A.M. Links: White House to Review Secession Petitions, Fiscal Cliff and Greece Worries Markets, Flight Disruption in Europe, "Chief Firefighter" to Head China's Fight Against Corruption, Teachers at Failing District "Highly Effective"

• The White House says it will review the secession petitions submitted to the White House's website. Petitions from Texas, Louisiana, and Florida have passed the 25,000 signature mark after which a response is required. 

• The situation in Greece and the upcoming fiscal debate in Congress has the markets worried. The Dow closed down 58.90 points yesterday, though it could have been worse had Home Depot stock not jumped 3.6 percent.  

• Anti-austerity strikes have caused flight disruptions across Europe, with flights to and from Spain and Greece among the most affected. 

• A Chinese financial official known as "the chief firefighter" is likely to be picked to head the fight against corruption. 

• Administrators gave every teacher and principal in a Michigan school district a "Highly Effective" rating despite the district receiving a failing grade for student achievement, which makes total sense.  

• Toyota has issued its second recall in two months after faults in the steering wheel and water system were discovered in nine models. 

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Comments

[Alack]

Thirst!

[Generic Stranger]

Well, at least it wasn't FoE.

[Whiterun Guard]

We decided it doesn't count if it doesn't reference one of the links.

Of course this goalpost was moved AFTER I broke the streak.

[Generic Stranger]

Figures. Power protects power.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I think it just never crossed anyone's mind until then that a commenter would post a comment solely touting having gotten there first. I mean, where did that idea even come from? And on the internet, of all places.

[Whiterun Guard]

You know, now that you mention it, I have often thought of myself as a trendsetter...

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well then you get to yell first.

[Pagan Priestess]

It was Suki.

[Alack]

I was actually aiming for the third comment. I figured 3 Mississippis would be enough but apparently, you're all slackers today. I am disappoint.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The White House says it will review the secession petitions submitted to the White House's website.

"Knock yourselves out."

[DJF]

They will review them and forward the names to the FBI terrorism division.

[Whiterun Guard]

Dat's a whole lotta dronz.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Many of the Texas signatures are from out of state Democrats

[R C Dean]

I fail to see how that weakens the petition.

[rac3rx]

You're a putz.

[Rich]

"As a rule, we don't comment on the substance of those responses until we've issued them to the petitioners."

"A drone strike yesterday ...."

[Rich]

Damn your quick fingers!

*** petitions White House about WG ***

[Pro Libertate]

What authority does the president have in this?

[generic Brand]

Executive Order 971405: Keep richer states from fleeing the union to support the poorer ones.

[NeonCat]

Are you serious?!

President Obama can do ANYTHING, so long as he isn't thwarted by those evil Rethuglicans. Why, hurricane Sandy would have blown harmlessly away if it hadn't been for Obama's enemies luring it ashore in hopes of making him look bad.

[Pro Libertate]

For once, I am serious. If a secession is managed peacefully, the president shouldn't have the authority to use military force to prevent it, unless Congress authorizes it.

[Brett L]

Unfortunately, the only mechanism for peaceful secession is amending the Constitution to provide a mechanism.

[Randian]

It's a moral argument. You shouldn't just slaughter millions of your former fellow countrymen over a legalistic argument if they are going peacefully.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

It's a moral argument. You shouldn't just slaughter millions of your former fellow countrymen over a legalistic argument if they are going peacefully.

The problem is one of property, which would eventually lead to a shooting war anyway.

Just look at the military bases. I doubt Obama would be willing to let all that hardware simply remain there, and would likely demand, at the very least, compensation for that plus the land and facilities. If they said, "Fuck you, we're keeping them," that's tantamount to an act of war.

And if some military commander decides to emulate Maj Robert Anderson, then war is inevitable.

[Pro Libertate]

It's pretty hard to argue that secession isn't a deeply implied right of the states that came together and formed the nation in the first place and a fundamental right in American culture given that whole declaration thingee (and don't forget the 10th Amendment).

The Civil War settled nothing, just deferred the issue. The act of using force to keep the states in the union was illegal, not the secession itself. The Union would've been on better legal ground forcibly freeing the slaves, then letting the Confederacy stay separate.

[LTC(ret) John]

Han, er, the Confederates shot first.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm not talking about some violence. I'm talking about the declared intention of the Union to reunite the states by force.

[Pound. Head. On. Desk.]

Han, er, the Confederates shot first.

On an armed military vessel carrying troops and arms into the harbor to the fort.
I've had people point out "it was just a steamship," which they don't seem to understand was the height of naval technology of the day.

[Randian]

The act of using force to keep the states in the union was illegal, not the secession itself.

I don't agree. Perpetual Union was ratified in the Constitution.

[Pro Libertate]

Where is that again?

[Randian]

In the Articles of Confederation.

Perpetual Union Theory.

Given that the Constitution makes reference to 'a more Perfect Union', it seems to me that it's incorporating Perpetual Union by reference.

[Pro Libertate]

That's nonsense. The whole system of government is based on self-determination, the polity was founded in an act of secession, and the Constitution, which is a grant of certain limited and enumerated powers to a federal government says nothing about perpetuity.

Just remember that the same guys who decided to break away from the British also were around when it came time to draft and ratify the Constitution. Is there any evidence at all that they had changed their minds? They might oppose armed rebellion, sure, but secession? I think not.

[Randian]

Then why was Perpetual Union in the Articles of Confederation?

The Founders weren't anarchists, Pro Libertate. Once the government has legitimacy via the People, then you can't just run around leaving it.

I would further submit that seceding after a State has taken part in an election is a violation of the Compact. If the State wanted to secede, it should have done so prior to the election.

[RickC]

There's always an election coming up or just past. So when would it not be a violation of the Compact? Also, there is just too much evidence contrary to your position in the historical record. The fact is that almost everyone I've read on the subject from the decades following ratification believed in a state's right to withdraw should the population of that state, through their legislature desire such a move. Several states had threatened to secede before the south made it's move and I don't recall them being threatened with force should they have followed through. A sovereign polity, as each state considered themselves to be during that period, withdrawing from a voluntarily entered into compact is hardly anarchy.

While they might not have been anarchists, the leaders of the revolution primarily feared a domineering centralized power. As PL writes above, why would any of them fight a war to break away and almost immediately turn over ultimate control to a central power? The way I think of it is, without secession on the table as an option, why even argue about states rights? What ultimate check on federal powers remains? Their word that they won't abuse us?

[Randian]

There's always an election coming up or just past. So when would it not be a violation of the Compact?

Are you kidding? This is stretching words beyond their meaning. There is not an election 'always coming up' or 'just past'. There is one every two years.

Be a little more honest next time.

Also, there is just too much evidence contrary to your position in the historical record. The fact is that almost everyone I've read on the subject from the decades following ratification believed in a state's right to withdraw should the population of that state

Like who? Cite your sources.

[Pro Libertate]

And, incidentally, "perpetual" in the Articles almost certainly didn't mean "no secession." That instead refers to the union itself--within the four walls of the Articles, states couldn't act independently in contravention of the Articles and still be part of the union.

The idea that we just forgot about the principles of the declaration and about all that natural rights stuff is absurd. While there's justification for the anti-secession argument, almost all of it came in an attempt to rationalize the Civil War and, before that, to prevent the South from taking off.

[Pound. Head. On. Desk.]

Given that the Constitution makes reference to 'a more Perfect Union', it seems to me that it's incorporating Perpetual Union by reference.

Perfection does not imply permanence. Perfect health for instance does not imply immortality.

[Randian]

Quibble with the law, not with me.

[Pro Libertate]

This is all hypothetical, since there's been exactly one serious attempt at secession, with known results, but legal scholarship generally favors secession as being a viable option under the U.S. system. It's fundamental to the founding of the country, after all, and the natural rights theory that's the basis of the Constitution is based on unalienable rights. In other words, rights that can't be ceded or taken away. Like, you know, the right to leave the country or to separate as a polity.

I've always wondered whether a secession of less than a state could be pulled off. The arguments from the natural rights perspective are the same, but the one factor missing is that the states were the fundamental unit of the federalist system at the time of the ratification of the Constitution and were, of course, the ratifying entities. The Conch Republic, on the other hand, was not.

[Randian]

I think it would depend on your state's constitution first.

[protefeed]

Unfortunately, the only mechanism for peaceful secession is amending the Constitution to provide a mechanism.

Where does the Constitution prohibit secession? Absent such explicit wording, this section would apply: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

If the federal government does not possess the explicit power to prevent secession written into the Constitution, then states have the power to secede under the Tenth.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A Chinese financial official known as "the chief firefighter" is likely to be picked to head the fight against corruption.

That could be a lucrative position.

[Generic Stranger]

So long as he is discrete. The Chinese tend to be rather short with people who embarrass the government.

[Jeff]

The Chinese tend to be rather short, period.

[hamilton]

I thought the point of communism was that no individual was discrete.

/grammar snob

[mr simple]

The Chinese tend to be rather short

Racist!

[Generic Stranger]

At least I didn't say that rampant corruption is a chink in their armor.

[Randian]

I don't like the slant you're putting on these comments.

[Groovus Maximus]

Keep it up and you'll go down a slippery slope.

[Greg]

Or go pee pee in your Coke

[Rasilio]

Shouldn't that be "Lacist!"

[Whiterun Guard]

Is he the guy that develops their fire drills?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Win. Ner.

[General Butt Naked]

Hey, no Chinese person has died in a car on fire at a stoplight.

Ever.

[Lord Humungus]

Study: People Who Live Close To Bars Drink More Heavily
http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/20.....e-heavily/

A group of Finnish researchers collected data from nearly 55,000 participants from 2000 to 2009. The study found that heavy and extreme drinking occurred when people lived about a half-mile away from the bar.

The Boston Globe reports that the chances a person will drink too much jumped to 17 percent living near a bar.

well duh...

[John]

You can walk home and not worry about a DUI.

[Zeb]

Being able to walk home from the bar is pretty great.

[gaijin]

crawling home even!

[Alack]

Is it really "too much" if you can just walk home?

[Whiterun Guard]

Not in my book!

Have you seen my book? I lost it the other night. I think.

Really that whole week is just a fog.

[Zeb]

As long as you can still walk (and the cops don't decide to be dicks about public drunkenness).

[SugarFree]

[something about walking home, like everyone else did]

[robc]

Same thing applies to subways and light rail.

People who live near them use them?

And why is that? Because people who want to use them try to buy/rent places near rail/subway stops.

Probably the same here. If you want to drink, buying a place in walking range of the bar district has extra value.

My point is, there is correlation, but I think the causation is backwards.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

My point is, there is correlation, but I think the causation is backwards.

Agreed. I think this because I once considered renting an empty apartment above my favorite bar. Then I realized I'd either go broke or die of liver failure.

[Fatty Bolger]

Yep. For drinkers it's a bonus, while non-drinkers would probably prefer not to live near a bar.

[NeonCat]

Considering the Finnish reputation for tying one on, I hate to think what they consider "heavy and extreme".

[LTC(ret) John]

Death inducing?

[Bobarian]

If Finland is anything like Wisconsin (or Minnesota, or Dakota or any other cold as hell State), then doesn't everyone live near a bar?

Study: People Who Live [in Finland] Drink More Heavily

[Ted S.]

Finns drink heavily? No shit, Sherlock!

[Bobarian]

So... is this a cause or an effect?

Maybe I choose to live next to a bar, for some reason?

[SugarFree]

Anti-austerity strikes have caused flight disruptions across Europe, with flights to and from Spain and Greece among the most affected.

"We've sucked the marrow from these bones! We demand new bones!"

Idiots.

[Whiterun Guard]

Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Transformers ROTF
Indiana Jones 4
Duplicity
Bride Wars
The Uninvited
He's Just not that into You
Miss March
Race to Witch Mountain
17 Again
Angels and Demons
and Channing Tatum's entire ouvre

all came out within a decade of Sucker Punch.

I know you've seen one of them.

[robc]

I havent seen any of those.

[SugarFree]

Seriously, is Snyder your mom or something? Geez.

[Whiterun Guard]

Look, it's a terrible, terrible film. I don't think anyone would argue otherwise.

But worst in a decade?! That's just hyperbole.

Plus it had that guy from The Right Stuff in it. He was good!

[kinnath]

I've seen Indiana Jones 4 and Angels and Demons. But it was cable and the middle of winter in Iowa.

Even cabin fever isn't enough to get me to watch any of the others though.

[AuH2O]

The twist at the end of Paul Blart is retarded. Yes, I notice these things.

[Brett L]

I'm actually o'fer on that whole list.

[Warty]

I've heard of two of those movies.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

Dracula 3000. Oh yeah!

[R C Dean]

I've seen one, maybe two (not sure who Channing Tatum is). Three if you count Sucker Punch.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

all came out within a decade of Sucker Punch.

Don't you mean, "A Nerd's Version of An Occurrence on Owl Creek Bridge"?

[Greg]

one vote for "When in Rome"

[WTF]

though it could have been worse had Home Depot stock not jumped 3.6 percent.

Broken windows = stimulus!
/Krugnutz

[invisible furry hand]

Guy who tried to turn himself into a tiger found dead, will be turned into a rug at the Playboy mansion

[Groovus Maximus]

He OD'd on catnip. Sad case.

[Whiterun Guard]

I thought he had heart failure chasing a laser pointer?

[Zeb]

I wonder if tigers would chase a laser pointer. I really want to see that.

[Warty]

They're too cool for that, you retard.

[Zeb]

I suspected as much, assface, but on the off chance that they would, I want to see it. No youtube access at the moment.

[Ice Nine]

"I'm Huron and Lakota,"

Huron and Lakota? Geez, some Huron guy really went far out of his way to get laid.

[KMA Too]

That is a mighty observation, Ice.

I LOL'd...tears were shed.

[Lord Humungus]

Lloyd Blankfein: The Business Plan for American Revival
There is a huge amount of investible cash that is now sitting on the sidelines, waiting for sensible reforms.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....61810.html

Relations between the Obama administration and large segments of the business community have been strained and unproductive. But the election offers an important opportunity to forge a more productive relationship. By electing a divided government, Americans didn't choose two years of squabbling and inaction until the next election?and the country cannot afford that. Both parties will have to compromise to make progress.

The challenges that America faces are not those of World War II. But meeting today's challenges will demand a similar dedication to cooperation?and not just between political parties. A spirit of compromise and reconciliation would do wonders for the economy if government and business resolved together to address the following priorities:

haahahhahaaa!

[Restoras]

Fuck you, LLoyd.

[Jordan]

Department of Business, bitches! Top men are on it!

[Zeezrom]

Let me guess: Priority #1 is further socializing the risk of bank failures?

[R C Dean]

Impossible, if you're a large bank. Their risks have all been socialized.

What do you thing QE is, anyway? Its buying garbage assets from banks, at full "nominal/mark to fantasy" value.

And those too big to fail banks? They're all bigger now.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Lloyd's version of a solution would have even more handouts to big banks. He can suck it.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Warren Buffett clipped Goldman pretty well back in 2008. I forgot the exact rate but it was well above the bond market.

[Citizen Nothing]

By electing a divided government, Americans didn't choose two years of squabbling and inaction until the next election

I did.

[DJF]

""'two years of squabbling and inaction ""

If only we got two years of squabbling and inaction, I am afraid that the politicians will do the worse thing and be bipartisan. Which means they agree together to screw over the public.

[mad libertarian guy]

I'm not even sure how the government and media was able to accomplish the Herculean feat of convincing the public that legislating to the tune of $3.5T per annum is "inaction", or "getting nothing done."

You don't "get nothing done" (legislatively speaking - not that anything productive is accomplished) and still spend 3.5 TRILLION fucking dollars EVERY FUCKING YEAR.

[LTC(ret) John]

Don't just do something, stand there!

[sarcasmic]

Dunno who Anna Trebunskaya is, but damn!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....rkout.html

[Restoras]

Dude, c'mon. That's a liferaft waiting to happen.

[sarcasmic]

In the meantime I'll happily ride it across an ocean.

[Groovus Maximus]

She's Russian, that's all you need to know.-)))

[hamilton]

We eagerly await your reportage on the XX component of Kviv, Doc.

[Groovus Maximus]

Well, this should give you a pretty good idea...

(HT Warty)

[Groovus Maximus]

Proper link via Warty...

[robc]

How is the UKR so far?

[SugarFree]

Sadly, the local Chicken Kiev is not as good as you might imagine.

[Groovus Maximus]

It's easy to find in low levels of light. Candles are merely a formality.

[Groovus Maximus]

How is the UKR so far?

OK, so far. People are pretty friendly, traffic is awful, and THE FOOD IS AWESOME!!!!

Excellent scenery as well, and a vodka lover's paradise.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I know her (now ex-)husband from years ago in San Diego. I met Anna once, genuinely a nice person.

[Mike M.]

Da!

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Anna Trebunskaya is a pro dancer on Dancing with the Stars. Yes she and most of the women on the show are hot.

[sarcasmic]

Fox News anchor suspended after calling Rachel Maddow an 'angry young man'.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....g-man.html
'Referring to Maddow as a "man" because she is a gay woman is completely unacceptable for someone in the business of journalism,' said Aaron McQuade, a spokesman for GLAAD
Golly, McQuade. Maybe she referred to Maddow as a "man" because, well, maybe because she looks and dresses like a man?

[Alack]

She looks and dresses like a journalist, you cisnormative pig!

[DJF]

I thought she looked and dressed like a Democratic Party campaign worker. Or is that the same as Journalist?

[Alack]

The difference is the chunky black glasses.

[SugarFree]

At this point there is little practical difference in motivation or actions between a Democratic campaign worker and a putative journalist. They have the same goals, after all. And the same legions of apologetics.

[Alack]

It's not their fault that the facts have a liberal bias, herp a derp derp.

[Whiterun Guard]

I read that as legions of apoplectics.

Which would also work and be true.

[Groovus Maximus]

putative

Didn't you mean pudendal?

[SugarFree]

Your crotchal obsessions are getting out of hand.

[Ice Nine]

Remember whom we're talking about? I'm getting a bit queasy.

[Groovus Maximus]

Well played...

And you owe me a new pair of pants now, since I spilled tea on them. Jerk. -))))

[invisible furry hand]

surely you can pay some babushka to wash them in the stream while singing a charming peasant song

[Groovus Maximus]

I will acquire slave devushki for such a pedestrian task, as well as a division of labour added bonus.

(adjusts monocle)

[generic Brand]

Babushka's have higher standards than the doc's pants. And don't call him Shirley!

[mad libertarian guy]

They practice journalism at Fox News?

[Whiterun Guard]

They don't need practice. They're professionals.

We talkin' 'bout practice?

[generic Brand]

+1 basketball player in Turkey

[mr simple]

This was a Cincinnati local anchor, not the big boy Fox News.

But, no, to answer your question. Unless you count Shep Smith.

[invisible furry hand]

there is no "best of Shep" without his Newt swipe and Jenny from the block blooper

[Palin's Buttplug]

Democrats routinely refer to Coulter as a man - even citing her Adams's apple.

[mad libertarian guy]

But it's those eeeeeeeeeeeeevul rethuglicans who are the racists and misogynists!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I don't know who is freakier, Maddow or that spray-tanned, 16 penny nail chewer with the fringe heels.

[Rich]

that spray-tanned, 16 penny nail chewer with the fringe heels

Come on. Boehner does *not* wear heels, fringe or otherwise.

[DJF]

At least not out in public.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

*shudder*

[Fist of Etiquette]

I wish I was a member of a protected class.

[flye]

Meh, like Louis CK, if I got to choose every year I'd still re-up for White.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

Why is that so controversial? You be the judge.

[Lord Humungus]

Sunshine Overruns: Hawaii's Solar Tax Credits Carry Soaring Price Tag
http://www.pewstates.org/proje.....5899429727

Sparking Hawaii's solar boom is a state tax credit that ranks among the nation's most generous: Homeowners and businesses that install a photovoltaic system may take 35 percent of its cost straight off their tax bill. That's in addition to a 30 percent federal credit.

But the unexpected popularity of the solar incentive has opened a hole in the state budget and become a major topic in state politics.

[mad libertarian guy]

Why don't progressives who actually believe in the efficacy of solar power pay their fair share?

[R C Dean]

Garshk, giving the wealthy (who are the only ones that can afford solar, and who pay most of the taxes) a phat tax write-off reduces collections?

Who coulda seen that coming?

[invisible furry hand]

Is this public toilet in poor taste?

[Rich]

Hell, yes! Just look at that offensive cross!

[SugarFree]

Don't be an idiot. How else are you supposed to keep vampires from using your toilet?

[Groovus Maximus]

Garlic always works much better. That cross thing is a myth. I have it on good authority that they tried having a Bishop bless the plumbing and that didn't work either.

[SugarFree]

You cross-denialist are worse than creationists, spreading your stupid myths and anti-science nonsense.

[Groovus Maximus]

SILVER NITRATE!!!! THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED!

[Ice Nine]

I believe that's what it's painted with.

[mr simple]

Pfft. Silver only works on werewolves, not vampires. What did they teach you at that "medical school"?

[Rich]

That garlic thing is a myth! Vampires *love* the stuff.

[Groovus Maximus]

+Edward Herrman

[Bobarian]

You probably think vampires sparkle in daylight...

Fag.

NTTAWT

[Slumbrew]

To steal a line from Larry Correia:

"If a vampire sparkles, he'd better be on fire"

[Groovus Maximus]

Why did you call it a toilet and not a loo? WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU??? -)))

[invisible furry hand]

we use the "t" word here too. I was tempted to call it a dunny, just to annoy Fist of Etiquette. Because I can.

[Groovus Maximus]

Well, I am getting revised on British English here, since most of the English speakers are Brits, Canadians or natives who learned British English.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I have to put this page through Babelfish anytime she comments.

[Zeb]

I visited Russia very soon after the end of the USSR and noticed that most of the English speakers sounded a bit like BBC news readers, as that had been the main way most were exposed to native English speakers.

[Bee Tagger]

Toyota has issued its second recall in two months after faults in the steering wheel and water system were discovered in nine models.

Didn't you hear? Toyota models look like us now.

[sarcasmic]

Keira Knightley poses topless. Safe for work I'm afraid.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....pless.html
More Keira.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-Leno.html

[Restoras]

She is quite fetching, even when not made-up.

[Apatheist ?_??]

First world problems.

[Hell's Librarian]

She'd look pretty good in that second set if she wasn't wearing a dress made of lace. Blech.

This made me laugh: Before and after: Keira was unhappy with being digitally enhanced for the King Arthur poster in 2004, complaining her fake breasts looked 'really, really droopy'

[Groovus Maximus]

Demonica Archiva! I have missed thee!

[Hell's Librarian]

Hola! Life called, as it does. 😉 I see you have made your move to the Ukraine. 😀

[mad libertarian guy]

Disagree.

I think she looks stunning.

[Hell's Librarian]

It's a really good color on her, just... the lace dress reminds me of kiddy clothes or something. I admit my prejudice!

[nicole just can't even!]

It reminds me of something Chloe Sevigny's character would wear on Big Love or something. The "demure" thing seems to be in or whatever but adult women running around a la Polly Flinders is a little weird.

[John]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....wards.html

The fail brings the side boob.

[Ice Nine]

Dude face.

[John]

I like her face. I think she is quite attractive.

[AuH2O]

She neeeds to drink a fucking milkshake or something.

[Bobarian]

I'd give her a protein shake.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The police chief in the Florida town where a man was tased for trying to fight a fire threatening his home has said he wished the man weren't tased.

Either that's buried somewhere in a story about homeless arrested for charging cell phones or SHODDY LINKSMANSHIP.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I saw nothing in there about the fire-fighting guy.

[Lord Humungus]

How to buy a wife for $6,000
http://bitsandpieces.us/2012/1.....-for-6000/

[Ken Shultz]

It isn't acquiring a wife that's usually the expensive part. Getting rid of a wife--now that's expensive!

[Rich]

Why is divorce so expensive?

Because IT'S WORTH IT!!!

[Restoras]

Not to mention that $6,000 seems like getting off cheap...so to speak.

[generic Brand]

It isn't acquiring a wife that's usually the expensive part. Getting rid of a wife--now that's expensive!

It's jokes like these that keep ALL the libertarian women away, Ken!

[Rasilio]

You mean all 3 of them are offended at the same time?

[Pagan Priestess]

There's definitely more than 3..me, Kaptious, Banjos, Nicole..., um um help me out here guys.

[celtigirl]

Me too, but I usually lurk instead of comment.

[sarcasmic]

Bartender who was beaten by an off-duty cop while his buddies watched gets a check. Cops are reprimended for being caught on camera.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....stice.html

[DJF]

And the taxpayers once again get the bill.

[LTC(ret) John]

The poor cop suffered enough, he got ... probation, gasp!

[R C Dean]

Did I miss something, or were assault charges filed?

[invisible furry hand]

the cop was convicted of aggravated battery and got probation. So, some criminal punishment, but not enough.

[sarcasmic]

80yr old man refused a drink at Hooters because he didn't have ID.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ve-21.html

[Groovus Maximus]

THE WAR ON PROGERIA CONTINUES!!!!!

[Restoras]

I thought we were always at war with Progeria...

[JW]

That's East Progeria.

[Auric Demonocles]

VOTER SUPPRESSION!

[generic Brand]

I thought we repealed prohibition with the 21st Amendment.

[sarcasmic]

Town caves in to PETA.
http://www.newsobserver.com/20.....stown.html

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Two years ago, PETA made similar charges about the handling of Punxsutawney Phil, proposing that the Pennsylvania town use a robotic groundhog instead.

That's how it begins people. Robotic groundhogs, then world domination.

[Zeezrom]

"Fiscal Cliff and Greece Worries Worry Markets"

[robc]

Clearly you didnt understand it.

Fiscal Cliff

and

Greece worries markets.

Duh.

[Zeezrom]

But if that's the case, then why did he go on to write, "The situation in Greece and the upcoming fiscal debate in Congress has [sic] the markets worried"? Answer me that one, smarty pants.

[Caleb Turberville]

There's a lot of historical baggage with the term "secession." In fact, though, it's just a term for independence (ie, The colonies seceded from the British Empire.) I mean, didn't the Declaration of Independence make a strong case for why the original colonies should secede? Wouldn't there then be a possibility that such secessionist conditions would arise again?

[sarcasmic]

Dude! Secession means slavery! Period! Those who are clamoring for secession are racists! Every last one of them! It's all about a black guy in the White House! Racism, straight up! Heck, they'd reinstate slavery if they thought they could get away with it! Damn racists!

[Alack]

My PoliSci professor in college literally taught that "states' rights" is code for racism and slavery. He was (surprise) a MA Proglodyte.

[DJF]

Not much different then many at Reason Magazine who says if you don't support open borders then you are racist.

[Alack]

Hans-Hermann Hoppe, an individualist anarchist, called for a conservative-libertarian alliance to roll back Leviathan and argued that closed borders more closely approximate the effects of private property than do open borders.

[invisible furry hand]

I don't know if I agree as I am too busy giggling at the name "Hans-Hermann Hoppe" and hoping he has a sibling called Space

[Citizen Nothing]

Fuck Hans-Hermann Hoppe. I should be allowed to invite anyone I want to visit my own property (live in my slum, work in my monocle factory, etc.)

[robc]

Agreed.

Also, sell my property to anyone I choose.

If you support private property, you have to support me selling that property to Mexicoans. And if they can own it, they have to be able to move to it. QED bitches.

[robc]

The "agreed" was for CN.

[tarran]

Hans-Hermann Hoppe, an individualist anarchist, ... argued that closed borders more closely approximate the effects of private property than do open borders.

And when you analyze his arguments, it's all fucking pearl clutching and weird conflations.

This argument suffers from a critical flaw: it blurs the distinction between invasion, where someone trespasses on the property of another, and that of legitimate sales of land or rental of land. If my neighbor chooses to sell his land to a person from Mexico, it is a voluntary trade between two individuals and not a unilateral expropriation of property. A squatter who seizes the house can be dealt with as a trespasser. Where the criminal comes from ? Canada, West Virginia, or from the immediate neighborhood ? is absolutely irrelevant. The notion that someone should be prevented from entering a locale because they might trespass in the future or have a higher time preference than others is ridiculous.

[tarran]

continuing

Unless a person lives as an autarchic hermit, he or she has to interact with others to survive. The need for these interactions opens the possibility that sometimes a person will be confronted by choices or people that are disagreeable. In a free society, mere disagreeableness does not provide a person with the grounds to intervene in the affairs of others. A person who wishes to avoid the sound of Spanish is free to decide how much they are willing to pay to ensure they never hear the tongue spoken in their presence. They may find that the cost is more than they are willing or able to pay. However, the fact that they find such a thing disagreeable in no way gives them license to aggress against their neighbors.

[Citizen Nothing]

Not necessarily a racist. Just not a libertarian.

[sarcasmic]

So Milton Friedman wasn't a libertarian because he opposed open borders as long as the welfare state remains?

I suppose he was racist as well?

[Citizen Nothing]

No. Not a racist. But not a libertarian.

[Citizen Nothing]

But I woulda voted for him.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Not a good example, sarc. Friedman's views on race were...*ahem*..."of his time".

[$park?]

Friedman's views on race were...*ahem*..."of his time".

I suppose it's nice to be able to make excuses for one's idols. Every person who owned a slave also had views on race that were "of his time."

[Heroic Mulatto]

I was being charitable.

[Caleb Turberville]

I think this crap stems from the fact that we so often celebrate the Declaration of Independence but we don't often celebrate what it was about. I don't think a lot of people actually realize that British (not "Americans" just yet) citizens in one part of the world actually cut ties with their motherland and formed their own independent state.

But if secession is the incredibly backwards evil that people make it out to be, then why continue to celebrate the Declaration?

[sarcasmic]

Who supports the Declaration? Independence Day is now The Fourth of July! Nobody says Independence Day anymore! People who speak loudly about the Declaration are viewed with suspicion! They probably talk about the Constitution as well! Damn radicals! They're the real terrorists!

[Caleb Turberville]

It also kills me how the Supreme Court decided in 1869 that secession was illegal. Like, what were they supposed to say? "Sure, feel free to form an independent nation. We won't stop you."

[sarcasmic]

The question was whether or not membership in the union was voluntary or not.

That question was answered.

[Caleb Turberville]

Okay, so they just reinforced what the Founders knew all along. If you want to gain independence, you're going to have to fight for it.

[Alack]

I annually annoy lib-leaning friends on "American Secession Day". I highly recommend it.

[sarcasmic]

I don't have any liberal friends anymore. My politically incorrect views drove them all away.

[Groovus Maximus]

Don't worry, you are much better for it.

[Zeb]

I think that was the idea.

I don't think that any of the secession things are going anywhere. But it would be interesting to see some state really press it. Maybe PR will become a state and another will leave the union. At least then you wouldn't have to replace all the flags.

[robc]

Has anyone started a CA petition?

That is one I can support.

[Hell's Librarian]

Huh, the list is up o 39 states who want to secede. I would think that Texas is the best positioned to succeed if they actually did manage to leave the union.

Maryland is not in the list (SHOCK!), but VA is. Maybe VA should secede from itself, and create North Virginia and South Virginia. MD and NoVA can then merge into a political unit and become Federaleria, in which the entire labor base is composed of government workers.

New Hampshire, Illinois, Idaho, Rhode Island, Virginia, Wisconsin, Alaska, Utah, Wyoming, California, Delaware, Nevada, Kansas, Ohio, South Dakota, West Virginia, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, Michigan, New York, Colorado, Oregon, New Jersey, North Dakota, Montana, Indiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama and Texas.

[Palin's Buttplug]

If residents of seceding states knew their SS/Medicare would end they would quickly become the statists they think they weren't.

[Caleb Turberville]

Actually, you may not be incorrect. Still, I believe in self-determination enough to at least let them set up voting initiatives in order to decide.

Hell, you could set the minimum threshold at something extraordinarily high, say 70%, but I still think they deserve their shot. Maybe they can do the states better than they are now.

[Restoras]

I think once people figure out that they aren't actually going to get any of that, or that whatever dollars they do receive are worthless, theie views on government might change.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

I have no doubt you're going to keep the money you've already stolen from me.

[Don Mynack]

I suppose the seceding states could demand that money back from the non-existing "trust funds" that "hold" them, then actually put them into an actual trust fund that, like, grows and stuff, in exchange for buying weapons or some crap. Heck, the State Dept. can even loan us the money, like Israel! It's all silly since it will never happen anyway...

[KDN]

If they want the goodies they'll have to take their share of the debt along with it, and escaping that mountain of debt would be my primary motivation for secession. Better to set up a similar but solvent program to go into effect as secession does and kick your own entitlement can down the road.

[R C Dean]

I suspect a trade can be arranged:

The remaining US of A keeps all of the debt, freeing the secessionistas of that burden, and the secessionistas lose their SocSec/MA, which will be replaced (or not) as their new government sees fit.

I suspect that a new arrangement for SocSec/MA would leave the secessionistas ahead on the deal.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm not sure I'm ready for secession, not trusting that the new nation would be any better or as viable, but I'm all for threatening it.

Secession is fairly well justified in the Declaration of Independence, and one could use much the same terminology in justifying a modern secession.

[robc]

Other than Texas and California, I dont really think the states could go it alone.

As silly as Revolution is, its divisions into 6 countries roughly make sense.

1. NE/MW east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio.
2. SE east of Mississippi + New Orleans area
3. Texas (includes OK, AR and rest of LA)
4. Plains states
5. California (includes WA and OR)
6. Wasteland (roughly AZ/NM/NV/UT)

[Lord Humungus]

I'm always for the Wasteland.

[Pro Libertate]

You know, what about another option? Retain the U.S. as a whole, but distribute the powers of the federal government to regional governments? Taking the national government completely out of consumer protection, social welfare, etc., while letting it retain the military and other "national" functions. Maybe.

[ant1sthenes]

I'm thinking that they should be distributed to a variety of regional/nation organizations that have no intrinsic relationship to each other, only to the individual states (and get funding from same).

Would make life easier if you could vote for representatives based on a much smaller set of issues that they dealt with at their respective bodies.

[robc]

We should give those "regional governments" a name. How about, "states". We could have about 50 of them and they could possibly have different laws on consumer protection, social welfare, drug legalization, etc.

It could be some sort of experiment.

Nah, stupid idea.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm all for that, but I'm just talking about within the current mess. At least then, we're not carrying the entire weight of all the other states on our shoulders.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

+1 Steve Martin bit.

[Emmerson Biggins]

Ya. We could try ... say ... 50 different "autonomous zones".

[invisible furry hand]

But that means finding 50 different Top Men to heal the planet and slow the rise of the oceans, instead of only one.

[John]

http://www.politico.com/news/s.....83813.html

Hard questions await President at news conference. LOL. Here is one way that the second Obama term is going to be worse than the first. In the first the media didn't try to even pretend they were not his paid press agents. As bad as that was, it at least had a shred of honesty. In the second term they will continue to act as his press agents but have the gall to claim they are really going after him.

[Bobarian]

Like he ever showed up for press conferences...

What's going to change.

[Lord Humungus]

The Fascinating History Of The Garbage Truck And The Knoxville Mayor Behind It
http://jalopnik.com/5955401/

According to this history, garbage trucks began with horses pulling cars of stuff around. Then came modified versions of things like Ford Model Ts, which had only been around since 1908. These were way better than horses, but they were still little more than people throwing trash into the back of a Ford pickup truck, itself a pretty primitive, though effective, concept.

The idea of an enclosed trash truck, so things wouldn't fly out at speed, was started in Europe in the 1920s. It's actually kind of amazing it took someone that long to think of that, but anyway. The Americans thought of the waste hauler we're more familiar with today, the external hopper truck.

[Ken Shultz]

"President to Seek $1.6 Trillion More in [Taxes], Double Level From 2011 Talks"

http://professional.wsj.com/ar.....44968.html

[Ken Shultz]

$1.6 trillion in new taxes.

On you and your boss, too!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

$1.6 trillion in additional tax revenue over the next decade

When did all of the budget figures become de facto decadic in nature?

[WTF]

It's the Ten Year Plan. Which is much better than the five year plan. Because it's twice as much.

[robc]

Some weird senate rules passed back in the 80s I think.

[Brian D]

When politicians realized that proclaiming $160 billion in tax revenues per year wouldn't sound as impressive when you're talking about closing annual deficits nearly ten times as large.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

So he starts at $1.6 trillion, and then can claim to "compromise" when he backs off to his original level of half that.

What a fucking douche.

[mr simple]

Well, tax revenues always rise and fall perfectly in sync with the rate, so that should be easy for him to accomplish.

[Lord Humungus]

The Somali Connection
Further questions about Obama's interrogation and detention policies.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....TopOpinion

But it turns out Benghazi isn't the only place where the CIA has been reported to have acted in contravention of Executive Order 13491. In July 2011, The Nation, a hard-left magazine, reported that the CIA "uses a secret prison buried in the basement of Somalia's National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters" in Mogadishu. There, according to the magazine, detainees from Al Shabab, "an Islamic militant group with close ties to Al Qaeda," are held and interrogated.

[Jordan]

Wow, this is really getting into impeachment territory. At this point it's clear that Obama is either a monumental, limp-wristed retard who has no control over the people who work for him, or he just straight up lies about everything. Actually, I think it's probably both.

Also: ROADZ!!1

[Palin's Buttplug]

Dems said the same about Bush/Cheney.

[Alack]

And it was true!

[Citizen Nothing]

Pay no attention to that man behind the buttplug.

[Groovus Maximus]

Actually, wouldn't he be in front of it, technically speaking?

[Citizen Nothing]

Damn pedants!

[Ice Nine]

Also, don't look for a man.

[Bobarian]

I believe we are just talking about (or to?) a tool.

[Jordan]

HURR DURR BUSH!!!1

Even TEAM BLUE retards like you are occasionally correct. Free Republic is that way ---------------

[Jordan]

Damn squirrels ate my arrowhead.

[invisible furry hand]

finally we might have a way to kill the squirrels! Quick, scatter more arrowheads about for them to eat

[LTC(ret) John]

I am calling PETA on you, ifh!

[Kaptious Kristen]

And your God refused to prosecute or in any way censure any of them.

[ant1sthenes]

How is the CIA disobeying an executive order grounds for impeaching the person who issued that order? Maybe for purging the CIA and re-establishing civilian control.

[Jordan]

Either Obama knows about it and lied to the public about it, or he has no control of his underlings. This is the running theme in every single executive branch scandal in this administration. Benghazi, Fast and Furious, FBI investigating the head of the CIA, and on and on. Any private sector manager who tried to pull that shit would (and should) be out on his ass pronto.

[ant1sthenes]

Any private sector manager who tried to pull that shit would (and should) be out on his ass pronto.

The American people decided they preferred an incompetent huckster to an insufficient caring manager. It's not impeachable to suck at your job.

[Rasilio]

Not to mention that even if you assume the worst, that he did know and condone those prisons you can't impeach a president for violating his own executive order

[Bobarian]

I think you can impeach a president for whatever the hell you want.

A lack of confidence?

The congress that does it just has to face the consequences of doing so.

[The Late P Brooks]

The White House says it will review the secession petitions submitted to the White House's website.

Something tells me the grant writers at the SPLC are working around the clock right now.

[John]

Enemies list.

[John]

http://dailycaller.com/2012/11.....icipation/

All fifty states now have secession petitions.

[Ken Shultz]

I have to think this is a good thing.

If this becomes a theme in the Republican party, it can only indicate people's increasing distrust of the federal government.

It didn't used to be that way. If they ever get another Republican in the White House, maybe their negative views on the federal government will change, but for the next four years, libertarians should be able to make some gains in the heads of Republicans if they're thinking--we need to escape the federal government.

[Restoras]

Interestingly, after Sandy I've seen a lot disappointment in the government response where I live. People are shell-shocked that government was nowhere to be found in the immediate aftermath - that firends and neighbors did more than anyone else. For days there was no one to depend on except each other - no police to be found anywhere, no National Guard, no government sanctioned monopolies. In the end it will go nowhere in deep blue southern NY - but it definately opened some eyes.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Republican obstructionists were the cause

[Hell's Librarian]

Nothing will wake them up. I have NYC friends who are still impacted one way or another, and they still are viewing the world through navy blue-tinted lenses. It is kind of amazing (and amusing) to me the contortions they are going through to rationalize the incompetence of the response. These same people were all aboard the "Bush hates brown people" Katrina boat.

[Restoras]

I have no illusions about a sudden shift in attitude among the deep blue part of NY, only that the complete lack of response and the bumbling of Top! Men! has led some to question what in hell they are actually getting for all the taxes paid.

[Warty]

I can't wait to fight and die for the Buckeye Republic in the war against the Michiganite Scumocracy.

[Ken Shultz]

There would be some states left behind.

Who the f would want to break away with Michigan?

[Ken Shultz]

I'm surprised the upper peninsula hasn't tried to break away from the rest of Michigan already.

[Warty]

The Yoopers always make noise about it. No one listens to them, because there's like 200,000 of them.

[SugarFree]

I wouldn't mind leaving Eastern Kentucky behind. Let them merge with West Virginia and become East-West Virginucky.

[robc]

We need coal.

But can we change our gay-ass* flag to something more secession friendly?

*no offense to those of you with gay asses.

[SugarFree]

Western Kentucky has lots of coal, we just don't fucking whine about it constantly like the mountain folk do. They fought for years to get rid of their own jobs, then complain there are no jobs.

[Warty]

There's always the hillbilly dancin' industry to fall back on.

[Ken Shultz]

Have you seen the "Wild Whites" or whatever that Johnny Knoxville documentary was?

Jesco White's a legend. I believe he's the son of another dancing legend.

Have to admit, I was once known for punk rock clogging myself. I can totally respect that.

[LTC(ret) John]

"punk rock clogging"

Film. Film or it didn't happen.

[robc]

we just don't fucking whine about it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEy6EuZp9IY

I call shenanigans.

[SugarFree]

I call shenanigans.

OK, not everyone doesn't whine... yet there is an entire half of the state where you won't see one bumpersticker about mountain top removal, which is a relief.

And WKY has oil as well. And most of us don't talk like retards outside of Owensboro.

[robc]

John Prine more than makes up for all the rest of you.

On a semi-related note, EKU and WKU have to be the worst named directional universities in the US.

Even South Florida is more accurate.

[Pro Libertate]

I think UCF is maybe thirty miles due north of USF.

[robc]

EKU and WKU are both in the center of KY.

[robc]

Richmond (EKU) is less than 30 miles east of Danville, where Centre College is accurately located.

Big surprise that the private sector gets it right.

[Pro Libertate]

But not accurately spelled. Fucking French.

[robc]

However, Kentucky pronounced Versailles correctly, unlike the French.

Ver-sales.

[Pro Libertate]

In Illinois, it's Des Plaines (pronounced d?s?ple?nz). It Iowa, it's Des Moines, pronounced Frenchy style.

[Kaptious Kristen]

If the Iowans pronounced it like the Frenchies, then it would be "Day Mweh", no "Duh Moin".

[Pro Libertate]

It's closer than Dez Planes, boss.

[LTC(ret) John]

But it is Ver-sales in IL.

[SugarFree]

Yes, but where were they supposed to put WKU? Paducah? The town whose name sounds like a bolus of vomit splashing into a toilet?

But, yes. Lexington is pretty much in the dead center of the state and EKU is 25 miles south of Lexington and further west than the eastern edge of Fayette Co.

Duh, geography, duh.

[robc]

Yes, but where were they supposed to put WKU? Paducah?

Put WKU in Murray, instead of Murray St. Call the one in Bowling Green: Bowling Green St.

Ditto for EKU and Morehead. EKU is in Morehead and the one in Richmond is Richmond St.

Dont have to move/change any of those 4 state Universities, just rename them.

[robc]

Lexington is pretty much in the dead center of the state

No, Danville is pretty much in the dead center of the state.

And by "pretty much" I mean exactly.

[LTC(ret) John]

"The town whose name sounds like a bolus of vomit splashing into a toilet?"

No, no - that is Beloit, WI.

[Bobarian]

to be fair, if you don't have moutain tops, there's little reason to whine about their removal.

[robc]

Also, Eastern Kentucky could be all that is standing between us and Senator Judd.

[Warty]

Please. As if The Democratic Republic of Kentuckia would be economically viable without their dope and moonshine exports.

[SugarFree]

Nothing about the mountains make weed or moonshine more economically viable. We grow much more corn and some of the best weed I've ever known was grown in and around Mammoth Cave. Guano FTW!

[invisible furry hand]

doesn't Kentucky's diverse economy have a third leg: pimping out their sister-girlfriends to interstate truck drivers?

[SugarFree]

doesn't Kentucky's diverse economy have a third leg: pimping out their sister-girlfriends to interstate truck drivers?

It's the only reason Eastern Kentucky hasn't completely collapsed. That and the welfare checks.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

There's a reason why my family left the Jenkins/Pound area. It sucks.

[SugarFree]

Jenkins? One of the true company towns. Not as controlled as Wheelwright, but still decidedly non-organic in development.

[Warty]

Do you pimp out your sister for scrip there, then?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Went back there a couple of years ago. There was nothing to recommend it, other than they cleaned up Norton, VA from all of the coal soot. I think half the population is on welfare and half of them are on meth.

[Citizen Nothing]

Virginucky? Slutsylvania.

[Ken Shultz]

"Who the f would want to break away with Michigan?"

California would be left behind, too.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I don't see what the issue is there. If Texas were to secede I personally don't want to join back up with any other state other than a free trade area.

[Brett L]

Shit, we already tried to give Michigan to Canada in 1812.

[Big 'Orra]

As a Buckeye, I approve this.

[Lord Humungus]

Michiganders are bred by blizzards and hearty oak trees, you Sucker-State scum! We shall easily demolish your puny forces.

[Warty]

You and your allies in the Yinzer Empire are no match for our forces, which, as you well know, are round on the end and high in the middle.

[Groovus Maximus]

I'll just leave this here, for you so richly deserve...

[Warty]

Ah, the Balko. A truly timeless prank.

[robc]

Loser gets Toledo?

Oh wait, that already happened.

[AuH2O]

Please tell me I am not the only one who thought of Community's pillow v blanket fort episode on seeing this comment.

[Ice Nine]

Why would the fiftieth state even need one?

[Whiterun Guard]

Because of the other 7 that would still be in the union?

[Jordan]

Nothing has brought out the statist bloodlust like these secession petitions. I've seen so many people rage and call for violence against the people signing these petitions in the past few days. It has really shown them for the totalitarian scum that they are.

[Hyperion]

The problem is, is that those who are so enraged and calling for deporting anyone signing the signatures, they are the same people who are scared of guns, have never touched one, and that also likely depend on the taxes collected from the people who would be deported for their welfare checks. They are delusional, as always.

[Drake]

Maybe we all secede and leave only the District of Columbia holding $16 trillion in debt. Wall it off and forget it.

[mad libertarian guy]

Maybe we all secede and leave only the District of Columbia holding $16 trillion in debt. Wall it off and forget it make sure that under no circumstances are any politicians to get out.

FIFY

[Drake]

I'm willing to pull some guard duty on that wall.

[Hyperion]

It would be just like Fallout 3 in real life. Just give me a weapon and count me in. Can't be letting those super mutant congress critters out of there.

[NeonCat]

We NEED you on that wall!

[Jam]

you have to build a wall around socialism to keep the people in

[LTC(ret) John]

Count me in, I am terrific with an M240B.

[Bobarian]

The problem is we'd figure out we left something important in there, and then we'd need to send Snake Plissken in to get it.

But he's getting pretty old.

[ant1sthenes]

That's actually a pretty good idea. All 50 states secede, DC is left to its own devices, etc.

[Don Mynack]

Best idea I've heard in forever.

[Don Mynack]

Let's just all agree to kick out Hawaii. What have they ever done for the rest of us, other than get attacked?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Hello? There was that Elvis movie!

[Fist of Etiquette]

...said he wished the man weren't tased.

"Yeah, but what are ya gonna do. Shit happens."

[invisible furry hand]

In case sloopy thinks he has a monopoly on cop stories, here's a coroner getting something off her chest:

"[The officers] seem to have thrown themselves into a melee with an ungoverned pack mentality, like the schoolboys in Lord of the Flies, with no idea what the problem was, or what threat or crime was supposedly to be averted."

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/tase.....z2CCptZGLj

[sarcasmic]

There's a disgusting story. The most disgusting part being the fact that none of the officers will face consequences. As usual.

[Whahappan?]

but they're held to a higher standard!
/dunphy

[H. Reardon]

Ms Jerram said she could not find grounds for manslaughter charges, in part because no clear cause of death was identified.

'No ground for manslaughter because we can't determine if it was the Tasers, pepper spray, or positional asphyxia that killed him. Sorry.'

[Fist of Etiquette]

Administrators gave every teacher and principal in a Michigan school district a "Highly Effective" rating despite the district receiving a failing grade for student achievement...

It's obvious the students are the weak link in this equation. (Mixaphrically speaking.)

[Ken Shultz]

Did anyone else notice that President Obama is asking for $1.6 trillion in new taxes--with a "t"?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Gotta' close that deficit. Since there's nowhere to cut, what choice do they have? I mean really, all of those OWS people are starving in the streets.

[Ken Shultz]

I wish I were totally wrong about this.

Boehner is saying that taxes are on the table, so long as they're attached to cuts in entitlements.

Which means that the president is giving the GOP in the House enough rope to hang itself with--and the Republicans are taking it and putting it around their necks.

You know, it is conceivably possible that the Republicans could do worse in the mid-term elections than they did in this last round.

I've seen it happen in California. Just because you're almost irrelevant--doesn't mean you've hit bottom yet. Complete, total irrelevance could be just around the corner!

[Drake]

Fiscal moderation (I almost typed "discipline" then remembered) is the only thing the Republican brand has going for it. When Boehner negotiates that away, it's over.

[Hyperion]

This, exactly. That would doom them to the dustbin of history.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

attached to cuts in entitlements

5 bucks says that any cuts are phased in and they never take effect anyway because Congress keeps pushing them out year after year.

[Tim]

Yep.

[Ken Shultz]

That's if Boehner doesn't completely cave.

There will be more spending.

That's the bet I'd make--we'll spend more money this year than last year, and we'll spend more money next year than this year.

[ant1sthenes]

I suppose you could arrange it so that they would automatically be triggered after targeted decreases in spending. Then, you can honestly say that you approved a tax increase, without actually having a tax increase.

[Restoras]

A single-party state is ideal for Progressives. Just look at CA - it's a paradise!

[Whiterun Guard]

The tragic results of austerity. They've cut to the bone.

TO THE BONE.

[Ken Shultz]

The whole point of Keynes' prescription for the liquidity trap was that we can always count on the government to spend every penny it gets its hands on--and thus bypass the marginal propensity to save, right?

Somehow they completely forget Keynes when they're projecting what they're going to do with all the tax revenue. When they're raising taxes, it's always to close the budget gap!

After they've raised taxes, the money always seems to get spent somewhere else.

[Lord Humungus]

all part of the "gorge the beast" plan...

add a bunch of spending
drive up the deficit
"no cuts can be found"
more taxes needed

see California/NY for the state-level example.

[Alack]

Yep. I mean, c'mon, he's only asking for an increase of 69%! We all know that the rich don't pay anything, so all we have to do is tax them more and we'll have all the revenue we need!

[Alack]

Er, 6.9%. Somehow didn't see the "over a decade", which is the lamest cop-out possible. Honestly, if Obama could raise revenues enough to close the deficit without crippling the economy, I'd be impressed.

[John]

They always run out of money. Look at the French Revolution. The Ancient Regime went broke. Then they had the revolution and looted the aristocracy. When that money ran out they looted the church and the monasteries. When that money ran out they started invading other countries and imposing a "liberation tax". But of course that money ran out too.

[NeonCat]

There are a LOT of wealthy Mexican drug lords. Since the Mexican govt is unable or unwilling to stop the scourge of drugs coming into the US, clearly we need to (re)invade, much as Blackjack Pershing did against Pancho Villa, only this time with better, more lucrative results.

[Zeb]

The totally fucking stupid part of all of this is that raising tax rates will never raise enough money to close the deficit. They way that tax revenues increase is the economy grows. It is as if the proponents of tax increases completely ignore this. The only way tax revenues will increase significantly is if the economy grows significantly.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Just imagine what the debt will be in 10 years even if he got that $1.6 tril.

[Drake]

What comes after $999 trillion?

[Restoras]

$1 quadrillion. At that point we should just lop off three decimal places and begin anew. The numbers will be much smaller and so wil the problems!

[Alack]

It worked for Zimbabwe!

[Citizen Nothing]

I keep a one-hundred trillion $Z note on the wall above my desk as a constant reminder. It's really quite pretty.

[Drake]

I'm waiting for the new Quad bills.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I present to you the $500,000,000,000 dinar note from Yugoslavia.

[Alack]

I got my friend some of those for his birthday a few years back. Maybe Mugabe was just trying to make his currency have a strong collector's market to curb the effects of monetary expansion and bring in solid US dollars!

[Pro Libertate]

"No, fuck you, cut spending."

[Rich]

White House 'Held Affair Over Petraeus's Head' For Favorable Testimony On Benghazi

[Tim]

Shirley you must be joking.

[Groovus Maximus]

And don't call...

Nevermind.

[Rich]

"Can you prove it didn't happen?"

[Lord Humungus]

Who are you? How did you get in here?

I'm a locksmith. And I'm a locksmith.

[NeonCat]

"No sax before the fight."

[Jerry on the road]

It's called Chicago politics.

[Ken Shultz]

That's from some columnist on Fox news, who for all we know could be pulling an Ann Coulter.

I don't see that he has any new or inside information. He's just reading the tea leaves like the rest of us.

That's not a new item. It's an opinion piece.

[Drake]

Notice we haven't heard from General Hamm or Admiral Gaouette (both relieved of command for trying to aid the consulate in Benghazi)? Or any of the staffers who survived the attack?

Where are they? Why aren't they giving interviews?

[Ken Shultz]

I'm not saying the worst isn't true.

I'm just saying that we don't have all the information yet.

[John]

But Krautheimer isn't Coulter. He is generally a pretty serious guy. I doubt he pulled this out of his ass.

[Ken Shultz]

If you read it, he's saying that's what the most likely interpretation is.

The headline makes it look like it's a piece of investigative journalism. It's not!

Your call on this is just as good as his, John. Actually, I think the stuff you said is a lot more interesting.

Certainly, nobody should look at that piece and tell people, "See, now we've got proof!"

If there's a way to find the fire behind all this smoke, we're never gonna find it if people keep cryin' wolf every time Fox news puts an opinion piece up with a headline like it's a piece of investigative journalism.

The liberals and progressives want to discredit us. That's always their plan A. All I'm saying is that we shouldn't help them with that.

[Jerry on the road]

Petraeus agrees to testify on Libya before congressional committees.

[ant1sthenes]

If true, that would raise the odds that he shot the hostage, which would make him an American hero, provided that he did actually provide some (truthfully) damning testimony on Benghazi.

[The Late P Brooks]

A spirit of compromise and reconciliation would do wonders for the economy if government and business resolved together to address the following priorities:

Priority numero uno- GIVE LLOYD BLANKFEIN A BIGGER BONUS.

[The Late P Brooks]

Why do this morning's headlines not say, "Trumka Occupies White House, Gives Obama Marching Orders"?

[Heedless]

Because that's nothing new?

[Bee Tagger]

Anti-austerity strikes

Labor austerity to the rescue!

[Tim]

You know who else was Austerian?

[Whiterun Guard]

Clocodire Dundee?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Arnold Schwarzeniggard.

[hamilton]

The Sirocco?

[Alack]

Ludwig von Miser

F.A. Tax-Hayek

Franz Fundingand

[Ice Nine]

Pelagius?

[Bee Tagger]

Administrators gave every teacher and principal in a Michigan school district a "Highly Effective" rating despite the district receiving a failing grade for student achievement, which makes total sense.

Sounds like they're giving kids an additional failing grade.

[Tim]

No teacher left behind.

[Citizen Nothing]

It's the Lake Wobegon of teaching!

[Pro Libertate]

Highly effective at what? Answer that question, and you will have achieved understanding.

[LTC(ret) John]

What is the sound of one hand writing a union contract?

[Pro Libertate]

Fap, fap, fap.

[mad libertarian guy]

Poor Norwegian farmers!

Agricultural subsides made up 60 percent of Norwegian farmers' income from 2009 to 2011.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said Norway needs to do more to cut production support and increase access to markets, newspaper Nationen reports.

In Norway, the government literally pays some farmers to do unproductive work that has virtually no economic value. One reindeer farmer in Skjolden that I met over the summer received $6k per deer that he owned (he had a herd of about 25). He barely received $20k per annum total in sold reindeer products. You know, because "something something way of life something living wage." He chooses to live that life, and we must support him for it.

I wish no harm to Norwegians, but I cannot wait until their oil fund goes belly up so that they, and socialists elsewhere who use Norway as some example of utopia, can see that it isn't their tax system that upholds their way of life. It's all a house of cards built on the oil fund. When the market for oil starts to dry up (and it will), their house of cards comes crumbling down.

[Tim]

Yes but on that day, reindeer meat will be suddenly popular.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Reindeer is actually quite good. I had some in Finland. Much better than your typical white-tail venison.

[Whahappan?]

True, I had caribou in Montreal, which is essentially the same thing.

[mad libertarian guy]

True, I had caribou in Montreal, which is essentially exactly the same thing.

FIFY

I agree. Caribou/reindeer is very good. It's just not good enough for a reindeer farmer to make a living sans subsidies. It's a novelty food now.

[John]

Rudolph is mighty tasty.

[Zeb]

Some will make the distinction that caribou are wild and reindeer are domesticated. But they are pretty much the same.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

They need subsidies for Amazon farmers

[Ted S.]

You can farm Amazons?

[Bee Tagger]

though it could have been worse had Home Depot stock not jumped 3.6 percent.

So people aren't tired of mocking the "You didn't build that" meme, yet?

[Tim]

It's funny that just as Puerto Rico agrees to become the 51st state, all the others are lining up to leave. Racism!

[invisible furry hand]

They're probably all heading off to gentrify Costa Rica and set up little companies selling artisanal mayonnaise

[Citizen Nothing]

Maybe P.R. could just trade spots with Texas.

[Citizen Nothing]

Think of the cost savings in new flags alone.

[Zeb]

Hey!

[The Late P Brooks]

Nothing has brought out the statist bloodlust like these secession petitions. I've seen so many people rage and call for violence against the people signing these petitions in the past few days. It has really shown them for the totalitarian scum that they are.

"You can't just take your ball money and go home! Get back here and keep playing!"

[sarcasmic]

You see, the people signing the petitions are guilty of intolerance. They're all a bunch of racist scumbags. That's the only possible explanation.

It is the duty of tolerant people to call for violence against the petitioners.

In this case the highest form of tolerance would be murder.

[John]

I don't get the anger at the secession politics. They hate these people and these states anyway. I would think the liberal assholes in New York and California would be happy to get rid of the lesser races so they are then free to set up Utopia.

[robc]

The funny thing is, in 2000 is was the liberals wanting to seceed from "Jesusland".

[SugarFree]

Conveniently short memories is the key to partisan politics.

[John]

I know. But that is when they didn't have control of the federal government and couldn't loot Jesusland. Now that they run things how dare Jesusland not pay up.

[JD the elder]

The accepted truth among Blues these days seems to be that Jesusland is actually a net recipient of federal funds, so it's more stupid than evil. It's funny, because Blues like to pat themselves on the back about how generous they are, but apparently that's only when the objects of the generosity are appropriately respectful.

[Ken Shultz]

The liberals don't think people want to secede for the reasons you think they want to secede.

I think people want to secede becasue they think our economic polices are borderline retarded, and they don't want to have to suffer through that.

Liberals think people want to secede because they're racist.

[Lord Humungus]

it's all about being right (even if you are wrong).

Much like the Crusaders, they are just bringing 'the light' to the poor heathens whether they want it or not.

[mad libertarian guy]

I don't get the anger at the secession politics. They hate these people and these states anyway. I would think the liberal assholes in New York and California would be happy to get rid of the lesser races so they are then free to set up Utopia.

Because the goal of these people isn't to live in their little utopia. It's to force others to create it for them.

[Hyperion]

I do, it's simple. Those complaining need the taxes from productive citizens to pay for their free shit. That is it, that simple, nothing else to see here.

[invisible furry hand]

From my in-box

Dear Nation Reader:

Congratulations are in order.

Last week, the son of a single mother took a son of privilege and power to the woodshed. Or, in George W. Bush's famous words on his own midterm disaster, Romney "took a drubbin'."

It's nice to savor moments like these.

But despite all the good news of Tuesday night?and there was plenty?enormous challenges remain. It's why we need to finish off our last, hard-won glass of victory champagne and buckle down.

And it's why I'm writing today... to tell you about The Nation Builders, a brand-new community of Nation reader-activists committed to supporting The Nation's one-of-a-kind journalism, promoting our message and advancing the progressive agenda.

Make a small donation to The Nation Builders today.

We seek the strong, the smart, those hungry for debate. The bold and the fearless, those who don't accept the status quo. The dreamers defined by principles and idealism. And the doers who take action for what they believe in.

Our Nation Builders?who supply 20% of all The Nation's revenues? make possible our award-winning, game-changing investigative journalism by Jeremy Scahill, Naomi Klein and Lee Fang. Our hard-hitting columns and commentary from great minds like Chris Hayes, Patricia Williams, Melissa Harris-Perry and Eric Alterman. Our cutting-edge feminist reporting from Jessica Valenti and Katha Pollitt.

more...

[invisible furry hand]

And our provocative coverage of critical issues like climate change, joblessness, US drone attacks and the continuing efforts by the GOP to cut the neediest out of the social compact.

Without our Nation Builders, we would not be reaching 500,000 readers each week?in print and on a dozen digital platforms?with our unique brand of journalism. Our Nation Builders keep the lights on, the presses running and reporters in the field. Tell us how to direct your support.

The road ahead will be rough, thanks to the right-wing obstructionists who will continue to do everything in their power to block President Obama and any hint of a progressive agenda. That's why we need you. We are grateful for gifts of any size. And thank you for your faith in us, and for your generous support.

...

[invisible furry hand]

But it's almost worth chucking coin their way for this:

P.S. Join today and we'll send you your members-only access code to join The Nation Builders community on the web. Here you'll find reader-activists like you engaging in intense forum discussions; creating personal blogs; posting photos, videos, events and activism alerts; and even connecting with one another offline in their local communities. But to gain access, you must first join!

P.P.S. To thank you for your gift of $150 or more, we'll send you a nine-piece custom tool kit?a reminder of your commitment to the Nation Builders?in a zippered nylon case engraved with our Nation Builders logo. This is a limited-edition tool kit, available only to Charter Members!

[Tim]

I like the reference to drinking champagne. Gives the lie to all the other poor people bullshit.

[Zeb]

What a bunch of idiots. By any objective standard, The Nation should have just as much to hate about Obama as it does Romney.

[Redmanfms]

Best part:

"P.P.S. To thank you for your gift of $150 or more, we'll send you a nine-piece custom tool kit?a reminder of your commitment to the Nation Builders?in a zippered nylon case engraved with our Nation Builders logo. This is a limited-edition tool kit, available only to Charter Members!"

One, what kind retard puts a post script in a fucking email?

Two, like any of the people who subscribe to the Nation have any use for a tool kit, or would even know how to use said tools if they did.

[Ken Shultz]

You got that in your inbox?

Was it really necessary to spread the pain?

Sheesh, set up your spam filter already.

[invisible furry hand]

Pain? This is choice comedy. The triumphalism mixed with fear-mongering, and rounded off with a secret online place to share your finger paintings with like-minded souls AND a crappy tool kit. Reason just tries to buy my love with flattery and free books

[Tim]

They did try to save Cleveland too.

[Bobarian]

Considering Cleveland's part in swinging Ohio to the blue team - fuck them.

[Ken Shultz]

Yeah, I'm prolly losin' my sense of humor on this stuff.

Did you hear that the president is proposing, today, to raise our taxes by $1.6 trillion?

In Santa Monica, they're dancing in the streets like a bunch of Taliban after the 9/11.

[Groovus Maximus]

How about some borshh, pirogi, sosiki and vodka? xD

[invisible furry hand]

i don't really care much for the food of any of my ancestors, except vodka, and then it has to be w?dka. But your flattery more than makes up for this

[Groovus Maximus]

But your flattery more than makes up for this

Considering the recipient, it's effortless.

[Warty]

How do Ukranians do pierogis, doc? I'm an enormous fan of Polish pierogis, but there is a sad shortage of Ukrainian restaurants around here, even though there were plenty of Ukranian immigrants back in the day.

[Groovus Maximus]

Baked, mostly, but you can get them fried as well. Where I am, beef, mushrooms and rice is the more common filling, but you can get them with cabbage and other veggies. The fried ones have fruit in them.

AND THEY ARE ALL AWESOME!

[0x90]

Should I bring my fuckin' tools?

[Warty]

cutting-edge feminist reporting

So...they're cutters?

[Groovus Maximus]

Bulimia is no longer en vogue.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

great minds like... Eric Alterman

Peak Stupid

[Ice Nine]

I love how being the son of a single mother has become a badge of honor.

[Zeb]

Wasn't she married for a lot of that time anyway?

[Randian]

The Nation once had a modicum of integrity.

Maybe.

Now it just makes me want to vomit.

[Pro Libertate]

At least they're neutral and unbiased in their total slavering devotion to a terrible president.

[The Late P Brooks]

in 2000 is was the liberals wanting to seceed from "Jesusland".

That was different. BOOOOOOSH was in charge. No sensible person wanted to suffer that indignity, what with all the kkkorporate plunder and deregulated banking, and starving, maimed and dead poor people piled up on every street corner awaiting disposal in mass graves.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Katrina wasn't Bushy's fault even though he bungled the aftermath.

[John]

Just like Obama is bungling Katrina. FEMA was broke under Clinton. FEMA fucked up the Red River floods worse than they fucked up Katrina. And FEMA is still fucked up and incompetent.

The only difference is that Bush actually felt bad about what happened to the people of New Orleans and Obama couldn't give a shit less about Staten Island. They are just a bunch of typical white people to him. No like they will donated any serious money to his campaign or something.

[Restoras]

The people that donated the serious campaign money were from the UES and UWS - and conveniently never lost power. Literally and figuratively.

[KDN]

Obama couldn't give a shit less about Staten Island

It's the only place in NYC where Republicans win. Clearly, it got what was coming to it.

Considering the fates of Seaside, Pt. Pleasant, Belmar, and Staten Island, it's pretty clear that Sandy is God's vengeance for the debauchery of Jersey Shore. We're going to see fire and brimstone if another season ever airs.

[mad libertarian guy]

Who'da thunk it?

Over the last four quarters, Norwegians spent a total of 11.7 billion kroner ($2 billion) in Swedish stores, according to Statistics Norway.

Of course, the reason why Norwegians are crossing the border is only mentioned in passing, and at the very end.

Concerned by a development that has gathered pace in recent years, Thomas Angell urged the government not to raise taxes on popular products in the October budget.

"The price differences between Norway and Sweden on popular goods like alcohol, tobacco products, chocolate, and sweets are at a critically high level," he said.

People driving a short distance in order to avoid punitive taxes. Who could imagine that people would thwart the will of Top Men?

And, no shit, the taxes on food in Norway are fucking stupid. They are even dumber on "luxury" food items like chocolate and alcohol. 1 can of hard cider was over $10. Chocolate bars were insanely expensive.

[sarcasmic]

The other day I felt masochistic so I watched a bit of 'Tobacco Wars' on the Gore Network (Current TV). They were talking of how people can buy ciggs in a low tax state, sell them for a 100% profit in a high tax state, and the customers still get a 30% discount.
All the focus was on enforcement and how bad these people were. Not a single word of how the black market was created by tax policy, and that maybe the taxes should change. Nope. Not a peep.

[mad libertarian guy]

Because there are no side effects from tax policies. Nope, not a one.

[Tim]

We need a war on tobacco. Spray the fields in the south with agent orange. Send in paramilitary teams to kill the growers. Destabilize local governments that allow cultivation. You know, the usual methods.

[Fatty Bolger]

I don't smoke, so I was floored the other day when I saw some lady at the store in front of spend $150 for a smallish box of cigarettes. A huge part of that price must be taxes, regulation, and settlements.

[Zeb]

What? Where? Even in NYC a carton (2000 cigarettes) would cost $120 or so.

[Zeb]

Sorry, 200 cigarettes.

[The Late P Brooks]

To thank you for your gift of $150 or more, we'll send you a nine-piece custom tool kit?a reminder of your commitment to the Nation Builders?in a zippered nylon case engraved with our Nation Builders logo. This is a limited-edition tool kit, available only to Charter Members!

Does the tool kit include flint and steel, an ax, a skinning knife, a skunk skin hat and instructions for making a box trap?

FORWARD, into the past!

[Zeb]

No, probably just some crap that would break if you ever tried to use it. Not that very many Nation readers would actually stoop to such base activity as using tools.

[Citizen Nothing]

We're the fine young men
Who wanna go back to 1910
We're Barry's Boys.

[Citizen Nothing]

Actually, for Barry (Obama's) boys I should have made that "910."

[Citizen Nothing]

Ok, so:

We're the bright young men
Who wanna go back to nine-hundred and ten
We're Barry's Boys.

We're the kids with a cause
A government that has real claws
We're Barry's Boys.

We're the new kind of youth at Harvard and Yale
You best toe the line or we'll send you to jail

Back to when the king was king
And plebs were plebs
And you felt so damned secure calling the other side "thieves."

We're the kids who agree
That birth control should always be free
We're Barry's Boys

His hands on the wheel
Do what he says or he'll make - you - squeal!
Expect no appeal!

But if you'd really like to drone some young Pakistanis,
Or have your Big Gulp regulated by nannies.

Then you too can join the crew
Tippecanoe and Alinski too!

Back with BAAAAARY'S BOOOOOOYS!

[Heedless]

Awesome

[Caleb Turberville]

http://freethoughtblogs.com/zi.....r-country/

A liberal explains why his secessionist desires in 2004 are like WAY different than the secessionist desires of conservatives in 2012.

[John]

Texas would become a latino state within a generation or two, assuming democracy prevails and ethnic cleansing and genocide are held at bay.

Yeah, the people of Texas are just dying to kill all of the Mexicans. That is so ridiculous that one has to wonder if the author is projecting his own revenge fantasies onto his opponents.

[mad libertarian guy]

Yeah, the people of Texas are just dying to kill all of the Mexicans. That is so ridiculous that one has to wonder if the author is projecting his own revenge fantasies onto his opponents.

You actually wonder if it's projection? I have no question that proglodytes would agree with killing dissidents if they were convinced that it would bring them their utopia.

[John]

No I don't. That is exactly what it is. Sorry forgot the sarcasm tag.

[Don Mynack]

Nobody is genociding anybody else here. Minorities can buy guns, too.

Wait until the womens are armed. There goes the liberals "200,000 rape pregnancies per year" myth.

[Auric Demonocles]

When conservatives experience the sting of democratic defeat, they react differently. In this case some of them are expressing their patriotism for America by demanding to be allowed to start another civil war and/or leave the nation

Yes, the petitioners are just itching to fight a war. That's why they included the word "unpeacefully" in the petitions.

But it wouldn't work out real well for the redneck fundy neo-confederate populace either. Texas would become a latino state within a generation or two, assuming democracy prevails and ethnic cleansing and genocide are held at bay.

Texans are also just itching to pull a Hitler.

[John]

These people's ability to project astounds even me.

[nicole just can't even!]

And their capacity for statism astounds even me! From the comments:

The Civil War pretty definitively established that states cannot secede from the United States. This is a matter of basic democratic principles. Once a sovereign entity has voluntarily entered a democratic federation, just being on the losing side in an election is not a justification for secession. If there were a special persecution imposed on residents of a particular state, i.e. at the level of ethnic cleansing, not merely being forced to offer health insurance, then secession might be justified. As long as the rights of electoral minorities are not abridged there is no legitimate grievance.

"Once a sovereign entity has voluntarily entered a democratic federation"--who was that, again? I mean, it wasn't me, so...I don't know what the fuck he's talking about.

[Zeb]

I'd never really encountered the phrase much before you introduced it here, but "I just can't even" really seems like the right response to a lot of these sorts of things.

[Auric Demonocles]

As long as the rights of electoral minorities are not abridged there is no legitimate grievance.

Apparently electoral minorities actually mean racial minorities, and that's why making people who vote against tax increases pay them doesn't count? Or people just don't have any right to their economic choices?

[Palin's Buttplug]

New Independent Senator Angus King will caucus with the Democrats.

[John]

So that is what the kids are calling it these days.

[sarcasmic]

There's a surprise.

Next you're going to tell me that he's funneling billions of dollars to his cronies in the wind power industry, and I will again feign surprise.

[AuH2O]

An Independent siding with those in power? Ben "Nighthorse" Campbell is shocked!

[Randian]

Was that ever in question?

[SugarFree]

Like, OMG. World's Funniest Human, like totally freaked out by Facebook and stuff. Because, like, OMG I HAVE TO USE FACEBOOK, YOU GUYS! Also, I said "Poop." Isn't that hilarious! I totally get paid to be this funny! Which OBV makes me funnier than ANY GUY! RanDoM CaPs!

[barf]

[Groovus Maximus]

Lindy West? You know that reading her tripe takes 10 minutes off your life, right? She's worse than cigarettes.

[John]

She is a professional SF. How dare you question her ability to be funny.

[Warty]

She managed to make mocking DONDERRRROOOOOOO's freakout unfunny. That takes some serious talent. That's like striking out in wiffle ball.

[Whahappan?]

T-ball wiffle bat, even.

[invisible furry hand]

that's so cute, she thinks her fulltime carer is her boyfriend

[SugarFree]

Can you imagine the self-hate that you would have to possess to date her?

Just what she does to the toilet every morning is too horrible to contemplate.

[AuH2O]

As someone who does stand up comedy for free, I am offended by Lindy West. In fact, I am offended by any comic who caters to an "audience". Lindy West got ahead by catering to feminists. Meanwhile, I am struggling to get by by pointing out that if we had a sitcom about Nazis (Hogan's Heroes, and yes, I know that German soldiers couldn't join the Nazi party), we should eventually get one about Jerry Sandusky.

[SugarFree]

What is the deal with airline food? I always wondered.

[Tim]

Jerk store!

[invisible furry hand]

Have you ever noticed, right, how, like, all men are all like "Lindy West isn't funny"? But, like, all women are all like "Lindy West isn't funny"? And Jezebel is all like, "we don't give a shit, she writes for free"? Have you ever noticed that?

[nicole just can't even!]

But ifh, have you ever noticed poop???

[Groovus Maximus]

Pick? THERE WAS NO PICK!

[Fatty Bolger]

That Jerry joke's gold, Goldwater! Gold!

[mr simple]

Well, you guys, she's just like talking and stuff. NBD.

While she's still being generous, it is good that she rated herself as low as a B-.

[invisible furry hand]

urgh, it's just faux self-deprecation

[John]

http://denver.cbslocal.com/201.....questions/

Broadwell spoke of her time with now former CIA Director David Petraeus.

"I was embedded with Gen. Petraeus in Afghanistan, and it was a little confusing to some of the folks there because I am also a military reservist with a top secret FBI clearance and then some," Broadwell told the audience. "I had access to everything, it was my experience not to leak it, not to violate my mentor, if you will," she said. "He was a very close mentor."

Explain to me again why we shouldn't believe this woman when she says that Bengazi was a CIA prison? Would Petreus have lied to her about that? Can't see why. IF she was just talking out of school and making things up, why would she make that up? What reason would she have to lie?

[Tim]

The honey trap was right there on the first page of the KGB playbook. Have we forgotten so much?

[alittlesense]

She was "embedded" with Petraeus in Afghanistan? And at the Bide-A-Wee Motel outside of Tampa?

[The Late P Brooks]

[barf]

QFT, Bub.

[The Late P Brooks]

If Texas secedes, will Austin be a sort of West Berlin; ring-fenced, with a secure corridor to Louisiana?

[Pro Libertate]

Ever hear of academic cleansing? They'll be deporting the university en masse.

[John]

The great hipster and hippie migration. Where would they go? Would Williamsburg take them?

[SugarFree]

Nah, you let Austin stay. The hardcore dipshits will emigrate and without NEA grants and welfare, the place will dry up on its own, and you are left with an artist colony that actually produces enough to support itself.

[Pro Libertate]

Those who oppose academic cleansing are doomed to repeat a class on it.

[Don Mynack]

I don't know - they just might realize they have a lot more power in a population of 25 million that 250 million. I have no problem with Austin's hipsters - they stay there and I stay where I am. They could turn the entire city into a socialist state and I could care less - self-determination, people.

[Brett L]

Haven't you read The Diamond Age? Every culture needs a Bohemian location to let the kids go through a rebellious phase and come out sneering at hipsters. Austin was really great for grinding off all the parts of me that thought bums and other "people of the world" deserved sympathy.

[Pro Libertate]

Maybe we should revert to the city-state model.

[Brett L]

It sure would make Libertopia easier to achieve.

[Pro Libertate]

The Autonomous Libertarian Non-Collective of Cedar Key.

[JW]

Toyota has issued its second recall in two months after faults in the steering wheel and water system were discovered in nine models.

Did they ever order the recall that causes all of their cars to plod along at at least 15 miles an hour slower than everyone else on the road, no matter what?

[John]

You can't fully enjoy the smug of driving a Pius when you are going at high speed JW.

[Zeb]

"Pius" Was that intentional? If so, good one.

Though I should point out that the vast majority of Toyotas sold are not hybrids.

[John]

Yes it was.

[mad libertarian guy]

Especially not my gas guzzling Tundra.

[R C Dean]

I was stuck behind a Pius just yesterday going 15 mph under the limit on the highway.

I'm thinking they could probably identify every bug splattered onto the Bumper of Doom on the front of my jacked-up off-road vehicle.

[Zeb]

If you are going to drive under the speed limit, at least fucking pull over and let people pass you.

[mad libertarian guy]

God bless America.

Many people keep cremated remains in an urn on the mantle or scatter their loved one's ashes over a sacred place.

Now, a company has pioneered a new twist: putting cremated remains into ammunition.

Thad Holmes and Clem Parnell, who founded Holy Smoke last year, say business is picking up, and they've received orders from as far away as South America and Europe.

For $850, Holy Smoke will take cremated remains and put them into various types of shotgun shells and bullets for rifle and pistol shooters. The Stockton, Ala., company was started a year ago by two state game wardens.

Literally and figuratively, Holy Smoke's business is "booming." Clem Parnell, a co-founder, thought the families of the dead should have a livelier method to honor those who enjoyed the outdoors.

"Wouldn't it be cool to put some ash in a shell, to the point of a 250-round case of shells, and all his friends could go out and have a day on the range and celebrate the way this guy used to be?" Parnell says. "The way he was when he was alive ? vibrant and enjoying life."

[hamilton]

The obvious extension to this is to pay a few extra orders of magnitude and have your beloved's remains placed in shells for the US military to shoot at brown people.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Let's go to war with the Serbs again, just to get rid of this "brown people" trope.

[Randian]

The race-baiting is odious and it doesn't even work on its intended audience.

[R C Dean]

I'm curious: if you added up all the people killed by our military over the years, would it have killed more brown people or more white people?

I'm guessing it would depend on which bucket you put the Japanese killed in WWII into. They used to be "brown" people, I guess, but they are now "Asians" who are on the wrong side of the affact color line.

[Zeb]

I thought the Japanese were yellow? Are there only two colors of people now?

As silly as calling people red, yellow, brown and black was, I think it was better than having just "white people" and "people of color". As if being non-European somehow unites all of the more pigmented peoples of the world.

[Randian]

Hey, we still implicitly do it with the Olympic rings.