Frist!

Sorry, I’ve never before said this, and believe me it hurts me deeply, but… In this one particular case, I agree with Loadpants.

The fact that these terrorists are acting out their misogynistic fantasies on a bunch of helpless children makes them ripe targets for whatever retribution is possible and available.

Mein Führer I can valk!

But, as Jesus once supposedly said, “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

When you really look at the history of what our white folks ancestors have done to the black folks in the USA, it ain’t much better than Boko Harum…

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

Honestly, I think what we’re really seeing is the same old whatever-Obama-does-is-wrong shell game; merely talking about the issue is ineffectual nonsense and the right thing to do is take decisive molitary action… At least, it will be until the microsecond that Obama takes any effort to do so, at which point it will be the worst thing ever because… I dunno. Putting American lives at risk to protect foreigners? Because it’s shocking executive overreach, perhaps? The spin doctors on the right literally literally criticized Obama for killing Osama bin Laden; I’m sure they’ll find a way to do the same here.

– HC

I have an internet friend who is asexual but who not only reads smut but also writes it. I found this weird but I realized I have enjoyed stories with kinks I don’t have and sometimes even written stories like that (my current work has raceplay) because kinks are psychologically interesting

Pollo alla Romano. Asparagus risotto. Hood strawberries are in!!!!!!!! Yippee!!!!!

Also, don’t bomb children.

Failure Artist-

I also write smut. And the story behind that one basically started as I basically did a self-bet with myself to see if I could write stuff that was any good in a genre where I had absolutely no personal experience or knowledge. Not only did it help me learn a lot about human sexuality, but I’ve also gotten to genuinely enjoy the crafting of stories that can turn people’s cranks.

I can’t relate, seeing as how “horny” is the default setting on my phaser, even at age 50. By all rights, I should be bald.
.

I hear ya, Jeffraham. And I AM bald …

Pup ! Celebrate the strawbs ! I guess all you USAians are taking a long weekend holiday and leaving us furriners to stare at a lonely screen. Huh.

ZOMFG the strawbs are fanfuckingtastic.

There will be shortcake.

I wouldn’t really have a problem with us taking out Boko Harum, if we could do it without nuking and/or invading any African countries.

I’d say our track record is pretty mixed on that sort of thing.

Sledgehammers don’t make very good flyswatters.

9 times out of 10, there is no world problem so bad that US intervention can’t make it even worse. Which is precisely what makes this Boko Haram thing so frustrating.

How someone… no, how so many people could be so sexually, primally attracted to the mass slaughter of other people. How people could need the violent deaths of others in order to get off.

The term “ammosexual” has been making the… uh… rounds lately.

I also write smut. And the story behind that one basically started as I basically did a self-bet with myself to see if I could write stuff that was any good in a genre where I had absolutely no personal experience or knowledge

This is how I felt when I wrote some Yukon Cornelius/Abominable Snowmonster slash. I’ve joked about Lou Dobbs/Pat Buchanan slash before, but I’ve never had the intestinal fortitude to go through with that.

Speaking of sexuality and violence tied together in bad ways… that business at UCSB is some kind of fuckery.

I’m just catching up on the UCSB story- that kid sounded like a self-centered entitled creep. Just add guns, and you get a tragedy.

Just add guns, and you get a tragedy.

It’s a toxic MRA/NRA synergy.

kinda timely article, as a wingnut (how could he not be, with being racist and misogynist) just killed 7 people because bitches weren’t sexing him. I think his “manifesto” is the explanation you were looking for: He killed people because he wasn’t getting what he wanted…
http://abcnews.go.com/US/santa-barbara-killer-began-stabbing-home/story?id=23853918

“How could an inferior, ugly black boy get a white girl and not me?” pic.twitter.com/ygWFpGra4R

Sledgehammers don’t make very good flyswatters.

This.

The term “ammosexual” has been making the… uh… rounds lately.

Excellent.

If — and this is a big if — the United States could dispatch a swarm of heretofore secret super-drones to find and kill every member of the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram, would you be in favor of doing it?

While we’re in the land of counterfactuals, I also want to stipulate world peace. And a pony.

Must-see…

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/video-audio/flashback-republicans-block-va-health-care-funds?utm_source=target&utm_medium=email&utm_content=What+happened+to+Bernies+veterans+benefits+bill+prompt_url&utm_campaign=Target:+Memorial+Day+05-24

Wow! The GOP stupidity BURNS!

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/05/23/House-bans-Pentagon-from-preparing-for-climate-change/5391400882186/

Wow! The GOP stupidity BURNS!

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/05/23/House-bans-Pentagon-from-preparing-for-climate-change/5391400882186/

That’s right in line with telling the CDC it cannot track firearm deaths.

Those hippie tree-huggers at the Pentagon……

Wait – we want to bomb Procul Harum? I like their music.

I don’t know why it gets these fuckers off fantasizing about killing, but it’s scary and I want it to stop.

Attraction? Cailtin Moran says it’s “being really, REALLY interested in someone”, which, while true, is somewhat vague. For me, it manifests in an intense desire to lick the person of interest, and finding everything they do or say funny, fascinating, and tingly.

Jonah’s little ‘thought experiment’ reveals far more about himself than it could possibly reveal about the morality of drone warfare. Even his modified version where the members of Boko Haram are paralyzed until they can be apprehended is less credible than the thought experiment most of use learned in nursery school about the three magic beans. In his concluding paragraph he pulls out ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ cliche, he handwaves away the fact that we don’t actually have super drones capable of paralyzing specific evildoers, and that they are roughly as likely as Mars colonies in our lifetime.

So let’s change his thought experiment to reflect reality. If our informants and allies of wildly varying reliability and with agendas of their own, point out a group which may or may not be Boko Haram, do we have the responsibility to take that information, and, hours later, try to kill them with an airstrike or with ground forces that would also kill anyone in the area, and knock over most of the buildings nearby?

And now, we have a thought experiment that is worth considering. But it cuts to the heart of the real problem, which is lack of information. A shit load of questions need to be answered before one even thinks about taking the dust covers off the drones. Who are our allies and informants? Can they identify Boko Haram? Can they be trusted not to finger their rivals in an attempt to have the US eliminate them? How old is their information? Have they moved in the intervening time? Are the kidnapped girls held separately or would an attack endanger the hostages? How fast can military assets be deployed? Do we have sufficient forces available to handle an ambush? How many casualties are we willing to suffer in this attack? Can they distinguish Boko Haram from hostages and bystanders? How will the hostages receive medical care and evacuation? How will our forces return from this engagement? What will be done with prisoners? To whom do we hand off any rescued hostages? How can we prevent similar occurrences in the future?

Life or death isn’t flipping a switch. Condemning people to death from halfway across the world is cheap, lazy, blood lust. Jonah’s “thought experiment” is about as fleshed out as one would be that starts with “consider a frictionless spherical terrorist of uniform mass”. Not a goddamn thing has stopped Jonah from enlisting his flabby ass in the USMC or Army since the most recent round of pointless wars began back in 1991, or again in 2001 when it was obvious to anyone with eyes to see that we would be at war again and soon. Bizarro Jonah who joined the USMC or Army in 1991 would have fought at a minimum in Kuwait and Iraq, the former Yugoslav republics, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq again, and possibly Libya. Bizarro Jonah, would have had the opportunity to have his ass shot off or blown up by a roadside bomb for more than 10 of the last 20+ years.

But pointing out his complete lack of combat experience doesn’t mean that this public ignoramus is shooting his mouth off again about matters which he doesn’t understand, it just strongly implies it. Just like the fact that he has publicly advocated for the use of force in every major political crisis since forever, doesn’t mean that the use of force in this instance is wrong, but what it does mean, is that he is the last person one should turn to for accurate and carefully reasoned opinion on this matter. He is like the proverbial stopped clock, right twice a day by sheerest coincidence but without additional sources of information, you’ll never know when that happy event occurs. Jonah Goldberg doesn’t have a moral compass, he has a finger-painted arrow that points to war.

Never look at the news in the morning.
Goddam MRA brats violently agreeing with each other all over the creepier streets in the interbuggles, of course someone loses his remaining restraint ( and Ive heard the screwball had mental issues – ok, so the LEOs said he legally bought three high-cap pistols. QEDWTF. ) Kills a bunch of people who wouldnt know him from Adam. Cue NRA and RWNJs saying “why werent the students armed?” BECAUSE THEY WERE EXPECTING TO GO TO CLASS, HAVE A WHOPPER FOR LUNCH, GO TO THE QUAD, GET A LITTLE SUN. They did not leave the house in fear of getting shot by some lunicidal little prick because they were not in Somalia.

We fucking suck at the whole country-being thing. We blew through the restraining bolts remaining in our rotten collective melon. Fuck these guys, a bunch, with an end loader. CHRIST!

Also never look at FSTDT in the morning.

“I expect the Hebrews would have classified pterosaurs as fowl in teh Old Testament.”

ShutupshutupSHUTUP! How far dumbed down did the instruction manual have to be for your Barcalounger you pathetic fuckpie!!??!!

Ewww… troll shit smells. ..gag… puke….

I’m gonna hafta go ahead and second smut’s stipulation for world peace. I see your peace and raise you a unicorn and obamaphone.

Helmut: That was righteous, brother.

and Ive heard the screwball had mental issues

If you’ve read any of his “manifesto” (that’s usually a bad sign right there) it’s quite obvious that he had issues.

In a different country he just wouldn’t have had easy access to a murder machine.

What Fenwick said, Helmut. My favorite bit was

Jonah’s “thought experiment” is about as fleshed out as one would be that starts with “consider a frictionless spherical terrorist of uniform mass”.

but the whole thing was just… mike. Drop. Boom.

He is like the proverbial stopped clock, right twice a day by sheerest coincidence but without additional sources of information, you’ll never know when that happy event occurs.

I’m reminded of the words of a famous deacon (though not for the words or the deacon-ing) of Christ Church college: “Keep your eye fixed on your clock, and the very moment it is right it will be eight o’clock.”

Well, although you do have a point about the speciousness of the question, so does the Pantload if only in the sense of if-you-could-go-back-in-time-and-murder-Hitler-would-it-be-morally-justified?

And I guess you could argue that some specious questions actually DO deserve to be answered, if only to establish what we believe “morally justified” really means.

Am I some sort of closet aggressor who owns a gun and is just itching for an excuse to use it against the Boogeyman-du-jour?

Nope.

Would I use a gun to protect a loved one from harm?

well, that depends on the circumstances, but I wouldn’t rule it out.

If somebody killed one of my children, would I want to retaliate by killing them?

yep, definitely.

I ain’t proud of it, but yep, I’d do the crime and then do the time.

How soon before the right-wing conspiracy industrial complex claims that the UCSB shootings were a false flag operation to distract the public from Benghazi? Alternately, the perp was being mind-controlled by the Illuminati for a similar purpose.

You have to remember Hitler didn’t create the National Socialist party from scratch, he just joined an already anti-semetic party, became the leader, and gave it a new sexier name. What if instead of Hitler someone else became leader and they were a better leader and successfully carried out Beer Hall Putsch and Germany became fascist a decade early?

Wanting to retaliate and thinking it’s a good idea to retaliate are two diferent things. We’re supposed to resist our basic urges for violence.

We’re supposed to resist our basic urges for violence.

Mr. Failure Artist,

Our lawyers and the House UnAmerican Activities Committee will be serving you shortly. Until then, please consider this notice as a Cease and Desist obligation.

This sort of heresy shall not stand. Good day, sir!

Teh NRA

Let’s be more specific. If THIS guy…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/24/ucsb-shooting-guns-nra_n_5386873.html

…were to murder the sociopathic SOB who shot his son, and I were on the jury at his trial, I wouldn’t vote to convict him.

And in fact if he were to go get his hands on a bazooka and go use it to destroy NRA headquarters, I wouldn’t vote to convict him.

“troll” — rhymes with “@$$hole”! said,
May 25, 2014 at 21:59

Thumbs, fingers, toes and nevermind up!!!

I have only two comments:
1) Cereubus? Love you to pieces. I learn way too much reading your rants about your (lack of) sexuality, and it makes this poor Buddhist enlightened in ways that weren’t covered in the brochure,
and
2) Where the fuck is Iron Man when you need him?

You have to remember Hitler didn’t create the National Socialist Party

I like this quote from writer Roger Kahn, talking about boxer Max Schmeling:

“Max, like 67 million other Germans, was never a Nazi. As I get the picture, there never more than five or six Nazis in Germany, but, of course, they worked very hard.”

Jonah’s “thought experiment” is about as fleshed out as one would be that starts with “consider a frictionless spherical terrorist of uniform mass”.

I concur with Austin, that was a righteous take-down.

Was reading about the UCSB killings first on the train back up from Richmond. Partner caught wind of it first and we called him for the MRA he was as soon as the news said he wanted revenge on women. Was vindicated when it turned up right away that he’d been an active participant in at least one active, escalating misogynist venue online. So I guess instead of having that argument I’ll be talking about how it’s bloodly worthless to “other” people who commit atrocities by calling them crazy. It hurts actual crazy folks and it keeps you from answering the $64,000 question, which is, “In what ways are we similar to the person who murdered six people?”

Misogynist murder sprees sour my soymilk.

***

Radishes just came in in the garden; gonna cook up the greens with some garlic tonight. I’m thinking of pickling the radishes themselves as they are tiny and I think they’d soak up brine nicely if just split in half. No strawberries; very jealous of Pup. Blueberries and raspberries are still green but excitingly plentiful. In addition my first green tomatoes and tiny eggplants are visible.

Got a bushel of asparagus from the market. I know it’s hardly seasonal but risotto just sounds divine now that you mention it; might also throw ’em on the grill.

Got Bell’s Oberon and some oranges for the bar as well as the Lagunitas IPA.

***

Cerb, I’d say that sexuality can be quite closely analogized by how, when you are hungry and you get a look at a piece of food which you know will delight you, your mouth waters and you can’t think about anything else for a moment. Another analogy which leaps to mind is that it’s like that burst of excitement as you jump out of harm’s way on the street or on the job, but in a rather opposite direction. It’s like trouble whistles and you come running.

The problem with both those analogies is that they’re both very depersonalizing to the object of your desire, when in actuality you tend to come out of a satisfying sexual liaison in the same mindset as you would an engrossing and enlightening conversation, albeit perhaps more ready for a nap.

I think you should make that addition to your citation for the “shorter” concept permanent. You never know who might be strolling through with good data!

Habitual commenter Louis eats the other commenters for dinner quite politely in this Pharyngula thread, but this one is my favorite.

Topic: Isla Vista shooting. Provocation: “what about all the poor lonely menz this article sends the wrong message to?”

Oh, the shooter has been confirmed to be a member of the Men’s Right Movement? Link?

Warning hostile link, but the aggrieved “A Voice For Men” has all the links, including SPLC saying the guy was chilling with hate groups, swilling hate speech, just as a good boy should:

http://www.avoiceformen.com/feminism/ex-pua-elliot-rodger-commits-mass-murder-establishment-attacks-all-non-feminists/

Friendly but less useful link:

http://www.mediaite.com/online/ucsb-shooter-elliot-rodger-posted-racist-messages-on-puahate-website/

Basically he apparently cycled through MRA ideas and PUA techniques but found them too reality-based. He was hanging out at a website for pick-up artistry’s malcontents and failures.

Apologies for being basic; mass transit.

“troll” — rhymes with “@$$hole”!, thank you for that link! [P]urplehead, commenting at M,P,S, led me to catch the AP in some inaccurate reporting, & that video (about 30 secs. longer than the previous one I had) kept me from being slightly embarrassed about one of my claims.

Speaking of which, Tengrain’s on it, & if any of you “have a platform” & nothing else to do on a Sunday Memorial Day afternoon, let’s see what we can do about raising a stink, & just maybe making a real memorial for the most recent of Moloch’s victims.

Habitual commenter Louis eats the other commenters for dinner quite politely in this Pharyngula thread, but this one is my favorite.

That comment is unusually sane, but Louis is trying to kick dead whales up the beach.

“Swim fishie! SWIM GOD DAMN YOU!”

That comment is unusually sane, but Louis is trying to kick dead whales up the beach.

Here in the ‘States, we usually blow them up with dynamite. Yeah, that’s “America, Fuck Yeah” for you… there’s no problem that can’t be solved with violence, which brings us back to the UCSB horror.

If I can take one nugget out of Helmut’s fairly fantastic takedown;

How can we prevent similar occurrences in the future?

This.

Even if you could get the American public to support sending in troops to Nigeria after this, you’ll never get them to support a long term presence (hello Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Vietnam), which means either Boko Haram or another group like them will go right back to doing the same thing, just maybe not as newsworthily.

This thread on Jezebel has become a mango fishery for those who may or may not be interested. Their comment system is a mess so you have to click around. Link is to my featured conversation but the true horrors lie within.

My favorite canard: the guy who obsessed constantly over his lack of female companionship killed those people because TEH GAY.

(Like my other comments the Jez link is UCSB related.)

“Max, like 67 million other Germans, was never a Nazi. As I get the picture, there never more than five or six Nazis in Germany, but, of course, they worked very hard.”

Great line.

Near as I can tell, Nazism is indeed remembered as basically happening in a vacuum – people remember the nasty things they did, but not so much all the other parts of German society (especially the better parts of it) who helped them rise to power. Ditto the rest of the Europe, for which we remember that there were collaborators, but not who they were or why.

Not the worst outcome in the world, though. At least it’s not mainstream in Germany to fly swastikas over courthouses because “heritage not history,” or call WW2 the War of Allied Aggression, or claim that the Germans were totally gonna end the Holocaust in their own good time if only those mean Allies hadn’t interfered.

Speaking of Nazis – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2638965/Massive-victory-French-far-right-National-Front-record-quarter-vote-Euro-elections.html

For once, I actually can’t complain. By the time I remembered that there were elections on I was several hundred miles away from the nearest French consulate – and I hadn’t changed my registration since moving there from DC anyway.

Ah, well. That’ll be ten Hail Marys and a lifetime of actually showing the fuck up at elections.

the history of what our white folks ancestors have done to the black folks

And to the native Americans
And to the Chinese who built Western railroads and mines

My roommate was shocked to find out there was anti-semetism before Hitler.

sorry to burst your bubble, dipshit, but the shooter was a whie guy and a racist.

http://mobile.rawstory.com/all/2014-05-24-santa-barbara-shooter-had-history-of-posting-racist-misogynist-comments-on-hate-site#1

Your roommate must never have read the Bible 😀

GOPers in the news…

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×1709387

Ugh, since when has Trollypants been using “twitterisms” in his comments?

What a… uh, errrr… I’ve got it, twit!

B^4, you’ve got to admire his sincere attempt to update his Stone Age beliefs so they will be appealing to younger people. Why, he uses all the most current slang!

Not the worst outcome in the world, though. At least it’s not mainstream in Germany to fly swastikas over courthouses because “heritage not history,” or call WW2 the War of Allied Aggression, or claim that the Germans were totally gonna end the Holocaust in their own good time if only those mean Allies hadn’t interfered.
Not only not mainstream, illegal. The Krauts outlawed that crap. I think junior Nazis in Germany actually have to order their Nazi regalia & swastika-whatevers from the U.S. or other Nazi-loving nations.

“Doo-rink zee var, Ich vas arount die korner buying zigaretten und Ich dint zee a tink.” (Alzo Ich managed to develop zis zeudo-Dutch accent, choost in case.)

Needs more FNORDS, old chum!

Chris@4:25

Nigeria ranks tenth in proven oil reserves.
http://tinyurl.com/lfabudu

This should temper any conclusions about what really is going on.

I’ll concur, Helmut was comprehensive but J Neo Marvin said it most clearly and succinctly:

“9 times out of 10, there is no world problem so bad that US intervention can’t make it even worse. Which is precisely what makes this Boko Haram thing so frustrating.”

On a final note:
Sorry, the nuns taught me grammar (more accurately … beat it into me). The following construction is NOT correct:
“to try AND … ”
The correct construction is “to try to … ” It’s simply two infinitives in a row.

On a final note:
Sorry, the nuns taught me grammar (more accurately … beat it into me). The following construction is NOT correct:
“to try AND … ”
The correct construction is “to try to … ” It’s simply two infinitives in a row.
Yes, yes, many times yes. No nuns involved in my pedantry, however.

Yes, his cyber-presence here is a hard burden, but think of it as a service we are doing for real-life society.

If he weren’t here being rejected by us, he could easily be out slaughtering women for rejecting him.

At least it’s not mainstream in Germany to fly swastikas over courthouses because “heritage not history,” or call WW2 the War of Allied Aggression, or claim that the Germans were totally gonna end the Holocaust in their own good time if only those mean Allies hadn’t interfered.

This.

The construct “try and” has been discussed here before. When I first encountered it, it was like hitting a speed bump. It seems that it has entered into common usage and thus is now “correct.” I have learned to control the revulsion in the pit of my stomach when I see it. You can too.

Y’know, I clearly remember getting my knuckles rapped by a ruler, wielded by an angry looking nun, for saying “snuck.” I see it all the time in print anymore. Just have to go with the flow, I guess.

What makes you assume J-bob Loadpants is a “sexual.” You state that, as an asexual, you’ve tried lots of kinky things. Isn’t it at least theoretically possible that these Wingnut Welfare warmongers are doing likewise?

It may be possible but WE DONT WANT TO IMAGINE IT
EEEEEWWWWW

Hey now, people of other than vanilla plain heterosexual sexuality have enough problems without people imagining Jonah Goldberg among their ranks.

Jonah’s probably a cheetosexual.

The new Celtica CD is out, I know you’re all really, really excited about that.
Here’s a music video…

Jonah’s probably a cheetosexual.

Speculating about Jonah’s sexuality is a road down which I do not want to travel. The giant sign reading “This way lies madness” marks it’s beginning. Regardless of what trips his trigger it is safe to say that he probably brings to it the same attention to detail, willingness to learn, and work ethic that characterizes his published output.

Hey now, people of other than vanilla plain heterosexual sexuality have enough problems without people imagining Jonah Goldberg among their ranks.

Are you sure the masochists can’t use him?

it is safe to say that he probably brings to it the same attention to detail, willingness to learn, and work ethic that characterizes his published output.

2 minutes then he leaves because he has a deadline ?

Are you sure the masochists can’t use him?

Ain’t nobody that masochistic!

And besides, KLo. I doan wanna even get those images in my poor haid.

Going personal here :
We are all dancing the Happy Dance in my house today. Annatjie has a house ! My esteemed cleaning lady has been on the waiting list for decades but was always being bumped down for old people, disabled people and people with young children, as is the law. Also, corruption and infighting.
But, last week – it happened. She didn’t come to work on Thurs & Fri, so I was perturbed until I found out she was busy breaking down her shack and moving her stuff. Today she had to wait until they came to install her prepaid electricity box. She is over the moon because a)electricity b) taps c) before winter really hits d) a Front Door she can lock and feel safe. So, great excitement abounds.

tl:dr. I know but I’m happy for her.

Mango from my Jezebel thread about, yet again, how the UCSB shooter was TOTES GHEY.

This dude was totally gay or in the closet. If you read his manifesto he uses words like exquisite, obnoxious brutes, supreme gentleman, magnificent, and in his videos he says “i look fabulous” in a really lilting gay lisp way while sashaying his hips. His cranial facial muscle structure is very gay twink face. Seriously, no straight dude says fabulous, unless they are describing how other dudes are gay for saying fabulous.

My favorite part is the gay phrenology. Didn’t know cranial facial muscle pinged on the gaydar.

Yay Suez! Yay Annatjie! HOUSE! How exciting my friend!

Pup, has anyone confirmed whether or not K.Lo and J.Load are truly an item? I don’t wanna Google it for obvious reasons.

Suezboo, that’s great. Hearing such a tale makes me thankful for the luck to be born in a wealthy (for now) country.

A shit load of questions need to be answered before one even thinks about taking the dust covers off the drones.

As a civilian consultant, I once developed a Command Post Exercise (CPX) for the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) back in the ’80s. (Clean Slate is a Fenwick Story, way too long for this comment.) In JSOC jargon, mission planning begins with a series of ‘interrogatives’. I mention this to throw a spotlight onto the third paragraph of Helmut’s masterpiece. (25 May 16:06)

How old is [the] information? Have they moved in the intervening time? Are the kidnapped girls held separately or would an attack endanger the hostages? How fast can military assets be deployed? Do we have sufficient forces available to handle an ambush? How many casualties are we willing to suffer in this attack? Can they distinguish Boko Haram from hostages and bystanders? How will the hostages receive medical care and evacuation? How will our forces return from this engagement? What will be done with prisoners? To whom do we hand off any rescued hostages?

As Cerb so finely points out and Fenwick expounds upon: if J.Load wanted to have a background in military experience from which he could make meaningful recommendations for the bellicose, he could have 8 or so years of combat experience under his belt.

Instead he is fapping into the wind.

Pup, has anyone confirmed whether or not K.Lo and J.Load are truly an item? I don’t wanna Google it for obvious reasons.

I think it’s more likely that they were conjoined twins, separated and raised in different households in some bizarre experiment.

That being said, a few years back some commentor speculated that a K-lo
/Doughbob coupling would look like two Brillo pads fighting over a cocktail weenie.

Hearing such a tale makes me thankful for the luck to be born in a wealthy (for now) country.

Indeed.

I just flew a week-long trip with a guy who makes half-again my already generous salary, is married to a retired flight attendant, lives in a $750K house on a lake in North Carolina and did nothing but complain the entire trip. I get so tired of having to listen to these guys whine all the time.

That being said, a few years back some commentor speculated that a K-lo/Doughbob coupling would look like two Brillo pads fighting over a cocktail weenie.

Beer inside keyboard, thanks jerkass. 🙂

My favorite part is the gay phrenology. Didn’t know cranial facial muscle pinged on the gaydar.

There’s actually something there.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/gay-and-straight-men-may-have-different-facial-shapes-new-study-suggests-8928519.html

Some interesting stuff:

Their results found that homosexual men were rated as more stereotypically ‘masculine’ than heterosexual men, which they said undermined stereotypical notions of gay men as more feminine looking.

Which obligates me to add that they fuck men

More interesting for present purposes is http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17972734. Straight guys aren’t very good at gaydar. Gays are very good at gaydar. If that guy can reliably pick out the gay guy, he’s likely gay himself.

FWIW, my gaydar – which has been honed over many decades mind you and is nearly flawless – didn’t ping at all on the shooter.

Beer inside keyboard, thanks jerkass. 🙂

You consume liquids while reading these threads?

**facepalm**

2 minutes then he leaves because he has a deadline ?

Perhaps one of the readers can step in while Jonah ‘walks the dog’.

Jonah doesn’t last 2 minutes. He looks at his naked partner, decides it would be too much work, and then asks a random stranger to do it.

B4 : This is a A+ environment to Check Your Privilege.

His cranial facial muscle structure is very gay twink face.

Case closed!

All I could tell is that he wasn’t hobosensual.

Beer inside keyboard, thanks jerkass. 🙂

Provider rule #1: Always swallow the quaff before reading.

A lesson learned the hard way; when my nose was the hose that killed a keyboard about a decade ago. So’s I feel yer pain. 🙂
…

Arkansas advocate for guns in schools accidentally shoots a teacher…

http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/29/arkansas-advocate-guns-schools-accidentally-shoots-teacher.html

You can’t make this shit up….

… re: Jonah’s sex life…

… his idea of foreplay is mutual flatulation…

Weirder than people obsessing over blogs they hate?

face, palm, I believe you’ve met

One last note on the duet at 0:04.

I leave you to consider whether who might possess a “lean and hungry look…” and who might be considered “…fat, sleekheaded men…” Of the latter JoDough seems to be exactly the type to which Caesar might be referring.

On other notes, I got some bad-assed chili simmering, a fine G&T, need to freshen up, as it turns out, and having a fine day hanging out with an old friend…
…

Mail, some of you haz some.
…

Mail, some of you haz some.

Read and replied to.

Ribs. Rubbeded. Baked. Grilled w / SEKRIT soss. Mac salad, kicked up several notches. Texas beans like I lernt in Texas. Apple fritters w/ icy creams. Simple and faaabulous!

Apple fritters ! Banana fritters ! Pumpkin fritters ! FRITTERSSSSSSSSSS !
I like fritters.

Two beers, Chugged.

I like fritters.

Fried squash blossoms, preferable stuffed with mozzarella.

Great, just fucking great…

I’ve only had apple fritters. I didn’t know there was such a thing as banana fritters. Wants some, yes, I does. Betcha they be delicious, huh?

I prefer corn fritters myself… though my grandmother made kickass elderberry blossom fritters.

Well, I’ve had corn fritters, o’ course. I was thinkin’ about fritters with fruit-like things.

Great, just fucking great…

If I’d shot at every woman who rejected me the streets would be piled high with corpses.

He shot his male roommates too.

I thought he stabbed his roommates. Not that it makes a difference.

Oh, Pennis, I’m in awe of your telepathic powers.

What? You don’t have telepathic powers? Well, judging by your ability to know solely from their internet posts that Kong and FA get all their information about everything ever from liberal blogs, you must be a mind-reader. Either that or packed with shit of a truly astonishing texture and density.

Alex, I’ll take “Who is packed with shit of a truly astonishing texture and density?” for $200, please.

Forgot to mention that Jonah is also an expert at cheetolingus…

Sadly, the position of “thread hijacker on liberal snark blog” also does not exist, so you’ll have to find a real job.

Here’s one that matches your talents perfectly— “wanker”. So go fuck yourself!

Jeez, DA, why do you feel compelled to justify yourself to dumbass? Your obsession with the guy is more like devotion than scorn.

I recommend adhering to the signs posted at the Sadlytown bridge: Do not feed it.

Which it?

Mail, some of you haz some.

Read and replied to.

Yup.

Which it?

Hmmmm. I think I see your point. Perhaps the signs should be plural? Do not feed them? I’ll do my civic duty whatever the Sadlyburg elders decide.

Fenwick, old chum, those two need their own co-blog, where they can live out their co-dependent “Itchy and Scratchy” fantasies.

Indeed. Also, for BOtB: Scratchy Fantasies

Fenwick, I’d be very circumspect about googling “scratchy fantasies”. Rule 34 is a harsh mistress.

You slander us, sir! We are far more rational and intelligent in our discourse.

Okay. Then howsabout Harsh Mistresss?

Too right! Beating one another over the head with blunt objects is far more intellectual than their schtick.

Googling “Harsh Mistress” would also put you firmly in NSFW territory.

Go ahead and Google that and you’ll be properly punished.

Okay. Then howsabout Blunt Objects? I suppose that might pass the Googolizit test.

Well of course I object! I’m a Republican, ferpetesake.

Okay. I give up. No more BOtB ideas.

With marijuana legalization becoming a more popular position, even Senator Blunt will claim to have been pro-blunt.

BotB: Pro-blunt Blunt

Blunt was pro-Blunt before it was cool.

Re: blunts: I never liked tobacco. (Nicotine’s nice, I guess.) So I was surprised to find that wrapping quality weed in tobacco leaf was palatable to me. Smoking paper never added much to the experience.

Re: Goldberg: he’s got nothing to contribute on this topic, but a job’s a job. Setting aside the redundant quotes, truisms, and his pointless hypotheticals, is any substance left? “Only fools refuse to weigh costs and benefits. But cost-benefit analysis is different than moral analysis.” One is left unconvinced that Jonah could explain this point further.

“But some non-interventionists reject all of this, arguing that we have neither the right nor the moral standing to impose our ideas of right and wrong on others. This strikes me as an attempt to make a virtue out of having no compass at all.”

Goldberg writes in such a way that there’s no point arguing with him, and he does so in service of saying nothing about his theme (“America’s moral compass”) while aping deep reflection and dispensing a few bits of ersatz wizdum.

Boy howdy. Dumb and dumber.

Cody Coots is a fourth-generation snakehandler. He took over as pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name after his father, Jamie Coots, died in February [from a snake bite – PM].

Oh, I missed a dig I intended to make: “But some non-interventionists reject all of this,” writes Goldberg. (Emphasis mine.)

They reject the whole towering edifice of thought that you erected, drawing on your peerless imagination, Eddie Murphy, Jesus, and Spider Man by way of Voltaire? Unbelievable! Pearls before swine.

Or do they reject the authorities and ideas you hazily gesture towards?… An apt term of criticism would be “glittering generalities,” except that Jonah’s craft never sparkles, at least for me.

Our children isn’t learning.

Poor snakes, that’s animal abuse.

His father had always told him fear would make a snakebite worse, Coots said.

Lemme guess, because if you’re scared your heart rate goes up, circulating the venom? Or because something kinda Bible-y.

His father did know alot about handling snakes without dying until age 42. I have outlived him, but I’ll humbly keep my methods secret.

Major Kong’s rules for a long and healthy life:

Rule # 3

Leave the snakes alone!

If you throw out everything Jonah wrote, you can start from scratch and write a good column. It would start like this: Is it ever ok to kill another human being? Is it ever necessary to kill another human being? If the answer is yes, do you think that you could do it, if we grant that the person you would kill belongs to the category of people it is necessary to kill? It is moral to say that it is necessary to kill someone if one is unwilling to do so oneself, if that opportunity is available? What factors would make killing “people it is necessary to kill” a worse decision than letting them live? Do you think that membership in Boko Haram automatically puts a person into the category of “people it is necessary to kill”? If so, it it the US’s responsibility to kill them?

And now you have straightforward questions, that don’t depend on imaginary infallible killing machines.

What Helmut just said.

Rule # 3

How many rules are there? do you have any others to share?

You did a great job re-writing Jonah’s sloppy homework, Helmut.

He seems to have that “Tom-Sawyer-whitewashing-the-fence” effect on people.

And now you have straightforward questions, that don’t depend on imaginary infallible killing machines.

Oh, Helmut … there are many modes of inquiry. The Socratic Method involves asking questions, or something. The Goldbergian Method involves the interpolation of imaginary, infallible killing machines.

Know them by their fruits.

How many rules are there? do you have any others to share?

I’m still working on the definitive list.

I came up with Rule #1 after watching footage of people being gored/stomped by bulls while engaging in bullfights, rodeo or the running of the bulls.

So here, in its entirety, is Rule #1

Leave the fucking bulls alone!

The bull doesn’t want you waving a red cape in his face and trying to poke him with a sword.

He really doesn’t want you on his back trying to ride him (this means you Tex).

He most certainly has things he’d rather do then have to chase you and your idiot friends through the streets of Pamplona.

He was perfectly happy eating grass and chasing cows around the pasture before you had to go and mess with him.

Leave the bulls alone!

Oh, Helmut … there are many modes of inquiry. The Socratic Method involves asking questions, or something. The Goldbergian Method involves the interpolation of imaginary, infallible killing machines.

I see, so per the Goldberg method, the best solution to any moral dilemma is however Michael Bay would depict its resolution it in a ‘Transformers’ Movie.

Never argue with somebody who has “love-hate” knuckle tattoos.

Bulls on Parade…

Golden oldie…

http://harpers.org/archive/1982/08/the-tedium-twins/

robert macneil (voice over): Should one man own another?

macneil: Good evening. The problem is as old as man himself. Do property rights extend to the absolute ownership of one man by another? Tonight, the slavery problem. Jim?

lehrer: Robin, advocates of the continuing system of slavery argue that the practice has brought unparalleled benefits to the economy. They fear that new regulations being urged by reformers would undercut America’s economic effectiveness abroad. Reformers, on the other hand, call for legally binding standards and even for a phased reduction in the slave force to something like 75 percent of its present size. Charlayne Hunter-Gault is in Charleston. Charlayne?

hunter-gault: Robin and Jim, I have here in Charleston Mr. Ginn, head of the Cottongrowers Association. Robin?

macneil: Mr. Ginn, what are the arguments for unregulated slavery?

ginn: Robin, our economic data show that attempts at regulation of working hours, slave quarters, and so forth would reduce productivity and indeed would be widely resented by the slaves themselves.

macneil: You mean, the slaves would not like new regulations? They would resent them?

ginn: Exactly. Any curbing of the slave trade would offer the Tsar dangerous political opportunities in western Africa, and menace the strategic slave-ship routes.

lehrer: Thank you, Mr. Ginn. Robin?

macneil: Thank you, Mr. Ginn and Jim. The secretary of the Committee for Regulatory Reform in Slavery is Eric Halfmeasure. Mr. Halfmeasure, give us the other side of the story.

halfmeasure: Robin, I would like to make one thing perfectly clear. We are wholeheartedly in favor of slavery. We just see abuses that diminish productivity and reduce incentives for free men and women to compete in the marketplace. Lynching, tarring and feathering, rape, lack of holidays, and that sort of thing. One recent study suggests that regulation could raise productivity by 15 percent.

macneil: I see. Thank you, Mr. Halfmeasure. Mr. Ginn?

ginn: Our studies show the opposite.

macneil: Jim?

lehrer: Charlayne?

hunter-gault: A few critics of slavery argue that it should be abolished outright. One of them is Mr. Wilberforce. Mr. Wilberforce, why abolish slavery?

wilberforce: It is immoral for one man .?.?.

macneil: Mr. Wilberforce, we’re running out of time, I’m afraid. Let me very quickly get some other points of view. Mr. Ginn, you think slavery is good?

ginn: Yes.

macneil: And you, Mr. Halfmeasure, think it should be regulated.

halfmeasure: Yes.

macneil: Well, I’ve got you to disagree, haven’t I? (Laughter) That’s all we’ve got time for tonight. Good night, Jim.

lehrer: Good night, Robin.

macneil: Did you sleep well last night?

lehrer: I did, thank you.

macneil: That’s good. So did I. We’ll be back again tomorrow night. I’m Robert MacNeil. Good night.

Never argue with somebody who has “love-hate” knuckle tattoos.

How about ‘left’ / ‘right’ knuckle tats? AFAF.

ISWYDT

I see, so per the Goldberg method, the best solution to any moral dilemma is however Michael Bay would depict its resolution it in a ‘Transformers’ Movie.

Hehe. Well, Michael Bay is a very successful man. Perhaps we should listen to what his robots in disguise have to say about the big philosophical questions.

(I’ll delete some lengthy musings about the marketplace of ideas, tensions within conservatism, the scapegoating & sophistry used to paper over the tensions. Elitism and the popular. An odd Strauss, yadda yadda … The market’s cleansing fire a ceaseless, churning acceleration that changes everything, conserves nothing — unless timeless essences or Platonic forms are beyond its power …)

Never argue with somebody who has “love-hate” knuckle tattoos.

When my father was deployed on the DMZ circa 1964, his jeep driver had exactly that on his knuckles. Apparently he’d been some punk from Chicago who’d been given the choice of jail or the Army.

Lookin’ at old papers … newspaper article, 1970:
“Flood of Pornography Adds Fuel to Bitter Debate”
You call that a flood of porn, 1970 guy?… Just wait

Major Kong’s Rule No 1 has my wholehearted endorsement.

One person comments, and says something putrid about Jonah Goldberg’s sex life.

This leads a second person to comment, saying something similarly foul about the beleaguered writer’s jiggly bits.

The second comment provokes a third person to add their bawdy interpretation of Jonah’s sexual happenings to the thread.

And then the third comment leads to a fourth comment to be posted regarding “cheetolingus.”

This continues unchecked for some time.

I call it the rude Goldberg machine.

B^4, how does one fry a squash blossom? They seem like such delicate little guys but I’m within weeks of being ankle deep in them. Do you want the male blossoms or the female blossoms, or are both okay?

Also, any thoughts on a stuffing that doesn’t have eggs or dairy? I’m thinking fresh home-made tofu “ricotta” might do the trick.

CRA, them’s mighty fine old papers. Why are you looking through them?

You consume liquids while reading these threads? **facepalm**

Like most of the wisdom from my elders, within minutes of being admonished I’m already failing to heed the warnings.

Will try to follow Provider’s advice to swallow before reading new posts.

You don’t have to stuff them though I frequently do. Just batter and fry (seasoned w/ salt pepper and anything else you fancy). I always use egg based batter but you could use a beer batter I suppose. As for tofu, fuck that noise. Got no flavor. Tofu is fine when you can infuse it with the flavors from other ingredients but by itself it’s CACA.

PROTIP: snip them off with a bit of stem attached.

PS – to know which ones to pick see http://www.thekitchn.com/edible-squash-blossoms-how-to-90060

You call that a flood of porn, 1970 guy?… Just wait

Think about what porn looked like 50 years ago compared to today.

Now think about porn 50 years from now.

Damn, that’s some nasty stuff.

CRA, them’s mighty fine old papers. Why are you looking through them?

I was sorting some stuff at work is all; we gotta make space. That clipping actually had nothing to do with anything else in the box. The clipping was boring, I’m afraid. Something about intellectuals and antis and freedom of information, but not good like you might imagine. But then, I just skimmed it looking for smut. All I got was a LOL at the quaint headline.

I am avoiding explaining what I do. Maybe some other time.

I was also puzzled to find an envelope (letter size, unaddressed) with the words “JUST PAPER” scrawled on it in red. I opened the envelope, and sure enough, there was a piece of blank paper inside.

I don’t get it. Why would you bother? Maybe it’s a letter done in invisible ink, and then the writer was like, “I’d better throw people off.”

Ah, Pup, American tofu like you get in the store is garbage. The only thing that will render it edible is very vigorous preparation and a serious marinade. (I frequently eat store tofu but only fried and seasoned with bizarre South Asian hell-condiment kal namak, lime juice and shitloads of smoked paprika.)

The real Japanese or Korean tofus are delightful. I have an excellent source of tofu in my area. Comes in big ol’ vats of water and it has a rich, fine flavor which has complexity similar to that of a mild soft cheese. You can slice a chunk off and eat it, or press and lightly pan fry with salt and pepper, or float in a dashi, or mash by hand and season a little bit with a good rice vinegar and top with fresh kimchi.

The other soy product that cannot be purchased in this country are the misos. If you’ve got a taste for cheese you have the palate for miso. It’s rich, complicated, and pairs well with wines. However, short of a supply smuggled from Japan, you’re going to be bloody miserable with the offerings in the States. The salty bullshit you get at “Asian” supermarkets here makes me want to throw up my hands and return to dairy.

I cannot even describe the delightful and complex fermented products I found in China and Hong Kong; literally I don’t know the words. Basically folks bury things in their backyards in different regions, follow a semi-religious practice of waiting and checking, wait some more, and then combine with fresh ingredients. It’s out of this world. Parting from my usual habits, I had a thing somewhere in Guangdong called “hundred year old egg.” It’s astonishing, though I hear bad renditions of the dish can curl your hair. (Commenting on video: Jesus H. Christ whatever sort of pidan you can find in the U.S. and make a Youtube about has got to be straight-up dangerous. You might literally die eating it.)

Oh, and another thing that struck me as odd.

I found what looked like a little slide-rule, only it had the values of various international currencies on it. So you could select $3, say, and the line would point to the equivalent in about a dozen currencies.

Now, I don’t know too much about the history of fixed-vs.-floating currency ratios in the 20th century, but when was this slide-rule (for lack of a better term) useful for more than the day it was made?!

I am avoiding explaining what I do. Maybe some other time.

We’re all just going to have to assume you’re a super cool spy until you post again.

That’s good, Seize, because I’m not jazzed about my current gig. But there is a possible light at the end of the tunnel, in a month. Or disapointment.

But yeah, super cool spy.

The type of cool spy who feels compelled to point out that he misspelled “disappointment,” because God forbid anyone think I make such mistakes.

ALL HAIL THE JANITORS!

I too am the type of cool spy who had to go back and correct typos. It kills me that there’s no “edit” button in this medium.

*has…. -.-

When my father was deployed on the DMZ circa 1964, his jeep driver had exactly that on his knuckles. Apparently he’d been some punk from Chicago who’d been given the choice of jail or the Army.

Major, I assume that you yourself are evidence that your father never fought him.

I assume that you yourself are evidence that your father never fought him.

True. I don’t think it was kosher for officers to fight enlisted men anyways.

My father once did have to stop him from causing an international incident by shooting the .50 caliber machine gun at some North Koreans across the border.

Now think about porn 50 years from now.

I’m seeing scantily clad robot babes, programmed for the entire Kama Sutra…

I’ll be in my bunk…

I’m thinking that “babe” won’t be gendered in 50 years.

Get outta the bunk fella, other people gotta use it!

Okay guise, I’m in an internet hole.

I was reading a story from Powder Room at Jezebel about the Duggars.

Then I discovered that modest swimwear (instead of that WHORE swimwear, like the modern scourge, the one-piece) is a thing.

There are so many elements of this link to modest women’s swimwear that I need to describe, but (1) you can’t get a closeup of the picture of the product, no way no how, and (2) wow, I’d love to have a custom made whoresuit with regard for my thigh circumference and fabric preference.

If I ever really finally do get off topic I trust y’all will tell me.

Oh Major, I’m sure that your dad could have taken any officer! Even a guy with those scary tattoos…

You know what I do?

I inspect/test backflow assemblies (mostly) for a municipal water system, for which my company is a contractor who runs this (cross connection, as it is known) and the muni water treatment plant. For a town of ~33,000. In Tennessee.

Yep. That’s what I do. I enjoy it.

My cat, OTOH, is hunting a mouse. He had it in his jaws, and decided to drop it in the bedroom without sealing the deal. It ran across my foot.

My efforts to point Curly in the right direction have been fruitless, and the mouse no doubt found another hole through which to cheat death.

I will probably be awakened a few hours from now with a live mouse in my bed. Fucking cats.
.

Oh, right, fuckin’ a!

I have to remind you of Curly’s impressive beastliness!
.

Gender struggle, packaged in a poem –

Must see

Oh Major, I’m sure that your dad could have taken any officer!

Actually my dad was an officer – 1st Lieutenant.

He got out before he pinned on Captain. They wanted to send him to Vietnam in 1964 and he thought that was a really stupid idea.

Basically folks bury things in their backyards in different regions, follow a semi-religious practice of waiting and checking, wait some more, and then combine with fresh ingredients.

When I bury things in my backyard I want them to stay buried. Whoops, the police are here again,. BRB.

Hey, libs! Pry the gun from this two-year-olds cold, dead hands!

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Two-year-old-fatally-shoots-himself-in-head-5507389.php

So for the first time since I blew my knee out again last August, I took a bicycle ride. I biked the ten miles to work, at a leisurely pace, and will bike home later today. It’s safe to say, I’m not in any shape to do a century ride. Even so, biking to work is so much less frustrating than driving. Commuting in Madison is is an exercise in frustration, there’s always someone who seems to be utterly confused by the controls of their car or traffic laws in general, whether they are going 60 mph in a 45 mph zone or trying to merge into 60 mph traffic at 35 mph. I can go as fast as I’m able on a bicycle and the bike lanes are empty enough that I’m never stuck behind a slowpoke. I’m going to try to do this a couple times a week.

I did a century a couple years ago. It hurt. I didn’t have any trouble pedaling the bike for 100 miles, but sitting on the bike for 100 miles beat me up pretty bad.

I actually did surprisingly well on the hilly portion (the 25 miles south of Chillicothe). I was on my old steel-framed Bianchi but I’d converted it to a triple chainring and was able to gear it down and grind my way up the hills.

Dennis and DA go and get a room already. This passive-aggressive mutual stalking is getting to be creepy.

And no, I don’t really care who started it or who said what to who, so don’t even go there.

I worked at a bicycle company over a decade ago, and so I started biking pretty regularly. Over the last decade, I probably have put in 20 or 30 100+ mile days. And you are totally correct, dealing with the bike seat for is the hardest part of the day. I’m slow enough that I have never been competitive in any race I’ve ever been in, so I just look at it as I’m going to enjoy myself, and spend the day on the bike. This year, the lottery for the Horribly Hilly Hundreds did not let me in, so I’m going to take it slower, and see if I can keep biking all summer rather than just train like crazy until my big ride, and get so sick of it that I hang my bike up for the rest of the season.

I’m going to try to do this a couple times a week.

I ride to work almost every day, rain or shine. I think I’ve driven twice this year — once when there was a foot of snow on the ground, once because I had to go somewhere right from work. If you live in a town with decent bike lanes/paths (like I do) it’s a great way to get around. I converted an old mountain bike for next to nothing (put street tires on it, got rid of the front shock, put a rack/bag on the back), and probably spent about $200 on good rain gear. I’ve saved way more than that in gas money. I highly recommend it.

Why does he take so much time writing this when ‘Exterminate All the Brutes’ would fit on an Hallmark card, and probably be available for purchase everywhere if there were a Truly Free Market.

I was also puzzled to find an envelope (letter size, unaddressed) with the words “JUST PAPER” scrawled on it in red. I opened the envelope, and sure enough, there was a piece of blank paper inside.

I don’t get it. Why would you bother? Maybe it’s a letter done in invisible ink, and then the writer was like, “I’d better throw people off.”

my retired cohort was a saver…i came across a battery in the camera case and it was labeled ‘dead battery’…

I started training for the Wilderness 101 but mang!. We ended up deciding to try it over two days. After the first day we were 6 feet under. The 3 – 4 foot deep, cold water river crossing really did me in.

We have a leash attachment for the bikes – arm attaches to seat post with a short spring loaded leash on the end. Bagoas LOVES going for bike rides.

A 101 mile mountain bike race sounds brutal. I have done the 40 Chequomegon race and it wiped me out. The Horribly Hilly Hundreds ride that I like to do every year has a similar amount of climbing as the ride you linked, but paved roads make climbing easier.

Mods, if my post as “Voice of Reason” comes through — it may have been eaten — please delete it as an ill-considered use of information.

Some of those climbs are single track. I’ve ridden all those trails and roads, brutal doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Heh, yet more proof that fags are superior . Suck on it Maggie. http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/05/27/3441864/gay-dads-brains-study/

Once again, Pup, facts have a liberal bias.

OK, I expect at least one team from Sadlyville here next year for the Cape Epic. It goes around our valley and I can look after your sore spots.
Wikipedia knows all about it – I don’t do links. It is apparently an amazing ride – nu, I can’t ride a bike at all – lousy sense of balance.

Heh, yet more proof that fags are superior . Suck on it Maggie.

well la di dah for your giant amygdala…

Oh, oh and I can make a braai for you food addicts.

a walking challenge has been issued at one of my workplaces…you know, pledging to walk x amount of miles in x amount of time…first question to come up: ‘can we ride bikes instead of walking?’

sigh…

Heh, Major, I was just teasing. I don’t imagine there were many knuckle tattoos on officers in 1964…

Good call on your dad’s part regarding that whole Vietnam thing.

**
Re: braai

Link to a Wikipedia hole for fellow food addicts of the carnivorous persuasion. South Africa is first on the list.

***

I love road cycling. The longest ride I’ve done was DC to Harper’s Ferry, 70 some miles, most of which was on the C&O Canal towpath. Gravel. Towpath. My arse hurt for a week and a half. Give me a nice flat century on nice flat roads…or even an alley cat hauling through the city. Gravel is not my gig.

Ew…

Glenn Beck did a piece debunking lieberal moonbat…rape statistics. It’s as bad as it sounds. It also features a new low in reasoning, which I will term “argumentum ad beer commercial.” Apparently if it looks fun to drink in a beer commercial, there’s no such thing as intoxication rape! Checkmate libs!

Link to Youtube. Trigger warning obviously.

Mmmmmm, charred animal flesh.

I started training for the Wilderness 101

I’ve raced several mountain bike races, but none in the past few years. I think the longest was 30ish miles, and that was hard enough, I wouldn’t want to do 100+. Although I see in your link that the race’s elevation gain is only 12,000 feet — I ran a trail ultramarathon that had just under 7000′ in 31 miles. 12k on a bike would be bad, but wouldn’t be that bad.

Heh, yet more proof that fags are superior

I thought they were fabulous?

I posted up thread but I really think a lot of Jonah’s blood lust – his and other writers for the rich white elderly American crowd – comes from anger at not getting the adoration they should get.

Just as the misogynistic little shit that killed women this Friday, Goldberg and his ilk crave adoration and feel murderous rage when they don’t get it. Being (slightly) more sane and less willing to go to jail, Jonah advocates for the remote killing of brown people, one where he doesn’t have to do it himself and can claim patriotism USA!USA! 111!! about it but I truly believe the underlying blood lust comes from the same place: I’m not getting what I deserve and you inferiors shall die for it.

From a good article about this weekend killings:
I am struck by the extent to which Rodger believed he was entitled to have what he deemed the prettiest girls, he was entitled to women’s bodies, and when society denied him these “entitlements” he thought it should become the public’s problem. He thought that his happiness was worth the slaughter of multiple people.

This sense of heterosexual white male entitlement to a world that grants all one’s wishes, and this destructive murderous anger that attends the ostensible denial of these wishes, is at the emotional core of white supremacy.
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/27/white_guy_killer_syndrome_elliot_rodgers_deadly_privileged_rage/

If it was on pavement or even hard pack it wouldn’t be so bad. Many of those climbs – and descents also too – are on loose gravel or rocky, tight, technical single track. There’s some soft earth sections too. Makes it a lot more difficult.

That said, there was no way I could have done it in one day. I wasn’t in bad shape but I wasn’t in great shape either. Just not good enough to perform. One year the winner – an acquaintance – was riding a fucking fixie! He was in great fucking awesome shape. Good looking too but alas, totally straight. I did try to get him to go on the second annual “after ten bars no one has a sexual orientation bar tour” but no go.

I thought they were fabulous?

Oh we are, darling. Fabulously superior and superiorly fabulous!

I should add that Jonah and his ilk are beyond despising just women, they are almost at the point of being “99%-istic” in the sense that they despise anyone not part of the privileged 1% that they consider themselves part of.

Everyone else, women or men are inferiors that should adore and serve them. And when they don’t get that adoration they get pissy and go whine n a WSJ column

WATCH MY VIDEO GODDAMNIT

comes from anger at not getting the adoration they should get.

That and a lack of compliance. Certain types should know their place and remain there. It’s the same mentality that enables a guy to formulate something like Manifest Destiny.

Hey, Portland Phood Phreak, I didn’t do no scoffing when you were raving about grilling some ribs you prepared. So, lay off the SA national heritage or I’mma gonna …………..um……

I wasn’t scoffing! I lurvs me some charred animal flesh! In fact, if I could somehow manage to go on a culinary tour of SA I’d be happy as a pig in shit.

Hmmm… Wanted control over women’s bodies… Sense of entitlement…. Thought that his happiness was worth the slaughter of multiple people…

…which political party does this remind you of?

Oh, OK then. I’m glad. Drop by any time.

If it was on pavement or even hard pack it wouldn’t be so bad. Many of those climbs – and descents also too – are on loose gravel or rocky, tight, technical single track. There’s some soft earth sections too. Makes it a lot more difficult.

The singletrack I usually run and ride are all pretty much just steep snotty mud until things finally dry out in July. There’s usually that magical day or two where it’s just the perfect consistency for excellent traction and then, “nope sorry, now we’re gonna be dry and loose now, fuckyou!” It’s a conspiracy I tells ya!

On the other hand, the McKenzie river trail is a wonderful place to run and ride, fairly flat, but the fucking lava is constantly threatening to slice you open or bust every bone in your body. It’s great!

After the UCSB tragedy I thought back to my thoughts and feelings when *I* was a 22-year-old with no sexual outlet.

I blamed myself, first and foremost — as in other matters. Resentments and misanthropy were a minor undercurrent in a tide of emotions about myself.

Echidne convinced me that Elliot Rodger probably didn’t approach many (or possibly any) women and suffer direct rejection. I was reminded that as a shy, inept young man, I preferred the girls to approach me. Luckily for me, a few of them did … but when my luck ran out, a pattern of passivity had been established that was hard to break. In fact I recall wasting several opportunities in which nice girls tried to get my attention.

The fact is that in spite of thinking about sex and companionship, I didn’t really try very hard. I was always doing other things. I was so completely self-absorbed as well that making a connection with me was difficult for those who tried. Finally, I tended to attract certain personalities (friends and girls) who took advantage of me, due to what I suppose we’d now call my “boundary issues.”

All this stuff was clear enough back then. Not as clear as now, but clear enough that had I been really serious about changing, I could have.

lawn, I’m tempted to read that Salon piece, but when I go to Salon, even though I know better, even though I don’t even like mangoes, I can never stay out of the swamp.

President Barack Obama, has announced that US forces will be withdrawing from Afganistan after more than a decade of occupation. In response, people like Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post write:

For years the United States promised to be a partner to a democratic Afghanistan, to help ensure that girls can keep going to school and to lock in the gains that have been won at such a high price by U.S. and other NATO troops.

Obligatory to link to the author:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/president-obama-continues-his-retreat-from-afghanistan/2014/05/27/ae01686e-e5c2-11e3-8f90-73e071f3d637_story.html?hpid=z2

I will ask the same question that others have asked, where was that oh so touching concern for the women of Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s when the US was funding the Taliban, the same Taliban that shoots young girls in the head for daring to go to school? Why is the plight of Muslim women your concern only when it is time to bring our forces home, never when the Peace Corps or State Department asks for funding?

As it so happens, I have a plan to see that the women of Afghanistan are protected from the savagery of the Taliban in perpetuity. My plan is 100% compatible with the withdrawal of US forces from the region. My plan is that for the next 50 years we, the citizens of the US, offer a free ticket to the USA (or any allied country which also sent forces to Afghanistan) for any woman from Afghanistan and her children. Included in the offer is a free ticket for any other person from Afghanistan whose cooperation with US forces could potentially endanger them in a post occupation Afghanistan.

Of course they would need housing, education and jobs, which I have no doubt could be supplied for far less than the $10,000,000 an hour which the occupation is currently costing us. We could even solve problems at home with my plan. We could train some of them up to be doctors and nurses, to help out the VA. Or we could train them in engineering to help restore our crumbling infrastructure. The USA is the land of opportunity, a land built by immigrants with a strong work ethic. Surely an additional few million women and children could find a new home here free from the oppression of their backward homeland.

Re: troops in Afghanistan: I guess after years of drawdowns and the occasional surge, I did not perceive the latest announcement as significant. We’ll have 10,000 troops there, half that next year, zero by the time O. leaves office … unless he changes his mind. In any case, it’s good news for those coming home prior to 2016.

Which is to say the Iraq and Afghan wars became conflated in my mind. And we still have thousands of people in Iraq — just not troops, right?… And to the east, and Yemen or wherever, we’ll have drones in perpetuity.

to lock in the gains that have been won at such a high price by U.S. and other NATO troops.

I tilted my head so hard it caused a neck spasm. Lock in the gains. The gains. I just. I mean, every day I think I’ve seen the height of partisan hackery, and every day anew I am so horribly amazed.

Well if we don’t lock in the gains, they might rebuild all of those houses and schools, power plants and bridges.

What about the gains in opium production? We want to lock those in don’t we?

Flames on the side of my face.

For years the United States promised to be a partner to a democratic Afghanistan, to help ensure that girls can keep going to school and to lock in the gains that have been won at such a high price by U.S. and other NATO troops.

This shit came out quicker than I thought it would. Usually the neocons have a meeting to decide which idiot slogans they would idiot into their idiot publications so that idiots can idiot it up like idiot soup.

Fucking assholes. Concern trolling the plight of women in a fascist theocracy is almost as bad as being the abuser. But hey–in an idiot world, we have to murder the women to save them. What the fuck do I know–I’m just a dumb liberal who doesn’t like killing people.

@Austin I hear ya, those rotten mangoes at the Salon swamp are hard to resist pointing and laughing at

Hey, Fred Hiatt aint nothing. Check out Ken Blackwell blaming the Isla Vista event on …. yep, marriage equality.

Family Research Council senior fellow Ken Blackwell yesterday linked the Isla Vista mass killings to marriage equality laws, which he claimed are destroying the culture. Speaking with FRC president Tony Perkins on “Washington Watch,” Blackwell blamed the shooting on “the crumbling of the moral foundation of the country” and “the attack on natural marriage and the family.”

“When these fundamental institutions are attacked and destroyed and weakened and abandoned, you get what we are now seeing,” Blackwell said, arguing that people who are “blaming the Second Amendment” are “avoiding talking about what is at the root cause of the problem.”

The only additional thing you’ll find at the link is the recording so you probably don’t want to bother.

Reenact a bible story, child gets killed. NO ONE COULD HAVE PREDICTED!!

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/28/florida-woman-accused-of-killing-2-year-old-while-re-enacting-bible-story/

God didn’t send down a seraph with a flaming sword to intervene? I, for one, am shocked.

For years the United States promised to be a partner to a democratic Afghanistan

Odd way of encouraging democracy there… by plugging a money pipeline into the most corrupt man in Kabul and paying him a bribery fund.

God didn’t send down a seraph with a flaming sword to intervene? I, for one, am shocked.

It was a modern translation of Genesis. Printed in sans-seraph.

Sans-seraph is an especially brutal punishment.

Smut: That was awful. Brilliant, but awful.

I shot the seraph, but I did not shoot the dybukkim.

New post.

And it’s a vitriolic one.

Cerb you know we like those.