The Keady Market grew up around Kuhl's Livestock Auctions in Keady. The Kuhl's have a cattle auction every Tuesday, so what could be more logical than having a farmer's market in the field behind the auction arena?
Initially that meant a few locals fobbing off the surplus from their kitchen gardens. But it's grown like topsy! They got well over two hundred vendors now. If it wasn't for toilet paper and beer, you really wouldn't have to shop anywhere else!
Want a new watch? You can find an authentic-looking counterfeit of a famous Swiss brand for twenty bucks. Ditto for designer sunglasses.
How about a crossbow? Cherry-flavoured popcorn? Cannabis-oil balm to rub on your aching feet?...
Or maybe you've had your eye on a Dixie flag to hang in your rec-room? No problem! Found two vendors happy to oblige, one of them being a native woman. They're getting hard to find since the forces of political correctitude rendered them a symbol of white supremacy. Around here they're just a symbol of Dukes of Hazzard and Lynyrd Skynryd.
It's still a livestock auction at heart. You can buy a single cattle-beast or a whole herd of heifers. In the main sales arena guys with manure on their boots spend hundreds of thousands replenishing their inventory.
The Keady Market has become something of a regional tourist draw. Me and the Farm Manager try to visit at least once a year. The FM found the perfect belt holster for her iPhone today.
The crowd is a very diverse bag, from farmers to local townfolks to day-trippers from the city. I saw at least three different clans of Amish women in attendance; black, white, and blue-bonnets, each of which fervently believe that their bonnet style is most pleasing to the Lord.
There's also lots of aging hippie-types, grey-beard bikers, and tattooed hotties in too-short denim cut-offs and cowboy boots. It would be my kinda place if you could score a cold beer somewhere on the premises.
All in all, well worth the visit, but be forewarned; only a few of the vendors have interac, and the onsite cash dispenser wasn't dispensing cash today. Best to top off your wallet before you go.
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Top headlines waiting for me at Google News this morning
By golly, that Artificial Intelligence stuff is amazing, isn't it? Google uses AI to personalize the stories the aggregator selects for us, according to our interests. Here's the top five headlines waiting for me when I fired up the laptop this morning.
- Paul Manafort's lawyers conclude case without calling any witnesses - The Guardian
- Ex-Trump official admits he "possibly" pocketed money from president's inauguration committee - Global News
- Defence for Paul Manafort rests without calling witnesses at bank fraud trial - CBC News
- Manafort defence rests without calling witnesses - CNN
- Defence rests in Paul Manafort fraud trial without calling any witnesses - Daily Mail
They totally nailed it! I've been totally obsessed with the Manafort trial.
The insights of Google's AI bots following me around the web are utterly uncanny! Why, just last night I had a dream where Manafort's defence team had Bad Vlad himself squirming in the witness stand...
Or not.
Sunday, August 12, 2018
The myopia of Thomas Friedman
Thomas Friedman is a big deal. He's the guy all the top guns in the Canadian punditocracy have to read to make sure they're onside with the latest slant on US Exceptionalism.
Friedman's insights trickle up here to the boonies a little late. The column that appeared in my "New York Times International Weekly" today actually showed up in the NYT five days ago, but better late than never.
Thomas is keen to have us know that he's hound-dogging his way around the continent on his NYT expense account, having dinner parties with various government and international experts, "trying to understand the refugee crisis that is fracturing the EU, much of which originates in Italy."
We'll call this the first Tommywhopper of the piece. The refugee crisis primarily originates in countries where the US and the gang of toadying me-too nations have been busying themselves spreading freedom and democracy. Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan...
It doesn't take Thomas long to come up with Tommywhopper 2; there was nothing wrong with the illegal destruction of Libya other than the small detail that the destroyers failed to hang around and "build a new order."
Really?
Friedman does notice that on his current frolic through Italy, "unassimilated migrants are now visible in the streets, squares, and train stations." Is this the result of America having destroyed their countries?
Gosh no! It's because we haven't provided the migrants with "legal pathways for immigration," nor have we, the always-virtuous West, come up with "a strategy to improve effective and accountable governance in Africa."
As if that should be our job. Hey, we're trying to get past that colonialism thing, aren't we?
We'll call that Tommywhopper 3. All EU countries have legal pathways for immigration. Having legal pathways for immigration is a condition of EU membership. What those legal pathways never anticipated was the over-whelming flood of refugees created by US foreign policiy.
That's America's responsibility, not Italy's. Or Hungary's or Spain's or Germany's or Sweden's. There is not the slightest whiff anywhere in these 800 words 'o wisdom from the American Establishment's number one pundit, that remotely hints that America bears any responsibility whatsoever for the refugee crisis.
The latter half of Friedman's rant is, predictably, all about Putin and his bumboy in the White House, although Steve Bannon makes an extended cameo. If those guys get their way, "who will write the new rules for the 21st century?"
Well Thomas, I guess that remains to be seen.
Folks who love peace and democracy just hope it won't be the same people who wrote the rules for the the last century... you know, the century that brought us Hiroshima, Korea, Vietnam, Timor, Suharto, Pinochet, the Shah, Rios Montt...
And so much more!
Friedman's insights trickle up here to the boonies a little late. The column that appeared in my "New York Times International Weekly" today actually showed up in the NYT five days ago, but better late than never.
Thomas is keen to have us know that he's hound-dogging his way around the continent on his NYT expense account, having dinner parties with various government and international experts, "trying to understand the refugee crisis that is fracturing the EU, much of which originates in Italy."
We'll call this the first Tommywhopper of the piece. The refugee crisis primarily originates in countries where the US and the gang of toadying me-too nations have been busying themselves spreading freedom and democracy. Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan...
It doesn't take Thomas long to come up with Tommywhopper 2; there was nothing wrong with the illegal destruction of Libya other than the small detail that the destroyers failed to hang around and "build a new order."
Really?
Friedman does notice that on his current frolic through Italy, "unassimilated migrants are now visible in the streets, squares, and train stations." Is this the result of America having destroyed their countries?
Gosh no! It's because we haven't provided the migrants with "legal pathways for immigration," nor have we, the always-virtuous West, come up with "a strategy to improve effective and accountable governance in Africa."
As if that should be our job. Hey, we're trying to get past that colonialism thing, aren't we?
We'll call that Tommywhopper 3. All EU countries have legal pathways for immigration. Having legal pathways for immigration is a condition of EU membership. What those legal pathways never anticipated was the over-whelming flood of refugees created by US foreign policiy.
That's America's responsibility, not Italy's. Or Hungary's or Spain's or Germany's or Sweden's. There is not the slightest whiff anywhere in these 800 words 'o wisdom from the American Establishment's number one pundit, that remotely hints that America bears any responsibility whatsoever for the refugee crisis.
The latter half of Friedman's rant is, predictably, all about Putin and his bumboy in the White House, although Steve Bannon makes an extended cameo. If those guys get their way, "who will write the new rules for the 21st century?"
Well Thomas, I guess that remains to be seen.
Folks who love peace and democracy just hope it won't be the same people who wrote the rules for the the last century... you know, the century that brought us Hiroshima, Korea, Vietnam, Timor, Suharto, Pinochet, the Shah, Rios Montt...
And so much more!
Friday, August 10, 2018
Jews will not replace us
I was perusing the CNN-Fox news corridor today, and it seems lots of folks have got their knickers in a twist over the impending reunion of the "white nationalists" in Charlottesville.
Saw a clip of some white dudes carrying torches there last year. They appeared to be chanting "Jews will not replace us."
Hey pal, I think your job at the car wash is pretty safe. Ain't no Jewish conspiracy gonna take your job anytime soon.
I'm fully aware there's a lot of really stupid white folks out there, but "Jews will not replace us?" That's a bit much... that's so retarded you'd almost think it has to be a setup. Maybe there's a drama class at U of Virginia where they get a credit for carrying a torch. Maybe you get your Master's for throwing on a bed-sheet and chanting "the KKK is here to stay."
I don't know...
What I do know is that anytime there's one of these "white nationalist-white supremacist" get togethers that take months to organize and might attract a few dozen seriously deluded dumbfucks, normal people can organize a counter demo of thousands in a matter of days.
It's always darkest before the dawn. There is still hope for America.
Saw a clip of some white dudes carrying torches there last year. They appeared to be chanting "Jews will not replace us."
Hey pal, I think your job at the car wash is pretty safe. Ain't no Jewish conspiracy gonna take your job anytime soon.
I'm fully aware there's a lot of really stupid white folks out there, but "Jews will not replace us?" That's a bit much... that's so retarded you'd almost think it has to be a setup. Maybe there's a drama class at U of Virginia where they get a credit for carrying a torch. Maybe you get your Master's for throwing on a bed-sheet and chanting "the KKK is here to stay."
I don't know...
What I do know is that anytime there's one of these "white nationalist-white supremacist" get togethers that take months to organize and might attract a few dozen seriously deluded dumbfucks, normal people can organize a counter demo of thousands in a matter of days.
It's always darkest before the dawn. There is still hope for America.
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
UFC announces PoorBoys vs. Antifa in the octagon for UFC 230!
Come to think of it, that would probably sell some tickets!
Let's see if I got this right... on the one side, a bunch of millennials with no prospects.
On the other side... a bunch of millennials with no prospects...
Wait a minute!
What's wrong with this picture?
Why can't the millennials with no prospects put their heads together and figure out why they've got no prospects, instead of bashing each other's heads in?
Let's see if I got this right... on the one side, a bunch of millennials with no prospects.
On the other side... a bunch of millennials with no prospects...
Wait a minute!
What's wrong with this picture?
Why can't the millennials with no prospects put their heads together and figure out why they've got no prospects, instead of bashing each other's heads in?
Another reason to avoid motorcycles
I was coming down the road between Lake Charles and Wolseley the other day in the old Pontiac Torment, when a smallish wolf or a large coyote came full-throttle out of the underbrush on the left thinking he'd make it across the road.
He didn't.
But it got me thinking. That's one of the low-traffic neighbourhood roads I like to toodle around on with the Ninja.
What would have been the result if I'd been piloting the Ninja up that road at that particular moment?
Hospital?
Morgue?
It wouldna been pretty.
He didn't.
But it got me thinking. That's one of the low-traffic neighbourhood roads I like to toodle around on with the Ninja.
What would have been the result if I'd been piloting the Ninja up that road at that particular moment?
Hospital?
Morgue?
It wouldna been pretty.
Justin Trudeau's "feminist foreign policy" comes down with cramps
Back in the bad old "Big Steve" era, thinking Canadians would cringe when Bullshittin' Baird used to go on about how Canada punches above its weight, blah blah blah.
Now we tweet above our weight instead. Usually, nobody gives a shit, but last week our good pals in the Saudi dictatorship took umbrage.
Poof!
Fifteen thousand Saudi students paying extravagant "foreign student" tuition, gone from our universities.
Canada's biggest industrial export contract in history at risk.
Prospects of further lucrative contracts from the KSA?
Nil.
The response from Canada so far has been to double down on a really dubious idea; that you can cosy up to repressive regimes to take their money, and then turn around and criticize them for being repressive.
Which is par for the course for the team of Dumb and Dumber running the show in Ottawa. To hear them tell the tale, nothing is ever going to prevent us from tweeting for human rights.
We're very selective of who we champion in those tweets, of course. If you're a victim of Bad Vlad's machinations in Ukraine, hey, we've got your back! We'll at least tweet our support, if nothing else.
If you're a Romani victim of Ukrainian racists, not so much.
If you're a Palestinian in Gaza, forget about it.
But that's Canada, eh?
We can't figure out the mysteries of providing clean water to Indian reservations.
We can't run an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.
Hell, we can't even figure out how to pay our civil servants on time!
But, we are absolutely top-shelf, top-drawer, top 'o the heap when it comes to lecturing others on how to manage their affairs.
Now we tweet above our weight instead. Usually, nobody gives a shit, but last week our good pals in the Saudi dictatorship took umbrage.
Poof!
Fifteen thousand Saudi students paying extravagant "foreign student" tuition, gone from our universities.
Canada's biggest industrial export contract in history at risk.
Prospects of further lucrative contracts from the KSA?
Nil.
The response from Canada so far has been to double down on a really dubious idea; that you can cosy up to repressive regimes to take their money, and then turn around and criticize them for being repressive.
Which is par for the course for the team of Dumb and Dumber running the show in Ottawa. To hear them tell the tale, nothing is ever going to prevent us from tweeting for human rights.
We're very selective of who we champion in those tweets, of course. If you're a victim of Bad Vlad's machinations in Ukraine, hey, we've got your back! We'll at least tweet our support, if nothing else.
If you're a Romani victim of Ukrainian racists, not so much.
If you're a Palestinian in Gaza, forget about it.
But that's Canada, eh?
We can't figure out the mysteries of providing clean water to Indian reservations.
We can't run an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.
Hell, we can't even figure out how to pay our civil servants on time!
But, we are absolutely top-shelf, top-drawer, top 'o the heap when it comes to lecturing others on how to manage their affairs.
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