A.M. Links: Morsi Back to Work, FBI Asked Zimmerman's Neighbors if He Was Racist, Israel Allows Same-Sex Divorce, New Mexican President Continuing Drug War, British Aid Helping Corporations, Philippine Typhoon Death Toll Rises

• Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has returned to the presidential palace a day after it was surrounded by protesters demonstrating against his recent power grab. 

• Mexico's new president, Enrique Pena Nieto, says that we can expect more of the same with the army and navy continuing their fight against the cartels. 

• Newly released documents reveal that the FBI asked George Zimmerman's neighbors if he was a racist.

• Israel, where same-sex marriages cannot be legally conducted, has allowed its first same-sex divorce.

• Climate change activists are claiming that much of the British government's money that is sent to Africa ends up in the hands of corporations, not the poor.  

• The death toll from the typhoon in the Philippines is approaching 300.  

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The death toll from the typhoon in the Philippines is approaching 300.

Speaking of climate change, why don’t I ever hear anything about typhoons from alarmists?

[Whiterun Guard]

They prefer to use the non-racist term for the event: shitstorm.

[Ice Nine]

So there are people who hate Thais?

[mr simple]

I do; every event should have a clear winner.

[Whiterun Guard]

Who do you think invented the Polo shirt + sports jacket combo.

[Ice Nine]

So they wear ties with Polo shirts? Wait, what?

[Whiterun Guard]

No, they hate them.

[Ice Nine]

Well then where does Sarcasmic’s hatred of real thighs figure into this?

[Whiterun Guard]

At the bottom of the bucket, next to the wings and drumsticks.

[$park?]

Is that what Gangnam Style means?

[Ted S.]

I like Thai. You like shirt?

[wareagle]

because those don’t effect the US which, as we all know, is the single greatest sponsor of climate change. Typhoons usually hit lower-wealth countries, just one more example of how American imperialist power is projected on the weaker.

[Rich]

Everybody know typhoons are caused by Chinese air pollution.

[Zeb]

You’d think they would emphasize those more since it shows how the evil US is damaging the victimized poor of Asia.

Atlantic hurricanes get the coverage they do because they regularly hit densely populated areas.

[gaijin]

Is a typhoon a superstorm?

[$park?]

Nah, superstorms don’t do as much damage.

[Ted S.]

Every extreme storm is “proof” of so-called climate change. Suggesting that a lack of storms contrary to the alarmist predictions shows the alarmists might be wrong is something you’re not allowed to do.

[wareagle]

so climate change has always been with us then…Camille was bad-ass and there was this storm that pretty much blew away Corpus Christi even before the term gained currency. But if climate change has always been a “fact”, shouldn’t it be named something that indicates, well, change?

[Andrew S.]

Or go all the way back to 1635, when the Great Colonial Hurricane hit Long Island as a category 4 and then hit between Boston and Plymouth, MA as a category 3 (I wonder what would be said if that hit today). Or the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1780, which annihilated the Eastern Carribean and killed around 20,000 people.

NY was hit by multiple hurricanes in the 1800s and early 1900s. The period after the Long Island Express hurricane of 1938 to today is pretty calm by those standards, even taking into account the last two years.

[db]

Somebody posted this yesterday on how physics is at an end due to the due to the Standard Model being essentially proven.

There’s a lot to be discussed on this topic, but physics is far from signed, sealed, and delivered. Even if it were, all it would mean is that the science is settled; time to start engineering that shit.

[Whiterun Guard]

I honestly don’t know if I can hate anything more than I hate ‘science’ journalists.

[db]

I cringe when someone sends me a link to a popularized science article. They often can’t even be bothered to look up the terms in a technical dictionary, so you often get serious misunderstandings.

[Tim]

The Doppler Effect has nothing to do with Dopples.

[Whiterun Guard]

Yep. Although at least I can ignore that. What I hate is when some idiot tries to explain something (usually over quite a few drinks) FROM an article at a pub.

So you get uninformed ignorance of the idiot journo filtered through the drunken ramblings of a complete moron who is dogmatically sure that they know what they are talking about.

It’s like when someone talks about an obvious urban legend like it’s the truth. Some of the few times I am glad I don’t own a gun.

[Ted S.]

I think your first problem is listening to drunks at the pub.

[Whiterun Guard]

Well, I mean the conversation starts out as all normal…weather, current events, yada yada yada. Then all of a sudden they’re like “Did you hear they found the god-particle? And that explains how gravity works?”

[Killazontherun]

Funny, one of Newton’s contemporary scientist claimed he invented the apple story as sarcasm aimed at an uninformed idiot. I’ve always imagined the person doing the asking being a rag sheet journalist.

[sloopyinca]

Wait, so talking physics with a drunk in a Liberian pub is a bad idea?

Wow, that’s a shocker.

[Whiterun Guard]

You’d be surprised how little there is to do here.

Or maybe you wouldn’t be.

But you would be surprised at how fast talking physics with a drunk in a Liberian pub becomes a good option on a Friday night.

[$park?]

So our understanding of how the universe works has hit a wall? Looks like we need to wait for another evolutionary kick before we’re capable of thinking up new stuff to look for.

[Whiterun Guard]

The Standard Model isn’t even posited as a GUT. This is once again a stupid journalist who doesn’t know what the hell they’re talking about.

[$park?]

Says the glorified security guard.

[Citizen Nothing]

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t teach, write. Those who can’t write become critics.

[Whiterun Guard]

And security guards!

[Zeb]

You do security work? In Liberia? And you don’t have a gun?

[Whiterun Guard]

I don’t own one. I draw them from the company armory as needed.

[Whiterun Guard]

Also, I think that’s a pre-internet saying.

Because obviously now we have plenty of people who can’t do, teach or even comprehend, actually writing.

[Zeb]

“Those who can, do.”

Nah, some are just lazy.

Also “writing about music is like dancing about architecture”.

[Tim]

Where’s my artificial gravity?

[Pro Libertate]

If we’re done, what’s gravity? What about the reconciliation of quantum theory and general relativity? There are more questions that I have.

[$park?]

Yeah but you’re a lawyer not a scientist. Obviously you still have questions.

[Pro Libertate]

I’m suing to enjoin the universe from evolving any further until we get some answers to these questions.

Anyway, I don’t think we’re even close to understanding everything. And if the Standard Model is the end, why are billions of dollars going into research in string theory and, well, string theory? What’s the point? Even if that’s a dead end, why bother looking?

[Whiterun Guard]

I don’t think there’s billions going into string theory (well M-theory, now) research?

It’s pretty niche, even among physicists, and mostly the ‘experiments’ are just computer modelling. There’s not that many real experiments since colliders and such are useless.

[Pro Libertate]

Million, billion, trillion, what’s the difference?

[Whiterun Guard]

Well, you got me there!

[JW]

Million, billion, trillion, what’s the difference?

Zeros. And since zeros are nothing, there is no difference.

Science, bitches! /Vizzini physics

[Zeb]

Yeah, string theory is pretty much a branch of math. I can’t imagine there is much money spent beyond salaries of academics who would be doing some other kind of non-applicable abstract math if they weren’t working on string theory.

[Ted S.]

Isn’t that what centrifugal force is for?

[Zeb]

Ever ride in an elevator? Or accelerate in a car? There’s your artificial gravity.

[Whiterun Guard]

Look, just because it’s indistinguishable from gravity to someone within the system doesn’t mean it’s artificial gravity!

I want something that shoots gravitons or curves space-time via a collective excitation of non-relativistic background superfluid!

[Pro Libertate]

Gravitons? Do they exist? I guess the Standard Model must explain.

[Zeb]

Right. Let’s just ignore gravity. That and the fact that science by its nature can’t prove any positive law at all, ever. Even just limiting the scope to particle physics, you never can say for sure what will happen at a higher energy than what you have seen before.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Newly released documents reveal that the FBI asked George Zimmerman’s neighbors if he was a racist.

DoJ money well spent.

[Rich]

Indeed.

FBI agents … asked other residents about the legacy of racism in the city

Now, *that’s* good police work!

[Rhywun]

One of their kids has a book report due on the topic this week.

[Tim]

FBI also learns that neighbor’s believe FBI agents knocking on their doors is cool, not creepy.

[Ted S.]

I would have responded that I got the impression Trayvon Martin was racist. Since it’s just an opinion, it should’t get classified as lying to a government agent.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Certainly someone would have gotten put down as racist in the report after that interview.

[The Other Kevin]

As we all know, the best way to investigate something is to start with a conclusion and work your way backward.

[sarcasmic]

Cop shoots puppy, then three days later after the owner calls the media they return with a ticket for an unleashed dog.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..icket.html

[db]

They returned asking why the owner went to the media after they shot the dog, AND issued a ticket for the deceased dog not being on the leash three days before.

The official intimidation factor is not unimportant here.

[sarcasmic]

The dog survived.

[db]

Right. Sorry. So the official intimidation factor is possibly even more the point.

[sarcasmic]

I’d hate to see what kind of retaliation the cops would have done had they been recorded.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The coppers didn’t foresee that the intimidation would also find its way to the news?

[db]

We’re not dealing with geniuses here.

[sarcasmic]

I’m sure they wanted the intimidation to make the news, so the next time they shoot someone’s pet the owner will know better than to take it to the media.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well then they aren’t geniuses, because the effective outcry will be mostly from people outside their jurisdiction.

[sarcasmic]

So what? The outcry isn’t going to amount to anything. This is Chicago. The dog owners are lucky the cops came back with a ticket for an unleashed dog when they could have come with an ass whoopin.

There will be no consequences for the cops. Medals and promotions perhaps, but no consequences.

[Whiterun Guard]

Good to see the Chi Hos still taking in proper membership. Although I don’t think I can agree with a party theme that is based on serapes and fake moustaches.

John may be into that sort of crap, but I’m certainly not.

[wareagle]

speaking of, whatever happened to john? It’s like he disappeared after the election.

[db]

I thought he was working on party planning for the Inauguration Celebration. That’s gotta be a nose-to-the-grindstone task. Very high priority in D.C.

[RBS]

He was around over the weekend.

[Whiterun Guard]

Pretty sure he was crushed to death under his last girlfriend.

[Ted S.]

You say that as though it were a bad thing.

[sarcasmic]

He’s got a government job. That means he spends most of his time at work here trolling, but on the rare occasions when they give him work he goes and does it.

[Whiterun Guard]

Well I hope he’s at least doing it half-assed.

[sarcasmic]

He has said that Wally on Dilbert is his professional idol.

[Generic Stranger]

Close enough for government work.

[Zeb]

I think he was on last night for a bit. Must be one of those rare times when he has to do stuff at work.

[Matrix]

Anything else happen?

[Ted S.]

Procedures were followed; nothing else happened.

[Zeb]

What the fuck is wrong with these people? I want to shoot puppies just about every time I hear one yipping away (this is why I have neither kids nor dogs). But somehow I manage to restrain myself.

[sarcasmic]

Sorority facing punishment for a Mexican themed costume party. Lighten the fuck up!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..-beer.html

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I don’t care, but my guess is the signs may have went a little too far.

[sarcasmic]

Can’t have humor without an element of truth, which is why humorless people are so easily offended. They don’t like the way uncomfortable truths make them feel.

[db]

I have a co worker who came to my Halloween partywith his girlfriend dressed as cowboys and illegal aliens. Offensive? He’s Mexican, you tell me.

Another pair of friends showed up as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”–he’s Vietnamese, she’s Black.

[Whiterun Guard]

Sounds like you have some very clever friends.

How’s that working out for them.

[$park?]

Another pair of friends showed up as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”–he’s Vietnamese, she’s Black.

HA! Shit, that’s funny.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Another pair of friends showed up as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”–he’s Vietnamese, she’s Black.

That’s genius!

[Eduard van Haalen]

Heh, heh, Charlie and the Choc…wait, I need to get the door, it’s the FBI.

[a better weapon]

A group of girls that numerous and not a single fattie? I’m impressed.

[Rich]

the vice president of the Mexican American Student Association at the university said that the stereotypes were offensive and ‘untrue.’

“Stereotypes? We don’t need no stinkin’ stereotypes!”

[wareagle]

we can safely say that “stereotypes” doesn’t mean what this VP thinks it means. And why the hell does a school in PA have a Mex-Am Assoc anyway?

[RBS]

Professional Outragers have to start somewhere.

[db]

There are a lot of Mexicans in PA, especially around Chambersburg, and up I-78 into Allentown and Bethlehem.

[generic Brand]

And why the hell does a school in PA have a Mex-Am Assoc anyway?

What, they don’t have lawns that need mowing in PA?

[SIV]

So Penn State is cool with raping litle boys but white girls partying with sombreros and pinatas crosses the line.

[Ptah-Hotep]

So Penn State is cool with raping litle boys but white girls partying with sombreros and pinatas crosses the line.

How many games did the girls win? How much money did they bring in? Plus I am sure PSU is going to be hyper-sensitive right now.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

What, I demand to see the seconds!

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Well you see, this party did nothing to help the football team win.

[JW]

Well you see, this party did nothing to help the football team win.

That will come as news to sororities everywhere.

[aelhues]

I get saying that the signs were offensive, so notice who had them, mark them as jerks in your mind, and avoid them. But for the life of me, I can’t figure out what could be offensive about anyone wearing traditional dress from any culture. Should I be offended if I see someone wearing a kilt?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Yes, if they have a bagpipe, too. Too much risk they’ll use it.

[Ted S.]

As long as they don’t show you what’s under the kilt, I don’t think you should be offended.

Didn’t we have a female poster here who recently admitted she has a kilt fetish?

[Eduard van Haalen]

In sum, you can wear a kilt if you don’t show your bagpipe.

[Warty]

It was nicole, and I think she has more of a Gregor Edmunds fetish than a kilt fetish.

[sloopyinca]

Mexican American Student Association

Wait, so their organization is called MASA? What, couldn’t they come up with anything that would create a clever acronym like TACO or TAMALE?

Jesus, it’s like these people create caricatures of themselves and dare anybody to notice it.

[Zeb]

The mustaches are a nice touch.

[Joe M]

When I went to college, I didn’t live on campus, and I only went there for classes and immediately left. Doesn’t look like I missed anything.

[Whiterun Guard]

Israel, where same-sex marriages cannot be legally conducted, has allowed its first same-sex divorce.

Well I guess that answers that question.

[sarcasmic]

When a woman killed her abusive husband out of self-defense, she found out that ‘he’ was actually a woman wearing a prosthetic penis.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem…..penis.html
You can’t make that shit up.

[Whiterun Guard]

Forget it, Jake. It’s Canadatown.

[Tim]

One less internet troll.

[LTC(ret) John]

Ouch!

[Hell's Librarian]

…a former girlfriend of Angela told a reporter: ‘Ang had soft hands, but she spit like a guy. The whole time you were talking to her, she’d have her hands in her pockets, playing with herself like she was a guy.’

I don’t even.

[db]

What-what?

[$park?]

Come on, it’s a known fact that guys have nothing better to do then play with their dicks all day. It’s the surest sign that what you’re saying is boring.

[Groovus Maximus]

When a woman killed her abusive husband out of self-defense, she found out that ‘he’ was actually a woman wearing a prosthetic penis.

The whole time you were talking to her, she’d have her hands in her pockets, playing with herself like she was a guy.

I’ll just leave this here.

[Hell's Librarian]

LOL. I didn’t know that song had a video. Awesome!

[JW]

I can’t say that I’m glad that it does.

[darius404]

Found this from your link, sarc:

US married father’s horror after wife places his child with an adopted family without telling him

The adoptive couple and adoption agency KNEW he didn’t consent, and went along with it anyway. The worst part? The adoptive couple refuses to give the child back.

[Ted S.]

He’s a man; therefore, he’s worthless.

[Matrix]

I posted this yesterday, but no one cared… 🙁

[Matrix]

here

and here

[Brett L]

I hope he uses his Marine training to kill the fuck out of all of those people. I’d love to be on that jury to vote ‘not guilty’.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

‘We knew that we were not done having children, but after years of sudden infertility and several miscarriages ? we discovered somewhere down the line that Kristi had advanced endometriosis, and would not likely conceive or carry another child again,’ the Frei family write of their struggle in a blog aimed at raising money for their court battle

You’d think a Mormon couple would take that as a sign from God that they weren’t supposed to have any more children.

[sarcasmic]

More evidence in the Zimmerman case.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..doing.html
Apparently he was “obsessed” with a story of a cop who got away with shooting a black kid in the back.

[sarcasmic]

A bad apple or just the one who got caught?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..-week.html

[General Butt Naked]

What a piece of shit. Tries to seem like he’s some vigilante bringing justice to the streets, when all he is a common thief and murderer.

[sarcasmic]

I’ll bet that what they did was overlooked until they killed a relative of the political class, or left some evidence that the media was able to link to the police.

[sarcasmic]

Arnold gets a Gump cut!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..ircut.html

[Kaptious Kristen]

Best Daily Fail link ever – that is some funny shit.

[sarcasmic]

How many legos can be stacked on top of each other before the one on the bottom breaks?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci…..reaks.html

[Whiterun Guard]

Well now we know what the physicists can get up to since apparently the Standard Model answers everything.

[Rich]

the company this Spring enlisting 4,000 South Korean children to erecting a record-breaking tower in Seoul measuring a dizzying 105ft high.

So just think how many people can be *employed* to erect a bottom-Lego-breaking tower in Washington DC measuring an awesome 2.17miles high!

[Matrix]

We lost an island

Yup… we lost track of a whole island. but they claim it never existed!

[gaijin]

So, the SS Minnow is gone for good.

[hamilton]

I presume that is where SCORPIO has set up his secret headquarters.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has returned to the presidential palace a day after…

…taking Mrs. Morsi for a anniversary night out in Manhattan? …clearing brush in Texas?

[Tim]

“At a recent march, men wearing fluorescent vests stood on rickety wooden towers and used binoculars to scan the crowd for signs of sexual mobbing. ”

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_…..women?lite

[Fist of Etiquette]

Where’s OSHA when you need them?

[General Butt Naked]

Chuck Woolery teams up with Ice-T and gets all 2nd amendment-y on us. Warms my heart I tell ya.

[Whiterun Guard]

I know this isn’t very Libertarian of me, but I’m not comfortable knowing that Chuck Woolery is out there armed.

[Kaptious Kristen]

OMG – “fellow rapper”! HA!

[Groovus Maximus]

“I gots a little message and it’s here for you…we be commmin’ back in a TWO & TWO!”

(cue beatbox block-rockin’ beats)

/Dances “The Carlton”

[Caleb Turberville]

http://freethoughtblogs.com/di…..arguments/

Ed Brayton sees an quality post about insulting anti-gay marriage arguments; his commenters see a post written by a dirty, evil libertarian.

[Warty]

I really don’t understand why you inflict “free” “thought” blogs on yourself. You’re a different sort of Emmanuel Goldstein than me if you like to watch the Two Minute Hates.

[Caleb Turberville]

Don’t usually go there. It was just in my Google search of recent Reason articles.

Actually, Brayton’s post is fairly decent, and he even takes a shot at the anti-libertarian hysterics at Freethoughtblogs in the opening sentence.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Brayton is a liberaltarian, isn’t he? I used to read Dispatches from the Culture Wars and he was about 90% LP iirc (of course almost no one scores 100 on the LP purity test).

[Caleb Turberville]

He’s more of a consistent civil-libertarian liberal. To call him “libertarian” would be dishonest, since he hasn’t really called himself that. But he’s a damn fine liberal, and I enjoy reading his blog from time to time.

[Palin's Buttplug]

He was on ScienceBlogs, which is quite naturally liberal so that makes sense.

[nicole]

Yeah, I used to hang out on his blog for a long time. Before he was on ScienceBlogs, then when he was, and as it got more and more liberal in the commentariat from ScienceBlogs infections. I actually wrote him at one point lamenting that, as a regular, I was getting pretty depressed reading the lame-ass progressive comments on his standard libertarianish fare, and he sympathized. He had called them out on it several times as well. But eventually I just stopped reading.

[SIV]

The comments explain everything:

That said, it is important to remember there are at least two very different camps of libertarians.

Reason Magazine is the home of the “drugs and sex” variety of libertarians. They see their political outlook as being primarily opposed to both Christian right morality legislation and liberal nanny state legislation. Property factors into this, but doesn’t take a prime spot.

The other camp are the Cato Libertarians. They view property rights and economic freedoms as paramount. They also tend to believe in legalizing drugs and allowing moral freedoms, but those take a distinct backseat to arguing that the modern regulatory state is a moral evil, and that private property rights ought to trump legislation. These are the libertarians that like to argue there shouldn’t be minimum wages, and that prohibiting discrimination in a “private business” is beyond the scope of the government’s power.

The former group skews a little conservative but is split. The latter group is almost uniformly conservative and seems to find reasons why its better to vote for the Republican candidate over the libertarian candidate every election cycle.

You got your sex n drugs reason libertarians then you have your property-lovin’ Cato conservatives…

I guess that about covers it.

[RBS]

What about LvMI?

[Ptah-Hotep]

What about LvMI?

They are ancaps, so they don’t count.

[Caleb Turberville]

Where do I go for my “Live and Let Die” libertarianism?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Liberals sure do love their little categories and boxes, into which they love to put individuals.

[Palin's Buttplug]

As opposed to conservatives where everyone not in the GOP is a “socialist baby-killer”.

[Whiterun Guard]

No, ‘in addition to’, not ‘as opposed to.’

But thanks for playing.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I was commenting on the comment above, which is from a liberal. I’d be perfectly happy to do the same for a conservative comment.

You really are a false-dichotomy-loving retard, aren’t you?

[Jordan]

He’s also fond of tu quoque. He’s a retard of many stripes.

[darius404]

That’s just what a socialist baby-killer would say.

[mad libertarian guy]

When you can only identify with a group, you can only see other people as part of some group.

They are the kings of othering.

[Caleb Turberville]

I just think it’s stupid to fixate on Shackford’s admission of being a libertarian. Like, wasn’t the article originally written for Reason, a LIBERTARIAN magazine?!

He mentions it in the text Brayton quoted, and right off the bat, the very first comment thinks Shackford’s entire argument has been tainted.

[Ted S.]

“an quality post”?

[Caleb Turberville]

So I got my indefinite articles mixed up. Big deal!

[gaijin]

you’re indefinitely not an grammarian 😉

[Fist of Etiquette]

Mexico’s new president, Enrique Pena Nieto, says that we can expect more of the same with the army and navy continuing their fight against the cartels.

Remember the Alamo! It’s full of blow.

[mad libertarian guy]

Mexico’s new president, Enrique Pena Nieto, says that we can expect more of the same with the army and navy continuing their fight against the cartels.

And I say that Enrique Pena Nieto should expect more of the same with violent cartels running his country with extreme violence, killing tens of thousands more Mexicans.

[$park?]

Have a little bit of hilarity to start your day.

“Tax the Rich: An Animated Fairy Tale,” written by CFT staffer Fred Glass (2011 compensation: $139,800) and narrated by proud leftist actor (and 1 percenter) Ed Asner, advocates for higher taxes on the “rich” as the cure for government’s insatiable thirst for spending.

The video claims the rich got rich through tax cuts and tax loopholes and even tax evasion.

But when the 99 percent fought back, the “rich” apparently urinated on the “poor,” at least according to the video. What a classy way to frame your argument for children, Big Labor.

[Tim]

I thought Ed Asner was dead.

[Bee Tagger]

But when the 99 percent fought back, the “rich” apparently urinated on the “poor,”

Did they tell them it was raining? If so, there’s absolutely no way Judith Sheindlin believed it.

[Ted S.]

People actually care what Bitch Judy has to say about anything?

(I find all of the judges on those court shows to be thoroughly nasty people who would fit in well with legislative grandstanders like the repulsive Chuck Schumer.)

[Generic Stranger]

The video claims the rich got rich through tax cuts and tax loopholes and even tax evasion.

This makes my head hurt.

[Don Mynack]

“In 2011, the International Monetary Fund identified episodes from 1980 to 2005 in which 17 developed countries had aggressively reduced deficits. The IMF classified each episode as either “expenditure-based” or “tax-based,” depending on whether the government had mainly cut spending or hiked taxes. When Carlo Favero, Francesco Giavazzi, and I studied the results, it turned out that the two kinds of deficit reduction had starkly different effects: cutting spending resulted in very small, short-lived?if any?recessions, and raising taxes resulted in prolonged recessions.”

http://www.city-journal.org/20…..-cuts.html

Conclusions from those wingnuts at Harvard.

[wareagle]

I hope the authors have tenure because the faculty lounge is not going to like this.

[Rich]

‘Everyone in US under virtual surveillance’ – NSA whistleblower

The guy says “I keep telling them everything I think of them in my email. So that when they want to read it they’ll understand what I think of them.”

[Jordan]

That is absolutely horrifying. The worst news I’ve read all year, hands down. If anyone thinks that those advocating secession are crazy after they read this, then they are totalitarian pieces of shit.

[Whiterun Guard]

Oh don’t get all into a Mexican Pork Cloud over it.

[Jordan]

lolwut?

[Whiterun Guard]

They’re echelon trigger words or something.

[Bee Tagger]

Newly released documents reveal that the FBI asked George Zimmerman’s neighbors if he was a racist.

This is what happens when you don’t have the common decency to set up a public Facebook page and use it on a daily basis.

[Pro Libertate]

Why is the FBI investigating this at all? I mean, isn’t this strictly a state matter?

[generic Brand]

Looking into whether Federal Hate Crime legislation could play a role, perhaps?

[Generic Stranger]

Bingo.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Israel, where same-sex marriages cannot be legally conducted, has allowed its first same-sex divorce.

When they granted this divorce, were the charges dropped against the couple?

[The Late P Brooks]

Climate change activists are claiming that much of the British government’s money that is sent to Africa ends up in the hands of corporations, not the poor.

No

fucking

way.

[sarcasmic]

Foreign aid: Taking money from poor people in rich countries and giving it to rich people in poor countries.

[Tonio]

That’s brilliant, Sarc. Is it original (to you)? Can I use that?

[Tim]

Unpossible!

[LTC(ret) John]

You mean “UN”possible, right?

[tarran]

It’s almost like corporations are encouraging a millenial hysteria that ends up lining their pockets!

[Tim]

The best way to steel government money is to launder it through some backwater corrupt shithole.

[Bee Tagger]

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has returned to the presidential palace a day after it was surrounded by protesters demonstrating against his recent power grab.

Arab Indian Summer, we’ll call it.

[Rich]

LOL

[Rich]

I’ll get around Reason’s ridiculous spam filter by saying

LOL

[darius404]

That’s a pretty sexy sound.

[Caleb Turberville]

http://cw.ua.edu/2012/12/05/do…..t-threats/

University of Alabama physics PhD candidate gets charged with “terrorism.”

[Whiterun Guard]

OK that’s ridiculous that he’s charged with “terrorism” since I don’t see that he was trying to force any government policy to change or whatever.

BUT the main thing I have a problem with is them cramming physics PhD in there, like the charges have something to do with his physics research.

[Caleb Turberville]

They don’t really go into specifics, but the “movie clips suggesting violence” part got me thinking about the guy who put the Mal Reynolds quote on his office door.

[Mike M.]

The law or the government doesn’t necessarily have to do anything with a terrorist act. Attacking or threatening quasi-public or even private entities can be considered terrorism as well. It really depends on the nature of the acts or threats.

[Brett L]

Every hard science PhD candidate I’ve ever known has gone through at least one psychotic, “I’m’na murder all you fuckers who touch stuff in my lab/use the computer lab/have a class with me/breathe the same air as me.” Its a rite of passage and rarely dangerous. (Although we did make the guy who got a post-doc appointment to VaTech a gift certificate for a kevlar lab coat just before his defense.)

[Palin's Buttplug]

A new PPP survey released Tuesday finds that 49% of Republican voters nationally think that ACORN, a now long defunct community organizing group, stole the election for President Obama. That measure is down from 52% in 2008.

http://livewire.talkingpointsm…..e-election

Ahh, the wingnut bubble.

[Auric Demonocles]

That is surprisingly high, but I have to think that the Dems refusal to accept that maybe we should make sure people voting are in fact registered voters may play into that narrative.

[R C Dean]

It would be interesting to know just what all those ACORN affiliates and operatives have been up to.

[Mike M.]

Newly released documents reveal that the FBI asked George Zimmerman’s neighbors if he was a racist.

And to fill in the blank, the answer is that he isn’t.

The race of the people involved had no relevance whatsoever to this tragic incident, until scumbags like Al Sharpton indulged their ceaseless desire to try to foment a racial uprising. A stupid little punk didn’t like the fact that someone was following him and decided to attack the guy, but he attacked the wrong man. End of story.

You really ought to give it up prosectors, you have absolutely no case whatsoever, and no chance of getting a conviction, and you know it.

[Drake]

The FBI doctored up his pictures nice too.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012…..zimmerman/

[Mike M.]

Absolutely unreal. These buffoons withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense!

That’s grounds for an automatic dismassal of the case, and that’s exactly what the judge is going to do in the very near future, if he has any sense at all.

[sarcasmic]

I’m sure the judge has enough sense to know that dismissing the case will result in riots. The race of the parties involved is the only thing that matters.

Guilty! Guilty! Hang him!

[Drake]

Obama won and people have forgotten this story. No riots.

[Ted S.]

They’ll save it for when they need riots.

[Mike M.]

No doubt the professional race clowns will be able to whip up a few of their loser followers and get them in the streets screaming and yelling, but I don’t think there will be riots.

[SIV]

Comment:

Jeannette

“skittles” is also slang for dextromethorphan (coricidin) aka poor man’s pcp. “Tea” means “T” = “THC” = marijuana. Trayvon may have gone to the back of the convenience store to pick up illegal drugs, then gotten some actual tea inside.

The rest of the internet makes HampersandR-commenters look good.

[Shpip]

Sloopy reacts to finding out yet another SEC team will play for the FBS national title (now with more artisianal mayo):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8jZvHoKmfk

[Caleb Turberville]

Actually, Bama has been doing this pretty consistently since the 1960s. It’s because of the BCS that Bama gets lumped in with the Johnny-Come-Latelys like Florida, LSU, and Auburn.

[Drake]

I hate the SEC for their joke non-conference schedules. I did like story of the ’70 Bama / USC game that Bryant used to get his team integrated.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c…..index.html

[Mike M.]

I hate the SEC for their joke non-conference schedules.

The reality is that pretty much all the power conference teams do this.

Let’s not kid ourselves, there aren’t tons of BCS schools out there chomping at the bit to risk getting their asses handed to them by Alabama.

[Drake]

No they don’t. Most of the Pac 12 certainly doesn’t (Oregon the exception this year), the Big 10 teams usually schedule a decent non-conference game.

Notre Dame, as much as I hate them, usually has a monster schedule.

[Ted S.]

FBS national title

You mean Division 1-A. 🙂

[sloopyinca]

Hey, I guess Bama deserves to go since the second undefeated team in major college football is banned from playing in a bowl this year. It’s a shame, really but the NCAA is a voluntary organization and members have to follow the idiotic rules or face the arbitrary punishments laid down.

I suppose the only eligible school with a gripe could be Oregon, but they didn’t get into their conference championship game and get another chance to impress pollsters. Their mistake and their loss.

And if Bama wins, I’ll know my team was the only undefeated team this year. If ND wins, that will end the run of SEC mythical national championships. Besides, I’ve got college basketball to watch…something not that many SEC homers can say.

[The Late P Brooks]

Keep stringing words together, Shreeek. You’ll beat those monkeys one of these days.

[Groovus Maximus]

Only at flinging poo, Brooksie.

[Ken Shultz]

GM’s inventories are piling.

Detroit’s Unsold Cars Pile Up

“GM started December with 788,194 unsold cars and trucks, and warned it won’t meet a target of finishing the month with a U.S. inventory of less than 670,000 new vehicles.

…

GM also miscalculated demand for its pickup trucks. The industry norm for U.S. auto makers is between 60 days and 70 days of sales in inventory. GM had 138 days worth of Chevrolet Silverados at the start of this month. In passenger cars, its Chevrolet Cruze inventory jumped to 64,390 vehicles or 96 days.”

http://professional.wsj.com/ar…..69798.html

It’s hard to believe that a company that’s majority owned by the UAW and the U.S. government could misjudge the market so badly. And we can’t they’re not running the company for the benefit of the shareholders–since the U.S. government and the UAW are the shareholders. But, the fact is that the shareholders won’t be the ones paying the price if the company is mismanaged…

The taxpayers will be picking up the tab for that. That’s your tax dollars at work!

Have a nice day.

[Rich]

“Cash for Clunkers Redux” in 3, 2, 1, ….

[gaijin]

OT: What does the 800 donors in 8 days chart at upper right measure? Number of donors or some dollar goal? If donors, the chart has 5 increments of 160? or does it go from 0-1000 in increments of 200? I am aiming to be donor 800…is there a special prize?

[Atanarjuat]

Finally, a site for libertarians.

[Ice Nine]

So did Sloopy’s kid arrive? Last I heard they were on their way to the hospital.

[Groovus Maximus]

Behold. BABY REASON SOFIA SPICER!

[sarcasmic]

Yep. They named her after a magazine.

https://reason.com/blog/2012/12…..-baby-name

[Groovus Maximus]

PWND

[Tim]

There are several worse magazines to be named after.

[Ted S.]

Elle Macpherson might not agree with that.

[sloopyinca]

Yes, I’m still thrilled I didn’t meet her on the Easy Rider forums.

[Ice Nine]

So then they didn’t name her Dunphette?

[Auric Demonocles]

nicole stole the auction with her insider connection to Banjos.

[AuH2O]

WAR ON MENZ!

[AuH2O]

Banjos doesn’t want to remind sloopy who the real father is.

[Ted S.]

In that case, shouldn’t the kid’s last name be the mother’s maiden name?

[Elspeth Flashman]

FitzBanjos.

[SugarFree]

World’s Funniest Human puts those mean old white heterosexual men in their place! How dare they object to being vilified! Harrumph!

Of course, she manages a moment of epic unselfawareness big enough to be used by her as a pair of panties:

“what started as a fringe dude subculture has flourished into a thriving online community?the self-described “Manosphere,” a safe haven/echo chamber for men who feel discriminated against, ignored, and blamed. …she said into her safe haven/echo chamber online community that started as a fringe subculture for women who felt discriminated against, ignored, and blamed.

[Brian D]

I can honestly say that I laughed until I vomited, because I vomited right away.

[$park?]

Meh. Posting anything on the Internet anywhere is like shouting through a bullhorn into a dumpster full of used diapers.

[RBS]

Nice.

[$park?]

Mitt Romney was a white dude’s white dude, and 62% of white dudes had no doubt that their dude would win. Because, hey, he “looked like a president.”

Also, it’s funny that she doesn’t mention the fact that it was WOMEN who were saying Romney looks presidential. I know, I know, narrative blah blah…

[Hell's Librarian]

Yeah, the lack of self-knowledge displayed in this article is rather breathtaking.

There was a not-terrible article in Slate (I know, I know) yesterday vis-?-vis feminism: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_….._that.html

The comments are mostly enragening (as usual), however, but there are some decent bits amongst the dross.

[AuH2O]

I still think the worst thing Lindy has done is Dan Savage’s guide to college. Looking at the Amazon preview of the book, the “politics” section is just Lindy ranting about how you should be a feminist. Because that is, apparently, the only issue that you will face in college.

God, college fucking sucks, apart from the easy access to marijuana.

[mr simple]

Complain to me after you’ve been marginalized and underrepresented for 200 years.

I didn’t realize she was so old.

[nicole]

[Men are] 4 times as likely to die from suicide, but women are 3 times more likely to try to commit suicide. Also, that statistic does not take sexuality or ability into account. You also might consider that suicide is a solipsism that women do not have the privilege of, because we are so often caring for other people.

Someone, please, kill me because I’m too busy caring for other people to have the luxury of killing myself after reading this bullshit.

[$park?]

I think what she’s really getting at is that women suck at suicide.

[R C Dean]

I’m not sure how being too caring to kill yourself lines up with trying to kill yourself 3 times as often, but whatev.

[Caleb Turberville]

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.co…..50-albums/

Kurt Cobain’s “Top 50 Albums” list.

[Warty]

I’ll confess to enjoying the Wipers quite a bit.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I think there’s a copy of that at home. I had it on a cassette tape ages ago too.

[Auric Demonocles]

Is Feeney racist? Why else would he not have alt-text on the AM Links?

[Julio Cesar Samper Uribe]

http://www.gonzotimes.com/2012…..e-project/

Target-rich environment.

BTW, see the author’s pic in the comments section for a punchable face.

[Joe M]

Haha, I love that comment: “Zak? How much of a cliche can you be man?? A white dude with dreadlocks and a Che t-shirt? REALLY?”

[mr simple]

US married father’s horror after wife places his child with an adopted family without telling him.

Adoptive family fights back, starting website to ask for help with legal funds, because they want her, that’s why. You would think Mormons would have more respect for family rights.

[Ted S.]

Somebody should post about this in the comments. Really.

[Tonio]

Sometimes, Teddy, it’s not about being first or avoiding redundancy, but about moral outrage. Personally, I’d be happy if this was posted in every AM and PM links, and discussed, until it has resolved in favor of the father.

[Matrix]

The judge gave him custody, but I think waiting 60 days is far too long and agonizing. He should have gotten her back immediately.

[Matrix]

I posted this yesterday, but no one seemed to care… 🙁

[Eduard van Haalen]

This is a married guy (married to the mother at the time of the child’s birth, at any rate) wanting custody of his own child now that his (now ex-) wife has given up interest in raising her.

When did this become a debatable issue? When did this become a matter for chin-stroking debates about custody arrangements?

The child isn’t a bastard. This isn’t a case of a sperm-donor father suddenly developing a belated interest in being a responsible father. He showed that interest already, by getting married.

The trial court was shocked, as am I, that the adoption people simply cut the married father out of the loop. This simply puts the issue into the category of human trafficking. The “adoptive family” wants to take a kidnap victim as their own child.

There are no two sides here. There is no balancing test to apply. The father wants his child back.

[Matrix]

I feel a lot of sympathy for the guy and any others like him, but I suppose that comes from my own experience.

I was 17 when my 16 year old girlfriend at the time gave birth to our daughter. Both of us wanted to keep her but our families forced us to give her up, even so far as threatening me. Even the lawyer handling the adoption threated to take me to court unless I signed away my rights. Being a scared 17 year old and not knowing anything of my rights, I conceded.

My father and the biological mother’s parents refused to allow me to be on the birth certificate. It caused many rifts in our families. She eventually moved out when she was 17 and lived with her cousin for a time before living with me a few months after I turned 18. But we eventually broke up because of I bottled up my pain and she lashed out too much.

At any rate, I no longer speak to my father as a result, and she had only recently begun to speak to her mother. Only this past year have we been in contact with our daughter, who is now 14. It’s helped ease the pain, but none of us quite got “over” it.

So yeah, I hope this man gets his daughter back, and very quickly. 60 days is too long.

[nicole]

Matrix, thanks for sharing and sorry to hear this. One of my good friends from high school got in a similar situation, though he and his girlfriend were in college at the time and not minors, but still getting bullied by her mom. I believe their child is around 8 or 9 now, not really sure, but I know he’s still pretty broken up about it (they’re not together anymore, haven’t been since any of it happened).

[Matrix]

I know how he must feel. Hopefully, one day, he will get to meet his daughter. I still haven’t met mine. I’ve spoken to her on Facebook, on the phone once, e-mails, and thousands of texts. But her parents changed the arrangement to 1 letter per month. That was very difficult, but it’s better than nothing.

Still, I really do hope your friend can eventually be a part of his daughter’s life.

[Tonio]

I’m sorry, Matrix. That’s heart wrenching. I hope you, your daughter, and your xgf are able to salvage something.

And there is no reason whatsoever for you to feel obligated to get over it.

[Matrix]

People tell me I need to get over it, and patch things up with my father. I have no desire to, and I only will if my daughter makes me do so.

[nicole]

I have to say, if I were you, I would probably never speak to him again. But I do hold a grudge.

[Matrix]

Woman who lived with persistant sexual arousal commits suicide

Guess there is such a thing as having too much of a good thing.

[Fladnag the Yarg]

“New Mexican President Continuing Drug War, ……”

How many times do we have to tell you people, New Mexico is the 47th state in the union! We do not have a President. Bill Richardson tried and failed – thank god, and Gary Johnson tried and failed, much to my dismay.