STEVE SMITH’S SUNDAY EVENING LINKS

STEVE SMITH GOING TO BE QUICK ABOUT LINKS TODAY. STEVE SMITH THINK HE HEARD LOCAL EVIRO-WEENIE GROUP GOING TO CHAIN SELF TO TREES, AND STOP …SOMETHING. ALL STEVE SMITH CAN SAY IS “TOO EASY”. AND BY TOO EASY, MEAN RAPE.

STEVE SMITH ONLY STOP WHEN DONE!
  • STEVE SMITH GLAD THIS WAS NOT WORSE. IF ANYONE LOSE HOME AND NEED PLACE TO STAY, STEVE SMITH MAKE SOME ROOM IN CAVE IN WOODS FOR THEM.
  • STEVE SMITH THINK THIS NOT WORK…EVER.
  • STEVE SMITH WONDER HOW PHOTOGRAPHS OF INSIDE OF GLIBS’ HOUSES GET ONLINE?

STEVE SMITH GO NOW, NOT MISS EASY OPPORTUNITY. BY OPPORTUNITY, MEAN RAPE.

Comments

352 responses to “STEVE SMITH’S SUNDAY EVENING LINKS”

  1. westernsloper

    When he heard she was ill, he sent an e-mail to her assistant confessing: “I realize how much I love her.” The assistant replied Jolie had changed her e-mail address.

    She did that to me too.

    1. westernsloper

      Seriously though,

      Moreno Ocampo wanted to embed Jolie, and hopefully Pitt, with US Special Forces close to Kony’s stronghold, according to the report.

      That is idiotic, but this implies we know where Kony is and Special Forces are close by? Go shoot the fucker in the face. There are not many people alive who need a bullet in the head more than that sick fucker. The LRA is pure evil. A quick search says they gave up looking for him. And no, I do not think we should have forces searching for him. The Ugandans and S Sudanese should hunt him down.

      1. John Titor

        but this implies we know where Kony is and Special Forces are close by?

        “Somewhere in the Congo, one of the most hard to navigate locations in the world.”

        And by ‘Special Forces near by’ they mean ‘somewhere in Uganda’.

        1. westernsloper

          Is he in Congo now? I have not been following that mess for some years. That whole central area is no fun to navigate. Hell, most of the continent.

          1. John Titor

            Most analysts think he’s rolling somewhere around the CAR or DRC, stealing food just to survive. The Lord’s Resistance Army itself apparently only has a couple dozen members left. Kony’s effectively dead in the water, which is why the Ugandans gave up on trying to hunt him down. If the last of his followers abandon him he might crawl out of the jungle to surrender but other than that most think a manhunt to be an understandable waste of resources.

          2. westernsloper

            That is good to hear. Hopefully someone bashes his head in when he steals food from them.

          3. Amashi

            I missed the context when I first read this, and thought you were talking about Tony. I’m going to keep reading it that way, because I find it amusing.

      2. John Titor

        Also, there’s a downside to the Ugandans and Sudanese looking for him, namely, they have a habit of invading other countries sovereign territories where a large amount of mineral resources happen to be and squatting on them while they ‘search’ for Kony.

    2. AlmightyJB

      If someone wanted to lure me somewhere, using Angelina Jolie would totally work.

      1. RBS

        +1 Gia

      2. Rhywun

        I was waiting for an ’embed Jolie’ joke, but this will do.

      3. Lackadaisical

        Maybe 10-20 years ago. I think she just looks weird now.

        1. AlmightyJB

          She could use a sandwich or two but something about that mouth has always done it for me going back to Girl, Interrupted.

          1. Count Potato

            That’s worth sticking it in crazy.

          2. Lackadaisical

            Yup, she’s got some DSL.

          3. Not an Economist

            Angelina in Hackers … very nice.

          4. Count Potato

            That was before the surgery, too.

        2. Amashi

          I never understood the Angelina Jolie thing. Even twenty years ago.

          1. The Elite Elite

            I’ll second that.

  2. I’ve seen many stranger houses than those pictured.

    Also, first.

    1. Pics or it didn’t happen…. and NOT first.

    2. Tulip

      When I was looking for a house, I called it the parade of ugly homes. One highlight, someone had added a garage to the side of the house. The dining had a window that they didn’t change. So now, the dining room window looked into the garage. That was far from the worst thing I saw.

      1. Tulip

        The dining room had a window that…

      2. westernsloper

        If you have a nice car or a kick ass workbench I can see how that might be a thing. I like it.

      3. SimonD

        Our house had a family room/living room added onto the side, but they didn’t remove the window to my bedroom. So, my bedroom looked out into the family room.

        The biggest problem is that we had a wood-burning stove for heat. When the stove was really roaring it would be hot as hell in my room; when the stove went out, it would get cold as all get out quite quickly. Because of this, I was the one who always got up at 3 AM to restart the fire (so I would roast again, but I don’t do cold weather very well).

        1. Rhywun

          my bedroom looked out into the family room

          That’s… inconvenient.

        2. Tulip

          When I was a kid, a friend lived in a house that must have been a nightmare for the adults, but was kind of awesome for a kid. A bad remodel added a staircase, but didn’t remove the old one. So, there was a ‘secret passage’ from my friend’s parents’ bedroom closet to the kitchen pantry. The pantry door only opened about half way because it was blocked by the kitchen counter.

          Still better than some of the things I saw during the parade of ugly homes.

          1. Tulip

            Secretly, I kinda think the secret passage would be awesome now.

          2. Lackadaisical

            Only secretly?

            I think I’ll build a secret passage into my house one day. 😛

          3. Tulip

            My sister has a hidden storage room in the basement. One bookshelf, in a wall of bookshelves, is the door and swings out when you trigger the hidden catch. I am so jealous.

    3. DEG

      I’ve seen many stranger houses than those pictured.

      Same.

      1. hayeksplosives

        Here’s a contender, especially considering that it cost millions.

        1. hayeksplosives

          More pics and twitter comments here.

  3. westernsloper

    STEVE SMITH GLAD THIS WAS NOT WORSE.

    Agree.

  4. Well, Bladerunner 2049 was great. I’ll concur with Raz0rfist that it was an unnecessary sequel – marginally relevant only if you take one specific interpretation of the first film…but just as a standalone SF flick – it’s really great. Great acting, gorgeous cinematography, excellent direction. Highly recommended.

    Completely unrelated, I uploaded my first copy of my next review just to find out that the addition of extra clips has it blocked worldwide by Toho. I think I will try a stealth upload to vid.me of the “unexpurgated” version and link it exclusively here FYI – already uploaded a backup version. May have to do that with some of my other older reviews too.

    1. Rhywun

      Good to hear. That is a rare unnecessary sequel that I look forward to. Who doesn’t want to soak in that atmosphere again?

    2. John Titor

      Apparently that director is working on a Dune remake. I think Dune is unfilmable but I’d at least be interested to see what he comes up with.

      1. I’m waiting to see Harrison Ford in the 2019 Indiana Jones geriatripic. I think they are calling it “Raiders of the Lost Bedpan.” Maybe “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Hip Replacement Surgery.”

        1. westernsloper

          I heard it was Raiders of the Lost Keys and Dr Jones lands an airplane in a mall parking lot thinking it is the airport.

        2. John Titor

          He has to escape the elaborate traps set up to keep him in his nursing home.

          1. Festus

            My ex’s Grandpa was a true escape artist. The Alzheimer’s hit and he was put in a home. They couldn’t keep him locked up. He kept getting out and going home. His Wife would get up in the morning and there he’d be, reading the paper and having his coffee. Of course he thought that she was one of daughters but holy smokes that is some grit and determination.

        3. Mythical Libertarian Woman

          He was so painful in the new Star Wars. Everyone was harping on Carrie for looking half-melted, but it’s not like he was any better. I wish they hadn’t brought the original characters back. Set it 100 years in the future and you could have kept some of the aspects of the Expanded Universe and not subjected us to the agony of slurred dialogue, slipping dentures, and JJ Abrams’ utter disregard of the concept of character development. I think I would have even been willing to tolerate Rey’s over-the-top Mary Sue qualities if I hadn’t had to endure that suffering.

      2. KSuellington

        If they can get Jodorowsky to direct it then it will be well worth a view.

      3. Amashi

        Maybe it is unfilmable, but you could do better than Lynch did. He didn’t give a shit about the novel, and his Dune is about as faithful an adaptation as “Starship Troopers” was. Now that’s a book that could make a pretty good movie…

        1. Rhywun

          I still have to read that. Love the movie for what it is FWIW.

          1. cyto

            The movie was great… and is pretty much entirely unrelated to the book, which is also good.

            They steal a couple of phrases and ideas about citizenship, and that is about it.

            My buddy and I went to a packed showing of Starship Troopers when it came out, and we were the only two who understood the humor. So when the Drill Instructor yells “Medic!!” after the “put your hand on that wall” scene, we were laughing out loud…. and very much alone. Everyone else was horrified at the brutality.

            That was a great spoof of the 50’s science fiction genre. Do you want to know more?

    3. The Elite Elite

      Well, when I heard that Anita Sarkeesian was saying it was sexist, I was hoping to hear that it was a good film. RedLetterMedia apparently likes it too. This is all making me think I should see the original film. I’ve only seen bits and pieces of it.

      1. Rhywun

        I’ve only seen bits and pieces of it.

        I resisted it for many years but finally watched the whole thing 5 or 6 years ago – now I love it.

        1. The Elite Elite

          Yeah, after seeing mostly positive stuff about the new movie, I was thinking I’d try watching the original. I could’ve sworn I saw it listed as a recommended on Netflix a few months back, but I checked today and couldn’t find it on there.

      2. Michael

        At risk of sounding like a smarmy hipster, I highly recommend that do yourself a huge favor by skipping the theatrical version and going directly for the director’s cut. Or watch the theater version if you absolutely must, if only to marvel at the utter contempt in which Hollywood regards the intelligence of its audience.

        1. Rhywun

          I think you have to go out of your way to get the voice-over anymore. I’m not even sure if it’s on my DVD.

          1. Michael

            I’m pretty sure you’re right about that. My wife found out about a free screening of it held last week at a nearby theater. The manager came out right before the lights went down to announce that it was the theatrical version, and a faint but audible groan swept through the room. I have no idea why they chose it.

        2. The Elite Elite

          Which one? The director’s cut or the final cut?

          1. Rhywun

            You want the one without the voice-over – that’s the “Director’s Cut” or like I have “The Final Cut”.

          2. Rhywun

            Oh PPFFTT you mentioned final cut. Yeah, either one should do.

          3. The Elite Elite

            What’s the difference between those two cuts?

          4. Michael

            About one minute of run time according to Wikipedia. Honestly, I really have no idea. The disk I used to have was actually the final cut which I mistook for the director’s cut.

          5. one true athena

            Final Cut corrects continuity/tech errors — iirc, things like a shot that was printed backwards. Small things. The two versions are basically identical.

          6. Michael

            Shit, sorry. I meant the final cut which came out most recently.

    4. KSuellington

      Right on Fish. I was hoping it would be good. We have a projector so we don’t go out to many theaters anymore, but this one will warrant a date nite out with the wife this week.

      1. Would probably be worth paying for the extra large screen experience – and making it a real date night (it is almost 3 hours). I woulda tried IMAX, but I’m always paranoid about bathroom breaks and I like my reserved seating.

    5. Michael

      I’ll add a very enthusiastic “seconded” to LT_Fish’s recommendation. It is a gorgeous film that is delightful to see on the big screen.

  5. Juvenile Bluster

    You know what? It was a good fucking weekend. Eagles are going to the Super Bowl, saw Bladerunner, Syracuse beat Pitt, my favorite Japanese show with cute lesbian high school girls started its fourth/second season, celebrated mom’s birthday, and may have a lead on an interview so I can finally get out of my hellhole of a job (probably not, but it’s at ‘so you’re saying there’s a chance’ level, which is better than where I usually am in trying t get the fuck out of my current job)

    1. RBS

      Nice!

    2. westernsloper

      Good luck with the job lead. In spite of your delusion about the Eagles.

    3. John Titor

      my favorite Japanese show with cute lesbian high school girls started its fourth/second season

      And yet I have to wait years for a Black Lagoon or Drifters new season.

      The state of anime is horrible.

      1. John Titor

        Oh, and the Berserk remake sucked balls.

        1. I dunno…I liked the movie trilogy and the follow-on eps so far…but then I got to the series late and netflix only has a couple of the original DVDs. I don’t dig around in manga very often although I did just pick up Blame vol 1 and I have a few more on my list thanks to serdar at genji-press.com

          1. John Titor

            Movie trilogy’s fine, not as good as the original series but fine. I’m talking about Berserk 2016 and man the shitty 3D animation, direction and music basically destroy the atmosphere the series should be going for.

      2. Juvenile Bluster

        Hey, if I wanted to piss you off I’d tell you that not one but TWO Sword Art Online anime sequel series were announced in the past week.

        1. John Titor

          How in the fuck do they get that mileage out of it? It’s a good premise utterly destroyed by the hack writing that could work for like four seasons tops. WHY ANIME GODS WHY.

          1. Juvenile Bluster

            Your guess is as good as mine.

            One of the announced series is apparently all original with none of the current cast, which means no Kirito, which means it might be watchable.

          2. John Titor

            Never underestimate Japanese nerds’ ability to write in a pathetic self-insert Marty Stu.

    4. Rufus the Monocled

      Great win. Tough games next two weeks though – Panthers are hot and the Redskins always play the Eagles tough. Awesome the Packers beat Dallas giving the Eagles a 2 game edge.

    5. DEG

      Best wishes on your job hunt.

    6. egould310

      Coo bro. Good vibes flowing you way.

    7. Mythical Libertarian Woman

      my favorite Japanese show with cute lesbian high school girls started its fourth/second season

      What show is this? My girlfriend was trying to get me to watch one but I already don’t remember what it’s called. Not sure if this is the same one or not but probably?

  6. The Late P Brooks

    Remember when weather is not climate was a thing? Well, guess what.

    Climate images have never been able to convey our full planetary danger until now. The extraordinary recent four-punch sequence of hurricanes — Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria — threatened the lives of millions of people, obliterated their homes and has raised doubts that some places will ever recover. The rest of us have a newly immediate sense of catastrophes of biblical proportions. As meaning-hungry creatures we search for explanations. No wonder some have embraced the apocalyptic narrative of total destruction by an angry deity. And no wonder that climate-change rejecters like President Trump have increasing difficulty defending their position.

    Even before the hurricanes we had experienced a drumbeat of storms, floods, droughts and wildfires that rendered global warming not just a remote future danger but an immediate one. This fear was reinforced by the recent hurricanes, which provided imagery equivalent to the danger, imagery equivalent to nuclear disaster. When we viewed photographs and film of the annihilated cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we sensed that the world could be ended by nuclear weapons. Now these hurricanes have conveyed a similar feeling of world-ending, having left whole islands, once alive in their beauty and commerce, in ruin.

    Now, a lousy day is proof positive of doom on a Biblical scale.

    1. Rhywun

      Wait… they’re willing to entertain an angry deity so long as it contradicts der Drumpf? LOL

    2. Amashi

      Good lord- the stupidity here is pretty epic. If this very active hurricane season is proof of “planetary danger,” what did the last >10 very quiet years mean?

      1. Rick C-137

        That the right top men were controlling the weather

        1. It’s weird that just the rumor of Trump pulling out of the Paris Accord caused back-to-back hurricanes. Gaia must be pissed!

          1. Rhywun

            I hope he stops waffling on that.

          2. Yeah, the suspense is…not killing me, but annoying me, certainly. I’d like him to take a stand on this.

          3. Winston

            So the US is still part of the accord?

          4. So, funny thing that I didn’t know. Trump did say he intended to withdraw, but according to the exit rules we agreed to we have to wait four years from the date of entry, which would put it in 2020, after the next presidential election. And he said he’d adhere to the exit agreement.

            So, whatever he says, we’re still in the accord and agreeing to abide by it until 2020, when he may very well no longer be in office.

          5. Rhywun

            I don’t understand how we’re “in” anything without Congressional approval.

          6. Yeah, or how the terms of an agreement entered into by what amounted to executive fiat hold any kind of legitimacy whatsoever.

      2. juris imprudent

        Even Gaia was enamored with the Obamessiah?

        1. westernsloper

          Sea levels went down and everything.

    3. Suthenboy

      There are no climate changes or weather events that are statistically abnormal. If you back up and look at the record everything is humming along just like it always has. These people all have ‘full moon’ syndrome. You think all kinds of crazy shit happens on a full moon because everyone is running around saying “It’s the full moon!” but if you look at the statistics nothing unusual happens on the full moon, people just notice it more.

      This is far from the worst hurricane season in history. It doesnt mean shit. They come in cycles. We may be in for a year or two more of notable storms and then probably another 5-10 year lull. Does chicken little there point out that ocean temps are not above average? Of course not.

      There isnt any goddamned AGW and no, you cant have my money or my gasoline car. Take your scam somewhere else.

      1. Juvenile Bluster

        Ocean temps are above average in the Atlantic. They are below average in the Pacific. This is a classic La Nina presentation (though I don’t think it’s technically a La Nina right now), which leads to more cyclogenesis in the Atlantic Ocean.

        You know what leads to fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic? El Nino, which is a presentation where we see global temperatures rise.

        1. Suthenboy

          So IOW we are in a normal cycle.

    4. Juvenile Bluster

      You know the first year that we can really go back to and say “we have an accurate, comprehensive record of the strength and minimum central pressure of every storm that formed in the Atlantic Ocean this hurricane season”?

      1980.

      Just saying.

    5. Rufus the Monocled

      “Dan W Virginia 5 hours ago
      It must be very difficult, if not impossible, for some people to admit that Al Gore was right.”

      He was?

      What type of people read and comment at the NYT? It’s a fuckfest of progressive madness over there.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    But there is good reason to believe that climate rejecters, including the president and Mr. Pruitt, are fighting a losing battle. The apocalyptic fear aroused by the recent destructive hurricanes is the latest manifestation of the mounting dread that has taken hold in the American mind-set about the implications of our steadily warming planet.

    Apocalypse porn makes me all tingly in my insides.

    1. Suthenboy

      It isnt warming, steadily or otherwise.

    2. Lackadaisical

      Twist: P Brooks is a woman?

  8. Rick C-137

    STEVE SMITHs invitation is clearly a trap, beware glibs, it’s worse than a visit to wartys dungeon

    1. juris imprudent

      I’m sensing a celebrity death match pairing here.

  9. Count Potato

    “Blessed with gorgeous blonde locks, and a face to match, the 34-year-old says men “run a mile” after their first date.

    “I have the worst luck with men,” she revealed.

    “Men run a mile when I tell them I’ve had cancer and it could come back.

    “Who wants to be in a relationship with someone who might die? It’s a death sentence.””

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/4625322/stunning-student-cant-find-love-because-guys-run-a-mile-when-they-discover-her-extremely-rare-cancer-could-return/

    1. westernsloper

      “Who wants to be in a relationship with someone who might die?

      Does she have money? I’m not proud.

      Then I looked at the link. I’ll knock her up, no problemo.

    2. The Elite Elite

      “Stunning?” She’s cute, not stunning.

    3. Suthenboy

      “Who wants to be in a relationship with someone who might die?”

      I have some bad news for…well, everybody. No person alive on earth today ‘might’ die.

    4. Troy

      I’d fuck her. But no French kissing

    5. Amashi

      Honestly, I’d totally date her if she were better looking, I mean most men’s complaints about women boil down to them not going away. This one might,.

      1. MikeS

        if she were better looking

        Seriously?!

        1. The Elite Elite

          What’s so great about her? She has a cute face, that’s about it.

          1. MikeS

            I don’t agree with the article calling her “stunning.” But she is certainly above average. Especially considering she’s 34 and has been through 3 rounds of cancer.

          2. The Elite Elite

            Yeah, when you factor in her age and fighting cancer, she looks amazing. But, not knowing any of that, just judging her as one of a billion different girls, she doesn’t stand out to me. Cute face, could pass for still being in her 20s, but that’s about it.

          3. MikeS

            My advanced age (45) may be lowering my standards. 😉

          4. You have standards?

          5. MikeS

            Good point, Ted. I have a standard; Female.

          6. The Elite Elite

            45? Then she’d actually be a pretty good age for you to go for.

          7. MikeS

            Exactly. I’ll see what my wife says about it.

          8. So you’re a cishetero shitlord.

          9. Amashi

            Oh plox- I’m 45 too… You gotta remember,Ted Kennedy was just hitting his stride at 45. Harvey Weinstein at 45? Banging bimbos, and twenty years away from his inevitable denouement. 45 is _young_ man….

        2. Sharp knees, methinks…

        3. Amashi

          I figure if you’re going to be obnoxious you should pull out all the stops. In fact, she’s definitely cute enough to date.

    6. Lackadaisical

      I don’t get it. She’s said that she had 2 boyfriends of over a year.

      Maybe you’re just an annoying person who blames anything bad that happens to you on outside forces (like having had cancer). Also, 34-y/o student? blech.

    7. AlmightyJB

      I thought no young men committed anymore? At least that is what I’m told. That would make her experience normal.

      1. The Elite Elite

        You did see the part that says her age is 34 right? These aren’t young men she’s dating.

        1. AlmightyJB

          Younger than me probably:) It’s all relative.

          1. The Elite Elite

            I don’t know. 34 years old and, while not stunning like the article says, she is still cute enough to pass for being in her 20s. I could see guys into their late 40s, maybe even early 50s, going for a girl like that.

          2. AlmightyJB

            I was being coy with the commitment comment. Both my daughters are in their 20’s and are married.

          3. The Elite Elite

            How old are the suckers husbands?

          4. AlmightyJB

            Oldest one is early 30s a few years older (3-4) than my daughter who will be 28 in less than a month. Youngest is same age 26.

        2. Hey, as far as I’m concerned young stops at about two years older than I am.

          1. Tulip

            Here here!

          2. Tulip

            Bleh Hear hear! Edit fairy?

          3. MikeS

            Will the edit fairy hear here?

          4. Bobarian LMD

            No know?

          5. Suthenboy

            That is a pretty universal definition Bill.

          6. The Elite Elite

            Young stops at about 4 years younger than I am.

          7. My rule of thumb is that the moment you stop thinking farts are funny, you’re old.

    8. AlmightyJB

      I don’t know. Some guys might dig a chick who’s going to die before she loses their youthful looks. Me, I’m into MILFs.

    9. I’m not saying she’s full of shit, but I’m just saying that maybe if you think a guy who’s just taken you out on the first date is worried about falling in love with someone who may die an untimely death you might be a little, I don’t know, forward? Maybe pushing things a little bit? Totally get it if this is the case and I’m not judging, but maybe your brushes with mortality have made getting married more of a priority for you than the average single guy with a clean bill of health?

  10. Count Potato

    “Apparently this happened a few days ago but I just now caught the video. It shows a bunch of whining petulant children pretending to be adult students at Berkeley.

    They’re whining because the white professor is making them take an exam they’re unprepared for, so it’s white supremacy of course.”

    http://therightscoop.com/insane-video-of-left-wing-berkeley-students-screaming-that-an-exam-is-racist/

    1. Rhywun

      F, F, F, F, F, F

      1. DEG

        Seconded.

    2. Troy

      This is awesome. These professors getting eaten by their own creations.

    3. Amashi

      The stupidity: “People are dying out there.” Well, perhaps. But I still have to get up and go to work in the morning, and so will you, eventually.

    4. Mythical Libertarian Woman

      This really reminds me of when I was on the house corp for my sorority’s chapter at Berkeley. They all wanted to live in the house in the fall, study abroad in the spring, break their leases with us and get off Scot-free, as if we were supposed to keep the house running with 25+ empty beds with the magic of unicorn farts or something. They would come bursting into our meetings with LISTS OF DEMANDS and tell us how unsisterly we were being by making them pay a contract breakage fee. We were all absolutely blown away by how entitled these girls were. It got worse every year until I left California in 2013. I can only imagine what a fun time the current officers are having now.

    1. Rhywun

      Random skim-lol

      Once I got off the monkey bars in my head

  11. The Late P Brooks

    “Who wants to be in a relationship with someone who might die? It’s a death sentence.””

    Nobody gets out of here alive. There’s no “if”, only “when”.

  12. Rick C-137

    Huh, how long until he comes back

    Harvey Weinstein is out at Weinstein Company, board says – CBS News
    https://apple.news/Aag9OEPsZSMe-J6laL_qKEQ

    1. Michael

      I love that they “terminated” him, as if that will somehow erase from memory that they were totally complicit in paying off all of the women he harassed. Best of luck to you, fellas.

  13. Derpetologist

    a meme I read years ago:

    Whenever a Muslim terrorist kills a bunch of people, we are told that it is very rare, that the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful, and that we shouldn’t stereotype and have knee-jerk reactions. It would be nice if gun owners got the same courtesy.

    1. Suthenboy

      Gun control is about humiliating and making helpless a hated group. It is about punishing and control. If we give up our guns we are doomed.

    2. Suthenboy

      I also like to ask them if they think the body count will go down or up if they confiscate guns from the population.

  14. Derpetologist

    thinking outside the box

    Suppose the US in Afghanistan put electronic tracking devices in weapons and equipment and abandoned them in Taliban areas. When the Taliban took them, the US would be able to track them back to their hide outs. Of course, it’s possible non-Taliban might also take the stuff, but I imagine only the Taliban would be interested in heavy weapons and military equipment.

    Another idea- seed sabotaged rounds into ammo sold in Pakistan. When it is fired, it blows up the gun. Again, possible that non-Taliban might be get it, but still, it would make people think twice about ammo from Pakistan.

    fun fact: draping ammo belts on yourself like Rambo looks cool, but is a bad idea. The cartridges will get dirty and dented and will jam when you try to shoot them.

    1. Lackadaisical

      Didn’t Eric Holder and the ATF try this a few years ago with the Messicans?

      That didn’t go so great, iirc.

      1. Yes, but this time we have different Top Men.

      2. MikeS

        They recorded serial numbers. There was no electronic tracking. At least none that I’ve heard of

        1. Lackadaisical

          They had tracking but the batteries died, iirc.

          1. MikeS

            Really? SMDH. Fucking Keystone Kops.

          2. That’s an insult to Mack Sennett.

          3. MikeS

            No offense meant to Mr. Sennett. I’ve actually never seen any Keystone Kops…will have to do that.

          4. MikeS

            Thanks Ted. That’s my first Keystone and my first Fatty. I wasn’t missing much. I’ll stick with Noir.

          5. You’re forgetting that in those days they were creating the tropes we know today.

            Silent comedy actually advanced quite a bit by the time Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd were making their own shorts at the end of the 1910s.

          6. MikeS

            Not forgetting it at all. I fully acknowledge them as pioneers. It’s just not my cup of tea. But, I will also freely admit that that may be due to my lack of exposure to silent film.

            Basically, I don’t care to watch it, but I also acknowledge and appreciate the work they did.

            I don’t devote much of my free time to watching movies. When I do, I prefer to spend that time watching Noir. And I know you won’t knock me for that!

          7. Lackadaisical

            Correction: Some agents tried doing it but were unsuccessful.

            And… then there’s this: we had no undercover agents following the guns. Indeed, when ATF agents’ warnings that the guns couldn’t be tracked went unheeded, in despair at least one agent went to his local Radio Shack store to try jerry-rigging a GPS tracking bug for the guns. Unfortunately, the battery life for these self-made devices was too short to be of any practical use.

            http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/07/08/puzzle-operation-fast-and-furious-when-will-team-obama-come-clean-about-failed.html

      3. Derpetologist

        Good point. I’m just trying to think of ways to out-G the G (out guerilla the guerilla).

        Insurgent movements always follow the same strategy: the spend most of their resources building up a resilient organization that can keep fighting for a long time. Time is their greatest ally. Hell, the Taliban themselves say “the Americans have the watches, but we have the time.” The American strategy then should focus on causing as much damage as quickly as possible.

        1. Lackadaisical

          It seems most successful anti-insurgency campaigns have relied on tactics that would not be allowed today. (e.g. concentration camps)

          I think it was JohnTitor who said we should become drug lords, instead of fighting opium, make it really, really cheap to cut off their supply of money. I’m not entirely convinced that’d actually work.

          1. John Titor

            More accurately I said the Afghani government should become drug lords, basically undercut the Taliban in the market (look, we’re throwing tons of money at Afghanistan anyway, might as well have them start buying crops wholesale and reselling them on the global market). Of course, that invites the potential for more corruption, which the Afghani government is very good at, but it still beats this stupid “we’re not going to stop the poppy industry/oops I guess we are/nevermind we’ll make them have new industries/damn they all fell apart” plan we’ve been running on for a decade and a half.

          2. Suthenboy

            Legalizing drugs here in the states with domestic production would probably work. That would put a damper on a plethora of evils.

          3. John Titor

            Not in the Golden Crescent trade. Most poppy/opium products go north in Afghanistan through the former Soviet -stans into Russia. Some of it is shipped abroad from the Baltics or smuggled into Eastern Europe but a lot of it is for domestic consumption due to Russia’s staggering opiate addiction problems.

            Might help with the Golden Triangle, but they’ve been in severe decline since the 90s anyway.

        2. Gray Ghost

          I thought we should have learned from experiences in, on the one hand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Northern Ireland, and OTOH, Vietnam, and now Iraq and Afghanistan that you can’t allow guerrillas a sanctuary. It’s easier to seal off an island than a landlocked country, which is why I mentioned the first group.

          I don’t see the US winning in Afghanistan, nor Iraq, so long as we let our enemy decide victory conditions, and we allow them space to rearm and reconstitute themselves. Not like the Islamic world is going to run out of disaffected youth pissed at everyone, or that the Wahabbis or 12th Iman Shia are going to run out of cash.

    2. Suthenboy

      Seeding ammunition supplies with explosive ammunition is already a pretty wide-spread practice.

      1. Derpetologist

        Not quite the same thing, but there’s an ammo depot in Ukraine that’s been blown up 4 or 5 times.

        http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/27/fire-ukraine-ammunition-depot-prompts-mass-evacuation/

        1. Suthenboy

          I meant in the ME. There are zillions of videos out there of Taliban/ISIS/various insurgents blazing away with a big grin on their face and their gun explodes. Same for Mortars. These are usually accompanied by explanations of how the ammo is rigged and slipped to the other side. The problem is that all of the different groups are doing it to each other.

          1. dbleagle

            The SOG and Special Forces did the same thing in Vietnam. Place a round filled with explosives the 3rd or 4th down in a magazine. It was even taught to us at the SFQC.

            The Germans were reported to have done the same thing in parts of the USSR. It might have happened but the Germans suck at unconventional warfare because they are so rules oriented so I doubt it did.

    3. Gray Ghost

      Another idea- seed sabotaged rounds into ammo sold in Pakistan. When it is fired, it blows up the gun. Again, possible that non-Taliban might be get it, but still, it would make people think twice about ammo from Pakistan.

      Been done already. Requires clandestine access to supply caches. No idea if the beard-wearers infiltrate the FATA or KP to do it.

      IIRC, and this really needs Swiss’s input, we know where the various anti government militia hang out, recruit, and rearm, it’s just that we can’t go after them in Pakistan or Iran.

  15. Derpetologist

    fun fact

    Most US officers during WW2 spent little time commanding small units like platoons and companies because of attrition and rapid promotions. This led to a shortage of experienced officers at the lower levels in later wars. In Korea and Vietnam, there were many cases where the US tried to use large, unwieldy units to fight smaller, agile ones. It wasn’t deliberate. It’s just that few officers spent much time at the lower levels.

    1. That’s been the general promotion standard for many years now just due to standard attrition requirements. 2 yrs and a pulse to O-2, two years and a pulse to O-3, and then they start getting selective. Even in the Navy, I could have been assigned to a ship with a division of 20+ people my first tour (dependent on class of ship and job) – instead I got a handful of folks. My second tour was about 20 or so…almost random really since you’re filling a technical billet as well.

      Army/Marines – first tour is always plt leader (combat arms at least) – if that was during wartime – good experience…if not…hard to judge.

  16. Just FYI – not sure if anyone here saw my little comic box video last week. Due to work schedules, etc, I’m gonna try swinging by the store during the holiday tomorrow to fill up a couple more boxes – this time looking for mostly indie/DC books although I do still have a few Marvel titles to dig through. Should give myself a lot more time though.

    Just since I’ll have a lot of time/space – didn’t even fill up my first box fully and the price is perfect….any “titles” that anyone might want me to look up as a courtesy? Not specifying issue #s or anything more specific – I’d be more than happy to just dig around for a few folks, maybe even build a whole separate box – and then mail them for the cost of shipping. They’ve got a literal ton of stock to move.

    1. Not a box each, but a handful of issues per person if requested.

  17. Gilmore

    “Forget other celebrities, she is the one,” Moreno Ocampo wrote in an e-mail. “She loves to arrest Kony. She is ready. Probably Brad will go also.”.. When he heard she was ill, he sent an e-mail to her assistant confessing: “I realize how much I love her.” The assistant replied Jolie had changed her e-mail address

    reminder: this guy is one of these class of people who routinely heads international Do-Gooding organizations

    He has acted as a consultant to the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations.[citation needed] He is a former member of the advisory board of Transparency International and a former president of its Latin America and Caribbean office….. In 2011, The Atlantic included him among its “Brave Thinkers”, a guide to the people risking their reputations, fortunes and lives in pursuit of big ideas. In that same year, Foreign Policy magazine designated him one of its “100 Top Global Thinkers”, the magazine’s portrait of the world marketplace of ideas

    that middle (bolded) detail jumped out at me…. i was thinking, “head of transparency?” and “latin america/carribbean” tend to be strange bedfellows. It didn’t take long for my spidey-sense to be vindicated

    In September of 2017, news website elmundo.es reports Moreno Ocampo has connections with off-shore companies and accounts listed on Panamá Papers.

    Der Spiegel provides one of the few english-language stories i could find on that. For whatever reason, US media doesn’t seem at all interested in reminding readers that the leadership of Do-Gooding Multinational Institutions are all a bunch of corrupt scumbags.

  18. OT: I know more than a few Glibs lift weights, so I figured this would be a good forum for an injury question. I realize the standard answer is “Go see a doctor”, but pretend I’m stubborn and was raised by grandparents who survived the Depression by treating most ailments with Vicks, ginger ale, and candy canes. About a month ago I noticed a pain in my shoulder during specific movements. Specifically, if my arm is straight out to my side, I start to feel pain in the joint and upper arm lifting it past about 60 degrees short of horizontal. It’s not unbearable, but it doesn’t feel good. I also feel it if I’m carrying something under that arm and putting pressure down towards my torso. Does this ring any bells? Any advice on treatment?

    1. Playa Manhattan

      It’s cancer.

      1. Oh shit, I should call that British girl. That would be the icebreaker of icebreakers!

        1. Lackadaisical

          Twist: She dumps you for having cancer.

          1. Damn! She was right the whole time!

        2. DEG

          Excellent idea.

    2. AlmightyJB

      Start masturbating with your other hand.

    3. Derpetologist

      separated shoulder maybe? I had that once. For a few weeks, it hurt so much to raise my arm that it was really hard to put on or take off a shirt. It healed on its own, but I did go to an orthopedist for an exam and an x-ray.

      1. It’s not that bad. I can still do kettlebell get-ups and windmills and stuff, it just hurts until I’ve gotten a few reps in. Also, the more I kind of flex the shoulder as I’m lifting, the less it hurts, which makes me thing that maybe there’s a tendonitis thing happening.

    4. Suthenboy

      Yes it rings bells. Go to the doctor and he is going to tell you it is your rotator cuff. They are going to want for you to undergo surgery right away. Don’t do it.

      Avoid the knife like the plague. Or better like it is STEVE SMITH. Go see a physical therapist if rest doesnt make it better.

      1. I kind of thought “rotator cuff”, but I wasn’t sure. But yeah, there’s no chance in hell anybody’s cutting into me. I’ve noticed it hurts worst doing get-ups, specifically when that shoulder is supporting my torso, so I’ve stopped those for the timing being and started alternating between military presses and windmills, which don’t hurt nearly as bad. I just hear horror stories about rotator cuff injuries taking months to heal and I’m bitter as hell about losing progress.

      2. Rufus the Monocled

        I had shoulder surgery 26 years ago – had no choice. It got to I couldn’t turn over in bed without my shoulder dislocating. Rehab/physical therapy wasn’t going to do it. Surgery gave me back my life. Sure, it annoys me in certain temps but well-worth it.

        Now I have an issue with my other one.

        1. Rhywun

          Ouch.

          I have metal rods in one upper arm that drive me nuts in certain weather conditions like the 100% humidity we’ve had the last couple days.

          1. Rufus the Monocled

            Humid days can be bothersome indeed. But tolerable.

            Shoulder surgery HURTS!

            I’ve had surgery on three of my four joints. I’m useless for the army.

          2. Rhywun

            Damn. I’m getting pains in one hip. I can only imagine what I have to look forward to.

          3. Rufus the Monocled

            I hear the hip can be one heck of a ride. Good luck.

          4. Rhywun

            My mom had a hip operation that left her disabled for the last 10 years of her life, and trying to sue the guy that did that to her. But she ran out of time.

            When I broke my arm, the quacks at the first hospital I went to tried some BS electronic gizmo that was supposed to “heal” it until my mom took me to a different hospital to get the rods put in.

            I don’t have a lot of confidence in doctors or surgeons.

          5. Rufus the Monocled

            Are you sure you live in the USA? Wtf?

          6. Not an Economist

            One of my knees has only been replaced once in the past three years. The other has not been so lucky.

            Before the surgeries, my hips and my back started hurting and helped me make the decision to have the surgeries. I’m expecting to have my hips done sometime in the future.

            Put off joint replacement surgery until you live your life around the joint — you decide everything around what you can do with the joint.

      3. Gray Ghost

        I was thinking torn labrum, but yeah, I think Suthen has the right of it here. Do what your PT tells you.

        1. I was a little worried about the labrum being the issue, but it feels like a tendon issue, especially because the pain only happens with muscle movement, and really bracing the surrounding muscle (which I should have been doing to begin with, dammit) reduces the pain. Strangely, because of this, kettlebell presses with at least a 24k bell don’t hurt, especially after the first one, because I’ve got to activate every muscle to get the weight up without my form going to crap.

    5. About a month ago I noticed a pain in my shoulder during specific movements.

      Patient: It hurts when I do this.
      Doctor: Don’t do it!

    6. Count Potato

      It sounds like a disjuncted shoulder. Is the distal end of your clavicle raised? The best cure for that is ice and anti-inflammatory drugs..

  19. Playa Manhattan

    I’m drinking, but I’m too embarrassed to say what.

    You guys can just put words in my mouth.

    1. AlmightyJB

      I’m going to say Strawberry Daiquiri with an umbrella

      1. Pro-tip: Don’t drink the umbrella.

    2. The Elite Elite

      Budweiser.

      1. Gilmore

        +Bud Platinum. Out of a bag. while he hangs with his puro vato loco homies

    3. Derpetologist

      Chipotle smoothie

    4. Rhywun

      Zimas?

    5. Tulip

      Zima

    6. You guys can just put words in my mouth.

      Is that the only thing we can put in your mouth?

      1. Tulip

        Get a room!

    7. Rufus the Monocled

      Water – with a little umbrella.

      1. Festus

        Bong water, tepid with a crumbled saltine as garnish.

    8. Troy

      Some faggoty chick drink?

    9. Gray Ghost

      Midori Sours? Appletinis?

      1. Gray Ghost

        Or, basically what Troy said, above.

    10. Appletini

    11. Member’s Mark Blended Scotch Whisky?

  20. Derpetologist

    Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and the Status Quo
    How speculative fiction lost its ability to imagine alternatives to capitalism…

    https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/10/sci-fi-fantasy-and-the-status-quo

    ***
    Ursula K. Le Guin herself has called for a more imaginative SFF literature of the future, one that envisions new worlds and new modalities of life beyond capitalist realism. In 2014, upon receiving the National Book Award’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, she gave a fiery speech, mostly taking aim at greedy publishers and the writers who permit their work to be commodified and sold “like deodorant.” But she also touched on the substance of SFF literature itself, and the imperative need – both politically and artistically – for real change. She said:

    Hard times are coming, when we’ll be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine real grounds for hope. We’ll need writers who can remember freedom – poets, visionaries – realists of a larger reality… We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable – but then, so did the divine right of kings.
    ***

    [head desk]

    1. Suthenboy

      I have noticed that the people who gripe about capitalism never bother to define what they mean when they use that word.

      1. Derpetologist

        They are comparing the imperfect system that exists to the perfect system that can only exist in their fantasies.

    2. Rhywun

      God dammit. I think I’ll just continue to pretend she stopped writing after 1975 or so.

    3. John Titor

      Perhaps the problem is that most of the anti-capitalist science fiction writers were so goddamn ignorant of basic economics that most of their supposed solutions came off as trite, childish or absurdly utopian?

      1. Rhywun

        At least there was time when LeGuin knew about absurd utopias. Hell, she wrote a book about it.

    4. Winston

      So wasn’t Le Guin supposed to be a libertarian or am I mistaken?

      1. John Titor

        Anarcho-syndicalist. Really liked her Kropotkin.

        1. Winston

          Ah so beloved by Richman and Long.

    5. Gray Ghost

      Jesus Christ, are they completely unfamiliar with the likes of Red Ken, or the recently passed Iain Banks? It’s lefties all the way down.

      Show me a sci-fi writer that exults in capitalism or libertarianism beyond, say L. Neil Smith.

      1. Raven Nation

        It’s actually become tiresome: a large % of short stories I read have “the corporations” as some kind of vague villain.

        1. DesigNate

          Pretty much every movie where the government isn’t the bad guy, it’s some giant corporation.

          1. Raven Nation

            Yeah, I not only find it irritating, but also boring. All these websites and e-journals are looking for “exciting new” stories, but they’re almost all about corporations running the world and ruining the environment. I’ve given up on a couple of websites because they’re just too predictable.

      2. Rhywun

        I haven’t read him (been meaning to) but there are a few who at least don’t tow the lion. But I hear you, I’m so sick of the cliches in every SF book I read – especially climate BS.

        1. DEG

          I’ve read some of L. Neil Smith’s fiction and I used to regularly read The Libertarian Enterprise. His fiction works were a bit preachy for my tastes.

    1. John Titor

      Hail, Imperator!

      1. peachy rex

        We who are about to play crappy football salute you!

    2. Rhywun

      I’m so glad we’re back on this again.

      1. The Elite Elite

        What are you talking about? This is the first I’ve heard about the NFL and the national anthem. https://crimsoncorvus.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/shot_in_the_head.gif

    3. Rufus the Monocled

      The 49ers called it a ‘PR stunt’.

      Isn’t everything these days a stunt of some kind?

      1. MikeS

        I’m thinking they are right. Especially since it was the opposing team who knelt. Or did the home team? Article said it was just the Niners. Either way, he knew someone was going to kneel, but he want anyway. Almost like he had an ulterior motive…

        1. MikeS

          Also; fuck Mike Pence. Has suite tickets to an NFL game, but walks out because some idiots decide to kneel during the anthem. Next time, let me know ahead of time and I’d be glad to take his place after he walks out in a huff.

          Also, double fuck Mike Pence. Such a big fan that he wears a suit to the game? Try acting like a normal human and wear a Colts jersey. Your wife did.

          1. Bobarian LMD

            Seriously, though, you couldn’t have picked a better game to walk out on.

      2. Suthenboy

        What do they call kneeling during the anthem?

        I think there may be something to this brain trauma and football players thing.

  21. Derpetologist

    https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9899

    Students mad that econ profs promote ‘capitalist ideologies’

    ***
    A recent op-ed in the Tufts University student newspaper blasted the school’s Economics Department for “subtly” promoting “capitalist ideologies” instead of social justice.
    The authors even object to the very existence of a building to house the department, saying it acts as a “space of concentrated power on campus” that “lends legitimacy and power” to the capitalist system.

    Tufts University students recently complained that the Economics Department focuses too much on “capitalist ideologies” while neglecting to sufficiently demonize President Trump.

    In an op-ed for The Tufts Observer titled “Moving Beyond Capitalism,” Gabriela Bonfiglio and Kyle Lui assert that there is little intellectual diversity within the department, which they accuse of using lecture-style classes to “subtly” indoctrinate their students in “capitalist ideologies.”
    ***

    from the op-ed cited

    ***
    Kowalick-Allen was among students who expressed concerns around a culture within the Economics department that is simultaneously created and reinforced by a lack of ideological diversity. She recalled her introductory economics professor’s lecture on luxury goods as one event contributing to this mindset; the professor said something along the lines of “any self-respecting woman has a nice handbag,” and proceeded to ask the women in the class for ballpark handbag prices, and the men in the class for the price of the newest Lamborghini. Kowalick-Allen recalls looking around the classroom to see if anyone else was shocked, and instead overhearing a group of guys laughing about “bitches and their handbags.” This incident illustrates how sexism on the part of the professor can reinforce more blatant offenses among students. According to Kowalick-Allen, this was one of many examples that made her feel that a student of economics could have an “entirely different experience at Tufts” than that she was having.
    ***

    1. Is there intellectual diversity in any of the other departments?

      1. Winston

        Intellectual diversity meaning not communist enough.

      2. Tulip

        My grad school economics department actually had diversity. There were libertarians, democrats, republicans (we had a democrat labor economist and a republican labor economist), socialists (actual American socialist party member), a Marxist (ran for political office on the Marxist party ticket in native land), and anarchists. One libertarian and the Marxist used to have lunch everyday. I will always be grateful to them for modeling how to disagree civilly. They also helped me really understand socialists and Marxists. They do believe in incentives, they just don’t trust the market to set them, and they want to use non-monetary incentives.

        1. Urthona

          A Marxist economist is like an atheist theologian.

          1. Tulip

            He’s an excellent political economist and game theorist. And very funny, but he really believes government can be used to perfect man.

          2. Bob

            Marxism and economics are like oil and water. I’m sure he was a swell fella but he belongs teaching economics as much as witch doctor teaching medicine.

  22. DEG

    I tried logging in from my phone while I was eating dinner at the local brewpub. I type my password using muscle memory when I am at my home computer, but on my phone, I couldn’t quite get it right. Eventually I started getting error messages from the site. I was worried Zardoz was in the process of cleansing me. Well, here I am, not cleansed yet.

  23. butt-head

    http://www.thefader.com/2017/10/03/needle-drop-deleted-youtube-channel-this-is-the-plan

    Selfless journalism is all the stands in the way of our country becoming Nazi Germany 2.0.

    1. butt-head

      Oops, don’t want to support the clickbait.

      Here: http://archive.is/Emj1A

    2. butt-head

      Fantano’s response is boring, as I find all his videos to be. It’s a shame that one even needs to respond to these types of smear jobs at all.

      1. Gilmore

        Fantano’s response is boring

        Yes, and he, like a big pussy, threw sam hyde under the bus in the process, acting like, “I didn’t know he was Un-PC!!”

        But that hit piece was still some shrieking bullshit, written by a nobody-hack who’s never written anything before, which was done simply because everyone in the legacy media wants to try to “Alt-Right”-ify Youtube personalities, because its the only M.O. they know to try to defend their shitty business model.

  24. Derpetologist

    Prince Charles praises jihadi pirates for scaring off fishermen: “fantastic explosion for bigger and better fish”
    https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/10/prince-charles-praises-jihadi-pirates-for-scaring-off-fishermen-fantastic-explosion-for-bigger-and-better-fish

    ***
    This is like praising the 9/11 hijackers for increasing visibility in Manhattan.

    PRINCE CHARLES has praised ocean pirates for scaring off fishermen that has led to a “fantastic explosion for bigger and better fish”.

    Speaking at an ocean conservation conference in Malta, the Prince of Wales stirred up controversy by praising Somalian pirates for scaring off trawler crews to create a greater wealth of marine life.

    The Royal said: “As a result, there hasn’t been any fishing there for the last ten or 15 years. And from that, there has been a fantastic explosion of bigger and bigger fish.”

    Since delivering his contentious comments, two former military members have lashed out at the Prince for his apparent endorsement of Somalian gangs.
    ***

    [head desk]

    1. Rhywun

      I can’t remember a time in my 40+ years when he wasn’t completely off his gourd.

      1. Suthenboy

        If you mean an empty gourd then you are correct. There really is nothing rattling around in there.

        1. Rhywun

          Good for her – both articles.

          1. Raven Nation

            Also liked her willingness to do the cameo at the London Olympics opening.

        2. Number.6

          If she stands down, she breaks the Oath she took at her Coronation. She’s not the kind of person who’s gonna do that unless she’s incapable of carrying out her duties.

          1. Rhywun

            She is like from another era. Which I approve of.

          2. DEG

            Seconded.

          3. DEG

            I remember reading somewhere that she carried a grudge against her uncle for abdicating. I can’t remember where I read it.

          4. Raven Nation

            Yeah, I’ve read that too. She blamed him for her father’s early death (57).

          5. Number.6

            Elizabeth is pretty much the only reason the UK isn’t a Republic.

            British pro-monarchism is so intimately tied to Elizabeth as a personality, and the contrast with Charles will be so stark, I’m not sure that the edifice won’t collapse when she passes. Indeed, as a lifelong subject of Queen Brenda, it’s hard to be objective about what those odds are and what the resulting system will look like, and certainly, when I get into discussions about forms of government Republicanism/Monarchy etc, I’m aware that I can’t be a completely objective observer.

      2. Gray Ghost

        Inbreeding: how does it work?

        Can we just skip his tampon-worshipping ass, and give the Keys to William already?

      3. Homple

        Charles is what you get from 25 generations of inbreeding.

  25. Derpetologist

    UK: Viewers of “jihadi websites” or “far-right propaganda” to get 15 years in prison
    https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/10/uk-viewers-of-jihadi-websites-or-far-right-propaganda-to-get-15-years-in-prison

    ***
    People who repeatedly view terrorist content online could face up to 15 years behind bars in a move designed to tighten the laws tackling radicalisation the home secretary, Amber Rudd, is to announce on Tuesday.

    A new maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment will also apply to terrorists who publish information about members of the armed forces, police and intelligence services for the purposes of preparing acts of terrorism.

    The tightening of the law around viewing terrorist material is part of a review of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy following the increasing frequency of terrorist attacks in Britain this year.

    “I want to make sure those who view despicable terrorist content online, including jihadi websites, far-right propaganda and bomb-making instructions, face the full force of the law,” said Rudd. “There is currently a gap in the law around material [that] is viewed or streamed from the internet without being permanently downloaded.

    “This is an increasingly common means by which material is accessed online for criminal purposes and is a particularly prevalent means of viewing extremist material such as videos and web pages,” added the home secretary.
    ***

    Far left propaganda still kosher for some reason.

    1. Winston

      Stupid party.

    2. Rufus the Monocled

      Awful.

    3. Rhywun

      Monstrous. I hope we can resist that but I don’t have too much confidence.

  26. peachy rex

    I know time of possession isn’t that important a stat, but holy shit – 14:33 to 4:38 for Kansas City right now. The Houston D won’t be able to move by the 4th at this rate.

    1. Gray Ghost

      Lose Mercilus and Watt, both probably for the year, and the Houston defense sucks. Go figure.

    2. Raven Nation

      But KC’s mostly getting field goals.

      1. peachy rex

        So far – but if Houston’s O can’t stay on the field in the third, the dam is going to break.

  27. Winston

    On an earlier thread someone mentioned Fukuyama. Aren’t the cosmos and Reason heavily influenced by him?

    1. Raven Nation

      Not sure about “heavily influenced.” I think he’s been mentioned in a few articles, along the lines of “Libertarian Moment” type thinking i.e. triumph of liberalism & markets.

      1. Winston

        Well I mean the libertarian moment is basically claiming that 1990s neoliberalism is the end of history.

        And much of cosmo writing is the same.

      2. John Titor

        Yeah, Fukuyama is way too ‘neocon’ and ‘interventionist’ to be a heavy influence.

        1. Winston

          Considering how they think of Russia though…

  28. Derpetologist

    On Thom Hartmann’s home page:

    ***
    Daily Poll
    Will Machine Guns Ever Get Regulated?
    Nope – Gun Industry Profits are More Important than Humans
    70%
    Yes – We Will All See the Light
    30%
    Poll Archives
    ***

    I usually say dumb people look at the world through a straw. Hartmann looks at it through a pin hole, and that’s being very generous.

    1. Suthenboy

      Hartmann is just an outright liar.

      1. Winston

        Guy used to be on Russia Today.

      2. Derpetologist

        I’d say he’s a bullshitter. Liars know what the truth is and deliberately obscure and deny it. Bullshitters don’t care what the truth is. They say whatever they think will help their cause.

  29. Gilmore

    An engineering achievement?

    The manly minivan

    h/t Instapundit

    I’d qualify it and call it a ‘hardier, less-pussy minivan’.

    1. Gray Ghost

      I thought that was the Mercedes R63?

      1. Gilmore

        too lux

    2. The Elite Elite

      OMG, that’s hideous.

      1. hayeksplosives

        Looks like a toaster to me. What happened to curves??

        1. Derpetologist

          Many people think egg shaped cars are ugly. I’m not big on cars, but I do like the boxy 70s style. CrownVic for the win.

    3. It basically looks like a stretched out Honda Pilot.

      I got a minivan recently for productivity reasons – I have noticed that cops are no longer interested in following my car whilstbored. Road trips are much easier now. I bet the experience is nearly identical with very long SUVs. Thumbs up for minivans.

      1. John Titor

        Hey Pomp I finally got around to answering your ex-commie question on the other thread.

      2. Gilmore

        Named Tj Cruiser after “toolbox” and “joy”

        American men like toolboxes. Men will like this minivan.
        /japanese auto executive

        I don’t think the design is especially worse than existing crossover-style vehicles, which all look vaguely ‘”frog shaped” to me. If it were a cyborg frog with down syndrome.

        but i think, marketing wise, it might actually work. it focuses more on the ‘utility’ side of the equation, which might be a gap in the over-crowded ‘family-car’ market. everyone who is going to buy a truck owns one. but there may be family-car buyers who feel it provides better all-around value.

        1. Festus

          Wifey bought a Nissan Juke. It’s a sporty little number but good heavens that car is ugly. I think she just felt sorry for it because she’s soft-hearted that way. Helps to explain me.

          1. Gilmore

            good heavens that car is ugly

            I was going to say, “meh, crossovers all look the same…” until i noticed the secondary 2 pairs of headlights mounted … on the hood? which basically takes the homely (if inoffensive) frog and mates it with a scary looking flounder

    4. Playa Manhattan

      A 4 seat minivan? Uh huh.

      1. Gilmore

        “if they can afford to have more than 2 children, they are out of our target segment anyway”
        /japanese marketing department actuary

    5. Count Potato

      Ford should bring back the E series. Those were real vans.

      1. Ah, the Econoline. We took a trip cross-country in a ’78 Econoline.

  30. Derpetologist

    Now here’s an impressive fuck-up:

    ***
    VENEZUELANS already struggling to find food, medicine and other basic necessities have a new shortage to worry about: cash.

    Troubling shortfalls of Venezuelan bolivars are forcing many in this distressed South American nation to form long lines outside banks several times a week to withdraw what little cash is available.

    Others are resorting to bartering goods and services to skirt cash transactions.
    ***

    Hyperinflation and a cash shortage at the same time?! Another victory for socialism.

    “No! Dig *up* stupid!”

    http://www.news.com.au/travel/world-travel/south-america/venezuela-the-country-literally-running-out-of-cash/news-story/01f465fd917563444d56389bd4a14c50

    1. Suthenboy

      LA Times reports that a dozen eggs cost $150 so no doubt they are running out of cash. LA Times also reports that this is due to low global oil prices.

      1. Hyperion

        It’s state capitalism.

      2. one true athena

        Well, obviously. They’re eating pets and in Saudi Arabia, because of low oil prices, right?

  31. Derpetologist

    BBC vs gun shop owner

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNaEh_3VTVI

    get bent BBC

    1. The Elite Elite

      “British Brainwashing Corporation.” That got a chuckle out of me.

  32. Lachowsky

    I met a girl who sang the blues.
    And I asked her for some happy news.

    But she just smiled amd turned away.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tr-BYVeCv6U

  33. Lachowsky

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw9gLjEGJrw

    when you see that southern cross for the first time

    1. Raven Nation

      A different song referencing the Southern Cross:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyaPUYxoQGs

      1. Lachowsky

        I may be totally wrong and I have done no research to confirm this, but that sounds like what I would imagine Australian country music to sound like.

        1. Raven Nation

          Yep. The Bushwackers are probably the quintessential Australian bush band. “Bush” music similar to country but there is also country music in Australia which, IMO, has a different sound. That said, I’m not an expert.

          1. Rhywun

            Wow. I thought I “knew” Australian music (OK, rock music) but that came out of nowhere for me.

          2. Raven Nation

            Bush music is reputed to be influenced by Irish folk music.

            This isn’t great quality, but you can see some of the instruments used in bush music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX-wW_Xb2Qo

    2. dbleagle

      David Crosby is/was a very good sailor. The first time I saw the Southern Cross while sailing this song instantly came to mind. Many mahalos!

  34. Winston

    I don’the like the notion of “post-truth” politics as that implies there was a time when politics was about the truth.

  35. Ah yeah, probably not gonna make a video series this time – unless the mood strikes – but Violet Crown Cinemas (Cville, Austin, Santa Fe) are doing another great series this month. Disappointed that I already missed Lost Boys last Thursday, but I just bought tickets for Frankenstein, Wolfman, The Mummy and Halloween. Should be a lot of fun just like the French flick series in August.

  36. Lachowsky

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U5va1iaLj2M

    So pack up the babies
    and grab the old ladies
    because everyone goes
    because everyone knows
    my brother love’s show
    hallelujah!

  37. Winston

    So I saw the new Trek show. The monster actually is peaceful. What a surprise. Some arrogant douchebag officer acts like an idiot in order to be killed by said monster.

    I think we met the gay guy’s partner/husband. He lisps and the two bicker.

    The discovery is a ship of science despite all of the firepower.

    1. Winston

      Not really liking the whole Klingons speaking Klingons all the time.

      And still very ship-based. First two eps must have swallowed much of the budget?

    2. Rhywun

      Put it on TV and I’ll watch it. Otherwise they can kiss my grits.

    3. Winston

      Oh I forgot Elon Musk was name dropped with Zephraim Cochrane.

      1. Rhywun

        Elon Musk was name dropped

        *barf*

        Desire to watch ebbing.

        1. Festus

          Puts snazzy original series spaceboots back into storage.

      2. John Titor

        That makes the canon hilariously fucked up, along with the rest of the show.

        1. Rhywun

          “Canon” – pshaw

          1. John Titor

            Fuck that, at this point in time in the Star Trek universe the Eugenics Wars just killed a shit ton of people and World War 3 kicks off in the next decade. Fucking Khan does more to change spaceflight in the Trek universe than Musk does.

    4. Suthenboy

      The first episode was so full of preachy I dont think I will be turning it back on.

  38. Derpetologist

    Heard this story from an Army chaplain a while back:

    He used to be a cop in a small town. One night, he sees a guy weaving all over the road. So he pulls him over, does the tests, and the driver is definitely drunk. He calls for back up. When the back up arrives, he asks the cop “do you know who that is?” The cop says “yeah, I checked his ID. What?” The other cop says “no- do you know who that is?” Turns out the drunk guy is the county prosecutor. The cop says he’s taking him jail anyway. The police chief tells him he might as well quit because he will never get promoted. The cop quits a few weeks later.

    Anyway, it was another unpleasant reminder that often laws are for little people.

  39. Derpetologist

    https://warisboring.com/the-u-s-armys-new-doctrine-envisions-a-big-mechanized-land-war/

    ***
    The U.S. Army will release a new combat “FM 3.0 Operations” doctrine designed to better position the service for the prospect of large-scale, mechanized warfare against technologically advanced near-peer rivals — such as Russia or China — able to substantially challenge U.S. military technological superiority.
    ***

    I can see the wisdom of putting some money up for this, but I think it is very unlikely the US will be involved in anything except low intensity conflicts for the next few decades.

    1. Suthenboy

      Or face any foes that can challenge our technological superiority in any serious way.

    2. Bob

      They are likely to face small conflicts but they aren’t willing to bet their lives or 300 million other people’s lives on it.

      Regardless I think history shows the next big conflict will have militaries unprepared no matter him much they brainstorm.

    1. It’s solid. Highly recommend it. The characterizations are excellent – esp. if you grew up with Batman: TAS – and the art is tight. Although I still think it’s a kinda dumb batmobile design based on the sketches he put up on twitter.

  40. Derpetologist

    Chris Hedges continues to write the way a horse shits:

    ***
    The message of the consumer society, pumped out over flat screen televisions, computers and smartphones, to those trapped at the bottom of society is loud and unrelenting: You are a failure. Popular culture celebrates those who wallow in power, wealth and self-obsession and perpetuates the lie that if you work hard and are clever you too can become a “success,” perhaps landing on “American Idol” or “Shark Tank.” You too can invent Facebook. You too can become a sports or Hollywood icon. You too can rise to be a titan. The vast disparity between the glittering world that people watch and the bleak world they inhabit creates a collective schizophrenia that manifests itself in our diseases of despair—suicides, addictions, mass shootings, hate crimes and depression. Our oppressors have skillfully acculturated us to blame ourselves for our oppression.
    ***

    https://www.truthdig.com/articles/faces-pain-faces-hope/

    I can imagine Marcel Proust impatiently glancing at his watch and grumbling: “Sacre bleu!- get to zeh point already!”

    1. Derpetologist

      alternative punchline: I wish my lawn was as emo as Chris Hedges so it would cut itself.

    2. butt-head

      Oppressed by popular culture? How can one be oppressed by something that they’re not obliged to experience?

      Get an artisan hobby or something. Christ.

    3. Bob

      Anyone who doesn’t realize 100% of people cannot be in the 1% isn’t destined to be a success.

    4. Akira

      Popular culture celebrates those who wallow in power, wealth and self-obsession and perpetuates the lie that if you work hard and are clever you too can become a “success,” perhaps landing on “American Idol” or “Shark Tank.” You too can invent Facebook. You too can become a sports or Hollywood icon. You too can rise to be a titan.

      But even if none of those things come true for you, you can still rest assured that you live in a country where you will have one of the highest standards of living in the world, even if you’re considered to be poor by some arbitrary metric.

  41. Derpetologist

    Nathan Robinson observes that the criminal justice system is imperfect. I wonder if this will cause him to re-think his mass kidney confiscation-redistribution scheme.

    https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/10/theres-never-a-way-to-make-it-right

  42. one true athena

    LMAO, I have been suspended from twitter. Lil nobody me! (I would guess because I called Seth Rogen a cracker after he whined about the D’Souza book and used ‘cracker’ himself).

    I can’t tweet or whatever without waiting 12 hours or giving them my phone number. And since they can fuck off about wanting my phone number, too bad, so sad.

    1. butt-head

      Think about what you’ve done, you naughty girl.

    2. His whole thing that everyone was retweeting (including gab) was cussing at everyone who didn’t want to be called a cracker – what’s up with that? @getongab Jokers just can’t take it.