Biden Warned Against Afghan Escalation, Cops Daunted by Immigration Law, TSA Even Mistreats the Dead: P.M. Links

• A leaked memo dating to 2009 shows that Vice President Biden warned President Obama against sending more troops to Afghanistan. The book revealing the memo also says Obama deliberately avoided downbeat CIA assessments of the U.S. presence in that country.

• A proposal by European Union President Herman Van Rompuy to unify debt and cap national budgets of member nations is already running into opposition from Germany, reducing chances that the continent will find itself shoe-horned into a parody of a centralized state.
• Now that the Supreme Court has thumbs-upped a provision of Arizona law requiring police to check the immigration status of anybody they stop and suspect of illegal presence in the U.S., police fret that the new mandate will complicate their jobs and lead to lawsuits.
• California's state government is severely overextended and dead broke. So, of course, it's … banning foie gras. Fanciers of the awesome delicacy are coming up with novel approaches for bypassing the law.
• Uruguay's government says plans to legalize marijuana won't draw "drug tourists" to the country because sales to foreigners will be banned. So much for getting rid of the black market.
• A deal ending a very public intra-family feud within the libertarian movement has Ed Crane stepping down at the Cato Institute to make way for John Allison, retired chairman and chief executive of BB&T Corp., as the new chief executive.
• After photographing a rough arrest of a DUI suspect by Austin police, Antonio Buehler was arrested and charged with resisting arrest and felony harassment on a public servant, charges carrying up to ten years in prison. Private videos of the incident tell a story at odds with the police report.
• A man traveling through the Orlando airport with his grandfather's cremated remains says a TSA agent laughed as she spilled ashes and bone fragments on the floor.

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Comments

[wareagle]

A leaked memo dating to 2009 shows that Vice President Biden warned President Obama against sending more troops to Afghanistan.

in fairness, Biden had spent the previous 30 years being wrong on everything. Of course, wasn't Joe campaigning alongside Obama on Afghanistan being "the good war?"

[Aresen]

When Biden is the smartest man in your cabinet, you are in deep, deep trouble.

[VG Zaytsev]

In a brain dead administration, the moron is king.

[John C. Randolph]

I'm astounded to learn of an instance in which Talky Joe got something right.

-jcr

[Fist of Etiquette]

A proposal by European Union President Herman Van Rompuy to unify debt and cap national budgets of member nations is already running into opposition from Germany...

Germany against unifying Europe? I guess it's a whole new world (one where the Krauts don't want to use Mefo bills to pay off everyone else's debts).

[Episiarch]

Look, the Germans have had it with starting wars. Now, they want one to be started with them.

[Groovus Maximus]

Well, the last two they started didn't end so well for them at each juncture, so they are taking a different tack this time. No one ever accused The Krauts of being stupid, if not a little zealously stoic.

[Pro Libertate]

The last war they did really well in, the Franco-Prussian War, involved just invading France. Is there a lesson to be learned here? I don't know.

[Rasilio]

I don't know I'd say they did pretty well for themselves in World War 2, sure they lost, but it took the concerted effort of 4 of the 6 most powerful countries in the world to knock them out.

If they had just managed to keep Russia and the US out of the war for 5 or 6 more years then we would have had an EU by 1943 and it is unlikely we would have been able to break it up.

[John]

Conquered France in six weeks. Marched all the way to Moscow in six months.

[Episiarch]

I still say Barbarossa was one of the classic blunders, up there with getting involved in a land war in Asia and going up against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

[Groovus Maximus]

They should have built up an immunity to the iocaine.

[Episiarch]

"So I clearly cannot invade the Stalingrad in front of you."

[Groovus Maximus]

"Clearly you cannot invade Volgograd in front of me!"

[Fist of Etiquette]

Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.

[R C Dean]

Technically wasn't Barbarossa a land war in Asia?

[Pro Libertate]

It was both, right? Started in European Russia and continued into Asian Russia.

[Pro Libertate]

You only do well when you win. When you win, you don't have to use the word "if" all the time. You just enjoy the fruits of your victory.

[Loki]

"Losers always whine about their best, winners go home an fuck the prom queen."

[Tulpa the White]

it took the concerted effort of 4 of the 6 most powerful countries in the world to knock them out.

US, UK, USSR, and ... Australia?

[Pro Libertate]

Canada? Maybe China? Finland?

[Tulpa the White]

They usually speak of France as the fourth member of the victorious Allies, which is ridic for obvious reasons. So I'm assuming that's what he meant.

[Pro Libertate]

France? Didn't they fight for the Nazis?

[cw]

The Vichy north were Nazi puppets; the south had local French insurgents sabotaging Vichy/Nazi assets. Kinda like the way Denmark undermined the Germans from within itself.

[Episiarch]

Well, the last one really gave them a bad reputation, and they'd like to change that. It's their turn to be the attacked and not the attacker!

[Pro Libertate]

I suggest faking an attack by French protestors, then invading and conquering the entire nation.

[Aresen]

Speaking from experience, you do NOT want a bunch of French people in your imperium.

I'd recommend sealing the borders with France on all sides and not letting them join anybody.

[John]

Interestingly enough the country that still has a bank account is not interested in unifying with a bunch of countries who don't.

[Chloe]

Who would have thought? I am currently waiting when the rest of the states here are going to have to be the bank account for California.

[jasno]

You mean after using California as a bank for all the previous years? You know CA pays far more in federal taxes than it ever gets back.

[Enough About Palin]

That would make them stupid, eh?

[John Locke]

That was then. What has CA done for us lately besides a shitload of crappy entertainment and insane leftist/statist policies?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Well, if Cali migrants didn't inflate the fuck out of their new local economies with all their overpriced housing bux, that wouldn't have been an issue, now would it?

[Tulpa the White]

Oh quit yer whining

States Receiving Least in Federal Spending Per Dollar of Federal Taxes Paid:

1. New Jersey ($0.62)
2. Connecticut ($0.64)
3. New Hampshire ($0.68)
4. Nevada ($0.73)
5. Illinois ($0.77)
6. Minnesota ($0.77)
7. Colorado ($0.79)
8. Massachusetts ($0.79)
9. California ($0.81)
10. New York ($0.81)

Not quite "using CA as a bank", at least not uniquely so.

[jasno]

Thank you for refuting something I never said. I never said CA was unique, I merely said we pay more than we receive. Your outdated statistics(from 2005) prove the point I was actually making.

Incidentally, here's some newer data: http://www.economist.com/blogs.....scal-union

[ant1sthenes]

Incidentally, California is also #9 in income (in 2009, at least, here).

If Californians are making more, then they're paying more and getting less back. That's sort of how the whole progressive wealth redistribution thing that the majority of Californians support works.

[Pro Libertate]

Listen, don't mention the war. I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it all right.

[T]

One prawn Goebbels...

[Pro Libertate]

Is there something wrong?

[Episiarch]

"Yes you did ? you invaded Poland!"

[Pro Libertate]

You need a plastic surgeon dear, not a doctor.

[Episiarch]

"Hors d'oeuvres...vich must be obeyed at all times vitout qvestion!"

[Fist of Etiquette]

...police fret that the new mandate will complicate their jobs and lead to lawsuits.

Taking all the fun out of what was good sport.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

as a local cop, i have ZERO desire to enforce immigration law (and i think the majority of local cops agree)

it's also bad policy. it discourages victims of crime from reporting crime, etc. lest they be caught up in a immigration hassle, etc.

it's bad policy. i haven't digested the case law to state whether the scotus ruling was correct on the law, but empowering local cops to enforce immigration law is BAD policy. and i say that as somebody who is NOT an open borders person.

it's a "solution" that is worse than the problem

[jasno]

I suspect what ends up happening is the officers call the feds to check immigration status and get put on hold until they've got to release the suspect.

The more I think about it, I believe the supremes effectively gutted the entirety of SB1070.

[R C Dean]

I believe the supremes effectively gutted the entirety of SB1070.

They did. The little wink-and-nod routine on how they can hardly wait to overturn the remaining section next time it is challenged pretty well gave the game away.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

they kept one of the most controversial parts, the part that allows (or in the words of reason.com "requires") cops to act as la migra given RS.

imo, very bad policy

[jasno]

Really? It seems like cops get to detain them for a bit, but even if they come up as illegal the feds don't have to actually do anything about it.

It just seems to me that the supremes took the teeth out of 1070 - a good thing, IMHO.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

well, yea. but the feds having to do something about it was never an element in the first place.

my point was that the provision that allows them to inquire (and further detain) based on RS of being here "illegally" remains and it's imo astoundingly bad policy.

again, i am not saying the scotus was right or wrong on the LAW, since it's an area of law i don't know enough about to be able to parse their decision from an edumacated standpoint.

[Enough About Palin]

"(and i think the majority of local cops agree)"

Why would the pigs dislike a law that permits them to extoet and beat the shit out of the undocumented men and rape the shit out of their women?

I'm just not buying, shithole.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

troll-o-meter: .01

[Dunphy (the real one)]

ah, the troll fu is weak, sir

[Tulpa the White]

it discourages victims of crime from reporting crime, etc. lest they be caught up in a immigration hassle, etc.

The provision about checking immigration status only applies to individuals stopped, detained, or arrested. Not someone who reports a crime etc. So there is no way someone could be rationally fearful about reporting a crime.

Of course, with the media portraying it as a borderline Gestapo tactic and Reason calling it the "so-called 'papers please' law" (who's calling it that, other than open borders advocates?), one could easily see how people would be afraid of it. But that's not the fault of the law, it's the fault of irresponsible voices with an agenda.

[Whahappan?]

Except when you call the cops about a break-in, or whatever, and they decide to search the place, hassle you, arrest you, etc.

[Tulpa the White]

i have ZERO desire to enforce immigration law

That's why it's called a job and not a volunteer opportunity.

[sage]

They don't like complications. They'll stick to shooting dogs and hog tying photographers.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

i'd be interested in a poll of cops (not cop-o-crats, but actual line cops).

granted, i don't work in arizona, and maybe arizona cops think differently, but cops where i work have an almost universal dislike for the idea of enforcing immigration law. that's not to say that if we arrest some scumbag felon and he happens to be illegal, that we don't want to see him deported after he serves time, but i don't know any street cops who want to be "la migra".

i deal with the people all the time who are illegal. so fucking what? it shouldn't disincentivize them from calling 911 out of fear of immigration enforcement. and again, i say that as somebody who does believe in enforcing a border...

but local cops should not be doing this shit.

and i'd bet MOST local cops don't want that burden

[rsi]

Here: The message from the Dodge City police chief that even immigrants in the country illegally should call for help ? "we want to protect them from crime, and that's it"

http://www.kansascity.com/2012.....k=misearch

[Dunphy (the real one)]

ok, great. but he's a cop - o -crat. again, i'm interested in what line cops think. i SUGGEST most do not want to do the la migra shit. god knows most i talk to here in WA certainly don't

[jasno]

I'd bet the attitude is going to vary from department to department. You've got areas in AZ where the attitude towards illegals varies widely and I bet those attitudes often carry over to the cops.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

yea, that's why i'd be curious. i have one guy i know from my agency who used to work phoenix PD, and he says that he feels the vast majority of illegals are good people, salt of the earth, hard workers, and he would never want to be la migra

but n=1 isn't exactly compelling

despite the fact i am strongly pro-border, i also have nothing but empathy for individual illegals, and i would hate for one of them to suffer as a victim of crime because they were afraid to call 911.

and i know there are people who prey on them, and their fears of cops, particularly because they come from countries e.g. mexico where cops are corrupt as fuck

all reason wanking aside, there is no comparison

[The Fatman]

It ain't just Mexico where the PD's are corrupt as fuck.

[The Fatman]

Yeah, having to do some work would interfere with getting doughnuts, shooting dogs, and pulling over hot bitches and forcing them to sex you up.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

all at union inflated wages!!!!

[T]

The wages I can live with, it's the pension benefits that are killing us.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

not in WA. our LEOFF-II system is actually OVERfunded. we got the report a few months ago. kind of surprising considering how fuckedup WA state is in general financially, but it is what it is

reason often makes these aggregate statements (like about police staffing or pensions) that fail to recognize the VAST differences we see on a local basis

i brough this up the other day with the article that claimed cops have more than enough staffing. SOME agencies are overstaffed. others, e.g. oakland PD are woefully understaffed

similarly, vis a vis pensions, WA state is funded very well and is doing just fine. it's a "high 5 system" (we contribute a certain %age and then get a payout upon retirement where our paychecks are based on a percentage of the average of our 5 highest paid consecutive years while working.

california is, as i understand it, completely fucked, but here in WA state, it aint "killing us"

[R C Dean]

our LEOFF-II system is actually OVERfunded.

I seriously doubt that, because they are probably using a laughably high assumed rate of return (probably 8%). No way they can get that YOY indefinitely.

So, your confidence in the solvency of your pension plan is probably misplaced.

[Tulpa the White]

No way they can get that YOY indefinitely.

You can if it's funded by contraband that goes lost from the evidence locker.

[sage]

I live in WA and our state pension shortfall is about 1/100 of CA's iirc. (dont know what dunphys system is). So even if it makes only 4% we are still in waaay better shape than ca.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

the LEOFF system is adequately funded. period. not opinion. fact. like many things, it VARIES state by state. our state happens to be doing very well, even with shittastic ror

[Enough About Palin]

"granted, i don't work in arizona"

I thought it was in the Pacific Northwest. Withe your ever-evolving history of job changes, I gotta figure that you are something akin to a pedophile priest.

[Enough About Palin]

Bad reading with the eyes today.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

heh.

i am just throwing out the thought bubble, that it's POSSIBLE that working in an area like arizona might lead a line cop to have different views about immigration enforcement vs. WA state.

like i said, i am strongly against open border, but i am also strongly against using local cops as la migra.

i'd bet maybe 70/30 odds that even cops in Az feel the same way, but i readily admit i do not have their experiences, so i argue from ignorance, to an extent (cue: derp derp derp)

fwiw, i don't move that much. i've been with the same agency, in the same state for 15 yrs now

i'm just old as fuck

[Fist of Etiquette]

Fanciers of the awesome delicacy are coming up with novel approaches for bypassing the law.

Chefs are tricking the fowls into gorging themselves. They have the geese sit on a sofa watching Springer and Maury and the face-stuffing instinct kicks in.

[Auric Demonocles]

Give them medical marijuana.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It was just after midnight on New Year's Day when Antonio Buehler spotted a pair of Austin cops manhandling a woman at a gas station during a DUI investigation, so he pulled out his cell phone and began taking photos.

That, of course, prompted one of the cops to storm up to him and accuse him of interfering with the investigation.

Nothing interferes with a police investigation like evidence.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

word. real cops support the right of people to film them, and us to film others.

protects against bad cops, and protects good cops from false complaints

win/win

[Fist of Etiquette]

Surely the word has to be spreading to local law enforcement agencies to relent and embrace citizen video documentation. It seems like a failure of supervision that when incidents like this occur, not only is there no corrective training but LEO leadership seems to enable the behavior by covering for their officers.

[The Fatman]

Gangsters always got their homies back man. Snitches get stitches bitches. Go Big Blue!

[Dunphy (the real one)]

our agency came out with a very forceful and clear position statement that we are not to interfere with such filming unless it directly interferes with the arrest (and i have yet to see such an incident where it did), and we cannot even legally seize the camera as evidence. we can ask the person for their name, etc. so they can be subpoena'd later, and that's it.

again, the statement made very clear that filming cops is a right under the 1st amemdment and one we embrace.

i thought that was an excellent proactive step, the kind of thing i see happen a lot in law enforcement (but is obviously not going to get press as reason.com).

our chief made it clear - interfere with recording and your job is on the line

[The Fatman]

I will believe it when I see it. PD's are always putting out those statements and "official" positions. But, when push comes to shove, it's "fuck you, that's why".

[Dunphy (the real one)]

you see it. go to youtube. see literally thousands of videos where people filmed police, and ... nothing happened

here's a hint. you can have 1000 people film police and nothing happens and reason doesn't write a story

they write a story in the case where something DOES happen

and selection bias ensues and people like you who don't understand basic logic and evidence, don't realize that fact.

again, people film us all the time. heck, i have had multiple people film me in the same shift. we have this one dirtbag house we go to (they are all burglars... all of them) and the cameras come on instantly. not just the ones they have installed, but the ones they hold. GOOD

on several occasions, they have filmed themselves admitting to crimes they committed, and stuff we have seized has helped convict them

sprackers, specfically methheads LOVE cameras and love filming themselves. the homemade porn sucks (think abscesses and lack of muscle tone), but the evidence is astoundingly awesome.

[John]

What a surprise the women they were arrested was attractive. Fucking animals.

[generic Brand]

John, sometimes your taste in women is decent. Other times I have to disagree. This time, I have to ask WTF? It's a girl in a cocktail dress with a censor bar over her face. The picture is pretty blurry and it's dark. How do you come away with she's "attractive"?? Have you been to a nightclub recently? There are some real dogs that go out in short cocktail dresses.

[John]

Sorry I was speaking from the perspective of our typical cop. She was under 200 lbs and looks like she had bathed in the last week. To a cop, that is damn fine. And certainly ripe for molestation.

[generic Brand]

Okay, makes much more sense. I mean, she seems attractive and I probably would, but I wouldn't tell anyone about it.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

ime, typical cops get pretty good ass. firefighters too (i've been both). iow, cops and firefighters both punch above their weight when it comes to attracting women.

women like 'real men', they like type "a' personalities, etc. and both from a groupies and a "good take her home to mama perspective", you are going to get some pretty hawt wimmenses as a cop if you have decent game.

i played in a band for many years, and the advantage isn't as big as with vocalists (you can be ugly and dorky as hell, but if you can sing women love you), but it's a strong advantage.

several times i've been surprised at police functions when i meet a cop wife or girlfriend of some relatively dorky cop and she is fine as fuck.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

i've also been surprised at how often cops get white collar wives - doctors, lawyers, etc.

a fair # of cop wives are pure stay at home moms, etc. but i've seen a surprising # of high earning, advanced degrees spouses as well, surprisingly so

[Heroic Mulatto]

ime, typical cops get pretty good ass. firefighters too (i've been both). iow, cops and firefighters both punch above their weight when it comes to attracting women.

women like 'real men', they like type "a' personalities, etc. and both from a groupies and a "good take her home to mama perspective", you are going to get some pretty hawt wimmenses as a cop if you have decent game.

Please. In the words of that august philosopher, Ice Cube:

I don't know if they fags or what,
Search a nigga down and grabbin' his nuts.
And on the other hand, without a gun,
They can't get none.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

it's simply fact

[Coeus]

women like 'real men', they like type "a' personalities, etc. and both from a groupies and a "good take her home to mama perspective", you are going to get some pretty hawt wimmenses as a cop if you have decent game.

Interesting way to phrase "unchecked authority to be dickholes". Cops get ass above their league for the same reason wifebeaters do. Women as a general group are fucked up in the head (at least until they lose 90% of their eggs).

[Not an Economist]

I used to have a friend who told me if he was nice to women, he couldn't get them to call him back. However, if he treated them like dirt, he couldn't get them to stop calling. Wierd.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

ah yes, your general misogyny,.. how typical

setting aside the lies about "unchecked authority" ... cops authoritah is plenty "checked", whether it be through civil suits, discipline and/or incarceration

clearly, you think it aint enuf, but it's there if your eyes are open

[Coeus]

setting aside the lies about "unchecked authority" ... cops authoritah is plenty "checked", whether it be through civil suits, discipline and/or incarceration

Where's the check in this case? Seems the union got rid of it (you can read up on this on the article posted today). But hey, theoretical checks on power are good enough. I guess I'm just a whiner for wanting it where people are actually getting assaulted.

[Pagan Priestess]

As a woman, I am terribly sorry to say that I agree with you.

[Pagan Priestess]

Damn threading fail. I was agreeing to this statement by Coeus:
Interesting way to phrase "unchecked authority to be dickholes". Cops get ass above their league for the same reason wifebeaters do. Women as a general group are fucked up in the head (at least until they lose 90% of their eggs).

[Tulpa the White]

I guess the cops working undercover at massage parlors and coercing women to have sex with them at traffic stops was just my imagination.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

not really. some cops break the law. wow. big shock i know.

but cops still get better ass than the average joe, much like singers (as a guitarist, i did ok, but singers do better), firefighters, ER docs, and test pilots.

coeus is probably a pussy, and pussies don't get much. he laments. i am sorry for his wimpitude, but alan alda types don't do very well.

i'm not sure who does better - cops or firefighters, and i've done both jobs, but both jobs do very well in getting hawt wimminses.

i'm married, but as a single guy, it was just a festival of riches. some women will literally throw themselves at you just because you have a badge. daddy issues? who knows, but it is still a huge perq of the job for the single guys.

[Coeus]

he laments. i am sorry for his wimpitude, but alan alda types don't do very well.

Yes, he laments. He laments about how much of an asshole douchebag he has to act like to pick up the better looking denizens at the bar.

I can't exactly piss and moan about it while I'm doing it, but I can offload here with relative ease. Shit, I pray for the day when my sex drive falls enough that I just say "fuck it" and go back to acting like a civilized human between the hours of 10 and 2. Hell, I liked women 100 times more when I wasn't getting any than I do now.

You, on the other hand, appear to have never noticed it. That is not surprising in the least. You are a douchebag asshole all day every day, and have probably been one your whole life. So it makes sense you never experienced the change in response you get between acting normal and acting like a douche. It is equal parts empowering and disheartening.

i'm married

I wonder if Morgan Fairchild knows just how lucky she is?

but as a single guy, it was just a festival of riches.

Citation needed.

some women will literally throw themselves at you just because you have a badge. daddy issues? who knows,

I do. I just told you why.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

*barf*

[EDG reppin' LBC]

...i played in a band for many years...

If I remember correctly, you grew up in SoCal. I'm a bit of an expert on SoCal punk rock/metal, and would be genuinely interested in seeing if we connected back in the day. E-mail me at my blogger e-mail.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

^^^ Dunphy, e-mail me at my blogger address.

/clarity

[Fist of Etiquette]

...a TSA agent laughed as she spilled ashes and bone fragments on the floor.

"Excuse me, sir, I just needs ta check ya ash-hole."

[Towlie]

You are the worst character ever, Fist of Etiquette.

[T]

I read that and was flabbergasted. I would be in jail, because if that bitch had done that to me and laughed I would have done my level best to beat her senseless.

[Towlie]

Wanna get high?

[Mike M.]

Egan-Jones downgrades Germany's credit rating from AA- to A+.

And remember, Germany is one of the better-run Euro countries!

[Chloe]

I really don't get these credit ratings, because I would think that an A+ was better.

[Fist of Etiquette]

For that, we're downgrading you from AB- to AAAA++.

[Rich]

"Can I bring it up with some extra credit?"

[Auric Demonocles]

Yes, but only to AAABA-A.

[Pagan Priestess]

How about a rating of ABBA

[John]

I wonder how much their entanglement with the EU has to do with that? IS Egan Jones discounting Germany for the possibility that they will get looted by the EU?

[Groovus Maximus]

I think you mean from A+ to AA-.

[Warty]

"I give your invention the worst grade imaginable - an A minus MINUS!"

[Mike M.]

No. AA- is a higher rating than A+.

[Groovus Maximus]

Disregard that Mike. DERP! IMMA
TARD! I am with Chloe here.

[T]

In general, more As is a better rating. So AAA is better than AA is better than A. Whether or not they have plus/minus grades at every level depends on the rating agency.

[Groovus Maximus]

Thank you, T.

[T]

I delight in opportunities to use my graduate degree for something other than wall decoration.

[Sudden]

Anticipation of community rating on european bonds.

[nipplemancer]

Police: Teaneck man pulled gun on neighbor for farting

[Fist of Etiquette]

Indian food?

[nipplemancer]

Lactose intolerant?

[ant1sthenes]

Wait, that's a place? I thought that was some dismissive portmanteau of teabagger and redneck...

[R C Dean]

You have to understand. Austin has cracked down on dog-shooting, so the cops don't have their usual outlets. They're tense, stressed out, so these things are going to happen.

[John]

I have no idea who Blake Lively is. But damn, that is a dress.

http://www.usmagazine.com/cele.....re-2012266

[Episiarch]

She's on Gossip Girl...with Leighton Meester.

[John]

Since I don't know what Gossip Girl is (a TV show I assume) it makes sense I don't know who she is. But wow is she gorgeous.

[Episiarch]

You might want to check out Meester, who is even better looking.

[John]

She is very attractive. Reminds me of Katie Holmes before Tom Cruise got his filthy paws on her.

[Groovus Maximus]

Meh. I've seen better.

[Warty]

Not all of us can afford to buy a stable of gorgeous Ukranian whores. We have to make do with the eye candy we have, you one-upping prick.

[Groovus Maximus]

Actually, the most beautiful woman I have ever seen happens to be Canadian.

[Episiarch]

It's OK that you're gay, doc, you just need to be honest with yourself about it. You'll be a lot happier.

[Groovus Maximus]

Look, I told you you're just not my type. I'm flattered you want me so damn badly, what with my Carpet of Virility and all that, but I keep telling you I don't swing your way. Jimbo is the best you'll do and you should learn to be content with that.

[Episiarch]

I'm already tired of Jimbo! He snores!

[Groovus Maximus]

There's always Warty and Saccharin Man.

[Warty]

We already Lucky Pierre him constantly, but the little whore always wants more.

[Groovus Maximus]

I see. So Epi basically is a little nellie nympho with no sense of decorum, satiety and self-restraint. Like, say, Tony. Tsk. Tsk. Pitiful.

[Episiarch]

I'm not ashamed to say I like it!

[Warty]

Leighton Meester

DELICIOUS

[Romulus Augustus]

Look, is this going to be a forum for serious political and social commentary or a place where there's pictures of women falling out of their tops? Or a little of both maybe???

[Warty]

Look, is this going to be a forum for serious political and social commentary

I sure as fuck hope not.

[joshua corning]

Yesterday Warty called me retarded cuz I made an un-serious post.

I think the math is something like either you make only serious posts or only make un-serious posts any cross over is forbidden.

[Warty]

Jesus, Joshie, I'm sorry I hurt your autistic little feelings. I promise not to do it any more.

[joshua corning]

Screw my retard feelings.

I just want you to make serious posts again like you did back in 2004.

[gaijin]

I just want you to make serious posts again like you did back in 2004.

Maybe, 2004 was 'peak serious'? And like Opeth, he possesses but shadow of his former gravitas?

[Warty]

I think he's referring to the 2007-2008 HR golden age. Those days are gone.

[Groovus Maximus]

Well, when Cavanaugh and Walker post some Samuel Clemens editorials, that is when Warty shines brightest. In all seriousness, those are some of my favourite posts.

[Warty]

"It is a solemn thought: dead, the noblest man's meat is inferior to pork."

[generic Brand]

She's very attractive until she says something (like so many women). I think she kinda sounds like a dude. But she was Affleck's prostitute/druggie/girlfriend in The Town.

[John]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/o.....ostopinion

You know who could never have it all? Men.

[Rasilio]

I think someone is gonna loose their V-card

[Pro Libertate]

How is the EU not already a "parody of a centralized state"?

[John]

Who said it wasn't?

[Pro Libertate]

Look at the post:

A proposal by European Union President Herman Van Rompuy to unify debt and cap national budgets of member nations is already running into opposition from Germany, reducing chances that the continent will find itself shoe-horned into a parody of a centralized state.

[John]

Yeah, I think that has already happened.

[John]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics.....d=16648169

Holder contempt vote to be held Thursday. Looks like Thursday could be quite the day.

[Rich]

Looks like Thursday could be quite the day.

Especially since we're also due to be hit by an asteroid.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You robbed me of a chance to reference the timeless classic Armageddon.

[Episiarch]

More people are realizing we need to take preemptive measures to stop you.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You know who was good in Armageddon but doesn't get discussed enough here? Billy Bob Thornton. His character literally had the weight of the world on his shoulders and it really came through on screen his despite his quiet, dignified portrayal in a veritable starfield of subtle performances.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

heh

[Night Elf Mohawk]

...and begging your pardon sir, but it's a big-ass sky.

[Episiarch]

I see you've learned that it is the slow blade which penetrates the shield, FoE.

[Groovus Maximus]

FoE, clearly Owen Wilson had the best performance, he died first, IIRC. Some of his finest work.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Someone certainly seems to know a lot about Armageddon.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

If you're not running Chrome with the Reasonable extension, I implore you NOT to click the link above. You have been warned.

Shame on Rich for thinking he can get away with this.

[Rich]

And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!

Sorry, guys. A poor attempt at humor. And I'll feel really bad if it turns out to be true.

[BakedPenguin]

Not for long.

[generic Brand]

A man traveling through the Orlando airport with his grandfather's cremated remains says a TSA agent laughed as she spilled ashes and bone fragments on the floor.

Damn, I didn't realize this story from earlier was in Orlando. I will have to say something when I fly out of MCO in August. I haven't been to Jacksonville Airport, but I think Orlando is the best organized airport in Florida, as far as large-scale flights go. Although my last time at Tampa International was over a decade ago, probably, so they might have fixed things up from the hub and spoke system they had back then.

[Mickey Rat]

Sorry, no, OIA does not have adequate space for the post 9-11 security regime.

[Rich]

Mark Pastore, owner of Incanto, a San Francisco restaurant, said he's open to charging a "foie-kage fee," akin to corkage, to prepare the meat purchased in another state.

Commerce Clause, biotch!

"Foie-kage fee", indeed.

[John]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/b.....tor-421395
Zimmerman passed police lie detector test.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

yet another, in a long string of circumstances that makes me lean towards his innocence. and makes me think him being prosecuted is wrong, and likely politically motivated

[Mike M.]

Of course the prosecution is wrong and politically motivated.

Everything about this is disgusting. We're reliving yet another real-life version of "The Bonfire of the Vanities", and even some of the same fucking characters from twenty years ago are involved again today.

[Chloe]

He has been remarkably consistent in his story, which tends to lead me to believing he truly did fear for his life. He would have slipped up on his story by now, with the level of scrutiny he is under.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

he also immediately cooperated with police, which (just like in the duke case) is strongly suggestive of innocence, ime

[Pro Libertate]

I have no strong opinion on whether he's actually innocent, but I've long been convinced that he has no business being charged. Pure politics and CYA.

[Rasilio]

This doesn't necessarily mean much, it just means that he doesn't believe he did anything wrong and believes the version of events that he has portrayed is accurate. That does not preclude him from being mistaken on either count and he could legally be guilty of manslaughter.

That said I still think prosecuting him is a massive waste of time and resources because unless there is some massive piece of evidence that has not been revealed whether he is guilty or not is irrelivant, they haven't got enough evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

[R C Dean]

That's pretty much where I am. Given that the burden of proof is shifted by FL to the prosecution here, and that FL allows you to claim self-defense even if you start the fight, this was a tough one for the prosecution.

Personally, I'm far from convinced that it went down the way he said. His testimony just strikes me as a little too good, but without witnesses to contradict him on the crucial seconds of the initial encounter and the initial assault, where's the case?

[Tulpa the White]

it just means that he doesn't believe he did anything wrong and believes the version of events that he has portrayed is accurate

...along with all the physical evidence that's available and the original statements of witnesses.

We're not talking about insufficient evidence for the other side...we're talking about a total lack of evidence. The prosecutors are basing their whole case on Zimmerman lying.

[Stormy Dragon]

Yes, but what did the Ouija board have to say about it?

[Pagan Priestess]

Don't know, but my Magic 8-ball said, "Reply hazy, try again later."

[John]

Claire McCaskill will not attend the DNC

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo......ention.php

[Mike M.]

I don't know why anyone would want to go to one of these stupid conventions. It's hard for me to imagine anything more boring and tedious.

[Rasilio]

Well there'll be lots of hookers in town for each one, course with demand sky high the prices will probably be as well.

[NoTalentAssclown]

So... much... boot-licking... No surprise, from LZ Granderson

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/26/.....?hpt=op_t1

[John]

Honestly, I think he might be being ironic. He has to be.

[tarran]

Come on John, he's not being ironic...

He's baring his heart. If the skeletons come out of the closet, this may be the last Christmas the family spends together. It's a sincere plea to let bygones be bygones... for the good of the family.

It's this sort of thing that makes me optomistic about the future. The vileness is too pervasive, and the communication channels too widely dispersed for our rulers to keep things bottled up like they used to.

[gaijin]

I don;t think he is being ironic..

Were they legal?
Hell no.
Were they effective?
Who knows?
Were they done as a way to keep America safe?
Yes.

It's spectre of good intentions...that's not ironic.

[Warty]

But it is at least the third incarnation of a gun-running scheme stretching across two administrations, which means we could be pressing to open Pandora's Box. We do not want to open Pandora's Box, not about this and certainly not about a bunch of other potentially scandalous things the federal government has been involved with.

Um, what?

Much in the same way, Project Wide Receiver and Project Road Runner -- the earlier versions of Fast and Furious under President Bush -- were executed with the hope that they will do more good than harm. Hardly anyone in the public knows the finer points of these programs.
Were they legal?
Hell no.
Were they effective?
Who knows?
Were they done as a way to keep America safe?
Yes.

Um, what?

[tarran]

A gun smuggled into Mexico is a gun that's not going to shoot an American when it's bumped by a can full of high-fructose corn-syrup. Duh!!!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Is this article a steaming pile of crap?

Of course.

[R C Dean]

The continued false equivalence of FyF with Wide Receiver is about the only thing they have left.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Read that this morning. What a worm.

[Warty]

"Don't complain about your betters, because your betters are just trying to protect you."

See, it's really a shame that we don't have a penal colony on the Moon. Expressing opinions like that would get you thrown on the next rocket, if this were a civilized country.

[Episiarch]

Bootlicking toady is a bootlicker. You can't be surprised; the media is chock full of them.

[T]

I don't mind him admitting he can't handle the truth of what goes on and he'd like to live in the land of Make-Believe with King Friday and Henrietta. Good for him. But some of us think we have a right to know what our government does in our name with our money, and we can handle the unpleasant facts. The idea that this groveling, sniveling worm thinks he's qualified to be a journalist amazes me. "Don't ask questions because the answers might be scary!" Shit. Put your head back in the sand and let the grown-ups sort this one out, junior. Come back when you're ready to be an adult.

[tarran]

he'd like to live in the land of Make-Believe with King Friday and Henrietta.

I'd mock you - except I recognized the reference right away.

[Episiarch]

There's nothing wrong with knowing who Daniel Striped Tiger is. He was on Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood, right?

[ant1sthenes]

Ignorance is strength, comrade.

[generic Brand]

Has anybody covered the NJ little league catcher getting sued by the lady who didn't realize baseballs get thrown around at a baseball field?

I read today that her husband is suing for lost "services, society, and consortium of his wife." I would imagine she has quite the fear of playing stickball anytime soon.

definition of idiot

[Romulus Augustus]

Yet another case for "loser pays" and tossing out frivilous law suits. Apparently the women is claiming the little leaguer deliberately threw the ball at her with intent to injure.
Having umped a few l.l. games, I'm shocked that a l.l. pitcher can actually throw where he's aiming.

[generic Brand]

Well that's just it: the catcher was throwing back to the pitcher and missed, but apparently had the accuracy to hit this woman in the face from 90 FEET AWAY. Forget highschool kid, go straight to AAA ball (or would that be AA- ball?)

P.S. Can't believe I Sugarfree'd the link. I guess there's a reason (drink!) I haven't had access to HnR for a while.

[Warty]

Because I know all of you are just dying to listen to a 21-minute song with incomprehensible lyrics about Faust, here you go.

[joshua corning]

Tony Plath, a finance professor at UNC Charlotte, said objectivism "is a bit more radical-right than Cato because Cato tends toward the conservative/libertarian end of the spectrum. It is kind of like the difference between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul."

Tony Plath is an idiot.

[Groovus Maximus]

Maybe he is related to Sylvia and will meet a similar fate.

[Tulpa the White]

Communism is a bit more radical than liberalism. It's like the difference between Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

[Dan Bongard]

Plath's comment may be the single dumbest thing I've heard anyone say about the Republican presidential field.

[playa manhattan]

Small-Town Cops Pile Up on Useless Military Gear
http://www.wired.com/dangerroo.....-gear/all/

[Enough About Palin]

Outsourcer-In-Chief, Indeed!
Obama campaign's travel bookings outsourced to India

http://dailycaller.com/#ixzz1ywDsLheR

[Enough About Palin]

The people running Obama's campaign and the people in charge of his messaging really need to start having some meetings to compare strategies.

[Pro Libertate]

This is the most inept administration in a very long time. What's next, allowing a civil war?

[Groovus Maximus]

Syria, Pro'L Dib. STIMULUS! Oh, you meant here...

[BakedPenguin]

Well, both countries have an executive with a similar governing style. Six of one...

[VG Zaytsev]

It's almost like they're trying to throw the election.

[Coeus]

Your latest hard-hitting feminist political analysis:

If Presidents are supposed to be like our boyfriend, Mitt Romney would make a terrible one.

[Warty]

Dr. Groovus's Mark Twain comment got me looking around for stuff about my favorite writer. Behold, the greatest pop ad that will ever be devised.

I always thought that RC Cola was underrated, by the way.

[Pro Libertate]

RC Cola was my alternative during the New Coke interregnum.

[Killazontherun]

Liz Smith is such a shit hole of a writer, I'm not even sure if this is intended to be an obit piece:

http://www.wowowow.com/liz-smi.....ra-ephron/

[bantomang]

Lets hit it up dude, Wow.

http://www.Privacy-dot.tk