Can't Find The Bums-Phils Game

"Free" trial? To watch any of this crap? Never heard of any of it, none of it is interesting. And "Formula 1"?
"MLS"? Excuse me, Apple, but are these the United States or some woke Euro shithole? If you don't like it
here, feel free to send all your placstic crap back to China or wherever it's made, go to Europe & watch
all the races & matches you can stand. Real Americans will be at the drag strip &/or watching football.

Because Apple has it & I'll never buy anything from them. Can I threaten the lives of Apple execs for stealing from me w/o one of you squealing rat bastards calling the police to have me kidnapped again? Or do you chumps want to continue to pay even more for much less?

Fruitbat Follow-Up

No question Handsome Dick Manitoba is a man.Some other New Yorkers, not so much.

Friday Reads: Trump Is Not a Manly Man. Manly Men are Not Obsessed With Redecorating

Priorities.As noted yesterday. bostonboomer has done their own research, & there's plenty.

I know this isn’t politically correct, but I’ve always thought that Trump was a bit effeminate–in his looks and his behavior. How many “manly men” are obsessed with interior decoration even in the middle of a war?

Not to mention that he’s in an apparently loveless marriage. His wife doesn’t sleep with him or even live with him, and reportedly has to be paid to appear in public with him. Maybe Melania is just a beard.

Come out of the closet & then get off the stage, you horrid scumbag! Also digby.

Open Season!

Note well the condition of the sink. I am far beyond caring.

Helluva Job, Internet!!

No One Is Safe, Anywhere!!!

Raphael Satter / Reuters:

Exclusive: Pentagon says US military personnel are reportedly being targeted using location data  —  U.S. forces deployed to war zones have been targeted using commercially available location data, according to reports fielded by military officials, an illustration of how the global surveillance economy is shaping the battlefield.
Dell Cameron / Wired:   The Pentagon Knew Enemies Could Track Troops' Phones for Years. Now They Are

Amy Furr / Breitbart:   Report: Adversaries Target U.S. Military in War Zones by Using App Location Data

Karl Bode / Techdirt:   Enemies Are Exploiting Unregulated Data Broker Location Data To Target And Kill U.S. Troops

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:   US says troops were targeted with location data, as senator warns ad industry is a ‘national security threat’

Phillip Walter Wellman / Stars & Stripes:   Federal lawmakers demand stronger protections for troops' location data

Raphael Satter / The Independent:   Enemies using phone location data to hunt US servicemembers, Pentagon confirms

Victor Nava / New York Post:   US launches new strikes in Iran targeting military site that posed threat to troops, commercial shipping : report

more at Techmeme »

Mike Brest / Washington Examiner:   Commercial tracking data being used by adversaries to target US troops: CENTCOM

NB: "The Pentagon Knew Enemies Could Track Troops' Phones for Years. Now They Are". Whiskey Pete's "non-woke Dep't. of War" doing its usual great job protecting American service people. Who are fucking morons for allowing tracking data on their 'phones.
"Enemies Are Exploiting Unregulated Data Broker Location Data To Target And Kill U.S. Troops". Thanks a lot, Apple, Bezos & Google. Now there's blood on your grubby paws, you pigs.
"Senator warns ad industry is a ‘national security threat’". For once, an actual national security threat is identified. Will anything be done? Don't hold your breath. Consumption is king, & you can't get the sheep to consume w/o advertising.

Queer As A Quail!

Straight Outta The Closet

A world of secret hungers
Perverting the men who make your laws
Every desire is hidden away
In a drawer... in a desk
By a Naugahyde® chair
"Brown Shoes Don't Make It" — F. Zappa

Ashley Parker: “President Trump delights in playing what he calls ‘the gay national anthem‘ whenever he wants to rev up a crowd. He’s obsessed with Elton John, was once friendly with Liza Minnelli, and has a Liberace-esque flair for gilded interiors. One of his favorite sports to watch—mixed martial arts—is basically sweaty, semi-naked dudes. And he is a deep and vocal admirer of the physique of fellow men…”

“Some of Trump’s allies note that years before gay marriage was legalized, Trump had gay friends, took pro-gay stances, and allowed gay people to join his private club in Palm Beach starting in the mid-1990s. Ric Grenell became the first openly gay person to hold a Cabinet position when Trump appointed him acting director of national intelligence…”

“To be clear: Trump says he is attracted only to women and, in fact, has been married to three of them. He once hosted the Miss Universe pageant, was caught on tape saying that he loves to grab women “by the pussy,” and was found civilly liable for sexually abusing a woman. Loads more have accused him of sexual misconduct…”

“But there’s also little doubt that Trump has unabashedly embraced the aesthetic—the je ne sais quoi—of a certain kind of gay man.”

Fat bastard's probably spent the last 70 yrs. trying to resist his hidden desires. Is this the root of his innumerable mental & emotional problems, or would he have been a royal piece of shit anyway? All the "pussy-grabbing" sounds like Don Juan Syndrome to this reporter:

A male paraphilia in which insecurity about masculinity and/or latent homosexuality is masked by multiple sexual liaisons with different female partners, without emotional commitment, but not as a paid gigolo, hustler, or call boy

It obviously doesn't like women. See also: Roy Cohn.

[Political Wire]

Throw-Back Thurs.: "Things"

Shut Your Festering Gob, You Tit!!

Cold Hard Facts From The Land Down Under:

An Australian responds to Lumpy's usual whining.

“Mate. You run a country with 600,000 homeless people sleeping on the street tonight. A country where 40% of adults can’t cover a $400 emergency without borrowing money.

A country where insulin costs more than a car payment and people are rationing it to survive.

A country where medical debt is the number 1 cause of bankruptcy.

A country where women are dying in hospital car parks because doctors are too scared of abortion laws to treat a miscarriage.

You lock up more of your own citizens than any nation on earth. More than China. More than Russia. More than North Korea. The land of the free has 2 million people in cages, and a quarter of them haven’t even been convicted of anything. They’re just too poor to make bail.

Your life expectancy is going backwards. You’re the only developed nation where that’s happening.

Your infant mortality rate is worse than Cuba’s.

Your kids do active shooter drills between maths and English while you sell the gunmaker’s stock to your mates.

Your minimum wage hasn’t moved in 15 years.

You’ve got teachers working 2 jobs and veterans sleeping under bridges and you just spent a trillion dollars flattening a country that didn’t attack you.

And you’ve got a convicted felon, adjudicating raping, paedophile protecting, porn star shagging insurrectionist running the biggest dumpster fire war campaign since the Taliban thanked you very much for losing again.

And you’re calling Greenland poorly run? Greenland has universal healthcare. Free education. One of the lowest incarceration rates in the world. Nobody goes bankrupt there because they got sick. Nobody dies in a waiting room because their insurance said no. ‘NATO wasn’t there when we needed them.”

When exactly was that, champ? September 11? Because NATO invoked Article 5 for the first and only time in history FOR YOU. Soldiers from dozens of countries deployed, fought, bled, and died in Afghanistan FOR YOU. Australia wasn’t even in NATO and we still showed up. For 20 years. And you pulled out at 2am without telling anyone and left them to deal with the mess.

So maybe before you start calling other countries poorly run, have a look at your own backyard, you spray-tanned aluminium siding salesman. The only thing poorly run in this picture is your fucking mouth.” – Tony Locke

[From Twitter, via Hullabaloo.]

Why Bother?

Tom Nichols: “The United States is fighting, in some form or another, with almost everyone. America’s in a hot war with Iran and a cold war with China and Russia (even if President Trump hasn’t figured that out). Trump has ignited various trade wars, and keeps talking up a possible conflict with Cuba.”

“And just for good measure, the president Trump seems still obsessed with grabbing Greenland, which would spark a confrontation with NATO, the most powerful and successful alliance in history—and one supposedly led by Washington.”

“This might seem like a good time for some traditional diplomacy: deploying ambassadors to smooth ruffled feathers, assure friends and warn enemies of American resolve, and work out details on trade and other issues that require professional attention.”

“The problem is that those ambassadors don’t exist. As The Wall Street Journal reported last week, the Trump administration has left more than 100 ambassadorships unfilled, including some to important U.S. allies.”

Aren't there 100 millionaires or billionaires who've sucked up to Lumpy enough to qualify as ambassadors? The first thing in any presidency is to reward donors & friends w/ ambassadorships. Too dense even to get that right. And of course has no friends.

[The Atlantic via Political Wire. Slighty edited for clarity.]

Your Future Is Out Of Your Control

They're in control, not you.Gallup tells us that a third of Americans think they are insignificant nobodies. The problem is, all non-bilionaire Yankees are, but apparently two-thirds of them have been chumped but good into denial of their situation.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — One in three Americans say they lack agency in their lives, feeling like their lives are mostly dictated by circumstances beyond their control. This sentiment is expressed most commonly by younger and lower-income Americans. Local community conditions, including social ties, housing affordability and economic environment, may influence whether Americans feel able to shape their own futures. At every age and income level, people who lack reliable neighbors or live in areas with unaffordable housing and limited employment prospects are less likely than others to feel a sense of agency and, by extension, opportunity.

Oh come on! Americans have the opportunity to be abused by their masters until they drop dead sooner than any other developed shithole nation. You want "agency"? Get a gun & some ammo & act!! Express yourselves!!

"Yeeeeessssss?"

When Tee Vee Was King

Kills me every time. Plenty more on YouTube; do your own research.

J.J. Sedelmaier, director of the Wendy's "Where's The Beef?" commercial & other popular '80s adverts, was 92.They're dropping like flies.

 New Jersey Online:

Donald Newhouse, who inherited a media empire, led Advance Publications' newspaper and cable TV divisions, and was Newark Star-Ledger president, dies at 96  —  Donald E. Newhouse, who as President of The Star-Ledger and head of Advance Publications' newspaper group presided over a prolonged period …

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:   BuzzMachine  —  I am terribly saddened at word of the death of Donald Newhouse …

Clay Risen / New York Times:   Donald E. Newhouse, Low-Profile Heir to a Media Empire, Dies at 96

Larry Arnold / Bloomberg:   Donald Newhouse, Who Led Family's Newspaper Group, Dies at 96

Genaro C. Armas / Newhouse School …:   Donald Newhouse's Belief in Higher Education Helped Establish Syracuse University as a Premier Training Ground for Journalists

Just saw this, for Saurday 19 November 1955. More Weterns than you could shake a six-shooter at, & Yma Sumac on Stage Show w/ the Dorsey Bros. In Jan. '56 Elvis Presley made his first national telebision appearance on the program.

[Sedelmaier obit from Off the Kuff.]

Not A Boondoggle, A Moondoggle

"Let's Build A Stairwy To The Stars
Encourage A Lunar Economy"

What will this lunar economy be? Dowsing for water? Digging holes to live in? Repairing micrometeorite damage?

NASA lays out moon base plans with landers, buggies and drones at the top of the list

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is already ordering landers, rovers and drones for a sprawling moon base, less than two months after the Artemis II’s record-breaking lunar flyaround.

The space agency outlined the first phase of its moon base plans on Tuesday, awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four U.S. companies.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will provide a pair of landers to deliver moon buggies to the lunar surface, at a spot near the moon’s south pole. These so-called lunar terrain vehicles will be built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost. Firefly Aerospace, which landed successfully on the moon last year, will deliver the first drones to the moon.

Well, look who's getting pork-barrel money: Suck-up Jeff Bezos. Surprise, surprise!

N.A.S.A., or the Dep't. of Space War?

“Then we’ll be able to say, ‘Hey, we’re permanently here and we’re not giving it up,’” said NASA’s moon base program executive Carlos Garcia-Galan.

Garcia-Galan envisions a moon base sprawling over hundreds of square miles, with a perimeter marked by drones, dubbed MoonFall, stationed at the corners.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said these territory markers are meant to be respectful of other countries’ spacecraft and equipment that might be nearby. He expects reciprocity in the matter.

The goal of the moon base is to encourage a lunar economy while conducting scientific research and laying the foundation for a Mars expedition, Isaacman stressed.

“For those waiting patiently, the grand return is close at hand and we will not slow down,” Isaacman said. “We are really just getting started.”

Marking their "territory", like the animals they are.

Not that anyone cares, but:

Article 3

1. The moon shall be used by all States Parties exclusively for peaceful purposes.

2. Any threat or use of force or any other hostile act or threat of hostile act on the moon is prohibited. It is likewise prohibited to use the moon in order to commit any such act or to engage in any such threat in relation to the earth, the moon, spacecraft, the personnel of spacecraft or man- made space objects.

3. States Parties shall not place in orbit around or other trajectory to or around the moon objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction or place or use such weapons on or in the moon.

4. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military maneuvers on the moon shall be forbidden. The use of military personnel for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited. The use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration and use of the moon shall also not be prohibited.

Of course these United Snakes may not have signed the agreement, & so what if we did, huh?

Memento Mori

Cheer up! Rick Wilson has good news for modern man.

Trump Is Dying

The Walter Reed Lie, for the 100th Time

He is seventy-nine. He turns eighty next month. He went to Walter Reed today, his third visit in thirteen months (“Totally normal! Just a third checkup in a year!”), and the White House would like you to believe this is a wellness influencer’s self-care routine rather than what it obviously is: the late-stage management of a long-abused body breaking down in public.

In all fairness, this reporter visits the croaker every three months. Of course, it takes 20 mins. or so; they check my weight, blood presssure & blood, sometimes I pee in a cup (Which has nothing to do w/ lab work & I don't know why I mention it here.) so it's nothing that couldn't be handled by the White House physician in that now-ruined dump. I'm certainly not visiting a hospital for who knows what every quarter. If there's a dental facility in the Executive Mansion there must be a scale, a sphygmomanometer, a few needles & vials & a phlebotomist & a cup. ("Circumstantial evidence" of FDR being administered cocaine for his sinuses the afternoon of 7 Dec. 1941.)

The conventional read is that this is power … the dictator phase, the strongman unleashed.

I want to suggest the opposite. Strongmen at the height of their game don’t need the ballroom. They don’t need to rename the Kennedy Center after themselves. They don’t need the gold leaf, the fake portraits, the rebranded monuments and memorials.

That’s the behavior of a man who knows the clock is running and is grabbing what he can while the grabbing is good. That’s Marcos in Manila in 1985. That’s Ceaușescu in 1988, before he and the missus were lined up against a wall.

Genuine power doesn’t need to be advertised this loudly. The frantic, escalating, almost pornographic self-celebration is the tell. It’s a confession in plain sight. The man building his mausoleum while he’s still alive is the man who knows he’s running out of road.

All things must pass.Any M.D.s out there willing to guestimate how much longer Lumpy will be w/ us? What say the prediction markets?

Now Maybe I Can Get Some Fissionable Material!

Brad Plumer / New York Times:

U.S. Seeks to Give Weapons-Grade Plutonium to Start-Ups for Fuel  —  Companies say it's a better way to dispose of the Cold War-era material — and fix a shortage of nuclear fuel.  But the plan has also faced criticism.  —  The Trump administration is moving forward with a plan …
Rachel Frazin / Associated Press:   DOE eyes using plutonium in nuclear fuel

Tim De Chant / TechCrunch:   Trump administration wants nuclear startups to use plutonium for their reactors

Ella Nilsen / KTVZ-TV:   The Trump administration is working on a deal to give weapons-grade plutonium to energy companies

Al Jazeera:   US picks potential partners for using Cold War-era plutonium as fuel

Rachel Frazin / The Hill:
Energy Department takes steps toward allowing plutonium, historically used in weapons, in nuclear fuel

Jim Mishler / NewsMax.com:   Energy Dept Opens Surplus Plutonium to Industry

Business Wire:   Oklo Selected by U.S. Department of Energy for Advanced Negotiations Under Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program

"No uranium for Iran!!" but let's put plutonium in the hands of money-grubbing civilian energy executives. Nothing could go wrong there. After all, this isn't the future anymore; it's all happened.

A nuclear-powered merchant vessel, the NS Savannah, was built. Didn't work.

But Elon Musk's atom-driven Mars rockets will leave daily from Moon Rocket Airport. And electric & fossil fuel companies will gladly surrender profits as soon as that first A-rocket does lift off successfully.

"Temperature's Rising"

The U.K. smashed a century-old temperature record for the second time in 24 hours on Tuesday as a spring heat wave continued to scorch parts of Western Europe, triggering government warnings about risks to life. Several drownings were reported in Britain and France as people tried to cool down. A temperature of 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) was recorded at London's Kew Gardens and Heathrow Airport, Britain's Met Office weather service said, breaking the 34.8 C (94.6 F) record set a day earlier. The provisional readings smashed the previous record of 32.8 C (91.4 F) set in 1922 and 1944.

Are The Breeder Scum Wising Up?

In further "Kill All The Humans" news, this, paywalled by some rag:

The Great Depopulation

Why is the birth rate declining in every country on Earth?

Why has the number of births declined everywhere, all at once?

Some blame technology, particularly smartphones and social media. Others blame a kind of 21st-century weltschmerz—a sadness about the state of the world and our uncertain future in it. A long essay in The New York Times by Anna Louie Sussman, titled “Why So Few Babies? We Might Have Overlooked the Biggest Reason of All,” argues that today’s generation is too anxious about the future to make the irreversible commitment of having a child.

So who is right? Is this about phones and technology, or is it a reflection of modern anxiety about the world? Or, perhaps, both?

A bit later: The fake news is very worried.

Matt Taibbi / Racket News:   Humanity Needs to Get Offline

Bryan Hyde / American Greatness:   Declining Fertility Rate Becoming ‘Existential Crisis’

Ireland Owens / The Daily Caller:   US Facing ‘Existential Crisis’ As Fertility Rate Continues To Decline

I Hate This World & I Want This World To Know It!!

Sorry about the collateral damage, but Australopithecus could have been stopped, Nature!

Random Act Of Senseless Spraying

More than 20 people developed sore throats near a luxury department store in Tokyo’s posh Ginza shopping area on Monday after a person allegedly sprayed an unknown substance, Japanese fire department officials said. (AP video shot by Mayuko Ono)

That'll teach the consuming sheep to "shop" in a "posh shopping area". Like, oh I dunno, Rodeo Drive? Hmmm. The Beverly Dr./Rodeo Dr. station should be open in Spring 2027. I will need a better way to get out of the area, however, w/ fucking cameras everywhere, especially in the train stations & trains. I wonder if I can still ride a bicycle. And where I could ditch the bike & change threads. And where to get some of this "unknown substance".

Miserable Memorial Monday Musicale

Remember, "Happy Memorial Day" is not what should be expressed today, simple American buffoons. Tain't "Merry Xmas" here. Think about those who died, & what you're doing w/ the "freedoms" (to produce & consume, sheep) they supposedly gave you. Ten Bears posted this number earlier, 'though not this video version.Personal fave:And that concludes our exceptionally narrow narrowcast for the day, as I've better things to do than post drivel for an audience of me. Like curl up in a ball & whimper.

A Summation Of Humanoid Existence

Honoring The War Dead: You sick murdering fucks! Shame on all of you. Name another species that wages war.Fuck you, Confederates! And Mexicans, Spaniards, & Der Kaiser.

My damned suffering: Woke up after eight hrs., mentally & physically exhausted, as usual. Then felt nauseous, so nauseous I thought I was going to vomit, but only dry-heaved. Sums up your all human existence, dunnit?Added fun: My rt. Achilles' tendon started hurting in the middle of the night, for no apparent reason. Hernia has started to hurt when on the thone straining. Croaker did say it would be trouble if it interferred w/ "pooping". C'mon Doc, you must be near 50, & I'm 70-fucking-two; "pooping"? Anyway, neither sounds nor feels good.

Wknd. Riot Report II

This sounds like a "police riot".

Police stormed the offices of Turkey’s main opposition CHP party on Sunday, firing tear gas and rubber bullets at party supporters and officials who had been holed up inside for three days. It was a violent end to a standoff between members of the Republican Peoples’ Party, or CHP, and a leadership team appointed by an appeals court, escalating tensions between the opposition and the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Again, ANARCHY NOW!! Destroy the system!

Cream Of The Crop

In Humanizing The Vacuum's "Good to Great" section, these are the top three. Absolutely correct.Two Motowns & a Checker (W/ a great Don Bronstein cover.) Whence else at the time?

Surf Sunday

From this reporter's salad days.Two more I liked from HTV's list. The surfin' Trashmen are from ... Minnesota.

And to make it a Top 40 radio-style 'tween the adverts set of three under-three-mins. tunes, the Lawrence Welk version:

Dumpster Donnie

CBS firing Colbert reminds Envisioning the American Dream of something from the days of LBJ. It's always the same shit in garbage nation.Inspiration for the Cramps? Either way, a re-recording:And why can't I find the original on your crummy site, YouTube? It was easily available. Yet another reminder that everything is garbage. Searching for the original did lead to this:

There's A Riot Goin' On!

Clashes erupted between protesters and riot police after a massive anti-government rally in Belgrade on Saturday. Tens of thousands gathered against Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic. The rally was largely peaceful, but young demonstrators later clashed with police, throwing flares and rocks. (AP Video: Marko Drobnjakovic, production: Amer Cohadzic)

Fuck everything: Anarchy Now!!

More Music, More Often!

Hot Rod Music

Continued from ...