Sorry , y’all I blew my wad this morning.
A+ trolling on this story: “Didn’t we all just agree that deserting your post was a capital offense?”
UK Parliament voting on Brexit. Sorry, passing laws necessary to carry out Brexit. Big difference.
It was bound to happen. Although I’m not sure Filipino is a race.
Somewhat libertopian song.
“I blew my wad this morning.”
Glibertarian offices sticky
No problem. I work from home.
Home office sticky?
IRS: Brett L, we are here for your audit.
Brett L: Hold on…
IRS: Kicks down door.
Brett L
He has a large weekly budget for replacement keyboards.
Home Depot?
*recovers from faint*
THANKS FOR NUTHIN’ FRIENDO!
U.K. parliament dragging feet on Brexit hoping popular opinion will change if they stall long enough so they don’t actually have to go through with it.
I’m inclined to agree, but not sure how they plan to pull that off.
If you don’t call another vote of some kind, then how do you claim that people have changed their minds with sufficient credibility?
If you do call another vote of some kind, the populace is going to rightfully call for your head on a platter for just re-voting until you get the result you want.
If you just ignore the vote altogether and pretend nothing ever happened….. well, being the UK I suppose this one would actually work fine.
“the populace is going to rightfully call for your head on a platter”
And then do nothing about it.
And they can’t go get is head because Britons allowed their government to disarm them.
Those who rule us signed Maastricht, Nice and Lisbon without a popular referendum, even where they’d promised to have one and even when other member states were being given a say by their own governments. I’ve heard plenty of people state openly that the problem is that Cameron was stupid enough to offer a referendum in the first place. I’ve heard plenty of people state openly that the referendum was advisory, and applaud like seals when the unelected House of Lords tried to sabotage the result.
Of course, the same people who were happy for this country to be changed irreparably on the basis of a week’s debate think that returning to our historic constitution needs to be rubber stamped and debated and authorised by every part of the deep state.
The visceral belief is that the EU is clearly the future, like in Star Trek, so tomorrow belongs to them. All young people love the EU anyway (they don’t actually – they love nice holidays and not being Nigel Farage). Our ties to the EU and difficulties in getting out are iron laws of economics, rather than the consequence of Europhile selfishness, poor-planning and monomania. The EU is all positives and no negatives.
Because no one could possibly want to reject something so obviously wonderful, the referendum itself, like the US election, must have been crooked. Our equivalent of Russian Facebook ads was a claim by the Leave campaign that, as a net contributor, we send £350m a month to the EU. This wasn’t strictly accurate partly as it’s a gross figure rather than a net one – the EU ‘generously’ gives us back some of our own money, telling us what to spend it on.
Anybody with a basic grasp of logic must see that to show that this had an effect on the result, you’d need to show that people changed their minds as a result of the £350m figure, and wouldn’t have been swayed by the ‘true’ figure of £220m. But as with the Russian ads nobody has even attempted to show that the alleged cause had any relation to its effect.
So, all in all, Remoaners would have no qualms about overturning the result in a single afternoon. Some of them might be dimly aware that we’d never have any authority in the EU ever again – we’d just be a milch-cow for the Eurozone. But who cares, eh? Stupid Leavers.
‘Transracial’ man born white feels like he is Filipino
They highlight a white guy who wants to be Filipino. Which is funny. The real howling (read – fun) about this will start when people claim to identify as black. Like we saw not too long ago. T
They can use this to their advantage with a little creativity. All those Uncle Toms like Clarence Thomas are probably betraying their race because they (not so) secretly identify as white!
So are “wiggers” a thing again or not
They never stopped being a thing
You DO realize that is the third link above, yes?
Nobody reads the links, Swiss.
*glowers balefully*
I posted it in the last thread too.
No one reads the links, though.
I just read this for Q’s pictorials. Don’t ask me to read the articles much less the links.
…
…
OK, that I can see.
RELEASE THE CATBUTT!
Nooooooo! Harry Hamlin will save us!
Careful Swiss, Brochettaward is a serial killer. Or that’s the conclusion I get from last week.
Pretty sure he skins people and makes folk quilts.
Folk Quilts works on so many levels…
We are Folk Quilts and we are here to make you feel sad and stuff.
Holy crap, I never knew we had links in this chatroom!
*Akira received a pm request from bacon-magic accept/deny?*
DOOMco likes this.
It sounds like “trans-racialism” is verging dangerously close to the theory that each race has a particular essence or “soul” that defines them. That’s what racists throughout history have always argued: that some races have inherent differences that go beyond physical appearance, and they should therefore segregate and subjugate other races so as to ensure the dominance of their own.
I think race is a superficial concept that affects little else besides physical appearance, but in [current year], that’s probably considered racist in some round-about way.
Shit, I like to cook spaghetti sauce while listening to opera music… I guess I’m actually an Italian deep down inside and I never knew it!
One could argue the same thing about transgenderism. But the argument for transracialism is more in line with prog attitudes towards race, frankly. Where as feminist ideas on gender really don’t mesh at all with the notion that a guy who puts on a dress and likes “feminine” things is actually female. The transgendered latch onto things that feminists claim are socially constructed aspects of gender to argue they’re really something they biologically aren’t.
That’s what always ruffled my johnsons about the whole transgender movement. One minute, they’re arguing that gender is a meaningless distinction created by mean old patriarchs, but the next minute, they’re saying “look at me, I’m a woman, and you can tell because I’m wearing a dress and makeup, and that’s what women do!“
I think race is a superficial concept that affects little else besides physical appearance.
I mostly agree with that. Aside from their ability to play basketball way better than white guys, there little physical difference between blacks and whites.
That’s not what she said!
Didn’t Stan Marsh try that?
Condoms come in three sizes; large, medium, and Caucasian.
Jimmy the Greek hardest hit.
You silly monkey
Dang it. Cosell was the one with the monkey remark.
80s LOL!
basketball is the cheapest sport to facilitate. Hoop in a parking lot and a ball. No field to maintain, no armor for every player.
My poor ass cousins up in rural white-ass PA were the shittiest players in their church group, the rest of the guys were capable though. Point is, the church could afford a multipurpose gymnasium that doubled for receptions. No way they were ever going to afford a baseball diamond or football field, just for the kids to play on.
That is some shitty science there.
Transracial? What even in the fuck is that? Someone just made that up. You can be a mix of 2 or more races, but you cannot change your race from one to another.
You can change your gender from one to another, why not race?
Think about it. Do you know any clinics you can go to to change your race?
Someone get Michael Jackson’s plastic surgeon on the line.
Crispy Critter Tanning Salon?
It’s a construct, man.
Yeah you can. If i start going to a mosque, then I become a muslim. I know muslim is a race because anyone who says unkind things about islam is a racist.
Racist!
I cannot argue with sound logic like this.
“I identify as a black, Muslim male on Tues & Thurs 4pm-9pm. I would appreciate your tolerance & support in these deeply Islamophobic times”
https://twitter.com/KTHopkins/status/929971554187907073
Transracialism is the woke way to do cultural appropriation.
“In for a penny, in for a pound.”
Meh, it was no full blown bukkake scene but it wasn’t a wash.
I should HOPE there was a wash after that!
So Roy Moore apparently signed the girl’s high school yearbook.
I mean… I’ve lost my ability to can at this point.
“I’ve lost my ability to can at this point.”
So you “can’t even” at this point?
Seriously, though, what thirty year-old signs a high schooler’s yearbook? Even if the allegations were completely false, he should be disqualified for being such a dork and signing a high school yearbook in his thirties. Jesus
The sort, I suspect, who never thought he’d run for office. Which in isolation may recommend him for the office.
So we somehow went from he dated teenage girls to one claiming that he attempted to rape her? The behavior is entirely different from what was described before. Regardless of what anyone thinks about him attempting to date a 14 year old or a 16 year old or whatever age they were, there was no force or attempt to move at the speed this accuser claims (they didn’t date – he offered a ride home). And signing a yearbook doesn’t prove any story.
A 30 year old man signing a teenager’s yearbook “Love, Roy Moore” is creepy as fuck, regardless of what might or might not have happened.
Yes. Might not be criminal, but it’s pretty damned disturbing.
The point being that making public accusations about someone should be reserved for crimes.
If it’s not worth calling the cops, then mind your own fucking business and don’t let your daughters near the creep.
Maybe he was just culturally incompetent. Isn’t that the new magic get-out-of-charges-free catchphrase?
I think he’s supposed to admit his addiction and go away for a few weeks to a handsomely appointed rehab center.
Today? Sure.
30 years ago before there was a pedophile behind every bush? Not really
Conrad Birdie did nothing wrong!!
I would be interested in reading a comparison of the evidence presented against Sen. Menendez re underage prostitutes with the evidence presented against Roy Moore re underage girls.
What articles? The Washington Post and most other outlets have avoided the Menendez trial like it was the plague
What about Bill Clinton and Juanita Broderick? There is a same level of evidence for both cases. If Moore is guilty than so is Bill.
I just assume all politicians are rapists. It makes it easier.
rape your wallet.
The 14 year olds story seemed pretty believable because it doesn’t seem contrived or embellished. It’s almost boring (although still criminal) which is what makes it believable. This new story about the attempted rape on the other hand does sound embellished. There was no place he could have taken her in Alabama to try snd rape her more secluded then behind the public restaurant where dhe worked and her boyfriend was supposed to be picking her up? Even his threat to her sounded contrived. That’s not too say shes lying, just to say the story as told seems off. No doubt the man’s a creeper though.
“I’m the first to sign your crack”
https://hotair.com/archives/2017/11/13/say-lot-free-speech-hot-takes-left-really-awful/
Since everyone has been posting Hot Air links, here’s one. The Left has a peculiar notion of what constitutes ‘free speech’
We have our own links, we don’t need theirs!!!!!!!!
And they are very good links. My apologies. This is what I get for trying to fit in. It’s like that time I bought all my clothes from Abercrombie and Fitch in the 90’s. Damn you, Dawson’s Creek!
*hides Members Only jacket*
I have no idea what you mean!
I refuse to hide my parachute pants!
You can take my Z Cavaricci’s off my corpse.
That was the 80’s Dude, same with the MO jacket
/get off my lawn
Why on earth would you guys feel it necessary to admit these things.
I’m not going to link it, but Shkia’s latest drivel over at TOS may be her worst yet.
Shhhhh…they’re just trying to lure us back.
I will not go back.
Without linking, can you at least give us the flava? A few quotes maybe (out of context would be fine).
“RC Dean is a racist for wanting an immigration policy”
That sounds right.
I understand open borders. Im not that opposed. but the argument that people who want a limit, at any number, is for some sort of anti immigration bigot doesn’t make sense to me.
I’m ok raising the number, I don’t know at what number I would say enough.
You can support open borders. You just have to understand that probably 90% of immigrants are going to vote for more government. That’s the reason I’m against open borders. If there was someplace else I could go when things get bad enough here and enjoy even our current level of freedoms, it would be different. That place doesn’t exist, nor is it likely to ever exist.
90% of anyone is going to vote for more government, that’s the problem as proponents of limited govt.
what number? the number where the next guy trying to get in doesnt have a job lined up, That Number. Everybody ahead of him with job prospects, sure.
Oh, I have no real dog in this fight.
I think it’s similar to calling trump a bigot for being opposed to illegal immigrants.
“oh, you want some limit on immigration?! how dare you!” doesn’t get much accomplished.
And it ends with:
Just so long as someone is forcing someone else to do something they don’t want to do. That’s all that really matters.
False dichotomy and a strawman, she’s a piece of work.
Ripping off Robby is unforgivable.
To be sure…
Duh, it’s a gender. Do you even intersectional?
A gender? How so?
Slang for “filleted penis”?
Filipino is male. Filipina is female.
It’s Pilipino and Pilipina (or so I was told by a Filipino activist once)
Q: What do you call a couple of Phillipino pilots?
A: A pair of pliers.
Everything’s a gender whenever you need it to be. If you can’t understand that then you’re not woke enough for me to explain it.
It looks like the author could use less word salad and more regular salad.
https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10138
Just very serious research into the “fat fashion pedagogy”.
Like the seams need quadruple stitching with some re-bar down the middle?
OK, everyone stop what you’re doing. There is a war on goat yoga.
http://reason.com/blog/2017/11/13/dc-cracks-down-on-harmless-goat-yoga-cla
Goat yoga is stupid as shit but a crackdown on it is just silly.
Politico does another version of those “we traveled to enemy territory” stories where they go to some place that voted Trump and interview some yokels. Outside the shock about people still supporting Trump, they end with this powerful line after approximately 10,000 words:
AHA! SEE!!!!!!!
/prog
Is that good or bad?
Fetch me my fainting couch!
WE DID IT! WE FOUND A NIGGER GUY!
Nagger?
How do people get comfortable enough in 2017 to tell a reporter something like niggers for life? I wouldn’t say that out loud in front of most of my friends and I use ‘nigga’ a whole lot for a white guy.
Selection bias. This wouldn’t be a story without that juicy tidbit. I bet it took them a while to find him, too.
This is basic Fake News 101 kind of stuff.
The fact that they found even 2 people willing to go on record with that shows me that peak derp truly is a myth.
Considering the TDS that is rampant in the lefty media, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn this wasn’t real (or at least a false flag by Democrats)
They admitted there that these people aren’t Republicans.
The funniest part was I found this article going through The Fat Fuck Peter King’s MMQB column (which I rarely do). He implored his readers to click the link and read the whole long winded article. Most important story of the week, he claimed. Make sure you get to the last three lines! Then he called it disturbing.
Maybe they’re just huge N.W.A fans?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJmJveCcGfw
I had a Northwest Airlines (NWA) joke about Niggas With Altitude but it didn’t fly.
That’s it. You’re grounded.
At least the defecting North Korean made it across the border, from the article:
The soldier bolted from a guard post at the northern side of Panmunjom village in the Joint Security Area to the southern side of the village, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. He was shot in the shoulder and elbow and was taken to a South Korean hospital, the South’s Defense Ministry said. It wasn’t immediately known how serious the soldier’s injuries were or why he decided to defect..
For the rest of his life, that’s one man who will know his ass from his elbow.
Good for him. Not the being shot part of course, but surviving.
That man his earned himself some American BBQ.
Hell yeah!
Mitch McConnell may be the worst piece of shit in DC. He’s actively trying to lose a Senate seat for the Republicans.
With some due process, we could maybe see if this claim is true – if so, Moore would be removed and replaced by somebody the Republican Governor of Alabama selects. Not good enough for Mitch who wants the Democrats to win out right so he doesn’t have to deal with another conservative.
Lies.
McCain is still there.
^^^
Oh yeah, the guy who committed adultery and eventually dumped his first wife for a richer one – and was later accused of having an affair with his campaign manager. I’m sure he thinks Moore should quit too.
Hey, hey, hey!! McCain has the moral high ground fella, he was a POW you know.
Code name Songbird.
It wouldn’t matter me if he was a true Audie Murphy level hero, he used up any cache he had with me long ago, the warmongering old fuck.
The word you want here is actually cachet (which is pronounced the pretentious way).
Funny thing about Audie Murphy is that he was pretty humble. Seems to me like most genuine heroes are not attention whores.
Narcissism and self-sacrifice rarely go together.
And then Susan Collins decides she’s more comfortable as a Dem and girdlock ensues.
“But I’m a Turtle”
Journalism – asking the hard questions.
I’ve been noticing this a lot lately, like when they said they were not sure if the church gunman’s self inflicted head shot was what killed him. They have no problem tangentially tying Trump to every negative thing they can find, but when a 6 year old can see the truth they tap dance around it like they’re trying to be objective. Really, assholes?
it’s like the terrorist attacks.
WHAT COULD IT BE?!!?!?!
Who really knows? Maybe the mess hall ran out of avocado toast.
Haha…a Tiki bar just opened down the street from me. They have avocado toast, but with carrots added! And it’s Texas toast! They are so upping the avocado toast game in the Bay Area. It’s an avocado toast arms race!
https://sf.eater.com/2017/10/26/16256602/menu-kon-tiki-bar-oakland-opening
“The Apprentice loser and Trump “fake rape” accuser Summer Zervos was bribed $500,000 by Democrat fundraiser and lawyer Gloria Allred to make her accusations against Donald Trump, a deal that was shopped around to other ex-Apprentice contestants too, according to anonymous sources familiar with the matter.”
http://gotnews.com/breaking-ex-apprentice-summerzervos-paid-500000-gloriaallred-accuse-trump-deal-went-others/
I wonder how much they paid this one?
Alright. I hate to do this, but can we get a more reliable news gatherer than gotnews? Like Weekly World News? Or that schizophrenic homeless guy screaming on the street corner?
I need to acquire http://www.imakeshitupandcallitnews.com
Would still be more reliable than gotnews.
You have to admit, though: if it is fake news, they sure did tick all the right boxes.
“Gloria Allred coming out with a Roy Moore accuser for a press conference confirms this is a hit job Moore
Confirmed via Wikileaks she is a paid Democrat operative.”
https://twitter.com/ExDemLatina/status/930113063981690880
It wasn’t immediately known how serious the soldier’s injuries were or why he decided to defect..
Maybe the wind shifted and he smelled food.
At least when I do it, it’s a mistake.
Oh God whichever motherfucker posted that Dalmia article (I think it was that Romanian bloodbag) I read it and now I hate you for exposing me to it on one of the few days I could get to Afternoon Links.
What’s her thesis?
You misspelled feces.
Thesis: “Here is a straw man that I’ve constructed. Allow me to demolish it. Remember, words are violence!”
I mean, I was looking for particulars here. Not a summary of everything she’s ever written.
The right-wing wants an ethnostate.
I mean, if the ethnicity is “American” and is composed of people whose ancestors came from all corners of the globe, then in that sense the right does want an ethnostate. In all other senses the accusation is slander.
This is the woman who accused Bobby Jindal of being an Uncle Tom for daring to hold religious and cultural views outside of her shitty little definition of ‘Indian’. I don’t think she considers identifying as ‘American’ to be a positive thing.
Well then, I can’t wait to see what type of apoplectic fit she’ll fly into when Nikki Haley tries to run for President in 2024. Should be entertaining.
So…I’ve never got this from her articles, but is she actually a Hindu or just plain old angry?
Considering her hysterical freakouts about Hindu nationalism and her constant attempts to defend Islam I’m going to guess her religion is something else.
Seemed that way to me too…making sure it wasn’t just me. The leaps from that to US Indian betrayals is just bizarre.
She sets up a strawman and tried to knock it down – but flails around like a blindfolded drunk trying to hit a pinata.
Cultural appropriation!
Don’t accept invites from vampires yo.
What about that redhead from True Blood?
I would happily allow her to suck any part of me she wanted although the hymen self healing to revirginize her would get pretty old pretty quick
Teen Vogue is here to help.
One of her stupidest. I lost count of the logical fallacies.
How Not To Make Coffee
Don’t use a Keurig, got it. But wait a minute:
The farther back you pull from the immediate experience of one libertarian end-user unconcerned with anything beyond his own immediate experience, the worse it looks: For the individual, the Keurig has some claim to convenience and ease and efficiency; for, say, an office, or a household, it dramatically slows down and complicates the process of preparing coffee for everybody who wants some
But wait, there’s more:
The world has lots of very stupid ideas in it. One of them, one of the most harmful, is the prevailing idea of what it means for one thing to be technologically superior to another. Only a culture sunken to a really frightening and apocalyptic level of libertarian stupidity would regard the Keurig machine—a sophisticated, automated robot designed specifically and only to brew a single serving of coffee, rather than a big efficient pot of it
Libertarians, now responsible for shitty coffee.
I own a keurig (it was given to me) and I solely use it for parties. Not everyone wants the same kind of coffee at the same time. One big pot is efficient only if multiple people want the same coffee at the same time. Fool.
I kinda figured you would have something else to drink at parties. Being florida man and all.
“caffeine”
Everyone will drink the same thing at the same time!
You, Smith! Number 6079. Comrade Winston Smith! You can do better than that. Your hands are barely reaching your knees.
No one needs more than 2 kinds of coffee
I just make plain black coffee.
Plain black coffee includes variance in roast, water temperature, grind, caffeine content, origin, brew method, and cup.
I get it now, coffee is the most libertarian drink ever?
No, it’s still Laudanum.
Yes it is, CPA. I really need to write my next coffee article, but I’ve been busy at work and house guest.
Plain black, Folger’s or similar, in a Mr. Coffee or similar.
Responsible for Keurig being invented? Responsible for prohibiting inferior methods of brewing? Am I losing brain cells trying to decode retardese?
You can brew a single serving of coffee with a French press involving absolutely no moving parts; I do it every day, and it takes maybe 10 minutes from the time I turn the heat on under a kettle of water to the time I fill my absurdly large travel mug
You wasteful pig! No one needs absurdly large amounts of coffee! Fuck you and your personal preferences. *shakes fist at the sky* Damn you Libertarians!!
I really hope he lives in a communal shanty, otherwise he is full of shit.
There is no coffee in the communal shanty because it’s always someone else’s job to buy the coffee and brew it and clean the pot etc.
There is a guy in the cube across from me that has a keurig in his cube. He can brew exactly one cup of what he likes without leaving his cube. I guess he must be a stupid libertarian for not wanting what everyone else in the office is okay with drinking. Burn the witch!
He should really get a committee together on what flavor the coffee pots for the whole office should be so that we can bring back the old blood feuds that used to develop over bullshit like that when you’re trapped in the office with people you can barely stand.
Nobody said anything to him about that being a potential fire hazard?
Shorter: Victory Coffee is good enough for everyone!
Don’t forget your saccharine tablet, brother.
You Guys are Killing it today
How dare people insist on a cup of coffee for their own convenience?!?! This buffoon desperately tries to evade the fact that, in a lot of cases, a full pot is nothing but a waste. Some people don’t have multiple coffee drinkers or expect to drink multiple cups. The closest he gets to an argument is saying that they should use a french press. Not for any superior efficiency, but simply to adhere to his fucked up demands.
The website styles itself “The Adequate Man”. I think they grossly overestimate their own adequacy.
Also, everyone should ride trains, not stupid libertarian cars. Trains are cool.
My office uses a Keurig because half the coffee drinkers are fine with basic Folgers, and the rest of us all have particular favorites. Aren’t we horrible people?
My office has a Keurig because the fuckers don’t have free coffee.
Neither do we. For a while, everyone who wanted coffee chipped in on the coffee fund, but since the largest group was the Folgers people, the rest of us were paying so we could have some barely drinkable swill. When the rest of us proposed buying other coffees for a bit more, the Folgers gang whined that it would be too expensive and they were going to stop paying.
So someone brought in a Keurig and everyone provides their own. Problem solved.
How libertarian. In a truly efficient arrangement, the Folgers guys would have unionized and gotten y’all and the non-coffee drinkers to have their wages garnished to pay for their coffee.
We have free tea, coffee, and hot cocoa and it is single servings. Not a keurig and hooked into the water line. It’s fine.
I concur. My machine at home (Hamilton Beach) also has both full size pot and mini-filter/k-cup adapter.
About a year and a half ago, my plant decided they were going to downgrade our coffee. They supplied folgers before and they switched to some off brand that was basically undrinkable. They said that the switch would save the company $7000 per month. There was a lot of protest. Our plant manager basically said, that if some one could find him another way to save $7000 a month, then he would be happy to give us drink able coffee again.
We have a furnace that reheats billets. There are 18 1,000,000 BTU natural gas burners that maintain the internal temperature at about 2700° F. Every 4 minutes or so, a 2×2 foot door open up on one end and allows a billet to be put in the furnace. At the same time another 2×2 foot door opens up on the other end and allows a billet to exit the furnace.
I spent a little time messing with the timers and sensors that made the doors open and close and increased the speed of the rollers that allow the billets into and out of the furnace. I got the total time the door was open per operation to drop from 45 seconds to 32 seconds.
A record is kept of how much gas is used day to day in the furnace. After making the changes, there was several thousand dollars a week savings in natural gas usage and we got our coffee back.
“And ever hand that raised a cup of coffee, also waved thanks at Lachowsky!”
Sort of. Also management started leaning on me to do improvement projects. Upgrades and things like that. No boost in pay, but I enjoy doing that kind of stuff more than some of the grunt work i do.
Awesome.
So, when I make coffee, I need to keep the greater world around me in mind? I can’t just say, “I want coffee. Therefore, I will make coffee.” How does a less-libertarian approach work? “I want coffee. But there are people, millions of people all over the world, barely making it through starvation and racism…they’d be grateful for a cup of water. Therefore, I will brew more in the event that others in need stop by my house.” Da fuq??
Intent matters, not what you actually do. So do whatever you want, just explain it in a way that expresses a smug, self-centered sense of wokeness.
This author could have arbitrarily written in favor of Keurigs, as long as he explained it in a way that made him morally superior to planet-raping racists.
That, plus a lot of profanity.
Don’t get me wrong – I curse all the time, but putting about 15 fucks in a blog post about coffee is tedious.
Safe to say, he gave a lot of “fucks”.
This totally reminds me why I hate coffee.
80% of which you throw away, and which uses those grounds poorly.
low pressure drip is not the ideal use for a wide range of grind-types. The intelligence of the keurig approach (*it has weaknesses from a mechanical pov) is that it ensures you are optimizing water temp, grind, and pressure EVERY time.
of course, it might be less efficient if you’re serving a roomful of guests; but if you a single person, its ideal. *or, if you’re a corporation, and want to offer employees/guests coffee w/o needing to worry about cleanup and resupply, etc.
**disclosure: i did consulting for Keurig + nespresso + others when they were first designing/marketing these machines. I had one on my desk at work for 10 years. I’m not overly fond of the things, but they can actually make great coffee when you find the right cups/pressure settings.
TS*;DR
*(S)mug
Anyone ever watched the show Blunt Talk. I’m 5 episodes in and highly recommend it.
Who are you and why should I care what you think?
No need to thrash me over it. Well, okay, go aheas
I liked it and was disappointed they cancelled it.
Patrick Stewart is more precious than sea otters.
He plays the part well. Makes Jean-luke Picard look like a pile of puke
a culture sunken to a really frightening and apocalyptic level of libertarian stupidity
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
This is pathetic, Italy. Funny, too.
Not funny
Hilarious, actually.
And well deserved, given how poorly they played in the entire qualification round.
The world cup is going to be awfully boring
At least Sweden didn’t have to resort to catenaccio to beat Italy. 😉
They are playing soccer.
I won’t miss the Italians flopping all over the field.
Perhaps they should have called in Giovinco?
The previous time Italy didn’t qualify for the World Cup was in 1958. Pele was only 17.
Yes, he came back, with a plan to build a Chinese Education and Cultural Center.
Yeah, that’s bad. I was hoping he stayed.
Who is ready for some kick ass indigenous science?
The introduction to the Tribal Cumulative Impact Statement has some hard truths for you white eyes.
We originated here.
No you didn’t. Your ancestors came from Siberia.
Not according to the tribal elders man. And their opinion is just as valid as your’s.
That draft was from a link in this story. The story is all about how the Minnesoda tribes are fighting a new pipeline being built.
In addition to civil disobedience, they have created the Anishinaabeg Cumulative Impact Assessment (the link above). The protesters say that the govt should give their impact statement just as much weight as the ones that the “scientists” put together.
The project in Minnesoda is to build a new pipeline to handle the increased loads from the Bakken oil fields and to retire an old pipeline. What I never understand with these guys is what they think will happen if they are successful. The oil won’t be shipped somehow? They won’t use the old pipeline until it does rupture?
What I never understand with these guys is what they think will happen if they are successful.
If it’s anything like Amerindian tribal politics in Canada, the point isn’t to stop the pipeline, it’s to get the government to dump a pile of money onto the chief’s/his friends’/the tribal council’s doorstep for things like ‘environment protection’ which actually equate to things like ‘new Jeep’ and ‘new addition to the chief’s house’.
They just pulled that stunt here by protesting a peer line across a rubber that is not even adjacent to their reservation. The power company coughed up a few million to get them to go away.
Rubber = river
I would normally agree with you, but this is a slightly different situation.
The old pipeline and the new pipelines don’t go near any reservations at all. The rub is that in the 1855 treaty with the Ojibwe, they retained hunting and fishing rights to all lands ceded to Minnesoda. The theory is that anything happening in those ceded lands (which is most of northern Minnesoda) cannot negatively affect hunting and fishing or the tribes can sue.
It has always been sort of a grey area of the law. This may be a way for the tribes to validate that they do have that power (fighting against an oil company is a good case for them). If they do win, their power to extort money increases by a lot (as you said).
I think that there is also a huge LARP-ing aspect to this for rich white kids who want to pretend that they are saving the world.
Well, yeah, whitey’s in it for the virtue signalling, as they always are, my point was more that the Amerindian governments tend to be more…’pragmatic’ then their white ‘allies’. They’re basically running on two separate objectives: Whitey, as you note, is dumb enough to think that this is somehow an environmentally beneficial move that will vaguely prevent oil use or the possibility of a pipeline disaster (ignoring, of course, that other modes of transportation like rail are actually more dangerous) while the tribes see it more as a way to get more money out of local development.
“the Minnesoda tribes are fighting a new pipeline being built.”
How much do they want?
Pretty sure the Ojibwa are part of their little cultural group. Their non-Christian members believe they were formed from the breath of God/the Creator/Sky Father. It’s a rather adorable little form of creationism.
Say what you will about the New Atheists, because god they’re fucking annoying, but at least most of them aren’t just in it because they hate Mommy and Daddy Christian. See Dawkins and Harris’ positions on Islam, and I remember a lot of them bitching about Hawaiians trying to prevent building telescopes on the mountains for religious reasons.
Everyone born in this country “originated here”. What Dumont is pushing is idiotic collectivist bunk. You have no more claim to the country or “the land” than anyone else who was born here unless you have a deed.
Oh man, I want to see you at a negotiating table with some Ojibwa. Shit would be hilarious.
EA broke a new world record yesterday.
they have the most downvoted comment in history.
It’s at -450k with the old record being only 25 or 26k.
Way to piss off everybody.
This is (part of) why I play Go and Scrabble instead.
tl;dr for the reasoning: Star Wars Battlefront II came out, and to unlock any character (like, say, Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader) takes at least 40 hours of gameplay or $100+ (usually double or triple that) of lootboxes. People are pissed.
microtrasactions, AFAIK, started in free to play games as a way to turn a profit. pay-to-win.
now, you can pay full price for a AAA title (or more!), and still need to pay extra for what should be included.
I don’t mind paying extra in game for fancy things, like colorful paints on guns or outfits. they don’t change your power or ability. they just make your character look the way you want them to.
for instance, I play elder scrolls online sometimes. i was paying for it by month, it gave you a bonus to XP, and unlimited storage for items you need to craft things with. that seemed fair. when i left my locksmith job for the hardware store, that was the first thing to go. it wasn’t any harder to kill people or have fun. it made it a little slower to level, and required more time to craft stuff because I couldn’t have the resources I used to.
you pay some money, it’s easier to win.
In wildlands, i can spend money on different things to wear. they do nothing, just look cool. you could buy guns, but they aren’t needed. they aren’t so much better that you feel like you have to spend that $10. I picked it up on the steam sale, $30. If they make some extra off that super snazzy looking sniper rifle, good for ubisoft.
The model EA and others are pushing is basically going to be destructive to the game’s content itself. Vader can still be accessed without paying for him, it just requires hours and hours of grinding to get to that point. You’re basically incentivizing the developer to make worse content to gain more immediate funding (until, of course, the game is abandoned because everyone hates pay-to-win).
Yeah, game developers need to understand, you make players pay for the game OR the content. The minute you make them start paying for both you not only drive them off of that game you piss them off from ever getting into another game you make.
EA managed to be voted the worst company in America a couple years back.
Internet nerds hold a grudge.
Heh.
Glad I read that. Chipwooder Jr. has been asking for Battlefront 2. I know not to buy it now.
glad to help!
I don’t hate the idea of paying extra to get some things, I just think those things should be cosmetic more than fundamental aspects of the game.
in free to play games, they have more leeway. BFII is already $60-90
“Way to Unite the World EA”
I play WOT, a F2p game, and at least the Premiums are worth it, 60$ for a game and you have to pay for Darth Vader? GTFO
That or play 40-100 hours and not spend credits on anything else.
most people don’t put that much time in a game.
On the one hand, I get the concept that big games are more expensive to make now than they were before, and so developers (read: publishers) have to find ways to get more money out of them. People balk at base retail prices being above $60, so the developers/publishers find other ways to get more money, like selling accessories, trinkets, etc.
But here’s the thing.
SW:BF2, the original one for PS2, sold something like 3.5 million units at $60/pop. SW:BF, the new one for PS4 and XB1, sold something like 14 million units, also at $60/pop, but with a lot of stuff shunted off into DLC and add-ons (read: more $$$). Moreover, the former was sold entirely on plastic discs, whereas a substantial portion of the latter is distributed digitally. You also have indie developers pushing out high-quality games* for $20-40/pop with much smaller distribution (at least, initially).
Either EA is trying to justify perpetuating an outdated business model, or they want to milk end-users for every penny they can. Either way, it’s a business strategy that serves shareholders better than customers, which is not a model for long-term success.
* = Not universally, there is a lot of crap in the indie game space. But 90% of everything is crap, anyway.
100%
I don’t think they should operate at a loss, but looking at EA’s numbers they are doing juuuust fine.
I like the idea of paying extra for extras. I think the player base and the publisher have very different ideas of what “extras” mean.
darth vader, and other hero’s or villains, aren’t extra. those were fundamental to the battlefront games.
I hope people vote with their wallets.
The first (new) Battlefront was a big disappointment for me, having played and enjoyed the (original) Battlefront 2. It was like there was 70% of the game missing, although you did get to play (some of?) the major characters from the series, like Vader. Yes, pretty graphics are nice, but a) they’re not essential and b) you are not—by a long shot—the only game in town.
Everything EA touches turns to shit, but they keep making sales, and so they’re not going anywhere.
I don’t think you realize just how much budgets have inflated. PS2 era to PS4 units shipped you’re looking at a 4x increase in shipped units. According to the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association the average dev cost in 2004 for PS2 was 877,000USD and Xbox at 1.85million USD (not adjusted for inflation). Battlefield 3 in 2011 cost over 100 million USD to develop for the PS3 (and similar generation). Even generously assuming that SW:Battlefront 2 original had a budget of 10 million and that SW:Battlefront II stayed in the 100 million budget range, a 4x increase in sales doesn’t come close to making up the difference in budgets.
the player base has grown, the cost of dist has gone down, and the games price have doubled.
4x actual player base growth with 2x price increase (assuming on average DLC purchases of 60USD) is only 8x increase in revenue. Given that three games ago and one hardware generation ago a DICE battlefield style game cost 100 mil to make, what do you think the budget of BFII (2017) might be? If you assume BF2 (2005) cost close order 10x more than the average of games in it’s era and that somehow BFII (2017) didn’t cost more that BattleField3 (2011) then only 10x revenue is needed. Distribution costs might make up for the +25% but those original assumptions are extremely generous. Do you really think BFII (2017) had the same budget as BattleField 3 (2011)? Do you think BF2 (2005) cost 10x more than the average developement cost of other titles in that era?
I paid over 100 for the last EA game I bought.
Here is the problem…
How do they justify the cost going up that much?
Developer salaries have been fairly stagnant, increasing only about 20% on average over the last 15 years (less than the rate of inflation) . Technology should be making large portions of the game cheaper and cheaper to create as a lot of the heavy lifting in the graphics and effects are offloaded into standardized game engines and finally as others have noted, distribution costs have cratered.
Realistically I am having a hard time seeing why it costs any more today to release a game like Battlefront than it did when the first one was released forget an order of magnitude more
Frostbite is not Unity. Games are constantly pushing the edge in terms of development. You don’t just off-the-shelf things. 3rd party libraries are often modified for performance or compatibility with edge cases that an indie and enterprise don’t care about. That “this game was obviously made in X engine” phenomena is a side-effect of using stock shaders and environment textures. AAA games most definitely do not use stock shaders and textures.
Extremely rough but this should give an idea of how staff size (and people are expensive) has changed
http://www.mobygames.com/game/xbox/star-wars-battlefront-ii/credits
http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/star-wars-battlefront_/credits
Two links so this might get eaten by filters.
a 4x increase in sales doesn’t come close to making up the difference in budgets
That may be so, and it’s part of why I mention competition from indie developers. They’re putting out full, playable games* with a tiny fraction of the budget.
Moreover, I have not seen a lot of justification for these inflated budgets. Yes, the games generally have very good graphics (although, the current generation of consoles is 4 years old, so a lot of that ground has already been tread) and they are usually fully voice acted (not that voice actors get paid a whole heck of a lot, but it still adds up). But these games are generally developed on engines that have been used extensively before, and especially in this case, involve a lot of content that can be reused from previous games. Where is this money going, exactly, that such large budgets are needed? Yes, servers need to be running well after the game is shipped to support online multiplayer, but that too is not a new requirement, nor is the constant war between cheaters and cheat busting (which is supposedly handled by Microsoft/Sony banning accounts, anyway).
We’ve also gone from “this game may have an expansion pack to be announced/released later” to “the DLC is already all planned out and you can pay $80-90 now to get access to it when it comes out”. That’s fine, but if you’re front-loading your DLC development, then your budget inflation is by choice.
Unintentionally missing asterisk:
* = There is, generally, a qualitative difference between indie games and AAA titles, the former tend to be graphically simpler and lack voice acting while the latter pull out all the bells and whistles. No doubt that explains, in part, the difference in development costs.
Thinking on this some more, there are probably some unique-ish factors that drive up the cost of Battlefront 2 and the other hate-target right now, Shadow of War. Both are licensed games (so, licensing fees have to be paid, and they are probably per unit sold) and both have to target 4 different hardware platforms simultaneously (PS4, PS4 Pro, Xbox One, Xbox One X). They might be targeting PC as well, but PC ports of AAA console games are generally afterthoughts nowadays anyway.
The point about 4 different platforms wasn’t that clear. What I was trying to say is that the developers have to develop both for base PS4/Xbox One as well as incorporate value-add for the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X users. That does add some cost, although in the PC glory days those would’ve just been slider bars in the settings menu.
Similar content is not reused content, players throw gigantic shitfits over literal content reuse. And you might have noticed that those engines especially in-house ones like say Frostbite are updated every 2-4 years. The majority of costs are marketing and if you subtract that the next biggest chunk by a wide margin is art. Art is fucking expensive and for AAA you can’t get away with using stock assets. Plus there’s the blockbuster development model where a small set of games (2-3 per year) are expected to be very profitable to cover the costs of games that don’t do well. People are expensive and for just core content (code and art) you’re looking at hundreds of people compared to maybe 60-80 in the mid 2000s and max 20 in the early 90s. Sure DLC is also art cost dominated but it is generally less content (and can reuse base assets) than the base game. It also ends up priced higher to account for people who don’t buy it.
Indie games for what it’s worth are on average extremely unprofitable. For every big success you have an untold number of games that never earned back the cost of the art commissioned from a freelancer let alone paying for the “free” labor of the hobby developer. An uninsured, ramen eating developer living with parents/spouse is not in the same ballpark of overhead as a mediocre engineer or artist living in the bay area.
AAA development is in a terrible feedback loop of ballooning development and marketing costs, chasing ever increasing graphical expectations with fixed retail costs. Something has got to give. Either games end up costing more or players start accepting lower quality art assets or major companies will start to crumble.
I won’t even attempt to predict where the market is headed, but I do agree it’s unsustainable. I don’t know what will give first, but obviously many people are dissatisfied with the current attempts to change direction.
spend less on ads, slow down graphic development. charge more up front, and give people the full game.
“drugs sell themselves, hun, you don’t do shit.”-weeds
Story time. I’m partially at fault here.
See, a long time ago, back in the day of dial up, I worked for a company that EA bought up. We had an online game built upon a subscription model, and retention was important to us. How do you know what people want? So the company assigned people to be the “community manager” for their games. I was one of those idiots/ Spending the day going back and forth between the developers and the user base. It went alright. Oh, we had setbacks. At one time I told a customer “The worst thing about being a community manager is that we can’t say things like “it’s amazing that a mouth so full of man-cock can still find a way to say such stupid things”. Instead, we have to use the phrase “I disagree with what you said”. Hey, [customer in question], I disagree with what you said.” This caused a bit of a hub bub. I was the asshole.
Other people doing this job were far nicer. They were the ones who drew up the guidelines for being a community manager. When we were bought by EA, they brought us on to advise their new push in the online market. My contribution was “nazi couches”. They wanted to let players in the Sims Online to craft things. I warned them that if you let them make art, they’ll make swastikas.
Anyways, the point is that I helped to create the position of “community manager” and I apologize.
Eh, I don’t blame him. it was a bad post on his part, but he’s just doing a job.
“My Dumb Tweet About Owl Orgasms and Socialism Went Viral”
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2017/11/my_dumb_tweet_about_owl_orgasms_and_socialism_went_viral.html
How sad do you have to be to write about the popularity of a screenshot you took of some other socialist twits comment?
The fucking irony…
dark money–funded groups
WTF is “dark money”, exactly?
Bonus points for defining it in such a way that it doesn’t implicate George Soros.
“5 Rusty Trombone Sex Positions That Will Change EVERYTHING”
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/positions/g9103581/rusty-trombone-variations-sex-positions/
WTF Cosmo?
I assume these people are aware that poop comes out of there.
I guess that is the rusty part.
Where else do you think they get their articles from?
Four hundred millionaires without a whit of knowledge about how economies work ask to not have their taxes reduced…
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/11/13/400-millionaires-tell-congress-dont-cut-our-taxes/
There are some real gems in this thing:
““Repealing the estate tax alone would lose an estimated $269 billion over 10 years — more than we would spend on the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control, and Environmental Protection Agency combined,” the letter stated.”
Please tell me the downside. Also, the 400 signatories to the letter included “….many individuals and couples who aren’t household names but have at least $1 million in assets.” Uh, if you live in the right zip code, having a million dollars in assets makes you a pauper.
Nothing stopping these people from donating money to the US Treasury right now. Why aren’t they doing that?
I’d like to meet one of those assholes in person and ask them why farmers and small business owners should get fucked while trust fund babies continue to live large.
What should be the only response:
2017 $2,611,428.24
2016 $2,718,154.76
2015 $3,864,661.38
2014 $5,103,452.84
2013 $1,763,754.56
2012 $7,749,618.27
2011 $3,277,369.23
2010 $2,840,466.75
2009 3,063,057.05
2008 2,189,358.89
2007 2,624,862.42
2006 1,646,209.41
2005 1,455,541.65
2004 664,911.25
2003 1,277,423.40
2002 744,675.06
2001 1,645,082.28
2000 1,868,891.93
1999 1,457,510.59
1998 1,535,541.02
1997 955,897.15
1996 1,985,175.10
More than I would have thought, but still pretty pathetic numbers.
I’d figure they could work out a carveout for these folks to not reduce their tax burden.
That would be hilarious if an amendment of that sort could be crafted without it being special legislation. At the very least, 400 people should be receiving notices that they’re being audited to ensure that they’re paying their fair share. You know, for the common good.
Alternate headline: “400 Millionaires: ‘Don’t Execute Us When The Revolution Starts‘”
or “400 Millionaires: Don’t Cut Off Our Sweet Sweet Government Gravy Train“
“I have a big income. If my income gets bigger, I’m not going to invest more. I’ll just save more,” said Crandall, who is retired.
How is this fucking idiot wealthy?
And if his saving doesn’t involve stuffing the extra money in his mattress, he’s investing it indirectly.
He works off the books as Harvey Weinstein’s fluffer…the pay’s good but no intellect required.
On doing a little more research, not stupid, just incredibly dishonest and assumes everyone else is stupid. Crandall is on the boards of Celestica, Haliburton, and Anixter. All of them are prominent government contractors.
That’s $26.9 billion per year, or 0.7% of Federal spending. Social Security is about 30% of Federal spending. Instead of shutting down the FDA, CDC, and EPA, you could just reduce every SS check by 2.3%. Or better yet, just freeze the SS rates for the next 10 years.
For his next act, kbolino will push this elderly person off a cliff.
But his inheritors will get to keep all of his wealth, so he’s got that going for him!
“Instead of shutting down the FDA, CDC, and EPA”
I’m not sure what could possibly be better than that. Except maybe including even more alphabet agencies in that list.
I was adapting my point to a non-libertarian perspective.
Or you know, cut off SS checks to everyone with more than $1 million in assets
A couple of years ago my partner and I had an excursion on a boat around Capri. The guide wanted to emphasize that rich people lived on the island and said that “the luxurious houses here go for 1 million Euros.” We are like — how affordable after Boston.
“I have a big income. If my income gets bigger, I’m not going to invest more. I’ll just save more,” said Crandall, who is retired.
Bob Crandall isn’t a terribly bright guy, is he?
He probably thinks banks are Scrooge McDuck style money vaults.
Someone over at NRO brought up a good point: it’s not just money lost to taxes, but the opportunity costs that come of tax minimization, like liquidating productive businesses in order to avoid estate taxes. It’s not just a wash like these idiots seem to think.
Someday we will all be millionaires.
Given the rate of inflation, it truly is inevitable.
Agreed. Notice I didn’t say the million dollars would be worth anything.
The median home price in my area is $500k. So, yeah, lots of millionaires when you count homes in the assets.
Landed in straffinrunland. I’ve heard and experienced Japanese rule bound interactions but got to experience the government version last night.
Twenty minutes while the two clerks flipped through their operations manual and called their assistance line over what to do when the manual says to submit a copy of an application form and the one I turned in had a wet ink signature on it and not a copy (of a copy of the application).
Elsewhere it says to present originals of the documents submitted electronically (which I already had) for verification of the submissions.
They ended up using the photocopier about 8 feet to the right and kept both papers. Then a supervisor showed up and apparently they didn’t need to do that after all.
上。男性。
Won’t anyone think of the poor Medical Examiners?
A story about the toll the opioid crisis has taken on the medical examiners offices in Minnesoda.
Don’t get too worried, throwing more money at their offices should work.
What was wrong with morphine, exactly? Or pure heroin?
It’s more difficult to smuggle.
Cutting the heroin with Fentanyl gave dealers an edge over other dealers so now all heroin has Fentanyl in it. If course there’s no way to tell how much hence all the deaths. Seems like oxy was a better deal all around.
There would be zero fentanyl in this country if it weren’t for the war on (some) drugs.
My point exactly. The fucking drug war is responsible for all the synthetics and the vast majority of the ODs.
Yep, but they’re never going to admit to that. Where they want to go is mandatory treatment in centers owned and operated by their favored cronies. They couldn’t care less about the OD victims.
And more prisons to hold the addicts, and more guards and police. It’s the slush fund that keeps on giving.
Most of the public don’t care either. In fact they would rather continue down this failed path no matter how much more money it cost them. Must punish the sinners. Plus drugs are bad mkay. Clueless.
*nods head and renews prescription for clonazepam*
A lot of it is that it’s part of the package deal you get from joining one of the major parties. If you decide to be a Democrat because you’re socially liberal, that now includes being a communist, because that’s part of what you signed up for. If you’re socially conservative so join the GOP, you also have to want to put people in rape cages for smoking plants, because it’s part of what you signed up for. That’s why I long ago, well 10 years ago, decided I didn’t want to be part of either major party. And it’s a constant source of major annoyance to me how most people get so confused when they encounter someone who is right wing financially but who would also legalize all drugs.
A lot of it is that it’s part of the package deal you get from joining one of the major parties.
I don’t think that’s so much the case, as it is that serial drug users/abusers don’t fit into the system. It is not party loyalty that drives these people, but rather the same base desire that leads them to call on politicians to “do something”. Whether it be the idea that (other) people need to be working for the collective, forming a stable family to strengthen the culture, ensuring that Social Security and Medicare remain solvent for a while longer, or just not being layabouts who flout the law and drain resources, everybody’s got a reason to think drugs are the problem. And, of course, some people have lost loved ones “to drugs”, which contributes to the emotional appeal of drug prohibition (“if only …”).
The real problem is a lack of respect for human agency, personal freedom, and natural consequences.
Related to my above comment, I was once involved in a discussion where the other person (nominally not a lefty) was arguing for single-payer. My argument was that people should pay for what they need/want, with some things (like being a smoker or being overweight) translating into higher costs for those individuals. The rejoinder was, you would have people unable to afford care just because they are fat? What is wrong with you? When I brought up the inevitable need to police behavior, like smoking, getting fat, etc. I was told it was a good thing that such behaviors would be punished.
I was a bit dumbfounded and didn’t really have anything more to say after that.
Obedience and paying money to the state is a privilege, shitlord!
You would think that there would be enough grift in legalizing drugs at this point to make it worth it to the pols.
Think drug distributorships patterned on the liquor distributors. Or municipal drug stores.
I think the problem is that they have done such a good job demonizing the drugz that there is no way back.
There is an analogue in the way the college football PTB resisted a playoff for so long. Anyone with half a brain could see that a playoff system would generate more interest and more money than the old bowl system, but the status quo was so good to them that there was no point in changing things.
This is really hard for politicians. They want the money that could be generated via taxes, but they also love having the flimsy pretexts to destroy people’s lives. Decisions, decisions…
Not true, fentanyl patches have been a game changer for people with severe pain for the last 15 years or so. Not anymore
Which is worse, misgendering Blaire or pinapple pizza?
https://twitter.com/MindingFreedom/status/930162778765131780
“A young model, who went from a size six to a 16, has revealed how gaining weight made her love her body again.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/model-body-positive-size-16-to-six-gain-weight-latecia-thomas-instagram-a8052116.html
I equate this to when American cars went to shit quality wise and they changed their marketing to “Buy American”.
Unfortunately for her she’s going to have a lot less energy and suffer from joint and back pain. Maybe not now for the pain, but at some point.
Diabetes is hot.
Her head’s too small now.
She looks good to me. Curves.
Exercised for three hours a day with a highly restrictive diet? I suppose I can see how gaining weight might be preferable to self-imposed torture.
Just looking at her, I think her ideal size would be somewhere around a 10-12. She could definitely lose a little weight but she was definitely too skinny before.
Most people look their best at a certain size that one would not characterize as fat or thin. But that’s not certainly not true for everybody. I can think of two girls back in the day who were definitely better looking before the weight loss. And they weren’t skinny after the weight loss either. They were probably skinnyfat, and gaining muscle likely would have helped in their cases.
Jesus. She looks like she ate Kirstie Alley.
Come on now, only Rosie O’Donnell could do do that.
Only Rosie O’Donnell could eat Kirstie Alley. Phrasing…..
“La’Tecia Thomas”
*looks at picture*
“La’Tecia Thomas”
*looks at picture again to make sure that she’s really White.*
Holy Shit! This whole “transracial” thing has exploded recently!
For KK- http://www.ntv.co.jp/englishnews/society/car_chase_roils_rural_matsuyama/
Only link I could find online. Morning show had extended footage including more in the mall/pedestrian area.
https://www.libertarianism.org/media/free-thoughts/libertarian-moment
What a shock. ..
KMW and Nick Gillespie are basically Baghdad Bob at this point. Which, I suppose, is better than the likes of ENB trying to turn Libertopia into Wokeistan.
Except the Baghdad Bob game inevitably means you wind up going the ENB route. If you tell yourself long enough and hard enough that the kids, social justice cadres and all, are really libertarians that just don’t know it yet, you wind up making little compromises to make libertarianism more appealing, to recast in terms they’ll understand. And before you know it, you’re signing off on how “gender anarchy” enforced by the state mandating pronouns is proof that libertarianism has made the big time.
the Cato Institute has been foremost in finding any libertarian tendencies anywhere in the youth, using any numbers that they possibly can, which is a pursuit that I absolutely endorse because sometimes you just have to fake it until you make it.
Holy shit this is an embarassment. It’s openly admitting you’re lying hacks desperately trying to prop up a failing ideology. And they wonder why their limited base is rebelling against them serving as a representation of their ideas in the mainstream.
If it looks pathetic to us imagine how nonlibertarians see it. I always preferred Mises anyway.
That implies anyone bothers to read that site.
I long ago accepted the fact that libertarian ideas are not very popular. We are fortunate to live in a society, libertarian or not, where dissent is generally tolerated, if sometimes only by the government, and even then not without reservations, so that we can express such unpopular ideas, and maybe convince a few people.
I get the feeling that a lot of professional libertarians (oxymoron?) want to believe that their ideas have great currency and that they are, in fact, quite popular, despite just about every piece of evidence to the contrary. If that means adapting their positions so that they more closely align with the cool kids, well what’s so wrong with that?
From what I can see, it looks like the cool kids are libertarian-right.
Not that I would call Crowder a libertarian, but he’s closer to it than not. same with a lot of those people who are making money on youtube interviewing antifa and lefties.
The Libertarian professionals are having none of that, though.
Crowder is a lot closer to being a libertarian than some of the people writing for Reason. To be sure…
Fuck, Milo might be more libertarian than some of them are.
The younger generation of Republicans/conservatives lean libertarian. But for some reason, mainstream libertarians pretend this group doesn’t exist or doesn’t matter. Appealing to some cardboard proggie millennial is their preferred path.
But for some reason, mainstream libertarians pretend this group doesn’t exist or doesn’t matter.
Because the mainstream libertarians have got good gigs being the Court Libertarian. If you’ve got that, the last thing you need is a bunch of righties coming in and competing for your screen time. If you’re a Court Libertarian, the last thing you want is for libertarianism to gain widespread popularity on any side of the aisle. Then you’ve got to compete with these guys to represent libertarianism.
I was going to say, wdalasio summed it up best before, but he’s already posted. ‘Professional’ libertarians got to be the ultimate contrarians, framing themselves outside of the petty Red and Blue debate in the American political sphere. Now the up and coming Republican youth are leaning more libertarianish than ever before, and this utterly destroys their ability to pretend they’re outside that whole dynamic. This, combined with the ‘professional’ libertarians being in environments almost entirely consumed by left-wing groupthink, causes them to swing left in the desperate attempt to maintain that ‘middle ground’.
I get that, and I wish them the best of luck, but I have a feeling that the right-leaning libertarians and libertarian-leaning righties are going to fade out/be absorbed into and forgotten by the larger conservative movement, the same as has happened many times before. It’s kind of similar to what’s happening with the left-leaning libertarians, except they seem to be more giddy about the slide into being indistinguishable from non-libertarians and irrelevant in a larger context.
I just don’t get why the pro’s in LP don’t see the openness the new, young right presents. They are ripe for becoming full libertarians.
My guess, they’re happy enough to be minor celebrities representing that fringe ideology. If you’re a Nicholas Sarwark, do you really want to see a big influx of campaign players gunning for your spot?
Why wouldn’t they if libertarian groups tell them in so many words “You and your kind are not worth courting”.
I think that the problem is that a lot of the “professional libertarians” are professional media types who thought that libertarianism was going to be the hot new thing. Since then it has fizzled and they are doing their best to turn the places they work into poor man’s versions of the cool kid sites.
If reason is any example, libertarianism hasn’t fizzled so much as it’s been smothered by the very people who claimed they were promoting it. Even the stupid party has done a better job.
professional libertarians (oxymoron?)
Not at all. There are people who make their living being “the voice of libertarianism”. And I can’t help but suspect that they’re not hugely interested in seeing libertartianism succeed because it would mean a lot more competition for their little niche.
Judging by Will Wilkinson and Jason Brennan the professional libertarians are basically calling for some neoliberal technocrat TOP MEN to rule us and save the welfare state.
The desire to “save” the welfare state is just bizarre, as the only real threat to its existence is implosion under its own weight. Maybe they fancy themselves the Reagan/Thatcher-style reformers who will keep it moving along for the next 20+ years, but they don’t seem to understand the maxim “only Nixon can go to China”. The idea that there is a powerful right-libertarian cabal *pinches fingers* this close to eradicating the welfare state is just absolutely hilarious and absurd.
Unfortunately I early on suspected the focus on teh yutez and the libertarian moment was either a “clap your hands if you believe!” Situation (if we keep saying the libertarian moment is happening people will believe it therefore it will happen) or a Fabian attempt to convince the elites at the cocktail parties to listen to them.
Also note this is more than 2 years old…
No, I don’t think we’re having an economic libertarian moment.
…
And I do think we’re having an anti-libertarian moment in terms of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of association. I think we’re losing ground on all of those fronts
Well, we had a libertarian moment a few years back. Not that long ago we had a former LP presidential candidate who started thousands of young people thinking about libertarian ideas. A few years later you got a movement independent of that where thousands more people started buying into libertarian ideas. Hell, you even had prominent politicians recommending Bastiat.
But, they were icky. They were Republicans. They were Tea Party. Can’t get associated with those people. Hell, they probably don’t even have good cocktail parties. Just barbecues.
I remember the reaction of the Cato/Reason/LP axis to these things. It wasn’t “let’s help these folks navigate the last few steps”. It was to deride the Tea Parties as a bunch of yokels and dismiss Ron Paul as an alt-right racist.
Believe me, trying to get them to “navigate the last few steps” was tried on a local level until the libertarian Tea Partiers got, essentially, run out of the group for daring to suggest the Muslims had a right to build a mosque about a half mile from ground zero.
Well, it would be more accurately summarized as, the property owners had a right to make lawful use of their property, but that fails to convey the necessary social signals.
On second reading, this comment seems like it’s a specific dig at one side of the left-right political spectrum, but that’s not how I meant it. I only meant to convey the banality of the libertarian position, which in this case serves neither the left nor the right.
It does kind of make my point. Your formulation is certainly one that could appeal to Republicans more than creech’s. Both are consistent with libertarian principle. But, one is going to appeal to conservatives’ already held beliefs and the other is going to run entirely counter to them. Too much of the libertarian leadership seemed like, unless conservatives were willing to be convinced by the latter, there was no point in trying to convince them.
I love it when the USDA angers the organic crowd….
https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2017/11/13/Organic-industry-fights-back-against-USDA-delay-of-animal-welfare-rule
How about if you are so concerned that your organic meat is free range and transported humanly you do the honest thing and hunt it yourself?
The USDA should get out of the “organic” sticker business and better yet, cease to exist.
From the good old days when Trek was unpolitical and follow Roddenberry’s vision:
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Ferengi
Were the big dicks supposed to deflect any accusations of them being a metaphor for the jews?
No just Roddenberry’s sex fantasies. I suppose that is why Ferengi women don’t wear clothes.
I didn’t realize there were female Ferengi.
I don’t think they were ever shown on the show, because it was mentioned at least once that ferengi women are forbidden to wear clothes by law.
Ferengi we’re basically the living embodiment of ISIS/handmaiden’s tale/(((aliens))).
Well they used to be forbidden. But some guy decided that having 50% of the population not making money was a bad idea so let them wear clothes with pockets hoping they’d want to then fill them with spacegold.
Never saw Profit and Lace I see. The Quark gets a sex change and reversal episode.
I’m not exactly a Trekkie. My wife has it on from time to time and a roommate liked the original series. My viewing is mostly incidental.
Jesus Christ you’re a one-hit wonder.
Hey I got proof this time…
I love that you can find a 10 hour video of babies crying on youtube. Why would you need a 10 hour video?
When your asshole neighbors throw a party on a tuesday night and keep you up until 4 AM. You Turn it on right before you leave for work at 7:30, set the volume for max, and point the speakers right at their bedroom.
This guy gets it.
This is the proper response. While I was in Iraq the guys in the room next to me had opposite shifts from me. So I’d wake up every evening to him blasting The Office. He wasn’t too amused in the morning when I discovered I had No Doubt on my iPod.
Turn up the volume and annoy the neighbors.
There’s a lot of weirder things with ten hour loops on youtube, many of which I suspect were created by Heroic Mulatto.
Sometimes he just needs it to get into the mood.
That and 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine.
Does that read 28 million views?
I looks like Johnny Blue Jeans got 44,476,153 views with the original version.
WTF Europe?
Obligatory
This is only eight hours; I couldn’t find one that was ten hours.
This is an flashback to pre-November 1989. Sorry, it is only one hour long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CjwTK59j0M
So how many of these Ferengi gals have tweeted their #MeToo stories?
They would, but they’re not allowed on the internet.
The more I read about Roddenberry, the more it seems like DS9 was a giant middle finger to him.
Ron Moore’s first script was rejected by Roddenberry as it involved a boy mourning his dead mom when Roddenberry felt that everyone accepts death in the future (except for Tasha Yar and the Crushers) so no surprise that he really went after the utopia in DS9
Apparently both Ira Steven Behr and Ronald D. Moore had a lot of issues with TNG’s simplistic world building and writing (Moore notoriously hates technobabble with a passion) so a lot of DS9 is them (primarily Behr) trying to ‘fix’ Star Trek.
Apparently a lot of the casts of the older Treks really hate DS9 for similar reasons (Takei’s well known for whining about it, being the lefty idiot he is).
DS9 is still pretty left, it’s just “realistic left” rather than “utopian left”. I mean, hell, there’s that whole Sisko-revisiting-1950s-racism thing, meanwhile the Ferengi developed a women’s rights movement, and they still managed to slip subtle commentary about contemporary social issues in there.
Speaking on the whole transracial thing above, no one has really bothered to question whether Filipino is even a distinct race (even using that word distinct is a rabbit hole here). It’s like saying I identify as Zimbabwean to me.
Transethnic, then? Transnational already has a totally different meaning, though.
Perhaps the future is being able to identify not just as a member of a racial group, but subtypes of subtypes of that racial group. Like I identify as an negroid Jamaican bobsledder. With diabetes.
that means you’re a train, right?
Shitlords, the gift you’ve been waiting to give your daughters is finally here! You can now buy a doll that will teach her the importance of being a filthy whore and covering up! It’s hijab barbie!
I gave my sister a hijab once. She wasn’t really amused.
These euphemisms are getting pretty . . . doctrinal.
I love it when a business plan comes together.
Two guys explain why you need their help to turn your chuch into a hard target.
Did I miss it, or is there nothing about packing heat?
Fuck Ventura.
Jesus (@((# Christ.
Fuck you. He was my favorite politician ever!
The only thing about this that makes me the least bit sad is GiGi missing what should have been his final World Cup.
Please tell me, as an Eagles brother, you’re not one of those tiresome anti-Azzurri types.
Nah. Where I have no rooting interest, I just like it when unexpected things happen. Italy and the Dutch missing the World Cup, given all the history both those sides have, is pretty damn incredible. And Sweden deserved to go through on the basis of their play throughout qualifying.
Sweden deserved it.
BUT.
Sassuolo would have beaten them.
That’s what’s fucken aggravating. Always shooting itself in the foot Italy. Mind you, two straight WC they suck.
I’m still trying to figure out how you badly need a goal in that second half and you leave Insigne on the bench.
It’s the travesty of it all. There’s footage of De Rossi telling the ass. coach to put on Insigne on. Instead, Ventura wanted to put De Rossi – a player passed his prime and is spent on.
It’s madness.
As Paolo Cannavaro said, ‘mummies’ run Italian soccer now.
I see it getting worse before it gets better. Conte drove an average Italy to beat Belgium and Spain and Germany needed penalties (still incapable of beating Italy in open play) to victories on the force of his personality and solid tactics.
To be sober, Insigne is solid but is he the game breaker Italy has generally had over the years? Not sure. Then again, it’s not like Ventura did anything on any level to try and find out.
4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1. That’s what this team would have excelled under. If he did a 4-3-3 they would have won 2-0 without a doubt.
Instead, he chose the system and his ego over the team.
Tavecchio is another one that has to go. Fucken dinosaurs.
I would like to add I think had he used Insigne they would have scored at least one.
Sweden’s defense was vulnerable to technical players like that.
Yes, pretty incredible. Astonishing.
Ventura was such an incredibly stubborn muppet.
Heh. Italian fans call Ventura Italy’s ‘Roy Hodgson’.
That’s cold.
They basically are saying Italy did exactly what not to do: Handle a crisis like England does.
“FIGC demonstrated a classic senior management response to any crisis. Ignore the grass roots, be risk averse and appoint a ‘yes-man’ manager to direct the blame on to. Ventura is a red-herring that convinced no one from day one. Conte showed potential of an average squad last year, it was upto FIGC to develop a clear vision with the right coach, align leagues and make investment in young Italians viable for clubs. They chose the easy way out and paid for it.”
Yup. Sounds like England. Although they seemed to have finally got out of it.
Just finished watching it. Astonishing.
Mi dispiace.
But only a little.
/Germany fan
I’ve never ever seen an Italian side with such atrocious passing. Usually they’re so self-assured and slick.
They were a disorganized mess. Never seen anything like it. It has to fall on the coach. He simply just had them all playing out of position. Darmian on the left side? He rammed everyone to fit a 3-5-2. Retarded beyond belief. He’s a product – I think – of Coverciano as all Italian coaches are. The coaching school said to the the best on the planet. ALL Italian coaches get looked at by teams around the world.
I guess one flies over the cuckoos nest every once in a while.
As you can tell, I’m still in disbelief. Italy is up there with Brazil, Germany and Argentina. And that pedigree takes a big hit with this result.
Sigh. I guess it’s for the better. Maybe they’ll do a major, meaningful overhaul like Germany did.
Ditto for the USA, on another level…
But yeah, I’m not familiar with all the nitty-gritty on the Italian team with coaches and such like you are – just noticed they played like shit.
Yes, and that’s why some actually think this is for the better as this team wasn’t going anywhere under Ventura even if they got through and it’s the only way to get Italians to do something. Chiellini, Bonucci and Barzagli are done. De Rossi is done. How could they perform in Russia? Only Buffon was still sharp. It was the time to play all the young players and Ventura either ignored them or chose the wrong ones.
Know what? This is a common feature in Italian soccer. They did the same thing to Gianni Rivera in the 1960s. They did it to Roberto Baggion in 1998. In 2002, Trappatoni removes Vieri. They have all these weird hang ups about this player can’t play with this one and that he can’t go into this system so I’ll use this more versatile albeit less talented player. It’s really hit or miss. It’s quite fascinating really to look at the highs and lows of Italian soccer which is filled with drama. Filled with self-infliction, bad luck and moments of sheer excellence.
They’re the opposite of Germany but they’re just as clinical.
Well…were.
DIo mio! BAGGIO.
Baggion. Forgive me father for I have sinned….
My relatives are German. Why the fuck would I root for Italy?
And they really should be wearing green, not blue. :-p
Italy should always go with rosso corsa.
Blue is for the House of Savoy.
Blue is Italy’s color.
Or rosso corsa as Tundra mentions – but that’s motor sports.
Fuck Ventura Highway.
Ha, I finally got around to digging into the retard-comments on the Dalmia piece, and it seems like Reason has quadrupled their collection of legitimate racists/possible trolls, with the few remaining old-timers shitting on them. Hope they’re happy with their new audience.
it might be working?
Wow, look a that cliff right when this site was started.
Be really interesting to see what their next webathon looks like
Not going to lie. I miss TOS.
Glad I happened upon the glibs. Wish we had more folks over.
Yeah, there’s a few I miss. This place is excellent, but a few good-faith lefties or off-the-rack moderates would be nice to open up our bubble here.
I sort of mentioned that the other day. We are a bit one sided here. That said, good faith lefties are a rare commodity.
I have been a regular at TOS since before HyR. I could count the number of good-faith lefties on one hand*, and probably none in the last 10 years.
*I was probably one of them in the early 00’s.
MEH, while not a lefty I don’t always tow the glibetarian lion, and of the times I’ve tried to argue against the grain I’d estimate, 70% are ignored out right*, 20% are dismissed because I’m apparently a sock puppet**, and 10% generate some legitimate back and forth. Stated versus revealed preferences and what not.
*granted that could be because I’m not good at making my point.
**gambol
http://5newsonline.com/2017/11/11/charlotte-air-traffic-controller-charged-with-having-weapon-of-mass-destruction/
I’m not sure a pipe bomb should be categorized as a weapon of mass destruction.
In case you didn’t think Jackson had corpse-fucked Tolkien enough for one generation, Bezos okays Lord of the Rings prequel series to be streamed on Amazon Prime.
The amount of money people spend on played-out franchises to avoid ever having compelling, original content is astonishing.
yeah, you’d think this would be a decent pitch = “hey (famous author): i will give you $10million (plus royalties on back end) to write me a wicked cool TV series. ”
but i think the math they do is, “I only want to invest in stuff which has a better than 50/50 chance at making its money back”
and LotR already has hundreds of millions worth of ‘free audience’; ergo, the $250m is really just “rights to sell that pre-existing audience some new shit”.
And that makes sense. If the article is correct that Bezos wants Game of Thrones in the Tolkien universe, well, that’s kinda violating the spirit of his works, but whatever. Maybe it’ll be good. But hell, it would be nice to see a few hundred million poured into a Neuromancer series. Or one of Stephenson’s works. Or even updating Neverwhere now that American Gods has had some success.
It didn’t say who they bought from, but it’s from the Tolkien estate, it’s probably the Silmarillion. It’s got a lot of content, and it has a drastically different tone to it. I’m kind of excited.
But there’s very little dialogue in that book, and it’ll need a first-class writer to bring the characters to life. The book goes from event to event so quickly that it’s more of a timeline than an actual character-driven story.
I would kill for a quality Silmarillion adaptation.
I’ve thought about it a bunch, and I keep running into the same problem: how would you handle the timeline? A season dedicated to each individual story? That would maybe work best, because the other option is to have decades pass between episodes.
What do you mean new?
Do you know how many qualty Sci Fi and Fantasy novels that have never been turned into a movie/show there are out there?
The whole problem with making them was they were not well suited to being converted into movies, As a multi season TV series however those problems go away and since you can now have big budget multi season adaptations of books I can understand why every studio out there is not gunning to produce shows based on every popular work out there.
You can start with Lucifers Hammer by Niven and Pournelle and get 4 10 episode seasons out of it
On the Fantasy side you could milk a 4 seasons out of the Shanara series and probably another 6 – 8 out of the Dragonriders of Pern
So yeah not only can they not write anything new and original they can’t even open up to using works that have not been tried before.
Shannara is already on season 2. I saw a notice that Pern was acquired again about a year ago I think, but nothing since, so maybe that fell apart.
I have a lot of theories for something like this – my dreams if I ever won the lottery.
Seeing how well netflix has done with funding some original anime (cartoon network did a decent job with Big O back in the day) – I would adapt John Ringo’s “Dark Tide Rising” zombie series of books as a set of anime seasons – 10-13 episodes per book. I think it would translate very well and be very marketable stateside and in Japan (very strong, young female characters, lots of guns and military equipment, lots of violence, etc). Some of the scenes just work so well.
I’m going to be very interested to see what the rights are actually FOR, because the article mentions New Line (which is the sub of WB that acquired the original LotR rights). The film rights to the Hobbit had to be acquired/shared with Universal who still held them from way back in the day. The Tolkien Estate said at the time, that they would not relinquish the film rights to works not already available (i.e The Silmarillion and associated writings) . So either it changed its mind, or I suspect that, just like with the Hobbit, the LotR rights give the right to anything in the Appendices to LotR to build prequel material, but that’s all. So they’re gonna need some people who can build out a story from a timeline and a few mentions of historical events
“The amount of money people spend on played-out franchises to avoid ever having compelling, original content is astonishing.”
Oh come on, The Washington Posts makes up new stories all the time.
Hollywood has been remaking stuff since the dawn of time. The Humphrey Bogart Maltese Falcon was the third version, and there were a whole bunch of series, usually with detectives as the main character.
One of the best of those series was the one that starred Powers Boothe as Philip Marlowe, back in the 80’s. He died not too long ago.
Sorry, Jeff – I’m STILL not paying good scratch for Prime.
I love my free 2-day shipping on everything…it’s a great package deal.
I buy in $25 increments and wait 3 more days – free shipping. The only time I pay for shipping is internationa or 3rd-partyl orders which I think are not Prime-eligible anyway.
Nice abbreviated links for the most part, except there is really only one true libertarian song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX6ggRByE8g
Here you are
https://youtu.be/_mKPCJUW2I4
my favorite.
No this one. NSFW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPLtqT2_PQo
“It brought a tear to my eye, and a bulge to my pants.”
– Q Continuum
For those of you who dig the sportzballz, I highly recommend The Athletic. They are a startup sports journalism site and – at this point- only cover a handful of cities and provinces, but the writing is top-notch and I have yet to come across any stupid fucking politics.
My favorite hockey writer left the Red Star (no more clicks for them!) to go there, so I did a trial. It’s pretty cheap – $40/yr – and so far I’m really pleased.
No soccer, though, Rufus.
Thanks tundra!
I’ve been hearing things about them. They even have some local guys there.
The Athletic is absolutely worth the money, especially if they have city coverage for your favorite team/area. Their Philly coverage is incredible.
Pulling Russo is kind of a big deal, no?
If they can get Sid Hartman, I’m there. /laughing so hard I can’t even breathe
It’s really good. The level of detail in the articles is amazing.
Russo has been telling the truth – way harsher than when he worked for Glen. Give it a shot.
This won’t end well.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/11/13/army-lifts-ban-on-cutters-mentally-ill-and-drug-abusers-to-meet-recruiting-goals.html
Army lifts ban on cutters, mentally ill and drug abusers to meet recruiting goals
***
Facing low recruitment levels, the U.S. Army quietly lifted its ban on allowing people with a history of mental illness, self-mutilation and drug abuse to serve in the military – despite warnings from the industry about the risks involved.
The new rules green-light recruits who have bipolar disorder, depression and issues with cutting – a process in which a person takes a knife or razor to his or her own skin – along with those who bite, hit or bruise themselves intentionally.
“I am shocked,” Craig Bryan, executive director of the National Center for Veterans Studies at The University of Utah, told Fox News. “This contradicts everything we have been working toward for the past 10-to-15 years.”
***
Is it meeting recruiting goals, or yielding to complaints by mental health advocates?
I think the first.
mental sandbox time
Fixing the Army’s manpower shortage
get rid of:
-height/weight standards: I have seen way too many good people get kicked out just because their neck is too narrow or their waist too wide.
-urinalysis: who cares if they get high if they can do their jobs? There are plenty of functional alcoholics in the military.
-death by Power Point: put all that crap on the internet where I can read it and save everyone the hassle of having to sit through 100 hours of bullshit.
add:
-minimum of 3 pull-ups on APFT
change:
-IET status ends after 6 months of service
IET stands for intial entry training. It applies to soldiers who have not completed all their training. However, some jobs take longer to train than others, which can to certain folks (like yours truly) having to spend 2 years putting up with all kinds of silly rules.
This stuff is never going to happen, but it’s fun to imagine.
Why people get out of the military:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlCjU2xUFEo
but then the enemy will know all our best stuff!?? THEY’LL SEE THE BIG BOARD!
Come to think of it, some of those presentations could be useful in interrogations.
“Alright Ahmed, you can tell us what you know, or we can spend the next 6 hours learning about how to prevent and report sexual harassment. There will be several role-play scenarios…”
“No! Please! I will tell you everything…”
Good god, the last thing you should ever do with a cutter is put them in an extremely stressful situation (like basic training or an actual deployment) and give them a gun.
I honestly thought you meant these guys.
Or these
Called it!
The U.S. Army Is Searching for a New Light Tank
http://warisboring.com/the-u-s-army-is-searching-for-a-new-light-tank/
***
Two decades ago, the U.S. Army phased out its last light tank. Now the Pentagon has decided its infantry could use some lightweight armored firepower, and is looking to choose between at least three off-the-shelf designs by 2019.
This initiative, called Mobile Protected Firepower, intends to outfit infantry brigades with their own 14-vehicle companies of armored fire support vehicles. That way, they no longer depend on separate heavy armored battalions to detach tanks to help them. The new light tanks would assist the infantry by blasting bunkers, fortified houses, machine gun nests and the occasional armored vehicle.
This job is currently performed by wheeled M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun Systems packing 105-millimeter guns, but the 18.5-ton vehicles have suffered from various defects, including breakdowns caused by the recoil of their main guns, so the Army is looking to phase them out.
A light infantry support tank would be easier to deploy rapidly across the globe in an emergency response force, or to backup armor-deficient airborne troops in an airport seizure or combat drop scenario. Once in theater, the smaller vehicles could cross lighter bridges, pass through narrower city streets, and wade through marshier terrain than huge, 70-ton M-1 Abrams main battle tanks.
***
comment 41 from Oct 17 PM links:
***
mental sandbox time
I was thinking today about the best way to clear buildings in a city. Here’s what I came up with:
First, you need a light tank, like the FV101 Scorpion. Fit it with a trailer so it can transport 10 soldiers or so.
On the outskirts of the city, the infantry dismount and unhitch the trailer. The infantry use the tank as cover and protect it from guys with RPGs. The tank’s armor needs to be thick enough to stop 50 cal. This tank isn’t meant to fight other tanks or stand up to heavy stuff. It’s job is to provide cover and breach buildings.
When they need to clear a building, the tank blows a hole in the wall and the infantry throw in frag or flash bang grenades before they breach. It’s better to go through a hole in the wall because the doors and windows are the most likely places for booby traps.
A light tank uses less fuel, has greater range, is air-transportable, and doubles as a troop transport. It can go places very heavy main battle tanks can’t.
The US used a light tank called the Sheridan, but the Army cancelled it on the basis of having one tank fill all the roles- which is impossible.
***
There are a ton of uses for a light infantry support tank in the asymetrical warfare that we will likely be facing for the forseeable future
We’re only facing warfare because we’re aggressive and invade other countries.
An ISIS publication directly refuted that claim recently. Not that they speak for anyone but themselves, but they said they would wage war against the west regardless of its aggression. I’ll try to find a link when I get time.
ISIS Is Killing Us Because We Are Not Muslim
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/nabeel-qureshi/isis-is-killing-us-because-we-are-not-muslim_b_11793770.html
***
The magazine’s editors answer this question in what appears to be the issue’s centerpiece article, “Why We Hate You and Why We Fight You”: Hating sinners and killing disbelievers is also part of fitrah. According to ISIS, it is the Muslim’s duty to kill sinners and non-Muslims.
ISIS displays frustration in the article against “liberal journalists” who “would like you to believe that we do what we do because we’re simply monsters…” They lament the fact that their mujahideen, Muslims waging jihad, “have repeatedly stated their goals, intentions, and motivations” but that it is too “politically incorrect” for the media to reveal the truth. To set the record straight, ISIS clarifies “to the West – yet again” why they fight us. They provide six reasons in this article:
1. Because we do not believe in Islamic monotheism.
2. Because we do not obey Allah.
3. Because of the atheists among us.
4. Because of our crimes against the religion of Islam.
5. Because of our crimes against Muslims.
6. Because of our invasion of Muslim lands.
While discussing the first reason, ISIS says, “just as your disbelief is the primary reason we hate you, your disbelief is the primary reason we fight you, as we have been commanded to fight the disbelievers until they submit to the authority of Islam, either by becoming Muslims, or by… living in humiliation under the rule of the Muslims.”
The command to which ISIS refers, to fight disbelievers, is found in the Quran, 9:29, which says, “Fight the Jews and Christians who do not believe in Allah… until they pay the ransom tax and are humiliated.” This was one of the last commands of Muhammad to his people, and ISIS specifically cites this verse as their reason for fighting Jews and Christians. Their basis for killing all others is 9:5, which says, “Slay the idolators wherever you find them,” another verse ISIS cites and applies literally.
Their point is clear: They kill us primarily because we are not Muslim. Leaving no room for doubt, the article goes on to say, “Although some might argue that your foreign policies are the extent of what drives our hatred, this particular reason for hating you is secondary, hence the reason we addressed it at the end of the above list…. [O]ur primary reason for hating you will not cease to exist until you embrace Islam.”
***
That’s a big reason, but there are others.
Ted is correct. There are no foreign armies on our shores.
I challenge anyone to convince me we should still be at war in the middle east.
No armies, but still plenty of groups with the desire and the means to attack the US and its allies.
If these groups are not defeated, or at least resisted, they will conquer large areas just as ISIS did.
Does fighting ISIS over there make the US safer? Probably not. But it’s still a worthy cause, IMO.
ISIS are a bunch of scum bags.
There are scumbags all over the world. Would it be a worthy cause to go to war in North Korea. How about venezuela?
There are scumbags all over the world. the U.S. can’t kill them all.
The US already tried that once, and we got the Bradley. This clip captures the Bradley development process and unfortunately too true:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXQ2lO3ieBA
All too true.
The Sheridan also had the problem of being thinner skinned that the M113.
What’s wrong with putting a 105 on a Stryker or Bradley?
The Sheridan was handy for the airborne – otherwise useless.
They did put a 105 on the Stryker. They regretted it.
Now, a 105 on a Bradley could work – hell, if the Army can get past NIH there are plenty of off-the-shelf turrets designed specifically to be dropped onto an IFV to turn it into a light tank. But of course NIH is tattooed on the forehead of everyone involved in DoD procurement, so we’ll spend 10 years and the GDP of Norway making our own…
The M113s (mentioned in the clip of acquisition during Viet Nam) are still in service, due to be replaced by the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle.
Yeah……I’ll believe that after it happens. I saw the rise and fall of the Comanche, the SGT York and others.
What about some modified unimog?
maybe the scorpion?
Interesting, but I think with the tactics you describe, you run into the same problem the French and British ran into with their ‘infantry tank/cav tank’ doctrine when they were if they faced a dense armored formation, that is, being, well and truly boned.
As far as the types of COIN/FID fights we are in right now (for better or worse), something like that is practical but there are a number of vehicles already in the inventory, or very close to being in the inventory that preform precisely the role you describe, the Brads fit this role and while a 25mm bushmaster is no 120mm HE, it and the TOWs will still ruin someone that isn’t behind the best of cover’s day, there was a Stryker gun carrier in development (I don’t think it made it to production, recoil causing a vehicle to fall over when fired fully traversed is generally considered a bad thing) but there is no reason to think that mounting a souped up Karl Gustav or some other weapons system, other than the M2s or MK19s that are on it normally, on it is not possible.
I think the problem with light armor for MOUT is RPGs.
I don’t think anyone in today’s Army has read VDH’s bit on Stalingrad (in NR the other day).
I need to make up one of those Pulp Fiction memes – Stalingrad Motherfucker, Study It!
Have you watched “Stalingrad” 1993 version? It is a great movie and shows the fight from the Wermacht perspective. Do not waste your time on the 2013 Soviet, excuse me Russian, version or Enemy at the Gates. (The book by Craig is very good, the movie a waste.)
Media outlet virtue signals…shoots self in dick. Rest of media falls over itself to do likewise, except harder.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2743965-colin-kaepernick-named-2017-citizen-of-the-year-by-gq-featured-on-cover
Sorry , y’all I blew my wad this morning.
Just noticed this. The proper spelling is “ya’ll”
Ennnnnhhh! /wrong buzzer
“Y’all” is correct. “You” is being contracted.
“Ya’ll” contracts the word “All”, which would make the phrase “Ya all”, which doesn’t sound southern. And no northerner would use “Ya all” when the regionally-superior “youse” is available.
Thats just like your opinion, man.
Except for those freaks who use “yinz”.
That’s only for people from Pittsburgh, whom last I checked aren’t considered to be human.
Floridians don’t get a say in who gets redefined as nonhuman.
But Canadians do? Canadians don’t get a say in anything except how to incorporate a maple leaf into the logos of American companies that do business there.
As if I give a fuck what a Mooninite has to say on the subject.
Fair point
Don’t forget “youns.”
I just prefer using “bitches”. Works everywhere.
‘Sup bitch?
That’s it. Although you can use ‘bitches’ even if your talking to just one person. Whatever your preference.
You can also add a “my” in front as in ‘sup my bitches.
News that should surprise nobody.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tom-sizemore-was-removed-movie-set-allegedly-violating-11-year-old-girl-1057629
Wasn’t the soldier that Sizemore played in Black Hawk Down the one convicted of sexual abuse of his daughter (maybe step-daughter)? Or was it a different one? I know one of the Black Hawk Down guys was…
No, that was Ewan McGregor. His character was fictional, created to replace the guy who abused his own daughter.
To be honest, abuse doesn’t even cover what he did. I am surprised the death penalty wasn’t on the table.
OT: I got a little inspired by that Cooking of the 18th Century channel on YouTube…
I rubbed a pork loin end roast with salt, pepper, dry mustard, cloves, nutmeg, and a little cayenne. After searing all sides in a Dutch oven, I put the lid on and braised it in the oven for about four hours. I removed the meat to a plate, then added some molasses and apple cider vinegar to the sauce and simmered it for a short while longer. Delicious.
I never really cared for reheated pieces of a leftover roast, so I’ll probably shred it up, mix it in with the remaining sauce, and have pulled pork sandwiches for the next few days.
Interesting. Link?
That exact thing that I made wasn’t a recipe, but it’s very similar to this:
https://youtu.be/GwkRWIwZ43A
Except I was too lazy to fire up the barbecue on a cold, rainy day, so I just cooked it in the oven.
that sounds incredibly good and i must replicate this at some point
im a big fan of any “meat, cooked slow for couple of hours” process. don’t do it often myself (neither time nor facilities), but my best buddy used to throw 3 or so “pork parties” a year, where he’d smoke a big ol hunk o pig, make some sauces, and invite 20 people over for beer and whatever extras people brought along. I miss those dearly.
The crock pot is your friend. Get everything ready on the weekend. Put it in the crock pot before you leave for work on Monday and have an awesome meal waiting when you get home from work. My wife will have parties were everyone gets together and cuts up veggies and tosses them in a gallon size ziplock along with meat, spices, and maybe a sauce. They’ll each make a half a dozen meals to throw in their freezer. Then you just toss it in the crockpot any morning you like and dinners ready when you get home. If your going to toss in frozen just need to make sure it freezes in a shape that will fit in the pot.
a few years ago, I cooked a small brisket in a crockpot. I trimmed the cut, rubbed it down with yellow mustard amd onion soup mix, and pit it on low in the crockpot for 10 hours or so. It turned out really well.
SLD, the brisket was from a cow born on my place, raised on my feed, and killed by my hand.
That sounds awesome.
Name?
I think that one was “white belly”.
Sounds good. I think you will have trouble making good pulled pork out of it though. The loin is not nearly fatty enough for good pulled pork. A shoulder or a Boston. it t are ideal for that.
You can chop it up and put it between two buns. It may taste good, but it won’t be pulled pork.
Add some Sweet Baby Ray’s and your good to go. Could add some slaw too. My recipe: store bought Cole Slaw mix tossed in Asiago Peppercorn dressing. Add slightly less dressing then you think you need.
IMHO. I repeat IMHO.
If your pulled pork needs BBQ sauce, then you are doing it wrong.
To your point on coleslaw. I never had coleslaw on a pulled or sandwich until a few years ago. It is excellent. My wife makes a great cole slaw that pairs extremely well with pulled pork.
Troll time: Whenever Reason has its fundraising drive, Glibertarians runs a donation drive at the same time. I’d bet Glibs would take in at least 20% of what Reason does.
I think Glib’s tax status has a a cap on fundraising.
Then do a donation drive wherein the proceeds are given to a charity. Is that permitted?
Perhaps we instead have a contest on how we are spending the money that we aren’t donating to Reason.
+1 bottle of Laphroiag 16.
Looks like the snowflake blizzard over the pond will continue unabated.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/11/13/teacher-faces-discipline-after-using-wrong-pronoun-for-transgender-student/
“More than 2,000 children aged three to 18 in the U.K. were referred to a gender identity specialist last year”
When I was 3, I identified as Superman, GI Joe, and the Lone Ranger.
T. Rex, here.
Nice
T. Rex the giant lizard, or T. Rex the rock band?
1965, so lizard.
I read a lot of calvin and hobbes as a kid.
The strips where calvin imagines himself as a T. Rex are the best
I was a fan of Spaceman Spiff, myself.
This side of the pond too –
I’ve been working on my list of the 100 best wise sayings. Let me know what I missed or should replace.
The Best Wise Sayings
The goal of this work is to provide to future generations a short list of the most important lessons from the history’s greatest minds. There are many other things worth learning, but I tried to put the most important things here. Some sayings are paraphrased.
These lessons can be compressed further.
1. Remember that you will die.
2. You don’t need to be rich to be happy.
3. Preserve your health with good habits.
4. Good relations with friends and family will bring more happiness than high achievement, money, or fame.
Achievement
1. Slow and steady wins the race.
2. Avoid competition and you will succeed without effort.
3. Practice makes perfect
4. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
5. Everything is easy when you know what to do.
6. It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
7. Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
8. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
9. Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.
10. You can’t win if you don’t play.
11. No pain, no gain.
12. Better late than never.
13. Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.
14. There are many paths to the top of the mountain.
Arguments
15. There is no point in arguing about matters of taste.
16. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
17. Beliefs based on facts are defended with facts. Beliefs based on emotions are defended with emotions.
18. When the debate is over, slander becomes the tool of the loser.
19. An excuse is uglier than an apology.
20. Anger is a brief madness.
21. Opinion is halfway between ignorance and knowledge.
22. The pen is mightier than the sword.
23. A broken clock is right twice a day.
24. Religion is regarded by the wise as false, by the foolish as true, and by the rulers as useful.
25. Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.
Death
26. Everyone was dead for billions of years before they were born and no one suffered from it.
27. At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.
28. The only 2 sure things are death and taxes.
29. There is no point in tip-toeing through life just to arrive safely at death.
30. Life is short, art is long, experience is treacherous, judgement is difficult.
Happiness
31. The easiest way to be unhappy is to compare yourself to other people.
32. Wine has drowned more than the sea.
33. If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.
34. Pleasure is fleeting.
35. Everything in moderation.
36. Everyone should exercise. What a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the strength and beauty of his own body.
37. It is not the world that disturbs you, but what you believe about it.
Law
38. Authority, not truth, makes law.
39. If an accusation is all that is needed to condemn someone, who could be called innocent?
40. Power corrupts.
41. If you follow all the rules, you miss all the fun.
42. 2 wrongs don’t make a right
43. Big fish eat little fish.
44. The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.
Love
45. No act of kindness, however small, is wasted.
46. It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.
47. Better alone than with bad company.
48. Love all, trust a few, harm none.
49. Forgive and forget.
50. Live and let live.
Knowledge
51. I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
52. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
53. The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper names.
54. The simplest explanation is usually the right one.
55. All that glitters is not gold.
56. There is nothing new under the sun.
57. Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
58. Fight the ocean and you will drown.
59. Pain is the best teacher.
60. The drunk mouth speaks the sober mind.
61. Do not go if afraid. Once gone, do not be afraid.
62. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
63. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
64. Actions speak louder than words.
65. There is strength in numbers.
Money
66. Money and power always find each other.
67. Money comes like a tortoise and runs away like a gazelle.
68. The greatest wealth is to live content with little.
69. A fool and his money are soon parted.
70. Neither a borrower nor a lender be.
71. Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.
72. You can’t get something for nothing.
War
73. War is hell.
74. Only the dead have seen the end of war.
75. War does not determine who is right – only who is left.
76. All warfare is based on deception.
77. A secret is safe with 3 people if 2 of them are dead.
78. The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.
79. Pick your battles wisely.
3. Preserve your health with good habits.
If one would really enjoy 40 years of hedonism, why should he spend 80 years depriving himself of the things he desires?
man who go to bed with itchy butthole, wake up with stinky finger.
Reverse #4 with #1 in your primary list. Most people can’t remember more than 4 rules, and sure as hell don’t follow more than 1 or 2
*on that same point, i’d reverse #3 w/ #2
Moderation is for monks.
The purpose of life is to arrive at your time for the grave, battered and torn, scrapped and with open eyes going “Holy shit, what a ride!”
Amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics
Plus go read the Havamal (Odin’s sayings) and pick your favorites.
this.
it probably applies to business, warfare, and everything in general life. individual behavior is all well and good, but unless you’ve prepped your supply chain, its all for naught. the people who build conditions for success are always methodically eliminating risks
Better to be thought of as a fool than open ones mouth and remove all doubt.
My kids have that drilled into their heads.
If life was fair, evolution and religion would be a mute point.
moot
My favorite achievement quote isn’t there:
“Never mistake activity for achievement”.
—John Wooden
Everybody get their popcorn ready. Shit will be hilarious tomorrow. Peter Vescey used “n……..” in a tweet regarding KP and LeBron, claiming he was quoting Biggie…
I can only imagine being a basketball commentator has to be fraught with danger.
hopefully he might say, “who fucking cares? you all need to get a life”…
…and THEN be fired. at which point, it might teach other people that apologizing is a waste of time.
Wait, people are freaking out because someone wrote quote unquote “n*****”? Like, just the letter N with a series of asterisks behind it?
clearly it was periods and not asterisks, you racist! Periods matter to!
Shame on a ***** who try to run game on a *****
I don’t really care about this story. But this just kind of sprang forth from muh brain.
INT/EXT–ROY MOORE’S CAR-1986–NIGHT
ROY is driving past the local diner on his way home from work. He is a homely looking fellow, with low self-esteem. He spots a young girl, BEVERLEY, burst out of the diner crying, he slows the car down and pulls up beside her.
ROY
Hey there darlin’, is there something wrong?
BEVERLEY
My boyfriend was supposed to pick me up…
She sobs
BEVERLEY (CON’T)
But he’s not here! I can’t get home.
(SOBBING)
It must be because I’m ugly!
ROY
Well, hell I can drive you home.
BEVERLEY
R…r..really?
ROY
Sure, jump in.
Beverley enters the car and sits in the passenger seat. Roy places his hand on her neck to comfort her. When he tries to remove his hand his watch is caught on the neck of her shirt. As he tries to pull his hand away, he inadvertently forces her head down towards his crotch. He wrestles the watch free and both giggle about it. He then drives her home.
INT–CONFERENCE ROOM–DAY
SUPER: 35 YEARS LATER
A now aged Beverley stands at a podium with GLORIA by her side.
BEVERLEY
I tried fighting him off, while yelling at him to stop, but instead of stopping, he began squeezing my neck, attempting to force my head onto his crotch.
FADE OUT
California Gov. Jerry Brown to world climate leaders in Germany: ‘#WeAreStillIn’
#weareshillin’
This is indefensible:
Nick Gillespie is a troll.
P.S. I don’t know who will win the Republican nomination in 2022, but I guarantee that if it’s a man, he’ll be accused of sexual misconduct.
. . . even I’m starting to wonder if all men are rapists in their hearts.
The Republicans should nominate STEVE SMITH. Why nominate someone who only may have committed sexual assault when you can offer the real thing?
just as a random Q+A i might try again later…
…check your youtube subscriptions, and which of them you’ve received no notifications from despite them putting out 5 or more new vids.
(there is a number next to your subscriptions when you scroll though the list, so its easily seen)
list those here.
what i find interesting about my list of channels that i have never been notified about? half are people who are putting music on youtube (and violating copyright)…. the other half are all right-of-center-channels.
** i now realize this is all due to some change youtube made a few weeks/months ago which basically stopped updating people about subs unless they specifically ‘clicked the bell’ and asked to be repeatedly updated on X or Y channel.
what i still think is weird is why i still get pushed content from a half dozen subbed channels, but none of the others. do they pay for it? i can only assume the change was based on some YT attempt to sort profitable from unprofitable content. Whether any of it was ideological… well its odd. Some gun channels i got constant updates from (e.g. MAC) others? (forgotten weapons?) none.