January Deadline for Proposals Targeting Scary Guns, Boehner and Obama Still At It, Officials Resign After Benghazi Report: P.M. Links

• President Obama set a deadline of January for the introduction of new infringements on the rights of self-defense and weapons ownership.

• More pissing back and forth between Boehner and Obama about fiscal cliff proposals.
• At least three State Department employees resigned after the release of a report containing damning criticism of the lack of security at the Benghazi consulate. Hillary was not among them.
• The list of potential ambassadors contains four Hollywood-based donors to a certain winning candidate in the recent presidentiaal election.
• Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer isn't endorsing gun control in his reaction to the Newtown shooting, but don't worry, he's still an authoritarian. His chosen target is video games.
• The IMF wants European nations to financially back yet another tottering government. This week's selection is … Ireland!
• Some public unions in Illinois say their members will consider paying more for their pensions if the state will guarantee its own payments. Of course, they also want to sock it to businesses, tax-wise.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

At least three State Department employees resigned after the release of a report containing damning criticism of the lack of security at the Benghazi consulate.

Scandal: Resolved.

[gaijin]

topmiddle men

[Episiarch]

Finally this right wing witch hunt nightmare is over.

[Libertymike]

You mean VAST RIGHT WING!

[Rich]

Not until General Hamm and the Survivors is just a nice band name.

[Randian]

It has been rich watching TEAM BLUE talk about Bork and the Saturday Night Massacre while simultaneously downplaying Benghazi.

[BarryD]

Everyone knows that something that happened 40 years ago, that has been examined thoroughly over the years, and found closure with the resignation of a President (to avoid being impeached), is a really pressing current issue, not history.

Benghazi, how can that matter? That was weeks ago!

[Gray Ghost]

They let those people die, who were waiting for an airstrike or a chopper out that never came. While they were watching on television from 1000s of miles away and stopping anyone from coming in to try and get them some help or get them out. And no one cares, indeed they have the gall to call you crazy for even suggesting such a thing.

I never thought I'd see the first reel of Rambo essentially play out in real life. And find afterwards that the audience was cheering Murdock on.

[Fist of Etiquette]

More pissing back and forth between Boehner and Obama about fiscal cliff proposals.

Remember the days when failure to reach a deal meant the federal government would shut down, not the private sector economy?

[Episiarch]

Ah, the halcyon days of 1993.

[Libertymike]

Not so much for Vince Foster or those kiddies murdered at Waco.

[Zeb]

Well, you're just a ray of sunshine.

[Randian]

You would be a Fosterite.

[Fist of Etiquette]

His chosen target is video games.

Now there's a ban that will enjoy support from parents and girlfriends alike.

[wareagle]

you can't run for office without a designated boogeyman.

[A Serious Man]

France passes law making birth control free to all teenagers with no parental guidance or consent needed; Amanda Marcotte has an evilgasm.

[Ted S.]

If children are fucking behind their parents' backs, that's wonderful!

If children are drinking behind their parents' backs, that's evil!

[Dr. Frankenstein]

There's no age limit for drinking in France that I'm aware of. Sounds like this was to prevent what happens when teenagers drink.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

So: Straightforward, almost boring health care policy story about a government taking sensible, cost-effective measures to curb a public health problem.

Cost-effective guys! Woo hoo!

[Killazontherun]

Free? Wow, I don't know about it being at a sensible cost but that sounds like the right price for me. It does extend to me, right? A little snip snip, doctor-slave and make that snipping snappy!

Free! In France, where there is no fiscal gloom to worry about at all!

[Zeb]

Without commenting on the "free" part, I think that it is quite appropriate for teens to be able to get birth control without parental consent.

[wareagle]

not commenting basically means you choose to ignore the import of the story. The state is saying that IT is the parent in this case and, worse, Slate's chick is going along with it.

As it is, plenty of teen girls are taken by their mothers to a gyno and get birth control. Regulating periods is one reason.

[nicole]

Why is the state saying it's the parent, and not just determining an age of consent type thing? I mean, unless you're going to just say that the state says it's the parent of every adult (which it sort of does), I don't see why this isn't just saying "there is no need for a parent of any kind."

And this isn't for the plenty of teen girls whose parents don't suck. It's for the ones whose parents do.

[wareagle]

The state is saying ALL the parents suck rather explicitly in 1) picking up the tab and 2) telling the actual parents that this is none of their business.

Is France ate up with teen preggers or battling an STD breakout among that group? Maybe so, but the state's conclusion is that all parents are screw ups, all the kids are going to be having sex anyway, so the only possible answer is the state option.

Most kids drink, too, but I don't see a law coming where the state will sponsor keggers.

[SKR]

since the state isn't sponsering orgies, I don't think your analogy works. can you get treatment for alcohol poisoning for free?

[nicole]

The proper analogy would be the state doing away with a drinking age, and providing free beer. I obviously don't agree with the providing free beer part, but the drinking age is a piece of state-created bullshit to begin with.

[generic Brand]

Why is the state saying it's the parent, and not just determining an age of consent type thing?

Because it is giving the kids the ability to circumvent the sovereignty of the parents. I agree that "age of consent" is a tricky issue, but as wareagle said, this is saying that NO parents are capable of discussing human sexuality and safe sex with their kids, and therefore the state will determine that any kid who wants birth control can have access to it.

[np]

Since politics and cultural/personal issues always seem to get mixed together, I think the discussion really needs to separate the two.

They are giving birth control starting from the age of consent in France. Making birth control available is not the problem. Everyone is sovereign (ideally, though not in political reality). The problem is in everyone else being forced to pay for it.

[nicole]

as wareagle said, this is saying that NO parents are capable of discussing human sexuality and safe sex with their kids, and therefore the state will determine that any kid who wants birth control can have access to it.

It's only the state that determined kids who wanted birth control had to get parental permission for it. How is removing that constraint (a) bad, (b) anti-liberty, or (c) saying anything about whose parents suck or not or who is the parent? Anyone should be able to get any drug someone else is willing to sell them. This is just removing a restriction.

And of course I don't think anyone should pay for it but the kids themselves, but there's kind of a whole single-payer system in France that makes the "who pays" question here kind of pointless.

[Zeb]

[Zeb]

"this is saying that NO parents are capable of discussing human sexuality and safe sex with their kids"

I don't think it is saying that at all. Parents can still discuss these things with their kids and even go with them to the doctor to get the stuff.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Don't you trust this guy more than parents?

[Groovus Maximus]

I think that it is quite appropriate for teens to be able to get birth control without parental consent.

Why have parents then, Zeb?

"I don't care what you think, Mom & Dad! I'm gonna fuck as much as I want, and still live under your house, eat your food, and live on your dime, and you can't say jack shit about it! I love Cosmotarianism!"

"Because Mom & Dad The State said so!"

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Kids these days. What is with the parents?

[Killazontherun]

Parents are just a reactionary social unit. Only the state can represent the Greater Good.

[np]

Well, in a free society, given that no one would be forced to pay for anything, both situations--daughters obtaining birth control and parents kicking them out--would be allowed.

[Groovus Maximus]

Who said I was talking about just daughters? Teens can mean either gender, np.

A son that A) Knocks up a girl, she opts to keep the child, and parents potentially could be on the hook for child support, and B) He contracts a lovely little disease, and parents are on the hook for his medical care, and C) Doesn't have any money for condoms, and is dependent on Mom & Dad for his Trojans.

[np]

I meant daughters with regards to this story about birth control. But I take your point about involving sons as well. So the parents shouldn't be on the hook for the son's deeds the parents are against, and neither should anyone else

[Red Rocks Rockin]

"I don't care what you think, Mom & Dad! I'm gonna fuck as much as I want, and still live under your house, eat your food, and live on your dime, and you can't say jack shit about it! I love Cosmotarianism!"

The correct parental response to that is, "If you don't want to live under my rules in this house, pack up your shit and live however you want."

[nicole]

Seriously. As to "Why have parents?" I think the answer is that, as soon as you can avoid it, you do.

[Coeus]

winna winna, chicken dinna

[Zeb]

That does sound like what a teenager would say. Teenagers are not little kids and will often do what they want to, even if their parents forbid it. I think that in that situation, it is better if the kids can choose if they want sex and birth control, rather than just sex. If parents want to control their teens in that way, then they need to figure out how to do it themselves. And I hope that it is obvious that I am promoting only allowing people of the age of consent to get birth control and not any state funding of it.

Age of consent doesn't usually coincide with full legal adulthood and I think that it is appropriate to have a sort of graduated adulthood. When you are old enough to have sex, you should own your sexuality.

[Zeb]

And as for "why have parents?", I think you are the resident expert as to how that all works (wink, wink).

[fish]

So French teenagers....mmmm French teenagers.....get by with free (read probably cheap BC pills) and I've got to shell out $3100 a year so that peg tooth idiot Sandra Fluke can keep up with her high dollar fucking?

In which I'm forced to quote Monte Burns:

"Ironic, isn't it Smithers? This anonymous clan of slack-jawed troglodytes proglodytes has cost me the election, and yet if I were to have them killed, I would be the one to go to jail. That's democracy for you."

[Zombie Jimbo]

If you're talking about Marcotte the quote would have to be ... slack jawed proglodytes has cost me an erection...

However I do agree, mmmm French teenagers

[Coeus]

But again, no squawking about how the private choices of others interferes with his "religious freedom," no disingenuous arguments conflating rape with consensual relationships between teenagers

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it feminists who were responsible for creating the increased age or consent laws? Makes it easier for a fat, hairy harpy to land a man.

[Rich]

Obama set a deadline of January for the introduction of new infringements

"Deadline"?

Why this obsession with violence, Mr President?

[SIV]

Doesn't Congress write bills?

The President isn't in the House or the Senate.

[Teenage Girl]

Doesn't Congress write bills?

No. The loobyists target a problem and fire them off.

[Libertymike]

Pun intended?

[Rich]

"Loobyists" was a typo, but I kind of like it.

[Atanarjuat]

I think LM was referring to "fire them off".

[Brendan]

Where was this president when it came to the Patriot Act, closing Guantanamo Bay, stopping warrantless wiretapping, etc.?

[Fist of Etiquette]

...if the state will guarantee its own payments.

Now that's a defined benefit plan.

[NoVAHockey]

Sen. Manchin already is backing down.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-.....on-on-guns

[Fist of Etiquette]

Manchin's comments Wednesday morning came two days after, during an appearance on MSNBC, he called for "action" on gun violence...

He was dismayed to discover they have basic cable viewing capabilities in West Virginny.

[NoVAHockey]

looks like bad staff work to me.

[Rich]

"I'm not supporting a ban on anything. I'm supporting a conversation on everything," Manchin said

Oh, blow it out your ass, Joe.

[VG Zaytsev]

Here's how the conversation will go.

WezVirginny voter - Vote fer any gun ban and your ass is outta office fer good.

Manchin - yes sir.

[Suthenboy]

Wow Manchiin that is one artful dodge, but I doubt anybody will buy it.

[R C Dean]

Joe, I suspect what the bitter clingers want you to say isn't that you don't support a ban, but want to talk about it.

They want to hear you say you oppose it because its stupid and unconstitutional.

The fact that you won't say that makes them suspicious. Can't imagine why.

[BakedPenguin]

He seems more like an Oliver Twist to me, always asking for more gruel.

[Old Bull Lee]

That's because his office phones have been getting blown up. With calls I mean.

And there is a planned protest outside his office Saturday: http://wvmetronews.com/pro-gun.....n-protest/

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

It doesn't help that he said "clips" when he was talking about magazines.

[R C Dean]

A dead give-away that someone is semi-literate, at best, on firearms.

[mad libertarian guy]

This.

Nothing bothers me more than a bunch of anti-gun fuckers who can't even get the basic terminology of weapons correct, telling me what is and isn't appropriate for my home defense use.

[Teenage Girl]

More pissing back and forth between Boehner and Obama

Eewww!!

[Ted S.]

There are probably people (Warty?) who would find that kinky.

[$park?]

A letter from a hero to the fallen heroes of Sandy Hook.

I see teachers working tirelessly each day to not only teach math, literacy, writing, grammar, spelling, science and social studies but also kindness, empathy, bravery, civic engagement and perspective taking.

They work against a sea of bad press, violent media, corporations looking to market childhood, and crumbling family responsibilities.

I feel the loss of you in our army for good. In our army for children. But we will march on in your absence. We will see each other with new eyes. Maybe people will see us differently now too. Maybe they will treat us with the respect of someone who can save lives. Or die trying.

[NeonCat]

So, just like with fire fighters and cops (first responders), every (publice school) teacher will now be a hero and therefore is never to be questioned?

Terrific.

[Libertymike]

Repulsive.

[gaijin]

We had a contentious teacher contract negotiation...the demand for respect was like some kind of mantra that was repeated in lieu of saying they wanted more money...anyone who disagreed was disrespectful. wtf is it with respect and teachers?

[wareagle]

wtf is it with respect and teachers?

whether consciously or subconsciously, they are aware that the education system sets them up for failure. In other words, all the folks who talk a big classroom game - principals, politicians, unions - have created a system where being a successful teacher is damn near impossible.

They can't or won't say that out loud, so they harp on under-the-bed monsters like the media or dumbass parents. They won't leave the system because, for all its shortcomings, it has some pretty nice bennies. They also know most people had at least one really good teacher and they prey on that to induce guilt.

[Almanian.]

I think it's because they like to be seen as "professionals", but know they act like "blue collar assholes" (low barrier to entry, 9 months of work, gummint bennies, represented by a union).

So they know people have contempt for them, "but I'm a PROFESIONAL"...so...respect.

Fuck 'em. Shoulda seen the screed i got on FB a while back when I noted the hypocrisy of teachers wanting to be considered "professional"....while they were striking (illegally) in Michigan. "You're carrying a picket sign - illegally - and you want me to consider you a 'pro'. Fuck you, you college-education blue-collar drone."

That pissed off some people...thereby confirming my point, since no one argued the facts/opinion, just "ZOMFG WHY DO YOU HATE TEACHERS THEIR JOB IS TEH HARD!"

Fuck. Em.

[R C Dean]

In my book, a "professional" is someone with a license (and thus livelihood)that can be taken away if they fuck up.

You want to be licensed, and have that license subject to review, restriction, removal based on complaints from the public? Fine. Then and only then will I consider you a professional.

[Groovus Maximus]

Thank you, RC. Nice to know one person doesn't totally hate me. -))))

[Episiarch]

So wait, I'm not a professional software developer, which I thought meant I get paid to develop software? Don't tell my boss!

[RBS]

I'm shocked that the lawyer and the doctor agree that having a state issued license and state granted protection from competition agree that that is what makes someone a professional.

[RBS]

strike "agree that that" an edit button would be nice.

[Zeb]

I think teachers can (theoretically) lose certification if they fuck up badly enough, no? But I guess complaints from the public don't count for much there usually.

ANd anyway, there are plenty of Professionals who are not worthy of my respect. A large part of the legal profession (not trying to say anything about Mr. Dean here) for starters.

[mad libertarian guy]

They also know most people had at least one really good teacher and they prey on that to induce guilt.

1 really good teacher cannot erase the 2 dozen or so fucking horrible teachers I had growing up.

Fuck teachers.

[VG Zaytsev]

They also know most people had at least one really good teacher...

Which is a flat out bullshit myth.

What happens in the real world is a that a kid reaches a developmental milestone or turning point and what ever teacher was lucky enough to be on hand is remembered as a really good teacher.

[Ted S.]

In my neck of the woods, the teachers' unions bus in teachers from other districts to pack school board meetings.

[VG Zaytsev]

some kind of mantra that was repeated in lieu of saying they wanted more money...anyone who disagreed was disrespectful. wtf is it with respect and teachers

Powerless morons always demand respect.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I see teachers working tirelessly each day to not only teach math, literacy, writing, grammar, spelling, science and social studies but also kindness, empathy, bravery, civic engagement and perspective taking.

Kids are stupid and assholes. My only conclusion is they suck at their jobs.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Teachers are heroes, and should be treated as such. Except the ones that make their students eat their ejaculate.

[$park?]

He's obviously teaching bravery and perspective taking.

[Rich]

I LOLed. Does that make me a bad person?

[wareagle]

nah...just good teacher material.

[VG Zaytsev]

They work against a sea of bad press, violent media, corporations looking to market childhood, and crumbling family responsibilities.

What does a corporate childhood market look like?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The list of potential ambassadors contains four Hollywood-based donors...

Ladies and gentlemen, Ambassador Jessica Alba.

[BarryD]

I'd like to see Lindsay Lohan as the Ambassador to the UN.

[Episiarch]

She's already the ambassador to Warty's heart.

[Warty]

Only some of that is true.

[Episiarch]

She's the ambassador to your pants? Oh wait, I forgot, you don't wear pants.

[Killazontherun]

She bet on the wrong horse.

[A Serious Man]

South Korea elects first female president.

[JW]

Unless it's one of these Korean females, I'm not really interested.

[Almanian.]

Epi's gonna be mad you posted that...

[NeonCat]

I know that the "send cops/soldiers/whomever door to door and take all the guns" crowd was small and fringy, but, considering they consider all gun owners paranoid nutcases just a nervous twitch away from shooting everyone they see, do they not realize that threatening them by taking their guns might well send them over the edge?

Why do the gun grabbers want to encourage killing sprees?

[Matrix]

Rational thought is not common amongst them.

[gaijin]

cause the 'right' people will be killed in the spree?

[Zeb]

Because they are fucking liars and they know it?

[R C Dean]

While I'm back in the market for a gun or two, one thing I will probably pick up is a cheap "throw-away" handgun and maybe a rifle, if I can get them cheap enough.

If there are confiscations (and at this point, who can rule it out entirely?), it would be nice to have a couple of decoys to throw in the bin, if I'm not necessarily up for a full-blown shootout with the goons coming to confiscate. The "real" guns would be safely stashed elsewhere.

Think of it as insurance.

[Groovus Maximus]

Think of it as insurance.

I don't think that's what Hazel had in mind, RC...

[Almanian.]

I'm with you on the "tactical" shotgun. We have a gazillion cause my dad was an avid bird hunter. But the beautiful Belgian Browning pump 12 gauge isn't really good "shootin' the badguy" material - only handles well when it's inclined a bit on your shoulder (ohhhh - it's a BIRD gun!) - terrible when held level.

So I'm a thinkin' one or two o' them cheap black Mossburgs or Savages or something with a pistol grip and short barrel - handle better, and keep Old Brownie safely tucked away with the Winchesters and Remingtons for...other uses.

[Gray Ghost]

Isn't the 870 fairly modifiable? I mean, get the extended mag (or hell, 6 is probably enough) and two barrels, one 18.5 inch cylinder, one 28 inch + to harass birds? Wouldn't that work?

[Episiarch]

I have one of these, 18" barrel, fixed cylinder choke, in the closet. It was cheap and works fine. It sucks as a skeet gun but all pumps suck as a skeet gun.

[mad libertarian guy]

Highly modifiable. Mine, Lady Doombringer, is modified as fuck.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

If there are confiscations, I am going into the business of manufacturing guns.

[Drake]

Confiscations = 2nd Civil War.

[Xenocles]

It's been said that when it's time to bury your guns it's already time to dig them up again.

[Coeus]

If there are confiscations (and at this point, who can rule it out entirely?), it would be nice to have a couple of decoys bags of human feces to throw in the bin,

FIFY

[$park?]

War on Christmas, now sponsored by McDonald's.

But some took to McDonald's Facebook page to express their disappointed by the move. One person posted: "This decision devalues your workers who should be able to spend time with their families and makes it, sadly, easier for your customers to do the same thing. Our culture is slowly getting away from family-based activities, and we as a country are the big loser."

They didn't mention anything about this person's stance on gas stations being available on Christmas day.

[NeonCat]

Or movie theaters, said the man who worked every holiday for several years.

I guess Waffle House is okay because only degenerate (and probably meth-addicted) rednecks would eat there on Xmas anyway.

[Matrix]

my roommates love to go to waffle house on Christmas.

Me... I do the traditional thing--Chinese Food and theater.

[fish]

Fa ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra!

[Zeb]

Jews need something to do on Christmas too.

[BarryD]

Isn't that when Jews sacrifice a Christian baby to the Devil or something?

I thought I heard something like that on Mike Huckabee. Maybe it was just about school prayer or something. Not sure.

[Zeb]

No, you're thinking of Passover.

[Matrix]

We eat Chinese food.

[Episiarch]

Yeah, it's called going to Florida for two weeks.

[Libertymike]

Boca Raton?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

People said this same shit about Wal-Mart during Black Friday, and it isn't any more sincere in this iteration. It takes a hell of a lot more to strengthen families than spending time together on Christmas--hell, it can be argued in some cases that doing so actually makes families hate each other.

[Drake]

They always hate each other. The time together is just a reminder.

[generic Brand]

This is a nice segue for me to say that I am thoroughly pissed off that my office is closing on Christmas Eve day, but we are not getting paid for them closing. That being said, I understand that I am not entitled to any paid holidays, but it still seems rather shitty on the part of management to say you can't come in to work, when I was expecting a full paycheck following the end of the year.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

If you're lucky enough, Cousin Eddie will bring the boss to your house and you can get his wife to guilt-trip him into giving you the full paycheck.

[Zeb]

This is the silliest kind of "War on Christmas" silliness. Do they not consider that perhaps some people don't care to celebrate Christmas?

[A Serious Man]

US to sell remaining shares in GM, estimated loss to taxpayers: $10-20 billion.

[Rich]

Cash for Clunkers, biotches!

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

But remember kids, Romney was lying when he said BO was waiting until after the election to do it. The media fact checkers told me so.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Though the auto bailout is likely to have lost money for the federal government in the end, it was part of a financial rescue that far exceeded expectations. Treasury has recouped 90 percent of the $418 billion it invested in banks, autos and other firms as part of the overall financial bailout.

Oh that's cute. Am I the only one who remembers Krugabe and company saying that TARP would make a profit?

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

And I hate to be a half-empty kind of guy, but 90% recoupment means 10% in losses. $41.8 billion in this case.

[Gray Ghost]

Remember when $60 billion in losses (Enron) ended up with a bunch of perp-walks? Whatever happened to those days?

[$park?]

White male gun owners, check your privilege.

"White men from prosperous families grow up with the expectation that our voices will be heard. We expect politicians and professors to listen to us and respond to our concerns. We expect public solutions to our problems. And when we're hurting, the discrepancy between what we've been led to believe is our birthright and what we feel we're receiving in terms of attention can be bewildering and infuriating. Every killer makes his pain another's problem. But only those who've marinated in privilege can conclude that their private pain is the entire world's problem with which to deal. This is why, while men of all races and classes murder their intimate partners, it is privileged young white dudes who are by far the likeliest to shoot up schools and movie theaters."

[NoVAHockey]

"marinated in privilege"

I'm dry rubbed myself.

[Episiarch]

Projection: it's what's for breakfast, lunch, 2nd lunch, two-sies, first dinner, and second dinner. And dessert.

[Redmanfms]

What about 11sies damn it!

[Episiarch]

Eleven-sies is for pandering.

[Mad Scientist]

And fourthmeal? Can we get it then too?

[Episiarch]

That's for pulling bullshit straight out of your ass.

[Mad Scientist]

YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH, EPI! TACO BELL FOREVER!

[Episiarch]

Taco Del Mar uber alles! Thus the new H&R flamewar began.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Actually, the best tacos in the world can be found in Venice, CA. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you with La Playita!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/marisc.....nta-monica

[Gray Ghost]

Ahem, 100% Taquito.

[Randian]

The best tacos are at Taco Chilako's in Todos Santos in Mexico. I broker no dissent here.

[Mad Scientist]

Where's "Mmmm Tacos" when we need him?

[Episiarch]

Where's ProL to advocate for Chipotle? I hear he buys Chipotl-away by the gallon.

[Mad Scientist]

There's a little dive joint by the beach in Ventura called "Tacos & Beer," said items being the entirety of their menu. But they're not open for Fourthmeal.

[Episiarch]

A friend and I would go here (the Ballard one) during the summer when we would wrap up tennis around 9PM. There would still be a line. Their mole tamales are fantastic.

[Groovus Maximus]

Tacos? Feh. Pirogi are where it's at.-D

[BarryD]

So the REAL problem is that privileged young white dudes don't get to have their fun by "shitbagging" rival teenage gang members with guns, like their poor minority counterparts?

I'm confused.

[NeonCat]

I know how to check my oil, brake fluid and coolant. I don't know how to check my privilege.

[wareagle]

just look in the mirror. If a white guy is looking back, you have some.

[T]

I think it's like checking tire pressure? I'm just spitballing here.

[JW]

I know how to check my oil, brake fluid and coolant. I don't know how to check my privilege.

Well, whatever it is, I'm at least a quart low.

[Almanian.]

You're thinking of gin.

[Coeus]

I know how to check my oil, brake fluid and coolant. I don't know how to check my privilege.

That's because you don't understand what they mean by that. They mean "agree with everything I say about anything, because you're a white male. Your logic is not welcome in the discussion".

See? Simple.

[Ted S.]

Somebody ought to make a parody in which different concern trolls come to blows over what the cause of the recent school shooting was. Lock the "white male privilege" person in a cage with the woman who blamed it on charter schools and let them fight it out MMA style.

[NeonCat]

Just like a white male! Divide and conquer!

[Almanian.]

Patriarchal dominance FTW

[nicole]

"We expect public solutions to our problems."

Don't worry, he can't be talking about (almost) anyone here.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

The funny thing is, the douchebag who wrote that is a Professor at Pasadena City College. There is plenty of gun violence in Pasadena, and the surrounding areas. But guess what? None of it is perpetrated by privileged white males.

[BarryD]

You mean the Izod Gang doesn't do drive-bys against the Ralph Lauren Gang?

[wareagle]

however, the two clothing-based gangs do serve as customer for the seamier gangs in the area, so it's like they're all part of the greater culture. Or something like that.

[BarryD]

Better that the gangs have a way to earn a living, rather than stealing stuff.

[Gray Ghost]

This. Every other Mexican drug gang hood who gets arrested these days, and gets their mug in the news, is wearing some 12 inch horse and rider on their chest. I'm waiting for Izod to retaliate in the war of logo size supremacy, by sewing on a two foot alligator.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I'm waiting for one of these tuff gai gangsters to wear a real alligator on their chest.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Some opinions only get attention because they come from people with advanced degrees who make their living on the taxpayer dime. That's certainly the case for Hugo Schwyzer, a history and gender studies professor at Pasadena City College.

Hugo Schwyzer--ahhh, now I see the problem.

[Drake]

I love it. Professor Hugo Schwyzer looks the kind of know-it-all douche who has been injected, rubbed, marinated, sauteed, and slow roasted in white liberal privilege.

So punchable.

http://www.hugoschwyzer.net/

[A Serious Man]

THIS IS CETI ALPHA FIVE!: Tau Ceti may host closest habitable star system.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Here, let me fix that link for you.

[A Serious Man]

I shall leave you as you left me, as you left Epi, marooned for all eternity at the center of a dead 24/7 thread. Buried alive, buried alive!

[Fist of Etiquette]

I wanted you to know first who it was who had beaten you.

[Episiarch]

On the PM links, minutes of posting seem like hours.

[A Serious Man]

I do not think this was a fair test of my commenting abilities.

[Episiarch]

A no-witty-quip situation is a possibility every commenter may face. Has that never occurred to you?

[JW]

You commenting bastard....you killed my son!

[Episiarch]

How DARE you mix this with Search For Spock! You commenting bastard, you killed my subthread!

[JW]

Don't believe him! Don't trust him!

[A Serious Man]

Epi you proceed from a false assumption. I am A Serious Man, I have no ego to bruise.

[JW]

Epi's from Iowa. He only works in space.

[Episiarch]

Picard grew up on a quaint little French vineyard, squishing grapes between his toes, while Kirk slung bales of wheat and hay in Iowa to put himself through school.

[Xenocles]

As if the Federation would require anyone to work their way through school.

[Raston Bot]

Avoid that collapsar.

[NeonCat]

Okay, if Ceti Alpha 5 (and 6) were only 12 light years from Earth, WTF didn't the Federation colonize them long ago? WTF didn't Starfleet find the time to drop in and see how Khan was doing?

[Episiarch]

When Picard found humans from the 20th century, he returned them to Earth. When Kirk found humans from the 20th century, he beamed them to a hostile planet.

[A Serious Man]

Well if you ignore the fact that Khan tried to kill him and hijack the Enterprise, it sounds bad when you put it that way.

[Episiarch]

The point is that Kirk would never waste a holodeck on something stupid like Dixon Hill.

[A Serious Man]

You'd think given how many times the holodeck malfunctions that the nanny state Federation would have banned it.

[Episiarch]

Ban it and they'll just replicate another one. Do you see the flaw in your logic now?

[Groovus Maximus]

Can a holodeck replicate itself to infinity?

[JW]

Can a holodeck replicate itself to infinity?

Does a holographic bear take a holographic shit in the holographic woods?

[Episiarch]

REAL HOLOGRAPHIC SIMULATED EVIL LINCOLN IS BACK!!!

[T]

Of course, but a better question: Is a holographic Pope holographically Catholic?

[fish]

No but the P h o n y Pope can be recognized by his high top sneakers and incredibly foul mouth!

[Episiarch]

Is the Space Pope reptilian?

[Fist of Etiquette]

WTF don't you space mind your own space business.

[JW]

God damnit. I can't believe I have to nerdzerk and point out that THIS IS CETI ALPHA!

You thought this was....Tau Ceti?

[Randian]

I just went to the link: what the fuck is a Xindi?

[JW]

It's a very sexy learning disability.

[Mickey Rat]

Because Alpha Ceti is 220 light years from Earth, Tau Ceti is an entirely different system.

http://jumk.de/astronomie/big-stars/menkar.shtml

[Gray Ghost]

Time to send them gifts? Just don't let them come here; we already have enough lawyers.

[A Serious Man]

Because guns are bad, mmmkay? Let's ban 3D printers!

[Rich]

Close the computer show loophole!

[NoVAHockey]

bunch of socially awkward dudes buying unregistered hardware and software.

[Matrix]

excuse my ignorance, but the people who printed the guns didn't actually print the entire gun, just the outside shell of it. The barrel and firing mechanisms were still made by other means, and they are metal. Consumer level 3D printers don't shape metal AFAIK. If they tried to fire a bullet in a consumer level 3D printed gun (100% printed), I don't think anything would happen. And even if it did, would you get much out of it? Those things cannot handle the temperature created by igniting the gunpowder.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

And even if it did, would you get much out of it?

You'd probably get a face full and hand full of plastic shrapnel.

[NeonCat]

GODDDAMIT STOP USING RATIONALITY THAT'S A TOOL OF WHITE MALES!!!!!

[A Serious Man]

You got to strangle this potentially dangerous industry in its crib before it advances too far!

[Drake]

So we should ban all machine shops since they can produce any type of firearm very easily?

[Almanian.]

But a plastic gun worked for John Malkovich in "in The Line of Fire"!!

[Gray Ghost]

Could you get a v. high tensile strength ceramic to handle the pressure loads for a chamber and barrel? Even if only for a few shots? Probably not the sort of thing you can mold though.

[Drake]

They also printed evil death-dealing 30-round AR magazines that the Pres wants to ban for the children.

[wingnutx]

Fuck your 3D printer, I can make an AK receiver out of an old shovel.

[Ted S.]

One of the articles in the 24/7 sidebar suggests that Europe is thinking about banning menthol cigarettes. Isn't that racist?

[nicole]

You may or may not be aware that the only reason they aren't banned in the US already is because folks played the race card.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

No. Because grape soda will still be available.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Sure, if grape soda = sugar free grape juice.

[Groovus Maximus]

It's not racist to discriminate against Juggalos and Faygo Purple Drank.

[Ted S.]

Don't get me started on purple drank. I couldn't believe how many of my fellow Packer fans thought Johnny Jolly deserved his six-year sentence for what basically amounted to contempt of court for continuing to imbibe in purple drank.

[A Serious Man]

Nice to see The Huffington Post front page go full-Pravda on gun control.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

[Episiarch]

Does this surprise you in any way? It was always lurking under the surface, and now they have some dead kids! Opportunity time!

[BarryD]

It's sick to consider just how overjoyed they must have been, to see the news.

Feinstein, too. Had a bill all drafted, for about a year, waiting for something like this. Seriously.

[Episiarch]

Like so many other things in the last few years, they no longer care about letting the mask completely slip. I think that says something, and what it says is very, very bad.

[Groovus Maximus]

BUT, BUT....FREE HEALTHCARE!!!

[Almanian.]

YAY!

[nicole]

That's fucking revolting.

[Tman]

It's nowhere near as bad as the idiocy emanating from Gawker and affiliates this week. I like to read Deadspin for some laughs and you can't help but see links to the stupidity at Jezebel, etc. over the last few days. Even Deadspin had a ridiculous piece.

People lose their fucking minds over this stuff. Meanwhile, the rate of gun-related murder and manslaughter deaths fell 11 percent from 2008 to 2010, and the gun-killing rate has fallen a total of 51.5 percent since 1993.

Neither statistic will ever even come close to either site.

BECAUSE THE STUPID, IT BURNS!!!!

[Drake]

I like the front page picture of rows of guns that wouldn't be banned. It's scary to statists that any civilian could buy any of them.

[Randian]

What the hell was Mr. Balko thinking?

[R C Dean]

Probably something like "The pay is better, and I'll catch more eyeballs."

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Maybe he saw what would happen to Reason and figured there wasn't much difference.

[Randian]

Tulpa's Republicanism goes so unappreciated.

[RBS]

It's always funny when Tulpa forgets that reason is a libertarian magazine.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

And it's not at all funny when Reason forgets that Reason is a libertarian magazine.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Thanks for providing a link to the Huffington Post home page. I never would have found it otherwise.

[Groovus Maximus]

In your case, he was being ADA compliant. You should be more grateful at his thoughtfulness and compliance with the ADA.

[Zeb]

I looked at the comments on it. Most of the recent ones were actually not stupid. Surprising.

[Libertarian]

Has anyone here done the math? Obama says that they're working on a "deficit reduction" bill, but is EITHER side proposing a plan that results in an FY13 budget deficit being less than in FY12???????

[Almanian.]

Your numbers are CONFUSING. We have NEEDS out here that THE GOVERNMENT needs to FIX! The FEDERAL government.

So you can just take your "numbers" and "questions" and...gog be a white male somewhere! You're a bad person! hisssss!!!

[Drake]

Hey! We are working hard to decrease the projected growth rate of future deficits. Stop nitpicking you racist radical.

[np]

Gangnam Style Meets Metal
I like it more than the original

[Ted S.]

That's a fairly low bar.

[waaminn]

This makes a ll kinds of sense dude.

http://www.PrivacyUSA.tk

[Killazontherun]

Press goes off script at Obama's gun control speech and Q&A today, NYT commetariat miffed they would ask about trivial matters like the fiscal cliff and Benghazi.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nyti.....criticism/

Examples:

If the shooting had taken place in Bethesda, would these reporters be so eager to change the subject?

I had the same reaction... The press corp sounded like a bunch of white men worried about their wallets more than the lives of 6 and 7 year old children or the need to leash the NRA and rid America of assault weapons on our so-called civilized soil. Glad to see I'm not the only one who noticed that.

I watched the speech and the subsequent press conference, and have to say I was also rather appalled at the crassness of the press, to skip over the topic at hand to try to get to the 'juicy' topic of the controversy between President Obama and John Boehner.

Absolutely disgraceful! Like watching the Media cavalierly flip the channel to something easier to discuss. The President should have refused to answer that first Fiscal Cliff question and firmly suggested that those financial questions be addressed on a different day at a different press conference.

[Coeus]

I can understand their frustration. After 5 years of kissing his ass, it's confusing for them for the press to just kiss his ring.

[Killazontherun]

The press is trying to get a little of its dignity back now he safe from election consideration, and the commetariat is mystified by what they are seeing. What is this you hoomons call 'dignity'?

[Coeus]

This is exactly what happened with Bush II. It's amazing that most people who were around for that don't recognize the exact same pattern now.

[Redmanfms]

This is exactly what happened with Bush II. It's amazing that most people who were around for that don't recognize the exact same pattern now.

It is?

I really don't remember the press running interference for Bush, ever, much less during the 2004 election.

[Michael S. Langston]

To make permanent/semi-permanent polices based on very rare events is equivalent to banning water due to a single drowning.

The fact that in July (after the Denver theater shooting) only 25% thought this was a broader problem with society (the majority thought correctly that this was the work of one crazy person), yet the same poll taken recently says that 52% think the Newtown shooting shows a broader problem with society, should be a concern to all.

When the majority prefer spin/BS/anything over reality - we should all be scared.