Category Archives: Links

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

Well, this is close to home.  This is the bit that concerns me:

In a September interview with the Pentagon’s news agency last fall, Iris Ferguson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Arctic and Global Resiliences said Chinese leaders have “been trying to insert themselves into the Arctic.”

“So, we’re being very mindful about their activity and in wanting to ensure that our interests are protected in the region,” Ferguson said.

China seems to be very interested in what goes on here in the Great Land, although they have nowhere near the sea-lift capacity to land troops here, and so won’t find out one thing that aren’t betting on, that being a few hundred thousand heavily armed Alaskan civilians – but they sure as hell seem to want to know what assets we have up here.  That’s disconcerting as hell.

Anyhoo…

On To the Links!

Nothing left to cut.

Trump steps on his dick again.  It’s like he’s trying to lose.

Four times.  A day.

Why is Biden so unpopular, even among Democrats?  Well, probably because he’s stupid, senile and incompetent.

The FBI is running cover for the Bidens.

Oh, the irony.

Squinted?

It’s aliens.

I take it you’re planning to lose the next war you’re in.

This is known as belaboring the obvious.

Wheee!

Who is John Galt?

Rum, sodomy and the lash.

Well, that’s a horrifying thought.

I’m not even sure at this point if the US is seeking primacy within its own borders.

Companies must do no such thing.  Mind your own damn business.

The next big crash?

Mike Pence files to run for President.  Well, the world’s got no shortage of windmills to tilt at.

Not sure why an American news network is covering these inbred mutants.

He’s going nowhere.

This Week’s Idiots:

The Bulwark’s Jill Lawrence is an idiot.

The Guardian’s Arwa Mahdawi is an idiot.

The Hill’s Niall Stanage is an idiot.  The only place Chris Christie could be a wild card is at a buffet table.

Idiots gonna idiot.

Alexandria Occasional Cortex persists in idiocy.

The Guardian’s Mark Weisbrot is an idiot.  (Also, his name literally means ‘white bread.’  Too funny.)

MSNBC’s James Downie is an idiot.

The Guardian’s Will Hutton is an idiot.  I’m starting to see another pattern.

Paul Krugman (Repeat Offender Alert) remains a cheap partisan hack, and an idiot.

James Comey is a corrupt asshole, and an idiot.

MSNBC’s Charlie Dent is an idiot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

I was never big on the Carpenters, but they sure sold a lot of records back in the day.  Karen Carpenter’s sad 1983 death from anorexia nervosa received a lot of publicity, and for a few years instances of anorexia, especially among teenage girls, spiked.  Some call this a ‘social contagion,’ when a few highly-publicized events, usually among celebrities, lead to a spike in instances of an emotional/mental disorder.

Sound familiar?

Back to the music, though.  Karen and Richard Carpenter did have a light, easy style that was relaxing and thoughtful.  While I was more of a head-banger – back in these days I was much more into Led Zeppelin, Foghat, Van Halen and the like – I’ve developed more of an appreciation of gentler music as I’ve gotten older.  I do kind of like their song Rainy Days and Mondays, from their 1971 album, Carpenters.  Here’s the official video, which presents kind of a touching photographic tribute to Karen to go along with her rich, butter-smooth voice.  Enjoy.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

Best line in a story this past week:

Children can go to California to have their bodies irrevocably altered by surgery and be pumped full of drugs that could cause health issues in the immediate and distant future that could ruin their lives. Crime is rampant and the streets are full of homeless encampments, needles, and human waste. The term “Golden State” could soon refer to the fact that everyone there has contracted hepatitis. BUT the kids will be safe because they can’t get a bag of Skittles.

Read Lincoln Brown’s take on this stupidity here.  ‘Nuff said.

And so…

On To the Links!

How about no bail-outs for anything or anyone, ever?

We can hope.

There is no danger of default.

RIP, Tina Turner.

Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus.

RIP, Ray Stevenson.  I’ll always remember him as Titus Pullo in HBO’s amazing series Rome.

Can California be turned red again?  Color me skeptical, but still…

The Supreme Court makes a 9-0 ruling (Sackett v. EPA) and Democrats immediately start lying about it.  Hey, you jackasses, look up the difference between “concurring” and “dissent.”

No shit, Sherlock.

This will be interesting to watch.  Full disclosure:  I’m on Team DeSantis, but if Trump gets the nomination, I’ll vote for him.  The alternative is unthinkable.

And Trump might not have as tight of a lock on things as he thinks.

Debate is not allowed at debates.

Arguing with someone on Twitter is like competing in the Special Olympics.  Even if you win, you’re still a retard.

My blogger pal Robert Stacy McCain has a neat piece on the Golden Age of Hollywood.

I remember when sitzpinkler was an insult.  Hell, I live out in the woods.  I pee outside more than in the house.  Kind of hard for a dude to sit for that.

Natural Gas Forecast – not good news.

State Farm gives up on California.

Our illiterate college students.

My friend Brandon Morse has an excellent piece on Memorial Day.  Yes, that’s me in the comments.

This is what happens when you de-criminalize theft.

More signs of the Biden family’s breathtaking corruption.

Equal treatment under the law a dead letter in the US, Exhibit #211,293.

This Week’s Idiots:

The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel is an idiot.

The Nation’s Jennifer C. Berkshire is an idiot.

Vox’s Ian Millhiser is an idiot.

The LA Times editorial staff are all idiots.

MSNBC’s Hayes Brown (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Hanoi Jane is still an idiot.

The people who run Lululemon (whatever that is) are all idiots.

The Nation’s Jeet Heer (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Robert Reich (Repeat Offender Alert) remains a sawed-off runt, and an idiot.

The Nation’s D.D. Guttenplan & John Nichols (Repeat Offender Alert) are both idiots.  Biden doesn’t need to remake his candidacy – he needs to resign, for the good of the republic.

If this little idiot tried this in Alaska, he’d likely become shot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

Back in the day – and still today, in fact – one of the most powerful male singers was the Welsh master Tom Jones.  He projected his voice like few today can, and he also combined style and class with talent.

One of his best-known tunes is actually a cover of Paul Anka’s 1970 tune She’s a Lady, but Jones, in 1971, recorded what would be far and away the most popular take on this song.  Here, then, is that tune.  Oh, and as a bonus, take a look at Tom Jones on the Ed Sullivan show in 1968, with his signature song It’s Not Unusual.  Enjoy!


Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

Well, this is a stupid idea.  Here’s the part that I find particularly angrifying:

Beginning in the 1990s, the federal government made the disastrous mistake of promoting and increasing the amount of risky mortgage loans in the pursuit of increasing home ownership, notably requiring Fannie and Freddie to buy more and more such loans. The riskier loans were promoted as “innovative” mortgages by the Clinton administration. That push was a major contributor first to the housing bubble and then to the housing finance collapse of 2007–09.

And now they are proposing doing it again, only rather more so:

In this case, the FHFA wants to politically manipulate Fannie and Freddie’s Loan-Level Price Adjustments (LLPAs). The LLPAs are meant to be credit risk-based adjustments, which reflect fundamental factors in the credit risk of a mortgage loan, to the price of getting Fannie or Freddie to bear the credit risk of the loan. They are an adjustment to the cost of the loan to the borrower, supposed to be based on objective measures of risk.

Welcome to More Government Interference in Markets, Version 6,927,394.  This kind of crap was the genesis of the 2008 housing market crash.  Now we’re looking at economic illiterates in the Imperial City again doubling down on stupid.  I swear, it’s idiots all the way down.  Read the whole thing, and if it doesn’t piss you off, you probably aren’t really paying attention.

Now then…

On To the Links!

Chicago is committing suicide.

This should come as a surprise to no one.

The latest leftist fraud.

I’m glad to see Alaska helping with this effort.

This is known as belaboring the obvious.

Our schools continue to fail.

We’ve known this was coming for years, and nothing will be done.

Smooch!

Sour grapes from Netflix.

Grotesque is a major understatement.

This gets more and more embarrassing by the day.

Unconstitutional, evil and stupid.

“Disgraceful” doesn’t begin to cover it.

If by “deep bench” you mean “an astounding collection of incompetents,” then, yes.

When worn on the other foot, the shoe pinches.

Bottomless Pinocchios.

Probably not.

I would be curious to know more about this.

Inept hypocrisy, indeed.

This Week’s Idiots:

TikTok users are idiots.  Film at eleven.

Paul Krugman (Repeat Offender Alert) is still a cheap partisan hack, and an idiot.  And again.

When your target market is basically “BroDudes” and you go visibly woke in your marketing, you might be an idiot.

Rep. Cori Bush (Moron-MO) is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Michael Cohen (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Hayes Brown (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

The Nation’s Jeet Heer (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Frank Figliuzzi is an idiot.

The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer is an idiot.

Al Sharpton is and always has been a disgusting hustler.

Juan Williams continues his descent into nutballery.

Vox’s Ellen Ioanes is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Steve Benen is an idiot.  Is it just me sensing this pattern every week?

OK, that’s all the stupid I can take this week.  I really do read these, you know.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

Summertime is coming!

Those of us of a certain age remember acts like Mungo Jerry, who are probably best known for their 1970 hit In The Summertime.  Lead singer and writer Ray Dorset later claimed he wrote the song in ten minutes, and if you give it a listen, it’s not really an implausible claim.  Still, it’s a fun little tune, and still gets my toe tapping, even fifty-some years after I first heard it.  Oh, and Dorset rocks those big Seventies ‘burns.  Here it is – enjoy!

 

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

You can tell it’s spring at last here in the Great Land when the sound of snow machine motors is replaced by ATV motors.

Our ATVs.

We don’t yet have a snow machine (in the 48 you call them snowmobiles) but we have two ATVs, a big six-seat Polaris Ranger for taking guests on tours, and a neat, agile little Polaris Sportsman that I mostly use for getting out in the woods after grouse or just indulging in one of my favorite activities – woods-bumming.  If you like the outdoors and live up here, one or both of these machines is a hell of a handy thing to have.

Now then…

On To the Links!

No shit, Sherlock.

Florida Man rides again.

And in the end, we’ll go further and further into debt.

And nothing will come of this.

Sanctuary city, my ass.

Another one leaving Chicago.

Impossible.  IEDs are against the law.  And I’m pretty sure this is a no-IED zone.

Because they are ruled by morons.

Atlas is shrugging.

Just when you think you couldn’t get any more disgusted.

Senator Murphy:  Come on out here to the Susitna Valley and try to take our guns.  Let us know how that works out for you.

OK, is there anybody in this group who isn’t a Fed?

This isn’t a good sign.

“Missing?”  One wonders if cement overshoes are involved.

The red-pilling of Elon Musk continues apace.

Haw haw haw!

I’ll take my chances.

This Week’s Idiots:

Salon’s Heather Parton is an idiot.

Whoever thought this was a good idea is an idiot.

Minnesota is run by idiots.

An actual photo of Brian Stelter.

Brian Stelter is an idiot.  And a potato.

New York Magazine’s Ed Kilgore is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Hayes Brown (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Policies designed by morons result in epic cluster-fuck.  Film at eleven.

Slate’s Michael J. Socolow is an idiot.

How can you tell when Joe Biden is saying something stupid?  His lips are moving.  And again.

MSNBC’s Steve Benen is an idiot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

I love Japan.

This is Masayuki Suzuki, who does a lot of soundtracks for Japanese television and so forth, in addition to pure musical work.  I’m not sure what genre he falls under, but these two songs are from the soundtrack of an anime called Kaguya-sama:  Love is War, they’re kind of fun, and a little different than our usual servings.  Enjoy.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

Best headline of the year so far:  Giant phallus-shaped iceberg floating in Conception Bay surprises residents of Dildo, Canada.  Image from story:

Yes, it’s true, my sense of humor has not changed significantly since I was twelve years old.  On that subject I am not only unapologetic, I embrace it.

Now then…

On To the Links!

There’s a first time for everything.

This, however, is nothing new.

National treasure Dr. Victor Davis Hanson weighs in.

I’m pretty sure cartels have control of a lot of the border now.

And everyone on the Left yawns.

To each according to his needs.

Tell him to demand in one hand, shit in the other, and see which hand fills up first.

That would be a mistake.

Dunning-Kruger rides again!

No.  No, he cannot.

We can hope.

Fuck off, slaver!

Don’t mess with Texas.

I love a happy ending.

Or, you could just mind your own damn business and leave me alone.

This Week’s Idiots:

The daffy old Bolshevik from Vermont goes full Commie.

MSNBC’s Zeeshan Aleem is an idiot.

Paul Krugman (Repeat Offender Alert) remains a cheap partisan hack, and an idiot.

Natural Stupidity appointed to oversee Artificial Intelligence.

Mother Jones’ Tim Murphy is an idiot.

Salon’s Amanda Marcotte (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Michael Cohen is an idiot.  Sure, let’s just keep borrowing, and borrowing, and borrowing, world without end, amen.  What a dipshit.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

While I was a bit on the young side for most of Cream’s work, having older siblings exposed me to a lot of stuff from the late Sixties I may not have readily picked up on otherwise.  My older brother had several of Cream’s albums, and that combination of Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker produced some neat stuff.

I always thought their 1967 album Disraeli Gears had some good songs.  One of my favorites is the side 1 opening tune Strange Brew.  Hearing this song always takes me back to when I was a kid hanging out with my big brother.  Here, then, is that tune; enjoy.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

This could be, as someone once said, a “big effin’ deal.”  Bonchie over at RedState had this to say:

In the biggest news to come out of the Supreme Court of the United States since Roe v. Wade was overturned, the Court has granted a review of Loper Bright Enterprises vs. Raimondo. In its deliberations, the court will deal with the question of whether to overrule the infamous Chevron Doctrine, a ’70s-era precedent that granted broad powers to the bureaucratic state to interpret vague, often narrow statutes with near zero accountability.

This would of course affect my own industry a great deal, but I suspect it won’t happen overnight; even if the Supreme Court follows the Constitution and rips the guts out of the bureaucratic state, it will take years for the necessary implications of that decision to trickle down.  The libertarian in me loves this, even if the compliance-consultant side of me is a bit concerned about my living (yes, the irony of that is not lost on me) but as I say, it will take a while, and I expect I’ll retire before too much changes.

Now then…

On To the Links!

Asa who?

Well, she’s done.

My hovercraft is full of eels.

No shit, Sherlock.

What could possibly go wrong?

This kid is a genuine hero.

Elon Musk from the top rope.

I’m sure this won’t lead to anything bad happening.

Stupid idea yields bad results.  Film at eleven.

So frickin’ glad we got out of Colorado.

Good and hard.

Another bank fails.

Punishing the responsible to reward the irresponsible.

Then they came for your leaf-blower…   Hang on to your woodchippers, we may need them.

Ahead Troll Factor Eight!

RIP Tim Bachman.  Bachman Turner Overdrive always brings back memories of the Seventies.

French riot over being expected to be productive past sixty-two.  I’d refer the French to Stein’s Law.

Will anyone notice?  Hollywood hasn’t produced anything original in years.

Fuck you, cut spending.

12-year-old sense of humor activated.

Not for me, it’s not.

This Week’s Idiots:

Fang Fang was unavailable for comment.

The Oregon state legislature clearly contains a large proportion of idiots.

This is one of the stupidest ideas to come out of an administration known for stupid ideas.  This is industrial-grade stupid.

Donna Brazile (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Paul Krugman (Repeat Offender Alert) remains a cheap partisan hack, and an idiot.

The Nation’s Jeet Heer (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Robert Reich (Repeat Offender Alert) is still a sawed-off little runt, and an idiot.

MSNBC’s Hayes Brown (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Norman Eisen & Josh Stanton are both idiots.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

Warren Zevon was badly underrated.  He made some pretty good tunes, and while he’s best known for the rollicking Werewolves of London and Excitable Boy, my favorite of his works (from the 1978 album Excitable Boy, in fact) was Lawyers, Guns and Money.  

I’d point out that, in a just world, Hunter Biden would be singing a similar tune; except that his situation has not arisen from bad luck, but from bad judgement, and therefore his own damn fault.

Anyway.  Here is that great tune.  Enjoy.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

An indubitable sign of spring only Monday past, as our juncos have returned.  Dark-Eyed Juncos are somewhat migratory; they stay rather late in the fall and are usually the first migratory birds to return in spring.

Junco.

It’s interesting.  In all the years I lived in the city, I paid only nominal attention to the turn of the seasons.  Since returning to a rural lifestyle, I’ve become much more aware of the great circle the year makes, not just with the weather but with the creatures around us.  Soon the robins will return, then the swallows, the sandhill cranes will be overhead on their way to Arctic nesting grounds, and we’ll be in the full bloom of our short, mild, beautiful Alaskan summer.

And so…

On To the Links!

Brits go full retard.  Never go full retard.

24 months of pay cuts.

Just blame the dog.

What minds?

Will Disney lose another one to DeSantis?

Oh, now she’s alarmed?

President(ish) Biden says he’s known for two things.  That’s true:  Stupidity and senility.

Bring it, asshole.  Fuck around and find out.

Let’s face it, equal treatment under the law is long gone.

Whatever happened to “disperse or you will be fired upon”?

This is one of the most Alaska things that can happen.

Bill Maher finds another acorn.  I don’t often agree with the guy, but lately he’s been making some good points.

Colonel Schlichter:  Playing by the rules is for suckers.  He may be right.

Is Trump imploding?  It’s beginning to look that way.

More fuss over Cleopatra’s skin color.  If only there were some contemporary depictions we could look at!  Oh, wait:

San Francisco Target store locks up its entire inventory.

This should be fun to watch.

A desiccated old weirdo runs for President.

This Week’s Idiots:

MSNBC’s Jarvis DeBerry is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Janai Nelson is an idiot.

MSNBC’s is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Katelyn Burns is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Hayes Brown (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

I’m sensing a pattern here.

USAToday’s Rex Huppke is an idiot.  Wait, USAToday is still a thing?  Who knew?

Robert Reich (Repeat Offender Alert) remains a sawed-off runt, and an idiot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

OK, plenty of folks have been saying that it’s time for the political Right to start playing hardball, me among them.  (This is relevant, I promise.)  Too many in the GOP seem to be worried more about continued invites to Georgetown cocktail parties than adhering to what are supposed to be ‘conservative’ principals – much less, you know, promoting actual liberty.

If they want some inspiration, they should tune in to the 1975 Nazereth tune Hair of the Dog.  The refrain includes:

Now you’re messin’ with a
A son of a bitch.
Now you’re messin’ with a son of a bitch.

The Right could learn a thing or two from that.  I think they need a few more sons of bitches in the Imperial City – and yes, I think that was part of Donald Trump’s appeal.  Here, then, is that tune.  Enjoy.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

Up here in the Great Land, the bears are waking up.

Yr. obdt. on bearwatch.

Bears are just one of the wildlife-related things we deal with, living in rural Alaska, of course.  We had a black hanging around for a while last summer, and while I stood watch a few times while Mrs. Animal was working in the greenhouse, I never got a good clear look at him – or else he’d have been in the freezer.  Black bear is downright good eating, and the season is open up here year ’round, with an annual bag limit of three.  And there’s a reason we keep a chest freezer that’s big enough to double as a crypt for a Pharaoh of old.  So, maybe this year.

Now then…

On To the Links!

The urban v. rural divide, in microcosm.

Now do Fetterman.

My good friend Brandon Morse nails the gun control debate.

No, Tim Scott doesn’t have a chance of being elected President in 2024.  He’s not really running for President; he is at most running for a cabinet post.

I love a happy ending.

Once in a while, a little common sense emerges.

Demand in one hand, defecate in the other, see which hand fills up first.

Piers Morgan finds an acorn.

Massive chimp-out in Chicago.

California goes full Commie.  Commiefornia?

Why are people fleeing the blue states?

Well, people in blue states are leaving in part because of stores being forced to shut down by runaway crime.

Something about the plank in one’s own eye…

Dead bird drones.  Yes, really.

This Week’s Idiots:

Slate’s Alex Kirshner is an idiot.

The NY TimesLydia Polgreen is an idiot.

Slate’s Nitish Pahwa is an idiot.

Robert Reich (Repeat Offender Alert) remains a sawed-off runt, and an idiot.

The LA Times’ Robin Abcarian is an idiot.

Rep. Ro Khanna (Horse’s Ass – CA) is an idiot.

“Pothole Pete” Buttigieg is an idiot.

The daffy old Bolshevik from Vermont has another stupid idea.

Katie Porter is an idiot.

Germany doubles down on stupid.  Why not just invade Russia again while you’re at it?

Outgoing Chicago Mayor Beetlejuice is an idiot.

Incompetent, and stupid.  Kind of defines the entire Biden(‘s handlers) Administration.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

Something a little different this week; you’ve all seen here, in previous installments, my fond memory of the great Johnny Carson.  Well, in this show, he had as his guest on the Tonight Show another great, Ann-Margret.

In this episode she puts on, as a preview for an upcoming performance, a musical number that will knock your socks off – among other things.  (Also, it must have been chilly on that stage.)  Unforgettable is something of an understatement here.  Enjoy.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

I’m not sure what I think of this.

Granted, Alaska is all about aviation.  The Great Land wouldn’t be what it is without aviation, although most of what makes the state work isn’t big airliners but the smaller civil aviation types, including the famed bush pilots.  But I never would have thought of taking a big airliner and turning it into housing.  Excerpt:

The plane, donated by FedEx to the University of Alaska’s Aviation Technology Division, made headlines for its 2013 landing at Merrill Field in Downtown Anchorage.

Jon Kotwicki, the owner of FLY8MA Flight Training in Big Lake, purchased the airliner as part of a housing project for students who attend the training facility. The 727 will join a DC-6 and DC-9 already parked at his property, and has big plans in store for it.

“That is our flight school that we are building there off of Hawk Lane and Big Lake,” Kotwicki said. “[The planes] will serve as student housing for students who are coming to do flight training with us from afar as well as an Airbnb.”

I guess it makes a certain amount of sense; go to flight school, live in an airplane.  I guess we’ll see how it works out.  Now then:

On To the Links!

Alaska is essential to US energy security.  No shit, Sherlock.

Some cancers shouldn’t be treated.

Well, Chicago, it was nice knowin’ ya.  Aw, who am I kidding?  Chicago was always a shithole.  Now they’re just doubling down on lunacy.

More guns do not lead to more deaths.

National treasure Dr. Victor Davis Hanson describes our French Revolution.

Inside the carbon cult.

Going up.

Gas prices will be going up again.  Yay.

Six things the Left doesn’t want you to know about ‘climate change.’

This is one of the most Alaska things that can happen.  And so is this.

Manufacturing is not “booming” under President Biden(‘s handlers.)

Pelosi heckled.  Well, she is a sad old drunk.

Whoo-hoo!  Bikini baristas win in court!

Mostly peaceful.

This should come as no surprise.

Drip…  Drip…  Drip…

National treasure Dr. Victor Davis Hanson on fiddling while America burns.

This Week’s Idiots:

The Atlantic’s Quinta Jurecic is an idiot.

John “Lurch” Kerry is an asshole, and an idiot.

Karine Jean-Pierre is an idiot.

CNN’s Clay Cane is an idiot.

Paul Krugman (Repeat Offender Alert) remains a cheap partisan hack, and an idiot.

Salon’s Dean Obeidallah (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Chicago’s new Mayor-elect is an idiot.

Idiotic TikTok landwhale complains about airline seats.

The Nation’s John Nichols (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Salon’s Lawrence Goldstone is an idiot.

Slate’s Richard L. Hasen and Dahlia Lithwick (Repeat Offender Alert) are both idiots.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

I never was a huge fan of Billy Joel.  He was good enough, but I just never really got into his style of music.  But most artists good enough to get album deals usually have at least one good song in them, and boy, howdy, did Billy Joel have at least one great song in him.

That song, of course, was Piano Man.  It’s a wonderful, iconic tune that put Billy Joel on the map, and whatever I think of his general style, he deserved the fame this song brought him.  Here, then, is that tune; enjoy.

Animal’s Hump Day News

Happy Hump Day!

I’m toying with the idea of buying one of these.

This is the Uberti 1873 Cattleman Bird’s Head revolver, in .45 Colt.  The basic gun is a clone of the famous Colt Model P.  I’d prefer to have the 3″ barrel option, even though that would preclude my hot .45 Colt loads; I think the gun would handle it but it would be a handful to shoot.

Why do I want one?  I’m not entirely certain.  It would make a nice backup piece to my belt guns in the big .45 Colt (a Smith & Wesson 25-5 and a Ruger Vaquero) or a decent CCW piece in its own right.  But I think I’d like to have one mostly because I think they’re cool.  And that’s reason enough, right?  Of course right.

And so…

On To the Links!

Check out my bonus post this week over at Glibertarians; this one is another Profile in Toxic Masculinity starring one of my personal heroes, Theodore Roosevelt.

Point of order:  Chicago doesn’t have a sensible candidate for Mayor.  Just more of the same.

Of course Xi is prepping China for war.  You’d have to be an idiot not to see it.

If this isn’t an impeachable offense, I don’t know what is.

Fuck off, slaver!

Now this is heroism.

San Francisco should fix their own damn problems.

The more I read about Winsome Sears, the more I like her.

Are Democrats Really This Dumb Or Just Evil?  I’d point out that the two are not mutually exclusive.

You really can’t put the genie back in the bottle.

A touching story of a television legend.

OPEC cuts production.  Hold on to your butts.

The two are not mutually exclusive.

I love a happy ending.

Florida is now a Constitutional carry state.  That makes a majority of states with permitless carry.

This Week’s Idiots:

Donna Brazile (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Vox’s Li Zhou (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

MSNBC’s Hayes Brown (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Rolling Stone’s Ron Kuby is an idiot.

I’ll stick with real beer.

The marketing people for Bud Light are all idiots.  Honestly, who still drinks this stuff?  It’s “sex in a canoe” beer – fucking close to water.

CNN’s Dean Obeidallah (Repeat Offender Alert) is an idiot.

Kesha Ram Hinsdale is an idiot.

This Week’s Cultural Edification:

Last week’s Eddie Money video prompted a comment from a reader, pointing out that the red-hot Latina in the video was actually Apollonia Kotero, who co-starred with Prince in his 1984 film Purple Rain.  I might have spotted her before if I had seen that film since I originally did, in 1984, at the Midnight Movie in the old Waterloo Theater in Waterloo, Iowa.  The theater served beer at the Midnight Movie, and there was usually a joint or two being passed around, which added a little… flavor to the experience.

In those days I listened to a bit of Prince as he got a lot of radio play, in addition to being a regular feature back when MTV was new and actually, you know, had music.  I recognized his talent even though I wasn’t an enormous fan of his style (he was a quite good technical guitarist in addition to being a dynamic performer) but I did, and still do, kind of like the song Little Red Corvette.  Here, then, is the official video for that song, just like you might have seen on MTV back in the day – enjoy.

 

Deep thoughts, news of the day, totty and the Manly Arts.