FROM: OFFICE MANAGER MOHAMMED
TO: ALL OFFICE STAFF
It has come to my attention that a large portion of the office staff has requested to use their time off during the INFIDEL holidays soon to be celebrated. Although it is official corporate policy to shut down the office during these BLASPHEMOUS AND SACRILEGIOUS RITUALS, I have received special dispensation from the corporate executives to keep our building open. I know that you, my hard working SLAVES staff will RECEIVE DIVINE INSPIRATION FROM ALLAH AND REJECT THE BLASPHEMERS WHO WORSHIP FALSE GODS! AS WE TURN TO MECCA THIS DAY MAY MUHAMMAD (PBUH) TRUMPET FROM THE RAMPARTS THE CONQUEST OF THE INFIDELS AS WE KILL THOSE STUBBORN WITH UNBELIEF!! YOU TREACHEROUS LOT, YOU IMPETUOUS SLAVES, NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR LEISURE, IT IS THE TIME FOR GLORIOUS JIHAD!!
Also, whoever wrote “Halal-lelujah” in the men’s bathroom stall with the image of that UNCLEAN SWINE has been reported to the HR department Bias Response Team. We do not tolerate BLASPHEMY AND SACRILEGE in this office, and mocking THE ONE TRUE FAITH is unacceptable. For those FLEA BITTEN DOGS who have been snickering and giggling about that DEBAUCHED FILTH, THE PROPHET (PBUH) HAS DECREED YOUR DEATH! YOUR BLOOD WILL RUN THROUGH THE BUILDING AND INTO THE STREETS! THE GLORIOUS SOLDIERS OF JIHAD WILL TRAMPLE OVER YOUR CORPSES AND TAKE YOUR CHILDREN AS SLAVES!! ALLAH WILL WIPE YOU FROM THE BOOKS OF HISTORY AND SELL YOUR WIVES INTO BROTHELS!!!
Many thanks to Susan for the nice Ramadan party. Even though only three people were able to attend and Susan ordered A DISGRACEFUL AND IMMORAL lunch, the party was quite the CALL TO JIHAD! However, Susan has been let go by the HR Bias Response Team for catering a sandwich platter with INEDIBLE, FILTHY SWINE! DISHONORING ALLAH IN SUCH A DEBASED MANNER DISPLAYS THE FULL DESPICABLE NATURE OF THE INFIDEL!! THE PROPHET (PBUH) DECREES THAT THE SWINE EATING INFIDEL SHALL BE TIED TO A POLE AND GIVEN 50 LASHES FOR HER INTRANSIGENCE!!
We had a great “Bring Your Kids to Work” day thanks to Linda. However, whoever put my wife in the group of elementary school kids is a SCOUNDREL OF THE HIGHEST DEGREE!! HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY BRIDE BY TREATING HER AS IF SHE IS MY CHILD!! YOU DIRTY BEASTS DISHONOR MY FAMILY AS IF YOU NO LONGER UNDERSTAND YOUR SUBJUGATION TO ME AND TO ALLAH!! YOUR BODIES WILL BE FLAYED OPEN AND HUNG FOR ALL TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO UNDERMINE THE SOLDIERS OF ALLAH!!!
Finally, there have been some complaints about the attire worn by the UNBELIEVING WHORES in finance. Excessive exposed skin is AN AFFRONT AGAINST ALLAH! YOU SCURRILOUS WENCHES DESERVE NOTHING MORE THAN TO MEET AN UNTIMELY DEATH FROM THE STONE! YOUR ATTEMPTS TO DISTRACT THE SOLDIERS OF JIHAD FROM THEIR MEDITATIONS TOWARD MECCA ARE BEGGING FOR THE PUNISHMENT BEFITTING A JEZEBEL!! YOU WILL BE BEHEADED EVEN IF I HAVE TO DO IT MYSELF!!! WEAR THE BURQA OR DIE A MOST PAINFUL DEATH!!!
Warmest Regards,
OFFICE MANAGER MOHAMMED
OMM/tm
BONUS FEATURE:
By Yusef Drives a Kia
OFFICE MANAGER MOHAMMED: Today We start on a new project, We shall build a minaret in the parking lot, so that We may Hear the Call to Prayer better.
Lead project manager: But we’re a software company
OFFICE MANAGER MOHAMMED:Allah wishes a minaret, We will build it, now Everyone grab all the unopened reams of paper and follow OFFICE MANAGER MOHAMMED.
After several ankle sprains and back injuries, the several hundred reams are assembled in a crooked, off center pile, about 20 foot high.
OFFICE MANAGER MOHAMMED: You, IT support INFIDEL, climb to the top and make the call to prayer.
ITS: It’s kind of high, do we have like, a ladder or something?
OFFICE MANAGER MOHAMMED: No, climb on your knees INFIDEL if Allah wills it you will get to the top.
IT support proceeds to carefully pick his way amongst the #20 bond and reaches the pinnacle, a bunch of post it notes bound with Scotch tape, and makes the call.
OFFICE MANAGER MOHAMMED: Excellent, you are assured your 72 Virgins
IT support: but I’m not a Jihadist.
OFFICE MANAGER MOHAMMED, cackling with glee, gambols to his waiting Mercedes 500 SL, and drives away at the approach of ALABAMA MAN, carrying a blowtorch and 5 gallons of gas.
what in Allah’s name is this shit?
I dunno but it’s better (well, for me) when I read it in the voice of Morbo.
OFFICE MANAGER MOHAMMED WILL NOT PUT UP WITH YOUR LIKENING HIM TO AN ANIMATED SPACE FROG!! YOU WILL BURN IN THE DEPTHS OF HELL!!
ALLAH WILL SPITE YOU INFIDEL EURO SWINE!
For the 5th year in a row, I will be working on Christmas. My boss must be a secret jihadi.
You want a free day? If your boss was to stop half-a-crown for it, you’d think yourself ill-used. But you don’t think him ill-used, if he pays a day’s wages for no work
-1 Cratchit
I have Christmas off, but I work on New Year’s Eve, and my shift ends at midnight.
Puts special emphasis on that countdown, eh
Ah, so you’re the lazy employee asking Ebenezer for the day off for no reason. You’re going to give that poor old man nightmares.
Not really. On Christmas eve I have to open up the incoming 161kv switch to the yard. That’s kind of a process and they don’t trust just anyone to do it. After opening the 161kv vacuum switch and opening the MODs downstream, I’ll have to verify the circuit is dead and the ground everything on the dead side.
After that, we are pulling out a 50MW transformer and sending it to Minnesota for refurbishing and installing our spare transformer. We should be finished up by mid afternoon christmas day or so.
Make sure you and your minions don’t get all jazz handsie in the yard.
Bad ass Man
This guy actually does stuff!
Getting paid extra?
Finally, there have been some complaints about the attire worn by the UNBELIEVING WHORES in finance. Excessive exposed skin
is AN AFFRONT AGAINST ALLAH!requires pictures.Fixed it for you.
Always hotties in the C-suites.
I’m off from Dec 22 – Jan 2. It’s good to be a shitlord.
I actually don’t mind working that week because it tends to be pretty quite. I worked 3 day weeks from end of October to early December which was nice.
After taking the time between Christmas and new years off I still have 8 days of vacation left. Sadly I can’t just keep them my company makes me take them before 30 march of each year
The only reason I didn’t have a huge excess this year was because I only started in March. Between the parental leave and being the new guy, I didn’t take much PTO this year. My last day of the year is the 20th, and my boss authorized us to each take a half day on our last day of the year. We’ll see whether my workload allows me to do that. Probably not.
A bumper sticker told me that you can thank Democrats for that.
Thanks for putting me in there, ALLAH IS PLEASED
You can’t sell them back to the company?
Not really. Usually you can get $$ for days off but my company does not like to do that
Same here (7.5 days roll over after that week). I had been working as a “permanent temporary” for years which resulted in me taking maybe 3 non-holiday vacation days off, in total, since 2012. Now I get a lot of of vacation time, but am still in the habit of rarely taking any. I’m looking forward to breaking that next year though.
Although, since I work from home, my uncle likes to ask “what the hell do you need a vacation for? Everyday is a vacation for you.” My workload is still the same, just fewer office distractions.
My workplace just changed their policy that you can no longer carry vacation time forward. The policy goes into effect on January 1, but they haven’t made clear yet whether the already carried forward time remains (it better) until our next anniversary or not.
is the lynx thread still active or are we off-topic-ing derp here?
Cause if we are
Ta-Nehisi Coates is the neoliberal face of the black freedom struggle
Cornel West
https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/17/ta-nehisi-coates-neoliberal-black-struggle-cornel-west?CMP=share_btn_tw&__twitter_impression=true
The disagreement between Coates and me is clear: any analysis or vision of our world that omits the centrality of Wall Street power, US military policies, and the complex dynamics of class, gender, and sexuality in black America is too narrow and dangerously misleading. So it is with Ta-Nehisi Coates’ worldview.
Coates rightly highlights the vicious legacy of white supremacy – past and present. He sees it everywhere and ever reminds us of its plundering effects. Unfortunately, he hardly keeps track of our fightback, and never connects this ugly legacy to the predatory capitalist practices, imperial policies (of war, occupation, detention, assassination) or the black elite’s refusal to confront poverty, patriarchy or transphobia.
In short, Coates fetishizes white supremacy.
I’ve always been baffled by this idea that blacks are supposed to be more woke about things like “patriarchy” and “transphobia”. The real world does not seem to bear that out.
Isn’t it the same with gays and Muslims in that Muslim anti-gay sentiment is glossed over?
Yes. More generally, a lot of people seem to think that all the “victim groups” are all BFF with each other.
Sounds as if intersectionality is a way to loosely group together bunches of idiots for voter bloc pushes while forfeiting nothing but goodfeels to anyone.
Cornel West vs. Ta-Nehisi Coates retard fight.
Cool.
Since when have commies appropriated the word “plunder”? Are they just trying to fuck with us?
any analysis or vision of our world that omits the centrality of Wall Street power, US military policies, and the complex dynamics of class, gender, and sexuality in black America is too narrow and dangerously misleading.
*nods slowly*
there is this !()*#$( academic rhetorical-tic that must at this point be some kind of *rule* that they all use…
…where everything is *claimed in threes*
nothing is just “X is what matters because of Y reason/mechanism, which i will here clarify”.
its always this ridiculous mushy “throwing spaghetti at all” stuff where they blurt ‘bundles of threes’
e.g. “clearly the core issue here is financial, military, and sexual” – starting a sentence acting like they’re actually saying something specific, then closing the sentence with a shotgun of “pretty much everything we can imagine”, each of which are themselves giant vague categories. they serve mostly just as symbolic placeholders for “shit lefties already believe”.
the “threes” thing is this sentence structure where they say things like, “race, gender, and class issues inform our collective understanding of economics, politics, and art”
its never 1 thing about 1 thing – its always 3 things about 3 things, because it saves anyone the trouble of actually ever making any claim specific enough to be able to rebut.
the more you become conscious of this sort of patter, the more you see it everywhere. its a method of communication that lefties just adore because it gives the appearance of “intellectual breadth” without an ounce of substance.
The intersection of submarines, game shows, and used car dealerships is best analyzed by taking into consideration the thought provoking yet woefully underutilized disciplined theories of wokeness, communism, and social justice. When the combined output of transwomen, Asian school girls, and gingers that has been marginalized by the oppressive threesome of card games, charity groups, and dorm rooms can be harnessed in a fair way, only then can social justice, mayonnaise, and hyperinflation be achieved.
Is that how you do it?
yes.
It’s a writing device. People like when you list things in threes. It has no bearing in the correctness of the premises.
-s
rhetoric isn’t math. yes, its just a method/tool; and yes, its often used because it appeals to our innate/irrational enjoyment of certain-sized clustering of ideas/terms.
but the point was to note who uses it most often, and why. which is mainly, “Lefty academics” and “to create the appearance of argument without the specificity of one”
if it were a pattern of speech used widely by everyone, all the time, across a variety of contexts, there wouldn’t be much of a point.
but it – not at all coincidentally – happens to be the rhetorical signature of the academic left.
the reason “postmodernism generators” (or Lachowsky) can so easily churn out walls of text that superficially resemble *actual* contemporary academic prose is precisely because they so obviously hew to these same patterns all the time. Just add a sprinkling of highfalutin terminology, and you’re good.
last year we were making fun of the “Feminist Glacier Studies” story @ TOS, where i made the same basic point:
i called it “sentence stuffing”. Its unclear thinking and bad writing.
Does that mean that everyone who ever uses that sort of structure in any context is equally guilty? of course not.
It has no bearing in the correctness of the premises.
Not that that was ever in doubt when reading this shit.
omg I can’t breathe I’m laughing so hard
I was going to say dog-whistling for Marx, Lenin, and Stalin.
For the 5th year in a row, I will be working on Christmas. My boss must be a secret jihadi.
Or- maybe he knows you’ll show up.
Gray lady talking about Grays
They bitch when the Reps deliver on a promise. They bitch when the Reps don’t deliver on a promise. At least they’re consistent.
I mean how many would they be if the tax plan was a simple flat tax.
That was definitely the wrong link
This one should make more sense given the link title.
The Defense Department has never before acknowledged the existence of the program, which it says it shut down in 2012.
“It never existed, but we closed it anyway.”
What does “need” have to do with anything you fucking Limeys.
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-42342471/why-this-us-woman-is-backing-minority-gun-clubs
There’s that “gun deaths” statistic again…
the more you become conscious of this sort of patter, the more you see it everywhere. its a method of communication that lefties just adore because it gives the appearance of “intellectual breadth” without an ounce of substance.
Nonsense. It shows the overpowering superiority of their arguments. You have been steamrollered with facts.
What happened to Linda?
Shipped off to Syria to pleasure Islamic State fighters.
Yusef. I saw you talking about the the HVAC acronym yesterday. The V stands for ventilation
http://imgur.com/EmCMjCp
Sure, maybe at the gay steel mill.
Not that there’s anything wrong with you and Lachowsky being gay lovers.
Sick. Burn.
i still assume its, “invasion of alien lizards“
Ya, we considered a policy like that. But the Ironsides mammal always fucks things up.
Now that’s Ventilation! Industrial style
“Look at the pipes on that one!”
We actually DO get off on Massive Machines, and the things that MAKE the world,
Lach Manufactures the things I installs, we both Maintain machines, great careers to have, IMO
Contemplates tomorrows return to the cubical farm, e-mail, spreadsheets and PowerPoint. [sighs] Contemplates calendar and finances – no less than 3 more years for retirement. [sighs] [drinks]
This office party doesn’t take place in San Bernardino, does it?
Nice work. I hope you frame your soon to be issued Fatwa Trash.
OFFICE MANAGER MOHAMMED WILL REISSUE EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK IN ARABIC ONLY.
Why not, no one reads the fucking thing anyway.
evergreen college update
As silly maps go this amused me
https://twitter.com/TerribleMaps/status/848478326670872577
Also speaking of metric
https://twitter.com/TerribleMaps/status/942052681832697856
Most useful map from that twitter feed
This particular infidel is proudly wearing her Jerusalem Cross (aka Crusaders cross) as I stroll through the Minneapolis and Detroit airports, where baggage and security are heavily populated by followers of the prophet. (Peanut Butter upon Him).
NO PEAS BE UNTO YOU INFIDEL WOMAN!
“Eventually you Gotta eat your peas.”
–some 2 bit politician whose fiats are becoming obsolete one by one.
I really wish I had a peak at how historians rate him in about 40 years.
Deus Vult!
Cool link, bro.
Linky no worky?
Verily, I failed the Pope!
second try…
NON NOBIS DOMINE.
I don’t see why anyone would be proud of shit like the Rhineland Massacre.
But that’s just me.
12/4/1204 #neverforget
What’s a principled defense against the westward expansion of Seljuks without a little payola?
Or later turning around and attacking the people you were supposedly defending?
The year 4856?
How are Jews able to see into the future????
Blood matzoh.
I heard meme-modified Kabbalah.
Google informs me we live in year (((5778))) so easily!
In the year 5758,
You won’t need to masturbate.
Pornhub will be directly beamed to your mind,
Kalina Ryu videos will be easy to find.
Or for more cold climates.
https://www.redbubble.com/people/evaev/works/25595491-crusader-cross-deus-vult?body_color=oatmeal_heather&p=t-shirt&print_location=front&size=medium&style=mhoodie&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=g.pla+notset&country_code=US&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyNjRBRCpARIsAPDBnn295uVvcLvirUuOUTO8ygZE1tsugdkHAJA5PFJ2LblmmbH6lhzvOmMaAuCUEALw_wcB
OT: Toxic Masculinity.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/10/sandpipers-go-extra-8000-miles-have-sex
male pectoral sandpipers – like Q here they like a well developed pectoral region in their females
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoDse9WV9po
Also, thanks trsh for this, serious LOLing.
Hmmph
Q read the byline but not the actual post.
Thanks Ted, I guess you did
🙂
You too!
I used Gambol in a sentence, that’s gotta be worth something
😉
The Mercedes 500 SL line made me LOL.
Thanks to both RAH and Q, TRSHMNSTR and the editors
re: corporate tax cut in previous thread
Corporate taxes are paid by, in various amounts depending on the slope of the relevant supply and,demand curves,
1. shareholders
2. customers
3. capital reinvestment
4. employees
1 is negligible in competitive industries as they already operate at the minimum acceptable margins.
It will be interesting to see which of the other 3 gets the biggest boost.
The increase in 3 will lead in an increase in 1.
Pro tip: when the threads die down, the cool kids have moved on to a new posting.
The really cool kids run up a second browser window.
Will try that later: I’ve got to sober up and go see my buddy in the recovery program.
Well Don, Well said
You only need to do one of those.
I know that you, my hard working SLAVES staff will RECEIVE DIVINE INSPIRATION FROM ALLAH AND REJECT THE BLASPHEMERS WHO WORSHIP FALSE GODS! AS WE TURN TO MECCA THIS DAY MAY MUHAMMAD (PBUH) TRUMPET FROM THE RAMPARTS THE CONQUEST OF THE INFIDELS AS WE KILL THOSE STUBBORN WITH UNBELIEF!! YOU TREACHEROUS LOT, YOU IMPETUOUS SLAVES, NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR LEISURE, IT IS THE TIME FOR GLORIOUS JIHAD!!
Crazy Muslim writing tips:
‘Kafir’ is a derogatory term for non-Muslims.
i knew that yogurt shit was racist
*applause*
Oglaf this weeks brings early Christmas cheer as well as suggest alternative revenue stream for an ambitious orphan miner.
Alas, 100% SFW (provided your work lets you read comics, of course).
That’s kinda unusual for Oglaf.
We should invite Trudy Cooper here and see if she’d like to collaborate, except our resident inkers might get competitive.
Nat’l review on the Steele Dossier, and whether it was used to justify FISA surveillance of the Trump campaign.
most of it is a recitation of things i’ve heard before. but one thing jumped out at me
the part where, “deputy associate AG of the then-current Obama admin meets directly with someone being paid by the Clinton campaign to compile fake-dirt on Trump”
it is later mentioned, “Ohr has been demoted for failing to disclose his meetings with Steele and Simpson”
What’s weirder to me is: what possible justificaton would there have been for anyone @ the DoJ to have been meeting directly with campaign operatives at that time? The DoJ has an investigative arm (the FBI); if there were credible allegations of wrongdoing (Russian or anyone else’s), you’d think they would necessarily originate there.
What they seem to be admitting is that these claims originated 100% from political sources to begin with, and that the FBI was basically told to “go find evidence what these other people (Fusion) have already cooked up, so we can officially investigate ”
basically, its the same sort of “planting evidence, finding evidence” sort of thing the KGB would do.
KGB wouldn’t have had more people fired from their inquiry then sent to prison, though.
last 24 hours
dead wounded
2017.12.17 Pakistan Quetta 8 45 Two women are among eight massacred by two suicide bombers at a Methodist church during a nativity service.
2017.12.17 Afghanistan Lashkar Gah 11 5 Eleven local cops are murdered during a vicious attack by the Taliban.
2017.12.17 Afghanistan Kandahar 1 5 A women is disassembled by a suicide car bomber.
2017.12.16 Gabon Libreville 0 2 Two National Geographic reporters are stabbed by a man shouting praises to Allah.
2017.12.16 Afghanistan Tabar 18 0 Women and children are among eighteen civilians killed when the Taliban target fleeing civilians.
2017.12.16 Yemen Taiz 4 0 Shiite radicals plant a bomb that claims the lives of four government soldiers.
That’s a rather random list of events.
What do they all have in common?
ALLAH! YOU INFIDEL! KILL KILL KILL!
“”A women is disassembled””
I think i asked you once before: who compiles this ‘daily list’ thing? because they have vocabulary issues
https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/attacks/attacks.aspx?Yr=Last30
***
This is part of the list of killings in the name of Islam maintained by TheReligionofPeace.com. Most of these incidents are terror attacks. A handful are honor killings or Sharia executions.
During this time period, there were 100 Islamic attacks in 20 countries, in which 1563 people were killed and 872 injured.
(TROP does not catch all attacks. Not all attacks are immediately posted).
***
i think the last time i’d noticed that they went to absurd lengths to rotate between terminology for the perps
e.g. “Islamists, muslim militants, islamic gunmen, Mujahideen, Jihadi, (lol) Sharia proponents., Fedayeen, extremists, islamic hardliners, Suspected fundamentalists (it was the beards, wasn’t it?), “Religion of Peace rivals” (wtf), “The Caliphate” (as in, “A pilot is chained to the ground and set on fire by the caliphate.”?), … and so on.
This doesn’t even touch on their sometimes-loose attribution to official islamic groups. (is there a difference between islamic state, ISIS and ‘the caliphate’?)…
….and in one case, they claim “Lashkar-e-Toiba members open fire on a security patrol, killing one.”…. which would be all well and good, but for the fact they claim the attack happened in Iraq, and that group is of Pakistani origin.
i think highlighting the daily atrocities committed in the name of Islam is a perfectly legitimate and valuable service. I don’t think they help their cause by trying to “color up the facts” or just being sloppy with details.
Yeah. I’d prefer just a table with who, what, where, when, and how many.
Officer Manager Mohamed runs a team building exercise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD0i7UBgels
actual title: Islamic State fighters prepare to raid Peshmerga barracks in Kirkuk
Easy, I already did that
For the budding nerdlings out there – a nice gift might be the new Marvel Comics Digests printed by Archie comics – my feedback – nice collections of classic and newer material. Makes a great stocking stuffer.
Suicide bombers attack Pakistan church, killing at least 9, officials say
***
Two suicide bombers attacked a church in Pakistan where hundreds of worshippers were attending service ahead of Christmas, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens of others, officials said.
One of the suicide bombers was shot dead outside Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, but the other assailant made it to the church’s entrance hall as Sunday services opened, said Sarfaraz Bugti, home minister for the southwestern Baluchistan province. The gunman — who didn’t gain access to the main building — opened fire at the churchgoers before detonating his explosive vest.
“There were nearly 400 people inside the church, but the attackers couldn’t get inside the services,” provincial police chief Moazzam Jah told Reuters. “We killed one of them, and the other one exploded himself after police wounded him,” he said.
The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for the attack on their Aamaq news agency, saying two “plungers” from their group had stormed the church, without providing further details.
***
“Plunger” is a direct translation of the Arabic term “munghamas”, which means one who plunges into battle, not caring whether he lives or dies.
I wonder how long it will take them to figure out what “plunger” means in US English.
Bad news Pan…DHL destroyed the package I was expecting with 3 copies of “Marathon Family” – and it’s back out of stock again. Will have to reorder 🙁
It’s a goddamn curse!
Hopefully they’ll at least refund you the value of ruined merch…
random thoughts on Star Wars
I was wondering why the Empire even bothers fighting the rebels. There aren’t very many of them, and despite great successes from time to time, they control no territory and are constantly on the move.
You’d think after the loss of 2 death stars, several large star ships, half a dozen imperial walkers, numerous TIE fighters, and umpteen storm troopers, they’d decide just to ignore the rebels and consolidate their gains.
Imagine if the British Empire had poured all their resources into putting down the American Revolution. They might have won, but they would have lost the rest of their empire.
and eventually they did, things wear out, the Center cannot hold, etc,
sort of like Al Q or the Taliban?
Not really true of the Taliban. They control territory and tend to stay the same general area.
I think closest real world analogy is the Kurds. FARC is also a good example.
kurds have had no great successes i can think of (they were at war w/ the Turkish govt for like half a century), but do more or less nominally control large chunks of eastern turkey/northern iraq
my point was really just a joke that your point re: The Empire vs. Alliance was a more or less accurate summary of the “War on Terror”, which has largely been a huge allocation of resources to a ‘threat’ which is comparatively minor.
ironically, maybe: ISIS is actually far more of a “legit” revolutionary movement (which actually tries to overthrow govts and seize and occupy territory and then run it), whereas Al Q were mostly more like radical-leftist terrorists of the 1970s, who would occasionally blow shit up and make ‘statements’, but who didn’t really ever stand a chance at raising an army and running cities/govts.
we spent gazillions and used all the forms of US military prowess to go after Al Q. Meanwhile, we’ve been more hands-offish with ISIS*, when they’re far closer to the fever-dream-threat some people imagined Al Q might one day pose.
(*you know we live in strange times when i can say, “more hands-offish”, when that really means, “well we still bombed them, droned then, gave weapons and training and hardware to their enemies, financed the fight against them, actually sent troops to help guide airstrikes, occasionally got into shooting fights with them…. but technically, compared to other shit we do, that’s still ‘meh’)
If I remember right, one of the main differences between Al Q and ISIS was that Al Q did not think it was the right time to create the next Caliphate and ISIS did. There may have been a few other differences (like who was to head said Caliphate) but that was the main one.
perhaps that’s all accurate on an ideological level, but on the “practical ambitions” level, they simply had different beliefs about where to focus their efforts.
Al Q basically formed out of the remnants of
1) Islamic Jihad (Egypt) after the assassination of Sadat (where Zawahiri hailed from)…
and
2) a bunch of Gulf-arab randos who had gone to Afghanistan in the 1980s, often because their home governments said, “If you don’t, we’re going to throw you in jail for causing trouble at home” – many, for having connections to islamist groups which supported the guys who tried to occupy the grand mosque in Mecca in 1979
basically, both groups had tried (and failed) to overthrow the corrupt regimes in the Arab world, and learned that no one – even their friends and neighbors – really supported any such effort. so they decided that the way to do shit was to “Attack the west”, force the west to respond, which would then force apostate govts in the muslim world to choose sides.
Its a strategic difference, perhaps on top of an ideological one.
Well, for one thing, you can’t build up this awesome military and not use it. And the Rebellion was probably the only threat around for the Empire to deal with.
Then, once they blew up a Death Star, then they have to go whoop some ass. You let that shit slide, then other planets get this idea that maybe they don’t have to pay their taxes or whatever. Strangle that shit in the crib before they get bigger and become a real threat.
l don’t really follow the whole Star War wars universe thing…. and i hated what little of the prequel-series i saw… but wasn’t the prequel thing basically the setup for that? it was some “fake enemy” that the Empire was formed to deal with? they invented an evil army (clones) which they used as justification for centralization of power and militarization.
The only reason for the prequels was to get more money out of consumer wallets. They were a roaring success. This is also the only reason for the latest SW movies. There is no real story being told and looking for that only leads to disappointment.
As a giant Star Wars nerd there was a lot of space unconquered by he empire they still hadn’t captured all of the out rim territory, almost known of the unknown region and basically non of wild space. They wanted to stop the rebellion because they kept blowing up really expensive shit. Plus there were many planets that were under “imeperial control”the way Taiwan is Chinese territory not really but everyone else has to pretend it is.
I got to start making sure autocorrect didn’t mess anything up before I hit post. I need the edit Jedi to save me.
you almost make it sound interesting.
It’s a monkey with typewriters situation. There are so many books and comics inevitably there are some good stories and ideas but much of it is really stupid.
side note
Saw the new Star Wars yesterday. It had its moments and there were a few surprises. There were a couple of moments of “wait a minute, why didn’t they try that before?” You’ll know when you see it.
Luke and Yoda had a couple of zingers. It was worth $5.
I’ll prolly see it when it comes out on Netflix. (Not meant as an insult…. i just hate movie theaters) I didn’t really like Ep. 7, but I enjoyed Rogue One, so I’ll give 8 a try.
Wow. Exactly what I told my wife when she asked about seeing it (someone gave us movie giftcards, which we will sell).
I started Rogue 1 on netflix last night, about 50% done. still havent seen 7.
I’m going out to the Garage and play with this for a while,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLF6dlpqrSE&t=36s
My ding-a-ling?
From what I can gather the Victorian era was a reaction to the Regency Era. Victoria’s father and Uncles were more interested in booze and mistresses rather than ensuring the continuation of the dynasty. There was some definite social and political aspects as well as the ruling class was felt to be decadent and corrupt while the common people were unemployed and starving.
Not to mention that thing called the Second Great Awakening.
Glibs gear. https://twitter.com/egould310/status/942525775470772224
Thanks to everyone who got this up and running.
Does the mug fit an entire tallie?
P.S. If it fits in one can, it counts as one beer
Yep. It’s a big old mug. Says it’s a 20 oz, but seems a little smaller. I’m a couple drinks into my afternoon, so will not calibrate the mug. But yes, will accommodate a tallie.
*burrrp*
Store says it’s 22oz.
Store says 22? Let me go calibrate.
Ok just checked using science an shit. 20 ounces.
Switching back to cocktails.
You’ve inspired me. Just got back from Ralphs with a sixer of AB.
Oh yeah, went back and checked. The actual weight if the mug is 21.5 oz.
The volume of liquid it holds is 20 oz.
Science!!
Someone is ready for the next Beer It Forward
?
Thanks for the brews, bro!
Hope you liked a couple
Hell yeah! I started taking notes, and was gonna write up something as thoughtful as your descriptions. But, I’d rather just enjoy the beer in the moment.
Even though I’m a shallow self-centered jerk, I still enjoyed the beer. ??
“Even though I’m a shallow self-centered jerk”
Well, you are a glibertarian
In all seriousness, reviews aren’t necessary just glad you enjoyed them?
Speaking of trying new beers, had one of these with dinner (home-made enchiladas and mexican rice).
Great name. Good beer?
Yes it was, tasted it before I started in on dinner. Not as sour as sessions usually taste to me (which I figured would’ve been tolerable with the food). For a hazy beer it had a fairly clean taste and finish and actually turned out to be a great compliment to the beef enchiladas and rice.
I want to get a STEVE SMITH one but I can’t decide if I should get the tumbler which I’ll probably use often, or the travel mug so I can take it to the local cart that sells STEVE SMITH tea and laugh at their confusion when I ask them to fill me up.
nice choice
“Content moderators” = censors.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/12/the-basic-grossness-of-humans/548330/
I thought worrying about internet porn or extremism is a socon thing?
So did I after working years of hotels and grocery stores for long hours at shit wages. Cry me a river.
OTOH my jobs didn’t turn me into a damaged weirdo.
You were a damaged weirdo before your jobs? :-p
This guy gets it.
Well, I’m a damaged weirdo, too. 🙁
It’s Alexis Madrigal. The fact that humans are not perfect, and not even perfectible, must be profoundly distressing to him.
tl;dr, but I presume that his prescription is to apply government force to try and hammer those intractable proletarians into compliance.
Another 100 rounds in each pistol today. Guns clean and lubed. Time for alcohol.
Any malfunctions? 1911-style pistols often need several hundred to break in.
None really. We fired 100 through each pistol last week. My wife was having some problems with her EMP properly returning to battery. But she was a 150 rounds into it that day and was getting fatigued.
Today, we did another 100 in each pistol. So, 200 rounds for each of us. My wife started with the EMP today and had no problem with a 100 rounds. Then she did another 100 in the EMP 4 without problems.
The guns run very well and are very accurate.
Next week, we’ll start working with defensive rounds.
Make sure she’s not limp-wristing it. Recoil operated pistols are designed so the frame should stay as stationary as possible. Glad to hear they’re working out so well for you!
For both of you:
Yes, she was limp-wristing it. I fired the gun with no problems.
She shot the “problem” gun first today, and had no problems for 100 rounds. Then she shot the larger EMP-4 for 100 rounds with no problems.
Last week was the first time we shot 200 rounds in a day. Before, the max was 150.
With the returning to battery – did you fire the EMP – any return to better problems for you?
If she was having problems late in the session, she might have been limp-wristing the gun. That’ll go away as she gets more used to shooting.
better == battery
Reminding those that are so inclined that this beer is out now.
https://alaskanbeer.com/our-beers/winter-ale/
My fav beer of all time.
Socialist defeated by conservative billionaire in Chilean Presidential election
I expect many hot taeks.
So a repeat of the US Election?
JB: I know you were complaining about SSRIs and the side effects, did you ever look into this:
https://www.marijuanadoctors.com/medical-marijuana/FL/qualification
The Trumpening!
Helicopter rides will resume after inauguration.
Apologies if already covered this week…the Committee to Protect Journalists (which I think, overall, is doing good things) reports that a record number of journalists were jailed in 2017, more than half in Turkey, China, and Egypt. BUT, it’s mostly Trump’s fault: https://cpj.org/reports/2017/12/journalists-prison-jail-record-number-turkey-china-egypt.php
From the second para, “Far from isolating repressive countries for their authoritarian behavior, the United States, in particular, has cozied up to strongmen such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Chinese President Xi Jinping. At the same time, President Donald Trump’s nationalistic rhetoric, fixation on Islamic extremism, and insistence on labeling critical media “fake news” serves to reinforce the framework of accusations and legal charges that allow such leaders to preside over the jailing of journalists. ”
The report argues that Trump’s “fake news” claims reinforce and legitimize “false news” accusations which has seen a record number of journalists jailed for. How many, globally, jailed for “false news”? 21, out of 262 total.
“BUT, it’s mostly Trump’s fault”
Mostly? The man is Literally Hitler™.
You know who else’s rhetoric was nationalis-
Aw.
Mussolini?
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?
Francisco Franco Bahamonde?
OFFICE MANAGER MOHAMMED!
^^^This guy gets it.
Post-range Report – SiG P229 9mm Elite Stainless SRT
OK, yeah, grip is big, but I didn’t have to keep adjusting my hands for the truly Brobdingnagian grip on this beast. Both two-handed and single-handed strong and support hand shooting was fine. The weight of this thing truly makes recoil negligible, and that short-reset trigger they put on these things is great. If you dry fire it, the action sounds like click-click-twang as the firing pin spring pulls the pin back.
As for accuracy, if you took me out of the equation, this would be doing 3″ groups at 50ft with no problems whatsoever. I managed one group of about 3 1/2 in, but when I fired from the bench I was getting just under 1 1/2 in groups at 25ft, so overall, pretty pleased with it.
One gripe, born of personal experience. Like my Beretta, the iron sights are set so your point of impact is actually occluded by the front sight, so instead of resting the POA along the top of the sight, you have to cover it. As one of the old guys at the club says, “you can’t expect to hit something you can’t see”, so it’s something to get used to.
It’s starting to get to the point where – with the exception of my Beretta – I can shoot 3-4″ groups pretty consistently at 50ft, so I have to change what I’m doing and either start shooting on target night, or personal protection night.
Yeah, I have a Beretta Storm and that front sight obfuscation is pretty annoying when target shooting.
Good to hear it’s working out so well.
Real men shoot these
The L39 is hardly a ‘forgotten weapon’. Anti Tank rifles are fun to shoot if you have access to the ammo and the cash to pay for it.
Problem is, I’d get kicked out at my range, ‘cos that sucker would put a hole thru’ the backstop, back wall, the next 4 buildings behind it, 2 bears, a truck and lodge in the engine block of a bulldozer a mile and a half down range.
‘for a magazine called Reason‘….
Russian Collusion!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/17/putin-thanks-trump-intelligence-prevented-st-petersburg-terror/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Roy Moore to the white courtesy telephone.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5186077/amp/Oklahoma-teacher-fired-marriage-filing-student.html?__twitter_impression=true
Huh anti-Slavery Republicans helped birth Communism. Marx was a big fan of Lincoln by the way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New-York_Tribune