Glibertarians.com 2017 Archive

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  • Oh, Oh, We’re Halfway The-ere: NFL Week 8

     

    To begin with, let’s give Agent Cooper kudos for figuring out the key to last week’s Team Previews. For everyone who wasn’t Agent Cooper, the original Tecmo Bowl for the NES was paid tribute throughout our Week Seven piece. Last week’s title was the computer’s pre-snap voice-over; the Team Previews were lifted straight from the user’s manual with the exception of the player names – I updated those. And all my original commentary aside from picks formed an acrostic that spelled TECMO BOWL. Agent Cooper, for your sharp recall of 30-year old video games, you win a signed copy of my latest literary offering Whatshisname: Gone But Not Forgotten.

    Now to the matter at hand: This week marks the halfway point of the NFL season, and if the season ended today, people everywhere would be asking “Why was the season so short?” Then they’d notice that the Philadelphia Eagles had earned the best record in the NFL. The talk of the 2016 draft class last season was Dallas’ Dak Prescott; this season it’s all about Philly’s Carson Wentz. Prescott isn’t quite up to his standard of last season but he’s playing very effectively; Wentz is playing like one would expect from the second pick in the draft. LeGarrette Blount is 10th in Rushing Yards and TE Zach Ertz is 6th in Receptions and tied for 4th in TD Catches with five. WR Nelson Agholor is part of that tie for 4th. Blount has been an effective player in his seven-plus seasons, though he’s yet to make a Pro Bowl; ditto Zach Ertz. Nelson Agholor has improved significantly over his first two seasons. This trio of Eagles isn’t exactly Emmitt Smith, Jay Novacek, and Michael Irvin – hell, they aren’t as talented as Dallas’ current trio – but Wentz’ stellar play under center has had a ripple effect on the rest of the Philly offense. However, losing All-Pro OT Jason Peters last week may cast a long shadow over the rest of the Eagles’ season.

    Behind the one standout team lies a morass of some good teams, some decent teams, some if-we-get-a-couple-of-breaks-we-could-get-the-second-Wild-Card teams, and the rest all angling for a shot at Sam Darnold or the kid from Idaho. Since we have a decent amount of season behind us now, it’s Buy or Sell time.

    The red tide

    AFC WEST

    LA Chargers @ New England – Ho hum, Pats win again

    Denver @ Kansas City – Chiefs get back on track

    Oakland @ Buffalo – Raiders build on last week’s big win

    KANSAS CITY: Buy. Yes, the defense is less than the sum of its parts. Yes, Alex Smith is probably going to play more like Alex Smith and less like 1984 Dan Marino as the season wears on. And yes, Andy Reid is more or less the Marty Schottenheimer of this generation. Still, how many teams are better? Philadelphia? New England? Pittsburgh? Twenty eight teams would love to have KCs problems.

    DENVER: Sell. Oh, that defense is scary, no doubt. But Trevor Simien and his backups are even scarier.

    OAKLAND: Buy. They faced a lot of difficulties early and seem to be overcoming them. If Derek Carr doesn’t aggravate that back issue, they’re going to look a lot better in the second half of the year.

    LA CHARGERS: Sell. This seems to be a tradition with this franchise in recent years: Start badly. Rebound strongly. Become the proverbial Team No One Wants To Face in the playoffs, then lose in the Wild Card round. Philip Rivers was under center for a lot of those teams, and he’s there now. They’re right on schedule.

    AFC NORTH

    Miami 0 @ Baltimore 40 – (F – 10/26)

    Minnesota @ Cleveland – I’ve just jinxed the Browns into their first win, haven’t I?

    Indianapolis @ Cincinnati – the Colts are playing for the draft

    Pittsburgh @ Detroit – The Steelers are picking up steam

    PITTSBURGH: Buy. Roethlisberger seems to have his mojo back; Levian Bell and Antonio Brown are humming along like always. They’ve got a great secondary, and the rest of the defense seems to be improving week-to-week.

    BALTIMORE: Sell. I can’t think of a single good team they’d be favored to beat at this point. As our resident child-enthusiast and Ravens expert has observed, Baltimore’s receiving corps couldn’t catch the plague in 17th-century London.

    CINCINNATI: Sell. AJ Green remains one of the best in the business, and Andy Dalton’s not horrible. There, I’ve just listed Cincinnati’s assets.

    CLEVELAND: Sell. One. Last. Time.

    AFC SOUTH

    Houston @ Seattle – Great defense at home versus rookie QB? Yeah, me too.

    Tigresses

    Indianapolis @ Cincinnati

    JACKSONVILLE: Buy. This is like Denver, only Jacksonville is best in the NFL at getting to the QB, and Blake Bortles is better than any QB on the Broncos’ roster. (Sad!)

    HOUSTON: Buy. I know John Cena JJ Watt is hurt, but the defense is okay even without him. And Deshaun Watson has really given the team a boost; my feeling is that he’ll keep it up for most of the rest of the year.

    TENNESSEE: Buy. Marcus Mariota has been very solid in his first two seasons, but a little down so far this year. With a fairly soft schedule to finish the year, I think he’ll look more like last year’s version.

    INDIANAPOLIS: Sell, but everyone already knew that already. They might flip the script next year with a high draft pick and the return of Andrew Luck.

    AFC EAST

    Miami 0 @ Baltimore 40 (F – 10/26)

    LA Chargers @ New England

    Oakland @ Buffalo

    Atlanta @ NY Jets – Atlanta goes back over .500

    NEW ENGLAND: Buy. I’m starting to think that Brady and Belichick are all the team needs anymore.

    BUFFALO: Sell. Buffalo is on the rise and should be optimistic for 2018, but their first six games this year feel like fool’s gold. Growing pains will lead to a little regression to the mean.

    MIAMI: Sell. When the franchise’s hopes are tied to the return of Ryan Tannehill, that can’t be a good sign.

    NY JETS: Sell. On the other hand, they’re not the worst team in New York.

    NFC WEST

    Houston @ Seattle

    San Francisco @ Philadelphia – The Niners Year Of Woe continues apace

    SEATTLE: Buy. At the start of the year it seemed to me that Seattle wasn’t the team they’d been in the past few years, and that may still be true. But other NFC contenders have fared worse. With Atlanta suffering a huge Super Bowl hangover, with Carolina’s inconsistent play, with their struggles in the running game, with the Green Bay Packers losing Aaron Rodgers, with Dallas’ secondary issues, the Seahawks seem to be well-placed to go deep in the NFC playoffs.

    LA RAMS: Buy. This team the Rams are building looks like one that will be in the mix over the next several seasons.

    ARIZONA: Sell. Sell this team for pennies on the dollar. Carson Palmer is hurt and 38 years old. David Johnson, their young stud at RB, has been hurt since week one. Larry Fitzgerald, their HOF-bound wideout, is near the end of his career. Tanking for Palmer’s replacement should be Arizona’s priority.

    SAN FRANCISCO: Sell, if for some reason you bought them previously. This is Year Zero in the Niners’ great rebuilding project.

    NFC NORTH

    Chicago @ New Orleans – The Saints take another one

    Minnesota @ Cleveland

    Pittsburgh @ Detroit

    GREEN BAY: Sell. The time to sell was two weeks ago in the Minnesota game, but better late than never.

    MINNESOTA: Buy. They might be the worst 5-2 team in memory, but the return of Teddy Bridgewater approaches. With Green Bay sure to drop in the standings, Minnesota is in the driver’s seat for the division championship.

    DETROIT: Sell. They weren’t that good to start with, and they seem to have more injured players than healthy ones. But…if you’re looking for reasons to buy, how about: 1) they’ve handed Minnesota their only in-division loss, in Minnesota. 2) After the Pittsburgh game, it’s a pretty reasonable schedule, with five division games left. 3) Matthew Stafford has a nice track record in close games.

    CHICAGO: Sell, but thanks to a tough young defense and a rookie QB with promise, things are looking up for 2018.

    NFC SOUTH

    Atlanta @ NY Jets

    Chicago @ New Orleans

    Carolina @ Tampa Bay – Winston might return, won’t matter

    NEW ORLEANS: Buy. This team has improved substantially since the start of the year and should be in contention for the NFC championship.

    CAROLINA: Sell. Carolina’s underwhelming running game figures to undermine the rest of their season.

    ATLANTA: Sell. The Falcons have shown virtually no signs of getting out of their SB51 funk. Hard to believe that losing Kyle Shanahan could be this detrimental to a team. If you’re a Falcons fan and still want to buy, well, it’s largely the same team of a year ago. That team started 7-5 and finished 11-5. They have yet to play a division game. I’m saying sell, but the glass half full argument is reasonable.

    TAMPA BAY: Sell. If everything goes exactly right from here on out, maybe they get to 9-7.

    NFC EAST

    San Francisco @ Philadelphia

    Dallas @ Washington – Take the home-standing Skins

    PHILADELPHIA: Buy. Losing Jason Peters definitely hurts. And they’ve got a tough stretch of games after their bye week on November 12: At Dallas, versus Chicago, at Seattle, at LA Rams. On the other hand, a 4-7 finish gives the Eagles a 10-6 record for the season. They’ll get there at least.

    DALLAS: Sell. Pass defense issues in a pass-happy league doesn’t bode well.

    WASHINGTON: Sell. Other than Kirk Cousins, who’s playing at a superstar level, the Redskins skill players aren’t impressive. Well, Vernon Davis, if this is 2013.

    NY GIANTS: Give ’em away, because you won’t be able to sell.

    ONE LAST THING

    Every week on Westwood One’s radio broadcast of Monday Night Football, during the pregame, Jim Gray interviews Tom Brady and Larry Fitzgerald in taped segments. Here, give the Brady interview of this past Monday a listen:

    Now, these interviews are sponsored by Macy’s, and naturally the sponsor gets their due mentions. But these interviews always come off as “thinly veiled league propaganda” rather than “a conversation with a top player”.

    First of all, note the choice of players: two elder statesmen, both well-respected household names. No young guys who might pop off. No guys with a screw loose – they’re not interviewing Richie Incognito here. Then, take note of the tone of the answers: [Atlanta is] such a great team, it was a great atmosphere, there was some cool military things that we really honored and showed them so much appreciation that they deserve, I’m so proud of [my parents]…just hokey and aw shucks all the way down. It’s like they handed Brady a checklist and said “Be sure to hit these points during the interview”. Was Brady’s interview coach from the DPRK News Service? That was my reaction; maybe I’m wrong.

    PICKS

    Week 6: 8-6

    Total: 35-35

  • Review – Speakeasy Prohibition Ale

     

    My sister recently had a birthday and I was voluntold to pick up a set of cupcakes from a baker specializing in cupcakes, and only cupcakes with ganache frosting.  I found out they only make a certain amount during the day and will close when they run out.  So when I arrived after they closed I still needed some cupcakes, and unfortunately for me there was only one place in the immediate area that would have what I needed to pick up.

    I love how nobody at Whole Foods ever looks like their file photos…normally they look homeless yet somehow drive a Mercedes Benz Genändewagen. I know what you’re thinking, don’t you like money?  Why are you shopping there?  Well they had what I needed that day and their beer section is stocked with a disturbing level of variety.  I picked this one up while I was there since the last time I bought from this brewery was in college.

    This brand has probably one of the more visually elaborate labels out there. All of their beers are adorned with art deco style and obvious cues to 1920-1930’s era gangsters, gazing narrowly upon us from the refrigerator. The beer itself doesn’t disappoint either.  It’s an American Amber Ale, which is a style that was popularized on the west coast and is probably the most ubiquitous style in the craft industry not called IPA.  Do you like Fat Tire, Alaskan Amber Ale, Full Sail Amber Ale, Avery Redpoint Ale, Northcoast Red Seal Ale, etc?  All fine examples of American Amber Ale.  This one is a hazy, deep red-brown color that finishes with a nice foamy head.  Cascade hops which is the norm but not exclusive for this type of beer, give it a citrus like aroma but not particularly floral–when it is cold.  

    Want

    Cascades are a strain of hops that was derived at the University of Oregon on a USDA grant in 1956 that was determined to create a species of hop resistant to downy mildew.  It originated from an open seed collection that comprises of English Fuggle, Russian Serebrianker, and “an unspecified male hop variety.” The name of course, comes from the mountain range that runs through the area.  In the event you run into a non-GMO type at a bar drinking a Full Sail Amber, be sure to point out this fact and provide a Dixie Cup to purge xirself of this vile example of patriarchy that displeases Gaia.

    Speakeasy’s version is a bit more fun, as it warms to room temperature it takes a different character, allowing the dark toffee malts to be more evident.  The malts balance out the hops, which is probably why this style is as popular as it is—it isn’t made to suit an extreme.  They also mix in another hop, Centennial, which is similar to the Cascade, but manifests itself better at optimum beer drinking temperature and does not taste so much like grapefruit.  This twist gives it a bit of complexity and lends itself specifically to the American standard of drinking beer while it’s near freezing.  Beer should be served around 55 F, which is something in C, I just don’t care to do the math for it.

    Speakeasy Prohibition Amber Ale easily rates at 3.5/5 or better depending on your glass of choice and if you are the type that prefers some balance.  I had it in a chalice but you can use a pilsner glass or other wide mouth glass for a good effect.  Otherwise if you read everything I just wrote about hops and determined it is another example of putrid, overpriced, over hopped, grapefruit flavored swill, there isn’t anything I can say that will convince you otherwise.  So I’ll just leave this here for you:

  • Saturday Morning I’m Back Links

    After a week on the road, I’m home and once again ready to dish up the news. And it was in a few ways a fun week, mainly because the hotel I stayed at had NFL Network, so I was able to enjoy watching the Other Ravens take the field and demonstrate the culinary art of preparing Puree du Dauphin. And to see the Astros cook Molé de Doyers  (I’m not a fan of the Astros, but I’m always happy to see the Dodgers flail). Anyway, busy news day, so with no further delay…

    Muller takes his first scalp. Let’s have a pool, betting on which ham sandwich this will be; proceeds will go to the Almanian! Memorial Beer Fund. I have $1 on Manafort.

    Cuba is, shockingly, a hotbed of racism. I think what Gurriel was trying to say was, “Be careful in the parking lot afterward, Darvish inherits his driving skills from his mother’s side of the family.”

    This is from the Department of Shit That’s Wack. It’s not a handicap, it’s… something something culture, and anyone who works on technological fixes to restore hearing is clearly the same as Hitler, with Alexander Graham Bell being its Goering.

    …the Deaf community is increasingly endangered by… a scientific community racing toward a cure for deafness without considering the ethical ramifications. There seems little concern about, for example, what inherent value a language or culture can have, or what it might mean to knowingly pursue its extinction.

    Anyone who spends time in Wisconsin nods their head knowingly at this story.

    And finally, the obligatory Old People Music. As far as I know, this is the only existing video record of the guy who was on a plane with Louie, Dizzy, and Miles. Died far too young and it still kills me that I never got to see him play.

  • STEVE SMITH’S FRIDAY NIGHT LINKS

    STEVE SMITH DISAPPOINTED BY EFFORTS AS STEPHEN SMYTHE. PLENTY OF RAPE, BUT NO FUN. NO STRUGGLE, NO FIGHT. AT LEAST HIKERS RUN AND CAMPERS RESIST. STEVE SMITH THINK MAYBE HE SHOULD HAVE STAYED AWAY FROM HOLLYWOOD. THINK HARVEY WEINSTEIN GOT THERE FIRST.

    SO STEVE SMITH FIND NICE STATE PARK AND GET GOOD, WHOLESOME MIDDLE CLASS RAPE. IF STEVE SMITH FEEL LIKE SLUMMING IT SOME, GO FIND KOA OR JELLYSTONE PARK.

    SO STEVE SMITH GIVE FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN PEOPLE SOME LINKS, AND HE GET TO BUSINESS. AND BY BUSINESS, MEAN RAPE.

    • STEVE SMITH SHAKE HEAD SADLY. HANDCUFFS, GUNS, BADGES ARE FOR AMATEURS.
    • STEVE SMITH NO UNDERSTAND. THOUGHT ROYAL NAVY TRADITION WAS RUM, SODOMY AND LASH? WHY THIS CAUSE TROUBLE?
    • STEVE SMITH THINK HE KNOW WHY CHICAGO HAVE TO KEEP RAISING TAXES.

    STEVE SMITH GO NOW…IT BUSINESS TIME.

  • Friday Afternoon Links

    Aww yeah. Its Friday afternoon. Took my wife to this nice little mom’n’pop Japanese restaurant today. The food was awesome, but everyone sat down at lunch at once. At one point we hear Pop go into the back (he’s usually up front doing the sushi), loud yelling in Korean or Japanese (the restaurant is Japanese, but they are always playing K-Pop), a refrigerator door slam and then a loud English “Shit!” All of that to say, cooks are the same in every language.

    Big ball game tonight. Will Lance McCullers Jr bring the same filthy pitching he closed down game 7 of the ALCS? Will the Yu Darvish of the Rangers era show up against the Astros or will he be the dominant pitcher he’s been post-Trade? Will we see another 3+ homerun night? Which, call me old fashioned, but I want to see less than 50% of the runs in a game result from homeruns. I like seeing guys have to put together two or three good at bats together to get a single run across the plate. Maybe the A/C will take 10 feet off those long hits and we’ll see more doubles off the wall.

     

    Given the arrest rate of NFL players, I don’t see what’s so problematic about the statement “we can’t have the inmates running the prison” with regard to the flag kneeling thingy. Maybe some non-black NFL players who have been convicted of crimes should start a #MeToo trend*.

    If this kid ever gets to drive again, NASCAR should give him a chance.

    Wisconsin man gets stuck in beer cooler, decides to make the best of it.

    Another questionable study that some here may appreciate.

    Topical Song for Wisconsin Man.

    *I assume that there isn’t much statistical difference in the arrest rate based on race.

  • What are we reading? October 2017

    It is time once again to pretend that we have education and class. Our one chance of getting invited to cocktail parties… Although I don’t know anyone who invites trashlit, science books, or self-improvement tomes to cocktail parties. We also want to know what you’re reading. Library Scientist or not, SF is going to run out of books to feed us some day.

    SugarFree

    October means I’m reading horror.

    Given the hype over the new movie (which I haven’t found a good copy to pirate seen yet,) I felt compelled to read It, probably for the 12th time since high school. It really is too bad about, ahem, that scene, because, without it, the huge novel could be pushed on anyone who ever wondered what Stephen King’s success was all about. It combines pretty much everything good King ever had to say with some of his best writing–even if a ruthless editor could have improved it by trimming away 100,000 words and a squicky sewer gangbang.

    On the other end of the scale, I also read Cujo. For such a King fan, I just never got around to Cujo, I think because someone warned me off of it. Whoever you were, you were totally right. Cujo is It as seen through a mirror darkly. At best a novella, the simple premise of Cujo is stretched kicking and screaming and biting and pissing itself to an unnecessary novel length with a boring cast of stock Maine characters who add nothing to the core conflict between mother, child and monster dog. The husband’s failing ad agency, the abusive father of the family that owns the dog, the hacky lottery ticket that sets up the deserted farm for the Cujo attack, the foul-mouthed drunk down the way who is Cujo’s first victim, and even the shithead who the mother had an affair with all mean nothing to the overall story. And the ham-fingered way King tries to tie a rabid dog back to Frank Dodd, the Castle Rock serial killer from The Dead Zone, only reminds the reader that they are reading a far, far inferior book (as does the attempt to bring back the third-person omniscient and time-bending narration from Carrie as an attempt at world-weariness.) Stephen King has admitted to being so out-of-his-mind drunk during this period that he has no conscious memory of writing the book whatsoever. He’s either lying to save face or alcoholism has a rare blessing after all.

    And since I was on a roll, I read two more 1970s books-to-movies (watching the movies again, of course, just like It and Cujo.) The Howling by Gary Brandner, the source novel for the 1981 movie of the same name–you know, the one where Elliot’s mom from E.T. turns into a Lhasa Apso–and Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg, made into 1987’s Angel Heart, where De Niro peels an egg while badly in need of a manicure and Mickey Rourke gives the second oldest Huxtable girl the Hottest Cosby of them all. The Howling is fairly mediocre, a they shouldn’t have gone there combined with man, rednecks are pretty creepy; the movie is far superior, with a kinky edge that the book couldn’t find even though it features much more werewolf sex. Falling Angel is very, very well written, and would have been a revelation to read in 1978, but decades of hard-boiled wizards has taken the punch out of its early fusion of Raymond Chandler and Dennis Wheatley.

    Brett L.

    I really don’t seem to have read much this month. Other than a couple of RFPs that included 180 page appendices on the unsuitability of their current system. Holy crap. Whoever did the consulting work on that study must have had a 2 page per thousand dollar rule. I’m sure they were aiming for exhaustive, but only reached exhausting. I did work my way through three of Tim Dorsey’s Serge Storms novels: The Big Bamboo, Hurricane Punch, and Atomic Lobster, because the Apple book store thingy had a collection and I had credits from some class action lawsuit. Anyhow, I enjoy the billion and one Florida facts Dorsey manages to cram into each book, and with several books taking place or passing through the Tampa Bay area, I’ve learned a lot of trivia about my local area. Also, in the last two, Dorsey took Serge back to doing what he does best: killing Florida Man inventively. These are fun leisure reading with all of the Florida and none of the sanctimony of that other Florida novelist from Miami.

    I also read The Skinner by Neal Asher, on SF’s recommendation. Not to steal any of Riven’s thunder, I’ll just say that Spatterjay is a fucked up universe. I’ll probably work my way through the whole thing eventually, but disembodied heads that skitter and giant killer space crabs are merely two of a host of violent and difficult to kill denizens. I will eventually work my way through more. Its good space opera that seems to center on “how can I buff these characters so I can kill them at least twice?” Which is actually a hell of a way to build a universe.

    I am listening to Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss based on a recommendation out of the comments (someone gave RC Dean credit, but if I’m wrong please correct me). Since everything is a hostage crisis negotiation when you have two toddlers, this may be the most helpful book I’ve ever read. The unfortunate downside is that I don’t have a SWAT team to bail me out when I make a mistake. Sometimes, I wish there was.

    jesse.in.mb

    Joe Abercrombie – The Blade Itself, so Brett read it last month and I largely agree with his assessment. I noticed several of you came to Abercrombie’s defense and I may be willing to pick up the next book in the series based on that, but there was some interesting world building and by the end of the book I wasn’t excited to see where the grand adventure would take me.

    Marie Kondo – Spark Joy is more practical than her declutterer’s manifesto The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, but I’m not entirely sure that I got that much more out of it than the first book. My book collection is now about 1/4 of what it was previously (Salvation Army ended up with just shy of 200 used books this weekend), and I can actually find clothes in my cabinet and closet, so I’m kinda digging the philosophy.

    Tom Merritt – Pilot X seems to be very much a play on Doctor Who plot and themes and a few times dropped some Easter Eggs related to the show “Spoilers sweeties” and the like. The story is fun and the narrator, Kevin T. Collins does a great job of bringing the story to life. The one down side is that I couldn’t stop thinking about how much the story reminded me of a Who arc.

    JW

    JW has been reading the back of a box of Post Toasties. Did you know they have thiamine, niacin, and riboflavin?

    Old Man With Candy

    I will make two confessions: first, the most interesting book I read this month was Handbook of Ring-Opening Polymerization. From the title, I thought it would be about anal sex, but I was mistaken. Nonetheless, excellent content if you’re into this sort of thing. I am tempted to experiment with microemulsification…

    Second, I never actually did read Primary Colors when it came out. I have corrected this. It’s certainly a good cynical look inside the Clinton campaign of 1996, surprisingly so for a liberal author. But my main complaint was, not nearly cynical enough.

    Riven

    So, I’m still working through The Skinner by Neal Asher, a SugarFree recommendation. I’m only about a quarter of the way through it so far as my free time this last month has definitely been on the short side. Additionally, it took me a while to “get into” this book. I was probably 10% in before things started to click into place, and the confusion surrounding the universe in which the book is set cleared to the point I could read it enjoyably. Not to say that Asher isn’t still introducing new creatures, concepts, etc., just that I think I finally have a basic grasp of the characters (and there are a lot of them) and how they relate to each other. So far the bulk of the action has taken place on one specific world, but there are references to other characters on other worlds and there have been a few scenes set off this main world, as well. It’s making for an interesting universe so far, to say the least. There are a lot of different plots all happening at the same time, and it’s sometimes difficult to see how one or another are going to tie in together. There’s still plenty of the book left for it all to come together and make some sense, though, and I can be patient.

    SugarFree here… I made this handy chart to Neal Asher’s Polity Universe that should easily clear up any questions about continuity or reading order:

     

  • It is ON…Catalonia Says “Adéu” (Updated)

    Don Swissxote

     

    To Juvenile Bluster

    Looks like PM Rajoy has decided to crack down on Catalonia. [forestalling our commenters, I will ask…”You know who else cracked down on Catalonia?”]

    Catalan separatists respond with a good bye vote in Parliament [Note: this vote was boycotted by opposition parties, the result was : 70 in favor, 10 against and two blank ballots out of a 135-member parliament].

     

    So now what? The Catalan vote appears to be a reaction to the Spanish Central Government moving to impose direct rule over the area (Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution). Some interesting notes in this story.

    To those who think this is simply a bunch of Lefties who want to prog harder than Madrid:

    Marta Ribas of the leftist Catalonia Yes We Can party said “two grave errors” were being committed Friday.

    “First, the Article 155 which will take away our rights and impact all the country. But it is a grave error to respond to that barbarity with an even bigger error,” she said. “The unilateral declaration of independence won’t protect us against Article 155, you will only make the majority of people suffer.”

    One of the demonstrators in Barcelona was quoted as saying:

    “I am here today because we will start the Catalan Republic,” said 68-year-old protester Jordi Soler. “Madrid is starting with total repression — and there is no longer any (other) option.”

     

    So now we will have to see what Madrid will do when it invokes Article 155. I am expecting the National Police (the headcrackers from the referendum) to go in and arrest everyone they can. The Catalonian provincial police’s reaction will be key – if they resist, the Army will go in next, and I think it will get bloody.

    Does any of this change the view of a libertarian? To this minarchist, I am slowing moving further and further into the Catalan camp.

     

    UPDATE: Things moving along. Here is a good timeline. Article 155 invoked, looks like Madrid will at least charge Catalan President Puigdemont with “rebellion” (insert “You Rebel Scum” here)

  • Friday Morning Links

    The freaking Member-Guest is this weekend at my club, so I’m gonna have a hard time getting a round in today. And I couldn’t play in a golf outing when Ohio State hosts Penn State with an afternoon start.  So I don’t know what I’ll do with my time other than work. And that ain’t no fun for nobody.  Meh, I guess I can suck it up for another day. (Or I can still go out there around noon and figure out a way to worm my way in between groups out there before they start the shootout.)

    No baseball yesterday means no shit-talking today. It also means I have time to dedicate for a nice early-season NHL analysis. In the Wales Conference, Tampa Bay just keeps on lighting it up.  44 goals through 11 games and a 9-1-1 record is a hell of a start.  The Pens are playing well, which is no surprise. But the Maple Leafs are hanging tough with a 7-3-1 record and look to end their misery streak with a nice season. Sure its early days, but they are looking good.  Ottawa, New Jersey, Columbus and the NY Islanders round out the top 7 although Boston and Carolina have a couple extra games to play and the middle of the table is pretty tight.  Over in the Campbell Conference, the LA Kings are leading the con…wait, did I just say the LA Kings are leading the Campbell?  Holy shit, they are.  Well good for them.  I suppose the bandwagon will start to attract a few more people by the day and pretty soon, the internet will be crawling with LA hockey fans. The Blues are right there with them and Vegas, with the generous expansion draft system that was employed this year, are hanging tough at the top and with a couple extra games to play.  Vancouver, Chicago and Dallas needn’t worry. They’re fine. But Arizona. Yikes! They might fold the team midseason if this debacle continues.  I mean, even Les Canadiens du Montreal have won a couple games this year.

    Anyway on to football, where Stanford had to come back and pull out a miracle win against Oregon State, who just fired their coach two weeks ago. And there was a blowout in the pro game but I won’t report on out because I can’t find stories on who kneeled and who didn’t that don’t contradict each other. And I wouldn’t want to report on that oh-so-important part of the story without being accurate.

    Fine. Ready? Off we go with…the links!

    My God, look at those magnificent tits!

    Hypocrisy, thy name is Ellen DeGeneris. But in the daytime star’s defense…that’s quite a pair of balloons.

    I guess the shit apple doesn’t fall too far from the shit tree, does it Randy? (Pours out a beer for Mr Lahey)  What a fucking scumbag piece of shit.

    We need to just tear down the Confederate monuments to end the national conversation. That’s what we were being told by those dumb enough to take these perma-griefers at their word. Except anybody with an ounce of brains knows they’ll never stop until they’ve destroyed everything that runs counter to their chosen narrative.

    OK, I gotta give her credit for making a good joke. But it doesn’t sound like the hunger strike is anything to be taken seriously if the commissary receipts show anything. These guys sure as shit ain’t the IRA.

    What an amazing amount of butthurt and deflection. But its what I’d expect from Mother Jones.  (Trigger Warning: duh, Mother Jones)

    I don’t care about him whoring, but a Patriots fan? BLECH!

    Houston cops bust 140 johns at a whorehouse. One of them a cop. I give the whorehouse credit for serving a diverse clientele though.  The slideshow shows men from all races and ethnicities willing to pay for a little boom-boom.

    This song’s title reminds me of the left’s reaction to finding out their own ranks are filled with sexual harassers and guys jacking off into potted plants while starlets watch. But since its such a good song, I quickly overcome that and just rock out.

    Have a great weekend. Go Astros! Go Bucks! Fuck Michigan! That is all.

  • Thursday Afternoon Kararinku

    Still recovering from Jesse’s “ministrations” during the bender. Leaving everyone with this month’s Teen Vogue parody cover and empty links to play in. Special thanks to Mad Libertarian Woman for her awesomely believable work.

  • A curated selection of rather Romanian commercials

    Look, I assume every glib is thinking, if we wanted to see Romanian commercials we would have beaten them out of you. Well no need for violence, stout yeomen! I decided that I will enact your labor for you (whether you want it to or not) and present the following. I tried to use a selection which reveal a bit of Romanian spirit, a bit of Romanian flavor. The video quality is not great and mostly there are no English subtitles. But it matters not, as they send their message across just fine.

    In case you don’t want to actually watch the video

    First we start with Rom Tricolor, a candy bar that is, like many cheap candy bars, mediocre overall, but for some reason you want to eat it. Rom is rum, so it is chocolate on the outside and a rum essence cocoa cream in the inside. This is enhanced by nostalgia, as for me it tastes of childhood. Their campaign was based on a slogan “Romanian sensations since 1964”

    Two of the commercials go into communist nostalgia and the good old days when the actual fashion police came a calling, because “We will not tolerate such attire for the socialist youth”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5BsN9BKoFI

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A2uL06ewxU

    The third is a modern view of certain less than ideal aspects of Romanian culture, centered on the person of the Cocalar – which I have no idea how to translate in American. It is what the English might call a chav. This one is for Q as it briefly contains a female in a bathing suit.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKoQbzn1q1c

    A different commercial focusing on history is for a painkiller called Algocalmin, which has been since made prescription only in most countries, even banned in some, as it contains a substance called metamizole, which is actually bad. Now in my family we didn’t really use Algocalmin as a painkiller, but there was nothing like it to break a very high fever. Worked like magic for that purpose.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GnbfqBGgnA

    Next couple are for detergent – DERO comes from “Detergent Românesc” (Romanian Detergent) –which is no longer Romanian, but a brand of Unilever. The commercials are basically a couple talking about the kind of stains DERO removes –ciorba de burta (tripe soup) and coal dust.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=qycKgN3HVwQ

    It’s just fine if you forgot what a bowl of ciorba looks like.

    “I hate ciorba de burta. My father hated ciorba de burta. His father hated ciorba de burta. Where are we going to get these stains?”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=ZbfmTi3VMOQ

    Now we have one showing the fabled Romanian construction workers in their natural environment, for cheap rotgut liquor with the slogan “Unde’s multi puterea creste” – basically Strength in numbers. (The name is Unirea, or Unification, and the slogan was the one during the unification of Wallachia and Moldovia)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=28&v=hiWCol_MOH4

    And finally a commercial recommending buying a TV, so one can more easily tell the difference between a priest and Batman