“Sugarfree. How you doing?”
“Great Mex. Do you have any idea what is in the box Swiss sent us?”
“No. I was explicitly told NOT to open it until the podcast begins.”
“I guess the question is, where is STEVE?”
___
“WELCOME TO FOREST LAWYER PODCAST, WITH STEVE SMITH, ESQ. COMING AT YOU LIVE FROM CASCADIA. WE HAVE SUGARMAN COMIN FAST”
“I don’t appreciate that introduction.”
“BROWN MAN INVADE HOME, STEAL JOB.”
“I probably did steal someone’s job.”
“LAST BUT NEVER LEAST CHEESE MAN!”
Swiss stared at the camera unblinking with no movements whatsoever.
“CHEESE MAN?”
“Swiss your internet cut out?” I asked.
Swiss glitched out and presented a scowl with a cocked brow and one eye half open.
“Narrowed gaze! Get the screenshot.” Sugarfree started furiously clicking his mouse.
“Are we live?” Swiss asked after glitching out a second time.
“CHEESE MAN FOR THE WIN.”
“Why does Swiss get the good intro?” Sugarfree asked.
“I am paying the bloody server fees.” Swiss continued to scowl with a cocked brow and one eye half open.
…
…
“I suppose that explains why.” Sugarfree replied.
___
“CHEESE MAN, TIME FOR SPONSOR.”
“Ah yes. As you are all aware there was a box delivered by an unnamed commercial courier as they did not wish to be associated with the FREE CASCADIA movement, so let’s just say that’s the last time we use DHL. Do you all have that box?”
“I have it.”
“I have it.”
“STEVE SMITH HAVE BOX.”
“Excellent. Open the box for today’s sponsor.” Swiss instructed.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“Oh dear.”
“WHAT BUZZ BALL, CHEESE MAN?”
“Mex, what flavor did you get?” Sugarfree asked.
“It looks like I got Espresso Martini, and Berry Cherry Limade, why what did you get?”
“…Frosted S’More Pop Tart. How about you STEVE”
We sat in silence while STEVE SMITH chugged from a MEGA BUZZ BALL…in fruit punch.
“You oughta go easy on that STEVE.” Swiss said.
STEVE let out a loud belch. “GET PARTY STARTED.”
__
“DUDE BRO INVADE VOO DOO HUMAN ISLAND. BAD MOVE BROWN MAN OR HELLA BASED?”
“I assume you are referring to–“
“Drink the Buzz Ball while you are answering, its in our contract. In fact hold it up in view of the camera.” Swiss instructed.
“Is holding it up in the contract?
“It is now.”
I took a swig of the Espresso Martini. I winced but it wasn’t so bad.
“That’s really something. I assume you are referring to El Salvador’s rescue attempt of their soldiers deployed for a MOOTW (Mooootwah!) mission in Haiti. I don’t think there is a VooDoo curse on Bukele, and it has some vibes of Mussolini invading Albania for reasons. The trains in El Salvador run on time, he has to do something with his army before they get bored.” I said.
“I agree with that Mex.” Swiss took a sip of a Buzz Ball and remained stone faced. “There is no VooDoo curse on Bukele. If he is willing to do what it takes to leave no man behind, I am all for it.” He drank the rest of the Buzz Ball and blinked furiously when his eyes began to water. “This is an unpleasant buzz.”
“I don’t understand Haiti at all.” Sugarfree said. “There are places like Jamaica and Michigan that have higher per capita murder rates. Others like Liberia and Senegal have lower or at least comparable per capita murder rates. Does it bother anyone that nobody vacations in any of the places I mentioned, including Haiti, yet Jamaica is considered a prime vacation destination, why?”
“They speak English there.” Swiss said. “In fact its because its entertaining when they speak English.”
“They don’t speak English in Michigan?” I asked, while staying mindful to continue holding up the Buzz Ball.
“Michigan doesn’t entertain me.” Swiss said.
“CHEESE MAN, ORANJ MAN DOJ DEPORT INFLUENCER. BEST KNOWN FOR REQUEST FOR HUMAN TOM BRADY TO IMPREGNATE. WHAT SAY YOU?”
“I genuinely have no idea who that woman is, but does she think she’s the first to extract Tom Brady’s seed?”
“Oh no….”Sugarfree said. “Not Inés!” Sugarfree performed the classic dismissive wanking motion,
“Its an 80/20 win amidst an ocean of 80/20 losses for ICE and I’m willing to accept the 80% of mistakes ICE might make if the 20% are deserving like Inés.” I drank the blue Buzz Ball and shuddered. “Wait a minute, Sugarfree hasn’t had his.”
“BROWN MAN RIGHT. SUGAR MAN PROMOTE SPONSOR.”
“I can’t do that. It will drop me out of Ketosis and I haven’t needed a unit of insulin since 2017.” Sugarfree pleaded.
“Do it.” Swiss said.
“Dangerous drug interactions, you have any idea what it will do–“
“I said do it.”
Sugarfree chugged the Pop Tart Buzz Ball
“Oh, that’s not so bad.” Sugarfree said.
“SUGAR MAN. MULTIPLE BOMB HOAX IN EURO LAND. HOW EURO HUMANS RESPOND TO FAKE TERRORIST?”
“Listen I don’t want to make assumptions about the intent and motives of the bombers, they–“
“Wait, what? They’re terrorists, the intent is to promote terror.” I said.
Sugarfree started twitching his left eye. He began drooling uncontrollably.
“SUGARMAN OKAY?”
Sugarfree tweaked once and fell out of his chair.
“Oh shit.” Swiss said.
Sugarfree sat back in the chair calmly and wiped him mouth.
“You know what I don’t understand? Stamps.” Sugarfree said.
“Stamps?” I asked.
“I thought this was supposed to be the future. What’s the point of living in the future is I still have to buy fucking stamps?”
“Well, you technically live in the past.” I said. “This is an alternate version of 2024. You know DB? DB found the time machine the Old Man built and on a dare, tried to go back in time to kill Hitler.”
“WHAT DOING BROWN MAN?”
“We had to kill that DB in 1928. The DB we have now was brought in around 2022, where we ran into him about 30 minutes from the timeline when he tried to kill Hitler. We talked him out of it.”
“Did we get a Kung Fury 2 in this other timeline?” Sugarfree asked.
“No.” Swiss said. “We got the shitty Ghostbusters, except we got 3 of them.”
”NEW TOPIC. BIRD EAT TOO MANY FAT BIRDS, GET FAT HERSELF.”
”Good lord, look how sad that fat bird is. This is cruelty.” I said.
Sugarfree began foaming at the mouth, tweaked furiously, and fell out of his chair.
~ ~ Fin ~ ~
DB found the time machine the Old Man built and on a dare, tried to go back in time to kill Hitler
Never kill Hitler.
But he is the Kung Fuhrer!
–Danger 5!
Danger 5 was great.
Classic internet
Bureaucracy ruins everything.
“No.” Swiss said. “We got the shitty Ghostbusters, except we got 3 of them.”
Fuck.
S’mores are the best PopTart, followed by apple cinnamon. S’mores are also the best ‘flip yogurt’ combo, perhaps tied with peanut butter, rhy hardest hit. I pontificate wisdom.
I like the Walmart brand cinnamon ones.
Why have we never gotten a peanut butter pop tart?
Also they suck now in general. They have barely any filling unless you buy the “double stuff” ones which only seem to come in a few types.
You’re correct about them sucking. The crust has always had to go, worthless end creatures (unlike bread), but the filling.. only fills so little. Odd combination: Golden Oreos, (Double Stuffed). One, those are damn damn good (not lemon), and it’s a proper cookie. Normal Oreos are sorta meh with me.
Mom has a theory that no one eats ’em the same way. I slide them in half an eat the semi-useless chocolate half, then eat the cookie edges before eating the filling-coated chocolate part. Back in the day, I’d roll all the white stuff together from four or five and nibble on it by itself. (Given time and space, I still will.)
Peanut butter PopTart? Huh. Valid point. They’d mix it with jelly, cuz of course people would. Jelly is not my thing. As the Kidz would say, I ain’t jelly your jelly.
“Swiss glitched out..”
He’s Max Hedroom, I knew it!
“Other than standard orange wine”?
I know. WTF is that?
Recent wine trend (at least breaking out of the wine geek world) that swept the internet earlier this year. Skin contact wine, white wine grapes, left on the skin.
I was curious about it myself when I first read it because I could think of several terrible or delicious ways that something called an orange wine could go.
OK, so now we’re halfway to knowing what “other than standard orange wine” is.
My youngest has been dying for me to find it when it hit social media.
And I did at a local gas station. That confused me to.
I’ll bet you don’t like their sushi too.
Their BBQ isn’t bad.
https://www.thethumb.com/
Back in chains
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration from requiring the state to enforce new federal work requirements for Medicaid recipients, arguing the policy is unconstitutional and could strip health coverage from hundreds of thousands of residents.
They can’t do that. 13th Amendment ended slavery.
Screw him.
Medicaid is unconstitutional.
Thanks Minnesota.
Look… if people start working they might develop a taste for not being freeloaders and maybe even stop voting for
pandering assholesloving caregivers like Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and we can’t have that.I have a job for that hawk…
I marched in a veterans parade. I got some enthusiastic compliments on my patriotic keffiyeh. A few kids wondered if I was a ninja. Some adults muttered “terrorist”.
I also carried my big bamboo walking stick. I suppose the bamboo represents America’s wars in Asia and the keffiyeh is for the wars in the Middle East. And also Teddy Roosevelt’s advice to speak softly and carry a big stick.
The US has been fighting there my entire adult life. It started when I was in high school 25 years ago. What good has it done?
Other interpretations:
Many Arabs and Muslims have risked their lives to help the US.
In the recent past Muslims have won elections to high offices in the US.
America’s wars in the Middle East have caused far more death and destruction than Al Qaida, Hamas, or the Taliban ever did. Who’s the real terrorist?
Who’s the real terrorist?
Seriously? This has been a weird kick to watch you go down, Derp.
The answer is always the group taking pleasure in raping children, flinging homosexuals off roofs, and tying babies to their mothers before lighting the pairs on fire.
The US may do some evil shit too, but it’s either insane or disingenuous to pretend any hint of moral equivalency.
Yeah.
F that entire religion.
Well said.
May do? A few months ago, we accidentally blew up that girl’s school in Iran. That war so far has killed at least as many Iranian civilians as Israelis were killed by Hamas on October 7th.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_2026_Iran_war#Minab_school_attack
If killing people is bad, killing more people is worse, right?
The Taliban was against bacha bazi boy sex slavery. We propped up the side that was gung-ho for it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacha_bazi#Revival_following_2001_U.S._invasion
We continue to support the Saudis who have the same basic view as the Taliban. And we’ve been helping them bomb and starve Yemen leading many thousands of civilian deaths.
The so-called war on terror led to at least a million civilian deaths. Millions became refugees.
Ousting Saddam led directly to the creation of ISIS and all their atrocities. Saddam and his pal Assad (both Ba’athists) protected the Christian minorities in their countries. Now most of them are dead or refugees.
Overthrowing Gaddafi plunged Libya into a civil war which is grinding on.
The sad truth is kings and dictators are the only men who can keep the Middle East stable. We have been allies with many such men including Hosni Mubarak, the former military dictator of Egypt, and King Abdullah II of Jordan. We were even allied with Saddam for a time.
If there were free and fair elections right now across the Middle East, the Muslim Brotherhood would win all of them, just as they did in Egypt after Mubarak was ousted.
The Zionist project is a recipe for endless war with American taxpayers on the hook. Israel cannot permanently defeat any of its enemies. They’re outnumbered 50 to 1. They came close to defeat in 1973 and were saved by emergency airlifts of military aid from the US.
We have a long history of disastrous interventions there. Enough.
“The sects and tribal blood feuds are to blame for those deaths.”
The US overthrow of Saddam led to those feuds. He kept a lid on them.
Fun facts:
The name Saddam (sounds like suh-DAHM, not SAW-dum) means “shaker”, as in one so powerful their footsteps shake the earth. The related word sadmah means detonator.
He was rejected from main military academy for being underwent. Later, he tried to assassinate Iraq’s king.
Yeah, remember what I said before about Arabs needing kings and dictators?
“The sad truth is kings and dictators are the only men who can keep the Middle East stable…. If there were free and fair elections right now across the Middle East, the Muslim Brotherhood would win all of them, just as they did in Egypt after Mubarak was ousted.”
I believe you’re correct about the first, due to Islamic culture. Nasty people do nasty things to further their nasty desires. (Cultural desire: “Submission.” In practice? Territory, resources and mates, same as all living creatures, just religious doctrine again reinforced for earthly wants, needs. Then ya go into the second, demonstrating how fucking predictably awful these people are. Culturally incompatible w something resembling freedom.
My thoughts align with ‘real’ America, as in Washington’s farewell warning of the dangers of foreign entanglements. However! Modern folk, say those w suicidal empathy, would frown and scorn America *not* doing something to help the endangered, enslaved, etc people in far away lands. Those scowlers do so cuz the feelgoodery satisfies (at present) their pious expression.
Isn’t that the point? Who ever went to war and said “we’re going to inflict less death and destruction than our enemies”?
It makes no sense to condemn a group for killing and destruction and then go to kill and destroy even more than them.
It’s like a teetotaler trying to win a drinking contest.
“Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity.”
We condemned Russia for invading Ukraine and annexing parts of it and have been in a proxy war ever since.
When Saddam invaded Kuwait and tried to conquer it, we went to war to drive him out.
OK, so far we have some consistency – trying to conquer land from other countries is bad.
And what does Israel do? They’ve seizing land by force in the West Bank for decades. That’s on top of all the other land they’ve conquered. They gave back some to get a truce with Egypt, but that only happened after they came close to losing a war.
Do you see what I’m getting at? If conquest is wrong, it’s wrong no matter who does it. If X is wrong, it’s wrong no matter who does it.
Derp. You have to kill all of the bad actors to make it work. Dealing with that death cult means there are many more bad actors.
Take Iraq for example. When we were there we ended up opening up the slaughter that that Sadam had held back between sects. The US didn’t kill that many people. The Iraqis killed eachother en mass.
Sometimes countries lose land when they are defeated in wars.
“When we were there we ended up opening up the slaughter that that Sadam had held back between sects.”
Thus, we are the cause of those deaths.
https://theonion.com/dead-iraqi-would-have-loved-democracy-1819566798/
https://theonion.com/coalition-vast-majority-of-iraqis-still-alive-1819567439/
“Sometimes countries lose land when they are defeated in wars.”
I’m sure Putin will say this in a speech eventually.
So you’re suggesting that Israel initiated all of the wars that resulted in them gaining territory?
Putin will say something along those lines and he’d be right. It’s the way of the world, way of war, way of history etc.
This modern idea that people have like in Ukraine that somehow Russia is going to negotiate a peace that sees them give up territory they’ve won in entirety and Ukraine is going to be made hole when there’s absolutely no leverage and no way Ukraine can ever retake it are “naive” to put it mildly. The politicians pushing that bullshit should at least know better.
And the same is just as true in Israel. They’re never giving up that land they’ve taken and the entire world would be better off just not living in fantasy land about it.
If certain groups don’t want to lose territory, they should be careful with picking wars in general.
Muslims are not sympathetic people to me. Palestinians in particular. And the second they gain a power-up or feel they can compete with the West on anything resembling equal terms I don’t think we’ll be able to say they’re anything like peaceful.
Israel struck first in the 1967 war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War#Fighting_fronts
***
The first and most critical move of the conflict was a surprise Israeli attack on the Egyptian Air Force. Initially, both Egypt and Israel announced that they had been attacked by the other country.
***
Same deal in 1948
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_War#Course_of_the_war
***
Through Plan Dalet, Zionist forces had already, from 1 April down to 14 May, conducted 8 of their 13 full-scale military operations outside of the area allotted to a Jewish state by partition, and the operational commander Yigal Allon later stated that had it not been for the Arab invasion, Haganah forces would have reached ‘the natural borders of western Israel.’
***
There’s no serious question as to what the Arabs were planning to do. Who fired the first shot isn’t even really relevant to me.
War has consequences. Who knew, right?
Like I just don’t care about sitting here and moralizing geopolitical disputes. We can barely get the governments of the world to treat their own tax chattel fairly and I’m supposed to sit here and pretend that morality has anything at all to do with how nation-states interact?
Arabs kept poking the small hats and the small hats kicked their asses. They’re not giving up that land.
Strap a rifle to your back and go to Palestine if you want to actually try and change that. I don’t think you can. I can’t. The Palestinians from top to bottom *choose* to live in poverty and misery at this point by continuing to fixate on the Jew instead of actually trying to build something constructive with what they do have.
The little people are mostly just blood thirsty morons believing the distraction they’re fed. The elites are getting fat on the hog of international aid that comes in. And what do you think increases aid the most beyond picking stupid fights with Israel that they can’t win while hiding in bunkers in foreign states?
Like who the fuck could really be sympathetic to Palestine at this point? It really is a death cult culture.
The Irish spent 800 years fighting for independence, and they won through terrorism and guerilla warfare against a much larger and better armed opponent. They were pals with the Palis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYcvkrhCiR0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aempo7Qv1gw
The IRA taught the PLO bombmaking. The PLO smuggled weapons to the IRA.
Palestinians could basically have independence. They may not officially be an officially recognized nation-state, but get this – they could simply say fuck the labels and just try to make what they have work.
What is the economy of Palestine based on beyond foreign aid (to kill Jews)? What do they build or grow there?
You know what would actually give them a clearer path to becoming an actual nation-state than lobbing some missiles at Israel and occasionally provoking a full blown invasion?
Not fixating on killing Jews and instead focusing on building something productive.
To be blunt, the leadership of Palestine has zero interest in peace with Israel. The second the Jewish boogieman is off the table people are going to start asking why their lives are so shitty and why their top men live fat and comfortable lives while they are mired in poverty.
Palestine isn’t governed by Israel or at least wasn’t. The entire territory wasn’t occupied. It’s not really all that much like Ireland to begin with. They are a territory next to a nation state that is far more powerful than them and they are trying to take territory back from it that they have no military way of taking.
And at the end of the day unless there is a foreign intervention they have no effective way of threatening Israel internally.
Beyond that the UK didn’t lose a war for Ireland. It was kind of just the times changed and people asked what the fuck are we getting blown up for. It took 4 years of negotiations under ceasefire to truly end that shit.
You know, the Irish were a hell of a lot more reasonable and they weren’t led by a corrupt bunch of theocratic goat fuckers who were living in luxury that they only possess because Europe (and some in the Muslim world) shower them with money and aid.
Egypt blocked thr Strait of Tiran which was basically an act of war.
Fun facts:
In Arabic, the word for “Palestine” looks like a combo of the words for “bankrupt” (filas) and “mud” (tin).
There’s one ATM in Gaza for all the 2 million people there. It’s probably blown up now.
The Israelis banned Gaza from having an airport or a port and blockades anyone who tries to sail there.
If I grew up in Israel, I might be a militant Zionist.
If I grew up in Gaza, I might be in Hamas.
No.
The sects and tribal blood feuds are to blame for those deaths.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_War_of_Independence
***
In April 1916, Irish republicans launched the Easter Rising against British rule and proclaimed an Irish Republic. Although it was defeated after a week of fighting, the Rising and the British response led to greater popular support for Irish independence. In the 1918 general election, republican party Sinn Féin won a landslide victory in Ireland.
***
Not-so-great Britain banned TNG episode that mentioned the IRA’s successful terrorism campaign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbSGp4WIBsQ
I got some enthusiastic compliments on my patriotic keffiyeh. A few kids wondered if I was a ninja. Some adults muttered “terrorist”
I’d assume you’re being a troll.
No, he’s just retarded.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Playa shoots.
He scores!
I think it’s good to remind people in a subtle way about all our wars in the Middle East. And I figured an American flag keffiyeh would make it clear whose side I’m on and hint about what I did as a soldier. I marched behind a Vietnam vet’s truck. On the tailgate was written “HONORING ALL THOSE WHO SERVED”. Well, that includes me. I’m an American, I’m a veteran, and I have free speech too.
Kudos to Playa for just calling me a poopyhead. I prefer that to long-winded condemnations. It was great to meet you in person 11 years ago.
I did more to personally help the Israeli military fight terrorism than anyone here. So there’s that as well.
Pretty certain none of us vets here served in the Israel military.
We’re kinda against conscript armies in general.
As a soldier in the Army, I was assigned to NSA. My section was paired with one in Israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_8200
I did battle damage assessments for Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah forces in Syria. NSA intercepted their coms, another section decrypted them, my section translated them.
That should be public knowledge, shouldn’t it? We aid the IDF in all kinds of covert ways that never get voted on. We also spy on them and they spy on us.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident
But no. We pretend to be neutral so we can “mediate” Israel’s dispute.
I told one of my Palestinian Arabic teachers at DLI about the USS Liberty incident and his eyebrows zoomed to the back of his head.
what I did as a soldier
Remind me what was your MOS? Serious question.
35P
https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/signal-intelligence/languages-code/35p-signals-intelligence-voice-interceptor
The whole reason I joined the Army was because I was pissed off about ISIS and like learning languages.
As a boy, I could see how soldiers were glorified in TV, movies, video games, history books, monuments, etc. I got more respect for being a soldier than anything else I’ve done.
I still feel good about what I did. I wish I was still doing it sometimes.
The local trade school appears to have a free class for tile manufacturing. My guess is the tile factory in town is paying for it.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Am I missing something or is there no rating here?
Or are these not real and the picture AI? I’ve never heard of these.
Buzzballs are real, they are popular among the yutes. RTD cocktails that come in a couple of different sizes, a wide assortment of colorful flavors, and are relatively cheap.
Well, they’re not wine so how would you be familiar with them?
I know hard alcohol, too.
Just not shit like beer.
😛
bibere = to drink (Latin)
One b got lost in time and thus we get beer, whose name literally means “drink”.
aut bibat aut abeat! = either drink or go away (common sign above pubs in ancient Rome)
Potable, potion, and poison are all from the Greek word for drink. Symposium means a place where people drink together.
And now you know.
Among the many faults of Buzz Balls, it is not beer therefore no rating.
RC Dean, thanks for the hat tip to Raconteur Press, I sent the link to my wife and she’s pretty excited.
The boy reads so much we’re going to run out of age appropriate stuff fairly soon. Unless he ends up liking the Hardy Boys, but that will only stall him for a year or so.
[ imagines Threedor’s son reading Lady Chatterly’s Lover ]
He learned some new words from the how to train your dragon books.
You’re welcome. I’m on board with their project on books for young ‘uns. Hope he likes their stuff.
Who do Voodoo we do?
Fuck You!
I was expecting a link telling me Deshaun Watson is an overpaid bum.
Local media is blissfully quiet about Watson this week, as he’s out for Sunday. Leaving Sanders his chance to take the starting role. I had forgotten it was the Saints pick that the kids used to prank Sanders until it was brought up in the local media. They’re really trying to make some big throw down between Shough and Sanders.
We’re just hoping that Sanders does better than Watson… which isn’t exactly a high bar.
I now have three bikes that need to be put together. I should probably work on one of them today.
Perhaps I should star with one that mostly done already.
But first, the sun is shining, and I need photos of the powder coat job.
Frankenbike!
surprised I haven’t seen this yet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qgyu3JSWGQ
*shudders involuntarily*
What’s wrong rhywun? You barely touched your Brunch in a Jar.
Get ready for the holiday Rhy. https://arktimes.com/eat-arkansas/2022/11/23/theres-a-turkey-gravy-soda-and-we-tried-it
Jesus.
Jesus was not involved in the making of that product.
Yeah. I can’t even on that. Sounds like drunk cheerleader.
Drunk cheerleader is best cheerleader!
Damnit, Dean got it first.
Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday in commonwealth lands
https://youtu.be/EimM-JDQXBw
Poppy
I am so disappointed. I was sure it was going to be her.
https://youtu.be/Kb4dd_aWmok?is=TJK7kqwwzllXsM_3
Just spotted these guys outside the dog run. I wonder if they wandered in through the open gate.
You can tell this is written in an alternate timeline, because when I find the Old Man’s time machine, I’m headed straight for Karl Marx’s birthplace.
I would seriously consider greasing Gavrilo Princep if I had a time machine and could kill one person.
I’d probably go back and snuff Marx if we’re talking modern figures.
I know you would.
Good man.
Muhammad
In the long run he’s going to be the most impactful.
Muhammad is an interesting one. I’ve never really seen any history that looks at the Arab conquests as much more than through the lens of Islam and the uniting of the tribes but in general when you dig deeper there’s a lot more going on when tribal groups with nomadic sort of lifestyles are banded together and then spread outward.
Like every nomadic horde that ever roared out of the steppe followed the similar pattern and it’s just that Muhammad gave those Arabs a rather strange pretext to do what the tribes wanted to do anyway.
There are very few men who were simultaneously religious, political, and military leaders.
For Muslims, he was a combo of George Washington, Billy Graham, and Chuck Norris.
His name means “praiseworthy”, as do the related names Ahmed and Mahmood.
Alhamdulillah = praise be to god (a common response to the question “how are you?”)
Inna allah wa inna allah raja’un = we belong to god and to him we return (standard opening line of Arabic obituaries)
I don’t really view Muhammad as the tactical brilliance behind the conquests myself.
I think he was novel in mixing religion and politics in a new and innovative way. I think he was kind of a visionary who saw that he could blend aspects of various religions and unite his people while also providing a bridge for the nearby Christians to convert.
For me, the logical explanation is that he wanted power, so he devised a religion that would appeal to as many people as possible, including, Christians, Jews, and Arab pagans.
The pagan Arabs had many gods, some of which show up in Lovecraft stories:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-Islamic_Arabian_deities
In Islam, Allah has 99 names.
https://myislam.org/99-names-of-allah/
It’s like the way Catholics turned saints into demigods.
There’s probably be no Hitler if not for Marx to begin with so…
The left doesn’t want to talk about that.
That wouldn’t be the “vital, creative socialism from the teaching of Marxism.” Would it?
There would be no Hitler or Soviet Union or WWII without WWI. Now whether something like WWI could have been avoided altogether, who knows? But for damn sure that idiot Princep set it off. I’d be willing to see if maybe it could have been avoided altogether.
“Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre but are deadlier in the long run.”
Too crazy for the Marines and the NYPD but the Department of Education is like, “Sure, why not!”
JFC.
Pushing $50K per student – you can only expect the best.
I’ve been told over and over again that if you pay well enough you’ll attract the best and brightest to teaching. I mean that may be true at some theoretical point but in reality it still seems to be a make-work program for a bunch of batshit lefty women and then whatever the fuck you want to call this guy.
I don’t see what could go wrong.
You have been culturally enriched!
If you get a ride in a time machine shouldn’t you assassinate a true enemy of humanity like Henry Ford or John D Rockefeller?
Rousseau
The boy reads so much we’re going to run out of age appropriate stuff fairly soon. Unless he ends up liking the Hardy Boys, but that will only stall him for a year or so.
Would he like the T H White King Arthur stuff?
We have those books.
Cornelius Ryan’s three books (The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far, The Last Battle) are great for boys. Big history from multiple perspectives with little gore. The veterans he interviewed were still close enough to the experience that they tone it down.
If you, or know somebody to, introduce the boy to shooting and eventually hunting Teddy Roosevelt’s hunting books are good as well.
Weve done a little shooting but he’s not quite interested in it yet.
I suggest this for the boy when he’s 14 or so. It’ll straighten his curlies and put some steel in his spine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fm464VmtPc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa_Addio
***
Praise was usually directed at the film’s music and visuals, as well as the courage of the filmmakers to deliver such unique and risky footage to the world, especially of massacres that would have been covered up. Africa Addio features the only known combat footage of the Congolese mercenaries, and the only known visual evidence of the genocide of ethnic Arabs during the Zanzibar Revolution.
***
Uh oh, there’s that g word again.
There’s a new dog in the manger
“We can have a strong working relationship with Elon Musk and his companies, but it has to be on our terms,” Hinojosa said Thursday in an interview with CNN, as quoted by Bloomberg. “It cannot be just running over the people of Texas, and that’s what changes now that I will be governor.”
——-
She also shared that she’s already making moves to crack down on Musk. Amid speculation that Texas officials have been considering a sale of state park land to SpaceX, Hinojosa said she spoke to the head of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department to “request that no action be taken,” per Bloomberg.
“It is such an important resource,” she told reporters in Austin, hours before the CNN interview.
OMG he might do something productive. We cannot allow that.
I’m glad she is showing her true colors early. Texas is a hard-core capitalist state – despite this week’s election results. Nothing will change hearts and minds faster than driving away business.
Her getting voted out in the next election would underline the point.
Just ordered ammunition from Sentry Ammo.
Did something happen recently? 😉
I looked at buying another big box from Fenix. Same thing.
I’m trying to standardize on a 9mm JHP that is NJ compliant and works well in both pistols.
That leaves me only with Hornady JHP and they come in various weights. The best compromise seems to be 124gr +P. In an ideal world I’d run heavier in the bigger pistol and smaller in the smaller pistol despite penetration concerns.
How does NJ regulate ammo?
You need a firearm card, but most places will ship if you provide it.
Funny they have no problem jumping right to motive when that motive is “far right”.
BoldItalicsStrikeLinGunman behind Krakow shooting may have been inspired by far-right ideology – recap
A lot contributed to Texas going blue. A lot of fuck-ups from this administration. Immigration was a huge part of it.
So yea I’m not really sure that’s a temporary blip. I’m just kind of coming back to the real world after the week from hell I had but this is basically what the Dems have been seeding Texas for. And other areas in the South.
People always want to talk about how illegals can’t vote and it’s a canard. The Dems know full well that their children will be able to.
Amtrak Plans To Allow Guns On Trains, Union Blasts Policy As ‘Sheer Lunacy’
Because somebody who wants to shoot up train is obviously going to follow the law, right?
Long Island Rail Road shooting
Headline has already been changed. Perhaps because immigration reform was one of the things Trump did that actually had broad support? Never change NYT!
It does have broad support, but I have to be blunt it’s also the only real prudent action for the GOP to take at this point.
Like demographically they are fucked. The red states tend to be the ones flooded and impacted most by illegal immigration. Latino voters doubled from this midterm to the last reportedly.
The Dems were premature to start gloating about demographic destiny under Obama, but at some point it will become reality. And the RINO’s/chamber of commerce Republicans don’t want to worry about icky things like that or care long term enough to stop it.
Also, just a reminder that like I said at the time Trump pretty much pissed away his domestic agenda and what people elected him for to pursue his foreign policy “agenda.” It’s not just Israel/Iran, but it’s obviously the most glaring example. Dude has spent way too much time dicking around and worrying about dumb shit overseas and after that you get his trade wars and yada yada…
What was old is new again:
https://theonion.com/last-few-republican-senators-form-roman-tortoise-1819589391/
TESTUDO!
Ave MAGA! Morituri te salutatem!
Does this count as terrorism?
Shock and Awe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8KimNtB9HI
Klavan’s one state solution for the Middle East. I tricked my signals intelligence instructor at Goodfellow AFB into playing this clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2eJlaUF2R8
Only $14 trillion in debt.
The good old days.
Randolph Bourne said war is the health of the state.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randolph_Bourne
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket
Eat the apple, fuck the Corps, as a wise marine once said.
My song as a new soldier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2zjg78ay4I
My song as an ex-soldier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhMO9azmKNU
I saw a clip of famous pollster Frank Luntz. He pulled up his pants legs to reveal he was wearing a red sock AND a blue sock. “Look at me! I’m moderate! I’m bipartisan!”, he said.
I thought, “wow, this is the way kindergarteners think…holy shit, most people are mentally kindergarteners.”
suggested song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKOaPHcMj7g
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds