Good morning one and all to another amazing day!
That’s all I got for today. I’ll leave you with a song and move along with my day.
Friday Morning Links
About The Author
Banjos
Wife of Sloopy, mother to three bright, curious, and highly active growing girls. Perpetually exhausted.
Morning, Banjos.
Mornin’
Democrat AGs planned to sue Trump nearly 7 months before he was reelected
Democrats were also calling for his impeachment before he was sworn in his first term.
TRUMP WEAPONIZED THE JUSTICE SYSTEM!!11!!
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
How dare he do what we said we were going to do!
I think their efforts to have him killed took the cake, though…
Amazing how quickly that faded. It is kind of a tell that the press knew pretty quickly that this was a story that didn’t need reporting.
Can you even call forth his name? I know John Hinkley. I know every network ran special reports for months. They went over every detail. It even spawned the most successful gun control movement.
But Trump’s would-be assassin?
Nothing.
It didn’t happen.
Nobody ever asked why secret service pulled protection from that building. Kimberly Cheadle was sent out to say the roof was too steep. and then promptly resigned. No further comment or questions.
Nobody is even asking.
Boy, we wanted to dig into the motivations of Dylan Roof. Everybody knows that name. He got specials, documentaries…. Every group and commenter to the right of Katie Couric had to defend themselves against charges that they inspired him… That they were racist killers.
But not Trump guy. Some anonymous person who climbed onto the only undefended structure at a Trump rally… The one structure that also happened to be teaming with police as the field headquarters. Nobody even wonders how he knew that walking up to that building with an AR and a ladder would not draw any attention. Nobody asks what agents on the overlooking hill and water tower would have seen.
Nope. A 24 hour news cycle, so desperate for content that they will elevate any tiny local human interest story they can find…. Isn’t even slightly interested in… What’s his name again?
Which guy are you talking about? The roof shooter, the Kavanaugh assassin, the golf course guy, or someone else?
Excellent point..
Which golf course assassin? And why are you forgetting the guy who bum-rushed the press dinner?
It takes a lot of planning and foresight to save Democracy!
Saving democracy by running a coup against the duly-elected president. Serious work indeed.
Heck, if a president can win the Nobel Peace Prize before he does anything, then why can’t a president be impeached before he does anything?
Fair point
Trump should take a page from the Autopen prez, and pardon himself and everyone around him…
Alex, do you really think that would put the brakes on any of this shit?
whaddup doh’
Heya Banjos- how YOU doin’ ?
Not bad, Tres, not bad.
You mean the 15 million voters who appeared in 2020 and disappeared by 2024 weren’t real?
Now, now, the dead and the illegal are both real.
For some reason they keep focusing on Russia and China. Not for nothing, that ain’t my concern. I am looking at all of those US funded NGO and the drop box ballots.
The Democrats changed the game when they weapon used the bureaucracy with their #resist campaign. This is also part and parcel of the new socialist (communist) movement that wants to streamline things into a single party politburo style government. These NGO are neck deep in this, and their deep ties to the CIA are worrisome, given their mission to effect regime change around the world.
Speaking of NGO’s
TL;DR – The previous administration threw billions of dollars at three startup NGO’s staffed by former Obama and Biden flunkies to play at “healing the earth”. Donald stopped it but a DC court just ruled that the taxpayer funding of these ratfucker Democrats must continue.
Correction – Congress stopped it.
This is massive. I had no idea. Billions in a Democrat slush fund. Probably illegally appropriated, and definitely illegally upheld by the courts.
No wonder they spotted trumps fund on weapon ideation so quickly.
Not coincidentally, I always wondered where Democrats got their huge warchests. Welfare payments buy a lot of votes, but they don’t inspire billions in donations. Defense contracts do that. And apparently so does handing NGOs a half a trillion every year.
as usual, anything to expand govt power and reach is carved in stone and any attempt to rein it in is written with a stick in the sand at low tide.
cyto:
The book deals, speaking tours, and “consultancies” with the NGOs are such transparent graft and kickbacks it’s appalling.
“Not coincidentally, I always wondered where Democrats got their huge warchests. Welfare payments buy a lot of votes, but they don’t inspire billions in donations. Defense contracts do that. And apparently so does handing NGOs a half a trillion every year.”
The billions do not come from defense contractors. That trope is old and broken. That donkey slush money comes from two things. The first is the massive fraud throughout all social programs from the feds down to the state level. We will some day find out there is an entire class of people making bank from some $2 trillion a year in fraud. Those people know what wheels they need to grease to keep that fraud money coming, and they put as much as a couple of a hundred billion into circulation to help team blue causes. The second is foreign enemies of America that fund things that will hurt America and Americans. That too is close to a hundred billion of extra team blue cash a year (ActBlue??). And the sad thing is a lot of that money came from US tax payers. Look how bad just USAID having a few programs canceled hurt that effort.
Correction – Congress stopped it.
Kinda gives lie to the concern trolling – “Sure I agree with what Trump is doing, but he needs to do it right via Congress.” “Sure I don’t like the SNAP rules, but that has to done legislatively”.
Does something legislatively: Court still doesn’t GAF – no matter what anybody says you still have to keep funding the grift.
And so it doesn’t look like I am being a dick about the defense spending racket. That program exists to create a whole bunch of very high paying, high expertise, engineering and vocational jobs that the people spending the money on say justifies the expense. Cause these people pay a ton of taxes. There are no massive earnings for the corporations and many of them operate at loss because of government required regulations creating massive and useless make-work reporting and other requirements. Everything runs slow, costs too much, and in general is well below the quality it could have. In fact, most defense industry stocks are also undervalued, IMO.
Our real problem is the massive welfare state. And the massive fraud it allows.
This is my shocked face : (-.-)
These need to be taken out of circulation until and unless the technology improves to the point where you’re not doing more harm than good. I expect it’ll be decades if not longer.
Yep. Maybe this is an exercise in Darwinism.
I talked to Tundra about this yesterday. My two sisters are NP’s and they’re freaking out. They want our family to stay the hell away from it.
I think it’s going to be a hard sell for most people. But Tundra thinks many will go for it.
RINO Governors Move to Counter Mass Deportations With State Work Permits for Migrant
Constitution says….no.
We declared them state citizens. ICE can’t touch them now.
Sovereign citizens?
Quit calling them RINOs. They’re just ordinary, normal Republicans.
lol Bullshit
How about import some of the millions of Americans who are currently sitting on their ass playing Xbox? I know they aren’t Mexicans but with a little luck you might actually be able to train them to pick fruits or swing a hammer.
By luck I mean ramp down the welfare checks.
Not going to happen unless they tighten the disability rules
“But if we don’t hand people free shit they won’t vote for us!”
Then you don’t belong in office.
We accept your resignations.
We are seriously harming people. The human psyche needs to be productive.
We are seriously harming people.
Positive feedback loop. We pay people to stay at home because they have anxiety, staying at home being unproductive diminishes their self esteem increasing their anxiety. Then we wonder what is wrong with people these days… We deliberately broke them that’s what is wrong. We taught them that self respect is an entitlement independent of action, coddled them when something offended, stressed, or frightened them, and provided multiple avenues of support independent of their efforts.
You ever look at Caleb Hammer’s YouTube channel? Those are the people who can’t find jobs. I suspect they’re also the voice of most of the affordability crisis complaining.
(Not to say that there isn’t a problem with price inflation right now. That’s what happens when money printer go ‘brrrrrr!’, and the war and tariff stupidity ain’t helping.)
I don’t see any way out that doesn’t involve shooting a few of the horses that can’t get over the hurdle.
““But if we don’t hand people free shit they won’t vote for us!””
I wonder how many people realize that after the deaths and the conditioning to accept government abuses, this was the third largest result caused by the Kung Flu scandemic. So many people came to conclude they should be given free shit, with others paying for it, rather than work jobs they do not like cause they have no serious skills to do something better.
Funny, a lot of them have jobs, but are so spectacularly broken and unable to control their own impulses that they’re in atrocious debt spirals when they could have easily lived within their means.
I also wonder why they decided “Yes I want to go on a show where the paperwork literally says I agree to be insulted and yelled at.”
Was a response to sheldon.
I’ve said it before – Caleb Hammer is basically a slightly less annoying millennial Dr. Laura, and the guests have exactly the same masochistic motivations. They don’t really want advice – they want to be abused and humiliated in public.
I suspect they’re also the voice of most of the affordability crisis complaining.
I tend to piss off both sides on this issue.
First, Boomers and Gen X refuse to recognize that the “basics” are unattainable by Gen Z and Alpha. “Oh, well I can afford stuff.” Yeah, you’re making 6 figures and have home equity. The average twenty something is staring at a decade of scrimping and saving if they want to have a 30 year mortgage on a median house and a car without a 7 year loan before age 40.
OTOH, Gen Z hasn’t seen a luxury or a debt instrument they haven’t wholeheartedly embraced. It’s really hard to take their whining seriously when it’s done from a $1000 phone while eating DoorDash and playing the latest game on the most expensive console.
“We are seriously harming people. The human psyche needs to be productive.”
At one time, yes. But something has changed. We removed shame from the equation but I don’t know whether that is the cause or simply another manifestation of a deeper societal or biological change.
It has been that way for decades.
I get it sucks being a poor twenty-something but it always did. The current “crisis” to the extent there is one (and if there is, it was a result of the scamdemic on top of the usual fraud and graft) is IMHO greatly overblown.
I’m very much with you on both ends of this argument. If I sound like I’m giving the boomers and GenX a pass, it’s because I have a longstanding aversion to complaining in public.
I remember being 25 and knowing that I would never be able to buy a house because of double digit mortgage rates.
I eventually bought a house 24 years later.
So, fuck the youngsters. Grow up.
At 25, I was just starting at the state, so I was happy to be off of unemployment and back out on my own.
I was able to get a mortgage at 33. But I also picked a tiny, inexpensive house that lacked many amenities. (No yard, no central air, no driveway)
“At one time, yes. But something has changed. We removed shame from the equation but I don’t know whether that is the cause or simply another manifestation of a deeper societal or biological change.”
^^^WISDOM^^^
It’s hard to take affordability claims seriously from a generation that won’t accept a beater car as a first ride or a ‘starter’ home as a first house. They want to start on 3rd base and that’s just not how it works generally. My oldest is 25 and has a good job, but was also recently diagnosed as pre-diabetic (3 $5+ coffee/really milkshakes a day) and the $20 dollar burritos everyone is arguing about. They generally don’t make food at home (I generally cooked when they were at home, we didn’t live in restaurants). When you are spending between $20-$40 on every meal, you can’t save money. I have tried to pound this intontheir heads but the response is always the same “but I want that” and my response is, then you won’t be able to afford anything else. Don’t get me started on the trips they won’t deny themselves. That all comes at a price.
That’s crazy. I don’t live like that in my late 50’s let alone did not in my 20’s.
Sheldon, the “affordability crisis” is more driven by the under-employed bracket of recent grads with 200K in student loans for useless degrees.
You know, Mamdani supporters.
Soo…I’m somewhat sympathetic to that. A lot of reliable beaters were taken off the market by ‘Cash for Clunkers’ (Fuck Obama and his whole administration, in the dickhole with a strand of razor wire tied in knots, for that atrocity), and honestly, you kinda want a new car with a factory warranty and no shady maintenance history when you’re depending on it to get to work.
That said, the lack of cheap new bare-bones cars on the market can’t really be laid at the feet of the evil boomers, unless you mean the boomers occupying the US Department of Transportation…
As for housing – one of the weird-to-me things I’ve noticed about the younger cohort, is that they’re no longer willing to live with roommates. I find this bizarre – when I was in my late teens/early twenties, I always just assumed that after college you just live in a big crappy apartment with a bunch of half-strangers for a few years, while you establish your career and save up for a place of your own…
To add, there are a shit ton of affordable houses (see Pat for one example) in various parts of the country, just not “cool” parts. Also, many of the blue state/city financial desions are removing housing from the market, all while adding pressure from immigrants to live somewhere, often bolstered by gov handouts.
Add a cohort of people who have been coddled their entire lives and a soupcon of over achieving boomers who have stayed far too long in the workforce without providing entry to many of those people (along with being the coddlers) and you have a recipe for the disaster we are starting to see.
“It’s hard to take affordability claims seriously from a generation that won’t accept a beater car as a first ride or a ‘starter’ home as a first house. ”
Where it as simple as that. Had this chat with a young lady that was a recent graduate and is now making upward of $100K a year in her first job in IT in her early twenties. She bemoaned her financial situation. Too much school loan debt. Her brand new BMW is costing too much to lease! The rent for her 2 bedroom apartment (where she lives alone and occasionally lets her loser boyfriend crash) is too high! Everything is too expensive! She will never be able to afford that 4 bedroom, 3 bath house she wants in one of the most expensive neighborhoods for just her to live in. All while sipping a $15 Starbucks mix of crap she called coffee and eating the Sushi lunch she had door-dashed to work (something she does every day). Yeah its the bad economy and the evil old people that have made it all too hard for her to live at a higher standard than her parents that worked decades to get there afforded her, from the getgo.
Entitled loser doesn’t even come close to explaining this.
Also true.
Trying to boil this down to a single problem with a single solution (Boomers! Immigrants! COVID! Tariffs! Starbucks!) is just gonna make you crazy.
Both things are true at the same time as Trashy said. Kids raised with immediate gratification of their whims expect to have that continue when out in the world, new phone every year, Doordash delivery for every meal, cool vacations, all paid for with consumer debt that leaves them in a hole that precludes saving are a real thing.
But it is also factually true that the older generations going back to the ‘Greatest” Generation have kicked every fiscal responsibility can down the road, and that limitations on supply, regulations on what must be included, and artificially low interest rates have driven home prices and rents up much faster than wages have risen. It is demonstrably harder to afford a home that costs 5 years of the median income than one which cost 3 years, which are roughly the average 1975 v 2025 numbers. It is also harder to do so when you spend twice as much of your earnings on delivery food, new electronics, and luxury vacations, not to mention borrowing a mortgage sized amount of money to get a degree.
There is plenty of blame to go around and honestly I think the older cohorts have much more on their plate than the kids. Our generations screwed the economy, and also screwed up raising the kids.
So, fuck the youngsters. Grow up.
hard to take affordability claims seriously
It’s hard not to agree in part. I recall even 25 years ago, the banks/lenders and realtors dangling loans 3-4x higher than what was reasonable on my income at the time in front of me. And contemporaries buying so much more than the could, rationally, afford. And that extended to things other than homes as well. You can eat very well at home going shopping every couple of days. And you don’t have to be an asocial asshole (though I am) to do it – invite people over. Cook together, socialize while doing it. Cheaper and more healthy.
That said, who taught them this behavior? Who facilitates and normalizes it? It’s hard to fully blame someone for their poor habits if that’s all they’ve ever been taught.
I had a housemate into my 30’s.
Kids these days SMDH
It’s hard to take affordability claims seriously from a generation that won’t accept a beater car as a first ride or a ‘starter’ home as a first house.
It’s a “both/and” situation, at least IMO.
There are a lot of young people who can’t be arsed to live within their means (oops, I guess school forgot to teach them that… now the kids are reliably leftist. Funny how that happens). However, that doesn’t change the unattainability of the basics.
Bare minimum for a car that isn’t going to require substantial immediate repairs is $7k. Probably closer to $9-10k if you want some assurance that it’ll last more than a year.
If you want a 30 year mortgage with 5% down, a $250k starter home (which doesn’t exist in most cities) requires $20k in cash and over $2k/month in mortgage payments. If you’re 29 and making $50k, that’s just not doable.
Regardless of the individual cases from the past, the average person could afford to be in a modest house by age 30. That’s the “above average” outcome now. Heck, it wasn’t too long ago that the average 30 year old guy could have a stay at home wife and two kids, a 15 year mortgage on a median house, and a late model used car paid in cash. Those days are long over.
I would argue that all of the current affordability problems are the direct result of progressive government policies.
Whether or not the boomers are solely responsible for progressive government policies is debatable.
“I would argue that all of the current affordability problems are the direct result of progressive government policies.”
1000%
Queue the commies telling you what you neead to solve it is MOAR government.
Whether or not the boomers are solely responsible for progressive government policies is debatable.
It’s stupid how the younger kids are taking generalities and turning them into universal condemnation. Yes, generally the government really screwed things up during the boomers’ time of influence. That doesn’t mean that every boomer is complicit. Their adderall riddled brains seem incapable of that level of nuance.
I fully agree on the impact of the government activity on the economy. I’ll add that there are cultural factors making it worse, but government has been egging on those cultural changes for 50 years, so they’re responsible in part for the mental and emotional children they dump into adulthood after 15 years in their schools.
WTF. You are in NJ, right? What range do you usually go to?
I’m closest to RTSP, formerly Ray’s. I hated them so much when they were Ray’s I stopped shooting. I haven’t been back since ownership changed, but the attitude there seems to remain. I’ll give the another shot, but want a backup plan.
I am a member at Gun for Hire at the Woodland Park Range. Great facilities, great staff, they have all kinds of classes/training, including the CCARE qualification for NJ Carry. Highly recommend.
Thanks!
I used to shoot at Shongum – a little club out in Oxford.
Neat place, thanks. A bit far unfortunately.
One of the best ways to find local gun clubs that don’t suck, is to go to https://www.practiscore.com, sign up for a free account, then go to the ‘Clubs’ section and set your location.
The interface can be a little tricky. What you want to do is click the ‘Update Location’ button, then click the map near where you live.
The ranges that are on Practiscore usually host practical shooting matches, so they’re more likely to be free of the lame fudd range rules that suck the joy out of everything.
Reloaderz on Rt23 in Wayne was ok.. I did my last carry class there.
I didn’t like that Gun for Hire didn’t handle the transition to the CCARE standard well.
I had qualified originally at GFH with the original protocol, but when it switched to need a use of force class and holster draw, they didn’t make a “well, you already qualified with us, we will just have a quick re-qual path”.. They did, you must pay us again from scratch, and because it is now holster draw, you must take our holster class first.
So I switched to reloaderz. Will probably use a local place for requal.
Another 10 minutes for me, but I’ll add it to the list.
RTSP is 15 minutes on a good day, but I can’t stand Route 22!
I heard that Orion’s belt is a big waist of space.
That’s not what all of the starfuckers say…
This got interesting. Paywalled NYT about the voter debacle.
The first screen described who was eligible to vote and required a person to click, “I understand,” according to a flow chart provided by the Motor Vehicle Commission.
The second stated, “If you are eligible to vote, we will update your voter registration or register you to vote unless you decline (SELECT ONE).” Customers were asked to touch either “continue voter registration” or “decline.”
The third screen asked: “Are you a Citizen of the United States of America?”
I get these are likely non native speakers, but they should have bailed out at step 2 and not step 3 where NJ said fuck it and register them.
It’s interesting as well that the NYT actually prominently quotes an expert that claims the Feds have a real case.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/nyregion/noncitizen-voter-registration-green-card.html
The software/system does EXACTLY what it was designed to do…
Sounds like a Cass Sunstein nudge.
Turturro and Buscemi in NYC? I think I may give that a shot.
Might be interesting, but that blue Barracuda is gorgeous.
Love Buscemi. Turturro and Espisito and Jamie Lee Curtis?? Yeah, sign me up.
‘A love letter to NYC’ is going to make me sad and nostalgic.
I may see it anyway…
Finally, a movie to look forward to. Also a movie in which both Turturro and Buscemi are in that isn’t also a Sandler movie.
…The Big Lebowski
“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages,” the senator said in the statement”
Mitch got a 2 months vacation, with pay.
I got 16 days and a walker
It’s cirrhosis and renal failure then.
Yeah. I usually get “buck up, tough guy” and have to drive myself home.
Yes, but did you have to pay out of pocket for the walker?
This guy needs to resign and have a replacement appointed. They need the vote
Graveyards are full of “indispensable” people.
Pretty sure they get a Democratic replacement in the short term, right?
Oh. That explains it. Kentucky has a democrat governor. Did not realize that. Wild.
They do not, KY law requires a special election not an appointment by the Governor, and at this point it is either already moot, or so close as to be pointless except to cover the lame duck period.
We need a number that’s big. But not too big!
Meta Ordered to Pay $942 Million to Address Harm to Kids From Social Media
https://www.wsj.com/tech/meta-ordered-to-pay-942-million-to-address-harm-to-kids-from-social-media-8ba5aab7?st=zbhug1&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Heh.
I don’t think that anyone can reasonably argue that unlimited access to social media is harmful to impressionable children, and to human society as a whole.
But the government fining them (“…and then doing what exactly with the money,” he asks?) isn’t going to fix the damage.
It is yet another example of the public getting Big Daddy to do the fucking job of raising their kids for them.
That whole shit show is such transparent bullshit and even so-called “conservatives” piling on to support that authoritarian bullshit sickens me.
“It’s addictive!”
Yeah… go fuck yourselves.
A Gilroy city staffer approved the Amazon project last July because it met zoning criteria set 45 years ago for industrial development.
We can’t have that!
How Amazon Built a Data Center in a California Town Without Anyone Noticing
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/how-amazon-built-a-data-center-in-a-california-town-without-anyone-noticing-8610bb67?st=NwizEi&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
It is amazing to me how rapidly “no data centers” has displaced “free Gaza” and “black lives matter” as the biggest concern local progs must signal with their signs and graffiti.
Or they are considering establishing permanent residence in the city because for them, the tax on their second homes outweighs the cost of New York’s state and city income taxes. A $12 million, single-family pied-à-terre, for instance, would be subject to a $75,000 tax bill, according to the city comptroller’s office.
I find it hard to believe anybody affluent enough to have a $12m second home in NYC would subject themselves to NYS and NYC levels of income taxation.
NYC’s Pied-à-Terre Owners Hunt for Creative Ways to Dodge New Tax
https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/luxury-homes/nycs-pied-a-terre-owners-hunt-for-creative-ways-to-dodge-new-tax-8a68d962?st=VL4quQ&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
“Russian President Vladimir Putin may test the NATO alliance’s strength with an attack on an allied country as early as fall — including a possible land invasion, according to new US intelligence reports.
The reports on the potential of a limited assault, which could range from a cyber attack to a military incursion, come as the US deals with a shortage of critical munitions it would need to respond to such an attack from Russia or China, US officials told the Wall Street Journal.
An attack is estimated to happen between this fall and 2029, the intelligence assessment warned.
Putin’s goal of an attack on a NATO nation is to force the US’s hand and fracture the 77-year-old alliance.”
https://nypost.com/2026/08/07/world-news/russia-could-attack-nato-allied-country-as-early-as-this-fall-us-intelligence-warns/
Who knows?
Yeah, it’s pulling from today’s WSJ “exclusive”. My response is “or not”.
Doubt.
But to be fair, they are already at war with NATO so why not?
I stopped following Kim Dotcom on X because he kept saying with 100% certainty that within 24 the US or Russia would use a nuke. Then he said the same thing about Israel and Iran.
Apparently we can hire new staff, but can’t get PCs for them to work with.
Fuck AI.
We had a similar catch-22 with our internship program. We could have interns, but no monitors or keyboards for their workstation.
We quickly pilfered a bunch of unused desks for the equipment.
Have them do drafting work on paper.
Then replicate it in CAD when they do get computers.
Hand markups on accordion-fold paper from a dot matrix printer. Just like the old days.
Tell me it has green bars.
If it isn’t green bar paper, it isn’t like the old days.
accordion-fold paper
And breaking them apart with a metal ruler because your company was to cheap for a “burster” that did it automatically.
We used to put the paper in backwards so that it would print on the all-white side.
I hated the green bars.
😱
You monster!
Tried – well did actually – to spec out a data server the other day. JTFC – RAM was 50%+ of the base price of the bare server.
Then hard drives…. JTFC. SAS drives are ridiculous, let alone even thinking about a larger SSD for the system drive(s).
Or a moderate GPU desktop, really just for learning some GPU coding and debugging/testing before running on clusters. Even with spare parts (PSU, case), it’s 2-3x – at least – what an equivalent (or even less capable config) was just 2 years ago. That’s a new direction for the cost curve.
I’m not sure I’d say Fuck AI (but fuck the overly optimistic, grandiose, hagiographies about what a transformative never-before-seen leap it is), but some damn actual return commensurate with what it’s done on the cost side would be nice.
I would really, really love for the bubble to burst and a bunch of secondhand hardware to pour onto the market.
From our burrito conversation in last night’s post – how soon until people can’t afford hotdogs?
The Rise of the $100 Hot Dog
Premium toppings, extravagant presentations and supersize varieties are pushing hot dogs into the realm of haute cuisine
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/food-cooking/the-rise-of-the-100-hot-dog-2ac6f322?st=aKuYfU&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Because I was raised on the cheap as dirt mixed animal oscar meyer dog that comes in the ten pack that is actually two packs of five glued together, dogs made from either just one animal (especially beef) or from higher quality ingredients just don’t taste right.
Funny, but it was the same for me for a long time.
Now I appreciate sausages and hotdogs of all kinds, but I don’t hate Oscar Meyer.
I have this mental separation between “sausages” and “hot dogs” despite knowing that dogs are technically a form of sausage. It’s probably because we also had italian sausage and kielbasa from time to time. If it’s sold as a sausage, I have more tolerance for variation from the standard template. If it’s sold as a dog… my brain just rebels at deviances.
This may be the first food-related comment that I’ve ever agreed with you on.
‘Sausages’ and ‘hot dogs’ are in two completely separate mental categories.
Just the other day I was thinking back to the fact that when I started working at 16, minimum wage was $4.25/hr, and that’s what most fast food places started at. This was before the rise of the 59/79/99 cent menu at Taco Bell, which meant you could get a meal (albeit a shitty Taco Bell one) for a couple of bucks.
Now, the minimum wage isn’t much higher, but the fast food places are now starting at $15/hour, and it’s cheaper to eat at a fast casual sit down place than a fast food chain.
Fast food used to at least be cheap, now it’s not that and it’s not really fast either. Hell, with the decline in quality I’m not sure it’s even food.
What toppings are they using to get to $100?
Even my gourmet dogs I make at home with premium links don’t break $5-7/dog when said and done.
I would put that slop up against my bacon-wrapped grilled Hebrew National hotdogs with kimchi and sweet-and-spicy chili sauce, any day of the week.
(Yes, bacon-wrapped kosher franks. I live for the sin.)
“rise”
The media tendency to harp on some ridiculous extreme shit and pretend it’s a “trend” is tedious AF.
See my comment below. Outrage media is fucking retarded
You can say that again
Best comment he’s ever made here.
Max Miller to Loan Campaign $1 Million, Rejecting Calls to Withdraw
Oh no – he might actually have to use his own money to lose his race!
https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/max-miller-to-loan-campaign-1-million-rejecting-calls-to-withdraw-7d54a0be?st=B1ZJLP&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
My rep. I was already hesitant about him before due to the marriage to Mareno’s daughter, now he’s being compared to Plattner. Fucking Ohio Republicans, between this and Vivek, they’re trying to snatch defeat.
Most free market president ever! Although this will absolutely punish CA so I’m torn…
Trump to Impose 15% Tariff, Set Minimum Prices on Solar Panels and Components
https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/trump-to-impose-15-tariff-set-minimum-prices-on-solar-panels-and-components-dd7cd9d9?st=EjNjfQ&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
I got through the first sentence and hoped he was putting a tariff on California.
When will we have to pay those back (to the importers though, not to the people who paid artificially high prices)?
I thought the tariff was on panels from Chyna, specifically. And I bet we soon will find out there is some massive fraud program that allows people peddling this green shit to steal a ton of money while buying this sub par crap from the CCP machine.
It is, but CA loves solar and solar subsidies.
Of course there is. Why do you think you get so much advertising about solar roof panels?
I wish it was just advertising. Here, it’s constant door to door sales people.
“Trump Signs Orders to Curb Birthright Citizenship, Target Birth Tourism”
Just an EO though, not a law and it’ll be rescinded the first day of the Newsome/Cortez administration. It’s like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike but he has a 9:00 AM appointment and he’s going to have to go soon. IOW, essentially worthless bullshit aimed at quelling the rumblings among Trump’s supporters and not much else.
“Sydney Sweeney is TROLLED over act of kindness to Washington wildfire victims… as American Eagle ‘good jeans’ backlash rages on”
https://www.dailymail.com/tvshowbiz/article-16035257/Sydney-Sweeney-trolled-volunteer-Washington-wildfires.html
That’s not what trolled means.
Fugly bitches with colored hair (to show they are toxic just like Amazon frogs do) hate Sweeney. I am telling you. If we tell them we will let any hawt heterosexual woman from anywhere come here illegally and fast track them for residency/citizenship, the left will immediately turn against illegal immigration.
Not even hot, just white and not leftist. Even Asian might work.
Credit to Sweeney for knowing those harpies have not, nor will they ever, give her a cent even if she apologized and adopted all their issues. They’re just bitching to each other, and the people who buy her stuff aren’t paying attention.
The backlash…media outrage machine is fucking retarded
Even dumber… “Backlash” is a handful of tweets. Lame.
I’m becoming convinced that people who write this stuff think that what they read on the Internet represents how most people think.
*Starts to read article*
Yep, everything is still stupid.
*Taps out after 2 paragraphs*
“Coca-Cola is facing a new wave of backlash after viral videos appeared to show the company’s online personalization tool immediately rejecting positive Christian messages, while references to Allah, Satan, and even degrading attacks on Jesus advanced to the preview stage.
Conservative commentator Isabel Brown tested the customizer on camera after receiving a tip from a friend. In the video, phrases including “Allah is good,” “Muhammad is good,” and “Satan is good” appeared to generate can previews. But when Brown entered “Jesus is good,” the site returned a rejection message: “The name or phrase you’ve submitted is not permitted.”
….
Another wrote, “It will let you put Black Pride, Brown Pride, Asian Pride, Hispanic Pride, Latin/Latino Pride, etc… ANY ethnic or color pride you want, EXCEPT White Pride. It will not let you put White Pride on there.””
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/08/coca-cola-faces-boycott-calls-claims-custom-cans/
Believable if true.
I’m outraged! I’m going to boycott Coca-Cola!
Oh wait… Shit.
The problem with boycotting all these stupid companies is that you have to have been buying their shit already for it to be effective!
How many products of theirs are you buying that you didn’t realize they own?
How many products of theirs are you buying that you didn’t realize they own?
Quite honestly, I would guess very few/none. My shopping list and cooking consists almost entirely of fresh stuff. Almost no prepared condiments (unless one consider apple cider vinegar and olive oil to be prepared condiments), no sodas. Meat, cheese, occasional fresh seasonal fruit and veggies.
The only place I’ll have to check is my love of canned fizzy water, normally the Kirkland brand, sometimes Waterloo or La Croix, the champagne of fizzy water, depending on the sales that week. Those could very conceivably have Coca-cola brand pedigree, so I’ll have to verify.
^^ this.
The reason you shouldn’t drink Coca Cola is that it’s garbage. Their wokeness is just icing on the cake (and it’s nothing new. They were a known quantity before woke was a thing)
lol
where is my shocked face
It’s your avatar
So third party has their contract canceled with Coke after a “system error” and everybody moves on.
I went there and it won’t let me do any religious stuff but I only did Jesus and Allah both positive and negative. It lets me do Black people rule and White people rule. They either changed it or that fellow’s lying.
Let’s Go Brandon was rejected
“A new lawsuit by Wyoming archeologists claims federal regulatory overreach is threatening to wipe out “entire archaeological collections” of Native American artifacts at the University of Wyoming.
At issue in the case is the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, a law originally intended to facilitate the return of human remains and sacred items from public collections to tribal descendants.
However, some scholars say regulatory changes in 2010 and 2024 have led to the repatriation of a much wider swath of items, including photo negatives and corn cobs. And a new emphasis on respecting “Native American traditional knowledge” has prompted campus policies restricting professors from showing images of artifacts in class. One university employee even said staff “visit and talk to” Native American artifacts housed at her public institution because some tribes believe the inanimate objects are “relatives and shouldn’t be left alone.” ”
https://www.thecollegefix.com/wyoming-archeologists-claim-federal-regs-are-destroying-native-american-research/
OFFS!
That whole bullshit law needs to go.
Nobody has any proof of these claims and it’s been used to destroy evidence which might show that *gasp* the tribe making the claim wasn’t there since the birth of the world.
This. Nobody makes similar claims about ancient rome, despite direct lineage and much more recent connections.
The recent Australian incident of claiming some aboriginal ownership over the moon just serves to point out the problem in a most farcical way.
Even Parks & Rec taught us how much the “Natives” like to fuck with whitey and make him dance.
Light bulb just went off! A few weeks ago, the local U’s Anthropology dept. set up an exhibit in our township building that displayed articles taken from a dig on an early settlers’ homestead. {Dig, on township land, was authorized with caveat whatever was found was to be displayed for residents to see.} Anyhoo, missing from the display was a stone tool thought to be more than 4,000 years old, and several Lenape arrowheads found at the site. [Which I was privileged to see just after the students pulled them from the ground.]
Now I’m wondering if the U held them out of the display on purpose.
Data centers killed racing?
Maybe true.
https://youtu.be/pzUlZub9L9I
Summary: guy who built data center for X used the half billion he was supposed to get to buy up 10 top race tracks and several racing organizations. Speculation was that he was doing this to get the land with noise variances. When all of his promises failed to materialize, that seems confirmed.
“At 6ft 3in, Julie Tétart is a force to be reckoned with, leading French women’s basketball in scoring and rebounds….
On Instagram, Tétart, 34, flaunts an incredible physique. Bulging biceps. Ripped abs. Muscly legs. Highlight reels show Tétart literally bowling over opponents. Oh and Tétart was born a man”
https://www.dailymail.com/debate/article-16034577/wnba-trans-sophie-cunningham-kennedy.html
https://archive.ph/JQUAm
Ridiculous.
What a woman….
/Notgayatall
We let this shit happen. I am glad to finally see some pushback.
Takes a bitchy guy to show women how to be a better woman, cause… PATRIARCHY!!!
I have told this before, but it bears repeating: neither my brother or I made our high school basketball team. And it was just a small school. No shot.
At 35 yrs old, we met a couple of WNBA players outside my brother’s condo. End of bench players, but they made NBA teams.
my brother is tall at 6’2+, but he can’t jump over a pencil. I am 6′
We played some 2 on 2 and beat the ladies without going too hard (not using physicality to bully them or anything).
Now, there isn’t likely a starting high school ball player who wasn’t better than me at that point.
This “ooh, I don’t know… There is no evidence that there is an advantage” nonsense is stupid.
at the WNBA level, average high school athletes would dominate. There is no argument here.
Maybe an average dude couldn’t compete in Olympic sprinting. But an actual athlete?
But in basketball, any active open gym in the country has a shot at fielding a WNBA champion team. The Physical differences in that particular athletic endeavor are stark. There are maybe a dozen WNBA players in history with better ups than me, and I am a no – dunking white boy. middle school boys are more gifted athletes for basketball than WNBA players
Ever since Billy Jean King beat the has-been doofus, there has been this myth about women pros (Annika, looking at you) being able to compete on the same level as men.
The tennis thing is particularly hilarious. It’s not like the men and women don’t play against one another during training. They fully know one another’s capabilities and it’s a stark difference.
Sports are often about generating controlled power. At the same level of control, men can use substantially more power than women. It’s just that simple.
Leading to decades of ridiculous deification that continues to this day.
NPR couldn’t even find a general… See what happens with no funding!
Retired Army colonel explains why Patriot missiles are so valuable and in short supply
Not sure exactly which retired colonel this refers to but generals nowadays are often just colonels with a taste for political dick and a penchant for saying “Good idea boss.”
I have a good friend, a retired LTC. Lives in VA near DC. I tease him about waiting for a call from Fox when they run through the 06 experts.
“For Rep. Max Miller, shaking off allegations of domestic violence and child abuse should be an easy lift. The 43-year-old Ohio Republican benefits from a base that treats violence against women as a non-issue at best. In many cases, credible accusations against a GOP politician only bolsters his popularity with the MAGA base, who view men as the real victims of uppity women who should learn to keep their mouths shut.”
https://www.salon.com/2026/08/07/max-miller-tests-gop-tolerance-of-terrible-men/
Because Graham Platner fled to Argentina?
Oh, Amanduh…. Never change.
She has a talent
“Loyal MAGA voters don’t mind gendered violence and, in many cases, hold men in higher esteem if they hate and abuse women.”
Said by a libtard without any evidence to the claim?
“the MAGA base, who view men as the real victims of uppity women who should learn to keep their mouths shut.”
Where is the tag “claimed, without evidence?”
Uppity women? These are the lowest form of women in our society usually that we have problems with. Dumbasses of the highest order. If they were male, we would be ridiculing them incessantly.
I’m impressed, I thought her “noticing Ariana Grande is skinny makes you MAGA” article was dumb, but that was just surface level compared to the depths of stupid in this one.
Ariana Grande needs a lot of sammiches and a bible…
Friday Funbags holds Fauci in contempt.
https://archive.is/QKlUJ
Summary: guy who built data center for X used the half billion he was supposed to get to buy up 10 top race tracks and several racing organizations. Speculation was that he was doing this to get the land with noise variances. When all of his promises failed to materialize, that seems confirmed.
Watched it yesterday. It was… interesting. Whether or not that was the plan all along, race tracks are generally worth more for development than as going concerns.
Just and equitable treatment is their sole concern
The labor union representing Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service workers asked a judge Thursday to block a sweeping tax audit immunity agreement for President Donald Trump, arguing it would force career employees to choose between following a political order and abiding by the law.
——-
“The integrity of our tax system depends on one fundamental principle: every taxpayer is subject to the same laws and the same standards,” Doreen Greenwald, the national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said in a statement. “When political actors direct employees to treat certain taxpayers differently, it undermines public confidence in our tax system and places dedicated civil servants in an impossible position.”
They would never stoop to politically motivated harassment and fishing expeditions. They are public servants, pure of spirit.
Why is there a labor union for Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service workers? Is there any “labor” more cushy than “useless government functionary”?
No standing. Next.
It’s unclear how much Trump owes the federal government in back taxes, but the latest details of the deal could wipe away what could be more than $100 million in back taxes, according to previous New York Times and ProPublica reporting.
Those are some reliable sources.
My anonymous sources say …
https://x.com/david272757/status/2085578860385739067
Lol
I loved when I got to be OPFOR.
Prediction markets are evil
He hopes that Kalshi and Polymarket will stop letting speculators place bets that clinical trials won’t succeed.
Bettors, he argues, should not be rooting for an experimental medicine to fail just to earn a buck.
“It’s a dark idea,” he said. “It’s quite ghastly.”
Prediction markets on medical trials are scary. People might be tempted to fudge the results to win a bet, as if there are no temptations or incentives to manipulate the studies already.
Also, making a calculation of probability is the same as hoping people will die.
Would that include clinical trials that fail because the treatment is proven to be ineffective or unsafe?
This guy’s feelings have turned him retarded.
Yes, people who stand to become multi millionaires if not richer from a new drug that passes trials will totally create a false negative to win a $1000 bet…
Minimum price violations?
New Jersey regulators are inspecting Freedom Fuel gas stations operating in the state to ensure they comply with state law, according to the New Jersey Office of Weights and Measures.
The agency said it is aware of Freedom Fuel stations in New Jersey and is conducting inspections as part of its oversight of gasoline sales. It said it routinely inspects gas stations for compliance and will take appropriate enforcement action if it finds violations, as it would with any company that fails to comply with state law.
Who said you could do that?
“Trump-endorsed”
That is all I had to know.
New Jersey.
Too dumb to pump your own gas?
Too dumb to vote.
Oregon glibs.
I know OR is messed up in a thousand different ways but what’s with ODOT doing everything possible to not make highway 97 a divided four lane from Madras to Redmond?
They add bike lanes and sidewalks and water catchments rather than adding two more lanes through the towns along the way which add maintenance costs and more expense for whenever they get around to doing it right. Madres and Terrenonne could be four lanes with all the asphalt they have layed but noooo. Have to have a 20’ wide turn land and bike lanes no one in their right mind will ever use.
Fools.
But I digress its Oregon government.