Shooting at Kentucky State U earlier this week; shootings at Brown University yesterday to bookend things. And now shootings at Bondi Beach in Australia.
From IMdB: "A highly professional plumber makes a routine house call, where he remains completely oblivious to the residents' deliciously spicy advances."
The overt demonization of immigrants and those with immigrant roots is intensifying in the U.K. — and across Europe — as migration shoots up the political agenda and right-wing parties gain popularity.
I'm up at zero-dark thirty. Just ordered for the Baja Bug the dual port manifold kit with RED rubber boots and a couple of gaskets, as one does. Which means I just committed myself to doing manual labor. Gasp!
𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗶𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗮, 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗱 𝗨𝗸𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸. Explosions were reported at an oil depot near Simferopol in occupied Crimea, a chemical plant in the Russian city of Veliky Novgorod, and several energy sites, media reported late on Dec. 13.
I, for one, promise to almost never mention Trump's terrible stewardship of the economy. His singular ability to bankrupt casinos and walk away unscathed was NOT a harbinger (except in the sense of signaling future events). The sobriquet TACO is unworthy of both tacos and the "strong, decisive blob of orange jello" who occupies what's left of the White House.
So I had movie time with my son yesterday. Usually we watch some awful Japanese tokusatsu program and a riffed movie.
We're almost done with Kamen Rider Amazon, only 2 episodes left (there must be 20 or 30 different Kamen Rider series) and also watched the classic Jason and the Argonauts, the old Harryhausen one. For Talos and also the children of the dragon's teeth. I'm glad he enjoys that stuff, too.
Now we have the fun of waiting to hear from Republicans about how hurt they are that we might think thoughts and prayers are inadequate to deal with the problem of mass shootings. They are the victims when we laugh at that.
Shooting at Kentucky State U earlier this week; shootings at Brown University yesterday to bookend things. And now shootings at Bondi Beach in Australia.
(sighs)
If you feel the need to read about the Bondi Beach shooting, here's the Guardian live updates: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/dec/14/nsw-police-responding-to-reports-of-shooting-at-sydneys-bondi-beach-follow-latest
Footage of a bystander disarming one of the shooters: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/hero-bystander-tackles-gunman-in-incredible-footage-20251214-p5nnlb.html
NYT: Woody Allen Is Not Sorry About His Friendship With Jeffrey Epstein
Ya think?
Speaking of Walton Goggins, it's an extended ad for Doritos but it's still pretty amusing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJpYyHDTgRA
"A Spicy (But Not Too Spicy) Plumber"
From IMdB: "A highly professional plumber makes a routine house call, where he remains completely oblivious to the residents' deliciously spicy advances."
Stick around for the credits. Not only are there bloopers, but the credits are, um... let's say "non-standard."
"Well, it worked in the colonies, so ..."
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗮𝗸𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶-𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝟭.𝟮𝗯𝗻 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱
Exclusive: More than 150 anonymous channels using cheap AI tools to spread false stories about Keir Starmer, study finds
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/13/fake-anti-labour-video-billion-views-youtube-2025?utm_term=693e63fcf3ff7bf37d87950ee9947bea&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUK&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUK_email
Same racism playbook used in the US
https://bsky.app/profile/apnews.com/post/3m7wubrxgyt22
The overt demonization of immigrants and those with immigrant roots is intensifying in the U.K. — and across Europe — as migration shoots up the political agenda and right-wing parties gain popularity.
Good morning! Having some tea this morning; makes a change from the Sacrament.
#Worldle #1423 (14.12.2025) 3/6 (100%)
🔥 Current Win Streak: 4 days
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr/share
I have to hide my good Yorkshire Gold tea from the ravenous hordes here.
This was Earl Grey. I felt the need for a little bergamot.
So a Habad Hanukkah event in Sydney was attacked and 11 people are dead. This is terrible and we'll probably see more events like this.
(shades his eyes and recites the Kaddish)
I'm up at zero-dark thirty. Just ordered for the Baja Bug the dual port manifold kit with RED rubber boots and a couple of gaskets, as one does. Which means I just committed myself to doing manual labor. Gasp!
Heavens!
Vroom vroom!
Say it ain't so!
𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗶𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗮, 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗱 𝗨𝗸𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸. Explosions were reported at an oil depot near Simferopol in occupied Crimea, a chemical plant in the Russian city of Veliky Novgorod, and several energy sites, media reported late on Dec. 13.
https://kyivindependent.com/explosions-reported-at-oil-depot-in-occupied-crimea-several-russian-energy-sites-amid-drone-attack/?mc_cid=d3767dccef
Daily Kaboom!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhBqgncyuO4
There's actually 𝘯𝘰 degrees at all outside! ZERO! But it feels like -25...
If you absolutely 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 to go outside, don't.
Oh boy! Got my invite to the Christmas party at Nakatomi Tower! Should be a blast and a half!
Come out to the coast...have a few laughs...
Yeah, should be a killer party.
USAToday opinion: Stop criticizing Trump's bad economy. You're making him sad. [https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/12/14/trump-economy-inflation-affordability-hoax/87725036007/]
I, for one, promise to almost never mention Trump's terrible stewardship of the economy. His singular ability to bankrupt casinos and walk away unscathed was NOT a harbinger (except in the sense of signaling future events). The sobriquet TACO is unworthy of both tacos and the "strong, decisive blob of orange jello" who occupies what's left of the White House.
This is a great piece and spot on!
"Try being Donald Trump, the billionaire saint of perpetual grievance."
USAToday needs to fuck all the way off.
Read the actual article
(reads the entire article; stands by his earlier assertion)
was snark!
𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑣𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒? 𝑇𝑟𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐷𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑑 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒.
Was good snark, yes-yes.
USAToday has a bad opinion and they should feel bad.
So I had movie time with my son yesterday. Usually we watch some awful Japanese tokusatsu program and a riffed movie.
We're almost done with Kamen Rider Amazon, only 2 episodes left (there must be 20 or 30 different Kamen Rider series) and also watched the classic Jason and the Argonauts, the old Harryhausen one. For Talos and also the children of the dragon's teeth. I'm glad he enjoys that stuff, too.
Now I'm watching the Pee-Wee's Playhouse: Christmas Special. I'd watch it just to see him mistreat Frankie and Annette.
I'm kind of ashamed to admit it, but when I first saw "Bondi shooting"; well...; I went right to a news source.
I'm not. That's what I thought too, and it's her name, and that's how it would be reported. I just wondered if she had been the victim or the shooter.
Reasonable question.
𝑃𝐴𝑅𝐼𝑆 (𝐴𝑃) — 𝐴 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐ℎ 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑡’𝑠 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑜𝑓: 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐴𝐼.
...
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑚, 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑, 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒-𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑠.
...
𝑉𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟, 𝑅𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒’𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑦𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝐼𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑛 𝐴𝐼 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑠, ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑, 𝑎𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑-𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑚. “𝐴𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠,” 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑. “𝑊𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠.”
𝐻𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 “𝑈𝑛𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑” 𝑙𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔. “𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒,” ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑.
𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝑎 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒, 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RU1QKghuRE
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/13/business/wolf-french-supermarket-intermarche-advertisement/
That was cute.
I'm glad they've remembered the true point of great art- to sell things to people.
Now we have the fun of waiting to hear from Republicans about how hurt they are that we might think thoughts and prayers are inadequate to deal with the problem of mass shootings. They are the victims when we laugh at that.