Item the 1st – Hearts of Iron – This thought randomly appeared when I was playing the linked music and is somewhat related to Item the 2nd. The song is “Hearts of Iron” from Sabaton; if you don’t know, Sabaton is a Swedish rock/metal band who’s bread and butter is writing songs about various historical wars, battles, and military figures; they are pretty straightforward musically, which is why I play some of their songs – because I suck at guitar. Anyway.
Hearts of Iron is about the final days of WW-eleven in Europe, the fall of Berlin. It focuses on a general named Walther Wenck who, in the end, defied direct orders from central command/Hitler to defend Berlin from advancing Soviet forces, instead moving to facilitate a retreat to the west, moving soldiers and civilians out of Berlin to the west to link up with American forces (more detail here and here).
The general tone of the song is of Wenck (unnamed in the song) as a heroic figure and I think there’s that underlying feeling about his actions, maybe largely because he defied Hitler. But what were the motivations? It certainly seems that he saw the futility of a last ditch defense of Berlin that would result in a lot of death for his soldiers as well as locking many civilians in to a potentially brutal battle and occupation. And that can be considered heroic. He also wanted to surrender to American forces because there was a valid expectation of better treatment. The Soviets were not known to be particularly magnanimous to captured Germans, not the least reason being how the German army had behaved in the invasion of the Soviet Union – the Soviet army would not necessarily think of them as an ‘opposing’ army, and as such due that consideration, whereas the Americans might, having not necessarily seen them outside the context of a, for lack of a better term, normal battlefield opponent.
Of course, for whatever reasons he acted, his actions resulted in a better outcome for his soldiers and for many, many civilians. And there’s no indication that I’m aware of that he participated or condoned in any of the darker actions of the German military forces. So taken in that context, his actions, and he, maybe should be considered heroic. But the larger point is that historic figures do not usually measure up to the post-hoc archetypal framework they get put into in the history books, tales, and legend. Rather, they are distilled into the archetype that the prevailing culture wants for the direction of its society. And maybe it’s how your society does that distillation and the archetypes it creates that is the true measure of the quality of that culture, not whether they’ve cast some imperfect representation into the role of the archetype.
Item the 2nd – Indirectly related: Evil people don’t think they’re evil. Yes, this one is tired, in fact I’ve probably written something to that effect in this very place. But I’m dry and content is king. Perhaps a slightly different take that sort of follows on from Item the 1st- do our stories, our telling of histories, make the problem worse? Stories present ideals, distillations of what we know about good and evil. Now JBP might say good stories tend be nuanced – e.g. “The Brothers Karamazov” – vis-a-vis good and evil. But often, there’s unambiguous evil and unambiguous good and they follow the patterns – the villain will down your door in the middle of the night, they’ll twirl their mustache and cackle maniacally (sometimes does actually manifest, e.g. Kamala).
It requires a degree of thought and awareness, they kind that is inculcated by a decent, perhaps formal, education but more importantly by a pervasive cultural heritage, to recognize that, while the stories we tell ourselves give us the archetypes of what it means to be good and what it means to be evil in an abstract way, only the very best do a good job of telling you how to distinguish them as they manifest in reality. That those who adopt the words and mannerisms of ‘the good’ can be, and often are, acting out evil. In most cases, they are not even aware of it and even more-so, are convinced they are good, because the cultural context that would allow them to figure it out is absent.
More importantly, even if we can look out and see those that have (perhaps) deceived themselves into thinking they are good, doing the right thing, when they are doing evil, we need the self-awareness to be able to see the same thing manifest in ourselves. There’s a reason our best stories often return to the theme of the road to hell, of hubris and self-righteousness, and the redemption of the fallen hero. We need the guidance of understanding what we are capable of and having at least a chance of recognizing when we are going astray. The stories themselves do not necessarily give you those tools if the broader context of where and how they are told doesn’t require us to recognize ourselves not only in the heroes, but also the villains.
Item the 3rd – This is really just a short random thought; not even attempting to flesh it out, though it is related to Item the 2nd in a way. I was just struck by the sheer parasitical nature of our modern state when I hear people self-righteously demanding that even more resources be dedicated to the state – and I’m sure totally coincidentally, to them and their friends and colleagues – on top of what is already an onerous burden – a burden made worse by the fact that there’s a large ratio of waste and grift to actual return.
It seems so transparently self-serving to me. The absolute self righteousness (and entitlement) of the grifters, the direct beneficiaries, and the mass of people who don’t benefit directly and are probably harmed but who get a spiritual boost and re-assurance about their own moral standing. In the wake of our 250th anniversary, it’s a wonder we don’t have more lamp posts decorated with something more organic than flock cameras. I guess that, for the grifters, they gain in the short term and, even if it goes belly up, they assume they will be in the Dacha class. Unless they understand the stories. For the direct, entitled ‘beneficiaries’ who wouldn’t that that deal? Unless they understand the stories. For the main mass, cheap moral currency, not requiring any direct sacrifice or individual effort to achieve is a heady drug. Unless they understand the stories. No wonder it seems that formal education and fair fraction of the culture is dedicated to making sure we don’t understand the stories.
And for the metaphorical Atlas, he can also bear just a bit more. What are you going to do, shrug and deal with almost certainly chaotic and disruptive aftermath? I sometimes wonder, in my black-pill moments, how it was that the United States was actually able to happen.
And then I have to think – do I understand the stories? Am I missing something? I really don’t think so, but… That can be a danger of Item the 2nd – yes you can be the bad guy in your own story and you have to be careful about that. But sometimes you are not and you have to be willing and able to see the bad in others. The difficult part is figuring out when.
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
– Twain
History decides who was good and who was evil.
History is written by the winners — who must always be good by definition.
The art of the grift had not been perfected yet.
The Founding Fathers would surely spin in their graves if they saw that our labor wasn’t actually our own until April and TBH I suspect we’re not as better than Europe as that graphic would imply. I’ve read some figures that say in sum we are just as heavily taxed.
“…last ditch defense of Berlin that would result in a lot of death for his soldiers as well as locking many civilians in to a potentially brutal battle and occupation. And that can be considered heroic.” If there’s no other place to go, I suppose. *reads on* Yes, I’d put that in the heroic category, and awfully smart.
“evil people don’t think they’re evil.” I don’t think people actively think about the Pro/Con moral good of anything in their ‘normal’ everyday life. Even in big enough moments to warrant such thinking, I’m not sure people have the time or impulse to do so. I think it’s only a passive, past tense things folk do. Add many levels between an Individuals action and a Really Bad Outcome, like the bomb-maker being ‘responsible’ for the bomb hitting the target, it’s too mundane to think about.
Just something people look back on, jabber and ‘debate’ about. Of course, as I said the other day, I was completely correct and everyone else was wrong. So there.
Look at Luigi, or the guy who shot Charlie Kirk. Normal looking people, certainly not the evil archetype you see in stories. Their actions made the undeniably evil though.
I routinely dwell on the morality and ethics of utterly mundane shit, including my job (which grates against my views on privacy and surveillance capitalism). But a man’s gotta eat, and I’m not getting my door knocked off the hinges by ethical employers.
It’s instructive that we now get to see this process unfold in real time due to our pervasive and constant communication technology. Every event is merely a race to craft a narrative, often misrepresenting or fabricating the facts to do so, even when the facts were ambiguously clear and captured in crystal clear video for posterity.
It’s amazing how rapid those narratives take hold and stand fast.
*should have read unambiguously clear
Mom was in a Zoom meeting about something, part of it sounded religious, but she was explaining to Dad what a “BIPIC” is and Dad responded, after a few attempts to explain, “Why would anyone ever call themselves that?”
Eventually, I chirped in and said ‘MLK would be spinning in his grave, cuz now, instead of judging by people’s character, people insist on MAKING it about race.’ Mom chirped back about the necessity of things like the GI Bill, which she was quick to add didn’t include black folk, and how without a caring parent, she wouldn’t have had the things she grew up with.’ (Grandpa worked for Ford. They weren’t rich but not at all poor. Smallish place on Washington Street (IIRC) in northern-ish Chicago.)
I ended the conversation, stopping myself from going into the Civil Rights Act and checks for babies and the 70% single-parent black kids. I believe that was wise of me. When I said now is by far the least racist country, culture and people in the history of our species, Dad got his Serious Voice on and said “If [I’d] ever been to Greenwood, Mississippi…”
Everything I say is somehow heresy, and they act like I deny racism exists. I walked away saying we should be proud of how far we’ve come in their lifetimes. It’s like I’m a secret Catholic in Protestant country, way back. (Sowell woulda been brought up.)
An awful lot of folks still believe it’s 1955. Sorry your parents seem to be among them.
The left seems to me like they want everyone to believe that it’s 1955 in the handful of states they created Jim Crow laws in.
1955 was not the same everywhere in the US in 1955. No more than 2026 is the same across the US. It’s fifty different countries and at least as many cultures.
Tell him to go visit an Indian reservation some time. I’ve never encountered a more racist environment in my life than the rezzes of Washington State. Unless you’re sitting at the blackjack table losing your shirt to the equally white dealer employed by the 1/128th native casino president, the only stop you had better be making is to buy gas at an extra $1 a gallon. Even the purveyors of fireworks and cigarettes, whose entire livelihood depends on the white devil, will happily tell you to get lost.
Talk about sundown counties.
You’ve touched on it here. A small handful of politically radical elites successfully crafted a narrative of oppression and sold it to a small plurality of the population to convince them to die en masse in a pique of revolutionary violence so they could implement a new society based on their ivory tower Enlightenment beliefs. The reason we venerate them is because they succeeded, so they got to continue writing the narrative.
I find myself entirely of your sentiment, sir. Upon what printer do you bestow your sheets?
And all the roads jam up with credit and there’s nothing you can do
It’s all just bits of paper flying away from you
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BP3qGp_5Y_w&ra=m
This forced its way from the background music in my mind to take center stage when reading this.
Good song! I remember buying that casette and playing the hell out of it.
Threedoor on September 1, 2026 at 7:43 pm — Evans job search sounds down right dystopian.
It really is. Thankfully, I’m quite comfy. Fantastic parents. (Still. *loving eyeroll, like when granny lies about shooting Lincoln, cuz we know she missed.)
It’s rather strange, this (serious, now) legit Libertarian Moment we’re kinda ‘revolution-ing’ into, with AI+. We can customize anything, remarkably convenient and only getting better. We’re also creating that comfy bubble world, Bubble People. Bubbles are very picky about who they choose to even *bump* against.
Demolition Man is the most prescient film of my generation. It also fucking rocks. The sex scene, specifically, seems like it’s coming. People think other people are just so icky. *frump stomp*
Just the gatekeeping of the automated resume scanning and now AI had me shaking my head 15 years ago.
I don’t think I would ever apply to a place that made you do it online.
Meet in meatspace or you don’t deserve to have the privilege of hiring me.
This is the way to do it if you can. Outside of the corporate shit fest, there’s still a lot of jobs that get filled by “Oh yeah, I know a guy who’s looking…” Perhaps ironically, they’re mostly the kind of icky blue collar jobs that my dad told me I ought to get an education in order to avoid. I can’t tell you how intellectually superior I felt writing checks for $10,000 and $7,500, respectively, to my foundation and siding contractors this year, out of my $30k in savings I’ve accumulated over 3 years working 2.5 jobs, not one of which has paid more than $17 an hour.
Which is exactly how I got re-hired in 2020.
I fell into the college trap.
Perused that stupid outcome for 12 years.
What a waste. I which I had done a tech program, at the very least to make my hobbies move faster.
Even places you wouldn’t think use online applications now.
Sore-y, I’m getting 403’d, bouncing VPNs to reconnect for a moment then going away again. Coupled with a bunch of background stuff I should be doing – no-one else is going to scratch my ass for me after all – I’ll be scarce.
Godspeed.
Saw a Talarico sign today that said “It’s time to start flipping tables.” My thought was it’s perfect for the “Do you accept the government as your lord and savior” crowd.
I’m unsure if it’s that or just their biblical illiteracy, but there’s at least 50 other verses in the gospels they could choose from to support their social justice and kill the rich agenda, without even really having to misrepresent them.
I thought that was advising them to act like sore losers when the game was going againt them – flip the table and claim vistory.
Get your hate on for them Jew money changers!
I doubt that guy even has the strength to flip a card table.
He’d hire call the cops to do his dirty work.
“On the fence Hunter Biden says he’s ‘48 percent gay’ in podcast interview
Hunter Biden identified as a “little bit gay” in a recent podcast interview dominated by talk about his sexuality.”
Uh huh. On the other hand, this dude’s mugshot is … out there. No wonder you’re a sick fuck who kept multiple young kids in your truck for years as you kept them sexual prisoners, along with an accomplice.
https://nypost.com/2026/09/01/us-news/florida-sickos-kept-4-kids-in-rolling-dungeon-semi-truck-where-they-were-sexually-abused-for-6-years-authorities/
Jeez look at them. Like human zombies. What a horror show!
Well, Hunter did fuck his fourteen year old niece at least once(photos were on his laptop, somebody here posted a pic of it years ago). But hey, give him some time. He may outstrip those Florida boys just yet!
*checks pic*
Guilty.
I almost got sick reading that. Fucking electric chair.
I’d be fine with a 9mm to the dome.
I imagine there’d be a number of volunteers.
^^ This.
I still think something’s missing from the story. More accomplices, is the easiest guess. It’s ‘impossible’ to keep multiple kids in a truck for that long without literally taking out shit. Over several years, someone must’ve seen something.
See also: More accomplices. Maybe just got caught during transportation. But those two, I know mug shots look bad, unless you’re Trump, no one thought these two mighta been outta place? In a highly illicity sorta way? Damn.
Hunter burned out on women dope and porn so he has to expand his horizons.
I don’t want to believe I’m a grifter but at the same time the monthly government checks keep rolling in. I’ve convinced myself that the money stolen from me earlier is being paid back now with interest.
In 1956, at the bus station near Ft Chaffee, Arkansas I saw my only experienced drinking fountain that said something like “Colored”. Even as a kid from rural MN I knew what it meant.
That’s the only overt racism I’ve seen. 10 years later my two roommates and I, in uniform, were headed for a supper club in Alabama, outside the gate of Ft Benning. Smitty was reluctant to want to go in with us. Ed and I both said it’s all or none. Not a word was said, we ate, drank couple beers, it was as integrated as anywhere else. The clientele, as I remember was all or mostly white, there may have been some other black people there but it wasn’t a big deal. Green was far more important,
It’s looking like I won’t be seeing any checks when my time comes. Oh well. Glad somebody got to benefit from everything I have paid into it.
We can console ourselves with the knowledge that neither we, nor anybody else, have ever been “paying in” to anything.
It has been taken from us and immediately spent.
I’m not consoled. At all.
Sorry, that was a typo:
“enraged”
“resigned” more accurately describes my attitude.
It’s unrealistic to expect the theft to stop, so remove it from the calculation of my actual income for all decisions and expectations.
Oooh, all three of us can say this with utter contempt, loathing and resent — What is it, some 11% of our checks go to SocSec we’ll never see, and a shockingly large amount of money is also taken out in order to… wait for it…. pay for a system of govt schools that happily ‘graduates’ illiterates, all the while, we’re purposefully NOT having kids! It does feel swell, don’t it?!
Enraging, yes.
I find HIV prep meds purposefully use unsettling language: “Biktarvy fights HIV to help you achieve and maintain an undetectable viral load. Reaching and staying undetectable means the amount of virus is too low to be measured by a lab test, and it prevents the sexual transmission of HIV.”
Undetectable. Yuh… huh? So it’s like, even more SNEAKY than it was before?! Ya won’t even know ya had it?! Sounds like giving HIV invaders designer camouflage. Sneakier-HIV! HI-Sneaker, partnering with Nike this Fall!
CRYPTID HIV WILL TURN YOUR PETER GREEN!
You had me at viral load.
Tom could make that line work from Renee.
Speaking of, I’m interested in the Tom Cruise “Digger” flick. John Goodman, too, from the dude who did Bird Man.
“The story plays out as a frantic, Dr. Strangelove-style dark comedy about a billionaire trying to convince humanity he is its messiah before the catastrophe he unleashed wipes out civilization.”
I really liked Bird Man, IIRC.
I call them fuck pills.
…Would these fuck pills benefit me?… Like fun fuck? Or more like a Plan B after thing, but before, a Pre-B. Heh. “Preeby” sounds really pervy.
More like a hopefully get of AIDS free card. So more like a Plan B thing.
In Close Family Acquaintance land, my maternal uncle’s step-grandson: Chase DeLauter is batting .290 with 13 home runs and 60 RBIs in 116 games this year with the Indians in Cleveland.
Did he travel back in time to play for the Indians?
They should have changed their name to the Cleveland Indigenes. I mean… close enough?
Well, he’s a ballplayer, not in Cleveland’s roller derby scene.
(The Guardians is, indeed, a fucking dumb name. They HAD one, too! The Cleveland Spiders! Like 1890s old, original, and a threatening image/ mascot, to boot!)
Wakey wakey, sleepy-poos. Haven’t really fallen asleep yet. Hope you got better rest than me. Kinda had good not sleepless, but not the fun kind.
Would be surprised if they didn’t offer me the job, but now in my head if I can meet their production quota after months 1, 2 and 3.
* curious, squiggle face *
Way Back Machine is too much fun. Speaking of Cleveland, from 2018. Enjoy a morning laugh.
BROOK PARK, Ohio — Suspicion, Sheldon Road: A woman called police at about 8:40 p.m. Dec. 18 after finding a half-eaten cookie in her apartment at The Acadian Apartments, 21478 Sheldon.
The woman had left her apartment, and when she returned, she noticed that her apartment door was unlocked. The half-eaten cookie was either on her table or counter. She hadn’t left the cookie there and she didn’t know who did.
The woman told police that after she had stepped out of her apartment, she sent her grandson back inside to fetch her cell phone. She said it’s possible that her grandson ate half the cookie but she didn’t question him before calling police.
Happy national cheese pizza day!
🌦️🚫🍍
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RzO7IGWGxu8
🎶🎶
Good morning, Sean, EfE, Ted’S., Stinky, and 3d!
Morning, GT.
Today is not going well, which is par for the week. Turns out my foot is bleeding. Well, hopefully it’s stopped since I bandaged it. But an injury from when I fell down the stairs saturday proved to be vulnerable to exacerbation, and got reinjured. This led me to be behind schedule for the commute, and I saw the city starting to block off one of the streets my house is on. (corner lot means I might be able to approach on the other) Of course, it’s wednesday, so the office is going to be noisy. And I weighed in at 276 this morning. 😥
Oh, no! I’m sorry your foot seems to have gotten reinjured. Hope it’s OK! 😟
Seeing your street starting to be blocked off is always either discouraging or outright worrying. Our street and the next street over are having the water lines replaced, and it’s a gawdawful mess right now – there are huge piles of gravel all along the front of our yard and those of several of our neighbors, and we’re having to dodge big yellow machines just to get to our driveways (which, thankfully, are not blocked…yet.) Don’t know how we’re going to manage the next time we have to mow. I guess that’s one reason to be (slightly) glad of a (short, I hope) heat wave. 🙄
One positive thing: we now have a fire hydrant in the far corner of our yard.
🥺🤞
I just hope this week turns around and good things start lining up.
So nobody can park in front of your house?
Well…maybe one car could if they stay close to the driveway. Luckily, we have a driveway that can accommodate four cars.
I don’t know what the Ohio rules are, but a homeowner in New York with a hydrant on their lot is required to keep it dug out from snow. (We had one in front of our house growing up)
No; so GT can lift her leg.
Who wants to feel old?
https://midhudsonnews.com/2026/09/01/haldane-school-welcomes-class-of-2039/
If it makes you feel any better they’ll be old and cynical one day too.
Global Stupiding will likely kill them first.
https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/berks/western-berks-county/man-charged-after-bullets-strike-neighbors-home-in-penn-township/article_a9f6ceb8-a195-4d44-863d-c3f62a4018d4.html
Retard.
Obviously the fault of Indiana bullets.
Bullets continue on even after you’ve hit (or missed) your target? Well I’ll be damned.
You know that. I know that. Do the cops know that?
750’. Yeah that’s pretty close. It’s not like he wouldn’t have seen the building or not known it was there.
I bet alcohol was involved.
Felony seems excessive.
Even before Rule #1, there’s a more foundational rule of gun handling, and that is, “You are 100% responsible for the final resting place of every bullet you fire, morally, legally, and financially.”
Despite my anarchic pretensions, I don’t really have a problem with reckless endangerment likely to result in serious injury being charged as a felony.
Their parents must be so proud.
“The event appears to have been a part of an event organized by self-proclaimed content creator Grady Ferrick, marketing a vitamin brand.”
🙄🙄
“No arrests were made and officials haven’t shared how many items were stolen or the cost of the vandalism.”
I think I see the problem: you get more of what you reward. You just know these idiots have posted videos of themselves acting out all over social media but not a damn thing will come of it.
They’re rioters. Shoot to kill.
Insurrectionists.
That’s for when they invade a city-run grocery store and find there’s nothing on the shelves to pull their stunts with.
9/1! 9/1!!
Oh, fudge.
8/30! 8/30!!
Where’s muh 24-hours news cycle anymore?
– “A whoppingly large group rushed into the nearby Burger King”
Nice
lol I missed that. Never change, The NY Post.
“Clyburn Calls For Packing The Court With “Baker’s Dozen” To Flip Cases”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/clyburn-calls-packing-court-bakers-dozen-flip-cases
Thanks Rep. Clyburn for reminding me why the Dems are actually worse than the Reps. How is it that SC consistently manages to ensconce for decades some of the worst shitbags who ever legislated?
Good morning, Glibsters!
/Slow coffee drinker