Whiskey Fire

I Blame Myself

Back in ought-six, I confess, tearfully, that... that... I made fun of the Hot Soup web-site.

In retrospect, that was the last, best hope for our great nation to avert the harsh partisan rancor that has led us to tonight's sorry pass.

Sorry kids, guess I fucked up.

My dreams shall be haunted forever by David Broder's shade, casting upon me his sad, reproving, rheumy gaze. Also he'll only be wearing a hot pink Speedo. So, like, the government shutdown is all my fault, but bitter, and gross, is my fate eternal.

Who's Your Facebook Now, Lieberals!

So much for Facebook. JESUS SMASH!

Facebook Promotes Vulgar Hate of Religion and Hetero-Normalcy

Gosh.

One has to wonder how a publicly-traded company can do business with a business model staked on organized hateful harassment of Christians and the vast majority of normal, everyday, heterosexual Americans.

Here is the shocking reality. I returned from the Midwest Republican Leadership Conference last weekend to find that a Facebook group with a filthy (NSFW) name insulting Jesus and the Virgin Mary had “Liked” just about every article posted on our Center for Marriage Policy Facebook page (presently NSFW).

There is nothing more disgusting than seeing a photo of myself with Rick Santorum that is dirtied by “Likes” containing hateful, harassing, bullying expletives.

Yeah, that's even grosser than buttsex, even.

We are looking into a lawsuit against Facebook. Facebook has a duty to provide software so that we can protect our corporate image. Where that software does not exist, they have an imperative duty to remove harassers and haters promptly.

We are doing everything we can to put pressure on Facebook, but the real power is in your hands:

Investors: sell your stock now. Facebook is going the way of Reddit. Nobody will pay $30 to promote posts that bring on hordes of filthy attackers.

Users: when Facebook asks you for more personal information, do not give it to them. They will sell it to Democrats to use against you later.

I'm no lawyer, but I kind of doubt that the "We got liked by 'Jesus Fucking Christ, Slut Mary's Bastard' Facebook group" lawsuit is going anywhere....

Bad, Broken

Where oh where will a nation now discover an ongoing drama about entitled well-off white guys whose deep-seated resentments and cancerous megalomania cause them to embark on a self-destructive power trip that causes carnage and misery, mostly to innocent bystanders?

Beats me.

Meanwhile, entertaining Assrocket tantrum entertains:

The Associated Press Goes to Bat For the Democratic Party

While there are some good reporters at the AP, the overwhelming majority function, as to issues that are politically controversial, as advocates for the Democratic Party.

Haw. Buttmissile's so butthurt he forgot the chucklepatch style guide says it's "Democrat Party."

Poor l'il fucker.

Our Stupid Country

The original is at The American Thinker. I made the poster and added the captions.

Injured the Kid

Talked to a student today during office time to go over some work. In saying "see you next class" I notice the student has an Ace bandage tightly wrapped around the forearm, wrist, and hand. I ask what happened, are you OK, and so forth.

The student explains that while working as a cook in a local chain restaurant, another worker said, boss says we need to move this fryer. In the process the fryer is dropped on the student's arm, causing intense pain. The next day the student goes to the doctor. I don't know the student's insurance situation, but I'd bet in college, working parents covers it.

Anyway, the student tells me, "I had to make the doctor not give me an x-ray, because I can't afford to miss any work -- if I show up in a cast I'll lose my job. And I need my job to keep going to school."

Crap.

I kindly advised the kid to get back to the doctor and get the x-ray as Number One, because an untreated bone break is a Bad Thing. I also remarked that many people who are hurt through no fault of their own at work may be entitled to compensation.

I  believe the kid is telling the truth; the kid did the assigned work for my course, and I typically only get lied to for the purposes of excuses for not doing the assigned work.

What a mess. The kid is so terrified about losing a horrible low-paying job that the kid refuses basic medical treatment, risking making a simple injury into a possible lifelong disaster. For a fry cook gig.

This is a kid who comes from the middle class. This is a kid whose kids will not be middle class, because that's not a thing anymore.

Why do I say that?

Because we're fucked if we live in a land where if you're even relatively priviliged enough to be able to go to a doctor at all, you'll refuse treatment because you're scared that an obviously negligent minimum-wage employer will fire you.

I teach at a community college. My students are all terrified. They are not dumb.

(This is a true story; details of course changed to protect student anonymity.)

Try Some More Vodka, Maybe?

You know, I was just sitting around, wondering if some bright young daffodil-brained dingaling might pop on by to explain geopolitics like she'd analyze a My Little Pony episode with Hugh Hewitt-class airhead vindictiveness.

Oh hello, you!

I presume you have some wisdom for us?

For the first time in five years, the conventional media prefers Russian President Vladimir Putin over U.S. President Barack Obama. Has Vladimir sent American journalists cases of Russian vodka? Or are they fed up with Barack?

Oh rilly?

Oh, beg pardon. Indeed, rilly.

It’s amusing to imagine Putin shipping cases of Russian vodka to American journalists with a note

Omigosh, are you about to tell a joke?

Squeee! You are going to imitate Putin!

Dearest American Journalists:

Please put me on the cover of your influential news magazines, such as TIME Magazine, and also please publish my op-ed in one of your most distinguished newspapers, The New York Times. I will be truly grateful. My public image has never been stellar. Americans know that I have imprisoned innocent businessmen like Mikhail Khodorkovsky and that my own countrymen frequently mock me for my failure to lead and my obsession with posing, tracking Polar Bears or exposing my abs. My public image needs help and since you don’t care for Obama’s performance on Syria, this would be a great time to help me out. Thanks in advance!

Russian President Vladimir Putin

So you wrote that imagining it in a comedy Russian accent, I'm betting....

Thought so....

Question. So, as of now, with Syria, there is no war, there is some deal with the chemical weapons, and the cost to the US taxpayer is nothing. Your issue is ...?

As I wrote last week, our President and his Secretary of State John Kerry were pressuring us to go to war with Syria to cover for Obama’s red-line ultimatum. They assured us not to worry, this would not be “war in the classic sense.” At the time, we did not have definitive evidence that Assad had used chemical weapons against his own people. Our president was asking us to go into a war that could escalate into WWIII when our defense budget was cut, our troops were suffering from PTSD and needed a break from fighting in the Middle East—all to protect his ego. You don’t go to war over ego.

The defense budget hasn't been cut, the president has at least done more to wind down the wars he inherited -- the (mainly) GOP wars that gave soldiers the PTSD in the first place -- than either McCain or (hah!) Romney, and World War III? Are you shitting me... I mean, I have my criticisms of Obama's foreign policy to be sure but are you really that stupid --

Oh forget it.

Thermal Idiocy Plants

I rarely examine the oeuvre of William Teach -- out of charity, because I so deeply respect his legacy as a giant of women's tennis throughout the 1970s.

But this particular post is something very special.

This takes a bit of set up. Bear with us.

Teach styles himself a "climate realist blogger," which may be read as "cretin." In furtherance of his mission he links this Guardian piece about how "climate scientists," which may be read as "people who know what they are talking about as opposed to dimwit 'climate realist bloggers,'" say flat out that climate change is real and will have remarkably unpleasant consequences.

He then observes that climate scientists are fascists bent on world domination, and the people who listen to them are hypocrites because they fly to meetings in airplanes.

Which is entertaining, but not the good bit. This is the good bit.

If you follow Teach's link to the Guardian, you find that their article is adorned with this picture:

And Teach gets all HA HA I HAVE FACT CHECKED YOUR ASS snotty in the best rightblogger tradition.

Everyone should enjoy this photo of what the Guardian terms a thermal power plant with its massive amount of evil carbon pollution….what? A thermal power-plant turns water into steam, and that’s all steam, ie, water vapor? Hmph

Jesus Christ what a maroon.

Listen, you goddamn idiot:

Almost all coal, nuclear, geothermal, solar thermal electric, and waste incineration plants, as well as many natural gas power plants are thermal.

And:

Globally, fossil fueled thermal power plants produce a large part of man-made CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, and efforts to reduce these are varied and widespread.

It's a picture of smog.

It's always kind of alarming, even after all these years, to reflect on the fact that yes, they really are that stupid.

Submarine Teams

I don't imagine this will in and of itself change anything, but a certain amount of class consciousness is always a tonic.

In a gesture that organizers hope turns into an athlete-driven national movement, players from Georgia Tech, Georgia and Northwestern took the field Saturday with gear they had marked up to protest the NCAA's treatment of athletes on issues ranging from concussions to compensation.

Good luck to them.

 

BREAKING! Republican Senator Demands Filibuster Reform

Not really, but you just kind of have to stand up and cheer on this astonishing class of sheer batshit ballsiness.

Setup:

With Speaker John Boehner embracing the push to defund Obamacare in the House bill to fund the government, the battle will soon be moving to the Senate, which is controlled by Democratic majority leader Harry Reid.

It’s hostile territory for the effort, and since the initial calls to push for defunding Obamacare came from Senate Republicans, there’s added pressure on the strategy’s architects to make it a major fight.

Aaaaaand punchline!

Senator Mike Lee is organizing a messaging push to pressure Reid to hold an “up or down” vote.

Wow.

You can contemplate this from Senator Lee. Or else you can contemplate this dancing leprechaun. You will arrive at the same destination, in the heel of the hunt.

Vespa Crab, Bro

Safe European Hornet, Vespa crabro

Carmi's Thematic Photographic 261 is Strangers In Our Midst. These hornets are not native to North America (of course, neither are most of us). By the way, even hornets have fans!




Here are some locals:







Posted by ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© and cross-posted at my place. Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions.
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