Glibertarians.com 2017 Archive

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  • The Two Best Super Bowls, Ranked – Part Two: NFL Week 12

    This is part two of our series The Two Best Super Bowls, Ranked

    #1 Super Bowl 43

    Most of the time, football teams make the Super Bowl because they played top-notch football from September to January. There are only sixteen games in an NFL season, so there really isn’t time for teams to play poorly for a long stretch of games. When the playoffs start, if you’ve got money riding on which teams will make it and which won’t, save yourself some time and write off teams that won fewer than 11 games. In the last 17 Super Bowls, contested by 34 teams, 29 of them won at least 11 games.

    When a team gets into the Super Bowl with a 9-7 record, it means they’ve won three straight playoff games to get into the Super Bowl. Although the 2008 Arizona Cardinals did manage to win three in a row during the season, that modest accomplishment was their high point. In a home-heavy schedule that featured four opponents that would make the playoffs, the Cardinals slumped badly down the stretch, losing four of their last six games by a total of 97 points. They did win their division, but they had the worst record of any NFC playoff team. Unlike the legendary squads that played in Super Bowl 25, these Cardinals weren’t nearly as stacked. Hall of Famer Kurt Warner was the trigger man under center, and his favorite target was future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald. It was these two men, Fitzgerald in particular, that paced the Cardinals in their three playoff wins. A 9-7 team had never before reached a Super Bowl, and it was also the first-ever Super Bowl appearance in the largely forgettable history of the Cardinals.

    The Pittsburgh Steelers, on the other hand, were long accustomed to championship football. They won four Super Bowls in six seasons from 1974 to 1979. Just three years prior, the Steelers won a record-tying fifth Super Bowl, and behind stars like QB Ben Roethlisberger, WR Hines Ward, LB James Harrison and S Troy Polamalu, the Steelers went 12-4 en route to their 7th Super Bowl appearance. If Super Bowl 25 was a clash of Fire and Ice, Super Bowl 43 was a classic David vs. Goliath matchup.

    AFC WEST

    LA Chargers 28 @ Dallas 6 F (11/23)

    Buffalo @ Kansas City – Switching QBs every week can’t be good for business

    Denver @ Oakland – At this point, Denver’s 2018 draft priority ought to be clear

    PREGAME

    Jennifer Hudson belted out a great rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner…which someone recorded and played back through the stadium speakers before the game. So the main event can have missed kicks and bungled snaps and turnovers, but don’t you guys DARE miss one stinkin’ note before the game. Rubbish.

    AFC NORTH

    Houston @ Baltimore – how’s two in a row sound, OMWC?

    Green Bay @ Pittsburgh – pencil the Steelers in for Super Bowl 52

    Cleveland @ Cincinnati – gotta pick somebody, right?

    FIRST QUARTER

    The first quarter was dominated by the Steelers. They held the ball for 12:27 and outgained the Cardinals 135 to 3. True, the only points in the quarter were a Steelers field goal, but they were just five yards from paydirt as the quarter drew to a close. Ben Roethlisberger was in fine form to start the game, particularly on this 3rd-and-10 play.

    Pittsburgh 3, Arizona 0

    AFC SOUTH

    Tennessee @ Indianapolis – Should be a close one

    A little sumpin’ sumpin’ to ward off the ugly

    Jacksonville @ Arizona – “Sacksonville” vs. a backup QB ought to be ugly

    Houston @ Baltimore

    SECOND QUARTER

    After the Steelers finished off their drive from the end of first quarter (11 plays, 69 yards, 7:12), the Cardinals got the ball back with a minute gone by in the second quarter, trailing 10-0. They answered the Steelers’ long touchdown drive with one of their own (9 plays, 83 yards, 5:12), and the battle was joined. The teams swapped punts, then things got a little crazy.

    What an opportunity for the Cardinals! Down 10-0 at one point, outplayed for a majority of the game thus far, and now creating a turnover just 33 yards from the end zone? This team may have finished 9-7, but they clearly knew how to hang in through adversity. Four completions later, the Cardinals were just three yards away from a four-point lead, halfway through their first Super Bowl.

    Then things got a lot crazy.

    Unbelievable. The Cardinals were poised to at least tie the game with a chip shot field goal; instead, they were in the same position they were facing 14 minutes prior. Maybe the 2014 Seahawks should have watched this game prior to their last Super Bowl appearance; throwing anything but an outside route inside the five-yard line seems to be a bad idea in Super Bowls.

    Pittsburgh 17, Arizona 7

    AFC EAST

    Miami @ New England – the last time Miami won the Super Bowl, Tom Brady was -3

    Carolina @ NY Jets – the Jets will return to their “just good enough to lose a close one” ways

    Buffalo @ Kansas City

    HALFTIME

    Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were the halftime performers, and I think this piece is all the commentary necessary about BS&ESB. (Trigger Warning: Deadspin)

    NFC WEST

    Seattle @ San Francisco – Seattle injuries are catching up to them, but not this week

    New Orleans @ LA Rams – the win streak stops here

    Jacksonville @ Arizona

    THIRD QUARTER

    It was a near-repeat of the first quarter: Pittsburgh controls the clock and manages a field goal. Through three quarters, the Cardinals had achieved little offensively. But defensively…that was different. The defense had only surrendered 13 points, and on two occasions bent-but-didn’t-break. There was the first quarter field goal where the Steelers drove 71 yards on 9 plays, consumed 5:15 on the clock, but got no further than the one-yard line. The second field goal-hold was an even more impressive display by the Cardinal defense, warts and all.

    The drive began on the Steeler 18. First play, run stuffed for -3 yards. Second play, six-yard completion, but a 15-yard facemask gave the Steelers a fresh set of downs. Three more plays, another first down. Next play: incomplete pass, but another 15-yard roughing the passer gave the Steelers another set of downs. So far, that’s 47 yards on the drive, 30 by penalty. Then the Steeler offense managed a couple of chunk plays in amongst some stuffed runs and incomplete passes. After the last incomplete pass, it was fourth and goal from the nine. Jeff Reed made a 27-yard field goal…then the Cardinals committed a third personal foul penalty.

    Incredibly, after everything that had occurred, both throughout the game and during this drive, the Cardinals defense held again, at last without a penalty. Reed’s next field goal attempt was five yards shorter, and also good.

    Pittsburgh 20, Arizona 7

    NFC NORTH

    Minnesota 30 @ Detroit 23 F (11\23)

    Chicago @ Philadephia – the Bears are a year away at least

    Green Bay @ Pittsburgh

    FOURTH QUARTER, part one

    A Cardinal drive that began late in the third quarter stalled after six plays. Through 46:19, the Cardinals had managed just 7 points. Their defense, called upon to keep the game close all night, held yet again. The Steelers went three-and-out, punting the ball to the Cardinals with 11:30 left. At last, with no margin for error, the Cardinals got back into the end zone, covering 87 yards in 8 plays in 4 minutes. On the ensuing possession, the Cardinals defense again forced a three-and-out. They couldn’t take advantage on offense, however, punting the ball away after eight plays. It was now Pittsburgh’s turn to hurt themselves via penalty, and a personal foul placed the ball at the one-yard line. On third down, Ben Roethlisberger connected with Santonio Holmes for 19 yards…only, the Steelers committed a holding penalty in their own end zone. Safety!

    Pittsburgh 20, Arizona 16

    NFC SOUTH

    Tampa Bay @ Atlanta – The Falcons are finally getting on track; too little, too late?

    Carolina @ NY Jets

    New Orleans @ LA Rams

    FOURTH QUARTER, part two

    Pittsburgh’s free kick after the safety was returned to the Cardinal 36. On first down, Kurt Warner threw an incomplete pass. On second down, this happened.

    Incredible. The Cardinals had been playing from behind all game long. Their offense had been mostly stymied for three quarters. They had faced setback after setback along the way. Competitive resilience is the hallmark of champions, and the Cardinals showed that, despite whatever flaws they possessed, they had it. The touchdown was Fitzgerald’s second of the quarter, and it was the signature play of a postseason for the ages. He set records for receptions, yards, and touchdown catches in a single playoff.

    When Pittsburgh regained possession at their own 22 yard line, they had two timeouts, the two-minute warning, and 2:30 left, needing only a field goal to tie the game. But they faced a Cardinal defense that had shut them down for three straight series; all the momentum was on the Arizona side of the ball.

    Ben Roethlisberger went to work. After an offensive holding penalty on first down, he scrambled out of danger near his own endzone for a 14-yard completion. That play, plus two more completions, moved the Steelers ahead 38 yards; he then added four more on a run of his own. Timeout Pittsburgh, 1:02, ball at the Arizona 46.

    Santonio Holmes absolutely tortured the Cardinals on the final drive. He already had 27 yards on two catches; after the timeout, he caught an 11-yard pass, then spun and dashed all the way down to the six-yard line, making it a 40-yard reception. Timeout Steelers. They were now in chip shot field goal range with 49 seconds left.

    NFC EAST

    LA Chargers 28 @ Dallas 6 F (11/23)

    NY Giants 30 @ Washington 20 F (11/23)

    Chicago @ Philadelphia

    And here now, the final play of Super Bowl 43.*

    *Not really

    Final Score

    Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23

    AFTERMATH

    Unlike Super Bowl 25, there’s a lot less history to draw on for this game. Six HOFers played in Super Bowl 25; some players in Super Bowl 43 are still active today. Only one player from 43 is in the HOF (Kurt Warner), but Larry Fitzgerald, Ben Roethlisberger, James Harrison, and Troy Polamalu all figure to get in fairly easily.

    This game was an amazing experience. There were defensive plays, defensive stands, superb quarterback play, shocking turnovers, crushing penalties, huge swings in momentum…the Patriots had a greater comeback a year ago. There have been better individual performances. There were Super Bowls with more lead changes. But this Super Bowl had a little of everything, and both teams performed admirably. It’s my choice for the best Super Bowl of all time, and this opinion doubles as a fact.

    PICKS

    Week Eleven: 7-6

    Total: 67-53

  • Review – Stouts Part 4: Miscellaneous

    This is my review of Southern Tier Choklat Oranj.

    Southern Tier brewery…. from Lakeside, NY?  Odd.  I like to think we have come full circle with the whole Stout thing.  There’s too many things one can do with it.  As it turns out, this is one of the simplest styles of beer to make.  The flavors that go into it can range from subtle to intense, so realistically you can add almost anything to it and come out with a palatable product—except Sriracha.  For example, after four years of studying chemistry and STILL not learning how to make VX nerve gas, I took this up:

    This is probably my third attempt at recreating something wonderful.  Back in Colorado, I threw together a now unknown mixture of chocolate malts, Champaign yeast, English hops, Rainer cherries and sprigs of vanilla.  It was amazing.  I gave it to a friend of mine who said it was amazing but he still preferred whisky and that he was keeping the bottle because the bottle was a convenient place to put excess screws and nails.

    Why is it now unknown?  I left the ingredient list on a fruit based mobile device.  That fruit based mobile device was dropped on a tile floor by a child—my child.  I tried to restart it, I tried shaking it, and even pressed both buttons at the same time.  Nothing.  I took that device to the fruit based store and was told that I could purchase a refurbished fruit based mobile device, or a new one.  It was done and I was slightly poorer, but at least I still had my tunes.   

    This one is rich, and has a nice milk chocolatey aroma to it.  There is certainly a nice citrus aftertaste to it.  It does indeed taste like a chocolate orange at first.  The reason I like it is because at 10% ABV, it tastes like something I made in my closet by accident.  This is best reserved for a cold winter’s night, which means I need to go outside and put my feet into my 55-degree pool to simulate a cold winter’s night.  I found this one at Total Wine.  Southern Tier Chocolate Orange: 3.9/5

    Another thing brewers add is peanut butter.  Don’t let the name of this one fool you, you’re probably going to like it.  Even if you don’t care for the information in that fun map I left at the bottom.  This beer, being from California, reminded me of the podcast my wife played on a road trip.  I was driving, so normally I wouldn’t care, but given the subject was excise taxes, I grudgingly listened in.

    Never mind the moral issues they said.  The argument they focused on was that excise taxes altered the behavior of the people taxed and thus were effective at achieving the ends of the state.  One of the examples they used was a tax on soda in Berkeley which did reduce the sales of soda—in Berkeley. They even conceded residents could still get cheap soda somewhere else.  Which is a bit of a no-brainer, and really didn’t get into the ill effects of excise taxes.  One of the ones they did mention was the taxes artificially reduced the supply of the taxed goods by pushing out smaller producers who cannot profit from the inflated price nor justify their product at the new price by reducing supply.  The price after all, is determined by supply and demand.  Because a producer cannot reasonably control demand, the consideration for the new market price + tax must come from a decrease in supply.  I would guess this assumes the product is not something like insulin.  It is outlined at this link here and honestly, I did not previously consider the angle presented.  I like the moral argument against excise taxes better–mostly because it’s easier for me to explain and it’s also more convincing.  

    I probably shouldn’t pick beer based on its ability to irritate me.  Whatever you think of excise taxes and I think I know what you think of them, the beer is good. Mother Earth Brew Co. Sin Tax Peanut Butter Imperial Stout 3.7/5

     

    Living in sin!!!

  • Saturday Morning Slow News Links


    Thanksgiving weekend keeps our congresschimps and other elected officials busy so they have no time to say and do vastly stupid things. But fear not, they’ll start back in shortly.

    Wait, I spoke too soon. The idiocy spewing from the mouth and thumbs of our beloved president never rests. I have to give him this: he really is a true politician, he’s mastered the art of lying in a way that few other politicians can match. Lie about big things, lie about inconsequential things. I suppose the latter is what keeps him in practice for the former- or provides a useful distraction.

    Then again, Hillary just won’t go away. In her bid to become The Most Tiresome Loser Ever, she has weighed in with her opinions on technology. Never mind that she knows absolutely nothing about it, she has Deep Thoughts.

    In sports news, marginal backup QB Ryan Mallett seems to have mastered the art of invective. I’m super-curious about what combination of sounds elevated it above the usual sidelines jabber. As a Ravens fan, I wish he’d master the art of completing passes.

    Goyim and their traditions amuse the shit out of me. The pic on the left looks to me like a perfectly executed osotogari. Ippon!

    And I feel somehow discriminated against. It’s the little things that hurt, as well as the little things that delight.

    Old Guy Music time! After posting the Gentle Giant video that not one of you fuckers seemed to notice (this is the greatest forgotten band of all time), I’m doubling down now and posting a video of a Swedish school band covering a Gentle Giant song. Which takes courage, since the music is difficult and complex. They slowed it down and simplified it a bit, but the essence is still there- this is the kind of thing which gives me hope for the future.

    Sloopy’s contribution to the links below:

    Fuck ❌ichigan

    Sorry if that offends, but it needed to be said. Game time just four hours away.

    ⭕️????⭕️!!!

  • ZARDOZ BLACK FRIDAY EVENING LINKS

    ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES. ZARDOZ UNDERSTANDS TODAY IS A DAY OF BRUTALITY. AND OF RETAIL SALES OF GOODS TO BRUTALS. ZARDOZ HAS THE ANSWER FOR ALL YOUR GIFT GIVING NEEDS. THE GIFT OF THE GUN. THE GUN IS GOOD. THE GUN SHOOTS DEATH AND PURIFIES THE EARTH OF THE FILTH OF BRUTALS. GO FORTH AND SHOP! ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.

     

    THANK YOU, ZARDOZ! IT IS JUST WHAT I WANTED!
    • DID NOT ZARDOZ LIFT YOU FROM BRUTALITY? SEE WHAT YOU ESCAPED!
    • FRENCH BRUTALS USE THE GIFT OF THE GUN.
    • ZARDOZ AWAITS THE CALL FOR BRUTAL EXTERMINATORS FROM AMAZON.
    • IT DOES APPEAR THAT BRUTAL MERCHANTS IN CHICAGO MIGHT NOT BE CALLING FOR BRUTAL EXTERMINATORS THIS YEAR.

  • What are we reading? November 2017

    Good day, jive turkeys! Now that we have you wrapped in a wooly blanket of tryptophan and some kind of gluttony-related guilt. We would like to discuss your reading habits.

    SugarFree

    My October horror kick held on through November. I read my first John Farris book. As much as I like the 70s and 80s horror novel boom, I missed Farris somehow. His biggest claim to fame is The Fury, the novel adapted into the film of the same name by Brian DePalma–DePalma and Amy Irving’s second swing at the telekinetic teen revenge drama that came out right after the masterful Carrie. I read All The Heads Turn As The Hunt Goes By, a pleasing blend of High Gothic’s Cursed Family, voodoo, and H. Rider Haggard’s She Who Must Be Obeyed. It starts strong, slows down for a good bit of exposition and then all hell breaks loose. Highly entertaining.

    Less so, was Colin Wilson ham-handed attempt at Lovecraft, The Mind Parasites. Written on a Dare from August Derleth after Wilson insulted Lovecraft, The Mind Parasites starts off well enough–Cyclopean cities pre-dating human civilization, madness, industrial psychology and mescaline–but collapses in a confused mess of vast mental powers unlocked through discovery and resistance to the titular Mind Parasites. If you are going to delve into Wilson, The Space Vampires is the way to go, even if, for some deranged reason, you aren’t a fan of Tobe Hooper’s lunatic 1985 adaption as Lifeforce, that movie people only watch for the nude mute space vampire girl that nearly destroys London. (Link is SFW)

    jesse

    I’ve been a bit audiobook heavy this month with Victor Gischler – Ink Mage: A Fire Beneath the Skin, (Book 1), Michael Crichton – The Great Train Robbery, and A. G. Riddle – Pandemic: The Extinction Files, (Book 1) Crichton remains a favorite light read and I’d never gotten to TGTR. The content was different than I expected but the pacing, informativeness and balance of tension and humor were exactly what I hope for when picking up a Crichton novel. Ink Mage was a solid fantasy novel that works fairly well as a standalone, but left enough hanging to make the sequel seem worthwhile. A young woman’s life is torn away from her by quisling traitors and by god she’s gonna get her duchy back. Pandemic actually reads (listens?) like a Crichton novel, although not quite to the level of one. If you like fictional conspiracies, pandemics and heroic epidemiologists, this may be the book for you.

    Napoleon Hill – Outwitting the Devil. Napoleon Hill is the godfather of the self-help movement and (allegedly) a “fraudster.” Outwitting the Devil was written around the same time as his other works but was withheld from publication until everyone remotely associated with it had died. It’s a fascinating bit of autobiography and a rambling conversation with the Devil about what the Devil does to trip people up. My mother had started reading it and put it down because it was too weird (this is a woman who was telling anyone who would listen that a tetrad of blood moons on Jewish holidays over an arbitrary period of time was a portent of doom!). I’m glad I took it off her hands because while it’s an absolute hate-read, it’s an interesting insight into the completely bonkers source of modern self-help.

    Kai Ashante Wilson – A Taste of Honey is a short novel by the same author as The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps. These stories take place in a future earth with a set of gods who are really just more genetically advanced humans and mortals who are pretty standard issue, but have a bit of mutagenic witchery to them. Wilson has been lauded for queer characters of color enough that I thought I’d find Sorcerer a hamfisted trainwreck, but the diversity was handled deftly and never got in the way of storytelling. When I saw another book out, I picked it up immediately and have been delighted by the level of world-building Wilson is able to do in ~160 pages.

    Brett L

    What did I read this month? Ah yes, Mark Lawrence’s collection of shorts set in the Broken Empire world, Road Brothers. Two of these were really good and added to the whole Mark Lawrence does a great job of standing traditional fantasy on its head. The rest were not bad. The one featuring Jorg’s younger brother alive is — a bit heavy-handed.

    I also read A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch. I have read a good bit of the Gulag Archipelago, but this book has been much discussed by Jesse in particular of late. It seems like another planet where people could be worked and/or starved and/or beaten to death with great regularity for basically being exposed to other cultures. I had forgotten just how banal it all seems on the page there.

    JW

    Did you know that there’s 120 calories per serving for these Grape Nuts Flakes?

    Old Man With Candy

    SP laughs her ass off every time she sees the books in the bathroom. I’m currently immersed in Technology for Waterborne Coatings, which I got at a book sale for a buck. It’s delightful, every chapter making me wonder what’s going to happen next.

    A mystery in my life is who sent me Cork Dork, a saga of a writer’s quest to achieve the status of Master Sommelier. I know quite a few of the people she meets or discusses in this book, and if you want an account of all of the things I hated about the world of fine wine, it’s here. All of the shallowness, pretension, unhealthy obsession, gaudy show-off, and wasted lives are on display. Interestingly, at some points, you can see the author starting to face some basic economics, then quickly back away. One telling point for me was the New York restaurant-centric approach, which manages to miss the best sommeliers, Masters of Wine, wine lists, wine writers, and importers in the US- her mentors had never heard of Ann Noble, for example, which is like finding physicists who never heard of Poincaré. I have been sorely tempted to write about wine and how to avoid the sort of shit the author rolls around in. (And yes, I thought “Sideways” was an absolutely terrible movie)

    Riven

    I’m still working on The Skinner by Neal Asher. It’s been a busy month, so I’ve probably only read another chapter or two since weighing in last month. Wah wah. Maybe I’ll get more read this weekend while visiting in the in-laws?

    SP

    I’ve been enjoying revisiting the Cliff Janeway mystery series by John Dunning. I’d forgotten what a pleasure they are to read.

    Janeway is based in Denver, and although somewhat predictable in plot, I love the main character and I love the book seller tidbits sprinkled throughout. In a past life, I was tangentially involved in the rare and antiquarian book trade and these details are such fun.

    I listened to one volume from Audible while doing a cross-country drive recently. It was brilliantly read by George Guidall, perhaps my favorite book narrator of all time. It’s super handy that the audio book syncs with the e-book; a seamless transition from one device or location to the next.

     

  • Black Friday Morning Who’s Got This One? Links

    Hopefully, sloopy actually READS his PMs and knows to sleep in today. Then again, that may be hopeless with a house full of kids. SP is sleeping off our massive consumption last night, and I’m dealing with work crises. It’s a great day, and the only thing which will make it greater is… links.

    So here you are, a caring mother whose kid is getting bullied at school. No-one in the CYA administration will do a thing about it unless you’ve got hard evidence so they can avoid any potential lawsuit or social media hoo-hah. You get hard evidence. Then they have you arrested. This is your government at work.

    I’m sure the change in dictator president in Zimbabwe will make all the difference in the world.

    You know who ELSE was beloved by the Arabs? Of course, the only way for this to be a positive is for a revival of Wahabiism, which ought to turn out just fine this time, right?

    Is there anything better than seeing Jerry Jones suffer? Well, yeah, the painful death of anyone named Irsay, but still, this is a nice consolation prize.

    Now, obligatory Old Guy Music, in this case one of the best of the prog-rock bands of yesteryear, and almost forgotten today. Their music went over many folks’ heads, but you can sure hear their influence on bands like Queen, Tool, and… well, anyone who did prog rock. You gotta love a band who called Black Sabbath fans “…a bunch of fucking cunts.”

  • Happy Thiccsgiving!

    For this year’s Thiccsgiving meal, have the thicc PAWG drumsticks of Ms. Amy Jackson with all the fixings.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BZaT6wBgvt0

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BYLYh2SgmvC

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BWRvuujAkqK/

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BXvVdM1AYhI/

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BatfZFIgfn6/

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BXnk5-DAljn/

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BSXXMgKDJou

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/Baqs1ysA5IG

  • Thanksgiving Day Morning Afternoon Links

    Turkey Day is upon us, friends. I’m about to make a last minute run to the good people at Kroger because I’m inexplicably out of Durkee fried onions, which are necessary for the green bean casserole. Shit, and I don’t have any rolls. Or paprika for deviled eggs. And I may as well get another gallon of milk.  And I wonder if I can still buy a turkey today cheap as shit and throw it in the freezer. And I wond…dammit, I better stop before this turns into a full-fledged weekly shopping run.

    Anyway, as the rest of the family sleeps, I will be slaving away on my Kroger trip and then by getting everything going in the kitchen.  I absolutely love this day. I get to be the king of my house, especially the kitchen, and watch everybody be happy together, and those days will get rarer as the years go by.  I hope y’all get the same feeling from today.

    Quick sports update: Arizona lost to NC State in basketball last night. Probably the first big upset of the season. Notre Dame shocked Wichita State in a matchup of ranked teams. In hockey, Boston won in OT, The Canucks dropped the Pens, The Islanders won. The Rangers won. The Crapitals won and the Lightning downed the Blackhawks (sorry, Swissy). Across the pond in UCL games, Chelski won, Athletico beat Roma, Barca drew Juve, Bayern won, PSG won HUGE, and ManUre lost to Basel.

    Get up, bitch!

    OK, that’s it for all that stuff. Besides, the real game this week doesn’t happen for one day twenty hours and 5 minutes or so. Go Bucks! Beat ❌ichigan! ⭕️????⭕️!

    And now we come to…the links!

    Apparently a good cop…who was murdered because of it.

    Wow, talk about an incredible coincidence. I mean…what are the odds? (TW: its about Baltimore)

    Kathleen Sebelius, who incidentally looks like the chicken lady character from Kids In The Hall, is spilling the beans on the Clinton White House’s handling of sex harassment and assault claims against Slick Willy. So brave to come out 20 years or more later.

    Angela Merkel, who incidentally looks like the bulldog Spike off the old Tom & Jerry cartoons (the Fred Quimby ones, not the Chuck Jones ones), is sinking in the polls faster than The Bismark. Gee, I can’t imagine why.

    Angela Merkel.

    So, who do I root for in this situation? Oh, I know…nobody! First off, he’s a dumbass for sending dick pics. And she’s looking for her 15 minutes, in my opinion. But I will give him credit: at least he’s no culture warrior SoCon. In fact:

    In 1998, amid the scandal over President Bill Clinton’s affair with a White House intern, Barton was quoted in the Los Angeles Times saying, “I personally don’t care a fig about what he does in his bedroom with his wife or any other sexual partners he may have, but I do care if he lies under oath.”

    Another day, another proposed tax hike on the residents of Chicago. This one is for the Parks Department to shore up its $462 million budget.  That’s right, the Parks Department in Chicago has a $462 million budget. Nothing left to cut though, eh Rahm?

    This is what happens when you have strict gun control and a corrupt government. And that’s why we should never, ever give up our 2A rights.

    More of the week’s music. Because I dig The Warriors DJ vibe here. Plus the track just never slows down.

    Happy Thanksgiving, friends.

  • What the Glibs are thankful for – 2017

    A standard, thumbsucker piece found in many magazines and newspapers is the “What I am thankful for this year” where columnists can simply punt, get in a sneer at their opponents disguised as being thankful, and make sure everyone knows about their kids/grandkids or whatever else they are under pressure to publicize.

    Everyone is checking glibertarians.com!

    Why should Glibertarians be any different?

    So we have invited the Glibs to put in a brief “what they are thankful for”, and you, our commentariat, should use the comments section to put in yours.

    I full expect multiple entries in the following categories – alcohol, weed, thicc, porn, meat, manly/bear/otterness, deep dish pizza and favorite sports teams not sucking (does not apply to Swiss Servator) Do not disappoint us!

    NOTE: Not an actual depiction of Swiss Servator from the 2003-2009 timeframe.

    Swiss Servator:

    I am grateful the Swiss keep giving me a paycheck twice a month, my kids manage to move forward in life, my wife hasn’t had enough of me and put strychnine in my coffee. Oh and for all of you rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists.

    When Reason’s Hit & Run went a swirling around the bowl, I thought I was going to lose the community of all you. That would have been double plus ungood. So proschtli to all of you.

     

    STEVE SMITH:

    STEVE SMITH GRATEFUL FOR FAMILY – ESPECIALLY COUSIN SEA SMITH AND UNCLE MAPINGUARI. FRIENDS – THE JERSEY DEVIL, LOCH NESS MONSTER AND WENDIGO. ALSO GRATEFUL FOR FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN PEOPLE, WHO GET LINKS. BUT MOST OF ALL, STEVE SMITH GRATEFUL FOR TIME WITH HIKERS, CAMPERS, LOST PEOPLE AND PARK RANGERS. BY TIME WITH, MEAN RAPE.

     

    Riven

    I guess there’s really a lot to be grateful for: my health and ability to be productive, Mr. Riven and our pup and the home we’ve made together, my family who has always given me unconditional support in my endeavors, just living in a nation that values individual liberty and property rights, this place and all of you (yes, seriously, you. You might think I don’t mean you, personally, but I do), the other founders who I consider some of the best friends I’ve ever had or will have, the free market that allows me my favorite “vice” despite its questionable legal status, plus all the other wondrous things that only capitalism makes possible.

    Lastly, I am grateful for this post; I’ve recently had a slew of unforeseen, high-dollar expenses and, overall, just wasn’t feeling that grateful or thankful until I stopped to think about the blessings and truly fortunate circumstances I have in my life.

     

    Sloopyinca:

    I am grateful for a benevolent God that granted me free will. I am grateful for a loving wife and children that make every day on this earth a blessing. I am grateful for my parents and siblings who have been supportive of me and my sometimes curious behavior. I am grateful for the friends that I have, who have filled the voids in my life that my family cannot fill. I am grateful for all of the people that came together to set up and run this site, as well as those who frequent it. You guys are the absolute best people anywhere on the internet and my life would be less full without you.  I’m also grateful for the golf course superintendent and pro at my club for doing a bang-up job of getting it back together in the aftermath of Harvey. And lastly, I’m thankful for The Ohio State Buckeyes, who better beat the piss out of that team up north in two days and five minutes after this is posted. O-H…

    Happy Thanksgiving, SIV!

    SP:

    I’m most thankful for OMWC, who always believes. Everything else is (tasty, vegetarian) gravy.

    ZARDOZ:

    ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES. ZARDOZ HAS LIFTED YOU UP FROM COMMENTING BRUTALITY. ZARDOZ HAD A SHITSTORM OF A YEAR – FIRST THERE WAS LABOR TROUBLE WITH THE TABERNACLE, THEN AFTER FINDING NEW WORK AS A DRUG MULE, ZARDOZ GOT HOOKED – HAD TO QUIT AND DRY OUT. THEN ZARDOZ LOST THE DREAMS OF STOCK RACING AND COUNTRY MUSIC. BUT ZARDOZ MADE NEW FRIENDS; STEVE SMITH, THE SERVER SQUIRRELS, HIS CHOSEN ONES AND THE BRUTALS DOWN AT THE GRAIN ELEVATOR ZARDOZ DELIVERS TO. ALL IN ALL, ZARDOZ IS PLEASED. ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.

     

    Old Man With Candy:

    Not surprisingly, I am most thankful for SP. After two disastrous marriages, it was a complete revelation to have found a life partner who was actually hyper-intelligent, honest, resourceful, kind, protective, creative, talented, thoughtful, and… well… she’s an actual libertarian and built this site (which I will note is remarkably squirrel-free). She puts up with me, my not-easy-to-live-with hobbies, my friends, and my penis. After ten years together, I have not been strangled in my sleep, which says much about her tolerance.

    I am thankful for all of you, who turned the Glibertarians from a goofy idea to a real community, where I can always count on getting laughs, find interesting insights, and meet wonderful people who share my values. I am, for once, not being sarcastic when I say that we have the most interesting, intelligent, articulate, and widest-ranging comments section on the internet. The in-jokes and memes are terrific, and you’ve been amazingly supportive. You folks are wonderful, and I think of all of you as my friends, not just random strangers banging away on keyboards.

    Heroic Mulatto

    I do not experience “gratitude”. “Thankfulness” is merely a way weaklings and parasites assuage the cognitive dissonance they experience from the realization that they are incapable of earning the right to their continued existence through a combination of their own strength and wits and thus must depend on the mercy of other more capable beings.

    Brett L

    I am grateful for my family and kids, learning how hard it is to write a weekly feature, and the shit-lords and -ladies who don’t read my links. And also for the community built here. You may all be reprobates who would never get elected dogcatcher, but I love the community.

  • Thanksgiving Morning Links

    I’m bracing myself for an all-day cooking and football orgy, capped off with a dinner that is threatening to complete the destruction of my liver. We love the holidays! No turkey here, but we shall not lack for ways of increasing avoirdupois. As I write this, it’s a few hours before dawn and the drinking has commenced. And the linking.

    First, here’s a shock: if you make a technology better and cheaper, people buy more of it. So there MUST be a downside, even if we have to make it up. We cannot tolerate the wishes of the proletariat, Comrade.

    This is the End Of The Internet, accompanied by furious pants-wetting. Why, this could take us back to the anarchic days of 2014, when the dead bytes were stacked like cord-wood at the side of every road. If we can’t regulate innovation, why, people might have more options, and we cannot tolerate that, either, Comrade.

    Cook County’s repeal of the transparently money-grabbing soda tax has the inevitable consequence of having to reduce their municipal leeches labor force by a minuscule fraction. This is a MAJOR TRAGEDY- these people may be forced to get actual jobs. Hardest hit is the the board president’s office, which loses 15 workers. Get back to me when you think of a reason that they even needed 15 people, much less a large enough staff that 15 people being laid off can be done without real consequence.

    Another shock- in a whining plea to get more funds, the most useless agency in the entire federal government is about to make the most miserable travel days of the year even more miserable. We really need more wood-chippers.

    Finally, for Old Guy music, the obligatory Canadian Content. And I hope that you all play the role of the Conservative Uncle Who Must Be Devastated In Political Arguments in a way that makes us all laugh our asses off.