Sunday Morning Take A Breath Links

by | Dec 4, 2022 | Daily Links | 197 comments

Insane week on this project, but I’m actually taking a few hours off from it. Worked sound at a concert last night, which had its moments, then back to the furnace. Now, here’s some potential fun, an email sent to faculty and staff:

Queer Vocabulary Training
Want to learn more about LGBTQIA+ vocabulary? Maybe you are unsure of pronoun usage? What is a chosen name or a dead name? Well, come to the 9redacted) room on Friday, December 16 from 11:30 to 12:30 and have some fun while learning. We are starting the Safe Zone trainings back up and will be offering different topics throughout the Spring semester, in short but fun and educational one-hour sessions. Register by clicking the link. Seats will fill up fast so don’t wait.

Here’s the best part: the university official who sent this out didn’t have the almost-universal-here set of pronouns in the signature. I am trying to sign up for this and squeeze out a Proggies In The Mist article, playing the game of making the space “unsafe” by using the term “Quiltbag” but not getting fired.

Some interesting birthdays today, including a guy who should have been named Retlub; a guy who inspired Heroic Mulatto, and would be horrified at that notion; a guy who’s still dead; the inspiration for a crappy TV show; a true piece of shit whose only redeeming value was exposing John McCain as the crooked shitbag he was; a brilliant guitarist who was incapable of playing a wrong note; a guy known as a cipher expert; the guy I voted for in 1992; a guy known for a “Let’s do it!” philosophy; a true birdman; a folk hero of mine; a guy who actually out-acted John Wayne; and an actor who knows her cars.

Let’s move on to Links.

 

This seems kinda bigoted to me.

 

This might be better than P Brooks.

 

Starbucks snowflakes employees get mad when the company does something to help them. BTW, we have that same system at our shop, and the employees love it.

 

Tar, feathers, woodchipper, drawing and quartering. Start with Clapper, but do them all.

 

I was stunned to find out recently that all through our marriage, SP had been hiding her love of this soap opera from me. With all due respect to the memory of the love of my life, it’s stale and time to be canceled.

 

It’s not that you’re gay, it’s that you’re a New Yorker.

 

Slimebag vs slimebag. Isn’t there a way they could both lose?

 

Old Guy Music varies between folk/Americana that everyone hates, bluegrass that everyone hates, rock that everyone hates, and jazz that everyone hates. I haven’t done the last in a while, so here goes (and yes, I love it).

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me. Wait, wrong book, I'll find something else.

197 Comments

  1. Penguin

    This seems kinda bigoted to me.

    What if a reservation school wants to call themselves after the actual tribe they are? Is that racist? Probably so, according to the woke. It’s impressive how they know what’s right for people, rather than, say, asking them if they’re offended or anything.

    • Old Man With Candy

      SP was deeply involved in Indian/Native American/Indigenous People issues and had a lot of tribal friends. 100% of them used the term “Indian.”

      • PieInTheSky

        I would think asian people would start protesting at natives appropriating the term indian.

      • Penguin

        See also: the absolute hatred Hispanic people have for ‘LatinX’.

      • Spartacus

        The Seminoles have been asked on numerous occasions whether they object to Florida State’s use of Seminole for their name and mascot. Responses are usually along the lines of “why, no, we’re not offended at all. Frankly, we’re too busy making millions from our casinos to pay much attention.”

      • Spudalicious

        And from Florida State naming rights.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Isn’t that what they tend to do though, find two or three people out of thousands who actually are offended and hold them up as the standard? All they have to do is find a Native American Karen and put her front and center.

    • SDF-7

      I would love to see a tribal school return the favor and call themselves the “Mighty Whiteys” or “Crusaders” or “Cherokee Crackers” or whatnot. How people can twist what is obviously a compliment “These people were fierce warriors who took no shit.” into an insult is number 5 million and 6 on “List of things I don’t get”.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Don’t try to apply a rational thought process to irrationality, it’s too frustrating.

      • DEG

        This.

        Plus it’s just another grift.

  2. Fourscore

    My high school mascot/nickname was Ranger. We were located on the iron range and were unaffiliated with TX or any other type rangers. Now that the iron mining here has been depleted maybe the school needs a new nickname.

    • SDF-7

      We were Grangers. AKA Farmers. AKA “Guaranteed to only strike fear in the hearts of schools with Fluffy Bunnies or maybe Laying Hens as mascots”.

      • Fourscore

        My kids were “Bumble Bees”. Their sports teams could have been called “Mosquitos ” .
        My Baptist college is “The Crusaders” and they are actually doing well in the sports arenas

      • Gender Traitor

        When the Rev. GT was a dorm advisor at the college connected to his School of Religion, the college’s teams were “the Hustlin’ Quakers.” (Don’t know who had the advantage when they played the “Battling Bishops.”) Of course, the Quaker school didn’t have a fight song – just a passive resistance song.

    • Seguin

      My community college mascot were the Thunderducks. Great name.

  3. Ted S.

    and an actor who knows her cars.

    Happy birthday Anne Heche?

    • Old Man With Candy

      You misspelled Jayne Mansfield.

      • SDF-7

        At least we can hope she didn’t know them like Catherine knew horses…

      • Ted S.

        I think you meant Grace Kelly.

      • Tundra

        Correct answer.

      • Don escaped Texas

        for the millionth time, stay the fuck away from SMU chicks

        ** scratches old scar **

  4. The Late P Brooks

    in short but fun and educational one-hour sessions.

    Taught by a hairy dwarf in high heels and fishnet stockings?

    • Tres Cool

      I’d watch that for a dollar.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    SP was deeply involved in Indian/Native American/Indigenous People issues and had a lot of tribal friends. 100% of them used the term “Indian.”

    “Tribal” seems to be the preferred nomenclature around here. I have no idea what the Fort Hall school mascot is.

    • SDF-7

      A hall? Probably “Standing Policeman” or “Hand Sanitizers”….

    • Tres Cool

      I remember getting in trouble in kindergarten when the teacher told everyone to sit ‘indian style’.
      I went and laid on the curb with a liquor bottle.

      /be here all week

  6. Tres Cool

    whaddup doh’
    yo whats goody yo

    TALL SABBATH CANS!

    • PieInTheSky

      it is the weather to drink red wine or single malt, not beer like a savage

      • Tres Cool

        Not just beer- the best. Milwaukee’s BEST Light.

        Hell, it’s right there in the name.

  7. juris imprudent

    Good music choice for this morning Old Man.

  8. Ted S.

    Starbucks snowflakes employees get mad when the company does something to help them.

    You’d think journalists would know how to use the apostrophe correctly, too.

  9. rhywun

    Names and imagery that mock, degrade and devalue Native heritage

    Because nothing says school spirit like mockery and degradation.

    You know, while we’re busy erasing every trace of those people left in America, I really think it is disgusting that towns with names such as “Tonawanda” and “Cheektowaga” still exist. Do better, New York.

  10. R C Dean

    The [Redacted] Room sounds like the perfect place for nu-speak training. Have fun, OM!

  11. The Late P Brooks

    Many claimed that Starbucks should simply pay their employees more rather than rely on customers for tips.

    And the coffee should be free.

    • rhywun

      I’m sorry but unless you’re bringing something to my table, you’re not tippable. Maybe they should tip me for carrying my order to a table.

      • Rat on a train

        employees, who took to TikTok to express how uncomfortable it makes them feel
        All I did was ring up your order. Where’s my tip?

      • Fourscore

        That’s what I was thinking. At least at a buffet someone picks up the dishes from time to time.

      • Zwak, who taser's the chimp with the razor.

        I dump my change in a cup, but if I am using a card, zip.

    • Ted S.

      Many claimed that Starbucks should simply pay their employees more rather than rely on customers for tips.

      I think you have a lot of money and I’m jealous; therefore it’s morally right for me to boss you around and confiscate that money.

  12. PieInTheSky

    how do you know all these obscure musicians

    • Old Man With Candy

      Sun Ra is not obscure. He just never appeared on Eurovision. Though, TBF, he played a LOT of shows in Europe, and his Live At Montreux album was brilliant.

      • Penguin

        He just never appeared on Eurovision.

        I laughed. Then I did again, imagining that this was Pie.

      • Penguin

        OK, that’s a better choice.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    I think you meant Grace Kelly.

    Don’t forget that Fitzgerald dame.

    • juris imprudent

      Tie two links together – Diana Spencer.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Korean parliamentary free-for-alls are better.

    • PieInTheSky

      in Japan they actually use proper judo technique

  15. Brawndo

    Starbucks is fast food, therefore I wouldn’t tip them if I ever went.

    • Sean

      I’ll tip for fast food at Bubbakoos. I’m prone to asking for extra cheese, jalapenos, etc. and they comply. Tipped.

  16. Surly Knott

    A music link featuring one of the birthday boys.

    • Penguin

      Great song. I don’t think I’d heard that for a decade or so.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Suddenly the Constitution is the greatest thing since sliced bread

    “Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Trump wrote in a post on the social network Truth Social. He further alleged that “Big Tech” was working closely with Democrats. “Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”

    Trump’s public appeal to end American democracy followed Elon Musk’s release of internal Twitter files on Friday evening, which detailed already publicly-known information about the company’s deliberation surrounding the New York Post’s publication of files from Hunter Biden shortly before the 2020 election.

    The push-back to Trump’s post was swift on Saturday. White House Deputy Secretary Andrew Bates released a statement condemning Trump’s remarks. “The American Constitution is a sacrosanct document that for over 200 years has guaranteed that freedom and the rule of law prevail in our great country,” Bates said. “The Constitution brings the American people together — regardless of party — and elected leaders swear to uphold it.

    “It’s the ultimate monument to all of the Americans who have given their lives to defeat self-serving despots that abused their power and trampled on fundamental rights,” he continued. “Attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation, and should be universally condemned. You cannot only love America when you win.”

    Just like junior high.

    • juris imprudent

      No one else gets to piss on the Constitution, that’s our privilege. /Dems

    • rhywun

      already publicly-known information

      LOL. There are shameless, aren’t they.

      • Not an Economist

        There are polls which show that if the contents of Hunter’ laptop were known before the election, the results might have been different.

      • juris imprudent

        Really? How was that going to effect the Dems elections shenanigans?

      • DEG

        The Republicans might have been able to beat the margin of fraud.

      • juris imprudent

        After the most recent election with Fetterlump winning, I’m thinking it is a fair cop that PA voters are just that dumb.

      • Fourscore

        “For just $19 a month you can support a senator or congressman of your choice, 535 to choose from”

        Support the Handicapped National Politicians Welfare Fund

      • DEG

        True.

  18. Count Potato

    “This seems kinda bigoted to me.”

    They are just trying to erase history. Just like the Civil War and slave owner statues. They want people to forget that the government drove off the Indians and enabled slavery.

    • juris imprudent

      Of course they didn’t deface only slave owner statues – their rage was quite indiscriminate.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Still others are astonished that there is anyone who is still falling for Trump’s bullshit.

    “Donald Trump continues to push the Big Lie. It’s astounding how many Racist Idiots still believe this Bull Crap,” Rob Reiner wrote.

    I was kind of on the fence, before, but now…

    • rhywun

      Rob Reiner, voice of reason.

      Say, Rob Reiner and Rolling Stone, would you explain the racism behind all the idiots who are still falling for Hillary’s bullshit?

  20. Rat on a train

    NoVA is full of trash

    A Northern Virginia trash company has unexpectedly shut down, leaving thousands of customers scrambling to dispose of piles of trash on their streets.

    • Ted S.

      NoVA is full of trash

      To be fair, it’s full of FedGov workers.

  21. Scruffy Nerfherder

    “Yes, I stand by the statement made AT THE TIME, and would call attention to its 5th paragraph,” he said referring to an area of the letter where the signatories admit they do not have any material evidence of Russian involvement. “I think sounding such a cautionary note AT THE TIME was appropriate.” (Clapper)

    I lied to Congress, but I thought it was appropriate AT THE TIME.

    My new legal defense is liberal usage of the phrase AT THE TIME.

    • db

      “I was monstrously wrong, but had reason to be so AT THE TIME, so continue to believe me unconditionally NOW.”

    • Rat on a train

      “The lie served its purpose.”

    • R C Dean

      It’s a nice companion piece for “what difference, at this point, does it make?”.

      • db

        They flow together nicely:

        “AT THE TIME, it seemed right, but, what difference, at this point, does it make?”

  22. The Late P Brooks

    That electronic tip jar will come in handy once Starbucks is fully unionized. It will make it easier for the union take their fair share. After all, where would those baristas be without the union?

    • Tres Cool

      Oh, the union insures dues are deducted directly from payroll like child support or taxes.
      There’s no choice.

      • Zwak, who taser's the chimp with the razor.

        back in my logistics days, i spent a period as a transportation supervisor when the shop decided to unionize. the teamsters never told them that there would be no instant pay raise when the contract was ratified, but that the employees would start having to pay dues. some unhappy campers there.

      • DEG

        That’s what you get when you deal with the Teamsters.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    My new legal defense is liberal usage of the phrase AT THE TIME.

    “Well Your Honor, it seemed like a good idea AT THE TIME.”

  24. Semi-Spartan Dad

    Here’s the best part: the university official who sent this out didn’t have the almost-universal-here set of pronouns in the signature.

    I’m starting to feel some pressure at work about this. I’m one of maybe 10% companywide who have refused to list pronouns. Adherence to DEI initiatives goes into considering advancement, but I’ll leave first if that becomes a serious issue.

    I notice that the most prominent DEI pushers at work are also those with the least productive contributions. I’m going to have to restrain myself from calling them Komissar if pushed on this. At least with a paper trail.

    • Rat on a train

      There’s a place in the corporate profiles where you can list pronouns. Most people leave it blank along with all the other non-work related fields. I use “you” when addressing everyone regardless of preference.

    • rhywun

      I’m hoping this mass insanity dies down before it impacts me where I work.

    • robodruid

      I plan on using :”Panzerschiff”

    • Surly Knott

      My pronouns?
      Most Holy/Most Holy/Most Holy’s
      Cerebus knew how to subverts systems.

  25. Not Adahn

    OMWC:

    You could point out how the LGBTQIA2S+ community is following the exact same path as “Whiteness” with more and more disparate ethnicities/sexual preferences being lumped together in one overcategory. Then you could ask them which minority sexual preference is on the edge of respectability and will likely be the next member of the community.

    • Not Adahn

      SNUY and CUNY schools also have a wee bit of a problem with antisemitism.

    • Not Adahn

      And of course, if you really wanted to, you could ask why you were defining a community based on deviating from cishetnormality, aren’t you really centeringcisheterosexuality as the “true” sexuality and lumping all other people’s experiences together as “other.”

    • Mojeaux

      Well, if you think about it, wasn’t it Ayn Rand who said, “The individual is the smallest minority”? I mean, they’re sorting themselves out into individuals.

      But then they’re desperately trying to find someone else just like them.

  26. Semi-Spartan Dad

    For anyone who enjoyed Band of Brothers, I found a really good WWII episode on YouTube called Black Watch Snipers by a channel called War Stories. Maybe the channel is already well known around here, but it’s my first time stumbling across it. Can’t recommend it enough.

    Going back to the DEI bullshit, it really puts the whole male privilege claim in proper perspective.

    • Not Adahn

      I am hoping that the layoffs will disproportionally affect the DEI jobs. They did say that they would be laying of 5% of the workforce, 10% of the executive staff and manufacturing jobs would be underrepresented.

      • R C Dean

        “We have noticed that since we laid off the people whose jobs were to distract people from company business by sowing strife and promoting conflict, productivity has gone up. Purely a coincidence, I’m sure.”

      • Tres Cool

        Some years ago, our (kinda) local AK Steel mill in Middletown, Oh went on strike. Management locked them out, and replaced the workers with managerial-types, some scabs, and retirees.
        I remember driving to the office one morning and hearing the news on the radio “….after (x) underperforming quarters, AK steel has recently posted a profit…”

        /paraphrased

      • Grummun

        I recall a similar story involving Caterpillar and the UAW.

      • db

        At one of our facilities, about 15 years ago there was a lockout, and management personnel operated the plant without a problem at over 30% higher capacity than prior to the lockout.

        This became the new standard, and exceeding the standard is what drives the union’s bonuses. They were not happy and have avoided a lockout since.

  27. juris imprudent

    Today’s defense community has forgotten that strategic competition is won through irregular warfare

    I always get two laughs out of this kind of bullshit. First, no one ever says out loud what we are competing for. And the second is irregular warfare is about destabilizing [presumably unfriendly] regimes. There really isn’t irregular warfare that enhances a foreign govt. This is neo-con derp.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Minutes after Guarín performs his vasectomy, Meadows talks about why he was moved to act. He’d been needing a vasectomy for a while now, he says, because he has seven children…

      A fairly stark contrast to the twenty-somethings that just want the freedom to fuck without consequences.

      • Tres Cool

        Fuck w/o consequences is a vague term when you only remove a pregnancy. Herpes, HIV, chlymaedia, trich, syphilis, are still real occurrences.

      • Not Adahn

        I watched some “free with ads” TV yesterday. Most of the commercials were for HIV drugs and PrEP.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Dude, they’ve got pills for HIV now. No biggie.

    • rhywun

      The Supreme Court ruling made men more interested in how they can prevent unwanted pregnancies.

      Get out.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Sanity, or political expediency?

    Final defense legislation set to be unveiled next week could undo the Pentagon’s policy of kicking out troops for not taking the Covid vaccine, the Democratic chair of the House Armed Services Committee said Saturday.

    Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said a rollback of the policy is on the table for a compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act, but hasn’t been decided yet.

    “We haven’t resolved it, but it is very fair to say that it’s in discussion,” Smith told POLITICO on the sidelines of the Reagan National Defense Forum. He noted that the mandate may not be logical anymore.

    “I was a very strong supporter of the vaccine mandate when we did it, a very strong supporter of the Covid restrictions put in place by DoD and others,” he added. “But at this point in time, does it make sense to have that policy from August 2021? That is a discussion that I am open to and that we’re having.”

    ——-

    Undoing the policy — a measure that neither the House nor Senate included in their versions of the defense bill — would be a win for Republicans who argue forcing troops to get the shot or leave the military is exacerbating a recruiting and retention crisis. Thousands of troops have been kicked out for refusing the vaccine.

    GOP leaders are planning to focus on the policy when they take control of the House, if it isn’t rolled back before then.

    I’m sure there are plenty of Democrats who will dig in on this. A “win” for the Republicans cannot be permitted.

    • db

      “I was a very strong supporter of the vaccine mandate when we did it, a very strong supporter of the Covid restrictions put in place by DoD and others,” he added. “But at this point in time, does it make sense to have that policy from August 2021?

      All together, now:

      “AT THE TIME…”

      • Lackadaisical

        Yeah… Just proves you’re an asshat don’t whatever is expedient.

    • Lackadaisical

      Yeah, I don’t see this happening.

  29. juris imprudent

    You can always trust Republicans to confront a problem and come to the wrong conclusion.

    In the wake of a midterm cycle that proved disastrous for them, they’re wondering if their antipathy to the idea cost them the election.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Hey man, the state agencies didn’t abide by the laws we passed, so we should just give up and try to out-corrupt them.

    • rhywun

      Hearing a lot of that. And frankly, they have a point. The Dems have rigged the system in their favor. The GOP is not going to have any success in rolling elections back to the way they were practiced up until two years ago.

      • juris imprudent

        Florida and Georgia say hello.

      • rhywun

        I guess “minor success” is a kind of success.

      • juris imprudent

        I don’t think there’s any dispute about how the elections there have been run. A record of success in getting elections done properly (legit votes counted in a timely manner) should be attractive to all states.

      • Homple

        ” A record of success in getting elections done properly (legit votes counted in a timely manner) should be attractive to all states.”

        Do you even democracy, Bro?

      • Penguin

        They should introduce a bill requiring UN standards for elections, with observers from sub-Saharan Africa, South & Southeast Asia, and South America. Democrat disassembling on that would be hilarious.

      • rhywun

        That’s actually a good idea. But replace “UN” with “US”, as in, the standards that the US applies when judging foreign elections, all of which we currently break.

      • Zwak, who taser's the chimp with the razor.

        This is exactly right. In Game Theory, this is an Iterated Prisoners Dillema. Dems defected via gaming the system (cheating, changing the rules midstream, what have you) so to now “win” they need to be punished by their own rules. This is the only way to make the game fair again.

  30. Lackadaisical

    “Livid railway workers warn Biden’s union agreement will ‘definitely’ impact next election”

    I don’t think there are enough of you to make a difference, assuming anything even changes. Plus you’re just white men.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Those stupid fucks gave up their negotiating power prior to the mid-terms in order to “save democracy.”

      I’ve got no sympathy for them now. They made their bed, they can sleep in it.

  31. Count Potato

    “Gadde — who landed an influential administration post in an advisory committee to the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency while still a Twitter employee — reportedly earned $17 million in 2021.”

    Typical, just typical.

    • juris imprudent

      Wonder how much of that was stock options made good by Musk?

    • Ted S.

      I thought you were into firm, not squishy.

  32. Count Potato

    “Both the New York Times and the Washington Post refused so far to cover the Twitter firestorm, earning Musk’s ire. “The New York Times has become, for all intents and purposes, an unregistered lobbying firm for far-left politicians,” Musk wrote on Twitter after radio host Clay Travis pointed out the glaring absence from the two newspapers’ websites.”

    Stunning and brave?

    • Lackadaisical

      Well, if Jimmy ‘blackface’ Kimmel says it.

      Though I’m not sure what hating Jews has to do with white supremacy in this context.

      • Count Potato

        The Nation of Islam is just an idea.

  33. Don escaped Texas

    Fox Sports covers of FRA v POL: “….springs the counter attack the other way….”

    • juris imprudent

      In fairness, do they do American football any better?

  34. DEG

    internal server errors again…..

    I look forward to a Proggies in the Mist article.

    I heard about Andrew Marrou when I was in high school. I liked his opposition to the income tax.

    Old Guy Music isn’t bad. That album cover is kindy trippy.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    While negotiators are willing to entertain the possibility of undoing the policy, Smith said GOP calls to reinstate or grant back pay to troops who refused the shot amounted to a red line. He called the push “a horrible idea.”

    “The one thing that I was adamant about — so were others — is there’s going to be no reinstatement or back pay for the people who refused to obey the order to get the vaccine,” Smith said. “Orders are not optional in the military.”

    That would be tantamount to admitting you were wrong. We can’t have that, can we, Shirley?

    • Gender Traitor

      When a Dem has lost SNL…who cares?

      • Ted S.

        For not being lefty enough.

    • rhywun

      I believe someone pointed out yesterday that they can take PTO for sick days – you know, like most jobs. And that the MSM seems to be mischaracterizing what is actually going on – shocking, I know.

  36. Brawndo

    Not mentioned in any of these articles about the railroad workers: how much “flex time” do they earn/year? I find it *highly* unlikely that they have no paid sick time and no paid time off.

    • Lackadaisical

      Shhh.. were supposed to believe that these are very downtrodden workers, not people with great pay and benefits that retire after 25 years.

    • juris imprudent

      I have no “sick time” either, just ignore the paid-time-off that I can take whenever.

      • rhywun

        Every single employee gets some form of paid sick leave

        LOL how’d that get in there?

    • Gustave Lytton

      Our resident Glib rail is mia for his perspective, but the pay and work practices of railroads are antiquated and very different from most workplaces. There’s also been rounds of grandfathering that cut new employees out of the lucrative pay/benefits.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Can’t decide if it should be put down or the school system that employs it.

      • Lackadaisical

        Porque no los dos?

      • Count Potato

        You shouldn’t call people “it”.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Xe? She? He? WTFICI (whatever the fuck it calls itself)

      • Count Potato

        The issue here is kids. Not that this person identifies as ‘trans demi-boy non-binary’ whatever that means. Calling people “it” is dehumanizing.

      • juris imprudent

        Unicorns and narwhals are its.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The issue is that a probable pedophile with glaringly obvious mental issues is in the school system and not only has contact with, but some authority over children.

        If dehumanization is a concern, then it would be best if that person is kept away from children, because dehumanization is going to be the least of their worries if this keeps up.

    • Penguin

      The Jesus wants to teach jour kids!

    • Lord Humungus

      IF I had a harem – they wouldn’t dress like Quakers.

      • Not Adahn

        I was told there would be no kinkshaming.

      • Old Man With Candy

        If I had a harem, I’d harem in the morning, I’d harem in the evening, all over this land

      • Not Adahn

        You misspelled haram.

      • Penguin

        IF I had a harem – they wouldn’t dress like Quakers.

        Not at home, anyway.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Spoilports

    The hosts of a “Drag Queen Story Hour”-style event for children in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday pulled the plug because of what they described as the intimidating presence of right-wing demonstrators.

    The scheduled holiday themed “Holi-Drag Storytime” at the First Unitarian Church of Columbus, which runs the K-5 institution behind the event, Red Oak Community School, was canceled at the last-minute Saturday morning following internal discussions, organizers said.

    Members of Ohio’s Proud Boys organization and other right-wing groups made good on promises to make waves outside the venue Saturday. More than 50 demonstrators, including members of the Proud Boys, gathered near the church Saturday morning and shouted, chanted and held up signs. Some were armed with long guns.

    As some Republican lawmakers and state leaders have sought to limit the rights of transgender people and make them a campaign issue, right-wing extremists have mounted parallel campaigns on the streets.

    Some have all but denied the existence of nonbinary people, embraced legislation limiting transgender student participation in sports, decried gender-neutral bathrooms, and made unfounded allegations about connections between transgender people and certain types of crime.

    The Proud Boys has been described by the FBI as an “extremist group with ties to white nationalism.”

    Only a white supremacist would object to a man in a cocktail dress reading stories to children. It’s perfectly harmless.

    *To be honest, I couldn’t really give a shit whether it’s Mrs Santa Claus or Chuckles the Clown or a Faye Wray impersonator, if all they’re doing is reading story books.

    • juris imprudent

      First Unitarian Church of Columbus, which runs the K-5 institution behind the event

      Not the place to protest. That’s not some public institution.

      • Homple

        Any place with deviants grooming kids is a good place to protest.

    • Penguin

      …limit the rights of transgender people…

      How about limiting the ‘rights’ of all people: trans, cis-straight, cis-gay to sexualize children? There, that wasn’t so fucking hard to figure out, was it?

  38. The Late P Brooks

    Not mentioned in any of these articles about the railroad workers: how much “flex time” do they earn/year? I find it *highly* unlikely that they have no paid sick time and no paid time off.

    Dude, they’re, like, chained to the control panel of the locomotive; 24/7. Outright chattel slavery would be an improvement.

  39. Lord Humungus

    I saw Sun Ra live – oh sometime in 1989-1991ish?? – and the only thing I can remember is the pudgy white guy with a large ass standing in front of me to dance.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Sorry, if I’d known it was you, I would have sat down.

  40. Count Potato

    “In preparation, please read my original piece on the Hunter Biden laptop. The big issue was that the NY Post & Giuliani used the existence of the laptop & iffy material on it to advance Russian disinfo concocted to hurt Biden & help Trump.”

    https://twitter.com/DavidCornDC/status/1598793796849999886

    4:38 PM · Dec 2, 2022

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Whatever you do, don’t believe your lying eyes.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    Weatherperson says rain, turning to freezing rain, turning to snow. I think I’ll just stay right here at home.

    • Count Potato

      Freezing rain is the worst.

      • DEG

        Seconded.

  42. Count Potato

    “This year marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the Tuskegee syphilis study. Tomorrow, I will be joined by colleagues & #PublicHealth leaders as we honor the 623 African American men, their suffering & sacrifice, and our commitment to ethical research and practice.”

    https://twitter.com/CDCDirector/status/1597700811102224385

    WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT

    • Tres Cool

      Ya know, those 623 deserve solid recognition.

      Now everyone else that took a vaccine….

    • Brawndo

      Stolen from somewhere: these men didn’t make a sacrifice. They *were* the sacrifice.

  43. mikey

    Finally, some music on this site I like. Sun Ra!

    There is no need for a sarc tag here.

    • Old Man With Candy

      I probably saw the Arkestra a dozen or so times. One of the shows (Left Bank Jazz Society at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore) made it into the documentary, and you can spot Young Man With Candy in the front row when the camera swings around.

      • PieInTheSky

        but you never saw tzanca uraganu so what was the point

      • Old Man With Candy

        I had it once, but some penicillin cleared it up.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    Coddling extremists

    As Walter Shapiro points out in The New Republic, “Since the Civil War, there never have been back-to-back congressional elections in which the margins in both the House and the Senate were this tight.” It’s easy to say that America has never been this divided, but less noted is that we’ve never been so narrowly divided. Ironically, that precarious balance is breeding more division and worsening the gridlock.

    Take, for example, what’s playing out in the halls of Congress right now — Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy’s desperate effort to get the 218 votes he needs to become speaker of the House. With a razor-thin majority, McCarthy needs every vote he can get, including from the party’s most extreme members. Already, a handful have publicly refused to support McCarthy.

    That has put McCarthy in the unenviable position of having to negotiate with the extremists. He’s threatened to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and vowed to throw Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell, Ilhan Omar and Adam Schiff off their congressional committees to win over Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. (He’s also pledged to restore Greene’s committee assignments.) McCarthy has also promised to lift all COVID restrictions in the House, end proxy voting and even remove the metal detectors installed off the House floor after Jan. 6. And while Senate Republicans were happy to criticize Trump’s recent meeting with a pair of antisemitic cretins, McCarthy refused to do so — no doubt in part because most of his members reside in districts where Trump remains popular.

    Even if McCarthy is successful — and considering the lack of speaker alternatives, he probably will be — he will have overcome one obstacle only to find a larger minefield in front of him. The coddling of Republican extremists will not end with one vote. It will continue for as long as McCarthy is speaker. On practically every issue, he will have to navigate the same choppy waters. This will be bad for McCarthy, but it will be worse for the country because when McCarthy is held hostage by GOP extremists, that means the House is held hostage by GOP extremists, which means all of Congress will be held hostage, which in turn means … well, you get the idea. And even if Senate Democrats, with a possible one-seat majority, are able to find common ground it won’t matter much because little of the legislation they pass will go anywhere in the House.

    The Democrats don’t have any fringe elements who require special handling. They’re just one big happy sensible family whose sole motivation is bettering the lives of all Americans. And making the trains run on time.

    • MikeS

      🤯

    • Old Man With Candy

      You nailed it.

    • Rat on a train

      Are people who don’t drink coffee fascists?

      • PieInTheSky

        worse. social democrats.

    • Not Adahn

      Why is pour-over split into two different things?

      • PieInTheSky

        that is the sort of thing a revisionist would ask. I am on to you

  45. C. Anacreon

    The birthday list today somehow forgot to include C. Anacreon. I thought maybe it was going to be me who “inspired Heroic Mulatto” or was “OMWC’s folk hero” but oh well.

    • Count Potato

      HBD! 🙂

    • Old Man With Candy

      Dammit. You shoulda reminded me.

    • PieInTheSky

      Ill have to see some id. We serve alcohol in this joint

    • DEG

      Happy Birthday!

    • Penguin

      Happy Birthday – even if you are Canadian.

    • Mojeaux

      w00h00! Happy barfday!

    • Rat on a train

      Too coherent to be his writing.

    • Penguin

      Well, considering the things he’s “got done” – I am proud. Proud I didn’t vote for that POS.