Friday, December 31, 2021

Cities On Flame?

We keep suggesting it, but no one has lit up enough area surrounding Los Angeles for it to be consumed in a firestorm of mythic proportions. Yet. S'pose the wind does have to be very coöoperative for it actually to happen. Y'all have been warned now.Suddenly, it's a 🎼Winter Wonderland🎵.

And 2022?

Does not look good.
Expect Radicals Republicans to continue to attack democracy, & trouble at the statehouses 8 November 2022.
You know, war across the U.S.A.
Oh my & a boo-hoo.

Yr. In Review Award

The Bouffie, 2021

Every yr. is worse than the previous. Co-host Phil (literally calling from Hell) Spector joins us in inviting 2021 to
Fuck Off & Die, already.
Died 16 Jan 2021.

When Did The Swedes Take Over The Construction Equipment Industry?

Also note: How fierce is the competition to be the official Korean beer of the former Brooklyn Bums?
Exception (as well as the F-5/650 in the lake): BOMAG ("a global market leader in compaction technology") founded by Krauts, sold to a Yankee corporation that sold it to another, & has been a subsidiary of a Froggie conglomerate since 2005. Gitcher "merch" here. Does everybody have to have Baseballmützen w/ their corporate logo?
Remember steam rollers?

Lake Vermont

Newly formed.
I am indeed the way, the truth & the life. ME!

Yr.-End Wrap-Up (From 60 Yrs. Ago)

What the kids were digging in Beantown in 1961.

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Fire Alarm

Lessee now, [checks calendar] yup, penultimate day of December. You know, the month when the cold season arrives. 

If not fire, water.

Stop Killing Us!!

Disarm The Pigs

The killing of Valentina Orellana-Peralta, a 14-year-old who died in her mother’s arms after police shot her in a department store dressing room, has sparked outrage and renewed scrutiny of the Los Angeles police department.

Yet her death was just one of five killings by LAPD in a nine-day period this month, marking a brutal end to a year that has seen repeated scandals inside one of America’s largest police departments.

This year, the LAPD killed more than double the number of civilians than in 2020. And while it’s unclear what’s driving the increase, activists argue that LAPD officers have been emboldened to use lethal force in careless and unwarranted ways after seeing their colleagues face little, if any, repercussions.

“The tactic is shooting first and asking questions later,” said Jose Barrera, California director for the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Maybe the LAPD could try not hiring thug veterans who spent their time in the military murdering foreign civilians & think they're still in a war zone even when they've returned to these United Snakes. 

Anyway, I'm calling for the public execution of Mayor Garcetti, D.A. Gascón, Chief Moore & the L.A. Police Commission. Preferably by one of the high-powered assault weapons the LAPD uses against civilians.

Off the pig, not the innocent bystanders!

Birthdays Of The Deceased: Bo Diddley

Sic semper tyrannis, Saddam!Let's dance & have fun while we may; I guarantee 2022 will be worse than 2021, just as 2021 was worse than 2020.
Gotta admire a cat who put his stage name in half his song titles.

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

The Real Story Behind The Latest Police Killing

Initial media coverage of this sort of thing is always stenography of whatever platitudes & clichés the police mouthpiece chooses to disseminate, now we can listen to the people actually affected by this horror, the victim's parents.A police version, via our totebagging friends at KPCC, who describe the important parts, if you're too young too watch:

North Hollywood Area OIS 12/23/21 (NRF065-21)

Look below at what the police & military are doing in Myanmar. Just a matter of scale.

They Seem Nice

Sonuvabitch. Lookit this shit. How long 'till it happens here in these United Snakes?

Today's Nut W/ A Gun, Jacked Up On Red Bull® & Headed To Washington, D.C. To "Fight Evil Demons"

Here's a mentally ill fuckhead who gets his assassination targets from fucking TikTok.
A California man was arrested last week in Iowa after telling police he was driving straight to the White House “to kill persons in power” and was found with an assault rifle and body armor, according to federal court records.

Kuachua Brillion Xiong, 25, of Merced was pulled over for driving aggressively on Interstate 80 in Cass County, Iowa, on Dec. 21. He had an AR-15-type rifle, ammunition and a grappling hook, among other items, authorities said.

He told a sheriff’s deputy that he disapproved of the government and President Biden and that he was traveling to Washington, D.C. He was carrying a “hit list” of targets saved from TikTok videos, according to a six-page criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of Iowa and unsealed Wednesday.

Authorities described Xiong’s vehicle as “lived in,” with several empty cans of Red Bull energy drink.

Xiong agreed to let Cass County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tyler Shiels search his car and admitted he had a weapon and ammunition. Shiels found loaded magazines, boxes of ammunition, several items of body armor and medical kits, according to his report.

Xiong said he was not suicidal but would use the weapons to defend himself. Police also found money in the vehicle “earmarked” for Xiong’s funeral expenses, and his GPS was set for the White House.

Shiels said Xiong complied when he was taken in for questioning. According to online records, Xiong was booked in Pottawattamie County in Iowa shortly after 4:30 p.m. Dec. 21.

Xiong admitted to a U.S. Secret Service agent that up until a few months ago, he had worked at a grocery store in Merced to maintain his “cover” until he was called upon by God to “combat evil demons in the White House.”

“Xiong believes that he is the only person remaining who can free the United States of evil and it is necessary for him to kill those in positions of power,” Special Agent Justin Larson with the Secret Service said in the affidavit.

Investigators said Xiong allowed them to look at his phone to corroborate his claims. His calendar and notes included entries for “survive supplies” on Oct. 19; “safe life defense order,” which was related to body armor, on Oct. 19; and “rifle pickup” on Oct. 29, with a “silencer order” on Nov. 5 and “save USA” on Nov. 20-21 and Nov. 27, according to the affidavit.

Sometime around Dec. 18, Xiong left his home near Sacramento and started driving to the White House. He told investigators he downloaded TikTok videos on his phone to compile a list of individuals he intended to kill, which included politicians and public figures.

There were approximately 100 videos on Xiong’s “hit list,” according to investigators. Targets included former Presidents Clinton and Obama, White House medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci and Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, according to the affidavit.

He also detailed his plan to get into the White House through what he described as a “weak spot” and how he would use a grappling hook to climb over the perimeter fencing. Xiong told investigators he would “do whatever it takes” to complete his plan, and if he were released from custody, he would continue traveling to the White House.

“Xiong stated that he has no intention of returning to California to see his family because he plans on dying while fighting evil demons at the White House,” according to the affidavit.

The arrest and court filing were first made public in a tweet on Wednesday by Seamus Hughes, a counterterrorism expert who is the deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. The docket and affidavit are publicly available on the federal court’s online records-retrieval system.

A Pinterest account with Xiong’s name shows pinned images with angel iconography, swords, knives and body armor.

Xiong is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in a detention hearing Thursday. The federal government says he should remain in custody for making a threat against a former president, which is a federal crime.

I suppose by reprinting the entire item we're violating someone's copyright. Good luck w/ the paywall.

Last Gasp Of Empire

This was pretty much the last gasp for the James Bond series; this reporter paid money to see it, 'though not until the summer of '66. Also paid to see Batman that summer, for whatever that's worth. (Currently worth "from" US$3.99 to watch on the usual suspect services.)Saw the previous three at the cinema as well, but never bothered seeing any more of them in a theater.

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

"Corrected" Cloud Formation

Buckle Up, Weaklings!

Another American winner, from the item directly below:
Lyndon McLeod, who police say killed five people during a deadly rampage in the Denver area, was an author dedicated to alt-right philosophies, including masculine supremacy, contrarian COVID-19 beliefs, and targeted violence against the “weak.”

McLeod appears to have operated a plethora of Twitter and Instagram accounts under the alias Roman McClay, which he used for his three-book series Sanction. The book series, with its first book described in an Amazon review as “eloquent reflections on dominance hierarchies, psychology, technology, nature, violence, anatomy and physiology, sexual morality, drug use, politics, and a whole mess of stuff,” follows a character named Lyndon McLeod, a persona named after its author who “commits 46 murders” in the book and one he seemed to allow to seep into his real life. The Daily Beast found that at least two Twitter users identified McLeod and McClay as one and the same months and even years before the shooting.

In his posts, McLeod seemed to frequently use excerpts from his work to comment on current events, such as a COVID misinformation meme on Twitter featuring Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The meme, posted on May 1 last year, featured the billionaires “discussing” their approach to the pandemic, with Gates being thanked for mandatory vaccinations while Zuckerberg was congratulated for an “injectable nanoworm.”

McLeod, who was killed by a Lakewood police officer Monday after shooting her in the abdomen, captioned the photo with a quote from one of his characters in his series: “It’s not really a worm so much, however I understand the point.”

He also gleefully indicated that some people required violence to be addressed. While discussing a 2014 YouTube video titled, “Mike Tyson DESTROYS Reporter!” on Twitter, McLeod, as McClay, blasted the “passive aggressive” reporter and praised Tyson for using “Direct Aggression”—all before hinting at threats of violence for the “WEAK.”

“This is basically the plot to my stupid book,” he wrote in April 2020. “Our entire society is made up of shitty little fucks who insult badasses & get away with it because law enforcement & social norms protect the WEAK from the STRONG. I’m over it.”

“The weak better buckle up... shit is about to get real,” he wrote.

During a press conference Tuesday, police confirmed that McLeod, who records showed owned his own tattoo parlor called Flat Black Ink, targeted each of his victims.

Right-wing rapper and social media personality Nzube Olisaebuka Udezue—known as Zuby—hosted McClay on his podcast to discuss Sanction in 2019. The host claimed the book was “currently blowing up Twitter,” though he admitted he had not read it.

Police said during a Tuesday press conference that McLeod had previously been investigated in 2020 and 2021, but they did not comment on what he was investigated for. Kurt Barns, a spokesman for the Denver Police Department, told The Daily Beast he was not aware of a connection between McClay and McLeod but would forward the information to investigators.

Real man alright, brought down by a female officer.

Xmas Decorations

A nice backdrop ... to a murder rampage!

Lights-On In Yer Heads — Dipshits!!!

The U.S. Constitution is the sacred text of American government and civic life. But it’s time to face facts: The document, written in 1787, isn’t working. The signs are all around us.
Angrier approach:
Down down down down down!!![John Kenneth White, in The Hill.]

Omar Sharif Is Dr. Zhivago

Never seen it, doubt I ever will.

Sometimes I Wonder ...

... if a large portion of the population contracts the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the plague & therefore the number of viruses in existence increases by the literal zillions, how long will it take the virus to mutate to a variant w/ its previous mortality rate? If not even deadlier, fingers crossed. Too much to hope it would stay highly transmissible? 

Granted, not the best survival strategy for an eater, but evolution often doesn't know it's headed off the cliff 'til it's in mid-air.

Monday, December 27, 2021

Beef Culture Cancelled!

Lawry’s Beef Bowl, where the Rose Bowl teams dine at the Beverly Hills prime rib restaurant, has been canceled “given the growing concerns around COVID-19 and the Omicron variant,” the restaurant announced Monday.

The cancellation was made “out of an abundance of caution and safety of our staff and of the players,” the statement said.

Lawry’s will be packaging and delivering takeout meals for the players instead.

Record Beef Prices, but Ranchers Aren't Cashing In  —  “You're feeding America and going broke doing it”: After years of consolidation, four companies dominate the meatpacking industry, while many ranchers are barely hanging on.  —  SHEPHERD, Montana — Judging from the prices at supermarkets …
Why's that dumb rabble-rousing s.o.b. at Breitbart hate capitalism, the free market, & America? (Not to be confused w/ the real John Binder.) Bogus populism is why. You can bet if the ranchers were non-white the phonies would be screaming at The NYT for daring to question the American Way.
There have been a number of bowl games canceled due to COVID-19. Here's a rundown of the ones that have been called off so far in the 2021-22 bowl season.
  • Dec. 24: Hawai'i Bowl — Hawai'i vs. Memphis
  • Dec. 27: Military Bowl — Boston College vs. East Carolina
  • Dec. 29: Fenway Bowl — Virginia vs. SMU
  • Dec. 31: Arizona Bowl — Boise State vs. Central Michigan

The Go-Go’s Cancel West Coast Shows Due to COVID Case

[Local/Sporting News/Local again]

Another Hoax?

Do your own research, sheeple!

Red Cross Asks Angelenos To Donate Blood Amid ‘Dire Shortage’

Do they really expect us to believe Big Red, Big Blood & Big Cross?

"I need blood; I can barely breathe."

Today's Toll

Only In America

Much Ado About Nothing

Plunge into the Twitter cesspool:
Tara Palmeri / Politico:
Sources: five months after Meghan McCain's departure, The View struggles to find a permanent Republican replacement who doesn't deny the 2020 election results  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  Before taking off for the holidays, the four long-standing hosts of “The View” had a message …
Shut up, whiny Republicans:

Sunday, December 26, 2021

Rule Of Thirds

Post-Holiday Depression?

Soon: Inundation of inducements to purchse more goddam plastic crap at an after-Xmas sale. The bastards never stop.

Mortality & Morbidity Reports: Surprise, Surprise They're Lying

Uncounted: Inaccurate death certificates across the country hide the true toll of COVID-19

Some counties, like Cape Girardeau, have seen a spike in deaths that aren’t attributed to COVID-19. Many of them, blamed on natural causes, are likely from the coronavirus

No, really? A million dead real Americans probably isn't an overestimation. Thanks, Trump.

This reporter's conclusion? No one has the slightest idea what's going on, & the health care system in these United Snakes is headed for collapse, plague or no. Happy New Yr.!

Where Were You?

In Jail? Wouldn't Surprise Us.

Friday, December 24, 2021

Santa's Makin' His Midnight Creep

Should you block the chimney he has other ways.
And if Ol' Santy gets out of line, Little Brenda Lee knows what to do.
Bonus midnight creep track.

Blue Sky, White Clouds, Bare Branches

Or, clichés.

Random Bird

Damn things always wandering into the shot.

A Daddy's Christmas

Bonus "Brooks" track, from 71 yrs. ago today.

"Stray" Bullet: The New York Times Comes Through Again

Defund the police & The New York Times!

Grim Christmas

Thursday, December 23, 2021

Let's Call The Whole Thing Off

A/V Study Guide For Previous Items

You have the right not to be killed ... unless it was done by a policeman or an aristocrat.

Shopping Up-Date: Police Kill 14-Yr. Old Girl In Dressing Room

Worse than I thought.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police fatally shot a 14-year-old girl who was inside a clothing store dressing room Thursday as they fired at a suspect who had assaulted a woman earlier, authorities said.

Police also killed the male suspect, authorities said. He and the girl have not been named. The woman who had been assaulted was taken to the hospital with moderate to serious injuries.

The shots were fired around 11:45 a.m. at a Burlington store — part of a chain formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory — in the North Hollywood area of the San Fernando Valley.

Police initially responded to reports of a person being assaulted with a deadly weapon as well as reports of shots being fired, said Los Angeles police Capt. Stacy Spell at a news conference. Spell said officers opened fire when they saw the suspect assaulting another person.

The suspect was struck by the officers’ bullets and killed, Spell said.

One of the bullets went through a dressing room wall and struck the 14-year-old girl, according to LAPD Assistant Chief Dominic Choi. Officers later found her inside.

“You can’t see into the dressing rooms and it just looks like a straight wall of drywall,” Choi said at a second news conference.

Investigators do not yet know whether the teenager was in the dressing room before the violence began or ran in there to hide, he said.

Choi said authorities do not yet know the man’s motive or whether he knew the woman he initially assaulted in the store.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Nicholas Prange said that woman had moderate to serious injuries and was transported to a hospital. It wasn’t immediately known if she’d been shot but Choi said she had injuries to her head, arms and face.

Police found a heavy metal cable lock near the suspect that they say may have been used in that assault.

Spell said the injured woman was the victim in the first assault report. It was not immediately clear what weapon was involved in that assault.

He added that police had received calls about the suspect acting erratically before the incident.

Imelda Garcia said her sister works in the store and was on break when she heard gunshots and everyone started running. Garcia said she spoke to her sister on the phone and that she’s OK but sounded “really nervous.”

Police escorted people out of the store nearly two hours after the shooting.

___

This story has been corrected to reflect that the shooting occurred at a Burlington store in North Hollywood that is part of a chain formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory.

AP knows the important part: Get the corporation's name right.

Latest News From The Shopping Front

ONLY TWO SHOPPING DAYS LEFT!!!

Happy Holidays, to you ...
One woman was killed in a shooting at a North Hollywood store Thursday and police shot the suspect to death.

Officers were sent to the Burlington Coat Factory at Laurel Canyon and Victory boulevards about 11:45 a.m. after receiving a 911 call from a person who reported hearing arguing inside the store and shots fired, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

As officers were responding to the call, the LAPD received additional reports of a possible active shooter in the area from people at the scene, said the department’s Cpt. Stacy Spell.

“As the officers were responding, they arrived at this location and began a search, looking for a suspect,” Spell said. “While conducting that search for a suspect, the officers encountered an individual who was in the process of assaulting another and an officer-involved shooting occurred. The suspect was struck by gunfire and was subsequently taken into custody.”

Officers searched the area following the shooting and found a woman suffering from a gunshot wound.

Paramedics pronounced the suspect and the woman dead at the scene, and took a second woman to a hospital for treatment of a “trauma” injury, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported. The names of the suspect and the fatally injured woman were not immediately released.

It's entirely possible they weren't fighting over a coat. But maybe the shopping season brought whatever (other than easy acccess to handguns) it was that caused this to a head.

This Is Embarrassing

My all-consuming love for this great nation of ours & all its empty symbols made me hit "Tweet" too soon.

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

The Sky Above ...

... The Mud Below

Autocorrected

It's a great disappointment when autocorrection makes something appear normal.

Still Flying, Still Hating

Previously.

Yesterday:
Don't believe I got around to sending a strongly-worded e-missive to the Hardee's®/Carl's® corporate entity. Fuck it. I'll Tweet a couple of these shots & publically embarrass the hate-filled bastards. #CarlsJrHatesAmerica!!!

Honky Xmas

Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Sun Zoom Spark

The sun is back. (The actual seasonal reason, not the mindless consumption & religiosity.) And now that it's back, you killer apes can stop huddling in fear around the glowing coals in your mud huts.
Ted Templeman wraps it up.

The Organ Stylings Of Jimmy Smith

Originally released in 1964 as Christmas '64,
reissued as Christmas Cookin' in'66.
Bonus track from the 1992 CD release.

Monday, December 20, 2021

King Scratch

No relation to "Scratch" Perry, I don't think.

Off The Deep End W/ J.D. Vance

Th' hell's wrong w/ Ohio? This reporter was under the impression it was sad squares, dullards &, 100+ yrs.ago, the Wright Bros., but it's just another escapees-from-the-asylum state now, judging from the Republican Senatorial primary.
Jim Swift / The Bulwark:
J.D. Vance Is Now Pushing False Conspiracy Theories About “Quarantine Camps”  —  Seems a little crazy!  —  It should be generally assumed when somebody starts talking about concentration or internment camps, outside of the historical context (Nazis, Japanese internment) …
One Tweets paranoia, the other re-Tweets it.
Retweeting Chris Buskirk, editor of openly racist blog America Greatness, Vance shared with his followers Buskirk’s posted screenshot of what is supposedly the official WhiteHouse.gov website announcing that the Biden administration plans to restrict travel across state lines, propose new booster requirements, and also open up “Quarantine Centers.”
We are quite amused that Mr. Vance is alleged to be a graduate of Yale Law School. And it turns out he's been somebody's mouthpiece all his sad hillbilly existence.
Served in The Iraq War with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, performing public affairs activities
per a hagiographic Wikipedia entry. Also amused original liar Buskirk used to type op-eds for The NYT, 'though none since March of this yr. 

Concentration?
Or just confinement until you get better (or die)?

Worst People In The World

Murderer Simpson & a crowd hootin' & hollerin' at a stranger's self-promotional nuptials or whatever bee ess it is.We'll just note that Marla Maples was the only American of Trump's (so far) three wives. Remember his first wife grew up under Czechoslovakian Communism, & his current wife's father was a party member in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Grinch Steals Xmas, New Yr.'s, Next Yr.

Matt Egan / CNN:
Goldman Sachs cuts US economic forecast after Joe Manchin rejects Build Back Better  —  (CNN Business) Senator Joe Manchin's opposition to the Build Back Better Act prompted Goldman Sachs to swiftly dim its US economic outlook. 
The Wall Street firm told clients Sunday it no longer assumes President Joe Biden's signature legislation will get through the narrowly divided Congress, citing the West Virginia Democrat's announcement that he's a "no" on the $1.75 trillion bill.
"A failure to pass BBB has negative growth implications," Goldman Sachs economists, led by Jan Hatzius, said in the research report. 
Citing the "apparent demise" of Build Back Better, Goldman Sachs now expects GDP to grow at an annualized pace of 2% in the first quarter, down from 3% previously. 
The bank also trimmed its GDP forecasts for the second quarter to 3% (from 3.5% previously) and the third quarter to 2.75% (compared with 3% previously). It specifically pointed to the expiration of the child tax credit and the lack of the other new spending that had been anticipated
Stupid lying son-of-a-bitch; get ready for the Manchin Recession.

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Well, Durrr ... Heat Death Of The Universe

Of course chaos & uncertainty are "winning". It's called entropy, dimbulb. Things fall apart.
Jonathan Lemire / Politico:
A/K/A Republican/Manchin obstruction.
However, if the cosmological constant is positive, as appears to be the case in recent observations (2011 Nobel Prize), the temperature will asymptote to a non-zero positive value, and the universe will approach a state of maximum entropy in which no further work is possible.
Surrender now to the forces of interglactic pumice.

And Again ...

Get stuffed, Idle. This is better than your piano-based original.

Saturday, December 18, 2021

Another Dead Dickweed

Merry fucking Xmas to WA State Sen. Ericksen's family. Too bad daddy was a moronic loser.
Washington state Sen. Doug Ericksen dies after COVID battle

Washington state Sen. Doug Ericksen dies after battle with COVID

"Battle" my sweet fucking ass. Dumb-ass Doug just laid down & died, as one does. How does one "battle" what one can't see?
Last month, Ericksen wrote to his Republican colleagues asking if they could help him get treatment. He said he was in El Salvador, and had tested positive for the coronavirus.

“I took a trip to El Salvador and tested positive for COVID shortly after I arrived,” he wrote. “I cannot get back home, and it’s to the point that I feel it would be beneficial for me to receive an iv of monoclonal antibodies (Regeneron). I have a doctor here who can administer the iv, but the product is not available here.”

“Do any of you have any ideas on how I could get the monoclonal antibodies sent to me here,” Ericksen continued. “Ideally, I would like to get it on a flight tonight so it would be here by tomorrow.”

The U.S. State Department has, since August, been advising Americans to reconsider travel to El Salvador because of COVID concerns.

Ericksen eventually arranged a medevac flight to a Florida hospital, a former colleague of his told The Bellingham Herald. It was unclear Saturday where Ericksen was when he died.

Ericksen fought, through protest and legislation, Inslee’s orders and mandates, intended to fight the spread of the virus. Public health officials have strongly endorsed vaccination and masks as the best tools for fighting the pandemic. He had introduced legislation intended to protect the rights of people who won’t get vaccinated and had repeatedly called on Inslee to resign.

It was unclear if Ericksen had been vaccinated.

Also unclear has been why Ericksen visited El Salvador — but it’s not his first visit to that country or others in recent years.

Mmmm, child sex tours? Two wet suits & a dildo? That'd be typically Republican.

And from The Daily Beast:
The last update on Ericksen’s legislative website apparently came on Nov. 1, shortly before he fell ill. In it, he railed against Gov. Jay Inslee’s mandate for all state employees and health-care workers to be vaccinated, lamenting that “other states breathe free” while Washington authorities force out those who opt against vaccination.
How's that "breathing free" workin' out for ya there, Dougie?

So damn tired of these fools; fuck every last one of them until they've stopped their "free" breathing.