Tuesday Afternoon Links

After experiencing the joys of the global workplace with an 11pm (EST) conference call, and my wonderful, coordinated 2 year-old who will not be kept in bed just because The Man says so when he wakes up at 4am, I’m a little punch drunk. Or maybe just drunk-drunk. I heard vodka and redbull worked like cocaine, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Or six.

The second best part of the Verlander trade

Florida Man takes semi-pro football pretty seriously.  If Coach lived in Seminole Heights, he should be worried. I don’t know much about Seminole Heights other than I drive past it to go to the zoo.

Given that the FBI just dumped files on Adam Lanza, I suspect that we can expect that they don’t have shit on the Vegas shooter.

OMG! FEMA shipped packaged food with a long shelf life instead of Blue Apron to Puerto Rico where they may not have power or gas to cook with. Supplemented with MREs. Now, I don’t have personal experience, but everyone I know who had to subsist on MREs was more than happy to have beef jerky or cheese and crackers for a change.

 

I love that nutbars can wander into our Capitol and throw Russian flags at the President from close range. I mean it. It gives me some hope that it isn’t as bad as it could be.

When did aging Brit pop assholes become the voice of sanity? First Morrisey then Boy George?

“We have to be really careful with the Internet because people say everyone is talking – it’s like five people, they’re retweeting each other,” he told Israel’s Channel 2 News in an interview this week, “and that doesn’t constitute a revolution.”

Speaking of British heroes, it looks like at least some in England want to land a human on the moon in the future.

Sometimes you just fall into the song.

Oh yeah, Go Astros!

Comments

581 responses to “Tuesday Afternoon Links”

  1. Q Continuum

    I approve of the Upton.

    1. Just Say’n

      Yes. Whoever doesn’t like Kate doesn’t like America

      1. I guess you can call me an America-hater then.

        1. Q Continuum

          Worse than Hitler. Literally.

        2. bacon-magic

          I knew that was a face of a serial killer.

        3. Just Say’n

          And America hates you

        4. Pope Jimbo

          #MeHateToo

          I’m with you Carl. Yes, she has big beautiful boobs, but the rest is pretty meh.

          On the other hand, I do love the Cat Daddy

          1. Chafed

            How has Terry Richardson not been called out as an abuser?

      2. DEG

        Damn straight.

    2. Chipping Pioneer

      +2

      1. *applauds and nods*

    3. KibbledKristen

      I called dibs years ago!

      1. I thought you had dibs on Mike Rowe.

        1. Yeah, KK! You get Rowe, we get Upton!

          1. Playa Manhattan

            I say we force them into a breeding program.

          2. Pope Jimbo

            What would the result be?

            A reality show called “Dirty Boobs”?

          3. Badolph Hilter

            ::slow-motion pendulous clap::

          4. Tundra

            Would watch.

          5. Playa Manhattan

            You get producer credit.

          6. KibbledKristen

            I just wanna touch her boobs a little bit.

          7. Tundra

            Would watch.

          8. R C Dean

            Would pay to watch.

      2. bacon-magic

        Greedy! You get Mike Rowe and you’ll be happy.

  2. KibbledKristen

    Love this little bloglette about markets & exchange.

    1. Psycho Effer

      From there I found http://yourlifeinnumbers.org/

      Pretty cool.

    2. Playa Manhattan

      Your aviation story of the week:
      http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/10/24/air-canada-flight-781-sfo-close-call/

      Damn you, Air Canada!

      1. KibbledKristen

        POsted the ATC in the a.m. linx. THey suddenly had “radio problems”, eh? They were in contact with tower just before and just after landing, plus the tower used a visual. My theory is they wanted to save the company a coupla bucks on fuel and time, saw the runway was clear, so landed anyway. Not good.

        1. Tundra

          I agree with you 100%. They are full of shit about the radio – there is almost no way to go completely silent.

          1. KibbledKristen

            Yep – not following ATC has resulted in disaster. The worst one was Tenerife.

          2. Tundra

            Tenerife was a monster clusterfuck Horrifying, really.

            For the youngsters.

            I had forgotten that it was a terrorist incident that stacked up the planes there.

          3. Gray Ghost

            There were pictures at SFO of just how bad the first Air Canada fuck up would have been if the pilot hadn’t aborted at the very last second. Something like they were at 65 feet and the airliner first in line that the AC airliner would have hit, Air Philippines IIRC, its vertical stab was 55 feet off the ground, something like that. With three widebodies in line after it waiting to take off.

            It would have been a slaughter. You had something like 800 people involved with all of the planes that probably would have been run into.

          4. KibbledKristen

            The only scenario I know of where you explicitly don’t follow ATC orders is when TCAS is triggered. And that policy is a result of an ATC/TCAS conflict that resulted in a bunch of Russian kids dying and a controller being murdered.

          5. Playa Manhattan

            That policy has always been the case. Russians have trouble following it because… well… they follow orders.

          6. Bob

            All they have to do is accidentally off tune. It’s not clear from the recording that ATC tried guard which would have eliminated that possibility. And ATC did clear them to land but then changed their mind.

        2. Playa Manhattan

          This is what happens when you socialize air travel.

          1. KibbledKristen

            Ironically, Canada has privatized ATC, which is the envy of the world. Allows for quick innovation. NavCanada will soon own a majority stake in Aireon.

      2. KibbledKristen

        Here’s the ATC recording – contact starts at about 21:42

  3. Jefe Hayek

    So I’m gone for a week and there’s already some jabroni with Hayek pun username?

    *converts to communism*

    1. Just Say’n

      Get the Hayek out of here. Who the Hayek did that?

    2. BakedPenguin

      Hayeksplosives? She been around for a while

      1. Jefe Hayek

        Never seen her, ergo she doesn’t exist and if she wants to fite me irl i aint hard to find

        1. Just Say’n

          This is why you should have claimed “Rothbardsbitch” when it was still available

          1. Jefe Hayek

            I tried “Furry Rothbard” but I assume HM already took it

          2. Just Say’n

            That’s a good one. I’m not clever enough for such puns

        2. Tundra

          I’ve broken bread with her. She’s real and she’s spectacular!

          1. hayeksplosives

            *blushes*

            Why, thank you. I rather enjoyed the company of you other Northern miscreants myself. We must do it again sometime.

          2. MikeS

            Yeah, if Hefe want’s to fight hayeksplosives, he’s gonna have to go through me. I mean, after he goes thru Tundra.

          3. MikeS

            Dammit…Jefe

          4. hayeksplosives

            I never met a Hefeweisen I didn’t like.

        3. hayeksplosives

          I can’t be bothered to put down my Tanq and tonic long enough to find you and fight you.

          Can I just drop my collection of Hayek books on you by drone instead?

          1. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

            Switch to Plymouth Navy Strength, you can thank me later.

          2. hayeksplosives

            Duly noted!

            I will give you a full report after I sample some…

          3. But Enough About Me

            Wait, what?!? You’re **REAL**?

            Man, all this time I thought you were just an extraordinarily-clever bot.

          4. But Enough About Me

            Oh, and Tanqueray? OK, back to me thinking you’re a ‘bot again.

            Try this stuff instead. You can thank me later.

          5. hayeksplosives

            Thanks, BEAM. I gotta start a list of these slightly more obscure liquors for pursuing at home.

            The think I like about Tanqueray is that I can find it at any airport bar, hotel bar, or crappy restaurant bar, and I know what I am getting.

            But it would be fun to try the other stuff at home.

          6. Had a Boodles G&T last night (well, more than one) — pretty good.

          7. Jefe Hayek

            Boodles is my go-to.

            3oz gin
            6-7oz tonic
            juice of whole lime
            2 splashes of Angostura
            fill rest of collins glass with ice

            You’re welcome

          8. Grummun

            +1 Boodles. -A lot Hendricks.

          9. Jefe Hayek

            So you’re a G&T fan too, huh??? Stop stealing my life!!

            *reads you’re a Northerner* *Spits tobacco juice*

            OK, now we really have a problem here

          10. Tundra

            *stands up*

            Do we?

          11. MikeS

            *feels rage building*

            Is this shit gonna happen or what?

          12. Jefe Hayek

            *puts on replica Confederate cavalry uniform*

            I’ve waited my entire life for this moment

          13. hayeksplosives

            *watches champions gearing up for battle while fanning self*

          14. hayeksplosives

            Would it defuse the situation if I told you I was born and raised in Oklahoma?

            Then again, I find the Northern Glibs defending my hypothetical armor in a hypothetical battle to be somewhat heartwarming. Hypothetically.

          15. hayeksplosives

            GAH! Supposed to read “honor” not “armor”. Dammit.

          16. MikeS

            I never met armor I didn’t like. 😉

          17. Jefe Hayek

            Oklahoma might as well be Kansas. No dice.

            I think, our mutual love for Hayek and gin can help to end this before it gets out of hand.

            That said, I still have to do battle with MikeS and Tundra. They’ve challenged my honor, and now only a duel at 20 paces will resolve that issue

          18. Tundra

            Fuckin A.

            *drops gloves*

    3. BakedPenguin

      “She’s”

    4. Hayeksplosives has been her for quite some time.

      The name is a reference to Hayek’s use of the letter P.

      1. Count Potato

        I thought it was from the rap video.

        1. hayeksplosives

          It is in the rap video too, but that itself is a reference to an occasion when FA Hayek was asked by the Queen’s usher how to pronounce his name, and he answered “Hi-yek, as in high explosives,” which startled the usher to say the least.

          I am a big Hayek fan, and the fact that I sometimes work with high explosives makes it even more appropriate. I have set off the sniffer machines at the Baltimore airport twice and the Minneapolis airport twice. Good times. Good times.

          1. Zunalter

            Sounds like you were just angling to get an enhanced patdown.

          2. hayeksplosives

            Narrowly avoided! The first time was at Baltimore: I had a fractured tibia (proximal end, just a hairline) so I was wearing a brace and on crutches. My coworker made me get in a wheelchair (out of kindness, “bless his heart”) so they ignored the metal detector and swabbed my hands as a matter of policy. When the machine sirens and lights went off, the TSA worker had obviously never seen that happen in real life, so he put my sample swab (like a wetnap) into another machine. It went off too. He called over another agent and they looked at it for a bit. Meanwhile, my coworker had passed through security and was backing up further and further away from me (that chicken). Then the agents shrugged and let me through.

            That incident prompted us to request letters from the Army Research Lab that explained that the following employees of {blank company} might have HE on our hands and that it was not a problem. They listed our names, signed it, and we used it as a get-out-of-jail or at least get-out-of-grope free card.

            There was still some ‘splainin to do on the latter few incidents, which is actually somewhat reassuring.

    5. I remember seeing her username at the before place. Of course, that was probably just Tulpa.

      1. hayeksplosives

        Aren’t we all Tulpa?

        But yeah, that was me at TOS too. It’s also my protonmail handle.

        1. We are all Tulpa but some of us are more Tulpa than others.

          1. Badolph Hilter

            – Animal Farm II

          2. Playa Manhattan

            Animal Farm II- the animal socks!

            “Mooo” said the duck. -NY Times

            “Chirp chirp” said the goat -The Wall Street Journal

          3. hayeksplosives

            “Da” said the Trump Admin – Washington Post

          4. MikeS

            Oh nyet you didn’t!

    6. jabroni

      Cool word!

  4. Just Say’n

    https://thelibertarianrepublic.com/bill-weld-to-speak-at-students-for-liberty-conference/

    Bill Weld is set to headline a Students for Liberty conference. Maybe they should rename the organization “Rockefeller Republican Students for State Approved Liberty”. It’s a disgrace to have Weld on the same stage as John Stossel.

    1. Q Continuum

      “We’re free within the confines of government created regulations!”

      1. “Now bake that Nazi cake!”

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      He looks like a Kennedy with the drunkards nose.

      1. Drake

        So a Kennedy

        1. Zunalter

          i larfed.

      2. He looks like the retarded love child of Teddy Kennedy and Walter Mathau.

        1. Chafed

          Lol.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    Citizenship is a privilege, not a right, or something.

    Mr. Kelly’s statements struck some as offensively patronizing. But they can only bolster the conviction of those among us who believe that reinstating military conscription, or requiring some form of alternative national service, deserves serious consideration — and that the country would be the better for it.

    Nothing says, “Land of the Free” like pressgangs.

    1. Jefe Hayek

      The left will never be honest. They damn near burned the country down in the 60s to (rightly) end the draft. Now, if it helps the state advance their causes, SIGN ME UP IM A YANKEE DOODLE DANDY BAH GAWD!!

    2. Brett L

      Stay the fuck away from MY sons, vampire. Yours at least went willingly — or without State coercion.

    3. -1 13th Amendment

    4. Chipwooder

      As a veteran, let me say FUCK NO. There are more than enough useless malcontents who volunteered. Don’t need to exponentially increase their number.

      1. Pope Jimbo

        ^This^

        When I was in, there were still a lot of old Salty Sea Dogs who would tell you how shitty it was when half the people in the platoon were draftees.

      2. Absolutely – I volunteered…I would not want to soldier alongside slaves.

        I hate “conscription” with a passion.

    5. Raston Bot

      fuck that shit.

      you want labor? pay enough and you’ll get it.. just like everybody else.

      any argument for conscription rests on the foundation that volunteer labor is too expensive.

      1. Friedman also famously countered General William Westmoreland’s comment that he didn’t want to command an army of mercenaries with the rejoinder “Would you rather command an army of slaves?”

        1. dbleagle

          Draftees have the problem of slavery and hence poor morale. Short term draftees compound their problems by being both expensive and useless as well. Is the military correctly sized to meet current requirements? That is a metter of debate that can be changed along multiple variables including limiting the requirements.

          I entered service shortly after the end of the draft and the implementation of VOLAR. Damn we were fucked up, NATO’s luck was that the Warsaw Pact was even more useless.

    1. Q Continuum

      ‘”Man” is a term of emotional & intellectual slavery’

      This is a prime intellect we’re dealing with here.

    2. Bobarian LMD

      Model. (something about a mile of broken glass just to eat the corn from her shit?)

      And someone needs to take xis twitter account away, because that is rambling insanity.

    3. bacon-magic

      I can’t click on twitter at work but yowzah Lucie.

      1. Michael

        Wow. Your workplace blocks Twitter but allows teh boobz?

        Are they hiring?

    4. Yusef drives a Kia

      Model

    5. Yusef drives a Kia

      That’s a Youssef, I’m a Yusef

    6. Tundra

      Hah! Model is always the right answer!

  6. Bobarian LMD

    everyone I know who had to subsist on MREs was more than happy to have beef jerky or cheese and crackers for a change

    Something with fiber is the best, though. Taking one shit a week, exactly one week apart, and having a the equivalent of a solid hydraulic jack post come out of your ass can get real old, real quick.

    1. Vhyrus

      Paging Sugarfree to the brown courtesy phone.

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        Better than the Onion.

      2. Q Continuum

        That is poetry right there.

    2. Drake

      Thanks for the stroll down brown memory lane.

    3. LEAVE MRE’S ALONE!

      They got better.

      By 2012, when I retired, they were passable (and I mean that in both ways).

      1. dbleagle

        But the MRE 1.0 tasted worse than C-Rations and had smaller portion sizes and abominations like “Ham and Chicken Loaf”.

        After our first field exercise with MRE’s my soldiers were begging to get C’s back.

    4. hayeksplosives

      Now is as good a time to acknowledge that I totally copied your avatar idea to come up with mine.

      Well done, Bob.

    5. mexican sharpshooter

      Somebody kept trading for jalepeño cheese spread….

  7. Rufus the Monocled

    What, no mention that Elizabeth Warren claimed to have been sexually assaulted by a man long dead?

    This woman is some piece of work.

    The fake Indian was fake raped.

    1. Count Potato

      Give she give consent then take it back?

      1. PBRstreetgang

        How??

      2. bacon-magic

        Indian Taker?

    2. Q Continuum

      You mean, she was raped by a ghost?

    3. BakedPenguin
      1. RBS

        “I kept quiet about it, but now that I have exhausted my Native American privilege I need to find something else and #metoo is trending.”

        1. RBS

          I wore a lot of brown.”

          Also probably a Nazi.

          1. Brett L

            You know who else wore a lot of brown?

          2. bacon-magic

            Wile E. Coyote?

          3. Q Continuum

            The Peshmerga?

          4. Pope Jimbo

            Kamala Harris?

          5. Peter Mayhew?

          6. Yusef drives a Kia

            Ernst Rohm?

          7. PBRstreetgang

            Ernest Byner?

          8. invisible finger

            Tony Gwynn?

          9. Mad Scientist

            My UPS driver?

          10. Trials and Trippelations

            First time parents?

          11. The Marquis De Sade, sometimes?

          12. J. Frank Parnell

            OJ Simpson?

      2. Rufus the Monocled

        It’s so nakedly bull shit it’s astonishing anyone would buy into this crap.

        Journalist interviewing friend: ‘Who? The Professor? They were fuck friends.’

    4. Chipwooder

      Did Elie Wiesel grab her ass, too?

    5. Pope Jimbo

      Were you talking about this story?

      Anyone want to take bets on whether any reporters asked for the name of Warren’s friend that she supposedly told at the time and went to confirm it?

      1. Pope Jimbo

        Also McCaskill’s “MeToo” story was super funny.

        As a young Missouri state lawmaker, McCaskill sought advice from a male leader on getting her legislation passed.

        “I cautiously approached the very powerful speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives,” McCaskill recalled. “…He looked at me and paused and he said, ‘Well, did you bring your kneepads?’”

        “I do think he was joking, but it was shocking that he would make that joke to a colleague,” she said.

        I would suggest to her, that 99.99% of men who have had to ask a superior for a favor have heard some form of that question. In fact, this should be a story of how successful gender equality has become. A guy wasn’t afraid to pull his punches when talking with a female.

        1. Just Say’n

          Does #MeToo mean “have you ever heard a joke before, because jokes are worse than Hitler, you know”. Maybe, ENB can talk about her sandwich experience

          1. Playa Manhattan

            If I had know about her sandwich tweet when it happened, I would have replied with this:
            http://reason.com/blog/2017/03/01/moral-outrage-is-self-serving

          2. MikeS

            She wrote that mere months before the whole sammich thing…how could she even…I’m confused…

  8. The Late P Brooks

    Strangely taboo

    Last week, Tom Steyer, the billionaire progressive donor, announced a $10 million campaign calling for President Trump’s impeachment, beginning with a television commercial running in all 50 states. Trump, the spot says, has “brought us to the brink of nuclear war, obstructed justice at the F.B.I., and in direct violation of the Constitution, he’s taken money from foreign governments and threatened to shut down news organizations that report the truth.” Appearing on screen, Steyer asks, “If that isn’t a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president, then what has our government become?”

    It’s a good question. Yet while most elected Democrats probably agree that Trump’s presidency is a nightmare, they’ve been largely reluctant to use the “I” word. The base wants impeachment — according to an August survey from the Public Religion Research Institute, 72 percent of Democrats support efforts to remove Trump from office. But inside the Beltway, calling for impeachment remains strangely taboo.

    Maybe those Congressmen and Senators know something the mob doesn’t.

    1. ChipsnSalsa

      If the President gets impeached, what’s preventing us from getting impeached?

    2. Q Continuum

      I’m a free speech absolutist so I personally don’t care what absurdities Steyer wants to spew on TV. It’s his money.

      …however, “brought us to the brink of nuclear war” and “taken money from foreign governments”; aren’t these demonstrably false and grounds for slander/libel?

      1. Count Potato

        Not if he’s talking about Hillary.

      2. Rufus the Monocled

        He should be forced to PROVE ‘brink of nuclear war’. Once upon a time no one would have thought about trying to impeach JFK. Now? No such thing.

        It’s all derp all the way down.

        1. Psycho Effer

          I enjoy watching rich progs set their money on fire. Keep it up, Steyer.

      3. R C Dean

        Gut reaction:

        “Brought us to the brink of nuclear war” isn’t really verifiable or falsifiable (absent, you know, an actual nuclear war), so I think this is opinion and not defamation.

        “Taken money from foreign governments” is a factual statement and could be defamatory. Its super vague, though – when and in what capacity? If I was Trump, I’d think seriously about suing him for defamation just to get him to either clarify he meant “when Trump was a private businessman and there was nothing wrong with it” or even better, double down on “RUSSIA KONSPIRACY” thing and make him prove it in court.

    3. Gustave Lytton

      What’s the name of that organization that opposed impeachment? GoOn? It’sOver? MoveAlong? What was that again? It’s a Republican org right?

      1. JaimeRoberto

        GetOffMyLawn.org

    4. Playa Manhattan

      Good. Do it.

    5. Scruffy Nerfherder

      They know it’s not politically feasible or advisable.

    6. B.P.

      “It’s a good question.”

      No, it’s not.

    7. Stinky Wizzleteats

      Losing all those green sector moneymaking opportunities must sting.

    8. Trials and Trippelations

      according to an August survey from the Public Religion Research Institute, 72 percent of Democrats support efforts to remove Trump from office

      Who said anything about impeachment. Were punching a Nazi here. Assassination isn’t off the table.

      /Dem base

      Dear government monitors I am not advocating violence against the President.

  9. ChipsnSalsa

    Tired of every day feminisms short lists of ways to be a terrible parent?

    I present 100 ways to ruin your kids.

    1. Just slip out the back, Jack?

      1. PBRstreetgang

        Just stay woke….. bloke?

        1. bacon-magic

          Hit the hashtag…shitbag?

          1. PBRstreetgang

            Don’t culturally appropriate, you reprobate?

          2. bacon-magic

            You have white privilege…that’s why you swing a 5# sledge?

    2. Rufus the Monocled

      “Ruby June 3, 2016 at 2:33 pm · Reply →
      Here’s one I would like some help with. My son is 7 and we have been talking about race and racism since he was about 3. (We are white.) He’s become aware of a lot of the ways that people of color are discriminated against, but I sometimes worry that he will internalize he idea that there is some reason other than race that they tend to have worse jobs, less money, etc.

      I think I need more language talk about class and economic justice. Any suggestions?”

      JESUS. CHRIST.

      1. Vhyrus

        WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?!

        1. I’m right here.

          1. Vhyrus

            THEN DO SOMETHING DAMMIT!

          2. [God sits back and laughs at the pathetic humans thinking He cares about them]

          3. bacon-magic

            God doesn’t drink milk still like a baby. Unless he wants cookies.
            Debunked.

          4. Stinky Wizzleteats

            Not good enough, please send a plague or a large meteor.

          5. Q Continuum

            Preferably to DC.

          6. Are you his own, personal, Jesus?

      2. Playa Manhattan

        “My son is 7 and we have been talking about race and racism since he was about 3. (We are white.)”

        There isn’t much else to say after that.

      3. one true athena

        well there’s a kid who’ll be reading storm front in 4 more years. yikes.

        1. dbleagle

          Say what you want, at least it’s an ethos.

      4. Drake

        That’s pretty funny that she worries about the kid analyzing the situation and having an independent thought in his head.

        1. Stinky Wizzleteats

          Your kids won’t be raised right if they aren’t taught to hate themselves by age ten.

      5. Any suggestions

        Yes. Drop your son off at a distant relative’s house who works in a blue collar job but has no political views you know of…and then go blow your fucking brains out.

      6. For FUCKS’S SAKE. My daughter is biracial caucasian-asian, but when I asked if he knows the name of the little black girl in her class, she didn’t know WTF I was talking about. I had to describe more of the kid’s appearance attributes for me to understand who I was talking about. Talking about race with a 3-year-old is incredibly fucked up.

        1. ‘if he knows the name [of the kid] in her class…for me to understand who I was talking about…”

          Reading that I’m not sure it’s your kid’s fault.

          1. God damn that is a botched thought-fart. Celebratory beers night.

          2. NOT a Naked Intruder

            botched thought-fart

            Band name!

      7. R C Dean

        My son is 7 and we have been talking about race and racism since he was about 3.

        Somebody should call CPS on this dirtbag. Obviously unfit to be a parent. Might as well be trying to convince the kid he’s really a girl so they can cut off his junk and jack him with hormones to grow tits.

    3. The Other Kevin

      The world will be a much better place for everyone if we just talked about racism all the time, and made everything about racism. That’s how we’ll finally bring humanity together.

      1. Q Continuum

        How’d you get a copy of the DNC platform?

      2. The Other Kevin

        “Unity Through Division!”

        1. Gadfly

          “Unity Through Division!”

          The Children of Atom approve this message.

    4. “We are called White, but it’s confusing …Look. This piece of paper really is the shade of white. Does this look like the color of our skin? But people with a lighter skin color, like ours, are called White even though we don’t look like the real shade of white. And it’s the same with Beba (her Black doll). Look,” (showing a black long-sleeved shirt) “this is the real shade of black. Is this the color of Beba’s skin? …Beba has more of a brown skin color…but (some) people with Beba’s skin color are called Black.”

      Fighting racism with semantics! That’ll show the Richard Spencers and Ta Nehisi Coats of the world! /sarc

    5. Hyperion

      Just sending them to public school is the only way needed.

    6. Trials and Trippelations

      50) “Slavery was when people with Black skin were slaves. That means people with White skin owned them and they didn’t have any rights or freedoms. And because of this history, people with Black skin are still treated unfairly.”

      Isn’t this promoting an American centered prospective of culture and history?

      1. R C Dean

        Even then, some slaves were owned by blacks, some by Mexicans/Latinos, etc. And let’s not overlook the fairly widespread practice of slavery by Amerinds, either.

  10. totally_not_an_escaped_ai

    I’m hoping to tap into the collective wisdom of the Glibteriat for an issue I’m having. The Mother-unit passed away last week, with the Father-unit passing in April. I’m the only thread-spawn they produced and inherited the house. Mother was a collector who liked her treasures, as she called them. This album gives an idea of the type and volume of items I’m dealing with; every part of the house is stuffed:

    https://imgrpost.com/album/YKL2

    Does anyone have experience or insight with how best to find & hire an estate agent or equivalent to handle something like this? Any common considerations to take into account? The house is on the MO side of Kansas City – I live in Oakland, CA and, unlike all of you except Rufus, have to work. It makes being on-site to handle this problematic.

    Thanks!

    1. Count Potato

      Sorry for your loss.

    2. My condolences.

      At least she collected stuff that might have value. My mom was a hoarder. When she went in the nursing home, my sister came up from Texas to help clear out the back bedroom. 41 of those big garbage bags worth of stuff.

    3. Vhyrus

      Props for staying in character.

    4. RBS

      I am sorry for your loss. Contact a probate attorney in the area and see if they can recommend an appraiser or at least point you in the right direction.

    5. Playa Manhattan

      Trulia. Just plan on paying a 6% commission.

      And don’t feel bad about getting rid of stuff. Just because it was important to her doesn’t mean it has to be important to you.

    6. Rufus the Monocled

      /licks cookie crumbs from desk. Wipes mouth.

      What?

    7. Rufus the Monocled

      Condolences.

    8. Bobarian LMD

      I can’t get the images to post at work, but I’d contact someone from an auction service to look and give you an idea of how much work is involved and what can be sold.

      Those places usually work on a commission %age.

    9. Q Continuum

      Bummer, that sucks.

    10. Scruffy Nerfherder

      I’m so sorry on many counts.

    11. bacon-magic

      Sorry for your loss.

    12. Yusef drives a Kia

      Wow, very pretty things, appraise and cash out?

    13. DOOMco

      Theres a good auction house out of boston my family used when my grandmother died last year.
      I’ll try to track it down. I know they’ve gone all over for things.

    14. Drake

      Sorry about your Mom.

      My Dad is gone but my mother continues to live in a giant house with tons of shit. My siblings and I dread the massive job it will take to clear that place out when she goes.

    15. Chafed

      I’m a probate attorney so I see this all the time. Do yourself a favor, go to the house to collect whatever items have sentimental value to you. Unless there are antiques I don’t see in those photos, it’s unlikely the remaining items have any significant resale value. Local real estate agents may know of estate sales companies in the area. A Google search might also turn one up. If one is available then use it. They typically agree to take everything in the house. Getting the house cleared out is worth more than whatever nominal amount you will get for the items inside it.

      If there are no services then call a charity that will come and take everything. Try to avoid doing this in pieces. If it is unavoidable then have them take what they will and get a dumpster for the rest.

      I don’t think MO has professional executors but I may be wrong. You could call a private fiduciary in your area to see if they know anyone in the KC area. You can find one in your area at pfac-pro.org. If they do exist in MO then one can handle everything for you for a fee.

    16. Tundra

      Condolences. Tough year, brother.

    17. totally_not_an_escaped_ai

      Thanks, everyone. I appreciate the kind words and info.

    18. hayeksplosives

      You have my deepest sympathies on the loss of your parents.

      I wish you luck in finding a good estate sales place. The reputable ones are worth their weight in gold. Make sure to get one who will also get rid of all unsold items by donating to the Salvation Army or similar so you don’t have to come back and sort out the rejects.

    19. DEG

      Sorry.

      One thing my dad noted when he cleaned out his mom’s and stepfather’s house: If you have a dumpster out in front of the house, assholes will dump their stuff in it even if the house is out in the country.

    20. MikeS

      My condolences. That is a shitty 6 months. You’ve gotten some sound advice here, best wishes that dealing with the estate works out without any issues.

  11. Gustave Lytton

    http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/10/senate_president_to_oregon_law.html#incart_target2box_default_#incart_target2box_targeted_

    Legislator accuses another legislator of groping. Surprise, it’s a D accusing an R.

    I have no idea of the truth, but Kruse dug his own hole here. He talks a good game about smaller limited government (probably one of the better ones in the state) but at the same time falls into the ‘have to do something’ trap of polishing the Democrats’ turds and working together to get X done. He’s also fond of talking about how politics isn’t personal and how he considers many D legislators his friends and so on. How’s that cross aisle friendship working out for you now, Boxer?

  12. The Late P Brooks

    More from that impeachment nonsense-

    Some commentators fear “normalizing” impeachment as a tool of routine political warfare. But Bill Clinton’s impeachment already normalized its use against Democrats on the flimsiest of pretexts. Had Hillary Clinton been elected, the campaign to remove her would probably be in full swing by now. Democrats may wish to return to a less destructive brand of politics, but that’s not an option while Trump sits in the White House.

    “I can make a bunch of random preposterous shit up because facts are, like, patriarchal oppression,” it said.

    1. Q Continuum

      DRUMPF IS WORSE THAN MY PAN-RESISTANT GONORRHEA!!!

      1. Bobarian LMD

        Pan’s not here, man!

        1. Yusef drives a Kia

          No it’s me Dave I got the stuff

    2. Just Say’n

      “But Bill Clinton’s impeachment already normalized its use against Democrats on the flimsiest of pretexts”

      Really? It may not have been the correct course of action, but he did lie under oath. I think ‘breaking the law’ before we begin articles of impeachment is a good standard to maintain.

      The NYT is ape-shit crazy

      1. Chipwooder

        I mean, shit, he even had to surrender his law license. I’m not an attorney, but I don’t believe disbarment is taken lightly.

    3. Chipwooder

      Perjury is the flimsiest of pretexts?

      1. Viking1865

        Nah dude, see if you lie under oath about sex, it’s totally cool, because RETHUGLIKKANS.

        Got it, bigot?

  13. Chipping Pioneer

    I heard a clip on the radio this morning about Hillary trying to get out of attending Trump’s inauguration.

    First, I’ll call “stuff that didn’t happen”, because of this.

    But I really don’t get what her end game is. If Trump is somehow magically removed from office, well, I got news for her: she ain’t gonna be President. She’s talking about it in the UK: the Brits can’t vote for her. And if she’s trying to sell books, well, the people who are going to buy her book are going to buy her book, and the people who aren’t, aren’t. And, if she’s running again in 2020, I’d guess that people who might be inclined to vote for her (maybe people who did vote for her) are being turned off by all of this. I just don’t get it.

    Surely she has handlers, or DNC staffers, or, hell, even Bill, who should be like “maybe you should cool it, sweetheart.” Romney, McCain, Kerry, Gore, Dole, Bush Sr., Dukakis, and on and on … when is the last time a failed candidate stuck around for a year afterwards badmouthing the guy who won? I don’t think it’s ever happened. Between the two major candidates, the lesser narcissist won. Jesus Feathery Christ.

    1. Playa Manhattan

      Bill isn’t looking where I expect him to be looking.

      1. Bobarian LMD

        Bill’s got years of experience and training. He has 20/20 out of the corner of his FOV.

      2. Chipwooder

        Do note that you can’t see where Bill’s left hand is.

        1. nw

          On his cell phone?

    2. I think they’re strategy is to undermine Trump’s percieved legitimacy so they can run with “Trump stole the election.” I would not at all be surprised if Hillary ran in 2020 with the slogan “Taking Back America.”

      1. Playa Manhattan

        After millions of dollars and several focus groups, the slogan is definitely going to have the word “comrade” in it.

        1. Chipwooder

          Da, da tovarisch!

      2. invisible finger

        Counter-slogan: SCRATCH THAT bITCH

    3. Playa Manhattan

      I LOVE this shortsighted thinking.

      We have a moderate Democrat in office right now. Do they REALLY want Pence?

    4. Stinky Wizzleteats

      She’s either running in 2020 or she’s keeping that in people’s minds so she can sell access to a possible future president via the Clinton Foundation. My money’s on the former with the latter being a side benefit.

    5. Badolph Hilter

      I don’t know that it’s part of any strategy at all. I have no problem believing that it’s just pure, undying need to spew vitriol in response to a humiliation from which she will likely never recover. From hell’s heart, she stabs at him.

  14. Sean

    Panned by San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz

    I’m really tired of hearing the shit this woman has to say. Fuck her in the ass with a pineapple.

  15. Chipwooder

    everyone I know who had to subsist on MREs was more than happy to have beef jerky or cheese and crackers for a change.

    Depends on the MRE. I don’t know what they all are now, but in my day I’d rate the following as decent: chili mac, chicken with salsa, Thai chicken, jambalaya, meatloaf. I’ll throw turkey tetrazzini in there as well despite the entrée being iffy because it was the only one that came with a bag of combos.

    Bad: country captain chicken (the country captain could go fuck himself, his chicken sucked), bean burrito, ham steak. Pork chop was OK if you heated it up but revolting when cold.

    The worst of all was blessedly gone by the time I got to Iraq – frankfurters, the infamous four fingers of death.

    1. Gustave Lytton

      Frankfurters were good, especially with Tabasco on them. I liked the hash too. I missed the potatoes all rotten and dried strawberries (bar) when those went. And wax paper M&Ms. Spaghetti was alright and beef stew > chicken stew. Generally when it went from the dark brown to light tan outer wrappers, there was a overall decrease in menu quality. The addition of jap cheese to the accessories was the biggest improvement.

      Now I’m craving some BBQ pork & rice.

      1. Chipwooder

        One of my favorites was mixing the jalapeno cheese with the chicken and salsa and the Mexican rice. Goopy and delicious.

        Beef stew and spaghetti were middle of the pack. Not great, not terrible.

        1. Gustave Lytton

          The best (near) ready to eat meals were the Brit’s 24 hour ration boxes. Those things were fucking delicious. Treacle pudding, meat spread with crackers, oat biscuits, boiled sweets, powered tea. Entrees with a soup side. Best of all was the Kleenex toliet paper packs. Far superior to the MRE squares. Oh, and a range card printed on the box.

          1. B.P.

            Wait, regular British food is shit, but they get military food right?

          2. Gustave Lytton

            Is it? Of course my tastes are kind of off. I preferred to tear off the long side of the MRE pouch and eat the entree cold. Never really cared for waiting for the heater or wasting the water on it.

          3. Playa Manhattan

            Order bacon in London and tell me what they bring you.

          4. Gustave Lytton

            Delicious meaty back bacon, along with fried bread?

          5. Playa Manhattan

            Placenta after it’s roadkilled.

          6. Tundra

            My hotel in London served real, actual bacon. I was a little disappointed. Edinburgh redeemed the stereotypical GB breakfast, though.

      2. Bobarian LMD

        Corned Beef Hash was pretty bad. I opened one once inside my Bradley that was wet on the inside. I bent over to see what was going on and the smell that assaulted my entire crew and I was beyond comprehension.

        We stood outside the track for 15 min, heaving our eye-balls out and using our protective gear to remove all offending remains.

        The Hockey Pork with apple sauce was a hidden jewel, if you knew how to prepare it.

        1. Chipwooder

          The old SNCOs told me that there was a tuna casserole thing during the Desert Storm time period that was pretty repulsive.

          1. dbleagle

            Even worse was the “Ham and Chicken Loaf”. I did enjoy the MRE “Omelet with Ham” because it tasted exactly like the C-Ration “Eggs with Ham” which was my favorite C.

    2. Plisade

      When MREs first came out the best was turkey n gravy, but that was rare and were discontinued (idk if they’ve made a comeback since). One DI punished us all by making us eat the crackers while we sat out in the sun and wouldn’t let us drink water.

      1. Gustave Lytton

        Used to have guys (try to) do the cracker challenge. Crush up the package until it was almost dust and then try to eat the whole thing without using any liquids. Can’t remember if there was a time limit on it or just for best time.

        1. Chipwooder

          Two minutes was the usual time limit as I remember it. Virtually impossible to accomplish – those things were like eating a desert. It would turn to concrete in your mouth.

          Making MRE fudge and spreading it on the pound cake was pretty tasty.

          1. Bobarian LMD

            MRE Fudge == Ranger Pudding.

          2. Gustave Lytton

            Ah yeah, ranger pudding. Cracker, cocoa, and coffee I think.

          3. Chipwooder

            We just mixed the cocoa, non-dairy creamer, and a bit of water.

          4. Gustave Lytton

            Forgot about the creamer. Also fun to sprinkle over a lighter.

          5. Playa Manhattan

            That’s definitely in the Anarchists Cookbook.

          6. bacon-magic

            Making MRE fudge and spreading it on the pound cake was pretty tasty.

            These foxhole military euphemisms…NTTAWWT

          7. Zunalter

            Don’t ask, don’t tell.

      2. Drake

        In ’89 our DI’s would make us eat the pork or beef patties dry. Nasty. I just threw it in the woods when he wasn’t looking.

    3. Drake

      During Desert Shied / Storm spaghetti and Meatballs was good. The Omelette was good if you mixed it with the potatoes and dosed it in ketchup and Tabasco. There was a barbecue pork that was alright too.

    4. mexican sharpshooter

      My personal favorites were the cheese tortellini and chicken-n-dumplings.

      The absolute worst were the breakfast MRE.

      1. No love for the meatballs in BBQ sauce?! I don’t know any of you any more…

        Seconded on the cheese tortellini. Good stuff.

    5. Grummun

      turkey tetrazzinichloride

  16. Q Continuum
  17. Gustave Lytton

    http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article179744081.html

    Read between the lines and realize how fucked up Puerto Rico was prior to the hurricane.

  18. Count Potato

    “Weinstein then ripped out her tampon and proceeded to perform oral sex on her according to the victim”

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5013771/New-Harvey-Weinstein-sobs-claims-raped-her.html

    1. Q Continuum

      The man likes his strawberry Kool-Aid; it ain’t a crime.

      1. Q Continuum

        Chewing on a handful of pennies.

        1. Q Continuum

          Saying hello to Aunt Flo.

          1. Gustave Lytton

            Gotta earn those Red Wings the hard way.

          2. bacon-magic

            Celebrating the lunar cycle.

          3. bacon-magic

            Everyone knows that in order for a movie to be successful it needs blood, gore, and some t & a.

          4. Q Continuum

            Preferably all at once.

          5. So, somebody stabbing naked Andy Devine?

            Devine does a cannonball into a swimming pool in Island in the Sky. Truly a frightening scene.

      2. Gustave Lytton

        Oh yeah!

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      This is getting weird now

        1. mexican sharpshooter

          It wasn’t a surprise then, now its weird.

    3. Rasilio

      ‘I decided to share my experience today in support of all the other women that have come forward and all women everywhere who have been subjected to any type of sexual harassment or sexual assault,’ said Haleyi.

      So now that it is perfectly safe to do so you are so courageous to come out and support all those other women raped and harassed by Weinstein, including all the ones he raped and harassed between 2006 and 2017 because you were too chickenshit and concerned about your career to press charges at the time and put an end to his behavior.

      Sure Weinstein bears full responsibility for his actions but this shit has to stop and we need to start treating these women as moral accessories to these crimes.

    4. Gilmore

      Gloria Allred must have literally passed out from serial-orgasms when she realized the flood of clients this scandal was going to net her.

    1. Playa Manhattan

      Subpoena? Fuck you. Do you have a search warrant?

      1. Badolph Hilter

        “Things twitter would say if the people in question were right-thinking liberati instead of deplorables”

  19. Brett L

    Trying to figure out if this will end in Chinese Ghost City style or just end up a dumping ground for the people Middle Eastern governments don’t like, but don’t want the hassle of killing.

  20. Q Continuum

    “Denver is a long shot to land the new Amazon headquarters, according to an Irish gambling site. Paddy Power, which mostly takes wagers on sports but ventures into politics and other topics, gives Denver 20-1 odds against winning the competition, putting it in a tie for 15th with Los Angeles. Atlanta is favored at 2-1 to win the competition, putting it ahead of Austin, Texas (11-4); Philadelphia (7-1); Boston (8-1); and Toronto (10-1). Denver also trails Rochester, New York (10-1); Miami and Chicago (12-1); Portland, Oregon and Pittsburgh (14-1); Washington and Dallas (16-1); and Salt Lake City and San Jose, California (18-1).”

    http://kdvr.com/2017/10/24/gambling-site-has-denver-as-20-1-long-shot-in-amazon-sweepstakes/

    Paddy Power? RAAAAAAAAACIST!!!

    1. PBRstreetgang

      Philly odds at 7-1 and the Eagles have the best record in the NFL. Truly a new day is dawning in the City of Brotherly Love!
      (My money is still on Austin)

      1. Rasilio

        They do seem to have lucked into the best young QB in the league

    2. Chipwooder

      Rochester? bwaaahahahahahaha…..yeah, I’m sure they’ll have no trouble luring people to live in fucking Rochester.

    3. B.P.

      “win”

      Yeah, that’s it. 20-1 for Denver makes me happy.

    4. Badolph Hilter

      God damn am I sick of these pathetic attempts to woo amazon.

      Every 3 days I see some goddam article about “(insert local shithole city of your choice) thinks they have a real shot!”

    5. invisible finger

      Seems like they have a near-impossible laundry list of must-haves. Need to be near mass transit, less than 45 minutes to an airport and have about 2 square miles of vacant land. Seems like that knocks out Atlanta unless they’re willing to bulldoze some bad neighborhoods and displace a lot of people. Also not sure why Atlanta would need to offer additional tax advantages at this point, plus they’d be jacking up labor costs in that market.

      With that laundry list they pretty much narrowed it down to 3 or 4 areas and just want to see who is willing to rape their taxpayers.

      1. Vhyrus

        Phoenix might actually have those covered.

        1. mexican sharpshooter

          With the distribution center here, it might make sense for them to locate here. I won’t bet on it though.

      2. Trials and Trippelations

        I’m glad NC is out of the running with the lack of mass transit

      3. Gadfly

        Need to be near mass transit, less than 45 minutes to an airport and have about 2 square miles of vacant land.

        Unfortunately for the Denver residents, this description makes Denver a prime choice from what I can tell. There is tons of empty land out by DIA, and when I was in Denver last (a year or more ago) they were building a mass transit line along the road to the airport, right past all that empty land.

        1. Gustave Lytton

          The airport train is open as of April.

          Not sure about zoning restrictions but that area would seem to fit the bill.

        2. B.P.

          You are making me sad. And yes, Denver checks the requisite boxes. There is an article on the Forbes website that polls a few alleged experts, and they mention Chicago as a site. I was in Chicago a couple of weeks ago, and can attest to the fact that two square miles of blighted land seem to be available on the west side because people seem to be evacuating the place like it is on fire.

    6. DEG

      Austin would be a smart move. Boston would be a stupid move.

      1. Gray Ghost

        Austin cannot handle the traffic. At all. Plus, their light rail is a solid meh. They do have oodles of land, particularly if Amazon feels like heading out towards Bastrop and Elgin.

        But I think this is Dallas and Denver’s race to lose. Denver’s awfully pretty, or at least gives the perception of it. Not a lot of natural beauty in Dallas (or Collin County/Plano, which is where I think they’d go.)

        Rochester?! LOL. They’re moving to avoid taxes and high property costs, right?

  21. RAHeinlein

    I just learned that “Libertarian” Senator Jeff Flake won’t run for reelection. Those libertarians sure are an inclusive bunch.

    1. Just Say’n

      At least libertarian senator John McCain remains. I’m starting to think that whoever has a war of words with the president is labeled ‘libertarian’ by default.

    2. Drake

      I’m stuck in the Kansas City airport with a cancelled flight watching Flake get his ass kissed on CNN. What an asshole. He’s not running because voters figured out he isn’t conservative.

      1. Gray Ghost

        He’s leaving ahead of a (probably successful) primary challenge.

        How do we think he did, all in all?

    3. Playa Manhattan

      He’s standing up to Trump by not running. Or something.

    4. Scruffy Nerfherder

      I’d much rather see McCain, Murkowski, or Collins go.

      1. Drake

        I think McCain will go soon enough.

        1. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

          He’d sooner go the the grave than go back to being a private citizen.

      2. Zunalter

        The thing about Collins is that I think she represents the epitome of libertarianism that maine is willing to elect.

    5. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

      This is a good thing.

    6. mexican sharpshooter

      I for one am happy to see Flake throw in the towel.

      1. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

        You an me both brother.

    1. RBS

      I am going to be the inflatable dinosaur and my son is a dinosaur hunter.

      1. Playa Manhattan

        I discussed being the T-Rex with my wife the other night.

        She warned me about waving those stumpy little arms around, because somebody might misinterpret it.

        1. Bobarian LMD

          Which stumpy little arm is she talking about?

        2. Pope Jimbo

          She has been disappointed by your T-Rex antics before.

          1. He didn’t bang a gong?

          2. PBRstreetgang

            +1 Marc Bolan

          3. His baby mama was the singer of the original “Tainted Love”.

          4. Tundra

            She killed him, too.

            Bowie supported the kid after Bolan died.

          5. Gray Ghost

            A Rolls Royce would’ve been good for his voice after all.

          6. Playa Manhattan

            That’s what teeth are for.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    As a veteran, let me say FUCK NO. There are more than enough useless malcontents who volunteered.

    I laughed heartily.

    1. Gustave Lytton

      Time to nationalize Lewis Road Creamery! How else will schoolchildren get their artisan dairy products?

    2. Gadfly

      Do we have any Kiwis on here who can explain this? On Wikipedia (I know, I’m too lazy to go for other sources) it says that this lady’s Labour party won fewer seats than the New Zealand National Party, but that they are forming a government with the support of the New Zealand First party. What puzzles me is that wiki claims that both NZ National and NZ First are conservative, so why wouldn’t they form a coalition together instead of NZ First supporting Labour, especially if Labour is led by such a batty lady?

    1. Playa Manhattan

      “Bill & Hillary Clinton managing donations collected for disaster victims ”

      “Stevie Wonder as an Uber driver”

      1. Yusef drives a Kia

        Wonder if that’s a Woman

    2. PBRstreetgang

      Roman Polanski, middle school teacher”

    3. kbolino

      Apparently we’ve gone from “everybody who disagrees with me is a Nazi” to “everybody who disagrees with me is a Russian bot”.

      Progress?

  23. Hudson

    I wanted to thank RC Dean for the Never Split the Difference recommendation even though it was not directed at me. I’m trying to pick up some soft skills after finishing my bachelor’s, so I picked up the audiobook and finished it already – it was actually pretty entertaining. I’d be interested in recomendations for any other business skills books.

    Also, I am blaming whoever recommended Mindhunter for my lack of sleep today…

    1. The Other Kevin

      That was a good read. I learned a lot from it. Another good one is “Extreme Ownership”, and I also liked “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck”.

    2. Brett L

      I also am listening to that in audiobook based on the recommendation the other day and fascinated by how well it works on my almost 4 year old. Really great book. Maybe I will get to use some of it on adults some day, too.

    3. Gilmore

      I’d be interested in recomendations for any other business skills books.

      there was a great little book floating around in the 1990s called “The Bullshitters Guide To: Consulting”

      i think it was part of a series. it was maybe 150pp. and mostly jokes, but had some basis in truth. can’t find it for the life of me.

      everything in it turned out to be true. except the part about Bow Ties.

    4. The Other Kevin

      Also, you can’t go wrong with one of Cialdini’s books. “Influence” is a classic and it’s a lot like “Never Split the Difference”. I just started “Pre-Suasion” and so far so good.

    5. TK

      Mindhunter is so good. Binged it in one sitting. O.O

      1. Gilmore

        I just saw the last episode of S01 last night. I felt like the guy hadn’t really been acting until the last few minutes. I guess his ‘shallow, deadpan, characterless’ thing had a point.

      2. Mindhunter is good, but flawed. I went out my way to read some of the few negative reviews and each reviewer actually brought up good points that made me reconsider some aspects of the show.

      3. Not Adahn

        I liked it, but the whole “the protagonist cannot have a happy relationship” trope is just irritatingly predictable.

        1. Gilmore

          I agree with everyone who finds minor problems with it.

          i think the issue w all the main characters (tench, holden, wendy) is that their work is slowly revealing all of their respective underlying personality problems

          the reason holden seems so emotionally flat, boringly constant, ‘immune’ – as tench put it, shallow etc. is actually because the show is going to expose some really dark, repressed shit of his own.

          hence the final few minutes of the last episode, where he basically has a nervous breakdown. its the first time you see any emotions on his face other than ‘minor anxiety’.

          i think this made his character seem dull and flat for most of the first season. Its not normal for episodic TV to move that slowly. normally by the end of season 1, everyone is 100% established and everything should be neatly wrapped up. but they sold the show with multiple seasons already committed.

          1. What are your thoughts on the BTK setup so far?

          2. Gilmore

            the BTK setup

            I think for any “normal” tv show, it would be a huge cock-tease w/ no payoff.

            But i think, given the abnormal development of the show… it helps function as sort of a “pace-setting device” in the progress of the program, where tiny things are revealed to you about his plotline in each episode. It prepares you for what may be a very, very long story arc.

            it also harmonizes with the themes they are learning from all their serial killer interviews. most of these guys did not ‘freak out’ and become serial killers overnight. it was something that developed over the course of their entire lives and was part of their identity. seeing lots of moments of that guy, alone, doing nothing really… forces you to apply what you learn from the other killers.

            basically, i like it, and think its a smart device. However, as far as my patience goes, i’d be much happier if it were moving faster.

          3. KibbledKristen

            I loved the BTK setup. The brief scenes of a mustachioed security system guy in Wichita will not register with many viewers.

          4. Not Adahn

            I don’t think there’s ever been a question that Holden is a serial killer that just hasn’t been exposed to the necessary stressor.

            Tench struck me as more archetypal, or rather poly-archetypal. He’s got the Wise Mentor, the Cynic, the Broken Down Old Cop, the Cop With a Failing Marriage, and the Troubled Father tropes all rolling along — Det. Stabler + Hank Schrader, with a bit of Serpico and Mr. Miyagi thrown in.

            There has been a bit of Old v. New going on between Tench and Carr, with Holden clearly favoring Carr’s side of things. However, Carr is also the academic figure against Tench’s practicality. That last scene you’re talking about might have just been the first time that Holden realizes on a visceral level what his subjects actually are. Whether that jars him loose from Carr’s theory towards Tench’s application is something I’m interested in seeing.

            I don’t know what the point of Debbie is, except (hopefully) to have a steamy lesbian scene that results in complications involving Dr. Carr and the culture of the FBI.

          5. Gilmore

            I don’t think there’s ever been a question that Holden is a serial killer that just hasn’t been exposed to the necessary stressor.

            i don’t think they’ve been overly ham-handed about it, but i think it should be obvious to the average viewer that he’s got the “potential” at least.

            I think the way every time someone who meets him goes, “Where are you from? The midwest, right?” and there’s this… “uh, all over, but i was born in brooklyn”… that’s clearly going to be something they gradually reveal more and more about: why brooklyn, why did he relocate so often, etc. He is cagey about his childhood. Its what they call “The gun in the drawer” in scriptwriting. its something they keep showing you, which means its going to get used at some point.

            I do at least like the casting they did. Holt McCallany (tench) is my fave, and he sort of anchors the whole bunch. I was very down on the Holden character until i saw the last episode, and it seemed like they were delivering some payoff w/ his character. that he was kept ‘closeted’ for a reason.

          6. Not Adahn

            There was also that assymetric bit about Debbie inviting Holden to meet her mother but not the reverse. Also Holden saying that his father bought the suit that he was wearing.

          7. Some of us are only on episode 4 jerks.

          8. Gilmore

            You clearly caught on to their whole “subtle hints about the main character’s fucked up shit” faster than i did.

            re: Hyp

            don’t worry, nothing in this show is really change by spoilers. if you read the characters for greater attention to the hints they make re: their own internal (not talked about) problems… you probably will enjoy it more than i did on first viewing.

  24. Count Potato

    “Thousands of Americans Will Scream Helplessly at the Sky on Trump’s Election Anniversary”

    http://www.newsweek.com/americans-scream-helplessly-sky-donald-trump-election-anniversary-690889

    This is not The Onion. I repeat, this is not The Onion.

    1. Q Continuum

      As someone said on Morning Lynx; Newsweek: The Veracity of the Onion Without the Humor.

      1. Vhyrus

        That was me and I believe I said it on your post actually.

        1. Q Continuum

          *triggered*

        2. bacon-magic

          Sorry, he has no hat to tip.
          *vague stare*

        3. Bobarian LMD

          And I replied that the Onion will turn out to be true someday, but Newsweak won’t ever be right.

    2. Chipwooder

      Well, now I’m convinced that these are serious-minded people with a viewpoint worth considering!

    3. Troy

      I wish I could go and Nelson /Ha-Ha them.

  25. Count Potato

    SCREAM HELPLESSLY AT THE SKY

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

  26. Q Continuum

    Over under on his sales vs. that of Milo’s Dangerous?

    https://pagesix.com/2017/10/24/colin-kaepernick-lands-million-dollar-book-deal/

    1. Playa Manhattan

      “One World’s headed by book world superstar Chris Jackson, who also publishes Jay-Z and Ta-Nehisi Coates. ”

      I see.

    2. invisible finger

      Lands million-dollar book deal, turns down 2.5 million to be NFL backup.

      Who on earth would take any advice from this shit-for-brains?

  27. Count Potato

    “Jonathan, a tortoise on the British territory of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic thought to be the world’s oldest living land creature at 186, is also gay.

    The governor of St Helena was presented with what they believed to be a female tortoise, named Frederica, in 1991 as a possible mate for Jonathan.

    For the past 26 years, the pair have been inseparable but a recent examination on Frederica found out that she was probably a male, according to The Times.”

    http://www.towleroad.com/2017/10/worlds-oldest-living-land-creature-discovered-gay/

    1. Bobarian LMD

      So… prison gay. He had no choice.

    2. Q Continuum

      He talks a fag and all his shit’s retarded.

      1. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

        Its cool though, his sister was ‘tarded and she’s a pilot now.

  28. Benson Dubois dies at 89

    The less said about Sports Night the better.

    1. Chipwooder

      Underrated Robert Guillaume movie – Seems Like Old Times. “This is a government agency, you know we don’t have a sense of humor.

      “Love that chicken pepperoni!” “Don’t start with me, Fred.”

      1. And kooky Goldie Hawn too.

        1. Chipwooder

          You’re not supposed to be outside! ……you’re not even supposed to be in the country.

    2. Gustave Lytton

      Ah, Paula Marshall… and Sabrina Lloyd.

    3. Rufus the Monocled

      They don’t make black butlers like him anymore.

  29. Gilmore

    I was like, “Fuck you talking bout Kelly, Bitches just be tricks and hos”, and he’s like, naw man, they Holy and shit. ppppt.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      I gleaned enough from the byline to understand what you’re trying to convey before the WaPo told me to fuck off.

      How many commentators exist in 2017? It’s like Mormonism, everybody’s a prophet now.

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        Copy URL, open private browsing window on whatever browser you’re using, paste URL and hit enter

      2. Gilmore

        right-click, open in private window

        the gist of it was basically, ‘women in the military are not “sacred” and saying so is misogynist”

        events like the 2016 Marines United photo sharing and revenge porn scandal do not occur in a vacuum and are not one-offs. They are the direct result of sexism and bias perpetuated over decades in every echelon of the military, to include the general officer ranks. Kelly, who served as a Marine officer from 1975 to 2016, had plenty of time on active duty to shape and influence the mind-set of male Marines about women in the service. His view that women should be held “sacred” implies they need protection because they are weak, an idea that contributes to negative stereotypes about women and their less-than-equal status in the military.

        As a minority group, service women did not create the culture in the military — we simply fell into the hypermasculine environment that was maintained by men like Kelly for generations. As much as we have tried to change the system, until men like Kelly and Dunford are called out for their outdated ideals about women, we will never be able to level the playing field in the military.

        my point was that, on one hand, she decries this ‘hypermasculinized culture’ which women had no hand in creating
        on the other hand, she demands that women stop being treated differently

        which seems to be arguing for some, unstated, ‘3rd ideal’ – which is basically a completely gender-neutral and bureaucratic ‘culture’ which aggressively polices anything that might offend people.

        basically, if you join the marine corps, and then expect to never hear bad-words or hear guys talking about sex… welllllll i think you can write all the pissed-off editorials you want, but i think you’re still doomed to disappointment

        i don’t really understand your ‘prophet’ point

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          Just an observation on the plethora of instant expert commentators in the age of Trump. All you need is a grievance with the Twitterer in Chief and any of these rags will publish you.

          The Mormons ascribe to the “anyone can be a prophet” philosophy.

          By scriptural definition, a prophet is anyone who has a testimony of Jesus Christ and is moved by the Holy Ghost

        2. AlmightyJB

          “women should be held “sacred””

          Don’t put the pussy on a pedestal.

        3. AlmightyJB

          “implies they need protection because they are weak”

          Ummm…. Like every college campus and every feminist.

        4. Bob

          If they desire to be treated equal then why are they not fighting for equal standards?

          There’s a few things these people should understand.

          Men finding women physically attractive is not “culture.” It is biology and will remain that way forever.

          As long as women have lower standards they will never be respected as a group.

      1. Gilmore

        Background on Lt Col Puddytat

        Lt. Col. Kate Germano, the former commanding officer of 4th Recruit Training Battalion at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, was found to be “hostile, unprofessional and abusive,” according to a command investigation obtained by Marine Corps Times. She was relieved for cause on June 30 by Brig. Gen. Terry Williams, Parris Island’s commanding general.

        and here’s where it gets irontastic

        The command investigation, completed June 25 and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, states that Germano displayed “toxic leadership” by publicly berating and showing contempt for subordinates, bullying Marines and singling them out for under-performance.

        On one occasion, the investigation found, she made comments during a sexual assault prevention brief that female Marines interpreted as victim-blaming, leading some to testify that it would make them feel less comfortable reporting a sexual assault within the command.

        Germano also “reinforced gender bias and stereotypes” in the minds of her Marines by telling them on several occasions that male Marines would not take orders from them and would see them as inferior if they could not meet men’s physical standards, the investigation found.

        1. AlmightyJB

          So she used to be cool then.

  30. Drake

    How is there not a damn barbecue restaurant in the KC airport? WTF is wrong with you people?

    1. bacon-magic

      You are now in flyover country…be glad the tarmac wasn’t dirt.

      1. Q Continuum

        Steer clear of the rape gangs and religious cults.

        1. bacon-magic

          Lol, I remember a Scott Shackleford article talking about the nazi skinheads at some clear water river vacation spot in Missouri. As many times as I’d been down there you’d think I would have run into them.

          1. Playa Manhattan

            Oh, but you did. Look in the mirror.

          2. bacon-magic

            I’ll have you know I have a full head of hair.
            I do look like a fat hitler though…

          3. Playa Manhattan

            Somebody should tell the dog, because she thought you were black.

          4. bacon-magic

            Lol,
            I loved da puppy too. My puppy would’ve been in heaven up there.

          5. bacon-magic

            My Irish last name literally translates as “blackie”.

          6. Not Adahn

            Schwartz?

      2. Gustave Lytton

        It’s usually not tarmac anywhere.

      3. Drake

        I had some good food last night in Kansas.

        Fucking United dickbags waited until I got to the airport and returned my rental car to tell me I was fucked for getting home tonight.

        1. Gustave Lytton

          At least they didn’t beat you and pull you off your flight first.

          1. Drake

            Instead of flying directly home, I’m going to Chicago then on standby to Newark. I assume I’ll get my beatdown there.

          2. Playa Manhattan

            Other than the smell, I really like Newark. Especially since LaGuardia is fucked for the next few years.

          3. Drake

            Every dam time I have a problem getting back there. Now I’m flying to Denver so I can take red-eye home. I m going to be a cranky bastardized at work tomorrow.

          4. Playa Manhattan

            Oh… You were TRYING to go to Newark.

            Still, no complaints here. 2 weeks ago: curbside to gate in 7 minutes.

          5. Gustave Lytton

            Oh Newark? Did you tell the Rain God that he’s a pussy before you left?

          6. Drake

            Denver is one big airport.

          7. Tundra

            Was just there Saturday. You in B concourse?

          8. Drake

            Yes – the thing goes on miles!

    2. Pope Jimbo

      Because KC doesn’t know how to BBQ? Next time make your connection through Memphis

      /Memphis BBQ snob

      1. bacon-magic

        Dude take that vinegar douche water back and bring me some St. Louis style ribs with Maul’s bbq sauce.

        1. Pope Jimbo

          What are you talking about? Memphis is the home of the dry rub (Warren’s mom notwithstanding) BBQ. Don’t need any of that shitty sauce.

          1. bacon-magic

            I thought Memphis bbq sauce was vinegar based? Or is that another fake easterner bbq sauce?

          2. Playa Manhattan

            Carolina

          3. bacon-magic

            ^^^
            Thanks you’in westerner.

          4. bacon-magic

            Ah maybe that’s Carolina or something. WHATEVER you’ins easterners all look alike.
            *takes a toke off corn cob pipe loaded with hash*

          5. Gustave Lytton

            Western NC is vinegary. And delicious. Still have some chopped port BBQ in the freezer.

          6. Gustave Lytton

            chopped pork

          7. bacon-magic

            It is…not bad on pulled pork. Memphis rub is good stuff on ribs. I like to put a rub on my ribs and sauce later.
            Maul’s bbq sauce is a basting type sauce best with pork steaks but I have cooked ribs after they were close to done with a rub then finish with a hour of cooking in sauce.

          8. bacon-magic

            I like that mustard based sauce on chicken.

          9. Playa Manhattan

            The correct answer is Texas.

          10. Playa Manhattan

            There’s a time and a place for chicken. And it’s not at a BBQ.

          11. Gustave Lytton

            I think that’s S. Carolina sauce. Eastern NC is tomatoey. Or maybe I have those backwards.

          12. Memphis is the home of the dry rub (Warren’s mom notwithstanding) BBQ.

            Chortle

      2. Juvenile Bluster

        None of you know how to BBQ except those in western NC. Especially Texas. Y’all suck.

      3. Roger Wilco

        I went to Rendezvous in Memphis and achieved nirvana

      4. I JUST WANT TO SAY I AM A BARBECUE WHORE. I WILL SMOKE ANY MEAT.

        I’ll do Texas, Memphis, KC, STL, North AND South Carolina, Alabama. Whatever.

        1. ^^This^^ Much like Suthenboy not getting all the Hitler hate, I don’t get the regional food wars, well cooked pig is fucking awesome regardless of the particulars.

          1. Thirded….I’LL EAT IT ALL! BRING ME ALL THE BBQ THERE IS!!!

          2. dbleagle

            And in KC get the burnt tips. Ahhhhh those were goodness.

          3. Grummun

            There’s a place in Newark, OH (Nerk!) that serves a burnt ends sandwich. Damn Tasty.

          4. meant for Grummun.

          5. Grummun

            Aye. They smoke on site, there’s little piles of hardwood in the back hallway when you go to the head. They’ve only (?) got 12 taps, but they (usually*) only serve from Ohio breweries.

            * Apparently on Mexican-July-4th-for-Gringos they bow to crass commercialism and serve Corona.

    3. Playa Manhattan

      There’s a Salt Lick in DFW.

      1. Q Continuum

        Excellent euphemism.

      2. Brett L

        They’ve made it all the way there? Damn. Good for them. I did a lot of underage drinking at their original restaurant back when the county was dry and nobody cared what was in your cooler as long as you didn’t make an ass of yourself.

        1. Playa Manhattan

          That’s one place where I wouldn’t drink. Beer takes up too much room. Salt Lick is for eatin’.

          Oh, FWIW, they have most of their sauces at Whole Foods now, especially the spicy mustard.

          1. Brett L

            College freshmen have different metabolisms. Now they have a wine tasting room adjacent. It’s very Noveau Texishe but I hope they make huge stacks of cash because it’s great food.

          2. DEG

            I thought about getting some wine at that tasting room when I was there several years ago. Instead, I just contented myself with their food. Excellent.

          3. Gray Ghost

            Now they have a wine tasting room adjacent.

            Good for them. A long time ago, we had an impromptu Zinfandel tasting while eating at the WImberley location. Ridge Zins go great with Texas ‘cue, who knew? There are much better places to eat barbecue in the Austin area, even before Aaron Franklin showed up, but there was something about wheeling a cooler (or carrying a Styrofoam shipper) into the Salt Lick and sitting down for a couple of hours of eating, talking and fun.

        2. Playa Manhattan

          Just in case some of the fine folk here haven’t heard of Salt Lick:

          1. Mad Scientist

            I think all you foodies are whack jobs, but holy crap I need to touch, smell, and taste that!

          2. Tundra

            I need to build one of those.

          3. Hyperion

            That looks yummy.

          4. Troy

            I wish there was scratch and sniff

          5. Not Adahn

            *suffers crippling homesickness*

    1. Hyperion

      Mais uma cerveja stupidemente jelada, por favor!

      IT WORKS!

  31. Rope Snake

    I put blackface on my character in the new “South Park” game, and PC Principal didn’t say anything about it. He even took a smiling selfie with me!

    You just can’t trust cis straight allies. *shakes head*

    1. AlmightyJB

      I was reading the article you linked to the other night about several liberal bloggers internet forum history and it linked to this article written by a Marxist lamenting the identity politics takeover of the Marxist cause. Thought it was kind of an interesting take down of them. Evidently he’s committed suicide since writing it.

      http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=11299

      1. Rope Snake

        I wonder how much of that article (the one that linked to the article you posted) has merit. It’s taken me down a rabbit hole of SJW internet forum culture.

        Have these people really been so influential as to bring social justice topics and terminology mainstream? Academia certainly couldn’t have done it alone, so what catalysed it? It sounds so dubious and ridiculous to think that shitposters on SomethingAwful and RationalWiki could have such outsized influence, but stranger things have happened. Internet-obsessed troglodytes certainly can use the medium to ‘meme’ and build topics to a point that they’ll eventually metastasize spontaneously. It’s not like the Bolsheviks or German Workers Party were much of anything for many a year.

        The level of bullying that has been reached, and effective (unintentional) reductio-ad-absurdum and self-parody (say, of gender theory), isn’t just the result of IRL PC tendencies and proselytizing, or slow-paced seeping academic influence. It happened because of the internet and because of outsized voices.

        And yeah, it’s a good article. There are a lot of leftists (usually communists) who abhor the social justice shaming, recognizing it as essentially bourgeois and elitist. That’s what is so funny about it.

          1. BakedPenguin

            >a href=”https://glibertarians.com/2017/10/exploration-of-philosophical-vagueness-aka-principles-are-hard-lets-go-shopping/?replytocom=317429#respond”>Similar conversation from last thread.

        1. Bob

          In a business class we had to analyze different crises of businesses. Several of these amounted to “something benign happened, twitter warriors went crazy.”

          It’s was taught that doing something was necessary. I pointed out the protein company that got harassed about beach body ads. They just told the twitter mob to fuck off and their sales increased.

          My point is I don’t think the world in general has understood that a few thousand passionate tweets means close to nothing. It used to be a few thousand picketers meant something because for every one there were more that didn’t bother, but tweets are simple and largely easy to ignore. These sorts of crazies are exercising more influence than they should.

  32. KibbledKristen

    Copper Mountain is entering the 21st century and installing RFID gates at all their lifts. I am pleased.

    1. AlmightyJB

      I’ve heard of Irish pubs that use them. You walk in the door, your drinks already on the bar and everything is automatically linked to your tab.

      1. Troy

        Now that is civilization

        1. Except when the NSA uses your drink order against you!!!

    2. Playa Manhattan

      That sounds expensive.

      1. KibbledKristen

        I’m all good…already got my $42 lift tix!

        1. Yusef drives a Kia

          42 for Copper? good deal

          1. KibbledKristen

            Yep – it was a special they were running back in the spring. Those are almost 1980’s prices.

  33. Troy

    Thanks for the Kate Upton pic. She doesnt have any hips but who cares….. Boobs

    1. AlmightyJB

      She’s a babe

  34. I see wood chippers

    an alleged FEMA food bag filled with Skittles

    I regularly eat peanut butter M&M’s and Pepsi as a meal (I am right now), and I guarantee you I’m in better shape than Caitlin Dewey.

    1. AlmightyJB

      First BBQ, now peanut m&ms and pepsi. You people are killing me.

    1. Troy

      What is it with these white supremicist being to lazy to do thier own hate crimes?

      1. AlmightyJB

        They just believe in affirmative action, that’s all.

    2. Gilmore

      I have yet to see a single example of the “graffiti” style hate-speech (esp if its in a Bathroom, or on a school building)… e.g. swastikas, kkk, ‘niggers go back to africa’, etc sort of thing….

      …where the perp actually turned out to be one of the imagined “white yokel supremacist”-types.

      I’m not saying those idiots don’t exist: they obviously do. like Larry, Darryl, and his other brother Darryl here

      but it seems to me that these guys who harbor genuine, bona-fide racist beliefs? Don’t waste their time energy doing shit like vandalizing schools in mostly-black, or mostly rich-white-suburban areas. they’re too busy posting racist shit on stormfront or twitter. sure the occasional morons deface a synagogue… but i just don’t think they’re as into the “sloganeering” shit that lefties inherently prefer. (drawing statements on walls)

      1. Bob

        I remember hearing that in almost all the rape accusations where the victim had writing on their sling the accusation turned into a hoax.

        There seems to be a difference in what people think a rapist would do and what they would do. I expect “hate crimes are the same.”

        Why would anyone bother with such a pointless thing as writing a swastika anonymously? I can understand why a prankster would do it. Watching people lose their shit over nothing is fun. I can understand why the hoax perpetrators do it, they get plenty of attention. But an actual Nazi gets nothing.

  35. Derpetologist

    Macron’s dog pees on fireplace during on-camera meeting

    ***
    Oct. 23 (UPI) — French President Emmanuel Macron’s dog upstaged an on-camera meeting at Elysee palace by urinating on the fireplace.

    Footage recorded by French TV station TF1 during a meeting between Macron and three junior members of his government captured the moment the president’s Labrador mix, Nemo, lifted a leg and peed on the fireplace in the background.

    “I wondered what that noise was,” Brune Poirson, junior minister for ecology, remarks as the participants take in the scene.

    Macron quips the canine has done something “quite exceptional.”

    “You’ve triggered completely unusual behavior in my dog,” Macron says.
    ***

    [Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, French accent]

    Ah, zees ees a fine fireplace…FOR ME TO PEES ON!

    1. Vhyrus

      Fucker can’t even housebreak his dog but he’s supposed to run a country.

      1. AlmightyJB

        Don’t all Frenchman pee in the fireplace?

        1. Derpetologist

          I wish I had 10,000 bricks
          To build my chimney higher
          To keep those goddamn neighbor kids
          From peeing in my fire!

          /song my grandpa sang

  36. Playa Manhattan

    Huh. The Drudge headline is not surprising to anyone with a brain.

    Get on that, Mueller.

  37. Q Continuum

    Recommendations for my next binge watch?

    Not Mindhunter. I tried, but I can’t get over the guy who plays the lead. Like nails on a chalkboard.

    1. Playa Manhattan

      Planet Earth 2

      1. Same as Earth 2?

    2. Not Adahn

      Westworld.

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        Great freaking show.

    3. RAHeinlein

      Babylon 5 – oldie, but a goodie. I just introduced the husband-unit and now he is hooked.

    4. It’s been out,so maybe you’ve seen it but Longmire is a solid show.

      1. Oh and if you have Amazon Prime Bosch aint too shabby either.

  38. Derpetologist

    This is just too much:

    On Safari in Trump’s America
    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/on-safari-in-trumps-america/543288/

    ***
    Third Way, for its part, announced in January it would spend $20 million on what it called the “New Blue” campaign to “provide Democrats with a path out of the wilderness.” Like many of their peers, the think tank’s brain trust had been stunned by the election. On November 9, too devastated to work, its staff had simply sat together and cried.

    “You’ve got all these parasites making a living off the bureaucracy,” the farmer declared, “like leeches pulling you down, bleeding you dry.” We had been in the state for just a few hours, and already the researchers’ quest for mutual understanding seemed to be hitting a snag.

    We sped from town to town in the rented Yukon, watching the exotic Middle American landscape fly by. At one point, a gaggle of bikers roared past us on one side. On the other side of the road, a bright-green field dotted with hay bales passed by. Looking at the bales, Hale mused, “Don’t they look like shredded wheat?”

    Third Way, while not officially affiliated with a party, is an organization with a policy agenda, from gun control to entitlement reform, that it seeks to advance within the Democratic Party and with the broader public. Most of its funding comes from corporations and financial executives.

    “Isn’t this underwritten by the DNC?” a local cafe owner asked Watson after his just-here-to-listen opening spiel. “I read somewhere you’re spending $20 million,” another man said. Another participant asked about corporate donors.

    This was all pretty much true—Third Way, not the DNC, was paying for the project, but the “New Blue” campaign was hardly a nonpartisan effort. But Watson tried to deflect. He acknowledged that the session was “part of” the $20 million project, but he insisted it had nothing to do with any political party. “This is not about Democrats or Republicans—it’s about what’s going on beyond the Beltway,” he said.
    ***

    1. Vhyrus

      “On November 9, too devastated to work, its staff had simply sat together and cried.”

      https://media.giphy.com/media/n8LOaQyDyiEhi/giphy.gif

      1. Troy

        When that stupid useless fuck Obama was reelected, I was bummed. But I didnt cry. I went to work the next day too.

      2. one true athena

        You know, thinking about this and election day in general, I wonder that none of them seem to blame the media for raising their expectations of Hillary’s victory too high. I realize CNN and Co believed what they were spewing, but I’d think at least someone on the D side would be pissed and say “you guys screwed it up and made all those voters believe something was a slam dunk when it wasn’t”. But instead the worst that ever happens is that Dems accuse the media of supporting Trump before the election, which is so laughable you can’t even argue with those people. Maybe there are or were those posts after the election and I just didn’t see them, but it feels odd that there wasn’t at least some blame being tossed at the MSM for bad projections from that side and some demands for house-cleaning when they flubbed it so hard.

    2. Vhyrus

      “I had a very hard time with that meeting,” she finally said. “The longer the meeting went on, the more it started to feel to me like just another community that had isolated itself, and it was right and everybody else wasn’t, you know?”

      I thought a lack of self awareness this acute would certainly have been fatal but I guess not.

    1. Juvenile Bluster

      And, like always, this was a model officer with all kinds of commendations, so surely he couldn’t have done anything like this. http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2017/03/24/sex-scandal-tarnishes-kenneth-betts-louisville-metro-police-department/99528448/

    2. Local news here today had a story about a cop shooting a “pit bull” that was allegedly coming right at the cop. The bullet ricocheted or something and hit the cop’s K9 “officer”, killing that dog.

      The local news bought the cop’s story hook, line, and sinker.

        1. Actually, now that I think about it, the cop claimed the pit bull was “attacking” the K-9.

          Sounds like poor leash control on the K-9, though.

  39. Derpetologist

    today in bathos

    ***
    Just because the DNC was wrong for rigging the primaries against Sanders doesn’t mean Sanders is right today for not acting in good faith toward the Democratic Party.
    ***

    https://www.salon.com/2017/10/24/sanders-betrays-democrats-announces-reelection-run-as-an-independent/

    1. kbolino

      Yeah the nerve of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) running as an independent.

    2. Zunalter

      Also, a perfect case of projection that the selfsame organization that rigged an election so their preferred candidate won the nomination would accuse the other party’s candidate of rigging the election via a nefarious 3rd party.

  40. one true athena

    It’s 102 outside. What fuckery is this?

    I pay extra to live near water. I’m not supposed to have these shenanigans!

    1. Playa Manhattan

      3 days a year.

      1. Yusef drives a Kia

        Maybe on the coast,I fry a hell of a lot more than that, 36 miles inland,
        102 today, 9% humidity

        1. Playa Manhattan

          Yeah. That’s why the coast is the coast.

          I went to Palm Desert in August. 70 here, 114 there.

  41. one true athena

    Also, if anyone in Japan in a few weeks/months sees a Subaru commercial featuring a small silver car making a turn nearly into a couple crossing the street, that was filmed near my kid’s school. I guess it’s cheaper doing it here, but it was kind of funny watching them film it, with the car all Left-Drive having to reset to *almost* run into the pedestrians each time.

    1. straffinrun

      TV or internet commercial? I watch about 2 hours of tv a week.

      1. one true athena

        Don’t know, they only said it was for Japan.

        It was funny also since they still had to dress the corner (there’s a small roundabout, though I don’t know if that’s visible) , and put up high hedges so the couple comes out of ‘nowhere’ into the street.

  42. commodious spittoon

    True Fact: when I was nine or so I went camping, and mom had packed a couple MREs that my uncle gave her. No idea why, or where he’d gotten them. And I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to have liked it as much as I did, but to this day my second favorite breakfast besides biscuits and gravy is corned beef hash. It was probably the setting: sitting in a tent with mom and my sister and cousin, all of us ripping open and emptying out these strange brown plastic-packaged envelopes, poring over the contents, and cooking the entrees by some inexplicable alchemy.

    Never found a plate of corned beef hash I love half as much as I enjoyed that meal. But I still like it for breakfast.

    1. Vhyrus

      The level of awesome of a corned beef hash plate is directly proportional to the horror that comes immediately afterwards in the bathroom.

    2. commodious spittoon

      But a couple soft-boiled eggs over the hash, with a good portion of hash browns on the side… that’s some good goddamn shit. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I want to take up getting fat and hypertensive as a hobby.

      1. straffinrun

        I’ve had a similar experience with pancakes. When I was ten we went to a pancake breakfast at church. One of the dads made pancakes that were the best I’ve ever tasted. 35 years of attempts but I haven’t been able to recreate it. You can’t step in the same river of syrup twice. It was the time, location and ingredients coming together just right.

        1. commodious spittoon

          I feel like gustatory adventures are more quest than reward.

          I tell myself, after ever mildly disappointing plate.

        2. Heroic Mulatto

          When I was ten we went to a pancake breakfast at church. One of the dads made pancakes that were the best I’ve ever tasted. 35 years of attempts but I haven’t been able to recreate it.

          That’s because he came in the batter.

          1. straffinrun

            Like I didn’t see that coming.

    3. When we went camping, my parents bought those travel-sized multi-packs of cereal. Loved Froot Loops, hated Corn Flakes.

    4. KibbledKristen

      You ever watch Crazy Russian Hacker’s MRE unboxings on Youtube? If not, you might get a kick out of them.

      My favorite was the French one (leave it to them to have the best food)

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_1zZuc7IaU

      1. That was great

        1. peachy rex

          He’s just *so* excited by the little holder device for the heated containers… it’s adorably hilarious.

          1. NOT a Naked Intruder

            CRH rocks. I’ve also found I like this guy’s MRE videos

    5. Gustave Lytton

      See upthread. You’re alright commodious spittoon.

  43. KibbledKristen

    I’m finding the guests on Finding Your Roots this season insufferable. Bernie? Janet Mock? Uggghhhh. He used to have on a broader spectrum of folks.

    1. KibbledKristen

      Oh, and also the Coates guy. Can’t stand him.

    2. KibbledKristen

      LOL Coates’s ancestors were free black people, rich land owners, even before emancipation. The host was ribbing him about not being able to write about reparations anymore.

      1. Could he resist not saying “black bodies” during the whole segment?

        1. KibbledKristen

          Thankfully I didn’t hear it, if he did say it.

          The great thing is his father was a Black Panther that believed strongly in black gun ownership. I have no idea if he himself is anti-gun, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he were.

          1. John Titor

            Coates has been testing the waters lately on vaguely implying that the left should go full French Revolution, so I assume guns factor into his plans for chaos and mass murder somewhere.

          2. Gray Ghost

            Coates has been testing the waters lately on vaguely implying that the left should go full French Revolution,

            Oh that will end well. He’s smart enough to know what happened to Danton, Marat, and Robespierre, right?

  44. Derpetologist

    Briton who fought Isis killed in Raqqa a week after city liberated
    Mother of Jac Holmes, 24, who left IT job in Bournemouth to volunteer with Kurdish fighters in Syria, says he died on Monday
    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/oct/24/briton-who-fought-isis-killed-in-raqqa-a-week-after-city-liberated

    ***
    In a statement on their Facebook page, the 223 YPG sniper unit paid tribute to Holmes, saying: “We are so sad today. Yesterday we lost our brother and Team Commander Jac Holmes. He tried to deactivate an explosive device and it exploded directly next to him. Jac was a real badass. A hero with so much kindness. He was funny and compassionate. And he died way too early. We will miss you, brother. You will never be forgotten!”
    ***

    War sucks; people die.

    1. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

      Well, at least it wasn’t via Russian airstrike

  45. Playa Manhattan

    This fucking bullshit with the World Series weather. No, it’s NOT hot for this time of year. We get Santa Anas from September through Thanksgiving. I even remember a Christmas when it was 95 on the beach.

    1. Yusef drives a Kia

      january 1981 102, same as today. I was reminded

    2. Gray Ghost

      October is usually hot in coastal CA, but I don’t remember LA usually getting to 102 the last week of October. First week, sure.

  46. Playa Manhattan

    My internet is down. How long is 447 feet?

    1. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

      About 27.1 rods.

    2. Vhyrus

      …. 447 feet is 447 feet, or .08466 miles.

    3. quincy

      2/3rds of a furlong + 7ft.

    4. Trigger Hippie

      53 feet short of my restraining order.

    5. Gilmore

      that depends. did you chop them off of children, or grownups?

    6. mexican sharpshooter

      Its 5364 inches.

    7. Hyperion

      It’s like 3 times the length of my dick. Should we make this a new unit? I mean like HperDickUnits?

      1. quincy

        You will have to specify a temperature.

    8. Playa Manhattan

      I guess with all of this penis talk, I’m the only one watching the World Series.

      1. Derpetologist

        They should do a World Parallel instead. It’d go faster and be less prone to outages.

        1. Yusef drives a Kia

          Laughing hard!

          1. Derpetologist

            I’ll be here all week. Try the waitress and tip the veal.

      2. hayeksplosives

        I am watching too, but still talking about male anatomy.

        Actually, I am just biding my time until the puck drops in the blackhawks v knights game

        1. Playa Manhattan

          reported to FBI as a communist

          1. hayeksplosives

            I’m already on all the lists there are. Even light digging would refute the communist possibility. Deep digging would destroy it utterly.

        2. BakedPenguin

          The Blackhawks look decent this year, but holy crap the Lightning look better than I would have ever imagined.

          (Also, don’t mind Playa, he thinks any sport played in frozen conditions is evidence of Russian involvement. I’m surprised he hasn’t narced on Kristen and westernsloper)

    9. mikey

      4.41542e-15 parsecs

  47. Derpetologist

    I saw Jonathan Gruber on MSLSD the other day. I guess he decided it was safe to crawl out from under his rock. Couldn’t find that clip, but found this one:

    https://youtu.be/CPJkQw0bVYk?t=1m04s

    1. Derpetologist

      This clip of Tucker Carlson grilling him is old, but amusing:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvDlBIaZV9w

    1. Yusef drives a Kia

      No way HM, I’m on to you, (not on you, frisky)

      1. Heroic Mulatto

        That’s not Cricket!

        You have to play the game. That’s part of how this all works.

    2. Q Continuum

      “It was a weenie”

      Classic.

  48. KibbledKristen

    I put my dried Reapers in olive oil. A colleague suggested putting some in vodka to make bloody marys, so I’m-a try that also (if I can remember to go to the liquor store)

  49. Playa Manhattan

    The media isn’t evil or anything.

    “We have record breaking heat at the World Series, but no fires. WHY NO FIRES, viewers???”

    1. Yusef drives a Kia

      Because the Pressure Wave God has spoken,

  50. Playa Manhattan

    I had salad. I don’t feel like I’m winning any friends.

    1. peachy rex

      Gotta have a whole roasted pig to win friends, my man.

      1. Playa Manhattan

        When pigs fly

        1. Yusef drives a Kia

          how about Doves?

  51. Q Continuum

    ‘He also made a startling statement. In electing Donald Trump, he said, “the country made a mistake and I think the next mistake might very well be the gas chamber and what happened to Jews [under] Hitler is not too far from our door.”’

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/21/harry-belafonte-we-shall-overcome-trump

    Old people are funny.

    1. NOT a Naked Intruder

      We lost Guillaume, but still have Belafonte?!? What’s with this shit?

  52. Playa Manhattan

    How does somebody like me end up voting for Donald Trump?

    I didn’t have the answer until Tom Steyer’s ad during the World Series tonight.

    1. Yusef drives a Kia

      And that’s how you get more Trump, Jeebus Christ

    2. one true athena

      That was one of the most cringe-worthy things I have EVER watched.

      1. peachy rex

        Did you see the Bloomberg-funded ads supporting the Cook County “Sweetened Beverage Tax”? About a month after they started airing, it was repealed.

        1. one true athena

          *runs to Youtube*

          ahaha, nope. That was a garden-variety “for the children!” ad. we get those constantly during election season for various ballot initiatives.

          no the Join Us ad. which I just saw was actually posted four days ago and has 782K views. But LOL, comments and likes disabled. you know it’s well-received when they do that.

          1. KSuellington

            I am actually kind of hoping that he runs for governor here. I would love to see him waste some of his fossil fuel derived fortune doing that. It is almost guaranteed that Newsom or Latin Newsom will be the next guv here.

          2. peachy rex

            Granted, they weren’t anything really remarkable in themselves. But the whole thing was pretty hilarious – even with Bloomberg splashing millions on those ads, one of the local Dem power brokers had to shit can her signature legislation to avoid getting her ass tossed out in the next election. Just a massive miscalculation.

          3. one true athena

            well. at least it “started a conversation” right? lol Couldn’t happen to a better group of people!

    3. Q Continuum

      I have been assured numerous times by sooper smart journolists that it’s the Republicans destroying themselves.

  53. KSuellington

    It is a very sad day for the city of San Francisco as it learns that it will soon lose one of its most diligent advocates for the homeless to rising rents, lack of affordable healthcare and loss of a beloved partner (he divorced her).

    “Zordel said that despite her $120,000 annual salary, she’s in dire financial straits. Even with good health insurance, she’s racked up $30,000 in medical bills on top of the $60,000 in student loans she already owed.
    So she’s packing it all in to move, at least for a while, into a cheap rented flat in Alicante, Spain, a beach town that she says has a big expatriate community with access to affordable health care. She plans to write about her work with the homeless, and, for the first time in her life, just slow down.“

    She is 43. What a catch, even without her taxpayer funded job.
    http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/One-of-SF-s-biggest-helpers-for-homeless-people-12300462.php?t=fa3c9f229e

  54. CPRM

    The late night linx have been kind of quiet.

  55. CPRM

    Sorry if this was covered already; but Stossel is getting a worse deal at TOS than he had ABC (or maybe he just got lazy being old and after his cancer scare) . Youtube allows for almost unlimited time to spend on a subject, but all his videos from TOS are like 6min. And now the new video, in favor of private military, is one interview? On a subject most people find disgusting, and even from a libertarian perspective can get very nuanced. And that one interview is with Blackwater? Fuck.