Friday Afternoon Links of No Snow >:(

by | Dec 4, 2020 | Daily Links | 329 comments

I bet she's responsible for the missing snow, too.

The people I feature never look at my links. Rude.

A fabulous new technique for the folks you can’t trust with knives at parties! Why? Because FYTW.

Oh, well, this is awkward…

Speaking of awkward, this is the sort of thing that has become my local news lately.

More trouble in paradise in the time of corona…

How about a little something to help you and/or your favorite “cool” friend calm down?

Whoa, everyone slow down… Here’s some akshually breaking news in my links for once.

This afternoon’s fine musical selection is brought to you by the complete lack of snow here right now.

About The Author

Riven

Riven

[riv-uhn] noun 1. a gaming, lifting, shooting, intoxicated, ravenous, and happily-taken nerd. 2. often aims to misbehave. 3. and though she be but little, she is fierce.* And rumor has it that she (and her husband) are also delightful dinner companions. You didn't hear it from me, though.

329 Comments

  1. Tres Cool

    No snow here, either.

    • mexican sharpshooter

      Theres never snow where I live. Sad.

      • C. Anacreon

        It never snows in our part of California,

        But the girls, don’t they warn ya.

    • Nephilium

      Still melting down up here. This was Tuesday mid-afternoon, it didn’t stop snowing until after midnight.

      • Tres Cool

        Boo-hoo. You live at the wrong end of a lake.
        Then again, when Toledo gets it, its all the trash from Lake Michigan.

        Hey- at least you’re not Buffalo !

      • Nephilium

        I’m out of the snow belt. I live on the west side of town, we usually get a lot less snow then the east-siders.

      • rhywun

        The city of Buffalo gets a lot less snow than the Southtowns (the southern suburbs).

        And the parts of the state east of Lake Ontario get way more than anyone.

      • Riven

        Quit hogging it all!

      • Nephilium

        /hides a snowball in the freezer with Riven carved into it

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I ‘member that. Looks like a scene from A Christmas Story (yeah, snow drought during the shooting schedule, I know).

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Aww. Have seen it on pedestrian G-view. I wish to visit your state someday.
        .

    • Pope Jimbo

      It isn’t the snow that is important. What we need is enough ice so my fat ass can go fishing again.

      Saw some kids skating on a pond a couple days ago. I also took one step out onto a local lake and didn’t break through. Building, building, building.

      What sucks about this time of year is that ice near shore can be thick enough to walk on, but it thins as you walk out further. So you have to be extra careful. Spring is the exact opposite. If you can get onto the ice, you are fine, because it will be thinnest next to shore.

      And if you are going to be out on the ice, 1) always look for someone fatter out on the ice than you and 2) make sure you bring some of these along (they don’t need to be that fancy). If you ever do break through the ice, the biggest problem you will have is getting out of the water. Ice with water on top isn’t the easiest thing to pull yourself up onto. Those spikes will save your ass.

      • Fourscore

        Saw 2 fisher people out yesterday. Podunkville put up the boards for the skating rink today. Ice is good but lack of snow means you’ll need clamp ons to skitter across the ice.

      • Pope Jimbo

        How chubby were the fisherpeople? You don’t want to get tricked into going out if it was just a couple 98-lb betas out there fishing.

      • Fourscore

        Ain’t no 98 lb Finlanders. Elsa makes some fine cinnamon rolls.

      • Hyperion

        I really hate ice fishing. At least in the old days when I tried it. That was back in the old days when you didn’t even have a shack. My dad would go out on the ice all day long with no shirt on, no bullshit. I had so many clothes on I could barely move and was still freezing my ass off. I don’t enjoy cold. Anything under 50 F is too cold.

        But these days… how many bedrooms and bathrooms does your ice fishing house have? Gourmet kitchen and 10 80 inch TVs no doubt, with wifi. Seems to be the standard now.

      • slumbrew

        Your dad is Vladimir Putin?

      • Hyperion

        I wish, then I could move to Russia and avoid the impending doom of wokeageddon.

      • Fourscore

        Before god invented ice augers fishing in winter took a looooooooooooog prep time.

      • Hyperion

        And then after you drill your first hole, it comes a gust of wind and your line freezes to the side of the hole.

        If I was sitting in my 5000 sq ft ice fishing McMansion at room temp in my underwear, watching TV, and drinking a beer, I’d probably really enjoy it.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I always liked ice fishing as a spazzy kid because I could go run around outside for a bit when things got boring. Stuck in a boat during the summer you can’t do that.

        One of our favorite pastimes when I was a kid was to throw the first perch caught out onto the ice. Later when you got bored, you would set up a couple goals on the ice and then play Frozen Perch Boot Hockey.

      • Hyperion

        I do really love the yellow perch and bluegill filets, all fried up.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Especially when there was no snow on the lake.

        Hand augering through the ice when standing on glare ice was a bitch and a half, even if you had some sort of clampons.

        My only problem is that my gas auger keeps starting. If it would die, I could justify buying one of the new fancy electric ones all my buddies have. Those are really slick.

      • Mad Scientist

        Can’t you bribe Tundra into sabotaging it for you?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Normally I’m death on any small engine. Once it realizes it has been bought by me, the engine will sputter a few times and die. Never to start again.

        But my auger by some perverse turn of fortune continues to run well enough I can’t talk myself into spending $500 for a fancy new electric auger.

        Notice I didn’t say it runs like a champ. Its favorite thing to do is start right up and then instantly die when you press the lever to start the auger turning. It will do that 5 times or so before it finally runs long enough to cut the hole.

      • Suthenboy

        Buy new gas. You kept the gasoline in it from last year, didn’t you?

        *kicks chainsaw over to drain the tank*

      • Pope Jimbo

        Nope. I drain the gas each year. But it could use a tuneup.

        I have been good about using the non-ethanol gas for the last several years too.

      • Hyperion

        We used to ice fish on a lake where the water was so clear, if there was no snow, you could see the bottom 20-30 ft down. That was sort of weird.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Yup. In the winter there is so much less algae that you can see a long way.

        When it is dark in the fish house, you can see a lot down there.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I just have a portable flip up house. I have a buddy who has an ice castle and it is nice. I go there once or twice a year to drink and play cards. His setup is not a serious fishing enterprise.

        One of the biggest changes in the last 5 years or so are the underwater cameras. I didn’t think much of them, but borrowed one from my buddy and it changed everything.

        With one of the cameras you can see the fish (hopefully) come in. There are times you see a ton of fish and none are biting and you realize you better change bait or your jig.

        For the casual fisherperson it is a game changer. My wife would get bored in about 2 seconds before. Now if she can use the camera, she is enthralled for hours.

      • Hyperion

        “One of the biggest changes in the last 5 years or so are the underwater cameras.”

        Heh, I was going to mention that…

      • Pope Jimbo

        This is the one I bought. It works as well as the $800 models from Macum.

        The only problem was trying to replace the battery pack when mine died.

      • Hyperion

        Now you’re making me want to ice fish again just so I can get my ice fishing house and one of those.

        Thing is, I don’t and will not live anywhere it’s cold enough to ice fish. Maybe I can get a winter home for that.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Rent one of those ice castles!

        It is an easy two hour drive from the airport up there. You can pick up Tundra, Leap and I on your way. We’ll meet Nick and Fourscore there.

      • Hyperion

        I just might take you up on that.

      • robc

        My favorite news story from when I lived in Wisconsin was some dumbass trying to move their house across Lake Mendota. It snagged on something and the truck pulling the house came to a stop. And the house broke thru the ice, they dragged it out, broke some more, repeat some more. By the time the truck got to shore, the house was totalled.

      • C. Anacreon

        Men-do-ta!!

        /angry McBain

  2. The Late P Brooks

    It is almost alarmingly beautiful out, today, and I’m glad.

    Global warming ain’t all bad. I don’t care what anybody says.

    We’ll probably get 100 inches of snow in February and March, so I’ll bask in a little sunshine, now.

    • juris imprudent

      We’re getting rain now, then no precipitation as the temps drop over the next week. I still suppose I should put the snowblower on the Cub (and take the mower deck off). The snow will get here eventually.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      It’s 55 and not a cloud in the sky here. We’re at the local playground surrounded by unmasked people. I could stay here all afternoon

  3. UnCivilServant

    The people I feature never look at my links. Rude.

    If you’d put the picture to the left of the links…

    • Riven

      Get out here with that logic!

      • Tonio

        You do you, Riven!

        That you took the time to get everything lined up with no weird wraps is a feat unto itself.

      • Riven

        xD I do my best. I can never format the featured image correctly, but at least I can do the rest

  4. Count Potato

    “The survivor, identified as E.L.C., told a Laurel detective at the hospital that he met Lancaster on a phone app. He said the two met in person previously, but Oct. 16 was the first time he was at her home. Charging documents say that E.L.C. brought acid with him, which Lancaster took, while she gave him pills and marijuana.

    While he was smoking marijuana, E.L.C. told police that Lancaster asked him whose pot he was smoking. When he answered that it was hers, she became angry and asked him to leave. He said Lancaster eventually calmed down, but after taking her trash out and coming back into the house, she again told him to leave.

    Court documents say that while he was putting on his shoes by the front door, Lancaster “started hitting him in the back and rib area.” She then allegedly locked the door and left the room, returning with a gun that she pointed at E.L.C. He told police that after 30 seconds, the first round struck him in the shoulder. While trying to unlock the front door, he said he was shot several more times, with bullets striking him in his back.”

    Could happen to anyone?

    • The Other Kevin

      Who HASN’T that happened to?

      • juris imprudent

        In Florida that wouldn’t even be a crime would it?

  5. Stinky Wizzleteats

    So that lady unloaded a .40 cal into some guy’s back and he’s neither dead nor paralyzed. For a guy who’s unlucky enough to get shot his luck’s pretty good.

    • The Other Kevin

      She was on acid, so she was probably shooting at his trail.

    • EvilSheldon

      It is remarkably hard to kill someone by shooting them with a handgun. The vast majority of handgun ‘stops’ are psychological.

      • Not Adahn

        I have read that if untreated, any gunshot wound is likely to be fatal from sepsis if nothing else.

      • EvilSheldon

        This is true, but it’s also true of any other kind of major penetrating trauma.

        Assuming that you have access to reasonably modern medical care, and assuming that you don’t get shot in the brain, heart, or aortic region, your chances of dying from a single handgun wound are tiny. I’ve read as low as 2-3% for a single handgun wound.

        I have my class notes on this topic around somewhere…

  6. The Other Kevin

    I’m fine with no snow. While I don’t have practice now, my youngest just started travel volleyball so I’d driving her 40 minutes each way to her practice, twice a week. Snowy roads would be adding insult to injury.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    Fauci’s mistake is one of arrogance, not malice

    False.

    Fuck that evil little homunculus.

    • DEG

      Seconded.

      • Sean

        Thirded.

      • Tres Cool

        I’m in.

    • ron73440

      My mom wishes he was President.

      I am not making that up.

      • Tonio

        It really bothers me when people do that. Even assuming for the sake of argument that he’s right, his prowess as a medical doctor and public health weenie does not make him suited to run a country.

      • Count Potato

        To be fair, how is that different than the 47 people in the Democrat primary?

      • Hyperion

        He’s probably more suited than Biden is to do that, so there’s that.

      • Jarflax

        I have scraped things more suited to run the country than Biden off my shoe.

      • Swiss Servator

        T: I care not a jot that you are the son of a certified sauerkraut-sucking loon!

        G: Ah, thank you, sir.

        T: It minds not me that you dress like a mad parrot and talk like a plate of beans negotiating their way out of a cow’s digestive system. It is no skin off my rosy nose that there are bits of lemon peel floating down the Thames that would make better Regents than you.

        G: Well, bravo!

        T: The fact is, you *are* Regent…

        G: Yes, I am…

        T: …appointed by God, and I shall stick by you forever, though infirmity lay me waste and ill health curse my every waking moment.

      • Suthenboy

        Brother? Is that you?

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        Would she make Dr. Jill Biden Surgeon General as well?

    • juris imprudent

      I can see why Trump hates him – he can change his position just like Trump and the media ignores and continues to fawn over him.

    • The Gunslinger

      Arrogance, malice, incompetence, old age etc.

      • Fourscore

        Stupidity knows no bounds.

  8. Jerms

    Whoa, everyone slow down… Here’s some akshually breaking news in my links for once.

    I think they passed something in San Fran where you cant smoke cigs in your own apartment now–but smoking weed is ok. Who comes up with this shit?

    • Count Potato

      Politicians in California?

    • DEG

      I think they passed something in San Fran where you cant smoke cigs in your own apartment now–but smoking weed is ok. Who comes up with this shit?

      Borrowed from Amsterdam?

      When I was last there, you couldn’t smoke tobacco in a restaurant, bar, or coffeeshop, but you could smoke weed inside one.

    • Suthenboy

      The word ‘demoralization’ is very poorly understood outride of the leftist bubble.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      Every year our local newspaper runs a story on the ratings from the American Lung Association. The tone is always “Our city lags behind some other city in anti-tobacco legislation. We need to do something!” That gets people worked into a frenzy to pressure the politicians.

    • rhywun

      Never change, SF.

  9. Count Potato

    For a bunch of potheads, that leafly site is awfully uptight about visitors.

    • UnCivilServant

      Too many probings, man.

      • Animal

        STEVE SMITH SAY, NOT POSSIBLE TO HAVE TOO MANY PROBINGS. BY PROBING MEAN RAPING.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Turns out the nearest seed store is 2000 miles away……

  10. DEG

    I’m fine with no snow; however, like with a lot of things, I won’t get my wish. Snow is supposed to come in here tomorrow.

    But while Fauci is currently correct in his findings and recommendations, he is incorrect when he asserts that this has been his consistent position.

    He will pay no price for his flip-flop. It’s good to work for the government.

    • grrizzly

      He will pay no price for his flip-flop.

      As we know for a fact given his about-face on masks.

      • Suthenboy

        “Making predictions is hard. Especially about the future.”

        *Faucci is an idiot. If he were any good as a doc he would treating patients. Fuck that guy. I wouldn’t take his advice on tying shoes.

      • Hyperion

        But he’s America’s doctor! The most beloved doctor! /TMITE

      • Pope Jimbo

        C-Koop has a sad….

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        +2 epaulets

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      Flip flopping is ok when new information comes to light that shows your position is wrong. That’s isn’t the case here though. He had the information before, or at least he should have.

      • Suthenboy

        That little cocksucker signed off to support China working with the cootie bugs.

        Now it comes to light that blood donors were infected with the stuff in December last year. I will be shocked to find out it did not originate here and that Faucici was up to his eyeballs in it.

      • Gadfly

        Very true. And whether he had the information before, or should have had it (which he should, that’s literally his job to go find that out), he’s incompetent for not flipping to the right call sooner.

      • DEG

        he is incorrect when he asserts that this has been his consistent position.

  11. kinnath

    No snow is good.

    • Suthenboy

      Has anyone noticed that that kooks eyebrows and drawn on with a pencil?

      She can’t go away fast enough for me.

      • Hyperion

        Old Plastic Face. They’ve done stretched her face so far that her natural eyebrows looked more like sideburns instead of eyebrows. So she has to shave those off and draw on new ones where they were at 20 years ago.

      • C. Anacreon

        Of she gets one more face-lift she’ll be sporting a curly Van Dyke.

    • Drake

      Pardon him again. Pre-pardon him for kicking the shit out of a federal judge.

    • Rebel Scum

      Judges seem to have forgotten their legitimate role because Orange Man Bad.

  12. mexican sharpshooter

    Whoa, everyone slow down… Here’s some akshually breaking news in my links for once.

    *checks investments*

    • grrizzly

      It’s not unpleasant doing so lately.

    • Riven

      *suspicious bubbling noises*

  13. DEG

    Lincoln, NH tavern owner angry about fines

    The owner of White Mountain Tavern is challenging a $1,000 fine he received after a guitar-playing couple performed there in violation of COVID-19 regulations.

    The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office alleges that on Nov. 21 David Culhane and his business hosted a musical performance, a video of which posted online Nov. 22 “clearly shows two guitarists performing indoors close together.”

    In a Nov. 25 letter to Culhane, Associate Attorney General Anne Edwards wrote that no bands are allowed to perform indoors at restaurants or function halls. Only “disc jockeys and solo artists” may perform inside, she said.

    Culhane said the guitarists are a couple and the social distancing language in the governor’s order is ambiguous and arbitrary.

    • ron73440

      the social distancing language in the governor’s order is ambiguous and arbitrary

      Feature, not bug.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Also, I pulled my truck inside to do a couple of things to it, like replace the windshield wiper motor. It’s easier to get in and out when there isn’t a snowdrift in the way.

    • prolefeed

      #21, or if you’re dyslexic, #12 is great too.

    • J. Frank Parnell

      18

      37’s the bunny boiler.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    We’re at the local playground surrounded by unmasked people. I could stay here all afternoon

    Nice Does it feel like you fell through a time warp?

    • kinnath
      • slumbrew

        Too easy.

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        Take it easy. If you get it easy, take it again.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Little bit. People haven’t really masked up outdoors here. Even in the summer, it was like 20% masked at most. They bitched us out at 3 year old soccer for not wearing masks, but that lasted all of one week before people told them to shove it up their ass.

      Indoors, churches have led the way for us on unmasking, but more places are mixed company anymore.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      The Anti Christ is on mine, Timing?

      • Gadfly

        That would be more appropriate for 2020.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      It has been interesting watching them drift closer and closer together over the past few months. I may try to snap a picture or two through thr scope when they conjoin.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Good idea, Thanks!

      • dbleagle

        On Dec 21st Saturn, through a telescope, will appear closer to Jupiter than some of the Galilean moon. If the clouds cooperate it will be a good show.

    • Not Adahn

      Goddammit Daily Mail, don’t scoop me!

  16. Yusef drives a Kia

    So I guess I have Vermin for pets, one of them snuck past me and Ate all but one of my Seedlings, the best ones as well. I can’t punish them but now I need to source more seeds until Cloning time,
    /

    • slumbrew
    • Count Potato

      Rabbits?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        My Dog, or My Cat, happened last night, and I didn’t see until @pm when they wake up, the plants that is,

      • Count Potato

        Weird, I’d figure they would be carnivores.

      • blackjack

        Lotta cats love to eat pot. It’s similar to cat nip. I’ve had two that have eaten some.

      • The Hyperbole

        Yep, a buddy of mine always had plants going, had the big aluminum-frame-movable-reflective-panels-grow-light-things and everything, he had to constantly keep his cat from sneaking in and eating his plants.

      • Hyperion

        I used to have an Aussie and his fav foods were broccoli and brussel sprouts. And he’d drink beer, as much as you would give him.

      • ron73440

        I have an Aussie and she eats EVERYTHING.

        Carrots, grapes, jalapeno slices, ghost pepper chex mix, or bananas, it doesn’t matter.

    • Tres Cool
    • DEG

      Sorry.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      why do you get news from a UK news site? I never got that…

      • Sean

        He likes big butts.

      • Nephilium

        But can he lie?

      • Tres Cool

        All you other bruthas cant deny.

      • Hyperion

        He can’t lie, some other brothers might deny, but when she walks into the room with a itty bitty waist and a big thing in his face, he gets…

    • Gadfly

      The Republicans aren’t bad for trashing this bill (it deserves to die) but for not offering an alternative, like a straight up repeal. The repeal championed by the Democrats here seems to actually make the government more powerful and invasive, which is the opposite of what any decriminalization bill should be doing.

    • rhywun

      They’re using this to score not-racist points. The same assholes cheer on laws against tobacco. They can go fuck themselves.

    • juris imprudent

      Are they just presuming that white American men aren’t identifying as something else? Are they policing one black person calling another “nigger”? Love to see the algorithm for all of this.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Anti-Defamation League praised the move as ‘important and long overdue’

      Fuck the ADL, they were skinsuited a long time ago.

    • rhywun

      The change on Thursday in Facebook’s algorithm is a shift from the social network’s ‘race-blind’ system that previously removed anti-white insults as well posts such as ‘men are dumb’ or ‘Americans are stupid.’

      I would call absolute bullshit on this if I hadn’t dropped FB a couple years ago and thus lack proof.

      I still find it unbelievable.

    • Agent Cooper

      Shut up, cracker.

    • Drake

      Vote counters always sneak legitimate ballots in suitcases and count them in secret.

    • ron73440

      Well OK then.

      Frank Drebin:

      NOTHING TO SEE HERE, PLEASE DISPERSE!

    • B.P.

      To be fair, I don’t really know what video of a legit vote-counting operation looks like.

      • Count Potato

        It probably stopped happening before video was invented.

    • Fatty Bolger

      it shows nothing out of the ordinary

      I can believe that, unfortunately.

      • The Other Kevin

        It depends on if they normally keep ballots in a box that looks like a wheeled suitcase, and if they normally keep said box under a table. If the box is loaded with paper, it would be heavy, so both those things sound plausible.

      • rhywun

        The corruption in Washington and every state capital is “nothing out of the ordinary”.

        Weasel words are fun!

    • Suthenboy

      *unzips, begins pissing on Brad’s leg*

      Hey dude. It’s raining.

    • Broswater

      You don’t allow people out until you’ve counted pretty much all of the boxes.

      As you’d like to have a maximum of people in there to make sure nothing fishy is going on. Not just 3 of your friends.

      You don’t hide ballot boxes under a table. You put them always in plain view.

      Only the affected scrutineer can open it and touch the ballots. Only the affected secretary can count them. Nobody else gets to touch them.

      You open all the boxes at the same time, not when everyone is gone and the observers are out of the way.

      The observers can also go around at look at anything they want.

      To me, just the way they behaved was illegal or should be, even if there was no fraud involved at all. Those people deserve to be in jail for a long time.

      / 2017 Absentee Ballots Election Supervisor

    • Rebel Scum

      shows nothing out of the ordinary

      Because election fraud is the norm.

  17. Nephilium

    It’s Friday, so here’s the link for the Zoom/Happy Hour/conspiracy hour. I’ll kick it off at 20:00 Eastern.

    Now to figure out the best way to get from where my car will be parked to the spin studio in workout clothes. Because allowing people to change in a room, or hang up coats spreads the ‘vid.

  18. Suthenboy

    Your last link is the most appropriate.

    Confirmed: It is still stupid out there and I hate everyone.

    I am going to go pour a vodka.

    • Jerms

      But AG Barr told me there was no fraud, and the DHS said this was the most securest election ever–so thats impossible.

  19. DEG

    I like when UPS delivers guns and ammunition to my door.

    • Sean

      If I had a C&R, my house would look like a cold war Combloc armory. Which is why I never pursued it.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Fedex,,,
      / many PDX rounds

  20. grrizzly

    SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA TO IMPOSE SHELTER-AT-HOME RULES

    Bay Area counties will be adopting the state’s new stay-at-home order beginning Monday at 12:01 a.m. in light of the spike in COVID cases and surge in ICU patients, Bay Area health officials announced Friday.

    The health officers from Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco and the City of Berkeley announced their jurisdictions would enact California’s regional stay-at-home order and not wait until the region falls below the 15 percent available ICU capacity that would trigger the three-week stay-at-home order.

    The stay-at-home order would impact the following sectors with temporary closures:

    Outdoor dining (take-out, pick-up, and delivery would still be permitted)
    Indoor and outdoor playgrounds
    Indoor recreational facilities
    Hair salons and barbershops
    Personal care services
    Museums, zoos, and aquariums
    Movie theaters
    Wineries
    Bars, breweries, and distilleries
    Family entertainment centers
    Cardrooms and satellite wagering
    Limited services not included in critical infrastructure
    Amusement parks

    Hotels and lodging: open for critical infrastructure support only.

    • Pope Jimbo

      If the Rona was truly a deadly disease wouldn’t SF be jam packed with the dead bodies of the homeless junkies?

      The bad hygiene, poor health and terrible living conditions would all seem perfect to ensure that these people would be reaped in about 10 seconds flat by any disease that was even half ass deadly.

      Truly the most disappointing thing about this new plague is that we didn’t even get to get rid of the homeless. And even 200K of dead geezers isn’t going to solve Social Security’s problems.

    • rhywun

      Hotels and lodging: open for critical infrastructure support only.

      Aren’t they using hotels to house bums? Or are they “essential people” too?

  21. Not Adahn

    He said the two met in person previously, but Oct. 16 was the first time he was at her home.

    She told the officer that she met E.L.C. in a group chat, and invited him over to clean her house. Lancaster picked him up from his residence in Billings, and he was at her home for several hours.

    Suuuuure.

  22. Hyperion

    “Speaking of awkward, this is the sort of thing that has become my local news lately.”

    Somebody ain’t telling the whole truth there.

  23. Derpetologist

    Checked out the welding school today. Hopefully I can get started with evening classes next week. They said there’s a serious shortage and jobs are guaranteed.

    In other news, I got tapped to be an OPFOR role player because of my jive-talking prowess. Should be fun. With my light country twang, I’m Larry the Cable Guy of Arabia.

    Yalla, y’all

    (Yalla basically means get r dun in Arabic, sorta like davai in Russian or ikimasho in Japanese)

    A cultural theory of warfare

    European – keystones are maneuver and logistics; favorite game is chess

    Asian – keystones are deception and using enemies’ strengths against him; favorite game is Go

    Islamic – keystones are piety and martyrdom; favorite game is backgammon

    Backgammon has a large feature of chance which makes sense given that Muslims see chance as actually being Allah’s will.

    I’m a sucker for military jock jams.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYXaKTzaXFk

    comment gold

    ***
    When ur only 13 and clear ur kitchen with a airsoft gun and ur dad asks what are u doing
    ***

    • Derpetologist

      Oh yeah – I forgot the icing on the cake:

      I had a paperwork question and the answer I got was “do whatever you think is logical, sergeant”.

      Me doing what I think is logical in the Army?!

      You could have knocked me over with a feather.

      Yeah, I’m pretty sure there’s still hope to make a career of this.

    • Count Potato

      How long does it take to become a welder?

      • Derpetologist

        18 weeks with 2 4-hour classes per week. Should be a snap.

      • Swiss Servator

        If you are me, at the US Army Ordnance Center & School…the answer is “not in this lifetime”. Worst welder ever.

    • Pope Jimbo

      My grandpa made a shit ton of money back in the day as a welder. Went from marginal farmer to very wealthy guy (would have had a ton more money if he didn’t have 10 kids) because he joined the union and was really good at welding.

      The only drawback was that he was working at the Hamm’s brewery for most of his career and was dog loyal to them. Which meant if you were stealing a beer from Gramps, it was going to be a Hamms.

    • EvilSheldon

      A gun-gamer friend of mine did OPFOR for a while, and loved it. His nickname was ‘Warcrimes’, which may or may not have had anything to do with his OPFOR shenanigans.

      (When a security exercise is on, make double-sure that the wardroom hatch is secure. Triple-sure if the entire chain of command is having a meeting…)

  24. Hyperion

    “Whoa, everyone slow down… Here’s some akshually breaking news in my links for once.”

    Biden would veto that even if it passed the Senate. Not sure about Trump, but at least with Trump there’s a chance he wouldn’t.

    • Not Adahn

      Trump’s a teetotaler, no way he legalizes recreational intoxicants.

      • Hyperion

        I don’t really think Trump thinks that way. It’s a political issue that everyone in politics is still afraid to touch. That’s why you get ballot initiatives instead of legislation, then you can blame it on the sheeples. If there was a national ballot initiative, it would pass by at least 60%. Biden OTH is a long time drug warrior. There’s never been anything to ever exist that Biden wouldn’t love to ban.

        It’s mostly a token issue by dems because they think it will not pass the senate and then they can blame the GOP. If they thought it would actually pass, they’d never do it. And if it ever passes and they get enough power, they’ll send you to a fucking re-education camp for even thinking about smoking some dope. Want to know how the dems would govern with one party rule? Just look at China. Is weed legal in China?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        ” no, big time Reeducation camps for possession

  25. commodious spittoon

    No idea what this new E.L.C. drug is but it sounds dangerous and we should ban it.

  26. Derpetologist

    A bit more on the effect of culture on military theory:

    Most westerners have heard of Sun Tzu, but there are many other military manuals from the Asia, and very few westerners even bother to look at what Muslim military thinkers write.

    ***
    The Quranic Concept of War The Quranic Concept of War, by Brigadier General S. K. Malik of the Pakistani Army provides readers with unequalled insight. Originally published in Pakistan in 1979, most available copies are found in India, or in small non-descript Muslim bookstores.8One major point to ponder, when thinking about The Quranic Concept of War, is the title itself. The Quran is presumed to be the revealed word of God as spoken through his chosen prophet, Mohammed. According to Malik, the Quran places warfighting doctrine and its theory in a much different category than western thinkers are accustomed to, because it is not a theory of war derived by man, but of God. This is God‟s warfighting principles and commandments revealed. Malik‟s attempts to distill God‟s doctrine for war through the examples of the Prophet. By contrast, the closest that Clausewitz comes to divine presentation is in his discussion of the trinity: the people, the state, and the military. In the Islamic context, the discussion of war is at the level of revealed truth and example, well above theory—God has no need to theorize. Malik notes, “As a complete Code of Life, the Holy Quran gives us a philosophy of war as well. . . . This divine philosophy is an integral part of the total Quranic ideology.”9
    ***

    https://securitypolicylaw.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/MyersJoseph.Quranic-Concept-of-War.pdf

    • Not Adahn

      Do the stones always tell you where the enemy is hiding, or is that only when you’re fighting Jews?

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      Spray and pray?

      • Swiss Servator

        1. Level AK towards enemy,
        2. Depress trigger until 30 round magazine is empty,
        3. Insh’allah my enemy will fall.

      • But Enough About My Pulsating, Geriatric Pecs

        I’ve got a buddy who uses the same technique to take pictures of wherever he’s going.  :-/

  27. Pope Jimbo

    Speaking of leafy crimes (or spot the Korean adoptee), Minnesoda has a booming business of Spruce poachers!

    I blame the NoDaks for providing the illegal axes and chainsaws used by these criminals. The are the Indiana of the timber industry.

    Northern Minnesota is home to a thriving cottage industry of harvesters and buyers that supply a growing holiday greenery market — for birch logs, spruce tops and the balsam boughs used to make garlands and wreaths.

    But this year, the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented many suppliers from Canada from selling across the border. So spruce thieves have stepped in to take advantage of that gap.

    “We’ve had cases from International Falls all the way down to the Twin Cities,” Zavodnik said, “including out-of-state buyers, as well.”

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Checked out the welding school today. Hopefully I can get started with evening classes next week. They said there’s a serious shortage and jobs are guaranteed.

    Nice. Civilian, or Army?

    • Derpetologist

      civ

  29. Gadfly

    Whoa, everyone slow down… Here’s some akshually breaking news in my links for once.

    While the decriminalization is a good idea, there’s a lot in that MORE act that is terrible, to the point where I think voting against it is the right call, even taking into account that the perfect shouldn’t be the enemy of the good. First, does the federal government even have the constitutional authority to institute a sales tax? A special tax on marijuana is a bad idea, but not bad enough to trash the bill, but having it be a federal sales tax, seemingly regardless of whether it is part of interstate or international commerce, is a very bad idea. Also, it’s not just a tax, the tax is specifically to be used to fund a new “Cannabis Justice Department”, which like all new programs with vague, redundant, and dubious goals is a bad idea. Also, it includes federal oversight of state licensing boards, and on top of that the oversight commission has the specific task of injecting racial quotas into the marijuana industry. A bad bill that does a few good things, IMO.

    • slumbrew

      Having never looked at the bill, those are indeed terrible features.

      • Gadfly

        Yeah, I haven’t looked at it either (who has the time?), I was just going by what the linked article said. Checking in with Thomas Massie’s twitter (he’s usual pretty astute in his judgement of bills) confirms that my assessment based on the article is correct.

        For those who don’t twitter, his assessment is this:

        The marijuana bill:

        Imposes new taxes, creates new federal crimes, creates new offices & programs at existing federal agencies, and in general gives federal government executive branch bureaucrats almost unlimited power to issue whatever regulations and rules they so choose.

        @SpeakerPelosi should have called the so-called marijuana legalization bill “the terms of your surrender.”

        But hey, if you’re really keen on getting stoned, maybe you don’t care how big the government grows.

      • But Enough About My Pulsating, Geriatric Pecs

        Pretty much exactly the same thing happened in Canada when weed was legalized. The Feds stuck their snout into every aspect of growing, transporting and selling the Devil’s Lettuce for the express purpose of controlling who smokes it and how much they’ll pay in taxes and fees. My nephew and two nieces didn’t believe me when I told them, years ago, that exactly that would happen. They’re pretty rueful about it all now.

        Oh, spoiler alert: the actual quality of the “legal” weed has degraded quite a bit, and many people who used to smoke don’t any more. So I guess it’s a win-win for everyone ‘cept the people who actually wanted to smoke weed in the first place.

      • prolefeed

        gives federal government executive branch bureaucrats almost unlimited power to issue whatever regulations and rules they so choose.

        I’m sure they won’t abuse it the way governors and mayors have been enacting EOs about COVID.

      • Gadfly

        I’m really hoping that the Rs will come around on decriminalization before the Ds manage to get their terrible version of it through. A faint hope, but otherwise we are getting exactly what you describe Canada got, or worse.

      • juris imprudent

        We will NEVER allow Canada to be worse than us! We have California as an example – where the state is now going after growers for operating without a state license.

      • Broswater

        The GF, which has been smoking for 20 odds years, tells me the same.

        Don’t know about other provinces, but here, there is a few legal stores in some place where it’s cheaper and better quality, and the government won’t go bother those businesses.

        You know… those feather not dot type of places.

      • But Enough About My Pulsating, Geriatric Pecs

        …those feather-not-dot type of places.

        Hey, those are the best places to get fireworks! (And, let’s be honest, the only place to get decent fireworks these days…)

      • Broswater

        You can also apparently get OTC stuff to eat of the psilocybin variety there. The professionally made type, not homemade.

        If it wasn’t for the damn racist and communist laws and ways by which those communities are run, I’d say that would be as close as a libertarian paradise we can get to.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Don’t they tax cigs and liquor?

      • Gadfly

        I don’t know, but thinking about it more they do tax gas, and I guess that counts as an excise tax, which Congress does have the power to pass, so I guess the tax is OK, even if not a great idea. So, fewer objections to the bill, but it still seems to be larded up with bad ideas.

      • Mad Scientist

        Bad ideas are what they specialize in.

      • prolefeed

        If it’s longer than this, you know it’s larded up with bad ideas:

        “Using, possessing, or selling marijuana or any derivatives is an unenumerated right under the Ninth Amendment, and thus any and all federal laws, rules, or regulations that prohibit, restrict, regulate, or in any way whatsoever infringe upon this unenumerated right are unconstitutional and hereby repealed.”

      • Jarflax

        Chosing what substances you will ingest or refuse to ingest is an unenumerated right under the Ninth Amendment, and thus any and all federal laws, rules, or regulations that prohibit, restrict, regulate, or in any way whatsoever infringe upon this unenumerated right are unconstitutional and hereby repealed.

        Marijuana is not special, pretending it is special cedes the actual important issue. I understand incrementalism, but far and away the bigger problem with prohibition is that enforcing it pits the police against the citizenry and leads to informers, no knock raids, stop and frisk, and a variety of 4th, 5th, and 6th amendment infringements.

      • juris imprudent

        If Democrats didn’t have bad ideas, they wouldn’t have any ideas at all, and then they’d be Republicans.

      • Raven Nation

        LOL

      • westernsloper

        YOU’RE GOD DAMNED RIGHT THEY DO AND THOSE ARE THE ONLY TWO THINGS I LIVE FOR!!!!

    • rhywun

      specifically to be used to fund a new “Cannabis Justice Department”,

      This is the actual goal of the thing. Shoveling more dollars into “social justice” crap. The weed is beside the point.

  30. Hyperion

    For y’all gamers, I gotta say, AC Valhalla is the best RPG in a very long time. I love the loot, the combat, the story, and the atmosphere and graphics are the best ever. I was really getting into it last night. I would have still been playing early this morning, but I had to get some sleep because work today. Gonna get back in tonight, just a couple more beers and the mood will be perfect…

  31. grrizzly

    Many Epidemiologists Want Social Distancing and Masks Forever—Even After the Vaccine

    The New York Times asked 700 epidemiologists to describe their COVID-19 habits, how their thinking has changed since the pandemic began, and when they think it will be safe for normal life to resume. Dismayingly, several answered that last question with a resounding never.

    “I expect that wearing a mask will become part of my daily life, moving forward, even after a vaccine is deployed,” Amy Hobbs, a research associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told The Times.

    On the whole, the epidemiologists were less wary of touching surfaces than they were at the start of the pandemic, and some thought young children could go back to school. But just 26 percent said they either had or would have allowed their children to return to the classroom, or even attend an outdoor play date with friends. Only 29 percent were willing to get a haircut, even though the most infamous case involving two hairstylists who had COVID-19 resulted in not a single infection among their 139 clients. A mere 11 percent were willing to ride the subway.

    • Hyperion

      “School of Public Health”

      You have to understand what you are dealing with there, then you’ll get it.

    • EvilSheldon

      I’d like to see this kind of survey done in other professions. It’s good to identify those career paths populated by the insane.

    • B.P.

      So, epidemiologists are germophobes. Imagine a mask smothering a human face — forever.

      • zwak

        This is my fear.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Like psychology draws nutcases epidemiology draws OCD germophobes…no fucking surprise there.

    • rhywun

      Good. Die off and let the rest of us get on with our lives.

  32. Plinker762

    We have snow in the mountains. A couple ski areas are open and I’ve been snowmobiling twice already.

  33. Pope Jimbo

    I don’t understand anything after reading this story except that the govt has decided to pour more money down a hole and hopefully it will become a permanent hole soon and not just a pilot hole.

    I don’t even think it is bad journalo-ising. The whole idea is so incoherent that no one can figure out what the fuck a mobility hub is or what possible benefit might be derived from having them.

    In an open field near the major intersection of Penn and Lowry Avenues in North Minneapolis, across the street from a liquor store and near several churches and a school, resides one of the city’s pilot “mobility hubs,” one of 25 spaces designed to increase access to low- or no-carbon transportation options.

    These hubs are centralized locations where various forms of transportation come together on one corner, from bike lanes and bus stops to scooter, bike, and car shares. According to a report on the project, they’re designed to make people’s trips as “safe, convenient, and reliable as possible” by eliminating a few of the variables that can keep people from choosing public transportation over personal vehicles.

    • Lady Z

      Copying progressive initiatives from California – who cares what is actually means as long as it makes them feel good?

      • rhywun

        And “helps” your donors.

  34. Fourscore

    Good choice of music, Riven. Me an Ol’ Elvis, circa 1955. Good times, radio was a helluva invention, Del Rio after dark

  35. Pope Jimbo

    Finally! Our national nightmare of Orange Man Bad: Dairy Dept is finally over!

    Organic Valley, a leading voice in the nation’s organic dairy industry, sees an opportunity to regain political ground that it says was lost over the past four years.

    A flurry of interest groups are now jockeying to be heard by President-elect Joe Biden’s administration and are seeking clarity on what new congressional leadership could mean for them.

    Agriculture is a diverse industry filled with varying interests, but Bob Kirchoff, chief executive of La Farge, Wis.-based Organic Valley, is cautiously optimistic.

    “To say there wasn’t a lot of progress in the last four years would be an understatement. In some ways we took a step back,” said Kirchoff. “We need to look at this as an opportunity for change rather than be fearful nothing will change.”

    Organic Valley and its competitors often work together to push for clearer regulatory standards for organic food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture under President Donald Trump reversed several of those efforts, including a transitional organic-certification program and animal-welfare standards.

    “The reversal of decades of work on improving and updating the organic standards has led to declining consumer trust in the organic label and has caused economic hardship for U.S. organic farmers,” the Organic Trade Association wrote in a memo to Biden’s transition team.

      • Ted S.

        I never liked mope cans myself.

    • Hyperion

      And now begins our new actual reality nightmare, yay!

    • rhywun

      I can’t think of many larger scams than the “organic” food movement.

  36. Yusef drives a Kia

    Yeah! Fresh seeds on the way! you can’t stop farmer Bob,

  37. Count Potato

    “Republicans like to make fun of the fact that I used to be a waitress, but we all know if they ever had to do a double they’d be the ones found crying in the walk-in fridge halfway through their first shift bc someone yelled at them for bringing seltzer when they wanted sparkling”

    https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1334654123652886529

    So what don’t you want?

    • Urthona

      Wow. Bit of a major self own there.

      • Gadfly

        I also like that the first reply that shows up for me is Sarah Palin taking her to task.

  38. Derpetologist

    outrage porn!

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-trump-stereotypical-macho-style-young-black-voters

    ***
    Still, Obama’s theory that men of color might be attracted to Trump’s masculinity is not new. The Los Angeles Times recently published an op-ed entitled “A ‘man’s man’: Why some Black men are drawn to Trump’s toxic masculinity.” The New York Times published another one: “The Macho Appeal of Donald Trump.”

    “While it is not inherently bad for Trump, and other men, to espouse confidence and strength, these traits can quickly devolve into toxic masculinity — suppressing emotions, flaunting a tough exterior and seeing violence as an indicator of power,” the LA Times’ op-ed reasoned. “Trump’s form of masculinity appeals to a small minority of Black men who think such masculinity is their best way of making their own way in the world.”
    ***

    Quelle horreur!

    • Hyperion

      I’m going to go ahead and say that is even more true of Latino men. I’m saying it because I know it’s true, machismo is a real thing.

    • Hyperion

      Lol, well we knew that white supremacists were going to pop up amongst the copycats sooner or later. I mean because there are so many white supremacists.

      • Lady Z

        Oh, that’s where all the white supremacists have been hiding!

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Needs a 45 degree offset, that’s obviously a Hindu obelisk.

  39. Broswater

    I read you guys quoting articles by Lead Stories earlier, which is one of Facebook’s partners in ”Fact Checking”.

    Lead Stories was co-founded by a dude that was editor for CNN for 26 years as co-founder.

    By doing their ”Fact Checking” they’re basically redirecting traffic from ”False News” websites to their own, and then get the advertising revenues from them.

    Candace Owens lawsuit accuse them of doing it at least : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE3OqxWSXlA

    So yeah, it has as much to do with politics as ”Our revenues goes down because we keep peddling BS, we’ll say you do it and steal your money.”

    It’s quite evil. Not only are they attacking your character, they also steal from you. Yup… Lamp posts, wood chippers.

    • Urthona

      And Facebook is directing tons of traffic to their web site any time anyone mentions Fulton County.

      I am still in disbelief that a government official saying something is considered a “fact check” over the word of multiple witnesses who say otherwise.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Technically it is a fact check, just not an adequate one.

      • Rebel Scum

        The fact checks have been weighed, they have been measured, and have been found wanting.

    • EvilSheldon

      Do people really not get that social media has always been a bunch of giant advertising agencies? I thought that this was common knowledge?

      • Broswater

        I’ll be honest, I knew they were making some money out of the advertisements and selling my data.

        But Candace Owens claims that she lost revenues of around 1 millions $ per month by the Fact Checker having Facebook demonetize her.

        Same with my Yahoo Mail account that just asked me to sign up for 5$ a month if I used ad blocker. I’m pretty sure that’s not what running a cheap email account costs them.

        I always knew that people made money from advertising, but I’m a bit shocked that someone could make so much by what is pretty much just eating my bandwidth as I rarely buy anything from the internet.

        And I see why idiots losing it from CNN would want to cheat you out of it. One thing is sure, it has convinced me this has absolutely nothing to do about ”Facts” nor even ”The Narrative”.

  40. creech

    Were you all aware that, according to the Surgeon General (on Fox news this afternoon) it is our fault that various Gauleiters are imposing lock downs again?
    It is because we “have forced their hand” (actual quote) by misbehaving not wearing masks, social distancing, and staying the fuck in our basements where science experts say we should be.

    • Mad Scientist

      I have a rock that keeps the Covid away.

    • ron73440

      FYTW

    • mrfamous

      No, this doesn’t sound anything at all like a religion

    • Pope Jimbo

      The fact that people’s behavior hasn’t changed at all never seems to factor into these scoldings.

      King Walz in Minnesoda loves blathering on about how he was forced to dial things back because we are bad children. It hurts him more than it hurts us. Honest!

      • Pope Jimbo

        Hasn’t changed = We are wearing masks at least as much as we did back in the summer when we have very low cases/hospitalizations/deaths (if not more mask wearing now).

        It is almost as if it got cold and cases spiked. But I’m sure moar mask will solve that problem.

    • B.P.

      We have disappointed them again.

    • EvilSheldon

      “I’m sorry baby, I didn’t mean to hit you, I love you so much that you just make me crazy sometimes…”

      • Agent Cooper

        “It’s just this Covid and that lying son of bitch Trump!”

  41. Derpetologist

    I found my collection of WW2 Army language and culture guidebooks. I got them from my Grandpa. I’m pretty sure he made the illustrations for them. It’s hilarious how they are better written than most of today’s Army manuals.

    The comments on the Japanese are delightfully un-PC. According to one guide, the evil Japs are distinguished from our wonderful Chinese allies by their lemon yellow skin and buck teeth.

    • Don escaped Two Corinthians

      I have my grandfather’s silhouette book: shoot down the Luftwaffe, not the AAC.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      We should have joined hands with the Japanese after their surrender and driven on Chungking.

    • B.P.

      I assume his entire property is covered in raccoon shit.

      • Not Adahn

        He claims not.

    • Pope Jimbo

      The problem with that is that those coons don’t just stay in his yard. If I was a neighbor who ended up with one of those coons digging into my attic and setting up residence there, I’d be a bit upset too.

      I might go have a talk with him myself before I called The Man on him though.

    • Rebel Scum

      Usually they lick themselves clean. I take it cats are evolving.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Anti Christ/Harris! 2024!

    • Rebel Scum

      As Kamala De Vil looks on with an eager grin…

  42. Rebel Scum

    A fabulous new technique for the folks you can’t trust with knives at parties!

    Or just a wino mom that wanted cake. I’d like to see her trick and quickly making sammiches.

    • commodious spittoon

      Just because she has a bunch of wine glasses doesn’t make her a wine mom. Thinking wine glasses caked on the outside in cake aren’t going to be a problem makes her a wine mom.

  43. Rebel Scum

    Fauci’s mistake is one of arrogance, not malice

    Or it is malice because he is a mouthpiece for the WHO which is part of a demoralization effort in preparation for the Great Reset. ///BuildBackBetter

    *adjust tinfoil*

  44. Rebel Scum

    AMC Theaters Slams Warner Bros’ HBO Max 2021 Movies Release Plan

    Open the damned theaters. I don’t even like going but I’d go to bite my thumb at the wannabe king of a governor.

  45. Mojeaux

    For those of you following along at home:

    1) My mom came home much sooner than expected and is sore (plus chronic aches and pain) but can breathe better.

    2) The 30something DIL of my husband’s dudebropal who had a stroke and emergency surgery just died. She has a 3yo.

    Unrelated:

    Went to LJS for dinner and there was a sign up, collecting $$$ for their cook whose wife died.

    2020. SMH. 2021 will be as bad or worse.

    /NegativeNancy

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      2) So sorry! ❤️

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Good news on the mom front. Hard to process on the friend’s DIL front. That’s rough. Friend’s son is gonna need some men in his life to prop him up.

      Prayers for both situations for very different reasons.

      • Mojeaux

        Yeah, we didn’t know her but Dudebropal’s leaning on my husband a lot, which he is happy to be leaned upon.

        Also, Dudebropal’s 5yo granddaughter (different kid) has myeloplastic leukemia that has returned after remission. Now they are looking for another bone marrow donor. She is probably not long for this Earth, either.

        Here’s their Gofundme, FWIW.

      • robc

        That is supposed to make you laugh. And think. And realize things really aren’t that bad. Like I said in the earlier thread, its a disease of cultures that are rich, fat, and old. Which is not a bad thing to be, considering the options.

      • Mojeaux

        Nah, but we’re talking about a 30ish year old with a 3yo kid who had a stroke and died.

      • robc

        Yeah, that one sucks in any year.

      • Mojeaux

        Also, as Jarflax pointed out once, the Plague may have ushered in the Renaissance, but it probably wasn’t fun to go through.

      • Urthona

        My great grandfather came this country to flee the Armenian Holocaust. He had to escape a Turkish prison first. They captured all the men there by promising that the women and children would be unharmed. Then they murdered them all.

        His son, my grandfather, had polio as an infant. Polio is that disease that’s like 100x worse than covid. remember? luckily he was crippled for life from that so didn’t have to serve in the war that saw like 85 million people die.

        My central European grandfather, on the other hand, was forced to go shoot young people in that war for years.

        Hey I’m not saying I like what some of these governments are doing right now, but please don’t try to tell me it’s a bad year.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Just because it isn’t one of the worst years doesn’t mean it’s not bad.

      • Urthona

        It mean it could be better. And I will fight for things to stay good.

        But as i sit here in my comfortably heated house eating a ribeye steak I just grilled while typing on a hand computer my younger self would’ve thought magical. I have to admit it could be way worse .

      • LemonGrenade

        That’s something I needed to hear, thanks. I’ve been having a really hard time thinking in positive terms about anything this week.

      • Urthona

        “This was the worst of all years… except all the others”

        — Ben Franklin

      • rhywun

        This week was such a long slog I had an Amazon package arrive two days ago and didn’t even know it until after work today.

      • Tulip

        It could absolutely be worse, but this is still a bad year. I’m all in on recognizing my blessings and I think reminding myself to be grateful is helpful, but this is still a bad year.

      • Urthona

        Your difference of opinion infuriates me.

      • Urthona

        Ok i’m over it.

    • But Enough About My Pulsating, Geriatric Pecs

      Strokes are the worst. It’s the apparent randomness that gets me. My brother’s wife (three weeks away from retiring at 65) had a stroke about 18 months ago. Dropped her like first period French.

      He’s been a wreck, and an asshole, ever since.

      Very glad to hear about your Mom, though. Huzzah!

    • commodious spittoon

      2021 will be as bad or worse

      Come on now, let’s be optimistic. At least Trump won’t be president to soak up all the bad news. Now we get to farm out blame to all the angels and demons in the firmament. Maybe Newsom or Cuomo get to share in the ignominy, now that it’s no longer an option to blame it all on the president.

      • Urthona

        It’s all gonna be because Republicans refuse to make Washington DC a state.

      • one true athena

        Looks like McConnell is going to be Designated Satan for 2021.

      • Gadfly

        If there’s a plan to dump Biden, then it will still be an option to blame it all on the president. Only time will tell.

    • DEG

      Good about your mom.

      Sorry about the deaths.

    • ron73440

      Sorry Mo.

      A stroke with kids is rough.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      2021: Masks, lockdowns, forced COVID vaccinations (come on y’all, you know it’s coming), and vaccination ID cards…Biden’s gonna whip this virus like a boss so it’s good times ahead.

    • Count Potato

      Sorry 🙁

    • Urthona

      You don’t even need to be connected these days. You just stick a little dongle in the back.

      That’s what she said.

    • Count Potato

      “Observer testifying that every voting machine in his precint was connected to an internet router.”

      Is that even disputed?

      • Drake

        Yes.

      • Jarflax

        Every breath you take, every move you make…

        The Police

        takes on a new menaing doesn’t it?

      • Broswater

        Freaky thing is that being in the socialist constitutional monarchy of Quebec… mine comes from the government.

        And I know for a fact that it goes thru a lot of social workers and other bureaucrats before it reach any kind of medical personnel.

        Can’t wait to afford my own.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Does their priest / pastor know about them?

    • Gender Traitor

      Each leader has unique needs. For instance, Trump had a small refrigerator with a 36-pack of Diet Coke installed in the Resolute Desk

      Lurker!!! Mole!!!

      • Not Adahn

        Was it you that was looking for graphic novels/sequential art/comics?

        My personal favorite .

      • Gender Traitor

        Yup – that was me. Thanks! That looks like fun!

  46. Jerms

    I watched kooky Rudy and the computer psi-ops colonel who sounds like he knows what hes doing, at the hearing in Az the other day. He said there were what looked like fradulent “vote dumps” in the charts of the voting. He said without a doubt if he could examine the mschines he can tell without a doubt if there was any fraud committed. Hes going to get his shot. We shall see.
    https://m.theepochtimes.com/arizona-legislature-calls-for-immediate-forensic-audit-of-dominion-voting-machines_3605367.html

  47. Shpip

    So it appears that Texas (or at least one of its school districts) believe in collective punishment.

    I won’t condone the lad’s actions, as that’s a very bright line that doesn’t get crossed due to both written and unwritten rules. Still, there were a few times when I was a kid… I’ll be waiting for the “totality of the circumstances” (HTH, smooches) to come out.

    • Not Adahn

      Sports are kind of inherently collectivist, and the punishments likewise. Hell, you can get penalized for what the people in the stands are doing.

      • Urthona

        Not for me though because I’m usually the seeker.

        In fact I’m not quite sure why the rest of the scoring system exists. Seems irrelevant.

      • Raven Nation

        You also get punished for what a college program did ten years ago.

  48. Gender Traitor

    A fabulous new technique for the folks you can’t trust with knives at parties!

    I thought it was pretty clever when a friend (who works in a dentist’s office) used dental floss to cut a sheet cake. Wine glasses? Not exactly their highest and best use.

    • Urthona

      I saw someone actually use a knife once.

      I was all “weird, you don’t just stick your face in it?”

    • Tulip

      I use dental floss to level cake layers. Easier than using a knife

      • Mojeaux

        I use icing to level the layers. LOL

      • Gadfly

        Which is tastier than using a knife.

      • Mojeaux

        Right?!