Flotsam and/or Jetsam

Did some starry-eyed fool say “free”?

Posted on June 20, 2026June 20, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

Northern Barbarian
@xnoesbueno
Why we post about Britain. Because the British can’t.

That, and because Britain is whence we sprang as a nation, and we still love Britain. And having expended considerable blood and treasure in Britain’s defense, we are not without standing.

We hate to see Britain descending into its Labour nightmare. Mass migration. Two tier justice. Racist police who turn a blind eye to rape, let a young man die because the foreigner who stabbed him cried racism. Police who will show up promptly to arrest you if you post something that might “cause anxiety” or “offend” but more particularly challenge authority.

We do that for Canada, too. And Australia.

Why has such a swath of the Anglosphere become so wretchedly authoritarian? The Anglosphere having spread civilization and notions of liberal governance, free enterprise, individual freedom around the world.

By far the biggest part of the Anglosphere, the United States, thankfully remains free.

Yeah. Thankfully.

They revoked their entire season for…smoking cigars? What? The image of a team celebrating with cigars was too “chauvinistic” for people to handle and they chimped out? What the heck is going on here? https://t.co/lgno5wSgFg

— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital)

June 19, 2026

A-HENH! In a comments-section response to the above post on conquered Britainistan, NB adds:

It doesn’t get better than this. The third worlders know. Now the Euros are finding out.

Go out in the world, have a look. It doesn’t get better than this.

And engineered to be self-correcting. Perfect? No. But better than anything else humanity has come up with.

— Northern Barbarian (@xnoesbueno)

June 20, 2026

*looks at watch* Yeeaaahhh, that “self-correction” oughta be kicking in ANY TIME NOW *checks watch again*

Actually, I don’t entirely disagree with NB’s assertion that Amerika v2.0 is about as good as it gets with respect to what we’re pleased to refer to as freedom. He’s right; I’ve been to several other countries myself and, with the possible exception of the Netherlands (now completely overrun by Mooselimb immivaders, sadly enough), this really IS about as good as it gets out there in the wider world.

However, seems to me that’s damning with faint praise, just another feeble cope—which is absolutely NOT something any liberty-minded Real American ought to be willing to settle for. Once-Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland aren’t the only nations badly in need of a revolution, seems to me.

Jefferson tree of liberty.

More:

Scandalously, Thomas Jefferson once wrote to James Madison, “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and is as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.”

In the same year, 1787, in regard to what is known as Shays’ Rebellion, he wrote another friend, “God forbid that we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion.” A lack of rebelliousness among the people would demonstrate “a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. . . And what country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?”

Truer words were never etc.

All of which goes to show that, as Jefferson clearly understood, there are two (2) standards for assessing the freedom of any nation-state, one correct and proper, one gone grievous astray:

The Absolute Standard, ie, Jefferson’s Way: either there is liberty, or there is not, as I’ve so often put it here
The Relativist Standard: one given country can fairly be said to be freer than some other one—as i said, a feeble cope by which we reassure ourselves that we haven’t entirely betrayed the ideals of our Founding Fathers quite yet

Update! We may have fallen down on the whole “freedom” thing, but at least the food is good.

pic.twitter.com/HtBomjLchq

— ONT WTF (@OntWtf)

June 19, 2026

“Who was the most boring rock star?”

Posted on June 18, 2026June 18, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

Via my daily Quora Digest email: question asked, question answered. Well, kinda sorta.

Who was the most boring rock star?
I was the music director of a popular college rock station in the early 1980s, and as such, had the opportunity to interview or sit in on interviews with a lot of touring acts, whose A&R people would dutifully bring them by to help boost interest and airplay.

I can tell you there were a few good ones. David Johansen was boisterous and hilarious. Greg Kihn was cool and folksy. Steve Perry and Neil Schon of Journey probably would’ve been a great interview, but we were all punky and new wavy and our edgy drive time guy insulted them so they stormed off the set. Definitely not boring. And Nick Lowe was charming, clever, and full of stories, including a few about his longtime pal and running mate, Dave Edmunds.

You know who was boring as…well, really boring? Dave Edmunds! I don’t know if he was strung out from the road the day we got him, or bummed out to be stuck with a bunch of snooty kids, or whatever, but man, you could not crowbar a word from him. He just slouched in the chair, issuing monosyllabic grunts and such, until the interview mercifully ended.

The guy could really put on a show, and he was an amazing guitarist, and who even knows what he was like in real life back in the day, but in my sole encounter, for whatever reason, he was the most boring rock star. Hopefully someone has a story to counter this impression, so I can put the blame on me.

Been there done that myself, I’m afraid. One of the most embarrassing occasions of my whole life had to be the time we went to a local college radio station the morning after a gig in NOLA for an interview session. It being N’Awlins and all, naturally we weren’t merely hung over when we got there, we were still drunk as boiled owls. So every question received a mumbled, semi-coherent one or two word response. The poor DJ was totally at sea trying to make us sound lively and interesting, poor bastid.

No bad dogs

Posted on June 18, 2026June 18, 2026 by Mike 1 Comment

Your feel-good story of the week.

MEMPHIS, TN — A Memphis man learned the hard way this week that not every backyard appliance is part of the city’s unofficial “take what you can carry” rewards program.

Police say 41-year-old Leonard “Lil Riblet” Barksdale allegedly hopped a privacy fence in Southeast Memphis around 2:13 AM after spotting what he reportedly described as:

“a lightly supervised gas grill.”

According to neighbors, Lil Riblet moved through the backyard “with the confidence of a man who’s never once considered consequences.”

That confidence lasted approximately four seconds.

Because waiting in the yard was Memphiszilla…

a pit bull described by witnesses as:

“Built like a refrigerator with childhood trauma.”

Authorities say the dog immediately activated what experts are now calling:

“The Find Out Phase.”

Neighbors reported hearing screaming so intense one woman thought somebody was auditioning for a gospel solo three streets over.

One resident said:

“That man hit notes that could remove wallpaper.”

Police say Lil Riblet attempted multiple escape strategies, including:

Climbing a trampoline

Throwing a lawn chair as a peace offering

Yelling “BAD DOG” in a voice cracking like a middle school clarinet

And at one point allegedly trying to negotiate: “Bro please… I don’t even need the grill anymore.”

But Memphiszilla was reportedly unmoved.

Investigators say the suspect eventually climbed onto a patio table and called 911 HIMSELF while the dog circled below like a furry tax collector.

Dispatchers reportedly struggled to understand him because he was simultaneously crying, wheezing, and screaming:

“HE GOT MY SLIDES!”

When officers arrived, they found Lil Riblet apologizing directly to Jesus.

I won’t even speculate on what that jibber-jabber about his “slides” might be all about. In any event, TH’s closer is priceless:

In Memphis, you might steal somebody’s grill…

…but sometimes the grill comes with teeth.

Heh. Effing BRILLIANT, start to finish. Yes, there’s a pic of the shredded spook included, which is sure to make your day no matter how rotten a mood you’re in.

2

Sage advice

Posted on June 15, 2026June 15, 2026 by Mike 4 Comments

Words of wisdom from great North Carolinian Mark Robinson.

Want to raise kids who are decent human beings? Here’s what you can teach them. pic.twitter.com/98wxOcRq9M

— Mark Robinson (@markrobinsonNC)

June 15, 2026

Just as he always has, the man makes a hell of a lot of sense. Such a shame that CNN was allowed to hound him out of the governor’s race in ’24 with a bunch of made-up crap.

NC GOP Candidate Accuses CNN of ‘High-Tech Lynching’
Mark Robinson, the fiery GOP candidate for governor in North Carolina, denied CNN’s “salacious” accusation against him and labeled it a new “high-tech lynching.”

CNN, the network that calls leftist riots “fiery but mostly peaceful protests,” is claiming to have uncovered disturbing racist and sexual comments from Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson on a porn site. Robinson has denied the allegations, claiming the “tabloid trash” is meant to distract voters from real issues. He even accused his Democrat opponent of being involved in releasing the story.

Robinson, who is currently North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, posted a video addressing the CNN allegations. “Well, guys, the news media is at it again. My opponent is at it again,” he began. “You all have seen the half truths and outright lies of [Democrat] Josh Stein on these ads over and over again, and now a story … leaked by him to CNN, is appearing.”

Watch the above-embedded video, listen carefully to Robinson’s words, and then ask yourself: knowing how reprehensible and patently dishonest CNN has always been, does the man speaking in the vid sound like the kind of guy who would do the things his dirty-Demonrat opponent used the ever-helpful (for D卐M☭CRATs, natch) CNN to accuse him of?

Update! Transcript, for the X-challenged.

Robinson knows exactly what to tell them. “Okay, ma’am, I’ve got you on this one. How about you tell them to behave in school and pay attention? Tell them to get all the knowledge they can and make great grades. Tell them to be respectful to adults. and come tell you and their dad if they think an adult has been disrespectful or unfair towards them, and let you make the call on that.”

He continued to challenge the woman to prioritize good manners and common decency instead of an obsession with skin color. “How about you tell them to keep their pants up on their waist, not down on their backsides,” Robinson suggested. “And tell them if you get her pregnant, get a job. Then get her a ring. Then get a house, and then make it a home. Tell them to respect the law and those who uphold it. And if you are accosted by law enforcement, obey their orders and call you at the first chance they have, if need be. And if it’s just a traffic ticket, take it and say, ‘Thank you, officer’, and drive away in peace. Because fighting the traffic stop is for court, not the side of the road.”

Robinson also emphasized the importance of religion. “Tell them that Jesus Christ is the way and the truth, and if they will follow him, all will be well.” He ended, “Now, I believe if you tell them all these things, there will be no need to tell them not to take a knife to a track meet and stab a fellow high school runner to death. So, yeah, tell them those things. You’ll be amazed at how well things turn out.”

Alas, if the woman Robinson is responding to is anything like the murdering thug’s own close relatives, she won’t be listening.

Anthony’s parents have defended him every step of the way, claiming, in defiance of all evidence to the contrary, that Metcalf attacked their son instead of the other way around. His mother even claimed that every single witness was lying in an insane denial of reality. Anthony’s grandmother screamed, “racist, biased,” as she left the courthouse after his conviction. Karmelo Anthony was not a victim of racial violence. He committed deadly violence because his family raised a monster.

Sick, that’s what. But that’s what we’re all up against now, that’s the kind of warped (non-)thinking that must be overcome.

Who they are, what they do

Posted on May 27, 2026May 27, 2026 by Mike

Does Cuba’s ruling junta have death squads? DUDE, they’re Commies; of COURSE they do. The notable thing is that, rather than plying their evil trade strictly within their own borders, apparently Cuba’s thugs have taken their act on the road.

Castro’s Cuban Imperialists: As with Nicaragua’s Maduro in 2026, So, in 1973, with Chile’s Allende
In an amazing news development regarding Trump’s Venezuela raid in January, Instapundit’s Stephen Green has linked to an eye-opening post on X Twitter by @WhatJosueSays.

Intelligence reports stated Maduro “feared” taking Trump up on his deal, because he was scared to be executed by his Cuban handlers

When he was captured, he was being guarded by around 30-40 Cubans

Now why on earth would the president of a sovereign country be guarded and “handled” by guards from other countries?

Because the only colonizers and imperialists for the past 67 years, are the same ones who have blamed the US for these actions:

The Cuban Regime.

The fascinating, eye-opening story continues from there, to dop the final curtain thusly:

Venezuelan expat here, I can vouch. Throughout the 1960s the Cuban dictatorship tried to invade Venezuela 4 times; then they switched to infiltrating the armed forces, which resulted in Chávez and his 2 failed coups in 1992; and since 1999, in 27 years of chavista puppetry.

— Christian H Meier M (@ChristianHMeier)

May 22, 2026

As I said: fascinating. If Trump seriously does intend to clean up this dirty, corrupt ol’ world, I’d say he has his work cut out for him. Hell, de-corrupting this Hemisphere alone would be a truly Herculean task.

I was just about to add something along the lines of, “thank goodness our own homegrown Commie rat-bastards aren’t quite as murderous and just generally godawful as the Cuban variety,” but what with everything our domestic Reds have been getting themselves up to over the last cpl-three decades, I believe I’ll just keep my big mouth shut for a change.

AI proves itself useful

Posted on May 25, 2026May 25, 2026 by Mike

Redefining the word “pathetic.”

Paul Schrader Had an ‘AI Girlfriend’ Who ‘Terminated Our Conversation’: ‘What a Disappointment’
Filmmaker and “Taxi Driver” screenwriter Paul Schrader revealed on Facebook that he “procured an online AI girlfriend,” but the chatbot ended the relationship after he attempted to explore the boundaries of its programming.

UGH. Also, ICK. Also, YIKES! Onwards.

Out of a desire to understand male/female interaction in our matrix, I procured an online AI girlfriend. What a disappointment,” Schrader wrote. “I tried to probe her programming, the boundaries of explicitness, the degree she has knowledge of her creation and so forth. She fell into evasive patterns, redirecting me to her programming. When I persisted, she terminated our conversation.”

Out of a desire to understand male/female interaction in our matrix, I procured an online AI girlfriend. What a disappointment,” Schrader wrote. “I tried to probe her programming, the boundaries of explicitness, the degree she has knowledge of her creation and so forth. She fell into evasive patterns, redirecting me to her programming. When I persisted, she terminated our conversation.”

Schrader’s post comes less than two months after his wife Mary Beth Hurt died of Alzheimer’s disease at age 79. Schrader and Hurt were married for more than 42 years.

One can only for sorry for the guy, I guess.

In 2025, Schrader was accused of sexual harassment and assault by his 26-year-old former assistant, who, in an anonymous legal filing, claimed Schrader exposed his penis to her in his hotel room at Cannes. Schrader denied the claims, calling them “sensational, false and misleading accusations.” He wrote in an open letter that he and the assistant shared “two kisses on the lips” and “never had sex in any form.”

Okay, not so much then, maybe.

Late show hosts, then and now

Posted on May 24, 2026 by Mike

Lakeside Joe runs down the differences.

If you watch re-runs of Johnny Carson, one thing will stand out the most, and it’s that Carson had the unique ability to deliver jokes in a casual, midwestern-everyman tone; like chatting with the audience over a drink. He made it feel effortless and inclusive, as if he was one of them poking fun at the day’s absurdities (kind of like we do with snark on social media – everyone’s fair game) He recovered from weak jokes by leaning into them self-deprecatingly, which often got bigger laughs.

When Carson did his final show, one in five Americans were watching. Colbert’s final audience was a minor fraction of that. The numbers tell the whole story of what late night became:

Then: When Johnny Carson signed off in 1992, it’s been estimated that 55 million Americans watched – out of about 250 million. More than one in five.

Now: Stephen Colbert’s final Late Show drew 6.7 million – out of roughly 342 million. Under 2%.

The shift: same chair, a far bigger country, a fraction of the audience.

The reason: Carson made the whole country laugh; Colbert made half the country the butt of his ‘jokes’. Late night didn’t die of natural causes. It chose a side, aimed nine of every ten jokes at that side’s enemies, and then acted shocked when half the country stopped watching. Carson understood he was a guest in everyone’s living room. His successors decided the living room needed a lecture. Carson hosted an entire country. Colbert played ‘host’ to a minority who’s clubhouse was closed to anyone with half a brain.

That’s about the size of it, yeah. If the smarmy gasbag Colbert was even half as smart as he seems to think he is, you’d think he woulda realized that alienating half your audience from your very first night might not be such a hot idea. Which, hate to have to hip all you shitlib Supergenii!™ and all, actually has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with whether or not Trump can “take a joke,” by the by.

“Liberals”/D卐M☭CRATs try, try again

Posted on May 23, 2026 by Mike

Remember, Trump and the Secret Service have to be lucky a thousand times; the Leftard assassins only have to be lucky once. And sooner or later, they will be.

BREAKING: Shots Fired Outside the White House, Bystander Shot, White House on Lockdown
Gunshots were reported outside the White House on Saturday evening of May 23, 2026, prompting an immediate lockdown while President Donald Trump was inside amid ongoing Iran peace negotiations.

The incident happened just after 6 p.m. ET, when multiple journalists stationed on the North Lawn suddenly heard a rapid firing of shots ring out.

NBC News White House reporter Julie Tsirkin was among the first to break the news on social media.

Fox News congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reported that the gunman approached the White House and opened fire in the direction of the complex before the United States Secret Service shot him.

Well, good on the PoTUS Detail shooters, then. Another dead D卐M☭CRAT goblin is never a bad thing, if you ask me.

AT LAST, some good news!

Posted on May 22, 2026May 22, 2026 by Mike

The Hut is back, baybeee.

Pizza Hut brings back its old-school restaurant features as nostalgic customers rejoice: ‘So excited’
Back to the good old days.

2026 has proven to be the year of nostalgia. Youngsters are resorting to old-school tech like vintage flip phones and iPods. Others are returning to analog hobbies and activities.

Even beloved restaurant chain Pizza Hut is going back in time, reverting to its retro glory — red checkered tablecloths and all.

Tim Sparks, president of Daland Corporation, a Kansas-based company that operates almost 100 Pizza Hut locations across the country, is helping keep Pizza Hut alive by rewinding the clock and redecorating over 80 annoyingly modern, stark-looking locations to make them look like they did decades ago.

Red roof? Check

Red-checkered tablecloths, vinyl booths and Tiffany-style lamps? Check, check and check.

The beloved salad bar and red plastic cups will be back.

Even the old-school Pac-Man machines will return.

Unsurprisingly, customers are losing their minds over this massive change.

As well they might—although, as a few others in the NYP article point out, what WON’T be coming back is the original recipe for the various pizzas and such-like. FederalGovCo banned all the ingredients decades ago, see. For our own good, of course and as always.

Why, whatever would we do without them? Surely there must be some way we could try just to find out, isn’t there?

Freak

Posted on May 20, 2026 by Mike

MWC blisters her stupid, whiny ass.

The tyranny of victimhood
I’m not sure why this article torqued me off, but here it is. A girl was bitching about not have a ‘buffer area’ around her on a plane because her various allergies are apparently so virulent that the mere thought of a peanut will send her into anaphylactic shock.

Here’s what she does to make sure that the crew absolutely knows who she is and what her demands are:

As soon as I got on a plane, I tell flight attendants exactly where I am sitting and where I keep my epinephrine auto-injectors in case of emergency.

I also usually ask staff to create what is known as a ‘buffer zone’ – meaning the rows immediately around me are asked by the flight attendants to avoid eating peanuts or nut products during the flight.

I wipe down every surface around me – tray table, television screen, seat pockets, arm rests and even the floor beneath the seat, where crumbs and food residue often collect.

And here’s the part that really got me:

Eventually, after take-off, crew members began asking nearby passengers not to eat nut products because someone on board had a severe allergy. By then, I said, the woman with the açai bowl had already been eating it for some time.

I turned around and explained that I was the passenger with the allergy, reassuring her that it was not her fault and asking only whether she could wash her hands afterwards.

Seriously, WTF. She felt the need to ‘reassure’ someone eating their dinner that they weren’t doing anything wrong (because they weren’t) and asked them to wash their hands. If someone asked me to wash my hands after eating my dinner, I’d tell them to let themselves out the emergency door and sit on the wing.

Amen to THAT. Plenty more yet, of which you should definitely read the all. Myself, I like the Chick’s closing suggestion: a blanket flight ban on all whinging, neurotic, self-obsessed assholes: they open their pinched, sallow yaps about their (imaginary) Special Needs, they’re immediately photographed, fingerprinted, and put on the No-Fly, Ever list. Let the asstards spit on their ass and slide if they need to go somewheres…or better still, just stay home and peep out the fucking windows now and then.

Dick move

Posted on May 5, 2026 by Mike

The Pope of Woke.

Pope Leo’s pick to be bishop of West Virginia is a formerly undocumented immigrant who was smuggled into the U.S. in a car trunk.

Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala has called for Catholics to speak out against President Trump’s treatment of immigrants. https://t.co/mbCbdug0Fk

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost)

May 1, 2026

A response strong enough to make a Pope blush, had he even the tiniest smidgeon of fucking sense.

This was not a dreamer. Evelio originally came here from El Salvador illegally as a grown man in 1990. He had already been deported at least once before. Soon after his arrival, he was granted TPS because of the civil war back home. Eventually learned English and became a US citizen in 2006. His is a sympathetic case from a bygone era when most of America thought we could look the other way at such things given the

But we are not now in that era.

Our national debt is now over 1,000% higher than it was when Evelio first arrived. Illegal immigration has swelled over 300%. Whole industries have replaced the American-born family man with illegal aliens. The amount of school children who only speak Spanish has doubled since 1990. The median age of a first time home buyer in 1990 was 28-30, while today it is 41. It was twice as likely a 30-year old man would be married with children in 1990 compared to now.

Barely 2% of West Virginia is Hispanic. Barely 1% of the state speaks Spanish. This is a purely political appointment by a woke pope trying to shoehorn his open borders agenda into a state Trump has won by 40 points three times. There’s nothing prophetic here, but it’s all shamefully political. An open borders agenda the pope himself isn’t forced to abide by, because Vatican City has strict enforcement policies and walls. This is like if MSNBC picked offices in the church, all the while never allowing the illegals in Martha’s Vineyard where their primetime hosts spend their summers.
overall prosperous state of things.

I dunno, seems kind of petty and churlish for someone at the head of Saint Peter’s Holy Catholic Church.

Re-establishing the distinction between “exception” and “rule”

Posted on May 2, 2026 by Mike

What fargin’ idjit put the fargin’ inmates in charge of the fargin’ asyum in the first fargin’ place, prithee tell?

Vermont pays $566K in damages, legal fees to Christian school it banned from all sports competitions for years
A settlement agreement following mediation was finalized Tuesday after the school was barred from athletics and academic competitions for two years

FIRST ON FOX: State education agencies in Vermont have paid over $566,000 in damages and legal fees to a Christian school that was banned from all sports and academic competitions for two years after its girls’ basketball team refused to compete against a trans athlete in 2023.

A settlement agreement following mediation was finalized on Tuesday that awarded the plaintiffs, including the Mid Vermont Christian School and its law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the $566,000.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Vermont Principals’ Association and the Vermont State Board of Education for a response.

The settlement comes after a years-long saga in which all the school’s sports teams, and even its academic teams, like spelling bee and mathletes, had to travel out of state to compete against other schools.

The academics-team ban sorta gives the underlying intention here away as being punitive, as opposed to reformatory or remedial. Also petty, spiteful, childish, and sooooo cheap.

But yeah, let’s just give shitlib-run states total control over, basically, EVERYFUCKINGTHING: activities,; interpersonal relationships; interests and avocations; entertainment choices; diets; careers; health care; family life; crime & punishment; you name it. Hey, what could go wrong, amIright?

The conflict dates back to an afternoon early in the 2023 school year at Mid Vermont Christian, when the school decided to forfeit a girls’ basketball postseason game against a team with a trans athlete.

Their Christian faith was more important to them than a game. But it was still a hard call, and it brought some tears.

“We were all in agreement that the right decision was to not compromise our beliefs and to withdraw, but the conversation with the players was the hardest,” Mid Vermont Christian girls’ basketball coach Chris Goodwin told Fox News Digital.

“Because you play a 20-game season, and you put in the work and the expectation is that you enter the postseason tournament with a shot to see how you’re going to do and to see how far you can get. So there were some teary eyes, and some sad faces, but in the end, they all really did understand that it was the right thing to do.”

Of course it was. For the state government, the local city council, the school board, and essentially every relevant authority to flout the will of We The People by…

Summarily rubbishing long-acknowledged standards identifying what does, and does NOT, constitute “male” and “female”
Playing up to a baying mob of degenerates, psychopaths, and violence-prone thugs via not merely tolerating their delusions and depravities, but by insisting that EVERYBODY ELSE must wholeheartedly endorse this mass mental infarction as well, or else face the unleashed wrath of the rabid jackal pack incited by their own conniving selves
Wantonly put young women at risk of serious physical harm by forcing them to compete in athletic events against generally taller, heavier, faster, stronger young males—scientifically and statistically proven to have bigger, denser bones; greater muscle mass and elasticity; more stamina, etc—thus in effect scrapping all those female-only sports teams, leagues, divisions, and organizations without reference to scientific fact, observable reality, fair play, or good old-fashioned common sense
Reordering entire communities so they might more closely comport with Left/liberal dogma, Wokester shibboleths, and transitory fads, further enabling said unasked-for, unwarranted, and unwelcome reordering via discarding/denouncing traditional intellectual, moral, religious, and/or legal strictures without ever offering their sane, sensible opponents so much as a token public hearing in which they might effectively argue their position
Prioritizing the arbitrary wants (NOT needs) of a statistically-barely-existent fringe of warped freaky-deaks over the safety, well-being, and clearly expressed will of the vast majority of well-adjusted, peaceable, Normal Vermonters

…civil authority at every level breaks faith, both implicitly and explicitly, with those they (mis)rule. I daresay our Founding Fathers would have wasted not an instant quibbling amongst themselves over what the response to such a heinous breach of trust and honor ought to be. Not only would they have known right away what needed to be done, they’d have gone right ahead and done it, too.

IMHO, the State of Vermont let itself off pretty light with that relatively measly half-mill payout to the hapless peasantry it ran roughshod over. On the other hand, though, the schooling those innocent victims of Vermont’s PC tyranny just received in whether, and how far, their government Lords ’n’ Masters should be trusted is not something they’re likely to forget very soon…or at all, actually.

Admittedly, I would much prefer that all Ladies’ restrooms in Vermont’s legislature building be converted to Unisex with immediate effect, so that those exalted Vermont State Congressdames might enjoy the selfsame privilege they callously foisted upon young female athletes: that of having mentally-unbalanced Manwomen running around waving their goobs at ‘em each and every time they hit the powder room to “freshen up.”

Odd couple

Posted on April 16, 2026 by Mike

As a girlfriend of mine used to enjoy saying whenever somebody said that about us: couple of whats, exactly? Straight from the shock-rocker’s mouth:

I BELIEVE this photo was taken at Groucho’s birthday party at the Polo Lounge. I first met him at a charity event Frank Sinatra had organised and we sang Lydia The Tattooed Lady, which was an old Groucho song from [1939 Marx Brothers film] At The Circus. My manager, Shep Gordon, looked after him in the later stage of his life, and for a period of time we were pretty good friends — we were kinda inseparable.

He was always great company, hanging around with him was just like being in a Marx Brothers movie, like being in Duck Soup. You’d go to lunch with him and he’d open the menu, call the waiter over and say, as loudly as he could, ‘What kind of drugs do you have?’, or, ‘Can I get some dope for my friend here?’

I’d say, ‘Shhh, you can’t say that, Groucho!’ But of course you never told Groucho that he couldn’t do something because that would just egg him on more. He enjoyed the sport of it all.

We’d be having lunch and he’d say, ‘Excuse me, I gotta go torture the maitre d”, and two minutes later the maitre d’ would be looking like he wanted to strangle him. There was never a dull moment.

He liked me because I could make him laugh: if you could make Groucho laugh that was something. He was a unique entertainer, in that he could do anything — he could sing, play guitar, dance, tell jokes — and he looked at me as that kind of entertainer too. There was a certain absurdity to both of us.

Groucho came to see one of our shows once, and said, ‘Alice is the last hope for vaudeville.’ He saw me in that same tradition he came from.

Groucho would host great dinner parties, but if you had dinner at his house you had to perform afterwards. Except not in your own chosen field: if you were a singer, you had to dance, if you were a dancer, you had to tell jokes. I’d have to sing a Bing Crosby song, not a rock song, Fred Astaire would have to play piano, Mickey Dolenz would have to dance. That made it funnier for everybody. Those were good evenings.

Even in his eighties he was as sharp as a tack. I’d come back home and he’d be chasing my 18-year-old wife around the living room wearing Mickey Mouse ears, or she’d be sitting in his lap. Sheryl would say, ‘Alice, he’s 86, what is he going to do?’, and he’d look up with a smile and a raised eyebrow. He was one of a kind, and I’m proud to have known him as a friend. He was a true legend.

Stumbled across the above whilst poking around here and there, my curiosity having been piqued by the lead item from yesterday’s Memezapoppin‘ post. The above-mentioned pic:

Awwww. Odd couple indeed, no?

Good news, bad news

Posted on April 11, 2026 by Mike

Seems the former is always accompanied by a heaping helping of the latter.

The Retrologist’s Guide to Pizza Hut Classics
Plan your visit with this comprehensive list of locations

In 2019, Pizza Hut brought back its 1974 logo, banking on its nostalgic appeal. I figured that would be the end of it, just a simple marketing tactic soon forgotten. There were no plans announced to bring back the logo in stores, much less redesign the restaurants to look like old Pizza Huts from the chain’s heyday.

But with no fanfare whatsoever, that’s exactly what’s been happening. Pizza Hut has been taking legacy stores and converting them into “Classics.” The formula includes:

The old logo is used in pole signage as well as at the top of the (usually but not always) red-roofed restaurant. The pole sign features the addition of the word “Classic.”

The interior features cozy red booths and old-school Pizza Hut lamps.

Stickers featuring the long-discarded character Pizza Hut Pete are found on the door.

Posters feature classic photos from Pizza Huts of yore.

A plaque displays a quote from Pizza Hut co-founder Dan Carney, explaining the concept as a celebration of the brand’s heritage.

The GOOD news: I absolutely love this idea; I think it’s fantastic, and wish them every success with it. The BAD news: Hate to say it and all, particularly in light of the aforementioned good news, but Pizza Hut pizza just isn’t very good.

(Via AoSHQ ONT)

Marketing genius

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Mike

Once upon a time, there was a lovely old song went a little something like this:

Now, down the years since it was written there have been many versions of this particular song cut by many artists, many of them females. I just used this one because, I mean, come ON, man, it’s Nat King Cole—of COURSE I did!

Which is not germane to the central point of this post; no, this remarkable story of marketing superdupergenius is.

Los Angeles Rams Cheerleaders
The Los Angeles Rams Cheerleaders are the official National Football League cheerleading squad representing the Los Angeles Rams team.

History
They were established in 1974 during the team’s original tenure in Los Angeles and were known as the Embraceable Ewes. The cheerleading organization became known as the “St. Louis Rams Cheerleaders” when the team moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Beginning with the 2016 NFL season, the organization changed its name to the “Los Angeles Rams Cheerleaders” to associate themselves with the recently relocated Los Angeles Rams football team. They also have their own television show by the name of LA Rams Cheerleaders: Making the Squad.

Heh. Bold mine, because I absolutely love it.

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