THE GREAT ASHLAND VA LIQUOR STORE RACCOON CAPER OF 2025 is the event we all needed to break the suckiness of the news cycle and bring us some holiday cheer. Ashland is a once-sleepy quaint little railroad town that became a rest stop for US Hwy 1 and later for Interstate 95. Ashland has recently embraced the tourist-trap cheesiness, as well they should, and rebranded themselves as the Center of the Universe. So, it was inevitable that the County of Hanover Animal Control are milking it for all it’s worth. As well as a Virginia distillery. Good on them all.
MANDATORY, UNDELETABLE GOVERNMENT SMARTPHONE APP: This is happening in India, but I can see other governments getting a boner.
SURPRISED THEY WERE ALLOWED TO SAY THIS OUT LOUD: Imagine my surprise when The Hill dared to criticize, however mildly, our heroic, selfless, and underpaid public educators. State education administrators often say, “It’s all about the kids,” yet their actions suggest it’s more about protecting adult reputations than improving student outcomes. They all want students to do better, but not if it means adults being forced to change their behavior to make it happen.
MAHA?: One in eight adults now using Ozempic, Wegovy or similar GLP-1 drugs. Granted, it’s a poll, so YMMV. It’s good that ppl are able to lose weight, particularly those with other health conditions. But it is troubling that we got to the point that 1/8 of the country are severely overweight.
HA, HA: Gallup poll shows public distrust in media at all-time low.
REDNECKS IN THE MIST, REDUX: The Atlantic (of course) gives a glowing review to the latest breathless screed in this genre. Come for the embarrassing fawning over author Laura K. Field, a Canadian woman, a double identity that puts her at a skeptical distance from the more and more extreme world of the American right. Stay for the smug preachment about how liberalism means free speech, due process, rule of law, separation of powers, and evidence-based inquiry. Um, what now? LOL. But the absolute best horror/oppression-pr0n is how in dark corners of the internet, media celebrities and influencers with handles such as “Bronze Age Pervert” and “Raw Egg Nationalist” celebrate manliness and champion outright misogyny and bigotry. If only she knew about SugarFree…
FUEL PRODUCTION STARTS FOR MOLTEN SALT REACTOR: Deets here. And, now a little joke — what’s the difference between MSR and FUSION? Practical fusion is always twenty years away, practical MSR is always ten years away.
LIFE FINDS A WAY: Certain mosses can survive in space.
WOMP, WOMP: It’s been a while since we heard anything about Boeing’s problem-plagued Starliner crew capsule, which after years of development has flown exactly one crewed mission to the ISS, but was deemed to unsafe to return the crew to Earth and returned uncrewed though intact. NASA has revised its commercial crew contract with Boeing, reducing the number of CST-100 Starliner missions to four, the first of which will carry only cargo. I will also note that the return flights of cargo missions are used to haul trash back down to Earth. Which made me think of this.
Space moss!
I saw that in Creepshow.
Space Mossin’!
MOSS…
IN SPACE!
wasn’t Space Moss a 90s supermodel?
No, just the area between her ears.
Panspermia pansporia
We recently renamed our hockey team, and one of the most popular suggestions was “Chicago Trash Pandas”. At one point our coach showed up with a Trash Panda jersey, complete with a racoon coming out of a garbage can holding sled hockey sticks. He was in charge of a veterans sled hockey event, and that was one of the two jerseys he had made up. We were sad that wasn’t our official jersey.
Oh, that would have been cool.
The design was great, I would gladly wear it for games.
Why change?
Because “Blackhawks” is offensive?
I’m not a Chicago fan, but they have really nice jerseys.
There were rumors that the Blackhawks were rebranding, but 2026 is their 100th anniversary and I haven’t seen any signs of that. I think there are new people in charge, and they realized we were the only team they sponsor that still uses the logo and name. For some reason that was a problem.
They do make an exception, which is the NHL Sled Classic that’s happening now. (I’m still not cleared so I didn’t go). Only NHL branded teams play, so Blackhawks jerseys are allowed.
How is your recovery coming along?
Nicest logo in sports.
@ron, today I had what felt like a setback (not really, it just felt that way). My PT’s have been great, and I’ve been improving by all their metrics. But today she increased the difficulty level of some of my home exercises, and I realized I’m not as far along as I’d thought. The things we’re targeting aren’t things I do every day, for example reading from a book, and tracking with my eyes while my head is moving quickly. Were I not in PT, I could have avoided those things and have the mistaken idea that I was better. But I am definitely struggling with those things, and I’m not yet healed all the way.
It is hard to be patient, if only there some words of wisdom that could help me with this situation. 😉
But I am definitely struggling with those things, and I’m not yet healed all the way.
It’s good to find that out now.
I went through it with my PT for my disc herniation.
Best wishes.
I’ve heard anything about the Braves. The Chop, sure, and it’s dumb folk caved, but the not the name itself. Kinda hard to call it derogatory, eh?
*progs missing the point reentering the atmosphere above them*
TOK, I’ve never had a concussion, but I have been in PT for my knees and ankle.
It’s always humbling when they crank up the difficulty because you were doing well.
On the bright side, if they are introducing new exercises then you must be improving.
1/8 of the country
No, that’s just the group willing to mortgage their lives to pharma. If a third of young men are ineligible for the military based on their weight, we got a lot of people that can’t even be bothered to get a shot.
My brother taped out.
The military uses BMI which is 100% bullshit.
If you want underweight waifs in your armed forces who will fall out after a missed meal keep doing what the U.S. military is doing.
I once told my 1SG that guys like me would eat the skinny guys like him that would fall out if we ever had a real war. I was not popular with my chain of command.
A little over one quarter of Americans are so stupid as to still trust the MSM. And their votes count just the same as yours or mine.
Thanks, Debbie Downer!
As if you didn’t witness this in your recent state elections.
America got to the point where 1/8 are overweight due to the fact that we are rich, far surpassing everyone else by far.
It’s really messed up, isn’t it? Our “poor” people are consuming 3x the calories of anyone else in the world.
Indeed. For all of human history up until now the complaint was that the poor were skinny, often near starvation.
This is correct. I am working this next year on reversing my extreme fatness. Not with that though. Through the usual means.
“…the usual means.”
Switching to diet soda and light beer?
No, paying a Somali kid to vacuum my fat out with an old canister Electrolux. It’s only $10!
I like to point out America is so great, even our poor people are fat.
I think it was once due to our wealth. However, i hesitate to call a welfare queen who got fat on a diet of big macs and pepsi a victim of affluence. The fact that they can afford 4000 calories of that garbage is no indicator of wealth beyond the most basic subsistence.
That we can supply her that, and not just let her starve or only give the bare minimum in caloric foodstuffs, is a sign of wealth undreamed of.
For all we bitch, and rightly so, Capitalism, Fuck Yeah!
And she likely used a gov’t provided smart phone to order it. Like Doug Stanhope says, American landfills are filled with 3rd world bling.
3500 calories of that being inflammatory seed oils.
I actually have half an article written on this. I need to finish up.
Paraphrasing from google:
Semaglutide is a prescription medication used to manage type 2 diabetes (Ozempic) and for long-term weight management (Wegovy). Same drug; same delivery mechanism. Ozempic is approved for lifelong treatment of diabetes. Wegovy is approved for weight loss. Expected to be a lifelong treatment on a maintenance dose after reaching a target weight.
Tirzepatide is a prescription medication approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (Mounjaro) and chronic weight management (Zepbound). Same drug; same delivery mechanism. Mounjaro approved for lifelong treatment of diabetes. Zepbound is approved for weight loss. Both expected to be lifelong treatment.
The high cost of GLP-1 drugs is a leading reason why patients stop taking them. According to the poll, 14% of people who have taken these medications no longer use them specifically because of the expense.
Fucking expensive, and insurance hates them. Even with coverage, they are expensive.
This makes cost one of the most common reasons for discontinuation, followed closely by side effects, which were cited by 13% of former users as their reason for stopping. In contrast, only a small fraction (5%) reported stopping because their condition had improved.
I know for sure that Zepbound is a lifelong maintenance med to keep the weight from coming back. I assume that is also true for Wegovy. So, I don’t see people saying they stopped because it worked.
Missed a tag on quoted content
This makes cost one of the most common reasons for discontinuation, followed closely by side effects, which were cited by 13% of former users as their reason for stopping. In contrast, only a small fraction (5%) reported stopping because their condition had improved.
“I actually have half an article written on this. I need to finish up.”
Thanks. Looking forward to that.
Me too, and I will have a lot to add.
And I don’t believe that 1 in 8 people are taking these meds. They are truly expensive and insurance will put you through the wringer before approving them (for weight loss at least). Approval for diabetes may be easier, but I don’t know. Many people and doctors may be targeting weight loss while “treating diabetes”.
Yep. Both of my wife’s sisters now have breast cancer. When my wife requested a genetic blood test and an additional ultrasound exam – UHC wouldn’t pay even part of it.
So I doubt they pay for weight loss drugs for fatsos.
Public Distrust at a low? I think you mean trust, straight, no chaser, Tonio
Yeah, I’m not at my best today. I almost stopped after raccoon and gave you an open post, but I had a backlog of links I’d been hoarding since I was off last week for Thanksgiving.
It is all good, sir!
The problem is not that standards are too high on independent tests; it is that proficiency is shockingly low. State education administrators want that harsh reality to disappear because looking good is more important than students being academically prepared for life after high school.
Let the students get their own union.
The article reads like they are unaware that standards have been dropping for decades.
I wonder why it’s safe to admit it now, of all times.
I don’t think they want to “look good”. They want to look like helpless victims who are doing the Lord’s work for scraps.
liberalism means free speech, due process, rule of law, separation of powers, and evidence-based inquiry.
Well, duh.
Assuming that’s “liberalism” as defined by Democrats?
Yeah: 😂🤣
Get a load of these people.
Actual liberalism did once stand for those things. Nobody in this current existence has been anywhere within a 100 mile radius of Actual Liberalism since about the time of slavery.
Notice they didn’t say Freedom of Association.
Well no shit. Literally. They have to be able to read it to process it.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/despite-accessing-user-data-kohler-still-says-its-smart-toilet-cameras-use-e2ee/
Bonus $600 and $7 a month.
https://x.com/Breaking911/status/1996664263327338525
lulz
Well, they’re not wrong.
Did Walz take the reading/arithmetic achievement tests? Oh, I forgot, he was a teacher AND a coach.
“Those who can’t teach, teach gym.”
(Happy belated 90th, Woody)
Funniest thing I read all day. Thank you.
Smart Pipe™️!
Smart Pipe, Inc. is a registered sex offender
The American experiment in egalitarian, multiethnic democracy fills these intellectuals with anxiety, if not loathing.
What an impenetrable thicket of noxious academic-speak gobbledegook.
Let us know when such a thing exists, The Atlantic. Until then GFY.
Anyplace that has trashed pandas and a railroad down the median of a street can’t be bad.
Oof a college town. I have had my fill of that.
It’s Randolph-Macon not aOSU. Fredericksburg similarly has UMW.
Randy-Mac is small, private, and conservative.
Don’t have time to read the article. Was it Kate, or Randy, that survived?
Crazy talk
For too long, the debate over America’s health care system has been about financing ever-increasing prices instead of encouraging solutions that reduce costs. Every health care discussion in Washington now centers on who pays the bill rather than on how to make people healthier.
The latest example of this is the push to make the COVID-era premium subsidies, formally known as “enhanced premium tax credits,” a permanent part of the Affordable Care Act.
These subsidies were enacted as temporary emergency relief during COVID. Instead, some in Congress are seeking to make them a permanent mechanism for financing higher insurance costs, enriching large insurers while doing little to improve health outcomes.
There is also the phenomenon (if it has a formal name I don’t know it) wherein people say, “I’m spending a fortune on this, I’m damn well going to get my money’s worth” and rush off to the doctor at the slightest hint of illness.
The Joint Economic Committee, in its latest brief, “Long Overdue: Enhance Premium Tax Credits Should Expire,” confirmed what many of us have suspected. Federal spending on these subsidies has exploded since 2021, providing a financial boon for insurers while doing very little to improve health outcomes.
——-
That’s because these subsidies don’t actually focus on improving health or lowering the cost of care. When taxpayers pick up nearly the entire tab insurers face little incentive to restrain premiums. As the share of consumers paying little to nothing in premiums has increased to 42 percent, consumer responsiveness to price has collapsed, and insurers have capitalized by hiding increases in gross premiums. The result is a ratcheting subsidy model that drives up costs without changing the underlying price of medical services. It is a cycle that rewards inefficiency and punishes innovation.
Who could have foretold this?
Jesus Christ.
Insurers, by Obama’s law, cannot make any big profits anymore. Drug costs, unrestrained doctor bills and hospital fees have been murdering us for years.
Also, when Obama let every sock person ever get insurance cheap, your cost pools are completely wrecked. There is absolutely no incentive on the service side to restrain cost, and insurance had the ability to restrain cost removed
Just like government schools.
As the share of consumers paying little to nothing in premiums has increased to 42 percent,
We have the worst of both worlds. Single payer for some, and fleece the payer for the chumps.
Our HDHP got too pricey so we switched to the cut rate PPO for next year. We cash pay most everything around here because many offices don’t take insurance and those that do can often undercut our copay if we pay cash. I need an old school catastrophic plan, but they’re illegal.
EXACTLY
Insurance that we would all want, and that controls expenses has been MADE ILLEGAL!
You didn’t know that insurance coverage wasn’t in your best interest – that’s why it had to be taken away.
I pray no one ever says something like that to my face, it will be the last words out of their mouth.
Thanks Obama!
Bonus for post menopausal women!
https://www.healthinsurance.org/obamacare/how-obamacare-changed-maternity-coverage/
What price glory?
President Trump said Tuesday that first lady Melania Trump isn’t happy about the ballroom construction process on the White House grounds where the East Wing once stood.
“I wouldn’t say my wife is thrilled. She hears pile drivers in the background, all day, all night,” the president told reporters.
He said Melania often asks, “Darling, could you turn off the pile drivers?”
President Trump said he responds by saying, “Sorry, darling, that’s progress.”
Maybe she’ll move back to Manhattan for some peace and quiet.
Is SugarFree writing for The Hill now too?
If it was SugarFree it would be Barron jackhammering the interns.
Euphemisms?
Come for the big balls, stay for the pile drivers. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xPlqLHcphyw
This is happening in India, but I can see other governments getting a boner.
The BBC says the order has been scrapped.
I remember the Rona Panic and getting push notifications in certain states about ‘Rona levels. I also remember something about government emergency notifications here in the US that can’t be turned off.
Somewhere I read that Apple’s response to India was a flat “No”.
Not sure if true.
From the article:
Withdrawing the order on Wednesday, the government cited the app’s “increasing acceptance”. It came after Apple and Samsung had reportedly resisted the directive to pre-install it on their devices.
I phrased a few reponses, but they all summed up as “BBC, didn’t read.”
But I also have a habit of not following links.
Is there a BBC Pidgin version of the article? I would read that.
Why?
Me ney find dat, RJ.
You can’t turn the “national” one off on Android.
https://cdn.aarp.net/content/dam/aarpe/en/home/personal-technology/find-emergency-alerts-smartphone/_jcr_content/root/container_main/container_body_main/container_body2/container_body_cf/body_two_cf_one/par4/articlecontentfragme/cfimage.coreimg.50.932.jpeg/content/dam/aarp/home-and-family/personal-technology/2023/08/1140-emergency-alerts-screenshots.jpg
However, it is a one-way text message only.
Sure it is.
The spyware remains built into the OS – it’s just you can turn off most of the messages that remind you it’s spying.
I still have A/V of everyone’s phone going off at once, whenever that was.
No.
Okay, risky question.
Since it’s really easy to collect my .38 Special brass, where would be a good place for someone in the PDRNY get supplies to reload? Outside of the the safety concerns (wrong loads and mistakes are serious business) what potential issues are there? (Legal, etc)
Well, if you lived down by me, absolutely none. Stores even sold reloading supplies alongside eggs and bread when I was growing up.
That’s why I included the geographic disclaimer. I know free states are better on these things.
I shall still snark.
Also – Any good informational resources so I can avoid bad combinations of components?
I would really like to research before actually putting boom in the chamber
Being drunk and watching NASCAR might be a bad idea.
Just follow whatever reloading manual you’re using to the tee.
Reloading isn’t rocket science.
I don’t have a reloading manual, part of the reason I’m asking.
That is really excellent advice.
I had a friend that reloaded. As Muzzled suggests follow the manual.
Suthen is a big reloader so ping him if you see him here.
Get a good scale and weigh them. That’s a backstop in case you double charged a load.
Sadly I can’t add much more as I don’t have experience.
Suthen actually did a series on this a few years back.
Which year?
2018. They’re archived.
if you want to try your hand at the reloading game, pick up a Lee Loader
https://www.amazon.com/lee-loader/s?k=lee+loader&tag=ustxtaddt-20
If you enjoy that, and/or think it is worthwhile, then step up to a real press, dies and so on. As far as bullets, poweder and primers, check your LGS.
I had been looking at some of those guys when I realized “I don’t know enough yet”
Hey hey! Some good news.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/12/breaking-supreme-court-allows-texas-use-its-new/
Did Affirmative Action Jackson issue her usual dissent of “I just can’t even.”?
She couldn’t even so hard, she didn’t even.
It’s almost like states are responsible for their voting procedures or something.