Monday Afternoon Links

Hey, guys. Sounds like somebody has a case of the “Mondays”! **finger guns** Me, I have to get on a plane tonight and be out in the world for a couple of days for work. Which sucks. I actually have to groom. Apparently, my work-from-home look is a little too close to “why is there a bum in our lobby?”. Also, let us all wish the Sloopster good luck in his auction tomorrow. May his crowd be full of people who are flush with money and bad at value.

Florida Woman sentenced to five years in prison for tax fraud. Based on some family experience, I can say that this is about the going rate in FL.

FBI gives the ATF list of 4000 people who should not own guns because of mental instability, violent criminal offenses, tells them “good luck and please go get those guns back. Hopefully not one bullet at time, brass separate.”

I take exception to Sen. Grassley’s characterization that money spent on alcohol or in the company of a certain type of woman is “blown”. Also, if I’ve spent $5M on booze and the type of woman who will hang out with me for money, I’m probably going to die pretty horribly of cirrhosis.

This is about enough money to buy a pack of gum. If there were any gum.

This is my favorite take on the Venezuelan crypto-currencyGovernment-Run Digital Currencies Could Disrupt U.S. Dominance. Just like Venezuela has created millionaires by debasing their paper currency.

You know who else was a finalist for Time’s Person of the Year?

Name the missing item in the links.

Comments

641 responses to “Monday Afternoon Links”

  1. Relevant to the previous post; tits do in fact have rights separate from their owner and proportionate to their size. It’s the sliding scale of boob rights.

    https://archive.is/XDSlB

    11, 14, 23, 39 but I think I might be in love with 30.

    1. Sean

      30 is the clear winner.

    2. Have you been saving that gif for me?

      1. We might have…we might have.

        1. bacon-magic

          Bravo

    3. Tundra

      2 and 28.

  2. Mad Scientist

    Good luck with your auction, Sloops!

  3. Drake

    2 Months After The Las Vegas Shooting And Still Virtually Nothing Is Known

    And apparently the survivors are now dying like the Final Destination – particularly those claiming multiple shooters. And no surveillance video has been released. And what is this stuff about people running out of Hooters at the same time?

    1. Caput Lupinum

      running out of Hooters

      Thank YHWH Q won’t let that happen to us.

      1. We would have run IN!

        1. Heroes run toward the tits.

          1. AlexinCT

            Seconded.

      2. mexican sharpshooter

        I dunno, have you ever been to that hotel? While they have a restaurant the rest of it is like everything else on the strip–including a table for a scantily clad dancer in the pits.

        1. Caput Lupinum

          I got a sunburn in Ireland. No way in Hell I’m stepping foot in a desert, even for Las Vegas.

          1. mexican sharpshooter

            That’s impressive. Are you an albino?

          2. Number.6

            … more likely a ginger, with all that implies.

          3. Caput Lupinum

            My hair is brown, sir. Only my beard is red. I have, at worst, half a soul.

          4. mexican sharpshooter

            more likely a ginger, with all that implies.

            He’s a bleeder?

          5. Caput Lupinum

            No, my body is capable of producing melanin. It just prefers not to.

          6. Playa Manhattan

            The neon lights are too bright?

          7. Caput Lupinum

            Probably. I’m not taking any chances.

    2. Suthenboy

      *Dons tinfoil hat*

      It was another lefty like James Hodgkinson. The country is so divided right now they cant afford to have too many of those so close together so they are trying to sweep it under the rug.

      1. Suthenboy

        And there was probably more than one shooter.

        1. Hyperion

          I’m leaning towards the alleged shooter being kidnapped and held hostage in his room and then executed. I don’t think the guy was involved at all in this. Makes more sense all of the time that the entire thing was carried out to get gun control, which of course failed again.

          1. Count Potato

            Then wouldn’t have made more sense to do it in a blue state?

          2. Hyperion

            Nevada is not a blue state?

          3. Count Potato

            It isn’t. Nevada has permissive gun laws.

      2. Bob

        My conspiracy is he was some sort of informant or contractor for an intelligence agency. Maybe he was even forced into it. Something went sideways in the dealings he was up to, maybe they even lost track of him for a few days and this went down.

        I’m thinking something like they had him set up as a dealer for some sort of gun deal for ISIS sympathizers.

        Once that happened the involved parties wanted nobody finding out they helped cause this mess and buried all connections and pushed the “lone wolf” scenario.

    3. Tundra

      Nothing weird about a Mercedes crashing into a gate and bursting into flames. Happens allllll the time.

      1. RBS

        Yeah, I’d like to know more about that hit and run too.

      2. Hyperion

        The only other time I remember it happening was when that kid in DC that the feds had been harassing, had the exact same thing happen. I can’t remember his name right off, anyone else remember that? It was very suspicious and I think the guy had been communicating with Edward Snowden or maybe Julian Assange. This shit is starting to get really creepy. I don’t know why, but I smell some Clintons.

    4. Number.6

      Carl Benjamin posted a load of the alleged simultaneous footage about a day after.

      ‘scuse me,I just have to go and place a bet ….

    5. Lachowsky

      This really is odd. I don’t think it would terribly difficult to figure out the guys motives. The fact that nothing has been released stinks to high heaven of a cover.

      A cover up of what, I’m sure I don’t know.

      1. Hyperion

        I’m guessing he had no motives because he didn’t do any of the shooting.

        1. Lachowsky

          The real shooter was Ted cruz’s father.

    6. Fatty Bolger

      Weren’t there about 20,000 “survivors?” Some deaths in a group that big probably isn’t unusual.

      1. R C Dean

        We actually ran some rough numbers when the first stories started coming out. The reported deaths from traffic accidents of survivors was way above what you would expect. Don’t recall the details, but in the course of a month, you might get one survivor killed in a car wreck, and there were several.

        *Note: no statisticians were injured, or even consulted, in the course of those comments.

        1. So, for argument’s sake, if you approach it from the other direction can the numbers be explained? In other words, can you say that maybe there’s a higher rate of traffic-related deaths in the survivors because their cognitive functions are impaired as a result of stress, loss of sleep, PTSD, “survivor’s guilt”, stuff like that?

          1. Also these aren’t just random survivors, they were at a redneck concert and redneck culture is rife with tragedy.

          2. Lachowsky

            I like how you call anyone who listens to pop country a redneck.

          3. I fucked up and my Jerry Jeff Walker/Ray Wiley Hubbard joke/reference got disappeared/Clintoned.

      2. Hyperion

        Depending on the circumstances. Mercedes bursting into flames? Umm, that’s not usual.

    7. Count Potato

      “Final Destination”

      I love that movie.

    8. Hyperion

      The dead survivors. Did you read what happened to one of them? Their car crashed on burst into flames. Remember the young man in DC what was being harassed by the feds and the same thing happened to him? I mean cars just crashing and bursting into flames is not a really common occurrence. The Vegas shooting is truly one of the creepiest things I have ever seen. No one saw the shooter there, no video surveillance of him being there. Something is wrong.

  4. DOOMco

    FBI gives the ATF list of 4000 people who should not own guns because of mental instability, violent criminal offenses, tells them “good luck and please go get those guns back. Hopefully not one bullet at time, brass separate.”

    I’m sure that’ll go fine.

    1. Lachowsky

      *Checks list for own name, continues polishing bolt carrier*

  5. Mad Scientist

    I take exception to Sen. Grassley’s characterization that money spent on alcohol or in the company of a certain type of woman is “blown”.

    “I spent most of my money on booze, women, and fast cars. The rest I just wasted.”

    1. Bobarian LMD

      Sometimes it can be blown, depending on how you want to spend it with a certain type of woman.

      1. AlexinCT

        I see what you did there….

  6. Juvenile Bluster

    Got insurance statements from my kidney stone adventure last month. Between the ER and the surgical center, it was about $35k of bills. That takes care of even my Obamacare-inflated deductible. Too bad it’s already December.

    1. Suthenboy

      35K for a kidney stone?

      Fuck.

      1. Juvenile Bluster

        ER, urologist, and surgery (since it was too large to pass on its own)

        1. AlexinCT

          Wow even I am floored at that number man…

          Must be some Obamacare billing logic that allows for that kind of money to be charged. Then again, my experience with this is through my mom and after her kidney transplant she has not done this sort of thing for over a decade.

    2. Playa Manhattan

      Thanks, chargemaster!

      1. Lachowsky

        Does anyone know how a charge master works. RC Dean maybe? I did some looking into it a few years ago and best I can tell is that the charge master is a random numbers generator.

        1. R C Dean

          Chargemasters are just master lists of charges for hospital services. They are a relic of the days when hospitals were regulated like utilities, and had to have their rates approved by a commission. The only use they have these days is for people who have no insurance at all – nearly every insurance contract is written as a percentage of Medicare (“we’ll pay 110% of Medicare rates for this service”).

          You should never pay the chargemaster price. IF you are insured, it should never come up. If you aren’t, the hospital should do a payment plan to let you pay the bill over time, and heavily discounted – like, maybe 50%. Hospitals are also required to disclose their average managed care price (a little foggy on this, its been a few years since I had to deal with it), so you should be able to get that from them.

          1. Lachowsky

            Thanks. I remember reading an article 5 or 6 years ago who went to several hundred different hospitals around the country trying to get a price from each for an appendectomy. If I remember right the prices he was quoted all came from the charge master and varied from a few 1000 to 25 plus thousand.

    3. Tulip

      About 5 years ago I spent three nights in the hospital – no surgery*, and the bill was a little over $50k. I have good insurance through work. I paid a $50 copay for the ambulance ride.

      *it was ICU though.

      1. Hyperion

        My wife was in the hospital for 10 days a couple of years ago, 2 minor surgeries. $38,000.

  7. Drake

    The Elite NK Soldier who defected – was sick as hell. Could they even field an army?

    1. Mmmm….feces water!

      1. Playa Manhattan

        Organic fair trade.

    2. Caput Lupinum

      “An army marches on its stomach” – Napoleon, maybe.

      If the conflict does heat up, we could probably win by moving our mess tents to the front lines with big banners saying “Defectors get all they can eat.”

      1. Bobarian LMD

        The Golden Corral Gambit.

      2. wdalasio

        “Defectors get all they can eat.”

        To which they’d wonder what all the gibberish in English was supposed to mean. At least until a few got the dinner experience.

      3. Giant smokers. The smell of BBQ wafting over the front lines …

    3. Sean

      “It was gross to see intestinal worms actually coming out of people’s mouths after we took the syrup.”

      Wow

    4. Yusef drives a Kia

      Is their powder dry? Do all those arty shells sitting there still work? It is all old Equipment too AFAIK

      1. AlexinCT

        Based on the numbers of delivery systems they have, primitive as they may be most of the time, even if 10% of their crap works, and it manages to last long enough to survive the return fire, and volleys off several rounds, they are going to be able to cause enough death and mayhem to dissuade anyone in today’s pussified world from wanting this scenario to happen.

        Kim wants the nukes for 2 very important reasons: the crap his military can field can do a lot of damage if he starts a conventional war and lobs tons of rounds out at Seoul, but in the end, there is no way for his forces to win and he loses, and loses fast, because practically all their equipment is old crap, and he needs the nukes so if he does do that he can use that to hold back the retaliatory strikes. That, and he saw what the US did to Qaddafi after they made him give up his WMDs and WMD programs, and he wants to keep banging those skinny parasite infested hos.

    5. Dr. Fronkensteen

      Wow. To call those conditions Medieval would be an insult to the Medieval peasants.

      1. AlexinCT

        Hey but they all have free healthcare, education, and no fucking evil korporashuns making profits!

    6. wdalasio

      And some of this might lead one to wonder how eager S. Korea is going to prove for reunification. I mean, imagine having to absorb a country where huge portions of even your elite are this badly cared for.

      1. AlexinCT

        Neither South Korea nor China want to deal with the inevitable collapse. The South Koreans saw how West Germany took it in the ass after the reunification, and how badly it set them back, and North Korea would disgust the deprived and primitive East Germans because of how backwards they are. Just take a look at a night satellite image from space about that part of the world. Look at Japan, South Korea, and even the Chinese and Russian population centers and the light. That dark spot right above South Korea bordering China and Russia with what appears to be just a little bit of lighting? That’s the North Korean communist paradise the left tells us they can avoid if we but let them do it this time the right way with the right people.

        1. The Last American Hero

          Germany now controls Europe, so reunification wasn’t all bad for them.

          1. Count Potato

            That avatar is hilarious.

    7. Playa Manhattan

      As the article notes, he was one of the country’s elite.

      Imagine how bad it is for regular peasants.

      I’m sure they really appreciated the open letter the New York Times published a few weeks ago.

    8. Hyperion

      Little Rocket Man could launch some rockets. If they were attacked by the USA, the would fold like a house of cards. In fact, I think if they just put a bullet in Kim’s skull, it’s all over.

  8. kinnath

    “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing,” Grassley told the newspaper, “as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”

    Chuckles has never been a particularly smooth talker. But I am pretty sure he is attacking the view held by the lower classes that rich people live as though they were in one of those fucking etrade commercials.

    1. wdalasio

      It’s kind of not even that. The people the estate tax hits are the ones who don’t even know they’re rich. They’re business owners, farmers and ranchers.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        Exactly. When the value is tied up in hard assets, it can be difficult if not impossible to raise the cash necessary to satisfy the bloodsuckers.

        Noticably, this is where Warren Buffett would stop in with either life insurance prior to or offering to buy out the company after the fact.

      2. Viking1865

        It’s kind of not even that. The people the estate tax hits are the ones who don’t even know they’re rich. They’re business owners, farmers and ranchers.

        Exactly.

        Your grandfather bought a corner bar in the ghetto 40 years ago with the money he got when a taxicab ran over his foot, fixed it up, joined the civic association, organized a neighborhood watch, lobbied the city government for more police patrols, leading to gentrification, leading to rising property values. He’s owned that bar for 40 years, he’s a pillar of the community, literally thousands of people came to his funeral.

        Granpa was semi retired for the last 10 years, and the bar is in the good hands of a long time employee, who’s a surrogate brother to you. It’s a hard fucking conversation, to tell him that because of inheritance taxes, you’re gonna have to sell the bar, and that he needs to set up a meeting with all the staff to let them know they need to go find jobs. A year from now, it will be a Buffalo Wild Wings, and all the local progs who loved their local bar will bemoan the evil corporations who ruin small family businesses.

        1. Hyperion

          Fuck inheritance tax. It’s just another tactic of the left to ensure that everything actually belongs to the government to redistribute as they see fit.

    1. gbob

      Damn it Q. I don’t beat you while trying to post links about boobs!

      1. He has expanded his linking skillz!

      2. The boobs are my guide.

        1. Tundra

          Muse.

          1. ¿Por qué no los dos?

          2. AlexinCT

            Me gusta tu idea hombre!

    2. Hyperion

      “President Trump has offended pretty much the entirety of Britain’s political and media establishment up to and including the Prime Minister, the Mayor of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

      I’m failing to find a problem here.

  9. gbob

    I dunno. I found it a relief to be back at work on Monday. I’m hundreds of miles from “home” and in a place where I can do this and then drink all night without anybody telling me of the things I should be doing instead. I think I like being a hermit in Utica. Point is, this mother fucker is never going get a case of the Mondays again.

    In other news, I can’t think of anything I want a President to actually do besides make some speeches and troll other countries on twitter. I would have loved Obama if he used his time like that, instead of trying to craft policy.

    1. Just Say’n

      I hate it because it’s a race baiting website. Even the name is derived from the first white person born in the ‘New World’. There are other articles discussing this same thing and they don’t appear on VDare.

      https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/12/04/charlottesville-report-tells-us-what-happens-when-police-fail-do-their-job-glenn-reynolds-column/917521001/

      1. Drake

        I go there to read Derb.

        1. Just Say’n

          I’m not trying to judge you off the websites you view. We’re all on this website

        2. Lachowsky

          My dad is a big fan of derb. I used to listen to it with him some years ago. I don’t recall all that well, but from what I remember he was extremely anti immigrant. What is he good on?

          1. Rhywun

            China.

          2. Bob

            Immigration

    2. Suthenboy

      “Charlottesville Police, Politicians Conspired To Suppress Unite The Right Rally”

      No shit.

      1. R C Dean

        Yeah, its perfectly clear now (as we suspected) that the Charlottesville PD desperately wanted to shut down the alt-righters, but could only do so with an “unlawful assembly”, which they only get if there was violence. So they sat back and let the riot roll. IOW, antifa and the PD had exactly the same plan and goal : to use violence to shut down the protest.

        There should be a whopping civil case in there somewhere.

        1. mexican sharpshooter

          Assuming there’s a law firm with the stones to defend them in court.

  10. Subwoofer

    Re: avoiding the death tax, I don’t see why more people don’t start 501c3
    family foundations and donate all their assets to it until they personally have nothing valued above the taxable threshold.

    From my past experience working with wealthy families this is what most of them seem to do to preserve intergenerational wealth. Everything runs through the family non profit which effectively owns everything, with a board made up of all that family’s membership so no one person can make all the disbursement decisions.

    1. You cannot form a 501(c)(3) to just support yourself or your family: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/exemption-requirements-section-501c3-organizations.

      “The organization must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests, and no part of a section 501(c)(3) organization’s net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.”

      You can set up a trust, to avoid the death tax.

      1. ChipsnSalsa

        Unless your last name is…

          1. Tundra

            ಠ_ಠ

          2. bacon-magic

            -10 game points

        1. Tundra

          Hiter?

        2. Number.6

          Hotblack Desiato? (showing my age)

          1. He only spent a year dead…for tax purposes.

          2. Number.6

            Isn’t that the best reason to be temporarily dead?

          3. Also…avoid alimony?

          4. Playa Manhattan

            It could be argued that alimony is…

            Oh, nevermind.

        3. Chipwooder

          Schickelgruber?

        4. Playa Manhattan

          Global Initiative?

        5. Bobarian LMD

          Same as this guy?

      2. robc

        Just put your family on the payroll.

        See, Foundation, Clinton.

        1. Playa Manhattan

          You know who else didn’t scroll up?

      3. R C Dean

        You cannot form a 501(c)(3) to just support yourself or your family:

        No, but there are ways to use them as, essentially, a tax-deductible/tax-exempt savings account.

        It gets quite complicated, and involves whole life insurance, but once it is set up you can deduct up to half your income every year (if you donate that much to the 501(c)(3)), and the punch line is that when you take money out of the 501(c)(3) after you retire, it is as a loan, which is not taxable income to you. So, tax deductible going in, tax exempt coming out. The loan, BTW, is secured by the life insurance, so when you die, the loan is paid off and any surplus goes to charity. Downside: what goes into this tax shelter can’t be passed on to your heirs.

        1. creech

          Isn’t there some evidence that the Kennedys do this using off shore trusts and loans secured by the trust assets?

          1. R C Dean

            I believe the Kennedys do have a similar trust thing set up. Vaguely recall that the Merchandise Mart in Chicago was a Kennedy asset placed in trust, and the heirs could get loans against the value of the Mart.

  11. Just Say’n

    http://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/362940-sanctuary-city-policies-are-ruining-california-heres-why-i-left

    Now I understand why those CATO studies always conflate ‘illegal immigrants’ with ‘legal immigrants’ when they analyze crimes committed.

    From the opinion piece:

    “According to an article earlier this year at TheHill, “a population of just over 3.5 percent residing in the U.S. unlawfully committed 22 percent to 37 percent of all murders in the nation.””

    1. Rufus the Monocled

      Makes this “FBI gives the ATF list of 4000 people who should not own guns because of mental instability, violent criminal offenses, tells them “good luck and please go get those guns back. Hopefully not one bullet at time, brass separate.” all the more absurd.

      I guess ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ isn’t a wise dictum with law enforcement. They’re going to look for trouble.

    2. R C Dean

      I saw similar data for the number of violent felony convictions in Texas. A wildly disproportionate number of them are illegals.

  12. Just Say’n

    Peak stupid?

    Matel: Hijab Barbie, because #RESIST! We make toys

    Everyone: My God this is so stupid. I think it’s peak moron

    Pediatrician: Hold my beer. I’ll show you how it’s done, Matel

    *Edit Fairy embed links…too big!*

    1. Just Say’n

      Wow- ‘would’ the edit fairy

      1. Chipwooder

        She looks like Jennifer Tilly when she was young.

      2. Count Potato

        She’s my favorite….

    2. Chipwooder

      You know, I keep having a recurring thought when I read things like that – why should the vast majority of normal children be forced into accommodation for the very small number of gender confused children?

      1. Bobarian LMD

        …forced into accommodation for the very small number of gender confused children with really fucked up parents?

        /fixed

      2. Because if you can destabilize something as fundamental as one’s gender, you can destabilize reality itself and make the population that much easier to conquer.

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          Gender is now a functionally meaningless term.

          1. Just Say’n

            I like how these people think that normal people are going to ascribe to made-up nonsense created in some college gender studies department.

            Doctor: Congratulations- it’s a boy!

            Mother: How do you know?

            Doctor: It has a penis?

            Mother: That’s some heteronormative bullshit

            Doctor: Ok, it’s an amorphous child

            Mother: That’s better

          2. wdalasio

            Gender is now a functionally meaningless term.

            It is for a relatively small segment of the population.

            A significantly larger segment of the population virtue signals its support for this while hypocritically acknowledging their children’s gender.

            A significantly larger segment of the population still has no inkling this is even a thing.

          3. Bob

            So is sex. They say they are different until you segregate something by sex then they’ve are the same.

      3. R C Dean

        why should the vast majority of normal children be forced into accommodation for the very small number of gender confused children

        To teach them (a) who their masters are, and (b) that their masters are in charge of everything. Its great indoctrination for a totalitarian state.

  13. Raston Bot

    Slate mocking Friedman throughout this whole interview.

    http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/interrogation/2017/11/tom_friedman_is_still_optimistic.html

    love this part:

    [Editor’s note: Calling the government “democratically elected” is a stretch. The president of Yemen had stepped aside in 2011 amid protests, and a transitional, Gulf state–backed president was installed. The 2012 presidential election included only one candidate.]

    1. …AND WE CAN DO THAT HERE, TOO! #RESIST

  14. The Late P Brooks

    May his crowd be full of people who are flush with money and bad at value.

    Competitive bidders, who’ll pay triple the value of an item to keep that other bastard from *beating* them.

    1. Just Say’n

      Lol

    2. Chipwooder

      I’m sure that stupid, futile gesture in judicial overreach was totally worth it #RESIST

    3. Brochettaward

      This never should have made it to the Supreme Court. It never was a legitimate question whether he had the authority to do it or not. And it wasn’t a close decision here at 7-2. Should have be unanimous.

      It’s nice to see the branches adversarial to the executive, though.

      1. RBS

        The dissenters are not surprising. I would love to know their reasoning though.

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          #feelings

          #southafricanconstitutionisgreat

          1. wo wo wo feelings?

      2. Fatty Bolger

        Did the two dissents cite international law?

      3. Chipwooder

        If only they’d be that way with non-Trump chief executives.

      4. Suthenboy

        I am guessing Ginsburg and Sotomayor.

        *clicks* Well, look at that.

        They actually ruled against a president issuing an order specifically spelled out and granted to him by the constitution. Nice.

        1. Number.6

          I’m kinda surprised they could get Ginsberg to wake up for the vote.

          1. R C Dean

            Hey, if dead Democrats can vote in an election, why can’t a sleeping one vote on a court case?

          2. I’m not completely convinced that Ginsberg is still alive.

        2. kbolino

          They actually ruled against a president issuing an order specifically spelled out and granted to him by the constitution statute.

          Functionally irrelevant, since in either case it was spelled out. But, strictly speaking, it is Congress, and not the President, that sets immigration policy. The law enacted by Congress is what grants the President the authority to suspend the issuance of visas.

  15. FBI gives the ATF list of 4000 people who should not own guns because of mental instability, violent criminal offenses,

    Wouldn’t it have been simpler to give them a list of every cop in the country?

  16. Playa Manhattan

    I was considering writing an article for this site called “Colin Kaepernick is an Asshole”, but, would it really be news to anybody?

    1. Just Say’n

      As an asshole, I take offense to such a statement

    2. mexican sharpshooter

      No, but it might show up in a google auto fill and pique somebody’s interest.

    3. RBS

      The Clemson blog I read has a weekly feature during football season about all of the reasons to hate whoever that weeks opponent is. You could do something like that.

      1. Number.6

        Playa’s 2-minutes of hate

        1. Playa Manhattan

          I’d need more minutes than that.

          1. Tundra

            Not according to Winston’s mom.

          2. Number.6

            OOoh, BURN!

          3. Tundra

            Pass the aloe, baby!

          4. Number.6

            Will you leave Winston’s mom and what she says out of this please?

          5. Bobarian LMD

            When does Winston’s Mom ever have time to speak?

          6. bacon-magic

            *drops gloves and applauds*

      2. So a series of guest posts on reasons to hate tOSU?

      3. Playa Manhattan

        That actually sounds funny, which is not my intention here.

    4. Tundra

      Asshole of the Week would be a fun feature. Challenging to narrow it down, though.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        How does one get nominated?

        Asking for a friend.

        1. Juvenile Bluster

          We *know* everyone who posts here is an asshole, so we’re all ineligible.

          1. Scruffy Nerfherder

            *kicks pebble*

          2. Tundra

            *kicks pebble puppy*

            Get it right and you might have a chance.

          3. bacon-magic

            *kicks milk from Ted’s hand which falls on Playa’s floor. Ucs goes to clean up before the mice get to it but I treated towels with beeswax*

      2. Number.6

        You could subdivide into sports, politics, international.

      3. R C Dean

        Asshole of the Week would be a fun feature

        Should be titled “Christ, What an Asshole (Vol. __)”

      4. ArchieBunker

        Love this idea

    5. Heroic Mulatto

      Colin Kaepernick is the Nick Gillespie of mulattoes.

      1. bacon-magic

        You just gave Just Say’n an orgasm.

      2. Just Say’n

        Thank you for joining my effort to “Make Nick Gillespie An Insult Again!”

        1. bacon-magic

          ^^^

      3. The white people of mulattoes?

  17. The Late P Brooks

    The dissenters are not surprising. I would love to know their reasoning though.

    ILLEGITIMATE PRESIDENT HATH NO AUTHORITY

  18. Juvenile Bluster

    This isn’t how statistics work, Judd. This isn’t how any of this works (on the tax bill’s repeal of the individual mandate):

    Judd Legum‏Verified account @JuddLegum

    3. It sounds like an emotional argument but it is actually an empirical argument.

    Studies have found, conservatively, one person dies for every 830 people who lose insurance.

    Senate bill costs 13 million people to lose insurance = 15,600 deaths

    1. So, forcing people to buy insurance against their will saved lives?

      1. Just Say’n

        Also, seat belt laws totally save lives, because reasons

        1. Lachowsky

          Seatbelt laws are the worst.

      2. Scruffy Nerfherder

        They’re just making shit up now. Why not? Nobody calls them out on it.

    2. Playa Manhattan

      Umm…. how is the bill “causing” 13 million people to lose insurance? Are they not allowed to buy it anymore?

      1. AlmightyJB

        They’re not forced to buy it anymore.

    3. RAHeinlein

      If you don’t hear from me after the bill becomes law…

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        …just assume you went on a bender and will wind up in a story with the alt text, so which one of you was this?

    4. Lachowsky

      I think we would all be better off if every single person in the country no longer had insurance and never got any ever again.

    5. mexican sharpshooter

      What studies is this clown referring to?

    6. DOOMco

      They made it a tax, it’s on them anyway.

    7. kbolino

      Lies, damned lies, and bullshit statistics.

      When Oregon created a Medicaid lottery (before the ACA), they had to really strain to show any benefit whatsoever, and could only come up with “people report being slightly happier and get diagnosed with diabetes at a higher rate”. Now, it saves lives? Give me a fucking break.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    FBI gives the ATF list of

    mass murderers, domestic terrorists, serial killers, anti-government dissidents.

    1. aka, Glibertarians.com commentariat.

      1. Juvenile Bluster

        The definition of a serial killer is that you have to have killed 3 people with a rest period in between each. It’s not compatible with the first two!

        1. Bobarian LMD

          It’s not compatible with the first two!

          The first two Glibs?

          Is that Sloopy and Swiss?

          Ah, I understand, no rest.

    2. Pan Zagloba

      …and Methodists!

      1. We are the white people of Christians.

      2. “Could you repeat that, sir?”

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Senate bill costs 13 million people to lose insurance = 15,600 deaths

    That’s some damn fine ratiocination, Lou.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    how is the bill “causing” 13 million people to lose insurance? Are they not allowed to buy it anymore?

    EVERYTHING NOT MANDATORY IS VERBOTEN

  22. Juvenile Bluster

    Gronk gets a one game suspension for his late hit, which will probably be reduced to zero on appeal because it always is. Patriots fans will continue to somehow claim that the league is conspiring against them.

    1. Just Say’n

      That was the most flagrant late hit that I’ve seen in a while. Also, his little stutter step before he plowed into the guy was effeminate. Yeah, I said what everyone was thinking

      1. Bob

        More flagrant than actual punches?

    2. DOOMco

      I’m a pats fan and I don’t think it was good.

    3. Grumbletarian

      That was a dirty hit, and Gronk should be out for a game, but the NFL’s egregious inconsistencies regarding how they punish these hits is ridiculous. Kiko Alonzo took a similar shot on Joe FLacco and was fined a bit over 9 grand, with no suspension.

      They really need to have a more uniform policy on things like this. You concuss a player on any kind of play that merits a penalty in-game, you sit for a week minimum.

      1. Bob

        The NFLs policy is to react to what makes the outrage news. Patriots do that because they are the evil robber barons of football.

        You can get into a fistfight on the field and nobody will care unless it’s on sports center getting hot takes from skip bayless.

    4. mexican sharpshooter

      They had to punish him with something, lest it somehow be controversial in pointing out the Gronk is a white guy.

  23. AlmightyJB

    Pamela Anderson refuses to apologize for sane comments. Still would. Yeah, I know.

    https://hotair.com/archives/2017/12/04/pamela-anderson-accused-victim-shaming-comments-harvey-weinstein/

    1. Just Say’n

      Hep C, dude

      1. KSuellington

        Hep C is not easily sexually transmitted. She got it from sharing a tattoo needle with the Tommy Lee. Not from his dong. Go ahead and ditch the condom for your imaginary Pamela romp.

      2. Juan-Baptiste Emmanuel Seguin
      1. Just Say’n

        She should really be paying more attention to that drill. That looks dangerous

    2. Lachowsky

      I agree with you. Would, and damn the consequences.

    1. mexican sharpshooter

      BuzzFeed has given up on going public for now and Mashable is looking for an emergency buyer.

      I bid $2.

      1. Number.6

        At this rate, LSD and I will be explaining Economics 101 to one of our relatives at Xmas dinner, trying to show that the reason she has to keep finding a new job is that she keeps joining internet ventures that have negative revenue projections and an untenable business model.

        1. Lachowsky

          I took LSD once and tried to have a talk about economics. My points no longer made sense when I sobered up. YMMV

      2. Bobarian LMD

        You just fucking bought it, along with the monstrous debt.

        Sucker!

        1. mexican sharpshooter

          Shit.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    That was the most flagrant late hit that I’ve seen in a while.

    If you’re going to do that, you might as well just kick him in the head while he’s lying on the turf.

    Compared to Gronknooski, tht guy from KC who tossed the ref’s flag into the stands is a goddam role model.

    1. Bobarian LMD

      Considering, at that point, the refs gave the Jets 12 tries at the end-zone from inside the 5.

    1. Tundra

      Time to evict those fuckers once and for all. Let someone else host and fund their bullshit.

      1. Number.6

        Amen, brutha and The Rescuers be damned.

    2. Just Say’n

      “Would” Nikki Haley.

      1. Yes. Nikki Haley, Tulsi Gabbard threeway would be my preferred way of screwing the government.

        1. Just Say’n

          I like how you think.

        2. Number.6

          Your jib, the cut of which I like.

        3. Newsletter? Subscribe to it, I would.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Think deep

    If these aliens could travel here, they probably wouldn’t think much more of us than we think of termites: “These humans sure are interesting. They build [the equivalent of] complex living spaces (mounds) with only rudimentary instructions (constitutional governments, oligarchies, technocracies).”

    But that would be about it. After all, we seem to be in the midst of making our home world unlivable for billions of our own kind, let alone the dozens of species in danger of extinction. If we got a signal from out there, would it change our attitudes?

    Yes, Bill, we’re busy making the planet uninhabitable. Why don’t you jump off?

    1. Raven Nation

      “If we got a signal from out there, would it change our attitudes?”

      If the signal said the only way for a species to survive was to get rid of all governments, would you change your attitude Bill?

  26. B.P.

    “I take exception to Sen. Grassley’s characterization that money spent on alcohol or in the company of a certain type of woman is “blown”. Also, if I’ve spent $5M on booze and the type of woman who will hang out with me for money, I’m probably going to die pretty horribly of cirrhosis.”

    So, I actually read the linked article (I know). Apparently the Washington Post is now doing intentional comedy bits. It went about as well as expected.

  27. R C Dean

    Also, let us all wish the Sloopster good luck in his auction tomorrow. May his crowd be full of people who are flush with money and bad at value.

    I’m pretty much off of auctions since going to a high-dollar horse auction with Pater Dean and some of his high-roller buddies. First, there were the stories (many, many stories) about how they have scammed, grifted, and gamed people out of large sums of money at horse auctions, which are probably unusually prone to trickery and fraud.

    That wasn’t what really did it, though. It was when one of them commented that “The only problem with buying at auctions is, if you are the high bidder, that means you are the only person in the building who thinks it is worth that much.”

    1. Number.6

      Makes me feel MUCH better about my recent auction purchase.

      … which should be at my FFL’s place tomorrow!

      1. Suthenboy

        The last time I tried to buy a gun on guns international the bid kept getting kicked up every time I would bid. It had to be the guy selling the thing. I set a limit, he didn’t. He didn’t sell his gun.

        1. DOOMco

          I’d believe it. What gun?

        2. Number.6

          As soon as the bidding got within $50 of the “Buy Now” price, I just bought it. It was a still a pretty good price, but not a great price.

          But given that I’ve been looking unsuccessfully for one at a great price for the last 18 months, I thought I might as well pull the handle and snap it up.

    2. Suthenboy

      ‘Horse trader’ didn’t get to be a derogatory term for no reason.

  28. Lachowsky

    Looks like we are going to be having sever thunderstorms tonight at my place. I guess I’ll find out how good of a job I did building the roof over my porch this saturday.

    http://imgur.com/JowB6ma

    1. DOOMco

      get ready to do it all over again!
      (I hope it’s fine)

      The last few years visiting home involved replacing the roofing with metal. It’s slippery.
      Dad finally got the weird hallway thing between the house and the garage done this year.

      1. Tundra

        Breezeway.

        1. DOOMco

          eh, maybe?
          the garage was built after the house, the garage was in the downstairs below the master bedroom. The new garage is about 4 feet higher than the first floor (it’s hilly here) so it’s an elevated, non insulated, 2 windows, slightly wide hallway with some closets. I’d almost call it a mud room, but there’s no heat.

      2. Lachowsky

        When I inevitably have to re roof my whole house, I am going to put metal on it. I really don’t see the downside. Should last forever and I don’t mind the look.

        1. DOOMco

          That’s why we did it. It’s brown, which goes decently with the green color the house is.
          The snow just falls off it now, not that you need that. it’ll take a whole lot more wind before it gets fucked.

          it does make an interesting noise when it rains now. I like it, but I can see it being annoying if you get lots of heavy rain.

          1. Lachowsky

            When I was a kid, I used to stay the night at my uncles house sometimes. His place had a metal roof. I have slept to the sound of rain on a metal roof. It’s pleasant to me.

            I have a walnut tree in my back yard that has a branch that grows over my shop. When the walnuts fall off and hit that metal roof, the sound is considerably less pleasant. When one falls from a high enough altitude, I can hear it in the house and it sounds unnervingly like a gunshot.

          2. Stillhunter

            You must have a fairly steep pitch. Ours is only 2/12 if I recall, so snow doesn’t slide off quickly. The bottom inch or so turns to ice and S-L-O-W-L-Y slides down making potentially large curls of snow/ice that eventually fall if not dealt with. I need to install some of those ice stoppers that attach to the roof to keep the snow from sliding or get a decent roof shovel to remove it right away.

          3. DOOMco

            You know, I’m not sure what it is. I’ll look tomorrow. It’s decently steep. The wood stove and no attic helps. some parts do get that ice build up, but it’s a usually a day of buildup and then it all falls.
            danger underneath.

        2. Stillhunter

          Only real downside I have experienced is the sliding snow (response to DOOMco below) which is likely only an issue in certain instances and can be mitigated and the much higher initial cost compared to other typical roofing. I guess I should add they are slippery as hell, even at 2/12 pitch.

    2. Suthenboy

      4x4s and 2x10s. Looks pretty decent. It’ll hold up.

      *I hate plumbing and roofing work. Anything else I am fine with.

      1. Lachowsky

        I think it will be fine. I hate plumbing and roofing too. My knees, thighs, and ass have been sore for 2 days from laying those shingles.

          1. Lachowsky

            I wish.

  29. Number.6

    Shoulda spent that time building an Ark.

  30. Brochettaward

    It’s hard to really downplay the corruption on display from the FBI, DOJ and Mueller team over the last two years. The FBI agent who was kicked off the Russia investigation was married to a pro-Clinton donor. He was the one who conducted the interview with her. He was also responsible for editing Comey’s rough draft exonerating her (written before the investigation was complete). It’s possible that he was a big part of the reason the investigation was started in the first place. We may have an answer to that question of the FBI and Mueller hadn’t stonewalled for months and conveniently decided to give in only after the story leaked.

    The entire basis for recording Flynn and interviewing him was the Logan Act. That news finally answered my question of what the fuck the FBI was doing investigating and listening in to Flynn’s conversation with the Russian ambassador in the first place. It served as the entire basis for everything that’s happened since January despite no one ever being prosecuted for it. Sally Yates and Obama officials were gravely concerned it was violated…yet knew full well they’d never be able to prosecute anyone with it. They started investigations against a political opponent based on a law that they knew they would never prosecute. They leaked classified material to the press. This from the same group who gave us the weak as argument about “intent” and precedent when it came to Hillary.

    Mueller obviously can’t indict Trump. But he can set the stage for any potential Democratic majority in Congress to try and impeach by claiming Trump obstructed a bullshit investigation that shouldn’t even have existed in the first place. Despite the fact that Trump, as the President, could have simply ended the investigation at any time with a simple order or pardon. The entire argument for obstruction comes from Comey. A guy who is a proven liar and who sat on the obstruction allegation, by his own narrative, for months and then claimed uncertainty as the reason. Yes, the head of the FBI and former federal prosecutor claimed he just wasn’t sure whether what Trump did constituted obstruction or not. And there’s Mueller running with it.

    Even if a lot of Republicans hate Trump, there is no way in hell they’re going to look at impeachment with all this. The mainstream media can beat the drum they want.

    1. RAHeinlein

      Well-articulated.

    2. R C Dean

      The punch line is that the Obama administration consented to the Trump transition team, including Flynn, talking to the Russians and others, because this is a normal part of every transition. Remember, Flynn was busted for lying about talking to the Russians after the election, during the transition. So, it looks like they consented to a normal activity and then set up an investigation of it as a potential crime.

      Everybody involved, from Obama on down, should be jailed for this. Its the worse assault on our political system and the legitimacy of our government since the Civil War. I don’t think I am exaggerating.

      1. Suthenboy

        Agreed.

        I am not sure what these fucknuts think is going to happen if they pull off a coup, but I dont think they will like it very much.

      2. Brochettaward

        So, it looks like they consented to a normal activity and then set up an investigation of it as a potential crime.

        This is another one of those things that keeps bothering me. People keep painting Trump camps talking to Russians as undermining Obama’s foreign policy. First off, most presidents tend to refrain from making large diplomatic moves right before leaving office. What that piece of shit did was far closer to being unprecedented and unseemly as he tried to reverse decades old foreign policy positions in his waning days (Israel UN vote) and to box his predecessor in with Russia. Second, it’s entirely natural for a transition team to begin to establish those contacts and relationships. There’s nothing unusual or underhanded about what was done. But a number of prominent names have suggested it was somehow unprecedented. We only have one president at a time!

        Logan Act talk by Dems started when Trump first asked Russia to release Hillary’s deleted emails. The statement itself in no way set Trump up as acting as a representative of the American government. And Hillary’s emails are not a matter of the US’s interests. The Dems were basically arguing that Hillary, as a candidate for the Democratic party, had special protections. No. She deleted those emails by claiming that they were all personal in nature.

        Meanwhile, Obama *still* continues to meet with foreign leaders as if he’s a representative of some kind.

        It’s mendacity all the way down.

        1. JaimeRoberto

          Wouldn’t John Kerry’s negotiations with the North Vietnamese government also be a violation of the Logan Act? Is there a statute of limitations on the act? If what Flynn did is a violation, perhaps we should start enforcing the law more vigorously until it is repealed.

        2. Lackadaisical

          Meanwhile, Obama *still* continues to meet with foreign leaders as if he’s a representative of some kind.

          There is an uncanny amount of overlap of people Trump sees and who Obama visits shortly thereafter, thinking specifically of Trump’s Asia trip.

          1. CPRM

            Some enterprising journalist could probably find a violation of The Jones Act in Obama’s post presidency meetings if they cared to look.

      3. Count Potato

        I thought he was busted for lying about talking to Turkey.

        1. juris imprudent

          That was the potential charge that drove him to his plea bargain, IMO.

      4. kbolino

        I think it’s basically on the same level as what Nixon did, so the precedent is much more recent. But, and this is the important part, everybody (except for some die-hard Nixon apologists) knew what he did was wrong. The political establishment, for all its faults, forced him out, punished his associates, and then enacted laws to curtail these and other political abuses of the government. The very same laws, in fact, that the Obama administration and its lackeys flouted repeatedly.

        Our problem is not that the powers of government were abused. That is to be expected; the government is full of human beings. The problem is that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ultimately failed. And it may well be that those responsible for violating it will not be held accountable and no significant changes will be made to prevent this from happening again. Let us not forget, that like so many other things, these abuses were almost certainly enabled by people with “good intentions”. The Bush administration, and the Congresses which have convened since 9/11, set this situation up to fight terrorism. They expanded the powers of the IC, they granted intelligence services with importance not seen since before the Church Committee, and they normalized the idea that the elected and appointed officials of the United States Government enjoy the benefit of the doubt when directing the intelligence apparatus.

        We are basically one step removed from COINTELPRO II; the only missing piece is agents provacateurs, and that may just be obscured rather than missing.

        1. kbolino

          What’s somewhat scary about all this is that many of the people who were critical of the Bush administration’s ramping up of the surveillance state have turned a blind eye to, or become apologists for, the Obama administration’s (ab-)use of it. Thanks to principals before principles, we’re kinda fucked.

    3. Gustave Lytton

      I think the establishment RINOs (like McCain’s dingleberry over the weekend) think they can use this (maybe even the threat of impeachment) to neuter Trump and get him to bend his knee and suck their cock. They identify more closely with the Democrats and the rest of the permanent state than they do with an non-pol outside like Trump.

      1. Suthenboy

        Yes, they are completely blind as to why Trump got elected in the first place. Trump isnt their problem, he is just a symptom. The American people are fed up with their corruption and incompetence. I have been saying for years that this self-appointed elite class needs to go. I never thought I would see this.

      2. Bob

        The election results in DC were startling, something like 90% Hillary.

        It’s with all the politicians and bureaucrats is so far removed from the country it might as well be the forbidden city.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    My objection to auctions is I’m too goddam impatient to hang around all day waiting for “my” item to come up. Watching a couple of other idiots blast through the value ceiling I placed on it is just icing on the cake. I have been known to go purely for the entertainment value.

  32. wdalasio

    OT: What are the full list of the Iron Laws? I know #1 is “ME TODAY. YOU TOMORROW”. But, isn’t there a full list?

    1. commodious spittoon

      <a href="http://colorado-libertarian.com/2010/03/22/rcs-iron-laws/"RC Dean's Iron Laws. May have been updated or revised since then.

      1. commodious spittoon

        http://colorado-libertarian.com/2010/03/22/rcs-iron-laws/

        I really wish there were an html tab for this keyboard app.

      2. wdalasio

        Thanks. Perfect.

      3. R C Dean

        Its under FAQs/Resources in the top banner. As noted, hauling the Iron Laws cross-country from TOS to Glibs cost me a lot of orphans, so I’d appreciate it if you used the official version posted here.

        1. R C Dean

          The note at the end of the Colorado libertarian site took me back. The page is down, but I may have started the Iron Laws when I was a commenter at Samizdata. Several were added after then, though.

          1. commodious spittoon

            That’s a SAMIZDAT group in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, described (so far, anyway) as conspiracy theory nuts. Related?

          2. R C Dean

            Nah. Samizdata was (is? haven’t been following) a bunch of Brits who are anarcho-libertarian types.

            I really should put that site back in my rotation.

          3. Number.6

            Still going, regulars are cycling in and out. Evil Hippo Perry is still running the show.

          4. antisthenes

            Ah, so you are the same RC Dean that was there. I used to wonder, back when I read Samizdata (and TOS).

    2. Lachowsky

      it’s linked on the home page

  33. The Late P Brooks

    Even if a lot of Republicans hate Trump, there is no way in hell they’re going to look at impeachment with all this. The mainstream media can beat the drum they want.

    I don’t care what they print in the Washington Post. I think a lot of Congresspplz are looking at what’s happening in Alabama and elsewhere and getting the message, loud and clear, that they had better have their bags packed and on the curb if they allow impeachment proceedings to get to the floor. It’ll be a bloodbath when the midterms roll around.

  34. Count Potato

    “New Yorkers call for removal of Met painting that ‘sexualizes’ girl

    New Yorkers launched a petition demanding that the Metropolitan Museum of Art remove a 1938 painting of a young woman with her underwear exposed due to the “current climate around sexual assault” — but the Met refused Sunday. The piece, “Thérèse Dreaming” by the French artist Balthus, “sexualizes” the girl by depicting her lounging in a skirt with her knee up on a chair, according to the petition, which was posted on the website Care 2. “The artist of this painting, Balthus, had a noted infatuation with pubescent girls and this painting is undeniably romanticizing the sexualization of a child,” writes Mia Merrill, 30, a New York City entrepreneur who started the petition.

    “Given the current climate around sexual assault … The Met is romanticizing voyeurism and the objectification of children.””

    https://nypost.com/2017/12/03/new-yorkers-call-for-removal-of-met-painting-that-sexualizes-girl/

    OMWC hardest hit?

    1. So I guess we hold a book burning for “Lolita” now?

    2. Gustave Lytton

      No, this is OMWC hit hardest.

      (Larger, perhaps the original version, is currently hanging in the NC Museum of Art. SLD, but I always enjoy going to NCMA when I’m in Raleigh.)

      1. Gustave Lytton

        很好了!

        1. Heroic Mulatto

          Just for you, a link to Chinese Red Guard/Police/Army bondage fetish roleplay pics:



          Never forget that Heroic Mulatto loves you and wishes to see you happy.

          1. Pan Zagloba

            OK, definitely the most confused boner of my life.

            Pls post more for research purposes.

          2. Heroic Mulatto

            *shrugs*

            Ok.

          3. Pan Zagloba

            Sadly, the confusion in my pants still rages. That middle pic especially. Bottom one throws the case to “not” but the fact that no one can keep a straight face in top one cancels it.

          4. Heroic Mulatto

            Well, I did that on purpose.

          5. dbleagle

            Any idea what the signs say? Why were they executed?

          6. Yusef drives a Kia

            thanks for putting out there HM, people need to see this shit

          7. Chipwooder

            Um….that’s, ummmmm….odd

    3. commodious spittoon

      These people are going to flip their lids when they discover Peter Paul Rubens. Or any depiction of Lucretia. Or Hephaestus’ Weinstein moment with Athena. Or…

  35. Count Potato

    “Giants fire Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese

    In a sweeping strike, Giants ownership fired general manager Jerry Reese and head coach Ben McAdoo, a Monday massacre that will forever change the history of a franchise that has lost its way. In a swift and stunning fall from grace, McAdoo’s brief and turbulent stay as head coach of the Giants came to an end, as he was fired after only two seasons in the wake of a groundswell of losing and his mishandling of the Eli Manning demotion that prompted a near-revolt by the fans. McAdoo reported to the team facility in the morning and was quickly informed he was gone.”

    https://nypost.com/2017/12/04/giants-fire-ben-mcadoo/

  36. The Late P Brooks

    “The artist of this painting, Balthus, had a noted infatuation with pubescent girls and this painting is undeniably romanticizing the sexualization of a child,” writes Mia Merrill, 30, a New York City entrepreneur who started the petition.

    The nagging suspicion that someone, somewhere, is having fun.

    1. Number.6

      Ficus hit hardest.

  37. Count Potato

    “remember: we still don’t know for sure that donald trump doesnt want to fuck his own daughter.”

    https://twitter.com/hasanthehun/status/937751775502729216

    1. The blue check mark means he’s sooper-ultra competent n’ shit.

    2. Suthenboy

      Christ. What a fucking asshole. The best thing Trump has done is bankrupt mask manufacturers.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    In a swift and stunning fall from grace, McAdoo’s brief and turbulent stay as head coach of the Giants came to an end

    Is that the guy who was saying, yesterday, “I’ll be here coaching this team as long as my key card still works”?

    1. Count Potato

      Yes. And now it’s stopped working.

  39. commodious spittoon

    I’m starting to think that it’s not intermittent hypoglycemia from my shitty diet or DTs from my shitty lifestyle or Parkinson’s from my shitty genetics, but essential tremors. It seems textbook: general trembling in digits, but not the characteristic thumb/forefinger motion of Parkinson’s. Sometimes tremulous voice. Difficulty holding drinking glasses without spilling. Gets worse with caffeine, anxiety, temporarily better with alcohol. And if I’ve gone without either and I’m fed and rested, it abates but never fully goes away.

    It’s treated with beta blockers, and wouldn’t you know it, I’ve still got a bottle of propranolol. I’m going to try that for a bit, and weaning myself off everything else. It’s gotten pretty noticeable recently.

    1. Have you seen a doctor?

      1. commodious spittoon

        I get all my medical advice from the hotshot team at Web MD.

        1. Playa Manhattan

          You actually need to see a doctor and get some bloodwork done.

          1. commodious spittoon

            Aye. I’m going to get an appointment made.

    2. Suthenboy

      I am sorry to hear that CS. Getting old is a bitch.

    3. Hyperion

      Dude, first thing, stop the shitty diet. I did around 3 months ago and my hypoglycemia is completely under control now, I’ve lost 26 lbs., no more ankle swelling, and high blood pressure much better. See a doctor now, but just set your mind to fix your diet, as a lifestyle, not a fad. When you’re better, start adding exercise, at least walking more.

    4. Sean

      What is wrong with your diet? Why can’t you correct it?
      Not trying to be weird, but if you think it’s bad, why wouldn’t you change it?

  40. Count Potato

    “CONTROVERSIAL right-wing speaker Milo Yiannopoulos has slammed protesters who stormed his Melbourne event as “petulant babies”.

    A heavy police presence was called in to keep attendees and protesters separate at the Flemington venue where the conservative celebrity was scheduled to speak.

    Hundreds of protesters from left-aligned group Campaign Against Racism and Fascism and the right-wing True Blue Crew rallied outside the event.

    Chants of “f**k off Nazis” were yelled by anti-fascist groups. Pepper spray was used after a fight broke out between two protesters and rocks were thrown at a police van.

    Speaking about the event in a radio interview on Tuesday morning, Yiannopoulos denied right-wing groups were involved in the protest, and said it was “only the left, showing us who they’re really are”.

    Yiannopoulos said the protests indicated that Australia has “a serious problem with free speech”.

    “It suggests something about a deeper malaise in the state. It doesn’t speak highly of the country,” he told 2GB.”

    http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/milo-yiannopoulos-protesters-clash-outside-controversial-rightwing-speakers-melbourne-event/news-story/b54a6717087865eb001dbd6165c61a50

  41. Count Potato

    “The world is relying on a flawed psychological test to fight racism”

    https://qz.com/1144504/the-world-is-relying-on-a-flawed-psychological-test-to-fight-racism/

    1. They’re not fighting racism.

      1. Hyperion

        Wut? I mean racism and capitalism are the same thing, right?

    2. Heroic Mulatto

      I knew it was IAT before I even followed the link. IAT is basically at the level of phrenology.

      1. trshmnstr

        Ah yes, I got to take that one in undergrad. What a load of bullshit.

    3. Bob

      Imagine a test the measures your implicit bias against chocolate ice cream. You say you really like it, but the test deep down you actually don’t.

      It seems to me the only way to have a valid test would be to somehow measure whether people who the test says don’t like ice cream actuall do. But for that you would need the ability to read minds.

      How do they know the test measures what they claim?

  42. Count Potato

    “FBI agent dismissed from Mueller probe changed Comey’s description of Clinton to ‘extremely careless’

    Washington (CNN)A former top counterintelligence expert at the FBI, now at the center of a political uproar for exchanging private messages that appeared to mock President Donald Trump, changed a key phrase in former FBI Director James Comey’s description of how former secretary of state Hillary Clinton handled classified information, according to US officials familiar with the matter.
    Electronic records show Peter Strzok, who led the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server as the No. 2 official in the counterintelligence division, changed Comey’s earlier draft language describing Clinton’s actions as “grossly negligent” to “extremely careless,” the source said. ”

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/04/politics/peter-strzok-james-comey/index.html

    TW: CNN, Autoplay

    1. Brochettaward

      If you are going to make a public statement exonerating someone, you probably shouldn’t use the exact language from the statute they violated to describe their behavior. That’s perhaps the most humorous aspect of Comey’s rough draft. These people just aren’t smart.

      This guy didn’t get dismissed just for some text messages to his mistress mocking Trump. Mockery of Trump is probably pretty common by the Mueller team. The real reasons why are just going to trickle out, and Mueller and the FBI were trying to hide this for months.

    2. Gilmore

      who led the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server as the No. 2 official in the counterintelligence division, changed Comey’s earlier draft language describing Clinton’s actions as “grossly negligent” to “extremely careless,” the source said. ”

      They still have the hubris to call it an “investigation”, while admitting that the people running it were mainly concerned with covering her tracks.

  43. mexican sharpshooter

    So… my sister turns 18 soon and asked me for a knife since she will be attending college. Don’t worry its the same college I attended and she’s studying to be a physical therapist, so she may turn out okay. Plus this is meant as a tool for opening mail, packaging other co-eds–you know a knife. I prefer fixed blades and typically have one of these on hand since a fixed blade is quicker, slimmer and usually stronger in design than a folder (assuming steel is equivalent). That and I can hide it under professional attire.

    She asked for a folder, any suggestions? I like Esse so I am leaning towards the Avispa.

    1. mexican sharpshooter

      Link to the Avispa

      1. Suthenboy

        Don’t spend a lot of money. She will either lose it or it will be stolen in a month.

        I carry a three bladed Old Timer with a 1.5″ blade. Old Timer is good steel. They are ten bucks when I need a replacement. Maybe for her one with a fixed blade so she doesnt close it on her finger trying to open one of those cussed fucking plastic armored safes they tend to package all retail items in these days. A sheep’s foot is best.

    2. DOOMco

      This one’s been in my cart for a while, but I don’t have a carry knife yet
      I have a swiss army one that stays in my pocket on most days.

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        From the description:

        This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.

        Fucking really, CA?

        Same designer, if I am not mistaken. Lock up is identical to the Esse. The shape might be a better suited for stabbing rather than bushcraft–thank you!

        1. Gustave Lytton

          There’s a Prop 65 disclosure brochure at the front desk of one of the SFO Hiltons. Because the hotel may contain chemicals known blah blah blah…

    3. Heroic Mulatto

      My wife carries a folding karambit.

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        Thank you. I’m going to have to pass since I know the cops in that town all too well.

        1. commodious spittoon

          What about collapsing batons? Honest question, and maybe naive. I think I’d rather that than a knife for defense.

          1. Heroic Mulatto

            While a collapsing baton can break bone if used right, why would you bring a stick to a knife fight?

          2. commodious spittoon

            I like the idea of having some range on my attacker, but then, like I said, maybe that’s naive. There’s no swinging room when you’re locked up in a bear hug and thrown to the ground.

            I’m also really leery about breaking skin. Pummeling and breaking bones, sure, especially if I’m not busting my knuckles in the process. But stabbing someone, that’s disquieting. Again, I’m being naive.

            That said, whatever a young woman decides to do to protect herself, I’m all about it. All’s fair in love and putting the perpetrator down.

          3. The Last American Hero

            Because he rolled up a Cleric, of course.

          4. Heroic Mulatto

            True. But we all don’t have Cure Light Wounds to save our asses.

          5. Suthenboy

            Or a knife to a gun fight?

          6. mexican sharpshooter

            Likely legal, but a knife you can pass off as a “tool” with campus rent-a-cops.

          7. Lackadaisical

            I couldn’t convince the ones at my alma mater that I was allowed to walk around barefoot outside.

            Good luck to her.

          1. Suthenboy

            Meh. Go all out. I have one of these:

            http://www.budk.com/Trench-Knife-WWI-1918-Replica-1088

            Only mine is an original. My great uncle used it. Oddly the blade keeps rusting and I cant seem to make it stop.

            *my uncle claimed he killed three krauts with it.

          2. mexican sharpshooter

            Well, she is a bit of a hipster…

    4. Gustave Lytton

      My EDC carry, in the sheepsfoot blade. Mostly I use it for cutting open boxes. Benchmade makes good knives, imo, and they offer a pretty cheap mail-in sharpening service, along with replacing the pocket clip (stock painted ones suck, Benchmade will replace it with a black oxide one on request or when you send it in for sharpening). They’ve also replaced the blade for a reasonable price when I snapped the tip off using it as a screwdriver on an immoveable screwhead.

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        Oddly enough, I’ve had bad luck with Benchmade as a utility knife. I wasn’t even that hard on it.

    5. B.P.

      “Plus this is meant as a tool for opening mail, packaging other co-eds–”

      She’s using it to open other co-eds? When you’re a Jet you’re a Jet all the way, I guess. I carry one of these:

      https://www.amazon.com/Kershaw-1555TI-Carbo-Nitride-4-Position-Deep-Carry/dp/B0074FI28Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512431401&sr=8-1&keywords=kershaw+hinderer

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        Figure of speech. Its likely going to be a weapon.

    6. R C Dean

      Absolutely a folder – she’ll carry it more, and is less likely to get hassled.

      Are there any blade length regulations where she is going?

      A nice package deal would be a few training sessions for her in how to use the damn thing to cut somebody, up if they need cutting. Knife fighting is not intuitive.

      Mrs Dean carries a machete in her car, in the pocket behind the passenger seat. She tells me she’s reached for it a couple times, but never had to actually pull it. I will not be surprised if she calls one day and asks me if any of the holes I’ve dug in the desert are still available.

      1. Lachowsky

        Mrs. Lachowsky carries a baseball bat in the Jeep. I have a couple machetes. Maybe I should put one back there too.

        1. Gustave Lytton

          I keep a tire thumper accesible under the seat of my work truck. For checking tire pressure only, of course.

      2. mexican sharpshooter

        Blade length? Unless Flagstaff went full-on Boulder the laws of the great state of AZ apply. So…no.

      3. mexican sharpshooter

        Also, I know a pretty good martial arts instructor up there. So she’ll be okay on the training front

      4. Suthenboy

        What’s wrong with y’all? Machete? Baseball bat?

        My wife carries this: https://www.smith-wesson.com/firearms/performance-center-model-642-enhanced-action

        She is pretty handy with it too.

        1. Lachowsky

          My wife is not comfortable carrying a piece. Why? I can’t figure it out. She can shoot. she hunts with me. She just doesn’t want to carry. Her choice I reckon. I can’t talk her into it.

          1. Suthenboy

            I need to have a talk with your wife.

      5. creech

        I had a British enfield bayonet under the dashboard in my ’64 1/2 Mustang. Double asshole: I sold the convertible for only $400 and was so excited to get rid of it (for a ’70 Malibu convertible) that I forgot to take the bayonet with me.

    7. Pan Zagloba

      Maybe a ballistic knife? Something Spetsnaz-approved, with endless potential for hilarity.

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        Yikes. I’m going to lean more towards the Griptillian.

    8. But Enough About Me

      this little number. Or a Swiss Army knife, if I feel I’m gonna need a small crop of tools.

      1. But Enough About Me

        For some weird reason, the first part of my above post got truncated. ???

    9. Sean

      Kershaw Blur. It’s an assisted opening folder.
      Multiple styles of blades, metals, colors. There is something for everyone, plus it’s affordable.

  44. Count Potato

    “Brown University will allow students to “self-identify” as persons of color, even if they are white, and provide them with equal treatment and benefits.”

    https://www.dangerous.com/37203/brown-universitys-transracial-policy-officially-makes-it-okay-to-be-white/

    1. commodious spittoon

      IOW they expect “students of color” to police their policy.

    2. Heroic Mulatto

      Well, it is Brown University.

      Jus’ sayin’

    3. Gives new meaning to “You can become anything when you grow up.”

    4. kbolino

      Was there ever any penalty for falsely identifying yourself before? Besides social approbation, that is.

  45. Count Potato

    “This sexy Santa outfit truly is the stuff of nightmares”

    http://metro.co.uk/2017/12/04/this-sexy-santa-outfit-truly-is-the-stuff-of-nightmares-7130029/#mv-b

    What?

    1. Left Hand of Radar

      All I have are nightmares. None of them ever looked like that.

    2. Stinky Wizzleteats

      Huma Abedin is looking pretty good these days.

      1. AlmightyJB

        Well she likes Weiner

      2. Playa Manhattan

        If you happen to see her, you could probably lead her into your yard with a carrot and sugar cube.

  46. Ed Wuncler

    Honest question guys. What in the fuck is a Left Libertarian? I’m not trying to be sarcastic but just searching for answer. In my eyes, it’s sort of an oxymoron because a lot of the Left Libertarians advocate for the same stuff that socialists want but oddly enough sort of understand the crushing power of government. I have to wonder how they aren’t able to reconcile these two opposing thought processes.

    1. trshmnstr

      social leftists, but without the totalitarian fetish. See Reason.com, Cato, etc.

      The only difference between them and progs is the means for achieving the ends.

      1. Pan Zagloba

        They’d balk at Maxims over open pits, unlike actual socialists.

        Sounds like a small thing, but it really isn’t, especially vis-a-vis one’s position relative to the Maxim…

      2. Juvenile Bluster

        What does “social leftist” mean in this scenario?

        My view on social issues is “I don’t care what you do, so long as you don’t hurt anyone who isn’t consenting (or is incapable of consenting) to whatever it is that you’re doing”. Does that count as being socially left? Because it sure as hell ain’t socially conservative.

        1. trshmnstr

          IMO, there’s a difference between “live and let live” and accepting the SJW claptrap lock, stock and barrel. I see a core fundamental incompatibility between “wokeness” and liberty. Social conservatives and social leftists are inherently more authoritarian than those of us in the “pure” libertarian camp.

    2. straffinrun

      They believe more aggression is necessary at times to lessen overall aggression. Shit like minimum basic income. If one group is oppressed, they think all groups should be oppressed in the same manner so that everybody will then fight the oppression together. Or something like that.

    3. AlmightyJB

      “What in the fuck is a Left Libertarian?”

      A prog blogger who wants to eventually write for a mainstream publication but has to start out somewhere so they’re holding their nose while they slum with shitlords.

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yep.

    4. Lachowsky

      I’d call it someone who wants the social policies of the left, a little bit of a welfare state, but understands economics enough to know that the government needs to be doing way less interference in the economy. A left libertarian wants redistribution, but not regulation. They want social justice through public shaming and blacklisting but not through law.

    5. DOOMco

      I used to think it was people that were more in line with the social liberalism. Pot should be legal, gay marriage, that kind of stuff.
      But I’m not sure anymore. I am a fan of all of that, but once I got the economics (I came from the left, probably), I realized that’s all from there.
      At this point, I think it’s the “light hand of government can be good.” like forced gay marriage cakes, and welfare/saftey net stuff being a role that government can and should have. Maybe rolled back.
      I do think they are libertarians for the most part.

      some might be cultural, too. “none of that guns or nascar stuff for me, thanks.” I’m grouping people at that point, which I don’t like to do. #notallliberaltarians

    6. Raven Nation

      Here’s an interesting self-description: http://liberalaw.blogspot.com/2008/12/framing-left-libertarianism-first-pass.html

      The left libertarian “can point out that market anarchism does not, cannot, mean maintaining the current system of property relations, untouched, in the absence of state power–not only because of disagreements about property rules (as between Lockeans and mutualists) but also because of the injustice that vitiates so many existing property titles (as to the latifundia of Latin America). And she can stress, as to the right libertarian, that adhering to Leonard Read’s dictum to limit one’s actions to “anything that’s peaceful” need not mean abandoning the right to subject the behavior of those who use their property in morally objectionable ways to incisive critique or the capacity to exert significant influence on that behavior.”

      I find the argument about injustice in many existing property claims to be insightful

      *Disclaimer, I’m not a LL.

      1. Brochettaward

        And she can stress…

        I think we have the real answer right here.

      2. Suthenboy

        Clap-trap. In reality that would look just like the old USSR.

    7. Raven Nation

      Somewhat different take: http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2012/11/the-distinctiveness-of-left-libertarianism/

      On the economic side, from what I’ve read, most left libertarians argue that existing capital/wealth distribution stems from illegitimate use of the state and therefore wealth distribution can be justified. The first link I posted argued that such distribution should be forced by shaming, shunning, etc. The second was a little more vague but seemed to hint at state power. So the second interpretation would seem to argue for capture of the state to extract justice before minimizing the state. IOW, the first link is more distinctive (IMO).

      1. Chipwooder

        The author lists 16 points on which the supposed left-libertarian has common cause with leftists and four on which he shares common cause with libertarians. I think that’s provides a pretty accurate picture of where their priorities lie.

    8. Rick C-137

      I’ve known a few left libertarians, besides what is mentioned here, there are some legitimately consistent ones, whose goals is equality without coercion, basically voluntary communism and the like.

      A consistent LL will reject state authority but also be skeptical about capital, they’re in my experience the hippies of old in that regard. While I think these days a lot of progs are trying to skin libertarian thought and use the LL title to do so, there are some older ones who aren’t so bad (doesn’t mean I don’t mock them but they can have common ground with us)

      1. Hyperion

        There’s no such thing as voluntary socialism. Unless you are talking about at the family level. Anything above that level involves force. These people are fucking delusional.

        1. trshmnstr

          Voluntary socialism has a different name… capitalism.

        2. Rick C-137

          I mean, I’m not defending them, just passing along my personal experience. The older LLs are generally as suspicious of gov’t as we are, it the new breed bernie bro, danketarians who are progs in gadsen clothing.

          1. Hyperion

            I can accept that there are some of those and just assume they’re libertarians who are economically illiterate. Danketarians, however, are full on Marxists.

          2. Hyperion

            LOL, I remember this now.

          3. Rhywun

            Wut? – Oh, I get it!

          4. Rick C-137

            yeah, fuck the dankys, they’re just trots and tankies fighting for the corpse of the USSRs rep

          5. kbolino

            When they aren’t fighting each other, anyway. Watching the Stalinists and Trotskyites go after each can be fun. From a distance, anyway.

        3. kbolino

          You can scale above the family level, but only so far. Think “communal farms” and the like. You get up to a few dozen, or couple hundred, people, and it starts to get difficult to keep the group together. Voluntary communes rely on social rewards and punishments rather than the heavy(-er) hand of the state. At the end of the day, everybody is free to leave* and they only stay because they want, or feel compelled by social pressure, to.

          * = Excluding certain noteworthy exceptions, like Jonestown

          1. trshmnstr

            At the end of the day, everybody is free to leave* and they only stay because they want, or feel compelled by social pressure, to.

            Or have no viable alternatives, like at Plymouth Colony.

          2. Lachowsky

            https://mises.org/library/communal-socialist

            If you ever have 25 minutes to spare, I’d recommend this. Lefevre goes over all the communes attempts of the last couple hundred years and lists why they failed.

            If mEmory serves me correctly, there is one communes that still functions that has long history. That communes is extremely religious though.

      2. DOOMco

        basically voluntary communism and the like.
        …they’re in my experience the hippies of old

        This seems spot on.

      3. Suthenboy

        “voluntary communism”

        That genuinely made me laugh. Of course it is voluntary. You can volunteer or choose to be shot in the head. See? Voluntary.

    9. Hyperion

      “Honest question guys. What in the fuck is a Left Libertarian?”

      A confused prog. There’s nothing else to know.

      1. kbolino

        I have known old-school liberals who are as skeptical of the government as they are big businesses (and sometimes, big unions–they like the small ones). But old-school isn’t just meant to evoke a throwback mentality; they are also generally on the older side. The younger generation are more Chomsky than hippie.

    10. Suthenboy

      “What in the fuck is a Left Libertarian?”

      Someone who doesnt believe in self ownership, i.e. not a libertarian. Assholes who wont admit they are assholes.

    11. Gilmore

      e

      What in the fuck is a Left Libertarian?

      socialists who think there’s such a thing as socialism w/o the iron fist of authority

      i don’t deny there are plenty of examples purely-voluntary, self-sustaining ‘communities’ (communes basically) that could be described as successful examples of a left-libertarian model. its just that one you present them with the point that *not everyone will choose that*, their ideas fall apart more or less.

      1. Lachowsky

        https://mises.org/library/communal-socialist

        I just posted this at Kbolino, but it was before I read your comment. Highly recommended if you have 20 minutes to spare sometime. Lefevre does a hell of job explaining communal programs and why they failed. He also talks about one or two successful ones. If I recollection right, the only ones that were successful were highly religious.

        1. Gilmore

          The Twin Oaks commune has been in operation for …. a while. But it is probably closer to a co-op / HOA at this point than “commune”.

  47. Brochettaward

    In the theme of Hollywood sexual predator panic, and MNF, Joe Namath: Predator or not?

    1. Juvenile Bluster

      No, because that led to the Kissing Suzy Kolber blog, which was awesome (and featured Drew Magary before he went to Deadspin and became an unrelenting asshole)

      1. Chipwooder

        Magary’s Fun With Peter King at KSK was fantastic. Hard to remember now that he used to be really funny.

    1. Raven Nation

      Got a higher % of the popular vote than a certain, recent Libertarian Party candidate.

    2. AlmightyJB

      Well I hear we’re all going to die once that tax plan goes through.

    3. Hyperion

      So, most people I hear about dying now are in their 90s. My parents are in their 80s. People are living longer today, but I’m not sure there’s been much quality added in the later years. So of course there is actually a staggering cost for keeping people alive this long. We have the wrong approach to medicine. The only moral approach is to change the focus to treating aging instead of treating aging related diseases. The key is to keep people healthy as long as possible. Our country does not use that approach. Maybe not enough money to be made, and of course the luddites and Malthusians are always among us.

      1. Tulip

        This is the focus on preventive medicine and we can bend the cost curve canard. There were studies from Europe (single payer) that have tried. It doesn’t save money – dying slowly is more expensive than dying fast. Now, there are other reasons to focus on prevention – quality of life, but saving money isn’t a reason.

    1. Invitation to the holiday orgy?

    2. Mythical Libertarian Woman

      This is the only Christmas card I’ve gotten so far and it does not bode well.

      1. Rhywun

        Heh me too.

    3. Festus

      Did you at least send an “IA IA” in response?

    4. I’m horrified by that thumb, too.

      1. Mythical Libertarian Woman

        Rude

        1. Playa Manhattan

          Ted doesn’t like women.

    5. Juvenile Bluster

      I just got home and that same card was waiting for me as well.

      I thought I was special. 🙁

    6. Suthenboy

      The last time I donated I included a note that said “Don’t send me a bunch of shit in the mail. Send it to someone else.”
      I am pretty sure they took me off of the mailing list. I dont think they liked me very much. Just breaks my heart.

      1. Rhywun

        I really need to do that. Probably 2/3 of my mail is junk from their mailing list. Prolly way too late.

    7. whiz

      I got that too (I think; I tossed it without opening).

  48. Festus

    OT – a skiff of snow and I am listening to sirens for the fucking sixth time today. I live 1/2 a mile from the highway. It’s central BC, people. You can’t treat the thoroughfare like it’s a goddamned video game. Christ, what a bunch of assholes…

    1. We had fog today that never lifted. It looked all day as if it were snowing but it wasn’t.

      It’s weird around here for the fog not to burn off in the morning.

      1. Festus

        We’re in a river valley and sometimes get inversions that last for weeks. Mirkwood.

      2. Hyperion

        You don’t live in Maine, do you? If so, it’s time to start worrying.

        1. Festus

          Supermarket seems a safe bet.

          1. Rhywun

            And don’t overdo it with the ammunition if you’re carrying.

        2. Catskill Mountains.

        3. dbleagle

          America’s tropical outpost is at our high for the day-81 with an expected low of 71. Tomorrow my coworkers will be complaining about the cold.

          My former home in Wyoming is 16 with a low of 5 expected tonight. I sometimes miss the bracing winter temps, but then I go for a swim.

          1. Hyperion

            It’s remained pretty mild here so far. A couple of days ago, it was near 75. Yesterday was mid/upper 50s but felt much warmer with all the sun and no wind. Today was 50s also, but frosty this morning and felt a little more chilly. I suspect that from here on out rest of winter, it’s not going to be quite that warm. I hate winter.

          2. I don’t mind winter, as long as we get snow instead of sleet and freezing rain.

          3. Hyperion

            And there’s no controlling that stuff once the temp gets below 40 F. Fuck winter, I hate it, I hate it double worse when I have to drive in it.

  49. Some nostalgia. Brings back memories of nitrous.

      1. Festus

        I liked them. There, I’ve said it again….

        1. AlmightyJB

          I like STP

  50. Festus

    Snoozin’ time… Have to work tonight but another set of sirens has set my anger-meter to the red. Seven accidents in five hours. I swear if someone runs into me tonight I will fuck them up.

  51. Brochettaward

    CNN is back pushing the Trump is a sexual assaulter angle based on the reporter who said he forcibly attempted to kiss her.

    1. Stinky Wizzleteats

      It’s like They coordinated with Billy Bush and the NYT. Imagine that and, yes, they’re going to push the sexual assault angle once again apparently.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/03/opinion/billy-bush-trump-access-hollywood-tape.html

    2. Suthenboy

      How is it possible these people have any credibility at all? I see CNN and the word ‘liar’ immediately pops in my head.

      1. Hyperion

        They don’t among sane people.

      2. trshmnstr

        There are large swaths of people out there that are conditioned to thoughtlessly accept the agenda, priorities, and conclusions that are force fed to them through the boob tube. Issues only matter if they were on the Today show or on 60 minutes. The “right” solution is the one suggested by the guest on the nightly news. Functional idiots with no critical thinking skills and no sense of shame in being idiots.

        1. Hyperion

          They also believe that agreeing with all their brainless sheep facebook friends must somehow make them right. Maybe someday they will see the light and realize that agreeing with other clueless idiots does not make one right. Nah, not happening.

  52. Sean

    I’m making lunch for the rest of the week. I sliced up some andouille sausage and browned it in a skillet adding creole seasoning. I added some sliced zucchini and cooked a couple more minutes. I then added a jar of Trader Joes three cheese marina sauce and a sliced up reaper pepper. Now simmering for 30 minutes.

    Gonna be some spicy goodness.

    1. SimonD

      Excuse me for a minute, I need to mop the drool off my keyboard before it hurts the computer.

      (it’s a shame I can’t have all the salt; andouille is one of the few things I really miss)

    2. Suthenboy

      I went on a camping trip when I was a teenager. On the trip to the site the boat tipped and we lost our ice chest full of food. the only thing we managed to save was some zucchini. For three days all I had to eat was zucchini with sugar on it.

      It sounds pretty good, unless you’re me.

      1. Suthenboy

        Oh, and we got desperate and tried black clams. Trust me when I tell you that there is absolutely no way to make those things palatable. I told a coonass friend about that years later and he laughed his ass off.

        “Don’t you think if those were edible we would be eating them? Everyone knows you cant eat that shit.”

        https://www.fws.gov/natchitoches/freshwater_mussels.html

      2. Rhywun

        That sounds horrible to me.

        1. Suthenboy

          We had beer. Lots of beer.

          1. Rhywun

            Ah. Carry on.

          2. Festus

            One fishing trip when I was a young feller involved the food cooler being left in the driveway and nobody realizing until hours and two hundred clicks of gravel road later. We had youth, beer, whiskey, weed,lotsa smokes and cocaine and ate nothing but trout for three days. We all looked pretty haggard by the time we made it back to town. I wouldn’t want to repeat the experience but I can look back on it fondly.

      3. Hyperion

        I remember once when I was 10 and I went to conservation camp, for a week. The old guy driving the bus was drunk as fuck and driving about 90 mph over hills and curvy roads. When some of the kids started getting worried and speaking up, he threatened to pull the bus over and kill all of us. No, I’m not making that up. It was terrifying. Nothing happened to the guy as far as I know, lol. But I managed to call my parents after ( there were no cell phones then) and after staying out my week, they came and picked me up, about 60 miles away.

      4. Sean

        I just took it off the stove top. I added some fresh grated parmesan cheese to thicken the sauce. You wouldn’t even taste the zucchini. It’s spicy and full of sausage.

        1. Hyperion

          We make spaghetti out of zucchini and just add the usual marinara, etc.

        2. Suthenboy

          You might have me convinced. That does sound good.

    3. Tulip

      Plain marinara and you’ve got something good.

  53. Rhywun

    Fucking hell I just went to Github (major host of programming source code) and they’re pushing Net Neutrality hard. Goddammit.

    1. trshmnstr

      Politics uber alles

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      A significant percentage of doctors and almost all professional medical organizations lobbied hard for the ACA. I don’t see why tech would be exempt from the same effect

      1. Rhywun

        Tech doesn’t have a lefty bias in my experience but tech organizations… yeah I can see that. I can only surmise that they’re counting on the masses being entirely ignorant of what NN actually means.

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          My interactions with programmers suggests that the majority of them are in favor of NN, even if they are otherwise individualistic.

          1. Hyperion

            I’d bet $1000 dollars right now that if you ask 100 programmers about NN, at least 90 of them will not even know what it is. That’s an improvement of about 10% over the general population.

        2. Hyperion

          I’ve worked in tech for 21 years. Tech people are overwhelmingly conservative or libertarian. There are a few I’ve met, very few who are progs. The reason is obviously that tech people are very logical oriented in their thinking. There’s no room for feelz.

          1. trshmnstr

            IME, there’s a huge disconnect between silicon valley tech (you can toss in Seattle, too) and the rest of the country. Tech around the country is very conservative/libertarian. Tech in SV is all aboard the prog train.

          2. Hyperion

            Of course.

          3. Hyperion

            To put that in perspective, all my clients right now are in MD. A very blue state. But almost every tech person I know here, and I know a lot, are Republican with a light smattering of libertarians or independents who are anti-tax, free trade, etc. There are the few signalers, but none that actually believe their own bullshit.

          4. Rhywun

            Yeah, even here in NYC I see more libertarian than prog tendencies among my colleagues.

            It’s a shame how successful the NN obfuscation-campaign has been.

    1. hayeksplosives

      Tee hee. Those 9th circuit guys are loons.

      My husband read the headline to me as I was in the shower, and that only two Supremes dissented. I said “Ginsburg and Sotomayer?” Yup. So predictable.

      1. Hyperion

        And Ginsburg is due to keel over any minute now, sure of it. Dream scenario, that happens and Kennedy retires. All this winning is getting old, NOT!

        1. trshmnstr

          United States Supreme Court Justice Willett has a good ring to it.

          1. Hyperion

            Damn straight. And I think the Trump can make it happen.

  54. Hyperion

    NEEDZ MOAR BIG BROTHER

    Not a waste of money at all, I can’t see what could possibly go wrong.

    1. Rhywun

      Remember the promise of freedom that these platforms were gonna bring? Arab Spring! Masses demanding freedom in China!

      Ah, simpler times.

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      The advertisers are driving this, not the government, even if the politicians would try to make you think otherwise.

    3. Suthenboy

      So the death of the You Tube. It was nice while it lasted.
      Someone else will fill the niche.

      1. Suthenboy

        It does occur to me that the porn people have existing infrastructure to step right in when YouTube dies and there is money to be made.

    4. Gilmore

      Wojcicki claimed that her company had developed “computer-learning” technology to identify extremist videos, and that it could also be used to identify content that risked children’s safety.

      “We will continue the growth of our teams, with the goal of bringing the total number of people across Google working to address content that might violate our policies to over 10,000 in 2018.”

      “We wrote magical lines of code that will just figure this shit out on its own”
      “Also, we’re going to assign massive numbers of staff to deal with it”.
      “No one should reflect on the contradiction inherent in those 2 claims”
      “Also, when you discover that in the future, despite our 10,000 live person’s assigned to ‘managing content’, that you can’t get a human being to actually explain why your shit got banned? don’t feel bad: we really just invented the “machine learning” thing as something to use as an excuse for censoring whatever the fuck we want for any reason, and sending you form-letters”

      1. Rhywun

        I hope the alt-right doesn’t turn to cute kittens as a propaganda tool.

  55. Scruffy Nerfherder

    The reaction to the decision to reduce the size of the federal land grabs is predictable and funny. I can’t copy them on my tablet but check them out for yourselves. It’s the end of the world.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/us/trump-bears-ears.html

    1. Akira

      I’m not sure if I’m quite into “Trump 2020” territory yet, but goddamnit, I’m being nudged hard in that direction just by the hyperventilation of the big government lefties who I hate so much.

      1. Suthenboy

        Good lord man, what would it take?

      2. hayeksplosives

        I took a photo of my upper left corner of my absentee ballot where the prez candidates were listed, with a glass of whiskey next to it.

        I took a swig, ticked the Trump box, and have enjoyed sweet leftist tears ever since. The first time was tough, but I am willing to double down if things continue this way.

    2. Suthenboy

      This isnt even the 25th of December. Every day is like Christmas with this guy. That is long overdue.

    3. Gilmore

      I’m not clicking that.

      Why? Because i don’t like the sound of “Trump bears ears”. Also, NYT. That can’t be anything good.

      1. trshmnstr

        NYT;DR

  56. hayeksplosives

    Question for you sports dudes:

    I am putting a gift under the tree at work for Toys for Tots. I know they have the most trouble finding gifts for teenage boys. I happen to have a brand new fancy tactical backpack and wanted to stuff it with some school supplies but also a football for sure.

    Now, footballs come in many sizes. What is the right size for fun for a typical teenager, one who probably isn’t a huge pro-bound player? Youth? Official (I hear they are pretty hard to control for avg guys), or Junior?

    Or should I go basketball? Or baseball glove and ball? I am willing to hear any ideas from you dads and former teens out there!

    1. trshmnstr

      What is the right size for fun for a typical teenager, one who probably isn’t a huge pro-bound player? Youth? Official (I hear they are pretty hard to control for avg guys), or Junior?

      Official college size. Smaller than an NFL ball, but something you can “grow into.”

      1. hayeksplosives

        Thanks. I will check Dick’s Sporting Equipment. I think they have everything on the shelves.

        1. DOOMco

          I’d say look for a kid in the store to judge it against, but with the way America is today I don’t want you in prison.

          1. trshmnstr

            “Hey kid, can you model something for me? Here, grab my balls and tuck them in your armpits.”

          2. hayeksplosives

            That…is funny but a little too plausible a scenario.

            Also, I love your newish avatar, trashy.

        2. Lachowsky

          A football is great, but don’t buy it from dicks. Dicks pissed me off after sandyhook. The pulled all their MSRs off the shelf to appease the gun grabbers. You may not care about this, but I do. I haven’t stepped foot inside a dicks since.

          1. Heroic Mulatto

            What did you expect with a name like that?

    2. Rhywun

      You could corrupt him with soccer ball, sheesh.
      Or a hockey puck.

      1. “soccer ball”

        Seconded.

        1. hayeksplosives

          Thought of that. Probably good for the hispanic and Somali families here, and doesn’t require much of a special field or equipment.

          But it’s freaking SOCCER. The commie game of commies.

          1. Rhywun

            At least marker it on the outside with “America Fuck Yeah!” so some commie/introvert kid doesn’t get stuck with a football.

          2. hayeksplosives

            Ya know, I am now inclined to get a soccer ball and put it plain under the tree for the Marines to distribute as needed (Nominally anyway the Marines are the Toys for Tots org), and then stuff the college-size football into the backpack.

            The people who know the target gift receivers can redistribute as they see fit; I will never know.

            Any other stuff teen boys want? Watches, snow hats (Minnesota here, and it is snowing today)…?

          3. Rhywun

            I am probably not the right person to ask about that, unless you want your target teen curled in a corner reading a book.

          4. Heroic Mulatto

            Any other stuff teen boys want?

            Pornography.

          5. Chipwooder

            “But it’s freaking SOCCER. The commie game of commies.”

            *standing ovation*

      2. peachy rex

        Can we compromise with a rugby ball?

        1. hayeksplosives

          The problem there would be getting others who know what rugby is!

    3. DOOMco

      I have long fingers, but even as a younger teen my group used the Youth. Before I could throw it that well, I just played receiver.

    4. Tulip

      Not an answer for you, but I like to search for the hot toy of the year and just get several of those for toys for tots or giving tree or whatever. Whatever all the kids want, I’m sure those kids want too. I am typically an off-brand shopper except for these gifts – then it is always name brand, always what’s hot.

      1. hayeksplosives

        Good idea!

        I worked a friend’s mom’s funeral at church Saturday and unexpectedly received $50 for my efforts. It would be rude to refuse and return to the givers, so I am going to pass it on in gifts to the kids.

        I’ll probably head to Walmart or Target and try to maximize my cash, plus what i already budgeted. My stepkids are grown and gone, so now random kids get the largesse!

    1. trshmnstr

      I broke up with my long-time boyfriend for the fourth time yesterday. He’s a manipulator and a drunk and a narcissist but also fun and charming. . .

      Honestly, I’d advise you to move.

      Dafuq?? Please tell me this is satire.

      1. juris imprudent

        It would almost make more sense for her to say “the food was delicious, you just don’t even notice the salmonella; can’t wait to eat there again”.

        1. trshmnstr

          Seriously!

          Idiotic stuff like this makes me want to do a “Trashy’s advice” column alongside ZARDOZ’s weekly call to cleanse all brutals.

      2. hayeksplosives

        Ugh. I pretty much had a therapy session last night like this over FB messenger of all things. One of my young female friends (30 ish) who recently finalized her divorce from an abusive alcoholic husband, now has a sweet respectful neighbor interested in her, but an ex-boyfriend (also a mutual friend and church member to me and my husband, just to maximize the awkwardness) keeps persuading her back into bed. No plans for a future, but it’s a real habit for them now.

        She knows she should turn the (also irresponsible drinker) ex boyfriend away and move on, but says she “has feelings” for him. I had to explain to her that, duh, that’s how humans (and some other critters) are programmed–The more often you mate and share the endorphins and emotions and fun, the more bonded you become whether you planned to or not. I told her that the main reason why God says to keep sex within marriage is to keep people from screwing up their lives and bonding to the wrong people; that should be saved for the life mate. She had never heard that perspective, just assumed God didn’t want us to have any fun.

        You non believers (whom I love BTW!) can make fun of me, but I have my place as the church Libertarian. I do get people confessing to me and seeking advice that won’t go to anyone else. I will bear the burden happily.

        I proposed a home bible study called “Matthew and Margaritas” but got shot down. Sigh.

        1. trshmnstr

          I proposed a home bible study called “Matthew and Margaritas” but got shot down. Sigh.

          Similarly, my “Booze and ‘Brews” got shot down.

          (Not really, my Bible study group has been known to meet at local breweries)

          What you describe is an all-too-common pattern. The man is fully satisfied with the situation, and the woman wants desperately to break from the cycle that she started from a position of hurt.

        2. DOOMco

          but I have my place as the church Libertarian. I do get people confessing to me and seeking advice that won’t go to anyone else

          I like this. I’m not religious, but this is what I want to see from the religious. I’m glad they have someone to go to who isn’t going to think anything of the more questionable actions.

          1. hayeksplosives

            I am very frank about my own screw-ups, which helps break the ice. Plus I guess they see that my husband and I are pretty non-judgy about personal stuff in general.

            I also have the pastor’s permission to have my Glock strapped to my leg in my home-made calf holster as I sit at the back running the sound board. Pretty much the best strategic position in the joint.

          2. Suthenboy

            “my Glock strapped to my leg in my home-made calf holster ”

            Stop that. Just stop that right now. I mean it. I am a married man and you are a married woman.

            *squirms and adjusts …well you know*

            There is fair and then there is not fair. Thats not fair.

          3. Rhywun

            LOL, I knew that would snag someone.

          4. hayeksplosives

            Hah! I just saw that.

            Becalm yourself, good man. We can all admire good stuff without necessarily touching.

            Antidote: I am a crazy cat lady, and I have red hair. That is God’s warning color in Nature.

        3. Rhywun

          I have my place as the church Libertarian

          You’re doing God’s work in some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in America.

        4. Tulip

          Matthew and Margaritas – I love it.

        5. Akira

          You non believers (whom I love BTW!) can make fun of me, but I have my place as the church Libertarian. I do get people confessing to me and seeking advice that won’t go to anyone else. I will bear the burden happily.

          I’m not even religious, and I think one of the worst consequences of feminism has been encouraging women to engage in a sexual free-for-all whether they’re married or not (not that men are totally blameless, but feminism mostly recognizes male sexuality as an evil thing). I know that this view can be taken too far (e.g. adultery laws) but in general, some degree of social reprobation of sex outside a committed relationship is perfectly reasonable. It’s something that can cause harm to both the participant and society in general (STDs and the creation of unwanted children).

          Sex is like rich food, liquor, or anything else enjoyable: it’s an urge that you have to keep under control, or else it will have very bad consequences.

          1. Lachowsky

            The nuclear family is a benefit to society. I’m atheist or maybe agnostic, but I recognize this.

            My main problem with the government when it comes to families comes from the welfare aspect. Unwed mothers are encouraged by our government. There are all kinds of benefits to being an unwed mother. Free school, subsidized housing, subsidized daycare, and more I can’t think of right now.

            I see it all the time where I live. I’d almost bet that of the women I graduated high school with, more are single mothers sucking government tit than married or independent women.

          2. Heroic Mulatto

            The nuclear family is a benefit to society.

            Some people would argue that the nuclear family destroyed society, considering that for 99.99997% of human history the extended family was the norm.

          3. Lachowsky

            Some people would be misrepresenting what I believe the nuclear family is– A mother and a father raising their children.

            Outside help is fine. My father in law spends a lot of time with my boy. He puts him on the bus to school most morning because my wife and I both leave for work before 6am. I have help from my sister and from my mom from time to time. This may constitute a little bit of the village raising the child, but the primary caretakers and the people who have the most influence on my boys life are my wife and I. I believe that is how it should be.

          4. hayeksplosives

            I am hearing your words, Lach. I don’t think Nuclear fam means unconnected to other networks; it means you have the key ingredients of protons, neutrons, and electrons on which all else is built.

          5. Akira

            My main problem with the government when it comes to families comes from the welfare aspect. Unwed mothers are encouraged by our government. There are all kinds of benefits to being an unwed mother. Free school, subsidized housing, subsidized daycare, and more I can’t think of right now.

            Spot on.

            Family connections – whether “nuclear” or extended – are a good thing, save for the cases where a family is abusive or extremely dysfunctional. If you have a family, you have people to lean on. You have career connections. You have people who will help you if you fall on hard times. You have people who will probably raise your kids if you and your spouse die instead of the kids going into foster care.

            It’s not good that “family values” are frequently written off as arcane rules made up by stodgy old religious fanatics who want to prevent people from having fun.

          6. Lachowsky

            You’re right Akira. Family is the basic foundation upon which society is built. I have a large family that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Without my family, I would be half the man I am today. Strong families make strong people. I believe this l.

        6. Playa Manhattan

          What church, if you don’t mind my asking?

          My family is from the midwest, so I was Lutheran, obviously.

          1. hayeksplosives

            Covenant Church, a Swedish immigrant thing in the midwest. I am from Oklahoma (Southern Baptist) and my hubs is from Chicago (Catholic, but in name only. He is a relatively recent ~10 years~ convert to Christianity after many late night debates over coffee with me, lolz). We joined the Covenant Church because our neighborhood one is so nice and small and intimate–really family like, frank and flawed. But scripture based, which is what I care about.

          2. Playa Manhattan

            Haven’t heard of it, but I’m probably a little out of date.

            Grandparents are children of Norwegian immigrants; Madelia, Minnesota, and Stanhope, Iowa. In my experience, even the Lutheran churches in Southern California were mostly Scandinavian. Maybe a few Germans too, but we don’t talk about that.

          3. Rhywun

            There are probably more Lutheran churches and schools in my immediate neighborhood than anywhere else in NYC. Yep, it was all Norwegians about a hundred years ago.

          4. hayeksplosives

            It was initially called “Mission Friends” in the 1800s. Very focused on serving and reaching people who hadn’t heard the gospel. If you ever want to look it up, it’s officially the Evangelical Covenant Church. Some are huge mega-churches, like http://www.Life.church in Edmond oklahoma, and some are little tiny things. It’s a pretty fast-growing denomination, and fairly confederated–I think some are all RAH RAH social justice, some are very immigrant oriented, and some are just plain ol’ traditional Love Your Neighbor.

            It’s cute to me, as a person who went to Sweden for grad school, how very Scandahoovian they are without knowing it. Names in the directory (although much more diverse now). Even our little local church building (we have about 150 people) looks exactly like a Viking ship overturned. Beautiful wooden beams sweeping up to create the “keel”. If you ripped it off the foundation and tarred it, it would float.

          5. hayeksplosives

            My favorite community outreach that my church does: Manna Market. Every Tuesday, volunteers from single digit year youth to 90 year olds get together and present 1 week from expiring fresh bread, produce, and meats that we gather up the previous weekend from local Targets and grocery stores and a truck from Second Harvest Heartland to needy local families.

            In fact, any family can come get free groceries; they have to put their income on a form, but they can come get food no matter what. They get a ticket when they come in at 5:30pm, then wait with snacks and coffee while we draw out of a lotto cage the other half of the ticket so they can get in line and go “shop” for free goodies. A church volunteer must carry their big box, and other volunteers behind the food tables tell them the day’s ration (up to 4 onions, all the bananas you want, two loaves of bread, etc depending on supply).

            Lots of wonderful stories of friendship, many new church members, and life reboots have come out of this ministry. The grocers love it because they don’t have to pay the penalties of throwing away the perishables, and the “customers” love it because it is fresh, not the usual dry good food shelf stuff.

          6. Chipwooder

            We go to a Lutheran church because my wife is almost violently anti-Catholic and I find the Lutheran service to be close enough to Catholic Mass that I don’t get the weird feeling I’ve gotten from more evangelical-type Protestants. Still, almost everyone else has Scandi or Germanic last names – without them knowing anything about my background, I’m pretty sure they implicitly known that I’m not actually one of them because of the Italian name.

          7. Rhywun

            Fun fact: Germans call Lutheran church evangelisch.

          8. peachy rex

            “If you ripped it off the foundation and tarred it, it would float.”

            Don’t tempt us, please – everyone knows libertarians are natural pirates. (I mean, Somalia, right?)

          9. Playa Manhattan

            Interesting history. Scandinavians are all about the stone and glass now.

            See: St Olaf.

        7. Suthenboy

          How could something called Matthew and Margaritas get shot down? This does not compute.

          1. hayeksplosives

            I guess it’s because there are an awful lot of people who have royally screwed up their lives and their loved ones by being alcoholic, then quit alcohol and found God at the same time. So the church is left with the dilemma of fostering fellowship with moderate drinking, vs wanting to make sure not to tempt or torture the recovering alcoholics.

            “Do not cause your brother to stumble.”

            So I don’t do any official announcements of drinking/God-talk socials at my house, but people who know us well know that we will offer them one if they want. The church band members & AV team (Mr ‘Splosives is the Bass player) often hang out for hours with us enjoying tasty beverages.

          2. Rhywun

            I have fond memories of getting sloshed on home-made mulled wine with my exchange brother’s church youth group – at church! – in Germany when I was around 16. I was pretty firmly atheist at the time so it was all a little weird for me… but I like to think it was a positive experience. I’m still not a believer but I gave up the atheist schitck long ago. He is now a priest, or whatever Lutherans call it.

          3. hayeksplosives

            Hah! Sounds like fun.

            Glad you’re not an adamant atheist anymore. I would think that “whatever” is a far more relaxing position than feeling like you have to be On a Rampage all the time. Like turning from Greenpeace to simply being a responsible non-littering person.

          4. Lachowsky

            I agree with hayek explosives, Being a non believer without being militant about it is a virtue.

          5. It’s only a matter of time before you all accept the (((truth))).

          6. Playa Manhattan

            The (((truth))) sounds like a lot of work.

          7. Only 613 mitzvot!

          8. Rhywun

            It’s only a matter of time before you all accept the (((truth))).

            Let’s not get carried away, now.

          9. MikeS

            If I ever do accept the (((truth))) at least I won’t need a bris

          10. Chipwooder

            Q, I thought you guys don’t want converts?

          11. Playa Manhattan

            You will, but it’s ritual.

            But there will be a dude near your dick.

          12. We’ll take converts but only if they show it’s something they really want. The whole thing about discouraging converts is that being a Joo is ostensibly a burden. You have additional responsibilities to be a good person that a Gentile doesn’t.

        8. MikeS

          Maybe “Deuteronomy and Daiquiris” would be better received?

          1. Gin and Genesis.

          2. MikeS

            80 Proof Proverbs

          3. Leviticus and Laphroaig.

          4. MikeS

            Ruth and Rye

          5. hayeksplosives

            Noice! I don’t know that I have much to say about Genesis that would help people now without relating it through the centuries to the New Testament completion of things though.

            Starting on Genesis is tough for some people.

            Gin and Genesis might be “part 2” some day…

          6. hayeksplosives

            It would take a good bit of Laphroaig to get through Leviticus.

            But I could do it…

            Good for an outdoor autumn bonfire chat where it’s already smokey anyway.

          7. MikeS

            Revelation and Rumple Minze.

            Because after a night of doing shots, you’ll wish the world was ending

          8. Akira

            Romans and Rum?

          9. hayeksplosives

            I like it!

            I especially like the Matthew theme because it is a good book, but also because Matthew himself freely admitted what a heel he was before he met Christ, so it’s very relatable.

          10. MikeS

            I wish I lived closer to you. I could get into a bible study like that. I consider myself a Christian, but I find most other practicing Christians to be…not much fun.

          11. hayeksplosives

            Can’t think of a good substitute! A chat forum usually goes way wrong way fast, and a telecon lacks all body language / facial communication.

            Until we figure something good out, we can say hi here, and when you visit MSP, and maybe connect on FB. (My incognito email is my handle @ protonmail.com)

          12. Lachowsky

            Try the catholics mike. I have 2 priests and a deacon in my immediate family. I’m an atheist or something like that and u have have many many fun nights drinking and discussing theology with them.

          13. MikeS

            Thanks ‘splosives. Yeah, for something like bible study, I would think in person is the best way to do it.

          14. MikeS

            Lach, I’ve often thought I’d love to spend a few hours talking religion with a Catholic priest and a bottle of whiskey. But, I’m not sure how to go about initiating that.

          15. Playa Manhattan

            If you want some really great conversation, find a rabbi.

          16. Lachowsky

            Mike, come see me. I can make it happen. I have done it dozens of times in my life. It’s interesting. Father Clem has a lot of good points, he just can’t convince me. I think his overall message is great, I just don’t belive the foundation upon which it stands.

    2. Rhywun

      I saw that episode of Seinfeld.

    3. Akira

      Oh god, I kept reading…

      My long-term boyfriend works as a professional film crew member with long hours and an unpredictable schedule. I’m uncomfortable with the level of intimacy that crew members develop with each other on long shoots. Two years ago, one of his co-workers frequently Snapchatted him and posted flirtatious status updates on social media. He insisted nothing was going on, and we had a huge argument. More recently, we went through a rough patch while he was away for six months. I caught him deleting text messages he was sending to another woman. He says that he was just asking for relationship advice and he only deleted them because I fly off the handle whenever he talks to any other woman. He claimed he also asked a male co-worker the same questions. I don’t think it’s appropriate for him to have very close friendships with women, but I also don’t like him confiding in random male co-workers about our relationship.

      Oh sure, because women NEVER talk to other women about their relationships. It’s not like the “open office” that I work in is full of women gossiping and sharing intimate details about their boyfriends where the entire office can hear them.

      1. Gilmore

        . I don’t think it’s appropriate for him to have very close friendships with women, but I also don’t like him confiding in random male co-workers about our relationship.

        basically, ‘he should never talk to anyone but me’. which totally makes sense and you’re really not some crazy lady with completely contradictory and illogical emotional demands.

        1. Tulip

          If it were a man saying that, Everyone would recognize abuser- isolate from all friends etc. Run man, run.

          1. Rhywun

            Yeah, that’s crazy. Whenever I meet a SO’s friends I just assume they’re spending all their time talking about me when I’m not around. *shrug*

      2. Lachowsky

        “Oh sure, because women NEVER talk to other women about their relationships.”

        Somewhat related.

        When I first started fixing machines for a living, I worked in an electric motor manufacturing facility. There was a department in the plant that was staffed by mostly middle aged women. I was 19 years old and was a damn fine looking young man.

        Those middle aged woman all working in close proximity to one another were the most dirty mouthed sexual harassed one could possibly imagine.

        1. Heroic Mulatto

          And did you get some MILF tail?

          1. Lachowsky

            Come on man, do you really have to ask that? What do you think?

          2. KSuellington

            You are in a safe space here. It’s okay to talk about the horrible abuse that you suffered by these predatory older women.

          3. Playa Manhattan

            Did I just hear someone unzip?

        2. Rhywun

          I was 19 years old and was a damn fine looking young man.

          Which decade was this? Just out of curiosity.

          1. Playa Manhattan

            He’s still pretty young.

          2. Lachowsky

            I was born in 1987. This would have been around 2006

          3. Rhywun

            Oh god, a baby. Every decade after the 90s is the same to me.

          4. MikeS

            #metoo

          5. Lachowsky

            Ya’ll kill me. It is assumed that all millenials are flaming progs. There are some sane people in my generation.

          6. DOOMco

            *waves*

          7. MikeS

            I actually know a lot of good people your age. The whole thing is the “my generation is the last good generation” thing. When I was young, Gen X was supposed to become the ruin of America

          8. MikeS

            Doom seems like a real good guy too, except for pineapple and crunchy.

          9. Rhywun

            When I was young, Gen X was supposed to become the ruin of America

            Except we were all like, whatever, man.

          10. MikeS

            Except we were all like, whatever, man.

            ALOL Yes we were!

          11. DOOMco

            I don’t think I ever actually sided on the peanut butter debacle of the fall.

          12. Lachowsky

            When the hyroglyphs were first interpreted by modern era europeans, the first thing they found on the walls of Ramses the second’s tomb was the written word. The written word said, “my country will never survive my son’s generation.”

          13. MikeS

            My mistake, Doom. I thought you came down on the obviously incorrect side of crunchy.

          14. CPRM

            I love crunchy pineapple deep thin pizza!

          15. Lachowsky

            Just in case you were wondering, I still consider myself a https://youtu.be/grt_iG8kzrs albeit married with children and unavailable

        3. Chipwooder

          I can relate a bit to that. Back when I was a youngster, Time-Life books had their headquarters near here. I took a summer job there once where they hired a bunch of college kids and had you work a bit in a bunch of different roles. For several weeks I was in the payment processing section doing data entry, a big room with a whole lot of terminals in it. No dividers between the terminals at all, so there was a lot of chatter all day long to break up the monotony of a very dull job. It was 20 or so years ago, so maybe my memory is a bit off , but I’m pretty sure the entire staff in there was female. Mostly 40ish working class redneck women. By FAR the most common subject of their workplace conversations was sex, and more particularly the various men they lusted after. The construction workers one of them passed on her way to work, the guy who came to do some work on another one’s sink and how he was so muscled up and sweaty and hot, and how much they wanted to tear their clothes and fuck like rabbits, and so on and so forth. It was mostly hilarious, but weird in that I had definitely never been around a bunch of women old enough to be my mother who had basically the same conversations about men that high school locker rooms have about girls.

          1. Rhywun

            LOL, I remember when I was little overhearing my (single) mom and another forty-something neighbor doing exactly this when they thought I wasn’t around.

          2. Playa Manhattan

            And then?

          3. KSuellington

            Late 30’s to early 40’s women are absolutely great for a young man. It’s a good change of pace from dealing with 20 somethings. It’s a good match up. Fond memories of an Italian and a couple Brazilian women.

          4. Chipwooder

            And then I got moved to a different section.

            Which was fine by me because none of those women were what I’d call a milf. They were the kind of women who looked kind of worn-out by life. Older than their years – the kind of women who have raspy southern accents and chain smoke Virginia Slims. Their hairstyles and clothes were all still very ’80s though this was 1997 or so.

  57. DOOMco

    I thought Gronks hit was bad, but that one by Juju might be a close second.

    1. hayeksplosives

      That Gronk thing came way too late to justify in any way. One freaking game suspension is stupidly light.

      I mean, if he had tackled a US Senator like that, he’d be criminally charged.

      Oh, wait…

      1. DOOMco

        Gronks was really stupid. even if he was dealing with PI all day. At least the first thing he did was apologize after the game.
        People are going to justify tonights because it was on Burfict, who probably does deserve a lifetime of late hits and knee injuries (I still hate him for breaking Gronkowski a few years ago). But this seems like the “look what she was wearing” of arguments.
        All Juju had to do was block. Instead he went for helmet to helmet, then stood over him. In a game where earlier someone was probably paralyzed from halfway down his back while trying to tackle.

    2. Brochettaward

      Clean hit.

  58. CPRM

    I have to be at work at like 9am tomorrow, this is like total slave labor/ millenial

    1. Akira

      I don’t have to go in until 3:30 PM… So if I’m hung over, it’s really no matter because I can get rid of it by the time I have to go to work. Second shift has its advantages.

      Although it does suck getting off at midnight and missing out on everything that happens in the evenings.

      1. Lachowsky

        I worked second shift for about 9 months when I was in my teens. I hated it.

        For the past 8 years I have been working a 4 on 4 off schedule of 12 hour shifts. I love the hours. Even when I have to wore a few extra days in a week, I still get a couple days off per week.
        Before I started this schedule, I was working 6 ten hour shifts a week on nights. I felt like I didn’t have a life.

        1. Akira

          I think some people have different sleep and activity patterns, and mine are most aligned with a second shift lifestyle. I was never comfortable getting up at the crack of dawn, nor with trying to bust ass and get shit done in the middle of the morning. For some reason, I get most active late in the evening, which means that I’m tearing ass for most of my shift while everyone else is dozing off at their desks and going for coffee breaks.

    2. Lachowsky

      oh fuck off. I can’t sleep right now and I have to be up for work at 5 30
      /millenial

      1. CPRM

        Fight for 15! Something something worker exploration! Something something!

        1. Lachowsky

          fun fact. I work in a large manufacturing facility in a right to work state. I’m a union me because I thought it was the right thing to do. I benefit from it, so I feel like I should pay for it. I’ve been there 4 years.

          My coworkers not only nominated me, but elected me to be one of the three men who negotiate our next contract. I’m really not looking forward to this

      1. MikeS

        Same as it ever was

      2. Lackadaisical

        I’ll have some of whatever you’re smoking.

        1. straffinrun

          Menthol Virginia Slims. *Here ya go, baby.

      3. Number.6

        Heh. Yeah, I thought that was good.

  59. straffinrun

    And fuck Christmas Muzak. Trying to read on my break and I’ve got Oh Come All Ye Faithful swirling in my head with images STEVE SMITH.

    1. Gustave Lytton