Well the American League won the All Star Game. And Aaron Judge didn’t hit a ball all the way to Coral Gables, much to the fans’ dismay. That Froome guy is still leading the bike race. And the Joker/Agassi experiment seems to be working. Oh, and Venus Williams made it to the semifinals of Wimbledon for the thirty-eighth time. Ok, that is probably an exaggeration, but Jesus, how old is she? She will face limey Johanna Konta in the semifinals, in what will probably be the only match where the locals aren’t overwhelmingly pulling for her. The men Play their quarterfinals today as well, and America’s hopes sit on the shoulders of Sam Querry. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
That’s all I’ve got for sports unless you guys want to talk about the circus of a pre-fight promo tour where one guy mocks the tax problems of the other guy…who pulls out $100,000,000 checks and mocks him back for never seeing a big payday. I have a feeling the fight won’t be nearly as energetic as the buildup for the former once he gets clocked. But I’ve been wrong before.
Anyway, I want to play golf today, but I probably won’t get a chance. Its been raining off and on for a few days now and its coming around again. So expect me to sit here and stalk all day. Especially in…the links!
So Natalia Veselnitskaya says she never gave intel info to Trump Jr. In fact, she says she has no idea where that part of the story came from. Meanwhile, Don Jr. goes full Fredo-mode and releases emails that show he was trying to do big things, great things, yuuuuge things for the campaign by finding dirt on his dad’s opponent. Jesus, Fredo Donny, just keep Mo Green and the other investors out of the family’s way and stop trying to get too involved, capice?
I don’t quite understand the headline here. By “test,” do they mean “utilizes university policy as intended” or does it mean “enrages violent assholes that seem to have all the influence”? Either way, I’m going long on bike locks for the upcoming school year. I have a feeling there’ll be plenty of them swinging around.
I don’t say this often, because its almost never called for. But Texas needs to step up her game!
Leftist assclown gets invited on one of biggest PM news opinion shows in country. She then spends an entire column justifying her actions by making assumptions about her inviter without so much as giving them a chance to explain. (Yeah, its Salon. Oh, and Aman-duh Marcotte. Enter at your own risk.)
A weird-ass immigration story. I don’t particularly care for his defense. It would be better if, you know, people looked at the absurdity of drug laws.
This kid has a future in NASCAR. Or child protective services. Either way, lol.
Hey, God. get the rain out of here and give me some of this.
That’s all, peeps. Go out there and have a great day.
Comments
695 responses to “Wednesday Morning Links”
Awesome musical selection. Haven’t listed to Cream in years.
You’re welcome. They definitely made a heavy sound listenable.
Jack Bruce was an amazing musician. Not too many people can play a fret-less and sing at the same time.
An argument could be made that Clapton was the least talented member of Cream. Not an argument I would necessary try to defend, but it is within the realm of possibility.
Oh, it’s definitely possible. But I agree it’s difficult to compare a drummer to a guitarist.
Let’s just go with Jack Bruce being superior to both of them and leave it at that.
Bass player for the win!
I’m comfortable making the argument that Clapton was the most talented member of the band. And I’m not even a fan of much of his stuff after Derek and the Dominoes.
Bruce was easily the best songwriter of the lot, one of the best in all of rock. Check out some of the stuff on “Things We Like,” a shamefully underappreciated album.
After Cream broke up Ginger Baker drove from Europe to Nigeria (they made a great, funny short film of the journey) and met up with Fela Kuti. They recorded one of the all time great live albums. Ginger along with the incredible Tony Allen both rocked out full kits and traded off solos. It has one of my all time favourite songs on it, Gentleman. What an album.
https://www.amazon.com/Live-Ginger-Baker-Fela-Kuti/dp/B0031SO9QO
Check out “Beware of Mr. Baker” – great documentary.
For Sloppy
I prefer Angeline Ball. (Or Imelda Quirke to fans of the movie.)
I can’t listen to Sunshine of Your Love anymore without seeing Robert Deniro smoking in slo-mo, watching Morrie the way a lion watches a zebra.
The music in that movie was absolutely perfect. Like this gem.
Clinton lost because PA, WI, and MI have high casualty rates and saw her as pro-war, study says
Ridiculously wishful thinking.
That’s an interesting take. Somebody should point that out to all the anti-war lefties that have suddenly found their principles again after 8 years of silence (Cindy Sheehan excepted).
Cindy sheehan is back? I guess she wouldnt have given a shit if her son had been killed post 2008
In Sheehan’s defense, she never quit protesting the war, the reporters just stopped following her around in 2008.
Just to be clear, that’s what I meant. She kept her anti-war principles throughout the Obama years as well. It’s just that that narrative wasn’t being pursued once Bushitler left office.
I spent all of 2016 predicting that Hillary would lose all those swing states as well as Ohio and Florida because her primary campaign anti-gun rhetoric was so over the top. I’m still think I’m write. The fact that places where people are comfortable with are also places where they send more of their sons to the military and specifically to combat arms units doesn’t change that.
There is probably something there – sane people should instinctively distrust a woman who is so pro-war while being stridently anti-gun and anti-military.
Bullshit. She lost because Trump Junior met with some Russian lady.
As if the voters in those states could possibly be persuaded to not vote for a Democrat. I’m not sure these correlations are the least bit meaningful…
Of course, they don’t need to be persuaded not to vote for a Democrat. They need to be persuaded not to vote.
An informal survey – How vital is it that a story contain a character arc?
For context, I’ve had two people complain that the narrator of Shadowrealm does not change over the course of the book, that he is the same person at the end as he was at the beginning. My reaction was “Of course he doesn’t change, the story isn’t about him as a person, it’s about bringing a criminal to justice.” A lot of the inspiration had been drawn from detective fiction, and there are more than a few classic examples where the protagonist is not transformed by the crime or bringing the criminal to justice.
Since I knew I was starting down a rationalization trail where I was bound to grow defensive and belligerant, I figured I’d get some more opinions on the matter.
It’s a stupid complaint. A person may prefer to see character development. But it’s not some necessary component to telling a good story.
THIS!
I chalk it up to the increasing narcissism and self esteem issues in America. No one wants to see someone who is truly good or truly bad, because they “can’t relate.” Which really means they don’t like to read things where the character isn’t as flawed as they are or see themselves.
Probably an equal part pretentious millennials with sub-standard educations who can’t really critique art, so just say shit like, “Well yeah, but the character development was just not there.”
Jesus. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson rarely were “transformed” from beginning to end of a story. Tell these complainers to pound sand.
Or just ignore them.
How vital is it that a story contain a character arc?
It’s not.
Entirely dependent on the type of story. Detective story – I probably wouldn’t notice if it was an experienced detective with a big backstory.
Honestly, you did a good enough job with the characterization of the other characters, as well as some of the minor character arcs (dragon kid, for one showed some growth) that the specific complaint is null and void. Plus, you set up the whole “Step siblings” thing for the next book, and my impression is that you like to grow your characters through either their interactions with others, or through their teaching of others. I think you’ll end up with Travis growing through maybe mentoring some of the Young redeemers in the future, and showing growth that way.
I don’t know. I’m glad that you aren’t growing and leveling up Shadowdemon until he’s a minor deity with the sophistication and wisdom of an adult while still in in high school, But I also felt like Shadowrealm didn’t really go anywhere. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely enjoyed the read, but it felt like less than the other three books. The relationship with Ixa completely vanished and Nick was a cardboard cutout this time. Miss Pain is sort of in there, but doesn’t say or do anything. I get that this one is supposed to be about Travis and his brother getting blindsided while on vacation, but your books are at their best when channeling the teen comics teams of yesteryear (full disclosure: My favorite comic was The New Warriors. Don’t judge me). I’m not sure the lack of character arc per se bothered me, but I did feel like the book kind of rushed from set piece battle to set piece battle without much in between.
Like I said though, still a fun read and I’ll definitely read the next one too.
I’m not sure Nick was ever anything but a cardboard cut-out. He’s a background character I don’t know what to do with but is one the team so I can’t just ignore his existance (like I do with Photovolt).
I forgot Photovolt existed. Also judging from the terrifying and bizarre Kindle Unlimited ecosystem, it seems Travis needs to start harem building now if you want your books to fit in. I mean he doesn’t have a single sex slave yet and you’re on book 4 dude.
That reminds me, I found the female equivalent of harem building in chick-fantasy. I’ll have to write that up for the July book post.
At least in modern fantasy, I thought that harem building kind of started in chick-fantasy. Laurell K Hamilton excelled at creating relatively interesting protagonists and then writing ten books centering on finding out how many dicks she could cram into them.
What are you telling us? Chicks don’t like John Norman’s Gor milieu?
UNPOSSIBLE!
Bonus story: Knew a girl in college who loved the Gor series. And with that, I’ll draw a veil over the rest of the story.
Peeks under the veil. Ohhhhhhhhhh. Six banged a fat chick with low self esteem. *high fives*
Oh, she was cute as a button and not at all THICC, but totally batshit crazy, obviously. Had a collection of riding crops an’ shit.
Made quite an impression, you might say.
There are more than a few women out there who love the idea of being a Gorean sex slave, if you’re interested I could point you where to find them 🙂
No thanks, and being serious, for a change – I’ve had my fill of the whole sub/dom thing.
I don’t know what’s popular on KU, because I don’t have an account (don’t read enough for the price to be worth it). But if your statement is accurate, I have a theory on why. People are interested in these works but A: don’t want to shell out for every single one and see them as “free” in that environment, and B: there is the impression of anonymity, that is, there is not a persistant trace on their account that they bought this piece, which then does not risk future exposure of what they regard to be an embarassing fact.
In a similar vein, one of the random thoughts was “If Irvin Keyes goes villain…” there’s the most powerful telepath in the setting – who is also a teenage boy.
At first KU was pretty cool and I discovered new authors for free that I would never have taken a chance on otherwise. But over the last couple of years EVERY SINGLE BOOK seems to be erotica. Even if a book isn’t pitched as such, and in some cases they wait until book 2 or 3 in the series, but sooner or later it turns to porn. I get KU for a month or two every year just to poke around and see what’s new, but increasingly I’m finding it hard to find anything worth reading.
I’m mainly surprised because I always figured erotica was a chick thing, but a TONS of the sci-fi/fantasy stuff on KU is clearly oriented towards dudes and frankly I don’t see the appeal.
Erotica sells. Hell I even tried my hand (*laugh track*) at it and got a surprising number of takers, probably because it was all free.
I haven’t read any of your stories, but as a general rule, I actually prefer there not to be a character arc in a lot of cases. And there is nothing worse than a forced character arc.
Some of my favorite characters never change. I mean did Phillip Marlowe turn from a cynical, near drunk to a sober, happy person. Or Matt Helm from a cold-hearted killer to a man filled with remorse?
If you ever read Poodle Springs, maybe.
I believe I started the book but never finished it.
It’s not the be all end all, and I think no arc is preferable in some stories. At the beginning of The Sopranos, Christopher (depressed from writer’s block re: his screenplay and probably from being a low level mafia associated) describes what a character arc is to Paulie and laments not having one. The main character of the show, Tony, is presented as a fat, immoral, serial philanderer and murderer in the very first episode of the show and (nearly ten years in real time later) is more or less the same person in the last episode of the show. He had numerous opportunities to change his life for the better (offers to go into witness protection, a near death experience that showed him there was an afterlife waiting for him once he was done on earth, having to kill friends and family) and ultimately spat on them. Whether Tony lived or died at the end of the show should not have been the takeaway of the story; the takeaway should have been here’s a horrible guy who has had plenty of chances to change his life but never has despite those chances and probably never will, regardless of when he dies…am I or the people close to me spurning similar opportunities to make changes for the better? Why? Since we’re all (Tony included) going to die anyway, what am I waiting for if there are legitimate opportunities to change? That I think is a lot more interesting than here’s a character, some things happen to him/her, here is the character now because of those things.
Take a look at I, Claudius, which is a narrated autobiography. I haven’t read Shadowrealm yet, so I’m not sure there’s any comparison to make, but the narrator himself is really documenting the last few months of his own life, which he expects to be terminated by treason by violence or subterfuge, and his desperate desire to have his whole story told before his time is up.
You could argue that his life is a story arc in its own right, but it’s more a sequence of perilous events in Claudius’ life. While there’s character development in real time, there’s no’reveal’, because you already know where his past has brought him. There’s no transformation, no real revelation.
Your example of detective fiction is a good one, and I’m drawn to a comparison to The Name of The Rose where the only ‘traditional’ story arc is for the observer and narrator Adso of Melk who was largely a naive observer of terrible events, and the impact of the protagonist’s wisdom upon him.
Historical autobiographic fiction, methinks. Fantastic book.
Well, yeah, fiction … but truthy fiction since it’s at least based on Suetonius’ work.
That’s why I pedantically called it ‘historical (autobiographic) fiction’. Historical fiction, with few exceptions, is generally the most enjoyable fiction for me.
Wodehouse’s Bertie and Jeeves characters had such shallow character development that I had a hard time enjoying any of his stories. /sarc
Does James Bond have a character arc?
Yes, he went from making great movies to making terrible movies.
Which one was great?
If you don’t like them that’s fine. For me it’s not so much a matter of who played Bond, but whether or not it was based on one of Fleming’s books. Once they ran out of books they turned to crap. So I’d say the serious version of Casino Royale is still good, even though it was a much later film. Although the parody version is funny and has an amazing cast.
Half joking, half serious. Never really cared for any of the Bond films I’ve seen, but I haven’t seen very many. So I suppose there could be some I might enjoy, but I just never saw them.
I like the early Connery ones best — Dr.No, Goldfinger, Thunderball. Dr.No was the first one, Goldfinger is probably the best film, but I find Thunderball the most entertaining. From Russia Love might be a bit too Bond if you didn’t already know him from Dr.No (imho, it’s the most sequel of the Bond films). And You Only Live Twice requires a generous suspension of disbelief.
Much derided, but I actually thought that George Lazenby’s Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was quite acceptable. I lost interest in JB once Roger Moore took the helm, and had a slight re-ignition of interest with Brosnan.
By the time Craig came along, the franchise had been making us suspend disbelief and embrace espionage parody for so long that I wan’t ready for a far more realistic operative.
Sean Connery or get the fuck out.
Someobe likes Zardoz
Lazenbee’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service could be considered to.
The only one that ever brought a tear to my eye.
For me, the problem is that editors seem to want character arc. I’ve submitted half-a-dozen stories and they’ve all been knocked back primarily because the character doesn’t change. That said, I’ve got some feedback from a writing coach who has made some observations of other problems that the stories have but, editors emphasize the character change/arc (as do review columnists).
The question I immediatly jump to is “Why?”
I write to entertain. Sometimes this involves telling a character’s story, sometimes it’s an action piece, sometimes it’s a bit of both. What makes this a deal-breaker to an editor?
My first suspicion is an uncharitable one, that they’ve been hammered in academic settings about the importance of this to “true literature” and let this cloud their impressions. But this is me sneering at academia, who’ve uncritically claimed that the Emperor is resplendant in that special cloth.
I tend to agree but, for now, I’ve got to deal with the gatekeepers. AND, some of the feedback is helping me write better. Part of my problem was I grew up reading people like Asimov. Most of those short stories were written for the twist at the end. That seems to be a trend that’s disappeared for the most part.
One of the brain worms I’ve been carrying around a while is a series – maybe 3 or 4 books’ worth – with a protagonist whose character devolves as the series continues, but I always wondered why anyone might want to read something so inherently – well – regressive.
Then I brightened a bit, realizing that the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant had enjoyed some success, so it must be possible…
Many years ago, I read”Day of the Jackal.” Although the plot drives it, Forsyth did a brilliant job creating an assassin that was somewhat sympathetic. Of course, it helped that he was planning to off De Gaulle.
I’ll say it again, I loved the Covenant series. The over the top cheesiness was perfect. Fucking guy couldn’t write a normal sentence.
I have an open project under the working title of “Red Card” where that narrator is on the opposite side of things to Travis. I keep debating if I want to take him full Supervillain or not.
The opening scene has him forced to kill three vigilantes who were convinced his recent release from prison was due to a “technicality” (his conviction had been overturned on appeal because the DA hid a video of the events).
I still debate if he should be redeemed or not, and which would make a better story.
Have you ever read “The Simple Art of Murder” by Raymond Chandler? It has quite a bit to say on character in detective fiction.
But, personally, character arc is unavoidable unless you are hitting the reset button at the end of every chapter, book, trilogy, whatever. Even the most hard-bitten characters are changed by their circumstance/surroundings/plot. If they aren’t at all, they are not a character, just unchewed scenery.
While the character may subtly evolve, the arc these people are talking about the more obvious one where the character is visibly different in the last chapter when compared to the first. A forced arc often comes out sounding like “Now children, what have we learned today?”
Yes, the narrator grows over the course of the series, but you’re not going to always notice the current increment.
I suspect that “character arc” in what they are talking about it is more “I didn’t like the main character” than anything else. The inability to come out and say what you are actually objecting to is the main thing I’d like to see beaten out of editors, critics and critical readers in general.
Writing classes might not teach you to write, but a halfway decent one will teach you not to mince words. It’s not useful whatsoever to do so.
Is the story about the character or is the story about the events and environment?
If the Narrator is merely the vessel through which the story is experienced and the story itself is about the events more than the person or people then an arc for that narrator is not strictly necessary
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess it means “test if the policy is worth the e-ink it’s written in.”
Everyday Sexism in a ‘Post-Feminist’ World
I larfed.
If you’re hypersensitive about a topic that a rational person would ignore or laugh off – people are going to hit you with remarks aimed right for it. You showed what buttons can be pushed to get a reaction. They will keep pushing them until you stop reacting. Get a thicker skin.
I thought we all learned that in elementary school. If you allow someone to know you are sensitive about something, then it’s guaranteed that someone will push your buttons on that topic. It’s like these people never had hostile interactions with other kids while growing up.
Would teaching “sticks and stones” to your first grade class get a teacher fired these days?
Words are violence! Just ask Hihn! (snickers)
So men are treating women with the same joking disdain as they treat each other? And this is a problem? No, this is equality. If the ladies don’t like what they think they wanted all along, that’s on them.
Maybe, just maybe the boys are contemptuous of these “Supergrrrrllls” because they know the claims of how super-awesome these girls are are usually based on bullshit? Yeah, they excel in school! Oh, but did I mention they aren’t really taking higher maths or sciences, but a lot more of the soft subjects? They’re incredibly popular! With a small little bubble of people. They escape gender stereotypes! Because everyone has to treat them with kid gloves.
I wouldn’t mind doing some colluding with Natalia Veselnitskaya.
She’s a little too moon-faced for me.
Anna Chapman is still leading in the Russian cloak and dagger sweepstakes.
I’d let her get my moose and squirrels.
I wouldn’t be Stalin, I’d be Russian into her red square.
Does she have any brothers?
So it’s Net Neutrality Retardation Day. The blank landing page on Firefox gives me this:
“Without net neutrality creators and entrepreneurs could struggle to reach new users.” – Concerned Internet Citizen, Brooklyn (I’m guessing Williamsburg) NY
So I propose a “Without Net Neutrality” game. I’ll start.
“Without Net Neutrality, the oceans could rise and swallow the San Fernando Valley, putting innumerable fluffers out of work.”
“Without net neutrality ‘about:blank’ will carry ads.”
Without Net Neutrality, major social media sites will suppress views they don’t like.
“Without net neutrality, Netflix might get to your house faster than some random moron’s LIveJournal”
“Without net neutrality your life will be exactly the same 99.99% of the time.”
Without net neutrality, the government will have a harder time using their power to censor views they don’t like.
Without net neutrality, I might be more prone to stick my dick into one of those running, handheld boat motor blenders.
You know who else was without net neutrality…
All of us just a few years ago. And somehow the internet worked just fine.
Without net neutrality, people that own stuff would get to decide how to best utilize their own property. *barf*
I couldn’t fucking believe it when I got that as a splash page when I logged into chess.com this morning to see how badly my kid was licking my ass.
(answer: very badly indeed)
to see how badly my kid was licking my ass.
I assume you meant “kicking”, but as you drive a suspicious van I can’t be sure.
Today’s homework – Strike up a conversation at lunch, find a pro-net-neutrality person, and ask them what it means. When they say what it means, ask them what part of the legislation doesn’t align with that. Press them. Get them to admit they have no idea what the legislation actually says.
Bonus points. Bring a copy of it printed out and say “I don’t think I see that in here…” while paging through.
No one knows what the hell net neutrality should be. No one has any idea what the actual rules and regs actually say. No one has a theory for how a government agency operating on an opaque problem with opaque rules is going to promulgate and act on the rules in a way that favors end users and not the regulated industry.
Here’s what they think the loss of Net Neutrality means.
fucking hilarious
How about “Without Net Neutrality tech oligarchs might not be able to get the government to coerce telecoms into providing bandwidth on terms that are to their liking. And that makes little baby Jesus sad.”
Tim Berners-Lee apparently believes that “Net Neutrality” already existed before he invented the Internet.
https://twitter.com/timberners_lee/status/885100007749287936
These are some ‘uuuge gifs
‘Project Runway’ will finally feature models of different sizes
That’s a lot of lardass.
John’s penis hardest hit.
Holy fuck. Mix in a salad or three, why dontcha’.
Aren’t models supposed to be aspirational?
That said, and it may just be living in Texas, but my God, people are fat here. Including me, TBH. Austin was an exception, but Houston and, as Charles Barkley noted, San Antonio more than make up the (wide) load.
What is it? HFCS in everything? Shitty food pyramid? A culture that loves to eat out? (Houston, IIRC, had the highest number of restaurants per capita in the US)
I’m gonna put together a Houston meet up for sometime in August. So let’s start planning it. Any dates that don’t work for you? That goes for the other Texans that are looking forward to coming.
Any date works for us, so far. That can change at a moment’s notice though, what with work. We have family in Dallas that is constantly involving us in drama that requires our presence.
I am going to try and drag my GF to somewhere around Carbondale IL to see the Eclipse the 21st of August. (Or anywhere else convenient in the path of totality) We’ll see.
Thanks in advance for your efforts.
No date works for me.
Of course, I love halfway across the country.
You kinky bastard.
Houston in August? Was Hell all booked up?
Houston ain’t hell, but you can see it from here.
If my vote counts, the weekends of the 12th and 26th are best (no kids).
More carbs, less exercise. It’s simple. Take in more carbs than you use and the excess get stored. So Eat smaller amounts and less carbohydrates (sugar, flour, corn, rice, potatoes) and go for a walk every day. There is no such thing as a magic potion or losing weight while you sleep unless you have cancer.
Yeah, quit being fat, that is no way to go through life (to OP, not Suthen). Do more shit active, in shape people do, and less shit fatasses do (big gulps of sweet tea, eating an entire bag of potato chips in one sitting, drinking beer every night, just to mention some things fatties I know do).
I could stand to lose 30 lbs. Thanks to whoever recommended Under Armour’s suite of fitness apps. The meal tracker and distance trackers are used every day. We walk 4 miles per day in under one hour, six days or more a week. Body weight squats/burpees/etc help too. She’s lost quite a bit of weight, me some, but less so.
For me, it’s needing to cut down the booze and out the carbs. Easier to do than say. At least I don’t guzzle sugary drinks anymore, nor eat out more than once a week. I remind myself that it didn’t all come on in a day, and so it won’t come off in a day.
The heat here, really isn’t that bad, provided you aren’t stupid. Wear sunscreen and carry/drink lots of water. It sucks, but there are lots of worse places. Serving in the Gulf/Iraq reads like a slice of Hell by comparison. It was brutal moving to Texas from coastal California though. In Summer.
“It was brutal moving to Texas from coastal California though. In Summer.”
I did the same thing when I was 8. Then, because my mom still lived in central California, I would spend summers in California and come back to Texas for school every August. As soon as you step off the plane and onto the jet way, the humidity smacks you in the face and says, “Hope you enjoyed your beautiful summer! Welcome back to hell!”
It truly sucked. Then again, the ex-wife and I drove from CA for the move, so we got to acclimate a little. Though driving through Blythe, CA at something like midnight and seeing it was 97 F was a bit disconcerting.
CA is strange, climate wise. It’s hard to think of another place where you can drive two hours and be in such different temperatures and scenery. Drive two hours here, and you’re still in Texas. Or W. Louisiana. When you wrote “central CA,” I thought of the Valley, where I spent a lot of summers. Which isn’t that different than Texas, at least central Texas. Especially if your Dad doesn’t like running the A/C. Freak.
We weren’t in the Central Valley, but we were in the Salinas Valley, about 8 miles inland. It’s much cooler there, although people would still complain about the heat in summer. My mom now lives in the Antelope Valley, north of LA. Best thing you can say about the Antelope Valley is it’s a little cooler than Death Valley. So many valleys in California.
Grew up around Salinas. Dodged that 4PM wind that howls down the valley to go smallbore shooting in Greenfield.
Sold artichokes to raise money for the track team. Went to Hartnell for a few years. Eventually moved to Monterey and worked at Pebble.
And Summer there starts in September. O.K., maybe the last two weeks of August, when the fog finally stays off shore.
Small world. Beautiful place that was going off the deep end when I left, and now appears to have completely lost its mind. I miss the different wine areas.
Well, what do you know? I lived in Salinas until I was 8, then went back every Christmas break and summer until I got a summer job in high school. Went back 3 years ago for the first time in 20 years. My mom and step-dad lived in Alisal too, so over time I went from being the one of the few white kids in the neighborhood to the one and only white kid in the neighborhood. There were still a few ancient Okies when I was a kid but I assume they’ve all died now. When I was younger, before my parents divorced, we lived just south of Hartnell. My dad taught night classes in accounting there in the late ’70s/early ’80s. Still have a step-brother and step-sister living there. Stopping at the Giant Artichoke in Castroville for a bag of fried artichoke hearts on the way to the beach at Moss Landing is one of my great childhood memories. Tried to recreate it with my kids, but the beach was deserted and windy. It was June and I forgot we always went in August.
Lift weights. It’ll do way more for you than cardio ever can.
+1
Lifting weights is why I’m a former chubby chick.
Do you track your food on MyFitnessPal? Feel free to add me, if you like!
Cancer ehhhh?
So Eat smaller amounts and less carbohydrates (sugar, flour, corn, rice…
It’s Texas, so that’s right out of the question. Everything is large portions or Tex-Mex (which is heavy on the flour/corn/rice combo).
Which is why I do all the cooking, and rarely go out. Gulf seafood is awesome.
The portions are titanic in this state, compared to what I was used to seeing in CA twenty years ago.
Corn > Flour if you’re doing tortillas.
Beans are good protein. Keep the cheese to a minimum.
I agree that carbs are the easiest macro to “abuse,” but this statement would be more accurate if you replaced carbs with calories.
You can overeat fat, protein, and/or carbs and gain weight.
It is simple, calories in, calories out. Less in than you need to maintain your weight, and you’ll drop weight.
One caveat: You still need some carbs, fairly steadily throughout the day.
Some tissues require glucose as an energy source (like your brain). Most can use other sources that our bodies can make from fat, but some have to have glucose. And there is no fat>glucose pathway in people.
So if you go super-low-carb, you’ll start tearing down muscle tissue to feed your brain. Not the kind of weight loss you were looking for.
It takes pretty extreme carb restriction to do this. But a fasting diet will do it pretty quickly.
All of this.
I’m reducing my carb in take *a little,* but I like them and need them enough that getting less than 100 grams of carbs in a day doesn’t “work” for me. I do try to stack them around where I’ll need them most, though–usually a decent amount before and then again after a workout.
It is simple, calories in, calories out.
With caveats, depending on your metabolism. I don’t process carbs as well as some people – for roughly the same calorie count, I gain weight the more of those calories are carbs. Calories aren’t all equal when they hit my glycemic management system (and I don’t think I’m the only one).
Sugar spikes blood sugar, which spikes insulin, which sweeps the blood sugar into fat cells. Carbs elevate blood sugar, which elevates insulin, etc. Fat and meat have a much more gradual effect on blood sugar, so less gets swept out by insulin elevation.
While I don’t disagree with the gist of the advice being offered here, the reduction of food to calories is wrong (as is the “calories in, calories out” business). The body is not a bomb calorimeter. There is no combusion inside your stomach. Dietary calories (technically, kilocalories) provide an estimate for the maximum amount of energy that can possibly be extracted from a piece of food. In practice, your body does not extract all that energy. And the rate at which energy is extracted from the food is also important. Fat provides the body energy at a slower rate than carbohydrates do, which makes it a better choice for the primary source of energy in a food-abundant diet. But I agree that you can’t eliminate carbs, your body needs glucose.
Too hot to exercise.
Mexican food is really bad for you.
Too hot to exercise.
That is my favorite time to exercise. Sweating is winning.
While the show has worked with non-straight size models in various “real people” challenges, this is the first time that they will be part of the regular cast.
And they’ll complain that they just don’t understand why ratings have tanked. I guess mankind can’t live up to the misplaced faith in humanity proffered by people who created a show about a bunch a hot women.
You’re overlooking a very important detail
How many types of firearms don’t require Texas registrations? What types do in thise other states?
Was about to post this. Who registers firearms in Texas?
Who registers them anywhere unless it’s a new purchase?
I’d wager these are likely SBRs or similar items with federal registration requirements.
Successful NICS checks? Other than that, I got nuthin.
The article mentions that the # of guns for Texas is ~337,000, which strikes me as hilariously low. It’s gotta be NFA stuff.
I wonder what the number of successful NICS checks in Texas was last year?
The article mentions that the # of guns for Texas is ~337,000,
I assume it’s higher than that just for Harris County.
There is no way that # is even close. Best guess is there is something like 330 million firearms in the U.S. That # indicated texas only having 1% of the total number of firearms in the country. I call bullshit.
Truth be told, no one knows exactly how many guns are in the country nor who owns them, and that is exactly as it should be.
From rate of sales, the number is estimated to be over 600 mil. It is literally “a rifle behind every blade of grass”
With a concealed pistol as back up.
12.8M in the version at 8:25
Thought the ‘12.8’ in the first slide was referring to 12.8 per 1,000 residents, which on its face is ridiculously low.
Not that newspapers do shit like fact check or edit anymore.
Wisconsin doesn’t have any registration requirements. In principle there are 0 registered guns
per 1000 residents. Though there’s presumably a few more that are federally registered
SBRs or machine guns.
Oh, shit. I didn’t catch that.
I didn’t even know we had registration here. Is that a thing?
Sans NICS checks when you buy a firearm from an FFL (and those get waived, IIRC with a CHL), or NFA goodies, Texas does not have firearms registration.
The million or so bought before the 1970s and kept in the family?
I don’t know how much stock I’d put in that CBS “Most Heavily Armed” story. Here’s the methodology they used (with an obligatory mention of mass shootings):
So basically a tiny percentage of all firearms sold each year.
…continued on second slide:
Or long guns (rifles, shotguns.), or whatever the ATF term of art is, which I’m guessing dwarfs the number of pistols.
So, bullshit as usual from CBS.
I saw that CBS gun survey a few days ago. It is obviously a list of states where people actually register their guns. So it has nothing to do with actual gun ownership rates.
Black gun owners ask: Does the Second Amendment apply to us?
To the author – a lot of gun control was implemented as an anti-black measure. Come over to the light side.
This. The first real anti-gun laws in the US were to deny guns to freed slaves, for example.
And the NRA started in order to teach freemen how to use guns because they never learned as boys.
Where is all of this documented racism, let alone the evidence of an overt rise of it?
I’ve seen a lot of overt anti-white sentiment. But only online. In-person nobody seems to notice that I’m not black.
You just don’t live in the right town or walk in the right neighborhoods. I’ve been on the receiving end of racism from blacks in every big city I’ve lived in, and that’s not counting the crimes committed against me where I was targeted for being white and presumably loaded with money. The worst was working in a FedEx distribution facility, there was a section of the place that whites didn’t want to work because they kept getting attacked whenever the supervisor would walk away. The management wouldn’t do anything about it because that would mean correlating a persistent problem with black employees.
When I lived in Kalamazoo in the 90s, there was a lot of racial tension going on. I mostly attributed it to poverty: take a bunch of middle-class white kids from all over, put them in the same neighborhood as people living on welfare and there was bound to be conflicts. There was also a drug turf war going on, with Kalamazoo part of the battleground between Chicago and Detroit.
I knew a lot of people who got mugged, assaulted, or had their apartment broken into. It, however, never happened to me – because I dressed like a
psychofactory rat – old jeans, black t-shirt, boots, and an army field jacket. I never looked wealthy so no one ever bothered me. Or else it was my cold blue eyes and height. ;0Yeah I learned to dress like a slob to be less visible.
Never mind the six feet, let’s talk about the seven inches.
That’s what she said.
Poop swastikas. They are documented on bathroom stalls.
“The National African-American Gun Association”
NAAGA, please.
They should rename to National Association of African American Gun and Rifle Owners. “NAAAGRO, please” sounds less racist.
National Institute of Gun Grabber Eradicating Riflemen.
That’s the least racist.
Yes. Yes. YES. YES. YES!!! For fuck’s sake, YES. Buy more guns and use them responsibly in accordance with statute as much as possible. PLEASE.
I can’t remember where I read it, but didn’t some gun control measure go to a public vote in Virginia or some other gun-loving state and get slapped down partially because the black voters didn’t like it? I vaguely remember a lot of hand wringing and upset libs that black people didn’t vote the party line.
link if you find it pls
Just don’t tell any pants-shitting pigs that you’re carrying.
Was it too hard to go watch Colion Noir’s youtube channel for awhile?, Dr. Young? Especially funny considering where UH’s campus is located, a shithole that USC is shaking its head and saying “No” to. The African-Americans in the 3rd Ward surrounding the school seem to think they’re covered by the 2nd Amendment, judging by all of the firearms used by said A-A robbers in the UH police blotter.
How do you get a PhD in 20th Century American History and not know that gun control laws were rooted in an attempt to disenfranchise African-Americans?
Jeez, I used to like and recommend the CSM to people.
“a documented rise in overt racism”
Bullshit.
One of the reasons I quit working at one of the largest mental hospitals in the country was that I burned out. Crazy people are totally self-absorbed and they never shut the fuck up. When you start getting to the point where you lose empathy for them it’s time to quit. Progs are the same and I am pretty sure there is a lot of overlap in the two groups. They never shut the fuck up. It’s the same shit over and over and over and it never ends. They repeat the same old debunked talking points like a broken record. After a while you realize it is pointless to try and reason with them and you just want to tell them to go blow it out of their ass every time they open their mouth.
It’s the same with truthers and zealots like that fringe Fred Phelps church. They just won’t shut the fuck up.
GOOBER ADMITS AGGRESSION AGAINST PEOPLE HE DISAGREES WITH
BULLY! DUMBASS EXPOSES HIS OWN STUPIDITY AND AGGRESSION FOR ALL TO SEE! (snickers)
(Walks away laughing)
It’s beyond strange for me that a citizen is that ignorant, disconnected and/or jaded/narcissistic to think the Constitution doesn’t apply to them; all citizens. Bizarro.
Trump had plans to deport US citizens, doncha know? It was true before they got cold feet.
The 2A won’t be extended to anyone if the incident involves an encounter with law enforcement. E.g. United States v. Rodriguez
^Gorsuch concurred with the majority opinion that basically said the mere act of exercising 2A justifies a transient suspension (Terry Stop) of 2A while LEOs check your papers.
I think you’ve got your cases mixed up. Rodriguez was before Gorsuch and concerned drug-sniffing dogs at a traffic stop. The majority held that a traffic stop could not be extended just to call in the dog. Interestingly, Scalia concurred with the majority.
Depends on the cop pulling you over. Some of them are chill and just want to run your plates.
Others treat gun ownership as a capital offense.
If carrying, perhaps one should ‘treat’ the cop before the cop ‘treats’ you?
That’s why I want Harriet Tubman on the $20 armed and dangerous.
SJWednesday: Gentrifiation is Bad MMMmmmkay?
Posting Everyday Feminism links is actually violence.
Gee, if I were suddenly able to sell out while both covering the outstanding debt and buy a replacement house outright in another neighborhood, I’d feel assaulted too…
No wait, I wouldn’t.
Is there anything that isn’t violence?
Burning down Hamburg.
That was “Non-violent”
According to BART, being beaten and robbed is only a “minor offense.” So I guess that must be non-violent?
I’m fairly certain they’d tell you that taxation isn’t violence.
Theft, assault, rape, and murder.
You know, actual violence.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/6/12/the-power-of-growing-incrementally
What about Ma’amtrification!?
Press: End of the US empire
Let me know when Germany takes over all the military operations in their own backyard.
So does this mean that “leading from behind” is no longer fashionable?
Merkel is now the “Hindmost”.
+1 bejeweled and coiffed mane.
Thicc?
Larry Niven reference.
Larry Niven rocks.
And on that note, aren’t Larry and Jerry supposed to do another ‘comet strikes Earth’ novel? Or is that permanently on hold considering their age and Jerry’s health issues?
We could at least get one of the old bastards to green light a Hollywood treatment of one of their hits. Dream Park or California Voodoo Game would be great.
SyFy should just buy the rights to everything in “Known Space” and start cranking out mini-series.
Known Space, Oath of Fealty, Moties (we could even do Rob’s “Let’s follow Kevin and Bury around the Galaxy” idea), The Magicians stuff: I’m not picky.
They made some interesting points on this matter toward the end of the most recent Fif Column Podcast.
Jesus the snobbery in that article. I guess I must have housebroken privilege that I shouldn’t take for granted coming from the flyover reservation.
Merkel the leader of the free world? She’s one massive terrorists attack or another holiday season of rape away from losing her job.
Hell, green lighting another Greek bailout might get her gone. Meanwhile Trump will helm the most potent military force in the world and the largest net consumer. So this writer is full of shit.
But she’s woke sloop. That means she’s the real leader.
Not the free world.
But on the 3rd try of the 20th century, Germany finally succeeded in taking over Europe.
Reading about German WWII propaganda, it is always striking how similar it is to the EU message. United Europe, single currency, united defense (the many foreign Waffen SS units), Muslims welcome, Jews not so much, etc..
This guy agrees.
They’re so anti-Nazi they’ve moved 359 degrees away from it…
It’s now the chancellor of Germany, not the president of the United States, who leads the world’s biggest economies.
Yeah, it’s not like the U.S. economy ($18 trillion) is larger then the entire fucking European Union”s ($16.3 trillion). These people are economic illiterates.
Arkansas will force rape victims to notify their rapists before getting an abortion
The new law will consider the fetus a “deceased family member” and the rapist as a “parent.”
Are we talking forcable rape, or college feminist “rape”?
Pretty sure rapists aren’t considered spouses and don’t get parental rights of any kind. My guess is that the full argument is that the law would apply to even rape cases, even though it clearly wouldn’t.
The biological father has parental rights. Dunno why a rapist wouldn’t, until a court revokes them.
I don’t think it’s particularly out of line to have convicted rapists automatically forfeit all parental rights to children conceived by rape. But note the key word, “convicted”.
If a woman chooses to have that baby, would the rapist be on the hook for child support?
Underage male victims of rape have been held responsible for child support, so you’d think so, wouldn’t you?
Yes, especially if the mother seeks any form of state assistance. Then the local county’s friend of the court will pursue the bio dad for support, since mom receives assistance, and tax payers are supporting .
/ At least in Michigan. I had a recent consult from a client who had moved to Michigan from Georgia, where parents can sign off all support, no need to calculate what support would have been (Michigan requires showing a calculation). Sounded crazy to me. But Michigan’s law sounded crazy to him.
Seems like the word “alleged” oughta be in there somewhere, given the various process timings involved (biological, law, etc.).
They’ve just expanded the definition of “rape” so that if there is a baby, there must have been a rape, so no alleged required.
Too bad it’s not raining bullet points.
I can see straight down this chick’s shirt.
Pics
How do I turn the sound from the camera off?
Ooooh..rookie move. You should turn that off first thing when you get a new phone so you are ready for situations like this.
Not gonna out her. Some gals sure do like letting the hang out there. God bless them.
The young ladies at nighttime bars here in Florida have become much bolder about being braless in the last few years, I’ve observed (hopefully with some degree of subtlety).
You’re never as subtle as you think.
Indeed, feigned subtlety is the best kind. Especially if it’s noticed.
That bra-less-ness is no accident.
Phone bought in Japan? Camera click (more like a firecracker) can’t be turned off by law.
Just cough every time you take a pic.
Chicken eggs are a really incredible food item. 2 fried eggs, over easy, on a pan-toasted scali roll with a slice of cheddar cheese, “spring mix” greens and sriracha. I’ve never had a mildly-seasoned duck egg (only salted duck egg), but I bet those make for orgasmic fried eggs. There’s something about consuming eggs that, for my money, is more or less the most satisfying of all foodstuffs.
Note to all interested: I just committed a crime similar to calling a single sandwich a “panini”. Scali -> scala. I love you Wikipedia.
That’s violence against unborn chicken babies, you monster.
That vegan has a badonkadonk.
And a butterface.
Still would, but I’ve been with my wife for 13 years and have incredibly low standards now.
What was I saying earlier about overlap between crazy and proggie?
Can you imagine having to live with someone like that? That is a murder/suicide waiting to happen.
Now I’m hungry, thanks.
The fried egg was seasoned with adobo powder and cracked black pepper.
I am having great results scrambling eggs (Central Market’s Pasture raised) in rendered fat from diced pork belly, with pan-fried minced garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Yours sound delicious as well. I need to try adobo powder.
Eggs really are amazing. I think you’ll like duck eggs if you like rich earthy flavors in your eggs. Asian markets often have them, at cheaper prices than going to a Wegman’s/Whole Foods/Central Market.
Everything is cheaper at most Asian markets, especially spices.
I recently found out I have high cholesterol, so I believe this post is violence against me.
Cholesterol? Lol.
I have an overall cholesterol reading of over 200 … but it’s mostly HDL with very low LDL numbers. And I eat a lot of eggs and red meat.
SeeThe Ketogenic Diet and Cholesterol for more info. Needless to say it’s not something I worry about. Last time I had a physical I was told that “all my numbers look good, no medication needed.”
I agree in general, fat gets demonized more than it should in general diet recommendations. In my particular case it’s mostly genetic. Got it coming from my mom and grandmother. My LDL is way higher than it should be given my diet and overall health.
Microeggression?
I love their versatility. In addition to a beautiful fried or poached or boiled egg, they also make Hollandaise (and I make the world’s greatest Hollandaise), and custard, and cakes, and pasta. Yeah, they’re pretty cool.
I think I accidentally made a quiche when trying to dispose of some leftover eggs.
I beat them as per scrambling, mixed in mushroom and peppers, then topped it with cheese and baked until cooked.
Very tasty, very little effort.
Go on…
How do you do it? Bain marie, lots of whisking? I generally cheat and break out the blender. I guess I could try the immersion blender. I haven’t made Benedicts in forever; brunch is usually some Shakshuka variant these days.
I cook over very low, but direct, heat. Never saw any reason not to. I don’t use a blender only because I make smaller batches and you lose too much in the blender blades.
I just use a lot of lemon and 3 yolks instead of 2 for one stick o’ butter (because of the extra lemon juice). I also put in a little cayenne. Put that on top of an rich, meaty eggs Benedict and *drooooooool*
I’ll try that. Mine breaks half the time I go the Julia Child method, but I’ll give your technique a whirl. GF’s not a fan of Hollandaise, or anything else butter related, really, so my opportunities to cook it are limited.
I love home made eggs Florentine.
You just gotta whisk continuously over direct heat. When I say low, I mean the lowest you can go without turning off the heat (I use gas – if I had electric, I’d probably use the water bath method)
Or, you could just go to someone else’s house instead of making it yourself…
…Y’all are down for company, right?
If you don’t mind a semi-hoarder’s nest full of junk, and slightly smelling of pug, then come on by! We haz gunz & board gamez.
This is why you’re all so fat.
Police Shoot Unarmed Batman Cosplayers at Australian Sex Party
Democracy Dies in Darkness
Democracy Took a Dump in My Driveway
The not-so droll degeneration of Democracy.
Did they think the cops were also just cosplaying?
Why so serious?
I never ever ever ever invite cops to my cosplay sex parties.
When you comment under me it feels like your avatar is raping mine.
paging SF?
Was listening to Jambi this morning. Tool is one of my favorites.
Oops that was yesterday morning(mind is the first to go…). Was listening to Hurt danse russe
It’s impossible to ever say what ones favorite band is, but Tool is on my short list.
Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow.
What you need is someone strong to guide you.
Like me.
Tool?
::Scratches Lachowsky off the party invite list::
I didn’t want to go anyway.
*looks at feet, kicks pebble*
Grab its motherfucking leg.
Does not matter one bit, if it’s something like a good Airsoft replica.
Matters quite a lot. Don’t point things that look like guns at people. Conversely, don’t shoot people if they’re not holding a gun. (Yes, there are exceptions.)
Maybe shoot them in the leg, just in case…
You guys. Do you ever go through periods at your work where you feel like everything is going wrong and you might lose your job at any moment? Cause that’s where I am and the anxiety is through. the. roof. I hate bringing my work stress home with me.
Yes. This week.
Weird. Monday and Tuesday absolutely sucked. Like wake up at 3am wondering how the fuck everything went to shit so fast.
All things pass.
I stopped reading at “periods.”
I keed, I keed. Yes, I went through a few weeks of that a while back. I don’t have any good advice for you. I just kept doing my work and tried to keep my mind off it. In hind sight, I was probably overreacting. I hope things get better for you soon, KK
Yes’m. Oddly enough I really feel that way when the work load gets slow.
But I’ve survived three layoffs and any number of office politics infighting, safe in the knowledge that if I do get canned, it really won’t mean anything in the long run. I will find another job, or I can live off of my retirement savings for a few years if I don’t. And my wife brings in her own income so *shrug* why worry?
I usually split when I see it coming. If it’s falling down, push it over.
I have periods where I have nothing really important to do and do make-work stuff or just slack off on the interwebz and this makes me feel like they would realize I am not really needed, although I always got good reviews and never heard anything about the quantity of work… But if I am depressed for other reasons this makes me very anxious considering I have a niche job and would not find work in my specialty and need to re-specialize to change jobs.
I work for a company that has been struggling for many years. Surviving through 4 layoffs where the person sitting next to me got axed. Only advice I can offer is don’t show your stress, take responsibility for your actions, work your butt off and keep your resume polished. I’ve also found that when I feel like I’m screwing things up it’s mostly in my head and I’m just fine.
A company I worked for years ago went through a round of layoffs. One of my coworkers who was in dire straits financially was axed. I wasn’t so I asked the company to keep my coworker and let me go instead. They said no, so I quit.
Did that coworker end up getting you hired at a new job? Cause that’s the stuff Hallmark movies are made of.
‘butt’, ‘polished’, ‘screwing’, ‘head’
I am triggered by all the sexual innuendo in this post.
The question for me is are there any times where I don’t feel like that.
Not anymore.
I feel like no matter what I do, or how I handle any given situation, it’s wrong. I am highly self-critical. And I feel like my boss doesn’t “get” me. I want to get back to the place where, when I go home at night, I am off work and don’t give it another thought until the next day (or, if I do think about work, it’s about new ideas or a new way to solve a problem).
I think the main issue is I’m THE web person here. I’m used to work on a whole team of web people, who can share ideas, etc.
Whodathunk a non-joiner, introvert loner like me would appreciate working on a team so much. Go figure.
I run into the same thing – also highly self critical. If a make a mistake, I can’t stop thinking about it until it’s fixed and I know everyone involved knows its fixed. Usually, though, my mistakes are mostly in my head and I’m the only one thinking about them. Deep breathing helps cool the anxiety. If you are a highly self critical person, I’m sure you know that you are your harshest critic – other people probably aren’t nearly as focused on you as you think they are.
I’m the single EDI guy here so when something goes down with that system – it’s a complicated interlocked web of different VANs, customers, suppliers, and setups – the fingers point at me. Yes it can be stressful! But I know the system (mostly my own creation) so well that any problems that do crop up are fixed quickly. As long as your boss understands that the world isn’t always a perfect place then you should be okay.
My boss is a technological retard, so who knows? I am feeling slightly vindicated in that I had said a login problem we’ve been having originated with our firewall, then one of our vendors contradicted me and said it originated when our web vendor upgraded their (shitty) CMS platform, then the IT guy sent an email saying it originated when they (meaning my company’s IT dept) moved the site to Azure.
Do you have another peer, even if in another department, or in virtual-space, that you can bounce things off of? Just to give your self-critical appraisals some perspective?
Good question.
That’s your PWE cutting in – it’s not a bad survival tactic, and being self-critical is an excellent personal value to hold. It’s also far less common than I’d like, when I’m hiring.
In general, I get somewhat antsy and uneasy when there’s not enough work to do, or if I’m so busy I can’t do my job well. Under normal circumstances, I’ve had bosses who are receptive to a discussion about workloads, and usually something gets balanced out. When a boss (current situation is an example) is not responsive, it can indicate a number of things, but the point is that I’ve given my best representation to him of an area that needs attention.
From a neutral observer’s standpoint, there’s a personnel issue, and probably *ALSO* productivity and efficiency issues. If management can’t/won’t address that in any meaningful way, it’s not unreasonable for the personnel to not address it in a meaningful way,
We have migrated a lot of our legacy systems to the cloud, and really, my workload constitutes about 1/3 of a job. Senior management know that, and they know I know that. I’ve attempted to initiate discussions about repurposing me and I’ve had almost no feedback. On the other hand, they haven’t laid me off, and show no signs of doing so at the moment, so I’m goofing off about 10% of the (time coming here, mainly) and doing some prep for what *must* happen at some point. So I’m building a new product on my own equipment in that slack time.
In conclusion, the day that check hits your bank account, you’re quits. Everything else is goodwill and muscle memory. And that cuts both ways. In 50 years time, the only people who will remember you are your friends and family. Senior management will have forgotten how charming, effective and helpful you were within 50 weeks. That doesn’t mean they’re bad people or enemies. They just aren’t *friends*.
I definitely have that old PWE. Thanks to my Pa.
There’s definitely efficiency issues. There are very few processes in place (I’m on the marketing team), so it gets chaotic. The problem with organizational chaos is that there’s no time to thoughtfully plan processes and procedures, because everything’s a last-minute hurry.
The problem with that is that some branches of a company – notably marketing – see the Capability Maturity Model as an affront to their productivity and creativity, so they celebrate their inability to evolve out of (at best) Level 1 of the model because to do so would stifle their creativity and operational flexibility.
There’s no easy solution to this problem, short of rounding them up and herding them into a manufacturing plant.
“I think the main issue is I’m THE web person here.”
Your company hired YOU, and trusts in YOU. Your bosses have made a decision and have moved on to other matters. You are good to go. You’re in charge and handling your biz.
Are you drinking at work? Are you sexually harassing the secretary? Did you lie on your resume, and you know nothing of web programming? Because those are the only things your bosses are going to notice.
You are being hard on yourself. Your bosses aren’t even noticing what you are obsessing about. They hired the right person for the job as far as they are concerned.
The last job I has was for a company graphite electrodes. For about the last 8 months I was there, I could see the writing on the wall. My place specifically was under no threat, but I could tell the place was in financial trouble. New projects weren’t being started. Temp workers weren’t being brought in. Stores weren’t being replaced. Production quotas were down. Overtime was limited, etc. I started looking and found a much better job. My old place of employment is still operating, but it’s been sold to a Chinese firm and most of the good people I know who worked there have moved on. The guys I know who are still there have told me conditions are worse and compensation is down. I’m glad I left when I did.
I’ve been here almost eighteen years and I go through periods like that. It will pass. Just hang in there.
“Lesbianism is under attack, though not by the usual suspects
Pressuring lesbians into dating people with penises is all too similar to the practice of corrective rape, wherein it is believed lesbian sexuality can be “cured.””
http://www.feministcurrent.com/2017/07/08/lesbianism-attack-though-not-usual-suspects/
What is the point of this article? There are third world countries which criminalize homosexuality and most countries did 50 years ago … Yeah facts everyone knows.
By “people with penises” she means MTF transsexuals.
“The idea that all lesbians have simply decided to choose to “identify” as lesbians, regardless of sexual preference, is behind the practice of corrective rape and men’s attempts to “turn” lesbians heterosexual via their penises. Claiming a penis can be “female” is nothing more than gaslighting, and has become a politically correct way to bully lesbians into sleeping with men.”
I think it’s the whole: “if you don’t actually believe a transgender person is can woman you’re a bigot.” Thing
It’s only a matter of time until a lack of interest in having sex with a “woman” sporting a penis will make you the equivalent of a Klansman.
Logically inconsistency is a real cunt.
I fully support Lefty autophagy wherever I see it.
lesbian sexuality can be “cured.”
Didn’t James Bond prove this over fifty years ago?
I’ve had two people complain that the narrator of Shadowrealm does not change over the course of the book, that he is the same person at the end as he was at the beginning.
Put him in a dress.
Seriously, I used to pretend I wanted to be a capital-“W” writer, until I finally came to grips with the cold hard truth. I don’t have a fucking clue what makes people tick, or why they do the things they do. I have enough trouble just being in my own head, without trying to crawl into somebody else’s.
ProbablyUnquestionably why my girlfriend of three years finally dumped me. I am insufficiently committed to the long term success of the relationship. She wants a husband, and I am constitutionally incapable of being one. At least I know it.I understand people just fine. Just don’t like most them. Why write about them?
Well, a writer does get to choose whom to write about, so you get to create them from the ground up.
You can’t even commit to a comment thread. Why would someone think you could commit to marriage?
I’m sorry for your bad news. Her opinion of you does not define who you are.
At least you learned this without having to go through a divorce.
Quentin Tarantino Will Take His Next Film To Bloody New Heights Through His Vision Of The Manson Family Murders
This should be interesting…
He’s going to actually make me feel sorry for Roman Polanksi, isn’t he.
Don’t do that. Roman Polanski is a piece of shit regardless of what Manson and Co. did. He really is just a couple of rungs up from them.
Marvelous filmmaker, but I always feel dirty when I enjoy his movies.
He did make some great movies. But watching doesn’t bother me because I’m good at separating the art from the artist.
That’s what I try to do as well. Sometimes it’s easier than other times. Oh well, it’s not going to stop me from watching Rosemary’s Baby or The Pianist.
He makes some good scenes, but I find his overall movies rather boring. I haven’t seen Django or H8.
Django is fun. Hateful Eight was tedious at times.
Not interested.
So lots of shots of Sharon Tates’ feet?
Quentin Tarantino? Ugh.
I like Tarantino. Pulp fiction was great. The scene in Django when the proto-KKK boys go out and argue about whether or not to wear their hoods was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in a movie.
Pulp Fiction remains one of my favorites. Same with Reservoir Dogs. I did not care for Django but the scene you mentioned is indeed one of the funnier scenes I’ve seen in theaters.
Clowns to the left of me… One of my favorite scenes.
I thought Dylan sang that for the longest time. I wonder if he ever covered it?
You’re not alone.
The America/Neil Young is another one that threw me for the longest time. One not covered is when Poker Face came out, I could’ve sworn it was Cher. Then again, I’ve confused some of Cher and Madonna’s newest stuff too.
“Mirror image? Quentin Tarantino eyes Margot Robbie to play slain actress Sharon Tate in upcoming Manson family murders movie”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4687856/Margot-Robbie-play-Sharon-Tate-upcoming-Manson-movie.html
Tate > Robbie, but I certainly wouldn’t pass on Robbie.
re: Cream
Ginger Baker is one of the douchiest musicians around. Recommend “Beware of Mr. Baker” to get a taste of the man’s ego.
Yeah, she’s cool.
Well he did teach Clapton everything he knows. At least according to him.
I’ve been told I look like him.
Been thinking more about the Trump and Trump Jr. and Russia e-mail thing. I’m not saying it was illegal, because it looks like it wasn’t (not an expert there). The “treason” talk, is of course, ridiculous.
But in all of these cases it’s not the actual action that brings the politician down, it’s the cover-up. And I can see Trump being arrogant enough to pull a Nixon and bring himself down over something that otherwise wouldn’t have been a big deal for him.
The good thing for the Trump admin is their arrogance. They’re all too happy to tell he media what they’re doing and why. They don’t give a fuck about convention and the normal political bullshit.
Seriously. A regular pol’s surrogate would try to spin this as something innocent or blame their opponent for trying to set them up. Not Trump Jr. He’s like “oh hell yeah, I wanted dirt on Clinton. Especially from Russia!” Don’t. Give. A. Fuck.
And while that gives political writers the vapors, it helps them connect to normal people and break up the stupid bullshit spin that keeps political animals detached from the rest of the country.
Yeah, and unflattering documents are already being released. No subpoena, no caveats, none of the usual bullshit. Compare that to Hillary and her hard drive full of emails.
I think there may have been some illegality done. Not with the meeting necessarily, but not mentioning the meeting on their disclosures to obtain security clearances. It matters not that numerous congresspeeps have had to amend their disclosures in the same way, or god knows how many others in past administrations have left meetings with foreign nationals off their disclosures.
I have also seen it argued that just accepting information from a foreign government can be considered a gift/donation which is illegal under campaign law. Like I said before, if they want to prosecute this, go for it, but they damn well better be going after the Clinton campaign and the aid it received from Ukraine, and start digging into all the meetings that campaigns staff had. Enough of this one way street bullshit. This is something that has never been prosecuted as far as I know and I would bet money the Obama administration got info from governments during a campaign. But I am no expert either.
Treason it is not, and the idiots like Tim Kaine saying it is are, well, idiots.
Who in the meeting now has a security clearance? Not Trump Jr.
Would a meeting with a Russian lawyer not representing the government to talk adoption policy be a mandatory disclosure?
Kushner is the one with the clearance for sure, I am not sure about Jr. And I think they have to disclose all meetings with foreign nationals regardless of what the meeting was about. Which would be a lot of meetings for him. He has business interests all over. And I don’t think he was even in the room for most of the meeting. It could be an honest mistake, and you know the screaming hordes are not going to let it go. That is why I say if they insist this is a big deal, let’s make it a big deal for everyone. Enough of looking the other way with other campaigns.
I think they have to disclose all meetings with foreign nationals
What counts as a meeting, I wonder. If I’m travelling overseas and have a problem with my hotel and I “meet” with the manager, does that count? What if I’m checking in to a hotel here, and as seems very common, the front desk staff are foreign nationals (I think people must like hotels that have staff with classy foreign accents – does that count? I go to a ton of meetings with foreign nationals – they are doctors and we talk hospital business – are those mandatory disclosures. Hell, my doctor is a foreign national, am I supposed to disclose every (privileged and confidential) meeting with my own doctor?
Bottom line – its impossible to list every single meeting with every single foreign national, even if you never leave the country.
Absolutely. One of my direct reports is an Iraqi refugee here on a green card (her dad was a translator for U.S forces, AFAIK), and if I were to have to obtain a security clearance, after a few years of her not working for me, I might totally forget about it. According to statute, that counts.
I have also seen it argued that just accepting information from a foreign government can be considered a gift/donation which is illegal under campaign law.
If this is the standard, then almost every campaign would contain the same illegalities.
But there was no information (officially) proffered nor accepted in the Trump Jr. case. It was a set-up to talk Magnitsky Act.
I like treason angle. Secret meetings with reps from foreign countries gets you the gallows. The carpentry work alone would be a stimulus package and a morale booster.
The carpentry would just be the seen.
The unseen would be numerous star chambers, jailers, torturers, confessors, blacksmiths, vestment-weavers, paid informers, etc.
We will need a bunch of gallows. Half of Congress, and the entire senior staff of the Obama administration could probably be charged.
STIMULUS!
You’d see some real craftsmanship making a comeback. None of those McMansion Gallows. All volunteer too, I’d bet.
The biggest, classiest gallows ever. Just the best!
Line the gallows up along the northeast rail corridor… you might need to double back after reaching Boston.
In one way, “it is saddening and troubling how much hopelessness there must be to make such a massive shift to decide guns might be a necessary answer” to a documented rise in overt racism, says Nancy Beck Young, a political historian at the University of Houston.
Yes, of course. All those black people in Chicago are packin’ because they fear the John Birch Society.
I’ve always told my prog friends if they really gave a shit about gun violence, they would support total drug legalization.
How are those super-high taxes working out in Connecticut? Hartford, Hit with Brunt of Connecticut Tax Hike, Hires Bankruptcy Attorney. They may need to Prog harder to get out of this.
How bad have you fucked things up when a business moves to Manhattan to escape your high taxes?
I was thinking the same thing. GE and the big insurance companies are run by East Coast Ivy League types. Sooner or later they’ll really get fed up and move to someplace like Florida.
Colt is still in Hartford I think. I don’t understand why these firearm companies stay in places that hate their products, probably have a less than optimal workforce, and have high costs.
The counties around me, people and politicians, would welcome Colt with open arms. They would have their pick from an eager and skilled workforce, as well as ridiculously low expenses.
Colt will join CT the state pretty soon. No matter how low the expenses are, they’re dead meat. They laid off all their custom gunsmithing guys a few months back, and I’ve seen the financials. All they’ll be in 5 years’ time is a vanity marque for someone like S&W.
Ruger are still in Southport for the moment, but it’s really just administrative.
By staying in CT, Colt is guaranteed two Senators who make it a priority that the Army keeps buying their shitty rifles. If they moved to a free state, they would be one of many gun companies squawking for attention – and might have to compete on the merit of their products (which are absolute shit in my experience – except their wheel guns).
My firm went over the financials for Colt last time they needed some funding. I looked at them as an amature, and they didn’t look very good. One of our analysts took a look and his opinion was that Colt have – for years – been running on fumes. Very much the “Yeah, we lose money on every sale but we’ll make up for it on volume”.
The monetary value of maintaining the military contract is not very high, and they’re under severe price pressure, so they can’t squeeze more profit out of the contract. The real value was in retail sales of a gun that is “just like the military use”, but I don’t know ANYONE that has bought a Colt AR-15. It’s like demanding that when you buy a vacuum cleaner, it MUST come from Hoover .
Colt’s wheel gun production is somewhat profitable, but it’s a niche business, and really, the only kind of Colt wheel gun I would have wanted would have been one from their custom shop, and they shut that down. And again, if you look at their current product range, it’s a Cobra, or a cowboy gun.
Their semi automatics are fine, but they’re in a nasty spot because if you want a cheap 1911, you won’t go Colt. If you want a really good one, you won’t go Colt, and if you’re in the middle ground, you have plenty of choice from companies that offer great long warranties, and a lot of variety.
So, no, Colt’s future is gloomy, and within a few years, all the expertise that gave CT an edge in manufacturing there will be gone, so even if they have a “come to Jesus” moment AND a white knight, they won’t be able to get that custom business back.
Didn’t Colt have gobs of LE contracts when there was the drive to put an AR in every patrol car?
Though I think S&W’s M&P line may have stolen a lot of that thunder. Or DoD grants of M16/M4s to local LE.
Fact is that police departments have started to review their loyalty to many things firearm related. It’s one of the reasons you’re seeing (if you’re looking) so many ex-LEO 40S&W caliber handguns for sale. Lots of departments are going back to the 9mm for economic (among other) reasons.
AR-15s are now commodity items and departments’ budgets aren’t getting much bigger, despite what we might think. Overall, Colt’s slice of the pie is shrinking, and the whole pie is probably (in inflation-adjusted terms) shrinking. They’re in a spiral that I think they could only resolve by some major restructuring and a change in product focus.
What would you have them focus on, were you advising them #6? Just curious. I’ve no loyalty to Colt; I’ve never even owned one.
I have read from people that the only thing they were interested in were Colt bringing back great versions of the various revolver Snakes. No reason they couldn’t jump onto the giant revolver bandwagon too.
ARs certainly are as cheap as I’ve ever seen them.
I don’t know what I’d do. It’s like asking a guy for directions to the airport and he answers “If you’re going to the airport, I wouldn’t start from here”.
The question is fair though – I know a CT gun retailer who knows the business inside out, so I’ll relay a point he made.
It’s generally accepted that if Colt wanted to resurrect the Python, a pro version of the gun would end up with an MSRP of over $2000, with a profit of maybe $200. For the same effort, with far lower staff costs, they can assemble maybe 100 ‘plastic’ guns, sell ’em for $375, and make $30 on each gun. Do the numbers. The problem is that they’re late to the ‘plastic gun’ market, so they’ll be fighting uphill for market share.
The model that MIGHT work for them is (surprisingly) Remington. They have some interesting new products coming out, they recently (re)released their version of the Rohrbauer, they’re shaking off the terrible failure of the R51, and they’re bringing out some VERY good looking long guns, one of which is an accuratized 338 Lapua based on the 700. The problem is that Colt is so far down the hole, they wouldn’t be able to launch a diversified product range that is sufficiently different from S&W, Remington, Ruger, Glock, SIG etc.
So, Colt are the Sears of gun companies. It’s hard to see anything other than a selloff as a meaningful business plan.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
It doesn’t look good for them. I don’t know if they have the R&D capability to expand on several of the more intriguing concepts in firearms lately like:
1) an integrated sight/precision rifle that could dope wind and adjust the sights. A la Tracking Point, without the retarded price and marketing, and with the ability to dope wind, not just range find.
2) Cased telescopic ammunition, either polymer case or trad metallic. Use a non-lead projectile for enviro purposes. Use a sabot for extra AP goodness. Or to try and finally get rifle-like terminal ballistics in a handgun platform. No, AR pistols don’t count. Something you can conceal without a tennis racket case.
3) A modular grip system like SiG’s P320, but market it better and make it much easier for the end user to know which of the multiple options is best for their hand. Ever find a gun shop that had all of the module options for the 320? Me neither, and I like the thing. Ultimately, 3d print a grip for each users hand, but that’s still a ways away.
4) A pistol that is easier for women to manipulate and grip. Not a model that has a sparkly purple polymer frame. Something like the CCP that isn’t a pot metal piece of shit. Make the CCP with a regular slide, and the PPQ trigger and it would sell like gangbusters.
Retraining a work force to manufacture your products is difficult. In the gun industry, where quality is very very important, a lot of mistakes from a new workforce can be very costly. I would suspect that is their primary motivation for remaining.
If you are an experienced machinist, Sig will hire you today – in the promised land of New Hampshire.
I’ll let my machinist buddies know, but I highly doubt there’s a one of them who is interested in new hampshire.
No sales tax. No income tax. If there is an employee discount, it would be heaven itself.
The brand name value >>>>>>> actual products value.
I’d want a damn good reason to buy a Colt product if – for example – there was a near-equivalent S&W product because there’s a reasonable chance that S&W will be able to honor its warranty in the event of a problem. I have no expectation that Colt will be in a position to honor any warranty. Why would I if it’s in imminent risk of filing Chapter 11?
And no, I’m not that big a fan of S&W in general but their revolvers get some respek’.
I was speaking in terms of selling off the company. The brand is the most valuable asset.
::claps furiously::
P.S. Hartford is a shithole.
Also, from another article on the subject
TSTSNBN talked about that minor league stadium in Hartford a lot. Such a shock that it’s a colossal fuckup.
It seems to me that the taxes were just not high enough.
Also also
Christ. So the city spends itself into bankruptcy (where honestly it was probably headed without the tax hikes), and the governor’s complaining that the suburbanites refuse to bail the city out? Fuck that.
Hartford Yard Goats?
Awesome.
Bring back the Whalers.
As someone who experienced not true socialism, I can say that is not true socialism. Not true socialism gets around, you see. I think it is a libertarian conspiracy to discredit real socialism. After all there were always libertarians who’s location was unaccounted for during all this not true socialism. Also, Stalin was secretly a libertarian.
Shit this was supposed to go to the Venezuela thread
Hartford… Venezuela…. same difference
Oh yeah, Shit’s gettin’ real up here.
The unspoken issue – sure, GE and Aetna are leaving the state. What you aren’t hearing is the other firms. It’s costly to move head offices, and so the pressure to move grows with time. A drawn-out, prolonged (and unrealistic) shot at getting CT bailed out is most likely, which means there will be other Fortune 500 firms hitting the road.
The commies in Venezuela have made Mad Max real.
Oh my fucking god, that’s incredible, and it’s not even a high stakes heist. It’s fucking sugar! Highway banditry is totally tolerated in a place with a functional government.
Venezuela, Dude. I’m guessing it was Equal.
It’s like watching ants feed off a carcass.
Fricken global capitalism.
Feed off a Caracas…
*prepares to move his Wasteland headquarters*
¡Saludos del Humungus, del Señor Humungus!
who runs barter town?
Not sure who’s currently in charge of it, but it’s slated to be overrun in a life-fire test of the Thunder Warrior program.
How bad have you fucked things up when a business moves to Manhattan to escape your high taxes?
Exactly my reaction.
GE went to Boston.
Tiger’s Cabrera: Venezuela being held hostage.
The crazy thing there is that his family is still in VZ. With all his money, he couldn’t stash them somewhere like one of the ABC islands? You’d think Uggy Urbina would have been a sufficient cautionary tale.
Or Wilson Ramos
“We have to find a solution”
I think I found the problem. Does that help?
Ouch. But, a period of freedom and peace and quiet are the silver lining.
Ya rub one out when feels da sadz and yer good to go.
Easy for you to say Miss Perkytits!
Nancy MacLean, author of “Democracy in Chains,” has not responded to substantive criticisms of her book. What she has done, however, is circulate a fanciful and potentially libelous post accusing Jonathan Adler and me of being at the center of a Koch-backed conspiracy to discredit her book. She refers to “Koch operatives and the riders of their academic ‘gravy train’ ” and writes, “It appears they are using Washington Post blog-posts as a seemingly respectable pivot for a coordinated and interlinked set of calculated hit jobs.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/07/11/nancy-macleans-conspiratorial-response-to-criticism-of-democracy-in-chains/?utm_term=.40377db793ac
Seriously if someone challenges your facts and your facts are right, it is easier to prove this than to start screaming Koch !!!
“Friends, I really, really NEED YOUR HELP. If you trust me based on all that you know about me, please read this, help me as indicated, and share this post with anyone interested the Koch operations and the mayhem they have caused.
This will sound nutty, I know, but it’s actually happening: the Koch operatives and the riders of their academic “gravy train,” as James Buchanan called it, are working very hard to kill DEMOCRACY IN CHAINS –and to destroy my reputation (as they have done to climate change scientists and others bearing inconvenient truth).
It appears they are using Washington Post blogposts as a seemingly respectable pivot for a coordinated and interlinked set of calculated hit jobs. By using the WAPO blogposts, they make it appear to the ordinary web surfer that the WAPO itself is trashing my book when it’s really the Koch team of professors who don’t disclose their conflicts of interest and the operatives who work fulltime for their project to shackle our democracy. The other side was getting top placement because their team was clicking and re-clicking and sending embedded links, and the velocity of their activity drove up their links.
Here’s how you can help if you want to stop the suppression of my research and the reputation assassination underway:
• Google me and the book and click on the REAL listings (e.g. my department page and the actual Viking book page or reviews by honest reviewers) to drive them above the paid “top stories” position.
• Go to DEMOCRACY IN CHAINS on Amazon, and click as “helpful” honest reviews by real reviewers and scholars who have read the book. The operatives are juking the Amazon stats so that their hit jobs (by people who in nearly every case never read the book) come up first by the number of “helpful” votes they got, no doubt from their fellow apparatchiks.”
That’s just downright pathetic.
Looking at amazon reviews for the book I found this:
” MacLean’s argument is based on a careful and detailed juxtaposition of the rationales adopted by libertarians in the 1950s and 1960s, and the concrete social and political context raging around them at the time (most crucially, the resistance to court-mandated de-segregation). Those who believe that MacLean must produce a smoking gun and ballistics analysis–say, an admission by Buchanan that he opposed integrated public schools because he didn’t like African Americans–will I’m sure continue strenuously to deny that there was any connection between the libertarianism of the era and broader conservative agendas.”
So basically the guy never said anything the book said he supported, but he lived in a time where some people supported segregation so he must of supported it as well by juxtaposition. You can’t trust tricky libertarians with what they say, good progs know what they really mean.
She can’t even defend the book. Wow.
In the immortal words of Moe Wanachuk, that cunt is no good.
Please someone help me defend my bullshit. Please, it fits the narrative. Don’t you people want to continue the narrative. Please, Please, please don’t let the narrative die.
Mike Munger pointed out that she is a Koch funded shill herself, as the Koch’s donate a bunch of money to Duke.
I also liked his line about how two of the best resources on Buchanan work on the Duke campus and a college sophomore writing a paper would have had enough thought to contact them, but she never did.
A less charitable person might get to thinking that fact are irrelevant and the pre-established narrative needs to be pushed
That’s an interesting approach. It’s essentially what Michael Bellesiles did when the first criticism of “Arming America” came out. But eventually, academics began to look into some of the claims and most of his argument fell apart. Be interesting to see how academic reviewers deal with it.
I like her husband’s work better.
Projection, thy name is left.
This sentence was written by someone with a department chair @ Duke. smdh.
Jesus, she makes Louis Mensch seem stable.
+e
Self-identified neoliberals
Maybe now I can figure out what a neoliberal actually is.
Cue another Titor rant about neoliberal and neoconservative terminology use. Not complaining.
I think that Jamie Kirchick guy that Nick Interviewed @ Reason espouses what might be described as a “classic neoliberal worldview”.
its not exactly super-complicated. Its basically wilsonian international progressivism = US and the UN need to uphold the ‘global order’ and spread democracy and capitalism so that technocrats can bring higher taxes and better rules for everyone.
neoliberals are the sort of people on the inside of the G20 meeting
operatives who work fulltime for their project to shackle our democracy.
Good grief.
David Koch makes the bogeyman (Kaiser Whatsis) from The Usual Suspects look like a amateurish halfwit..
Which is funny when you see how many progs scream about stupid voters when they don’t vote their way and want unaccountable agencies run by experts to regulate things
“Listen, that plan you were paying for and liked, it was stupid. And you’re stupid for liking it. So just listen to your betters and pay for the new plan like a good boy.”
I couldn’t survive without my Koch Brothers shill cash. It’s almost as good as the shill cash I get for defending Israel against anti-“Zionists”.
Behold….in all his marvellous glory….the faux-conservative gimp at the NYT….drum roll….fine tinkering of the plates will do….DAVID BROOKS!
“Recently I took a friend with only a high school degree to lunch. Insensitively, I led her into a gourmet sandwich shop. Suddenly I saw her face freeze up as she was confronted with sandwiches named “Padrino” and “Pomodoro” and ingredients like soppressata, capicollo and a striata baguette. I quickly asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she anxiously nodded yes and we ate Mexican.”
lol. What a pompous clown. I can’t believe this passes off as intellectualism at that rag.
Brooks (petting the girl on the head condescendingly): “I know. Big scaree words. Wanna go for Afghani instead?’
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/opinion/how-we-are-ruining-america.html?_r=0
Only in David Brooks’ world is gabagool, a routine ingredient in the Italian sub at your local deli, considered some kind of exotic delicacy unknown to anyone who doesn’t live on Central Park West.
Oh, and I’m calling bullshit on the notion that David Brooks socializes with anyone possessing only a high school diploma. Hell, his associates without Ivy degrees are probably limited to people who went to Duke or Stanford.
Yup. Certainly it was because she couldn’t read, not because a sandwich shop is can stupid place to go get lunch.
This attitude pisses me off to no end. I am so sick and tired of hearing that you need a 4+ year college education to be “successful.”
This is huge. The face he can’t see the elitism, just makes it worse.
I have a college degree, and I consider it a massive waste of time and money in retrospect. I remember virtually nothing from my classes and I’m still paying for the fucking thing over a decade later.
Akin to what Chipwooder wrote, the class I get the most use out of, of all my college classes, was Art Appreciation. Not that I make money with it, but it really fostered a life-long love of, and desire to know more about, fine arts and crafts. Second was probably Historiography, and that only because it introduced me to Tacitus, Kurosawa and Rashomon. That film completely changed the way I viewed the world.
The two courses I remember best were both electives – “OS Scripting” (which I use in my day job) and “History of American Technology” wherein I learned more than I ever needed to know about textiles manufacture as that sat at the heart of the industrial revolution.
Same here. Some of the dumbest things I ever heard about politics was in university. Meanwhile I still remember the conversation I had with a French-Canadian gas station attendant on Beaubien street.
Brooks must be one helluva a shallow empty suit at the dinner table.
You don’t know that. An AS/AA might be acceptable to Brooks.
Oh for fucks sake.
This attitude pisses me off to no end. I am so sick and tired of hearing that you need a
4+ year college educationpost-secondary degree to be “successful.”Is that sentence acceptable to you?
Please. Like a 2 year degree would be considered acceptable to these types? Hell, the 4 year is probably just barely acceptable.
Sorry. We have stumbled upon my hobby horse and I can get a little worked up.
Tap your sarcasm gauge a few times.
Yep, you’re right.
In my defense, with only high school education I had trouble understanding the section in the manual titled “Calibrating your Sarco 2000”
Grab yourself a macchiato and chill out.
Oh, sorry. That’s what we elites call “coffee.” That’s the stuff that comes out of the drip machine.
/Brooks
Sarcos are shit. You need to upgrade to the Lampoona Z34.
I have a college degree, and I make great money.
The squeeze has a GED, and makes middling money.
He’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, and is certainly way smarter than I.
Fuck you, Brooks (David, not Late P)
Two of the most successful guys I know are HS grads. One, I think, made it through a year of college before he realized it was costing him money. Both entrepreneurs, both incredibly smart people. I guarantee you they make a lot more than David Brooks.
I always use my uncle as an example: dropped out of HS because he needed to support his oops-pregnant-girlfriend-now-wife, got a GED, started in the tool & die business as an apprentice, and eventually created his own tool & die company. Many years later – ended up selling that for a few million dollars. Still worked – until very recently – making the machines that create engine parts. Very mathematical orientated guy who can think of mechanical solutions in 3D. Apparently my grandfather was much the same way, creating different ways to use handtools even with his physical disabilities.
This all reminds me. Last night on derpbook. An article taking about how most Republicans saw college and university as bad for America. The original poster then complained about how sad it was that so many Americans were against education. I wanted to scream. University != Education. I saw so many kids who got a degree but were completely brain dead. And conservatives might be wary of university because academia is objectively positioned against them.
It seems like knocking up a girl is a better path to success than getting your degree, at least for a number of guys I know. My brother especially: he hadn’t had his act together by 35, then oopsied his girlfriend. His son is closing in on two now and he’s making great money for the first time in his life.
Never underestimate the motivational power of pure, unadulterated terror.
Its the totally unselfconscious class bigotry that just never gets old. And its why we have Trump, and will likely get more Trump, and perhaps worse than Trump.
We are certainly going to get something worse than Trump. The economy is going to try to right itself eventually and the only alternative is going to be the batshit insane Democrats. Hope I’m wrong.
Not original, but, “You’ve heard of how cops interact with the public when they want them to do something? Ask, Tell, Make. The Tea Party was the Silent Majority’s Ask. Trump is Tell. We don’t want to see Make.”
My impression was the thought through this woman’s head was “What overpriced shitty food”.
Bingo. This whole story sounds about as true as a shit swastika.
I suspect his yokel friend is about as real as the proverbial cab-driver/sockpuppet these types like to invent to put their words into an authentic blue collar person’s mouth.
Bingo. The only person Brooks talks to who doesn’t have a degree is probably his doorman.
I don’t think he deigns to speak to the “help”.
In NYC? His doorman probably has an arts degree of some sort.
How magnanimous of Mr. Brooks, taking time out of his busy schedule to entertain the unwashed heathens and then write about his adventures in NYT travelogue.
“Common People in the Mist”
He needed an excuse to charge the lunch to his employer as a business expense.
Accountant: Brooks, you submitted a $26 receipt for some place called Los Paleto.
Brooks: Yes, I was treating my dear, erm, friend to lunch. For research.
Accountant: But only $26?
Brooks: Can you believe how cheap peasant slop is? I had indigestion for days.
I came to this website expecting some upper class educated individuals, but I have to admit you people do not sneer at the hoi polloi as much as one would expect
“Came for the elitism, stayed for the monocle-cleaning orphans, butt sex and puns”
And the weed. Oh man, don’t forget the weed!
CLASSIC NYT
Because that whole something between two pieces of bread thing is incomprehensible to anyone without a degree in Sandwich Studies.
Sorry I didn’t want to eat there, David, but that place was full of pretentious douchebags!
This ‘friend’ was probably his kid’s nanny.
Chances are she was hispanic too, and eating Mexican was just his way of trying to put her at her ease.
To be fair, this is where the column eventually leads:
I think he’s trying to make a legitimate point, but getting there in Brooks’s mind is painful.
Mark Zuckerberg graced North Dakota with his presence yesterday.
Yes it is so strange that people would be excited that they can work.
That’s something that most of the liberal elitist just don’t understand. Here in flyover country, most people want to work.
But they don’t have cool standing desks and massages and hipster food like the good people working in bay area tech.
Zuck can end the division and strife in the country by being the true President America needs.
Perhaps Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Brooks can team up and take a grand tour of the America that exists between NYC and SF.
I dunno man I heard that single origin fresh roasted coffee made by an expert barista can be scarce in those parts. Also artisanal mayonnaise is in short supply.
“Oh, how cute! Yokels in their natural habitat!
Him and Brooks need to get a room.
Fuck you Zuckerberg.
He should go back in January and give those North Dakatans a good lecture on climate change.
“Stupid rubes dont know what is good for them.”
I strongly encourage them to continue this tack.
So he ends a commentary on visiting a community dependent on petroleum with a vow to not use any of their products. But hey, they were neat people and we totally support them except where it matters.
“every new data center we build will be powered by 100% renewable energy.”
Shorter Zuck: “I am going to kill my business”
They’ll probably buy renewables credits.
What is this 100% renewable energy they speak of? I am pretty sure that power source has not been invented yet.
Humans pushing a wheel in circles while an overseer whips them?
I see your point. Humans are carbon-friendly, decompose nicely, and fungible.
“I believe we’re closer to powering our society by renewables if we work at it”
It’s like cold fusion: just a couple of years away.
Zuckerberg is the genius who gave the Newark public schools $100 million dollars expecting that throwing money at the problem would fix it.
$100 million dollars and it just sort of disappeared into the system with no discernible effect.
Zuckerberg is an idiot.
Well, as president, $100 million wouldn’t be such a big deal to squander.
Question:
Has anyone here used Etsy to sell? I am thinking about what I can make and sell, and Etsy might be a decent option, but I know essentially nothing about how it works. The thing I have noticed about similar “e-commerce” sites/services is that it is nigh unto impossible for the random buyer to find your product (unless, I suppose, he is driven there from somewhere else by an ad or link).
Also, my previous foray into such things did not go well. Paypal managed to fuck me out of every penny I “made” selling off some random shit on ebay many years ago. So the whole financial transaction part of it is an issue. I’d rather have people mail me a goddam check.
Can’t really help with the particulars you but I know a couple of people who make decent money. One sells prints and another does logos and slogans and such. Simple stuff nothing high end. So like many things, it is possible, I just don’t know how.
I’ve never sold there.
I’ve also never bought from there because I was wary of it as a platform (and no way of verifying the quality of work from the vendor)
It’s mostly dog crap Chinese stuff that’s touted as being ‘homemade’ by the seller. My wife does some fantastic custom crochet and knitting, but can’t sell there because other vendors charge so little.
Ugh. Charge so little because it’s imported junk and not custom made items.
My wife had the same experience. She crochets gorgeous afghans (she made me a huge, heavy one in a classic pattern than I took to Iraq with me and everyone else was jealous of it because the Iraqi winter is cold and it was warm as hell) but would charge a price commensurate with the amount of time she puts into them, which is considerable. She couldn’t compete with the cheap, and cheaply made, crap.
Is there any way to turn the luxury aspect into a selling point? Or do all the rest of the storefronts claim their imports are “custom hand crafted ultralux”?
Sure, but it involves building a reputation and social media followers so they know that your product is “real.” It’s a great use for Instagram, people enjoy seeing the process of things being created.
A woman I know slightly was/is a weaver, and she posted stills of the production process of weaving. I think she did 4 or 5 short sequences covering things like setting up the spindles, weaving itself, putting a customer-requested design in the weave (a bit of a fake, because it was for a sample, not an actual order), hand finishing etc.
This differentiated her – which is essential on an ‘open’ platform like Etsy – because you could see SHE was the artisan, and could thereby accommodate customization, unlike a bulk order of orange and black woolly hats ordered 8 months ago from an orphanage in Tajikistan.
Instagram, like Fatty says. I follow lots of knife makers on Insta, and some of them sell their wares on Etsy because it handles all the back end and retail shit while they just want to hit metal. These knives sell at $300+ no problem from someone with a sufficient following.
I haven’t. I have a friend who used a 3D printer and Facebook to make fidget spinners said v it cost him a dollar to make and could sell for ~8
“I’d rather have people mail me a goddam check.”
The 1980s called. They want their financial goods and services transactions back.
You think P Brooks is still writing checks at the grocery store?
I think you have to advertise your products elsewhere (Facebook, etc.) and link them to your Etsy page. Then you start garnering reviews and “likes” and your results will show up higher in the Etsy results. I wouldn’t just slap a product up on Etsy and call it a day.
Etsy also has “sponsored” listings, so you might look into those.
I am in the process of getting on Etsy. I was talking with someone in the know who I trust, and according to them it is a good platform. They knew someone who sells there, and ya, as others point out you need to drive traffic to your listings through other platforms. They also have ways to get bumped up in searches, but I am not sure how that works yet.
Etsy can work but used as a side to main business. Get into the Facebook(I know) EDC community. You can find lots of buyers of unique items on their but will have to build a relationship first.
*there
Etsy is good. Instagram seems to be a very poular way to market handicrafts.
The ACLU continues to circle the bowl….
Well Sharia means civil liberties, it is known
And “jihad” doesn’t mean jihad.
Well, at least it wasn’t as bad as this other defense I read in the New York Post. I won’t link it because it’s too much derp even for me, but here’s a highlight.
Well I guess we have to take their word for it.
Sarsour has no tolerance for Muslims who disagree with her != she wants to assault Muslims who disagree with her
And I can despise a person for holding repugnant beliefs however she chooses to express them.
That is an… interesting defense.
“Look, we can prove she’s not a hateful, bigoted Muslim. She’s also a hateful, bigoted woman!”
I may not agree with what you say, but I will kill you for saying it.
surgically strike women’s bodies.
Like female genital mutilation?
UNESCO stirs up some shit.
if you say so
There was no link there a few minutes ago. I call shenanigans
It’s good to be (one of) the king(s).
SP most offended
Not the biggest fan of Israel, but the willful rejection of history in support of Palestine is frustrating.
I am sure the Jews will get right on that.
I couldn’t survive without my Koch Brothers shill cash.
Dude, help me out. Where do I send my resumay? I feel like I should be cashing in on my contributions to the shackling of democracy. I ain’t runnin’ no charity, here.
Umm…. Do you have a four year degree in shill studies? If not it’s going to be a hard sell.
Watch Criminal with Kevin Costner yesterday. Pretty bad, but it did have an interesting point (that it failed to exploit IMHO). If you implanted the memories into a psychopath and they were able to experience emotions like “love” for the first time, would it change them? Producing empathy in those who are incapable or unwilling to exercise it would be laudable, especially in Washington DC.
Politicians feeling empathy might lead to mass suicide.
Cranks Freedom Rock.
You think P Brooks is still writing checks at the grocery store?
Haha, so funny.
CASH, BABY.
*vision of Brooks verbally counting out pennies one at a time*
Pennies??? He’s still using half-pennies.
(Gosh, writing that was an exercise in self control, to not misspell)
P Brooks in action!
Fast forward to 2:16 for the joke — forgot to add that to the HTML. Damn.
I’m seeing a lot of hemming and tut-tuting over the Donny J. emails, a lot of it in the “You wouldn’t be defending this if it were Clinton” vein. Which is true, but I think misses a more structural point: Clinton wouldn’t be punished for it. We wouldn’t even be discussing it. The media wouldn’t take on the tone they’re affecting now; CNN and MSNBC, the NYT and WaPo, HuffPo, Politico, etc. would explain it away in ambiguous and muddying terms. The FBI would immunize everyone they consulted, and ultimately would dismiss the allegations. Congress would launch a feeble, partisan probe that would accomplish nothing.
So we’re being asked to care deeply about a story they’ve been pushing without cause for over a year now that they’ve finally sunk their teeth into a scrap of red meat. We’re being told to “just think if this had happened on the other side.” Well, just think: none of these people would care. The Clintons can launder tens of millions of dollars in donations from foreign governments through their nakedly self-serving family foundation, and not one of their stooges in the media or in government blinks. But Junior spending twenty minutes in a room with a Russian cut-out, on the promise that she would reveal proof of crimes committed by the DNC, indelibly stains the Trump administration.
Nah. Go fuck yourselves.
“You wouldn’t be defending this if it were Clinton”
The fact that they offer this as a hypothetical shows how big of shills they are. Hillary did do the same thing.
Let them go after Junior. The shitshow Senior would release on them would be spectacular.
HILARY WAS VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED TO OPPOSITION RESEARCH!
It’s not even a hypothetical in this case, since Team Hillary! actively solicited dirt on Trump from the Ukrainians.
Hell, even CNN reported on this.
I tend to agree. I’m not willfully playing their stupid game for them. Oppo research is SOP for campaigns, and that’s all this is. What dumbass wouldn’t agree to at least hear somebody out if they said they had information about an opponent?
It also destroys the Russian collusion narrative. The media would like you to ignore that, and embrace the cognitive dissonance they do so well.
I don’t even defend Jr. on this: if he broke the law, he should be prosecuted.
But you’re exactly right, I’m not willing to do the legwork for Dems and their media mouthpieces. Cut the shit with the innuendo and make the case. Until then, get back on your high horse and fuck right off.
I don’t even defend Jr. on this: if he broke the law, he should be prosecuted.
Absolutely. But based on what we know, and we seem to have a pretty comprehensive account of the whole affair since Jr. dumped his own emails, there isn’t a whisper of hint of illegality by Jr.
Its possible that there was a technical violation of the security clearance disclosure laws by Kushner, I suppose, but holy shit – a twenty minute meeting with a Russian adoption activist that went nowhere? They’re going to try to string him up for that?
Hopefully, the Trumpians learned their lesson about folding to this kind of crap, and hold the course.
It also destroys the Russian collusion narrative.
It proves that there was no established channel for communication between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. The emails say exactly that.
And, it was a nothingburger meeting – no info was provided, no quids were pro quo’ed, no followup, nothing. There are questions begged of course, like why did the go-between say there would be dirt on Hillary provided by Russian prosecutors? Based on what we know, none of it really quite makes sense, but at this point I’m not seeing any loose ends that are likely to lead back to the Trump campaign. Where do those loose ends lead, one wonders?
We’ll probably never find out, because they don’t lead anywhere Mueller or the DemOp Complex care to go.
Look like Joanna Krupa for $260:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4687258/Joanna-Krupa-frolics-Miami-surf-ex-Romain-Zago.html
Reasonably sure I’ve bumped into her professionally in the past, and if so, she’s even more beautiful in person than in print. Cold eyes that would put a Russian mail order bride to shame, but a very beautiful, toned woman all the same.
I really wish women would stop inflating their lips. Krupa was gorgeous without that, now she’s gorgeous with a highly distracting mouth.
They don’t look fake, even if they are.
I dunno. I doubt my hairy torso and legs, my recently developed middle age pot belly and my three day beard would look like Joanna if I put that bikini on. I am very skeptical.
Dare ya.
Pics or GTFO
Pics and I GTFO
She’s gonna get some weird (yet intriguing) tan lines.
Why I’m wearing that right now!
hawt
… and very fetching you look too, I’m sure.
>FX: Pats head warily<
I tried to order capicola at Dimpus Burger but the punk would only offer me a Large Farva.
Capicola is French for gimme some fucking ham.
David Brooks, what a jabroni.
BTW, since the Texans are talking about it upthread, if anyone wants to do a central VA one I’m game. I am NOT going to fucking NoVa, though.
How central are we talkin’? Cause I’m in NoVA.
I’m in Richmond. I’d be willing to go west to Charlottesville, north up to Fredericksburg. Richmond, of course, would be ideal! haha….hey, we have some great breweries.
Put this at the end of the overnight thread, but it really is something to watch. Ralph Peters is such a prick that even his name isn’t asshole sounding enough to capture it.
Ralph Peters fantasizes about war the way the rest of us fantasize about threeways with Gal Gadot and Joanne Krupa.
I’d like a threeway with Gal Gadot and Gal Gadot. And if they got into a little bit of a fight during it, that would be OK too.
I’d accept a threeway between Gal Gadot, Gal Gadot, and Gal Gadot.
Me too. Add in a young woman berating them in high-speed Ukranian and I’d buy the pay-per-view at least twice.
When we say “berating” do we mean “issuing detailed instructions on how best to utilize the strap-on”?
Why Ukrainian?
There is no “Why?”; there is only “Why not?”
Because Russian scolding is played out.
Not the same way, no. We fantasize about being in a three way with Gal and Joanne ourselves. He fantasizes about other people being in war. I dont think Ralphy intends to pick up a rifle himself.
Well, on the upside, at least Trump isn’t the only one who is literally Hitler.
Chipwooder just outed himself as Miles.
crap… meant to be a reply.
I blame Gilmore.
fair cop
Florida man’s back yard overrun with ‘vicious’ monkeys
http://www.breitbart.com/news/florida-mans-back-yard-overrun-with-vicious-monkeys/
That’s why God invented the .22-250.
Blessed be the replacement barrel makers?
Breitbart commenters are scumbags, though. Cheeeerist.
JOOOOOOOOOOOOOZ!!!
As a rule I don’t look at Breitbart comments.
Ditto. I actually quite like Breitbart for most things. They certainly have a slant, however their reporting is more complete and honest than 99.9% of other news outlets. You can find stories that won’t get covered anywhere else. But man the commenters climb out from under their rocks to go there.
I didn’t know Michelle Malkin wrote for them.
I like James Delingpole, who is (I think?) editor in chief there. But mostly for his podcast. He drives watermelons and college students nuts.
I’m fond of his “I’m not a scientist, but even I can spot the flaws in your climate claims” articles.
Here’s a tough one – who has worse commenters, Breitbart or Zero Hedge? Which group has more of that Protocols of the Elders of Zion feel?
RE: Trump Jr. and the EVUL ROOSKIES
Are average people paying attention to any of this? I spend significantly above average time discussing/thinking about politics and even I am:
1. Getting lost in the weeds here, this seems like way, way inside baseball
2. Distrusting anything and everything the media says about this “scandal” because they have been beating this ROOSKIES STOLED MUH LECSHUN horseshit for months and were even caught admitting that it was fake
3. Having a real hard time giving a shit what the President’s semi-retarded son said to some random Russian chick when it obviously had no impact on the election’s outcome
I’m beginning to think that this all may be a good thing because the media just continues chasing its tail while Trump does his thing.
It’s all about innuendo and leaving that bit of Trump = Russia sediment in the minds of voters.
There’s also the fact that if there was any information shared, it was information that voters should know anyways. I have a hard time being sympathetic to someone who thinks that we should cover up corruption if it means the right team gets to play ball, even if it might be illegal to share that information.
I think there’s room to bend the rules a little bit if it means revealing how insanely corrupt government officials are. It’s not like we would get the truth from our own government or media.
My take.
Moral panic ahoy!
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ghoulish-online-game-urges-young-people-end-lives-48578345
My credulity is low on this.
The fact is that a suicide, particularly one of a child that comes out of left field, is extremely traumatic. The family will do anything and everything to rationalize it as not their fault, up to and including inventing ridiculous conspiracy theories about online murder games. Anything is better than laying down to sleep at night and thinking you might have been the reason your son is dead.
The Antichrist meets with Nazis to discuss how best to ethnically cleanse the United States.
https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/qvpz4q/betsy-devos-to-meet-with-mens-rights-groups-reports-say?utm_source=broadlytwitterus
How dare a member of government meet with a group organized to advocate for a defined demographic!
“ThinkProgress also details how SAVE: Stop Abusive and Violent Environments, is listed as a misogynistic website by the Southern Poverty Law Center and in 2013 published an article claiming that civil rights had been “undermined by domestic violence laws.””
Think Progress and the Southern Poverty Law Center? Well, then that settles it. It has to be true.
Civil rights have been undermined by domestic violence laws. Thats true.
Now we’ve been listed as a misogynistic website by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Anybody else catch Scarborough’s announcement that he’s leaving the GOP?
As if he were vaguely Republican in any manner before.
Mika’s vagina dentata must have cast a spell on him.
She has a vagina?
It’s like that guy you’ve known for years and always knew was gay, deciding to “come out” when you’re both buck naked in the sauna.
Pix?
I’ll give him this much – he sure managed to parlay four forgettable terms in the House into quite the lucrative career of media leetch.
And he gets healthcare and a lifetime pension courtesy of the Deplorables!
UAW throws a hail Mary
The Nissan workers who filed for the election asked that it take place on July 31 and Aug. 1, a rapid but not unheard-of turnaround, said Wilma Liebman, a former N.L.R.B. chairwoman.
In doing so, the workers and the union appear to have calculated that the window for their opportunity to organize the Nissan facility may be closing, with President Trump having recently made two Republican nominations to the labor board. A board more hostile to organizing could make it easier for the company to overturn a union victory, or be more likely to reject union appeals after the fact.
“I think N.L.R.B. changes have to be playing a role here,” Ms. Dziczek said.
Also in the story, Union organizers frame their efforts in “racial justice” terms, because why wouldn’t they? After all, it’s not like the people working at that Nissan plant are making better money for the work than they could anywhere else in Mississippi.
Good luck with that
*scratches head*
Isn’t MS a right-to-work state?
yes. It makes the unions a lot less odious.
That may be Nissan’s only saving grace if they do unionize. Nissan’s market niche is cheap cars. If they have to raise their prices but their quality doesn’t improve then they’ll have to close up shop. Nothing like unionizing yourself out of a job.
But the union can still send thugs to people’s houses if they opt out of the union, put hammers into their vehicles (literally happened on my cousin’s job site to a Toyota Tundra, because it’s “not American”), etc. And the police are not likely to do anything about it, since they have a union too.
Anybody else catch Scarborough’s announcement that he’s leaving the GOP?
Was that part of the pre-nup?
Joke’s faux-conservatism is the hook on which the show hangs. They might as well turn it over to that preening imbecile Donny Deutsch, voice of the common man in a thousand dollar suit.
The guy taking the selfie with the women in the background is priceless.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/watch-topless-feminist-activists-disrupt-woody-allen-jazz-concert-germany-1020264
NSFW.
I hope those protesters don’t think they are accomplishing anything.
And how come Russia and Germany get topless protesters, and all we get are stupid pussy hats?
I’m ok with it since a good 90-95% of the pussy hat ladies should never be topless, ever.
Those Fenem women seemed to be in pretty good shape though.
Oh yeah, I just mean our domestic tardballs. Hot euro femmes can go topless as a protest to their hearts’ content.
I don’t even know what an instagram is. I feel so pathetic, sometimes.
It’s a gram of insta – duh.
I only order my insta in bulk, thanks.
I’ll take an 8-ball of insta plz.
*pulls package from long overcoat and hands it over*
Sucker didn’t even get the money yet, Q!
The jokes on you.
RUN!
It’s about 1/28th of an insta-ounce. You really should learn metric…
“The crisis in America’s crime labs”
http://michellemalkin.com/2017/07/12/the-crisis-in-americas-crime-labs/
Let me guess, sloppy work is preventing convictions, not sending Innocents to jail.
“Junk science endangers lives. Forensic junk science in the hands of overzealous prosecutors, ignorant police detectives and reckless experts threatens liberty…
It’s the wrongfully prosecuted and convicted who suffer the heaviest deprivations — and taxpayers who must foot the astronomical bill for all the costs and damages incurred by crime lab corruptocrats and their enablers…
Secrecy about the crime lab crisis is a toxic recipe for more wrongful convictions. The solution lies in greater transparency, external scrutiny, stiffer criminal penalties and real financial consequences for forensic fraudsters and fakers. It’s time to incentivize more whistleblowers, instead of more destructive witch hunts.”
Color me surprised
That was unexpected. Somebody check Michelle for a pod attachment point.
Now that’s a gooda one.
Balko tweetered something about “headlight spread analysis” or some shit used to identify specific vehicles. Like, WTF?
Also- in that NYT story about the Nissan plant, there is a photo of some marchers, with a caption claiming “thousands” participated.
More like dozens, I’d say. It’s one of those shots where the photographer gets down low, so you can’t see that here’s nobody behind the guys holding the banner.
Hey you can’t discount those who participated in their hearts, while they were at home watching the game.
Is that like committing adultery in your heart?
Nah, it was a decent turnout. “Thousands” may be a bit much, but definitely more than dozens.
Weapons-grade retard.
http://www.yourtango.com/2015251411/why-i-love-you-too-means-absolutely-nothing-sorry
TW: Reprint from the Good Man Project, a site nearly as odious as everydayfeminism.
I am hungry as well.
I am hungry too.
I love you too.
I love you as well.
I don’t get it.
There’s nothing to get other than:
Shorter Good Man Project – “If you have a penis, whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it wrong.”
Why not just call it the Married Man Project, then?
“Neutered Cuck Project” is more appropriate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJF7k5cFQEQ
As usual with these kinds of articles, they take a small kernel of truth and blow it out of proportion. Anyway, it’s more about sounding like you mean it, than the actual words you use. And being the one to say it first sometimes.
So, I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but that gun story has so many holes in it I don’t know where to begin. For one, they list DC as the second highest guns per capita in the nation. Unless we’re including police and security details I am going to say not bloody likely. Secondly, the opening picture shows a guy with what looks like an AK slung on his back… except the magazine is in BACKWARDS! Furthermore I don’t think that gun is even an AK. I owned a gun that looked remarkably like that one at one point and it is actually a 308, which means he has the wrong magazine stuck in it, on top of being backwards. From 1 to even I just can’t right now.
Their methodology is garbage. They’re going off of “registrations”, and discounting pistols completely. Obviously, some states require registration, while others you can only get data from NFA transfers. If you read the full original article, states like AZ and KS (both of which I’m pretty sure have very high rates of gun ownership) are in the bottom 50%. It’s complete horseshit.
I think in my home county, rural VT, 80% of homes have at least a hunting rifle and shotgun.
Burlington might have a low number, but I know Vermont has more than they think. There’s no registration, no CCW, no anything.
Vermont is an excellent response to people who believe that a lack of gun control laws spontaneously causes crimes to be committed.
Like Q said, the methodology is total shit.
So basically everything…except nearly all handguns, rifles and shotguns..
NFA firearms only include the categories regulated by The National Firearms Act of 1934: machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors, destructive devices like bombs and grenades, concealable devices with the ability to discharge a shot through the energy of an explosive, and any firearm with a bore over half an inch that has not been determined to have a legitimate sporting use.
What? But I use a shark stick as my carry weapon. Does this mean I have to throw it in the river afterwards?
Well, the plot thickens:
Looks like the loose ends in this bizarre episode may trace back to the Dems. Who the fuck knows? But since she obviously has Dem connections as well, I’m thinking this will be allowed to quietly fade away.
Wouldn’t it be great if one of these (largely) fake ‘issues’ finally got sufficient traction for a proper investigation and suddenly everyone belatedly realizes that the discovery phase was going to be very, very revealing?
Remember when I said it could be a DNC insurance plot to give their russia screeching traction? I know I do.
relevant:
http://i.imgur.com/MvNbKh7.png
Apparently this honeypot lawyer planted by Obama attended at least one anti-Trump protest while in the states.
https://imgur.com/a/jlpDY
Yabut – would?
yep.
BTW, now that I actually watched the Scarborough clip, when did he start going to David Brock’s hairstylist?
Last Thursday. They stopped off on the way to pick up a sandwich.
Those fucking elitist snobs and their capicola sandwiches!!
As someone whose chomped down on an untold number of capicola and egg sandwiches at Primanti Brothers, this makes no sense to me.
Yeah. Capicola is not some hoity-toity meat.
Didn’t make any sense to me either. Like I said in the other thread, almost any deli you go to will have an Italian sub featuring capicola.
Even white-trash deli’s have it
He needs to go to Soave’s stylist if he wants to be taken seriously.
The replies are gold!
Best one
“Journalism”
Which one of you is “Cardinal Curmudgeon”?
Avatar is Connery in his bikini & suspenders getup.
Cardinal Curmudgeon @Gimblin 1h1 hour ago
More
Replying to @toddprincetv @reviewjournal
Military equipment on trains?!? What is this, the Civil War?
It’s gold, Jerry! GOLD!
Regarding David Brooks at the sandwich shop. I’ll bet you most peasants would have the goddam common courtesy to help out a friend (or even a stranger) who’s not familiar with the menu and may need a little help on what to order.
Well, that’s the Republicans for you. Unhelpful, divisive bastards.
/sarc
Fashion icon Joan Walsh gives clothes advice to known frump Ivanka Trump.
(IFL Ivanka’s dress)
Wow. She definitely inherited her father’s breasts. They’re yuuuuge!
Nice tits.
Also, I can only imagine MSNBC was unabashed in ridiculing Kellyanne Conway for her inauguration dress. I’m guessing “martial-themed” or “militaristic” factored into their critique.
I hated Kellyann’s dress at the inauguration – it was all wrong for her (and pretty much anyone except a 16-year-old). Ivanka’s pink dress – that’s some fashiony shit, right there. Gorgeous.
I just googled that. I hadn’t seen it before. That dress is …. uh….just weird.
To be fair, I thought her dress was pretty ridiculous, not that I know shit about fashion or anything.
But lookit this Joan Walsh character in her $10 Old Navy jeans & tank top (that don’t even fit) and her mop of a hairstyle. Yeah, Ivanka totes need fashion advice from you.
James “If you fuck with me, I’ll kill you all” Mattis grants rare interview request to high school student. Vox manages to keep most of their sneering condescension out of a piece discussing it.
Maybe cause the high school kid managed to ask questions that are legitimate and serious without loading them like a Mexican hay wagon.
That kid’s got a bright future in, well… not journalism, obviously.
good general philosophical principles espoused by “Mad Dog”.
Iran is certainly the most destabilizing influence in the Middle East and when I would travel to Cairo or Tel Aviv or Riyadh and from Arabs from Jews, all the people in the region, that is their view of Iran.
arabs and jews hate persians
shocker
Oh, and Venus Williams made it to the semifinals of Wimbledon for the thirty-eighth time. Ok, that is probably an exaggeration,…
Actually she’s been in 17 Wimbledon SF’s (counting singles, doubles and mixed doubles), which is still pretty amazing. She’s will have been in 42 Grand Slam SF’s and 32 Grand Slam finals (i.e., she was 32-9 in her GS SF’s, not counting this year’s Wimbledon). She was 14-0 in her Grand Slam doubles finals (all with her sister), which is also pretty amazing.