Christmas Storm Death Toll Up to Six, Half of Americans Confident About Fiscal Cliff Deal, Bashar Assad Looked to Flee to Venezuela: P.M. Links

• A winter storm system ripping through the South has killed six and is now headed for the Northeast.
• A new poll shows 50 percent of Americans still confident Washington will reach a deal on the "fiscal cliff." Starbucks is pitching in by printing "come together" on their coffee cups in DC while the New York Times reports little urgency in the actual negotiations.
• President Obama's second inauguration is going to be a lower key affair, with no more than 800,000 people expected to show up.
• A shooting sport group in Utah is offering free concealed carry training to local teachers while college students in Massachusetts are protesting charges of carrying ammo without a license levied against a classmate with a belt made of bullets. NBC News, meanwhile, is reported to have been denied permission to show the magazine clip David Gregory displayed in an interview with the NRA president.
• The Los Angeles Times is releasing 1,200 files kept by the Boy Scouts related to charges of sex abuse.
• Les Miserables topped Django Unchained in their Christmas openings. Spike Lee says he won't be watching Django because it was disrespectful to his ancestors.
• According to Turkey, Syria's Bashar Assad sought asylum in Venezuela. The head of the military police in Syria, meanwhile, defected in a statement on Al-Arabiya TV.
• Tanzanian police ban disco for kids.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

A winter storm system ripping through the South has killed six and is now headed for the Northeast.

Fiscal Snow Cliff!

[anon]

The weather is obviously global warming's fault; there's consensus. Big Oil killed these 6 people!

[mad libertarian guy]

The AGW people have it all figured out.

It's hot? Global Warming!!

It's cold with lots of snow? Global Warming!!

[wareagle]

I thought things like snowstorms was why they changed from global warming to climate change. The terminology made for a better catch-all.

[mad libertarian guy]

They use the "warming of the atmosphere holds more water and hence creates more precipitation" nonsense.

[Mike M.]

And some stupid crap about the "polar vortex".

[Zeb]

Well, I think that idea makes some sense. But it's still fucking winter and this is a normal winder snow storm.

[Jerryskids]

Bad weather doesn't generally kill people. Being stupid in bad weather is what does it. Those people killed by driving their car into a tree during a blizzard weren't killed by the blizzard, they were killed by the stupidity of driving during a blizzard.

[CE]

My ancestors lived through 3 ice ages and 3 global warmings. We'll make it through this.

[Auric Demonocles]

Winter is coming.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Hah. Petition to keep Piers Morgan out of the UK

[Longtorso]

Germany 'exporting' old and sick to foreign care homes

[Fist of Etiquette]

Looks like they're going to have to pass a bill banning foreign adoption as well.

[A Serious Man]

You know who else complained about the cost of taking care of the sick and infirm?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Homer Simpson?

[anon]

Me?

[C. Anacreon]

Florence Nightengale?

[Mad Scientist]

Mother Teresa?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Viktor Brach, duh!

[Tonio]

And this is how it is done, people. Honorable mention of CA and MS, but HM nails it with Viktor Brack.

You young commentatorers would do well to emulate their fine examples.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

thousands of nerd voices cried out

[generic Brand]

tl;dr -
[Peter Parker and Otto Octavius, aka Doc Ock] clash mightily in the pages of issue 700, illustrated by Humberto Ramos and Victor Olazaba. But it's Octavius who wins out and Parker is, at least for now, gone for good. Yes, you read that right: Peter Parker gets mind-swapped into Doc Ock's cancer-ridden body ? and dies.

And this is a decent summary of why I stopped reading comic books regularly. They just can't leave well enough alone.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Short of major storylines like Civil War, comic books are pretty much a wasteland now as a creative medium. Too many emotionally broken basketcases are doing the writing now, and there's only so much you can do as far as character development before it just becomes tedious.

Marvel should really just stick at this point to expanding their movie studio and producing quality films. The cultural nostalgia niche is now with Gen-X, and if its one thing that X-ers love, its looking back on the childhood they wish they had.

[Longtorso]

The Misandry Bubble
Executive Summary : The Western World has quietly become a civilization that undervalues men and overvalues women, where the state forcibly transfers resources from men to women creating various perverse incentives for otherwise good women to conduct great evil against men and children, and where male nature is vilified but female nature is celebrated. This is unfair to both genders, and is a recipe for a rapid civilizational decline and displacement, the costs of which will ultimately be borne by a subsequent generation of innocent women, rather than men, as soon as 2020.

[ant1sthenes]

Considering birth rates in the Western World, I'd say our civilization undervalues both masculinity and femininity. If anything is overvalued, it's androgyny, another of the egalitarian delusions of the left.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Dear, why is my honey blue?

[sage]

"It may be blue but it's the bomb."

[el esc?ptico]

The Los Angeles Times is releasing 1,200 files kept by the Boy Scots related to charges of sex abuse

It's the kilts, I tell you!

[Translucent Chum]

Go Aberdeen!

[el esc?ptico]

Fixing the typo in the story just makes my post look absurd.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Five myths about dames

[generic Brand]

What the hell is "yoghurt"? Or rather, what is a yog and why would it be hurt? Is yog the Kiwi word for butt? So yoghurt = butthurt?

[Groovus Maximus]

All you wanted to know (and more) about yoghurt.

PS

Yes, that is the proper spelling, you provincial boob!-D

Is "ghost" spelled "gost"?-P

[Generic Stranger]

Err...no. The word is derived from Turkish and is transliterated into English, so proper spelling is up for debate and depends on how you transliterate it. According to Wikipedia:

The word is derived from Turkish: yo?urt,[3] and is related to the obsolete verb yo?mak "to be curdled or coagulated; to thicken".[4] The letter ? was traditionally rendered as "gh" in transliterations of Turkish prior to 1928.[5] In older Turkish, the letter denoted a voiced velar fricative /?/, but this sound is elided between back vowels in modern Turkish, in which the word is pronounced [jo?u?t].

In English, there are several variations of the spelling of the word, including yogurt, yoghurt, yoghourt, yogourt, yaghourt, yahourth, yoghurd, joghourt, and jogourt.

[Groovus Maximus]

HA! I am well aware of the the etymology of "yoghurt". I still have inductive standing here! In that entry, the dominant translit is "gh" with the traditional translit. So there!

And I will never give up my beloved superfluous "u". Oxford Dictionary FTW!

[Fist of Etiquette]

...while the New York Times reports little urgency in the actual negotiations.

Oh, don't you worry about Obama and Congress. One way or the other, their fortunes are gonna come out of this juuuuuuuuuust fine.

[Longtorso]

Edith Casas Wants To Marry Victor Cingolani, Convicted Of Murdering Her Twin Sister, Johana

[Archduke Pantsfan]

NHL lockout silver lining: Phoenix Coyotes could finally turn a profit

[Translucent Chum]

Huh. Well, the Red Wings may owe the City of Detroit $70 million.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Spike Lee says he won't be watching Django because it was disrespectful to his ancestors.

People?

[NeonCat]

People still care what Spike has to say about anything?

[R C Dean]

Haven't seen the movie, but from what I gather, it sounds like its mostly disrespectful to white slave owners.

Its certainly possible, even likely, that Spike has a white slave owner in his family tree. Why he would stick up for him, I couldn't say.

[Jerryskids]

It's much more likely - probably a certainty - that he has a black slave-owning ancestor. Maybe Spike thought it was disrespectful not to give a fuller accounting of slavery by focusing merely on American slavery.

For some reason, the preview stuff before Les Miserables included an interview with Jamie Foxx. Not sure what it was about given that I was busy trying to find a seat in a packed theater, but I assume it had something to do with Django.(The movie was better than I expected given that I've seen the stage version 5 or 6 times. Russell Crowe didn't suck as badly as I expected him to.)

Still haven't seen The Hobbit - going to this weekend. Have zero interest in seeing any Quentin Taratino movie.

[CE]

Who wants to see Anne Hathaway sing? She was much better as Catwoman.

[sloopyinca]

Not me. I was hoping it would be a movie, not one musical number after the next.

Either way, they'll never top the 1935 version with Frederic March and Charles Laughton for pure magical imagery.

[mad libertarian guy]

He does.

It was on that show that had celebrities do DNA tests and go through their genealogies.

He absolutely has white ancestors who were slaveholders.

[mad libertarian guy]

Linky

http://blog.familytreemagazine.....isode.aspx

[mad libertarian guy]

Link for the above:

http://blog.familytreemagazine.....isode.aspx

[wareagle]

Spike has a habit of getting pissy when white directors do films about black folks. He did the thing re: Eastwood's making of Bird; Clint told him to fuck off.

[A Serious Man]

Jezebel freaks out at Iowa Supreme Court for dismissing a lawsuit against a dentist who fired his assistant for being 'irresistable'.

[Longtorso]

Too Hot
...Now, before it gets said, I'm not suggesting that Knight have gone ahead and got after it with Nelson (if that was ever a consideration), but I do understand his predicament and the motivators behind it. If anything Knight serves as yet one more warning for men in realizing their SMV too late. The real tragedy here is that for a brief moment Knight was becoming aware of his (waning) SMV only to reinsert himself back into the Matrix with the aid of his wife and pastor. The real damage will be dealt in his new need for constant repression of this knowledge every time he bangs his wife, every time she nags, every time she gives him that doe-like thousand yard stare; he'll understand the oldest manosphere proverb ? once you know about the Matrix there is no going back.

[AuH2O]

To be fair, dentists are creepy and weird. My first suspect when hunting serial killers would be the dentists.

[CE]

It's the mercury in the silver fillings. Dentists have the highest suicide rate in America. Remember the saying "mad as a hatter"? That was because hatters used to use mercury. Now it's dentists. Although, more are switching to plastic fillings, so maybe that will change.

[Proprietist]

My lifelong dentist got busted by in an FBI sting for trying to cross over to Mexico with the intent to prey on little boys. True story.

[Caleb Turberville]

http://boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/

How much of the Les Miserables opening take came from 3D/IMAX theaters? Not sure how much I buy that it was really the most popular movie opening this week.

[mad libertarian guy]

Women go fucking nuts over Les Miserables.

I admit to having really enjoyed the show, but fuck the movie.

[C. Anacreon]

Is it true that if you take a woman to a musical, you get a hummer in the car on the way home?

[mad libertarian guy]

No.

But the themed sex once you get home can't be beat.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Is it true that if you take a woman to a musical, you get a hummer in the car on the way home?

Only if you are in the cast of said musical. Which is why I did theater in high school and college, of course.

[sloopyinca]

Yeah, those guys in Broadway musicals are legendary for the amout of pussy they get. Why, just take a look at ... um ... uhhhh ... that guy in ... oh, nevermind. But seriously, they're known for the amount of ass they get.

/sarc

[el esc?ptico]

Unfortunately C. A., in my experience, you merely get to listen to them hum on the way home. YMMV

[CE]

win.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

It works well as a musical, but Les Mis is one of those works that would be awesome as an HBO or A&E-produced series.

One of the most interesting/patience-trying aspects of it is how Hugo went into great detail on the historical and cultural contexts of 18th-19th century France and then in the storyline placed the characters within the maelstrom of those events. The significance of the bishop not pressing charges against Valjean, for example, makes a lot more sense after reading the backstory on the bishop up through that point--Hugo doesn't just show his benevolence, he goes into great detail as to why he let Valjean go. That's tough to pull off in a two-four hour production.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Tanzanian police ban disco for kids.

Did they also ban the 1970's as a whole? Where is John Lithgow when you need him?

[CE]

Send in Kevin Bacon!

[generic Brand]

President Obama's second inauguration is going to be a lower key affair, with no more than 800,000 people expected to show up.

I guess we know where 800,000 of the millions of welfare recipients will be that day.

[Fist of Etiquette]

FORTY-SEVEN PERCENTER! Look, everyone, we have a forty-seven percenter here.

[generic Brand]

Try SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENTER, or whatever the number was for people who have accepted a government handout in their life.

[John]

It won't even be that many. They didn't get 800,000 for 08. Don't let them lie to you. I would be surprised if they crack 500K this time.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

A reader writes: My lesbian girlfriend is thinks I'll cheat on her

[AuH2O]

Go on...

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I am a lesbian and have been seeing my girlfriend for the last eight months and I feel like I'm the only one making any form of effort in our relationship. She seems to think I'm going to cheat on her and it has caused lots of arguments in the past. What can I do to reassure her I can be trusted and I don't want to leave her for someone else?

She's either cheating on you and is projecting her guilt, or she's a controlling bitch. Either way you should get out.

[A Serious Man]

NBC's David Gregory is being investigated after he did not receive permission from DC police to show on camera a high-capacity magazine on Meet the Press.

[Fist of Etiquette]

ARE YOU SERIOUS, MAN? Are you so contemptuous of the fine work that the P.M. Links people do that you will post your own competing link?

[A Serious Man]

Ed buried that link underneath the link about the Utah shooting club and the teachers, therefore he failed to make that link prominent.

Why must you shill for the rent-seeking PM linkers who seek a monopoly on links?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I'm a lion tower. That's why I get the inside track on first comment.

[Caleb Turberville]

Maybe he wants out of his job. Who wants to work early Sunday mornings?

[R C Dean]

NBC really screwed themselves by asking permission, because they can no longer claim that they didn't know it was illegal to have the mag in D.C. Now they've got a knowing and intentional violation of the law on their hands.

I look forward to learning how they wiggle out of this one. Its not like there's any doubt that Gregory has an illegal mag, after all. It was broadcast nationwide. Will they try to argue he didn't have legal "possession" of it? Who will they try to hang the "possession" on? Will he just plead out for a fine/community service?

[John]

They will be left with the "don't you know who I am ?" defense, which in Washington will probably work.

[Mad Scientist]

I could hardly wait to hear the 2nd amendment arguments they'd have to make to get out of this, but I know instead they'll plea bargain some BS and we won't hear of it again.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Eh, they wanted Big Nanny limiting constitutional rights, they get Big Nanny limiting constitutional rights.

[sloopyinca]

This is fucked up on so many relevant levels today. First, it's an obvious double-standard. Second, who wants to put armed cops in schools again?

Anyway, here's the headline: Former Bedford County Sheriff's deputy convicted of taking indecent liberties with a child, and released.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

More to the point, who wants to limit ownership of firearms to the cops and military again?

[Fist of Etiquette]

NBC News, meanwhile, is reported to have been denied permission to show the magazine clip David Gregory displayed in an interview...

Maybe NBC News can edit the recording of the call to authorities to make it sound like they did get permission.

[Mad Scientist]

Ouch!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Honestly, any time I found myself in a position of being grilled by anyone from NBC News, I would very unsubtly reference that incident.

[sloopyinca]

^^This^^ NBC News should be forced to defend that every time they try to ambush someone. An easy way to accomplish this would be for every person they ask a question to to respond with "No Comment, as I'm afraid your organization will selectively edit my comments to fit a preset narrative, a practice which you are currently defending in federal court. Good day."

[Red Rocks Rockin]

+1 sweet, sweet can...

[A Serious Man]

Boxing Day is a holiday where we get to punch a Canadian, right?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

I don't even try to go shopping on Boxing Day.
It's the craziest day of the year. 50% of people are trying to return crap without the gift receipt.

[Caleb Turberville]

I moved here from Canada and they think I'm slow, eh?

[sloopyinca]

Maybe the nine year old was coming right for him.

[Brandon]

What the fuck is a marine mammal doing being a cop anyway?

[sloopyinca]

Former cop and husband of an Assistant DA is on the lam after holding up multiple pharmacies to fuel his drug addiction.

If only he had been smart enough to do it while on duty, he could have been given union contract-mandated treatment instead of criminal charges.

[sloopyinca]

Sure he gets arrested for DUI for wrecking his patrol car, but is he eligible for Workman's Compensation for any potential recurring injuries?

[R C Dean]

The little people don't.

http://www.safetynewsalert.com.....ing-crash/

Will a cop? Wouldn't bet against it.

[mad libertarian guy]

Gun owners names and addresses printed and mapped.

[Caleb Turberville]

To be fair, that's kind the purpose behind registry databases. I'm just surprised that it's taken this long for a news outlet to publish it.

[mad libertarian guy]

And it shows EXACTLY how evil gun registration is.

The 2 most likely outcomes are that now: 1) would-be thieves know which houses to hit for fear of not being shot, and 2) would-be thieves know which houses to hit when trying to score a gun.

[John]

And it would give leftist brownshirts the opportunity to intimidate legal gun owners.

[Heroic Mulatto]

And it would give leftist brownshirts the opportunity to intimidate legal gun owners.

And martyrs when one of them eventually gets shot.

Horst Wessel, anyone?

[mad libertarian guy]

You gotta love that you can see the self-fulfilling prophecy already.

Liberal douche goes to heckle some gun owner; goes to far in endeavor and either destroys property or actually assaults the home owner leading to said heckler getting shot.

All followed by "You see?!? Don't you see how dangerous all of these gun owners are?" Followed by more pleas to restrict the 2A even more.

[John]

They are as predictable as they are vile.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

From Wessel's wiki, which I found amusing:

In September 1929, he met Erna J?nicke, an 18-year-old prostitute, in a bar. Soon he moved into her apartment in Gro?e Frankfurter Stra?e (today Karl-Marx-Allee). The landlady was Elisabeth Salm, whose late husband had been an active Communist. After a few months, there was a dispute between Salm and Wessel over unpaid rent

So a Nazi got into a dispute with a Communist, whose originator was known for not paying his bills or paying back loans, for not paying his rent. Sounds like he was holding the landlady to her philosophical ideals.

[wareagle]

true, but usually those DBs are so folks know where people like child molesters live, folks who have actually broken an existing law, not those who have abided by it.

A pro-2A outfit posted a pic of the writer's house, his address and phone number, and similar contact info for some of the paper's editors and the company president.

[sloopyinca]

The whole thing makes me sick. If they can release information on law-abiding citizens that might endanger them, then they ought to make IRS records public information, down to bank account numbers and routing numbers. After all, if there's no concern with privacy and safety concerns, why should we give a fuck about financial security?

[Caleb Turberville]

Isn't it already common to bully political candidates into releasing their tax records?

[sloopyinca]

Yes, but those candidates still release them voluntarily. Well, many of them do. I do, however, believe a financial disclosure form is required when running for federal office.

[wareagle]

sure, but candidates are presenting themselves as trusted keepers of the public purse. The typical gun owner just wants to protect his own family's purse.

[sloopyinca]

Good point.

[John]

What they want to do is make owning a gun legally, a dangerous thing. That way people either give up their guns or own them illegally. And then every gun owner that is left will be a criminal. And that is the end they want.

They are really that evil.

[CE]

But I thought that's why they were against abortion protesters outside of clinics...

[wareagle]

and if you, rightly, accuse them of climbing the bodies of dead kids to get on their soapbox, you can just imagine the self-righteous indignation.

[R C Dean]

Its not unusual in West Texas for people to advertise their gun ownership ("Security by Smith & Wesson").

I had a neighbor I wanted to drop in on, but his gate was locked. I thought about climbing the gate and walking up to his house, but his sign made me decide to leave a note, instead. Doesn't pay to startle a man with a gun.

Naturally, there is all the difference in the world between voluntarily notifying the world that you have a gun and aren't afraid to use it, and what these asshats did.

[sloopyinca]

I went to leave the house two days ago and found the decapitated head of a Muscovy duck impaled on a stake. I guess my son wanted to send a message to any would-be intruders.

Thanks, son.

[mad libertarian guy]

My favorite f those warning signs is "Intruders will be shot; survivors will be shot again."

[Robert S]

"If you can read this, you're in range."

[sloopyinca]

I laugh hysterically at the thought of Team Blue/Red heads exploding at the thought of a sign like that in a citizen's yard while being totally fine with those who have a monopoly on state-sanctioned violence doing this.

Actually, I don't laugh hysterically. I weep.

[Auric Demonocles]

And that's why you always leave a note.

[ant1sthenes]

(reposted from dead article)

As handy as a map is, that does you no good at identifying that gun owner once he goes out among the general public, potentially hiding a child-murdering implement on his body.

To protect and inform the public, they should also force gun owners to wear some sort of identifier on their clothing. A small picture of a gun would be ideal, but perhaps hard to discern for someone not familiar with guns -- exactly the people the law would be intended to protect. Probably it should be something simpler and easily recognized, like a triangle or star. People need to be able to easily spot it on any sort of clothing, and it should be a color that indicates "caution: this person is dangerous". A bright yellow would seem to work best.

[wareagle]

they should also force gun owners jooz, gayz, illegals, assorted other boogeymen to wear some sort of identifier on their clothing.

surely, the writer won't mind a small edit; nothing wrong with profiling, is there?

[mad libertarian guy]

Pretty sure the writer is writing facetiously.

[ant1sthenes]

But if you said it like that, it wouldn't be satire.

[Thane of Whiterun]

I hope they form a class and sue the pants off whatever agency released the records.

[wareagle]

the public agency that released the public records?

[Thane of Whiterun]

OK, yeah. You're no fun.

It would probably have to be someplace that just passed a law to allow the records to be released, and then suing for an injunction against doing so.

[sloopyinca]

Police officers violently assault man with deadly weapon. Assault is caught on dashcam. They weren't charged criminally, but the man has sued in federal court, so it's likely the taxpayers will foot the bill.

The officers confused the man for someone else, so I guess since they "felt" he was a criminal, they were free to do whatever they wanted to him.

[John]

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/20.....-fugitive/

Double bonus for killing a beloved pet on Christmas eve.

[R C Dean]

Pretty obvious that the cops opened the gate to the yard where the dog was, and then tried to blame the family for letting the dog roam.

[John]

Yup. They were stupid and fucking lazy and the poor dog payed the price for it. I hate to be anti cop. But they really are just fucking baboons roaming the earth terrorizing people.

[sloopyinca]

FTA (emphasis mine): The suit also claims that after police realized they made a mistake, one of the officers was captured on camera laughing after one suggested "dropping dope" in Johnson's car. In the video, an officer can be heard saying, "I might drop the dope in there," prompting laughter from another officer.

Nothing to see here, people. Move along.

[Fist of Etiquette]

They also declined to comment on the status of the officers captured in the video.

Which, of course, means their employment status with the department is unchanged.

[Jerryskids]

How come we aren't covering the real story: Given the way the Seahawks brutalized the Niners, given the fact that their last 3 weeks scores are a combined 150-30, can anybody keep them from winning the Superbowl? (Are we allowed to use the word Superbowl or do I have to pay the NFL a dollar now?)

[Caleb Turberville]

The Seahawks' defense is second to none. But they'll have to face the Redskins, Packers, and Falcons (the three best offenses in the NFC) before getting to the Super Bowl. I think that's too much to place on rookie Russell Wilson's shoulders at this point.

[R C Dean]

The 'Skins without RG3 should be beatable. The Falcons, who knows?

The Packers? If they can get their defense to show up for 3 games in a row, I can see them back in the Super Bowl.

[John]

The skins have RG3. He is healthy and will play this weekend. They are a threat to beat anyone with him at QB.

[Caleb Turberville]

RGIII is back, and besides Cousins was able to lead that offense to two victories (with Alfred Morris), so the 'Skins are pretty well stacked on that side of the ball.

[sloopyinca]

Somehow, the Cowboys will beat the Redskins this week and make the argument moot.

I hate the Cowboys, but RGIII is gonna be rusty after his injury and that's gonna lead to problems in the offense. I hate to see the Cowboys in the playoffs, but I've got a funny feeling it's coming.

[wareagle]

Dallas winning is hardly a long shot. Romo's been playing very well, Dez Bryant seems better with a broken finger than without, and Witten is Witten.

[Ted S.]

The Packers already beat Seattle once this season, in Seattle. And Rodgers has fixed the problem he had in the first half of that game of holding on to the ball too long.

[Caleb Turberville]

Three rookie quarterbacks have led their teams into playoff contention this year. I'm not sure "Rookie of the Year" means anything this year.

As far as the MVP/Comeback Player of the Year debate between Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson, I'm incline to give Manning the Comeback Player of the Year award (like Manning needs ANOTHER MVP) and Peterson the MVP award.

[Brian D]

Tom Brady has about as many TD passes as Manning, fewer interceptions, more yards, four rushing TDs, and Manning gets all the chatter about MVP. And how many times has the MVP played for a team that missed the playoffs, as may well happen with the Vikings? Let Manning and Petereson be co-Comeback Players, and give the MVP to Brady.

[Auric Demonocles]

Everyone I've seen say Manning should get MVP has failed to respond to my question "Okay, what stats are you basing that on?"

[mad libertarian guy]

Brady does that every year.

If he can go to a new team and tear up the league while racking up a 10 game winning streak, then he should be considered. ANyone who doesn't vote for Manning to get MVP this year is no more than a Brady fellator or are tired of seeing QBs get the award every fucking year.

[Auric Demonocles]

So, what stats are you basing that on?

[hamilton]

Fucking what? Are you basically saying Brady is a product of his team? Really?

[Auric Demonocles]

I'm also really confused why him going to a new team in free agency should be a point in his favor. If it was a trade, maybe, but it was free agency, so of course he went to a team that made it to the playoffs last year with one of the shittiest players to ever start as a QB in the NFL.

I'm not even saying Brady should get it. I think he blew that chance with those 4 INTs the past 2 weeks. But if you are gonna go with a QB, the stats all say it should be Brady over Manning.

[Big Chief]

Good summary about Manning. He's had a good season, but a big part of why he went there was that all the pieces were there.

[Ted S.]

I'd vote for Adrian Peterson. Without him, the Vikings are probably a 4-win team.

Remember, the Broncos went to the playoffs last year with one of the shittiest QBs in league history.

[Caleb Turberville]

The Broncos won their division last year, so Manning was added to an already solid cast of teammates. But, he's put them in position to get a first round buy in the playoffs, so he's added "value" to the team.

Add to it that the AFC East is at it's weakest point since Brady has been there (and that's saying something).

[Caleb Turberville]

*bye

[sloopyinca]

The only award Brady should win is "Most Douchey Michigan Graduate." And he should win it every year until retirement and then they need to rename it in his honor.

Fuck Michigan and Fuck Tom Brady.

[Caleb Turberville]

As a Bama fan, I guess I have similar sentiments about Manning. But, heck, the guy is a baller. Between my team's former archenemies, Manning and Newton, I'll take Manning as my QB and hand Newton a towel for his head.

That being said, man do I wish Bama could produce another Super Bowl-winning quarterback. (bangshead)

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I was told on this website over the weekend, that in polite company, the "F" and the "M" should be transposed, thus creating the humorous, yes PG-13 rated "Muck Fichigan".

This ain't polite company. Fuck Michigan! And fuck Tom Brady with a stinky old Ugg.

[Ted S.]

He's less of a douche than Terrelle Pryor.

[CE]

ROY means Luck will be screwed out of a major award again because RG3 is really good too.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Manning's been awesome, but if the Vikings make the playoffs, it will be mostly due to Peterson--he's the only reason they're in this position right now. Denver arguably could have made the playoffs even with Tebow this year because the AFC West is horrible.

Christ, Manning really does have the luck playing in bad divisions, doesn't he?

[mad libertarian guy]

Yes.

But no matter which way you slice it, a 10 game winning streak is pretty fucking impressive.

[Caleb Turberville]

Like I said: Peterson for MVP, Manning for Comeback Player of the Year.

Shaun Alexander and Ladainian Tomlinson won back-to-back MVPs as runningbacks in the mid-00s, but since then it's been nothing but QBs. It's about time to reward the men who carry the rock in this pass-happy league.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I'd rather see a defensive player win it, personally. I get that this is the nature of the game today, but I'm sick of seeing the MVP become the Best QB/RB award like it is with the Heisman.

In fact, I'd argue that Manning isn't even the best player on his own team, because Von Miller's been carrying that defense for two years now.

[A Serious Man]

They only beat the Packers because the replacement refs royally fucked up that Monday Night Game.

Green Bay has gotten healthy at just the right moment, they've been there before, and Aaron Rodgers is Aaron Rodgers, he'll lead them to the Super Bowl again.

[CE]

Don't worry, the Seahawks will stop themselves from winning the Superbowl.

[Auric Demonocles]

Playing good teams not at home?

[John]

http://www.slate.com/articles/.....lfare.html

Georgia has declared war on its poor people. You can't make this shit up.

[wareagle]

wait a minute...I thought GA was one of those freeloading southern red states that was all welfare, all the time anyway.

[NeonCat]

Some war. Still see plenty of homeless in and around Atlanta.

[CE]

At least they let old people get out of paying property taxes for education... a courtesy they don't extend to childless individuals....

[Thane of Whiterun]

Teresa, a single mom of a 2-year-old living in a domestic violence shelter, tells of how she broke down and applied for cash benefits after fleeing an abusive relationship?only to be chastised by state welfare officers who asked, "Wouldn't you rather work?"

[...]

Ultimately, it didn't matter. In the end, she was rejected for failing to fill out her paperwork correctly.

So, IOW, in the end it was her fault?

Also, GA is number 7 in absolute number of illegal immigrants and #10 on a per-capita basis. Does that have anything to do with poverty rate independent of policy?

[mad libertarian guy]

So asking one if she'd rather be self sufficient as opposed to living on the dole is being chastised?

What about being self sufficient is demeaning?

[Heroic Mulatto]

What about being self sufficient is demeaning?

Well, you have to, like, work and stuff.

[Thane of Whiterun]

But she was a victim of domestic violence. That means policy for the entire country should be crafted to suit her.

[Thane of Whiterun]

Ugh, again:

two-thirds of all denials were due to either withdrawal of applications or failure to complete application procedures

Of course that must be malfeasance. Not just people being forced to play by the rules.

[sloopyinca]

Cop does a Plaxico Burress at crime scene and obviously won't face charges. Also, passive voice makes appearance at PoliceOne in story's headline.

[Juice]

At least one of the comments makes fun of that.

[nicole]

In my lifelong quest to correct misinformation about the passive voice, I must point out that the headline is not an example of such. "Discharges" is an active-voice verb; "gun" is both the agent and the subject of the verb in the headline. Of course, this doesn't make the headline journalistically better--you could argue the opposite, since it implies the gun has agency.

[sloopyinca]

Thanks for the femsplanation, Nicole but I still think it's in the passive voice since everybody knows a gun is incapable of discharging anything on its own.

[Heroic Mulatto]

If the verb in the subordinate clause were in the passive voice it would have read "gun is discharged".

And the Union Leader is horrible with it's cop-fellating.

[Ted S.]

Yes, the Union Leader is horrible with it is cop-fellating.

[nicole]

But that's why I said the headline as-is is actually worse than if it were in the passive voice. The current version directly implies it did discharge something on its own?that is, the gun DID it. If it were passive voice, as HM gives an example, "the gun is discharged," that removes any indication of agency from the sentence. It also removes the implication that the gun discharged itself.

[Heroic Mulatto]

If only English marked a non-reflexive use of the middle voice, then we could solve this controversy!

[nicole]

I know! And this totally came up in the last "passive" thing I corrected the other day.

Also, if only anyone actually taught grammar, or learned it from anyone other than Strunk & White!

[Heroic Mulatto]

I used to teach how to teach grammar, does that count?

[nicole]

Only if it eventually filtered down to primary or secondary school students. Or morons in corporate communications departments. Besides, I already know you're on the good team here.

[Ted S.]

Technically, isn't "hurt" in the passive voice?

[Heroic Mulatto]

No, the passive voice in English requires an auxiliary verb (usually "be" sometimes "get" or "have"). Now, I understand it is written in Headline-nese; so, yes, they probably do mean "NH Deputy was hurt". However, as it's written, the verb is active with an ambiguous middle voice meaning, i.e. "NH Deputy hurt[s himself]."

[sloopyinca]

PoliceOne by and large just fine with putting fingers in vaginas and asuses of women on the side of the road. Their probable cause for the search was "the smell of marijuana" which, of course, they never found.

[el esc?ptico]

Did they think she was hiding the pot on her motherboard?

[Caleb Turberville]

Jeffrey Tubin was just on CNN saying that the David Gregory case demonstrates the "mobility" of high-capacity magazine (the ability to carry them into NBC studios in the gun-control nightmare that is Washington, DC).

[Caleb Turberville]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.....sonal_life

Toobin is apparently "left-leaning" and "a former Justice Department attorney", so CNN gave him the job of "chief legal analyst". (barf)

[John]

And also current dead beat dad.

[John]

Toobin, the guy who knocked up his near teenage girlfriend and then made her sue him to get child support, loves to moralize.

[Caleb Turberville]

Where does CNN find these people?

[sloopyinca]

They used to get them from the sewers of Atlanta. Not sure where they're noodling for them now.

[Cdr Lytton]

Bonking his coworker's daughter. Classy.

[sloopyinca]

And if Toobin wanted to win a Pulitzer, he'd do a story on the % of people arrested for the charge of carrying a harmless magazine and their racial makeup in the district. Even money says all of these gun-grab stories could be used as evidence to show how the systems in these cities target blacks and want to make sure they are unable to defend or protect themselves.

[Thane of Whiterun]

I've heard bullets are even more mobile! Ban them too.

[sloopyinca]

I guess the day after Christmas is just too soon for a barrage of crooked and immoral cop stories. Sorry everyone. They don't seem capable of resting during the holidays and I didn't want the stories to pile up and cause me to have a meltdown before I got some of them posted.

[wareagle]

in a bizarre, what the fuck is going on kind of way, I am less disturbed by this barrage than by the creeping notion that such a barrage is possible any day you choose.

Absent this site and maybe a couple of others, the cops-gone-criminal is shoved way underground among journos.

[Groovus Maximus]

I honestly believe sloopy is doing God's work here. At least both he and Balko have both the same hairstyle and lack of regard for grapes and nuts.

[nicole]

I honestly believe sloopy is doing God's work here in some of the toughest neighborhoods in America.

FIFY

[CE]

I don't know... we used to be able to say "at least this stuff doesn't happen every day", but as it turns out, it does.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Former US president George HW Bush has taken a turn for the a worse and is in intensive care after a "stubborn fever" delayed his recovery from bronchitis, a spokesman said this morning.

[A Serious Man]

And the only perscription is more cowbell.

[Rich]

That reminds me. Has anyone seen Hillary lately?

[Caleb Turberville]

The guy raised taxes and signed the ADA, but I like him. He was curmudgeonly during the '92 campaign when Clinton was going on MTV talking about pot and boxer shorts. HW Bush was a class act.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I met Barbara Bush in 1987, and had the opportunity to interview her for my HS newspaper. Really a nice lady. I kind of always liked George H.W. as well. Too bad their children turned out to be retards.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

He's apparently been in the hospital since Thanksgiving. That's generally not a good sign.

[Thane of Whiterun]

I shot a Glock 32 over the weekend.

Amazingly, I didn't kill or even maim any kindergartners.

[A Serious Man]

It's only a matter of time before that Glock, by its own voilition, lifts itself up and pulls its own trigger to shoot innocent kindergartners.

Guns are like Suaron's Ring.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Obviously, you didn't try hard enough.

[Thane of Whiterun]

I dunno, I might have killed some welfare recipients. I mean, I hunt them so often I hardly remember anymore.

[R C Dean]

Sounds like you need more practice.

That's the thing about kindergartners. They're small and surprisingly evasive. Not as easy to hit as people seem to think.

[Thane of Whiterun]

That's why you need to "spray" them with bullets out of your AR.

Seriously, some NBC story about the wackjob who shot the firemen said he used his evil Bushmaster AR-15* to "spray" them with bullets. Ugh.

To be fair, he could have had a bump stock. Not mentioned anywhere, though.

*DID YOU KNOW THAT THE BUSHMASTER AR-15 IS THE SAME GUN THAT AUTONOMOUSLY KILLED THE CHILDREN AT SANDY HOOK??? DID YOU???

[sloopyinca]

You cam file this story under the "Federal Government doesn't give a fuck about the 1A or private property rights" column.

[Thane of Whiterun]

Uh, has it occurred to "public health advocates" that the cigarette companies could pay the convenience stores for the space or include them as part of their normal agreements?

Also, how many people today don't know that smoking is terrible for you?

[Coeus]

Not to mention that half of the specific messages they are forced to post are easily verifiable as complete nonsense.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

@JeremyClarkson
Americans. It took us 40 years to get rid of Piers Morgan. Pleasse don't send him back.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

@JeremyClarkson
Americans. It took us 40 years to get rid of Piers Morgan. Pleasse don't send him back.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

twice the fun!

[OldMexican]

Tanzanian police ban disco for kids.

Right after feeling encouraged the bans on minuets and paso dobles were so successful.

[OldMexican]

Les Miserables topped Django Unchained in their Christmas openings. Spike Lee says he won't be watching Django because it was disrespectful to his ancestors.

Your efforts are for naught, I am still planning on seeing The Hobbit this Friday.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That's cold, man.

[waaminn]

That jsut doesnt make a whole lot of sense to me dude.

http://www.Privacy-OT.tk

[nicole]

Well, I blame Groovus. Doctors call for ban on handguns.

The research is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The researchers said there was no reason for handguns to be publicly available at all. They consulted police chiefs, and top sportsmen, from around the United States, and found such weapons have little practical value for self-defense and none whatsoever for hunting.

Don't you people get it yet? THERE'S NO REASON YOU NEED THESE THINGS!

[Heroic Mulatto]

top sportsmen

TOP. SPORTS. MEN.

[nicole]

So sweet. Can't believe I missed that.

[Auric Demonocles]

The researchers said there was no reason for gay marriages to be publicly available at all. They consulted hospital chiefs, and top sportsmen, from around the United States, and found such arrangements have little practical value for estate-planning and none whatsoever for reproduction.

Apparently "it makes me happy" isn't an acceptable reason to have something.

[nicole]

(For those that didn't click through, it is a parody--but a parody of an old article that's now making the rounds again about banning sharp knives in the UK.)

[Redmanfms]

little practical value for self-defense

Or, as is more accurate, have the most practical value for self-defense of any weapon ever devised.

none whatsoever for hunting.

If Elmer Keith or Ken Waters (two VERY Top! Sportsmen!) were still alive they'd probably punch any Fudd who said such a thing in the throat.

I've killed more deer with a pistol (specifically a Colt Delta Elite) than any other type of firearm. Handguns are excellent for hunting in the laurel thickets of Virginia. Easy to pack, less awkward (and dangerous) to carry in thick brush, and more than powerful enough to drop the kind of small-bodied deer you find on the East Coast.

[Atanarjuat]

My uncle claims to have killed a deer once with a single shot from a family heirloom revolver.

[Generic Stranger]

Not unlikely. Revolvers are fairly popular for hunting deer, especially those chambered for more powerful cartridges like .357 magnum, .44 magnum, etc.