Tomb Raider has just departed for New York, so it will be pretty quiet here for the next few days. I would make like George Costanza and flop on the couch in my underwear eating a block of cheese, but bless her, that’s what I do when she’s here, too. I went to a Christmas party with her last night, and of course I was the odd man out in so many ways. I’ll admit to having a bit of sick fun by wrapping my answers to questions from her friends in enigmatic fluff, occasionally dropping references that I know they wouldn’t get (100% guaranteed that no-one in that room ever read Hayek or knew who Lysander Spooner was). To paraphrase Epictetus, “When did I ever tell you I was nice?”
But it is still a day of celebration with multiple birthdays, including the guy who put Claude Rains on the map; a rather complex and reluctant legend of the Old West; a rather energetic fellow; one of the more interesting people to push wood; what Jason Robards and Dean Stockwell have in common; the malevolent member of The Lollypop Guild; a guy who I was lucky enough to see play several times before he literally self-destructed; a rocker who came to a similar end; the guy who convinced me that Trump actually was an idiot; and a guy who I hope actually got two girls at the same time (and probably did).
Let’s get to what we all really came here for, Links.
This guy, he’s my kind of guy.
In this cage match, I’ll take the Christmas shoppers.
Look, it’s better than Kwaanza.
How the fuck can anyone drive without a middle finger?
I feel bad that I never heard of these guys until a couple of days ago. This one will get your blood circulating.
This guy, he’s my kind of guy. – i wanted to make a pithy comment but i got nothing. I blame the wune
Gaahh wine goddamnit
Incidentally argentinian wine
https://www.wine.com/product/el-enemigo-bonarda-2017/682042#promoBarModal
They need a special label with Javier Milei wielding a chainsaw.
Obviously you’ve been drinking too much wune today.
+ spill the wune, take that pearl
I suppose that’s wune way to look at it.
You’d like some time alone?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iznA9P3rz7Q
Merry Christmas NSFW
Lol
“Malevolent member of the lollipop guild “
LOLOL.
Perfect.
including the guy who put Claude Rains on the map;
Happy birthday Michael Curtiz!
(It really is Curtiz’ birthday today, and he did direct Rains in Casablanca.)
he literally self-destructed
Chet Baker’s birthday was yesterday wasn’t it?
Man or Astro Man. A bold move, Cotton.
whaddup doh’
yo whats goody yo
TALL COVID(?) CANS!
/I have a cough, aches, headache, and 100.6 fever. No doubt something I acquired in the 3 airports I passed through on Friday
Cheers!
*Raises Robitussin
DayQuil. Im gonna get dusted on a combo of the Day/Night varietals.
Most excellent. Get sideways and watch some freaky Christmas specials.
Oh heck yeah, the Lady Gaga / Muppets Christmas special is on YouTube. Doesn’t get much freakier.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dXvFP8ZzYt0
You probably didn’t see the freaky Santa in Animal Land short I linked to yesterday.
What the hell is wrong with both of you?
2 minutes in to Lady Gaga and I felt something in my brain pop.
TedS’s you may get a kick out of this classic bit of Soviet Propaganda .
I actually had to read that poem for one of my Russian lit classes when I was in college.
Something is hitting our house too.
Wife is suffering from cough and loss of taste, so probably the vid. Damn the timing. Yesterday I felt like garbage, but got better overnight.
I just watched “Maggie Moore(s)” , a Hulu original crime drama/comedy with John Hamm and Tina Fey. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Might be aimed squarely at single cat ladies though; not sure.
Tina Fey’s post SNL, post 30 Rock, stuff have been surprisingly good. I like her in Only Murders in the Building, also found her delightful in “A Haunting in Venice”, but really she takes the cake in “Maggie Moore(s)”.
I heard her audiobook “Bossypants” years ago and from her talk about her father, I held out hope that she’d recover from being a liberal idiot someday. I believe that has occurred.
Looking forward to what she does next.
Also, Goid Morning Old Man!
And the rest o’ ya too.
“Goid Morning” – too much wune for you too?
Just saw that Only Murders in the Building is making the jump to “legacy” network TV next month (for fuddy-duddies like me who cling to cable.) Worth a watch, I gather?
Definitely worth watching! Steve Martin and Martin Short make up for Selena Gomez”s vocal fry and lack of acting talent.
Second. Took a little bit to warm up to the third season but it is growing on me.
It’s “Murder She Wrote” for our generation and I’m loving it.
“…one of the more interesting people to push wood”
Robert Conrad ?
Wagner?
Yeah…that one.
I blame the NyQuil. And I always forget about Chris Walken.
warm day here for december 14 C and sunny. I am by the lake drinking wine and shouting insults at the swans. It is a fairly peaceful day for pregaming Christmas.
It’s only slightly too early for wine, but I have my football lineup at the ready. Dry Riesling from Finger Lakes, Gamay from the Loire. Wish I had a nice Feteasca Neagra but they seem rather rare out here in the boonies.
I had a very nice 2013 Feteasca Reagla (white but aged very nice) and now the bonarda. Maybe I find a way to mail you some feteasca.
I am seriously trying to work out a way to visit Romania and Georgia. I will expect some joint winery visits.
That is not that easy but will try to arrange
At what point does an enologist become a wino?
“I saw a wino sitting on the corner eating grapes. I told him “you have to wait!””
-Mitch Hedburg
https://makeagif.com/i/ZC2hNK
Vivek making sense again.
https://x.com/scottadamssays/status/1738909999026618762?s=46&t=g7EG4Y-juKY6VXgHEzprrQ
He ain’t lying. Problem is genie is too long out of the bottle.
But you know he’ll follow it up with something batshit. It is the way.
No doubt. He’s your crazy uncle at the dinner table. McAfeeish vibe but little less hookers and blow.
Ten second sound bite of what he said?
one of the more interesting people to push wood
Ted S. is going to leave that just hanging there?
I’ve been carrying wood for years, trying to keep the fire going. Sometimes the spark is just not there…
TW: the book of faces
Zardoz Claus
Okay, second try. Zardoz Claus
Funny, I got this one in my feed.
Tres, did the 3 airports include Dayton “international ” – the airport that requires a connection get anywhere meaningful?
Hope you get well soon.
Well, unless by “meaningful” you mean ATL, ORD, or DAL. We have directs to those places.
But not this time….I went through Billings, Denver, and down by you- CVG.
Im assuming I picked up these epizooties in Denver, since it was a people-packed madhouse.
I joke about the Dayton airport, but it’s actually my favorite to fly in/out because it’s so easy. And actually, it’s closer to me than CVG.
I dont mind CVG, but I always take the long way around 275 through Indiana to avoid traffic.
This last trip I was ‘strongly encouraged’ (read: browbeaten) by our travel coordinator just because she was trying to coordinate all us fly-in people to get to Denver at once.
90% of the time I leave from good ol DAY.
Re the last birthday, I don’t know about doubled-up girls, but I hear he’s very nice and easy to work with, and a dachshund enthusiast.
I always liked the way the brits pronounce it “dash-hound”.
Well, correct in a way. They’ll do that.
My relatives used to send “Dachshund Through the Snow” Christmas cards.
I have a very soft spot in my black heart for dachshunds. Weiner Dog was the best character on “Norm.”
“Them’s mean streets for a wiener dog in a cardigan.”
We celebrated Xmas early (Dec 22) ’cause the family visitors had other plans with other people plus travel involved. Rather than bulky gifts (that Jeff Bezos was hawking) I created a portfolio of early childhood pictures for each family member, pictures and memories that they wouldn’t have, with a bonus quart of honey. They were all so happy.
Now only my daughter is still here and we’ll put her on a plane tomorrow, headed for Austin. Tranquility returns to home base.
Good morning, everyone, and a Merry Christmas Eve to you all. IFLA will run at the normal time today, and we have a special Christmas story running this afternoon.
And don’t forget that the Zoom is running all weekend.
“While you’re shopping, bombs are dropping.”
I am singing that next time I use the bathroom at the mall.
😂
I played https://squaredle.com/xp 12/24:
20/20 words (+5 bonus words)
📖 In the top 2% by bonus words
I played https://squaredle.com 12/24:
66/66 words (+10 bonus words)
📖 In the top 14% by bonus words
🔥 Solve streak: 91
I played https://squaredle.com/xp 12/24:
*20/20 words
🎯 Perfect accuracy
I played https://squaredle.com 12/24:
*66/66 words (+5 bonus words)
🎯 In the top 5% by accuracy
🔥 Solve streak: 154
He has announced plans for “economic shock therapy” including spending cuts.
I say, old chap. Not cricket.
Last week, it weakened the value of its currency, the peso, by more than 50% against the US dollar.
It was not Milei who weakened the currency.
The writer — economically ignorant, or deliberately lying (yes, embrace the power of AND).
Bringing the official exchange rate in line with the black market / free market rate to reflect reality — that isn’t “weakening” the value, it is acknowledging the actual value.
Short term pain for long term gain, a concept that too many people don’t comprehend unfortunately.
Man or Astroman…..excellent! Still need to see them. Made From Technetium is still my favorite album of theirs.
I wish Argentina the best, I hope they are not too far gone for the reforms to work in time. He could get overthrown prior to seeing significant improvement.
The Gaza link refers to a ship being attacked in international waters west of India outside either of the gulfs. Said the drone originated in Iran. Not very promising.
At least these Iranian proxies are taking it in the shorts:
https://twitter.com/IsraelNitzan/status/1737943821407949161
The end of democracy comes disguised as elections
As I’ve seen over the past two years chronicling the world’s elections, patterns, at times chilling, have emerged. Across every continent it has become all too easy for electorates simply to reject long-standing liberal philosophies for shiny brass promises held out by extremes – often from the populist far right.
And the prospects for dramatic change are only intensifying.
——-
June will be a critical moment for the future of Europe, as the European Parliament holds its first election since Britain’s withdrawal; and one predicted to provoke huge disarray.
The foundations of a potentially vast right-wing swing have been in the works for years, certainly building throughout 2023. The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) could even take over as the third-biggest group in the new European Parliament.
Such a block of determined right-wingers and Eurosceptics could throw sand in the gears of a host of moderate EU programs and backstop rightwing swings domestically in leading powers like Germany and France.
On the line: further aid to Ukraine, sanctions on Russia (already the subject of vetoes from Hungary and Slovakia), curbs on immigration, rollbacks on climate controls, justice and the rule of law across the EU, and a shift on how Europe deals with China.
If the “voters” can look at what has been done and decide they want a change, democracy has failed.
“it has become all too easy for electorates simply to reject long-standing liberal philosophies”
I’d love to have them say the quiet part out loud and ‘splain how they propose to make it harder to reject the status quo. Like, use lawfare to keep inconvenient politicians off the ballot, so the voters have a choice between left of center and hard left?
Democracy has always meant validation of the expert class of bureaucrats and think-tankers.
Local news this morning ran a thinly veiled hit piece on the evil PA Senate Republicans fucking the poors by refusing to increase the state’s minimum wage. Even while our neighboring states have done so. This will lead to people leaving the state and other bad things.
It was blatant and ridiculous.
Because everyone knows that not interfering as much with the price of labor results in a bad economy, fewer jobs, and people moving to places that interfere more. Just trust the wise bureaucrats, and they’ll make everything better!
Who’s up for a game of Jenga?
TX hasn’t touched it’s legal minimum wage. Guess what, we’ll try and do what we can with our “population shrink”. Also, it’s slackened back a little from the pandemic, but they seem to be hiring at between $12-15 an hr to start, despite minimum being $7.25.
Yeah, Target here is starting at 17-something. I don’t remember if we won the FIGHT FOR 15 yet but I’m pretty sure MW is way less than 17-something.
That was definitely a MW job when I was younger.
And, of course…
Even if Donald Trump is not elected president, the balloting and campaign leading to November 5 could shred the fabric of democracy in the United States. And if he is elected, it could have ripple effects for large stretches of the world.
What would NATO look like in the event of a Trump withdrawal? Imagine the comfort to those who would dismantle the alliance entirely.
Then there are all the dictators and would-be dictators that Trump has extended warm words towards. On the campaign trail in New Hampshire on Saturday, Trump quoted Putin in calling US President Joe Biden a “threat to democracy.” At the same event, he praised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Hungary’s hardline nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
How might these words translate into action in the event of a Trump presidency? After all, he has already pledged to visit Argentina’s bombastic new radical-right president, Javier Milei, who’s suggested replacing the peso with the US dollar, while taking a chainsaw to bureaucracy and budgets.
Where the world will be a year from now will be determined by billions of voters visiting or shunning ballot boxes with varying degrees of freedom and transparency — and the politicians who will demonstrate to what degree they respect the choices their people have made.
Hopefully they will consider carefully and vote wisely.
Come on, voters, don’t listen to false promises of change and hope. Stick with the proven losers.
“visiting or shunning ballot boxes with varying degrees of freedom and transparency”
The quiet part out loud, folks. Nothing says ballot box freedom and transparency like removing your opponents from the ballot, and kicking the poll watchers out so that huge blocks of ballots going 100% for a candidate can show up in the official tallies in the dead of night.
One-in-Five Mail-In Voters Admit They Cheated in 2020 Election
Hope and Change is so fifteen years ago. Today it’s Obedience and Stability.
STRENGTH THROUGH UNITY
UNITY THROUGH FAITH
Like, use lawfare to keep inconvenient politicians off the ballot, so the voters have a choice between left of center and hard left?
It’s a shocking affront to the very concept of democracy when Putin does it. But Trump actually is a threat to the very fabric of civilization, so anything goes. Sometimes the end really does justify the means.
When action begets reaction, and “By Any Means Necessary” becomes a motto for Remnant America, the dimwits who brought it on their own heads will undoubtedly be saying “But we didn’t mean that!”.
“Why couldn’t everyone just go along with what we wanted?”
Tracy Flick smiles and bobs her head.
Republicans already trying to get Biden off the ballot in 3 states now.
Short term pain for long term gain, a concept that too many people don’t comprehend unfortunately.
To be honest, I think it has more chance of success in Argentina than it would here.
When you’ve suffered long term pain, something that might quickly end that pain looks more appealing.
Apparently, the Libertarian Moment can only occur in desperation, after the ruling party tries every other alternative, and massively screws the pooch.
Only because their society has already been destroyed by socialism.
That’s what it will take here as well.
One of the few Man or Astroman videos out there from the early years.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SM5MaMm9Eag
Change is scary
Retirement announcements often come after the holidays, as lawmakers discuss their next steps with their families and weigh whether to continue in an increasingly dysfunctional Congress. And because Democrats need a net gain of just five seats to take control of the House in 2024, every seat is going to matter, and the dynamics can shift if a race suddenly becomes an open contest.
So far, 35 House members — 23 Democrats and 12 Republicans — have announced they are retiring or leaving the chamber to run for other offices, according to the House press gallery. That’s still behind the 49 House members who decided not to run for re-election in the midterms in 2022, a redistricting year, but it’s only one shy of the 36 who bailed before the 2020 election, with time to add more to the list.
If tomorrow isn’t exactly like today how will we cope?
For as much as they bash “conservatives” those lefties sure are terrified of change.
“lawmakers discuss their next steps with their families”
What rot, unless by families you mean pollsters and fundraisers.
Still, losing incumbents does shift the dynamics in those competitive House races. Incumbents often start with advantages in name recognition and fundraising, while open seats can lead to divisive and costly primaries.
House Democrats’ fundraising advantages, especially, have boosted the party in recent election cycles, as they swamped their GOP opponents in cash. And some of those top fundraisers are opting to run for higher office next year, including Porter, who spent $28.8 million in her House race last year. She defeated Republican Scott Baugh, who spent $3.1 million, by 3 points.
Slotkin’s House race was among the country’s most expensive last year, and she outspent her opponent, Republican Tom Barrett, by more than four times: $11.4 million to $2.8 million. Spanberger spent more than twice as much on her 2022 re-election race as her GOP opponent, Yesli Vega.
Given such advantages, party leaders may be pressing formidable incumbents to stick around.
So much for “Get money out of politics”.
I guess this columnist,Will Wood, thinks we need some Christmas “cheer. ” According to him, the Ukes have so destroyed the vaunted Russkies military that “they will hardly be able to defend themselves against a roaming herd of deer.”. After this insightful analysis of Russian military weakness, he nevertheless goes on to demand the Republicans keep sending billions in aid to defeat Putin, noting it is only one twentieth of what the U.S. spent for the Afghan war.
There’s a nice argument. If we spend 20x more maybe Ukraine can be the next Afghanistan.
1/20 of 20 years for a 2 year war would be more like 1/2. For a war we supposedly aren’t fighting. Or is it 1/20 of annual spending?
Why not just state your positions directly?
I like sex.
And, more seriously, I hate turning social occasions into political arguments. *They* may want to get affirmation from their peers rather than engage in honest facts-based debate, so feel free.
I had a long phone call yesterday with my classmate, Dan Seavey, patriarch of the Seavey Iditarod Racing Team. Dan had visited a couple years ago with his new girl friend, also a retired school teacher. He said she’d walked ’cause the politics couldn’t be surmounted. Pretty much what you said.
Sincerity is not a trait my people have.
Jumpin’
Why not just state your positions directly?
And be cast out for heresy?