people he would be the first to go and ‘the garbage man’ who performed an extremely valuable service to society, would be the last.

            This habit of changing job titles to make the jobs sound respectable is ridiculous. Janitors and garbage men are very valuable to have around. They should be proud of that.

          2. R C Dean

            I had this conversation a couple of decades ago with a co-worker that insulted a man to his face by calling him ‘the garbage man’.

            I admire your self-restraint in leaving him looking for his teeth on the floor. What a fucking asshole.

        2. Agent Cooper

          Technically, Executive Producers help wrangle the money needed for production. But those titles are often handed out like candy.

          … Or they are the people who brought the project to the studio/prodco/etc.

          Real producers are those who make sure thing happen when they are supposed to and for a certain amount of money. Line producers, for example.

  42. KibbledKristen

    I had thought that Rand Paul usually did a Tax Day Tweetstorm, but it seems he’s in KY doing free eye surgeries. So, I’ll give him a pass.

    1. jesse.in.mb

      You’ve won this one, Rand, don’t think we’ll let you get away with your philanthropy next year.

      1. UnCivilServant

        He’s only doing it for the optics.

        1. Jefe Hayek

          *narrows gaze*

          E…P…I think that’s an F

      2. Number.6

        It just sounds awfully short-sighted if you ask me.

      3. commodious spittoon

        He’s a man of vision.

      4. Number.6

        It’s a shame he’s not affiliated with a teaching hospital, because he could take some of his pupils with him.

      5. Mike Schmidt

        Rand: Would you like free surgery?
        Pirate: Aye, Doctor.

      6. Number.6

        I guess as long as he avoids making too much of a spectacle of himself, he’ll continue to make valuable contacts.

      7. Bobarian LMD

        Eye think eye see where this is going.

    2. american socialist

      This is a bad look by rand as some people will be better off than others after free eye surgery. This shouldnt be allowed

      /prog

    3. Ken Shultz

      At least the government won’t tax him for doing free eye surgeries.

      Or will they?

  43. The Late P Brooks

    At least the government won’t tax him for doing free eye surgeries.

    Or will they?

    It’s a taxable gift to the recipient.

    RAND PAUL HATES POOR PEOPLE!

    1. Ken Shultz

      Well, the left goes after unprofitable companies for, supposedly, not paying taxes.

      I can see the 2020 headlines now:

      Rand Paul did hundreds of eye surgeries over the course of a decade and never paid taxes on any of them!

      And we haven’t even started talking about Aqua Buddha.