SOTI:
“Since reinstating capital punishment in 1982, Texas has executed more people than the next six most active states combined.”
Also Texas:
Month: November 2023
News Roundup
Let’s start off with some Medical News:
...should be jailed for giving out Plastic Fantastics instead of Colt 1911s, but I’m guessing that’s not the reason people are getting upset about this. More:
...didn’t know we had one.
Moving on to the Dept. of Education:
...statutorily raped, that is, as the lucky lad got his end into Teacher Dearest at least twice, apparently without complaint.
...see, now I can’t help thinking that if our Junior G-Man had been getting massively bonked by his home room teacher, he would have had neither the time nor the energy to get all shooty.
And in Global Cooling Climate Warming Change© News:
...because even in Sunny Seffrica, solar energy can’t deliver. [/Captain Obvious]
...remind me about that “snowfalls are a thing of the past”, again?
...who cares if Portugal is laid waste by mining, as long as California- and Islington liberals can ride around smugly in their little Duracell cars.
In Business News:
...and if you thought she made a lot of money from her music, wait till you see how she does with OnlyFans.
From the Crime Desk:
...keyword: Russia. Second keyword: 9mm Europellet.
And in LGBTOSTFU News:
...actually, Ms. Purple Hair, it proves the exact opposite: God does exist, and he hates you for being an amoral pervert.
From the Dept. of the Absurd:
...at this point, even Kafka would throw up his hands and admit defeat.
And in other INSIGNIFICA:
...call me old-fashioned, but “Woonsocket” is just a tad eccentric. Also too long.
Finally, in Hottie Showbiz News, Hurley Department:
...and yes, she even goes topless. 
I rather like her friend too, by the way.
#Threesome
And dat’s Da Nooz.
Caption Competition #306
Your suggestions in Comments.
Quick Reminder
Alerted by this little alarm bell via Insty:
“[Shooters] enthusiasts can expect cartridge prices to increase for the rest of the year and continue to do so through 2024.”
…in other words, shooters should get going before ammo gets really unaffordable:
…and it’s this very weekend. We now return to our regular programming.
Keeping It Anonymous
POTUS-wannabe Nikki Haley and some others have come right out and said that Internet anonymity should be banned.
I think that’s bullshit, despite the fact that I myself have eschewed Internet anonymity (for the most personal of reasons). I think that while anonymity can breed mischief, it can also protect someone from retaliation when, for example, shining light on the inner workings of an institution.
Whistle-blowers in large institutions (especially government and large corporations) would almost certainly be silenced because of (justified) fears that they’d lose their job by so doing — even if they were exposing extreme malfeasance or negligence. That cannot be a good thing.
Of course, anonymity affords trolls and other such excrescences the ability to say awful things — such as defamation or character assassination — not to mention unacceptable utterances such as… racism?
Oh yeah, and that’s the problem. Because the minute you say “You can say this and not that”, there’s a little question of who decides the parameters of accepted speech.
We have a First Amendment that addresses that issue, I believe, and it was thoroughly covered in the Anti-Federalist by — ho! — the anonymous “Brutus”.
There is a vulnerability in that freedom, of course, just as there’s vulnerability in all our social and political freedoms. But confining ourselves to speech for a moment, we know the old adage that a lie travels round the world before the truth can get out of bed, and anonymity is the prime facilitator thereof.
Online commenter “Fred_The_Wise” can post on Xwitter that he has proof that Bill Clinton is a serial molester of underage girls, and even Clinton’s feral lawyers would have a problem stopping that “untruth” from spreading and “contaminating” Clinton’s good name. “Kim du Toit” can do no such thing, of course, unless he has the actual proof that Bill Clinton is such a pervert.
The problem, as we all know, is that “Fred_The_Wise”, even if he has actual proof of said molestation, is not going to be the next “suicide” at the hands of the Clinton “Hit Squad” because nobody knows who he is; whereas “Kim du Toit” would have to be extremely careful of slippery soap in the shower and random nooses hanging from trees, if you get my drift.
That “Fred_The_Wise” might just be indulging in a little gratuitous character assassination is just a malevolent by-product of the freedom of speech.
Which is terrible, but unfortunately for goons like Nikki Haley, they’re just going to have to live with it, as we all have to do.
Health Issues Etc.
Yesterday was time for my annual checkup, so after enduring the no-coffee / no-food “fast” for reasons of bloodwork, I settled in to have my chat with Dr. ShitForBrains.
Perhaps a little background is necessary. I have had three primary doctors since the Great Wetback Episode of 1986 — or perhaps I should say that I’ve outlived two doctors, and am on my third. (The first, in Chicago, died of leukemia; the second, in Plano, died of a heart attack.) Doctor #2 was nicknamed “Shit-for-brains” by the family because he was, to put it mildly, the world’s worst diagnostician. No matter how much information we gave him, he’d get it wrong. Lovely man, piss-poor doctor. We were just about to get another doctor when he snuffed it, and we inherited Doctor #3 in the same practice, who is definitely not ShitForBrains, but the nickname (rather unfairly) has become generic, to distinguish him from the other doctors we’ve since acquired (dermos, heart specs, etc.). We have an excellent relationship, truly fine, and he gets my sense of humor (as you will see).
Back to yesterday’s visit. Here’s more or less how it went.
SFB: All your vitals are good: weight has dropped (by 40lbs!), BP is excellent, circulation fine, respiration excellent, thyroid fine. When the bloodwork comes back, we’ll check the cholesterol and so on, but I don’t see any issues. Had any problems since last time?
Kim: I’ve just started having plantar fasciitus attacks in my right foot.. Came out of nowhere, very owie two days back, a little better today.
SFB: [winces] Ouch! Sorry to hear that. I’ll give you a printout that’ll help, for exercises.
Kim: Exercises? I’m in pain, here. Can’t you give me a quick pop of Lidocaine or something?
SFB: Hahaha no.
Kim: It’s a good thing I left my gun in the car, or else we’d be having a different conversation about Lidocaine.
SFB: Kim, you know my policy about gun fights in my office.
Kim: Wouldn’t be much of one; you’re not carrying.
SFB: No, but Christie is. [nods towards his assistant, who gives me That Look]
You’d think I’d have remembered that, because ’twas I who taught her how to shoot and helped her buy her first gun, about eight years back (S&W Lady Smith in .38 Spec+P — she’s since acquired a Kimber Ultra Carry in .45 ACP because she’s a big girl and can handle it).
Anyway, by then the pain had subsided somewhat, so after having had blood taken, I was on my merry way.
Good health: I haz it. (Apart from typical Olde Phartte issues and a sore foot.)
Not bad for… fucking hell, 69 on Sunday.
Time for another gin.