A.M. Links: Voter Suppression by Republicans, Democrats, George P. Bush Running For Office, Assad Wants Elections

Your morning links

• 

  Could the Mitt Romney campaign have done the most to suppress the GOP vote? The campaign centralized its GOTV effort through its Boston headquarters, hiring a tech firm that sounds like fouled up and left tens of thousands of volunteers in the dark election day. Ground game matters, and shouldn't a "bottom-up" approach come natural to a "small government" candidate anyway?

• Karl Rove, meanwhile, says Obama "suppressed" the vote by effectively painting Romney in an unfavorable light.
• Paul Krugman wants the president to go full retard and reject any kind of big deal on the coming fiscal cliff.
• George P. Bush has filed paperwork to run for state wide office in Texas.
• Bashar Assad says he wants elections to determine who leads Syria and denies a civil war is taking place there.
• A Mexican Ph.D. student at Harvard has developed an algorithm to track drug cartels through Google News.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Karl Rove, meanwhile, says Obama “suppressed” the vote by effectively painting Romney in an unfavorable light.

That may be the dumbest thing he’s said yet.

[nicole just can't even!]

I wondered whether his sputtering during the coverage on election night after they called OH would be the beginning of the end for Rove. Looks like it just might have been.

[LTC(ret) John]

Thank God for that – he cannot disappear soon enough. He jumped the shark in 2006, I thought.

[BigT]

I think Rove’s credibility as a commentator took a very serious hit this week. He’s imploding. Dick Morris also is a big loser this round. FOX should sharply curtail both of their participation if it wants to maintain what credibility it has.

[Marshall Gill]

FOX should sharply curtail both of their participation if it wants to maintain what credibility it has.

Why? Doesn’t Bob Shrum (0-8 in running elections) regularly get credit as being a democrat operative or some other such BS? Since when has being right ever mattered in political punditry?

[Raven Nation]

And Biden was touted as a great veep b/c of his credibility on foreign policy.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

FOX has credibility?

Seems to me its got Team Red branding, and viewers are either believers or not. I doubt many believers are going to switch to MSNBC because Karl Rove is a dumbass.

[WWNGD?]

Of course it does, the have Geroldo and Rick Sanchez.

[VG Zaytsev]

Rove was always a blowhard.

Fuck that guy.

[mad libertarian guy]

There sure s a whole lot of blaming both Team BLUE and voters for their fuck ups this cycle. Nothing like blaming the victim. To continuously go on with “all they want is free shit, and freeloaders won the election” and “they just can’t handle our truth” is not going to cut it, Team RED.

As soon as the election was decided on Tuesday, Popehat predicted that both teams would learn the wrong lessons from the election. Team RED began proving him right within minutes.

They need to learn their lesson from 2010; stick to the fiscal issues, and kick their social conservatism to the side. Social conservatism as a political device is dead in America (at least for national office). Just look at the nationwide votes in favor of recreational pot and gay marriage. We are fucking tired of supposed small government folks wanting to use government to dictate our personal lives.

[John]

Stick to fiscal issues and go after the Democrats for what they believe. Most people who voted for Obama have no idea what he actually stands for. They have no idea what he intends to do with EPA and such and what that is going to do to their lives. And that is the Republicans’ fault they don’t know.

[BigT]

Romney also let the Dems define him as a crony capitalist with their Bain smear campaign in the Spring/Summer. He should have produced an ad that told the Good story of Bain – thousands of jobs created, voluntary risk-taking to contrast it with the Solyndra/Green energy boondoggles of Obama.

The rules may need to change to allow candidates to spend Election contributions before the convention and formal nomination. Else this type of smear will happen again.

[gaijin]

Romney also let the Dems Newt Gingrich define him as a crony capitalist…

GOP self inflicted wound

[Rasilio]

Um, Romney IS a crony capitalist. The problem is he never turned the charge back around and showed how Obama is one as well.

[Francisco d Anconia]

He should have produced an ad that told the Good story of Bain – thousands of jobs created, voluntary risk-taking to contrast it with the Solyndra/Green energy boondoggles of Obama.

For the love of Zod, Romney never needed to be on the defensive at all. He should have been POUNDING Obama’s failures from start to finish. The list was long enough that he could have picked a failure a day for two fucking years. But no, he was going to play the nice guy. Well, he proved the adage.

[generic Brand]

Well, he proved the adage.

So does that mean Gary Johnson was SUPER nice?

[Francisco d Anconia]

GJ didn’t have the bully pulpit that Mittens had (once nominated).

[Mensan]

“Most people who voted for Obama have no idea what he actually stands for.”

They don’t care what he stands for.

Principals before Principles.

Every time one of his supporters is presented with the facts of his actual actions, rather than the cognitive dissonance we would expect, they simply deny it, rationalize it, or say oh but he’s so dreamy on everything else, so I still support him.

[Raven Nation]

Yep. B/c seriously, if you voted for Obama in 2008 based on his views and/or policies, how could you vote for him in 2012 since he repudiated almost all of them.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Every time one of his supporters is presented with the facts of his actual actions, rather than the cognitive dissonance we would expect, they simply deny it, rationalize it, or say oh but he’s so dreamy on everything else, so I still support him.

Yes, but the stupid are not your target audience. You will NEVER convince these automatons that their savior is the walking POS that he is. You are trying to convince those in the middle who have an active brain and actually want to do the right thing, but don’t regularly follow politics. You won’t convince people that someone is a piece of shit, unless you call him a piece of shit. Romney didn’t even attempt it, and God knows there was plenty of ammo.

[HazelMeade]

people who voted for Obama have no idea what he actually stands for.

Probably true. A lot of people voted for him just because they think Republicans are racist 1950s creationists.

[mad libertarian guy]

Probably true. A lot of people voted for him just because they think Republicans are racist 1950s creationists.

Bingo.

The only way to set that misconception aside is to also openly and visibly set aside their holy rollerism aside for the national party, and to not be so openly hostile to immigrants. Their platform this year is a joke. They need to remedy that.

[VG Zaytsev]

Yep,

Romney blew it big time.

No talk of the impending Obama taxmaggedon.

No talk of the coming EPA war on fracking.

No talk of Obama’s hidden gun control agenda.

[Pro Libertate]

I was just thinking this morning, after hearing more talk about the fiscal cliff, that I hadn’t heard much about that until the election was over. Here, yes, but not out there in the unreal world.

[Randian]

Am I the only one who is crazy enough to think that George Stephanopolous is responsible for Obama’s reelection?

[nicole just can't even!]

Yes. But only because George Stephanopoulos was just one man in a sea of lefty-types doing the same kind of bullshit on a daily basis.

[Randian]

I am not going to propound my conspiracy theory, but that one question at the Republican Primary kicked this whole thing off.

No one was talking about social issues before that. No one.

[nicole just can't even!]

Progressives are always talking about social issues. It’s the only thing they care about!

[Francisco d Anconia]

And it’s SO easy to head off. All you need to say is, “We believe in equal rights for all Americans, and with the state of the American economy, a Romney administration will focus almost exclusively on fiscal issues. This administration will be about returning America to fiscal greatness”

Every time the media tries to drag you down into the social shit soup, you pull out that line. Just don’t allow them to take you there.

[mad libertarian guy]

You mean women don’t have the ability to reject a pregnancy if she’s been raped? And a child borne of rape might not be a gift from god?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Egzactly!

[Eduard van Haalen]

The consensus is that Romney was a social *and* economic extremist. Not only an Ayn Rand social Darwinist throwing Gramdma off the cliff, but a rapist-loving contraceptive banner. That’s why voters rejected him, sayeth the narrative.

Maybe I’m listening to too much NPR.

[Marshall Gill]

Maybe I’m listening to too much NPR.

Any is probably too much.

[Rasilio]

That is certainly the way he was painted and he certainly did not do a very good job of deflecting either criticisim even though neither was actually true.

Fact is Romney is about a white bread boring centrist as it gets on both fiscal and social issues.

[Proprietist]

When you fail to have a clear stance or hold multiple stances on every issue, it should be unsurprising when your political opponents will select the most unflattering one. If you deny holding that stance, you are obviously a liar.

[Ted S.]

As soon as the election was decided on Tuesday, Popehat predicted that both teams would learn the wrong lessons from the election. Team RED began proving him right within minutes.

Some people are stoopid — est?pido

[HazelMeade]

I think that is a misframing of the issue. The Republicans can still win on *social* conservatism. But they need to be multi-cultural about it.
It’s the exclusively Christian social conservatism that is burning them. WASP protestantism. As others have pointed out, Indians and Asians can Hispanics are often socially conservative, as well as entrepreneurial. But they vote D because they don’t feel comfortable in a white Christian party.

The R’s don’t need to drop social issues entirely, they just need to embrace religious and cultural pluralism.

[Ted S.]

It’s the exclusively Christian social conservatism that is burning them. WASP protestantism.

WASP evangelicalism. Aren’t the mainline Prostestants all ?berliberal?

[robc]

The one member of a WASPy evangelical denomination was the least likely to talk socon issues during the primary.

The Mormon didnt either, but was more likely to than Paul.
The two catholics, on the other hand, sounded more like baptists than the baptist.

[Enough About Palin]

“As others have pointed out, Indians and Asians can Hispanics are often socially conservative”

Not true.

Nearly half of the children born to Hispanic mothers in the U.S. are born out of wedlock

The fathers of these illegitimate children are often problematic in even more troubling ways. Social workers report that the impregnators of younger Hispanic women are with some regularity their uncles, not necessarily seen as a bad thing by the mother’s family. Alternatively, the father may be the boyfriend of the girl’s mother, who then continues to stay with the grandmother. Older men seek out young girls in the belief that a virgin cannot get pregnant during her first intercourse, and to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.

http://www.city-journal.org/ht…..alues.html

[Atanarjuat]

Well, that’s disgusting.

[nicole just can't even!]

Does this mean the Bible Belt isn’t socially conservative because it has a lot of illegitimate teen pregnancies? Or that Africa isn’t socially conservative because a bunch of people there think sex with virgins cures AIDS? I don’t get it.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Yes, but I have a feeling that’s more due to the culture of poverty than Latin culture, per se.

From the article:

It has become “culturally okay” for the Hispanic population to use the shelter and welfare system, Braun says. A case manager at a program for pregnant homeless women in the city of Orange observes the same acculturation to the social-services sector, with its grievance mongering and sense of victimhood. “I’ll have women in my office on their fifth child, when the others have already been placed in foster care,” says Anita Berry of Casa Teresa. “There’s nothing shameful about having multiple children that you can’t care for, and to be pregnant again, because then you can blame the system.”

The consequences of family breakdown are now being passed down from one generation to the next, in an echo of the black underclass. “The problems are deeper and wider,” says Berry. “Now you’re getting the second generation of foster care and group home residents. The dysfunction is multigenerational.”

If they allow it, the poison that is Progressive social engineering will infect any culture.

[John]

^^THIS^^

If we didn’t have a welfare state we could have open borders. But the welfare state will in a single generation transform hard working Hispanics into zombie leaches.

[HazelMeade]

On the pro side, you have to admit that Obama’s “free birth control” policy is going to cut the birth rate amoung Americas poor significantly.

[mr simple]

So he’s just following in the footsteps of Margaret Sanger who wanted to make sure the “lesser races” had unfettered access to abortion?

[Big 'Orra]

So he’s just following in the footsteps of Margaret Sanger who wanted to make sure the “lesser races” had unfettered access to abortion?

Why yes, yes he is. You expected something different?

[Don Mynack]

From that same very good City Journal article: “Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties tries to teach young fathers to take responsibility for their children.”

Don’t tell the GOP that. Might destroy their narrative.

[John]

And that means PP doesn’t promote and provide abortions?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Provide? Yes. Promote? That’s over-egging the pudding. Indeed, the organization opposes China’s One Child Policy and its practice of forced abortions.

[Big 'Orra]

Promote? That’s over-egging the pudding.

Being that they’re good progressives, they’d never let both pro-abortion ideology and the profit made from abortions affect their “pure” motives … um yea, sure.

[Anonymous Coward]

“Tries” being the key word in that sentence.

[The Hammer]

tries

It’s all about the intentions. The results don’t matter. Speaking of narrative…

[Rasilio]

Nearly half = less than half

Some regularity = It is not so rare as to be shocking but neither is it common.

Further even to the extent that these 2 “facts” are true they do not expose the social beliefs of the group as it would be expressed in their voting preferences. Humans are perfectly comfortable voting and publicly advocating one set of morality while in private breaking every rule of that moral view.

For example uncles impregnanting their neices, boyfriends impregnating their girlfriends daughters, and women having babies out of wedlock could all very strongly oppose both gay marriage and abortion for other reasons and remain more morally consistant than the republican evangelist who has gay lovers on the side.

[HazelMeade]

That’s not necessarily incompatible with social conservatism.

That’s patriarchy and sexual abuse of women.

Note they are largely against abortion and gay marriage.

Not saying I APPROVE of any of that, just saying that abandoning the social issues isn’t *necessary* for the GOP, they just have to find a way to appeal to socially conservative Hispanics, Indians and Asians.
That would start with detaching social conservatism from Christian conservatism. You could have a culturally and religiously plural social conservatism, which welcomes conservative Hindus and Buddists.

[nicole just can't even!]

Yeah, exactly. How many sane, non-socially-conservative young women have their uncle’s rape baby? I mean, respect for the emotional trauma of the overall situation, but outside of being raised in a socially conservative milieu, is there any question what you do if something like that happens to you? Ain’t no question what I would do, and it doesn’t involve giving birth.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That would start with detaching social conservatism from Christian conservatism. You could have a culturally and religiously plural social conservatism, which welcomes conservative Hindus and Buddists.

It’s nice in theory, but there is no way the Christian conservatives will allow that. They have proven time and time again that they will not stand ranks with people they think are Hell-bound. They give Jews a special exception though, due to their misreading of John of Patmos’ Revelation.

[KDN]

This seems partially relevant.

Living in an area that’s saturated with Hindus, I find the Republicans’ inability to reach out to or to reach them to be the most astounding element. They’re a perfectly natural fit, but I think that, even if the local R party tried to, the overarching image of the national party has created an insurmountable barrier to getting them anytime soon.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well, look at Jewish Americans and the GOP. Even with Obama pissing in Netanyahu’s face every chance he gets, and even with the Republicans constructing their foregin policy planks to be akin to Likud Party (America), they still haven’t made in roads.

Part of the problem is internal, i.e. Judaism is identity politics as a religion. However, SoCon ululations about (a false) America’s “Christian” heritage doesn’t help the matter.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Hindus don’t sweat the national debt, since you get several lifetimes to pay it off.

[Chris Mallory]

“But they vote D because they don’t feel comfortable in a white Christian party.”

Then maybe they should not have moved to a White Christian nation. They are more than welcome to move back to what ever 3rd world hellhole they came from.
Culture matters and when the United States loses it’s White Christian culture, it will become just another 3rd world hellhole.

[mad libertarian guy]

Where the fuck is barfman when you need him?

[John]

It is true. Most places in the world suck. Most places are not free, most people are totally stupid and tribal, and most places are really poor. And they don’t magically get smart or less tribal because they move to the US.

[Calidissident]

John agreeing with the resident Stormfront troll?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Gentlemen:

While I received with much satisfaction your address replete with expressions of esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced on my visit to Newport from all classes of citizens.

The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security.

If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good government, to become a great and happy people.

The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy–a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.

It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

[cont]

[Heroic Mulatto]

[cont]
It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes for my felicity.

May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants–while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.

May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.

G. Washington

Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport

[Heroic Mulatto]

Shut the fuck up, Mallory. Hindu culture has a long tradition of advancement in the sciences and humanities. They have given the world much more than your piece of shit, inbred ancestors.

[Rasilio]

Bullshit. While I agree that culture matters there is nothing special about it being *white* or *christian* as there are plenty of 3rd world hellholes that qualify for one or both of those descriptions.

What made America’s culture great was it’s ability to grow and adapt with each new wave of immigrants, take the best they had to offer, discard the worst and weave it into a seamless whole. The color of the skin and the name the called god did not matter nor should it ever have.

It is only since the Great Depression when we really started cracking down on immigration and destroying the communities that immigrants brought with them through the welfare state that America’s culture has started to fragment and show signs of weakness and much of the blame can be laid at the feet of racist bigots who want to keep America *White* and *Christian* such as yourself.

[John]

It is the welfare state. We stopped telling immigrants to make their own way. Now we tell them they are victims and it is okay to live off the state because they are owed that.

[Killazontherun]

The Dhimmis would like nothing better than for the zero sum welfare state to be the cause of tensions between immigrants and natives. Rallies supporting limitations like what occurred in ’06 can be demonized by the media to full effect to draw immigrants even closer into the fold.

[mad libertarian guy]

And it would be helpful if you included more than “immigrants” in your analysis. This is exactly the problem.

Do you know how many poor whites there are who slurp from the trough? How many suburban mom’s support it and think everything should be free and/or regulated for little snowflake?

[HazelMeade]

Then maybe they should not have moved to a White Christian nation.

Wave the fuck up, Chris. This isn’t a white Christian nation any more. As evidenced by the election results.

They don’t HAVE TO MOVE. The non-White and/or non-Christians are already a majority, or enough of one to swing the election.

The should be telling you to GTFO and move to Ireland, not the other way around.

[Killazontherun]

Ironic, because the Irish were the original subjects of English racial theories.

[Killazontherun]

all they want is free shit, and freeloaders won the election

Obama didn’t run on marijuana and his gay marriage support was cynical and qualified as a state’s rights issue. He ran on only on free shit through out the Spring before the gay marriage announcement and then concentrated on casting Romney as Hitler & Ayn Rand’s love child. Fuck Tea Blue. I’m well positioned to not be looted nearly as much as they would like to get their hands on it. So Fuck Team Blue and fuck the USofLooters.

[Rasilio]

Actually he didn’t really even run on free shit, he ran far more on “making those rich bastards and evil corporations pay more”

[Killazontherun]

Spring was free shit season with the roll out of free birth control, and a few other things I half ass remember that were mortgage and student loan related in the span of a few weeks. I recall because that’s when I started calling him the free shit fairy at the accumulated promise of giveaways.

[Killazontherun]

Oh, don’t forget the Flash animation they promoted! Was it Susan the Mooch, or Mary?

[LTC(ret) John]

Life of Julia

[mad libertarian guy]

Obama didn’t run on those things, no.

But he also received less votes than marijuana reform law in CO.

You do the math. This spells a socially liberal electorate; not one which only wants free shit. Not being socially liberal is a handicap.

[entropy]

Blaiming the victim? WTF? How are democrats victims?

And the GOP DID run on the economy and they did kick social issues to the side. The one bringing social issues into the campaign were the democrats.

I’m not a socon – thank god, because they are Emmanuel Goldstein for a lot of people around here. We just blaim them for everything regardless.

[John]

^^THIS^^

[Killazontherun]

Well stated. Could you tell I was pissed as well at the ‘blame the victim’ crap? I get even less prone to edit before hitting submit when pissed.

[mad libertarian guy]

I wrote that badly. I wasn’t meaning to imply that Dems are victims.

But the Reps blaming everyone under the sun rather than actually examining their own faults is akin to that sentiment. They don’t want to take responsibility for being incredibly stupid; they simply want to blame everyone who doesn’t understand them and deflect it elsewhere.

[Lisa]

The Democrats are never at fault for wanting to screw up the country. It’s the GOP’s fault for being too Christian. Those Christians are just ruining everything.

[mad libertarian guy]

When they’re trying to legislate their morality, and fight a nearly 40 year old war on abortion, yes.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

I just found it interesting that Obama mostly just won the counties with large cities in them. Right now it looks like the divide is urban vs rural as much as anything and with more people living in cities than ever before it benefits the Democrats.

[mad libertarian guy]

Urban v rural is the new North v South. That is where the battle line is being drawn. We have different needs, and it appears that liberals simply either can’t understand, or won’t except that.

[mad libertarian guy]

Urban v rural is the new North v South. That is where the battle line is being drawn. We have different needs, and it appears that liberals simply either can’t understand, or won’t except that.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Karl just needs a round room with lots of TVs.

The first Administration I designed was quite naturally perfect, it was a work of art, flawless, sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental failure.

[TheSpiteHouse]

+winner

[VG Zaytsev]

Karl Rove, meanwhile, says Obama “suppressed” the vote by effectively painting Romney in an unfavorable light.

That may be the dumbest thing he’s said yet.

No it’s not.

Obama’s campaign said a year or so ago that they needed to suppress the white working class vote.

And they did that by sliming Romney with negative ads in the 2nd & 3rd quarter.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Suppressing the vote implies some sort of deceit or intimidation to prevent people who want to vote for a candidate from doing so.

Making people not want to vote for your opponent isn’t suppression, it’s Campaigning 101.

[Zeb]

Except that is not what people mean when they say “suppress the vote”, generally.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

If people don’t want to come to the polls, who’s going to stop them?

[Fist of Etiquette]

George P. Bush has filed paperwork to run for state wide office in Texas.

One of the brown ones? He’s the future of the GOP.

[LTC(ret) John]

White Hispanic.

[Drake]

Whitish.

Almost white – like an Italian.

[LTC(ret) John]

Hey, Epi, you heard that?

[sloopyinca]

Yousa better shut-a uppa. Or Imma gonna fuck-a yous-a face uppa witha my fists.

/Epi the wop.

[The Renegade]

Not sure if Italian… or Jar Jar Binks…

[Ted S.]

So you’re saying he’s free to gambol about the country?

[Jerry on the road]

The P stands for Pablo?

[LTC(ret) John]

Picasso?

[Tim]

Piquante?

[Drake]

Pandering.

[LTC(ret) John]

“Pandering” …. CORRECT!

[Ice Nine]

Premature

[Fist of Etiquette]

Is he considered handsome? If so, the GOP need to get him in the Senate in 2014 and then run him for the White House in 2016. The independent ladies would totally go whole hog for an Enrique Iglesias to replace the blackish rock star we have now.

[robc]

NO MORE BUSHES.

Two presidents from any family is one more than enough.

Really, what good has come from it?

Adams and Q, the rare exception where the first one was worse.

Harrisons, okay, another exception, I guess, but William did minimal damage, so Benjamin had to have been worse.

Roosevelts. Enough said.

Eisenhower/Nixon. Okay, not really related, just in-laws. But Im counting it.

Bushes. Enough said.

[John]

Eisenhower was the greatest American of the 20th Century. And the Nixon girls were nice.

[robc]

You missed the point. The first of the pair is the good(ish) one.

The 2nd member of the family is always a screwup, with the exception (maybe) of Q.

[John]

Rob,

The Eisenhower and Nixon kids had the good sense to live quiet lives and not get into politics. The Dems love to send their idiot sons and daughters to Washington. Fucking up the country is truly a family business for them.

[Isaac Bartram]

Actually, I think the Nixon we might have gotten in 1960 would have been a lot better than the one we did get in 1968.

The fact that the American electorate has put the kibosh on any further Kennedy family presidential aspirations is the one glimmer of light I see.

[Randian]

We just had a Kennedy (R)(not related, I am sure) paste a Democrat Supreme Court Justice here in Ohio. The name still has a lot of currency.

[bostonaod]

er, meet Joe Kennedy III. he’s one fiery convention speech away from stirring up liberal Camelot fantasies.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

…the American electorate has put the kibosh on any further Kennedy family presidential aspirations…

American electorate? More like lone gunman.

[Pro Libertate]

I agree, and I actually like Jeb Bush. Too bad he hadn’t been president instead of his brother.

[Mensan]

Interestingly, both Roosevelts are more closely related to Van Buren than to each other.

Disclaimer: It’s a link to a Wikipedia article, and I didn’t check out the sources, so I have no idea if any of it is true.

[carol]

Actually, he is drop dead gorgeous. Spectacular. Wowzer plus. Hotsy totsy.

I’m told he’s quite intelligent, too.

[Randian]

He’s a Hispanic who practiced at Akin Gump.

If this guy plays his cards right, he’ll be President.

[Ice Nine]

run him for the White House in 2016

Youngest POTUS ever, by three years? I don’t think so. Rubio at 41 was considered too young to run for Veep.

[Fist of Etiquette]

He only needs to be 35 years old. How old will this dude be? You’ve now put me in a spot where I have to advocate for him. GEORGE P. FOR PRESIDENT!

[Ice Nine]

He’ll be 40. So what? See above.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That is similar to the “no one has been elected president who” statistics lampooned by that xkcd strip people always link to. Hockey fans get inundated with stats that are similarly meaningless in reality.

So what I’m saying is, without knowing anything about him or his policy proposals, GEORGE P. FOR PRESIDENT!

[Kaptious Kristen]

I think he’s pretty repulsive-looking, but I can see some people thinking him handsome by DC wonk standards. He’s got kind of a Kennedy-esque inbred look to him. That said, I know nothing of his ideology, so I’ll withhold judgement on whether I would vote for him. The R after his name points to NO.

[Bam!]

You really think he’s repulsive?

[Lord Humungus]

Well some people try to pick up girls
And get called assholes
This never happened to Pablo Picasso
He could walk down your street
And girls could not resist his stare and
So Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole

[mr simple]

Can’t they come up with a name besides George in that family?

[Ted S.]

George Foreman named all his sons George.

You have a problem with that?

[sloopyinca]

Didn’t he name all of his daughters a variation of George as well?

[Randian]

I believe his one daughter is named Georgina. Or Georgette.

[LTC(ret) John]

Yeah, ’cause if you do, GEORGE WILL HIT YOU WITH HIS FIST!

[Ted S.]

George Will hits you with baseball shit, not his fist.

[gaijin]

hey, I like George Will

[Fist of Etiquette]

Paul Krugman wants the president to go full retard and reject any kind of big deal on the coming fiscal cliff.

Never go full retard unless you’ve got a Nobel to back it up.

[Joe M]

Crap, they both have Nobels.

[Tim]

You misspelled “balls”

[Mensan]

To where would you like your internets, which you have won, delivered?

[Rasilio]

Eh just keep em, he probably couldn’t afford the capital gains one them and we all know it is impossible to make money off the internet unless your name is Google or Amazon.

[nicole just can't even!]

Most notably, California ? long a poster child for the political dysfunction that comes when nothing can get done without a legislative supermajority ? not only voted for much-needed tax increases, but elected, you guessed it, a Democratic supermajority.

Oh, Krugman, your wonders never cease. That was not the dysfunction I thought was California’s biggest problem. I wonder who will be proved right?

[John]

And when it gets worse, Kruginuts will be blaming Republican obstructionists and wreckers. God he is a dangerous little man.

[nicole just can't even!]

He’s already inviting that on a national scale.

[John]

I hate to go Godwin. But I really think that a good portion of the media and far left would be perfectly okay with at a minimum taking the vote away and probably locking up a good portion of the country. They are really starting to get dangerous. And they will only get more so as things get worse.

[NeonCat]

Well, obviously at least 50 million people can’t be trusted with the vote because they voted Republican. Can’t they see how dreamy wise Obama is?

[Killazontherun]

You should have read the opinion piece in my local fish wrap. Pretty much summarized the following, Citizen’s United must be overturned so a true dictatorship of the proletariat people’s democracy can flourish. They really know how to motivate a man to keep his powder dry.

[mad libertarian guy]

Except that CA has a supermajority. There is literally nothing that Team RED can do to stop them from doing whatever it is they want.

[John]

Like reality would ever stop Krugman from blaming the other side.

[Kaptious Kristen]

It’s Ahnold’s fault!

[Joe M]

Oh my god, what a nutcase. California is in its mess thanks to the decades of Democratic rule. It’s only going to get worse as their majority and lack of any opposition decreases. It’s amazing that people think a guy advocating single party rule is worth a shit.

[Auric Demonocles]

No, it’s clearly a mess because of decades of having more than 0 non Democrats in office!

[wareagle]

lots of people favor one-party rule when it is their party doing the ruling. That is a hallmark of the left.

[$park?]

That is a hallmark of the left every political party ever.

[Mensan]

I must admit that I would almost be okay with one-party rule if it was the LP.

[Joe M]

I’d like to see two parties: cosmotarians and paleo-conservatives.

[Killazontherun]

I’m a little bit cosmo,
and I’m a little bit paleo,
I like my gun range,
And my HBO.

[Killazontherun]

Personally, I prefer no party rule, after that complete gridlock between Libertarians and Republicans with Democrats catching the next comet out.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

To be fair, CA was still run by Republicans in the 1980s and had a supposedly GOP governor until 2010.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

He was pining for us to be like China for a day…well, now CA will be China for two years (except without the manufacturing or border controls).

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

KRUGABEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

[Ted S.]

I thought libertarians wanted the US to go over the fiscal cliff, since the day of reckoning is going to come regardless.

[tarran]

Speaking for myself, I don’t want to go over any fiscal cliff, because the U.S. govt will do immense amounts of damage as it thrashes around.

But, if it is going to go down, better sooner rather than later, quicker rather than slower.

Other people feel differently

[wareagle]

I don’t want it, per se, but I am of the mindset of let’s do it now rather than waiting for the slow bleed to catch up. Let taxmaggedon take hold. People need to see how much the free ponies they covet cost.

[LTC(ret) John]

Agreed – I want my children to have something resembling a chance, so lets do this NOW.

[Spoonman.]

With you 100%, except I don’t have kids yet.

[LTC(ret) John]

Then that is even more selfless of you – you could have taken the easy way out and advocated kicking the can down the road. Bravo! A pity you are part of a national minority.

[tarran]

It’s not necessarily self-less. This mess could take decades to unwind and he could want to have enough wealth not to be eating dogfood warmed on sterno in his old age.

[LTC(ret) John]

Sterno?! You Gaia rapist!

[Scarcity]

Nah, he’s clearly an idiot who doesn’t know that he should vote for his immediate self-interest.

[nicole just can't even!]

Well, I’d like us to go over the fiscal cliff, but what they are calling the fiscal cliff is not really a fiscal cliff at all. It’s just a shitload of higher taxes plus slower growth in spending rather than any actual cuts.

So, fuck you very much, but I’d like to keep my money and you can actually cut spending if you’re going to bawl about it this much.

[wareagle]

nicole,
spending is not going to be cut, not in a meaningful way. Just look what happens when someone suggests that PBS pay for itself.

The only way people can be moved to cuts is if they feel the pain of all the free ponies they want. Some poll yesterday showed a majority favoring smaller govt, but that’s a platitude. No one gives up the freebie that comes their way. Except it’s not free.

[nicole just can't even!]

It will be. It will have to be. And if we’re going to whine like bitches about something that’s not a cut…ugh.

[Pro Libertate]

If things get awful, the government will use its great power to make them worse. How is that good for us?

Libertarianism so far has operated on an evolutionary basis more than a revolutionary one. For instance, we were built upon a fairly liberal British tradition (though nowhere near as liberal as us). France’s attempt to do so in one big jump resulted in tyranny.

The best hope for us is to be seen as the correct alternative and the next step within the system, more or less. If everything’s in crisis, we’re not going to be the first choice. That’ll be some guy on a horse.

[Drake]

For once I agree with Krugman.

I hope the House Republicans go full retard and never raise the debt limit again. Let it burn.

[Auric Demonocles]

I fail to see what’s retarded about keeping the debt limit where it is, except that it’s not lowering it.

[Drake]

They will be called “retards” for refusing to listen to “reason” and compromise.

Think of the children!

I really want them to be stubborn assholes. Unfortunately, only Boner and few weak ones have to break.

[Rasilio]

Well ultimately if the debt limit is not raised then it pretty much means a 40%+ cut in spending overnight with no real plan for how to implement that in place and no clear legal footing for who gets to call the shots over what does and does not get paid.

It is entirely likely that if they do not raise the debt limit that by August the world is in a full scale depression and several regional wars will have been ignited because of course the Federal government will see to it that our soldiers and important businesses get paid first and everyone else gets screwed.

We’d also likely be looking at a massive expansion of executive power because realistically it would probably fall to the Treasurer and President to determine which bills to pay and which go unpaid with no actual budget from the Congress to work from, or even if they did have a budget no authority to actually spend the money the budget calls for due to the inability to issue more debt.

[Randian]

A 40% cut in spending?

Show me the numbers, please.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

A 40% cut in spending?

Show me the numbers, Yes, Please!

[Scarcity]

Seconded. This feels like one of the 94% of numbers on the internet that are pulled directly out of one’s ass.

[Rasilio]

Ok Us budget in 2011…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2…..ral_budget

Total Revenues – $2.31 Trillion
Total Spending – $3.63 Trillion

With no ability to take on debt they would have no legal choice but to not spend above revenues meaning that somewhere they would have to forego spending of $1.32 Trillion.

1.32/3.36 = 36%

The rest was just a rounding error from doing the numbers off the top of my head and acknowledgement that the actual percentage would of course be subject to change as that kind of unplanned cut would negatively impact revenues going forward in the year increasing the amount which would need to be cut and as a result it could actually be slightly above 40%.

Remember, failing to raise the debt ceiling means no new debt can be issued, they could only replace existing debt as it matured, that means all deficit spending STOPS, whether it is mandatory, discretionary, or other.

[Pro Libertate]

I call on the House to stop everything except for reductions in the scope of government and in government spending.

Otherwise, what’s the point of having control of the House? Our system was designed to prevent any stupid moves–like reelecting a terrible president from overly damaging the system. While Congress has been waiving its rights for a long while, they still have the power, if only they would use it.

Stopping the insanity and constitutional irregularities is Congress’ job. If the president won’t do his, then Congress needs to kick some ass.

Given my importance as a blog commenter, I’m sure they’ll jump right on this.

[Auric Demonocles]

Not just a blog commenter, but a registered blog commenter!

[Pro Libertate]

That’s right! Good catch.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Krugabe was obviously stroking his cat while writing that op-ed.

Personally, I hope Barry takes his advice. Some cuts are better than none, and I’m guessing a grand bargain doesn’t involve any cuts.

[wareagle]

I say Repubs go along and let ALL the tax cuts expire. Let folks see up close and personal the cost for all the govt they want but claim to hate.

You can tell a kid not to put his hand on the stove because it’s hot or you can let him touch it and find it the hard way. America needs a hard way lesson.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

This.

[Auric Demonocles]

I know that here in MA, the Republicans trying to keep all the tax cuts was portrayed as “raising taxes on middle class familiars unless millionaires got tax cuts”. Not sure what makes that more true that “Democrats cared more about taxing the rich than giving the middle class a tax break”.

[$park?]

It’s all in the message. Any message that contains anything about raising the tax on the evil rich is a winner.

[mad libertarian guy]

Not sure what makes that more true that “Democrats cared more about taxing the rich than giving the middle class a tax break”.

When those who control the media are leftist lap dogs, this is the narrative you get. There will always be a spin towards whatever is worse for Team RED, even when what Team BLUE is evil too.

[Rich]

Well said.

And, don’t worry — Obamacare covers burned hands.

[wareagle]

speaking of Obamacare, true story: talking with a Canadian snowbird yesterday. Doctors told him in January he needed gall bladder surgery. He was finally scheduled for it in September. Ordering free ponies has quite a lead time.

[Ted S.]

If he’s a snowbird, shouldn’t have have been in the States in January when he was told he needed gall bladder surgery? He could have gotten it then rather than going back to Hoserland.

[Rich]

He was finally scheduled for it in September.

So, if the scheduling was done in September, when will be the actual surgery? 😉

[wareagle]

he had it done in September, 9 months after being told he needed it. Both of those occurred in Canada. The wait to get the surgery took that long. Maybe I didn’t explain it well.

[Chris Mallory]

Since I went in to the doctor early in the morning, I had my gall bladder taken out same day. Canadians don’t believe me when I tell them that.

[WTF]

And future generations of Americans won’t believe it, either.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I say Repubs go along and let ALL the tax cuts expire.

Why do you want House Republicans to singlehandedly destroy the economy?

[Killazontherun]

Ira Goldfinger lives, baby!

[Rasilio]

It won’t.

There is no evidence those tax cuts cut revenues (and therefore taxes paid) by a single cent and so there is no evidence that allowing them to expire will increase revenue (and therefore taxes paid) by a single cent.

I am sure that allowing all of the tax cuts to expire will have *some* negative impact but in the grand scheme of things I do not think it will be a significant impact to either the economy or tax revenues.

[Scarcity]

If this is true (income tax rate increase increased revenue), which very well may be true in the current state, it implicitly means that gross productivity decreases, time and money is wasted on tax-avoidance schemes, or both. Neither of which is good for the country, obviously.

[Scarcity]

dammit. There should be a “does not equal” between increase and increased.

SQUIRRELZ!! I want my greater thans and less thans back!

[LTC(ret) John]

You will take your &’s and be content – we are lucky we have those. Wishing for greater than and lesser thans will only anger them!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

More important, however, is the point that a stalemate would hurt Republican backers, corporate donors in particular, every bit as much as it hurt the rest of the country. As the risk of severe economic damage grew, Republicans would face intense pressure to cut a deal after all.

So, to Krugabe, the important thing is the partisan aspect of a confrontation. And there you have it people. He’s showing his colors in the Democrat’s moment of triumph. He cares nothing about the effects on the people as a whole, only how it can be used to gain partisan advantage.

What an unprincipled shithead.

[mad libertarian guy]

His Team is his principle.

[MJGreen]

It’s the conscience of a liberal.

[InlineSkate]

Still wondering why either of them have a Nobel prize to begin with. Quickly starting to think that the Nobel prize is a huge sham.

[Joe M]

Paul Krugman wants the president to go full retard and reject any kind of big deal on the coming fiscal cliff.

Kudos to Ed for telling it like it is.

[John]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/…..-good-last

Your daily dose of doom from Zero Hedge. It is really good idea to lock up your firearms and sharp objects before reading that site.

[dave b.]

ZH is the last source of real news in this country as far as I’m concerned.

[robc]

In other words it took more than $5.60 of debt to create $1 of economic growth.

Multiplier == .18

And that is for DEBT, since spending is higher than the debt, its multiplier would be even lower.

[robc]

And I realize that last sentence makes no sense so ignore it.

[Raven Nation]

OK, I realize I don’t understand economic details as well as some people post here. But, this author seems to first be supportive of the 2009-2010 policies that created growth but then criticizes the deficits that resulted.

I realize I’m probably misunderstanding something. Any help?

[NeonCat]

As I understand it, the way that defoliants like Round Up work is by supercharging the growth of plants. Unfortunately, this growth is more and faster than the plant can support, ultimately killing the plant.

The massive spending and subsequent debt by the US Govt is having (and will continue to have) defoliant like effects on the economy.

[Raven Nation]

OK, thanks.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A Mexican Ph.D. student at Harvard has developed an algorithm to track drug cartels through Google News.

Finally, Google News is useful to someone.

[LTC(ret) John]

Gah, you are too quick for me, Fist! Curse your speedy fistness.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I almost went with “I hope he isn’t too fond of his head” but I see you got it covered.

[Rich]

Unfortunately, the cartels can use Google News to “track” *her*.

[Rich]

And I see LTC(ret) John is on the same wavelength.

[The Late P Brooks]

I’m not going back for the link, but let’s just say Krugabe is still completely unhinged from reality.

[LTC(ret) John]

“A Mexican Ph.D. student at Harvard has developed an algorithm to track drug cartels through Google News.”

In a related development, a head in a bag was found on a table in a Harvard lecture hall.

[The Late P Brooks]

Krugabe’s “logic” hurts my widdle head.

[sarcasmic]

Cop tries to kill dog, shoots partner in the back instead.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..stead.html

[LTC(ret) John]

“The pit bull was in the kennel but the Corse was loose and attempted to charge the officers.”

So, was he trying to shoot the kenneled dog?! Irony so delicious, I may just skip lunch today.

[Mensan]

The article said he was trying to shoot the corso which wasn’t kenneled and was charging him. I don’t know what the warrant was for, so I’m not going to automatically assume the cops were wrong in this case; but I will say that a 140 lb (average size) corso charging at you would be scary as hell.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Hint: the cops always say the dog was “charging”, even when later evidence bears out the fact that the dog was running away.

[Mensan]

True, but the fact that the cop was panicked and shooting wildly makes me think that he was scared shitless because a dog actually was charging. When you’re used to calmly shooting dogs as they run away, you tend to freak out and accidentally shoot your partner when a dog is actually aggressive. Not that I have any additional information, but my imagination is good at filling in the blanks.

[John]

Sometimes justice is served.

[Joe M]

After Bryant was taken to the hospital Animal Control searched the home.
They found two more Cane Corsos in the backyard, as well as a dozen fish inside the house.
Memphis Animal Services took all four dogs.

The fish were taken outside and shot, however.

[Ted S.]

So it really is like shooting fish in a barrel.

[LTC(ret) John]

Taken outside? Wouldn’t the cops just blast the aquarium right on the spot?

[sarcasmic]

As long as you can destroy property with impunity, why pass an opportunity to cause water damage?

[sarcasmic]

Let’s go skydiving in our underwear!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..fears.html

[Rich]

skydive in their underwear to encourage women to face their fears

*** facepalm ***

[Eduard van Haalen]

Maybe underwear skydiving figures in their dreams, as it now will in the dreams of Daily Mail readers.

[John]

Fatties. They are over a size 2 sarcasmic.

[sarcasmic]

Pron 4 John

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..rance.html

[John]

I think the sky divers are quite cute. But they are clearly fat cows by your standards.

[sarcasmic]

Even more pron 4 John

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..ening.html

[John]

You have converted me sarcasmic. You have won. I know think any woman over a size 2 is a cow. I have joined the cause.

[sarcasmic]

MILF 4 John!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..d-man.html

[John]

It is a shame the young girl on the left is such a fatty. She is probably 115 lbs. What a pig.

[sarcasmic]

4 John’s spank bank

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem…..shion.html

[sarcasmic]

More pron 4 John

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..ywood.html

[Big 'Orra]

Pr0n for Sarcasmic

[Ted S.]

Um, no thanks. I don’t want to see Sarcasmic and John in their underwear.

[Enough About Palin]

I saw footage of a woman skydiving in the nude. What the wind did to her lady-parts was amazing.

[Bee Tagger]

What does a p word have to do with the Bushes?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Oh, very funny.

[sarcasmic]

Ke$ha changes her name to Tra$ha. Not really, but it would fit.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..video.html

[Caleb Turberville]

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni40285349/

Mark Wahlberg has been cast for Transformers 4.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

How appropriate

[Kwanzaa Cake]

Even shittier than the last 3? That’s unpossible

[sarcasmic]

Think your apartment is cramped?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..China.html

[Lord Humungus]

hey, that’s our future – working together in the socialist paradise.

[?Ex Nihilo?]

With high rents and low wages in the city, people are struggling to find places they can afford to live, driving them to live in the shoebox ‘capsule’ homes.

Capitalism at its finest. I wouldn’t want to live like that, but he is providing a service that people are willing to pay for.

[Jordan]

Hmm, Paul Krugman and I are actually in agreement on something. I want the Keynesian Kenyan to drive this fucker into the ground. The crash is coming; there is no deal that can stop it, so the more spectacular it is, the better.

[dave b.]

Krugnuts just wants to take over Turbotax Timmay’s job.

[sarcasmic]

Ke$ha is still a disgusting tramp!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..video.html

[Fist of Etiquette]

Could the Mitt Romney campaign have done the most to suppress the GOP vote?

The cult of personality continued for some bizarre reason over the past four years. The left love to worship uncritically their idols, and apparently that now rubs off on the center. No one had a chance.

[Auric Demonocles]

I think most people had a chance, the GOP just choose a guy who turned out to suck. Which maybe should have been more obvious when the primary polls showed people were looking for “the not Romney”.

[Randian]

I called Obama cultists the other day, and a young lady I went to elementary school with told me she supported Obama because he is good on immigration. Things got rather quiet when I pointed out Obama’s rate of deportation surpassed Bush.

Another liberal friend said that Obama’s liberal agenda in the DOJ is blocked because a lot of the retrenched bureaucracy (obvs. people below Holder & Co.) was Bush appointees. Well, whose fault is that, exactly?

[Auric Demonocles]

The liberals I know think of conservatives as ignorant, but they don’t seem to actually know any of Obama’s record. Though I guess it kind of fits, since they didn’t care he had no record in 08, why would they care what his record was in 12?

[Randian]

A few of the smarter ones have some hope. But honestly, you are right, all they know is that conservatives are hillbillies who want to ban abortion and institute the Christian Talibanocracy, and that Obama is cool.

[wareagle]

self-awareness is frowned upon in liberal circles. Curiously, when conservatives choose one of their own over another, they tend to be clear on what they like and don’t like.

All comes down to thinking vs feeling. The left is big on the latter. Most other folks prefer the former.

[Kaptious Kristen]

The lefties I know were single-issue people: health care. When you point out their Political God’s horrific civil liberties record, they say “But…health care!”

Basically, lefties are willing to sell out every single one of their principles on rights and liberties for “free” health care. Nothing else matters. The very same people the were unveiling anti-drone banners in the Air & Space Museum during the Bush years don’t give two shits about drones now, because HEALTH CARE!

[Heroic Mulatto]

The Baby Boomers are scared to death about…dying. The generation that vowed to never get old is terrified that they don’t have enough money to pay for the medical treatments that will allow them to live forever, in comfort, without any change to their lifestyle, because that’s what doctors do, you know.

This fear will motivate them to do anything. If someone told them the fountain of youth was eating the hearts of their grandchildren, they cut open the kids without a second thought.

[Pagan Priestess]

Sadly, I’m inclined to agree.

[Chris Mallory]

But his rate of deportations hasn’t surpassed Bush’s. They just changed what they count as deportations.

[Brian Combs]

Citation needed.

[sarcasmic]

I got a daily fail of Ke$ha being a disgusting tramp, but it keeps getting marked as spam. Fitting in a way.

[The Late P Brooks]

shouldn’t a “bottom-up” approach come natural to a “small government” candidate anyway?

What’s your point, Ed?

And- good catch on the Krugabe piece. I’d hate to think I was the only one to suffer through that.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T READ THE COMMENTS.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Help! Help!

The 1% has succeeded in making the term “class warfare” taboo. Of course we have a class war and of course they are winning. They win by making us think we have to pretend that we are “nation united.” The reality, however, is a major conflict of interest between workers and capitalists and we are NOT “all in this together.” By polluting the air and ground water, selling us junk food, denying us health insurance, taking an unfair share of the fruits of our labor, etc., etc., they are killing far more of us than Bin Laden et al. Though they encourage us to focus hate outwards towards “Islamic terrorists,” it is really the 1% who are our enemies, and we should treat them as such.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I went and read some, tried to post one but Reason marked it as spam.

Thanks Reason, I am better now.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I cannot resist. I must go there.

I SHALL RETURN

[Randian]

Good luck. We’re all counting on you.

[Auric Demonocles]

It’s like when someone says you are forbidden from having any of those cookies before the party. FORBIDDEN!

[Rich]

I’m starting to worry. Scruffy’s been gone a long time.

[Rich]

Whew.

Note to self: refresh.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Made it back. Found some choice cuts:

So far, everything on the table is likely to cut revenues faster than spending. The irrational viewpoint that there is no multiplier effect from public spending continues to prevail, which stifles all discussion of how to spend smarter for more multiplier effect.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Raise taxes, especially on those who have excessive amounts of money they don’t need;

[Auric Demonocles]

Not automatically assuming higher order effects is irrational?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

President Obama’s single biggest error in his first term was thinking that because he was the smartest guy in the room (he was) that he could persuade Republicans to join him in compromise by the sheer force of his intellect.

[wareagle]

someone actually said that????

[Auric Demonocles]

Well, Obama thinking he was the smartest guy in the room was one of his big errors.

[Lord Humungus]

“smartest man” Any good debater – a rarity these days – could have put Obama on the defensive or destroy him.

Check out any Nigel Farage video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhGNoZfvRoA

[John]

Think about what Ron Paul would have done to him. Of course after Paul destroyed him the media would have portrayed it as a mean old white man kicking around a poor black man.

[mad libertarian guy]

Ron Paul would have won this election. Handily, I think.

Romney didn’t seem to be substantively different than Obama. It would have been another Obama term, but with the perception that he’s a woman hating racist who wants to outlaw abortions.

Ron Paul would have offered a very different view.

[Kaptious Kristen]

When you put a bunch of politicians in a room together, the retard multiplier effect activates. They’re all the dumbest shithead in the room, in a spiraling tornado of idiocy and doom.

[Mensan]

Speaking on behalf of all geniuses, please stop pretending that Obama is one of us. I assure you he is not.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Settle on a figure for the Bush wars and put a surcharge on the income tax or gas tax ( exempting veterans and war widows and orphans) until they are paid for. Freeze Medicare and Medicaid and enact price controls for the medical/ drug industry.

[Randian]

The gas tax? Why do Krugabe followers hate poor people?

[Ted S.]

I’d support price controls on lawyers. There’s not a one of them that does anything worth more than minimum wage.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Awesomeness:

He has a ready-made issue, that will gain him the approval of the vast majority of citizens. I suggest that President Obama ban the Grover Norquist pledge.

Almost half our political representatives pledged allegiance to something other than our nation, and bestowed on one man the power of dictator. And with allegiance to the no-tax pledge, they display willingness to sacrifice the good of our nation.

President Obama can find legal backing for a ban of such a pledge. It is unethical, unpatriotic, unAmerican, and prevents good governance.

Harsh consequence follow for any unwilling to cancel their Grover Norquist pledge. Adherence to the pledge is declaration of being unfit to represent the people, and their seat will be vacant until an election determines their replacements.

[Randian]

That is amazing. Amazing.

I wonder if that person will support banning all of those celebrities from pledging their allegiance to Barack Obama.

[John]

I am telling you these people are ready to start putting people in camps. And they are only going to get crazier as things get worse.

[wareagle]

of course, not because they pledged to Obama.

Don’t you know anything?*
/liberal shakes head in disgust at obvious obtuseness of libertarian.

[gaijin]

Triumph of the Will…The sequel!

[Joe M]

Wow, that is amazing. “Please, please, Obama, dictate!”

[nicole just can't even!]

Oh my god. I…I just can’t even…

[Zeb]

“It is unethical, unpatriotic, unAmerican, and prevents good governance.”

Um, none of those things is against the law, so I’m not sure where this legal backing is supposed to come from.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

THE COMMENTER’S SCREEN NAME IS EINSTEIN:

Obama needs a NEW deal with the American people.

We’re tired of wimpy programs that over-compromise. We need real debt relief for middle & lower classes.

Cut their debt burden, force lower interest rates.

All this double talk of relief by ‘means-testing’ and relief only to ‘responsible’ homeowners has been an excuse to deny a fresh start to those who really need it, to allow foreclosures on primary residences that ruin families and communities, to continue higher tax rates on workers and small businesses, to allow students to drown in loan debt, to deny affordable capital to micro businesses, small businesses and family farms.

[robc]

Interest rates are at all time historic lows.

Im not sure its possible for them to go lower. Okay, Japan proved it is, but you know what I mean.

When I got my first mortgage in 1998, I thought “Wow, 7.125%, that is awesomely low, Im never gonna be refinancing.”

[Randian]

My parents tell the story of trying to close really, really quickly on their first home in 1983, because the rate was at 12% and it was projected to get to 14%.

What a steal, huh?

[Brett L]

Yeah. My parents took over the payments on one at about that time for 14% and thought they had won a deal.

[Heroic Mulatto]

The goal is to turn all “loans” into “grants”.

[nicole just can't even!]

I gotta say, if my student loans don’t end up getting forgiven in the midst of all this bullshit, I am going to be pretty pissed.

No, you know what is going to happen? They will be forgiven for everyone under a certain income (or, of course, anyone selfless enough to go into “public service”). And that amount will be high, but not high enough not to dick me.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Indeed. Though, I might add that 2-years in the Peace Corps is fun.

[nicole just can't even!]

I don’t owe enough for it to be that fun–and I’m too old anyway. I mean in terms of my own life planning. But I know people love it.

[Gray Ghost]

Shit, just let them be discharged in bankruptcy. Not that anyone will ever make an unsecured student loan again, but I’m looking at that as a feature, not a bug.

Staying on the subject of bankruptcy, I’ve always found it amusing to point out to Dems that Biden was one of the biggest water carriers for the major bankruptcy bill in 2005, the one that made it extremely difficult for consumers to file Chapter 7 or 13. Probably didn’t hurt his support for the bill to have MBNA give his kid a lucrative consulting deal during the bill’s passage through Congress. “But he’s the friend of the workingman!”

What a scumbag, but then again, our system selects for those.

[nicole just can't even!]

They can’t be discharged in bankruptcy. It’s not that much money, I just want my share of free shit when it’s going around.

[nicole just can't even!]

Oh, I see what you’re saying. Yes, I support this completely.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I truly hope concessions will not come in social security, a system that most retirees rely on and which is not in any near term fiscal peril. Medicaid and medicare, yes. But the fix for medicaid and medicare is “medicare for all” and I hope President Obama and the Democratic Congress will pursue replacing Obamacare with Obamacare For All.

[NeonCat]

Everyone knows the only way to fight a gasoline fire is to pour a lot more gasoline on it.

[Not an Economist]

One interesting thing is you actually can fight fire by pouring gasoline on it. Normal firefighting hoses use water pressure to deprive the fire of oxygen. You can do the same thing with gasoline. The only problem is the temperature at which gasoline is flamible so you would have to pour a lot more gasoline on it to put the temperature of the burning material below that point.

[NeonCat]

Yes, since gasoline vapor (fuel-air mixture) is what burns, not, strictly speaking, gasoline itself.

It’s still not the best way to fight a gasoline fire.

[Marshall Gill]

Stop it, for Science sake! The stupid burns too deep!

[Raven Nation]

Wasn’t this always the goal? Create a system that doesn’t work and then declare the government had to fix it.

Obama pretty much said as much in a speech he gave to a SEIU (?) group in the early 2000s.

[mad libertarian guy]

shouldn’t a “bottom-up” approach come natural to a “small government” candidate anyway?

It should now considering how Team BLUE ramming a big one up their ass on Tuesday.

[HazelMeade]

Paul Krugman wants the president to go full retard and reject any kind of big deal on the coming fiscal cliff.

That is the most bizarre thing I have heard yet. I’ll take that deal.
Yes, I realize that the reason he wants to do it is because he wants to blame a double dip recession on the Republicans.

But, seriously speaking, if we can get the D’s to twist themselves around into supporting actual spending cuts right now because they think that it will hurt the economy and let them score political points, we should TOTALLY TAKE THAT DEAL. ABSOLUTELY WITHOUT QUESTION. If they are that dumb, that they are willing to sacrifice actual policy in exchange for some TV talking points, please let them.

[John]

If he thinks that people are going to blame the coming recession the Republicans rather than the President he is more delusional than I thought he was.

[HazelMeade]

Unless you are a Keynesian, the “fiscal cliff” really isn’t going to hurt the economy nearly as much as they think.

This is a case of Democrats believing their own propaganda. So let them.

[John]

I agree with you about that. But I think the recession is coming for other reasons, namely the regulations that are about to come out of the White House. Obama is going to kill the energy boom, and raise the cost of hiring for every business in America.

[Jerry on the road]

You don’t think raising taxes will hurt the economy?

[wareagle]

jerry,
it doesn’t matter; let it happen. Let all the tax cuts expire. Every one of them. People need to feel the cost of the free ponies they want. No big deals, no grand bargain, no can-kicking.

Fixing the problem will require some pain. Do it sooner rather than later, and give Obama four years to marinate in it. After that, folks will either turn their backs on Dems for the next 40 years or America will resemble the sort of places we claim to not want to become.

[Rasilio]

Raising taxes paid by a significant percentage will hurt the economy.

A small increase in marginal tax rates and elimination of a few tax credits is by no means guaranteed to do this.

The static world estimate is that the Bush tax cuts cost around $370 billion a year or about 2.3% of GDP, however if you go back to when they passed there is no actual evidence that the cut tax revenues AT ALL, forget by $370 billion.

It is likely that they did reduce revenues by somewhere around $100 million and they probably also spurred a similar amount of economic activity so eliminating them could eliminate as much as $200 billion of GDP but that would be partially offset by returning $100 billion of investment money back to the private market by not issuing that debt.

Net impact to the economy from the elimination of the Bush cuts might be a loss of 1% of GDP maybe 1.5% at the outside and if you could actually pair it with significant real cuts in spending could in theory lead to significant gains in GDP as it would make America an even safer harbor for investment money compared to the rest of the world.

[Gray Ghost]

I had thought that the institution of the new 10% bracket from the previous 15% rate meant that revenues actually fell, as both brackets were on the wrong side of the Laffer curve? Anyway, re-reading you, I think we’re saying the same thing.

Still, if the effect is “only” a 100b or 200b, it’s not going to make that much difference in the crash.

Getting rid of much of the regulatory beast (deep breath while I try to stop laughing) would do much more to relieve business uncertainty, and thereby foster growth, than any tax chicanery, IMHO.

[Ted S.]

I’m sure the media will try to find some way to blame it on Boooooooosh.

[VG Zaytsev]

That evil bastard didn’t make his tax cuts permanent. So Obama failing ot extend them is really Boooooosh’s fault.

[wareagle]

on the other hand, what stops him from thinking that? Everyone in his bubble believes that Repubs are the only thing that have prevented The Obama’s true brilliance from being fully implemented.

[Lord Humungus]

if it wasn’t for those meddling kids!

[Randian]

The GOP needs an attack hound, and John Boehner ain’t cuttin’ it.

[wareagle]

no, he’s not. He represents the worst of establishment DC. I can see him and Nancy having a drink, mapping out what they’re going to say to reporters, and laughing at the rest of us. For his time, Noot was the ideal guy; the Repubs need someone else who is not afraid to call bullshit on bullshit.

[John]

I hate to say it, but they need a new Gingrich. Gingrich is a nut. But that made him one hell of a minority leader. He was a bomb thrower who had balls of steel. He just didn’t give a shit what people thought of him. They need someone like that not some sad sack who cries when he is elected speaker.

[Gray Ghost]

Isn’t it funny that we all thought the same thing on reading Randian’s post? As soon as I read “needs an attack hound”, I immediately thought it was too bad that malevolent little homunculus wasn’t around anymore to lead the House.

Any thoughts on his potential replacement? ‘Cos this ain’t cutting it.

[nicole just can't even!]

if we can get the D’s to twist themselves around into supporting actual spending cuts right now because they think that it will hurt the economy and let them score political points, we should TOTALLY TAKE THAT DEAL. ABSOLUTELY WITHOUT QUESTION.

Only problem is, the “fiscal cliff” doesn’t have any actual spending cuts. Or is that not what you meant? Another deal?

[Caleb Turberville]

http://www.cpusa.org/

The Communist Part USA has a website?!

[Atanarjuat]

Yep. I assume all of the party’s crazy members paid for it in equal shares.

[sarcasmic]

Related to Krugnuts, on NPR this morning they were talking of how different government spending has different multipliers, and the spending multipliers are all greater than the multiplier of the money if it was left in the economy.

Makes me wonder why the government allows anyone to spend any of their money at all. I mean, if a dollar that is confiscated by the government and then spent by a government employee has a multiplier of 1.4, but only 0.5 if left in the hands of the person who earned it, why not take it all? Wouldn’t that get the economy going?

[Rich]

You really should put in for Timmah’s job.

[robc]

Clearly they need to read more Barro.

He has flat out proven this to be false.

[dave b.]

I remember making this comment when one of the liberals remarked that food stamps had a multiplier of 1.2, which of course means that putting more people on food stamps is a good thing. Why not just put the whole country on food stamps? Recession over!

[robc]

There is a complete lack of understanding of basic economics.

Marginal utility apparently means nothing to them.

Its possible that food stamps do have a 1.2 multiplier, this actual goes along with Barro’s research showing that the multiplier rises as unemployment rises. So, for very, very poor people, some safety net spending probably does have a multiplier over one. And for each slightly richer person added on, the multiplier would drop, and eventually it would get below 1.

This comment was directed at you, dave b, I just thought there was someone reading it who might not understand.

IIRC, Coase pointed this out too. There is some level of government spending that maximizes GDP. But from his research on this, we are so far past that point that it is entirely undetectable.

My guess is its somewhere about 5% of GDP, but that is wild ass random guessing on my part.

[robc]

This comment was directed

WASNT

[robc]

Found the Coase comment I was looking for, it was from a reason interview, imagine that:

This is a very interesting question because one can’t give an answer to it. When I was editor of The Journal of Law and Economics, we published a whole series of studies of regulation and its effects. Almost all the studies–perhaps all the studies–suggested that the results of regulation had been bad, that the prices were higher, that the product was worse adapted to the needs of consumers, than it otherwise would have been. I was not willing to accept the view that all regulation was bound to produce these results. Therefore, what was my explanation for the results we had? I argued that the most probable explanation was that the government now operates on such a massive scale that it had reached the stage of what economists call negative marginal returns. Anything additional it does, it messes up. But that doesn’t mean that if we reduce the size of government considerably, we wouldn’t find then that there were some activities it did well. Until we reduce the size of government, we won’t know what they are.

[sarcasmic]

There is a complete lack of understanding of basic economics.

There is an inverse relationship between one’s understanding of economics and the likelihood of them being a liberal.

It’s actually documented, but I’m too lazy to look it up.

[John]

http://weeklystandard.com/blog…..62080.html

Hillary is steeping down after the inauguration to assume her position under the bus for Bengazi.

[wareagle]

in a just world, the Benghazi thing not only forever kills her chances of running for POTUS, it also exposes the incumbent for what he is.

Then again, folks voted for Obama because of his Sandy photo-ops. I have no sympathy for them.

[Drake]

Nope – Bill pulled way too hard for Obama over the last months.

[Auric Demonocles]

Then again, folks voted for Obama because of his Sandy photo-ops. I have no sympathy for them.

When I saw that exit polling it made me want to nuke the entire east coast.

[Drake]

The Sandy exit poll was almost beyond belief. The progress towards idiocracy is further ahead of schedule than I assumed.

[Lord Humungus]

FORWARD!

[Auric Demonocles]

I just can’t fathom voting for someone who has been in office for 4 years based on a speech he gives about a storm a couple days before the election.

[Emmerson Biggins]

Somebody with some money should get a billboard on Staten Island with a picture of Chris Mathews, Obama, and his quote about “thank god for that storm”.

[sloopyinca]

Speech is illegal in New York if it might get people riled up. And methinks the jihadists ain’t got shit on people from Staten Island right about now.

[mad libertarian guy]

Hillary is steeping down after the inauguration to assume her position as a candidate for POTUS in 2016.

If Team BLUE were smart, they would never run a white male again. They will ALWAYS use the race card, and they can continue to guilt white suburban liberals in to voting for whatever affirmative action candidate they choose.

[John]

That is why I think the Republicans have to run Rubio in 16. He is young and good looking and the first Latin President. Meanwhile the Dems will breakout the old war horse Hillary or worse Joe Biden. I like Rubio in that match up.

The last two elections have proven that we don’t elect a President as much as have an American Idol competition.

[Joe M]

Yeah, the GOP just needs a young, good looking, “ethnic” candidate and they’ll do fine.

[wareagle]

I get the politics but hate the approach. It reeks of Repubs doing the very thing they claim to despise. And when Rubio’s pre-Senate record gets a going over, some not-so-tasty things will surface.

[Randian]

It doesn’t matter whether you like it or not. It’s all about imaging and branding now.

[John]

It really is. Don’t think for a moment a young, good looking Cuban guy from South Beach wouldn’t totally out draw a 74 year old woman. I don’t care what their politics are.

[WTF]

Nope, the dems, with the assistance of the media, will trash Rubio as not authentically latino, and a race traitor, much as they did to Herman Cain, Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice, etc. And they will get away with it. Because people really are that stupid.

[Ted S.]

Any lesbian black Hispanic Republicans out there?

[Randian]

Marc Morgan is a gay black Republican in DC. If history is any indicator, obscure black politicians from corrupt Democrat cities can become President in record time.

[Joe M]

Oh come on, Little Rock isn’t that corrupt.

[Randian]

Win.

[mad libertarian guy]

But he can’t be black. Black republicans are nothing but lawn jockey house niggers, according to the narrative.

He’ll have to be hispanic.

[Bingo]

John, this is retarded and you should feel bad. This is the exact same fucking logic that Republicans used to nominate Romney. Oh he looks like a Tee Vee President, that will get people to vote for him!

[John]

Romney is an old guy hedge fun manager. Hedge fund managers don’t win American Idol.

[Bingo]

No one who promises to cut the FREE SHIT flowing to the masses will get elected. Skin color, sex, or how nice their haircut is are all irrelevant. The media will brand them a demon, and the electorate will follow in lockstep.

You really think you can change the direction this country is going just by changing the people in charge?

[John]

Bingo,

Most obama voters I know don’t want free shit. They are not leaches. They have jobs. They voted for Obama because he looked cool and they felt he cared.

People are too shallow to even want free shit anymore.

[Bingo]

Where are you reading this nonsense? Is there some meme floating around the TEAM RED blogs that they need to nominate an even more “electable” candidate next time?

Women broke almost 60-40 for the guy that promised them free birth control. “Future reductions in spending growth” is now the same thing as “spending cuts”. If you think that nominating a TEAM RED version of Black Jesus with a $400 haircut is going to change that mentality you are more deluded than most Dems I know.

[John]

Bingo,

I am telling you the Dems I know. And Team Red wants to think they are all leaches who want free shit. And they are not. Women voted 60 40 because they felt like Obama cared. Some of them want free shit. But not all of them. You are buying into a Team Red stereo type that just isn’t true.

Stop reading team red propaganda and start actually talking to Obama voters.

[Bingo]

The Obama voters I talked to fall into 2 categories:

1) People that hate Republicans (specifically social conservatives)
2) People that are incapable of drawing a line where Gov’t shouldn’t provide for people.

#1 won’t vote for Republicans even if they nominated an atom-for-atom clone of the Democrat’s candidate, the GOP brand is that bad. #2 won’t vote for anyone who they FEEL might reduce the flow of free shit.

The sheer quantity of #2’s out there makes me think that we actually lost the Cold War.

[Bee Tagger]

From 24/7: Putin Fires Army Chief

He’s furious about Bok’s portrait of him and is lashing out.

[Caleb Turberville]

http://www.mercurynews.com/bre…..ef-justice

I haven’t seen it mentioned, but Roy Moore was re-elected.

[Ted S.]

Who’s Roy Moore?

[Caleb Turberville]

Alabama Chief Justice, ousted for failing to removing 1 ton Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Supreme Court.

[Joe M]

Ten commandments moron.

[tarran]

Dude that wanted the 12 commandments in the courthouse so desperately that he alienated even the other judges on the Alabama supreme court.

[The Late P Brooks]

I thought libertarians wanted the US to go over the fiscal cliff

“Not I,” said the rat.

The government’s attempts to “rescue” the economy will be too horrible to contemplate.

[Rich]

McConnell: I know some people out there think Tuesday’s results mean Republicans in Washington are now going to roll over and agree to Democrat demands that we hike tax rates before the end of the year. I’m here to tell them there is no truth to that notion whatsoever.

[robc]

So how does he expect the Bush tax cuts to not expire?

[John]

I disagree with him. Raise the fuck out of taxes. Raise taxes on the 1%. Nine of out the ten richest counties voted for Obama. Fuck them. Put forth a plan that raises the shit out of taxes on anyone making over 400K. And then tax the hell out of trusts and life insurance over a million dollars. Make the trust fun left start paying its fair share. Then watch the Dems squirm as their bluff is called and they face raising taxes on the right kind of people.

[Lord Humungus]

oh, thanks.

[wareagle]

let ’em ALL expire. Time for the public to get a sense of what govt actually costs. It is the only way to shake the public into reality.

[Spoonman.]

And those muni bonds, too. Tax Puerto Rican bonds as well.

[Art Vandelay]

And don’t forget to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction, too. They would freak out.

You should have heard the San Francisco leftists complain about that one, when the repubs suggested that earlier in the year.

[John]

Yup. And also go after any university that has an endowment over a Billion dollars. Why should Harvard sit on $28 billion dollars while kids in South Boston can’t afford to eat? Use their own language against them.

[Caleb Turberville]

New York man admits to killing woman in elevator blaze.

[Caleb Turberville]

http://articles.chicagotribune…..w-york-man

Crap, here’s the original link.

[Randian]

Can someone give me a no-shit reason not to support the ‘fiscal cliff’ (stupidest description ever)?

[John]

I can’t think of one. And you know a double bonus? The cliff is going to carpet bomb the Northern Virginia economy. They voted for Obama, let them live with the consequences.

[HazelMeade]

Yes, and I live there, so it will impact me. but I’ll deal with it. I’m a big girl.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Me too…my real estate value never picked up after the bust (like some “experts” would have me believe), and now it’s gonna really tank. Yay. Sometimes I think I should just learn to love Big Brother and go work for the government and get the sweet, sweet benefits and salary.

[John]

That is what I did Kristen. But I warn you, the pay is good but it sucks your soul like one of those Dementors in the Harry Potter movies. The prison at Ekuban pays well, but it has its drawbacks.

[Killazontherun]

What about ginger Dementers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDIAGk6tIRQ

[Heroic Mulatto]

Collaborators will be the first to go.

Jus’ sayin’

[John]

Naw HM. The revolution is usually started and run by middle class hacks like me who do it from the inside. Robespierre was a lawyer and rep at the Estates General. It is the people inside who know the system who end up tearing it down and replacing it with something worse.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That’s true. Keep up the good work, but remember what happened to Robespierre.

[John]

It is not going to end well for anyone. Why not go out in a big way.

[Marshall Gill]

Robespierre? Sure, he wasn’t first. Since he still ultimately received a “haircut” anyway I wouldn’t draw much comfort from him.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I just want to be able to retire some day.

[John]

Me too. My suspicion is that my government retirement will be paid in 2030 Obama bucks at 1 to a hundred.

[Kaptious Kristen]

And you’ll still be in better shape than those of us who only have 401ks!

I have a feeling the only way I’ll be able to retire is if I can squirrel away whatever inheritance Ma & Pa leave me (not for many, many years, inshallah).

[John]

I want to retire over seas. But thanks to Ben turning the dollar into the Peso, that is going to be hard.

[sarcasmic]

I think what will happen is it will be ignored.

“Sorry, but we just couldn’t make the cuts. There’s nothing to cut. It’s all essential.”

[wareagle]

when people lose their minds over cuts to things like PBS, there is a startling truth to your statement. If fractions of pennies on the dollar are a bridge too far, then nothing can be cut. Ever.

[nicole just can't even!]

I support it, because I don’t imagine there is a better alternative out there realistically, but it doesn’t involve spending cuts, so that would be one reason.

[Gene]

Dig that salute to 59 years of revolution in Cuba.
I think the Island would be a great Libertarian Homeland anyone up for a new revolution down there?

[Lord Humungus]

hmmm… warm weather, hurricanes, dark-eyes senoritas… sure, I’m in.

[Drake]

Let’s put together a ragtag group of semi-soldiers and land on a bay.

[Lord Humungus]

The Bay of PFigs?

[tarran]

I’ve been promised naval air support by Obama, so I think we should do it!

[Randian]

We’ll call it the Christopher Stevens Memorial Brigade.

[tarran]

LOL!

[Gene]

Winter is the best time to start. Fuck the snow.

[Gene]

Fuck this was meant for Caleb.

[Caleb Turberville]

Funny how it mentions the American Communists’ opinion. What do the Cubans have to say?

[Gene]

I dunno, let’s ask one in Miami about it.

[John]

If Cuba ever became an actual free country, the US would be building a wall to keep people in.

[mad libertarian guy]

A Mexican Ph.D. student at Harvard has developed an algorithm to track drug cartels through Google News.

Why the fuck does it matter what nationality the student is?

[Eduard van Haalen]

The cartels are in her country?

[Gene]

It’s just to make identification easier for the cartels.

[Randian]

The same reason I would probably lend a little more credence to anecdotes from those who live under NHS in England.

[Auric Demonocles]

Considering it’s Harvard, all we really know is that this Ph.D. student claimed to be Mexican.

[sarcasmic]

Is his last name Warren?

[sloopyinca]

I guess two eyewitnesses and a pile of corroborating evidence aren’t enough to convict a police officer when he stalks them and starts jacking off in front of them.

Overcharging is for proles, not for pervert cops who stalk and masturbate in front of 13 year old girls, destroy the evidence and then resist arrest by fleeing.

[Teenage Girl]

pile of corrobating evidence

Eewww!!

[Ted S.]

I have a morbid curiosity as to what Google searches you’re using to come up with the stories.

[sloopyinca]

But if I told you, I would be useless around here.

[Ted S.]

I’ve seen so many things I ain’t ever seen before,
Don’t wanna know what it is, I don’t wanna see no more

[The Late P Brooks]

the spending multipliers are all greater than the multiplier of the money if it was left in the economy.

In other news, the President addressed the nation today:

“Dudes! I traded that stupid old cow for some magic beans. MAGIC BEANS, man! We’ll be fucking rich!”

[sloopyinca]

Dumbass drunk cop wrecks his cruiser and tries to hide it in the woods. Oh, he was drunk too.

I wonder when the “possession of firearms in the commission of a felony” (felony H&R if more than $1k worth of damage to the fence, pole or car since it was not his), enhancer is gonna show up? Or the misconduct charge. Or any of the other shit that he should be charged with.

[Enough About Palin]

An Isanti County pastor who participated in a ministry devoted to helping people put their homosexuality behind them has been charged with sexually assaulting two men he was counseling.

Lakeside Christian Church’s senior pastor, the Rev. Ryan J. Muehlhauser, 55, of Cambridge, appeared in court Tuesday on eight felony counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and remains free pending another hearing next month.

Muehlhauser also was a counselor through Robbinsdale-based Outpost Ministries, whose website says it was founded more than 30 years ago to help men and women “break away from gay life” and declares that “all homosexual behavior is sin.”

Authorities were informed of the alleged assaults from another Outpost counselor, who said the two men told him what had gone on with Muehlhauser.

According to the criminal complaint:

One of the men told investigators that Muehlhauser “blessed” him by cupping his genitals outside of his clothing several times and that Muehlhauser asked the man to masturbate in front of him for “spiritual strength.” Muehlhauser would also fondle the man at times. Their encounters occurred over a period of nearly two years.

http://www.startribune.com/loc…..06901.html

[Lord Humungus]

masturbate in front of him for “spiritual strength.”

Release the Chakra!

[wareagle]

Their encounters occurred over a period of nearly two years.

I think that’s called burying the lede. These are grown men, not kids. Two years? Really? At stop point, it stops being assault and starts being a consenting relationship.

[John]

Yeah. I am thinking the whole thing was just a bunch of gay guys who got off on counseling each other. NTTAAWWT.

[Killazontherun]

Look, you have two years to get your hand away from my penis and then I’m calling the cops.

[Big 'Orra]

George Carlin

[sloopyinca]

Retired Philly cop arrested for trying to lure an 8-year old into his car. He has previously been convicted of multiple counts of child porn but served less than a year in jail for those offenses.

Is the union proud they got this guy his pension?

[tarran]

He grabbed a kid by the neck and dragging them toward your car.

This must be some new definition of the verb “to lure” I had been unaware of…

[Enough About Palin]

“Ed Krayewski is an associate editor at Reason 24/7.”

My glancing eye read that as “Ed Krayewski is an asshole”.

True story.

[Lord Humungus]

You know who else is an asshole?

[hamilton]

There’s no reason that can’t also be true.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Ed Krayewski was never called an asshole.

[Enough About Palin]

I’m not calling Ed an asshole. I was sharing a faulty brain moment.

[Killazontherun]

Ed K never hurt nobody!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

So I did some math on the tax revenue and liberals’ claims that raising tax rates will give us a glorious fiscal future:

We have traditionally averaged about 17% tax revenue-to-GDP, regardless of the tax rates. Based on a $15 trillion national GDP (according to the OMB), if we hit the traditional average of 17% tax revenue, we’ll take in about $2.55 trillion. If we beat the traditional average and take in 19% revenue to GDP, that equals about $2.85 trillion in tax receipts. We’re spending over $3.5 trillion right now. 19-20% revenue streams have only occurred 11 times in the last 60 years. If we keep deficit spending to artificially raise the GDP, we’ll continue being stuck in a debt-to-GDP spread trap that will see debt continue to exponentially increase.

The math ALWAYS wins.

[sarcasmic]

You’re forgetting the multipliers.

Every dollar that the government spends turns into a buck fiddy or something, while every dollar that is left in the economy has a multiplier of less than one.

So the more money that is removed from the economy and spent by the government, the faster the economy grows.

Ideally there should be tax rates of 100%, and the multiplier will make everyone rich!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The “multiplier” argument reminds me of when the F-X fighter jet was being designed. The guys at Wright-Pat sent John Boyd a data set of drag polars that showed that the smaller the wing, the greater the lift. Extrapolating their formulas showed that the plane had maximum lift if it had no wings at all.

In the same way, liberals arguing that government spending will have a multiplier effect are saying that we’ll have maximum economic growth if the government taxes all income at 100%

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Homeopathic lift? That’s a new one.

[Not an Economist]

Actually, there are designs where a smaller wing could generate more lift than a bigger wing. Depends on a whole bunch of stuff like thickness of the wing, interference, etc.

John Boyd was a smart man and probably a great fighter pilot. He came up with some very good ideas. And he had not problems telling people they were wrong. Even if he was wrong. And he couldn’t adapt to the way technology could change things.

[John]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news…..00738.html

Looks like the Argentines have maybe had enough of crony capitalism and inflation. But Kirchner is so dreamy and hip. How could this happen? Eventually when the lights start to go off, people do learn.

[Drake]

Those Tea-Party types will never amount to anything.

(I wish that was sarcasm)

[Heroic Mulatto]

Fair enough, Kirchner was pretty hot back in the day.

[Killazontherun]

Yeah, but after the 70s Show he’s let himself go.

[Zeb]

Too bad she (like all wealthy South Americans seem to do) has had way too much plastic surgery since.

[Ken Shultz]

I think they’re just getting woefully embarrassed by their old rivals, the Brazilians.

It’s sort of like what Hong Kong did to China.

It’s embarrassing as hell when there’s a capitalist enclave sitting right next to you that’s leaving you in the dust in terms of economic growth–and you’re patting yourself on the back for running in place.

Just can’t ignore the Joneses next door.

[nicole just can't even!]

Eventually when the lights start to go off, people do learn.

Also when hedge funds start repossessing your navy.

[John]

That too.

[Calidissident]

As I’ve told people here before, I visited Argentina in May and all the business people I talked to could not give talk without mentioning how bad the government is down there. I’m glad to see they might be learning

[Mr Whipple]

So, where do I sign up for some of them Obamabucks? I be needin me some free shit.

Seriously, my income is almost all cash. I may as well sign up. The sooner this Pauly Krugnuts economy crashes, the better.

[Appalachian Australian]

It’s all stuff you don’t want. HEAP can take a percentage off your natural gas (or electric, if you heat with electric) bill, LifeLine can make your phone bill a little lower (but if you have a cell phone, and want an Obamaphone, expect to have a stupid plan with a cap like 60 minutes per month). Medicare/Medicaid pretty much suck.

Cash (TANF) is hard to get and doesn’t last long.

EBT can be useful. A lot of people on it abuse it by having their “friend” run a daycare and pay their “friend” for child care. You can also turn EBT into cash at about 50 cents on the dollar if you know the right people.

We’re still only talking about a few hundred bucks a month at the most.

In short, living on welfare sucks.

[John]

I know the language is impossible to learn. But the Czech Republic is looking better and better as an escape destination.

Czech government bills aiming to partially privatize the country’s state-run pension system

[wareagle]

the mindset in those former Soviet bloc countries is a little different from the rest of Europe. They’re not that far removed from really big govt to have forgotten what it entails.

[Ted S.]

It can’t be that difficult. It’s a Slavic language, and I learned Russian.

[Sevo]

Well, it’s only those icky business men who are worried. The rest of us don’t care, since businesses just steal money, right:
“Business leader frets over tax increases”
http://www.sfgate.com/business…..021688.php

[Drake]

The CA taxes were retroactive? Damn that’s funny. Burn fuckers!

[Mongo]

Gang member has tat of gun pointed in the mouth of a pig, with the officer’s name and badge number on it.

Cops then arrest the dude for terroristic threats.

http://www.startribune.com/loc…..33931.html

[sarcasmic]

Didn’t you read the part of the First Amendment that prohibits any speech that makes police uncomfortable? I believe it’s the “officer safety” clause. Or is it the “fuck you, that’s why” clause? I dunno, but it’s in there.

[NoVAHockey]

it’s not necessary and proper to speak against the general welfare, which would not exist without police.

[Zeb]

Even supposing that that should count as a threat, is sounds lie an ordinary threat to me.

[Ken Shultz]

“Paul Krugman wants the president to go full retard and reject any kind of big deal on the coming fiscal cliff.”

Just because he’s Paul Krugman doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

And if going over the cliff is the smart thing to do–then it isn’t going “full retard”.

We’re gonna get tax hikes–since Obama promised them, the Democrat senate isn’t about to oppose him, and Boehner has already capitulated on taxes, anyway.

And if the economy goes into recession becasue of the budget cuts already built into the cliff? Then that’s some much needed recession creative destruction.

Certainly, if we can’t cut government spending without causing a recession in the very short run, that is insufficient reason not to cut spending.

[tagtann]

I am so grateful that the American sheeple saw through Romneys LIES!

http://www.Anon-Done.tk

[Ken Shultz]

Fuck you, Lou!

[Randian]

Go take a fucking vacation, Ken.

[Ken Shultz]

Blow it out your ass, Randian.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Watch out guys, we’re dealing with a badass over here.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Fuck Neil de Grasse Tyson and his Obamessiah worshipping ass.

[Heroic Mulatto]

To be fair, he would worship anyone who promised him more of that sweet, sweet NASA money.

[tarran]

One of my best friends is an ex-Nasa employee. She’s ecstatic that now Obama is reelected Nasa is going to the moon.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Great! When are they moving? Will the moon’s taxpayers fund them now?

[Killazontherun]

What!?! One of the few things he did right was reorganizing their priorities to get out of the way of private development. Going back to the moon is still on ice, right?

[Kaptious Kristen]

This was on Neil Tyson’s Facebook wall this morning. To quote nicole: I can’t even….

[nicole just can't even!]

Oh, that’s not hateful at all.

[WTF]

Not only does he confuse ‘educated’ with ‘smart’, he confuses ‘credentialed’ with ‘educated’. What a tool.

[Randian]

Ironic that Tyson hates those states with the highest black population.

States in bold are the ones Tyson just mocked for being dumb:

1 Mississippi 1,074,200 37.3
2 Louisiana 1,452,396 31.98
3 Georgia 2,950,435 30.02
4 Maryland 1,700,298 29.44
5 South Carolina 1,290,684 28.48
6 Alabama 1,251,311 26.38
7 North Carolina 2,048,628 21.60
8 Delaware 191,814 20.95
9 Virginia 1,551,399 19.91
10 Tennessee 1,055,689 16.78

[Joe M]

That made me curious to look at exit polls for Mississippi. The difference between the white and black vote is pretty amazing.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Look who’s engaging in commenter suppression again.

[Randian]

He’s yelling at an anono-bot. That’s one level above David Berkowitz, guys.

[Killazontherun]

In Sam We Trust.

[Heroic Mulatto]

My wife accidentally watched this video; now he’s my husband.

[sarcasmic]

Coulter calls Obama a “retard”. Retards take offense.

http://www.dailydot.com/news/a…..ntroversy/

[Juice]

I’m not retarded, I’m just slow.

[The Late P Brooks]

And if the economy goes into recession becasue of the budget cuts already built into the cliff? Then that’s some much needed recession creative destruction.

Does ANYBODY believe the “cure” won’t make things worse?

If I thought any of those useless idiots in Washington would look around and say, “Holy shit look at the mess we’ve made!” and actually allow investment to be redirected into productive uses, I’d say go for it. But that won’t happen.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg is reporting a headline (with no detail) about DoD paying Lockheed another billion and a quarter to “fix” the F-35.

[Tim]

Stimulus!

[Ken Shultz]

Exactly!

Recessions are painful for a lot of people, but they aren’t always a bad thing for the overall health of the economy long term.

If we’ve crossed the point where we can’t do what’s necessary to make the economy healthy long term because the solution might mean layoffs in the public sector, then things really are hopeless.

I don’t think Krugman has the same purposes in mind that I do. I think he’s suggesting that Obama should stay firm on raising taxes–not that he’s about to capitulate on cutting spending. But me and Krugman can agree on what the next step should be…

We could end up with a lot worse than the fiscal cliff–if Obama wants to raise taxes higher than what’s in the cliff already or if he wants to raise taxes as high as what’s in the cliff already AND not cut spending.

…and I think the latter is what Obama has in mind. He wants to raise taxes and not cut spending, and going over the cliff is probably better than that–recession or no recession.

[sloopyinca]

OK, here’s the dumbest fucking bullshit post of the day. Ready?

A man has been charged with “terroristic threats” because he posted a picture of a tattoo of a pig wearing a police uniform on facebook because the pig had a gun partially in his mouth.

FTA: The complaint also said that the officer “interpreted the posting to be a direct threat against his life.”

[sarcasmic]

Mongo beat you to it at 9:51AM.

[Ted S.]

This is even dumber.

[Tim]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NV00luZurw

[Tim]

Brick Top: And when you got your six pieces, you gotta get rid of them, because it’s no good leaving it in the deep freeze for your mum to discover, now, is it? Then I hear the best thing to do is feed them to pigs. You got to starve the pigs for a few days, then the sight of a chopped-up body will look like curry to a pisshead. You gotta shave the heads of your victims, and pull the teeth out for the sake of the piggies’ digestion. You could do this afterwards, of course, but you don’t want to go sievin’ through pig shit, now, do you? They will go through bone like butter. You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression: “as greedy as a pig”.

[sarcasmic]

Ah, Deadwood. Too bad they never wrapped it up.

[Killazontherun]

Mum really loved that show but her mouth could use a washing out now. Also the way she flashes he cooter to random men and then shoots them with a derringer. Absolutely scandalous!

[Ska]

But that quote is from Snatch….

Wu – Washie washie… that’s how you feed people to the pigs in Deadwood.

[sloopyinca]

I guess a rape charge is just too strong when a cop arrests a woman, drives her to a secluded parking lot and forces her to have sex with him. I also guess a firearm enhancer, false arrest, kidnapping and a plethora of other charges would take up too much of the DA’s time.

[Tim]

a firearm enhancer?

[sarcasmic]

When a non-cop uses a firearm when committing a crime, the charge is elevated or enhanced.

[robc]

Felony committed while in possesion of a firearm adds to the penalty in many jurisdictions.

[Tim]

Oh man I wanted to enhance my firearm. What a disapointment.

[General Butt Naked]

Commit a felony while in possession of a firearm and the felony is enhanced, i.e. worse.

[General Butt Naked]

They call me, SLOWFINGER!

[Ken Shultz]

I’m sure he’ll get a fine.

[General Butt Naked]

Jeeze did you see the video that dunphy posted last night.

I guess last week was bad for Portland officers so the chief made a video showing his concern.

The terrible incidents mentioned:

Cop gets in a fight with a dude (suspected narcotics)with a knife gets stabbed gonna be okay.

Two cops approach a car in a parking garage, suspected narcotics, he tries to hit them no one injured, but the cruiser took heavy damage to the passenger door. You can send donations to the door’s family through the department and doorskidcollegefund.net.
On officer was actually named Tequila in this incident and the concerned chief was obviously stifling laughter at this unfortunate name.

People protesting knocked a couple of cops off of their bikes. Donations to the bikes’ families can be sent directly to the department.

A shitload of officers were fighting one dude for “several blocks” and were injured. No word on the status of this Norris-like figure.

I give the video a meh out of 5 stars.

[sloopyinca]

Is that the thread where he said I was wrong on the law IRT citizen’s arrest then proceeded to say the requirements in many cases were exactly what I said?

[Killazontherun]

Dude, if you ever decided to go professional with the cop beat, I’m sure Balko wouldn’t mind the assist.

[General Butt Naked]

Oh hell yeah. Reason should give him a daily link thing to do.

Sloopy’s Abuse of Authority Roundup

[Killazontherun]

They could pay him in rare hops Welch finds in France and Czechoslovakia.

[General Butt Naked]

No he posted only the video and I fell asleep shortly afterward with visions of Tequila* dancing through my head.

Here’s the video if you have some time to waste.

*please don’t be a dude

[Killazontherun]

My balls haven’t felt this bad since that fifteen minutes I was in a Fight Club.

[robc]

Class C felony, max sentence of 5 years, max fine of 10k.

I looked up the Washington law.

An officer having sex with a person under arrest is specifically listed under the law for “Custodial Sexual Misconduct”, but the very next line points out that consent is not an issue. So thats basically the case for consensual sex.

Ive got to think this qualifies as rape.

[robc]

Looking at the WA law, looks like Rape in the 2nd degree would be the proper charge.

[sloopyinca]

At a minimum. If he intentionally went back to the location to find the woman, it becomes premeditated and is 1st Degree.

[Don Mynack]

So, some Harvard grad students invented something that already exists?

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

A Mexican Ph.D. student at Harvard has developed an algorithm to track drug cartels through Google News.

LOL. Looking at the abstract, there’s no indication that they’ve actually tested the algorithm in a real world simulation. I’m not going to bother reading the paper, but it looks like yet another useless “information systems” paper that is little more than 1000 buzzwords strung together.

[The Late P Brooks]

Now that it is getting light out, I see the weatherman seems to have misunderestimated the forecast. The “inch or so” of snow looks a lot like a foot or so, and it’s still coming down.

Dadgum global warming!

[Bingo]

Please PB, It’s “climate change”. When it gets too hot, we’re to blame. When it’s too cold, we’re to blame. When it’s too wet, when it’s too dry. Hell, if it’s too fucking mild it’s probably our fault too.

[Andrew S.]

C’mon. Don’t you remember? Until the last couple of decades, every day, the temperature was exactly the “average” for the day, and we had an average amount of snow and rain each year. Anything that deviates from that is climate change.

[John]

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2012/11/8/194241/681

Another US attorney got in trouble for trolling online.

[John]

http://www.laweekly.com/2012-1…..s-angeles/

Homeless man finally gets back on his feet and has the money for a home only to be rejected by “tolerant diverse sensitive hipsters”. Sometimes I am really starting to hate this country.

[tarran]

Nowell eats only organic food and washes ? when he washes ? with artisanal, handmade soap from Soaptopia. “I’m not going to wear clothes somebody else bought for me. I wouldn’t let them bury me in that stuff! It was meant to be a hint. She knew I had money.”

I’m thinking he ain’t down on his luck if he only washes with artisanal soaps.

[John]

He is not. He came into a bunch of money and moved into a nice apartment and the hipsters evicted him because they thought he smelled.

[Randian]

Fuck him, he probably DID smell. It’s obvious he’s not well, and I feel bad for him about that, but noxious odors are not tolerated even in Libertopia.

[John]

It is not so much that he was evicted. It was who evicted him. Fuck the hipsters for pretending that they are so tolerant when they are just like everyone else.

[sloopyinca]

I bet I know where he gets his sandwich spreads…

[General Butt Naked]

Those fucking broklynites have ruined, RUINED, the word ‘artisanal’ for everyone!

[Joe M]

Did you read the whole article?

When exactly did things start to go wrong? It could perhaps be traced back to a kind deed gone awry.

Sometime during the day, Nowell got a call from Smith, the leasing agent. She’d purchased toiletries for him. Could she have permission to put them in his apartment?

“It insulted me,” he says now. “I wanted to move in quietly and get some much-needed rest. I didn’t want to be treated like I’ve been treated all these years. People wanting to … whatever …”

“Why don’t you just leave it at the front desk?” he asked her.

“No,” he recalls her saying. “Why don’t I just lay it out in your bathroom.” When he returned to the apartment, he found soap, shampoo, deodorant, a shower curtain, socks, shoes, towels, a change of clothes and a collection of tiny, travel-sized hotel soaps in a pink Victoria’s Secret bag waiting for him.

“My first home in two decades, and I felt like it had been contaminated,” he says. “It’s stuff I wouldn’t use. All that chemical stuff.”

Nowell eats only organic food and washes ? when he washes ? with artisanal, handmade soap from Soaptopia.

And doesn’t a property owner have the right to evict people for any reason they choose?

[General Butt Naked]

And doesn’t a property owner have the right to evict people for any reason they choose?

I’d say mostly, yes. But when someone pays a year in advance it makes it tricky.

[robc]

Contract.

So, unless he violated terms of the contract, they cant evict him.

[Joe M]

Yeah, I was wondering what the lease agreement said. Perhaps the jury correctly interpreted it.

[NoVAHockey]

I didn’t RTFA entirely, but mental health issue? I’ve seen/treated* people who stink like that and it’s clear they’re not doing it on purpose.

*put vicks vapor rub under my nose, put patient on cot, take to ER]

[Heroic Mulatto]

mental health issue?

It might be:

As for why Nowell doesn’t shower regularly and wear clean clothes, “He said it’s like a twitch,” Andrist explains. “Doing the twitch eases the anxiety. Having the hair and the clothes is like the twitch being eased.”

OCD? Anxiety disorder, maybe?

[sloopyinca]

Hey Lord Humungus, would you be interested in co-writing a screenplay?

[sloopyinca]

Hey Lord Humungus, would you be interested in co-writing a screenplay?

Or would any of you others be interested?

[John]

Depends on the screenplay. What is your idea?

[sloopyinca]

It’s a modern turn on Robin Hood.

[Joe M]

Ragnar Hood?

[Tim]

Is he gay or transgendered? Because that’s about all that’s left.

[Tim]

Robbin’ in Da Hood, with the Wayans brothers.

[John]

That could work. You need a villain. I would assume it would be some federal agency. You need a protagonist who is seriously wronged. I am thinking maybe someone who was about to inherit the family business only to have it closed for some reason leaving him destitute and turning to a life of crime.

Then you need the kind of crime he would commit. That is more difficult. Who do you rob? Everything is electronic now. So unless you want to rob banks, you can’t run around with a gun. How about making him a computer hacker?

[Tim]

Mitt Romney type, took the family business away from his father and sold it, leading to dad’s suicide.

[General Butt Naked]

This Summer Mitt Romney as Mitt Romney in:

Mitt Romney: HAcKer Hood

[NoVAHockey]

based on that link yesterday, i suppose you tear through malls on motorcycles. i’d set it at Tysons II, the rich person mall.

[General Butt Naked]

Anything with vehicles crashing through malls works, plain and simple.

I vote yes on the motorcycles going through the mall.

Will they have maces or virges?

[Tim]

Set in the South, the Sheriff of Nottingham County. No, too Dukes of Hazard…

[NoVAHockey]

hmm — i say they find stuff as they go. weaponize something from Sur la Table before looting the Cartier.

[General Butt Naked]

Good idea.

Or we could go with the 80’s movie sports store weapon gather. But I do like the idea of marauders armed with Henkel’s and armored with copper cook-ware.

[sloopyinca]

No, make them ninjas and arm them with Global’s.

[General Butt Naked]

Mall ninjas, tacticool!

Would they wear 5.11 pants?

[sloopyinca]

OK, he comes back from overseas where he did hacking work in Iran for the military. He comes home and finds out his family’s farm is being taken by the government under Imminent Domain to build a HSR or an oil pipeline or some other project. He researches a way to fight it but is intimidated and they take it over. His dad can’t cope, especially when he finds out he won’t be able to pay the taxes on the capital gains and he commits suicide.

The guy decides to hack the IRS computers and gives the money to people fucked over by the government. After this it could go one of two ways.
a. he has to go underground and the Feds are chasing him while he uses an underground network of hackers to keep taking the money from the fedgov and giving it to their victims.
b. he lives a double life stealing from the feds while working in the NSA and planning a takedown of the entire government’s resources and sending the money to the taxpayers.

It’s in the infant stage of development, but I think with a decent writer, I could make it work quite well.

[Tim]

Can we make it he hacks money from rich people and corporations and gives it to the government instead?
Non Profits like the Nottingham County Women’s health clinic.

[Tim]

Run by Maid Marion.

[sloopyinca]

OK, Tim’s out.

[Tim]

Shit. Go ahead see if any studio is going to buy something that affirms the worth of the individual.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Too bad the studios will make you change him into an Occupier.

[Tim]

Hey we’re trying to make money here, not Atlas Friggin Shrugged Part III.

[sloopyinca]

Hey we’re trying to make money here…

You got a turd in your pocket?

[Tim]

Just happy to see you 😉

[John]

I like that. Steal money from the feds and also change records and such to benefit people the IRS or the EPA is fucking over.

[sloopyinca]

Yeah, and black helicopters and shit chasing him as he returns billions of dollars to taxpayers and places it in overseas accounts and by some sleight of hand makes it untraceable…since he helped write the code that traces money. Hell, that could have been his job overseas with the DoD or NSA or one of the crypto agencies.

[sloopyinca]

Matter of fact, he helped crash and rob billions from a despotic regime, think Iran, and developed an untraceable program to take money from treasuries and move it without being traced. And the imminent domain thing isn’t a must. It can be another reason the government fucked over his parents and led his dad to suicide. Hell, it could be a bureaucratic glitch that nobody fixes (think: Buttle/Tuttle) and they have everything taken.

I’m serious here if anybody wants to have a go at it. It doesn’t have to be an anti-government screed. Plenty of movies have been made where the government is the villain without problem.

[robc]

Instead of ED, make is asset forfeiture.

Someone was selling drugs in the parking lot of the family business, the Father calls the cops, and the cops seize the building.

[sloopyinca]

That’s actually perfect.

[robc]

I expect a credit in the movie.

[Tim]

What about drones? Duh.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I’d make it like Falling Down, but have people join him as he makes his way though the city. Everything would be designed to scare the shit out the average Blue-Stater. The kicker is, he wins. The final scenes would have Soccer Moms be taken, dragging and screaming, to the same gallows that the IRS workers were hanged from earlier in the movie.

[John]

No HM. A group of moonshining hillbillies from Alabama have their land taken by the EPA and given the the nature conservancy. They just start walking towards DC. As they walk through the country more and more people start to join them. Until finally hundreds of thousands of angry red staters are converging on the city. And the national guard and military stand down leaving the entire DC to NYC corridor completely undefended.

Now that would scare Blue staters worse than a 12 year old girl sneaking into see SAW.

[General Butt Naked]

OOOhh, I like John’s idea. I would fucking pay to see that shit.

[sloopyinca]

Well, I’m kinda serious about it if anybody is really interested. The idea is rough around the edges, but I think it would be a compelling story that would work with occupiers, libertarians and almost anybody that likes a good chase thriller.

[NoVAHockey]

that’s basically replacing any zombies script with hillbillies. blue staters in their bunkers looking to the scientific community for a cure to hillbillyism

[sloopyinca]

So basically a “Duck Dynasty” field trip?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Deliverance: Out of the Woods

Make sure to include roving armed hillbilly butt-rape gangs.

[General Butt Naked]

I know you guys are kinda stuck on the whole hacker thing, but wasn’t that played out in the 90s?

People want ‘splosions, always have always will. Some guy furiously typing was interesting to the masses when not everybody spent their whole day like that, now it just looks like most people’s jobs. You gonna have him listed to techno too?

How about a rogue IRS agent that does giving people fucked by the government money for years, he’s eventually found out, goes underground, THEN…

cue in HM’s idea…

[John]

The problem Butt Naked is that you just can’t steal that much money with a gun and grabbing cash anymore. How do you rob the IRS with explosions?

[General Butt Naked]

That’s why he is at first an actual IRS worker.

So you have the steal big thing going on there, and when he’s discovered you have the ‘splosion yielding revolution.

I think the best thing we have here, for a movie, is the hillbilly idea you had. I think it’s gold because red staters and free staters would watch it as an inspiration. The blue staters would watch in horror as their worst fears materialize, but people love scary movie.

Win-win.

[sloopyinca]

He could be an IRS worker. I just wanted him to be the middle east for the whole “returning from the Crusades” inside joke…which was apparently so inside it was jammed up my colon.

[General Butt Naked]

What, like a Knights Templar sort of thing?

Jesus man, you’ll have the illuminati people in a tizzy if it gets made.

[sloopyinca]

Very little of the hacking and a lot more of the chase aspect.

[LibertyWolf]

He starts out as an IRS employee who audits people with glee, as he’s trying to get a promotion. Someone else is trying to get that promotion also, and they have some high connections in the government. Our plucky IRS guy goes on vacation to the Middle East, and the gets framed up and put on the No Fly List, gets cavity searched by the TSA, and has his assets seized. The person who fucked him over tells it to his face in prison. He somehow escapes and finds a merry band of libertarian hackers who have no regrets about taking on the IRS. Suddenly, a lot of bank accounts for some high level gov officials and their crony capitalist allies start getting drained. I wonder where the money went to?

[Emmerson Biggins]

I suggest Easy Rider in reverse. Two stoners from Alabama ride across the country. They meet people, learn stuff etc. Then when they get to San Francisco they get blown away by a couple of lesbians who just don’t like redneck breeders.

[sloopyinca]

Could they beat them to death with a rubber phallus?

[sloopyinca]

Could they beat them to death with a rubber phallus? No wait. They throw a rubber phallus into the wheels of their bikes, causing them to go ass-over-teakettle, where they die in a bloody pool with San Fran’s tolerant set standing around and laughing at their demise.

[John]

I love that idea Emmerson.

[Rasilio]

Hmm, lets keep this as close to the original as possible.

Rob Hood’s father owns a farm outside of x town. While Rob is away fighting in Afghanistan greedy political boss John Prince convinces the local township to seize Robs family farm by eminent domain to be turned over to developers to build a casino.

When Rob returns home and finds his family’s land gone and his father dead by mysterious cicumstances he goes looking for answers by is attacked by the local Sherrifs office (who are all employed by mr Prince) getting him branded an outlaw.

Rob then begins a guerilla campaign using the fighting and hacking skills he learned in the military to extract his revenge, clear his name, and restore the lands of the others who had their property stolen.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That’s basically the plot of every straight-to-video Steven Seagal/Jean-Claude van Damme movie ever.

[sloopyinca]

Don’t talk shit about Jean-Claude Van Damme!

[Heroic Mulatto]

Ain’t talkin’ shit. I’ve seen enough of his films to know that plot cold.

[mr simple]

So you’re saying it’s familiar enough to be a summer blockbuster? The masses don’t want new, they want the expected. If you want to make lots of money, that’s the way to go.

[General Butt Naked]

I’m terrible with comma, placement but really good at descriptive* dinosaur scenes. Have your agent tweet me.

*the sexy stuff

[Lord Humungus]

my brother went to film school – he’s the screenplay expert.

[Lord Humungus]

but I’ll gladly assist!

[Ted S.]

Full Sail University?

[Mike M.]

Paul Krugman wants the president to go full retard and reject any kind of big deal on the coming fiscal cliff.

So much for all of Krugman’s endless B.S. about how Keynesianism is the infallible sacred word of economics! Somehow I had this funny feeling that in his heart, he doesn’t truly believe in all of that crap.

Though I guess there is the possibility that Krugnuts is so malevolent that he actually wants to see our economy completely go down in flames.

[sarcasmic]

He’s made his fortune. His family is set for a couple generations. He don’t care about the truth.

[The Late P Brooks]

Fucking skwerlz at my baby screenplay!

[$park?]

So allow me to tell a little story:

As I was driving into work this morning I was listening to the radio. One of the guys was all down on himself for being a racist. In his mind, what made him a racist was the fact that he confused two black actresses in a movie. He was hating himself for falling into the racist “they all look the same” trap. As he’s going on about it, a black woman calls into the show.

White guy: It was a stupid racist move on my part and I’m sorry.
Black woman: It’s not racist to get people mixed up. I’m black and I get black people mixed up.
WG: I never would have mixed them up if they were white, it’s only because they were black.
BW: Confusing people doesn’t make you a racist.
WG: That just shows how beaten down and oppressed you are. You don’t even recognize racism anymore.
BW: *speechless* *nervous laughter*

This is seriously what some fucking people believe.

[Joe M]

Well, at least he’s right about being a racist.

[Jordan]

What in god’s name were you listening to?

[Tim]

White guy telling a black woman she’s stupid. Yep, he’s a racist.

[The Late P Brooks]

And then, just to REALLY piss me off, they tossed that “e” into the Void.

It’s a modern turn on Robin Hood.

So he doesn’t steal from the taxman and rebate it to the taxpayers?
It stinks.

Mine had revenge murders and prison breaks, and rogue lawpersons.

[The Late P Brooks]

And besides, you can’t do Robin Hood anymore, because Frank Sinatra is dead!

[The Late P Brooks]

And doesn’t a property owner have the right to evict people for any reason they choose?

This happened in NYC, right?

So, NO.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

contracts . how DO they work?

[Killazontherun]

From my favorite industry source:

http://www.bluesnews.com/

MoH SEAL Consultants Reprimanded

So many military shooters tout the credentials of their advisors, there’s a tendency to assume this is hype, but NBC News has word that the SEALs who participated in the development of Medal of Honor have received letters of reprimand from the U.S. Navy, and have been docked half their pay for two months (thanks David). The latest installment in EA’s shooter series takes pride in the contribution of “actual U.S. Tier 1 Operators,” and the truth of this is borne out by this reprimand: “We do not tolerate deviations from the policies that govern who we are and what we do as Sailors in the United States Navy,” says a written statement from Deputy Commander of Naval Special Warfare, Rear Admiral Garry Bonelli. “The non-judicial punishment decisions made today send a clear message throughout our Force that we are and will be held to a high standard of accountability.”

We do not tolerate deviations from the policies that govern who we are and what we do as Sailors in the United States Navy

Unless, of course, you are involved in a propaganda project in service to Dear Leader’s greater glory, then carry on, sailor!

[Lord Humungus]

This Reason post from yesterday:
https://reason.com/blog/2012/11…..n-the-wars

really destroyed any shreds of “USA USA USA” Neocon/warmonger left in me.

[Joe M]

I posted that on FB and one friend was totally indignant. I said I wasn’t the one dropping bombs, don’t get mad at me.

[The Late P Brooks]

As they walk through the country more and more people start to join them. Until finally hundreds of thousands of angry red staters are converging on the city.

A while back, somebody linked to a War College (I think) “scenario” not at all dissimilar to this. It explicitly namecalled the Tea Party.
Martial law was the solution.

[sloopyinca]

OK, well the movie idea is a go. I’m going to start doing an outline and will post it on the blog as I complete work on it. I’ll gladly accept and changes that help it. I’ve already received a few today.

And when we get to the point of actually writing a screenplay, we can work out the details of credits.

[$park?]

Can I get credit for not participating and thereby not fucking it up?

[sloopyinca]

Noted. You can be an extra when we get this thing off the ground. I’m thinking Miramax.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I’ll gladly accept and changes that help it. I’ve already received a few today.

So 120 minutes of ” roving armed hillbilly butt-rape gangs.” I smell an Oscar!

[sloopyinca]

Yeah, but it’s gonna lose all of it’s realism when those butt-rape gangs stop to put on condoms. Looks like we’re not gonna do this in Hollywood.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Get Gaspar Noe to direct. No one does butt-rape like he does.

[sloopyinca]

No one does butt-rape like he does.

Not even the federal government?

[LTC(ret) John]

” roving armed hillbilly butt-rape gangs.” I smell an Oscar!

I don’t think that is an Oscar you smell…

[mr simple]

His love interest obviously has to be the daughter of the local judge who ordered the ED takeover.

[sloopyinca]

Played by Emma Stone and R. Lee Ermey respectively.

[LTC(ret) John]

YES, I like that. R. Lee would play that to the hilt. And Emma Stone…can’t miss.

[Virginian]

R Lee is far too honorable of a man to play the scumbag. I say….

Good Guys

Adam Baldwin as Little John
Ray Stevenson as Friar Tuck

Need a Will Scarlet and a Allan A Dale…

Bad Guys
Javier Bardem as Guy of Gisbourne
Brian Cox as the Sheriff

[sloopyinca]

You know, robc’s idea of asset forfeiture would work pretty well. The hero could go after the city instead of an entire fedferal government. It would certainly be more plausible. He could go after a corrupt cop and judge, giving people back their seized property…and start stealing their shit as well…bank accounts, safe deposit boxes…until he gets the people behind him.

This is actually a good evolution since the original idea would have to be a big production and would likely involve Michael Bay.

[mr simple]

Yes, the more local idea works better, I think, and is easier to stage. Then his merry band can be high school friends that can fill him in on what’s happened to their town since the new mayor took over or whatever. Except the Little John character who was the HS bully or something and they become friends after a mutual run in with the sheriff and his goons.

[sloopyinca]

Dammit, I’m gonna make this happen. Hollywood may think it’s useless, but I still think it’s got potential.

[Appalachian Australian]

Watched a few episodes of Revolution last night. Rather surprised at some of its depictions:

– Gun control portrayed as a way for an evil government to oppress the populace, including a citizen who just wants to hunt deer for food
– Anarchy presented as a situation no worse than living under an evil government
– Torture somewhat ineffective as interrogation technique
– Shooting a robber in the back who threatened to hurt your kid, and then stole your food, portrayed as the right/moral thing to do.

It’s a nice break from the slaver crap of 24 or Homeland.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

Dec 7th. Yes, that is the date that LEGALIZED MARIJUANA IS IN FULL EFFECT in WA state. it’s a beautiful morning here in the great and prettydamnlibertarian state of WA!

if you don’t have a smile on your face and love in your heart… well… GET SOME!!!

[Appalachian Australian]

I was expecting more of a glazed look than a smile.

Someone on P1 said that DUI charges could be in effect up to 30 days after smoking. Is this true? What’s the legal limit for… blood THC?

[Dunphy (the real one)]

i’ve read a few NHTSA studies, but i frankly don’t know. the threshold limits for THC under the new law have been widely touted as problematic … too low. i honestly don’t know if this is the case or not. i went back and looked at the thc levels in the last dui mj i did, and it way way way way higher than the threshold amounts that 502 sets.

i’m going to defer to the source and say that people i respect are saying the level is too low and i believe them

as for the 30 day thing. thc is lipophilic. that means it likes fat (cells). in chronic users, after a bunch is smoked, some will be retained in the fat cells and slowly leached out over the course of many days? 30? certainly possible, assuming the levels taken were high enough.

there is concern that people on basic maintenance levels under med mj protocols will tip over the threshold too.

in brief, i am far from certain, but i am definitely considering that the DUI aspect of the legalized MJ law is problematic and needs to be tweaked.

not sure if i’ll drag out the twinkie test for my next dui pot arrest though 🙂

[sloopyinca]

The way I’ve see it reported is that they have a test (blood) that can determine an active type of THC that doesn’t stay in the body as long as the one they test for on a typical drug screen. The Colorado folks are pretty sure it’s going to be a realistic test to show a person currently under the influence rather than reporting residual effects that have no impact on a person’s ability to drive.

In all reality, I would expect the cops and the courts to rely more on the FST than the toxicology when it comes to DUID cases involving pot. And I doubt that subjectivity is gonna work in favor of defendants..Defense attorneys, yes. Defendants, no.

[Isaac Bartram]

Interestingly, both Roosevelts are more closely related to Van Buren than to each other.

Actually, no. The are separated by each other by an order of five (fifth cousins) but TR is separated from VB by six (third cousins plus three generations removed) and FDR by seven (third cousins plus four generations removed)

[Dunphy (the real one)]

randy barnett’s response to nick gillespie over at volokh.com. barnett says that gillespie had a very “thoughtful reply” to his wsj op-ed, so i am seeing a lot of love here.

good reading…

http://www.volokh.com/2012/11/…..qus_thread