Hey Buddy Stop Doing That! Part 1. 5 year anniversary director’s cut edition.

by | Jul 21, 2025 | Art, Comic | 238 comments

EDITOR’S NOTE: This occasion is much more important than my links. Enjoy.

Hard to believe but its been five years since I first posted what has became one of Libertarianism’s most influential poorly drawn comics ever to be posted on a little visited splitter site, but that where we are. Enjoy.

About The Author

The Hyperbole

The Hyperbole

The Hyperbole can beat any of you chumps at Earthshaker! the greatest pinball machine of all time.

238 Comments

  1. kinnath

    Another day older and deeper in debt

    • The Other Kevin

      Preach.

  2. Shpip

    Life would be a damn sight easier if everyone would just agree with me and act the way I think they should.

    • DEG

      But I don’t like doing that.

    • Spudalicious

      You’re not my supervisor, Shitlord!

  3. DEG

    what has became one of Libertarianism’s most influential poorly drawn comics ever to be posted on a little visited splitter site

    🙂

  4. The Late P Brooks

    Needs more labels.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    Gone fishin’

    “French authorities have requested access to X’s recommendation algorithm and real-time data about all user posts on the platform in order for several ‘experts’ to analyze the data and purportedly ‘uncover the truth’ about the operation of the X platform,” X said.

    Musk’s social media platform also said it, “remains in the dark as to the specific allegations made” against it.

    Don’t worry. They’ll find something.

  6. EvilSheldon

    You can’t see it in the comic, but Buddy is setting fire to a box full of newborn puppies.

    • juris imprudent

      Now see, I wouldn’t say stop I’d just put a bullet thru his brainpan. Never said I was a good libertarian.

      • EvilSheldon

        Kind of my point. Everybody is Buddy, and everybody is also Buddy’s persecutors…

      • Evan from Evansville

        Yo, dude. I ain’tcha buddy, pal.

      • rhywun

        I’m not your pal, fwiend.

      • juris imprudent

        Everybody is Buddy

        Nope. Buddy wants a collectively enforced decision on behavior that doesn’t impact him beyond the vanity of his morals. I’ll take the consequences of my own actions – if the jury doesn’t agree “he deserved killin'” then the joke is on me.

      • DEG

        Buddy wants a collectively enforced decision on behavior that doesn’t impact him beyond the vanity of his morals.

        I think you have it backwards.

      • EvilSheldon

        “Nope. Buddy wants a collectively enforced decision on behavior that doesn’t impact him beyond the vanity of his morals. I’ll take the consequences of my own actions – if the jury doesn’t agree “he deserved killin’” then the joke is on me.”

        While this is certainly morally laudable, in practice I see it as a distinction without any real difference. The desire to force others to live by your standards still exists, wheter you enforce it yourself or offload it to the crowd.

      • juris imprudent

        Sheldon that’s a problem I have with Nietzsche – he insists much the same that morality is either about dominating or being dominated. The idea of cooperative behavior is almost unknown to him.

        If I cap Buddy for his puppy torture, I haven’t forced anyone to live under my judgement, most especially not Buddy. Maybe he doesn’t anticipate that consequence for his behavior. Surprise.

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      That’s incredible. I didn’t know you could ship your trial by not feeling well.

      This one weird trick…

  7. The Other Kevin

    Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn are doing their live show now. They are all over those Tulsi documents. At the time they were both right in the middle of it, reporting that it sounded like bullshit, and as Matt said, right about then was the end of his career.

    I had also forgotten that Tulsi had been exiled from the DNC and the Biden admin put her on that “Quiet Skies” list. Karma’s a real bitch.

    • juris imprudent

      Only if all of those redacted names were put on the same list. Maybe a few others.

      • R C Dean

        Yeah, I’m still kinda choking on how the to/from lines on all those emails were redacted.

        Why? Isn’t who sent and got them kind of an essential point?

      • juris imprudent

        The other weird part is – usually the marking is preserved and the words in the text describing the threat to national security are blacked out. This one, most of the markings are blacked out – that’s important because it tells you what the classifying authority thought of the consequences of the text part being disclosed inappropriately. Harmful, seriously harmful, gravely harmful. We don’t know even though we know what was actually said.

        Weird.

    • The Other Kevin

      Now they’re showing Colbert clips, when he visited the suite in Russia where the alleged “pee hookers” incident took place. He’s dripping with smugness. And now his show is canceled. I think I’m having schadenfreude overload. Send help.

      • B.P.

        I’d feel pretty stupid if I fell for something like the Steele Dossier and all the absurd fallout. I’d probably keep my mouth shut for a while, instead of being a smug, preening, loudmouth twat.

      • rhywun

        I’d be happier if they confiscated most of his paycheck from the last few years to cover all the money he lost the network.

        But I’ll take never having to see or hear from that asshole ever again.

      • rhywun

        I’d feel pretty stupid

        I’d say whatever the fuck they wanted me to, with no shame, for a few dozen million dollars.

      • DrOtto

        He was the worst Mr. Goodwrench ever.

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        It was comedy, not reporting. Come on guys.

        Anyway, we should be getting fully unredacted (dacted?) of any documents. Weird not to have names, isn’t that the point?

  8. Ownbestenemy

    Heh. Thanks Hype!

    • juris imprudent

      No idea about taste but you do get some fine leather.

      • The Other Kevin

        You’re thinking about this all wrong. I’m building a boxing ring in my back yard.

    • Suthenboy

      That seems a little….steep.

    • Tres Cool

      I think Ive mentioned this before, but I cant eat kangaroo.

      Makes me jumpy.

    • R C Dean

      According to the ad, apparently kangaroo meat is pretty sweet. This one’s milk-fed, even, basically kangaroo veal.

    • slumbrew

      It’s very mild. I had in in a chili, didn’t taste like much.

    • DEG

      It’s tasty.

    • Akira

      Most grass-eating mammals pretty much taste like beef, maybe with some gaminess. I’ve made kind of a sport of going to Jungle Jim’s International Market and buying exotic meats. I’ve had kangaroo, antelope, elk, camel, and a few others, and I’m not sure I could tell the difference between them and a gamey piece of venison.

      Although the camel was pretty tasty and had sweet notes. Too bad they never had it again. Damn camel meat supply chains…

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        Dude, try yak, it’s amazing.

        Agree that kangaroo is morning special, not bad though.

  9. Suthenboy

    You cant have that but if you manage to acquire it in spite of me then you have to give it to me.

    “You cant do that without a permit” – Feds to Elon Musk about washing down his launch pad
    “It’s just water. Water falls out of the sky all of the time” – Musk
    “You have to get a permit” – Feds
    “Ok, what does the permit cost?” – Musk
    “You cant just buy it. You have to have an enviro studies done by two certified labs and the EPA first. You also have to comply with DEI programs” – Feds
    “Ok, how long will this take and how much will it cost?” – Musk
    “Around ten years.” – Feds
    “Ten years before I can turn on a water hose and rinse my pad off? ” – Musk
    “Yes. Also you have to pay a 6 digit fine for not getting a permit the first time.”

    ^What they are saying is “Hey buddy, stop doing that” ^

    “Just think about all those billions of dollars just sitting there untaxed!” – I have never seen a more naked display of envy than Jimmy Kimmel slobbering over unrealized capital gains.

    As a species we are not civilized. Basically, people suck.

    • (((Jarflax

      Invite the regulators and media to inspect the pad, then launch while they are standing there.

      • dbleagle

        The Soviets did something similar to your suggestion. They were attempting to launch a system that had not successfully tested yet. The general who came to observe was watched to sit farther away. He elected not to so most of the official party stayed too close with him.

        Launch failed and over 100 Soviet military, engineers, and scientists died.

        Oopsie.

    • rhywun

      Jimmy Kimmel

      I was wondering if there’s a bigger asshole on TV than Colbert and you just reminded me that there is.

      • DrOtto

        What makes Kimmel worse is he was always an asshole, like Colbert, but not always a political hack asshole. That’s always been Colbert’s schtick.

      • B.P.

        At one point both Kimmel and Colbert were…. funny.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        I also doubt he pronunciation being “Cole-Bere” as opposed to plain old Col-bert.

      • rhywun

        I hate to admit it but the Colbear Repore was actually somewhat funny before everything became viciously leftist.

      • Spudalicious

        Cole -bere was his affectation on the Colbert Report, when he made a living mocking O’Reilly.

      • Brochettaward

        At one point both Kimmel and Colbert were…. funny.

        You cannot adhere to modern progressive beliefs and be funny. They chose to dress themselves in the trappings of progresisvism over comedy. It paid well for both of them. And I’m sure the cocktail parties they go to in the Hamptons are just a blast.

  10. Shpip

    I guess she’s tired of getting it animal-style from Sacramento

    In-N-Out President Lynsi Snyder – whose grandparents started the famed burger chain in California – has said that she and her family are moving from her home state, where her grandparents opened their first eatery in 1948.

    Snyder, 43, who is the mother of four with her husband, Sean Ellingston, broke news of her family’s move to Franklin, Tennessee, on the podcast “Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey” this week. Her company is relocating its headquarters after 77 years in the Golden State.

    • Rat on a train

      She chose out.

    • Suthenboy

      What kind of a state has an official Department of Equality instead of a Department of Revenue? I will tell you…a state that has at least one life sized statue honoring Lenin. The kind of state sane people leave from.
      In my perfect world this kind of shit would lead to serious tax reform along the lines of strengthening private property rights. Our tax laws are a bit open ended and that is a recipe for theft. This government has wildly abused the power it has been given. We need to limit the amount they allowed to take in taxes.

    • Mojeaux

      I haz a confuse.

      I thought In-N-Out kinda had to stay in climates that can grow lettuce in sufficient quantities?

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        Hydroponics baby!

  11. Tonio

    Glad to see you back, The Hyperbole.

  12. Sensei

    You people are not doing enough to put sand on my beaches! Every year FedGov pays millions to dredge beach sand from offshore onto the beach all winter long.

    After that mother nature promptly returns it to the sea. Plus Climate Change!!!!

    Shore towns get no federal dollars for beach replenishments for the first time in almost 30 years
    This year, zero dollars are budgeted for beach replenishment projects — the first time since 1996. It’s possible that zero might carryover into next year.

    https://www.inquirer.com/news/new-jersey/nj-beach-replenishment-federal-funding-20250721.html

    • R C Dean

      As with much of what DOGE dug up, I had no idea I was paying for beaches to be nice and sandy hundreds of miles from my home.

    • Furthest Blue pistoffnick (370HSSV)

      Duluth Port Authority dredges the harbor every few years.

      A couple years ago they decided to dump the dredgings on the Park Point beaches. What they didn’t realize was that the sand they dredged up was filled with the old pop tops. People cut their feet walking on the beach.

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        Oof, bad engineer was bad.

        They should have had a screening procedure in their specs.

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      I… Agree with this.

      It’s crazy the money we spend to increase the value of rich people’s homes.

  13. Sensei

    “This is something that the vice president is very annoyed about and which needs to be resolved,” said an official in the UK’s technology department. “The Home Office is basically going to have to back down.”

    Fear not, this is just a wee speedbump on the road to hell in the UK!

    UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US
    https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/07/uk-backing-down-on-apple-encryption-backdoor-after-pressure-from-us/

    • EvilSheldon

      Good for Vance. He may leap into the woodchipper under his own power, rather than being forced in at bayonet-point.

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      My favorite part is the comments about how authoritarian Trump/Vance are, but just so happened to stumble upon something good, but likely with the intent of using that sort of back door for their own nefarious purposes. The world is fucking brain dead.

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        ‘The world is fucking brain dead.’

        People have ahead reached their conclusions, ourselves included, it’s just a matter of finding the right evidence.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Mother Jones: Six Months in, Trump Has Made American Life Immeasurably Worse

    I’ll spare you.

    The list is long and scary.

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        Not clicking that.

    • Shpip

      Six Months in, Trump Has Made American Life Immeasurably Worse

      /Looks at brokerage account, grocery bill, gas prices

      Worse for USAID grifters, I guess. But not me.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        The administration has also enacted an assault on rural America. Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill could lead 140 rural hospitals to close; his ever-shifting tariff proposals have thrown farmers into whiplash; the Department of Agriculture suspended billions of dollars in payments for programs for farmers and rural communities and gutted the department’s regional offices, which support farmers; and the defunding of public media will disproportionately harm local stations in rural communities.

        Yes. I’m sure rural America is devastated at the defunding of NPR and PBS. What will we ever do without antiques roadshow and listening to socialites discuss the low culture of rednecks?

      • rhywun

        Serves those stupid hicks right for voting for him.

      • creech

        Look at Shpip, our Billionaire chat buddy.

      • Ted S.

        He’s playing with punny money.

    • (((Jarflax

      So basically he did that?

    • Suthenboy

      The real point of demoralization is so that they can say ‘dont believe your lying eyes’ any time about anything.

      • The Other Kevin

        I still have friends and relatives who believe all this.

      • Suthenboy

        Under Obama…we were such a disappointment to him. We didnt deserve him. Under Biden we just didnt know how good we had it. Under Trump we are in a living hell.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Yep.

        Don’t trust that your bank account can go just a bit further. PBS was defunded.

        Don’t trust we are just a little freer, those rednecks can speak proudly now.

    • The Other Kevin

      “Gutted offices include those that promote healthy pregnancies, combat human trafficking…”

      As opposed to the prior admin, who had an open border and a policy of letting women and children at the border go without any sort of verification.

      • Fourscore

        “letting women and children at the border go without any sort of verification.”

        We verified that they were indeed women and children.

      • Suthenboy

        “…defund Planned Parenthood, which poor women disproportionately use to access services such as cancer screenings and birth control…”
        As I recall someone looked into this claim and it turns out PP had done essentially neither of those things. Their business is baby murder, organ and tissue sales, and raking in govt subsidies.

      • Suthenboy

        How, exactly, did the leftists combat human trafficking when they were in power? It seemed to me they were fostering and facilitating it.

      • R C Dean

        “We verified that they were indeed women and children”

        Did we, though? I doubt we had enough biologists posted to the border to very the former, and I’ve sure seen some, umm, “mature” child migrants.

      • Evan from Evansville

        Our team of Border Biologists is on par with Token Action Jackson in their field. Their work discovering and identifying numerous genders does, indeed, verify that various genders have crossed the border.

        Now, they can’t tell you *what* any of that means, so don’t get any ideas. If ya gotta know, well, you’ll have to meet with our Gender S̵u̵p̵e̵r̵i̵o̵r̵ Supervisor for a private screening. She’ll get a grip and ya give a cough. (Brownies get Fast-Track treatment, so… bring baked goods.)

    • Brochettaward

      The Trump polling numbers aren’t doing so hot right now. So many people seem to agree.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        And Kamalamadingdong was making it a close race! At least, that is what the polls said.

        My point, and I do have one, is that there is so much “static” in the polls right now that they are pretty useless. They could be right! Or, they could be wrong.

    • B.P.

      One of the disasters cited by the article is rising energy prices. First, I thought that was a good thing in Leftland. Second, that’s not been my experience thus far. If you click over to the linked article…

      https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/06/trumps-big-beautiful-energy-plan-will-burn-your-wallet/

      …you find out that “experts and academics” are predicting rising energy prices because the Big Beautiful Bill scraps a zillion dollars in green energy subsidies.

      • Suthenboy

        The energy market is all kinds of fucked up by the green energy scam. What will happen is that ‘green’ energy will go away, conventional sources will be developed and overall prices will drop.
        BTW I need to look and see if that ‘Carbon capture’ abomination is going forward in my state. I heard something something it might not.

        Looks like rather than just removing CO2 from the ambient atmosphere Shell is working on removing it from stacks before it gets loose. So a tax write-off. Not a good thing but not as bad as a hundredy squillion dollars to remove CO2 from the….I mean thrown to the wind.

      • rhywun

        The left seriously believes that stuff is cheaper even without the subsidies.

        In other words, they are as delusional on this issue as every other.

  15. Shpip

    Watch out, Idaho: India is getting in on the French fry market

    Gujarat has become India’s capital of french fry production, home to huge factories churning out chips, including facilities belonging to Canadian giant McCain Foods and India’s biggest maker of French Fries, HyFun Foods.

    From Gujarat fries are sent all over over the world. But the most important markets at the moment are in Asia, including the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, according to Devendra K, who has been studying the potato market for many years.

    This is really going to take the starch out of… someone.

    • Tres Cool

      All those eyes on india.

      • Sensei

        Peeled even.

      • Fourscore

        I’ll check with Spud, maybe have a cold one and wait…

    • Rat on a train

      facilities belonging to Canadian giant McCain Foods
      The poutine must flow.

    • B.P.

      Let’s get young men in China addicted to the fries so that our pools of military-age men are on equal footing.

    • juris imprudent

      Nothing to worry about – they won’t fry those taters in beef tallow. The quality will be inferior. Even if they have more than a shoe-string budget.

      • Suthenboy

        Oh…I didn’t think of that. Not lard either. So, mediocre at best.

  16. R C Dean

    Part one actually scans as how civil society, in a community with shared standards, would? should? work.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Technostocracy

    Now, writing The Nerd Reich, Gil is focused on a new type of story, one he says has gone woefully under-covered by mainstream media. That story is the influence of tech money on politics and society at large, and the disturbing philosophical undercurrents that are driving it.

    The “Nerd Reich,” as Gil sees it, is a web of powerful, ultrawealthy tech billionaires. People like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen, and others, whose politics and influence now see them pushing the country further and further away from democracy and toward something resembling a kind of cross between unrestrained capitalism and monarchy.

    This idea has been kicking around for quite a while now. You’ll hear Gil refer to it as the Dark Enlightenment, or as some refer to it, the neo-reactionary movement. Some central characters here include Curtis Yarvin — an influential, anti-democracy blogger whose ideas once stood far outside mainstream acceptability, but who recently has captured the attention of politicians like Vice President JD Vance.

    And that’s Gil’s central thesis: while these ideas are not new, their embrace by some of the wealthiest and most powerful people on the planet is a relatively recent phenomenon — one that’s been supercharged by President Donald Trump’s reelection.

    Now that these ideas have entered the White House by way of the MAGA movement, Gil argues that it has created a dangerous coalition between the far right and the stewards of the biggest, most popular tech platforms and products. After all, as we’ve seen with Elon Musk and DOGE, these tech billionaires aren’t just sitting in the shadows; they want to tear down and rebuild the government from the ground up.

    The wrong nerds are taking over.

    • R.J.

      “Unrestrained capitalism “

      Heaven forbid.

    • Suthenboy

      I dont see the name ‘Bill Gates’ anywhere in that. How about Laurene Jobs? Is she on the list?

      Wrong nerds indeed.

      • rhywun

        Yeah I immediately knew which billionaires were going to be the good ones.

        lol How do people fall for this shit?

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      I’ve grown quite tired of the left’s doom and gloom prognostications and clear pro(g)ection.

      You can be sure if only 1 thing: whatever they claim the right is doing/seeks to do is exactly what the left is already doing/would love to do.

      Any word on this author’s opinion on tech leaders conspiring with gov to censor Americans? How about when they were the centerpieces of Biden’s propaganda?

      Nothing? Then STFU.

      • B.P.

        I looked up the writings of this Gil fellow. Lots of democracy in peril, fascism, etc. I couldn’t find anything about the previous administration’s efforts to imprison and bankrupt the presidential candidate from the other party, their efforts to keep that candidate off the ballot in several states, Gil’s party’s efforts to keep an inconvenient presidential candidate from winning the primary (twice), etc., etc.

        So much respect for democracy by these people. Projection indeed.

      • rhywun

        the left’s doom and gloom

        I just saw a new ASPCA commercial begging for donations… “natural disasters are becoming ever more frequent and devastating!!!!”

        I was yelling at the TV to stop fucking lying already.

      • Tres Cool

        “yelling at the TV”

        Good to know its not just me.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    The Nerd Reich is a term that some people use to describe a cultish group of tech billionaires who basically seek to replace democracy with something resembling corporate dictatorship. Some people call this movement the Dark Enlightenment, the neo-reactionary movement, or the network state.

    Some people are funny that way.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    What’s wrong with it?

    Well, I say it’s inherently anti-American. It sees a post-United States world where, instead of democracy, we will have basically tech feudalism — fiefdoms run by tech corporations. They’re pretty explicit about this point. You and I did Poli Sci 101 together at DePaul. I would say that there is a conversation in academia about the long-term health of the nation state in the 21st century, and these guys are tapping into that and proposing a product or a model that will put them at the supreme head of world government in the future.

    Rollerball was a documentary.

    • Suthenboy

      A conversation in academia? Ooooh. Well then….

      • juris imprudent

        Poli-sci 101 at a run of the mill midwestern university no less.

      • B.P.

        They both went to Depauw University, not DePaul. Maybe hip, tech outlet The Verge could get some better dictation software.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Thats what I thought, be afraid……..

  20. The Late P Brooks

    This reminds me of some themes from a book I read in high school, by author Ayn Rand, called The Fountainhead, and I think you and I might’ve talked about this during freshman year in college as well. It’s also in line with another Rand book, Atlas Shrugged.

    It’s very convincing when you’re reading it as a teenager and maybe also as a billionaire, this idea that, “Hey, there are some people out there who are just more productive as capitalists, and capitalism is good. It’s the lifeblood of society, and these are the people we need to be running things, not these altruistic, mealy-mouthed, progressive people who are just watering everything down and making everything mediocre.”

    Ooh, ZING! dude.

    • rhywun

      these are the people we need to be running things

      Yeah, that’s exactly what she advocated. 🙄

  21. Suthenboy

    I meant to mention earlier today that the situation in England is….BAD. There isn’t much reporting on it but I am hearing a lot of people saying under their breath that the country is a tinderbox and could blow at any moment. I think the lack f reporting is due to the fear that honest reporting may set it off. One more rape gang, one more child beheading….it could happen at any moment.
    Their ruling class better have an escape plans.

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      If I’m being honest, I kind of hope we have intelligence agents on the ground fomenting that fight.

      • rhywun

        Ouch. But yeah, let’s get it over already. It can only serve as an example of something we want to avoid here.

    • kinnath

      I posted this yesterday:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h49O0AGxx0

      Are We Headed for Civil War? – David Betz

      Guy goes through a detailed description on why Britain is probably past the tipping point to civil war.

      He is a very, very reluctant messenger.

      • kinnath

        By the 40 minute mark, he has covered the three causes of civil wars:

        The formerly dominate cultures fears losing control and being downgraded.

        Extreme factionalism results in tribe members believing whatever the tribe beliefs instead of having independent thoughts.

        Loss in faith that anything can be solved through the normal political process.

        Later when he was asked what would be the spark that sets it off, he replies that it doesn’t matter.

        A spark isn’t dangerous if you not standing in a room full of gun powder or standing in clothes soaked in gasoline.

        What matters is the tinder.

        And right now, society is building up vast quantities of tinder. Sooner or later, something will spark it.

      • rhywun

        The US is pretty far down the path of all three, especially the last one.

      • Suthenboy

        Yes Rhywun, we are seeing it here but not like they are. I have to disagree about the political process….Trump is evidence of that. They may very well be past the tipping point but we still have some hope in the political system. Wife said today the problem here is lack of accountability. She is shocked that anyone is talking about holding Obama and co. accountable in a real way. That may be why Gabbard is talking like she is….see, there is still hope here, not like ‘Ol Blighty!

        kinnath, he played up the reluctant part quite a bit. I suspect he was bracing for a ‘visit’ from the thought police. This business there of imprisoning people for thought crimes is a no shit thing and way over the line. I am surprised the cops there can show their faces on the street. I got the definite feeling that his reluctance was a disclaimer.

      • kinnath

        The host brought up Trump a couple of times. The guest seemed unwilling to say that it means things will be OK.

        He brought up the paradox of the reformer. The reformer claims the systems is broken, gest elected, gets power, and begins to fix things. But progress is very slow because the system fights back, so the supporters of reform become dissatisfied, thus fueling the lack of faith that the system can be fixed from within.

        We see it here already with all the resistance Trump has seen and his inability to follow through on some of the most ambitious plans.

      • Suthenboy

        yes. I have experienced that myself, frustration with underdelivery. I suppose that could add to that ‘we can never win with things like this’ feeling.

      • Fourscore

        A problem we have is that we see a problem, something broken, we can take immediate (or not) steps to fix the problem. We may even ignore it and it doesn’t get any worse.

        Our problems are that they immediately have an affect on us personally. Our economy is not “The Economy”. OTOH we don’t brag about how we’re going to resolve the problem today, we just do it, brag afterwards.

    • creech

      Ellen Degenerate is oblivious to it all??

      • Suthenboy

        She is living in a bubble. As I recall the royals there have an enclave in that area just for fleeing to to keep their heads when the peasants are revolting.

        *I wonder how many of you get that reference

      • R.J.

        That is a fine book. I had it as a younger man.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Somehow I don’t think the Muslim hordes will honor their right to hide.

    • R C Dean

      Yeah, the reformer’s dilemma is a well-known dynamic. By the time there is widespread support for reform, the system is so far gone there is also widespread resistance to reform. A reformer is in the business of compromise and incremental change, as well, which means he will always disappoint those unhappy with the current system.

      • juris imprudent

        And this has been known since Machiavelli.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    They both went to Depauw University

    Greencastle. It’s like Davos, only in Indiana.

    • Tres Cool

      I’ll buy a t-shirt and maybe people will think Im elite.

  23. Brochettaward

    This First is for myself.

    • R C Dean

      They all are, Bro.

      They all are.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    I slogged my way through that entire interview mutual masturbation session. Those guys are some insightful son-of-a-bitches.

    Once you explain it to them, they understand it.

    Them hicks are dumb to the bone, but malleable. You just have to mold their tiny brains into the proper shape to accept Big Communitarianism.

    As for the uberrich, all that money makes them crazy, plain and simple; that’s why we have to take it away and put it to noble purposes.

  25. Sean

    I’m a Timelord, not a painter and decorator!

    • UnCivilServant

      Well, that’s not whe we need right now.

      • Sean

        You’re not watching the same stream I am.

      • UnCivilServant

        Nope, I’m transcoding BluRays

  26. juris imprudent

    The funny thing – Hunter isn’t all wrong. I guess when he’s sober he has half a brain.

    • rhywun

      I miss that show; one of the old-people channels used to show it every night.

    • Brochettaward

      If he’s sober, it’s because he’s broke now that the money spigot has been cut off.

      If he’s angry, it’s not because of love for his father. It’s because the money spigot has been turned off.

      You know what hasn’t been turned off? The First spigot. It gushes and flows endlessly from my bosom, from my mouth, from my genitalia.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        From your genitals to your mouth, hick

      • Brochettaward

        “The Pod Save America guys were junior f***ing speech writers on Barack Obama’s Senate staff who have been dining out on the relationship with him making millions,” Biden added.

        He went on to criticize one of his father’s former top advisers, Anita Dunn, for making “40 to 50 million” off the Democratic Party, and then mocked CNN host Jake Tapper, the co-author of bombshell book Original Sin with journalist Alex Thompson. Original Sin is a bestselling book detailing the efforts by Joe Biden’s inner circle to hide the extent of his mental decline from the American people.

        I also didn’t hear about this:

        His physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, plead the Fifth earlier this month instead of answering questions from the House Oversight Committee about Biden’s mental acuity.

    • rhywun

      OMG my mom was nuts for spider plants. Nice!

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      JHTFC

    • rhywun

      Yikes… barely legal?

    • slumbrew

      Wow, posting about his 9 year marriage about 18 months ago…

      • Brochettaward

        I’m sure that’s a sordid affair that he should be ashamed of, but isn’t because he is a coddled piece of shit with no sense of responsibility who is surrounded by people who will tell him how stunning and brave he is for being his true self.

      • Brochettaward

        I’m not saying gay dudes who fuck up and marry a woman are inherently scumbags or anything. But something tells me there was a lot of closeted shit going on behind the scenes that he hid from her before fully humiliating her “to be himself.”

        Hopefully/at least there aren’t kids involved, I suppose.

      • Chafed

        I’m genuinely confused. He was married to a woman for years and is now engaged to a man?

      • slumbrew

        Correct.

      • Chafed

        Thanks. I just don’t get it. How do you reach adulthood and not know to whom you are attracted?

      • slumbrew

        It does call into question his judgement, IMO. It’s not the 50’s – he was born in 1988, being gay was not an unthinkable outcome when he was growing up.

      • DrOtto

        He wasn’t born gay, he got sucked into it.

    • Brochettaward

      I mean, is anyone surprised?

      • R.J.

        No.

      • Chipping Pioneer

        No. We all knew it before you, FuckFirstFace.

      • Brochettaward

        You’re the sort of libertarian who took the Libertarian Party seriously until that fat guy got naked and danced on the stage, aren’t you?

      • Chipping Pioneer

        That was a guy? I thought it was your Mom.

      • Suthenboy

        I didn’t know anything about him until now. What surprised me is that he was previously married to a woman.

    • Chipping Pioneer

      Is Froot Sushi a top or a bottom?

      • Spudalicious

        Yes.

    • slumbrew

      Chase Oliver
      @ChaseForLiberty
      Congrats

      I hope you both have many, many happy years ahead together.

      Love is a beautiful thing and its great when you find a bond worth the lifelong commitment.

      About that “lifelong commitment”…

      • R.J.

        See Bro’s comment above.

      • R C Dean

        Yeah, shame about your wife, but the hell with her, right?

      • slumbrew

        My point exactly. Talking about a “lifetime commitment” 18 months after divorcing his wife is incredibly tone deaf.

      • Brochettaward

        Soave is going to parlay this into a gig at the NYT’s where he can repent his token libertarianism entirely and write a series of “I used to be libertarian until I saw the light” articles before they quietly fire him in a year after he debases himself entirely because he’s a no talent hack whose only claim to fame is basically having the insight to listen to the commentariat of Reason (the idiot peanut gallery, if you will) when they told him the Rolling Stone rape story was bullshit.

      • slumbrew

        That’s an all too plausible prediction, Bro

      • rhywun

        I had no idea he was married to a woman before. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

      • Spudalicious

        When he was married to a woman, he was a bottom.

  27. Mojeaux

    Marginally related.

    My husband got me worked up, telling me about some feminist bullshit about wanting the priesthood being floated by the usual suspects on Facebook, where I do not go because I get worked up.

    [insert lots of yelling about feminist hypocrisy here]

    This particular woman posting about the church not ALLOWING women to hold the priesthood (like, why would you want all that extra work?). I have a problem with this “allow” business. Anyway, she’s acting like the chirch is not allowing her to approach God at all (the way she frames it makes it sound like that).

    Of course, I have to loop this back to Christ’s parables because that’s what I do in these situations.

    The woman who had faith that Christ could heal her, and reached out to touch his cloak and was healed, and he turned around and said, “Whodat?” The WOMAN reached out and took what she wanted. She didn’t ask for permission. She had a line on the divine right there in front of her and grabbed it.

    “Allow.” BullSHIT. Nobody’s keeping you from approaching God with whatever power dudes have that you don’t. 🙄

    Thank you for coming to my entirely coherent, calm, logical TED talk.

    • Chipping Pioneer

      “Allow” and “can” are derived from different verbs.

      • Mojeaux

        I had an English teacher who, I suppose, was instrumental in getting a bunch of rowdy redneck kids to speak properly, who would NOT let a misused “can” slide.

        “Of course you CAN, because you’re physically capable of it, but you MAY NOT because I’m not allowing you to.”

        I can approach God all day long and invoke his name if I want to. I am also ALLOWED to do that because who’s going to stop me? The only participants in this transaction are me and God. He’s gonna do what he’s gonna do, and I highly doubt striking me down for my hubris is high on his priority list. And anyway, even if it was, I already did it, so… 🤷‍♀️

      • rhywun

        “Of course you CAN, because you’re physically capable of it, but you MAY NOT because I’m not allowing you to.”

        Yeah, that is pet peeve of mine which I try to be precise about but sometimes I get lazy.

    • Brochettaward

      I have no patience for people who claim to believe in a faith but who want to “modernize” it aka make it fit with the trendy bullshit they believe in. Unless you can ground your beliefs in scripture and make a real argument for change, shut the fuck up and sit down. They aren’t a Christian. They are a progressive who probably has social reasons to adopt the trappings of a religion.

      And as you said, not being a member of the priesthood doesn’t have dick all to do with how close you can be to your god.

      The Great Firster and myself are incredibly intimate on a daily basis.

      • Mojeaux

        I just … I’m completely befuddled by why these women don’t understand “division of labor” and “suitability for which tasks.” (The church infrastructure is nothing if not efficient, and I’m partial to efficiency.)

        I mean, if you don’t want to participate with the women, don’t. If you want to participate with the dudes, well, yeah, you’re gonna get push-back on that and a solid NO. That is the societal construct you have agreed to live within. Nobody’s making you agree to it. Go start your own fucking church.

      • Brochettaward

        Ask yourself – does she have a social reason to remain within the church?

        But she hopes to make it more suitable to her leanings. She wants her cake and to eat it, too. Just my theory.

      • Mojeaux

        My opinion is trending toward, “She’s a shit-stirrer.”

      • Mojeaux

        Anyway, she’s on FB and I don’t have to deal with her in real life. Because if I did, I just wouldn’t. I have perfected the “eat shit and die” facial expression. And this is why I stay off FB. Also, why I am unemployable.

      • rhywun

        the trappings of a religion

        Speaking of… I once dated a guy who took me to a Unitarian “mass” or whatever the hell they call it. I was much more naive then and didn’t have a clue what those types were going on about. I was expecting the Catholic church shenanigans that scared me off a few decades earlier, not the hippie dippy queermo reality.

      • Ted S.

        The Great Firster rapes the shit out of you daily?

        I always knew you were a bottom.

    • Grosspatzer

      “Nobody’s keeping you from approaching God with whatever power dudes have that you don’t.”

      My cousin was raised strict Catholic. She had a calling to the priesthood, not an option in that faith. So, she converted to Episcopalian and was ordained. Not too far from you, Mo, in Columbia. There are always options.

  28. Brochettaward

    At what point am I allowed to say “I told you cunts so” with regards to Epstein and Trump?

    • Brochettaward

      And probably Israel, too.

  29. rhywun

    57° – enjoying the shit out of this before it hits 96° again in a couple days.

    Fuck global warming.

    • Chafed

      This has been a super temperate summer for me. Only one day in July over 90 degrees.

      • rhywun

        Ugh the last few weeks here have been nothing but high heat and humidity.

        At least now the usual 96% humidity is bearable.

  30. Derpetologist

    random Epstein thoughts:

    Blackmail is a rare tactic in espionage because it is the riskiest.

    Spies seek people with access to secrets, not celebrities or rich people or politicians.

    Epstein was most likely a con artist who branched out into sex trafficking and blackmail. He made too many enemies, who conspired to have him killed and the evidence suppressed.

    His story reminds me of Anthony Pellicano, another quasi-criminal who bit off more than he could chew:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Pellicano

    I don’t think Epstein had any involvement with Mossad or CIA.

    When Mossad wants to spy on Americans, they go high tech:

    Israel accused of planting mysterious spy devices near the White House

    ***
    The U.S. government concluded within the past two years that Israel was most likely behind the placement of cellphone surveillance devices that were found near the White House and other sensitive locations around Washington, according to three former senior U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

    But unlike most other occasions when flagrant incidents of foreign spying have been discovered on American soil, the Trump administration did not rebuke the Israeli government, and there were no consequences for Israel’s behavior, one of the former officials said.
    ***

    https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/12/israel-white-house-spying-devices-1491351

    I’ll add that I know a lot more about how Israel conducts espionage than the vast majority of Americans.

    • Brochettaward

      He’s just a con-artist who happened to meet regularly with a former Israeli PM, was intimate with the daughter of a proven Israeli asset, and one of whose main financial backers was in fact deeply tied to Israeli intelligence.

      Those are hell of a set of coincidences.

    • Brochettaward

      Blackmail is a rare tactic in espionage because it is the riskiest.

      And yet there are very real examples of intelligence agencies doing exactly what people believe Epstein was doing. And Israel has always been known for its reliance on HUMINT. What you are saying about their reliance on technology completely conflicts with everything I’ve ever heard about Mossad. It sounds a lot more like what the NSA and American intelligence than what people say about Israeli methods.

      • Derpetologist

        I assure you there are no blackmail plots going on at Unit 8200.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_8200

        In fairness, they are not Mossad.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossad#United_States

        ***
        According to journalist Daniel Halper, Israel blackmailed US President Bill Clinton in 1998 with the release of incriminating conversations with Monica Lewinsky in order to secure the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard. Israel is said to have obtained the Lewinsky recordings by monitoring White House phone lines.[55]

        Mossad informed the FBI and CIA in August 2001 that, based on its intelligence, as many as 200 terrorists were slipping into the United States and planning “a major assault on the United States”. The Israeli intelligence agency cautioned the FBI that it had picked up indications of a “large-scale target” in the United States and that Americans would be “very vulnerable”.[56] However, “It is not known whether U.S. authorities thought the warning to be credible, or whether it contained enough details to allow counter-terrorism teams to come up with a response.” A month later, terrorists struck at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the largest terrorist attack in history.[56]

        In May 2014, a NSA document obtained by Edward Snowden and published by journalist Glenn Greenwald revealed that the CIA was concerned that Israel had established an extensive espionage network in the United States.[57]
        ***

        We spy on Israel and they spy on us. That much I know for certain.

  31. Festus

    I remember these comics. Well done they were! Now for the bitch-fest! I’ve long given up on “decimation” being properly used but remain astounded that the wrong meaning entered the vernacular so fucking quickly. Three years, maybe? It has been everywhere and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is in the AP style guide. Fuck! Since I’m already yelling at clouds, can we please as a species stop referring to our favorite professional sporting teams as “we” or “us”? You aren’t on the playing surface ya fucking dingleberries. Yes, this is my life now.

    • Festus

      “Decimate” is yet another code word to separate the wheat from the chaff. Think “paradigm”.

    • CPRM

      I’m on the field in Green Bay every time I streak! So it is we!

      Good to see you Festus.

      • Festus

        I… I want to see that…

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, Sean, Teh Hype, Ted’S., U, ChipP, and Donny 3F! (And probably too-late but enthusiastic greetings and good wishes to Festus!)

      • Gender Traitor

        Hey there! How are you today?

      • Ted S.

        I think he’s confrontational today.

      • UnCivilServant

        Abnormally misanthropic.

        I also realized that I have a September Tax bill, so my savings goal for August just jumped another $2k knowing that $1,500 of it will be stolen to avoid being kicked out of my house.

        I have too little leave to attend Honey Harvest (it would erase my emergency reserve, leaving me in the lurch in case of emergency)

        My eye keeps wandering towards new cars with a familiar feeling of temptation, and I have to keep reminding myself that my C-Max is in perfect working order with only 111k miles on it.

        I’m also listless and unable to focus on getting any one thing done, so nothing progesses.

      • Gender Traitor

        I’m sorry. 😟 I hope something good happens ASAP.

      • Gender Traitor

        Things are going OK. I may not be able to avoid starting to write up this month’s Board meeting minutes, but there’s no particular rush, so I can probably tackle it in short intervals. With any luck, it won’t be too terribly busy at work. ::knocks wood carefully::

    • Ted S.

      And they’re closing all the court cases down?

  32. UnCivilServant

    Why is everyone so confrontational in the morning around here?

    • rhywun

      The losses also include compliance charges with Trump’s suspension of financial penalties tied to fuel emissions standards.

      No idea what that is even supposed to mean. “Punish us harder?”

  33. Donny Three-Fingers (KJ5GQR)

    Morning all! Got some chinamen Baofeng radios to hand out in the neighborhood for the next zombie apocalypse event. Weather events, and we are 4 miles from I-35 between Austin and San Antonio so disruptions in food supply cold get ugly after the urbanites eat each other.

    • Donny Three-Fingers (KJ5GQR)

      Or could get ugly…

      • Ted S.

        [ looks in mirror ]

        Nope, can’t get ugly.

  34. DEG

    Mornin’

  35. Tres Cool

    suh’ fam
    whats goody

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, homey, DEG, ‘patzie, and TAFKALack!

  36. Grosspatzer

    Mornin’, reprobates! Another fine day in paradise. Good day to hang out at the municipal pool, ogling the young moms while pretending to read a Martha Grimes mystery.

    • Chipping Pioneer

      No one’s going to believe you’re reading if the book is covering your lap.