Der 5. Mai Linkening

by | May 5, 2025 | Daily Links | 90 comments

Make today educational.

Hola mitenand. I am going to see if I can cross the streams today. I am not optimistic, as there probably is not a lot of Mexi-Swiss news out there. Well, here goes…

  • Watch some international ball kicking, if you’d like.
  • Somehow this has to pay.
  • A heck of a lot closer and cheaper than St. Gallen.

Music – a pair of Ecuadoran-Swiss brothers from Zurich, Hermanos Gutierrez.

Comments are all yours.

About The Author

Swiss Servator

Swiss Servator

Currently serving at the pleasure of a Swiss multinational. Previously a Soldier, rugby player, lawyer, bouncer, bartender, substitute teacher, risk manager, and cubicle mushroom. Will work for raclette.

90 Comments

  1. The Other Kevin

    Mexi-Swiss

    I’ve seen that shredded cheese blend at the local grocery. Sounds delicious.

    • Rat on a train

      How about rosti ranchero?

  2. The Late P Brooks

    Cinco de Drinko.

  3. Not Adahn

    50 degrees and raining. I’ll bet there’s a line at the ice-cream stand.

    • Nephilium

      This week is the grand opening of a new place down the street from me. A coffee shop/gelato shop. Affogatos will be quite popular in my household this summer (and spring, if we ever have one).

      • trshmnstr

        Im sure you’ll go an affogatos number of times.

      • SDF-7

        At least it isn’t yet another Mexican chocolate shop specializing in mole. He’d definitely have an affogatos constant of things to deal with then.

  4. The Late P Brooks

    Festival of retards

    Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy said on Sunday he was “shaking” after discovering an antisemitic sign on display at his bar in Philadelphia this weekend and vowed to hold the individuals involved accountable.

    In an expletive-filled video that he called an “emergency press conference,” Portnoy, who is Jewish, addressed reports that individuals at Barstool Sanson Street held a sign that read, “F— the Jews.”

    ——-

    Portnoy said there were two waitresses involved in the incident, and they were both terminated.

    An official statement from the bar confirmed multiple employees were terminated following a full investigation into the incident.

    Customers who pay for bottle service at the bar can choose a message to display on a neon-lit sign. According to the bar’s statement, an employee complied with a customer’s request to display the antisemitic message.

    “We are saddened, embarrassed, and frustrated by the deplorable actions of a customer and misguided staff acting outside the scope of their duties, which resulted in anti-semitic hate speech last evening at our establishment,” the statement read.

    How do you respond to that in any way other than, “Don’t be stupid”?

    • Sean

      How do you respond to that in any way other than, “Don’t be stupid”?

      It’s Philly, I think you’re supposed to throw batteries at them.

      • Nephilium

        Portnoy is sending them to Auschwitz, on his dime. The waitresses who brought out the sign were both fired.

      • DrOtto

        You know who else sent people to Auschwitz?

      • The Other Kevin

        High school exchange student programs?

      • Rat on a train

        The Soviet Army?

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        I’m taking my kids to Auschwitz this summer and then to the salt mines. And we’ll be staying in the ghetto.

      • SarumanTheGreat

        I’ve never been to Auschwitz or any of the other death camps, but as a boy when my Dad was stationed at Aviano we stayed at Berchtesgaden. The basements still had scraps of half-charred oily scraps of paper the Nazis didn’t quite finish burning up. The family also visited the salt mines in Austria. I still have some of the samples they sold at the gift shop.

      • B.P.

        I’ve been to both Auschwitz and the Wieliczka salt mines. You’re in for an interesting trip. I’ve also been to Berchtesgaden, but didn’t see any cool fleeing-Nazi remnants.

      • slumbrew

        Robert Kraft?

    • Chipping Pioneer

      misguided staff acting outside the scope of their duties

      Does your bar give the minimum wage waitresses the green light to say no to the people paying for bottle service, and support them as necessary? Cause I bet you don’t.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Firing seems reasonable for service staff with the judgement to write “fuck the [insert ethnic/racial group here]” on a public sign associated with the business.

        If the servers didn’t ask management, then back to poor judgement and termination. If servers asked and management approved, possibly just termination for the manager but I’d still lean towards cleaning house.

        This is beyond even the most basic of rudimentary expectations for a customer-facing employee.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      So, I gotta ask: What was Portnoy’s Complaint?

      • Derpetologist

        I’m surprised Shpip didn’t chime in first. Too easy, I guess.

        ***
        The novel tells the humorous monologue of “a lust-ridden, mother-addicted young Jewish bachelor,” who confesses to his psychoanalyst in “intimate, shameful detail, and coarse, abusive language.”
        ***

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portnoy%27s_Complaint

        Sounds like SugarFree territory minus the amusing sci-fi.

    • R C Dean

      So he’s punishing them by giving them an expenses-paid European vacation?

      • Tres Cool

        Thats kinda how I looked at it, too. I doubt this is going to send the message he thinks.

        Also, I’m cyncial enough to think it may just be some PR for barstoolsports. Hell, if I had a good (((friend))) that owned a bar, and had that policy of putting a message on the sign, id probably ask for “F*CK THE JEWS” too.

  5. Shpip

    Switzerland, a channel between Latin American countries at loggerheads

    One of those countries will turn turtle soon enough.

    • The Other Kevin

      I guess we’ll sea.

      • Nephilium

        You’re not mocking Swiss, are you?

      • SDF-7

        I think TOK is just trying to distract Swiss — it is all just a shell game.

      • The Other Kevin

        I don’t mess around with Swiss. He’s been in the military, I think he was a leatherback.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        That’s leatherneck, not back….

  6. UnCivilServant

    Why are you wasting goat intestines on a pinata?

    • SDF-7

      The goat’s not using them anymore?

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Better for casting spells?

    • Grummun

      You want chicken guts for divination. Goat guts are just useless.

      • SDF-7

        You can make them work if they’re not too young — don’t kid yourself.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    Apparently the offenders are being shipped off to Auschwitz in response.

    I saw that. Would it be wrong of me to say he should send them to Gaza?

  8. The Late P Brooks

    Another sob story

    A Guatemalan woman who gave birth to an American baby less than a week ago is being held along with her newborn as she faces deportation, U.S. officials said.

    A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Sunday that the woman was apprehended by Customs and Border Patrol agents and hospitalized after she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally while she was eight months pregnant.

    She gave birth in the hospital “under supervision,” the spokesperson said. She was discharged by the medical staff and transferred to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement as she awaits a court date, the spokesperson added.

    Sell the kid at auction and send her to Guatemala with the proceeds.

    • Fourscore

      She just made a bonus 1000. Goes home.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      By all means we should reward her for having an anchor baby.

    • juris imprudent

      I would think there is a legitimate question about paternity there.

  9. Shpip

    This should be interesting. One of the King’s Men (Florida Man edition) finds the shoe on the other foot.

    I’m not privy to all the arguments, but busting a guy’s window and stabbing him multiple times makes it hard to claim self defense in my book.

    • Jarflax

      Maybe defense of others? If the guy was actually deliberately crashing into people, and the intent was to stop him from driving I guess this might qualify.

  10. Evan from Evansville

    If I Mai, I’ll Chiang up and make some connections before reading the lynx.

    Looked it up, and St. Gallen is a 2.5 hr drive from Freiburg im Brisgau, Germany, where I studied and lived from Feb-Aug of ’08. It’s by far my favorite place on the planet. (Tippy tip of the southwestern toe on the map.) Gorgeous scenery, in a modern, 250k city with a large city-center continuing its 1600s Bavarian feel with the street plan, architecture and style, all unifying the vibe. It’s Disneyland for adults, but also a legit city with a respected university.

    Switzerland’s an hour away, and the Nazis accidentally bombed Freiburg cuz it’s so close to the French border, as well. The Allies got their as well in Operation Tigerfish. Whole city was bombed to the ground, and yet… fuck. The 1300s cathedral, gorgeous, alone survived. Amazing photo I must share: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Luftbild_Freiburg_1944.jpg

    Oooh. I think it’s Tonio with Wurzburg who has similar love with the smaller German locales. Berlin’s great for a weekend but it’s a big city. The smaller ones still have distinct character. (Or did.) I’ve been back a couple of times in my travels. Still and always worth it.

    • Ted S.

      I don’t think Freiburg would want to be called Bavarian. 🙂

      And it’s Rhywun who did the exchange student think in WĂźrzburg.

      My relatives are from near Passau, all the way in the southeast.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    Three other U.S. citizen children from two families were removed from the country with their mothers in late April under what representatives and critics have characterized as rapid deportation that aims to circumvent their right to due process, an allegation federal border agencies have denied.

    This again. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m assuming people taken into custody are given the opportunity to provide proof of citizenship. What additional “due process” is required?

    • The Other Kevin

      That’s all over FB. It’s more gaslighting. They are getting people to conflate the due process you get in a murder trial with the due process you get if you’re illegal. In reality, “due process” means whatever the law says. For murder, you get a jury trial. For a traffic violation, you get the option to go before a judge (no jury). For entering the country with false or no documentation, you are subject to immediate removal. That *IS* due process in that case.

      • SDF-7

        “If we make every deportation require appeals up to the Nazgul — we can wait out the OMB administration” is the evident thinking.

      • The Other Kevin

        That’s my thought. If they all get hearings and appeals and the inevitable delays, they can easily overwhelm the system and wait it out for a few years until some Dem admin gives them amnesty.

      • Nephilium

        A recent substack about due process, and the conflating of different kinds of due process.

        I’ve also enjoyed that within a week there were sob stories about a citizen child who was deported with the mother, and a citizen child who was not deported with the mother. Regardless of what action is taken, the media will condemn them.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        The way the Dems are fighting to gum up the system, I’ve started to think their donors are laundering money for the cartels. Yes, changing the makeup of the voters might be a motivation, but that’s too long term for most people.

      • SarumanTheGreat

        As Schumer said, the point is to turn them all into citizens. So that the Democrats can cast their votes for them and never have to worry about losing another election again.

      • Urthona

        If they’re male, they’ll most likely be voting maga in a few years.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    Ask a model

    “Mitigating climate change would have huge benefits for reducing deaths and economic burdens from wildfire smoke,” senior author Nick Nassikas, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a statement.

    Nassikas stressed that this is true “especially in the western U.S. where climate change accounts for up to 60 percent of wildfire PM2.5,” referring to tiny dust particles with a diameter smaller than 2.5 micrometers.

    To draw their conclusions, the researchers looked at how much land was burned in blazes from 2006 to 2020 and compared those numbers with the amounts that would have been destroyed if climate change wasn’t a factor.

    You just plug in your numbers and it spits out the answer you’re looking for. Simple, really.

    • SDF-7

      :headdesk: 1) “Climate change mitigation” and other watermelon policies have made wildfires worse (well, so has building policies, granted).

      2) Screw the ecosystems that assume wildfires? Yeah, that sounds healthy.

      3) Fires are going to happen, jackasses.

      This is more “If we control every aspect of everyone’s lives we’ll achieve Utopia!” bullcrap.

    • Urthona

      PM 2.5 is pseudoscience. No real evidence it has actually killed anyone or shortened any life.

    • Chafed

      JFC, he really ought to visit California. Competent forest management would do more than any pie in the sky scheme.

    • EvilSheldon

      “To draw their conclusions, the researchers looked at how much land was burned in blazes from 2006 to 2020 and compared those numbers with the amounts that would have been destroyed if climate change wasn’t a factor.”

      James Randi just rolled over in his grave…

  13. Urthona

    They don’t have to show citizenship exactly, but the right to stay in the country. And there’s a brief period that they have to make a habeas claim.

    It’s just fighting over what those limits and procedures are.

    • Urthona

      Whoops. Misthread.

      • Ted S.

        Technically, you didn’t thread at all.

      • Nephilium

        Ted S.:

        Right, so he missed the thread.

  14. Shpip

    For you history types out there, this is sure to elicit a Mercurial response:

    • SDF-7

      Don’t make me break out BARiS again, dangnabbit….

    • Fourscore

      Al and I got is about a 90 minute ride

      • Fourscore

        More like 15 minutes of fame…

  15. Suthenboy

    Someone has been listening to Ry Cooder. Speaking of Cooder here is some interesting stuff – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZrHGJKIUE8
    If it sounds familiar it is no accident anymore than two Ecuadorian brothers from Zurich playing Cooder. Despite my contempt for the left leanings of many musicians I have to give them this: There is more cultural blending in that community than any other and a lot of it bleeds out into the culture at large and it is all good.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Terror in the skies

    An air traffic controller warned Friday that Newark Liberty International Airport is unsafe for travelers due to staff shortages, according to MSNBC correspondent Tom Costello.

    “He said, ‘It is not safe. It is not a safe situation right now for the flying public,’” Costello said of his conversation with the air traffic controller, which he described as, “Really an incredible statement, unsolicited. He just said that to me, and separately: ‘Don’t fly into Newark. Avoid Newark at all costs.’”

    ——-

    Finding qualified applicants to become air traffic controllers—a stressful, high-pressure job with long hours—has long been a challenge. But the crisis has come to a head over the past few months as the Trump administration has shaken up the federal government.

    How much of this “shortage” is due to the union protecting overtime?

    • Suthenboy

      I am calling bullshit.

    • Dr Mossy Lawn

      So many details unanswered. A year ago the NJ/newark ATC radar sectors were moved New York approach in long island and moved to the Philly location now called Newark Approach. This included Morristown and Teterboro, and the other northern NJ airports.

      I’m sure the forced staff relocation caused attrition. Separately the tower controllers are in Newark, but it doesn’t imply tower staff. To complicate this, they have closed 50% of the airline handling runways (Only 2 runways for the major airlines at EWR, so now just one. EWR is also a United hub and like all hub airports it is oversubscribed for actual IFR arrival traffic.
      Therefore when the weather gets bad, and you scheduled an arrival every 90 seconds, you are getting delays when ATC has to give them space for 180 second arrivals.

      United is now asking for arrival slots to cover their poor planning, and to build a lock (cartel style) on traffic in and out of Newark, as if the load and delays were not their fault.

      • Suthenboy

        MSNBC reporter says something to create panic and fear, blames it on Trump. My reflex is to call BS.

    • Grumbletarian

      Avoid Newark at all costs.

      Sound advice regardless.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Unprecedented

    Longtime labor leader George Gresham was toppled by his former lieutenants in a contentious race to lead the nation’s largest health care union.

    Gresham, who became president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East in 2007, lost his reelection bid by a resounding margin to challenger Yvonne Armstrong, who leads the union’s long-term care division, according to data reviewed by POLITICO.

    ——-

    Armstrong and her second-in-command, Veronica Turner-Biggs, will take the reins as the organized labor movement and the health care industry contend with the Trump administration’s attacks on collective bargaining rights and Congressional Republicans’ expected Medicaid cuts.

    Armstrong and Turner-Biggs, who ran as the Members First Unity Slate, will also preside over an internal reckoning. The union is conducting an independent review of Gresham’s spending, after a nine-month POLITICO investigation revealed that he had long used members’ dues money to benefit himself, his family and political allies. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce subsequently asked the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate.

    Corruption and self-dealing? In a union? That can’t be right.

  18. Rat on a train

    More Pie News

    Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu resigned on Monday, a day after a far-right opposition leader won the first round of the presidential election re-run and his own candidate crashed out of the race.
    Ciolacu said his centre-left Social Democrats would withdraw from the pro-Western coalition – effectively ending it – while cabinet ministers will stay on in an interim capacity until a new majority emerges after the presidential run-off.

    The Social Democrats had formed a coalition government with the centrist Liberals and ethnic Hungarian UDMR to help keep the European Union and NATO state on a pro-Western course. A governing majority that cordons off the far right in the legislature cannot be formed without it.
    “This coalition is no longer legitimate,” Ciolacu told reporters after a party meeting. “The next president was going to replace me anyway, that’s what I’ve read.”

  19. R C Dean

    “Watch some international ball kicking, if you’d like.”

    Not the international ball kicking I was hoping for.

  20. trshmnstr

    My dad cracks me up. He ships packages to us by USPS, which inevitably means the package gets “lost” in the network, only to resurface a few days later and get delivered. In the interim, he orders backups and has them direct shipped to us from Amazon or wherever. Then we have to get the duplicates back to him for returns. This has happened more than once.

    At what point do I just tell him to send the kids’ birthday cards separately and just direct ship the stuff to us like literally everybody else does?

  21. Shpip

    For Cinco de Mayo I was going to dress up as a French infantryman and run away from any Mexican that I saw. But that might be “cultural appropriation.”

    • Ted S.

      Dress up as Lee Tracy and pee on Mexican soldiers.

    • Suthenboy

      “cultural appropriation” or “culturally appropriate”?

  22. slumbrew

    So the Ravens cut Tucker for being a gross perv.

    What team will snatch him up and why will it be the Browns?

  23. Mojeaux

    We have an offer.

    $481,500 from a young almost-married high school sweethearts Catholic couple with horses who have been looking forever and had given up when the property came on the market. They sent a love letter to the property/owners/whatever (I guess this is a thing). It was an answer to prayer. Those people need to direct that letter to ME.

    And what happened?

    Cunty Aunt Susie hAs To SlEeP oN iT because she DoEsN’t WaNt To MaKe A rAsH dEcIsIoN.

    Even her daughter got impatient. “What’s there to think about?”

    🤦‍♀️

    • UnCivilServant

      I can only guess she wants the sale to fail, so she is delaying again.

      • Mojeaux

        That’s what I think, but Mom swears she does this with every decision put in front of her.