Just an all star day for headline writers and satirists everywhere, because on the very same day that FIFA, the most corrupt organization in probably the fucking universe bestowed on Trump the first ever FIFA Peace Prize (wtf is that? I dunno me either but this is how it works in kleptocracies) his Admiral has stated under oath that the men they murdered on a boat allegedly carrying drugs to the US was actually going to Suriname. First, let’s check out this fucking trophy:
Well that’s something. There’s always a tell, even in the darkest of times. Just like all the hairdressers and plastic surgeons hate the MAGA women, artists are waging their own silent protest, because there is no way that was designed to do anything but remind people of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” or a bunch of undead reaching up from underground to pull someone down to hell for ever. Well done, sculptors.
Back to the boat strikes- apparently, Admiral Bradley, that scumbag who no longer deserves any fucking benefit of the doubt, under oath, stated that the boat was actually headed to Suriname. So not only were these just random innocent people on a boat to Suriname, and not narco terrorists transporting cartel drugs to the US, but then they double tapped the survivors because they knew they couldn’t have them alive and talking. I can think of no other explanation for this:
When the U.S. military carried out its first strike against a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean on September 2, the attack began with an airburst munition exploding above the 11-member crew like an umbrella of shrapnel.
A video of the attack, shown to U.S. lawmakers on Thursday and described to Reuters by two sources familiar with the imagery, showed smoke clearing and two men, who had somehow lived through the blast, clinging to a severed section of the front of the vessel in a futile effort to survive.
They were shirtless, unarmed and carried no visible communications equipment. They also appeared to have no idea what had just hit them, or that the U.S. military was weighing whether to finish them off.
“The video follows them for about an hour as they tried to flip the boat back over. They couldn’t do it,” one source said.
Admiral Frank Bradley, who was the head of the Joint Special Operations Command at the time, concluded that the wreckage was likely being kept afloat because there was cocaine inside and could drift long enough to be recovered, said the sources.
So Bradley decided that, in order to complete the mission assigned by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and neutralize the threat posed by the drug boat, he would need to attack the vessel again.
The video showed three additional munitions being fired at the damaged vessel, said the sources.
“You could see their faces, bodies… Then boom, boom, boom,” the first source said.
If the standing order was to kill them and to finish the job, the damage assessment would have taken minutes- there’s no hovering dust cloud and smoke and fire other than the boat itself obscuring the view. It took an hour to doubletap because they had to think it over and in the end decided their silence was more important and hopefully the whole thing would go away. And it probably would have if they were not so eager to blast their ultraviolence porn all over social media.
Regardless, it is all a lie- Bradley knew it was heading to Suriname and not the US, so when he “concluded that the wreckage was likely being kept afloat because there was cocaine inside and could drift long enough to be recovered” he knows that was bullshit to begin with- they were not heading to the US with coke so there was no need for the mission or to complete the mission. The only reason they doubletapped was to keep them quiet.
Convince me otherwise. This administration is a mob run kleptocracy from the top to the bottom- hell, we all know this is really all about Venezuela’s oil- and we need to remember they think like the mob, who have killed lots of people to keep them quiet. It was just easier to launch some more munitions than go bury them in Pine Barrens.
And if they were waiting and signaling other narcoterrorists, why not wait around and blow them up to? Because there were none coming.
And I know this sounds fucking crazy but fuck man every time I take off my tinfoil hat they do something worse.
So the alleged J6 Pipe bomber is not in fact named Richard Jewell but someone COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO ME:
The man charged with planting pipe bombs outside Republican and Democratic national party headquarters before the Jan. 6 Capitol riots told the FBI he supported Donald Trump and believed Trump won the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with his interview.
Brian Cole Jr., 30, who was arrested Thursday at his family home in a Northern Virginia exurb of Washington and criminally charged, confessed to the FBI that he planted the bombs near the Capitol on Jan. 5, 2021, according to two sources familiar with Cole’s interview who requested anonymity to speak about a sensitive ongoing investigation.
Investigators also found social media posts in which the suspect appeared to express anarchist leanings, complicating their efforts to determine a clear motive, the sources said. But they found no evidence that he colluded with militant organizations or with any Trump supporters who organized the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the sources said.
Apparently he was a Trump supporter and a Brony, because of fucking course he was:
And you’ll just have to google that yourself.
Some random news:
– Olivia Nuzzi got fired again from whatever outlet she was at now so we are maybe, perhaps, just a little bit closer to not having to hear her fucking name again.
– Donald Trump’s admin just released a natsec document that is basically a declaration of war on Europe and is overall banana pants crazy, and Adam has already broached it here on bluesky but may talk about it tonight in his Ukraine post because it is so fucking bonkers.
– Some movement on Epstein documents
– Microwave Mel Gibson at HHS has found a new way to kill more babies
– Netflix bought HBO and a bunch of other shit which means we all have to go through our fucking streaming services and figure out if we are double paying and what comes fucking free with what
– Anyone running in 2026 and 2028 has to include expanding the supreme court to get my vote. The end.
And yet another reason why I have chosen to draw the line on transgender rights and simply will not put up with any bullshit that I notice is this kind of bullshit:
As you walk down a particular hallway on the seventh floor of the Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C., you’ll find a line of photographic portraits of all the people from years past who have led the Public Health Corps at the federal Department of Health and Human Services.
Only one of those portraits is of a transgender person: Adm. Rachel Levine, who served for four years as President Biden’s assistant secretary for health. She was the first transgender person to win Senate confirmation, and her portrait has been displayed in the hallway since soon after she was confirmed in 2021. The role is a four-star admiral position in charge of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service.
Levine’s official portrait was recently altered, a spokesperson for HHS confirmed to NPR. A digital photograph of the portrait in the hallway obtained by NPR shows that Levine’s previous name is now typed below the portrait, under the glass of the frame.
“During the federal shutdown, the current leadership of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health changed Admiral Levine’s photo to remove her current legal name and use a prior name,” says Adrian Shanker, former deputy assistant secretary for health policy in the Biden administration who worked with Levine and is now her spokesperson. He called the move an act “of bigotry against her.”
Adm. Rachel Levine’s official portrait is a vertical photo of her, wearing her uniform.
Adm. Rachel Levine’s official portrait has hung in a hallway of the headquarters of HHS since shortly after she was confirmed by the Senate in 2021.
Levine told NPR that it was an honor to serve the American people as the assistant secretary for health “and I’m not going to comment on this type of petty action.”
It goes without saying there was no reason to do this, and not only was there no reason to do this, during shutdown, when nothing was supposed to be getting done, they went and took extra action to deadname her. This isn’t about anything other than bullies being bullies and picking on people because they think they can and because they think it is to their benefit. None of it is about anything other than being a bigot. No, you’re not worried about men in women’s bathrooms because there is nothing from stopping men from walking into them right fucking now. No, you’re not worried about gender affirming care or surgery and the reason you’re not is because you’re not a fucking doctor or researcher, the people who actually think about and lose sleep about and try to come to the best decision because they fucking love and care about their patients.
People are people and come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors with all sorts of motivations and interests and preferences and their own unique body and minds. None of that changes the fact that every one of them deserves the same legal and human rights and dignity as everyone else. The only thing transgender people want is the same thing everyone else wants, to be free to be themselves and to be left the fuck alone.
Today is the three year anniversary of the death of Tammy. I like this picture of her with her husband Brian. We were all so young:
I still think of her every day. Such a loss for the whole world.
This really pissed me off last night:
Jeffries pisses me off some times as much as the rest of you, but only a fucking cracker ass white person would have written this “joke,” because the Central Park 5 is not a joking matter and neither is putting that bullshit on Leader Jeffries. The Central Park Five is every black family’s worst fucking nightmare and joking about it should fall as flat as jokes about Tamir Rice.
Disgraceful, especially considering the near perfect record of the Onion.
It’s date night tonight so I thawed two of the gifted steaks from our wedding, and am making broccoli, smashed potatoes, steaks, and grilled onions and mushrooms. I gotta run though, because she is pedaling home and I need to squeeze some lemons for her whiskey sour. Talk to you all later.
Baud
I don’t like offering advice to Democrats, but I would not be offended if they started handing out Peace Prizes to each other whenever they get together in public.
Josie
@Baud:
Genius!
Gin & Tonic
I am looking forward to the court-martial of Admiral Bradley in a future Democratic administration. I can’t help but note how Ukraine treats its captives, despite the fact that the russians are trying to erase Ukraine, and despite the fact that they have a very well-documented history of torturing Ukrainian POW’s. If a country subject to an existential war can obey the rules, the US should easily be able to as well.
SpaceUnit
These war crimes will put US service men and women at tremendous risk. If we’re not going to adhere to the Geneva Convention and rules of war then why should anyone we’re in conflict with?
This is like a Venn diagram where evil and stupid and reckless all overlap.
TS
Don’t know if this has been mentioned before – but SCOTUS – what else would you expect. Seems US citizens are next in line for ICE to arrest
The Supreme Court said Friday that it will hear a case examining the legality of President Donald Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship, a high-stakes test of the controversial policy that could redefine who is considered an American.
The justices have yet to set a date for arguments, but the high court has taken the case in time to render its decision by June or July, when the current term ends.
The Trump administration asked the justices to take up the case on an expedited basis in September after lower courts found the policy, a key component of the president’s anti-immigration agenda, unconstitutional and blocked it.
wapo.st/4rGO3Al
Raoul Paste
@SpaceUnit: Yes. This is reminiscent of “why you don’t torture people“ during the Bush administration.
Curiously, my voice to text wrote the above as “the bullshit administration”
Robert A Savell
Also. soccer, you know. Famously known for NOT TOUCHING THE F’IN BALL WITH THE HANDS.
SpaceUnit
@Raoul Paste:
Apparently those making these decisions don’t give a shit.
I mean, it’s not like their asses will ever be in danger.
HinTN
@Robert A Savell: Hands without thumbs. Creepy!
WTFGhost
@Gin & Tonic: George Washington refused to torture enemy soldiers; he was looking forward to being hanged, drawn, and quartered, though the last part isn’t as bad after the big ouch at the beginning. Did you know they don’t mean “drawing” with pencil? Yeah, no, it’s this barbaric ritual….
@Robert A Savell: Maybe the head of FIFA has just enough shame to think of requesting that for the trophy, “show he’s clutching at the world, not a football!”
Scout211
Good point. But the trophy or award or whatever it is, is a metaphor, a symbol of world unity through football with the hands representing . . . Oh f*ck it, it’s a trinket made in gold to manipulate Trump and has no real meaning in any other context.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Of course the US can. Every service member has been trained on this. The only reason that we are not is because this administration has chosen to make us a pariah nation, and too many fucking senior military leaders have gone along with it. It is literally nauseating. I actually get sick to my stomach when this comes up. I want everyone involved to fucking burn. No easy resignations. No pensions. You signed off on this at any level, you’re done. Fuckers.
WaterGirl
@Josie: Maybe a mockery of it.
Remember the purple hearts all those assholes wore mocking John Kerry?
zhena gogolia
Haven’t read the whole post yet, but yes, isn’t that Carrie’s hand reaching up from the grave? Times four or whatever?
Scout211
So what’s the over/under on Olivia Nuzzi’s next move. Any guesses?
I’m thinking a substack and a podcast. That’s what all the cool kids are doing these day.
glc
This was the one that surprised me today.
WaterGirl
.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: It would have to be a podcast, wouldn’t it? You can’t meet the next creepy people to suck up to and gush about if you’re just sitting in a room writing stuff.
You have to interview your subjects! (future creepy marks)
Professor Bigfoot
Not to be too pedantic, but these aren’t “war crimes.”
There is no war.
These are simply crimes, specifically Capital/First Degree Murder.
Every soul in that entire chain of command needs to be held accountable, from the PO1 who pulled the trigger to Pete Kegsbreath himself.
zhena gogolia
Great post, worth reading the whole thing.
So sorry about Tammy.
Scout211
@glc:
From the link:
So gas powered, but small. Because there are “barriers” to manufacturing small cars? And EVs are mandated?
Wow. Never before in the history of the country has anyone ever thought that small cars would be more fuel efficient. Trump is so smart. A genius!
What a dipshit.
gene108
@TS:
SCOTUS, I’m betting, is going to dust off every dissent in every birthright citizenship case and uses those as the basis to make birthright citizenship to be conditional on the whims of Congress and the president.
The six Republicans are all in on creating a white Christian nationalist ethnostate.
Fraud Guy
The weird part with the Onion misfiring, is that the Babylon Bee has actually hit on a couple of their recent stories,
Trump legal strategy fails, and how over the top his medical team is.
Ella in New Mexico
@Gin & Tonic: I truly believe every single person involved with this will get a proactive pardon in the coming days.
If there’s a strategy to reverse that fact, or a solution to the abuse of the pardon power I’m all ears.
glc
@Scout211: It’s a little crazier and more incoherent than that I think. Not sure where the best roundup is. He saw these really tiny Kei cars, thought they were cute, and wanted us all to have them.
Looks like Newsweek sanewashed it a bit as one does.
Somewhere he mentioned specifically that they could be electric, hybrid, or gas.
No attempt at coherence with any other position he may have taken. Newsweek does their best to make it look like there are issues of policy involved, and I don’t have a single source for a good look at this right now. But I would guess someone will be along with shortly. It’s reverberating a bit more in Maga-land I think.
These days the man just says whatever comes to mind in the moment.
Marc
aside from it being a likely case of white comedy writer syndrome…
Forgive them, they had no idea what they said until the blowback.
piratedan
@Scout211: I believe that her destiny will deliver her to CBS and 60 Minutes, these parasites seem to fail upward at an alarming rate.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ella in New Mexico: If that happens, they need to be shunned by every decent person. Revive the cut direct. Don’t let them eat at restaurants. Etc.
gene108
@glc:
There’s nothing stopping the U.S. automakers from selling small inexpensive internal combustion engine cars in the U.S.
The Chevy Spark, the Honda Fit, and Toyota Yaris were all small inexpensive subcompact cars that were sold here 10 years ago.
I’m not sure why automakers decided to stop selling those.
It makes no sense to loosen regulations for products that were sold here not too long ago.
glc
@gene108: The Kei is not legal here, and he wants it to be.
Opinions differ about what should be legal here, but we are not talking about anything involving policy or logic, just an old man whose brain has melted who happens to President of the US.
In this particular case, he’s probably not even being paid to say what he says, it just crossed his mind and out it came.
(Along with the racism, murderous impulses, and requests for bribes. There’s other stuff in there.)
Ella in New Mexico
This post is as close to my own stream of conciousness lately as some white dude from West Virginia could possibly come.
Also, for the millions of kids around the world who dream of making it someday in Pro Soccer, we really need to find a way to get rid of FIFA and it’s corruption.
Oklahomo
@Scout211: Given all her recent context, she might make bank with OnlyFans.
MagdaInBlack
@gene108: Because they make more $$$’s on the big SUV’s and truck like things. So they marketed the hell out of those….. and here we are.
Scout211
Car and Driver weighs in.
Much more at the link.
MagdaInBlack
@Scout211: Thank you for this.
I like how he said “buyers have gravitated toward” as if there was no marketing push at all involved.
WaterGirl
@MagdaInBlack: We are surrounded by propaganda.
gene108
@glc:
Kei cars seem to mostly be for the Japanese market.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car
Viva BrisVegas
@Robert A Savell: The trophy is obviously an artistic rendering of Maradona’s Hand of God.
It demonstrates to the world that cheating and flouting the rules will always be rewarded, if you have the right connections.
As such, it’s an eminently suitable award for Trump.
Gin & Tonic
@Scout211: There is a market (I wouldn’t call it “thriving” but it is active) in Kei trucks over 25 years old for import into the US – because some states have very relaxed rules for motor vehicles over that age as “historic” or “antique.” Thing is, though, they don’t go over 45 mph, so aren’t suitable for highway use.
Gretchen
@Scout211: I’m guessing Don Jr. for Nuzzi’s next. She’s immune to the ick factor.
Dangerman
First time hearing Last Christmas tonight. Might be a record.
TS
@glc:
The GOP also wants every woman (well white woman) to do nothing except breed – so where is everyone going to fit in these tiny cars.
Soprano2
@gene108: I think they don’t make much money on small cars, so they do everything they can to discourage people from buying them. Then they say there’s no demand so they stop making them.
Gretchen
That Oklahoma student who was trying to get in on the Riley Gaines grift by writing a “Jesus hates gender fluidity” paper for her trans psych TA may not get there. She got initial traction from Turning Points USA and the (yikes!) Governor of Oklahoma, but there is so much pointing and laughing at her 7th grade writing style and complete lack of understanding how to write a college paper that I hope it won’t work out for her. This is going to be the first thing any future employer or grad school will see when they google her.
Darkrose
We would have loved a smaller car. Unfortunately, we also needed at least a max of 300 miles per charge on the battery. The ID.4 is way more car than we need in terms of size, but since we can’t charge at home, only having to charge once a week is important.
kindness
Presidential pardons mean nothing in the Hague. Eventually one of Trump’s twits is going to travel overseas and be siezed and held for trial. And we’ll all be rooting for the Hague all the while Fox News will be blowing their tops atomic bomb style.
NotMax
Enough already. Just friggin’ admit it’s white.
;)
Marc
@gene108: Pure speculation:
A small internal combustion engine car costs about the same to make as an SUV derived from the same platform, but the SUV has a significantly higher market value, better margins, more profit. The larger and more luxurious the SUV, the greater the margin.
Every few years make each SUV model larger and more expensive. Then every service call is an opportunity to up-sell to the newer larger version of the same SUV, or even level them up, with promises of “just” a few hundred dollars more per month. Aided and abetted by usurious finance/lease terms and rates.
Rinse and repeat until it all implodes again.
Personally, I’m still waiting for a decent compact hatchback EV with a usable 200+ range, not made by GM or H/K.
Ruckus
@Scout211:
What a dipshit.
That’s moving him quite a bit up scale isn’t it?
Marc
I’ll take one of those in BRG please.
TS
Comment of WaPo related to trump and his non-participation trophy. Covers all the bases.
Rusty
I trust people to know who they love. I trust women to k ow what they want to do with their bodies. I trust people to know their gender and how they want to express it. What is so damn hard about this for conservatives? All this all this going on about freedom when what can be more basic about freedom than your own bodily autonomy. It is the fundamental right to bodily autonomy that makes trans rights so important, because same principle applies to all of us.
WaterGirl
@Soprano2: I am not a car person, but it seems like small cars would be less safe with all the huge vehicles on the road.
Ruviana
@Gretchen: I don’t know, he might be too young for her.
Ruckus
@gene108:
I’m not sure why automakers decided to stop selling those.
Because not many people wanted to buy them. Many countries that sell small cars have some cities with basically zero land to build roads that are big enough for big cars, like the ones we used to see, that we don’t sell here because most cars are smaller because less gas is used and in many parts of humanity the concept is that bigger is better. It sometimes isn’t. A single person doesn’t buy a 50 lb bag of any food because unless they give most of it away, it will rot long before it’s eaten.
central texas
But of course. Just like all the paperback mysteries. It the killing is incidental, the killer runs and hides. If it is premeditated murder, the murderer does his best to erase the evidence, including witnesses. Only the Trumpish fetish for video made this apparent.
The good admiral has plenty of experience hiding war crimes in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Why should he thing this is any different.
glc
I’ll just put a link to the actual post. I take it as primarily of psychological interest.
Herewith
Anyway, it did startle me. And it’s a bit of challenge to the die-hard Trump supporter, as it requires considerable mental agility to keep up with the leader’s shifting fancies. Not for the first time, by any means. As Orwell would say, “We have always been at war with Venezuela”.
NotMax
@Marc
For some reason made me think of Bugatti being stuck with already built straight 8 engine blocks when the stock market crashed in 1929 and new high end auto sales subsequently fell off a cliff..
So instead they for a time turned to building trains, for which there was still some demand. Waste not, want not.
;)
zhena gogolia
@Rusty: Yeah.
Kent
@Ruckus: Yes
My wife is Chilean and we spend time there every year. Santiago and Vina del Mar where we spend most of our time are really not designed for larger cars. The streets, parking spaces, on-street parking, etc. would be all but impossible with most big American SUVs let alone trucks. You’d simply not be able to park it anywhere. Not to mention gas is more expensive and median incomes are substantially lower so people really don’t want to own gas guzzlers.
The price of gas in the rest of the world (and lower median incomes) are probably just as big of a reasons why people don’t buy big gas guzzlers. For example, in Chile gas is now about $1.35 per liter which comes to about $5.20 per gallon. And median salaries are probably 50% of what they are in the US. In France the cost of gas is $1.96 per liter or $7.50 per gallon and median incomes are maybe only 75% of what they are in the US.
No one outside the US and Canada can really afford gas guzzler
Imagine the shrieks of horror you would hear here in the US if gas prices doubled or tripled and wages simultaneously shrank by 25%.
Peke Daddy
@Gretchen: She’ll say she was victimized by “elites” who hate heartfelt expressions of faith, however imperfect. A full scholarship to Hillsdale will seal her deal.
Marc
@WaterGirl: That’s the weird part, with current safety standards, smaller cars have optimized structural designs intended to prevent intrusion by larger vehicles into the interior. I’ve seen pictures of Smart ForTwos hit by SUVs, and as designed, the passenger space remains intact. With seat belts and air bags just about any crash below highway speeds is likely survivable. At highway speeds and above, I don’t feel all that safe in my now bloated (compared to my ’05) Outback.
Kei cars, by the way, have lesser safety standards since they are intended for primarily local rather than highway use. They would not be considered sufficiently crash safe under current NHTSA rules, nor clean enough under EPA rules. I suspect the idea here is to eliminate those pesky regulations.
Kent
@Marc: I expect that this is really just a brain fart from Trump that he will forget about in 2 days. The amount of regulatory effort it would take to make Kei Cars legal in the US is not something the DOT is going to bother with, not in this administration.
Almost Retired
I was subjected to the first two sentences of Trump’s acceptance speech for winning the Most Bribable Public Figure Award from FIFA while diving for the remote. In the first 15 seconds he slammed the “previous Administration.” What an appalling and graceless buffoon, example number (too high of a number for the human mind to comprehend). Jeez, I think I would rewrite that time travel trope to skip the cradle-smothering trip to Austria in 1887 and head for postwar Queens.
prostratedragon
Clutching at a ball.
RaflW
I hadn’t see the trophy (and, yes, John, why on a shredding, grasping planet is a soccer league issuing a “peace prize”). It is truly hideous.
One wonders if there will ever be another one awarded. It seemed back when announced that it was going to be this – a sop (or a soft bribe) to the brittle man who will never, ever get anything from the Nobel committee.
NotMax
@Kent
13 cents per U.S. gallon in Venezuela.
Just sayin’.
;)
RaflW
@Scout211: Culture and fashion editor for Newsmax?
I kid, but who knows, maybe that ‘network’ covers such things? I’ve never, ever seen it. Won’t even click on a short clip if it’s them.
OlFroth
Its over 1400 miles from Venezuela to the tip of Florida. At best, these small boats have a range of about 200 miles. They were never headed to the US.
coin operated
@Oklahomo: I definitely LOL’d
coin operated
@Gretchen: I just threw up a little in my mouth…
Princess
I’ll always remember Tammy because she died a few days before my small grandson and you wrote me such a kind note, even though you were suffering too.
no body no name
@Gin & Tonic:
To be cynical as fuck about this Bradley is head of JSOC. Which is known for committing war crimes and fighting not wars. So double tapping is well, in the immortal words of M.Bison “for me it was Tuesday”. This is who we are and always have been as a nation. And JSOC issues are well documented. They are a product of MACV-SOG which was up to the same shit which was a product of units in WW2 that was up to the same shit. We have never not been double tapping, canoeing, torturing, executing people, and killing women and children. Not just American but humankind as a whole. This is what we fucking area. And it’s horrible.
What is fucking insane about all this is talking about JSOC and showing videos of these crimes in action by a SECDEF. That’s why this is all a big fucking thing and why people might get in trouble this time. They aren’t supposed to be talked about it and sure as shit footage is not supposed to go public. But these social media idiots couldn’t help themselves. Throwing the head of JSOC under the bus in public might be enough for Hegseth to be gone.
*What was done was still wrong. But there’s been tons of documentation of JSOC war criming left and right and fighting illegal wars and it never went anywhere. Admitting they are involved in all this with video evidence while also bragging about sending CIA into Venezuela is some galaxy brain level stuff.
coin operated
I spent the afternoon loading the motorcycle and other assorted items into the 5th wheel. Tomorrow, we’ll be in Mission Bay, San Diego for the winter. I am exhausted, but I’m sitting on my motorcycle in the garage, with a decent pour of Basil Hayden, watching college ball. I have, for a few brief hours, forgotten about the shitshow that is the Trump administration.
BTW…I’m with Cole. Courts martial all the way down the chain of command for these murdering mofos
Edited to add…is anyone else thoroughly annoyed by the Allstate ads? The one with the dude stealing a kids cotton candy is pissing me off to no end.
WTFGhost
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s rare that I say I agree with someone you’ve said or the sentiment you’ve expressed, but you’ve nailed it here.
no body no name
@gene108:
People don’t want them. Car culture is built around trucks and muscle cars. A buddy of mine bought a smart car for his business. We called it the mouse because it was tiny but it worked great for the city. However driving on the highway was near suicidal. It would start to get pushed into other lanes by strong gusts of wind and if you had a collision with something bigger you’d just be soup.
Even people who would want a tiny car won’t get one because of all the other people going around in an F-150 or Charger waiting to paste you.
RevRick
@MagdaInBlack: Would you buy a car that small when you have to share the road with a fully loaded 40-ton semi, let alone all the ridiculous pickups? Advertising may push higher profit margin vehicles, but I shudder to imagine a multi-vehicle pileup, and me in the middle in a vehicle that small.
Now, in European cities, that’s entirely different, because streets are often quite narrow.
ETA no body no name beat me to it
Chetan R Murthy
others have answered more clearly with greater detail. My answer is superfluous.
prostratedragon
@NotMax: Thank you🙄!
RevRick
Off topic, but it was boys night out, and the spawn and I stopped at a pub in Dublin. We both had a pint, of course.
Timill
@RevRick: Smaller cars can dodge more easily ;-)
More seriously, my stepson (weighing about 350-400 lbs) has been driving a Smart Fortwo for the last 10 years, and the only time it’s been in an accident was when it was parked at the house.
Marc
@NotMax: Here’s another locomotive engine from a car maker turned aircraft engine manufacturer (3500 HP H-24 turbocharged fighter engines), to torpedo boat engines, to this masterpiece:
JaySinWA
My take on the FIFA award. Artist trolling.
bsky.app/profile/did:plc:dtktsuopwl7t5btf7l6x2smx/post/3m7bbsawkik26
Rotting severed hands holding up a globe with the oceans boiled away and littered with garbage. The FIFA peace prize is a heck of a statement.
different-church-lady
I do find it remarkable how Trump has, at long last, brought peace to all the warring football clubs of the earth.
NotMax
@Chetan R Murthy
Ah, the DeSoto Superfluous 6. Heckuva machine.
:)
Omnes Omnibus
@RevRick: This logic puts everyone behind the wheel of a Peterbilt. People here want giant cars because that’s what’s been pushed at them by marketers. I have no interest in a giant SUV or truck. I feel safer in a smaller, more maneuverable car. They are actually pretty safe and they are shit ton more fun to drive.
Chetan R Murthy
@Omnes Omnibus: There’s an XKCD for that: m.xkcd.com/3167/
no body no name
@Omnes Omnibus:
What’s your opinion about all the other shit JSOC has done. Including working with the CIA that used vaccinations to find Bin Laden setting vaccinations back in that region as badly as RFK had here and then canoeing Bin Laden after?
I’m aware completely different situation but that was all criming as well. So if crimes matter, that was some bad shit as well but we all cheered it on especially that a Democrat did it.
So if we want this shit to stop. We need to get rid of our intelligence services and tier 1 units. It’s not just that you can trace this back to MACVSOG you can trace that to WW2 and then trace that all back to the beginning of mankind.
I’d love for us to abolish JSOC but that’s not gonna happen while our piers have theirs. I don’t think we can all agree to unilitaterally get rid of this all at once because one smart ass will keep it and it and then here we go again.
The problem and the rot goes far deeper than this incident.
And to rip open a wound and start an argument deliberately. How in the fuck is this worse than what we supported, enabled, and defended in Gaza? Under a Democrat? How is this, something everyone knows we do all the time, going to shred our moral credibility anymore than our support of what went down in Gaza? It sure as shit makes us look stupid for posting JSOC videos and bragging about it and stupid is bad. Morally, that’s long been gone and the dirt was put on the coffin with Gaza.
prostratedragon
@Chetan R Murthy:
Exactly.
different-church-lady
Important question: a 2 pound bag of Ghirardelli chocolate chips is a totally appropriate dinner, yes?
Omnes Omnibus
@no body no name: Let’s just blow up the world then. Right?
I am not really in the mood for whataboutism on this topic. I’ve talked on this blog and other places about my issues with special ops and SEALs in particular so I don’t really feel like I need to go into it all again here.
Omnes Omnibus
@different-church-lady: Do you have any cognac left from breakfast?
different-church-lady
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m sensing this could get complicated…
Scout211
It depends on what you plan for dessert.
Ruckus
@Soprano2:
In many places in Japan there isn’t road room for bigger vehicles or especially places to park them. Sort of like here where in some underground parking won’t fit some current pickup trucks. And even if the parking space is big enough, some drivers getting it to fit around corners and/or into/out of parking spaces just doesn’t actually work. When I lived in my last big city apartment building underground parking area one could park a full sized normal length US made van in the underground parking lot. But some would never fit something like a full size van or pickup or an older US full size 1960s -1970s car.
Omnes Omnibus
@different-church-lady: Not really. If yes, then yes. If no, then what booze do you have that pairs with chocolate.
different-church-lady
@Scout211: I think there’s another bag here somewhere…
different-church-lady
@Omnes Omnibus:
All of them, Katie.
Scout211
@different-church-lady: Then that is totally fine.
different-church-lady
@Scout211: Follow up question: does Doordash deliver emergency glucagon?
Omnes Omnibus
@different-church-lady: Then you should be good to go.
For further questionable life advice, feel free to ask anytime I am around. Yes, knife juggling is a great hobby.
Jay
Thank you, John.
Jay
Scout211
@different-church-lady: what is this Door Dash of which you speak? I live in the boonies where no deliver service dare to go.
Omnes Omnibus
@Scout211: Think of it as a kind of Sears Catalog for food, but faster.
NotMax
@different-church-lady
Chocolate chip pancakes without all that egg and flour mishegas?
:)
different-church-lady
@NotMax: But keeping the maple syrup, right?
Captain C
@Oklahomo: Livvy’s Felching Channel
NotMax
@different-church-lady
Mapletini.
:)
Gvg
@MagdaInBlack: and the fact that they would have to drive on the same rods as the huge SUVs, not to mention semi trucks wouldn’t have anything to do with why we don’t feel safe in truly tiny cars. I see the practicality and….don’t want a tiny car myself. I do like a more agile compromise. Frankly I like being able to haul stuff like used furniture to refinish, plywood and mulch in large amounts for my garden. I am considering getting a truck again for my next vehicle even though I live alone. I have a small minivan now, Mazda 5. They don’t seem to make a vehicle that quite matches my lifestyle.
The newer electric “scooters” that are like motorized skateboards with handlebars are becoming more common with middle aged people around neighborhoods here. I think they might start subbing for cars on short trips to the store. They are making busses more useable because people use them to get to the bus and then from the bus to school or work. Electric assist bikes are also around but aren’t as compact. The scooters also are for rent by apps with charging zones all around common use areas, so people just walk over and grab one and go.
they weren’t around a few years ago, other things were being tried then. It keeps changing, so I am not sure what will happen but people are trying different ideas, not just cars. I think it something will work out by consensus and experiment not by plan or intention. Even middle aged people of modest income are trying new things if you look. In fact maybe especially people with modest income.
They Call Me Noni
@different-church-lady: If you paired it with a decent red then yes.
SW
Trump is not drifting into senility. He is just demonstrating that he is the most anti-woke mother fucker on the planet.
no body no name
@different-church-lady:
Single malt dark chocolate.
no body no name
@Omnes Omnibus:
Didn’t know that. I went from support role to combat arms at a point so I’m under no illusions as well as to what actually goes on. Which is why I’m just not shocked about this.
Sister Golden Bear
Thanks again. Shit’s getting bad, real bad, for us trans folks. Stuff like the Trump administration planning to end prison rape protections for trans and intersex people. Even with those protections, trans women are routinely raped in prison. V-coding is the common practice in the US that intentionally subjects incarcerated trans women to constant sexual assaults in male correctional facilities to placate aggressive male inmates and corrections officers.
no body no name
@SW:
It’s dementia I watched my grandfather fall to it and I have two in laws with it. IANAD but I know it when I see it. His other mental issues don’t help.
He want’s The United States Of Trump and is branding his crazy ass on everything. He’s talking about his own mortality and moving odd. The former was, is, his dream.
I compartmentalize my worries. Obviously the economy, health, environment, global issues are at the top of the list but this are so far above my paygrade and ability to wrap my head around I just accept the suck and move on. The physical destruction and vandalism of things is much ground level to me. I can get that. Which is why I think it hits most idiots like me. Removing all that is not just going to be a fiscal argument but a political one. I don’t think that ballroom is going to get destroyed to rebuild the East Wing, or Trumps name will be taken off Institute for Peace, or the Kennedy Center (he mentioned that) once he’s gone. It will be non stop constant reminders of Trump and the endless bickering over how to deal with it will distract from other issues and Republicans will play that card for all it’s worth.
We are fucked. Unfucking this is going to take a long time and it’s going to take dealing with other issues with a laser focus long enough to throw the GOP out of power for a generation or two. And we aren’t willing to do that because taking on the oligarchs means hitting a lot of blue state money making industries hard.
I hope for the best. I expect the worst. I will do my best. The only easy day is yesterday. Tomorrow will be worse. Such is life.
Gloria DryGarden
Re United States of trump, I just listened to someone reframe it:
Trump has acquired the United States as part of the Trump organization.
( I am sure there are many options for swear words and turns of phrase here, to express a reaction. But, it’s rather apt, if horrifying)
Sister Golden Bear
@kindness:
A future Dem administration can also do some Kavanaugh Stops and then accidentally drop them off in another country that honors the ICC’s jurisdiction. Oopsie.
Jackie
@different-church-lady:
It’s been hours since your ice cream sandwich. So, yes ;-)
Kent
No, lots of them are headed to Trinidad which is 10 miles off the coast of Venezuela. Or other islands in the Lesser Antilles which are all no more than a few dozen to a hundred miles off the coast of Venezuela where they transfer to freighters bound for Europe.
Kent
The technical scientific term for the un-woke is …
ZOMBIES.
eclare
@Professor Bigfoot:
What I told a friend tonight, these are murders.
Kayla Rudbek
@Ruckus: yeah, when I have to parallel park I prefer to be driving my Honda Fit (it’s an awesome car, it’s a compact that can fit a tandem bike inside with the wheels off)
eclare
@NotMax:
Isn’t that ridiculous?
eclare
@WaterGirl:
I would not feel safe in a car that small on the roads here.
Sister Golden Bear
Heh.
no body no name
@Sister Golden Bear:
We are not part of the ICC that would trigger a war if they grabbed someone. Many members of the ICC do things just as bad as JSOC just did they just don’t brag about it and admit it and show tape. You think SBS, WARFLOT, GROM isn’t up to the same things?
Let me put this directly. How was Bin Laden killed, OK? Obviously killing him was completely OK. A very good thing. On the other hand (and this pulls in JSOC and CIA, and CIA is in JSOC) we did launch a vaccination run that scared people off vaccines forever to find him. We did illegally invade a country, an ally. We also, by out own fucking admission, canoe him. Which is a crime. It is when you fire a shot into the forehead to split it into a Y while they are down. We bragged about all of this. Under Obama.
This is all public. None of this is classified even remotely. So under a Dem administration we used a false vaccination drive (that scared people off from vaccines for life), invaded an ally illegally, shot women and children in a take down, and then split a dead mans skull open so his brains leaked out. And then bragged about it and cheered it on. That is the reality.
The guys who did that? JSOC, the same people that blew those whoever they were to hell.
So does the danger of target allow those crimes? Does the political party allow those crimes? What makes any of this OK. And to be fair I’m totally OK with how we went about Bin Laden but I’m not going to ignore what actually happened. Fuck him he had it coming and fuck everyone around him they had it coming to. But that makes me every bit the monster on a crime level of what just happened to those dudes on a fast boat. Legally.
Where do we draw the line of when it’s a crime or not. It’s clear we cannot. It’s like porn! I know it when I see it but that doesn’t make it legal.
You should not be asking the question of why in the hell JSOC is involved in a not a war or violating laws. Nor should you be wondering how a Navy SEAL admiral went along with this.
What you should be asking yourself is a few things:
Answer those and make them match up to a coherent view. I’ll give you a hint, you can’t!
eclare
@different-church-lady:
Didn’t Buddy the Elf eat a dish like that?
cain
@Kent:
I think you are wrong. I think he will tell them not to worry about any of that. Just like how he is building his ballroom.
cain
@Jay: feel free to join us on mastodon.
Jay
@Kent:
And a huge number of them just ferry people along the coast, for work, to visit families, or go fishing, which of course, because of global warming and over exploitation takes place further out. They are basically the “pickup trucks of the sea”, in Latin America and coastal communities tend not to pay much attention to “borders”, as most of those were drawn thousands of years after “your people” were there.
As we know, one panga was struck with at least 11 people on board. If the panga had 11 people on board, there was no room for drugs.
They are just murdering people for shits and giggles and taking “requests” for murders from MAGgot’s on line.
Marc
Or in this case, allegedly coastal Suriname, bypassing Guyana. What evidence exists that any of these boats were carrying drugs, factual statements from trustworthy US spokespeople? When the cartels can’t use air or sea freight, they use two-man semi-submersibles, complete with increasingly sophisticated infrared countermeasures. Which various EU countries still manage to occasionally interdict without “kinetic action”.
What sensible reason exists to send 11 people along with “packages” of drugs? Sounds more like luggage, which greatly expands the reasons why the boat may have been where it was. Whoever was there, the first strike on that boat was murder, the second a demonstration of depraved indifference to human life.
Omnes Omnibus
@no body no name: Just because other things are wrong doesn’t mean that people can’t be upset about these attacks.
TS
Every country in the world should despise donald trump & all in his administration for this racist bigoted report
abc.net.au/news/2025-12-06/trump-warns-europe-faces-civilisational-erasure/106109888
“[Europe’s] economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilisational erasure,” the strategy says.
“Migration policies … are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.
This is what MAGA voted for – extreme racism, white supremacy and a demented insane president led through the nose by the worst group of racists ever to be part of the USA government since WWII. (I don’t know enough about earlier times)
Ruckus
@Gvg:
I walk to the nearest grocery store, it’s a mile down the street and a mile back. My backpack holds enough food for several days. Easy peasy, costs me nothing but time, which I have in large chunks. Now of course being retired helps with that time part. Saves gas, saves wear and tear on the car, gives me exercise.
no body no name
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m not debating that. All I am saying is people don’t know what we are really up to. We don’t really talk about what’s going on, because we can’t. It’s not entirely because of how secret it is, most people would be horrified.
I heard what you said before. I get it. More than you know.
Ruckus
@SW:
No, he’s not drifting into senility. He’s going much faster than drifting. Not setting any records mind you because he’s incapable of setting positive records. Now some do this slower and quite a bit later in life, but then he always has to be at the front of the pack. Pack of what no one knows, including him. Still has a distinct odor though. A distinct, nasty odor.
YY_Sima Qian
The culmination of the extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean & the imperialism in the NSS (“Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine):
Unfortunately, politics in much of LATAM seems to be swinging right, & the far right at that. These far right leaders are emulating Trump & seeing the latter’s patronage to secure their domestic positions (Bukele & Milei being the forerunners in the Trump 47 era).
PaulWartenberg
wait a second
“Lam_Hot_4_Cock”???
I know online handles like “Ace” and “Studmuffin” are taken, but can’t we have a LITTLE more decorum with our Internet personas?
Also, the Brony community needs to rethink their ideological foundations, if certain members are turning away from “friendship is magic” core principles. /cries
Chris T.
The media, bedazzled, is abuzz with a blizzard of swizzle about Nuzzi and Lizza meeting Cilizza on the mezzanine of the Piazza for pizza with mozzarella and a drizzle. The dizzy fizzle of the jazzy puzzle is quizzical!
Chris T.
@WaterGirl:
As always, “there’s an xkcd for that”: xkcd.com/3167/
jefft452
“Olivia Nuzzi got fired again from whatever outlet she was at now so we are maybe, perhaps, just a little bit closer to not having to hear her fucking name again.”
Bezos will put her in charge of WAPO
Scout211
@Chris T.: Very impressive. Your words have so much pizzazz, for shizzle!
Misterpuff
@Chris T.: ZZ ZZ ZZ!
Paul in KY
@Omnes Omnibus: Agree. As a commissioned officer it enrages me. Also so sad about the non-combatants murdered and their families. So sad my country has no honour.
Paul in KY
@Scout211: She has to find someone in the news she can fuck…
That’s job 1.
Paul in KY
@Professor Bigfoot: I don’t know about the PO1. That should be a black mark on their career and get them separated. I would start at officer level. All the fucking way up.
Paul in KY
@Ella in New Mexico: They ‘technically’ have to be convicted of something before they can be pardoned.
Paul in KY
@glc: Saw some Indian ones that are powered by compressed air. Not sure what range is.
Paul in KY
@piratedan: Ms. Weiss might be jealous of her though.
Paul in KY
@Viva BrisVegas: Good point on that. That fucker should have been red carded off!!!
Paul in KY
@no body no name: Good reason I wouldn’t want one. I drive an Avalon and sometimes I think it’s a tad small.
Paul in KY
@Marc: What a unusual engine! Never heard of it till now. Thanks for the link!
Paul in KY
@no body no name: They (JSOC Units) need to be under iron discipline. It all needs to be spelled out to anyone who gets in that service.
Paul in KY
@no body no name: Osama Bin Laden was outside the Geneva Convention. So were his henchmen.
Paul in KY
@Chris T.: You could write for the NYT.